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.
You guys are so awesome! There are answers to reviewer questions and comments at the bottom. Thanks for actually making me think about this again. I forgot how much I love this story for a bit there.
0o0o0
Cloud was fighting blind, he could feel the thick cloth of the blindfold cutting into his skin and tugging at his short hair each time he moved to intercept an incoming blow. The familiar joy of the fight filled his muscles with a pleasant burn and he smirked slightly at his unknown opponent. He knew just where his opponent would strike next, some kind of innate sense let him feel the other man's body like two instruments perfectly in tune with each other. The faint scratch of a pen on paper caught his ear just as he deflected another sword stroke. His blood was singing with the thrill of fighting, the world narrowed down to just his body and reaching his senses out as far as he could and there! He twisted his sword and caught his enemy in the side, metal sliding cleanly through flesh. His opponent gasped harshly, a wet gurgle in his throat letting him know he'd punctured a lung even before he ripped his blindfold off to savor his victory.
His sense of pride from winning morphed to horrified confusion as his downed and bleeding opponent looked up at him with Yazoo's face. A strangled sob forced its way out of his throat as he flung his sword carelessly aside, dashed forward and scooped his brother up. He held his smaller brother tightly to his chest and ignored the too hot blood that was gushing through his fingers as he pressed his hands to the wound he'd made himself and tried desperately to stop the bleeding. This was his fault! He'd hurt his brother. He'd hurt his baby brother that he's sworn he'd protect to his dying breath. He was a failure; he didn't deserve to be an older brother. What kind of big brother hurt his younger siblings? Only failed ones did that.
"Yazoo! I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't-. They didn't-. I'm sorry-. Yazoo. Yazoo, I'm sorry!" Hot tears were dripping down his face, and Yazoo was smiling up at gently. His little brother's eyes were full of forgiveness he didn't deserve, and it just made him feel all the more guilty and unworthy.
"Don't cry…Loz." Said Yazoo, blood flecking his too pale lips as he reached up a hand to brush away his tears.
Cloud woke suddenly and automatically forced his breathing to slow down and he carefully sat up. He gazed over at Loz, still sleeping soundly on his side, his back pressed as close to Yazoo's as he could get. The four of them were curled around their tiny fire, set apart from all the others. He sucked in a deep breath, trying to suppress his shudders and raked a hand through his blonde spikes.
There was another hour or two he could have slept if he cared to try, but one of the hobbits, Pippin he guessed, was creeping slowly towards Gandalf. He turned his head to the side and watched the hobbit from the corner of his eye, not wanting the glow of his tell-tale mako eyes to give him away. Pippen approached the old wizard to look at the stone that someone called Wormtongue had thrown at the window of the tower called Orthanc. Who in their right mind would ever consent to being called Wormtongue anyway? Cloud had asked Elrohir for clarification on the difference between Orthanc and Isengard earlier that evening and the elf had been happy to oblige him. Just as the hobbits hands reached out to touch the strange black globe, Kadaj's hand shot out and grabbed his ankle.
The SOLDIER opened glowing cat green eyes that shined like lanterns in the darkness and glared at the hobbit, who'd strayed too close and disrupted the silver haired advents sleep. Cloud wasn't overly surprised, as all SOLDIERS learned to cultivate a sleep-lightly-and-whenever-you-can attitude. Project SOLDIERS like them had learned to sleep very lightly indeed early on, especially in the labs.
"Kadaj?" whispered the hobbit, surprised by the brightly glowing eyes glaring up at him balefully.
"Go back to sleep." The SOLDIER growled irritably.
"I just want to look at it." Protested Pippin, eyes already dragging towards the stone. Kadaj felt all traces of sleep leave him as he watching the smaller being carefully. A sneaking suspicion turned like cogs in his mind as he scrutinized the hobbit's expression.
"Look at what?" Kadaj demanded, pulling himself to his knees, which brought him to eye level with Pippin. Again, the small hobbit's eyes betrayed him and he gazed longingly at the bundle wrapped up in Gandalf's arms.
"It's like I can hear it calling to me." Whispered Pippin, not noticing how Cloud tensed and rolled quickly to his feet, or how Kadaj's face softened with understanding. A twisted smile pulled at the youngest Advent's lips as he released his hold on Pippin and watched him silently as the small figure cautiously reached out to tug his prize from the wizard's arms. He replaced the orb with a stone of similar size, and then turned back towards Kadaj, who was watching him, seated on the ground with his legs crossed and a strange sort of smile on his face. Pippin's eyes met the glowing green of Kadaj's, but the SOLDIER made no move to stop him and the hobbit soon settled down with his curiosity.
Quietly, he drew the cloth covering back and gazed at the orb, sparing only half a glance for Cloud, who stood beside him, silent and watchful with a frown on his face. The blond shot a look at his youngest brother, brushing his mind with his own in a questioning sort of way.
