Authoress's NOTE: It's finally here! So I won't waste your time with an actual note. And make sure you read the end of chapter three. I added stuff...

Chapter Four: Background

"There's something... you should know about Cloud."

It was raining.

"He didn't originate here like the rest of us."

Lightening strikes on the horizon.

"One day, he just showed up. We were still kids."

Demyx wandered in the bailey, not knowing where he was headed, or even caring where he ended up.

"We were teenagers when the Heartless attacked for the first time. It was a struggle to keep ourselves alive. We weren't strong enough because we had just started training. There were so many of them, swarming our town."

He fell to his hands and knees.

"We were so worn out when we finally fought them off. We crowded in the library of the castle, where we listened to Ansem the Wise. He explained what they were, why they were here."

He struggled trying to stand back up.

"That's when Sephiroth showed up."

Looking up at the sky with a blank stare as rain pelted over his body, he whispered, "Cloud..."

"He looked so strong. I feared him. I thought he was a Heartless in a human form."

Rain streaked his face.

"No. He wasn't a Heartless, and he didn't come to fight."

The wind blew harder.

"He came to tell Cloud the truth."

Demyx stood and continued walking.

"What was it?"

She didn't speak.

"Aerith?"

"That Cloud was a clone."

A loud crackle of thunder erupted, like it tried to rip the sky in half.

"Nearly half a century before we were born, there was experimentation in a different world. They were trying to clone humans. Sephiroth was the first person they tried to clone, a baby at the time."

Demyx slumped against a rock protruding from the bailey wall, holding himself steady as his knees became weak.

"Every time, they failed. Cloud was one of their earliest failed clones, when Sephiroth was only seven years old."

Ansem's study appeared as the haze from the rain dissipated, and Demyx subconsciously began to walk towards it.

"They sealed him in a containment cell. He didn't age nor grow. That's what they did to all failed clones. They didn't know what they were capable of, or even if they were mentally stable.

"Then, a year before Cloud appeared here, some one had broke into his containment cell. He was brought here for safe keeping. We don't know who it was. But, those working on the clones were very mad that they sent soldiers out to find them. They didn't come here, never found him. So he grew up like the rest of us.

However, there were side effects when a cloning failed."

"Side effects?"

He pushed the door of the study open, wandering through the maze of halls.

"Sephiroth was born from the supreme ruler of that world, Jenova. She was nearly a god, and her husband was the one who wanted to clone their son. Jenova, because she was practically a god, could do whatever she wanted, and she made sure that the failed clones had problems.

"Geostigma, Cloud's sickness, is a contamination in Jenova cells that infects the body, causing skin pigments to shift colors and your blood to turn black. Eventually, you die.

"She hated that her son was being cloned. In the dead of the night when no one was around in the laboratory, she infected every failed cloned, and continued to do so to every failed clone after that. However, they didn't figure that out until all the released failed clones showed those side effects."

Coming into the main study, the one only Ansem the Wise used, Demyx noticed who he was looking for wasn't there, and slammed his fist into a wall.

"So it's her fault? Then why is he after Sephiroth?"

"I had a feeling you'd come today."

"Sephiroth and Cloud are the last remaining remnants of the original Sephiroth, who died after the perfect clone was produced. He believes that if he defeats the perfect clone, Jenova will see him as perfect and take away the Stigma."

Demyx looked over Leon and frowned. "Why did you let him go?"

"It's not my place to say."

"That is what Sephiroth told us many years ago. He wants Cloud to defeat him. But Cloud wasn't strong enough then, and now he has waited so long that the Geostigma has effected his body so much he can't even fight."

His hands clenched Leon's leather jacket, shoving him into a wall. He had no idea why he was acting in such ways. It was so unlike him. He always avoided confrontation, and now he was starting it.

"Well?" Leon inquired. "If you're going to hit me, do it so I can get back to work."

"I...I can't."

"Why not?"

"I just can't."

"Scared?"

"He can't do it by himself. And he won't let any of us help him. However..."

Demyx's grip loosened, the Nobody's gaze cast towards the ground. "I don't know fear."

"Demyx?"

"What's wrong with me? I've never felt like I can't control myself."

"...maybe he'll let you."

Leon pressed a hand over the Nobody's chest, just over where a heart would be if he was touching any other person. Faintly, he felt a steady beat, something that shouldn't be there but was. "It's Cloud."

"What?"

"He already told me to stay out of it."

"He's changing you in ways I never thought possible." Leon explained, an air of excitement in his eyes.

