Story: FFVII x FFXIII X-Over

Warning: Cloud is Maqui story, possible Maqui x Yuj, possible Maqui x Hope, more than likely no pairings, Insane!Cloud, Evilish!Cloud

More Warnings: Will probably never be updated, this story is merely one of the many I have written on my comp that I've dusted off to allow the world to view. Check my profile for adoption data, challenge info, et cetera...who actually spells that anyway? If I do continue this, updates will be slow in coming.

When Cloud Strife opened his eyes his lips were pulled into a frown.

He let his blue eyes wander his surroundings, trying to get a feel for where he was as nothing was familiar to him. The last thing he recalled seeing were the soothing waters of Aerith's church, not this ancient room full of crystal figurines smelling of books and old papyrus with an overwhelming scent of clean. Cloud stumbled his way forward in confusion as he began to feel the slightest sliver of fear.

Aerith…The last conversation he recalled was talking to Aerith, laying in her embrace in the Lifestream and completing his…completing his? Cloud brought a hand up to his head as sharp pain went through him, an image of blood dripping down his hands as he laughed hysterically. "My Focus…?" Stunned at the brutal memory, the blonde lifted up his shirt and eyed his stomach with dread. A red, half opened eye stared back at him, its lidded gaze giving him a sickening chill.

It was the mark of Gaia, branding him as a Weapon; a mark that should have vanished when he completed his Focus.

Groaning in dismay, Cloud sat on the marble floor and grabbed his head, thinking back to what had happened. "There was a war," he mumbled to himself. "Wutai…no, I was never in that…" He gave an irritable swipe at the remains of Zack's memories, pushed past the horrors of Hojo's labs, and finally remembered…

The big ball of destruction coming down to Gaia. His friends beside him, attempting to keep the mood light as they hunted for a way to defeat him. To defeat…Sephiroth. Defeating the madman, the comforting embrace of Holy, the bitter pangs of Geostigma; Sephiroth's taunts from the Lifestream. Aerith's cries for forgiveness as Gaia marked his skin. "Oh, Cloud…!" Vincent's struggles of Deepground, trying to help him only to have to abandon his friends as he searched for a way to defeat Sephiroth once and for all.

The terror he felt when he realized what would happen if he didn't.

Blue eyes snapped open in surprise, a wet trail of tears trailing beneath them. Weapon; Gaia had tried to turn him into a Weapon. The phantom impression of Aerith's cries rang in his head, making him shudder as he hugged himself and clenched his teeth. "Oh, Cloud…!" Her tears, the fear, anger and hysteria in her voice. "She won't listen to me; Gaia's gone mad!" And then the planet had cracked and bubbled beneath him, tainted Lifestream irrupting to swallow him. Ripping…Tearing…

"Help me…" Gaia; pleading, pain, hands dragging him down. "Help!" But he hadn't wanted to, had denied and she'd gotten angry. Agony, agony, so much agony! By the time it had finally ended, he'd had a red tattoo on his stomach, a closed eye. And Aerith; she hadn't responded to him, only cried bitterly. He hadn't understood what had happened until that man had come…a man that he'd eventually had to kill.

"The Goddess attempted to bless you with power," the man had whispered, staring over his stomach with wide eyes. "But something went wrong; there is a taint in this stain." A taint…The Goddess's so called blessing was to turn him into a Weapon, to have an unwilling servant forever focused on saving her. But his denial and his own tainted DNA had interrupted her, giving him a chance to save himself, even if that chance was cruel.

To live a life knowing that you had no chance to rest. Eradicating a man who refused to die from the face of the planet, even as an invisible clock ticked down until you turned into a monster.

Gaia had unintentionally given him a Mark, a Focus, that he'd had no choice but to complete. For if he didn't, if he resisted like he'd wanted to, then the eye on his stomach opened, turning him into a Weapon by force anyway. And he'd completed it, unwillingly, bitterly, hysterically, fearfully completed it by destroying every last memory of Sephiroth. Documents, pictures, worshipers, DNA, Neo-Shinra…his own friends even; Gaia had wanted nothing left of the man known as General.

