Chapter 3: Show Down

Disclaimer: Square Enix owns Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, its predecessor and all their characters.

Author's note: Just to clarify, Zephyr is the name of the lugger, Zodiac is the name of the dinghy. Apologies for the confusion.

Her heart started thudding. Blood began to roaring through her head. As did a whole bunch of furious thoughts. How dared he pursue her like this? Six months had gone by. Six long, miserable months... She'd just begun to feel safe. Just begun to feel as if she might survive without him. And what does he do? Turns up like a bad penny! What in God's name did she have to do to make good her escape? She'd fled the damned country, hadn't she? Worked menial jobs in far-flung harbors around the world for months before daring to return to the mainland. Even then, she'd only stayed because this job had been in such a remote corner of the country. Cloud had always said he had no interest in any other state except the main city.

How had he found her? Had some wretched tourist from Gold Saucer recognized her and reported back to him? No, she decided. That wouldn't have been likely. People from the main city rarely holidayed in Costa Del Sol… They went to Gold Saucer, He'd found her the way men always found people… He'd hired some professional to hunt her down, to track her like some wretched criminal on the run. And now that she'd been found, he'd come himself to hound her into going back to him.

Well, she wouldn't! Never! Ever! If he wanted to, he would have to hog-tie her and drag her back. She would never voluntarily go back. Aeris had thought that her initial fear of seeing Cloud again would consume her, but that terror was rapidly fading to be replaced by a surge of emotions she never thought she could still possibly feel. She was angry of the power he still held over her. She was simply livid!

Her eyes glared daggers at him as the Zodiac pulled alongside. She didn't notice Zack glaring at her when she failed to take the rope and secure the boat to the lugger. All she saw was Cloud, staring back at her with a blank expression, as though he had absolutely no idea why she was scowling at him with such ill-concealed fury.

His lack of sensitivity only infuriated her further.

Zack finally communicated his own frustration with Aeris by throwing the rope into her hands. Reluctantly, she turned her attention to the job at hand, securing the boat to the side of the lugger. Her smile was stiff as she introduced herself, and then proceeded to help the party aboard, finding out in the process that the two couples were around their mid-twenties and obviously good friends, confiding in Aeris within seconds that they had all graduated recently and been travelling around for the past few weeks. The single woman was a modelesque creature, tall and lean with gorgeous dark hair and chocolaty sweet baby brown eyes.

"This is just too exciting!" she enthused, one hand fluttering up to her throat as she gazed around with seemingly enthralled eyes. "Watch your step," Aeris warned on sighting her high-heeled sandals. "The deck is smooth and can be slippery." "Don't you worry sweetie," she said smugly. "I won't fall. These shoes and I have gone everywhere together. They're like a part of me." Aeris could believe that as she watched the woman saunter in comfortably. Aeris slowly gathered her small spark of new found courage and turned to face Cloud. He rose from where he'd remained sitting at the back of the small craft, his handsome face now a perfect picture of puzzlement.

Did he think he was fooling her with that stupid expression? She knew why he'd come. To get her back! The almighty Cloud Strife could not be allowed to be seen to be a failure. His marriage could not possibly end in desertion, or even worse… Divorce.

Her temper raised another notch, so much that when Cloud took another step towards the front of the Zodiac to towards the Zephyr, she was ripe and ready for him. "Not you," she spat at him, jabbing her right index finger towards his chest. "You can just stay right there and let Zack take you back to the beach!!" He blinked while Zack simply gaped. Aeris was aware of the other guests gasping behind her. "Good God Aeris," Zack sputtered. "What's gotten into you?"

"I'll tell you what's going on. That person there," she ground out, injecting as much venom as she possibly could, pointing straight at Cloud's cold-blooded heart, "Isn't the innocent tourist he's pretending to be. He happens to be my ex-husband. He isn't here for a simple cruise. He's here to make trouble. Believe me when I tell you he's a sneaky, conniving conman and you can't believe a word out of his mouth!!" Zack gave him a darkly suspicious glance. "Is that true? Are you Aeris's ex-husband?"

"No."

Aeris laughed. "Okay, so you want to be literal! Legally, you are still my husband I guess. But I walked out on our ghastly marriage six months ago, Zack, and haven't seen this mockery of a husband since that day. In my book, that makes him about as EX as you can get."

"I'm not her husband either." The mockery said. Now it was Aeris's turn to gape. "Not my husband!" she finally snapped. "What kind of game are you playing Cloud? You can't get a divorce in this planet under twelve months, no matter how much money and connections you've got. I know. I asked." "I'm not your husband because I'm not Cloud. But I can understand your mistake. I'm Cloud's twin brother… Sky."

Aeris was speechless. But not for long. "Cloud doesn't have a twin brother," she argued. "He doesn't have a brother at all. Period! He's an only child." "Is that what he told you?" came the calm query.

"Yes!"

"What else?"

"What do you mean what else?"

"I mean… regarding his family."

"He doesn't have any family. His mother and father died some years back"

"Our father did. But I assure you our mother is alive and well and living in Nibelheim. I spoke to her only yesterday on the phone."

Aeris's mouth dropped open.

"Well, you did say you couldn't believe a word your husband said," Zack pointed out with merciless logic. "Yes, but… but…" Aeris frantic gaze scanned the man standing before her, raking him from head to toe to see if there was any visible evidence that this was not Cloud. Since he was dressed casually, in pale grey shorts and a navy and white striped top, she could see quite a bit of him. He looked leaner than Cloud, she finally conceded… And not quite as muscled. He looked a little younger too, blinking those large blue eyes – eyes which at the moment were staring at him with a most irritating composure, as though he was patiently waiting for the truth of his identity to sink in.

