Authors Note One: Yaaay, a new chapter… right? RIGHT!

Note that the 'Fun Facts' section has been changed to something else. Look forward to it when you get to the bottom of the chapter. I think it should be more interesting to read (and make for a bigger word count o.o).

Space…

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy… This chapter… yeah… he did that!

Space…

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

SPACE…

SPACE...

Chapter Seven

It's Unnatural

Blonde spikes gleamed in the sunlight that streamed through the occasional small window slit as the young Wingly Lord they were attached to walked through the hallways. It was great to actually have a free morning away from everything. Cloud's Trio of teachers apparently had something important to do at that point in time, so he was told to practice alone and given a few tasks to do while they did something else. Naturally, he wasn't having any of that. Since the trio, plus Zack, weren't around to watch him, he was going to wander the castle in search of his brother and anything else that could keep his interest.

The problem came in… that he still had NO idea where he was going in the place. Seriously… did the hallways move on their own or something? It should NOT be this hard after nearly three weeks. Though, the hallway he was walking through at this point in time did look rather familiar… err, the stuff lining the walls did anyways.

A, "mreowr," caught his attention and drew his gaze to the small crimson cat sitting up on a pedestal alongside a funny looking vase.

"Hello again kitty," Cloud said to the cat he'd seen quite often of late. Was it a demon cat… or just a normal one… the coloring seemed sort of odd for your standard cat, but he could never get it to talk to him or transform. "Want me to scratch your ears again?" He said reaching out a hand.

"Mreow" The cat said leaning into his hand and allowing him the simple pleasure of doing so.

"You know, I've got a brother with ears a lot like yours." The blonde began while switching to the cats other ear. "He won't let me do this to him though. He won't tell me the reason why either." The cat pulled back and shook his head around then spun in a circle and sat back down on his haunches.

"If you could understand and talk to me… do you think you could tell me why he is like that? Is it like… a weakness of his? Of all of them… you? Other than that, I haven't managed to find any exploitable weak points on him." Cloud finished in a defeated tone then snorted, "well, aside from his tail. When you pull it he lets out the funniest yelp I've ever heard."

"Merowr," The cat said with a nod and a… smile?

"AHH! THERE IT IS!" A female voice cried out causing Cloud and the cat to turn towards its source. In a matter of moments the crimson feline hissed and jumped off of the pedestal making a break for it away from the woman. Cloud watched on in… shock and amusement as the Lamia chased after the crimson cat. When she neared the animal it spun around side stepped her swiping hands and climbed up her uniform that was dragging on the floor. After reaching her head it swatted at her hair a few times then jumped off and ran back the way the woman had come.

"STUPID PEST! GET BACK HERE!" The snake woman said while totally ignoring Cloud and chasing after the cat. He couldn't help but laugh a little at the spectacle, but it was soon over and he was alone again, in the corridor, with nothing else to do… besides the assignments he'd been given by the Trio. Not that there was any chance in Hell he was doing those.

He had just come from the way the Lamia had, so young wingly Lord continued on his previous trek through the castle. The farther he walked the more he could swear this corridor was familiar.

"It has been five days with no relapse. Yet, I still believe it is best if we don't try to have him do that again until we know more about the barrier." A familiar voice reached his ears from behind the large double doors on his left. Turning and glancing that way his head cocked to the side. Very… familiar… Blue eyes shot open wide. It was Sephiroth's office, the place he took some of his… lessons.

He should leave before anyone noticed he was here. He REALLY didn't want to get caught slacking off just yet. The longer he made it without doing any more of that mentally and physically draining stuff the better. If the food here wasn't so good, and he didn't have to worry about how he and Aon would survive again, he would give all of this up just to get away. Could the two of them even escape from this place? Would Sephiroth chase them down and drag them back… well, he'd probably drag Cloud back… but the silver haired Wingly and Aon didn't get along as it was.

"So long as that Barrier inside of his mind is in place he will never reach his full potential. Have you managed to find out anything else about it?" Genesis' voice questioned the rooms other occupants from behind the closed door. Wait… they were talking about him, weren't they? Hesitant feet pulled him closer to the door to listen in on their conversation.

"I have not, and the brother claims that he does not remember anything that may have caused it either." Obviously Sephiroth's voice this time; the blonde Wingly had heard it so much recently he felt like it was following him around. It echoed in his mind when he was trying to go to sleep… well, the lessons did anyways. The man had said that going over things would help him recall them.

"Do you think he may have messed up on the Lord of War seal and caused something to go wrong?" Angeal

"Yes, I do. They were too young when he did it. The slightest mistake could have had devastating effects on Cloud's Psyche." Sephiroth again, but this time his voice was laced with anger. Cloud had no idea what a 'psyche' was, but it didn't sound like something he'd want to have in the first place.

