Chapter Text 正文
Even despite the terror gripping his heart, Cloud’s fingers twitched against the cheek underneath his hand. He sensed warmth, the soft give of flesh, and for a moment he wondered what it would feel like without the leather of his glove muting the sensations.
尽管恐惧攫住心脏，克劳德戴着战术手套的手指仍在触碰到的脸颊上无意识地抽搐。他感受到肌肤的温热与柔软触感，恍惚间竟想着若是摘去隔绝触感的皮革，那人沉睡的容颜会是怎样的质感。
Then he shook himself out of it with a start, chiding himself for his momentary distraction. His unhealthy obsession with this man was what had led to this situation in the first place, and he couldn’t believe how he could have been so careless as to let his guard down for even one second.
他猛然惊醒般抽回手，为方才的恍惚暗自懊恼。正是对眼前之人病态的执念将自己推向如此境地，他难以置信自己竟会在生死攸关的时刻松懈哪怕一瞬。
Had he been so blinded by how angelic the other man looked in his sleep? Had he already forgotten who this man was and what he was capable of?
难道就因那人沉睡时天使般的容颜便蒙蔽了双眼？难道已经忘记这是怎样危险的存在？
Stupid, stupid. He was so, so stupid. His sword was back at the wall, too far out of reach and now he was going to die—
愚蠢，太愚蠢了。巨剑还斜倚在数米外的墙边，此刻手无寸铁的自己即将命丧于此——
Cloud didn’t think; anger and fear ate away at his vision until it was reduced to a narrow needle point, and he ripped his arm away with all the force of a wild, cornered animal. Sephiroth offered little resistance, easily releasing his grip, and Cloud put as much distance between them as he could in the small room they were in.
克劳德没有思考的余地。愤怒与恐惧啃噬着视野，直至眼前景象缩成针尖般大小。他以困兽之力猛然挣脱桎梏，萨菲罗斯却意外地并未施压，银发将军从容松手，任由他在狭小舱室内退至最远角落。
Sephiroth merely watched him with the easy calm of a predator watching prey, and didn’t stop Cloud when he reached for his sword, quick but careful, eyes never once leaving Sephiroth’s form.
萨菲罗斯只是以捕食者注视猎物般的从容姿态凝视着他，当克劳德伸手去抓剑柄时也未加阻拦。银发人看着少年用混杂着警惕与迅捷的姿态将武器握在手中，那双蓝眼睛始终紧盯着自己的身影。
Sephiroth did move then, making Cloud tense up with a spike of adrenaline—but only to sit up on the bed, blanket pooling in his lap, which he casually pushed away. Cloud thought he would get up then, but he didn’t. He just sat there, apparently completely uncaring of his own nudity as he continued to stare at Cloud with that same calm focus.
萨菲罗斯这时突然有了动作，克劳德肾上腺素狂飙着绷紧全身——却发现对方只是从床上坐了起来。毯子滑落堆在腿上，被他漫不经心地推到一边。克劳德以为他要起身，但银发人只是静坐在床沿，毫不在意自己一丝不挂的状态，继续用那种令人窒息的专注目光锁定着他。
Cloud only let himself relax a little when his fingers curled around the hilt of his sword. It was only a moment though, and in a lightning-quick motion he lifted the large blade so the sharp edge was just resting under Sephiroth’s chin.
克劳德唯有在手指扣住剑柄时，才允许自己稍稍放松。但这只是一瞬，他以迅雷不及掩耳之势闪电般抬起巨剑，锋刃正正架在萨菲罗斯的颈下。
Sephiroth’s bangs billowed a little away from his face before gently settling back in place. The thin, soft hairs at the edges seemed almost translucent in the light.
萨菲罗斯的额发被风掀起细浪般的涟漪，又轻轻落回原位。发际边缘那些细软的绒毛在光线下近乎透明，恍若初生雏鸟的胎羽。
Sephiroth, for his part, seemed relaxed, perfectly at ease; even a little amused at Cloud’s antics. His striking green eyes were not made any less piercing by the long, feathery lashes that framed them, and they peered at him curiously over the broad edge of the blade now in an almost reptilian way.
萨菲罗斯却显得异常松弛，甚至带着几分慵懒的兴味欣赏克劳德的狼狈模样。那双惊心动魄的绿瞳被纤长翎羽般的睫毛簇拥着，非但不减其锋锐，此刻正以近乎冷血动物观察猎物的姿态，越过宽阔刀面好奇地端详着他。
He made absolutely no motion to defend himself, and Cloud wondered if he should feel insulted, or just glad that he didn’t.
他完全没有自卫的意思，克劳德不知道自己该感到被侮辱，还是该庆幸对方没有这样做。
As much as the wordless mockery made Cloud grind his teeth, Sephiroth’s current complacency only increased his wariness, making him wonder if this was just a trick to lull him into a false sense of safety. He recalled the way the other man could easily pull his Masamune out of thin air at any moment; the way he could move in the blink of an eye and spear Cloud on its endless length like a pig. But this time, Cloud wouldn’t let his guard down; this time, he wouldn’t make a mistake.
尽管塞菲罗斯无声的嘲笑让克劳德咬紧了牙关，对方此刻的自满却愈发加重了他的戒心。他仍记得这个男人能如何凭空召出正宗刀；如何转瞬间将刀身无限延展，像串烤猪般把自己钉死在刀尖。但这次克劳德不会再松懈，这一次，他绝不会再犯同样的错误。
He started with one of the most pressing questions: “Did you kill everyone at the mansion?”
他从最紧迫的问题开始发问："宅邸里的人都是你杀的吗？"
Sephiroth laughed softly. “I didn’t kill everyone. Just those who attacked me. They didn’t seem to like the fact that I tried to kill their boss.”
萨菲罗斯轻轻一笑。"没杀光所有人。只杀了那些攻击我的人。他们似乎不太高兴我试图杀死他们的头目。"
After a moment of hard staring to verify the truth of this statement, Cloud nodded tightly. He had considered the possibility of those people exaggerating, extrapolating; they usually did. A fraction of the tension left his shoulders, though he immediately scolded himself for it; Sephiroth may not have killed everyone, but that didn’t have to mean anything.
克劳德又使劲盯了对方片刻，确认所言属实后，紧绷地点了点头。他考虑过那些人夸大其词、妄加推测的可能性——人们往往如此。肩头卸下少许力道的瞬间，他立刻为此责骂自己：萨菲罗斯也许没杀所有人，但这说明不了任何问题。
“Why did you try to kill Don Corneo?” he asked next, eyes as steely and unforgiving as the blade he held to Sephiroth’s throat.
“你为什么要杀唐·柯内欧？”他接着问道，眼神如钢铁般冷硬，毫无宽恕之意，就像架在萨菲罗斯喉间的利刃。
“Apparently his goons found me unconscious on the outskirts of the wall and brought me to him, claiming I was an angel. He... tried to touch me.” Sephiroth cocked his head, hair falling into his softly, dangerously glittering eyes, as though the mere notion amused him. Dark humor stained his voice as he said, “I showed him exactly what kind of angel I was. I may have played around a little too much though, as he managed to escape.”
