【SC】Endless Journey

When Claude held Sephiroth and jumped into the abyss, for a moment, he hoped that the other party would survive.

He knew that this kind of thinking would cause endless troubles for the planet, but when he saw a shadow of the young Sephiroth on the other party, emotion overcame reason, so he finally chose to take Sephiroth to leave together.

Together they fell into the Stream of Life, where Cloud entered Sephiroth's memory.He thought he would see more pictures of how the other party retrieved Jenova a hundred years ago, and how he fought him to seize the planet, but in fact, the first thing that emerged from the other party's memory was the scene in the research institute. childhood.

The little Sephiroth was lying on the experimental table with such a quiet expression, occasionally frowning briefly due to pain, but never uttered a moan.

Claude had seen such a scene, and his heart tightened involuntarily.He tried to hug each other, but he was not in this scene, he could only pass through little Sephiroth's body like a ghost.But for some reason, the other party turned his head towards him as if sensing him, and parted his lips slightly.

"……Mother."

In an instant, a surge of emotion overwhelmed him.

The word was like a curse, binding them who were supposed to be enemies tightly together.

The next moment, they were submerged in the warm water of the bathtub.Young Sephiroth's wet silver hair hung on his shoulders, eagerly demanding his kiss, their bodies tightly entangled, trying to find comfort in the friction.

"...Claude."

……No.No, we are brothers.

Claude wanted to push back, but found that his body was approaching the other party honestly.He raised his head abruptly, and saw himself in a dazed state in those snake-like green vertical pupils.

——No, this is Sephiroth's memory.

Claude jerked himself away, and gasped for breath.

He lowered his head again, and found that Sephiroth showed no sign of waking up.So in the following time, he stayed by the other party's side all the time, diving into the depths of the other party's soul again.

"Who are you looking for?"

As soon as he entered this time, he saw a little silver-haired boy standing in front of him.Before he had time to answer, the boy's outline began to change and elongate, and he soon became the appearance of a youth.

"Are you looking for me, or him? Or—"

Claude knew who the young man was going to become next, and hurriedly grabbed him: "No, I just want to take you back."

Those snake-like vertical pupils looked at him quietly, as if they had already seen through his thoughts.Claude persisted for a few seconds before finally losing.

"I just... want to know what you think."

The young man turned back into a boy again, and tilted his head slightly: "As you wish."

The surrounding scene suddenly began to change, solid ground appeared under the two of them, the crowd passed through his body screaming and screaming, and there was a sea of ​​burning fire all around.

... Nibelheim.

Claude's breathing stagnated, and the scene switched to the secret room in the magic furnace like a movie set, where a tall glass container contained the corpse of an ancient female.

—Jenovia.

However, this scene did not stay for too long, and the scene switched to the ancient temple. The tall building collapsed into a small black magic spar, and a blond youth who looked exactly like him gave it to Sephiroth.

... No, stop!

Then he saw the steel city of Midgar 200 years ago. When the meteorite fell, it rubbed against the atmosphere, and the sky burned red.

Do not!

And then he saw himself fighting Sephiroth under the cloudy sky, copulating in the dead ruins...

--enough!Claude growled inwardly.

He covered his forehead in pain, while the silver-haired boy looked at him sympathetically: "Do you want to continue watching?"

Claude slowed down for a while, and asked wearily: "Do you want me to continue watching?"

So the scene changed again, and this time Claude saw the familiar research institute.The silver-haired boy jumped off his own bed, walked to another bed, and hugged the bandaged blond boy.

"You need me, Claude." I don't know when the boy turned into a youth again, and then turned into the adult Sephiroth he was most familiar with.

The other party gently untied the bandage, and the index finger went deep into the wound to stir, and more blood oozed out.

"Only I can keep you alive." The man put a kiss on the top of his hair, and then withdrew his fingers, "...so you must need me."

Claude froze all over, and the healed incision suddenly began to ache like a hallucination.

