Disclaimer: As much as I want the rights to this..I don't have them...and never will. Everything belongs to the good folks at Square Enix.
Alrighty! Chapter 2! This scene jumps from
after the second reactor, just to get things going, but! Have no
fear! It's just to get the story going, we'll go back to what
happened later.
There was a small ray of sunlight...real sunlight shining through the broken rooftop of the church. No one knew about it, except for her. She had been spending her time here for a few years now, it was the one place where the Turks never bothered her, and she was thankful for it.
Sighing to herself, Aeris stood up and walked over to some of the still standing benches and began to remove her red jacket. It was quite hot out today, which rarely happned. She hoped it wouldn't make for bad growing weather for her flowers, but they were fairly easy to grow...in the church anyway.
After tossing her jacket onto the bench, Aeris strode back over to the centre of the church where her brightly colored flowers were growing in the small patch of sunlight that illuminated the bulk of the church. Kneeling down again, and grabbing the small watering can she had brought with her, Aeris resumed watering the flowers, lightly sprinkling each flower with an equal amount of liquid.
When she was done, she wiped off her brow which was getting slightly sweaty from the heat and sunlight. Aeris picked up her watering can and turned to leave...but she stopped. Lifting her head slightly, she listened closely. She heard something...atleast, she thought she did. After a brief moment of intent listening, Aeris decided it was either her imagination, or the wind, but just as soon as she lifted her foot to leave...the noise she assumed WASN'T there, made itself very evident with an abundance of loud crashing noises above her before she passed out.
"Ughh..." Aeris opened her eyes. 'Where am I?' She thought while trying to focus her sight.
'Benches? Flowers? Oh...that's right...the church...but what happen-owww!' She suddently remembered that something had abruptly fallen on top of her...and was still there.
Aeris assumed that in the church's old state, some of the roof had collapsed, but when she rolled around and shifted under what was on top of her, she gasped. There, laying passed out, right across her on his stomach was some man. Some random man that fell through her roof.
Aeris winced as she managed to pull most of herself out from underneath the stranger, and tossed off the bits of wood and other debris that had toppled onto her during the man's intrusion. She brought a hand to her head to attempt to massage her massive headache away...it didn't work.
Sighing, she closed her eyes and brought her hands to her chest. A small green light appeared before her, bright and sparkling. Aeris immediately recognized the cooling sensation flowing through her body and opened her eyes back up. 'Ah...much better.' she sighed with felief as all pain she had once felt was now gone...although there was still a heavy somebody resting on her legs.
Sitting up, Aeris placed her hand gently on the stranger's back and lightly began to roll him over onto the patch of flowers, much to her dismay. After pulling her legs out from underneath him, Aeris carefully examined the stranger who had fallen on her. He had only a few scratches on his arms and face, and one larger cut across his chest that would needed to be taken care of. While looking at his wounds, Aeris brought her gaze up to his face...his, 'really good looking face.' She mused to herself while continuing to look him over. He had the most odd head of blonde hair she had ever seen. She liked it none the less. Although he was passed out, he actually looked quite peaceful. Looking down to his arms, she gently grabbed them and squeezed them slightly to make sure they weren't broken, mentally taking into account how solid they were...
'What the hell is wrong with me? Get a grip Aeris, this is some strange guy that fell from your roof, injured, and all you can think of is how good he looks!' she mentally kicked herself for thinking such things.
Finally shaking her head free of anything even remotely inappropriate, Aeris backed away from the young man a little bit and rested on her knees beside him. She then placed her hands out in front of him, as the same green glow was emmited and engulfed him for a brief moment, healing all his minor cuts and bruises. 'That should do it...he should be awake any second now...'
Just as her thought had cleared her mind, she saw the man stir and his eyes fluttered open.
Cloud managed to open his eyes and focus in on his surroundings. He was laying down, in something surprisingly soft...He felt around with his hands. Flowers? 'That girl...she had flowers...ow...my head. What the hell happened?' He began to sit up, but immediately regretted it when an immense pain in his chest stopped him dead, not to mention the pair of hands on his shoulders.
