Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Hateful Transformation ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

Hateful Transformation

Chapter One

Disclaimer: I don't own Cloud or Seph, so please don't sue me. I'm broke!

Cloud stared frighteningly in front of the mirror; disbelieving, thinking it had to be some weird quirk with the mirror. However, now that his eyes were fully open, he could see the hanging silver bangs Sephiroth had always been seen with. Looking up at them, his eyes started to tear up, and he started whimpering; his brain not willing to comprehend what had happened.

Suddenly, one single tear slid down his face, followed by many others. Anguished sobs escaped from his lips. Why, of all the people in the world, did it have to be Sephiroth he magically switched places with?! Of all the people it could have been, it had to be his despised enemy……………. "Why do all of these weird things always happen to me………………?" He thought sadly.

At that moment, a few other questions ran through his mind………………… What would Tifa think? What would everyone think? What if they attacked him if they saw him? Cloud wasn't quite sure how they would act if they saw him coming up to them, and saying, "I'm Cloud." As if they would believe him. He was sure they wouldn't greet him with open arms; after all, he certainly wouldn't have believed it himself.

A little while later, he started to behave normally again, his mind finally letting him register it all. He stood up, and glanced across the room, striving to find objects he could identify. At his first study of the room; he noticed a small closet, a bathroom, and a simple metal door that Cloud guessed might lead into some kind of hallway. On the right side of the room, he noticed a small balcony like door to the left, vertical blinds covering the exit.

Since Cloud had no idea where he was, the balcony might help him find his bearings. Walking over to it, he pushed the blinds out of the way, only to reveal he needed some kind of key to open the balcony door. Of course he was able to see a few things from inside the glass, but it wasn't that great of a view. Cloud rolled his eyes, and then slammed his fist against the glass, which, to his surprise, began to crack. A small grin appeared on his face, and he continually began to ram his fist into it; and more and more cracks began to appear, until it shattered.

"Alright!" Cloud screamed triumphantly, pleased that something had finally went his way……………..for once. He carefully stepped over the frame of the door, half-smile on his face.

As he peered over the small gate that prevented someone from falling over the edge, he instantly knew precisely where he was.

Midgar.

Not just the Midgar where he had been knocked unconscious in……………

But a completely restored Midgar.

How was it possible? Midgar had still been a wreck just a day or so ago………….. The restoration process surely would have lasted for months more, perhaps even years.

Cloud was in complete and total ignorance. He didn't understand what was going on, and he hated it. He loathed not understanding something, especially since Hojo's little mind game with him. Telling him lies about being created. Being his precious little `specimen', and not remembering anything. He had felt so unsure of himself at those times.

Cloud then knew what he had to do.

He had to find out what was going on.

Even if he WAS Sephiroth.

~~

Well.

Cloud had made a mission for himself.

There was only one problem.

How could he start?

"……Well, first I could find more clothes………." He thought to himself. After all, the only thing he was wearing was a black pair of pants.

Automatically he went inside, and headed for the closet, where he found just what he was looking for…….. Sephiroth's clothes.

Rummaging through the closet, he actually found more than the black trench coat his old enemy had seemed to wear all the time. (However, Cloud did find multiple copies of that particular garment.)

Cloud discovered a total of five different outfits, to his surprise. They were all black, but they had different styles. He would have worn something different, mainly out of curiosity, but thought it would be best if he didn't raise suspicion.

As Cloud hurriedly threw the trench coat on, put Sephiroth's typical black gloves over his hands, changed his pants and did everything else that he thought necessary. (Sephiroth, to Cloud's relief, wore some underclothes, unlike some people he knew, like Mukki.)

He looked at the mirror, to check and make sure he looked `normal'. He wasn't sure why he cared, since most people thought Sephiroth was some kind of psycho anyway. When he passed his own inspection, he started on his next task-finding the Masamune.

The first place he looked was in the bathroom, since he hadn't seen in the closet or the room itself. He did, however, find a set of keys. Cloud flushed slightly when he noticed them, thinking of the destroyed door just a few feet away. He grabbed and stuffed them in a pocket, and continued to look for the sword.

Since he couldn't find it in an easy to see place, he started to creep across the floor with a keen eye to see if he could find a secret compartment. Cloud knew Sephiroth was protective over his beloved sword; everywhere he went, it came too.

