【SC】Endless Journey

Claude's head hurts, and his limbs are more numb than usual.This kind of discomfort is not physical. Although he can still control his body, he can no longer feel the details of the real world—he doesn't know whether the air is cold or hot, and when he got out of bed, he kicked the corner of the table and only felt vaguely. There was a dull pain, and there should have been a smell of disinfectant in the ward, but he smelled nothing.

Vincent was right, the soul was damaged by force beyond the limits of the body, so he was losing touch with the real world.

Claude walked into the conference room pretending nothing happened, and White was sitting in front of the screen monitoring several satellite images.Everyone sat on the sofa in disarray, with countless cans of coffee and paper materials piled up in front of them.

Claude looked around and found that there was one person missing in the room.

"Where's Angel?"

"He was in a meeting with Major General Cook. He came back just now. He took some materials from here and went over." Zacks went to the file cabinet and took out two bottles of drinks, shaking him, "Water or coffee ?”

"Water, thank you." Claude took a bottle of water thrown by the other party, and saw a military supplies logo on the package.He unscrewed it and took a sip, but found that the tip of his tongue could not feel any temperature, and put it back on the table silently.

"What did the military say?"

Zack glanced at Genesis, who immediately turned his head out of the window, and Zack shrugged resignedly.

"Major General Cook wants to blow up that meteorite."

Claude couldn't help frowning: "Didn't you try it before? 'He' and the meteor will repair each other, this method is impossible to work."

"Uh... that was a day ago." Zacks looked at his face, and replied cautiously, "In fact, after your battle ended, it took him about six hours to arrive at the Beida Hollow, and then the meteorite died. It started to rise and now stops at an altitude of more than 2000 kilometers."

... two thousand kilometers.

This is a very subtle number, and in Claude's perception, it is usually the orbital altitude of a near-Earth satellite.The meteorite had been parked in the stratosphere, but now it was suddenly moved to the satellite orbit by "he", there must be some unknown reason.

Claude suddenly had a strange premonition that what the other party did was probably related to Sephiroth's remaining will.

"It has entered the near-Earth satellite orbit, and this altitude is just stuck at the critical point where it will not be torn apart by Gaia's gravity, so it has begun to orbit Gaia." White's words further verified his idea.

——No, not only that.

This also means that "he" actively cut off contact with the meteorite.

Claude involuntarily quickened his breathing.He now urgently needs to know Sephiroth's movements in order to confirm the other party's purpose for doing so.

"What about him?"

"'He' is still in the Peking University Cavern, and has not moved for about twenty hours, and has no other actions—I mean, absorbing the flow of life." White zoomed in on the window that monitored the Peking University Cavern in real time, and the satellite The thermal image of Sephiroth shows that the light spot of Sephiroth has been staying at the bottom of the North Great Hole, and the brightness has always remained stable.

That feeling slowly grabbed Claude's heart, and his mood became extremely tense.This is of course good for "he", because the meteorite is too far away from the opponent, and it is difficult for him to use the energy of the giant magic spar to destroy both at the same time; but on the other hand, unless it happens to pass over the opponent's head during the battle , otherwise "he" will not be able to extract the energy of the meteorite from tens of thousands of kilometers away to repair himself.

Claude knew that the other party probably did this to preserve Xenovia's fire, but deep in his heart there was always a voice that kept poking at his already restless nerves.

"do not forget me."

...no, don't think about it.

Claude warned himself, but couldn't control his thoughts at all.

"...Remember this initial hatred."

...don't think about it.

"do not forget me."

— don't think about it!

Claude slammed on the table, startling everyone.

"...Sorry. I'm going out for a few minutes." He whispered, and then hurriedly left the conference room.

It wasn't until he reached the end of the corridor that he took a deep breath against the cold wind.

He didn't know why that person stopped in the void of Beida and didn't do anything. The other party could take advantage of this period to absorb the life flow of the planet or leave with the meteor. He didn't even have a chance to stop "him".But from the information White gave, it seemed more like "he" was waiting for something—or someone.

Claude's chest suddenly began to ache.

Although his wound has completely healed, the pain has long been left in his soul.He clearly remembered that at the end of their battle, the familiar hatred and cruelty returned to the opponent's face, but when Zhengzong pierced into the heart, he became a little suspicious and dazed again.For a few seconds he felt like he might have brought the real Sephiroth back, but the momentary surprise was followed by a moment of new terror.

——What did I bring back?

Claude couldn't help questioning himself.

