Awakening
The sun was rising. Bright, flamboyant, and burning, the red sphere made its endless wander over the sharp mountain peaks of Mount Nibel. The eye of fire lit the below landscape like a candle in the depths of a fathomlessly deep cave. Lo, its beauty, it was but a mere flake of hazy yellow to the rising citizens of the small town of Nibelheim. Many people were just arising, many had risen before, and even more were still steadily breathing in a deep sleep. All was at peace.
The town itself was one often occupied by down to Earth people, the types of people who longed for a quiet life among the hills. Although there certainly weren't too many hills to satisfy that taste, there was the indefinite presence of a looming mountain above. The nostalgia of what lurked within the mountains was often enough fuel to keep the small number of townspeople safe from harm, yet interested enough to stay. Most of the people had lived in the town for the most part of their lives, granted that they had survived…him. He chose not to think of…him…
His house was a small one of little value to a corporate man, but to a quiet outdoorsman, it was the perfect essential to stay out of the rain and cold. Its single level of wooden walls carried the sweet aroma of oak. Winding within the wooden scent was the wintry smell of smoldering wood in a fireplace. This was the place he grew up in, but due to painful memories, was not his final resting place. His dreary dreams were still haunted by the blood-spattered walls and distant screams of his mother…God bless her soul.
It was amazing to actually see where the winding path of life would finally take him. His past such a rotten and blood stained one. Now he was here, warmth surrounding him in a beautiful display of wooden bedposts, black blankets, and a creaky spring mattress. Life, as it was now, was a giant leap from what it had been over the past seven years. Since he had set out on his search for fame among the ranks of SOLDIER, when he was only fourteen years old, things had been incredulously difficult. Now, seven years later, he was a strapping young man, famous as a hero, fairly rich, and known the world over as one of the most incredible fighter of them all.
"Cloud! What are you doing in there? You better not be sleeping!" The soft voice of a twenty-year old girl echoed down the hallway, creeping between the cracks in the unlocked doorway. Moments before, it had alarmed his awakening, now threatening its assuredness. There was no answer. "Cloud! I'm going to kick your spiky headed butt if you don't get up and get dressed!"
It was always like this. Every morning the same scenario played. Cloud, get up, Cloud get dressed, we have stuff to do today. He was used to it, and it slightly amused him, in a bored fashion. It was like they were married…he chose not to think about that. He and Tifa Lockheart were but mere close friends. Maybe a little bit more than that…but once again, he chose not to travel that road of thought.
He rose up out of his black, satin bed, the silky sheet beneath the heavy comforter sliding across his well developed, bare muscles. His bright blonde hair, normally spiked severely with long, sleek wedges, was slightly disheveled. He loved his hair. It made him look so different, sleek…sexy. He chuckled at the thought. It was true though, and he wouldn't deny it. The girls seemed to flock to him whenever he entered a room. All of them, it seemed except for Tifa, but that didn't matter, he quickly asserted. Slipping out of his black boxers, the young man, headed into the small bathroom connected to his room.
He stared at himself in the mirror for a moment as he turned on the water nozzle of the shower. They never failed to catch his attention. His eyes were so bright. It was a mark of SOLDIER. It meant that he was better than 'human'. It meant that he could run faster, jump higher, see further, hear everything, smell everything, and even heal faster than a normal person. The list went on further than that with the phenomenal enhancements that mako produced on the body. He didn't care though. He just wanted to be himself, something difficult attained with His shadow lurking in his soul…
The young hero shook his head in ashamed annoyance with his thoughts and stepped into the hot flow of the steaming shower behind him. It felt good. There was nothing like a hot shower to wake you up in the morning. He never did have a problem with weariness though. As he scrubbed the suds over his body, he reminisced his past experiences with the rebellion faction known only as Avalanche. He had spent the past six months with each of them and had grown accustomed to they're presence. Now they were all off on they're own.
Oh well, he thought to himself. At least he had Tifa to turn to. He wasn't alone after the final battle with… He refused to say the name. Each thought of Him was one thought wasted that he could have used to imagine how fine Tifa's long, smooth legs looked in the little black skirt she always wore. He grinned to himself. He was the luckiest guy in the world. While Tifa and himself were not exactly a couple, he still lived in the same house as her.
As he thought about it again, 'he' lived in 'her' house. It wasn't 'his' house in any right. Luckily she had managed to buy the house from the previous owner after returning to Nibelheim. The bi-level house was fairly large, containing two bedrooms, a large kitchen and dining room, and two bathrooms. This helped, because neither of them ever fought over bathroom time, as if they would to begin with. He finished his washing session and stepped out of the steaming shower, droplets, dripping from his frame freely. The door was wide open, but he didn't care as he dried himself off. Tifa never came into his room that often.
"Cloud! Put some clothes on!" Tifa huddled out of the doorway as soon as she laid eyes upon the young man. Silently, and inwardly she smiled to herself as a wave of…something washed over her. Wow… "Are you dressed yet?"
"What do you think? I just stepped out of the shower," the young, blonde haired man exclaimed. He wrapped the dampened towel around his body and walked through the doorway, past the slightly jittery girl, and towards the closet. He pulled out one of several of his signature SOLDIER uniforms and laid it out on the ruffled bed. "What did you need?"
Tifa was a beautiful, young woman. She stood slightly below his line of sight, and had the body of a supermodel. Long auburn hair flowed behind her in a loose ponytail as she walked into the bathroom. She always seemed to wear the same set of clothes, but it didn't make her bland at all. In fact, the tight little black skirt she wore was enough to make any man drool. And the tight, white shirt that covered her particularly busty chest was skintight, to say the least. He had no problem, he thought to himself, smirking.
