Final Fantasy VII : The Final Pledge

Chapter 8

The remnants that Tseng was looking for in Junon were dead and we didn't have more time to look for others. So we left. Kyra was pretty positive that those were the only ones in Junon and she kept insisting that I should tell Tseng about this. As I was not a part of them and he was not my boss, I refused.

The battle with the twins showed us that Sephiroth was not that powerful yet. Kadaj was way stronger than those two. But it could also mean that there are more of them, like Yazu and Loz. I was still thinking about Kadaj being a human before turning to a slave for Sephiroth. Could he be a successful experiment, in the same kind I had failed? I didn't know, and I couldn't get the chance to ask Kyra.

Kyra believed that the Temple of Ancients' area is full of materia and has a river beneath it which is the lifestream. The temple itself was ruined completely, after what happened there but she believed considering the lifestream and that it's now a completely abandoned place, it was a good hideout for Sephiroth. I didn't agree with her as the first time only his clones were around the temple, and he himself was up in the north. But I wasn't sure that this theory was mostly because I didn't want to go there or my brain was deciding it. Kyra seemed to know a lot, so I trusted her.

On our way, we saw another remnant of Sephiroth. He attacked us in the middle of nowhere, while we were heading south. He had the same characteristics: silver hair and mako eyes riding a motorcycle and carrying a sword. As we defeated him, Kyra did not allow her prey to die. Instead, she injured him and kept him alive to ask questions. She carried the man to a tree and made him sit.

"Where is Sephiroth?" she asked him calmly. The man grinned. Kyra punched him in the face, yet her expression seemed to say she was sorry; he didn't seem to have enough energy to even defend himself. Kyra repeated her question and yet she received silence. "Then I have to take it out myself," She bent down towards him and hissed in her ear. I saw her put her hand on his head and closed her eyes for a moment. "We go to the Temple," she demanded after she opened her eyes and then she used my sword that she was carrying and I had no idea when she grabbed it, to behead the man. She didn't seem angry when doing that, but sad. She was not a killer after all while I was different.

A rush of poisonous thoughts flowed into my brain making my headache badly. I saw my past, all the people I have killed and then I saw his face grinning in front of me. "You are no different than me, Cloud," said he. I wanted to scream but it seemed my lips were sewed. I started struggling trying to move a muscle but I was trapped. He was still in front of me and now I could see Aerith staring at me with tears in her eyes and his sword through her body. "You chose this," she said. I felt all my muscles paralysed and felt the heat of a drop of tear on my cheek. I was exhausted and I needed to sleep, or more like to die. That was how I felt.

Then I felt the warmth of a touch on my forehead. A small hand. Was it Aerith? I didn't deserve to be cared for, I deserved to die, I thought. "Hey," I heard a sound from far away, "You'll be fine". It was a woman's voice. A voice I have heard my entire life from far away, but this time she felt closer. "Whose voice is that? Why do I know you?" I asked in my thoughts but I didn't get any answer.

The pain in my body left me little by little. Next thing I knew, when I opened my eyes I was laying down on a bed and a place I was not familiar with and Kyra was sitting next to me, looking at me kindly. Her hand was on my forehead. Once again, I felt I have known her for a long time. Her voice, that calming voice, I had heard it my entire life. She smiled at me, "feeling better?" she asked. I didn't want her hand to go away. But her face suddenly saddened; she held her hand back and turned away. I was feeling like a fragile child. I pulled myself up and put my hands around her, resting my forehead on her shoulder. I could hear both our hearts and I was thinking only of her voice. "I'm sorry," I said but I didn't know what I was sorry for. She gripped my arm gently. "Don't be," she comforted me, "You'll be fine."

Once again I lost consciousness.