A/N: Heeeeey~! Yeah I know I should be updating the previously named Wands, Magic and a Very Confused Alchemist, but I have a good reason! This was a school project! I was so happy when we got it I couldn't help but to make this! I hope you like!

Warning: Slight, veeeery much implied but not really an important part of the story, Yaoi.

Advent of Dreams: The Journey to Awakening

All was peaceful in the city region of Shinra. That is, until a shriek from the palace broke through the early morning air. In the bed chambers of the Prince Sora a commotion was taking place, for no matter how hard his mother, Queen Aerith may try, he would not stir.

The servants called up the city's doctor and vampire mage Vincent, he declared that the reason for the prince's state of slumber was by a curse, one that, from his extensive examination of the magic, was made by the one-winged god of Death, Sephiroth. Why? He didn't know, but he did know of one way that could cure it. The Soul Dream Stone, the legendary stone that could be found residing in the Temple of Cetra on the floating mountain of Mythril. "Though," he warned the worried mother as they entered a meditation room in the palace, "the journey there is treacherous, there are monsters and others including Sephiroth himself with his katana of soul reaping, Masamune, that will try to stop all that try to end the curse."

Aerith gave the vampire a serious look, one of determination that said nothing would stop her from getting her child to open his oceanic eyes again. "What do I need to do?"

The dark haired man gave a fleeting smile that only lasted a second on his ageless vampire face, "To get a champion worthy of this quest, all you need to do is have faith in me and the gods."

She nodded and closed her eyes as he himself did so in his meditative stance. A mist erupted from the bowl of clear water in front of them, slowly curling upwards as an image appeared in the center. Opening their eyes they saw the figure, a young man of medium height and a slender build, made for more speed than strength, with spiky blonde hair and fierce blue-green eyes and a large buster sword attached to his back. Words warped under the man and said two words. Cloud Strife.

The brunette queen and the imposing doctor found out where the man Cloud was currently residing, the Shinra Academy, where men and women alike train to become seasoned warriors of the Turk branch of assassination and espionage, Infantry men, scientists, or the coveted SOLDIER program. There, going through some simple workouts in the training field, was their champion, Cloud. Aerith immediately went towards the blonde with a shouted, "Excuse me!" making him turn to her. He was surprised that the Radiant Queen of Shinra would be here looking for him, but after hearing the story and request from both parties he understood and accepted the heavy burden.

After getting his supplies and saying goodbye to his friends he set off. Or was going to until he heard a boy yell at him to wait up and turned. Cloud was surprised at seeing a gypsy calling to him; they rarely traveled this far west. The boy was tall and muscular for his age (around seventeen) and had the tan that all gypsies got on their travels, he also had a shock of silver hair flowing to his shoulders and had cerulean eyes. When the albino caught up to him there were no words passed, it was all in his gaze. He was coming with.

The two had gone to Aerith that day and she prayed to the gods to give them luck and a guide for their journey. It was answered by a large wolf prancing to them, full of life and excitment, the wolves in Gaia are about the size of houses usually but this one barely met the waist of any of them. It was a puppy, until it morphed into a tall, handsome dark haired man with happily glowing blue eyes. Cloud felt a slight flush of color rise to his cheeks and desperately hoped no one would notice. "Your prayers shall be answered ma'am." the man said in a silky and laughing tone, "Luck they'll have to get on their own, but I, Zack, god of all things animal shall give you a guide to aid you in your journey. I quite like that Sora after all, he's fun~."

Zack whistled and the sound of thumping footfalls followed. A large yellow chocobo ran into the room and bowed at his masters feet before turning to them and giving a loud, "Wark!" and saluting. The god had a pleased air about him before he gave them a good luck and trotting out in his puppy form.

The two journeyers went on their way and eventually entered Nibelheim in silence while following their avian guide as it strut in front of them with their equipment on it's back. Cloud glanced at his impromptu companion and asked the question that had been bugging him for a while. "Why did you join me to get the stone Riku?" He had learned his name shortly after meeting the teen.

