FIC: UNBREAKABLE LINKS 01
Too much Dissidia has spawned into an obsession. And an obsession leads a fangirl into writing fics. Please don't ask me what drug I've been smoking on. XP
Title: Unbreakable Links
Disclaimer: Dissidia Final Fantasy © Square-Enix
Pairing: Eventually Cloud Strife/Squall Leonhart
Rating: T (PG-13) for now
Warning: BL, spoilers
Summary: Post Dissidia. Thinking that it is over and everyone is supposedly home, Cloud finds himself tumbling into the wrong dimension only to learn that something is not what it should be.
Unbreakable Links
Chapter 1: Of Leather and Vanilla
Everything around him was green - so green and pure with spiritual energy - as jets of glowing threads wove themselves around him like those around a spindle. And though the light seemed blinding, he could very well see through the energy-filled blanket of greenness as well as hear lots and lots of spoken words and thoughts - sometimes so soft and almost inaudible like a whisper and sometimes even louder than a scream.
He was in the lifestream - the lifeblood of the Planet which flew freely so far and beyond the boundary of human’s imagination - for it linked everything together as now it was guiding him…home.
In the distance, he could see the familiar field of flowers, spreading its vivacious colors so vividly apart from the glowing greenness. And as he drew closer, he could smell their sweet fragrance and feel the warmth of sunlight shining down from those holes he remembered were in the slum’s only church’s old roof. He could even see the outline of those old wooden benches and feel himself reaching out just to satisfy the need of touching something solid…
But then the voices in the lifestream, which had subdued down to mere whispers just a little while before, turned into an echoing screech - worse than that when he had to stop the train from crashing into North Corel. It screeched so loud as the atmosphere around him vibrated, energy gushing out from the glowing threads in disarray as if losing the stability.
He felt like vomiting and his head felt like exploding as the scream became louder and louder. The green threads of energy around him then started to glow white-hot and where they touched his skin, it stung painfully as if charring his flesh. He felt like screaming himself as those scorching threads wove themselves closer and closer to him as if trying to swallowing him whole.
Everything was glowing white.
And Cloud was almost sure he had been erased by the heated energy until he felt another light enveloped him, shielding him from the persistent raging of wild tendrils.
Blue eyes widened when he finally noticed that the protecting light came from the crystal - shaped like one oversized materia - he didn’t remember still holding. The crystal shone so bright - even brighter than the raging energy around him - and before he knew it a new path opened; breaking the whiteness with bursts of various colors, filling again his nostrils with sweet, sweet scent of spring blossoms.
Not wanting to wait any longer, he dove straight toward the open, once again reaching his hand out. The next minute, Cloud suddenly found himself tumbling down, falling unceremoniously from the sky as the earth drew dangerously closer and closer in his vision. And finally…he hit the ground…pretty hard - if it wasn’t for the flower bed there, he was sure he would have cracked a bone.
The blond let out a groan, rolling himself off the flowers and onto the grass, remembering - and never forgetting - that a certain flower girl once told him never to step on the fragile life forms that were the blossoms. As he lay on the soft grass, brilliant blue eyes then drifted skyward. The sky was open. There were no holes…no ceiling…no benches or even chunks of broken roof. There was no sunlight.
The sky was dark gray.
He then tried to get up. Yet…
“Where…am I?”
The moment he found his voice, it then all came back to him: the familiar nauseating feeling of being soaked from head to toe in the mako. The blond hissed in pain and fell back, digging his fingers into the earth, trying to stop himself from choking violently, feeling as if there was bile gurgling up in his throat.
It was getting windy. A strong gust of wind whistled, carrying the sweet scent of the blossoms, along with plucking away petals and leaves. One scarlet-red petal danced, twirling and twisting in the wind before landing its soft self on the bridge of his nose. But he didn’t have time to appreciate the lovely scent or even the picturesque scenery of nature. Experience had him learn that low body temperature triggered mako poisoning - even if not severe case like he had had once before - to double its effect.
“Damn…”
The blond felt like swearing out more colorfully in the language on par with that of Barret or even Cid. However, he was too weak to move or even force more words out of himself. The rainstorm was surely approaching. And he cursed himself for being too damn sensitive to mako even after the unwanted - never wanted - Jenova enhancement.
Bracing himself against the worst as his consciousness began to slip; he heard the sound of the nearby bushes rustling. And…the last thing he saw before everything went completely black was the sight of…widened gray-blue eyes - the exact color of the approaching storm on the horizon itself.
