Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as is Agent Mike. This chapter picks up right where Paradox Part Three left off, and it goes through what happened between Cloud and the agent disappearing and when he showed up at Merlin's all spooked out. Language warning for the end of the chapter. Enjoy.
..:-X-:..
110 – Assault on the Senses
As soon as Cloud fell after Agent Mike through the portal, it felt as though a bucket of ice water had been dumped over his head. Blood roared in his ears as blue light nearly blinded him, and he lost any sense of which direction was up. His haphazard grip on the woman's arm was ripped away, and just as quickly as it began, Cloud found himself slamming into the stone floor of the Dark Depths.
All of the wind left him upon impact and he grunted, a wave of dizziness making his head spin. The disorientation was nauseating, and Cloud pushed himself up on his hands and knees, trying not to vomit. Blood was still roaring through his head, and he opened his eyes, glancing around the Dark Depths.
He…hadn't moved. It appeared to be later in the day than before, but nothing seemed amiss otherwise. Movement caught the corner of his eye and he turned to see Agent Mike climbing up from where she had landed on some loose rocks several meters away, abrasions littering the left side of her face and tearing at her left sleeve. Around her right arm was the Leech.
Springing to his feet, Cloud realized that his Buster Sword was gone. It had been left behind…so they HAD moved through time. Shoving that thought aside, he hurried over to where Mike had maneuvered up onto her knees, brown hair flying wild, and was slamming her left arm repeatedly against the stone floor, trying to dislodge the creature that had latched itself around her forearm.
"How do we make it let go?" He asked, but could barely hear his own voice over the thunder in his ears.
The ground under them trembled, and whatever the woman responded with was lost to Cloud as seven militarized Gummi Ships abruptly flew over the Dark Depths toward the Old Castle Ruins. Cloud involuntarily looked up and saw the ships peel into a tight formation, peppering some unseen enemy with missiles. The stone floor shuddered again, and a plume of smoke and ash erupted from the direction of downtown Radiant Garden.
The roar he was hearing wasn't blood pounding in his skull; it was coming from his surroundings. Radiant Garden was under attack. This thought was only driven further home when two more explosions reverberated under his feet, blasting columns of fire and ash over the walls of the Dark Depths. The Gummis overhead were dogfighting in the skies with some dark ships that Cloud didn't recognize.
Agent Mike's pained scream jerked Cloud back to her situation. The Leech's mouth was clamped to her forearm just below the wrist, and the rest of its body had wrapped itself around her forearm, elbow, and upper arm, similarly to how the other Leech had been wrapped around the other victim's throat.
"Dammit." Mike growled, tears of pain in her eyes as she looked to him. "We have to get out of here."
Cloud gawked at her. "We have to get that thing off you." He pointed out.
She shook her head. "No, we can't be here." She said, looking up as a massive Fire Spell ripped through the sky and burned through the clouds. "YOU can't be here. Not now. Especially not at THIS time."
"What is this?" He helped her to her feet. "Why is Radiant Garden under attack?"
Instead of replying, she punched the device at her wrist and grabbed his elbow. As the portal materialized around them, Cloud saw a large crack break through the floor of the Dark Depths. It ran in a jagged, frantic line toward the wall of the cliff side, expanding as it deepened. The front half of the secluded place fell away into the Great Maw as the portal pulled him and Mike out.
Another cold sensation slammed across his body, and, like a rope was tied around him, he was jerked sideways through the time portal with Mike. They both landed in a patch of snow, and the frozen grass underneath prickled at his bare skin. Mike rolled away and was up on her feet as Cloud immediately got up on his knees. She staggered slightly, looking momentarily disoriented as she abruptly ran past him.
Cloud got to his feet after her and saw that she was running toward a two-story brick house. They had moved spatially this time, and if they were still in Radiant Garden, then it was a time in the world's history with which he was unfamiliar.
Mike, however, seemed very familiar with it, as she made her way to the attached garage, knocked over a potted plant by the door, and grabbed at the spare key that was hidden there. She unlocked the garage with practiced ease and dragged it up before bolting inside. By the time Cloud reached the garage, she was coming back out with a hand saw in tow.
