Hope you gusy like this one too! I'm not as confused with everything now!
FINAL FANTASY VII-VIII
By Riku54
Part 1-Chapter 1
Cloud sat down in a chair, his hand over his head. He didn't feel very good, in fact, he felt very sick and weak. That was only to be expected…He had no idea where he was, why he was there, or even how he had gotten there. He was in a building, someone standing beside him, looking at him and saying something that Cloud didn't understand. It was slurred, either that, he was only half-conscious. His Mako blue eyes were half closed and he was staring at the floor. Cloud couldn't think straight, and he didn't know why either.
"Hello? Are you alright?" a female voice asked him gently. Cloud looked up, his glazed eyes blinking. His vision was blurring from the headache he had and he couldn't tell if he knew the woman or not. He groaned in pain as he tried to focus his eyes on her, but his head dropped again. Cloud wanted the pain to go away, but he knew it wouldn't. "Hmm…let's see now, where's the aspirin?"
Cloud knew that the woman had moved away from him and was looking for something. She was making an awful lot of noise as if she were sorting through all sorts of pills. When she came back, Cloud heard her say, "Here, swallow these." She dropped some pills into his hand and Cloud put them into his mouth and swallowed without water or anything.
Then, he asked her slowly, "Where's Tifa?" Tifa was his best friend that he grew up with in Nibelheim, but Cloud had left to join SOLDIER, but he had never became a first-class SOLDIER like his friend, Zack. Cloud didn't know where Zack had gone after Cloud had successfully defeated Sephiroth by throwing him into a pool of Mako. Then, five years ago, Cloud and Zack had been taken as test subjects of Hojo's, a mad scientist who created the super SOLDIER, Sephiroth. There, Cloud had been injected with Mako and JENOVA Cells, along with Zack, but both of them had escaped. That was when Zack had vanished.
"I don't know, is she a friend of yours?" the woman asked Cloud. Cloud only nodded, wanting to sleep, but he worried for Tifa. Wherever she was, he wanted to know. He may not speak to her much, or even reply to her messages on his cell phone, but he did worry about her.
Before Cloud knew it, he was drifting off into a deep sleep that was troubled with the images of where he spent most of his time at: In Aeris's church. Aeris was the last remaining Cetra who was also a flower girl. She had been Cloud's best friend and Zack's girlfriend. She had died trying to summon Holy, the only thing that could stop Meteor. Sephiroth had stabbed her in the back, which had killed her almost instantly.
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Squall sat in the cafeteria, eating breakfast. He had just got back from the infirmary. He had found a kid outside that looked like had needed some help. He had been stumbling around outside where all the monsters were, clutching his head as if he were in pain. Squall didn't ask the guy anything as he brought him into Balamb Garden and towards the infirmary. The nurse there had left and had been replaced by a new one, Nurse Janie.
Now as Squall was finishing his breakfast, he thought 'I hope I never turn out like that guy, he looked as sorry as I'll get out.' After he finished he eating, Squall left, only to run into Zell, one of his friends. "Yo Squall! Have you seen Selphie anywhere?"
Squall shook his head. He didn't ever talk much to anyone, not even friends. He walked on past Zell, not waiting for a reply, but Zell wouldn't have that, "Squall! Will you help me look for her? I gotta ask her somethin'!"
"Did you try outside near the Front Gate? I think I saw her out there." Squall finally responded and noticed that Zell was leaving. At least he was gone now…All at once Squall heard loud footsteps behind him and heard angry voices, "What? Red! Are you sure we're no where near Midgar? Damn!"
"Barret, calm down, we'll just ask this guy over here." came a calm voice. Squall blinked, realizing that they were talking about him and spun around. He didn't expect to see a red cat with flame on the end of it's tail. The red cat was looking up at a dark-toned man who had a gun for an arm. He looked rather angry.
"Hey, kid, where are we?" the cat asked.
Squall certainly didn't expect the cat to talk, and blinked in shock. But he responded, trying to cover that emotion up, "In Balamb Garden."
"And where is that?" the dark-toned man asked.
"Drop that, Barret, we have more important matters to worry about! We don't know where Cloud and Tifa are! Much less Marlene and Denzel!"
"Wha'? You lost Marlene?" Barret roared at the cat. Squall could only stare at them.
