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A/N: Installment ten!
Review please!
Rating (Chapter): T
Words: 1,030
Summary: Living forever is a blessing and a curse, one that strips away everything that once defined you. After 500 years and his share of tribulation, Cloud Strife stands as the immortal guardian of human kind. Will a prayer answered and a crisis' emergence, give rise to the only thing he ever desired? CloudxSephiroth. Alternate Universe. M-PREG. Dark.
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters; I am merely abusing them for my entertainment and for the entertainment of others.
Guardian
By Catsitta
Chapter Nine:
Cloud balanced atop a pillar of concrete, his black winter cloak billowing out behind him in the wind. Snow fell around him. The world was a playground of white. So serene…so blissful and innocent. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, relishing in the silence.
Here had made his home. For over twenty years, he lived in the ruins of some lost city. The people here whom made habitation after Meteor fall had long since perished, their ramshackle abodes easily repaired. Once again, he had found what was likely some kind of church or steeple. Places of worship drew him and allowed him a certain peace of mind.
But for the past few nights, his peace was disturbed.
Everything was quiet as it always was, especially in the winter months.
But even when the world did not ring with the buzz of life, the Planet hummed her song. Her silence unnerved him. As did the hollow undertones of sorrow. She was grieving.
It was late in the evening and he was about to take shelter from an incoming storm (dark clouds were thick upon the horizon), when he noticed a huddled figure in the distance. Curious, Cloud followed his instincts and leapt from the pillar, sinking knee deep in the collected snow.
Travel was slow, but the cold did not affect him. His only concern was for the unlucky person in the distance. After all, he was Her Guardian, and humans, he discovered, were something She deemed worthy of protecting after nearly wiping them out of existence.
What felt like, even to him, hours later, Cloud at last reached the stranger. She was small and delicate in build, definitely female and swimming in the bulky robes she clutched tightly about herself. Carefully, he guided her to shelter, his back shielding her from the now squalling winds. When they were to safety, he helped the female his bedroom, and set her on the quilted mattress. It was then, and only then, that he pushed back the hood of her cloak.
Copper-colored eyes stared back at him, stealing away his breath.
Cloud said nothing. He never was one for words.
It would be three days before the girl, one whom looked to be no older than fourteen, left the comfort of a warm bed and wandered into the confines of the ruined church. He watched her and she remained quiet. It would be another week before either of them spoke.
"I came looking for you." The girl said just as Cloud returned from a monster hunt, his sword still in hand. "She told me that you needed me. That it was my purpose to take care of you. To make you happy." She raised from the kneeling position she had been in to turn and look him in the eye. "You are as much of my Guardian as you are Hers. Gaia shared with me so many secrets that I have no one else to turn to. I am lost, Guardian. My mother was ill for most of my life; her mind filled with voices from the otherworld…the Lifestream. She said she always heard them whisper, but instead, they screamed. Then came my fourteenth birthday, and her mind cleared and mine now swims with chaos. They told me to find you. That you could quiet their pleading…their pain. And they spoke the truth."
He was uncertain how to respond to the nameless child of Dawn's.
"We are bound, Guardian, by a vow deeper than blood." The girl said after a pregnant pause,"The Planet told me what must be done to keep the insanity at bay..."
"I promised to protect Amarissa…swore to her that she would come to no harm." Cloud's voice was but a whisper, barely audible in a room silent aside from the sounds of heartbeats and breathing.
"You are our protector, Guardian. And in turn, we keep you safe. Until your soul can find completion and peace, my family line is forever tied to you. First born females will carry the burden placed upon them until their own child is fourteen years of age. At which point, they may leave or stay, pursuing whatever it is they desire. Until then, we are bound by loyalty and love to you…our Guardian. The Planet's chosen."
Cloud bowed his head,"I am sorry."
The girl shook her head, her expression cool and indifferent,"Waste not your apologies, Guardian." And then, she walked away, yet again disappearing into the bedroom Cloud had once claimed as his own.
Stunned with shock and emotion strain, Cloud let out a shuddering sigh. For all of their physical difference and mannerisms, he could still see Amarissa in those copper eyes of her granddaughter. But what did this mean? Had he bound the descendants of his cherished healer to a life of misery? No. He would do what he could to keep them happy. They were, after all, the closest he had…would ever have, to family.
Wishing the sword in his hands away, Cloud came to kneel before the alter, his blue eyes focused on the faded painting of Gaia on the wall. He could see the faint hues of the human portrayal of the entity. Long blond hair, eyes the color of Lifestream, skin as pale as winter frost, armored in magnificent steel, and in either hand, She held a sword and a shield. She was portrayed as a warrior woman, both capable of giving life and stealing it away. The tides of life and death were but an ancient lullaby of which She sang to souls each night as they drifted amongst the planes of dream.
"Why?" He asked for the first time since waking up in a world where Calamity was but a nightmare in children's stories.
Gaia, like always, gave no answer.
It would centuries later before someone would give his inner turmoil a voice.
Five hundred years after the WEAPONS' rise and fall, a girl named Rena would come into her destined inheritance. It would be in her dreams, as well, that a new darkness would reveal itself, one that could destroy everything that Gaia and her Guardian sought to protect.
A/N: (Yeah! I got the first part of this story done. Plot starts up next chappie. Yep. You all get to see Sephy-kins. Though, there are few more changes to the 'world' that will likely surprise you. Enjoy and review please!)