"Here." She thrust it at him handle first. "Magic won't work and we both lost our weapons." She grimaced as she stretched out her arm, the Leech wrapped around it. "This'll have to do."
Cloud took the saw, hesitated for a moment, and then nodded. "Can you unwrap it?"
She gasped in pain as the Leech continued to gnaw on her forearm, but she nodded and used her free hand to force the body of the creature to unwind from her upper arm. Cloud helped her work the thing away until the Leech was just hanging by its mouth, and he angled the saw's jagged edge as close as he could to the latching point.
The device at her wrist flickered and a small hiss of blue light was spat out of it.
"What's it doing?" He asked before he started to hack at the creature.
"It's been damaged." She said tightly. "I tried to bring us somewhere safe, but it might-" She was cut off as blue light burst out, along with another bucket of ice water over his head.
..:-X-:..
111 – The Sorcerer's War
Cloud managed to land on his feet this time as the portal dumped him and the time agent in another time…and place. The snow and the brick house were gone, and this time when he opened his eyes, he was surrounded by books. Shelves upon shelves upon shelves of books were in every direction that he looked: this was the library in the Old Castle Ruins. Merlin had forced the entire Restoration Committee, Cloud included, to spend an entire weekend clearing this place out after the fall of Organization XIII. They had catalogued and sorted and boxed and transported every text in this whole place.
"I don't like it." A man's voice cut through the air, sharp and to the point.
"What other choice do we have?" A woman replied softly.
Cloud breathed slowly and looked around. Agent Mike wasn't with him. Panic ballooned through his chest, because if she was gone, so was her time travelling technology. He knew where he was, but he had no idea WHEN he was. Maybe she was just somewhere else in the castle. The saw was still in his hand; he had been holding it when the portal opened, so it must have been pulled through by association.
"You think you can do it?" A third voice spoke up, low, soft, and lethal.
Cloud's blood ran cold as he recognized it. Sephiroth.
"I have to." The woman responded matter-of-factly. "She has to be stopped. The armies are getting closer. We've had enough civilian casualties. No more. It stops here."
Cloud turned slowly in place, noting that he was on the second floor of the library, and the voices were coming from the lower level. As soundlessly as possible, he crept toward the railing that overlooked the lower level. He spotted three figures standing in the open space below. One woman, who'd spoken, with long auburn hair that framed her heart-shaped face and was wearing a light blue dress, stood between two men: one with black hair pulled back in a ponytail and wearing a standard blue military uniform, though his posture was lax and he was fidgeting, and the other man who stood ramrod straight, arms folded across a wide chest, also wearing a standard military uniform, but this one also had buzz cut hair and his stony, frowning expression looked like it had been carved into his face permanently. The three of them were facing the fourth member of the conversation—Sephiroth—who was out of Cloud's line of sight.
"Can't we just—" The lax-looking soldier interjected, "—negotiate with them? We've been slinging bullets around for months and all we've gained is a body count." He lifted his shoulders, "There might still be a way to end this peacefully."
"No, there isn't." The stern-faced soldier cut in, "The darkness is growing. The way the enemy is gaining ground, they'll be at the backdoor of Radiant Garden within the month. They're going to be coming at us with all kinds of black magic, and you want to fight with your words?" His tone was biting.
"Colonel." Sephiroth spoke again, and Cloud gritted his teeth. That title-drop seemed to be all that was needed to end the spat, so he went on. "Ifalna, as one of the last Cetra, you're the only one who could even attempt this."
The woman inhaled, puffing herself up slightly. "Then I better not screw up."
"I'm going with you." The aggressive soldier said, gripping the handle of the long sword at his belt. "Someone around here has to have some balls about this."
The man with the ponytail balked. "What are you insinuating?"
"What does it sound like I'm insinuating, Loire?" The man snapped.