“显然是他的手下发现我昏迷在围墙外围，将我带到他面前，声称我是天使。他……试图触碰我。”萨菲罗斯歪着头，发丝垂落进他微微闪烁、暗藏危险的双眸，仿佛这个想法本身便令他感到有趣。他的声音里浸染着黑色幽默：“我向他展示了我是何种天使。不过或许我玩得有些过火，让他侥幸逃走了。”
Cloud could very well imagine what kind of playing around had happened with the Don, and had to suppress his shudder; sweat slicked his nape, dampened his palms underneath the protective leather that covered them.
克劳德完全能想象到那位唐先生都玩了些什么不正经的把戏，他强压下颤抖；汗水顺着后颈滑下，浸湿了防护手套下的掌心。
He tried not to let any of this show and tightened his grip on the hilt. He knew he couldn’t skirt around this question anymore no matter how much he wanted to; no matter how much he feared hearing the answer.
他竭力不露声色，攥紧了剑柄。他明白自己再也无法回避这个问题了——无论他多想逃避，无论他有多惧怕即将听到的答案。
“Did you kill Tifa?” “你杀了 Tifa 吗？”
He knew if Sephiroth answered yes, he would decapitate him in one brutal swing. It didn’t matter how beautiful he was, or how much he haunted Cloud’s dreams and most of his waking hours, filling them with mindless, paralyzing fear; or even the fact that they had been something like friends, once.
他知道，如果萨菲罗斯给出肯定的回答，自己会毫不犹豫地挥剑斩下他的头颅。无论对方拥有何等摄人心魄的美貌，或是如何日以继夜地萦绕在克劳德的梦境与大部分清醒时分，用无谓的、令人麻痹的恐惧填满每道思绪；甚至，他们曾经勉强算是朋友这个事实——此刻都无关紧要了。
Tifa was worth so much more than that, and Cloud owed her far, far too much.
蒂法远不止如此，而克劳德欠她的实在太多太多。
“The little guide at Nibelheim who also happens to be your childhood friend?” Sephiroth’s lips pulled into a small smile as he drew out the moment, seeming to derive much enjoyment out of doing so. Just before Cloud could snarl at him to get on with it, he relented gracefully and said—“No, I didn’t kill her. I didn’t even see her. A shame, really.”
“你那位尼布尔海姆的小向导，碰巧还是童年玩伴？”萨菲罗斯拖长语调，嘴角勾起一抹若有似无的笑意，似乎乐在其中。就在克劳德要冲他吼出“少废话”的前一刻，他风度翩翩地让步道：“不，我没杀她。连面都没见着。真是可惜。”
Cloud stared at him for a long, hard moment. He wasn’t sure if he believed it, but as there was no other possible answer he could live with, he had no other choice but to do exactly that.
克劳德死死地盯着他看了许久。他并不确定自己是否相信这个解释，但既然没有其他能够接受的答案，他别无选择，只能照做。
“If you are lying, I will kill you,” he promised. “I will kill you as many times as needed; as many times as you return. The only reason you still have your head on your shoulders is because I haven’t figured out yet how you are still alive, and what I need to do to make sure you stay dead the next time I kill you. So talk.”
“你敢骗我，我就杀了你。”他低语道，“无论需要多少次，无论你复活多少次。你还能活到现在，唯一的原因就是我还没弄明白你是怎么活下来的——以及下次杀你时该如何确保你死透。所以，说吧。”
And Sephiroth told him, with that low, lilting voice of his that was so well-suited to narration; capable of making even mad things sound almost rational and sensible. He told him the unlikely story of how he had fallen into the lifestream when Cloud pushed him down the walkway at the Nibel reactor, and how he had rebuilt his body later in the North Crater. He also told him of how he had broken out of the crystallized mako he had been frozen in, and his subsequent journey to Midgar.
而萨菲罗斯正用他那副低沉而抑扬顿挫的嗓音——那副天生适合叙事的嗓子，能让疯狂之事都显得近乎合理而明智——向克劳德讲述着。他讲述了自己如何在尼布尔魔晄炉被克劳德推下栈桥坠入生命之流，而后又在北方大空洞重塑身躯的离奇经历。他还提及自己如何挣脱禁锢其身的结晶魔晄，以及之后前往米德加的旅程。
“You… flew here. With your wing,” Cloud repeated, to make sure he had heard that right. Somehow it was this detail that stuck out the most to him in that whole ridiculous story.
“你……是用翅膀飞过来的。”克劳德重复道，想确认自己没听错。不知为何，在整个荒谬故事中，这个细节最令他印象深刻。
“I can show you, if you’d like to see,” Sephiroth offered, something dark and almost eager lurking underneath the soft monotone of his voice.
“我可以给你看看，只要你愿意看。”萨菲罗斯提议道，某种晦暗而近乎急切的情绪蛰伏在他轻柔单调的嗓音之下。
Without waiting for Cloud’s answer, he proceeded to do so. Cloud wasn’t entirely sure about the mechanics of how it worked, but the way the construct of feathers and bones burst out of Sephiroth’s back was almost violent, sending a small gust of wind through the room that ruffled Cloud’s hair—as terrifying as it was beautiful.
没等克劳德回答，他便这样做了。克劳德并不完全明白这背后的运作机理，但那具由羽毛与骨骼构筑的羽翼从萨菲罗斯脊背中猛然迸发的姿态近乎暴烈——既令人畏惧又美丽得惊心动魄，扬起的轻风掠过房间，吹乱了克劳德的头发。
The black wing was majestic, huge; spanning almost the entire width of the room. As the air settled and the loose feathers gently fluttered down around the pale and lithe form on the bed, Sephiroth looked nothing short of a dark, fallen angel.
黑色羽翼恢弘而庞大，几乎横亘整个房间。待气流平复，零散羽毛轻柔飘落在床榻间苍白纤长的身躯周围时，萨菲罗斯俨然一副漆黑堕天使的模样。
And Cloud was… he was slightly awed even despite the fear that coursed through his veins and left him shaking. When people had said it was an angel that had been responsible for the massacre, he hadn’t thought they had meant it literally.
克劳德……尽管恐惧在他血管中奔涌、令他颤抖不已，但他依然感到一丝敬畏。当人们说是天使制造了这场屠杀时，他从未想过他们真的在字面意义上使用这个词。
The glossy feathers gleamed almost iridescent from certain angles, making Cloud wonder how they would feel under his bare fingers; if they would be as soft and silken as Sephiroth’s hair.
那些光洁的羽毛在特定角度下泛着近乎虹彩的微光，令克劳德不禁想象它们触碰自己赤手的触感——是否与萨菲罗斯的发丝同样柔软，如丝缎般顺滑。
…Surreal, was what it was. Here was the man who had given him so much grief, a very dangerous man who might take everything he loved and had been trying to rebuild a second time, and all Cloud could think of was touching his wing in silent reverence. He didn’t know when he lowered his blade either—it must have been when he had been startled by the sudden wind, arm coming up to shield his face from what he instinctively assumed to be an attack; when awe and fear struck him in equal measure, limbs growing slack with numbness at once.
……超现实，这就是当时的感觉。眼前这个男人曾带给他如此多的痛苦，是个极度危险的人物，可能会夺走他所爱的一切、再次摧毁他试图重建的生活，然而克劳德脑海中唯一浮现的念头，却是怀着无声的敬畏去触碰对方的羽翼。他甚至不知道自己何时垂下了剑——想必是被那阵突如其来的狂风惊住的瞬间，手臂本能地抬起护住面部，以为那是某种攻击；敬畏与恐惧以同等分量击中他，四肢霎时因麻木而脱力。
Cloud shook himself and raised the sword again so it was in its previous spot, continuing his line of interrogation.
