Chapter 1 - The Beginning

Cloud stood over the broken and depressed city. The smell of mako filled his nostrils although the foul stench wasn't so bad for him for mako is in his blood, I guess you could say he was used to it.

He stood next to the Buster Sword hand on hilt as he thought over and over. How could he have been so weak? All he could do was watch as his best friend, Zack, (and one of his only friends from his time with Shinra) was shot to death by the people who were once their allies. Maybe it hadn't sank in the first time, the same thing happened with Aerith. Praying peacefully all he could do was stand there and gape at her while the silver haired madman Sephiroth brought his sword down on her and stab straight through her back. "Why does this happen to me?" Cloud questioned to himself quietly. He often spoke to himself, maybe he just hoped he could hear his two closest friends voices one more time.

As his hand left the Buster Sword images of destruction and evil came to his mind. The evil grin of Sephiroth pierced his mind. That bastard had taken everything from him and he refused to stay dead. Cloud's sky blue mako eyes suddenly turned green and his pupils narrowed causing him a great deal of pain. Struck by this peculiar and sudden pain he fell to his knees where everything allof a sudden turned white and his eyes closed shut.

The sound of birds and the sea filled his ears as he awoke. Cloud was on a beach..."Where am i?" he said only to be unexpectedly answered by a girl. "You're in the isle of Besaid." the girl said cheerfully. "Besaid? How did I get here?" Cloud thought as he held his head. "Umm..Sir are you alright? You seem...lost." the strange girl said. Cloud didn't realise it but he had been staring into space for quite a while. He examined the girl, she had two different coloured eyes one blue and the other green. They were nice. She didn't look old maybe about 17 18 give or take. "I'm fine." Cloud replied as he flipped up from the ground which seemed to startle the girl a bit. "Well that's good to hear. My name is Yuna by the way." She seemed to have a sense of determination in her but also a kind of sadness, Cloud was quite familiar with this. "Cloud" He replied. Yuna got rather confused after that which made Cloud grin a little, just a little. "My name. It's Cloud" "Oh! I'm sorry! It's nice to meet you Cloud." Yuna replied. She could feel her cheeks going red. How embarrassing! "Well Cloud," Yuna continued trying to make her blushing less obvious than it already was " Why don't I take you to the village so you can rest and have something to eat you seem tired.". Cloud only realised his exhaustion when Yuna pointed it out which was odd considering he hadn't done much.

Getting to Besaid village was easy. Cloud took care of all the fiends they came across with one swipe of his sword. Cloud's sword looked odd Yuna thought. It seemed as though it was incomplete almost as if there were more swords that should be inside it somehow. Yuna decided not to dwell on the thought she was more interested in the sheer size of the blade. Cloud didn't seem overly strong with his lean body however he lifted it as though it was lighter than a feather. Upon further inspection of Cloud she noticed a certain glow in his deep blue eyes as well as a lot of pain hidden within them. His spiky blonde hair went off in every direction however it wasn't scruffy it was surprisingly neat. The man wore all black with one arm sleeveless and the other completely covered by a sleeve. As they finally got to Besaid she noticed a red ribbon peaking through his sleeve which was clearly a memento to someone. "So how about a tour?" Cloud said in his calm manly voice which quickly shook Yuna out of her daydream. "A tour? Yes, well, um.." the tour would have to be put on hold as Cloud found himself falling to his knee. He was completely drained out but from what? The rest was a blur as he was taken to a hut and put on a bed by Yuna with the help of a woman dressed in black. The last thing he heard before dozing off was the sound of the woman's voice. "Why did you bring him here when you..." then the words just turned to sound as his eyes closed.

Nightmares. Nothing new just the same memories from his past. However these memories were interrupted by the sound of a woman's voice. "Cloud? Can you hear me?" it was Aerith he knew it however he was unable to respond. "Cloud this world needs your help. I believe you've already met the summoner to be from Besaid. You must help her on her pilgrimage to defeat Sin, however you must make sure she doesn't die or Sephiroth may succeed.". Cloud tried to open his mouth and speak to ask her what Sephiroth's plan was or why HE needed to help the summoner or just to simply have a conversation with her, but he was ripped away from his dream by the sound of a...sneeze?

Cloud opened his eyes slowly although he was more alert than he let on to be. When he opened his eyes he saw those miraculous blue and green eyes staring back into his. He noticed that he had no shirt on and his sword was tucked away in the corner of the hut. "So I fall asleep for a few hours and i need to be bathed?" Cloud said to Yuna with a smirk on his face trying to hide his sadness from hearing Aerith's soothing voice. "Oh, I uh, I didn't, that wouldn't, Lulu was the one..." Yuna was turning very red and she could feel it maybe if she just changed the subject..."Actually Cloud you've been asleep for a few days. Me and a few of the other women on the island have been helping you recover.".

