Sephiroth was walking up the path, killing clones left and right. Cloud was a little battered from his travels and was still covered in Rufus's blood. The blood was dry though. He was trailing Sephiroth quietly, waiting for a good shot. When he got to the top where Sephiroth was, he found him waiting.

Cloud stepped up, remaining several feet away. "I never was much for stealth." He told Sephiroth.

"No..." Sephiroth turned around to face him.

Cloud drew his sword.

"I see..." Sephiroth said, "Mother was very upset at me... Mad that I was forced to kill my brother instead of the last ancient. But, she was also mad at him for not letting her save his life."

"How is Rufus your brother... and how is he connected to that monster you call your mother?"

Sephiroth looked at Cloud. "We have the same mother..."

"So, he was part of the Jenova project... that is what Hojo was giggling about..."

"Yes." Sephiroth chuckled.

"This has to end here... you killed the only person I cared about..."

Sephiroth swung his Masamune out. "You saying that you have feelings?"

"I had them for you and I had them for him..."

Sephiroth started to laugh. "Why do you even pretend to feel?"

"Pretend?" Cloud growled. "I'm sorry, but, I'm not like you... I have emotions..."

Sephiroth shook his head. "You are a puppet Cloud. You don't remember?"

"Remember what?"

"You don't remember what really happened?" He started to laugh again.

"Stop laughing."

"Cloud... You are not who you think you are..."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"5 years ago... You were scrapped together from Jenova cells. So you see Cloud, you are a Jenova clone."

"Like all those other tattooed idiots running around?"

"The power of Jenova, to alter voice, form, even memory. No, you are a failed clone. Hojo never gave you a number."

Cloud shook his head.

"Wake up Cloud..." Sephiroth said.

Cloud felt very strange. He dropped to his knees in confusion and then everything around him went black.

Cloud had no idea where he was but he felt arms around him. He blinked. "Where?" He asked as he was held. He was very confused. It was then he actually realized that he was being held. He turned around and saw the one he loved. "Rufus?"

"Yes..."

"What is this place? It's creepy..."

"The inside of your mind."

"No wonder it's creepy... If this is my mind then you are still dead, and I am alone..."

Rufus moved his hand up to Cloud's cheek. "You are not alone..."

"Yes I am. The only person I ever loved and loved me back is gone..."

"Gone... yes... but..." Rufus gave him a look.

"I came to kill Sephiroth, what am I doing in here screwing around?"

"You lost allot of time. You are here because you got dumped into the life stream. You need to find yourself before you can kill Sephiroth."

"Find myself?"

"You are lost in here."

"Wait a second, you have me confused. What was he talking about... I'm a clone?"
"Not exactly. Cloud... if Sephiroth had been able to call Meteor if Aeris had not been able to finish the prayer... everyone would not mearly have died... They would have become part of Sephiroth."

Cloud frowned. "Everything I had died with you Rufus, I don't care about the stupid planet anymore."

Rufus looked into his eyes. "Why Cloud?"

"Because I am empty and alone. All I have now is the desire to see Sephiroth spitted on the end of my sword."

"I'm still here, inside you. Why do you not see that?"

"It doesn't matter, you aren't where I need you, alive and happy with me. When you died I just snapped."

"Cloud, I didn't want to tell you, but, I could have been brought back by Jenova. If I had just let myself fall asleep in your arms. But..."

"Then why didn't you? And, spare me this agony?"

"Because, I would have become just like Sephiroth. I wouldn't have been able to feel any more. I would have followed after Jenova... something far worse then dyeing."

"I'm all alone Rufus, what is there left for me?"

Rufus looked at him. "Cloud, if you had never met me, you would have always been alone..."

"Yes..."

"At least you have memories of me... instead of nothing at all."

"I don't want memories."

"I know."

"They don't keep me warm at night. They don't whisper things in my ear..."

"I know. Cloud? Do you remember when you asked me if I was cold?"

"Yes."

"I couldn't tell you... I was far beyond cold... I was numb. I was sad. I couldn't feel the warmth of your hand, no matter how hard I clung to it. But, I knew you needed to feel me there."

Cloud began to cry. "You're making me sad all over again."

"I hung on for you."

"The girls tried to stop me..."

"At least you are feeling something. It means there is still something left."

"Some crap about Holy and wishes. No, it's just a memory that causes pain.

"Cloud, I used up all my energy to hold onto you ... I didn't want you to snap on me"

"What do you matter anymore... you are dead"

"You let death stop you from caring?"

"Yes"

"Why?"

"You were all that held me together at the end... without you I am nothing"

"Cloud, don't believe that"

"Now I find out I'm just some Hojo made freak...."

Rufus shook his head. "Don't listen to Sephiroth. Your memories are screwed up, yes ... but, you are still Cloud of Nibelheim"

"Cloud of nothing..."

"Cloud, you meant everything to me. If Sephiroth had managed to summon Meteor.... You, and everyone else, would have died, but, Jenova would have forced me to live"

"I don't care anymore... all I wanna do is settle my grudge and die...."

Rufus looked pained and hugged Cloud to him "They way you are acting now, Sephiroth will wind up killing you, and, I will have died in vain..."

"Does it matter?"

"For he will find a way to rule the world and kill everyone on it, and, if you die now ... you'll simply become part of the life stream, where as I will still be stuck"

"Look... do you know how much pain I was in when you left me?"

"I know, but how much?"

"It was so much that it just shut everything off... I cant feel anything... just rage..."

"Rage blinds you"

"It's all that's left"

"It shouldn't be. I didn't want you to feel that way"

"All that survived..."

