Darkness Rising

By Chibi Nataku

Disclaimer: In no way do I hold claim over any of the characters of Kingdom Hearts, who are currently owned by Square. Despite my attempts to grab hold of even a cardboard cut-out of my favourite characters, my efforts have fallen short so they will probably always remain under rights of Square (the world is so unfair :P)

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Heehee, I just wanted to say that when ' happens, it is to indicate a dream-like voice that Cloud can only hear unless otherwise specified. Of course, we all know that Cloud is crazy and hears voices in his head. ~{ indicates one very special person's speech who will become rather obvious as the chapter proceeds. Of course, only Cloud can hear the voice (Geez, I give him way too many voices in his head)

SPECIAL NOTE/WARNING: I know, I know, but I just have to put up a warning for slight shounen-ai in this chapter between two males. There is not much aside from a few kisses and the occasional grope. If this offends or scares you, please do not read ahead. I am not to blame for any cracked brains out there.

Chapter 8 - Darkness Descends

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The life of the planet known as Hollow Bastion surged and shifted, the many voices all echoing at the same time. Its previously subtle attempts to draw back the planets strong heart had failed thanks to the darkness that acted as a shield against its calls. The life force was very much aware of the slowly falling state of its protector, and, though it did not feel emotion, it worried and toiled in its strong hearts desperate struggles to avoid the darkness that was waiting to take over the blonde's heart at a moments notice.

Its own desperation for its warrior to defend against the Heartless that was invading more and more was also increasing. It knew that it was slowly losing its hold and the planet was slowly but surely dying. If it could draw enough power to vanquish the Heartless, it would. However, it was aware that such attempts would be futile until the keyhole was sealed away. So, it called out to its strong heart for protection until that time.

It had universally decided that it was the essence known as Ansem that was to blame for the recent serge of darkness that was biting at its energy, and it was more than angry with the influx of evil on its surface. It wanted to be rid of Ansem, even if it meant killing the former ruler's current body. It also wished that the Princesses of Heart were removed and dispersed again, if only to force the gate to the End of the World to be sealed away forever. Only it was allowed to know the secret of Kingdom Hearts, and it was angered that its careful secrets were known by many now.

A small essence of the planet drifted forward, the ball of energy slowly molding into a shape, a strong body with arms and legs forming around a single consciousness. The green energy melted back into the full pool of life force, leaving a dark-haired man standing looking off into some distant place. He ran a hand through his spiky black locks, enjoying the feeling of a temporary form aside from the green life force. Slowly, he turned to regard the seething mass of his fellows, a small grin pulling at his lips. He said nothing and waited to be instructed as to his new task.

'You are his guardian, appointed by us at the time of his birth. Bring home our warrior.' The planet churned and shifted around the young man, almost nuzzling him. He was their own, the one creation that they had made to offer protection and guidance to its strong heart. It was pleased by him, both because he was one with them and because he had gained the trust of its strong heart. 'We must protect our warrior and ourselves. It is time he returned home to us. We will protect his heart.'

The dark-haired man closed his glowing blue eyes and slowly nodded his head. Like the rest of the planet, he could feel the fading life force of the blonde warrior, but unlike the planet, he had the ability to feel worry for Cloud. 'Consider him returned. We will protect him as best as we can and urge him to return.' The dark-haired man shook his head, aware that he would have to work to force himself to consider his individuality, especially around the blonde.

'Protect him from the cursed ones. This...Sephiroth is drawing too close. We must draw our warrior home to battle the cursed one as best as possible.' The planet grumbled in anger at the thought of the silver-haired General. That same man had come quite close to it only a short time ago, and it was displeased with this. Had it the strength, it would have removed the cursed one for good when Sephiroth had appeared to it. 'Do what we must to keep that man away from our strong heart.'

The dark-haired man waved a hand at the planet. 'Yeah, yeah, we got it.' He pulled further away from the planet's safety, waving a hand in the air to form clothing around his naked form. He doubted that Cloud would be pleased to see him wandering about naked and insisting on speaking in public. 'Where is he? Have we found him yet?'

The planet rumbled in almost frustration, a few definite facial outlines appearing in the sea of glowing green. The outlines growled and shifted to match a facial expression to the mood it considered itself aware of. 'We have only little contact with him. It must be drawn deep into the realm of the dead of another planet. We have no place within those places on other planets, but we feel our warrior on the move.' It shifted in agreement with many different voices. 'We sense that he will be available for contact very soon. Go, and find him.'

'Right, find Cloud, pester him, save his skinny butt from the darkness, and bring him home...Yeah, that sounds as easy as shaving someone's body with a dull razor.' The dark-haired man noted that the planet did not react in understanding to his mockery, but it had obviously sensed his displeasure with the task for it began to draw him back into the wisps of green. He waved his hands in the air. 'Whoa, whoa, we know! We will do the task we are appointed for. We've heard this speech before!' He mock brushed his clothing when the planet grumbled and released its hold on him. 'We are his guardian who guides, serves, and protects the strong heart. We are the only one with the ability...and social skills...to communicate and befriend our warrior and bring him back to his place of...blah blah blah...Yeah, we've heard the motivational speech before.'

'Just go...' The planet replied, shoving the dark-haired man towards full freedom. It admitted that it was pleased when the dark-haired man shifted and disappeared from the inside of the planet. Though it had a connection with the man because he was still part of itself, it would only communicate rarely. It was dangerous to alert the former ruler that it was on the move to draw back its strong heart.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Hades drifted down the shadowed hallway, formulating new plans and re-evaluating old ones. His plans had so far been going in a forward direction, and he was pleased by this fact. Since the arrival of his newest additions to the Underworld, he found that priorities were getting finished much more quickly and his percentage rate of incompetence was dropping.

He admitted that Sephiroth was performing much more effectively than Cloud, but as far as he was concerned, he had given the blonde a much harder task and the fact that Cloud could think in logical manner most of the time made the blonde more effective in the long run. Of course, it was obvious that Cloud was also considerably easier to manipulate and keep control of, a fact that he often reveled in when he insulted the blonde. Because of the blonde warrior's mental stability and quiet manners, it was easy to call Cloud up whenever he felt the need. Sephiroth, on the other hand, came and went as the silver-haired man pleased and did not tolerate his insults for very long. Comparing the two warriors, he would be best if he could keep them both, but if he had to choose between the two of them, he would much rather keep the blonde around. As soon as Cloud finished Hercules off, he could set the blonde loose on all of his remaining enemies.

Of course, because he had restricted the blonde's movements since Cloud had wandered off, he was much more aware of how the younger warrior worked. Silent and stubborn, Cloud was quite predictable from the outside, but he admitted that he really was no closer to understanding what thoughts ran through that spiky blonde head. The blonde often never voiced any strong opinion and kept more to the shadows when it came to mocking personal issues. Really, most of his inquires into Cloud had turned up very little details so the blonde's past was cloaked in mystery. Although he enjoyed mysteries, he was frustrated because he couldn't use the warrior's past if he didn't know what it was. He wanted to set a situation where the blonde would fall into his hold for a longer period of time, and, aside from using Sephiroth, he was no closer in getting the blonde to remain where he wanted Cloud. All of his attempts in the last weeks had failed.

