Long time no see, everyone. Thanks for coming on back to join me for another chapter. I still can't believe how many times I had to start over different parts, and times where I just kept writing myself into corners. Cloud's "sales pitch" was decidedly the toughest to go through, especially considering the truth in Sora's questions.
Regardless, I'm very grateful to finally finish one more for the road, and am even more ecstatic to know that Gunmetal, as of now, hits the top of my Stat list for everything except C2. I owe it to everyone who stopped by and let me know what they thought of the story.
Thank you all. Please enjoy.
EDIT: forgot to add the usual - Character Auditions are (you guessed it) still on. I can't run out of space - so many worlds to fill...
There was something his gym teacher had started to say on a regular basis to classes now: "If things ache or are just weird with you and you can't seem to figure out why, blame puberty, not me."
Somehow, Sora was certain puberty was equally as confused as he was about the things he was going through at the moment. It had come to the point where his teacher just gave up trying to stop or fix it, and settled instead with pretending nothing was out of the ordinary while ringing the janitor back in for another session of scaling his ladder.
"Some days it's nice to be a kid, innit?" Wakka commented offhandedly. "You can bring the ceiling down as many times as you want, and the school can't make you pay for it."
"No, but it gets hard to sound sincere when it's your seventh letter of apology in a week," Sora muttered back, ducking as the janitor sent him another dirty look before stepping out one more time. As routine would have it, the final bell chose to ring right then.
"... and the thought of the day, 'Sky's the limit, but falling all the way back down hurts a lot more than you want to think and you'll ever think.' So in other words, either don't dream, or buy insurance for everything – whichever is cheaper. Class dismissed." But as the class gratefully ran for the door, the teacher quickly added, "Sora, I want a word with you."
Obediently, Sora backtracked to the teacher's desk and pulled up Selphie's chair from the front row of desks. "Yes, sir. Again, I'm sorry."
"Does your mother know about this..." there was a pause, as the teacher's hand turned in small circles in the ceiling's general direction, "... daily activity?"
"Well..."
"I'll answer that for you: she doesn't." The following silence confirmed the verdict for the both of them. With an irritable grunt, the teacher shifted in his seat and continued, "Well, talk to her, let her know what is going on. Maybe she might know something about this."
"... But sir, she can't know anything about this!" Sora protested at once. "I mean, look! I'm popping holes in the ceiling!"
"Yes, and it's becoming expensive and very annoying. Just get out of here, and talk to your mother."
"But sir, can't I just-"
"GO."
In two seconds flat, the boy was out of the class and back in the safety of the school's crowded hallway and among empathetic friends.
"Wow, Dr. Becker gets cranky when he doesn't get his coffee on time after school lets out. So... what did he want?"
"The usual," Sora answered flatly. "Go home, talk to Mom, see if she can cook up a miracle and stop me from lifting off."
"He may have a point," Wakka brought up innocently. "I mean, maybe this is something that runs in the family, y'know?"
"I know, and not in this family, it can't." Deciding that he had moped enough for one day, Sora stretched and shrugged his satchel into a better position on his shoulder. "I'm out of here."
A few steps behind the rest of their group, Wakka turned back to his friend. "Aren't you coming down to the Small Island with us?"
"Can't. Somehow this ceiling smashing takes it right out of me."
"Well, you are more mellow than usual." The remark elicited a laugh from the one in mention.
"Tell the others I went home, okay? I'll see you guys tomorrow."
"See ya, man."
Wakka went on to the dock alone. Reaching there, he found the last canoe sitting there, and – as he dreaded it – it was also the heaviest one. Muttering a mile a minute about lousy friends running out on him, Wakka tossed his ball in all the same and started the slow process of shoving it toward the waters. What he wasn't expecting was a strong pair of hands gripping the other side of the small boat, speedily sending it gliding down the beach and into the shallows.
