Down With the Sickness Chapter 8, a kingdom hearts fanfic

"Down With the Sickness"

Here we go. The final chapter. There's a couple of Okami and Wolf's Rain references in here. See if you can find them. (One, if you played Okami, is really obvious.)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the plot.

Warnings for the entire story: Violence, language, blood, disturbing images

Chapter 8: Down With the Sickness

The field seemed to be lifeless and dull, like the planet was. The flowers were wilted, save for a few here and there, but they seemed lost in the crowd. The full moon shined above our heads, its pale moonlight hitting the wilted flowers relentlessly. This field seemed to be the state of the world. It was dead and the remaining life was dying.

"This field is supposed to be covered in snow-white flowers," came a soft voice from behind me. Suddenly, the smell of flowers, like the ones from Agata, drifted into my nostrils. I turned around and saw an angelic figure with long, braided brown hair, looking at me with soft eyes. Her lips were twisted into a sad smile, one she never used.

"I tried denying it, but..." she said quietly, looking downwards at her boots. "I've been haunted by dreams of a white wolf since you came to my church in Agata."
I whimpered and walked over to her, looking into her eyes' depths. Such beautiful eyes...

"I couldn't sit there and wait. I decided to follow you into Kojiki, but I figured that it would be easier to come here and wait for you. I knew you would all come here. It was a matter of time, which is something we don't have. Vincent's already up on the tip of Lover's Peak, that large white mountain. This is our last chance to save the world."

"As time went by, people became more corrupted," Aerith said softly, again looking at her boots, "And the flowers began wilting. We've been polluting our planet, and that's why the flowers are dying. We can't pollute the planet anymore."

"Because the planet is the only home we have."

I looked inside of myself, deep into my heart. I had come so far and lost sight of my previous goals, if I had any. As much as I would like to become human again, I had forgotten about that goal. I've been realizing how corrupted our world is, and how much our planet is dying because of these humans. I'm...almost ashamed of being a human, before I fought Sephiroth. I carelessly abused the gifts given to us by our gods, if there are any, and the planet's paying the price. It doesn't matter if I become human or not. I...need to save the world. If I don't, there's no point to becoming human. There's no point in anything I'm doing. My journey would have been for nothing. And...I think most of all...I want to change the world.

I lightly nudged Aerith's hand with my wet nose, amazed at her skin's softness. She seemed to understand my message. She knew what I wanted, and needed, to do. She looked into my eyes again, as if she knew who I really was. I wonder if she did know, all this time, that I really was Cloud. I looked at the mountain in the near distance. I was sure my golden eyes were burning with a raging fire now.

Before I knew it, I found Vincent at the very peak...

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Drowning deep in my sea of loathing

Broken your servant I kneel

(Will you give in to me?)

It seems what's left of my human side

Is slowly changing in me

(Will you give in to me?)

"It seems you have arrived. It's not polite to keep a guest in wait."

I knew that baritone voice, the one that I had grown to hate after the massacre of the pack of Oyashima. The edge of his voice was as sharp as a knife, and almost threatened to cut into my skin. Our eyes met in a clash of golden and crimson. I saw cold fire in his eyes, and I was certain he had gone insane. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised. He tried to kill me without reason, and massacred an entire pack of innocent wolves only looking to fulfill their purpose.

He was angry, I was certain. I didn't do shit to him. He made the first move onto me, so I had to retaliate in order to survive. Tension was thick in the air, and I could just smell the fear coming from Aerith. Her feet shuffled nervously, and I could tell she was nearly scared to death. At first, I thought it was because of Vincent being here, so close to us, but then I saw something. His gun was pointed at her heart.

My protective instincts suddenly kicked in. My lips pulled back, revealing my sharp, glistening teeth. My fur all over my body bristled in anticipation of something. I used my legs, the muscles now rejuvenated, to jump in front of Aerith. Kairi, Riku, and Seifer saw what I was doing, and they growled and snarled behind me, glad to protect Aerith.

Just then, something odd happened. Vincent smirked, lowering his gun to his side. He opened his arms, almost as if he was asking to be attacked. My anger flared, and so did my packmates, I could tell. The snarling only increased and got louder and louder. We stood there for minutes, snarling at the wolf murderer. I heard the rock behind me shift positions as Seifer charged at the man.

Seifer had really gotten my respect lately. His attack on Vincent only earned him more respect from me. How many wolves would honestly charge at a man who was talented with a gun? Riku and Kairi followed Seifer's lead, and I couldn't help but charge as well.

