M Home is Where the Heartless Are Chapter 03: Everybody Out of the Water The bright sun shone down in brilliant golden streaks, gracefully bouncing on Aeris' creamy brown hair as she made her way through the busy market place outside the Olympus Coliseum. She smiled and waved to the people she knew, a small basket full of flowers hanging on her elbow. "Those are very unique flowers." Aeris turned towards the voice to find a tall brown haired woman with dark purple eyes smiling slightly. "I haven't seen them anywhere else but beside my house," Aeris replied, nodding. "I'm selling them, if you'd like one. One gil each." "That's cheap," the woman replied, looking into her purse for a moment. "I don't really make a living off them, but I do like to sell them," Aeris responded, picking a freshly cut, beautiful one for the woman. The flowers were a deep purple color; the petals shaped almost like wings with a nearly glowing silver center. Aeris wore one up in her hair, and it caught the rays of the sun brilliantly, giving her a somewhat purple glow. The woman opened her mouth to reply when a familiar voice seemed to catch her attention. "Meg! Where are you?" "Over here Wonder Boy!" The woman, Meg, called back. Hercules broke from the crowd, heading over towards them. "Hello Aeris!" Hercules said, smiling. "How's Cloud doing?" "Pretty good, I finally got him to build that green house," Aeris replied, smiling. "Didn't he say he was going to build that a few months ago?" Hercules asked, with a laugh. His arm slid around Meg's waist, and Aeris smiled at the sign of affection. It was nice her friend had found a romantic interest, he had always seemed so alone. Aeris laughed and nodded. "He did." "So, how do you two know each other?" Meg asked, raising a brow. "Cloud is a friend of mine, and Aeris is his girlfriend," Hercules replied as they began walking through the town together. "Hmm, I'd love to stay and chat, but I think I better go back and make sure he's working," Aeris said, grinning. She felt another pang of worry in her chest, coming from the direction of Sora. Something was wrong with her friend, something terribly wrong. His life signal was fading from her Cetra grasp, pulled away by some unknown force. She needed to talk to Cloud. "Bye!" Hercules said, nodding. Aeris smiled and walked off, turning a corner to get out of their site before bursting into a sprint. Her long pink dress did not hinder her movements, jumping around her knees as she made her way out of town and into the surrounding farmland. Cloud and she had both returned to Hollow Bastion when Ansem was defeated. Aeris, because she was already there with Leon and Yuffie, Cloud because his heart rested with her. They'd only lived there for a few months before returning to the Coliseum, where Cloud stood watch over the trade route that was only a few miles from their house, making sure the carts and goods were not stolen by bandits or monsters. Aeris herself worked in a small hospital as a nurse, and they lived a relatively peaceful life together. Leon and the others had remained in Hollow Bastion, where the young man became a prominent figure to the people there. Their land was tarnished by the Heartless occupation; fields and crops ruined while entire towns were turned to rubble. However, through the wasted land, Leon seemed to finally pick himself up and pull the rest of the people with him. Though he was cold and sometimes distant, his ability to bring people out of the darkness left by Maleficent's rule was more than obvious. He stood out among a crowd almost proudly, easily taking control of a situation. The small world looked to him now, and Cid and Yuffie were always there to aid him. Leon didn't even seem to notice how he was almost being worshipped. Whenever it was brought up in conversation, he brushed it off as doing his job. Aeris believed Leon thought of it as his job, because he couldn't protect and fight for his world when the Heartless appeared. True, Leon had been only ten at the time, but Aeris knew that fact seemed irrelevant to the brunette man. He had failed to protect those he loved, failed to keep his home safe. Yuffie had grown into a strong, powerful woman, tall and graceful, easily able to take charge and shed her childish nature when need be. She was among Leon's most trusted, supervising society's needs on the ground while Cid worked the financial side of things. Together, the three had pulled Hollow Bastion out of the rubble and dusted it off, bringing it back to its past glory as a kingdom of technological advancements and medical prowess. Aeris came over the hill and spotted Cloud easily, sitting on the roof of her soon-to-be green house, setting the glass roof in place gently. A few flying moogles assisted him, carrying the pieces up to the man. "Cloud!!" She called, running towards him. He looked and took in her appearance, the sweat across her forehead and