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First off, I need a new title. Any suggestions? For the disclaimer, I don't own them, I do own the plot. On with my weird story!
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The next day they were down at one of the sites they were supposed to be rebuilding. Cloud was on one of the allowed 15-minute breaks. He cast a disinterested eye over the site. Leon was striding around, giving orders, Cid and Merlin were arguing again, Aerith was attempting to stop them from throttling each other, Tifa was working diligently, and Yuffie was annoying Leon. Cloud made a mental note to thank her later. He sighed deeply. It wasn’t much, but it worked for him, and kept his mind off Sephiroth, and the rest of that crap. “Yo, Cloud get off your a**! Break’s up!”yelled Leon. Cloud rolled his eyes, grumbled under his breath, but got back to work.
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“Oh great, he’s angsting again,”thought Leon, noting Cloud’s expression. After barking at him to get back to work, he returned to his most pressing problem. The annoying kunoichi in front of him who wouldn’t shut up. He sighed. “Yuffie, PLEASE, get back to work,”he said, almost pleading. She pouted. “Aww, Leon, you’re no fun.” Leon was spared answering by a sudden voice. “Hey guys, what’s up?”came the familiar voice. Everyone except Cloud grinned at the voice of the young Keyblade master. Sora, Donald, and Goofy rounded the corner, Sora still grinning hugely, and Donald yet again attempting to knock some sense into Goofy. But then came the surprise. Along with Sora, came Kairi, the King, and Riku.(back in normal form) “Hey Sora, what’s up?” Even antisocial Leon could never be sour around the kid. He could’ve sworn the kid’s mood was contagious. He nodded at Kairi and the King, and looked Riku over. “Good to see you back to normal.” Riku nodded, smiling. “Well, we’re almost done here, you guys wanna help out?” They all nodded. “If you need to, we have plenty of room for you guys to crash.” “Ok, thanks,”Sora agreed.
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The work was finished quickly with new addition to their group. Cloud found the spiky-haired teen a bit annoying, but even Cloud was susceptible to Sora’s charm. He just never showed it. After work, they all went home, taking it slowly, lazy now that work was done. When they got back the others stayed with Sora and the group, but Cloud slipped back to his room. He showered and changed, then left to go out. He wandered, brooding again. “You don’t like people too much, huh?”came a voice, nearly giving Cloud cardiac arrest. He whirled, face-to-face with that silver-haired kid, Riku. Cloud was always wary with people, especially ones he barely knew, but he was almost paranoid with Riku. He couldn’t help it the kid’s hair reminded him of Sephiroth. He grunted. Riku shrugged, and looked like he was going to say something, but was pounced on by Sora, and dragged off. Cloud shook his head, amused, and went off to think.
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Leon walked by the living room, noticing Tifa looking depressed. “What’s on your mind?”he asked casually, leaning against a wall. She sighed. “Cloud’s disappearing more than ever, and he talks less.” Leon snorted, but fell silent at the look on Tifa’s face. “You shouldn’t worry so much, whatever’s on his mind is his business, and he’ll get through it.”Leon said gently. Tifa smiled up at him. “You’re right,”she replied. ‘Oh, and Leon?”she asked as he turned to leave. He turned. She couldn’t help teasing. “You’re talking about him more gently than usual.” She grinned mischieviously. He glared at her and grunted,”Hn.” Suddenly there was a crash, followed by Sora hurtling out of the building, pursued by Cid and Merlin. After they were out of earshot, Tifa, Yuffie, and Aerith, who had followed the noise, burst into hysterical laughter. Leon began to chuckle along with the King, considering Donald and Goofy had chased after them. Riku just slapped his forehead, and Kairi giggled, shaking her head. “The only time I’ve ever seen those two get along,”Leon grinned.
