YEE HA! Yaoi-rific! (dances away with the 100 percent completion of KH2) Oh, and just because I can, I'm tying KH1, KH2 and KH:CoM all together. But this still takes place between KH1 and KH:CoM, nowhere near KH2. Nyeah ha ha! I freaking swear, after watching that ending, Sora/Riku is more canonistic than Sora/Kairi. (huggles her plushie with glee) Alright, I'll shut up and get to the story now. Eh heh heh. (sheepish grin)

Disclaimer: I in no way own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy VII or Final Fantasy VIII. Don't sue; I'm simply an E5 in the USN, therefore I have no money. Ha.

A/N: Each chapter is written from a different POV. The identity of the 'speaker' is located with the chapter's name. Just trying to avoid confusion here. :) For review replies, please see the bottom of the chapter. Expect plenty of foul language in this chapter – it's to be expected, given who's POV it's from and that I'm not about to destroy this lovable guy's habits like Disney did (damn you again, Disney!). And that, as they say, is that.

-BEGIN FIC-

Chapter 21
The Gummi Expert – Decision

Well, ever since the day Aerith managed to break through to that little Shadow, Hollow Bastion had been in one hell of an uproar. Every damned person that inhabited the place was running around like a chicken with his or hear head cut cleanly from his or her shoulders.

'Course, it can be expected.

It's not every day that a guy finds out that the little Shadow Heartless that's been peacefully living among all you is seeking the Keyblade Master.

Now that's not to say that such a thing's all that rare. Seems every Heartless out there wants to get their hands on that kid owing to the Keyblade he runs around with. Something probably to do with the fact that a guy's got to have one hell of a big and pure heart to summon that thing, and big and pure hearts are delicacies those Heartless critters just can't seem to resist. Also the fact that it's the biggest damned threat to them ever kinda seems to drive them, too.

What was at question was what the little Shadow was intending to do with the brat when he found him.

See, some of these folks I'm thinking have some pretty bad suspicions about the little guy. 'Course, that's to be expected too. He's a damned Heartless. One of the fucknuts responsible for screwing over the entire universe, plucking worlds out of the sky one at a time and destroying hearts wherever they go. We've all seen the effects of the Heartless' raids with our own eyes.

Hell, was only nine years ago that we lost Hollow Bastion.

I still remember that, too. I'd been out in my garage tinkering with a rocket design. Shinra Company was blathering about funding a space project, and I was intent to be the lucky guy that got his ass blasted into the black vacuum above.

The huge complex that is now the whittled down remains we call Hollow Bastion used to be so damned nice. A beautiful center to our world, so to say. Right over the ocean, a good hop away from the polluted mess that's Midgar, sitting right on a spring of the Lifestream and radiant as all hell. Had a few small villages 'round it, too. Nice people there. Good people.

What was on the other side of that castle, I never did find out. A guy always ran out of fuel before getting that far, and refueling around Hollow Bastion's castle was an expensive endeavor, to say the very least. Cost a man an arm and a leg just to get back home, much less think 'bout exploring those huge looming continents that could be seen far off in the horizon. But I always had my suspicions 'bout what could be over there.

That place, this place we now sit in and live in for a lack of a better place to stay with Traverse Town being all upended with the eruption of worlds from darkness that come happened when the brat-boy with his Keyblade locked Kingdom Hearts up, used to be kind of a childhood home for a bunch of the kids that I have swarming the grounds with me now. I remember those days. Cloud was a wee squirt, a bit lacking in self-confidence, shy and jumpy as hell. Apparently he didn't get no love from his hometown, so his dear Ma brought him to the castle quite often for some playtime away from the bullies that harassed him. Must've cost her a pretty penny just to pamper that kid of hers. Still, nice gesture. And he'd always come with that little black-haired Tifa, too. The home of the Wutai wasn't too far off, so I saw the Pixi-Stik fairy girl Yuffie quite often too. So freaking cute when she was little! And Aerith, too. She was quiet and demure even when she was a tiny kid.

