Sephiroth's description of the pain he felt in the Lifestream is numbing. Perhaps if Cloud were home, he would feel some sort of smug satisfaction over it- that the man was getting what he deserved. But like this, it leaves the blond hollow. Especially as Sephiroth describes his realization that the cycle of suffering was pointless.

The resolve that then appears to wash over Sephiroth has a sort of satisfaction and...something light settling in Cloud's chest to flutter there. For a brief moment in time, Cloud swears he feels positive emotions in Sephiroth's presence for the first time in what feels like forever.

It will be a hell of a lot to unpack later. For now, he gazes at the hen in his lap with a barely-masked fondness.

"Finding good people will do that." A realization Cloud was approaching himself back home, before being sent here. He says it not only to Sephiroth, but to the both of them. Cloud only wishes with another pang that the others were here for such a realization to happen. He cannot believe he misses them, but their absence and the return to a lonely, aloof quiet in his life puts things into startling, inevitable perspective. At the very least, wildly, it seems Sephiroth wishes to help shoulder his own burdens- many of which were indeed caused by the silver himself. Yet more to unpack alone.

"...Don't expect the Buster Sword at your throat again, then. For now."