Okay, um…character not in KH but in Final Fantasy will make a physical appearance.
Another character in KH will make a physical appearance but NOT in his KH age-he'll be older.
Thanks for the reviews! I really appreciate them although I'm still surprised people like this!
Have you ever thought about what it might feel like if you suddenly found out…you were adopted? You carry a disease? Your best friend is actually back-stabbing you? Or a relative of yours is a psychopath murderer?
Not that any of these actually happened to Sora but Sora kept pondering how people that actually did discover these unfortunately events felt…because if it's anything like how Sora is feeling right now, he can relate.
On the other hand, Sora's not sure what he's feeling as he lied there in his bed, wrapped in his blanket, barely got a wink of sleep last night, and listening to Cloud yelling for him to wake up every 5 minutes like he does every morning.
The young teen sighed to himself as he continued to ponder. His emotions were more confused than he was of this situation. When Cloud opened the door to get Sora up, Sora didn't budge or reply as he hid under the covers.
"Sora, come on," Cloud tapped the boy's body but Sora didn't react. Cloud reached to pull the covers off but Sora held onto it for dear life. Normally, Cloud would win the fight but the moment Cloud caught a glance of Sora's face, he released the covers.
"Sora, what's wrong?"
Sora pulled the covers over his head and only shook his head in reply. Sitting himself on the bed, Cloud slowly pulled the covers down a bit,
"Are you feeling sick?" Cloud asked concern and felt the boy's forehead. Now the blonde was confused. Sora was just fine last night, nothing out of the ordinary. Now the boy looked extremely tired and his eyes were puffy…did he have some horrible nightmare? As if on instinct, Cloud's immediately reaction was to blame it on Squall…
"Dad?" As if reading his father's thoughts, Sora looked up at Cloud tried to look strong, "I'm okay…I just…need some rest I think…"
"Well, I guess I can take the day off work today to look after to you. And if you really are sick, maybe I'll make some soup for you."
"I'm okay, Dad, don't worry…"
"I've never left home when you or Roxas was bedridden and I'm not going to stop now. I also want to make sure you eat so I'll bring a piece of bread up for you," Cloud stated and got up to leave and give Sora some rest.
"…Okay," Sora nodded, a part of him finding a bit of happiness to know that Cloud can read him quite well. Cloud always did know whenever Sora didn't feel hungry but they both knew he had to eat anyway so the man would bring something small but nutritious.
Well Leon officially knew he was screwed. He actually expected Cloud at his front door early in the morning and was quite surprised when it didn't happen. He texted an apology to Sora; he had hoped the boy was ready for it but apparently not.
Of course, Leon was more than ready when he faced the truth the moment he found out Cloud had two kids. So maybe he was just being selfish again…
After all: if Sora knew the truth, then…it's really just one step closer to being with Cloud again.
Leon wanted to bang his head on the wall at that thought. His guilt meter just went up because of it. Oh Rinoa will kill him if he ever tells her this. In other words, if possible, he'll die twice if both Rinoa and Cloud finds out about this.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Sora nibbled on the piece of bread Cloud gave him. The boy wasn't hungry at all but the least he can do is eat for Cloud.
After a lot of thought Sora did eventually leave his bedroom and sat himself by the stairs to watch Cloud. Though the man seems to spend a lot of time in the kitchen but when he's not in there, he's in the living room watching television or reading a book where Sora can get a good view of him. Though the moment Sora got a whiff of chicken, he remembered Cloud said he'll make soup so Sora scrambled back into bed.
While waiting for the soup, Sora thought about his life and all the times he felt he was treated unfairly. He wanted to make sure he REALLY was treated unfairly before he jumped on the bandwagon of Leon's statement. After all, it really could've just been himself overreacting.
"Give it back!"
"It's mine! Let go, Sora!"
"It's MINE! You let go!"
"No YOU!"
"DAD!" the 7 year-old twins shouted for their father while fighting over the water gun.
"Share it," Cloud ordered in a monotone voice from the living room couch as he channel hopped.
"Noooo!" the two shouted in unison and continued tugging on the poor toy. With a sigh, Cloud turned to look at the two,
"Share it," he repeated with a more firm voice.
"…Fine, but I get it first. I'm older!"
"That's so unfair!" Roxas pouted and released the water gun to shove Sora,
"Roxas!" Cloud warned but before anything else could be said, the water gun was thrown down and Sora ran over to punch Roxas in the arm.
"Sora!" Cloud shot up from his seat and immediately grabbed the brunette's wrist and pulled him out to the next room. The next thing Sora knew, he felt a stinging pain on his hand when Cloud smacked it,
"Never, ever, hit your brother!"
