Chapter Four: Bodyguard
Cloud heard this sound and was immediately alerted to someone else's presence there. He felt a hand grab his arm, it was Aeris. He shook her off and walked back between the first the first two pews, "Don't let him get you!" Aeris called.
Cloud just shrugged. As he got closer to the figure all the man could say was, "Oi, don't worry 'bout me, mate!" he said slyly with a strong accent that could only be described as Australian.
Cloud turned back to go stand by Aeris, "Say, have you ever been a bodyguard?" asked Cloud.
"Not really—doesn't sound too hard…" Cloud said.
Aeris threw her arms around his waist, "Then get me out of here, take me home…"
"Okay—but I usually charge for stuff like this—but I don't want to take your money," Cloud said.
"Then take a date…I really want you to have something to show for this—"
Cloud nodded, "Alright, I'll take that, from a pretty girl like you…"
Aeris got behind Cloud, and then Cloud stared towards the man near the door, "Who are you anyway?" he asked.
The pale man just stood there, "Aye, I know ya, mate…"
"How the hell do you know me?" Cloud grumbled.
There was a flash of memory in Cloud's head, "Wait, I do know you—" Cloud then confessed. "You're…that uniform…"
A score of guards rushed in, the commander of the guards looked to the red head, "Reno sir, you want them taken out…"
"I haven't quite made up my mind," said Reno.
Aeris pushed past Cloud, "Don't you dare fight in this church, it's a holy place and you could ruin the flowers!" Then she grabbed Cloud by the arm and ran across the altar and out a door in the back of the church, "This is the exit."
Reno stepped over towards where Cloud and Aeris had run out, he stopped off to the side of the flowers looking at the lush greenery. He stooped down and felt the flowers. Then he plucked on, "Odd enough, mates—I did you get a good look see at his eyes…they were Mako eyes…"
Reno started to walk off sweeping his ponytail out from behind him and then fixing his bangs, "Follow me, and DON'T step on the flowers," Reno said walking off.
Cloud could see why the church had been closed, a relic of the old Shinra space program had made it's mark here, and it looked like he wasn't the first thing to crash through the roof. A large old Rocket was protruding from the roof into the ground of the back room.
Cloud and Aeris walked towards it, the old rusted thing had cracked a good deal of the floor up and destroyed enough of the walk way to make it impassable.
Cloud took her by the hand and the jumped onto the slick surface of the rocket and then to another part of the walkway. They ran a little further, heading up a long flight of stairs and going around the top of the church. They passed some stained glass windows and were just about to reach the ladder that led to the rafters when Reno's voice called, "Up there, shoot!"
"The Ancient is getting' away you heard em boys!" yelled the commander.
All of the guards opened fire and the bullets splintered the wood up, Aeris went to run but slipped on the Rocket which was running across the middle of the floor at this part. She rolled down the body of the rocket and landed in the pit below—fully exposed to all the guards.
Cloud yelled down to her, "Hold on!" he looked around formulating a plan, then he saw it up above, some barrels on the rafters.
"Help Cloud.
He ran up to the rafters and grabbed one of the barrels getting ready to shove it down. Positioning himself just right he caught the first guard that advanced on Aeris, the barrel was launched from the rafters and landed directly on the back of the guard.
Aeris ran to the rocket and climbed back up the side of it's surface, finding several foot holds. The remaining guards fired at her, but Cloud ran to get the last barrel. He threw it at one of the firing guards knocking him into one of the other ones down.
Reno cursed, "Dammit, can't you fools get one murdering right, look she's getting away!" Cloud and Aeris were scampering across the rafters.
There was a sound like a ringing, Reno reached down and picked his cell phone up, it was President Shinra, "Reno, I'm at that dinner party—get back to Shinra Headquarters, we've been hit again by AVALANCHE and we have to make plans for a counter strike…"
Out on the roof of the church Cloud and Aeris rested as they looked out across the top of Sector five. There plenty of roaming patrols of guards who seemed to not notice that the pair was on the roof of that church.
As they sat there Aeris looked over at him, "Thanks, I can't believe they're looking for me again…" she said.
Cloud gave her a peculiar look, "What do you mean, this isn't the first time?" asked Cloud.
"Naw—and I doubt it will be the last," Aeris said.
Cloud nodded, "They're the Turks—a small part of Shinra, usually they scout out possible recruits for SOLDIER…"
"Why so roughly?" asked Aeris. "I figured they were going to kidnap me…"
"Yeah, they do a lot of illegal things on the side, murder, steal, arson and kidnapping too…" said Cloud. "The rest of the Shinra try to come off as clean, someone has to get down and dirty…"
Aeris folded her arms, "They look like the type."
"But there's some reason they're after you, what could it be?" asked Cloud thinking. He and Aeris got to their feet.
"I think they believe I have what it takes to be in SOLDIER…"
Cloud nodded, "Maybe you do—are you going to join?"
"I don't know…I just don't want them to catch me!..." Aeris said.
Cloud took her hand, "Then we better get a move on."
The two of them skipped from house to house, jumping their way to safety. In the distance the church stood, now the missing side of the church could be seen easily. On the far let side of the church the walls had crumbled in and great white pillars that had held it up where snapped and weathered down.
As Cloud jumped ahead he got too far and Aeris screamed then exclaimed, "Wait…I said wait!" She slowly jumped the same path Cloud had taken, when she reached him she wheezed to catch her breath. Then she dusted her shoulders off and put her head to her chest and heaved a large sigh. "Slow down…don't leave me," she begged.
