Hollow Bastion. The Heart of All Worlds. This tainted world that is infested by the dark creatures known as the heartless, wasn't always so evil. Before it was swallowed by darkness, it, like so many worlds out there, was peaceful. Pleasant. A magnificent place to behold. Many people dwelled within it's walls, but there were none as well known as the six children of Hallow Bastion. Sephiroth, Cloud, Squall, Aerith, Yuffie and Jade.
They were always doing something exciting, whether it be racing up the Rising Falls, playing hide and seek in the castle, or trying to sneak into the depths of Hollow Bastion, where it was rumoured that another girl had disappeared into. Not too many people knew this girl, but her name was supposedly Kairi. But no one knows for sure.
One day, Sephiroth had challenged Jade, the youngest of the six, to sneak into the depths of Hollow Bastion on her own. At first she was able to get pretty far no problem. But then she began hearing sounds coming from ahead. This was pretty freightening for her, a seven year old. But she kept moving on. She wasn't going to whimp out... Not now. But soon she saw what was making the noises. Little black creatures with glowing yellow eyes. They were so small, but they were swarming. She spun around and ran as fast as she could, screaming the entire time.
Above, Sephiroth was waiting at the secret entrance to the castle depths. Currently he was just thinking of how Jade might might be doing down there. Probably frozen in fear by now.. Then he heard Jade's scream echoing through the chamber. He laughed silently to himself. "tch, scared out of her mind already. "Sephiroth eyed the chamber longingly, waiting for Jade to come running back through the door.
"Sephiroth"
Sephiroth spun around, slightly spooked from the sudden arrival of none other than his own arch rival, Cloud. He growled, but Cloud was glaring right back.
"Who screamed?" Cloud questioned him, while grabbing the collar of Sephiroth's jacket.
Now, Sephiroth was 13 and Cloud was 10. The age difference was great, and Sephiroth could easily push him away. But he wasn't exactly in the mood to be pushing people around. He wanted to see Jade come running through the corridor. "Oh, its just Jade. I dared her to go down to the depths of the castle on her own. She probably just saw her reflection in a mirrior." Sephiroth responded, in a innocent tone.
Cloud could have slapped him. He let Jade go down alone? She could get hurt, or worse, killed! "Sephiroth, you knuckle head! How could you let her go down on her own! We need to go down and get her!" Cloud pulled Sephiroths collar so their noses were about an inch apart.
Now Sephiroth knew Cloud meant business. But it didn't make him any less unwilling to go. But again, he enjoyed watching Cloud yell at him. He might as well go rescue Jade from what was probably just her shadow.
Sephiroth teleported them both deep into the corridor, to the furthest spot they ever reached. Upon arrival they could hear Jade's screams coming from even further into the long hallway. Sephiroth rasied a brow. This was rather impressive for the standards he had set in his mind for Jade. He didn't expect her to get close to this spot, and she had gone even further.
Cloud ran ahead, with his rival simply walking behind him, taking as much time as he could. Cloud didn't care, he didn't expect Sephiroth to be too cooperative. He was surprised he even helped him go further in faster. He continued running until he spotted Jade running down the hall, being pursued by a huge wave of these black, yellow eyed creatures.
Sephiroth had caught up, and at the sight of the creatures, he could only say one thing. "What the."
Cloud grabbed Jade as she ran by and he spread his leathery wings and flew as fast as he could, back towards the entrance, with Sephiroth flying close behind him. He and Sephiroth both shot orbs of fire back at the creatures, but it was no use. There was just too many. All they could do was run.
They soon made it out of the secret passageway and into the level above the castle entrance way. By now both Cloud and Sephiroth were exausted from flying, and couldn't raise their wings another beat. They couldn't jump while carrying jade, since they wouldn't even be able to glide with so much weight. Their only option was to go through the library.
They ran through the door and past dozens of shelves filled with books. At the desk near the stair well, Aerith, Yuffie and Squall were going through some books when they passed by. They all jumped up, and Yuffie was the one that yelled at them.
"Hey! What do you think you are do- iyee!"
Soon Jade, Sephiroth and Cloud were joined by the trio as the black creatures came storming into the library. They ran as fast as they could until they were back at the entrance way. Out the front door and into the court yard. Squall slammed his palm into the red switch that activated the gondola. They all boarded the small platform and it took them down to the top of the Rising Falls.
As soon as the gondola stopped, they all stepped out onto the rocks, breathing heavily. They were safe at last. They didn't seem to be smart enough to activate the gondola, so they guessed that they would be okay.
Aerith looked up at the castle they abandoned, and then down to the base of the rising falls. It was then that she spotted the old airship builder they all knew as Cid. She then began jumping down, yelling to him. The other five followed, echoing her voice.
"Cid"
"Cid, up here"
"We need help"
They were all yelling at once, and Cid nearly stepped back off the rock he was sitting on as they all shouted at him. You can only imagine how difficult it was to understand something when it was being shouted at you by half a dozen children. It was down right impossible. So Cid did what any self respecting adult would do. Yell back.
"QUIET!" Cid yelled over top of the six. Silence came easy afterwards. Finally, after a deep breath, he continued in a much more calm matter. "Now, could one person tell me what the heck is going on around here"
The six all frowned sheepishly, before Jade started explaining. "Sephiroth dared me to go down into the depths of hollow bastion alone. I was doing okay at first, but then theses black creatures attacked me-" she began, but was interrupted by Cid.
"The Depths? Come on you guys you know better than that!" Cid growled, his voice directed mostly at Jade and Sephiroth. "I told you a hundred, I told you a thousand times to stay out of there- and what black creatures?"
Cloud stepped in now, talking animatedly to Cid. "I don't know what they were, but they were like tiny people with sharp claws, glowing eyes, wierd antennae and they can walk inside the walls! They came after us in a huge swarm, they chased all six of us all the way here"
Cid shook his head. This was a prediciment, if what they were saying was true. He would have to go up to the castle and see what was going on for himself. He sighed and looked down on the six. "I am going to go up to the castle and see what is going on for myself. You six are to stay here"
He then made to begin jumping up the rocks to the gondola, but before he could make one leap, all six children grabbed him by his pants.
"You can't go up there, the monsters will attack you!" Jade said as she pulled on Cid.
Cid couldn't really do anything with them clinging to him so persistantly. He looked down at them displeasingly. They weren't going to let them go up and check things out. This wasn't a very good reason. But by the way they were acting, he didn't need to go check if they were telling the truth. It was obvious that they were serious. He could only give in to them.
"Fine then. We'll go down to the waterway. I have a ship down there that will take us out of here. Lets get a move on"
Together, they jumped the rest of the way down the rising falls. They had almost reached the bottom, when they saw even bigger monsters waiting for them down there. "Go up! We'll have to get to the waterway through the castle! Move move move!"
The tension was on now. The creatures were climbing up towards them, and they couldn't fight them. Sephiroth and Cloud had retreated through the bubble that should have taken them all to the waterway, and it was now just Cid, Jade, Aerith, Squall and Yuffie climbing up.
They were about half way up, when suddenly the rock Jade had stepped on gave way, and she fell. "Jade!" Squall yelled, diving to the ground, hoping to catch her in time, but to no avail. A bird like heartless had grabbed her and was carrying her off. They all just froze, but Cid got them back in motion almost immediately.
"There is nothing we can do! Lets go NOW"
Cid pulled Squall back to his feet and the four of them continued up the rising falls. Not too far away, Jade was watching. Watching as her friends abandoned her, not even trying to rescue her... Maybe they weren't her friends at all.
