"I found home, Zack." "Aa...like old Home...but this one is new." "...Home in a person, not in a place. "I know it's ...not stable...." ! "I have to go," Leon said, chin resting on Cloud's shoulder. The blond exhaled heavily, a sound that was almost a sigh. It was so comfortable, with his back leaning against Leon's chest. He couldn't hear the other's heartbeat, but -feel- it. If he shut his eyes... it felt like home. "Back?" "Aa. Coming?" Leon slowly untangled himself from Cloud, and stood. The blond half turned, looking at him with shadowed eyes. "I have an obligation to fulfill." Was the reply. "...I...I would like it if you were to accompany me," Leon started, a little flushed in the middle of his sentence, "...accompany me back." His voice had been completely linear throughout it, but his face showed otherwise. His eyes flickered, and he almost looked hopeful. "...I'm looking for someone." He turned away from Leon. "I see." Came the cold response. "Come to the next tournament." Cloud requested. "Aa..." ! "You're really blowing your chances," Phil said. Cloud raised an eyebrow and tilted his head, even though his lips were hidden the little satyr could guess their position. Neutral, set in a thin hard line. He'd taken care of heroes like Cloud before. Angsting men with messiah complexes mixed with their own demons...or failures. Usually it was failures which drove them to try to perfect themselves, their mission, to protect something that no longer existed. Or revenge. Heroes that fell from Olympus' light of glory. "What do you know?" Came the reply, with a little more edge than intended. Cloud hadn't meant to tell Phil that the satyr had hit a nerve. "Nothing much. Except that you coulda been a great hero, and now you just wallow in selfpity," with that Phil went back to train Hercules, casting a look back. He was like a demon, with an angelic face, that Cloud. A demon's hand and wing, but eyes sad enough to bely anything and everything negative about him. "...Sephiroth..." Cloud breathed the name. It was the one thing that had kept him alive. The memory of fire and darkness, mixed with green and silver. Like a burning pinetree decked out in tinsel, or some other inane metaphor. The man haunted his dreams, strong, invincible and with that smirk which Cloud had come to crave and fear. Feared it, because as a child he could only associate it with pain. And crave it because once he saw it again he knew that everything would be over. ! "I have to find him, Zack. I remember why, now," "...He'll kill me." "No, it's not a bad thing," "Sephiroth...." ! Cloud paced. He started at one end of the collesium gates and went to the other, eyes intent on the ground. He had hear rumors, of course, that this tournament had someone powerful in it. Someone who wore power like a cape and was undefeatable. Someone who carried a sword with the name masamune. "Cloud." He ignored it, the voice that was like a buzzing in his ears. Or was it a roar? That broke into his thoughts, sending, for a moment, the image of a silver lion eating Sephiroth. He much liked that, but the brief pause in his pacing didn't last long. Cloud. "...Zack, you understand....its Sephiroth..." Cloud murmured to his friend. He heard a pause, and a sigh. You shouldn't kill yourself. "I don't care." He was headed back towards the opposite wall when an arm interrupted his progress. He stared at it, not recognizing it. "Cloud?" A man with an icily concerned look stood in front of him. Long brown hair, steel-blue eyes and an interesting scar on his forehead. Lion. LION His mind screamed, but Cloud couldn't find the signifigance in that. "Who are you?" ! Leon had watched Cloud pace, almost frantically, across the sand. When he had finally intervened as called his name the blonde had ignored him. More than ignored him, talked to someone else. Either Zack or Sephiroth, he hadn't caught the words, just the names. But this was too much. The lack of recognition in Cloud's eyes seemed genuine, but something was wrong. It was as if they had gone backwards in time and Cloud had become much younger. More vulnerable. With more anger. "...Cloud..." He said the other man's name again, letting it linger in his mouth. "..I don't know you..." Came the shaky response, "Are you with Him?" The way Cloud said it, one might of thought that he was referring to God. Or His unholy equal. "Who?" But by the time Leon had answered Cloud had deemed him inconsiquential and moved back to pacing. "Zack...we have to win this one," Cloud said, to someone, but Leon couldn't see anyone. "Cloud..." This time the defeat in his voice was clear. Cloud snapped his head around to stare at Leon. "You remind me of someone I lost," He said softly, and turned towards the collesium doors. Leon just watched him go, and some he thought he lost a long time ago started to hurt. You let yourself get too attatched, Lionheart. He scolded himself, remembering...that after a dark morning he had promised not to... to love, again. As sad as that sounded, sad being pathetic, he stood there, thinking it. Feeling it. ! "Did you know him, Zack?" "He's not my friend, I don't think," "...I don't remember!" "...Leo the Lion, huh?" ! The loss to Sora had been mindblowing to Cloud. He had lost before, he vaguely realized, in that time of which he could not remember. But even so, he -needed- to fight Sephiroth. Or at least needed to see the...God-Man. The figure that had prowled his memory. Only... it hadn't always been that way. His anger-loss had changed to a sort of contemplation. On what had been Before. Before he had discovered Sephiroth was here. There was a vague sense of warmth, and memory, but that was it. And a Lion, he decided. "Hey, we're moving on to a secret opponent!" Sora cheered, Cloud watched the boy with tired eyes. Maybe a bit of anger as well. Sephiroth was his opponent, and he did not believe that Sora could defeat the silver haired one. Sephiroth... The stadium whispered it to him. As he sat in the stands he saw the sky open up, even heaven welcomed Sephiroth, and down came an angel. He did not fall, or otherwise get expelled from heaven, but more like was lent to earth. Sephiroth! The earth groaned and shivered as the man touched down, one beautiful black angel wing curving away from his perfect shoulders. Adonis... no... God. Cloud tried to look away, but the stadium called him back. SEPHIROTH! The one winged angel smiled.