He finally knows why his body has been unable to return to normal.This is Sephiroth's subconscious wish that the other party wants him to need him, so his wounds cannot heal without S cells - but even Sephiroth himself is not aware of this.

"Do you want to continue watching?" The silver-haired boy asked for the second time.

Claude took a deep breath, calmed down, and nodded.So then Sephiroth's subconscious took him through the six years after their resurrection.

This time Claude saw a picture of them in the research institute, and there was a copy of "Song of Gaia" beside Sephiroth's pillow.The other party never seems to take the initiative to open this book, but it has been placed on the other party's bedside, and it was not engulfed in fire until the day they left the institute.

The scene switched again, and he saw the wilderness of Chocobo Farm. The gentle evening wind blew across the pasture, and the air was filled with a faint fragrance of grains.Sephiroth stood on the tree and looked into the distance. There were a few wisps of cooking smoke floating in the endless field.

The scene switches again.He saw himself helping Sephiroth wash his long hair in the bathtub. After washing, the two hugged each other and lay on the bed. He had already fallen into a deep sleep, but Sephiroth was lying on his side looking at him, without closing his eyes all night...

Claude was a little surprised.Sephiroth had unknowingly treated him as mother and brother for the past six years, and he thought he would hate the experience.But from Sephiroth's point of view, both of them actually had a very happy time during this time.

The boy's memories finally came to an end, and the two came to a piece of silver land.

The rising sun illuminates the sky, and the mountains and rivers reflect the luster of metal.The starlight of the universe is faintly visible outside the thin atmosphere, and a huge star hangs above the horizon like a newborn moon.

Claude suddenly felt a little familiar, and then he remembered that he had seen the scenery of this alien star in his dream.He thought it was the memory of the original Type S, but never thought that it actually belonged to Sephiroth.

The silver-haired boy seemed to see what he was thinking, so he changed back to his original adult form and stopped behind him.

"This is our common memory, a memory inherited in Jenova's genes."

Claude was silent for a few seconds and turned towards him.

"So you agree with Xenovia's theory of origin and fate."

"Life is short. Even a planet with a unit of billions of years will be destroyed one day, but I will not."

It wasn't the first time that Claude heard Sephiroth talk about this matter, and he was no longer angry about it, he just couldn't understand it all the time.

"You are already one of the most powerful beings on this planet. You can get anything you want, and you can live until the end of the world. Why are you still so obsessed with this matter?"

Sephiroth looked up at the stars in the sky, narrowing his pupils slightly.

"There are countless ancient lives in this universe, some primitive like bacteria, some with higher intelligence than human beings, but they all disappeared in the geological changes and extinction of celestial bodies for hundreds of millions of years. Our mother used hundreds of millions of I evolved to be more powerful than other species in order to escape this fate, and the apex of this evolution is me. When you stand at the top of all life like me, you will not want to give up easily. "

It was a difference of ideas, and Cloud knew they couldn't convince each other, but that didn't explain another problem.

"Since you have been resurrected, and your future does not require my participation, why do you have to let me live?"

He once asked Sephiroth before falling into the core of the planet, but the other party did not answer positively.Sephiroth's obsession with him even exceeds his own life, and he still doesn't know the reason behind it.

At that moment Sephiroth seemed to recognize who he was, and the whole world shook violently.Claude knew that the other party was about to wake up, and was about to withdraw from Sephiroth's memory, but was suddenly held by the arm.

"What if I told you that the planet is actually nearing the end of its life?"

The conversation came to an abrupt end.

The surrounding pictures continued to collapse, but Claude looked at each other in shock as if standing still.

After a long time, he spoke again: "I thought..."

"You think I hate humans, I hate you." Sephiroth looked down at him, with a little love in his pupils, "Actually, I don't care what happens to humans. I love you."

Claude returned to reality again, feeling like a world away.

"You and I both survived, so do you regret it?" Sephiroth held his hand, staring at him deeply with his green vertical pupils.

