I Will Always Stay the Same
Chapter Two
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The sky was shining brightly with starts. A young spiky headed boy sat in front of his window staring up at them. Some were bigger than others, some brighter, and some were a different color. 'I guess those with different colors aren't stars…' He thought.
The town of Nibelheim looked peaceful that night, not a single soul disturbed the atmosphere. It was like that for a few hours until finally, a woman came out of the boy's neighbors' house.
"Mrs. Lockhart?" The boy questioned himself. He moved his legs to the end of the bed and got up and then quickly rushed to the living room to get a better view. "Where is she going?"
Mrs. Lockhart walked of their house and gently shut the door behind her. After that, she turned her head to Mt. Nibel and took a deep breathe. The boy brought his eyebrows together in a sign of confusion, "What is she thinking? It's called outside." He wanted to go outside and yell for her to come back, but thought against it and instead, watched as the woman walked gracefully, yet quickly out of town heading towards Mt. Nibel. "She's crazy…" Thought the blonde boy, "Mrs. Lockhart…there are ninjas crawling around Mt. Nibel!" He wanted to shout. But something held him back. Maybe it was the look on her face when she turned around to look her house, or was it the way she walked after it without looking back. Either way, the young boy felt very strange and very confused.
"Cloud?"
Cloud quickly pulled back and closed the curtains as he heard his mother's voice. "Yes mom." He answered as her figure appeared at the hallway leading to the two bedrooms.
Cloud's mother was a middle-aged woman with long blonde hair and sky-blue eyes, exactly like her son. She smiled as she him next to the window, "What are you doing? Do you know what time it is?"
Cloud nodded his head, "A quarter past 12…AM."
His mother's smile disappeared and she touched her forehead as she shook her head, "Cloud, honey, why are you still awake?"
The young boy thought of telling his mother about Mrs. Lockhart, but he shook the ideas out of his head. "I thought I saw something before realizing it was just my imagination. Goodnight mom." And with that, he went back to his room.
Mrs. Strife stared at her son's bedroom door in confusion and walked over the window; she pulled back the curtains and peered outside. Nothing. Shrugging, the middle-aged woman walked back to her room.
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Knock … knock …
Cloud groaned, "Go away."
"Cloud, time to wake up!" Cloud groaned again and sat up. His mother opened the door and peered inside. "Great, you're awake. Go get dresses as quick as possible, breakfast is ready. Ok?" Receiving a nod from her sleepy son, Mrs. Strife smiled and closed the door. Cloud could hear her footsteps as she walked away.
Wait, there weren't footsteps.
Knock … knock … knock …
Cloud looked out the window to see a man knocking on the Lockhart Residence's house.
"Who's he?" Cloud asked mostly to himself than to anything else.
The door opened and Tifa greeted the comer with a wide smile. Cloud smiled, Tifa always had that effect on people. She always made them smile.
The man at the door started talking; Cloud tried opening the window to hear what was going on.
"Is this the Lockhart Residence?"
"Yes, how may I help you sir?"
The man looked at a paper in his hands, "Is a… "Alfred Lockhart" present?"
Tifa shook her head, "I am sorry, but he is away for work. I am his daughter though, so if the message is urgent you could always tell me."
The man looked down at his hands, "This will be harder then I thought." He said, barely for Cloud to catch. Then with a sigh, he held up the paper in front of him and said in a voice that, even if strong, was still shaky, "On this day, the young Jessica Lockhart was brutally murdered by Wutai ninja…Shun Lee. Regina Lockhart was found stabbed 78 times in the chest, back, head and neck and beside her body, Shun Lee stood with a bloody katana. Shun Lee will be executed in Shinra tomorrow, the night of the 28th to pay for the crime he had done." The man put the paper down to see Tifa's expression.
My name is Cloud Strife and back then I was only 14 years old. My childhood friend and crush, Tifa Lockhart had just lost her mother. I do not how to describe what I saw that morning. How Tifa's eyes widened with every word that was said by the Shinra employee…how her hands started shaking at the mention of the word 'murder' after 'Regina Lockhart'…how her mouth opened and how she screamed over and over and how she burst into hysterical tears. It happened all too fast, but for me…it seemed like it was going in slow motion. It took Tifa a whole week to finally get out of her shell.
"I'm going…" She said slowly, "To Mt. Nibel. I have to avenge the death of my mother." Leena put her hand on her best friend's forearm, but Tifa slapped it away. "I'm going and no one can stop me." And with that, she left her house.
I was watching from the bushes what had happened that morning. I wasn't all that popular back then…actually; people hated me and wanted to stay away from me. Only Tifa was nice to me even though we didn't hang around for long. I followed her to Mt. Nibel, and while her friends watched her as she crossed the bride leading to the other side, I quickly ran after her.
"Tifa wait! It's dangerous! Come back!" Cloud yelled out.
"I have to avenge my mother's death." She said coolly.
Cloud tried to steady himself on the bridge, "but Tifa…Shun Lee got was he disserved! Your mother's murderer was punished! Please Tifa…come back!" Cloud almost pleaded.
She didn't even look back and kept on going further up until suddenly, the bride gave in and two of the straps that held it were torn. Cloud ran over to Tifa and tried to catch her, it was too late though, she fell and he went along with her.
A few hours have passed while Cloud lay on the ground. His arms, legs, head and back hurt. He tried to move closer to Tifa, but a man came running to her side and picked her up. "Tifa!" The man said and then turned to Cloud, "You bastard! What have you done to my daughter?" He yelled.
