Redemption
A Final Fantasy 7/ Lord of the Rings crossover
By: Lazeralk
Standard disclaimers apply.
Once again, ("blah") denotes things said in Sindarin. 'Blah' is the Advents and Cloud sharing thoughts.
Sorry for the delay! I'm not willing to admit defeat yet, so stick with me! Or at least try to remember what this was about when it pops up at the top of your favorites list!
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The sun was almost completely set by the time the dark mass of the approaching army became discernable from the more mundane shadows that stretched across the land. Cloud gazed out over the fields and felt a small tickle of nerves. He shrugged his shoulders to settle his blades but it didn't bring him the easy of security it always had before. A boy of about fifteen stood beside him, chainmail shirt sleeves completely covering the small hands that held a dented shield and a sword that was just as tall as he was. Cloud focused very hard on not looking at that boy, knowing there were so many more just like him on the wall. The sun vanished beneath the horizon and Cloud watched as calmly as he could as thousands of torches were lit amongst the enemy. He tried not to frown at their efficiency. On and on, the black mass marched over the fields.
"There are so many." Whispered the boy at his side, his chainmail jingling as he shook in fright.
Cloud glanced at him, his face blank. He didn't know what to say, so he turned his head and watched them come without saying anything. A tight pressure built his chest, achingly familiar guilt settling nicely into its well worn niche.
'What should we do Ni-san?' whispered Kadaj in his head. The Advents and Cloud were spaced as evenly as they dared along the wall, pitiful few Rohiric soldiers and armed civilians strung between them.
'What do you mean?' asked Cloud back.
'Do you want us to focus on taking out the enemy, or protecting the civies?'
Cloud smirked and shook his head. 'You can't do both?' he shot back, challenging.
'Seriously, do we have a plan?' came Yazoo's snide voice through his mind. The sharpshooter was closer to the center of their lineup, his keen eyes sweeping over the enemy intently.
'Ni-san?' asked Kadaj, and Cloud knew without thinking about it what Kadaj wanted. The blonde glanced down the rows of trembling defenders and met his youngest brother's glowing green eyes. Slowly he nodded, grimacing as he accepted the weight of responsibility. He always hated it when he was elected leader. He straightened his back and gazed out at the approaching army.
'Alright, Yazoo: try to conserve as many bullets as you can, but take out their commanders if you can spot them. Loz and Kadaj, we'll focus on keeping as many Lurkers on the field as we can and aim for their siege engines. If anyone else has a long range limit break, use it. We'll do as much damage as we can before they even touch the walls. Protect our regulars if you can, we have to last five days. Aragorn says the cavalry should be here by then.' Ordered Cloud. He paused, and then looked around at their 'regulars'. These boys and old men who were now soldiers, but not SOLDIER, shaking like regulars before a battle, but without that absolute trust in the SOLDIERS that fought at their side. He felt the need to make them see him the way he always saw Zack. He wanted them to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that any SOLDIER was worth a hundred orcs on the battlefield. He wanted them to be less afraid, to have faith in him and his abilities.
'Daj, you better warn them about the gun rapport.' He said, eyes hard as the rain began to fall.
"Alright, listen up!" yelled Kadaj from his spot atop the battlements, hands fisted on his hips, back straight and proud. Everyone turned to look at him, absolutely silent, desperation clear on their faces. Kadaj smiled serenely, and Cloud really hoped no one else noticed how insane his little brother looked just then.
"When the fighting starts, you will hear some very loud banging noises! Do not be alarmed, it's just Yazoo making the enemy commander's heads explode! There will be huge wolf looking things all over the place! They are NOT wrags! They are Lurkers and they are on our side! Any giant flashes of colorful light will also be us!" shouted Kadaj, his words ringing clearly over the eerie silence that had befallen their rag tag group of defenders. Arms akimbo, the youngest of the Advents leaned forward a bit and grinned cheekily at his audience.
"Right then, no worries. Let's have some fun!"
"YE~AH!" screamed Loz from down the wall, his giant broad sword lifted above his head, the expression on his face absolutely joyous. Aragorn, standing next to him, stared at him for a moment then shrugged and added his own hurrah. Emboldened, the rest of their Rohiric citizens joined the call. Kadaj raised his fist and Yazoo, then Loz copied him. Lurkers, called by the dozens erupted from the shadows. The massive black beasts roared their challenge to the enemy, a strange echoing roar utterly unlike any beast that had ever walked Middle-Earth before. They lined the wall's base, huge claws digging into the mud. They clung to the top of the wall, their fearful human comrades giving them ample space to claw at the air and thrash their spiked tails.
Kadaj turned his head, silver hair flying as he sought out Cloud's eyes. Glowing green met glowing blue and whispered thoughts passed between them. 'Here's to endurance training.' Said Kadaj. 'Don't get killed.' Said Cloud. Kadaj smiled radiantly, 'You either.'