Looking at my own reflection

When suddenly it changes

Violently it changes

There is no turning back now

You've woken up the demon in me

Whatever sanity that remained with me to this point left me as I charged at the man. My human sanity was slowly deterrioating for my whole journey, since I was turned into a wolf because of Sephiroth. I met Sora and Vincent. Sora's probably dead, protecting me. This fueled my anger further, if my anger could've gotten any larger than it already was.

Vincent tried to fight us off of him, but it didn't work. Kairi would latch onto his shoulder, and as she was thrown off, Riku and Seifer would team up on Vincent. I kept lunging at the throat, only to miss by a mere inch or less. Blood splattered across the top of the mountain, Lover's Peak. The tip, where we were, was covered in blood-soaked snow.

Kairi was thrown off of Vincent's shoulder again. Vincent was unable to grab his gun as Riku tore away at his arm. Seifer knocked the wolf and human to the ground and tried desperately to reach the throat of the man. The target was so close, but Seifer's teeth ended up latching onto the junction between Vincent's neck and shoulder as Vincent's fist knocked Seifer's jaw off-track at the last moment.

I stood there, dumbfounded, as I saw Vincent shoot his gun at Seifer, nearly hitting the wolf. Vincent shot wildly, hitting Kairi in the shoulder and nearly getting Riku in the head. Riku, Seifer and I stood dumbfounded, teeth no longer bared, as the blood spurted out from Kairi's wound. We didn't know whether to help her or kill Vincent. Our instincts were fighting inside of us. Human versus wolf. The human in us told us to help her, but the wolf told us to kill the person dealing the injury so he couldn't further hurt us. This battle...it's a war both physically and mentally.

Get up, come on get down with the sickness

Open up your hate, and let it flow into me

Get up, come on get down with the sickness

You mother get up come on get down with the sickness

You fucker get up come on get down with the sickness

Madness is the gift that has been given to me

Riku seemed to be the only one that knew what was happening. He dashed in front of Kairi, snarling at Vincent as he approached them. Kairi nudged Riku, as if telling him to run. Riku didn't budge; he stood his ground, knowing that he was looking death in the face. He didn't seem to care, either. He just snarled at Vincent before charging at the said man.

Vincent used his clawed hand to pick Riku up, high into the air. As Riku snarled, Vincent only smirked before throwing Riku ground to the ground with all of the strength he could. Riku's body collided with the ground, and everyone could hear the crunching and snapping of several bones. It was sickening, seeing the bones from Riku's body burst out of the skin and sticking into open air, like a bone in his hind leg was.

Riku's eyes widened and my heart skipped a beat. Kairi was struggling to get up, to get away, but the pain was too much for her to ignore long enough to escape. She struggled wildly, fericiously, knowing that it was life and death now. Vincent's clawed hand reached around her neck, holding her to the earth. The hand squeezed into the flesh of her neck, causing her to cough and struggle for air as blood started to spurt out.

Vincent swiftly kicked her side, where her ribs were. More sickening cracks were heard as her eyes went wide with pain and terror. Vincent released his grip and watched with amusement as Kairi was finally able to make it to her feet. She stumbled around before collapsing on the ground, eyes closed and body no longer moving.

Riku snarled as he bit into the muscle and fat of Vincent's leg. His eyes narrowed in anger and hatred as he only bit harder and harder. Riku's eyes held terror as he suddenly found himself in the air, much higher than before. Vincent had thrown him up into the air as he drew his gun. Three shots were fired; more blood stained the snow. Riku's body fell down to the earth again. He didn't moved afterwards.

Seifer nudged me, causing me to look at him. He seemed to be pointing at...Kairi? Kairi had reverted back to her human form upon death, as did Riku. They looked like angels as they lay motionless in the snow, no longer here on this planet. Their souls, I guess, had departed to whatever heaven/hell there is. Vincent turned to look at us, as we were his new prey.

I can see inside you, the sickness is rising

Don't try to deny what you feel

(Will you give in to me?)

It seems that all that was good has died

And is decaying in me

(Will you give in to me?)

Victory was much, mucher harder to obtain now that Kairi and Riku were dead. Seifer stood by my side, snarling at the approaching man. The man was smirking, ignoring the blood of my packmates splattered upon his body. He, truly, was evil in human form. Whatever god or devil had created him must've been just as evil as Vincent, if not worse.