“Cloud…!?”
And then…the first droplet of rain fell.
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The first thing he saw after regaining his consciousness was white - too white for his taste as the light in the room was a little bit blinding. His heightened sense told him from the hateful smell of medicines and antiseptics that he was in some kind of an infirmary. He shut his eyes and slowly reopened them, trying to readjust to the bright light.
It was good to know that the blanket covering him had been keeping him quite warm. His head felt a little bit dizzy but it was much better than when he first tumbled into…whatever this place was. Slowly he sat up, eyes narrowing on alert as he saw a silhouette approaching his bed from behind the curtain which was soon dragged away, revealing a plump woman dressed in white lab coat standing there.
“Oh, you are finally awake.” She said, a kind, almost mother-like tone in her voice making him drop his guard. Despite the familiar lab coat of doom presented, this woman looked as harmless as she was kind and friendly, unlike one psychotic and ambitious scientist whose crazed cackle was forever branded in his memory.
“Where am I?” He asked right away - fully aware that it was quite rude. But that question mattered to him more than whom this lab coat wearing woman was.
The woman sighed. “Infirmary. Balamb Garden.” Placing a hand on her hip in a chiding manner as she saw him trying to get up, she quickly instruct, “You still don’t look well. You should lie down and rest more. By the way, I am Doctor Kadowaki. I look after the patients here.”
Cloud merely shook his head. “It’s usual mako effect. It’ll wear off soon.”
The doctor raised a questioning eyebrow at him, definitely confused by his words. Cloud observed the perplexed expression on her face, trying to digest the information and clear the fog of dizziness out of his head. So…he was right about being in an infirmary but…he couldn’t quite place the two names the woman had said to any association in his memory space.
Before the doctor could ask him anything, there was a knock at the door. Looking past the woman, Cloud could see that the metal door was automatic. The knocking was probably out of manner not to disturb the inner habitants. Kadowaki sighed, put the board she had been holding down on the nearby table and made her move toward the door, closing the pale colored curtain in the process.
Cloud watched her go, his brilliant blue eyes trying to decipher what was happening behind the obstructing curtain while attempting to get his brain into full function. The look on Kadowaki’s face when he spoke of mako and the name of this place she had said…the stir of instability in the lifestream…
Not that he wanted to jump to conclusion so quickly but…
Could it be that…he had lost his path and was now…trapped in another dimension that wasn’t the Planet Gaia he knew?
His train of thoughts was interrupted when another silhouette, slimmer and taller compared to the former plump figure he had learnt was Kadowaki, moved closer to the closed curtain.
His assumption was confirmed.
The familiar scents of leather and fainted vanilla filled his nostrils as one lithe form of Squall Leonhart entered his vision. Immediately, even if he didn’t want to really admit it, relief flooded him at the thought of at least having someone he knew in this foreign place.
“You look sick.”
Frankly, Cloud was expecting Squall to fire a question so what he had got from the man - no, the boy - was a little bit…surprising. Just a little bit. For the words were spoken with the same air of usual aloofness and stoicism, reminding him why he always forgot that this boy was only seventeenth.
Still, it didn’t need someone to be so prudential to point out the obvious.
“No. I’m fine.”
But Cloud didn’t really need sympathy. He instead settled his gaze on the boy. Called it his instinct, even if Yuffie, and sometimes Marlene, accused him of being too dense at certain things, he was pretty damn sharp to notice when something was wrong…or out of place.
What he had regretted was that he had let that strangely haunted look he had noticed the second Sephiroth stepped out of the Nibel reactor passed, putting it as just a problem the legendary SOLDIER could later easily handle.
How wrong he was…
And the price he had to pay was too high…
“You look sick.”
So there was no way, he was going to let anything slip…anymore.
Mako-enhanced blue eyes narrowed as he took in how pale - if a shade paler, he would become completely white - the boy had become, vaguely making a note to himself that it seemed like only hours ago that they had parted. He even looked slightly thinner than he remembered him to be and there were traces of shadow hooding under his eyes, signifying the lack of sleep.
“What happened?” Cloud asked, sensing the boy’s trademark scowl was coming.
Boy, was he right…
“It’s none of your business.” A terse reply.
