Labyrinth of Heart and Thought

by dentedsky

Cloud kidnaps Zidane to save Kuja and everything goes to hell.

3. Tomb for Angels and Men

There was one thing Cloud knew now for certain: Squall had a big crush on Bartz.

At least a crush, but it could be more like love; he wasn't sure. What he was sure of was that Squall was always glowering with jealousy whenever Bartz and Yuna even looked at each other, yet alone had a conversation. And they had a lot of conversations.

They camped one night, then throughout the following day Yuna and Bartz walked down the path, arms linked together, heads leaning in, and talked like friends did, about everything and nothing. Squall and Jecht followed behind and scowled at their backs.

Kuja was also in a bad mood, but for a different reason, and it was Cloud's fault.

Cloud deliberately trailed them behind the group and told Kuja softly, "She was my best friend." Tifa.

"Do you honestly think I care?" Kuja drawled, not looking at him.

"Yes," said Cloud.

Kuja clicked his tongue. "So she was your best friend. Did you tumble her?"

"Uh…" What a loaded question. "It was a long time ago."

"Oh my God!" said Kuja, rubbing his eyes. "Is she the mother of your son?"

Jecht must have gotten bored of scowling at Bartz because he looked over his shoulder at Cloud. "You got a son?" he asked him gruffly.

"Yeah," Cloud said softly. "But my memory of him is faded."

Squall shot him a look of pity over his shoulder. Jecht grunted in what Cloud thought was understanding. "I've got a son too. Kind of a crybaby."

Cloud didn't know what to do with that.

"So," said Kuja, "is she?"

Cloud sighed. "Denzel's adopted."

"That does not answer the question," Kuja muttered.

Cloud didn't say anything and there was an uncomfortable lull in the conversation. Then Squall went to walk beside Cloud and asked quietly, "Do you think Denzel is waiting for you back on your world?"

"I think so," said Cloud just as softly, "but what if… he doesn't remember me, or I don't remember him?"

Squall wasn't one for tact or honeyed words. "It's possible," he said.

Cloud and Kuja left the others at the camp fire that evening to talk alone. "Are you still angry at me?" asked Cloud.

Kuja leaned against a moss covered tree and gave him a side eyed look. "Probably," he said, but a small half smile belied this word. "My true disappointment lies in the severe lack of tumbling these past days."

Cloud was amused even as a hot flush heated his cheeks. "I've been missing you too." He stepped closer into Kuja's space until he had Kuja pressed up against the enormous trunk of the tree. He braced himself against it and leaned down and kissed him.

Kuja moaned into his mouth. He mumbled something.

Cloud pulled away. "What?"

"I said, 'Oh, finally!' You are not afraid the others will discover our affair?"

At the start of their journey with Squall and Bartz, Cloud had been very conscious of his relationship with Kuja and had tried to hide it until he could trust them. Cloud told Kuja, "Let them find out," before diving back into Kuja's embrace.

Their kisses were heated. Cloud pulled off their clothes all while kissing Kuja's neck. Not long after Kuja growled at him to Get inside me already and then it was hot and sex and tight and good and like coming home. Kuja had a way of taking Cloud's soul, heart and body all inside him until Cloud was consumed and taken over by his body and his scent. Kuja was truly the Angel of Death, and he would be the death of Cloud. It wasn't long before Kuja was coming on their stomachs between them, and Cloud's orgasm hit and rolled over him in bright waves that seemed to last for minutes.

They haphazardly put their clothes back on and sat together, leaning against the tree and panting.

Yuna walked around the corner and stopped and looked at them. She gasped into her hand.

"I'm sorry," she said, and she looked like she really truly meant it, "was I… interrupting something?"

"Yes," said Kuja at the same time Cloud muttered, "It's alright."

Yuna was blushing. "I… like to walk alone some nights and I volunteered to come find you. The others are heading to bed now."

Cloud nodded, then stood and held a hand out for Kuja, who took it gracefully and stood himself.

The three strolled back to camp, but they took their time, taking a detour to take in the sight of the dead plains beyond the wood they were currently camping in.

They stopped at the border and stared at the misty, thunder-struck plains.

"You know this place?" Cloud asked Yuna.

"Yes, it's the Thunder Plains. I remember the smell."

"Someone approaches," Kuja murmured in warning.

He was right. Someone was walking towards them across the dead land and through the mist. She stopped several metres away and stared at Cloud in fear, as if she wanted to warn him.

Yuna pulled out her rod and started to perform a Sending. Cloud stopped her immediately by grasping her weapon. "Don't," he said; "she means no harm."

"Do you know for sure?" said Kuja lowly. "Her presence is always a portent."

Cloud stepped towards her. "Aerith," he called, "what's wrong?"

She was shaking her head at him. Go back, she seemed to say to him. Do not journey this way. Come no further.

"Why?" said Cloud.

But as usual she never spoke, she only implored with her expressive face and stilted gestures.

"You know I have to go," Cloud told her. "I have to correct my sins. I must be forgiven. I mean… I must forgive myself."

She stared at him, hands slowly falling to her sides as if she was giving up.

"I can't go back now," Cloud continued. "There's enemies behind me and to the side and enemies in front. There's nowhere left for me to travel but forward."

She always looked so sad.

She was stepping back into the mist, and then she was gone.

Another day of travelling, and then another. Both days the group encountered manikins, which they fought and dispatched without too much hardship. But the one thing that they did not seem to be able to win against was boredom.

"Let's sing songs!" said Bartz. "Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum, it's a pirates life for meeeee!"

"I've got one," Cloud said hesitantly, remembering the song he and Tidus used to sing when they were bored. "You sing 'a-weema-we' over and over, keeping the beat, ok?" he said to Bartz. Bartz enthusiastically did as he was told, then Cloud started singing to Bartz's beat: "In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight..."

Bartz looked at Squall when Cloud sang 'lion', and then started dancing at him.

Cloud sang a couple of verses before Kuja stopped him and drawled, "You're butchering that song with a rusty Tonberry knife. Allow me to show you how it is done."

And when Kuja started singing, Squall's eyes went wide, Bartz stopped singing to guffaw, Yuna gasped and Jecht said, "What the...?"

It was like Kuja was singing at the opera.

"Er..." said Cloud.

Later, they came across a gate marked with the magic seal of Chaos. Cloud stopped and stared at it. Then he turned abruptly and stared at Bartz in alarm. "At which point did we cross over into Chaos's territory?" he demanded.

Bartz summoned the map and unrolled it. Everyone gathered behind him to look.

"Um," said Bartz, "perhaps… some time ago?"

"The manikins had been increasing as of late," Kuja mused.

"Alright!" announced Bartz, abruptly rolling up the map and turning to address the group. "We need to talk! We need to address the elephant in the room. The… proverbial room, 'cause we're outside. The proverbial elephant, too. So I mean, not the gate. The gate is not the elephant."

