Before the end.
"It has to be done!"
"But why?"
"The town needs us." "But why you? I need you!" "Ill come back but you have to run and ill see you soon." Aerith was now in a mad panic but Cloud gave her a hug and the screamed "Run!" Aerith turned round only to see another wave of heartless, this was getting hopeless but they had to protect the town. It was the last standpoint of the people. When they had to run the came here and they had sworn to keep the first district safe, but it was now getting hopeless. But a lot had happened since they made that promise. If she remembered right it all began the day after they had met the keyblade master. They had woken up to find that Leon was awake and bleeding badly, there was a dead body next to his and he was staring at the floor. When he finally looked up, he did so very slowly even for him, his face was extremely white and he had blood all over his face and a small child curled up in his arms. All of the district's doors were shut and double bolted, no one was taking any chances. "Is it alive?" braved Yuffie. To which Leon said only "yes but barely I had to hack the thing off of it." His voice quivered even as he said this and his face lowered again. "It has to survive! I will make sure of that!" Everyone how ever could still see his fear, something that Leon showed rarely but when he did he was truly scared. The next few days were dedicated to caring for the child. They did so with all their effort and all their skill. But after 2 days of care and affection the child died. Leon who had not slept to look after the child said nothing and walked straight out of the house. Cid told us to leave him some time before going out looking for him. After the entire town isn't that big and Leon had a way of getting out of the most difficult situations. After 2 days Aerith started to worry and said she was going to go look for him. Cloud, who was more worried about Aerith than Leon, agreed to go with her. After collecting their equipment and checking if they had enough to survive out in the 3rd district they headed out of the house and saw to there horror that the heartless were multiplying fast. They were trying to build a kind of army to take this the last sanctuary for the free people. They decided that it would be obvious if Leon was in the 3rd district and so headed off to the second district, at the gate of the second district however a large group of heartless were waiting. The heartless seemed to smell the 2 hearts and almost simultaneously they turned to look directly at Cloud and Aerith. But the 2 were trained fighters and neither was about to let the other go without a fight. And one hell of a fight it would have to be to separate them. And so as Cloud ran in to the center causing the heartless to jump out of the way of the blade and putting them straight in the path of Aerith's magic. Today she had chosen to use all fire magic in varying degrees of power. This created an almighty fire show as it sent heartless screaming through the air burning. As they hit the ground the embers lit up a pathway and finally destroyed the heartless. The sky was getting dark and clouds were rolling in from the east. The pair finally destroyed the last of the heartless with a huge swing from cloud, which took out 3 heartless who weren't quick enough to jump the blade. And then as the first raindrop hit the ground they proceeded through the gate to the 2nd district. As they entered it they heard Leon roar as the sound of wood splintering and heartless chattering as they streamed into the first district. The sound of innocent screaming was almost deafening as the rounded the house and saw the hole it was huge, and even now with Leon obviously in the first district, heartless were still streaming into the first district. Cloud and Aerith now side by side broke into a run and ducked through the hole which still wasn't big enough to walk through where they saw heartless feasting on innocent hearts and Leon doing his best to help those in need. Cloud Roared Leon's name and ran straight towards the heartless about to jump on his back. Aerith headed to a group of heartless and let off as much of her magic as she could in one go. The scene was chaos as the 3 sliced their way through the hoards of heartless but suddenly 5 heartless grabbed Aerith and attempted to take her soul and a few seconds later 2 got onto Leon's back and aimed for his heart. Cloud was broken what was he to do, he couldn't let Aerith die but Leon was important to. In a snap decision he ran towards Aerith and with 3 precision swings of his blade managed to destroy all 5 heartless before the damage was too great but without stopping his movements he kicked off a wall and headed back towards Leon. He knew the heartless would penetrate his body but Cloud hoped he could save Leon's heart but as he was running towards Leon something happened which he was not expecting. 