Game of Insomnia | ✓

Chapter 28: An End to Begin With

           "CLOUD!!!" Tifa's scream echoed, reaching until the end of the tunnel. She sprinted towards him but was easily thrown off by a force by Sephiroth, who had his sword stabbed through Cloud's chest.

            "TIFA!" Cloud choked, seeing Tifa lying in the corner of the cell unconscious. The blade that had passed through his body was soaked in blood. He only stood there, his wide blue eyes looking down at the blade pierced right out of his body. He heard Sephiroth chuckle right behind him. Glancing toward your direction, he saw Noctis still kneeling down right in front of you, mumbling 'wake up' as he held your face. "N-Noctis." Cloud gasped.

            It took a while before Noctis turned, and when he did, Cloud saw the tears filling up his eyes. Noctis had his mouth dropped open when he saw Cloud with a sword stabbed through his chest. Right now, he was so speechless. He couldn't process what he was thinking right now. First Ravus died, now his rival— or now he could say his friend, was right there bleeding like he was. Both of them were injured, helpless. He looked behind Cloud's shoulder and saw a certain man, once again. The familiar face had been seen a few times by him, yet he didn't know who that man was or where he was from. He had never seen anyone so. . . frightful. Despite of the caressing face Sephiroth showed, it was as if his own face had added into the sickening part of his voice.

            Sephiroth beamed at Noctis when he saw him. He then pulled back his sword out of Cloud's, which sent the blond falling down to the ground yet Noctis caught him before he could even reach the floor, the two of them now sitting as they looked up to Sephiroth. The green eyed guy chuckled, "This is the moment we've been waiting for!" He cried, pointing his sword towards the two young men. He raised another hand. Automatically the door slid to the left, closing behind them. "My my, can't you believe it? Here are my old friends, and two new ones to oppose me?"

            "Never we will be your friends, Sephiroth," Cloud gritted his teeth as he held the wound on his chest. "Why are you here?!"

            Sephiroth chuckled. "Ah, I guess I must have been too excited to surprise you. By the way, Cloud. You should have thanked me for giving you a sign that Noctis and that precious girl were in danger. But you didn't," he smiled wickedly, "probably because you blamed me for having them captured, eh?"

            "OF COURSE YOU ARE TO BLAME!" He shouted, anger rising inside him as he pulled his Buster sword out of its sheath, struggling to get on his feet yet he still managed to face Sephiroth before him. Despite of the pain hurting his body, he still drew his sword, "Yes, you warned me about them. But you had already known that they were in danger before I knew!"

            Sephiroth smiled, closing one eye, "Why, of course. Of course I knew that," he also drew his long sword, "I know everything!"

            Noctis watched the intense aura rising between the two. He remembered Cloud telling him that back in their world, Gaia, a man named Sephiroth and another name that he couldn't remember, were the most powerful beings that they have succeeded to defeat. But they have returned, and now they would have vengeance. That's why, maybe Sephiroth knew that the ones who had defeated him years ago were now here in Eos. So that's why he was here. Noctis gulped and tried to stand up. His skin was now pale and his lips tinted purple. It was a miracle he could still find himself alive, breathing and moving. "Then why are you here?" He asked, courage filling up inside him. He shouldn't just sit there being helpless.

            Cloud turned his head over his shoulder at the sight of a bleeding Noctis, who even had the courage to stand up, but after a while he soon shot his head back to Sephiroth who responded to Noctis' question.

            "Certainly because I wanted to take revenge on a certain person who had succeeded to kill me years ago," he said while playing with the blade with his fingernails.