Cloud pinched his nose, a sick feeling in his gut as his horrified mind recalled the details he'd temporarily forgotten. His friends…their betrayed faces as he slaughtered them, his enhanced strength and surprise attacks overpowering them quickly. They'd folded so quickly beneath him, their flesh cutting with little resistance beneath his Tsurugi Blades (one for each friend); had he really slipped so far into madness? Had he really done such horrible things just to save his own life? But in the end, there was only one last link to Sephiroth alive.

Himself.

He was Sephiroth's only link to the living left, the only person who remembered the menace with clarity. Perhaps he had been seeking forgiveness when he'd made his way to Aerith's church, his heart relieved as he stepped into the waters where her flowerbed once stood proudly, prepared to drown himself to end his pathetic existence. And Aerith had been there, watching him with sad eyes, her hand on his shoulder as he walked into the waters. "Cloud," she'd whispered. "I'm so sorry…" And the water had shot into the air, surrounding his surprised form and crystallizing around him, trapping him in a cold embrace. And then…

And then, he woke up here.

Cloud shivered and stood from the floor, his lips pulled into a frown as he wiped at his eyes. He'd done what Gaia had forced him to do, erased Sephiroth's presence from the planet, and was placed into stasis for it? For what? He wondered hysterically. What more does this bitch want from me? His blue eyes once again traversed the room around him, a museum if his nose was correct, until he finally focused his eyes on the crystal figurines in the room with him. It can't be… He stumbled forward, eyes wide and horrified as he stared at the plaque beneath the kneeling woman.

L'Cie, it read, destroyer of Fayth, held a Focus of murder. Destroyed Besaid Island and all of its inhabitants. Focus completed 2012. Rewarded with Crystal Slumber. Cloud forced his breathing to remain steady as he looked at the crystallized…person. It was a small woman with short hair, a long staff held in her hands as she knelt in a defeated position with tears frozen on her face. It was obvious to anyone who looked that she hadn't wanted to do what she did.

A pool of anger, sorrow and hatred balled into Cloud's stomach as he turned to the next figure, his mako coated eyes seeing each word clearly on the plaque. Ellie, led her friends to murder. Focus completed 4299. Rewarded with Crystal Slumber. Ellie was a young teenager with a look of wide eyed horror as she backed away from a sight that only she could see. Blue eyes slowly went over the other people in the room; some had names on their plaques, though the majority had the name L'Cie.

But he knew…

L'Cie, perhaps it was a new language that he was unaware of? It tickled his brain every time he read it, a lingering feeling of bitterness and hatred stuck to the name with each breath he took. L'Cie was Weapon; he'd awoken in a room full of Weapons. Weapons that were, perhaps, forced into obedience like him? Some had looks of peace on their faces, others looks of happiness, but the majority were grim and horrified, tears forever frozen on their faces. It took him a moment to turn to his own plaque to see if he was right, to see if they had his name or L'Cie beneath it, Weapon beneath it.

L'Cie, his plaque read, crimes unknown. Earliest known to date; Speculated to be the first. Speculated to have connections to Calamity Era. Focus Completed. Bile rose to the back of his throat that he quickly swallowed down, even as he looked at the area he'd been placed in. First Tsurugi was laying in pieces on the ground, still caked in the blood of his friends with colorful materia laid out around it. He picked one up, a scowl on his face. Mastered Materia; he'd went into Aerith's church with nothing.

"Send the Weapon back with weapons," Cloud muttered bitterly. "Why do I get the feeling that Gaia's behind this?" He picked up the dangerous balls of energy, avoiding his swords guiltily as he equipped them into the bangles on his wrists. "But why awaken me here?" He wondered, staring around the room at the Weapons in stasis around him. "I suppose none of you will answer me though, will you?"

Don't ever give them a chance to, his mind whispered to him, the insanity that had overtaken him always hovering on the edge of his consciousness. Kill them; it would serve the bitch right to lose all of her precious Weapons!

Look at their expressions though, a softer side, his voice of reason, murmured. Most of them don't look happy. What if they were like us?

All the more reason to kill them!

