Hiya! sorry it took so long to publish this chapter but, well.. life got in the way...
Thank you Mayuko-chan for your review. it really encouraged me when I'd hit a writer's block (how i hate them)
but here it is the new chapter... so enjoy ;-)
Chapter 7- A New Course
Cerulean eyes scanned the empty horizon before they returned to the small meal he had stopped to eat. His eyes flicked up again to scan the empty wasteland he was currently travelling though out of habit. Assured that he was alone he leaned back against the sleek black motorcycle behind him and finished his meal.
As he remounted the motorcycle, wide sea green fear filled eyes flashed in front of his eyes. He growled at the memory from almost two nights ago when the young owner of those eyes had been dragged away into that dark pit. The bike roared to life and he sped off, silently vowing to himself, he would find her and save her. He would bring her home.
Alive.
-F-I-N-A-L-K-I-N-G-D-O-M-
Sora looked down at the small box in his hands, "what's in it?" Just after breakfast Squall had presented him with it and Roxas had received a similar one from Bartz.
Squall shrugged next to him, "we don't know. Lady Cosmos asked us to give them to you as gifts from her."
"You should open them" Bartz chirped from the other side of the table next to Roxas, "then you'll know"
"And it's that attitude to life that's made me have to save your ass all the damn time" Squall sighed as he grabbed a breakfast muffin off the table, "how many times has been now?"
"Shut up!" Bartz retorted angrily, "I just have a curious nature, that's all"
"A stupid nature, more like" Squall muttered under his breath. Both Sora and Roxas had to suppress fits of laughter at his comment.
Bartz just glared at him before returning his attention to the boys, "anyway, you gonna open them?" he gestured at the boxes.
"Umm, I guess" Roxas looked curiously down at the box in his hand.
"Yeah, don't want to offended the Goddess" Sora stated with a weak smile. Steeling himself he gently pried the lid off the box.
An orb of soft light sprung out of the box and swirled around Sora's body before settling on his chest and spreading to cover the rest of his body. Suddenly, the light went out revealing Sora in a brand new set of clothes. He wore dark blue almost black combat pants with a light blue-green shirt with red pockets on the front, over the shirt was a dark blue, short sleeve jacket that stopped at his waist. On his hands were black fingerless gloves with yellow stripes on the back, on his feet were sturdy dark brown combat boots.
"Combat clothes" Bartz cheered, "they look good too"
Squall smiled, "Lady Cosmos thinks of everything" he turned to Roxas, "try yours"
Roxas nodded, "okay," before lifting the lid off his box.
As with Sora, a small light sprung out of the box to wind around his body before stopping at his chest and spreading out to cover his body. When the light receded he too was clothed in a new outfit. He was wearing dark grey pants with a black shirt covered by a light grey jacket that came to his elbows and stopped at his knees. On his feet were black combat boots and on his hands were plain black fingers gloves.
"Now you two look like you mean business" Bartz nodded
"Yes, these clothes will be much better suited for what you two will face" Squall remarked as gestured them to follow him.
"Where are we going?" Sora asked as he walked beside Squall
"To the bridge" Squall answered, "we've had to change our course"
"Why?" Roxas hurried to Squall other side, "I thought we were going to Radiant Garden"
"We were but the Goddess wants us to head to Midgar" Bartz stated as they entered the bridge, "she wants us to find someone"
"Someone?" Sora looked back at him, "who?"
Squall answered, "Someone, if they are willing to help, who will be very useful in our mission"
"And scary" muttered Bartz under his breath.
Zidane jumped down from the flight deck, "who or what are we talking about?"
Squall walked up to the flight deck, "all clear?"
Zidane did a mock salute, "yes, Capt'n. We're five leagues from the border" he caught sight of the twins, "wow, look at you two." he grinned, "you look like real adventurers now!"
"Thanks" Sora and Roxas grinned back at him.
Sora looked up at the flight deck, "can I see what you're doing?"
"Sure" Squall shrugged as he check the controls.
"Sweet" Sora started up the steps, "coming Roxas?"
