Hey! Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but I kept rewriting this chapter and hating it then loving it then hating it again, but I'm finally done!
Hope ya like it!
Disclaimer: If I owned kh or ff, I wouldn't be writing a fanfiction about it, now would I?
Chapter 24
Roxas~
"What was that?" I asked (still can't get over that).
"I don't know. Let's go find out." Xion jumped off my bed and ran to the door.
"Wait!" I yelled and took off after her.
By the time I caught up with her, she was standing in front of the door. The stranger was leaning in the door frame, bleeding on the carpet.
"Cloud..." He murmured. "I need...Cloud..."
With that, he fell through the door and hit the floor.
Xion ran to the stairs. "Dad!" She yelled. Cloud came up the stairs.
"What is it, Xion?" He asked, then saw the uninvited guest lying on the floor.
He rushed over and lifted the man up.
Tifa came up the stairs. "What happe-" she stopped. Cloud lowered the man to the couch.
"Squall..." Cloud said. "What happened?"
The man-Squall, I assume-looked up at Cloud, trying to focus on his face.
"Long story." He grunted.
Tifa darted to the kitchen and came back with the First Aid Kit. She set to work cleaning and bandaging his many wounds.
The second Tifa touched him, a grimace covered his face.
Tifa withdrew her hand. "I'm sorry, did I hurt you?"
He shook his head. "No it's just...I haven't really been touched for a while."
For some reason, I found that highly unlikly.
Squall~
I laid on the sofa. It was very strange to have someone touch me and I feel no pain. Not intentional pain anyway.
Tifa gently moved my head to the side to examine my neck. She let out a tiny gasp when she saw the deep bite marks on my neck.
"Cloud," She whispered. He glanced down and gave me a look that said 'explain later.'
I nodded weakly.
The kids I first saw when I came here stood behind Cloud and Tifa. Their children, probably. It was weird how much the boy looked like Cloud, their spiky blonde hair and blue eyes were nearly identical.
Then I noticed the girl. She was petite, sporting deep blue eyes and short black hair. She looked like...Yuffie.
Then I saw the strange purplish bruising creeping up her neck. I remembered Cloud had a similar bruise several years ago, when we were both fighting to stay alive.
It was some sort of decease. A genetic one.
I wonder...could it be...?
Tifa snapped me out of my thoughts. "Squall, you're staying here until you can stand without fainting, puking, bleeding or falling over." Tifa told me.
I sat up too quickly, causing the black stars to make a reappearing act.
"N-no. I have to go back to Riona." I insisted.
Tifa put her hands on her hips. "Oh no you don't. You're not going anywhere."
I looked at Cloud, who shrugged in a apologetic way.
I turned back to Tifa. "You can't keep me here."
She raised her eyebrows like 'you wanna go?'
She crossed her arms. "You wanna go?"
Um. Wow.
"Fine. Leave. Door's over there."
I stood up and blacked out immediately.
When I came to, Tifa was standing over me.
"You can sleep in the guest room. Cloud will lend you some clothes."
~x~
Roxas~
It was about seven O'clock.
"Roxas," Tifa called from the kitchen.
"Yeah?" I walked over to her.
"Cloud and I have to go to the store."
"I can go alone." Cloud insisted as he drifted through the room.
Tifa rolled her eyes. "No. Take this to Squall." She handed me a little silver box.
"What is it?" I asked (amazing isn't it?).
She smirked. "Can't tell ya."
"Ok. While we're gone, keep an eye on Squall. If anyone breaks into the house, gets injured past the First Aid Kit, or Squall smiles, call the police and/or hospital."
"C'mon Tif." Cloud called patiently.
An annoyed expression crossed her face. "Hold on a second! I'm coming!"
She pointed at the box. "Take that to Squall."
She walked to the door.
"What is it?!" I yelled.
I sighed dramatically and started to the stairs.
I got to the door. I knocked lightly on the door. Nothing.
I pushed open the door. Squall was sitting on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands.
