Chapter 17 : The Early Days

Cloud walked slowly through the streets of the city. He was quite impressed with the technology of the place, each building fitted in perfectly with the next. There was no run down shacks or slums, no homeless sitting on the sidewalks.

'Not a bad place to live.' He let his mind wander, wanting to just forget everything that had happed over the past few days. Earlier he had met Cid in the ship and talked over a few things. Apparently the parts use to make the ship were also found here, so Cid decided to go find a few to attach. Until then all everyone had to do was just relax and kill some time.

Cloud couldn't help but smile, resting was thought he like a lot right now. His sides and chest still ached from the fight but he didn't want to spend the entire day sat in the medical bay.

He hadn't bumped into anyone else yet. Zack was most likely goofing off playing games somewhere. Yuffie the ninja he took a guess was exploring, maybe following round that Squall guy like Aerith told him she usually does. And finally Aerith he knew she was shopping for some clothes to wear since now all she had was the one she was wearing.

Cloud had been tempted to go find her, after this morning he had thought about her a lot but he also wanted some time to think things through. 'And I thought things in Soldier were a pain, at least then you were given your orders and told to follow them. Nice and easy.'

His thinking about Soldier brought up a few more details, like his promise to answer all of Aerith's questions when she asked him. 'And some how I don't think she'll have forgotten about it.'

He continued on down the street watching everything as he went by. One thing that caught his attention was the walking mechanical thing that seemed to be patrolling the street. 'I don't know about trusting my safety to a machine.' He continued to watch curiously as it patrolled for a little while before moving on.

After a while he reached a set of stairs that led up to a highroad. The highroads were suspended further up in the air and most stretched along the length of the city. Cloud walked along it feeling quite restless now and unsure of what he wanted to do for the rest of the day. He sat on the side of the road and looked over the city below, things looked fairly peaceful until he spotted a familiar green dressed ninja and a black spiky haired Soldier.

He was thinking about backing away so they wouldn't see him but it was too late. Some how Yuffie had spotted him and began waving, a few seconds later Aerith came into view and she curiously looked for what the two were waving at. Cloud gave up trying to hide when he saw her and stood up so she was able to see, she smiled and waved him over.

Having no choice now the spiky blond made his way down to them.

"The hell do ya mean 2000?"

"I'm sorry sir that's the retail price." The store clerk tried to calm down the annoyed pilot.

"For a navigation piece? Your ripping me off aren't you!" Cid crossed his arms and stared at him.

"Your welcome to shop around sir but this is the lowest price you'll find."

Squall leaned over to him and whispered. "Just take it, we really need it don't we?"

"Quite!" Cid snapped. "1300, that's as high as your getting me."

The clerk sighed again. "I'm sorry sir but the price is none changeable."

"I've heard that before, 1500, final offer."

"Once again, I cannot lower the price."

Squall leaned over to him once more. "Why don't you get some fresh air and I'll try to negotiate?"

Cid gave him a funny look before shrugging. "Fine. Just remember though, I ain't paying 2000." He shot an evil look at the clerk before walking outside and lighting up his usual cigarette.

Squall turned round and looked at the man behind the counter. Before he could speak he was reminded once again. "Sir I'm sorry but I can not lower the price."

The SeeD member placed 500 credits down on the counter and looked at him. "When he comes back offer him 1500, otherwise were going to be here for weeks."

The man nodded and took the money placing it in the till. "I see."

A few moments later Cid walked back in. "Well."

The clerk looked at Squall and then back to the pilot. "Your friend here has persuaded me to make you an offer, 1500 it is."

"Ha," Cid handed over the money with a grin. "See, I told ya all you need be is persistent."

Squall nodded resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "Is that all we need?"

"Yep." Cid turned round and began to walk out. "Once I get this thing installed we'll be able to go anywhere we want."

"So Spikes," Zack was the first to speak as Cloud joined the three. "Where you been hiding?"

"Hiding?"

"Yeah, I can't get Aerith to tell me anything. She must have really given it hard to you."

"Uhh sure." Cloud scratched the back of his head and glanced at Aerith who was trying not to laugh.

