12.29.06 Data File: Dawn of Beginnings

Data File 0.5: Chapter 5

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Suna was dreaming... Everything was silent, except for the wind whistling in his ears, and the sensation of plummeting in an exhilerating freefall. The rush of adrenaline, the hopes of seeing tomorrow morning, and the nervous pain of heart-pounding thrusts as his body rammed unexpectedly into obstacles in midair. His eyes closed as he felt the shocking, and extremely realistic pain, that kept hitting him until it stopped entirely. He was in dark silence now. He was dreaming...

"Where am I...?"

"You're home, Suna."

Suna kept hearing voices. It was a feminine voice - one of a Cetra, which happened to be an Ancient person that sought to bring happiness to the Planet. They're extinct now, but he had this strange feeling that he'd once met one. He couldn't understand why he felt this, but he had to discover for himself.

"What's your name?"

"I don't know. What's yours?"

"Suna."

"Ah, the son of Cloud Strife."

"Um, yeah."

Suna flinched in reality. He was slouched over onto the desk, with his forehead resting on the soft wood. His head felt cool, and he heard the sound of footsteps coming... Was it Mom, Dad, or Sora? He didn't really care. He wanted to continue this mysterious dream and find who the hell this enigmatic woman was. He walked in complete darkness, and each step he took, felt like the ground was forming into his figure. It was a really creepy experience that made Suna gulp.

"Don't be afraid, Suna. Come closer!"

"... It's pitch-dark!"

"The path will be litten if you touch my hand."

"Where is it...?"

"Right here."

He saw the feminine hand. It was recoiled, blue-skinned, and grotesque. The fingers were spidery; long, thin, and bony with an eerie atmosphere. The palm was extremely flat and deflated, causing the person to look as if she hadn't eaten in years. All of the anatomy - the nerves, the veins, the blood vessels, the muscles - in the hand could be seen extremely well. It made Suna gag, and he coughed incessantly when the smell of rotting flesh filled his nostrils.

"What's wrong?"

"You're dead... Aren't you?"

"... So what if I am?"

Suna reached out his hand, but before he could do anything, he felt two strong and firm hands were placed on his shoulders. This caused him to jump in his dream, and scream in actuality. Cloud had touched him, but didn't intend to scare holy heck out of the kid. "Whoa, Suna! Calm down!" Cloud said as Suna began hollering his lungs out. "Suna, you were having a nightmare!" Cloud couldn't think of anything comforting, plus that wasn't really what fathers were good at.

"D-D-D-Da-Dad!" Suna stuttered really quickly, and it sounded like a blur of incohrent speech. Suna inhaled too quickly, and began coughing... almost violently coughing.

Cloud patted Suna on the back until he calmed down. Cloud looked into Suna's blue eyes. "What happened?" Cloud asked. "Why did ya freak out? You nearly scared the crap outta me!"

"Sorry, Dad." Suna replied. He bowed his head in shame, and almost guilt. Cloud didn't want this. He shook his head to Suna. Suna then said, "I guess I was havin' a nightmare..."

"A really terrible one, huh?" Cloud asked. Suna nodded slowly. Cloud sighed, and shut the bedroom door, locking it so Tifa and Sora wouldn't interrupt at any time, and he sat down on the bed. He patted the bed as if asking Suna to sit beside him. Suna obeyed, and Cloud put his arm around him. "So, can you tell me what you were dreaming about?"

Suna's eyes were disdain, but he somehow heard Cloud's message through his half-awake stage of daze and fog. "Yeah."

"Okay, so what happened?" Cloud asked.

Suna snuggled a little closer to him, and replied. "Well... I had a dream I was falling."

"That's common in all people." Cloud said. "Children, teenagers, adults, seniors, babies..."

"Yeah, I know." Suna said. "But then I dreamed that I was walking in darkness."

"Darkness, huh?" Cloud said.

"There was this creepy dead woman that wanted to take my hand." Suna said. "She was an A-" Suna froze suddenly. He couldn't really continue. He didn't want to test his father's patience.

