Sadistic-neko: To those of you wondering, yes I am still alive. So much shit has been going on for the last couple of months that I could not find it in myself to type anything. When I finally got around to working on my stories, I didn't have wify. Same old, same old. Any way, I will be in the wify dead zone again soon with the oldest, shitiest computer you can imagine, so updates will have to wait again for a while. I will still be working on the stories and will add new chapters when I can. Just so everyone knows, I have a policy of working on one story at a time so I don't mix up plots and Little Surprises is up next. After that is Tou-san. So, unless I suddenly have some random spark of unstoppable inspiration, this will not be updated for a little while. It will not be abandoned though! It is one of my precious babies and shall be finished even if-
Axel: Okay kitty cat, that's enough. (sweat drops at glare directed at him) You were rambling and you know. I will handle the disclaimer. (Turns to readers) Sadistic-neko does not own Kingdom hearts and hopes that you all will enjoy her latest chapter.
"So," I said, sitting next to Sephiroth as Zack talked to Phil about the newest tournament. It was to start in a matter of hours. Mom was helping Sora with a form that he was having a particularly hard time with. "You used to be a general?"
"Yes." The silver haired man gave short, simple answers. Like mom and dad, he was a man of few words.
"Were you the only one?" He shook his head. "Who were the others? Would I have heard about them?"
"They were Angeal and Genesis." I recognized the first name.
"Wasn't Angeal Zack's mentor?" The tall man nodded.
"Yes." There was a small pause as he seemed to become amused. "He was also the one who started Zack's nickname."
"What's that?" I asked, my head tilted to the side as I stared at the man as his lips curled ever so slightly into a smirk.
"Puppy." There was a moment of silence before I burst out laughing. It definitely suited him. The man was eager to please, was loyal to a fault, and followed Sephiroth like a stray looking for a home.
"How did that happen?" The words were practically barked out as I struggled to compose myself and start breathing again.
"He always described Zack as being like a puppy. It just stuck. Even Angeal's mother called him that." One small, melancholy chuckle escaped him as we sat in comfortable silence. I could see why he, dad, and Zack were friends. Though Sephiroth was a little intimidating and Zack was more hyper than Sora the time he was left alone with a bag of powdered sugar doughnut holes, they were both good people who would do anything for those that they cared about. I couldn't even imagine what Sephiroth was like when he went psycho.
"What about the other guy? Genesis?" The radioactive glow of his aqua eyes dimmed. His fist clenched ever so slightly, his jaw tensed. I sat up, eyeing him carefully. He was uncomfortable, upset even. Whatever this guy did was bad.
"He is the one who started all of the events that led to meteor fall." I could feel my brow scrunch. Apparently the question I was about to ask was clear on my face, because Sephiroth continued. "The three of us, being the strongest members of SOLDIER, became friends. Until Zack came around, we could only be natural around each other. There was no fear during our interactions. What was there for the others to fear? We were all the same rank and, as far as anyone else was concerned, approximately the same strength. That wasn't the case, though, a fact that irritated Genesis. I was different than him and Angeal. Stronger, faster, and, most importantly, more physically stable than either one of them."
"What do you mean?" I was worried for the guy's mental health as he let out a dark, scornful laugh.
"They were part of a different project than I was. Angeal was the near perfect one. Like me, the experiment was performed on him while in the womb. Unlike Genesis, he did not suffer from degradation of the cells. When Genesis betrayed Shinra, Angeal left too to try and convince his childhood friend to stop. In the end, he could not join him or kill him, so he fought Zack, died by his hand and gave him the buster sword that had been passed down in his family for generations. Genesis was the one who told me of my origins and why I was different which is what led to me going insane and trying to destroy the world. Zack was then the one who killed him in the end." I was silent. My respect for Zack grew with every word. I couldn't even imagine what it must have been like to kill your own mentor who was like family to you and then be betrayed and almost killed by a friend only to have to kill the last member of your mentor's former group. What must it have taken to be able to smile and be as cheerful as the SOLDIER first class that I owed my father's life to could? "Speak of the devil."
I looked up as I heard the quiet words. As he said, speak of the devil. Zack was running up to us, signaling mom and Sora to come over too. We were all worried when we noticed how agitated he looked. He even fidgeted as he stood, waiting for my mom and brother.
