Cloud didn't know how long he had been searching. Seconds became minutes, minutes became hours then hours became days, days into weeks, weeks soon became months and months became years. Every world that he passed became a blurb of a memory that he could barely recall while every ally he met became a speck amidst a pile of sand. Every enemy left an encounter that made him loathe every step he took; another challenger appeared in front of him every single time his former foes fell. He still had some ancient scars that told the trials, and annoyances, of his many battles. Yet he still treaded on, not because he enjoyed walking through worlds with a chance of death added in, but because he needed to find someone. He didn't know who they were, what their name was or why they were important to him. There was a vague memory, weathered by time to the point where it was unrecognizable like ancient ruins, and it brought a very strange feeling to him. It felt a lot like regret, something he should have done but didn't and it made him feel like a failure.
No matter how hard he tried to remember what it was that he even should have done, he couldn't and like the feeling it ate at his soul. He supposed that was the effect of not knowing the answers to a distant memory and it was this feeling that drove him to find answers. Although, he wasn't that ambitious to do many things, so why did he even care? There was a chance that he was just wasting his time chasing for answers for something that wasn't even there, so why? Why did he care?
It didn't really matter much like the surreal quietness of the world he came to walk through. Called Twilight Town for the endless sunset that painted the sky, it was one of the largest worlds Cloud ever came to. There were a million houses that surrounded the town like an army ready to seize a castle and he spent the few hours that he was in here getting lost. He had absolutely no idea where he was going and he was getting tired of walking around with his Buster Sword-a large great sword that he had to swing with both hands-in his right hand. He was covered from head to toe in dirt and his own dried blood and his high collared, sleeveless indigo shirt had three large claw marks across where his stomach was. It showed off an equally large scratch mark that had closed up and was covered in a green liquid. The black pants he wore were teared at multiple places and his black boots were covered in the quicksand-like mud he accidently walked in. His normally blonde, spiky hair sat on his head in chaotic strands like the hair on a cat that was just rubbed by a towel. Other than the bags under his blue eyes, there was nothing out of the ordinary for his hygiene and that was excluding the musk that clouded his very being.
"Kupo~!" exclaimed A Distant Voice.
He stopped walking immediately and turned toward the direction of the voice: A moogle, a strange white-furred, flying being with a pom-pom antenna sticking out of it's his head and a mailbag at its side. The Moogle took a letter out of its bag as it flew over to him.
"Delivery for Cloud Strife!" It chimed, holding out the letter." From The Kingdom Hero Academy!"
Hero Academy? Cloud thought, taking the letter and examining it.
The Moogle nodded and flew off, leaving Cloud to gaze at the letter as he turned it in his hand like he was cross-examining a bomb to see if it was indeed a bomb. It had a golden seal with a keyhole on it and in fancy letters had the words, To Cloud Strife, on it. He shrugged as if dispelling any evil it might contain before opening it; then flinched when confetti shot out of it bathing the area around him in multi-colored streamers. He supposed that was one way to make it special. The parchment inside was also golden and covered in glittered that covered his hands and smelled a lot like roses. It read:
Dear Mister Cloud Strife,
Due to events that were out of my control, you have been selected as our newest and only teacher at The Kingdom Hero Academy. Now, since you are no doubt unaware of our academy, allow me-
Not interested, Cloud thought, throwing the letter over his shoulders. I have better things to do with my timeā¦.Huh that may be the fastest I've ever been uninterested in a letter.
Before he could do anything else, he was bathed in a bright light and transported through what felt like a time space rift faster than he could think. He slammed onto a wooden chair, shaking back and forth before coming to a complete stop, in front of a desk cluttered with papers. Standing in front of the desk, was a man wearing a red and gold lined haori( it was a Japanese kimono-like jacket that Cloud had the pleasure of wearing when he was shopping) with a hood along with a slightly shorter than normal, light colored hakama. A hakama is like trousers, shorts but some can easily mistake it for a dress-for some odd reason. Underneath his haori, he wore a navy blue shirt with a large white X pattern on the front. Over his right eye and right cheek were jagged scars that appeared to be from some distant battle or some freakish accident. There was a calm and collective aura that surrounded him, which kind of made him dangerous. He shook his head in disappointment.
"You act as if you have a choice in the matter," The Man sighed, reflectively.
"Who are you and where am I?" demanded Cloud, looking around the room and reaching for his sword that wasn't there." And where's my-"
"Relax; you are in no danger," assured The Man, holding his hands in front of him defensively." Yet anyway, as long as you don't do anything rash."
Without his sword, Cloud was as harmless as a headless murderer. He sat back in his seat, shuffling his feet while flashing an annoyed look at The Man.
"Anyway, my name is Eraqus, and I am the headmaster of The Kingdom Hero Academy," translated The Man, rubbing his hands." And you are in the principal's office for bad behavior."
He took a minute to gaze around the room with gold colored wallpaper and at least ten plagues holding what appeared to be keyblades-weapons that were shaped like an oversize key. There was a coat hanger in the corner behind Eraqus.
"Some office," remarked Cloud, uninterested.
"I just had it redone since-"
"Why am I here?"
Eraqus looked at him cross." If you read the letter, maybe you would know."
"Sounded boring."
"The confetti wasn't to your liking?"