Actually, he wouldn’t be interested in businesses that weren’t his that much but something was nagging him that this so-called ‘not-his-business’ was really a business he should have a look into.
He pushed the blanket away and swung his legs to the side, ready to get up.
Squall cocked an eyebrow at his action but didn’t move away from his stand next to the bed. The cold defiance in his storm colored eyes clearly stated his objection. And Cloud’s piercing blue eyes gazed back at him in retaliation, daring him to speak.
That was until Kadowaki decided to step in, looking as if having dire urge to lecture the two stubborn guys with all her maternal instinct.
“Actually, I’m glad, Squall, that you’re making more company. But stubbornness may not help heal a patient and a tired SeeD Commander. I heard from Quistis that you haven’t had any proper rest the past week. So I still insist you two lie down and have a proper rest here.” She said firmly and knowingly, gesturing for both of them to lie down like good, obedient children.
Squall snorted, apparently not liking her mother hen tendency and the fact that one Quistis Trepe was always over-concerning despite fully knowing that…they cared.
True, he could try to be more open and even…friendly. He did. But given the situation, with stresses weighing down on his shoulders, they shouldn’t expect him to be that social, should they?
Cloud only blinked once. Then a moment later, after continuing to stare without anymore blinking at the woman, he eventually gave a soft chuckle.
Kadowaki turned to glare chidingly at him but the blond merely shrugged.
The good doctor then sighed, deciding she could only depend on her last choice of resort. As stubborn as he was, Squall was no superman and he needed rest like every other living thing on the planet did. The strange blond who happened to be the SeeD commander’s acquaintance, despite speaking of symptom she didn’t know of and claiming it to soonly subdue, also needed rest too. That much, she could be certain.
Sighing once again, she made her retreat, closing the curtain, taking her keycard and left the room, locking the two men behind to their battling silence, that was, if they still wanted to battle.
At least, from record, it was quite safe to say that with the pretty Commander Leonhart securely locked in the supposed sanctuary and the fiery ex-sorceress knight, Seifer Almasy being out at Fisherman’s Horizon as there had recently been reports of him frequenting, the infirmary would be free of any use for quite a long, long while.
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“…”
“…”
A little while later, Cloud, being a level or two higher than Squall in social skill, finally decided to break the silence.
“Looks like she locked us in.” He said with a shrug.
“Whatever.” The brunette then decided to make himself more comfortable by taking a seat on the chair just next to the bed. And Cloud didn’t fail to notice how the boy seemed to like sitting cross-legged, even back when they were trapped in Chaos and Cosmos’ created dimension and how the tight black leather pants seemed to make a soft squeak as two long, shapely legs were put close together.
The blond blinked, immediately ridding himself of that notice and blamed that not-so-right thought on the lingering dizziness of overdosed mako and the overwhelming scent of leather, which he found strange finely mixed with sweet vanilla.
“Why are you here?” The brunette demanded.
The question hung in the air for a while as Cloud looked up - brilliant blue eyes momentarily unfocused as if he was deep in thought - knowing exactly that the ‘here’ the brunette said did not mean the infirmary or even this ‘Balamb Garden’. The ‘here’ the other had meant was exactly the mystery in the word itself as he didn’t know why he was here in the first place.
It would be an easier question if it was ‘how’ instead of ‘why’.
The air seemed to become heavy as silence made the sound of large droplets of rain tapping against the windows even louder.
Eventually, the blond sighed in defeat, “I…really don’t know,” his other hand searching, checking if he still had the crystal, for it answered ‘how’ he ended up here in the first place. As if responding to his need, the object produced itself in front of the ex-SOLDIER, floating languidly.
The brunette’s eyes widened slightly at the sight of the glowing crystal. To him, the memory of the long journey he had had in that close off world now seemed so far away as if it was just a dream…an illusion. Like the same hazy fog that had once clouded away his childhood memories as they were taken away with the junction of Guardian Forces. He stared at the round, floating object.
The crystals were supposed to guide them home. They were guiding the others out as they departed…one by one to their places. Chaos was defeated and the cycle was also broken. The fragments of worlds joined together by the power of the Gods should be returning from their trapping in time and space to their origins. But right now it seemed…it didn’t work out the way it should…
“...Do you think the others already return safely to their places?” The brunette voiced - the tone a little bit softer and gentler now even if not that much obvious.
“I guess so.” It wasn’t Cloud’s nature to be optimistic but he could only hope that the others were safe. At least, the crystals should protect them like it did with him in the boiling lifestream even if the destination was a little bit deterred.