2 darts flew out of nowhere and pinned the 2 heartless to the floor taking them off Leon in the process. And then Yuffie's voice shouted in the same upbeat tone of voice, "No one touches my Leon. Ill get you for this." She then drew out more darts and continued to assault the heartless. Against all his instincts Cloud stopped dead in his tracks. This was a mistake and he regretted it afterwards as 10 or more heartless charged back into him and nearly knocked him over, he whipped round throwing heartless all over the place and regained his balance. He suddenly saw what he had to do; he opened a wound near his heart a very deep cut he had obtained when escaping from hollow bastion. The smell of blood and the sudden ease of getting to a heart turned all the heartless. The suddenly all charged at him and he got low and ready to fight but as the first reached him he jumped and threw his sward into the first heartless. Leon threw cloud the lionheart and Cloud wielding a sward he was not used to, and fell whilst hacking at all the heartless. But this he realized would not be enough and then as he ducked to avoid a flying heartless and then a flurry of metal conflicting with heartless shot over his head, the rain suddenly hit his head again. And just as he realized what had happened, he had to be back in combat. He jumped and swung the lionheart as he landed he grabbed his own blade and cut off the tape. Suddenly the full strength of the blade was shown by the quality of the blade under the tape. The difference was huge, Under the tape the blade was pure silver reflecting light in different colors from it and the edge was sharper than any of them thought possible. Compared to this blade the incredible well kept Lionheart look dull and pathetic. But still cloud fought on keeping all his angles closed and not allowing any heartless to get close to him or the civilians. This was a feat that even took Sora, now looking like an amateur once again, by surprise but after 10 minutes of fighting valiantly, Cloud through loss of blood, collapsed in mid side step. Leon for the first time showing true courage ran, rolled and picked up the lionheart and attempted to defend Cloud. Finally all the friends attacked the heartless, and after half an hour of fighting finally defeated all the heartless. Cloud who by now was on his last breathes was clinging to life, Aerith who was the first to notice Cloud go down was also the first to run to him and attempt to heal him. Again and again she tried the healing spells she had learnt and all the potions she could find, but with no success. Now with tears streaming down her cheeks she begged Sora for his help and together they combined their magical energy together and bound the most complex and powerful healing spell they could muster up. But still no effect Cloud now with all the sorrow drained from his eyes looked straight at Aerith. Aerith fearing the worst suddenly drew forward all her magical energy and started to drain Sora's magic and Donald's too. The flow of energy combined as it flowed straight into Aerith and she forced it all out in one violent healing spell. The spell hit Cloud and his wound started to close. Slowly as the magic flowed into Cloud the wound started to heal up and the life and colour started to return to Cloud, all the spectators looked on in awe as the wound came to just a few centimeters apart. And then all of a sudden the magic ran out, Aerith collapsed to the ground her face turned towards the ground and she was breathing deeply. And as she did the wound opened once more and the blood poured out and the color drained from his body. Aerith looking up saw the mess and ran towards Cloud, she reached him and gripped him in her arms tears once again flowing freely from her eyes. Cloud looked at her with his big deep blue eyes and all the sorrow all the regret had gone but still Aerith stuttered out "I.I f..failed you." Cloud now desperately fighting for his life said quietly "You never failed me." "But I did I could not save you." Said Aerith choking on her tears. "Nobody can be saved from death. Everybody dies now its my turn." Said Cloud. "Don't leave me, I cant live with out you." Cried Aerith desperately griping Cloud. "I'll never leave you." Said Cloud and then right there in the middle of the street lying in Aerith's arms slipped into death and uttered no more sound. Aerith saying no more just buried her face in clouds lifeless body and cried. At last the mayor of Traverse town walked solemnly and quietly over to Leon. "I am sorry about your friend, we will give him a proper burial." Said the mayor quietly "However I feel we can come to some sort of arrangement about the towns safety." Leon knowing exactly what he meant said, "We agree if we had stopped them entering the district Cloud would not have died. And so we will defend the town in honor of Clouds sacrifice and to ensure that his life was not taken in vain." "Thank you," said the mayor "we are for ever in you debt."