Recovering quickly, Wakka hopped back a step to take a better look at the unexpected helper. He was a tall man – brunet – with a strange scar on his face and an even stranger gleam to his eyes, which the boy wrote off as the setting sun's fault. Quick to recover, he dusted his hands off. "Thanks! You visiting, or moving in?"
The man gave no reply, instead reaching for the canoe's paddles still laid out on the sand. As those were passed, another man came up. This one was blond, with spiky hair he easily related to.
"Hi. We're looking for someone on this island. Do you know anyone by the name of Sora?"
Living in a peaceful place like Destiny Islands, children grew up without concern for the darker side of people. They grew up trusting in the adults that taught them and protected them. They never saw a need to question the motives of a grownup – even a stranger – asking about a resident. Wakka did not see this need now.
"Sora? When I saw him earlier, he was headed home," he answered readily, his finger already out and pointing back toward the town. "His house is over that way."
"Thanks."
As they left, Wakka dropped one of the paddles into the canoe and hopped in with the other in hand. He did not look back at the strangers, instead paddling on his way toward the Small Island, continuing what was, to him, just another ordinary day.
Sora did not know how long he had been asleep, but he knew his sleep was dreamless, just as it had been each time he came home exhausted from – what his teacher had so aptly dubbed – his "daily activity". Opening his eyes, he was grateful to see that the ceiling above his head was not damaged in any way. A glance at the clock on his stand...
... he hadn't slept for more than an hour- no wonder he was still tired.
That was when he heard the muffled commotion downstairs: his mother was talking with someone. Looking out his window, he spotted a head of dark bronze. The head moved – sensing they were being watched – and he ducked quickly out of sight. Tugging his shoes back on, he pushed off his bed and crossed his room. Pushing open the door, he called: "Mom? Who's out there?"
"You have visitors, dear," his mother called back. "Come down, we need to talk."
Obliging, Sora descended the short flight of stairs. At the bottom, he caught his first glimpse of a man who could be mistaken for a relative, what with his head of spikes and the same blue eyes that were staring so deep into him, it was a little unnerving. Sora only held eye contact for a moment before he had to look away. That was when he caught sight of what the stranger held in his hand.
"... what are you doing with my Dad?" he demanded, the earlier curiosity replaced by wariness. He took half a step forward before his mother's voice stopped him.
"Sora," she started – the boy could hear her uncertainty. "This is an agent from Organization XIII."
The man – agent – nodded awkwardly in greeting, and turned to make his retreat.
"Hey, wait." Sora had crossed the room in an instant, his hand out and waiting. "Give Dad back."
The agent blinked, suddenly remembering what he was holding, before he gave his answer tersely. "I'll give it back later."
"That's not an 'it'. That's my father."
The agent was getting impatient, seeming angrier with each minute – more desperate to leave before he did something he would regret. At last, he seemed to reach a compromise with himself, and dug into his pocket. In a second, something heavy, metallic and warm with body heat was pressed into the open hand. When Sora drew it back, he found himself admiring a dark silver wolf's head streaked in black.
"I'll come back for that," the agent explained softly. "So... you can trade that for your... father later."
Sora continued studying the heavy badge in his hand, turning it to catch the ceiling light off it several times. Finally, he commented:
"Your friend's a Fenrir, huh?" At a second confused blink, he explained. "We've got something like a safe house here, and sometimes there's news about you on the TV. There aren't a lot of Guardians here, but the ones that are about never go anywhere without their tags. So your friend outside... is this his?"
There was a moment's silence before the agent finally nodded in confirmation. It was all Sora needed before he let his hand fall to his side, the wolf's head still firm in his grasp.
"See you later, then."
"... Yeah..." and just like that, the agent swung the door open and stepped out, leaving it to swing shut behind him once more.
Curiosity came back to Sora in that moment and he raised the badge to look at it more carefully. Then his mother's hand was on his shoulder, and when he gave her his attention, she directed him to the dining table. As they sat down, Sora placed the badge on the table in front of him.
