Since the Fall of Man: Flights of Fancy

Author's Note: Hey, thanks for the reviews all! Now go tell your friends to review, too, because I like getting them! I'm a bit upset at the formatting in the beginning, because the different voices were supposed to be spaced differently, but the effect is only slightly ruined, I hope.

Thanks to akiko for beta'ing and go check out Espy in my Favourite Stories or kikofreako under my Favourite Authors! This wouldn't be the same without her!


Come hereeeeee, little girlllll

Hey moron she's not coming forget it

'You're just cynical. Let him have his chance.'

|||What is it about this one anyway|||

His phrase was "tastyyyyyy"

Come hereeee, little oneeee, I won't hurt youuuuuu

'I hear they look down on lying in the world of light. Wouldn't want to upset them.'

\\quit acting like you care//

'It's called humour, loser.'

\\get a life and steal some hearts like you're not a freak//

Guys shut up he's getting needy

Little girlllll, come hereeeee, I want youuuuuu

|||I think I hear something|||

'She's getting away.'

Get back hereeee, youuuuuu little whoreeeee....!

Oh leave it it's over she's gone -

Yuffie woke up in tears, screaming silently into the hands she had instinctively clapped over her mouth. When she remembered where she was, she slowly unlocked her shaking hands from her mouth and realized she had shot into a sitting position as she woke up. As her heartbeat slowed, she listened hard for Aerith, but she only heard the calm, regular breathing of the older girl as she slept.

She didn't know what it was, but Yuffie didn't want to wake up Aerith. This one... This one was worse. Yuffie knew the others talked about things, more grown-up things, when she wasn't around but she couldn't understand what could be so much more serious than what she saw and heard at night. She shivered suddenly and became very aware of the darkness pressing in around her.

Too much, too much, too much. Without thinking much about it, Yuffie got out of bed. She hesitated for a second when she looked in the direction of Aerith's bed, but still felt like - not her.

So Yuffie stepped quietly and carefully to the connecting room, pushing open the door to Squall's room. She waited to see if either Aerith or Squall woke up, but the door hadn't squeaked and no change in breathing... She slowly clicked the door closed and went over to Squall's bed.

Looking down at him, Yuffie started having second thoughts and turned back. Then she froze. It was even darker. The way to Squall's room had been slightly lighter, a lighter black than the suffocating miasma that was the way back to Aerith. Too late now.

So she turned back to Squall, taking a big breath. Slowly, she reached out a hand and gently shook him. He stiffened with a sharp breath, and his hand shot out, grabbing her wrist tightly. She couldn't help a gasp but was proud of herself for mostly not making noise.

Squall's eyes open blearily and he squinted in her general direction. "Whozzat - Yuffie?"

Squirming, Yuffie tried to pry his hand off. "Yeah."

Dazedly Squall shook his head, trying to see better. He let her go. "Yuffie, what - what're you doin' here?" Sleep slurred his words as he tried to wake up.

"I - I had a bad dream."

Squall stared at her blankly for what seemed forever in the darkness, then closed his eyes and put his head back down. "Go see Aerith."

"No!" whispered Yuffie fearfully, starting to panic at Squall's apathy. "It's - it's dark back there."

"Yuffie, it's dark in here, too."

"But it's darker there!" said Yuffie. "Please, Squall? I'm really scared."

He groaned and looked up, staring her straight in the eye. "It was a really bad one?"

"It was the worst one ever." Yuffie tried to make her voice strong, but it still wavered badly thinking about those voices and those horrible yellow eyes and things scratching in the darkness...

Squall heaved a giant sigh. He shifted and pulled the cover up. "Get in, then."

Relieved, Yuffie hastily crawled in and pressed herself close to Squall. He dropped the blanket over her with his arm.

"They can't get you here," was all he said, encircling her shoulders with his arm.

Yuffie didn't say anything, just tried to drown out the images with Squall. They can't get me, they can't get me, they can't get me...

Within minutes, she was asleep and breathing deeply. Squall heaved another, deeper sigh and pulled her closer. When she didn't show any signs of another nightmare, he let himself drift off again. She didn't dream.

---

Aerith pushed the door open in a panic and immediately began babbling. She hurriedly to flick on the ceiling light and get him out of bed.

"Leon, have you seen Yuffie?! She wasn't in her bed when I - oh."

At the sudden light, Yuffie and Leon both scrunched their faces and moaned. Yuffie withdrew under the covers, whereas Leon just covered his eyes with a hand so he could work on adjusting his eyes to the light.

