#sephiroh x cloud

[games-palimpsyde]

SOURCE : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSv-YHpuCU4

[erza155-writes]

Ginnungagap

Sefikura Week 2024 | Day 7 - Ephemeral

Fandom: FF7

Characters: Sephiroth, Cloud Strife, Gaia

Ship: Cloud Strife x Sephiroth

Wordcount: 638

Underneath Gaia’s stars there are many wonders, but it has not always been so. Long ago, before humans overtook the ancients, even before giants roaming the realm; there was love.

The love lay between two primordials, more than god-like beings active before Gaia herself sprang into existence. The Orderly Dark One who would become known to humans by the name of Sephiroth, and The Chaotic Light One who would become known as Cloud. Though they were entities of conflicting domains, and though they were two, they lived as one.

How their love came to be, no one knows. But the force of it could not be denied or altered as they traversed the stars reshaping matter into existence as they pleased. Thus, they were known as The Lovers. And as is the convention for lovers, they begat a child.

(For all that they’re apart at the start of their new lives, Cloud and Sephiroth are very strange children. Sephiroth’s rigidity to order fascinates and frustrates Shinra. Had it not been for his ability to and preference for just melting into the dark shadows, he would have easily become the new poster child for malicious compliance. Cloud is nearly ungovernable, always reaching for the nearest light source be it an open flame or a bulb. Claudia worries for her wild son.)

When Gaia blossomed into existence, she was loved. Not by Sephiroth who held no regard for the child that he had not planned for; but by Cloud who adored all existence and welcomed most as his children. As Gaia bloomed into further greatness, Sephiroth could only watch, feeling as if he was slowly losing his other half.

Sephiroth refused to abide by this. Long before this child, and long after her too, Cloud would still love him. Cloud belonged to him and no upstart brat would get in the way of that. As he is wont to do, Sephiroth planned. Bending the universe to his will, his plans came to fruition and he sent Gaia a gift.

Upon opening the gift, Gaia was distraught, for instead she and her children fell prey to the curse Sephiroth had crafted. Even as she fell to grief, Gaia became enraged. Sephiroth had killed her children for naught but spite, and she would ensure that he paid for it.

(The ax forgets; the tree remembers)

As she lost herself in her own spite and her quest to avenge her children, Gaia schemed. The universe would not bend to her will as it did for Sephiroth thus alternative measures had to be taken.

She managed to lure Sephiroh into a trap and sealed him away. It would have been perfect were it not for Cloud. Upon his discovery of what she had done, he tried everything he could to reach his other half. But it was not to be. Even as he razed a path of destruction across the realms, he received no answers.

Heartbroken, but needing to protect herself and her children, Gaia sealed him away too.

As Gaia wept and grieved, she continued to create. Her tears would become the streams, lakes, rivers, and oceans of the world. She moved mountains to provide shelter for her new children. She erected shrines and temples to her first children, in the hopes that her succeeding children would not forget their predecessors, nor what led to their demise.

But even as she desperately built and shaped her new world, it was with the understanding that nothing she built would last.

(Cloud’s eyes meet Sephiroth’s and it is a quiet moment. There is no bang to announce the end of the world; only the subtle smirking twitch of Sephiroth’s lips. It was never a contest and the little upstart would soon learn her place. Cloud’s only true love is reserved for Sephiroth, and Sephiroth alone.)

A/N: it's 11:17pm where I'm at rn so this technically still counts! Anyway, theme was ephemeral so yadda yadda Cloud & Seph's love for anyone not themselves is..... well look at the theme of the day i guess

anyway i did write this in like 3 hours so it is rough and unedited and i'm gonna go to bed thinking about the lore i didn't get to put in for this new idea that i came up with literally less than 10 hours ago

also sorry to anyone looking for meaning from this because my inspiration was like norse mythology + cowherd & weaver girl + 'i bet on losing dogs' by mitski. have fun making something out of that, i certainly did!

as always, this'll be up on ao3 at an indefinite time in the future, cheers lads!

and importantly!!!! Thank you mod @sefikuraweek for consistently running this event! It always sparks a lot of joy! and even though I'm scared to reach out to people, genuinely thank you so much for your consistent efforts because it's what's inspiring me to make sure i don't miss publishing a sefikura fic during sefikura week for like the next 3 years at least. see you next year!