Cloud's hand immediately went for the blade slung across his back, but Sora got between the two and he stood defiantly in front of Cloud arms spread.

"Sora, what are you doing? Get away from that man." Squall said gunblade still pointing to the center of Cloud's chest. But Sora shook his head. Eyes set to a determined stare.

"Stop it, there's no reason for you two to fight. Cloud's with me Squall. I've decided to help him. So you don't have to fight." Sora said. Cloud was, to say the least, speechless. No one had ever defended him, let alone wanted anything to do with him.

"Why are you with this man? He works for the darkness." Squall seethed. Cloud felt his fingers twitch in anxiety over the handle of his blade and his lips curled into a tight snarl. But he could not draw steel for Sora Stood in his way.

"That's not true, Squall. Cloud has nothing to do with the darkness; he's always been with me, because I've promised to help him. He asked for my help.."

Cloud wasn't sure if Sora's little speech would win Squall over so easy, but even if it didn't, Cloud was ready to dish out some serious pay back if Squall wanted.

But a long moment passed before Squall lowered the gun blade, however his cold stoic expression did not change. After seeing this, Sora lowered his arms and waded out of the water and onto the hard banks where Squall stood, Cloud respectfully followed. As Sora drew near, Squall crossed his arms in a no-nonsense pose if Cloud ever saw one.

Sora approached Squall, head lowered in shame, avoiding Squall's hard gaze. It seemed the young key blade master knew he had it coming. But contrary to what both spiky heads were thinking, no angry words came from Squall.

"Are you okay?" Squall asked simply. Sora slowly nodded eyes never meeting Squall.

"Yes, thanks to Cloud, I'm sorry about yesterday, that I ran away and all, I was so stupid..." Sora would of continued on, but he was suddenly cut off as Squall placed a hand upon his head.

"What's done is done Sora, but everyone was really worried about you, we thought you were in some kind of serious danger yesterday. This really isn't the time to lose your head, especially not this time. Your next opponent could be Maleficent herself. You cannot allow your heart to waver, or she will use it against you."

Cloud observed Sora passively as Squall went on reprimanding him not unlike a father to an errant son. It was then he noticed the looks that passed over Sora's young features. And he noted that it had it was the same feeling that he felt at certain times around Sora. It was like a tangible sadness or something more.

There's always something more, Cloud thought. Sora was hiding something else. He didn't like to make assumptions, but it fit so perfectly. His luminous gaze grew remote and reflective as if trying to look into Sora's mind or his heart. He couldn't see anything of course, but he did sense something more clearly.

And as if sensing he was being scrutinized Sora turned his head ever so slightly so that he could see Cloud from the corner of his eye. Cloud quickly turned away dropping his gaze. But he was sure Sora had caught him staring. He tugged at his red tattered scarf With a single finger making it so that it covered a large portion of his lower face. It seemed like a good distraction, even if Sora didn't buy it.

Sora and Squall continued to carry on their conversation. Most likely Sora was explaining to Squall the events of yesterday, with Squall listening intently and nodding every so often. Since the key blade master did all the talking Cloud continued to stand by seemingly forgotten. He allowed his gaze to wander examinging the contours of the strange little cavern. It was a fairly nice secluded place, if he said so himself. If he had known about this place, he would of opted for this instead of the red room. The water channel that passed through it silently gave it a cool atmosphere and calmed him somewhat. And he found his thoughts wandering as it often did when he was alone.

"Aerith where can you be?" He thought, and felt a little pain in his heart. As small as it was, it was often hard to ignore, because he did not want to ignore it. It was really the last shred of humanity left in him, if he lost that feeling, then how would he ever find his beloved light?

At the hopeless thought, something deep with in him welled up. And as if on instinct he began to concentrate forcing back the floods of emotions that ever and always threatened to drown him. Despite this internal conflict his face remained hard. And just as he had locked them away again, he sighed softly and the name that he loved the most escaped his lips.

Though it came to be muffled by the scarf around his face, it was still loud enough to draw attention back to him.

"Did you say something Cloud?" Sora asked from behind him. He didn't have to look to know the boy was peeking around him. Cloud closed his eyes for a second and then reopened them.

"Yes." He turned then to face the two. His voice did not change in tone as he spoke. But inside his heart was racing and the urge to continue his search increased. Every memory of her drove him on, and the fact that Sora offered his help unconditionally. It gave him hope that he never thought he would feel. "We have much to do, and we are still standing here wasting time."

He was very blunt but he made his point clear.

This obviously took the Sora on by surprise. And the brunette gave him a blank stare before it melted away into a soft grin. "Right, I understand. I was telling you about a friend of ours Merlin, he's a sorcerer, there's a corridor with stairs over there that will lead us to his house." Sora explained a finger indicating the direction. "C'mon, there's something that I wanted to ask him myself." The boy added as an aside. Cloud watched as a concerned look crossed his features, but it was only there for a second, and then it was gone. Sora smiled encouragingly to Cloud before turning to lead the way. But Cloud hadn't even taken a step before Squall had placed himself between Sora and him.

Squall stepped up to him then, eyes never leaving his. "Cloud was it? We meet again, more formally this time. I apologize about before."

"..Don't worry about it."

" Sora has told me you were looking for some one. Who is it? Perhaps we can help you."

Sora stepped from behind Squall. " Actually Cloud, when I think about it you never did say her name." He chided.

Cloud opened his mouth but all that they heard was the violent shrieks and splashing as Heartless invaded the small cavern. Heartless foot soldiers stormed up the river in black masses, while Heartless Wyvern and wizards dominated the air.

In seconds the serene haven had been turned into a horrifying mosh pit. Gun shots rang out as Steel flew.

"Damn it!! How did they find this place?!" Squall hissed as he swung his gun blade in a wide arc.

Cloud grunted in effort as he launched himself into a Sonic Thrust, plowing through several heartless.

In the corner of his eye Cloud spotted Sora frantically dodging incoming Wyverns and wild spell shots. The child was pretty limber indeed and even managed keep most foot soldiers at bay with a few well-placed kicks and punches. Squall seemed to spot him as well. And Cloud just barely heard Squall shout over the din of battle.

"Sora! What are you doing?! Quit messing around and use your key blade!"

The key blade master ducked another incoming attack.

Cloud swung the massive blade taking out several air born units.

Why are there so many heartless here? Why are they attacking in extremely large numbers? Cloud gritted his teeth in strain.

It's like they know something vital and is going all out, but what is it?

At this point he was able to steal a glance at the key blade master. Cloud's eyes widened in shock as he spotted a rather large unit of heart less surrounding Sora. For some strange reason the boy still had not called out the Key Blade, and he had some how fought his way into a corner of the cave where he could not escape. But it was the look on Sora's face that made him stagger back.

The look on Sora's face.

Every inch of the boy's face was covered in absolute fear. Cloud had never seen that look in Sora before, and he knew then, just how much trouble Sora was in.