Café Down The Street | Second Story of the Urban Legends Series

A FFVII Fanfiction By Majokai Yukiko

This is an amateur effort and does not intend to infringe on the rights of Squaresoft

This story is set in an alternate universe. In other words, the plot of the original does not apply here.

Pairing: Zack + Sephiroth

Warnings: Not suitable for the easily scared.

Author's Note: Guess how long I took to finish writing this? I admit it might not be that great, but yah, I took…*counts* I can't remember. I started writing this the same time that I finished writing "The China Mist". Go calculate yourself.

Here I go again I promise myself

I won't think of you today

It's been seven months and counting

You've moved on I still feel exactly the same

It's just that everywhere I go

All the buildings know your name

Like photographs and memories of love

Steel and granite reminders

The city calls your name and I can't move on

Ever since you've been gone

The lights go out the same

The only difference is

You call another name

To your love

To your lover now

To your love

The lover after me

"The Lover After Me", Savage Garden

The bells attached to the top of the door jingled cheerily as Cloud pushed open the door. It had been years since he came to 7th Heaven, but the interior of the café had not changed much. The only difference was that a sweet young lady had replaced the old woman who used to stand behind the bar.

The old ceiling fans still creaked as they moved, as if they had not been oiled after all these years. The soft aroma of homemade coffee still filled the air with the warmth and simplicity of country life.

This was a place frozen in time, a place where the war could not reached. The café was here before the Shinra war broke out, and it remained standing after that, untouched by its cruel surroundings. For a moment Cloud could not helped but wonder if there was some magical being watching over this place. Of course, that was impossible. He was just being stupid and overly imaginative.

Also untouched by time, was the white haired man who always sat at the corner, right next to the glass separating the café from the streets outside, the transparent wall which separated dreams and reality.

Cloud first noticed that man when he was only a young child many years ago. The mysterious man would sit silently at the corner, looking at the streets outside with hopeful anticipation, as if waiting for someone, his lover maybe.

But he was always alone. Some people would still sit at his table, making jokes with one another. But they never noticed him. Neither did he notice anyone.

Why was that so? Cloud really had no idea. All he knew was that this man, whoever he was, amazed and intrigued him.

"May I sit here?" Cloud asked, gesturing to the seat opposite to the mysterious man. From since he first saw him, this was the first time he had the courage to talk to the man. Not that he expect the man to suddenly jump up and bite him like a rabid dog, it was just that…this man…had had a certain aura about him that kept others away.

The white haired man looked up for a moment, arching an elegant eyebrow in mild surprise, and nodded.

"That seat is taken, but the person who's supposed to take it, probably won't be here to claim it anyway."

"Whom are you waiting for?" Cloud asked again. He knew it was rude for him to do so, but his curiosity got the better of him. This man, he thought, had been waiting here, year after year, everyday without fail. But who could have made him done so? Who could have made him waited in vain, time after time and not give up?

"Now that you are here. He'd probably come as well."

Cloud was taken back by surprise. What had he meant by that?

"What is your name?"

The white haired man looked like he was about to speak, when Cloud's mobile phone rang. Muttering an apology, the blonde man quickly reached for his phone and answered it.

"Er…excuse me, is Sephiroth there?"

"I'm afraid you've got the wrong number. There's no one named Sephiroth here." Cloud replied, slightly irritated by the call.

"Oh, it's okay then. Will you ask him to call me when he gets back?" And that person on the other side disconnected the call. Cloud grumbled something incoherent under his breath as he wondered about the strange phone call. Turning his attention back to the man sitting opposite him, he smiled. But the other man only looked at him coldly in return.

"That call was for me. I am Sephiroth." The white haired man said, his trembling voice did little to hide his anger. Getting up from his seat, he walked away without a second glance, leaving Cloud alone and puzzled in the lonely café.

***

The phone rang in the dark living room. Drying his hair, Cloud padded into the living room of his rented apartment. Taking the cordless phone off the hook, he walked towards the window to look out at the café down the street opposite his apartment.

"Excuse me, is Sephiroth home yet?" It was the same voice that called his mobile in the afternoon. Cloud gritted his teeth in anger and irritation.

"Sephiroth doesn't live here."

"I see. Will you ask him to call me when he gets home? Thank you." Once again, the call was disconnected. Cloud blinked, puzzled.

Outside, a dog was barking at the door of 7th Heaven…when there was nobody standing there in the shadows.

***

"Your friend called my house yesterday, looking for you." Cloud told Sephiroth when he sat down at the table again the next day. Sephiroth only smiled casually, his green eyes tinkling with a certain light in it. Cloud had never seen that man looking as beautiful as he did then. Unable to tear his eyes away, Cloud could only continue marveling at the presence of such a lovely being.

That slight smile of his had brightened up the café almost instantly.

I wonder who could be the lucky one who deserved a smile like this. Cloud thought.

"Did he say anything?" Sephiroth asked, trying hard not to appear too eager before a man he barely knew.

"He asked you to call him back when you get home." Cloud said absently, still entranced by the way a smile can do so much to a man.

"If he calls again, tell him I'm waiting for him outside this café." Getting up, Sephiroth left the shop again even before Cloud had the chance to reply.

***

That night, Cloud sat next to the telephone after his bath, waiting for the phone to ring. Time passed. Hour after hour the needle ticked off. But the phone did not ring. Just when he was about to give up and go to bed, the long awaited shrill ring shattered the silence of the night.