"Is something wrong?" mom asked, worrying like any mother would. Zack's black hair flailed as he nodded.
"I was just talking to Phil about the tournament. When I asked him if anyone looked particularly promising, he told me that there is a newcomer who he thought would do well. He said that he's tall, has spiky blonde hair, eyes a lot like mine and carried a huge sword like mine. I asked if he had the person's name and he checked the roster." We all tensed, knowing what he was going to say. "It's Cloud. I don't know why, but he's going to fight in the tournament."
"That's not too bad, right?" Sora asked as he wrung his hands nervously. "I mean, dad is really strong and he can hold his own."
"That's not the problem," Zack replied, looking even more grave. "He's being sponsored by Hades."
The name alone sent shivers down my spine. Combine that with the look on Zack's normally happy face, and it was absolutely certain that he couldn't be good.
"Who is 'Hades'?" mom asked, clearly worried for dad. His concern shot through the roof as mako enhanced eye met his gray ones in wavering pain.
"He is the god of the underworld who watches over the souls of the dead. He also manipulates the darkness in this word. He is the reason that I've had issues in this world before, but he is also the reason that I met Seph again." The four of us, Sora, mom, Sephiroth, and me, tensed as Zack took in a deep, shaky breath. "When I first came to this world, I had been dead too long to come back my actual age, so I was, basically, reborn. Until about three years ago, I didn't even remember living on Gaia. I couldn't figure out why I was so strong compared to the other people here, or why I was so determined to be a hero. I most certainly didn't know why I was always so excited when I met a person with bright aquamarine eyes or silver hair. What was really concerning, though, was the little control I had over myself. At first, it wasn't so bad. I would have the occasional temper tantrum as a child, got into fights as a young teen. It was only when I was about Roxas and Sora's age that it got bad. Thankfully, I was allowed to enter the games and vent some of that inexplicable bloodlust, but it kept getting worse. During my first tournament, Hades used his control over the darkness to possess me and make me attack friends. I thought that it was because I was so desperate to get into the games and make a name for myself so I left myself open, but it happened again during the next tournament too. I knew damn well what was happening that time, but couldn't fight it like any other person would have been able to. After that, my mind would wander off, and I began to lose my ability tell friend from foe. Little by little I was losing my sanity. Finally, it got so bad that Herc, my best friend on this world and the son of a god, had to physically restrain me with his incredible strength to keep me from attacking the crowd after one of the battles. It was during that particular fit that I remembered being in SOLDIER, and having mako in me. It finally all made sense. The mako was enhancing my strength, and slowly destroying my mind. Because of how weak my mind was becoming without something to ground me, I was like a little puppet for people like Hade who could bend the darkness to their will to control as they saw fit. Not wanting to endanger anyone pointlessly, I left this world to find a place where I wouldn't have to worry about something like that so I could try and learn how to help myself. Instead, I ran into Sephiroth, who was doing the same thing. We quickly realized that what we needed to stay sane was each other. Perfectly sure that we wouldn't lose ourselves anymore, we came back here to try and make a life."
"Are you saying," mom began with a gulp, "that Cloud might be being controlled by this god?"
"I don't know," he replied unsurely, holding Sephiroth's hand for support. "What was done to Cloud was different than what was done to me. He might react differently than I did. You did say that he was having problems holding onto his sanity, right?"
"Yes." Mom nodded. His hands were clenched tightly in his concern. "When we were younger, he would have random fits. He would become excessively violent. We actually had to unleash powerful demons on him to stop him. The only reason even that worked was because he was still so small at the time. It was like he became some rogue, bloodthirsty animal whenever he went into such a rage. Everyone was so relieved when we realized that staying near me helped him retain his sanity."
"Do you have any idea where he is now?" Mom shook his head.
"He landed on this world before us to check it out. He could sense the darkness from the gummi ship and wanted to make sure that it was safe for our boys to be here."