He may have brought Sephiroth back, or it may be a Sephiroth who neither saved himself on the battlefield, nor killed his mother and burned the village in Nibelheim, and did not fight with himself in the long years of 200 years. The Sephiroth who had killed each other was also the Sephiroth who was not with him in the laboratory.The other party will not remember the pain and happiness he once had, nor how much unforgettable pain he has been given. What he brings back is the simple, powerful and cruel planetary disaster 200 years ago.

Just thinking about this possibility made him so painful that he couldn't breathe.

"Remember this initial hatred, don't forget me."

...I can't forget you at all, but what about you?

Claude tightly held the fabric in his hand, and slowly closed his eyes.

After you've been through so much, do you still want to return to the original self that had nothing?Is everything between us still meaningful to you?

The familiar feeling of suffocation flooded Cloud's chest again.He had lost so much in his past life, both happy and painful memories were equally important to him, because those were proofs that he had lived.But he knew that this might just be his own wishful thinking, now that Sephiroth has gained power, perhaps those memories are not needed.

Claude had a vague feeling that the person "he" was waiting in the void of Peking University was himself.In any case, he had to go to Peking University Kongkong, and he wanted to confirm this with the other party himself.

When Zack walked out of the meeting room, he happened to see the figure at the end of the corridor.He felt that Claude might need some comfort, so he stepped forward and patted the young man on the shoulder, but found that the other party had no response.

"Claude?" He noticed something strange.

The young man turned his head when he heard the sound, his eyes were full of belated surprise.Zack was taken aback for a moment, and soon realized that something terrible had happened to Cloud.

"Can't you feel that I'm touching you?!" Zack tried to pull him over to check carefully, but Claude avoided it without a trace.

The other party hesitated for a moment, but finally did not deny it.

... This is what Vincent said, and it's starting to come true.

Zacks recalled the content of the last meeting, and his mood suddenly sank to a cold bottom.

Damage to the soul is irreversible once it begins.Although Sephiroth has also endured greater energy in order to strengthen himself, the soul of the other party is not the same as that of a human being. Even if Claude has a body similar to him, he is only a human being in spirit. It is destined to have such a result when Philos uses a similar strengthening method.

When Zack figured this out, he couldn't help showing a sad expression.

Claude knew what he was thinking, but comforted him: "I'm fine, let's go back to the meeting room first, and we can't keep them waiting too long."

He was about to turn and leave when Zack called from behind.

"What are you going to do next?" Zack tried to sound calm, but the hoarse voice gave him away.

Claude was silent for a few seconds, then stepped back to him.

The golden color of the sunrise gradually spreads from the sky, dispelling the grayish blue of the night little by little.They stood in front of the half-open window, bathed in the faint morning light, and the cloth on their bodies was soon soaked by the cold fog.

"I have fought 'him' once, and the situation is actually much better than I thought before." Claude replied in a calm tone as much as possible, "'He' completely integrated Sephiroth's fighting habits, and I I am very familiar with Sephiroth, so the situation will actually be more favorable to me. As long as the energy of the giant magic spar is fully extracted to me, and I will perform a one-time enhancement, I am 50.00% sure that I can solve him."

"...So you're not going to come back, are you?"

Claude paused for a moment without making a sound.

Knowing he guessed right, Zack sighed and turned to Cloud.

"Claude, I know you have determination and plans, and none of us can stop you...but I want to hear your real thoughts."

Claude was confused for a moment, and quickly realized what he was talking about.After a long time, the young man looked away and replied in a very soft voice: "I want to talk to him."

The expected answer, Zacks did not continue to ask.

As early as the last time Cloud proposed to solve Sephiroth alone, he thought of this possibility, and he was firmly opposed at that time.But at the moment when Claude's eyes met, he saw the deep fatigue and pain in his friend's pupils, so some words suddenly became impossible to utter.

It wasn't until the sun had completely risen above the clouds that he wiped his face vigorously and showed a bitter smile to Claude: "I see."

Claude raised his head suddenly, as if a little surprised: "I thought you would stop me."

—I do.

Zack clenched his fingers silently.

At first he couldn't accept Claude's choice, because they still had Vincent, Nanaki, Angel and Genesis, and Midgar's army and armed force of about 5 people, so there was no need to put fate at all. bet on one person.In his opinion, if Claude survived, he could do more meaningful things, but when Vincent and Genesis rescued the corpse-like opponent from the front line, he suddenly realized that those were all from his own perspective. From the point of view of departure, Claude may never have cared about these.

