Disclaimer: If I owned KH, this would all be canon rather then fanon.

Non betad version.

Swing Low
By: Tsuki Hoshino

Come the wild weather, come sleet or come snow, we will stand by each other, however it blow.
- Simon Dach.

With his hands in his pockets he strolled down traverse town's third district aimlessly. He'd been officially kicked out of the house for the day while the others prepped for the party. It seemed a little wasteful to him to celebrate as big as they did for something as simple as him being born, when the money could go to something more useful.

'But I can't say no either.' He huffed, brows furrowing in mild irritation. If he tried, Cid would accuse him of bellyaching and call him ungrateful, but worst of all Squall would get that mightier then thou look on his face. 'Not that it ever leaves.' He smirked.

In actuality, he just couldn't put up a fight when he had three pairs of puppy dog eyes focused on him. 'There should be a law.' He decided firmly. It was a crime to be looked at like that.

Although there was an equal number of guys to girls in their household the odds were always tipped in the females favor when they wanted it to. Not a single one of them were immune when they were faced with big watery eyes and miserable pouts.

Except for maybe Yuffie's. She'd used it so often she seemed to have maxed out her limit.

In any case, he'd been kicked out of the nice cool house, thrown into the summer heat and given heartless patrol. 'That's a horrible birthday gift Squall.' His scowl deepened as if the guy could hear him. Adjusting the riffle at his back he clamored down the last few steps only to stop dead in his tracks.

Black feathers were falling like snow, spiraling faster and faster as they slowly clustered together. They were taking shape and all he could do was stare.

'Is this…a heartless?' he wondered expertly locking his firearm on its target in record time.

"Who're-no…what are you?" His brows knit together and lips pursed as he took in the weirdo standing in the plaza's center. Long quick silver hair whipped in some sort of invisible wind, but it was his eyes that sent the hair on the back of Cloud's neck on end and his nerves on edge.

That he had a wing. A black wing. what kinda freak had only one wing?

Cold, calculative, cat like eyes slithered over Cloud's form. In the span of a second he seemed to come to some sort of conclusion. "Pathetic." The man murmured, scoffing.

"W-who are you calling pathetic?" Cloud seethed, pride overwhelming fear.

A smirk leveled at him sent chills down his spine. "Little boys should go home and play with their toys." The man mocked.

"Just who are you?" Cloud shouted, hand fisting in frustration. 'It's like…this guy knows just what buttons to push and when!' Before he could even blink that guy moved so quickly, it had all been a blur before his eyes, and in the next moment he was tumbling into a wall, leaving cracks in the surface.

It hurt like a bitch.

"My name isn't for the likes of you to know. Rather what you should be asking is why I'm here."

That haughty bastard.

Cloud grunted and pulled himself up, mildly surprised that he'd managed to keep his grip on his weapon despite his toss through the air. "So then…what exactly is your purpose here in traverse town?" He asked bitterly, licking his dry lips. He wasn't stupid; he could feel the difference between his skills and the winged one.

It was vast.

"Why, to cast this world into darkness of course."

He snapped, and fired a shot, only for the bullet to ricochet off a sliver thin blade. 'How..did I not notice that until now?' It was wickedly long and just as sharp. It had a far reach, meaning it was next to impossible to get close. 'This…isn't looking good.' Cloud acknowledged, keeping his gun to the level of his eyes.

Staying as far away from that blade as possible was his prerogative.

"You should have ran while you could have." Pale lips twisted into a sickly smile.

"And let you do as you please? No way." Cloud stated pointedly. He had stood by and watched as one world shattered he would not do it again. Nearly faster then he could keep up with, that one winged creature came at him and it was all he could do to just not get hacked to pieces.

At that moment, the doors to the first district swung open and revealed Tifa.

"T-Tifa!" He hissed, eyes darting back to the strange man he'd encountered. That guy's eyes hardly moved, but he knew he was examining Tifa just as they had him.

"Eh?" Tifa's garnet eyes flew wide open.

"Don't get involved!" Cloud cried shaking his head. "He's strong…"

"What a pity." A chuckle echoed within the plaza. "The more the merrier after all."

