Chapter 10: Meeting Don Corneo
"I can't believe that I actually let you two talk me into doing this." said Cloud in mortification/embarrassment at both Angelina and Aeris behind him (who were smiling then giggling at him minutes ago) as he stared at his reflection before the rectangular mirror inside "Albert's Dress Shop" and slowly shaking his head in disgust.
He's currently wearing a long, purple dress with long sleeves and a long, pink ribbon around his waist, made entirely of soft purple silk which shimmered when the light of the bulb in the shop shine on it. The dress did the job in covering up his tough guy looks and aura and the "Blonde Wig" (which they obtained when they went to Big Bro's Gym and Cloud won it by doing squats against one of the tough guy training there), the "Sexy Cologne" (which they obtained from a woman in a toilet in Mike Western Cuisine after they gave her some medicine to help her), the "Diamond Tiara" (obtained from a lazy guy selling wine in his small wine shop) and finally the "Lingerie" (from one of the assistant working in "Honey Bee Inn" and he also had some of the girls wearing bumble-bee outfits put on make-up for him, no thanks to Aeris) succeeded in making him look quite the delicate and feminine "woman".
(Poor Cloud. Having to go through this just to help Tifa. But it's still hilarious, XD.)
"Wow, I didn't expect to see you look this pretty, "Clarice"." said Angelina in a teasing tone to "Clarice", who turned "her" head over "her" shoulder and glared at Angelina.
"Hmm, not bad, not bad at all." said Mr Albert Gaskin as he looked at "Clarice" up and down approvingly. "This may be a new business for me. Thanks to you, young lady."
"Oh, it's no problem, sir." replied Aeris kindly to Mr Gaskin without glancing away from "Clarice". "Now try to walk more nicely…like this, Miss "Clarice"."
"…What do you mean, "nicely"?" "Clarice" asked her.
"You know, like this." Aeris told "her" before she began teaching "her" on how to walk nicely (which made Angelina giggle again) in the dress shop until she's convinced.
"Oh, don't you just look cute at all, Miss "Clarice"." Angelina teased "Clarice" again and received another glare from "her".
"Awww, seeing you in a dress makes me want to have one too." said Aeris before she glance at Mr Gaskin. "Do you have one that'll look good on me, Mr Gaskin?"
"Hmmm, I just might have one for you, miss." said Mr Gaskin as he went toward the dress racks to choose a dress for Aeris and pull out a long red silk dress with a pale blue ribbon around the waist which shimmered in the light as well.
"Excuse me, sir. But what about her?" said "Clarice" as "she" pointed a finger at Angelina. "Why don't you choose one for her too, since we'll be going into the mansion together."
"W-What? But…" Angelina stuttered and watched as Mr Gaskin gave "Clarice" a smile, went and choose/pull out another dress for Angelina (after he gave the red silk/pale blue ribbon dress to Aeris). This time it's a long, green silk dress with a pink ribbon around the waist (which also shimmered in the light too). "Clarice" smirked when "she" saw the scowled look on Angelina's face before "she" quickly ushered both Aeris and Angelina into the changing room. A few minutes later, they both came out of the dressing room wearing the dresses Mr Gaskin gave to them, looking quite stunning in them.
"So? How do we look?" Aeris asked "Clarice" excitedly while Angelina blushed with embarrassment and look away from "Clarice" when she saw "her" looking.
"Uh… you two look… very nice in them." replied "Clarice" as "she" scratch the back of "her" head.
"Why, thank you." said Aeris, smiling at "her".
"Come on, let's hurry up and head to the mansion to get Tifa out of there." said Angelina to them as she turned and began to leave the dress shop. "Clarice" and Aeris thanked Mr Gaskin for the three dresses before they headed out of the dress shop and followed behind Angelina straight toward Don's mansion at the edge of Wall market for the second and last time (while they ignored the leering/dreamy gazes of the men on them). When they arrived before the entrance of the mansion and the same guard who guarded the door, the guard's eyes lit up in joy as he looked at them up and down, especially on Angelina (much to her dismay and Cloud's anger when he saw it).
