final fantasy vii and all its characters © squaresoft, inc.
a/n
Next editing...
chapter one: the meeting
A sound of a squeal female yawn eluded gently as the wailer covered her mouth.
"I cannot believe her." Aerissa mumbled sleepily, "Showing off my childhood photos like that to the Wutaean prime minister." Aerissa snorted as she started removing attached garnishes and hair accessories, sending them flying effortlessly to the other side of the bed. "How shameless."
It seemed like the "her" the princess opposed was her mother.
She stayed silent for several moments, providing rounds of yawns and pouts around and about the king-sized bed. The princess later noticed she desperately needed company.
"I wonder where Lani is..." Aerissa swept her eyes, walking toward the door. "Maybe she could tell more stories for me, but..."
Aerissa opened the door with a soft sound of the door's yellowed cushion, and peeped the hallway outside her room. Earlier, before she went inside, she reckoned the lights were still on and her mother's handmaidens were everywhere. She even remembered one of them was busy cleaning a broken blue vase. But now when she checked it, everything went so quiet and dark. The brunette quickly noticed there were no traces of the shattered vase left.
"I think everybody is asleep already." Aerissa mused disappointedly.
She hopped back to her bed, went silent for a moment, then yawned again.
"Well.. I think I could do a bit of sleep." Aerissa said tiredly as she rolled to the edge of the bed, and placed one hand on her side. She did not bother to change her attire or pull her blanket, she just layed herself with her head on top of a pillow, and closed her eyes.
And this was what Cloud Strife wanted.
Aerissa did not realize a mercenary had been desperately and anxiously waiting for her beauty sleep. She did not even know someone was outside her chamber. Cloud took this fortunate opportunity to break in, after waiting edgily for one hour. He quietly slit a small circle on the window with a pointy cutter gem, pushed it, inserted his hand, and opened the knob. Bothered by the curtains, Cloud stepped in slowly, trying not to cause the slightest noise.
At last, he finally made it to the front of the bed.
"Finally,"
Cloud scanned his surroundings. He nearly forgot he was in a princess' chamber. The boy then started poking on everything he saw--from the grandfather clock to the dressing table.
He peered his eyes in amazement, and finally remembered what he was there for.
Cloud heaved a grunt. "Now what should I do about the princess?" he caught a sight of Aerissa as she groaned in her sleep. "I'm not really going to kill her, am I?"
He recalled his meeting with the cloaked man earlier, and flashed a lopsided grind.
"Screw him."
Cloud soundly sat on her bed. He was serious about coming all the way to the castle, but other than that, he did not plan of anything in particular. He did not plan whether to kill, capture, or just stay there doing nothing. Cloud thought it would be a good idea to give her a warning through letter, but he knew the castle insider wouldn't hand in a letter from a commoner, let alone pass a message. He almost thought of sneaking directly to the castle--which he did--and leave the letter there, but then all the trouble he had gone through would be for naught.
Then he heard two knocks from the door.
"Aerissa? Are you asleep already?" echoed a female voice.
Cloud hastily bounced off and rolled under the bed, just in time to hide from Queen Ifalna. He peeped to see the queen's--in Cloud's opinion, royal--feet walking toward his direction.
"Oh dear," he heard the queen mused. "to sleep with a gown, she must be really tired."
Queen Ifalna gently kissed her daughter's forehead and covered her with blanket. She later reckoned the room was abnormally cold.
This time around, Cloud noticed he did one stupid mistake. He left the window open.
"Now, who left this open?" he heard the queen said as she made her way to the window, shut, and locked it. "Aerissa must be so tired, she forgot to close the window."
To Cloud's surprise and delight, Queen Ifalna did nor notice there was a hole with the size of an alarm clock carved on the window. He became even more grateful when the queen had walked out the door.
"Phew. That was close." Cloud sighed as he tried rolling back out--
BANG!
--and accidentally bumped his head.
Even if it was the last thing he would do, Cloud wished it never happened. Not only the queen might be just a few steps away from the room, but also--worst of all--Aerissa woke up.