"... What is it you wanted to talk about?"
"... This was not anywhere in the briefing," Cloud growled furiously, glaring down at the young man in the photograph with burning intensity. "When we get close enough to make a phone call back to HQ, I swear I'll tear that little blond rat in half if he doesn't tell us what the hell is going on."
"Cloud, you need to calm down."
"Don't tell me to- don't you get it?" Cloud snapped. "He screwed us over! Played us – played me – like a damned harp! For all we know, he just got us involved in something so sticky, we'll never hear the end of it if word gets back home! Who gets the blame? Not him!"
"Cloud-" Leon attempted to interject once more, and again failed.
"I have half the mind to just call it all off. He wants this done, he can do it himself for all I... care..." as he drifted off, he noted that Leon had clammed up completely, his lips set in a very thin line. He did not have to turn around to know, and he squeezed the bridge of his nose as he relayed what he knew: "... We just... drew a crowd in, didn't we?"
He did not have to see Leon's nod to know it happened, either. With a sigh of defeat, he at last regarded the curious residents of the Main Island. Raising a brow at them, he held out his hands. "Excuse me, do you mind...?"
Like brats caught sneaking at the cookie jar, the people left hurriedly with the decency to at least look embarrassed. Suddenly feeling very tired, Cloud found the wall of Sora's house and slumped against it.
"Damn all of it, I just want to wake up somewhere with a hangover, no clothes on, someone equally naked between my legs, and the decision that all this was just a really, really bad dream..."
"... ..."
"... Wonderful: who else is listening?" And, lifting his head to seek the answer for himself, Cloud found what he had dreaded in a small group of wide-eyed children. "Come on, leave me alone. Get out of here. Shoo. Scat. Beat it."
At long last, even that group dispersed as well. Cloud figured with the way his luck went, some of the parents would be rather dismayed with the questions their innocent little ones would soon ask.
"We shouldn't stay here," Leon helpfully informed, signaling they were truly alone this time. "The longer we hang around, the more attention we get."
"Duly noted," the agent muttered back. His first instinct was to reach for the doorbell once more, but he stopped himself inches from the button, instead settling with knocking. The door opened, and again it was Sora's mother who greeted them.
"Agent...?"
"Sorry, but it's getting late," Cloud explained. "Could you let your kid know I'll give him his... you know... back tomorrow? We'll talk with him about our business then as well."
There was a slow nod this time. "He'll understand. He won't like it, but he'll understand."
"We also need to find some place to pass the night. He mentioned a safe house earlier...?"
Sora was still sitting by the dining table when his mother got up to answer the door, but the badge had returned to his hand, settled in the center of a tight, white-knuckle grip. It turned out his teacher was right about his mother knowing something... and he did not like it at all.
"The agent is spending the night at the safe house," she informed him as she came back. "He will be by again tomorrow."
"He's still got Dad, hasn't he?" Even as his mother nodded, Sora accepted it. It was not the picture he had so many questions for, but the real person from that fateful day. The man he could only assume was indeed his father, who left him behind so very long ago.
"Why do you think he did it, Mom?" At her confused expression, he explained further. "Why did Dad give me away? It can't be because of what- who I am... can it?"
"Sora-"
"You saw that guy's face, Mom! He knew Dad, or at least recognized him! What if... what if the Organization did something?"
What if Organization XIII was what forced father and son to part… A question neither dared to say aloud, lest it actually become a cold, painful truth. Sora suddenly remembered something he was squeezing so tight it started to hurt, and then he was looking once more at the old, grizzled wolf that stared back at him with its lifeless black orbs.
"Maybe that is it," the boy murmured dejectedly. "Maybe he didn't want me because he knew... I'd grow up to betray him."
A hand was on his shoulder, and a pair of sad eyes watching over him.
"Honey, come here."
Sora did not protest the hug she drew him into, nor did he complain when her hand was in his messy hair. Just for a little while, he did not care if he was being babied. At least, when things got too confusing or tiring to bear, babies got to cry.
