Foreword- Ok... This chapter's main places are wherever Cloud and Yuffie
are and wherever Tifa is. I will try to make this not as bloody as previous
chapters but you must expect some!
Cloud and Yuffie had been walking through the mountains now for about an hour. Yuffie had already explained everything to Cloud. Cloud was hurt at the loss of Vincent.
"It will all get better after I find the four Stones." Cloud said reassuringly, "The Oracles wouldn't leave me unrewarded after completing such a daunting task. At least I would hope they wouldn't."
Yuffie kept quiet for most of the trip. It had been hard for her to remember Vincent's vicious death. Cloud just kept walking along.
"Uhhh...Cloud? What happens to us? You know...after you find the Stone? What if the darkness envelopes this planet without you here?" asked Yuffie, in a quiet voice.
"Honestly, I don't know. I would assume that the darkness wouldn't overcome this planet after I got the stone. But I guess we will have to see about that after I find the Stone..." Cloud droned off. He felt something. He didn't like this feeling. It felt like....
~~~ Tifa stood up. She was covered in the blood of another. Vincent.
-Yes, Tifa, Come To ME! --- A voice told Tifa. Tifa closed her eyes for a second, when she opened them they glowed a deep red. Tifa smiled evilly and began to walk off. Toward Sephiroth's bloody remains.
~~~ Cloud and Yuffie were now tied to a large rock, protruding over an edge of a cliff. Cloud opened his eyes first. The attack of these new bandits had been to well thought out for Cloud to have even imagined it would happen.
The bandit leader walked up to the stone, "So. You are the one who killed 13 of our elite bandits on your own?" Cloud nodded.
"Very well, you and your female companion have one chance to save yourselves. You must defeat me and the 10 of my sons. We are the strongest enemies that you could ever face. It's either you fight us or fall to your death. You decide." explained the leader with a snort of sarcasm.
"We will have to wait for Yuf- I mean...her to wake up." said Cloud.
"Very well. We will wait 30 minutes. If she is not awake by then you will both fall to your death." explained the leader. Cloud nodded. The leader went back to what seemed to be a tent and entered it.
Cloud had a plan. But he would have to wait for most of the bandits to leave or face away from him to do it well. None of the troops moved for what seemed to Cloud like 15 minutes until...
~~~ Tifa was walking in a strange way, like she was drunk. How could it be that she is alive. The voice in Tifa's head was growing louder and louder.
---Yes! Come TO ME!-
~~~ The time was now. Cloud activated his battle glove. Claws erupted from under the cloth of the glove. Cloud pulled a small knife out of the collar of top of his armor and tried to cut a small section of the ropes. Using the knife while it was in his mouth was a hard enough chore in itself but Cloud managed to cut enough of the rope so that he could break it.
Cloud pressed his arms against the rope and pushed with all of his might. The ropes exploded silently. Cloud thrust his clawed hand at the rock. It connected and he had a hold of the rock. His other hand reached out subconsciously and grabbed Yuffie's arm. All of this occurred without the slightest amount of noise.
Cloud shoved Yuffie up onto the rock. Then without hesitation he heaved himself onto the rock and started taking off toward the unexpecting bandits. Oh what a mistake it was to not keep an eye on the prisoner.
Cloud through the knife he had used for cutting the rope at a bandit reading what looked like a newspaper. He collapsed with a sudden thud while still grasping his severed throat. The other bandits turned....just as Cloud had disappeared.
Another bandit fell. He had been sliced down the middle...his internal organs spilled out of his body. Cloud appeared behind Yuffie on the edge of the stone. His sword was slightly stained with blood.
Just as Cloud had suspected the bandit leader come out of his tent in an outrage. He drew his sword. Cloud went into a defensive stance. He expected the Leader to lunge at him. But instead he shoved his sword into the ground. He lifted both hands above the handle of the sword and started chanting an eerie chant.
The tips of the leader's fingers started to glow and a ball of energy was starting to form above the sword's hilt. The ball was getting bigger and bigger each second. Cloud started lunging toward the leader in an attempt to stop him from finishing the ball. But just as Cloud left the edge of the rock the ball was complete.
The leader grabbed the ball with his now completely growing hands and threw it at Cloud. Clouds quickly ducked, then turned just in time to see the ball hit the stone and shatter it into a million tiny pieces. Yuffie's unconscious body started falling toward the cliff bottom below...