Cloud let that settle in for a moment. It all started to make sense he was so tired because he travelled to another world. How though was still a mystery however he suspected it had something to do with Aerith Zack and the lifestream. Cloud started to sit up until he realised that Yuna was pushing against him. "Stop lay back down, you need your rest!" Yuna exclaimed. This made Cloud's lips flicker a bit with amusment. "I'm fine. Trust me" was his reply. Although she wanted to argue it was useless as he was already standing up. "Well then now that you're up why don't we go and see Lulu then I will show you the rest of the village!". Yuna started to pull Cloud out of the hut before he could even grab his shirt. His mako eyes took sometime to take in the sudden sunlight and he even found that he was stumbling a little. Looking around the village was quite small and quaint. He also noticed the women who were giggling in his direction. Yuna knew that they were making comments about his muscular body and even she had to admit it was hard not to stare.

Yuna quickly realised she was staring until she noticed Lulu coming over to them. "Yuna he should be resting not walking around the village" the black mage said in her sharp voice. "Yes I know but-" "I'm fine. The name's Cloud by the way." "I'm well aware of your name many of the women won't stop talking about you. Frankly it's quite annoying.". Lulu looked at his blue mako eyes and saw a strange glow in them which made her slightly wary which was unusual for her. "I'm Lulu." she said before quickly walking away. Lulu seemed rather cold she reminded Cloud of Vincent. "She's...cheerful" Cloud said in a sarcastic manner, this made Yuna giggle quite a bit for some reason. "Hey Yuna!" Cloud looked over to the man who was calling for her. He had ginger hair and wore some kind of sports uniform. "I have to go, but why don't you take a look around yourself and meet everyone?" Yuna said to him. "Alright."

Cloud wasn't really interested in meeting anyone here so he went back to the hut took his sword and put on a shirt. He then proceeded to the beach where he first washed up. Looking out across the beach filled his head with questions about this place. Not one person had any piece of technology which made him wonder what kind of place he was in. Was everywhere on this world like this? Did they really not have any kind of machinery? Perhaps he was overthinking this afterall he had only seen Besaid maybe the other places had technology and this was just a small exception. As he stared across the glimmering ocean all he could think about was his friends back home and his adopted son Denzel. Although he would never admit it he cared for all of them a great deal, they were like family.

Panic filled Yuna from head to toe as she looked for Cloud. His belongings were gone from her hut. Was this just a cruel joke played by Wakka? She looked all around until she heard a scream. There was a fiend in the village one more powerful than she had ever seen. Lulu and Wakka sprang into action. Lulu cast a fire spell however the fiend seemed to be immune to magic and Wakka's ball was swatted away easily by the fiend.

When Cloud returned to the village he saw people screaming and Yuna Lulu and the ginger haired man were trying to fight the fiend, however their efforts weren't good enough. Cloud had only been here for a few days but he had been craving a challenge. Instinctively he took out his sword and leaped in front of Yuna blocking the fiend's attack before it could touch her. He swiped and slashed his sword causing the fiend to be driven back until it was completely defenceless and that is when he delivered his final blow using his braver attack. Cloud was quite puzzled to see the fiend let off small glowing things that radiated a peaceful aura.

"WOAHHH!" the red head seemed rather impressed with Cloud even though this was just a small workout. It was clear that they had never really seen a strong warrior. "Dat was amazing, ya!" "Hm. It was nothing i couldn't handle" replied Cloud in that cool way he often did. "It's nice to meet ya brudda! I'm Wakka captain o' da Besaid Aurochs and part time guardian for Yuna." Wakka said rather enthusiastically. "Cloud" was his reply cool and simple. "Good to see you're at full strength again" said Lulu. The truth was that he wasn't at full strength yet, he hadn't been for awhile. Maybe that last fight with Sephiroth had drained Cloud even more than he would like to admit. "Cya again Cloud, ya?" Cloud nodded and as Lulu and Wakka walked away his attention was drawn to the angry looking Yuna. She was rather cute when she was trying to be angry.

"Where did you go!? I was so worried! You could've at least left a note!" Yuna exclaimed trying to sound intimidating however she only succeeded in making Cloud chuckle which in turn made her giggle a little even though she was mad. There was something about Cloud that seemed different than everyone she had ever met. "Cloud? Can I ask why do your eyes glow like that?". This seemed to trouble Cloud as she saw a wave of memories run across his eyes. This was clearly a touchy subject. "This is the mark of SOLDIER. Members of SOLDIER are bathed in mako which enhances your physical abilities" Cloud said this however it didn't seem as though he was talking to her so much as recalling a memory. "You were a soldier?" was her question. "I guess you could say that". There was an awkward silence after that it seemed like Cloud was thinking back to his army days which made Yuna regret asking. It clearly bothered him and showed that he had seen a lot of death. "I think I'm going to go to bed" the ex-soldier said as he walked back to the hut.

