Chapter 1 - The Forgotten Past

The moon shone brightly between the glittering stars in the night sky. Its dim beams of light made the grassy plains in the distance barely visible. The wind was weak and struggled to blow the leaves off the dying trees. It was a calm night. The sounds of owls hooting echoed around the land before falling silent. Everything became so quiet. Not even the rustle of leaves was heard.          
           Cloud Strife – a young boy of 22 – sat on top of a hill filled with wild flowers and gazed at the sky; day dreaming. Something was bothering him and he sighed deeply. Soon enough snow began to fall from the grey clouds above and the brightly lit moon only got dimmer and dimmer. The wind gradually picked up and managed to blow the dying trees towards the hard ground. Cloud stood up slowly and began to walk towards a small town not too far away; his legs aching from the time he has been sitting on the hill. As he got closer, the sound of people’s voices rose.
            "Its late…” Cloud thought. “Everyone should be sleeping by now.” Upon Cloud’s arrival in the town square, Leon - one of his friends – ran up and greeted Cloud; pulling him closer to the other town’s people. Everyone was crowed around something small in the middle of the square. People were whispering to each other and pointing to the thing that lay on the ground. When Cloud was able to get a better look, he could see that the thing curled up on the ground was a white feathered Kyora. A very small wolf like creature with wings and the ability to heal other injured creatures including human beings. Without hesitation he pushed through the crowd and picked up the small animal; cradling it in his arms. The Kyora yawned for a few slight seconds before looking up at the person who was carrying him. 
          “I wonder what its doing here…” Leon asked himself. 
          Cloud looked around for any sign of an owner or someone who might know who it belongs to but could find no one. 
         “Maybe it got lost or ran away from its owner.” Cloud replied. 
          Leon looked at the time on the clock tower. “Its’ getting late. We better get some sleep. Maybe we can find its owner tomorrow morning. Someone around here must know where it came from.” 
          Cloud simply nodded and carried the little creature; following Leon back to Merlin’s house. By this time, most of the town’s people had returned to their homes; getting ready for bed. At the front gate of the town, a fairly large dragon-like creature with enormous feathered wings sat guarding the people from any sort of invasion. It was a dull grey with a blue chest and stomach and two large horns at the front of its head. It looked towards Cloud and Leon who were walking past to reach the oak door of Merlin’s house before returning to its original position.
           Leon turned the golden handle of the oak door and pushed it slowly open. They could see Merlin – a kind, wise, old wizard – sitting at the round table situated in the center of the room reading one of his thick books. Cloud moved forward still carrying the little Kyora and cleared his throat. 
          “Merlin…?” He said softly. 
           There was no reply. 
          “Merlin...” Cloud said again.
          There was still no reply.
          “Third times the charm…” he thought. “MERLIN!”  
          The wise old wizard jumped out of his shoes when he heard Cloud’s voice, forcing his glasses to the end of his pointy nose. Leon snorted trying to hold back a laugh as Merlin pushed his glasses back into their rightly place. 
         “My, my…” he started. “There was no need to shout like that” 
          Cloud rolled his eyes at the remark. 
         “What is that you have in your arms my dear fellow. A very peculiar creature”  
          The little Kyora shuffled around in Cloud’s arms before waking up and spreading its gorgeous feathered wings.  
          “We think it’s a Kyora. We found it in the middle of the town square curled up on the ground. I looked around for a sign of an owner or someone who might have known where it had come from but I found no one…” Cloud stroked the little creature before placing it on top of the wooden table. It sniffed around the clean plates and cutlery; wagging its fluffy tail high in the air. But, before Merlin could take a closer look, a young girl with a pink dress and long brown plated hair walked into the room. She tapped a finger on her watch and shook her head lightly.
           “Alright…” Cloud started. “We’re going to bed.”
           Leon burst out laughing. “Aerith, what are you now? Our mother!?”
           Cloud smacked himself in the head in embarrassment and headed towards his bedroom. It wasn’t a very big bedroom. It had two single beds in each back corner and a small wooden table in between them. A few dirty clothes were piled on the floor next to one of the beds. Cloud shut the door before taking off his clothes leaving only his boxers on. He pulled back the quilts of one of the single beds and slid in; resting on his back. He began day dreaming about his past again and what he should have done differently. No one even knew about his past or where he came from even though several had asked. He just simply replies with ‘the past is the past’. Soon after, Leon sneaked into the bedroom and jumped into his own single bed next to Cloud.
           “Cloud? Stop thinking about your past if your not gonna tell us what happened.” Leon turned over looking towards him.
           “Mm…”
           “Come on Cloud… at least tell me. I don’t know why you’re hiding it from everyone”
           Cloud sat up and fell silent for a few mere minutes looking down at his blankets and fiddling with the sheet. Leon waited impatiently and was about to butt in before Cloud began to speak, “It was about four years ago… I had a little brother who was 12 years old at the time. My town was over-run by heartless and nobodies. We tried to fight them off but there were just too many. Then Sephiroth came into the picture… He…” Before Cloud could finish, tears began to roll down his cheeks. “He… stabbed my little brother in the heart and crushed it… I never saw him again…”
          Leon froze at the thought. He didn’t think Cloud’s past was so terrible.
          “I’m… sorry Cloud.”
          Without any reply, Cloud picked up the pillow from behind him and cried into it; ignoring the fact that Leon was right beside him.
          “Hey… Cloud… its okay” Leon started. “Let’s just forget about it for now and try and get some sleep”
          Cloud nodded in agreement before drifting off. Soon enough both were fast asleep. 

