Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Counterfeit God; Part I ❯ Chapter 4
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Shiratori-Strife Inc 
Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Drama / Adventure / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 10.02.2006 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.3K | Visits: 182 | Status: Completed
Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Drama / Adventure / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 10.02.2006 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.3K | Visits: 182 | Status: Completed
4
Sirius had been standing there in a daze, hardly believing that she and Cloud were finally seeing one another after three long years. Their eyes were locked and she could’ve laughed at the shocked look on his face had she not been ready to burst into tears. Her voice caught in her throat, preventing any further words she might have said. Cloud took a step toward her when her attention was drawn by the sound of someone clonking down the stairs. First to the bottom was the redhead who’d help to train her as a SOLDIER in the first place and if not to train her, then to keep an eye on her to make sure that she wasn’t being a nuisance around the labs. Following Reno was a very surprised, pregnant, Morghann. Sirius could see the tears well in the older woman’s eyes. A small smile formed on her face.
“Sirius!”
“Hi, Morghann.” She said softly. “Hi, Reno. I take it that things have been going well for you two?”
Both were completely speechless as she moved silently and gracefully toward them, embracing them both. It was a gentle one for Reno and a bit tighter for Morghann. Sirius had missed her dearly. She, of the three other women that she’d known, recognized and understood her severe dislike for the Shinra Company the most. Backing away, Sirius returned to Cloud as she took his hand gently. Cloud jumped at the action in surprise. Up until then, he thought he’d been imagining things. Both Reno and Morghann’s reactions had proved to him otherwise. It was Vincent who broke the silence.
“It has been three years since you’ve eaten. Perhaps that’s the best place to start?” he offered.
Sirius nodded dumbly. She still held a bit of bitterness toward him. “I am a little hungry.”
“A little!” Cid roared suddenly. “Damn, if I hadn’t eaten in three years, I’d be starving like a rabid Bahamut!”
Tifa leapt to her feet quickly. “I’ll go make you something, Sirius! Anything you want.”
“Anything will be fine, Tifa. You’re cooking is always good.” She replied with a small laugh.
Cloud realized that he’d missed her laugh the most while she was gone. He had missed everything about her. He found himself turning his head to stare at her. She was thinner than he remembered and her hair was longer. His heart started to race. He loved her. He knew he did, but why he didn’t tell her before he was released from the Lifestream, he didn’t know. A sharp object suddenly began poking him in the ribs on his left side. A mental groan was issued because his attention had been drawn away from the white-haired woman beside him. Yuffie gazed up at him with a ten mega-watt grin on her face and he scowled, not sure he wanted to hear what she had to say.
“It’s been a while since the two of you have seen each other, Cloud. You two should really catch up.” She said, matter-of-factly. “I’ll come get you when breakfast is ready.”
He nodded in agreement, much to his own surprise. Locking eyes with Sirius, he pulled on her hand and began to lead her up to his room. If it were possible, his heart began to race faster. It seemed like they were immediately in his living quarters. Cloud released her hand and sat down on his bed, patting the space beside him to indicate that she should join him. After she had done so, Cloud sighed. Two hands brushed against his cheeks with a feather-like touch. His eyes met Sirius’s once again and he saw that she was smiling.
“I’m real, Cloud. Your thoughts are screaming at me. I am real and I’m here now.”
“I just…I lost hope, Sirius. You were gone and I didn’t think you were coming back. It hurt too much to look for you everyday only to be disappointed when I fell asleep at night.” He whispered in response.
Sirius pulled him into her arms and taking in a deep breath, she finally let the tears spill onto her cheeks that had been threatening to fall since the moment she walked in the door. “Cloud, do you remember the last moment we saw each other before the Lifestream returned you to earth?”
Of course he did. How could he ever forget that moment? It had been a moment when he’d felt so many things at once, he thought he might overload. Anger, pain, love, hopelessness, fear, grief; they had all been there. Hell, Cloud had wanted to die at that very moment. No, he’d never forget his final moments in the Lifestream.
The mists of the Lifestream swirled around the two of them. They were the only beings there and they were alone. It was that in this instant, for the first time in his life, Cloud was afraid that he was going to die. Sirius stood before him, her waist-length white hair hung to her waist. Her nude body stood mere centimeters from his own. He cringed when he saw her mutilated black wing drooping painfully behind her. The other was extended gracefully to her side. She looked up at him with a peaceful expression. She’d already accepted her fate.