~~~ Tifa was now walking pretty normally. Her eyes weren't glowing red anymore. But the voice was still as loud as ever. - TIFA, YES, COME TO ME! I AM WAITING FOR YOU! --- screamed the voice.
~~~ Yuffie started falling toward the ground below. Cloud's eyes widened. He then took off toward the edge of the cliff. He remembered what Yuffie had said about Vincent's death (100...75...50...25...to late. You lose.). He hesitated. Then after a moment's thought he lunged off the edge of the cliff.
"The Oracles will not let anything happen to me. I am the Chosen One. Who else will they use if I die? I'm their only hope. They will keep me alive...or at least I hope so." Cloud thought nervously, as he fell toward the luminous ground below.
Cloud had caught up to Yuffie. Right after he grabbed he hand. A cloaked figure, Archemidius, appeared.
"Cloud, it's about time you spread your wings." Was what Archemidius said before he vanished.
In just seconds after Archemidius' strange appearance two balls of energy shot by Cloud and started circling around again. The two balls slammed into Cloud's back, each at a different spot but an equal distance apart. Cloud felt a sudden pain in his back as two wings started to grow.
Cloud noticed, as his wings were growing, that they were both different. One wing was an angel's wing composed of Black feathers while the other was a scaly devil's type wing, which was also black. Cloud wondered why they were different but decided that that didn't matter as long as they were going to save him and Yuffie from dying. Plus Cloud liked the fact that they were different.
Cloud opened his now fully grown wings. He immediately felt the upward push of the air under his wings. It was exhilarating. He held Yuffie tightly as he tried to fly up to the cliff where the bandits were. Yuffie awoke. Her eyes were wide with surprise and fright.
"CLOUD! What is happening here?! You have WINGS! HOW?!" yelled Yuffie. Cloud mouthed "SHHH" to Yuffie and she immediately got quiet.
Cloud turned around and looked at the ground. Something caught his attention. It was a slit in the ground, just in front of a... tiny looking building of some kind. Could it be the Oracle's Shrine?! Cloud had to make sure. He dropped Yuffie and took off towards the ground.
"AAAAAHHHHHH CLOUD WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!!!!" screamed Yuffie as she plummeted towards the ground.
Cloud landed in front of what looked like to him to be the shrine. He could hear Yuffie's screams, but they were faint since she was so high in the air. He examined the slit in the ground and guessed it was for his sword. He went over to the shrine door, or what looked like a door. On the door there were two hands. They made a bowl. Cloud touched the hands and they retracted into the door. The door turned, much like a trap bookcase would and revealed a woman. She was wearing all pink.
"Hello, I am Aeris. I am the Guardian of this Oracle Shrine. I have been expecting you for some time now. I will show you how to activate this Shrine and retrieve that which you seek." Aeris said in a calm voice.
Cloud turned around and saw Yuffie still falling toward the ground. He told Aeris that she would have to wait one second. He took off toward Yuffie. He caught her and then brought her back to the shrine. Yuffie saw Aeris and stared at her, gaping.
"You will need to put the Oracle's Sword here, "Aeris explained, pointing at the slit in the ground, "Then you must turn the sword counter- clockwise 180 degrees, and say, 'I, the Chosen One, wish for this Shrine to open up and present to me the treasure which I seek so dear'"
Cloud took the awkward silence that followed as an indication that he should start doing what Aeris said. He put his sword into the slit as far as it would go, which was only about halfway up the blade. He turned it 180 degrees counter-clock wise like she said and said, "I, the Chosen One, wish for this Shrine to open up and present to me the treasure which I seek so dear." The effect was instantaneous.
The sword began to glow and the hands reappeared at the door. A small ball of energy emerged from the sword and flew through the air and landed gracefully into the bowled hands on the door. The hands cupped around the ball and retracted once again into the door. This time, after the door turned, an indented hand print appeared on the door. Cloud went up to it and placed his hand into the indented one.
The door disappeared and revealed a massively long staircase. Aeris walked up to Cloud.
"This is as much as I can tell you. You will have to figure the rest out for yourself. You will find out more when you reach the stone at the top of the stairs." Aeris explained. Cloud nodded, gestured to Yuffie to follow him. Cloud turned and heard a noise behind him. His sword was starting to disappear.
