The Stop For FF7 Freaks - Nightmares Chap2 - Video Games - http://maxpages.com/theff7stop/Nightmares

Nightmares: Chapter Two

*My...Afterlife????* Cloud thought.
"That is correct," the disembodied voice said.
*No...I'm...dead?*
"Close enough,"
*I..never even got to say goodbye,*
"I'm sorry, Mr. Strife, but you DID run out on your friends and lover," the voice told him, "You're always running, isn't that right, Mr. Strife? You run from your problems, from everything that troubles you....."
*No...that's not true!!!* Cloud grabbed at his temples, his headache returning.
"It is VERY true, Mr. Strife," the voice accused, "You ran from the truth. You ran from yourself. Doing so only made it worse when you finally realized the truth; that you are nothing but a disappointment,"
*Stop it....STOP IT!!!!*
"I won't stop, because it is all true,"
*No...its not..*

The sky began to shift, merge, and spread apart. He wasn't floating in the sky anymore; he was in the Sleeping Forest.
"What the hell...?" Cloud said softly.
"Hi, Cloud!" a cheerful, feminine voice called to him. Cloud turned toward the voice, and his jaw dropped: Aeris.
"Aeris?? How? you're...you're dead!" he stammered.
"Just like you, Cloud," she replied.
"No! I am NOT dead!!"
"Sorry Cloud, you can't lie out of this one. Lying will only get you in deeper trouble than you're already in," she said softly
"Aeris.....I couldn't..save..you..." Cloud whispered, "I-I guess you must hate me,"
"That's right, Cloud. You COULDN'T save me!!" she snapped at him, "I trusted you, I loved you. And what do I get? Death!! You disappoint me, Cloud. Get out of my face!!"
"Aeris....??" Cloud was shocked; Aeris NEVER lost her temper before!
"Who are you, Cloud? Are you a hero, or a lie?" she asked him.
"You're not Aeris," Cloud understood it all now; this was a dream. It had to be a dream. "Who are you?" he asked.
Aeris's body began to shift and blur, changing shape, and eventually finishing her transformation. Where Aeris once stood, now stood Sephiroth.
"I am your worst nightmare," Sephiroth said to him. The shapeshifter changed to Aeris again.
"I am your closest friend," Aeris said. In an instant, Zack was standing there, instead of Aeris.
"I am your best friend," The shapshifter changed again. This time it was Barret.
"I am your employer and friend," Now it was Yuffie.
"I am the most annoying person you've met, but you still like me," Now the thing was Cid.
"I am the friend who will always be there for you," The thing changed into Vincent.
"I am the keeper of secrets," Now it changed into Reeve.
"I am a better president the Rufus Shinra ever was," Now it was Nanaki.
"I am the wisest being you have ever met," Now it was.....Tifa.
"I am the woman you love," A final transformation.
*No.......it can't be...* Cloud thought. The shapeshifter had transformed into....himself. Cloud could only stare as the shapeshifter copied his every move. The shapeshifter-Cloud glared at the real-Cloud.
The shapeshifter-Cloud said the words that the real-Cloud had feared for so many years.....
"I am your worst enemy, Cloud Strife,"
"NOOOOO!!!!!!" Cloud screamed in denial. He couldn't possibly be his own worst enemy! It just wasn't possible!
"Face it Cloud, you are you're own enemy. That is why you run away from your problems, run and hide. Always lying. Cloud, you disgust me,"

Again the area around him changed and shifited. Now he was at the banks of a stream filled with cool, clear water.
Cloud looked around, searching for the shapeshifter. Seeing that it was gone, Cloud went down on his knees, cupping his hands, meaning to dip them into the stream to get a drink. Then he heard it, that voice. The same voice he heard when he first got here. Wherever 'here' was.....
"Cloud, look into the stream."
Cloud found that he couldn't resist, and looked. What he saw horrified him: the stream was no longer filled with water; it was filled with screaming souls.
"Look, Clound. They are the souls of all of the creatures you killed: monsters, mutant plants, Shinra officers. Look, and listen to their screams,"
The souls seemed to be talking to him, but Cloud couldn't understand what they were saying. But then, he started listening with his heart instead of his ears, and he heard their pleas and cries keenly:
"I will never see my son again. And its because of YOU!!"
"I was going back to my family...now I will never see them..."
"I hate you. You took me away from my children!!"
"After my service in Shinra, I would've had a chance to go to college, but you took that chance away!!!"
"My wife was pregnant with our child before you killed me!!!"
"I only wanted to finish my service. Then I would have gone back home. Now I will never get the chance. And its all your falut!!"
More and more souls yelled at him, accused him, and screamed at him. He was beginning to crack. He couldn't take it. He wanted to stand up and run away from that damn stream. But the guilt of his actions weighed him down, kept him on his knees staring at the stream. He just couldn't take it. The souls began to come out of the stream, they started circling him, trapping him. Cloud managed to break free of the guilt temporarily, fear overwhelming him, overriding any other feelings, including guilt. Temporarily free, Cloud got up and bolted.
He kept running; ran from the stream, through a copse of trees, past a wild flower field. Running. Always running. Running from his problems. Cloud could hear that voice laughing at him. Mocking his every movement......
By, the master, SenshiB@aol.com

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Page Updated Tue Apr 10, 2001 3:30pm EDT