The Beginning is the End...

Beta’d by CaseyAnn’sPrecious

AN: Much love to you guys, and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Ratings, Disclaimer, and iWarning! are still the same.

Breathe
(By: Sugar Ray)
Chapter 9

The sounds reverberating off of the punching bag molded in with the rest of the noise in the busy room as fists pummeled the casing. Sephiroth had been in the gymnasium ever since Angeal and Genesis went to eat in the cafeteria. He didn’t dare follow; he liked eating without the gazes of the entire room upon him. Yet, the Firsts kept glancing over his way while comparing him to a machine, but that could be ignored… for now. He needed this- the physical feeling of force colliding with a mass, the kinetic energy being transferred from his fist to a solid- not only because of the blonds’ actions from their earlier encounter, but because of what Genesis had said to Angeal in their departure.

“They’ll be good SOLDIERs, they’re incredibly loyal.”

Loyal… loyal?! He drove his elbow into the bag for good measure as Shinra Rule Number 176 popped into his head; In the event should an officer stray and turn against the company, rank and privileges shall be stripped and actions will be brought forth in front of the Board of Directors.

It was written crystal clear, and there wasn’t even a government trial! He’d never been given the option of negotiating since the beginning. Cloud had only given a moment to take in the situation, and any thoughts of loyalty had fled from that blond head of his. The only thing Cloud had done was drive a sword through his gut!

But, of course, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the traitor stayed loyalty to Genesis.

Sephiroth stopped his motions as a bead of sweat formed near his hairline. Angeal was right, he wasn’t acting like himself. He was stressing too much over insignificant things and it was affecting his actions. He took off the white bandages wrapped around his knuckles and wiped the perspiration from his brow with the back of his hand. Maybe a vacation was needed? Sephiroth smirked as the idea of going to Nibelheim came to mind. Cloud would probably have a heart-attack if rumor got out that the General was on his way there.

“Please, just one fight!” Came a familiar voice from the background. Sure enough, it was the object plaguing his thoughts talking to one of the SOLDIERs. From the gist of the conversation, the other male was the third person that had turned the blond down while saying ‘If accidents can happen, then they will’.

Cloud was so focused on trying to find another SOLDIER to ask that Sephiroth’s presence had gone unnoticed as he walked up from behind.

“Cloud,” Sephiroth grinned as the blond jumped and turned to him. “I couldn’t help but overhear that you’re looking for a sparring partner. May I ask why that is?”

“I was told by Commander Rhapsodos that if I can get a First or Second Class SOLDIER to agree that I’m good enough for Second Class, then he would allow me to take the test,” Cloud frowned and snapped his mouth shut. He hadn’t meant to blurt out everything like that.

So Cloud was using Genesis to get to First Class. Sephiroth frowned and the smaller male fidgeted under his gaze. It was time to see what the blond could do while unenhanced… and maybe knock that pride down a peg or two while he was at it. He turned to the rack and grabbed two bracers.

“Put that on,” Sephiroth ordered and threw one in Cloud’s direction.

“Sir,” the SOLDIER 1st was looking at the two of them worriedly, “I don’t think it would be a good idea for me to fight him. I heard he just turned Third Class.”

Sephiroth looked at the First and blandly replied, “This other one isn’t for you. It’s for me.”

“What?” the two younger SOLDIERs echoed each other. Cloud’s mouth suddenly became dry. The General wanted to fight him? His brain went into ‘oh-shit’ mode as of all the different possibilities that could happen during the match popped into his head.

Sephiroth smirked and attached the dull item. “The bracer I gave him improves speed and strength. It will be as if he has the enhancements of a Third Class instead of just his tested shot. This bracer,” he held up his wrist to show, “is only used for healers. It cuts strength, speed, and anything needed for offence by more than half. In return it guards against any ailment that you can imagine.”

As they both went to an open area of the gym, Sephiroth kept his eyes on his opponent while he wondered what was going on in the blonds’ head. Then again, Cloud was probably thinking that now was the chance to get rid of the threat while he’s weak.

Though the way that Cloud was getting stronger was underhanded, he honestly couldn’t wait until the other was as strong as before. That way he could have someone to truly go up against instead of using Angeal and Genesis in their two vs. one mock battles.

The memories of those battles excited him, it was something to look forward to in this mess of monotony. Sephiroth just had to mess with the blond like he had so many times before. He leaned over and whispered a taunt.

