Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy or it's characters.
Truth's Revealed
The man opened his eyes to a pounding headache. That wasn't what made him nervous though what made him nervous were the blue eyes that were glowing with anger and the man that those eyes belonged to. The man was Cloud and his friends were there with him.
Cloud looked at the man and could see the fear in his eyes. Cloud smiled to himself and knew why the man was scared. Staring into the eyes like Cloud's that were different would unnerve most people. Cloud decided that he might as well start it and he said to the man coldly, "Who sent you here."
The man looked around nervously as if someone was there trying to listen in and then he said, "Our leader Saren. He sent us and told us that he wanted you alive. He wanted Marlene and Cassandra alive as well and perhaps Tifa if it was possible."
"Why," Cloud demanded.
"Because he said that he needed all of you. He had two of the ones that he needed he had told us and now he needed the final pieces. You were some of those pieces," the man said as his voice trembled. He was terrified of Cloud because he had heard the stories.
"Well what are we needed for do you know," Tifa asked from behind Cloud who didn't seem to mind that she had asked a question.
"No I don't know lady," the man said politely hoping that he would be spared if he was cooperative.
"How about my children. Are they all right. Are Joren and Sky alright," Yuffie demanded.
Cloud looked over to Yuffie and decided that those were the names of her children. At least he had learned that much now and the questioning wasn't a total loss Cloud decided. The man wasn't quite as terrified and Cloud wondered why. He didn't really care it was just that Cloud was curious.
"The two of them are alright as far as I know. They are being treated gently I was told," the man said.
"They haven't used my daughter have they. She is seventeen and if they have done anything to her then I can assure you that none of you will live," Yuffie said her eyes blazing with anger at the thought of the men harming her daughter in that way.
Cloud thought that if the men had raped the girl then he would be the first there to kill them all. No one would escape him because he would save the children and he would take care of the enemy. Cloud would become death to those men if they had done that to Yuffie's daughter because deep down Cloud felt that it was his fault if anything happened to those children who weren't really children.
"No lady the girl has not been harmed in that way. We were assured that we weren't allowed to touch her if we wanted to live," the man said and Cloud believed him. Cloud could tell the man wasn't lying to save his own skin the man was telling the truth hoping that it would save him which it would.
Cloud looked around at his friends and then asked them, "Any other questions."
They all shook their heads but Cloud had one question left. "Are you working with any other groups trying to take me," Cloud asked.
"No we aren't. If there are other people after you it is for their own reasons," the man stammered out in fear from the look in Cloud's eyes.
Cloud walked over to the man and cut him loose from the chair that he had been tied to. The man stood up slowly much like a terrified rabbit would have. He looked at them and then Cloud said, "Go before I change my mind. If I do then you won't leave this room."
The man ran from the room and Yuffie started to go after him but Cloud grabbed her by the arm. "What are you doing," Yuffie demanded as she yanked her arm from Cloud's grip.
"I am letting him go. The reason for that is because I am getting tired of killing Yuffie. I want you to know something. The more you kill the more you yourself die. With each death a part of you is lost forever. I have lost myself Yuffie and that is why killing is so easy for me," Cloud said trying to convince Yuffie not to kill the man. Cloud knew what he said was partially true but Cloud didn't believe what he said. He killed because it was what he was good at. Cloud felt that he had died long ago and so it didn't affect him anymore.
Cloud could tell that his words had affected Yuffie though and he knew that she was thinking about it. The times in her life that had been the happiest were those times that she wasn't killing anyone. Cloud looked and saw that the others were thinking the same thing and he just shook his head. He walked over to the couch in the room and sat down.
Tifa saw him and she could tell that he felt left out. She didn't know how but she knew that he was torturing himself over something. She thought either that or he was just thinking about all the people that he had killed over the years and that was when she thought about something. She walked over to him and sat down next to him. "Cloud will you tell us now where you have been these last twenty years," Tifa asked gently while placing a hand on his shoulder.
He looked over to her and couldn't believe that she still wanted to know. The nerve of her he thought. Cloud thought that she believed he had just deserted them and he decided at that moment to put that idea to rest. He was going to tell them where he had been and he didn't care whether or not they liked or believed it.
Tifa noticed that his eyes hardened at that question and she could tell that he was still angry at them for the way that they had acted. There was nothing that she could do about it though. The others noticed that Cloud's eyes hardened too and they stepped back unconsciously.
"I'll tell you where I have been. I left remember and I told you that I had to do something. Well for the first two years I searched the world hoping to find a way to bring Aeris back and yet I found nothing. That was when I found out that I was being hunted. After those two years were up I was going to come back to all of you but as I just said I found out that I was being hunted," Cloud started in a voice that was as frosty as the winter wind.
"Who was hunting you," Marlene asked curiously because she really wanted to know who would hunt Cloud.
"Hojo was hunting me and he wanted me for more of his experiments. I was on the run for another five years and then they finally caught me. They ran tests on me among other things. That is why I am so different now. They used more Mako on me and in fact I have so much in me now that my eyes literally glow," Cloud said and then went silent.
"What about the rest of the time Cloud. I know you don't want to talk about it but please tell us. You don't have to elaborate just tell us what you did for the rest of the time," Tifa said gently.
"I went hunting after five years of torture. The rest of the time was spent hunting Hojo after I was freed. I hunted him mercilessly. I killed all his men and anyone who sided with him. No one lived that I came across who was with him except the women because I couldn't bring myself to hurt them no matter how insane I was at the time," Cloud spat out at them as he stood up and left the room abruptly.
Tifa couldn't believe what she had just heard. Cloud had been hunted and then tortured. She couldn't believe that anyone could catch Cloud and she couldn't even imagine what had happened to him in those years. It was no wonder that he didn't want to talk about it.