Really, his frustration towards Cloud had turning into elation for Sephiroth. With each passing day, his power was growing as the former General plundered worlds at his command. The silver-haired man even managed to fulfill the duties of a proper psychopomp by leading all of the newly deceased souls into his realm. The almost constant influx had changed his mood towards the intolerance that he often showed Sephiroth, and he even managed to stand by when the silver-haired man insisted on spending some time with the blonde when Cloud was deeply asleep. Though he was pleased, he had openly refused to allow another encounter with the blonde until Sephiroth had preformed all the duties he set down. He could tell that his decision was slowly grating on the former General's tolerance towards the new job, and Hades knew that he would have to allow the silver-haired man a dream soon. He knew that Sephiroth would dare not overstep any boundaries, so he would just have to make some that he just wouldn't tell the former General about.

He stopped when he was in front of the blonde's bedroom, quirking an eyebrow at an anger shout before the wooden door shuddered as something obviously heavy smashed into. At first, he thought that someone else must have been in Cloud's room, especially considering that he had never really seen the blonde angry, but as he leaned a little closer, he came to the conclusion that it was indeed Cloud. He couldn't tell for sure until the blonde's massive blade smashed through the wood and sailed by in front of his path, coming a little too close to his robes. He grinned and peeked in the rather large hole in the door. "Is it that time of the month, Blondie?" He noted that the blonde's back was to the door, quirking an eyebrow as Cloud's demonic wing hung limply at a very odd angle, obviously broken. "There is treatment for erectile dysfunction you know...I can ask Zeus if you need it."

Cloud slowly turned to regard Hades, his expression shifting to stony neutral. He let the small knife slip from his grasp, listening distantly as it clattered to the floor. The voices that had driven him to express his frustration slowly began to fade away until they were a dull whisper that tickled the edges of his conscious mind. He drew in a deep breath and stalked over to the door, ignoring pain that caused left shoulder and arm to tremble. Unceremoniously, he pulled the wooden door open and flung it to the side, stepping out into the darkened hallway to retrieve his sword.

He slowly bent to grab the sword, closing his eyes as his broken wing shifted, the muscles attached to the broken appendage screaming at him. He felt a rush of fire lace up his side as he forced himself upright again, turning more slowly to regard Hades. He started to walk back to his room, allowing his sword to drag behind him in such a fashion that the occasional spark jumped from the stone. He lifted his demonic hand when Hades attempted to speak. "Don't talk. The mere sound of your voice makes me want to slit my own wrists." He tossed his sword into his room again, noting that it crashed into the mussed bed, turned on his heel and slammed the door again, shaking his head when one of the hinges gave way.

Hades glanced at the door out of the corner of his eye and considered his next course of action. He had obviously caught the blonde at a bad moment, though he would be interested to see just how Cloud planned to slit a wrist with the enormous blade. It was almost tempting to let the blonde go ahead with the cute little attempt, though it would be more than a little messy to clean up afterwards. He really didn't want Blondie blood all over the room; stains like that were difficult to remove.

He stepped into the blonde's room as if there was no door, drifting over to where Cloud sat on the bed staring at the floor. He moved close enough so that he could see what had caught the blonde's attention, but quickly grew bored with the lack of activity and took a step back. He examined his fingernails as he was ignored. "Did someone wake up on the wrong side of life?" He looked around when the blonde said nothing. "Okay, okay, are you mad because you've been grounded you for a month? I mean...come on! It wasn't my fault you decided that you would like to take a friendly stroll around the worlds and nearly get yourself killed at the same time!" He let his arms fall to his side limply when again Cloud did not react to him. "Giving me the silent treatment will only extend your grounding, young man."

Cloud shifted his gaze from the floor to Hades before going back to ignoring the god. He was not in the mood to be dealing with anything but his own thoughts of why he was suddenly hearing voices that were constantly demanding he go back home. He had never heard these voices before, except for sometimes whispers moved through his dreams, but now he was regularly harassed during the day with a combination of force that almost always gave him a headache. Trying to distract himself with training hardly ever helped either; rather, it usually encouraged the voices to speak louder and shriek about some strange force building. He had nearly given up trying to find away around the calls that were often too muddled with many voices to have a message that was distinguishable. All he knew was that if he sat quietly, they would eventually recede away but never fully gone.

He glanced over when Hades attempted to prod his damaged wing, slapping the blue hand away before gritting his teeth in pain and shutting his eyes tightly. When the pain drifted away to manageable, he lifted his glowing gaze back to Hades. "Don't touch it. Just leave me alone."

Hades put his hands on his hips and glowered down at the blonde, looking too much like a parent. "None of that lip, young man, or you'll get a good spanking." He huffed and drifted around to the other side of the blonde so that he was not so interested in poking Cloud's broken wing, shoving the blonde's good shoulder roughly. He grinned when Cloud leapt to his feet and seized the front of the blonde's sweater. "Remember who you work for, pawn. I control your destiny so I suggest you hold that tongue of yours."

Cloud pulled back against Hades' hold on him, glaring at the god. "Even a lowly pawn can become king."

"Or queen in your case." Hades shot back, pulling the blonde closer to his body so that their faces were only a few inches apart. "You've got skill, even I will admit that. However, I have no use for patheticness so buck up or I'll have your cute little soul faster than you can blink." He grinned when their gazes met and nodded his head. "That's right. I don't need permission to grab a soul. As far as I am concerned, you've already breached your contract, meaning that I can do whatever I want with you."

"Our deal only said that I had to kill--"

Hades shook the blonde until Cloud went silent, his hair shifting briefly to red. "I make the rules down here." He released his hold on the blonde and rubbed his hand on Cloud's shoulder as if to wipe off a dubious substance. "Now, I've been very nice with you, Blondie...nicer than most gods. I've let you get away with a lot of stuff, including disobeying a direct order. And you know what?" He drifted back towards the door, glancing back as Cloud followed his movements. "I'm still going to be nice to you because if I don't, you won't kill Jerk-ules." He stopped at the doorway, gaze still fixed on the glowing blue eyes set equally on him. "Now, I may get a mindless soul out of selling you out, but you are much more useful to me in a body and willing to fight. So, I give you another chance to prove yourself to me."

Cloud quirked an eyebrow and readjusted his sweater back into place, smoothing down the material again. "You want me to fight again?"

"Hey, you catch on quick. Damn rights, I want you to fight." Hades swiveled to fully face the blonde. "This time, you will get to fight your intended target. I only managed to swing a third seat placing for you so you have to defeat everyone below you to move forward, but the thick-headed brat will be there."

"Hercules?"

"No, the other thick-headed brat." Hades sighed when Cloud only stared at him. "Wow, no long-term memory in that spiky head of yours, I see. I guess being a warrior does have its advantages...get to forget all your enemies so fighting them again is a new adventure." He noted that Cloud only continued to stare at him. "Remember that kid with the duck and the dog?"

Cloud slowly nodded. "Sora."

"Yeah, that thick-headed brat is back. He's fighting in it too, but considering you smacked them around like Hera on a bad date, I'm sure you'll do fine." Hades smirked at the blonde's sudden small grin and turned back towards the door. "The tournament starts tomorrow morning so get that wing patched up and don't be late. I'll do more than just ground you if you're late."

"And if I fail?" Cloud inquired softly, running a hand over his aching shoulder.