Thinking about the cause of the stir somehow caused a dreadful feeling bundled up in his chest.
This was definitely not good news.
“…Squall, what happened?” With much more seriousness but a softer tone, once again he asked.
“…” Squall uncrossed his legs, eyeing him intensely. However, despite the intensity the brunette held in his gaze, the blond could detect the unusual hesitation in his voice as he slowly began, “…It’s been a week since I’ve returned here.”
On hearing that, Cloud’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. He vaguely remembered Kadowaki speaking of Squall not resting properly for a week but the lingering dizziness made most of the things unable to reach his comprehension…or maybe he was too busy thinking about something else.
Perhaps it was the difference in space and time in different dimension or perhaps…it was just him taking too much time in the lifestream…
Attempts at contemplation caused him to start feeling woozy and he tipped forward as if losing his balance and would have knocked his head with the counter if it wasn’t for a slender but strong arm holding him back.
“You need rest. We will talk later.” The brunette said with an air of finality, ending their deal of conversation as he forced the blond to lie back. Kadowaki might be clever locking him in but it seemed she had forgotten one most important thing: he was the Commander of this Garden, so he had the right to have access to every door code. Changing the codes without his notice and/or permission was, of course, unlikely.
Yet…it seemed he wouldn’t be winning this game so easily.
Squall stiffened when Cloud caught him by his wrist, narrowing his eyes as if in warning as he pretended he didn’t almost jump from the unexpected touch.
“No,” the blond said firmly. “You. Go to sleep.”
And if it wasn’t his hallucination, he could have sworn the blond was smirking.
“Are you trying to order me?” Despite his words - spoken in the same stoic manner - a ghost of what seemed like a smirk was forming its way upon his lips.
“I’m doing your body a favor.” The blond replied, tightening his grip around slim wrist, actually liking that faint trace of smirk on the boy’s face before it was quickly replaced by another trademark scowl.
“I’m not lying down with you.”
Not loosening the grip one bit, the ex-SOLDIER replied in his casual tone, “You can sleep in the chair if you want.” They were definitely going to rest. At least, without anything better to do, Cloud decided, taking a nap wasn’t really bad. More questions and answers could come later. Right now, he and the boy should rest even if the stubborn little lion’s posture was a little bit too uncomfortable.
For he was sure, were he to let go now, Squall would just without hesitation saunter away. He didn’t doubt one bit the boy could find a way out. And it wouldn’t be fair if he, having less to none information about this place, was to be left, trapped in this so-called ‘peaceful’ infirmary alone.
He then soon drifted off, falling into one deep, dreamless sleep - free of the usual fear and guilt - as he inhaled the odd mixture of scents…of leather and sweet, soothing vanilla.
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Squall made a noise in his throat, obviously annoyed with the situation but complied anyway as he tried to make himself comfortable in that small chair of his. Cloud continued to hold onto his wrist and the brunette was even more dissatisfied to learn that with brute strength alone, even if the blond was not in his best condition, he couldn’t win.
Pinching the bridge of his nose with his free hand, he sighed softly.
If Cloud was here, then there was a chance that the links between worlds weren’t broken yet. Maybe there was still hope...or…he frowned…
Maybe it’s even more hopeless.
The boy then closed his storm colored eyes.
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To Be Continued
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Please forgive me if you find my writing getting worse. I haven’t been writing anything in English for quite some time now and I take a break from it too often. But I’m definitely making everything in place again or at least trying to.
This story is post-dissidia. Even though there isn’t direct spoiler, there are still bits of the information I took from here and there in the game, so if you proceed on reading please consider this as a warning aside from the one at the top.
Regarding Cloud's mentality, I personally think, sans identity crisis and guilt issues, Cloud is more open compared to Squall. True, he can be angsty and emo at times but he tends to keep things to himself, spending his contemplating time alone. On the other hand, Squall, being more stubborn, simply pushes people away, fearing to be disappointed if he cannot save them or that they will leave him. So, as far as I'm concerned, it is likely that Cloud is more social than Squall, at least in this fic. (Of course, if it's Leon, it's completely another story...)
Of course, the others will definitely make their appearances soon. Given that Tidus is my favorite, there's a high possibility that it's his queue next. ;)
Anyway, comments are pretty much appreciated,
Chesiere :)