-The Cloudy Days-
"Cloud..., hey Cloud...wake up...look outside...it's snowing!"
Cloud awakens to the sound of Marlene doing a happy little jig next to his bed, she points toward the window before rushing out of the room to tell the entire bar of her great discovery.
Cloud sits up, looking out of the window to see that like Marlene had said, little flurries of ice were falling from the grey sky.
"Finally, no more rain..."
He gets out of bed, going to look into the mirror across from it. Carefully he scrutinizes his every feature, before going into the bathroom to take a shower. Once done, he leaves his room to join the rest of Avalanche at the bar.
They were all sitting around, listening to the early morning news.
"In happier news, today in Nibelheim, a nest full of chocobo eggs were found. Now, this may not sound like news, but these fluffy little joys are believed to be a special breed of chocobo..."
"Oooh, sounds like an opportunity to make some dough!" Yuffie says, rubbing her hands together.
Tifa tuts at her, "I thought your klepto days were over..."
"Klepto!? I'm no Klepto!"
Cloud walks around the group over to the refrigerator, he opens it, retrieving his carton of orange juice. Just as he goes to take a sip, Barret raises the volume on the television. The sounds of the news overtakes the sounds of Cloud's throat as he chugs the juice back.
"Corrupted energy continues to leak onto the planet from the active Mako Reactors. When asked for a statement, President Shinra had this to say: we are handling the issue as best as we can at the moment, but fear not brave Gaians as we have weathered far worse.
Confident words from our president, huh Lucas?"
"Pfft, yeah we weathered more, all the shit he put us through!" Barret roars at the TV.
Cloud tosses his empty carton aside, before going to make his way back up the stairs. As he goes, he feels someone following him, he turns to face Yuffie. She puts her hands to hips, leaning toward him with a stern eye.
"Have you spoken to, or heard from June at all?" She whispers.
Cloud stiffens at her question, "...no..."
Yuffie sighs, slouching over almost dejectedly.
"Me neither, I was mad at her at first but now..., Cloud it's been 2 weeks..."
Cloud looks at his feet, it was all he do to keep from revealing his true feelings on the matter.
I know... He wanted to say.
Waiting for June to fold had proven to be a bad plan, as she hadn't made any attempts to contact them. It was beginning to wear on him, the fact that he didn't know if she was OK or not.
Yuffie snaps her finger to pull him out of his thoughts, "well..." she starts. "I'm going to visit her today, you can come if you want..."
"How were you getting there?" Cloud asks as she descends the stairs.
She look up at her, a grin showing at her lips.
"Your motorcycle, of course."
Cloud scoffs at her, before turning to enter his bedroom. Once in the privacy of his own room, he allows himself to be honest...with himself. He goes over to his dresser, opening the second drawer to reveal the Gold Saucer tickets at the top of a stack of boxers.
"I'll give them to her...and let her decide who she'd like to go with..."
But what if she doesn't choose me...?
What a waste of money that would be. Cloud sighs, the only way to avoid complete and utter disappointment, would be to ask her directly.
"Would you like to-...I was thinking-...Wanna go to the-...ugh." He stuffs the tickets into his pocket, deciding that he'd wing it once there.
The worst she can say...is no...
He grabs his phone, heading for the door.
"Where you guys goin'!?" Barret shouts as Cloud and Yuffie exit the bar. Cloud hesitates to say, but Yuffie answers right away.
"We're going to go see June!"
Marlene and Denzel rush over at her words, "can we come!"
Yuffie shakes her head at them, "nope, not enough room on the bike, next time, kiddos!"
She grabs Cloud by the arm, pulling him out of the bar and over to where he'd parked his bike.
"I've been missin' her." She mutters as she gets on. "I feel bad for the way I acted when she left...she must feel real alone now..."
The possibility of June's loneliness makes Cloud's heart sink; after all that they'd been through and all the times he'd tried to convince her that he truly cared, he couldn't bare the thought of her sinking back into her depressive state.
He gets on the bike, pausing only to allow Yuffie to get a good hold of him.
"Well she's not alone," he says in a voice barely above a whisper.