Yuna awoke to find Cloud walking to the exit. "Cloud! Wait! Let me come with you." Yuna demanded. "Please! I promise not to get in the way and I can show you where all the treasure is!". Cloud muttered something under his breath before motioning with his head for her to come.

"This cave is really dangerous and probably where that fiend came from yesterday" Yuna informed Cloud. "Has anyone been in here before?" Cloud questioned and his response was no. That meant they were going in blind. This took Cloud back to his military days and his military training. "Alright stay close to me and let me know if you see any treasure or fiends" Yuna simply nodded.

Exiting the cave Yuna seemed rather happy about her bag full of treasure. Getting through the cave was easy enough the fiends in there were nothing compared to some of the things Cloud had faced. While in there he was informed more about 'Spira' as Yuna called it. His suspicion was right. 'Machina' was forbidden in Spira which meant he had no way of contacting his friends. Although he had been away for a lot longer than this before so he doubted they would be too worried. Walking up to the village entrance they were greeted by Lulu. Both of them were covered in mud and they were full of green stains. Yuna rushed to Lulu and showed her all the treasure they had found. Lulu could tell that Cloud made Yuna happy. She began to think that the man dressed in black as stubborn as he was wasn't such a bad person after all. If Yuna was happy she was happy. When Yuna had gone to the temple to pray Lulu stopped Cloud before he could enter the hut. "It's nice that you look out for Yuna" she said which Cloud seemed rather surprising. "Oh yeah, well actually I'm here to help with her pilgrimage.". Lulu seemed to be lost for words. Why would this stranger all of a sudden risk his life so Yuna could defeat Sin? She admitted he was strong that was obvious, however this was strange indeed. "You see I'm not from Spira, I'm from a planet called Gaea. I was sent here to ensure that Yuna doesn't die when she defeats Sin.". This comment seemed to get Lulu angry and upset however she also became hopeful. Cloud was the strongest warrior she had ever seen maybe even stronger than the legendary Sir Auron, this gave her hope and she began to like Cloud more and more. "Are you sure? How will you do it?" "I don't know yet. There's still so much I need to find out. About Sin. About Spira. About everything.". Cloud seemed to be wise beyond his years.

As he walked to the hut Lulu realised that his story made sense. He definitely seemed different to anyone she ever met in Spira and if he was so powerful he would be known through out the land. She decided to sleep on this maybe she would have pleasant dreams for once.

Cloud was back on the beach but this time he wasn't thinking he was just taking in the beauty of the sunrise. While returning to the village he noticed that he was being trailed. His hand moved closer to the hilt of his sword, however he knew it wasn't a fiend. It was a sparring match to test if Cloud could keep up and he wasn't about to disappoint. Instantly he turned and pulled out his sword blocking the striking spear. The thing looked a lot like Nanaki except he was blue and stood on two legs. The fight continued until Cloud saw Yuna watching them. He twirled his sword in a complex maneuver which disarmed the blue Nanaki and won Cloud the fight. Admitting defeat he nodded at Cloud in an accepting manner. "This is Kimahri. He doesn't really talk but he's been there for me ever since I was a little girl." Yuna explained to Cloud. "He reminds me of Nanaki." with the silence Cloud realised that he hadn't told her about his friends back on Gaea. Maybe this was the perfect opportunity.

They finally reached the village just as Cloud told Yuna and Kimahri about Cid, however Kimahri seemed to lose interest after he finished his story about Nanaki. At the village Cloud saw Wakka with four other people in the same clothing, no doubt the rest of the Besaid Aurochs. They were all throwing a ball around, but it wasn't a ball Cloud was familiar with. Yuna must've noticed him watching them play "Blitzball" she said, however Cloud was still clueless. They sat together watching them train while Yuna explained to Cloud the rules of the game and how to play. Yuna was called over by Lulu and Cloud thought this would be a great time to play this new sport. "Hey Bubby!". 'Oh great' Cloud thought 'Another stupid nickname'. "Let me introduce you to the team, ya." Once everyone exchanged pleasantries Wakka said "So how are ya at Blitzball may i ask?". Cloud answered truthfully "I've never actually played or even seen a Blitzball game." "Well I'll teach ya,ya!"

When Yuna and Lulu returned they saw Cloud training with the Aurochs and only then did they truly see how physically fit he was. The Aurochs had done 5 laps of the village and Cloud had done 20 laps without even breaking a sweat. Yuna knew that the 'mako' he talked about helped him but she didn't expect it to help him this much. Lulu called over Wakka and he told the team to take a break.

Cloud could hear the three of them having a heated discussion but the noise died down after Lulu said something to Wakka which seemed to leave him speechless much like when Cloud left Lulu speechless last night when he told her about his mission. The three of them came back over and all three were looking at Cloud. "Cloud. You are a powerful warrior that much is obvious" Lulu said "And it's clear you care about Yuna's safety a lot, ya" continued Wakka. The last of them, Yuna, began to speak "I would like you to be my guardian"