Cloud let out a quick breath, drew his fully assembled First Tsurugi and spun it over his head once. He felt more than saw the blade glow with the power of his attack, then leapt from the wall in a single graceful bound. The giant sword and its blonde owner hit the ground at the same time and the huge wave of light that raced out from the blade to meet the inky mass of the enemy, lit up the battlefield in way that could only be called beautiful. With a single stroke of his sword, Cloud brought down his first dozen orcs. The SOLDIER quickly broke his massive blade into two even swords, raised them high and charged into the fray, three massive Nibel wolves guarding his flanks.
Loz's jaw dropped in surprise before he yelled in frustration. "Ni-san! That's not fair! Wait for me!" The largest of the advents threw himself off the battlements, broadsword spinning wildly over his head as he rushed to meet the swarming orcs, Lurkers on either side. Kadaj rolled his eyes.
"They're mad. All of them, mad." Exclaimed Gimli in astonishment as he and the elf beside him watched the brothers carve considerable dents in the enemy army. The dozens of Lurkers on the ground charged into the fray, huge claws and razor teeth tearing orcs apart. The orcs of Saruman were too large a force for two lone SOLDIERS and few packs of Lurkers to hold at bay however, and masses of them swarmed around and between the loosely spaced defenders while others readied arrows for the first barrage.
"Archers!" screamed Aragorn, sword held high as his small army readied their bows. Arrows filled the air for one breathless moment before the screaming began. The battlefield roared with the clash of metal, the screams of the dying and the challenges of the survivors. Men and orcs and Lurkers fought chaotically around him, but he did not move, his glowing green eyes carefully scanning the enemy forces for something specific. Yazoo's eyes narrowed as he watched, and he carefully sighted down the barrel of his Velvet Nightmare. The startling bang of the gun shook the fortress, and for a moment the commotion around him slowed as men and orcs alike searched frantically for the source of the sound. Off in the distance, a highly decorated Uruk-hai commander toppled off the rock he'd been shouting orders from, a small hole directly between his eyes, and the entire back half of his head conspicuously missing.
'Nice shot Yaz!' Loz sent to his favorite brother, the devastating motions of his broad sword never faltering.
'I'm coming.' Whispered Kadaj to both Cloud and Loz, Souba singing as she cleared her sheath. Kadaj watched intently as his two brothers on the ground were nearly swallowed by the enemy, two wide holes in the black mass marking their position. The orcs moved around them, blocking the superior SOLDIERS with their bodies to protect the encroaching ladders that were slowly being carried forward. The orcs dug the ends in and started to raise them in a tandem towards the wall. Cloud caught the sight of them from the corner of his eye as he neatly beheaded a trio of orcs with his left hand blade. Another shot rang out as Yazoo picked off an enemy commander foolish enough to expose himself for the split second the sharpshooter needed to adjust his aim.
'Kadaj!' he called, sending a brief flicker of image to his youngest brother, his view of the ladders coming up, pulled along the ropes attached to the hooks the enemy had dug into the wall.
'Got it!' called the youngest back. Kadaj was crouched atop the wall, on the end closest to the entrance. With a swiftness and surefootedness that startled the men, and one dwarf and one elf, watching, Kadaj raced along the wall, Souba cleanly severing the ropes that were dragging the ladders up. Several of the ladders crashed back on to the battlefield, crushing the orcs that had already climbed them underneath. A few made it to the top and the orcs spilled over the edge, meeting the resistance of enraged and terrified Rohiric soldiers. Kadaj slashed and hacked with Souba but for every orc he killed two more seemed to take its place. With only two ladders anchored to the wall, the incoming hoard was slower than it could have been had all the ladders made it up, but for the pitiful few men guarding the wall, it was more than enough.
'Cloud.' Came Yazoo's voice in his head, startling him for a moment, as this was the very first time he Yazoo had spoken to him mind-to-mind. The blonde reassembled his swords and felt the charge build along the blade. The three massive wolves kept the enemy away from him just long enough to slam the sword into the ground and send the wave of his limit break into the advancing hoard.
'What's up?' He asked back when Yazoo didn't continue.
'We have a problem.' Said Yazoo, his keen eyes watching as a group of heavily guarded orcs ran towards the wall, carrying a huge black pot with a lid. He sent these images to Cloud, and the hint of his suspicion. A single orc with a torch, burning some sort of chemical rather than wood started running forward, just as the orcs with the pot set it down into the drain.
'They have a freaking bomb!'
"Bring him down Legolas!" screamed Aragorn somewhere overhead. Yazoo carefully sighted, not even flinching when an arrow sailed past his ear and buried itself into the runners shoulder. Velvet Nightmare kicked just a little in his hand as the shot rang out; hitting the runner's left knee and obliterating the joint. The orc went down, struggling to keep the torch upright. Another suicidal orc picked it up and continued the run.
