AN1: Yes… there are two Authors notes… DON'T JUDGE ME!

I decided to stick to only one person's POV for this chapter rather than skip around a bit like I will in other chapters. It may start off a BIT slow, but as chapter progress you will be introduced to all of your favorite characters (AC and DOC excluded CAMEO's are possible though).

Please enjoy, and note that the Updates are going to be sporadic until I finish that SW Fanfic… three more chapters.

Unlike with other stories I put out, this one will have reviews replied to by PM… Exceptions can be made, such as a reply to a question I would like to explain to multiple people or all the readers.

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Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy… This chapter is sandy…

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Reviewers: Please note that I am open to ANY FORM of review! Criticism is highly appreciated. Cookies and cake are… accepted.

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Prologue

The Desert's Hidden Gem

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A midday sun shone down on the medium sized city of Allovoros like a heat lamp inside of an already blazing oven. Along with the heat came a baking breeze that for travelers seemed to make things worse rather than better. With every new gust small hot grains of sand would kick up into the air then scatter into any nook or cranny they could find. It was just a normal autumn day in the small city of Allovoros. The city's inhabitants ran about their daily errands, sold their wares, and in all sense of the words carried themselves such as nothing was amiss.

After all, there was nothing amiss. This was a day such as any other before it, and would be just like many after.

For one of the city's inhabitants, things had gone rough all morning. He was hot, tired, and most importantly… stumped. Sky blue eyes scanned his surroundings once more for any possible… charity being given out. The small city had more than enough to spare should a demon know where to look, and Cloud Strife was one such demon. His favorite picking spots had those pesky falcon eyed guards on heavy patrol today. Apparently they seemed to have picked up on the amount of time it took before he came back to each location. He DID try to mix it up, but one could only go so long before he was forced to pick from the same place again.

Another "chh," escaped the small blonde demon's lips as he slumped against a wall then slid to the ground. What was he going to do? He couldn't go back home empty handed for a third day. Maybe he could see if the girls at the local brothel had some hand outs. It wasn't their 'busy time' right now, and thus his best bet; he'd already staked the trade square out for too long.

A few more minutes of contemplation and a sigh later Cloud was pushing himself back to his feet. A quick dusting of his dark blue Sarouel Trousers and small vest then he was on his way. The girls didn't like it when he showed up TOO dirty. It wasn't like he really had the luxury of a bath. In Allovoros such things were reserved for the nobility or rich traders. To his great shame he had been bathed once when he went to the brothels for food. The girls there had all but forced him into a bath while saying something about wanting to see 'how the gem looked when polished'. His brother Aon still hadn't let him live it down to this day.

Slowly Cloud stepped out from under his small shaded area and into the blazing sun. What greeted him was an odd sight that he had somehow missed just minutes ago. Walking slowly through the trade square and glancing around every few moments was a tall silver haired man dressed in all black. The only part other than his silver hair that showed was pale skin surrounding jade eyes.

If the silver haired man's clothing was anything to go by… which it always was if you knew what to look for like Cloud did, then this man was a noble. The black chocobo he led around seemed well stocked with supplies as well. A travelling noble Cloud had never seen, with a fully loaded black chocobo, in a crowded area, and seemed to be lost. Aon always said, 'Travelers are easy pickings.' And that they were 'too stupid to know better in most cases'.

Stealing from nobles always carried a lot of risks, but if you could snag a purse then get away, it was always worth it. His plan in the end was as simple as it was obvious. Bump into the man, procure his purse, and then run for his life. Of course there were penalties for stealing, in the case of food or water you lost a hand. If it was money or some higher good you could lose your life, both hands, or a foot. That's why you couldn't get caught. You had to be fast to survive, and Cloud was fast.

Slowly he walked, weaved, and tried to make himself as invisible as possible by blending into the crowd. The man, Cloud noted as he grew ever closer was HUGE; he had to stand at at least six foot five. His resolve wavered for but a moment before resolidifying. He was doing this, then he and Aon would eat more than well for a month.

Butterfly's erupted into Cloud's stomach as he rounded one last person, then started running. It wasn't more than a few seconds and he slammed hard into the silver haired noble. As he fell backwards slightly dazed his mind thought that he must have mistaken a brick wall for a demon before he gazed up at the looming silver haired figure from his new position on the ground. Jade eyes glared down at him like he was… trash. They were eyes he had seen every day of his life, and though it usually didn't bug him… there was something else mixed in with the glare that made him feel bad about what he was doing. Pity… or perhaps contempt; maybe even a mixture of the two?

The purse was already in his pocket as Cloud slowly made his way back to his feet. "My apologies sir," he said as he bowed low, just the way nobles liked. Before the jade eyed figure was allowed to respond Cloud was already running around him like nothing had ever happened.

