(for disclaimer refer to chaper 1)

Chapter 10: Walkin' in the park

Cloud awoke alone in his room. He wrapped his bed sheets around his body and walked over to the window. Peaking out from behind the curtains, he gazed up at the sun. It was much higher than he expected it to be, telling him he had slept much longer than he had wanted. It wasn't like him at all. At the very least, Aeris should have knocked on his door and woken him up. It was already past the time he had meant to get moving. The ex-SOLDIER slipped his pants and shirt on, and sat down on the bed. If the sun was up, then Aeris would definitely be up as well. And more than likely she'd already be outside too. Cloud slid his gloves on and attached his armguard to hold it in place. From there the boots went on next. He hesitated before snapping his belt on and instead just tossed the thing over his shoulder. If Aeris was already out, he might as well get something to eat and see if he could track her down.

"Good Morning, mister" a young girl greeted his as he came down the steps of the inn. "Hope you slept well. Are you going to be leaving now?" Cloud smiled a bit. He never did get used to being called mister. He couldn't actually place when it had occurred to him he was finally an adult. One day he was a teenager then….Cloud grimaced in pain and turned to hide it from the girl. Something in his head hurt. It was almost as if the the sudden migraine wanted to stop him from recalling those memories. He shook off the effects as best as he could and turned back to the girl.

"Nah. I'm …well, not just yet. Say, could you answer a few quick questions for me?" The girl paused like she wasn't sure it was okay for her to do but nodded shyly. "That's great. Okay, you know the girl who was here with me last night. Do you know were she's at right now?"

"Sorry." The girl shrugged. It wasn't that she didn't know where Aeris was, it was that she didn't know who Cloud was even talking about. That much was evident on her face, so he moved on to the next question.

"Thanks anyway, okay, do you know why the lifts to Golden Saucer were closed last night?"

"They close the lift every night, silly." The girl chuckled slightly. She must have thought that Cloud had just been joking with her so he let it go. In truth he felt just a little embarrassed that he hadn't thought of that and decided not to ask anymore questions.
Cloud walked around the town and got a quick breakfast while he looked for Aeris. After about an hour and multiple passes by the lifts, Cloud gave up and headed back to the inn. If he couldn't find Aeris, then she could go find him. He walked back into the inn and past the little girl who had now been joined by her mother.

As Cloud opened the door to his room, he heard a cheerful voice asking "What took you so long?" Aeris was sitting on the bed wearing her standard pink dress again. It wasn't perfectly clean, but with so much time on the road, most of their clothes usually were a bit dirty. There was a slightly confused look on Cloud's face as he entered so she immediately began to talk.

"I had to finish cleaning my dress and by the time it had finally dried, you had taken off. I checked out of my room and just decided to come here and wait for you." In a way, it was nice to see Aeris back in her own clothes. The outfit just completed who Aeris was. Cloud smiled to himself as he thought about it. Then again, he'd miss the skimpy look. He'd never forget when her skirt rode up on her the other day.

"Well you look happy about something." Aeris said noticing the look on his face. "Care to tell me what it is?"

"Don't worry about it." Cloud tried his hardest to straighten his smile into a more serious expression. "Let's get going then. The Saucer's open." They left the inn and started to walk towards the lifts when Cloud heard a familiar sound of clicking machinery. Grabbing Aeris's hand he started to run forcing her to try her best to follow him. They reached the lifts just as it pulled away.

"Mind….mind tell…telling me ….why…..?" Aeris tried to ask as she caught her breath.
"We missed the lift." Cloud sighed. He wondered offhand how long it would take for another to come back down. For a moment he considered apologizing for yanking Aeris by the arm and dragging her along but for reasons he couldn't quite figure out, He decided not to.
They stood there silently as they waited for the next sky lift. They tried there hardest to ignore the awkward looks they received. Many people still remembered the mako reactor's explosion. A strong grudge was held against the Shinra. Cloud walking around in the uniform it didn't help people's opinions of them.

