HE WANTS TO SAY IT IS SIMPLY A SIDE EFFECT OF HIS UPBRINGING, ONE HE HAS NEVER MANAGED TO SHAKE COMPLETELY: the compulsive need to always maintain the element of surprise which is so often crucial to the difference between life and death. or maybe it’s the idea of habit that terrifies him more than anything else. habit breeds complacency, complacency leads to predictability, and he cannot allow himself to be predictable. somehow, when it comes to the ex-soldier, that’s a fate Sephiroth never quite manages to avoid, because the moment his heels touch down on the floor of the abandoned underground test site with a barely audible creak, he knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that he isn’t alone.
FROM @strifiisms : dead end. there's nowhere left to run; the sender has cornered you at last. / @ sephiroth
❛ Your stealth is improving, ❜ he remarks, words tumbling out of his lips in a rush to salvage whatever upper hand he still has. he senses Cloud hovering a distance behind him, his presence so palpable that he can almost count the exact number of footsteps it would take to bridge the gap between them. even so, it captivates him all the same. after all, danger has always held a certain allure for him. they’ve been in this exact same situation before, too, all those years ago. it seems every choice, every decision, every sacrifice invariably leads them back where they began, like an endless loop of repeating history, and the same mistakes, over and over again.
❛ Impressive. ❜ sometimes it’s important to give people the illusion of being in control. ❛ It appears I have reached the end, ❜ his voice is calm, unnervingly so, considering the circumstances. there is no panic, no sign of fear in him, only cold certainty.
