~X~
Interlude 1 - People Notice Thing
General POV
Day 21 - Late Night
Today was a fun day.
Today, a group finished the story of a Hero.
Unfortunately, when night came... That day turned sour.
"Start talking, Zeus..." Cloud said menacingly.
Because in the dining room of the mayor's house, Cloud has his sword an inch away from the neck of Zeus.
"What do you mean, Cloud?" Zeus had his hands up in surrender.
"Don't act stupid," Alfia said. She was ready to fire a sound blast. "It's insulting you think we wouldn't notice."
Zeus stayed unusually silent. So, Cloud decided to be blunt.
"What are you planning with Ithil?"
Over these three weeks, Cloud and Alfia got to know Ithil and... there's just something about her. Something about her that makes her easy to trust and get along with.
So, the fact that Zeus has been spying on her for these three weeks is suspicious. Also, Zeus and his plans don't go well together.
"What makes you think I have plans?" Zeus said.
*SWISH*
That was the wrong thing to say. Cloud delivered a small cut to Zeus' cheek. It bled gold for a second then quickly healed. Then, Cloud's sword was physically on Zeus' neck, threatening to pierce the skin.
"I have no patience for this game," Cloud said, angered that Zeus was deliberately pushing that button. "Ithil. Plans. What are they?"
Zeus was about to answer another question with a question when he stopped and saw something in Cloud's glare.
In his eyes were emotions he expected, determination, annoyance, exasperation, and more.
But hiding deep beneath all of that...
Was pure, unadulterated...
Hatred.
Zeus knew Cloud disliked the gods; the only exception to this was Astraea. He had hidden his dislike really well behind a mask.
Ask most people what they think Cloud is like, and they'll say he's powerful, confident, friendly, and kind.
That couldn't be farther from the truth.
Don't get Zeus wrong, Cloud truly is a kind person who always wants to help people who need it. But he's also very introverted, very solitary, and, dare he say, very withdrawn. Sure, he was close with Alfia and Bell, but he kept even those two at arm's length.
Now... that hatred hidden in his eyes was the most emotion Zeus had ever seen from Cloud. He has no idea why Cloud feels so much of it, but something told him that he needed to be blunt or Cloud would do something drastic.
So, Zeus came clean. But first, he needed to start with context.
"What did you think of the story of Skyward Sword?"
Cloud scowled. "What does that have-"
"Humor me," Zeus said with all seriousness.
Cloud stared for a minute, then answered. "An amazing story about the beginning of a Hero. I'm just wondering where Ithil heard of such a story. Because I've never heard of Link or Zelda... Or Hylia for the matter."
Zeus nodded. "The story is very real, Cloud. Everything it showed happened, including the creation of the world as we know it by Golden Goddesses."
"If it is real... Then why has no one ever heard of it?" Alfia said.
"Because those happened millions of years ago," Zeus said. "Even many of us gods don't know these stories. The only exceptions are the Primordial Gods, and even then, it's only a few because they were all 'born' thousands of years after all those events."
"And they never passed down the story of the creation of the world?"
"Nope," Zeus shrugged. "They never wrote it down or passed it through word of mouth. I have no idea why."
"Then how do you know?" Cloud said. "Last I checked, you're not a Primordial."
"I have my ways," Zeus said.
Cloud scoffed and shook his head. "Fine, keep that secret. What does this have to do with Ithil?" Cloud blinked and thought something over. "Wait, if the story of Skyward Sword happened millions of years ago, to the point that even only a few gods know of it... Then how does Ithil know what happened?"
"Exactly," Zeus smiled.
"Start talking," Cloud glared. "You know something."
"Do you recall the ending? When Demise said something about the 'Spirit of the Hero?'"
"I do. Ithil also mentioned that phrase in her intro to the story."
"Well, over the hundreds of thousands of years, between Skyward Sword and when the first Primordial was 'born', there existed stories. Stories of a young Hero, clad in green, that would save the Kingdom of Hyrule from multiple kinds of threats. The Hero's name is usually lost to time, only ever known by a title. But you know the name of the Hero. After all, we just watched his first life."
"Link?" Cloud furrowed his brow in confusion. A Hero that appears throughout thousands of years, and it's Link? "You said 'first life'. That implies reincarnation."
"That's right," Zeus nodded. "The Hero reincarnated during times of crisis in Hyrule."
Cloud huffed. "It's not hard to see where you're going with this. You believe Ithil is Link's latest reincarnation."
"Possibly," Zeus made a so-so gesture with his hand. "I knew the moment I met her that she was someone important. It wasn't until she told the story of The Hero of the Sky that I believed her being the Spirit of the Hero to be the most likely answer."
"...You still haven't answered my question," Cloud said, still leveling his sword at Zeus's throat. "What are you planning with Ithil."
"I believe my main plans should be obvious at this point," Zeus said, but he saw Cloud struggling to figure out his plans, so he gave more hints. "Think about it, Cloud. A reincarnating Hero that shows up during times of crisis?"
Cloud finally got it. "You think she's The Last Hero," Alfia's eyes sharply narrowed.
Cloud hated the fact that The Prophecy of the Last Hero existed. It was a prophecy that was said to have existed since the Dungeon first opened up thousands of years ago. The prophecy was basically a foretelling of a Hero that would one day conquer the Dungeon thus freeing the world of its monsters.