"I wanted more to live on"

Rufus laid back, in the position he was in when he died

"I loved you...." Cloud explained, "I gave you all that I had.... When you died you took it with you"

"I gave you all that I had..."

"There isn't anything left... I'm dead... inside... just remaining alive to finish business

"It was the only thing that kept me alive. I wanted it to go with you, but ... apparently everything died"

Cloud looked at Rufus... his eyes having a cold steely quality they never had before. "Apparently...."

Rufus looked like he's dying all over again

"The girls tried to stop me..." Cloud explained. "But Aeris said you were gone... "

"Gone...."

"Something about bringing you back... with a wish... something about Holy..." Cloud sat down cross-legged next to Rufus. "You didn't want to leave me did you...."

"Never. It was the last thing I wanted. To see you in that pain. It hurt me worse then I'd ever known"

"It hurt so bad... to see you lying in my arms... dying... knowing I couldn't do a thing"

"I know ... it hurt to see you in pain. You were all I could think of"

"What do I do now that you are gone?"

Rufus takes his hand. "I'm only gone out there ... I'll always be in here ... as long as you are still alive"

"But that is where I need you most..."

Rufus held his hand tightly, the same way as back in the forgotten city

"How will I be able to sleep at night..." Cloud asked him "knowing you wont ever be there to hold me again?"

"Know that I was there to hold you at all" Rufus replied. "Things could have been very different ... If you had wanted to fight on the roof top that night ... everything would not be as it is"

"You are very cruel... to ask me to live without you"

"I won't be alive anymore to feel the pain"

"But, you will not be alive to cherish my memory either"

Cloud looked at him. "Cherish my memories.... I wanted to grow old with you Rufus... "

"I know, I wanted to as well"

"Sephiroth is going to destroy me..."

"Don't let him win"

"He already has...."

Rufus looked at Cloud. The blood came back, like it did in the city

"He's screwed up my life so much... " Cloud told him.

"I know"

Cloud looked at Rufus. "Don't do this to me"

"I'm not doing this"

Cloud looked pained. "You left when I needed you most...."

Rufus held his hand. "I'm still here.... Sort of"

"Aeris... she gave me the tiniest glimmer of hope. Of course I might have been so out of it from drinking..."

"What was it?"

"Something about the possibility of bringing you back"

"Then why do you not hope to that?"

"She said you were gone"

"How?"

"Gone gone. She couldn't find your spirit"

"I know... I had to burn it up to hold on to you"

"Then you are gone?"

Rufus looked at him, then looked at the blood "maybe ... but, it's fading fast I think"

"I don't know what to do. I will cling to any hope... until it's gone...."

The blood stopped.

"Please do" Rufus told him. He still held Cloud's hand tightly.

"I wish I hadn't turned them away... I need them..."

"You'll see them soon, I'm sure"

Cloud smiled faintly... the old light back in his eyes "You didn't have to hold on so long for me... It made it hurt all the more... to think you were in pain"

Rufus brought his other hand up to Cloud's face "I was in pain ... because you were in pain"

Cloud held Rufus's hand against his cheek... much as he did in the Ancient City

"It took you a long time to..."Rufus told him, "let me die. By then, my strength was gone... I couldn't keep my eyes open any more"

"I'm sorry...." Cloud told him.

"Don't be"

"I clung to the faintest hope that you would live... even though I knew it was hopeless. I didn't want to let go...."

"Neither did I. I stayed with you as long as possible. At least ... I got to die in your arms"

"You died in the arms of someone who loves you very much"

"Yes" Rufus smiled.

"Still loves you"

"And that will keep me here" Rufus sat up and rapped his arms around Cloud.

"If Aeris' little plan doesn't work... I don't know what I'm gonna do...."

"Believe in it Cloud and it will happen"

Cloud squeezed his hand. "Its all there is to believe in"

Rufus squeezed his hand. "Thank you"

"Can you tell me. Exactly... what I am? Sephiroth has confused me"

Rufus lay his head on Cloud's chest. "You are who I love ... as for the rest... it's all here in your mind. Don't let the pain consume you. If that happens, there will be no hope"

"It had me for a while, but now I know you aren't gone..."

"You nearly completely lost me back there"

"I'm sorry for acting like an idiot there "

"It's ok. Just never forget what you meant to me"

"I meant more than life itself didn't I?"

"Yes"

"I still have to go after Sephiroth... And I have to find Tifa and Aeris... "

"Sephiroth.... He's in the planet. Tifa and Aeris will find you"

"In the planet?"

"Yes"

"He's still trying isn't he?"

"Yes. But, because the prayer was finished, he was unable to summon Meteor"

"All we've got is a prayer"

"That's why Sephiroth didn't kill Aeris after..."

"He didn't kill me either"

"He had no reason, she had gotten the time to finish"

"But of course I'm not a target" Cloud sighed and held Rufus close. "Rufus.... The worst... was when your hand slipped out of mine... and.... I felt for a pulse. Then and there any hopes I had shattered.... "

"How long was it after the last thing you said to me?"

"I told you to sleep...."

"I did... I remember you saying that"

"Shortly after... you were gone"

"The blackness swept over me..."

"Please don't let my last hope be futile"

"I was thinking of sleeping forever. I do not want it to be futile"

"I need you back"

"I know"

They hugged each other tightly

"The last thing you said..." Rufus asked, "why did you say it?"

"To let you go"

"You knew" Rufus held him tightly. "Now, you must find yourself in here. And when you wake up, your friends will be there for you. I'll be here"

Cloud nodded and went off to find himself.