Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Dirge ❯ Wait for Me ( Chapter 26 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

: Dirge

Pairing: CloudXRiku!

Rating: M

Warnings: Yaoi , and violence, and bad language, lots of language. And Rape, which will not be included in the fanfiction version. You must read the media miner one to read the rape scene.

Music: Mizerable: Gackt

Prompt: Sin

A/N: This is the final chapter. This is the end! The second multi-chapter story I’ve ever finished. And it’s 26 chapters long, and over 100 pages. I’m proud of this work, and hope you enjoyed this story as much as I did. Well, you’ve waited and been patient with my strange updating habits, so here you go, the final chapter of Dirge


Cloud paused and closed his eyes, allowing his breathing to calm down. He and the others were on the edge of the East side, waiting until the signal was to be given. Casting his gaze toward the sky, he frowned as dark rolling thunderheads moved in slowly. It was going to rain.

Sora came up beside Cloud, worry written all over his face. “Cloud…” he started, but Cloud held up a hand to stop him.

“Any sign of them?…”

“They’re down at the wharf, like Squall said they would be. But…”

“But what?” Cloud growled. He wasn’t in the mood for any kind of complication.

“But I don’t think we should go through with this Cloud. I mean, people are going to get hurt.”

“We all get hurt. That’s unavoidable.” Cloud growled. “Don’t try to make me change my mind. I’m going through with this. Tidus has to pay for what he did.”

“I’ve just…never seen you so bloodthirsty…” Sora said. He looked out over the streets before them and sighed. “You’re scaring me.”

Cloud grunted and shifted his weight, blinking as the first raindrop fell and hit him on the nose. It was almost as if the sky were crying over what was about to occur.

“Get ready Sora.” He finally replied. “We move out soon.”

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It was late afternoon, nearly dark when the Outside finally came into view. The large city behind it was easily recognizable even from a distance, but the actual Outside was harder to locate until you came fairly close. Riku smiled. He was almost home.

Riku made to take another step when a drop of rain hit him on the face and ran down to drip off onto the ground. It was soon followed by another drop until the sky seemed to open up and it began to rain.

Riku looked up in annoyance at the clouds above him. He was nearly home, and now it started to rain. It hadn’t rained hardly at all during his life on the Outside, and the one day he was traveling, it decided to rain. Riku sighed and picked up his pace a little. He wanted to get home before he became completely soaked to the bone.

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The rains showed no intention of letting up. Cloud sighed and shuffled nervously in his now wet clothing. The rain would make things harder. The ground by the wharf would be slippery, the footing unsure. He was staring to wonder if this was such a good idea.

“Not getting cold feet are you Cloud?” Squall asked, coming up beside his friend. Cloud simply shrugged.

“You mean that literally or metaphorically?”

Squall frowned. “Let’s just concentrate on the fight. It’s almost dark, we should be leaving soon.” Cloud nodded absently. “Oh come on Cloud…” Squall said, wrapping a friendly arm around the blonde’s shoulder. “Everything is going to be fine.”

Roxas appeared then, seemingly from nowhere. “It’s time.” he said, before dashing off to the others. Cloud shrugged off Squall’s friendly gesture and started walking down the street toward the wharf.

“We’ll know that once this is finished.”

Squall frowned and walked off, heading around a different way to get to the wharf. Cloud ignored him and continued down the street he was on, thoughts of vengeance swirling in his mind. He was going to kill Tidus, he was going to make him pay.

The rain was falling harder now, drenching Cloud’s clothing and his hair. The dirt street began slowly churning into mud beneath his feet. Fighting would be difficult on that ground.

Cloud appeared at the docks in time to see several of his friends already there, looking out over the soon to be battlefield. Tidus and his gang were waiting in front of the riverbank, weapons already drawn.

“I see you actually have a spine.” Tidus grinned wiping some of his drenched hair from his face. “I didn’t think you’d actually have the guts to come here.”

Cloud didn’t respond, he had already told himself he wouldn’t fall to Tidus’s taunts. Instead, he simply pulled out his sword and held it at his side, determination written on his face.

“What’s the matter?” Tidus called out again. “Cat got your tongue?”

Cloud walked forward until he was halfway between Tidus and his own gang. After a moment, Tidus stepped out to meet him.

Cloud glared down at the boy in front of him, the effect enhanced by the rain pounding down on them, muffling the outside noise.

“I’m going to kill you.” Cloud said simply. Tidus smiled.

“I’d like to see you try.”

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Riku growled to himself as he sloshed through the pile of mud that his pathway had become. The riverbank was already swollen with water, and the rain showed no sign of letting up. It was nighttime now, and the only reason Riku could see where he was was because of the bright lights from the City. Even so, the rain made visibility terrible.

Riku silently cursed as his shoe was sucked from his foot. He reached down and tried to pull it out, but only found himself sinking deeper into the muck. When he finally retrieved the shoe, he lifted his foot up….only to have the other shoe taken away.