"He pushed me!"
"And that gives you a right to hit him? I'll talk with Roxas about him pushing you, but never again do I want to see you hitting someone, especially Roxas!"
"Sora!"
Sora flinched and pulled his covers up to him again when he heard Cloud's voice. He just had to think of one of those times when Cloud smacked him(and later put in a time out). Sure it was on the hand but still…it hurt back then…and it wasn't the only time it's happened either.
"Sora," Cloud repeated and got the door open as he balanced the tray with the soup with one hand and opened the door with the other,
"Y-Yeah?"
"You okay?" he asked as Sora started to sit up on his bed and Cloud placed the tray down for him.
"Um, yeah…I'm okay," Sora nodded, "Thank you…"
Cloud felt the boy's forehead again and sighed,
"You seem fine…"
"…Dad I…" Sora stopped himself; he knew exactly what Cloud was thinking: Leon's dead. And the boy didn't want Leon to get in trouble but…Sora didn't know what he could say…
Sora felt his hair before ruffled before Cloud stood up to leave,
"Call me if you need anything."
"Okay…"
Sora still didn't feel hungry even though his stomach growled, begging for food. Slowly sipping and eating the chicken noodle soup, Sora finished it. He made a sigh before getting out of bed, pulling the blanket along, to place the tray down outside his front door. He was about to go back inside but stopped and snuck to the top of the stairs to spy on Cloud again.
"I don't know…I mean I really have no proof…"
Sora blinked as he saw Cloud pace around with his cell phone to his ear.
"No Zack! You can't go beat up Squall for no apparent reason! And no! I'm not telling you where he lives!"
Sora was only surprised Cloud didn't go do just that himself.
"What? No Zack the person that put pudding in my school bag during gym class was not Squall it was YOU!"
Sora watched Cloud roll his eyes and the blonde finally sat down on the couch.
"Of course I remember! You ruined my manga! Which reminds me: You still owe me those replacements!"
"Dad read manga before?" Sora thought with a raised brow.
"For the last time Zack: I'm not going to do anything to Squall unless Sora specifically tells me Squall was the one that made him upset! And…what? Oh good point…but even I can't see Squall as the type to threaten a 15-year old boy…Yeah maybe I will head over there today…no! You can't come! We both know what's going to happen if you do! And no! That's not a good thought!"
Sora leaned his body against the wall as he watched Cloud stand up again to pace.
No matter how many bad times he's had with Cloud that he can remember and no matter how much he felt he should be angry at Leon right now…Sora can't help but feel it is Cloud and Leon who got the short end of the stick in all this.
"Alright…so long, Zack…yeah alright, bye then…"
With a sigh, Cloud let himself fall on the couch.
"…I hate my life…stupid Squall…" he murmured into the cushion. Sora picked himself up and silently traveled down the stairs.
Whatever it was that happened between Leon and Cloud, Sora honestly didn't want to know…but he knew it's something neither of the two let go and it's making them pretty miserable, especially Cloud. Sora also wasn't sure if he should be pinning all the unfair moments in his life on Leon. After all, he said so himself: Cloud saw Leon through Sora…
Feeling a presence approaching, Cloud lifted himself up and into a sitting position to see Sora slowly walking towards him, wrapped in his blanket.
"Sora?"
"Dad…" Sora unintentionally choked out.
"Sora…what's wrong?" Cloud motioned the boy over to come sit with him in which Sora did. Sora did no reply but only leaned on Cloud's shoulder.
"Dad…what happened between you and Leon?"
"…"
"Dad?" Sora looked up but Cloud was only staring ahead of him. The blonde sighed before putting an arm around Sora and kept a firm grip on him,
"That's none of your concern," he replied as he looked at Sora.
"Okay…I'm sorry for asking…"
"Why did you ask in the first place?"
"Well…I was curious. Since you two knew each other and all…" Sora half-lied and leaned on the shoulder again, "How did he get that scar?"
"He got into a fight I think."
"Oh…does Zack know him too?"
"Yeah…he does. So does Aerith and your Uncle Tidus. Why the sudden curiosity?" Cloud couldn't help but ask even though he has an idea.
"I don't know…they're all your close friends…well besides Leon I mean."
"Yeah…they are…"
"I'm sorry…"
"…For what?"
"…Everything," Sora whispered and wrapped his arms around Cloud, sending the blonde in a silent state of surprise and shock.