"Damn, woman! Both your friends are looking quite hot in those dresses! Come in, come in!" exclaimed the guard happily to Aeris before he turned and knocked loudly on the door of the mansion. "Three gorgeous ladies coming through!"
A few seconds after the guard announced them, the large, yellow doors opened up in front of them and the guard move aside while motioning for them to went in, which they do so. After "Clarice", Angelina and Aeris went into the mansion, they looked around and saw that the inside of the mansion is lavishly decorated with a large, circular maroon-coloured carpet which had the form of a giant water serpent sew on it (The deity or summon of Wutai, Leviathan) covering the dark tiled floor, crimson-coloured walls with emblems/insignias of long forgotten cultures painted or pasted on it, two huge jade and bright orange-coloured urns standing against the crimson wall to their right (big enough to hold or hide a person inside) and next to a red, wooden staircase leading up to three different rooms, a crimson desk to their left where people could make or ask for appointments with a back room behind the desk leading into another room. Soon they heard the sound of footsteps and they saw an assistant guy in a dark business suit came out from the back room and stood behind the desk and grinned when he saw "Clarice", Angelina and Aeris standing in the middle of the room, waiting.
"Hello there, ladies." The assistant greeted them cheerfully. "I'll go and let the Don know you're here. So wait here and don't go wandering around."
The assistant turned around and headed back into the back room, going to tell the "Don" that there were three ladies waiting to see him. Once they're sure that he's out of their sight, they three of them turned to faced each other, nodded before they went up the stairs, turned left and walked past the small room to their right and the center room (which most likely is the personal room of Don which they didn't want to entered) toward the small opened room to their left, went in and went down the long stone steps into a room filled with some kind of bizarre-looking restraining devices, some glowing candles lying in trays around the room and a large, dark red table in the middle of the room with the white outline of a person on it and with handcuffs positioned in place on the table where the person's hands and feets would go (which doesn't amused both Cloud and Angelina at all). Once they reached the bottom of the steps, "Clarice" and Angelina soon saw Tifa standing at the other end of the room with her back to them, in the same stunning bluish-purple dress which they saw her wore on when she went into Wall Market. Tifa then turned around and looked at them when she heard someone coming down and "Clarice" looked at her for a second before "she" realised the condition "she" in, turned away from her and Angelina and quickly ran back and stood near the stairs with "her" back to them, embarrassed.
"Tifa!" said Angelina in a happy/relieved tone of voice to her.
"Angie? Is that you?" said Tifa in a surprised then relieved tone when she saw her. "You're alright! What're you doing here and why are you wearing a dress?"
"Tifa, the reason why we're here and wearing these dresses is to search for you." Angelina told her.
"Wait, "we"?" said Tifa, confused.
"Yeah." said Angelina with a nod of her head before she tilted her head to her right to tell Tifa to looked over her shoulder which she did and she saw Aeris (who's already near them during their talk).
"Tifa?" said Aeris politely to her. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Aeris Gainsborough."
"Yeah. It's nice to meet you too…" said Tifa as she gave Aeris a confused look before she blinked when she realised/remember where she saw her before. "Wait… you're the woman I saw with Cloud and Angelina in the playground…"
"Yeah, that's right." replied Aeris, nodding her head. "With Cloud and Angelina."
"Oh…" Tifa muttered quietly and looked away from Aeris at the 3rd "woman" standing in a corner far from them, still with "her" back to them. "Angie, who's that woman standing over there and where's Cloud?"
"Oh, that "woman" behind us?" said Angelina as she looked over her shoulder at "Clarice", snickering (which confuses Tifa). "Hey, "Clarice". Come on over."
"Clarice" glance over "her" shoulder at them, saw them looking at "her" and glance away again.
"Still embarrassed, "Clarice"?" said Aeris, trying to stifle her giggles with the back of her hand. "Come on over already, Cloud!"
Cloud let out a sigh, turned and walked slowly toward Angelina, Aeris and Tifa, still with his head down as he stopped before them. Tifa leaned forward slightly to look at the "woman's" face closely and she immediately jumped a few feet in the air in surprised/astonishment (now she know why both Angelina and Aeris kept on giggling/laughing) when she saw Cloud's familiar looks and blue eyes beyond the make-up, wig and outfit he put on.