His attention was so wrapped up in what others thought of him, he hadn't even noticed the darkening sky until a single rain drop struck him on the top of the head.

"Great. Now it's raining. Could this get any worse?" As he said that, he knew it was probably a mistake. Surprising however, things actually got better. Not weather wise but rather the situation. The tram arrived and Aeris and Cloud quickly boarded it.

Aeris's mood perked up even more as the tram began to move toward the Golden Saucer. Last time they had come here she didn't have time to enjoy the sights and she had been waiting for an excuse to come back ever since. When she was years younger, Zack would often tell her about the places he'd visited, but no story was ever as entertaining as his tales about the Golden Saucer. The bright lights, colors, friendly people, it was a place that was just all out fun. Having spent her first few years living like a lab rat and the rest of her life in the slums, Aeris couldn't even begin to imagine it. But what caught her attention more than anything is when he had told her about the sky ride. Not the one they took to get to the place but the sky ride inside the park. You were above everything looking down the world. Not just any world either. A world that only existed inside the Golden Saucer, a world of wonder. She remembered it clearly. He'd tell her his stories and then laugh at her wide eyed expression. Then he'd say… " 'Ris, I promise you one of these days me and you are going to go up on that thing. Because if you get this exited just hearing about it, I can't wait to see what you're like once you're on it." He always promised her that. Then one day…

"You alright?" Cloud asked snapping Aeris back to the present.

"Oh, sure. I'm fine. I was just thinking about someone." Her voice sounded far away as she spoke.

"Let's get moving then," he said to her. It was Aeris's turn to be lost. While she was recalling the past, she hadn't even noticed that the sky lift had stopped and the door had opened. She gathered her wits and exited the car along with Cloud. It cost them all but a tiny bit of their gil to get into the Golden Saucer. Cloud grumbled at the price. The ticket master tried to reassure him by saying something about a magical night but Aeris couldn't hear the explanation over Cloud's complaints and he soon led her into the Saucer.
There first priority over anything else was to track down the Keystone. That meant finding Dio. Cloud and Aeris got lucky on the first try as they entered the trophy room for the battle arena. Under a plate of glass, much like the other trophies and various relics, sat an object that couldn't be anything but the Keystone.

"So that's the Keystone" Aeris said walking up to the display glass and put her hand against it. "I've never actually seen anything like this before. Anything that was part of …you know, something that other Ancients made." The flower girl was awestruck by the object.

"Yeah, it's something alright." He faked some enthusiasm. Cloud didn't see anything really special about it.

"Long time no see, my boy. Hmmm? You like that, huh?" The deep voice of the Golden Saucer's owner boomed.

"Yeah, actually. Can you let us borrow this?" Cloud's question was answered by Dio's deep throated laughter.

"Heh, heh, heh. Sorry, boy, but that's not up for rent." "Pleeeeaaase?" Aeris pleaded.

"You aren't the first people to come asking about it. But I already made a deal and a promise is a promise. Can't let you have it."

"Oh come on. Why not? You owe us remember?" Since begging hadn't worked Aeris switched to trying to talk sense into the man. Cloud just stood back. There weren't that many guards here and the ones that were seemed poorly armed and complacent. If all else failed he planned on taking it. There sheer numbers would be a problem but, he just might be able to fight them off and make it. Aeris would be more of a problem. He didn't trust her to be able to hold her own in a fight like that.

"Tell you what, I just thought of something. I promised somebody else that they could get it if they went into the Battle Arena. I'll make it a match. All you have to do is just win. Best I can offer you. Take it or leave it, boy." Dio put his hands on his hips and laughed. The only thing that annoyed Cloud more than constantly being called "boy" by that man was his deep laugh. It was like everything was a game to him.

"I'm in," Cloud agreed immediately. It would be better than trying to fight all the security forces and much less likely to get Aeris hurt.

"That's all good, boy. All good. You just have to give me time to set up the match then." "I'm ready." Cloud told him. Dio didn't reply to these last words. He merely walked off and started laughing again.