The princess, with her heart beating in terror, promptly crawled to the other side of the bed and noticed an unidentified long flat sword left abandoned on the floor. Her heart jumped. Aerissa knew immediately someone else was in her room, and it was a man. She was not sure, of course. After all, what woman would wield a sword of the size of a baby hippopotamus?
That was, until she spotted a dark figure moved from across the room.
"AAAAAHH!!"
If only Aerissa was not a princess, Cloud will be more than happy to jump on her and slap her mouth shut.
He wished he did not.
"Look," Cloud said breathlessly, staring down at the grumpy princess, trying hard to cover her mouth and dodge her faint attacks. "I don't want to hurt you, but--could you please stop kicking me!?--this isn't like what you think it is! I have something to tell you!"
The princess continued to blow attacks blindly in a mad rampage. In all her glory, she kicked a sensitive area between Cloud's legs.
"OUCH!" Cloud screeched, but punctually covered his mouth to redeem his wails and the spot Aerissa purposely attacked. In an instant, both of Cloud's hands were preoccupied, and Aerissa's mouth was free to scream.
"HEEEEEELP!! SOMEBODY, PLEASE--"
But the blonde was just in time to shut her off.
"Lass, don't even think about it--"
"Aerissa?" a new yet familiar voice called. "Are you alright?"
Cloud cursed inaudibly. The called girl squeaked under Cloud's strong fist, but Cloud wouldn't let her a chance. Instead, he screwed up his face and let out a horrible high-pitched voice.
"Yes, mother," he chanted Aerissa's trademark accent. "I'm fine!"
Aerissa cast a look of disbelief while Cloud, on the other hand, grinned triumphantly.
Queen Ifalna sounded worried. "Are you sure? What happened? Should I come in?"
Cloud looked alarmed, accidentally slipped out his original voice, "NO!" and raised back a few notches. "I mean, no! I'm absolutely fine. It was just this small, furry, black mouse that came across earlier which scared me. That's all. Really."
The brunette hated to admit, but she had to say this stranger had quite a talent--and nerve, she personally added--to imitate both her voice and accent. Even though his voice sounded a bit raspy and Cloud was lucky enough the walls were so thick, it redeemed the hoarse elements of his voice.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes!"
"Don't you want Lani to get rid of the mouse for you?"
The mercenary blankly mouthed to Aerissa. "Who's Lani?" but he did not wait for a reply. "No! I'm fine! She can kill the rat tomorrow, mother!"
Perhaps the queen was too sleepy to notice Cloud's unbearable word usage, but it hit him when she asked. "Oh, and I thought I heard a young man's voice? Is it coming from your room, dear?"
Cloud could feel a victorious beam formed under his palm. "Oh, mother, don't be silly! You must be hearing things!"
But it was Cloud's turn to smile.
"Alright, alright, I will leave you alone if that is what you want," Queen Ifalna said in a tired voice, "Good night, dear."
"Good night, mother!"
A sound of a closed door on the other side of the hall was heard.
Cloud promptly fastened his lock on Aerissa's right arm. "Now that we're alone, princess, we could settle things privately, could we?"
The princess went back to her random kicking blows.
"Your Highness!" Cloud whisper-shrieked, not letting his grip go. "You gotta listen to me! There're things happening out there that you have to listen!"
The princess did not stop.
"PRINCESS! PLEASE LISTEN TO ME!"
Cloud actually did not mean to yell at her, but perhaps he was too tired and exhausted after all the trouble he made through to get here, that he became quite temperamental. It was the princess' fault too, even though Cloud thought she would not admit it. This time around, he did not care whether the queen would burst in with guards who would chuck his head off. And was not he surprised to see none of them came.
Aerissa finally stopped moving, even though she did it hatefully. Cloud then slowly removed the hand he used to cover her mouth and his whole body from her. Her emerald orbs glowered sharply as she pulled herself up, determined not to blink even once.
"Please, Your Highness," Cloud's voice dropped. "you have to listen to me. There's something out there you have to know, and I'm here to inform you that."
Aerissa, still glowering, went silent for a moment, then muttered, "What is it?"
