Hey again! I *told* ya that this'd come out soon. So it wasn't really soon, but eh.
Watch for Aeris bashing, but don't worry, there's plenty of Tifa-bashin, and Cloud-bashing and like everyone-bashing...
Speech is "...", character thoughts (other than Cloud) '...'
Alright? Thanks for all the nice reviews, they made me happy… ^_^
To Kebinu: Yes… there will be random dead people running around soon enough… *evil laugh*
Talous: Yep, Seph's gonna be turning up pretty soon… and thanks for adding me to your faves! You're tops!
Mike Danko: I personally don't think Barret's like Mr T at all. Mr T is just plain weird, and Barret well… he's not so bad. But half the people out there are like "Mr T and Barret are exactly the same!" So I just write him like that, proving all those people out there WRONG! Well, not really, I'm just bringing the worst out in all the characters…
Don't forget to keep reviewing!
Disclaimer: Same as always...
Rating: PG for swearing.
Cloud rubbed his eyes vigorously as he woke. The sun was shining in from his window right into his face. Grumbling softly, he rolled out of bed, and headed towards the mirror.
'Ugh, sleep hair.'
He grabbed his collection of hair gels, and set to putting his blond spikes back in place. Finally satisfied, he left his room and padded down the stairs to the kitchen. The house was silent, so he guessed that no one was up. Thank God for small miracles.
***
It's been a nice quiet week, Cloud thought to himself with a smile as he made coffee. Cait-Sith's gone back to Midgar, thank god. Aeris is staying for a few weeks, since her 'life-after-death' thing is on again. It's kinda weird that after all those Phoenix Downs were dropped into the lifestream, only Aeris turned up... I guess that's a good thing…
The day Aeris had arrived sure was strange. It had been weeks since the trip to Mideel, and Cloud had given up hope. And then, there she was, standing on their doorstep, armed with a bright smile. She hadn't spoken much about the whole 'life-after-death' thing, just that she'd go back there in a few weeks.
Visits are nice though. It's so nice to see her and Tifa getting along so well… but damn did I have a weird dream last night, I just can't remember exactly what happened...
Cloud was so engrossed with his thoughts that he didn't notice Vincent sitting quietly at the table, reading the 'Daily Costa'.
"Good morning Cloud."
Cloud jumped, and almost spilt his coffee. "Shit! Oh, Vincent, you gotta stop doing that so early."
"It was not my intention to alarm you." Vincent replied calmly, disappearing back beneath the pages.
Tifa emerged from the staircase, wearing a blue robe and her hair out. "Morning guys!" she smiled, and began taking eggs out from the fridge. "How do you like your eggs?"
"Boiled, thanks." Cloud nodded absently even though she asked the same question every morning. He was still thinking about that weird dream.
Aeris appeared next, wearing pink pajamas. "Hi guys! I had the coolest dream last night!" and proceeded to tell Tifa.
"How was your sleep Cloud?" Aeris asked after, taking the seat next to him.
Cloud shrugged. "Okay."
"Yeah, sometimes it's kinda cold at night..."
Cloud heard soft swearing from beside him. "Hey, is Cid up yet?" he asked, glancing around curiously. Aeris giggled, slapping his arm coyly. "Don't be silly Cloud! Cid won't get up until the eggs are ready. Right Tif?"
Tifa turned around holding a plate of cooked eggs. "They're ready right now Aeris. You want one?"
While the four were eating, Barret and Yuffie emerged, half-asleep, and almost collapsed into their chairs. The grabbed plates and eggs wiothout looking up. Tifa looked at them briefly, then turned back to her own plate.
Aeris continued talking to Cloud. "So, I thought that I'd go shopping today. Do you wanna come? I know you have really good taste, so I thought..."
'God, she starts early in the morning. It starts as soon as she wakes up, I swear.'
Cloud looked up in surprise. No one but Aeris was even paying attention. Who said that? Tifa?
No, she wasn't looking up, but he still heard the quiet cursing, from in that direction, strangely enough…
'Man, I wish she could just shut up a little. You think Yuffie goes on a little but then you see her, and just wanna get some gaffer tape and tie her up somewhere very, VERY far away from here...'
Cloud looked up again, startled. What the hell...?
"Hey, can I've some more orange juice Tif?" Barret asked.
"Sure, no sweat." Tifa replied.
'Get it yourself, selfish bastard.' She added.
Cloud looked at her suspiciously. Did she really say that? Nah… I'm just imagining things…
Tifa made no inclination that she'd said anything. She just smiled pleasantly in his direction before turning to the refrigerator.
Cid plonked down in the last remaining stool. "Damn, I am fuckin tired."
"Well go back to sleep." Yuffie retorted smartly.
'Well, duh, you old moron!'
"Shut up, brat." Cid replied, for lack of a better comeback.
'She's got a point. Strange enough that Yuffie actually thought something up...'
Cloud heard more quiet voices. To his astonishment, the first little quiet voice was Vincent's. But he isn't saying anything!
