Heartless Imperfection
Chapter XV
"Is he alive?"
Cloud knelt at Sora's side, placing a hand on the boy's head, on the cold floor. "He's alive, but not…"
"As if that made any sense," Donald pointed at the blonde.
"Would you like to see for yourself, duck?"
Donald waddled over, webbed feetflapping,and looked Sora over. "He can breathe, but he's… hollow."
"We have to find a way to bring him back, he's helped us before," Aerith said, looking down on him.
Cloud turned his gaze toward Zenver. "How did you get here?"
The mysterious boy shook his head, "I don't know how I got here. Everything's blurry between when I fell asleep and fell out of that stupid portal." Zen began to explore the area the portal had closed in.
Cloud shook his head and hefted Sora onto his shoulder, "We have to leave, if Sephiroth can travel between worlds…"
Donald piped up, "This is a disaster, we need to stop them!"
Cloud arched an eyebrow, "Unless you have some master tracking abilities up your sleeve, we won't be finding them very soon."
The duck let out a quack of disdain, crossing his arms, As if you did, huh?
Cloud looked long at Aerith, and walked away, down the stairs.
"Well," Zen said, standing beside Goofy, "Looks like I'm coming with you guys."
Goofy guffawed and pat him on the back, "Of course you are, you're the keyblade master!"
Zen's green gaze searched Goofy's strange face, "You'll have to explain just what that means on our way out of here."
While venturing onto the elevators, the tall stranger explained the story from the beginning. He elaborated on King Mickey's disappearance, the meeting of Sora, the keyblade, and Ansem. "There was more stuff in between, we were fighting Heartless on other worlds, y'know."
"Heartless?"
"Evil creatures," Aerith added onto the conversation. "They destroy worlds, gradually. The keyblade is a defense against them, they fear it."
Zen's green eyes fell toward his sneakers and, sure enough, the keyblade appeared. "If I was destined to have this keyblade, why now? I'm only fifteen."
Goofy chuckled childishly, looking out the elevator window. Midgar was all lit up, save Sector Seven. "Sora was only fourteen when he took it up! I'm sure you'll be a great addition."
"So you two are in it for the King, right? Nothing else is keeping you going?" Zen's eyes lifted from the keyblade and found Donald's.
The duck, caught off guard, nearly fell over. "Hey, bucko," He began to quack, "We're Sora's friends, theirs too." He pointed toward the rest of the group. Cloud was turned toward the door, Tifa listening on the conversation subtly, Barret looking at the ceiling, and Aerith was watching the Midgar landscape.
"Is that before or after you knew he was a keyblade chosen?" Zen chuckled to himself, though he didn't press the issue further.
"Looks like we're not out of this yet," Cloud grumbled, staring a group of Shin-Ra soldiers in their masked faces through the now open elevator door to the first floor. The blonde handed Aerith the boy and jetted out to face the onslaught.
"Let me through! I want to see what this thing can do!" Zen pushed and shoved and got out of the elevator. He pushed some black hair from his forehead and hefted the keyblade at a Shin-Ra soldier.
The man easily dodged, and kicked Zen away before aiming an oiled machine gun.
Barret stepped forward, out of the elevator, and let loose on the Shin-Ra soldier. He lumbered over to Zen and heaved the boy onto his feet. "Watch it, this ain't one of those 'games' you were talking about."
Zen nodded, It's worse.
After Cloud dispatched the others, the rest stumbled out of the elevator. Zen stared at the enemies on the floor, "Where are we going?"
"We're getting out of here," Cloud looked around, "But not out the front door."
Sirens, voices, and feet could be heard through the large doors.
"We'll go out the back," Cloud decided, and ran off. "Get to the vehicle bay, I'll meet you all there!"
The group obliged, and with Aerith pointing, made their way to the parking lot. There was a teal-colored truck at their disposal, and they decided to take it.
As Zen was hopping in the back, he couldn't help but notice Shin-Ra officers mounting motorcycles behind them.
"We're going to have company," He screamed, "Go!"
Hitting the gas, Aerith steered the truck out of the parking garage and onto a main highway.
Cloud appeared, driving a Shin-Ra motorcycle. He wielded his Buster Sword, ready to cut down any opposing Shin-Ra on the highway.
As soon as they reached a long stretch, the soldiers appeared through the fog on the left side of the truck. Cloud turned his head and slowed down. As soon as he was out of the way of the truck, he made a sharp left. This action allowed Cloud to get closer to the enemy motorcyclist. As soon as he was in range, the mercenary hacked at the enemy motorcycle. A single slash sent the man and machine flying. Cloud grinned, and repeated the action on the next few Shin-Ra brave enough to try.
With Cloud handling the Shin-Ra, and Barret watching from the truck, everyone started to feel safe.
Zen wrinkled his nose at the smell of exhaust and the natural stench on everything in this city. He looked toward the sky to see darkness. "Have you ever seen the stars," He asked Barret.
The man almost grinned at him, "Way back when, at this place called Cosmo Canyon."
Zen prodded into the topic, "Are we going to go there?"
Barret looked at him, "I dunno', depends on what we decide to do when we're outta' here. All of us've been fightin' for a few days now, we need rest, y'know."
Zen nodded, I can't believe I'm IN. This is reality, now. My reality.