"Wait," the man's deep icy voice commanded as a large hand clamped down onto the blonde's wrist and spun him around. Fear took the place of the recently fluttered away butterflies. Its icy tendrils spread throughout his small pale frame as the man lifted him from his feet by his agonized wrist. The ease with which he did so only made the consuming force of icy fear all the stronger as his light blues were leveled off with those of Jade green.

Before he knew what was happening words were tumbling out of his mouth through pained voice. His wrist felt like it was breaking. "I'm… I'm Sorry Sir." The man's free hand reached into his pocket and slowly dug around until finally procuring his stolen property.

"I do believe that this is mine." The silver haired nobleman stated before his grip tightened once again. A cry forced its way between Cloud's lips as he started to struggle to escape. His free hand moved up hastily to try to pry the man's hand from his breaking wrist. "The penalty for theft is loss of at least one hand." The man finished as his grip tightened once again.

"Stop… Please!" Cloud said as his foot reached out and kicked at the man hoping to do anything to keep from what was coming. 'Stop it, Stop it, STOP IT!' Cloud said over and over in his head before a scream erupted nearby.

The nobleman's hand loosened and Cloud plummeted to the ground. Tear edged sky blue eyes peered up at the black clad nobleman who was staring down at him ponderously. It was fear that held him, and fear that now drove him scrambling to his feet and dashing off through the gathered crowd of spectators. He wasn't sure what had happened, but he was thankful to whichever of the Five Guardian Gods had gotten him out of that situation.

()()()()Transition()()()()()

How many back alleys had he run down? How many passerby had he run into accidentally then scrambled away while being yelled at? Cloud… wasn't actually very sure, but here he was standing outside of the small hovel he called home panting like he'd just run a marathon. He… Couldn't even manage to step inside; he was too tired. So he collapsed there into the cool and shaded sand outside.

"Hey, Cloud, what's going on?" The familiar voice of Aon came from the small cloth they called a door. He seemed relaxed like nothing had happened at all just minutes before. The boy's clothes were much like Clouds own ragged blue ones, but his were dark red with golden trim. (1)

One of the boy's red fox ears twitched atop his head as his twin tails swayed behind him in a happy fashion. "Cloud?" He asked again this time his voice tinged with concern as his golden eyes took on a worried look. "What happened?"

Cloud held up his rather limp right hand which had already started to show signs of bruising. The kitsune dropped the clay bowl he had been holding and rushed over as Cloud found himself seeking the words that just weren't coming out. How could he possibly explain to Aon that he was nearly caught? No… that he was caught, and then saved by a slight coincidence.

He… he had to start from the beginning. "I was staking out the market square and found a good target." He began, but paused… he didn't want to know what Aon's reaction would be when he found out that he had targeted a nobleman. "I was… nearly caught… by a nobleman for lifting his purse." He finished while holding up his blackened wrist once more. It hurt like crazy every time he moved it in the least. Which meant he should stop doing so…

Anger crossed over Aon's face, though it never managed pushed the worry off. "Guardian's damn it, Cloud." Two clenched fists and the arms they were attached to reached around and pulled him into a tight hug. "I told you not to go after Nobles." The boy said near his ear.

"I'm sorry," he replied as the events finally managed to hit him full force and he was forced to fight back the tears which started to roll down his cheeks. He could have died… that could have been it for him. Aon would have been left alone in this town that hated them both.

"It's alright…" The kitsune stated warmly as he tightened the hug slightly. "You got away, and you're safe back home." After another few moments the boy pulled away and gripped Cloud's shoulders with both hands. Hair the color of a deep flame caught a single ray of light as he smiled reassuringly. "I got some food earlier. Let's eat, alright?" His brother finished with a small ruffling of Cloud's golden brown hair. (2)

Cloud dried his eyes as best he could with his left wrist which wasn't covered in the ever present sand, or the new found bruise like his right. "Alright," he said then nodded. Aon was the first to stand and offered one hand down to pull Cloud to his aching feet.

Without thinking enough, he originally tried to lift his right hand to take the kitsune's outstretched one. The wince that followed got him a concerned statement, "after we wrap that."

Cloud could only nod grudgingly as he lifted his left hand this time and was pulled to his feet. Even the slight swinging motion caused by the sudden pull sent a sharp pain all the way up his arm, "alright."

It wasn't more than a minute and Cloud was trying to get used to the dim light present in their small home. "Go sit on the bed." Aon stated and Cloud complied. The place was dingy, even when compared to poor people's standards.