"Good Lord," Squall muttered.

"Is it about how we all know that Cloud and Kuja are fucking but they think no one knows?" said Jecht.

Cloud felt his cheeks heat up.

"No," said Bartz. "And they're not fucking, jeez, it's obvious they love each other and are in a committed relationship – "

"You know?" Cloud asked him.

"Squall and I found out the first night we camped together," said Bartz dismissively with a wave of his hand.

"You have been aware of our relationship all this time?" said Kuja with narrowed eyes. "You mean… I could have… we could have…" he looked at Cloud in despair and then in anger. "We could have been - ! For days - !"

Cloud's face must have been as red as a ripe tomato by this point. "S - sorry? We had sex the last couple of nights, isn't that enough?"

"What a ridiculous question," Kuja spat. "Of course not!"

"You're all embarrassing Lady Yuna," said Jecht, and yeah, she looked pretty embarrassed, "so shut the fuck up and let's go."

"No wait," said Bartz, "we have to discuss the elephant in the room."

"That wasn't it?"

"No! So okay, we're in Chaos's territory and we're heading towards the Chaos shrine which is devoid of people and so do any of you actually know where Cid of the Lufaine is?"

Bartz had said this very quickly and seemed out of breath. Everyone stared at him.

Because no, no one knew where Cid, therefore Zidane, was.

"We need a plan," Squall said eventually.

"I need to go back to the labyrinth," said Cloud. "Hear me out. There's a moogle there who has my Ultima Weapon. I should have enough now to trade her for it. So I'd like to make a detour there."

Bartz unrolled the map again and Cloud pointed to where Mardi the moogle was, and then also to another castle north west of that labyrinth entrance. "I think we should go there. It will be a safe place for us to stay the night."

Bartz squinted at it. "What is it?"

"Ultimecia's castle."

"No fucking way," said Squall.

Cloud ignored this by turning to the gate, summoning his nail bat and smashing it. With a loud magical hiss and tinkle, the Chaos seal shattered, shards disappearing in a small explosion of light.

They walked through and down the winding path. It wasn't long until they encountered someone new...

At first Cloud thought it was a manikin because the man was half covered in a light purple transparent crystallised substance. But then the figure stumbled closer to them, as if drunk or fatigued, and Cloud gasped and stopped walking, because it was Sephiroth.

The crystal was over half of this body: the side if his neck, his right arm and his right wing. It seemed to be on his side and part of his right leg as well.

Squall put his hand on Cloud's shoulder and squeezed. "Don't be afraid," said Squall in his deep, reassuring voice.

On Cloud's other side Kuja took his hand. "We are always here for you if you need us," said Kuja. "You are not alone."

Cloud was not alone, but he had to do this by himself.

He walked towards Sephiroth and away from his group of friends, raising his weapon as he went. His heart beat with fear, but he kept his expression hard and unrelenting.

Sephiroth's sword was quivering as if he could not keep a grip on it. Cloud stopped just a metre in front of Sephiroth, wary, but when Cloud took in his weakened state he felt pity and lowered his guard.

Sephiroth smirked even as he breathed laboriously and dropped the masamune on the ground. "I remember," said Sephiroth slowly, eyes on Cloud, "when you were just an infantryman. You were so young and beautiful, and when Zack tried to introduce us, you hid behind him like a child clutching his mother's skirts." Sephiroth looked up at the clouds, lost in his reminiscence. "You loved me then. "

"I never loved you," Cloud bit out. "I was infatuated and awestruck, and that was a long time ago."

Sephiroth looked to the side, saddened. "I haven't got long left, now."

He looked into Cloud's eyes, then fell forward.

Cloud reacted out and caught his left arm as he fell to his knees. "Don't touch the disease," Sephiroth told Cloud, stiltedly flexing his wing to indicate the crystallis, "it is highly contagious." He grabbed Cloud back and pulled him close until they were breathing the same air. "As I die, I need you to look at me without anger."

Cloud looked at him instead with pity and resignation as he helped Sephiroth lie down on the ground. Sephiroth crossed his arms over his chest and Cloud picked up the masamune and lay it by him, pressing the hilt into his hands.

With a sigh, Sephiroth closed his eyes and allowed the crystal to take him over completely, freezing him in place.

Bartz came over. "Should we build a tomb for him?" he said quietly.

"No," said Cloud and Kuja, at the same time.

Bartz mirrored Yuna's moves, swinging his rod in graceful arcs as he spun, making sure to tread carefully on the water's surface. There was a small smile on Yuna's face – she seemed pleased with Bartz's progress.

They had found an arched entrance to the labyrinth and had made it to the glade where Cloud had claimed the moogle to be. When they had arrived the grass was lush and the water clear, but there were no moogles in the glade or connecting rooms.

Squall watched Bartz and Yuna practice from where he sat on a stone ledge, methodically cleaning his gunblade. They were the perfect summoner pair, a man and woman mirror image, Bartz copying exactly what Yuna was showing. The water rippled and started to rise with them stepping on it as lightly and as easily as they might step on stairs. Bartz looked beautiful in the soft light of the setting sun.

Cloud sat next to Squall. "You like him," said Cloud.

Squall gave him an annoyed side-along glance, hating Cloud for breaking his private moment. "Of course I like him, he's one of my best friends."

"You know that's not what I meant." Cloud absently swung the nail bat between his knees. "You should tell him how you feel."

Squall looked at Bartz, at his clear brown eyes, and at his soft hair made messy by the breeze. "I can't," said Squall quietly. Admitting that – telling Bartz – no. That could ruin things between them and make their friendship awkward. And not only that, but: "I have these… reoccurring nightmares..."

Cloud gestured for him to continue, showing no inclination to make fun of Squall for his weakness any time soon.

"Bartz stands on a crumbling ground," Squall told Cloud quietly so that no one else could hear. "Then someone stabs him in his heart, and he falls backwards into the abyss."

"You have this dream a lot?"

Squall nodded. "It's a little different every time. Is it prophetic, a warning? Or is it a memory?"

"In my experience," said Cloud, "dreams are rarely prophetic unless you are in fact a prophet. Memories can't be trusted – what you forget your body remembers, but your mind tries to put the broken pieces together. Or maybe it's just your fears talking."

Squall only found this mildly helpful. "So you think it's a memory from a previous cycle?"

Cloud was quiet for a moment, lost in his thoughts. "Sephiroth keeps saying I belong to him," Cloud said eventually, "because I'm his clone. Am I a clone, because he said I'm a clone? What if I'm not a clone, what if I'm as human as you are, but by being told something I have come to believe and it is therefore true?" He took a deep breath and blinked out of his daze. He looked at Squall with poison tainted eyes. "In this world, if you die you come back to life. If your nightmares are memories then they're long gone, but if they will come true in the future then Bartz will die and then come back. Just ignore them. You don't want to end up… like me."

