As promised, this continues with the arc started in Shadow of the Day. So the crossover between Final Fantasy VII and VIII continues on its apparently heinous path that is loathed by Cloud fanboys everywhere – keeping him in a world where he's not the greatest thing in the history of ever, where materia doesn't exist, where Guardian Forces can only be harnessed by SeeD personnel, where even his Mako-granted awesomeness isn't really all that awesome when put side by side with a trained and fully junctioned SeeD. Yeah, that fic. The one where Zell Dincht kicked Cloud Strife's rear so hard it took him an indeterminate amount of time to recover. The one where his time onboard Balamb Garden was spent in the brig. The one that actually takes the world of Final Fantasy VIII and attempts to do it justice rather than have it being a "OMG wudntit b soo awzum if Cloud roed n Garden n had GFs n shit n wud be strongr thn ne1 LOLZ!111!1!1!" backdrop for a 'Cloud is better than everything' fanfic. The fic that actually uses game statistics much to the chagrin of some, rather than fanwanking like a dildo to Advent Children because it was visually pretty (but plotwise kind of a desolate wasteland of mediocrity).

Yup, we're here to watch the Sorcerer's Knight take on the world of Final Fantasy VIII for thirteen lovely chapters. Perhaps along the way, we'll also develop a plot! Time to break out the characterizations of random non-playable background people, the maps and the bottle of life to breath into the landscapes. I certainly hope you enjoy the ride as we revisit Final Fantasy VIII's world through the eyes of Cloud Strife!

Once more, this is written in two different perspectives. Yeah, it follows the same general format of the last story as well. So at least you know what to expect, neh? Kinda. Sorta. Almost, but not quite and totally different but not exactly. Or, as Squall would fill in with, "Whatever."

And expect more Zell Love. Because the more I replay FF8 and expose myself to his personality while getting to abuse his cheap as hell limit break (one-hit-killing everything in the game is sweet), the more I absolutely love that spastic little twit.

Disclaimer: I in no way own any portion of the Final Fantasy franchise except the spiffy stuff I've purchased over the years and the Squall plushie that accompanies me on deployment for snuggling purposes. Nor do I own any song by the Smashing Pumpkins, especially not 'Tonight, Tonight' which provides not only the lyrics that became chapter titles for this story but also inspiration for this fic. Please don't sue – I'm simply an E6 in the Navy, and therefore I have no money. Ha.

-BEGIN FIC-

Chapter 1
Time, Never Time at All

Does this Time truly exist? Is this the distant Past before the sun warmed the planet? Or do I feel the Future when the sun has finally died? This can't be the Present. This Present can't exist in Time. This Time can never be Time at all.

The Present can't be so frozen. The Present can't be so black. The Present can't be so empty. The Present can't be so lonely.

I feel as if I am enshrouded in ice, unable to move, unable to breath, unable to feel anything other than the deathly chill that infests my flesh and sears my senses. My only restitute is Time far removed from this Time. A Time where my world is not encased in glacial frost.

A Time of warmth, of comfort, of love.


A shiver touched the blond man's pale skin.

The sun hovered in the sky, its yellow spherical shape a brilliant blot in an eternal field of blue. Its pure light caressed the soft golden sands that stretched from green plains to kiss the ocean's azure waves, buried under frothy white sea foam moment by moment only to emerge again once the waters receded to once more build strength enough to meet the beach. Grass swayed in a light breeze that danced across the sparkling sea, carrying the crisp and pleasant clime of the northern reaches in its tender touch to drive the stifling heat of stagnant mid-summer away from the lands.

Rubbing his forearms absently, brilliant blue eyes watching the waves loll lazily against the beach, the man sighed quietly. Once the odd chill had left his flesh, he returned to his sport of sipping from his bottle of water and working on the impossible task of tanning his pale complexion.

Cloud Strife was bored.

He had come to the Holy Glory Cape nearly a week prior, a mutter overheard in a bar from a pair of SeeD-uniformed personnel out on mission having pointed him to that particular destination. While the clue had proven correct, the goods he required were very slow in coming, driving his extended vacation.

The SeeD youths had been complaining about requiring adamantine for a weapon they desired to have crafted at the Nautilus Shop in Dollet. After their lamentations about how they had lost the powerful cards in their deck to a shifty local in the bar, they had griped about how hard it was to get transport to the Holy Glory Cape to hunt adamantoises without good reason – the current Commander was apparently too frugal and stingy to appropriate funds for travel outside of mission necessities.

Cloud had focused silently on their overly loud and boisterous conversation, their volumes driven by alcohol and disappointment. Disguising his own smirk of satisfaction with his drink, he'd run his own checklist through his head – adamantine was an item he was seeking.

He'd traveled to Dollet on a whim – he'd lost his favorite Triple Triad card to a woman he'd challenged in the newly constructed train station in Balamb City.

Cloud had originally been attempting to track down any of the SeeD personnel he'd become acquainted with during his short stay aboard the mobile Garden and had thought to check their Academy's namesake island – unfortunately, his intuition had led him astray, taking him to an empty pier where no Garden was stationed as they were out performing maneuvers in the middle of the ocean. His avenue for direction and assistance unavailable, Cloud had decided to meander through the city itself, taking in the sights.

Balamb had been slowly crawling from the mire that had buried it over a year ago.

While Cloud had never seen the city, nor any portion of the world for that matter, in its original state, he could easily discern what damage had been dealt to it by the happenings that occurred when the monstrous Guardian Force Eden had demolished the prison that held Jenova upon Cloud's home world and dragged her essence through space to punish the world she was prophesized to destroy. Though not shattered by earthquakes as Timber's capital city had been, Balamb had been buried under enormous waves. Most of the original structures that had made up the charming seaside community were still naught but ruins, stray walls rising from cobblestone brushed clean with a year's worth of tending and rains. New buildings, sturdier in construction than the adobe shelters that had originally constituted Balamb's traditional downtown region, dotted the edges of the rubble that still stretched inland from the sea. The piers had been extended, walkways starting at the new edge of Balamb City that rested nearly a quarter mile from the junction of water and land, passing over scattered stones and permanently destroyed abodes, weaving around the remnants of roads and the shades of the previous community to thrust into the island's deep harbor.

Smaller in size than its namesake, the newer rendition of Balamb City was nonetheless a proud, prosperous little area, sprawling more into suburbia than it had before. With the vast majority of its population choosing to have their homes built inland, the city itself had become more of an industry center and trade depot than it had been before. Few business dared to build upon the new shoreline, windows staring over destruction leading into nature's most deceiving destruction force as it gently lapped against the rubble-strewn shore.

Passing by a weathered hotel that proudly sported a banner over its front door professing 'Refurbished, Renovated, Inspected and Safe! Open for Business!' and a neighboring restaurant with a pleasant looking and slightly plump woman bustling between tables and asking her patrons how they were enjoying their meals, Cloud had wandered eventually to the newly rebuilt Train Station. Staring ponderously at the huge cranes thrusting out of the water and the large sheets of metal jutting from the waves, he had asked those who mingled what he was looking at – a woman in a flowing dress with long brunette hair had smiled and explained that they had finished repairing the underwater train tunnel nearly two months ago, but the cranes and spare metal were standing by in the event of failure of the recently reworked welds near Balamb Island.

She'd then asked him if he played cards. Bored and disheartened by his lack of direction with his quest to finish the task the wily Odine in Esthar had given him, he'd readily agreed to a game.

After losing his favorite card, an Angelo he'd managed to win by the skin of his teeth from a girl he'd played at the station at Salt Lake when he'd left the Sorceress Memorial in Esthar, the woman had consoled Cloud by telling him that her little brother was much easier to win against, that he had every card she had in her own deck, and that he was currently living with their father, an aged artist who lived across from the restaurant named Spice in Dollet.

Finally having found a direction to wander in, Cloud had thanked the woman and purchased a ticket to Dollet immediately, his eyebrow only twitching slightly when he noticed how many connecting lines he'd had to transfer between.