the distressed look on her face, before gracefully jumping off the roof. His landing was solid and he stood, golden blond hair stuck to his skin from sweat. "What's wrong?" He asked as his lover stopped before him, panting slightly. The moogles were hovering around them, anxious to hear her as well. "Something's wrong with Sora, I don't know what," Aeris said quickly. Her usual calm, friendly, and kind aura was gone, replaced with one of worry. "I just.. I know something's wrong. It's getting stronger and deeper, but fainter at the same time." Cloud nodded, remembering the young man vividly. Sora seemed to do that to a person, though he hadn't seen the boy in nearly four years, he remembered him easily. Sora had stolen all of their hearts with his youthful courage and determination. It seemed every person he'd come across in his journey and been desperate to help him as he selflessly journeyed through the worlds. All of the Hollow Bastion children had hoped for his safe return, though none of them ever really doubted he'd show up one day with his trademark radical smile and Riku. "He's not dead," Aeris said, resting a hand on her upper chest. "Just.I think he found the Door to Light." "And he's going through it." Cloud finished. She nodded. "But something's wrong. I don't know. I've felt a shadow for a few months now. Something bad is going to happen, something is going to attack and it's readying itself now." She looked away, towards the half finished green house. "I think we should talk to Leon." "Do you think it's the Heartless?" Cloud asked softly as he began putting his tools away. Aeris touched his hand and squeezed it softly, a gesture Cloud returned. "I don't know, but I don't like it." "Are you feeling this because you're a Cetra?" Cloud asked. Aeris nodded. "I think it has something to do with our Planet Cloud," she said quietly. "We need to find a way back there." "But we're happy here," Cloud said softly, picking up his equipment before heading back into the house. "But we won't be for long. Whatever it is, it's big. Much bigger than Maleficent and the Heartless. It's coming Cloud, and if we don't get as many people to fight it as we can, it will defeat us and we won't be happy for long." Cloud turned to find Aeris standing in the middle of the garden outside their house, her emerald eyes smeared with resolve. "I know that much. We need the people from this side of Kingdom Hearts, along with those on the other. If we don't have the power of both sets of worlds, we will be defeated." Cloud set his tool box down and walked outside, reaching up to touch Aeris' cheek with his real hand, thumb stroking the skin under her eye. Her eyes fluttered close and he kissed her softly, wrapping his other arm around her waist. When they parted, he spoke quietly. "We'll go see Leon as soon as possible. I can see this is bothering you. Cid should be coming back from Traverse Town in a few days on the Highwind II. I'll catch him on the radio. We'll tag along with him back to Hollow Bastion." "Thank you," Aeris said, smiling. Cloud smiled back and kissed her again. ------ Tifa was in the kitchen of her small house doing the dishes when Rain showed up, stripping off his wet coat and leaving it to dry in the bathroom before joining her. "Hello Rain," she said simply, knowing the man wasn't really one for chatting. "Hello Tifa," he responded. "Where's Stella?" Though he could sense Stella was in the immediate area, he couldn't exactly pinpoint the other Keybarer's location. "Out on the roof fixing a leak," Tifa replied, washing the soapy water from her hands. "I'm just going to make meatloaf for dinner, do you mind?" "No," Rain replied before turning and heading outside again, where the rain had finally stopped. Tifa shook her head at the man's simplicity and walked into her living room, relaxing in the arm chair. She leaned her head back against the padding and closed her eyes, letting her body unwind. She felt sleep gently creeping up on her and knew she should stay awake, however, she fell into the fog of slumber anyway. However, her nap was interrupted by a sharp ringing sound. She woke up confused for a few seconds, trying to remember what it was, before jumping up and running towards the kitchen. Her mobile phone sat on the table ringing shrilly. She picked it up and put it to her ear. "Hello?" She asked tiredly, still somewhat asleep. "Tifa, it's Vincent," she easily recognized the man's deep voice laced with a slight accent. "Nibelheim is under attack, we need backup. It's the Heartless." "Shit! Alright, I'll be there as soon as I can!" She was already pulling a plan together in her mind. "Alright. Hurry." With that, Vincent hung up. She did the same and quickly called a number. A male voice picked up. "Ralph, it's Tifa. Nibelheim is under attack, get people together and I'll meet you with Stella and Rain at the Sector Five doors. It's the Heartless." "Son