Chapter 4

EVENING EVENT

"Captain…", a soft female voice calls the man who stands solemnly gazing to the sunset. Cid turns his head to see who called him, although he already knew who. He finds Shera comes to him. She waves her hand to the old man.

"When did you come here ?", Cid asks her when she arrives. "Just now", Shera replies shortly. "Highwind ?", Cid asks again, now about his beloved airplane. Shera giggles and replies, "Yes, I came with your long beloved airplane…that thing was too nice to be left untouched". She teases him, yet Cid keeps look cool. He takes a cigarette from a cigar box on his ear and ignites it on. He then takes a deep breath on his beloved cigarette and gazes to the sunset again. Shera just watches him lovingly. After the second fight with Sephiroth, Shera came to Midgar to take care of Cid's wounds, much like Tifa and Aeris did to Cloud. She left Midgar a week ago after Cid went better.

"So…this is your new habit, eh ? Gazing to the sunset outside Midgar ?", she tries to open another subject. "I know you are here, Tifa told me", Shera tells how she found him. Cid only nods. He puts his cigarette on his mouth, and short moment after that, smoke comes from his mouth.

"Kind of that…", he replies shortly. Shera stares at him. "What happened, Captain ? You look concerned…", she tries to investigate his condition. Gentle wind blows them softly before he speaks up, "I am thinking…". It seems that Cid is going to continue his sentence, but he then says nothing.

"Thinking…? What are you thinking about, Captain ?", Shera asks, a bit surprised. Cid is thinking, something she never saw in the past. She is going to tease him again, but seeing how Cid looks different now makes Shera cancel her plan.

"A lot of things…", Cid replies with cold tone. "Such as…?", Shera responds. "My life…", he replies again. Shera's eyes go shine. She now looks at him with amazed expression.

"You may call I am joking or anything…", Cid continues as he knows what Shera would think about him, "but I am really thinking now".

Shera pays more her attention to the old captain. "Go on", she requests him. Cid keeps a moment of silence before he explains. "I never thought that I would live a life like this. I was a…rude and stubborn #$)^ ass before. Of course I am still like that now…but…did you notice that there is a little change on me, Shera ?". He pauses his explanation for a moment. With his look, he tells Shera that he wants an answer.

"You changed a lot, Captain…", Shera replies with caring voice, smiling at him. Cid nods, and continues, "So my sanity tells the truth. I felt I…changed…since I knew these guys. We fought together, we faced #$(#  freakin' bad things many times, and we placed bet on our lives by fighting Sephiroth…twice. Those all made me stick to them, moreover, I felt like I am having….family". Cid's voice goes low. After an inhale on evening breeze, he continues with his normal tone,  "That's why I love to spend my time here, Shera….I felt peace, and I started to realize that I…". Cid gulps at this point. He cannot continue his words.

"Come on, Captain…go on…", Shera chases him. Cid sighs, his voice trails off, "…that I…should treat you better…". Shera's lips form a smile on her face. Her heart is delighted every time she hears those words. "What's the funny thing, Shera ?", Cid asks her nervously. Shaking her head slowly, Shera replies, "No…there is no funny thing here…I just know that you are now what you seem, Captain". Cid's eyes go wide to hear Shera's comment. Shera takes Cid's hand and holds it warmly with both of her hands. "Captain, people might knew you as a…what did you say…rude and stubborn ass…but since I knew you…I mean, the real you…I knew they were wrong…absolutely wrong…That's why I never felt hurt when you cursed to me in the past, because I knew you didn't mean it…is that right, Captain ?". She winks at him mischievously. Cid does not say anything. He finally knows the truth. Shera never get angry with him, and she was perfectly right. Although he cursed and harassed her many times in the past, he did not really serious with his actions. He did not think about the consequences. He just ignored that. When he realized that he changed, he started to worry whether Shera would be angry with him because what he did to her in the past. Now, his worried feeling is gone. Shera is not angry at all. She knows him. This makes his heart lighter.

"Captain ?", Shera asks him again, taking him back to their subject. Cid replies with nervous tone, "Uh-huh". Shera smiles at the old man. "I hope that will make you feel better…", she adds with gentle tone and squeezes Cid's hand softly. Shera then turns her face to the west horizon and gazes to the sunset. Cid speaks nothing but lets a faint smile formed on his rough visage.

