PART ONE - The Sleeper Awakes
The old man stood at the entrance to the square, his cloak shaking gently in the rain. Before him was a great statue wrought of Obsidian, retaining the very essence of the old world. Quite literally in fact. Yet this great marvel was not his goal, despite its beauty. The abomination must be destroyed at all costs - he remembered the King telling him this, yet still the words echoed around in his head.
From where he was, the so-called abomination lay in a heap by the statue, asleep and badly bruised. It was only a boy, a small little boy - he certainly did not look like something to be afraid of, and as the king would not go into any further detail, he remained doubtful of his mission. Yet orders were orders, and so he drew his sword.
At first nothing happened as the blade lay motionless in the grip of his muscular arms, but soon the dim light of the moon began to catch the edge, and as it did so the blade grew hotter in his arms, lighting up. The pain was almost unbearable, but as he had complained before - the weapon was not made for one like him, but for another who had not been so lucky as to have survived to this end, to this fateful era.
The blade finally gave in and a great beam of light entered the square from the dark sky, causing the whole area to appear as in day. The boy did as the King said he would - he rose from his position and began to scream with pain, shaking around the square in agony. Yet he made no attempt to harm the boy - was he really an enemy? As the old man raised his sword and ran forward to deliver a blow to the boy, the child was engulfed in a cloud of darkness.
-------
Far from the world of the Old Man and the Obsidian statue, there was once a town of great prosperity and good will, a safe haven against the heartless. There, people from all worlds gathered to make a stand against the evil of Darkness, and in their efforts they were aided by the Champion of Light, the Keybearer. He came to them as if he was waking up from a dream, his own world of islands. In a small alley he was welcomed by a slobbering dog and a few dustbins, while all around people ignored him. His companions, I believe, did not care for him, not at first anyway - but for the key. They were wrong of course, and look where it got them in the end! Ah, but yes. you have yet to see what lies beyond the door, guarded by the protégé of darkness and his minions. Yet all is not lost, however, as you shall see. The hopes of entire worlds rest on a young boy of around ten, who, on one late evening woke up among some dustbins down a small alleyway, not far from where a certain fourteen year old boy would wake up but four years later. And his name? Not even I know that, not now nor ever. Such is the fate of those without hearts.
-------
Behind the once busy and prospering Bar of the First District, a tramp lay in an alleyway, staring at a door and muttering jumbled words under his breath.
'Mwushuflle,' he said, glaring at some bins beside the door. They said nothing.
'I said, Mwushuflle!' Again, silence.
'MWUSHUFLLE!' he boomed, throwing his can of baked beans at the door. Almost as if in response, the bins shook violently from side to side, causing surrounding litter to fly away into a gale of wind.
'Hello?' asked the bins cautiously. The old man smirked triumphantly, and nodded his head slowly. He had the good for nothing bins just where he wanted them.
'Mwushuflle' said the old man, sitting up straight.
'What?' responded the bins, shaking a little.
'Can't yer understan' me?' he laughed.
'I don't know who you are or where I am, but there was this man and he -'
'Yer should ner! Ye stole it!'
'Stole what? I don't really understand what's going on.'
'ME 'ART!' the old man screamed, suddenly growing tall and dark. His white hair and beard became jet black in a number of seconds, as did his skin. His eyes bulged and writhed in their sockets, becoming a bright and flashing yellow.
The boy emerged from behind the bins, his arms shaking. The man was no longer human, but some kind of monstrosity, a dark shadow of his former being. It approached him slowly, aware of the boy's presence with twitching antennae. Yet the boy did not move. He just closed his eyes tightly, not knowing what would happen if the shadow reached him, touched him, and he wasn't sure that he cared.
One who knows nothing can understand noth-
Nothing happened for what seemed like an eternity. And then, completely unexpected, he felt a hand fall upon his shoulder.
'It's okay,' said a deep voice. 'They won't bother you again.'
The boy opened his eyes to see a tall man in front of him, staring at the bins.
'Who are you?' asked the boy, eyeing the sword by the man's side.