“When you leave the Lifestream, Cloud, I’m not going to be able to go with you.” Sirius told him softly, almost a whisper. “I have to stay here for a little while.”
“Why? Why can’t you come with me? We could go back to Midgar, back to Seventh Heaven. Please, Sirius, you have to come back with me.” He pleaded.
Sirius merely shook her head. “I can’t. Not yet. Because I was created as an attempt to revive Sephiroth, this is my punishment I guess you’d say. I’ll be returned when my sentence has been carried out.”
Cloud was choking back tears. He felt his eyes burning with them and wished that he could make them go away. He didn’t want Sirius to see him cry. “It’s not fair! That wasn’t your fault! You didn’t do anything bad with the powers they gave you! I don’t understand.”
He felt himself being pulled into her arms. His body finally released all the emotions that it had imprisoned as his frame wracked with a sob. “You have to live, Cloud. You have to live for your friends and for yourself until I return. Then you can live for me too.” He heard her whisper.
The blonde felt himself disappearing. His panic-stricken face turned to hers, but Sirius merely smiled warmly at him, releasing him and taking his hand as he disappeared. “Remember Cloud, live. Remember that I love you.”
---
The two sat in a comfortable silence as they stared ahead of them. Sirius was absentmindedly running her fingers through Cloud’s hair as his thumb gently stroked her arm. He would tell her. Why shouldn’t he? He’d waited three years to tell her what he felt and now was his chance. When he felt her fingers stop, he looked up at her.
“Sirius, there’s something I want to tell you.” Cloud said, any nervousness that he felt masked. “You can sense my feelings, so I’m sure you probably already know what I’m going to say.”
Sirius shook her head. “You’ve actually gotten pretty good at hiding your feelings, Cloud. Tell me.” That little fact made her happy mood droop a little.
Cloud sighed as he took her face in his hands. Making sure her eyes were on him, he began to speak. “Sirius, there were a lot of things that I should’ve told you that day. That I was angry that the Lifestream took you away, that I was in pain because I left you behind, that I’d lost all hope that you’d return, that I was afraid of dying for once in my life, that I was sad that I couldn’t bring you back with me. I wanted to say all of those things to you but I didn’t. The truth was, after I returned to the others without you, I wanted nothing more than to die. I wanted to join you in the Lifestream because I hadn’t told you the most important thing that I wanted to say.” The remainder of his sentence was held on baited breath. “Sirius, I love you too.”
Without waiting for her to answer, Cloud crushed his lips against hers. He’d never kissed anyone before, but that didn’t really matter at this point. A few seconds later, Sirius’s shock wore off as she kissed him back. He felt her warm tears against his cheeks as he pulled her into his arms. He’d waited three whole years for this. Now he had the woman he loved back in his arms. Nothing at all would take her away from him ever again.
---
Tifa had come out to set a small place at the bar for Sirius to eat. Yuffie was ridiculously happy for some reason as she pranced around Morghann and Reno, who were eating their breakfast. Cid sat down at the bar away from them, grumbling that they had some sort of medication to control her “problem.” The young ninja was content to ignore this and went about her dance. Tifa shook her head and went back to the kitchen.
“I should probably go get Siri and Cloud.” Yuffie said in a singsong voice. “Breakfast is ready.”
Morghann groaned a bit at the girl’s over anxiousness to disturb the two. “You should probably just leave them alone, Yuffie. They haven’t seen each other in three years and I know that Cloud has some things that he wants to get off his chest.”
Yuffie pouted. “But I promised I’d go get them when breakfast was ready! Besides, they can talk later. I’m sure that’s not all they’re going to do.”
“Yuffie. Just leave them be. Cloud rarely ever speaks his feelings and Sirius has broken his shell. He’s very closed off about the way he feels. They’ll be down in their own time.” Morghann tried to reason.
The young ninja proceeded to jump around the room in an erratic manner. Cid, in the mean time, was practically boiling over at this behavior. He didn’t have much patience for Yuffie and her hyper active antics. The girl failed to notice this however, and continued. Morghann even gave an irritated sigh. Cid finally blew up after five more minutes of her folly.