Squall looked at him with commiseration.

Behind them, Jecht and Kuja were arguing about how far apart their tents should be. Kuja told Jecht he snored, and Jecht said he didn't enjoy hearing Kuja moaning and groaning like a cat in heat either.

Cloud must have heard, because his cheeks were turning pink.

Squall asked him, "How did you and Kuja get together?"

Cloud looked straight ahead at Bartz and Yuna, but didn't seem to be focused on them. "We ran into each other in the labyrinth," he said. "Then we slept together."

A pause. Then Squall: "That's it?"

Cloud gave him a smug half-smile. "He was there, I wanted him, he wanted me. What else is there?"

"So you just…" Squall tried to wrap his head around it. Imagine if he just – went up to Bartz –

"I admit," Cloud went on, "it was mostly Kuja. He can be pretty forward if you hadn't already noticed. And I was lonely," he added with a shrug.

I was lonely.

Was Bartz lonely? He never really seemed like it, but he did seem to need company in a way that Squall didn't – in fact, Squall didn't really need or want company most of the time.

Bartz and Yuna were at the climax of their Sendings, the spirals of water lifting them up higher and higher. Bartz, elated, made a whoop of joy – Yuna shouted at him to concentrate but it was too late: Bartz was falling –

Squall ran to him, sloshing through the knee deep water. Bartz had fallen in, then he emerged laughing, and Squall stopped where he was and felt foolish for being worried.

Bartz stood and ran through the water gracelessly toward Squall. He grabbed Squall's arms. "Did you see that?" he panted. "I aced that Sending!"

"Technically you didn't Send anyone," Squall murmured, but Bartz didn't seem to care about this, he was grinning at Squall, too caught up in his triumph. Squall caught Bartz's happiness as if it were infectious and gave Bartz a half-smile, holding Bartz's arms back.

"Oh!" said Bartz, looking down at Squall. "You're all wet! Your shoes must be soaked through."

"Yeah," said Squall, not caring one bit.

Later, they lay in their tent. Bartz put his hands behind his head. "I think we may actually be in with a chance, now."

Squall sat up and held out his hand. "You left your vambraces on; here, let me help you take them off."

Bartz's vambraces were made from a good quality silk-like material that wrapped around his wrists and up to his middle finger. Bartz casually put one hand in Squall's lap and Squall methodically unhooked and unwound the material. He was concentrating so hard on his task that he did not realise Bartz was watching him until he was done with the first one.

Bartz gave him a small smile when Squall gestured for the other hand, then he grunted as he sat up so Squall could reach. "You know I find you easy to talk to," said Bartz.

Squall gave him a perplexed look. "Since when?"

Bartz raised his eyebrows. "Since always! I'm always talking at you, and you always listen. Do you sometimes feel as if I talk too much?"

Yes, Squall thought, but said instead, "It's okay," which was also true. He liked Bartz's voice and enthusiasm and the way he gesticulated with everything he said.

Bartz grabbed Squall's wrist and Squall had to stop unwinding the material. They looked into each other's eyes. "Sometimes you seem closed off or sad," said Bartz. "So I want you to know that if you ever need to talk, you just tell me to keep quiet and listen, and I will listen, okay?"

Squall have him a long look. You should tell him how you feel, Cloud had said.

The things we do for love, Cloud had also said, what felt like a lifetime ago.

I would do anything for you, Squall thought. Anything.

But he mumbled his thanks instead, and finished unwinding the material.

"Welcome back, kupo!" Squall heard the moogle greet Cloud through the thin canvas wall of his tent. Squall groaned and rolled over, hoping to get a little more sleep.

"Mardi," greeted Cloud, "I need the Ultima Weapon. I should have enough to trade you for it."

"You won't part with the pretty feather around your neck kupo?"

"No, I'm sorry."

"A pity kupo. But I'm sure we can make a deal, kupo."

"I can't remember if I asked you this last time," Cloud said, sounding hesitant, "but do you know where I could get the summon stone to summon Shinryu?"

"Shinryu, kupo? Why would you want to summon that ugly old dragon, kupo? Anyway you can't get that summon stone from any moogle, kupo."

Squall blinked his eyes open and listened.

"What do you mean," said Cloud.

"Only one person has that summon stone and that's Chaos, kupo. I don't think Chaos is going to give it to you, kupo! Although maybe it doesn't hurt to ask, kupo."

Cloud sighed. "I asked a lot of moogles, they never told me that."

"You must have been asking the wrong questions, kupo, because everyone knows that, kupo."

There was a pause. "I guess I had been asking if I could buy it, rather than where it was."

"You gotta be clear, kupo," she scolded. "I can't even tell if you're a boy or a girl, kupo, how am I supposed to know what you want unless you say, kupo."

Cloud bought the sword he wanted off her, and Kuja and Jecht bought some spells and items. Then the party of six were off on their journey again, Mardi waving them off with her little paw.

They travelled another day to Ultimecia's castle, despite Squall's protests about going there. But Cloud argued that Ultimecia had several guest rooms and that they would be welcome to stay even if she wasn't there to say so. The idea of sleeping in an actual comfortable bed with a roof over their heads convinced Yuna, and in the end Squall had been the only one protesting, so he followed them.

It was a dark, gothic structure that despite its Victorian interior furnishings gave an aboding feeling. But Cloud strolled in and told the group that he and his friend would stay here sometimes. "There's an art gallery over there," he said, pointing to his left, "and a ballroom over there – "

"A ballroom!" Bartz exclaimed. He and Yuna exchanged glances. "I've got just the outfit; I'm going to find my bedroom and then get changed, and then let's dance!"

Yuna pumped her fist in the air. "Okay, me too! I have a Songtress dress sphere, um, somewhere…"

"That's sounds like a terrible idea," Jecht grumbled, but no one was listening. Squall himself had already changed into his SeeD uniform after he'd gotten his leather pants wet the day before. Truth be told, he didn't mind dancing, but at that moment he was drawn towards the gallery. He went inside and looked at the some of the paintings, pausing a moment at one featuring a field of flowers.

A whooshing sound like the ocean went through his head. "I know this place…"

"Nice picture," said Jecht, sidling up next to him.

"It's not a nice picture," Squall told him, unable to take his eyes away, "it's a horrible picture, the most frightening picture in the room."

Jecht looked from the picture of the field of flowers Squall was looking at, to the dark, fiery portrait of Diablos next to it. "You're an odd guy."

"It's sad," said Squall. "This painting makes me feel an inescapable despair."

"Suddenly the ballroom doesn't sound so bad," Jecht muttered as he walked away. Squall eventually followed him, tearing his eyes away. He and Jecht went through the massive foyer and then up the stairs to the ballroom where Cloud was fiddling with the record player and Kuja and Yuna were getting in position to waltz.

"My lady." Kuja kissed the back of her hand.

