What Lies Beneath

Chapter 3

Unwanted Altercation

The silver haired man made his way down the aisle toward them. The sound of his boots thumping across the wooden floor echoed through the room as well as the swishing noise of his leather clothes rubbing together as he stalked toward them. At his side was a sword hidden away in its sheath. Cloud glanced sideways at Aerith who seemed to be slowly shrinking away from him. He could see one of her hands trembling.

Before the man could complete his walk Aerith stepped forward in front of Cloud. Cloud looked stunned to see the young girl in front of him despite being absolutely terrified of this man. Cloud looked up at the man who was now mere steps from Aerith.

"Kadaj," she called out. She wanted to diffuse the situation.

The man, Kadaj, stopped in front of her and with a swift motion backhanded Aerith across the face. The girl's head snapped to the left and she stumbled a bit before catching herself.

"I asked who he is and why is he here with you!" he seethed.

Cloud gasped with his eyes wide. He could not believe Kadaj had simply just smacked Aerith. He did not even give her a moment to answer his question!

"I'm sorry…" Aerith muttered. "He was lost."

Kadaj grabbed Aerith by the front of her dress and dragged her toward him. She wailed out a cry before he forcefully threw her to the ground. She landed at Cloud's feet writhing in pain. Without thinking, Cloud knelt down to her side and placed a hand on her arm.

"Don't touch her!" Kadaj ordered.

Cloud's eyes shot out a glare. "How can you hurt her?"

"I can do whatever I want with her!" Kadaj angrily explained.

"You can't treat a human being like that!" Cloud argued.

Kadaj's eyes narrowed and a laughed escaped him. Cloud arched an eyebrow confused by his sudden laughter. What was so funny?

"She isn't a human being… she is my PROPERTY!"

Kadaj placed his hand at his side, grabbing hold of his sword's hilt. He slid it out of the sheath and held it up. The sword had two blades on it, both reflecting the light off of it as he pointed the sharp object in Cloud's direction.

"Isn't that right, Aerith?"

Cloud looked down at Aerith who sat up and pulled away from Cloud. She nodded her head, causing Cloud's already shocked expression to double. Kadaj grinned wickedly as Aerith moved to get up.

"Now that you understand remove yourself from this building immediately." He ordered.

Cloud swallowed hard when he realized that Kadaj and Aerith were the couple from last night that was arguing outside his apartment. His fist clenched tightly. As Aerith moved to go to Kadaj's side like an obedient slave, Cloud's hand grabbed her hand and pulled her behind him. Aerith gasped and Kadaj's eyes widened before narrowing again. He was appalled that Cloud would disobey him and even more so that he had the guts to do so.

"How dare you touch my property!" he hissed. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

Cloud's blue eyes flickered, causing Kadaj to take a step back. His blue orbs were glowing!

"It cannot be… you're…" he whispered in shock. Kadaj then gripped his sword tightly and readied a battle stance. "So, this is why you are here. Fine then! Ready your weapon. We'll battle for my property and when you lose you will know your place."

Cloud looked confused. "What? Battle?"

Aerith grew worried. "Kadaj wait… he doesn't understand what is going on."

She moved ahead of Cloud in order to stop Kadaj but the silver haired man was quick to backhand her again, this time with so much force she landed on the ground in a heap. Cloud eyes followed her. He then looked back at Kadaj. Kadaj swung is sword at Cloud intending to hit him but the blonde haired man jumped back to avoid the attack. The silver haired man hit nothing but air. Growling he went for another attack. Cloud quickly lunged away to dodged it, rolling across the ground and into Aerith's flowerbed.

Kadaj let out a yell. He began to swing wildly and each time Cloud narrowly escaped from being hit. The silver haired man kept on his aggressive attack forcing Cloud to run but Cloud could not outrun this man forever. Not to mention he had no way of defending himself or even making an offensive move.

"This fight is unfair!" Cloud stated as he rolled out of another of Kadaj's attacks.

"Excuse me but when did I give any indication that I cared?" Kadaj said striking him, this time connecting.