Since then, many people have been trying to manipulate events to bring about the coming of the Last Hero.
Cloud glanced at Alfia to see her reaction.
She looked conflicted.
It made sense. The Last Hero was one of the big reasons why Zald and Alfia joined Evilus and committed the atrocities they did.
They knew of the power of the Black Dragon. It wiped out the two strongest Familias that had protected Orario for almost 1000 years. In one day, all but three of them between the two familias survived.
And what did the people do to help their long-time protectors?
They were expelled from Orario.
Kicked them while they were down.
When Cloud heard of this piece of history, he started to hold a certain enmity for Loki and Freya, the two biggest instigators of their exile. He already had a bad opinion of gods because of that bitch, Iris.
But this?
...Well, it was nowhere close to what Iris did to him but their actions and the reasons for them pushed all the wrong buttons.
Anyway, with their familias dead and Zeus and Hera driven out of Orario, Zald and Alfia sort of... drifted around with no purpose. Not until Erebus approached them to join Evilus.
Since both of them were dying, Zald from Behemoth's poison and Alfia from her sickness, they accepted to push the next generation of heroes to the heights and power of the Zeus and Hera Familia to have even a chance to defeat the Dragon.
Alfia's involvement with Evilus was still a sore point between her and Cloud.
Cloud was a level 3 adventurer of the Astraea Familia when they fought Alfia. While he eventually understood the desperation and reasoning Zald and Alfia had, and while he saved Alfia from killing herself and gave her a reason to keep living...
He will never forget the crimes they committed and the innocent people they killed, directly or indirectly.
They wanted to strengthen the next generation in the short time they had? Conflict and tragedy had to be the way to push them forward? For the Greater Good?
Bullshit.
Besides, even Alfia admitted to Cloud that, in the end, their actions amounted to nothing.
The Loki Familia had grown complacent, content in their strength save for a select few who wanted to get stronger.
The Freya Familia were too busy fighting each other for the affection of their goddess.
The Astraea Familia is effectively dead.
And the Ganesha Familia is too busy with their existing responsibilities on top of trying to keep the peace to get stronger fast enough to fight the Dragon.
Yeah... In Cloud's opinion, all that tragedy didn't solve anything in the end.
Anyway, back to Ithil...
"So, what? She might be the Last Hero," Cloud said. "And now you plan on using her?"
Zeus thought his next words carefully. "The world needs a Hero, and Link certainly fills that role."
That was another wrong thing to say because Cloud pressed his sword into Zeus' neck enough to draw gold blood.
If there's one thing Cloud hated, it's the gods using mortals as tools, whether it's for their own plans or their own entertainment. He's personally experienced that for himself, and he hated every second of it.
"First of all, her name is Ithil," Cloud hissed. "Second of all, you don't even know if she's the Hero. Do you?"
"...No, I don't."
"Then leave her out of whatever plans you have," Cloud glared. "If she is to be a Hero, it will happen on its own time."
"We might not even have that time," Zeus quickly retorted. "The Promised Time, Maquia is happening soon and we don't have the Last Hero."
Cloud pushed harder on his sword. "Zeus, you of all people should know that you never try to manipulate a prophecy, especially this one. The last time you tried, it got your and Hera's Familia killed.
Zeus grimaced at the reminder and regretted telling Cloud and Alfia the circumstances of why he rushed to fight the Black Dragon.
"Here's what's going to happen," Cloud said. "You leave Ithil alone, you will not even think of creating any plans, you will not mention anything about The Last Hero. ...Got it?"
Zeus didn't say anything for a while but eventually, he tightly nodded and then quickly left.
Cloud let him, watching as he went out the front door. He sighed and put his sword away. He then sat at the table to think things over. Alfia sat across from him.
"You were rather intense," Alfia said after a while.
"Hah, you already know how I feel about gods," Cloud massaged his forehead.
"I do," Alfia nodded. "Still, perhaps that was a little too intense."
"Worried for the old man now?" Cloud said, trying to deflect the topic away from his hostility toward the gods.
"Hmph, of course not," Alfia scoffed. "But Bell still looks up to his grandfather."
Cloud sighed again. Maybe he did take it a little too far.
...Maybe.
But it was extremely hard for him to let go of his dislike of gods. After what Iris did to him, followed by the gods who started and enabled Evilus, followed by what Freya tried to do to him...
Yeah, to say Cloud had bad experiences with the gods would be an understatement.
Will he apologize to Zeus?
...Not likely.
Cloud sighed again, extremely tired with everything. He got up and left the house back to his own, and Alfia followed. He needed to get as good a sleep as he could to leave for Orario tomorrow.
~X~
Author's Note:
This interlude shows a glimpse into Cloud's true personality. After everything he's endured because of Iris and Evilus, he's someone filled with bitterness and hate, but its kept under control through his discipline and will. Even then, he still wants to help people.
The month of February was not kind. I ended up catching a cold that left me in bed for three days, one of the managers at my job suddenly quit, and I had to pick up the slack. I had to work 8 hours a day, 6 days a week.
The silver lining in all of that is the overtime hours and that I got a raise.
Now that things have stabilized, hopefully, I can get back to writing my fanfics.
As always, constructive criticism is appreciated.