"I respect your choice, after all we are friends."

Zack tried to make a handsome face.But he only persisted for a few seconds, and soon his shoulders slumped like a deflated ball.

"...Although I said that, I really want to help you. The feeling of watching a friend sacrifice and being unable to do anything is a hell! If only I were still in the body of a special soldier..."

Claude froze for a few seconds, then suddenly laughed.

"That's how I felt about you 200 years ago, Zack," he reassures, "when you protected me and I watched you fall before me and I didn't even know what happened. "

"But at that time, you were in a state of demon poisoning and had no self-consciousness at all, so you can't blame you at all."

"It's the same situation now, Zack."

Zack fell silent for a moment.It was a sad memory, and I have been trying to ignore it since my resurrection, but Claude seems to have engraved it in his heart.

Just as he was thinking about how to answer, Claude suddenly spoke again.

"I'm sorry about Alice."

As if something sharp pierced Zack's heart, he immediately turned his head to look at him.

"I don't know how much you remember about the things in the stream of life... I failed to protect her 200 years ago, but let her protect all of us."

Zack clenched his fists involuntarily, and remained silent for a long while.

He has already learned what happened from Nanaki, and there was indeed a moment of anger and sadness, but he will not blame Claude for it, and he thinks Alice will not, after all, they are just victims of this incident By.

He thought about it for a long time, and finally replied: "That's not your fault, and I also failed to protect her."

Claude shook his head.

"You are already a real hero, you let me escape from Baojo's laboratory and gave me a second life, so I have always wanted to use my own way to protect you and Alice...but I Having lost the first two chances, this one is extra important to me."

The other party noticed that he hesitated to speak, so he continued to speak before he could speak.

"I hope you can live a good life, Zacks. I hope you can enjoy a complete life with Angel and all your important people. This will make me feel that I have compensated you and Alice a little... Besides, I have lived for more than 200 years, and there must be a day when I return to the planet, and if it can end in a meaningful way, it is already the best ending for me."

Zack fell silent again.

The best ending... huh?

Claude seemed to be trying not only to convince him, but also to convince himself.The pain and hesitation in the eyes of the other party gradually faded away, becoming peaceful and firm.Zack only looked at him for a few seconds, knowing that it was impossible for him to change his mind.

He suddenly remembered the last moment of his life. At that time, he was lying on the cliff in the outskirts of Midgar in a state of embarrassment. The torrential rain washed away the wound on his body, and blood and muddy water accumulated in a small pool.Everything was so painful and exhausting to him, but when he found a faint golden crack in the sky, his mood suddenly calmed down strangely.

Although he failed to see the moment when the sky cleared after the rain, he knew that the rainstorm would eventually dissipate, so he accepted his ending without complaint.And Claude, as a surviving person, has to carry those heavy memories all the time, born because of the expectations of others, and persisting because of the expectations of others.The existence of Sephiroth may be the source of the other party's pain, but it is the only motivation to accompany the other party for more than 200 years. When Claude makes such a choice that others cannot understand, it may be really out of the other party's own will.

So Zack finally sighed and held out a hand to Cloud.

"...if that's your wish. Good luck, Cloud."

Claude looked down at the hand for a few seconds, and suddenly squeezed it tightly, showing the best smile he had ever seen.

"thanks, I will."

At this moment, the Peking University is empty, and the blizzard that lasted for several weeks has stopped.

After the dark clouds faded, the night sky was exceptionally clear, and even the light of stars ten thousand light-years away could be faintly seen.There were two moons hanging in the sky, a darker one gliding slowly past the brighter one, casting a bluish shadow on the snow-covered ice fields.

As a planet with only one satellite, Gaia's sky should not have such a scene.However, another object entered Gaia's satellite orbit six hours ago, making the eerie scene visible to all nighttime regions.

The diameter of the newborn moon is a thousand times smaller than that of the real moon, but because it is in low earth orbit, it looks particularly huge.After a brief meeting, the two gradually separated, and two beams of unusual moonlight fell into the Peking University cavity at the same time, illuminating the green ice that never melts all year round.

At the bottom of the large cavity, Sephiroth is sitting on the root of the original S-shaped petrification in a contemplative posture.

The moment the tip of the knife pierced Claude's heart, the memories that had been submerged in the ocean of information began to flood into his mind frantically.

