Disclaimer: FFVII belongs to SquarEnix...that's why I'm gonna work for them someday!

Author's Notes: Yup, yup. Another shonen-ai. This is my third one...am I obsessed or something?? Anyway, I love Sephiroth to pieces, but I'm also a big fan of Cloud/Seph pairings. ;; Yeah, I'm weird. I also like Cloud/Aeris, so I figured "What the hell. I'll throw both pairings in my Great Goda'mighty Blender of Creativity and see what pops out." So here it is. Enjoy...I'll be sleeping... huggles blankie and Sephiroth-plushie Zzzzzzzz....

Remembrance

Chapter One: One-Winged Angel

Finally...

Cloud Strife took one last swig of the elixir he'd been drinking on the long walk to Nibelheim. The town loomed before him now, ominous and eerie. Talk about a cover up...it was exactly the same as it had been five years before. The same buildings, the same cold mountain air...but definitely not the same sky. Meteor loomed above like a harbinger of doom, a flaming black orb like the Black Materia itself...

And I looked, and behold, a pale-green horse, and he who was sitting on it was Death, and Hell followed with him.

Where had he heard that before? He couldn't remember. Even with his consciousness restored he couldn't remember some events. He shook his head and crushed the can of elixir in his hand, wincing at the strain that the motion placed on the wound in his right side. True, the elixir was healing it faster than it normally would have, but he'd left the Restore Materia with Tifa before heading out from the Highwind.

Cloud remembered the shock on everyone's faces when he insisted on visiting Nibelheim again...alone. Even the cold, secretive Vincent had looked worried.

"I need to sort things out before we go to the Crater," he'd explained. "With Sephiroth awakened...I don't know. My past, Aeris, even Sephiroth himself...I just need to get my thoughts together."

Tifa nodded. "I'll go with you."

Stubbornly, Cloud shook his head. "Not this time. I need to be alone."

Some decision, Cloud thought sarcastically as he limped into town. He'd had to fight at least twenty monsters before reaching the outskirts of Nibelheim, and he hadn't brought nearly enough elixirs as he should have. Not to mention that even though he'd wrapped it as best as he could, the wound in his side was throbbing unmercifully.

He didn't bother with the inn or general store, but instead went directly through the town, noticing the shutters slamming in the upper windows of the houses. People being forced to carry out a lie...Shinra might have been better off if they had left it burnt down, to hide Cloud's true past. But then again, who would perform the maintenance needed on the Reactor?

Cloud pushed the angry thoughts out of his head and focused on the mansion. This was where his journey had truly started...now he had to think about how it would end. If only he had been able to do something five years ago, to keep Sephiroth from falling into madness, maybe none of this would have happened...

He entered the mansion's front gate, his intense blue eyes scouting for any monsters that might be lurking in the windows or the long shadow cast by the setting sun. Surprisingly, there were none. The smell of damp and mildew nearly stung his nose as he walked up the creaky front steps to the door.

The mansion's interior looked decrepit as usual as Cloud stepped inside. Again, no monsters here, either. Perhaps they had sensed Meteor and fled for the safety of the mountains. Not that they'd be any safer there if Meteor fell...

Though he could see no enemies, he definitely sensed something in the mansion. Silently as possible he drew his Buster Sword and looked around. Still nothing...but the feeling was still there. Cloud headed up to the second floor, his sword held at the ready.

Whatever the feeling was, it seemed to be tugging at him, enticing him to enter the same bedroom he had stayed in five years ago. The same room where Zack had told him, normal at the time, but now fateful: "Sephiroth's in the basement. They've got a library down there...I wonder what he's looking for?"

He opened the door to the room...and found it pitch-dark. While he was running his hand against the wall for the light switch he heard a low purr of laughter...and two brilliant orbs of emerald fire appeared in the darkness. Cloud immediately gripped the hilt of his sword, holding it out before him in anticipation of an attack.

"Sephiroth!" he hissed.

Another purr of laughter, followed by that ever-familiar velvet voice. "So...you've come back...Cloud."

"Bastard," Cloud continued, using one hand to continue fumbling for the light. "You killed Aeris!"

"Don't turn on the light," Sephiroth warned, and Cloud could hear a strange fluttering, shifting sound. "Unless you really want to set eyes on my true form before our battle."

"You think I care?!" He fumbled for the switch again, feeling the tears form in his eyes. "You killed her! She was the only person I ever loved!"

His fingers found the switch at last and as the lights flickered on his jaw dropped in shock. "S-Sephiroth?!"

From the waist up, for the most part, it was the same Sephiroth he remembered. However, from the waist of the dark-cloaked man down was...three? No, six snowy wings. He was sitting upright on the bed, two of the wings trailing in the dust that had collected on the floorboards, supporting himself with his left arm. In fact, it was the only good arm he now possessed...the other was lying across his lap—or, rather, what could pass for a lap—and had been transformed into a long, dark wing. The opalescent growth that went in a semicircle about his torso almost looked like a halo...

The halo of a fallen angel.

Sephiroth gave him a fraction of a smile and shifted his many wings. "Didn't I warn you? I wanted to keep the surprise for later...just now I was testing it out."

Cloud said nothing.

"But it truly hurts when you say that the girl was your only love," Sephiroth continued, a slight, teasing pout on his lips. "We talked a bit before you arrived. Foolish, but very honest. She only wanted you to be happy. That's why she offered herself as a sacrifice in your place...though it looks like I will have to kill you anyway."

The younger man finally shook his head, recovering from his awe. "Shut up about Aeris! You don't know anything about her! And what do you mean?"

A slow grin spread across Sephiroth's face. "You mean you've forgotten? Poor boy...your mind must be blocking it from you. I personally can't blame you. I mean, after Nibelheim's destruction and all."

Cloud raised his sword, a venomous look in his eyes. "Shut up! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you here and now!"

Sephiroth's massive wings lifted him into the air easily, with the one dark wing held out for balance. Surprisingly, there was little air moving about the room from the steady beating of his wings. "It's very simple, Cloud. There are innocents in this town. The force of our battle could destroy this entire town."

As he moved closer Cloud found himself unable to move; in fact, he involuntarily lowered his sword. More mind control? Or was it Sephiroth's mere presence...? He didn't have time to think about his answer, for Sephiroth was no more than a foot away, his face close to Cloud's.

How...

Cloud looked down and realized that the wings were more of flesh than feathers...and they were wrapping around him possessively, loosening his grip on his sword, holding him close. The sword clattered to the floor as Sephiroth's one dark wing wrapped around the back of his neck. It was in all this warmth that Cloud realized he was fighting to keep his eyes open, to keep himself awake despite this delicious feeling of safety, of warmth and comfort. Sephiroth bent his face down to Cloud's neck, his breath tickling that special tender place in his skin. How does he know that...?

"And you don't want any more innocents to be hurt, do you Cloud?"

It was the last thing Cloud heard before slumping against Sephiroth's bare torso, locked in a deep sleep.