Note: I apologize if this is confusing, it has been such a long time since I wrote for this, and I have been plagued by writer's block for a while. I do hope you all enjoy the chapter.
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All the training and preparation was not enough to stop the shaking of your hands as you stepped towards the bed. Sephiroth waited outside on guard. That thought, of knowing that they were risking their lives to be here with you made you swallow the lump down your throat. A wave of courage washed over your body as you continued to move forward. Once standing over the shape under the bedsheets, you raced your arm, there were only a few moments of hesitation before you stabbed the form.
However, what you were met with was not flesh but just passing. Furrowing your eyebrows, you pulled the dagger away and you were about to pull the sheets off the bed but the door was shut roughly, the light of the moon helped slightly to see the shadow behind the door. Someone tried to opened the door, that being Sephiroth, but there were others behind that door and from the clashing of blades, they were not friends.
A laugh filled the room, but that laugh had no emotion, it sounded empty. "Oh but what a surprise," your voice made it's way to your ears. It was exactly like yours but more sinister. "Xemnas was a complete fool to believe that you would be dead, specially with how they were acting." They, she was talking about your friends? Wasn't she?
The braveness left your body, now being well aware of the situation you were in. You were here alone, in front of the person you were supposed to kill. Unconsciously your hands began to shake, you were not certain if it was out of fear or worry for our friends. "You're pathetic," she continued as she took a step forward, and you would have stepped back if you had room. "You're so afraid," she stopped getting closer,judging by the way her head moved, she was studying you. "You're so..." She trailed off, and for a moment there was a sense of understanding in her voice. "Confused, you were flooded with information that it made no sense to you.
She then proceeded to come closer and closer, and even when you tried to attack her, she easily knocked the dagger off your hand. By the look of fear in your face, she knew you would not be an issue. So, she leaned down and grabbed the dagger. She stared at it, "emotions are nothing but a curse." The blade glinted under the moon's light, "and you're drowning in them. Since we're essentially the same," she turned her gaze towards you. "I will do you a favor." The chairs behind the door stopped, she frowned as Sephiroth's voice was muffled by the door. A frown began to show on her face as she returned her attention to you and then she rushed towards you and then the two of you were gone.
Sephiroth had kicked the door off its hinges, his worried gaze shifted to every corner of the room only to find it empty. "Damn it," he let out a curse as he turned around to find the rest.
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It almost looked the same as that illusion, everything was deserted and too silent. You were not sure where she had taken you, but the way your heart began to beat against your chest made you realize that this was not going to turn any different than all those illusions.
But more than the fear your felt, you felt regret. You were not going to make it out of this alive, you knew it, but your friends would live on with guilt in their hearts. All of them, they would beat themselves for allowing you to take such a risk. "You know," her voice didn't sound as harsh or malevolent as before. In fact her face was softer, it looked a lot more human. "I did not think I would get to meet you," she declared, "and I should be so...So angry, I should feel the rage in my non-existent heart."
"Why?" The fear was covered by a sheet of your own curiosity. "It should be the other way around."
She took a deep breath before she answered your question. "Yes, I know." It was amazing how the two of you looked exactly the same, but the two of you had entirely different personalities. If you did not know the truth, you would believe that she was your twin sister. "I know deep down you hate me, I've used your name, your life to create my perfect little world."
"Perfect?" Did she even know many innocent people died for her so called perfect world? Your chest began to feel hot and it wasn't pleasant. "You're helping Xemnas kill so many people and for what? For their hearts? Is that what you call a perfect world?"
"Xemnas?" She laughed as she played with the dagger that tested in her grasp. Her face turned sour. "Your friends are so naive to believe that man." She read you like the palm of her hand, she noticed your confusion. "His intention isn't to obtain their hearts as he promised, he plans on ruling everyone. When he accomplishes that, those nobodies are as good as dead."
Marluxia, Zexion...All of them...Despite their lies, you cared for them. "No...I can't..."
"You know,"she dismissed the moment of panic. "You and I are not so different, in fact," she hesitated which seemed so out of character. Wasn't she supposed to be evil? Cruel? "We are essentially part of each other, we're...What did he say?" She search for words, "you're my half and I am your half. That's why we do not have hearts." Again her expression turned angry.
Her grasp on the dagger tightened, you searched for anything of use but there was nothing to use. The dagger glared back at you dangerously, thirsty for your blood. Once more she stopped and she knew why, she felt the connection with you. It made her stop, it made it feel so wrong. "The world," she growled, "has been so cruel to us both!" The dangerous woman standing in front of you broke, she was angry but she looked in pain too. "How could you live with that? How could you not use the power you have to take everything in your hand and make them all kneel to you?"
"I was told you were..." Evil? Heartless but the person in front of you reminded you of the woman who tried to win an illusion. To fight the cruel woman that had taken your life in her hands and use it to benefit her.
She smiled at you sadly. "People twist their words, their wild however they wish." Her hand fell at her side. "Do you recall that prophecy? That one of the twins was supposed to be evil? That woman wasn't so wrong, but what she failed to mention was that it was all their doing. All of this," she motioned with her hands around the two of you and then to you and her. "Our lives were shaped by the actions they took." Her unoccupied hand reached for her chest. "You may not have your memories but I do," tears began to trail down her cheeks. "I remember all of our memories and the emotions that haunt me every single day."
A connection? Was that what always made you hesitate? You could not describe how you felt, you should feel something but without your memories you only felt sympathy for the woman in front of you.
"When I woke up," she continued as she cleaned her years. "I was flooded by emotions, Xemnas did not know about them. But that didn't stop him from torturing me for months, or at least that was how it felt. " She took a deep breath. "Why? Why do we have to sacrifice each other for their sake?" She questioned, "we owe them nothing."
It surprised you how calm you were, "Whatever happened to us isn't everyone's fault, we can not blame everyone for it. Besides, the past is the past. What we do is not going to change our memories, our lives experiences." You extended your hand forward to her and you smiled. "None of this has to continue, none of us have to die. I...I can live without those memories, I can always make new ones. The memories you have do not have to define who you are. Come with my and bel me stop Xemnas."
She smiled at you, but she smiled at you sadly. "I'm afraid that I cannot do such a thing." And she raised the dagger knowing that tonight, only one of you would survive.