Gaw, I sound like some old fucking geezer rambling on about them like that.

Anyway, as said, good place. Good people. Had a few neighboring islands, too. One with this cute little orphanage with some of the most obnoxiously adorable hellish brats on it that anyone could imagine.

Always was able to recognize those gray eyes from the one time I saw that place and its inhabitants.

Never would tell a soul, though. I know that Leon would fucking kill me if I went revealing anything about his childhood to anyone without his permission.

Wasn't like that when he was little. He was actually kind of sweet. Must've had one fucked up life to turn him sour.

Anyway, used to go when they were all kids. Used to ferry them over myself, sometimes. Working with Shinra, having access to their airships, certainly does have some benefits from time to time.

Then one day it just up and out vanished.

I guess it's damned lucky that the kids had grown up a bit – they were all teenagers save that Yuffie girl who was barely seven, set in their ways and getting ready to strut their stuff on the adult world. Or so they thought. Heh. Bunch of snot-nosed idiots still, so far as I'm concerned. Think Cloud there was barely thirteen, himself. All thinking he was going to be a proper SOLDIER and everything. Moron.

But their childhood home vanished. No going back to Hollow Bastion ever again, even once they'd gotten old and wanted to reminisce like myself at times. Gone. All those people, all those primo vacation spots. Rumor was flying like crazy that old Ansem the Wise had fucked around with forces that were never meant to be touched by human hands and brought disaster on his castle and his subjects.

I'd wondered about the validity of that. Ansem was a pretty good guy, the few times we got to meet. Had one hell of a taste for that Sea Salt Ice Cream, he did, and always ordered some to be shipped whenever I made my wild Shinra-sponsored runs from Midgar. Just didn't seem quite like the kind of guy to knowingly screw over his people by playing with darkness.

I'd more or less suspect it was his damned apprentices – some of those bastards were just shady as hell – but I wisely kept my mouth shut. Seems I was a bit off anyway, seeing as how a few years later Ansem was running around with this big damned Heartless guarding him and smashing light wherever he went.

Kind of hard to forget your whole world fading away, though. Nine years ago it was Hollow Bastion. Seven years ago, when I was testing out my very first gummi ship that I'd made from the wacky colored pieces of shit that fell from the skies (don't know why I decided to call them gummies. Just looked kind of like that. Like something you'd buy in a big plastic bin and chomp on all weekend) and managed to discover an entirely different dimension of space, I'd come across a familiar stream of islands with a few memorable people. I'd seen that kid with his gray eyes again, all grown up this time and lacking all the innocence he used to have, and snatched his ass away from the billowing black that was consuming his world.

Don't think he's ever forgiven me for that, but tough shit. We couldn't have reached anyone else in time – he was standing on the only spot of light-graced land that still existed, after all. The girl he'd screamed for was long gone by the time I wrestled him completely into the ship.

I'd dumped him off in Traverse Town, a brand new burg I'd found while testing out my gummi ship that seemed to be a mish-mashed collection of chunks of destroyed worlds and lost people. Would've tried to find another place for the guy, but unfortunately I had other crap to finish up. After all, I was giving that obnoxious twerp Yuffie a run in my brand new gummi. Little shit was nine, so she was almost still cute enough to weasel her way into my inventions. Had to drop her back at her Grandpappy's place before he got pissed.

Always did want to go back to Traverse Town and check up on that boy who called himself Leon, but unfortunately by the time I'd managed to get some new parts for the gummi and some good fuel cells for it things went to utter shit. Meteor was cast, the Shinra SOLDIER General got his panties in fifteen different twists, sweet li'l Aerith got herself skewered on a nine-foot-long sword, Cloud went bat-shit crazy off the deep end and mentally broke before realizing that he's a fucking normal person like the rest of us (Jenova cells and Mako shit be damned, I say. He's still a useless bitch even if he's got super I'm-gonna-sit-on-the-ceiling-and-whine-'cause-I-can powers and a sword that's compensating for his lacking manhood), the Planet went abso-fuckin'-lutely haywire and Holy barely saved us all.