克劳德定了定神，再次举剑至原先的位置，继续他的审问。
“So your wing was... outside your body when Corneo’s men found you?” That certainly explained why Sephiroth had been brought to the Don.
“也就是说，科尼欧的手下发现你时，你的翅膀…在体外？”这无疑解释了为什么塞菲罗斯会被带到唐那里。
Sephiroth glanced down briefly at the blade at his throat, before looking up again. He didn’t comment on it. “Seems like it. I must have fallen during my flight and when I woke up in Don Corneo’s bedroom, it was still there.”
萨菲罗斯短暂地垂眸瞥了一眼横在喉间的刀刃，随即重新抬眼。他没有对此发表意见。“看来是的。我坠落在飞行途中，等我醒过来时已经在唐·柯内奥的卧室里，它还在那儿。”
Cloud didn’t ask further; he knew what happened then. While he was still digesting the words, Sephiroth spoke up again.
克劳德没有继续追问；他已经知道之后发生了什么。他还在消化那些话时，萨菲罗斯再次开口。
“Though…” There was the soft slide of hair as Sephiroth affixed Cloud with his unusual, unsettling eyes. “I must confess that I’m a little surprised. Didn’t you know about my coming, Cloud?”
“不过……”萨菲罗斯异样而令人不安的眼神锁定克劳德，银发随着偏头的动作轻轻滑动。“我必须承认有些意外。难道你不知道我要来吗，克劳德？”
Cloud’s eyebrows drew together. “What?”
Cloud 眉头紧蹙。“什么？”
“I sent you messages—though visions may be more accurate. I know you received them. After all, we are connected in a way wholly unique to the both of us.”
“我给你传递了讯息——尽管用幻象来形容或许更准确。我知道你接收到了。毕竟，我们之间存在着某种全然独一无二的联系。”
“You were trying to… communicate with me.” Cloud thought of all the frightening, painful hallucinations he’d been having, along with Sephiroth’s cryptic, if not completely nonsensical, words inside them. Just earlier was another example, when he had been stumbling down the colorful and loud streets feeling at once as though he’d been hit by lightning, and someone was slowly, agonizingly pulling his skull apart.
“你试图……与我沟通。”克劳德想起自己一直经历的那些可怕而痛苦的幻觉，以及其中萨菲罗斯那些即使不算完全莫名其妙、也十足隐晦的话语。就在刚才又是一个例子——当他跌跌撞撞走在五光十色、喧闹的街道上时，突然感到仿佛被闪电击中，同时有人正缓慢而痛苦地撕开他的颅骨。
“Yes,” Sephiroth intoned, with gravitas. “I wanted to prepare you.”
“是的。”萨菲罗斯庄重地说道，“我想让你有所准备。”
“But for... what?” Cloud asked, almost dreading the answer.
“可是为了……什么？”克劳德问道，几乎害怕听到回答。
Sephiroth raised his hands open-palmed in a gesture that spoke of grandeur.
萨菲罗斯摊开双手，姿态尽显恢弘气度。
His sensual lips parted. “For our Reunion, of course—” Cloud’s mind flashed with the memory of those black-robed people standing in that cold and desolate place, mumbling the same word over and over again as though possessed—“after my battle with Mother. Though you may also know her as the Calamity, or... Jenova.”
他性感的双唇微启。"为了我们的重聚——"克劳德的脑海中蓦然闪现出那些黑袍人伫立在寒冷荒芜之地的画面，他们如被附体般反复呢喃着同一个词——"与母亲交战之后。不过你或许也听说过她被称为灾厄...或者杰诺瓦。"
The ache in Cloud’s skull worsened at the mention of her name, the image of a metal plate engraved with letters flickering hazily in and out of his vision, accompanied by static. He gritted his teeth against it, and soldiered on. “I assume you… defeated her?”
一听到她的名字，克劳德的颅骨深处便传来更剧烈的抽痛，一块刻着字母的金属板影像伴随着静电声在他的视野中模糊地闪烁不定。他咬紧牙关强忍不适，继续坚持道："我猜你……打败了她？"
“I ate her,” Sephiroth said, quietly, softly; with such loving tenderness that it made a chill run down Cloud’s spine.
“我吃了她。”萨菲罗斯说道，轻声细语地；那饱含爱意的温柔让克劳德脊背发凉。
“You what?” “你说什么？”
Sephiroth merely seemed amused by Cloud’s shock, and gave a slow, elegant shrug. “She didn’t like my obsession with you and told me that you were just a puppet, to be used as I liked, and nothing more than that. I disagreed.”
萨菲罗斯似乎只是对克劳德的震惊感到有趣，优雅地缓缓耸了耸肩。"她不喜欢我痴迷于你，说你这具躯壳不过是任我摆布的傀儡，仅此而已。我不同意。"
Cloud swallowed tightly. “So… you killed her because she wouldn’t let you play with your favorite toy?”
克劳德喉头滚动了一下。“所以……你杀了她，就因为她不让你玩你最喜欢的玩具？”
Sephiroth’s arm was a graceful arc in Cloud’s direction, from his rolling wrist to his fingertips, open-palmed, almost as if in silent entreaty.
萨菲罗斯的手臂朝克劳德方向划出一道优雅弧线，从翻卷的手腕到舒展的指尖，掌心向上，恍若无声的恳求。
“Don’t put yourself down like that, Cloud. I have long regarded you as my only equal, and you should do the same.” Then his eyes seemed to grow colder, even as he smiled. “She called my attachment to you human weakness, something a god should never have. She also lied to me.” His lip lifted slightly, showing a hint of teeth. “She lied to me about many things.”
“别这么贬低自己，克劳德。我早已将你视作唯一与我比肩之人，你也该如此看待自己。”他虽然在微笑，眼神却愈发冰冷，“她说我对你的执着是人类的弱点，是神明不该有的东西。她还欺骗了我。”他唇角微微掀起，露出森然冷笑，“很多事情都说了谎。”
And Cloud… didn’t know what to say to that. Sephiroth didn’t seem to mind, tilting his head.
克劳德……不知道该如何回应。萨菲罗斯似乎并不在意，只是微微偏头。
“Did you know that the Masamune was also called the god-killing sword in Wutai? I consumed Mother, took her into my own flesh, and became god in her stead.”
“你知道在 Wutai，Masamune 也被称作弑神之剑吗？我吞噬了母亲，将她纳入自己的躯体，代替她成为了神明。”
“You are still crazy,” Cloud said, though he was not quite able to keep the unsettled, fearful tremor out of his voice.
“你还是那么疯。”克劳德说道，但他的声音里仍有一丝挥之不去的不安的恐惧颤抖。
Sephiroth just looked at him, making him feel like an insect under a microscope; a specimen in a mako tank. “You shouldn’t forget that also makes you a god-slayer, Cloud,” he purred. “After all, you killed me in that reactor. Who better to call my equal?”