"Something tells me you don't like him." Aeris said to Cloud once Dio had gotten out of earshot.

"Nothing personal," Cloud said. "It's just that he treat life like it's some big kind of joke. So I guess we're just going to have to wait for him to get back…." Cloud's words trailed off. He hated waiting but didn't really have any choice in the matter. He sat down and leaned against the wall. No telling how long this was going to take. Aeris squatted down. She really didn't want to sit down completely and get her dress all dirty again. Especially in a nice place like this. Well, sort of nice. The floor in the trophy room did look a tad nasty but that was probably just because it was so close to the Battle Arena.

"What do you think we should do from here then?" Aeris asked curiously.

"Hopefully by then Cid and the others will have gotten back with the airship. From there we can take it to find the Temple of the Ancients and …you know I never really thought about what happens after that." Cloud shrugged. "I guess we just play it from ear."

"Play what from ear? What you talking about, boy?" Dio's voice came sounding out. Cloud cringed at the sound of it.

"Nothing to concern you," Cloud mumbled back.

"Everything in the Golden Saucer is my business." Dio paused. "But you deserve a bit of privacy. I just came out to tell you that the fight is scheduled for about four o'clock. Late afternoon. Have fun in the mean time in my wonderful park."

"Will do, sir!" Aeris said snapping up.

"What did you do that for?" Cloud asked Aeris when Dio was finally gone. Aeris shrugged. It was good manner but it sounded silly just saying that. Maybe she had been letting her enthusiasm show a bit too much. Especially if Cloud couldn't already figure it out. "Doesn't matter I guess." Cloud paused and looked around the room. "Now we wait."

"We can do more than that!" Aeris's excitement gave her away. "Biggest funnest place on The Planet, right? I'm sure we can find something to do." Aeris beamed.

"We're pretty much broke, Aeris. I left our gil with Tifa and Red. Most of what we have with us, we spent getting into this place."

"Oh." Aeris's enthusiasm died down immediately. "Well I guess we can still go looking around. At least that's free." Cloud expression showed that he didn't care one way or another what they did. So he got up and followed the her.

Several hours later, Cloud had felt like he'd seen everything the Saucer had and could give detailed directions on how to get to most of it. Worse yet, they were now completely out of gil. The only thing either of them had to show for it was a cartoony stuffed cactar that Aeris squeezed tightly against her chest.

"CLOUD STRIFE PLEASE REPORT TO THE BATTLE SQUARE," a voice echoed over the intercom finally. Cloud was more than ready to go. Even if Aeris was still looking around. Coming out from the travel tubes to the Battle Square they were both taken back by the large group of people gathered at the doors to the arena.

"Strife! Cloud Strife! Is there a Cloud Strife here! Mr. Strife!" A woman's voice tried to sound over the crowd of people.

"Expecting somebody?" Aeris giggled. Cloud didn't answer but tried his hardest to push through the crowd holding tightly to Aeris's wrist so they wouldn't get separated. The voice continued to call and after pushing through a particularly hefty man in a purple suit, the saw the source of the voice.

She would have been a beautiful woman but was wearing way too much makeup. Glittery makeup at that. To top that off, for some reason she had dyed her hair a bright green. Obviously a showgirl of some kind, Cloud thought. She was wearing a thick buttoned up coat on that came down to her knees. Judging by her makeup and sequined boots, though, there probably wasn't much of a costume underneath the coat. She was holing up a sign with Cloud's name on it.

"Excuse me. I'm Cloud Strife." He said walking up to her after observing her for a while.

"Mr. Strife…" she started.

"Cloud. Just call me Cloud," he interrupted her. She made a sound like she was clearing her throat and continued.

"Yessir. Cloud, my employer, the illustrious Mr. Dio had instructed me to lead you to the backstage area to get ready for the fight. He's also instructed me to give these." she pulled out a small number of tickets "To whoever was accompanying you. Honestly, I expected more people." The woman looked at Aeris partially in distaste. Aeris didn't take offense. The way she looked at it, the woman was only envious of her and her freedom to be herself.

