Author's Notes:
Hello Everyone! I had the idea to write about Cloud and Aerith's time in the arena together a while back and wanted to create an alternate universe about their time in Wall Market. I know the problem with this story; Cloud isn't wearing a dress! Don't hate me for it! 😉
For those who continue on I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for reading!
"Will entering this tournament make a difference with Don Corneo?"
Aerith stood in the middle of the Honeybee Inn, she was holding a pamphlet with information for the fighting arena that was to hold a once in a lifetime event starting tomorrow night. Warriors from all over Gaia were invited to participate in the contest that would separate the champions from the contenders.
Glorious battle was scheduled in the heart of the sector five underground and would bring honor, riches, and fame to the winner.
Cloud had just walked back from the center of Wall Market with the news of the three-day event that could change their fortunes for the better. He stood nearby with his arms crossed, looking at the ground.
"I think so; the winner is supposed to be granted access to his private villa as part of the reward. It's the only realistic way to find Tifa since we can't get inside now. Security is too great all around that complex, I scouted the whole area and there is no way in without getting past the endless group of guards."
Nodding her head; Aerith agreed that enduring the arena would be a fast way to get inside the Don's estate. She had been stuck inside Wall Market with Cloud for two days and had yet to make any real progress in finding where Tifa was being held and had started to worry they might be too late in discovering her exact location.
Knowing that Tifa was probably somewhere locked up in the Don's mansion, they had both run out of ideas or alternatives.
"I'm worried you might be up against powerful opponents Cloud; the rules say you can have as many team members as you want. I am going to go fight with you, that will help your chances."
The mercenary of sector seven was not having any of it. He shot his head up to meet Aerith's face and responded with leveled criticism:
"Hey, I don't think that's a good idea. Let me take care of this, I'm a former SOLDIER and I can fight my own battles. You shouldn't be put in harm's way because of my problem."
The flower girl was amused that Cloud thought he had a choice in the matter, she put a small smile on her face paired with a raised eyebrow in response to his concern.
"Oh? Is that so? I don't need your permission to join the fight mister. Why don't I just enter myself as an individual fighter and kick your butt in the final match? Then I can go rescue Tifa by myself."
Cloud couldn't help but hold a smirk at Aerith's reasoning, she was right, he needed her ability with magic to help his case. The two of them were a stronger combination than his buster sword on its own.
"There is so much danger involved Aerith, I don't want you to get hurt. If something were to happen to you, I wouldn't forgive myself. Elmyra is going to kill me just for having you here, where does she think you are anyway?"
Aerith could not help but chuckle at this, Cloud was always trying to keep her out of danger, and she was exceptionally good at putting herself in the middle of it. Flashing her quirky smile again while putting her hand on Cloud's arm she continued her rebuttal:
"I told you I wasn't a princess that needed to be coddled, I understand the danger and I am not afraid. I am actually more worried about you Cloud. You wouldn't know when to stop, you would battle beyond your limits and probably even get yourself killed. Since you'll have me with you, I can help you before you cross that point of no return. Mom will know that I went to help a friend, and she knows how much I care about you already. She was shooting daggers at me all through dinner the other day when you weren't looking. There isn't any issue there."
They had only known each other for three days but something about Aerith's words gave Cloud a sense of comfort he hadn't realized up until now. Aerith's green eyes were clear windows to the middle of her soul. This girl was kind, she was witty, her personality flowed with a blissful presence that shined over her behavior the way the sun shined down on her flowers.
Realizing there would be no point in continuing the argument, Cloud let out a long sigh and surrendered. He knew he didn't stand a chance against Aerith, having her as an ally would provide him with an unmistakable advantage regardless.
"Alright, let's fight together. Promise me you will follow my direction when we are in the arena. I am trained in combat and I only give orders because I'm looking out for my allies. I don't like to boss anyone around, it's a SOLDIER thing ok?"
Aerith had looked up to meet Cloud's gaze, his shiny blue eyes had a strong focus shifting through the air while resting on her face. His vision towards her showed his level of worry, she didn't want him to worry about her safety but knew this was a byproduct of the situation they had gotten themselves in. Standing up straight, Aerith had reached out an open palm above her head towards Cloud, waiting for his reply.
Seeing Aerith's familiar tactic had brought Cloud another smile that he didn't bother to hide, he knew what the action of high fiving her hand meant. They were going to battle together, and nothing would stop them from achieving the ultimate victory against any opponent that dared to stand in their way.
After high fiving over the fountain in the lobby of the Honeybee inn, Cloud and Aerith returned to their room to get ready for bed. Cloud wasn't comfortable sharing a room with a girl, especially one that he hadn't known for very long but Aerith actually eased this concern by poking fun at his shyness every chance she had.
