Erm…I still haven't taken over Square or Disney…so…the characters do not belong to me. I will remedy this in time. Watch out Nomura.

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Shadow Feather: Chapter 4

Crossing the Nexus

(behold thine winged foe)

There was a long silence. I stared with cold conviction into Hades' eyes. He did not look away. Several times he blinked, each time altering his face slowly toward a look of incredulous disbelief. On the other side of the glowing green table, the sack and the pirate both took turns coughing uncomfortably to fill the growing silence. My words ultimatum hung in the air like some ominous bird, watching for someone to show weakness so that it could sweep down and fulfill the promise.

Maleficent stepped forward and spoke softly, "Sephiroth, there is no need for such a thing to take place. If you were to assault our council, I can assure you that you will not leave here alive."

The tentacle-footed woman spoke up from the back of the room. "She's right you know. We're an awful lot stronger than you might think from the looks of say…Boogie over here."

The sack flashed a venomous glare at the woman, or as venomous a glare as a sack could give, and then spoke in retort. "As our own deep sea octo-woman said, we're all pretty strong. I wouldn't suggest underestimating us."

The tall thin man with the turban began to speak slowly in an almost hypnotic tone, "Yesss…it would be very unwisssse to possssse idle threatsssssss." I noticed that his staff was glowing slightly.

Suddenly my body felt very sluggish. It became a struggle to keep my eyes open. I dropped to one knee and let go of Hades' cloak. I was breathing heavily, there didn't seem to be enough air about me and as I pushed myself to my feet I felt a pinprick on the back of my neck.

The pirate whispered into my ear, "Your intrusion was acceptable but to threaten us is unforgivable. With my sword I will lay you to rest. Don't worry though, we'll make you into a truly fantastic Heartless." The pressure on my neck increased slightly then I felt the sword point leave my skin entirely. The pirate drew back his sword, paused and thrust it swiftly towards the nape of my neck.

With a bone shuddering jolt, Masamune whipped from its place at my side upwards to send the pirate's blade careening towards the ceiling. The pirate fell over in shock and let out a string of obscenities that didn't make any sense to me. Masamune quivered slightly, holding my arm steadily in the direction of my opponent's throat and then once again dropped to my side.

"Fantastic!"

Maleficent stepped forward with widened eyes. She stared at my sword in awe, smiling with a clearly devious intent. "It must be magical. Is it not?" Though I had no desire to speak, I could not even if I had tried, I could barely stand up, let alone control my speech. "Jafar, release your spell."

"But…"

"Do it."

Jafar grumbled slightly and I felt the magic that was constricting my body slip away. Quietly I steadied myself and took a brief look around the room again. These people had powerful magics, but they're different from the spells I'm used to. My guard was down and they took excellent advantage of it. These people were not to be underestimated.

"Let me see your sword."

Maleficent held out her hand towards me. I watched her discolored fingers unwind to reveal a greedy palm. Masamune shivered with a tone of warning. I smiled inside and said to myself silently, "I know Masamune, I am the only one who can wield you. You needn't worry that I would forget that." Maleficent was now beginning to look impatient.

"Hand me your sword, I do not intend you or it any harm. I wish to inspect the magic that surrounds it."

"I am the only one who can wield the Masamune."

Maleficent sighed and said, "I do not wish to wield it, simply to inspect its magical qualities."

"If you touch the hilt of my sword, it will kill you."

A look of realization crept across the witch's face. "Ah. I see. It is one of those sorts of enchantments. Well then…Hades, inspect the sword for me."

Hades looked up from his examination of one of his fingernails. "Que pasa? What? Why do I have to do it? I'm no handy man with magic."

"Because you are a God, and Gods can not be killed save for the very few methods that exist. I do not believe this is one of them. So I ask you again, inspect the sword."

"Enough." I interrupted the feud between the two of them and then proceeded to make my stance on the issue very clear. "I do not wish to part with Masamune for any reason to anyone. I will not allow it in either of your hands." Maleficent scowled darkly at my comment but did not press the issue. Hades shrugged and went back to scrutinizing his fingernail. There was another long silence until the sack broke it.

"So uh…if you don't mind me asking you…why do you want to find this 'Cloud' person so badly?"

"That is not of your concern." I dismissed the sack with a wave of my hand. It made me uncomfortable to look at the thing. Strange indeed. I focused back on the alleged "God" in front of me. "Hades, do you plan to take me to the Coliseum?"

"Well I'll tell you right now," he began. "I won't do it for free, no matter how much you threaten."

I frowned slightly and took a moment to consider my options. There was something about this place that told me the Coliseum was not nearby. Somehow I felt that the Coliseum was on another planet entirely. I also felt that I could not reach it through my own power. Hades was not asking anything out of my ability. An assassination was not difficult. Cloud was there. I knew it now. I could find him. There was no reason for me not to go along with the "god" except for my own stubbornness. What a ridiculous sentiment, being stubborn. I was growing far too emotional in Mother's absence.

"What is your price?"