"Thank you" Aeris smiled and pocketed the group of tickets.

"Now if you two would follow me." The woman turned. "Oh, one more last final thing." Cloud mouthed the words she had just said. "Can I have your sword?" It wasn't a question. Cloud unstraped the blade from his back and handed it over to the woman. She nearly fell over trying to lift it. "Heavy little bugger idn't it?" She chuckled lightly as she strained to lift it back up. The thick country accent she had tried so hard to hide completely broke through. Aeris's opinnion of the girl improved greatly now that her act ahd sarted to die away. "Now le's ge' moving," she said as she staggered to an employee's only door.

Once inside the dim hallway, Cloud was led backstage and Aeris pointed towards the bleachers. "Seat thirty five A. Thirty five A. Thirty five A." Aeris repeated to herself glancing down at one of her tickets. "Okay, here's 35 G," she whispered to herself. "Now where's thirty…." suddenly an arm grabbed her dress. She jerked to the side and found herself facing a dirty looking man in an ill-fitting purple suit. "Excuse me, sir! Would you mind letting go!?!" Aeris said forcefully but more than a little bit frighten as well.

"That way," he pointed.

"Excuse me?" Aeris was completely confused by the man's behavior.

"Your seat." He said with a gravely voice as he let go of her dress.

"Oh, um thanks." She said cheerfully "but you really need to learn to work on your manners." The man merely grumbled and leaned back on his seat carefully watching as the ancient walked away.

Aeris made her way down to the section she was to be seated at. Small walls separated her from the rest of the audience and for once, she was glad to be alone. From what she saw, the rest of the audience wasn't the normal wholesome fun seekers that mostly visited the Golden Saucer. They seemed a lot darker spirited and meaner. Nastier people. They reminded her somewhat of the inhabits of the slums back home.

Shesat down in her seat and made an effort to get comfortable on the worn down seats. It took her a while before she noticed that absolutely nobody was joining her in the booth. It was an uneasy feeling, being so near the crowd and yet so isolated at the same time. When she pulled out the tickets to look at them again, she realized that Dio had given all the booth tickets. These had to have been the best seats in the house. They were so close to the arena and the seats were really comfortable, much better than she had expected. Still, there was a sense of uneas that wouldn't leave her.

"Ladies and gentle, tonight we have a grand battle royale for your amusement." Dio's voice shot through the speakers. The sudden interruption of her silence and caused her to jump from her seat. "Tonight and tonight only we have a battle faced off between two of the most finely trained warriors that Shinra Inc. has got." The mention of Shinra drew very mixed results from the crowd. Some cheered and hollered while others booed and actually threw things towards the arena.

The arena grew dark, illuminated by only two spotlights. A door opened on one side of the area and a Cloud walked out. A golden silk robe had been thrown over his uniform. He seemed very uncomfortable and irritated just being there. "Straight from the branches of SOLDIER comes Kid Cloud." Dio's voice echoed again. Aeris could see Cloud shutter at the nickname Dio had chosen for him. "…and his opponent…" a door across the arena opened. The next figure wasn't' wearing a robe. He wasn't even wearing a shirt but his brightly colored hair would haven given him away to anyone that had ever seen him. "Straight from the Specialized organization known as the Turks, here comes Reno!" Reno bowed to the audience mockingly. Aeris could only imagine what may have been going through Cloud's mind at that moment.

A woman in a glittery bikini and feathered headdress came out and presented Reno with his standard weapon. Aeris had heard him refer to it on multiple occasions as his "shock stick". If there was another name for it (and she knew there had to be one) she had never heard him say it. She watched as Reno spun it around a few times for show.

