Chapter V - Child’s Heart

   CONTENT WARNING FOR THIS CHAPTER - This chapter contains blood, gore and a near death of a minor. If you are uncomfortable reading this please go to these markers [꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂] And we will catch you up with the important things you missed at the bottom. Thank you.

   "Why?" I asked him, looking up at the scariest thing I'd ever seen. He made me scared of the darkness for a reason, one I knew. His eyes, predatory and too similar to Clouds, watched my every movement. I'd made no attempt to run, instead choosing to sit down and still like he had told me to do. It wasn't what most children would do in this situation, which probably had him on guard.

    But, as I watched the massive katana glimmer in the moonlight, I knew staying still and waiting was the best course of action. I'm small, only five, and very short for my age group. Outclassed in terms of strength, width, and judging by how he moves, speed also. It would be foolish to try attacking him or run. One false move and I don't doubt for a moment I'd be hanging off the end of his long sword.

    "To make Cloud fall into the deepest darkness," The silver-haired man answered me, eyes trailing from me to the drop below, Radiant Garden's square not too far away. His eyes looked over it quickly, calculatingly.

    I furrowed my eyebrows, a frown forming on my face. Again, I asked him, "Why?"

    He didn't turn back to me, "I won't ever be just a memory." A smile quirked on his lips, a sinister smile that was one twitch away from being a smirk.

    I exhaled slowly, shakily. This man, what was he to Cloud? He smelled too much of darkness to be anything good, but I already knew that. He also smelled like Cloud's darkness, which he had a little too much of for a normal person, it was been dissipating though, subsiding, so I thought he was working through his problems, that the darkness was from his trauma or he was going through a tough period. Now, I don't know what I'm supposed to think.

    "Why me?" It escaped like a whisper out of my lips, one he didn't answer. He stood tall and watched the horizon as if Cloud would pop out from underneath the cliff face and attack him head-on.

    "Sephiroth!" A familiar voice shouted angrily. We both turned to look at the blond man rushing onto the cliffside with us, buster sword in hand. I also noted the fact he'd changed clothes, from the star-covered t-shirt and jeans to more suitable combat gear. I'm impressed by how fast he got here.

    "Cloud," Sephiroth said, his tone taunting and something else, laced with a word I didn't know.

    "Give her back, Sephiroth," He spat the one-winged angel's name like it was poison.

    The scary man laughed, "Why would I ever do that?" His grip on his sword tightened, I saw Cloud's battle stance widen, shifting for a powerful lunge, just waiting for the right moment.

    I could feel the tingle of my keyblade, the air morphed around me and tiny sparks of light appeared, I pressed it down, not yet. If I'm lucky, not at all.

    "I want to quell this awful thought plaguing your mind, slowly but surely, Cloud, you belong in the darkness. Playing the hero full of light was never for you." Sephiroth's wing spasmed, like the very idea of it was appalling, to him it probably was. If he did all this it had to be.

    "Let. Her. Go." Cloud demanded. "We can settle this ourselves." Even though I was feet away from him I saw his eyeline shift from Sephiroth to my still sitting form.

    "You derive your fragile light from other people, Cloud, if we wish to create a flower with only thorns we must first get rid of the petals."

    Cloud charged at the taller male, buster sword hitting the thin blade of Sepiroths katana. The silver-haired man didn't even look phased, keeping the same pressure as Cloud as they locked in a stalemate, even as Cloud pushed his footing.

    Sparks looked like they would have appeared from the interlocked blades, and it looked as if there were dents in the blades, same shape and size as the other in those blades, clean fits.

    And then Cloud's buster sword was hurled straight at me, I only barely managed to dodge to the side, rolling roughly on the ground. Standing up I found Cloud removing his sword from its impact point on the ground, looking at me with guilt. Distracted.

    "Cloud!" I tried to warn him as Sepiroth went to swipe at the blond, his bigger sword almost missing their collision. I don't know how Cloud had managed to move that fast, but I was thankful he was.

    They continued their fight. Meanwhile, I knew I needed to get out of here, go find Squall and Denzel, and be safe so Cloud wouldn't have to worry. But the overwhelming darkness here, I almost puked, it's suffocating.

    Shakily, I tried getting up again. Adrenaline ran dry as my life wasn't in danger at the moment, the darkness felt like it was physically pushing me down and I shrugged to fully stand. It was awful, this darkness, it looked and smelled different.

    It didn't feel like Clouds, and yet, it did. It had a different consistency and stench than the masked boys from so long ago too but didn't share the same attributes. It was a third, new type of darkness I'd never encountered before. I hoped to never encounter it again.

    Their fight was getting closer. I needed to run. Standing up in this darkness, that was hard enough, but trying to place one foot in front of the other and walk was almost impossible, trying to run probably was. I coughed, I felt it invading my lungs.