'You practically encouraged him.' Whispered Cloud, half accusing, and half confused questioning.
'It called to him. Like Mother once called to us. Perhaps it is meant to happen.' Mused Kadaj in response. His tone was light and dismissive of the risk Cloud's words implied, but his cat-green eyes did not once lift from Pippin's now still form.
Pippin let out a strangled cry, sharp as a trumpet blast in the previous silence, and the camp woke like spooked horses. Kadaj's reaction was instantaneous; he leapt towards the frozen hobbit and kicked the ball away. Cloud half drew a totally useless sword on reflex and then angrily slammed it back into its sheath. The two SOLDIERS took a hold of each one of Pippin's shoulders and held him gently as the hobbit stared up at the sky with unseeing eyes.
"Pippin! What mischief have you done now?" grumbled Gandalf after he'd returned from scooping up the black orb into the folds of his cloak. The old wizard came over to Pippin and laid his hand on the small hobbit's brow in concern.
"It is not for you Saruman!" cried Pippen trying to get away from Gandalf, but the two SOLDIERS held him securely. "I will send for it at once. Do you understand? Just say that!"
"Peregrin Took! Come back!" commanded Gandalf and with a jerk Pippin came back to himself and clung to Gandalf in fright.
"Gandalf! Forgive me!" he pleaded.
"Forgive you? First tell me what you want forgiveness for." Answered Gandalf.
Yazoo and Loz drifted closer and crouched as unobtrusively as they could behind Cloud and Kadaj, listening intently as Pippin described his unsettling encounter with a being that sounded shockingly similar to Jenova. Cloud shuddered to think of another being like that in the world, even if this world was not his own.
'Is that why we're here Ni-san? To fight again?' whispered Loz in his mind, having picked up on his train of thought.
'Why do you think that Loz?' asked Cloud as neutrally as he could.
"You're a WEAPON, aren't you? This Planet need a WEAPON to fight its own Calamity doesn't it?' reasoned Loz.
Cloud didn't answer, but the seed of the suggestion took root in his mind and festered quietly. Gandalf finished questioning Pippin and carried him back over the nest of blankets that was his bed, Merry trailing behind as the old wizard told him to get some rest if he could. Then Gandalf wandered over to Aragorn and the others to discuss events and the SOLDIERS settled down around the two morose hobbits. Pippin was shivering, his eyes wet with tears. Merry did his best to comfort him, but Pippin just sat there and shook.
"It will be ok Pip." Consoled Merry with a sort of helpless expression on his face, as if he desperately wanted to help his lifelong friend but didn't have any idea how.
"He was in my head Merry. Sauron, the Dark Lord, the Enemy, Shadow in the East! In my head! It won't be ok!" Pippin hissed back, torn between debilitating fright and useless anger.
"Pippin, it's alright. You'll be fine, I know you will." Said Kadaj with a sunny smile, completely at odds with the somber and slightly panicked mood of the hobbit he was addressing. Pippin's eyes narrowed as he looked at the brightly smiling SOLDIER and something inside of him snapped.
"How could you know? How could you possibly know? It was horrors beyond words! The stuff of nightmares! How could you know?" demanded Pippin harshly, but quietly, as he shook and shivered at Merry's side, curled up into as small a ball as he could manage while still sitting up. His posture betrayed the malice his glare was meant to have, so he looked more petulant than righteously indignant.
"You have no idea what's in my nightmares." Responded Kadaj, all expression wiped clean from his face. He met Pippin's stare with eyes as bleak and empty as a clear winter sky.
"We've all had someone or other try to take over our minds at one point." Said Cloud softly and calmly from where he sat, running a smooth piece of oil treated deer skin over the side of a blade a head taller than the hobbit. The blonde SOLDIER kept his eyes focused on his task, aware that the other members of the party around them had slowed to a stop and were listening intently. He ignored them all, except for the clearly distressed hobbit who was staring at him incredulously.
"We share Jenova's genetic legacy, and through that legacy she could try to take over our minds and use our bodies like puppets. She took over Sephiroth, or maybe he just followed her orders, and once she did, he could do it to."
"She opened me up to him, and he took over. Ni-san had to kill him, had to kill me, to fix it." Said Kadaj, his expression bitter as he gazed off into the night.
"She's tried it with us too." Said Loz, speaking for both himself and for Yazoo.
"The only thing you can do is fight it. And when it's over, it's over." Said Cloud swinging the sword he'd been working on back into its proper sheath and drawing a new one.
"What are you saying? That it's ok? That I should be at peace with this?" demanded Pippin, but most of his anger had drained out of him, leaving him ready to desperately cling to any bit of advice he could get.
"No, but you keep yourself together, and be ready for next time. You treat it just like any other kind of invasion. Know your enemy, know yourself and plan out how you're going to deal with the next assault. There no time for anything else. This is war; you do what it takes to survive. Everything else comes after that." Answered Cloud, standing and spinning his newly polished sword a few times before sheathing it and turning to look at the small hobbit.
