Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII or its characters.
Midgar University
Chapter 2 - Training
~*~*~*~
Cloud walked out of the dormitory building and searched for Tifa. He saw Tifa leaning against the lamppost, wearing a loose black blouse and hip-hugging light-blue jeans. Even in casual wear, she was absolutely stunning. He stood for a while just staring at her in a kind of awe until she noticed that he had come out, and she waved at him, snapping Cloud out of his spell.
"Hey Cloud! You ready to go eat? I'm getting pretty hungry..."
Cloud nodded. "Yeah, let's go, I'm starving. So umm... where to?" Tifa walked over to him and grabbed his arm, leading him away from the dorm building. "I know this place nearby here, it's off campus though. I went to eat there when I came here a few months ago for the open campus." Cloud wasn't paying too much attention, for he was a little uneasy with having Tifa locking her arm with his because it seemed that every time they took a stride, his arm brushed up against her breast.
"Yeah... uh huh... sure..."
"Is something wrong, Cloud?" Tifa stopped and looked over at Cloud with a confused face. Cloud tried to appear as if nothing was out of the ordinary and responded, "What? Nothing, why would you think something was wrong?"
His little act wasn't good enough apparently, since Tifa saw right through it and frowned. Then her face lit up as if she just realized something. "Oh my God... this isn't the first time you've walked around with a girl before, is it?"
Cloud's face flushed. Shit, this actually is the first time I've ever walked around with a girl. I'm so fucking sad. "Huh... no! Of course not, I uhh..."
Tifa giggled. "Hehe... You're so cute when you're embarrassed. Just don't worry about it, Cloud, it's not so bad." Cloud gave a forced 'hehe', his cheeks still red with embarassment.
They continued walking down, with Tifa trying to make conversation with Cloud. "So, tell me... Did anything special happen after you left Nibelheim?" Cloud shook his head. "No... Well, maybe, but not really."
"Maybe? Like what?" Tifa pressed. Cloud scratched his head and said, "Well, I saved this old man and his wife from a bunch of monsters that attacked them. Made me a neighborhood hero, actually. That was around Gongaga."
Tifa's interest suddenly seemed to increase drastically. "Gongaga... Did anything else happen there?" Cloud was confused for a moment. Huh... What does she mean, if 'anything else happened there'? Why would she care? Unless there was something or some... someone... Cloud finally realized what she wanted to know. "Yeah... that was where I met Zack. It was his parents that I saved. They let me stay at their house with Zack."
Tifa nodded. "That's cool." Cloud gave her a 'huh?' look. She responded by saying, "Don't worry, I'm over the whole thing, and I'm over him. I figure that if I was gonna cry over someone, it would be someone much better than him." Then, Cloud swore he heard her say something to the effect of 'and I've found someone much better already'. No, Cloud, that would be your dick making you hear things. He decided to shrug it off, and they continued walking along.
~~~~~
Eventually they made it down to the restaurant. The host led them to a table for two nearby the window. "Once again, thanks for coming to the Egg Palace, and I hope you enjoy your meal." She winked at Cloud and walked away. Okay, that was odd. Unless she was insinuating that we were going out, but then again she seems to be a little too young to be doing that. I would figure someone older would be like 'Go get 'em' or something. Oh well. Whatever. Cloud noticed a smile on Tifa's face as she read through the menu.
"I think she likes you, Cloud."
"What?" Cloud didn't understand.
"You saw her wink at you, didn't you?" Tifa explained, "She was subtly hitting on you Cloud. You're pretty much totally new when it comes to girls, aren't you?" She giggled. "You know, it's pretty weird... I remember back in high school, a lot of girls used to like you. But you were always so to yourself, and it drove away a lot of them. You have to open up, Cloud!"
Cloud listened in a sort of disbelief. "Umm... I don't think that's possible. I was... always being made fun of by everyone. Why would a girl like someone who gets picked on so much...?"
"But you used to fight back, at least. And you would win, too. I remember that whenever you got into a fight, it usually ended up with a bunch of guys trying to take you down... And you were all alone, fighting an army..." Tifa frowned. "You know, I used to worry about you, sometimes."
"Really?" Cloud didn't understand how she could have even bothered to care. Yeah, you were always with that group of jackasses that I used to fight all the time...
Tifa cut off his thoughts. "Cloud... I always wanted to get to know you, but you always seemed to distance yourself from everyone... from me... I mean, I know that it didn't help with my friends being mean to you all the time, but after a while you seemed to stop caring."