"Don't...don't strain yourself. You got slashed pretty bad by some of the wood." a calm voice said. Wait, he knew that voice, so light and cheery...Cloud rubbed the back of his head and looked up to face a familiar pair of bright green eyes.
"Are you alright?" She asked, taking her hands away from him.
Cloud closed his eyes in confusion and rubbed his forehead, 'God, i have NO idea what she's even talking about...'
"I...no...wh-what happened?" He asked, opening his eyes to face her again.
She frowned at him, but slightly giggled and answered, "You fell through my roof."
Cloud rubbed his hand over his face and groaned..."How long was I out?"
Aeris went red, "Well uh...actually I dont really know, you kinda, landed...umm...on top of me and I got knocked out too..."
Cloud's eyes widened, "I-I'm so sorry! Are you-are you ok!" He appologized and went to move slightly but the gash on his chest got the best of him and he winced in pain again and clutched his injured area. Aeris immediately reached out to hold him up straight, "Oh! I almost forgot! Ok I'll take you to one of the rooms, I can get a better look at you there." She offered.
"Ah...ok.." Cloud agreed while struggling to get up with the aid of the young lady who had been kind enough to help him out.
"By the way, " She started while hoisting him up and placing an arm around his waist and the other on his stomach to help him walk, "I'm Aeris."
'Aeris...' he mused..."Cloud." He replied, placing a sore arm over her shoulders for strength.
"Well, Cloud...we should probably get you into a bed." Aeris smiled at him and led him to the back of the church.
She had helped Cloud into a small room with a bed that was attached to a tiny bathroom through a small hallway at the end of the church. There was a window with just enough light to fill the room, and a small desk not far from the bed.
"Alright, you just lay down while I get some water ok?" She instructed and headed into the bathroom. Cloud did as he was told and carefully placed himself down on the bed. Moments later, Aeris had emergred with a small bowl of water and a washcloth.
"So, Cloud." she said while sitting on the bed, "How exactly, did you manage to fall through my roof anyway?" she giggled.
"Actually...I don't even remember."
Aeris smiled at the way he talked. He sounded so deep and calm. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll remember, you just need some time to get better." She assured him while running the cloth along his face and arms, removing any dry blood left from his small cuts. "just relax for now."
Cloud took her up on her offer and exhaled deeply and took this time to look her over. She had stunning green eyes, from which he had noticed before, and the red jacket she had last he saw her was missing, revealing her sleeveless pink button up dress that clung nicely to her. Her hair was long and golden brown. Most of it was done up in a long braid, but a few strands were dangling neatly near her face. "You don't...you don't remember me do you?" Aeris said, biting her lip.
Cloud looked at her, "Sure I do, you sold me a flower last night. I gave it to my friend's daughter, she really liked it...thank you." Aeris blushed at his comment. "No, thank you. You tip generously." she said, reminding him of the amount of money he had given her for just one flower.
"That was no problem at all."
"Well..." She began to object, placing the cloth back in the bowl after cleaning him up, "either way, I'm grateful...and if there's something I can do to pay you back I-" she was interupted by Cloud laughing at her. "You're already taking unnecessary care of me, which I am grateful for because I don't think I'd be able to walk home, and I was the one who crashed in on you. I don't think you need to do anything else for me."
Aeris sighed, "Well...if you insist...but, I have to fix that cut on your chest quickly before it gets infected, so I need you to take off your armor and your shirt...to uh...fully tend to it." she trailed off.
Cloud nodded and began to sit up slowly, as to not tamper with his cut even more. He undid his shoulder guard and let it drop on the bed. "Oh, here let me help you with this..." Aeris offered, moving around to access his sheath to take it off for him. "Thanks." He said, unzipping his vest and tossing it off the bed while Aeris "attempted" to place his heavy sword against the wall.
Cloud turned and leant against the wall that the bed was pressed against so Aeris could fully see his cut, and he could see what exactly she planned on doing with it.
