It's another Norco Fanction!! That is, a fiction by Norco.
I own nothing, except for my computer, the clothes on my person, and my sanity. 
Sometimes not even that...
norco@fantasysquare.com

*AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yep, it's a short chapter this time. I promise I'll make up for 
it. ^_^

No Rest for the LionHearted - Chapter Six

  Squall braced himself. Judging by the giant bluish - black ball growing dozens 
of meters above them, this was going to hurt. The creature formerly known as 
Peregrine grinned further -- if that was even possible -- and hurled the ball at 
them. Squall grimaced. But the mind bending pain he'd been expecting never came. 
He opened his eyes. And saw everything as it was. The cunfusion must have showed 
on his face, becuase he saw Acturus looking grimly at him
  "What did he do?" he asked, not sure that he wanted to hear the answer. 
  "He brought about the end of this world," Acturus replied. He glared up at 
creature floating above them. Peregrine raised his arms, the sardonic and quite 
possibly insane grin still pasted across his face. Belatedly, Squall drew his 
gunblade, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Cloud draw his massive sword. 
And suddenly, with the impact of a frieght train, it hit him. The sword that 
Cloud used was exactly the same as the one that the Ultima Weapon had attacked 
them with in the Deep Sea Deposit. He shuddered, vivdly remembering the 
sickening noise that the sword had made as it sliced through his arm... He shook 
it off, and concentrated on the matter at hand.
  "What do you think he -" Cloud started to ask, but was cut off as he saw, 
along with Squall and the others, a massive, writhing black wave of something. 
As they approached, he saw they were distorted versions of the monsters he'd 
seen all around the world. 
  And they were racing towards him and his friends. With the intent to kill 
them. There was no way that they could kill them all. But they could try.

  Seifer was pissed. Seriously pissed, in fact. First, that foul creature had 
struck his former instructor, and secret passion. Oh sure, things couldn't be 
more detached, when it came to Seifer and Quistis in public, but then, nobody 
had seen him go to the intstructors side and tell her how he'd felt. How he 
still felt. Quistis herself didn't know, and probably wouldn't. Secondly, 
Peregrine had done something - apart from making these hordes of hideous 
creatures - and he didn't like it. He spun around, decapitating a monster, 
skewing another, and slamming it into several more. As soon as the Hyperion left 
the creature's body, it was thrust into another, and another. But no matter how 
hard he fought, more and more of the creatures seemed to get through. His 
defences were starting to weaken. He shrieked, as a giant claw found it's mark. 
He quickly retaliated, the creature falling to the ground for it's felony. He 
needed help, wanted someone to help him, to stop him from destroying himself, he 
wanted....
  "Poor, poor boy..."
  That voice...
  "Such a confused little boy. Are you going to step forward, and possibly lose 
the one you love? Or are you going to retreat. You have to decide." The voice 
came again. Suddenly he realised. While using Edea's form, the sorceress from 
the future, Ultimecia, had taunted him in much the same manner. He'd faced the 
challenge, and those voices were now just a dim and distant memory. They had no 
power over him, unless he allowed them to. 
  "You want help, don't you? You want to be saved from this perdicament" the 
voice taunted him. He did want help. Only a fool would be fool enough not to in 
a situation like this. 
  "Don't be ashamed to ask for help. Besides, you're only a boy." He knew that 
he wasn't a boy. He wanted to destroy the creatures, to return to Quistis and 
tell her how he felt, to run away, to ask for help... The pressure was building 
up inside his skull, like a thousand taps had been turned on, and were churning 
their contents into his head. He wanted...

  Cloud had eliminated the monsters in his general vacinity when he hearn the 
scream. Not the scream of a woman, but a tortured, altered, in-human scream. He 
spun around, looking towards the source. And he saw Seifer falling beneath a 
living wave of monsters. He rushed to help, feverently hoping that it wouldn't 
be too late. Creatures turned to meet him, and he dispatched them, still moving 
forward, slower than he had been, but still making progress. Finally, he 
uncovered Seifer, bruised, batterred and bleeding, beneath a small horde of 
creatures. Acting as one, they all leapt at him, knocking him over. And 
suddenly, they were gone, but not without ripping a few chunks of flesh off. He 
looked up to see Squall standing over him. From the looks of things, he'd 
removed the creatures from both himself and Seifer. 
  "Thanks," a shaky Seifer said, as he got to his feet, cut in more places than 
Cloud could see. 
  "No problem," Squall said, and while still supporting Seifer, he looked 
around. He looks like a Knight, or something, Cloud thought brefily, before a 
new batch of creatures swarmed to meet the business end of his sword.

  Excellent. The Native Lionhearted was excellent in his performance. He had 
definately made it to the final round. However, the foreign Lionhearted was not 
such a performer. Waving his hands, he removed the creatures from existance, 
sending them back the void from which they came. They all looked up at him, 
expecting more. But he had no more to give them. Focusing his thoughts on the 
dimension of his origin, Peregrine whisked himself away, leaving behind 
surprised, weary and angry people.

  Cloud was with Tifa when Peregrine departed, Acturus, Barret and Vincent 
standing over him. All were covered in cuts and bruises beyond count. He was 
cleaning a particular nasty looking cut on his wife's forehead when he heard the 
rumble. Perplexed, he looked around for the source of the rumble. And with a 
rush of adrenaline, he saw that his end, and the end of all others was near. He 
looked down at his injured wife, and brushed her hair. She looked up at him, 
smiling weakly.
  "No matter what happens." he told her softly, "I'll never stop loving you." 
She hadn't seen the wave of energy rushing towads them. And there was no need 
to.
  "I love you too, Cloud" There was something in her voice that said that she 
knew the end was near, even if she coun't see it. Together, they embraced, and 
waited for the end.

  Just before the wave disintergrated all his friends into sub-atomic particles, 
he saw Squall and Acturus disappear. His last thought, before the darkness took 
him, was a hope that Squall and Acturus could stop Peregrine. And then, 
everything went black.

The world that Squall called home, exploded. Every living thing on the planet, 
including Cloud and friends, perished instantly.

END OF CHAPTER SIX