Yuffie raises a brow when he puts the pedal to the metal and the bike shoots down the street. She leans around to get a better look at his face; he looked almost angry, as per usual, but behind this anger, she sees...concern...fear even?
"Cloud...?"
He turns his head slightly, signalling that she'd gotten his attention.
"You and June, you guys...a thing or somethin'?"
She feels Cloud tense in her arms, signalling that she'd hit a nerve.
"A thing...?"
She nods, "you can't spend that much time with someone and not have any feelings for them."
Cloud goes to deny it, but he thinks better of it. Instead of starting a debate with Yuffie, he chooses to stay silent.
Yuffie watches and waits for him to say something, but when he doesn't, she sighs.
"You need to get better about sharing your feelings, Cloud."
The rest of the ride is silent, until they make it to the S.S.P building. Yuffie pumps her fist in the air when she sees Reno and Rude standing at the front gates.
"I knew it, Vince told me that they'd switched bases, of course they'd come here to their new little space program building!"
She rushes off the bike, going to face the turks.
"Let us in, we're here to see June!"
Rude looks to Reno who shakes his head.
"You can't just barge up in here demanding a visit, you gotta schedule an appointment just like everybody else, this isn't a hotel you know?"
"Schedule an appointment, uh I don't feel like I should have to schedule an appointment with my friend!" Yuffie argues.
Reno shrugs, "I know how you feel, but June's been pretty busy lately."
"Busy with what?"
"She's been working with the science geeks, as well as spending a lot of time in the weapons sector...even I've been put on the back-burner." Reno's voice takes on an almost angry tone, but he shrugs, turning to Rude. "Call up to Eji, tell'em that June has visitors."
Cloud cocks his head when Rude turns into the building, going over to a corner of the room where a phone sat on the wall. He dials a rather short number, before picking up the receiver. Yuffie and Cloud look to one another, she nods to him, but he shakes his head.
Usually, the only thing they could agree on was when it was time to take action, however, Cloud didn't feel it wise for them to mobilize before seeing June.
Rude comes out of the building, holding the door open for them.
"Go up the escalator to your left, take a right from there, and keep going, she'll come down to the atrium to meet you."
Cloud and Yuffie make their way past him, glancing back as they go.
"Well, that was easier than I expected..." Yuffie murmurs.
Cloud nods, "keep your guard up and your eyes open."
They pass through the empty main hall, doing as they were told and getting onto the escalator. On their way up, Cloud takes in the sights of the S.S.P building's interior. It's cold sterile appearance does nothing but aggravate his worry for June. They get to the top of the escalator, pausing to look around.
"This is so...surreal...and weird."
The building was the cleanest that they'd ever seen, every surface shined under the bright lights that littered the ceiling.
"And where is everybody!?"
"Yuffie…." Cloud moves past her toward the hall with the sign above it reading: Atrium.
She shakes her head at him, before turning to look around at the immaculate space again.
"This place gives me the creeps…." She brings her hands to her arms, trying to rub away the goosebumps that were sprouting up. "Cloud...wait for me!"
At the sound of her shouting, Cloud almost turns to admonish her, but just as he does, he catches sight of a woman standing at the center of the atrium. From behind, she looked too skinny to be June, and he didn't recognize her clothing to be anything that June usually wore.
Yuffie rushes by him, grabbing the woman by her arms.
"Oh June, we've missed you!"
Right before Cloud's eyes, the unfamiliar woman transforms into June. She turns to Yuffie a bright smile on her face.
"I've missed you too." She says, allowing Yuffie into her arms.
Cloud looks June over, trying to figure out what was different about her. He runs his eyes along her body, using his memory as measuring tape. She'd clearly lost weight, which bothers him a bit; why would she have lost weight so noticeably in 2 weeks? Her clothes were simple enough, a sweater and jeans, and though she wore her hair in the standard ponytail, there was something very different about it all.
"Cloud missed you too!"
Yuffie pulls away, displaying Cloud proudly.
He looks away when June turns her attention to him.
"I've missed him as well."
He stiffens when he hears her coming closer to him, her footsteps echoing throughout the hall. She puts her hand to his arm, making him look at her. That's when he sees it, the change in her.
