"With what? Fitting into society?" Cloud asked sarcastically.
"I should knock you out for a remark like that, but since your help is needed so greatly, I won't," her tone went harsh.
"Well, tell me what it is and I'll think about it."
"I don't think you understand, this isn't a little matter. I can't speak of it here. The walls have ears…"
"I think you're paranoid."
"Look, to explain it simply, you need to finish something that you've started," she said bluntly and turned her whole body in his direction.
"Hey kid, if you haven't noticed, the world is saved. Sephiroth is dead and Meteor ain't hitting the world. Whatever you and your little friends are doing, I'm pretty sure you can handle by yourself," Cloud's voice was once again irritated.
"I figured you would say that," she said solemnly and stood from her stool. "Just to tell you, we used to really look up to Avalanche. But now, there's nothing left but mindless zombies who think the world is all of a sudden a better place." With her mind spoken, she walked off in the opposite direction, back towards the table where her buddies were sitting. She shook her head and the three stood and they left out into the pouring rain.
Cloud wished that he had never followed them. That had probably been his biggest mistake ever since giving Sephiroth the black materia. At least, that was the only thing he could think of comparing it to. After thirty minutes of endless walking, he finally managed to find a small alley where he just managed a glimpse of the woman jumping the fence.
Without hesitation, he followed her over the fence to find himself in a dumpster, filled to the brim with the filthiest garbage he had seen in ages. Gooey remnants of miscellaneous food covered his clothes and he found half eaten hamburgers stuck to his shirt. Spaghetti was coiled up in his golden locks and the smell was putrid.
"Oh God," was the only thing he managed to mumble as he felt somebody lift him out of the dumpster.
"So, you decided to come?" a familiar voice asked once he was sprawled out in the mud with fresh rain soaking him.
"No, I enjoy following people for hours…especially through dumpsters," he answered sarcastically as he sat on his behind with his arms out to the side, still dripping with mysterious substances from his dive in the garbage.
"Just making sure." She held out her hand, which he graciously took, but he felt an evil idea spark in his head. Instead of trying to stand up, he pulled her down into the mud next to him. She yelped in surprise as her body met the large puddle of water and mud. Suddenly, Cloud felt his body convulse in a strange manner, which was called laughter. It was rather evil sounding, but he couldn't help it as he saw his unsuspecting victim sharing the torments of the rain.
"Anyway, my name is Chrissie," she growled with rage already filling her tiny body. For some reason, hearing her in this type of pain made Cloud laugh even harder, even when she hit him with her fist right across the shoulder, which left a mighty bruise the next day.
"So, Chrissie, is there a last name with that?" Cloud asked while he stretched his legs out in the mud.
"No," she spoke bluntly while regaining her balance on her feet. She turned her back to him and pulled off the small black tank top she wore and rung out the water. Cloud quickly noticed that she had no fear of her body, although she really couldn't, considering there was no body to see. He was amazed at how the girl lived for he could clearly see almost every bone that made up her spine, and her skin really was almost as pale as the moon.
After having the water rung out of her shirt, she put it back on with ease and turned her attention back to the man that was enjoying a mud bath. She cocked her eyebrow and folded her arms across her chest as she waited for him to stand.
"Where are your friends?" Cloud asked while he tried to stand himself.
"HQ," she said simply as she slowly began to move down the alley. She moved her feet very slowly, in a sarcastic type of walk with her feet almost dragging on the ground as she still waited for Cloud to decide that he could stand.
"HQ? What are you guys? Secret agents?" Cloud mocked.
"No. Call it whatever you want. Home, I've heard it called. HQ is just fun to say," she smiled at her last sentence and turned her eyes towards Cloud that was now successfully standing on his two feet. "We're going to have to get you some new clothes. The stench on those isn't what I would call pleasant."
"Speak for yourself," was the only come back Cloud could think of. He picked up his feet and began to walk behind her until they were both set at a steady pace. Finding himself lost in the back streets of Costa del Sol, he finally threw his hands up in the air.
"Where are we going?" he asked bitterly.