Hades stopped in the doorway and chuckled softly. "Let's not talk about what will happen if you fail. I don't want to break your short-term memory right now...it's the only thing going for you." He waved a hand as he left through the door again.

Cloud flopped down on his disheveled bed again, wincing as his shoulder murmured its disapproval to his movements. He folded his hands in his lap and slowly nodded his head. He needed to finish with his contract, meaning that he needed to do whatever it took to kill the demi-god that Hades wanted removed. The sooner he removed his contract, the sooner he could deal with things that kept easing into his mind when he was not fully paying attention. If he could finish Hercules off, then Hades would give him information on Sephiroth. Once he had that information, he could finish his business with the former General and make plans to finding his planet again. Of course, once he was back on Hollow Bastion, he had no idea what he would do, probably fight the Heartless.

His urges to return to his planet were steadily increasing to the point where he could not even sleep without dreaming of it. He was always back walling the halls of his planet, feeling the breeze on his face and the smooth stone walls against his fingertips. He could hear the murmurs of other guards as if they were walking by him, but he could never see just who exactly was talking. He missed the halls, the meetings, the boring midnight guard shift, even the courtly dances where he needed to dress in full uniform and stand around while women fawned all over him. He wanted to be back there, and he always returned when he slept. Yet, when he slept, he was never alone.

He could feel it in the back of his mind, that presence that had been his only source of friendship when he was growing up. ~He~ had always visited and spoke of how special he was, the most special being on the entire planet. He would see a flash of ~his~ thick black hair out of the corner of his eye while he walked through his dreamscape. He occasional heard ~his~ soft chuckles on the breeze, or he even swore that he felt a soft tap on his shoulder. Yet, when he turned, ~he~ was never there. In some ways, he wondered what ~he~ wanted because ~he~ never appeared to him unless ~he~ wished to say something or sit with him.

He shook his head and forced himself to his feet. He had preparations to make before his fights tomorrow, and he especially needed to repair his damaged wing. He had to be in a solid mindset, hardened to the task that he had to accomplish. Once he was finished at the tournament, he could find Sephiroth then return to Hollow Bastion. It was a sound idea in his mind, but he knew that every sound plan had its tangents to wade through. Still, he had a job to do, and he was stubborn enough to get it done at his own pace.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Hey!"

Cloud turned from rooting around in his locker to face the key-blade master, glancing at the brunette's other friends. He raised his hand slightly in a gesture of silent 'hello' and adjusted his armour more tightly. He let his gaze drift over Sora's appearance, noting the obvious air of strength around the boy, meaning that the key-blade master had improved in skill. He nodded silently to himself and forced a small smile on his face, pulling his wing closer to his back. "Long time no see."

Sora grinned and nodded. "Yeah, I've been really busy with stuff." He looked over to Goofy before flopping down on the wooden bench beside the blonde, swinging his legs out in a childish manner. "I didn't see you at the last two tournaments." He said, meaning it more as a silent question than an actual statement.

"I was busy with...other priorities." Cloud replied softly, adjusting the belts around his legs more comfortably.

"So...I see that you are the third seat in this tournament. Do you think that you're going to win?" Sora asked almost casually, folding his hands behind his head.

Cloud shrugged his shoulders as he let his footfall back to the ground, now reaching for his gigantic sword. He casually strapped it to his back as his eye drifted to were the brunette's friends had wandered off to give them some privacy. "It doesn't matter if I win or lose. As long as you learn something new in a fight, you are a winner. Being the overall winner of a tournament is just a small merit for the skills you already know." He pulled his gloves more snugly on his hands and turned to regard Sora fully. "Do you think that you are going to win?"

"I don't know." It was Sora's turn to shrug his shoulders, slightly amazed by the wisdom that the blonde exhibited. Although, from his conversations with Leon and Aerith about Cloud, he could easily pick up the fact that something was hidden about the blonde that no one was willing to speak up on. He was not sure what it was, but he was slowly growing suspicious that all three had come from the same world, meaning that they had all grown up together. Yet, a few strange comments from Aerith lead him to believe that Cloud was actually older than both Leon and Aerith, a fact that he couldn't puzzle out because, in some ways, Leon looked older than the blonde. The more he talked with them about Cloud, the more he became confused with what concept he had missed, the big secret that always remained hidden. He wondered if Cloud would tell if asked.

He swiveled to face the blonde fully, pulling his knees up to his chest before resting his chin on his knees. He wondered where the strange glow came from in the blonde's eyes. "What world do you come from, Cloud? It's obvious that you're not from the Underworld, despite your abilities with the darkness." He watched the blonde's chin sink deeper behind the red cloak and silently pouted. "I might have been to your world. Donald, Goofy, and I have been to a lot of worlds lately."

Cloud slowly nodded his head before forcing his chin from his cloak again. There was really not much harm in telling Sora what planet he had stepped from. "I came from Hollow Bastion."

"Hey, so you know Aerith, Leon, and Yuffie then!" Sora chirped, now certain that the blonde had grown up with the other three. He watched the blonde turn away and shut the locker door. "How come I don't see you with them, then? I fought Leon and Yuffie in the last tournament, but they never mentioned you even when I asked."

Cloud silently cursed and ran a hand through his blonde spikes. He should have realized that the other three would have mentioned him if asked, though he doubted that Leon had anything nice to say about him. He forced himself to consider an answer that would not reveal too much about himself. "We lived on opposite sides of the planet. I never really knew them."

Sora could sense that the blonde was not telling the whole truth and wondered if he should call Cloud on it. He had no idea what kind of bad blood would have occurred to make Cloud and Leon dislike each other, but he thought that it had to have been something pretty bad. "Aerith said that she grew up with you." He pointed out softly.

Cloud knew that he visibly flinched despite his best efforts to keep neutral. He turned slowly to regard Sora and sighed heavily, shaking his head slightly as he leaned back against the locker behind him. "She was the only one that I knew on my planet. I... nevermind."

"No, what?" Sora asked, quite oblivious to the cause of the sudden tension around the blonde.

Cloud let his gaze fix directly on Sora's equally blue one. "I raised Aerith from the age of ten when my planet fell to the Heartless. That's how I know her." He folded his arms across his chest and looked down at the floor, casually kicking at the stone blocks. "How do you think that you'll do against Hercules?" His blatant change of topic indicated that he would not speak any more about the previous subject.

Sora slowly nodded his head, fully aware that he might have hit a slight nerve on the blonde. He dropped his legs down to tangle again as he considered the blonde's question. "I'm not sure. I've heard that he is pretty tough to beat...but I think I'll worry about beating him after I get by you." He grinned when the blonde stared at him in slight bewilderment. "You're not so easy yourself...I remember, I had bruises from my fight with you for weeks. Donald threw a fit with he found out that you were in this tournament. You'll go easy on him, right?"

Cloud snorted and shook his head. "I don't go easy on anyone. If you can't handle the fighting, you don't have a place in it. If you don't want to get beat, I suggest you beat me first." He glanced over to where Sora's companions were standing discussing something and almost grinned in anticipation. He looked back at Sora out of the corner of his eye. "You'll do fine in the tournament."

"Only if you are on your knees with your hands tied behind your back." Sora shot back.