Cloud was secretly thankful the princess was finally listening to him. But watching her glaring daggers did make him tense when he began.
"Okay, first, I'm very very sorry of what happened earlier, and honestly, I have no real intentions of doing that at all. Not that I don't think your attractive, princess, I mean, yes, you are, but that's not what I'm talking about. You are a beautiful young lady, but I have no interest or whatsoever to you, except the fact that I do worship you as my future queen.I hope you don't mind, Your Highness, but what am I here for, believe it or not, is because of this client I have who gave me such an oblivious job."
He said that all at once, and later realized he was apologizing to something he did not and (never ever wish to) commit.
Cloud sworn he never been so nervous before in his whole life. In fact, this was not him at all. In all honesty, he had always looked down at the heiress, saying she was just another spoiled princess who lives, eats, and breathes the glory of royalty. But at the actual moment of confronting her in person, in Cloud's opinion, was terrifying.
Aerissa, to Cloud's astonishment, looked as if she understood, although slightly bewildered.
Cloud saw the princess' piercing glare had faded.
"Good," Cloud showed a face of glee. "right. I know this is crazy and maybe you won't believe me but--"
Aerissa moved her body closer to Cloud, staring at him avidly as she waited him finish. Unfortunately, Cloud thought she was making the situation harder.
"A few days ago," Cloud tried to calm down. "I met this weird guy in black cloak in the Prancing Pony who paid for my drink 'cause I forgot to bring my wallet--"
"The Prancing Pony?" Aerissa furrowed her brows.
"A bar in the city." Without waiting any reply, Cloud continued. "Anyway, he said he had a job for me and would like to arrange a meeting at the chapel three days later--which is this afternoon--and then he gave me this unbelievable job to--"
Cloud's voice broke. Aerissa could see his eyes twitching awkwardly to every direction.
"Is there something wrong?" This was the first time Cloud heard the princess said something without agony.
"I don't know how to say it."
"What is it?" Aerissa's voice sounded so pure and innocent in his ears. "It's all right. I will not be offended."
The boy snorted, "I doubt it."
"Oh really?" Aerissa questioned testily, "Why?"
"Because," Cloud gulped, determined not to look away from her, "he asked me to kill you, princess."
Aerissa retrieved the message after a few seconds. The next thing she knew, her whole body felt utterly numb and paralyzed in shock. She was even too scared to move a shiver. The room fell silent that she could clearly hear her heart beating three times faster. In an instant, cold sweat had covered her pale porcelain skin.
Cloud can only watch her helplessly.
"Princess, are you okay?"
His inquiry sent Aerissa back to reality. She looked at him with her eyes ogling widely.
"Err, yes," the princess nodded gawkily. "I am fine."
"Princess, I know you must be shocked, but--"
"No!" Aerissa demanded, and said firmly, "I am fine."
Cloud paused. He examined Aerissa's tenacious face for a moment, then raised his eyebrows.
"Oh, okay," the boy stood up. "if you think you're fine with it, then it's cool with me," Aerissa watched Cloud walking toward to the window. "I just want to make sure you're aware of what's yet to come." he said as he helped himself open the window.
"Wait!" Aerissa jumped off her bed. "Are you just going to leave me like that?"
Cloud turned around and looked at her skeptically. "Well, you said you're going to be fine, I thought--"
"Do not tell me you are leaving," Aerissa stood up, then walked toward him. "I still have a lot of questions to ask you!"
Cloud looked flabbergasted. He noticed her hand was holding his arm anxiously, not letting him go.
The lad moaned. "Fine. You can stop holding me now." Cloud saw Aerissa removed her hands ineptly. "What do you want to know?"
Aerissa watched Cloud made himself comfortable by sitting on a small porch beside the window.
"Everything!" she sat on the floor. "I want to know who this man is, why he wants to kill me, what does he need from me--all of it!"
Cloud stared at her.
"Please." Aerissa pleaded, her jade eyes grew immensely worried.
Cloud fixed his eyes onto hers, and cleared his throat. "Sorry to disappoint you, princess, but all I can say right now is that my client is a black cloak man who paid my ginger ale in a bar."
