Chapter 9: A Heart's Decision

Kairi and the king gathered the books they would need as Sora, Sephiroth, and Leon watched on with varying expressions. Sora was pensive, worrying his lower lip. Sephiroth stood in a completely casual manner but his eyes were taking in everything. Leon did not even try to pretend he was all right with any of this, glare switching between Mickey and Sephiroth.

"All right," The mouse looked at the three near the door. He gave them a reassuring smile despite the uneasiness painting the rest of his face. "We're off to do what we can."

He hopped off the desk and headed toward them, Kairi a few steps behind. "Leon, keep me informed of everything. I need to know the minute things happen."

"Understood."

Kairi hugged Sora tightly. As she did she whispered, "We can do this, Sora."

He embraced her in return and nodded. "Yeah; Of course we will."

"Kairi," Mickey called gently.

"I know." She moved away from Sora and waved to the other two. "Good luck with Cloud."

They said nothing. She smiled a touch at Sora again and followed the king out of the room. Sora stepped over to watch them leave the library, a slight frown tugging at his lips. Once they were out of sight, he turned back to the room.

Sephiroth had moved to the desk and was collecting the remaining reports. Leon's glare intensified. "What do you think you're doing?"

"There is information within these that I find of use." The winged man smirked. "I shall return them when I am finished."

"Look, Sephiroth, I'm not doing this to help you with whatever twisted schemes you're planning." Leon ground out. "I'm here as a favor to the king and I'll be damned if I simply let you have anything that you could use to threaten this world."

"Relax, Leonhart. I have no interest in this world." Sephiroth studied the file in his hand. "This is of a more… personal nature."

Leon opened his mouth to snap something but Sora cut him off. "Guys, we need to get out of here and find Cloud!"

Leon sighed but nodded his agreement. "Do we have any idea where to start looking for him?"

"Well, he's obviously hiding from everyone so it will be somewhere secluded." Sora thought aloud. "I'm thinking he's out past Zero District, that way he can sneak in to get things like food and such and he can keep an eye on things in town."

"I doubt he gives a damn about what happens in town." Leon muttered. "I doubt he cares about anything."

"You do not understand Strife at all." Sephiroth idly noted, flipping through a spell book. "You would have had no hope of locating him without me."

"We haven't found him yet." Leon snapped.

Sora studied the winged man a moment. "You know exactly where he is, don't you? You've known since we got here."

"And likewise, he is aware of my presence." Sephiroth snapped the tome shut and replaced it to the desk.

"So where is he? Is it far?" Sora turned for the door. "Let's get the heck out of here."

"Leaving the castle is not necessary."

Leon angled his head. "He's here?"

"He has been all along." The silvered man smirked. He moved away from the desk and strode past both Leon and Sora. "Let us pay him a visit."

Leon shot a glare at the back of the man's head then glanced at Sora. "I can't believe we're relying on him."

"He's all we've got." Sora stated calmly. "And I don't know why, but I trust him."

Leon blew out a breath and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I hope you're right about this, Sora. Let's go."

--0—0—

Sephiroth led them through a complicated maze of hallways. Sora was completely lost after the fourth, or was it fifth? He matched his steps with Leon, who maintained a steady five feet behind the villain. The teen could literally feel his companion's animosity.

"Leon, I-"

"Forget it, Sora." The man glanced over. "I understand. As long as this pays off, everything will be fine."

Sephiroth abruptly halted before them. He turned his head to the side for a moment as if considering something, "Clever, Strife."

"What?" Sora nearly shouted.

"He's trying to hide from me." His shoulder wing twitched. "Too bad he cannot."

"Where is he?"

"One floor above and off to the right." Sephiroth spoke slowly.

"If he knows you're searching for him, what's to keep him from leaving?" Leon asked. "He's awfully good at disappearing."