"I need to be blindfolded and drunk out of my mind too." Cloud chuckled softly when Sora burst into laughter, glancing towards the Coliseum entrance where Sora's name was called. He nodded at the brunette and patted Sora on the shoulder. "Good luck."

Sora glanced back and waved warmly. "You'd better be blindfolded and drunk by the time I reach you!" He laughed at Cloud's grin and run up the hallway towards where his fighting would begin. He was certain that the blonde would watch him fight, probably study his movements too. He wondered if he would have an easier time against Cloud this time around. He certainly hoped so.

Cloud settled himself back into a neutral demeanor and casually walked after the trio. He trailed towards were he could watch the battling, leaning back against the wall. He looked out passed the wooden door, his gaze drifting between Sora and the Heartless the brunette was fighting. It was obvious that Sora had improved considerably, a thought that made him nod his head in slight appreciation; the boy learned as fast as he did at that age. Though he knew that Sora had improved, he was still confident in his own skills to defeat the brunette in armed combat.

~{Hey, here's where you've been hiding!}~ A more than cheerful voice chirped.

Cloud felt his body rigid and turned his head quickly, trying to catch a glimpse of the friend he had not seen in many years. Yet, he was only greeted with the smiling face of his intended target, Hercules. He grumbled softly and shook his head, thinking that he was slowly but surely going crazy. He shifted his gaze back to the fighting arena, attempting to ignore the other warrior.

"Hey, I guess we finally get to fight one another, eh?" Hercules grinned and held out his hand, noting that the blonde was trying to ignore him. He eventually let his hand fall back to his side, not sure what he had done to merit this cold treatment, especially considering he had never formally met the blond warrior before. Despite the blonde's coldness, he forced himself to stay nice. "So, what do you think of the kid? He's improving so much! I think he'll be a challenge soon enough, maybe not for me but you..."

Cloud glanced over at Hercules and set his jaw. "I won't have any trouble with him." He pushed off the wall as his name was called to indicate that he would soon be fighting Sora again. He looked directly at Hercules as he pulled his sword from his back and gestured to the demi-god with the tip of his blade. "I'll see you in the final." He stated coldly as he turned on his heel and pushed passed the wooden doors.

~{Geez Spike, that was cold.}~ The cheerful voice returned from behind the blonde.

Cloud stopped dead in his tracks, glancing over his shoulder to find his gaze actually fix on the form of his friend. He scowled when the dark-haired man wiggled fingers in a gesture of fun greeting. "Zax..."

~{The one and only.}~ Zax grinned and walked over to where Cloud was staring at him suspiciously. ~{Long time, no see.}~ He stopped and leaned in uncomfortably close to the blonde, his blue eyes twinkling with the same hint of mischievousness as they did the last time he had seen Cloud. ~{Wow, you're all grown up. Big and strong warrior...I shall forever call you...Smash Slamjaw!}~ He broke out into laughter at his own joke, quickly noting that Cloud did not share in his mirth and just continued to scowl at him. He forced himself to stop laughing and only smiled in apology. ~{What's wrong, Spike? We...I thought you'd be happy to see me.}~

"I haven't seen you for over twenty-one years, Zax. As soon as I joined up with the Royal Guards, I never saw you again." Cloud turned away from the dark-haired man and started walking again, swinging his sword to warm up his muscles. He could sense that Zax was following in behind him but continued to ignore the dark-haired man. He glanced back when Zax said nothing to him and noted the 'kicked puppy' look that the dark-haired man was giving him. "Why are you here?"

Zax casually shrugged his shoulders and wandered over to the blonde. He remained behind Cloud as he quickly pulled the blonde's sweater up, looking at the black veins that were visible along Cloud's naked back. He sighed as he found the blonde in a worse state than he had previously suspected and released his hold on the material as Cloud swiveled to glare at him and tuck the sweater in again. ~{I came because of that.}~ He gestured at the blonde's back. ~{You know me, always here to help.}~

Cloud glanced over to where his name was being called again before looking back at the dark-haired man and slowly nodding. "I could have used your help a few years ago." He stated and knew from Zax's hurt expression that the feelings from his friend were genuine. He gestured towards the fighting arena. "I have to go, Zax. We can continue this conversation at a later time."

~{Let the kid beat you.}~ Zax moved to stand in front of the blonde, their equally glowing gazes meeting. He put a hand on the blonde's shoulder, nearly recoiling at the crackle of darkness that tried to attack him. He knew that Cloud was unaware of the darkness or his connection to Hollow Bastion.

"I won't lose to a kid when I know that I can win." Cloud stated flatly. "I have a contract to fulfill."

Zax sighed heavily when the blonde pushed passed him and folded his arms across his chest. He already knew that Cloud could not beat Hercules with the tactics that the blonde wanted to use. ~{You can't beat Hercules, Cloud. You won't fill your contract so let the kid win. You'll see that I'm right.}~ He watched Cloud stop to regard him and grinned innocently. ~{You let that kid win, and I guarantee that you'll get your chance to fulfill your contract.}~

Cloud felt frustration slowly rising. The dark-haired man had abandoned him all those years ago and now all of a sudden shows up instructing him on how to win and lose his battles. He shook his head to force the frustration away. "You came all the way here just to tell me that I should lose to a kid?"

~{Well...not really. It's just a perk to me showing up.}~ Zax grinned and ran a hand through his hair, wandering closer to the blonde. ~{Trust me, Spike. Let the kid beat you then watch his fight with Hercules, and you will see what I mean. I promise to help you out.}~ He wrapped an arm around the blonde's shoulders and knocked his head against Cloud's playfully. ~{I'll even help you get back to Hollow Bastion if you want.}~

Cloud looked sharply at the dark-haired man before smiling shyly. Zax always had a way of showing him which direction he should be facing when he was bogged down with too many worries and details. He nodded his head when the dark-haired man ruffled his hair, obviously looking for a response from him. "I'd like to go there soon."

~{That's great!}~ Zax threw his arms in the air as if praising some obscure god. Obviously his mission was going to be a lot easier than he first thought. He swiveled on his heel and pointed at his chest. ~{Once you're done your contract, with el-manifico...heh, me...we will get right back there! I got this great place I want to show you!}~

"I have to find Sephiroth before I go back." Cloud replied, watching as the dark-haired man stared at him as if he was crazy. "He's tracking me down, and I need to get rid of him again before I go back."

~{Meh, that petty detail can be overlooked. He won't find you. I'll make sure of that.}~ Zax tried not to sound like he had already planned on how to deal with the obsessive General. He grinned at Cloud when the blonde quirked an eyebrow at him. He chuckled and scratched his head almost nervously. ~{Believe me, everything will be great if we go back to Hollow Bastion.}~

Cloud had a sneaking suspicion that Zax was not telling him the whole truth and opened his mouth to question his friend when his name was now being shouted. He looked between the arena and Zax before nodding. "You'll be around...right? If I go, you'll show up again, right?"