Cloud laughed, "Funny...they want you to be in SOLDIER…"
She scolded him, "On you think you're funny! You're terrible!" she paused, "I thought you had to have good character to be in SOLDIER…how come they let you in?" asked Aeris.
"I used to…hey how'd you know that?" asked Cloud surprised by her knowledge.
She smiled, "I've known since the other night, your eyes have that distinct…Mako glow…" she said getting closer to his face. "You only get that when your infused with Mako…"
Cloud shook his head, "How did you learn all of this?" he asked.
"It doesn't matter—let's just get a move on, my mom will be worried…" Aeris said.
The two of them ran to the edge of the roof and jumped off quickly, they landed in the middle of a dirt path that led to different parts of Sector five. The path was pretty short. They passed through a large metal make shift gateway. On the other side there were various houses and heaps of junk piled up around the path.
Aeris pointed the way out, "Turn right here…" she said.
Cloud took the right and they walked right into the middle of a small shanty town, there were houses made of scrap metal everywhere. On the back side of the town there was a bus that had a welcome mat in front of it. Aeris smiled, "Finally home!" she said.
"Um, this is home?" he asked.
They walked a little further into town and there was a man in brown pants and a blue shirt standing next to a pipe, he grabbed Cloud by the shoulder, "Do you think you could help the guy in the pipe, all he ever says is uh or ah…" the man said.
Cloud nodded, "I'll have a look at him, "Do you mind Aeris?" he asked.
She shook her head, "The man's sick—he's been here a while," she said.
The two of them entered the pipe, there was a sleeping bag on the floor with a pillow at the top and a small table with some personal items on it. At the very end of the pipe was television running the only station—the Shinra news.
Cloud walked over to the man, "Are you alright buddy?" he asked.
The man looked up at Cloud—"You, you're on—the mark," the man spoke and startled them both. He was holding up his hand and Aeris read the number on it, two. Then the man shouted, "He comes—Sephiroth—the Mako…" then his head dropped back down.
Cloud and Aeris came out of the pipe, "I'm no doctor, but it's safe to say that this man has some form of Mako Poisoning…" he told Aeris.
"Can we help him?" asked Aeris.
Cloud shook his head, "He'll mostly likely be delirious until his body goes into shock and dies."
Aeris dropped her head, "Sad…"
"Where's your house?" Cloud asked.
Grabbing his hand Aeris pulled him through town, "Follow me, it's not far!" she said. The two of them walked over to the corner of the small town and entered a small cave like structure, it was dark inside and when they came out they were in the middle of tall green grass.
There were flowers all around them, Cloud opened his mouth in awe, "Aeris, it's beautiful."
She walked him to the house, "I want you to meet mom," Aeris said.
The house was pretty inside, with cobble stone floors and wooden steps on the far side. There was a large book case in the back with green books, in the center of the room there was a round table set with tea cups and a tea pot. On the right side of the room was a large case of china.
At the table there was a young woman with brown hair and dark brown eyes. She appeared to be a kind and gentle soul. Her white apron was dirty from house cleaning and under it she wore a long green dress.
"Oh, God, Aeris, are you alright?" asked the woman.
Cloud just stood back, "I'm alright, I had Cloud to protect me…"
She walked over to Cloud and hugged him, "Oh thank heavens!" she exclaimed. Then she walked off towards the stairs and went up.
Aeris turned to Cloud, "So what are you going to do now?"
"How far is Sector Seven from here?" asked Cloud, "I need to get back to Tifa's bar…"
"Is she your girlfriend?" asked Aeris.
Cloud looked around, "Who's Tifa…is she your girlfriend?"
"No way!" Cloud said.
Aeris laughed, "You don't have to get so testy about it…" she paused, "I can show you the way."
"No, you can't put yourself in that kind of danger!' Cloud said.
"I'm used to it!" said Aeris.
Cloud folded his arms, "I don't know…getting help from girls—what kind of SOLDIER would I be?" asked Cloud.
"A girl! What do you mean by that…you expect me not to go now, after that!" Aeris said. "Well you got another thing comin' mister!" said Aeris, "Mom, I'm taking Cloud to Sector Seven, be back soon!"
Her mother emerged from down stairs, "But dear, I give up, you never listen anyway…" said her mother, "But why not go tomorrow, it's getting late."
"Alright mother I'll go make the bed," said Aeris, she went off up the stairs.
Her mother approached Cloud, "I noticed your eyes, you're from SOLDIER…"
"Yeah I used to be, but that's behind me now…"
She nodded, "I don't want to sound rude but, would you please leave here tonight and not tell Aeris?"
Cloud nodded, "I'll try…"
Aeris came charging back down the stairs and her mother walked off up the stairs from where her daughter had come. She walked over to Cloud, "Would you like to have some cake and tea with me?" she asked, "I made them myself."
"Yeah…I'd love to!" said Cloud, he looked up and saw her mother stand on the stairs watching them closely.
Aeris smiled as she carried the freshly baked cake to the table, "I just love to bake, I'm so good at it…if must be in my spirit or something…" she paused. "Have you ever baked anything?" she asked.
"I can't say I have…"
"When was the last time someone baked for you?" she asked.
There was a flash of something in Cloud's memory, he was in a house laying on his back with a blonde woman handing him a large slice of cake, she looked him in the eyes and said, "Eat up honey—it's your favorite."
He flashed back to reality, "It was five years ago, when I visited my home town…my mother baked it for me."
Aeris looked at him, "You seem disturbed…"
"It's just something about my home—I don't want to say…" Cloud said as he started to eat the cake. He finished it in silence, "Thank you, you've been so generous—but I really need to get some rest for the trip tomorrow," he said.