"There is no need to frown. Your sword will be at the top of the stairs as well. You need not worry about enemies. They cannot even see this Shrine. There is no need to fear. The only thing you must concentrate on right now is getting to the Stone," said Aeris reassuringly. Cloud nodded again and started to walk up the stairs. Yuffie wasn't far behind.
The walk up the stairs was a rigorous one. Cloud had never been so tired when he reached the top. But instead of feeling fatigue, Cloud felt relief when he could finally stop at the top of the huge flight of stairs. He was even more relieved when he saw the Stone floating just over the hilt of his Sword on a pedestal, which his sword was drove into. The stone glowed an eerie yellowy-green glow.
Cloud walked up to the pedestal but was pushed back by what felt like, to him, an invisible wall. Cloud pushed against this wall for several minutes before noticing the irregularly shaped indent in a stone floating mysteriously in midair. He examined this for a moment before realized that he needed to use his Oracle's Materia before he could open this mystic wall.
He placed the Materia in the hole. The wall gave no signal indicating that it was gone. It just was. Cloud walked up to where he thought the wall began and pushed with all of his might... against nothing. Cloud fell flat on his face. Yuffie couldn't help but snicker a little bit.
Cloud got up and walked over to the pedestal. He reached his hand into the eerie greenish mist that was emanating from the pedestal. Cloud's mind swirled with visions. He pulled his hand back instinctively. The visions stopped. Cloud needed to do something else but he couldn't figure out what.
Yuffie finally got Cloud's attention after a few seconds of waving frantically. She was pointing to the medallion around his neck. Then she pointed to the stone indentation at the base of the pedestal. Cloud gave Yuffie a thumb's up sign. He inserted his medallion into the small hole. The mist disappeared.
Cloud reached in and grabbed his sword from the pedestal. He took it out and held it toward the pedestal. He reached for the stone but it dissolved when his hand got near it. When he brought his hand away it reappeared again. He finally tried touching the stone with his sword. The Stone flashed and Cloud's sword flew into the air.
Cloud's sword and the stone started swirling around each other in a strange sort of tornado of light. When the sword and the Stone finally touched a huge eruption of light lit the room. When Cloud could finally see he found that the stone was inserted into one of the holes in his sword. This answered Cloud's question about what the holes were for.
Time had stopped again. The cloaked figure, Archemidius was standing on the pedestal.
"Before you can activate the Stone you must go to a new planet. The stone will absorb the entire planet into itself. This will keep the darkness at bay in the planet's that are encased in the stones. The people will still live normally...they will just be considerably smaller than normal. They will not know of the change. And we have made a slight change in what will happen to your body. It will go with you but be in a spirit- like form. Do you understand me?" Cloud nodded.
Archemidius vanished. Cloud took his pendant from the hole at the base of the pedestal and the eerie smoke started to pour out again. Then he took his Oracle's Materia out of the slot and the invisible wall appeared again. He looked at Yuffie. She looked worried.
"I will have to leave you Yuffie. I must travel to Bylandrias to retrieve the stone there. I must stop the man named Seifer. I will see you again...I promise." Cloud said to Yuffie.
Tears started to flow down her face. "Cloud? Can't I go with you? And what happened to your wonderful wings?" asked Yuffie. Cloud hadn't noticed that his wings had disappeared.
"If you can find a way to come to Bylandrias with me I see no problem with it. I can only transport myself with this Materia." Explained Cloud as Yuffie ran over and hugged him.
"Isn't there someway you can just stay here? Can't that Squall guy catch Seifer and get the stone?" wondered Yuffie.
"I am the only one who can see the Shrines......... or at least that's what the Oracle's said." said Cloud. Yuffie kept hugging Cloud tighter and tighter.
"Cloud you had better get on your way." said a voice from behind them. It was Aeris. "Yuffie, Cloud will be alright. And I don't mean to hurt you when I say this, but there is no other way to get to Bylandrias. At least not when Archemus gets absorbed into the Stone. I'm sorry."
"I WILL FIND A WAY TO HELP CLOUD AND GET OFF OF THIS PLANET!" Yuffie screamed at Aeris as she stormed out of the room in a rage.
Cloud started to go after Yuffie but Aeris stopped him. "Cloud, you know what you have to do. She will be alright. She seems determined to help you. A little determination goes a long way. You may be surprised with her. Anyway, she will be alright until you return. Good luck." With this final message Aeris left the room and the door closed shut behind her. Cloud was trapped in the room.