    Again, Cloud's sword struck near me, only barely saving me was Cloud himself, who managed to use the push off from Sephiroth's attack and avoid me. I stumbled back and fell, that's twice now. What was Sephiroth doing?

    I got up again, trying to make my way to the right to avoid them, and though the darkness was overwhelmingly powerful, I managed to run, not very fast, but I did it.

    This was terrifying, almost being cut open twice, along with the darkness around us. I shivered, if any heartless appeared, would I be able to handle it?

    No, I wouldn't be. I just have to be grateful this darkness wasn't clouded into an enclosed space, otherwise I'd be completely immobile.

    Their fight turned my way, and I noticed the way Sepiroth moved, not like they were fighting, but like he was herding Cloud in this direction, the way he parried his sword was like he wanted it to go flying.

    I gasped, rushing away as they got closer. That was his plan, he was herding Cloud, and his target was me. Why?

    This time Cloud's sword flew into the air, and if I hadn't stepped back I would have been cut down the middle. How does a katana even parry a buster sword like that? Master swordsmen truly have to know their blades well. Otherwise, how could someone do something like that?

    "(Y/n)!" Cloud looked back, having been unhanded to see me and the sword an inch from my face, he looked back to Sephiroth, having guessed what he was up to as well, "I told you to leave her out of this, what's your game, Sephiroth?"

    The dark angel exhaled slowly, "I told you, if one wishes to make a bramble of thorns, they first have to get rid of the flowers around it." Suddenly he was gone, and I felt the darkness shift behind me. I barely had time to think before I was at length with Sephiroth's sword.

    Cloud looked back, seeing the long sword an inch away from me. I was too scared to move, a lump in my throat, spine straight.

    Cloud unlodged his sword from the ground, looking fiercely ahead at the taller, smirking male. "Don't move." I don't know if he was talking to me or Sephiroth, but neither of us did.

    "I had planned for you to execute her yourself, but if you already know that was my plan then it would impact you as badly as it needs to. So I'll take it upon myself, just this once."

    I didn't even feel it, as the sword found itself into the middle of my ribcage, just under my chest. It looked as if it went in slow motion as the thin blade stabbed clearly into me, it didn't pierce the other side, it couldn't have, because I didn't feel the second rush of pain. But the first rush came straight after the numbing feeling of it coming out subsided. Burning hot agony rushed throughout my veins, finding myself numb with pain up to my fingers. I couldn't scream, or cry, or anything, while the fire raged in my body I was left completely frozen, still and in shock.

    I felt hot, gooey stuff rushes down my dress, feeling it through all the fabric. I couldn't move my hands to check, but at my side felt my keyblade summon itself in my hand. I looked up at Sephiroth, the person who had stabbed me, I wanted to know, to see anything. Something, any emotion.

    But I didn't see Sephiroth when I raised my gaze, instead, the scene shifted. In a dark room with another blade stabbed through me in that exact spot, the structure reminding me of a keyblade. My attacker was covered in darkness but my hand reaches up to his face anyway, caressing it, I heard something similar to my voice whispering praises and sweet nothings.

    And then it was gone, the blade still Sephiroths as one of my hands clutched it, blood running along the cuts, my abdomen still stabbed through, and my gold and silver keyblade clutched in my other hand.

    It's a whisper that grows inside of me, one that quickly turns into a yell for me to live. A will to live not my own rushes into me, it gives me strength, power to do what I have to, to live.

    "Thunder," It was just a mumble, one I didn't think I'd be able to do, and the bolts from the sky that came after was something I never dreamed I would be able to conjure at the moment. But I felt like I could, and I did, voices screamed out to me to live.

    The dark-winged angel pulled his sword out, jumping back to avoid my attack as I fell to the ground, blood falling out of my mouth and staining the dirt below, there was a lot of it. Too much, I felt lightheaded. Black dots invaded my vision and my limbs felt numb, I couldn't even feel the keyblade in my hands. Green energy flowed all around me, a flower appearing over my head, causing my wounds to disappear and pain to cease, I smiled at the relief.

    Cloud caught me, bringing me into his arm, worried mako eyes stared into mine, scanning my face to see if I was dead. As if to check he brought a hand to my face, feeling the warmth still there. tears fell from his eyes and he hugged me as gently as he could manage, telling me I would be okay, that he would get help.

    "It's not worth trying to kill you, anymore," Sephiroth spoke up, "If I had known you were a keyblade wielder, I wouldn't have tried. It's no use trying to kill the immortal, I'll leave you to be your own downfall."

    He flapped his wing, and soon he was flying away into the sky. Cloud picked me up, and I was too tired to do anything but dangle. He told me not to shut my eyes, to stay awake, but I couldn't, all my mana had been completely used up and I needed to sleep, I wanted to stay awake, for Cloud, but I couldn't. My eyes shut and I drifted away.

