Title: For Whom the Bell Tolls
Author: Sae
Fan-verse: Kingdom Hearts FFVII
Couplings: VincentXCid, some implied CloudXSephiroth
Rating: PG-13 and most likely to stay that way.
Disclaimer: KH & FFVII belong to Squaresoft. The song-ness in each chapter belongs to Metallica.
Not me. Nope, nope, nope.
Warnings: Yaoi. Many little kids running around. Blatent screw-up-ed-ness of Sephiroth's family. (Hey, this is KH, ANYTHING could happen) Sad, sad angst at the end. Chibi Zell.....On sugar.
Chapter 11: King Nothing
Wish I may
Wish I might
Have this wish tonight
Are you satisfied?
o o o
Sephiroth idly fingered a lock of his hair, weaving it between his fingers as he read over the latest messages sent in from a number of outlying islands. His outward appearance suggested he was bored, but inside he was quite agitated. Starting two years before, people had begun disappearing from their homes. At first it was just a few people from within the city, but it slowly spread, both in area and the number of people gone missing. They just vanished, without a trace, without a struggle, without witnesses. It had started with elderly people who lived alone, and now whole families were disappearing at a time.
But that wasn't the only trouble. Reports were coming in that described black creatures with yellow eyes. Heartless. Sephiroth had no doubt that the two were connected, but no one had mentioned seeing any Heartless near the areas the people vanished from. Again he turned over the thought that Ansem was keeping Heartless down in the bowels of the castle. Simply by not allowing Sephiroth to kill the creatures in the castle, Ansem was putting all of his peoples in danger. But Ansem also claimed that 'his' Heartless could not escape from the castle.
Frustrated, the warrior stood, neatly sweeping his reports into a pile and filing them away in a drawer of his desk. He was tired of sitting on his arse and staring at papers that all pointed at the simple fact that Heartless were attacking people. He pulled open the door to his office and neatly caught the paper that fluttered down from where it had been wedged between the door frame and door. He instantly recognized the slanting, tight handwriting as Vincent's.
S
Cid and I are going down to the 7th Heaven for a time. You need a rest. Come join us for a drink.
VV
Sephiroth felt a smile tugging at his lips. In the three years since Vincent had been found in the Waterways, he and Cid had examined every bar and pub in the city and claimed the 7th Heaven as the best. Saturday nights could often find the two sitting at a table in the corner and more often than not they invited Sephiroth to escape his royal duties and join them. And some nights, when he was curious or bored or simply lonely, he joined them. Tonight, when he was frazzled and in need of some relaxation, it sounded wonderful. He ducked back into his office, grabbed his coat, and left, striding quickly down the halls as he pulled his coat on over his arms. Yes, a night with good company and even better drink sounded just fine.
o o o
Dig for gold
Dig for fame
You dig to make your name
Are you pacified?
o o o
"Alright." Cloud said firmly, nodding. "Let's go for it." Squall, standing before him, looked at Cloud with a strange mix of exasperation and excitement that he tried to hide behind an uncaring face. The brunette had finally convinced Cloud to show him how to summon, to draw his own personal weapon from the core of his being. Summon-weapons were the perfect weapon for the summoner, drawn from their own skills and fighting talents. They often changed over the years, starting with something simple and often bulky, a visual representation of the summoners' skill. As time went by, the weapon became easier to summon, and took a more finished form. As the fighter's skills increased, the weapon changed to suit them.
More than anything, Squall wanted to learn to summon his own weapon, whatever form it might take. Cloud had been the most readily available teacher. The blond boy was becoming quite proficient at summoning his sword, a large and flat thing that looked impossible to wield easily. As younger kids, the four-year age difference had meant little to them; they both possessed an adventurer's spirit that made them fast friends and strong allies. Both were fast and strong and very stubborn. But the difference was that Cloud had been taken by Sephiroth for training, and Squall had not. That was all, and that was everything. Squall had tried very hard to ignore the jealousy he felt when Cloud talked about his training, but not knowing how to summon bothered him until he finally made himself ask Cloud to teach him. Now they stood in a small, closed in stone courtyard behind Cloud's house, empty of all but them.
"You ready?" Cloud asked the smaller boy, his arms crossed across his chest.
"Are you?" Squall retorted.
"Yeah. Okay, close your eyes." Cloud commanded. "Clear your mind of everything. Focus on your breathing." Squall did as he was told, breathing in for a count of seven, holding it for a seven-count, then slowly releasing his breath in a seven-count. He focused his mind on the sensations of breathing and Cloud's voice, the way Sephiroth had taught the older kids some time ago. His mind cleared of all thoughts and he slowly nodded, still breathing in sevens.
"Think of what the word 'fight' means to you." Cloud said quietly, standing just behind Squall's left shoulder. He hoped he was doing it right. An uncle had taught him to summon this way when he was eleven; he hoped he was a good enough teacher for Squall to learn. He leaned closer, speaking almost directly into the younger boy's ear. "Think about how you fight, how you feel when you do, how it feels when one of your shots connects..."
Squall's brows were drawn together, his fists clenched by his sides. His mind played over a fist fight he'd had with Zell a few days before. Zell was getting good, having started taking lesson's from Zangan with Tifa recently, but Squall had given the hyperactive boy a run for his money. He remembered each punch, each kick, how it felt to land a blow on Zell's body, how it felt to take Zell's blows, how he knew, knew that it would be so much better if he had something in his hands, something sleek and powerful. Not a sword like Cloud and Sephiroth, not a gun like Vincent used, something that was more, that was somehow both.....
Cloud's eyes darted from Squall's face to his right fist. A soft swirl of steel-blue appeared around the tightly clenched hand, condensing and lengthening, becoming something solid and bulky and sword-shaped, but the haft was wrong, bent as if broken. But it wasn't broken, he realized, it was shaped like the butt of one of Vincent's handguns even as a blade-shape condensed above it....
Gunblade....
Squall's eyes snapped open as the word thundered through his mind. He held....something in his right hand, something that felt like it should be heavy but somehow wasn't. He looked, his eyes going wide. He held what seemed to be a large pistol, but instead of a barrel it flattened and extended into a long blade. Examining it, he saw that there was a barrel, mounted above the blade. It was all very blocky and unrefined, a roughly carved piece of art that was only waiting for the right sculptor to come along and add the finishing touches. I'm that sculptor, he thought, almost calmly.
