Chapter Eleven - Sephiroth's Last

Hikaru�s dream was interrupted by an extremely loud, piercing beeping noise, which went off every other second like an annoying alarm clock. But this alarm wasn�t any normal alarm.

She got out of bed, slipped her socks on, and ran out the doorway to the cockpit. Cloud, Morpheus, and Yuna were already there. They all had their weapons equipped too.

Yuna was going berserk. �What the hell is going on?! Can�t a girl get any sleep on an airship?!�

Cloud yelled back to her over the alarm. �That�s not my problem!"

Yuna stuck her tongue out at him. �It�s not my fault you can�t sleep at night!�

Cloud shrugged the insult off and looked at Morpheus. �The alarm isn�t lying. Look�� he pointed out the window.

The four friends looked out at the area in front of them. They were on a planet in Zokujin called Kaish�. What they saw on Kaish� was a five-mile wide crater.

Hikaru was confused. She didn�t know if it was just from her being waken up at two in the morning, or maybe she wasn�t supposed to know. But she asked anyway. �What was the alarm for?�

Cloud closed his eyes and sighed. �A Sephiroth sighting.�

Hikaru�s eyes widened as she and Cloud recalled the last endeavor with Sephiroth. Would it be as simple as before? They were thinking towards �no.�

Cloud shook his head. This was like d�j�-vu to him. The Northern Crater on his own Planet looked exactly like this one. However, this crater wasn�t as deep, and there was no sight of a tower of rock and rubble beneath the surface. There was only what seemed like land inside of the crater.

Yuna expressed a frightened look. �What are we going to do? Is it that time already?� She let her left hand fall onto her belt bag, which carried her dresspheres and Gunner dressphere guns.

Morpheus nodded slightly. �I�m afraid so. Cloud, let�s land.�

Cloud sighed. He wanted to settle things with Sephiroth all right, but not with people he cared about fighting beside him. He would have to keep an eye on them to make sure they wouldn�t get hurt. But at the same time, he would have to fight with Sephiroth, the most powerful man he�d ever met. It would take a miracle to get all four of them out of the crater safely, but it was a risk he had to take.

He nodded at Morpheus, pressed some buttons, and flipped a switch. Soon the airship was slowly descending into the crater. Hikaru rushed to her room and grabbed her boots and new gloves. She slipped the gauntlets on hurriedly, not even thinking of what might happen next. She was scared, but determined at the same time. She wouldn�t back down; not with Sephiroth still in this universe.

She felt a huge force throughout the entire ship and knew that they had landed. She ran to the door, but stopped herself. She looked back to her bedroom. She didn�t know why, but she felt that she had to. She thought that it would be the last time she�d ever see a comfortable room that was all he own. She sighed, remembering her home in Nibelheim with Kotake, and all of the memories of living nextdoor to Cloud. She also reflected on Cloud fighting Sephiroth the years before, with all of his companions, determined to stop him from taking over the Planet and crush it with Meteor. She wondered how in the world he did it. Was it luck? Was it strength of mind? Hikaru realized that how he did it didn�t matter. Just the fact that he had done it made her clench her fists. And it is possible that he could do it again.

Yuna started to call her name and it broke into her daydreaming. She then rushed back over to the cockpit, her long hair flying freely behind her back. The door was already open and Cloud and Morpheus were waiting outside. Yuna grabbed Hikaru�s hand, and they both jumped down out of the airship.

Cloud shut and locked the door and turned around. He was thankful that at least they could still see in the dark of the night. He didn�t want something as stupid as the darkness to be the reason that someone was killed.

He shot a look at Hikaru. He hoped to the heavens above them that she would be all right.

They stood there, at the side of the airship, their hair and clothes blowing in the silent wind. They were waiting for anything. Maybe it would be an army, or just Sephiroth himself. Maybe there would be a Meteor attack on them, or just Sephiroth�s physical strength.

Yuna shivered. �When this is all over, Cloud, remind me to smack you for never telling me to bring a coat or something. It is freezing!�

But then, all of the sudden, they saw a bright white splash of movement. Then another. There were two swift, white sources of power that flew in all different directions.

Morepheus whipped out his guns. He wasn�t so happy about what the flashes would turn out to be.

The white blobs stopped moving. They were actually people�at least, beings that looked like people. They looked exactly the same, with clear white skin, long white suits, and white dreadlocks. They also wore dark sunglasses, just like Morpheus.