Cloud took out his Oracle's Materia and held it high into the air. "I, The Chosen One, wish to travel to Bylandrias!!!" Cloud yelled. His sword flung out of his hand and floated in front of him. The Materia also shot out of his hand and started swirling around the Sword just like the Stone had. But Cloud started feeling woozy. All of the sudden Cloud burst into a cloud of dust and swirled around the sword as well.
There was one final flash before Cloud awoke...
"Instructor Squall! I can't figure out how to load this Gunblade right. I've tried and I've tried but the bullets won't seem to fit," explained a small blonde haired girl to Cloud. Cloud knew nothing about Gunblades. He would blow his cover right off if he couldn't fix this girl's problem.
"Well...uhhh... you've just got to try a little harder." said Cloud to the girl.
"I HAVE tried hard. I just can't get it," said the girl.
"Well, are you using the right size bullets for your Gunblade?" asked Cloud, figuring this was the girl's problem.
"Uhhh...Instructor Squall... they only have one size bullet. All Gunblades are made to fit the only size bullet out there." remarked the girl while cocking her eyebrow. Cloud had blown his cover.
"Uhhh......... well it's good that you knew that because I was testing you. You pass!" suddenly Cloud felt very dumb, "Wait! Does anyone else here know how to load their Gunblade? And if you do then would you like to come up and demonstrate it for us? If you come up here and show us I'll give you extra points toward your score." His plan worked. Immediately, 7 hands shot into the air in response.
"Uhhh... why don't you show us?" he said pointing to a boy wearing a black shirt composed of mostly belts. The boy came up to the front and demonstrated how to load the Gunblade. After he was finished Cloud walked back to the little girl and asked if that had answered he question. It had. Cloud was glad that he didn't have to demonstrate anything because the students would have become suspicious if he had had to.
All of the sudden a bell rang and all of the kids packed up their Gunblades and notebook and left. Cloud was relieved that the class was over. The something dawned on Cloud. What if he had another class to teach? How would he do it? He hoped it was something like Sword Warfare. He could teach that.
"Squall! We have our break now! We can take that walk you promised me earlier!" said a familiar voice behind Cloud. Cloud turned and saw that it was Rinoa. He was glad to see her. He could tell her all about what he had to do! He ran up to Rinoa.
"Listen! I've got to talk to you! It's about something important." said Cloud to Rinoa.
"Well we can talk about it during our break," Rinoa said with a cheerful smile. She grabbed Cloud's hand and began to walk. Cloud followed.
"Now what was so important?" asked Rinoa. Cloud started to sweat.
"Well Rinoa. I'm not Squall anymore. I am Cloud...you know like before. I am here to retrieve the Oracle's Stone of this planet. The Oracle's have chosen Squall's body for me to occupy. I need to get working right away. Is there any possible way I can get started right away?" explained Cloud in exasperation.
Rinoa's eyes went wide. "Really? You're Cloud again. Weird. We better go see headmaster Cid about this."
"Who? Cid? He's here? I better go see him right away! Take me to him! It's urgent!" Cloud said hurriedly. He wanted to meet up with Cid again. Cid would help him on his journey.
"Ok...it's right this way." Rinoa had let go of Cloud's hand and took off, gesturing him to follow her. Cloud ran after her.
"Ok this is the elevator. Headmaster Cid is on the third floor." explained Rinoa.
"Aren't you going to come up with me?" asked Cloud.
"Would you like me to?" wondered Rinoa.
"Well, as of right now, no one knows that Squall is someone else. Wouldn't it look suspicious if you ran all the way here with me and then left all of the sudden? You wouldn't do that around Squall would you. I need to draw as little attention to myself as possible...until the time is right for people to know about It." explained Cloud. Rinoa nodded, she seemed to have taken the point and grabbed onto his hand. They entered the elevator together, hand in hand.
So Cloud's journey on Bylandrias is about to begin. He was on his way to see headmaster Cid. Meanwhile......... back one Archemus, which was now the size of a grain of sand, Tifa had reached her destination...
Afterword- MAN! This is the longest chapter so far! Oh and from now on, until Cloud leaves Bylandrias, think of Cloud as being Squall, as Cloud has taken over Squall's mind. So now Cloud=Squall. Just thought I should say it here that way if I forget to say it in the foreword of my next chapter then you would still know. Thanks for reading and also, hopefully, reviewing!