"Captain, how about Cloud and…those girls ?", suddenly Shera asks him. She mentioned 'girls', and Cid knows what Shera means. He glances at Shera and replies, "I don't know…that's his matter…". Cid keeps quiet for a moment as he considers something. He then speaks up, "To tell you the truth…I was very surprised yet happy to see Aeris back…I remember how her death affected all of us…especially that Spiky-Kid…how he refused to be consoled, how he lived his day with emptiness...". Cid's tone sounds concerned. "But Tifa didn't let that kid went insane…She took care of him with such a great patience…Slowly, he got his spirit again, and I thought he started to fall in love with Tifa, until one day I found they have been engaged, but at the same time, Aeris was back among us…".

"Yes…I have my concern about them too", Shera gives her opinion, "It was me who met her first time since she was revived, and it was me who gave her a spirit to find her love…". (Author's : pls read my previous fanfic on this subject ^_^).

Cid inhales his cigarette and lets out a sigh. "I don't know how they will be, Shera…so far everything is good….but someday…that darn kid must make a decision…sooner or later…I just hope for the best….". Shera nods for agreement. She knows this won't be easy for those three youngsters, and she is eager to know the outcome.

"However, that's their personal matters, Shera, we cannot do anything…", Cid exclaims. "And now, let's go back to Midgar, I have something to do with the big guy there !". Cid pulls Shera's hand, leaving their spot and walk together back to Midgar.

"Umm…Shera…I almost forget one important thing…", Cid pats his forehead while they are walking. "What's the matter, Captain ?", Shera asks her with concern. Cid replies hesitantly, "Aww…it's just…it's just…well, just keep them knowing me as the old bad-ass man…Do you know what I mean, Shera ? They must think they are daydreaming if they find me talking about things with soft and low tone….Do you understand, Shera ?". Cid gives Shera a hopeful look. Shera giggles. "Sure, Captain, whatever…I know you", she replies, still giggling. Cid nods his head with satisfied feeling and continues his steps together with Shera.

Cloud….what happened to you, guy ? Cloud keeps on thinking about himself. With an impatient motion, he drinks another mug of his beer quickly. It is empty now. As empty as his expression. He was sitting for the rest of the day in a bar since a little incident with Aeris in the church. Cloud rubs his forehead to make his mind clear, but he finds it is still cloudy. He cannot ignore Aeris' sad expression when she left him all of a sudden. If this happened to his other friends, he just could ignore it by saying sorry. If that incident happened in the past before Aeris died, and before he proposed Tifa, he might be feeling sorry like now, but at that time he hadn't decided whom to choose.  Now, things have gone different from yesterdays. He has been engaged to Tifa. He should take care of her. If he makes her sad, it is normal to have uneasy feeling like this, but now he has this uneasy feeling for other woman than Tifa : Aeris.

Cloud's mind wanders to the event when she was stabbed by Sephiroth in the past. He is sure if it was not because of his duty to save The Planet and to revenge Sephiroth, he would just walked away and mourned for her. He would surely abandon his friends and other things as well. During the fight, he found that Tifa got more attention to him. Slowly, he could be cheered up. When the first fight was over, he decided to move on his life (Author : Umm…this is synopsis from the first trilogy, Live Forever). Things went normal as usual until he found his bravery to propose Tifa, someone who loves him all this time, and also someone he loves very much. Cloud sighs at this point. Shortly after he proposed Tifa, Aeris, with her mysterious but caring attitude, came back to living world. Aeris Gainsborough. His lost love in the past. His unforgettable one. Although she came back for some reasons, Cloud found more happiness in his life. He felt more alive, yet he started to doubt his own heart about his relationship with Tifa and Aeris. He hesitated to make decision, but second fight with Sephiroth forced him to suspend his personal matter. (Author : Ahem…that's synopsis of second trilogy, Lasting For An Eternity). Personally, Cloud felt better, but he knew he just ran away from his problem. Now, after the second fight was over and everything goes back to normal, he knows he must make decision, but he still hesitates his heart.