"Hmm well don't think I'm letting you off just yet." She smiled at him. "I've got some plans for you."

Cloud looked at her curiously not sure if that was a really good thing or a really bad thing. 'Guess I'll have to wait and see.'

Zack looked back and forth from the two. "Uh huhhh... I think I'm missing something again."

"So now what?" Yuffie stared at Cloud.

"What you looking at me for?"

"Well." She crossed her arms. "Your the one that got us here."

"So."

Yuffie stared at him. "So now what do we do? Are we just going to stay here?"

"I don't know." He shrugged. "It's either that or find a new world."

"So we have nowhere to go from here." Zack added. "Great."

"Well at least we did get away." Aerith tried to look on the bright side. "We would be in a much worse situation if we hadn't left."

"What else did do you know Spikes?"

Cloud looked at Zack and searched his mind. "Only a few bits. This world will eventually fall as well, along with many others. Somehow Sephiroth has managed to figure out what is happening, and also something in the darkness that was connected to me really doesn't like us."

"Why us?" Yuffie looked up at him.

"I don't know, maybe we play a part in things." He scratched the back of his head. "Until something happens we will just have to wait."

Zack yawned, stretching his arms out. "Great, waiting, woo."

"Well how about we find something to do here for a while?" Yuffie looked around. "What do you think?"

Aerith nodded and stood next to Cloud. "You two should go do something." She looked back from Zack and Yuffie. "There's something I want to talk to Cloud about."

Zack grinned at Cloud. "Heh, looks like you're not off the hook yet."

"Whatcha done this time Cloud?" Yuffie copied Zack's grin.

Aerith leaved over and gave them gave them a cold look. "Go."

This time it was Cloud's turn to smile as the two ran off down the street, he turned to the not-so-soft flower girl. "So what's wrong?"

She took his hand and leaned him towards a near by bench. "I believe you promised me something."

Cloud's face dropped. "You remembered that huh..."

"Yep." She sat down and Cloud did the same next to her. "So, lets hear it."

The blond sighed and nodded. "..Ok, what do you want to know?"

Aerith looked at his face and thought about it. "... What happened to you? Sephiroth said something about the person you use to be. What did he mean?"

Cloud leaned back so his back was rested against the bench. "That's not a simple question." He brought up one knee to his chest and placed his hands on top of it.

"When I first joined the Shin-Ra army with Zack and Tifa things were going ok. We'd take the missions as they came and began to slowly move up the ranks."

"Sounds like you had a good thing going." Aerith smiled at him.

Cloud nodded and continued. "We did. After a while of basic missions we were promoted to trainee Soldier's, and that's when I met him." He closed his eyes, the image in his mind was still as fresh as the day it happened. "Sephiroth. He was the best. I was training alone one day when I met him, he watched me for a while before asking if I wanted to practice together."

Aerith kept herself quiet listening to Cloud's story.

"I accepted of course, but within seconds I realized how out classed I was. To Sephiroth it must have been like fighting a child. By the time we were done I realized that these guard duty missions I was doing would get me nowhere and he knew that too. He must have known what I wanted because he offered to let me learn from himself." Cloud pulled out a small wallet and took out a tiny picture.

He handed it over to Aerith. In the picture she could see Sephiroth stood in the middle of a bunch of men, they all wore the same uniform. Each one looked like they could eat nails and gladly ask for seconds. She couldn't help but smile at the youngest looking boy to the side of them, his spiky blond hair and over sized sword made him look even smaller.

"You were able to keep up with, 'these' people."

Cloud shook his head and took the picture back. "At first the most I could do was watch, the missions these 1st class Soldiers were doing made mine look like babysitting jobs. But soon enough that changed, every day I trained hard, learning from Sephiroth himself. Eventually before I was even promoted to Soldier I was out classing most of the men under his command."

'He could beat those people?' Aerith thought to herself.

"Then I surpassed even them. I began to take the worst of the worst missions, the ones that never appeared on the lists because of their nature. And Sephiroth was there every step of the way, pushing me further. I don't know when but eventually I changed, I stopped caring about most things. Every mission I took I completed like a heartless mercenary."

