I don't not own none of the characters or places you see below. Never.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shadow Feather: Chapter 14

Deals and Memories

I awoke several days later. My body felt perfectly fine but my mind felt shaky, as if it were trying to recover from tripping over something. Leon and Yuffie had already left for the Coliseum to register for the Hades Cup. I considered joining it myself but decided that it would be safer not to do so in the off chance that I might run into Cloud earlier than I wished. When Cid returned from his trip to the Coliseum, he informed Aerith and I that he had no intention of making another one. He said he was tired and needed to restock on smokes.

Aerith took me to a new shop in the First District. The man in charge was named Geppetto. He sold designs for Gummi ships as well as the occasional full one. Because Cid would allow no one but himself to fly the Highwind, we got a ship from the puppeteer. We did not dwell on goodbyes. Cid and I had nothing to say. Aerith remembered what we had said last time. All we needed was a nod.

Once again, the Gummi ship had the destination all set and like Mickey's ship, had the warp drive function. When I entered the ship and pressed the button, I reached the planet in a matter of seconds. Upon leaving the ship I once again entered the large open grounds of the Coliseum courtyard. Dust whipped back and forth with the wind.

On a wall to my right, a large poster hung on the wall. I looked at it for a little while. It had the names of all the teams competing in the Hades tournament. I located Cloud and Leon's names in the 20th seed slot. I browsed briefly for Sora's name and eventually found it in the 23rd slot.

Suddenly the Coliseum doors burst open and an excited Phil scuttled across the courtyard with Hercules following closely behind. They stopped in front of the giant poster and Phil turned to Hercules. "Up," he said simply. Hercules lifted Phil up to the board and Phil reached out and swapped the 23rd and 22nd slots. After gently placing Phil on the dirt floor they looked up to admire the board.

Hercules smiled slightly and said, "He's moving along at an absolutely breakneck pace."

Phil grunted grudgingly and replied, "Yea…I s'pose."

"You like the kid don't you?" Hercules said slyly.

Phil crossed his arms and harrumphed loudly. "He's just a punk!"

"That's what you said about me."

Phil, eager to change the subject, glanced quickly around the courtyard. He noticed me and yelled out, "'Ey you! Registrations for the Hades Cup are closed! What do you want here?"

I thought for a moment. I wanted to fight with Sora. That was easy enough. Meeting him in the Arena would be the easiest way. "I want to fight the winner of the Hades Cup."

Phil looked dumbfounded and then laughed derisively. "Listen buddy. We can't just do that. You gotta enter the tournament just like everyone else."

"Are there any more tournaments coming up?"

"Not for a long time."

"Is there any way to organize a one on one fight then?"

Phil pulled at his goatee and then snorted. "Nope. Rules say that I can't give preferential treatment unless I like the person or they show some extraordinary skill." He turned his back and said over his shoulder, "And I don't like you!"

"Well then what would I have to do to show you I have extraordinary skill?"

Phil sighed in exhaustion. "I dunno. You come up with something if you want it so bad. I have a tournament to run. I can't be babysitting you all day."

I pointed to Hercules. "Is he in the tournament?"

Hercules raised an eyebrow and said with an edge of curiosity, "No…"

"Then I propose a one on one match with you. If I win within five minutes, I get to face any member of the Hades Cup I choose."

Phil turned around and dropped his jaw. After collecting himself from shock, he snorted and then fell over laughing. He rolled in the dirt for several minutes and then, with tears in his eyes stood up. He shook slightly and held his knees for support. "You got guts, kid. No doubt about that. I'll let you have your match, but never mind the time limit." He turned to Hercules and wiped the tears from his eyes. "You know the drill, don't hurt him too bad. Take it easy."

Hercules threw a little salute and then turned to me. "We've got to watch the next tournament match but right after that we'll spar for a bit." I nodded and followed them cautiously into the waiting room. Cloud was no where to be seen and I let out a little breath of relief. Leon leaned against the far wall. He looked at me with an upraised eyebrow and I shook my head. He nodded and lowered his head in contemplation. Phil walked out the door with Hercules.

"You're too late to sign up for the Hades Cup you know," said Leon.

"Yea."

"How are you going to face Sora?"

"I've got it under control."

Leon looked at me for a moment and then scoffed slightly. "Got it under control…boy have I heard that one before." I looked inquisitively at Leon. He shook his head. "The people I used to hang out with, back on my real world…Zell would say that a lot." He smiled and rubbed his temples. "He was usually wrong. For a while anyway. I never did give him enough credit in his abilities." He looked at me for a moment and then sighed. "I'm sorry…you probably don't want to hear this."