Cloud rubbed his forehead. Yeah... and that was why I ended up leaving. I didn't care anymore about anything. All I wanted was to get away from it all. "But... I still never forgot about you..."
Cloud froze. He felt the words slip out of his mouth, and by the time he tried to stop it, it was already too late. Tifa sat at the other end of the table with a look of shock on her face. "Cloud, I--"
"Heeeeeey, look who it is! 'Sup, Cloud! Long time no see!" Zack thrust his hand out to Cloud, who gave him a quick, firm handshake. "Hey, assho-- I mean, Zack. I guess it's been a while, hasn't it." Yeah, and that while hasn't been long enough.
"Whoa whoa whoa... What's she doing here?" He motioned towards Tifa.
"Well, as if it weren't obvious, we are ordering some breakfast. What are you doing here?" Cloud asked in return. Zack smacked his hand down Cloud's shoulder. "Doing the same, my friend." He motioned his head over to a table nearby, where a Wutaian girl with short black hair was waiting for him to return.
"Well, I must be going. See you later, Cloud!" He turned to Tifa and added with a very subtly sarcastic tone, "Bye, Tifa!" Tifa waved while still looking at the menu. She hadn't bothered to look at him the entire time he was there. "Bye, ass."
~~~~~
Ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred. Cloud put the barbell down and got up off the bench, drenched in sweat. Damn, a hundred reps at two hundred pounds... this Hojo guy is fucking insane... Cloud headed over to the locker room to get out of his workout uniform.
"'Sup Cloud, we didn't get a chance to talk at the restaurant. How have ya been doin'?" Zack appeared right behind him out of nowhere once again. Cloud pulled and zipped up his pants and turned to face Zack as he fastened his belt.
"I've been alright, I suppose. I have something to ask you." Zack eyed him suspiciously. "I suppose she told you about us...?" Cloud nodded, and his face suddenly turned very serious. "What the fuck did you do to her?"
Zack seemed to keep very calm. "Yeah, about that... Well, we used to go out before I knew you. Things weren't working out, so I started to see another girl. I wanted to end things with Tifa right then and there, but I didn't have the heart. I could tell she had already fallen for me pretty bad... But I got caught and someone told her and she broke up with me anyway, so--"
"I already know about that; what did you do to her yesterday?" Cloud had grown impatient and had interrupted him.
"Whoa, calm down..." Zack stayed cool, and when he spoke, it was sincere. "Listen, I saw her and I came over to her to say hi, and I leaned over to give her a kiss on the cheek. I thought that all that happened before was in the past, but apparently not, 'cause she just pushed me away. So I was like, 'So that's how it is,' and I walked away."
"But... she said that you tried to kiss her... I'm pretty sure she didn't mean on the cheek." Cloud was suspicious of his story. Although he had to admit that he sounded completely sincere, he couldn't trust him, especially after seeing him kissing that girl yesterday and then eating breakfast with another girl this morning.
Zack thought for a moment. "Well, I can see why she might have thought that..." He paused for a moment, then just blurted out, "I can't believe you, man."
"...What?" Cloud didn't understand what he could have been talking about. Zack continued, "How could you question that I'm not telling the truth! I thought you were my best friend, Cloud."
Cloud was shocked. Best friends? What the fuck... Cloud scratched his head. "But... How could you do that! I saw you kissing some other girl in the park a little while before I saw Tifa outside the dorm building crying... And then today you were eating breakfast with some other girl! Just going from one girl to the next, that's not right!"
Zack was confused. "What the hell are you talking about? I wasn't kissing some girl yesterday in the park. Wait... did the girl have brown hair and green eyes... really pretty girl?" Cloud nodded.
Zack smacked his forehead as if he had reached an obvious conclusion. "So you where that guy I saw walking away... Dude, that was Aeris, the girl that I was going out with when Tifa dumped me! I told you about her!"
Cloud thought back. Hmm, I remember him always sending letters to some girl in Midgar when we were living together in Gongaga, and then he would always leave on the weekends to Midgar... He told me about her... For some reason, I don't remember the name 'Aeris' though... "Yeah, I guess you did tell me about her. So what happened in the park with her, then?"
Zack gave a fake chuckle, and he spoke with a touch of gloom in his voice. "I went in to give her a kiss, but she pushed me away and dumped me right there. She hadn't heard from me in two months, so I don't blame her."
Zack's sadness seemed to evaporate almost immediately a few seconds later, and he added, "But I met this cute girl near my dorm, who is the one I was eating with this morning. I might as well get over Aeris quickly before I let it get me down, right?"
