Wall Market was still, empty, and bereft of the pulse of life it once possessed. The noise and excitement that once defined the whole area back when Cloud arrived was now gone and seemed likely to never return. All that remained were his memories, his word-processor and the bottle. With a swig of whiskey he began to type. It came so easily now compared to when he struggled so. The price of such skill in his writing now had been too high and began with the events of a mere month ago.
-
He had seemed so much younger then, naive and new to Midgar as he tried to find his way in the world. Leaving home had been the big first step, Nibelheim falling away behind him so he could seek out his ideal life in the big city. Somewhere freed of small-minded ways, where he could write and do as he pleased. Where he could find freedom, beauty, truth and - what he believed in more than anything else - love.
The sights and sounds of the country-side increased his anticipation as he approached the city. So much culture as he entered Midgar and worked his way into the interior. So much life just below the plate; imagine what it could be like above. Every thought seemed to fire his imagination and leave his brain fizzing with ideas. He was doing the right thing. Getting a small room in Sector Seven was not hard. Not cheap however and cramped for an apartment stuck high-up in an apartment building with a view down to Sector Six. Cloud barely glanced out the window before he sat down at his word processor.
And paused. His fingers hovered above the keys. He started typing and backspaced it into non-existence a second later. Another attempt and another erasure. A new pause. And it persisted. Every thought, ever idea he had on the way here dissipated and left him with nothing but the muted buzz of the world outside his room. Nothing. No spark, no half-formed idea. Nothing. Anything. The realization came soon after; how could he write of freedom, beauty, truth and love when he had seen so little of any of them? Love most of all. Absurd, foolish. It had all been a monumental mistake.
That was the precise moment the unconcious Wutain crashed through his ceiling.
-
The man's name, it later transpired, was Chekov. And he suffered from a condition known as narcolepsy. Five hours later and Cloud's life seemed to be altering faster than he could keep track of - not that he could render it on the page in a form that made much - if any - sense. The eventual upshot of those five hours was Cloud prepared to knock on the door of the fabulously ornate and decorated dressing room of one Aeris Gainsborough, star of Wall Market in Sector Six. He should be convincing her to put in a good word with Corneo that he might write the production for Wall Market. But he also longed to tell how he felt, how he had fallen in love with her that very night.
His finest poems - the peak of his writing - were on a crushed sheet he clutched as he mustered the courage to knock. How to even anticipate this moment? That from meeting Avalanche - former writer Dyne rushing from the building and refusing to indulge Cloud as a co-author - he would assist with their production of a hyper-critical piece concerning the Shinra corporation and its malign influence upon the world?
The tiny apartment above his own did not help with the staging or even hearing lines, songs and effects. But they persisted as the afternoon wore on and toasted their future success. At least his head was now clearer, the effects of that noxious green liquor Barret produced to toast before the group trooped down to Wall Market dissipated. That had to be part of why he lost so much in a whirlwind of colour and sensation. All that singing, the dancing, lyrics springing to mind without a second thought.
Cloud had been broadly aware of what Wall Market was like before he set foot there in person. People back home talked about it in dismissive, preachy tones and how he best avoid it while others boasted quietly of just what sights and experiences an open-minded young man might find there. But neither set of words left him prepared for the reality; the energy, the colour, the movement. And of course the women. So many dazzling beauties with nary a shred of shame between them. Intoxicating. He sang as loudly as the others as the wondrous women moved, danced and sang back. He could not stop himself staring; legs and under-things exposed for fractions of tantalising moments before vanishing into a new heady mix of colour and a similar but very different sequence of movement.
Cloud shook himself and knocked on the door, head still spinning. Of course even within that extravaganza of stimulation there was a moment more perfect that any other. The moment when the whirling chaos of Wall Market peaked and she appeared. The venue fell silent as she descended from on high. A goddess; everyone cleared the way for her: patrons, dancers, who could honestly tell in the commotion? Aeris Gainsborough had arrived to perform. The music started and her voice flowed like silk. Slowly at first and then faster and faster. The initial innocent facade vanished in a moment; Aeris moved like the other girls - no; she was more seductive - and Cloud could not even begin to drag his gaze from her. She was perfect; voice and body and costume. The winks, the pouted lips and sultry delivery seemed directed solely at him. But there was something concerning; that one moment of panic as she fell into the crowd of dancers to vanish as Corneo demanded the band play again and faster-
"Come in." The same silky voice of the goddess was calling to him from within her dressing room. Cloud swallowed and opened the door.
-
They were alone again. At last. Just him and Aeris. No man from Shinra, no Corneo. And no Avalanche cheering him on. Between the lot of them they promised near the world to the man from Shinra. The effort had all been worth it though; Aeris watched him through every reveal, every truth and half-truth and outright lie. Her sultry eyes had been hard to avoid even as he engineered a story based on decorations in the dressing room thinking faster than he ever had in his life, raw invention tumbling from his lips.
How differently things could have gone. After all, Aeris's reaction when he arrived was far different to his expectations. She seemed more intent on removing his clothes or writhing in a very distracting manner than listening to any of his compositions. The certainty of a mix-up and misunderstanding only came with the arrival of the man from Shinra - and his demand to know just what was going on as he found them with their arms around each other and on the verge of kissing.
To their inordinate luck, Corneo was mere steps behind him. The head of Wall Market seemed to have a mind faster than Cloud's, as quick as any he had ever known. Corneo insisted the man from Shinra had merely interrupted a rehearsal of the play Cloud was now writing. A musical. Avalanche hurried to his aid from their perches on the dressing room roof. Taking their cues from both Cloud and Corneo, they frantically tried to depict the romantic plot the pair conjured. Against all odds, the plot was coherent and the interpretation workable.
Cloud and Aeris would play the romantic leads, separated by a rival - a barely veiled portrayal of the head of Shinra. Simple enough story, but they sang and danced; improvised moves and lyrics to a well-known show-tune. everything fitting with absurd ease. Aeris fell into the timing with remarkable speed; as easily as Cloud had managed with Avalanche earlier the same day. Had it really all been one day? The man from Shinra seemed convinced by their performance and accepted their wild claims despite the apparent transparency of the project and its barely hidden jabs against him and his organisation. Whatever he may or may not have expected from Aeris before his arrival, he left the dressing room agreeing to finance the new musical and confirming their hasty casting choices.
Avalanche were off to celebrate. Corneo left anticipating the profit and spectacle of the enterprise. And Cloud was still in Aeris's dressing room with its owner; alone again. Impossible to ignore now that what he had been searching for had happened before he knew it. Love. A few complications to iron out first, some awkward facts but they could be overcome. Love did conquer all; everyone knew that. He might not be the man from Shinra, or rather, not the man from Shinra Aeris had anticipated meeting. But that hardly mattered. They glanced at each other, smiled, and before Cloud could stop, they were staring into each other's eyes and singing. She sang back, the words, his poems, coming out of her mouth impossibly. "How wonderful life is, now you're in the world," they sang to each other and Cloud hardly dared to breathe as they both fell silent.
Aeris cupped his cheek with her hand, her lips inches from his. "You're going to be bad for business. I can tell." Cloud almost asked what she meant, but held his tongue as she closed the distance and kissed him. The night seemed to last forever after that.
-
Cloud looked up from his word processor. To stop here would leave this tale as a beautiful love story. To continue was to revisit the tragedy that brought him here. How best to continue? He drank from the bottle and stared out of the window.