"Cloud…" Tifa's lips pulled into a frown as she quickly assessed the situation. "If he's strong like you say…then you shouldn't go it alone. I'm here, so let me help! Besides. It's your birthday after all, and I can't let you get beat up too badly!" She laughed shortly, before turning her eyes back to the enemy.

This guy was not a small fry.

Whatever he was, she didn't like it one bit and her eyes made it very apparent.

'Tifa…' Cloud bit his lip and nodded, cocking his rifle once more. They were used to fighting side by side. 'This guy is strong…if there's any hope in beating him, it'll have to be together.' He would just have to do his best and see to it that she didn't get hurt.

He fired round after round always keeping just out of reach, working as a distraction in order for Tifa to get close; every now and then she'd get particularly near, only to be driven away by that decisively thin blade.

'It's like he's playing around.' Cloud scowled, realizing the guy wasn't even breaking a sweat.

When the blade came a little to close to Tifa for his liking, she ducked down low beneath it, and managed a swift but forceful uppercut on her opponent, followed by a blow to the stomach. It was the first hit she'd made, but just like Cloud, she quickly realized it had been a lucky break.

It turned out their opponent was a sore loser. His actions and force doubled after that, and if was suddenly a fight for survival. "Damn it!" Cloud panted, leaping back from a flurry of quick swipes. 'Why… do we have all the bad luck?' Hadn't hallow bastion been enough? Now they had to deal with this maniac.

Tifa flipped away, narrowly avoiding a disembowelment. "Someone doesn't like contact sports." She mumbled under her breath.

"Now's not the time for jokes!" Cloud hissed.

"Sorry." She smiled sheepishly.

"You should pay more attention." That silver haired man stated lethargically as he appeared behind Tifa.

Moving faster then he thought he could, Cloud slid beneath the blade and her back, narrowly blocking the lethal swipe with his gun. In tandem, Tifa whirled around a second latter, grabbing the black winged being, and tossing him into a wall with a well placed kick.

He had grossly underestimated them.

"Interesting." He mused, watching them through hooded eyes. "But…enough play time." With that, this time he disappeared from their eyes completely, only to become visible when it was far to late to react. There would be no avoiding injury.

The blade cut through Tifa shoulder, severing muscle from tendon and bone and she fell back grasping her wound with a shrill cry.

"Tifa!" Cloud screamed, blood splattered across his face.

"If this is all this world has to offer…I won't even waste my time."

"Bastard! This isn't a game!" Cloud hissed, racing forward.

"It's always a game." The man corrected, driving the sword through the boy's middle like a knife through butter. "You just happened to have lost." He smiled then, green eyes glowing preternaturally as he raised the blade and the boy with it towards the sky. He was going to toss the boy to the side like trash. "Thanks to you…that girl is as good as dead."

'Not…gonna…happen!" Cloud snarled, gripping the blade as he pulled it deeper into his body. Maybe it was the adrenaline, or the absolute rage rushing through his veins, but he didn't feel a thing. Not even the sticky red liquid staining his hands bothered him. "I've…had…ENOUGH!" He screamed, slamming his legs into the guy's solar plexus.

There was a sickening crunch, and he flopped to the ground, sword and all.

"Not possible." That one winged freak rasped, clasping his chest.

Cloud's wound made a squelching sound as he pulled the blade free, his stomach flipping briefly at the sight of it. "Think again." He trembled slightly when the guy laughed.

"Your…not bad at all. So I'll tell you my name for the next time we meet."

"There won't be a next time!" Cloud screamed, shaking his head as he gripped the sword tighter.

"Its…Sephiroth." Still he was smiling as though he'd won some sort of prize.

"C-cloud!" Tifa's weakened voice cried worriedly. "Something's happening." A black pool was slowly growing around them, sucking them deeper.

"Now…fall into the darkness." Sephiroth laughed, bursting into black feathers the sword that had been taken from his hands disappearing into nothingness.

"T-tch!" Cloud struggled to his feet,hands groping for Tifa's in the growing ink puddle. "I don't think I can get us out of here." He said, lifting her to her feet, his hands holding her steady. The pull from whatever they were standing in was impossible to escape.