Recognizing that both the twins and Morpheus were pointlessly wearing sunglasses at night, Hikaru knew Morpheus was familiar with them.

�Troublesome programs that cause much more trouble than they�re worth�� Morpheus stated as if reading Hikaru�s mind. �That�s what they are.�

He then raised his SMGs and shot both of them several times. But the bullets went right through them like their bodies weren�t even there. There were no wounds, and no sounds as they pierced their clothes and skin.

Hikaru and Yuna gasped. The ghostly twins snickered. Yuna was about to whip out her own guns, until she saw a being emerge from behind the two albinos.

None other than Sephiroth was that man. His long black coat blew gently in the breeze, and his long silver hair shimmered in the moonlight. His long, thin sword glistened, and he carried it in a gentle, but strong grasp.

He seemed utterly satisfied that Cloud and Hikaru were standing before him once again. �How excellent it makes me feel, to see you two again,� he smiled smugly. He sauntered over to the duo. Yuna clenched her fists more and more with each step he took.

Sephiroth stood approximately a foot away from Cloud and Hikaru. He turned to Cloud first. �Tsk, tsk, tsk, Cloud. When will you ever learn? You know I can never be defeated. But still you come waltzing to the new crater of Kaish�, of which I have created,� he praised in his devilish work. �It brings back pleasant memories, doesn�t it, Cloud?�

Cloud cringed at the sound of his stalwart name being released from Sephiroth�s slimy vocal cords.

Sephiroth then turned to Hikaru. �My, my, Hikaru. I thought you were a special, smart girl. But you are the one who concocted up the plan to come and fight me, aren�t you? I must say though, you are becoming more and more ravishing every day, my dear,� he lifted his left hand to her right cheek, his black glove feeling slimy on her skin. Cloud hesitated.

Hikaru was about to slap it off, when Sephiroth lowered it and turned to Morpheus and Yuna. �Even more friends of yours, Cloud! Now I realize this will be even more similar to our battle last year,� he chuckled deviously, bringing back painful memories to Cloud. �Except this time,� Sephiroth declared after his laughter subsided, �I will win!� He vanished into thin air.

Hikaru tightened her gloves and Cloud grabbed his sword from his sheath. The fight was on.

Sephiroth�s vanishing was actually a jump attack�at the same time of Cloud and Hikaru�s preparations, he had jumped into the air and pointed his sword downward. He fell back to the ground a few feet in front of the pair. The ground shook as his sword collided with the earth, knocking Hikaru off of her feet. Cloud quickly lifted her up.

The twins� first attack was a simple hand-to-hand combat attack. Morpheus immediately threw his guns down, and the sound of their clatter rang through his ears. The twins started to try and punch Morpheus and Yuna.

Still holding Cloud�s hand, Cloud looked right into her eyes. �Are you sure you want to do this?� he yelled over the sound of Sephiroth�s earthquake.

Hikaru�s gaze looked to Sephiroth then. He lifted his sword from the ground and started to run swiftly away from them to prepare his next assault. He then turned around when he found an ideal location, and grinned. He started to glow.

Looking at his smile made Hikaru extremely angry. Imagining what he had done to Cloud in the past made her blood boil with rage. She knew for certain that Sephiroth would be defeated that night. And she was going to be a part of his final demise.

Instead of answering Cloud�s question aloud, Hikaru reacted by striking Sephiroth with an ultimate beam of pure ice magic, before he even had the chance to follow through with his attack. His smirk turned into a snarl, and he began to run back to them.

� � �

As Yuna dodged her twin�s attacks, she decided to whip out her own guns and shoot him like Morpheus did before. It was no surprise to her that her pistols wouldn�t even harm him. She then ran away from him a little, to a safe position, and took herDark Knight dressphere out from her bag. Her transformation altered her Gunner clothes into a dark metallic suit, serving as armor all around her body. Even her boots were metal and armored. She tightened her helmut and hairtail, and clenched her hefty sword in both fists.

She slashed at the twin, hoping that it wouldn�t be as useless as bullets. She was right. Her sword made an enormous gash on his arm. He stared at it for a moment, impressed, but soon his whole body became translucent. The gash slowly became skin again, and any trace of blood was nowhere to be seen. Yuna�s jaw dropped.