What if they were forced to complete their focus with the threat of turning into a Weapon like we were? Reason questioned sharply.Would you have liked someone to kill us?

Yes! Insanity insisted. There is no telling what that bitch would want us to do when we woke again! Reason went silent and even Cloud had to agree with his inner insanity; He had no idea what Gaia wished of him now and really didn't want to. He knew, no matter what it took, that he would do his best to avoid becoming a slave to the planet. Closing his eyes bitterly, he activated his materia, the flames of Firaga licking his body as he gave into his inner wishes; the last thing he wanted to do was to allow these creatures to awaken, forced to do unspeakable acts to avoid a life of slavery.

He would have wished the same for himself.

Cloud sucked in his breath as an alarm sounded through the building, sprinklers raining down in vain to smother the flames that refused to let up. He felt the slightest bit of guilt as distant screams invaded his ears, the people in the crystals awakening only long enough to meet their ends, before he squashed it. Innocent or guilty, the Weapons of Gaia needed to die lest they failed in their tasks and became her eternal slaves.

A gasp of shock reached his sensitive ears and Cloud opened his eyes, turning to see a sharply dressed woman staring at the fire in disbelief, her clipboard falling from her limp hands. He tilted his head and she turned to him, her mouth slacking in disbelief as she made a strangled nose in her throat. Cloud blinked his eyes at her, unsure of what to say to explain what she was seeing, if there were even words that could explain what she was seeing. "Don't panic," he finally decided on.

Naturally, she panicked.

"They needed to die," he continued in exasperation, talking to her rapidly retreating back and ignoring her screams for help. "You've got to understand; they could have come back at any second!" The woman's heel broke as she rounded a corner, but she still continued on, leaving Cloud to get drenched in the now smoking room. Sighing, he turned to look at the destroyed and melted crystals around him, red pools flowing to drains as the still pouring water moved the blood from them. His eyes darkened as he caught sight of First Tsurugi, which was still in pristine shape, not even scarred from the fire damage.

"You just refuse to stop haunting me, don't you?" He bent to pick it up, grateful to see the red stains cleared off of it from the water, before he quickly snapped all of the pieces together and strapped it on his back. His ears picked up the sound of running feet and shifting guns in the distance, making him give another sigh as he stood and made his way out of the room. "Not the entrance I wanted to make," he mused, heading opposite the way the woman had ran off to.

His assumption about being in a museum turned out to be accurate as he passed expensive potteries, gems, bodies and papers blocked off by red ropes and glass. Though his intention was to leave before trouble could find him and force him to kill again, he found himself reading the tidbits of information around him. Wherever I am, I'm a long way from home. Most of the items on display said names of places he'd never heard of before and he'd been practically everywhere on Gaia; he most certainly had never heard of Cocoon and Gran Pulse before.

Thankfully for his state of mind he didn't run into any other crystallized beings, though he did have the misfortune of meeting the local soldiers. They hadn't waited to hear any questions from him, just shot off their guns, leaving Cloud with no choice but to end their existences posthaste. A trail of blood, the blonde mused guiltily as he made his way from the museum. Why do I feel like Sephiroth right now? A room full of people just like him, destroying them, ending their misery. The moment I start looking for an alien mother I'll kill myself.

"Hands up!" A man pointed his gun at Cloud on the outside, backed by a dozen of others as they hid halfway behind cars. "Don't move!" The blonde complied, though only because his wide eyes were taking in the background. It was…beautiful. The sky was so clear, so blue, and the mechanized city behind it looked as though it would lack a slum. Moistness came to his eyes as he watched the floating cars driving by; Shinra would have killed for that.

"Put your hands where I can see them!" The man in uniform shouted, cocking his gun for emphasize. Cloud finally brought his attention to the people blocking his way, then tilted his head to the side. He had no idea if their weapons were as advanced as the city behind them, if they'd developed ways to harm Weapons while he was sleeping, and he wasn't willing to chance it. He raised his bangles to them and let his magic seep into his materia, igniting an Ultima without a second thought.

The men didn't even have time to scream.