"What the hell is that?" Cloud breathed. He raised one hand as if to touch the strange weapon, but dropped it again. He had never seen such an odd weapon, but it looked right in Squall's hands, somehow perfect. The weapon suits the wielder, he thought wildly.
"A gunblade." Squall said slowly, liking the way the word rolled off his tongue. "I've never seen one, or even heard of one, but...." He trailed off, wondering if Sephiroth had felt like this, if the word Masamune had thundered through his head as he drew the great sword from the air and himself the first time. A quick grin crossed his face. "I finally did it." He said proudly.
"Hell yeah, ya did." Cloud said, leaning closer to inspect the pistol end without touching it. Engrossed as he was, he didn't hear the slither-step behind him until it was almost too late. He whirled around, his sword already forming in his hand as he turned towards the disturbance. What he saw made his blood run cold.
Four small beings, each the size of a small child, each a pure inky black marked only by a pair of dead-alive yellow eyes, were shuffling towards the two boys, antennae twitching atop their heads. Cloud's eyes went wide, a sudden memory of the Heartless Vincent had transformed into slamming into his head. A year and a half after the transformation and Cloud still had the occasional nightmare about dead-alive yellow eyes in the dark. Now, in the fading gloom of a fall day, those yellow eyes had increased from two to eight, and were spreading out. They're flanking us, he thought wildly.
Squall's eyes went wide and he clenched at the weapon in his hand. "Are those....?" He breathed.
"Heartless." Cloud confirmed with a tight nod. He adjusted his grip on his sword, widening his stance. "Want a chance to test out that gun-sword thing, squirt?" He asked, a humorless grin on his face.
"Screw you, blondie." Squall replied. He turned, placing his back against Cloud's as two of the Heartless shuffled around behind him. "And yes, I do want to try it out." He hefted the Gunblade, testing its perfect weight in his hands. Unrefined or not, this thing was going to be a breeze to use. A grin that mirrored Cloud's own rose on his face, a grin that looked so much like a hungry animal baring it's teeth. A warrior's grin.
The Heartless shuffled for a moment, then two leapt forward, one at Cloud, one at Squall. Squall watched the Heartless approach as if in slow-motion, then braced his gunblade against one narrow hip. The creature was impaled on the upturned blade but was still reaching for him, attempting to claw at his face. Smirking, he pulled the trigger. An explosive bullet caught the Heartless right in the face, ripping it's head off. The creature disappeared in a black swirl of smoke and a whirling red, crystalline heart that twirled twice and disappeared up into nothing. Squall stared at it, opened mouthed, before he realized that the second Heartless he was facing was coming up to him. He stabbed down, catching it in it's side, then twisted around, slicing at it's waist, pulling the trigger as he connected, sending another swirl of smoke and twirling heart into the air.
Cloud swung his sword up, catching his Heartless in midair. It flew back, an ebony gouge ripped along it's torso. It struck one of the stone walls of the courtyard and fell, then got up again, the gouge closing in a blue- black swirl. Cloud grit his teeth at the Heartless as it got up, apparently fine. He swung low, catching the second Heartless in the legs, then aimed for his first Heartless' head. It seemed to melt, turning into a scrabbling shape moving across the ground. As it stood up again, Cloud swiped it's head off, then turned to finish off the second one. Both disappeared, the hearts twirling off into nothing.
Grinning again, Cloud turned to Squall just as the younger boy's second shot rang out. "You like it?" He asked a bit breathlessly.
"Hell yeah!" Squall replied. "Even better than I thought it was going to be."
Cloud laughed, but it was cut short by the slither-step of a Heartless. He turned around, his eyes going wide. The courtyard was reached by a narrow alley that curved around the house. The dark opening of the alley was currently full of hungry yellow eyes, without pupil or iris, some of then quite a bit bigger, or higher off the ground, than the little Heartless were. At least a dozen pairs of eyes looked out of the shadowy alley at them, all emotionless except for one urge - hunger.
"Oh shit...."
Help...please, he thought wildly. Sephiroth, anyone.
o o o
Hard and cold
Bought and sold
A heart as hard as gold
Are you satisfied?
o o o
Sephiroth walked down the street, his hands deep in the pockets of his coat and his hair tucked under his coat collar. He didn't want to be recognized and stopped, only relaxed and comfortable.
Help.....
The young man stopped in his tracks as the word sighed in his mind in Cloud's voice. He knew that there was some connection between the two of them, some bond deeper than master and apprentice, but was it deep enough to hear the boy's thoughts?
Sephiroth, anyone.
Twisting on his heel, Sephiroth sprinted across the street, easily jumping a cart drawn by a tired chocobo and took off down one of the side streets, heading for Cloud's home. He concentrated on the boy and the image of black shadows and yellow eyes floated across his mind like an old memory. He took a tight corner, his hand briefly bracing himself on the ground before continuing his mad dash, scattering people and jumping or dodging what didn't move fast enough, his hair free of his collar and streaming out behind him like a banner of silver. His mind whirled at the half-formed images of Heartless and fear that crossed to him from Cloud.
Taking a final turn, Sephiroth found himself in the alley that led to the courtyard, drawing Masamune from the air and cursing to himself as he realized that he didn't have the room he needed. Black shadow-shapes with yellow eyes blocked his way and he leapt up, grasping the edge of the roof above and hauling himself up one-handed, Masamune in the other hand. Looking down into the courtyard, he saw it filled with a little over a dozen Heartless, most of them the small childish ones. But some were bigger, with what appeared to be metal helms on their heads and long red claws. Cloud and Squall were backed against the far wall, Cloud with his sword, Squall with a strange gun-sword.
Sephiroth leapt into the air, his cloak lifting around him like a pair of wings, and came down in the middle of the Heartless. A turn, a low sweep of his blade, and half of the creatures fell to Masamune's bite. Another five Heartless issued out of the alley to join those still left in the courtyard, all converging on the warrior in their midst. The great sword whistled shrilly in the air, biting deep into black shapes and reducing them to smoke as Sephiroth twisted like a dancer or a dream. Crystalline hearts floated into the air in a cloud, casting a brief blood-red glow over the courtyard. Then the last Heartless was gone and the alley was empty.
Cloud had frozen when he saw the great black shape in the sky, convinced that it was an even larger Heartless coming for them. Then it had landed, not a Heartless but Sephiroth, whirling with graceful deadliness. Once the last Heartless was gone, the spell over the boys snapped and they fell to their knees, breathing heavily as their respective Summon-weapons dissipated. Squall shivered, hugging his arms as delayed fright struck them both.