The man grunted, and slung his sword behind his back. 'The name's Sq.' he said, pausing. 'You can call me Leon'
-------
'So,' said Leon, pacing up and down the room. 'Where do you come from?'
The boy opened his mouth to speak, and then changed his mind. 'I don't know,' he said.
'You can't remember?'
'No, I. Er. Yeah, probably.'
'I see.'
'All I remember is waking up, and then this old man attacked me.'
'The shadow?'
'Yes, I mean no. It was in another place, in a pavillion. The sky was dark, it must have been night, and I woke up to find myself lying near this statue. And then a man attacked me.'
'What did he look like?'
'He. I can't remember, but his sword.' The boy's eyes darted towards the sword in the corner, and then focused once again on Leon.
'What about it?'
'It looked just like yours.'
'What,' said Leon, holding up his blade, 'this gunblade?'
'Yeah, that's the one.'
'Impossible' said Leon, scratching his temple. 'I was the only one to make it out.'
'Out of what?'
'Never you mind. Anyway, you still haven't told me a name.'
'I don't have one.'
'Well we'll have to give you one then. Would Zell be alright?'
'Zell. that's a weird name.'
'You just look like this guy I knew once. Anyway, do you know why that heartless was attacking you?'
'Heartless?' asked the newly named Zell. 'What's a heartless?'
And to his amazement, Leon laughed.
'Come on. We had better get going.'
-------
I See, and thus do I learn. Yet most beings do not See, they merely watch, which is what makes the essential difference between one with a heart and one without. Emotions blind you from truely Seeing, and so is not a heart merely a burden in the quest for knowledge?
At this moment, I See a boy laying down to sleep in a small house located in the Third District of Traverse Town. Near him, a mercenary places his blade on a silver table, breathing heavily. Yet the mercenary is not important, not yet anyway. His time will come soon enough. But the boy, he matters in the grand scheme of things, for both the Darkness and the Light. He has Seen. He therefore learns.
But now he merely sleeps and dreams of Another Side, another story lost to his weakened mind yet bound tightly to his invincible Heart.
I would just as easily See the dreams of that child as I might wield a Keyblade, but of course such things are beyond me. So for these passing moments I am content with merely watching from my cloud of impenetrable darkness, remembering yet another time and another story lost to me.
-------
He was floating through darkness itself. Zell could feel its tendrils rubbing against his soft skin, invading the fabric of his being, and yet he was helpless to stop it. He almost invited it.
And then there was light, a blinding beam from above. The darkness parted from him immediately, revealing a stained glass platform below him.
'Hello?' asked Zell, looking around. 'Anyone there?'
Three platforms emerged from the platform, each shining with its own inner brilliance. As Zell glided down to meet it, he saw another below.
'Hello? Can you hear me?'
The boy ignored him, continuing on his course. He was a teenager, around 14 or 15, Zell would have guessed, with spiky brown hair and odd clothes.
He glided down through the air (or what he guessed was air) until he was directly in front of the boy. Yet still, the newcomer looked ahead as if Zell wasn't there. He kept walking, until he passed through Zell as if he was a ghost. Neither said anything.
The boy then stared around, looking at the platforms. As if obeying his commands, three weapons appeared in a flash of light. A sword, a shield and a staff. He ran forward to the centre platform, and suddenly all melted away from Zell, the boy included, as he fell desperately through the shining light towards the eternal darkness.
-------
'The Heartless are beings born of the darkness from people's hearts,' said Leon, closing the door. 'And there is darkness in every heart.'
The woman in the pink dress nodded, turning to meet Zell's gaze. 'That's why when the Heartless came, everything changed.'
'Do you remember much about your world?' asked Zell. She nodded slowly, but said nothing.
'This is Aerith, by the way,' said Leon, finally sitting. He said nothing for the few minutes that followed, and then spoke. 'Do you really. remember nothing?'
'No,' said Zell, bowing his head. Aerith put her gentle hand on his shoulder, and sighed.
