Chapter 14: The New Life Inn

Cloud raced away from the window once his feet hit the floor, upon looking back he saw the light on in the room he had just fallen from. He picked up speed, not wanting anyone to see him. No one looked out of that shattered window and thus no one saw the spiky haired silhouette as Cloud ran into the shadows of the city.

After sprinting down the road he stopped to catch his breath behind a building, he guessed it was a house, but with his mind racing in time to his heartbeat he wasn't really sure. Cloud closed his eyes for a moment, but those laughing grey eyes of the man he had just run his blade through seemed to be imprinted there, the light fading from them as he looked. Cloud immediately opened his own blue Mako eyes, not sure why the grey orbs haunted him so, it wasn't as though he hadn't killed humans before.

Cloud looked down at himself to quickly assess any damage his body had taken. He was covered in blood from the window slicing into him, the rifle shooting him, and the President's own blood from the various attacks Cloud had preformed on the man. The blood on his skin could easily wash off and his wounds would heal with couple of casts of Water and Cure from his Master Magic materia. But how he would get it out of his clothes was beyond him, Cloud had never been any good with washing clothes, he always managed to loose, rip or in some way destroy them whenever he tried. No one in AVALANCHE had let him near their clothes when they needed washing, ever since he managed to turn Yuffie's white shorts orange somehow, and then washed Cid's jacket with his weekly supply of cigs in the pockets and ruined them. Neither Yuffie or nicotine deprived Cid had talked to him for over a week after that, and thus Cloud was banned from washing, not that he was complaining or anything. Cloud shook his head, now wasn't the time to take a trip down memory lane, he had to get back to the hotel ASAP.

Fifteen minutes later a very wet Cloud was stood in front of the New Life inn, the front door was unlocked so he went straight in. A cover story had been prepared on the run over, the simplest ones where the best in his books, either that or one so stupidly outrageous that it had to be true. Cloud ran a hand through his hair; it was plastered to his head apart from a couple of rebellious spikes that had stubbornly stayed up despite the Water magic he had cast. The inn was empty, he gathered that everyone was in bed; it was past midnight after all. He walked up the blue glass stairs, making small puddles with every step, as he made his way to the room that Quistis had rented, and quietly entered it in case everyone was asleep. What Cloud saw once he entered the room, was not what he would have expected in a million years.

Vincent was lying on his back on the floor, the three women were sat on him, pinning him down, and from the bored look on Vincent's face, he had been lying there for quite a while. Selphie was sat on his chest, her knees resting on Vincent's shoulders, Riona was sat on his legs, and Quistis was sat above his head, trapping Vincent's arms under her. Cloud burst out laughing; he had never seen anything so funny, especially when Vincent actually started to pout at him. His hair was spayed out behind him like a fan making him look slightly feminine as he lay there pouting like a little girl. All four of them where lying between the beds in the middle of the room.

"What's been going on in here while I've been gone?" He asked when he could finally control his laughter.

"Close the door and sit down Cloud." Said an embarrassed looking Quistis.

Cloud obeyed, shutting the door behind him and made his way over to a bed, his boots squelching with every step. Vincent didn't looked pleased at all, Cloud bet he was annoyed that his teenage body couldn't throw the three women off him like his older one could have.

"So…? Is anyone going to tell me what's been going on? I'm out for five minutes and I come back to find this." Cloud grinned.

"This is your fault, Cloud." Came the very annoyed voice of Vincent's from his position on the floor, using his enhanced hearing Cloud could pick out Vincent growling at him from deep within his throat. Cloud frowned slightly at the sound but said nothing, waiting for someone to enlighten him on what was going on.

"Well you see, when you went we asked Vincent how long you'd been taking drugs and what sort, but he refused to answer us." Explained Selphie, moving a hand so she could prod Vincent's face with a finger in annoyance, Vincent's growl deepened.

"And thus they decided to sit on me until I told them about it. Why does everyone want to sit on me? Do I look like a couch?" Moaned Vincent angrily as though he was really as young as he looked, "They did not believe me when I said you did not take any drugs, nor had any need to, so they decided to see if I had any scares like you do and…" Vincent moved his left arm slightly and something shiny caught the light; the golden claw had been unravelled by the girls and was currently being held by Quistis, who was making sure that none of the sharp claws where touching her in case they sliced her hand. 'Was it just me or did Vincent actually sound angry then?' thought Cloud, as Vincent was not one well known for expressing his emotions to others, well apart from guilt anyway.

