The Story of Cloud
By: Alucard's Bane
Disclaimer- I don own FF7
okay, this idea was given to me by a friend several years ago. About what happened to Cloud inbetween FF7 and KH. ...I know, don't say it. It's terrible...it has to be the worse one i ever wrote. I hate it.
Chapter 1:
The Revival
Cloud sat huddled against the dank wall of the Northern Crater. Things had happened since the start of his journey. Lots of them he wished never happened. A cold wind whipped up against his all ready cold body. What he wouldn't give to go join Aeris in the lifestream right now. He breathed in deeply and sighed. The events of that day passed through his mind. He was sleeping, when something hit his head and bounced into his lap.
"Ouch..." he picked it up and looked at it. It was the Holy Materia. "..." a sudden hope lit inside of him. He sat up and pressed the Materia between his palms. He started to pray. He prayed for Aeris to come back to him. The Materia glew green and then it faded. The earth had heard his prayers. He sat there, waiting for his love to return to him, but she never came. Sick of thinking, he got up and started out of the crater. He killed every monster he saw before thinking, plundered all of their Gils and continued on his way.
Some of the monsters he had never seen before, they didn't carry gils, they carried some strange blue and yellow coin. He shrugged his shoulders and continued his ascent out of the hellish pit. He stretched the wing that appeared on his back when he had beaten Sephiroth. "Hah..." he scoffed. "I killed the one winged angel, so I guess I get to be the one winged devil..." he crunched through the snow, and climbed back down Gaea's Cliff.
Didn't know why he climbed, but he did. He stopped for a rest at the old man's house, who had some gifts for him from his friends. One of them was a cape from Vincent. Cloud took it and fastened it to his shoulders. He shivered a bit and rubbed the cloak against his skin. It warmed his blood greatly. He made it all the way to the Icicle Inn. He bought a few items and continued on his way.
break-
Aeris watched as Cloud left the Icicle Inn. How she longed to be with him, but she couldn't go with him. The elders had strictly forbidden that, given the chaos that they had forseen. A force so powerful that not even the lifestream and Holy could stop it. If this was true, she had better wait until this blows over to be with Cloud.
She watched him knit his eyebrows in frusration whenever he looked at the Holy materia. She knew how he must have felt. She decided to leave Cloud, even though it pained her greatly, and the elders transported her to a small town. She walked into the nearest building to her, it was the Acessory Shop. She nearly fell out laughing when she saw who was running it. "Cid?" she said.
"Hi! Welcome to..." he turned around and did a double take. "What the &? Aeris is that you, honey?"
"Hi, Cid. Long time no see...and please...will you stop swearing?"
"Uh...yeah...sure...so how'd you get to come back to the world of the living?"
"Cloud used the Holy Materia given to him as a gift and wished me back. But I couldn't go to him...because something horrible is going to happen back home that even Holy and the lifestream can't stop."
"...Excuse me," came a deep voice from behind her.
"..." Aeris jumped a little, seeing as this man scared her.
"I'm sorry if I may have frightened you, Miss."
"My name is Aeris," she told the man.
"Aeris, I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with Cid. Will you come with me, please?"
Aeris looked at Cid, and he gave her a slight nod. So she went with this strange brown-haired man. "Wh-who are you?" she managed to say, breaking the hideous silence that had fell over them.
"My name is Squa—I mean...Leon."
"Leon...that's a nice name."
"Thank you." he held her gently, but yet firmly, by the wrist. It didn't hurt her, so she didn't complain. "...I...uh...I'm sorry for imposing on you like this...Miss Aeris."
"Please, just call me Aeris. I was never for that formal garbage."
"Ah...you're very spirited. Just like Yuffie said you were."
"She's here as well?"
"Yes, many people began appearing some time ago. Cid was the first, and then Yuffie. And now, you."
"..." Aeris said nothing and stared at her feet. Will Cloud come here as well? she thought.
break-
Cloud held onto his chest, he was trying to supress that hacking cough that plauged him. But he couldn't keep it at bay, he launched into what was one of his worst coughing fits since he lost Aeris and got Mako poisoned. He stuck the Ultima Weapon in the ground for a support, and just coughed and coughed. He couldn't get a breath in inbetween coughs, so his face was turning from red to blue by the time the fit finally subsided. He took in a deep breath, his chest rattled with pain.
"Ugh..." he fell over into the snow. The cold stuff felt good on his hot skin. He was just about to lose consciousness when some voice started calling to him.
"Cloud," it said. It was a voice that he thought he had forgotten.
"No..." he moaned.
"I can help you find her..."
"Stay outta my head, JENOVA!"
"Don't be that way...give in like Sephiroth did before you. You know that you wish to find her, and I can help you...I can take you to where she is."
