Lest Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot.
If anyone offers you to do 12 hours in one shift… tell them no! hahaha! And for today's entertainment, a burnt out car in the car park… lol. Life is full of strange surprises. Again, the same warnings, tho this time I feel like a zombie. Cue gurgling sounds.
Disclaimer: groans somehow, I get this odd feeling I repeat myself to exhaustion here. DON'T OWN IT! K? Well... I got the games, but that doesn't count! I can dream can't I?
……
Chapter 6: So Near and yet So Far.
Normally it was never hard to find Hades in the vast Underworld. This time, however, he was nowhere to be seen. Having traipsed through crevice and canyon, the blue god had simply vanished without a trace. To add to it all, there wasn't a single soul in sight. No skeletonised hands reached out to tug on his cape and no hollow faces followed him from the shadows. There was simply no one there. Neither living nor dead.
Growling in frustration, he was tempted to walk away with his life intact. Turning to leave, he was startled. Hades sat in a mock throne, leaning upon a hand whilst tapping the armrest with the other. Cloud had never seen him look so pleased with himself, nor so deathly calm. Simply remaining where he stood, his open jaw was concealed by his cloak.
"Made up your mind?" the god gloated before him. Cloud merely closed his mouth, swallowed, and nodded. "So you have made your choice."
"Yes," Cloud croaked rather than stated.
The god unnerved him with the absence of his usual banter. He rose silently from his seat and glided from the open space. Cloud was enticed to bolt in the other direction but it needed to be done. Following after him he was led deeper into his lair.
"Enlighten me," he sneered from the far side of the Dias. "What do you offer me?"
Sighing away his nerves, Cloud made his offer. "Myself. I offer you my life as an end to my contract."
Hades raised a blue eyebrow beneath locks of flaming blue. In this light he appeared increasingly menacing and sinister. Very much like Ansem. Cloud almost fell backwards, startled by the demonic grin that slit his head in two. "My, kid. What a generous offer," he beamed.
When he continued to smirk without further words, Cloud felt that he hadn't been heard properly. Attempting a second chance, he pleaded his case once more. "I want to sacrifice my life. End my suffering. Take my powers. Finish it all."
"I heard you the first time," the beam slid into a grimace. "I might not walk amongst the living but I'm not deaf, you know." He marched from behind the high table to face the blonde. "Say, why don't you amaze me with your reasoning."
Cerulean eyes sought solace from cold marble. Lifting his gaze, he commenced his plea. "No one sees me for who I am. All they see is a hideous creature covered in hide and fur. No one will miss me. All bar one have not seen me in nine years and presume me dead. Give them closure after all these years. Put their minds to rest: let them grieve. Return my human body to them."
Hades almost scowled fiercely at the young man before him. All that he could see was a golden crown, the remainder of his spikes cast earthward. Annoyed could not begin to explain his expression. The blood red flames on his head did little to detract from that fact.
"Oh my heart bleeds," he spat, causing the blonde's head to lift cautiously with a frown. "No, seriously. You're killing me here," he wailed, waving his arms demonically. "Fine," he screeched into the domed cave ceiling, fists clawed, "FINE! Here's my 'Act of Humanity' for the millennium."
Cloud watched the dismissed god pace back to the far side of the Dias, muttering away to himself.
"Damn them. Damn them all to hell. Maybe not, that would only send them here. Next time we have a Gods' convention, I'm voting to scrap that 'Selfless Acts of Redemption' clause. Luckily," he mused into tapping finger tips, "few think like idiot boy here. But, I still can have a little fun before I'm done." Cloud did not quite like his goading tone, nor the glint he wore in his eyes.
"What?" he stammered when the blue one continued to stare him down.
"Well," he finally spoke, "An end to your life in such a miserable location wouldn't be right for a world-saving mercenary as yourself. Why not die somewhere more fitting?"
