Chapter 3 : I would have never guessed - Zack
Far down in the basement of the castle a few footsteps could be heard echoing up the stone staircase.
'How did I get this job?' Cid complained to himself. 'Just cause I build airships for them doesn't mean I'm also Ansem's personal repairman.'
He stomped down the stairs, the small glow of his cigarette giving of the only light as the sun made its way below the horizon making the few small windows there useless. Earlier in the day once Aerith had come back from selling her flowers, Cid had been visited by one of Ansem's personal guards and had be told, well... ordered to take a look at some new type of vehicle.
Although he was happy to get out of the house, since Aerith had told him and Yuffie about Cloud giving her the ticket to the royal festival all they had done is talk about what to wear and how cute Cloud was. And for Cid talking about guys and dresses plus not been able to smoke was driving him nuts.
He reached the last step and took out a match to light a near by touch, the room lit up as he lit the other three and placed them along the wall. In the middle of the room were some strange looking blocks, they looked like oversized jelly blocks. "What the hell's that?" Cid walked up and examined one of the blocks.
Each block was about a metre cube and each seemed to be able to connect to another. 'Is this the vehicle?'
As Cid examined them further one of the torches went out, he spun round and stared into the now dark corner. From within the darkness was another shadow emerged which, was somehow even darker than its surroundings, after moving around along the stone floor the shadow grew larger and took on the form of a small creature.
Cid wasn't sure if this creature was real or if his imagination was playing tricks on him, the creature made its was over to Cid and stare up at him. For a while the small shadow creature did nothing, as did Cid but soon after his curiosity got the better of him and he reached out to touch the shadow. The creature responded to this quickly by taking a swipe at the hand and then retreating back the dark corner.
"Agh! Little £&$^%*!" Cid felt his whole arm instantly go numb. "Where the hell did it go?" He ran into the darkened corner to where the creature had hid and stamped around on the floor but he could not see it anywhere, it had disappeared as quick as it appeared in the first place.
He rubbed his arm trying to get some feeling back into it and after a few minutes he started to regain the feeling in his fingertips. "Dam thing, wonder what the little £$%& was." Cid walked back into the light and glanced at the strange blocks. "Forget this, if they want me to fix that then Ansem can have his guards bring it up stairs." He turned and began to walk back up the stairs. 'Never wanted this dam job in the first place.'
_______________________
"Oh, well... maybe some other time then."
Cloud nodded and turned his back, Zack stared at him open mouthed and after the girl had gone he punched him on the shoulder. "What's up with you? That's the third girl you've passed up since we got here."
Cloud shook his head. "I'm not interested."
"Oh yeah?" Zack grinned. "I bet you're waiting for the Aerith chick to show up, am I right?"
"Is that all you think about?" Cloud turned away so Zack wouldn't notice his red face. "There are other things in the world too."
"Yeah maybe... but that doesn't mean I'm not right, right?"
As much as he hated it Zack was right, he was waiting until he found Aerith. Since earlier today she was all he could think about. But by now the party had been going for an hour or so already and Cloud hadn't seen her at all. 'Is she coming? She did want to earlier... maybe something's wrong.' Cloud felt heart skip a beat. 'What if she's hurt, or been attacked again like the other day or what if..." He felt Zack's elbow nudging him in the side.
Cloud turned round and saw Aerith walking through the main gates along with another guy with a SeeD insignia on his coat. '...Or maybe she's just running a little late.' Cloud's heart returned to it's normal rhythm and quickly he began to shake his head annoyed with him self. 'Come on Cloud, since when have you acted like this? Pull yourself together.'
Aerith and the other guy talked for a few seconds and then the two walked in opposite directions, the Seed guy headed over to the lake area while Aerith headed over in the direction where he and Zack were standing. 'I mean so she's a girl, big deal. Just cause she looks real nice and she happens to be real caring doesn't mean that you have to act this way.' He watched as she walked through the crowed, every so often she would stop and glance round as if she was looking for someone.
He was just deciding whether to go over to greet her or not when Zack decided to make the decision for him by standing up on the balcony wall and start to waving his arms in the air and shout out her name.
Aerith giggled as she saw Zack up on the wall waving at her above the crowd, and as Cloud tried to drag him down off it, it seemed that she wasn't the only one how had notice him. By the time she had made her way over to them Cloud had managed to pull Zack back down.
"Hey I got her attention didn't I?"
"Yeah and everyone else's." Cloud pointed out.
Zack glanced round and saw nearly everyone was looking at him. "Ah, em oops?" He shrugged.
Cloud shook his head.
"So I see you two are having fun." Aerith joined the two.
"Ah well you know, these things are usually quite boring so we have to liven things up a bit." Zack grinned.
"Hmm I wouldn't really know," Aerith looked around at the all the sights off the party. "This is the first time I've ever been to one."
"Oh Really? Well that's strange, this is the first time I've ever got Cloud to come to one of these too." He raised an eyebrow at Cloud. "Can't think why he wanted to come to this one."
