It was quiet. Cloud lay in the hay, his spiked blonde hair blowing in the
gentle breeze. He was wearing a black shirt, black jeans, and a red bandana
around his forehead.His chocobo sat in it's stable, warbling quietly, trying
to fall asleep. Choco Billy walked over to him and looked at him for a few seconds
before Cloud opened his eyes. "Yes, Billy?" he was still thinking
of her... He couldn't stop thinking of her... Even with Tifa trying twice as
hard to impress him, all he could think of now that Sephiroth was gone was her...
And how he could have saved her that night...
"Well, um... You see... Your rent on that stable is up, and we've got
someone who needs it." Billy looked at him regretfully, but his grandfather's
orders weren't changable. Even to the man who saved the world, money is money,
and nothing in life is free.Cloud stood up casually and opened the stable, Boco,
his only chocobo left after the rest of the stable caught fire, killing off
the rest, including a brilliant gold chocobo he had received as a reward from
a collector in Kalm town. All he had left was Boco, and only because he had
run in despite the flames and freed Boco, the rest of the chocobos were already
doomed. For this, Boco was extremely loyal to Cloud, and would do anything for
him at the blink of an eye.
"Looks like it's time for us to go, Boco." Cloud hopped on boco's
back, held on tightly to him, and set out. Where he was going, he didn't know,
but he was alone besides Boco, everyone went back to their lives. Barret and
Marlene decided to move to Kalm, since Midgar was ruins. Tifa still visited
Cloud once in a while, she obviously wanted to get Cloud to accept the fact
that Aeris was gone, and that he should move on, but he wasn't ready to move
on.
He decided to pay a visit to Barret and Marlene, since he hadn't seen them
since they separated from everyone a few weeks after the Meteor Incident, as
it was called now. He headed out to Kalm on Boco. Boco wasn't the fastest chocobo
in the world, but he got the job done. A few hours later, they were in Kalm.
He left Boco outside the town and went into town. The first thing he noticed
was that everyone who escaped Midgar before it was destroyed had moved to Kalm.
That wasn't that many people, but it was still noticeable in the air, people
were still complaining about their lost possessions, 2 months after the Incident.
Barret was home. Cloud let himself in, as he usually does anyways, and found
Marlene sitting at the dining room table. She looked up at Cloud and yelled,
"Daddy, we have a visitor!" Marlene was about 9 years old, her hair
was long and brown. She was wearing a light blue dress and a matching bow in
her hair. Barret walked into the room, and rubbed his eyes out as soon as he
saw Cloud.
"Damn, it's been a while!" Barret just stood there. He was about
6 feet tall, with dark skin, and short black hair, wearing a brown tank top
and blue jeans. One of his arms was half cut off a long time ago, but he had
a gun grafted onto it to make up for the missing hand. Right now though, it
was a mechanical arm. "Well, yeah, I've been isolating myself lately, but
my pay on the chocobo stable ran out, so I left."
"Well, shit happens. Lookin' for a place to stay?" Barret actually
seemed to have more respect than he did back then. "No, I'm gonna get a
ship to Bone Town and head north from there."
Barret looked at Cloud, his eyes showed that he realized what Cloud wanted
to do. "You still can't get over her, can you?" Cloud looked back
at Barret, his eyes seemed empty still, but it was obvious that Barret was right.
"Maybe not. Is that a problem?"
Barret shook his head, "No, of course not. Go right ahead." He thought
for a second. "Wait, if you're heading north, then why did you stop here?"
"I just felt like visiting for a few minutes. Let you know where I was
if Tifa came looking." Cloud nodded. Barret knew what that meant right
off. "So, she's still on your case, huh?" Cloud nodded. Barret shook
his head slowly, "Well, that's just how Tifa is. She gets possessive."
"Oh, I've noticed. Well, I have to go now, hopefully catch a ride on a boat from Junon. See ya, Barret." Barret nodded. Cloud never was one for talking much, in fact, he hardly ever spoke to anyone these days. He walked out the door, and left town as quickly as he had come, hopping on Boco's back and setting off into the sunset. Tifa walked towards Kalm from the other direction just as Cloud's silhouette vanished into the distance.
--End Chapter 1--