I was reading Ghost in the Mirror's profile yesterday, and decided to get off my ass and write a response to her challenge. So here it is.
Disclaimer: Don't own it.
Warning: Rating is due to use of alcohol, drugs, and sexual reference.
Part 1: Luck Runs Out Eventually
As Cloud Strife looked at the 100 gil piece in his hand, he couldn't help but laugh out loud. His luck just didn't know any bounds today!
First, he had caught his nosy neighbor Elena, poking through his mail. When she realized that she'd been found out, she had taken some money out of her purse and put it in his mailbox to make it look as though she was putting something in. Right after that, he'd managed to go right through a red light without getting a ticket. The day only got better when he learned that his boss, President Shinra, had gotten so fat, that he'd ended up in the hospital due to a heart attack. This meant that he could finally slack off some!
To make it just that much better, that bastard Sephiroth had a flat tire that morning, and was late for work! (Sephiroth was Clouds 'arch-nemesis' in just about everything from work to women). And just now, lying in the gutter, was a shiny 100 gil coin!
"This is just too good to be true!" he laughed again. "Whatever good deed I did in my last life, it sure is paying off!"
Just then, his cell phone started playing a little tune, signaling him to answer. He was still grinning as he flipped it open. "Hello?"
"Hey Cloud. It's Vincent."
"Oh hey man! What's up?" Vincent was Cloud's best friend since high school, and was somewhat on the serious side. Wherever he was, Cloud's other friend Cid was sure to be close.
"Cid's been bugging me to head over to the bar. He wants to try getting lucky again…I'm doubting he'll have any luck. You wanna come?" A loud voice could be heard swearing in the background.
"Sure. Maybe some of my good fortune will rub off on him." The spiky blonde joked.
"Great. See you there." And then the other line went dead.
By the time Cloud arrived at the bar – Seventh Heaven it was called – Cid was already starting to get drunk. He could tell by the way the other man was swaying in his seat, and slurring his foul words.
When Cid moved his blurry eyes up and noticed Cloud, he started calling out loudly. "Yo spike! About fucking time! I was afraid I'd pass out before you got here!" he started to laugh uncontrollably, causing Vincent to bury his head in his hand from embarrassment.
"Nice to see you too Cid." Cloud took a seat on Vincent's left.
The dark-haired man looked over at him. "You seem to be in a good mood. Something happen?"
"Nothing much. My boss had a heart attack, and I got free money. Life is good." He replied.
"Yes it IS! YOU know what ELSE is good?" Cid was clearly drunk now. "The FACT that THAT THERE bar…LADY! Is checking SPIKE out…right nnnnnnnnnOW!" Right away, his head fell flat onto the bar surface.
Cloud looked around. "Huh? Where? Which one?" finally, he seen her. She had long brown hair, and dark brown eyes, and what looked to be one of the biggestset of boobs(Double D at the least!)he'd ever seen. She was talking to another waitress, but was looking straight at him with a flirtatious look on her face.
"Excuse me guys. I've got to go take care of something." Cloud stood up and started heading towards the woman, the others wishing him luck, though he didn't feel as if he needed it at the moment.
Cloud danced home. He literally danced home. The woman, Tifa, had clearly shown interest in him, and had given him her number. Life was not good – It was Heavenly! And Cloud was showing it in his dance steps (though even the hobo's on the side of the street were laughing at him – that's how bad of a dancer he was).
He was so caught up in his happiness, that he didn't even realize that he was about to run into an older lady. She herself had her back turned and didn't see him coming.
3…
2…
1…
WHAM!
"Oh Shi- er…I mean, I'm so sorry!" He apologized, deciding not to swear in front of the old woman, for fear of a 'respect your elders' speech. He reached out his hand to help her up.
Instead of giving him her hand, she shoved a small object into Cloud's hand. "Please take care of it! It's very precious!" She gasped, then took off running into a nearby alley.
Cloud just stood there, the whole event just now sinking into his head. "Wha?" He averted his gaze to the object he'd been given. It was a small, greenish-blue orb, no bigger than you're average marble.