of a bitch! Alright, be there in twenty minutes." He hung up and she raced outside, looking up towards the roof where Stella and Rain were. "Nibelheim's under attack! Heartless! Twenty minutes, Sector Five exit!" She yelled before running back inside to get her gear together. "Fuck!" Stella yelled, tossing the hammer aside. He and Rain slid down the roof, landing on the ground easily before running inside to gear themselves up. ------ When the three arrived at the Sector Five exit, the Highwind was waiting for them. They climbed aboard and took off, pausing to pick up Nobody and his group before racing off towards Nibelheim. Tifa looked out the bridge window and wrapped her arms around herself worriedly; easily spotting the raging fires in the distance as Nibelheim burned against the bleak cape of darkness. ----- Sora heard the air ship approaching long before he saw its bright decks and massive hull in the distance. "The Highwind, something must be wrong." Nobody said under his breath. "We're going with them, Stella and the other Keybarer will be there." The small group waited for the ship to arrive, the wind from it's massive engines whipping their clothes and hair around, the light from the inside causing Sora to squint. "Your eyes have adjusted too far for this to be good, here," Nobody gave Sora and the others each a black blindfold. "You will be able to see wearing these, don't worry. But wear them till your eyes get used to the light, or else it will sting and you will walk blindly." Sora tied his in place as the great airship paused over them, a long rope ladder lowered. They climbed it quickly and as soon as they were safely aboard, the ship took off at the fastest speed its pilots could get out of its engines to the east. "Stay close to me," Nobody said, obviously familiar with the ship as he led them through its hallways. People rushed by, all dressed for battle, getting ready for war. "The Heartless must have attacked, dammit." The hooded man swore under his breath as he led them up a flight of stairs. Sora could now easily see, the blind folds dulling the electric shine down enough so it didn't hurt his eyes, but not so much that he couldn't see. "Nobody!" Sora looked towards the voice and found a ginger haired young man walking briskly towards them, a hooded figure following him. The first man paused, tilting his head at Sora. "This is him?" Nobody nodded. "Sora, this is Stella. Stella, what's happening?" A dark look passed over Stella's bright eyes, making Sora realize this was everyday work for the people here. They were used to war, had been fighting the Heartless for much longer than he had. "The Heartless are attacking Nibelheim." "Alright." Nobody turned towards them. "I'm afraid I don't have much time to explain, but I'll try. Nibelheim is a very small mountain town with barely more than a hundred people and a very small defense against the Heartless." "And it's being attacked." Sora finished, feeling rage inside his chest like claws. Nobody nodded. "We're going to fight. Will you help?" Stella asked, speaking to Sora for the first time. "I will," Sora replied quickly, nodding. Riku seemed forgotten for the moment as his resolve took over, refusing to let others suffer by the hand of the Heartless. Helpless and defenseless people were being attacked and hurt needlessly, Sora wasn't about to stand by and let it happen. "Then so will we!" Donald responded and Goofy nodded. "Alright!" Stella cheered. He threw an arm around the hooded man beside him who remained silent. "With all four Keyblades, the Heartless don't stand a chance!" "That's right!" Sora nodded vigorously, grinning his radical grin. Stella returned it easily. "Don't get too riled up," the hooded young man beside Stella said, shrugging his friend's arm away. "Running into a fight with the Heartless without a plan is suicide." "Alright then, what are we going to do?" Tifa asked, walking over. She folded her arms across her chest. Ralph followed her, a tall, sturdy man with experience in war as an Ex-Shinra SOLDIER. "We should approach from the North, from the mountains," Nobody said, frowning and bowing his head as he thought. "That way, we can drive the Heartless out instead of into a corner. We don't have the man power defeat them all, merely drive them back," the hooded man answered. "Oh, by the way, this is Rain," Stella said, remembering Sora was new. "That's Tifa and Ralph, but feel free to call him Gramps." "Shut up punk," Ralph said, throwing down his cigarette to stomp it out. The man reminded Sora of Cid. "Whatever you say, Gramps. So, the plan is to land and kick some Heartless ass? Sounds great." "Trigger happy idiot," Rain muttered, glaring at Stella from under his hood. Sora caught a flash of endless sea green eyes under his hood. Stella opened his mouth to respond, however he was cut off when the newest Keyblade master rushed forward and pulled off