Work Text:
Another Alternate Ending.
by Sephiroth
Warning: Game Spoilers
Catagory: AltUn
Another Alternate Ending.
by Sephiroth
Cloud and the others began to return to the Highwind. They'd defeated the One Winged Angel and in doing so had destroyed Sephiroth...
... or so they thought.
Cloud blinked.
"What is it?" Tifa asked.
"He's still here... laughing." Cloud replied. "He's..." he frowned as the laugh came again. It was Sephiroth's of that he had no doubt. But there was something odd about it. The tone was all wrong somehow. But it was most definitely Sephiroth.
Cloud felt the pull of forces he could not understand.
//The Planet.// he thought to himself. //The Planet is sending me to Sephiroth. But why?//
The laugh that was and was not Sephiroth's came again.
Cloud flew through the Lifestream with one purpose in mind. He would kill Sephiroth and rid the world of that evil bastard once and for all. Closer and closer he came until he, at last, reached his goal.
He looked around, but Sephiroth was nowhere to be found.
"I know you're here." Cloud demanded. "Come out and face me like a man... or whatever it is you think you are!"
The laugh came again, this time behind him.
Cloud turned and promptly fell on his face, barely avoiding breaking his nose.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" he cried out, seeing that someone had tied his feet together. He looked up and saw the culprit responsible.
Sephiroth was standing there, looking down at Cloud with amusement. Cloud looked back up and almost laughed out loud.
He was looking at a child.
//So much for killing him.// he sighed, sadly. //I can't kill a child. So what do I do now? Spank him?//
"Sephiroth?"
"Uh huh." Sephiroth giggled and held out a hand to Cloud.
//He doesn't remember what he did.// Cloud thought to himself. //He's an innocent. Reborn. The slate is wiped clean. Only the name remains.//
Just then, a hand reached itself through a the lifestream that was flowing around them. Taking little Sephiroth's hand in one hand, Cloud reached up for the other hand with his freehand.
Tifa grasped Cloud's hand and tried to pull him up.
"You're too heavy."
"Hold on." Cloud told her. "I'll swing Sephiroth up to you. That should make me lighter."
"You saved Sephiroth?!" Tifa asked, sounding like the thought Cloud's head must've come unscrewed.
"You'll understand in a minute. Here he comes."
//He can't be serious.// Tifa growled inwardly. A moment later, the small silver-haired child landed next to her.
"Ouch!" Sephiroth complained, loudly, as Tifa gave him a solid spank. "What was that for?! I didn't do anything to you!"
"You didn't!"
"Tifa! Don't hurt him!" Cloud called, still dangling there from Tifa's other hand. "I'll explain as soon as you pull me up."
"Sorry, Cloud." Tifa said as she pulled Cloud up to the ledge.
Sephiroth ran to Cloud and clung to him, seeking protection from the irate Tifa.
"How come the pretty lady doesn't like me?" he asked, looking up at Cloud with tear-filled eyes. "I like her. But she hates me."
Tifa saw the tears and her heart broke as she realized that the Sephiroth she'd struck was not an evil madman, but was, in fact, an innocent child.
"I'm sorry." She said. "I made a mistake. Forgive me?"
Sephiroth wiped his eyes with his sleeve and nodded. "Uh huh." he agreed as he hugged Tifa, forgivingly.
"Mommy?" Sephiroth asked Tifa. He turned to Cloud. "Daddy?"
Tifa and Cloud looked at each other, then at the child who had once been their greatest enemy.
"Yes, Sephi?" Tifa asked.
"How are we gonna get over there?" Sephiroth asked, pointing across the chasm at Barret and the others.
END