Roxas shook his head, "nah, I'm fine"
Sora shrugged, "okay" and continued up the steps.
"Well, I'm going to get something to eat" Zidane announced as he walked out of the bridge.
"Yeah, okay" Bartz replied absentmindedly as he watched Roxas walk over to the steps and sat staring out the window. Guessing what was on the boy's mind, Bartz wandered over to sit next him.
"What's up?" he glanced over to see Roxas hunch his shoulders slightly.
"Well, it's just that…" Roxas paused before the rest of his words came gushing out, "this time yesterday, me and Sora were on our way to school just like always then our house blows up, we're attacked by heartless, find out our parents were hiding all this stuff and were kidnapped because of it and now I'm sitting here just trying to digest everything that happened"
Bartz let out a sigh, "yeah, that's kinda of a lot of stuff to take in"
Roxas shot him a glare, "kinda of?"
Bartz shrugged, "that just how the world goes, I guess"
"You guess?" Roxas shook his head, "great choose of word"
Bartz held his hands up in defeat and smiled sadly, "sorry, I'm not very good at this"
Roxas shook his head again, "no, it's okay. I'm the one who should be sorry"
Bartz looked at him in confusion, "umm, why?"
Roxas sighed, "I lashed out at you because I'm confused and angry"
"Not to be too insensitive, but Sora seems to be taking it all in his stride" Bartz gestured up to the bridge where Squall was patiently answering Sora's questions about the airship.
"Sora's always been able to adjust quick then me" Roxas replied, "I guess I'm a bit more a settled then he is"
Bartz thought for a moment, "Yeah, just because your twins doesn't mean you're the same"
Roxas nodded, "yeah" he looked up at Bartz, "so, who lives in Midgar that we have to meet?"
Bartz opened his mouth to reply but he was interrupted by Sora yelling, "What is That!?"
Roxas and Bartz looked at each other before they rushed to the forward facing window. A dark column resembling a tornado was rising out of a black mist that was covering the ground.
"That would be bad" Bartz gasped as he spun to look up at Squall, "what do we do?"
"Umm, avoid it?" offered Sora
"I like that idea" Roxas nodded
Squall frowned, "well, we need to go around it because it's resting right on the border between Midgar and Hollow Bastion"
Bartz turned back to the window to take a closer look at the vortex when he noticed something flash at the bottom of it. He frowned and moved closer to the window when he saw the flash again and again.
"Umm, I gonna sound crazy" Bartz looked back at the others, "but I think someone is down there"
"What?" Squall exclaimed.
Roxas raced over to the window, "there's something flashing from the edge of that tornado thing"
Sora looked at Squall, "what now?"
"We go down and see who or what is down there" Squall began to readjust the control and guide the airship down closer to the ground.
-F-I-N-A-L-K-I-N-G-D-O-M-
With the airship hovering just above the ground, Squall opened the bay doors and let down the ramp so that they could get to the ground. Bartz and Zidane were preparing themselves for battle while Sora and Roxas watched.
Finishing the landing procedure, Squall turned to the twins, "you two are to stay here in the airship until we return understand?"
"Perfectly" Sora replied while Roxas nodded his agreement
Bartz stepped onto the ramped, "ready?"
Zidane stepped after him, "as I'll ever be"
"We'll be back soon so don't worry" Squall reassured the boys as he walked out on to the ramp. Walking together, the three Heroes across the hundred or so meters to the edge of the black swirling cloud.
"See anything?" Bartz asked as he peered into the clouds, careful not to get any closer.
Squall eyes scanned the swirling clouds carefully, "nothing yet"
Zidane screwed up his eyes as he too peered into the dark cloud. Following a feeling he looked up then to the left and right. A few seconds of moving his gaze from left to right he realized that they were looking at a giant silhouette of something that was in the cloud. And it was getting larger!
"Umm, I don't wanna sound crazy or anything" Zidane began, "but I think there's something in there" Bartz and Squall looked at him in surprise.
"You sure?" Bartz questioned as he returned his attention to the cloud.