Cloud nodded, not out of agreement, but out of understanding. I see where you're coming from, but finding someone else so quickly is like saying that you don't care about that other girl, Aeris.
~~~~~
Hojo stood before the group of about forty young men in training. He spoke with his usual strange accent, typical to those of the mad scientists seen in old monster movies. "Welcome, gentlemen, to the sparring arena. Those of you who are new have probably already heard that every odd day on the calendar is a sparring day. Today is the 19th of August, so your first day of sparring will be today. Each battle will be to the death."
Several of the new students muttered under their breathes, "What the fuck..."
Hojo continued as though what he said was nothing out of the ordinary. "Your battles will be recorded, and you will each be evaluated for your technique, your intelligence, and your battle instinct as well as your physical capabilities. We will also be looking for what we call 'intangibles', or uncommon traits that would separate you from ordinary soldiers. Also, take note that no materia is to be equipped to your weapons or armor, and no items are to be used during battle. Good luck."
"Oh yes," he continued as though he had forgotten someone. "Those who have been defeated will be revived with a Phoenix Down before permanent death occurs, so there is no need to worry about your well-being."
The newcomers all gave a collective sigh of relief.
Hojo pulled out a list. "You have all been paired with a partner at random. Your partner will changed every sparring session, so do not worry if the match-up is uneven. First pair: Zacharias Ezekiel Mason and Vladimir Petroff."
Zack and a tall, thin guy got up and walked over to the mat. Each of them kept his head down until they reached the mat, where they then stretched out and prepared for battle.
"Prepare your weapons!" Zack pulled out huge sword not unlike Cloud's own Buster Sword. The only noticeable difference with that it was double-edged and significantly shorter than his own. Vladimir pulled out pair of blue nightsticks with blades on the long end.
Hojo grinned, and with a distinct tone of morbid pleasure in his voice said, "Begin."
Zack was immediately being slashed at furiously by his foe, but he managed to avoid getting anything but his clothes cut. Zack saw an opening in Vladimir's blitzkrieg and struck him in the head with the hilt of his sword, causing Vladimir to double back. Zack rushed forward and kicked him in the stomach, causing him to fall on the ground. He stabbed down at the floor, attempting to impale Vladimir with his sword, but he rolled out of the way, barely avoiding his death early in the match. Vladimir swung his bladed nightsticks at Zack feet, but Zack saw this attack coming and he jumped out of the way.
Vladimir quickly got back up and resumed his blitzkrieg on Zack, flailing his sticks wildly. Zack, growing tired of Vladimir's attempts, simply dodged his way around his attacks and found himself easily able to get behind Vladimir. He swung his sword at his back, creating a long slice down the right side of his back. Vladimir fell to the ground instantly, dropping one of his sticks. He managed to get up quickly, though obviously in pain. He attempted to somehow get in close range, but his attempts weren't working with Zack swinging at him every time he took a step forward. Then, suddenly, Vladimir threw his remaining nightstick at Zack like a throwing dagger, which Zack dodged easily, but it allowed Vladimir to finally get in close. He threw a hook at Zack's temple, connecting cleanly.
Zack fell to the ground almost immediately, and Vladimir pounced on him like an animal pounces on it's prey. He beat on his face, cutting his face and creating massive bleeding. Despite it seeming impossible in this current situation, Zack somehow managed to get his arms free from under Vladimir's knees, and used the strength he had left to give him a hard elbow straight to the jaw. The blow must have sent a shockwave through his head, because he flopped like a ragdoll and fell to the floor beside Zack.
Zack got up and grabbed his sword, and he walked over to Vladimir, lying on the floor almost unconscious. He aimed his sword downwards and hung it over his head for a few moments, before finally plunging it down through Vladimir's chest. Vladimir coughed out blood, and in a few seconds, he was dead.
Hojo clapped. "Very well, Mr. Mason." Zack walked back up to the bench, his left eye swelling up and his face full of blood. Hojo handed him an X-Potion, which Zack immediately drank. Within seconds, all of his wounds seemed to magically closed by themselves, and suddenly it seemed as though he hadn't even fought at all. Hojo walked over to Vladimir's body and opened a bag of Phoenix Down over him. The wound in his chest closed up, and he was revived almost instantly. Hojo gave him an X-Potion as well, instantly healing the rest of Vladimir's wounds.
Hojo took out his list again and with the same, sick smile as before, announced the next match. "Jonas Monmouth and Horatio Mendoza."