Her eyes were glowing in a way that he'd never seen, the light behind them danced jubilantly, like it was alive. He stares into her eyes, trying to pin the light down, trying to make sense of it, it isn't until he notices a small blush growing at her cheeks does he look away.
"I'm sorry…." He murmurs.
He takes a deep breath before going to look at her again, but as he does, she wraps her arms around his neck, hugging him close. He looks down at her, trying to catch her eye as he snakes his arms around her waist.
She pulls away a bit, looking up at him.
They don't speak, until Yuffie hops over, breaking them apart with her very presence.
"So June, what do they have you doing here?"
June turns to Yuffie, leaving Cloud to slowly remove his hold on her.
Why did I bring her…?
"Well, I work with the scientists here to figure out a way to finally solve the Jenova problem, they run tests on it and myself-."
"Tests!" Yuffie interrupts.
June nods, "yeah...it's not that bad, they just want to compare how Jenova reacts to me, to how it reacts to them. So far, Jenova has no affect on me, whereas my just being in the room causes Jenova to become defensive and retreat." She glances at Cloud, making him quickly look away. "Easy-peasy really."
Yuffie nods, "so you should be home soon?"
June shrugs, "maybe…, how is everything back there?"
"Well it's been kind of different without you, we'd all gotten so used to having you around! I help with bar most nights now, and Cloud goes to pick up the kids from school all the time now too. So it's worked itself out, but the kids seem to miss you alot, and Cloud's been all sorts of out of it!"
"Yuffie."
Yuffie sniggers into her hand when Cloud glares at her.
"Sorry Cloud, but if you're not gonna tell her, I have to."
June turns to Cloud again, a small smile playing at her lips.
"Really…? And I'd thought you'd be happy to have me out of your hair-."
"Why would you think that." Cloud says over her. "I asked you to stay."
Once again, silence builds between them, and again, Yuffie breaks it.
"Why haven't you called us?"
June stares into Cloud's eyes for a moment more, before turning to Yuffie.
"I have no service here and the phones don't dial out, so...I couldn't"
"Wha...phones that don't dial out?"
June nods, "yup, same thing I said."
She turns away, for a moment, staring up at the sky through the atrium's glass ceiling.
"I've made friends here though, so I haven't been too lonely. I'm discovering my scientific side, Rima said that it's in my blood."
"Rima?" Cloud and Yuffie ask in unison.
June nods, "she's the director of the Weaponry Sector, she's also a pretty smart scientist, but she does most of her work in weapons."
When June turns back to them, Cloud can't help but notice a glint of sadness in her eyes. She dots her fingers toward the corner of her eyes as she looks up at him. Cloud frowns at her; something was wrong, he could feel it.
"So, Cloud what's bee-."
"Yuffie, can we talk...alone…?"
Both Yuffie and June looked shocked at Cloud's request.
"Um...uh yeah, sure…" Yuffie raises her brows twice at him, before she goes to stand in the hall just outside of the atrium. Cloud sighs when he sees her peeking around the corner.
June bites her lip when he turns to her, creating a look of worry.
"Cloud…?"
He takes her by her arms, staring into her eyes, searching for the truth he felt she was hiding.
"Cloud...I don't-."
"What do they have you doing, really?" He asks looking her over.
He notices a look of shock pass over her face, but she covers it with another fake smile.
"Nothing, exactly what I told you-."
"But, you told me what I thought we already knew, we know that you supposedly have a calming effect on Jenova. You mean to tell me that with all this 'testing' they haven't found anymore than that?"
June folds her arms across her chest, taking on a defensive stance.
"Why are you doing this...Cloud you're making this into...something that it isn't."
"Or I'm seeing it for what it really is."
June shakes her head, going to turn away, but Cloud grabs her wrist, pulling her back.
"June, please...tell me…."
Once again, his words appear to surprise her.
She pushes closer to him, until their bodies touch. She brings her other hand to the one he held her with.
"I wouldn't lie to you, it's nothing...I swear."
Cloud sighs, lowering his gaze to the floor.
He couldn't force her to talk, but he could try to find the truth on his own.