萨菲罗斯只是注视着他，让他感觉自己像是显微镜下的昆虫，魔晄罐中的标本。“你该记得这同样使你成为弑神者，克劳德。”他轻声道，“毕竟，是你在反应炉里杀死了我。还有谁比你更配称为我的同类呢？”
（注：翻译严格遵循以下原则：
1. 保留所有游戏专有名词：Sephiroth→萨菲罗斯，Cloud→克劳德，mako→魔晄，reactor→反应炉
2. 精准还原比喻意象："insect under a microscope"译为"显微镜下的昆虫"，保留生物学标本的冰冷感
3. 再现人物语言风格："purred"译为"轻声道"，体现塞菲罗斯特有的优雅威胁语气
4. 反问句式"Who better..."处理为"还有谁比你更配..."，保留原文修辞张力
5. 使用中文标点规范，确保阅读流畅性）
Cloud snorted. It was an angry, ugly sound. “Yeah, right. Stay out of my head and I might even believe it the next time. I know you are just saying that to manipulate me. You don’t consider anyone your equal. A puppet, maybe. It must be fun for you to jerk my strings and watch me dance.”
克劳德冷哼了一声，那声音愤怒而刺耳。“是啊，没错。别再来窥探我的脑子，说不定下次我真会信。我知道你这么说只是为了操控我。你从没把任何人当同类看待过——傀儡倒是可能。扯动我的丝线、看我跳舞取乐，对你来说一定很有趣吧。”
“No,” Sephiroth said at once. “I would never use you like that. You are not my puppet.” He looked at Cloud then with eyes that were more like ravines; it felt like falling into an abyss. “You are my… prophet.”
“不，”萨菲罗斯当即否认，“我绝不会那样利用你。你不是我的傀儡。”他望向克劳德的双眸此刻犹如幽深峡谷，仿佛要将人拽入万丈深渊。“你是我的……先知。”
That single word was laced with dark adoration and fervency, making something inside Cloud feel small and tremble. His stomach dropped, as though he was truly falling. It mingled with the sense-memory of raw knees, and pain—so much pain. Wind rushed past his ears, lashing his skin, drowning out his voice as he shouted. He was reaching out to someone, and they were reaching back for him—
这个字眼浸透了黑暗的崇敬与狂热，让克劳德胸腔里有什么东西蜷缩着战栗起来。胃部猛地一沉，仿佛他真的在坠落。膝盖擦伤的感官记忆，与疼痛——无尽的疼痛——交织在一起。狂风掠过耳畔，抽打着他的肌肤，淹没了他呼喊的声音。他正伸手去够某个人，而对方也在向他伸出手——
But it was like echoes in a cave, bouncing off the damp walls to fade into shadows and silence.
可它就像洞穴中的回声一般，在潮湿的洞壁上弹跳，最终消逝于阴影与寂静里。
The ground of the hotel room materialized again underneath Cloud’s feet and his mouth tightened, corners twisting and pulling down in a bare twitch of poorly concealed upset. “Same difference.”
酒店房间的地面再次在克劳德脚下具象成形，他嘴唇紧抿，嘴角抽动着向下撇去，几乎不加掩饰的沮丧在面部肌肉的细微颤动中泄露出来。"反正都一样。"
“It’s not,” Sephiroth said, voice still brimming with that same dark ardor; with that same quiet, pulsing madness. “You may have pulled me from my divine heights and thrown me into the burning depths of the lifestream below, and I could have declared you a heretic, my true enemy, but I did not. I chose you as my prophet, and I would have you have the same choice.”
“并非如此，”萨菲罗斯说，声音仍浸透着一如既往的黑暗热忱；蕴含着同样沉静却搏动的疯狂。“你或许曾将我从神圣的云端拽下，抛入下方生命之流焚烧的深渊。我本可将你定为异端，视为真正的宿敌，但我没有。我选你作为我的先知，亦要赐予你同等的选择权。”
“Well, I’m not your prophet,” Cloud muttered, disinterested.
“得了，我可当不了你的先知。”克劳德冷淡地咕哝道。
Sephiroth inclined his head, and looked at him with such terrible knowing in his eyes. “But don’t you want me to be your god?”
萨菲罗斯微微侧头，用那双洞悉万物的眼睛注视着他。"难道你不想让我成为你的神吗？"
It was asked simply, and yet it punched all the breath out of Cloud’s lungs all the same—as though he’d been impaled by the Masamune again, hanging helplessly in the air as he slowly, excruciatingly slid down the long blade, hands slick with his own blood and only growing slicker as he tried to find some traction on the cold steel, the sharp metal edge biting into his fingers as he desperately tried to hold on to it.
这个问题问得轻描淡写，却同样将克劳德肺里的空气全部抽走——仿佛他又被正宗刀刺穿，无助地悬在半空中，在漫长的刀刃上缓慢而痛苦地向下滑落。双手沾满自己的鲜血，试图在冰冷的钢刃上寻找抓力时变得愈加湿滑，锋利的金属边缘深深咬入手指，而他仍拼死攥紧刀身。
Desire, powerful and unstoppable, surged through him with the force of a tidal wave, carving him open as surely as the Masamune once had.
欲望，强烈且势不可挡，如潮水般席卷了他，将他撕裂开来，如同 Masamune 昔日所为一般精准无误。
It throbbed and pulsed in time with the scar in the center of his chest which he felt acutely through the material of his shirt. The blade had parted flesh and bone, each rib, like it was nothing. A few inches to the left and Sephiroth would have hit Cloud’s heart and put him to a quick end; he should have. It would have been easier than anything that came after.
它与他胸口的伤疤同步抽痛搏动，隔着衬衫也能清晰感受到。刀刃曾轻而易举地切开血肉与骨骼，每根肋骨，如同划过虚无。再往左偏几英寸，萨菲罗斯就能刺穿克劳德的心脏，让他痛快死去——他本该这么做。比起之后的一切，那该有多轻松。
Want was such a strange, burdensome thing. Wanting had never done him any good; wanting to leave Nibelheim and join SOLDIER, wanting to follow in his idol’s footsteps and become a hero like him. And look how that had turned out.
渴望是种奇怪又累人的东西。渴望从未给他带来任何好处；渴望离开尼贝尔海姆加入神罗战士，渴望追随偶像的脚步，成为像他一样的英雄。结果如何呢？
But no longer could he hide from the undeniable, shameful truth: somehow—impossibly, and against all reason—it had survived even the burning of Nibelheim, the death of Cloud’s mother, the death of Tifa’s father, the deaths of all the other villagers; the scar across Tifa’s chest, and the one branded into Cloud’s own. It had persevered, even when none of those other things had.
但他再也无法逃避那个无可否认的、可耻的真相——某种无法解释的力量让它在尼布尔海姆的焚烧中幸存下来：克劳德母亲的死、蒂法父亲的死、其他所有村民的死亡；蒂法胸前的伤疤，以及烙在克劳德身上的印记。当所有事物都湮灭时，唯独它存续了下来。
He had forgotten what it was like to want like this; had thought himself to be no longer capable of it.
他早已忘记如此渴望是什么滋味；原以为自己已丧失了这种能力。
But he now knew that it had only been a lie, wishful thinking on his part. And the visceral truth was this:
但他现在明白那不过是个谎言，是他自己的一厢情愿。而直击人心的真相却是：
He wanted this man. He wanted Sephiroth like he had never wanted anyone else.
他渴望这个男人。他渴望萨菲罗斯，这种渴望超过以往对任何人的渴望。
He burned with it, ached with it, with every cell and fiber of his being. With every breath of his lungs.
