EDITED: A few spelling / typo errors here and there. I'm gonna leave it like this. To tell the truth, I wasn't very conscientious while editing, so there probably are flaws. Whatever. I wanna continue writing, my muse is screaming, not editing! HAHA. (I'm such a douche.)

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To The Crossroads Of Fate: Chapter 1

Fated To Love, But Hated


It licked my neck and laughed hysterically, pushing me to the floor, engulfing me in darkness, blackness. "Cuuuuurse you, cuuuuuuuurse yoooooooooou!" The monster's bloodshot eyes stared deep into me, the red tint within its pupil burnt me and I could feel it looking through me, into something deeper… my soul. I could not move an inch even when its tongue was on my neck, licking, tasting. "CUUUURRRSSSEEE YOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUU!" The laughter was shrill and sounded like fingernails against a blackboard. A surge of unutterable pain swept pass me as its monstrous fangs ripping my right leg off.

Blood splattered around me, the sticky and warm liquid glittering in the blackness. I tried to struggle only to find my body immobile, my screams silent, the only thing that makes this so real is the pain, the soul piercing pain that penetrates my entire body.

"CURSE YOU!"

Then the monster came for my head. Yes, I know, I know exactly what happens after. My head will be ripped off, the pain would be excruciating, but after a few seconds, I will not feel it anymore. And silent numbness will surround me like salvation while it sings the curses.

I woke up, slowly opening my eyes. I've passed the phase where I jolted from my bed. It's been two years since this dream haunted me every night without fail. I know exactly how losing my leg and head feels like, and how scary the two eyes were, filled with hatred and its tongue reek of sweet revenge.

I am hated, not just by Cloud, but by a monster in a dream too, every night. It's so common I'm starting to find it cute.

Yeah, hate me, eat me, curse me. Whatever. As if I'm not miserable enough to be hated by Cloud.

My chest hurts… It hurts so badly. I don't know who can I confide in… Yuffie? She'd laugh it off as usual, saying my obsessive love wouldn't be rewarded anyway. My dead parents, and have them worry about their useless daughter in heaven? Let's not bother the lovebirds.

I only have myself. I'm fine with getting hated, really. Hate me, whatever, you really won't feel anything after having a monster scream that in your face every day for two years. School kids are almost like saints to me.

But Cloud is a different story. My chest feels like it is being torn apart. Tears flow without control, and I would sob for nights. Perhaps the only one who can understand me is that fucking monster that eats me every other day.

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage."
― Lao Tzu

I've got to change his impression of me. I've got the courage.

xXx

"Morning, Tifa!"

"Morning, Yuffie."

"Are you still sad from the confession?"

"Nah, it's been a month, I've got over." I gave a fake smile to assure her. She's too dense to realise otherwise.

"That's good to hear." She beamed. "I don't want you sad!"

I gave a genuine smile this time, she's a sweetheart. "Well, let's go to class before Mr Corneo screams his dirty lungs out at us!" We giggled and head to class.

On the way, I created an excuse and left Yuffie to go to class alone. I left a card and a present in his locker. Little by little, I am going to change his impression of me. Sure he may hate me at first sight, but he will come to love me with the following sights. I'll try my best.

I hid behind the wall as he approached his locker. He looks just as flawless today, his blonde spikes standing as usual, his blue eyes beaming with glee as he talked to his friends. He is a really nice guy, I know, for I've been watching him. When his friend Zack lost his calculator during a math test last year, he gave him his, and though he always scored top for math, he did only average in that test. Such a kind man, yet to me…

"Wooo, what's that?" Zack peered into his locker.

"I don't know, maybe a love letter?" Cloud laughed. But the moment he touched the letter, his brows furrowed, and the blue of his eye turned a shade darker. "It's her."

"Who?"

"That bitch that gets on my nerves."

"Oh… What does it say?" Zack frowned, looking concerned.

"I don't care." Cloud shredded the letter and threw it in the wastepaper bin with the present.

In that letter, I've written two full pages of just how much I loved Cloud, and how sorry I was that I might have somehow irritated him.

"Wow, chill out, Cloud!" Zack grabbed him by the shoulder and retrieved the present. "Look at this! You can't just throw it away!"

