Beyond
Flora Winters
I do not own Final Fantasy VII.
Summary: Sometimes the dead simply do not stay dead. This story will contain boy love, strong language, and scenes of explicit violence.
Prologue
The dreams were always different and more frightening than the last. There was so much heat from the flames and the screams were horrifying to hear. It was as if the stench of burning corpses were reaching out into the night to choke him. The very smoke was darker than the starless sky above his sweat covered face.
He could hear the insane laughter. It was filled witch such pain, confusion, and a deeper hurt. He knew the knowledge his idol had obtained had slowly driven him crazy over the many long weeks he had held himself up in the spooky Shinra mansions basement.
Screams of death and the dying surrounded him as the deadly flames roared. How could one man possess so much power?
"Because," a voice whispered like a silent demonic wind. "I am a god."
He spun around and there he was, standing tall and glorious in the flames of his own design. That long hair was flowing free like strands of molten starlight around his handsome pale face.
"Silly, Cloud," he chuckled. Those blazing eyes burned into him like emerald jewels. "I will never die."
"Seph…"
"Why don't you come find me?" The silver haired fallen deity asked with a smug smile, twirling a strand of hair around his gloved finger. "You're always so good at sniffing me out."
Cloud took a step back, falling over a body. He rolled over and was face to face with his worst heartache.
Sephiroth grinned. "Would you like to know a little secret?"
There was so much blood. It was covering him. He was choking, drowning in it. The smell! He scrambled to his feet, backing up. The smell was terrible.
"I could bring him back to you," the fallen god whispered, looming above him. "All you have to do is…"
Cloud suddenly gasped when a strong hand gripped his wrist. Dead eyes slid open in milky decay and rotting lips opened to grin at him with rotted teeth.
He cried out in terror, trying to get free. Not again! It was happening again. The smell! Make it go away!
"Cloud," the rotting corpse rattled out. His voice was like the sound of dry sticks clattering together.
"No!" He screamed, trying to break the ghouls hold on him.
"This is only a dream, Cloud," Sephiroth chuckled in dark humor. "He can't really harm you unless you allow him to. But, I shall give you points for creativity. That is one stinking corpse."
"Let me go!" Cloud shouted, kicking and thrashing at the zombie. "Leave me alone! Somebody, help me! Sephiroth!"
"You robbed me of everything!" Sephiroth snarled, kicking the zombie away with a bone smashing hit to the face. Bone shattered and bits of rotting flesh peeled away from the cheeks as if its head were a rotting apple. He grabbed Clark by the neck, lifting him off his thrashing feet. "Did Zacky hurt you? Good! I am, too!"
He threw Cloud to the ground, kneeling before him in rage.
"You trapped me in the darkness!" He wailed, trying to claw at him. "I'm all alone!"
Cloud narrowed his eyes. "You killed so many…and you almost killed my world!"
"It's always about you, isn't it?" Sephiroth sniffed. "You're so selfish! You don't know my pain! If you knew my pain, you'd blow the planet up, too!"
Cloud wanted to tackle him, but, the pain in those shimmering green eyes mirrored his own. They were so sad.
"Shinra destroyed me!" Sephiroth hissed, looking away from those luminous blue eyes. "I used to be happy…"
Cloud wanted him gone. He hated him. He took so much from him.
"Let me out of the darkness," Sephiroth whispered. "Wake me up…and I'll give him back to you. I'll give back what Shinra took from you."
A tear fell from Cloud's left eye, streaming down his pale cheek.
"Do it!" Sephiroth shrieked like a large cat, pouncing on him. "Or I'll torment you until you're just as crazy as me! I'll fill your dreams with demons until you see them in every shadow, in every corner!"
"Cloud?" A voice asked.
He turned his head to the side. It was Zack. He was lying right beside him. He face was splattered with his own blood. His eyes were so full of pain.
"Remember our dream?" He asked with a lonely smile. "I want to make it come true…with you."
"Stop it!" Cloud screamed, pushing on Sephiroth.
"I'm all alone," Zack said, tears falling from his dying eyes. "I don't want to be where you're not, Cloud. I'm lonely without you."
Cloud shook his head, muttering incoherently. He was shaking, trembling, and fighting to get Sephiroth off him so he could claw his own eyes out and cover his ears.
"I don't want to leave you," Zack smiled, eyes slowly going empty. "Why…can't I…Why can't I…stay with you?"
Cloud was blinded with tears when the breath rattled from Zack's body. He couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. He heart felt like it was going to explode in his chest from the agony it was in. It hurt so much.
"Oh, such pain," Sephiroth cooed, caressing a pale wet cheek. He grinned, smacking him hard, pulling him up by his blonde hair. "Come find me, Cloud! Or, I'll send his corpse chasing after you every time you close your fucking eyes!"
"Please…" Cloud silently whispered, pleading with him.
"I might even have his rotting flesh take you for my amusement," he chuckled evilly. "Your screams of anguish and loss make the mako in my veins run cold with such joy, Cloud."
"Shut up!" Cloud shouted, punching him in the nose with all his might. "Let go of me!"
He was consumed with fear and an even deeper rage. The tears were blinding him. He wanted to kill.
Sephiroth chuckled as his form shattered above him into a million glowing shards of violent light.
"Come find me, Cloud," he whispered like creeping frost along the green. "Or this is just the beginnings of your endless nightmares."
Cloud's blue eyes snapped open and he sat up in a cold sweat. He took deep breaths to calm himself and quickly reached for the light. It chased the darkness away.
He huddled there just like that with the soft blue sheets around him, shivering from the cold that had seeped into his bones. It had all felt and smelled so real.
Sephiroth was dead. He was fucking dead! He had killed him with his own hands. He was dead and rotting in that pit he had made for himself. Some god his ass turned out to be.
He held his head in his palms and suddenly looked at his wrist. It was hurting. What was wrong with it?
He pulled the sleeve back and his eyes widened in fright. It was bruised. His wrist where Zack's corpse had gripped him was bruised all the way around.
He put his hands to his mouth to muffle his screams. His whole body was trembling as he scrambled to get up. He was so tangled up in the sheets that he fell off the bed. He tried to get up and couldn't. So, he emptied the contents of his stomach right where he had fallen.
"Come find me, Cloud…"
"Cloud…I'm…sorry."
TBC…
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