It is that time once again for another chapter of A Change of Fate! Gotta give another big thanks to all of you out there though reading this story. tmart.x13 and I are happy to see so many of you are enjoying this story.
Ch. 26
The days went on like normal now that Cloud had returned back home. As normal as it could get for a SOLDIER at least. He still went on missions nearly each and every day, but he managed to push through each and every one of them.
Every once and a while he would spot Cissnei. Now that he knew her, he started to notice her more about headquarters. It was strange, but when he saw her he wanted to wave and say hello, but he always ended up being too shy to do so. But then he had a small resolve. He still wasn't completely sure of his feelings, as he still could not fully understand them, but he found he wanted to do this. He found a new goal to work on, he wasn't exactly sure how it would work, but he had it set in his mind; he wanted to try to impress Cissnei.
Over the next month, Cloud was tasked with two more missions which involved the Turks. He was again told that it would be used to test him in the field some more, though normally the one mission was enough, especially since Cloud had performed so well before. However, Cloud didn't let that though creep into his mind too much and dismissed it as just an odd happening.
On each of those missions, Cissnei accompanied the rest of the troupe as one of the Turk members. Cloud noticed her even more on some occasions, taking note of how she seemed to watch over everyone else more, besides the higher ups there with them; however, there were times that she was bossy with even them. Cloud had tried to not watch too much, but if he were honest with himself, there was something about the way she presented herself that made him feel a certain way, even though he didn't really know how to explain that.
However, Cloud still completed what he was tasked with on each mission and he did so while trying the hardest he could, which gained him the recognition of those that were present, including the girl that was on his mind. In fact he had performed harder on the last mission with the Turks after having talked with Cissnei after the second mission. He learned she was very mission oriented and valued work and progress above most other things. Which made him want to keep working on his goal even more.
Now, Cloud was walking back to the elevator to go down and exit the Shinra building after just getting back from his latest mission. He entered the doors and pressed the button for it to go down and started blankly as the doors closed, his mind getting lost on thoughts of Cissnei and his progress as SOLDIER. Just as the doors were about to close, a hand reached through and stopped them. When the door finally slid back open, Cloud could see who the hands belonged to.
"C-Cissnei?"
"Hey. Mind if I come? I seem to be going your way," she stated directly as she entered and stood right beside Cloud after pressing the button for the floor she was going to.
Cloud felt his shoulders tense up, now that he was looking right into her eyes. He opened his mouth to say something else, but nothing more came. So, not wanting to look too foolish, he closed his mouth and nodded quickly.
Cissnei seemed to notice. "What's wrong? Cat got your tongue? Or are you so tired you forgot how to talk?" she inquired as she stepped into the elevator with a snarky disposition as a slight grin could be seen on her face.
"I... Um…" Cloud tried to say, hoping he could at least manage something. "N-No… Maybe I am tired though…"
"It's fine if you can't say much. You can just listen then," she started. "You did well again today of course, though you performed much better than normal. It's a good thing since these missions are vital. Most 3rd class would never be able to manage things like this, but you can. So I do wonder… was there something keeping you going then?" she posed, leaning in closer to him with her hands on her hips.
"What's keeping me going?" Cloud asked aloud. He almost wanted to tell her, but though it would seem to weird or embassring. Why would he just tell her out of the blue that he wanted to impress her? Surely she would think he was weird if he said that. So he thought for a moment and decided to give the other answer that he had, which was still true.
"I want to catch up to my brother. We've always had a friendly competition between each other, so I wanna show him I can be as strong as him," Cloud replied.
She eyed him for a moment, almost as if questioning his answer. But, she seemed to find no fault. "Well that sounds fair. You mean Zack right? I've seen him a few times here and there. Never met him. Hard worker, and always so positive. At least from what I can tell," she trailed off as she stared at Cloud a bit more. "Looks like you still got a bit to go though for that."
"Yeah, I know I have a little while to go. But I am not giving up. Zack and I made a promise to each other that we would make it to SOLDIER all the way up to 1st class together. It's been our dream since we were kids." Now that Cloud was speaking about Zack and his dreams, he felt more comfortable talking over all. He didn't mind that Cissnei was standing right next to him at the moment.
"Well now, there's that confidence that you should have. You should be like that more often you know," she stated as she looked at him with a slight smile. Then, she turned her head away slowly after realizing she was staring. "For the job of course. You have to be tough in this."