The usual jokes about sharing a bed and walking in on him while he was showering faded away from his discomfort the first night because Aerith was actually a perfect roommate. She never made a mess and kept everything she brought with her in the corner of the room by her bed. They had gotten lucky enough to have two beds, so no awkward tension happened when they went to sleep, neither of them snored or kept any lights on so the previous evening had been quite easy for Cloud to rest.
Aerith was not the least bit concerned about being in a room with Cloud, after removing her jacket and boots to slip into bed for the evening she realized Cloud had turned around to give her some privacy despite only her shoulders being exposed and it made her laugh as she sat down.
"Ha, you are such a gentleman Cloud. You can turn around; I promise I'm decent."
Following the request, Cloud sat down on his bed and looked at Aerith as she pulled her pink bow out of her hair. He had just realized how long and beautiful her hair actually was as it fell over her shoulders and it almost made him blush to gaze upon the natural beauty that sat across from him.
The flower girl actually looked like she was wearing some type of pajamas without her red leather jacket and boots that normally made her seem taller than she actually was. Her legs were exposed up to her knees and her arms showed off her porcelain pale skin that made Cloud wish he had a different room to sleep in because he had the overwhelming desire to stare at her beautiful body for the rest of the night.
Fighting the urge to keep his jaw from dropping, Cloud had removed his sword and set it against the wall near his bed. He only removed his shoes before laying down and begrudgingly pulled his eyes away from Aerith's side of the room.
Keeping to her usual quirks; Aerith had noticed Cloud's movements and wanted to talk a little bit before she turned the lights out.
"You really go to sleep like that?"
Cloud knew some kind of teasing was in store for him, he would do his best to push through it.
"What do you mean?"
Aerith was all smiles as she laid down on her bed, she held a small laugh at Cloud's behavior as she pointed to his side of the room.
"You are sleeping in all of your clothes Cloud; I'd dare say you don't even take your shoes off normally. Are you doing that now just to impress me?"
The mercenary couldn't help but laugh at the jokes that were being thrown his way, he didn't usually find the time to laugh but around Aerith, he just couldn't help himself. Trying to keep the conversation going, Cloud decided to ask some questions of his own.
"Not really, you were right though I do sleep with my shoes on most of the time too. Hey, Aerith I have a question for you."
The light on Cloud's side of the room was already out, Aerith had gotten up to turn her light out and looked back at Cloud while laying back down on her bed. The atmosphere of the conversation had gotten deeper with the absence of light.
"What is it?"
Cloud was afraid to keep going but a feeling deep inside pressed his curiosity forward and something else told him Aerith was a safe person to get to know, he went ahead with his question.
"Were you an orphan when you were younger?"
There was no sound for about thirty seconds and Cloud was terrified he had already screwed up but Aerith's calm voice reappeared over the silence and steadied his nerves.
"Hmmm, how did you find out? I kind of was but at the same time I was lucky, I never went without a mom."
Cloud had a feeling back in sector five that Aerith did not have a normal upbringing but couldn't remember why he had felt this way, he decided to just play the conversation by ear and see where it would go.
"When we were helping the leaf house kids I had a feeling that you might have belonged to that group at some time since you didn't have a father at your house I thought that Elmyra must have adopted you when you were younger."
The dark and quiet room had started adjusting the appearance of shapes to Cloud's vision. He could barely make out Aerith's bed and her body laying across it, which still looked lovely in the darkness as her eyes looked back at his.
"She did adopt me when I was young, my real mother was in an accident and I was with her when Elmyra found us. I played with the leaf house kids growing up but was never really an orphan. I was lucky to be adopted by someone as kind as Elmyra was. She is really a great person Cloud, she's going to love you one day, I promise."
Cloud smiled knowing that Aerith wouldn't be able to see his face and started to doze off, the talk was helping him find an inner peace that was putting his body to sleep, normally he would toss and turn in a strange place like this, but something helped his soul find the peace it needed to close his eyes and rest.
"Hey Cloud?"
It appeared that Aerith was not done with their talk. Cloud opened his eyes a little bit and tried to return a response.
"Yeah?"
There was a brief pause before she spoke up:
"What was your mother like?"
His eyes opened a little at this new line of questioning. It wasn't a big deal for anyone to ask him about his mother, but Cloud couldn't remember the last time he talked about her. Not even Tifa had brought up the subject of his mother, why would Aerith have asked him? Of course, he had just asked her about her childhood, maybe he should perform a kindness here and return the favor.
"She was a great mom; I was a handful at times, and I couldn't make very many friends. My dad was never around so she was kind of both of those things for me. I really miss her."
There was a peaceful silence after Cloud had talked about his mother, the room carried a calming presence as his story had finished and the evening felt like a happy side note to a purposeful day.
Aerith had one more thing to say:
"Cloud?"
His eyes were closed but he was still awake.
"Yeah?"
The flower girl asked the question she was holding inside all evening.