"Excellent! Now we're talking. Ok so here's the deal. There's this guy, right? A hero, his name is Hercules. He's smart, he's strong, the ladies love him, he's what everyone should ever want to FUCKING BE LIKE!" with the last three words Hades became incased in bright red flames. His anger sent a shockwave through the room. For a few moments he shook with rage and took deep ragged breaths. After about ten seconds he stood up straight, took a deep breath and continued his speech with the same calmness that he had before hand.

"So I want him dead. And that's where that Cloud guy comes into play. It's his job to take him down." He idled up close to me and whispered in my ear. "But to tell you the truth, I don't think he can really do it, so I want you for back up alright?" He stepped back, surveyed me for a moment then said, "After that, you guys are free to do whatever the Home you want alright?"

I nodded.

"Excellent!" He held up a hand and a small piece of parchment appeared in his hand. "Now if you'll just sign here…initial here, sign here…in blood." I followed his instructions but altered the spelling of my name should I change my mind about it all and then the contract burst into flame and left a small pillar of smoke where it had been. Some poor Sefiroth was now bound to Hades' newest contract.

Maleficent stepped forward again and spoke to me. "Sephiroth, you may live here in Hollow Bastion once Hades teaches you how to travel between worlds. We shall stay in touch. It seems to me that you would make a powerful ally in our endeavor."

"I do not care for the plans of others. I will help you only if it suits me, which will probably not be the case. So please, do not bother me with useless pleas for assistance."

"Very well." She then turned to the rest of the group and addressed them all. "We shall disperse for now. Do not forget your roles in all of this. We will undoubtedly meet again. Farewell for now."

The people in the room slowly exited through the two large doors that I had entered through. Finally, Hades, Maleficent and I were the only ones remaining. Hades leaned on my shoulder and proceeded to explain the process of transporting oneself from one world to the next. In essence, it was not all that different from the way I teleport. It mainly revolved around knowing where you are going and keeping your mind clear of distractions. He told me that initially, the only way to travel from world to world was to use Gummi Ships, but once you traveled to a planet, if you were powerful enough, you could do it simply by focusing your mind.

Hades said that it was a very dangerous process and that a single stray thought could land you right in the nexus of worlds where you can easily be devoured by darkness and lose your heart. The secret was not to fear the darkness because once you began to fear it, you lost your control over it. It is the darkness that allows us to travel between worlds and only by knowing the paths and workings of darkness can you hope to find your way through it.

Initially, he explained that I would need to maintain physical contact with him in order to follow. If I broke contact then I would probably become lost in the nexus due to my inexperience with the teleportation. He explained that it was not a weakness of any sort, there was just no need to take the risk of getting lost.

"So grab on and hold on." I took a handful of his robes and braced myself for whatever was to come. "And were off!"

What happened next is difficult to explain. The room we were in did not melt away, it did not disappear in a flash of light. It didn't fade into darkness. It simply wasn't there anymore. There was something about the transition that told me that it hadn't stopped being there…it just wasn't there now. Nothing had moved, no one had changed places. The setting was just different now.

I recognized my surroundings. I was in a large expanse, very similar to the one that had the shadow creatures in my escapade before Hollow Bastion. There were no shadow creatures here this time though.

"We need to move quickly otherwise the Heartless start to stir," Hades said. I felt a slight tug on my hand and I stated to move. I wasn't walking, the though of movement was propelling me on its own. As I followed Hades I realized that this place was not just darkness without any signs of direction. There were small lines, wisps of nothingness; they could be described as simple thoughts, remnants of what a trail would be. Hades followed these deftly. The further we traveled, the clearer the outlines became to me.

"Ok…so about now a heartless or two should show up, pay them no mind, they're not fast enough to follow someone who knows where they're going."

I heard a giggle to my right and turned my head to see two glowing eyes. It quaked with delight at the sight of us and began to follow with a leaping, jerky run. Hades was right in what he said and we soon lost it in the darkness. I heard another noise from far to my right. It wasn't the giggle of the smaller shadows.

"Dammit…Neo Heartless…they're more difficult to avoid but the odds of that one catching us isn't very good."

I watched it as it began to run towards us. As it's leaping gait brought him closer and closer to us I felt my right shoulder begin to ache. Hades seemed to pick up the pace and I held tightly onto his cloak. The Heartless was getting closer with every leap and as it neared us, the ache turned into a throbbing pain.

With my free hand I gripped the area and winced as the throb came again and again, stronger each time than the last. It felt as if there was something buried inside me, right beneath the skin that wished to escape.

"Ok, time to put the jets on here." Hades began to move faster and faster, I gripped his cloak with all y strength because he was starting to pull away. The heartless was close now, mere feet from my backside. The pain was nearly unbearable. I felt something pounding against my skin from the inside out. It was all I could do to keep myself from screaming. The Heartless saw that we were pulling away and it made one final leap towards us. Its shadowy fingers brushed lightly across my right shoulder.

I felt my shoulder burst into pieces, something came tearing out from it. I let go of Hades and fell to my knees. Hades grabbed my wrist and pulled me along without looking back. I did not feel any blood, but I knew that something had torn its way out of me. I couldn't look back, I just kneeled there, pulled by Hades, and screamed at the ground. Slowly the pain began to subside and I took to my feet.