~~~~~
Cloud sat, anxiously watching everyone else fight, waiting for his turn to come up, until eventually everyone else had gone besides him and whoever he was to fight.
Hojo looked over his list once last time. "Ah yes... Cloud Strife." Cloud stood and walked over to the mat, where he stretched and loosened up as everyone else had before him. "... and Sephiroth Alexandros-Hojo."
WHAT!!! Oh fuck, I'm dead... Cloud watched in horror as Sephiroth walked towards the mat, his trenchcoat flowing almost like a cape behind him. He took it off as he stepped onto the mat and threw it to the other side.
Shit shit shit SHIT! I remember back in Nibelheim when he got into a fight with that one kid that tried to get tough with him... He nearly killed the kid with one punch in the gut... He was vomiting blood and was bleeding internally... With one fucking punch... I am SO dead... Cloud's thoughts ran wild and a kind of fear for his life seemed to overcome him. He had cold sweats and had become deathly pallid.
Sephiroth stared directly into Cloud's eyes. He saw the fear in his eyes. Cloud... I'm sorry that I have to do this. He unsheathed his incredibly long, legendary sword Masamune, his signature weapon and trusted partner in battle. They say that he is the only one who can control it's mysterious power...
Cloud took his own Buster Sword from it's sheathe on his back. Its enormity made it hard to control, but through the years he had used it since he had found it in the Shinra Mansion that one day when he was seven years old, he had been able to master it.
He stood in his ready stance, with his sword out in front of him, and one knee bent in front of him. Sephiroth stood straight up, his chest facing diagonally to Cloud, holding his Masamune too his chest, the blade pointing at Cloud.
Hojo yelled, "Well, get on with it already! Stop wasting time!"
At this, Sephiroth immediately dashed at Cloud, his sword ready to slash Cloud's head clean off. Cloud was able to react in time, though, and parried the attack with his own sword. Sephiroth seemed to be surprised, as Cloud was able to follow the parry up with a slash at Sephiroth's chest, causing a shallow cut. However, almost instantaneously, the wound closed up and looked as if he had never been hit. What the fu-- Cloud's shock left him wide open, and Sephiroth seized the opportunity by impaling Cloud straight through the stomach.
"AHH!!!!! FUCK... da..mn..." Cloud found his breath shortening quickly. Sephiroth lifted Cloud with his sword. Darkness was starting to overcome Cloud. The pain... Dammit... I can't... Die so easily... Cloud gathered what energy he had left and threw his sword at Sephiroth, which stabbed deeply through his chest. Sephiroth dropped his sword (with Cloud still on it) and fell to the ground. Heh... heh... heh...... Got 'em......... The darkness finally got to Cloud, and his consciousness slipped away.
A few minutes later, Cloud was revived and fully healed. "Not bad, Cloud. You almost got me." Sephiroth gave his hand out to Cloud. "Hehe, umm... thanks." Cloud shook it. Sephiroth continued, "You're the only person that has almost beaten me in a fight, ever." Cloud scratched his head and said modestly, "No... you're just saying that to make me feel better." Sephiroth shook his head. "I mean it. You're my friend, why would I lie to you?"
Cloud thought about that. You're my friend...? Well... I suppose that out of everyone back in Nibelheim, I talked to you the most. We were buddies, yeah. "Seph... thanks."
Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. Cloud added, "For being my friend, I mean. I can't say that I had many of those back in Nibelheim." Sephiroth shrugged it off with a smile.
They made their way into the locker room. Cloud showered and got dressed quickly. He had overheard a bunch of guys in the showers making fun of someone's 'package' and didn't want to be another victim of their jibes.
As he was making his way out, Zack called to him. "Yo Cloud!" He walked over and patted Cloud on the back. "Good job fighting Sephiroth, even though you didn't win. That guy is inhuman... He pulled out your sword from his chest while he was lying on the ground, and in two minutes, he got back up and was fully healed! With no magic or items or anything!"
Cloud wasn't surprised. "Yeah, I know... He's from my hometown, so I've known about all that for a while."
Zack turned for the door. "Well, don't worry bro, I'll beat 'em when I fight 'em for ya. Later, Cloud!" Cloud returned the good-bye saying, "Later." He added under his breath, "And yeah, I'd like to see you try..."