"Now are you going to tell us where you went in such a huff?" Asked Rinoa, taking in Cloud's wet and bloody appearance with wide eyes, she was holding the bandage that had been around Vincent's claw in one of her hands that was still clamped on Vincent's leg.

Cloud raked a hand through his dripping hair as though uncomfortable with what he was about to say, and then started his so cleverly simple lie. "Well you see I wanted some time alone since I was really angry, so I went and took it out on monsters I found at the edge of the city and killed them." Cloud plucked at his stained and soaked SOLDIER top, "I was kinda messy doing it, and so they kinda bled all over me, I tried to wash it off before I came in, but hey I'm crap at washing." Cloud grinned as though embarrassed with his story, though in fact he was quite pleased, the girls seemed to believe it.

"Now that I can vouch for, Cloud thinks that no matter how cold or grimy the water is, as long as you have soap, you can make the dirtiest clothes clean and fresh." Said Vincent in an annoyed and sarcastic way as he was still being sat on.

"Shut up, Vincent." Cloud snapped. From the tone of Vincent's voice Cloud took it that that didn't work, no wonder no one had let him wash stuff.

"Do you ladies mind getting off me now?" Vincent asked trying to flex his muscles under them to remind them he was still there.

The girls immediately started apologising and jumped off him, Rinoa held out a hand to help him up off the floor before they rounded on the wet Cloud.

"-How could you go out of the city by yourself? -"

"-What are all those marks on your arms? -"

"-Why didn't you tell us you were on drugs? -"

"-Why didn't the Esthar City Guards stop you from leaving the city? -"

"-What sort of monsters were they? -"

"-There are some dry clothes over there that you can change into. -"

Cloud's head whipped back and forth between the Gaian teens, not being able to follow who was saying what, but still understood what was being asked. "Erm…well, one, I wanted to find some monsters to kill, two, they're none of your business, three, I DON'T USE DRUGS!!! Four, I didn't see any, five…I dunno they're dead does it matter? And six, thanks, I'll get changed in a bit." Cloud said, hoping that that would be enough of an answer for everything they asked, but his responses just led to more questions.

After about five minutes of constant badgering, Cloud threw up his hands in exasperation, grabbed some of the new clothes that had been bought earlier that day (or was it yesterday? Cloud briefly thought seeing as it was 1230 hours according to his watch) and ran into the bathroom to get changed before they could stop him, making sure that the door was locked behind him as he closed it.

By the time Cloud had taken off the wet and bloody clothes and changed into a simple pair of jeans everyone was laying in a bed. Rinoa and Selphie were sharing one, while Quistis and Vincent had their own beds on the opposite side of the room.

"Hey, where am I supposed to sleep?" He asked once he dumped his old SOLDIER clothes into a nearby rubbish bin, but kept the boots, belt, suspenders and Turk sunglasses on. For a moment he felt as though he had thrown something of himself away in that bin along with the uniform, but quickly shook the feeling away as he turned his back on the bin and faced the others in the room.

"Share with Vincent, or sleep on the floor, Cloud." Answered Quistis from her bed, while watching him with an amused smile on her face, wondering why he wore both a belt and suspenders. Her blonde hair tailing off the end of the bed now that the bun that normally held it together was undone. It made her look a lot younger than she really was.

"I'm not sharing a bed with the...him." Cloud spat, nearly saying traitor before he had caught himself, "I'll just sleep on the floor then." Cloud plonked himself down in the middle of the floor, where he was sure to get in the way of anyone getting up in the night or in morning.

"Cloud, you can't sleep there" Said Rinoa eying him sprawled out in-between the beds on the hard floor, unsure why he had got so worked up over the sleeping arrangements. They were brothers after all, why should Cloud care if they had to share a bed?

"Yeah, Cloud, move it!" Added Selphie who had sat up to see where he was, pulling the covers up with her. Rinoa yanked them back down so they were covering her too again, pulling Selphie down with them.