It took several women to bring Cloud's buster sword at for him. In contrast, Cloud lifted it easily. He spun it around and sheathed it on his back following Reno's lead. The reaction form the audience was outstanding and Reno looked a little bit hurt that he hadn't gotten such an ovation. The girls took Clouds robe from him and then left the arena. Dio then walked out wearing a much more elaborate robe than Cloud's. He held a microphone in his hand and spoke. "Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, fight enthusiasts and gamblers alike, .. Heh… this should prove to be a most interesting battle. Don't you think? Rules are simple. No materia. One on one. Who ever's left standing at the end is the victory. Now," he turned to Cloud and then back to Reno. "Oh yeah. Try to not to kill each other. It's not exactly a rule, but it makes a mess. Now, Are you ready to rock?" "let's do the damned thing," Reno said. Cloud merely nodded. Dio walked out of the arena and the bell rang indicating the start of the fight.

Cloud drew his sword and Reno palmed the shock stick. For the first minute they did nothing but circle each other warily. "Yo' Spike, we going to fight sometime this year?" Reno called out.

"I thought you'd be to afraid to fight with out your friends backing you up," Cloud returned. He was actually starting to enjoy himself. Reno smiled back at him. They circled closer and closer. Soon they were in striking distance of each other.

"Tag, buddy. You're dead." He said as he swung the stick towards Cloud. Cloud jumped to the side moments before impact and tightened the grip on his buster sword. It took Reno a second to recover but that was still too long for Cloud to swipe back. "Not bad." Reno said as he started to back off and prepare for another attack. This time Cloud led. He charged and swung downward with his blade. The Turk rolled under the blade and struck Cloud hard in the gut. Cloud's doubled over in pain, tightly clutching his stomach. Reno took the advantage and began to club Cloud with his rod, turning down the power and letting the brute force rather than the electricity do his dirty work.

Cloud held on hard trying his best not to buckle under the assault. It took eight straight blows to the back of the head before he even dropped to his knees. Another five or so after that, Cloud fell to the ground. The audience was silent for a moment, not sure whether they should be amazed at how quick the fight was over or enraged that it was over so quickly. "You…you big JERK!" Aeris yelled out for her seat. It wasn't long before the audience joined her with more vulgar comments focused on Reno. (Except of course for the people who had bet money on him)

Reno turned away from his fallen opponent, spitting on him as he did so, and faced the audience. He looked up at them defiantly and flipped them all off.

The audience stopped booing. Reno felt satisfied with himself and lowered his finger a second before a blow from the flat side of Cloud's buster sword sent him flying across the arena.

"That… that the best you got?" Cloud said with a slight wheeze in his breath. Reno pulled himself to his feet again and twirled his shock stick a few times before taking his battle stance. Cloud furiously unleashed a barrage of slashes and thrusts that Reno dodged artfully, but relying just as much on luck as skill. Cloud was strong but with his particular weapon of choice, he was slower too.

"Hey! I could dodge this stuff in my sleep!" Reno yelled back and he continued to weave through Cloud's attacks. The only problem he had was that he couldn't safely dodge and attack at the same time. He couldn't wait until the man wore himself out either. SOLDIERs had a particularly high stamina and endurance. Cloud could keep this up for hours on end without wearing down. Reno couldn't.

He ducked and weaved as quickly as he could, trying to return his blows whenever he had the chance. None of his hits even came close. The most they did was throw Cloud's aim off. Cloud was faster and stronger than the Turk. Reno knew there just wasn't room to fight him one on one in such a small space. Reno smiled. He had an idea. Cloud pressed the attack further. It seemed Reno wasn't so tough with out his backup or that triangle prison materia he had, Cloud thought. One on one, the Turk was just another thug in a suit.

Reno stumbled as he backed away from Cloud and fell to the ground. Cloud raised his sword high to strike the man down. One less problem later on, he thought to himself. Cloud brought his sword down fast.

Aeris winced and close her eyes. While Reno wasn't the nicest man, she didn't want to see him die like that. The crowd cheered. She clenched her eyes tighter afraid to look. When the cried died down, she peaked quickly with one eye. Reno was still lying on the ground but Cloud no longer stood over him. Instead of towering over his opponent, Cloud was doubled over in pain, clutching his groin. Reno quickly slid to his feet with the grace of a puppet on strings. Then he turned and ran. Putting as much distance between Cloud as the arena would allow, he adjusted the controls on his shock stick up to the maximum setting.
Cloud staggered to his feet again and retrieved his buster sword from where it had been dropped.

