Final Fantasy Oneshots and Drabbles

One-Winged Nightmares: FFVII

It's sequel time!

***

"Cloud, are you sure you're okay?"

Aerith's voice rang in his head, and Cloud glanced over at her, mostly out of it. "Huh?" He mumbled, rubbing his forehead. "Y-yeah, I'm fine, why do you ask-"

Of course Cloud was fine. Why WOULDN'T he be fine? It wasn't like the man who had burned his village all those years ago had decided to show up in his nightmares. It wasn't like the same man also told Cloud some...touchy things, all while choking him to death in a hellscape version of his town.

No, it wasn't like that at all. Cloud was fine, a little tired, but-

"CLOUD!"

Aerith's voice woke Cloud up from his stupor, and a second later he felt something ram him on the head. "Ow!" He shouted. "Do you mind?" She shrugged lightly in response. "Not at all. Thanks for asking."

As she put her staff away, Aerith's face grew serious. "Cloud, everyone's worried about you. Tifa said she hasn't seen you sleep for a week, and you can't even keep up a conversation." She crossed her arms. "What's wrong?"

Cloud bit his lip. He hadn't told anyone about his nightmares, especially not Aerith. If he told her... what would happen to her?

If you wish to know that, then why not ask me personally?

Sephiroth's chilling voice echoed through Cloud's head causing him to stop dead and begin visibly shaking. Aerith took immediate notice of this. "Cloud?" She tried but her voice was getting fainter.

Cloud backed away from her, a slight whimper rising up in his throat. He could taste the fear in his mouth, and it tasted like blood. Sephiroth countined to speak, his smug tone hinting that he reveled in Cloud's fear.

You fear for her, don't you? You saw her die, and now you fear for her.

He could barely hear Aerith now, as the man's voice got louder and louder, completely drowning everything else out. Cloud collapsed to the ground, his head pounding.

Fear is a potent weapon, Cloud. Shall I show you how to use it?

Everything went black.

******

Everything was still shrouded in darkness when Cloud came to. The one thing he knew was that he still had his sword and that the ground beneath him was freezing cold.

Other than that, he had no idea where he was. Cloud stood up carefully, feeling around with one hand, the other tightly gripping the hilt of his sword. His eyes still hadn't adjusted, but that didn't matter. He was able to see a tiny blinking red light far above him, and that was all.

What mattered was that Sephiroth had gone completely silent. That was the worrying thing. Cloud had no idea what he wanted with him, but he could guarantee that it was not good.

"I can't focus on that now." He muttered, shaking his head. "I've gotta get out of here."

His voice echoed around the...wherever he was, causing Cloud to shiver. There was something else here, he could feel it.

And that's when it lunged. A monster, just like the ones in that version of Nibelheim, tackled him to the ground, clawing at his face. Its body was completely hidden by the shadows, and Cloud grit his teeth, slashing his sword at nothing, praying that he hit the creature.

He did not.

Something else did.

The monster, with an unearthly screech, went flying off into the darkness, hitting a faraway wall with a metallic thunk. Cloud barely had a second to breathe, before something else rammed into his chest, completely cutting off all of his airflow and access to his sword.