Disclaimer I don't own Final Fantasy VII or the Maroon 5 song, Secret. I do however own all of original characters that are not featured in FFVII.
Before Gold Became Ash
Chapter 1
Wine and Dine
The young blonde woman sitting at the booth in the corner was far from ladylike. She sat, legs spread apart with a cigarette pursed between her lips. Her clothes certainly didn't match the restaurants formal attire. Her tight baby blue top left nothing to the imagination. To be honest Cloud would have preferred to imagine rather than have this image in this head. Her short skirt and fish net stocking reminded him of the typical stereotyped hooker. He was slightly surprised she was let in looking like that but he guessed if she was a hooker she was here to fulfil her of so civic duties. For a moment he thought this was the women Zack wanted him to meet, the girl he was crazy about. But after seeing the stunning brunette in the booth with Zack, he realised how wrong he was. Cloud felt slightly guilty about thinking his friend could even consider a woman he had just spent minutes looking at in disgust.
"Late as usual Cloud." The two men briefly embraced.
"So what's her name?"
"Belle, Cloud you'll love her." The smile on Zack's face meant a lot to Cloud. It was great to see him happy after they had been through so much.
"Hope you don't mind, I invited Tifa to dinner with us. I thought you'd like that." Zack patted Cloud on back.
"Ever had the feeling someone's been talking about you?" Tifa turned around to see Zack smirking while patting Cloud on the back.
"Hmm." Belle took another sip from her margarita.
"Hey, go easy on that. How many of them have you had?" Tifa moved her hand towards the drink.
"I've only had three. Tifa stop acting like my mom." Belle quickly downed the margarita. "You would too if you knew the truth." Belle looked down at her empty glass and ran her finger around the salt.
"What are you talking about Belle?" Belle stopped playing with the salt and looked up.
"Hi, I'm Belle. I've heard a lot about you Cloud." Belle held out her slender arm. Cloud gently shuck her hand and sat down.
"How've you been Cloud?" Tifa smiled.
"Busy. You?" Cloud picked up his menu. He felt his stomach starting a riot.
"Same I guess." Disappointed Cloud took no notice of her dress, Tifa too picked up her menu. Glancing over his menu, Cloud saw something that caught his eye. She was beautiful and sitting only a couple of feet away Cloud felt nervous.
"I don't know what to have. What are you having Cloud?" Zack continued to look down at his menu but looked up when Cloud didn't respond. Zack followed Cloud's eyes to the cute brunette sitting in the next booth.
"You should go talk to her." Cloud felt himself blushing.
"Wow I've never seen a guy go so red." Belle helped herself to Zack's drink.
"Hey! Belle!" Zack snatched his drink back. "Fine I'll go talk to her for you." Zack quickly got up before Cloud could stop him.
In the booth next to them, they must have reached maximum capacity. Five girls and five guys all sat laughing round the table. Zack walked up to the girl and introduced himself.
"Hi...Aerith...how are you?" Zack didn't recognize at her first. She looked different. Instead of a single braid, her hair was lose and curly. Her hair was much shorter about 3 inches short of her elbow.
"Oh hi Zack, I'm okay."Aerith's smile was filled with awkward confusion.
"Grab a sit kid. We're playing How Much Of A Jackass Are You? So far Danny boy here is winning by an astounding 50,000 points, followed by Troy with a close second of 45,000, then both Charlie and Alex and tie third with a mere 100 points. So Zack was it? I'm Rachael and how much of a Jackass are you?" The woman winked at Zack with a cigarette loosely fitted between her lips.
"So you told her about us." Zack scratched his head.
"No actually, but that says a lot about how you think about yourself. So why are you here?"
"I think my friend Cloud, over there likes you. I just wanted to know if you were interested in talking to him." In the background Maroon 5's Secret played smoothly.
Watch
the sunrise Car overheats
Say your goodbyes
Off we go
Some conversation
No
contemplation
Hit the road
Jump out of my
seat
On the side of the highway baby
Our road is long
Your
hold is strong
Please don't ever let go
Oh No
"Tell him to come over here himself." Rachael took a drag from her cigarette and looked over at the booth Cloud sat. "Mmm, why do you always get them first? You're like a freakin' sex magnet."
"I'm sorry was that a compliment?"
"A Rachael Michael's original darling." Rachael pecked Aerith on the cheek.
"So what do you say?" Zack leaned on the table.
I know I don't know you...
"Is he anything like you?" Aerith asked with obvious interest.
"No not really...is that a good thing or a bad thing?"
"Okay maybe I'm interested." Aerith smiled at Cloud who now blushed even deeper.
"Hey, hey! Waiter, pull up a table so these wonderful people can join us." Rachael waved her hand at the waiter.
"Yes ma'm." The waiter pulled over a table and placed four chairs around it. Zack waved for the other to join him.
"What's he doing?" Tifa saw Belle sneak another sip of Zack's drink.
"I think he wants us to join him." Belle got up and walked over to the booth. Tifa looked over at Cloud.
"You never said he was on a date. Zack I think you've earned yourself 100,000 points. What do say girls? Beth, tell him what he's won." Rachael beaconed another waiter to the table and whispered something in his ear. The waiter smiled and left the table. Tifa got up to sit down with the others, Cloud slowly followed.
"He's not. Tifa's just a friend of ours."
"Just a friend wearing that dress? I bet." Rachael whispered than snorted.
"Rachael behave yourself. This is why I don't take you out in public." Cloud nervously approached the table.