"It has to be done!"
"But why?"
"The town needs us." "But why you? I need you!" "Ill come back but you have to run and ill see you soon." Aerith was now in a mad panic but Cloud gave her a hug and the screamed "Run!" Aerith turned round only to see another wave of heartless, this was getting hopeless but they had to protect the town. It was the last standpoint of the people. When they had to run the came here and they had sworn to keep the first district safe, but it was now getting hopeless. But a lot had happened since they made that promise. If she remembered right it all began the day after they had met the keyblade master. They had woken up to find that Leon was awake and bleeding badly, there was a dead body next to his and he was staring at the floor. When he finally looked up, he did so very slowly even for him, his face was extremely white and he had blood all over his face and a small child curled up in his arms. All of the district's doors were shut and double bolted, no one was taking any chances. "Is it alive?" braved Yuffie. To which Leon said only "yes but barely I had to hack the thing off of it." His voice quivered even as he said this and his face lowered again. "It has to survive! I will make sure of that!" Everyone how ever could still see his fear, something that Leon showed rarely but when he did he was truly scared. The next few days were dedicated to caring for the child. They did so with all their effort and all their skill. But after 2 days of care and affection the child died. Leon who had not slept to look after the child said nothing and walked straight out of the house. Cid told us to leave him some time before going out looking for him. After the entire town isn't that big and Leon had a way of getting out of the most difficult situations. After 2 days Aerith started to worry and said she was going to go look for him. Cloud, who was more worried about Aerith than Leon, agreed to go with her. After collecting their equipment and checking if they had enough to survive out in the 3rd district they headed out of the house and saw to there horror that the heartless were multiplying fast. They were trying to build a kind of army to take this the last sanctuary for the free people. They decided that it would be obvious if Leon was in the 3rd district and so headed off to the second district, at the gate of the second district however a large group of heartless were waiting. The heartless seemed to smell the 2 hearts and almost simultaneously they turned to look directly at Cloud and Aerith. But the 2 were trained fighters and neither was about to let the other go without a fight. And one hell of a fight it would have to be to separate them. And so as Cloud ran in to the center causing the heartless to jump out of the way of the blade and putting them straight in the path of Aerith's magic. Today she had chosen to use all fire magic in varying degrees of power. This created an almighty fire show as it sent heartless screaming through the air burning. As they hit the ground the embers lit up a pathway and finally destroyed the heartless. The sky was getting dark and clouds were rolling in from the east. The pair finally destroyed the last of the heartless with a huge swing from cloud, which took out 3 heartless who weren't quick enough to jump the blade. And then as the first raindrop hit the ground they proceeded through the gate to the 2nd district. As they entered it they heard Leon roar as the sound of wood splintering and heartless chattering as they streamed into the first district. The sound of innocent screaming was almost deafening as the rounded the house and saw the hole it was huge, and even now with Leon obviously in the first district, heartless were still streaming into the first district. Cloud and Aerith now side by side broke into a run and ducked through the hole which still wasn't big enough to walk through where they saw heartless feasting on innocent hearts and Leon doing his best to help those in need. Cloud Roared Leon's name and ran straight towards the heartless about to jump on his back. Aerith headed to a group of heartless and let off as much of her magic as she could in one go. The scene was chaos as the 3 sliced their way through the hoards of heartless but suddenly 5 heartless grabbed Aerith and attempted to take her soul and a few seconds later 2 got onto Leon's back and aimed for his heart. Cloud was broken what was he to do, he couldn't let Aerith die but Leon was important to. In a snap decision he ran towards Aerith and with 3 precision swings of his blade managed to destroy all 5 heartless before the damage was too great but without stopping his movements he kicked off a wall and headed back towards Leon. He knew the heartless would penetrate his body but Cloud hoped he could save Leon's heart but as he was running towards Leon something happened which he was not expecting. 