Cloud felt a presence at his back then and spun on his heel. Agent Mike was there, and she lifted a finger to her lips. The gesture was unnecessary. She looked even worse, growing pale, which caused the abrasions on her face to stand out more starkly. He looked down at the Leech. The unpredictable time travel looked like it was taking a toll on the creature.
"Like I can't protect her. She's not just your sister, Leonhart; she's my wife." Loire snapped in the conversation below. "And I think a summit with their leaders would be better for everybody, rather than more violence."
Mike tugged at Cloud's elbow, and he reluctantly followed. This was the past; it had to be. Sephiroth was gone in the present time, in Cloud's time. And who were these people? If the woman was a Cetra, she might be related to Aerith, and he had just distinctly heard the Loire person refer to the other man as Leonhart.
He backtracked through the shelves with Mike, who was weaving as she walked and was clenching her jaw hard to avoid moaning in pain. They slipped out through the second floor exit, but before they could get any farther, Agent Mike collapsed, dropping to her knees on the floor.
"Hey—" Cloud grabbed her, kneeling down in front of her. "What's happening to you?"
She lifted glazed eyes. "I told you…Leech…feeds on a person, takes them over…uses them like—" She hissed in pain, doubling over, "—like a puppet. The saw—"
She continued to mumble, but her words became unintelligible. Cloud saw the device around her wrist beginning to flicker again, and he set his jaw. No, not again, not before he got this thing off her. She might not survive another tumble through the time…vortex-thing.
With a hard swallow, Cloud pulled her arm taut, as the rest of her body bonelessly shrugged against his shoulder, and the Leech dangled from her arm, where it had suctioned itself. He lifted the saw with the other hand, set it hastily against the slimy flesh of the creature, and quickly sawed through its neck.
The Leech let out an inorganic shriek that echoed off the castle walls.
..:-X-:..
112 – Standstill
The portal opened and closed so quickly that Cloud almost didn't register the shift. He was so focused on detaching the creature from the time agent's arm that it wasn't until the Leech slumped limply away that he looked up. They were back in the main town of Radiant Garden, in an alley next to one of the few streets that saw automobile traffic: the world was so compact that there wasn't much need for cars other than cross-town travel.
The sky was dark, but in an unnatural, unsettling way. It didn't feel like evening or night time. Rather, it was as though a shadow had simply fallen over Radiant Garden, or an eclipse or something of that nature. Mike groaned, having collapsed entirely to the ground as the Leech fell away. Cloud had severed its head—or what had passed as a head for the snake-like creature—but while the body was limp on the ground, the jaws were still clamped over her forearm, causing the open wound to bleed freely.
With a low curse, Cloud noted that her left sleeve was almost entirely ripped from the shoulder of the shirt. He hastily reached up and tore the rest of the fabric away, revealing an old scar on her bicep of discolored skin long healed over. He set the cloth across his knee as he pried the powerless jaws away from her arm, where blue veins were visible under the skin. The jarring pain that motion caused resulted in rousing Mike from semi-consciousness with a groan. Cloud muttered an apology as he took up the sleeve, wrapping it around the gaping wound and tying it as tightly as he could without causing additional discomfort for her. He had no idea if those Leeches were poisonous or if their bite carried venom, but stopping the bleeding was the best he could do at this point.
Getting his bearings, he looked at the device on her wrist. It was no longer hissing out energy pulses, but it was still clearly damaged. How many different time rifts had they fallen through now? He had almost lost track, and it was giving him a headache. Too many questions, too many scenarios, and too many unknowns were pinballing through his skull.
There were bodies lying all over the street.
The sight took a beat to register, but as soon as it did, Cloud stiffened. Amidst the unnatural shadow darkening Radiant Garden's sky, he could make out a dozen or so people lying where they had apparently landed after what looked like passing out or fainting. There was no blood or any signs of attack. A siren was wailing in the distance, but there was no movement.
Agent Mike appeared to be stable as she clawed her way back to consciousness, so Cloud stood and moved toward the end of the alley, not too far away in case she needed help, but close enough to the street to see more of where—or when—they'd landed.