Rain's hood. "What the hell?!" "You ARE Riku!" Sora cried, drawing in attention from the ship's crew. Though the hair was pitch black in color, Rain's features were almost a mirror of Riku. He was a bit older and thinner, but most definitely Riku. "I think we better take this to the conference room." Nobody said quietly, looking with his eyes to the right where they were getting stares from the pilots. "We don't have time!" Ralph replied heatedly, his heart beginning to pump as they approached Nibelheim. "We already reached the damn continent." "How the hell did we get across the ocean in less than twenty minutes?" Stella asked, surprised. "Wingblade is the fastest ship on the block kid," Ralph responded easily. "Look, we can talk later," Rain, or Riku, said softly to Sora. Stella was more than shocked at his tone of voice. It was obvious the two had some sort of past relationship, now that he watched them interact. Rain's sea green eyes were soft, their usual steel cold glare gone whenever they settled on Sora, and his body movements seemed less rigid. "Right now, we need to focus on fighting the Heartless. Don't get preoccupied and get killed or something." Sora nodded vaguely, not really listening to Riku, only knowing from the tone of his voice that Sora should nod and pretend he understood. Riku frowned, easily recognizing the action as a 'I'm not listening but I'll just pretend I am' trademark Sora movement. He smacked Sora on the head, yanking him back into reality. He dragged him away from the group and into the hallway. "Look, Sora, we can't talk right now or think about the past," Riku whispered harshly. "But there's so much I want to-" Sora was cut off. "Not right now. We need to focus on Nibelheim and not ourselves." Riku's ever-present calm mentality washed to the surface of him, and he spoke coolly. "I promise, we can talk about it later." Deep in his chest, Riku was afraid of talking to Sora. He hoped the battle lasted forever, he hoped something would delay their talk. But at the same time, he wanted to speak to his friend then. He was pulled between pushing Sora away and wanting to never see him again and throwing himself into his friend. He knew Sora would ask about the Heartless and his choice to join them, but Riku didn't really have an answer. He knew whatever he said Sora would be hurt by. Sora sighed and kicked at the floor, looking down towards his feet childishly. "Fine." "Good." Riku nodded and turned to leave, pushing his mind to focus on the upcoming fight. "Riku." He stopped in mid-step, feeling Sora's hand holding onto his sleeve. He turned around with a frown on his face that was washed away when he saw the huge, happy, smile on Sora's face. The younger man threw his arms around his friend, squeezing almost painfully. "No matter what happens, or what happened before, I'm still your friend. Don't doubt it, okay?" Riku nodded, returning the hug gently. Sora smirked and with his usual enthusiasm ran off to join Stella and the others. Riku turned and found Nobody hidden in the shadows where Sora couldn't see him. "He is the one who will seal the Black Planet," Nobody said softly, looking at Riku's endless eyes with his own rainy day pair. "You can feel it as well as me. He can rally the people and pull them together. He is the one to defeat the darkness forever." "But who will defeat the darkness inside him?" Riku asked in response, his voice soft and almost childishly afraid. "Both of us know of the darkness inside him, because he has no heart." "A Heartless with a heart of gold," Nobody laughed quietly. "I think I know who will give him his heart, but I'm not telling." Riku frowned. "We don't exactly have time for games." "There is time enough." Nobody said, turning and walking down the hall, leaving Riku to stand and frown at his back. "Riku!" He turned and found Sora waving him over where the others were standing around a map of Nibelheim, most likely planning out the aspects of their awaiting attack. He looked down the busy hallway for Nobody, however, the other Keyblade wielder was no where to be seen. The black haired young man frowned again and walked towards his friends. ----- Vincent Valentine was easily defeating the Heartless that attacked him, shooting from his perch on the water tower in the center of the town. Below him, the Turks were taking their own stand against the bleak monsters. Reno's night stick crackled as he sent Heartless soldiers flying into oblivion, while Elena unloaded clips of ammunition into the air borne creatures. Rude watched her back, easily defeating his enemies with his powerful fists. "Vincent!" Reno yelled up to him. The dark cloaked man looked down at the red head. "We can't do this forever, where's the Wingblade!?" Vincent climbed higher on the tower, standing on top of the empty water barrel. "I see the ship now, they approach from the North! We should fall back to the Mansion!" "Let's