"Well I think I have something to do with that." She confessed.
Zack smiled. "I would have never guessed."
"You see Cloud was kind enough to give me his tickets but I asked him to come along too."
"I see, well Cloud, you gonna say anything?"
"Ah... Hi" He stumbled forwards as Zack nudged him.
She smiled and bowed her head. "I really can not thank you enough for giving me one of your ticket."
Cloud shrugged. "Hey its really no big deal, I was just happy to help out."
"Nether the less it was still a kind gift, maybe I can repay you someday."
At that point the sun had finally set and the party started to really light up in more way than one. Over the lake fireworks were been set off in allsorts of shapes and colours. Cloud glanced at Aerith and smiled, her face was filled with joy as she watched the display, every so often a flash of light would shine on her and he couldn't help but stare at the delicate features on her face as they lit up.
'What is it? What is it that makes you so special?'
Aerith looked away from the lake and met Clouds gaze, he resisted the urge to look away as she did the same, and instead they both just stared at each other, everything else that was happening didn't seem to matter.
Zack raised an eyebrow and sighed. 'Oh boy, this is too much for me, I'm getting out of here.'
"Well I think I'll leave you two alone to, you know... " He shook his head realising that neither of them were actually listening. '(Sigh) And he didn't even want to come here.'
Zack began to walk way when a single black feather dropped at his feet, he looked up expecting to see its owner but instead only saw an empty sky. 'Weird.'
____________________
Up above at the very top of the castle, a man was sat on the edge of the balcony staring down on to those below.
The wind was much stronger that high up, the black coat that he wore flapped around madly as if trying to get away from its master. A feather dropped from the single wing that descended from his shoulder and swayed around in the wind until it fell out of sight.
In his hand stretched out a long thin blade pointing down towards the ground, he gripped it firmly as he scanned the crowed.
'So your here.' He grinned. 'Good, I shall take my revenge on you along with the rest.'
Across the castle grounds he could see the shadows forming, their numbers were growing rapidly.
He stood up, the strong winds seemed to have no effect on his balance. His eyes locked on the Spiky haired Soldier.
'It's nearly time.'
_____________________
Yep I know, I know, it's been forever since I last updated this story but each time I started I managed about three words and then my mind went blank. The next chapter will hopefully be up much quicker and be a lot better than this one. Thanks to those who have reviewed I really wasn't expecting so many for this story, if you do like this story then I suggest that you read my FF7 fic which is also a Cloud/Aeris fic.
Far down in the basement of the castle a few footsteps could be heard echoing up the stone staircase.
'How did I get this job?' Cid complained to himself. 'Just cause I build airships for them doesn't mean I'm also Ansem's personal repairman.'
He stomped down the stairs, the small glow of his cigarette giving of the only light as the sun made its way below the horizon making the few small windows there useless. Earlier in the day once Aerith had come back from selling her flowers, Cid had been visited by one of Ansem's personal guards and had be told, well... ordered to take a look at some new type of vehicle.
Although he was happy to get out of the house, since Aerith had told him and Yuffie about Cloud giving her the ticket to the royal festival all they had done is talk about what to wear and how cute Cloud was. And for Cid talking about guys and dresses plus not been able to smoke was driving him nuts.
He reached the last step and took out a match to light a near by touch, the room lit up as he lit the other three and placed them along the wall. In the middle of the room were some strange looking blocks, they looked like oversized jelly blocks. "What the hell's that?" Cid walked up and examined one of the blocks.
Each block was about a metre cube and each seemed to be able to connect to another. 'Is this the vehicle?'
As Cid examined them further one of the torches went out, he spun round and stared into the now dark corner. From within the darkness was another shadow emerged which, was somehow even darker than its surroundings, after moving around along the stone floor the shadow grew larger and took on the form of a small creature.
Cid wasn't sure if this creature was real or if his imagination was playing tricks on him, the creature made its was over to Cid and stare up at him. For a while the small shadow creature did nothing, as did Cid but soon after his curiosity got the better of him and he reached out to touch the shadow. The creature responded to this quickly by taking a swipe at the hand and then retreating back the dark corner.
"Agh! Little £&$^%*!" Cid felt his whole arm instantly go numb. "Where the hell did it go?" He ran into the darkened corner to where the creature had hid and stamped around on the floor but he could not see it anywhere, it had disappeared as quick as it appeared in the first place.
He rubbed his arm trying to get some feeling back into it and after a few minutes he started to regain the feeling in his fingertips. "Dam thing, wonder what the little £$%& was." Cid walked back into the light and glanced at the strange blocks. "Forget this, if they want me to fix that then Ansem can have his guards bring it up stairs." He turned and began to walk back up the stairs. 'Never wanted this dam job in the first place.'
_______________________
"Oh, well... maybe some other time then."
Cloud nodded and turned his back, Zack stared at him open mouthed and after the girl had gone he punched him on the shoulder. "What's up with you? That's the third girl you've passed up since we got here."
