A/N: Well…I typed this chapter within an hour, so be happy…well…it can be rather depressing, so I added some funny parts to it to kill anyone's depressed mood if it should settle upon you.
Wow…that was cheesy. Lol.
Chapter Eight
Leon stared at the man standing in front of him. Messy brown hair splayed around the man's head and his oddly glowing green eyes stared at Leon with a dark light in them. Somehow Leon knew this man, but he could not place where he had seen him before. He swallowed, sensing the dark aura of power generating off of the tall, dark figure. "Who are you?"
The man raised an eyebrow, "You've forgotten?" he asked, mock amusement splintering his cold tone. Sora and Kairi stared at the man with confusion in their eyes. They had never seen him before, but they too, somehow knew he was dangerous. "Then let me refresh your memory, Squall Leonhart,"
The man raised his sword and that was when Leon realized how long it was. His gray eyes widened in horror and he stepped back from the man, gasping out, "Y-You're that Sephiroth clone from five years ago! You're Gackt!"
Gackt gave Leon a wicked grin. "I'm glad you remember me, but sadly, I did not come here to say hello," and in one quick motion, he pulled out a materia. It was a Sleep materia. Then, Gackt quickly summoned on its powers and cast the three people to sleep, a mischievous grin on his face.
---
When Grace entered the house, she discovered her parents sitting on the couch, talking quietly to each other. Blinking, Grace made her way to the stairs, trying not to listen in on Yuffie and Vincent's conversation, but it was rather hard with her acute sense of hearing.
"Everything will be okay soon enough. We'll have our answers when Riku and Seth return," that was her father's voice.
"I know…but I'm scared to find out the truth…I mean…what if Gackt takes Grace away from us? He knows that will nearly kill us both…"
Grace felt a hot shame flood through her veins as she thought of the long, deep cuts lining her wrist. If her parents found out what she was doing… 'If Clark finds out what I'm doing…' Grace didn't even want to think about that as she began to climb the stairs.
Even as the silence settled around her, Grace remembered the feeling she got when the blade had touched her skin. 'All that blood…that pain…it felt good…I didn't regret doing any of it… And…I want more,' she realized, feeling the weight of the dagger in her pocket. Her hands itched to pull it out and cut some more.
When Grace clenched her cut up hand, she winced at the feeling of hot blood dripping down her hand. Swallowing roughly, she wiped it on her clothes.
Reaching the end of the stairway, she turned and headed down the hall towards her room. Sighing quietly, she prayed that Clark was still asleep. 'If he sees these cuts on me…he'll kill me…' she though worriedly, knowing that they would heal quick enough, but if he touched her wrist, or bumped it, she would wince. He might get suspicious of something…
'GRACE VALENTINE!' a loud, angry voice appeared in her head. 'WHAT THE BLEEP DID YOU DO TO YOUSELF?'
Grace's eyes grew huge. Chaos… She hadn't considered him. 'Oh gaw…Chaos…please don't tell anyone, please! I know what I'm doing is wrong but…please…you gotta understand…'
'Grace, I should tell your mother and father. What you are doing is very bad and could kill you if you cut too deep. It's very bad to cut yourself and you know it damn well,' Chaos's voice was scolding and pissed.
Grace felt her heartbeat quicken and her breath caught in her throat. Her Mako green eyes were wide with terror, but in the back of her head, a very wicked, terrible thought entered her mind. Slowly, a smile maniacal grin played on her lips, 'Chaos, if you tell my parents or anyone, I'll go straight to my father, Gackt, and turn my own mother in,'
'ÝOU WOULDN'T!' Chaos screamed, his voice dark with rage.
'You obviously don't know me very well, now do you?' Grace let a dark chuckle escape her lips. She almost surprised herself at how much she was acting like Gackt, but she let it slid, remembering the cuts that covered her.
'Fine…' Chaos growled begrudgingly, 'But if you cut too deep and begin to bleed to death or this gets out of hand, I'm telling your parents and I will protect Yuffie with my life,'
'I know,' Grace replied, her inner voice cold without feeling.
When Grace reentered her room, she found that Clark was still sleeping, but he seemed restless, a pained look on his face. Instant worry for the sleeping teenager filled Grace as she quietly rushed over to his side, looking down at his face, her expression blank. Clark mumbled something that Grace couldn't make out because it was all jumbled up, and then she found him reaching out for her.