go then!" Reno yelled hoarsely as he smacked a Darkball, sending it flying through a brigade of Red Nocturnes. He turned and ran towards the Shinra Mansion, Elena and Rude behind him. Vincent fired a few more shots, taking out a Wyvern before jumping from the water tower gracefully. The vampiric man followed the Turks, turning every so often to let a flurry of bullets go into the Heartless ranks, doing little to slow their progress. The Wingblade was hovering over the Shinra Mansion when Vincent ran through the gates, people dropping down the rope ladders. Vincent loaded more ammo into Death Penalty and fired at the winged heartless attacking the airship, Elena doing the same. Nobody dropped down in front of Vincent, landing as he simultaneously pulled the blades from the sheaths on his back. Stella dropped down beside him, while Riku and Sora landed behind him. Nobody simply gave the black haired marks man a nod of his head before diving into the Heartless fray. ----- Sora and Riku stayed close; easily working off each other as they had when they were kids. Though Riku was obviously the more powerful of the two, their attacks were coordinated and well timed. They, along with the added power of the other Keyblade wielders, were easily cleaning a path outside the large mansion in the back of the small mountain town. However, every time they defeated a Heartless, another seemed to appear back in its place instantly. They were gaining ground, yes, but very slowly. Sora was breathing heavily, unloading his store of magical energy into the Heartless as fire balls shot in quick succession, knocking them back for enough time for Riku to rush forward and keep them there. Sora joined his friend while Stella and Nobody ran along the mansions outer wall into a back road. But suddenly, and seemingly all at once, the Heartless froze in mid attack, each turning its head towards the South. They all let out a screech and ran back, leaving the Nibelheim defenders shocked, but still very wary. "What the hell is going on?" Sora muttered, squinting into the darkness. He took the blindfold off, the light hurting his eyes lightly, but making it easier to see into the darkness. "Do you think it's a trick?" Tifa asked, fixing her gloves. "It mig-" Nobody was cut off as the earth began to shake and rumble, causing them all to nearly fall off balance. "Fuck!" Stella cried, arms flailing from where he stood on the cement block fence. Nobody was able to keep steady easily and grabbed his friend's arm, keeping Stella from falling. "Something's coming." Riku said in a whisper when the shaking stopped, his breathing heavy. A large black ball was in the sky; dark purple energy revolving around it as it turned. The purple energy flickered and moved rapidly before the ball became still and slowly fell to the ground. When it did, a flash of light blinded the onlookers, causing Sora to look away and throw a hand up to shield his sensitive eyes from the brilliant light. "Holy shit!" Ralph shouted from a few yards away, gripping the staff of his axe tightly. Sora's searingly blue eyes opened slowly, blinking a few times to adjust again. A Darkside stood in the center of the town, beginning to stomp through the buildings and rip the ground up; seemingly searching for something buried deep in the soil. "Well, we can't just stand here." Sora said, adjusting his grip on the Keyblade. "The Heartless here are much stronger Sora, it won't be so easy to defeat," Riku warned, giving his friend a worried glance. "Oh well," Sora shrugged. Stella jumped down and began running towards the Heartless tyrant. Sora followed the older man, Riku letting out a growling sound under his breath before following the two. "The other Heartless are going to come back," Nobody said to Tifa as he raced after his friends. He yelled over his shoulder, "get the towns people out of here and try to stop the other Heartless from attacking us while we fight the Darkside!" "Alright people, you heard the man!" Tifa yelled, turning back towards their group of odds and ends soldiers. They were a fighting group made out of ex-SOLDIERS, Shinra Troopers, bar bouncers, everyday people, and even a talking duck and dog now. "Get the people on board and get the wounded medical attention! Anybody with a gun, stay here and keep the flying Heartless off the ship! The rest of you, come with me to the city gates!" With that, the brown haired woman ran down the city side streets around the center of the town, where the four Keybarers were fighting the Darkside. She saw flashes of the massive battle between the battle but kept her mind on her task: making sure the smaller Heartless did not interfere with that battle. They arrived at the city gates in less than five minutes, easily making it down the village's cobble stone roads and kept the Heartless attack at bay for the rest of the battle, a wall of people that refused to move even in