Sora just couldn't get it out of his head…Cloud's life must've sucked and that's really the only word he could think of to describe it. At least that's how Sora saw it. He took those old pictures of Cloud, the ones where he held the brightest smiles in, and hid them under his pillow. Sora almost thought he didn't recognize the man, but it was still Cloud; so Sora couldn't blame anything on him anymore...knowing he can't imagine what his father has gone through that caused such a change. Sora never thought that change could seem so bad…but maybe if Cloud smiled more their family wouldn't be fighting all the time.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Leon-I'm sorry for hanging up on you last night. Should I even call you that anymore?
I'm the one who is sorry…call me Leon
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Sora felt guilty for talking to his father's 'enemy' but he felt bad for Leon too, wondering how the man felt when he realized he's got a pair of 15 year-old twins. After Sora patched things up with Leon, and spent a good time napping on Cloud, Sora had a more restful and peaceful day.
"Let's do a haunted house," Riku suggested as he walked home with the twins from school. Just from missing a day at school, Sora felt behind so he knew he's going to spend the rest of today with Roxas and Riku to catch up on what he missed, or at least that was the plan. He also missed the announcement for the culture festival and now they're trying to think of ideas.
"Riku, everyone does either a café or haunted house," Roxas reminded,
"Yeah but I think Sora's Halloween costume was awesome, we can use that!"
The conversation died to Sora's ears when they started walking past Riku's house. The boy's eyes landed on the long silver-haired tied in a loose ponytail that's heading for the front door. The owner of that hair turned and shouted for Riku, something about being home before 9.
"Okay!" Riku shouted back and continued talking with Roxas.
Sora slowed down in his walk and watched as the man started opening his door. That's when he broke into a run before the man enters his house.
"Whoa, where are you going?" Roxas shouted after him but it fell on deaf ears, forcing Roxas and Riku to run after the brunette who started to tug on a black blazer.
"Sephiroth?" Sora whispered and said-man stared hard at him,
"How did you know my first name?" he eyed Sora suspiciously,
"I saw it…next to a picture of you when you were in high school," Sora replied, "Along with 'avoid him/bully' too."
"Ah, didn't think Cloud would keep anything from high school…"
"Well he did…What's mako exactly?" Sora blurted out and Sephiroth gave him a long and hard stare while Riku and Roxas finally caught up.
"Sora! Why did you suddenly run to my father?" Riku asked,
"Yeah I thought we needed to study," Roxas added.
"Um…I will! Just give me a second!" Sora replied and waited on Sephiroth's answer. Leon only mentioned and he didn't even explain it when Sora asked about it again after they apologized to each other. But upon seeing Riku today and luckily seeing Sephiroth too, Sora knew he had to take the chance to ask.
"…Riku, let me borrow your friend for a moment," said Sephiroth and without even getting an answer, he pulled Sora's uniform tie and pulled him into the house, slamming the door behind him before releasing the boy, "How did you know about mako? And how did you know I would know about it?" he asked as he headed towards the kitchen with Sora following.
"Um…Leon told me about it-I mean…Squall told me about it."
"Squall?" Sephiroth turned back towards the young brunette, "As in Leonhart? You know who he is?"
"Yeah..." and soon Sora found himself telling his story to Sephiroth who in turn sat at the kitchen table, with Sora following his actions, and listened patiently.
"Hmm…didn't think the world would be so small that even Squall lived in this neighborhood…"
"See, I remembered that Riku had weird eyes too…kind of like Roxy. So that's why I thought maybe you knew something about it," Sora confessed and Sephiroth sighed,
"Yeah I do. Why is it that you want to know about it exactly?"
"Is it actually possible? For it get a male pregnant?"
"Apparently so," Sephiroth shrugged,
"Then…how…" Sora blushed, feeling embarrassed to ask, "How did we…come out?"
"I assume surgery," Sephiroth replied with a monotone voice, and thus Sora couldn't help but feel Sephiroth seemed to calm about the whole thing unless…
"…Is that how Riku came out?" Sora couldn't help but ask but it was only due to his own events that he noticed that he never saw Sephiroth's partner before and Riku never talked about it. However, Sora clearly remembered many times over the past that Riku has said: "I'll ask my parents," or "My parents are so going to kill me," and even one time when they were about 5 and 6: "Mommy and Daddy said I can't get another goldfish…"
The only reason Sora remembered that old memory was because he laughed and reminded his friend 'that's because you killed the first one!' and thus Riku pounded him.
"Erm…yes? Riku told you about me and Gen?"