"Ok, now that you can stand we're gonna make our way outta here and check out what ails ya."

The same strange sensation that had some across me before when we entered the nexus came again as we left it. I was in a large open area with a dirt floor and large columns surrounding us. The nexus hadn't disappeared, it just wasn't here anymore. I would one day understand what had happened. I swore myself to that.

Hades took a deep breath of the air around us then turned to me and said, "So what exactly happened to you back…whoa." A look of surprise took his face and he stared at something slightly above and behind my right shoulder. "How long have you had that thing? I have really got to pay attention to my surroundings more."

I felt something in my flex. Some muscle contracted and relaxed slightly. It was a new muscle, something I hadn't ever flexed before. I looked over my shoulder to find a large dark wind protruding from my back. It had large dark feathers and stood out nearly two feet from my body.

"The wing…"

Memories of my encounter with Ansem came rushing back to me. My mind began to play the last raving moments of the man before he had escaped. "BUT YOU'LL HAVE ONE TOO WON'T YOU?" Could this be what he had meant? "COME TO THE HOLLOW CASTLE TO FIND THE GOD THE KEY AND YOUR WING!"

I brought myself back to the present moment. With a conscious effort I flexed the wing outwards and then in again. It didn't pose any difficulty nor did it cause me any pain. Well, that was not entirely true. Looking at it reminded me of Mother. It reminded me of how she had loved and trusted me, how she had fused with me, how she had given me power and wings. She had made me a Seraph.

This one black wing was not so different from my last. "My one winged angel," she had called me. "Bless these people with the red light from heaven. Surpass Holy and let us become God."

I flexed the new appendage once again and then I felt it begin to slowly dissipate. The dark feathers began to fall to the floor and it slowly shrunk into my shoulder again. When it was finally gone from sight I sighed and looked back at Hades. It felt comforting, knowing that I had a wing again. Something told me that it was a gift from Mother, some sort of reminder that she was still there, somewhere.

"So…uh…where did that come from?" Hades looked puzzled and lost.

"I'm not entirely sure, although, it doesn't really matter."

Hades made a small circle around me to stop at my backside. "Yeesh…wherever it came from, it left one nasty looking scar."

"Oh?"

"Yea…looks like something a Heartless would leave."

That was a very interesting comment. It very well could have been from when my heart had been stolen. The Heartless had struck my right shoulder…that was a very interesting idea.

Suddenly, voices emanated from the large door to the building behind me.

"You guys ain't heroes!"

"Come on!"

Hades turned to me and said, "Well…it looks like its almost time for my job to commence, I'll send you somewhere where with a good view of the action." The rough voice from the coliseum doors drifted out once again.

"If you guys wanna be heroes, start by mastering this spell."

Hades patted me on the shoulder. "I'll see you later, remember, no messing with your little friend before the contract finishes, eh?"

Then the air around me erupted into dark smoke. When it all cleared I realized that I was standing with an excellent view of what appeared to be the fighting grounds of the coliseum. Upon surveying my position, I saw that it would be almost impossible to recognize me from ground level. I sat down and began to meditate on my new position.

After perhaps half an hour, a boy with a key strode through the doors leading into the arena. He was followed immediately by a large duck and a strange creature resembling a dog of some sort. The two followers were fully clothed. The duck held something of a magic staff and the dog had a shield. The boy held a large key in his hand. They took fighting positions in the arena floor.

Four large human shaped Heartless creatures appeared along with three smaller shadow creatures wearing blue cloaks and small pointed hats. The battle was nothing spectacular. The boy and his crew had a difficult time, taking more damage than necessary from the blue Heartless' ice attacks. When they had finally defeated their opponents, they struck brief victory poses and then wandered back to the door from which they had entered. A small goat creature waited for them there.

As he spoke I recognized his voice as the same one that had talked of mastering spells. "You're no heroes yet, but you ain't doing bad. Lucky you came to me for coaching."

The doors to the arena slowly opened behind them. One leg passed the threshold, followed by the other. A man with a long flowing, if somewhat ragged, red cape came striding into the room. He looked down at the boy and his friends who returned his gaze. Without pause, the man passed the group standing by the door. The goat-man spoke to the boy with the key again.

"Something tells me he'll be a tough one to beat. Who knows, maybe you'll end up facing him."

The man strode onto the arena floor and took a readied stance that I knew all to well. He crouched slightly and raised his large sword to face the oncoming enemy. I glared down at the blonde haired man in the arena floor. I gripped the pillar that I stood on with all my strength, denting the stone. On the floor beneath me, Cloud began his first preliminary match of the tournament.

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Woo…it's been a difficult ride getting Cloud into the picture…didn't expect it to take four chapters. I spruced up some of the other chapters a bit…changed the thing about which shoulder the heartless stole his heart out of from the first chapter to fit this one….that's pretty important. I think it's going quite well…not much else to say…Read and Review! Later.