'If you want to whine about not getting any sleep, can you at least do it elsewhere, so no one can hear you?'
"Good point Vince." Cloud agreed.
Everyone looked at him.
"Did I speak, Cloud?" Vincent asked.
"Didn't you say something...?"
Tifa immediately felt his forehead, looking in his eyes worriedly. "Are you feeling alright? You haven't got a temperature…"
"No...no, I'm fine." Cloud massaged his temples, as everyone turned back to their meals. Something is going on. I can...hear people's thoughts! This is so weird…
He could still hear Vincent talking on inside his head. For as much as he doesn't speak, he sure thinks a lot.
He looked at Tifa. She was smiling, looking out the window. 'Fuck! If it rains today, I can't go out to the shop! And that means everyone'll be bitchin' at me, again! Can't they see it's not my fault! God, they're all so stupid...'
Aeris was speaking quietly to Yuffie about her shopping trip. '........'
Aeris doesn't think at all... that's weird.
'...and god does Barret smell worse than usual this morning!' Vincent continued. 'It's no wonder his little kid, who isn't actually his kid, has escaped to that school somewhere. That man-thing should really find the word deoderant, or at least have a shower...'
Cloud coughed suddenly, covering a laugh. Aeris immediately glomped him.
"Are you okay? You're not sick, right?" she asked nervously.
'Get off him you hormone infested woman!'
'He's mine, ugly bitch!'
'Ewwww! Poor Cloud!'
'Poor guy. I'm sure he could just go out and get a restraining order, maybe a dog collar...'
Cloud listened in shock to the silent reactions occurring around him. His friends; their facial expressions hadn't even changed. He gently pried Aeris off him. "Aeris, stop it. I need to breathe,"
Aeris recoiled. "What?" '...wha?'
Everyone just looked at Cloud in surprise, then turned back to their meals. Aeris smiled as if nothing had happened.
"Hey! I'm gonna make omelets tomorrow!" Yuffie exclaimed. "Whatcha think guys!??"
"Can you make them?" Tifa asked. 'Better keep a fire extinguisher at hand....'
"Like, duh!" 'She doubted me! Oh well... I wonder if they're all impressed?'
Cloud looked back to Vincent, who had buried himself under the paper again. 'Holy shit! This chick's a complete fashion disaster! And her boyfriend's dumber than Cid! What is going on here....'
"I don't know Vincent, I got no idea..." Cloud muttered. Standing suddenly, he hurried out.
Everyone watched him go.
"What happened to him?" Cid asked. "An' why did he think you were talkin all the time Vince?"
Vincent shrugged behind the paper. "Was I?"
"Hell no!" Barret replied gruffly. "You were jus ' hiding behind that paper o' yours, as usual."
"Give him a break, Barret." Tifa said.
"Still, back to the topic...what's with Spike today?" Cid muttered. "Fuckin' crazy."
"That's really weird..." Yuffie smirked. "Maybe you two going after him is driving him insane!"
Tifa glared at her, while Aeris looked genuinely worried. "Oh noo!"
***
Cloud paced around his room. It was easier to avoid his friends than to listen to their thoughts. Maybe I am going crazy. I probably just ate something bad, and now I'm hallucinating.
Even in his mind, that sounded ridiculous. But still, he couldn't explain it. How do you explain that you're suddenly telepathic?
Hearing shouts from downstairs, Cloud braced himself, and went to check it out.
***
"The Turks!" Tifa exclaimed, peeking through the curtains. "What are they doing here?"
Yuffie bounded over to join her. "Wha?" she looked as well. Indeed, the four Turks were coming up the large driveway. "Eeek! Get Cloud!"
Cloud came rushing down the stairs. "Turks? What are they doing here?" and pretended he didn't hear Tifa and Aeris's excited exclamations as soon as they saw him.
"They're almost at the door." Vincent said from the couch. "Why don't you ask them?"
'Well, that would be the most obvious thing to do. Geez Cloud, you're not acting like much of a leader today, hmm? And why the hell is he replying to my thoughts...?'
"I dunno Vince." Cloud replied absently, as he opened the front door.
"Yo, 'sup Avalanche." Reno greeted, as the four Turks let themselves in.
"What're you doing here?" Cloud asked. He was going to stay calm, there was no need to get into an argument... He didn't have any Phoenix Downs left.
"Wait.... aren't you dead, Tseng?" Aeris asked.
"Aren't you supposed to be dead too?" Elena asked, and only Cloud heard the silent 'Fucking stupid little brat. I dunno why that idiot Tseng used to like her.'
"Yeah, well..." Aeris scratched the back of her head. '... I'll have to get going soon ...'
Cloud ignored Vincent's constant mind-chatter, and moved to block the Turks from entering too far into their house. Thank God Cid and Barret are outside with the Highwind, or else we'd have trouble...
"You can't just come into our house." He protested.
