Uploaded January 2011 | Updated September 2026, 4 days ago

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Started out well, quickly grew into something that made utterly no sense. Luckily, I don't... hate this, not totally, which I suppose is a good thing. And it's just over a minute, so... it's taken an ashamingly long time to finish this. I'm barely in the deadline, and yet... it's not as good as it could have been. A HUUUUGE good luck to the other contestants in my division- and, of course, all the others.

Plot [I KNOW, I don't get it, either]--

He was damned if Cloud was going to be a vegetable forever. Not without at least knowing the reason for his sudden coma, for him never waking up again.

And so, Zack had taken his best friend to Namine, who said she was good with memories, that maybe there was some kind of block or problem inside Cloud's, that might be causing this... this shutdown. She was able to link it all up, change it to physical data, inside a computer, and said she needed someone to go into the data and find whatever was wrong.

But Zack couldn't go. She refused to let him, because not only was he already IN Cloud's memories, in data form, which would cause all kinds of complications, he was far too emotionally attached. Luckily for Zack, one of their fellow soldiers put herself forwards. Lightning was strong, capable, cool-headed- and so Namine thought it would be okay.

But it became apparent very quickly that Lightning wasn't as cold-hearted as she seemed. Inside Cloud's memory, she seemed to forget her purpose, overrun with the emotions behind it all- she started believeing the memories were her own. And, since she was stuck inside the data, there was no way to rip her out without the risk of leaving her consciousness behind- and even Zack wasn't willing to risk that. They had to wait for her to be shocked out of it, somehow-

But, in the meantime, Cloud's younger brother came forward, asking to help- and they did exactly the same thing, even though that time Namine protested because of his age. But Roxas was stubborn, and had Zack on his side- and he entered the data, too.

the thing about Cloud's memories was that they were violent. Exceedingly so. He'd had a lot of fights in his lifetime, and they were nearly all recounted- and, although Lightning was capable, and Roxas, surprisingly, was too, they could sometimes be caught off guard.

There was one incident in particular that worried Zack- one memory where he knew he might crop up. Because it was dangerous, and Cloud had nearly died there- so who was to say that the other two wouldn't?

And he was right to worry. The soldiers were waiting, as Zack and Namine watched from the outside, ready to fire, ready to-

The Zack on the screen was running, trying to move to protect Cloud- no, to protect Lightning, it was Lightning who was in danger, Lightning who-

The shots fired, strong enough to break through the illusion. Lightning, although drained, returned back safely- and Namine quietly assured them that she would go back to the way she was before entering the data, that none of Cloud's memories would linger.

Roxas, however, was still inside. And neither he or Cloud would wake up.

Because... well, even though Lightning might have beaten him once, there was... a threat. One threat that they hadn't even started to address.

But, somewhere, somehow, there had to be some scrap of data of Cloud himself, Namine was sure of that. They just had to get Roxas to discover it.

BLAH BLAH BLAH IT MAKES NO SENSE.