Zax bobbed his head in affirmation and gave Cloud a little wave. ~{You know me, I'll show up when I can. We have some stuff to discuss anyway.}~ He waved again when the blonde seemed to hesitate leaving, smiling as Cloud looked quite childish plagued with indecision. ~{I'll see you after the tournament is over, kay?}~ He drifted away when the blonde nodded resolutely and stalked towards the fighting arena, looking very much like a proud warrior. ~{Go lose, Fist Rockbone!}~

He looked around when Cloud disappeared to the fighting arena and sighed heavily. He shook his head and sat in midair as Cloud's final opponent walked by, examining Hercules carefully. He waved casually, fully aware that the demi-god couldn't actually see him. He made a few humourous faces at the back of Hercules and the odd obscene gestures of Cloud pounding the demi-god with wisps of green life force. ~{Geez, I love my job. Now only if Cloud would stop being so stubborn and just go back to Hollow Bastion.}~

He landed back on the ground when the god of the Underworld came into view, trying to decide whether or not he might actually been seen. When his presence was ignored, he walked over to where Hades appeared to be waiting for someone, eyes narrowing as the very General he had to protect Cloud from stepped from the shadows. He slipped in behind the silver-haired man and started to act out what it would be like to plunge his hand through Sephiroth's chest, making sure to do all the sound effects for his own benefit. He didn't bother to listen to their conversation, too intent of having a bit of fun at the silver-haired man's expense. He even managed to wear the Sephiroth's hair as a wig and nance behind the General when Sephiroth walked around a bit. ~{Best job...in the world! We think so!}~

"Did you just hear something?" Hades asked, looking around as if he had heard a foreign voice nearby.

Zax yelped and jumped the behind Sephiroth, silently kicking himself for not using his head. Of course the god of the Underworld would hear him if he tried talking. He shifted with the silver-haired man when Sephiroth moved to look around, making sure to hide so that he was not caught by Hades. Having a god see him was not part of the plan, especially if Cloud found out that he had been fooling around with General Sephiroth.

When the conversation picked up again, he slipped off towards the fighting arena, determined to put a bit of distance between himself and Hades. Besides, he needed to make sure that Cloud did as he ordered and lose, or Zax thought that he might have to play a dirty trick on the blonde just to have his own way. He needed Cloud to lose, if only to keep Sephiroth from having an opportunity to slip into the blonde's dreams again. He would need to set up a guard to prevent the General from having contact with Cloud, or all hope would be lost in getting the blonde back to Hollow Bastion quickly.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sephiroth growled as Hades ignored him and instead looked around for whatever had caught the god's attention. He set himself back on his heels before seizing Hades by the robes, forcing the god to regard him once more. "I've waited long enough. You have kept Cloud from my grasp for too long. He is mine so I want to have some time alone with him. Either you give me a way to do what I want, or I will find a way on my own."

Hades nodded his head in an attempt to stop the rant he knew that he would soon have to endure if he did not agree somewhat. He eventually shrugged his shoulders and grinned at the silver-haired man. "Yeah, I hear you, Wonderboy. You've done a great job for me so hear is what I'm going to do for you...'cause I'm such a loving god." He wrapped an arm around Sephiroth's shoulders and urged the man to walk with him as he moved to watch how the blonde fought. "If Blondie..."

"Cloud." Sephiroth retorted with exasperation. Would Hades never get it right?

"Right, if Clit manages to take out Hercules in this tournament, I'll make sure to get you into seeing him." Hades stopped when Sephiroth stopped and stepped out of his hold on the silver-haired man's shoulders. He cocked his head to the side when Sephiroth began shaking his head. "What, you got a neck-crick or something? Nervous twitch?"

Sephiroth scowled at Hades and took a step close to the god, their gazes meeting equally. "That's not good enough. I want a chance to see him no matter how he does in this stupid tournament because there is always a chance that he'll easy on the brat." He leaned back and unsheathed his sword, ready to use the blade to get what he wanted. "Give me Cloud. He's mine, and I have played your ridiculous game long enough. You either give me access to him, or I will take him."

"Ah ah ah." Hades wiggled his finger in the air as if scolding a naughty child. "That would be a preached of your contract."

"You make it sound like I care." Sephiroth shot back, slamming his sword tip into the ground so that the blade was now his height again. "I have been your puppet for long enough, and you have done nothing but keep me from my one goal. You are more powerful than you need to be thanks to me, and now I want a bit of a bonus for all my hard work." He crossed his arms in front of his chest and glared at Hades. "Give me Cloud and I might think of calling our arrangement even."

Hades quirked a rather unimpressed eyebrow at the silver-haired man. "Playing rough, are we?" He walked a few steps away from Sephiroth, contemplating his next action to keep himself in the best position of power. "Alright, here's what I will do for you. I'll give you one night, just ONE, with your precious where the kid won't wake up for exactly twelve hours." He rubbed his chin, considering what else he could throw in the please the silver-haired man, especially considering the stubborn expression that Sephiroth wore. "Not only do I give you twelve hours, I'll give you a door to whatever dream he is having." He grinned casually. "That way, you can have both his physical form and his mental one. Sound fair?"

Sephiroth sighed heavily and brushed a few stray locks of hair back over his shoulder, considering the deal. This sounded like it was all he could probably get from Hades. He set his jaw firmly before pulling Masamune from the ground and sheathed the blade back at his waist. "No disturbances?"

Hades rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, nothing will come into the room."

"I want more time." Sephiroth stated, running his fingers of the hilt of his blade. If he could push for more, he would hopefully get more. "Give me...say a week with him."

Hades blinked and shook his head, swinging his arms out instantly in a negative fashion. "A week! Are you crazy...oh, wait don't answer that." He shook his head when Sephiroth glared at him. "That's way too long. I may need him to fight for me in that time. I can't risk having one of my only reliable pawns out of the game for that long...plus, a week means you won't be doing anything either!" He crossed his arms again stubbornly. "The best I'll do is a day."

"Two." Sephiroth shot back.

"One and a half!" Hades leaned forward, challenging the silver-haired man to say something more.

"Two." Sephiroth insisted, smirking when Hades' hair began to turn red and the god's eyes bugged out more than usual. "Two and I'll throw in two more worlds destroyed."

Hades felt himself returning to normal. "Three worlds and you have yourself a deal."

"Done." Sephiroth replied easily, holding out his hand to affirm the deal between them. He smirked when Hades shook his hand and sighed. He had gotten what he had wanted and much more all things considering. He took a step back from Hades and nodded at the god. "I'll have two worlds down by the time this tournament is over. I will destroy the third after you have fulfilled your part of the bargain." Before Hades could protest, he teleported away to do his business, preparing himself for another wonderful encounter with his property.

Hades looked at the spot where Sephiroth had once been and cocked his head to the side. "Geez, Spiky is gonna messed in the head by the time I get finished with all these deals. Still, keeping Wonderboy under my control is well worth the effort."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Cloud stopped when he was several meters away from his opponents, shifting his grip on his sword before sheathing it on his back and adjusting his gloves more comfortably. His gaze never strayed from his weary opponents, suddenly very unsure if he wanted to lose to the trio. He knew that they were better since the last fight, but he was certain that he could probably defeat them by unhashing some of his old favourite skills.

The fact that Zax had insisted that he lose also weight heavily on his mind. The dark-haired man had wandered into his life at a young age when he had been reduced to living the upper portion of his house with only a sword for company and the yelling of adults below him. Zax had merrily appeared when he was alone and it seemed like they had grown up together, though he suspected that the dark-haired man was not something of his plane of living. However, Zax had always requested things that he had always done for one reason or another, but he was a trained warrior now. Zax had stopped visiting once he had become a Royal Guard, and he had often stared out at the sea wishing that his dark-haired friend would appear and speak with him. Yet, Zax never appeared and never advised him, and he had lost hope that he would ever see his friend again. How had Zax known to suddenly show up over twenty years after their last encounter when he found himself in trouble?