“Don’t think I’m on your level just because my power has been reduced,” he warned. “I’m still fighting as a SOLDIER First Class.” The shift in those blue eyes had betrayed the boy’s intentions.

--

‘Shit.’ Cloud thought. His spur of the moment plan had gone to hell, and then the General continued with a smile. “So I suggest that you get rid of whatever thoughts you had to end me here, or the next time we meet will be in Nibelheim.”

‘Nibelheim? Does he… he knows?!’ Cloud looked straight into the other’s green eyes, his brain going a mile a minute. He didn’t mishear anything. If he attacked to kill then he’d be deployed so fast it would make his head spin, and what he’d been afraid of all along had just been confirmed. Sephiroth was not only faking sanity, but was still planning to go and recreate the madness!

The General walked to where his Masamune was, picked it up, and went into stance. Cloud remained immobile. It didn’t matter that there was a small group of SOLDIERs watching the performance, because they wouldn’t understand the reason as to why he was paralyzed in front of their superior. Not once did his eyes leave the tall figure as he slowly reached around for the old, worn out weapon on his back, and he could feel his hands shaking as he gripped the hilt.

“Come, Cloud,” Sephiroth said and gave a malicious smile.

The fight had just begun

--

*Nibelheim*

Complete and utter silence was the only thing Vincent wished for while he slept in his coffin. This repentance was as much for himself as it was for Lucrecia and everyone else that had gotten involved. He wasn’t strong enough to stop one single man, and they had died for it. It was now the only thing he could do, so it was the only thing he would do until his life faded away… to sleep until it became eternal.

The golden claw on his left arm still felt foreign to him, even after all this time spent from being surgically graphed onto his arm, and he tried to keep it as close to the coffin’s wall as possible. The cold metal only served as another reminder of his burden… just like the demons inside of his head.

In the beginning they had frightened him, tortured his thoughts with horrible visions and sent nightmares into his dreams, but after so many years of silence they had learned that he would not move from this place. Yet every now and then, much to his annoyance, they’d chatter amongst themselves in their own bestial language and bring him out of his precious slumber… much like now.

“There’s movement! There’s movement-movement-MOVEMENT!” Galian sung out in and hopped around in the unseen corners of his mind. Vincent had to concentrate so he didn’t lose control as the excitement of the demon threatened to take over and posses him. He could swear that he could almost feel the dog’s drool being splattered around as it did a frenzied dance.

“Vincent! Vincent!” it happily taunted, the gunman almost leapt out of his skin when it suddenly turned sinister. “There’s movement.”

He gasped as the thick voice felt like it had been spoken directly into his ear, and his vision veered toward the spot where it seemed to have come from. To say that he was surprised when he didn’t find anything there would have been a lie. Nothing was there, not physically, nothing was ever there. Yet the demon was there… watching him from every corner inside his head, and its earlier giddiness had left as a calm, bloodthirsty hunger took its place.

Vincent closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep, though he doubted that he’d ever rid himself of the inner terrors that seemed to lurk in the dark.

This was his atonement.

Soon the squeaking from the stairs came into his range of hearing, and the quiet voices of trespassers were headed in his direction. He could hear a young boy telling a story about the mansion.

“Shut up! There’s no such thing as ghosts!” a girl whispered aloud, and Vincent could almost laugh. If she didn’t believe in ghosts then why was she trying to be as quiet as the rest of them? Somehow they had gotten inside his room, and he silently prayed they would leave before they found him. It would not only cause the town panic, but he didn’t want to go find another sanctuary to repent.

He wanted to keep quiet, planned to, but for some reason his head had begun to spin and he groaned as light crept in around him. The demons were confused as well and let their instincts take over as viscous snarls came from their mouths.

A new fear came as the thought that he had another hidden demon inside, and it had finally taken control. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and Vincent slept peacefully once more.

*0~0*0~0*0~0*
~Before Time-lapse~

The three warriors jumped across the debris from the collapsing Shinra building. Vincent shot at Sephiroth as Cloud hopped from stone to stone, and the tainted mako streamed from their bodies as it rained down from above. Vincent tried to find solid footing from the crumbling walls, but they all were speedily plummeting to the ground. Jumping from object to object was the only way to make sure they wouldn’t die from the impact.

Vincent kept firing in hopes to draw the silver-haired man’s attention, but one flick of the enemy’s sword easily deflected the bullet. His tattered cape was on its last thread, and his dark hair obscured his vision as it flew around untamed.