"Then you won't mind me coming here to visit unannounced."
She raises a brow at him, as if she doesn't believe him.
"I wouldn't."
"I'm serious."
"I am too."
She raises a brow at his hand and he pulls away. Cloud thinks to the tickets in his pocket, he wasn't sure anymore if he should give them to her, not when they seemed to be just bordering on an argument.
June pushes close to him again, laying her head on his chest as she embraces him.
"I don't want you to worry about me anymore...I'm OK…"
Cloud looks down at the top of her head; she was so close….
He had wondered whether or not the feeling was mutual; the want he felt to be around her. Most times, he couldn't fathom it, but in moments like this one, he felt almost sure of it.
He reaches into his pocket, retrieving the Gold Saucer tickets.
"I...I got these...for you."
She pulls away to look at them, it seems to her take a moment to process just what they were. She reaches for them, her eyes widening as she does.
"Are these...?"
She stops just short of finishing her sentence when she takes them for herself.
"You...got these...for me…."
Cloud nods, "we said that we'd go…."
June looks up at him, her eyes glistening with tears.
"Cloud...you...how do you almost manage to do this…?"
He watches as she turns the tickets back in forth in her hands, staring down at them with what looks to be disbelief.
"Do what?" He mutters.
"I don't know…." She breathes. "Surprise me, make me feel…safe and...important...cared for…. Cloud...I…. You're truly my hero."
This time Cloud doesn't try to hide his burning face, as he wanted to experience this moment in it's entirety. Her praise almost makes him straighten up and stand taller.
"So...when can we go?"
Her eyes light up`, "how about...next Saturday, I hear that they have specials on Saturdays."
"Saturday then."
Once again, June raises the tickets, staring at them almost lovingly.
"So…." She murmurs without looking at him. "Is this...a date?"
Cloud guffaws, making her look up at him. Her eyes gain a mischievous glint as she watches him drown in his own embarrassment.
"It's...we're-."
"It's a date."
Cloud doesn't protest her calling it a 'date', because even though he would never admit to wanting to go on a date with her, he felt that if she said it, he'd be absolved of the responsibility of sharing his feelings. However, the fact that she'd called it a date, only put more stress on the actual night they would go. If it was a date, he needed to impress her, he needed to show her a good time. That meant he'd have to stop being a chicken and treat her like a guy who wanted to be with a girl.
As they stand there, each in their own minds, two women enter the room past Yuffie, who follows behind them.
"June, there you are!"
June turns to the women, smiling when they stand before her.
"My friends came to visit, um this Yuffie and Cloud."
The taller woman looks them over, pushing her glasses up her nose as she studies them. There was something cold and shrewd about the way she looked at them, but just like 'that', the stern look leaves her face and she gives them a charming smile.
"Ah, Cloud Strife, who doesn't know you."
The woman next to her nods, "yeah...you're like the greatest soldier ever known!"
Cloud looks down to dodge their praise; he didn't usually like his past being brought up, but with June standing there, beaming almost proudly, it made him feel uncomfortable.
"This is Rima." June says putting her hand to the taller woman's shoulder, "and this is Paige…."
Paige waves to them, "she talks about you guys all the time…."
Cloud looks at June when Paige shoots her an almost gloating look, June narrows her eyes at her, but when she notices Cloud looking, she hides her face.
Yuffie steps up, putting her hand to her chest. "You guys remember me right, ninja princess Yuffie Kisaragi!?"
Paige cocks her head looking at Rima who shrugs.
"Sure we do." They say in unison.
Yuffie gasps, "are you serious, I'm the reason for this guy even doing the things he did, without me...he'd be worm food!"
She waits for them to correct their mistake, but when they don't, she turns away to sulk like a little child.
"She's been talking about you like crazy, missed you a lot." Paige says looking at Cloud. "But we've been keepin'er busy!"
Rima nods, "she's continuing in her father's footst-."
"No, I'm not." June interjects.
"She's so good at it. Recently we started our research on proto-materia and we feel that she should head the team since it was her father who began this project." Paige says over her.
June shakes her head at them, "that means nothing, I don't want to be a scientist and I'm not cut out to be a scientist...so...there."
