A Thousand Hearts

His battles continued, and his worth became less and less with every passing day. All that he knew he was still alive was the fact for a chattering robot and a cellmate that slept constantly and snored. It got annoying after awhile, but he didn't complain. Why would he, for it was either that or complete silence. A chatter box robot was at least better than that.

Strife hid in his dark, small corner of the cell, contemplating the life before him and what it had been. He didn't sleep much anymore, (if he ever did), and for now, all he could do was sit and wait for his next fight. Another pointless, mocking fight. He lost track of time when he was down there, not remembering how many days it was since the last time he'd been in the sunlight for more than five minutes at a time. Though, whichever way his life was to go, Strife figured he was better off not knowing how long it had been, and just live another day.

At night, when yet again Leon and the rest of the area's creatures were asleep, he for once felt tired, crossing his arms and bowing his head as he shut his eyes. As he drifted off, he slumped over, his head clanking on the bars. Strife grumbled under his breath and shook his head, sliding back some so his head would not touch them. His eyes were heavy, going almost numb in unconsciousness, when he heard a squeaking sound. Paying no mind to it he rolled over, figuring it was just Gir making runs for the guards who had past out about an hour earlier. But as the sound left his hearing, he could hear something else, like footsteps that stopped right near him.

A voice suddenly echoed in a whisper through his mind, his eyes opening slowly to the touch light in the hall. But as his eyes focused, he saw a cloaked figure, glassy eyes fixated on him. He blinked, seeing the woman smiled, and eventually smiled back. Strife sat up, rubbing his head finally from where he had hit it, as she put her hands around the bars, taking one to unveil her face firsthand. His sense of reality grew thin as he witnessed Nevaeh, kneeling before him, and Strife's eyes widened as he knew it was real.

"Hey," she whispered. "How have you been?"

"I don't know; however you define dark, dank, and gloomy, that's basically it," he said sarcastically, shrugging. "What are you doing here? I thought you would've been restricted to the upper levels."

"I was, but there's nothing like a loyal robot to slip the guards sleeping pills, now is there?"

Strife laughed. "Yeah, that'll pretty much do it. But how did you slip pass Hades?"

"I believe he's in a meeting of some sort, so I managed to slip by unnoticed." Nevaeh reached into her pocket, unwrapping a cloth to reveal a loaf of bread. She handed it to him, continuing, "I'm sorry it's so small but it's the only thing I could carry without being noticed."

"Hey, that's okay," he replied. "It's about the size of food we get in a week down here...or at least I think it's a week. How long have I been down here, anyway?"

"...A month, actually..." she answered slowly.

As he finished about half in a single bite, he swallowed soon after. "Say, Nevaeh, why did you come down here, anyway?"

"To bring you some food, why else?!" she laughed.

"Yeah but there must be an ulterior motive, right? There must be something you want to ask maybe?"

She hesitated, but soon shrugged, putting the cloth in her pocket. "No, nothing I want to ask."

"Then what is it?" he finally asked.

Nevaeh paused, but smiled, shaking her head. "It's nothing," she said, standing up. She spoke the words of good-bye, but before she could step away he reached up his hand, and unfortunately the left one. He was shocked again, shaking his hand and shrugging.

"Keep forgetting not to use that hand," he said, Nevaeh turning back.

She kneeled down again, putting her hands on the bars. "You do realize that it is only Heartless who can't touch these bars, do you not? If you can touch it with your other hand, then it is just that one that has been infected with Heartless."

"So, what, I'm about one-hundredth Heartless or something?"

"If you touched the essence of darkness, then yes, your hand is darkness," she replied. She just stared for a moment as he sat there in shock.

"No wonder I can defeat enemies so fast...Because it's all darkness!" He grinned. "Cool."

She smirked slightly, sighing. "You want to know why I am here?" she inquired, and he nodded his head. Nevaeh paused one last time, and said, "Though I have never felt it before, somehow...when you left...I missed you. That's why I came, because I wanted to see you again..."

But that was not the only reason why she had come, though she would never admit it. For she had had something come to her in a dream; no, a nightmare, and it stuck with her even as she was awake. She remembered it as if it had been real, and the very reason she was here was to makes sure Strife was alive, that it had not really happened.

Nevaeh could picture it so vividly in her head. The very thought even sickened her, as she remembered standing out in the sunlight in the stands as she usually did. The sky had darkened by the request of the challenger, seeing Strife standing out waiting for him. She remembered hearing Hades to her far side speak for the fight to commence. The fighter had entered, and somehow she was surprised how he looked, fogged out by her memories. But she could see he wore all black stretching an arm to unleash...she couldn't remember. It must've been a sword from behind his back, because he brought it in front and prepared to fight. The match seemed to speed up in her mind until it finally came to the point when Strife had been down for a moment, the challenger grinning menacingly, for she recollected that cold, bitter being as he stood again, unleashing an attack that would render Strife helpless for one last blow as the sword ripped through his chest...

Nevaeh blinked, coming back as she suddenly felt an icy hand on the side of her face. Strife had done this, noticing her blank stare and having her come back. She managed a smile, lifting a hand and putting it on his. Nevaeh did not want the moment to end, and in truth neither did Strife, so they remained up until the point the squeaking came back, Gir's lit-up eyes in yellow mode as she came up to her.