"Well, here we are."
The safe house looked more like a small post office than housing of any sort. It did not help that right out front was the organization's logo above a dangling toy moogle that chirped "Have a nice day, kupo!" every time someone passed it by. Leon stared up at it for a long thoughtful moment, and then in a blink his hand had come out and swatted it hard enough to send it spinning. Cloud allowed himself a smirk before he slid the door open and stepped inside.
"Za...?" At the sudden cry, the agent turned quickly and found the source by the counter. It was a young Guardian, fresh out of training and entirely out of place for his area – lightning did not go well with water, after all. The boy recovered himself quickly and approached. "Sorry, I thought you were someone else for a minute there. My name's Kytes."
Cloud took the offered hand and shook. "I'm Agent Strife, and this is my partner Leon. What's a Rahmuh like you doing all the way out here?"
"You've got me on that one, sir. Can I help you?"
"Yeah, we just got here from headquarters – routine rogue checks and all that."
"They've never sent anyone this far out before," the boy noted, to which Cloud merely shrugged.
"Someone decided better safe than never, apparently."
"I guess I'm glad they did," Kytes continued unexpectedly. Beckoning for them to follow, he retreated to the counter and pulled out a file, still talking as he went. "We haven't got any full-blown rogue attacks yet, but we have been getting some unusual activity off the Small Island."
A set of photographs were passed, along with a continued explanation: "These were taken by the owner of the seaside shack. He's concerned something may be up in the caves, and even more concerned of what it's capable of."
"What makes him so sure the kids aren't doing it?"
"You'll need to see those caves for yourself, or at least how high up they are. Either way, no one's doing anymore climbing today – it's already getting dark."
"We'll check it tomorrow, then," Cloud decided. "Do you have a place we can use for the night?"
"We don't get visitors often, but we do have one room. That is, if you don't mind sharing?"
A glare of accusation was fired from one to the other, returned amiably by a facade of innocence.
"... We'll share," Cloud answered finally. If Kytes had been confused by the exchange, he did not show it. Instead, he slid open another door.
"The spare blankets are in the cupboard, the bathroom is over that way, the lights go out in five hours, and we have a daily morning alarm. Have a good night."
Seven hours later – two after the light from the hall dimmed into darkness – a single flashlight illuminated the small room that accommodated the two partners. Sitting on the floor, Cloud leaned against a bedpost as he studied the photographs in his hand. They were of poor quality, but told him enough. Behind his head, the mattress shifted.
"Still not sleeping?"
"Neither are you. What do you think?"
On his back, Leon held up another of the photographs, flipping it over a few times. "I'm up for checking this one, just to be sure."
"Worried about the kids, huh?"
"Aren't you?"
The flashlight clicked off, and Cloud tugged off his boots. "We'll leave first thing in the morning, then. Scoot over."
The mattress shifted again, this time occupied by not one but two bodies. As Cloud settled back against the sheets, an arm draped over his chest without invitation.
"... That was what you were waiting for, wasn't it?"
Leon did not answer, the faint buzzing indicating exactly how comfortable he was. Giving up, Cloud stared at the ceiling, listening to the sound of the other purring and slowly counting off the ticks of the clock. After twenty counts, he deemed himself at last safe to be unconscious without anything unwanted happening. Only then did he allow the warmth and the rumbling drone to lull him to sleep.
When the agent and his partner did not show up that morning, Sora ended up sneaking past his mother to get out of the house. He wanted some air and a place to be alone, to think about all that was happening. There was only one place that could give him that.
Getting a canoe that early wasn't any trouble, nor was the short trip across the water to the Small Island. It was getting to the cave that had become harder to do, ever since old man Santiago started his paranoia regarding the area. He was thankful to find the seaside shack's owner still asleep, in no position to stop him from returning to his favorite hideout.