The other party didn't know what he saw in the stream of life, and thought he was covering it up well, but Claude suddenly felt exhausted in his heart.

He already knew the motive of Sephiroth's resurrection, and also knew how the other party saw him.However, the beginning and end of the problem is not between the two of them, and he suddenly feels confused about how to face Sephiroth in the future.

Claude hesitated for a moment, then withdrew his hand from the opponent's fingers.

"I hope I don't, but it's not me who can decide this."

As if the dust of the judgment he had been waiting for had settled, Sephiroth's expression softened instantly.The other party leaned over slightly, pinned a strand of fallen forehead hair back behind his ear, and then sat back on the bed.

"What do you want me to do?" Sephiroth made an expression of "you can talk and listen", but Claude knew that it was limited to listening.

"I want you to live the life of an ordinary person, without pain and killing, and nothing taking planets. Are you willing to accept such a life?" he asked hopelessly.

Sephiroth chuckled after hearing this: "What you want is him, the C-07 who hasn't recovered his memory yet."

Claude didn't deny it.

He thought Sephiroth would be displeased by this, but the other party's reaction was surprisingly calm.

"I am him, you know this very well." Sephiroth reminded lightly, "As long as you are still trying to distinguish us, you will not be able to truly accept my existence, and you will never be able to reach a reconciliation with yourself."

Cloud knew he was right, Sephiroth knew what he was thinking better than him a lot of the time.But he also understands Sephiroth's attitude, the other party will never return to the human position, so the tenderness between them cannot last long.

Claude was silent for a long time, and raised his hand to caress his old enemy's cheek.This was the first time he had discussed the subject so peacefully with Sephiroth, and it might be the last.

"Yes, you are Sephiroth." Claude murmured, feeling a little sad suddenly in his heart, "...Even if you don't become a hero or a disaster, you can't bear an ordinary life."

He didn't finish the sentence, but both of them had understood each other's choice.

So Sephiroth looked at him for a while, then suddenly put a superficial kiss on his lips, and then left the ward.

That afternoon, Claude moved out of the ward and asked to check the situation on the front line with Genesis and others.

When he walked into the combat conference room behind the giant cannon in Junong Military Port, the room was already full of people.Pete—no, he can be called Zacks now, sitting on the sofa beside Angel, while Genesis and Vincent are discussing around the virtual sand table; To obtain information, Nanaki squatted aside and listened to their discussions, occasionally giving some opinions.

The moment he entered the meeting room, the air was suddenly quiet for a few seconds.

Claude felt a little uncomfortable with this scene that became the focus of his attention, so he went straight to the sofa that was farthest away.

"...you can continue the discussion."

Vincent nodded, but the brown-haired poet at the side turned a deaf ear to his words, and instead looked him up and down with strange eyes.

Although he and Genesis have known each other's existence for a long time because of Gaia, the number of times the two have actually met in 200 years can only be counted on a handful.Claude doesn't think Genesis has any special opinion of himself, so this kind of scrutiny is mostly related to Sephiroth.

"What's the matter?" He asked patiently.

As if realizing that his gaze was too direct, Genesis withdrew his gaze and whispered to himself, "...It's hard to imagine that Sephiroth would regard you as a mother."

"Pfft—" Zack, who was drinking water, spat out.

"Oh, I'm not targeting you," Genesis added.

"I know." Claude's face was not very good.

The meeting room quickly resumed its bustle.Genesis and Vincent continued to discuss the original S-type on the front line. Claude leaned against the wall and listened for more than ten minutes, getting a general understanding of the current situation.

After he wiped out most of the magic spar caves that the original S-type led to the western continent, it retreated from the strait to the northern continent, and then spread towards the eastern continent.Due to the excessive reduction in the number before, it took about a week for the original S-type to re-proliferate to the extent that it could spread.During this period, Vincent and others negotiated with the Prime Minister of the Grand Duchy, while Angel contacted old friends in the military to communicate the seriousness of the matter.Their first negotiation failed, so Angel led the army to surround the Prime Minister's Palace, and the power of the Grand Duchy was directly handed over to the top military. Then Midgar declared a state of emergency and began to evacuate the residents.