The Alliance Headquarter building was clearly visible downtown, and he recognized the newly constructed buildings lining the street. This had to be the current time, or somewhere close. What had happened to everyone? It looked like they had all simultaneously collapsed…or been gassed, but Cloud didn't see any residual gas or canisters lying around. People had collapsed while crossing the street, opening doors, and even eating at nearby tables. Two vehicles had run into a streetlamp where the drivers had also passed out behind the wheel, resulting in one white pick-up truck T-boning into the passenger side of a green jeep. Fire from the truck's engine was licking at the passenger side of the jeep. The driver of the truck was slumped forward against a deflated airbag. The driver of the jeep was out of sight.
Recognition hit Cloud like a kick in the chest and he started to bolt forward toward that old beat up jeep that Tifa had insisted on fixing up and driving.
"Stop." Agent Mike croaked.
Cloud barely glanced back to see that she had gotten up on her hands and knees and was attempting to get to her feet to stop him. He ignored her statement and started again toward the wrecked vehicle. On the ground around him, people were beginning to stir.
"You can't." Mike had successfully reached her feet and was running at him.
Cloud got just close enough to see Tifa in the driver's seat, not wearing any blood but not conscious either, before Agent Mike was on him, tackling him around the waist and physically dragging him away from the vehicle with a strength that was abnormal for a woman her size, considering that, moments ago, she had been nearly catatonic.
"She could be hurt." Cloud tried to throw her off. "I have to help her—"
"You will." Mike grunted, successfully pulling him back into the alley. "This hasn't happened yet for you. You can't interfere or else something might—"
As the civilians continued to stir, Cloud heard a sudden cry from the car wreck. A baby. Mikayla. Mikayla was in the jeep. Something snapped inside him and Cloud violently threw Agent Mike off of him, sprinting out of the alley and beelining toward the jeep, where the fire from the truck's engine was almost inside the passenger side of Tifa's car.
"Blizzaga!" The sudden ice spell warped around the fire, paralyzing the flames in solid ice between the two vehicles.
"Shit." Mike cursed as a newcomer ran toward the jeep.
Cloud froze in place as he saw HIMSELF run toward the crashed cars. A wave of confusion made him momentarily stop breathing. That was HIM. Or another version of him. Or his future self. That was the Cloud of this time—but it couldn't have been much further in his own future than where he was supposed to be. The migraine was returning with a vengeance.
He haplessly stared as the other Cloud opened the driver's side door, leaned in, found Tifa alive, and immediately tried to get the back door open to get to Mikayla, who was screaming. This was too much. It was all too much to comprehend. His stomach rebelled and he turned away, bending over and vomiting in the alley.
Mike's hands were pulling him away. "We have to go. The fact that you're seeing this at all—"
She activated the device at her wrist and blue light flooded Cloud's vision.
When the light and the disorientation faded, Cloud found himself standing idly in the Dark Depths, staring at his Buster Sword, lying where it had landed when he dropped it…before all of this mess. His brain had completely shut off for a moment, and he couldn't think, couldn't force himself to think, didn't try to force himself to think: because that would mean trying to assign logic to what had just happened.
"Shit." Mike was cursing, pacing in front of him. "Dammit…Fuck, fuck, FUCK. Dammit. Shit!" She absently rubbed the wound on her forearm. "You weren't supposed to see any of that."
The device at her wrist was acting up again, and she hastily moved far away from Cloud.
"It's going to open another portal. You stay here." She ordered. "I'll…I'll sort this out…" She looked unsure and frazzled. "I just—FUCK." She barked. "I'll handle this. Stay here. Don't—What you saw, what just happened—Don't try to—"
Then the blue light swallowed her and she disappeared.
Cloud stood there staring at the spot where she had vanished.
What was he supposed to do with this?
..:-X-:..
A/N: Lots of teasers in this chapter for my upcoming stories, which are what this story is counting down to (hence the 'T Minus' title), namely Sentient Midnight and Hands that Weave Webs, the first two stories of the planned trilogy.
The Paradox storyline will be concluded in the next chapter.
Preview for next week: Mike activated the device, and with a short blue flash, she was gone for the final time.