Redemption

Standard disclaimers apply

By: Lazeralk

Part 2

(notes for cameron small and Lady Thief at the end!)

0o0o0

Cloud felt his eyes go wide as he stared up at the other blonde, muscles screaming as he tensed to roll out of the way. When he saw that his newest opponent was not immediately threatening to kill him, but more standing guard over him, he forced himself calm and chanced a look around, body still tight with tension.

He was in a forest of tall, rich trees that spoke of the quiet rush of life. His swords were still stuck in the ground in a circle around his fallen form, just as they had been when he'd finished his finial attack on Sephiroth.

Kadaj and his two brothers lay sprawled a few feet away from him, materia still glowing from inside their arms and weapons still gripped in lifeless fingers. Three other men with longbows and arrows stood poised to strike over the fallen Remnants.

Cloud gasped and started to sit up, but the searing pain in his chest and the sharper focus of the arrow in his face forced him back down again.

He lifted a hand slowly to his chest and then held it over his face, watching as the fresh blood dripped down his wrist. Why was he in so much pain? Surely dying the first time should have taken care of the wound right? Had Aerith made a mistake and sent him here to die in this place so shortly after arriving?

He let his hand drop and gazed at the man who held him prisoner and noted with confusion his odd clothing of homespun cotton and hand tooled leather. Another man, dressed as strangely as the first, slowly made his way over to where he lay and crouched down just outside of his reach.

The new man, who had dark hair, began to speak to him in language he didn't understand. He frowned at the man and shook his head. He didn't speak Wutainese, but somehow he doubted that this man was speaking it either.

"Continental?" he rasped, surprised that his voice was as rough as it was.

The dark haired man frowned and shook his head in return.

"Do you speak Westron?" he asked.

"Westron? That's Continental." Answered Cloud, reaching for the hilt of his sword and the Restore materia that was slotted there.

The blonde who was guarding him jerked and readied himself to fire, some small change in his stance making him appear much more threatening. Cloud glanced up at him and froze.

"Restore." He said, nodding his head at the glowing green orb that was shining from the hilt.

"Do not reach for your weapon stranger, if you value your life." Said the dark-haired one, his eyes narrowed and his voice dripping with suspicion.

"Not the blade. The materia. The Restore materia. Have to heal this hole in my chest before I bleed to death." Rasped Cloud, his eyes growing angry and confused. Why didn't they understand? Everyone in the world knew what materia was.

"I don't understand." Replied the man, whom Cloud mentally assigned the name of 'Dark'. A horrible thought occurred to him then.

"No materia here? No Lifestream?" asked Cloud, giving Dark his full attention. Just where the hell had Aerith sent them?

"I don't recognize those words stranger."

"Cloud. Name's Cloud Strife."

"You are from Bree?" asked Dark, his eyebrows raised in disbelief.

"No. Nibelheim. But I wasn't there. I was in Midgar. Please, there's a green ball embedded in the sword's hilt. If you hit the little button next to it, the materia will pop out. It just has to touch my skin to work."

Dark shared a soft, quick conversation with the blond who was still ready to kill him in their own flowing language before he backed away and circled around behind the blonde to where the sword lay just beyond Cloud's right hand. Dark pulled the blade carefully towards himself and ran his fingers along the hilt until he found the tiny button and pressed it. The materia popped out, just as Cloud had said it would, but Dark still looked surprised.

He rolled it around his palm for a moment before placing it gently in Cloud's right hand, and backing away quickly.

Cloud let himself relax and opened himself to the materia, feeding it his energy and receiving energy from it in return. He felt his skin knit together and his breathing ease. Warmth filled him up from head to toes and he smiled blissfully at the gentle caress of the Lifestream. When the magic was done he lifted a hand to his collar and pulled the zipper down, exposing his still bloody chest. He touched around where the bullet had gone through and found pink new skin and only a little soreness. He nodded to himself and zipped his shirt back up.

"My brothers?" he asked, glancing at the still unconscious Remnants. No, he had to stop calling them that. His brothers, he would call them brothers or by their names.

"I'm afraid you will have to answer some questions before we can allow you to move Cloud Strife." Said Dark, returning to his former position, crouched just beyond Cloud's reach on his left side. Dark had settled his hand on the hilt of a blade fastened to his hip. His face was pleasant and blank, but his body said he was still far from trusting his newest acquaintance.

"That's fine. What do you want to know?" said Cloud, annoyed that they wouldn't let him check on his brothers, but still willing to be civil about it.

"How did you come to be here and with such grievous wounds?" asked Dark.

"Can I ask your name first?" returned Cloud, settling himself down in the soft grass.

"I am Elrohir, son of Elrond, the Lord of Imladris."

Cloud stared at him in silence for a moment, not sure if the other was entirely serious. Was he lost in some backwater part of the Continent where people still thought it was the Dark Ages or something? After all, Aerith wouldn't be crazy enough to send them off Planet would she? No way. They were speaking Continental, so they had to be in some remote part of the country right?

"Imla-what? Where's that?" asked Cloud, his brow drawn in confusion.

