Blah, long time between updates. Sorry. Sorry also, because this is the last chapter.
This world was odd in every possible meaning of the word.
I knew I was in pain. Some distant nerve endings were screaming pain at my brain, yet I couldn't feel anything. Looking down at my body, I couldn't really tell if anything had been damaged; I didn't know what was hurting. And I didn't know what kind of damage a Gunblade did anyway.
Standing, I looked around and found this place to be…pretty interesting. Twisted blue rocks jutted out of the ground and rose high into the equally blue sky. It was difficult to tell where the sky began and the land ended.
But I wasn't here to sight see. Hell, I shouldn't even be here at all.
Turning around I looked for a door – any door – that would lead out of here.
Well, actually, the door that had dumped me here in the first place.
As I spun in a three-sixty, I saw more blue rocks. I was about to set off in a random direction to see if that got me anywhere, when I noticed something shiny between some of the rocks.
That looks promising.
Picking my way over the rocks, I found myself standing in front of – what I hoped was – the back of the Door to the Light. Which got me thinking. I looked around at the blue rocks and the blue sky. Maybe the door should be called the Door to the Blue or something. Because, this place wasn't all that bright.
The door didn't look all that special. I mean, it looked exactly the same here as it did on the outside. Looking over its surface and around it one last time, I decided that the best thing to try in order to get out was to just push on the door.
Sheathing my Buster sword, I put my hands against the smooth door, half expecting myself to burst into flames or something crazy like that. Was I allowed to get out? Would the door not open? Would I be stuck here forever?
I could feel myself starting to freak out for a number of reasons. The number one reason being that I might never be able to see Squall again. The number two reason being that I might starve to death. I could not see myself being with food. Ever.
Oh, yeah, and I couldn't see myself without Squall. Either. Eheh.
Taking a deep breath and refusing to think about the matter any further, I pushed on the door and stepped forward.
Nothing happened.
Growling, I pushed harder and threw myself into the door. The door shuddered, but still, nothing happened. Dully, I could feel pain building somewhere.
Ignoring it, I took a step back and launched myself at the door. It groaned and then gave way as I fell forward onto my face.
For a moment, I couldn't see anything. Had I been thrown somewhere worse than the blue place?
No, the world was coming into focus. Everything spun about me for a little bit, and then it settled, like one of those spinning rides that leaves you disoriented even after you've stopped moving. As I slowly started to stand up, pain exploded in my side. Gasping, I let myself fall on my hands and knees, eyes screwed up tight.
Running into the door hadn't been the smartest idea after all. Even if it had gotten me out of that place.
Once all the pain had receded, I tried again to stand up, moving even more slowly. My sides burned warningly, but there was no exploding pain this time. Staggering slightly once I finally made it up to a standing position, I looked around.
Still in the cave, but there was no one else there. Taking a deep breath, I assessed everything else that couldn't me seen.
The first thing that hit me was blood. Old blood by at least a couple of days. My stomach clenched until I realized that I didn't recognize whoever's blood it was. Hopefully it was someone that I didn't like.
The next smell I picked up on was Squall's fairly recent scent.
I took a tentative step forward and nothing happened. Twisting around by small increments, I saw that the Door to the Light was still standing there. It stood there with a sense of authoritative finality. How a door could have authoritative finality, I don't know. But that's just what it felt like.
So, with my own sense of "authoritative finality" I took another step forward.
It was going to take a long time for me to make it back home.
"Holy shit!"
Cid hadn't realized I was in his room until I'd stumbled because the pain was really starting to get to me. And now, he was pushing his chair away from table, a bewildered look on his face.
"How the fu – " He shook his head and then simply grinned. "I thought we'd lost ya. Good to see yer still up and around though."
I couldn't help but grin at Cid. Even so, my voice was a little tight when I said, "Uh, Cid? You wouldn't mind getting Yuna would you? Everything kind of hurts."
He blinked for a moment, as if uncomprehending that I was in pain. Then he blinked once, twice and then realization flooded his face.
Yay! One point for Cid!
Cid grabbed a chair and dragged it over to me. Situating it behind me, he commanded, "Sit" and then walked out of the room.
I collapsed into the chair, grateful that I was home and that maybe, just maybe, things would be getting back to normal.
It appeared as if I had been inside the Door for a couple of days, even though it had felt like only minutes to me.
As I sat there, I heard footsteps coming down the hallway. Cid must have picked up Yuna and everyone else because there were way too many different footsteps for there to be just two people. My heart thumped double time as I realized that Squall would be there. Straining, I tried to pick out his footsteps from everyone else's, but it was impossible; there were just way too many different sets to pick out one.
Unfortunately, the way Cid had situated my chair, my back was to the door and I couldn't see everyone as they filed in. Sure, I could have turned my chair around, but why put myself through more pain? I wasn't even sure if I would have been able to get up and move the chair in the first place. And besides, everyone walked to my front to grin at me while Yuna was cutting off my shirt to look at the damage.
The only person who I didn't see was Squall.
My grin creased slightly into a frown and I looked over everyone just to make sure that I hadn't missed him.
Yes, I know, me miss Squall? Impossible. But, I'd rather me miss him than him be missing.
"Where's – "
Yuna's healing process made me wince in pain and I didn't get to finish my sentence. The whole fast healing thing was great, but the pain aspect of it wasn't that great.
"He disappeared," Tidus said softly, almost too softly that a human wouldn't hear him. But I picked it up and zeroed in on him.
Tidus was standing between Tifa and Cid who was grasping his upper arm in what was probably a vice-like grip. I winced again and said, "What did you say, Tidus?"
Cid released his arm with a glare, seeing that nothing would dissuade me from getting information out of Tidus, or anyone for that matter.
