Burning Castle

Burning Castles


Rating R, Language, violenec


Summery; Cloud is like any other moody teen, he has a mom and friends only he fights his battles with a sword. He had also discovered a secrete that will change his life. He meets a new friend but will destiny intervene? (Crossover with Naruto.)


Part 1 The Seeing


The hill was a lot steeper then he remembered. Blue eyes blinked rapidly trying to get the insulting tears at bay, he was thirteen for crying out loud. Harsh labored breathing had also slowed down his progress but he pushed it away in the back of his mind and trekked forward.

All around the youth were tall green pine trees and shrubs of different shapes and sizes. Rocks, small and large were sticking up throughout the rocky path. He tripped momentarily, almost falling on his face before he could catch himself, but he didn’t stop and kept going up even though it would soon be dark. The only sound around the boy was his breathing and the thumping of his booted feet through the moss.

The youth looked up briefly, brushing sweat out of his eyes before looking towards the right. He was almost their, his safe heaven, where he could feel safe and alone. He glared momentarily as he remembered the fight he had with his mom. It wasn’t his fault he was late and limping home. The local kids were bad mouthing him and his mother again.

He was just defending their family’s honor and... Wait he had to stop that train of thought and reach the secrete place before night fall or else the monsters would surly come and get him. In his haste he had stupidly ran out of the house and had left his most valued possession. A real sword his late father had given him just before the accident, if that’s what you could call it that anyway.

Shaking his head he breathed in deeply before moving yet again up the path. By the time he had actually crested the steep hill, which was more like a mountain, it was dark. The sun had just slipped over the mountain off into the distance. But that didn’t matter because he had finally made it. Smiling a little in joy he jogged the rest of the way, turning left first then when he met a certain bush or tree he would turn another left or right. At first if a person had come upon this little site they would be sorely confused. The youth liked like he was just running around in different directions, turning on impulse.

Then the boy stopped, looked around to make sure he was alone before dashing to the left and into a thicket of trees. Right in front of him coming into his sight was his own personal treasure, his heaven, a home away from home some would call it. He stopped and looked at the entrance to an enormous cave. At a first glace it didn’t look like anything special. Just an ordinary cave that surrounded the small village where the boy lived. The rock formation and the sediment were natural, the further he looked into the cave the darker it grew. But he wasn’t scared, he narrowed his blue eyes squared his shoulders, and set his jaw before marching in.

A determined spark could be seen from his eyes as they swept through the seemingly darkness. He knew he was getting closer he could feel it, all of a sudden he stopped and reached out with his hand blindly feeling for the cave wall. He reached it and felt around the rough surface before walking forward anew, now at a slower pass. He ran his small hand into something, feeling the difference, he then turned an abrupt right. He started to walk briskly through the maze before he caught a faint blue light up ahead. Smiling even more he walked a little faster, almost at a run when he stopped in front of the glowing soft blue entrance.

Right in front of the small boy was another part of the cave, but instead of the light browns or dark blacks that a normal cave would have. It was filled with different crystal lights shining and shimmering everywhere the eye could catch.

The crystals were mostly green and blue but some were red and purple, even orange in little areas. In the middle of this crystal small cave like cove was the largest crystal that seemed to have all the colors mixed within. It seemed like there was liquid inside the crystal itself making the colors switch from place to place, glowing softly. The small boy didn’t pay any attention to this though, instead he went towards the further left where he could see a sort of makeshift bed.

It had a couple of old blankets and some sheets that were wrapped into plastic bags so the wet moister of the cave could not touch it.

There was also some pictures of people, a small flashlight, some round tins for food most likely, and finally a tattered box in the corner. Walking over proudly at the little display, the boy plopped down on the ground take the wrapping off the blankets and set them on the ground to make it more comfortable for him. Absently rubbing his arm when he remembered the trouble he had gone through just because he had “borrowed” a couple of blankets from their neighbors. Sighing he grabbed the box from the corner and opened the tins for some food with his other hand at the same time. Stuffing what looked like bread into his mouth he absently chewed, while unfastening the small stings from the box, before carefully opening it like it was going to explode if he didn’t go slow. A small plop could be heard throughout the small area as the boy went through the package.

On the floor where the lid had fallen was a name scribbled in black messily spelling Cloud.

The boy, named Cloud, lifted the box higher in the air looking at the different colored smooth round stones.

One was blue and another one was green, this too was passed down to him from his late father, while the other one the last one, a smooth grey stone was found in this very cave by himself. These were his treasured materia from his father. He didn’t know how to use them yet but he would, to make his parents proud of him he would learn. But first he would have to get training and unfortunately that would mean leaving his mother here in this little village Nibelheim with those hateful villagers.

He would need to go to Midgar City and learn to become a First Class Soldier. He would not be anything else but that, he wanted to honor his family’s last name Strife and prove to the villagers that he could make something else out of him. Nodding his head to make sure the thought would stay there, he carefully put the lid back on before putting the box right back where it was before it had gotten disturbed.

Cloud then shifted a little on his makeshift bed, turning his head a to look at the pictures absentmindedly. There were some from his dad, a man with blonde hair and green eyes, another with his mom a beautiful woman with long flowing light brown hair and crystal blue eyes. Right beside her was a small boy with spiked blonde hair that somewhat resembled a Chocobird.