After successfully placing the sword up against the wall, Aeris turned back around to face Cloud and immediately began blushing. 'Ok, so the rest of him looks good too...' she "attempted" to hide her red face, but it didn't work so well, luckily she didn't really have anything to worry about seeing as how Cloud had been engaged with examining his cut. It turned out it wasn't too deep, but it was definately a long gash.
Aeris inhaled and shut her eyes tightly, then quickly exhaled while trying to get the normal colour back to her face. "So..." Cloud trailed off, "You uh...you got any ideas for this?" He said pointing to his stomach, "It's kinda...bleeding."
Aeris clued in to what he was saying and walked over to him, "Let me see." She demanded lightly while placing a hand on his wrist and moving his hand away from the wound. "Hmmm...It's not too deep. It won't leave a scar, but it's pretty big. I'm pretty sure I can heal it no problem." she assured him.
Cloud's eyes went wide, "Wait, heal like, White Magic heal?"
Aeris blinked, somewhat confused, "Yes. Why? What's wrong?"
"Who do you work for?" Cloud asked.
She raised her eyebrow in confusion, "Huh? No one. What are you talking about?"
"I - well, usually people who are trained in White Magic work for large companies, like Shin-Ra, it costs a lot of money to put someone through such tough training." Cloud informed her.
Aeris sat down directly in front of Cloud and placed her hands on the bed, "Well, I was never trained by anyone, I've known how to do it ever since I was little."
Cloud cocked his head to the side in disbelief, "Now that, is interesting. I've never met anyone naturally skilled at White Magic before. Only the lessons and teachings were left in books from long ago for others to learn from. You must be something special."
Oh no, there came that blush again, she could feel it on her face. Even when he was doing it unintentionally, everything this guy said or did got the best of her. "Uhh...how about I just go ahead and fix this now..." Aeris stuttered.
"Please do." he agreed.
She leant closer to him and placed her hand slowly out, lighlty touching the top of the cut situated on his chest. "I'm not hurting you am I?" Aeris asked him cautiously, looking up to meet his bright blue eyes...wait, there was something about his eyes. They were beautiful yes, but they were glowing, only slightly, and she hadn't noticed it before.
"No, keep going." Cloud replied, holding a neutral face and keeping his gaze locked with hers.
Aeris complied by concentrating a familiar feeling and bringing through the tips of her fingers to his chest, and slowly moving her hand lower as she felt his skin repair itself. Cloud wanted to look down and see just what a curing spell looked like when it took effect, but for some reason he did not want to take his eyes off hers.
He had kept a blank expression on his face while looking at her, but Aeris swore she saw the corner of his mouth curve up ever so slightly when he noticed she swallowed heavily as her hand reached his stomach and glided over the outline of his muscles.
Cloud himself had never felt anything like this before. The whole front of his body was affected. Everywhere she touched tickled lightly, but made him relax when he felt his pain subside as her hand continued to move down, nearing the end of his wound.
Once his cut had completely healed, Aeris stopped her hand just to the right of his belly button, but unconsiously let it linger there for a moment, "...All fixed." she said quietly.
Keeping his eyes on hers as long as he could, Cloud tilted his head down to see the repair job she did. He placed a hand on his torso and traced along where his cut had been, or where he thought it had been. He couldn't even see anymore, 'Wow,' he thought, 'She didn't even leave a scar.'
"Just like new." Cloud commented, looking back up to Aeris and offering her a small smile.
"Here." She said, reaching for the cloth and bowl. "To wipe off the rest of the blood." Cloud took the bowl and reached in and grabbed the small cloth, ringing it out bfore wiping himself off.
"So, Aeris, do you live in here or what?"
"Oh, no I don't," She replied, lifting her legs and bringing her knees upward to fold her arms over. "I actually live in a house, not far from here."
"An actual house?" Cloud questioned. Aeris only nodded.
"Wow, you can heal, grow flowers, find a decent place to live in the slums, what else can you do?" He joked.
She smiled at him, "Oh, I have many talents ..."