"What's so special about this thing? It looks like some kind of kids toy…" He murmured to himself.
He shrugged it off, and put the marble in his pocket. He might as well keep it, since it wasn't doing any harm.
Boy was he wrong.
While waiting for the crosswalk streetlight to turn green, a large van flew past him. Normally this wouldn't be a big thing, but when the van is flying right through a very large, very deep puddle of murky water, it tends to splash that water over the sidewalk, drenching whoever is standing nearby.
Cloud Strife happened to be nearby.
The poor guy started to spit out water that had made its way into his mouth. "MOTHER FUCKER!" He shouted, trying to shake himself off. Unfortunately, the van was long gone, and showed no signs of return.
Spouting more curse words, he seen the light turn emerald, and began to make his way across the road, over to the parking lot.
The first thing that caught his eye was a small piece of paper shoved under his windshield wiper.
"God no…"
He ripped it out from under the wipers, and read it furiously.
"WHAT THE HELL! 200 GIL FOR A FRIGGIN RED LIGHT? THAT"S INSANE!" He screamed when he finished reading the ticket. The now extremely pissed Cloud bent over and opened the car door. As soon as he shoved the keys into place, an annoying dinging sound started up.
"Out of Gas! But I just filled up yesterday!"
One Hour Later…
Cloud couldn't believe it. After taking a shower to get all the mud out of his hair, all of the hot water decided to take a break and leave, meaning he had to have an ice-cold shower. And now, he was sneezing because of it. But that wasn't the worst part of the night.
Oh no.
His favorite Blitzball team, the Zanarkand Abes, were losing…miserably. To the Balamb SeeDs at that! Balamb had the worst team in the entire league, and they were 10 goals ahead!
"Shoot it! SHOOT IT YOU IDIOT!" Cloud screamed at the television. Just then the buzzer sounded, signaling the end of the game. Zanarkand had lost, 3 to 13.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The blonde man yelled, jumping up and down and shaking his fists.
"TIDUS YOU IDIOT! WHY DIDN'T YOU SHOOT!" Clouds question was immediately repeated on screen by the coach.
Pounding down on the power button of his TV remote, Cloud looked around for something to throw in his fury. The first thing that came to mind was the funny little marble the old lady had given him.
He pulled it out as fast as he could.
"YOU!" the marble didn't respond.
"THIS ALL HAPPENED BECAUSE OF YOU, DIDN'T IT! DON'T LIE!" the marble still didn't respond.
"WELL Y'KNOW WHAT? SCREW YOU!"
Using all his strength, the blonde man hurled the piece of glass into the wall, where upon contact, it shattered into a million pieces.
Big Mistake.
Out of nowhere, a flash of pale green light light up the room for a moment. Cloud swore he heard a voice, but couldn't make out any words to it. Then, without warning, the light disappeared.
"What the hell? What's going on!" but before he was even aware of it, he fell backwards onto the couch, unconscious.
When he next opened his eyes, he could hear something. Was that…singing? No…it couldn't be…nobody could sing that bad! But seriously, what was that?
He sat up and rubbed his pale blue eyes. The sound was coming from the kitchen.
What? Who else has a key to my apartment?
Slowly, Cloud made his way over to the kitchen. He stopped in front of the door. Somebody was definitely inside.
He took a deep breath.
And pushed open the door.
There, sitting at the table, was a young woman dressed from head to toe in pink, with her light brown hair done up in a loose braid. She turned around when she heard the door open.
And stared.
He stared right back at her.
For 10 minutes.
When he realized he could move his mouth, he asked in the sternest tone he could muster "Who are you, and what the hell are you doing in my apartment!"
So there you go. Yeah, I used blitzball. I was gonna use a different team from FFX, but then I got a mental picture of Squall Leonhart trying to swim in a blitzball game. Yeah…But I don't hate Tidus. He's one of my favorite characters – Him and Zidane are like the only non-emo main characters in a long time…But I don't like FF9 that much.
Before you go, do the usual stuff. Review, and…wow, that's all.