"Bartender…another beer, please..", Cloud pushes his mug to the man in front of him. After he gets his another mug, he drinks it again until his beer left in half. Cloud stares at his shadow on the glass.

I have given my promise to Tifa…There's no other way I pull my words back…She would be devastated…Cloud tries to rationalize his problem. I have to make apologize to Aeris, and try to forget her..but…could I ? Cloud thinks in bitterness. How could he pretend to ignore incident he had with Aeris if his mind is fully filled with her sad expression ?

Am I…still…in love with her…? He tries to ask the question he avoids at most. He pulls out her gift, a pocket watch, from his front pocket and stares at it with mixed look. Hesitation. Doubt. Hope. Care. Those feelings ramble inside his heart. He slowly opens it and the romantic music from the watch is played. Although the bar is crowded and noisy, his mind is focused. The music sounds so clear. He pictures Aeris smiling in his mind and he must admit how attractive she is in such face. This imagination makes him smile a bit, but when he looks down on his chest his face changes. Cloud closes the watch and the music is stopped at once. People talking and bar noise come again, make vapor on his already misty mind. He picks his new necklace and depicts a pair of beautiful ruby eyes inside his thought.

But…what about Tifa…? I…love her too…How could I propose her if I don't love her ? Cloud shakes his head. He then lets his eyes wander through the window bar. It is evening now, and it will be dark soon. Cloud realizes that he has been thinking for hours, and he feels tired because of that.

"Yo man ! So ya are here !". A familiar accent comes to Cloud's ears. He then feels his back is patted. Cloud spins his body and his eyes meet his friends : Barret, Cid, Cait Sith, and Vincent.

"We are here for some evening-drinking, kid", Cid greets Cloud as if he knows what Cloud will ask to them. "Yeah, it's been long time we didn't go together", Cait Sith adds, "even this grave man came with us here". The cat points his thumb to Vincent who stands quietly.

"You look messed up, kid, whassup ?", Cid asks Cloud as he notices Cloud's appearance. Cloud leans down from his seat and walks toward them. "I am all right", he pats Cid's shoulder and continue his steps toward outside.

"Hey, why do ya leave so soon, Spiky ?! Let's have another drink together !", Barret tries to hold Cloud, but with a head shake, Cloud shows that he is not interested. "I had enough drink for today", he replies coldly.

"Were you thinking about them ?", Vincent asks him to the point in cold tone. This question stops Cloud for a moment. Cloud gives Vincent a sharp look and says, "I have proposed Tifa, and I don't want to let her down this time". Cid, Barret, and Cait Sith get the point now. They know now what 'them' Vincent mentioned before refers to.

"But you can't deny that Aeris still keeps her hope for you !", Vincent argues Cloud. Cloud only smiles bitterly. Vincent then continues, "You just pretend what happened to you, Cloud…You know what happened, but you just close your eyes". Cloud sighs. He scratches his head confusedly.

"If you were me, what would you do when you find your someone is back, but you are already engaged to the other ?", Cloud asks for his friends' opinion. Barret, Cid, and Cait Sith look at each other. They never imagine that Cloud will ask such a question to them. They know how Aeris cared to the others, especially to Cloud. They also know how Tifa tried to give the best for him. Knowing that his friends will not answer his question, Cloud then pipes up, "Nah, don't bother that. I will solve it personally…now, I am leaving..". He spins his body and walks to the door to go outside. When he is about to leave the door, suddenly…

"Hey !!"

Cloud stops for a moment. A loud voice is echoing around the bar. He knows that the voice is not calling him, but suddenly he gets interested to know who has such a loud voice. Cloud turns his head to the voice source. There, he sees a group of four to five men are gathering around someone who sits arrogantly. It seems they have been arguing and it is getting hotter.

"How dare you cheat us, huh !!??". One of the men shouts at the sitting person. The man being shouted only smiles. From his appearance, Cloud concludes that he is about 20-years old, with handsome feature on his visage. On his face rests a circle-shaped sunglass, and a black jacket and white shirt are suited on his body. To Cloud's interest, the man has such a unique hair. His hair is dark brown, and it is rather spiky, like Cloud's hair. He wears fighting gloves and that makes Cloud think that the man is a kind of fighter. The young man does not care with his surrounding. He gathers coins on a table in front of him and puts them inside his pouch carefully.