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Cloud eventually headed back home, to eat. They’d be getting up early again, and Cloud figured he might as well give being sociable a shot. Although his sentences probably wouldn’t consist of more than 7 words. He gets in just as the food’s being served. He glances around uncomfortably when everyone looked at him. Leon snorted, “Of course, he comes on time for food.” Cloud glared at him, but didn’t say anything. He grabbed a seat, and dinner commenced. Quite a bit of it was Sora asking Cloud questions, and Cloud responding with uncomfortable 3 word answers. After they cleaned up, Merlin, Leon, Aerith, Riku, and the King went off to Ansem’s to do more research, Yuffie, Tifa, and Kairi started playing War, and Sora, Goofy, and Donald went to hunt down more Heartless. Cloud decided to help out Cid with a new Gummi ship. Besides Tifa and Aerith, Cid was the only person Cloud could stand being around for extended periods of time. Cid didn’t need to talk to be comfortable which suited Cloud just fine. They worked for a while, and everyone started turning in. Cloud did too, but for some reason he had a foreboding feeling about the next day. He shrugged it off, and fell asleep.
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When Leon woke up the sky was dark with clouds. He knew it would rain hard soon. After everyone was more or less awake, and had eaten, a report came in. There was another outbreak of Heartless. That was their assignment for the day. Everyone geared up pretty grimly. It was a large, spread out group of high-level Heartless. They left in silence, heading toward the place where the 1000 Heartless had been defeated. Strangely, Leon was dragging his feet with the feeling something was going to go horribly wrong today. When they neared the place, they broke into three groups that would spread out as they fought. The three Destiny Island kids with Donald and Goofy; Yuffie, Aerith, and Tifa; and Cloud, Leon, and the King comprised the groups. Yuffie’s group dropped off first, then Cloud’s, as the other five ran on ahead. In the heat of battle, Leon didn’t notice when Cloud slipped away.
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As Cloud’s group headed slowly towards Sora and the others, Cloud got the strange feeling he was being watched. He began to have flashbacks, and got constant headaches, something that only happened when he was close by. The group reached a fork in the road, just as it began to pour, the rain so intense, it seemed to be trying to strip the skin off their bodies. Suddenly Cloud saw a flash of silver hair and black feathers disappear around the opposite bend. Cloud glanced quickly at his group as he slipped off to follow Sephiroth.
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Eventually Leon’s group caught up with Sora and the others, Yuffie’s group showing up shortly after. After they were finished, and were going through the customary congratulations, Riku spoke up. “Hey, where’s Cloud?” At this everyone started, and looked around, not that they could see anything in the pouring rain. “Oh, he probably slunk off somewhere to fight more Heartless,”was Yuffie’s chipper reply. “We can look for him as we head back,”suggested Tifa. Everyone agreed, aand headed home. When they reached the fork in the road, Leon, who was trudging along in back, noticed footprints in the mud. For some reason he thought they were Cloud’s. And for some other insane reason he turned and followed them. No one noticed Leon’s retreating figure behind them. Well, no one except Riku.
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Cloud had followed Sephiroth for a long while, until they eventually reached a cliff. Sephiroth turned slightly. “Finally decide to find me, eh, Cloud?” He smirked and faced him fully. Cloud was not surprised Sephiroth felt his presence. He probably knew he had been following him, which was probably part of his plan. Cloud just glared at him. “Let’s start then, shall we?”came Sephiroth’s smooth voice, hard as stone, and cold as steel as he drew his sword. Cloud launched himself at Sephiroth, unclipping his Buster sword. Sephiroth easily dodged it, sticking the sword deep between Cloud’s ribs. Cloud gasped with pain and whirled his sword catching Sephiroth’s forearm. Sephiroth glanced coldly at the blood running down his arm, then alighted into the air. “Come Cloud, can’t you do better? This isn’t very entertaining, you know.” he said boredly. Cloud gritted his teeth, glaring, and spat out, “I”m not some pawn of yours. You can’t control me.” “Anymore,”finished Sephiroth, eyes icy, but smirking. He dove down, Cloud jumping to meet him.
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Leon was meandering down the path, not really thinking, when he heard the sounds of battle. He sighed, guessing it was Cloud. Then he heard the voices. “Wait...voices?”he thought. “Heartless don’t talk, and the Nobody’s are rarely here, nor would they bother with Cloud.” But he knew someone who would. He suddenly became chilled to the bone. He took off in the direction of the noise, running blindly in the pelting rain, heart exploding in his chest. He came upon them just as they met in midair.
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Aaaand, that’s a wrap! Haha, I have more but I’m evil, so I’ll leave you with a cliffhanger. Don’t kill me! *dodges random pointy objects, while laughing maniaclly* R&R much appreciated, pray I don’t wait too long to publish the next one! Just kidding! Bye! ^^