"Should it frighten me that scenes of carnage no longer faze me?" Cloud wondered aloud, stepping over the red puddles of melted bodies; Ultima was a grizzly attack. Why should it? Insanity whispered to him. Isn't this what Gaia requires of her Weapons? He silently agreed, even as he decided to try to avoid more bloodshed as he headed towards the city, sticking to the shadows of buildings and the narrow, yet clean alleyways. At the rate you're going, we're going to be caught, Reason stated. You look too suspicious.

What should I do? Cloud wondered, ignoring the wide berth the citizens of the town were giving him.

Get rid of the sword.

Easier said than done, the blonde mused, looking around at the tall buildings. Tsurugi has the uncanny ability to follow me no matter how far I throw it.

Drown it then, Insanity was definitely sneering at him.

You can't drown a sword, Reason argued, as per usual. Sighing, Cloud leaned against a building and waited it out; they usually thought of something good if he didn't interfere. Swords are inanimate objects; they hold no thought or will of their own-!

They're just like puppets, Insanity purred. And no matter what The Puppet did, the only thing that was able to kill him was drowning; why else did Gaia encase us in crystal? Cloud stiffened, recalling the days he'd first tried to kill himself. Setting himself on fire didn't work; he healed too fast for it. The same with cutting and acids; he'd even tried to crush himself and wound up destroying the machine. But drowning…The water in his lungs couldn't be forced out by any experimenting that Hojo had done to him; it would settle in his lungs just like any other person. Oddly enough, everything that he'd tried to do to off himself failed on Tsurugi as well; could drowning it work?

"Now all I need to do is find some water," Cloud mused, making a teenage guy that had been cautiously approaching him step back. "Do you know where any is?" The teen stuttered out something about an ocean and the beach, then almost fainted as Cloud took him by the arm and forced him to lead the way. For a second, the blonde wondered why the kid was so frightened (as everyone in AVALANCHE had loved to point out, he still looked sixteen), then realized he had blood on his soaked clothes and sighed. A sharp hit to the back of the head and the boy was out for the count.

Okay, Reason began, clothes first, then ocean. We can dump everything of ours there.

I have no money, Cloud was sure to let it know. The silence said statement brought made him want to blush.

We've already killed today, Insanity pointed out dryly. What's a few more for your conscious?

Or you can just knock them out and steal from them, Reason snapped. Sighing, Cloud ignored their argument and made his way through the city again, this time looking for a clothing store. He found it almost a half an hour later, a tic in his eye. He didn't even have to threaten people for directions, though he almost wished he had; those people seemed to believe he was some sort of deranged teenager. Cursing his forever young body (that so many would have killed to have) he made his way into the store and looked around in distaste.

"Can I help…you…?" The friendly greeting was trailed off as the salesclerk got a good look at him, his face paling. Cloud tried for a friendly smile and the man flinched. Good going, Insanity snickered.

"I need a pair of clothes," the blonde grumbled, forcing his blush back. The clerk continued to look at him with wide eyes. "Now." A short while later, the clerk was laying sprawled against the floor as Cloud examined himself in a mirror. The clothes the store clerk had tried to give him were revealing, showing off more leg and stomach than he was comfortable with despite being "the latest fashion." After knocking the man flat on his back, he'd chosen clothing that covered everything but his face, though he'd taken some goggles to hold his hair back. All in all, he looked rather similar to the few snowboarders he'd seen that hung around Icicle Inn.

But you still look the same, Reason whispered as he looked himself over.

What should I do now?

Change your hair color or style, both if you want to be really crafty. Nodding, the blonde headed behind the counter and grabbed a bag for his soaked and blood covered clothes, then broke open the cash register and took the money inside; he'd never seen it before and he wasn't sure how much it was, but he was sure it would help him get by. Take a few extra pairs of clothes with you, Reason spoke up before he could leave. No point in robbing someone successfully and only taking a few things.

Sometimes, Cloud reasoned that his inner reason was insane.

But it was also right, which explained why he'd taken a backpack full of clothes outside of the store with him, triggering the alarm as he fled the crime scene to find a barbershop. Thankfully, the woman at the barbershop said nothing about his ignorance of money as he slapped a wad on the counter and asked for a better look, though he wasn't sure if he wanted to kill her or kiss her when she was finished with his hair.