"That is all?" Aerissa looked taken back. "His name? Identity? Background? Characteristics?"
"I don't know anything about him!" Cloud replied in a soft retort. "I'm serious. All I know is, he's a guy in a strange black cloak who's bloody rich with dirty money." he said sarcastically.
"You don't even know his name?" the princess frowned.
"No," Cloud muttered shortly. "I forgot to ask his name."
Aerissa let out a grunt of frustration.
"Hang on," Cloud puckered a brow. "I think he mentioned 'it's now happening in the upper-class' and he also gave me 1000G in his paycheck, which is a little bit too much for a mercenary like me. Seeing from his economical status and amount of money, I think he's a nobleman, or a son of one, I'm not sure. He sounded like a guy in his twenties."
Aerissa's irritated face turned vaguely glee. "A nobleman? Does he have an accent?"
"Well, it doesn't sound like yours." Cloud said in a tone which sounded as if he loathed it. "There's this time he cursed and slipped out another accent, which sounded Wutaean."
"Wutaean?" Aerissa twitched. Tseng? Oh, please She rolled her eyes skywards.
"Any idea who?" Cloud asked.
Aerissa shook her head. "No. I can check though." she said simply. "Oh! And did you ask him his motives?"
Cloud did not immediately answer. His gaze was locked on Aerissa, who was anxiously waiting for an answer. Cloud was thinking whether it would be a good idea to tell her the truth or not. He remembered scarcely the stranger he met in the afternoon had written a small note on his paycheck, saying the princess had no clue her mother was supposedly a living Ancient, let alone herself being a half-breed.
The mercenary took another look at the girl, and thought silently. She already has a lot in her mind. Maybe it'd be a good idea if she doesn't know, but...
"Yeah," Cloud enlightened at last, "but he wouldn't tell me."
Aerissa did not know it was a lie.
"Oh," was all she said.
"Sorry to disappoint you." Cloud stood back up again. "I'm just a mercenary after all, not some bloody sweeper."
Aerissa also got up from her sitting spot. "Oh, it is all right. Better than nothing at all." She lit up the first smile of the evening. "Thank you. You have my gratitude."
Utterly surprised, Cloud gave a lopsided smile, as he stepped out his right leg out of the window.
"OH! And I have not ask your name yet!" he heard Aerissa cried.
Befuddled, Aerissa's call almost caused Cloud's foot stuck among the thorns of roses. He turned to see her in hopeful eyes.
"It's Cloud," he said firmly. "Cloud Strife."
Aerissa muttered the name, "Cloud..." as a reminder. Reminder of a mercenary who--although not quite--saved her life on the night of February ninth. Even though it happened so fast, it almost felt like a dream. The meeting that started out ugly seemed to be a blessing--or in Aerissa's opinion, destiny, despite heavy influences from fantasy books. After all, how would she knew if her life was in danger? The princess knew immediately Cloud was telling the truth, for his eyes were boyish with a warm navy glow in each. His eyes were so sharp, he could not be lying, she assured herself.
She turned away quietly as she made her way back to bed, hoping the next time she wakes up, it was all just a dream. Tomorrow, she'll find herself on her bed with no gap holes on her window, no scattered rose thorns by the porch, and no memory of boy named Cloud who was previously paid to kill her.
The princess took one last look on the mercenary's back--whose foot was still stuck in the thorn bush--before he sets off. Secretly, she wished he would stay longer--no--she wished he wouldn't leave her.
Not that it was love, of course.
Aerissa sworn, Cloud was the only person she could rely to, and now he was leaving. Who could she turn to if not Cloud? She doubted at the slightest her mother would believe her, she wouldn't even want to bother telling her how she knew someone was after her. Queen Ifalna was too overprotective of her daughter that she wasn't allowed to talk to ordinary commoners, except a selected few. Lani? What could she possibly do? She may believe her to the fullest, but was she strong enough to protect her? Her loyalty may be undying, but she couldn't let Lani bear such a task.
