Takes place after Kairi's rescue; contains spoilers for the end of Kingdom Hearts.

Written from Cloud's perspective.

~Mostly a flashback chapter. (Just so you're aware, ^_~)

~*~


Ephemeral Blossoms

Akai Kitsune

Part 2: In a Different Light


~*~

I had been traveling for three weeks when the Heartless found me.

They must have been tracking me, somehow attuned to the shadows that lurked behind my eyes since my world was lost. I still was unsure of how I escaped the fate of my home - whatever that was - but I wasn't about to sit around and wait for something to happen to me. We had lost the battle to those creatures, nameless at first, and many of us were pulled into the darkness, separated from one another, calling out the names of our loved ones even as they disappeared around us...

It happened so fast. They surrounded us, and then the shadows came.

My friends...

... and her.

I still had my sword with me - the Buster Sword, Zack's sword. When we first encountered the creatures, my friends and I were surprised to find how ineffective most weapons were. It took us days to discover that only those weapons which lay close to our hearts could defeat our enemies.

Our first weapons became our strongest. But it still wasn't enough.

Materia was useless; I learned that all to quickly. Once I found myself in a world that was not my own - the name of which I never did find out - I noticed that every light within my Materia had gone out, leaving them empty and useless. Upon seeing my reflection while stooping to drink from a river I found, I realized that the fierce blue glow of Mako had left my gaze. It was then that I truly knew how far from home I was. If home even existed anymore.

I was lost... and alone.

I had no other choice but to travel. Using the skills I had learned during my time in the Shinra army, I managed to survive the strange world I had been transported to. I learned which food I could and could not eat, where the predators hunted and what areas to avoid. I searched endlessly for any signs of people or technology, or even a trail to where I could find either.

And three weeks later, I was ambushed along the forest road I had found while I wandered.

They were much stronger than before, and more prepared to face me; in my world, they won by numbers, but in this place it only took a few of them to bring me down. I wanted to believe that it was my mistake - that I was tired, sick of wandering, too worried about my friends to really be able to fight with my full ability.

But the truth is... I just didn't have the strength to go on.

I was... I was alone.

"We're friends, right?"

I didn't want to be alone anymore.

"I won't leave you hanging."

The Heartless surrounded me, and I surrendered to the darkness.




Strong heart...

......

Strong will...

Who are you?

Strong body...

What are you saying...?

Ours.

Dammit, make sense...

It makes perfect sense.

Will someone tell me?

He'll be a servant of the darkness.

I'm not...

There's no resistance.

Not...

Are you prepared?

Not gonna be... anyone's damn puppet... anymore-!


The darkness... it was so cold.

I didn't know where I was, or even what had happened to me. I was lying on something cold, and everything around me was hidden in shadows. I could feel the creatures moving, surrounding me... poking and touching me when they felt bold enough. Each brief, teasing contact was like a shard of ice stabbing into me.

Something was different. Changing.

I could feel the ice spreading past where the touch had began, moving throughout my entire body. My hand was numb, my arm shivering from the chill. Something touched my cheek, a mild musky scent filling my nostrils. It felt leathery, both warm and chilling, and it shifted away as I flinched, like it was reacting to my -

My eyes widened. It was attached to me-?!

God, no. Not again...

Jerking away, I stood and grasped vainly for my sword. The creatures shrieked in outrage and scattered, scrambling over themselves. I knew it wouldn't take them long to renew their formations and capture me again, so I continued my search, running through the darkness, seeking even the faintest glimmer of light. A heavy weight rested against my left shoulder, slowly draining my body's remaining warmth.

An escape, there had to be a way to escape...

I stumbled, my foot catching on something. As I fell to the ground, I heard it - a loud, metallic sound I knew well. Relieved, I found my weapon and rolled to my feet, still watchful of my attackers, but reassured by the balanced steel in my hands. The weight on my back seemed to lessen as soon as I touched the hilt.

"Hey!" I shouted into the darkness, both hoping and dreading a response. "Who's out there, anyone? Let me out of here!"

The only answer was the soft creeping of the Heartless, a hundred empty yellow eyes glaring at me. I returned the stare balefully. If they wanted me, I wasn't going down without a fight this time.

I wish I could remember exactly what happened next. I remember hearing a loud crash, as if something had broken, and then a door seemed to open. The cold receeded, and the weight on my shoulder disappeared. I didn't understand, but I ran towards where I had heard the door, and suddenly I was back in the forest.