Once in Dollet, he'd found the boy in question and won an Angelo card easily enough. He'd also won a handful of Anacondaurs, some T-Rexaurs, a Hexdragon, a pair of Tonberries, an Alexander and much to his shock a Gilgamesh before the boy's father had evicted him from the premise on charges of pilfering from his child, regardless of the boy's whining that he was having fun even if he was losing.

It had been then that Cloud had meandered into the bar and accidentally overheard where he was to go. Without hesitation he had left the area, gone to the piers of Dollet and chartered a ride to Hope Glory Cape, paying with the small pittance of gil he had remaining from the time he'd escorted a wealthy woman and her children through the dangerous fields surrounding the train station that had been erected at the termination of the Balamb Underwater Line to reach their vacation home on the outskirts of a tiny town that had escaped the ravages of Sephiroth during the hunts around Obel Lake.

When the proprietor of the boat had asked him whether or not he'd expect to return, Cloud had simply shrugged as he'd tossed his considerable baggage onto the beach. "I'll call you," he'd stated as he'd waved the man's business card. Without any further question the boat's owner had abandoned the area, apparently unwilling to remain for an overt period of time on those sandy shores.

Cloud had quickly discovered why – the beaches were crawling with red fish-like monstrosities known as Fastitocalon-F's. While not so tough to dispose of individually, the creatures enjoyed gathering in small schools and hiding in the barrier provided by golden granules of sand, emerging only to float eerily in the air and snap their sharp teeth into exposed skin.

They had quickly passed from frightening monster into the realms of reliable food source and irritant, though. Now Cloud was lounging well away from the beach, resting near a small natural spring he'd found that formed a pond in the grassy plains that dissolved into that fish-infested beach, simply waiting for the odd scratchy roar that heralded the coming of the giant turtle-like creatures he sought.

Laying in the sun for the last six days, his duffle bag with his worldly possessions at his side and his backpack with the items he'd been gathering for Odine serving as a comfortable pillow, Cloud had been reduced to humming march music, sorting his Triple Triad deck in a myriad of different orders and pondering exactly how he was going to accomplish the task he'd set out to accomplish.

When he'd left the Sorceress Memorial in Esthar, it had seemed so very easy.

All he'd been assigned was the mission to gather specific items required to build a mystical bracelet. He'd been tasked with a fetch quest, finding an array of rare oddities the strange little man named Odine required to make his contraption. Cloud had thought it an easy job for a delivery boy. His list wasn't so daunting in length, either; the man who'd contracted his services only needed six items to complete his invention.

While Cloud had originally thought his assignment easy, he swiftly discovered that nothing could be further from the truth.

The first two months of his sojourn into the world he'd been cast into, he'd found himself bouncing from shop to shop, from person to person, throughout the vast technological marvel that was Esthar's turquoise capital city. Not a single person had any clue as to who would hold stock in the items he was seeking. Some outright laughed. Others suggested he speak to those who dealt in more unique and rare items than themselves, but had no clue as to where said individuals could be located. One, the owner of the shop that Cloud felt so very awkward visiting as his name and its matched perfectly (the owner explained that it was named after the sky's cloud's, in memoriam of his wife and their favorite thing to do during outings – looking to the sky and comparing imaginative figures they saw in the heavens) suggested he consult with SeeD, but also added the advice to be prepared to pay for services rendered, even if that service was only advice. With that suggestion, Cloud's world was brought crisply into focus.

During his time in Esthar, he had been living in the Presidential Palace at the insistence of President Laguna Loire. No one asked him any questions when he had paid for his assorted lunches, beverages and various clothing items with the card he'd been given by the man who claimed him as an honored guest. But if he were to leave Esthar, to seek SeeD, he'd need a means of providing for himself.

Cloud was no natural resident of the planet he now was calling home.

Swept from his homeland over a year ago in a flash of energy formed by the Planet to expel Jenova's remains through a conduit created between worlds by the explosive power of Eden, he had found himself without recourse for return, stranded in an alien land. While he had made a handful of friends, most of them were attached to the massive mobile military base, Balamb Garden. The rest of his good associates were in Esthar – the cheery President Laguna Loire, his stalwart and level-headed assistant Kiros Seagill, his patient and immovable side-man Ward Zabac, and the man to whom his fate was irrevocably tethered – Squall Leonhart.

As it was, he had no personal history in any of the nations that ruled the complex planet he'd been deposited on – no identification, no education, no job prospects.

However, he was quite familiar with the shoes he'd found himself in. Recollections of his struggles on his home world fresh on his brain, he'd delved into his creativity, selling assorted services for gil transferred to a rechargeable card he purchased for himself before returning Laguna's gift to him and leaving the comfort of the Palace. While hunting monsters and exterminating them was something he was readily available for and did a good amount of, Cloud found himself thoroughly befuddled and amused by some of the other tasks he'd taken part in. He'd helped to construct houses, aided a man on the beach by the train station outside of Salt Lake repair holes in the hull of his yacht, painted fences, mowed lawns, wrangled massive wild chocobos, plowed fields, laid railroad tracks, herded livestock and escorted school children to the Lunatic Pandora Laboratory for field trips. Having become a jack-of-all-trades over the near year he'd spent on the Esthar continent to build a comfortable buffer of finances to journey, he'd truly begun his task almost eight months after the cataclysmic events that had placed him in the services of Odine in the first place.

It had taken that long for him to finally meet a SeeD, his encounter entirely occurring by chance and his recognition faint at best. The man had blended in with the crowd perfectly, his short brunet hair, sun-kissed skin, plain dress with baggy tan pants and a loose brown shirt, sandals on his feet and slight scruff marring his chin all nothing out of the ordinary. It was only by the long and heavy black staff with its weighted silver ends in his left hand, a twist of his lips and raise of his right hand in a friendly wave as the young man had addressed a woman to thank her for some cards that Cloud's brain had sprung to recognition.

Spade had been quite shocked to see Cloud Strife in Esthar, and for the price of one game of Triple Triad he had been quite willing to divulge pertinent information for Cloud's benefit. Though Cloud quite thoroughly lost to the experienced card player, Spade had still grinned and thanked him for the fun game, taking only a Geezard from Cloud's hand before starting to speak.

Cloud had learned that of all the items he had been tasked with gathering, only one could be obtained without the assistance of Guardian Forces. Adamantine was dropped by monsters – but none around Esthar carried it, Spade quickly informed him. As for which monsters dropped that item and where they could be located, the SeeD was uncertain – he had never bothered with it before, having not required it for anything he'd had built in a Junk Shop or for any other item he'd refined.

The other items Cloud sought would have to be crafted via refining. When Cloud had asked what 'refining' was, Spade told him that regrettably only SeeD personnel could accomplish that task, as only SeeD personnel had access to the Guardian Forces that made refining possible.

Spade had then taken Cloud's list and pondered it for a while, calling one of his fellow SeeDs on his phone before adding to Odine's scrawl.

"There you go," Spade had chirped as he'd handed the list back over to Cloud. "If you gather those, you'll have everything necessary to refine what you need. I won't ask what this stuff is for – just know that if you run into me, I'll help you however I can. In fact, any of us will."

"Any of you?" Cloud had inquired.

"The Card Club, my friend. Squall was the greatest competition we'd ever had. He won our loyalty not just as an outstanding SeeD and our Commander, but also as a fellow Triple Triad player. Regardless of where the Garden stands, we stand with him."

Cloud had thanked Spade profusely, insisting on paying for his dinner before leaving the establishment they had been conversing in.

He had then journeyed to the Palace to speak to the guards who worked there – after all, he needed to know where he would be able to find the carriers of a few items.

In less than a week after his meeting with Spade, Cloud truly hit the wilderness of the Esthar continent, living off the meager offerings of the desert land and his sparse provisions while hunting behemoths like a man possessed.

For two months he wandered the desert to do battle with the various monsters he could find, loading his pack with the odd, flat mirror-like palm-sized stones the people he'd spoken to in scattered desert communities stated were indeed the 'barrier' items he was seeking provided he didn't break them during battle with the beasts. Coming a few short of the fifty barriers Spade had told him he needed, Cloud decided to alter his journey once he'd stopped coming across the huge behemoths he was hunting, their numbers depleted to near nonexistence and those that remained having taken to fleeing from him rather than confronting him. Cresting the impressive cliff that separated the deserts from the largest burned-out forest Cloud had ever seen in his life, he found another brand of monster to pursue, the spikes he was able to pull from some of their cloaks another item he'd been told to retrieve.