Even still, all that came out of his mouth was, "Huh?"

When he didn't get an answer, he attempted to open his eyes and squinted at Aerith. She seemed to be trying to stop herself from having a heart attack.

Concerned, Leon turned from his back into his side so he could get a better look at her. "You okay?" Even to himself, his voice was rough and bearlike. Quickly, he cleared his throat.

"Y-yes," said Aerith, still shaken. "I was just - damn, Leon..." She reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose. "I - " Leon watched her struggle to compose herself, fighting the visible tears in her eyes. Uncomfortable and for her privacy, he looked away towards the curtains.

"Aerith," said Yuffie, still moaning. "Why'd you turn on the light?"

Aerith stared at her, apparently not knowing what to say. After a few minutes of awkward eye contact, Aerith rubbed her face again. "Yuffie, I didn't know where you were. I was really scared."

"Oh," said Yuffie. She looked at Leon, as if asking what to do. He meaningfully rolled his eyes towards Aerith. Say sorry, he mouthed to her. "Oh," said Yuffie again in understanding. She rolled over to see Aerith better. "Sorry, Aerith."

Aerith nodded, firmly but worn. "Okay, Yuffie, but... Next time, can you tell me when you go see Leon?"

Slowly, Yuffie nodded back. "Okay."

"Aerith, what time is it?" asked Leon, eying the window even though he knew it would be dark all day long.

"Um..." Aerith shrugged. "I haven't checked yet, I just rushed over when I realized..." She ducked into her room where she knew where the clock was. "It's seven," she called, and came back in.

Leon groaned and rolled, facing down into his pillow. "Can I sleep more?"

Aerith giggled, sounding strained. "Um, go for it. I need some more sleep, too. I'll come back in a few hours, I guess. Are you going to stay with Leon, Yuffie?"

Yuffie nodded vigorously; Leon made noise into his pillow similar to 'Yuffie, why?' and Aerith laughed for real.

"I'll see you two later." She turned off the light and closed the door gently. Yuffie happily burrowed under the covers again, sinking into the depression she had created in the mattress. Leon, seeing nothing else to do, sighed and lay down in the same position. He had a pleasant few hours of dozing, with the only noise being Yuffie's slow and regular breathing.

---

Later, when they had all slowly and reluctantly gotten out of bed and ready for the day, there came a knock at the girls' door. Aerith opened it to find Hakim and Chikere again, both looking the same as when they first met them yesterday: serious but pleasant.

"Hello?" she said. "What's going on?"

Chikere smiled but was careful when she met Aerith's eyes, clearly remembering yesterday's conversation. "Nothing's happened, if that's what you were asking."

"That's good," said Aerith. "Er... Come in?"

"Thanks," said Chikere and they stepped in just to the main area. "Is everyone available for a few minutes?"

"I'll check," said Aerith, and when she had peeked into both of the mens' rooms and gotten all of them gathered in the girls' room. "So what's up?"

"Just looking in on you," said Hakim pleasantly. "Making sure you all still exist."

"Well, we're here," said Cid. "What can we do for you?"

"Actually," said Chikere, smiling slightly, "this may sound silly, but we'd like to ask that all of you come out into our streets. Come and see people, so they can see you."

"You really believe in community that much, huh?" said Leon, crossing his arms.

Hakim laughed. "One says that, until one realizes how suspicious people are here. Making sure everyone sees everyone means that we know who's a resident and who's a stranger - you can't be too careful."

Grudgingly, Aerith saw their point. They could all understand paranoia.

"Well," said Cid, "we're all dressed, I don't think it'll be a problem."

"Great," said Chikere. "Let's go, then."

She and Hakim led them out of the hotel and to the lobby. They paused there for a quick moment while Hakim pointed out where they could get food, do their laundry, and everything else they needed within the building.

Outside, the cheery light from the lamps met them and the sound of human voices going about their business. It was vividly surreal, though Aerith, to hear so many human voices at one time. Even more so to actually see people walking around.

Hakim and Chikere led them all around the relaxed bustle of the first district, introducing them to people as they worked, people sitting at the cafés and restaurants, the shopkeepers and most people who were passing by. The men and women seemed tense at first, barely making eye contact and handshakes were perhaps tighter than they should have been, but once names were exchanged, they visibly relaxed. Hakim and Chikere smoothed over every meeting and soon, they were all fast acquaintances with Nyx who sold potions and Edlène the maid who had cleaned maybe every house in town and Camille and Renaud who together ran the makeshift mayor's office, to name but a few.