Grace was surprised, more like shocked, when Clark grabbed her shirt and yanked her downwards, making her fall on top of him. Her eyes widened slightly as pain flared up her arm, numbing the mutilated flesh. And then she noticed Clark's eyes open and looking at her. He seemed to take her expression for surprise rather than pain.
"Umm…sorry about that Grace, I didn't mean to…" Clark stuttered, his eyes betraying the embarrassment he felt as he released the teenage girl.
"It's okay," Grace replied quietly, her eyes downcast as she fixed her shirt. She turned away from Clark, "Um…Clark…I think that you shouldn't stay here… I mean… It's not that I don't want you here, but… I'm not so sure you're exactly welcome in my house right now because of what your father did… I passed my parents a few minutes ago and they seemed a upset…"
Clark's blue eyes glittered with a sad compassion as he nodded, "I understand what you mean, Grace. What my father did was wrong and it hurt you and your family. I think… I may just go home and talk with himself. He had no right to do what he did…"
Grace nodded slowly. "Yea…" she mumbled, knowing she was lying. She wanted Clark gone because she wanted to cut herself some more. If he wasn't here twenty-four seven, it would make things a whole lot easier to do.
Clark shuffled out of her bed and stood in front of her. He smiled weakly at her and reached up to brush the side of her face with his fingertips. "If you need me, Grace, don't hesitate to ask," he whispered, and then leaned down and kissed her on the lips gently
Then Clark left her standing there, oblivious to the fact that Grace had reached inside her pocket and pulled out a dagger. Shutting the door behind her, Grace locked it and sat on her bed, tears spilling down her face. How could he love someone so wicked and cruel as her?
Grace sighed through her tears and slid up her sleeve and looked at the marks. With narrowed eyes, she unsheathed the dagger once more and began to cut open her flesh once more.
A/N: Okay…this story is about to drive me INSANE!/! It makes ME wanna cut myself…cut the living shit out of myself like I used to…but I made a promise not to…shit…well this sucks.
The blood that slipped down her wrist was calming, the pain was soothing. It was like someone whispering a lullaby in her ear as she slept… It calmed her raging spirit. Closing her eyes, Grace let a soft smile settle on her lips as she cut with more ferocity, the blood building up and dripping onto her pants. Ignoring that fact, she cut further and further up her arm until it reached her elbow.
When Grace looked at her arm, she was rather shocked to see that there was blood everywhere. Every wound on her arm was deep, but it was healing quickly, due to the Mako/JENOVA cells that were bred into her blood.
A/N: I wish I could do that…Anyways, I found a song that goes with this…sorta…Anyway, it's: All That I Got by The Used
So deep that it didn't even bleed and catch me,
Off guard, red-handed, now far from lonely,Asleep, I still see you lyin' next to me,
So deep that it didn't even bleed and catch me,
Grace decided not to pay attention to all the wounds and added even more long, jagged cuts. Every time she got closer to the top of her wrist where the veins were closest at, she was afraid she would cut open her major vein. Despite having survived being killed by her own father, Grace was still afraid that if she cut those veins, she would bleed to death.
I need something else would someone please just give me,
Hit me, and knock me out and let me go back to sleep,
I can laugh all I wanted, inside I still am empty,
So deep that it didn't even bleed and catch me,
'Grace, please quit this…I can feel the pain you're feeling right now. Please quit,' Chaos's voice entered her endless void of thoughts. Thoughts of blood.
'I can't feel anything,' Grace responded, knowing it was true. She could feel the physical pain, yes, but… It didn't feel like hurting… It felt like…like heaven.
An escape.
I'll be just fine pretending I'm not,
I'm far from lonely and it's all that I got,
I'll be just fine pretending I'm not,
I'm far from lonely and it's all that I got,
(All that I got)
'Please stop…you'll bleed to death…''I'll be fine, Chaos. I can't die, remember?' Grace reminded the demon quietly, cutting deeper into the upper arm of her arm.
I guess, I remember every glance you shot me,
Unharmed, I'm losing weight and some body heat,
I scored so hard I stopped your heart from beating,
So deep that I didn't even scream fuck me,
'Someone will find out about this, Grace,'Chaos growled, trying his best to get through to her.