Cloud wasn't sure which way to take that, but either way, she was quite the interesting girl, and he was curious as to what she was implying, but decided to keep his mouth shut while placing the bowl and cloth on the desk.
"Cloud...?"
"Yeah?" He looked up.
"What exactly do you do? I've never seen you around here before." Aeris asked him
"Me? Well I do a little bit of everything. Anything to make money you know?"
Aeris chuckled, "I see...hmmm it's uh...it's getting kind of dark." she pointed out, looking out the window. "You...you say you do everything?"
"...Yes." Cloud agreed, standing up and grabbing his vest. "Why?"
"Well," She began, fidgeting with her hands in her lap. Why was she nervous to ask him? It wasn't a big deal. "Well, would you...like to be my bodyguard?"
Cloud crossed his arms and rested himself up against the wall. "Bodyguard?"
"Umm, yeah, just for tonight. I don't really want to walk home alone."
"Hmmm..." Cloud pondered as he lifted up his vest and examined it. It was almost torn in half, seeing as the wood ripped right through the fabric. Not to mention there was blood covering it. He looked at it in disgust. There was no way he could wear it now.
"I can give you something to wear." Aeris read the expression on his face, "If..." She smiled and raised an eyebrow at him.
"I take you home." He finished for her.
Aeris bit her lip and shrugged her shoulders, indicating that was a 'yes.' It wasn't like he was going to turn her down anyway, why would he want to? She was kind, and gorgeous, and turned out to be one of the most engaging people he'd ever met, and he'd only been speaking to her for an hour! Not to mention she had graciously helped him out and offered her hospitality to him without question, which could have possibly turned out bad if he was someone else. Maybe she trusted people to easily, or maybe it was just him. He hoped it was just him.
"Yeah, I'll take you home." He agreed, grabbing his shoulder armor and loosely placing it on his bare arm.
Aeris' face lit up and she clasped her hands together, "Really!" She took a step forward towards him.
His back was facing her but he offered her an assuring glance behind his shoulder, then immediately turned back around to grab his sword off the wall and placed it, and the sheath on his bare back.
"Let's go." Cloud instructed.
Aeris nodded and began to follow him out of the small room. As they both made their way down the hall in silence, Aeris remembered she had left her jacket out in the middle of the church. "Oh, could you hold hold on a minute, I left my jacket out there." She said, pointing in the opposite direction of the exit. Cloud nodded and she turned her back to him and began to head out into the center of the building.
As soon as Aeris began walking, Cloud quickly regretted letting her go. His heightened sensed kicked into gear when he heard the faint noise of voices. 'Who would be wandering around here?' Deciding that didn't matter, Cloud hastily and silently grabbed Aeris by the arm and pulled her back.
"Cloud what-" She began but he twirled her around to pull her snug against him and placed his free hand over her mouth to keep her quiet.
"Shhh..." He whispered as close into her neck as he could, so as not alert the intruders roaming around.
Aeris involuntaily shivered when Cloud's breath in her neck silenced her as he slowly moved them both against one of the walls in the hallway where the someone, or somebodies couldn't see them.
Cloud released his hand from her mouth slowly. "Does anybody else know about this place?" He asked into her ear, his hair lighlty tickling her face.
"N-no..." she whispered.
"Wait here then." He instructed, sliding out from in between her and the wall. It was after he had left that Aeris had noticed his arm had managed to find it's way tightly around her waist when he had pulled them against the wall.
Cloud kept his back to the wall and inched his way to the end of the hallway. He tilted his head slightly around the corner. Yep. There was somebody there. Three people, two looked like guards...no wait, Shin-Ra SOLDIER's...low class ones though...They were lead by another man who Cloud had never seen. He had bright red hair tied back in a ponytail with goggles a top his head. He was wearing a blue suit with an untucked, white collared shirt underneath. His out fit was quite disheveled. Jacket open, pants were too big, his shirt was unbuttoned at the top and bottom. Cloud watched as the man strutted through the church, "You guys see anything at all?" the man asked the two Soldiers.
"No Sir, it's quite dark in here. If she was here at all I think she might have left already." One of the other men commented.