He had blue eyes and was dressed in a green shirt with black shorts on. The picture would have portrayed a nice smiling family were it not for Cloud, the small boy in the picture, didn’t have the biggest scowl in the world.

Ah yes he remembered that day, he didn’t want to take the stupid pose and right in front of Tifa his friend somewhat. Shaking his head the blonde boy laid down on his stomach, he hoped his mom was alright. He thought digging his finger into the cave’s floor. She was probably worried about him now, well good.

It wasn’t his fault he was late in the first place. Cloud scowled when he thought of the local kids that went to the very same school as him. They had picked on him at first because he didn’t have a dad, then they went into the pecking order and since Cloud wasn’t that big or tall yet, they would target him. But he wasn’t an easy target as he seemed, he knew how to fight and was pretty good with a sword. If only he could hit his growth spirt now and not later. Sighing at the injustice of the world he rolled on his back, and looked up into the vast crystals creating there own light.

His thoughts took another turn, and he started to think about how he wasn’t scared of an animal or monster getting in here For some reason or another they stayed clear of this place. He was positive nobody could find this place, only he knew about this cave and it was going to stay that way if he had any say about it. Lazily scratching at his stomach, blue eyes drifted off to sleep.

The first thing that greeted Cloud should have been the nice soft glow throughout the cave area that and warm content, not hectic thoughts of, ‘what the hell is going on’. The ground was actually moving and jolting a little. Cloud knew when a earthquake was upon him and this was different, this was no ordinary earthquake. The crystals in the cave seemed to be glowing more brighter and the ground would not stop shaking but none of the crystals seemed to be in the least bit effected, in fact they stayed right where they were. What really scared the blonde for a moment or two was the large crystal in the middle of the area.

Cloud quickly jumped up and moved away from the glowing thing. This had never happened and he was sorely thinking about getting the hell out of here.

There was just one problem, in order to leave he would have to come in close contact with the large crystal and right now he didn’t want to get any where near the thing. Trying to stay on his feet and constantly looking at the crystals over his head wearily he looked back at what was happening.

The large crystal that seemed to glow ten times what it normally does had the colors inside it start to move in rapid spirals, it looked like it was over heating because soon Cloud could see large air mass bubbling inside. It was also to some discomfort getting hotter in the cave. Cloud was starting to really get worried even though he tried not to show it on his face. Fists were clenched at his sides shaking, and sweat had accumulated on his brow.

The crystal was getting even brighter by the minute, Cloud had to look away or else he feared he would go blind. Beside the cave walls he could see shadows and all different colors playing and mixing around. Strangely there was no sound just the shaking of the earth, he sorely wished this nightmare would soon stop. This was supposed to be his safe place and now it seemed even this little peace would be shattered, ripped away from him like so many other things in life.

Cloud then noticed something, while he was semi lost in his own little world the shaking had lessened and was gradually dying but the light was getting worse. He could see on the wall, where there was usually shadows, a bright reddish orange light flashing before it suddenly blinked out along with the earthquake, then came a loud shattering, like glass that had just been dropped on the floor scattering everywhere.

Cloud was so shocked about the lights ending that he felt like he had jumped a mile high in the air when he heard that horrid noise. It brought back memories of his past childhood when he had accidently broke a neighbor’s window when he was playing catch with some other kids, of course he was the one to get in trouble and no one else was blamed. Berating himself for thinking something stupid like that right now, he blinked and opened his eyes not even aware they had closed all by themselves.

Looking around the walls to make sure he was not going to get blinded, he saw nothing but the soft glow that usually beamed around the area. He had also not heard anything else, not wanting to turn around but assumed he had to and he could admit, also wanting to know what that shattering glass sound was.

Cloud took a deep breath and turned slowly, feeling his heart rate go up a notch when he realized that he could have been attacked made him turn around faster.

Cloud’s breath hitched as his eyes got wider, when he saw the thing that had made the broken glass noise. Stumbling back his rear hit the cold damp wall with an echoing thud. Right in front of him only some many feet away was a prone figure lying on the cave floor. Cloud quickly assessed the situation, noticing that the crystal was split in half and that greenish blue water was everywhere, and it was still trickling out of the broken crystal.

Around the figure he could see small shards of rock and water, so now he knew what that breaking sound was Cloud thought distantly. Finally swallowing his fear Cloud let his eye shift to the figure. He could tell it was male by the lack of clothes and that the person seemed to have blonde hair but he wasn’t sure. He wasn’t sure because the prone body still had the greenish blue liquid all over them and some sort of slime that was covering there whole body.

Shaking Cloud got his feet steady underneath him before treading slowly across the cave floor to get a closer look. When he deemed it safe for him but still close he bent down a ways and to his somewhat relief he could tell that the boy was breathing, shaking but still breathing. Frowning lightly Cloud stood up and went over to his makeshift bed before grabbing one of the blankets, a blue one, than came back over to the figure and dropped it on him.

Before steadily moving back not wanting to get to close and or make any noises. He didn’t know what it was, nobody that he knew or had meet, to his knowledge, had ever broke out or lived in a crystal. He also didn’t know if it was a fiend, a monster or what but now he was more tempted to just leave this place more than ever.

He knew that was not a good idea though especially with the bloodthirsty monsters roaming outside now that it was well into the night. That decided Cloud made his way to his little corner, wrapped the blankets around him and sat staring unblinkingly at the figure that now had a blue blanket over them.