the face of hundreds of creatures. They fought till the sun should have risen, but there was no sun to rise. Only the black planet marked the moving of time, and when the Heartless were gone, it was high in the sky like a black hole ready to suck them all into oblivion. ----- --- Riku side stepped and jumped his way around the huge Heartless monster, moving in for quick strikes with the Keyblade before jumping back out of its reach. Sora and Stella were using the advantage of having Keyblades more potent against the Heartless, one delivering a string of swift attacks to the Darkside before jumping away, causing the Heartless to focus its energy on him. While the Darkside was distracted, the other would move in to do the same. "We need another way to fight this thing other than hitting its feet," Nobody said, sticking close to Riku. He knew his friend was distracted, sea green eyes focused on Sora instead of the Darkside's swinging fists and stomping feet. "I know, but how are we supposed to knock it down?" Riku replied jumping away to avoid the tyrant's left foot. "We could try to tie its feet up and trip it," Nobody answered, pulling Riku away and around what was left of a building's wall. "We need to bring this thing down, now. Tifa and the others can't keep those Heartless out of the town forever." Riku looked over the crumbling rubble that served as their momentary shelter. He assessed the battle detachedly, putting together a strategy in his head. "We can't bring it all the way down; we're just not strong enough. However, if we brought it down to the height of the buildings, just its shoulders, those two could jump on it and attack it's head from there. We could fight on the ground and attack it with magic." Nobody nodded. "We can bring it down with rope: wrap it around its neck and just pull I'm guessing. But we can't pull it down." Riku's eyes traveled around, looking for something to use to pull the beast down. His eyes settled and he threw the idea around before nodding, mostly to himself. "Tell Stella and Sora about it, I'm going to get some rope. This is a mountain town; they have to have mountain climbing gear somewhere." "You know how to pull it down? How?" Nobody asked. "Just tie your end of it to a rock or something to keep it steady and leave the rest to me." With that, Riku ran off, leaving Nobody to frown in slight irritation. However, he ran towards the Darkside and towards Sora and Stella, giving them the message. "What's Riku gonna do!?" Sora yelled, even as he made his onto the roof of a two story house. "Just get up there!" Nobody shouted back. Stella shoved Sora upwards and the two waited. Riku appeared on the roof of a small shop behind the Darkside, swinging a heavy-duty rope with a metal arrow head on the end. He threw it and pushed it over the Darkside's shoulder with a wind spell. Nobody caught the end and rushed around so the rope crossed the Heartless monster's neck before tossing it the same way back. Riku caught it and threw it around the other side, wrapping it around the Darkside's neck. The Darkside didn't seem to notice, being too preoccupied with swinging its powerful fists at Sora and Stella. Nobody tied his end of the rope to a tree, hoping it would hold. The steps of the huge Heartless and far off noises of Tifa's battle were suddenly broken by a loud engine roaring as Riku came flying through the town square on a huge silver Shinra motorcycle. His end of the thick rope was tied to the back of the machine and quickly losing slack. When the rope tightened around the Darkside's neck, Riku was nearly thrown over the handle bars off the bike as it stopped suddenly, only barely holding himself on. He pushed the machine to its limits, trying to pull the Heartless down. The Darkside let out a screech as it was slowly pulled down, flailing at the ropes. Sora saw their chance instantly and rushed forward, jumping onto the Darkside's shoulders. Almost before he landed he unleashed the powerful Ars Arcanum, bringing the Keyblade down in a powerful set of attacks to the Darkside's large skull that left the beast dazed. He jumped back to recover his strength for another assault as Stella rushed in for him, letting a volley of attacks loose. On the ground, Sora could see Riku struggling with the motorcycle, trying to keep the Heartless down while Nobody leapt into the air again and again to attack the Darkside's face. Sora pulled his remaining energy together and let another attack go flinging the Keyblade in a Strike Raid that struck the Darkside's temple. The beast let out a loud bellow as it fell to the ground, buttery eyes rolling back into its head as it slowly shifted away into oblivion. Off in the distance, the Heartless soldiers at Tifa's battle screeched at the defeat of their strongest attacker. Riku flipped the motorcycle off and limped over to Sora, who was hunched on the ground, panting from the effort of his