'I do remember a little, Zell, that I can tell you. Do you remember what Squall said abou-'
'My name is Leon'
'Yes, of course. Anyway, he said that there is darkness in every heart, but in some there is much more. Are you following?'
'So far'
'And as even small amounts of darkness would attract the Heartless, imagine what an ocean of darkness would do. It all began with a broken roof in a slum Church.'
Aerith spoke for what seemed like millenia, detailing an epic struggle between good and evil. Zell found himself unable to concentrate, but from what he could remember from her story, people in her world were after her. Unable to defend herself, she was protected by a soldier, a man named Cloud. He aided her with the help of others, including the pilot Cid and ninja Yuffie (who he was yet to meet, added Squall) and eventually they escaped to discover a great darkness in the world- a man named Sephiroth. In his darkness he had attained such knowledge and power that he nearly brought about the end of the world, but in the very end Cloud and the others repelled the darkness and Sephiroth was banished to some unknown realm. But it was too late, it seemed, as the immense magical force involved in doing so and the darkness of the man's heart had already attracted immense numbers of heartless, and they were forced to flee from the destruction of their world.
'But what happened to Cloud?' asked Zell, staring at her. She sighed, her eyes watering.
'We don't know. He may have died in the destruction of our world - but we escaped through the expertise of our pilot Cid. We came across a red moon, swarming with heartless, but on it we found Leon and a few others.'
'But they didn't make it,' said Leon, turning his back to them. 'But we won't make the same mistakes again.'
'Why are you telling me all this?'
'So you know what others have gone through to be here today. So you know that, although you are here now, there were others who cared for you enough to send you here.'
'How was I sent here?'
'We don't know,' said a gruff voice from the doorway. An old man had entered without anyone noticing.
'And I don't really give a damn, quite honestly. Name's Cid, by the way.' The man held out a dirty hand for the boy to shake. He reached forward, and nearly touched the man's thick skin. But in that moment, a scream echoed out from not so far away.
'Come on,' said Leon, grabbing his gunblade. 'We got work to do.'
-------
Once outside, the group saw a woman in the square below them, weeping. Zell looked at her, and was immediately transfixed. she was so beautiful. They ran down to see what was wrong, and that was when she got up from the floor, revealing her dazzling face and perfect blonde hair.
'Is there a problem?' asked Aerith, obviously the only one unaffected.
The woman wiped away a tear, and sighed. 'There.,' she said, shaking. 'There w-was a m-m-man and t-t-this thing attacked him and h-h-he vanished.' She pointed to a door, and burst into tears.
All the time, Zell watched her, ignoring both what she and the others were saying. He was, however, doing more than watch. He was trying to See.
At first, the young boy only saw her beautiful, unblemished skin. But slowly, her face began to crack, turning a light green. Her small and gentle hands grew long and thin, sprouting horrible black fingernails. Her white dress changed as well, turning black and shredded, with a kind of double horned hat growing behind the woman's head. At the end of it all, he swore he had seen a witch, if there were such things. And then, to Zell's astonishment, he noticed Leon walking towards the door she was pointing at.
'No Leon! Don't do what she says!' screamed Zell, running forward. Leon shrugged his shoulders, and kept moving. All seemed lost for a few seconds, and Zell was sure that Leon would do what the witch said and walk through the door, to the other side. and then, he paused, turning his head back slightly.
'Leon! She's not what she looks like! She's a Wit-' As Zell spoke, he felt claws dig into his shoulder. He turned to see a smiling woman, returned to her normal appearance.
'A Witch? How ridiculous! Now please, walk through the door,' said the woman smiling. Leon again shrugged, and kept walking. As his hand was on the knob, the woman screamed once more, causing Leon to jump and turn round. The face of the woman was burning, turning pitch black and falling off, to reveal the true face of the woman. All over this change happened, until the form that he had Seen was in plain view.
'Maleficent,' said Leon, drawing his gunblade.
'You recognise me? How touching!' said the witch, grabbing hold of her staff and glancing over at Zell. 'And who is this child?' she asked, smiling.