“Damnit, Yuffie! Just go upstairs and get the two for crying out loud!” he shouted. “Just get out of my damn hair!”
“Yay!” Yuffie exclaimed as she bolted up the stairs.
“So much for their talk.” Reno mumbled from beside Morghann.
---
Cloud brushed back Sirius’s bangs and smiled at her. A small purplish star-shaped bruise had been hidden on her forehead above her right eye. He recognized that familiar mark from Denzel’s bedridden form and his own left arm. His smile was replaced by a frown as he examined the spot. Sirius noticed this change in demeanor and questioned him with her eyes.
“What’s this?” Cloud asked, concern laced in his voice.
“Aeries explained it to me when I was first trapped in the Lifestream.” She explained. “It’s Geostigma. I have the marks on my arms too. She told me that it can’t be cured because I was directly injected with Jenova’s cells and the pain will be terrible, but it’s not fatal to me for the same reason.”
The blonde was silent for a moment. The information Sirius had just given him was a lot to take in. “So you’ll just be in pain whenever the Geostigma feels like acting up?”
Sirius nodded. “Aeries also said it was nothing personal, but Hojo and the other scientists at Shinra had to be punished. I was the example.”
Cloud felt his fist clenching. It wasn’t fair. Had she not suffered enough? “I’ll be with you. You won’t have to bear the pain alone.”
He took her into another kiss, this time pouring his emotions into it full tilt. A soft knock at the door interrupted their kiss. The two of them smiled gently at each other before Cloud bothered to acknowledge the knock. It was most likely Yuffie anyway.
“Yes?” he called from his place beside Sirius.
“Cloud, Siri, breakfast is ready!”
Both were right in the assumption that it had been Yuffie at the door. Cloud turned back to Sirius and planted another, gentler kiss before breaking it. “Shall we?” she asked him.
“I guess we really should. Otherwise, Yuffie isn’t going to leave us alone.” Cloud confirmed, rising to his feet. He took Sirius’s hand and led her to the door. As he opened it, they could hear her bounding down the stairs ahead of them. Smiles had shone on both their faces as they made their way down to the bar where the rest of the expectant friends awaited.
---
End Chapter
Sirius had been standing there in a daze, hardly believing that she and Cloud were finally seeing one another after three long years. Their eyes were locked and she could’ve laughed at the shocked look on his face had she not been ready to burst into tears. Her voice caught in her throat, preventing any further words she might have said. Cloud took a step toward her when her attention was drawn by the sound of someone clonking down the stairs. First to the bottom was the redhead who’d help to train her as a SOLDIER in the first place and if not to train her, then to keep an eye on her to make sure that she wasn’t being a nuisance around the labs. Following Reno was a very surprised, pregnant, Morghann. Sirius could see the tears well in the older woman’s eyes. A small smile formed on her face.
“Sirius!”
“Hi, Morghann.” She said softly. “Hi, Reno. I take it that things have been going well for you two?”
Both were completely speechless as she moved silently and gracefully toward them, embracing them both. It was a gentle one for Reno and a bit tighter for Morghann. Sirius had missed her dearly. She, of the three other women that she’d known, recognized and understood her severe dislike for the Shinra Company the most. Backing away, Sirius returned to Cloud as she took his hand gently. Cloud jumped at the action in surprise. Up until then, he thought he’d been imagining things. Both Reno and Morghann’s reactions had proved to him otherwise. It was Vincent who broke the silence.
“It has been three years since you’ve eaten. Perhaps that’s the best place to start?” he offered.
Sirius nodded dumbly. She still held a bit of bitterness toward him. “I am a little hungry.”
“A little!” Cid roared suddenly. “Damn, if I hadn’t eaten in three years, I’d be starving like a rabid Bahamut!”
Tifa leapt to her feet quickly. “I’ll go make you something, Sirius! Anything you want.”
“Anything will be fine, Tifa. You’re cooking is always good.” She replied with a small laugh.
