~~May 5th, 2019 – Stuck in a Desert Prison & Barret's Bad Mood~~

So I'm sitting here in this broken down house, writing in my diary and waiting for Cloud, Barret and Tifa to come back from the latest mission. We got ourselves in a load of trouble this time. Right now, all of us are in a desert prison near the Gold Saucer for doing absolutely nothing wrong!

Okay, when we left Costa Del Sol, we had to climb Mt. Corel. It took almost two days, but we made it to the other side. During the trip, Barret seemed a little...uptight. It's like he didn't want to climb the mountain at all. Hah, who could blame him? I didn't want to climb the mountain either. Well, the things you've gotta do to get what you want, right?

It took almost the whole entire day to climb Mt. Corel because we had minor setbacks (like mine tracks collapsing when we step on them, monsters and other stuff). It was close to nightfall when we reached North Corel. That's when the trouble started.

The village was filled with sad-looking people. It looks like something bad happened here a long time ago. There were rocks scattered everywhere. These people were living in tents and didn't seem rich at all. They had to work really hard to get by.

One of the men looked up from what he was doing. He looked at the rest of us quickly, but he stared at Barret. Then he exclaimed, "You, You're...Hey!! He's back!"

Barret hung his head, as if he didn't want to be seen. Then he turned to us and said, "Wait here."

Barret walked up to the guy who was staring at him and the guy punched him! Barret didn't even fight back! That's not really like him...

The guy looked mad. "Well, lookey here! Never thought I'd see your face again!" Then he turned to us and said, "Those people over there, they with you? Well I feel sorry for 'em! Hangin' around a walkin' death sentence like Barret!"

'Walkin' death sentence'? What did they mean? I know he has a gun grafted into his arm, but...I don't think he'd kill us, would he?

Another guy made a fist at Barret and yelled, "You've got a lot of balls comin' back here! Look at this place! It's all YOUR fault that North Corel turned into a garbage heap!"

The guy who punched Barret yelled, "Why doncha say something? Or did ya forget what you done here already?!"

"I'm sorry..." Barret said quietly.

Barret? Apologizing? With the way he is, I thought that he would've gotten mad and would've done something crazy. Gosh, this must've been something –really- bad.

The guy making a fist swore and said angrily, "You ain't even worth the effort!"

The other guy yelled to the other citizens who were glaring at Barret, "Don't waste time talkin' to that techno-freak!"

Techno-freak...?

Cloud moved over to Barret's side. He had an expression of pure concern on his face.

Barret turned around and silently said, "You heard 'em. It's my fault this town was...destroyed."

It was his fault that this town was destroyed? I know Barret looks a little dangerous, but he doesn't really look like the type to destroy a whole entire town.

We moved through the town, trying to avoid eye contact with the citizens. Some of the people commented that we looked as weird as a guy in a black cape who had a tattoo of a '1' on his arm. He passed through the town moments ago and headed toward the ropeway station. Cloud heard this comment and headed towards the ropeway station, which was connected to the Gold Saucer – a big casino/amusement park thing. I've never been to the Gold Saucer before! Then again, we're here on business, but I wanna have fun!

When we reached the ropeway station, Cloud turned around to see if Barret was feeling a little better. He really wasn't. He was staring at the ground and looked really upset.

Aeris got the idea. "Barret, what happened?" she asked, concern in her voice.

Barret mumbled, "Sorry," still staring at the ground.

That really wasn't a good answer. Cloud felt so too. "What happened?" he asked Barret again.

Barret looked up this time, "My hometown used to be here."

'Used to'? What did he mean by 'used to'? Red had the same thoughts as I did because he asked Barret the same thing.

Barret responded with, "It ain't here no more. Heard it got buried...in just four years."

Uh, so what did he have to do with that?

Aeris frowned and asked, "But how could those people say those terrible things?"

Barret didn't seem to hear her. He just said that it was all his fault. He told us his story, about how his best friend, Dyne, was opposed to the building of the Mako Reactor in Mt. Corel. He thought that it was kinda betraying their forefathers, the people who worked in the coalmines. Barret was the one who convinced Dyne that coal was useless now. One day, Barret and Dyne were away from the town. When they were gone, the village was burned down by Shinra troops.

Cloud was appalled. "Shinra troops?!" he cried. "What for!?"

Barret looked at him and answered, "There was an explosion at a reactor. Shinra blamed the accident on the people. Said it was done by a rebel faction."

Tifa looked shocked. "That's so terrible!"

Barret turned to her and said, "Well, I guess that's true. But more than Shinra, I couldn't forgive myself. Never should've gone along with the building of the reactor..."

Tifa shook her head, "Don't blame yourself. We were all fooled by the promises Shinra made back then."

Now Barret showed signs of being pissed off. "That's why...that's why I get so pissed off!! Not only did they take advantage of me, but I lost my wife Myrna too..."

The guy in the booth for the tram was getting impatient and ruined the mood. "Hey everyone! If you want to go to the Gold Saucer, hurry and get on!" he yelled.