Sephiroth knelt before the prone boys, laying a hand on each of their shoulders. They looked up at him, eyes wide with shock and fear. Slowly they stood, groping for each other's hands like young children.
"Come with me." Sephiroth said softly, placing a hand on the back of each neck, leading them out of the courtyard.
o o o
Wish I might
Wish I may
You wish your life away
Are you pacified?
o o o
Vincent smiled as he and Cid stepped into the 7th Heaven, raising his good hand in response to the greetings called out at them. The two men maneuvered through the room to a table near the back, one that was slowly becoming 'their' table. A waitress in a black skirt and a white shirt walked over to them, smiling. Cid wondered when they had hired a new girl when he realized that Tifa was standing before him, blushing softly, a notepad in her hand.
"My dad says that fourteen is old enough to work the early evenings." Tifa offered by way of explanation. "I can't work any later than nine, though."
"Well, congrats." Cid said, smiling at the pretty girl. "You allowed to serve alcohol, too?" she nodded. "Alright, two beers then." Tifa jotted down the order, flashed them a bright smile and darted off, squeezing between two tables.
"Fourteen and working in a bar?" Vincent asked musingly.
"Well, her dad owns the place," Cid said. "And she knows how to take care of herself. Plus, you heard her. No later than nine."
"True."
Tifa walked back up to the table, holding a tray with two mugs of beer in both hands. "Enjoy, gentlemen." She said brightly, setting the mugs on the table and walking off between the tables again.
Cid raised his mug to his lips and took a deep draught. As he lowered his drink, he saw the door open to admit a tall, familiar, silver-haired figure. The mechanic raised a hand in greeting and was about to call out, but the sight before him stilled his greeting on his lips. Cloud and Squall walked close to Sephiroth's side, almost shrinking against the general, their faces tight masks of fear and shock. Sephiroth had an arm around each of their shoulders, comforting and protecting, his face hard and drawn. Both Vincent and Cid stood as the trio approached.
"Sit." Sephiroth commanded quietly, steering each boy into a chair. They obeyed silently as Sephiroth beckoned to Tifa. "A kettle of tea and five cups, and a bottle of hard whiskey." He requested. Tifa nodded, sending Cloud a wide-eyed and worried glance before darting off.
"What the hell happened?" Cid questioned as the three men sat down again.
"Heartless." Sephiroth said grimly. "In the city. Smaller ones, but there was no mistaking them for anything else."
"I-i was teaching Squall to summon," Cloud said, a quaver in his voice. "And they just came. There were four that we took care of, but then a lot more came. They drove us back and-" He broke off as he was wracked by a deep shiver.
"They were cold." Squall said in a flat voice. "They were cold and dead and hungry, and it felt like we were doomed right there. There was no way we could handle that many of them."
"I heard Cloud's thoughts," Sephiroth said, ignoring the startled looks they all gave him. "And I got to them as fast as I could."
"Then you took care of them, I suppose." Cid finished. His brows drew together in a deep frown. "Sonuvabitch," He muttered. "Heartless in the city."
Tifa returned with a tray bearing a steaming kettle, five cups and a metal flask. Vincent took the kettle, poured tea into each cup and added a generous dose of whiskey to each. "Drink," he said, handing the two boys each a cup. "It will calm your nerves."
They drank, sputtering on the hard alcohol taste. Rough fire burned their throats, hit their belly's like bombs, then spread comforting warmth outwards. "Thanks." Cloud said weakly, managing a wavery grin.
"The shock'll pass." Cid said. "Your first real fight and y' weren't even prepared. I'd say you both did pretty good." But looking at the still- frightened boys, the mechanic felt a helpless surge of anger. He too had heard rumors of Heartless, and the rumors were spreading steadily, like ripples in a pond, with the castle at the center. They were just kids, by the gods. They shouldn't have to deal with such a menace.
Sephiroth emptied his cup in one draught, sighing as he lowered it back to the table. Vincent refilled it with more tea and whiskey silently. Sephiroth nodded in thanks, silent and distracted. He had seen the small Heartless before; Ansem had called them 'Shadows'. But the larger ones, the ones with the helms and red claws and dark bluish bodies and strange feet that resembled curl-toes shoes, those he had never seen. But there was something more, wasn't there? A symbol, a sigul on their chests that the Shadows didn't have. Abruptly Sephiroth sat up straighter in his seat, his eyes going wide and his hands clenching tight enough that the handle of his cup broke off in one fist. The others stared at him in alarm. The sigul, a heart-shape with a long, elaborate tail and a thorned X inside. The symbol decorated the entire castle he lived in; it was engraved into each door, embroidered into the corners of his bed sheets, carved into the great walls of the high receiving chamber, it was on the silverware and plates and the gods only knew where else. He had seen it so many times, he had gotten so used to it, that seeing it on the Heartless didn't immediately register to his mind. But now, sitting in this bar and thinking about the implications of a Heartless wearing the symbol of Hollow Bastion stunned him into cold shock. Only two men had the authority to allow that symbol to be placed on an object. He himself was one.
Ansem was the other.
"Ansem created them." Sephiroth said quietly. "He made the Heartless that attacked the boys. Obviously he underestimated them, or overestimated his shields, because they escaped from below the castle." He looked up at the stunned faces of the others. "They carried the sigul of our family. He placed the mark there so he knew which were his." He suddenly slammed his fist on the table, making them all jump. "I'm going back tonight and killing them all." He said flatly.
"As good an idea as that sounds, Seph," Cid said. "You said he had shields around them, right? What if, by going through the shields, you break them an' let them all loose?" Sephiroth's eyes turned towards him, flat and angry and Cid held up his hands disarmingly. "I'm just saying, you might release a hell of a lot more of them in the city." He said.
Sephiroth sighed, forced to admit that Cid was right. "Fine. But I am going to have a 'talk' with Ansem as soon as I get back." He said coldly.
o o o
All the wants you waste
All the things you've chased
o o o
Sephiroth clenched his fists angrily, staring at Ansem's laboratory. The only thing missing from the room was Ansem himself. He turned as Vincent, Cid and Cloud came up behind him. "He's not in his rooms." Vincent said.
"Or in any of the receiving halls." Cid added.