With a backpack filled with spikes and barriers and a surprising lack of skeletal forbiddens and massive behemoths to hunt as their numbers lay in waste thanks to Cloud's efforts with his massive Caladbolg greatsword, the blond moved on. It had been then, almost a year to the day after he'd been stranded on the world he now inhabited, that he'd decided to go to Balamb.

He'd thought to visit the Sorceress Memorial before he left the continent, but ultimately decided against it.

The sight of his charge was one he didn't wish to burn into his eyes at that time – his heart, already heavy with the thought of what he was tasked with and why he carried his duty, would waver in its dedication to leave.

Cloud pondered that as he lay on the plains and stared at the sky while sipping water from his bottle.

When he'd been living with Tifa so very long ago, he only had minimal resistance to leaving his abode. While his heart did find sadness in leaving the woman he loved behind, he found little difficulty in departing the home they shared. At first, while he was never certain that he'd actually live to return, he cared so little for his vague and, so far as he was concerned, entirely inconsequential existence that he'd abandon his friends and companion for months without hesitation. Without a sense of overarching purpose or pride in his own being, he felt himself an expendable, insignificant being that could fade at any moment without repercussion. As time moved and he'd determined that perhaps he was enough to live for, he found some hesitation to leave those who cared deeply for him but not enough to hold him in place.

On this alien world, he had quite inadvertently tethered himself to a Sorcerer and become ultimately responsible for the young magician's sanity. Cloud found himself with an impossibly enormous undertaking, one the world depended on him to accomplish in order to remain safe from the ravages of the dark Moon-God Hyne's magic channeled through his earthly vessel. It was a responsibility he couldn't escape, one he couldn't run from and leave in any location like he could the mediocre responsibilities he'd held on his home world. And aiding him in his task, the bond he shared with the Sorcerer allowed him to determine the younger man's moods and emotions as well as allowed the other to track Cloud's very thoughts if he so chose to do so; at all times they could be aware of the others' presence – there was no way one could completely escape the touch of the other as Cloud could escape on his world of origin. The Sorcerer could hunt him down at any moment, even as he could determine his Sorcerer's general whereabouts and mood by the strength of the foreign emotions that dwelled at the base of his brain.

Cloud let his eyes drift shut, his mind searching every dark corner it possessed for the touch of his Sorcerer. Finding only the barest hint of that contact that had become so very familiar to him over the last year, a touch of cold laced with loneliness, Cloud sighed and ceased his search. The lack of strength told him all he wished to know – his Sorcerer was still asleep, still trapped in the depths of his mind, still encased in his crystalline prison in Esthar.

Returning to his recollections, Cloud resumed staring at the sky. With a frown touching his lips, he huffed to himself – of course he'd be unwilling to leave had he visited. The one at the other end of the bond was indeed lonely. Something within Cloud desired more than anything to rectify that.

Some time within the last year, the feelings that he had begun to develop when they'd first met, when they'd held their first shy and halted conversations with one another in the destroyed wasteland that was Timber's capital, had deepened beyond affable willingness to fulfill his role as Knight.

He genuinely wanted the Sorcerer to find happiness. He wanted to remain with him, even though it meant never returning to what he once considered his home. He wished to make the world he'd inhabited for the last year his permanent dwelling, to learn how to cut a decent living from the cloth that was the complex environment he was thrust into. He desired nothing but to explore the tentative emotion his Sorcerer had expressed in the final lines of his journal, perhaps to see if he could help his shy charge see that Cloud wished to remain right where he was, that there was no need to worry about sending him across time and space to rejoin with his old companions, that his past was over and done and his life had truly begun a little more than one year ago, and that the emotion the Sorcerer assigned to his Knight could be returned in full.

Cloud knew that if he'd gone to the Memorial, he would have sat by the sarcophagus that held the boy he sought to free, willing him to awaken and taking him from his frozen prison before completing his task.

He wouldn't let himself return to the Memorial before he had everything Odine needed to create another bracelet akin to the one that had been offered to the last Sorceress to threaten humanity. He wouldn't try to free his Sorcerer until they had a means to suppress the incredible powers that raced through his blood, to keep him from channeling Hyne's power and losing himself to madness brought by touching the mind of the insane God of the moon. He wouldn't stop his hunt until he had the means to keep the younger man from staring into the abyss of Time, to keep him rooted in the Present.

After the display of power against the apocalypse-heralding Eden, against Jenova's final remnants when they'd infested the remains of the last Sorceress to inhabit the world, against Jenova's resurrected son, Cloud would not return until he had a means to keep Squall under control, to keep him from accidentally demolishing all that was dear to him in a fit of rage and uncontrolled explosive power. The Knight clearly recalled the look of sheer terror that had flashed across Squall's eyes when he'd first unleashed and sank Eden into the ocean off of Galbadia's eastern seaboard – he'd do anything to keep that fear from flashing through those gunmetal orbs again.

A throaty roar resounded from the beach.

"Always when I'm relaxing," Cloud grunted as he lifted his head and glowered at the sands.

Sure enough, a huge pair of domed shells breached the ocean's gently lapping waves as a two enormous adamantoises dragged themselves onto the beach, their clawed feet digging into the soft golden sands and heaving their mass towards the plains.

Sitting upright, Cloud rested his hand on the beaten metal guard of his sword, sliding his fingers under the massive twist of metal that formed its protective basket to grip the leather encased hilt. Letting his fingers find the grooves in that leather that months of behemoth slaying had engrained into it, he cast a light smile down at the heavy chunk of steel at his side. "Ready to go, Caladbolg?" he quietly asked of his faithful companion.

The blade, the massive finalized version of the world's greatsword that rivaled Cloud's old Buster Sword in length if not in width or weight, silently laid in his hand.

It was a gift from Squall, a tool granted to Cloud's custody by necessity. When first he'd received it, he'd doubted its worth based on the shop they'd purchased it from – his past experiences purchasing items from self-proclaimed 'Junk Shops' back on his world had not resulted in him garnering anything of quality. However, he was quick to discover that his new home world and that of his past were quite different in that regard as well – the weapon he'd been given was of higher quality than some of the best weapon he'd laid his fingers on at home, putting everything Shin-Ra issued to shame and, over time, had proven more sturdy and reliable than his Ultima Weapon, that blade having finally given way after a year of service and driving Cloud to upgrade to his First Tsurugi, the weapon he'd lost during his transition from his world of origin to his new abode. Caladbolg looked fragile, its notched blade thin and slender, its blue-tinted metal with its brilliant blue edging and blood-letting trough appearing more ornamental than functional. Only its impressive length and heavy, plain hilt basket lent it any visible inkling of usability. Even the pommel's heavy knob, carved into a stylized roaring lion's head, lent it an aura of beauty rather than of usefulness. However, the weapon had proven itself time and time again – slicing through thick behemoth bone proved as easy with the final beast Cloud had slain as it had with the first; the blade had hardly dulled and showed no nicks from all the times it had been thrown, tossed or hammered against stone; the lion's head, while heavily scratched and matted to the point where its original shine was long gone, was still recognizable; only the hilt basket showed truly viable wear, its mirror-like gleam and smooth contours lost to battle and wear, its shape bent and dented and its metal scratched and gouged beyond repair from providing its given purpose as a savior of the sword-hand in battle.

Lifting the weapon with ease, its perfectly balanced length moving as precisely as it had when Cloud had first received it, the blond warrior rose from the grass and smiled. "Maybe this time, those damned fish won't show up before I can claim my adamantine. It'd suck if I lost another one because it got buried in the sand or kicked into the sea during a fight."