The next morning came sooner than anyone thought. The sun rose over the distant hills bringing light to the little town. Leon blinked a couple of times before slowly opening his eyes and looking out the window. Dozens of the town’s people were running madly towards the center square screaming ‘Boy! Boy!” Without hesitation, Leon jumped out of bed and quickly put on his clothes.
         “Where the hell are my shoes!” Leon thought, running manically around the bedroom. When he finally managed to find his shoes, Cloud sat up and rubbed his eyes.
          “Why are you up so early…?” he asked, yawning.
          “Look outside! I think there is something big happening in the town square!”
          Before Leon gave Cloud a chance to reply, he ran out the front door after the crowd of people. Everyone was crowding around something on the ground and looking at each other in confusion. Many whispered to each other and gave unusual expressions. What was it? Was it another Kyora? Leon pushed through the people until he caught sight of the thing, more like someone sitting in the center of the square. A fairly young boy with blonde spiky hair sat curled up in the middle. He cautiously looked around at the town’s people then Leon who moved closer towards him. “What’s your name?”
         The boy replied, “I don’t know… I don’t even know where I am.”
         “Do your parents know you’re here?”
         “I don’t have any parents…” The young boy looked down at the ground and let a tear roll down his cheek and fall onto the hard earth. Leon didn’t know what to do. There had never been a stray boy wonder into the town before. Before long, Cloud ran down to where Leon was and followed the eyes of everyone else. He froze as he saw that the little boy was wearing the same earring he had given his little brother before he died. Could it be? Could it be that this little boy is Cloud’s brother?
         “Something wrong?” Leon asked; looking at Cloud’s horrified eyes.
         “You look familiar.” The young boy said.
          Cloud said nothing but collapsed to the ground and began to hyperventilate.
         “Cloud!” Leon gasped.
         There was no response. Cloud fell forward into a state of unconsciousness and left everyone stunned and confused. Leon grabbed a few other towns’ people to help carry him back to his bedroom. The young boy followed after them and noticed the same earring he was wearing on Cloud’s left ear.
         “… Do I know him?” The little boy thought.
         Leon looked down at Cloud as he was carrying him and whispered, “Tell me whats’ wrong Cloud…What happened…”

Hope you all enjoyed that... I was REALLy tired when I wrote this so it might not be my best work but I think it came out quite good X3

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