"I think you owe the man an apology Aeris," Zack grated out.

Aeris glanced up into the man's eyes, eyes which were identical to Cloud's. They met hers levelly and quite blandly. Despite that, something decidedly sexual curled in her stomach. Cloud had always been able to turn her on, just by looking at her. No way could another man – not even an identical twin – reproduce what Cloud could make her feel. Such a possibility was beyond belief. "I don't need to," she bit out, "because I know I'm right. This man is my husband, Cloud Strife, no matter what clever lies he trots out."

"Good grief Aeris!" Zack exclaimed exasperatedly. "Why on this planet would he say he's your husband's brother if he wasn't?" "I don't know." Unless it was to trick her into letting her guard down with him. Maybe he was plotting to kidnap her, or some equally appalling plan. She would put nothing past Cloud. She knew the real man now, knew what he was capable of. Where once she'd thought him wonderfully strong and decisive, she now knew he was cold-bloodedly ruthless. His veins ran cold with ice, not blood. His silver tongue spouted lies with superb ease. My God, when she thought of the thousands of times he'd told her he loved her! Every morning before he left for work. Every time he'd made love to her.

Made love? She thought sneeringly. Such a description was a joke! Cloud had never made love to her. He'd seduced her... Manipulated her... Used her… Love had never come into the equation. Nausea swirled in her stomach at the renewal of this bitter realization. All lies… The man was a total lie. This crazy claim about a twin brother was a lie!! Hatred burned in her eyes as she glared up at him. "I'm not him," he reiterated, in a voice so unlike Cloud's that she was momentarily thrown. Suddenly, his eyes were not Cloud's either. They were soft and sad. Cloud had a wide range of expressions but soft and sad had never been a part of them.

Still… Faith in one's husband, and one's own judgment, once lost was not easily restored. Aeris hardened her heart against that treacherous weakness of hers to simply believe what she was told. "Do you honestly think you can fool me a second time?" She threw at him in her agony and fury. "You're Cloud and nothing and no one can convince me otherwise. So, I repeat, you either go back to that beach or I will. I'll swim if I have to!"

Zack sighed at his own frustration. "Aeris… You're paranoid. It's perfectly clear that this man is not your husband. Why won't you believe him?" "It's alright," the man said himself. "I fully understand the young lady's attitude, especially since she is unfortunate enough to be my brother's wife. Cloud is not a very nice person. He can be in fact, a bastard of the first order. But I repeat… Aeris, is it?... I am not Cloud. I'm nothing like him, except in looks, which is something I can do little about. I'm sorry if I have upset you. Truly sorry."

Aeris could only stare. An apology? Apologies were anathema to Cloud. He gave reasons for his actions. Sometimes excuses. But never apologies. Maybe… Just maybe… This person standing before her wasn't Cloud.

But only maybe. Aeris was not about to rush into believing anything anymore. Not where her husband was concerned. Her eyes remained hard on him… And skeptical. The man who claimed he wasn't her husband shrugged. "Perhaps you should take me back to the beach," he directed towards Zack. "I don't want to spoil the cruise for everyone else." "I don't see why I should," Zack replied. "If Aeris has a problem with your being on the cruise then she can be the one to go back to the beach. I believe that you're not her ex, even if she doesn't. No man would make up such a far-fetched lie over some female who obviously doesn't want a bar of him. It doesn't make any sense. Pity Aeris can't see that."

Aeris no longer knew what to think, even though she glared at Zack for speaking his mind, she knew her friend was right in a way. It didn't make much sense. She didn't really believe Cloud was out to kidnap her. Violence was not in his bag. He always used oral persuasion to get what he wanted. At worse, he appealed to an opponent's darker side to achieve his ends, playing up to their greed, or their love for power and position. She could not see how pretending to be his twin brother could possibly persuade her back to her marriage. What could Cloud hope to achieve with a deception which could only be short-lived, at best? She would eventually find out the truth.

"Perhaps if I might make a suggestion?"

Aeris whirled at the sound of the female voice, flushing as she realized the rest of the party had been standing around, witnessing – and possibly being entertained by – every embarrassing, humiliating word. The 'model' was especially wide eyed, obviously fascinated by the situation. It was one of the girlfriends who had spoken, however. Once everyone's eyes were on her, she went on. "I used to go to school with identical twins. There were the dead spit of each other, and liked to play awful pranks on everyone, swapping places all the time. But then one of them had an accident in the playground, running into another boy and chipping his front tooth. After that, we could always tell them apart. Perhaps… You have some physical defect that your brother didn't? That way, this lady could be sure. I can understand her reluctance to trust her word alone, if your brother is such a bad egg."

Her suggestion had clearly pole-axed him, his shoulders stiffening with instant tension. Aeris's stomach turned over when she saw that tell-tale muscle twitch along his jaw line. Cloud did that all the time when he was put into an awkward or unpalatable position. His jaw line had twitched just like that when she'd told him she was bored that morning at breakfast, and also at a dinner one night, when an agent had told him he would never pass on his client to Cloud.

That agent had not been in work since, when a sex scandal had erupted around him after that.

Her heart began to beat faster. So she'd been right all along. He was Cloud. Everyone was staring at him now, staring and waiting. An electric tension filled the air. "There must be something, man," Zack grated out.

"There is a scar," he said, startling Aeris, since Cloud did not have a single flaw on his beautiful male body. "But frankly, it's a bit embarrassing to show, given its position. I'll give you a look, Zack, and you can tell Aeris about it."

And there goes Chapter 3!! I'm on a roll man! Thanks for your sweet reviews! As for how long this story will be… It's hard to say but I'm guessing around 15 chapters?

See y'all next week!