Yeah, a bit too busy being a part of that fiasco to go check up on that Leon kid. After all, I was the Great Cid, pilot of the Highwind, only way those fucking idiots who were trying to save the Planet could get anywhere. Plus without my trusty spear, they wouldn't have made it very far anyway. Heh.

Wasn't until darkness overtook Midgar one day that I really thought about him again. Kinda got lost in the transition from 'we're all gonna fuckin' die' to 'hey, it's another sunny day, make some pancakes wife.' That was a good year ago. Maybe a little more now.

Scariest damned thing I did ever see that morning, though. Woke up, reached over Shera's peacefully snoozing body to part the curtains, and saw nothing but black outside of the window. I was out of bed seconds later, running for the airship and telling the wife to stay put.

It was only once I was airborne and flying every fucking place on the Planet that I realized how grave things actually were. It was rather horrifying the way it brought back memories. Like when I'd tried to travel towards Hollow Bastion only to find it missing completely, those continents that hovered on the other side of the looming castle vanished from view too – like they never fucking existed at all, replaced by a never ending expanse of ocean that never was there before. Or like when I'd raced with that gummi over to that island, watching that huge white building with its multicolored halo being assaulted by the heartless and watching people get slaughtered left and right, before I watched the lone survivor of that onslaught race from that building's gullet with his odd sword in his hand, slashing his way to freedom.

I'd watched that world vanish once I pulled away with Leon safely in my ship, staring as it became just as Hollow Bastion had been – completely nonexistent, swallowed from the universe.

And I was seeing the same damned thing that day as I sailed my airship over the Planet's wounded surface.

Midgar was gone.

Cosmo Canyon was gone.

I found Cloud near the Forgotten Capitol fighting for his life against those same fucking critters I'd seen tearing apart people when I'd gone to pick up Leon. I tried to reach him but failed pretty miserably – he vanished in a puff of blue fire before he fell, his last scream a curse at his darkness for brining his misery to everyone around him. Egotistical brat, blaming himself and his problems for everything that's fucking going wrong. Typical. Still, did wish I could've gotten him. I remember tasting bile on my tongue when he was gone.

Yuffie had yet to vanish – the island she called home was fading away and swarmed over by those nasty little Shadows, but she was running for all she was worth. Made it to the airship just tin time, too. At least one person could be saved.

With Barret having been in Cosmo Canyon with Tifa and Red to check out some supposedly oil-rich lands, we took a moment to mourn their losses. And seeing as how Reeve Tuesti worked, lived and generally plain existed in Midgar (don't think he's ever seen the outside world except through the eyes of that damned annoying little robot cat of his), we kind of had to write him off too. And Vincent? Yeah, like we know where the vampire was holed up.

It was pretty damned inevitable. We were likely the only survivors. After all, Cosmo Canyon and Midgar were already wiped clean off the map. So was that fucking glacial hell we'd tromped through. Healin Lodge was toast. The Forgotten Capitol had been vanishing when I went to try and snatch the spiky moron from it. Yuffie's home was plundered and likely already gone.

Yuffie was crying when I told her that we were cutting our damned losses and running for all we were worth. I felt just what she was sobbing – that we should go back, that we should try and save our friends. My heart wanted that more than anything; my mind snarled that we'd just end up dying with them. Better someone live to remember than everyone die together, I'd told her before getting the airship back to Rocket Town.

My house was already gone by the time we'd gotten back. All that remained of the area I was calling home was the hangar where I was storing that interesting gummi of mine.

Numb from loss, hardly able to see straight past the throbbing in my skull caused by the realization that not only were all my friends and now my wife gone but that my Planet was perishing as well, I got myself and Yuffie off that doomed world as quickly as I could.

We'd made haste for Traverse Town.

Quite a turn of events – I'd dropped that Leon kid off and pitied the hell out of him for being a lost, homeless soul. Never thought I'd be in his same position.