They were almost to the ground. Vincent felt that he should jump up to another spot so he wouldn’t land too hard and immobilize himself, but their opponent landed first and used a freefalling pole as a distance weapon.

By the time he realized he had to dodge, it was over. The attack was too quick to move away from, and the metal went right through his chest. The force of the throw sent him falling at an angle that gave him a rough landing and he momentarily lost consciousness. He wished he hadn’t have come to.

The attack had just barely missed his heart, but the wound was fatal. It hurt.

Vincent gasped for breath as he felt himself choking in his own blood. He wasn’t sure if he’d lost consciousness again, but suddenly there was an unknown materia by his hand. At least it should be his hand, it was attached to him… the limb was completely numb. It was cruel to have something so close to him but couldn’t get to because he couldn’t move anything… couldn’t feel anything. He was paralyzed. All he could do was gaze at the glowing orb with wanton eyes.

The two other warriors were diving for it, and if only he could move then it wouldn’t have to be such a close call. The orb was not even an inch away from his fingers, but his lungs were already collapsing. He could feel it as his heart began to slow and his vision was fading.

Vincent sighted two hands coming into his view and had no idea who would reach it first, but as far as he could tell neither did. The materia seemed to have activated on its own and a warm light burst from the orb.

~End~
*0~0*0~0*0~0*

“Tifa!” a boy cried out… it was a different one from earlier. “Those are fricken coffins! Let’s go back, please!”

The demons inside of his mind panicked and bucked as they tore up their imaginary grounds, and he quickly sat up before his brain had a chance to figure out where he was at.

“Ow!” Vincent yelped, his head smacking into the coffin’s lid, and he fell back down to his laying position. The gunman violently shoved the lid open while the kids began screaming as they ran back up the stairs.

The demons were still frenzied, whatever had happened was done to them too, and just like the beasts they were they threatened a violent death to anything within range. The ruckus and noise was straining his mind, and he brought his flesh arm up to his head to rub at the sore spot he’d created upon awakening.

“Enough!” Vincent tried to command them, but the paranoid beasts were still unable listen.

What was worse was that they were making his head spin, and he gave up any other attempts to try and calm them. He could feel his vision cross, his stomach began to feel too hot, and he quickly stumbled out of his box and retched on the floor. The smell was pungent, but he didn’t care about that so much as to the pain the demons were still causing. All he could do was gag from the nausea and wait until they settled down.

When they felt like they had scared away the threat, his head pains turned into a dull throb. He slowly got up and used the coffin to brace himself. He needed to go outside and find out what was going on.

--

*Junon*

“Come, Cloud,” Sephiroth smiled with all the wickedness he could muster and tried not to give an actual grin. The small blond had finally caught on to the fact that he wasn’t the only one that had been sent back, and that his opponent was physically stronger in no small amounts. It was exciting, it was humorous, and it was entertainment.

During their stare-off, one of the Firsts in their audience ordered a Second to go find the Commander or Lieutenant, and the other quickly ran out the door. At least someone knew when something was out of the ordinary.

Sephiroth’s eyes were trained on the form in front of him, and Masamune was raised in preparation. Cloud held Shinra’s poorly crafted weapon as he too took his stance. The boy’s face had gone almost white from fear and was already perspiring.

“Are you going to attack, or should I give you more incentive?” Sephiroth taunted and hoped the other took the bait. He wasn’t disappointed.

Cloud pitched forward and Sephiroth blocked the first swing, and as the weapons connected the blond jumped away and immediately went back into stance. The two of them circled each other, testing the waters.

After Sephiroth blocked another attack, the blond didn’t jump away to get distance, but instead twisted the blade around and tried to get in a few more swings. The swords clashed together in a swift dance as he easily blocked with Masamune, and Cloud jumped back again. The other didn’t seem too perturbed that none of the swings connected, but instead charged back in and started swinging furiously with greater strength and speed.

That’s when Sephiroth remembered that the blond had just gotten the sword only hours ago. Cloud was testing its hold and balance in battle, and he almost grinned in pleasure. Their swords came together in a series of blocks and strikes. A few times he parried and every so often sent out a strike for Cloud to dodge. It was still all too easy, and the speed of the fight had begun to pick up as the other got used to the weapon.