A single moment was spent reaching into one of the pockets of his pants to retrieve a small sphere. Cloud lifted it before his eyes, twirling it between his fingers even as he tightened his grip on Caladbolg's hilt, admiring the soft yellow color as it sparkled in the sun. He pinched the bauble as hard as he could – as it crumbled, Cloud closed his eyes, reveling in the tingling sensation that spread throughout his flesh, the dust of that marble sinking into his pores and imbuing its magic onto him. His senses, tainted by a mix of soft gold and sharper than normal, verily danced as he laid his left hand on the lower portion of the long hilt of Caladbolg and bellowed his challenge to the monsters. Within the barest blink of an eye, Cloud charged to the beach.

Both adamantoise raised their gnarled heads. One belted out a dire roar while the other ducked its skull towards the sand and shuffled its front legs vigorously in the sand.

Bracing himself, Cloud swung his hand before his eyes and squinted, pinching them shut as harshly as he could. This was his second time fighting the massive turtles that crawled onto the Cape – he knew what was coming.

Still, regardless of his knowledge of what was coming, he found it difficult to stay on his feet when the whirlwind sandstorm blasted over him and granules of sand dug into his flesh, the sharp stinging blast drawing blood and flaying open skin. Sliding back in the sand, he dropped to his knees and dug his fingers into the ground as deeply as he could. His head bowed, he spat a mouthful of sand and saliva onto the beach as the whirlwind's impressive strength finally began to die away, ignoring the instinctual longing to either pull his hand from the sand and wipe his lips or release Caladbolg and do the same. Rather than clearing his mouth he charged, his feet digging deeply into the sand.

Running with all of his might towards his attackers, Cloud roared as he swung his sword before him. The beast that had flung the beach's sands towards him stared as the blue blade rapidly approached its head, while the other adamantoise snapped its jaws open and shut.

Cloud cursed as a brilliant blue sphere of magic, a Protect spell, dropped into place just before his sword made contact with flesh and sent it rebounding away with a sharp 'ping.' "Alright, you tricky bastards. Let's see what else you've got," he snarled as he dug through the vast pockets of his cargo pants. Gripping a small round sphere tightly between his fingers, he drew it into sunlight, gave it a quick glance, and threw it as hard as he could at the shelled monster before him.

As the sphere shattered upon collision and a blanket of smothering darkness fell over the beast's head to blind it to the world, Cloud grinned and readied his weapon once more. Without sight, the adamantoise charged with a frustrated roar, swinging one of its huge clawed forelimbs forward in a vain attempt to make contact with the swordsman and failing utterly. Leaping readily out of the way of the clumsy attack, Cloud rolled on the beach between the two adamantoises and swung his sword towards the back of his initial target.

The beast howled loudly as its huge lumbering tail was cleanly severed by Caladbolg, hot blood gushing from its remaining stump and pouring over the golden sands.

As it shook its head wildly, guttural snarls and howls echoing along the beach, Cloud quickly dodged an oncoming rush from the other giant beast and threw another hard sphere at it from the same pocket in his cargo pants.

Cloud snarled as the wounded animal lifted its head and yowled, drawing a soothing white wind from the ether and swirling it around both adamantoises.

"Cute. Real cute," Cloud grunted as he readied his sword once more.

Still blinded, the beasts both attempted to fling sand in his direction – Cloud was able to dodge, seeing precisely where they were aiming and being able to run without them easily tracking his movement. A quick leap from the sands into the air and off to his left cleared him of the attack easily, setting him up for a counter.

His foot touched the soft beach; he immediately launched himself back into the air. Turning quickly midair, he brought his sword before him, aiming carefully for the beast that wallowed in the sand, its stump still bleeding at a reduced rate onto the yellow land below, the horns on either side of its head digging through the sand.

With a yell he plunged into the center of the targeted adamantoise, Caladbolg punching cleanly into the beast's shell and drawing a fountain of blood from its armored body. As it howled in pain, Cloud wrenched his weapon free and leapt from the top of the monster. As the second and as of that moment untouched creature began to chatter once more, Cloud snarled and spun in a quick circle on his toe as he touched down.

"Let me show you how it's done!" he roared as he turned Caladbolg mid-twirl, ripping the atmosphere around him and wrenching the sand away from the beach. The whirlwind created by his rapid swing raced over the landscape, swiftly enveloping the two monsters.

When both adamantoises ducked their heads and yowled while they were sliced by rapidly swirling sands, Cloud charged into the fray with his sword leading the way. As the more wounded of the two monsters lifted its head from the sands, blood-laced saliva dribbling from its slacked jaws, Caladbolg punched cleanly through its massive skull.

The second monster shuffled backwards, its feet digging into the mild resistance of the ground as it attempted to retreat to the safety of the sea.

Yanking his greatsword out of the slain adamantoise, Cloud turned, his hand instantly in a pocket of his cargo pants. In a blink of an eye, he hurled another stone at the retreating creature.

It screamed as it was enveloped in a ball of hideously hot fire, its thick skin smoldering and cracking in the intense heat. Cloud held his free hand before his eyes to shield them from the brilliance of the flames as they ate into his foe.

The adamantoise scrambled for the ocean. Cloud intercepted his burning foe.

The beast recoiled as the blue greatsword in Cloud's hands bit into one of the giant horns that protected its head, snapping the hard projection cleanly away. With a hiss the enormous monster dug its feet into the sands and kicked them up over itself. Cloud grit his teeth as he watched the licks of flame that were still dancing over the thick shell smother and die under the barrage of golden granules.

Then the blond warrior cursed loudly – the faint golden sheen that had been cast upon his flesh by the marble he'd crushed before properly engaging the adamantoises faded away. The magic of the Aura stone had worn off.

Wheezing before him, breath drawn painfully past slackened and burned jaws, the monster clacked its mouth open and shut a few times – a brilliant purple bubble swirled over it, coating its blackened body in its sheen. Cloud realized instantly that the Shell would protect it from the brutality of any spell stone he could hurl against it.

He also recalled that this adamantoise did not have Protect over it.

Charging once again, he lifted his sword.

The adamantoise flung one of its forelimbs at the warrior, intercepting the weapon with painfully pitched grating filling the air as sharp claws scraped along metal.

A hiss escaped Cloud's lips as he struggled against the massive beast's strength, every ounce of his power tested and nearly overcome. A howl roared from the monster's throat as it pushed back, trying to drive the man to the ground.

Cloud swiftly ducked to his left, drawing his sword quickly away.

As the adamantoise stumbled forward, its face nearly plowing into the beach, Cloud instantly found purchase beneath his feet and lunged back at the creature. His sword aimed not at its shell but at the ground right below it, he plunged Caladbolg's sharp tip into the sand and heaved against the hilt.

Completely off balance and befuddled by Cloud's tactics, the beast failed to anticipate the attack and was taken by surprise. Its feet flailed uselessly in the air as Cloud put every ounce of his impressive strength into lifting the hilt of his sword, using it as a lever to flip his enemy over.

The adamantoise yowled as it rolled onto its back, its limbs writhing in the air as it lashed the sand with its tail and attempted to push against the ground with its massive head and in an effort to upright itself.

A sneer taking his lips, Cloud pulled Caladbolg free of the beach and quickly lifted it high. Then with a snarl, he plunged it into the soft underbelly of the monster.

The adamantoise gurgled as blood spurt from its mouth and nostrils. Its limbs fell slack as its eyes lost focus and glazed completely.

Yanking his blade free of the beast's corpse, Cloud sighed and wiped his brow, frowning as sweat and blood from the monsters' initial attack mingled and stained his hand. "Damn it," he quietly whispered, "That was kind of a challenge."

Rolling his shoulders, the popping of joints and fresh snaps of pain tingling on his nerves, Cloud shook his head sharply to focus on what he was supposed to do. Without any further hesitation, he lifted Caladbolg once more and used it to flip the heavy corpse of the dead adamantoise whose belly he'd flayed back upright. Then with a grunt he hefted himself onto the monster's back and dug his fingernails underneath the small, silver point of the centermost segment of the adamantoise's shell.

Heaving with all of his might, his teeth grit to the point of cracking enamel, Cloud nearly screamed in frustration as his fingers came loose before the focal point of his battle, the singular piece of adamantine in the shell's center, budged at all. An infuriated growl leaked from his throat as he picked his blade up from the sands and attempted to pry the metal loose with its tip.