“Dammit!” he cursed, flinging the shoe away from him in frustration. He pulled his feet from the mud and continued walking, ignoring the strange feeling of the mud against his bare feet. He was going to get back, even if he had to do it barefoot.

After much struggling through the mud he finally made it to the dirt streets of the Outside, which were better, but not by much. The only difference was that he didn’t sink every step he took. Footing was still treacherous, and if he didn’t watch himself, he could find his face in the mud.

The clank of steel on steel roused Riku’s attention. He barely heard it through the thick pounding of the rain, but he was sure he had heard it. It was coming from the wharf.

Something inside Riku wanted to explore what the noise was, curiosity won out over common sense and he made his way through the streets to the docks. When he peaked around the corner of the building, his heart jumped into his throat.

Tidus and his gang were fighting with Cloud and his gang. Cloud and Tidus were up on a raised platform, probably to escape the slickness of the mud. Cloud was fending off Tidus’s attacks easily, but on the same note, Tidus was dodging just as easily. Off to the side, on the ground, Riku spotted Sora and Roxas ganging up on Seifer, and around them, other people Riku recognized and some he didn’t were fighting each other.

He started to step out of the shadows, but was stopped by a firm pressure on his shoulder. Riku yelped in surprise and spun around to face his attacker.

It was Squall. Riku let out a small breath of relief and smiled. “Squall!” he said. “You scared me. Hey, what’s going on down there…why are Cloud and Tidus fight-”

He was cut off as Squall’s open hand connected with his head, knocking him down from the shock of the slap.

“W-what?” Riku gulped, grabbing his face and looking up at Squall in surprise. The brunet didn’t even look at him, he simply moved between Riku and the battlefield and raised his Gunblade.

“It’s your fault.” Squall smirked, taking careful aim with the gun. “You see, after your little “incident” with Tidus, Cloud grew….angry I guess you could say. Turns out, he was quite fond of you.”

Riku’s brow furrowed, he wasn’t sure where Squall was going with this. “So? Why-”

“It was a simple plan to begin with, I could get rid of you and Cloud in one sweep. This gang was supposed to be mine.” Squall leveled the Gun and squinted, adjusting the focus to target toward the platform where Tidus and Cloud were fighting. Riku frowned.

“What…what are you doing?”

“Ending this…” Squall replied, putting his finger on the trigger. Riku’s eyes widened. He was going to kill Cloud.

“No!” Riku yelled, grabbing the dagger from his belt. Jumping up, he managed to fall into Squall, knocking the brunet off balance. “You can’t kill him!”

“Get off me!” Squall growled, smacking Riku in the head with the edge of the Gunblade. Riku saw stars, but he held on, desperately trying to get a good grip on his dagger. Squall finally saw the weapon, and dropped the Gunblade, grabbing Riku’s wrist instead.

“No way.” Squall hissed. “I’m not letting you take this chance from me.”

“Fuck you,” Riku replied, struggling to pull his wrist from Squall’s grasp. “I’m not going to let you kill him.”

Squall began to squeeze Riku’s wrist, half-forcing it open. If that continued, Riku would lose the knife. Scared and confused, he did the only thing he could think of to do.

He bit Squall on the nose.

“Fuck!” Squall yelled, releasing Riku on a reflex. Before he could reach out to grab at the knife again, Riku jammed it down between his ribs, right into his heart.

Squall’s eyes started to widen. “You…little shit…” he murmured before he lost his strength. His head fell back, hitting the mud with a sickening squelch

Riku jumped back, the same fear he felt the last time he had killed taking over his heart. “Oh shit…” he started.

But his logical mind took over, forcing the panic down. It was alright, Squall had tried to kill Cloud. It was self defense. It was alright.

Running a hand through his hair to calm himself down, Riku moved away from the body to the edge of the battlefield. He watched as Tidus and Cloud danced around each other. Neither of the males seemed to show any signs of slowing down, despite their constant movement.

A shout tore Riku’s attention away from the battle. He looked to the side, and saw Sora, eyes wide with disbelief, staring at him.

“RIKU!” he yelled.

The next few moments would be burned into Riku’s memory for the rest of his life.

He looked back over to Cloud.

Cloud was staring at him, his attention caught by Sora’s shout.

Tidus took his opportunity.

Even from the distance he was at, Riku saw Cloud’s eyes widen as Tidus’s sword slid into his stomach and came out his back, pinning him to the support beam behind him. It happened so fast, Riku didn’t even have time to gasp. Cloud’s body convulsed once as he grabbed at the sword, then he went limp. Tidus stepped away from the body, his breathing ragged from the fighting.

Riku’s mind screamed. All coherent thought flew out the window as he stared at his lover’s body hanging limply, supported only by the sword. Before he knew what he was doing, his hand was around the handle of the discarded Gunblade.