Cloud was vaguely aware of the whistle blowing to start the fight, but he only stood as Sora flew at him, grunting as the key-blade slammed into his chest several times, allowing his body to rock back with each hit. He kept his gaze on the ground, and eventually fell to one knee as he was attacked from all sides, wincing as cold magic bit at his skin and Goofy's metal shield smashed his shoulder roughly. 'How long will I always do what you ask of me, Zax?'

Sora jumped back and dropped down into a crouch, unsure of the sudden change in Cloud. He was weary, yet all the same, quite worried. It was as if the blonde had already given up the fight before it had even started. He desired a fair fight and beating on an opponent that wouldn't even bother to defend was not part of what he had in mind from Cloud. He charged the blonde, hoping that Cloud would at least unsheathe the enormous blade on the blonde's back and defend. He drove the key-blade forward, listening as Cloud grunted, turning himself to power up the attack as he slammed the key-blade into he blonde's ribs, gasping as he heard a gruesome crack as Cloud went flying away from him. He stood up as the blonde smashed into the ground hard and rolled a few feet, nearly rushing over to help Cloud when the blonde struggled to stand again. He held back and glanced at Donald who was moving closer to him wearily. "Donald, he's not fighting back...?"

"I know...something seems off with 'im." Donald looked at Sora and slowly shrugged his shoulders. "We should force him to surrender before we hurt him more. It's not even a challenge anymore. Kind of sad, really..."

"Yeah...I wonder what happened between now and the locker room." Sora slowly approached where Cloud stood swaying slightly. He was not sure if this was a sort of hoax or elaborate plan to make him drop his guard, but he was not sure how he should treat his opponent. He had expected Cloud to fight, but all he was doing was beating on the blonde who appeared to be refusing to fight back. "Cloud, lay your sword on the...What the...?" He took a step back when the blonde suddenly sunk to the ground.

Cloud grabbed at his hair as a sinister voice suddenly entered his mind and tried to shake it from slithering through his thoughts. The voice's coldness was chuckling softly, moving as if he had absolutely no defenses to this attack at all, and he instantly recognized it as the shadow boy that he had encountered several weeks before. 'What do you want? Get out of my head!'

'How come you're going to let a scrawny whelp like that beat us? We are better than this, and we must fight.' The voice whispered softly, wrapping darkened arms around the blonde's mind and nuzzling softly, drawing Cloud back into cool shadow. 'Why not spill a little blood? Feel the darkness in your heart...embrace it.'

'Shut it!' Cloud ordered the boy and tried to shake off the coldness around him. 'Leave me to fight as I want to fight.'

The shadow boy chuckled in mockery. 'Poor little us...all alone in our misery. Abandoned by everyone...hunted by the darkness. We would be a wonderful thing if we gave in to the darkness.'

The shadow boy stepped into the blonde's mindscape and grinned wolfishly, its blackened form shifting to that of an age identical to Cloud, two sets of great demonic wings arching from its back, its eyes harden shards of blue, slightly crazed. Both of its arms were demonic up to the elbow and crackled with black energy every time it flexed its hands. The demonic blonde's clothing was pure black, loose for battling and still wrapped in many belts, though the shoulder armour had been discarded and the hip guard was considerably more sinister looking. It grinned with that same cruel expression that made an opponent's blood run cold. 'Darkness rising, our dearest love. We could be one, if you would see the true power that lies in your heart.' It stretched out a demonic hand towards the other blonde. 'Embrace me and we shall rule this pitiful arena and crush any who dare stand in our way. We shall bath in the blood of our enemies and become drunk on the suffering that we shall create.'

Cloud recoiled and turned his back, swallowing the lump in his throat. He forced himself to breath and shove away the coldness that stroked his bare skin almost gently, shutting his eyes as demonic wings wrapped around his body and strong arms slipped around his waist. He could feel a cool, inviting breath against the back of his neck and tried almost desperately to pull away from the touch. He grimaced as the hold around his waist tightened, his body slowly feeling like it was drifting into a solid slumber, leaving only his mind to defend itself. Yet, the longer he remained in the embrace of the other, the more sheltered and accepted he felt, almost...loved.

~{Cloud! Get up!}~ Zax stormed forward into the blonde's mind, wrenching away the demonic form and standing between it and his friend. He snarled when the demonic Cloud laughed cruelly, wincing as dark energy sliced into him. ~{Leave here! You have no place with him!}~ He looked back to see Cloud moving towards the surface again, just where he wanted the blonde. He turned back to regard the demon and grinned. ~{The planet protects him so butt out.}~ Zax smirked when the demon began to scowl and made shooing motions. ~{The exit is that way so go throw yourself out of it.}~

'Hmpt, you can't protect what he is destined to become. We will wait and let him embrace us willingly then we will rip you limb from limb, guardian.' The demon snarled and turned away from the dark-haired man, glancing over to where Cloud had disappeared to before smirking again. 'He's reacting...How beautiful we are...'

Zax looked off to where the demon was staring, squinting to catch a glimpse of Cloud's inner thoughts. He quickly found that the blonde was too dazed to make any resistance against the darkness that surrounded Cloud's hearts and slowly began to squeeze. Sighing heavily, he shook his head. ~{Dammit, we can't leave you alone for five minutes without some crazed element trying to hump your head.}~

After a few minutes of debate, Sora reached a tentative hand out to touch the blonde's shaking shoulder. He ignored Donald's warnings that they should leave the blonde, and recoiled slightly as his fingers brushed against cold skin. He had only felt such cold when he touched a Heartless, making him take a tentative step back. He could feel heat begin to rise from Cloud when the blonde's shoulders stilled their trembling, suddenly very aware of a building power that was much too warm to be normal. He let out a surprised cry as he leapt back, holding up the keyblade to deflect the wave of crackling red energy that knocked both Donald and Goofy off of their feet. He only managed to stay on his feet because of the fact that he had leaned into the wave and forced it to wash around him.

Sora coughed as dust began to settle out, straining his eyes to catch a glimpse of the blonde. When the same energy began to crackle a few feet away and bit at his skin, he resisted moving closer. "Cloud, are you alright?" He put a protective hand across his face when another wave of energy blasted through the arena, this time forcing all the dust to settle. He blinked as he found the blonde drifting in midair, clutching at the enormous blade as red energy crackled over Cloud's body. "Cloud! What...?"

"Farewell..." Cloud closed his eyes and left his body up to instinct as he shot forward, vaguely aware of a desperate voice calling in the back of his mind. He ignored it and felt only with his body, enjoying each contraction of muscle, each shift of bone, and every crackle of energy that jumped up his cool skin. He felt every rise and fall of his blade, analyzing his form and technique before allowing the hot energy to aid him in defeating his opponents one-by-one. He could vaguely hear the cries of pain around him, and for whatever reason, it sounded strangely like beautiful music; he had never really listened to the cries of his opponents, but he admitted that he was entranced with the beauty of it now. The music only made him wish to make more of it, slashing with more force and speed than he had probably mentally intended, but it was alright because he was living by instincts now.

