Full Title: Days Until Doomsday
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts (AU)
Characters: Cloud, Sephiroth, Tifa, Xehonart/Ansem
Spoilers: Final Fantasy VII: Last Order, Kingdom Hearts II
Notes: Based off a Kingdom Hearts II Alternate Universe Role Play. Sephiroth and Cloud's origins from Hollow Bastion are different, meaning that Sephiroth and Cloud are two separate people and Sephiroth does not embody Cloud's darkness. Several references and character stories in this originate from Final Fantasy VII, mainly from FFVII: Last Order. There are also additional notes at the end of the story.
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Four months
She stood with her hands on her hips, looking down at the mess of blond hair as he read. It was one of the warmest days they had seen in weeks, and he was sitting there reading. She tipped her rodeo hat back, letting it hang by its fasteners around her neck and slammed her hands down on the table. The table shook, nearly breaking under the force but it was able to sustain itself. He slowly looked up at her, his bright blue eyes blazing under the sun's rays up at her.
"Come on Cloud, today's a beautiful day, you shouldn't be reading!" she snatched the book from the table and he desperately moved to claim it back from her hands. She laughed and moved her dark hair from her eyes as she scanned over his reading material. "Swords? You're still studying those?"
Cloud Strife stood at his full height, claiming the book back from her and setting it on the table. "You have your love of martial arts, Tifa, I have my love for swords."
Tifa Lockhart sighed and flipped her hair over her shoulder. She pulled her hat back onto her head, casting shade over her burnt amber eyes. "There's no reason for you to study swords, unless you plan on chopping wood with them for the rest of your life."
"You never know." He replied and picked his book up. He began to walk away and Tifa fell into a stride beside him. "Did you hear?"
"Yeah… more disappearances." Tifa folded her arms. "They are always when they are heading towards the Castle…Cloud," she looked at him from under the rim of her hat as he turned his attention from the road to her. "They're always transports to the Castle… the ones that are ambushed."
He nodded.
"They're saying Ansem is coming tomorrow… he has a revolutionary idea from what I hear…" she stopped and took his arm. Cloud stopped beside her, looking down at her with a tilt of his head. "You're going to keep your promise right?"
"I never break a promise to a friend, Tifa. You know that."
Tifa glanced away. "I know, but Cloud this is King Ansem…he can do anything he wants, he doesn't need a reason beyond that he is King. I trust him, of course, but the people in his court…" she sighed, trying to collect her scattered thoughts in order to explain to them. "I just have this horrible feeling that whatever is going on at the Castle, with the disappearances… it's going to recherché back here."
Cloud smiled softly. "I promised that I would come for you when you were in danger, Tifa. I'll keep that promise, even if the stars fall and the world ends."
Tifa grinned. "You know, some would say that's a marriage proposal."
"Good thing we're childhood friends then. We wouldn't want to give people the wrong impression." He teased. He chuckled and rubbed his arm as she delivered a soft punch. She took his arm again and led him down the paved sidewalk to the congregation.
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Three months twenty nine days
"His name is Sephiroth." Cloud whispered to her as they stood in the town wide congregation.
In the center of the congregation sat a small stage with their ruler, Ansem, standing upon it. His long white hair was perfectly straight, his golden eyes surveying the company around him. Beside him stood a slightly taller man with long silver hair and pale skin, green eyes staring at the young men and women in the front. His attire showed that he was an elite guard within the Castle, a trusted bodyguard of Ansem.
"Looks like he's trying to be more than he is." Tifa grumbled but Cloud covered her mouth with his hand.
Ansem took a step forward, hands following the gesture of his speech. "Today, my people, I have come to select those who will join my elite. They will be trained in the field of their choice" he gestured to Sephiroth, the tall silent silver haired man beside him. "This man is my strongest and newest addition to the elite. He will be aiding me in my…decisions."
"They say he's the best. Perfect in every way from giving orders to taking them." Tifa sat with her back to Cloud's at the pier; head leaned against his as he contemplated. "So perfect that people have gone to say he's an angel. Sephiroth the Garden's Angel."
"Hardly." Cloud said. "No one is that perfect except through ignorance. He can be the best at what he does, but everyone screws up sooner or later."
"Tough words coming from you." Tifa teased, stretching her arms up. There was a still silence between them; the only sound was the water lapping against the pier. "You're going to go and join it aren't you?"
"It's my one chance." Cloud spoke softly. "This will help me keep my promise to you."
"Is that the real reason you're going, or is that the excuse you're giving me to let you go?" she asked.
He never answered her question. Even that night when he said goodbye to her in front of all the other candidates and she gave him what she called 'her good luck kiss'.