Riku in turn let a small smile grace his face, "Because of that goofy prince of course." At Cloud's confused look he continued, "I met Sora about ten years ago now. We had literally ran into each other, that led to what all young boys do when they bump into each other, a fight. We fought with our wooden swords until we were both gasping for breath and being forced to lean on each other for support. He was my best friend after that." The smile slipped into a frown as he said his next piece, "When I got news of the curse I wanted to- no- had to do something about it so I asked the queen to let me join you and here I am."

Cloud's gaze at his younger companion lingered until he gained a smile similar to the one the gypsy had on before and gave him a playful nudge. "Don't worry kid, we'll wake up the prince in no time alright?" The smile returned on Riku's face and they had small talk along their long journey along with the occasional monster that was quickly defeated by either of them.

It was a few days after their talk when they arrived at the border between Midgard and Nibelheim, there was a small hut near it so they decided to go knock and see if anyone was home. There was, a tall and muscular man with blonde hair and a scruffy chin opened the door with a cancer sti-cigarette in his mouth. He looked them up and down, even Boko, their chocobo friend, before asking what they were there for. They responded by asking if they could stay the night before heading into Midgard the next day. The man gave them another hard look, then shrugging and letting them in. He introduced himself as Cid and they gave him their own names.

"So why are ya two young ones going to Midgard for? There ain't nothin' there but some wanderin' souls and the tar sea." Cid asked.

The two young men looked at each other before regaling their tale to the scruffy man. At the end of it that led them to them wanting to cross the sea to get to the temple, Cid sighed and told them the words they did not want to hear right then. "It's impossible to get a normal boat across that water. It'll suck it in before you get halfway." The two fair haired boys got downtrodden looks on their faces and Cid eventually gave in, "But I guess I do have somethin' that could do the trick." That got the two normally stone faced boys to look like kids on Christmas morning. He laughed at that and they all eventually went to sleep after conversing on many things for hours.

The next day all of the party were able to reach the dark city the youngest of them, since neither had traveled quite so far before, were shocked to see what appeared to be a normal village aside from the seemingly endless swirl of dark clouds and the floating apparitions everywhere. Some had even greeted them when they had entered. The trio plus bird all walked through town, Riku just had to ask, "This is Midgard? The people here act as though nothing is different from when they were alive, other than the fact they can float through walls and such; what's up with this place?"

Cid grimaced as he too gazed at the once prosperous and very much lively city, "Sephiroth, that's what's up. That one is absolutely no good at all. These people were quite possibly the best example of humankind. They were nice, carin' and helpful. Then that bat-shit crazy god came an' reaped their souls, every last one of them, taking them completely out of the Lifestream, causin' them to aimlessly drift until somethin' happens to stop that."

Cloud was stunned, he knew the Death god was bad, but not that bad! "Why would he do that?" he asked.

"Jealousy." was the blonde's simple reply, "He was jealous that all of them had such pure hearts, somethin' that no matter how many he reaped could never have. That's why. Jealousy is a powerful emotion that could destroy a man and everythin' he holds dear in one fell swoop. Though apparently even gods can be blind to things like that too."

The two travelers were lost in thought until they were broken out of their reverie when Cid suddenly stopped at the edge of the black sand beach.

"Here we are! The end of the road, literally. Wait here an' I'll get me ship." Cid told them as he walked somewhere off to the east. It didn't take long for them to hear the tell tale sounds of a high powered engine. They turned to see Cid captaining a large bright red boat the size of a small barn coming their way through murky waters. It came to a stop in front of them and they quickly hopped on and the scruffy blonde man shot off through the dark sea. Riku prayed with Boko to Angeal, the god of water, for safe passage. They vaguely saw a face in the water smile at them and it seemed to work for the waters that had been sticking to the boat like paste turned into a more liquid state.

Suddenly a spirit came hurtling towards them at breakneck speeds. Once it got near them it barked at them, "Halt! I am Hojo! Lord Sephiroth has taken me personally out of the Lifestream to stop you from awakening the boy from his sleep! Prepare for-" the spirit continued to blather on about how he was going to destroy them while they themselves talked to each other.

