THE ZODIAC WAR
^ _ ` a b c d e f g h i

Chapter 15: Revenge and Reconciliation

The day was relatively quiet, with little for the party to occupy their minds with...Zidane and Garnet found a chest full of Phoenix Pinions in the Gi Cave, which he used to make a headdress for her...she liked it very much. Agrias and Beowulf found this Sephiroth to be very peaceful, but very reserved and mysterious.

As he gained enough recovery to step out of his tent, Sephiroth looked across the canyons, carved by a river no one ever heard of. When at one of the tops of the peaks he saw a lone warrior standing, arms crossed, a massive purple sword slung across his back.

"....Eh? Who is that?...." Sephiroth asked, nearly startling Reis.

She looked where he was looking, but by the time she looked, whatever Sephiroth was looking at was gone. He himself was intrigued, and thought about the day when he would get his blade back to answer this mystery man's challenge.
,br> It was about midday when Aeris finally spoke with Ramza...

"I...was told by Cloud, that this isn't my era...is that true?"

"Yes...this is his era, we, that is my fellow knights don't belong here either...we come from the past, a further past than your era...."

"I...would like to know more of why I'm here, would you mind telling me sir---?"

"Ramza, call me Ramza, my sister's name is Alma, then there's Reis, whom you met, Garnet, Zidane, Beowulf, Agrias, and Delita, the rest of them with the exception of Sephiroth are from this era."

"As for why you're here, I've already told you that you have been chosen as a Zodiac Brave to fight in the Zodiac War..."

"I'm not so sure I like the idea, but if Cloud's involved I'll help him out in any way I can, he seems to need someone to help him sort things out."

"I hope you can help him...he seems to hate this Sephiroth person just as much as he seems to like you..."

"Oh...!" She blushed, "Well, you seem to need all the help you can get, besides, I'm a Zodiac Brave now, aren't I!" She smiled playfully.

"Hmmm...." Ramza mused, "Maybe we can get those two talking, see if Cloud can try and understand where he's coming from."

"I'll do my best!" she gave a goofy looking salute to Ramza like he was some kind of general and left to go see Sephiroth. He looked back at Delita, and they both busted out laughing. Who ever heard of a girl like that becoming a peacemaker?

But it seemed too little too late, Aeris came running back and told them the Sephiroth's tent was empty, and Beowulf said the blade was missing.

This was bad.

Sephiroth walked deliberately towards the valley peak where he saw the spikey haired figure stand. Then, out of the corner of his eye he saw the man. Clad in a dark blue Soldier First Class uniform and a large purple blade slung at his back.

"So...you're the one watching me..." Sephiroth smirked.

"Maybe...because I've hated you for years..." Hatred spewed from Cloud's words.

"What? I don't know what the hell you’re talking about..."

"The Ancients, Aeris, Nibelheim, Meteor...you don't know those names...not even J.E.N.O.V.A.?"

"Who...?" Sephiroth's memory only struck a chord with the last named mentioned, but he didn't dare say anything.

"I'm sick of hearing your lies, Sephiroth, you go down again here and now! But this time no Omnislash, no Ultima, no Tragic End, no fucking Masamune! Just us, no armor, no gauntlets, no materia! JUST FISTS!"

"Fine...I still don't know who the hell you are or what you hate me for, but I like a challenge, and you seem worthy." Sephiroth cracked his knuckles.

The two faced each other and took off their armor, accessories, and materia. They moved in sync with each other as they drew their swords and threw them aside as well, each blade expertly flung to the ground.

"Get ready Sephiroth, cause you're going to be beaten within an inch of your miserable life!"

The two stood in a stance like prizefighters expertly punching and kicking at each other, almost like they knew each other's moves perfectly.

"What did I do.." THWACK "to deserve your stupid hatred you..." BAM "spikey haired freak!"

"You took my home.." BASH "you killed my family" SPLAM "you killed my only true love...." THOCK "you asshole!"

"Maybe I am" BOCK "but all that stuff about me" THACK "isn't true. Besides, I" STOMP "don't know your name..."

"The name's Cloud Strife asswipe!" KWOCK, "and don't you ever" THACK "ever" CRACK "forget!" CRUNCH

"Yeah-huff-I won't, but y'know-huff-I never really did that stuff, in fact-(sput) I never met you before in my life!"

Cloud looked at the man in black for a second; huffing and puffing with blood splattered all over his mouth, and for once, could tell he was speaking the truth. Cloud wiped his lips and spit the blood from his teeth, then started to walk away.

"You've made your point! You're not who I thought you were....."

"Who the hell did you think I was anyway!"

"A bastard who killed without remorse, who tortured my mind, stole all the things I hold dear and would just as well destroy a place like this..." Cloud crouched down on the ground and looked over the horizon...it was sunset and the grass swept across the plain like a tidal wave, the breeze blowing through his hair.

"I'm.....sorry...I'm not the man you thought I was, but I would do anything if it could help you find your peace..."

Cloud thought for a moment, "Heh-Peace, I never would have lived to see the day when that would come out of the man I wanted to kill's lips. But I'm beginning to see where he's coming from now...his time is torn apart by war and factions, he wasn't just a simple bounty hunter like I knew him to be...he wants peace just as much as I do, at least before he finds out the truth of where he came from..."

Cloud stood back up and looked in Sephiroth's still bloody face, "Would you be willing, truly willing to fight for peace? Not my peace alone, but for the peace of all the eras of this world, peace for all time? Would you be willing to fight and die for a simple peace like this?"

All was hinged on Sephiroth's response.

Sephiroth looked at Cloud's almost-pleading eyes, the look he once had when he was very little, a little boy who sat around lonely in a lab, no one his age to talk to. His father never had time for him, nor did he care, his mother took care of him, but that didn't seem enough.

Especially when he acknowledged how brilliant his father was, doing great experiments with cells of some kind. In fact, it seemed as though his father only regarded him as an experiment to be observed but never touched.

Anger built inside of him, like it had Cloud, and the only way he seemed to find or even think about peace was through fighting. Cloud and Sephiroth were the same....

"I would..." was all Sephiroth said.

Sephiroth finally wiped the blood off his chin, which had already started to clot, but neither soldier inflicted any serious wounds. In silence both put back on their armor, weapons, and other accessories, and side by side, strode back to Cosmo Canyon.

Off in the Distance, Aeris, Alma, Garnet, Ramza, and Delita, ran towards the two, not knowing what to expect...but to their total surprise, the two were simply walking together, albeit somewhat banged up like they were in a fist fight, but all right.

Aeris ran to Cloud and looked into his eyes, they didn't have the hatred they had had towards Sephiroth anymore. They still held secrets within them that she was curious to find out, but that would come in time.

Alma gave each man a potion to get rid of the bruises, while Delita and Ramza grinned at each other, knowing exactly what happened. Alma looked at the two and shook her head, thinking how she never could understand men....

On to Chapter 16 >>>>

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