"You should have left my leash on me." Rachael took another sip of her drink.
"Cloud this is Aerith. Aerith, Cloud."
But I want you... so bad...
Everyone has a secret ohh can they keep it..?
"Nice to meet you Cloud."
"Likewise."
Oh no they can't...
"Danny, move your fat ass so Cloud can sit down in front of this beautiful woman." Rachael winked and smiled at Cloud.
"Which one Rach?" Danny smirked.
"If you had said Troy was sitting in front of the sexiest woman in the universe, I would have taken off 10,000 points but you're only getting 5,000."
The others continued playing the game and having their own conversations but Cloud and Aerith were only paying attention to each other.
"Did Cloud just laugh?" Zack asked Tifa. Tifa smiled then rolled her eyes.
"So Cloud, what is it you do?" Aerith asked twirling her hair around her finger.
"Different things, deliveries, maintenance, what needs doing."
"Hmm, a jack of all trades I see." Was that sparkle always in her eyes or was it the candle light?
"What do you like doing?" No one had ever looked or sounded as interested as she was about him. There was something in her voice and her eyes that was just sincere.
"What do you mean? For fun?" Cloud started rubbing his chin. That was a good question. What did he do for fun?
"Come on there must be something." Cloud started shaking his head. "I guess we'll have to invent something fun for you to start doing."
"Hey Cloud, can you come outside for a minute?" Zack held up drunken Belle on his shoulder.
"I'll be right back." Cloud helped Zack hold Belle up as they left the restaurant.
"Thanks Cloud. I'll take Tifa home. Some fresh might help Belle sober up." Tifa had started walking Belle. "And I'll call you tomorrow not too early of course."
"Why was it that the first thing I thought of when you said we need to find something fun for him start doing, was you two going at it like rabbits?" Aerith cringed.
"Thanks for that image." Aerith took another sip from her glass.
"Hun, I think you're getting the wrong image. Don't think about the rabbits, think about-"
"Shut up he's coming." Aerith nudged Rachael.
"That man over in that corner's been staring at you all night." Aerith waved the cloud of cigarette smoke away from her. "Personally I don't like the way he's been looking at you." The man in the corner winked and smiled at Aerith.
"Did you want to leave?"
"I bet she does." Rachael slipped her drink quietly.
"See you tomorrow Rachael." Aerith got up taking her coat.
"Oh ma'm, this is for you, from the gentleman in that booth over there." The man dressed in a tuxedo raised his glass to Aerith.
"Send it back." Aerith put on her jacket.
"What did I say sex magnet." Rachael whispered. Aerith linked Cloud's arm as they headed out the restaurant door.
"Hey Cloud ever had the feeling that somewhere in the world someone's taking a peek in Pandora's Box?"
"Taking a peek? Someone's ripped off the lid." Aerith giggled.
"Cloud have you ever been a body guard?" Her tone became serious. Briefly stopping he looked at her.
"No why?" The night was silent. Something about it felt eerie.
"I have the feeling that someone's following us and I'm not a paranoid person." Aerith held onto Cloud's arm just a little bit tighter. Cloud looked into the puddle to find a reflection but instead noticed tiny ripples.
"No one usually sends me back a drink. Maybe I miss read you, would you like something a bit stronger? I have a bar at my apartment." The man in the tuxedo approached them.
"Not interested." Aerith turned her back to continue walking.
"Wait, come on, we'll have fun." The man grabbed Aerith's elbow.
"Hey, she's not interested." Cloud grabbed his and flung it away from her.
"Buddy, get going, I wouldn't want you to get hurt." The man rubbed his hand and looked up at Cloud.
"Don't worry about me." Cloud's confidence was reassuring to Aerith.
"No, I wouldn't if this was a fair fight, you know one against one but maybe ten against one might make me fret a little inside." The man backed away and from the shadows came ten other men that surrounded them.
The three men in front of Cloud ran at him, fist first. Cloud grabbed the middle man's fist and twisted it, making it face then punch the man on his left. Cloud moved out of the way of the first man and stuck out his foot. The man fell grazing his knees. Four others ran at Cloud from other directions. The first jumped in the air attempting to kick Cloud's head in mid air. Cloud ducked and rolled over. The man in mid air instead ended up kicking, breaking the nose of and landing on the man running the opposite direction of him, towards Cloud. The other two men attempted attacking Cloud, while the final three went after Aerith. Two of the men started picking Aerith up but were
struggling. The third man tried to assist but instead was met with a high heel in the crotch. The two and even Aerith shuddered when they saw his instant reaction. While the two men empathised with the third man's pain Aerith bit the arm of the man who had his arm around her neck. The man screamed. The other man shocked by the screaming let go of Aerith giving her enough time to bang their heads together. Aerith let out a sigh of relief and turned to watch her bodyguard.
One of the men pulled out a gun from his jacket. As the man pulled the trigger Cloud ran up the body of the other man. The bullets passed through the man but Cloud landed wrong, hurting his shoulder. Aerith ran at the man with the gun and pushed him on to the ground, struggling to get his gun. Aerith slammed her head against the man and took the gun from him. The man on the floor helplessly looked up at Aerith. Aerith's response to his puppy dog eyes was a stamped foot on Mans favoured asset. Aerith searched in the dim street light to find the man who had approached her but he couldn't be found.
"Cloud are you okay?" Aerith threw the gun over the bridge.
"Wow." Cloud stood up massaging his shoulder.
"What?"
"I've just never seen a girl attack a guy with a gun like that."
"Throw caution into the wind."