Second Chance

The Nightmare Returns

Lightning struck outside, silhouetting the floating man before Cloud with the single black wing on his right shoulder blade. Those glowing eyes were mocking him, piercing as if looking for his deepest fears. As the familiar figure spoke, Cloud focused all his attention on the madman's words.

"Hm, I wonder..." Sephiroth's eyes soon scanned the others in the room. "I hope you didn't get rusty while I was away" He suddenly grinned widely, unfolding his arm out in front as if he was about to offer something. But instead, a glowing orb of greens and blues formed in the palm of his glove-covered hand. He then took aim at the group far behind Cloud, specifically Tifa, behind the counter.

Blinded by the rage that was building up inside him, Cloud draws out his sword and quickly charged at the madman with all his might, aiming to jab him in the gut. But Sephiroth was quicker and evaded the attack with ease. The man then made his retreat out of the bar, Still taunting the blond to follow him.

'Whatever Sephiroth wanted from me, he is not getting it today or ever for that matter. I'll make sure of that.'

"Get back here!" he yelled out as he chased after the fleeing man. Sephiroth was flying overhead; as Cloud dodged and weaved through the narrow streets below. He did his best not to hurt anyone who happened to be out and about at this time. He was then surprised to see his enemy make a sudden turn to the main street, heading to one of the many abandoned construction sites for the holiday. As the blond continued chasing after him still, he didn't take notice of his friends following far behind and calling out to him.

Sephiroth soon stopped in the heart of the construction site, still floating far from Cloud's reach. "Having fun yet?" he asked sarcastically, looking down at the angry blond who was glaring back at him. But, of course, if he were just a little lower, he would have been at the mercy of said angry blond.

Cloud scanned his surroundings, finding metal pillars and beams cemented to the ground as a foundation for the future building. Thinking quickly, he jumped up on the pillars and beams, getting closer and closer to his mortal enemy, who was floating there watching him. He readied his sword and detached the second one from it; he planned to attack him directly and block just in case he countered. Unfortunately, as soon as he got close enough to strike, another figure appeared in between and blocked his attempt. Cloud tried to strike again, but the figure still blocked his attacks no matter what he did. They both fell to the ground on their feet afterward, standing a fair distance away from each other.

As Cloud examined this figure in front of him, his eyes widened in shock. He realized that the man standing between him and Sephiroth, his opponent, was... himself. The spiky blond hair, the SOLIDER outfit, and his best friend's Buster sword was in his possession. Even the expressionless face was a splitting image of himself from three years back when he was still in the last stages of mako poisoning.

"If you don't mind, I'll sit this one out" Sephiroth broke the silence first and sat on the second beam farthest from them. But he still had a good view of the fight. Cloud didn't notice this at first, but there was a barrier around him and his opponent, separating his friends from them. He can see them banging on the pale green wall; no gun of Barret's nor any of Vincent's transformations could break it to give him any assistance this time around.

Cloud took a deep breath and fused his swords together into one again then focused on his copy 'I can do this; he's just a fake copy. I can take him down easily,' he thought as he studied his opponent carefully. But he didn't have enough time anymore as his copy charged at him. Cloud quickly dodged the sudden attack and countered, but the copy blocked it just the same. He was also able to lay a hit on Cloud's side, but it wasn't fatal, thankfully. As the copy was about to slam the sword on him, Cloud took out one of the attached swords and used it to block the incoming attack.

The two then distanced themselves from one another but came clashing back together again a few times. Neither of them was willing to give up. Yet, no matter what Cloud did, the copy always countered the hit, so he decided to use one of his limit breaks, namely Meteor Rain. As he was getting ready to do it, his copy beats him to it, performing Meteor Shots, a limit break Zack learned to do from him back in his Shinra days. He didn't have time to evade it, nor did his blocking help that much, and instead, he ended up taking the hits. He got wounded badly but wasn't going to go down just yet. He was injured and almost exhausted, so he forced himself up and charged at his opponent again.

While swords clashing continued to echo inside the barrier, the others outside stood watching, unable to support their friend on the other side. Tifa was worried about Cloud, but there was nothing she could do to help him in this situation other than hoping he would win. She then turned her attention to the ever-so-silent Sephiroth, who just sat on the beam watching quietly; there was something very off about him, that's for sure. For one, his wing was motionless even when flying a moment ago, and he was shorter than usual. And the fact that he was watching felt out of character to her.

'His build... it somehow resembles a girl's. Those eyes, they look familiar but not on his at all.' Now that she thought about it weren't Sephiroth's eyes originally green, almost cyan in color, and more cat-like? But before she could form a conclusion, her attention was brought back to Cloud and his opponent when the sound of the clashing swords ended, and Cloud's groans got loud. She quickly turned her sights to Cloud as he was laying on the ground in defeat, his six swords were scattered around the battlefield far away from his reach, and his copy was standing over him victorious. The fake slowly lifted the Buster sword over his head and then, with all his might, dropped it down towards her boyfriend.

"CLOUD!" she couldn't help but yell to him with tears streaming down her face, fearing that she was about to lose him.