Privately, she never really trusted other people, including the Prime Minister, which was her father's cousin. On second thought, almost nobody in the castle was worth her full trust. Sometimes she spotted one of her handmaidens eyed her suspiciously for no reason. Yet sadly, she couldn't rely the two closest people to her.
Suddenly, a familiar voice shouted. "PRINCESS!"
Aerissa turned around, looking out to the window, and found out Cloud was still outside her window.
"You..." she stammered, although Cloud could see the color in her face. "Do not shout! What if the guards find you out?"
Cloud ignored her last remark, and popped in his head toward her. "Princess! Why don't you come with me? I could take you away from here and you'll be safe!" he exclaimed cheerfully.
Aerissa thought she heard wrong. The next thing she knew, she was grinning, but quickly shunned the temptation away, "Are you mad? That's oblivious! I-I'm not running away from here!"
"Don't you value your life?" Cloud hopped back to the porch, obviously to a spot with no thorns, "If you stay here, they'll kill you in no time! Who knows that guy's going to ask someone else to kill you? It's better if you leave!"
"B-But what about mother?" Aerissa countered worriedly, "I can't just leave... I have to tell her!"
"No!" the blonde warned her with a glower, "No, you can't. You have to leave the queen out of this, that will threaten her life!" Cloud bellowed, as he watched her took a pen and a small parchment, "And don't even think about writing a note!" Aerissa stopped writing, glaring him back, "If you don't make this look a kidnap, she'll know you're going intentionally and literally, she'll know what's going on. If she knows your life's endangered, that would make hers too!"
Aerissa stared down at the parchment for a while, dropped her pen, and clenched the parchment piece into one ball. She looked up at Cloud who was waiting hurriedly by the porch.
"Why are you doing this?"
Cloud looked bemused. He rose his eyebrows. "What?"
The walnut-haired girl repeated patiently, "Why are you doing this? Why are you helping me? You barely even know me."
She saw Cloud flushed. Of all these hours, he hadn't thought why he bothered--or even wanted--to save the princess. He glanced back at Aerissa, looking every bit baffled.
The lad leaned his head forward, fixing a gritty look, "Listen, there are bigger things happening between you and me, and it's not just about the whole 'assassinating' thing." His voice almost came close to a whisper, "I happen to be one of a few people who knows you're wanted dead, and I couldn't just stand here doing nothing while I know one day someone's going to cut your life short."
Aerissa looked at him wistfully.
"Besides," Cloud added as an afterthought, "I'm asked to kill you, but I can't, and I'm not going down there empty-handed, after all the trouble I had getting up here."
He looked away to hide his sheepish face, and from Aerissa's light smile.
"So, uh," Cloud glimpsed at Aerissa's indistinctly swollen gown. "you want to just go, or change first?"
Aerissa stared down at her dress, and bobbed her head. "No, it's alright." she emphasized by nodding after Cloud gave a look that said "Are you sure?"
The boy then looked back to the sky, and studied it. Aerissa did not know what he was doing though, for she thought everything was settled and well-prepared. However, she felt grateful Cloud did not immediately ask her to climb down the castle walls.
"Where are we going?" Aerissa asked whilst she opened her drawer and took something that looked like jade stones.
Cloud whistled, "We'll figure out something. We're not staying here, that's for sure, and we're riding that!"
Aerissa tiptoed hastily toward the window, following Cloud's gaze. She saw him pointing a finger to a sparkling star. She observed the star keenly, and not only she found out the star was the brightest of the evening, but it was also gliding. Later, she realized there were other colors filling the star, which was unnatural. She then decided not to call it star, even though she still didn't know particularly what it was. Then the star grew bigger, almost like it was heading closer. It went closer and closer, it looked like...
"An airship?"
Cloud beamed, "It's not just any ship--it's the Highwind!"
Aerissa's expression turned from puzzlement to delight. She glanced back to the star--which she decided to stop calling a star now--that grew closer, closer enough to see the spinning jet. The once famous airship of her dreams. All the fear and problems of her inexperience to the outer world seemed to shun away, because nothing could stop her from reaching her full-fledged dream--boarding the Highwind!