"How're you doing there Boko? Want some more dumbapples?" Riku asked their feathered friend who shook his head. Cloud and Cid were having a discussion about the boat and how it worked and when the ghost noticed they weren't listening.

"Enough expository banter! Now we fight like men, and women, and women who dress like men!" At that he pointed at Cloud who, admittedly, looked a bit feminine and shouted an indignant 'Hey!' but was ignored, "For Sephiroth, it's morphing time!" With that the small spirit started to change and grow into a large and dragon like beast that was a lot more intimidating than the old spirit was before.

They all got serious at that, even Boko, and drew their weapons. Cloud and Riku drew their swords, Cloud's was a large and heavy buster sword that had many other swords inside of it for quick drawing while Riku had a demonic looking wing like one with a large eye like jewel at the hilt. Cid even had a large cannon that was charging for a heavy hitting shot.

They attacked simultaneously slashes of light and dark erupted from the places that the blades slashed. Shots of pure energy and a few Chocobo Kicks hit on vital areas and the Ultimate Weapon beast was fading in a dark light. The fight was exhausting, but they won.

Suddenly a huge wave erupted from the area the monster had been, apparently a huge amount of energy that the creature had was released during it's death and threatened to capsize the boat. Cid grabbed the wheel and shouted over the rushing water, "It's gonna be a big splash! So hold onto your drawers and don't piss 'em!"

The waves carried them and tossed the ship farther into the ocean, but they made it out alright, wet and uncomfortable, but alright.

It took almost two days to reach the edge of the next shore. When the trio dropped off the Highwind, Cid's ship, Cid himself leaned over the railing and shouted, "I'll wait for ya here! If you're not back in five days time I'm headin' back!" The three nodded and continued on their way.

Before long the three arrived at the crater that had at one time been before the temple and its magic made it defy gravity. The two humans contemplated how they would get up there before both were taken into the beak of Boko and thrown upon his back. They protested at first till the bird spread his wings and began to fly towards the temple without much effort despite the two young men riding him.

They landed and Boko ran them swiftly up the mountain and to the shrine where they dismounted and walked to the pedestal the Stone was on. It was beautiful, colors swirling in a fog like motion inside the relic, pure energy pouring from its deceptively small form. Cloud grabbed the object and placed it in his side pouch.

Both boys were somewhat suspicious of the whole situation; there were no guards, no traps, nothing. It was too easy. Once they figured that out it didn't take long for them to realize that the whole thing had to be a trap. But it was too late.

The one-winged god dropped down to the ground with a dull thud, long white hair flowing out behind him as he took in the two warriors and large chicken in front of him. They got into a stance and prepared for the worse. They didn't prepare enough.

The silver haired menace charged at them in blinding speeds. The two heroes only had a split second to block the powerful blows. But they could still feel the numbing power behind the attack and were forced back several meters.

Boko leapt from behing the pair and gave a swift and hard kick to the deity's chest that sent him away from the sword wielders long enough for Cloud to dislodge another, slightly smaller, sword from his fusion one and make his own assault against the god.

Riku followed him with a burst of dark energy from his core to teleport slash over and over in synch with the blonde's own.

The god recovered from the bird's hit and threw it away from him. Slicing a line of energy towards his assailants, he launched off his feet and continued his own onslaught.

The fight continued until they lay before the god who had taken his fair share of hits but was no where near as badly hurt as they heroes. Riku was sporting a large gash on his chest while Cloud had two of his many swords broken along with his arm that was cradled to his chest. Boko was out for the count.

The god took leisurely steps to them with a smirk plastered to his face. If they didn't do something now they wouldn't make it out at all.

Cloud closed his eyes and prayed to the one he knew could help. Genesis, god of Magic. The auburn haired, red leather clad god appeared to the heroes alone and asked them what they had called him for. "Please," Cloud whispered, "give me the strength to defeat him."

Genesis looked down at the broken hero and felt his heart go out to him, "I shall, but are you prepared for the price? With great power comes great sacrifice, in this case, your life force. I'm sorry, I wish I could do more."

