[sephiroth speaks so calmly about the events that took place in nibelheim, of his own involvement and that of cloud and the others whose lives he took away, both with his sword and with fire, if the masamune had not reached them. he can see where the anger stems from, given everything he did and took away, and that much made cloud angry.]

[his home, his mom, tifa—]

[angry enough to go head to head against the super soldier, himself just an infantryman, a child for all it was worth. even if in his recollection he was more than this.]

[cloud shakes his head and takes another step forward, the same anger he had felt back then bubbling inside him, until he can only vocalize them.]

You killed my mother! [his hands are tight fists] You burned my home—and killed everyone in it! You hurt Tifa! [a stabbing pain jabs into his mind, the sensation of a stitch in the fabric of the world around them falling asunder for one brief moment. wasn't there someone else at the reactor? he winces in pain, but it leaves him soon enough.] And for what—?

[he never understood why sephiroth acted the way he did. every young boy admired him, wished to be like the great war hero. he was intimidating, but he wasn't evil. not like this.]

[another step forward, and the background around them shifts into the jagged rocks of mount nibel, eerily glowing in oranges from the burning town and greens from its soil.]

I killed you once, and I can do it again.

[big words—but it really all comes to show how little cloud does understand right now about... well, everything. even himself.]