"Cheap shot." He called across the arena.

Reno shrugged. "If you're not going to go all out then all your going to be doing is decorating the teeth of a malboro somewhere." Cloud charged. Reno had watched the SOLDIER training enough to know exactly what he was doing. Cloud's feet hit the floor pushing him forward with all his momentum. He drew the sword behind his back and leapt into the air.

Reno waited, counting to himself the seconds it took for the blow to strike. It was a standard SOLDIER attack and one he had learned to counter a long time ago. If he chose to counter it.

Which he didn't. It was to late for Cloud to redirect his attack when Reno decided to duck and roll out of the way. The buster sword crashed against the fence to the arena reducing it to tangled wires. Cloud felt a strong kick to his lower back that sent his crashing through this tangle, clearing an opening for anyone who wanted to use it. Then he felt Reno's feet trample him as he made his escape.

Cloud tried to pull himself up. The wires had cut deep into his arms and snagged his shirt and pants. The pants and shirt were no problem to clear but the metal cut in his skin was. He pulled against it savagely, freeing himself and ripping fresh wounds. The audience was in an uproar. No body knew what was happening and whether it was a good thing or not. People who had placed bets didn't see a clear victor and couldn't cash out one way or another. People had started to throw things at the glass separating the audience from the fighter.

Dio thought fast. He could still make the most of it. The cameras that had been showing the fight changed to a view of Dio. "Ladies and gentlemen, the fight is still going, the security camera will be rerouted to keep your process of the fight going. Stay calm, stay seated and as always, you all enjoy your time at the Golden Saucer."

Dio quickly gave orders to reroute the video surveillance cameras to the arena camera. Soon, the cameras switched to a black and white view of Reno, hiding behind the staircase to the battle arena's main entrance waiting to strike. Dio then gave the orders to send his security team out in full force. They were to keep the normal people away from the fighting.He didn't want the fight stopped but he didn't want anybody else getting hurt either.

Cloud wasn't aware of the shift of the camera. It wouldn't have mattered anyway. He hurried out after his opponent. Once free from the arena, he stopped and scanned the area. No trace of Reno could be seen. Cloud ran to the pods expecting that Reno was trying to get out of the Saucer.

A sharp pain crashed into the back of Cloud's knees and electricity shot through his body stunning him. Reno had caught him off guard again. He was making Cloud look like a rank amateur. Cloud grimaced. He struck at Cloud again, this time his rod was blocked by the buster sword Cloud swung. The superior strength of the SOLDIER outmatched him. Reno released one hand from his weapon and planted a right cross on Cloud's jaw. Salvia flew from his mouth and he could taste blood. He spun to kick back at his attacker. Against a normal attacker, the kick would have worked, but Reno had experience. Reno grabbed Clouds leg and flipped him away. He then sped away.

Reno couldn't figure out how the man was still standing after the hits he took from the shocker. Reno raced into the trophy room with Cloud in pursuit. He ducked down behind a large shelf of important looking knickknacks and slammed his stick against the ground in frustration. It should have floored him. He examined it quietly as he heard the much noisier Cloud enter and begin his search. Reno spat a silent curse as he realized the problem. He flipped the safety switch, which kept it from lethal status off, and waited until Cloud crossed the room and was at his farthest from him. Might as well have a little bit of fun.

"Yo Spike!" Reno shouted as he jumped out. "With them glowing eyes you think you could see something, wouldn't cha'?" It sounded childish but Reno liked it.

"I'm not here to play hide and seek. Come on, let's fight" The spiky haired blonde said seriously. Reno knew that he was starting to get to the younger man. The kid had no real patience.