"Nope, I'll think I'll go to sleep now." Cloud said as he yawned and stretched exaggeratedly, then laid down closing his eyes, pretending to be asleep. After a few seconds Cloud's ears unexpectedly picked up faint whistling sounds as he was stuck in the face and on his body by large soft things coming from several directions at once.

Cloud quickly pulled them off, only to realise it was three pillows flying at him that he had heard, each one had struck him. As he looked around, each of the teens were 'asleep' in their beds, none of the girls had pillows. "I guess, seeing as everyone is asleep, I'll just keep these and go to sleep here." Cloud said to himself, but loud enough so that the others could hear. Cloud rearranged the pillows and made himself comfortable, he was used to sleeping on hard surfaces, and it wasn't until he was nearly asleep did he think, 'Why didn't I just kick Vincent out of bed?'

********dream*******

Cloud was stood in a forest; a soft melody was being played from an unknown source in the background, the forest and the music seemed somehow familiar to Cloud, but he couldn't say why. Cloud stepped forward; it was as though he was walking through syrup, his body just didn't want to move. His placed his foot back down knowing he was going nowhere, he then realised that he was wearing his normal clothes, the ones Zack had given him so long ago replacing his SOLDIER 3rd class uniform. A familiar weight hung at his back, Cloud pulled it off, it was the Buster Sword. 'Isn't this supposed to be back in…? Where did I leave it? Where am I? Where is that music coming from and why does it sound so familiar?' He thought to himself as he fingered the materia that was equipped in it, there were Ice and Lightning materia in the slots; the stones held in place by the natural magnetism of the materia. He placed the weapon back on his top and peered into the trees surrounding him.

The blonde warrior noticed for the first time that he was stood on a natural path, made of compressed soil, and into the distance a bright line shone.

"I know this place." He thought out loud.

"I'm glad you do, Cloud. I know you've been here before." A soft female voice said before starting to giggle.

"Who are you?" He asked looking around for the source of the giggling.

A bright light flashed out in front of him, causing him to look away and hold an arm over his eyes to try and shield them from it. When the light had dimmed away, Cloud looked up, a few meters away up the dirt path stood a woman. Her back was turned to him, but Cloud knew who it was straight away.

"Aeris?" He asked timidly to the woman in front of him. She wore a long, pink dress, with a small red jacket over the top, brown walking boots could be seen, and her hair was tied into a long brown twist. The white materia wasn't in her hair any longer and for some reason the loss of such a small stone seemed somehow…wrong.

The woman nodded, her hair bobbing up and down. Cloud laughed for joy, and tried to step forward and hug her, but the syrupy air wouldn't let him, holding him back.

"Aeris, I can't move, could you turn around so I can see you?" He asked pleadingly, wanting to see her face again.

"…No…you don't want to see me…"

"Huh? Why? Of course I do! It's been so long! I haven't seen you since…" Cloud trailed off as he pictured when she died, Sephiroth's sword had run straight through her as he had dropped from above. She hadn't made a sound as she died, but her face had been full of sadness, not for her death, but because she hadn't told Cloud about the white materia and Holy. She was a true heroine; she had died for the planet, with no thought for herself, only the others who lived there. Aeris was the last of the Centra, she heard Planet's cries and words, her death must have been a blow to Planet, almost as much as it had been to him. "This is a dream, isn't it?"

"Yes, Cloud, it is."

"Sephiroth killed you." Cloud said simply, as thought wanting her to confirm it.

"Yes, he did. But that doesn't matter anymore, I have found the promised land."

"You have?"

"Remember how after the long, hard journey, the Centra would find the land of supreme happiness? And once they got there, they would instantly know it?"

"Yeah"

"Well, its seems like I've found the promised land, the long and hard journey was life, and death was our reward, this is the promised land." Aeris held her arms out to the side and turned her face to the sky. "Kinda ironic, huh?"

Cloud laughed, "I suppose"

There was a comfortable silence between them, Cloud was happy she had found what she had always been searching for, but was saddened that she had to die to find it.

"We stopped meteor…I think, I don't really remember what happened in crater, it's like trying to remember a dream. But I know that it was destroyed."

"You stopped it, you all did, I was so proud of you."