"It must be hard…losing people in the world shift."

"Yea…it is. But you would know too wouldn't you? You must have lost some friends when you lost your world. Someone close to you?"

I leaned back against the wall and crossed my arms. "I didn't have that many friends."

"I used to think that way. But everyone has at least one person."

I smiled slightly. "I thought I did."

"Thought?"

"As it turned out she was just using me."

"She?"

"Mother."

Leon looked at me strangely and then lowered his head. "Your own mother…using you? That's difficult to believe."

"She wasn't my mother. She was Mother. I believed in her. She made me feel complete. When I found out what I was, she provided some sort of freedom from thought. She gave me redemption of a sort. She did wonderful things for me…but I did terrible things for her. It took me a long time but I finally realized that she never cared about me at all…just the Reunion…and that is all."

Leon didn't say anything for a long time. We stood in silence for what seemed like hours. Finally, with difficulty Leon spoke. "Is that…why you killed Aerith?"

"Yes."

"She made you do it."

"No." I hugged myself tightly and looked at the floor. "She didn't make me do it. She just made it seem like it was the right thing to do. So I did. Without question. Because I believed her."

Leon looked at me with sadness in his eyes. "You've been through a lot." I nodded and we both knew that there was nothing more to say. As if triggered by the silence, the door slowly opened. Phil walked in with Hercules behind him.

"Another victory! I can't believe this kid!" he looked pointedly and Leon. "You're next. Go get your partner ready." Leon nodded and walked through the door to the arena. Phil looked at me and smiled broadly. "Your turn now, my friend. I figger we'll use the courtyard cause the arena will be in use."

"That's fine by me," I said.

"Me too," said Hercules.

When we were both in the center of the courtyard, Phil sat down on the steps and raised his hand. "SHAKE HANDS!" Hercules reached out a muscular arm and I gripped his leathery palm. We shook briefly and then stepped back several paces. I turned to look at Phil.

"I know you said to forget about the time limit but will you start a clock anyway? If I win I don't want you to BS your way out of the deal."

Phil raised a fist angrily and shook it. He looked like he was about to yell something when Hercules cut in. "Just do it Phil. It couldn't hurt." Phil, looking flustered, hobbled into the waiting room and fetched out a small clock and set it to two minutes.

"Alright you cocky punk, let's see what you can do! I want a fair match! Let's get it on!"

On his mark I unhooked Masamune from my side and threw it to the ground by the wall. Hercules raised an eyebrow but shrugged it off. He lifted his hand and held it out. He curled his fingers in condescending manner. "Come on buddy, clock's ticking." With that he began to lower his arm and assume a fighting position.

Before his arm could reach his side, my fist connected with the man's chest. The air drove from his lungs and his eyes bulged out. He flew backwards with unbelievable force but I still passed him and delivered a crushing roundhouse to the rotating man. The kick knocked him to the earth where he literally bounced from the floor into the air. Adrenaline rushing, I moved as fast as I could and met him in mid air as he rebounded upwards. Twisting my body in a full circle I used the momentum to bring my fist into his shoulder, sending in a crazy spiral straight toward the ground. He hit the soil with a crash. The collision shook the ground slightly. I landed lightly on one foot and smiled politely at the sprawled out figure.

"BY THE BEARD OF ZEUS!" Phil's jaw had reached the floor and was making small movements as it trying to eat something entirely too large for the small creature. He stared, wide-eyed, at his protégé.

"Are you going to count or is that the end?"

Phil shook himself and looked at the clock. Fifteen seconds had passed since Phil signaled the beginning of the fight. Phil shook himself again and nodded quickly. "Yea…erm…that's then end. Erm…you win."

"Hold on a second there, Phil." Hercules lurched to his feet. He looked somewhat woozy but otherwise no worse for the wear. He unsheathed a tiny sword and hurled it at the clock next to Phil. It pierced through the face and shattered the entire object. "The fight's not over yet. I would suggest you forget about the time limit. You underestimate how sturdy I am."

I cocked my head to one side. The boy was strong. I remembered his fight with the three headed dog. I knew he had immense offensive capabilities but I hadn't imagined he would be so tough when it came to endurance. A smile formed on the edge of my lips. "Alright."