He didn't like where this was going, or the manner in which Hades skipped from the room. He did not object as Hades lifted his claw arm and summoned a portal to a place he more than recognised.
"It won't hurt at all," he snickered into his ear as he stared aghast at the rapidly assembling equipment in the plaza on the other side of the opening. "But those who get to watch your execution might feel the pinch," he concluded, shoving the blonde closer to his impending doom.
………………
For a change, Yuffie simply sat and observed the world pass her by. Two weeks had passed since she glimpsed a face of old, and since then he had never left her mind. Aeris had noticed a change in the ninja's attitude, but Yuffie did all that could be done to play it down. The incident at the hidden waterway served as the perfect excuse. As she dangled her legs over the edge of the building, she watched the frenzied preparations far below.
The roof of the Gizmo Shop was a quiet location. If Leon really didn't want to be found he would sneak up here with only the bell for company. Yuffie would often follow him up here and observe him from the shadows, not daring to interrupt his thoughts. On this occasion she sought solitude herself, but quiet reflection was now the last thing on her mind. She was much more interested in the developing gallows below.
"An execution huh?"
The voice from behind was unexpected. Yuffie jumped and twisted to face her disturber. She blinked rapidly at Leon, her heart rate slowing as she sighed from relief and annoyance. "And? What do you want?"
"Aeris asked me to check on you. She's worried."
"As usual."
"Yuffie," he lightly scolded her, "you gave her quite the fright. She thinks you're still affected by it."
"Well, I'm not," she grumped. "I'm just… thinking."
"About this?" he indicated below him.
"No," she scowled. "I wonder where Cloud is."
The brunette faltered by her side where he now sat. "I don't know," he finally admitted.
"He's been alive all this time?"
Sapphires shifted sideways to observe the pensive youngster. "Apparently so."
"But how?" she continued. "We all thought he was dead. We left in Hollow Bastion!" she wailed in realisation.
"I couldn't tell them where he was," Leon averted his gaze back to the preparations below. "I was knocked unconscious."
"But why didn't they find him?" she twisted to face him. Calmly turning his head to face her, he couldn't help but feel for her with distress etched into her face. "He was with you. He was left for dead. No wonder he never came back."
Leon's face creased into confusion. "Moments after they moved me the chapel tower collapsed. There are few who could survive that."
Yuffie pouted. "I thought about Hollow Bastion a lot after we came here. When Cloud never came, I began to believe he never made it."
"But…?" Leon sensed there was more.
"Doesn't matter," she muttered.
"Doesn't it?"
"He's not here is he?" she snapped. "He's changed. He's a beast, not a human. Only the dark side does things like that to you. He's not the person we remember. We can't trust him."
"Is that why you haven't told Aeris about what you saw?"
Folding her arms across her chest, she appeared beyond her years. That is until Leon witnessed the scowl on her face. "No one deserves love like that. Not a friend of the Heartless. It would kill her. It's all the better that she is led to believe that he died all them years ago."
Leon spoke in hushed tones, despite the slim chance of being over heard. "What about the other week? She says she heard him."
"Tell her it's a figment of her imagination. Nine years is a long time. People can change in shorter times."
Leon dared not voice his opinions on that matter. The truth in her words knew no bounds. Indeed, in the space of two short weeks, the raven-haired youngster had done just that. And she had grown more beautiful.
Beautiful? Leon shook his head and tried to dismiss the peculiar thought.
Yuffie glanced sideways, amused by Leon's odd torment. It was internal, as usual. A haze of blue from below startled both of them back to the plaza.
"I don't believe it," Leon gasped, Yuffie echoing his thoughts.
"Oh my gaud! Is that Hades?" Leon could only nod in agreement before she continued. "I thought travel between worlds was blocked after Sora defeated Ansem?"
"It was," Leon pondered aloud. "But Cloud can travel still."
"The heartless… figures."
"He's not a heartless," Leon growled by her side.
"He's in league with them. So he is."
