The sky was filled with leaden dark grey clouds, hanging low in the sky, looking ready to unleash its burden upon the already adequately watered land filled with bright green vegetation. Tifa looked up at it with a slight smile on her pretty face and quickly set up her art gear, getting ready to paint the moment when the rain would start pelting down.
She mixed several drab colours on her palette, and dipped the tip of the brush into the blob, swirling it gently, watching it turn into a slightly lighter grey. Looking up at the sky again, she closed her eyes, feeling the increasing velocity of the wind that was blowing where she stood, under the huge concrete expressway of Kalm city.
There was a river flowing gently just beside where she stood, and her stuff are strewn all over on the bank, under the shelter of the bridge. As the thunder rumbled deeply, the clouds finally decided to fall.
She was halfway through what would be her art assignment for a paper her art teacher had set when the distant sound of a bicycle bell could be heard ringing. Tifa turned to the direction where she heard the sound and wasn't surprised to see a dark blonde clad in a pink nylon rain jacket cycling to her at breakneck speed.
The girl's jacket was open, the sides flapping about her like wings; her hair, most of which was inside the hood of the jacket, had a few strands whipping about in her face. It was Tifa's childhood friend, Aeris, coming to see her in the middle of a rainstorm for god knows what.
Aeris threw down her bicycle by the side, straightened herself and shook off water droplets dotting her favourite jacket. "Hey! Where the hell were you? I've been looking around for you for ages!" she pouted, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
The brunette gave a mock sigh, shrugging. "Didn't I already tell you? I had a paper to complete. If I don't finish this, I'm a goner… I'm depending on this for a pass in Art, ok?" she huffed.
"Oh. Well, you see, me and Cloud, we're deciding on hitting the arcade later, since it's raining and all. Wanted to ask you if you'd like to come along? We never go anywhere without each other, you know that." Aeris said.
"Thanks for asking. I'll join you guys later." Tifa winked, and got back down to business. She did a few strokes with the brush before she was interrupted again.
"Uh, I brought this for you. Take care, don't catch a cold. I'll see ya when I see ya. Toodles." The emerald eyed girl put a bag down beside Tifa, hopping onto her bike before speeding off again into the rain.
Tifa raised her eyebrows in question and examined the contents of the bag. It was a lavender sweater, her last gift from her mother. Smiling gratefully, she put it on, and continued her painting, warm feelings engulfing her entire being.
The door to the Kalm National University opened with a bang, revealing a sopping wet girl running in, looking around for her friend. Upon seeing a spiky headed fellow with bright yellow hair sitting in the corner by himself with his back facing her, head down looking at something, she grinned cheekily, coming from behind him in small steps, stretching her arms out as if she was going to give him a good fright.
Aeris got the fright of her life instead when Cloud suddenly whirled around, his face distorted, a clump of pink flesh tainted with blood hanging down at the side of his face, an eye popping out of one of its sockets, and an ugly scar that ran from his forehead down to his chin, splitting everything else, namely the nose, and lips into a gruesome half. She shrieked, eyes wide with terror and disgust, before the face was taken a way with Cloud's hand. It was a friggin' mask.
"Haha, Aeris. Right back at cha!" Cloud smirked, sticking out his tongue at her playfully. Looking at Aeris who was still staring at him in shock, he doubled up in laughter. "*rawr*… heh heh. Got you there, didn't I? Hey. Aeris? Aeris. Are you ok?" his jolly expression turned to one of worry, as he waved a hand in front of her face.
Coming out of her trance, she frowned angrily at him. "You scared me half to death with that stupid face, you idiot." Looking at the mask which was sitting at the table, her lips curled in revulsion. She flinged it away before taking a seat beside him, looking over at what he was doing. 'Ah,' she thought, 'finally. I thought I'd never see him study for his finals.' Aeris picked up his philosophy book, grunting at its weight, and leafed through it casually.
"Finally deciding to pass your first year and go on to the second, huh." She grinned, voicing out her thoughts.
Cloud immediately took on the defensive. "Who wouldn't?" he snatched his book back from her, and looked around. "Uh. I thought you went to get Tif."
