“Hey, Squall!” Squall Leonheart, known as Squall by his friends and strangers, turned around, his dark brown hair blowing in the soft breeze. Green eyes narrowed when he looked at the incoming companion; Yuffie Kisaragi. The Wutainese Princess was bouncing up and down in excitement, like usual. Her gigantic shuriken was nowhere to be seen, but Leon knew that Yuffie kept it hidden somewhere, if that was possible. “Don’t you think that visiting other worlds would be fun?” the raven-haired girl asked, bouncing to a seat beside Squall. “I mean, think of all the different things we could do! We could go to some world and relax, or perhaps experience new stuff! I mean, wouldn’t it be so awesome?!” “No,” Squall replied stoutly and coldly. “If we were to visit other worlds, then we would meddle with them, and when did you know all of this?” “Since I read that letter you got in the mail!” Yuffie exclaimed, bouncing up and down. Squall silently noted that the rock she was sitting on was slowly slipping toward the edge of the cliff. If she slips, then I’m not saving her. Then again, I better, or else Strife will be after my blood. “Hellooo! Squall! You in there?” Squall snapped out of thought when Yuffie started to wave a hand in front of his face. Blinking confused eyes, he roughly pushed Yuffie out of the way (almost tipping her off the cliff edge) as he stumbled up. “I knew you were thinking about something important!” Yuffie shouted, practically breaking Squall’s delicate ear drums. “You always have this emo kind of look one when you start thinking about something that really nags you!” “It’s called a ‘brooding’ look,” Squall muttered more to himself then Yuffie. “Not Emo.” “Yeah, I guess you are right,” Yuffie said, sinking into thought. Squall greatly enjoyed the five second silence, before— “Cloud is the only one who is emo!” Yuffie shouted, again practically breaking Squall’s ear drums, again. Growling with anger, he cuffed Yuffie over the head and stomped off, going to go and find some more sensible people. Aerith Gainsborough was possibly a sensible person, if you avoided her poisonous, sugar-filled drinks of DOOM. “Yuffie has been bugging you again, hasn’t she,” Aerith said sympathetically, setting down two cups of Barely Tea. Squall pointedly ignored his cup, which made Aerith bite her lip in agitation, sweeping away light brown hair with a pale hand. “I suppose she had,” Squall answered with a sigh, and leaned his head on his hand. “What is it this time?” Aerith asked, sitting down and taking her own steaming cup, holding it in her hand, staring at her reflection. “Something about calling Cloud emo,” Squall muttered, and stared at the mug set a few inches from his hand. It was steaming, and it looked appetising, but Squall knew better to accept food from Aerith. A preoccupied silence filled the air. Aerith was thinking over on how many ways she could scold Yuffie without getting herself into trouble, and actually making the optimistic ninja feel guilty, and Squall was thinking about his own problems. Apparently, Yuffie was well-informed about other worlds (after reading his own private mail). But she didn’t see them as things that were meant to be left alone. No, she saw them as vacation trips. Hmph, the girl was dimmer then a Moogle. “Did you receive a letter from the King yet?” Aerith asked, trying to start a conversation. Squall simply grunted before answering. “No, unless you count the last one, in which Yuffie read,” he said in a pessimistic voice, making Aerith frown in displeasure. “The girl doesn’t know how to keep her nose out of personal things.” “That’s Yuffie for you,” Aerith quipped, and drank the last of her tea. Squall sighed. Sometimes girls could be so naive. “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” Squall asked in a somewhat hopeless voice as he entered his home. Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockheart, two childhood friends, were sitting side by side, laughing. It seemed that Cloud had just told a joke, and Tifa had greatly enjoyed it. Why else would the couple be so happy about? “Oh, sorry Squall,” Tifa said, blushing. The two seemed to be truly sorry about intruding on Squall’s personal space. Knowing they were being sincere, and that his house was the only place to get away from the happy little menace that called herself “Yuffie”, Squall simply waved a hand and walked on up the staircase. Squall’s room was simply built. A bed, neatly made, pushed up against the west wall, a wardrobe containing clothing in the corner of the room, a weapon rack, a small cabinet, and a lamp. A door on the east side of the room led off to a bathroom that contained a shower, toilet, and sink. It was simply built, not like the large house that Cloud had, or the tacky ramshackle Yuffie called a home. It was simple, but home. Throwing his jacket into the wardrobe, Squall collapsed on the bed, wrinkling the pale white bed sheets with his sweaty form. “Tough day today,” Squall groaned, and kicked off his boots. His gloves and necklace soon followed. “That is the last time I’m going to hang around Yuffie for ten minutes straight. I must have broken Cid’s record. Poor him, no wonder why he is a crazy cook now.” Knowing very well that he was calling one of the many Gummi Ship builders crazy, Squall closed his eyes, and drifted off to sleep. Please, please let our world be saved, Aerith prayed, clasping her hands and staring at the dark sky. Please save Radiant Gardens, please, please. Aerith didn’t know who she was praying to, but she hoped help would come. The Heartless had come to Radiant Gardens so quickly that no one had time to react. In a span of five minutes, several thousand of the pedestrians in Radiant Gardens had been cut down by the dark claws of Shadows. Black, writhing bodies trampled each other in haste to reach live, beating hearts, and glowing, yellow eyes shown in the dark like the light of a