In the 'far' back there was a single small bed… if the remaining wood and dirty cloth covered hay could be called that. A small low table sat just beside the 'bed'… it could barely sit the both of them together, and was more a pilfered piece of a broken stall than the table they had managed to make it. There to his right, where Aon was, sat a few mostly broken and almost unusable pots that they stored what few belonging they could manage to keep. The best of them held three days worth of water. It wasn't fun to fill the thing, as it took several trips with their much smaller and second best pot before it was to the allotted three days. Finally, to his left, was the remaining very small 'open' area that the two of them could barely lay in without bumping into each other… or something else in the room.

Slowly and trying his best not to move his right arm or hand; he moved the few steps it took to get to the bed and sat down. "Ahh, here it is," Aon stated then straightened up and held a small dirty wound up cloth triumphantly.

Rather hastily the fire haired kitsune moved over to cloud then knelt down in front of him. After unwrapping the one time white cloth, he gently took Cloud's wrist and stated, "this is going to hurt."

"I'm ready," Cloud replied, then wished to take it back as his brother slowly wrapped the cloth tightly around his injured wrist. It didn't take long… probably. Each time Aon moved the cloth in a full circle felt like an hour in Cloud's perspective.

When he was finally done, the boy nodded and smiled up at him. "Alright… now let's eat!"

"What did you get?" Cloud asked weakly as he tried to flex the wrapped wrist, 'don't do that' he noted mentally.

A wicked smirk crossed his brother's face as he replied. "You're favorite… Gysahl Greens and Carob nuts."

Cloud's nose wrinkled at the thought of eating the chocobo food, but at the same time… he was starving. Aon knew him well, so he knew to expect the reply. "You stole from the Burning Sand's Stables again didn't you?"

"Heh, easy pickings." The fire haired kitsune replied with a triumphant flick of his twin tails.

()()()()Transition()()()()

Clouds Stomach howled as the suns first rays shed small amounts of light in through the tattered blue cloth covered opening they called the doorway. Aon had tried to convince him that the foul smelling gysahl greens were still fresh… he was wrong, of course.

The fire haired kitsune's arm was draped across Cloud who was pushed furthest to the wall on their small and cramped 'bed'. The small cloth they called a blanket barely covered the two of them, and as was most often the case Cloud would wind up with the majority covering him by morning. His Brother insisted that he was the eldest and thus had to sleep on the outside. Cloud had argued about this on multiple occasions… but never won. If the argument drug on too long, Aon would go to sleep without anything to cover him in the small open area of their house… until Cloud eventually gave in(every time). Nights could be frigid, and having his brother huddled up near him was that much more of a warming comfort… even if he was stubborn as a bull demon.

"Cloud you up?" His brother asked as he shifted his weight slightly and bumped his forehead into the back of Clouds blonde haired own.

"Yeah." He replied and scooted further back into his brother's warmth. Aon's arm wrapped tighter around Cloud as he snuggled his head into his back.

"We need to fill the water today," came the kitsune's muffled voice. "You do that, and I'll find us something to eat that isn't half rotten."

A slight yawn escaped Cloud's mouth before he replied. "I told you." He said as his stomach growled out with hunger once more. In the end he hadn't taken too many bites of the greens… and the two of them had devoured all of the Carob nuts.

"Lies, I remember no such telling." His brother stated still groggy, but apparently awake enough to joke.

"Are we getting up?" Cloud asked as he fought back the urge to reply with another joke.

"Don't wanna," Aon said while wrapping his legs up in Clouds own… thus preventing either of them from getting out of bed.

"Come on… I'm hungry." Cloud stated as he pried Aon's arm from around him.

"Gahh! My cute sleeping brother where have you gone to? Come back and trade places with this early riser!" The kitsune asked and stated to the air as Cloud sat up tossing the blanket back onto the fire haired boy.

"Come on… Up!" Cloud half repeated then pushed the kitsune with one hand. For being two years his senior and thereby the older brother, Aon could certainly be… childish at times. One golden eye cracked open and peered around before closing again. "Up!" Cloud commanded as he untangled their legs then rolled over his brother to land neatly on the sandy floor.

"Right…" Aon stated and finally managed to sit up in bed though his eyes were still closed. "Ok… food..." A full hand covered yawn escaped the boy's lips before he finished with a stretch, "I'm on it."

Cloud merely nodded as the kitsune stood and scratched his side while making his way to the door. "Be back soon!" Aon stated before moving the cloth door aside and disappearing.

The smaller filling pot was easily found just beside their water pot. Though it would take six trips in all to fill the cylinder to the top, at the very least it wasn't heavy enough to require the use of his injured right hand. It was however, rather far to the filling lake on the other side of the city.

