Sorry, Kye, I kinda changed this one around a little, just a little, but it still says the same thing. =)

Battle of the Mages
Long Silver Fear

Kylie walked quietly into Cloud's room. The lazy bum was still asleep! Leaving the door open, she walked silently across his room and climbed onto his bed. She crawled across his mattress to him, and leaned over the still form of the sleeping swordsman. She was just inches from his face. She was just about to call his name softly and wake him up, when his eyes snapped open and he sat bolt upright.

Cloud smacked his head against hers. Kylie fell off the bed and hit the floor with a thump. Cloud fell back onto his bed, clutching his now bruised head. He heard a groan from the floor. He rolled over, letting his hands fall to his side, and looked down.

Kylie was lying on the floor, staring up at the ceiling, holding her bruised head. She groaned.

"So," said Cloud conversationally, "I guess you're not an assassin?" Kylie sat up and looked at him, her hands holding her up.

"Obviously not! Oww...did you have to sit up so fast?"

"Well, no. But in my defense, I thought you were an assassin."

"You are so paranoid."

"I am not."

"You're in denial. Are you ready to go?" Cloud rolled onto his back and closed his eyes, arms behind his head.

"In an hour or two..."

"No! You. Up. Now. Or else I will take drastic measures."

"Drastic measures? What can you do to me? Anyway, you wouldn't want to hurt me," As Kylie and Cloud had gotten to know each other, Cloud had begun teasing Kylie more and more. She hated and loved it as the same time.

"Wanna bet?"

"I'm so scared. Completely paralyzed with fear," Cloud said sarcastically, keeping his eyes resolutely shut. Kylie climbed onto Cloud's bed, leaning over him.

"Good. A little fear never hurt anyone."

"I dunno...fear of you could kill a normal person."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Wait! Stop trying to sidetrack me! Get up!" Cloud finally opened his eyes with a groan.

"Fine, fine. Just get out so I can get dressed."

"You'd better be ready to go by eight!" Kyra slipped off his bed and left the room, closing the door behind her.

Cloud ran out his room, running his hand through his wet hair. The spikes were still there, of course - they were natural - but Cloud knew that his hair was very messy, and he didn't really want Kylie to see him like that.

Halfway down the hall Cloud realized that he'd forgotten his wallet. He skidded to a stop, and ran down the other way. Inside his room, he grabbed his wallet, and ran back out of his room, slamming the door behind him. He ran full speed back down the hallway.

Several new contenders were standing in the hall, talking. They fell silent as they saw Cloud Strife, stoic warrior, run down the hall, run back to his room, and then run back the other way, disappearing through the door at the end of the hall. The contenders looked at each other, and shook their heads.

"Nah."

"No way."

"Couldn't be."

Cloud sprinted up to Kylie, her arms crossed and her foot tapping, an impatient look on her face.

"You're late," she growled, glaring at him, as he bent over and rested his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. When he'd regained his breath, a few seconds later, he checked his watch. It was 8:01. Cloud rolled his eyes.

"By a minute!"

"That's still late. But no matter. Are you finally ready to go?"

"If I wasn't, I wouldn't be here now would I?"

"You might, just to mess with me."

Cloud smiled. "Yes, I'm ready to go." They left the coliseum, and grabbed a gummi ship, with Cloud driving.

In the ship, Cloud noticed scars covering her arms, since she was wearing short sleeves.

"What are those from?" he asked, glancing at her. Kylie had been staring out the window, her chin resting on her hand. She stiffened, and answered emotionlessly.

"I used to be a cutter," she said bluntly. Cloud turned back to the path.

"Why?" he asked. She heard in his voice that he had been hurt by her answer, but she didn't know why.

"Why do you care?" she asked coolly, looking at him.

"Because I'm your friend."

Shocked, Kylie turned back to the window. She had never thought Cloud was the type to admit he had friends.