Yazoo scowled but sighted again. An Uruk-hai commander saw him, having figured out by now that the loud bangs were very bad things and shouted the orders for his archers to focus on the bright shock of silver hair on the edge of the wall.
'Damn.' Cursed Yazoo softly as he took his shot at the new runner, destroying its knee joint, before he ducked around the block of stone to his right to shield him from the arrows that assaulted his position. A third orc picked up the torch and threw itself into the drain. The outer wall exploded, sending startled screams of shock and horror into the air as the enemy poured into the once impenetrable fortress. Cloud and Loz retreated from the outer field, felling orcs left and right as they raced back into the fortress to focus their strength on defending the inner walls.
The days and nights blurred together as they slowly lost ground to the massive enemy army. The Lurkers were lost and re-summoned, their dark skeletal bodies covered in gore. Weary and bleeding, the remaining defenders barred the gates of the inner fortress and prayed for salvation.
'One day left.' Said Cloud, his once beautiful sword nearly black with blood he didn't have time to clean off. He didn't sheath it, knowing that the leather harness would only become even more dirty that it already was.
'I'm out of bullets.' Said Yazoo, tucking his guns into the holsters on his sides and pulling the long elven knives from their sheathes. The middle child looked down at his blood and gore spattered leathers with a grimace of distaste. His brothers weren't in much better shape, their once pristine uniforms soaked through with black blood and thicker things.
'Another go? We can get out through the roof.' Said Kadaj, Souba in one hand, a battered Rohiric short sword in the other.
'I'm game.' Said Loz.
'Okay then. Let's mosey.' Said Cloud, already moving towards the staircase that led out onto the roof.
"What did he just say?" asked Yazoo out loud, causing several Rohiric soldiers and Aragorn to glance over at him in confusion.
"Let's mosey? What the hell does that even mean?" continued Yazoo aloud. Kadaj and Loz snickered, sharing a look between them. Cloud blushed and continued on as if he hadn't heard.
"Where are you going?" demanded a haggard and bloody King Théoden, having by now realized what a huge asset the four mysterious brothers were. In the four days they'd been fighting, the four of them had taken down more enemies than the Rohiric force of three hundred men combined. The proud king refused to apologize to the outlanders, but he was now much more inclined to pay attention to them and give their opinions weight.
"We're going to go have another round with the uglies." Said Loz, smiling wickedly. The four of them paused at the bottom of the stairs to speak to the exhausted looking king.
"See to your wounded, we'll hold them for another day. You owe us a bath and a solid day of sleep after this though. And meat. I'm craving steak." Snipped Yazoo, impatiently smacking the flat of his right hand blade against his knee.
"I want curry. I've had the weirdest craving for Wutainese curry for the last week solid." Added Kadaj. "What about you Ni-san? What kind of food do you want?" The youngest turned adoring eyes to his oldest brother, a bright smile on his face. Cloud frowned, considering the question seriously before a nostalgic smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"Schnitzel. And sauerbraten. My mom use to make the most amazing sauerbraten. I'll make it for you if I can find the right ingredients." The blonde promised, earning a jubilant smile from Kadaj and looks of disbelief from Yazoo and Loz.
"Really Ni-san? You'll cook for us?" cried Kadaj in delight, nearly bouncing in his happiness. The motion dislodged unidentifiable bits of orc from his filthy leathers. Yazoo's lip curled back at the sight and he mentally reaffirmed his demand for a bath. He wasn't quite sure how he wanted to feel about the prospect of Cloud cooking for him, so he thought about something else. Feeling absolutely disgusting made for an easy distraction and the moodiest of the Advents eagerly snapped it up.
"Yeah, sure." Said Cloud, thinking back on his promise to do for them all the things his mother use to do for him.
"Let's go." He said, turning to lead the three silver haired brothers up the stairs.
'Thank you Ni-san.' Whispered Kadaj, his happiness a tangible weighty thing in Clouds mind, moving like warm sunlight across his shoulders.
'You're welcome.' He answered, bemused that such a small thing could give his littlest brother so much pleasure.
The four SOLDIERS, three dozen Lurkers and four Nibel wolves held the outer fortress for another day and when the cavalry arrived with the dawn, they were surprised to find much less resistance than they expected.
Once the battle was truly over and the fresh troops settled into the fortress, a private bath was drawn for the four brothers and King Théoden surrendered his own bed chambers. The murmurs that followed the four SOLDIERS as they collapsed into the bed together, like a pile of exhausted puppies, were much more reverent than they'd been at Edoras. Cloud's last coherent thought was that he was just as unhappy being admired as he was disliked before sweet oblivion claimed him.
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And that's it for chapter 20. Sorry for the delay guys, this fic just won't cooperate with me. I have no idea what's going on with this story anymore, but I promise that I'll do my best not to abandon it! At this point, please feel free to throw me suggestions or ideas or just random things you'd like to see, even if it doesn't fit or it's something that could only happen way down the road. Anything to get the inspiration back, you know?
-Laz