Yuffie and Squall
Aerith
Summary: Just after Sora, Donald, and Goofy defeated Ansem and closed the door to Kingdom Hearts, It was thought that the universe would return to normal. However, the Heartless still exist, and Leon, Yuffie and their comrades must abandon the Hollow Bastion once again. They enter a dangerous world where they are separated and captured by a force that rules over the world. Tensions run deep as Leon and Yuffie try to free the world and be true to their hearts. Action, love, old friends and old enemies await.
Rated: PG-13
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the areas or characters in Kingdom Hearts, nor do I own any of the Final Fantasy characters. Square-Enix and Disney own them all.
BIG WARNING: I am terribly sorry to any FF fan that reads this fic. The FF characters that this story revolves around are all based on their KH incarnations. Because of this, their backgrounds and personalities may be very different than the way they are in their respective FF games. Unfortunately, I have played very little FF, and the only one I've had an opportunity to play to the very end was FFX. Also, for anyone who reviews and has played FFVII or VIII, please describe to me about the characters' special attacks, i.e. Limit Breaks, so I can use them in this fic. Thank you for your help!
Chapter 1: Crash Landing
Even though the sun was only beginning to rise, the great plains of the Hollow Bastion always seemed like they were caught in eternal twilight. The eerie light of the sky made the ominous castle atop the rising falls look haunted. The castle was very silent and seemed to be frozen in time. In a castle such as this, it would seem unlikely that not long ago, an epic battle between light and dark was fought in these very halls. Even though the whole castle seemed haunted, Yuffie wasn't very concerned with this.
After Sora had locked the Key Hole in the Hallow Bastion, he, Donald and Goofy had gone off to defeat Ansem once and for all. After they had left, stars began returning to the sky. In addition to this, the Heartless activity in the Hollow Bastion had decreased greatly. Yuffie had no doubt in her mind that Sora, Donald and Goofy had killed Ansem. But that's not what she was thinking about right now. Yuffie was much more interested in falling back asleep.
Now that the castle was safe, Leon, Yuffie, Cid, Cloud and Aerith were more or less living inside it and were tirelessly trying to find a way to restore the damaged world they once called home. While the five of them had been in the castle for about a month, they were still discovering hidden rooms and passageways. They had found a hidden wing in the castle where there were fairly comfortable sleeping quarters. Each room was identical and about the size of a small hotel room, with a large and surprisingly soft bed in the corner. Yuffie, however, regretted choosing a room so close to Aerith's.
Yuffie had woken up early in the morning, but she did not want to get out of bed. Man, she thought to herself, I'm going have to continue boring research in the castle's library, trying to find a way to repair their world and to bring back everyone who had once lived there. While it was a noble cause, she felt they were going nowhere fast. I hate researching, because it feels like studying. She wanted to have fun. Like Aerith was at this moment. The reason Yuffie could not get back to sleep was because Aerith and Cloud were in the room next to her's. They started off chatting softly, but soon they sweet conversation turned into what sounded like two people making out. As happy as Yuffie was for Aerith that she and Cloud had found each other, she was slightly envious of Aerith and really disgusted by the sounds they were making.
"Damn it," Yuffie muttered to herself. "Do they have to do that this early in the morning..."
Yuffie began to roll over when she heard a loud crash like a car hitting a solid wall many floors above her. With this, she sat up immediately and waited to hear if there was another crash. Yuffie also noticed Aerith and Cloud had gone silent. She quickly swung her legs over the side of her bed and ran to the wall separating her and Aerith's room.
"What was that?" she heard Aerith ask in a surprised tone.
"I'll check it out," Cloud said, slightly reluctantly. "You stay hear. I'll be right back," he added softly.
Yuffie giggled, then yelled, "Hey! Don't worry about it, you two! I'll find out what that was and you guys can just keep on doing whatever you were doing just now."
Even though there was a wall separating them, Yuffie knew that Aerith's face was had turned beet red. She could only imagine the look on Cloud's face. There was a short awkward silence, but eventually, Aerith stammered, "b-be careful."
Satisfied, Yuffie backed away from the wall, trying not to laugh out loud, and exited her room, closing the thick wooden door behind her. But before she could even begin to walk away from her room, she saw someone standing right in front of her, her face to his left shoulder. She obviously knew who he was, but she tilted her head to get a clear look at his face anyway.
It was Leon. He had clearly heard the loud noise and was going to investigate it. He looked to the side and his eyes met Yuffie's. To her surprise, he looked faintly embarrassed and quickly looked away. "Did you just wake up?" he asked shortly in a monotone voice. With this comment, Yuffie understood his reaction. She was wearing nothing but a loos fitting tank top and a pair of short shorts that she was sleeping in. not only this, but Yuffie realized that her short black hair must have looked very messy. Leon had never seen her looking so un-kept. Rather than being embarrassed, Yuffie found Leon's reaction humours. So he is human, she thought to herself.
"Yes I did," replied Yuffie playfully. "Why are you up so early?"
Leon was fully dressed in his black leather jeans and jacket. He was holding his impressive sword, the Gunblade, over his right shoulder, tapping it impatiently.
"I was talking to Cid," He answered coolly. "I'm going to check out what that loud crash was. If you're coming, aren't you going to change?"