"It's so lively," breathed Aerith, seized by the atmosphere that was quiet and yet filled with the humming energy of real activity. She savoured the sound of hearing her own voice speaking over other conversations in the background. For months, the hum of their ship's engine was the only backdrop to conversation. Even from this small street they were walking on, people seemed to find great satisfaction in greeting each other they passed; bizarre, thought Aerith, that people would be so happy to see each other but still be so suspicious all the time. In a way, though, it did make sense in a strange way. You could be happy to see another human being and still not trust them as a person. It was sad, that even though they had come so far to see other people, making real honest good friends with them seemed so impossible.

"Isn't it?" said Hakim, sounding pleased. "The first district is our pride and joy, so to speak. It's been complete for a little while now and it's been without Heartless since we finished it."

"It's something to be proud of," said Chikere, smiling.

Aerith sneaked a look at Cid and Yuffie as they walked. Neither of them had been there with Chikere when she told them about the Heartless last night. Cid merely nodded, but maybe Aerith was only imagining the skin around his eyes tightening. Yuffie looked visibly upset but didn't say anything, just clung to Cid tighter. Aerith resisted sighing out loud, but she wished she could without seeming critical of Chikere. The woman was only doing her job and genuinely trying to take care of them.

They ended their impromptu walk-around in front of the café, which was far enough away from the busy-ness of the district to be private and still close enough to still be a part of it.

"So, now that you've seen part of our small town," said Hakim, "is there anything in particular you'd like to see?"

"Sorry?" said Cid.

"Well," said Hakim, "surely you'd like to find some ways to fill your time."

Aerith and Leon exchanged glances.

"We hadn't thought of that," admitted Aerith.

Obviously skeptical, Leon snorted. "It hasn't really been the first thing on our minds," he said, half sneering.

"It will be, though," said Chikere. She sat down at one of the larger tables and gestured, inviting them to sit down as well. "This initial stage of adjustment won't last long."

"Especially for you four, I imagine," said Hakim, sitting down next to Chikere. Feeling rude, Aerith took a seat on the other side of Chikere and the others followed suit.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Hakim and Chikere glanced at each other, then shrugged lightly. "I suppose you wouldn't have noticed," said Hakim. "We keep forgetting how the uniqueness of your arrival would affect your perception."

"The uniqueness?" echoed Cid. "We came in my gummi ship. That's not unique."

"Not unique?" said Chikere, smiling. "Tell me, how many gummi ships did you see in the yard?"

There was an uncomfortable pause as the four of them realized they couldn't remember.

"A lot?" said Yuffie, eyes squinted in thought.

Leon eyed the girl for a second before Cid presented a real estimate. "Twenty?" Aerith couldn't remember the shipyard well enough, she just remembered it seemed to be filled with ships and light.

"Eleven," said Hakim. "Twelve including yours."

Aerith unconsciously shifted in surprise. How could it have looked like so many? It must have been the novelty.

"And most of those we built here with the supplies that came," continued Hakim. "Of all the people in Traverse Town, only nineteen of them came by ship. Now twenty-three. Three ships came from Hollow Bastion."

"Are gummi ships rare on other worlds?" asked Cid, hesitant for the normally very direct man.

Hakim shrugged. "To the extent of our knowledge, yes, very. However, we're missing the point of all this. People like you who come by ship have time, weeks and months of travel, to adjust and live autonomously by yourselves. Coming here is not such a big change when you've already realized how different your life is going to be."

"It's the ones who show up out of nowhere, directly from their worlds to this town, that have all the hurdles to jump," said Chikere. "I know it's hard to imagine, but can you think of what it might have been like to find yourself lost in darkness, the way it was when the Heartless attacked you, and then all at once be in a strange town with strange people and listen to them tell you everyone you know is dead or worse?"

Aerith carefully ruminated on that, trying to detach herself from the grief and fury that welled up in response to remembering that day. "Impossible," she murmured.

"Except they do learn," said Hakim. "They do manage after a while..." He trailed off, looking into the empty space between them and the plaza.

They sat quietly, not looking at each other, until Yuffie started fidgeting with the edge of the table and Aerith gently covered her smaller hands with her own.

"So now what?" said Leon. He was sitting with the barest hint of a slouch, arms crossed and a heavy frown on his face. Typical Leon, thought Aerith.