"Although most of the residents have been evacuated to Junong, there are still people who don't want to leave. I'm afraid it's already..." Angel frowned.

White called up the footage taken by the drone, and everyone looked at the screen.

In the aerial footage, most of the tall buildings in New Midgar have collapsed into ruins, and silver creeps have covered every corner of the city.There were no people, birds or beasts on the street, only the cars left behind by the fleeing residents were parked empty on the side of the road.Most of the organic components in the tires were decomposed by the silver-white creep, showing a semi-melted state. The plants in the green space seemed to have been hollowed out to leave a fibrous shell, and new silvery branches protruded from the inside.

"...it will devour living things." Claude recalled the scene in the void of Peking University, trying to analyze the current situation, "Jenovia was originally a parasitic life form, when its parent body could not provide the energy it needed to survive when you become a part of it.”

But after he finished speaking, he immediately realized a more serious question: "——has it absorbed genes from other organisms?"

"That's right, so it's not just the front that's the problem. It spawns new monsters, just like the ones in the Institute." White called up another file, showing him several other videos.

In this video, Claude saw a group of silver-gray mutant dogs flying towards nearby soldiers, and one of them instantly tore the fully armed adult man into pieces.Another soldier backed away and poured bullets at the mutant dog, but before taking a few steps, he was caught in the air by a swooping silver winged lizard, and then fell heavily into a pulp.

Genesis walked up to him and watched the video together, showing a somewhat disgusted expression: "It is evolving, and the more genes it absorbs, the faster it evolves. In theory, it can become you, me, or even Sarah. It looks like Philos, but it consumes too much, and it doesn't think it's worthwhile, so it changes to create more economical mutant creatures to attack Midgar's defense line. This only shows one thing—"

"...It already has a certain degree of thinking ability." Claude finished the rest of the words for him, and his heart gradually sank.

He thought for a moment, then suddenly turned around and looked around the conference room, frowning slightly: "Where's Sephiroth?"

"He hasn't been here since he came out of your ward." Genesis shrugged. "If you don't even know where he is, no one will be able to find him."

Claude was silent for a few seconds and decided to skip this question for now.

"White, according to the current situation, how long will it take for it to break through the northern border of Junong?"

This sentence darkened the faces of everyone in the room, and Claude suddenly had a bad feeling.

"Actually...according to the data you brought back from the Northern Continent and its current surface area, if my model is not wrong, even if some natural decay and loss are included..." White typed a few letters on the keyboard , called up a dynamic simulation file, and looked at him nervously.

"—There are only seven days left before it completely covers the planet."

...the seven days before the end.

Claude was in a trance for a moment, feeling that this scene seemed familiar.

They were also given some time when the meteorite struck violently 200 years ago. This time seems to give people hope, but in fact it can't do much.If it wasn't for the divine magic activated by Alice before she died to resist the meteor at the last moment, at most they would have defeated Sephiroth alone.

For several minutes he stared at the screen without saying a word, and the hearts of everyone in the conference room hung in their throats.It wasn't until he turned around again that everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

——If Claude thinks there is a way, then the planet is probably still saved.This is the consensus of all.

Claude pondered for a moment, then looked up at Vincent: "I asked you to recover the Ultima magic stone, did you get it later?"

"Here." Vincent took out a small black box from his arms, and the green magic spar lay quietly in the middle of the flannel.

Genesis thought he would take the magic stone, but Claude just took a look and closed the box for Vincent.

"I'm going to the front line to see, it was in your hand before that." Claude touched Nanaki's mane comfortingly, and the latter was looking at him with worried eyes, "It's not a last resort Try not to use it under the circumstances, I don't know how much resistance the original S type has produced against it, if the resistance is higher..."