Looks like someone loses his bet to that man…Cloud concludes what he sees. Somehow he is getting curious on what will happen next. He senses something will surely happen.

"Gimme my money back, kid !!", the shouting man now slams the table loudly. His comrades only see the young person in front of them smirks sarcastically. "Why ?", finally he speaks up.

"Hey, kid, watch your tongue !", another man warns him, "you took our money on our bet before…we..simply don't like that…That's why you have to return it". The young man turns his head to the second man who talks to him. Wearing a black coat, he seems so mysterious yet charismatic among the others. These leads Cloud to take conclusion that he is the group leader.

"You haven't answered my question yet : why must I give your money back ? A bet is a bet, winner takes all, and loser gives all. Don't you know that ?", says the young man calmly. The man who warned him before smiles and replies with gentle voice, "We are not deaf. You may ask us questions, but as long as you are outnumbered, there is no need to answer your question".

Things go worse…Cloud thinks. He is now watching them as he gets more curious about the situation.

"We are running out of patience, kid !", says the other man. He draws his long knife from its sheath and plays it around his fingers. The man being called 'kid' reacts, "Being outnumbered is not the same as being intimidated". His response obviously makes those men around him grow angry. One of the men suddenly grabs the young man's collar and is about to teach him a lesson with his fist. To his surprise, the young man quickly detaches his grab, spins his arm and makes him cry in pain, begging for his mercy. It all happened so fast that nobody can watch the scene before.

"Now, who is playing the game harshly ?", says the young man. He stands from his chair and pushes the man who tried to punch him away. The group leader now looks at the young man furiously. "You don't cooperate at all, kid, that's why we have to submit such decisive action", he says. With a finger snap, he orders his men, "Attention !!". Almost in unison, rest of the men draw their own weapon. One holds a spiked chain, two pull out their spiked-club, and one prepares his long knife. The leader himself draws his long sword from his cloak. A fight, a brutal fight to be precise, will be happened. The bartender, upon witnessing this situation, becomes pale on his face. His lip is going to open, maybe to warn his arguing customers not to have quarrel inside, but not even a whisper comes out from him. The other customers move away from the hotspot in hurry and move to safer place but they keep their eyes on those men. However, they do not want to miss this rare event.

Cloud watches what happened and glances at his friends on other side. He is not fond of interfering someone's problem, but five against one, even that one man is armed, is not a fair fight. Barret and Cid look at Cloud as they request their leader's opinion. With a slow headshake, Cloud tells his friends not to get involved in the problem, at least at this time.

Looking at the bad situation around him, the young man steps back and pulls his sword. Cloud is stunned on his spot to see what kind of sword the young man holds. It is masamune sword. The same as Sephiroth's. The same as the one that went through Aeris' midsection. Cloud now studies the man carefully as worried feeling crawls on his spine. At first thought Cloud recalls that Sephiroth could change his form to other person. Could it be him…? Cloud asks in doubt to himself, but at careful second thought he knows that the young man is not his old foe, Sephiroth. Somehow he knows it.

With a loud cry, those men are opening their offensive moves to the young man together. Seeing this as a bad position, the man jumps backward and prepares his counter attack stance. He kicks the chair toward his enemies to break up their formation. His attempt is failed, his enemies are already anticipate his move. They split up to avoid the chair, and quickly gather around again. This time weapon contact cannot be avoided. Yelling loudly, the young man swings his masamune to his enemies. At the same time, his enemies attack him simultaneously. Sounds of clashing steels are heard over inside the bar as well as loud cry and yells. Although being outnumbered, the young man can block incoming attack nicely with his masamune, but he cannot perform counter attack because his enemies' defense is too thick to pass. Realizing this, he changes his strategy. By his agile moves, he approaches the group leader while putting his masamune back to its sheath. The group leader is quite surprised with this move, but as a well-trained fighter, he regains himself and swings his long sword toward the young man's neck. Quickly, the young man blocks the attack with his sword which is still in the sheath. The group leader assumes that he has already stopped the young man, but he does not notice the young man pulls his sword from the sheath while blocking the attack. He gasps at the situation, but it is too late for him. His face meets the blunt edge of the young man masamune and it makes him thrown backward with pain. Wasting no time, the young man quickly leaps to the nearest next enemy, the man with spiked chain. He whips his chain to the young man who quickly blocks it with his masamune. Before the chain goes back to the owner, he grabs it and pulls it as hard as he can in order to force his enemy release his weapon. The spiked chain man refuses to release his weapon from his hand and tries to pull it back. This action makes him less aware of his defense. Seeing this opportunity, the young man quickly sends his knuckle to his nose. With a loud cry, the man falls to the floor, making a noise. The young man turns his body and faces the rest of his troublemakers.