"Are you going to lead?" said Yuna.

Kuja blinked at her. "Obviously."

She titled her head and gave him a look that said, It wasn't obvious to me, and then Cloud got the music playing: a slow song that once again made Squall feel both nostalgic and incredibly depressed, like a heavy black blanket had been thrown over him.

No one else seemed to have felt it, though; in fact Kuja and Yuna were laughing in joy as Kuja waltzed her around the room. I know this song, thought Squall. I love this song. No, I hate this song!

And then Bartz walked into the room wearing bell bottom trousers and a red shirt that exposed his navel and then the darkness lifted as if the sun had come out and no song, no stupid painting, no one in the whole world mattered because Bartz looked like that, and he was looking right at Squall, lips parting as if he were about say, Dance with me, you are mine, I am yours, you are everything and everything else is nothing compared to us in this room right in this moment.

Then Kuja barged into Squall's field of vision.

"We shall dance!" he declared. "I can tell by your physique and air that you have terpsichorean skills. I will allow you to lead."

Bartz was being dragged onto the dance floor by Yuna. No, wait, I... thought Squall. He looked at Cloud who shrugged his shoulders at him, then said something to Jecht Squall didn't hear. Both were at the edge of the room, arms crossed like they had no intention of dancing.

Squall danced Kuja around the room with sheer muscle memory. To be fair, Kuja was a very good and obviously well trained dance partner. Yuna and Bartz, however, were stepping on each other's toes and then stopping and laughing about it, then they were dancing around in a more modern way as if the song playing was a pop song. Cloud called to the room that he and Jecht would go explore the rest of the castle and make sure there were enough guest rooms. And then Squall, without realising exactly what he was doing but determined none-the-less, abandoned Kuja mid-step and went straight for Bartz, took him in his arms and lead them in a dance around the room.

Kuja and Yuna stared after them, perplexed yet amused, but Squall didn't care, because Bartz looked happy to be there in his arms.

Squall took him around, and Bartz matched him step to step, hand wave and touch to hand wave and touch. On the crest of one verse, Squall lifted him in the air and landed him gracefully. He dipped him. It perhaps should have been graceless, or silly, or fun. But it was nothing like that, because Bartz's amused smile was fading into something serious, lips parted, body warm and close and then dancing away, only for Squall to pull him back in again and twirl them round. He vaguely registered Cloud coming back to tell them he'd assigned them rooms, and that Kuja and Yuna and Cloud and Jecht were saying their goodnights and were leaving the room. But still Squall took Bartz around the room and couldn't care less about them or any of that. And Bartz…

Bartz was still looking at him, like that –

Bartz grabbed the lapels of Squall's jacket and pulled him in close. "Kiss me," he breathed.

Squall did, pulling him in impossibly closer and kissing him open-mouthed and deep. Bartz pushed him up against the only table in the room and the record player was bumped and the music stopped, but Squall didn't care, preferred it in fact, because he could hear Bartz panting into his mouth.

They turned so that Bartz could sit on the table, thighs wrapped around Squall's hips, and Squall made quick work of Bartz's shirt, pushing it over his shoulders but not completely off. Bartz started undoing Squall's belt and trouser buttons.

"Take my pants off," said Bartz, demanding and mouthy and absolutely wrecked, and Squall only paused for barely a second before shimmying Bartz's pants off his hips and down his thighs and on the floor. Together they managed to pull down Squall's trousers, just enough to –

They moaned into each other's mouths as their hips came together. Overwhelmed, Squall dragged his mouth down Bartz's jaw and kissed his neck, nipping softly at the sensitive skin there. There was something powerful and sexy about Squall being mostly fully dressed and Bartz naked aside from a shirt draped off his arms. Squall's thrusts were minute but no less passionate, and then they were coming on each other, orgasm more blinding and hot than any spell.

They helped each other pull their clothes back on, Bartz grinning while Squall's face felt hot. Bartz led the way out of the ballroom, Squall following not far behind. But a strange feeling came over him…

He stopped and looked over his shoulder.

Rinoa stood there at the other end of the room. Wait, who the hell is Rinoa? Squall thought, only to realise, no, it was not her, it was the sorceress Ultimecia.

"Don't touch," said Ultimecia, and then her image flickered and vanished.

Squall ran his fingers through Bartz's thick hair as he slept in the bed next to him. He lay back down with a sigh, then looked to his other side and froze.

Ultimecia was standing there in the room.

Squall sat up, summoning his gunblade into his hand.

"This is all in your mind," she drawled. "You cannot hurt me here, and he – " she gestured to Bartz in the bed next to him – "will not hear nor see me."

Squall put the gunblade on the bed next to him. "I'm dreaming."

Ultimecia looked amused. "Perhaps, but that does not mean you and I are not conversing. I have hijacked Chaos's time loop to power my junction time ability so that I may send you the location of Cid of the Lufaine."

Squall sat up straight at the mention of Cid.

"I am speaking to you from the future." Her eyes shuttered, and she said softly, "By the time our conversation ends, I may have perished."

"Why are you telling me this? And why not talk to Cloud instead? He's obviously the only person in the whole world who cares about you."

"This is a mimicked ability and not innate. I can only do this with someone I have a pre-established connection with, and not for long."

"A pre-established…?"

She narrowed her eyes; she was irritated. "Someone I am either related to or very close to in some way, like a spouse."

Squall made a disgusted noise.

Ultimecia looked at him a moment then said, "I need you to save me, if you can make it in time."

Squall snorted. "Then I think I'll go back to bed and sleep all night and all day tomorrow."

"Insolent fool. Do you want Cid's location or not?"

"Fine – " Squall barely finished the word before he was bombarded with muddled sounds and images:

Pain, shouting, fuchsia. Someone says "don't touch the" and then Bartz is being stabbed. No, it's Squall being stabbed in the shoulder and falling, falling. They're walking away from Ultimecia's castle. Ahead of them there's a road and a left turn, then a right. Tall cliffs. Kefka's tower in the distance. Bartz says, "I'll prove it!" to someone, then turns to Squall. The smell of flowers. Turn left where the end of the cliffs reach the last Chaos gate, and then you reach a castle made of crystal. Cid is in there. The scent of death.

Squall came out of the vision gasping for breath.

"He's noticed," said Ultimecia. She seemed to be distressed but trying to hide it.

"Who's noticed what?" said Squall angrily.

"Cid has noticed me. This is farewell, but I leave with this parting warning: don't touch the crystal substance, it's highly contagious and there's no cure."

"Wait a minute," said Squall. "You showed me the way, but you showed me something else. Images of Bartz, what are they - ?"

"To power this connection I had to hijack a time loop. You will experience or perhaps have already experienced some glimpses into past and future…" She was fading.

Squall stood from the bed. "Come back! What did you do to me!"

She was gone.