'No they won't' she told the demon, her voice blunt with a streak of iciness in it.
I'll be just fine pretending I'm not,
I'm far from lonely and it's all that I got,
I'll be just fine pretending I'm not,
I'm far from lonely and it's all that I got,
(All that I got)
Yea it's all that I got,
Yea it's all that I got,
It's all that I got,
It's all that I got,
It's all that I got,
So deep that it didn't even bleed and catch me,
So deep that I didn't scream fuck
'Why are you doing this? You know there are other ways to solve your problems. You don't have to cut yourself. Mutilating yourself isn't the answer,' Chaos spoke slowly, but with conviction in his tone.
'Then what is?' Grace couldn't help but ask, knowing she was driving the demon up the wall as she cut herself once more.
I'll be just fine pretending I'm not,
I'm far from lonely and it's all that I got,
I'll be just fine pretending I'm not,
I'm far from lonely and it's all that I got,
Yea it's all that I got,
Yea it's all that I got.
'I…I can't tell you that…' Chaos realized suddenly. 'But I know it isn't this…'
"Go away," Grace spoke forcefully, her Mako eyes blazing with fire suddenly as she grabbed a towel from off the floor and wrapped it around her cut up arm. "And stay out of my head," And then Chaos was gone…
---
A/N: Now to cheer the mood up a little!
Kadaj backed away from Zack, whose eye was twitching. The SOLDIER clutched a large butcher knife, foam dripping from his parted lips. "You killed Death! Now I will kill you!"
"OH MY GAW!! ZACK HAS BEEN POSSESSED BY AN EVIL CHOCOBO!! RUN CLAW RUN!!!" Kadaj turned around and fled with Claw tailing behind him, screaming blood murder.
"Where's a friggin' Tonberry when you need one?" Yazoo mumbled from where he sat under a shady tree, watching with narrowed eyes as Zack chased Kadaj and Claw around the yard.
"What the hell are they doing?" a voice said from beside Yazoo.
The silver haired remnant looked over his shoulder at Sephiroth, who was watching with a bemused smirk on his face. "Kadaj kill Death thinking that I was eaten by him and now Zack's trying to kill Kadaj and Claw. Heh…Stupid idiots…"
Sephiroth's smirked widened, but then he sighed, "Knowing Zack, he'd catch them eventually. Maybe I'd better go stop him,"
"Or you could it here and enjoy the show," Yazoo deadpanned, his eyes narrowed at his coward of a brother.
"WHHHHHHHAAAAAAA!!! MOMMY!!!!! I WANT MY BOTTLE!!!" a loud, obnoxious childish voice cried from somewhere in Aeris's garden.
Yazoo looked at Sephiroth with narrowed eyes, "Since when did you and your wife get busy and make another child?"
Sephiroth glared at Yazoo, "Screw you, asshole. Aeris and I might have been busy a few times but we sure as hell haven't had another child. I believe that's your idiot of a brother crying like a three year old cause some dog ripped up his teddy bear,"
Yazoo glared at Sephiroth. "Okay, one-he's your clone too. TWO-he's crying for a bottle, not a teddy bear,"
"MOMMY!!! SEPHY!! COME HEREEEE!!!" Loz continued to scream. "I HAVE A BOO-BOO!"
"SHUT THE BLEEP UP YOU BLEEPING ASSHOLE BEFORE I BLEEPING SHOVE THE BOTTLE UP YOUR ASS!" Sephiroth snarled, his voice loud and threatening.
And everything around them stopped to stare at him.
"What?" Sephiroth question, his eyes glittering with confusion.
"Since when did YOU start cussing like a sailor?" Yazoo asked in surprise. "I thought that was Aeris's job."
"AERIS?/! Aeris doesn't curse!" Sephiroth snapped at his clone.
"Then you obviously don't know your wife very well," Yazoo commented, a smirk on his handsome, pale face.
"I hate you…"
"I know,"
---
Cloud still felt the shock after many hours of sitting in the dark, drinking his alcohol. Yuffie had tried to…
No. He could register what he had nearly done to his friend. What he had drove her to do. What kind of monster was he? Thinking about it, he raised the bottle to his lips and drank deeply, wanting so badly to become so drunk he would forget what Riku had told him, but the thoughts would not leave him be. It was slowly destroying him.