It was a lighter blonde now and, though it still spiked out naturally, she'd managed to give him a rather puffy look. A style that made him look even more like a teenager than before. When he pushed his goggles on his head that look only intensified. All in all, he looked like a regular teenager who had gone out shopping. Nothing at all like the escaped Weapon that had gone on a rampage just hours previous. Rather, the insane criminal that had escaped from a squad car and killed over fifty officers, as the newscaster had said on the television while he was getting his hair done.

Makes me wonder why they covered up my being a Weapon, and why they didn't show my face, he mused to himself. Perhaps they're just trying to avoid making a panic? He highly doubted that people wouldn't know who he was, especially if they had been ogling his frozen face in the museum. Still, why wouldn't the officers want people to know how much danger they could possibly be in? It was a question that would go unanswered for many years and something that was put out of his mind as he traveled through the majestic city of Bodhum the next few days, his eyes constantly taking in the beautiful view.

And what a view it was.

Sandy beaches, beautiful waters, soft breezes; but there was something wrong with it. Something about the place seemed…fake. Standing on the beach with his sword in hand, the blonde eyed the water that seemed to go on forever and wondered where Gaia's presence was. The burning scent of Lifestream was nowhere, despite the place not being covered in technology. The flowers that bloomed were real, but the earth they were potted in felt dead; it was as though Gaia had been removed from everything living.

It's a welcome change, Reason mused as he let the sword fall from his hands, hoping that it would stay where it was for once. It bubbled gently in the water before sinking, its form still visible to the eye in the clear blue ocean. I wonder how our world would have fared if Gaia had not taken a personal interest to it? If she had kept the Lifestream hidden, had only told the Ancients of the Promised Land, had dealt with Jenova herself instead of leaving it to her "lesser children," the ones she treated with less respect than her precious Ancients…

Would her people have made places like the beautiful city of Bodhum? Have found an alternative to mako energy? So many things could have been different; So many people he may have never met. And, though he'd never regretted meeting the people of AVALANCHE and, later, working with the changed men of Shinra, if he could have never met them under the circumstances then he would have been happier in the long run.

There's no point in wasting time thinking about what could have been, Reason reasoned with him as he tossed his bag of old, blood covered clothes into the ocean, the bricks inside sinking them quickly. What you should be thinking about is what happens now?

I have to find out more about this city, he responded, stepping away from the water without looking back. I have to find out when I am, where I am, what happened to Gaia and why Aerith has yet to tell me my new Focus.

Perhaps she no longer wishes to speak to you, Insanity pointed out mockingly. You did kill everyone, Cloud.

She's the one that told you what you had to do, Reason stated calmly, sparking another argument between them that went ignored as Cloud sat on a bench and thought about his new life. Blue eyes scanned the beach to see if anyone was looking at him, before he quickly peered down his shirt to look at his brand. The eye was still lidded, no changes upon it visible to his eyes, making him raise a brow in disbelief. Everyday before the eye had opened a little wider, making his panic palpable as he rushed through life slaughtering every little piece of memory that Sephiroth left behind.

So why hadn't it changed now?

Perhaps it doesn't change if I don't know my Focus? Cloud wondered to himself, tilting back to lay on the bench. And is that such a bad thing? Maybe I shouldn't find Aerith? Maybe I should live for once, be selfish? He eyed the upside down city, feeling fascination within him once again. Is it really so bad to want to spend my life without troubles? There's a whole new world out there that knows nothing about me!

Then go for it, Insanity growled. Your bitching is giving me a headache. Nodding to himself, Cloud felt a real smile coming to his face, even as he mentally planned on what to do with himself. He already knew exactly what he wished to get into as the technology of the place was too advanced to let go; not to mention he lacked a Fenrir. The library was probably the best place to start, if they even had one, before he moved onto finding money, a stable job, and earning enough rep to get his own parts to build his own motorcycle.

It will probably take us many years, Reason mused, but I think it will be worth it.