Squall woke up Bartz and then marched to Cloud and Kuja's room, bursting in. "Ultimecia sent a message to me. I know where Cid of the Lufaine is!"

Behind him, Bartz rubbed his eyes tiredly and yawned. Kuja groaned and rolled over, putting a pillow over his own head. Cloud, seemingly naked under his blanket, sat up. "What's going on?"

Squall explained most of it before Kuja interrupted with a, "No one cares! Go back to bed!"

"Why did she go to you and not me?" asked Cloud. Bartz picked up a glass bottle from the bedside table and examined it.

"She said something about a pre-established connection," Squall mumbled.

Cloud nodded like that made sense. "I suppose we had better go – "

"No!" said Kuja. "We have finally found us decent bedding to tumble and slumber, and I'm sure Lady Yuna and Sir Jecht would agree with me when I say we should go in the morning."

Still holding the bottle, Bartz said guiltily, "Kind of agree with Kuja on this one, babe. We can go first light." He turned to Cloud and held the bottle up. "By the way, what is this?"

Cloud was wearing all black this time: black jeans with a wolf detail on his top. Squall nodded to him as he sidled up next to him, admiring and preferring Cloud's current outfit to his soldier uniform. Squall too had changed back to his leathers. They were outside Ultimecia's castle and were looking at the road ahead.

Yuna and Jecht came to stand on Squall's other side. Yuna had changed to a halter neck top and shorts with a skirt-like detail; she looked determined and ready to fight. Bartz came up next to Jecht in white shirt and pants, over which was a blue tunic and red cape. Lastly, on the far end, Kuja glided over in a long jacket and knee-high boots over blue pants, and atop his head was a large mage's hat. Everyone tilted their heads to look at him.

He tilted his head right back and raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"You look," said Cloud, "really, um. Really good." Then he blushed.

Kuja smirked. "I am aware."

They all turned back and looked at the road ahead. "So this is it," said Yuna. She touched Squall's arm. "You were the one with the dream, so lead the way."

So together they walked down the road.

"You know what this reminds me of?" Cloud murmured to Squall. "You know how in movies the heroes walk side by side in slow motion to rock music or something?"

"Not really," said Squall. "I barely remember anything from my world, especially movies."

Cloud sighed. "Your memory is worse than Tidus's. When we were bored, he and I used to reenact – "

Yuna grabbed Cloud's arms suddenly, stopping him in the middle of the road. "What did you say!"

"What?"

"Just now! You said a name! What was it?"

Cloud looked perturbed. "You mean Tidus? He's one of my friends..."

Jecht had come over too and he was glaring at Cloud, arms crossed. Yuna let go of Cloud and ran both hands through her hair. "You never mentioned him before, why?" Jecht demanded.

"I have," said Cloud, though he looked unsure. "Maybe… not by name."

"Are you and Tidus lovers?" Kuja asked Yuna delicately. Yuna nodded slowly, lips pressed together as if she was holding back a whimper.

"You never thought to tell us he was here?" Jecht snapped at Cloud.

Cloud scowled at him. "How was I supposed to know you were from the same world? He never mentioned you!"

There was a pause where Yuna stared at Cloud with wide eyes. Jecht growled. "Tidus is my son, asshole."

Cloud went pale. "It – came out wrong." He looked at Yuna apologetically. "I didn't mean it like that."

Kuja placed a comforting hand on the small of Cloud's back, but his next words were to Yuna. "My Lady, of all the allies Cloud and I have come across in this world, Tidus appeared to be the one who had the least retention of memories. His amnesia is no fault of anyone in this party, and you know in your heart that just because he has forgotten you, he has not truly forgotten you. You must believe that."

Yuna nodded slowly, then squared her shoulders. "I do."

"We've been wasting time," Jecht grunted, "fluffing around in the labyrinth and sleeping in fucking beds. This isn't just about your friend Zidane, this is about Tidus too."

"And Ultimecia," Bartz put in. "Er, right?"

Squall gave him a doubtful look, but Cloud nodded at Bartz gratefully.

"Squall, please lead the way," said Yuna.

"And make haste," Kuja added.

For the next few hours Squall led them down the road, turning left at one fork and then right at another, just as the dream has showed him. Kefka's tower was a foreboding dark image that sat behind the cliffs. When the cliffs ended, Squall took them left and to a gate that had Chaos's sigil blazed upon it with ever-burning fire.

They stopped. Squall turned to his friends and said, "It's on the other side of this gate. What lies beyond is a castle whose walls are stuck with crystal shards. We can't touch any crystals; even the walls could be covered in it."

"A castle made of pure poison? How delightful," Kuja drawled sarcastically.

"Some of us are going to die," Squall said. He knew he was being tactless, but he was also speaking the truth. He looked at Bartz and spoke to him specifically, voice an octave lower, "It's going to be dangerous and I think you're going to…" get stabbed in the heart… "You could die. And I – "

"Are you seriously about to say I should stay behind so I don't get hurt?" said Bartz in disbelief. "Babe, you're supposed to be the smart one!"

Squall took Bartz's hands in his own. "I can't lose you, but I also can't ask that of you."

"Um, duh, of course you can't! Because I would say no! I am definitely fighting today, Squall, and I love that you care about my wellbeing that much, but let's be real here: Zidane is my friend too and the only way we are going to save him is together."

Squall nodded, letting go of Bartz's hands so he could break the seal on the gate with a simultaneous swipe and shot from his gunblade.

A winding brick road led them down to the monstrous castle in the distance. But they were blocked by a giant wall of ice being held by –

"Terra," Cloud whispered. The girl was frozen mid-spell and encased in crystal. Squall examined the slight girl and then the wall.

"She was holding something back," he observed.

"Or several somethings," said Bartz, pulling his dagger from its holster around his hips and poking at the wall of ice with it. "I think we can get through here pretty easily.

Cloud threw a fire ball at the wall and it melted a hole big enough for everyone to duck through. When he was through, Squall turned and looked at the wall. It was pock-marked and slashed in several places. "Definitely several somethings," he agreed.

They went on their way. "She a friend of yours?" Jecht asked Cloud, gesturing behind them with his head.

"No," said Cloud. "I mean, she was always being controlled by Kefka much like Sephiroth was controlling me and so I felt for her. But I never… we weren't friends. But maybe I should have – "

"You cannot save everyone you meet, Cloud," said Kuja as he glided along.

"…I think that sometimes I should try."

"You saved my life," Kuja said, "is that not enough?"

"I did that because I love you. And even then all it did was get us into this mess."

"This," Kuja gestured around at the darkness and the broken brick road and the ice wall behind and the crystal castle ahead, "is not your fault."

The great doors to the castle had been broken open from the outside. With trepidation Squall and the party walked in, weapons drawn as they went. It was a long hall, and from the far end, Cid of the Lufaine, still within Zidane's body, emerged.