"That's okay." She smiled weakly. "Y-your not…hurt badly, are you?" She wondered, eyes fluttering as she fought away the spots in her vision.

He just smiled. "I'm fine." His grip tightened when he felt them being tugged in two different directions.

Tifa trembled, her hands gripping his arms tightly. "Don't…don't let go!" Her face was pale and wane, but she used what little strength she had to keep hold of him. Wherever they went, they would go together if she had any say in it.

"I definitely won't." He promises looking her in the eyes. He wouldn't let go, not willingly. But he was too weak and so was she. When the dark rose over his head, his grip faltered for only a moment. In that second, she slipped away crying out his name and he succumbed to nothingness.

When he woke, he was in some strange place, with some strange guy grinning down at him. Moving quickly out of instinct, he rammed his head against the unwitting strangers.

"Ouch, Geez!" The black haired guy yelped, jerking back. "Is that any way to treat a Hero?" He mumbled rubbing his aching noggin.

"Tifa, where's Tifa! And…where is this…?" Cloud hissed, holding his own head. 'Like a brick wall.' He should know, considering his encounter with one not to long ago. ' This…is the worst birthday yet.' Glancing around quickly he determined that they were in a wooded area. 'There isn't a place like this for miles around in traverse town…'

"The who and the what now…?" The brick headed guy wondered, scratching his x-scared cheek thoughtfully. "Well, I'm not sure what a "Tifa" Is, but as for where you are…I guess the closest place you'd recognize from here is Thebes. It's in that direction." He replied, pointing towards the north.

"She's not a what, she's a who." Cloud's snorted as his forehead wrinkled. "Thebes?" He asked tentatively.

"You gotta be joking…everyone in Greece knows Thebes!" The guy exclaimed energetically. "Where do you live, under a rock? Next thing you know, you'll be saying you never heard of the coliseum."

The stark look he received in turn was enough to say it all.

"Oh. You really don't know." All smiles had been wiped away. "Maybe you hit your head or something...I used a potion though. You had a pretty nasty boo-boo." He explained. "Not sure if those things work on head injuries though…"

Glancing down at his unwounded stomach, Cloud figured that would explain the lack of pain where he'd been impaled."My heads just fine." He corrected. 'At least now it is.' He mused, wincing at the memory of the head whack they'd enjoyed mere moments ago.

If he was here…where was Tifa? A scowl crossed his face as he climbed to his feet, for a moment he felt a little woozy and faltered, nearly kissing the ground.

"Easy!" The guy cried grabbing him by the back of his shirt quickly, before slinging one of Cloud's arms around his neck for a better hold. "Sheesh..."

"That guy…" Cloud rasped, clenching his chest. Something wasn't right with him. "That guy…Seph…Sephiroth!" What had he done?

The grip beneath his arm tightened. "Sephiroth…you know him too huh?" The guy asked, expression becoming grim. "Fate sure has a funny way of doing things." He said quietly, shaking his head. "Hey kid, what's your name?" he asked, blue eyes studying Cloud's face.

"Cloud." The situation was becoming stranger and more complicated by the second. "How do you know him?" he asked, eyeing his companion suspiciously.

"Nice to meet ya! I'm Zack." He was greeted with a toothy grin. "As for how I know him…to make it short, I've fought him- among other things." Of course, there was more to it then that, but it was a long story. "And I know enough about him to know he's bad news. I'm surprised you survived."

"I could say the same." Cloud replied dryly, feeling the guy next to him tremble in laughter, he smiled slightly.

Zack tilted his head thoughtfully. "Hey, about what you said earlier? About that Tifa person..." He clarified at the confused look. "You seemed pretty worried about her."

"That's right…" Cloud frowned. "She was there too when that guy showed up, and when that…Shadow pool sucked us in, and I guess it must have spit me out here." He shuddered remembering the feel of shadows slithering all over him. It made his heart clench just thinking about it.

"Ah. Well if you made it here safely from well, wherever you came from, then I bet she did too." Zack mused, steering them through the forest. "It's just a matter of where I guess."

Although there was no proof, it made cloud feel a little better to hear it. "Yea." He agreed quietly. "Thanks for your help by the way." He felt a little abashed by all the trouble he was causing.