"If it's been such a short amount of time, he might be okay. Either way, we should split up and look for him. We can meet up here in an hour when the games start. If we don't find him by then, Phil is an old friend and I'm sure he would let me back with the contestants even though I'm not fighting this time." We nodded, and broke into three groups. Donald and Goofy were to stay in the arena area in case dad showed there. Zack and Sephiroth, being the most familiar with the coliseum, would search the inside and the inn. Mom, Sora, and I would search the grounds and anywhere else we could access. Before we could depart, though, mom had to ask one more question.
"What does this 'Hades' person look like?"
"You'll know him if you see him."
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The time to meet back up with the other two groups was rapidly approaching and we still had yet to find dad. Each one of us was getting more worried every minute.
"It's time to go back," mom said, trying to be strong for us. We could see that he was on the verge of having a breakdown, though. "Hopefully Zack and the others have had better luck."
We nodded and turned around only to stop dead in our tracks as someone was suddenly in our way. Another shiver traveled down my spine as I took the man's appearance in.
He was tall, with blue skin and yellowed black eyes. His hair was blue fire on the top of his head. A long black toga hung all of the way down to the ground, the sleeves ending halfway down his upper arms. It was trimmed with a dark, blackish-green border that had some kind of zigzag pattern in it. The clasp that held the outfit closed was in the shape of a skull and was situated over his right shoulder. Darkness and death permeated off of him in waves. Zack was right. We knew this man was Hades the instant that we laid eyes on him.
"Well, well," he said, looking us over like hunks of meat. "I see that we have some newbies. Did you come here for the tournament?"
Before either my brother or I could say anything, mom grabbed each of us by the shoulder. The amount of pressure, though still gentle, sent a clear message. "Let me handle this." Sora and I did not give any outward sign that we acknowledged the message, but the mere fact that we did not speak, not even motor mouth Sora, let him know that we understood.
"Yes," he said slowly and clearly, not even a hint of distrust could be found in his voice. That was to be expected of a former knight and mercenary. "My sons here and two of our companions are currently in training to become proper warriors. I thought that participating in one of the famous Olympus Coliseum tournaments would greatly benefit them."
We nodded, being sure to keep our faces as carefully blank as mom's was. The god stared at us for a moment, trying to find any deceit in the words. He wouldn't find any. After all, what better lie is there than one laced in the truth. Satisfied that we were being honest with him, he relaxed and stood with his arms crossed.
"So, did the old goat allow you to enter?" Mom shook his head.
"He said that they weren't 'hero' material. Apparently they are just pipsqueaks." Again, it was a truthful lie. Oh the joy and inherent usefulness of such oxymorons and paradoxes. I almost jumped when the underworld's lord burst out laughing. He was just short of falling over and rolling on the floor by the time that he finally calmed down.
"He's obviously losing his touch if he can't see these two boys' potential." I inwardly cringed as he put his hand on my shoulder in a kind of proud or congratulatory pat. Mom's hand on my other shoulder tightened in barely controlled fury and protectiveness. He stiffened too when the god reached in his robes to pull something out. I knew that if he showed any sign of being a threat, mom would chop off his blue arm and shove down his throat faster than he could blink. We were all surprised when he held a slip of paper out to mom. "I think your boys can go far, so here's a pass to enter the games. Have fun!"
There was a moment of confused silence after he poofed away as soon as the pass was in mom's hand.
"He is one of the weirdest bad guys I have ever seen." Mom and I nodded and then turned around to meet up with the other groups.
"Do not acknowledge Zack and Sephiroth when we see them," mom said to us under his breath before we entered the training/waiting room of the coliseum. I barely glanced at him of corner of my eye and I could easily imagine that he was the SEED mercenary again in the middle of an important, dangerous mission. His back was as ram rod straight as it could be without causing any suspicion. In fact it wouldn't have been noticed by anyone who wasn't looking for a change in him and knew him well. His head was held high with all of the pride as the lion that dad often called him as with his hair flaring gracefully and deadly behind him. His lips had barely moved when he spoke.
"Why?" was all that Sora dared to ask, afraid to give us away. He was doing an impressive job of being inconspicuous for being him.
"Hades knows of Zack at least. If we are to let him think that he is playing us into whatever game he is trying to play, then we need to make sure that he doesn't discover that we know his true nature and at least some of the cards he has up his sleeves." We nodded the minutest movement of the head possible. There was only one conceivable hole in the plan.