"My friends!" cried Cid, sounding elated and relieved. "You have come!"

Squall squinted at Cid as he came closer. Zidane was almost unrecognisable: his long blonde hair was in a disarray, and the dark make-up around his eyes was smudged and running down his face in two long black lines. His lips were dark red and smudged like he had been messily eating blackberries, and his teeth were white and sharp. He opened his arms wide to welcome them, his robe draped over his thin shoulders and arms.

"What the actual fuck," said Squall.

"Okay so this is way worse than I thought it would be," said Bartz. He looked at Cloud out of the corner of his eye. "I totally get why you guys ran away."

Cid spotted Cloud. "My devoted, my most loyal follower! Cloud, you have come back to me, and you brought Kuja with you? And you brought friends," Cid added with a happy sigh.

"If I'm your most loyal follower then you must be in serious trouble," said Cloud.

Cid's smile froze. His mad, wide eyes looked from one to the other individually. Then he frowned, petulant. "Six warriors journey far to meet their god and decide on destruction over love. So then they must soon find their final fantasy." Then he tilted his head and stared at Yuna. "My dear, what are you doing?"

Yuna had stepped back from the group and had started to perform a Sending.

"I have many children," said Cid, and then he turned on his heel and walked away, exiting the hall from where he'd come.

"'I have many chil – '? Oh shit!" Bartz shouted, point to the wall to their right. A rip in what seemed like space, not the actual wall, was forming. It was dark and smokey and oozing, growing larger. And then crystallised bodies were crawling through.

"Manikins!" Cloud shouted. And then the six of them were fighting the sudden cannonade of bodies, all copies of different people, some of them and some of others. Squall recognised many of them but he didn't think too deeply about it, he just fought and fought. So this must have been what Terra had been holding back, he thought. He, Jecht and Yuna were pushed down the hall by the horde.

"I'll cover you," Squall told them. "Get to the next room! You have to follow Cid and – " He couldn't finish as a Cloud manikin came at him from the side.

Jecht and Yuna made it through the door. "They just keep coming!" Bartz shouted, and Squall slashed his way over to him.

Together Squall and Bartz held off the manikins so Cloud and Kuja could run to the door, and then they were fleeing the fight themselves and falling through. Kuja slammed the door shut behind them with a wave of his hand, and sealed it with ice.

Squall and Bartz took a moment to catch their breath. Then Squall looked up and saw where they were.

It was another ornate long hall, only this hall was decorated with statues.

No, not statues. At first Squall thought they were just petrified manikins, but there was something different about them, something more human.

There was fear in their expressions.

Jecht was holding onto Yuna's shoulders.

"I'm sorry," she was whispering. She put her fingers in her mouth and blew out a long, sad whistle, her cheeks stained with tears. Squall looked past her, and so did Cloud.

"Tidus," Cloud whispered.

Tidus was frozen in crystal. Like Terra. Like Sephiroth. Squall looked past Tidus and saw Ultimecia frozen in an alcove; it seemed she had been trying to hide.

Kuja glided further up the hall and then looked up at a tall, crystallised armoured man. "Golbez," said Kuja, "my apologies." He glided over to others and named them as he went. "Cloud of Darkness. Hmmph, Kefka, no loss there. Garland, and the Emperor; well, I am surprised."

"Exdeath," Cloud noted.

Bartz saw him too but didn't seem unhappy about it. "This place is a tomb," he said.

"Do you like it?" said Cid.

Once again he was down the hall.

"What have you done to them," Cloud demanded. "They're all – they – "

"I told you: all I want is world peace," said Cid. "But they would not stop arguing and arguing and I felt, perhaps, I had made a mistake trying to converse with people."

"So bring them back," said Jecht gruffly.

"And give Zidane back," Bartz added, "and go back to being a faceless voice where no one will talk to you!"

But Cid was shaking his head. "I cannot, not now. I must finish what was started. I wanted the whole collection but Sephiroth escaped while Terra held back my children. And you," he added, looking to Cloud and Kuja, "will help finish what was started. I must keep the dream of the final fantasy going. It's better this way, more quiet. They're sleeping, sleeping is how we have dreams…"

Squall was getting impatient with this old man's mumbling. Yuna, too, must have felt the same way because she summoned Ifrit suddenly, fire falling from his mouth as he flew at Cid. Cid barely managed to block it in time, and as Ifrit disappeared, Cid staggered, breathing shakily, the hem of his robes on fire.

Then he threw a shard of crystal at her. Jecht intervened, blocking it with his giant sword, but he staggered backwards himself, accidentally pushing Yuna into Tidus.

"I must sit on my throne," Cid was saying, seemingly to himself than to anyone else. "I must think this through. The dream can be realised." He left again.

Yuna examined her own shoulder. "I've touched the crystal," she said quietly, breathless. "It's… very painful."

"No," said Jecht in despair. He examined her infection. Squall could see from where he stood: her shoulder had started to crystallise, slowly spreading over her skin.

"Yuna," said Jecht, "I'm so sorry."

"It's alright." She squared her shoulders and looked at each of them in turn. "Bartz, it's up to you now."

Bartz was wringing his hands. "But – "

She walked up to Tidus and looked up at his petrified face. "We're together again," she told him.

"Yuna…" said Jecht. "I have a son. But… I also have a daughter. I want you to know that."

Yuna nodded to him, smiling bravely. "Thank you, Sir Jecht. And thank you, everyone. Please be brave." And then she stepped into Tidus and embraced him, lay her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes as if to go to sleep.

Because she was pressed against the crystal and had given in, it took less than a minute for the crystallisation to take over her completely. Now there was a statue of two lovers together at last, after being apart for such a long time.

Everyone stared at the lovers for a while, a moment of silence for their almost-deaths. Then Cloud said, "We need to go. If we can defeat Cid, then maybe Yuna and Tidus will return to us." He tilted his head toward Bartz. "If the rest of us distract Cid, think you can perform the Sending?"

"I have to be in the same room as him," Bartz said hesitantly. "He's sure to notice."

"We'll cover you," Squall promised.

"I'm not going," said Jecht.

They others looked at him. "But we need your help!" said Bartz.

"My place is here, kid," said Jecht, gesturing at the statue of his son and practical daughter-in-law. "I have to protect them. Besides, if the manikins come again I can hold them off."

"That's a stupid idea," Squall told him matter-of-factly. "We're about to end this; we need your help now more than any other time before."

"I have to protect them, they're my kids." He looked at Cloud. "You gotta kid, you get it."

Cloud hesitated before nodding slowly. "Leave him here," Cloud told the others.

"And then there were four," Kuja drawled as they turned towards the door to the throne room.

When they entered, Cid of the Lufaine was draped over his throne, chin resting on his palm, eyes vacant like he was thinking very deeply. Squall had never seen Zidane look such a mess.

To Cid's left Chaos was crouched, head hanging like scolded dog, breathing heavily.