A rush of cloth greeted his ears and he turned around perturbed by the fact that Aon would come back already. There was no way he had the food in such a short time… unless he went and retrieved the thrown out Gysahl greens at the end of the road. If they weren't good yesterday they weren't magically going to become so over the course of a single night.

"Aon Why…" Cloud began, but then trailed off when he saw the boy's ears twitching madly atop his head. That meant he was deep in thought… or anxious. In this case he could only assume it was both by the look upon his brother's face.

"Cloud, help me pull the bed out." The fire haired boy commanded in a tone that brooked no argument. Cloud leapt to the task after setting the filling pot down.

"What's going on?" He asked as they first moved the table.

"You're nobles headed this way. I managed to stall him for the moment, but you need to get out of here." The Kitsune stated rather angrily as he moved to the end of the bed. Cloud had told his brother about the nobleman's physical attributes sometime before they went to bed the night before. His brother had been worried about something, but made no comment. While Cloud hated to be left in the dark he knew that the kitsune would tell him when he was ready to.

As the bed slid slowly aside to reveal a dugout hole that allowed one to squeeze underneath the hovel and escape out the back; the sound of cloth moving greeted their ears once more. Aon leapt into action before Cloud could process what exactly was happening.

"CLOUD GO!" The boy stated as he stepped between the two of them.

"Stand aside fox," the silver haired noble stated through the cloth covering his face.

"Not a chance." His brother growled out. He really didn't feel good about leaving Aon behind, so he was hesitating. He had thought that they would both make it before the man arrived. The fire haired boy's diversion must not have worked as well as he'd hoped. How had the man found them already? A stranger to the city shouldn't have been able to do something like that.

The jade eyed noble took a single step forward which prompted Aon to step back slightly. "Cloud, why haven't you left? Get out of here." The boy commanded angrily.

"But Aon-" Cloud replied then stopped as the silver haired man leapt forward like lightning and batted his brother aside with a single powerful stroke of his arm. A loud crash resounded throughout the small hovel as the kitsune slammed into their pottery, which shattered. A weak yelp escaped the fire haired boy's lips as he went completely still. "AON!" Cloud cried out.

"He will wake up soon enough." The nobleman stated as he peered coldly down and into Cloud's darkening sky blue eyes. Anger seethed to a boiling point as his gaze shifted to his brother then back to the black clad noble. With fury giving him imagined strength and resolve he leapt at the man, but was quickly shoved backwards into the wall with a single hand around his throat.

The man's free hand brushed ragged golden brown spiky hair back as his face moved forward and stopped mere inches from Cloud's own. Cloud could feel the man's hot breath penetrating the cloth and brushing across his face as jade eyes seemed to delve into his own till he blinked.

Suddenly he was falling to the ground released from the man's grasp. "What do you want from me?" He choked out while rubbing at his now sore throat.

The nobleman deemed his question unimportant, obviously, as he didn't respond. Rather than that he slowly unwound the face wrap and turban from his head until MORE glistening silver hair spilled out and down his back.

When the nobleman turned around to face Cloud once more he was struck by the man's refined beauty. He had… an air about him that seemed to draw you in and Cloud's breath caught in his throat; though that may have been due to the man nearly strangling him.

A light sigh escaped the jade eyed noble's lips before he took a single knee before Cloud and with head bowed low stated, "I have been searching for you, my lord."

A pause allowed Cloud to think… or rather, for his mind to go wild. The only word that formed made him feel stupid. "… Huh?"

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Foot Notes:

(1): their clothes were stolen… naturally.

(2): Cloud's hair has a lot of dirt in it, thus changing the color. Look back to the fact they don't really bathe… they can hardly even eat. Bathing is not at the forefront of their mind.

AUTHOR'S NOTE TWO: What is going on o.o… how am I supposed to know? Look forward to the next chapter! You learn more about Aon and Cloud as well as this abusive silver haired noble… whoever he is.

Anyways… that's chapter one. It was enjoyable to write so I hope you enjoyed reading it.

Each chapter will have the below section with stuff that's… fun to know if not THAT important. It should all be spoken of to some degree in the chapters as things progress.

FUN FACTS:

Mid Sized city of Allovoros: Pop. 30,000 – one week from the Central Gate and town that sits behind it.

Large City of Kaifeng: Pop. 236,000. A city that became an enormous trading hub between Demon and Human lands and is thus VERY important. It sits on the Midgar side of the Central Gates. Of note – any human city within a day's ride of the Central Gate is burned to the ground(by the demons). So there is one exactly one day away that grows backwards away from the gate rather than towards it.

Five Guardian Gods: They were mentioned… twice in this chapter and are rather important. They will be explained in detail later.