Cloud and Yuffie had been walking through the mountains now for about an hour. Yuffie had already explained everything to Cloud. Cloud was hurt at the loss of Vincent.
"It will all get better after I find the four Stones." Cloud said reassuringly, "The Oracles wouldn't leave me unrewarded after completing such a daunting task. At least I would hope they wouldn't."
Yuffie kept quiet for most of the trip. It had been hard for her to remember Vincent's vicious death. Cloud just kept walking along.
"Uhhh...Cloud? What happens to us? You know...after you find the Stone? What if the darkness envelopes this planet without you here?" asked Yuffie, in a quiet voice.
"Honestly, I don't know. I would assume that the darkness wouldn't overcome this planet after I got the stone. But I guess we will have to see about that after I find the Stone..." Cloud droned off. He felt something. He didn't like this feeling. It felt like....
~~~ Tifa stood up. She was covered in the blood of another. Vincent.
-Yes, Tifa, Come To ME! --- A voice told Tifa. Tifa closed her eyes for a second, when she opened them they glowed a deep red. Tifa smiled evilly and began to walk off. Toward Sephiroth's bloody remains.
~~~ Cloud and Yuffie were now tied to a large rock, protruding over an edge of a cliff. Cloud opened his eyes first. The attack of these new bandits had been to well thought out for Cloud to have even imagined it would happen.
The bandit leader walked up to the stone, "So. You are the one who killed 13 of our elite bandits on your own?" Cloud nodded.
"Very well, you and your female companion have one chance to save yourselves. You must defeat me and the 10 of my sons. We are the strongest enemies that you could ever face. It's either you fight us or fall to your death. You decide." explained the leader with a snort of sarcasm.
"We will have to wait for Yuf- I mean...her to wake up." said Cloud.
"Very well. We will wait 30 minutes. If she is not awake by then you will both fall to your death." explained the leader. Cloud nodded. The leader went back to what seemed to be a tent and entered it.
Cloud had a plan. But he would have to wait for most of the bandits to leave or face away from him to do it well. None of the troops moved for what seemed to Cloud like 15 minutes until...
~~~ Tifa was walking in a strange way, like she was drunk. How could it be that she is alive. The voice in Tifa's head was growing louder and louder.
---Yes! Come TO ME!-
~~~ The time was now. Cloud activated his battle glove. Claws erupted from under the cloth of the glove. Cloud pulled a small knife out of the collar of top of his armor and tried to cut a small section of the ropes. Using the knife while it was in his mouth was a hard enough chore in itself but Cloud managed to cut enough of the rope so that he could break it.
Cloud pressed his arms against the rope and pushed with all of his might. The ropes exploded silently. Cloud thrust his clawed hand at the rock. It connected and he had a hold of the rock. His other hand reached out subconsciously and grabbed Yuffie's arm. All of this occurred without the slightest amount of noise.
Cloud shoved Yuffie up onto the rock. Then without hesitation he heaved himself onto the rock and started taking off toward the unexpecting bandits. Oh what a mistake it was to not keep an eye on the prisoner.
Cloud through the knife he had used for cutting the rope at a bandit reading what looked like a newspaper. He collapsed with a sudden thud while still grasping his severed throat. The other bandits turned....just as Cloud had disappeared.
Another bandit fell. He had been sliced down the middle...his internal organs spilled out of his body. Cloud appeared behind Yuffie on the edge of the stone. His sword was slightly stained with blood.
Just as Cloud had suspected the bandit leader come out of his tent in an outrage. He drew his sword. Cloud went into a defensive stance. He expected the Leader to lunge at him. But instead he shoved his sword into the ground. He lifted both hands above the handle of the sword and started chanting an eerie chant.
The tips of the leader's fingers started to glow and a ball of energy was starting to form above the sword's hilt. The ball was getting bigger and bigger each second. Cloud started lunging toward the leader in an attempt to stop him from finishing the ball. But just as Cloud left the edge of the rock the ball was complete.
The leader grabbed the ball with his now completely growing hands and threw it at Cloud. Clouds quickly ducked, then turned just in time to see the ball hit the stone and shatter it into a million tiny pieces. Yuffie's unconscious body started falling toward the cliff bottom below...