It was when we were wandering those streets that Yuffie and me got the shock of our lives – we met Aerith of all people wandering outside of the Hotel. She'd smiled and greeted us prettily. When asked about how it could be that she just popped back to life, she yammered on forever and ever about the Planet sensing its fall into darkness, shitting her out of the Lifestream to carry on its essence of light, she's the Planet personified there to maintain its soul as its heart dwells in the darkness of the Heartless' grasp, yadda yadda yadda. Didn't make no lick of sense to me. Just know I was happy to have her back. Damned near brought tears to my eyes.

Didn't take too long after that for us to get settled either. Found Merlin was living in Traverse Town. That in of itself made me damned near cackle with glee – he was one of those nice folks that lived in Hollow Bastion before Ansem brought darkness falling over it. He and I always had a few good drinks and talked bullshit whenever I went over there, him yammering about his magic crap, me yammering about my computers and my airships. He'd managed to get his hands on one of the precious books of his collection before his village had been swallowed, too – that one held a world inside of it, filled with happy critters of innocence and purity and good-natured happiness. Quite a treasure for the Heartless, we both assumed, so we were happy he'd snagged it.

Holing up with Merlin for awhile, the three of us renegade survivors from the Planet had swiftly gotten used to Traverse Town life. I'd gotten in on partial ownership of a ship in what the people who'd been trapped in the burg for awhile called First District, sharing it with those bobble-headed moogle guys. Nice bunch, just kind of hard to take seriously with all their 'kupo'ing. Started making enough from selling shit to passers-by that we were able to permanently rent out the Red Room in the Hotel.

It was a normal night when I'd been ambushed.

See, been in Traverse Town for a couple of months without any incident. I didn't know that the place was plagued through its starlit days and nights by random appearances of Heartless.

Blasted little shits gave me nightmares whenever I remembered home. And they had the fucking audacity to follow us to Traverse Town. Bastards. Think that's why Yuffie and Aerith hate them so damned much – but oddly enough, save Leon, we were the only ones who weren't automatically suspicious of the little Heartless in our home.

Anyway, was meandering back to the Hotel. Picked up some canned soup and a loaf of bread for dinner for us all. Little buggers just popped out of nowhere when I passed from First District to Second District.

Didn't carry a weapon those days. Didn't think there was a need for it. So I was stuck with a fucking loaf of bread to beat Heartless away with.

Wasn't no problem, though. That Leon kid showed up and took care of them lickity-split. Turns out that wacky looking sword of his was good for more than just being a conversation piece.

Trying to find out what he'd been up to for the last damned near six years was like trying to pull teeth out of a chicken's beak. Fucking impossible. Seemed that whatever life he'd lead before the white building he'd fled been swallowed up compounded with the hurt put on him by the Heartless and whatever life he was having in Traverse Town made him about as personable as grass and able to emote as well as fungi. Still, took him in under my wing and hefted his sorry ass back to the Hotel to meet the girls.

Yuffie was crushing on him since day one (he ignored it). Aerith decided to be his friend since day one (he ignored that, too). I just decided that he'd be one handy addition to keep the Heartless at bay (he ignored me completely, but managed to be available whenever we were having trouble). Seemed that he was making his living demolishing the little Heartless bastards whenever they'd pop up, receiving rewards and gratitude from the thankful citizens.

No way for no one to live. Too fucking dangerous for such a good kid. Instead of leaving him to the life of a mercenary, I took him in completely. We rented out the Green Room also so there'd be no complications with having a strapping young man with those sweet, innocent girlies. Didn't want no problems, of course.

Then we'd met the Keyblade Master with his big clown shoes and Cloudesque head (poor fucker). Got Hollow Bastion back, too. Was certainly a wacky turn of events, but hey! Something's better than nothing. Unfortunately the Planet didn't appear quite then. Neither did Leon's home world. But the village he'd spent a lot of time in to the point that he called it a 'hometown of sorts' when he was a little one did reappear, and that seemed to be good enough for him.

