AN: As many of you Dark Tower fans are aware, the fourth installment of the DT series is basically a flashback sequence. As this is a fanfiction, I'm definitely taking a different direction for that portion of this arc. While I'd love to spend countless chapters on Roland's backstory, that would pretty much be blatant copy-paste of the DT series. I summarized the young gunslinger's exploits, but you can find the whole story in Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass. I also summarized a small portion of Link and Alucard's backstories so everything wouldn't seem extremely one-sided. Hope you guys are enjoying the story so far. -Dylan Kennedy
Ka-tet – Crash site
The gunslinger opened his eye and looked around. He was tangled in a cargo net with the by tucked next to him, still breathing. He found that he was a few feet off the ground and slightly sideways.
"Link, do you hear my voice?"
The boy nodded his head a little and tried to look up. His hat was tangled in the net and it made it hard for him to move his head around without ripping out hair or tearing the hat itself.
The gunslinger wiggled his arm behind himself and pulled his knife from his purse. "Brace yourself," he whispered. Roland cut the net and they fell onto the ground with a crash. They picked themselves up, sucking in air sharply as the pain of impact stung their knees.
They shoved a broken panel aside and found themselves outside of the crashed Highwind and onto the blacktop of a long-forgotten road. While Roland checked the Horn of Eld for cracks and damages, Link looked down the road in both directions. The gunslinger caught movement in his peripherals and turned to see Nanaki dragging a now-comatose Cloud from the wreck. Alucard had the pilot and the first-mate in each hand, pulling them alongside the wolf. They set the bodies against the nearest section of ship and looked to the gunslinger for guidance.
He motioned at Cid and Tristan. "Have they passed on?"
Alucard brushed his bangs out of his eyes. "No. They're alive, but definitely unconscious."
As if on cue, both of the men pulled their own choice of tobacco products and lit up a smoke. "Well that's the second goddamn time, I'm sick of losing these."
Tristan puffed on his cigar and blew smoke rings in front of him. "She's not lost completely. The hull is damaged pretty badly, but the ship is in one piece."
The gunslinger looked above him and was dismayed to find that the beam was not there. "We've gone off the path of the beam. We need to find it again."
Go north to the ruined castle. Go find the key, Link.
The boy shook his head violently, clearing away the voice. It was that boy from the beach again, but this time he sounded a little distressed. Maybe I need to hurry, thought Link.
"Well what are you two going to do?" Alucard asked the blonde men.
They both looked at each other, stood up, and dusted themselves off. "Well, we're gonna fix the damn ship, that's what. Gonna be a lot harder to get home without it," replied Cid.
"We'll catch up with you guys eventually, I'm sure. Go and do what you gotta do, we'll take care of business here." Tristan offered a hand and shook with everyone in the ka-tet, sans Cloud. After Cid had done the same, Roland and his 'tet walked north down the road, Cloud draped over the wolf's back.
They walked by day and camped by night. They told stories to pass the time and often watched Cloud for any signs of life. Every now and then his body would twitch a little and everyone's hearts would race for a second. They would be disappointed every time when Cloud continued to remain unconscious.
Of the course of time that they spent on that old cracked road, the ka-tet shared stories with each other of their previous adventures. Roland recounted the story of his trip to Mejis, a trip that ultimately came to define the very man he was to be. He told them of his first love, Susan Delgado, and the short time they spent together. The gunslinger told them of the conspiracy he and his friends unraveled and how it led to Susan's murder at the hands of her own people.
Alucard chose to recount only the recent years, revealing that he was indeed a shape-shifting dhampir. He didn't reveal his father's true identity, lying instead by saying that he never personally met his own father. He explained that he was hunting a very powerful vampire when he came into the world and that when all was said and done, he intended to finish that quest.
Link told them about his adventures in Hyrule and Termina. He explained how he used the Master Sword and the Ocarina of Time to hope back and forth through time in order to save Hyrule from Ganondorf's evil. The boy also spoke of his adventure in Termina and how he once again manipulated time in order to save the world. Roland didn't know why, but for some reason he felt that he could relate to being under the influence of time in the same manipulative way that the boy had.
While the ka-tet shared these stories with each other, Cloud continued to explore the Medium.
Following the directions of what Cloud called the "Sky Voice," he ventured further into the strange land of the Medium. He found that he wasn't at all safe in that place, continually encountering strange imps as he made his way across the land. The imps were black with sharp teeth, about as tall as a child, and they were covered in zippers, belts, and chains. Upon seeing the first of these for himself, Tidus would ask Ansem why the imps looked that way.
"The Medium is based on a computer game that I discovered in my other worldly travels. Even I am not entirely sure what the original game is for, but I copied the data from the discs I found and used it to make the ultimate simulation software. I can create worlds, even universes, at my own whim inside the computer. To answer your question, the game requires one to prototype something called a kernel sprite at the beginning of each session. I managed in forcing the game to use a previously-made set of levels, but the simulation refused to load without prototyping. I prototyped a pair of red shorts that I found lying around in this mansion. I assumed that a pair of boy's shorts with ample zippers and chains wouldn't create too much trouble for Cloud."
Cloud found that he didn't hate the Medium, but his feelings of homesickness grew exponentially. He wanted nothing more than to see the mother of his child and his home, even if it meant dealing with ShinRa goons.
For now, he would have to be content with killing imps and searching for the answers to his lost memories within the lands of the Medium.