~~~~~
Cloud found himself wandering back to the same bench in the park. He sat down and looked towards the sunset. It was exactly the same as the one yesterday. And exactly the same as the ones back in Nibelheim. I remember, back before I left... I used to go up to Mt. Nibel to get away from everything. I used to watch the sunset, and it never changed. I don't know why I bothered to go back, because it was always the same... And it's funny, because I was looking to get away from all that when I left... And, would you know it, Tifa and Sephiroth are here. And now even the sky is the same...
"Hi."
Cloud jumped. That girl that had passed in front of him yesterday had just come and sit down next to him on the park bench. "H... h... hey..." he managed to stutter out. He smiled meekly at her in return to her own smile.
Her beauty was incredible. Her hair was pulled back into a big, loose braid down her back. Her eyes shone a tantalizing shade of emerald green. I could lose myself forever in those eyes...
"You're... Cloud, right?" she asked. "I'm Aeris."
He nodded. "Yeah, I'm Cloud... Is something wrong?"
"No, no... It's just that Zack told me a lot about you back when we were going out. I saw him talk to you in the restaurant earlier today."
Cloud was confused. "Huh? I didn't see you there. And you weren't the one eating with him."
Aeris explained, "I was sitting in another section, but I managed to get a glimpse of you two. He told me that you had spikey, blonde hair, so I figured it was you. And I haven't seen any other spikey, blonde haired guys here anyway..."
Cloud laughed a bit. "Yeah, I suppose it's not exactly common for guys to have my hairstyle."
Aeris laughed a little as well, and then there was a silence for a few moments. Cloud broke the silence and asked, "So... what are you doing here?" Aeris looked out to the horizon. "Nothing... Just watching the sunset. It's so beautiful..." Cloud shook his head, "Well, I've seen too much of it..."
"What do you mean?" Aeris turned her head on the side diagonally and looked at Cloud with questioning eyes.
"Uhh... nevermind. It's a long story, you wouldn't wanna hear it anyway." Cloud didn't want to bore her with his life's story. No one wants to hear the story of a vagrant...
She pleaded with him, "Don't worry, I've got time." She added, "Zack told me you used to live in Nibelheim, but then you ran away."
"What?" Cloud was offended by the statement. "I didn't run away! I... I just... didn't want to be around there anymore." But, as he said that, he realized that in actuality, I did run away... All this time, I've just been running. Running from the people. I was running from the repugnance that everyone had of me... I couldn't fight them back, only with my fists. But they hurt me deeper than that. I've always been so weak... I fucking hate myself...
"Cloud, what's wrong? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel bad..."
Aeris gave him a hug. Cloud, surprised, pulled back a bit at first, but eventually let her take hold of him. The fact that she was hugging him made Cloud forget about his thoughts. ... Her touch is so soft... He suddenly snapped him out of it and grabbed Aeris's arm. "Umm... thanks..." He pulled her arm off of him. "I needed that. Thank you, Aeris."
She giggled. "It's okay, Cloud, you don't have to thank me." He shrugged. By now, he was really uncomfortable. He looked at his watch. "Hmm, 6:34... I'm getting pretty hungry... Well, I gotta go. I'll, uhh, see you around, I guess." He turned around and started walking away.
"Hey, wait!" Aeris called after him. "How about we go out for dinner?"
"Well, umm... I guess that would be cool." Cloud, what the hell are you getting yourself in to! This isn't like Tifa, you just met this girl a little while ago! Cloud ignored his inner voice's warnings. "So, where do you wanna eat?"
Aeris shrugged. "I don't know, I guess we can walk around and see what we find."
Cloud nodded. "Sure, all right then." Aeris walked up next to him and took his arm. Cloud, finding himself in a familiar position, said, "Umm... alright then... Let's go."
~*~*~*~
A/N: It seems there will be action in this fic too... I was pretty happy with the fight scenes in this one, but I'm not too sure about anything else, really... I tried to explain everything that had happened before the start of the fic, so hopefully I did a good job of that. That whole Aeris thing might be a little too sudden, although that was what I was going for. But even so, I still don't really know what I'm gonna make this in to, so there are probably still a few surprises in store.
Oh yeah, sorry about changing that whole thing about Cloud and the Buster Sword... I really wanted him to have it (it's my favorite sword in the game and quite possibly in the world for some reason O_o;;), so I came up with that whole 'he found it' thing on the fly.
And in case you haven't figured it out yet, the person's thoughts are in italics. So far it's been mostly Cloud (actually, all Cloud I think), but soon there will be other people with inner dialogue. And... the five tildes indicate a change of scene. ^_^
And... I've already begun writing the next chapter. Thanks for reading, and please review! :D