~~~ Tifa was now walking pretty normally. Her eyes weren't glowing red anymore. But the voice was still as loud as ever. - TIFA, YES, COME TO ME! I AM WAITING FOR YOU! --- screamed the voice.
~~~ Yuffie started falling toward the ground below. Cloud's eyes widened. He then took off toward the edge of the cliff. He remembered what Yuffie had said about Vincent's death (100...75...50...25...to late. You lose.). He hesitated. Then after a moment's thought he lunged off the edge of the cliff.
"The Oracles will not let anything happen to me. I am the Chosen One. Who else will they use if I die? I'm their only hope. They will keep me alive...or at least I hope so." Cloud thought nervously, as he fell toward the luminous ground below.
Cloud had caught up to Yuffie. Right after he grabbed he hand. A cloaked figure, Archemidius, appeared.
"Cloud, it's about time you spread your wings." Was what Archemidius said before he vanished.
In just seconds after Archemidius' strange appearance two balls of energy shot by Cloud and started circling around again. The two balls slammed into Cloud's back, each at a different spot but an equal distance apart. Cloud felt a sudden pain in his back as two wings started to grow.
Cloud noticed, as his wings were growing, that they were both different. One wing was an angel's wing composed of Black feathers while the other was a scaly devil's type wing, which was also black. Cloud wondered why they were different but decided that that didn't matter as long as they were going to save him and Yuffie from dying. Plus Cloud liked the fact that they were different.
Cloud opened his now fully grown wings. He immediately felt the upward push of the air under his wings. It was exhilarating. He held Yuffie tightly as he tried to fly up to the cliff where the bandits were. Yuffie awoke. Her eyes were wide with surprise and fright.
"CLOUD! What is happening here?! You have WINGS! HOW?!" yelled Yuffie. Cloud mouthed "SHHH" to Yuffie and she immediately got quiet.
Cloud turned around and looked at the ground. Something caught his attention. It was a slit in the ground, just in front of a... tiny looking building of some kind. Could it be the Oracle's Shrine?! Cloud had to make sure. He dropped Yuffie and took off towards the ground.
"AAAAAHHHHHH CLOUD WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!!!!" screamed Yuffie as she plummeted towards the ground.
Cloud landed in front of what looked like to him to be the shrine. He could hear Yuffie's screams, but they were faint since she was so high in the air. He examined the slit in the ground and guessed it was for his sword. He went over to the shrine door, or what looked like a door. On the door there were two hands. They made a bowl. Cloud touched the hands and they retracted into the door. The door turned, much like a trap bookcase would and revealed a woman. She was wearing all pink.
"Hello, I am Aeris. I am the Guardian of this Oracle Shrine. I have been expecting you for some time now. I will show you how to activate this Shrine and retrieve that which you seek." Aeris said in a calm voice.
Cloud turned around and saw Yuffie still falling toward the ground. He told Aeris that she would have to wait one second. He took off toward Yuffie. He caught her and then brought her back to the shrine. Yuffie saw Aeris and stared at her, gaping.
"You will need to put the Oracle's Sword here, "Aeris explained, pointing at the slit in the ground, "Then you must turn the sword counter- clockwise 180 degrees, and say, 'I, the Chosen One, wish for this Shrine to open up and present to me the treasure which I seek so dear'"
Cloud took the awkward silence that followed as an indication that he should start doing what Aeris said. He put his sword into the slit as far as it would go, which was only about halfway up the blade. He turned it 180 degrees counter-clock wise like she said and said, "I, the Chosen One, wish for this Shrine to open up and present to me the treasure which I seek so dear." The effect was instantaneous.
The sword began to glow and the hands reappeared at the door. A small ball of energy emerged from the sword and flew through the air and landed gracefully into the bowled hands on the door. The hands cupped around the ball and retracted once again into the door. This time, after the door turned, an indented hand print appeared on the door. Cloud went up to it and placed his hand into the indented one.
The door disappeared and revealed a massively long staircase. Aeris walked up to Cloud.
"This is as much as I can tell you. You will have to figure the rest out for yourself. You will find out more when you reach the stone at the top of the stairs." Aeris explained. Cloud nodded, gestured to Yuffie to follow him. Cloud turned and heard a noise behind him. His sword was starting to disappear.
