[ The ominous feeling that follows him up the mountain is not one that raises any alarm; there is and always has been a forbidding air in the world above Nibelheim, where neither trees nor grass can be found to grow, and the earth alternates between dead grey and a certain sickly yellow-green.
It's on more of the former, crumbling, rocky outcropping that he sets his feet again as a breath he hadn't been consciously holding escapes him in a silently relieved rush. The bridge is the worst part, in some ways, in its own way - all of that emptiness looming below, the mist hanging underfoot like clouds, hiding things. Spires of stone. Predacious birds. Both hungry and waiting. He tells himself not to look, but can't help it, either way.
Even once he's back on deceptively solid ground, Cloud hesitates, looking back - and what he sees there at first baffles and then angers him.
It's that kid, that same kid, and he's come all this way even after Cloud explicitly told him not to. He thinks the bridge might stop him up (he hasn't stepped on, yet, after all - maybe he's too scared, though even from a distance... he doesn't look it). But that's still a chance. Rather than waiting to find out, Cloud darts ahead up the path, hoping to duck out of sight around the bend.
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It's on more of the former, crumbling, rocky outcropping that he sets his feet again as a breath he hadn't been consciously holding escapes him in a silently relieved rush. The bridge is the worst part, in some ways, in its own way - all of that emptiness looming below, the mist hanging underfoot like clouds, hiding things. Spires of stone. Predacious birds. Both hungry and waiting. He tells himself not to look, but can't help it, either way.
Even once he's back on deceptively solid ground, Cloud hesitates, looking back - and what he sees there at first baffles and then angers him.
It's that kid, that same kid, and he's come all this way even after Cloud explicitly told him not to. He thinks the bridge might stop him up (he hasn't stepped on, yet, after all - maybe he's too scared, though even from a distance... he doesn't look it). But that's still a chance. Rather than waiting to find out, Cloud darts ahead up the path, hoping to duck out of sight around the bend.
Maybe then Sephiroth will have to turn back. ]