"Cloud!?" exclaimed Tifa loudly and she began to speak rapidly to Cloud, rendering him unable to say anything to her. "Why are you dressed up like this!? And what are you doing here!? Forget that, what happened to both you and Angie after you two fell!? Are you hurt!?"
"Woah, slow down, Tifa." said Angelina. "Give him some room to explain it to you, okay?"
Tifa looked over at Angelina and nodded. Cloud gave Angelina an almost grateful kind of look before he let out another small sigh and began talking/explaining to Tifa.
"Tifa, the reason I'm dressed up like this is because they told me to do it (he pointed an accusing finger at both Angelina and Aeris, who stared at him amusedly) and because there's no other way for us to get in here to find/get you. And we're both fine, Tifa. Aeris helped us."
"Oh, she did, huh…" said Tifa, sounding quite sad/disappointed. And before she could say anything else, Cloud asked her a question.
"Now, explain to us, Tifa." said Cloud. "What are you doing in a place like this?"
"Yeah, ummm…" Tifa stammered and lowered her head, not sure on how to explain her current dilemma/predicament to both Cloud and Angelina with Aeris around. She glance up at Aeris uneasily and Aeris got her message and walked to a corner away from them, giving them privacy.
Once Aeris is out of earshot, Tifa looked at both Cloud and Angelina and smiled in relief. "…I'm really glad to see that you two are okay," said Tifa. "Right after Barret, me and the other AVALANCHE members fled from the Number 5 reactor and returned to Seventh Heaven, Laina demanded to Barret about where the two of you are and when he rudely told her about what happened, she went livid and uses her "Telekinesis" on him, literally sending him flying and crashing against various parts of the room until he had bruises all over his body. Only when she noticed the frighten and stricken look on Marlene's face that she stopped, let him go and stormed her up to her room."
"Sounds like what Laina would do when she's mad, sure enough." said Angelina, crossing her arms.
"And after that outburst, we noticed this suspicious, weird man." Tifa continued. "So Barret caught him, despite the bruises on his body and squeezed some information out of him."
"And that's when the "Don" name popped out of his mouth." Cloud commented.
"Right, Don Corneo." said Tifa with a nod. "Barret told me to leave the lech alone… but something's been bothering me. And it bothered Laina too when I went upstairs to tell her about it, which is after Barret let him go and she wanted to come with me."
"So that's why you're here. You wanted to get the story straight from Corneo's mouth… Wait, Laina's here too?" said Angelina, first presumed then surprised.
"No, she's not. She wanted to come with me while searching for you two at the same time but Barret and I managed to convinced her to stay behind at Seventh Heaven with Marlene and Wren." Tifa told them, looking concerned and rubbing her hands together anxiously. "…So now, here I am but now I'm in a bind. Because Corneo is looking for a bride. Every day he would get several girls into his mansion, chooses one of them and… well…" Tifa trailed off, not wanting to say it and shook her head. "Anyway, I have to be the girl… or I'm out for tonight."
Aeris, who's been standing in a corner away from them, let out a sigh and turned around to faced them. "Sorry, everyone… but I overheard everything…" Aeris told them in an apologetic tone before she walked back to them. "So if you know the girls, then there's no problem, right?"
"I guess so… but…" said Tifa with a small sigh.
"We have three girls here, right?" Aeris told her. "You, me and Angelina."
"No, Aeris!" Cloud exclaimed suddenly, which made all three of them glance over at him with surprised looks on their faces. "I can't have you get involved any further."
"Oh? So it's all right for either Tifa or Angelina to be in danger?" retorted Aeris shrewdly while glaring at Cloud.
"What? Of course I also don't want both Angie and Tifa in…" Cloud stammered while he scratches the back of his head.
"Thanks for thinking that the two of us are incapable in defending/watching out for ourselves, Cloud." said Angelina, giving Cloud a dark, scowling look.
"Angie, I…" Cloud began saying but got cut off by an angry man's voice above them.