Rima looks to Cloud, smiling at him.
"She'll come around…."
"Miss...Miss!"
Ranma comes rushing into the room, hair and glasses in a fray. She stops before June, panting with excitement.
"Miss, Mr. president would like to see you, after your visit, of course."
June nods, "OK."
She turns to Cloud and Yuffie, biting her lip almost nervously.
"Well, guys. I really do have to get back to my testing...it was nice seeing you, thank you for visiting me."
Yuffie rushes in to hug her, "no need to thank us, we'll be back before you know it."
At this, June looks over Yuffie's shoulder at Cloud, he nods.
"Sooner than you may think."
June pulls away from Yuffie, going to look up at Cloud in an almost teasing manner.
"I look forward to seeing you again."
With those words echoing in his mind, Cloud makes his way back to Edge with Yuffie. On the ride back, Yuffie leans around him, trying to gauge his feelings after the visit.
"You really like her, huh?"
Cloud glances back at her, once again he was going to try to dodge the question, but this time Yuffie doesn't stop.
"I could see it, the tension between you both...reminds me of my favorite show, Scandalized…. It's about nurse falling in love with the head doctor, but he's married, but they do their thing anyway...it's crazy!"
Cloud quirks his brow, "and how do we remind you of that?"
She shrugs, "they kept their feelings a secret for more than 2 seasons, don't be like them, Cloud."
He sighs, looking at the rode; she was right, if he would just admit his feelings, maybe he would be able to make her come home- who wants to be away from their special someone? He thinks to their date at the Gold Saucer, he wanted prove to her that there was no need for her to handle things alone.
The thought scares him, though. Never had he been lucky in love or romance, in fact, he'd spent most of his life avoiding it. For everyone he seemed to ever feel that way for, he always let them down somewhere along the way.
When they get to the bar, Cloud gets off the bike, going to enter without another word to Yuffie. Not out of frustration, but because he was too deep in thought to pay anyone or anything else any mind.
"So, how was she?" Barret asks from his place at the bar-counter.
"She's good, seems OK to me, we should visit her more though, that place is depressing!"
Cloud pauses at the top of the stairs when he hears Yuffie's answer to Barret's question. The facility had an energy that Cloud was familiar with, which worried him. He didn't believe that Shinra had changed and he didn't trust them as far as June went, so even though June seemed reluctant for him to dig too deeply into goings-ons there, he planned to visit as much as possible.
He goes to his room, crashing onto the bed with a heavy sigh.
"June…."
For only a moment he drifts off to sleep, or at least it seems so, because when Cid and Yuffie come barging into his room; the sky was turning a dark blue.
"Cloud, did ya hear!?"
Cloud sits up on the bed, ready to chew them out for entering his room uninvited.
"Cid-."
"The Mako reactors are active again!"
Cloud quirks a brow at them, "I don't understand, June and I...we…."
"They sent Shinra operatives out to try to fight the monsters, but it doesn't look too good at this point." Cid barks over him. "I saw the shit going down over Nibel on my way here!"
Yuffie slips around Cid to stand in front of him, "what do we do, Cloud?"
Cloud frowns, do?
He thinks to the Mako Reactors, he thought that he and June had taken care of the active reactors, they seemed to turn off as soon as they were done handling the monsters protecting them. So, how then, had they reactivated? Obviously, it wasn't the Shinra's doing, then who?
"It must be them, the 3 aliens...hm...but why are they doing this…?"
"Cloud, there's no time to be thinking about this...we have to go help, we're probably the only ones who can!" Yuffie shouts knocking him out of his head.
He nods, "you said in Nibel-."
"Yup, here too...at the reactor in Old Midgar."
Cloud gets to his feet, grabbing the keys to his bike, "OK, we need to split up then-."
As he says this, Vincent enters the room behind them.
"I'll go…."
"Alright, Vincent and I'll go to the one here in Midgar, Yuffie go with Cid to Nibel, anyone else coming?"
Cid shakes his head, "Barret and Tifa're gonna stay here with the kids."
It doesn't take Avalanche long to mobilize, with Cid and Yuffie taking the airship and Vincent and Cloud teleporting straight to Midgar.