I found myself snarling at the man before lunging towards him, Seifer by my side. Seifer took the left arm as I took the right, leaving him unable to use his clawed hand to throw us into the air. Suddenly, Seifer fell to the ground, bleeding. Vincent had used his hand to puncture holes into Seifer's leg, near where it connected to the body. The flesh was torn and blood poured out of the wound, but Seifer continued to stand, ignoring the pain.

Vincent smirked at Seifer before releasing a vile laugh. "I'd be surprised to see you have that leg, after this battle."
Seifer snarled at Vincent, limping as he circled the man. Vincent had turned his back upon me. It was the number one mistake of all, whether fighting as human or wolf. Never, ever, turn your back on your opponent. I bit into Vincent's ankle, my teeth piercing through the leather of his boots. He fell to the earth with a large thud. Seifer immediately lunged upon the man, ripping and tearing at Vincent's arm, feeling the blood slosh around in his mouth.

Seifer heard the screech of claws against a rock, and instantly let go of the arm, leaping away a few feet. I retreated too, not wanting to have those claws digging into my back. I was kicked in the torso, but not enough to kill or injure severely. The wind was knocked out of me as I went flying several feet away from the battle.

Seifer was in bad condition, I could tell.

It seems you're having some trouble

In dealing with these changes

Living with these changes

The world is a scary place

Now that you've woken up the demon in me

"You have destroyed many things, wolf. You are the source of my hatred towards your kind."
Seifer snarled, now limping on his injured leg. Blood stained his fur and the snow around him. Our surroundings were now dyed crimson. I wouldn't be surprised to go to Agata and see this mountain stained in crimson.

"You have killed my family and friends. I have killed two of yours. But, I don't believe you're suffering enough."
Seifer backed up as Vincent approached him. Seifer's leg suddenly gave, causing the wolf to collapse onto the bloody snow.

"Here, let me help you."

Seifer's eyes didn't widen in terror or fear. He seemed to be teasing Vincent. Even from this far away, I could see how much anger was held in those eyes. Seifer didn't struggle to get up, or struggle to get away. He simply let Vincent approach, as if he had a plan in mind to kill the man.

The plan, if he had one, didn't suceed. He had forgotten about Vincent's lightning-fast speed and reflexes. I only saw a blur as Vincent used his speed to get closer to Seifer. Seifer's eyes finally widened as he saw his injured leg laying in front of him. Seifer, in disbelief, looked back to where his leg was. It was missing.

I charged at Vincent, despite my stomach feeling sick from the severed leg. I latched back onto Vincent's ankle, the same one as before. He refused to fall down this time, though. His clawed hand lifted me up in the air, so that we were face to face. And as he lifted me higher, I only had one thing to do.

Golden Fury.

He dropped me, and I watched in amusement as he tried to wipe the liquid off of his face.

Get up, come on get down with the sickness

Open up your hate, and let it flow into me

Get up, come on get down with the sickness

You mother get up come on get down with the sickness

You fucker get up come on get down with the sickness

Madness is the gift, that has been given to me

Seifer, just as amused as I was, struggled to his feet. He was a soldier; he wouldn't give up for anything. He knew that death was upon him, but he wouldn't stop just because of that. Instead, he charged at Vincent, using my distraction to his advantage. Vincent's eyes widened as he saw us charging at him. He rose his clawed hand to attack Seifer, but I latched onto the arm, using my weight to prevent it from moving.

Seifer lunged onto the junction between shoulder and neck, nearly knocking Vincent over in the process. His paws were on Vincent's chest, ready to push away if need be. It's a wonder why Vincent didn't fall over. Seifer's remaining hind leg was pushing into a rather sensitive spot on Vincent...unless he didn't have any to begin with.

Vincent's un-clawed hand made its way around Seifer's waist, trying to peel off the wolf. Seifer only dug his fangs deeper into the flesh, strengthening his hold on the man. I dug my fangs deeper into the arm, feeling a bone beginning to crack because of the pressure from my teeth.

There was always something that we forgot. It doesn't matter what we were doing, we always forgot something. And this time, what we forgot proved fatal. Vincent used his un-clawed hand to grab the gun. Seifer almost let go as he felt the gun press against the back of his head. My heart began to beat faster. If Seifer got shot, so would Vincent. They would both die. But, is it worth the price?