"What if they approach us?" I asked in a whisper that anyone who was not directly involved in our secret conversation would mistake for the wind. I was a lot more stone faced and naturally quiet so this came easier to me than it did my twin.
"They won't." I didn't even have to time ask how he knew that before he answered. "Your father taught me a kind of sign language that SOLDIER, Terk, and infantryman alike knew. It was used on missions where discretion was of the upmost importance."
That made perfect sense to me. Dad may not have said what he and his fellow members of Shinra's private army did on their missions, but I didn't need to ask. The horror of what he and the others had seen was plain on their faces and as easy to read as a book. It was no surprise to me that they would have missions that required stealth. One sound, hell, one wrong syllable, could spell utter disaster and death.
I pulled myself out of my morbid musings as we arrived at the designated meeting area. Luckily for us, Donald and Goofy were the only ones there. We calmly approached them as Donald ran to us. Alarm rang through me as he opened his big beak. He was going to give us away if we didn't do something.
"Did you find Cl-," he all but yelled before howling in pain as I stomped my foot on his flatter, webbed one. He hopped around in pain, screaming obscenities and glaring at me. One glance to Goofy after that was enough to make him to stay quiet. I would have sighed in relief that he got the message if it didn't hold the chance of blowing our cover.
"Okay everyone," mom began before Donald could continue, "We have a pass to enter the games. I want you guys to warm up while I have your names put on the roster. Remember, this is a good chance for you to improve your skills and learn. Be loose and ready by the time I return and meet me in the room with the other contestants."
Throughout the whole conversation, mom's arms and hands moved. All of the movement were small and discreet, something that just about anyone would do while involved in a conversation. It had to be the sign language that he had mentioned before. After all, mom never gesticulated like that. We gave him an affirmative before he turned around to sign us up for the tournament. In the far corner of the arena, sitting in the seats like they were waiting for the games to start, I saw the outline of the two SOLDIER first classes waiting in the shadows. They gave the slightest nod to us before pulling sand colored cloaks over their heads.
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"Okay boys," mom said as he healed the last of our minor injuries with a light cure spell. Donald, as the designated magician, would have, but we needed to save as much of our strength as we could. "You guys have done well so far, but you can't let your guard down. Your next fight is against Cloud."
It was such a relief to be able to say dad's name without worrying that Hades would know that we were planning something. His name was on the roster, after all, and he was our next opponent, so it wouldn't be unusual to know it by now. That wasn't what was important at the time though. As mom had said, we had been doing well in the tournament. Form what we had heard, it had changed from having actual human combatants, or whatever sentient creature that was participating, making up the majority of the battles with heartless filling in the blank spots. Now it was almost all heatless against a very small number of competitors. So far, that was all that our team had fought against. We could have been in trouble otherwise since we were much more used to fighting the creatures of darkness than people capable of complex though and strategy. Luckily, though, the only problem that we had encountered was some damn truffles that turned to stone and expelled poison. They were weak but they were a pain in the ass.
Before we knew it, we were being shoved through the door to the arena for the final match against our own father. Seeing him was a mixed blessing and curse. He looked well, standing tall with no injuries whatsoever, but something about him looked kind of ragged. It had to be his eyes. They were shining brighter than we had ever seen and, from past experience, we knew that was bad. Their intensity only increased like that when he was angry or losing his sanity. Not to mention that there was a thin black aura surrounding him. I didn't think that it was enough to control him, but was definitely messing with his head.
Despite these concerning observations, we charged as the horn signifying our match's beginning rang through the air. It wasn't much of a battle to write home about. Dad was still aware enough to go easy on us but make it look convincing. We still had a hard time dodging him occasionally even though we were so familiar with his attacks and the battle cries he did before each and every one of them. It still looked like we were going to win when the battle took a turn for the worse.
Dad was so focused on not accidentally killing us that he didn't notice the giant three headed dog falling from the damn sky and straight onto his head. As his body was crushed, it made the most disturbing sounds imaginable. The dog reared up again to make what very well could have been a finishing blow when a man wearing the local garb put himself under the canine's foot and used some rather impressive strength to keep the paw up with one hand and grab our father to sling him over his shoulder with the other.