It took only a few seconds to raise the weapon, aim, and pull the trigger.

Tidus’s body was knocked back by the force of the bullet hitting him square in the head. The retort from the gun was loud enough to muffle even the rain, causing everyone to stop what they were doing and look up at the source of the noise.

Riku dropped the gun and ran toward the stage, slipping and sliding in the fresh mud. He vaulted over the edge of the platform, wincing as his stitches were ripped open. “Please…” he begged the air as he scrambled over to Cloud’s body. He stood up and raised a hand to grab at the blonde’s hair. “Please be alive…”

There was no response, but when Riku leaned forward, pressing his body against Cloud’s and wiping away the rain-slicked hair, he saw two eyes, half closed in pain staring at him.

“Oh my God…” he sobbed, rubbing his thumbs soothingly over Cloud’s cheeks. “Oh my God you’re alive.”

Cloud only stared back, but Riku could feel the slight movement of his chest as he struggled to breathe. Cloud may have been alive, but he wouldn’t be for long. A fresh wave of tears hit Riku as he realized that fact. Cloud couldn’t survive this.

“Cloud…” he pleaded. “Don’t leave me…”

The blonde’s eyes narrowed some, whether in pain or some show of emotion Riku didn’t know. A breathy whisper escaped Cloud’s lips.

“What?” Riku asked in alarm. He pressed his face up to Cloud’s, desperate to hear the words. “What?”

“….I….love….you… ”

Riku’s heart stopped. He had heard the words before, but right now, at this moment, with his lover bleeding, dieing, they meant so much more than they did before. He tried to choke back a sob, but failed.

“I love you too…” he choked, rubbing his cheek gently against Cloud’s, then moving it to look him in the eyes. “I love you too…” He pressed his lips against Cloud’s in one, desperate, final kiss with his dieing lover.

A shaky sigh left Cloud when their lips separated, and his eyes grew dim. Riku knew he was dead.

Despair rushed over him in a fresh flood, making Riku’s mind go numb. Slowly he reached down, grabbed the hilt of the sword, and slid it almost effortlessly from Cloud’s stomach. He tossed it aside and grabbed Cloud’s body as it fell, his knees buckling under the sudden weight.

Riku sunk to his knees, burying his face into Cloud’s chest, desperate to find a heartbeat that wasn’t there. The rain was quickly robbing the body of heat, making it seem even more lifeless.

Huge, body-shaking sobs wracked through Riku as he clutched desperately at the corpse. This wasn’t happening. It wasn’t supposed to turn out this way.

The world around Riku was dead, frozen in the boy’s mind. All he saw was Cloud, and the way he looked as he died. He was blinded to Tidus’s body lying just behind him, blind to the blood running from Cloud’s stomach and soaking into Riku’s shirt, mixing with the fresh blood from the torn stitches. He was blind to the pounding of the rain, and to the people slowly dispersing and leaving the field. He was blind to the two boys walking up behind him, shock and fear written on their faces.

He was blind to it all.

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It had been nearly a year since the gang fight. Riku sat atop the same rusted out metal fire escape on the edge of town, near the North waterway. A cigarette hung limply from his lips.

In the distance the Dirge song could be heard as the monks made their monthly rounds, collecting the dead. Riku found himself singing the all-too familiar song under his breath, entranced by the haunting melody.

Stretched before him was the grassy slope that lead to the waterway, the same spot where Riku had first come to the Outside. A few feet to his right, at the top of the hill, was a pile of stones with Cloud’s giant sword stuck through the top. Riku smiled to himself and flicked the cigarette away.

“Heh, you’re a bad influence Cloud. I’m beginning to pick up your bad habits.” Riku said to Cloud’s grave. “But I guess that’s alright.”

A breeze picked up, blowing across the grass and bringing the salty small of the water to Riku’s nose. “Yeah,” the teen laughed. “I love you too.”

As the sun began to climb in the sky and last echoes of the Dirge song died away, Riku stood up and brushed himself off. He had grown in the year since Cloud’s death. He was taller, more fit. He had lost that cite, child-like innocence, he was now a young man on the verge of adulthood. He looked the part of Cloud’s heir.

Sora and Roxas quietly walked up behind Riku, looking out over the grave and the waterway beyond.

“You ready for tonight?” Sora asked softly. “The merchant is only a few hours upriver.”

“Yeah…” Riku replied, picking up the Gunblade from it’s resting spot against the building. “You guy’s go ahead and get ready, I’m going to say goodbye.”

Roxas and Sora nodded, then left as silently as the had come. Riku closed his eyes, enjoying the breeze for a few more seconds. When he opened his eyes, he was filled with a new peaceful feeling.

“I’ll be back soon…” he said to the grave, turning around and slowly walking back toward town. “Wait for me.”

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