"Back onto finding something for you to occupy yourselves," said Hakim, leaning forward. "Is there anything you had in mind?"

Aerith thought about the chores she did to keep things on the ship running as smoothly as possible, but for living in a town? What she had to offer felt like nothing.

"I want to fight."

Leon caught them all off guard by speaking first. Still crossing his arms, he was looking down at the table with his jaw set firmly.

Cid snorted. "There's a surprise."

Yuffie frowned at Leon, clearly unhappy. "Why?" she asked, reaching over to push him as roughly as she could manage from a sitting position.

Leon's glare, though not exactly angry, wasn't anything approaching mild. "Because," he said sharply. "I just want to."

Hakim regarded him, all of a sudden somber. "You've thought about this, I hope."

"I've been fighting since I was a child," said Leon. "I'm not about to stop now." His eyes, forcibly blanked of emotion for most of the walk around town, now reflected steely blue, like the sheen of his gunblade.

That seemed to be good enough for Hakim, who nodded like that was exactly the answer he'd expected. "I'll meet you tomorrow morning outside of the hotel, then."

Chikere searched Aerith's face but Aerith avoided eye contact with the older woman, instead began tracing the whorls in the tabletop. Rather than sigh, Chikere just shifted and Aerith looked up in time to see her smile ruefully.

"There's really no rush," said Chikere, now making sure she was speaking to the entire table. "I don't suppose any of you have anywhere else to be, so take whatever time you need." She gestured widely, drawing their attention to the many rooftops in the middle of town. "Even if it's nothing steady, there are always people who need something done."

"Well," said Cid, "I'm sure we'll find something." His tone was friendly enough, but after he said it, Chikere and Hakim stood up.

"Just remember, it's not a rush," said Chikere. She adjusted her belt, which had ridden up as she sat, revealing twin pistols. "I'll check up with you in a few days, if that's okay."

Aerith nodded, jerking her eyes off the guns. "Yes, of course."

"I'll see you," said Hakim to Leon, who nodded, and then the two departed with smiles, walking in the general direction of the second district.

After they'd disappeared around the corner, Aerith turned a disapproving eye on Leon. Rather than ignore it or glare, Leon merely met her eyes unflinchingly. "What?"

"You're going to keep fighting Heartless?"

Leon frowned disbelievingly. "Why are you angry?"

"I'm not angry," said Aerith, mirroring his expression. "I just don't understand."

"What's not to understand?" asked Cid, now standing up. "He wants to keep fighting, it's that simple." He glanced around the square. "I'm going to head back to the hotel, will you three be okay without me?"

They nodded stiffly and with a good-bye, Cid headed back in the direction of the hotel. They sat in uncomfortable silence. When Yuffie began to fiddle with a loose splinter on the table, the movement drew Aerith and Leon's attention away from each other.

Aerith broke the silence. "Yuffie, I'm going to walk around town some more, do you want to come?"

"Okay," said Yuffie, face lifting with a grin. Aerith attempted to smile back as she led the girl back into the streets, leaving Leon sitting there, but she felt too sour for her heart to be in it. Yuffie of course didn't want to stay back and hold Aerith's hand as they walked, so it was up to Aerith to remain focused and keep an eye on her as she ran over to whatever caught her interest. To a seven-year old stuck in the same place for months, Traverse Town had everything of interest.

What was Leon thinking? He couldn't honestly be thinking of fighting more, could he? But for him to say it so quickly, without any hesitation, he must have been thinking about it constantly.

She hadn't been lying back at the café; she wasn't angry.

Following Yuffie's activity but inside thoroughly engaged in what she would never say to Leon, Aerith grimaced, a mockery of a smile. How would she, how would they, ever be able to cope with losing him? No, she thought, she wasn't angry. She was terribly, terribly afraid.

---

Blue eyes stared out but saw nothing. He lifted his hand in front of his face, wiggled his fingers, but couldn't see anything.

Where was he? What place could possibly be so dark? Slowly, he did a self-inventory. He was wearing his usual clothes, the sleeveless sweater and bloused pants that met the regulation grooming standards, his shoulder guard and of course, the Buster Sword hanging as heavily as usual over his back.

Now that he was sure body and coverings were intact (though he wasn't one hundred percent on his eyesight, what with the suffocating darkness), Cloud took a step. Solid ground beneath his feet. Good.