——Most magic attacks are ineffective against the original S type.

Everyone in the conference room understood what he meant, so Vincent put the box back in his arms and nodded slightly to him: "Be careful yourself."

Claude nodded: "I will."

After leaving the meeting room, Claude immediately rushed to the apron. The last batch of reinforcement soldiers was about to go to Midgar that day, and he also successfully boarded the last helicopter.

Angel originally wanted to go with them, but was stopped by Zacks and Genesis at the same time.

"Midgar's army needs command, and your presence here in Junon is more important than going to the front line in person."

Zack tried his best to press him on the sofa, but Angel still insisted: "The front lines are all my soldiers, and I can't leave them in a safe place by myself."

"The front lines of Midgar are full of monsters now. Ordinary humans used to be no different from feeding that thing. Don't add to our burden until we find a solution to it." Genesis ended the topic bluntly, and then carried a Max walked out of the conference room by his collar.

It wasn't until the three of them walked far enough that Zack asked in a low voice, "Did you say too much just now?"

Genesis glanced at him coldly: "Can you persuade him? Don't forget that he is just an ordinary human right now, without Mako transformation or Xenova cells. How dangerous are other soldiers on the front line?" How dangerous."

"I know, I mean, since we are all concerned about him, we don't need to be so direct..."

"He doesn't remember anything anymore." Genesis said suddenly, and his pace slowed temporarily, "...There is no need to have anything to do with Xenovia. If he can spend this life as an ordinary human being, then You should enjoy your new life. He deserves it."

Zack froze for a moment, then fell silent.

"You're right." In the end he came to such a conclusion and stopped refuting the other party.

Claude walked behind the two, listening to the familiar conversation, hesitated for a moment and did not speak.

At the moment of the planet's survival and death, no one can survive alone, and those two people should understand this truth.But even so, they wanted to protect Angel as best they could, and Claude didn't want to break this tender illusion.

Due to fear of air strikes, the helicopter landed at a temporary station thirty kilometers away from the front line, and with a little distance left, they changed to a car and headed to Midgar.By the time they reached the front line, it was already sunset, and the battle of the day had long since ended, leaving only a mess on the battlefield.

The afterglow of the setting sun dyed the entire sky red, and cumulonimbus clouds drifting rapidly were faintly visible in the distance.There are silver winged lizards hovering in the sky, and the monsters on the ground are eating the corpses of other monsters.

The defense of Midgar ended in a disastrous defeat for humans. The fortifications were torn apart by the original S-type, and the frontline troops were almost wiped out.Claude casually disposed of more than a dozen silver winged lizards trying to attack him, and killed all the mutant dogs roaming the battlefield, and only then rescued a few dying soldiers from the ruins.

During this process, he could always feel a certain familiar atmosphere nearby, so he roughly prepared himself for what might happen next.He asked Zack and Genesis to take the wounded back to the temporary station first, while he rode the locomotive left by the frontline soldiers to the outskirts of New Midgar, and did not stop until the top of the nearby cliff.

This location is less than ten kilometers away from the city center and can almost overlook the entire city.

Cloud looked down the mountain, and Midgar, which was invaded by the original S-type, was like a shattered glass snowball, and the bustling buildings and streets in the past were covered with a thin layer of silver.There is no trace of any living things in the city, but the cold reinforced concrete surface has weak expansion and contraction, as if a giant beast is breathing.

"...Reunion."

"--You came."

"—Come on, Reunion."

Claude shook his head, driving the chaotic noise out of his mind.

He looked at the distant horizon again, and the place he could see was already covered with metallic creeps, and Gaia's original scenery could not be seen at all.

In his impression, the original S-type has always been a highly active creature, swallowing everything on the surface of the planet with a huge sea of ​​cells.However, at this moment, it seems that its way of existence is actually more like viruses and fungi, trying to parasitize on any kind of items that can absorb energy, and repeat the process of absorbing and multiplying until it sucks up the life flow of a planet, and then Then spread their spores into the universe.