"Get out of here," the bulky man said, looking over his shoulder at us. "I've got this."
We could hear the impact of the beast hitting the ground from being thrown as we ran to the lobby where our very worried mother waited for us. He ran to us the moment that he saw us and did his routine field examination of us. I tried pushing him off though. As much as his concern would increase, he needed to know what was going on.
"Mom, let go!" I all but screamed at him. My voice was frantic and that caught the lion's attention immediately. His hands stopped patting me down in search of imaginary injuries and froze. His wide eyes locked onto mine. It would break my heart to see the pain that I just knew was going to appear in those storm clouds, but I took a deep breath and pushed forward. "Dad's hurt."
"What?" he asked in an anguished whisper. His eyes widened in disbelief. What the hell could hurt Cloud Strife? "What happened?"
"A giant three headed dog just stepped on him. It sounded like quite a few things broke. Some guy showed up and pulled him out of the way. I think that he's protecting him now." Phil tensed up and peaked out of the one of the windows into the arena.
"Damn," he muttered and looked at us. "That's Cerberus. I don't know what you did, but Hades must think that you're some kind of threat to sic him on you. It's a good thing that Herc showed up when you did or you would probably be dog chow by now."
"We need to go back out there," Sora said, his eyes shining with determination. The old satyr bristled up and his face turned tomato red.
"Did you not hear me?" he asked in a worried, stressed out rage. "That dog out there is the guardian of the underworld! He would eat you up and spit out your bones before you even knew what hit you! Just leave it to Herc!"
Mom stepped to the goat man in a way that was calm that it was terrifying. Then, faster than any of us could follow, he grabbed him by the back of his neck and lifted him up to eye level. Sora, Donald, Goofy and I stood with our jaws on the floor as the trainer's hooves flailed around like he was trying to run on air while mom sent his a glare that was on level with that of grandmother Chaos'.
"No, I don't understand," he said slowly in a chilling voice. "All I know is that my husband and the my children's father is out there unconscious, and flung over 'Herc's' shoulder while he is fighting that creature. Now, listen and listen real good. We may not be some damn 'hero' with his visage in the stars or whatever is the tradition here, but we have faced adversity like nothing you could ever dream of. My mother is a man with four demon's sealed inside of him and my father is a stubborn old pilot how wouldn't give up on something regardless of the risk even if you paid him to. Just like they would, I'll be damned if I just sit here and wait for something to happen when I could be out there with my son's fighting that thing while my husband is brought to where he can safely heal. I suggest that you keep your mouth shut and let us go before I fry your ass and feed it mutt outside, understand?"
The suspended man nodded frantically in fear. Mom nodded once before dropping the satyr on is ass and motioning for us to follow him.
The halls flew passed us as we ran. Everything blurred in our haste and yet each second felt like an hour knowing that dad was still out there and possibly sustaining more injuries. We all knew that dad had some amazing healing enhancements, but we didn't know the extent of the injuries he already had or how much time the healing would need.
After what felt like an eternity, we damn near broke down the doors to the arena. The crowd was gone leaving the stands empty and Zack and Sephiroth were nowhere to be seen. The only living things, other than us obviously, were Hercules, Cerberus, and dad. Mom didn't even give them to realize that we were there. The instant that we set eyes on the three, he shot off three fiery blasts from Lionheart. Each shot hit a canine head, dazing it long enough for the hero to turn around and see us.
"What are you guys doing here?" he asked running towards us like he was going to hand dad over. "This is too dangerous! Take this guy and let me handle this!"
"No," mom replied with a hard glare, stopping the man as he about to relinquish his burden. "You take him and let us handle him."
"You guys have no idea what you're up against." The demigod's voice was firm as he looked over his shoulder to see if the giant monster had regained his senses yet. This only pissed mom off more. He hated being underestimated and, like all moms, being talked back to when he gave an order.
"Look"—I was surprised that there was no angry waver to his voice—"this man is my husband. Though you seem perfectly capable of lifting him, things were done to him years ago that makes him far too heavy for our sons and me combined to even dream of moving him. We are perfectly capable of handle this. If you don't believe me then run Cloud somewhere safe and come back to help us."