When they land in Midgar, they find that the light flurry of snow that had been falling, had transformed into a full-blown blizzard. Through the thick mounds of snow they make out the blaring lights of Shinra vehicles. Their wailing mingles with the howling wind pushing through the area, creating a rather loud atmosphere.
Vincent's gun appears in his hand when he trains his eye on the monster causing the mess, he points upward.
"There."
Above the shuddering reactor, a woman stood looking down at them. Her blue skin almost glowed in the night sky and along her body silver tattoos were etched, they covered her most intimate body parts, but still left very little to the imagination.
"Shiva…." Cloud murmurs.
Vincent nods, "in her true form, whoever summoned her, summoned her directly from her dimension."
He sighs when Cloud looks at him, confused.
"Materia only allowed us to borrow their power, it's their essence made into physical form but they don't usually come here themselves."
"So she's gonna be a hell-of-a-lot harder to take down than the Shiva we're used to?"
Vincent nods.
Suddenly, a car comes pulling up next to them, Tseng, Rude, Eji and June get out of it.
"June, what're you doing here?"
She turns to Cloud, her eyes widening upon seeing him.
"Cloud, what are you doing here!?"
He walks over to her, only for her to pulled away by Eji, he tuts at Cloud disapprovingly.
"We are not here to socialize, we are here in the name of science!"
June narrows her eyes at the little man, showing an intense dislike for him, which further puts Cloud on edge. He looks to June for some sort of a cue, something from her that would tell him to remove the annoying little man, but she turns attention from him, to Shiva.
"She's different." She mutters. "Her energy...it's stronger."
"That's because that's a Grand Summon…."
Vallis pushes past Cloud, going to stand next to June. The shock of seeing one of the terrible 3 almost makes Cloud attack first and ask questions later, but for some reason he felt stuck to his spot. She peers at him from the corner of her eye with so much malice, he almost thinks twice about wanting to attack her. She turns to Eji, mushing him away from June, before taking June's arm and pulling her closer to the reactor.
"Did she just-."
Tseng and Rude surround Eji, trying to comfort him, but even they didn't seem to want to mess with Vallis.
"Lluva's around here somewhere…."
"Is that what brought you here...?"
Vallis nods, "we need to talk."
"You said she's a Grand Summon, what does that mean?"
Cloud edges closer as Vallis goes to give her an explanation, but upon him moving just an inch, she turns on him, her eyes blazing.
When June notices, she turns to Vallis, a disapproving frown playing at her lips.
"Vallis…."
Vallis shakes her head at him, "you seem to always pop up where you're not wanted, don't think I don't know what you really are, all of you."
She looks at June, sighing when she sees June's irked expression.
"But my cousin says to play nice, so play nice I shall."
"Cousin-."
"Long story." June interjects. "Tell me, Vallis, what is a Grand Summon."
Vallis looks up at Shiva again, "there are true Summon Monsters, I'm not talking about the ones who are formed from the souls of those passed on, but monsters living just outside of this dimension, only a truly powerful summoner can call them forth. I would have thought that only you could do this June, but...this is what's been keeping Lluva busy, it seems." She pauses to look around, as if searching for Lluva in the crowd. "She just needed enough energy to call her, and she waited until she got it."
"From the reactors?" Cloud asks.
Vallis seems to roll her eyes at him, but she nods anyway.
"I know how to shut them off for good, destroy the damn things. June, we're good at that." She turns to June with a reassuring smile.
June nods, "yeah, we can do it."
They summon their weapons, leaving Cloud confused.
Since when did June have such a relationship with one of the 3 who tormented her so much over the past few months? Why did Vallis seem to hate him so, and why had she called June her 'cousin'?
We have a lot to talk about….
June looks to Cloud, smiling when their eyes meet.
"Just like the good old days."
Vallis points bazooka up at Shiva; the threat makes the icy covered woman jump from the reactor, onto the ground before them.
Cloud takes up stance next to June, ready to defend her if needed.
"After this, June, you're gonna give me some answers."
Vincent moves to the other side of Vallis, training his gun on Shiva as well.
Next: Melting