'Never you mind, Maleficent. He's with us,' said Cid from behind, growling with menace.
'Oh really? Well, that will end soon enough. He stinks of potential, this one.'
'What do you mean?' asked Zell, drawing closer to her.
'You Saw me as I truly was,' said the witch, laughing. 'I know others that can do that. Do you know what they're called? Heartle-'
'That's enough, Maleficent,' came a new voice, a girl's voice. He turned to see a ninja, holding some kind of spike. He guessed it was Yuffie, the 'amazing ninja'.
'Very well,' she said, nodding her head to Zell. She disappeared in a cloud of darkness, leaving Zell and his companions alone in the moonlight of Traverse Town.
-------
Zell dodged the gunblade as he rolled to once side, letting Leon run past. He got up, and ran towards the door. yet suddenly, as he was just a few meters from opening it, he felt arms grip his sides, and a sword in front of his neck.
'Pay attention,' said Leon, releasing Zell. 'It could save your life one day.'
Zell broke free of his grip, and turned around angrily. 'You still haven't told me what the witch meant. What's the point of training like this if I don't even know what I'm fighting?'
'I don't know. And quite frankly, even if I did I wouldn't tell you. You're not ready.'
Leon began to walk away, and an angry shout came from the boy behind him.
'Is this how you treated the first Zell?' shouted the boy angrily, running towards Leon. 'If you did, no wonder he died.'
There was an awkward silence for a few seconds as Leon whirled around, his blade drawn, and was only interrupted by Zell's fast breathing. And then the warrior began to walk towards Zell, the gunblade pointed at him.
'No wait, I didn't mean it. I'm sure you were a great friend,' said Zell, walking backwards. Leon said nothing, only continuing forward to the boy.
'Please, no. You're not like this. You're good.' Again, Leon said nothing. He was only a few feet away now.
'No.' whimpered Zell, his voice rising. 'Yuffie! Aerith! Cid! Somebody!'
And then, Leon stopped right in front of the boy. But he was not looking at Zell.
'You,' said Leon, with a hint of menace. Zell turned round to see a man there, a blonde haired man. He bore a large red scar on one cheek, and yet more minor cuts on his other.
'Yes, me Squall. Are you ready?' said the man, drawing a blade similar to Leon's.
'Don't call me that. Its Leon now, Seifer.'
'I wonder what Rinoa would say if she heard you disowning your name, too afraid to speak it. But then again, you have good reason, don't you? You're the reason our world was -'
'Zell,' said Leon, keeping his eyes locked on Seifer. 'Is he real?'
The words of the two men drifted in and out of Zell's mind, eventually silenced. He Saw into the newcomer, but only saw him as he was. Whoever this man was, he was not in disguise.
'Yes, he's as he looks. It's okay Leo-'
See deeper. See into his heart, and there lies understanding.
Zell concentrated hard, but saw nothing. The man remained the same.
Its too hard, thought Zell. I can't. do it.
Meanwhile, as Zell concentrated, the two men had come to blows, their gunblades drawn. Leon ran forward to deliver a blow, but Seifer let out a stream of fire.
'Just like old times, hey, Squall.' The man laughed.
Open your heart. Open your heart to darkness.
In the split second after Zell heard the voice in his head, he did indeed contemplate letting darkness into his heart. and then he decided not to. But the split-second of desire was enough. Almost at once, a thin veil of darkness opened up around the boy, blinding him. And then the veil disappeared. He at first saw the scene of two men fighting, and then they both changed. One. into a noble lion, leaping for its prey. The other. a wretched gargoyle, burning with darkness.
And Zell wanted to call out, wanted to warn that this man had the power of darkness. Yet he could not. because part of him wanted to keep silent, to let Seifer win. At first this desire was merely small, unnoticeable. but then it grew, swallowing him whole. Literally.
While the two adversaries fought, the small boy from the Obsidian Square disappeared in a cloud of darkness, unnoticed by the world and uncared for.