"None of the servants saw him leave," Cloud said. "But none of them have seen him since this morning. I saw him a little before noon, but he was in here and he looked like he was going to spend the whole day here."
Sephiroth listened to the three reports silently, then slipped between Vincent and Cloud, heading down the hall, the others running to catch up with his quick pace. "The Waterways." He said flatly. "He must be there."
Cid glanced at Vincent and saw his own worry mirrored in his lover's eyes. "Seph, is it even-" He started.
Sephiroth cut him off. "I'm not going through the shields." He snapped. "But I am going as close as I can get. Where else is he going to be but down there?"
o o o
Careful what you wish
Careful what you say
Careful what you wish, you may regret it
Careful what you wish, you just might get it
o o o
The fast pace that Sephiroth set soon took them to the lifts that led to the Waterways. Vincent froze a moment as they came into view. Three years had passed since he had been released from his tomb, but not once in that time had he set foot in the Waterways, or even near the strange magnetic lifts that led there. Cid laid a comforting hand on the gunman's arm, watching him with concerned eyes. Vincent sighed shallowly and the two joined an impatient Sephiroth and a rather frightened Cloud on the lift.
The bars of energy closed around them, and with a slight whirr the platform they stood on dropped smoothly. The softly pink stone of the castle gave way to the cooler, blue-tinted stone of the Waterways. Sephiroth stepped off the lift as soon as it stopped, seeming to float effortlessly on the spelled water that covered the floor of the area they stood in. His companions followed, Cid and Cloud summoning their own weapons, Vincent drawing his ever-present pistol from the holster at his hip. The slither- steps of many Heartless echoed off the damp walls, quietly menacing. Sephiroth strode across the water towards a dark opening in the stone walls, the others close behind.
For a moment, the darkness within the door was complete, resolute. Then somewhere far back in the shadows, a single pair of yellow eyes peered out at them. They came closer, another pair appearing off to the left, another to the right. They moved closer to the doorway, seeming to be drawn by the very beating of their hearts. Inky black bodies condensed around the eyes, expressionless and twitchy. Suddenly, one pair of eyes leapt forward, not one of the tiny Shadows but one of the helmed Heartless. More of them condensed from the shadowy depths, their metal helms gleaming, each identical to the other. They pressed close to the doorway, stopping about a foot inside, jostling each other for space in a way that was eerily human.
Sephiroth reached out slowly with one hand and they all froze, staring at him with greedy eyes. The young man placed one hand seemingly on nothing, testing the strength of the shield he knew was before him. The shield flared briefly white before disappearing again. Sephiroth's brows drew together, a stormy frown crossing his handsome face. The Heartless hadn't moved an inch away from the shield when it flared up. The shield lacked any power to do any damage as the shield that Ansem had cast around Vincent had. It seemed to be more like a thick glass wall than anything, enough to hold them back unless one was strong enough to simply break through but nothing more. And the Heartless apparently knew that it couldn't hurt them.
The Heartless started shifting around again when Sephiroth took his hand away. Cloud stared at them in a good deal of fear. He still hadn't fully recovered from the shock and fear he had felt when he and Squall were attacked earlier. Some of the Heartless looked at him, attracted by his fear and madly beating heart. Half of the Heartless they could see were the tiny Shadows, but the rest were the helmed ones, and each helmed Heartless was marked by the scarlet sigul of the royal family and Hollow Bastion. Suddenly, a group of small Heartless, each perhaps a foot tall and resembling a tiny man wearing a stiff cloak and a large hat, flew up above the heads of the Shadows and the helmed Heartless. Compared to the others, there were brightly colored, red and yellow and blue and green, tiny yellow eyes peering out of black faces from between the high collars of their cloaks and the low brims of their hats. Each wore the royal symbol on their fronts. They danced in the air, sparkles in each of their colors falling from beneath their cloaks. But despite the almost festive look they had, their eyes were still the same dead-alive hungry yellow as the other Heartless.
"I call them my musicians."
All four of them whipped around as Ansem's voice came from behind them. He smiled benignly and motioned at the Heartless that danced in the air. "They make such lovely sounds." He continued, not noticing the anger, shock and fear that mixed on the faces of the others in varying amounts. "Red Noctures, Blue Rhapsodies, Yellow Operas and Green Requiems. The larger ones with the helms are Soldiers. My Soldiers." He chuckled quietly, his eyes looking at the Heartless with an almost loving gaze.
"Some have escaped." Sephiroth said sharply. "They were down in the city. I killed them."
Ansem glanced distractedly at his brother. "Nonsense." he said, waving his hand. "First, they cannot escape, and they do not want to escape. And second, they do not die. Their hearts return to the core, and become new Heartless. The cycle repeats, forevermore, with our own hearts when we die." His words seemed more to himself than to the others, slowly walking towards the shield and the waiting Heartless.
"They escaped!" Sephiroth insisted. "They carried the sigul you put there!"
Ansem didn't answer, but walked through the shield. The Heartless converged around him like children happily greeting their father after he has been away for the day. He looked back over his shoulder at them as he walked down the hall, falling into shadow. "If anyone but me crosses that shield," He said, "It will fall and they will get out. I suggest you go back upstairs and forget about them being down here." He turned his back to them and was swallowed by the darkness.
o o o
And it all crashes down
And you break your crown
And you point your finger
But there's no one around
o o o
"Obviously he's insane." Cid said, staring moodily at his cup. Rather than spend the night in the castle, knowing exactly stood between them and the Heartless, Sephiroth had ordered them, servants and all, from the castle and into the city. The four of them, plus Nanaki and Reeve, had found themselves back at the Seventh Heaven, hot cups of tea between their hands. "I mean," Cid continued. "He was treating them like his kids or something."
Sephiroth nodded slowly. "Tomorrow, as soon as it is light," He said. "We go back and kill every last Heartless within the castle walls."
Nanaki's gaze ticked between them. "And Lord Ansem?" He questioned.
Sephiroth was quiet a long moment. "We may have to stop him as well." He said finally.
"Sonuvabitch." Cid muttered.
"Get some sleep." Sephiroth commanded, standing. "Our rooms are waiting for us. We shall not deal with the Heartless until dawn."
Had he known then how wrong he'd be about that, he would've headed back up to the castle then. But he had no warning about what was to happen later that night.
o o o
Just want one thing
Just to play the king
But the castle's crumbled
And you're left with just a name
Where's your crown, King Nothing?