"Nah," Yuffie waved her hand dismissively, hoping to embarrass Leon further. "I'm going to go back to sleep after this, so what's the point?"
Instead of being embarrassed, he gave her a dull passive look. "Whatever," he drawled as he walked past her towards the lift stop. Yuffie was really annoyed by this, but she followed him. They walked through a large stone corridor into the Lift Stop that connected the different parts of the expansive castle. This hall was so high, it seemed to have no floor or ceiling. It was full of a complex network of wires connected to elevators that were constantly rising and falling. The elevators resembled gold coloured cages with an opening for people to step inside. Leon walked up to a large glowing crystal at the edge of the platform they were on and placed his left hand on it. Almost immediately, an elevator lift stopped in front of their platform. Leon and Yuffie stepped onto the elevator and it began to rise very smoothly.
Leon put his Gunblade on the floor of lift and leaned against the bars of the cage, crossing his arms over his chest and closing his eyes. Yuffie watched him. Leon. The man who changed his name.
Nine years ago, when their world was ravaged by the Heartless, Leon had fought against the monsters. He was not able to protect the world and because of this, felt great shame. His real Name was Squall Leonhart, but he changed his name to Leon to part himself from the man who could not save his home. Personally, Yuffie liked the name Squall, better, as it seemed to fit him more, but she was okay with calling him Leon.
Cid had told Yuffie, that when their world was being destroyed, it was Leon that had carried Yuffie to the Gummy Ship that they had escaped in. As long as Yuffie could remember, she and Leon had been together. While Cid was like an uncle to her, and Aeirth was a dear friend, Leon was the most important person to her. Even though their views and personalities were very different, the two of them were very good friends and enjoyed being together.
"Where are we going anyway?" Yuffie asked, suddenly realizing that she wasn't sure where the crash came from.
Leon, without opening his eyes answered, "It sounded like it came from outside the entrance hall."
Yuffie sighed. "I bet it was just a large statue breaking apart or something..."
Leon opened one of his dark blue eyes and looked at her. "That sounded like a large object crashing at high velocity," he droned as if it was horribly obvious. "Honestly..."
"I don't care what is was, Yuffie piped up. "I just want to go back to sleep... of course that'll be hard with Aerith and Cloud in the next room..." Leon smirked at this. Yuffie always liked seeing Leon smile. He almost never did. Leon was almost always serious and very sombre.
The elevator came to a perfectly sound stop. Leon picked up his sword and rested it on his right shoulder. "Let's get this over with then," He said firmly as he, followed by Yuffie, stepped off of the lift and pushed open a pair of wooden doors. The two of them quickly walked through the library and enter the entrance hall. They were standing atop two sets of stairs, one to the left and one to the right. The room was lined with pillars and shelves that had vases resting atop them. Yuffie would have liked this room if she hadn't had to fight hordes of heartless in this very hall. That was how she felt about most of the castle.
Leon walked down the set of stairs to the right and Yuffie followed him, feeling bored with how long their investigation was already taking. As they walked towards the large stone entrance doors on the opposite side of the hall, Leon suddenly stopped putting his arm out in front of Yuffie to stop her as well. Yuffie noticed it too. Both of them knew there was a powerful force just beyond the thick doors.
"W-what is that," Yuffie wondered from behind Leon.
"I'm not sure," muttered Leon suspiciously. "What ever it is, it must have been the cause of that crash." He narrowed his eyes. "Is it a monster?"
Yuffie paused and concentrated. The aura she felt from be hind the door was very complex. It was pink with love, red with anger, blue with despair, grey with determination, and yellow with raw, unrelenting power. "No," she gasped in amazement. "It's human..."
As if on queue, the entrance doors burst open. The light from outside silhouetted a slender figure. From behind the figure, Yuffie and Leon were able to see the remains of a crashed and flaming Gummi Ship. The stranger stepped inside the entrance hall and the doors swung closed with a resounding slam that echoed throughout the empty room. Now they were able to see the features of their strange guest.
It was a tall, beautiful woman, although she was covered in soot and burn marks. She was wearing red leather jeans that looked like they were made from very tough leather and a matching leather jacket that was open. Under her jacket, she was wearing a short white tank top with black suspenders attached to her silver belt. She had a pair of black socks sticking out the top of her heavy duty hiking shoes. Her left shoe seemed to have sole made of thick metal. On her left elbow, there was a metal elbow pad. She also wore thick fingerless gloves. Her long, dark brown hair that went down past her waist framed her beautiful face. She had large, red eyes that were filled with sorrow and anger and looked very unstable.
The woman's eyes darted around the room like a predator trying to find its prey. Then her red, piercing eyes settled on Leon and Yuffie. She took a few, cautious steps forward without taking her eyes of them. She fiercely wiped some soot off her cheek with her sleeve and spit on the ground. Glaring at them, she opened her mouth and slowly asked, in an unstable tone, "Where... is... Cloud...?"
End Chapter 1
Well? How was it? I'd love to get any input from readers!
So, who is this strange guest in the Hollow Bastion (I'm sure you all figured it out by now)? What does she want with Cloud? Our heroes also realize that the Hollow Bastion isn't as safe as they had hoped. Find out more in the next chapter: Meteor Strike!