"There is no need to frown. Your sword will be at the top of the stairs as well. You need not worry about enemies. They cannot even see this Shrine. There is no need to fear. The only thing you must concentrate on right now is getting to the Stone," said Aeris reassuringly. Cloud nodded again and started to walk up the stairs. Yuffie wasn't far behind.
The walk up the stairs was a rigorous one. Cloud had never been so tired when he reached the top. But instead of feeling fatigue, Cloud felt relief when he could finally stop at the top of the huge flight of stairs. He was even more relieved when he saw the Stone floating just over the hilt of his Sword on a pedestal, which his sword was drove into. The stone glowed an eerie yellowy-green glow.
Cloud walked up to the pedestal but was pushed back by what felt like, to him, an invisible wall. Cloud pushed against this wall for several minutes before noticing the irregularly shaped indent in a stone floating mysteriously in midair. He examined this for a moment before realized that he needed to use his Oracle's Materia before he could open this mystic wall.
He placed the Materia in the hole. The wall gave no signal indicating that it was gone. It just was. Cloud walked up to where he thought the wall began and pushed with all of his might... against nothing. Cloud fell flat on his face. Yuffie couldn't help but snicker a little bit.
Cloud got up and walked over to the pedestal. He reached his hand into the eerie greenish mist that was emanating from the pedestal. Cloud's mind swirled with visions. He pulled his hand back instinctively. The visions stopped. Cloud needed to do something else but he couldn't figure out what.
Yuffie finally got Cloud's attention after a few seconds of waving frantically. She was pointing to the medallion around his neck. Then she pointed to the stone indentation at the base of the pedestal. Cloud gave Yuffie a thumb's up sign. He inserted his medallion into the small hole. The mist disappeared.
Cloud reached in and grabbed his sword from the pedestal. He took it out and held it toward the pedestal. He reached for the stone but it dissolved when his hand got near it. When he brought his hand away it reappeared again. He finally tried touching the stone with his sword. The Stone flashed and Cloud's sword flew into the air.
Cloud's sword and the stone started swirling around each other in a strange sort of tornado of light. When the sword and the Stone finally touched a huge eruption of light lit the room. When Cloud could finally see he found that the stone was inserted into one of the holes in his sword. This answered Cloud's question about what the holes were for.
Time had stopped again. The cloaked figure, Archemidius was standing on the pedestal.
"Before you can activate the Stone you must go to a new planet. The stone will absorb the entire planet into itself. This will keep the darkness at bay in the planet's that are encased in the stones. The people will still live normally...they will just be considerably smaller than normal. They will not know of the change. And we have made a slight change in what will happen to your body. It will go with you but be in a spirit- like form. Do you understand me?" Cloud nodded.
Archemidius vanished. Cloud took his pendant from the hole at the base of the pedestal and the eerie smoke started to pour out again. Then he took his Oracle's Materia out of the slot and the invisible wall appeared again. He looked at Yuffie. She looked worried.
"I will have to leave you Yuffie. I must travel to Bylandrias to retrieve the stone there. I must stop the man named Seifer. I will see you again...I promise." Cloud said to Yuffie.
Tears started to flow down her face. "Cloud? Can't I go with you? And what happened to your wonderful wings?" asked Yuffie. Cloud hadn't noticed that his wings had disappeared.
"If you can find a way to come to Bylandrias with me I see no problem with it. I can only transport myself with this Materia." Explained Cloud as Yuffie ran over and hugged him.
"Isn't there someway you can just stay here? Can't that Squall guy catch Seifer and get the stone?" wondered Yuffie.
"I am the only one who can see the Shrines......... or at least that's what the Oracle's said." said Cloud. Yuffie kept hugging Cloud tighter and tighter.
"Cloud you had better get on your way." said a voice from behind them. It was Aeris. "Yuffie, Cloud will be alright. And I don't mean to hurt you when I say this, but there is no other way to get to Bylandrias. At least not when Archemus gets absorbed into the Stone. I'm sorry."
"I WILL FIND A WAY TO HELP CLOUD AND GET OFF OF THIS PLANET!" Yuffie screamed at Aeris as she stormed out of the room in a rage.
Cloud started to go after Yuffie but Aeris stopped him. "Cloud, you know what you have to do. She will be alright. She seems determined to help you. A little determination goes a long way. You may be surprised with her. Anyway, she will be alright until you return. Good luck." With this final message Aeris left the room and the door closed shut behind her. Cloud was trapped in the room.