"He disappeared a day ago. We're not sure where he went." Tidus shuffled slightly under my gaze and averted his eyes to the floor.
Yuna pressed on my ribs, sending a jolt of pain through me. I snarled, making her jump, but I didn't turn to look at her.
"Thanks, Tidus. When were you guys going to tell me this? Did you think I wouldn't notice?"
Tifa shook her head. "Cloud, calm down. You're freaking out for no reason." Tifa, calm and collected as usual. "We wanted to get you all fixed up first. This way, when you did find out about Leon, you could go looking for him."
It was my turn to avert my eyes and look sheepish. No one commented on it though.
Yuna finished, saying, "You're all fixed." There was no edge in her voice, no anger. Just understanding and happiness. I looked at her apologetically and she smiled knowingly.
"Is everything, you know, with Ansem… Is everything done and over with?" Cid nodded slowly. "What about Seifer?"
"Oh, Leon took care of him," Yuffie said gleefully. The blood on the ground back at the cave… That must have been Seifer's. Good. He was out of our hair now. Permanently.
I started to stand up to go in search of Squall when Sora's soft voice asked, "What was it like? Inside the door?"
Turning to look at the mousy haired brunette, I grinned and said, "You're not missing much, kid. Trust me on this." He looked skeptical for a moment, but then he nodded, that huge silly grin on his face.
"Can we go now?"
"Impatient as ever," Riku half-mocked. I rolled my eyes at him. It wasn't worth it to refute him at the moment.
All I wanted to do right now was find Squall.
I'd left the others behind a long time ago. My nose down to the ground, snuffling through various scents and what not; I was concentrating more on following Squall's erratic trail than on whether or not everyone was still behind me.
Worst comes to worst, if they felt they'd really lost me, it wasn't as if they couldn't find their way back.
Finding a stronger trail, I loped forward, dodging branches and rocks and trunks of fallen trees. Almost there.
I jumped over a log, but instead of jumping onto solid ground, I jumped into a river. Shit, I growled. Jumping out of the water, I shook myself and then started to trot down the length of the river, trying to pick up the scent again.
When I did, it was about sixty feet downstream. I took off again, threading my way though the forest. I pushed through some bushes out into a clearing.
It took me a moment to register what I was seeing, and once I had registered what I was seeing, my mind refused to believe it. My body shuddered as I changed back into a human. He was easier to see with human eyes, lying on the ground, arms crossed over his stomach.
That's what made it difficult to tell if he was breathing. I mean, part of me thought it was ridiculous that he was dead. Why the hell would he be dead? But the other part of me, the part that was so afraid of losing him that it was going into panic overdrive mode.
Kneeling next to him, I moved to put my hands on his face and chest.
"About time you got here." I fell back on my ass as Squall said that.
"You scared the shit out of me! That wasn't funny!" I glared at him as he rolled onto his side and propped himself up on one elbow. The glare didn't last too long though. I was just so happy to see him again. "Why did you run off?"
Squall paused and frowned ever so slightly. "I was going to leave. Just, wander away somewhere and never come back."
My mouth dropped open slightly in disbelief. He was going to give up? "Why?"
"Because I thought that I'd lost you forever. How the hell was I supposed to know that you were going to come back out of that stupid Door? In one piece no less."
I shook my head. "That was Yuna's doing."
"Either way," Squall continued, "I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to face moving all your stuff to another room again. It was hard enough the first the time."
He looked at me for a moment before saying, "You know, you really do have to stop disappearing and "dying" on me. At this rate, I might go gray before I'm thirty."
I shook my head. "And that will mean what to me? You'll just be the hottest looking gray haired man I've ever seen."
Squall raised an eyebrow at me. "That doesn't mean I want to be gray. I don't think you'd want to be either. Although, I think you're hair is light enough that it might be mistaken as white, and people might think you're old."
I could feel the panic in my face before I even realized I had reached my hands up to my hair and was saying, "You really think so?"
He smirked at me and I dropped my hands. "With a body like that? No way." I grinned as he came and kneeled in front of front of me. Taking my face in his hands he leaned in and pressed his lips gently against mine.
As he pulled away I said, "So you think this is the end?"
He sat next to me, and then pulled my torso onto his lap, rubbing his thumb over the bridge of my nose. His nose was still kind of bruised but it was looking better than when I had first seen him with it.
"The end of what?"
I thought for a moment, trying to articulate an answer. But, it wasn't coming to me so I just shrugged and said, "I don't know." Pause. Finally a light went on in my head. "Do you think that we'll be able to wake up and not worry anymore about whether or not the other one is going to die?"
"Oh, I'd worry all the time whether or not you're going to die anyway." I reached up to swat at Squall but he grabbed my hand and pressed it to my chest. "Play nice."
I started to count the seconds because I knew he was going to say something else. I was just waiting for it. Waiting…
"Either way, it doesn't matter what happens. We'll have each other," he wrapped his arms around me. "We have our friends." We could hear them walking around somewhere, far away from where we were. "And as far as I'm concerned, that's all that really matters." I closed my eyes and leaned into his chest.
"I love you Squall."
He leaned down, and just before his lips touched mine in another kiss, he whispered, "I love you too, Cloud."
So, I hope you guys liked it. I think I liked my first one a lot better. Someone reviewed that it was a bit too weird to swallow and I think I agree. But, either way, I finished, and I hope you guys liked it regardless.
Am I going to pump out another story? Yes. In the near future? Most likely not. I think I'll finish writing the whole story first and then upload the whole thing at once. Or upload them at weekly intervals or whatever. I will be staying away from magical stuff in the next one though.
Wooooooooooooo!
Carpe Diem
Todpirscher