"Hmmm..." The man in the suit stopped, "You're probably right, this was a completely pointless trip." He agreed with the other guy. "Come on, let's get outta here, I've wasted too much time on the girl." He led the other two men outside.
When Cloud was sure they had left the vicinity of the church, he backed off the wall and turned to Aeris, "So, you got someone following you?" He crossed his arms and questioned her.
Aeris put an appologetic look on her face, "Did he have red hair?" She asked cautiously.
Cloud only nodded.
Aeris sighed and walked over to him, "That was Reno. He's a Turk. They work for Shin-Ra."
"So, this wouldn't be the first time this has happened then." Cloud assumed. Aeris shook her head.
"Well you know how dangerous Shin-Ra is, you shouldn't be out alone at all if they're chasing you." He warned.
"I know, I'm sorry...but, they won't hurt me, they haven't yet. They've all had more than their fair share of chances to do that." Aeris informed him.
Cloud narrowed his eyes, "Why are they after you?"
To his surprise, Aeris just shrugged. "Beats me. They haven't even told me. But, we should head back now, it's almost completely dark out."
Cloud decided not to push anything further, and just nodded.
After Aeris had grabbed her jacket and the couple had left the church, Cloud began looking around. "Which way do you live anyway?"
"Just over there, it's not too far, we should be ther in about 20 minutes." Aeris pointed to the direction north of the church.
Cloud began to head out when he was stopped by Aeris gripping his hand. He turned and looked down at their hands together, and then up to her face, confused.
"I, uh, I just wanted to say thank you again." Aeris explained, letting her grip loosen off his hand. "I mean for taking me home, and helping me with Reno, he probably would have found me if you hadn't of heard him."
"Oh, that was...that was no problem at all." He said, feeling a slight shade of red creep up on his cheeks.
"Speaking of which..." Aeris eyed him curiously as they began walking through the sector, "How DID you manage to hear him coming along anyway? He must've been right outside of the church at the front. I didn't hear anything until a few minutes later when they were right near us, and even then, I couldn't tell who it was. How'd you do that?"
Cloud looked down at his feet. "Cloud...?" She asked again.
"...I used to be in SOLDIER..."
Aeris only smiled at him. "I thought so."
He looked up at her surprised, "Really? And you don't care?"
She laughed at him, "No, why would I? It's not like you work for them anymore."
"Oh...well how did you know then?"
Aeris looked away from him, "I uh...by your eyes...they have Mako in them right?"
Ok, now he was really confused. How did she know all this? "Yeah, that's right. How did you know?"
She looked up at him, "My old...boyfriend...he was in SOLDIER too...he told me they injected it in their top recruits."
Cloud nodded, "Ah, ok. What was his name, I might have known him."
"Zack, he was first rank."
Cloud looked up at the sky, trying to remember everyone in his team and rank, he couldn't recall anyone by that name. "I was...I was first rank too, I don't remember him."
"I see...I hevn't seen him in a long time, he...he disappeared a few years ago."
Cloud put a hand on her shoulder, "I'm sorry...were you two serious?"
'Wait, that's none of my business! Why am I even interested? Ah shit.'
"Sorry." he apologized quickly, "That's none of my business...I shouldn't have asked that." he finished while removing his hand from her shoulder.
Aeris giggled lightly at him, "That's ok, it doesn't bother me. But, uh yeah we were kind of...I dated him for a little over a year. But that was a long time ago."
There was silence for a while after that...It had become quite akward after about thirty seconds...although it seemed like an hour.
"So," Aeris cleared her throat, "What exactly does injecting Mako do to you anyway?" She asked curiously.
Cloud looked at her, "Well, it basically enhances everything."
"Everything like...?"
"Uh, like hearing, as you can see, sight, lets you see sharper and further away...umm let's see..strength, I can gain muscle faster and lift heavier things, I can also heal about seven times faster and better than a normal person...and it also increases speed, like running, and stamina, so I can um...do any physical uh... activity about 4 times longer than anyone else can..."