I felt myself being lifted into the air as I hung onto his arm with my teeth. Even with my weight, Vincent still managed to lift his arm up just enough to rip Seifer off of him. Seifer landed on the ground, snarling at the man. I shut my eyes tightly as I heard the gunshot, then the dying howl. When I reopened my eyes, I saw Seifer laying on the ground in human form, motionless.

(And when I dream)

No mommy, don't do it again

Don't do it again

I'll be a good boy

I'll be a good boy, I promise

No mommy don't hit me

Why did you have to hit me like that, mommy?

Don't do it, you're hurting me

Why did you have to be such a bitch

Why don't you,

Why don't you just fuck off and die

Why can't you just fuck off and die

Why can't you just leave here and die

Never stick your hand in my face again bitch

FUCK YOU

I don't need this shit

You stupid sadistic abusive fucking whore

How would you like to see how it feels mommy

Here it comes, get ready to die

I let go of Vincent's arm, and I dashed a few feet away from the man. We stood there, staring at each other with hatred and anger burning in our eyes.

"Wolves...you have always destroyed everything..." Vincent muttered.

'And you haven't...' I said.

"That's right, I haven't," he replied, voice full of anger. He could...hear me?

'First, you've destroyed my packmates' hopes of being human again.'

"Nonsense. They're human now, aren't they?"

'They wanted to go home.'

"You speak nonsense."

'No, I don't.'

There was a large rock ahead of me, and I gladly hopped upon it. I was now at Vincent's height level. The full moon was still high in the sky, but now crimson instead of white. Its moonlight shone upon my body, making it appear to glow compared to the darkness of night around me.

'Home is a place that we all want to go. It's a place where we feel comfort and happiness. It's the contrast to the world. The world's not a happy place. It's full of danger. But it's also full of adventure. My whole journey of getting here, it was an adventure. I encountered so many dangerous things as I got here, to this mountain in the center of the world. I saw massacres of humans and wolves.

'But the point is, the world's cold and lonely. It wasn't meant to be this way. There's a lot of things we can do to change it, but we don't even try because we think we can't make a difference. If we all tried to build a better world together, we could. But the planet is dieing because we didn't even try to make a difference in our ways, to make them less harmful to the earth. We don't think we could change our ways, but we can.

'And if we just sit here, not doing anything, the world's only going to get worse. The planet will get hotter and people will fight wars over things like water. Food will get harder and harder to come by, and disease will spread all over the world. The world will become a total mess, and there won't be anyone to fix it other than ourselves.

'Maybe no one wants to try to help our planet. But I'm going to try, anyway. Stand up for what you believe is right, even if you're standing alone."

Get up, come on get down with the sickness

Open up your hate, and let it flow into me

Get up, come on get down with the sickness

You mother get up come on get down with the sickness

You fucker get up come on get down with the sickness

Madness is now your offering

Vincent's eyes narrowed as he lunged at me. I was knocked off the rock and pinned to the ground. I blacked out for only a few moments, but when I came-to, I could only see out of one eye. My other was on the ground. We circled each other, slowly, waiting for the other to make a move. Right before we were going to charge at each other, we were stopped by Aerith's scream.

"I don't want your interference! The cycle will repeat again!" Vincent said to me, hitting me in the head with the butt of his gun.
I tried to regain my balance from the sudden attack. Not wanting to waste any time, I stumbled towards Aerith, Vincent's target. I watched in confusion as he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close as if they were lovers.

"This planet is dieing...place your roots into the ground, and start the cycle again," Vincent whispered into her air with a gentle voice.
"I need your blood to start the cycle again."

Angered, I lunged at Vincent, latching onto his neck. Taken by surprise, he went flying due to how fast I was running towards him. I felt the blood from his neck seep into my mouth as I bit harder. Thinking that he wouldn't get up for a little bit, I ran towards Aerith and threw myself in her arms. Her sharp, long nails dug into my back, breaking the skin and blood vessels underneath. Vincent's evil laugh began to echo in my ears.

"You have sacrificed yourself to the planet, wolf. The cycle will start again," Vincent said, approaching me. Aerith's nails dug deeper into my back as I struggled to escape. I want to kill Vincent. White roots erupt from the earth and wrap around us, pulling us into the ground where they came from. Vincent got closer and closer to us, almost close enough to touch the roots. White light erupted from the ground where Aerith and I were being absorbed and destroyed Vincent. The light shot itself into the sky, as if it were a giant wall.

"Leon, I'm scared," Yuffie said as Leon hugged her tighter.