Finally, Cloud thought and picked up the receiver.

"Excuse me, is Sephiroth home yet?"

"Sephiroth doesn't live here. But he told you to meet him outside 7th Heaven."

"Did he say what time would that be?"

Cloud startled. Sephiroth did not say anything about the time, nor had Cloud bothered to ask. He had assumed that this mysterious caller, whoever he was would know what the white haired man was talking about.

The blonde boy shook his head. Realizing that the man on the other line could not see him, he muttered a soft 'no'. The caller kept silent for a while, and thanked him before putting down the phone. Cloud slumped wearily back onto the couch and sighed. So much for wanting to help Sephiroth.

Suddenly, the phone rang again.

Outside the café, the stray dogs kept barking at something, or someone, that others could not see.

***

When Cloud stepped into the café the next morning, the table usually occupied by Sephiroth was empty. Worried, he quickly made his way to the counter and waved his hand in front of the young woman there.

"Hi, I'm Tifa. How can I help you?"

"Er…do you have any idea where that man with the silver hair went? Did he come earlier today?"

Tifa blinked confusedly at Cloud, not exactly comprehending what the blonde was telling her.

"There was no silver haired man living in the village."

"He must be. He comes here everyday since I was a kid, but he always look the same though. He said his name is Sephiroth and he sits at that table everyday." Cloud pointed at the table at the corner beside the window. "Surely you have noticed him before."

Tifa formed an O with her mouth, her face blanched into a whiter shade of pale.

"You saw the General?"

"The General?" Now it was Cloud's turn to not understand the situation.

"General Sephiroth. The greatest General under Shinra. Sephiroth was the first general in history to ever attain a five-star rank. Unfortunately, he died young. It happened many years ago outside this café."

"He was waiting for someone in this café. But I think they messed up the time or something like that. But anyway, the General got himself dead drunk out of misery. Pretty stupid thing to do when there's a serial killer out on the loose, if you ask me. So he got killed. Older folks say that his lover went to the apartment Sephiroth was living in everyday until he had no choice but to accept that the General is dead. He hanged himself there." Tifa got out from behind the counter and pulled Cloud to the door.

"There!" Cloud followed her finger and saw that she was pointing to the window of the apartment where he was living.

"You are kidding." If Sephiroth were dead long before he was even born, why would he keep seeing him anyway? Given that he had spent most of his life outside of the village, so it was no surprise he knew nothing about the folklore of the General. But how could it be? How could it be a ghost he was seeing all these years?

"You said he never aged." Cloud shakily nodded. Then he saw something outside the café that made him push Tifa away from him and ran out. It was Sephiroth.

Under the sunlight, the General looked even more elusive and beautiful than ever. There were dark circles around his eyes, those that you get when you had not enough sleep the night before, but even that did not mar the man's angelic beauty.

"Hello, Cloud." The man, or wraith, greeted. There was a sad look on his face. Once again, Cloud wondered about the validity of Tifa's statement. How could a ghost possess so much emotions and hurt?

"Okay, tell you what, Sephiroth. Zack called last night and I realized that you didn't tell him what time to meet."

Bright emerald eyes widened in shock, then realization followed by a soft sheepish smile. Almost immediately, the hurt evaporated from the man.

"Tonight, at ten. Right here." Cloud reached out his hand and gently swept a lock of silver hair from the man's face. "I'll tell him that. So keep waiting."

"And don't get drunk!" He added.

***

"Hey kitty, kitty." A deep voice chuckled. Cloud walked into his apartment to see a man with long dark hair on his sofa. A cat that Cloud had never seen before had settled itself comfortably on the sofa too, enjoying the feel of the man's thick strong fingers stroking its fur.

"Hey. Where is Seph? Folks said he's dead. But his cat is still here so I don't believe them. You have any idea where he is?"

The man turned back to the cat and lifted it up to place it on his lap, where he could pat it better.

"My name's Zack. Have you seen Sephy?"

Cloud could not say anything. The cat jumped off Zack's lap and walked towards him, sniffing suspiciously before vanishing into thin air. The blonde man looked up and nearly screamed. Zack was pale, his outline shimmering slightly in the evening sun that managed to peek through the curtains.

"Tell me if you do know, Spike. 'Cause I don't have much time left."

Cloud stared at the clock. It was four. Still six hours before ten and he doubt he had any idea where Sephiroh might possibly be. Zack was vanishing…fast. His time was indeed running out. A look of panic and desperate anguish crossed his handsome face.

"Hurry," he whispered. Zack raised his arm and stared down at himself in horror.

"Sephiroth is dead."

Cloud had no idea why he said that. Or why he had not told Zack about the time Sephiroth wanted to meet him. Was it better for him to give up hope totally, or suffer the pain of knowing that he would meet his lover if he could?

Cloud did not know, nor did he stay to find out.

A silver tear trickled down Zack's cheek. Silver, the color of Sephiroth's hair.

"Thank you."

That night, stray dogs once again barked loudly outside 7th Heaven. But Cloud did not stay to find out.

As he packed his bags to leave his hometown once more, he wished the two ghost lovers best of luck, hoping that one day, they would meet again. Till then, 'good bye' Cloud whispered to the wind.

End of Café Down The Street