So he took another step, and another. At first, it seemed to be uncannily flat and level ground. But after a minute of carefully picking his steps, he realized that the ground wasn't perfectly flat, felt solid like rock and was actually at a slight downwards incline. Wherever he was going, it was down.

Every few minutes, he couldn't stop himself from reaching back and making sure the Buster Sword was still securely in its sheath. The weight never went away but somehow feeling the straps and buckles holding it there was reassuring. He wasn't alone in the darkness, even if his only companion was a piece of refined and sharpened metal that was incapable of speaking a single word.

After a long period of walking (five minutes? Twenty minutes? An hour?), Cloud froze and jumped backwards, hand on Buster's hilt. He didn't call for someone to identify themselves like he might have if this was a normal walk around the city outskirts, just studied the area in front of him. He stood there in ready position for a moment before he all of a sudden laughed at himself when he realized what had happened and put Buster away.

It's a common physical reaction when people look too hard into darkness, whether it's because they press the heels of their hands hard against their eyes or if there's really no light, strange shapes appear and they dance across your vision with no rationale behind it. I'm seeing spots, he thought, chuckling out loud.

He kept walking down the path, if that's what it was. So focused was he on making sure there was solid ground beneath each of his next steps, Cloud didn't notice when slowly, slowly, slowly, something approaching light was up ahead. In fact, it was so subtle, Cloud had to look forward and backward several times before he could be reasonably sure there was even a difference.

The only thing he could do was keep walking; standing there trying to figure out if that shade of black was lighter than the shade of black he'd woken up to was pointless.

And slowly, Cloud was convinced there really was light ahead. Like they say, he remembered with a small twist to his lips, if you see light at the end of the tunnel, get out of there, the train's coming. Amused, he began stepping more confidently as the light grew brighter and brighter.

And the closer he got, the more exponentially the brightness became. And as he went, Cloud was sure he could see colour. This light was green.

Soon, the light filled his vision and it seemed like daytime, though washed-out. Things about his surroundings became apparent, like the fact he was apparently in a cave, hollowed and chiseled rock somewhere. There was no other life to be seen. All these revelations brought more questions. If this is underground, why is there light? Does that mean someone lives here?

Gaia, this was boring.

After what seemed an eternity of walking and looking forward to a year of aching feet, Cloud turned the only corner in the tunnel so far and saw where the light was coming from.

A huge cavern, with lakes of glowing green liquid, stalactites, stalagmites and bizarre mist filling it.

"If it isn't a human."

Cloud whipped around, Buster already out and pointing towards...

A transparent dog-bull-rat-thing made of blue fire.

"W-whu - ugh - whu - " He tried to resist gawking at the same time as trying not to have a heart attack at the scare.

The thing blazed bright cerulean seemingly in amusement. "Well, don't die or anything." It was a voice like no other, a high clear pitched bell but as if there was deep rumbling static under it.

Buster wavered slightly before Cloud tightened his grip. "What are you?"

"Interesting question," it said. "Vastly different connotations from the question 'who am I', which I will answer irregardless of the fact you didn't ask it." A wide grin, revealing sharp, though immaterial, teeth. Cloud shuddered. "Buster is a fascinating name for a companion. You may call me by a similar one. Boomer."

Cloud, alarmed by this thing's knowledge of his sword's name, didn't have a response.

"Now," said Boomer, paying little attention to Cloud's emotional state, "as it so happens I'm not an outsider and you do rather look like one, I think I have the right to ask who you are and what you're doing here. And put Buster down, he won't do you much good."

Cloud swallowed and slowly let his sword rest against the ground. "Cloud. I have no idea what I'm doing here."

"Does anyone?" said Boomer, eyes crinkled in laughter. The sight put Cloud more on edge than when Boomer had shown teeth. "Well, Cloud, you've caught my interest. I will accompany you, at least for a little while."

"Terrific," muttered Cloud, sheathing Buster and turning to walk the path in between the green lakes.

Floating alongside him, Boomer cocked his head to the side, seemingly listening to something. "What is that you're dreaming of, Cloud? Be honesssst." The childish plea from Boomer was jarringly dissonant.

On a whim, Cloud decided to play along and tossed his answer over his shoulder. "Light."

Boomer's eyes brightened at that. "Are you now? Well - " Boomer leaned closer, floating close to Cloud's face. " - everyone knows it's the path to hell that slopes gently downwards."

Cloud rolled his eyes amid Boomer's cackles and marched further on.