"It's coming!" Sora exclaimed, shivering in fear.

"Hold on to your drawers, an' don't piss in 'em!!" yelled Cid.

"This is it..." said Tifa with much anxiety in her voice.

The light came and went quickly. Nothing was left behind, except for the snow falling to the ground.

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Our swords clashed in mid-air, repeating the same moves that we have used over and over again, without end. He would ready his sword to pierce my chest, I would use my sword's width to block. It was almost habit now. It's sad. It's pathetic, how I can read his moves as he can read mine, as if we can read each other as if we were open books written in a large size font. All we have to do is wait for one of us to make a mistake. And hopefully, he would be the maker of that mistake.

Sephiroth always did make the mistake. How I knew that I did not know. He raised his sword just high enough to give me an opening. He did that every single time, but I don't know how I knew that. But I knew that every time, I would use that second to pierce through his chest, to burst his heart with the tip of my sword. And every time, I knew, he would fall to the ground, gasping for breath, wing wrapping around him in a desperate attempt to save its owner. It was no different now.

But he glowed as black as night as the darkness wrapped around his body. I widened my eyes in shock and dropped my sword as I saw the darkness wrapping itself around my body as well. He looked at me, a hollow look in his eyes. I shivered under that look, quickly finding the ground a much interesting place to look at. I know that I shouldn't be looking at the ground at a time like this, but I can't help but do it. I can't tear my eyes away from the healthy grass on the forest floor on which I fought with Sephiroth.

I collapse to the ground, much like he did. And it all feels so strangely familiar. I groan in pain as I feel my body changing into something not human. My bones crunch and snap, my face lengthens and my teeth grow sharp. I feel something growing from my tail bone.

Why does it feel so familiar?

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Before you close out the window, I want something to be known. I didn't write DwtS just for my own amusement. I wrote it because I know the world's getting more corrupted every day, and that there's not enough people taking action to stop it. If you remember one thing from DwtS, remember that anyone can make a difference. Stand up for what you believe is right, even if you're the only one.

If you want to know what I'm planning on doing next, or if you want some extra facts on DwtS, keep reading. If not, you can click the submit review button and tell me what you thought.

What I'm doing next: I have honestly no idea. This can go two ways: You can re-read the story forever (because it just repeats itself), or I can write a sequel of sorts with a different adventure. I'm not sure what I'm doing yet, though. I'm making a list of people to PM when I decide whether or not to make a sequel, so if you want to be contacted when I decide, contact me and ask to be added to the list.

Here's a few interesting facts from when I was planning the story:

1) Originally, Vincent had a daughter that was killed by Seifer. Instead, I changed it to Vincent's family and friends because I didn't know how Vincent's daughter would've survived throughout the story. It's also a reference to Wolf's Rain; Quent had his family killed by wolves too.

2) Sora originally had a role similiar to Issun's in Okami. I didn't like the idea, so I gave him a minor role instead.

3) Agata is the name of a forest in Okami.

4) I didn't want Cloud traveling alone or with a human, so I picked the characters Riku, Kairi and Seifer to be wolves. I chose them because I wanted a balance like the one in Wolf's Rain with Hige, Toboe and Tsume.

5) Oyashima means 8 major islands. They say that "Izanagi and his wife Izanami made love and gave birth to the 8 Japanese main islands (Oyashima)." I did want the world to be made of 8 islands, hence the name.

6) When Cloud meets Aerith in the church, I wanted her to be singing the "Prayer of Saint Francis" because it reminds me of her. Unfortunately, it's a song that is better heard than read.

7) The tunnel and cliff of bones in the forest is a reference to a Wolf's Rain episode.

8) I got the name Shinku from one of my Sims 2 neighborhoods. I just took the syllable "ju" out of Shinjuku.

9) The path of flowers turning white is another reference to Wolf's Rain.

10) Golden Fury is an attack that Amaterasu can learn in Okami. It basically involves her lifting her leg and pissing on the enemy.

11) Cloud, in wolf form, resembles Kiba from Wolf's Rain, or Amaterasu from Okami without her markings.

12) Kairi, Riku, and Seifer's fur colors reflect their hair color. I wanted Seifer to be gray, but in my mind, he was always golden like the wolf from Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

13) Cloud losing his eye in the battle with Vincent is a reference to the manga version of Wolf's Rain.

Now, if you want, you can send me a review by clicking that button in the left hand corner.