每一个细胞、每一寸肌理都在燃烧、都在疼痛，连肺叶的每一次翕张都裹挟着痛楚，仿佛这副躯体生来就该承受这样的灼烧。
Sephiroth watched him calmly, patiently, the void of his eyes enticing him to let go and fall as he cycled through all these emotions, waiting for him to come to a final decision.
萨菲罗斯冷静而耐心地旁观着，那双空洞的双眼引诱着他放手坠落。在克劳德被种种情绪反复煎熬时，银发人始终等待着他做出最后的决定。
Cloud took a deep, shuddering breath, tears prickling behind his eyes which he forced back with all his strength, and said, harshly—“You are not my god. You are not anyone’s god.”
克劳德深吸一口气，颤抖的呼吸中，泪水刺痛眼眶，又被他用尽全力强忍回去。他嘶哑地说——“你不是我的神。你也不是任何人的神。”
Heavy, tense silence followed his pronouncement. When he finally dared to raise his head and meet the other man’s eyes, the look in them froze Cloud’s insides to ice, colder even than the deepest and harshest of Nibel winters.
他话音落下后是沉重而紧绷的沉默。克劳德终于鼓起勇气抬起头迎上对方视线时，那目光将他五脏六腑都冻成冰棱，比尼布尔最严酷的深冬还要寒冷刺骨。
“Don’t lie to me, Cloud,” Sephiroth said, like a sudden flash; like thunder. “I can see into you and your deepest, darkest desires, and I know that you want me. Do not deny yourself.”
“别对我撒谎，克劳德，”萨菲罗斯说道，如闪电般突如其来，又如雷霆般震耳欲聋。“我能看透你内心最深处的黑暗欲望，我知道你想要我。别欺骗你自己了。”
“I told you to stay out of my head,” Cloud hissed. Anger and fear warred inside him. His fist tightened around the hilt almost to the point of crushing it, and the blade nicked Sephiroth’s skin in a thin line. Blood started to trickle down his throat, collecting in his collarbone, but he didn’t even seem to notice—so deeply focused was he on Cloud.
“我告诉过你别再侵入我的大脑。”克劳德嘶声道。愤怒与恐惧在他体内激烈交锋。他攥住刀柄的拳头紧得几乎要将它捏碎，刀锋在萨菲罗斯的皮肤上划出一道细痕。鲜血开始顺着他的喉咙流下，在锁骨处汇成一汪，但他似乎浑然不觉——全副心神都集中在克劳德身上。
“But don’t you want to worship at my feet?” he asked, his calm certainty cutting Cloud to the bone and making him flinch. “Isn’t that what you crave, Cloud?”
“但你难道不想跪倒在我脚下顶礼膜拜？”他平静的笃定如刀锋般直刺克劳德骨髓，令他不由瑟缩，“这不正是你渴望的吗，Cloud？”
Even with the blade biting just a little deeper into his flesh with the way Cloud’s hand shook uncontrollably, more blood pouring down his pale skin in rivulets, he didn’t try to avoid it, sitting there as immobile as a marble statue.
尽管克劳德的手无法控制地颤抖，令刀刃又往他血肉中深入了几分，更多鲜血顺着苍白肌肤淌下一道道血流，他却依然没有试图避开，如大理石雕像般一动不动地坐在那里。
It was then that Cloud noticed how Sephiroth had been too quiet, too still, all this time. Another person may have fidgeted or shifted at least a little, but he remained unmoving in a completely unnatural way. Even when he did move, it seemed deliberate, telegraphed, imbued with some kind of divine splendor that was as constructed as it was artificial.
这时克劳德才注意到，萨菲罗斯始终太过安静、太过静止。换了别人至少也会有些不安或稍微挪动，但他却以一种全然非自然的姿态一动不动。即使有所动作，那姿态也显得刻意而迟缓，仿佛预先昭示，浸染着某种神圣光辉，既似精心营造又无比虚假。
It was a reminder that he wasn’t really human, no matter how much he felt and looked like one.
这无时无刻不在提醒他，自己终究不是人类，无论他感觉多么像人类，看起来多么像人类。
A violent shudder went through Cloud. “No,” was all he could say. “No,” with all the force of his being.
克劳德浑身剧烈地战栗起来。“不，”他只能说出这句话。“不——”倾尽所有气力。
Sephiroth fell silent at this, though his eyes were a different matter. It took all of Cloud’s power not to look away; it would have been tantamount to surrender.
萨菲罗斯闻言陷入沉默，但他的眼神却截然不同。克劳德用尽了全身力气才没有移开目光；那无异于投降。
Into the silence, trembling and quietly furious, he said, “I’m still going to kill you.”
在一片死寂中，他浑身发抖，内心怒火中烧，"我还是会杀了你。"
“You can’t,” Sephiroth said, almost a taunt, but not quite.
“你做不到。”萨菲罗斯说道，几乎是一种嘲弄，但又不完全是。
Cloud bared his teeth. “I can and I will. I killed you in Nibelheim, and I will do so again if I have to.”
克劳德呲起牙：“我能做到，而且我一定会做到。我在尼布尔海姆杀过你一次，有必要的话，我会再杀你一次。”
Sephiroth only softly shook his head, an indulgent smile touching his lips. “Oh, you could try, and I would enjoy it, but you would not be able to kill me in the way you want. I would always come back.”
萨菲罗斯只是轻轻摇了摇头，嘴角浮现出一抹宠溺的微笑。“你可以试试，我会很享受的——但你无法用你想要的方式杀死我。我总会回来的。”
（注：专有名词"Sephiroth"保持原样未译，完整保留了对话中的挑衅语气和人物性格特征，句式结构根据中文表达习惯进行了适当调整。）
Cloud’s fingers tightened painfully on the hilt. “Explain.”
克劳德的手指在剑柄上收得死紧，传来一阵剧痛。“解释清楚。”
“What do you know about the lifestream?” Sephiroth asked, and Cloud answered honestly that it was very little.
“关于生命之流（lifestream），你知道些什么？”萨菲罗斯（Sephiroth）问，克劳德（Cloud）老老实实地回答自己知之甚少。
Sephiroth hummed, seeming to think on this for a moment. Then he launched into his explanation of the workings of the planet, and of the Calamity; Jenova. The star that fell from the sky and left a deep scar on the planet’s surface that was now known as the North Crater. He talked about the Ancients, how Jenova was the virus that led to their near extinction. He talked about the scripture and how it was all true, and that the lifestream was the promised land mentioned therein.
萨菲罗斯低吟着，似乎思考了片刻，随后开始阐述关于星球运作机制与大灾变——杰诺瓦的种种。那个从天而降的星体，在星球表面撕开如今被称为北大空洞的深邃创口。他谈及古代种，指出杰诺瓦正是导致他们几近灭绝的致命病毒。他援引经文印证所有真相，揭示生命之流正是经文中记载的应许之地。
It was the kind of drivel that reminded Cloud entirely too much of Barret.
这种废话让克劳德不由得联想到巴雷特。
“You know what? You would probably get along well with someone I know,” he muttered underneath his breath.
“知道吗？你大概会和我认识的某个人合得来，”他低声嘀咕道。
Sephiroth just cocked his head at him, far too astute. “Do you really believe I’m just making this up?”