"To you mere humans, perhaps;" Sephiroth resumed walking. Sora and Leon followed. "Cloud has not learned any true control of his gifts. He knows I am here because he can sense my presence but he cannot locate me specifically."

They found a staircase and ascended them. Entering the new hall, the former general again halted. After a moment, he nodded ahead. "Two rooms down, on the right. He's prepared to attack."

"Great." Sora muttered. "I'll go in first."

Sephiroth quirked a thin eyebrow at the teenager.

"He's less likely to attack me and if he does, I know I can block it." The boy explained. "Seph goes in last."

"Insist on calling me Seph again and this conversation will be a mute point, Keybearer."

Sora completely waved the threat off. He walked determinedly down the hall to the room Sephiroth had indicated. The other two followed, Leon taking the left and Sephiroth on the right.

Sora nodded to Leon and cracked open the door. "Cloud? Cloud, it's Sora."

He opened it further, taking one step in.

First Tsurgi dropped down before him, cutting into the door but rather far from his actual body. "Where is he?"

"Put the sword away, Cloud." Sora turned his head to met intense blue eyes. "We need him."

Cloud stared at him with narrowed eyes. As expected, he seemed to believe that Sora had some how been compromised. The sword moved but only to be angled toward the teen's neck.

"Knock it off, Strife." Leon demanded. "The kid's his normal overly-trusting self."

Cloud flicked his eyes toward the other and reluctantly withdrew his sword. He took one step back, eyeing Sora suspiciously. "What do you mean you need him?"

Sora acted like the door incident did not happen. He strolled into the room, Leon right behind him. The sable-haired man flanked the door and seemed to brace himself, meeting Cloud's gaze and silently willing the man to stay calm.

Then Sephiroth entered, light smirk on his face. He walked opposite of the others, placing some distance between himself and his adversary. "Good to see you again, Cloud."

"You all have five seconds to explain." The blonde threatened.

"It's Riku." Sora announced.

Something in Cloud's expression changed; "Riku?"

"He's gonna die if you don't come and help him, and we needed Seph…iroth to find you!"

Leon rolled his eyes. He spoke directly to Cloud. "It turns out Riku is part of the whole Jenova thing. In an act of revenge, Maleficent placed a curse on him, which made the Jenova cells start rapidly multiplying, overwhelming his body so that it will become too much for him and he will die. King Mickey managed to place another spell that put Riku in a stasis mode, slowing down the process."

Cloud stared at him, clearly trying to decide if the other man had gone insane or not. He looked back at Sora, then Sephiroth. The focus stayed on the former general.

Sephiroth sat in a dusty chair and began speaking in a bored tone. "This Riku boy is the missing piece of Mother that I have been searching for. The witch located a spell that allowed her cells to replicate in a rapid pace thus strangling the rest of his body's cells and ending his life.

"The King has used a different spell to counteract the one the witch placed and we believe we have located another that will stop the replication entirely. However, there is the issue of the additional cells already present." Sephiroth smiled. "That is where you come in."

Cloud finally put his sword away. "What do you need me for?"

"You are the only one who can take on Mother's cells without consequence." Sephiroth stated.

"Why not just kill them?"

Sephiroth's face hardened and his pupils thinned out. His words were clipped; "Those cells are a part of the boy, destroying them would constitute destroying a part of the boy himself. Mother does not simply release her children."

"Oh." Sora suddenly breathed. "So that's why they'd become bonded."

"What?" Leon frowned.

"Yes." Sephiroth confirmed, ignoring Leon's question.

Cloud turned away and moved further across the room. There was a large painting of an oceanscape hanging on the wall. He stared up at it silently.

"Does Riku know what he is?" The blonde asked softly. There was some barely heard emotion to his voice.

"No." Sora replied. "The only one who knew was the King. He never told Riku about any of it."

"Riku always knew he was somehow different." Cloud spoke absently. "He said he could feel something crawling beneath his skin. He said it was terrifying yet strangely comforting."