2 darts flew out of nowhere and pinned the 2 heartless to the floor taking them off Leon in the process. And then Yuffie's voice shouted in the same upbeat tone of voice, "No one touches my Leon. Ill get you for this." She then drew out more darts and continued to assault the heartless. Against all his instincts Cloud stopped dead in his tracks. This was a mistake and he regretted it afterwards as 10 or more heartless charged back into him and nearly knocked him over, he whipped round throwing heartless all over the place and regained his balance. He suddenly saw what he had to do; he opened a wound near his heart a very deep cut he had obtained when escaping from hollow bastion. The smell of blood and the sudden ease of getting to a heart turned all the heartless. The suddenly all charged at him and he got low and ready to fight but as the first reached him he jumped and threw his sward into the first heartless. Leon threw cloud the lionheart and Cloud wielding a sward he was not used to, and fell whilst hacking at all the heartless. But this he realized would not be enough and then as he ducked to avoid a flying heartless and then a flurry of metal conflicting with heartless shot over his head, the rain suddenly hit his head again. And just as he realized what had happened, he had to be back in combat. He jumped and swung the lionheart as he landed he grabbed his own blade and cut off the tape. Suddenly the full strength of the blade was shown by the quality of the blade under the tape. The difference was huge, Under the tape the blade was pure silver reflecting light in different colors from it and the edge was sharper than any of them thought possible. Compared to this blade the incredible well kept Lionheart look dull and pathetic. But still cloud fought on keeping all his angles closed and not allowing any heartless to get close to him or the civilians. This was a feat that even took Sora, now looking like an amateur once again, by surprise but after 10 minutes of fighting valiantly, Cloud through loss of blood, collapsed in mid side step. Leon for the first time showing true courage ran, rolled and picked up the lionheart and attempted to defend Cloud. Finally all the friends attacked the heartless, and after half an hour of fighting finally defeated all the heartless. Cloud who by now was on his last breathes was clinging to life, Aerith who was the first to notice Cloud go down was also the first to run to him and attempt to heal him. Again and again she tried the healing spells she had learnt and all the potions she could find, but with no success. Now with tears streaming down her cheeks she begged Sora for his help and together they combined their magical energy together and bound the most complex and powerful healing spell they could muster up. But still no effect Cloud now with all the sorrow drained from his eyes looked straight at Aerith. Aerith fearing the worst suddenly drew forward all her magical energy and started to drain Sora's magic and Donald's too. The flow of energy combined as it flowed straight into Aerith and she forced it all out in one violent healing spell. The spell hit Cloud and his wound started to close. Slowly as the magic flowed into Cloud the wound started to heal up and the life and colour started to return to Cloud, all the spectators looked on in awe as the wound came to just a few centimeters apart. And then all of a sudden the magic ran out, Aerith collapsed to the ground her face turned towards the ground and she was breathing deeply. And as she did the wound opened once more and the blood poured out and the color drained from his body. Aerith looking up saw the mess and ran towards Cloud, she reached him and gripped him in her arms tears once again flowing freely from her eyes. Cloud looked at her with his big deep blue eyes and all the sorrow all the regret had gone but still Aerith stuttered out "I.I f..failed you." Cloud now desperately fighting for his life said quietly "You never failed me." "But I did I could not save you." Said Aerith choking on her tears. "Nobody can be saved from death. Everybody dies now its my turn." Said Cloud. "Don't leave me, I cant live with out you." Cried Aerith desperately griping Cloud. "I'll never leave you." Said Cloud and then right there in the middle of the street lying in Aerith's arms slipped into death and uttered no more sound. Aerith saying no more just buried her face in clouds lifeless body and cried. At last the mayor of Traverse town walked solemnly and quietly over to Leon. "I am sorry about your friend, we will give him a proper burial." Said the mayor quietly "However I feel we can come to some sort of arrangement about the towns safety." Leon knowing exactly what he meant said, "We agree if we had stopped them entering the district Cloud would not have died. And so we will defend the town in honor of Clouds sacrifice and to ensure that his life was not taken in vain." "Thank you," said the mayor "we are for ever in you debt."