Cloud stared a moment longer before he took looked away. He could feel his cheeks starting to reddened from her compliment. "Th-Thanks. But you work really hard too!" While Cloud was a bit flustered from her words, he wanted to try and return to favor back to her. Again though he hoped he didn't sound to foolish or too weird, but he already said it and it was too late to take it back.
"Hmph. Well, it's my job to work hard. That's what us Turks do…" she said as she still stared at the ground. Then, she looked back up at Cloud briefly. "But, thanks. I'll keep that in mind. It's my stop now so I'll be going. See ya around."
She began to walk forward in anticipation of the door opening to the elevator as it had dinged and slowed down to a stop. As she did though, the door stayed shit, never once budging. She stood there in front of it and waited for a few more seconds but nothing happened. "Gah, what's wrong with this thing," she huffed heavily, indicating her slight annoyance.
Cloud was perplexed at not knowing why the elevator had suddenly decided to not open. It had always worked before, but something apparently had happened. His mind was still thinking of what Cissnei had just said to him as well as he shook slightly from nervousness. What should he do?
He decided to walk forward so he could look. "I-I wonder why it stopped. That's, um… strange."
She turned to face him. "Yeah it is, and I have things I need to try to do. This really sucks…" she said, running her hand down her suit.
Cloud stood and thought for a moment about some kind of solution but couldn't think of anything. Though, he was just going to talk instead, but as he went to say something, he saw Cissnei perk up as she pulled something out of her pants pocket.
"Ah, yeah, I almost forgot I have a phone. I'll just call Rude or Reno to come open the door. I'm sure they have nothing better to do right now."
Cloud could see her punching some numbers into the phone and attempt to make a call. After a few tries though, she sighed and put the phone down. "Seems there's no signal inside of here. Of course. Big metal box."
"Oh I see. Well that makes sense I guess," he commented calmly, forgetting where he was at the moment as he was lost in thought.
She looked over at him and shot him a glance. "Well. Cloud. You have any ideas?"
"W-who, wh-... oh me. Yeah, uhh...let me see…"
Cloud wasn't really sure what to do at the moment. His skills didn't really involve heavy problem solving, at least not something like an elevator shaft. He ran his hand along the door, wondering exactly what he was going to do. For a second he tried to get his fingers between the two panels of the door, but they were stuck tight together.
He looked to the side at the buttons panel. His eyes then fell on a red button at the very bottom of the section. "Isn't that button for emergencies? Like this?"
"Oh yeah! Press it so we can get someone notified right away," Cissnei said as she sighed with relief.
Cloud pressed the button and a loud buzzing sound was heard. The speaks on the wall of the elevator then filled with static and garbled sounds that were too hard to understand. The sound then cut out and the lights went out on the panel, with the light above them flickering slightly.
"Th-that can't be good," Cloud stammered slightly.
Not only was he worried what was wrong, but if they were stuck in the elevator, it meant he would be around Cissnei more. He wasn't sure hold long he could try to be serious and calm without getting all tensed up and shy around her. He could already feel his heart pounding, but he wasn't sure if it was cause he was shy in her presence or if it was because they were trapped in an elevator. Maybe it was both. Cloud didn't know, after all he was only thirteen.
Though, he could use this chance to impress her even more if he could figure out something. He became excited at the thought, just as her words broke his train of thought.
"Yeah, it sounds like the elevator is shot if even that didn't work," she stated as she slammed her fist on the door. "I don't need to be stuck here right now. But, I suppose there's nothing we can do for now. Unless we think of something. Might as well just wait right?"
"I don't know what else we could do. I mean I could… ummm… use my sword maybe?" Cloud said as he motioned to the standard SOLDIER sword that was attached to his back.
Cissnei thought for a moment before she answered. "Well, if you want to try that. Though I don't think that it will really work. I mean, just what are you going to do with that? What if… you froze the door so it's easier to break? Do you have materia to use?"
"W-Well, I don't think I have any ice materia on me at the moment… ah, so maybe that won't work…" Cloud sighed as he dropped his head, trying to think of a way he could help. He had to find some way that he could do something. He didn't want to seem helpless.
The two stood there for a few moments as the thought over their situation. Cissnei hummed thoughtfully as she started to pace back and forth within the small confident space. She then looked up at the ceiling, and stopped in place.
"One of those panels up there should open up, you know an access hatch to outside the elevator. It may not get us anyways, but we could see if we are stuck between floors or not," Cissnei explained.