Cloud took out his Oracle's Materia and held it high into the air. "I, The Chosen One, wish to travel to Bylandrias!!!" Cloud yelled. His sword flung out of his hand and floated in front of him. The Materia also shot out of his hand and started swirling around the Sword just like the Stone had. But Cloud started feeling woozy. All of the sudden Cloud burst into a cloud of dust and swirled around the sword as well.
There was one final flash before Cloud awoke...
"Instructor Squall! I can't figure out how to load this Gunblade right. I've tried and I've tried but the bullets won't seem to fit," explained a small blonde haired girl to Cloud. Cloud knew nothing about Gunblades. He would blow his cover right off if he couldn't fix this girl's problem.
"Well...uhhh... you've just got to try a little harder." said Cloud to the girl.
"I HAVE tried hard. I just can't get it," said the girl.
"Well, are you using the right size bullets for your Gunblade?" asked Cloud, figuring this was the girl's problem.
"Uhhh...Instructor Squall... they only have one size bullet. All Gunblades are made to fit the only size bullet out there." remarked the girl while cocking her eyebrow. Cloud had blown his cover.
"Uhhh......... well it's good that you knew that because I was testing you. You pass!" suddenly Cloud felt very dumb, "Wait! Does anyone else here know how to load their Gunblade? And if you do then would you like to come up and demonstrate it for us? If you come up here and show us I'll give you extra points toward your score." His plan worked. Immediately, 7 hands shot into the air in response.
"Uhhh... why don't you show us?" he said pointing to a boy wearing a black shirt composed of mostly belts. The boy came up to the front and demonstrated how to load the Gunblade. After he was finished Cloud walked back to the little girl and asked if that had answered he question. It had. Cloud was glad that he didn't have to demonstrate anything because the students would have become suspicious if he had had to.
All of the sudden a bell rang and all of the kids packed up their Gunblades and notebook and left. Cloud was relieved that the class was over. The something dawned on Cloud. What if he had another class to teach? How would he do it? He hoped it was something like Sword Warfare. He could teach that.
"Squall! We have our break now! We can take that walk you promised me earlier!" said a familiar voice behind Cloud. Cloud turned and saw that it was Rinoa. He was glad to see her. He could tell her all about what he had to do! He ran up to Rinoa.
"Listen! I've got to talk to you! It's about something important." said Cloud to Rinoa.
"Well we can talk about it during our break," Rinoa said with a cheerful smile. She grabbed Cloud's hand and began to walk. Cloud followed.
"Now what was so important?" asked Rinoa. Cloud started to sweat.
"Well Rinoa. I'm not Squall anymore. I am Cloud...you know like before. I am here to retrieve the Oracle's Stone of this planet. The Oracle's have chosen Squall's body for me to occupy. I need to get working right away. Is there any possible way I can get started right away?" explained Cloud in exasperation.
Rinoa's eyes went wide. "Really? You're Cloud again. Weird. We better go see headmaster Cid about this."
"Who? Cid? He's here? I better go see him right away! Take me to him! It's urgent!" Cloud said hurriedly. He wanted to meet up with Cid again. Cid would help him on his journey.
"Ok...it's right this way." Rinoa had let go of Cloud's hand and took off, gesturing him to follow her. Cloud ran after her.
"Ok this is the elevator. Headmaster Cid is on the third floor." explained Rinoa.
"Aren't you going to come up with me?" asked Cloud.
"Would you like me to?" wondered Rinoa.
"Well, as of right now, no one knows that Squall is someone else. Wouldn't it look suspicious if you ran all the way here with me and then left all of the sudden? You wouldn't do that around Squall would you. I need to draw as little attention to myself as possible...until the time is right for people to know about It." explained Cloud. Rinoa nodded, she seemed to have taken the point and grabbed onto his hand. They entered the elevator together, hand in hand.
So Cloud's journey on Bylandrias is about to begin. He was on his way to see headmaster Cid. Meanwhile......... back one Archemus, which was now the size of a grain of sand, Tifa had reached her destination...
Afterword- MAN! This is the longest chapter so far! Oh and from now on, until Cloud leaves Bylandrias, think of Cloud as being Squall, as Cloud has taken over Squall's mind. So now Cloud=Squall. Just thought I should say it here that way if I forget to say it in the foreword of my next chapter then you would still know. Thanks for reading and also, hopefully, reviewing!