"Hey, ladies!" the man's voice called out above them and all four of them looked up the steps to see Don Corneo's assistant standing on the steps and glaring down at them. "The Don is waiting. Hurry up!" the assistant told them before turning around and walked out of the room, muttering something under his breath.
Cloud glance over at Angelina, Tifa and Aeris and they all nodded to him (which make him sighed) before they went up the stone steps, out of the room and saw the assistant standing next to the entrance of the center room.
"The Don's waiting in this room…" the assistant told them with a wide grin on his face. He opened the door for them and Cloud, Angelina, Tifa and Aeris went through the opened door into the room.
As they went in, they could see (and expected) that Don Corneo's personal, large chamber/room is as extravagant/expensive as the room outside. A long, rectangular, maroon-coloured carpet with the image of intertwining, green snakes sewn on it stretched from the doorway to the expensive, rectangular brown wood desk with papers before them. On either side of the desk stood two hired guards, punks who got lucky in getting a job working as guards for Don Corneo. As for Don Corneo himself, an unattractive old man with a single line of blonde hair that went from his forehead to his crown on his bald head, small, sly and weasly pale blue eyes on his round face, wearing a button-up white shirt with blue jeans and a long, red coat (or robe) which strain against his oversized, fat body and a lit, cigarette on his mouth was sitting on his red, throne-like chair patiently as he waited for the girls to entered his room.
Cloud, Angelina, Tifa and Aeris looked around the place nervously (while holding back their looks of disgust when they saw Don Corneo), not sure on what they should do now.
"All right, ladies!" said the guard on Don Corneo's left as he stepped forward and raised his hand to the four of them. "Line up in front of the Don!"
The four of them listen to his order and lined up in a horizontal row in front of the desk and Don Corneo, Cloud and Angelina stand in the middle with Aeris standing on Angelina's right and Tifa standing on Cloud's left. After they stood in front of him in silence, Don Corneo suddenly leapt out from his chair and landed on his desk, his eyes bright with joy and excitement as he looked at the four of them hungrily.
"Hmmm! Good, splendid!" said Don in a happy tone of voice as his eyes darted from one girl to another. He then clambered (or jumped) off his desk and sauntered forward to where Aeris stood, inspecting her closely. "Now, let's see… Which girl should I choose? Hmm… hmm…!"
Don then walked over to Cloud and began to examined him closely, but every time he try to get a closer look at Cloud's face and eyes, Cloud would turn his head away and close his mako, blue eyes so that Don Corneo wouldn't see them and realised that it's a trick.
"This one?" said Don, blinking a little when he noticed Cloud kept turning his head left and right every time he try to take a closer look at him but pay it no mind. He then went over to examined both Angelina and Tifa closely. "Or this one, or the one next to her?"
He then walked back to Cloud and try to get a closer look at Cloud's face this time but Cloud turn his head away to avoid looking at him the second time. Finally Don Corneo made up his mind and jumped.
"Woo-hoo, I've made up my mind!" said Don cheerfully. "My choice for tonight will be…" he trailed off for a moment to raise the suspense of everyone in the room before he walked away from Cloud and raised his hands to… Angelina. "This green dress, violet-eyes beauty!"
"W-What?" said Angelina with a horrified look on her face. "Now wait just a minute! I refused to be with you tonight!"
"Woo-hoo!" said Don cheerfully again while clapping his hands. "I love chickies like you who play hard-to-get! Yeowza!" Don Corneo then turned around to faced his two bodyguards standing on both sides of his desk. "You two can have the other three girls!"
"Yes sir!" said both of the guards happily as they raised their hands to their foreheads, saluting him. "Thank you, sir!"
Don Corneo nodded to them with approval before he turned back to Angelina, grinning. "Well then, shall we go, my beauty?" Don said to her and before she could protest against him, he walked off away from her, pass his desk and bodyguards and stopped next to a door behind his desk and bodyguards.
Angelina turned her head to her right and looked at Aeris, who nodded her head to her, then turned her head to her left and looked at both Cloud and Tifa, who also nodded their heads to her (while trying hard not to laugh or to stop her from going with him). Angelina sighed and began to followed Don Corneo into his room while leaving Cloud, Tifa and Aeris behind and at the hands of his bodyguards.