"Technically, this house belongs to Shinra. You didn't pay the full price of the villa. We have the deeds to prove it." Tseng said calmly. 'Mwahaha! Eat that, you blond freak you!'
'Shit! I forgot about that! I guess we should kill them now, while they're unprepared...hmm, there's sure to be some torture equipment in the basement somewhere...' Tifa said in her mind, smiling. It looked like a friendly polite smile, but Cloud saw the malicious undertones and almost shuddered.
'Hey, we can make them pay in materia!' Cloud didn't want to go anywhere near Yuffie's thoughts. And Vincent was still thinking up a storm, as usual.
'I wonder if they're getting worried about me yet?' Cloud didn't understand whatever Aeris was thinking.
Cloud looked at them oddly, then shrugged. "So what do you want here?"
"There's a few terrorists hiding in the mountains near the town. We're going to flush them out." Tseng replied plainly.
'And kill them! Every last one of them! Mwahahaha! Dead, I tell you! Dead!!' Rude added silently.
'And I'll have to stay as backup of course. Stupid egotistical males. No, the rookie female can't do anything, she might get hurt...' Elena grumbled silently.
Cloud turned curiously to Reno. What would he be thinking?
'Damn, I'm tired.'
"Damn, I'm tired Sir." Reno said.
Tseng shrugged. "We're staying here overnight, then." The four Turks brushed past the AVALANCHE members, and into the hall.
'Yeah, that's reaaal clever Tseng.' Elena thought sarcastically. 'And what about these AVALANCHE idiots? They're just gonna let us waltz in...NOT.'
"Are there any rooms?" she said.
"God Elena, don't be so stupid." Reno sneered. "Of course they got rooms. Right?"
Cloud looked at Tifa, who shrugged.
'Heh heh...the torture chamber...' Tifa thought.
Cloud nodded quickly. "We'll find you some, whatever."
Vincent just looked at them apathetically. 'What the hell? Since when do we deal with those Turks? It's not like they can even do a job right...'
"I know Vince, don't worry." Cloud escorted the Turks up the stairs. "We don't want any trouble from you, or else."
Tseng gave him a slightly amused glance. "I don't really care what you think."
'Wait a sec.' Reno's mind screamed. 'Cloud's talkin to Vampire-dude, and he didn't even say anything!'
"Hey! Cloud's talkin to Vampire-dude, and he didn't even say anything!"
"Shut up Reno." Tifa snapped.
'He's gotta point, but.' Yuffie mused to herself. 'I think it's Tifa and Aeris going after him, it's cracked him up.'
Cloud glared at Yuffie, and continued up the stairs.
"Hey, no one answered my question!" Reno complained. "Cloud, you lost it or what?"
"Who cares, Reno?" Elena grumbled. 'Sheesh! I'd shoot him if Tseng wasn't here...damn...'
From below the stairs, Yuffie, Tifa and Aeris watched the "guests" enter the spare rooms.
"I wonder if Elena and Tseng are sharing a room!" Yuffie sighed dramatically. "That's so cute!"
Cloud tried not to gag.
Tifa and Aeris sighed in the same way. "Yeah..." and then both glared at each other.
Vincent looked at each of them blankly. "I'm going downstairs." He said, and walked away.
"What are you doing now, Cloud?" Tifa asked pseudo-sweetly.
"Do you wanna come shopping Cloud?" Aeris added in the same tone.
Cloud glanced at them both warily. "Uh... why don't you both go... together... I'm going to..." he thought frantically. "Call Pricilla! Heh heh… yeah, haven't talked to her for ages..." He almost tripped, he was running so fast.
The two girls looked at each other, and glared. "That was YOUR fault!"
***
"Are you sure they're not gonna pull something on us tonight?" Reno asked, dumping his bag on the bed.
"..." Rude pointed out thoughtfully. He was looking out the window with his usual blank expression.
Elena was neatly packing her clothes and materia into the small shelves. "Maybe we could get AVALANCHE to give us a hand."
"What's the point?" Tseng replied as he unloaded their equipment. "Cloud and his friends are unstable. Didn't you see that this morning?"
"Yeah, but-"
"Why would we want AVALANCHE to help us?" Reno retorted, fishing around in his pockets for a cigarette. "Like they'd be any use, they can't even work together-"
"…" Rude interrupted.
Reno lit up, blew smoke towards the window. "That doesn't count."
"…"
"Just shut up, Rude!" Reno snapped in frustration. Rude smirked.
"Listen up." Tseng ordered. "We're leaving tomorrow morning. I don't want any of you to start a fight with AVALANCHE."
"Why not?" Reno complained.
Tseng sighed. "We didn't bring any Phoenix Downs."
***
Hmm. Since that's not over yet, the next chapter should be out soon… ish. Next up, it's not over for Cloud… and the arrival of someone unexpected. Well, unexpected by Cloud, anyways.
Keep reviewing everyone! It's heaps cool! I'll be writing updates in my journal (yay!), so check that out, leave a comment would be very nice.
Very, very nice! Well, bye now!