This is my attempt at a Castlevania: SotN/Final Fantasy 8 crossover taking place in the FF8 world. All characters belong to their respective owners.
Smoke and Mirrors
Prologue - Part 1
Run away…
That was the only thought running though the small child's mind as he dashed through the wilderness. Some would call it something else though, and he would agree as he reflected on it later in life. It wasn't a thought at all; it was instinct, an instinct that no child of his young age should be in possession of, or should any human be in possession of for that matter. It was a dark and un-natural instinct. But the child could do little in the way of pondering it at the moment. His mind had shut down due to the traumatic incident that took place hours before. A traumatic incident he would remember all too well when he woke up. His mind had opted to shut down to lessen the pain from what he was forced to watch; and let this new instinct he never knew he had to take control and get him too safety.
Run away…Instinct. That was what was forcing his small legs to run faster than they ever have before. That was what was making him dodge the obstacles he couldn't see in the moonless night. He ducked under branches and jumped across fallen trees with in-human speed and grace that no other human possessed. Eyes seeing in the pitch darkness what no other human could see. Ears hearing the snaps of twigs under his feet and the distant howls of wolves that were too far away for any human too hear. Nose smelling the pungent sweat that his small body had worked up along with the myriad of scents within the wilderness that no other human could smell. Skin prickling at the cold of the night and otherworldly sensations that no other human's skin would prickle at.
Run away…And that was what he did. He kept running until his small body, powered by this seemingly foreign instinct and power, could no longer take the exertion. The "Instinct" had achieved its objective; it had run away. Its new objective sought rest for the weary young body. The child stopped his run and sniffed the air. The scent of pond water and fish filled his senses; a lake was nearby. It rested miles off the beaten path, secluded enough for him to safely rest and hide from those that perused him. The child staggered toward the lake's edge, legs shaking and threatening to collapse from the exertion of the escape. Cupping his hands he drank from the water, moistening his dry throat. Looking around at his surroundings he then found a nearby tree. With legs struggling, he walked to the tree and collapsed on the ground next to it, resting against the tree. The Instinct had done its job; it had directed the young boy to safety and found him rest. And so the child closed his eyes, and sleep overcame him.
Morning dawned upon the small lake and the child sleeping against the tree. Eyes were forced awake from the light of the rising sun reflecting on the lake's surface. The child took a few moments to let his eyes focus on his surroundings. A puzzled look came upon his face. "Where am I?" the child asked himself. Standing up on sore legs he investigated his surroundings more, finally coming up to the lake's edge to get a drink of water. He saw his reflection in the lake's surface and almost screamed.
The person he saw in the water did indeed look like him, but something was very different and very wrong. Where he expected to see light blue-green eyes he saw the most frightening eyes he had ever seen. Red. The eyes that looked back at him were the deepest shade of red he had ever seen; eyes as red as the color of blood. No white shown outside the blue-green irises either. These eyes were completely red save for the black pupil in the middle. The child shakily moved his hand toward his face, not knowing whether to believe the reflection in the lake was him or not.
He opened his mouth in wonderment, only to gasp at what he saw. "My…my teeth?" the child asked himself in panic. Where normal teeth should've been there were elongated fangs that looked similar to that of a wolf. The child didn't know what the think. He was too much in wonderment to be frightened by this. He tapped the point of one of these fangs with his finger and drew it back quickly. Staring that the spot of blood forming on his fingertip he looked back into the water. "A monster? Wha…what's happening?" the child thought.
That was when the memories came back.
The child grabbed each side of his head and screamed in pain as visions from the night before assaulted him. Visions of people gathering in the town square screaming and cheering. "Kill the sorceresses!" they all cheered. He remember the rough, strong hands that held him back as he tried in vain to break though the crowd. He remembered the smell of burning flesh filling his senses and making him sick to his stomach. He remembered finally breaking through the crowd and seeing the gruesome sight before him. Bodies tied to wooden stakes were set afire; some of them still alive, screaming in agony. His eyes finally fell on the one in the center. The fire that had been set to it was snaking its way up the kindling to the stake in the center. He saw a woman bound to the stake, and her eyes locked with his. She looked upon him and smiled, telling him words he could barely hear. The fire took hold of her, burning away clothes and peeling away flesh. But the woman did not cry out in pain. She continued to look upon him, the smile never leaving her face. That was when the same strong, rough hands seized him again. He started shouting, screaming, trying to escape from those hands and run to the woman's aid. He continued struggling as he watched her go limp. She was no more, her life literally burned out of her. He stared at the now dead body on the stake being consumed by the fire, still struggling to get away from those accrued hands. Finally, when it felt like he could struggle no more, he heard a deep, thunderous sound. It was his heartbeat. It felt as though it was about to rip itself from his chest it beat so hard. He could feel the blood run fast and hot through his veins. Eyesight and hearing started sharpening. Muscles were tightening. And then there was nothingness. Nothingness until he woke up next to a tree by the lake.
The child opened his eyes then and looked back upon the lakes surface once more. The red eyes and fangs were gone now. Blue-green eyes and normal teeth were back where they belonged. But the child didn't care about that at the moment. He laid himself down upon the ground and curled up. Hot tears stinging his eyes as they crept down his face from the corner of his eyes. He lay like that sobbing for a while. How long he couldn't tell you. But he continued to cry for what seemed like hours. Muttering the first words he had voiced since last night.
"Mother…"