1The Price Of Rain

The Madness Far Outweighs The Sadness

Sora came here often. The sound of oceans crashing (crackling), the water painting the sky a deep indigo - meeting like mirrors on the horizon. Every couple minutes the waves would turn (vertical hold) and... Beep, beep, NO SIGNAL. Sora was disappointed then. He was reminded the pretty holo-screens were just that -- hollow of any real realness, and it made him sad to think it. The image popped and whirred before flicking back on, shading his face a Technicolor blue.

Come see the Fabulous planets of the Laguna System!

He sighed, pushing his hand curiously through the image beams. Despite the almost daily let down, Sora loved coming to the Bazaar district - with all its beautiful adverts of far off Other Worlds and buzzing gizmos, delicious smells. He'd decided it didn't matter if they lied or not - they still existed somewhere and that's what made them special. Unique. It was hollow here maybe, but elsewhere it was still real.

Sora wondered, as he wormed his way through the crowded streets, whether that made any sense or not. Roxas always said he never made any sense, really. According to his friend, it had something to do with Sora thinking a lot, and then blurting out the tail end of it - which would usually have nothing to do with what they were talking about in the first place. Roxas also said just knowing the other boy's thought process was scary. Sora remembered punching him for that.

"Hey there So! You been well? How's yur mum?" The scruffy vendor smiled at him, deftly tossing forth a paopu fruit. It was one of the few things that would grow in abundance on Colony 2023-9129, as most everything else required importation from their neighboring planet system. It made things like food expensive, but at least living was cheap so finances evened out anyway.

Skimming over the ripe and colorful fruit, Sora decided to bring home a bag of Paopu for his mother. She always felt better after eating some.

"Good Mr. Highwind! The artificial air here really seems to help her breathing. Everyday she looks a little stronger, you know?"

The older man chuckled, a chewed up toothpick hanging from his mouth. He then tossed a couple of his freshest fruit in a bag and dropped it on top of Sora's head. It looked ridiculous. The boy grinned as he crossed his eyes looking upwards, before letting it slip off his hair and land squarely in his palm. He laughed and went to tug out his wallet.

Mr. Highwind just crossed his arms and shook his head. "Naw ah, nothin' doin.' You keep that money for something special. Cid Highwind is a big name around here, and he ain't got no need for pocket change. Tell yur mum its an early birthday present."

Sora was ready to argue of course, but at the sharp yet concerned look he received, thought better of it. Cid Highwind was synonymous with stubborn-as-a-mule, and Sora knew he'd only feel bad if he went and tossed a present back in his friend's face. The man had been nothing but kind to his family since they'd arrived - light years from anyone who'd once called them kin. He'd been the man who replaced their plumbing when the relics had gone and exploded, and the same man who'd patted his shoulder when his mother had been rushed to emergency again.

Sora was a soft heart, as his mother would say, and he didn't have it in him to be prideful at the cost of another.

"Thanks Mr. Highwind. Oh! Almost forgot." Reaching into his pocket, Sora extracted some highly techy piece he'd found dump-diving. It was amazing how many things people just took for granted and threw away. "I thought you might like it, 'cause I remember a picture just like it hanging in your shop. It's a little rusted, but I figure you being Cid Highwind and all, that shouldn't be a problem." He grinned impishly at the end, tossing the piece towards a very excited mechanic.

Mr. Highwind gazed at it with gleeful abandon, checking over every inch, before sobering up when he realized how stupid he must look. It still didn't get rid of the hundred-watt smile stretched across his face though.

"Damn kid, your like the son I never had!" Sora felt a little embarrassed by the comment, but pleased all the same. He'd always wanted to be someone's son, have a father, and he knew there was no one much better than Mr. Highwind.

Taking a juicy bite from the fruit still in his hand, Sora managed a good-bye before heading futher into the bustle of the district. Cid watched him go, knowing the kid would be back tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, until - well, the end of forever he guessed.

000

"Shit Zig! Pull 'er up a little more will ya?!" Riku angrily shoved his work goggles above his eyes, before dousing the torch he'd been using to weld on a ship panel. He swore Zigbar had been put on this base just to torture the shit out of him. He also swore that in two more months he'd quit this job and leave some other fool to take his place.