Riku's words echoed through his mind, haunting him, shredding his heart open, 'You're killing all of your friends without a bleeping care what happens to them!'
He did care…he cared very much.
'Then why did you betray them?' a voice in the back of his head asked. 'Why did you nearly kill Vincent and Yuffie and their only daughter? The daughter your son grew up along side,'
'My son…'
Cloud blinked, his Mako blue eyes widening. What had possessed him to become so angry with Clark for being with Grace? He should have been happy. He shouldn't have gotten mad. At least Clark was better at telling a girl he loved them… It had taken Cloud half of his life to confess his love to Tifa… So why the sudden protectiveness?
Was it because of who Grace's parents were.
'But we don't even know who her real biological father is…' he argued with himself as he drank more of the alcohol.
In his hands, the bottle was becoming light; it was almost empty.
Cloud sat it down beside him, closing his eyes and trying to forget what he was thinking about, and instead, concentrate on the buzzing noise that was steadily growing inside of his mind. Just as he was sure he would be lost in it, the door to the dark room he was in opened to reveal Tifa standing there, Clark behind her. But Cloud did not register who they were through his drunken state.
"Go the hell away," he growled, his fingers curling around the bottle as he dared down the rest of the spicy drink.
"Cloud," Tifa's soft voice called into the darkness.
Cloud blinked, staring hard at her figure. "Tifa?" he asked in a very slurred, disoriented voice.
"Cloud, seeing as you're drunk- maybe we'd better come back later, but I have to ask you not to touch anymore alcohol," Tifa asked of him in a quiet voice, and then shut the door behind her, leaving Cloud to drown in the growing buzz or his haunting thoughts.
---
Yuffie looked at Riku with worry in her eyes. "What did he say?" she asked him, almost afraid for the answer.
The silver-haired Keyblade wielder looked at Yuffie. He had removed his blindfold. "He told us he did it to kill Gackt, but we didn't get anything out of him because he had a total breakdown when we told him what you had…attempted. And then Seth decided we should leave before something bad ended up happening," Riku replied, a disappointed look in his eyes.
"How could he possibly kill Gackt by handing Yuffie over to him?" Vincent asked, his voice displaying an edge of confusion.
Yuffie suddenly looked down, trying to hold back her tears. She found that her voice was low and choked sounding, "Gackt…he…he told me something that he must have told Cloud...he told me how to kill him," she dared breathe, but as soon as the words were out, Yuffie remembered her dream abut Gackt trying to force her to divorce Vincent and she felt the tears rolling down her face.
"Yuffie…Why didn't you tell us?" Vincent asked, his dark voice hinting signs of surprise. His red eyes looked at her carefully, but with worry all the same as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
"Because…he says to kill him I have to…" Yuffie swallowed roughly, not sure she could say it. It was much harder than it seemed. "…That I would have to divorce you and marry him…and then kill him…"
Vincent's eyes widened, but for only a split of a second. "No, that's not true. He's lying to you. And even if it was the truth, I would never let you go. Don't think for an instant I would," he pulled Yuffie into him, one of his hands stroking the back of her head. The young ninja cried softly, fear coming off of her in waves.
Letting his wife cry, Vincent looked up at Seth, "Do you know anything about Clone Number 13?" he asked. "Or how Hojo created him?"
Seth blinked, surprised at the question, "Well, I don't know a lot about how he was created, but I'm sure if we traveled down to Midgar- If we searched the ruins where Hojo's lab used to be, we might find something on him. I know Hojo was very excited when he released Gackt into the world."
Vincent nodded slowly, an angry glint flickering behind his red eyes every time the name Hojo was mentioned. "Then we'll go to Midgar tomorrow and search for some things,"
A/N: Well this concludes Chapter Eight! You're probably wondering what happened to Leon, Sora, and Kairi, no? Well now, you'll just have to wait until Chapter Nine to find out! Oh and, I won't be updating for a week because I'm leaving to go to Disney World. Sorry guys!
And as for Grace cutting herself, well now…I'm sure a lot of you want me to change that…she might get caught, she might not. -evil laugh-
Also I have special guest appearing in Chapter Nine- someone I know every little about and someone you know very little about. But I wanted to put him in here…I'll give him the personality I see fit though. Oh and he also Gackt's twin brother! (they're not really twins-they just look alike, minus one feature)
Figure out who I'm talking about yet?