"yeah. She was trying to pass her finals as well." Aeris smiled lopsidedly. "So, are we still heading for the arcade?"
"Of course. I'm bored stiff sitting here. Did she bring her phone?" packing his books, he stood up, ready to go. "I'm gonna message her. We'll meet her at Taka."
Taka was short for Takashimaya, a huge complex built by the Shinra, which was a company that had brought many technological advances and a higher standard of living to everyone worldwide. Many young people hang out there, as Kalm is not a very big city and well, Takashimaya was the 'hottest' shopping arcade around. It had virtually everything, clothes, shoes, supermarkets, you name it, it has it.
It was an elegant compound, Taka was. Laid with the finest marble and glass, inside and out, it looked artistic, yet grand. the place had a wide open area where open air concerts and events are held periodically, and an outdoor pool, built like those in resorts, complete with slides and man made waves on the fifth floor. The landscaping was done to suit the climate of Kalm, which had only two seasons, spring and winter. Luckily, three quarters of the year is spring and only the last few months of it is winter. Usually, the transition of spring to winter is brought about by bouts of rain, where the weather gets cooler and cooler, before it starts snowing, officiating the arrival of winter, both Cloud and Tifa's favourite season.
So, the duo (Cloud and Aeris) put on a sweater on their tops before heading out to the shopping arcade. They had taken their stuff from Tifa's dormitory room, a few blocks from the cafeteria. The university was the second largest compound, after Taka. There is an internal bus transport system within the university itself, but to save money, most students own bicycles there, some people skate their way through university too.
Within 20 minutes, they had reached Taka. Aeris secured her bike to one of the stands, while Cloud secured his T-board at the station by the side of the shopping complex, keeping his ticket in his jeans pocket, his jeans hanging low on his hip, looking ready to drop any moment.
Aeris tugged lightly on it, giggling. "How many days haven't you washed your pants? They look as if they're gonna fall of any moment." She joked, tugging at the sides harder.
Cloud slapped her hands away playfully, and whispered teasingly into her ear, "Wouldn't you like to see what's under those jeans." He grinned widely at her, enjoying making her embarrassed. Aeris reddened a little, and elbowed him in the gut. "Ow…" She heard him say before walking on ahead, smiling to herself.
Just then, the back pocket of Cloud's jeans vibrated strongly, and his mobile phone started ringing to the tune of the chocobo theme. Aeris looked at him in mock horror while Cloud blushed lightly, embarrassed to say the least. 'Tifa had been playing around with my ring tones again.' He mused to himself, whipping out his cell phone, and answering it in one smooth motion.
"Yep. Cloud speaking." He listened a while, before nodding, mouthing 'Tifa' to Aeris, who was standing at his side looking on curiously. "Yeah, we're at Taka. Want us to wait for you at the entrance?" he nodded again, "ok then. Bye." Hitting a button on his phone, he slipped it back into his jeans.
"So?" Aeris prodded, brushing a few strands of wayward hair from her face to the back of her ears.
"She told us to go on ahead and play by ourselves… she sounds troubled." Cloud creased his eyebrows.
Aeris looked down thoughtfully as well, before snapping her head up again and asking, "what's the date today?"
With a flick of his wrist, he replied, "October 9th… Oh!" both of them looked at each other in realisation.
"Her mom's anniversary. Let's go!" Aeris said it for both of them, sprinting back to her bike waiting for Cloud to get his board before speeding down to Kalm cemetery.
Author's Note: Hiya. How's the story so far? Confusing? I hope not. This is an alternate universe fic, if u haven't already noticed. Uh… ok. Maybe not alternate universe, but just something different. You're probably wondering why the hell Kalm only has two seasons, well, the reason's coz… I like it! Heh heh. So there.
The three of them are childhood frens, and I'm not gonna spoil anything by telling you who's going with who in the end. It's up to me to decide, and I'm pretty sure I got the idea floating around in my head somewhere already. Well, I'm open to comments and such, and you can post me your ideas if you want. Thank you.