Although there are three men left, they do not seem on winning side. Seeing how their boss and one of their friends were beaten, they must think their next move twice. At least, they are even at this point. Considering they will not gain victory easily, two of them pull out Materia from their jackets. They are Fire and Ice Materia. Seeing his friends now rely on magical attack, the last thug also follows what they did : he pulls out another Materia, a Time Materia. The young man's expression turns more serious as he senses the danger lies ahead. If they only attack with fire or ice element, he can still block or avoid it, but if they are combined with Time Materia to freeze him, he cannot imagine how he would be attacked by fire and ice magic while he is in frozen state.

"You cannot win this time, kid !", the man with Time Materia laughs hysterically. He then mumbles magical word to unleash his Materia, along with his two comrades. With a sharp look behind his sunglass, the young man hurriedly throws the sword casing toward the man. There is some distance between them, and he hopes his attack will succeed.  He has no spare plan if his attack was failed. Lucky for him, his enemy does not seem to anticipate such attack. He nervously avoids the sheath flies toward him. Although he successfully evaded the attack, his concentration is broken. Leaving no chance for him to cast the spell, the young man jumps to his enemy to give another blow. At that point, the other two men already casted Fire and Ice magic and directed them to their enemy. The young man sees this as a threat, but he must reach the Time Materia before it is used against him. His eyes quickly find a large table next to him. With his leg, he kicks the big table forward to meet the fireball and ice ball directed to him. A loud sound is banging when those magic balls are hitting the table, shattering it into pieces. At the same time, a shadow jumps to the air and lands in front of the man holding Time Materia. The shadow was the young man. He used the table as distraction, and he got chance to approach his other opponent. The man with Time Materia stares at him with disbelief look. He never sees a man like this before, yet he must confess that he is no match for this kind of opponent. Again, the young man whacks his opponent with the blunt edge of his sword easily and makes him unconscious. He quickly turns back to the remaining men. His face tells them that he has finished the hardest part, and now he enters the easier one. Those two men look at each other hesitantly. The young man moves a step ahead while pointing his masamune to them, and it makes them step back. They look at each other once more, and finally they flee from the battle, making their way to the outside with feared look. They just left their fallen members in the bar.

"Human's filth !". The young man sighs and swipes his forehead after those two men are vanished from his sight. Suddenly, a noise is heard behind him. He spins back and sees people around him cheer him, while others clap their hands as a sign of congratulation and "good show". The young man looks at those people with puzzled expression. He shrugs his shoulder and walks to the bartender. Cloud and his friends, unlike the others, do not congratulate him, they just watch him.

"Sorry for such mess…here…I hope this is enough to repair broken things", the young man places some gil on the bar table. The bartender just looks at him with wondered look. He nods to the young man and gathers the gil.

"And give me some mugs…I am thirsty after those actions…", he orders the bartender. Again, the bartender nods his head and starts to serve him, still in wondered look.

Cloud thinks that there is not anymore interesting things, so he decides to leave the bar, along with his personal problem. When he is about to leave the bar, suddenly…

"Hey !! You !!"

Someone shouts again, but this time, it is him who is being shouted. He does not know who shouted at him, hence he ignores it and continues to step outside. Once again, the same unknown voice shouts at him again,

"Hey !! Wait !! I know you…You are…Cloud Strife !!!".

This time, Cloud stops his step.