Crown King: Return of The Labyrinth | ✓

Chapter 20: Black Hole

Anxiety's running through his mind. No, it wasn't that. It was more than that. He didn't know what to do now, after everything Shiva told him. He stayed in place, the goddess' eyes staring back at him blankly. And he thought that it would be strange to look back so he averted, his gaze eventually leading to your direction.

He had no idea what to say anymore, or anything else to do or maybe look at. After all, he was speechless. Weeks had passed since he came back to life after five years since his death. He had been trying to put the pieces together, trying to process what could be or who rather could be the one who resurrected him. He had been trying to remember but he wasn't able to. And now that he knew, he didn't know if he should go on with this.

Cloud heard he had Tifa, and a few of some friends from another realm, yet he couldn't remember how they looked like. Their faces were a pure blur to him. As of now, it made him feel lonely, and guilty at the same time for he wasn't feeling anything memorable when he heard their names.

His eyes went back to Shiva who was now watching him intently. "What am I gonna do now?" Oh, what a stupid question. Cloud felt regretful.

A smile crept up the goddess' face, more like she felt amused of hearing that. "Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?"

He sighed. "I . . . I don't know."

"It is your fate, after all. I'm no deity of fates, unless you want to call the goddess who accidentally shot you with an arrow—"

"Sorry, not now," there was a mixed feeling of annoyance and hatred when he heard it, "I know you're trying to lighten up the mood, but I'm afraid it isn't working." He spared you a glance.

"Oh, is this about her then?"

A few moments passed, then as Cloud talked, more of his memories were slowly coming back. "Look, everything's honestly crazy for me. That goddess forcibly made me sign that agreement that I'd take care of (Y/N) so we could have the peace we've been striving for for our world, then I did take care of her . . ." he trailed off. "No, I guess Tifa did."

Tifa.

It sent a strange feeling to him. Yet he put those thoughts aside, not wanting to lose track of what he wanted to say. "We did the agreement. But we didn't even know that (Y/N) would die. The goddess was cruel. It was . . . It was unfair. She hadn't even told there was an exchange." Although, he suddenly thought. Why did I—

"Are you guys done?"

The voice was familiar until Cloud realized it belonged to you. He turned his gaze towards you.

"Well, yeah. I guess." he and Shiva exchanged glances. "Sorry, if it took us that long."

"No worries," you smiled at him. "I quite enjoyed the view. This place makes me want to stay here forever."

Cloud didn't notice the galactic noise around him. Maybe he was too much clouded in his thoughts that he had no time to appreciate the ambient sounds filling the whole realm. He copied your actions, this time he tried to forget his thoughts for a while and took time to mesmerize the orbs shooting across space.

You sighed. "You know, this would've been perfect if the black hole didn't exist."

"True that."

The tone of his voice made you smile. As if there was something different in it. Through your peripheral, you caught a glimpse of him half smiling, his eyes caught in wonder. Then your eyes looked away, the comfort dwindling all of a sudden. Though . . . I'm dying to know what he thinks of me now. Up to now I still care and I hate it. I'm being selfish—no, not now, (Y/N). Not at a time like this.