"That would be Mother." Sephiroth confirmed. "That was precisely how I felt when she first began awakening."

Sora watched the blonde man carefully. It certainly sounded like he and Riku had spent some time together. The tone of his voice was also revealing.

Cloud turned to regard Sephiroth. "Does he stand a chance?"

Sephiroth stared at the other, expression bland. Cloud, on the other hand, while his features were set, had eyes nearly as revealing as Riku's were. At the moment, they were filled with complete concern.

The older man's trademark smirk appeared, "If you give him one."

A muscle in Cloud's jaw tensed. He and Sephiroth kept studying one another as if waiting for the other one to reveal some vital, hidden piece of information. Both Sora and Leon were observing this intently.

Cloud folded his arms before him. "Are you going to try to claim him?"

"I believe that is irrelevant at the present time."

"No, it isn't." The younger man countered. "I will not help you create another puppet."

"Even if it means letting the boy die...?" Sephiroth actually snorted. "How very… you to push aside what your heart desires and allow your fear to govern your decisions."

"Shut up."

"And for a moment, you had me believing that you cared for the boy. I thought that perhaps he did stand a chance defeating Mother, but I see I am mistaken." The winged man stood gracefully, brushing at his arm. "Then I shall retrieve young Riku and handle him myself."

"No!" Cloud abruptly shouted. He darted forward and gripped Sephiroth's arm. "Don't."

Sephiroth gazed down at him. "Do you love the boy?"

The blonde stared at the other man's sleeve for a long moment before flicking his blue eyes up.

Green eyes somehow softened and what could only be described as a benevolent expression crossed Sephiroth's face. "Then you know what you must do."

"I…"

The expression changed. An angry light came to Sephiroth's eyes. "You have five minutes to make your choice, Strife. Either you save him and give him a real chance at life, or I will, and you will have condemned him to a life devoid of light."

Sephiroth turned and strode from the room.

Sora had long since gotten lost in the conversation. He knew that they had been talking about something of horrendous importance but had no clue as to what it was. However, there had been one thing he had noticed, and it was all that truly mattered to him.

"Come on, Sora." Leon pulled away from the wall.

"But…"

"Leave Cloud to think;" The steel-eyed man placed his focus at the blonde staring vacantly at the floor. "Make the right choice, Cloud."

Then he exited the room.

Sora bit his lip. He wanted to say something but found he had no words. He had no idea what he could do at that point that would influence Cloud's decision.

He was not sure why, but he found himself walking toward Cloud. He placed himself before him and after a moment, blue eyes lifted to regard blue. "You can save Riku, Cloud. I know it."

Then he followed the path Sephiroth and Leon had taken out.

As he walked down the hall, he felt tears forming in his eyes. He had really thought this would be the easy part. They had found Cloud and told him the situation. One good look at the man's eyes as he heard the story and you knew he cared about Riku.

So why was the man hesitating? What was there to think about?

Sephiroth and Leon were waiting next to the stairs they had come up earlier. Sephiroth stood tersely a few feet out and Leon was again leaning against the wall, arms crossed before him. Neither man reacted as Sora approached.

The teen paced around a bit before it all became too much. He dropped heavily to the floor, hands coming up to cradle his head. "What the hell is there to think about? The choice should be obvious!"

"For you, it is." Leon stated quietly. "But you are not Cloud. I warned you this would happen."

"But he loves Riku!" Sora protested. "I know he does. Why can't he-?"

Sephiroth turned. "Love is not always enough, Keybearer."

"It should be."

The slivered man seemed to mull over this. "Perhaps is should."

The blue-eyed brunette looked up. "Are you really going to help Riku if Cloud doesn't?"

"I could, but in the long run it would do more damage than good." Sephiroth's words were harsh. "If it does indeed come down to that, it would be in your best interest to let your friend die."

"What do you mean by that?" Sora demanded.

Sephiroth moved further down the hall. "Strife has one minute."