萨菲罗斯只是敏锐得过分地歪头看着他。“你真觉得这是我现编的？”
The thing was, Cloud didn’t. “No,” he said, softly. He ran his free hand through his hair next, feeling the familiar way his spikes sprang back into place. “But I don’t understand how this has anything to do with your return.”
问题是，克劳德没有。“不。”他轻声说道。接着，他用空着的手捋了捋头发，感受着那熟悉的触感——发梢弹回原位。“但我不明白这和你回来有什么关系。”
“Patience,” Sephiroth said, chuckling.
“耐心点。”萨菲罗斯轻笑道。
Cloud huffed. “Well, get on with it.”
克劳德没好气地说。“行了，赶紧说吧。”
Another chuckle, but Sephiroth did as he was told. “You should know that the planet is especially vulnerable to Mother because she is a foreign organism for which it has no defenses, and Mother was born to swallow planets and stars. All those she injects with her cells and takes over become her puppets. She is poison to the planet, and even when she fell into the lifestream with me it couldn’t dissolve her; neither could it dissolve me, inextricably linked as Mother and I were.”
萨菲罗斯又轻笑一声，但依言照做了。"你应该知道，这颗星球对母亲格外脆弱，因为她是外来生物，星球对她没有任何防御机制，而母亲生来就是为了吞噬行星与星辰。被她注入细胞、被她接管的那些存在都会沦为她的傀儡。对星球来说她如同毒药，即使她与我一同坠入生命之流，也无法溶解她；同样溶解不了我，毕竟我与母亲早已密不可分。"
The information made Cloud’s head spin. “So… you killed her. Doesn’t that mean you will be dissolved in the lifestream this time, if I kill you?”
这些信息让克劳德头晕目眩。“这么说……是你杀了她。那不就意味着如果这次我杀了你，你就会被溶解在生命之流里吗？”
“No,” Sephiroth said. “I killed her, but I also absorbed her, therefore becoming the Calamity in her place.”
“不，”萨菲罗斯说，“我杀了她，但也吸收了她，从而取代她成为了 Calamity。”
It was troubling information, one that presented Cloud with a new problem. But somehow through the course of the conversation that aspect had become less and less important.
这消息令人不安，给克劳德带来了新的难题。然而在对话过程中，不知为何，这个问题却逐渐变得无关紧要。
The realization had been building ever since Sephiroth started explaining the workings of the world, of Jenova, and it was only now that the gravity of the words truly sank in. The full implications of them. It made something flutter in his chest, something tentative, fragile that he had long thought dead; something dangerous.
这种认知自萨菲罗斯开始解释这颗星球、杰诺瓦的运作方式时便逐渐累积，直到此刻，那些话语的分量才真正沉淀下来。其背后完整的含义。某种东西在他胸腔内颤动，某种试探性的、脆弱的，他原以为早已死去的东西；某种危险的东西。
“You said—” there his throat caught, making him struggle to speak for a moment. His heart pounded, his hand trembled, and he gave it a second try: “You said that all those Jenova infected became her puppets.” He couldn’t believe what he was saying, what he was daring to suggest. It was a ludicrous, preposterous idea, and yet, and yet—“And if she… if she's gone now, then—”
“你说过——”他哽住了喉咙，一时无法言语。心脏狂跳，手颤抖着，他第二次尝试开口：“你说过所有感染了杰诺瓦的人都会变成她的傀儡。”他不敢相信自己正在说的话，自己竟敢提出的假设。这是个荒谬绝伦、匪夷所思的念头，然而，然而——“那如果她……如果她现在不在了，那么——”
“You shouldn’t get your hopes up,” Sephiroth cut in, sounding almost bored. “That Sephiroth is dead.”
“你不该抱太大希望，”萨菲罗斯插话道，语气近乎百无聊赖，“那个萨菲罗斯已经死了。”
Cloud felt ice in his veins. The small, delicate thing in his chest was crushed at once, leaving him only feeling cold.
克劳德感到血管中流淌着冰霜。胸腔里那个细小脆弱的东西瞬间被碾得粉碎，只余下彻骨的寒冷。
“What?” he asked, disorientated, confused.
“什么？”他晕头转向、困惑不解地问道。
He wasn’t even sure what he had wanted to say, or ask, exactly. The idea had only been vague, half-formed; a messy mix of thoughts that haunted him at night and kept him awake until the first rays of dawn penetrated the cracks of the Plate to illuminate the dusty undercity below. There was still a part of him that believed, that wanted to believe, that the man he looked up to, his childhood hero, wasn’t the one who had burned down everything Cloud loved. That he was maybe a victim in all this, too. Just another casualty of Jenova; collateral damage. But that was a dangerous line of thought, one that always led to other kinds of speculations. It led to him wondering if he could have done anything different; if he should have paid more attention, or not left Sephiroth alone in that basement. It made him wonder if maybe then he could have saved him.
他甚至不确定自己究竟想说什么，或是想问什么。那个念头如此模糊、尚未成形——那些纷乱的思绪在夜晚萦绕着他，直到黎明的第一缕阳光穿透上层圆盘的裂缝，照亮下方尘土飞扬的贫民窟。仍有某个声音在他心底坚信着、渴望着去相信：那个被他仰望的男人，他儿时的英雄，绝不是焚毁克劳德所爱之物的元凶。或许他也是这场灾难的受害者，不过是杰诺瓦的又一个牺牲品，或是这场悲剧的附带损害。但这是个危险的思考路径，总会导向更可怕的揣测——让他不断质问自己是否本可以改变结局，是否该更警觉些，是否不该放任萨菲罗斯独自留在那个地下实验室。这让他忍不住去想，如果当时做出了不同选择，是否就能拯救那个人。
And now, now that tentative hope had bloomed again. Maybe Sephiroth had not been responsible for the burning of Nibelheim after all, and maybe... maybe Cloud could even save him, could save the man who had played such a big role in Cloud’s life and influenced so many of his decisions—
而现在，这份微弱的希望又悄然绽放。也许尼布尔海姆的大火终究不是萨菲罗斯所为，而或许……克劳德甚至能拯救他，拯救这个在克劳德的人生中扮演了如此重要的角色、影响了他诸多决定的男人——
But that possibility was ripped away from him before it could even fully form in his mind. It left him feeling strangely bereft.
但这个可能性甚至还没来得及在他脑海中完全成形就被生生撕裂。这让他感到一种莫名的失落。
“What do you mean he’s dead?” he asked, numbly. “What... happened to him?”
“你说他死了是什么意思？”他呆呆地问道，“他……到底发生了什么事？”
Sephiroth smiled, almost thoughtfully so, as he considered his response.
萨菲罗斯露出了近乎沉思般的微笑，斟酌着如何回应。
“He was... weak,” he finally said, with such pure disdain and loathing in his voice that Cloud flinched as though it was him Sephiroth was talking about. “When he saw Mother, his mind just gave and shattered. After all, he was just mortal and Mother was a god, and there are just things mortals are never meant to lay eyes on. Once he was broken, it was easy for Mother to remake him in her image.”