"Hey, don't sweat it!" Zack grinned. "This is what heroes are for!" he cried excitedly.

'This guy…' Cloud thought, in amusement. 'Has a very puppy like personality.' It was easy to like him.

"So like, about this Tifa…is she good looking?" Zack laughed even harder when his new buddy's cheeks turned bright red.

"Don't ask that kinda question!" Cloud yelped, turning his burning face away.

"Haha! Definitely must be good looking." Zack said mischievously. "Lucky."

It was like they'd known one another for years. It was a little strange to Cloud who was normally pretty reserved. It wasn't an unwelcome sensation. "Her looks aren't important at all." He said. 'Well, maybe a little.' He conceded to himself reluctantly.

"Heh. Sure thing buddy." Zack looked completely unconvinced.

"Hey, where exactly are we going?" Cloud wondered, lips pressing into a firm line. 'And how am I going to get back to traverse town?' If he had a gummi ship it wouldn't be such an issue. Although he wasn't so great with them, Cid had made sure all of them knew the basics of piloting and repair.

"Ah well…funny story." Zack began, laughing sheepishly. "See, right before you dived outta the sky and nearly winged me, I was in the middle of a heroic expedition." Already Cloud didn't like where this was going. "So like, I was in the middle of hunting the Cadmean fox."

"What exactly is a Cadmean Fox?" Cloud asked cautiously.

Zack blinked, feeling his friend tense up. "Well, it's a giant fox; it's been causing a lot of mischief around Greece lately. Problem is they say its uncatchable or something. Me, I'm gonna prove um'wrong!" he chattered on excitedly.

"Mischief? What exactly does that entail?"That could be anything really. Stealing food, destroying public and private property. 'Maiming people.' Cloud supposed that as the worst. It was around that time, that a hot gust of air hit his neck, causing him to glance behind him curiously. That action landed him nearly nose to nose with a large, cold and wet snout.

Cloud gulped, and stopped in his tracks.

"Well, they say that it's been kidnapping kids and eating them." Zack recounted expression rather serious. "Of course they never found any remains," He perked up at that. "So who knows."

"Look behind you."

"Cloud," Zack sighed in exasperation. "I'm too old to fall for that kind of trick. Good try though." He laughed; shaking his head like one would with a child. All the while completely unaware of the situation. "Kids these days." Not that he was all that much older then his buddy.

"Zack." Cloud hissed, jabbing his elbow into the man's unprotected side. "Look behind you."

Zack winced, and mumbled under his breath as he glanced behind them. "Oh." He stated flatly, coming eye to eye with the creature.

It was a very large fox indeed, about twice as tall as the two of them. It also happened to be quite the trouble maker. As soon as it realized it had both of their absolute attention it quickly nipped Zack right on the bottom.

"Ouch!" The would be hero yelped and promptly dropped Cloud to the ground. "You little…" he began, reaching for the rather large and imposing sword attached to his back.

'How did I just notice that?' Cloud marveled. The thing was nearly half his size. It was a wonder Zack was able to lug him and the thing around so easily. He seemed to be making a habit of letting things slip his notice.

Rather then out right attack them or something he would have expected a blood thirsty animal to do, it playfully batted at Zack, swiftly knocking the guy over and the sword right out of his hands and into his lap- Thankfully on the flat side. "Hey!" his cry was more surprised then anything.

Cloud arched a brow as he got to his feet, this time without any aid. He was beginning to feel a bit steadier. "Zack…are you sure this thing is supposed to be blood thirsty?" For something so evil as to eat kids, it certainly wasn't acting like it. Trying to be helpful, he pulled the giant sword off the guy's legs, surprised at how light it was.

Before he could do much more, he moved out of the way when the Fox sniffed at Zack's hair. He snorted as it used a massive paw to roll the fallen soldier around in the grass.

"Eh…I don't think so," Zack agreed reluctantly, wiggling underneath the fuzzy paw. It was kind of ticklish. "That, or its just playing with its food." He thought for a moment, cupping his chin as he perused. He hardly seemed bothered by the rolling motion, though it was making a mess of his clothes and hair.