But that, as all things do, will change.
The old man stood at the entrance to the square, his cloak shaking gently in the rain. Before him was a great statue wrought of Obsidian, retaining the very essence of the old world. Quite literally in fact. Yet this great marvel was not his goal, despite its beauty. The abomination must be destroyed at all costs - he remembered the King telling him this, yet still the words echoed around in his head.
From where he was, the so-called abomination lay in a heap by the statue, asleep and badly bruised. It was only a boy, a small little boy - he certainly did not look like something to be afraid of, and as the king would not go into any further detail, he remained doubtful of his mission. Yet orders were orders, and so he drew his sword.
At first nothing happened as the blade lay motionless in the grip of his muscular arms, but soon the dim light of the moon began to catch the edge, and as it did so the blade grew hotter in his arms, lighting up. The pain was almost unbearable, but as he had complained before - the weapon was not made for one like him, but for another who had not been so lucky as to have survived to this end, to this fateful era.
The blade finally gave in and a great beam of light entered the square from the dark sky, causing the whole area to appear as in day. The boy did as the King said he would - he rose from his position and began to scream with pain, shaking around the square in agony. Yet he made no attempt to harm the boy - was he really an enemy? As the old man raised his sword and ran forward to deliver a blow to the boy, the child was engulfed in a cloud of darkness.
-------
Far from the world of the Old Man and the Obsidian statue, there was once a town of great prosperity and good will, a safe haven against the heartless. There, people from all worlds gathered to make a stand against the evil of Darkness, and in their efforts they were aided by the Champion of Light, the Keybearer. He came to them as if he was waking up from a dream, his own world of islands. In a small alley he was welcomed by a slobbering dog and a few dustbins, while all around people ignored him. His companions, I believe, did not care for him, not at first anyway - but for the key. They were wrong of course, and look where it got them in the end! Ah, but yes. you have yet to see what lies beyond the door, guarded by the protégé of darkness and his minions. Yet all is not lost, however, as you shall see. The hopes of entire worlds rest on a young boy of around ten, who, on one late evening woke up among some dustbins down a small alleyway, not far from where a certain fourteen year old boy would wake up but four years later. And his name? Not even I know that, not now nor ever. Such is the fate of those without hearts.
-------
Behind the once busy and prospering Bar of the First District, a tramp lay in an alleyway, staring at a door and muttering jumbled words under his breath.
'Mwushuflle,' he said, glaring at some bins beside the door. They said nothing.
'I said, Mwushuflle!' Again, silence.
'MWUSHUFLLE!' he boomed, throwing his can of baked beans at the door. Almost as if in response, the bins shook violently from side to side, causing surrounding litter to fly away into a gale of wind.
'Hello?' asked the bins cautiously. The old man smirked triumphantly, and nodded his head slowly. He had the good for nothing bins just where he wanted them.
'Mwushuflle' said the old man, sitting up straight.
'What?' responded the bins, shaking a little.
'Can't yer understan' me?' he laughed.
'I don't know who you are or where I am, but there was this man and he -'
'Yer should ner! Ye stole it!'
'Stole what? I don't really understand what's going on.'
'ME 'ART!' the old man screamed, suddenly growing tall and dark. His white hair and beard became jet black in a number of seconds, as did his skin. His eyes bulged and writhed in their sockets, becoming a bright and flashing yellow.
The boy emerged from behind the bins, his arms shaking. The man was no longer human, but some kind of monstrosity, a dark shadow of his former being. It approached him slowly, aware of the boy's presence with twitching antennae. Yet the boy did not move. He just closed his eyes tightly, not knowing what would happen if the shadow reached him, touched him, and he wasn't sure that he cared.
One who knows nothing can understand noth-
Nothing happened for what seemed like an eternity. And then, completely unexpected, he felt a hand fall upon his shoulder.
'It's okay,' said a deep voice. 'They won't bother you again.'
The boy opened his eyes to see a tall man in front of him, staring at the bins.
'Who are you?' asked the boy, eyeing the sword by the man's side.