He recalled the fire in Nibelheim, the anger and despair in the young man's eyes when he found out his life experience, the pain of being pierced by the epee, the long preparation and waiting after falling into the devil—that kind of hatred The feeling was so real that for a moment he was completely immersed in the emotion.But when he thought of their confrontation at the core of the planet and the battle just now, he suddenly realized that this hatred was not aimed at someone, but at his own failure.

——He is already the pinnacle of all things, and there is absolutely no one on this planet who can surpass him.

——He deserves to easily gain dominion over the planet, and the only one who can stop him is himself.

Claude had beaten him before, it was because he was not prepared enough in possible aspects such as strength, psychology, belief in victory and so on.Now that he has defeated Claude, it is equivalent to defeating his own failure, so he no longer needs hatred as a driving force to move forward.

Sephiroth closed his eyes, and more memories of the past 200 years slowly emerged in his mind.

After being sent back to the Stream of Life by Claude for the second time, he has been looking for a time to revive.Although his plans ended up fighting Cloud every time, he was no longer angry about it, most of the time they were more like a pastime, helping him get through 70 years of doing nothing.

The turning point came one day 140 years ago, when he was studying the secrets of Gaia at the core of the planet, when he happened to notice that the cycle of the flow of life became faster than before.Since the planet is not a closed system, every cycle will lead to the dissipation of energy, so Sephiroth was immediately alert to this matter.He spent several years conducting investigations, and then estimated the remaining life of the planet according to the current dissipation rate. Although the data used were very rough, the estimated results also fell within a very large interval, but no matter what the results were, they were all Without exception, they point to the same fact—the planet is dying, and it will become a dead star in at most 1 years.

Sephiroth is already in the cycle of the stream of life, and his destiny is forced to be bound to the planet.He knew that it was meaningless to seize such a planet, so he needed to extract all the flow of life here into his own energy, and then leave Gaia with the help of a meteor like his mother.

Sephiroth never sits idly by, and starts to act immediately after clarifying the status quo.

His plan is simple: first, he has to return to the surface of the planet to obtain a brand new body, and then find a way to return to the Beida cavity to extract the energy in the core of the planet.But the actual situation is that he encountered difficulties in the first step: Claude has sealed himself in the crystal because he has lost interest in life, making the only medium in the world that can revive him untouchable.

At that time, he had already noticed the scattered cells at the bottom of the big void, but he didn't put his hope on these low life forms.He knew that if he wanted to be resurrected, he had to unseal Claude's crystal, and the people on the planet who could do this would never help him. The only way was to let a third party extract Claude's cells to create his own. body, and release Claude from the crystal by himself.

He used Claude's memory to fabricate a thought body that looked like Baojo in the stream of life, and then asked the little boy to complete all the preparatory work for him.Catholme lived up to his expectations and cloned him and Cloud with the fanaticism of a believer no matter the cost.In the end he successfully returned to the surface of the planet, and Claude was also liberated from the crystal, but the process of the whole thing was different from his plan, which led to some unspeakable conflicts between him and Claude in the following days. delicate relationship.

But Sephiroth doesn't hate this relationship, because it makes the bond between himself and Claude closer.

After the success of the first step plan, he was supposed to go to the Beida Cavern for the next step, but at this time an accident happened that even he never thought of—the cells that he left unattended and constantly evolving at the bottom of the Beida Cavern were already gone. Become a more powerful life, and use the most primitive way to open the way from the big void to the core of the planet.At that time, he hadn't recovered his strength and memory, and he didn't even know what it was. When he finally remembered everything, they had already taken over the entire planet in a destructive manner.

Sephiroth suddenly found himself facing an unprecedented serious problem, that is, these new creatures evolved from his own cells were not under his control.Jenova's collective consciousness can only have one mastermind, and Reunion's instinct is destined to look for individuals similar to themselves.If he can't control the original S type, the opponent will come to devour him sooner or later.

Sephiroth observed cautiously for a while, and finally found a breakthrough.He found that the original S-type space has powerful power, but no advanced wisdom, so he is more inclined to absorb and imitate his own thinking logic.This is good news. Once you become the mastermind, you can take the energy and matter plundered by the opponent for your own use.But the original S-type has a collective consciousness with an astonishing capacity. Once an individual consciousness enters it, it will disappear without a trace like a drop of water entering the ocean. It is even more difficult to maintain the self in it than to maintain the shape of a drop of water in the ocean.

So there are only two options left in front of Sephiroth: either use the black magic stone to summon the meteorite again, and destroy the original S-type together with Gaia; or he will take the initiative to devour the original S-type, and seize the collective consciousness of Jenova control over.