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Three months twenty eight days
It had been the first day on the road and the first time he could ever recall leaving home. Ansem had been no where in sight since the day before, but the perfect soldier Sephiroth had taken the responsibility on easily. No one dared to disobey the silver haired elite, simply in fear of the long katana sheathed at his side. Cloud could tell the man had a sense of overconfidence around him, maybe there wasn't a doubt he was the best of the best that Ansem had found so far.
"Strife."
Cloud looked up to find the silver haired man.
The green eyes peered down at him. "I hear you've been studying the art of the sword."
"Since I was a child." Cloud said distantly.
"I would like to see your skills in battle." He spoke and turned away, but paused. "That woman with you?"
"A childhood friend." The blazing blue eyes met the static green eyes. "That's all."
Sephiroth turned as a small Moogle rushed up to Cloud, wearing a bag at her side. The Moogle pulled out a small letter and placed it in Cloud's hand. He gave a small smile, placing the Moogle's payment in its paw and watched it fly off. His eyes scanned the letter.
Cloud –
I want to experience my hero saving me at least once. So study hard, enjoy yourself. I'll be waiting.
- Tifa
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Three months four days
It was a special announcement. The best of the best had been assembled down to the lifts of the Castle. He stood there with just a few others; no one else from his home town was there. But Sephiroth was there, the perfect soldier. Cloud had been indifferent towards him. He admired the man's skills in battle and technique, but the man seemed so lifeless…a lack of emotions. Cloud was never one to show his emotions around others either, but Sephiroth seemed almost like an animated doll. A heartless being.
The lift was open and they stepped inside. Cloud stood tall and confident. He was here to prove himself to their King, to show that he was strong, and to prove to Tifa that she did not always need to tend to his every need. He would succeed and pass through any obstacle. He already had. Many had compared him to Sephiroth, and maybe that was why the silver haired elite was even colder to him. He saw Cloud as a threat. Maybe he was a threat.
"Cloud."
He looked at the silver haired man that stood beside him. The elite was in his twenties, he was still a young man of nineteen. He was slightly off set by how the older man was speaking with him.
"You've grown." Sephiroth spoke. "Your skills come naturally. I hope that you still intend to show me your skills someday in battle."
"I do."
"Good." he said as he stepped off the lift.
They were met by chaos. Lights and tubes everywhere, electronic systems decorating the room as well as lights within the walls. There was a cry and a fight broke out against small dark creatures with golden eyes, snapping and tearing at them. Sephiroth had destroyed most of them with one fell swoop of his katana, leaving the others to deal with the strays. Cloud turned as Sephiroth stood in front of a man in a lab coat with long white hair. The tip of the katana nearly touched the tanned man's skin.
"Yes they'll do." Ansem spoke. "Even, Ienzo."
Chaos erupted again, and Cloud found himself on the ground far away from his weapon of choice. He stretched out for it to fend off his attackers, but it was of no use. He felt something crash into his head, and fell into darkness.
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Two months eleven days
"I found her Cloud."
His eyes moved up to the silver haired man that sat against the wall of their prison. His head was lowered, hand clutching his chest over his heart and breathing harshly. Cloud knew all too well what the pain was like, the pain of failing and slowly loosing the hope and ability to see what was left good in the world. He had seen Sephiroth grow angry that the world had no light left, where as he had fallen into despair. He was too weak to even move, why move if there was no light left?
"I finally found her…kaasan…"
Mother. He missed his family, his home, his friends, but he doubted that they even remembered him now.
"She's here…Ansem has been keeping her here…they've been looking after my kaasan…all these years…"
His eyes moved to the black feather on the ground. He wondered if Sephiroth even noticed the small wing protruding from his right shoulder, the black feathers falling from it. Part of an experiment, is what Ansem had told them, an experiment to bring out the heart's true potential and nature.
Maybe Sephiroth really was an angel. But, he had always remembered that angels had white wings. But white was the meaning of light, something that he could only see a glimmer of far in the distance.
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Two months six days
Her name was Jenova. Sephiroth's mother, Ansem's pride and joy. The first woman to live through the potential and true nature of the heart.
He had seen her once, as he was dragged to the room to begin his potential for the day. She had silver hair like her son, but was in a tank of green liquid. Her eyes glowed gold and her skin was a tainted blue, all thought seemed to be lost. And even the ability to recognize anything around her seemed to be stolen away.
His eyes had shifted to Jenova, that day as they dragged him from the room. There was a clash and he had managed to turn his head to see Sephiroth fly from his captors to the tank Jenova was kept in. His hands were pressing against the glass, green eyes wide with an almost psychotic happiness to them. Those who worked for Ansem reached to grab Sephiroth and pull him back, but the full grown wing knocked them aside.
"Kaasan."
For once Jenova seemed to move, her head lifting slowly as if reacting to his words. But it was short lived as they had finally grabbed Sephiroth. Jenova's head lowered, as if the last of the life had been stolen from her. It was then that Cloud had seen the first true heartless being of his life – a shell living only because the heart was working, but no life or light was left in the shell. A true Heartless.