The fox, seeing that its improvised toy wasn't doing much of anything interesting for the moment turned to Cloud as a source of entertainment. It slunk low on its front paws, laying its massive head on them, as though it were about to take a leap at him.

Slightly panicking, Cloud held his hands out in a placating manner. 'Oh please don't' He groaned mentally, not sure if his body could take much more abuse. "Now be a good…fox and settle down." He begged, carefully placing his hands on its head. That seemed to please it, because its long bushy tail thumbed against the forest floor loudly.

"Now if the fox isn't eating those kids…where are they?" Zack pondered out loud, brushing some leaves and grass off his clothing before bending to pick up his sword.

"Eating them?" A child's voice exclaimed unhappily. "Sian hasn't been eating them." A young girl cried as she came running out of a copse of trees.

"Sian?" Cloud and Zack repeated at the same time, glancing at one another as they did so.

The fox seemed to recognize the girl, for it quickly trotted to her and lay at her feet. "Yes, its short for Teumessian." It was quite a mouthful after all.

"If its not eating them, then what's it doing with them?" Zack rubbed the back of his neck abashedly. He really could have hurt the thing. "And who are you?" He wondered on an after thought.

"My name is Procris." The child stated happily, patting the fox between the ears with her small hands. "And she is not an it. As for what she's been doing with them…Sian has a bit of a problem." She waved a hand nonchalantly. "She likes to bring home strays. Or rather what she thinks are strays, she can't seem to help herself. " Procris whispered conspiratorially as she flattened the fox's ears. "See, she sees them off all by themselves, and brings them home with her."

"Oh…" Zack trailed off, shoulders drooping. "So there really was no crisis after all." Which was both a good thing, and a bad thing.

The girl blinked. "Well, if you're looking for something to do, you can take those kids home." She suggested. "There's about six of them. My parents are starting to get fed up."

Zack straightened up. "Well, duty calls." He grinned over at Cloud. "No task to big or to small for a Hero, eh Cloud?"

"I guess so…" The blonde trailed off as they followed the girl and her fox.

It ended up being a pretty big task after all. Rallying six kids together and then trekking them back to the town they belonged to was no easy task. Especially when you happened to only have two arms and everyone wanted a ride. At one point they'd managed to form a four person moving dog pile on top of Zack. It had been a great source of entertainment considering how vocally the guy had complained at first before relenting.

Every time that Cloud seemed to slip into his thoughts and grew solemn, Zack had a way of drawing him out of it. So the time was passed easily, and by the time the sun had gone from mid sky to below the horizon they'd arrived back in town.

"Whew." Zack breathed a sigh of relief as they bid Farwell to the last of the children. "What a day."

"Yea." Cloud agreed. "Some birthday." He laughed, realizing it slipped out unexpectedly.

"Birthday!" Zack cried incredulously. "Aw man…I don't think I have anything." He seemed to pat around his person for a gift. "Hmm…"

Cloud snorted. "You basically saved my life, so don't sweat it, I'll spot you." He replied sarcastically.

Zack just shook his head. "No way man!" he tucked a hand beneath his chin and tapped his foot. "Lets see…" He thought, studying Cloud. "Hey…" He perked up, placing his hands on his hips. "How about some sword lessons!" he pumped a fist in the air. "

"Eh, I don't know about that…" Cloud trailed off doubtfully, with his luck he'd cut a hand, or an arm off. Still, he sort of wanted to learn.

"You're a natural though!" Zack exclaimed. "You picked my sword up like it didn't weigh a thing. Not many people can do that….besides, you wanna get stronger right?" He asked seriously, tilting his head up towards the moon.

If he were stronger, he would have been able to take Sephiroth If he were stronger Tifa wouldn't have been hurt. "Of course." Cloud said, stuffing his hands into his pocket, eyes boring into the ground. Guilt flooded his system. He could fight heartless pretty easily, but up against Sephiroth he was hardly a match, and that was where it mattered most.

"I'll teach you everything I know then." Zack smiled confidently. "Trust in me." He said, holding his fist out. "And don't worry…I'll definitely find you a way home." He promised.

"R-right." Cloud murmured, bringing his fist against Zack's.