"I told you, HQ. It's not much farther, so don't worry," she reassured him. He let out an annoyed sigh as he continued to follow her along the blackened streets. His ears perked as he begun to hear the faint sounds of a guitar strumming away some cords. A drummer joined him in an upbeat rhythm that was missing words.
"The boys are playing," Chrissie commented as they reached a large warehouse. She walked to the front of the building just to follow it around to the side where a severely damaged wooden door barely stood on its hinges. She flung the door open, almost hitting Cloud directly in the face, but his reflexes were faster and he caught the flimsy piece of wood before it could.
"Hey," a male's voice greeted and the music stopped abruptly. "You finally came back."
"Yeah, well I was followed home," she said as Cloud followed her inside of the large open space of the warehouse. Boxes lined the far side of the room, the stacks almost touching the ceiling. A small stage made of truck ramps was next to the wall where the mangled door stood, and that was where stood three men. Cloud finally managed to get a better look at them, and truthfully they were some of the most hideous creatures he had ever seen.
The one strumming cords on the guitar was just as skinny as Chrissie, and his face was covered with piercings. His shirt was ragged and slits were made all through it, obvious of some battle he had managed to live through. He wore jeans that were slightly tight, but still were baggy down around the ankles. His hair was an aqua blue and spiked in all directions.
The other two men were similar to him, except one actually had a little meat on his bones. At least they were muscles, not just skin hanging from a skeleton. Clouds tried not to vomit in disgust as he looked at the living dead, so he took his attention off of them and back towards Chrissie who was walking towards a large pile of scrap metal in the center of the room.
"So you guys live here?" Cloud asked perplexed as he eyed the hard living environment.
"I suppose you could say that," Chrissie answered as the boys on the stage went back to playing their music. She hustled through the rubble as if searching for something of great importance.
"Hey Chrissie, we need a vocalist!" the lead guitarist complained while still playing.
"I'm busy!" she replied with a harsh tone. She rolled her eyes as she continued to look. "Can't you guys do anything constructive around here?"
"We are," the main guitarist replied as he strummed a hard cord, which made his whole body move in the rhythm.
"I'm sure." She threw a large pipe across the room towards Cloud's head, which barely missed, for if it did it would lead to one mighty concussion. His eyes grew wide as he continued to watch the mad woman rummage through the scraps like her life depended on it.
"Ah ha!" she exclaimed reluctantly as she pulled out a piece of paper that resembled, or once resembled a newspaper. "Look at this," she demanded as she walked back over to Cloud.
Somehow, even though the damage to the paper was extensive, he still managed to read the headline "Avalanche Strikes Again!" Questions began to pop up in his mind as he read the article about how he had blown up the reactors in Midgar. A concerned look crossed his face as he neared the end.
"Why do you have this?" he asked almost in disgust.
"We looked up to you…a lot," Chrissie spoke sincerely.
"Why? We killed people," Cloud argued as he remembered the hundreds of lives lost because of their actions.
"People die everyday, but for the wrong cause. You're a hero."
"Yeah, but not because of that."
"To me it is. You stood up to that damn Shinra, and you meant business. That's why it was a chance meeting with you tonight," she explained, her voice still low.
"No, I'm done with that stuff. Meteor and Sephiroth are gone, and that's all I care about," Cloud stated bluntly and he turned in the opposite direction, ready to walk out on the woman.
"Rufus is still alive…"
Author's Note: Wow, yet another chapter to this demented story. Oh, the suspense is now building. Ooh, ah, look in wonder and amazement. Anyway, I would really like reviews and mostly suggestions on how I can make my writing better. I like suggestions because it helps me learn to write better. How? It helps because instead of people saying that it is just too awesome, their actually telling me the drawbacks of my story and how I need to improve it. Well, I like comments too…who doesn't? Forget it, nobody reads this shit anyway.
No, I do not own any of the characters from Final Fantasy VII, for if I did I would not have to sit around making up some deranged stories about it. A few of the characters are mine though…you know, the half dead ones? Yeah, thanks a bunch. Chaos for now.