"You cannot be serious!" Aerissa chortled heartily.
Cloud chimed, "I am." and took the princess' hand with no hesitation. Aerissa shrilled in surprise, but briskly held onto Cloud's grip. She almost screamed when she found out Cloud was clambering to the top of the castle. What was worst, her grasp kept slipping every two steps, but Cloud managed to keep Aerissa's body stable along the way, even though it was very, very hard. Aerissa's urge to look down was so hard to fought with, which made everything three times difficult than it should.
To Aerissa's pleasure, they finally landed on the outdoor terrace, which was located on the top floor of the castle. The princess quickly pushed Cloud aside to set her feet on the ground.
"Never," she panted, "do that to me again."
Cloud looked hopeless, and grinned sheepishly.
Aerissa sighed. At least, her feet was on the ground. She looked back at the airship, that was constantly drawing closer. She spotted a flag rising from the peak of what she thought was the cabin. Aerissa noticed it was of Nibel's.
"Wait 'til they get closer," she heard Cloud said, "once the ship's on top of our heads, we'll hop in."
It was truly the most beautiful airship she ever seen in her whole life. The flying craft was nothing like any ship she encountered. In fact, what made it interesting to look at was because it didn't look like a ship at all. It looked more like another kind of ship, the one she rode about in a novel of pirates and rogues. However, there were absolutely no sails, but a group of jets and a pair of wings on either side.
What Aerissa found fascinating of the airship's design were the patterns and drawings carved on the ship's solid body. She even bothered to ask Cloud what those scribbles meant (Cloud said he didn't know, but he found this amusing because he knew they were just drawings of everything the captain liked, and Sir Highwind was obviously nowhere near artistic.)
"Are you sure this is all right?" Aerissa asked, looking flustered, " We do not even know these people..."
Cloud retorted, "You don't know these people. I do. Even the captain owe me his life!" he looked at Aerissa's puzzled look, "I saved his ass before from being eaten by a baby zolom."
The brunette did not reply. Apparently, she was more interested to know what a zolom was.
But Cloud ignored her remark, "Heads up." he pointed his index finger toward a long rope of ladder, "You see that ladder there? When it's near, grab it. We're climbing up with that."
"WHAT?" Aerissa pouted in disbelief, "What if I could not hold on and fell?"
Cloud rolled his eyes, "I'll grab you. And no, you're not going to fall. I know it's scary, but c'mon, I thought you value your life."
Aerissa groaned, Value your life is by not climbing rope ladders from a flying airship when it is still on the air, she added silently.
"Anyway," Cloud extended his hand toward her, "ready?"
"Ready?" she asked quizzically. That was until she saw a huge object flying across her head, sending her brown strands of hair to her face and dress rose up high. She fought by forcing down the upper part of her dress and not letting it get blown away, even though it was a useless effort. She was hoping a pair of prying blue-tinted eyes weren't seeing anything at the moment. A royal buttock was still the same anybody's.
"C'mon!" Cloud yelled, completely ignoring the flying skirts. He snatched Aerissa's hand and pulled her waist, carrying her whole body just about the height of his shoulders.
The princess pouted as she felt her bottom was facing Cloud's face. "W-What? H-HEY!"
Seemingly, Cloud had already grabbed the ladder and took Aerissa's body before she could complain anything. She shrieked once more. Truthfully, she thought it was a brilliant idea to board the infamous Highwind, but climbing up a floating ladder just to ride on it was another story. She should have said she was phobic to heights. And it was made of rope. What if when they were halfway to the top, it splits into two? What a way of a humble beginning.
"CLOUD!" Aerissa yelled on top of her lungs, wagging her legs. "COULD YOU PLEASE LET GO OF ME?"
"IF I LET GO OF YOU NOW, YOU'RE GONNA BE GOOD AS DEAD!" he barked, ignoring the howling wind as he felt his voice escaped. "COVER YOUR EYES!"
So she did, and it made her feel wobbly for a while. However, Aerissa could care less, even though she could not stop herself from screaming.
But she knew one thing was for sure.
This was the start of her 'once upon a time.'
-tbc-