"I believe it is best," said Cid thoughtfully, "if I just kill you and then reset your memories so you're more compliant."

Squall, Cloud and Kuja stood in a line together, blocking Bartz from view. Behind them, Bartz waved his rod in an arc, starting the Sending ceremony.

"What's wrong with Chaos?" Cloud asked Cid. "He's all… green."

Cid's gaze focused on Cloud. "I put a crystal shard in his temple," he said, as if it were perfectly normal. Then he sat up on his throne to look over their heads. "Whatever it is you are doing," he called to Bartz, "it won't work. I am far too powerful." He gestured at Chaos. "Kill them."

Chaos, a huge and impressive winged beast with four arms, roared and leapt at them. Three of them fought him off as Bartz retreated to a corner to continue the ritual. But the room wasn't as sturdy as it looked, and the magic Kuja and Cloud were throwing was starting to make the walls and part of the ceiling crumble. After Squall shot Chaos several times, Chaos stumbled, and Cloud hit him with an attack so hard Chaos caused one wall and the floor to cave in. it seemed there were levels below, and a strong draft wafted up through the gaping hole in the floor.

Suddenly Cid cried out, clutching his head. Squall could see that his edges were blurring like he wasn't quite whole anymore, and then Cid was yelling and throwing crystal shards –

Squall dodged a large one, but a second later wished he had taken the brunt of the attack. Because Bartz had been hit, purple shard going into his chest and out the other end. And Squall watched hopelessly as the light from Bartz's eyes was fading, and he tipped back into the hole.

Squall dashed after him, screaming his name, but then Cloud grabbed him and pulled him back just as the roof caved, stone bricks falling into the hole Bartz had just fallen into. Squall hated Cloud then, wanting nothing more than to dive into the abyss with Bartz.

Squall tore away from Cloud's grip, going into a raging Ex Burst and attacking Chaos rapidly. The god-beast roared and whimpered under the onslaught. Most of the room was destroyed; only the throne, steps, back wall and some floor remained. Cloud gestured at Cid with his chin and said to Kuja, "You have to go – do something."

"What do you expect me to do?" Kuja shouted at him. He looked afraid. "I cannot – "

Cloud looked at Cid, then Kuja, then the battle. "I have to help Squall. Just – do what you can!" And then Cloud was throwing fire balls at Chaos. There was no way he and Squall could beat a god, even if it looked as if they had the upper-hand. Chaos was disorientated but still extremely overpowered.

Kuja glided up the throne steps and took Cid's hands in his. Cloud was too caught up in the fight to hear the whole conversation, but he would learn later what was said:

"You cannot beat me, child," Cid told Kuja.

"I'm not here to beat you," said Kuja. He shrugged one shoulder and gave Cid a sad smile. "Our summoner and our mimic are gone; you've won. Here now in my final moments, I only have one wish…"

Cid looked at him with pity. "Wishes are something I can grant. So name it."

"I want to say goodbye to Zidane." Kuja looked deep in Cid's eyes and gripped his hands tightly. "Zidane, you are my brother. I am sorry, and I love you."

Cloud paused in the fight to look up at the throne. A bright light was starting to consume Kuja and Cid from their clasped hands and outwards. Cid was yelling, "No no no!" but Kuja would not let go.

And then Cid was expelled from Zidane's body, floating there behind Zidane, transparent and shocked. He looked like an older, madder version of Warrior of Light.

Then he turned his ghostly form, face twisted in anger, in Cloud's direction and flew right at him.

He pushed into Cloud's body. Cloud clutched his head and screamed. Cloud was bombarded by flashbacks, old memories, old feelings, and white hot pain:

Denzel's got the geostigma, Tifa had told him, bags under eyes that implored him with passionate sadness. He saw his mother's body burning but could do nothing to save her as the roof collapsed. A mountain covered in rocks skinned Cloud's hands and knees as he crawled up it with the other clones, moaning Sephiroth… reunion. And when he got there, he begged Hojo, please oh please give me a number. The sunlight was blinding has Cloud reached for Zack even as Zack walked away and to his death. Cloud clutched at the bars of his prison knowing that he would never be able to leave that basement. Then the lab assistants pulled him out thrashing and screaming but not even Zack could hear him, passed out as he was on a lab table, blood dripping on the floor. They had removed one bone and were going to put it in Cloud without anaesthetic. Sephiroth stabbed Aerith from behind and she fell into Cloud's arms. The pain of the geostigma was – is - is going to be a dull, itching and constant throb and Cloud felt the effects of it on his mind but still he let it. This planet is punishing me, I tried so hard to save it now it's punishing me and my – its – my children. If I could save the planet, I would save it, he thought, and if I could kill it I would kill it. Cloud had stood motionless as Cait Sith gave Barret a lecture about how Avalanche's collateral damage included innocent people, and Cloud thought, yes we did that. All that was left of Banora was a crater, and all that was left of Zack was a body full of bullets, and all that was left of Aerith was a ghost. A tank of mako –

And then Cid of the Lufaine was screaming in his head: "How can you live like this!" as Cloud, on his knees and clutching his head could only moan. "How is it you still function, with your blood made of acid and your brain full of trauma? You are more scar tissue than flesh, and you have the cells of three different entities, and your mind – your mind is irrevocably broken, your burdens are heavier than the sword you wield, your life expectancy was out of date even before you were summoned here and yet you are able to talk and fight? How is that even possible? How is it you exist?"

"I have…" Cloud whispered. "I have friends."

Not knowing if Cloud had kicked him out of if he had expelled himself, Cid of the Lufaine was out of Cloud's body. Cloud looked up at the transparent figure just floating there in front of him, expression of disbelief, silver hair undulating around him as if he were underwater. And behind him a real sight to behold: it was a humungous dragon made of gold and coal, smoke coming out of its nostrils in puffs.

"You will go," Shinryu told Cid, and then Cid was floating up and up and through the hole in the roof, and then he was gone.

Still sitting on the throne, Zidane held Shinryu's summon stone aloft. Kuja, kneeling next to him, held his other hand.

Behind Cloud, Chaos was breathing laboriously like he was injured, and Squall was on the ground but conscious, struggling to get up after his fight with Chaos. It seemed neither had won.

"Is Cid dead?" Cloud asked the dragon.

"He can never die," it answered in an ancient language that somehow Cloud was able to understand, as if the dragon was speaking right into his mind.

Zidane commanded, "Shinryu, I need you to cure everyone of the crystalis."

Shinryu regarded him with black eyes. "The only way is to end this cycle and begin another. "

Kuja stood up. "But if you do that, will we forget this cycle?" he asked.

"I will consume your energy and your memories," Shinryu confirmed.

"Then it cannot be done!" said Kuja.

"We have to, Kuja," said Cloud, with effort. Kuja glided over to him and grabbed his arm, helping him up. "We have to help everyone."