Aeris grinned at him, 'Any physical activity, he says?'
"Well that's pretty impressive. Do you think you'd be where you are now without it?" she asked.
Cloud thought for a moment...he hated the Shin-Ra, a lot, and it bothered him to have the Mako inside of him...it was like a permanent scar left on him that proved that they had once 'owned' him at some point. But as much as he didn't enjoy it, he knew he probably wouldn't be half as strong or abled in 'many' areas as he was now.
"I don't think so..." he answered, ashamed.
More silence followed after that, but not for long. Aeris had suddenly perked up when they reached a large area, almost like an intersection in the middle of the slums.
"We're almost there."
Cloud sighed, "Good, I'm getting a little chilly out here." Aeris smiled to herself, she thought he would get cold. It wasn't like she'd "forgotten" that he didn't have a shirt on...she'd practically been staring at him the whole time, luckily he hadn't noticed at all. Either that or he had and didn't say anything.
"Take a left here." Aeris told him.
Cloud did as he was told and found himself in another section of the sector that he had never been in before. It was quite dark, which was probably why not a lot of people came through there, but as he continued walking, it gradually got lighter...and to his surprise, a whole lot prettier.
Near the entrance of the section, there were no lights, but there were two lamp posts a few feet in where no one could really see if they just peered in, and surrounding the lamp posts were...flowers, and there was more of them appearing as they continued walking. Cloud looked around the edges of the path. This had to be the nicest part of any of the slums he'd ever seen. There were bushes growing nice and healthy along the path and flowers were everywhere.
"Aeris, did you plant all these here?" Cloud asked in awe.
"Yes, I did. I couldn't stand the thought of living in such a dump...so one day I just brought some of my flowers here and let them grow with some of the soil at the church."
"It looks beautiful, even if it is the slums."
Aeris blushed, "Thank you."
While Cloud was looking around, still amazed by all the work Aeris had put into making the slums a livable place, he spotted what had to have been her house.
"Is-is that where you live?" He pointed to a large two storey house with a nice fence around it and a huge garden in the back from what he could see.
"Mmm hmm, my mother has lived here since she was little."
"It's really nice. You're lucky."
"Thank you, we should hurry and get in, before you get a cold."
After the two had walked in the front door, Aeris made sure to close it gently, making sure not to wake anyone in case they were sleeping. She then kicked off her boots on the mat and stepped into the large kitchen. Cloud unhooked his sheath from his back and the armor off his shoulder and placed the his sword on the wall and his armor on the kitchem table. He mentally took note that Aeris' intire house very brigtly colored. The kitchen was a light shade of yellow and was very roomy. It was a nice changed from most of the houses and restaurants that were just grey, or had their natural old wood color.
"Do you want anything to eat, or drink at all?" Aeris asked Cloud as she shuffled through her cupboards.
"No thanks, I'm fine." Cloud said, taking a seat at the kitchen table.
Just then, the two could hear a faint shuffling coming from up the stairs and a light switched on. "Aeris...?" A voice came from the top of the stairway.
"Yeah mom, it's just me."
"Oh thank goodness, it's pretty late, I was getting worried about you. I though you had spent the night somewhere. You know I don't like you walking home alone at night! Especially with that Reno man following you around!"
Aeris smiled at Cloud and rolled her eyes, "Mom it's fine, I didn't walk home alone." she called up the stairs.
"..." Cloud could hear faint footsteps coming down the wooden stairway, "What do you mean, who brought you home?" he mother asked, reaching the bottom of the stairs and flicking on the kitchen light..
"Oh," she said surprised, "who might you be?"
"Mom," Aeris interveined, "this is Cloud. He brought me home."
Aeris' mother smiled and headed over to where Cloud was sitting and outstretched her hand to him. "I'm Elmyra, it's nice to meet you."
Cloud took her hand and simply nodded.
"Ahem...so, Cloud might I uh...might I ask why you are...half naked?" Elmyra asked, glancing at Aeris suspiciously.
Oh right, he had almost forgot...
"Well, I uh..."