Cloud shook his head. "I'm not interested."
"Oh yeah?" Zack grinned. "I bet you're waiting for the Aerith chick to show up, am I right?"
"Is that all you think about?" Cloud turned away so Zack wouldn't notice his red face. "There are other things in the world too."
"Yeah maybe... but that doesn't mean I'm not right, right?"
As much as he hated it Zack was right, he was waiting until he found Aerith. Since earlier today she was all he could think about. But by now the party had been going for an hour or so already and Cloud hadn't seen her at all. 'Is she coming? She did want to earlier... maybe something's wrong.' Cloud felt heart skip a beat. 'What if she's hurt, or been attacked again like the other day or what if..." He felt Zack's elbow nudging him in the side.
Cloud turned round and saw Aerith walking through the main gates along with another guy with a SeeD insignia on his coat. '...Or maybe she's just running a little late.' Cloud's heart returned to it's normal rhythm and quickly he began to shake his head annoyed with him self. 'Come on Cloud, since when have you acted like this? Pull yourself together.'
Aerith and the other guy talked for a few seconds and then the two walked in opposite directions, the Seed guy headed over to the lake area while Aerith headed over in the direction where he and Zack were standing. 'I mean so she's a girl, big deal. Just cause she looks real nice and she happens to be real caring doesn't mean that you have to act this way.' He watched as she walked through the crowed, every so often she would stop and glance round as if she was looking for someone.
He was just deciding whether to go over to greet her or not when Zack decided to make the decision for him by standing up on the balcony wall and start to waving his arms in the air and shout out her name.
Aerith giggled as she saw Zack up on the wall waving at her above the crowd, and as Cloud tried to drag him down off it, it seemed that she wasn't the only one how had notice him. By the time she had made her way over to them Cloud had managed to pull Zack back down.
"Hey I got her attention didn't I?"
"Yeah and everyone else's." Cloud pointed out.
Zack glanced round and saw nearly everyone was looking at him. "Ah, em oops?" He shrugged.
Cloud shook his head.
"So I see you two are having fun." Aerith joined the two.
"Ah well you know, these things are usually quite boring so we have to liven things up a bit." Zack grinned.
"Hmm I wouldn't really know," Aerith looked around at the all the sights off the party. "This is the first time I've ever been to one."
"Oh Really? Well that's strange, this is the first time I've ever got Cloud to come to one of these too." He raised an eyebrow at Cloud. "Can't think why he wanted to come to this one."
"Well I think I have something to do with that." She confessed.
Zack smiled. "I would have never guessed."
"You see Cloud was kind enough to give me his tickets but I asked him to come along too."
"I see, well Cloud, you gonna say anything?"
"Ah... Hi" He stumbled forwards as Zack nudged him.
She smiled and bowed her head. "I really can not thank you enough for giving me one of your ticket."
Cloud shrugged. "Hey its really no big deal, I was just happy to help out."
"Nether the less it was still a kind gift, maybe I can repay you someday."
At that point the sun had finally set and the party started to really light up in more way than one. Over the lake fireworks were been set off in allsorts of shapes and colours. Cloud glanced at Aerith and smiled, her face was filled with joy as she watched the display, every so often a flash of light would shine on her and he couldn't help but stare at the delicate features on her face as they lit up.
'What is it? What is it that makes you so special?'
Aerith looked away from the lake and met Clouds gaze, he resisted the urge to look away as she did the same, and instead they both just stared at each other, everything else that was happening didn't seem to matter.
Zack raised an eyebrow and sighed. 'Oh boy, this is too much for me, I'm getting out of here.'
"Well I think I'll leave you two alone to, you know... " He shook his head realising that neither of them were actually listening. '(Sigh) And he didn't even want to come here.'
Zack began to walk way when a single black feather dropped at his feet, he looked up expecting to see its owner but instead only saw an empty sky. 'Weird.'
____________________
Up above at the very top of the castle, a man was sat on the edge of the balcony staring down on to those below.
The wind was much stronger that high up, the black coat that he wore flapped around madly as if trying to get away from its master. A feather dropped from the single wing that descended from his shoulder and swayed around in the wind until it fell out of sight.
In his hand stretched out a long thin blade pointing down towards the ground, he gripped it firmly as he scanned the crowed.
'So your here.' He grinned. 'Good, I shall take my revenge on you along with the rest.'
Across the castle grounds he could see the shadows forming, their numbers were growing rapidly.
He stood up, the strong winds seemed to have no effect on his balance. His eyes locked on the Spiky haired Soldier.
'It's nearly time.'
_____________________
Yep I know, I know, it's been forever since I last updated this story but each time I started I managed about three words and then my mind went blank. The next chapter will hopefully be up much quicker and be a lot better than this one. Thanks to those who have reviewed I really wasn't expecting so many for this story, if you do like this story then I suggest that you read my FF7 fic which is also a Cloud/Aeris fic.