The man grunted, and slung his sword behind his back. 'The name's Sq.' he said, pausing. 'You can call me Leon'
-------
'So,' said Leon, pacing up and down the room. 'Where do you come from?'
The boy opened his mouth to speak, and then changed his mind. 'I don't know,' he said.
'You can't remember?'
'No, I. Er. Yeah, probably.'
'I see.'
'All I remember is waking up, and then this old man attacked me.'
'The shadow?'
'Yes, I mean no. It was in another place, in a pavillion. The sky was dark, it must have been night, and I woke up to find myself lying near this statue. And then a man attacked me.'
'What did he look like?'
'He. I can't remember, but his sword.' The boy's eyes darted towards the sword in the corner, and then focused once again on Leon.
'What about it?'
'It looked just like yours.'
'What,' said Leon, holding up his blade, 'this gunblade?'
'Yeah, that's the one.'
'Impossible' said Leon, scratching his temple. 'I was the only one to make it out.'
'Out of what?'
'Never you mind. Anyway, you still haven't told me a name.'
'I don't have one.'
'Well we'll have to give you one then. Would Zell be alright?'
'Zell. that's a weird name.'
'You just look like this guy I knew once. Anyway, do you know why that heartless was attacking you?'
'Heartless?' asked the newly named Zell. 'What's a heartless?'
And to his amazement, Leon laughed.
'Come on. We had better get going.'
-------
I See, and thus do I learn. Yet most beings do not See, they merely watch, which is what makes the essential difference between one with a heart and one without. Emotions blind you from truely Seeing, and so is not a heart merely a burden in the quest for knowledge?
At this moment, I See a boy laying down to sleep in a small house located in the Third District of Traverse Town. Near him, a mercenary places his blade on a silver table, breathing heavily. Yet the mercenary is not important, not yet anyway. His time will come soon enough. But the boy, he matters in the grand scheme of things, for both the Darkness and the Light. He has Seen. He therefore learns.
But now he merely sleeps and dreams of Another Side, another story lost to his weakened mind yet bound tightly to his invincible Heart.
I would just as easily See the dreams of that child as I might wield a Keyblade, but of course such things are beyond me. So for these passing moments I am content with merely watching from my cloud of impenetrable darkness, remembering yet another time and another story lost to me.
-------
He was floating through darkness itself. Zell could feel its tendrils rubbing against his soft skin, invading the fabric of his being, and yet he was helpless to stop it. He almost invited it.
And then there was light, a blinding beam from above. The darkness parted from him immediately, revealing a stained glass platform below him.
'Hello?' asked Zell, looking around. 'Anyone there?'
Three platforms emerged from the platform, each shining with its own inner brilliance. As Zell glided down to meet it, he saw another below.
'Hello? Can you hear me?'
The boy ignored him, continuing on his course. He was a teenager, around 14 or 15, Zell would have guessed, with spiky brown hair and odd clothes.
He glided down through the air (or what he guessed was air) until he was directly in front of the boy. Yet still, the newcomer looked ahead as if Zell wasn't there. He kept walking, until he passed through Zell as if he was a ghost. Neither said anything.
The boy then stared around, looking at the platforms. As if obeying his commands, three weapons appeared in a flash of light. A sword, a shield and a staff. He ran forward to the centre platform, and suddenly all melted away from Zell, the boy included, as he fell desperately through the shining light towards the eternal darkness.
-------
'The Heartless are beings born of the darkness from people's hearts,' said Leon, closing the door. 'And there is darkness in every heart.'
The woman in the pink dress nodded, turning to meet Zell's gaze. 'That's why when the Heartless came, everything changed.'
'Do you remember much about your world?' asked Zell. She nodded slowly, but said nothing.
'This is Aerith, by the way,' said Leon, finally sitting. He said nothing for the few minutes that followed, and then spoke. 'Do you really. remember nothing?'
'No,' said Zell, bowing his head. Aerith put her gentle hand on his shoulder, and sighed.
