It was midnight. Cloud was lying on his bed. He can't seem to sleep that night. Something has been bugging him, he was thinking about what Vincent told him just now. He admitted that the flower girl really looked like Aeris, but she just isn’t! Why would Vincent think of something like that? He then thought about the flower girl. Her beautiful face, her sweet voice, her…..

"No…I can’t…" Cloud said to himself.

"Come, come to me. Come."

Suddenly, he heard voices, familiar voices.

Cloud looked around. He saw nobody around him. A few seconds later, he heard it again. It came from...his head. Cloud tried to shake away those voices but he couldn’t. It hadn’t happen to him for a long time already, since the death of ...Sephiroth.

For no reason, Cloud got out of bed and strapped his weapon onto his back. He hadn't used his sword for a long time and he wondered why he would want to use it. Something told him to. He opened the door quietly and sneaked out of the 7th heaven. He didn’t know why he was doing this. He just followed what the voice asked his to. He was following someone’s command.

The streets of Kalm were extremely quiet at midnight. Unlike Midgar that was full with people all day long, the streets of Kalm were deserted. Cloud walked on. He felt like someone was commanding him to go somewhere, telepathically. He didn’t thought of fighting it back and walk straight back home. He just followed the voice in his head and walked on.

Suddenly the voice stopped. He stand still at his position and saw a dark alley not far away. Without much doubt, Cloud walked into the alley and looked around.

From a distance he could see the figure of two people. One of them was standing tall and the other was either sitting or kneeling on the floor. Cloud walked closer to have a clearer look. His face turned white immediately. He instantly recognized the two people. The one kneeling was the flower girl he met yesterday. But the one standing gave him the fright.

Goosebumps oozed out from Cloud’s body. Cloud just stood still, trying not to believe the man standing in front of him. This man, holding a long sword in his hand was once his worst nightmare. Although his long silver hair, blew by the wind hid his face, Cloud could still recognize him.

"I know you will come, puppet." the man with the long sword said and grinned.

"Sep.....Sephiroth?! It's.....it's impossible! How can you possibly be alive?! " Cloud exclaimed nervously.

Sephiroth. The Child of Hojo and Lucretia, a first Class Soldier, the most skillful swordsman, and of course, the planet’s number one enemy was back. How he came back wasn’t important, what was important was he came back, with a vengeance.

"So you still remember me. Good. I am not Sephiroth, I am a Sephiroth clone, just like you. But if you prefer to call me Sephiroth, continue calling me that name." Sephiroth answered.

"How...how could that possibly be?”

Cloud asked with a frightened tone. Cloud remembered the incident in the northern crater during his adventure to save the world. Sephiroth killed all the other clones, except for him. How come the real Sephiroth didn’t manipulate this Sephiroth?

"I know what you are thinking. I should have been summoned and then killed by Sephiroth, right? Allow me to make a little explaining.” Sephiroth said and walked a few steps around. He looked at Cloud straight in the eye and Cloud stepped two steps backwards.

“Remember Hojo gave numbers to all subjects that have to do with the Jenova Project? Everybody thought that he started from number 1 but actually he started it from zero. "

Sephiroth explained and then he stopped for a while. He folded up his sleeve and there was something on his shoulder. It was a tattoo with a zero on it.

"I am a special test subject created too by Hojo. But I was a little different. I was more powerful than the actual Sephiroth and I possessed strength that even the real Sephiroth didn’t possess. I was the ultimate test subject." Sephiroth continued.

"Then why did you summon me? Why? " Cloud exclaimed.

"Since you managed to kill the first Sephiroth and the most powerful Sephiroth clone, I believe you possessed special strength to defeat them both. I, the ultimate Sephiroth clone, would like to challenge your skills." Sephiroth replied with a pointed his Musamane at Cloud.

"What does that girl has to do with everything? She’s innocent! Leave her out of this!" Cloud tried to defend the flower girl that was still kneeling on the floor.

"This ancient? You don’t recognize her? Fool. You made me laugh. She didn’t tell you anything, did she? " Sephiroth finished and laugh hysterically like a madman. His evil laughter filled the sky and tortured every single cell in Cloud’s body.

“No!!!!”

Cloud pulled out his enormous sword from it’s sheath and dashed towards Sephiroth. He didn’t even care to ready a stance or plan how to attack. He attacked with all his strength and might that was empowered with anger and hatred.

Sepiroth brought out his sword and blocked Cloud’s first attack. There was a thunderous clash when the two swords met. Cloud quickly attacked Sephiroth again with his sword. He tried to immobilize Sephiroth by slashing his leg but Sephiroth easily ducked. Sephiroth was quicker than he thought.

At first they looked like they were even matched but they actually weren’t. Cloud’s aggressively slashed his sword again and again, kept Sephiroth in a defensive position. But Sephiroth blocked every attack easily. Cloud couldn’t pierce through Sephiroth’s defense. Sephiroth was too skillful. He had no choice but to keep on attacking.

In the middle of the battle, Sephiroth suddenly jumped backwards. To Cloud's surprise Sephiroth immediately pulled out a green materia and muttered something in his mouth. The bright green light of Ultima knocked Cloud off his feet.

Cloud quickly recovered but Sephiroth had charged at him with his sword. Cloud had no time to bring up his sword so he helplessly tried to dodge that attack. Unfortunately, Cloud failed to dodge this attack. Sephiroth long sword managed to wound his right arm and blood was gushing out instantly.

Cloud was in deep pain, he wanted to stop and heal himself but he couldn’t. In the heat of the battle he got to ignore the pain and keep on fighting. He brought up his sword and attacked with his last ounce of strength.

After many clashing, Cloud was exhaust. Sephiroth now fight even better and viciously and the fight before that was only a warm up to him. Cloud has been slashed twice again and his whole body was screaming in pain, but he ignored them and kept on fighting Sephiroth. At last Sephiroth performed a killing blow and knocked Cloud onto the ground. Cloud was badly injured and exhausted. He couldn't fight anymore. He tried to be conscious but he could feel his life seeping away. Sephiroth had won.

Cloud couldn’t see clearly now. Everything started to go blur. A figure appeared in front of him. It was looking down at him. Cloud gave up fighting and waited for his final blow.

"Great Gospel. "

Cloud was shocked to hear this. Although he couldn’t see clearly, he could see the figure that was kneeling down stood up already. He then saw green light surrounded the figure. The green light then disappeared and he felt a surge of energy flowing into him, he started to see clearly now.

Cloud looked at his wounds and saw them sealing up, he felt like a new person filled with energy. Sephiroth's sword came down and slashed right at Cloud but Cloud wasn't injured at all. A strong shield the flower girl casted protected him. Cloud sprung forward and slashed Sephiroth without any though of defense. Sephiroth blocked a few slashes and then he jumped backwards. He was flying in the sky and he slided his sword back into its sheath.

"Nice try, Ancient. But you won't be so lucky next time. "

Sephiroth said and then he fly into the sky. Cloud gazed at the spot where Sephiroth disappeared, and then he looked back at the flower girl.

"How...how did you do that? " Cloud walked towards the flower girl and asked her. Cloud knew this spell very well. Only Aeris could perform it. This means...

The flower girl kept quiet. She turned her head away. She tried very hard to avoid eye contact with Cloud.

"Aeris? "

Cloud asked. The flower slowly turned her head and looked at Cloud. Cloud could see many different expressions in her eyes but now all he wanted was answers. Whether or not she was Aeris.

They stood there for some time. Both of them didn't make any move. The flower girl slowly walked towards Cloud. She bit her lower lips and looked at Cloud. Then, she hung down her and looked at the ground. She closed her eyes and nodded slowly.