Kuja pressed his lips to Cloud's cheek and said softly, "If we start a cycle anew, we'll forget each other, and the time we had together."

Cloud's throat felt thick with anguish. "Yuna… and Tidus…"

"I can save them," Kuja promised. "You have to trust me." He turned to Shinryu and asked, "If you do nothing now, how long until this cycle ends and the next begins?"

Shinryu seemed to glare down at him from his great height, as if being questioned by such lowly mortals offended him. Eventually he said, "I can give you one hundred years."

Kuja's fingernails bit into Cloud's arm. "That's longer than a human lifetime!"

"Bartz…" Squall groaned from behind them. "What about Bartz?"

"I can save him," Kuja told him with resolve.

Shinryu left them through a portal to the Void. Kuja used his magic to lift the stones away from where Bartz lay on the lower level.

When they finally made it to Bartz, they found him lying on his back with a crystal protruding from him, rainbow light floating around him as if he were stuck between the moment of death and rebirth. Kuja hovered his hands over him and concentrated, but the shard wouldn't budge.

"It's not working," said Squall, anguished and frustrated. He was holding Bartz's hand.

"Way to keep the positive vibe up, buddy," said Bartz. His breath rattled in his throat and he looked very pale. With his other hand he took Zidane's. "Good to see you."

Zidane gave him a tired half-smile. "Yeah."

"I must – " Kuja began. Then he held Bartz's head and looked him in his eyes, their gazes locked upside down. "You have been a good friend," said Kuja, "and I love you for that."

Light shone from Kuja's hands. The crystal disintegrated into several shards of pure light.

Bartz let Squall hold him close to his chest as he died, and as the light faded, Kuja fainted.

And then Bartz was gone. Cloud lifted Kuja in his arms and together Cloud, Zidane and Squall waited for Bartz to respawn.

Bartz was walking towards them, through the grass and under the sunlight.

Zidane did a handstand in front of Squall. "There's some definite soreness," said Zidane as he flipped back onto his feet, then massaged his own shoulder, rolling his neck. "Cid never bothered to do any exercise and my muscles are all weak." Squall didn't want to mention that Zidane still had bags under his eyes even though it had been four days since the battle at Cid's castle.

After Bartz had come back to life, he, Squall, Zidane and Cloud with Kuja in his arms had picked their way out of the tumbled down castle. When they'd made it to the second hall they'd asked Jecht to come with them, but Jecht, sitting cross-legged in front of Yuna and Tidus, had shook his head no. "This whole world is a shithole," he'd said with a grimace. "Where am I to go? To Sanctuary, and live with all those numbnuts? Forget it; my place is here with my kids."

"We'll come back for you," Cloud had told him.

"Tch, don't bother."

Back in the glade, Bartz made it to Zidane and Squall. "I've been meaning to give something to you," Bartz told Squall. He pulled from his pocket a chocobo feather. "It's my lucky feather. I want you to have it. If we ever get separated again, you can look at this feather and remember that I'm never far away."

Bartz's warm hand grabbed Squall's and he smacked the feather into his palm. Squall stared down at it, a deep warm feeling spreading from his belly to his chest.

"Thanks," he murmured, not trusting himself to say anything else.

"I can't believe you two are together," Zidane chirped from behind Bartz. "Like, together together."

Bartz turned to him, back to Squall, and said, "'Course we are! Here, I'll prove it to you," and he turned back around, wound his arms around Squall's neck and kissed him deep and slow. Squall put his arms around Bartz's middle and held him close, enjoying the warm hard press of Bartz's body as he lazily explored Bartz's mouth.

Behind Bartz Zidane made over the top vomit noises. "Okay I get it, so you're not playing a practical joke on me, pretending to be boyfriends. So you know, you can… you can stop now. It's okay you can stop. Guys. Guys… GUYS!"

"What is that awful racket," someone moaned from the tent nearby.

Kuja, hair a lavender coloured mess, poked his head out of the tent and scowled at the triumvirate.

"Rise and shine sleepy-head," Zidane sing-songed.

Squall pulled his mouth away from Bartz's, but they kept their arms around each other, smiling shyly.

"How long have I been asleep?" Kuja asked Zidane, paying Squall and Bartz no mind.

"About four days," said Zidane. "And by the way… it's good to see you and… and thanks for – you know – saving me -"

Kuja waved him off with a pained expression. "Oh please spare me. Where is Cloud?"

Now it was Zidane's turn to look pained. "He was with you the first day. But then he left. We're not sure where he's gone off to."

Kuja took a deep breath and looked to the side. "I know where he is," he said quietly.

Cloud spread the map of the labyrinth out against the wall and set the pins in its corners.

He looked at his handiwork for a moment, before he felt a presence enter his abode. He turned to see Kuja standing in the doorway, watching him with a wan expression.

"You're awake," said Cloud.

"Either that, or I'm dead," Kuja quipped as he strode into the small place. He put one hand on the table. "This is where it all began."

Cloud swallowed down the lump in his throat. "Yeah."

"Cloud, what are you even doing here?"

"I had suppressed memories," began Cloud, trying to find the words to explain. "Cid brought them out, the ones so deep down Shinryu couldn't get to them. And they…" He looked at Kuja with eyes that burned. "Every time I make a decision, or I try to do the right thing, I somehow get it so wrong. And then the people I love get hurt. Kuja I… I'm no good to anyone."

"Oh I see," said Kuja, eyes narrowed, "you're breaking up with me."

"No! I – no." Cloud rubbed both hands over his face. "I can't hurt you again. And if I hadn't convinced you to run away with me, you could have saved Zidane so much earlier, and Yuna would still be alright and… you had the power to save Zidane this whole time."

Kuja crossed him arms. "Yes I held that power within me, but I did not know of its existence, or how to wield it. I still do not understand it or its potential, or how to use it without fainting like a damsel." He came closer and put his hands on Cloud's arms, smoothing them up to his biceps. "So you have made mistakes; it appears you are human after all. Or am I wrong? Did Cid show you your true nature: are you a Sephiroth clone?"

Cloud thought back, shuffling through the flood of memories. "I am," said Cloud, "but I also had a human mother."

Kuja went up on his tiptoes and pressed his mouth softly to Cloud's, their lips just resting there together. "One hundred years we have together before the memory of these moments are whisked away like a silk scarf caught in the breeze," Kuja whispered against him. "Let us not wallow too long in self-pity."

Cloud's eyes fluttered closed. "You can't save Yuna and Tidus."

"Can't I?"

"It took so much out of you to save Zidane and Bartz; I don't want to lose you again."

"We shall find a way to save them, you and I," Kuja told him. "You will complete the map of the labyrinth of heart and thought, and I shall perfect the magic that is held within me."

Cloud dragged his mouth across Kuja's cheek and down his neck. "Alright," he whispered.

End.