"Hey, I'm not playing. I am at work right now. Cool job don't ya' think?" He taunted as obviously as he could. Cloud had learned not to do a wild charges towards this enemy and approached slowly. Reno took a stance much like that of a baseball player, substituting the bat for his Electro-mag rod. Cloud raised the blade to eye level much as he remembered seeing Sephiroth do time and time again. Reno flexed slightly and waited for the SOLDIER to close the distance between them.

Except he wasn't waiting for Cloud to get into swinging distance. Reno kicked at a nearby self of trophies coughing it to tumbled towards Cloud and shower him with large decorative metal statues. Cloud held his arm up to protect his face as they stuck him. Reno stood back and watched.

He knew the soldier boy was going to pull through and all. The attack really didn't do anything but make him mad and hopefully give him a few good bruises but it was worth it just watching. Cloud clumsily fumbled though the mess kicking it out of his way as the returned to the battle. Reno had been so caught up in watching him; he had forgotten the next step of his plan. It was too late now anyways. He kicked a small object upwards to ward Cloud and charged the man. Cloud slashed and missed. Reno shot past him slamming his weapon against Cloud's arm. Enough energy to lay down a full grown Zuu charged through his nervous system. His teeth gritted so hard he could hear them cracking. His fist clenched and unclenched itself several times before his arm fell limp completely.

Cloud grabbed his buster sword with the remaining good hand and swung it at Reno. It was blocked easily. With only one hand, Cloud's control and precision was gone. Reno blocked his next wild attack. And his next. And his next. All the time getting in his own licks.

It took several moments of watching before the idea actually stuck in Aeris's head that not only was Cloud was in trouble, but there was actually something she could do to help. She jumped up from her seat with that intent when she felt the cold hard metal of a gun barrel press against her temple.

"You're not going anywhere." A females voice said. Aeris darted her eyes to the side slightly and caught a glimpse of the dirty man who had directed her to her seat earlier. "We need that keystone. That was the mission we were sent on. While I don't agree with how Reno's going off to get it, he's the boss right now so I have to go along with him."

"Who are you?" Aeris asked cautiously.

"Oh yeah, the disguise." The man reached up to removed a nasty wig and rubber face mask revealing a much more slender female face and blonde hair underneath. Aeris recognized her as the newest member of the Turks but sill couldn't think of her name. With a gun pointed to her head, though she had bigger problems than just her memory. "Let's just sit down and watch this." The Turk removed the barrel from Aeris's head and sat down right behind her out of her view. "And don't try anything. Just because this isn't touching you, doesn't mean I don't still have it pointed at you." She warned Aeris.

Aeris watched as Cloud was hammered by Reno's attacks. Reno had dropped his taunts and was now just happily wailing away at Cloud, dodging his slashes, and beating him at leisure.

"...stop..." Cloud wheezed. Aeris couldn't hear it over the monitor but the way he raised his hand up told everyone his intentions. Reno stopped, wondering what was going on. Had he decided to just throw in the towel? It would be nice to get this over with but it was also a little disappointing as well. Cloud dropped his sword to the ground. "Okay. We can go now." he smiled lunging at Reno, and toppling them both to the ground.

"What!?! No way! Not fair!" Elena shouted. She dashed around Aeris to get a better view of the screen. "He gave up! I mean, he was supposed to be giving up! That's …that's cheating!" Seeing her openining, Aerisdashed out the door while Elena ranted.

Cloud wrestled the weapon from Reno's hands and flung it across the room. Reno head butted the man. He regretted it. Reno took more damage from the attack than Cloud did. Once, again it had slipped his mind that this wasn't an ordinary person he was fighting Cloud grabbed Reno's head and slammed it down to the ground. He could feel his teeth jangle in his head. Reno didn't let the impact faze him much; he pulled his legs up and kicked Cloud off him before he darted to his feet and out the door.

Cloud raced to his sword on instinct before the numb arm reminded him it was pointless. By the time he caught ran back to the main area, the tip of Reno's pony tail was disappearing into the transport tubes.