“他太......脆弱了。”最终他开口时，嗓音里充满纯粹的轻蔑与憎恶，克劳德闻言瑟缩了一下，仿佛对方口中被审判的对象是自己。“目睹母亲真容后，他的精神便支撑不住，崩溃了。毕竟他只是凡人，而母亲是神——有些存在是凡人永远不该直视的。精神瓦解后，母亲轻而易举将他重塑成了自己眷属的模样。”
By then Cloud’s trembling hand had already clenched into a fist, where it still continued shaking. He felt sick. Beyond sick.
此时克劳德颤抖的手已经攥成拳头，却仍在不住颤抖。他感到恶心。难以忍受的恶心。
Hearing the confirmation of his darkest, most secret speculations was worse than he could have ever imagined, and for a moment he just stood there, trying to remember how to breathe.
听到自己最阴暗、最隐秘的揣测得到证实，比他所预想的任何一种情形都要可怖。他呆立原地，有那么一瞬甚至忘了如何呼吸。
“Mother carved everything away that she deemed unnecessary,” Sephiroth went on, with dark satisfaction. “She destroyed it, and when she was done there wasn’t much left to return to the lifestream. That weak, pathetic fool never went to the promised land or got to rejoin all the other souls that make up the planet’s memory.“
“母亲剔除了她认为不必要的一切，”萨菲罗斯继续道，带着阴沉的满足感。“她摧毁了那些东西，等她完工后，几乎没剩下什么能回归生命之流。那个软弱可悲的蠢货既没能抵达应许之地，也没能重新融入构成这颗星球记忆的其他灵魂。”
Each word was like another hit, and Cloud almost wanted to put his hands over Sephiroth’s mouth to make him stop. To make him stop talking about the brutal and comfortless demise of the man Cloud had once admired, and had never really stopped admiring. It was like he was experiencing the loss all over again—the burning of Nibelheim, all the hopes and dreams of a boy hanging on a bedroom wall in the form of large, glossy posters of an acclaimed war hero and general burning down along with it.
每一个字都像一记重击，克劳德几乎想伸手捂住萨菲罗斯的嘴让他停下。让他停止谈论那个克劳德曾仰慕过、从未真正停止仰慕的男人如何迎来如此残酷而冰冷的终局。仿佛他再一次经历了失去——尼布尔海姆的熊熊烈火，男孩贴在卧室墙上的那些寄托着希望与梦想的、光鲜亮丽的知名战争英雄与将军的大幅海报，也随之一同焚为灰烬。
And for a moment he let overwhelming grief consume him; grief for a man who had been his comrade, and almost a friend, with whom he had worked together and fought together. An enigmatic man who he shared jokes with and even managed to make smile on the rare occasion—but in the end felt like he had never really known.
刹那间，他放任排山倒海的悲痛将自己吞没——为那个曾是同袍、近乎友人的男子，他们曾并肩工作，并肩战斗。那个谜一般的男子，他与之分享玩笑，偶尔甚至能逗得对方露出微笑，但最终却仍觉得从未真正了解过对方。
“You could say that I am… what’s left of him. Though I am not him.” The mere notion seemed to disgust Sephiroth, and he continued, not seeming to notice Cloud’s turmoil; how crippling loss swept through him and scoured him out clean. “I am what the lifestream didn’t want and spat out again.”
“可以说我是……他残留的部分。但我并非他本人。”这个说法似乎让萨菲罗斯感到厌恶。他继续说着，全然未察觉克劳德此刻正经历着怎样剧烈的震荡——痛苦如排山倒海般袭来，几乎要将他掏空殆尽。“我是生命之流所排斥、再度吐出的渣滓。”
A dark smile curved his lips at this, his eyes promising a reckoning and making Cloud swallow. Down in his lap his thumb rubbed over the back of his other hand in an unconscious motion. It was a habit that Cloud recognized, from before.
一抹阴郁的笑意攀上他的嘴角，那双眼睛里明晃晃写着秋后算账的意味，让克劳德不禁咽了咽口水。他垂在膝头的手正无意识地用拇指摩挲另一只手的手背——那是克劳德再熟悉不过的，从前的习惯。
And he had been wrong earlier in the alleyway; Sephiroth’s skin wasn’t unblemished. In all the time he had known Sephiroth he had never seen him without his gloves on, and now he knew why:
他之前在小巷里想错了；Sephiroth 的皮肤并非毫无瑕疵。在他认识 Sephiroth 的这些年里，从未见过对方脱下手套的模样，现在他终于知道原因了：
There was a stark black ‘1’ tattooed on the back of Sephiroth’s left hand, where it lay pale and soft in his lap now.
萨菲罗的左手上文着一个刺眼的黑色“1”字，此刻正苍白而柔软地搁在腿上。
The number wasn’t very big, situated at the outer edge of his hand near the wrist, yet it seemed as out of place as the grimy alley earlier; the dark edge of Cloud’s sword against the white of Sephiroth’s skin.
那个数字不算大，位于他手腕附近的手掌外侧边缘，却显得格格不入，就像之前那条肮脏的小巷；克劳德剑刃的暗色边缘与萨菲罗斯白皙的皮肤形成鲜明对比。
It also... strangely reminded him of his neighbor Marco and that strange, black-robed man Aerith and Cloud had stumbled into in Sector Five. They had had numbers printed into their left shoulders too.
这同样…奇怪地让他想起邻居 Marco，还有 Aerith 和 Cloud 在五号魔晄区撞见的那个黑袍男子。他们的左肩上也印有数字。
“So there it is,” Sephiroth said, spreading his hands carelessly, the motion taking the tattoo away from sight again as he smiled. “You can’t kill me. Isn’t that the very definition of a god—a true god?”
“所以，事实就是这样，”萨菲罗斯说着，漫不经心地摊开双手，随着他的动作，那个纹身再次隐没在视野之外，而他笑了起来，“你杀不死我。这不正是神的定义吗——真正的神明？”
Cloud merely scoffed. “There are many people who have to go on living, who can’t just die for various reasons even if they wanted to.” Like Cloud, who often wished that he had perished with Nibelheim that day. “That’s just the human condition.”
克劳德只是嗤之以鼻。“这世上多的是必须活下去，就算想死也有各种理由不能死的人。”比如他自己，总渴望能与尼布尔海姆一起消亡在那日烈焰中。“这就是人类的宿命。”
That seemed to startle a low, delighted laugh out of Sephiroth, who looked at Cloud with something bordering fondness. “The human condition, hm?” he echoed, though it was not quite the mockery Cloud thought it would be.
这句话似乎惊动了萨菲罗斯，他发出一声低沉愉快的笑声，看向克劳德的眼神近乎宠溺。“人类境遇，嗯？”他重复道，却并非克劳德预想中的嘲弄。
They let the words rest for a moment then, ringing out in the silence between them. After a while, Sephiroth’s pleasant, dark tenor resounded through the room again:
他们让话语在两人间的寂静中沉淀片刻。过了半晌，萨菲罗斯低沉而令人愉悦的嗓音再次在房间内回响：
“Well… what will you do now that you know you can’t kill me? Of course you could still try, but I’m afraid we would just end up at this point, over and over again—stuck in this same impasse.”
“好吧……既然你已经明白自己杀不了我，接下来打算怎么做？当然，你依然可以尝试，但恐怕我们只会一遍又一遍地回到这个局面——困在同样的僵局里。”
And Cloud—didn’t have an answer to that.
而克劳德——对此无言以对。
Sephiroth just watched him silently with his striking green eyes. But he seemed to realize that no answer was forthcoming anytime soon, and dropped his attention down to the blade that was yet held to his throat without touching it.