Leon shrugged and rolled his eyes. Heaving himself to his feet, he cast one final glance to the hustle below.
"Why is Hades here?" Yuffie questioned.
"Probably to collect the soul of the soon to be deceased."
Yuffie glanced at Leon. "Big words. Ain't you clever!"
Leon was taken aback by her reversion to her former self. He would have commented on this but the entity by Hades' side gripped his attention. "What is that?" he murmured.
"It's beasty," Yuffie chirruped. "Leon," she looked up at him, "it's beasty. Yo Leon, you okay?"
"That's what you see?" he could not hide his surprise. "It can't be Cloud."
"That's the thing you were always talking to. Hang on," she gabbled rapidly. "Cloud? That's Cloud! What's he doing? I knew it," she folded her arms across her chest. "And he's not a heartless? Look at who he's with."
'Why can't I see him?' Leon thought. Slowly, the verity of the situation dawned on him. "No. Hades is not with him. He's going to kill him. Hades is going to kill Cloud."
Yuffie's jaw fell as she looked back to the finally completed gallows. "But why?" she twisted to face Leon again, only to witness him leap from the roof and scale the ladders. Snatching one last glance, she bolted after him, also intending to find out what was going on.
By time they reached the second district, quite a crowd had gathered. Most were curious as to what was going on whilst others appeared to await the show with morbid curiosity. Armed and ready for action, Leon and Yuffie found Aeris in the midst of the throng, looking genuinely puzzled.
"What's going on?" she looked to Leon. Upon seeing their armoury, her frown intensified. "Yuffie! Why?"
"Hades. Badass needs a good beating," she crouched, preparing to hurl herself at the stage.
"No need," Leon enforced, watching as the ninja stood up, grinning. "I don't think Hades is here for business. This looks like a holiday."
"Who's he killing?" a voice from their left called out.
"Dunno, but the show better start soon!" a second shouted from the right.
"Hades is here for an execution?" Aeris gasped.
"It would appear so," Leon muttered stoically. "I can't see them now."
"Them?" Aeris was puzzled by his comment.
"Beasty is here!" Aeris looked at Yuffie aghast. "Honestly," Yuffie emphasised, "and he's the offering!"
"Good," Aeris almost spat venomously, drawing an unseen look of surprise from Leon. "One less heartless makes the world a safer place."
Leon cloud not believe his own ears when Yuffie muttered, "I agree," to her comment. Dragging her aside, he hissed in her ear.
"What are you doing?"
"I won't tell her who it really is. You thought you could trust Ansem."
"But I didn't grow up with Ansem."
"But you thought he was good," she stomped, heading back to Aeris and leaving him with a look of utter disbelief on his face.
"I can't watch," Aeris covered her face with her hands. "But I long for the end of evil."
"Amen," Yuffie scowled at the returning brunette. "When's the show gonna start?" she questioned, holstering her weapon.
Leon was close to gawping at the pair. Looking back to the hastily, yet well crafted platform, he could not quite believe what he saw. Before his own eyes was what he had only ever seen as a reflection. Surely it was Cloud, but in the form that others saw him. He had little time to ponder about his novel appearance. He was sure that soon enough the reasons for it all would be revealed.
The crowd booed and jeered at Cloud as he walked to the centre of the platform to where Hades stood. Leon noted how he shuffled, ignoring the chants of the people staring him down. His head was bowed, his frame wracked with weariness. Slowly, Leon concluded that he must have given up. He no longer wished for this life and had opted for another. Fighting his way through the crowd, he stood directly in front of him, his arms resting on the untreated wooden surface.
"What are you doing?" he hissed at Cloud's shins, almost drowned out by the crowds' growing thirst for death.
Cerulean eyes barely shone beneath heavy eyebrows. He tried to converse with the brunette, but was only heard by means of grunts.
"What?" Leon frowned, "I can't understand that."