Sora only shook his head,
"I assumed…I have no idea who, um, 'Gen' is…"
"I heard my name! I assume it's safe to come!" Sora turned his head to the stairs to see a tired red-head come down, continuously coughing, and walk by them, "Hi Seph…what's Riku doing today?" he asked and Sephiroth stood up to make sure the red-head doesn't topple over from being dizzy.
"Going to Sora's house to help him study," Sephiroth replied and then asked what his lover needed.
"Oh…did you tell him to not have sex with either of the twins?" Genesis asked as Sephiroth lead the man to the kitchen chair Sephiroth was just sitting on and then he looked back at a now-completely-red-Sora,
"What?" was the only thing Sora could say after a moment of pausing.
"Gen, this is Sora," Sephiroth pointed and the red-head looked to see the boy through his bangs.
"Oh, sorry," he replied bluntly before giving Sora a long stare, "…he DIDN'T touch you right?"
Sora only shook his head and Genesis nodded, "Good, I would've grounded him…So Sephy, why is Sora here if Riku is supposed to be helping him study?"
"Sora knows about mako," Sephiroth replied in a serious tone and went to prepare soup.
"Oh, okay…"
"And apparently, it's official that Squall Leonhart is his father," Sephiroth added and Genesis gave them his full attention.
"Really? Cloud told his kids that?"
"N-No…I ran into Squall," Sora replied, "Squall's the one who told me…the moment he saw myself and Roxas with Dad, he knew we were his…"
"And Cloud's okay with this?" Genesis questioned with a bewildered look before coughing again.
"No…he doesn't know that I know. And Roxy doesn't know either!"
"Well…then what's the point of this again?" Genesis questioned and Sora looked away.
"…Squall wants to be with Dad again; but he can't do it by himself. Dad hates him…so I guess…I'm also here because I want to know what happened between them."
"Well I don't know, I wasn't even in that high school," Genesis replied as he slowly got out of the chair and coughed again, "I'll be upstairs, Seph..."
"Alright, get some rest…and I'm sorry I can't really help you there, Sora. I wasn't really friends with either of them."
"So there's…nothing you can tell me about their relationship?"
Sephiroth went into thought as got the canned soup ready before sighing and answering.
"Cloud and Squall: they were the ideal couple when high school started, everyone knew they were together. It wasn't until the middle of the 2nd year up to the last year that people started noticing a relationship bump."
"That's a pretty long bump then…" Sora commented and Sephiroth only nodded.
"Again, I wasn't close to either of the two so I don't know the details. I just know that Squall started hanging around Seifer and his gang while Cloud started going into corners to cry…maybe you can ask him if anyone."
"Ask who? Seifer?"
"Yeah…if you've ever saw him, he's also got a scar across his face. I only knew him well because we always ended up in detention together for almost our entire lives in school. But that's where Squall ended up being at as well after a while. So why don't you talk to Seifer, he lives around here. He and Squall were together so often, some people thought Squall was cheating on Cloud with him. Don't take my word for it, it was just a rumor."
"…Okay."
"Riku, I'm borrowing your friend," Sephiroth stated as he pushed Sora along to his car when they walked out of the house.
"Whoa! Hey! Wait! What am I supposed to tell Dad?" Roxas exclaimed as he stood up from the grass where he and Riku waited,
"Give him this," Sephiroth handed a note to the young blonde as Sora got into the front seat.
"I'll be alright, Roxy! I'll call!" Sora waved.
"Riku, your mom's in the house so look after my partner while I'm gone."
"What? Then what's Roxas going to do?" Riku pointed,
"Whatever he wants…"
The two watched the black car pull out and leave, wondering how in the world this happened.
"…How come I never saw your mom, Riku?" Roxas couldn't help but question,
"You don't want to, trust me. And my mom's sick right now, really irritable unless my father is there."
Roxas only nodded as he opened the note to see the explanation which he found really wasn't one but Roxas nearly freaked out by the last part of the note.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
I'm borrowing your son.
-Sephiroth
P.S. I was the one that stole your costume from your first year's culture fest, not that black-haired friend of yours. So I apologize to the both of you
P.S.S. Don't tell Sora I told you this but I thought you had the right to know: Reno molested Sora
Sora gulped as a scary-looking man, as Sora thought he was, stared down at him with a fierce look in his eyes and the scar didn't help.
"…You brought me a kid?" Seifer asked as he leaned against his front door.
"This is one of Strife's kids." Sephiroth stated.
"…You brought me one of Strife's kid?"
"Can you tell me about Dad and Squall's relationship?" Sora went straight to the point, not willing to play this stupid game since he wanted to get out of this scary-man's face as soon as he can. Seifer only stared at him, confusion clearly spelled across his face.