"No," Cloud said, his resolve pouring into every word he said, "I need to do this, my sacrifice shall make a stop to all the senseless killing of the innocent. Grant me the power, please."

The red leather clad god nodded and added his own comment before he did his work, "You spoony bard, 'There is no hate, only joy, For you are beloved by the goddess
Hero of the dawn, Healer of worlds. Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul
Pride is lost, Wings stripped away, the end is nigh.'" Then he handed the blonde a white, shining materia and was gone.

It happened all so fast. Cloud closed his eyes and focused on the orb of magic. His swords glowed with the same blue aura that he did and they all shot up into the air. Cloud closed his hand around is single buster sword while the rest float around his by their own power.

He shot off to the shocked Death god and attacked in a flurry, both him and his blades. Then it was over. They both stood, backs facing each other. They fell.

Riku got out of his stupor and rushed to his friend's side. He could see the life draining out of him. Cloud smiled weakly but resolutely and held up the now dull orb of magic and the stone they had worked so hard to gain.

Cloud opened his mouth and uttered his final words to the world, "This has been one heck of a journey, huh Riku? We faced so much together and I feel as though we have become close, as close as brothers even. I'm not going to leave here alive Riku so I want you to tell Sora one thing when he wakes up. Tell him that I wish I could have met him and should be proud to have a friend like you." He coughed and blood ran down his lip, he was bleeding internally as well it seemed, "One last thing though. I want you to live, not only your life, but mine as well, just keep living and enjoying yourself, that's all… all I ask." And Cloud was no more, his body slowly fading in a bright white light.

Riku and Boko returned to the beach where Cid's boat was docked. He didn't want to give him the news, but he knew he was the only one who could.

Just as he was about to open his mouth a wolf came walking up to him. It was a puppy, a black one just like an all too familiar god.

Zack morphed from what was the wolf that was there only a second ago. Cid's cigarette dropped from his lips as he noticed both were standing there and hurriedly got out of his chair and rushed to them.

"Riku! Boy am I glad to see you! Hey wheres…" Cid's voice drifted off as he realized why the other blonde wasn't standing next to him. "Oh… that's… no…" His fist slammed into the side of his prized ship, curses spilling from his mouth. Zack stood there mournfully as well as somewhat excited like he always is.

"What are you doing here Zack?" Riku asked quietly, still in mourning for his friend-brother.

Zack's smile grew slightly from his small one he had before. "I came with good news. Cloud isn't dead." That got both heads swiveling towards him, "I mean he was, but as Genesis said, well more like quoted from his favorite play, he was loved by The Goddess Minerva and though she wasn't able to make him come back to life she was able to reincarnate him as the guardian of the Lifestream so something like with what happed with Sephiroth won't happen again." The small smiles on their faces were enough to make him grin. "If you ever want to see him just call~. That's what I do~." He added with a suggestive wink and turned back to his wolf form and walked out again in the fashion similar to the first time he did.

Not long after Riku, Boko, who chose to stay with him after their journey together and Cid, who wanted to meet the infamous Sora all came back to Shinra. They entered the palace and Sora's chambers where they found Dr. Vincent and Queen Aerith sitting near the sleeping prince whose face was contorted into pain from his nightmares.

When they saw who was there Aerith rushed Riku to the bedside while he fished out the stone. Grabbing it he placed it atop Sora's heart and pushed his will into it and watched as the brunette's face relaxed and his eyes opened to the sight of his mother, the doctor, his best friend, a chocobo, and some man he had never met.

Immediately he jumped off the bed and glomped a blushing Riku with all his might while tears flowed from his tan, angelic face as he told them how happy he was that they hadn't gone and how horrible his dreams had been.

The royal teen's stomach broke through his sobs, causing a blush of his own, while the queen told them to get up and get clean because she wanted Riku's whole story of the grand adventure.

The palace was filled with laughter and tears that night while a puppy-ish god and a blonde SOLDIER stood in the distance, hand in hand, with smiles on their faces.

Owari (the end)