"She's dead!" he yelled. "LEAVE ME ALONE!" he punched the snow.
"She's not dead...she's alive and well, she just didn't want to see you, that's all..."
"What...?"
"...that's right. I can take you to see her, just tell me 'yes' and it shall be done."
"All right," Cloud's chest heaved. "Do what you must, just take me to her, do you understand!" a man passed by, he looked at Cloud like some drunken bum and continued on his way. Cloud felt his pulse pick up, a sudden pain engulfing his body, he blacked out.
break-
"Hey, hey kid," he felt some one patting his cheek. "Wake up,"
"Urmph..." Cloud twitched his right hand.
"Hey, it moved, Phil..."
"I can see dat."
"Ahh..." Cloud sat up and popped his neck, he felt like he had been run over by a stampede of Chocobos. "...my head..." he opened his eyes and looked at his surroundings, he was lying on the steps of some collseum.
"Hey, kid, you okay?"
"...fine..." he muttered. The speaker was a creature that looked like a goat and a man. "...Oh no...did Hojo follow me here?"
"Ho...who?" asked the taller man standing next to him.
"No one...nevermind." they looked at Cloud like he was some psychotic madman.
"What's your name, kid?" asked the little goat-man.
"It's...Cloud...Cloud Strife..."
"My name's Philoctetes. Phil for short, and this," he pointed up to the man next to him. "Is Hercules."
"Hi," Hercules waved. Cloud merely gave him a glance that said 'hi to you too...'. "Your eyes are a funny color...is that natural?"
"No, they're not." Cloud saw his sword lying by the entrance to the lobby, he ran over to it, but just as he was about to pick it up, another all-to-familiar-voice made itself present.
"Hello, Strife."
"Geez! Sephiroth! Can't I ever..." Cloud stared at Sephiroth for a minute, then shivered.
"What's wrong, Strife?"
"No...thing..." he felt another coughing fit coming on. He didn't want Sephiroth to see him like this. But he couldn't hold this one in either. He dropped to a knee, clinging to his sword for blance and started to cough violently, Sephiroth started to walk forward, but Cloud held his hand out to stop him. He continued to cough for about 2 minutes, dropping to his other knee when it got too weak to support him. Cloud stopped coughing and took in a deep deep breath.
"Strife?"
"Look, I'm not in the mood, okay?" Cloud picked up his sword and headed for the door. "That stupid mother of yours promised me Aeris and I get stuck with you." he opened the door, when he looked to see where he was, there was nothing out there. "What the...?"
"Strife, the only way to get out of here is to fly." Sephiroth looked at him strangely. "Did you make a deal with Jenova?"
"..." Cloud stared at the ground, guilty for what he had done. "...yes...yes I did..."
Sephiroth shook his head. "You're going to be sorry over that one..."
"Shut-up, what do you know, eh?" Sephiroth said nothing and disappeared. As Cloud made his way inside the lobby, someone spoke from behind him.
"Cloud Strife, is it?"
"Look," he swung his sword around without even opening his eyes. "I told the gray-headed freak to leave me alone..."
"You don't want to point that at the Lord of the Underworld."
"What?" Cloud put his sword down.
"Cloud, baby, I've come to make a deal with ya. OH, by the way, the name is Hades, lord of the dead."
He spoke so fast that Cloud's head spun. "What's the deal."
"The deal is, you kill that guy over there, and I take you to this Aeris girl. Free of flight charges. Deal?"
"Is there a catch?" he asked, eager to do anything to see Aeris.
"Well...actually..." Hades took the young boy by the shoulder and they both disappeared.
break-
Aeris watched the rain trickle down the window. She felt so helpless sitting around with Leon and Yuffie, she wanted Cloud, and she wanted him now! "Yuffie," she said as she propped her knees up under her chin. "I want to see Cloud..."
"I know how bad you want to see him, but there's no way we even know if he's here or not." Although Yuffie was probably right, Aeris just knew that he was here, somewhere.
break-
Cloud suppressed that cough for as long as he could while Hades was talking to him, but he couldn't hold it in any longer, he let it go. His hand flew to his mouth, he coughed silently while listening to Hades, but then felt something warm and wet on his hand.
Blood.
"Hey, kid," Hades stopped talking. "You feelin' okay?"
Cloud finally stopped coughing, but his chest shook with every breath he took. "...fine..." he choked out.
"You really should do something about that cough, kid." Hades patted him on the shoulder, whereas Cloud shot him a look. "Oookkay, don't like to be touched, I'll keep that in mind."