Even as the adamantine came loose, he fell to his knees, his breath coming in desperate pants. Wiping his brow, he turned to the other corpse and groaned as he dragged himself to his feet and staggered towards his second prize.

Repeating his efforts with the chunk of adamantine embedded in the shell of the second monster's mutilated shell, Cloud pushed on Caladbolg's hilt with all of his strength. After many minutes of work, the metal piece finally lifted on one side. Shoving the sword's tip as far under the metal as it could go, the warrior then wriggled it in the hollow underneath the sought-after prize to work it loose.

As the second piece of adamantine dropped onto the sand, something within Cloud's mind bristled with worry.

A year ago, he wouldn't have had any problems removing the problematic chunks of silvery metal.

Since coming to the world he now inhabited, Cloud had found himself steadily weakening. His inhuman strength, impossible speed, unfailing stamina and incredible agility that placed him above and beyond any combatant he'd fought with the sole exception of junctioned SeeD personnel were slowly seeping away. The green acidic fire of power that once flared with little provocation along his senses and in his veins had dwindled significantly.

The source of power the cells infused in his body had once tapped was destroyed, after all; Jenova's main host and the compilation of her major cellular material had been completely incinerated by the power of the Sorcerer. Without the central body to derive their might from, those few fragments that still swam in Cloud's blood were steadfastly decaying. And without the Lifestream from which it had sprung, the mako that had poisoned his mind and been absorbed into his cells was dying off. No refreshment of power was available; the world Cloud now called home was devoid of a Lifestream so far as he could tell. Its magic came instead from Sorcery, fragments of power left by tragic clashes between planet and moon according to the legends Cloud had heard; according to the SeeDs Cloud had conversed with, it was derived by more scientific methods, the Guardian Forces themselves stripping energy leaking from small faults in the planet's crust and forming it into a plethora of spells, those spells' types determined by the gamma wavelength, energy potential and different incident particles trapped in the leaks from the planet's interior.

Cloud sighed as he picked up his silvery prizes and sat down on the beach.

Regardless of how magic was derived, he knew one thing – without a Lifestream like that of his world of origin the mako in his veins would eventually fade away, the superior abilities granted to SOLDIER experiment subjects doomed to disintegrate into obscurity.

He was becoming as any other man on this world was – completely ordinary.

Eventually he would be no match for the monsters he regularly faced to earn his sporadic income of gil.

Someday, he would be no equal for the SeeDs of Balamb with their paramagic and their inhuman abilities granted to them by their contracts with the world's most powerful monstrosities and demigods.

He feared that soon he would be unworthy of being the Sorcerer's Knight.

His job as a Knight was to defend his Sorcerer; to prevent the young man from having to tap into his reservoir of magic, from touching the mind of Hyne, from blending his soul with that of a deity beyond human comprehension was his purpose. Rather than risk the Sorcerer losing his sanity, his compassion, his very humanity to the God whose power roared through his veins, Cloud was to defend him from the world. And Cloud worried that, with his strength dwindling, he might not be able to perform his task as he was fated to do.

And considering that Sorcery was seen as the bane of the world, dreaded by all nations and all peoples, Cloud feared he'd have his work cut out for him. The threat by monsters was minimal in the new world Cloud called home – while some were by far more threatening than anything he'd ever faced on his world of origin, he could easily avoid them. Peoples' fear of his Sorcerer would be more problematic.

It wasn't any animalistic, simple-minded foe he'd have to defend Squall from – it was humanity itself. Cloud worried that without his power, he'd be incapable of providing the protection his young Sorcerer would need. That Squall would dig into the might of Hyne and lose himself to madness, becoming the threat to the world that everyone feared. That SeeD, his friends, would be forced by the terror of the planet to finally come and destroy him once and for all.

"Means I've got to hurry," Cloud mused softly as he stared at the two chunks of rare metal in his palm. "Won't be any good out there fighting to get what I need for that creepy Odine if I don't have the strength to defeat my foes. And that damned merchant in town charges far too much for magic stones – can't rely on those in place of my sword."

Finally reaching into his pants pockets, he pulled a light pink orb free and twirled it between his fingers, staring at the sun through its delicate sheen and debating the wisdom of using one of the few Curaga stones he still possessed – the two remaining, he'd learned long ago, were specialty items created by Card Magician Joker and were therefore unique on the planet, infinitely more powerful than the Hi-Potions he'd been resorting to as of late and a lot less likely to shatter with rough handling, making them a highly desired commodity for one who went into battle as often as he did. A moment spent with his eyes closed and his focus on the aches and pains of his body turned his decision towards the negative – he'd save the precious stone for when it was truly necessary to use it.

He shoved the stone back into his pocket and rose from the sandy beach, dusting his rear free of sand as he did so. A few short strides carried him to his backpack, and in moments he was flipping through his recent calls on his phone to locate that of the man who'd given him the ride to the island he currently inhabited.

When the man arrived less than an hour later, Cloud granted him a smile and a nod as he swiftly boarded the boat. "Get what'cha needed, kid?" the man gruffly asked, arching one bushy white brow above inquisitive brown eyes.

"Sure did. How much do I owe you for the return trip?"

The man outright laughed. "Actually, I never expected you to survive. Never thought up a return price. What'd'ya got?"

Blinking, Cloud pointed to his collection of belongings. "Other than that stuff, the clothes on my back and the item I need, probably about a thousand fish fins from those fastitocalon things. I can part with as many of those as you'd like to take."

Scratching his chin, the elderly man nodded. "Those'll sell for a good gil. I'll take twenty of them for the return trip."

A sigh of relief escaped Cloud's lips – he'd not have to worry about paying off a debt he'd accrue if he'd had gil demanded of him. "Done," he readily agreed, hopping from the boat to collect a handful of fins that he'd left scattered near the beach. After only a few moments, he crawled onto a bench in the man's craft and handed over his payment.

It was a relatively short and completely eventless trip back to the mainland. Once they'd pulled into the cluttered marina of Dollet, Cloud assisted the boat's owner in tethering his vessel to the cleats of the pier, granted him a final wave and profession of thanks, then wandered down the road into the town he'd been coming to know.

Passing under the grand arch that crossed the road connecting the marina to the beachfront, Cloud sidestepped the pacing man who muttered continually about the million gil he was owed by the scurvy youths who'd apparently been responsible for the destruction of the quaint seaside city no more than two years ago. A mere moment was spent patting the head of the little girl counting down her numbers and granting a wink of a glowing blue eye to the boy who hid at the base of the stairs before he shoved his hands in his pants pockets and took some time to watch the waves crawl onto the sandy shore, water lapping at a beach still littered with brick and steel, with the remains of metallic monsters and refuse washed in after the enormous quakes that rocked the region. It was a sight similar to that he'd witnessed on the world's smallest continent, the peaceful community of Balamb just as quiet as the sun slithered into the west and its dying rays danced over the sparkling ocean.

Drawing a deep breath of pure sea air untainted by the pollution that plagued the atmosphere of the lands of his distant memories, Cloud turned his back on the sea and meandered further into town. Bypassing both the Spice restaurant and the old artist's shop, he made his way first to the Nautilus Shop across from the tavern to exchange the stray fish fins he'd gathered from the beach prior to departing the deserted, monster-infested landmass he'd spent his last few days on. After recharging his card with a few hundred gil, he made his way to his true destination – the bar.

Greeted by the tall, thin barkeep's stale smile, Cloud offered him a slight raise of a hand even as he chose a stool to occupy. "Evening," the man muttered, leaning away from the pair of gentlemen who leaned heavily against the bar already, drinks sweating in their hands and curses about the day's work flowing from steadily slackening lips. "What's your poison?"

Laying his card on the bar before him, Cloud sighed. "Beer. Balamb Draft if you've got it – whatever's comparable if you don't."

Narrowing his eyes slightly, the barkeep lifted a stein from below the counter's top. "Balamb, eh?"

"Not from there. Just like the beer," Cloud stated, keeping his voice as bland as possible.