Making the castle our home for the time being, we set about trying to rebuild what was left of the village and the crumpling fortification we set ourselves in. After all, with Traverse Town having gone kersplat and there being noticeable gaps in the sky with not every world having come back to reality, we were thinking there'd probably be a few refugees. Also, Hollow Bastion used to be one heck of a sprawling city with that looming castle plopped right in the middle of it. Once all those people made it back from the realm of darkness, they'd need a place to stay.

Tifa and Barret had arrived with Red not long after the Keyblade brat had locked up Hollow Bastion's door. Found them roaming around Traverse Town when it started disintegrating. Those three have the worst fucking luck.

And Cloud? Found his happy ass on a hint from Yuffie and Leon. Said they fought with him when they'd stolen one of my gummies and gone to train Sora to use his Keyblade correctly at the Coliseum. Sure enough, I found the spiky-headed idiot there, all somber and pouting and whimpering about darkness and contracts and blah blah blah. Damned near did a double take when I saw him, what with his being in Vincent's cape and wearing his clawed glove. Cloud said that Vincent was dead and he took them to remember him by. I'd expected as much, but it still hurt to hear confirmation.

Didn't take much convincing to get Cloud to get onboard the gummi. All I really had to say was, "Hey, idiot, Aerith is gonna kick your ass for making a deal with the God of the Dead, you know," and his winged butt was in that ship faster than a person could say 'fudge sticks.' Kind of caught me by surprise to see that wing. He snarked that it was a sign of his contract that he hadn't fulfilled yet. I wrote it off as him being Cloud, and Cloud being weird, and that was all there was to say 'bout that.

So except for Vincent who was confirmed dead and Reeve who was as good as dead, we were all together. Despite the attacks by the Heartless, we had made it through.

Seeing as how we'd all had rather rough experiences because of the little twerps, I guess it ain't hard to understand why everyone's untrusting of the Shadow we've got with us. Funny that us original Traverse Town guys are the only ones to really overlook what he is and give him the benefit of the doubt.

Guess Tifa, Barret and Red went through some extra heinous shit, seeing how lon git took them to make it to Traverse Town. Wonder if they had to go through the realm of darkness to make it there – none of those three'll talk. Red gets a haunted look in his eye and snorts that he'd rather not remember those times. Tifa gets all quiet and teary-eyed, making me regret that I asked. Barret just snarls in anger and punches something nearby, usually a wall.

I'm glad they made it, personally. Don't really want to know what kind of hell they faced. Still, wish they wouldn't take it out on the little Shadow. The little guy's tried his damnedest to not give in to his instincts – anyone can see the strain his efforts put on him by watching, by observing how he grips his wrists and tries to wrestle his own hands down to keep from attacking us. Sweet gesture. Right up there with saving Leon's hide.

Tifa's getting better around him. She doesn't try to mash his face in, anyway. She'll greet him and smile at some of his sillier behavior, but she won't go out of her way to deal with him.

Red just kind of ignores him as well as he can. He'll actively leave the room if he comes ambling through.

Barret always glares at him. Scares the little fuck 2D, too.

And Cloud? Well, he was a slave of Hades, kicking Heartless ass every other day. Don't think he has any particular reason to fear, like or dislike him.

Leon, surprisingly, was the most trusting of him. In fact, he straight up seemed to believe that the damned thing had nothing but good intentions and that we should help the Shadow find the Keyblade twerp.

I wanted to argue that it was a waste to try and help the Shadow do something so foolish, seeing that Sora was on a completely different world and wouldn't likely be coming back any time soon. Also pointed out that Sora'd probably just smash the thing out of existence at first sight.

Leon had just lookeda t me with those blue-gray eyes of his that make him look like a kicked puppy and reminded me that if it weren't for the Shadow, he'd be lost to darkness forever.

Fucking conniving asshole.

Yeah, he got me to agree to break out a gummi to escort the Shadow across the fucking universe. On condition that he come too, of course. If I was flying, he was going to do all the fucking fighting that comes with going out into Heartless territory, all the fucking navigating, and all the fucking Shadow babysitting.

He'd readily agreed. Couldn't deter him worth beans.