That was it then. For the next few months he trained tirelessly. For as goofy and flighty as Zack could be, he was a fighting machine. Well trained, well disciplined and always pushing the boundaries of what should have been humanly possible.

When he had first met him, he'd been surprised that Zack had gone against Sephiroth and made it. 'Hell, I was surprised I made it.' Cloud admitted to himself, fingers brushing against the potion cured wound. Although it had taken the worst of it away, there was still a pale white gash where it would have been.

"Man, I'm beat." Zack whined, dropping onto the ground to lie on the cool grass. "You really give a guy a run for his money!" And in such a short amount of time too. It didn't surprise him at all. The moment he met Cloud, he had a feeling the kid was meant for something momentous.

Wicking away a few beads of sweat off his brow, Zack tucked his arms behind his head, and closed his eyes. It was already mid October, but the heat of summer was still lingering. "Boreas must be running late this year." He mused. " Demeter probably asked for a little more harvest time."

"Who?" Cloud wondered, picking his aching body up from where Zack had tossed him mere moments earlier. What had once been a burning pain in his muscles when they first began his training had finally receded into a dull ache. It meant he was getting stronger, he knew that for sure. 'Its still not enough.' He thought, sitting against a tree, and chugging down some cold water from his canteen.

"Eh?" Zack looked amused. "Oh wait, different world." He'd forgotten about that for a moment. He hadn't been surprised at all when he'd gleaned the information from Cloud. He'd known about the existence of other worlds since his encounter with Sephiroth, but that was the only person he'd met so far. 'Well…maybe not.' He acknowledged, remembering three faces from his youth.

Shaking those thoughts away, he continued on. "Boreas is the god of the north wind, he brings the winter chill, and Demeter is the goddess of agriculture, Grains, Harvest and fertility." He explained, pointing a heaven skyward. "See Cloud, this world is governed by gods. There are a lot of them, and they all have different niches."

Cloud nodded wordlessly. "Do you think they know how to travel to different worlds?" He asked, biting his lip.

"I dunno." Zack said, eyes staring up at the sky pensively. "You'd have to ask them." He laughed, as if he could feel Cloud's surprise. "What, didn't think they could talk?" He joked.

"I wouldn't know, I've never met a god before." Cloud replied dryly. "Have you?"

Zack sat up suddenly. "As a matter of fact, I have." He grinned, hands on his knees. "Wasn't the best situation in the world though." His brows knit for a second, before his face was alight once more. "Before I get into that, lemme explain something real fast."

All Cloud could do was nod wordlessly.

"You see, there are three main gods, who are also brothers. There's Zeus, who's the king of them all and rules the heavens," Zack began, ticking them off on his fingers. "Then there's Poseidon, who rules the seas, and finally there is Hades, who rules the underworld." His lips pressed into a grim line. "See, a long time ago, they all drew straws to see who got what, and Hades got the short end of the stick and its put him in a foul mood ever since."

"He sounds like a jerk." Cloud mumbled, chewing on a piece of jerky.

Zack snorted, clearly looking vexed. "He'd just take that as a compliment. The louse." Wherever that hot headed bastard was, he hoped he could hear him. "So anyways, He's always plotting to take over his brother's position and become king. Fortunately for all us mortals, he's always being foiled by his nephew. Years ago, when I was younger I went to the coliseum to try and get this legendary Hero trainer to train me."

Cloud didn't know what a coliseum was, but he had a feeling Zack would explain it, so he just followed along. 'That Hades guy…I definitely don't want to have a run in with him.' He sounded like trouble.

"The problem was, he only took on one trainee at a time, and already had one, so we had a competition to see who had more potential." Zack climbed to his feet, and holstered his sword.

Taking that as his cue to follow, Cloud picked up their supplies and grabbed his own smaller, sleeker sword, before trailing after his trainer."You won right?" These days it was getting increasingly harder for him to even conceive that Zack could lose anything, ever.

Zack laughed, shaking his head. "Hell no. I didn't have what it took to be a hero back then.
He admitted solemnly. "Rather then going to the aid of someone who needed me, I was only concerned with winning. Cloud, a real Hero does the right thing, even at the expense of himself." He explained, clapping a hand on the younger, shorter boy's back. " You have to remember that." They were words of wisdom gained from experience.