"Your Grace, it is time we leave! The potion is wearing off on the guards!" Gir stated, putting a metal hand on her shoulder.

Strife slipped his hand away, Nevaeh standing up. He gave a short wave as she sadly looked away, being quickly pushed out by Gir. Well enough she was gone, and a groggy yawn came from down the hall, sounding like the guards were up. He turned with his back up against the wall, soon hearing a voice to his side.

"Apparently that's not the only thing you did while you were up there than just nothing," Leon stated, wide-awake from listening to the conversation. "In some weird way you must've gotten to her. It's just...just...mind boggling that you did!"

"It's none of your concern either," he replied, looking out to the hall.

"None of my concern?! Man, you just solved my problems! If she likes you, then she seriously must've changed somehow, and with it she may actually quit, giving me the advantage of beating all tournaments and not having to go through her!"

"What make's you so sure she'll quit?"

"Look, if it's anything, everybody hates Hades, pure and simple. Even her, and it's not like she doesn't know she's being used for his 'taking-over-the-universe' purposes. She's just in this because she's got no where else to go! But now that you come stumbling along, she might think differently, that there's something else. Who knows, maybe she'll want to get out of this place with the person she cares for so much!"

Strife laughed. "Where did you get that idea? Cares for...Ha! I'm a servant, 'kay, and though I can't remember much, I do remember that servants are meant to serve, not to be treated as equals."

Leon paused. "What the...? Was that just a computerized voice I heard or what? What's with you, anyway? Can't you see what's right in front of you or what?"

"What are you talking about? She thinks of me as a friend, that's all."

"If anything, there's something there that neither of you are realizing. Don't know what, but I think there's something deep in that head of yours that, oh I don't know, tries not to be so ignorant." He smirked. "You can call yourself a ruthless killer, but I'm pretty sure you gotta soft spot for her too."

Strife scrupled the notion, sighing and shaking his head. "Doesn't matter what I think anyway. There is just no way someone like that could possibly...feel anything more for me. Simple as that."

"Well whatever man. Your choice to ignore it," he said, kicking back his feet again and yawning, shutting his eyes to fall asleep.

In the halls in traveling back to her room, she found herself listening in a conversation, being sidetracked. She walked up to a partly opened door, looking through but keeping out a sight to see the figures talking. One was Hades, of course, with two others there. A man with spiky golden blonde hair was one, wearing a red cape kind of like Strife's was one of them, the other being a woman with auburn colored hair and wearing a pink dress. The man argued accusingly at Hades, speaking about something she didn't quite understand. He said he knew something, that he was a liar and hiding it from them. The woman did not say anything, but still appearing stern in the face of this dark ruler. Finally, the man said something that surprised Nevaeh, wondering striking her.

"Where is my son, Hades?! He was sold here, and I know with your selfish, blood-sucking habits you would not get rid of a good fighter, not even if you were paid a thousand heats!" the man cursed, shaking his fist.

"Unfortunately for you, I already have a prized fighter, and just because I knew by that stupid wing of his that he was yours doesn't exactly mean I kept him," Hades stated, rubbing his forehead in annoyance. "I grow tired of this conversation, really I do. Enough." He waved his hand, sending a force to spread through the air and hit the man with a great affect to go sliding out of the door. Nevaeh stood there, horrified, as the woman ran out after him, helping him up. Hades came out slowly, guards coming from down the call at his request. As he saw Nevaeh standing there he smirked, waving a hand to her. "And here she is now. My prized little gladiator, Neaveh. Speaking of which, what are you doing out of your room?"

"I-I was just...umm...Taking a nightly stroll!" She eyed him angrily. "Why? I do not need to answer to your authority, now do I?"

The man and woman stared with question, seeing Hades back away in a bit of fear and wondering how such a young girl could give this affect. But he continued anyway, "Well, if you don't mind, why don't you just show them out on your way back?"

"Gladly," she answered dryly, turning her shoulder in waiting for them to get up and follow. No guards came with them, and Hades returned to his dark room. But as they came to a deserted hall, she stopped, looking to face them in the bright moonlight. She smiled, trying to seem friendly, but when they had a glance at her silver hair and pale...or rather, to them, her mako-green eyes, the woman stood back, the man aiming to draw his weapon. "No, please, do not be confused. I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to know what was that you were speaking of back there. You mentioned your son, did you not?"

The man and woman did not answer at first, but the man nodded his head. "Yeah, our son, Lance. You know him?"

"Lance..." She thought for a moment, soon shaking her head. "No, it doesn't ring a bell. But there is a man here with a wing, not feathered mind you. But first of all, you know who I am, so who are you?"

"...Cloud. Cloud Strife. This is my wife, Aerith. We've been looking everywhere for him after the collapse of our world."

"Yes, that happens..." she answered, contemplating his last name. "I cannot exactly get you too him at this moment, but keep in mind he'll fight within time. If you stay here or near this world for a while, I'm sure the next match will come up for you to watch. You see, I don't exactly think Hades will let you enter."

"Yeah, I realized that a while ago," he answered.

"But thank you for the advice," Aerith spoke up. "When do you expect the next match to be?"

"Umm...probably in a day or so. Just keep that in mind."

"We will," Cloud replied, turning to walk away with Aerith. "Thanks kid. You've been a big help."

"No problem," she said, walking on to her room. She somehow felt this was going to be bad, though she could not even estimate how badly...