As soon as he'd found out that Leon was intending to throw his lot in with the Shadow and haul its little mindless self around the universe in search of the ever-traveling Sora, Cloud decided that there was no way we were going to leave him behind.

Noting that the gummi can sit four adults pretty handily, Tifa, Barret, Yuffie, Red and Aerith had taken it upon themselves to argue as to who else would get to come along.

Leon had put all of that to a halt by asking 'bout the 'Vincent' he'd heard us all talk about.

After I'd informed him that the old vampire could be considered the brains of the operation (besides myself, of course), Leon had nodded and told us that the final seat in the gummi was to remain empty, reserved for him, and that our first order of business was going to be to find him as to get another introspective view of where Sora might be heading next and what exactly was going on with the universe with the falling stars and all. He didn't want to tail Sora – he wanted to head him off at the pass.

That caused an instant uproar in the people who'd just been bluntly told that they were staying behind. Cloud kindly reminded us that Vincent was dead.

Leon told him that he was an idiot and had written him off as dead just a few days ago.

I'd never seen Cloud turn quite so purple with rage in my life.

Only a madman like Leon would dare turn his back on Cloud in that state.

"Pack up. We're heading out tomorrow," Leon commanded.

I snorted even as Cloud snarled a colorful curse and tromped off to pack a travel bag.

Well, looked like ol' Cid was back in the saddle again. Picking up a rag, I nodded at my newest sparkly gummi, the Highwind Level 8. "Well girl, looks like we're gonna have a good long drive ahead of us." Slowly running the rag over huge structural blocks, I let myself relax and focus on what madness I'd let Leon decide to drag us all into.

I almost laughed when I noticed the Shadow picking up a rag and mimicking me.

-tbc-

All I have to say is this – tying FF7, FF8 and KH together is a bitch. Yeah, you try making everyone from Hollow Bastion and still having the original Final Fantasy worlds and storylines intact. I grump and snarl in frustration, and hope fervently that this came out all right and fairly believable. I thought it was reasonable when I wrote it.
Review replies:

DarkStarPhoenix: Sheesh, I swear the typos I create are going to be the death of me. Thanks for pointing them out. Edits have already been made. :P Sure, would like to read your poetry! Just send 'em in. :) And thank you so much for the fanart! Leviathan looked quite good. Just about what I was imagining when I typed the thing up! As for why the Shadow drew Sora as he did, that'll be answered later – perhaps. Well, it should be! And thanks for giving me more confidence in the speed I'm moving this thing at. It's much needed.

littlekittykat: Glad you liked it! And yeah, the Shadow's exactly who we all think it is. :) Thanks for submitting to the plushie – he greatly appreciates it, even if he only smugly smirks at the attention. (laughs)

Li the Twilight Knight: Oh no… my sewing skills suck and I haven't ever mastered those mysterious 'bobbin' thingies that go in the machine. (whimper) So, you don't care what Sora's doing either? My bestest buddy Ava said the same thing! Oye. Here he is, the center character of Kingdom Hearts, and people don't give a rat's ass about him. (snigger) I feel the same way, but I started off with Sora and I'm going to keep going with him, damn it all! Plus he gives me the great opportunity to play with old Disney movies that no one remembers/has heard of. Just wait for the next one. (evil grin) The plushie is cackling in glee, BTW, as his fanbase expands. Sheesh. Give him more of a superiority complex while we're at it, why don't'cha? XP

Shadow Cat17: Glad you liked it! Yeah, LeonxCloud kicks massive booty. My favorite pairing, too, even though RikuxSora is a damned close second. Maybe I just feel more attached to LC because they're in my age category. (sheepish laugh) Anyway, hope you like the new chapter!

Suggestions? Compliments? Complaints? (clears her throat and reaches for the poem again)

Come unto my Ansem plushie,
You know that you want to.
He's telling you to submit to him,
He wants you to review!

Many thanks to DarkStarPhoenix! (reaches over to smack the plushie that tromps around with a 'Submit to darkness!' picket sign) Reviews, moron plushie. Submit reviews. (holds her head as the plushie snarks that his strength returns)