He called it the Secret Place – not even his best friends seemed to know it existed, despite their suspicions. Most of the walls were covered liberally in chalk drawings, the bit of limestone rock he used still sitting by a far wall, waiting patiently for whatever he planned next.
He looked at the drawing he had yet to finish, even though he had started it a long time ago. It looked childish, depicting a floating head that was himself offering a star to someone – someone he had not quite completed either.
Wonder what she'd think if I told her this truth about myself... His musings brought a smirk to his face, and curiously, he brought up the chalk toward it once more.
"Nice place you have here."
The rock dropped back to the ground, and Sora's hands flew out to cover the drawing as he sputtered at the intruder. "WH-wha- Why are you here?"
Undaunted, Cloud remained where he stood, staring up at the white marks over each wall. "You're pretty good at this. Been doing it long?"
When the boy – too upset at being discovered in his hideout – remained silent, Cloud at last explained himself, "We followed someone's request to do an investigation – something about weird happenings in this cave. Would you know anything about that?"
"... No."
"How did you get up here, anyway?"
"I jumped the ledge," the boy answered more easily. "Wasn't that what you did?"
It was Cloud's turn to fall silent, studying the other with an intensity that was almost uncomfortable. Then, with a soft sigh, he crossed the distance between them and handed a picture frame over.
"Here's your father back. Sorry I took so long."
Sora took the frame back carefully, looking over the image he had already memorized. Then he remembered something and dug into his own pocket until he found it. "Here's your friend's badge."
The agent raised a brow in surprise. "You brought it with you?"
"I wanted reference," Sora replied, indicating the blank wall just to his side. "How about you? Why did you bring my Dad?"
"Didn't want to risk losing... him."
"How did you know him, anyway?" Before the other could respond, Sora continued quickly, "I saw your face back there, I know you recognized him."
"Not him per se," Cloud admitted slowly. "He just... reminded me of someone."
"Who was that?"
"One of the superiors, back at headquarters." The agent practically saw the wheels turn in the boy's head, and added, "I can tell you now that they're not the same person. Too much age difference."
"Oh..."
There was another uncomfortable silence that followed, as neither truly knew what to say to the other. Finally, it was Cloud who broke that silence: "So... your mother told you what we're here to do, huh?"
"Can you be perfectly honest with me?" At an affirmative nod, Sora asked his next question, "Why did you come for me?"
"I don't know."
"Why did you only come now?"
"I don't know."
"Does this have anything to do with my father, or my family?"
"I don't know."
"So why is it so important that I come with you?" Sora asked more irritably, the answer to each of his earlier questions not helping in the least. "Why does it have to be me?"
Cloud did not rise with him, staring back at the younger quietly. When he at last gave his answer...
"I don't know."
There was no malice, no deception, no patronizing. It was the truth in its cruelly simple, honest form. Sora gave up, sitting down on the ground again.
"They don't tell you anything either?"
"Nothing more than we need to know."
"How do you do it?" This time, the question was more of a comment. "Just going in, getting the job done with no questions asked. How do you keep working for them if they won't tell you anything?"
"It's the only way I know."
"To work?"
"To find my answers."
Sora looked up at once, his expression incredulous. "What?"
"We all have our secrets," Cloud started to explain, "and Organization XIII is filled with them. Everything they never tell the world, they keep locked tight and hidden away. The only way to know what they hide is to work for them directly… intimately."
"... And," Sora tried carefully, "have you found what you wanted yet?"
Cloud looked his way, and then up at the hole above their heads, illuminating the cave in the morning rays. "... No. I can't stop until I do." His attention was on Sora once more. "You said you wanted me to be honest with you? Well, here's the truth: I'm only here now because my mission – taking you back to headquarters – is what currently stands between me and finding those answers I'm so desperate for.
"And here's another thought: You asked me why it has to be you, if this has anything to do with your father, and I told you I don't know. The one with all your answers is the one who sent me, and he's sitting behind a desk waiting for you to finally show up. So you tell me: what's stopping you from coming with me and asking him yourself?"