'I do remember a little, Zell, that I can tell you. Do you remember what Squall said abou-'
'My name is Leon'
'Yes, of course. Anyway, he said that there is darkness in every heart, but in some there is much more. Are you following?'
'So far'
'And as even small amounts of darkness would attract the Heartless, imagine what an ocean of darkness would do. It all began with a broken roof in a slum Church.'
Aerith spoke for what seemed like millenia, detailing an epic struggle between good and evil. Zell found himself unable to concentrate, but from what he could remember from her story, people in her world were after her. Unable to defend herself, she was protected by a soldier, a man named Cloud. He aided her with the help of others, including the pilot Cid and ninja Yuffie (who he was yet to meet, added Squall) and eventually they escaped to discover a great darkness in the world- a man named Sephiroth. In his darkness he had attained such knowledge and power that he nearly brought about the end of the world, but in the very end Cloud and the others repelled the darkness and Sephiroth was banished to some unknown realm. But it was too late, it seemed, as the immense magical force involved in doing so and the darkness of the man's heart had already attracted immense numbers of heartless, and they were forced to flee from the destruction of their world.
'But what happened to Cloud?' asked Zell, staring at her. She sighed, her eyes watering.
'We don't know. He may have died in the destruction of our world - but we escaped through the expertise of our pilot Cid. We came across a red moon, swarming with heartless, but on it we found Leon and a few others.'
'But they didn't make it,' said Leon, turning his back to them. 'But we won't make the same mistakes again.'
'Why are you telling me all this?'
'So you know what others have gone through to be here today. So you know that, although you are here now, there were others who cared for you enough to send you here.'
'How was I sent here?'
'We don't know,' said a gruff voice from the doorway. An old man had entered without anyone noticing.
'And I don't really give a damn, quite honestly. Name's Cid, by the way.' The man held out a dirty hand for the boy to shake. He reached forward, and nearly touched the man's thick skin. But in that moment, a scream echoed out from not so far away.
'Come on,' said Leon, grabbing his gunblade. 'We got work to do.'
-------
Once outside, the group saw a woman in the square below them, weeping. Zell looked at her, and was immediately transfixed. she was so beautiful. They ran down to see what was wrong, and that was when she got up from the floor, revealing her dazzling face and perfect blonde hair.
'Is there a problem?' asked Aerith, obviously the only one unaffected.
The woman wiped away a tear, and sighed. 'There.,' she said, shaking. 'There w-was a m-m-man and t-t-this thing attacked him and h-h-he vanished.' She pointed to a door, and burst into tears.
All the time, Zell watched her, ignoring both what she and the others were saying. He was, however, doing more than watch. He was trying to See.
At first, the young boy only saw her beautiful, unblemished skin. But slowly, her face began to crack, turning a light green. Her small and gentle hands grew long and thin, sprouting horrible black fingernails. Her white dress changed as well, turning black and shredded, with a kind of double horned hat growing behind the woman's head. At the end of it all, he swore he had seen a witch, if there were such things. And then, to Zell's astonishment, he noticed Leon walking towards the door she was pointing at.
'No Leon! Don't do what she says!' screamed Zell, running forward. Leon shrugged his shoulders, and kept moving. All seemed lost for a few seconds, and Zell was sure that Leon would do what the witch said and walk through the door, to the other side. and then, he paused, turning his head back slightly.
'Leon! She's not what she looks like! She's a Wit-' As Zell spoke, he felt claws dig into his shoulder. He turned to see a smiling woman, returned to her normal appearance.
'A Witch? How ridiculous! Now please, walk through the door,' said the woman smiling. Leon again shrugged, and kept walking. As his hand was on the knob, the woman screamed once more, causing Leon to jump and turn round. The face of the woman was burning, turning pitch black and falling off, to reveal the true face of the woman. All over this change happened, until the form that he had Seen was in plain view.
'Maleficent,' said Leon, drawing his gunblade.
'You recognise me? How touching!' said the witch, grabbing hold of her staff and glancing over at Zell. 'And who is this child?' she asked, smiling.