There was a few seconds where neither man budged. Gray and eyes were locked in a match that neither was willing to back out of. Finally, Hercules seemed to see something that made him trust mom. He gave one curt nod and bolted passed us to deposit dad somewhere safe. With that, the giant dog woke from his daze and the battle began.
It was an irritating and dangerous battle to say the least. All three heads had razor sharp teeth that would snap if we got too close. If we were far away, he would send energy balls at us and dark pools would erupt beneath our feet. Each paw also weighed a ton and would send shock waves through the ground so severe that they were only second to when the beast came down after rearing up. Finally, when my brother, our animal companions, and I were just about at our wit's end, mom motioned that he would distract the heads and for us to attack from the sides and try to take out least one set of jaws.
We nodded and waited until all three heads were focused on mom and his now glowing blade. Slowly and making as little noise as possible, we made our way to either side. Sora was teamed with Goofy and I had Donald as my partner. At the same time, we jumped in the air. Imagine our horrified surprise when our targets noticed us and went to make a chomp. We were completely vulnerable and sure that we were about to have our top halves separated from our bottoms ones when something strange happened.
At the last minute, both heads were stopped from hitting us two individual forces. The one about to devour Sora got a mouthful of some kind of shield made from the darkness. The head aiming for me was shoved out the way by some projectile that I could see clearly because of the sheer speed it was moving at and the flames that it was engulfed in.
As stunned as we were, the training that our parents and grandparents put us through would not let us miss such a golden opportunity to make the battle changing hit. With as much force as we could muster, we swung our keyblades down and jumped out of the way of our companions' following attacks as quickly as possible. The final head went down via a well timed attack from mom.
"Wow," we heard from behind us. Weapons still at the ready, we all turned around to find that Herc and Phil had just arrived. "You guys are good. I thought for sure that you would need my help."
"I've faced much worse," mom said with a regal flip of his hair as he stuck Lionheart in the ground before him. As soon as the brown locks settled he met eyes with the demigod. "Where is Cloud?"
As if the universe decided to answer for the other man, a huge explosion came from the direction of the lobby. Every person other than mom, who merely let loose a semi-exhausted sigh, jumped. We were just about to run and investigate when mom held us back. This also got the other four's attention. We were all confused when he shook his head slightly.
"It would be better to just wait for him. Moving around will just rile him up more."
"Who?" Phil asked his worried gazed never veering from the destruction coming our way.
"Cloud." He looked ten years older as he glanced at our weapons. "You should put those away too. He might think that there is still a threat around and, in his confused state of mind, mistake the others as a threat and attack them."
No sooner had my twin and I made our weapons disappear did our dad knock down the doors just behind the two residents of the world that we were on. The darkness that we had seen thinly veiling him during our battle was now flowing around him in thick waves. His radioactively glowing eyes quickly searched around him before zeroing in on my mom, my brother and me. Mom grabbed our hands and pulled us with him as he took a few step forward.
"It's okay," he said as if he were talking to a rabid animal. I had a feeling that it was directed to both the man in front of us, and Sora and me. The smaller brunette and I followed his silent command to stay put when he let us go to hold his arms out to dad. "Come here Cloud."
Without further prompting, the blonde leapt over the two in his way and landed right in front of us. Before we could even blink, we were on the ground and he was sniffing and snuffling us. Mom just wrapped his arms around his lover and petted his back.
"We're okay Cloud. The boys and I are safe. Please come back now." More soothing sweet nothings where whispered into his ear. He tightened his hold on the man, though, when we heard growling. Somebody had gotten too close to us and had sent dad in his primal trance into a small rage. Running steps were heard shortly after and Sora and I joined mom in trying to calm dad down.
"Dad," my twin began, his lip was quivering in fear and how close to tears he was. "The darkness is bad. You have to let go of it. Please dad, you're scaring me."
"Yeah dad," I said, squeezing my way between my parents to hug around his waist. Mom moved to the side and put his arms around dad's shoulders and started funning a hand through blonde spikes. Sora hugged his chest as tightly as he could with a small sob. "We need you, so you need to come back."
I almost smiled as the darkness receded and the low growling that he had been emitting turned into a deep, rumbling purr. In a matter of seconds, he pulled us all into his lap and side. Mom chuckled a little as dad nuzzled into the crook of his neck, completely relaxed and content. The moment ended as a certain loud mouth that was not Sora opened his mouth and dad stiffened at the sound of their voice.