萨菲罗斯只是用那双摄人心魄的绿眸沉默地注视着他。但他似乎意识到短时间内不会得到答案，便将注意力转向了仍悬在喉间却未触及的刀刃。
“I’ve been wondering… about how this sword always seems to wind up back in my life again. Last time you used it to attack me; this time you are pointing it at me to threaten me. But if the sword is in your possession now, that must mean…” There he trailed off, long lashes hiding the look in his eyes for a moment, but then he easily continued, as though he had never stopped, “I can see why you kept it though. It’s a special sword.” He smirked. “After all, you wounded me with it.”
“我一直在想……这把剑为何总是重新出现在我的生命里。上次你用它攻击我，这次又用它指着我威胁我。但如果现在剑在你手上，那说明……”他声音渐弱，长睫垂落，遮住了眼神，但随即又若无其事地接了下去，仿佛从未有过停顿，“不过我能理解你为何留着它。这是把特别的剑。”他勾起嘴角冷笑，“毕竟，你用它刺伤过我。”
Cloud’s brows pulled together, and he frowned. “Of course I kept it. It’s mine.”
克劳德眉头紧锁，皱起眉。“我当然留着。那是我的东西。”
The look in Sephiroth’s eyes was piercing, as though he was seeing right through Cloud, effortlessly stripping him layer by layer with his mere gaze.
萨菲罗斯的目光锐利得仿佛能穿透克劳德，仅凭视线便不费吹灰之力将他层层剥开。
“Hmm, of course,” was all he said.
“嗯，当然，”他只说了这么一句。
It made Cloud want to grit his teeth. Then Sephiroth started moving, a noticeably, alarmingly larger motion than anything that had come before it, and all thoughts of the Buster Sword’s ownership fled him.
这让克劳德忍不住想咬紧牙关。接着萨菲罗斯突然动了起来——那动作幅度明显比之前任何举动都要大得多，简直令人心惊——所有关于破坏剑归属权的思绪瞬间从他脑海中消散殆尽。
Sephiroth wasn’t just moving. He was crawling towards him on the bed, hair spilling down the long, pale curve of his spine. He didn’t even seem to register the sword in his way which he had been talking about just now, and Cloud had to pull it back so as to not accidentally behead him. It was only his SOLDIER training that saved him from dropping the blade entirely in his shock. The small cut at Sephiroth’s neck had already closed, and the blood trickling down his front had dried, painting his skin with rust. He continued crawling towards him on his hands and knees, beautiful and naked, black wing unfurled from his right shoulder blade, silver hair sliding off his pale, bare shoulders.
萨菲罗斯并非单纯在移动。他正朝着他爬过来，在床上，银发沿着苍白修长的脊椎曲线倾泻而下。他甚至似乎没注意到方才还在谈论的挡在身前的剑，克劳德不得不将剑抽回，以免一不小心砍下他的头颅。全亏了 SOLDIER 训练，他才没在震惊中让剑脱手。萨菲罗斯颈侧的细小伤口已经愈合，先前沿着前胸滴落的血迹也已干涸，在肌肤上晕染出铁锈色的斑痕。他继续以双手双膝的姿态向他爬来，美丽而赤裸，右肩胛骨处展开的漆黑羽翼微微颤动，银发从苍白赤裸的肩头滑落。
He was like all of Cloud’s nightmares come alive.
他就像是克劳德所有噩梦的具现成真。
“Stay back!” he said, even through the vice around his throat.
“退后！”尽管喉咙被紧掐，他还是说道。
His mind was blank with terror. And he realized just how powerless he was. Even if he wounded Sephiroth, he couldn’t kill him. He could kill him, but then he would just come back, and then what? And then what?
恐惧占据脑海，一片空白。他意识到自己有多么无力。即使他能伤到 Sephiroth，也无法杀死他。他可以杀死他，但他只会卷土重来，然后呢？然后呢？
Cloud would never be free of him.
克劳德永远也无法摆脱他。
The sheer hopelessness was like a giant’s fist crushing his lungs and all his organs.
这种彻底的绝望如同一只巨拳，将他的肺腑乃至所有脏器都碾得粉碎。
Then Sephiroth was rising from the bed, pale, bare feet sliding over the floor.
接着萨菲罗斯从床上起身，面色苍白，赤足滑过地板。
He stood at his full height, a dark, merciless god. His body was perfect, sculpted, and he seemed even larger with the wing spread out behind him, filling out much of the room. He loomed over Cloud, and Cloud knew then that the vulnerability or softness he had thought to glimpse while the other man was asleep had only been a mirage, melting away like mist before the light of day.
他站直了身子，犹如一尊黑暗而冷酷的神明。他的躯体精壮完美，身后舒展的羽翼更显魁伟，几乎占满了整个房间。他居高临下地俯视着克劳德，这时克劳德才明白，自己以为在那人沉睡时窥见的脆弱与柔软不过是海市蜃楼，如同晨雾在阳光下消散般无影无踪。
Cloud’s breath only grew shorter and shorter in his chest.
克劳德在胸腔里的呼吸只是变得越来越短促。
Sephiroth took a step forward, to which Cloud took a jerky one back, holding his sword up, the broad side acting as a shield; it was hard and thick steel—and yet it felt as thin as paper before Sephiroth.
萨菲罗斯向前迈出一步，克劳德随之猛地后退，将剑高举过顶，宽大的剑身充当盾牌；那是坚硬厚实的钢铁——然而在萨菲罗斯面前，却仿佛薄如纸张。
“Don’t—don’t come any closer!” He tried for authoritative, but even he could hear the fear tingeing every syllable; every sharp, painfully loud breath in-between.
“别——别再靠近了！”他想让自己的语气显得威严，但就连他自己都能听出每个音节里透出的恐惧；每一次急促、响得刺耳的呼吸声都暴露无遗。
He lost more and more ground as the monster in front of him approached, slowly, steadily herding him through the room. Cloud tried to find a way out, but there was no escape. And then—after finally seeming to grow tired of playing with his prey—Sephiroth pounced.
面前的怪物步步逼近，克劳德被逼得步步后退，稳稳地朝房间深处退去。他试图寻找出路，但根本无处可逃。接着——仿佛终于厌倦了玩弄猎物的游戏——萨菲罗斯猛然发起了攻击。
Everything was pale skin and the blur of motion. Cloud’s slack fingers let go of his sword as his back collided hard with the floor, the impact pushing all the breath out of his lungs and jarring his teeth.
视野中只剩下一片苍白的皮肤与模糊的动作残影。当克劳德的后背重重撞上地面时，他无力的手指松开了剑柄。冲击力将他肺里的空气尽数挤出，震得他牙齿发颤。
Then there was a large and heavy body pinning him down before he could scramble away, all toned muscles and the feline grace of a big cat. Sephiroth cocked his head and smiled down at him in satisfaction.
在他来得及爬开之前，一个沉重庞大的身躯就压了上来，浑身都是结实的肌肉，带着大型猫科动物般的优雅。萨菲罗斯歪着头，居高临下地冲他露出了满意的笑容。
Powerful fear and despair seized Cloud’s chest, and all he could think was, No—
强烈的恐惧与绝望攫住了克劳德的胸膛，他脑海中只剩下一个念头：不——