"R-right…" Cloud trailed off. When he was young, he'd often made believe that he was a Hero. After the heartless had come, he'd wished he'd been one. If he were a Hero, he could have stopped Sephiroth. Those were the feelings that nagged at him each day. 'I want to be a Hero.' He admitted to himself, eyes gazing at Zack's back. 'Like you.'

Whenever there was trouble, Zack went running. Whenever someone was down on their luck, he made the effort to help out, even when more often then not it landed them in sticky situations. Zack really did have lousy luck. 'Still…I want to be more like him.' Cloud thought admiringly.

"Now where was I?" Zack mumbled to himself, rubbing his chin. "Right!" He cried, snapping his fingers in remembrance. "So, we entered the tournament, and I lost, but a few weeks later, I entered another one and Hades was there. I don't remember it all to well, but he tried using the darkness within my heart to make me some sort of freaky puppet." He scoffed, looking vexed.

"Well that little plan of his failed anyways. A guy named Terra helped me out." For a moment his eyes grew a little sad. "Said he'd come back someday, and we'd have a real match, with my real strength. Never did though." It was a little sad. He'd been looking forward to it. "Come to think of it, that girl never gave me that date either!" Zack clenched his fist, shaking it at the sky. "Damn it! I'm a real hero now too…" He complained, pouting as they walked along towards town.

Cloud just smiled. "Maybe they forgot?" He suggested.

"Maybe." Zack sighed, nodding his head. "That's life I guess. Man, they were real hero's though." He said wistfully, before glancing back at Cloud. From where he stood, the sun illuminated his skin in gold and orange, the colors of sunset.

"A word to the wise Cloud- Stay away from Hades. That guy's a snake. I've heard stories where he promises to give people what they want, only to twist it, and use them for his own gain."Zack said, pointing a finger at the youth.

In this world there were a lot of stories of people going to Hades and promising their souls in exchange for his help on one thing or another. None of them ended well.

"You don't have to tell me twice." Cloud mumbled, having no idea that in just a few short years he would forgo the advice just given to him.

"Yea, probably not."Zack admitted, throwing an arm around the boy's neck and drawing him in close to give him a noogie. "You're a smart kid after all!" He laughed raucously.

"Ugh, Zack, this is disgusting!" Cloud shouted, face much to close to the elder boys armpit.

"Oh?" The black haired boy wondered, taking a whiff of his free arm. "Eek…" He shuddered and promptly released the boy. "Although, you know, you don't smell much better yourself Cloud." He sniffed in the other guys direction before recoiling. "Sheesh. Hope you don't run into Tifa smelling like that."

"S-shut up!" Cloud hissed, shaking a fist at him. Tifa was a touchy subject that Zack liked to tread on in order to get a rise out of him. It always worked too.

"Heh. Make me." Zack cried happily, easily dodging one of Cloud's strikes. "Last one back to the inn has to foot the bill!" He got a head start running.

"What? Wait!" Cloud complained eyes wide and mouth dropping open. "I don't have any money!" and all at once he was running after him.

Good times like that wouldn't last much longer.

In the future when all was said and done, he would wish he'd savored them more. Wished he'd been stronger for what was to come. For right then though, he was living in the moment. Though he missed the others he knew that for now, there was nothing he could do but wait and hope.

One day when a year had passed before he hardly even knew it, they were sitting beneath an apple tree stuffing themselves with the crisp and sweet fruit. "Hey Zack?" Cloud began, brows furrowed in thought.

"Hm?" The black haired man wondered lazily, mouth full of juicy fruit. It was mid summer once again, and the sun was being relentless.

"I've been meaning to ask, what's the deal with you and Sephiroth?" The words hung in the air for a moment as if all the rest of the world had gone silent.

Zack swallowed, and gave a short sideways glance to his friend. "You know…Sephiroth didn't used to be evil." He said, tossing his core away. "He used to be a great Hero."

Cloud simply gave him an incredulous look, as if to say that guy? No way.

