No, [Cloud grits out, voice rough. He even holds out a hand as if to forestall Sephiroth, keep him from calling for anybody else. And because he has a suspicion, can hear it in the kid's voice as if Cloud's listening to his own, he continues,] Wasn't you. Give- gimme a minute.
[-god damn it, he'd dropped the bags.
The high pitched ringing is leaving his ears slowly and taking that slicing, sharp pain with it, but it's taking its sweet time. Like the lingering ache after the brutal twinge of using a muscle wrong, whenever he tries to reach for those memories in any tangible sort of way. Trying to pull forward anything he can recall of the limited interactions he'd had with Sephiroth before the Nibelheim incident. All that comes to him are flashes of black and silver, the great General in the Shinra halls, there and gone in an instant.
The echoing emptiness of memories no longer there rebounds off the inside of his skull as Cloud's trembling breaths begin to even out. With telling slowness he unfolds, bent but no longer hunched, and he reaches to gather up the dropped bags and check to see if he just smashed a dozen eggs or something.
...if I find a way to become human? They've both got Jenova cells. What makes Sephiroth less human than Cloud or Zack? Because he's had them longer? I.. found a way to die. And Cloud found a way to kill him. A few ways, actually, and still it didn't do anything. But the thought of this soft-spoken kid (monster, murderer) looking for the most effective suicide is one of the most desolate, despairing things Cloud's ever heard. He can't help but relate.
He wants to speak, but not a single word seems willing to sit in his mouth. The rustle of the shopping bags as he rummages through sounds deafening.]
[cw: suicide mention]
[-god damn it, he'd dropped the bags.
The high pitched ringing is leaving his ears slowly and taking that slicing, sharp pain with it, but it's taking its sweet time. Like the lingering ache after the brutal twinge of using a muscle wrong, whenever he tries to reach for those memories in any tangible sort of way. Trying to pull forward anything he can recall of the limited interactions he'd had with Sephiroth before the Nibelheim incident. All that comes to him are flashes of black and silver, the great General in the Shinra halls, there and gone in an instant.
The echoing emptiness of memories no longer there rebounds off the inside of his skull as Cloud's trembling breaths begin to even out. With telling slowness he unfolds, bent but no longer hunched, and he reaches to gather up the dropped bags and check to see if he just smashed a dozen eggs or something.
...if I find a way to become human? They've both got Jenova cells. What makes Sephiroth less human than Cloud or Zack? Because he's had them longer? I.. found a way to die. And Cloud found a way to kill him. A few ways, actually, and still it didn't do anything. But the thought of this soft-spoken kid (monster, murderer) looking for the most effective suicide is one of the most desolate, despairing things Cloud's ever heard. He can't help but relate.
He wants to speak, but not a single word seems willing to sit in his mouth. The rustle of the shopping bags as he rummages through sounds deafening.]