"Got'cha," the man grumbled as he began to fill the glass, tilting it to leave a fluffy golden head without robbing the vessel of its contents. "Sorry to say we don't carry it. Give you one of Dollet's specialties, though. Should be to your liking. I'd serve you some of our Esthar Gold if those two louts griping over there hadn't drunk my stores dry. Been a real popular brew since it came across the tracks a couple years ago."

Nodding once, Cloud pushed his rather generic, unmarked blue gilcard that bore nothing but his signature towards the barkeep in exchange for the offered glass while silently praying he wouldn't get overcharged for his drink.

World politics was a phenomenon Cloud was still getting used to.

His world of origin seemed so very simple in comparison – certainly there were different cultures and different peoples, but the relations between each were much more fluid and easy-going than they were on the world he was determined to accept as his permanent home. Where he hailed from, it was the world and Shin-Ra, the overarching company either benefactor or adversary depending on the individual location's measure of self-sustainability and independence.

Nothing he could think of could compare to the complexity of his new world – nations, fully developed with expansive peoples and vast territories, formed alliances and disparities with the rest of the nations of the world and no nation was excluded. Every land was rich in history, thick in culture, steeped in politics and shifting faithfulness to their neighbors. Cloud had originally thought that Balamb, affiliated with those SeeDs he'd made friends with and the Garden that was their base, was a 'good' land – his notions were quickly squelched with harsh reality.

Balamb was nothing but the homeport of the mobile Garden. It in of itself was seen by the world depending on its relations with those other nations – to Trabia it was inconsequential, to Galbadia it was a sleepy getaway and peaceful vacation spot, to Esthar it was an important trade partner for its vast sea-resources, to Timber it was a competitor for vital tourist income, and to Dollet it was so closely affiliated with its Garden that the two would not be separated in the national mind and therefore was seen as either good or evil depending on each individual's opinion. Those tiny towns that had begun to band together and claim themselves to be the risen nation of Centra knew nothing of Balamb other than its tie to the Garden, and thus were much the same as the ancient Dollet Kingdom.

The Garden itself, a source of neutrality in the world, was not always favorably looked upon as Cloud had quickly come to realize. Much as the reactors of Shin-Ra were looked upon as a necessity despite many people's reluctance to have them near, the Garden was a sought-after commodity that was looked upon with sour distrust by most of the world's nations. The fact that they owed allegiance to no one save themselves did not sit well with most of the world's peoples, along with the simple fact that the highest bidder in many scenarios won the vast power of Balamb's Garden – while most people assigned a morality to their nations' causes, the Garden stayed free of such ideals and so long as the conflict did not involve sorcery the organization followed instead the power of gil, coloring of it as 'just' in the eyes on some and 'wicked' in the hearts of many.

Cloud had swiftly discovered that the safest route for his personal safety and continued service in most establishments was to claim he was from nowhere of importance if the topic came up, and if pressed to profess that he was from one of the Northern Estharian desert communities that had been overrun in the fires that blazed through the sands a year ago, leaping from the nearby Grandidi Forest and chasing the rampaging hordes of monsters that ravaged the lands. While he personally had no eye-witness account of the scenario he wove for those who'd question him, he'd garnered enough knowledge of what it must have been like from a few of the locals he spent many hours speaking to while escorting children to Science Laboratory field-day trips in the desolate region. A few gory details about the bloody battles between the brave men of his now non-existent town, chocobos and enormous cockatrices and ochus driven from the forest's sanctity by hellish flames were typically all it took to garner him a look of pity, a pat on the back, a cessation of questions and sometimes a drink.

Taking a cautious sip of the beer he'd been served, Cloud nearly winced at the strong flavor that instantly assaulted his tongue. No, the local Dollet brew was nothing like the smooth and easy taste of the beer he'd gotten a taste for during his short stay in Balamb City.

Closing his eyes, he pondered what he'd do next, where he was to go, and how he was going to accomplish his goals. He knew he had enough curse spikes to receive the dark matter he required, and now he had a piece of rare adamantine. Taking another sip, trying not to focus on the fact that he could nearly chew the beer he was drinking, he grumbled to himself even as he fished in a pocket of his cargo pants for the precious piece of paper Spade had marked up while he was in Esthar.

A swift glance over it and he sighed as he stuffed it back into his pocket. "So damned close," he sighed.

"What's that?" the barkeep asked as he arched a brow and focused his attention back on Cloud, his task of refilling one of his other customer's steins from the fountain with 'Dollet Dark' completely uninterrupted by his divergence of focus.

"Nothing," Cloud replied quickly enough. "Just a shopping list."

"What, the miss at home has you fetching dinner?"

"Yeah. Doesn't expect me home for awhile, though."

A smirk turned the man's lips as he pushed the stein he held back to the customer who waited for it.

Taking another mouthful of beer, Cloud grimaced at both the flavor and his mental meanderings.

He essentially had four of the items he needed – Spade had broken his list down into what he'd require to refine what he sought, and he'd acquired most of it. A Gilgamesh card, an Alexander card, one hundred curse spikes and a piece of adamantine all rested in his backpack, the cards cautiously kept free of his deck to prevent him from accidentally losing them in a game. He was aware of what he'd need to do to finish gathering what he required for an aegis armlet – he was five barriers short of the fifty Spade had instructed him to gather. He needed to find another reliable nest of behemoths.

Where he was supposed to win one of the extremely rare player cards, though, was eluding him. He debated the wisdom of going back to the artist's house and challenging the little boy there once more, but swiftly decided against it – he'd already reaped from the boy's deck, and hadn't seen any of the sought-after player cards offered once.

He instinctively stiffened as he felt a presence approach him.

"Nice evening, isn't it?"

Turning slightly on his stool, Cloud arched a brow. "Uh… sure is."

A tilt of a pale chin let falls of golden blond hair cascade around delicate shoulders encased in soft blue chiffon. "So, drinking alone?"

"Yeah. And I prefer to keep it that way."

A huff of disbelief, a flush of cheeks, and a snort preceded a bitten, "Well, I-"

"Look, your makeup needs work, and your wig is crooked. I'd rather you just look like the man you are before you try and pick me up."

Completely aghast, the blond flushed brilliantly and gaped, his painted lips parted in disbelief and his mouth moving wordlessly before he turned sharply on a pointed high-heel and stormed away.

A brilliant laugh lit the room. "Boy, I haven't seen anyone be quite that blunt in ages! 'Least two years, I do say. I like you, kid."

Turning his head, Cloud arched a brow at the newest infiltrator in the bar.

Standing before the staircase that lead to the upper story of the modest building that housed the bar, an old man lifted a wrinkled hand and waved politely, his mouth displaying a toothy, lightly yellowed grin and his wily white hair with its near glow in the dim light of the establishment contrasting sharply with his tanned, creased face. "Come here when you're done with your drink, will you?"

Glancing down at his half-emptied mug, Cloud shrugged. "Sure," he replied, taking a bare moment to gather his belongings and abandon his less than satisfying drink.

As he neared the old man, he was greeted with a slap on a shoulder and a wry wink. "Name's Bert, kid."

"Cloud."

"Nice to meet you. If you want to escape unwanted attention and your done drinking what they've got to offer, c'mon upstairs. There's better company up there. You play cards?"

Recognizing that he'd be dragged into a card tournament at the very least, Cloud sighed and bowed his head. "Not overly well, but I do dabble."

"Ah, then you'll not want to be challenging the guy by the tables upstairs. He ain't ever lost! Only came close once, to the same kid that told off our local cross-dresser. Fortunately there're some other players up there tonight – you might stand to win a few games."

"Do tell," Cloud blandly stated, his carrying of the conversation more habitual than anything, his focus more on where he was being led and what escape routes he had if things were not as innocent as they seemed, if he was being hauled into an ambush for the items he carried in his rather large backpack, or if he had inadvertently stumbled across the bad-sides of an array of locals with steep anti-Balamb sentiments by his profession that he liked their beer.

He shambled without enthusiasm up the stairs after the old gentleman, then blinked as he stared at his new surroundings.