Zidane nodded once, "yep"
"Zidane, what mak-" Squall was interrupted by a large thud.
"What was that?" Bartz took a step back from the cloud just as they heard another loud thud.
"Something big," Zidane replied, "by the sound of those thuds"
"Whatever it is, I'm guessing it's not a good thing" Squall stated calmly.
The three Heroes waited silently as the thuds continued to get closer and closer. Just as the thuds seemed almost on top of them they stopped and a large black dragon-like claw emerged from the cloud and would have come down straight on the Heroes if they hadn't of dodged backwards out of the way.
As the claw dug into the ground, it was followed by a large black dragon shaped creature. Glowing red eyes zoned in on the three humans as it began to snarl showing large pure white fangs. Taking a step forward, the creature let a demonic roar that seemed to shake the ground as it reared up, revealing a purple heart with red cross though it on its chest.
"Heartless" Squall growled out as he prepared to fight.
"Great" Bartz took his battle stance.
Zidane rolled his shoulders, "guess we should have known"
The dragon Heartless front legs hit the ground with a resounding thud as it began to bunch up its hind legs in preparation to leap at and attack the three men. It began to let out a deep snarl when it was interrupted by a giant fire ball hitting it in the back of the head. The Heartless swung its head around and glared back into the depths of the dark cloud.
Bartz tilted his head, "where did that come from?"
Zidane shrugged, "don't know but I hope they friendly"
Squall eyes didn't leave the Heartless as it turned its head back around to face them, "I think the Heartless might have been running from whatever cast that spell"
"You mean, something's chasing that?!" Zidane gestured at the Heartless.
"Well, that fireball didn't just come from nowhere" Squall pointed out
"Got to agree with you there" Bartz conceded, "so, do we want to meet the person that can make a massive Heartless run away from them?"
Squall paused for a moment, "Zidane, how far from the border were we when we put down?"
"Ummm" Zidane Shrugged, "About one or two leagues, I think"
A thoughtful look passed over Squall's face, "it could be…." he trailed off as the Heartless let out another roar.
Bartz smiled grimly, "I guess it doesn't like being ignored"
Zidane grinned mischievous, "then we bested give it our full attention then"
Bartz grinned as well, "I think we should"
The two of them took a step forward and prepared to summon their weapons but before they could another fireball came out of the black mist, striking the Heartless in the side making it falter and growl in pain.
Focusing in on the three humans, it roared in pain and anger before launching at them. Zidane and Bartz managed to dodge to the right while Squall to the left where he was forced to evaded to the side again to avoid razor sharp teeth that snapped at him.
"Hey" Squall yelled as he ducked under a claw swipe, "A little assistant would be welcome!"
"Gotcha" Zidane picked up a rock and threw as hard as he could at the Heartless' head, "hey ugly, over here!"
The Heartless snarled as the rock collided with it head, it swung round to face Zidane, giving Bartz an opening to hit it with a wind spell, in the form of a spear, in the side. Howling in pain, the Heartless lashed out blindly making Zidane evade backwards however his attempt at escape was foiled when he tripped on a rock and was sent sprawling onto his back.
Zidane gasped in pain and opened his eyes to see the Heartless preparing to slash down at him with it claws. He braced for impact as he knew nether Squall or Bartz were close another to save him or distract it from the kill. As the claw began to swing down, he instinctually covered his head with his arms and closed his eyes. Just at that moment, he felt something movement above him and then heard the clash of hard bone against steel.
Opening his eyes and lowering his arms, he saw a person in dressed in black clothes standing in front of him parrying the Heartless' claw with his larger than normal sword.
"What are you waiting for?" the person growled at him, "Move!"
Zidane scrambled to his feet just as the Heartless threw the person up and backward. However, the mysterious person managed to flip and land up right before settling into a relaxed battle stance. Zidane retreated back to stand beside him and looked up to see the face of their ally. He grinned when he saw blonde spikey hair and glowing cerulean eyes. There was no one he wanted more at his side fighting a giant monster then the Hero of Midgar itself and one of the strongest Heroes of Cosmos.
Cloud Strife.