"I ran out of toothpaste," Tifa held up the slightly cringed bottle of toothpaste she had retrieved from his bathroom mirror cabinet. She headed out of the room towards hers down the hall, her fighting boots clanked against the shiny wooden floors as she made her way. Cloud pulled on his black boxers and knee high-socks, after all, it was chilly in Nibelheim. He next pulled on his black, SOLDIER cargo pants. He had discarded the use of the ratty purple uniform he had worn for the past six months for the black, officer series uniform.
The only real difference from before was that the fabric was thicker, and made of a comfortable, yet basically indestructible material. The shirt also had long sleeves, in contrast to his sleeveless uniform from before. He pulled the uniform on and tied the laces on the black fighting boots, afterward, zipping the large zipper that protected the laces from coming undone in a fight. The only thing left to add to his attire was his armor, and belt. He first snapped the heavy, metal belt around his stomach, where it acted more or less as a stomach plate. The metal design on the faceplate of the belt gleamed in the penetrating sunlight.
He attached the leather straps that held his armor to his shoulders, and ran the brown belt through the connecter slots on his dual Ziedrich shoulder plates. Both Ziedrich were composed of a shiny mythril metal. The leather straps crisscrossed over his chest in the shape of an x, similar to…His…but he didn't care. It held his armor tight, and that's all he cared about. That monster of a man may have been a genius, but he didn't invent the art of combat. Cloud quickly attached his Escort Guard Armlet to his right forearm, and his Shinra Alpha Armlet to his left forearm. Both armlets were a shiny silver and had six glowing materia orbs in the underside slots of the strong armor.
Finally, the young fighter pulled his fighting gloves onto his bare hands and latched them tightly with a small fastener. He checked in the mirror, fixing his hair with both hands. His bright blonde hair seemed to take its sleek, spiky form as it dried. He smoothed the wedges out the way he wanted them until they looked normal and turned away from the mirror. He glanced back quickly and cocked his head to one side. He rubbed his hand through the back of his hair and smirked to himself. He had been letting his hair grow out longer over the past month and it seemed to be working. The thick spikes were now almost to his shoulders.
Cloud walked over to his closet, in his sleek new fighting uniform, and reached in to retrieve his sword. The wooden hilt met his palm within the shadows and came out less than gleaming. He had grown so skilled with his swordsmanship that he had gone all the way back to using his old Buster Sword. He liked his Ultima Weapon sword but it was just too flashy looking. He didn't like being too flashy. He had used his Buster Sword since the very beginning and would always hold it as his favorite weapon.
The seven inch wide blade was basically indestructible and was made of a dull mythril metal. It was massive looking in comparison to him, he wasn't the biggest guy in the world, but he fought like a master with it. The razor sharp sword had originally been his best friend Zack's, before he died…maybe that was one reason he always used it. Oh well, he thought to himself as he walked out of the room and down the hallway. A magnetic strip on the armor straps held the sword to his back firmly as he headed down the stairs and into the kitchen. The magnetic strip was specially designed to only attract one sword, just to free the wielder of the fear of having a knife fly out of nowhere towards the magnetic sheath.
"Good morning sunshine, what's on the agenda for the day," Cloud asked as he entered the kitchen where Tifa was cooking breakfast. He walked over to the stove and took a whiff of what was searing in the pans scattered upon it. Tifa had always been an incredible cook. Ever since she worked as the manager of Tifa's Seventh Heaven, back in Sector Seven of Midgar, she had been known almost religiously as the best cook around. The young woman was cooking eggs and bacon, and had several slices of toast scorching in the toaster.
"Look good? Anyway, we need to go get some groceries first off. After that we have to head over to Cosmo Canyon to visit Nanaki. He called, via satellite phone this morning and said that he wanted us to come visit him. He can't really leave the canyon since he is the protector or whatnot, so he wants us to come visit him." Tifa shoveled the eggs, bacon, and hot toast onto two plates and sat down across from her friend to eat with him.
"Doesn't Vincent live with him there," Cloud asked as he took a bite of the utterly delicious eggs. A look of delight played across his face as he nodded with approval of her cooking. Tifa took a few bites before replying.
"I think so, he's so quiet all the time, you never know where he is at or what he is doing." The girl took a bite of toast as she examined Cloud from a few feet away. He looked so cute, she thought, all set up in his little SOLDIER uniform. He had also grown quite muscular in his days of fighting. She couldn't help but glance at him every once in a while between bites. "Barret and Marlene moved back to North Corel to help rebuild the economy of the town. Yuffie moved back to Wutai to…well, God only knows what the little girl is up to. I think Reeve finally came out of hiding and got rid of his Cait Sith robot. He is trying to get Midgar running again apparently."
"Cid is all the way in Rocket Town with Shera. I heard on the news that he proposed to her. Its unbelievable how exploited we all are since the incident." Cloud shook his head as he finished his meal. With a stretch he grabbed the remote from the other side of the table and flipped the channels to the, still titled, Shinra News.
"Yeah, old Cid is finally settling down I guess," Tifa grinned at the thought of the grisly pilot falling in love. I guess someone has to love his foul mouth, she thought to herself. The news anchorman was sitting behind his typical table that he was always perched at. "We should probably go to the store now. It's going to be busy if not."
"Yeah, your right. Let's go." Cloud Strife flicked the television off and headed out the front door with Tifa Lockheart. The town had grown accustomed to they're presence, therefore they were not bombarded by photographers and journalists. They had saved the world from utter destruction, but it was only because they wanted to. It wasn't for the fame…