Morpheus was doing absolutely fine, but his and his twin�s attacks were completely equal in performance. If he attacked, the twin would parry or block it, and vice versa. If a turn of events didn�t occur soon, Morpheus might run out of energy, or get stuck in an even worse way. All he had were his guns, and Hikaru was the only one with power gloves.

Hikaru was busier at the moment, however. As Sephiroth ran towards her and Cloud, he shifted his sword to his side, carrying it tightly as his long silver hair bounced up and down with every running step. When Sephiroth was close enough, Cloud commanded Hikaru to build up the same magic beam as before. She obeyed, and Cloud got his sword ready. He told her to focus the magic onto his sword. The second it was all packed into it, it started to flame with a visible, bluish power. Cloud ran to Sephiroth, and slashed the sword, but Sephiroth clashed his own sword with Cloud�s. They both glared at each other for a prolonged time, trying to knock each other down by pushing their swords into one another. Soon they released their vigor, and then started to fight sword-on-sword. This was their brawl now, and there was finally a chance for Hikaru to flee to aid Morpheus and Yuna. She started to run to the two of them.

Yuna had transformed into every dressphere she possibly could. Each special attack was barely adequate for damage to her twin for long. He�d either dodge the attack, heal after he was wounded, or blow would just go right through his body. She was becoming more frustrated with every single action that he made, but she wasn�t going to give up now.

� � �

Hikaru ran to Morpheus first, since he was the closest from Sephiroth and Cloud. She ran up behind the twin�as he was fighting Morpheus�and punched the side of his head. The metal knuckles of her gauntlets brought the twin to his knees as he touched a hand to his temple. He brought his hand back down and stared at his blood stained fingers. Immediately, he turned translucent, healing the wound. Hikaru gasped. Morpheus moaned in frustration. He remembered when he first fought these albino twins, and had to escape because nothing had harmed them. But then he remembered that when he escaped, he caused his runaway vehicle to overturn and explode, the twins turned ethereal like usual, but the blast flung them away entirely. If there was to be some sort of explosion, Morpheus was sure they would be defeated again.

�Hikaru, follow me!� Morpheus shouted as he ran to Yuna and the other twin. Hikaru ran right behind him.

Yuna was now in her Berserker dressphere, complete with animal fur and paws. She slashed at the twin multiple times with her razor-sharp claws, only for the twin to heal itself after. She saw Morpheus and Yuna approach out of the corner of her eye. �Finally! Can I get some help here?�

�Yuna!� exclaimed Morpheus as they ran to her. �Change into your Thief dressphere!�

Yuna growled as her paw smacked the twin�s head to the side. �What?! Are you crazy?! That dressphere does barely anything helpful!�

Morpheus shook his head, irritated. �We need grenades!� He turned his head swiftly to find that the other twin was sprinting towards them. �Hurry!�

� � �

Cloud and Sephiroth were deep into their own contest now. They both saw Hikaru run off to help Morpheus and Yuna. They were now thrusting each other�s swords at one another, trying to strike the other one down. Every now and then, Cloud would slash the ground, making a large crack in the earth and making it�s way toward Sephiroth; but he would always jump away before the crumbling soil reached him. Also, Sephiroth would repeatedly churn up a chunk of rock, and magically drive it straight towards Cloud. Cloud would always hack the rock, cutting it in two and causing it to evaporate.

At one point, Sephiroth knocked Cloud down so hard that he couldn�t rise up for a few moments. He took this moment as an advantage, and built up some energy.

�Kneel down, and show me the sight of you begging for mercy,� Sephiroth breathed, as he hurled a massive heap of metal and glass towards Cloud.

Cloud built up the strength to grab his sword. Before the mound hit him, Cloud took apart his blade. He now seemed to have two similar swords, making it easier for him to knock the rubble away. Sephiroth appeared directly in front of him as the rubble subsided, and they clashed swords. The energy�s strength increased with each clash, shooting out from their swords and lighting up the sky.

Sephiroth knocked Cloud to the ground once again. Before he even had a chance to regain his vivacity, Sephiroth�s sword pierced his shoulders. Cloud shrieked and glared at him with a painful expression.

�What is the most important thing to you?� Sephiroth asked him as he sat in ache.

Struggling, Cloud�s hand seized Sephiroth�s sword, and attempted to pull it out of his shoulder.

�Will you give me the happiness of taking it away from you?� Sephiroth beamed.