"I started cutting after my sister died," Kylie began. "Well, I had done it a few times before, but after she died, I really started doing it. I stopped after my parents died. It took my parents telling me how warped my soul was, and my best friend agreeing with them, and my parents dying to get me to stop. Can we drop this now?"

Cloud nodded. "Sure." And then Cloud remembered. "Oh, happy birthday."

"It's my birthday?"

"I don't know, is it?"

"Well, if you think it is, then sure, heck why not?" Cloud laughed. He didn't just start laughing, he couldn't stop. Kylie stared at him, a weird expression on her face the entire time. When he finally stopped laughing, he had to swerve violently to avoid another gummi ship.

"So, is it really my birthday?"

"Yeah, it is. I had to Google you to find out though."

"You Googled me?" cried Kylie, outraged.

"I didn't want to ask you incase you wouldn't tell me. Does it bother you that I did that? I'm sorry."

"Don't worry. It's all right."

"Hey Kylie..." Cloud really didn't want to bring it up, but he had to. He was worried.

"What?"

"How is it going? Between you and Sephiroth?"

"Um..." Kylie remembered officially meeting Sephiroth for the first time.

Cloud was fighting, with Kylie cheering him on in the stands. Cloud dodged a sword stroke but it caught his red cloak. He fell to the ground, half strangled. His opponent raised his sword for the killing stroke. Cloud dodged, but the sword still hit his arm. Cloud kicked the man away and sprang up. Cloud examined the wound. It bled heavily, and was deep, but he was in no danger of losing it, and he could still fight.

The man was curled up on the ground, gasping and clutching his stomach, at least three ribs crushed. The referee rushed over and declared Cloud the winner.

Cloud started to walk away, but the man on the ground grabbed the end of his cloak. Cloud stopped and looked at the man disdainfully.

"Let me go," said Cloud quietly.

"Filthy pig!" the heavily accented man spat.

"I am not the one holding the filthy pig, lowlife," said Cloud condescendingly, then he kicked him on the forehead with his heavy boot. The man immediately fell unconscious.

"I've caught him watching me, but that's it," Kylia concluded, trying to shrug it off.

Cloud walked away, searching the stands for Kylie. She wasn't there. Cloud blinked, momentarily surprised, then he remembered: when he got hurt, she usually met him at the exit of the arena.

When he walked out of the arena, Kylie wasn't there, holding bandages and ready to ask if he was all right. A feeling of foreboding fell across him, and Cloud started down the hallway quickly and quietly. When he turned the corner, he found her.

The new fighter, Sephiroth, was grasping her forearms, and had her shoved up against a wall. Kylie was struggling, but in vain.

Apparently, she realized that she couldn't break the strong grip of the silver-haired man, so she stopped struggling.

Glaring at Sephiroth, her fists clenched. A look of surprise crossed his face before he put his emotionless mask back on. It seemed it was getting harder and harder for him to keep holding her. Cloud however, wasn't going to waste time wondering why.

He strode angrily down the hall, cloak flapping behind him. Kylie saw him over Sephiroth's shoulder. Her eyes widened in surprise and relief, and she smiled slightly. Sephiroth's head turned and he glance at Cloud. While his attention was occupied, Kylie acted.

White teeth sunk into pale flesh with a spurt of blood. Sephiroth whipped his head around and growled, bearing extremely pointed canines.

He glared down at Kylie. She met his glare with a defiant one of her own, teeth still embedded in his flesh. She released him at the same time that he released her. When Kylie had straightened up, she and Sephiroth looked at each other.

Sephiroth's cheeks were flushed slightly, blood dripping from the deep bite wounds in his arm. Kylie was panting, open mouth revealing her teeth and tongue covered in Sephiroth's blood.

They stared at each other, their gazes portraying vastly different emotions. Sephiroth's eyes showed anger, but underneath the thin veil, they showed a burning longing. For what, Kylie wasn't sure. Strength, her, killing Cloud, it could be anything. But, Kylie knew, deep inside her, where her deepest fears were kept, she knew that what Sephiroth wanted...was her.

