'After the Rain Came Light' Ch. 1

Destiny..

Is it something pre-determined? Unchangeable?

If that is true, then what sort of guide is it for me? As I look back at my life and towards the future, I find that events are beginning to repeat and eerily familiar situations start to occur.

We met as if being drawn together by some magnetic force.

A contract binding me to cross weapons him allowing our paths to traverse.

It's happened before.

But her binding contract was a sweet and simple promise. Destines were merged from then on.

Then we were separated as if being pulled apart.

He was bestowed with a great power, the key, that would determine the fate of all worlds, and I doomed to wander endlessly in search of that which I had lost.

It's happening again.

She was taken from me so suddenly, her life for the life of our planet. That was the blood price. But She paid so willingly to give our world one more chance for life in it's final hour. I was forced to carry out her last will and assure that her gift was not wasted.

Meeting and separating, then meeting again, and each time it occurs, new bonds are formed and feelings begin to emerge. I've learned through the years that nothing happens by chance. Each new encounter seems to be guiding me in my search.

This Sora appeared as a challenger to me, but he ended up saving me in more ways than one. And with his sudden reappearance in Travers Town, I've gotten the strong sense that I'm getting closer to the end of my long search.

Perhaps it's destiny that we meet like this, and if I remain near him, he could possibly help me find my lost light.

If this is what destiny is, then destiny is the beginning of all action.

***

This time the rain faded to silence, the water to mist, and the denials into nothing.

There would be no more rain to hide the tears that fell from young eyes, no more rain to wash away the blood that dripped from small slender finger tips to merge unnoticed in the tiny pools of the sky's collective tears.

Cloud and Sora stood in the town's square gazing at the stars above that danced as they always have when there were people who cared to watch. And dance they did, even as one fell from its place leaving behind a trail of shimmer in its dying wake.

And then it was gone, and with it the serene and beautiful spell binding silence that held the two there in the cool evening.

But Cloud was never the one to ever allow something as peaceful as this to drag on, not especially where there were worlds on the brink of destruction.

Or faint lights threatening to go out.

It would be nice though, if it could be that easy to forget. Cloud thought to himself knowing it was all in distaste. He drew in a deep breath allowing the spell to pass before turning to the child next to him.

If he had done so a second later, he would of missed what happened in the next heart beat.

One moment Sora was standing there as Cloud had remembered him last, the next, and the boy was suddenly falling to his knees. It was as if the energy had just left him, and his legs could no longer support him. Eyes of sapphire grew soft and dimmed as they fluttered closed, Pain and then sadness flashed over his youthful features.

It was then that a name escaped Sora's small lips.

"C, Cloud."

And despite how stunned Cloud was at that moment, his body responded to the boy's voice upon instinct or something more. Cloud suddenly found himself holding Sora's small form.

Light and seemingly fragile in his arms, Cloud was afraid to hurt Sora further by trying to shake him back into consciousness, so he called the boy's name again and again. But the key blade master was out of reach.

It was only then that Cloud noticed the blood that dripped from small and slender finger tips to merge in the tiny red pools of the sky's collective tears.

~To be continued~