Author: Sae
Fan-verse: Kingdom Hearts FFVII
Couplings: VincentXCid, some implied CloudXSephiroth
Rating: PG-13 and most likely to stay that way.
Disclaimer: KH & FFVII belong to Squaresoft. The song-ness in each chapter belongs to Metallica.
Not me. Nope, nope, nope.
Warnings: Yaoi. Many little kids running around. Blatent screw-up-ed-ness of Sephiroth's family. (Hey, this is KH, ANYTHING could happen) Sad, sad angst at the end. Chibi Zell.....On sugar.
Chapter 11: King Nothing
Wish I may
Wish I might
Have this wish tonight
Are you satisfied?
o o o
Sephiroth idly fingered a lock of his hair, weaving it between his fingers as he read over the latest messages sent in from a number of outlying islands. His outward appearance suggested he was bored, but inside he was quite agitated. Starting two years before, people had begun disappearing from their homes. At first it was just a few people from within the city, but it slowly spread, both in area and the number of people gone missing. They just vanished, without a trace, without a struggle, without witnesses. It had started with elderly people who lived alone, and now whole families were disappearing at a time.
But that wasn't the only trouble. Reports were coming in that described black creatures with yellow eyes. Heartless. Sephiroth had no doubt that the two were connected, but no one had mentioned seeing any Heartless near the areas the people vanished from. Again he turned over the thought that Ansem was keeping Heartless down in the bowels of the castle. Simply by not allowing Sephiroth to kill the creatures in the castle, Ansem was putting all of his peoples in danger. But Ansem also claimed that 'his' Heartless could not escape from the castle.
Frustrated, the warrior stood, neatly sweeping his reports into a pile and filing them away in a drawer of his desk. He was tired of sitting on his arse and staring at papers that all pointed at the simple fact that Heartless were attacking people. He pulled open the door to his office and neatly caught the paper that fluttered down from where it had been wedged between the door frame and door. He instantly recognized the slanting, tight handwriting as Vincent's.
S
Cid and I are going down to the 7th Heaven for a time. You need a rest. Come join us for a drink.
VV
Sephiroth felt a smile tugging at his lips. In the three years since Vincent had been found in the Waterways, he and Cid had examined every bar and pub in the city and claimed the 7th Heaven as the best. Saturday nights could often find the two sitting at a table in the corner and more often than not they invited Sephiroth to escape his royal duties and join them. And some nights, when he was curious or bored or simply lonely, he joined them. Tonight, when he was frazzled and in need of some relaxation, it sounded wonderful. He ducked back into his office, grabbed his coat, and left, striding quickly down the halls as he pulled his coat on over his arms. Yes, a night with good company and even better drink sounded just fine.
o o o
Dig for gold
Dig for fame
You dig to make your name
Are you pacified?
o o o
"Alright." Cloud said firmly, nodding. "Let's go for it." Squall, standing before him, looked at Cloud with a strange mix of exasperation and excitement that he tried to hide behind an uncaring face. The brunette had finally convinced Cloud to show him how to summon, to draw his own personal weapon from the core of his being. Summon-weapons were the perfect weapon for the summoner, drawn from their own skills and fighting talents. They often changed over the years, starting with something simple and often bulky, a visual representation of the summoners' skill. As time went by, the weapon became easier to summon, and took a more finished form. As the fighter's skills increased, the weapon changed to suit them.
More than anything, Squall wanted to learn to summon his own weapon, whatever form it might take. Cloud had been the most readily available teacher. The blond boy was becoming quite proficient at summoning his sword, a large and flat thing that looked impossible to wield easily. As younger kids, the four-year age difference had meant little to them; they both possessed an adventurer's spirit that made them fast friends and strong allies. Both were fast and strong and very stubborn. But the difference was that Cloud had been taken by Sephiroth for training, and Squall had not. That was all, and that was everything. Squall had tried very hard to ignore the jealousy he felt when Cloud talked about his training, but not knowing how to summon bothered him until he finally made himself ask Cloud to teach him. Now they stood in a small, closed in stone courtyard behind Cloud's house, empty of all but them.
"You ready?" Cloud asked the smaller boy, his arms crossed across his chest.
"Are you?" Squall retorted.
"Yeah. Okay, close your eyes." Cloud commanded. "Clear your mind of everything. Focus on your breathing." Squall did as he was told, breathing in for a count of seven, holding it for a seven-count, then slowly releasing his breath in a seven-count. He focused his mind on the sensations of breathing and Cloud's voice, the way Sephiroth had taught the older kids some time ago. His mind cleared of all thoughts and he slowly nodded, still breathing in sevens.
"Think of what the word 'fight' means to you." Cloud said quietly, standing just behind Squall's left shoulder. He hoped he was doing it right. An uncle had taught him to summon this way when he was eleven; he hoped he was a good enough teacher for Squall to learn. He leaned closer, speaking almost directly into the younger boy's ear. "Think about how you fight, how you feel when you do, how it feels when one of your shots connects..."
Squall's brows were drawn together, his fists clenched by his sides. His mind played over a fist fight he'd had with Zell a few days before. Zell was getting good, having started taking lesson's from Zangan with Tifa recently, but Squall had given the hyperactive boy a run for his money. He remembered each punch, each kick, how it felt to land a blow on Zell's body, how it felt to take Zell's blows, how he knew, knew that it would be so much better if he had something in his hands, something sleek and powerful. Not a sword like Cloud and Sephiroth, not a gun like Vincent used, something that was more, that was somehow both.....
Cloud's eyes darted from Squall's face to his right fist. A soft swirl of steel-blue appeared around the tightly clenched hand, condensing and lengthening, becoming something solid and bulky and sword-shaped, but the haft was wrong, bent as if broken. But it wasn't broken, he realized, it was shaped like the butt of one of Vincent's handguns even as a blade-shape condensed above it....
Gunblade....
Squall's eyes snapped open as the word thundered through his mind. He held....something in his right hand, something that felt like it should be heavy but somehow wasn't. He looked, his eyes going wide. He held what seemed to be a large pistol, but instead of a barrel it flattened and extended into a long blade. Examining it, he saw that there was a barrel, mounted above the blade. It was all very blocky and unrefined, a roughly carved piece of art that was only waiting for the right sculptor to come along and add the finishing touches. I'm that sculptor, he thought, almost calmly.