Cassandra had heard from her father about Cloud being captured but she had never believed it but now she did. She felt for Cloud and yet she didn't even know why because she didn't know him that well at all. All that she knew for certain was that he had been kind to her and then fought for her when she was in trouble.
Yuffie felt bad about the way she had acted now that she had found out why he had been missing for so long. She didn't know how she could ever say she was sorry to Cloud and she felt that perhaps she had destroyed her friendship with him due to her own sadness. She couldn't imagine the way he had felt at that time when she had said those terrible things to him at Tifa's house. She would understand if he didn't ever want to talk to her again. For five of the years that he had been gone he hadn't been able to come and see them for the simple fact that he had been a prisoner. She and Tifa knew at that moment that the reason he had never returned wasn't because he was hunting those men it was because he didn't want them to get involved. He had wanted them to live their own lives without the fear of having to fight. She loved Cloud like a brother and she would never forgive herself for what she had said to him.
Marlene had never known Cloud very well because she was so young and so she didn't know what to feel at that moment. The only thing she knew was that he had returned to them when they had asked him to. He had come and vowed to help them and then all he had gotten from all of them was yelled at for not being there while he had been away. She understood why he hadn't wanted to tell them though. It was painful she was sure for him and he hadn't wanted anyone else to feel the pain that he was feeling every day of his life.
They all watched him go and each was lost in their own thoughts. That was when tears started to fall from Yuffie's and Tifa's eyes. They looked at each other and whispered at he same time, "We're sorry Cloud. We didn't know we are so sorry."
* * * * *
Cloud walked into the room that he shared with Cassandra and lept over the couch to lay on it. He laid his head back and closed his eyes and all he wanted to do was sleep. The thing was that he knew that he couldn't sleep for he had already slept. He just wanted to forget though.
He closed his eyes and his mind was filled with images from his past. The images of when he was a prisoner. He wished that the memories would go away but they wouldn't. Cloud knew that the memories would be with him until the day that he died whenever that would be. The memories flooded his mind and he just sat there and replayed them over in his mind.
Cloud had just freed himself from his holding cell. He had cuts all over his body from where Hojo had seen fit to cut him just for the sheer fun of it. Cloud had left four guards dead in his cell and had taken one of their guns for his own use. He had nothing on except a pair of shorts and as he ran his muscles bunched and sweat ran down his body to sting in the wounds covering his body.
Cloud no longer cared who he killed he just wanted to get out. He was tired of al the torture. They had tried to flay him alive and then they had used pins and stuck them in his body all over and then left him there for over a day. He couldn't lay down because they were in his back so he had to stand for the whole time more than 24 hours.
They had done other things such as dousing him with alcohal after he was cut in so many places and another was covering him in leeches and then dumping him in a tank full of boiling water to remove the leeches. He was told that they were tests to see if what they had injected him with was actually enhancing his body. It was and so they kept using the stuff and trying out other things on him to see if they could create the perfect human and when they did then they would kill him and make soldiers.
Cloud had never once cried out in pain because he wasn't going to give Hojo the satisfaction. He had taken everything that they had thrown at him and had lived. Then when they had thought that he was too weak to do anything and the guards had decided to have a little fun then he had freed himself at their expense.
Now he ran through the halls and had decided that he was going to kill Hojo before he left. He rounded a corner and a man was surprised to see Cloud free. His surprise was his death as cloud shot him in the head and ran on. Cloud came to a room where he thought that Hojo might be. He saw readouts on many different people and then he saw that something read The Cetra Cells of Aeris. Cloud didn't know what he was doing with that but he took the vial that read that and he drank that. He didn't care if it killed him but he wouldn't let Hojo have anything that had belonged to Aeris.
At that time the room lit up brightly and a score of men ran in. Following behind them came Hojo. He was smiling as he pushed his glasses back up on his head and then put his hands behind his back like he always did. "Ah Cloud you continue to amaze me. Is there anything that you won't do for to keep yourself safe. Is there anything that I can do that can break your spirit," Hojo wondered outloud.
"If you let me go then you will be the only one that dies," Cloud hissed as the blood ran down his chest and arms from his cuts.
"I don't think so Cloud. You see right now I have sent four squadrons of men to the houses of each of your friends. If you don't surrender now then they will die," Hojo said as he smiled at Cloud. The smile held no warmth just a cold evilness.
"What say I kill you and everyone else here then your men won't do anything," Cloud said coldly.
"That is where you are wrong. You must be in more pain than I thought if you failed to see that I would have already given them the order to kill them unless they get word from me within a short amount of time," Hojo said as if lecturing a child.
Cloud knew that he was right and so he let the gun fall from his fingers. Cloud wouldn't put his friends in danger no matter what happened to him. He would continue to let them experiment on him until he could get away and take care of the men that would be after his friends.
Cloud whispered with his eyes closed, "You will die Hojo and there is nothing that will keep you safe. Not even an entire army will keep you from me."
* * * * *
It was a somber party that climbed onto their chocobos and rode out of the small village. Cloud had paid for the damages to the inn and then he had went and bought himself and Cassandra a mount so that they could keep up with the rest of the group. Cloud had known that he couldn't turn any of them away and he knew that somehow they were important to what he had to do.
None of them spoke as they rode out of the village and headed for the next village. They didn't care where they ended up because they knew that eventually they would get to the island. They also knew that they couldn't leave from Costa Del Sol because that would be watched and so they decided to try a different way of getting to the island.
They rode across the land and none of them noticed a dark haired man watching them from a distant hill. He was the same man who had knocked Tifa unconscious and had left her there. He was the same man that knew that he and Cloud would one day fight to the death. He smiled as the wind whipped his Cloak about behind him and the man pulled his sword from it's sheath and looked at it.
