As awkward as he is, and as tough as Cloud attempts to appear on the surface, there is no chance he can avoid the feelings that Sephiroth's words stir in him. They reach down deep to an immutable piece of him that has always been there from the start, in spite of what he's been through: His kindness. While the silver speaks in an even tone for the most part, the slight changes in volume and shifts of expression, small but visible to Cloud, read as so much more. He can feel a level of exhaustion and hopelessness, but also a thread of determination. It makes his chest ache in an unfamiliar way, to hear Sephiroth voice his dark thoughts on himself.
This man was his hero, once. Though it may take time to fully process and accept it (and thus completely derail the reality and grudge that kept Cloud himself moving forward), Sephiroth might, in this place, still be the man who a young Cloud followed with a dream and stars in his eyes. The man he aspired to be like. Strong, and able to leave an impact on the world around him. He maybe always was that man. Sephiroth's determination to live outside of Shinra and their fucked-up machinations reads as equal parts honorable and gut-wrenching. A monster wouldn't take the hard route. A monster wouldn't try to live in spite of the circumstances of his birth, against staggering odds and crushing guilt.
"Monsters don't care like this." He gives a gentle shake of the head. "Monsters don't worry about what they are."
Sephiroth never wanted this. Sephiroth never relished the burning of Nibelheim, and Sephiroth never was truly the one finding pleasure in Cloud's continued suffering. That is where this entire train of thought leads. Scary, uncertain territory, but territory Cloud's innate kindness wants to reach for past the grudges that held him up before. Anything that might be a path away from the suffering. Not just of his own, but of the entire Planet back home, it seems.
So it isn't physical. Cloud knows better than to press that subject, given what Sephiroth says after. "Don't think a monster would offer to help a guy who just tried to kill him either, right?"
no subject
This man was his hero, once. Though it may take time to fully process and accept it (and thus completely derail the reality and grudge that kept Cloud himself moving forward), Sephiroth might, in this place, still be the man who a young Cloud followed with a dream and stars in his eyes. The man he aspired to be like. Strong, and able to leave an impact on the world around him. He maybe always was that man. Sephiroth's determination to live outside of Shinra and their fucked-up machinations reads as equal parts honorable and gut-wrenching. A monster wouldn't take the hard route. A monster wouldn't try to live in spite of the circumstances of his birth, against staggering odds and crushing guilt.
"Monsters don't care like this." He gives a gentle shake of the head. "Monsters don't worry about what they are."
Sephiroth never wanted this. Sephiroth never relished the burning of Nibelheim, and Sephiroth never was truly the one finding pleasure in Cloud's continued suffering. That is where this entire train of thought leads. Scary, uncertain territory, but territory Cloud's innate kindness wants to reach for past the grudges that held him up before. Anything that might be a path away from the suffering. Not just of his own, but of the entire Planet back home, it seems.
So it isn't physical. Cloud knows better than to press that subject, given what Sephiroth says after. "Don't think a monster would offer to help a guy who just tried to kill him either, right?"