"Cloud fell through the roof of the church. His shirt got torn up." Aeris interupted again, not that he minded though.
"Oh, well I still have some of my husband's old shirts upstairs. I'll go get one for you ok?" Elmyra offered.
"Thank you...that would be great."
Elmyra smiled, "Ok, well you two wait here-actually, why don't you both come on upstairs. Aeris, you can get a room ready for him."
Cloud's eyes went wide. A room? He hadn't intended on staying the night...shouldn't he be leaving? He felt like he had intruded enough.
"Uh, that won't be necessary...I should head out." He declined, standing up in his chair.
"Nonsense, it's late, you should both be getting some sleep, it's really no trouble at all." Elmyra pressed.
Cloud sighed in defeat and looked at Aeris who was grinning. He headed over to the stairs and followed Elmyra, leaving Aeris to head up straight behind him.
After they had made their way to the next floor of the house, Elmyra headed into a room, leaving Cloud and Aeris in the halway.
"I'm sorry, I don't want to be intruding..." Cloud apologized
"Don't worry, it's no trouble, my mother loves having company anyway." Aeris said, her words comforting him slightly, and making him feel less guilty about staying over.
"Here you go!" Elmyra emerged from her room and tossed Cloud a plain black t-shirt which he caght with his right hand.
"Thank you, and I'm sorry if we woke you."
"Ah, don't worry about it," she waved a hand at him, "It was Aeris who woke me anyway, slamming cupboards and whatnot." Elmyra teased, giving Aeris a little push.
"Hey!" Aeris chuckled, " sorry I woke you from your nap, go back to bed "Grandma"."
Elmyra gasped, "Grandma! I don't think so young lady! I am anything BUT old...but yeah, ok I'll go back to bed haha." she surrendered and headed into her room.
"Come on Cloud, I'll show you where you can sleep." Aeris gripped his arm and dragged him through the hallway into another room.
"Here we are." She said walking into the room and heading over to the bed to turn on the lamp.
The room was actually pretty nice. Clean wooden floors, a nice rug, fluffly blankets, a window, lamp, dresser, closet. Definately above average from most places Cloud had been in the slums.
"Well, I'll leave you to get to bed then. Goodnight Cloud" Aeris said, heading out of the room.
"Goodnight Aeris." Cloud responded back before she shut the door.
Once Aeris had left, Cloud sighed and threw the shirt Elmyra had given him over his head. He then headed over to the bed and collapsed onto it. Placing his arms over his head, Cloud took into consideration just how comfy this bed was, then his thoughts wandered to Aeris...she was something. She actually made him feel...happy. No one else could really do that, and he had only known her for a few hours! Maybe it was the way she laughed, or always smiled, or her genuine courtesey that she showed towards him, either way, he liked her. Not in that way, atleast he didn't think he did...not yet anyways.
Sitting on her small chair in her room, in front of the mirror, Aeris was absently brushing her hair, when she was suddenly interupted.
"So..." Elmyra mused mischeiviously.
Aeris spun around in her chair and tried to hide her smile, " 'So' what, Mom?" who was she kidding. she knew what she was getting at.
Elmyra had been leaning on the doorframe, but moved off to sit on Aeris' bed. "So, it's been awhile since you brought a boyfriend home!" she giggled.
Aeris sighed and rolled her eyes, "He's not a boyfriend Mom, and I met him like 7 hours ago."
"Ah, I was just playing...he reminds me of Zack though..."
Aeris frowned, "I know...I thought that too when I first talked to him...he's a lot quieter though."
"Yeah, I can tell."
"He used to be in SOLDIER too...like him, first class."
Elmyra looked at her, surprised, "Really now? Did he know him?"
"No. He says he doesn't remember anyone by the name."
"Hmmm...that's strange. So...why'd you bring him home eh?" Elmyra asked again with her teasing tone.
Aeris narrowed her eyes at her mother, "Because it was dark by the time I fixed him up after he fell through the roof, and Reno had already come by the church looking for me so he wouldn't have been far away."