Indeed, he had simply been roped into a card tournament; nothing more sinister seemed to be in the works.

He was in a game room that was nestled cozily above the dark and dingy bar he'd been occupying, lavishly lit by dangling lamps and chocked full of pool and card tables. The constant buzz of conversation, lamentations and curses filled the area with a surprisingly loud din as people sat on plush red-topped stools and focused on the game boards spread throughout the room, occupying nearly every free surface that could house one.

Cloud nearly jumped as old Bert slapped him solidly on the shoulder and pointed across his field of vision. "That's the one. You'll want to stay away from that table, regardless of what you see in play. He doesn't lose. So if he asks you if you're game, make sure you tell him you're not."

"Thanks for the tip," Cloud muttered, watching as everyone around the table occupied by the dark-haired card master cheered and whooped, leaving the auburn-haired teenager that had dared to raise a challenge to the older man with his head bowed and his teeth grit as his shoulders were rained on with pats of consolation.

His eyes quickly roving the tables, Cloud felt his lips turn with a slight smile as he mentally poured over his list of required items. One of those items he was still missing as a card – what better place to discover the possible whereabouts of a rare card than a card tournament, even if it was a small one in a relatively tired town? "You know… thanks for bringing me up here, Bert. Maybe I will partake in a few games and see what they've got to offer."

Granting him a wink, the old man with his wild hair laughed. "Nah, thank you for the entertainment downstairs. As said, ain't seen anyone stand up to that guy in near two years – gets me laughing every time."

"Two years… wasn't that the time Dollet had to be rebuilt the first time?" Cloud innocently asked.

"Sure was! Now me, I'm not one to blame the guys who drew the robot here – I blame those damned Galbie soldiers that activated it in the first place." His voice dropping, he snorted softly. "Too many around these parts are quick to blame SeeD for all that's been bad in this kingdom. Sure, they were running from the sentry robot and lead it right through town, but it was the only way for them to get to their evacuation point. And yeah, they stirred up a bunch of trouble with their failed assassination attempt on the Sorceress in Deling, right out in the open during her commissioning ceremony. And according to some, it was one of them that was responsible for the earthquakes that almost leveled the lands a year ago. Plus the tether between the Gardens got Galbadia a bunch of really powerful soldiers over the years between the first and second Sorceress Wars, most've their most talented coming from Balamb – and that army is what nearly wiped Dollet off the face of the world."

Arching a brow, Cloud frowned. "Huh. I never knew about that."

"Been under a rock or something, boy?" Bert asked, quirking a brow.

"Let's just say I never paid much attention in school," Cloud said, adopting as sheepish of a grin as he could manage. "Plus where I grew up, lessons on how to work the land, water management and how to make the most of your crops were more important than world politics or history."

A sharp laugh escaped the old man. "Ah, never took you for a farm boy."

"Recent profession change," Cloud professed readily enough.

"Well then, so you know, the Gardens do in fact work together. And against each other. Kind of strange that way. They're all neutral, but they're all for sale. Galbadia's Garden tends to side with its parent nation, though, due to the high financial backing they get from it. So when the Sorceress took over Deling, G-Garden was hers for the taking. Same with its army – she incorporated it with the nation's standing forces. Made them damned near unstoppable. Fortunately, B-Garden proved to be a hell of a force to be reckoned with. Surprising, considering how small it is. Guess it was due to that demon Commander of theirs."

Cloud nearly scoffed, the mental image of Balamb's previous Commander popping unwarranted into his head as a fire-breathing demonic entity complete with leathery wings and horns. "Demon Commander, huh?"

Grinning widely, Bert nodded. "Nicest guy you ever met. A bit cold on the outside, but a sweet kid. Asked our local problem man if he was really a woman to his face, loud enough for the whole bar to hear. Then meandered up here and very nearly won against our champion. Never will forget that guy. Shocked the bejeezus out of me when I found out he was leading that Garden! Guess that's why I can't hate Balamb's Garden as much as most others around here. Nice kid like that can't be all bad. And if their leader's not all bad, then what all's happened to Dollet can't all be SeeD's fault. Gotta be more complex than all that. Fact is, people need a scapegoat – something other than themselves to blame – and SeeD is an easy one to peg, seeing as how they're truly neutral and can be bought out by just about anyone."

"But why would Dollet be at fault for anything?"

A sneer lit the man's lips. "Maybe if our army wasn't caught with their pants down, we wouldn't have needed to pay for SeeD to come here and defend us in the first place two years ago. Or maybe at the end of the first Sorceress War, we could've sided with Galbadia instead of standing apart from the conflict when Esthar was actively demolishing them – we would've had them as allies instead of holding them at arm's length like we did over the last near twenty years. You see what I'm sayin', boy?"

Holding his head, scratching lamely at his scalp, Cloud shrugged. "I think so. But as said, world politics is a bit above and beyond me."

A sharp laugh escaped Bert as he smacked Cloud's shoulder again. "I've chewed your ear long enough, don't'cha think? Go have fun. Thanks for entertaining an old man and listening to him ramble."

"No problem," Cloud readily replied as he dragged his worldly belongings towards a relatively unoccupied corner far from both the staircase and the arch that lead to a walkway that spanned the street outside. Dropping his duffle bag, backpack and sword off, he wandered to the table of the champion and decided to simply watch.

His eyes nearly rolled out of his head as he saw the cards laid down on the table. "Is that-" he gasped in shock.

"Yeah," a brunette girl at his side breathed. "The Irvine card. Oh, how I wish I could win it!"

"'The'?" Cloud inquired, arching a brow.

"Don't you know? Only two of each player card exists in the world. Word has it that the original artist behind Triple Triad had intended to only release one of each player card to the public, but one person got every card he released and that deck was removed from circulation a year ago, so the old man released another set. There's actually a chance to win these again!"

"And there wasn't before?"

"Dude, the guy who had that deck was invincible."

Cloud arched a brow as he noticed a slight tick of the card-master's left eyebrow. "I see. As invincible as Dollet's master?"

"Just about," the girl confided. "I don't know if they ever played each other, though, so no telling who's better,"

Clamming up, Cloud watched the rest of the game. After the jet-haired man predictably won against his opponent's lesser hand, he joined the crowd in cheering the victory.

"You game?"

Cloud started then met eyes with the man who addressed him. Holding up his hands defensively, he shook his head. "No, I'm just here to watch. My deck's not good enough to go against a deck with player cards."

"Only got one in it."

Chewing on his lip, Cloud frowned. "So you don't have the one I'm looking for, anyway."

"You're looking for a player card?" the man asked.

Shrugging casually, Cloud smirked. "Who isn't?"

"Seem awful picky, though. Most would settle for any player card they can get their hands on."

Cloud scowled as his mind cursed internally. "Well…"

"Come talk to me," the man blandly stated as he rose from his table and shuffled through the crowd.

Gulping quietly, wondering just what he'd gotten himself into, Cloud meekly followed the man as he pressed through the crowd of gamers and crossed the arching bridge that spanned the street.

Stepping into the dark, circular room at the other end of that bridge, Cloud blinked rapidly to get his eyes accustomed to the sharp change in lighting before casting what he prayed was a casual glance at his new surroundings.

As the jet-haired card player eased himself into a plush seat behind a heavy oak desk, Cloud took in the piles of magazines and dingy posters hanging on the walls, everything with its light film of dust adding to the rather dismal atmosphere of the apparent office. Letting his gaze rove across those magazines, absorbing the titles Timber Maniacs and Girl Next Door, he finally regarded the man who had invited him.

He blinked as he met with a startled stare. "Yes?"

"Your eyes…"

"Side effect. I used to live in an area close to a lot of energy springs. Got SeeDs roving there all the time to take magic from the earth."

The man frowned slightly before shrugging off any further comments, apparently accepting Cloud's off-the-cuff explanation or simply not caring enough to pry further about the unnatural glow of mako that still glistened through darkness. "So you said you're after a particular player card? Which one?"

"Why do you ask?" Cloud replied, his voice soft and cautious.