"Do you think we can win it all?"
The smile he carried on his face from earlier returned.
"That's one thing I'm definitely sure of."
After answering the final question of the evening, they had both drifted off into a deep sleep.
The new morning brought excitement and celebration to the streets of Wall Market. People from every corner of Midgar walked the streets of the lower levels in sector five.
Chocobo wagons full of customers were backed up beyond the boundaries of the town, the nearby train station was overflowing with passengers walking from the concrete tunnels into the slums and up to the packed city of squalor.
Aerith's cheerfulness was on full display as Cloud led the way through the packed streets. There were so many pedestrians walking in every direction that Aerith had to use Cloud's buster sword as a guide to keep from losing track of him. Grabbing onto his arm a couple of times to refocus herself she spoke up over all of the commotion that surrounded them.
"Are we going to the arena now?"
Cloud was beyond annoyed at the circus that surrounded them, he was trying not to shove every person that pushed on his body from all the different walking trails that were overworked by the large number of people flooding into Wall Market. Aerith's question was barely heard over the sound of the crowd.
"Yeah, we just have to get there in one piece, when we find the registration booth we can find out if there is anything else we have to do to sign up."
Aerith nodded while taking Cloud's arm to keep herself from getting lost in the tidal wave of people that was growing by the minute. After another half hour of swimming against the waves of strangers the two fighters were in a line of pretenders, contenders, and fellow warriors waiting to sign up for the tournament of a lifetime.
"Can you believe the grand prize?! A million Gil! And the chance to see Don Corneo's mansion in person!"
Young fighters were shouting the advertisement all around them as excited patrons filed into the crowded coliseum to find seats for the evening bloodbath that would be sure not to disappoint.
"I heard that members of SOLDIER from Shinra were going to be in this tournament!"
Rumors and speculation spread throughout the entrance doors like wildfire as fighters from all over were standing in line to be registered, though the line was long the flow of people moved in a fast manner. Cloud was pleased to see that the queue ahead of them was getting shorter by the minute.
"Are you nervous?"
Aerith had looked back at Cloud to see what he was thinking about.
"Not really, just thinking about what we might face in there, I am always calm before a fight, but I'm worried about having a partner. Are you sure you want to do this?"
Aerith was annoyed that Cloud still carried some doubt but gave a light-hearted reply to his concern.
"I don't need anyone fighting my battles for me, I can take care of myself Cloud. I'm worried about you and I could never watch on the sidelines as you fight to rescue someone you care about. I won't let anything bad happen to you or hurt you the same way you won't let anything hurt me, got it?"
Nodding his head at her answer, Cloud realized they were in too deep to back out now. It was time to commit to what they were up against.
Reaching the front of the line the attendant directed a question at Cloud:
"Individual or team?"
Aerith blurted out her answer before Cloud could say anything.
"Team!"
The attendant pointed to his left, teams of participants were forming on the left and solo fighters were being moved to the right. After following other groups that were being registered, Cloud and Aerith stood in front of another booth with a different attendant that was holding a lot of paperwork.
"Does your team have a name?"
Cloud was puzzled, were they supposed to pick out a name before signing up?
"Our names are Cloud and Aerith."
Aerith had once again spoken up before Cloud had the ability to say anything and the attendant wrote something down on the papers that were laying in front of her.
"Okay Cloud and Aerith you are both new here, so I have to give you some notices before you enter the waiting area for preliminaries."
"Alright."
Cloud had finally gotten a word in.
"First, I must ask you both that you understand the tournament tonight is a lethal, destructive, no holds fighting competition that could result in serious injury up to and including dismemberment and or life-altering injury and or death?"
Holding his concern, Cloud gave their answer.
"Yes."
"Second, you both realize that the rules state that any combination of weaponry, materia, magic, monsters, and team members are allowed in the arena up until the start of the battle. Once the battle starts you cannot change team members or allow new equipment, weapons, or all of the above into the arena with you."
"Yes."
The rules didn't seem too complicated, Cloud and Aerith listened closely to the rest.
"Lastly, a battle automatically ends when all members of one side are unconscious, dead, or submit to a total surrender."
Cloud was curious at this rule, he spoke up.
"What is a total surrender?"
The attendant looked up while writing down more notes.
"A total surrender in the rulebook is achieved by admitting defeat, any fighter who does not wish to continue can announce their surrender by throwing his or her weapon down at his or her own feet. The fighter on the other team must acknowledge that you no longer wish to fight and accept the outcome. Once a fighter has announced their total surrender they may no longer continue in the tournament."
("Seems easy enough.")
Cloud was internally processing the rules trying not to miss anything, after being handed a form to take with them, they both walked over to a large cargo elevator that was moving clusters of participants down to the lower levels in the coliseum.
The time had moved to mid-day. Only several hours remained before the festivities began.