Elmyra shifted around on the bed, "Oh...sure there...I believe you..."
"Mooooooom." Aeris whined, "Come on, leave me alone."
"Well," Elmyra stood up and smoothed out her nightgown, "If I had a guy save me from the turks, and walk me home with no shirt on, flaunting around his nice body...I'd totally go for it."
Aeris laughed at her, "Mom, you're terrible! Get outta here and go to bed!" She insisted, forcing her out of her room.
"Alright alright! Goodnight!"
"Goodnight mother!"
Aeris sighed and shut her door. 'Just cause she's probably right doesn't mean she has to rub it in.' she told herself while walking over to her dresser and pulling out some pyjamas to sleep in.
'Hmmm...maybe I should go see if Cloud needs anything...I didn't really ask him before I left...'
Cloud hadn't really been trying to get to sleep, he had just been laying there, caught up in a jumble of his own random thoughts...mostly of which had to do with Aeris. When he finally actually realized how much he was thinking about her, he cursed himself for getting so wound up over a girl he had just met, but he couldn't help it. After noticing that he probably wouldn't see her again after tonight, Cloud gave up on his thoughts and was ready to give into sleep, when...someone knocked at his door.
'Oh, well speak of the devil I wonder who that could be...Well there are three people in this house. Myself, Elmyra, and Aeris. Elmyra went to bed. I am laying here...Great, the minute you get her out of your head, she walks into your room...' "Come in."
Aeris slowly turned the door handle as quietly as she could, not wanting to wake her mother, but the door squeaked rather loudly dispite the fact she was moving it as slowly as she could.
"I-I didn't wake you did I?" a soft voice asked quietly.
Cloud sat up and swung his feet around off the bed, "No, you didn't, nothing to worry about."
"Ok, good." Aeris sighed and opened the door all the way, letting herself in.
'Hmph...now you're really not gonna get to sleep.' Cloud told himself while looking Aeris over. She didn't have her dress on anymore. Instead, she was wearing a pair of pink pyjama pants and a small white tank top that showed a little bit of her stomach and it had thin straps. Even in her leisure nightwear she somehow managed to look gorgeous. He also noted that her hair was down...and he liked it. Her hair was a honey brown, and it was actually quite wavy when it was down, reaching just to her elbows.
Aeris has noticed Cloud staring at her for quite some time now, as much as it flattered her, she was getting a little tired, so she cleared her throat and said what she came to say, "Um, I just wanted to know if you needed anything, I mean...I didn't really ask before...so I was just wondering..." she trailed off...he was still looking at her in a less than innocent way, but he was taking in what she said none the less.
Cloud shook his head slightly, trying to avert his gaze, "Uh, no...no I'm fine really. But, thank you for coming in here to ask me. I'm sure you're probably tired from healing me...and yourself today, you should go to sleep."
Aeris smiled and clasped her hands together behind her back, "Thanks Cloud, and if you do need anything later, don't hesitate to go and get anything." she offered cheerfully, taking into note how 'sweet' he sounded, putting her needs before his own.
Cloud nodded and brough his feet back up on to the bed, "Alright, thanks, but I'm sure I'll be fine." he assured her.
"Ok. Goodnight Cloud." she smiled and headed out the door again.
"Night."
It was weird...Cloud had many girls who had just met him and were always offering and trying to do things for him that he never needed when they 'liked' him, but everything turned out to be a hassel, or kind of irritating. He would never say anything of course, but Aeris did all this too...but she wasn't bothering him, or hasseling him, or bugging him. He guessed that was just how she naturally was, and maybe that was what was different. All the other girls had obviously put on a 'polite' act to try and get to him, but Aeris, she was just genuinely caring and giving. Cloud decided this had to have been one of the many things that made her so different from other girls, and it was one of the things that was slowly attracting him to her.
Ok, this chapter is done, and thanks for the reviews :D . And to be honest I would have posted this without reviews anyways, because the first 1500 words of this chapter was already written, so I thought, hey! What the hell right? But I really appreciate them anyways! So once again, R&R!