Cloud realized that he’d missed her laugh the most while she was gone. He had missed everything about her. He found himself turning his head to stare at her. She was thinner than he remembered and her hair was longer. His heart started to race. He loved her. He knew he did, but why he didn’t tell her before he was released from the Lifestream, he didn’t know. A sharp object suddenly began poking him in the ribs on his left side. A mental groan was issued because his attention had been drawn away from the white-haired woman beside him. Yuffie gazed up at him with a ten mega-watt grin on her face and he scowled, not sure he wanted to hear what she had to say.
“It’s been a while since the two of you have seen each other, Cloud. You two should really catch up.” She said, matter-of-factly. “I’ll come get you when breakfast is ready.”
He nodded in agreement, much to his own surprise. Locking eyes with Sirius, he pulled on her hand and began to lead her up to his room. If it were possible, his heart began to race faster. It seemed like they were immediately in his living quarters. Cloud released her hand and sat down on his bed, patting the space beside him to indicate that she should join him. After she had done so, Cloud sighed. Two hands brushed against his cheeks with a feather-like touch. His eyes met Sirius’s once again and he saw that she was smiling.
“I’m real, Cloud. Your thoughts are screaming at me. I am real and I’m here now.”
“I just…I lost hope, Sirius. You were gone and I didn’t think you were coming back. It hurt too much to look for you everyday only to be disappointed when I fell asleep at night.” He whispered in response.
Sirius pulled him into her arms and taking in a deep breath, she finally let the tears spill onto her cheeks that had been threatening to fall since the moment she walked in the door. “Cloud, do you remember the last moment we saw each other before the Lifestream returned you to earth?”
Of course he did. How could he ever forget that moment? It had been a moment when he’d felt so many things at once, he thought he might overload. Anger, pain, love, hopelessness, fear, grief; they had all been there. Hell, Cloud had wanted to die at that very moment. No, he’d never forget his final moments in the Lifestream.
The mists of the Lifestream swirled around the two of them. They were the only beings there and they were alone. It was that in this instant, for the first time in his life, Cloud was afraid that he was going to die. Sirius stood before him, her waist-length white hair hung to her waist. Her nude body stood mere centimeters from his own. He cringed when he saw her mutilated black wing drooping painfully behind her. The other was extended gracefully to her side. She looked up at him with a peaceful expression. She’d already accepted her fate.
“When you leave the Lifestream, Cloud, I’m not going to be able to go with you.” Sirius told him softly, almost a whisper. “I have to stay here for a little while.”
“Why? Why can’t you come with me? We could go back to Midgar, back to Seventh Heaven. Please, Sirius, you have to come back with me.” He pleaded.
Sirius merely shook her head. “I can’t. Not yet. Because I was created as an attempt to revive Sephiroth, this is my punishment I guess you’d say. I’ll be returned when my sentence has been carried out.”
Cloud was choking back tears. He felt his eyes burning with them and wished that he could make them go away. He didn’t want Sirius to see him cry. “It’s not fair! That wasn’t your fault! You didn’t do anything bad with the powers they gave you! I don’t understand.”
He felt himself being pulled into her arms. His body finally released all the emotions that it had imprisoned as his frame wracked with a sob. “You have to live, Cloud. You have to live for your friends and for yourself until I return. Then you can live for me too.” He heard her whisper.
The blonde felt himself disappearing. His panic-stricken face turned to hers, but Sirius merely smiled warmly at him, releasing him and taking his hand as he disappeared. “Remember Cloud, live. Remember that I love you.”
---
The two sat in a comfortable silence as they stared ahead of them. Sirius was absentmindedly running her fingers through Cloud’s hair as his thumb gently stroked her arm. He would tell her. Why shouldn’t he? He’d waited three years to tell her what he felt and now was his chance. When he felt her fingers stop, he looked up at her.
“Sirius, there’s something I want to tell you.” Cloud said, any nervousness that he felt masked. “You can sense my feelings, so I’m sure you probably already know what I’m going to say.”
Sirius shook her head. “You’ve actually gotten pretty good at hiding your feelings, Cloud. Tell me.” That little fact made her happy mood droop a little.