"Excuse me, Barret, but I was not the one watching her, that was Tifa, remember? And we have to find Cloud and Tifa before anything else!" the cat, whose name was Red, turned to Squall and looked at him with unblinking eyes, "Sir, have you seen a man about twenty-three, spiky blonde hair, has Mako blue eyes? He's an ex-SOLDIER."
"Don't tell him that! That's none of da' guys business!" Barret snapped.
"Hush. Let him speak."
Squall had no idea what Mako was, nor did he understand why these guys didn't want him knowing about this guy who was an ex-SOLDIER. If they didn't want him to know, did that make the guy an enemy? Squall didn't know, but he did know that he had to say something. He eyed the gun on Barret's arm before replying, "I think the guy I found fits your description, he's in the infirmary."
"And where is that?" Barret asked. Clearly they were not from around here, and Squall remembered hearing them say the word 'Midgar'. Where that was, he didn't know.
"Follow me." Squall ordered and turned around and began leading the red and black cat along with Barret towards the infirmary. He entered the infirmary looking around and saw that Nurse Janie was bent over the blonde haired kid who looked as if he were asleep.
Nurse Janie looked up at the three who had just entered the room. "Squall, you know pets aren't aloud in the Garden!"
Red looked awfully offended by being called a 'pet' and responded, "I beg to differ, ma'am but I am not a pet!"
"Okay, Red, so we found Cloud and he's sleepin' on the job! Damn!" Barret suddenly swore, looking around. "Tifa's not in here and neither is Marlene!"
"Please be quiet, he's in a great deal of pain." Nurse Janie snapped at Barret.
Barret looked confused for a moment and then asked, "Why?"
"Do you think I know?" Nurse Janie snapped.
"Well you should. You are a nurse…" Squall muttered, but even though he said this, he knew something was wrong with the man. He looked down at Cloud who wore a calm expression on his face, but suddenly it twisted into unbearable sadness and then rage. "Aeris…Sephiroth…"
"Who?" Squall asked, confused greatly, but no one paid him any heed, like he cared.
"Spike, wake up, Spike!" Barret growled, shaking Cloud. Red and Barret knew that Cloud was dreaming about when Aeris had died, and neither of them wanted to coop with Cloud sulking around.
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Cloud was subconscious of someone shaking him. In his mind, he saw Sephiroth glaring at him, blood dripping from his sword. It was Aeris's blood. There was a smirk on his face as he stepped towards Cloud, his Mako green eyes flashing. Cloud took a step back, but in that instant, his mind flashed back to the time when Sephiroth had stabbed him through the chest, blood splashing everywhere, but Cloud didn't feel anything. And then he knew. It was a dream…
Cloud's eyes snapped open, his breathing becoming fast and his heart was pounding. His head burned fiercely and his hand flung open to his, his eyes shutting as he caught sight of Barret, Red, some guy, and a woman that had to be the nurse. "Ugh…" he groaned, moving his hand away, a wave of pain flashing through his body. He forced himself to look up at Barret and Red. "Have you guys…seen Tifa?" Cloud asked weakly, his voice low and cracked with pain.
The aspirin that he had taken had dulled it slightly, but it still hurt like hell. When he didn't get a response from anyone, he looked at them with narrowed eyes and forced himself to stand. The nurse was going to stop him, but within seconds, Cloud was on his feet. He took a step and nearly stumbled, but he managed. "We're going to find Tifa." he told them determinedly.
He passed Barret and Red and came to the man with the black leather jacket and brown hair. "Thanks for helping me…" Cloud said before he stumbled on past him. His eyes were still half-closed in pain and his body movements were slurred and unstable.
"You're not going anywhere in your condition." the man said, grabbing Cloud by his arm. He drug Cloud backwards, but Cloud fought back. Barret and Red made no move to stop the man from pushing Cloud back down to where he had been sitting. They knew Cloud was weak, but they couldn't stop their leader.
"Squall, don't be so rough! His temperature is very high and he is sick." Nurse Janie growled the man. Squall was silent and Nurse Janie sighed, but didn't say anything.
"We'll go look for Tifa, Cloud, and Marlene." Red told him and then motioned for Barret to follow him as they left Cloud there with the nurse and Squall.
"Who's Sephiroth?" Squall suddenly asked Cloud.
Cloud blinked in shock and looked up at Squall. "You don't know who Sephiroth is?"
Squall shook his head, "No, the name is not familiar to me."