"Go away," he only just made out, unable to read his lips that were buried in the cape, which had suddenly reappeared. Slowly taking in his entire form, Leon realised he had regained his human appearance. His hair no longer stood erect. Rather it drooped lifelessly, all shine gone. His eyes, too, had lost their sparkle. His shoulders were slumped, deepening the shadows beneath his eyes. Even the cloak he sported appeared much more tattered than usual.
"Why?" was all that Leon could think of as an adequate reply.
"Because," the dejected blonde kicked sawdust towards the brunette to drive him away from the stage. To prevent him returning and potentially persuade him to change his mind, he dawdled to stand by Hades' side, his bestial form swallowing his human one.
'So that was it,' Leon pondered. It had always intrigued him as to why it was only him that could see him. Who controlled that? Was he able to see through to who Cloud really was? Or did Cloud willingly reveal himself to a very select few. When Yuffie and Aeris pulled him away by means of an arm each, he realised time was running out for him to discover why. Trying to object verbally, the pair were having none of it.
"Will you quit aggravating that thing," Yuffie wailed, standing on his feet.
"She has a point," Aeris quietly added. "Why do you associate with that creature."
Leon glared from one to the other, feeling there was no use in arguing with them. Throwing his arms up in the air and releasing their grasp on him, he walked away from them. Huffing loudly, Yuffie turned back to the stage, Aeris taking a few moments longer but keeping her gaze on the cobbles.
"Glad you could all make it," the usual enthusiastic tone of the undead god floated above the crowd. "Have we got a treat for you today. Don't be shy, kid. Say hello to your audience," he slapped a forceful hand on his furred back.
The catcalls and jeers were deafening as Cloud stepped froward. In his weariness, he heard little. All he longed for was the inevitable to be over. He searched for the brunette, but could only see the top of Aeris's head and Yuffie's scowl. Bowing his head again, he sighed forlorn.
"Who wants an execution?" Hades cheered by his side, yanking Cloud's right arm into the air. The chants erupted off the scale. "Well, I'm here to give you one. Now, let the festivities begin.
Glancing from the corner of his eye, he caught the blue god retreating to the far reaches of the platform. Cloud was now centre stage and in the limelight. "Oh gaud," he murmured into his collar.
The tingling was almost unnoticeable at first. As it sank deeper into his boots, it caused him increasing discomfort. By time the pain reached his ankles, he couldn't ignore it any longer. Looking down he witnessed the beginning of his proposed end.
A black shadow almost swallowed his feet but the ground still remained firm. Tendrils snaked in and out of the eyelets of his boots. His boots? Moments ago he was barefoot with the most hideous feet this side of Cid's airship. As the tendrils tickled the hems of his trousers, the pain followed its path. He began to wonder if death was meant to be like this.
Startled gasps from the crowd caused him to snap his head up. His feet had now been engulfed from view so he felt like he wasn't missing anything. He witnessed green eyes drenched with confusion shining in his direction. As the tendrils crept around his shins and thighs, he realised something wasn't right. He twisted on the spot to find Hades. Sure enough he was still there, gloating in the corner. He swiveled back, his feet now glued to the floor. So that ruled out running.
The pain slowly became unbearable. It was almost to his waist now. He clenched his teeth and balled his fists against the agony. The crowd was going wild, but he didn't care. He couldn't hear their frenzied cries, only see them leaping about. As the cloud of black raised from his feet to his shins, he failed to see the collective dropping of jaws from his audience.
"What is that?" Aeris gasped upon seeing a pair of human feet.
Yuffie nervously glanced from Aeris to the platform, also spotting pink toes beneath a storming nebula that now enveloped his body from knees to navel. As the mist rose and grieved him further, Yuffie whispered, "He's returning."
"It's human?" Aeris clamped her hands to her moth. "That monster is really human? No. This can't be," she wailed in panic, wishing for the torment to end.
"What's going on?" Leon squeezed between the pair. "Huh?" he bumbled as Aeris gripped his collar and buried her head beneath his chin.