"Look Seph! Doesn't chocobo head and his family make the cutest little picture?" Every pair of eyes in the area snapped to the two SOLDIER first class.
"Damn it Zack! How many times do I have to tell that I'm not a damn chocobo head," dad yelled, a stark contrast to how calm he was seconds early. As soon as his brain caught up to his mouth, he stared in shock. "Wait, Zack, is that really you?"
"Of course!" the raven haired man replied with a huge grin as he took a few steps forward and leaned down so that he was on the same level as dad. "Were you expecting anyone else?"
"I should have know that a little thing like the world ending wouldn't keep you down." It was like dad was a teenager again as he gave a low laugh as he gently moved the three of us who he was still holding to our feet. When he got to his feet, he looked passed us all and noticed Sephiroth standing tense and looking at everything except our little group. "I see that the general is here too."
"Yeah," Zack said rubbing the back of his neck a bit awkwardly. "I found him while I was traveling before. He's good again, I swear."
"I could tell that just by looking at him." Seeing dad snort was strange. We brought a lot of emotions out of him, but this was like he was never messed up in the first place. "Are you just going to stand there or are you going to come over here and say 'hi'?"
The silver haired man slowly made his way over and relaxed a little as Zack grabbed his hand. Finally, he looked dad in the eye and nodded towards us.
"You have quite the family there Strife. Your boys are very skilled as if your mate."
"Thanks," dad said with a little smile before laughing. "You haven't seen anything yet, though. The real pieces of work are with sis back in Traverse Town."
Zack perked up like the puppy that his mentor likened him to as he heard that.
"Sis? Do you mean Aeris? Did she come back too?"
"Yes." It was a shame to see dad slowly revert back to his quiet, fairly stony self, but I guessed it for the best. He had grown a lot since he last saw his two friends and the past was the past. The present him was he had become and who he would continue to grow from. He would never be completely sane again, but that didn't mean that he couldn't be happy and healthy.
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After a few hours of catching up, mom, dad, Zack, and Sephiroth made a decision on what was going to happen from then on out. They would all head to Traverse Town and leave Sora, Donald, Goofy, and me to continue our adventure on our own.
"You've learned a lot and can handle yourselves now," mom said to us with a sad smile. He gave us both a hug and handed us some packs. "I've picked up some items that should help you guys out. Now be careful, okay?"
"We will mom," Sora replied with a shaky voice and wet eyes as we hugged mom back. He pulled back with a watery smile. "Don't forget that we also have Donald, Goofy, the keyblades, and our own demon bodyguards to protect us."
"True," dad said, ruffling our hair lightly. "Be that as it may, I agree with your mother. You need to be careful. Remember, if we find out that you weren't, then you would have us, your aunts, you new uncles, and your grandparents ready to tan your asses."
We gave unsure laughs to that, unsure whether or not he was being serious. The last thing that we wanted was for any of them to try and punish us, especially our grandmother. Any of the five of his forms. We had many a horror story about his disciplinary actions.
"Are you sure that you don't want us to help rebuild the parts of the coliseum that we broke?" mom asked Phil before we stepped onto our separate gummi ships.
"It's not a problem. We're used to this kind of damage. Oh, and here." He held out four passes to me. I could feel my brow crinkle in confusion as I switch between looking at them and the satyr. "They're passes marking you as Junior Heroes and allowing you to participate in the games from now on."
"Hey," Donald squawked so loudly that my ears began ringing. "What do you mean 'Junior Heroes'?"
"You guys still don't have what it takes to be true heroes." The old goat sighed like he had given this speech a hundred times. He probably had.
"And what's that?" Sora asked, just as peeved as the duck.
"If you have to ask, then you don't have it." Goofy and I quickly pulled our companions into our ship before they could blow up. As the door shut, I yelled out the opening to our parents.
"Love you, mom, dad! Tell everyone that we send our regards! We'll you see you back on Travers Town soon!" They all waved back and we took our seats as the door sealed. It was time to prove that we had what it took to go out on our own and find another world. After all, our journey was far from over.