"Don't tell me you actually believe him."

"Well..."

"How?"

"Cloud never speaks his true feelings, but I can tell."

"Tell what?"

Leon chuckled, taking Demyx's hand and holding it against his own chest. "Feel that? It's the faint pulse of a heart."

Blue-green eyes widened in shock at the feel of his own heartbeat, something he hadn't felt in years.

"Is it... is it really..."

"That Cloud loves you."

- - - - - -

"Oi! You're bleeding all over the-- Cloud! God dammit!"

The entire ride to the Coliseum had been filled with much of the exact same shouting, and exact same bleeding. Cloud tried to keep bleeding to a low minimum, but he didn't have enough tissues to stop it all. He ended up bleeding on the chair, on the floor, on some of the controls, on Cid's peanut butter and apple sandwich, and on Ansem the Wise's reports, which the pilot had translated for the Keybearer a while back. Cid, finally fed up, decided not to care what was ruined by the tainted blood.

He landed the ship outside the Coliseum, removing the cigarette from his mouth and putting it out in an ashtray. "You're paying for all the stuff you ruined."

"Sure thing."

"I mean it, you unthankful brat."

Cloud nodded, slowly maneuvering to the exit. Cid, grumbling a few curse words under his breath, followed.

The Coliseum was filled with fighters from various other worlds, some lining up to register for a tournament, others conversing with each other to pass the time. Cloud and Cid easily fit in with the crowd with their less than average clothing; Buster Blade strapped to Cloud's back and Cid clenching his spear loosely. To anyone else they were just another couple of fighters. Nothing more, nothing less.

Except that one of them was a clone and the other was a world renowned pilot.

"You think he's here?"

"I don't know."

Cid grumbled an inaudible curse word. "If he ain't here, why're we? Huh, Cloud?"

"I never said he wasn't here." Cloud said, stoic expression left unaltered.

"No way!"

"What the--" Cid sputtered, turning on his heel. Catching sight of unruly brown hair in tufts of spikes, he shouted, "why the hell are you here?"

"Cid, who're you," Cloud wondered as he turned as well. "Sora!"

A broad smile stretched across his face. "I never thought I'd see you here again, Cloud! Long time, no see!" Sora scratched the back of his head, cheeks flushing ever so slightly.

"I thought you made it back home."

"Well…" the Keybearer drawled, exhaling softly, "… we did. But it was really boring there."

"So, you came out on your own?"

"No…" he paused, glancing past Cloud and then looking up at the blonde with a shy gleam in his cerulean eyes. "…we got a letter from the king."

Nodding his head in understandment, Cloud turned back around. "I see."

"Well, now you have to tell me why you're here!" Sora joked, poking and prodding at the older man's arm. "C'mon, please?"

Cloud didn't want to tell him about his sickness, and about Sephiroth. The less people who knew the better. "The… tournament."

"Really?" Sora cocked his head to the side. "That's strange. And random. But, whatever. You do what you want." He walked past Cloud, taking a few steps towards the registering line. "You do know, however, that you'll end up fighting me, right?"

"And that you'll end up losing?"

"I'm not that weak!" Sora retorted, huffing. "I can totally beat you!"

"I'd like to see you try."

Cid watched the two go back and forth, not wanting to interject with his snide comments. A flash of silver caught his eyes, and when he turned to look it was gone, like it wasn't there to begin with. Deep in his gut, he had a feeling, that whatever that flash of silver was, was more than likely Sephiroth. Or his mind playing tricks.

"Oi," he said in a vain attempt to get their attention. "Oi." A bit louder this time, yet they still didn't hear him. "Oi! Cloud!"

Both turned. "What?"

"I think I saw him."

Cloud's icy blue eyes flashed mako green. "What?"

"Dammit, it was silver."

Sora burst into laughter. "Why're you guys so worried? It was just Riku."

"Yo." At the sound of his name, Riku popped up in between the three of them. "Miss me?"

"Yes!" Sora shouted, throwing himself onto Riku and nuzzling his head in his neck. "Where'd you go and why'd you leave me all alone?"

"To register." The other Keybearer stated simply. "And I wasn't gone for long."

"Yes you were!"

Cloud and Cid glanced sideways at each other and shrugged.

"Hey, I know you guys." Riku looked up at them. "You helped Sora."

"Yeah…"

"…Wanna join us?"

end chapter four

Authoress's NOTE: Aren't you all so happy? Tell me what you think of this chapter in a review! I'll make sure Demyx makes you some cookies for your effort…

--ED

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