It's not time yet.

The voice was different this time - warmer, less forboding. More dangerous, in a way; it almost made me trust in it...

Just keep moving.

... but it just felt so right.

"Who are you?" I asked again, but the voice was silent. Glancing over my shoulder, I was both startled and horrified to find a large, ebony-black wing sprouting from my upper back, just behind my left arm.

Memories came flooding back to me, old and terrible. It had been years since the day I first saw that... that thing...

Dammit, I won't let this happen to me again...

I won't let it control me...

"One-winged angel..."

Pushing my dark thoughts from my mind, I returned to the stream and gazed into the water for a long time, searching for anything else that may have changed, but besides the wing I found nothing. I wondered how they had triggered it's appearance, although I suspected it had something to do with what the strange voice had said - I recognized the wing as the same form of several of those creatures that attacked me earlier. Perhaps its existence depended on the creatures itself, for even as I looked at my pale reflection, the wing faded away, leaving only a feeling that something was missing. I shivered at the thought; surely I hadn't become used to the thing moments after it appeared?

But there was no knowing how long I had been unconscious. And the memory of years ago remained lodged in my heart.

"Cloud... what the hell did he do to you?"

What did he do to me?

We never found out, did we, Zack...

I brushed such thoughts aside quickly. It was gone for the moment, and I was better off concentrating on my escape. Whatever came to my aid might not be so generous the next time.

"I won't leave you hanging..."

Rubbing my shoulder thoughtfully, still wondering at the strange things that had happened since the creatures arrival to my homeworld, I continued my journey.


~*~


"Hey hey hey, Strife, my man, where do you think you're going?"

I clenched my teeth, glancing back at my previous employer. "Don't call me that."

Hades just smirked, appearing in front of me in a shroud of blue smoke. "What, you prefer Cloud? SOLDIER-Boy? Spike?"

I flinched despite myself, hearing the old name Barret always used to call me. It bugged the hell out of me sometimes, but what I'd have given for him to be with me then... "... Whatever."

I continued walking, but the flame-headed deity followed closely behind. "You forgetting something, kid?"

"Not that I can recall."

"What about this?" The contract suddenly materialized in front of me, my signature emblazoned in red, still shining at the bottom. "I haven't seen any dead sons-of-Zeus hanging on my door yet."

I glared back at him, pushing aside the paper. "In case you didn't realize, the tournaments are over. Sora and his friends won them all - or at least he was winning when I left. I can't fulfill my end of the bargain if I can't compete. So that means you're free on your end."

Hades reddened, his flaming hair burning more fiercely. "That's-! Listen, you weren't supposed to lose against that lousy brat! You're supposed to be this great soldier, some unbeatable mercenary! And you can't even kill a kid and his pet lackeys?"

I raised an eyebrow at him, my expression unconcerned. "Shouldn't you be asking that to yourself?"

I swear I heard his teeth grinding together. I didn't think it was often that the fast-talking Hades was left speechless, so I took that opportunity to move past him.

His voice followed me, as the contract burst into flames in his hand. "That's fine, cool, who needs a weak stiff like you? You won't find her anyway."

I froze, eyes startled wide. He vanished before I could face him, the Buster Sword half-drawn from its sheath.

"You won't find her..."

"... won't..."

Damn him... and his lies. I would find her... I would keep searching until I did.

No matter what, I'd find her...


~*~

Notes: Apologies if the beginning was a little confusing. Flashbacks will run rampant in this fic, and I'll try to make it clear what timeline each scene follows in. It will mostly be either Cloud's past, or the present.

Basically I'm identifying flashbacks with a spacer of ~*~*~ and regular timeline occurrences with ~*~ in the beginning of each new scene where a change occurs. Hopefully this will make things easier.

For those who aren't big fans of FF7 and don't know Zack... well, this fic will contain major spoilers. Zack has got to be one of my favourites though (even if his role was unfairly miniscule...) so he'll be playing a big part in this fic. Just a forewarning!

I'm loving this... altering the Final Fantasy timeline and events to fit Kingdom Hearts... ^_^ Changes will occur like mad, but that's part of the fun of writing a fanfic. I'll do my best to make it all believable AND original at the same time.

~Akai Kitsune