Aerith noticed as Cloud talked, his fist was tightening each time he said the ex-Soldiers name.

"After a while the three of us were promoted to Soldier. Zack and Tifa became 3rd class, I was set on 1st from the very beginning. I told them that it was because I did the extra training programs all the time but the real reason was obvious. Then a few days later we were given our first mission."

"This would be the Sephiroth incident right?"

He nodded. "Twenty Soldier's were sent out to find the person responsible. Us been three of them we decided to split up to find the traitor. And of course I was the first to find him, though I didn't really find him, it was more like he was waiting for me. He told me that since the first time we had met he knew I was capable of becoming one of the best, and that people like us should do better than follow the orders of some stupid company."

Cloud took in a breath and continued. "He talked for a while about the possibility's that were open, that with my help he could become even better. I guess it was then it hit me, all this time he had been using me. I wasn't a friend to him, just another piece of his plan that was suppose to fit in for his own goals. When I asked him about it he just laughed and told me to stop acting so weak, it didn't suit the person I had become."

"It didn't take long for my temper to get the better of me, soon enough I had drawn my sword and begun attacking him. I remembered the first day we fought and how this match was no different, he was still above me. Soon enough the other Soldier's found us and joined in, most of them lasted a few seconds against him, including Zack and Tifa. I guess luck was on my side that day, his one weakness is his feeling of superiority. As he was finishing the rest of the team I was able to catch him off guard and cut one of his wings."

Cloud let out a deep breath and rubbed his head. "After that the reinforcements came and I was considered a hero. Zack and Tifa recovered a few days later, I joined their team and tried to forget everything that had happened. For a few years I carried on doing basic Soldier duties, turning down every mission that made me feel like I use to. Zack and Tifa were eventually promoted to 1st class. Then not long after we heard the reports about Sephiroth been sighted, Zack and myself decided to go while Tifa wanted to stay in Midgar."

Aerith turned her head once he'd finished. She tried to think of something to say but the words never came to her mind.

"And I guess that's it. Sephiroth still wants me to help him, but now I think he's becoming desperate."

"But it doesn't matter."

Cloud looked at her a bit confused.

"This person Sephiroth wants you to be. You were able to over power it, you won." She leaned over and took hold of his hand before standing up. "Just because the 'great' Sephiroth thinks you'll fail doesn't mean you will. You've proven that to me at least."

Cloud stared at her for a moment before smiling back. "Then that makes it worth it."

Before they spoke again they heard a voice coming from amongst the crowd. After a few seconds the two saw Squall trying to battle his way through the marching crowd.

"What's wrong?" Aerith asked.

Squall stopped just in front of them and straightened his jacket while looking back evilly at the mass of people. "Cid's gone and made some upgrades to the ship and he wants everyone to come look."

"Are they 'that' important?" Cloud asked next.

"Important enough to make me find everyone and bring them back to the ship." He crossed his arms annoyed with him self for been bossed around by someone twice his age.

"Well I guess we have no choice then." Aerith tugged on Cloud's hand letting him know he wasn't getting out of it.

Cloud understood the message and didn't bother to argue with her, fighting Sephiroth was one thing but Aerith was on a whole new level.

Inside the ship Cloud had decided to stop off at the med bay to pick a few things up he'd left behind. Once gathered he began to head out the door, passing a mirror on the way.

He stopped in front of it and took a look, his face still had a few cuts and bruises. Though if it hadn't been for Aerith's magic he guessed his face would be twice the size and purple at the moment.

Shrugging it off he took a step back but froze as something changed. It lasted for only half of a second but he saw it, the image that reflected back was different. It was still him but, different. The hair had changed, the blue glow in the back of his eyes had gone. Even the slight colour in his cheeks had changed to a blank white.

Cloud lifted his hand to his head and convinced him self it was because of his fatigue, just his eyes been too tired to keep focus. While walking up to the cockpit he decided that was all it was.

Ok, it's been a while since I last updated but I got a complete block on this chapter. Hopefully the next will come easier and I will be able to update sooner. Thanks to the many people who reviewed, I think that's the most I've ever gotten for one chapter, I'm also glad you liked this last one, maybe I'll add some more later in the story.