"It shouldn't matter, for now at least. He will be ready when the time comes to show off to the Nobles. Frankly speaking, the boy's progress is unnatural." Genesis stated before stopping, the sound of a glass hitting wood reached his ears moments later and the Phoenix continued. "He is learning new ways to use Materia like it was second nature. And the way he calls forth the magic… it's not something someone that started using Materia just a few weeks ago should be able to do."

"I feel the same," Angeal this time. "His sparring sessions with Zack are progressing too well. He uses movements that neither Zack nor I have taught him. You're sure he hasn't had any previous instruction before this?"

"They were hardly well off when I came across them, and I only have the Lord and his Brother's testimonies to go by." Sephiroth echoed. "While the lord seems sincere, his brother is… harder to read."

"We will need to make sure he can fly as well. He will need to pull his wings out in front of the Nobles, they will not accept a flightless Wingly as the Central Gate's lord, more so than a weak one. Perhaps it will come as naturally to him as all the rest?" The Phoenix put forth.

Clouds hands both reached behind him and touched near his shoulder blades. The area from which he had seen wings sprout forth on other Wingly's back in Allovoros. Sadly he stared at the floor; was he… really that odd for not having pulled his wings out yet? Were flightless Wingly's freaks in the eyes of those that weren't?

Slowly, having decided he'd heard enough of that conversation he walked away. It… was best he left anyways, right? Better not to get caught standing outside of the door by any passing servants, or Guardians forbid, the trio themselves.

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

The sudden burst of late morning sun blinded the Wingly Lord as he stepped out of the darker Castle corridors and into the… garden? It certainly looked like one. There were five fountains, grass… so much green grass, various other plants he didn't recognize from his time in the desert or trip here, and finally an enormous tree that dominated the surrounding area. Its branches climbed skyward, as if reaching up for the heavens above… like it too wished to fly through the sky, touch the clouds, skim along their surface and watch everything pass it by below.

The blonde had heard other Wingly's his age and younger speak avidly of the times they had flown freely through the skies. The things they had done, the places they had been while there. He'd even stared up at them through outstretched arms and fingers in envy on more than one occasion from a rooftop. Wondering why it was that in all of Allovoros, only he could not use the wings his race had been graced with.

Slowly, and hesitantly, Cloud stepped out onto the pebble path laid out around the Garden. As the blonde lord strolled through everything in wonder his gaze leaping form one brightly colored plant to the next. Flowers of every color he'd ever seen, bushes that were shaped oddly and made him cock his head to the side trying to figure out just what they were doing. The path came to a stop about 20 minutes after Cloud had stepped from the door. Well, it should have been a short walk, but the teen had stopped so many times that it had taken what seemed like forever.

The large central tree he'd seen form the entryway TOWERED over him, and he had to wonder why he hadn't seen it upon his entrance to the city. Was it on the other side of the castle? Birds flew around the multitude of large branches chirping, fighting each other, and crooning with one another. His gaze travelled slowly down the enormous trunk until it caught sight of a white tuft of hair almost hidden off to the far left.

Peeking slowly around the edge, Cloud's gaze lit upon The Spirit wolf, Fenrir. The creature had been a rather constant, if not silent and off to the side, companion since the day he had arrived here; often strolling into the Central Gate Lord's office like he owned the place. Large steel grey eyes popped open as the wolf's sight was unleashed upon him. The boy's heart skipped a beat but for a moment before he smiled and approached the massive white wolf.

Crouching down before the spirit, who's head turned to watch him, Cloud's hand reached forward and rubbed at both sides of the wolf's head just below his ears. A large grin split the Spirit animal's mouth apart as it nudged its nose into his chest and pushed him backwards off balance. He fell onto his butt while a light 'oof' escaped his lips.

"Darn you," Cloud said as he rubbed back and forth more vigorously than before. Leaning forward he placed his forehead onto that of the large wolf's then rolled over and laid back onto the creature. As he stared up through the canopy of the tree at the gleaming sunlight a smile split across his face. Everything here was so peaceful and light.

Slowly, his eyes drooped… and closed.

"You know, it is said that the Second Emperor planted this tree with one of the seeds of Yggdrasil." A male voice reached his ears drawing his gaze around to see a figure standing in solid black armor from head to foot without an inch of skin peeking through. The black glossed metal glimmered in the sun's afternoon rays.

Strangely enough, and quite involuntarily, a light giggle escaped Cloud's lips as he watch the figure place a black mailed hand onto the tree. "And you do know that no one is looking. You could remove at least the helmet and let me see your face for once." Cloud responded.

The armor clad figure turned a frightening black mask to gaze at him for but a moment before looking away. "That is… impossible." The male voice resounded through the helmet and into Cloud's ears. It made it so hard to determine anything about the person encased within. Didn't he get hot wearing that with the temperature like it was out here?

"I'll get you to take it off one of these days you know." He said with a sly smirk spreading his lips apart.