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One month one day
Cloud huddled as far as he could into the corner of his 'room'. His back ached and he gasped for breath from the mind blowing pain. He slowly parted the fingers that covered his eyes, looking down at the puddle of water that had formed from the leaks of the ceiling. Two golden eyes looked back at him, no longer the bright blue from before, like Jenova's eyes.
He let out a cry of pain and huddled further into a ball, letting out gasps. His mutation had started, what Ansem had referred to as 'his true form', and what Sephiroth said was 'his true nature'. From his left shoulder a wing had started to grow just weeks before, and now it was finished. The black leathery wing stretched out to its full height and width, stretching the muscles and pulling on the skin and muscles it was attached to on his back. He let out another painful whimper as his body adjusted to its new addition. He covered his eyes with his hands again, huddling further into the corner.
"You should not be afraid of your true self, Cloud." The silver haired angel said. "You a devil…and I an angel. The Kata Tsubashi no Tenshi and the Kata Tsubashi no Akuma."
He wrapped his wing of abomination around him to hide himself from the words of the twisted man. All he wished for was the light.
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Twenty nine days
"He's escaped m'lord Ansem! And he has taken the Jenova Project with him!"
Cloud looked up slightly as the silver haired man stood amongst the flames; the woman in his arms was no longer a human woman, but a mutilated and deformed creature. The long katana was brandished as well, glowing in the flames.
"We'll have to continue to clone those manufactured Heartless now, without the genuine first Heartless. This is not going to follow through well, Lord."
The tip of the blade touched his cheek; his wing twitched and fluttered slightly, the wind blowing the blond bangs from his eyes.
"On a good note, the Strife boy is still here and showing amazing resistance to becoming a Heartless. While he's succumbed to it, he still retains his heart. He and Sephiroth are truly strong willed."
The light hurt his eyes, but he did not move them from the silhouette of the black winged angel with one wing. "If you remember nothing Cloud, than remember this. All the hell you and I have lived through… that Kaasan lived through….it was your fault. If you had denied the orders to come here, none of this would have happened."
"Sephiroth has already been sighted in several places along the country side, leaving devastation in his wake. What are we going to do?"
"Nothing. Let his madness and thirst for revenge claim his heart and make him a Heartless. Then the experiment will be over."
He watched as Sephiroth turned in the flames, carrying his inhumane mother with him as the flames spread. His wing folded down against his back as the temperature rose.
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One week
"Sephiroth has destroyed over twenty towns since his escape. Should we truly do nothing, m'Lord? The people are expecting it."
He raised his head to listen.
"No need. I have found the door. This world will not matter soon enough."
He didn't understand.
"They say that Sephiroth was on the path towards Strife's hometown. Should we tell him?"
He turned his head to look at the three in white coats, speaking in hushed whispers. Home, Sephiroth was heading for his home with that thing he called his mother.
"I promised that I would come for you when you were in danger, Tifa. I'll keep that promise, even if the stars fall and the world ends."
He grabbed the large piece of metal through the metal bars of his cell.
"This will help me keep my promise to you."
"Is that the real reason you're going, or is that the excuse you're giving me to let you go?"
He twisted the metal and the metal bars, standing up and leaping at the three that stood between him and his home; between him and Sephiroth, between him and his promise.
'I want to experience my hero saving me at least once. So study hard, enjoy yourself. I'll be waiting.'
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Doomsday
The fire reached the sky as he ran home. The windows were shattering, the buildings falling in, ash collecting on the water and the pier. His left leg refused to cooperate, causing him to half limp and half run into his hometown. Only a few faces were recognizable to him, the rest were scattered around the town murdered in cold blood by the one winged angel. He forced his leg to run with him, his wing folded against him as he looked around desperately.
"Kaasan! Otousan!"
The only answers were from the roaring flames around him, his wing spreading out to fan the black smoke away from him so that he could see. He no longer felt pain when it moved. His home was burning around him to ashes and rubble, the angel had moved on several hours before. He ran up the stairs to the second layer of the town but it was the same as the first. He still clutched the piece of metal he had used to fight his way free to this.
"TIFA!"
He looked around desperately; whatever light of hope he had left in him had fizzled and risen with the smoke around him. Nothing was left after searching the town apart, no people, no friends, and no family. He couldn't find her. After he had promised to come for her when she needed him.
Extra Notes:
1. Jenova is not an alien from another world. She is a human and resident of Hollow Bastion before she was abducted by Xehonart/Ansem.
2. The idea of Moogles delivering letters comes from Final Fantasy IX's "Mognet".
3. Kaasan means "mother", Otousan means "father".
4. Kata Tsubashi no Tenshi and Kata Tsubashi no Akuma mean "The One Winged Angel" and "The One Winged Devil/Demon".