In fact, the probability of failure of the latter is much higher than that of the former, and his only chance of winning is Claude.As early as 200 years ago, he had placed his core in Claude's thoughts, and rescued himself from the flow of life with the help of the other party's memory countless times. He firmly believed that if Claude knew his plan, he would definitely Try every means to kill himself, and as long as Claude comes to him, he will have the opportunity to read Claude's memory, to regain those strong love and hatred, to relive their battle at the core of the planet, and then Get back to your original self - before this plan is completed, Cloud's life is even more important than his own.

Sephiroth rejected Genesis' invitation to destroy the original Type-S, and revised his plan from directly capturing Gaia's Lifestream to seizing control of the original Type-S.Obviously Cloud has not realized this yet, so he is still trying to sacrifice himself to save mankind.He saved Claude from death so many times that Claude questioned his motivation.He knew that Claude might have vaguely guessed something, but he never planned to tell the other party the truth.

It wasn't until the last action that Cloud used Ultima to greatly weaken the original Type S, and tried to pollute the consciousness of the original Type S by being actively swallowed, that he finally took the initiative—he was before Cloud was swallowed Rescued the opponent, and jumped into the original S-type first.

As soon as he entered the original S-type consciousness, Sephiroth immediately disappeared into the huge ocean of information.Not only did he fail to maintain himself, he even forgot about Claude.

In fact, in the first twelve hours, all his consciousness had been reduced to fragments, disappeared along with his emotions and personality, and he was "truly dead" in every sense.But on the other hand, the original S-type quickly absorbed his thinking logic as he expected, unconsciously reshaped himself according to his appearance, extracted all the energy to supply his new body, and used the remaining corpses to feed him Made that meteor.

Therefore, in the program he designed for the original S-type, hundreds of millions of cells gradually died in this way, and the collective consciousness of the original S-type was also continuously reduced, until finally only one remained.And Claude's arrival helped him put back those scattered fragments one by one, activated his personality with his own emotions, and finally brought him back from the brink of death completely.

"--What do you want?"

Sephiroth finally pulled away from the memory of the past, and suddenly took a deep breath.

He has never been so close to success since he was born 200 years ago, and now he has finally done everything, but there is not much joy, but an incredible feeling.

He once spent 25 years thinking about who he is, two years discovering the truth, five years deciding to take revenge on the planet, another 70 years rethinking his goals, and finally 140 years to get the most wanted man. that thing.

——What he wants is the power to freely control his own destiny.

His birth should be controlled by himself, his destruction should be controlled by himself, and what he likes or hates should also be controlled by himself.So the planet will be destroyed, but he will live, and Cloud will live with him.

He knew that Cloud would probably hate his decision, but he still had infinite time to make the other party accept the reality.Even if Claude sends him back to the stream of life again, it won't change anything. Everything is in place, and he can be resurrected at any time. Then, as long as he takes away the remaining energy in the core of the planet, he can increase the meteorite to escape velocity, Then be completely liberated from Gaia's life flow.

Sephiroth waited all night and one day until the helicopter arrived late in the afternoon of the next day.He looked up at the sky above the void, where the newborn moon passed overhead for the third time.

Because its orbit is so close to the ground, the star's shape can be clearly seen during the day.Whenever a huge silver-white star rises from the horizon, the entire land will be covered with a light blue shadow.

This reminded Sephiroth of the Jenova home planet that he had never seen with his own eyes, and similar scenes were repeated in its late stages.The existence of the new moon is like a kind of mourning death star, heralding the end of the current world.

About 10 minutes later, the helicopter finally landed on the ice field outside the crater.Sephiroth noticed that Cloud had entered the Beida Hollow, so he flew to the top of the abyss.

Because the bottom of the large cavity was severely damaged two months ago, Cloud had to circle for a while before finding a place to land.Sephiroth had a strange feeling the first time he saw him, the other party seemed to be stronger than any moment in his memory, and weaker than any moment in his memory.These two contradictory qualities appeared on Claude at the same time, making him unable to tell what happened to his puppet for a while.

Claude obviously also noticed his changes and observed him in place for a long time.Just as Sephiroth was considering whether he should start the topic, the other party finally broke the silence first.

"Why are you still here?"

Claude's voice became very distant, but his fingers were already tightly clasped on the hilt of the sword.

Sephiroth noticed his movement, and looked away from the six poses without any trace.

"I'm waiting for you, Claude."

This sentence seemed to have touched the other party, and Claude's shoulders trembled slightly.