I ran forward in a frontal assault. Hercules stepped back and raised a muscular fist. Calculating where I would be, he punched forcefully forward. Without hesitation I ducked under his fist and brought my elbow up into his abdomen. Hercules grunted in pain but recovered immediately and brought his free hand in a swift chop toward my neck. At the last second I grabbed his wrist and twisted it. Using his own weight against him I brought him off the ground. When he was directly above me, I pulled down hard on his arm and unfurled my leg in a vicious upward kick to his stomach.

For a moment he balanced there on my heel. I let go of his wrist and twisted my hips to bring my heel downwards with Hercules still hanging onto it. The position we arrived in had me nearly standing directly on the man's stomach with one foot. I ground my heel into his stomach and leaned over to grab his heels. Rolling on the floor with him in tow, I threw him away from me with my foot. He flew across the courtyard and smashed loudly into the stone wall.

"Herc!"

"Hercules may be strong, but he lacks the technique to make use of his strength," I commented to Philocetes.

There was suddenly a loud poof from across the yard and Hades appeared next to the slumped figure of Hercules. He gazed hungrily at the unconscious figure and then looked at me. "Well I had my doubts Sephiroth my boy…but you did deliver in the end!"

Phil looked from Hades to Hercules to me and then back to Hades. He pointed at me with a shaking finger and shouted, "YOU!"

"Yep, him." Hades smiled and patronizingly blew me a kiss. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have learned too much from previous failures to let this fella sleep for too long." Hades raised a hand and it burst into bright white flames. The flame glowed and filled the courtyard with light. He smiled maniacally and let loose a loud cackle. I dashed forward and flung out my hand, summoning Masamune to it.

Hades brought his fiery palm careening toward Hercules. With only centimeters remaining between the Hades' hand and Hercules' skull, I tore Masamune from it's sheathe and struck a deafening blow to Hades' chest. The dull side of the blade connected and thrust Hades across the dirt floor. He landed on his feet across the yard and burst into bright white flames. Rage caused his eyes to roll back into his skull and screamed something unintelligible.

Masamune shook violently in my hand. The intense vibrations meant that my life was in danger. I grabbed Hercules by the wrist and teleported to Phil. I grabbed the little man and dove behind one of the Coliseum pillars. Milliseconds after I had taken cover, white flames erupted from Hades' body. They coursed through the courtyard and scorched everything in sight. The flames tore around the pillar and left us overheated but not burned.

When the flames subsided I stepped out from behind the pillar. My hair was disheveled and messy. It fell across my face. I gripped Masamune until my knuckles tuned white. I took a step toward the God. My teeth clenched in absolute rage. I took another step and the energy that was being summoned about my person caused a small crater to form where my foot touched the ground.

Hades' white flames were slowly dying down to their usual blue color. His pupils reappeared and he looked upon me with more logical eyes. I took another step forward. Pebbles and stones began to rise from the ground and I formed another crater with the uncontrolled power that was issuing from my person.

Hades angry expression melted away and was replaced with one of uncomfortable fear. "Whoa there Sephirtoh, baby. Listen…I may have almost killed you just there…but look at the big picture…I didn't. Right?"

I slowly raised Masamune and then slashed violently outward with it. The flames atop Hades head severed and fell to the side until the laws of nature decided that this was no way for a fire to behave and Hades' "hair" righted itself once again.

"WHOA! Hold on there buddy! Ok…so I'm just going to get on out of here, alright?"

I took another earth-rending step forward. Hades waved comically and disappeared in a puff of smoke. I scanned the area once more for any trace of the god and finally sheathed Masamune with a wide smile. Phil came running toward me and stopped a few feet away.

"What's you deal?" He asked suspiciously. "You workin' for Hades or not?"

"My deal is the one I made with you. And I don't work for Hades at all."

Phil looked at me with a doubtful expression but finally relented. "Aright…I'll trust you fer now…but only 'cause you saved me an Herc here. You'll get your match, who do you want it with?"

"Sora. The Keybearer. One-on-One."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I like the fight between Hercules and Sephiroth…I think it's high time Seph owned someone. Who better than a godmoding Disney demi-god?

Yay reviewers! The following people are cool and you should give them munnies: xsaturnine, Emmy19 and…this is odd…Prinsessa Garnet…did you change your pen name? Well…thankies to Unita for reviewing as well!

It feels weird not having a long authors note…but…I suppose this is all I have to say. Thank you all for reading so much! I love you all! Except you. No. Him. Yea. Later!