The Empty Castle

Disclaimer: FFVII people do not belong to me. KH monsters do not belong to me either.

Author’s note: The Empty Castle attempts to describe the events that occurred before Kingdom Hearts on the FFVII world. I’ve not played Kingdom Hearts all the way through, but I’ve played far enough to see Cloud, Yuffie, Cid, and Aeris running around, and I’ve always wondered how they got there. So here’s this ficlet...

“Huf...huf...sniff...”

Yuffie couldn’t help but sob as she half-ran, half-tripped down the long, dark stone tunnel that wormed through the Northern Crater. In one hand, she held an emergency lantern that Red XIII had nosed out of the ruins of Mr. Holzoff’s house before the Heartless had swallowed him; in the other, she held the much battered and bloodied Conformer, whose razor edges had not been enough to save Godo or Wutai from the alien monsters. Defeat burned in her chest and made it hard for her to breathe. Tears wouldn’t stop spilling out of her eyes, making her feel weak. For a fleeting moment, she wished she could bite on something to hold back the pain, but couldn’t think of anything good. Cid wouldn’t give up his cigarettes.

Besides, he seemed to need them to keep going. He was running around just behind her, chugging along like a train and spewing out huge clouds of filthy gray smoke as he ran along. The ashes from his cigarette must have been dropping on Cloud’s face, but that was okay; Cloud was unconscious. He’d totally lost it when Tifa had been dragged down before his eyes, and he’d fought like a berserker until the Heartless had chewed off his arm. The memory of his awful scream would give Yuffie nightmares for the rest of her life.

Blood loss and shock had finally taken Cloud then, and the Heartless would have too if Cait Sith and Mog hadn’t bulled their way in and rescued him at their expense. The self-destruct that Reeve had built into both of them had been powerful enough to wipe out nearly all the Heartless that had been chasing after them and buy Cid, Vincent, Yuffie, and Cloud enough time to get away. When they had had a moment to breathe, Vincent had ripped off his claw and spliced it onto Cloud’s bloody stump of an arm. Then he had pulled off his gorgeous thick red cloak and wrapped Cloud up in it to keep him warm until the arm (creepy Hojo-creation it was) had sealed itself onto Cloud’s body.

Yuffie wondered if Vincent was still alive. He had stayed behind to secure their escape as the Heartless had closed in, standing alone in the long tunnel that they’d been taking a short, fitful rest in. He had told them to run on and leave him be.

“Someone has to get to the rendezvous.” He had said, icily reasonable in the face of Yuffie’s tears and Cid’s swears. “And face it—out of all of us here, I have the best chance of surviving a solo encounter with the Heartless, since I have the only rapid-fire long-range weapon in the group. Now, get moving.”

Vincent was alive. He had to be. Yeah. Yuffie sniffed and kept on running.

The rendezvous was somewhere deep in the Northern Crater. That was all Yuffie or anybody from AVALANCHE had really known. Just a week—had it really been a week?—ago, they had all had dreams with Aeris in them, which would have been weird enough if it hadn’t been for the even weirder fact that she had told them all the same thing.

“Something terrible is coming. Meet me at the rendezvous.”

After that, the Heartless had come, and everyone in AVALANCHE had felt the irresistible urge to go north. But they hadn’t moved fast enough. Barret, Marlene, and Elmyra had been killed even before getting out of Kalm. Reeve had died in Midgar, trying to defend the people he had loved so much. Everyone else had managed to go north, but at terrible, terrible cost.

Some heroes of the Planet they were, Yuffie thought bitterly. The whole Planet had been conquered by the Heartless in mere days and they hadn’t been able to do anything but run for their lives. Like rats. Like cowards.

What would Godo say if he had lived to see his daughter run?

There was light up ahead, soft green light that seemed somehow familiar. Yuffie ran faster, hope catching painfully in her throat. Cid followed, his footsteps hammering into the uneven stone. They burst out into a giant dome that was green like springtime and life, and full of nothing but peace...

And flowers.

“Aeris!” Yuffie shrieked, dropping the lantern and dashing forward as a familiar pink-and-red clad figure rose out of the flowers, turning to look at them. Yuffie hit the older woman with all the force of a rugby player, but Aeris stayed on her feet and just stroked the younger girl’s hair as Yuffie sobbed brokenly, clinging to her for support.

“Hey, girl.” Cid said tiredly as he followed Yuffie at a more fatigued pace.

Aeris looked at him and then Cloud, pain suffusing her features. “Only you three?” She asked, her voice low and tight.

“Yeah.” Cid said heavily. “Vincent might be alive, but...”

Aeris closed her eyes and a single shimmering tear dripped from her long, dark lashes. “If only I could have said something sooner...”

“The way we figure it, you did the best you could.” Cid said, bowing his head, and looked around. “So...what happens now?”

“What happens at a rendezvous?” Aeris asked, smiling weakly. Holding a hand out to Cid, she said, “I’m here to take you someplace safe.”

“The Lifestream?” Cid asked, taking her hand.

“No.” She said, and smiled weakly. “It’s called Hollow Bastion... Oddly appropriate for what’s happened, don’t think?”

“Empty Castle...” Cid said slowly. “Yeah, seems that way.”

Yuffie looked up, her gray eyes wide and wild. “We’re leaving?” She cried brokenly.

Aeris nodded once. “Yes. It’s the only thing we can do...”

“No!” Yuffie cried, clutching Aeris’s dress in both hands. “No, we can’t! Vinny’s not here yet! We can’t leave him behind! Aeris...”

“Kid.” Cid said quietly, and Yuffie looked at him. “Come on. You know better...”

“NO!” Yuffie screamed, tears pouring from her eyes. “No!” She looked at Aeris. “You can tell, right? Can’t you?”

Aeris closed her eyes and turned in the direction they had come from. “He hasn’t joined the Heartless.” She said, and Yuffie cried out, looking at Cid triumphantly.

“See!” She shrieked, almost hysterical. “He’s alive, he—”

“He...he’s gone to the Lifestream.” Aeris said slowly, and Yuffie looked at her. For a moment, she didn’t understand...

“Vinny...” Yuffie choked. “He...”

“He offed himself.” Cid sighed, closing his eyes, and Yuffie wailed.

“NOOOOO!”

“We need to get going.” Aeris whispered, another tear falling from her green eyes. Woodenly gathering Yuffie into her arms again, she took Cid’s hand and squeezed it tightly, looking up at the ceiling. “Hollow Bastion,” She whispered. “Here we come...”

White light began to shine from her skin, as white as the driven snow, and her eyes took on all things green, containing springtime and new grass and the timeless essence of the Lifestream. Her brown hair glowed a million different shades of red and gold and brown (of course), and Yuffie and Cid gaped in wonder as their friend and two-time savior became the living embodiment of their sad, doomed little planet. She hugged them to her in an embrace that felt like white wings...

And disappeared.

All over the dome, the flowers swayed in an unfelt breeze as the four survivors disappeared, and wilted as the Heartless poured in, searching for the elusive scent of the strong hearts that had eluded them for so long. The flowers were ground to dust as they milled aimlessly about, and eventually found nothing. If they had been able to feel, the Heartless would have felt satisfied.

Their conquest of the Planet was complete.

Author’s note (yes, there’s another one): Cheee, that was depressing. Based on a dream I had after flipping through the strategy guide, it was sad enough to make me wake up crying. But the fic itself goes by rather quickly, which makes me a little annoyed; I wanted to impart more grief than I seemed to have typed down here. But enough with that... R&R, as usual, and tell me whether or not I should expand on this... Cloud’s rough surgery, at least, asks for a little more elaboration, in my book...