Sephiroth allowed Cloud to set the pace of the fight, and every so often the smaller male would jump away to keep the battle away from repetition. On this turn, the blond backed up and completely changed hold over the weapon, and Sephiroth instantly recognized that ability the moment he saw the stance. He dropped to one knee in preparation to take the damaged before Cloud even started yelling.

“BRAVER!” …

Nothing happened.

Sephiroth caught his momentary lapse in judgment when no damage was done, but soon the blond was at his side and swinging the mass of metal to horizontally cut at his unprotected back. He had to force his body to oddly twist to the side while he brought up Masamune to ward off the strike, and the crash of metal grinding against metal created sparks in the air.

Cloud used the momentum of the glancing blow to twist his lithe body and forced the blade to come spinning back around.

Sephiroth barely had time to scramble from his awkward position and dodge roll as the thick weapon pierced the flooring that he’d occupied only moments before.

The other SOLDIERs in the background were forgotten by the two of them, but the group was getting antsy and wondered if now would be a good time to stop the battle. Their General and this new SOLDIER were getting a little more into it then normal, and they worried for both warriors’ safety. Well, mostly feared for the gym’s floors… this wasn’t the training room, after all.

When Sephiroth got back to his feet, he looked over to the smirking blond and grinned as he realized he’d just been psyched. Of course Cloud wouldn’t know a Limit Break yet. SOLDIERs developed those skills as First or Second Class and were only able to do so with high dosages of mako. Though, he had to give props, it was an interesting way to make an opening.

The two of them were back to where they started from, but it was obvious that the unenhanced SOLDIER was beginning tire. Their swords were raised as they waited for an opening and they circled each other carefully. They both simultaneously charged forward as swords struck again.

‘It would be so easy.’ Sephiroth thought as he kept the pace his opponent could handle. ‘It would be so easy to just…’ Cloud overstepped and lost his balance. ~‘Kill him.’~ Before he could rethink his movements Masamune had already twisted in its direction and lunged for the unguarded neck.

Blue eyes widened as the blond realized the careless mistake and tried to bring the broadsword up in an attempt to block the oncoming blow, but they both know the move would be too slow.

Sparks flew from where Masamune was forced into contact with a red rapier and the battle stopped in its tracks. A different set of blue eyes glared at him from beneath red hair, and Sephiroth stepped back to confirm that the battle was over.

“I hope there’s an explanation for this,” Genesis growled as he looked back and forth between them.

“Did you not give Strife permission to battle?” Sephiroth asked. It would be an issue if the blond had also lied.

“That I have, but I wasn’t talking about the fight itself, General,” Genesis continued in a low, displeased tone. Angeal and a SOLDIER, who had left previously, chose that moment to be the next to come rushing into the gym to see Genesis standing between Cloud and him.

“What’s going on? I heard there was trouble in here,” Angeal asked, but he could already take a guess as to what had happened from the scenery. The blond was equipped with an enhancement bracer on while he had battle support, and Genesis was standing in the middle, seemingly protecting the said fallen boy.

“Let’s discuss this elsewhere,” Genesis said, focusing his tone on Sephiroth. “Office. You too, Blondie.”

Cloud got up and lowered his head as he followed his superiors out of the door. The other SOLDIERs in the gym could only look at the hole from where the blond had driven his sword in. They all gave heavy sighs; if they didn’t get that fixed then they were going to catch holy hell from the officers.

--

*Elsewhere*

The right side of Zack’s body hung out of the jeep as he held onto the hood’s metallic bars. The other vehicles followed close behind. Zack couldn’t remember how few of them had been recommended to take the test, but only he and one other guy had passed! How sweet was that! And now he was headed back home to Junon.

A particular bump made Zack’s body pitch forward and collide with the front of the jeep’s pipes.

“I told you to keep your arms and legs in!” the driver hollered at him.

“Sorry!” Zack yelled back and sat down properly in the seat, but the giddy smile never left his face. Only four more hours and he’d be home again.

To be continued…

AN: Sorry if Cloud doesn’t seem very “WTF?!” to you, but he never did seem like the type of guy that said his thoughts much, gloomy bastard...
Vincent was the only other one of Cloud's party that was still alive (though barely) when the planet's materia activated. So I'm sorry but the rest of the team isn't going to remember jack. To all of you who love Vincent - I adore him, and I absolutely love how people make his waking up all epic! BUT… I decided to do something a little different then the norm. I hope you guys enjoyed watching Vincent smack himself in the head XD

Have any questions? I might have matching answers!

Please Review! (Criticism accepted as long as it's constructive...)