Dirty. Quite honestly that was the best word for the thing. Layers of dirt covering layers of time, of stories, of memories, of emotion, of who the hell knows what else…

Staring at it, he sometimes fantasized about taking the thing away and cleaning it somewhere. Clean it up, uncover its secrets. But that would be sacrilege.

The old sword belonged here. Remove it from atop its empty hill and it would be just be a broken down weapon. The significance lost, the secrets gone.

His fingers trailed along it lightly, dirtying the bare tips of them.

His distorted reflection gazed back at him through the cracks in the dirt.

His own eyes angered him. Impulsively, he kicked the sword to the ground. It lay there, still covered by its dirt and its secrets.

This was his brother's place. This silly old sword impaled on the top of this barren, ugly, stupid hill, was some sort of refuge for him.

What his brother sought up here, he did not know. Maybe he came to hear the voices of the past. He sometimes caught his perplexing older brother talking to the stupid thing. Heh, he thought to himself with a small smile, his brother was more screwed up then himself.

For the brother he both loved and hated, this miserable hill was an escape…perhaps it was the company of an old friend he saw here in his distorted mind. This rusted sword had to have belonged to someone had to have once shined with brilliance.

Whoever it was Cloud sought up on this hill, he or she wasn't here. He glanced away from the sword behind him nervously. He didn't trust the quiet. Quiet, was not a luxury he had. Any moment his voice could return. Whispering, invading, hurting, and filling his mind, drowning out the silence.

"Kadaj…" that voice whispered.

No. Kadaj shook his head. No, not there this time, just his imagination. Sephiroth could not follow him here.

There was something about this place. Here in front of this dirty sword, on top of this dirty hill, his thoughts were blissfully his own. He didn't know why. Maybe whatever ghost reached out to Cloud up here, noticed him too. Truth was, he didn't much question why. It was just him, the sword and the silent hill.

He bent down and dragged the sword back up and pushed it softly back into its spot in the ground."Stupid sword," he whispered, "keep my secret too."