Cloud nodded quickly. "That sounds like a good idea. But how we are going to get up there to open it?"
Cissnei moved toward him and put a hand on his shoulder, which caused him to tense up slightly. "Relax Cloud. The easiest way is I need you to bend down and I'll just climb on your shoulders, and then I can reach it. See if I can see anything," she stated to him calmly.
Cloud stared with wide eyes at Cissnei. Had he just heard her right? Even though he had gone on a few missions that she complained, he still barely knew he. And now she was going to get rather close to him, even though it was all for a reason to try and get out of the elevator. He could feel his heart racing again as he continued to stare at her, not knowing what to say back to her.
"Well, are you just gonna stare again or are you going to help me up there? Don't tell me you're embarrassed or something. Hmm… maybe you're not the SOLDIER I thought you were…" she trailed off, slightly hinting at something in her words.
Cloud felt his shoulders after her words. He really wasn't to sure about having her climb up on his shoulders, but he didn't want to make her disappointed either. His goal was to try and impress her, and now it seemed she was upset with him. He figured he had to do something though, even though she was right about him being embarrassed, he didn't want to admit that.
With a deep breath he shook his head. "N-No, it's all right. I just didn't… expect you to suggest that right away."
"Alright then we'll give me a boost up there then. Just bend down and I'll climb on okay," She said as she waited for him to do so.
Cloud took in another slow breath before he nodded. He bend down and got into a position so Cissnei could easily climb up onto his shoulders. He kept trying to keep a slow and steady breath though, trying to remain as calm as he could.
After he was down, Cissnei began to climb up onto his shoulders. "All right now hold still." She planted one foot into his right shoulder and felt her weight start to come down upon him. She then grabbed onto his shoulders with her hands and steadied herself before she was able to get her other foot on the other shoulder of cloud and quickly raised herself up. She still stayed perched down, her hands also still clenching his shoulders.
"Okay, I'm up here now so just be careful and try to raise up," she ordered.
Cloud tried to say 'okay' but once again he found himself at a loss for words. The only thing he could do was to keep nodding and do what he was suppose to. He slowly started to stand up, as he could feel Cissnei trying to keep balance herself on his shoulders.
"S-Should I hold onto your legs or something? For more support when you stand up?" Cloud asked quietly.
"Yeah, just to make sure that I don't fall. Make sure you hold on tight. I can reach the hatch as long as you do that," she replied.
"Okay," Cloud answered as he finally got to standing up straight.
Now that Cloud stood up straight, Cissnei could slowly start to stand up in the attempt to reach the hatch. Cloud made sure to hold onto her legs, hoping it was enough to support and keep her more steady.
After she was completely upright, she reached her arm up to grab hold of the latch of the access panel and loosened it. She figured that one good push off should be able to get her into the area above. As she bent her knees to ready herself, Cloud started to shift slightly, which made her wobble a bit.
"Hey, I told you to stay still. I almost had it," she scolded him.
"I'm trying, but you moved a bit. Let me try to straighten myself," Cloud insisted.
He went to move his foot to get a better standing, and as he did, Cissnei's weight again shifted on his shoulders. He quickly lost grip of her legs and forgot about holding onto her as he instinctively tried to use his hands as a balancer to not fall. She started to shake even more now that her legs were unguarded. Cloud then looked up to see her, and she was starting to fall forwards slightly.
It felt like everything happened in slow motion as he tried to maneuver himself to catch her. She made a slight yelping sound when she began to waver, her arms flailing side to side. Cloud reached his arms up, not caring at the moment about his nervousness as he just wanted to help. He seemed to catch her at her hips, but then he too lost his balance when he ended up grabbing just a bit too low. There was a loud thud next as the two of them hit the ground together.
Cloud ached from the fall as he started to blink a few times to recompose himself. When he finally was able to focus, he could feel the blood rush to his face, imagining he was as red as a beet. Cissnei was face to face with him, on top of him since she had fallen.
Cloud tried to speak but he couldn't as something was imeding his words. He then saw fully what was going on as Cissnei's lips were paired with his. So many thoughts started coursing through his mind at that moment, trying to figure out what he was going to do. Then, Cissnei slowly started to open her eyes.
Well that is one way to leave you all hanging haha. What will happen next? How will Cissnei react? Gotta wait till next time! But let us know what you guys are thinking! We love seeing all of your feedback! Thanks for reading though!