"I do not -," the armored figures voice cut off as a new one penetrated the clearing.

"SPIKEY!" a familiar voice reached Clouds ears… and the scene before him faded as his eyes opened to his true surroundings. Fenrir's fur was pressed lightly against his face… He must have… must have dozed off there. Another one of those strange dreams he'd been having recently, and a new one too. "SPIKE! CAN YOU HEAR ME!?"

That was… Zack. Groggily, the blonde Wingly pushed away from Fenrir's lightly dozing form and glanced around before stretching his arms above his head and yawning. What was going on, the Werewolf seemed frantic, had he been asleep for that long? Was the raven haired swordsman dispatched by the teaching trio to find him? "Zack, I'm over here." He called out.

The wolf whirled around and ran his direction. When Zack arrived at his side the other Demon looked him over more than once then turned to see Fenrir staring directly at him. "We've been looking everywhere for you Cloud," Zack said with relief evident in his voice.

"I've been here with Fenrir for…" Cloud started before turning to lookout at the sun. It was just after noon from the looks of things, "a few hours."

The raven haired wolf crouched down to his level… or close to it anyways, with a smile on his face. "Well, at least you were in good hands… or paws." Zack finished with a laugh.

"What happened, you looked sort of out of it." The blonde asked as he coked his head to the side in thought.

The werewolf paused as his tail stopped wagging about behind him and his ears lay flat atop his head. "They… they found a dead body, a maid. It looks like she fell from one of the upper windows, but Sephiroth says some thing's didn't match up. That it was unnatural. When you weren't where you were supposed to be everyone was sent into a panic looking for you."

Cloud's heart skipped a beat. He had seen more than enough dead bodies in his time as a starving thief with Aon, but he didn't expect anything like that to happen here. "Did… Sephiroth think it was a murder?"

The wolf shook his head, "he wasn't sure, and no one could come to a consensus. The guards are going to look into things soon, but we had to make sure you were all right first." The young wolf said ruefully as he shook his head.

"What bout Aon? How is he? Is he safe," Cloud questioned frantically as dread entered his chest. If there was a possibility someone was killing people, his brother could be in danger as well.

"You're Brother is locked up in his office and wouldn't leave even to help look for you." Zack said with disgust in his voice. "Everyone else was worried sick, but he brushed your disappearance off as if it were nothing."

"Wh… what." Cloud's chest fell back. His brother had… dismissed his safety like it was nothing. Had the Kitsune that much faith in him… or did he just not care anymore? He was avoiding him like he had the plague, and now he wasn't looking for him when he might have been in trouble.

"Don't worry about it Spike, I'm sure there's… a good reason." The wolf didn't sound too reassuring in his statement. "Come on, let's go assure the three old guys that you're ok… okay?" The wolf said as he offered his hand to the boy.

Cloud stared at it for a moment before sadly nodding his head and taking it. He needed to find Aon and talk to him. He wanted answers, and his brother couldn't keep avoiding him forever… right?

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

The orange setting sun caste its heated glare down through the open window of the Lord of War's office, only to gleam off of the fire colored hair of its only current occupant. The Kitsune boy's hand flexed open and closed before he shook it, then repeated the process trying to get the 'sleep' out of it. The blood flow, or lack thereof, must have come from his resting on it for too long. The cause wasn't the problem; that feeling was just plain annoying, thus distracting. His new sloth filled lifestyle was getting to him already. He needed to be up and moving around more than he had been, but there was entirely too much to do here… his glance moved up and around the book laden office. A multitude of spires of haphazardly stacked tomes threatened to fall over and turn everything into a catastrophe.

It had been five days since he'd heard of his brothers… episode, inside of his own head. The little 'meeting' he'd been forced to attend that morning had been such a pleasant interrogation. One's day simply would not be complete without a trio of demon's asking questions like you would simply spill all of your secrets to them. The four had no idea what was going on, and while the mere thought was rather compelling just for its comedic efforts, they could not be allowed to know the truth… yet. No one could…

The large double doors burst open to allow the entrance of his pet cat before closing on their own behind him. The crimson haired youth swaggered in like he owned the place tails swaying behind him, and rather deftly navigated his way through the catastrophe waiting to happen, before taking a seat on the only open place in the room. Aon's couch turned bed of late. The actual bed was annoyingly comfortable, and he'd had a hard time getting used to it at this point in time. Not to mention its distance from his office.

"Reno, did you do as I asked with my brother's coat?" The fire haired boy questioned as he leaned back into the massive chair and closed his golden eyes.

"Of course I did, yo! Who do you think I am?" The cat questioned before mumbling something inaudible.

"Good," the Kitsune began as he rubbed at the bridge of his nose. The 'sleep' in his hand wasn't going away, and the funny feeling was turning more and more annoying as time passed. "Then we're moving forward as expected. Now we have to keep our eyes open for the next move."