"Oh yes I fucking can." Cloud walked away.

Zack unwrapped the present and saw the Nike wristband I bought for Cloud, his grip tightened around it, and with a sigh, pocketed it. Cloud had lost his wristband last week, during a basketball match. I bought the same one for him. To him, I must be a crazy stalker that he hates with a passion. But if love could be stopped this easily, I wouldn't be in pain for two whole years.

My legs gave way and I buried my head between my knees as the floodgates open. I should hate him. Hate him, hate him, hate him!

But I love him so much, I couldn't.

I couldn't.

xXx

I opened my eyes and find myself in the infirmary. I tried to stand up, only to fall back on the bed.

"Careful, young lady."

I turned to look at Miss Crescent, our beautiful nurse. "Sorry… But why am I here?"

"You passed out on the floor by the lockers, don't you remember?"

"No…"

"It's okay. I suggest you go for a check up with the hospital though." She passed me a glass of warm water and flashed an angelic smile at me. "Here, have a drink. I'll send you home after informing your homeroom teacher." The thought of that dirty Don Corneo sending me home makes my stomach churn. I can't be more glad that Ms Crescent would be the one sending.

"Thank you." I gave the most sincere smile I could manage after such an extreme heartache.

In her car, my head spun and spun. Excusing myself, I turned and closed my eyes. My home was at least a 40 minutes drive from school, so I could rest for a bit.

That was when the usual dream kicked in. Strange… it used to only haunt me at night and never during my naps.

"CURSE YOU! CUUUURSE YOUUUU!" Its tongue licked my neck, and I knew my leg was going to go soon… except, a bright light shone from the sky and paralysed the monster… No, it was as if time stopped.

I turned upwards, surprised that I could move, I stood and looked at the origin of the light, but only heard a voice.

"Poor soul, tormented and tortured. The roots of evil were sown by evil hands, hands tainted black." I felt a strange cold and substance on my hand and thought that the monster had awoke, but when I saw my hands, I could only let out incoherent gasps.

My hand was completely black, and slimy dark liquid was pouring from it. From my hands to the ground, pooling around my ankles, it felt cold and sticky, slithering up my calves like snakes.

"Poor soul, suffering and suffering without a clue."

Tears were welling in my eyes, and for the first time, I felt a deep fear for his words. More terrified than I ever was with the monster, the light scares me, as if it was peering right into my souls. My very existence tiny and insignificant to it, an unknown guilt for something I don't remember hits my heart and I recoiled into myself while listening to his every word.

My soul remembers.

"Poor soul, haunted, hated and loathed but only love is rewarded to your demise. Love the ones who hated you, O' cruel fate. Fleeting yet inexhaustible. Shall I tell you your fate?"

I heaved deeply, tearing as the black liquid stained my legs and crept up to my calves, ice cold against my skin, every inch it touches turn limp with deadness.

"O poor soul, you will die a hated woman. And only a long lifetime will be blessed upon you. O poor soul with a kind heart in this lifetime, I came to offer you a chance."

I looked up at the light, desperate to cling on to any hope. "Stop the black slime, please, it's eating at my legs!"

"O poor soul, listen. Fate is a result of multiple crossroads. You have bestowed evil upon yourself, cleanse the evil not by this fate, but change the fate itself! Now, go to the crossroads of fate, and untangle the hate from the future."

The liquid stopped pouring, and my heart knew it would be a right decision to follow. My soul knew.

"The price will be, fifty years of your current life. You will not live past your twentieth birthday, but fret not, you will not die before that, too. Now, go, if you wish, come to me and change this cruel fate."

I looked at the light. Does it mean that there is a reason why I'm suffering this much? Since my parents died two years ago, constant misunderstandings with my friends, hated by my love, not a soul would listen to me… Living to a ripe old age will not change this suffering. Twenty years old? That's 3 years from now, three years of bliss? Why not? At least I could die a happy woman.

"Let me into the crossroads." I spoke with unknown confidence as I walked towards the light, an invisible path formed upwards into the sky.

xXx


A/N: So, how do you feel about the story so far? :D Any preference or ideas? I'm interested in your thoughts about TTCROF!