Riku cursed his greed and inate laziness. He'd been saying he'd quit for almost three years now - and though there were other forces effecting his stay - it was mostly due to the fact Satan paid so good. Or well. Whatever. Scrambling out from under the ship, he pushed the sleeves of his work suit up to his elbows, and proceeded to stomp over to the window of the crane hover currently holding up the ship. There, he tapped on the glass. Zigbar's evil face leered back at him and Riku made a concerted effort not to maim and/or murderlize the freak. Yes, murderlize - it was a word like everything else said on rerun cartoons.

Zigbar mouthed the words 'can I help you?' and Riku decided he felt like kicking the glass instead. The large man flinched at the action before mouthing a 'fuck you.'

"Zig, will you just pull it up a couple feet?! Dammit is that so much of a problem?! My ass is getting steel burn from the floor!"

The man just flipped him off, laughing, before he finally complied.

A couple hours later found Riku cooling down at one of the port bars, eating and going over a couple schematics for the ship their garage was working on. He'd originally laughed at the amount of damage - mostly because blown engine one, two and eight, the flattened nose, plus the strained metal on the intake valve all screamed JOY-FREAKING-RIDE. He'd gotten the whole story later and had almost split a seam at the fact he'd been right. A luxury grade liner to boot!

"Hey Riku!"

"Uh?" He looked up with a huge sandwich hanging out of his mouth and almost swallowed it in shock. Oh God save him - it was Cloud. Cloud-fucking-Strife of the you-don't-got-my-money-I-gut-you-bitch credo. It was a damn good thing he never gambled - else with his luck he'd probably have no legs, and possibly no arms as well.

The tall and expressionless man swung a chair around, its back pressed against his chest, before he crossed his arms casually along the top. He pulled on a cool smile that didn't sit so well with Riku. Cool smiles from Cloud Strife didn't mean good things. Nope, not at all.

"How much will you pay me for this...information I have, Riku?"

Riku felt his eye twitch. "Depends on what kind a info, Strife. Like, for one, I most certainly am not interested in how many times a night you get it on with that butch boyfriend a yours. Neither am I interested in how many freckles you have on your ass, or how many drinks it takes to get you real chummy."

Cloud offered a glare and a rude gesture in return. "Better be careful Riku, my 'butch boyfriend' might hear about that and become offended. Now, we wouldn't want him offended, would we?"

Riku blanched, poking nervously at his sandwich. He'd suddenly lost his appetite. Cloud was certainly the Bonnie to Leon's Clyde of course, but somehow Leon managed to pull off 'psychopathically eviler than all the psychopaths roasting in the ninth level of hell,' just a little bit better than his other half (there was no way in hell Riku was going to say 'his better half'). Maybe it was just the fact the last guy who'd messed with Cloud - and in effect, Leon - had ended up strung off the roof of the docking port with his dick in his mouth that made Riku rethink his words.

Yes, he definitely felt like living with all his parts intact, thank-you!

Riku shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Damn he wanted to slap the smug look off Cloud's face. "Yeah, yeah, fine, fine. Look, just what does this info involve?"

Cloud twisted his nose at the chips Riku had left open on the table, bypassing them instead for a bottle of tea. He took a long sip before succinctly answering. "Why, Xehanort, of course."

Riku had to smack his chest a couple times before finally hacking up the piece of sandwich that lodged in his throat. He turned sharp, watery-from-almost-choking eyes on Cloud. "Xehanort?! You fucktard! Why didn't you tell me?! Shit, name your damn price, you asshole!"

Cloud smirked. Ah, the joys of being the awesomeness that was him.

000

"50,000 Creds. I can't FUCKING believe it - fifty, fucking, thousand creds! GOD DAMMIT, DO I LOOK LIKE A FRIGGEN' PIGGY BANK?!" Riku smashed out another dent in the ship siding, pissed beyond belief he'd walked straight into that one. Cloud knew how to work a mark all right, and Riku just lost his cool and played right into it. Gah, whatever. Maybe he felt like a dumbass at the end, but at least he'd gotten the information he'd waited two years to find. Xehanort was on a Colony in the Hallow Bastion System.

He just had to get to Hallow Bastion.

Angrily, Riku lifted his hammer before dropping it with the force of a mack truck. He bared his teeth at the new dent he'd created.

Xehanort. He'd get that fucking bastard.

000

A/N - this'll end up being like three chapters. Just a short, slightly confusing bit a work. Review, if you'd like.