"…Is he...?"
"Leonhart is the other parent…The mako in Cloud is why this boy and his twin brother were born."
"Oh…why do you want to know about your parents' relationship again?"
"Because I want to know what happened between them that makes Dad hate Le-Squall…because Squall wants to be with Dad again…"
"Whoa, Leonhart is STILL pursuing him? It's been what? Almost 10 years at least?"
"15 to 16," Sora corrected, assuming that's the case, only to receive a light glare from Seifer.
"That man's insane…Alright fine! Come in!"
Sora settled down in the slightly messy house. After looking around, he couldn't help but feel this man is single since he doesn't seem to take care of anyone but himself with clothing and food cartons or pizza boxes everywhere. They settled down in the living room, and Seifer sighed.
"Well where do you want me to start?"
"Um…just tell me about when their relationship started looking bad!"
"Ugh…let's see…it was probably after Squall started hanging around myself and my gang that their relationship started going downhill. I have no idea what was going on between them since I didn't give a damn about it…"
"What did Squall do with you then?"
"Landed in detention together most of the time for breaking school property or something, I can't remember much of what we did besides go get drunk every now and then. Oh yeah, I got him drunk one night and I think that's when we realized how well we got along…"
"Leonhart drank?" Sephiroth raised a brow, not quite believing it,
"Only on weekends if I invite him out I guess," Seifer shrugged, "So with Squall and Cloud, I only know what happened often between them is that Cloud would say something, Squall says something, it repeats but Squall yells, and then he comes over to my group. That's really all I know on the basics of their relationship."
"Heh, sounds like some old rumors were true then: Cloud really was abused by Squall in the relationship," Sephiroth stated and Sora looked up at the man next to him with wide eyes and a dried up throat.
"And you assumed that, how…?" Seifer questioned and Sephiroth crossed his arms.
"It's not that hard to notice, after all: you two were practically enemies but suddenly you two became friends? Obviously, you must've exposed something new to Squall for it happen. And right after that, their relationship started to suffer. I assume Squall's got a low alcohol tolerance…and as I recall: Cloud was living Squall was he not?"
"I think so," Seifer shrugged, "But you're right about the low alcohol tolerance thing! He was gone by the first drink on our first night out!"
"…Mr. Seifer? Does this mean you were never um…intimate with Squall?" Sora nervously questioned and Seifer looked like he wanted to kill him,
"Not over my dead body! And don't call me that, just call me Seifer, I won't care!"
Sora sighed in relief, kinda glad that cheating didn't happen in the relationship.
"Although I think he hit it off with a couple of people here and there, but that's only when he's drunk."
It was Sora's turn to feel the urge to kill: He could've gotten out of here without knowing THAT!
"Tell me, do you remember how their relationship ended?" Sephiroth questioned, "I believe I left before even seeing the conclusion…"
"Oh, Strife just disappeared and Squall fell in the deepest depression I ever saw in my life!"
"Disappeared?" Sora repeated.
"Yeah he disappeared, pretty much vanished off the planet. The teachers says he transferred but nobody knows where to and no one could get any information from the teachers. Without a word of goodbye, Strife just suddenly didn't show up at school and he never came back."
"And Squall…was he okay? I mean, I know you said he…"
"Pth! That's when Squall stopped hanging around me so I can't tell you much. He never says anything unless he has to speak and he mopes around all day, staring at the empty desk that belonged to Strife. I think when Rinoa spoke a few words to him is when Squall finally started doing something. He more or less started following Rinoa around to help her carry paperwork so I guess he technically got better but since then to graduation, Squall is often seen by himself staring outside or at the empty desk…"
Sora wanted to question who this Rinoa was but Sephiroth dished out a question first.
"Well I'm surprised to see you remembering your student body president's name…was she the reason you originally hated Squall?"
"Shut up, you bastard…"
Sora stared between the adults as he started to feel Seifer's anger.
"Um…thank you so much for your information," Sora stood up and bowed politely, "It really helped!"
"Ugh, whatever…"
"Um..." Sora looked at Sephiroth, wanting to ask one more favor.
"…You want to visit someone else don't you?"
Sora now knew where Riku got the skills to read people from.
"Yes please…I want to see Uncle Tidus."
Notes:
-I confess that I'm interested in the Sephy/Gen pairing but I'm not for or against it to be honest.
-While I'm on that note, this is Genesis's first appearance in my fanfics!
-I don't think I mentioned it yet but I'm gonna have to say they go to a Japanese school. Thus the culture fest.