"Go on, I'm listenin'." Cloud urged.

Suna looked up with distraught and disconsolate emotions written on his face. "She was an Ancient, Dad. She was dead, though. She wanted me to take her hand."

Cloud didn't respond, and his face remained stoic. Suna sighed, and looked at the opposite direction of the room, staring at the little red alarm clock. "What was her name?"

"I dunno." Suna said. "The dream didn't continue long enough for me to find out."

"How did you wake up?" Cloud asked.

"She said the path would be litten if she touched my hand." Suna explained. "So I tried to, but she smelled like dead people... So I asked if she was dead, and she didn't deny it at all! Then I felt two hands clutch my shoulders. It gave me a heart attack!"

"Oh, I see." Cloud laughed softly to himself.

Suna pouted. "It's not funny, Dad."

"Sorry, son." Cloud kissed Suna's forehead, and rubbed a gloved hand through Suna's spiky blonde hair. "You'll be okay now, won't you?"

"Mm-hmm." Suna responded. He sniffled, and rubbed away what seemed like a tear from his eye. Cloud stared for a moment. Suna rarely cried... What was up with that?

"Are you okay?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah." Suna answered.

"You look miserable." Cloud confessed.

"I know." Suna said. "I don't mean to look that way, but..."

"Oh, it's okay." Cloud hugged him. Suna gasped and was silent for a moment before he threw his arms around his father. Suna didn't realize how small he was compared to Cloud, even though he was a teenager. He was nearly as tall as Cloud, but he couldn't really reach. He knew he was taller than his mother, and same with Sora. Suna felt the black leather brush against his face, and some of his wet tears stuck onto the shiny texture of the leather.

"I'm fine, Dad, really." Suna said.

Cloud looked at him. "Y'know what. From now on, no more secrets."

"Hmm?" Suna said.

Cloud sighed. "So many things I wanna tell you... You and Sora must know, but especially you, Suna."

"Me?" Suna asked.

"Yes." Cloud narrowed his eyes and looked out the window with caution. "Say, I gotta go, Sora -"

"Hmm?!" Suna said.

"I mean, Suna!" Cloud ran out the door.

... That was weird. Suna was clueless, puzzled, and bewildered at his father's attitude and sudden mood change. Although on instinct, Suna felt something wasn't right. He opened up his closet door and retrieved his wooden sword. He knew father and mother dispised it, but he just didn't feel right. He didn't care of getting in trouble, father promised no more secrets, so he'd tell him about the secret midnight training he always had with Sora.

Suna ran out the bedroom door, wooden sword in hand. "Hey, Suna!" Sora called out, and immediately eyed the wooden sword. "Suna, what the heck! You're gonna do somethin' really stupid!!" Suddenly Sora felt the buzz of feelings that Suna felt... Hey, they're twins, dude. Sora felt that he was supposed to do something, too. He couldn't be associated with fighting... But what the hey. He grabbed his sword out of the closet as well, and barged out the front door. Tifa immediately eyed the sword in Sora's hand.

"Suna!? Sora!?" Tifa called out. She gasped and took off running outside. "Put those things down, bo -" Before Tifa could finish her sentence, she was horrified to see what she saw...

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Author's Note:

The chapters seem to be getting shorter and shorter... Oh well, the big adventure's coming up soon. 144 hits! I'm impressed with myself... Well, not really. I'm still open for reviews, and nobody's saying anything... I thrive and live off of reviews. Spot any mistakes and typos, and alert me immediately, please! I still have those same two reviews... gah.

Anyway, I left a cliffhanger ending! You don't know what Tifa saw... You don't know what Tifa saw! I'll post up chapter 6 soon. I hope people love this, I really do! It took me a while to figure out how the twins would discover Cloud's a hero. They'll discover in the next chapter... So just wait and see what I cook up this time! You'll like it if you like this story so far, because the fun starts in the next chapter! I swear it won't be boring... I swear it won't be boring...

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