Cloud sighed as he took her face in his hands. Making sure her eyes were on him, he began to speak. “Sirius, there were a lot of things that I should’ve told you that day. That I was angry that the Lifestream took you away, that I was in pain because I left you behind, that I’d lost all hope that you’d return, that I was afraid of dying for once in my life, that I was sad that I couldn’t bring you back with me. I wanted to say all of those things to you but I didn’t. The truth was, after I returned to the others without you, I wanted nothing more than to die. I wanted to join you in the Lifestream because I hadn’t told you the most important thing that I wanted to say.” The remainder of his sentence was held on baited breath. “Sirius, I love you too.”
Without waiting for her to answer, Cloud crushed his lips against hers. He’d never kissed anyone before, but that didn’t really matter at this point. A few seconds later, Sirius’s shock wore off as she kissed him back. He felt her warm tears against his cheeks as he pulled her into his arms. He’d waited three whole years for this. Now he had the woman he loved back in his arms. Nothing at all would take her away from him ever again.
---
Tifa had come out to set a small place at the bar for Sirius to eat. Yuffie was ridiculously happy for some reason as she pranced around Morghann and Reno, who were eating their breakfast. Cid sat down at the bar away from them, grumbling that they had some sort of medication to control her “problem.” The young ninja was content to ignore this and went about her dance. Tifa shook her head and went back to the kitchen.
“I should probably go get Siri and Cloud.” Yuffie said in a singsong voice. “Breakfast is ready.”
Morghann groaned a bit at the girl’s over anxiousness to disturb the two. “You should probably just leave them alone, Yuffie. They haven’t seen each other in three years and I know that Cloud has some things that he wants to get off his chest.”
Yuffie pouted. “But I promised I’d go get them when breakfast was ready! Besides, they can talk later. I’m sure that’s not all they’re going to do.”
“Yuffie. Just leave them be. Cloud rarely ever speaks his feelings and Sirius has broken his shell. He’s very closed off about the way he feels. They’ll be down in their own time.” Morghann tried to reason.
The young ninja proceeded to jump around the room in an erratic manner. Cid, in the mean time, was practically boiling over at this behavior. He didn’t have much patience for Yuffie and her hyper active antics. The girl failed to notice this however, and continued. Morghann even gave an irritated sigh. Cid finally blew up after five more minutes of her folly.
“Damnit, Yuffie! Just go upstairs and get the two for crying out loud!” he shouted. “Just get out of my damn hair!”
“Yay!” Yuffie exclaimed as she bolted up the stairs.
“So much for their talk.” Reno mumbled from beside Morghann.
---
Cloud brushed back Sirius’s bangs and smiled at her. A small purplish star-shaped bruise had been hidden on her forehead above her right eye. He recognized that familiar mark from Denzel’s bedridden form and his own left arm. His smile was replaced by a frown as he examined the spot. Sirius noticed this change in demeanor and questioned him with her eyes.
“What’s this?” Cloud asked, concern laced in his voice.
“Aeries explained it to me when I was first trapped in the Lifestream.” She explained. “It’s Geostigma. I have the marks on my arms too. She told me that it can’t be cured because I was directly injected with Jenova’s cells and the pain will be terrible, but it’s not fatal to me for the same reason.”
The blonde was silent for a moment. The information Sirius had just given him was a lot to take in. “So you’ll just be in pain whenever the Geostigma feels like acting up?”
Sirius nodded. “Aeries also said it was nothing personal, but Hojo and the other scientists at Shinra had to be punished. I was the example.”
Cloud felt his fist clenching. It wasn’t fair. Had she not suffered enough? “I’ll be with you. You won’t have to bear the pain alone.”
He took her into another kiss, this time pouring his emotions into it full tilt. A soft knock at the door interrupted their kiss. The two of them smiled gently at each other before Cloud bothered to acknowledge the knock. It was most likely Yuffie anyway.
“Yes?” he called from his place beside Sirius.
“Cloud, Siri, breakfast is ready!”
Both were right in the assumption that it had been Yuffie at the door. Cloud turned back to Sirius and planted another, gentler kiss before breaking it. “Shall we?” she asked him.
“I guess we really should. Otherwise, Yuffie isn’t going to leave us alone.” Cloud confirmed, rising to his feet. He took Sirius’s hand and led her to the door. As he opened it, they could hear her bounding down the stairs ahead of them. Smiles had shone on both their faces as they made their way down to the bar where the rest of the expectant friends awaited.
---
End Chapter