� � �

Yuna hurriedly reached in her bag for her Thief dressphere for the second time. She threw it up, and it engulfed her in light, transforming her outfit. Her blue and white costume revealed her entire stomach, so she tried not to shiver in the cold. Her blades appeared in her hands, but she grunted in discouragement since she knew that they wouldn�t help her.

Morpheus was now generating a magical shield around him and Hikaru. He shouted out to Yuna. �Yuna! Use your grenades!�

Yuna enlightened. �Right!� She nodded. �Grenades!� She threw her blades to the ground and rummaged through her pockets. She raised them up and was about to throw them when Morpheus yelled again.

�Wait until they�re close together!� He pointed towards the twin that he had fought, who dashed towards them so fast that he happened to be a blur in motion.

Yuna watched carefully as the twin met up with the other twin. They were concocting a conjoined attack, but Yuna tossed several grenades at them, startling them and blasting them a good distance away. Yuna laughed in triumph, and then ran closer to throw more. The same thing occurred, except they became unconscious. Curiously, Yuna ran even closer, probably even risking her own life since she wasn�t completely sure they were dead yet. She observed them, as they turned translucent once again. She moaned in complaint and grabbed her bag to change into another dressphere.

But Yuna realized that their eyes were still closed behind their sunglasses. Still watching them, the twins� outfits and bodies started to fade away. Bit by bit, the twins were dying as if they were computer programs. Yuna then remembered that they probably were.

She heard fast footsteps behind her and turned around to find Morpheus and Hikaru heading her way. Hikaru saw the last few pixels of the albinos inch away into the night, and glanced at the two pairs of sunglasses they left behind, sitting delicately on the ground next to Yuna�s feet. They had won.

Hikaru rushed to Yuna and hugged her tight. Yuna hugged her back.

�Oh no!� Yuna abruptly cried. Hikaru released her and followed her gaze. Sephiroth had Cloud pinned. Hikaru started to shake with fear, but immediately started to run, with Yuna and Morpheus right behind her.

� � �

Cloud glared at Sephiroth and started to see his friends flash before his eyes. Tifa, Aeris, Barret, Yuffie, Cid, Vincent, Red XIII, Cait Sith, Morpheus, Yuna, and of course Hikaru. Cloud tightened his grip on Sephiroth�s sword and thrust it out of his shoulder, and it pummeled towards Sephiroth. Cloud then jumped up and backwards, so that he was now a few yards away from his sworn enemy.

�You don�t know anything at all,� said Cloud. Sephiroth laughed at his useless insult and ran to him, their swords clashing again. Sephiroth leaped back, landing safely on his feet.

Cloud clenched his teeth together and decided to answer Sephiroth�s question after all, �There is nothing that isn�t important to me!� He took his multi-pieced sword and held it out in front of him. Sephiroth cackled and was ready to smack it with his own sword again. But this time, Cloud magically split them into six components. The blades levitated and circled around Sephiroth, surrounding him. He was trapped in the center, utterly confused as to why he didn�t see it coming.

Cloud swiftly dashed over to Sephiroth and snatched each sword, one at a time, slashing the immobile Sephiroth six times in the chest.

Sephiroth�s body flew high into the air, as Cloud�s swords all descended, getting stuck in the ground. He grabbed his main blade as it fell along with the other five. He looked up to Sephiroth, who was tenderly floating in front of him on one black-feathered wing.

They stared at each other for what Cloud seemed like the longest time.

Cloud�s hair blew softly in the wind as he glared at his enemy, finally dying for the last time. �From now on, you�ll be staying just in my memories.�

Sephiroth�s head flinched. �No, I will not settle for just a mere memory�� but before he finished his sentence, the feathers in his wing engulfed him, swallowing him whole. The feathers then tumbled downward, but were saved by the wind, sending them to fly lightly in the breeze.

Cloud watched as the flowers rushed past him. He closed his eyes, relieved that Sephiroth was indeed gone forever.

Despite the happiness that ensued, he fell to his knees and grabbed his head in his hands. His gloves felt irritating against his skin. His wound had ceased to bring him pain, but he was remembering just how much pain and suffering that Sephiroth had caused.

�Cloud!� Hikaru shouted in concern and ran to him. Morpheus started to put Cloud�s sword back together, helping him out. Yuna slowed her pace too and stood near to Morpheus.