"Because I know the locations of most of the player cards in the world. I keep tabs on where they've gone through the first person to have ever beaten me – that way if they ever pass through Dollet, I know who to challenge to complete my deck. She keeps me up to date as part of our deal; I maintain my reputation as undefeated and get information, she gets free room and board, free meals and free drinks throughout this town via my connections whenever she decides to drop by."

"Sounds like quite the lucrative deal."

A snort escaped the man. "Indeed. So which card?"

"The Squall card," Cloud stated blandly. "No questions as to why."

Arching a brow, the card-master frowned. "That kid's card, huh?"

"You met him too?"

A wry smile wrinkled the corners of the man's mouth. "Only other person to defeat me. Took every Elnoyle card I had. He was right on par with the Queen of Cards herself." A sigh escaped his lips and his eyes were distant as he contemplated whatever reflections were racing through his mind while Cloud patiently waited for him to come back to reality. With a blink to clear the glaze from his vision, the older man shook his head. "You're not going to find that card in Dollet. You probably won't have the chance to win it. Even if you find the man who holds it, word from my contact is that the guy who has it doesn't play it."

His shoulders slumping, Cloud scowled. "Damn it. You've got to be kidding me!"

"Hell, she doesn't even have his name. Just knows that it's a member of SeeD."

Instantly Cloud felt his stomach tighten. "A member of SeeD… then that means…"

"I'd get in contact with their Card Club if I were you, kid."

"That's what I was thinking. So, what do I owe you for the information?"

"A game."

Cloud's frame sagged in disbelief. "Rules?"

"We'll keep it fair. What do you know?"

"I've played in Dollet, Esthar and Balamb."

A smirk touched the man's lips and eyes. "Then you've been exposed to every rule in the book. What say you to Random, Elemental and Plus with Trade Rule Difference?"

Scowling sharply, Cloud hung his head. "Can we keep it to just Random?"

"Random and Plus. I'll drop to Trade Rule One."

"Fine."

After dutifully handing over the last Malboro card he had in his deck, Cloud shoved the rest of his cards back into the pocket he'd assigned to them in his pants and wandered out of the dingy office, curses silently dribbling from his lips and anger glowing in his eyes. "One of my better cards, too. Damn him."

Seconds later, he was profusely apologizing, his consternation over losing his final Malboro card so disrupting his focus that he had outright run into another person on the thin bridge spanning the distance between the upper gaming floor of the bar and the manager's office across the way.

"Ack! A moment?" the girl he'd barreled into squeaked even as she scrambled for the cell phone she'd dropped when Cloud had collided with her.

"Sorry," he muttered as he stooped as well, narrowly avoiding banging their heads together as he retrieved her phone. He paused, his apologies grinding to a sudden halt, as he noticed the number of the recipient of her call.

"Balamb Garden…?" he whispered even as the girl brightly squeaked her thanks and snatched the phone from his hands.

Straightening his frame, Cloud regarded the young woman with slightly narrowed eyes.

She was short and youthful in appearance, long brown hair gathered in a loose ponytail that splayed across her back and over her shoulder. A bright pink turtleneck hugged her slender upper body, bulging slightly around her small breasts, and complimenting her black miniskirt and leather thigh-high boots with their tall stiletto heels. A brilliant pink, wide leather belt circled her waist, held in place by a thick gold buckle whose coloration was echoed in long dangling earrings and a simple chain looped around her neck.

Something about her was nibbling at the back of Cloud's mind – she looked familiar.

"Got it. We can be there in five days. Anyone meeting us? Alright," she blathered into her phone, her pink-painted lips turning in a sharp frown as she terminated her call and hung her flip-phone on the chain around her neck. Finally looking at Cloud, her chocolate eyes bright, she blinked, stared, blinked again and finally squealed. "Cloud!"

"Eh?" he brightly replied, his face riddled with confusion.

"Don't you recognize me? It's me, Diamond! I met you last year."

That feeling of recognition burst into full-fledged reality. "Diamond?" he all but gasped. "Sorry! Didn't recognize you without your-"

He was instantly interrupted by a hand smothering his lips. "Hey hey, watch it now buddy," she said with a coy grin even as she dragged his head down by squeezing his cheeks and pulling him towards her lips. Whispering, she mouthed, "haven't you noticed the anti-SeeD sentiment around here? Have to be careful."

"Sorry," he sheepishly replied, his voice nearly as quiet as hers. "Just… you know how it was when we last met."

She smiled brightly as she released him and nodded. "Sure do!"

Indeed, when last they'd met, Cloud had been held prisoner onboard Balamb Garden, enclosed in a room in the Medical Ward along with his charge after the explosive battle with the wild Guardian Force Eden had led to the Sorcerer's power being unleashed. The girl referred to as Diamond had been one of his sets of guards, accompanied by her partner in both duty and in name. It was the Diamond twins who'd let Cloud know of the true purpose of Garden and the derisive split that had fractured Balamb's forces, many professing loyalty to the Garden's ideals, many more retaining loyalty to the fallen Commander even once he'd been stripped of his rank and ousted from the Sorcery-destroying establishment.

"So, what're you doing here, of all places?" the woman brightly inquired.

"Just picking up stuff for an employer," Cloud replied with an easy shrug. "Figured I'd get a beer and play some cards before moving on."

"Oh ho? Any luck in your task?"

"Some."

"What'cha looking for next?" she asked as she slid along his side and looped her arm through his, leading him back towards the warmth of the game room and its throng of people.

"Well, I need a card and some barriers," Cloud nearly stammered, slightly discomforted by her proximity and the familiarity of her grip.

"Which card?" Diamond questioned, blatantly ignoring Cloud's barely suppressed urge to squirm from her grip.

"Squall's."

Frowning, Diamond sighed. "Can't help you there. No one in the Card Club has that one. It's been around, sure, but it's never put into play – well, not since the guy who has it won it from Jack."

"Jack…?"

"One of our number you never got to meet," she said with a shrug. "He's still in Balamb City. I'd call him, but with time zones being what they are, he's probably asleep by now. He's working the day shift at the Town-Gate Garage."

Arching a brow, Cloud sat down beside her as she released him and sat herself before a board.

"He left the organization after last year's events. Still plays a wicked game of cards, though," she said with a smirk even as she lifted her deck from a small pouch dangling from her pink belt and began to negotiate rules with her challenger.

Watching her play, Cloud bit his lip and worried it between his teeth. It seemed that for every step forward he made in his task, the final item in his quest kept moving further and further away. "Well… thanks for the information, at least," he mumbled as she whooped in victory, sweeping the entire hand of her opponent off the table and shuffling his cards in with her own.

"Tell you what. Play with us, and depending on the result we'll help you with the other thing you need."

Cloud blinked rapidly. Then he stared.

He'd not noticed the other young woman, slightly shorter than the first Diamond and clothed in aquamarine blues and dark browns instead of bright pinks and deep blacks, appear at the table until she spoke. "Diamond…?" he stated.

Granting him a grin, the other lady with her shorter brown hair curling towards her chin nodded. "Two games, two opponents. You win both times, we'll help you out. I heard you tell my partner that you need barriers, right?"

"Win against us, and we'll take you to a nest of behemoths," the pink-clad Diamond said with a wink.

"You're on."

-to be continued-

AN: Yeah, so new way of playing with the initial perspective. Still going to keep it first person much as it was in this story's prequel, but do expect the ridiculously short length of the first segment to continue. After all, it's just a more or less transmitted feeling or cluster of thoughts. :)

If you were at all confused, might I please suggest that you read "Shadow of the Day," the first story in this little developing arc? "Tonight, Tonight" is a direct sequel of that story. Once you've poured through it, everything should more or less make sense.

Sorry that this chapter was kind of long-winded and drawn out without much action (aka: boring as hell and dull as dirt), but hey! Setting's got to be set, you know. :) There was a lot of lost time to cover before really delving into the story. It should flow much more smoothly with less reflections from this point on.

I'll be replying to all reviews via that spiffy individual review reply feature that ff . net has. If it's anonymous, I might tag on a reply at the end of the following chapter. Dunno – depends on how quickly I'm getting stuff up. :P

Anyway, hope you enjoy the ride!