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  Aerith trailed over my ribcage, looking at the darker skin where Sephiroth had 'punctured' me. She frowned, "Whoever used cure did a very good job of healing your wounds, but I'm afraid there'll still be some scarring."

  She looked up to me, "I'm sorry, honey."

  I looked down at the darker skin, shaking my head, "That's always been there."

  Cloud and Aerith looked confused, turning to each other then back to me, questions not escaping them.

  "A long time ago I asked mom what it was," I pointed at it, "She called it a birthmark."

  They looked at the strange shape closely, before Aerith did a second take. It was a peculiar shape, a smaller circle-like shape at the bottom with three more circular ones a centimeter away. It didn't look anything like the smooth edge of Sephiroth's blade. Though Aerith wouldn't know that, we didn't exactly tell her what happened. She didn't need to know, to worry.

    As far as I knew, not even Denzel knew. Cloud told me something, about how he found me, that he sensed Sepiroth, even when no one else saw the winged man at the festival. I guess the darkness cloaked him, it could do that if he truly were part of the dark.

    Thinking back to Denzel, he must feel terrible. He was supposed to look after me and he tried his best, then he turns away for one second and I was gone. That had to have made him guilty.

    All of a sudden, I want to hug Denzel. The sensation in me wants to hug my brother and not let go until I know he's okay. It hurts not to be able to do so.

  Aerith hesitated, "Then I guess there's nothing else?" She looked between me and Cloud before getting up, "I'll go talk to Tifa about what to do, I'll be back."

  She left and Cloud and I were left alone, I worried Cloud might blame himself as Sephiroth said, but he just watched me silently.

  "You were so brave," He hugged me and I hugged him back, shaking my head. "Most kids, they wouldn't have been as brave as you. You did a good job today, and, and I'm sorry you had to go through that."

Something in me broke like a dam as water started to flow out of my eyes little by little, and I felt repressed emotions come back up to the surface. I wanted to tell him how I was feeling. I wanted to feel and it came out.

  "I wasn't," I confessed as we separated, he rubbed my back awkwardly and let me cry, the tears increasing as I talked. "The darkness around there was so scary, and when he, he did that, I felt nothing but calm. Why am I always calm, Cloud?!" I exclaimed. The tears turned to sobs.

  "Don't you see I'm different from other children?! I'm not like them, I want to be like them but I'm not. It's just so, so hard. Like something is stopping me from being me," I stopped, curling in on myself. "And then it felt like it wasn't even me who wanted to live when I attacked him, it felt as if I was on autopilot. Like it wasn't me."

  "I just, what am I supposed to do, Dad? Tell me how I'm supposed to feel." I looked up at him, pleadingly.

  He paused, looking down at me before hesitantly hugging me again. It seems the first hug was one of mindless relief, this one was thought out.

  "I can't tell you how to feel, but I promised we'd work on this together. And that's what we're going to do. Just know, whatever emotion you have, anger, sadness, happiness, we'll work through it, okay? I'm sorry you had to feel this way, no five-year-old should have to." He hugged me harder. I felt safe, which made me cry more.

  I spilled everything out to him, and when I was finally done crying. Puffy-eyed and ready for a nap. Curling up in the blanket Aerith brought for me when she came back, she put me in something she called a blanket burrito, I snuggled up to her, who was now holding me.

  "I want Zach, Denzel, and Papa," I mumbled. Behind me, Aerith tensed for a second before relaxing again. Giving me to Cloud she got up, "I'll go get them, okay?"

  I cuddled into him next, and he wrapped his arms around me and swayed me side to side. "Acting like a child now?"

  I nodded as well as I could with the blanket swaddled around me. "I feel sad without my family here, and I would feel happy if they were here."

  Cloud nodded, even though I wasn't looking at him I could tell he did by the way he shifted, and the sound of his hair swaying.

  "My second act as a child is to remind you that Aerith's going to kill you after she finds out what happened to her dress."

"I think she'd be more upset about the stabbing when we get around to telling her that story." Cloud joked, amused, but I felt his tensing up.

  "Papal's definitely going to kill you."

  "In more ways than one," Cloud mumbled.

  "Huh?"

  "Nevermind," Cloud shook his head.

   "'M sad I missed the rest of the festival too."

   "There's always next year, kid." Cloud ruffled my hair before Aerith, Squall, and Denzel came back, holding Zach Henry Claudstine Featherflump the First.

  We spent the afternoon together with Aerith, Tifa joining later, as a family. And for the first time, I felt like I could be, no, that I was, a kid. A child.

Recap for those who skipped the CW section of this chapter -

    But I didn't see Sephiroth when I raised my gaze, instead, the scene shifted. In a dark room with another blade stabbed through me in that exact spot, the structure reminding me of a keyblade. My attacker was covered in darkness but my hand reaches up to his face anyway, caressing it, I heard something similar to my voice whispering praises and sweet nothings.