Hikaru knelt down beside Cloud and put her left hand on his right shoulder. �Everything�s going to be all right, Cloud. It�s over. Sephiroth�s gone.�

Cloud couldn�t look at her. He released his hands from his temples, but he still felt pain. Didn�t Hikaru realize that he wasn�t the real Cloud Strife? He is a clone, all because of the man he just killed. His rage became incredibly powerful as he thought about it, and he couldn�t control himself. He grabbed the main blade of his sword and pointed the sharp side to his heart.

Hikaru shrieked. �Cloud, no! What are you doing?!�

Yuna�s eyes widened. �Stop, Cloud!�

Morpheus dropped Cloud�s other blades and let them rattle. �Cloud!�

They all cried out these exclamations at the same exact time. Cloud knew that they cared about him, but he was lost in his own thoughts. Since he is fused with Jenova cells, he is related to Sephiroth. They were practically brothers, in an extremely disturbing way. He just could not handle that reality anymore.

�Hikaru�� said Cloud, as he looked to her. Her hand tightened on his shoulder. �Go to Nibelheim and wake up my real self. I won�t remember anything that happened since I was created, but�I�ll still remember our childhood together,� he smiled awkwardly. �You can�catch me up.�

Tears started to stream down Hikaru�s cheeks. �No, I can�t!� I am not going to do that Cloud!�

Cloud wasn�t even positive if his real self would be civil enough to understand anything that had happened. There was a frightening possibility that he might want to kill Hikaru the second she would wake him up. �Please�do it for me. I don�t want to remember��

�Cloud, stop it!� Hikaru blinked frantically, the water from her eyes soaring into the wind. �I won�t do it! I won�t do it!� she shook her head violently, clutching onto Cloud�s whole arm now, with both of her hands squeezing his bicep. The blade seemed to be approaching closer to Cloud�s chest with every fleeting second. �This can�t be happening�Oh, God, please tell me this isn�t happening��

�Wait!� a familiar voice yelped. Confused, the four peered through the darkness to find a tall, brown-haired man standing with his one hand in his coat pocket, and the other resting his gunblade on his shoulder. His hair was blowing gently, exposing the scar on his forehead ever so slightly. �What the hell are you doing, Cloud?�

�Leave, Squall,� said Cloud angrily.

Squall chucked his gunblade into the ground beside him. �No, Cloud, I will not leave!� He lifted his hand up to stroke his forehead in irritation. �You want to kill yourself? Right here and now, in front of your friends? Oh, so they can find your �real� self? That Cloud won�t even know who the hell they are!�

Hikaru was still whimpering, clutching onto Cloud�s tear-stained arm. She, Cloud, Morpheus, and Yuna all listened intently to Squall for the first time.

�Come on, Cloud. Think about who you are. Your real self wouldn�t be sane enough to listen to them all trying to explain everything,� Squall was actually speaking some sense for once. �This choice you�re making right now? To kill your clone? It�s total bull!�

Cloud started to close his eyes again, still keeping a good strong grip on his sword. However, the clutch seemed to loosen through Hikaru�s watery eyes. Even if it was just a little.

�I know you�ve been on some rough rides, Cloud,� Squall continued. �But think about what you learned from your experiences after you were cloned. Each and every one happened for a reason, and you pulled through every single one of them. And now you want to throw it all away?!�

Cloud looked down with passion, utterly ashamed of himself.

�Cloud, there are people who care about you. I know you care about them too. Don�t let them down by doing this,� he put his hands on his hips.

Hikaru, Cloud, Morpheus, and Yuna were really in awe. Squall�s spontaneous outburst made Cloud remember that his friends can help him get through the painful memories of Sephiroth, and the fact that he is a clone. Killing himself was not the answer to his problems; but maybe putting a little bit more faith into his friends was the key.

Hikaru watched as Cloud dropped the blade to the ground. The crash was music to her ears, and she began to laugh and cry at the same time.

Morpheus nodded to Squall, acknowledging him. Squall responded with a small smile. Yuna was so relieved that she laughed with joy gave Morpheus a gigantic hug.

Hikaru, as she laughed and cried, wrapped her arms around Cloud�s neck, hugging him tightly. Cloud felt too drained to hug her back. �Thank you,� he muttered instead.

Unlike Hikaru�s horrible dream, where Cloud walked out on her crying in Spira�s Macalania Woods, these two words had meaning. Hikaru closed her eyes and pictured an entire knew scene, where Cloud kissed her forehead and let her cry on his shoulder.

At least that was a start.