"What the hell is that?" Cloud breathed. He raised one hand as if to touch the strange weapon, but dropped it again. He had never seen such an odd weapon, but it looked right in Squall's hands, somehow perfect. The weapon suits the wielder, he thought wildly.
"A gunblade." Squall said slowly, liking the way the word rolled off his tongue. "I've never seen one, or even heard of one, but...." He trailed off, wondering if Sephiroth had felt like this, if the word Masamune had thundered through his head as he drew the great sword from the air and himself the first time. A quick grin crossed his face. "I finally did it." He said proudly.
"Hell yeah, ya did." Cloud said, leaning closer to inspect the pistol end without touching it. Engrossed as he was, he didn't hear the slither-step behind him until it was almost too late. He whirled around, his sword already forming in his hand as he turned towards the disturbance. What he saw made his blood run cold.
Four small beings, each the size of a small child, each a pure inky black marked only by a pair of dead-alive yellow eyes, were shuffling towards the two boys, antennae twitching atop their heads. Cloud's eyes went wide, a sudden memory of the Heartless Vincent had transformed into slamming into his head. A year and a half after the transformation and Cloud still had the occasional nightmare about dead-alive yellow eyes in the dark. Now, in the fading gloom of a fall day, those yellow eyes had increased from two to eight, and were spreading out. They're flanking us, he thought wildly.
Squall's eyes went wide and he clenched at the weapon in his hand. "Are those....?" He breathed.
"Heartless." Cloud confirmed with a tight nod. He adjusted his grip on his sword, widening his stance. "Want a chance to test out that gun-sword thing, squirt?" He asked, a humorless grin on his face.
"Screw you, blondie." Squall replied. He turned, placing his back against Cloud's as two of the Heartless shuffled around behind him. "And yes, I do want to try it out." He hefted the Gunblade, testing its perfect weight in his hands. Unrefined or not, this thing was going to be a breeze to use. A grin that mirrored Cloud's own rose on his face, a grin that looked so much like a hungry animal baring it's teeth. A warrior's grin.
The Heartless shuffled for a moment, then two leapt forward, one at Cloud, one at Squall. Squall watched the Heartless approach as if in slow-motion, then braced his gunblade against one narrow hip. The creature was impaled on the upturned blade but was still reaching for him, attempting to claw at his face. Smirking, he pulled the trigger. An explosive bullet caught the Heartless right in the face, ripping it's head off. The creature disappeared in a black swirl of smoke and a whirling red, crystalline heart that twirled twice and disappeared up into nothing. Squall stared at it, opened mouthed, before he realized that the second Heartless he was facing was coming up to him. He stabbed down, catching it in it's side, then twisted around, slicing at it's waist, pulling the trigger as he connected, sending another swirl of smoke and twirling heart into the air.
Cloud swung his sword up, catching his Heartless in midair. It flew back, an ebony gouge ripped along it's torso. It struck one of the stone walls of the courtyard and fell, then got up again, the gouge closing in a blue- black swirl. Cloud grit his teeth at the Heartless as it got up, apparently fine. He swung low, catching the second Heartless in the legs, then aimed for his first Heartless' head. It seemed to melt, turning into a scrabbling shape moving across the ground. As it stood up again, Cloud swiped it's head off, then turned to finish off the second one. Both disappeared, the hearts twirling off into nothing.
Grinning again, Cloud turned to Squall just as the younger boy's second shot rang out. "You like it?" He asked a bit breathlessly.
"Hell yeah!" Squall replied. "Even better than I thought it was going to be."
Cloud laughed, but it was cut short by the slither-step of a Heartless. He turned around, his eyes going wide. The courtyard was reached by a narrow alley that curved around the house. The dark opening of the alley was currently full of hungry yellow eyes, without pupil or iris, some of then quite a bit bigger, or higher off the ground, than the little Heartless were. At least a dozen pairs of eyes looked out of the shadowy alley at them, all emotionless except for one urge - hunger.
"Oh shit...."
Help...please, he thought wildly. Sephiroth, anyone.
o o o
Hard and cold
Bought and sold
A heart as hard as gold
Are you satisfied?
o o o
Sephiroth walked down the street, his hands deep in the pockets of his coat and his hair tucked under his coat collar. He didn't want to be recognized and stopped, only relaxed and comfortable.
Help.....
The young man stopped in his tracks as the word sighed in his mind in Cloud's voice. He knew that there was some connection between the two of them, some bond deeper than master and apprentice, but was it deep enough to hear the boy's thoughts?
Sephiroth, anyone.
Twisting on his heel, Sephiroth sprinted across the street, easily jumping a cart drawn by a tired chocobo and took off down one of the side streets, heading for Cloud's home. He concentrated on the boy and the image of black shadows and yellow eyes floated across his mind like an old memory. He took a tight corner, his hand briefly bracing himself on the ground before continuing his mad dash, scattering people and jumping or dodging what didn't move fast enough, his hair free of his collar and streaming out behind him like a banner of silver. His mind whirled at the half-formed images of Heartless and fear that crossed to him from Cloud.
Taking a final turn, Sephiroth found himself in the alley that led to the courtyard, drawing Masamune from the air and cursing to himself as he realized that he didn't have the room he needed. Black shadow-shapes with yellow eyes blocked his way and he leapt up, grasping the edge of the roof above and hauling himself up one-handed, Masamune in the other hand. Looking down into the courtyard, he saw it filled with a little over a dozen Heartless, most of them the small childish ones. But some were bigger, with what appeared to be metal helms on their heads and long red claws. Cloud and Squall were backed against the far wall, Cloud with his sword, Squall with a strange gun-sword.
Sephiroth leapt into the air, his cloak lifting around him like a pair of wings, and came down in the middle of the Heartless. A turn, a low sweep of his blade, and half of the creatures fell to Masamune's bite. Another five Heartless issued out of the alley to join those still left in the courtyard, all converging on the warrior in their midst. The great sword whistled shrilly in the air, biting deep into black shapes and reducing them to smoke as Sephiroth twisted like a dancer or a dream. Crystalline hearts floated into the air in a cloud, casting a brief blood-red glow over the courtyard. Then the last Heartless was gone and the alley was empty.
Cloud had frozen when he saw the great black shape in the sky, convinced that it was an even larger Heartless coming for them. Then it had landed, not a Heartless but Sephiroth, whirling with graceful deadliness. Once the last Heartless was gone, the spell over the boys snapped and they fell to their knees, breathing heavily as their respective Summon-weapons dissipated. Squall shivered, hugging his arms as delayed fright struck them both.