lighthouse. Blasting away several Heartless with a Fire, Aerith retreated to a higher area. Overhead, Wyverns were circling, and Aerith quickly darted out of eyesight. She could tell that the Heartless had already caught scent of her heart, for they were following her like hounds on a rabbit scent. “Please!” Aerith screamed to the sky, blasting the oncoming Heartless with a Thundaga as she did. She already felt her strength failing, being zapped by the many wounds that the Heartless have given her; trying to make her give up so that they could take her heart. “Please! Anyone! HELP!” Aerith tripped, and she felt thousands of Heartless clamouring over her. Curling up into a ball, she fought weakly, keeping her heart safe from the dark creatures. Suddenly, an oversized shuriken was implanted in the head of one of the Shadows, and it disappeared. Many other smaller shurikens followed it. The small pointy weapons killed the Heartless quickly and effectively. “Hey, Aerith, you okay buddy?” Aerith suddenly saw Yuffie’s face, but it kept on getting in and out of focus. “Eargh,” she muttered, and rolled over. Her dress was a mess; torn and ragged. It looked somewhat like Cloud’s cape, but just a different color and a different article of clothing. “Guess not. Here is a Hi-Potion,” Yuffie said, and a small burst of bubbles appeared over Aerith, raining down on my messy hair and healing her. Standing up, she took her staff and tapped it against the ground, cleaning the ash from the firm wood. “Where is Cloud?” Aerith asked, interested in her friend’s welfare. “Well, we lost him in the fire,” Yuffie said, jerking her head over to a buring building. “Tifa ran in after him, and Squall went and got Cid to power up the ship. We’re just waiting for Cloud and Tifa to get back now, and I came to find you.” “Splendid,” she muttered, and trudged after Yuffie. Tifa was frantic. Side-stepping a burning pile of ceiling beams, she searched for her friend. Where was Cloud? The blond had seen something in the fire, and had run in after it. For all Tifa knew, Cloud could have risked his life for a Moogle, or perhaps a cat. Flicking dark brown hair over her shoulder, she quickly hurried down the remaining part of the corridor. Finding some buring stairs, Tifa mounted this with extreme caution and speed, not wanting to burn herself. Already she was sweating, even though she had taken off her gloves. That was the problem with wearing black into a burning building. Her sharp hearing suddenly detected the sound of swords clacking against each other. Deeply intruiged by this, Tifa ran around the rest of the corner to see... CLOUD! The blond was safe, but he was dueling another someone. Tifa couldn’t miss the heavy trench coat, tall form, silver hair, and the black and blue wing that flapped to keep the person aloft... Sephiroth was here! No wonder why Cloud had ran into the building! “Cloud!” Tifa shouted, and she ran into the room. “Tifa, stay out of this!” Cloud shouted, turning around a little to speak to her. He leapt away from the point of Sephiroth’s sword, and found himself against a wall. “I can take care of this— Oof!” “Cloud!” Tifa screamed, and ran into the room. The blond was held against the wall by the point of Sephiroth’s Masamune. The sword impale his right arm, injuring him and making him drop his sword. “How does it feel, to see your friend being held at the mercy of his enemy?” Sephiroth asked mockingly. He turned to face her, and Tifa saw that sweat lined his forehead. Whether it was from the fire or fighting Cloud, Tifa didn’t care. “You let him go!” Tifa shouted, and ran to attack Sephiroth. Leaping into the air, Tifa drove out her heel to kick him, but was suddenly seized by it, and thrown against the wall. There was the sound of heavy boots clacking against thin wood as Sephiroth approached Tifa. “Tifa, Tifa, Tifa,” Sephiroth said, and picked up the girl by her hair. “You know that no matter what you do, I will come back and take my revenge.” “What did Cloud ever do to you?” Tifa asked, clutching at her hair. It hurt to hang by the thin strings that were connected to your scalp. Sephiroth chuckled, and he took hold of Tifa’s wrist. “Nothing, girl,” he said, his aquamarine eyes glowing in the darkness of the room, despite the fire that licked at the ground. “He is simply a traitor to Cetra, just like that little flower-girl out there in the street.” Suddenly, a sword was stabbed into Sephiroth’s arm, and Tifa fell to the ground when the great warrior let go of her. Crawling to a safe distance, Tifa watched as Sephiroth ripped out his sword and turned to face Cloud. “Prepare to die, young one,” he snarled, and leapt forward, fast as lightning. Cloud dodged, and followed Sephiroth out of the hole in the ceiling. There was a flash of light, and the two disappeared. Tifa frowned, and told herself to move. Wrong move. The second she stood up, the building groaned, and collapsed under her weight. Tifa screamed as she tumbled, and felt the claws of several hundred Heartless as she plummeted down. There was the feeling of something cold against her skin, and she suddenly was sinking into darkess. “Where is Cloud!” Aerith demanded from Squall, yanking at his jacket. Yuffie was standing beside her, silent for once. “Just shut ye’ lip and let me drive!” Cid snapped, and the Gummi Ship was fired up. Before Aerith could argue, the Gummi Ship was already zooming away from the darkness filled Radiant Gardens. A world that soon would go by the name “Hollow Bastion”. (Author's Corner: Okay, a random fanfic, and probably my first to get on here. I know Leon and his buddies were kids when they ran from Hollow Bastion, but I had to make them adults so that I can get their attitudes a little better. I hope the characters are too OOC, and I made a small FF7 reference in here. I need definite improvement, so can you all point out things to me that are wrong? I promise to make a sequel to this.)