"You should know I'm coming to stop you, I might kill you."

"Of course I know."

"Then why..."

The questioning stopped abruptly.

Claude seemed to have thought of a certain possibility, and a look between hope and despair flashed across his face.

Sephiroth looked at his puppet, and felt a trace of unknown fear from the other's eyes.

They left some issues unresolved from the last fight, so the conversation is stuck at the stage where he doesn't return.But he had already got the answer he needed from Claude, but Claude hadn't, so he decided to give the other party a chance to speak before the last step.

"Why don't you ask yourself, Claude." Sephiroth stared at the other party with snake-like vertical pupils, and began to walk slowly towards Claude, "You want to see me, so I'm waiting for you here, and What are you hesitating about?"

Every time he took a step forward, Claude's body became stiffer.When he entered the attacking range of Six Forms, Claude suddenly drew his sword and pointed it at his chest.

"Who are you now? Is it you, or him?" Claude asked in a deep voice.

Sephiroth knew who "he" Claude was talking about, but he wanted the other party to find out the answer himself.

"Who I think I am means nothing to you, what matters is who you think I am."

A daze flashed in Claude's eyes, and then he frowned: "How much do you remember?"

"What if I say it's all?"

The blue pupils instantly shrank into a ball.

Saphiroth was very satisfied with this reaction, so he raised his jaw gracefully and continued to approach Cloud.

"You fulfilled my wish and brought me back here intact, so I should give you a chance to fulfill your wish. Maybe you can kill me before I drain the planet?"

As the distance between them got closer, that fear gradually reached its peak in Claude's eyes.Sephiroth leaned over to Claude, and then stroked along the young man's right arm all the way to the fingers holding the hilt of the sword, wrapping them tightly into his palm.

"I said, I will not betray you, Claude."

The moment the voice fell, Claude's face lost all color.

He suddenly struggled to break free from the shackles, and suddenly raised Liushi to the height of his shoulders, and then firmly pressed against Sephiroth's throat.

"How much do you remember?!"

Sephiroth glanced down, then pushed the blade away casually: "What do you think?"

"Don't make me guess, answer me directly!"

Sephiroth paused.

Although Claude's reaction was intense, there was a hint of pleading in his tone.

He was familiar with this look, and had shown a similar expression when Claude came to look for him last time.The pain behind that anger is so real that he can't even remember being infected by it.

Sephiroth suddenly lost his playful mood.Hurt Claude is only his interest, but never his purpose.

"Who do you want me to be?" he asked back.

Claude froze for a few seconds, then fell into silence.

Sephiroth originally thought that there was only one answer to this question. Unexpectedly, Claude thought for a long time and managed to squeeze out a sentence: "I don't know."

He didn't expect such an answer at all, and his face sank immediately.

"...you were my hero and my dream when I was a kid."

Claude said in a low voice, while holding the Six Styles tightly, his knuckles turned blue and white due to too much force.

"But you burned down Nibelheim, killed my mother and Alice, and snuffed out my respect and aspirations for you with your own hands. It took me as long as an ordinary person's life to get rid of your shadow, but you Suddenly leaving the past behind as a blank slate. And when I tried to accept you as my own child and family, you became who you once were.”

The other party suddenly raised his head, his eyes filled with anger and confusion.

"You're a selfish bastard. You make me hate you, make me love you, and hope I'll never forget you. But what about you? What are those memories to you?"

"... Sephiroth couldn't possibly say that. Who are you? Is it you, or him?"

"What you want is him, the C-07 who hasn't recovered his memory yet."

Some messy memories emerged from the depths of Sephiroth's mind, making him involuntarily irritable.

Claude has been trying to find someone's shadow in him, the young C-07 who was raised by the other party before, and now it is another illusory self.But Sephiroth knows that those are all himself, from the past to the present, and even the self that can last forever with the other party in the future. What Claude pursues is just some unrealistic memories.

"Dwelling on the past blinds you to the truth. You're still trying to separate me from the rest of me just because I'm not who you want me to be, but it's pointless."

Sephiroth reminded the other party indifferently, but Claude was immediately ignited by this sentence.

"You should keep talking to your past self! Isn't it you who you want me to indulge in memories?"

"So I changed my mind, okay?"

The air became extremely quiet for a while.

Claude looked at him with an incredible look, as if he had discovered for the first time that he could mess around like this.Sephiroth noticed his gaffe, coughed hastily and continued the conversation.

"You always wanted me