There was any number of things Sora could say, but as they all came to the surface, none of them stood on their own. Some involved personal pride, some involved suddenly trivial fears and concerns; others were groundless. In the end, there was only one that made it pass his lips:
"... I don't know."
Both needed time to think, and when Cloud relaxed his stance, he wondered if he had come down too harsh on the other. At last, he plopped down beside Sora, and tried a gentler approach.
"Look... you don't have to read too much into it. Just come back with us. Think of it as a... road trip or something – you'll see the world outside the Islands, we'll teach you some survival skills, and in the end, if you're not happy, you get to say no and return home, return here. It's all in your favor. How about it?"
Sora remained quiet, and Cloud could not help but wonder, this time, if he had really blown it. Still he sat by the boy, counting on the allowance for their proximity to be a good thing.
"... Is there really no other way to find my truth?"
"If there is, neither of us knows."
"... Okay." And Sora looked up as he continued, "But I have friends here that mean a lot to me. I can't leave without saying goodbye first."
"Take the time you need," Cloud assured, simply relieved that things were working out. "Once you're ready, we'll go."
"Alright..." as he drifted off, Sora got to his feet. "... I guess I'd better head home and pack. Mom doesn't know I'm out here."
"We'll meet you at your place, then."
With an awkward smile, Sora waved once and left the way he came in. Cloud waited for the footsteps, expecting the sound of an impact ... When all he heard was a light footfall, he followed the trail the younger left behind.
He stared pass the ledge, down at the beach that was far below. There were visible scuff marks on the rocks, but the footprints in the sand were still there.
"... 'Jumped', he said," he murmured to himself. "… How in Hellfire does anyone jump this…?"
"Good job with the sales pitch. That's one less thing on the list."
"Yeah," Cloud agreed tiredly, watching Sora in the distance. "Hyne help me and let him be the last kid I ever recruit."
After Sora made it home and they had a final talk with his mother, Cloud had gone over what were necessities and what would only be extra baggage for the long trip ahead. What Sora finally did end up carrying with him were a few trinkets – objects of personal value. At least he had agreed to leave the picture frame in his mother's safekeeping.
Now, Sora was fidgeting by the dock, his eyes darting between the town and everywhere else, save the direction his two new mentors were in.
"So... why are we here?"
"He said he needed to say goodbye to his friends first. I figure he called them to meet him here or something."
"Is that them?"
Following Leon's direction, Cloud picked out the pair of boy and girl that were just leaving the town and coming toward the dock. Sure enough, Sora was waving to them, and they hurried over. The conversation that followed missed his ears, but Cloud had his alternative source of information.
"Care to fill me in?"
"He's telling them what's going on. They're not taking it too well," Leon explained. "The boy, Riku, is wondering if we can be trusted. The girl, Kairi, is more upset with him for not saying something sooner."
"And Sora?"
"Apologizing, trying to explain, and not doing too good." Leon's answer was followed by a quick glance his partner's way. "Just what did you say to make him agree?"
"Does it matter?"
"He's calling this a road trip."
"It is, if you think about it. With Roxas taking so many precautions, he'll get to see the world before we reach HQ."
Leon smirked, shaking his head in amusement, but as he heard what was said next, that amusement disappeared at once with a worried frown.
"... No," he muttered in disbelief.
"No!" Sora suddenly cried out in dismay. It was only then that Cloud saw the three approaching. Sora was apparently trying very hard to dissuade his friends, which did not end well.
"No," the girl – Kairi – answered whatever protest Sora had sent her way. But it was not her to make the confrontation, but the boy, Riku. Standing before the very confused agent, Riku said the last Cloud wanted to hear at that moment.
"Agent of Organization XIII, we're volunteering for service training and coming with you."
Cloud paled at once, his entire will keeping him from something he might regret later.
… Hyne, NO.