Zack smiled, holding his hands up defensively. "Hey, it's the truth. When I was a kid, I really wanted to be like him." He said quietly. "People say, that he got a little to close to the darkness though, and it drove him berserk."

"The darkness…" Cloud mumbled, remembering Sephiroth's words to him.

Zack hummed idly and closed his eyes, fingers pressed to his lips in thought. "After that he just disappeared for a while. Then one day I was at the coliseum, and he showed up in a shower of black feathers. "I could tell there was really something wrong with him. It was the look in his eyes ya'know? Like he wasn't all there."

Cloud knew. He'd seen that look in Sephiroth's eyes when he went against him. It was empty, nearly hallowed out of any feeling at all.

"So I went after him and he spouted some stuff about how the darkness could make a person strong. I'd been there though, and it doesn't." Zack's voice was sharp now. "The darkness makes you think you're strong, but really all it does it block everything out. People aren't meant to exist like that. We need to have a balance. Once you get completely taken over by it, there's no turning back." He'd been lucky that Terra had saved him when he had, he didn't liken to think of what would have happened if he hadn't.

"So I did the only thing I could do and challenged him. I wanted to prove he was wrong, but it wasn't easy, and I'm not sure how I managed to make it out alive, but I wounded him enough to cause a retreat." When Sephiroth could have killed him at the last moment, he'd turned away and retreated for whatever reason. He had a feeling it wasn't out of guilt.

No, it was more like he had been playing some kind of game, testing him, gauging his limit's and capacities.

It was a frightening thought that he didn't dare entertain much longer.

"Hey." Zack grinned. "No worries, this time, I could totally take him and win!"
As if to test his claims, the sky darkened ominously, thick black clouds gathering and hanging heavy in the sky.

"This…" Cloud murmured in quiet horror, his blue eyes. It was the same feeling that had permeated the air in his child hood, just before the fall of radiant garden. It was the end of a world. ' I had thought there were more and more heartless lately, but…I didn't imagine this.' He thought miserably, springing to his feet. "Zack…"

"Already on it." The other boy stated, slinging his sword onto his back. "It looks like its starting in town." He stated, sprinting towards the vortex. "We might be able to stop it." The very least they could do was hold off the first wave. "Ready for a trial by fire?" He spared a smile for his friend.

"Yeah..." Cloud replied thinly, his eyes never wavering from that dark swirl. There was no way he'd willingly let another world be destroyed like his had. Without even realizing it, his feet were flying across the ground right alongside Zack's.

He didn't know what awaited him at that dark epicenter, but he knew he had to go. Something was calling him there.

I got two reviews for the last chapter. How…dismal. I'm honestly thinking of up-rooting this and moving it to the FF7 category. It'd probably get better reviews, but at the same time everyone would lose their alerts, and the reviews that have already been made. I'd rather not do that…

I dunno know if I mentioned this earlier, but when I was replaying KH2 I realized that at one point Tifa and Aerith are standing and walking around in circles right across from one another in the shop Plaza.

A lot of the times, if you stand there long enough, it'll look like their looking at one another, but can't seem to say anything and then they go back to walking circles. It's pretty funny because in my head their having this horribly dramatic inner monologue about the other, working up the courage to say something, but can't. I'm funny like that.

In any case it's something I'm going have to go back and fix in the first few chapters', because I originally thought the only other person to have seen Tifa ( Sides Sora, Cloud and junk) was Squall.

For those of you who are going. "Now wait a sec Tsu!…I dun understand, I thought that…: insert issue here." I know. I'm gonna attempt to answer most of your niggling little questions, or at least the ones I think your thinking of, but I would suggest asking them in your reviews, because what I think you might be wondering, might not actually be what your confused about.

Man, I love writing Zack and Cloud Bromance. It makes me sad it's about to end. That and the angst is about to begin.

Procris and the Cadmean fox is actually much different in mythology then what I portrayed here ( It's disney-fied.) Procris originally owned Lealaps who was the dog that was destined to capture whatever it chased, while the fox was never destined to be caught. Because of this paradox, Zues turned them into stars. For those of you curious, later the Procris in this version receives a dog who spends it days entertaining Sian and they save some kids and are placed in the stars as heroes.