attacks. "Sora, what the fuck was that attack?" Stella asked between gasps. "I've never seen anything like it." "Ars Arcanum and Strike Raid," Sora replied simply, standing shakily. "C'mon, we have to help the others." "Hold on for a few moments and recover your strength, heal yourselves," Nobody said as he pulled a small potion bottle from his pockets. He set to work fixing Riku's leg, where the fake black haired teen had been hit by debris kicked up by the Darkside. Sora cast a cure spell on himself and Stella, healing their physical injuries and revitalizing them. A few minutes later, they were racing down the main street towards the battle taking place just outside town. When it was finally all over, they had together defeated more than a thousand Heartless and fought for a solid twelve hours, nothing but adrenaline keeping them awake and fighting. --- -- Cloud was in the living room of the small house he shared with Aeris outside the Olympus Coliseum, fiddling with a radio as he tried to contact Cid. He finally turned into the right signal and began speaking into the microphone. "Highwind, this is Cloud Strife at the Olympus Coliseum." He said, making sure to speak clearly, knowing the distance between them would scramble the message. "This is the Highwind Mr. Strife, Jesse speaking." He recognized the woman. "Do you want to speak with Captain Cid?" "Immediately," Cloud replied. "Hold on just a moment." There was a pause that lasted a few seconds, before Cid's scruff voice came over the line. "What's up Spike?" The old pilot asked, gnawing on his cigarette. "Can you give Aeris and I a lift to the Hollow Bastion?" Cloud asked, tweaking his prosthetic arm as he spoke. Cid had made him another more than a year ago, this one flesh colored with normal looking fingers instead of the clawed tips of the other. "No problemo. Anything wrong?" Cloud sighed as he closed the lid to the main brain of the arm's controls. He spoke as he screwed the lid back into place with a tiny screw driver. "Aeris has been having a bad feeling lately, she thinks something bad is coming." "What, her Cetra senses tingling?" Cid asked before taking a long drag. Though is tone of voice was joking, he knew they were more than likely in deep trouble. Aeris's bad feelings were usually right. "I guess," Cloud answered, laughing. "When will you be here?" "Tomorrow," he heard Cid moving papers around in the background. "Around noon by the time there. Be ready 'cause I'm only slowing the ship down to a hundred, you'll have to jump on." "Right Cid," Cloud shook his head, blond spikes waving slightly. "I'm not kidding!" Cid cried, however his voice was breaking up. "We're behind Traverse Town now, I'll talk to you when we get there. See ya Spike." With that the connection and Cloud went about putting the radio away, tucking it into a shelf. He stood and stretched his lean body out, walking into the kitchen where Aeris was trying to cook a box of instant fettuccini alfredo. However, she wasn't the best cook in the world, and nearly burned herself with the hot water just as Cloud walked in. "Don't hurt yourself," Cloud said gently, standing behind her as he reached out and put his hands over hers, helping her stir the noodles around. She leaned back into his muscular body, her milk chocolate hair tickling his chin. They swayed lightly to only music they could hear music that wove a blanket around them, created by the connection between them forged by the affection they had for each other. "Did you get in touch with Cid?" Aeris asked after a few moments of silence, moving across the kitchen to make a salad. Cloud wrapped his arms around her waist and stayed with her, his head resting on her shoulder. "Yeah, they'll be here at noon. He said we have to jump on the Highwind, but don't worry, he'll slow down to a hundred." He felt Aeris's slender body shake against him as she laughed lightly, laughter clear, but not loud. It was a refreshing sound that always made Cloud feel better. He sighed when a loud knock at the front door interrupted their quiet moment and slid his arms from their hold of his lover's waist. "I'm going to go get that." He turned and walked off, yawning lightly. He opened the door and gasped at the person standing before, jumping back to grab his buster sword of the mantle. He whipped the huge sword into a ready position, putting himself between the man and the kitchen where Aeris was, effortlessly maneuvering the giant weapon. "Cloud? What is it?" Aeris asked, walking over to him with the bowl in her hands. She looked towards the doorway and dropped the glass bowl. She didn't notice as the glass shattered into thousands of pieces that slid across the floor, staring into the ice green Mako glowing eyes of Sephiroth. ~End~ Well, holy crappity. I wrote eleven pages. This amazes me, since usually, my chapters are.. about four to five. Whoo hoo. Dare I ask for reviews? Oh yes >_>.