Cloud jumped into the tubes after him. The switching gravity always made Cloud slightly wheezy anytime he used it. The gut punch once he reached the other end of it didn't help matters either. Aeris ran into the trophy room as fast as her legs would carry her. Cloud was nowhere to be seen. She found his buster sword laying on one side of the room and Reno's weapon on the other. She hurried back to the transport tubes hoping to catch up with them somewhere.

Cloud charged Reno head first. He smashed into him, staggering Reno. He followed it up with a hard left to Reno's jaw. He continued to punch the man.

Aeris rushed through the Saucer as quickly as she could, not having any idea where the two fighters could have gotten to. When she finally reached them, they were standing in a face off. Dio stood there watching. Behind him, security guards held the rest of the curious viewers safely away from the action. Neither fighter looked like they had the energy for anything fancy anymore. No tricks, no running away. Just two men standing there, hitting each other. She could smell the blood and sweat on them. For every hit Cloud gave out, Reno, who still had both his fists to use, gave two or three.

"Cloud?" Aeris asked, unsure what she should do at this point.

"Back off, I got this." He grunted and gasped for air. He took another two hits to the jaw.

"Reno!" A voice shot out from the small walkie talkie that the Turk had clipped to his belt.

"What!" He yelled into it.

"The Ancient got away! I was watching her and…well…" the voice on the other end said.

"I know that! She's right here!" Reno yelled back.

Cloud spun around while Reno's attention was diverted. His limp arm swung out. It nailed Reno in the side of the head and he dropped like a rock.

"Reno? Reno? Are you there? Hello?" The voice from the walkie talkie continued. Cloud reached down clicked the button on its side, turning it off.

"Congratulations, boy!" Dio said walking up to him. "You've won and I've made a boatload of gil off this! And never let it be said that I'm not a fair man. I'm going to give you a good 15 of the winnings and the keystone!" Dio slapped Cloud across the shoulder. "Meet me back at the trophy room and we'll settle." Several of Dio's attendants rushed forward to see to Reno and Cloud. Cloud brushed them away and, with Aeris supporting his weight, staggered off.

"Let me see your arm." Aeris said when they were both safely away from the crowds. "Can you move it at all?"

"I'll be fine. Just give me a while." Cloud sighed.

"Come on, let me help." Before Cloud could respond, she touched his arm and spun her staff around slightly. Cloud never grew tired of watching her use her healing abilities. The staff itself seemed to spin in slow motion as a warm feeling softly caressed his muscles. She stopped moving and opened her eyes back up.

"Does that feel better?" she asked.

"Lots." Cloud shook his arm but the fist still remained tightly clenched.

"What about your hand?"

"It feels good too." Cloud lied.

"Then let me see it." Aeris insisted.

"Later okay. I need to meet up with Dio and get cleaned up." Aeris crossed her arms and pouted. "Cloud Strife. I'm not going another step until you show me that hand."

"Suit yourself." Cloud began to walk away.

"I mean it!" Aeris shouted. Cloud didn't say anything. Nor did he turn back around. "Alright, that's it." Aeris said. She tackled Cloud and grabbed the glove off his hand before he even knew what was going on. Aeris grabbed his wrist and jerked it up where she could get a good look at the hand. Cloud's hand was a mass of deep scar tissue. There were several places that the skin color didn't even match the rest. "I had no idea…" Aeris said apologetically. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"Do you mind getting off me first?" Cloud said. Aeris's face flushed a bright red. With the shock of accidentally uncovering his injuries, it had slipped her mind that he was still pinned to the ground.

"Oh. Oh. Yes, sorry. Sorry." She got up off him and helped to dust him off. "And here's your glove back." She said meekly as she offered it to him.

"I think this one was the one you wanted to see anyways." Cloud help up his other hand. Still tightly clenched into a fist and gloved. Aeris felt like an even bigger idiot now.
"I'll show you later, I guess…," Cloud said and hoped that she'd forget about it. "We still have to meet up with Dio."

Coming Next Chapter: the Rain, the park, and Other Things.