Sephiroth knelt before the prone boys, laying a hand on each of their shoulders. They looked up at him, eyes wide with shock and fear. Slowly they stood, groping for each other's hands like young children.
"Come with me." Sephiroth said softly, placing a hand on the back of each neck, leading them out of the courtyard.
o o o
Wish I might
Wish I may
You wish your life away
Are you pacified?
o o o
Vincent smiled as he and Cid stepped into the 7th Heaven, raising his good hand in response to the greetings called out at them. The two men maneuvered through the room to a table near the back, one that was slowly becoming 'their' table. A waitress in a black skirt and a white shirt walked over to them, smiling. Cid wondered when they had hired a new girl when he realized that Tifa was standing before him, blushing softly, a notepad in her hand.
"My dad says that fourteen is old enough to work the early evenings." Tifa offered by way of explanation. "I can't work any later than nine, though."
"Well, congrats." Cid said, smiling at the pretty girl. "You allowed to serve alcohol, too?" she nodded. "Alright, two beers then." Tifa jotted down the order, flashed them a bright smile and darted off, squeezing between two tables.
"Fourteen and working in a bar?" Vincent asked musingly.
"Well, her dad owns the place," Cid said. "And she knows how to take care of herself. Plus, you heard her. No later than nine."
"True."
Tifa walked back up to the table, holding a tray with two mugs of beer in both hands. "Enjoy, gentlemen." She said brightly, setting the mugs on the table and walking off between the tables again.
Cid raised his mug to his lips and took a deep draught. As he lowered his drink, he saw the door open to admit a tall, familiar, silver-haired figure. The mechanic raised a hand in greeting and was about to call out, but the sight before him stilled his greeting on his lips. Cloud and Squall walked close to Sephiroth's side, almost shrinking against the general, their faces tight masks of fear and shock. Sephiroth had an arm around each of their shoulders, comforting and protecting, his face hard and drawn. Both Vincent and Cid stood as the trio approached.
"Sit." Sephiroth commanded quietly, steering each boy into a chair. They obeyed silently as Sephiroth beckoned to Tifa. "A kettle of tea and five cups, and a bottle of hard whiskey." He requested. Tifa nodded, sending Cloud a wide-eyed and worried glance before darting off.
"What the hell happened?" Cid questioned as the three men sat down again.
"Heartless." Sephiroth said grimly. "In the city. Smaller ones, but there was no mistaking them for anything else."
"I-i was teaching Squall to summon," Cloud said, a quaver in his voice. "And they just came. There were four that we took care of, but then a lot more came. They drove us back and-" He broke off as he was wracked by a deep shiver.
"They were cold." Squall said in a flat voice. "They were cold and dead and hungry, and it felt like we were doomed right there. There was no way we could handle that many of them."
"I heard Cloud's thoughts," Sephiroth said, ignoring the startled looks they all gave him. "And I got to them as fast as I could."
"Then you took care of them, I suppose." Cid finished. His brows drew together in a deep frown. "Sonuvabitch," He muttered. "Heartless in the city."
Tifa returned with a tray bearing a steaming kettle, five cups and a metal flask. Vincent took the kettle, poured tea into each cup and added a generous dose of whiskey to each. "Drink," he said, handing the two boys each a cup. "It will calm your nerves."
They drank, sputtering on the hard alcohol taste. Rough fire burned their throats, hit their belly's like bombs, then spread comforting warmth outwards. "Thanks." Cloud said weakly, managing a wavery grin.
"The shock'll pass." Cid said. "Your first real fight and y' weren't even prepared. I'd say you both did pretty good." But looking at the still- frightened boys, the mechanic felt a helpless surge of anger. He too had heard rumors of Heartless, and the rumors were spreading steadily, like ripples in a pond, with the castle at the center. They were just kids, by the gods. They shouldn't have to deal with such a menace.
Sephiroth emptied his cup in one draught, sighing as he lowered it back to the table. Vincent refilled it with more tea and whiskey silently. Sephiroth nodded in thanks, silent and distracted. He had seen the small Heartless before; Ansem had called them 'Shadows'. But the larger ones, the ones with the helms and red claws and dark bluish bodies and strange feet that resembled curl-toes shoes, those he had never seen. But there was something more, wasn't there? A symbol, a sigul on their chests that the Shadows didn't have. Abruptly Sephiroth sat up straighter in his seat, his eyes going wide and his hands clenching tight enough that the handle of his cup broke off in one fist. The others stared at him in alarm. The sigul, a heart-shape with a long, elaborate tail and a thorned X inside. The symbol decorated the entire castle he lived in; it was engraved into each door, embroidered into the corners of his bed sheets, carved into the great walls of the high receiving chamber, it was on the silverware and plates and the gods only knew where else. He had seen it so many times, he had gotten so used to it, that seeing it on the Heartless didn't immediately register to his mind. But now, sitting in this bar and thinking about the implications of a Heartless wearing the symbol of Hollow Bastion stunned him into cold shock. Only two men had the authority to allow that symbol to be placed on an object. He himself was one.
Ansem was the other.
"Ansem created them." Sephiroth said quietly. "He made the Heartless that attacked the boys. Obviously he underestimated them, or overestimated his shields, because they escaped from below the castle." He looked up at the stunned faces of the others. "They carried the sigul of our family. He placed the mark there so he knew which were his." He suddenly slammed his fist on the table, making them all jump. "I'm going back tonight and killing them all." He said flatly.
"As good an idea as that sounds, Seph," Cid said. "You said he had shields around them, right? What if, by going through the shields, you break them an' let them all loose?" Sephiroth's eyes turned towards him, flat and angry and Cid held up his hands disarmingly. "I'm just saying, you might release a hell of a lot more of them in the city." He said.
Sephiroth sighed, forced to admit that Cid was right. "Fine. But I am going to have a 'talk' with Ansem as soon as I get back." He said coldly.
o o o
All the wants you waste
All the things you've chased
o o o
Sephiroth clenched his fists angrily, staring at Ansem's laboratory. The only thing missing from the room was Ansem himself. He turned as Vincent, Cid and Cloud came up behind him. "He's not in his rooms." Vincent said.
"Or in any of the receiving halls." Cid added.