Cloud felt the swipe hit his left pectoral, causing blood to seep out. He cringed feeling the pain go through him like a shock wave. Kadaj let out a sinister laugh, enjoying just how easy it was to defeat this man. He stood over him grinning insanely.

"Your time ends now!" Kadaj said readying another strike.

Cloud threw his hands over him, expecting a final blow when he heard a voice echoing in his head.

"NO!"

Cloud felt his body tense up and then he felt the ground from under him vanish. Cloud opened his eyes and found himself in bright area with a flower field surrounding him in every direction. He landed on the ground of the field and began scanning the area.

Where was he? How did he get here?

However, his questions dissolved when he felt the presence of someone behind him.

"Your weapon, where is it?"

"Aerith?" Cloud asked.

"You must hurry!" the call was urgent.

"I don't have one!" Cloud replied, panicking.

He then felt a hand on his arm. It was gentle and reassuring.

"Then I shall give you one."

Cloud looked over his shoulder but he could not see the person behind him because of a rush of wind which began to uproot the flower and blow the petals about. Cloud shut his eyes from the harsh wind.

When he reopened them he was no longer in the flower field. Instead he was standing in the middle of Aerith's flowerbed and now in front of him a large sword sticking out of the ground. It sat straight up and Cloud was hesitant to take it, wondering what just happened and how did this sword suddenly appear. He looked over at Aerith, finding her still on the floor where she had fallen from Kadaj's blow. However, he could not think long as he heard Kadaj's yell.

Without hesitating any longer, Cloud grabbed the hilt of the sword and pulled it from the ground. The sword itself was large and heavy but Cloud somehow managed to wield it fast enough to block Kadaj's attack. Kadaj's eyes widened.

"A sword?" he gaped.

The two tested their strength against one another. Kadaj pushed all the strength of his sword into Cloud while Cloud pushed back with his newly acquired sword.

"I will… not let…. You… win!" Kadaj struggled.

Cloud glared up at him, his eyes glowing. "I won't lose to you!"

With that said, Cloud pushed Kadaj off him, throwing him back. Kadaj did a flip in the air and landed on his feet. Cloud rushed him swinging his new sword effectively and throwing Kadaj on the defense. Kadaj, now finding the fight even, jumped away from Cloud and began running up a beam of the church that led to the rafters. The blonde-haired man followed.

Kadaj jumped from rafter to rafter intending on going through the hole in the ceiling of the church. Cloud could see what that silver-haired man was thinking. Instead of allowing him to escape he wanted to make sure that Kadaj would not harm the girl again. He swung his sword, throwing it straight into a beam and splitting it in half. Coincidentally it was the same beam that Kadaj had been running along. The silver-haired man gasped and as his feet flew from under him.

Screaming, Kadaj plummeted down and landed in a heap on broken pews and the beam. Cloud retrieved his sword and jumped down to the church floor. When the dust from the collision settled he found Kadaj lying on top of the broken pieces of wood, groaning in pain. The silver-haired man opened his eyes, his head pounding wildly. He looked up at nearly jumped a mile as he saw Cloud pointing his sword at his throat.

"You lost," Cloud stated the obvious outcome.

Kadaj closed his eyes and let out a cry, not able to understand exactly how he lost. It was almost too much for him. As he sat in the rubble furiously screaming out at his failure, Cloud heard a faint clap from behind. He spun around to see Aerith smiling brightly at him. She clasped her hands behind her back as she grinned at him.

"Congratulations," she said.

Cloud looked at Aerith as if she lost her mind. How could she seem so calm and happy when a man physically abused her and he destroyed part of her church? None of it seemed to matter. She smiled again and knelt down to her flowers. She hummed softly as she tended to them. Cloud took a step back and then quickly left the church.

As he got onto his bike, he noticed he was still carrying the sword. He clasped it to the back of his bike and drove off, needing to get home. This was way too weird for him. Why did Kadaj look startled by him and why was he so angry at losing the fight? Why did Aerith seem so passive by the entire events? Who was the person who gave him the sword and why? Was it Aerith? Where did the sword come from? Questions flew through his head but all Cloud wanted to do was get home and far away from the church.