[He never did get to the bottom of things, even if Cloud seemed certain of his future — at least in regards to how the mission at Nibelheim would play out. The man had been more than willing to throw accusations at him, couched in his white-hot rage, and Sephiroth could not gather more in regards to context, or motive, or anything that made sense. Strife would clam up; refuse to talk to him, barely even look at him.

But he doesn’t want to get into that. Doesn’t want to discuss the crimes he was supposedly guilty of, in a time that never came to pass. Instead, he nods, and finds a quiet appreciation in the fact that Steve doesn’t seem willing to push any further.]

I did go looking for him. [Which sounds strange, maybe, given the tension between them. But to have lost someone from Gaia (and someone from the future, no less) was like losing an invisible tether. Like becoming slightly more unmoored, a discomfort churning in his chest. Even thinking about it makes a ghost of that feeling rise up again.] I scoured the city, and what I could of the desert.

[His horse whinnies slightly, shaking out its mane. The wagons pick up the pace, wooden wheels turning a little faster as they make their way down a gentle slope.]

Either way, he’s gone. And no one else from my planet that I know of remains here.