He became aware of cool arms sliding down his own and grasping his wrists as an equally cool body pressed up against his back. He shivered slightly as a face nuzzled the back of his neck and whispered words that he heard but did not process, only concentrating on the feeling of moving. Yet, in his movements, the person behind him moved along with him, as if they were dancing. He felt the embrace of wings wrapping around his body, pulling him close as he just stopped feeling the movements anymore, despite knowing that they were still in action.

'Turn and look at me, lovely.' A soft yet sinister voice whispered across the normal blonde's ear, pulling a hand back to stroke Cloud's soft neck, smirking when the blonde slowly turned to regard it. It could feel its power growing, and it knew that it was taking over. Even it had to admit that the pleasure of touching the other blonde was almost worth all the struggles it had been forced to endure just to get this far with Cloud. Soon, the blonde would be one with the darkness, and it would rule. It ran a demonic finger down the other warrior's cheek, pulling their faces close together. 'Our loneliness shall not be in vain, precious.' It watched the light fade from the blonde's eyes and chuckled coolly as it was faced with endless empty orbs of cobalt blue. Cloud was finally giving in after its fifteen years of attempting to grab a good hold, and finally its efforts had paid off. 'Lovely, let us return home and step through the door...Kingdom Hearts awaits us.'

Cloud felt cold lips close over his own and demonic wings fold around him as he was brought into a tight embrace. He felt something within him crack, yet he was too consumed with the passion of the kiss to really know what was crumbling down around him. Vaguely, he felt his own arms lift from his sides and move to embrace the other, pulled in more tightly as a desperate voice echoed in the distance. He too ignored the voice and slid his hands up the other's strong chest, slowly becoming aware of his fingers slipping past the confines of clothing and sinking into his demonic self's flesh. It was then he realized that the arms wrapped around his shoulders were sinking into his flesh and the wings surrounding him were fusing together into a cocoon of black. And everything began to feel wrong.

He pulled away from the kiss and tried to use his hands to shove the other away from him, grimacing as the arms around his shoulders only tightened. He shook his head and concentrated on trying to disentangle himself, turning to face the side as the same cool lips attempted to kiss him again, shuddering when his demonic self took his kissing his cheek, leaving numb flesh behind. Again, he tried to pull away from the strong embrace, bringing his attention to the other's smirking face when he found his bottom being groped. "No. Let me go." He ordered.

'Heh, no means yes and yes means more, lovely.' The demonic blonde replied coolly, bending to kiss Cloud again. It was not entirely sure how the other blonde had managed to wake up again, but it was confident that Cloud's resistance would falter now that they were so close. It pulled the other blonde harder against its body, letting the one arm wrapped around Cloud's shoulders to force their faces closer together. 'If you resist, we will only like this more...'

Cloud growled and shoved harder against the hold on him. "Well, I would hate to bore you by not struggling then..." He shifted his head away when the demonic blonde tried to kiss his lips again, closing his eyes tightly as cold lips instead met with the skin of his neck. He let out a small cry when his demonic self attempted to trip him, catching himself before his back met with the ground by one hand. He grunted as he was forced to support both his weight and the demon's weight with only one hand and foot, gritting his teeth as a clawed hand stroked his straining wrist. "No...I'm stronger than this..." He forced himself to shove the other hard, setting his stubbornness up as a wall.

The demon quirked an eyebrow as it was suddenly resisted, feeling its hold on the blonde slipping away. He growled in anger and made another grab for Cloud, snarling in predatory rage when it was suddenly kicked back and flipped from its position on top of the other blonde. It landed a few feet away and stalked back towards Cloud as the other blonde jumped back into standing position. It grabbed the blonde's shoulder roughly and rammed its other fist into Cloud's midsection, releasing some crackling black energy. It grinned cruelly when the other blonde let out a scream of pain and writhed in its grasp, closing its eyes in ecstasy as if Cloud's pain was its greatest pleasure.

It looked up when the voice of the blonde's guardian became clear, lifting a hand to set up a barrier against the planet's aid. It chuckled in mockery when the dark-haired guardian screamed and started to pound against its barrier of darkness. 'You get to watch as we take him, guardian.' It looked down to the slumped blonde resting against its shoulder, before looking back to where the dark-haired man was almost desperate to break the wall between them and smirked in triumph. It ran a gentle demonic hand through the shivering warrior's soft blonde locks before pulling the blonde close again. It placed a small kiss on Cloud's lips before wrapping its wings around the blonde once more. 'Remember to breathe when we slip below the surface, lovely. We are your nightmare...'

Cloud had never suspected that he would show this much weakness when facing certain doom, and he was forced to silence when he tried to consider what he had done it all the come down to this. He had resisted the darkness for fifteen years of his life, but none of that seemed to matter now that he was caught in the cold embrace of it. He knew that he had not fully given up, rather, he had been slowly losing for fifteen years, slowly consumed until he finally allowed himself to lose sight of what he had sworn to protect and unwittedly allowed the darkness in. And as he felt his body grow cold as a demonic hand slipped beneath his sweater, he began to realize that he would never find Sephiroth, never save Hollow Bastion, never help Sora, and never be able to give Aerith back her keepsake like he promised.

~{Cloud no! You can't give up! I just got here to help you! Fight him!}~ Zax shouted, pounding his fists on the invisible barrier that separated him from getting to Cloud. He was desperate, nearly clawing at the barrier as his connection with the planet screamed and writhed as it began to be torn apart by the darkness that Cloud was being consumed by. He felt his own energy draining away quickly. ~{You're the planets keeper, Cloud! Everything will die if you give in! Please...I told you that you were special, a gift from the planet! I didn't lie! Cloud!!}~

Cloud was vaguely aware of Zax's words passing over him and as he clung to his demonic self for support, he became aware that he was clasping an object in his right hand. He groaned as he lifted his arm to investigate the object, shivering as cold hands run up his back and began to stroke his shoulders almost tenderly. He had trouble balancing, forcing himself to lean more into the other's embrace, his gaze taking time to adjust to staring at the object in his hand. He felt a weak but tender smile pull at his lips as his blurring gaze landed on the stone that Aerith had given him.

The glowing stone felt warm in his cold hand, heat snaking up his arm and into his shoulder, slowly settling in his chest and spreading outwards. He clenched the stone tightly when the arms around his shoulders tightened to almost painful, the demon snarling in his ear as it turned to look at what had caught his attention. He began to find it easier to breathe as warmth returned to his body, and he suddenly took a step away from the demon holding him as if their arms weren't even around each other. He took another step away, noting the pained yet very angry expression on the demon blonde's face. He met the cold gaze and smiled slightly. "I have to go back. I promised Aerith that I would give her back her stone."

'No, we can give back at a more appropriate time, lovely.' The demon took a step towards the other blonde, beckoning that Cloud return to its hold.

Cloud clenched the stone in his hand and brought the object to his chest, looking back over his shoulder to where Zax leaned slumped against the barrier between them. He took a step towards his friend, stopping when a cold hand snatched his free wrist and tugged him back roughly. He felt wisps of green slipping between his fingers and lightly stroke his skin before shifting away from his demonic form. He smiled at the warm green wisps that arched towards where Zax leaned, his smile faltering slight as a wisps began to shift from his friend, Zax's form shimmering with green energy. "Zax...you are...!"