"Cloud!" That was his mother, she came running to his and took hold of his hand; Cloud cringed at her touch.
Mr. Lockhart turned his attention to Cloud mother, "You make your kid keep his distance from my daughter! I don't want him near her…ever!" And with that, he left.
Mrs. Strife gently helped her son to his feet and put her arms around his shoulder and waist, "Come on Cloud, let's get you to a doctor." And with that, they walked together to the town.
It was then, when Mr. Lockhart yelled at me that I decided to join SOLDIER. I had to…if I didn't, everyone will think of me the trouble maker and the weak little boy…and most importantly, if I become part of SOLDIER, Tifa would notice me more and maybe I would be able to save her from trouble next time.
And so, a few days after that incident, while I lay down on the small bed my mom had bought for guests watching her back and every movement she made while she was cooking…I decided to tell my mother, my sweet mother of my plans.
"Hey, mom?"
Mrs. Strife stopped what she was doing and quickly turned to face her son,
"Yes dear? Do you want something? Water? Milk? Juice? Anything?"
Cloud smiled and shook his head, his mother was always protective and helpful of her son, "No mom, I…just wanted to tell you something."
Mrs. Strife nodded her head, wiped her hands with the towel she had next to the stove and walked over to sit next to her Son on the bed. "What is it?"
Cloud looked away and stared his hands, "I…want to join SOLDIER."
His mother's eyes widened, "W-why?"
Cloud started to play with his hands. Mrs. Strife put her hands on his, a sign that he should stop that. "I-I just have to mom." The spiky haired boy said looking at her now, "If I don't…everyone will think of me as a little brat who always causes trouble and runs away from them because he's too weak to handle them!" He stood up with much difficulty. Mrs. Strife tried to push him gently back down, but Cloud shook her hand away. "See? I'm too weak to do anything! Even YOU think so! That's why you don't want me to join SOLDIER. Well, I'll show you! I'll show everyone that I can be just as strong and just as brave as they can be or even more! I can do it mom! You don't have to worry about me!"
The middle-aged woman looked down at her hands and closed her eyes as tears ran down her cheeks. Cloud felt guilty about his words and hung his head, then he sat down next to his mother groaning slightly as the pain came back to his bottom. "I…I'm sorry mom, but you have to trust me on this. The next time I'll come here, I'll be great!" He paused as he pondered a name, "The Great Cloud Strife…like The Great Sephiroth. I wonder if I'll meet him…" He heard sobs coming from his side, he turned to see his mother crying softly and he slowly put his arm around her. "Don't worry about me mom, I'll promise that I'll come back to this town to see you again."
She shook her head, "It's not it that I'm worried about dear…if you go to Midgar and make it into SOLDIER, wouldn't they send you to protect other cities and towns that are run by SHINRA from the Wutai ninjas?" He nodded and she closed her eyes and breathed heavily putting her hand on her heart. She got up and went back to her cooking biting back the tears that were coming back to her eyes and the scream that was slowly making its way towards her throat.
Cloud sighed and lay back down in the bed. Looking at the ceiling he said, "I won't die mom. I won't allow that to happen."
I decided that I would leave Nibelheim the next spring when I got better, and so I waited. Days turned to weeks. Weeks turned to months…Until it was finally one month before spring…before my trip to Midgar. I decided to tell Tifa about my decision, maybe if I told her…she would be impressed and wait for my arrival to greet me as a great warrior coming from a victorious battle. Oh how I wanted that to happen!
It was a cold February night. The sky was dark blue decorated by shining stars that shone brightly than ever that particular night. Young Cloud Strife was sitting next to the will starring at the stars. He was waiting for his childhood crush, Tifa Lockhart to arrive, but she was already thirty minutes late. Young Cloud sighed, she wasn't coming. He thought.
"Sorry I'm late."
He was startled to hear a young and cheerful voice come from his left. He quickly recognized the voice and tried to restrain himself from yelling "You came!" He wanted to act 'cool'.
Tifa walked over to him and sat near, "You said you wanted to talk to me about something?"
Cloud nodded his head, "Come this spring. I'm leaving this town for Midgar."
Tifa sighed and looked down at her swinging legs, "All the boys are leaving our town."
Cloud stood up and held his fist up in the air, "but I'm different from all of them! I'm not just going to find a job or join the army. I'm going to join SOLDIER! I'm going to be the best there is…just like Sephiroth!"
There was brief silence as Tifa let out another sigh and averted her eyes from Cloud, "Sephiroth…The Great Sephiroth…" She murmured.
Cloud looked at her in concern, was she not impressed?
Quickly, Tifa added to her last comment, "Isn't hard to join SOLDIER?"
This time more cheerfully.
Cloud nodded, "I might not be able to come to this town for a while."
Tifa looked down again, "oh…"
"Is something wrong?" Cloud asked.
Tifa shook her head and looked up smiling at Cloud who had climbed higher up, "Hey! Why don't we make a promise?"
The spiky haired boy looked at her with confusion, "What?"
"A promise!" She said cheerfully, instantly liking the idea. "Hmm…if you get really famous and I'm ever in a bind, you'll come save me, all right? I want to experience that at least once!"
Cloud raised his eyebrow, "What?"
Tifa drew back one legs to her chest and hugged it tightly as she leaned back and looked up at blond friend, "Come on~! Promise me~!"
Cloud let out a sigh, if this was how he would impress her then let it be. "All right, I promise."
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END
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Author's Note:
Don't hate me because I killed Tifa's mother! I had to! Tifa does lose her mother at some point, so I did it now! Review and I'll give you a Cloud plushy^_^
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