This is the "eternity" that Xenovia pursues, Claude thought, a meaningless life other than the instinct of reproduction.

The cumulonimbus clouds in the sky finally came to the sky, followed by a gust of wind mixed with water vapor.Claude felt a few drops of rain on his face, and was about to turn around and drive towards the station, but was enveloped by the shadows falling from the sky.

He knew who was behind him without turning his head, so he temporarily turned off the engine.

"I thought you didn't plan to come back." Claude's tone was very flat, but he secretly held the handle of the six-style knife tightly.

Sephiroth pretended not to see his reaction, and spread his wings to cover the two from the falling rain: "Why?"

"intuition."

"Don't you ask me where I went?"

"I know you're here."

After saying this, both of them fell into a brief silence.

After a few minutes, Cloud turned around and looked at Sephiroth with the last twilight.

"Will you stay?" he asked suddenly.

For a moment Sephiroth froze when he thought he might already know something.But soon the rain became unsuitable for continuing the conversation, so Sephiroth glanced at the cloudy sky and handed him his hand: "We'll talk when we go back."

Claude didn't move, but gently opened his wings.

"Actually, I was thinking about one thing after waking up." Claude paused, hesitating whether he should continue the words, "...you always knew the way to really eliminate it."

Sephiroth's hand was stuck in the air, without denying it.

——He could think of gathering the original S-type and using Ultima to deal with it. Sephiroth, who had contacted the opponent earlier than him, could not have thought of it.Sephiroth has never been a person who just sits and waits to be killed, so there is only one reason why the opponent never makes a move.

Claude knew he had guessed right, and his tone became heavier.

"...And this method is not a meteor, so you never planned to tell me."

Sephiroth looked at him quietly, still not denying it.

He had been vaguely aware of this after talking with Sephiroth's subconscious mind in the stream of life, but he was still in shock at that time, and didn't immediately figure it out.Until just now, he suddenly realized that anger is also a form of escape.

He already knew why Sephiroth did what he did, so he couldn't pretend anymore that he was taking a stand of absolute innocence.Once the further words are exported, they will never be able to return to the hypocritical confrontation.

"You didn't actually want to destroy it, did you."

The wind became more and more violent, and the rain fell on the two of them densely, gradually soaking the cloth on his body and Sephiroth's feathers.

Claude looked up at Sephiroth, his strange vertical pupils were covered by thick eyelashes, and his tall body was wrapped in long silver hair.The other party was as beautiful as when he first saw him, but he knew that there was a dangerous soul hidden under that divine appearance.

Sephiroth looked at him for a long time, his eyes gradually changed from calm to crazy.He suddenly raised his hand to brush away the wet forehead hair for Claude, showing a half-smile expression.

"If I say yes...you will be disappointed."

For a long time they just looked at each other, neither moved.The blond-haired young man stared at him, a complicated expression flashed across his blue pupils, and then he slowly closed his eyes.

After a full minute, the other party suddenly grabbed his collar, forced him to lower his head, and then imprinted on his lips.

"I loved you." Claude let go of his hand and took two steps back, "But next time we won't meet like this again."

Sephiroth froze in place for a moment.

He originally just wanted to test how much Claude knew, but he didn't expect that Claude really planned to let him go this time. The meaning behind this move shocked him more than the other party's own confession that he loved him.

Before his brain reacted, he had already rushed to grab Claude who was about to leave, and eagerly found the other's lips to print on.Claude turned from refusal at the beginning to tearing his hair, and finally let go of his teeth and kissed him.

He pressed against the other's forehead between kisses, and gasped, "I won't change back to C-07, but I won't betray you either."

Claude trembled violently in his arms, and in the next second Sephiroth ignored the opponent's struggle and hugged him horizontally, and flew away from Midgar against the rain.