"Cloud." He said, looking up. "I need to talk to you."
'Oh gosh he's delusional.' I thought.
I opened my mouth to tell him who I was.
But no sound came out.
My hand flew to my throat and, in my surprise, almost missed what he said next.
"I have a son."
I stared at him. That was probably the most random thing I'd ever heard.
Squall nodded as if I had commented.
"Yes. His name is Sora."
He looked straight at me. A look of confusion crossed his face as I shoved the box at him and ran upstairs.
When I got there, I noticed Xion wasn't in the living room.
I looked around in a needless panic.
She was asleep in her room.
~x~
I sat on the sofa, watching TV. There was nothing on, besides annoying Christmas spinoff specials.
I heard a car pull up and, in seconds, an angry voice.
Tifa stormed through the door. Cloud followed.
"Tifa, why are you mad?" He asked.
She huffed. "If you have to ask, I'm not telling you!"
Tifa started down the hall.
"But-" He tried.
"Cloud Strife!" She yelled, as if that was the worst insult on the face of the Earth.
She darted into their room and slammed the door in Cloud's face.
Cloud stood there for a second, then turned and walked back into the living room. He sat down next to me. The way he was holding his head in his hands, he looked just like Squall.
Ok...not really.
According to my dad, the only person who could actually talk to Cloud was my mother.
But...it was worth a shot.
"Um...why is Tifa mad?"
He sighed. "I said something about Aerith and suddenly she was shouting at me."
My mom...? What did he say...?
"What did you say?"
"I said 'Remember when Aerith broke my arm at that gas station' then Tifa got angry for no reason."
"She broke your arm at a gas station?" I had to ask.
He smiled halfway. "Yeah...your mom wasn't the best driver in the world."
Cloud looked around. "Um...where's Xion?"
"Oh, she's asleep." I explained.
He nodded. "Anything...out of the ordinary happen while we were gone?"
"Uhm...well...Squall did randomly tell me he had a son, after calling me Cloud."
He raised his eyebrows. "He was probably hallucinating. And...yeah...they did."
"H-he said his name is-was-Sora." I said.
Cloud nodded a little. "Um...yeah. They gave him up for adoption. Squall wanted to protect Sora...he knew that...he was in danger if anyone knew he was related to Squall. So they put him up for adoption. Zack and Aerith wanted to do the same...but...they loved you and Kairi too much...and they thought they could keep you two safe."
I closed my eyes. "Did you..ever want to give Xion and Aqua up?" I asked numbly.
"No. We thought we could protect them." He murmured.
I bolted up. "Well it didn't work!" I yelled. "My sister's dead and Aqua's dead and Sora got killed by AVALANCHE! No matter what, you can't protect someone from themselves!" I ran out the door.
~x~
I pressed my hand to the cool metal of the wrought-iron gate. I stepped into the cemetery.
It was cold, being December and all, and I had forgotten my jacket.
After walking to the very back of the large cemetery, I found the graves. Tucked into a corner were three tombstones.
I knelt next to the one in the middle.
Kairi's.
"One sky, one destiny." I read, running my fingers over the lettering, engraved in shining granite stone.
I turned to another. This one was gray with little flecks of silver.
My dad's.
"Just cuz I'm dead doesn't mean you've gotten rid of me." Oh, dad.
I looked over at my mom's. My jaw hit the ground.
The stone rose out of a forest of orange, pink and white lilies.
"I...only planted one..." I murmured.
I stood and walked around for a while.
Finally, I found it.
Sora's.
"My friends are my power. And I'm theirs."
A little dorky, but one hundred percent Sora.
I looked around and found a sharp rock. I sat next to the stone.
Using the stone, I scratched out 'Fooser' and carved 'Leonhart.'
X
Yup. Very important chapter. Please review guys! I'm only getting two or three reviews each chapter, and they're from the same people! (Shout out to khdayskh1314, Shadowdragon1317 and Zigbon) so uh...yeah...