"An innocent person is dying. Make it stop."
"A moment ago you wanted him dead," he snapped without realising.
"Him?" emeralds questioned his words. "It's male?" she whipped back to face the execution, her hair inadvertently blinding Leon. Sinking his fingertips into his eyeballs, he failed to see the tortured soul writhe in agony upon the stage. The obscured one frantically batted the smothering mist that swallowed him from his thighs to his chin. Slender legs of pale skin sent the crowd frantic for all the wrong reasons. This was no longer anything pleasant to witness.
Mothers led their children away, men calling for the torment to stop. Cloud screamed in silence as the smog filled his mouth, nostrils, and ultimately his lungs. Leon clung onto the ties at the back of Aeris's dress, reluctant to let her be injured in the fray. When a piercing scream chilled them to the bone, she ceased fighting and stumbled away from the potentially naked pair of legs that consisted of haze for a torso. A neat pair of boxers concealed his modesty, retaining his final shred of dignity. Slowly, a trained abdomen was revealed to them whilst a frightened pair of crimson eyes sank beneath the dark tide.
"He's in pain," Yuffie whimpered. "What did we do?"
"There's nothing we can do," Leon sighed. "Hades may have a trap set if we try to free him. We'll wait 'til it passes."
"That might be too late," Aeris pleaded, gazing at the perfectly chiseled torso that descended from the clouds. She watched the tormented figure fall to his knees; weary and exhausted from the stress he endured. Gradually the mists receded until only his face was obscured from them all, his hands clawing in vain at the visage he couldn't touch, nor had he seen in years.
"Enjoy it while it lasts," Hades sneered, stepping from the shadows to his own world, dropping the now useless claw on the floor. Clattering unheard, it came to rest mere feet from the blonde.
The sea of people froze as the last buzz of the fog disappeared, revealing the performer in his former glory. A loud curse informed all that Cid recognised the dazed soul, but it was nothing compared to Aeris's reaction. Rooted to the spot by a multitude of emotions, she could only whisper his name.
Cloud gazed groggily over the crowd, faces swimming into hairstyles. The pain had gone, but it left him dazed and confused. His lungs burnt to breathe in the fresh air, his heart straining against his ribs. He could hardly support his head as the crowd suddenly vanished from view.
"Cloud!" Aeris finally screamed his name when he slumped forwards, slamming face down into the splintered timber. Leon released her as she bolted for the fallen warrior, tears streaming down her flushed cheeks. By time she reached the stage, he had used the last of his energy to roll onto his back; an arm still draped over the edge of the platform, the other across his throbbing abdomen. He failed to see the flailing pink dive to his side. His senses were now numb.
"Cloud?" she wept, shaking him. Taking his hand in both of hers, she sobbed violently and pressed it to her chest. Even the green glow emanating beneath her touch had no effect on reviving him. She lifted her pleading gaze to sapphires when the brunette approached.
"He's so cold," she wailed. "Do we have a blanket?"
Yuffie stood behind Leon, trembling as he sought for signs of life. After pressing two fingers into his neck proved futile, he laid an ear to his chest. Moments later he lifted his head and gently shook away the disbelief, hearing the words he dreaded in a voice that sounded alien to his own. "No pulse, no heartbeat, nothing. Aeris, I'm sorry…" he strained with his own surfacing emotions. "He's gone."
Yuffie screamed and stamped her foot, latching onto his back as the tears stormed forth. Aeris shook her head, refusing to believe that the cold body before her had really passed its soul onto the next life. Caressing his serene face and silky locks, she threw herself across his torso, embracing the one she had longed to see for so long and had only come so close.
……
hmm… is that the end? Certainly not. Tho, you really have to love a cliff-hanger. I do have the other all typed up, I just have to correct. I have some nice days off this week, so hopefully, you should find out what happens to our hero in a weeks time! Until then, stay tuned! ;)