Finding My Light
Chapter 4: Cloud's Battle
Disclaimer: No, I am not the happy owner of Kingdom Hearts. You can blame Squaresoft and Disney for my unhappiness since they're the owners.
A/N: I'M NOT DEAD! YAY! Anyways, sorry this chapter took a while, but I think I've got most of the story mapped out! I don't know how much of a plot it'll have, but I'm trying! My teachers are loading me with lots of homework, and my parents are bugging me about doing stuff at church, so I'm pretty busy! Hopefully these next chapters will get out quickly! So, enjoy!
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Cloud stared at the kid–no, Sora. If he could remember he was Sora, he wouldn't be able to kill him.
He could feel Hades's eyes boring into his back. Hades wanted Sora dead. Why was a mystery to Cloud. Not to be rude, but Sora and his two companions looked fairly weak.
"That's guy'll be tough to beat," he remembered hearing the goat-man say to Sora as he had passed the pair to head for his match. A small smile flickered across his tired face.
The match would begin soon. Just two more obstacles between him and his light now. Only Sora and that Hercules chump!
"Kill the boy," he heard whisper in his mind. Cloud's grip tightened on his bandaged blade. He would not kill Sora! He would not murder a little boy, even if Sora would probably resent being thought of as little!
Just then, the match started, and Sora towards him baring his weapon. Cloud lifted his own sword and used his special rush attack against Sora. Sora yelped in pain, along with his two comrades, but quickly pulled himself back together, determination gathering in his eyes. Cloud quickly tried rushing again, but grunted in pain when he felt Sora's weapon strike his stomach. As he was thrown off-balance, he felt more slashes on his arms and few bangs on his legs from that stupid duck's staff. Cloud gathered his thoughts quickly and counterattacked, surprising Sora. Smirking, he rushed at Sora again before Sora could block his attack. Sora hit the ground groaning, and Cloud plunged his blade into the ground, greatly wounding his three opponents.
Cloud turned around, thinking the trio would give up, and was surprised to turn and see Sora standing up, green sparks around him. Cloud looked for the source, and saw that his duck companion had healed him. "Thanks Donald!" Sora called out, and before Cloud could comprehend what had happened, Sora was attacking him with a vicious mixture of jump attacks and swipes. Cloud angrily tried to rush at him, but Sora blocked him and threw him off-balance. Weakly, Cloud tried to jump up and plunge his sword into the ground to harm the three "heroes," but, though he got the duck and dog, Sora dodged his attack and hit him one last time causing Cloud to fall to the ground. His last thought as he saw the evil black dog Cerberus appear was, "I'm sorry–Aerith."
***
Cloud awoke groggily in the Coliseum lobby. "What happened?" he croaked.
Phil looked down at him, a mixture between anger, worry, and stress apparent on his face, "You're finally up, huh, trouble maker!"
"What happened?" Cloud repeated, irritated, as he slowly raised himself up.
"You lost your fight to Sora, and then Cerberus attacked," a man wearing armor replied, crossing his arms and standing by Phil, "You're lucky to be alive."
Cloud closed his eyes, his defeat fresh in his mind now, "Where's Sora?"
"Out there! Fighting Cerberus!" the goat-man yelled. "He's going to get himself killed!"
"Don't worry Phil, I'm sure those three will be fine," the man that had to be Hercules replied. He looked uncertain and worried though.
Cloud sighed deeply and slowly headed for the door. "Hey!" Phil called, "Where're you going! Aren't you worried at all?" Cloud didn't hear him though. He was engulfed by darkness.
"Why you little!" Phil said nastily, starting to run after him before being stopped by Hercules, "Herc! What're you doing? Put me down!"
"Just let him go Phil, there's nothing you or I can do," Hercules said seriously, staring after Cloud.
"Hmph!" was all Phil had to say to that.
Outside, Cloud sat on the steps leading out of the Coliseum. His thoughts were all mixed up. He thought of Aerith's face, and his promise to her, but his thoughts would suddenly shift to Sora and his friends, and to the monster they were fighting. He felt lost, confused, and hopeless. How was he going to reach Aerith now? Where was his light? Did she even exist? Or was she just a dream? A cheer went up from the Coliseum, and Cloud raised his head. "Well," he said softly, "at least Sora has triumphed." And then he put his head back in his hands and only tried not to think.
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"Hey are you alright?"
Cloud lifted his head up in surprise, "Yeah."
Sora looked at him a little uncomfortably, "So, why did you go along with him anyways?
Cloud closed his eyes pensively; he had known that this question would be coming. "I'm looking for someone. Hades promised to help." He slowly started to stand up, "I tried to exploit the power of darkness, but it backfired." He turned his eyes toward the statue, and the light reflected off of it seemed to flow into his eyes and down to warm his cold and hurt heart. "I fell into darkness, and couldn't find the light."
"You'll find it," Sora said confidently. Cloud turned his gaze from the statue to Sora, surprised to see sympathy in his eyes. "I'm searching too," Sora continued.
Cloud continued to peer into Sora's eyes, searching to see if he was telling the truth, "For your light?"
Sora nodded, and Cloud suddenly saw a small beam of light pierce through his darkness, and he felt hope again. "I will find Aerith," he thought as he walked up to Sora and handed him a gift out of gratitude. "Don't lose sight of it," he said as he walked off full of renewed hope and confidence.
Sora watched Cloud and yelled after him, "How about a rematch sometime? Fair and square, no dark powers involved."
Cloud smiled a small and secret smile, flipping his hair, "I think I'll pass........." ".........for now," he added silently.
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A/N: Argh! This was a hard chapter to write! I'm not very good at writing about Cloud! Anyways, hope you liked it, and REVIEW!!!!!!!
~(_)Kitty Luver(_)~