'Never you mind, Maleficent. He's with us,' said Cid from behind, growling with menace.
'Oh really? Well, that will end soon enough. He stinks of potential, this one.'
'What do you mean?' asked Zell, drawing closer to her.
'You Saw me as I truly was,' said the witch, laughing. 'I know others that can do that. Do you know what they're called? Heartle-'
'That's enough, Maleficent,' came a new voice, a girl's voice. He turned to see a ninja, holding some kind of spike. He guessed it was Yuffie, the 'amazing ninja'.
'Very well,' she said, nodding her head to Zell. She disappeared in a cloud of darkness, leaving Zell and his companions alone in the moonlight of Traverse Town.
-------
Zell dodged the gunblade as he rolled to once side, letting Leon run past. He got up, and ran towards the door. yet suddenly, as he was just a few meters from opening it, he felt arms grip his sides, and a sword in front of his neck.
'Pay attention,' said Leon, releasing Zell. 'It could save your life one day.'
Zell broke free of his grip, and turned around angrily. 'You still haven't told me what the witch meant. What's the point of training like this if I don't even know what I'm fighting?'
'I don't know. And quite frankly, even if I did I wouldn't tell you. You're not ready.'
Leon began to walk away, and an angry shout came from the boy behind him.
'Is this how you treated the first Zell?' shouted the boy angrily, running towards Leon. 'If you did, no wonder he died.'
There was an awkward silence for a few seconds as Leon whirled around, his blade drawn, and was only interrupted by Zell's fast breathing. And then the warrior began to walk towards Zell, the gunblade pointed at him.
'No wait, I didn't mean it. I'm sure you were a great friend,' said Zell, walking backwards. Leon said nothing, only continuing forward to the boy.
'Please, no. You're not like this. You're good.' Again, Leon said nothing. He was only a few feet away now.
'No.' whimpered Zell, his voice rising. 'Yuffie! Aerith! Cid! Somebody!'
And then, Leon stopped right in front of the boy. But he was not looking at Zell.
'You,' said Leon, with a hint of menace. Zell turned round to see a man there, a blonde haired man. He bore a large red scar on one cheek, and yet more minor cuts on his other.
'Yes, me Squall. Are you ready?' said the man, drawing a blade similar to Leon's.
'Don't call me that. Its Leon now, Seifer.'
'I wonder what Rinoa would say if she heard you disowning your name, too afraid to speak it. But then again, you have good reason, don't you? You're the reason our world was -'
'Zell,' said Leon, keeping his eyes locked on Seifer. 'Is he real?'
The words of the two men drifted in and out of Zell's mind, eventually silenced. He Saw into the newcomer, but only saw him as he was. Whoever this man was, he was not in disguise.
'Yes, he's as he looks. It's okay Leo-'
See deeper. See into his heart, and there lies understanding.
Zell concentrated hard, but saw nothing. The man remained the same.
Its too hard, thought Zell. I can't. do it.
Meanwhile, as Zell concentrated, the two men had come to blows, their gunblades drawn. Leon ran forward to deliver a blow, but Seifer let out a stream of fire.
'Just like old times, hey, Squall.' The man laughed.
Open your heart. Open your heart to darkness.
In the split second after Zell heard the voice in his head, he did indeed contemplate letting darkness into his heart. and then he decided not to. But the split-second of desire was enough. Almost at once, a thin veil of darkness opened up around the boy, blinding him. And then the veil disappeared. He at first saw the scene of two men fighting, and then they both changed. One. into a noble lion, leaping for its prey. The other. a wretched gargoyle, burning with darkness.
And Zell wanted to call out, wanted to warn that this man had the power of darkness. Yet he could not. because part of him wanted to keep silent, to let Seifer win. At first this desire was merely small, unnoticeable. but then it grew, swallowing him whole. Literally.
While the two adversaries fought, the small boy from the Obsidian Square disappeared in a cloud of darkness, unnoticed by the world and uncared for.
But that, as all things do, will change.