writing prompts, 11 36 41
11 - Heartbeat
Cloud stepped closer to the chamber. The brilliant illumination of the interior was too much in the gloom of Midgar, the clinging shadows of Hojo’s lab. There was something in there, something almost hidden by the light. Familiar and alien, grotesque and oddly comforting. Mottled purple skin; last time it was lit by raw Mako.
The nuisance ringing in his ears reverberated, ever louder and he clutched his head in pain. From around him came the beat of a heart. He collapsed to the ground, unable to cope and the ringing stopped. The strange heartbeat reverberated until Sephiroth's death.
36 – conditional
A rescue from the Turks. Cost? The promise of a date. A rescue from Hojo’s clutched. Cost? Free. Cloud's tendency to care for his friends without strings made him far more appealing. In many ways it was almost a shame to have put those conditions on a date with him.
But Aeris’s interest was sufficiently piqued already. A spur of the moment phrase she almost regretted. She brought it up only once more, and to her alarm made Tifa uncomfortable. But she never forgot; neither did Cloud. He never saw their eventual less than stellar date as a hassle.
41 – insanity (also requested by @effortlesslyuncool)
What was it like to go insane? Tifa clung to the question after Cloud's tale, making it a distraction from the issues, from her discomfort. How did someone go from cold and distant to murderous as Sephiroth had? What could possibly exist in those secret rooms below the Shinra mansion to change someone like that?
Cloud might insist the problem began in the reactor, but while she might not have escaped unscathed, she retained her sanity after stepping foot inside. Was everyone so close to breaking down like Sephiroth had? What could exist to be so potent an influence?