"Pity about that maid, she was a real looker." Reno said causing Aon's golden eyes to flash open and focus on him. The last rays of the sun blew past his chair and landed solely upon the cat.

Silence permeated the room for over a minute before the fire haired Kitsune finally responded. "Yes, but she knew too much. Better where she is now, than that she had run back to her master's lap for safety."

"A little… gruesome though." Reno's blue slit eyes locked onto Aon's gold's, as if gauging his response for more than the words he was going to say.

"We needed the information, and we got it. She was dead from the beginning." The Kitsune responded as his ear twitched lightly above his head trying to get rid of the fly that seemed intent on penetrating the small tufts that protected them. "Now, what news of my brother? What did he do today? Why was I disturbed by what seemed to be every single person in the castle while they looked for him?"

Reno sighed exasperatedly and rolled his eyes, "always comes back to your brother." The cat trailed off then shook his head, the crimson pony tail bobbing back and forth behind him. "Blondie tried to skip out on his lessons and wander the castle. I saw him outside of Mr. Silver's office, and then watched him sleep in the Garden for a few hours before the puppy showed up after the little scare with the dead body." The cat rolled his eyes and laid his ears to the side before continuing, "You'd think no one here had ever seen a dead body before with the way everyone was going on about it."

Aon snorted and burst into laughter. He couldn't help it; the cat's comment had just hit a string inside of him.

"WHAT, YO? What's so funny?" The crimson haired cat questioned angrily.

"It's just, the way you have no idea about some things." The Fire haired Kitsune replied as he fought back the laughter and regained his composure. "Should I explain to you why finding a dead body on the premise, even one that looks like it fell from a high window, is a bad thing? Or would you prefer to figure it out on your own?"

The cat deigned not to answer, glared at him, and kicked his left foot to the side lazily. The offending appendage connected with a stack of books causing a chain reaction throughout the room, "whoops." Reno said blandly, his intention was laced obviously through his voice.

"It's fine, I have a cat that LOVES to clean my office." The Kitsune said with a devious grin directed at the cat."

"Not happenin, Yo." The cat said as he pointed his finger at Aon then glanced around as best he could at the now destroyed mess of a room.

"Really…" Aon started and trailed off as he stroked his chin with the offensive hand that was still 'asleep'. "And what makes you think that?"

"You know, it's none of my business… the kid's getting lonely without you. He wanders the halls every chance he gets looking for you." The Crimson haired cat said after seemingly ignoring his statement and moving on to something else.

"You're right… it isn't any of your business." Aon stated coldly.

Reno stared at him for a moment then shrugged his shoulders seemingly unimpressed with the response, closed his eyes, and lay back on the couch while curling up.

"What do you think you're doing cat?" The fire haired Kitsune asked from his chair.

"I'm tired, so I'm sleeping. What does it look like?" The cat stated like it was so obvious that a Human could have realized it.

With a sigh and a light shake of his head, Aon glanced down at the offensive 'sleeping' hand and shook it once more as the sun finally dipped below the massive wall and night began to blanket the sky. Pushing the chair back loudly enough to make him cringe in pain the Kitsune moved onto the Balcony.

"It's going to be cold tonight Reno, you should use the blanket stashed under the Couch if you're sleeping here." He said… then paused and thought on what had just escaped his lips. "I'd hate for you to get sick and be unable to fulfill your duties."

Moving over to the right he took the 'secret path' to his favorite spot in the castle's enormity. As he settled himself in to his regular spot and relaxed while laying back onto the grey-white bricks he stared up at the stars as they slowly made their appearance in the sky. Tomorrow things were going to be worse. He needed to get everything straight in his mind, and fix up the correct lie for the silver haired Menace.

Guardians forbid that he would have to put up with explaining his reasoning for anything else to that insufferable bird brain.

Space…

Space…

AUTHOR'S NOTE TWO: I felt like writing some Aon, so the next chapter will be from Sephiroth and someone else's POV. Look forward to it… It's the last chapter of this ARC.

CLOUD'S THOUGHT'S ON HIS DAILY LESSONS:

I learned about something new today, or I think it was new. It seemed rather familiar, maybe Aon's tried to tell me about it once before.

It was a place called 'The Lifestream'. It's where every living thing goes after death. (That explains the sparklies apparently). Supposedly, while there, between incarnations of life, your memories are stripped away. When I asked Sephiroth if it was all of your memories or not he stated that it SHOULD be all of them, but that if you were reincarnated too soon there may be exceptions… and then progressed to explain theories on multiple personality disorders and the like being a supposed side effects of being incarnated too soon.

It's both fun and terrifying to think of what I could have been in a past life and I just cannot remember it. I could have been some evil, snobby, slob of a noble that killed and tortured people for fun… or a great hero during one of the wars with Humans!