Cloud slid down to the ground and wiped the sweat from his face, and the droplet of blood that had remained on his lips. "Okay, Cloudie, boy. Your up,"
Cloud stood up and looked out the bars. A little kid was standing up there. "Hey, the deal was—"
"I KNOW what the deal was, okay?" Hades flared red for a minute, the turned back to that slate blue. "But, you've got to get rid of the kid, to get to the big guy." Hades started to swing his fists around. "Like that goat-man says 'Let loose and have fun with it'." Cloud shook his head and walked out to challenge the little brat.
"Who're you?"
"My name is Cloud Strife,"
"I'm Sora."
"Hmph...I will not hold back on you, so prepare to taste defeat." Cloud held his sword in that all-too familiar postion, the fight was signaled to start. Cloud started to circle his enemy, the boy watched in immense curiosity. "Ha!" Cloud jabbed forward with his sword, narrowly missing the boy, who had rolled to the side to dodge his blow. The boy pulled out something rather similar to a key. Cloud didn't care what kind of weapon he had, just as long as he went down in a hurry. He yelled out again, but this time charged with speed that rivaled that of the gods. He jabbed again and again, lost in fury of the fight.
He felt his sword hit the boy, and the boy bounce backwards and hit the barrier wall. Cloud stopped his mad assault and then held his sword like a certain someone he had known a long time ago. "It is time to—" Cloud felt that cough chew at his lungs like a rabid dog, he gritted his teeth. "No, not now."
In the secret underground bleachers, Hades slapped a hand to his forehead. "That kid needs to go see a doctor..."
Cloud stumbled back a few steps, dropping his sword in the process. Both hands were covering his mouth, his shoulders were jerking very violently, and blood came running in streams. Sora ran forward and held his shoulders steady.
"Hey, are you okay?"
Cloud felt his consciouness slowly draining out of his pain-wracked body. He heard Sora yell something out, and then something came down on top of him, he remembered nothing more.
break-
He saw someone running to him, the someone was a person that he had wished was with him at this moment. Aeris. She ran straight into his arms, crying.
"What's wrong?" he ran his fingers through her hair.
"He's...he's coming..."
"Who?" Cloud looked up to see a man with yellow eyes and long, silver hair standing in front of him. He looked a bit like Sephiroth, but nothing more than a bit. Aeris cringed. "Who are you?"
The man snickered, and then grabbed Aeris's arm, he pulled her out of Cloud's grip just as easily as if she was covered with butter.
"Aeris!" Cloud reached out for her, but she disappeared. Just like...that time...that time...he had failed to protect her.
Cloud opened his eyes, he was lying in a bed, he didn't know where. What had happened to him? He couldn't move any part of his body, it hurt so bad.
"Are you awake now?" it was that young boy, Sora. Cloud didn't say anything, he just stared at the ceiling. "You got hurt pretty bad. You may not be able to move for a little while." he felt Sora put a wet cloth on his forehead. Cloud still said nothing. "You were ranting, yelling some name out over and over."
Cloud glanced askance at Sora, then continued to stare at the ceiling as if to say 'Mind your own business'. "What happened?" Cloud croaked out, and he wished that he hadn't of.
"Some big three-headed mutt crushed you under its right forepaw."
"How long have I been out?"
"Not long, at least a day."
Cloud realized who's dog crushed him. It was Cerebrus, and it belonged to no one other than Hades. He realized how much of a fool he'd been, to accept an offer like that. He felt so ashamed of himself. He raised himself up on his elbows, and to many protests from Sora, sat up. His shoulder felt like it was on fire, but he continued to move. The deal with Hades was over. He had to find some way to get to Aeris. He stood up and wobbled to the door, his sword was lying up against a stone coloum, he picked it up and walked out the door.
"Hey! Where are you going?"
"I have something to do, and no injury, be it fatal or simple, will stop me." and with that, Sora saw Cloud no more.
It was that afternoon, when Sora was leaving, that he chanced upon Cloud sitting on the stone steps of the colloseum. "I though that you were leaving. What is it that you have to do?"
"I am searching for someone that I lost a long time ago." Cloud looked down at his feet. "Hades promised to help me if I defeated Hercules, but,"
"Hey, it's okay, everyone makes slip-ups."
"I got swallowed by the darkness, I tried to exploit the powers of darkness. But, it failed, and now, I am drowning in darkness and I cannot find the light."
"Well," Sora pointed at himself. "I'm searching too."
"Really? Are you searching for your light?" Cloud stood up and got so close to Sora's face that their noses nearly touched. Cloud scrutinized Sora's baby blue eyes with his own Mako blue ones. He moved away, and then reached in his pocket. "Take this, keep firm hold of it, and do not loose your light. Keep searching for what you lost," he placed something into Sora's palm and then closed his fingers around it, and with a swish of his cape, Cloud was gone.
TBC...
Okay. There it was...the hornedous ness. I have chapter two here...if you all want to read it...sweatdrop