Pippin still looked distressed, but knowing he wasn't the only person to have ever gone through what he'd just experienced helped. He took a deep breath and nodded bravely up at Cloud who regarded him with cool blue eyes. The blonde nodded back and then turned away, moving towards his now useless pile of bedding and quickly rolling it up. Yazoo, perhaps the only one of them not absorbed in the drama with Pippin, abruptly drew blades and leapt for a rocky outcropping, keen eyes scanning the darkness.
A shadow fell over them, even in the dark of the night, blotting out the moon and stars.
"Nazgûl!" cried Gandalf, sending the camp into a near panic. "The messenger of Mordor. The storm is coming! Ride! Ride!" he bellowed, urging the Rohirrim onto their horses. Moving much more quickly than any of them had expected of him, Gandalf rushed to Pippin and scooped him up.
"You shall go with me this time. Shadowfax will show you his paces." Then Gandalf was astride a magnificent white horse and Aragorn was lifting Pippin up in front of him.
"Farewell! Follow fast!" exclaimed the wizard even as the horse took off at a gallop.
Cloud watched them go, scanning the star-studded sky for the shape of black wings. The camp broke quickly under King Theodén's orders and soon even the SOLDIERS were ready to depart. They rode as fast as they dared in the night, pushing towards the hills at the base of the mountain range that cradled Helm's Deep further west. A rear guard advanced quickly up the column towards the king and spoke quietly to him. Even with his mako enhanced hearing, Cloud was hard pressed to catch the guard's report. Riders were approaching from behind, and gaining on them.
0o0o0
1. To the person who asked if anyone other than the Advents and Cloud can see Aerith: Actually, Cloud is the only person who can actually see her. The Advents can hear her and feel her presence, but not see her. The elves can hear her if she tries really hard to project. Aerith is almost entirely merged with Gaia's Lifestream. Cloud's WEAPON status and his strong emotional connection to Aerith allows him to see her, although never her face. The Advents have a connection to Lifestream through the vast amounts of mako running in their veins, but they are not WEAPONS, and are not connected to Aerith. The elves perceive the world, and by world I mean Arda, a bit differently due to the light of the Valar which is inherent in them. This allows them to hear Aerith if she tries to speak to them.
2. To the person who asked if Jenova's taint will allow Sauron to influence them: I would actually think the opposite. Jenova's control over Cloud and the Advents and Sephiroth is all based in genetics. All of them carry her cells in their bodies which gives her a 'door' so to speak. Sauron preys on weak wills and weak minds. After years of guarding against, in Cloud's case, or even living with (and therefore being able to recognize),in the Advents case, Jenova's influence, I would think that they would have much stronger wills and minds. Taking this into account, it makes more sense that they would be less susceptible to Sauron's trickery. Even if Sauron were to try a more overt hostile takeover rather than his usual subtle corruption, I think Cloud and the Advents would have more than enough experience to resist. It's almost like the SOLDIERS have occulemency training (pardon my Harry Potter reference but it's really the best comparison I could think of) prior to being dumped into Middle Earth.
3. To the person who asked if there will be more memory sharing: Yes. As you can see from this chapter it's getting to be more and more frequent an occurrence. Back in chapter 7, I sort of explained how this mental link thing would work; or rather Aerith explained it to Cloud. The more the brother's open up to each other emotionally, the closer and stronger their mental link will be. One of the great things about being thrown into another world is that it pretty much forces them to stick together.
4. To the person who asked about the Advent's ages: I realize that I'm deviating from cannon here, but I'm making the Advents much older that you'd think. I know they just sort of emerge from the Lifestream at Northern Crater, all grown up with spiffy clothes and custom weapons to boot, but my muse just didn't like that at all. For the purposes of this story I'm going to say that they were "made" as in cloned from Sephiroth and modified by Hojo, when he was still alive. I'm going to say that Hojo didn't interact with them at all. They were a side project within the department. So that makes them anywhere from 28 down. Assuming that Sephiroth was at least 20 years old before he went crazy (for arguments sake we'll say he was 21 when he went off the deep end) and then another 5 years for Cloud and Zack in the labs at Nibelheim, and then 2 years after Meteor for the Advents to come out of hiding for Reunion. So I'll say that Loz is 19, Yazoo is 18 and Kadaj is 17. Cloud is 22, assuming he was 14 when he joined Shin-Ra and Sephiroth was 20 at that time and it was about a year for Cloud to go through basic, fail the SOLDIER exam and get moved to the Regulars.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Each time I get a suggestion or comment about any aspect of this story it makes me itch to write a response to it, not just in author's notes but into the actual story. I know you guys can't see it yet, but I have several snippets of scenes and conversations already written that were inspired by your comments. They'll show up later in the story, as most of them require people to actually have time to sit down and think rather than constantly be running off to the next battle.