Cloud glared at Eraqus, as if to stop the already forming joke in The Headmaster's mind. Eraqus cleared his throat.
"Anyway, since you are no doubt unaware of our academy, allow me to explain its history."
"Is this going to take long because I sort of have somewhere to be?"
"It'll be brief. I realized that in order to combat the ever-growing darkness, there must be a place to raise warriors that have grown in it. Otherwise, there's no one to fight it. So I created The Kingdom Hero Academy to attract said warriors. Unfortunately, we have only about six students since-"
"The others didn't bite?"
Eraqus nodded slowly." Yes-" He flashed a very hopeful smile." The confetti wasn't to their liking."
Cloud gave him a look that read, Seriously?, causing the smile to fade from the other's lips.
"As such, we have-well, had now I suppose-one full-time teacher to teach the kids. They were the only ones we could find. Needless to say-"
"They quit?"
"I would say 'left and never came back' but that works as well."
"So, you mean to tell me that I'm the replacement for a school that's extremely unknown and seems pretty dull?"
"That's a little harsh, but yes, you are. You were-"
"Not interested."
Cloud quickly got up and walked out the door, causing Eraqus to shake his head and chuckle softly to himself.
"He truly has no clue what he just did, doesn't he?" Eraqus remarked to no one in particular, taking his seat on his black, leather chair." No matter. That little treat my students installed should be working in about twenty seconds. And I don't even have to search for another one!"
Cloud walked through the door, grimacing in surprise when he realized he was back in the office.
"Welcome back, Cloud. I take it you've had a lovely stroll?"
"We're not on a first name basis," spat Cloud, stepping back out and slamming the door.
Eraqus propped his feet on his desk, leaning back in his extremely comfortable chair. The door opened and Cloud came back in, this time a little annoyed.
"The corridors are to your liking?"
"Too long."
A few minutes after he had closed the door, he was back.
"Had enough?"
Door closed, Cloud came back only this time he was stiff and tall.
"Okay, what gives? Why do I come back here every time I leave?"
Eraqus gave a comfy smirk. "Oh, that's just the return spell one of my students made-don't pay it any mind. It's just a security precaution for all the workers. See, since my last teacher had the grace of leaving and never returning, I had to make sure that nothing befell my future ones. So we installed that spell so that if they ever venture off into a cruel, dark world they would be brought back here safe and sound."
"But I'm not-"
"It's in the letter you received; once opened, the spell takes effect. You don't have the right to object since you opened a letter from a place you've never even heard of. I mean, who does that? For all you know, it could have been a death charm with its sender out in an unreachable place."
Much as Cloud hated to admit it, he had him there.
"Look, I know that you obviously have something better to do than watch over a bunch of kids you've never even seen, but I have to have somebody do it. All of them are orphans whose worlds have succumbed to darkness. Besides myself, they have nobody to take care of them, no nobody to love them and nobody to adopt them. I tried-they refuse to leave my care and they're too much for most of the people that wanted to adopt them. So, in order to give them some normality, I turned the orphanage into a place where they can pursue fairly normal lives. What I'm trying to say, is that you are our last hope for this to work."
Cloud though about it for a minute. Why should he teach a bunch of orphans that he didn't even know anyway? He had one thing on his mind.
"Not inter-"
"You don't have to care about them." Eraqus stood to his feet, a look of pure desperation on his face." I just need-"
"I don't have time to babysit."
"From our reports, it seems you have a lot of it. Besides, you won't be able to leave without that spell still on you. It takes a whole year for it to wear off-so I think."
"So I'm stuck here?"
"In this one world. You should be glad! This is like a vacation for you, a change of pace from the usual thing you've been doing." He raised an eyebrow." You are tired of searching, correct?"
Cloud sighed loudly, his eyes glancing at the ceiling as if cursing whatever deity existed for his fate. It was true; he was tired of wandering through world after world and fighting the hordes of monsters in them. Tired of the nights he couldn't sleep because he had to fend off an entire horde of them; tired of being tired at every waking moment of every day. Maybe it was better for him to do this-teach orphans for a year. Who knows, maybe he could still complete his quest. It was like a vacation, right?
"From that look in your eyes, I say that we have a deal, correct?"
Cloud shrugged." When do I start?"
Some background information is in order; I like to do it with some of my new stories as you are given a little bit more insight on to why I ever wrote it in the first place. I read this fanfiction, I forgot what the name was, but it belonged to the One Punch Man series. I think I found it on archive of our own, but I don't rightly remember what I wore last week as well as this. Anyway, it involved much of the same plot I plan for this one-a school for beloved characters with a hand-picked adult character for the job. I thought of Cloud due to his melancholic attitude in the series, and because I just thought he'd make a good character to use for the plot. So yeah. What you can expect from this fanfic is that many of the characters will be younger and have some sort of trait that defines them from the rest. It's mainly based on the traits they poessess in the series and some of the events. I won't spoil anything.
Now, comes the update progression. I will try to update at least once a month-give or take a few drafts of how I want the story to play out. The next update should shortly follow this one, but I hold no promises. My writer's block is starting to become like a dragon in heat. It may change depending on how popular this becomes. The first three are like trial run and hopefully things don't get too crazy.
In any case, Nstorm signing off and keep up if you're interested. That should be my catchphrase. That's gonna be my catchphrase. Haveagoodone!