Finding nothing noticeable on the floor, he began to scan the ceiling. If he didn't find a vent that he could have hidden it in, he didn't know what he would do. Probably just leave without it and hope for the best…………..

He found a vent, and noticed it was open. Taking this as some kind of hint that the Masamune was hidden in that area, he jumped up and held onto the cold metal with the tips of his fingers. He pulled his upper body up so he might be able to see down the dark vent.

Discovering nothing except the light from other rooms, Cloud closed his eyes and sighed, then, for no reason whatsoever, he started pulling himself up further down the vent, so only his feet could be seen from the vent he had came through.

"Yo? Seph?" A man's voice said, said, breaking through the silence. It came from the room below. "What the hell happened?!" He cried, apparently having seen the broken glass scattered all over the floor.

For some reason, that voice sounded like………….Zax's?

But Zax, like his mother and Aeris, was dead.

However, in this `different world' he was in now, how could he know who was alive……….and who wasn't?

Cloud crawled backwards out of the shaft, and landed gracefully on his feet.

The man, dressed in the first class SOLDIER uniform, turned around from his position when he heard Cloud.

"Oh, it's you……….. Heh, I thought it was some kind of rampant monster or something." The man laughed nervously.

Cloud stared at the man, and although his hair was a little bit shorter, he was very recognizable.

"Zax?"

"What?"

"It was me."

"It was you………. What?"

"I broke the door."

"Oh…………."

After their brief exchange of words, an awkward silence passed for a moment.

"Have you seen my Masamune?" Cloud finally asked, the words `my Masamune' together leaving a sort of mental aftertaste.

"Your……. Masamune? That's your sword, isn't it?" Zax smirked, running his hand through his spiky black hair.

"Yeah, have you seen it?"

"Yes, no, maybe so…….." Zax answered, his smirk growing larger.

"Where is it Zax?" Cloud asked impatiently, crossing his arms, turquoise eyes narrowing dangerously.

Zax laughed. "Fine, fine, I'll find it, I'll find it………. I was just wondering if I could get you to talk more over it………. Apparently you do when something you like's being threatened. You'd make a good boyfriend, man. Very, very, protective. I didn't expect you to break down a door for it."

"………..Bring me back my sword, please, Zax……."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. It'll take me a few minutes though. Thing's heavy. I don't see how you can lift it as easily as you do…………….." Zax remarked, and then ran off.

Cloud watched him leave. If anyone had ever had the right to say, `I see dead people', he would be the one, he thought to himself. Maybe this was the regular human's `life after death' scenario-you lived your enemy's life. When did he die though? He should have survived the pillar incident-if it had landed on him, yeah, he might have died. But it didn't….. Maybe this was some freaky dream. He rarely ever had actual dreams……. Usually they were just memories, ones he wished he could forget. But this was too real to be just a dream. Some parts of him were starting to get a bit sore from the few pieces of glass that had struck him………. Telling him it was no dream.

~~

Zax came back an hour later, tugging at the Masamune with both hands. "How…….." He gasped. "Can you lift this thing………….?"

Cloud shrugged. "I dunno…… hard work and determination, I guess."

Zax snorted, then shook his head. "That was a first."

"What are you……….?" Cloud asked, wondering what was so funny.

"You said a word that wasn't in a dictionary!" He replied; and began to howl with laughter when he noticed the look on Cloud's face. Cloud rolled his eyes.

"What does it matter……………?" He asked, then felt awkward, though he wasn't sure why. It felt weird saying it………..

"Never mind, forget it." Zax mumbled, then looked at his watch on his right arm. "Ummm…… Seph? Don't we have some sort of meeting to attend with the big shots of Shinra?"

"Big shots of Shinra?" Cloud mumbled weakly, suddenly understanding what time period he might be in. If Zax was alive, and Shinra was still here, it had to be sometime in the past…………

"Yeah…….. Do we?"

"I think so." Cloud replied, his voice fuller, far more confident. At least he now knew something, though it was only a rough sketch of what he really wanted to know.

"It's at eleven thirty, isn't it?" Zax inquired Cloud.

"No idea, I can't remember. Probably."

"We better leave now then………." Zax replied, voice speeding up. "It's eleven fifteen now! You're driving!" He gestured with his hands for `Sephiroth' to follow him, and Cloud obeyed, grabbing the Masamune with his right hand and following him down the stairs to the parking lot.

~~