"None of the servants saw him leave," Cloud said. "But none of them have seen him since this morning. I saw him a little before noon, but he was in here and he looked like he was going to spend the whole day here."
Sephiroth listened to the three reports silently, then slipped between Vincent and Cloud, heading down the hall, the others running to catch up with his quick pace. "The Waterways." He said flatly. "He must be there."
Cid glanced at Vincent and saw his own worry mirrored in his lover's eyes. "Seph, is it even-" He started.
Sephiroth cut him off. "I'm not going through the shields." He snapped. "But I am going as close as I can get. Where else is he going to be but down there?"
o o o
Careful what you wish
Careful what you say
Careful what you wish, you may regret it
Careful what you wish, you just might get it
o o o
The fast pace that Sephiroth set soon took them to the lifts that led to the Waterways. Vincent froze a moment as they came into view. Three years had passed since he had been released from his tomb, but not once in that time had he set foot in the Waterways, or even near the strange magnetic lifts that led there. Cid laid a comforting hand on the gunman's arm, watching him with concerned eyes. Vincent sighed shallowly and the two joined an impatient Sephiroth and a rather frightened Cloud on the lift.
The bars of energy closed around them, and with a slight whirr the platform they stood on dropped smoothly. The softly pink stone of the castle gave way to the cooler, blue-tinted stone of the Waterways. Sephiroth stepped off the lift as soon as it stopped, seeming to float effortlessly on the spelled water that covered the floor of the area they stood in. His companions followed, Cid and Cloud summoning their own weapons, Vincent drawing his ever-present pistol from the holster at his hip. The slither- steps of many Heartless echoed off the damp walls, quietly menacing. Sephiroth strode across the water towards a dark opening in the stone walls, the others close behind.
For a moment, the darkness within the door was complete, resolute. Then somewhere far back in the shadows, a single pair of yellow eyes peered out at them. They came closer, another pair appearing off to the left, another to the right. They moved closer to the doorway, seeming to be drawn by the very beating of their hearts. Inky black bodies condensed around the eyes, expressionless and twitchy. Suddenly, one pair of eyes leapt forward, not one of the tiny Shadows but one of the helmed Heartless. More of them condensed from the shadowy depths, their metal helms gleaming, each identical to the other. They pressed close to the doorway, stopping about a foot inside, jostling each other for space in a way that was eerily human.
Sephiroth reached out slowly with one hand and they all froze, staring at him with greedy eyes. The young man placed one hand seemingly on nothing, testing the strength of the shield he knew was before him. The shield flared briefly white before disappearing again. Sephiroth's brows drew together, a stormy frown crossing his handsome face. The Heartless hadn't moved an inch away from the shield when it flared up. The shield lacked any power to do any damage as the shield that Ansem had cast around Vincent had. It seemed to be more like a thick glass wall than anything, enough to hold them back unless one was strong enough to simply break through but nothing more. And the Heartless apparently knew that it couldn't hurt them.
The Heartless started shifting around again when Sephiroth took his hand away. Cloud stared at them in a good deal of fear. He still hadn't fully recovered from the shock and fear he had felt when he and Squall were attacked earlier. Some of the Heartless looked at him, attracted by his fear and madly beating heart. Half of the Heartless they could see were the tiny Shadows, but the rest were the helmed ones, and each helmed Heartless was marked by the scarlet sigul of the royal family and Hollow Bastion. Suddenly, a group of small Heartless, each perhaps a foot tall and resembling a tiny man wearing a stiff cloak and a large hat, flew up above the heads of the Shadows and the helmed Heartless. Compared to the others, there were brightly colored, red and yellow and blue and green, tiny yellow eyes peering out of black faces from between the high collars of their cloaks and the low brims of their hats. Each wore the royal symbol on their fronts. They danced in the air, sparkles in each of their colors falling from beneath their cloaks. But despite the almost festive look they had, their eyes were still the same dead-alive hungry yellow as the other Heartless.
"I call them my musicians."
All four of them whipped around as Ansem's voice came from behind them. He smiled benignly and motioned at the Heartless that danced in the air. "They make such lovely sounds." He continued, not noticing the anger, shock and fear that mixed on the faces of the others in varying amounts. "Red Noctures, Blue Rhapsodies, Yellow Operas and Green Requiems. The larger ones with the helms are Soldiers. My Soldiers." He chuckled quietly, his eyes looking at the Heartless with an almost loving gaze.
"Some have escaped." Sephiroth said sharply. "They were down in the city. I killed them."
Ansem glanced distractedly at his brother. "Nonsense." he said, waving his hand. "First, they cannot escape, and they do not want to escape. And second, they do not die. Their hearts return to the core, and become new Heartless. The cycle repeats, forevermore, with our own hearts when we die." His words seemed more to himself than to the others, slowly walking towards the shield and the waiting Heartless.
"They escaped!" Sephiroth insisted. "They carried the sigul you put there!"
Ansem didn't answer, but walked through the shield. The Heartless converged around him like children happily greeting their father after he has been away for the day. He looked back over his shoulder at them as he walked down the hall, falling into shadow. "If anyone but me crosses that shield," He said, "It will fall and they will get out. I suggest you go back upstairs and forget about them being down here." He turned his back to them and was swallowed by the darkness.
o o o
And it all crashes down
And you break your crown
And you point your finger
But there's no one around
o o o
"Obviously he's insane." Cid said, staring moodily at his cup. Rather than spend the night in the castle, knowing exactly stood between them and the Heartless, Sephiroth had ordered them, servants and all, from the castle and into the city. The four of them, plus Nanaki and Reeve, had found themselves back at the Seventh Heaven, hot cups of tea between their hands. "I mean," Cid continued. "He was treating them like his kids or something."
Sephiroth nodded slowly. "Tomorrow, as soon as it is light," He said. "We go back and kill every last Heartless within the castle walls."
Nanaki's gaze ticked between them. "And Lord Ansem?" He questioned.
Sephiroth was quiet a long moment. "We may have to stop him as well." He said finally.
"Sonuvabitch." Cid muttered.
"Get some sleep." Sephiroth commanded, standing. "Our rooms are waiting for us. We shall not deal with the Heartless until dawn."
Had he known then how wrong he'd be about that, he would've headed back up to the castle then. But he had no warning about what was to happen later that night.
o o o
Just want one thing
Just to play the king
But the castle's crumbled
And you're left with just a name
Where's your crown, King Nothing?