Chapter 36: A Starting Spark

Elena's POV

Why did we even think of letting Sylvia even think of reaching for the wheel? The crash was inevitable, so why did she even bother? And another thing! She-

"Fuck!" Even in the darkness, I could hear Cloud's frustrated voice.

A scream tore through my lips as pain shot up the right side of my body. I gasped for air, panicking, attempting to move. Why couldn't I move?

"Elena! Calm down... I think you smacked a tree on the way down... I'm gonna remove them, okay?" I screamed once more. I could feel tears trailing down my cheeks, "Ready? One... Two... Three!" Another scream erupted as he ripped a branch from my arm.

My vision swam in and out of focus. He continued to three, ripped another out of my side, and another scream came out.

"Come on... Hold on... Just one more..." I heard him whisper, "One... Two... Three..."

I held in the scream, but a gasp and a whimper escaped. I felt cold glass touch my lips, "Drink it. It'll heal you..."

He tilted it slowly. It tasted like play-doh, but I refused to stop and/or gag. A few minutes later, he gently sat me upright against one of the rock walls, "Feeling better?"

My vision cleared and I smiled weakly, trying to level my breathing, "Y-Yeah... Thank you..."

"Good." Standing up, Cloud walked over to the opposite side of the area, taking a handful of broken twigs and branches, and setting them down in the front of me. The spiky blonde grasped two rocks. Fire soon appeared.

"Sylvia had said you guys knew where Sephiroth is. So, where is he?" He asked bluntly.

Not expecting that so soon, I blinked a few times, "Uh... Well, I uh... I'm, uh... unauthorized to give you that information. Yeah. That's it."

"And why is that?" He grit his teeth.

I frowned, "Hey, you're the one who risked that we could be lying."

His fists clenched until his knuckles turned white, "And are you?"

Despite my fear, I felt a smirk creep across my cheeks, "You'll just have to take that risk now won't you?"

A bitter smirk crawled across his lips. He ran a hand through his spikes, "You really want to make this difficult don't you?"

I frowned once more, "No. I'm just treading carefully..."

This made him confused, "Why would you think you aren't wrong?"

"It's... complicated..." This was going very badly.

"Enlighten me." Cloud rolled his eyes.

"I don't have to tell you anything." Why am I even reacting this way? It's not like me

"Why can't you just admit there's something at least?" He growled.

"Because there is nothing!" Was it just me or was he acting like Oliver?

"Elena, for god's sake! I need to find him! Tell me where he is!" His voice was so dark and powerful, I almost started crying.

"I told you... I-It's complicated..." I whispered, looking down at my lap to avoid his eyes.

"Please... Just tell me..." Cloud whispered, "I need to know if you know something... Anything..."

"Earth..." I mumbled, staring into the fire longingly.

"What? What's that?" I observed him frowning from the corner of my eye.

"My world. It's where I'm from. We were taken from it about a week ago." I smiled weakly at the fire, "It feels like so much longer…"

"I'm sorry…" Cloud frowned, "What was it like? Your world."

I looked up at him surprised. Hadn't he been yelling at me a minute ago? Or was he actually trying to be civil? Whatever. I'll take it, "Well… It's a bigger world than any other you've probably been to. It's filled with pretty much everything, except magic. Or at least spells like fire and stuff. Fake illusions like a simple card trick are the only things that are known."

"How do you know about Sephiroth?" I blinked a few times. How the hell was I going to answer that?

A lot more time must have passed then I thought because he let out an aggravated sigh, "You know what? Fine. But I will find out eventually.

I let out a relieved sigh, yawning soon after, "Well... Good night, Cloud."

"Good night, Elena." If I had been in my right mind, I would have protested Cloud's decision to cling to me for warmth.

But were any of us in our right mind anymore?

-Dream-

3rd Person POV

"Nerd!" "Freak!" "Loser!" The chorus of hurtful names echoed through the halls of school. A chestnut haired girl, a taller very dark brown haired girl, and an even taller golden blonde haired girl stood on the side lines with the audience watching the trio of bullies torment one of the girls in their grade. She looked so helpless on her knees trying to pick up her scattered things and ignore their words, but she wasn't fooling anyone. Where were the teachers?

Enough was enough. The chestnut haired girl stood in front of the black haired girl on the floor, arms outstretched, "You'll have to go through me."

The dark brown haired girl scoffed, rolled her eyes, and stood next to her, "If you touch her, you die."

The golden blonde girl stood on the other side of the smaller girl, holding up a spork of all things, "I'll spork your eyes out. Don't think I won't."

Needless to say, the bullies ran away after awhile. The small girl smiled and turned to the fallen female, "You okay?"

"Y-Yeah... Thank you..." She stood up, rejecting Sylvia's hand to help her up. She began walking away.

The chestnut girl stopped her, "Hey, wait! What's your name?"

She faced her shyly, clutching her novels, "E-Elena..."

"I'm Kasandra! Kassy for short~" She giggled.

"I'm Sylvia." The dark haired girl smirked.

"And I'm Hazel!" The golden blonde held up her spork, "And this is Freddy! Say hi Freddy!" She glared down at the kitchen utensil, "The hell you will! I'm not talking to you anymore." She stuffed it in her pocket angrily.

Elena raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. She protested loudly when Kassy took a hold of her arm and dragged her away, chattering away happily about nothing in particular. The others followed, joining the conversation.

-End Dream-

AN: I'm a lot more satisfied with the ending than I thought I would be. :D