"Well if it isn't the little boy with a name like the, what are they up there?" the ringleader's face was caked in mud with here and there makeshift band aid's on his chin and nose; he was egging on his rag tag little gang to gang up on the mop headed little blond, "Any ideas guys?"
There were here and there chuckles and sneers at the boy, "I think they call it the sky, Daniel…"
"No, its cotton balls…"
"You're both wrong," the ringleader rolled his eyes at the two others around him, "They're clouds, isn't that right…Cloud?"
Still there was silence from the blond mop head with hair that seemed to defy gravity which was always a source of teasing and name calling but no matter how many people, mainly the kids of the small mountain town of Niblehiem, teased him; he managed to brush it off, but it only served to egg them on. Ever since he had been born, there was no real last name to tack to his name, and his name was a little unorthodox, when he was born, the Doctor had asked if there was a name for the child, but his mother, Teresa had not thought that far. She had only thought as far as to exist without finding herself ending up dragged off and left in a ditch by an over jealous woman in the town who had a reason to think that Teresa could be a home wrecker and deserved to be put out of existence in the small mountain town. Some women had gone as far as to start wrongful rumors as well make comments meant towards her general direction whenever she walked by, but she never let it get to her and even when she had her son; she had avoided giving out a name just yet.
His name has to be something special…something that will mean something…when the time is right…a name will come up that works for him
"Cloud, Cloud…Cloud Hawthorne Strife, do I have to keep calling you or are you going to sit there like a bump on a log?" with a soft smile and a warm voice, the boy's face turned away from the ringleader as he made his way in a hurried stride towards the warm face and voice, "Come on you, let's get you home before you cause anymore strife to anyone."
Strife, that's where his last name had come from, but it had been an overcast cloudy day one Spring day after the young boy had been born that he had gained the name, Cloud, Strife had come from the continuous strife he had given his Mother ever since he had been born. It seemed anytime he would come home running, covered in mud or other various forest like items, it would seem it would only serve to cause strife to Teresa to have to clean up the mess brought in by him. No real record of a Father figure was apparent in the home and that had been the base of all the rumors that would pop up just on the fly because the villagers were bored and need something to talk about to make the days go by faster.
"So tell me, what was it this time? What was Daniel starting this time? Was it your hair, your height, or was it…" Teresa stopped momentarily as she knelt down in front of her young son, admiring the soft sky baby blue eyes sitting in that soft face of his, that soft youthful, baby face, face, and "…about these charming and soulful blue eyes of yours…the one thing that is the best part of you aside from this charming hair of yours."
As her fingers ran through his soft blonde spikes the boy pulled away, "Momma, stop…" his hand moved her hand away from his hair, but it found itself curled up in his Mother's hand as he wrapped his arms around her neck, burying his face in the crook of her neck, "…Make the teasing stop…I wanna know who Daddy is…"
"…Cloud…you and I both know that I don't know tha---" the feeling of her son's face feeling cold against her neck stopped her midsentence, "…Oh sweetie, please…please don't do this…"
There was no stopping the boy when he started crying; he had endured enough growing up from the local kids poking fun at him that he didn't have a Dad or didn't know who his Dad was, he was considered the son of a town whore, or so that was the title that had been branded on Teresa for not telling anyone who the man was that was responsible for the boy. Teresa had long, jet black raven hair, but her son had blond hair, how was it even possible? A majority of the men in the town were brunet or jet black raven hair much like her; it wasn't possible for the boy to have blond hair if the boy's father was to be of either of those colors of hair; there had to be a man that she had been with that was not of this Village. Many of the kids had poked fun at the boy for the fact that he had blond hair that defied gravity as it seemed to be, some of the kids had gone as far as to attempt to stick baby chicks to even baby finches in his hair. Joking that his head was to be a new nest for the babies since their Mommies had flown away and forgotten about them or had abandoned the old nest and they need a new place to stay and his hair was just the thing for them.
There was a few soft sniffles from the boy as Teresa pulled him away to look at him, "Cloud, sweetie…look at me," the boy's soft baby blue eyes were floating in the last few tears that were rolling down his soft face, there was a few dribbles of snot coming from his sniffling nose, but that could be overlooked, "When the time is right…I'll tell you…okay?"
"You promise?" a few more sniffles, "You really promise, Mommy?"
What Mother couldn't resist the sight of their child, "I promise," Teresa pulled Cloud in tight against her, softly chuckling; "I promise you with all of my heart."
The years passed on like they were nothing but pages on a calendar as the once scraggly, scrawny country boy with the gravity defying blond hair had grown into a built enough for his own figure man; it was a mystery as to why none of the girls in the small Mountain town weren't flocking to his door. Even if they weren't knocking or even, as his Mom had put it, "clawing at the door in hopes of catching a glimpse of what I've got to see everyday"; it didn't seem like that big a deal, but in a way, it was always being rubbed into his face that he was the only one in the town of the age of at least fourteen, fifteen at best, without a girl on his arm. What did it matter to him? Studying and making the grade to get the chance to leave this town was the only thing on his mind where as the others his age were more into finding a right moment to pull their girlfriends off to a corner of town and do what was considered a right thing to do in their relationship. Cloud had other things on his mind; he had wanted to find out who his Dad was and only recently his Mom had let him know who his Father was and what kind of man he had been. The man that was his Father had been a member of the ShinRa Military Ranks, not a SOLDIER per say, but he was in some way, a man of rank, and very well respected; he had even been called on now and again for advice by the then President of ShinRa Electric for many important decisions.
"The day I met your Father, he was just like you, a little timid to be amongst Mountain folk since he had never really left the town of Midgar," Teresa softly chuckled, "He was like a little boy trying to find the bathroom in a strange house."
Cloud had remembered the first he had stayed over at a first friend's house; they had had so much to drink during the night at dinner that during the middle of the night it had come back to bite him in the butt and it was biting hard especially when he tried to find his way to his friend's bathroom. That had been a rather odd misadventure that nearly ended in a bad way.
"He even found himself wandering into a Chocobo pen and the sounds of all that 'warking' and the man screaming; it was hard to distinguish the birds from the man," Teresa started laughing hard, "It was rather funny to see, but eventually, he was able to be pulled out of the pen of birds and I kid you not; he looked like one of them, they even started calling out to him in some kind of mournful calls as he was being helped out of the barn."
Teresa had continued the story about how over the next few months to nearly a year that he was stationed in the small Mountain town; they had dated and then, "Well, I know the end of that story…" Cloud softly remarked to himself as he saw his Mom preparing to finish up her story.
"But, there is one thing I don't understand…Why didn't you guys ever get married?"
There came the dejected sigh, "…He wanted to, and we had planned to, but he had gotten an emergency summons to return back to Midgar; it seemed that the people of Wutai had decided to attack a well known side of Midgar territory and he was called back to help put the enemy in their place."
"…Did…Did he ever come back at least once?" Cloud grew anxious and slightly nervous and afraid of what his Mom would tell him, "Or at least leave his name?"
She softly shook her head to both questions.
"No. At best, all I had was a photo of us, but even at best…that may not help you," she handed over an old worn out picture she had been holding onto in her makeshift wallet, "But it should help you a little…"