They bumped into the muscleman again. Tactless and with seemingly little morals, he piped up, "Damn! Your friend's hot, too!"
Hey, at least it was re-assuring. He did intend to look like a girl after all.
"Come in, come in!"
Mr. Muscle turned around and rapped hard on the big wooden doors.
"Two ladies coming through!"
The mansion wasn't as big as Cloud thought. It was more like a large, bland, wooden house that the Don had blinged up with gaudy gold ornaments and lavish colourful carpets made out of the finest cashmere. He had his own receptionist; he was a small, smarmy looking man with a crooked smile and creepy eyes. Cloud could imagine those eyes as the sort that secretly undresses a woman. He felt like throwing up at the thought but then had to suppress a fit of the giggles as he imagined the man doing it to him. If only he knew what was really underneath this dress…
"Hey, ladies," the man greeted them with a nasally, snobby voice. "I'll go and let the Don know you're here. Wait here. Don't go wandering around…" He was also extremely patronising.
She waited until the receptionist was out of earshot and then Aeris said to Cloud, "Now's our chance. Let's find Tifa."
They mooched around for a bit until Cloud found a door on the first-floor landing that was slightly ajar. They crept inside and found themselves peering down a flight of dank concrete steps into a murky cellar. They couldn't see much from up here so Cloud decided to take the plunge and enter the shadowy depths. To their dismay, it wasn't a cellar but a grotesque torture chamber. What the heck did this Don bloke get up to?!
A girl was standing in the corner, obscured by shadows. She was wearing a beautiful royal blue dress. Cloud couldn't make out her features but he guessed it was Tifa. He wondered if she would be able to tell it was him.
"…Tifa?" Aeris called.
The girl in the blue dress ambled over to her.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Aeris. Cloud's told me a lot about you."
"…And you are?" asked Tifa. Her face suddenly changed, as if she was recalling a memory. "Hey you're the one with Cloud in the park…"
Aeris' face began to flush. "Right, with Cloud."
"Oh…" said Tifa.
"Don't worry. We just met. It's nothing."
"What do you mean 'Don't worry'… about what?" She shook her head abruptly. "No, don't misunderstand. Cloud and I grew up together. Nothing more."
Aeris tried to stifle a giggle, but couldn't.
"Poor Cloud, having to stand here and listen to both of us call him nothing," she said. She turned to him. "Right, Cloud?"
Tifa's eyes went wide.
"Cloud?"
Cloud decided it was time for his cue. He rushed towards Tifa and stood right in front of her. She peered at his eyes first, then his nose and down to his chin, and then her jaw seemed to gape open.
"Cloud!?" she gasped. "Why are you dressed like that!? And what are you doing here!? Forget that, what happened to you after the fall!? Are you hurt!?"
Cloud shook his head. Why did girls always ask you questions and not give you time to answer the first one before they fired you with another?
"Hey, give me a chance to answer. I'm dressed like this… because there was no other way to get in here. I'm all right. Aeris helped me out."
He saw a flash of something not very nice in Tifa's eyes. Was it jealousy, perhaps?
"Oh, Aeris did…"
"Tifa, explain. What are you doing in a place like this?" Cloud asked, his tone serious.
"Yeah, ummm…"
Aeris suddenly chimed, "Ahem! I'll just plug my ears," and then walked to the far corner of the room humming to herself.
"…I'm glad you're OK," Tifa cooed.
"Thanks. What happened?"
"When we got back from the Number 5 reactor, there was this weird man. So Barret caught him and squeezed some information out of him."
"That's when the Don's name popped up," Cloud established.
"Right, Don Corneo. Barret told me to leave the letch alone. But something's been bothering me."
"I see. So you wanted to get the story straight from Corneo's mouth," Cloud said.
"So I made it here, but now I'm in a bind." Tifa gulped hard. A pleading look crept into her eyes. "Corneo is looking for a bride. Every day, he gets three girls, chooses one of them, and then… and, well…" she stammered, her voice filled with unease. "Anyway, I have to be the girl, or I'm out for tonight."
Cloud admired her strength. She was scared stiff, but this was a mission, like any other. Someone had to do the dirty work…
"Sorry…" a voice interjected, "but I overheard…"
Aeris walked over to Cloud and Tifa with a smug grin on her face.
"If you know the three girls, there's no problem, right?"
"I guess so," replied Tifa. "But…"
"We have two here, right?" Aeris interrupted, brushing off Tifa's hesitance.
"No, Aeris!" yelled Cloud. "I can't have you get involved."
"Oh? So it's all right for Tifa to be in danger?" she huffed, pouting her lips and crossing her arms across her chest.
"No, I don't want Tifa in…"
Tifa gave him a stern look, prompting him to stop talking. She walked over to Aeris.
"Is it all right?" she asked her.
"I grew up in the slums… I'm used to danger," Aeris replied. "Do you trust me?"
Tifa nodded. "Yes. Thanks, Ms. Aeris."
"Call me Aeris," she told her.
A loud voice boomed down the staircase. It was the creepy receptionist dude. He waved at them in that patronising way that he had mastered so well.
"It's time, ladies. The Don is waiting!"
To be continued…