Her eyes conveyed, pure, feral terror, but then her reasonable side took hold. The terror faded, clamped in her iron will, and pushed away to be dealt with later.

Sephiroth saw the resolution in her eyes. He smiled very slightly and gave an amused "Hmph," before turning on his heel and walking away, blood still dripping down his arm. Cloud glared at his back.

"If he bothers you again, let me know."

Kylie spit the blood out, and then slid down the wall, shaking. Cloud rushed to her and caught her just before she hit the ground. Kylie leaned against him, shaking worsening.

"Are you alright?" he asked gently, holding her.

"I...I'm...I'm f...fi...fine. I'm fine," stuttered Kylie, shaking worse than ever.

Cloud quickly and silently assessed her, then shook his head. "No, you're not. Not at all." Cloud her up bridal style, wincing as her weight combined with her uncontrollable shaking opened his wound even farther. He ground his teeth and walked quickly to her room.

Cloud set the still shaking girl down onto her bed, took off her shoes, then pulled the covers up. He tried to walk away, but Kylie grasped his forearm.

"No!" she gasped, teeth chattering regardless of the sweat on her face. "Please don't...please don't leave me! I'm scared! So, so scared!"

Cloud's eyes widened in surprise. Kylie wasn't the type to admit she was scared., so she wouldn't worry anyone. Her telling him made him realize that she wasn't just scared... she was terrified.

That thought process took only a few seconds. Cloud looked into her emerald eyes, and saw unconditional trust, along with the fear. Cloud nodded slowly.

"Hang on." He unclenched her hand from his arm, and walked over to her door. After closing and locking it, he took a chair from against the wall, and pulled it up to Kylie's bed, trying not to use his arm. Cloud pulled off his cloak, and then sat down and pulled off his boots. This done, he took Kylie's hand. She gripped his hand like she would never let go. Their eyes met one more time, and then she fell asleep, still holding his hand. Cloud settled back into his chair, falling asleep as well.

"I can take care of myself you know!" Cloud opened his mouth to retort, but Kylie pointed to his left. "Turn here."

Kylie woke, and saw that Cloud was sleeping by her bed. Her first thought was how cute he looked while sleeping. Kylie sat up, then noticed that Cloud was still holding her hand. She started to smile, and then stopped as pure, unfiltered terror overwhelmed her again, causing her senses to go haywire as adrenaline flooded her system. Thoughts of the silver-haired man filled her head, pounding around and around inside her skull until she was ready to puke or scream. She forced her eyes, which had been closed, open, and they fell on Cloud.

The sight of the sleeping blonde broke through the wall of terror, shattering the hold it had on her. The terror faded, replaced with a warm, fuzzy feeling, a feeling that Kylie had felt before; to her family and her friends, but this time...it was different somehow.

"Hm."

That small sound was enough to wake the blonde swordsman. The warriors' strikingly blue eyes opened slowly.

"How are you feeling?" he asked gently.

She smiled slightly at the blonde, blue-eyed Cloud Strife, her savior. "I'm fine now," she said reassuringly. She met his eyes with her own emerald ones. "Thank you."

Cloud smiled the gentlest and most caring and loving smile she had ever seen.

"I'll leave so you can get some more sleep," he saw the fear start to come back in her eyes. A look of understanding flashed across his face.

He brought her right hand, still in his hand, to his mouth and brushed his lips across the back of it. She blushed scarlet.

"This is my promise," he said kindly. "Whenever you need help or are in pain, whether physical or psychological, or if you call me, I will come." Cloud stood up, but sat down quickly. He clutched his arm and grunted in pain.

"You're hurt!" Kylie jumped out of bed.

"I'm fine."

Kylie rolled her eyes, and got a first aid kit out, along with a roll of bandages.

"You're bleeding, too dizzy to stand up. You are not fine." She rolled his sleeve up and cleaned the wound, bandaging it afterwards.

Cloud did so.