"Imladris in on the Bruinen, west of the Misty Mountains."

Cloud blinked and let it slide. Maybe they were screwing with him. He'd just ignore it for now. Maybe once he was allowed up he could scout around and figure out how to get back to Midgar with his brothers. He looked up at the sky and debated where to start in his story and whether or not he should lie. He didn't want them to attack his brothers.

He sighed and settled on telling him a slightly modified version of the truth.

"My brother's and I had a disagreement and we fought. I think, we all died. It felt like I died. Maybe this is where people go after they die. It feels like Heaven. Clean and new, not at all like Midgar."

He let Dark chew on that. No, Elrohir, the dark haired man was called Elrohir. A strange name. Kind of neat though.

"Your death brought you here?" asked Elrohir skeptically.

"Well, Aerith sent us here after we died."

"Aerith is your God?" asked Elrohir, one eyebrow raised and a slightly amused expression on his face. Great, thought Cloud, he thinks I'm crazy.

"Aerith is an Ancient. She's not technically a God." Answered Cloud, trying not to smile and therefore really convince Elrohir that he was off his rocker.

Elrohir sighed and issued some sort of command in his own language. The archers immediately let up and moved over to the sides of their makeshift camp. They lowered their bows, but kept their arrows knocked and did not turn their backs on Cloud or his brothers.

"Can I see my brothers now?" asked Cloud, the Restore still clutched in his hand. Elrohir nodded and made a sweeping gesture towards the still unconscious trio. Cloud rolled easily to his feet and quickly made his way over to Kadaj.

He felt only slightly guilty that he was favoring the smallest of his new brothers, but the other two had not quite endeared themselves to him the way Kadaj had. He rolled the smaller boy over and pressed the Restore to his chest.

He repeated this process with the other two and then sat back on his haunches, calling their names and waiting for them to wake. He knew from a mentally scarring experience with Zack not to wake a sleeping SOLDIER by touch. His spiky haired friend had leapt out of his bed, completely naked, and pinned him to the wall with a knife at his throat. It had not been a good way to start the day.

Yazoo was actually the first to stir, and he rose slowly. He sat up and dragged his hair out of his face. As soon as he caught sight of Cloud he scrambled backwards and lifted his remaining gunblade.

"Peace Yazoo. The situation has complicated." He said, giving the middle child serene eyes and his most serious expression.

"What's going on Ni-san? Where are we?" he asked, lowering his weapon and rubbing at his arm.

"Aerith decided to give us a chance to start over. Let's not waste it, alright?" said Cloud.

Yazoo blinked at him and then kicked Loz's shoulder lightly. The oldest of the silver haired trio slept on.

"You should pull the materia out of your arm Yazoo, they'll keep draining your energy if you leave them in."

Yazoo continued to gaze at him, not sure he should trust his blonde older brother. Kadaj chose that moment to wake up and he pushed himself violently up onto his knees before he had even opened his eyes.

"Ni-san?" he asked, looking around wildly until his eyes settled on Cloud.

"I'm here Kadaj."

"'Kasan said-."

"Later Kadaj." Said Cloud, standing and then offering a hand up to the smallest, and his favorite, at the moment.

Kadaj took it without hesitation and that made Cloud pause and wonder what Aerith had said to him.

The youngest nodded to Yazoo, who pulled himself up and then kicked his older bother in the shoulder again.

"Oi Loz. Wake up!" snapped Kadaj, glaring down at the still sleeping form of his brother.

Loz stirred, rolled over onto his back, and blinked up at the tree tops. He sat up and looked from Kadaj to Yazoo to Cloud and back again. His face showed his obvious confusion as to why his two closest brothers were not trying to kill his only blonde brother.

"Ni-san?" he asked.

"Aerith sent us here to fix things between us." Answered Cloud, trying to smile encouragingly at Loz.

Someone cleared their throat softly behind them and Cloud turned to see Elrohir waiting patiently to be introduced.

"Kadaj, Yazoo, Loz. This is Elrohir. Elrohir, these are my younger brothers, Loz, then Yazoo and Kadaj is the youngest."

"Pleased to meet you." Said Kadaj, strangely polite. What did Aerith say to him?

"Well met. If the four of you will follow me, I believe you will benefit for meeting my father. He is one of the wisest elves in the land, and will surely know what to do with you." Said Elrohir, giving them a tight smile and gesturing widely in a seemingly random direction.

Cloud stood frozen, his eyes wide with shock and disbelief.

"Elves?"

0o0o0

End part 2

Notes for reviewers: Thanks to everyone who reviewed, but special thanks to those of you who offered to help me with the LotR side of things. I will need all the help I can get. This story will focus on the development of a family relationship between the Advent Children and Cloud, but the setting is still LotR. I'm not sure if I'm going to send them with the Fellowship or not, but if I do, I will need serious help. If cameron small or Lady Thief (or both of you) want to Beta my story for any glaring errors in all things LotR, I would be eternally grateful.

The e-mail that I check is mayaxdragon (at) yahoo (dot) com please e-mail me, or leave your e-mail address in a review, if you're willing to do this for me. Thanks! ~Lazeralk