"Was?" Cloud repeated, frowning at the word.

"Yes, but I can hardly blame you for your actions in crater, now can I? You were being controlled, but you still killed some of your friends, they're here in the life stream with me, they told me what happened."

"I didn't mean to!" Cloud begged, wanting her desperately to believe him.

"I know, Cloud." Cloud had the feeling that she was smiling, but with her back turned he couldn't be sure. "They asked me to tell you that they forgive you, that they understand, and they want you to stop Sephiroth once and for all." Aeris continued.

"…They really said that?" Cloud asked hopefully, "How do you know all this?"

"Planet knew of all of your struggle to save her, so when they died she let them stay in the Promised Land too. They're the first non-Centra to go there." She said proudly "And of course, they understand what happened, that Sephiroth was manipulating you and everything. That's what I'm here to talk to you about."

"Sephiroth…." Cloud hissed with hate, "Hey, I was able to say his name." He said in a shocked way.

"Yes, right now you're not under his control, and won't be for another half hour." Cloud once again had the feeling that she was smiling.

"How come?"

"For an hour every day Sephiroth has to loose control over you, if he doesn't your mind can be seriously damaged, leaving you nothing more than a mindless vegetable."

"Hey, that's not funny, 'Ris." Cloud huffed

Aeris giggled again at the sound of her nickname, how he'd missed that sound.

"How come I don't remember this?" He asked

"He lets go of you at about 3 every morning, I guess you don't know about it because you've been asleep."

"Oh, I see. But there's not much I can do about that, seeing as I'll be asleep at that time, and I doubt I'll set my alarm for 0300 hours any other time of the day if I'm under his control." Cloud said bitterly.

"Well then, when you wake up, set an alarm for 3, you'll be waking up soon anyway. When Sephiroth gains control over you again you wont remember this, and I think any actions that you take in this small window of time will seem like a dream to you when he takes back over, just as your earlier actions seem like a dream to you now."

Cloud stared at her long hair for a moment, pondering what she had told him, and how she could possibly know all this.

"'Ris, are you really here?"

"Of course I am, don't you know where we are?"

Cloud shook his head, not realising that she wouldn't be able to see it moving.

"We're in the Sleeping Forest, don't you remember, this is where I last spoke to you in your dreams, or in real life for that matter. Its one of the only places where I can bring you to talk to me."

Cloud realised that she was right, and the music that he could hear was probably the tune from the Lunar Harp as it woke the forest. The forest looked exactly like it did last time she had brought him here; he hadn't been able to move fast then either. He had run on the spot while she had spirited into the light up ahead, and then Sephiroth came…

"Let me see your face." He demanded, suddenly needing to see it.

Aeris shock her head, "No, Cloud, trust me you don't want to see my face."

"Let me see it" He repeated.

Aries's body shook, but from suppressed laughter or tears Cloud couldn't tell.

"Aeris, let me see it!" Summoning all of his strength Cloud forced his body to move forward the precious few meters between her and him.

He grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around, as he did so she gasped "NO!" But Cloud's strength won and he turned her to face him.

"AHHHHHHH!!" Cloud yelled and found himself being dragged away from the forest and into consciousness as he reeled away from her in shock and disgust.

As the forest faded away into nothingness, he heard a voice yell, "You shouldn't have done it, Cloud. Why did you do it? I told you not to."

********

Cloud bolted awake, his body was shaking severely from the horror he had just seen. Aeris's face had been beautiful and gentle when she had been alive, death had not been kind to her. 'No wonder she had kept her back turned to me.' He shuddered as he looked around the room and the sleeping people within, not wanting to remember what he just saw, but not being able to prevent it.

Her beautiful green eyes had gone; empty holes had stared out at him, but had somehow still showed shock and sorrow in his actions. Deep gashes and chucks of her soft, flawless skin had gone too, leaving her face looking like an incomplete statue that hadn't had enough clay to finish it and the sculpture couldn't be bothered to smooth out it out afterwards. She had always been pale, but in a good way, what was left of her skin was a dead and sickly white colour. Her lips were blue, no longer the natural rosy colour of life.

Cloud felt sick, and wished he had never turned her around, she had been right, he hadn't needed to see her face after all. But he still wanted to see her again.