The demon wrapped an arm around the blonde's waist and pulled Cloud away from planet's guardian, smirking as it found the dark-haired man's life force draining away. It bent and kissed the blonde's shoulder, wincing as wisps of green snapped at him. It tried to ignore the wisps, intent of drawing Cloud back into the safety of the darkness. 'Come, lovely. We shall do great things together.'

~{...Cloud...I'm sorry I wasn't there all those years ago...It was my fault...}~ Zax whispered softly, his last words before he knew the end would take him. He was much too close to Cloud's darkness to be able to escape.

Cloud looked at the glowing stone in his hands, noting that it began to pulsate as he was pulled away. He nodded his head slowly as the wisps of green energy warmed his flesh and drifted innocently through the air before disappearing into the shadow. "Zax!"

Zax looked up slowly at the call of his name, eyes widening as Cloud tossed the solid glowing green stone towards him. He lifted a hand and pressed it against the invisible barrier as the stone arched into the air, smiling weakly as he could feel its warmth forcing his body to remain in place around him. However, he was forced to close his eyes as the stone suddenly released a bright flash of light, noting the agonized scream of the demonic Cloud as the wave washed over everything.

He looked up again when the light restored his strength to full, gaze fixing on Cloud's back where he caught sight of shimmering wispy green wings arching from the blonde's back. He laughed in joy as Cloud's blue clothing shifted briefly to a flowing white robe set around the blonde's waist, and he suddenly knew. ~{There's still hope! He can do it! We can be saved if he can still transcend!}~ No sooner had he leapt for joy then the light faded and the wisps disappeared, leaving him staring at Cloud's back again, noting that the blonde's small demonic wing still clung like a shadow. He jumped to his feet as the bearer shattered around him. ~{As long as there is hope that he can still make it, I can work with him. He just has to hold off the darkness long enough to make it back to Hollow Bastion.}~

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Cloud slowly cracked an eye open, shifting from where he was lying. Slowly, he turned his head, trying to discern where he was. He came to the quick conclusion that he was lying in a bed in what looked to be the infirmary of the Coliseum. He sat up and grabbed his head as a pounding headache rocked his mind. He waited for the dizziness to release him and eventually looked around at his surroundings.

The room was not considerably large and contained only two other beds, both of which were occupied by Sora's two allies. Like most rooms in the Coliseum, it was carved from stone and held air that smelled almost too stale to be considered a sterile place. It was empty aside from himself and the two unconscious people.

Cloud rose to his feet and stretched out his muscles, not sure of what had happened during the fight with Sora, though it appeared that he had done a serious number on both Donald and Goofy. He casually strode from the room, looking around for his sword. He wandered the hallways until he walked out into the arena, immediately noting that all battling was over and only clean up with in order. He walked out into the middle of the arena and kicked at the broken pieces of wood that were scattered all around the dirt, not sure of the source of the shards. He slowly bent and picked up a large chuck of wood before sighing, lightly smacking his forearm with the piece of wood in his hands as he walked over to where he could sit down.

~{Up and about already? I'm impressed, Spike.}~ Came a warm voice from beside the blonde.

Cloud looked over to find Zax standing next to him and nodded his head, looking out onto the arena. He continued to idly smack the wood against his hand. "I take it that I lost the fight even though I wasn't aware of it."

Zax chuckled and flopped down on the stone next to the blonde, patting Cloud on the shoulder in mock sympathy. ~{Don't worry about it, Spike. You flew around the arena like a mad man slashing at anything that got within range until only Sora was left. Then something happened and you dropped from the sky and fell unconscious.}~ He grinned when Cloud glanced at him and ruffled the blonde's hair. ~{The judges ruled that you technically lost so they said that Sora could either move on without his allies or drop out. Of course, the kid went on and knocked Hercules' block off.}~ He gestured to the barrel piece in Cloud's hand. ~{They gave the kid barrels to hide behind, but Sora used them as bludgeoning objects and forced Hercules out of an undamageable state.}~

"How did that work?" Cloud questioned softly, turning the wood over in his hands. It seemed like perfectly normal molded wood to him.

~{That's is very special wood from the Dios tree. It is kind of rare, but it has the ability to regenerate its form in only a short period of time. They use it here because they have a lot of barrels breaking. It is a tree that is found between earth and heaven on a floating island built and maintained by the gods.}~ Zax casually plunked the piece of wood from the blonde's hands and examined it carefully before handing it back to Cloud. ~{They say that every man has his weakness, so I suggest you find a tree like that if you want to fill your contract.}~

Cloud slowly nodded his head and tossed the piece of wood back to the ground, leaning back on his elbows before glancing over at Zax out of the corner of his eye. When the dark-haired man looked at him, he turned his gaze back to the arena and sighed. "You aren't alive, are you?"

Zax quirked an eyebrow at the sudden question before casually shrugging his shoulders. ~{What makes you think that, Spike?}~

"I felt it in my mind when the darkness was absorbing me and you looked like you were dying. The same green wisps that I see in my dreams sometimes and that came out of Aerith's stone ...I saw them coming out of you. You're entire body shimmered green." Cloud sat forward again as Zax remained completely silent and refused to look at him. "Tell me the truth, Zax. What are you? Why did that demon call you my 'guardian'?"

~{Don't, Spike.}~ Zax held up a hand to stop the blonde from asking more questions and looked around the fighting arena. ~{There are things that I can't tell you here, meaning the truth so I won't say anything. All you need to know right now is that I'm your friend and I'm here to help you.}~ He stood up suddenly and turned to face the blonde. ~{I will tell you more when we are in a secure place, but right now, I think you need to find that tree. I promise that everything will work out.}~

Cloud slowly nodded and also climbed to his feet, brushing dirt from his cloak before silently walking off to find his sword and start to research where the Dios tree could be found. He was aware of Zax following him and smiled slightly. "You coming to the Underworld with me?"

Zax smirked and shoved Cloud forward playfully. ~{You make it sound like I'm a dead-beat like you, Spike.}~ He grinned when the blonde turned and seized his shoulders in an equally playful manner. He looked suddenly very serious. ~{Someone around here has to make sure that you eat all your vegetables before you have your desert, young man.}~

Cloud rolled his eyes and sighed. "Don't start with that." He started to walk again, ignoring Zax's odd prods to his shoulder before finally swatting back at the dark-haired man. "Man, I'm tired. I feel like I could sleep for a week."

~{I'll give you two days. Sound fair?}~ Zax got the distinct feeling that he may actually be wishing that he never spoke those words right after he said them.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Well, I've come to the conclusion that Cloud is a man-whore. Everybody wants to get with Cloud, even Cloud himself. Geez, what a little slut.

Anyway, I apologize for the lateness of this chapter, but I had lots of stuff to do in RL since school is winding down and I'll soon be in nasty old exams. I'm not sure how long the next chapter will take, but I'm hoping that it will be out on time.

Hope everyone enjoyed the yaoi overtones. I figured you all desired a bit of a treat after my indecision over the whole thing. I'm thinking that I will have the answer to everyone's yaoi question by next chapter. And besides, if Sephy can't have Cloud, I will let demon Cloud cop another feel. :P