Cloud got a flicker of annoyance in his eyes and yelled, "Let's get on!" He walked into the tram.

Barret began staring at the floor again. "Dyne was my best friend. We was close ever since we was kids..." He followed Cloud into the tram.

Tifa silently said, "I never knew. Barret never said a thing."

There was silence, and I broke it, "I'm not sympathizing with Barret! He never should have trusted the Shinra!" I stomped into the tram.

Now that I think about it, I never should have said that. I mean, how could he have known what would've happened? The Shinra have different ways of manipulating people, and I guess that if I were in Barret's position, I probably would've done the same thing. Maybe I should start thinking before I say anything.

As soon as everyone was on board, the tram set off towards the Gold Saucer. It was past sunset when we got to the Gold Saucer. We all got off the tram and we had to pay for a 3000 gil one-day ticket. Isn't that a little pricey? Get this - a lifetime pass is 30000 gil! That's insane! Cloud looked a little hesitant to pay 3000 gil for the one-day ticket.

After Cloud paid for the ticket, we walked in the weird pink thing. We ended up in this big yellow room with 7 entrances in it.

Aeris looked really glad to be here. "Wow!" she exclaimed. "Let's have fun!" She looked a Barret and said softly, "I know this isn't the right time to do this." She walked up to Barret, looked up at him and said, "Hey, Barret, cheer up!"

Barret the Grouch simply said, "I ain't in no cheery mood. So jus' leave me alone."

Aeris looked disappointed. "Really?" she asked him. "Well, that's too bad." She walked up to Cloud and took his arm. "Let's go!" she exclaimed.

I'm really sorry, but I felt a pang of anger. I mean, does Cloud like that? Girls clinging to him?

Aeris and Tifa started whispering to each other. I have no clue what they were saying and I didn't really care.

Aeris walked up to Barret again and said in her cute tone, "We're gonna go play."

Barret got really pissed off. "So PLAY!" He yelled, raising his arms in the air and swearing. "Don't forget we're after Sephiroth!" With that said, he ran away.

Gosh, I never really thought that anyone could get mad at Aeris. I didn't think anyone could. I mean, she's really nice and she tries doing things to make everyone feel better. Although she does have a gift for stating the obvious, "I think he's mad," she said.

"He'll be fine," Tifa said, "He seems to be doing a little better now."

Tifa and Aeris started talking to each other, while Red lay on the floor, probably trying to catch some sleep. Cloud looked a little tired. Well, he must be, if he has to put up with that all day.

I was busy thinking of what to do, I didn't even notice Cloud walk up to me. "Um, Yuffie? D'you want to come tour the Gold Saucer with me? I kinda need some quiet," he said.

I was so surprised; I didn't know what to say. I just nodded and stammered, "L-let's go!"

He nodded and said, "So, where do you want to go?"

"Um ...How about Speed Square?" I suggested.

"Alrighty then! Let's go!" Cloud said, grabbing my wrist and pulling me down the tube that led to Speed Square.

When we landed in Speed Square, a train-mine station-looking place, I had to ask him, "Have you been here before?"

He looked down at me (and that's when I noticed that I was really short compared to him) and said, "Nope, I just heard about this place when I was in SOLDIER. Some of my friends sneaked off all the way here to look for a little fun. Well, let's just say they got much more than they bargained for." He began laughing.

Some muscular guy walking around shirtless glanced over at us and came over to talk to us. Actually, he really came to talk to Cloud. He completely ignored me.

"Hey boy," he said in a booming, harsh voice.

Cloud stopped laughing and narrowed his eyes. "Boy..."

Heh, if I were a 21-year-old guy, I would've gotten angry if someone called me that too.

The muscular guy started to flex his muscles. "How is it? You having fun?" he asked, and then without us responding he assumed, "So you ARE having fun. Well good. Good for you boy."

I thought, Yeah, okay, ya stupid jerk. IGNORE ME! I don't care!

Cloud was getting irritated too. He frowned at the guy and harshly said, "My name's Cloud," then he added, "And stop calling me boy."

It didn't matter. The weird muscleman wasn't listening. He somehow "heard" us ask him his name. I'm telling you, he seemed really self-centered. By the way, his name's Dio.

Then he asked Cloud out of the blue (the last question we'd expect from him), "Say, d'you know what a 'Black Materia' is?"

Black Materia...? What's that? Well, whatever that is, it sounds cool and all-powerful! I might be able to snatch it, if I knew where it was.

Cloud put his analytical face on (you know, when someone frowns and stares really hard at something as if they want to read its mind or something) and asked, "What is it?"

Dio laughed really loud (and people around us started staring at us) and when he calmed down he said, "I say, that's a good one, boy! But it's not good to lie. You can't fool me."

I have no clue what a 'Black Materia' is, and I don't know if Cloud knows what it is, but it sure sounds fishy...and powerful!

Then after Cloud asked Dio why he asked him what it was, Dio responded with, "Well, a while back, a boy your age came in and asked me if I had a 'Black Materia'. I thought you might know who he was, seein' as how you're both about the same age."

Cloud and I looked at each other as if the name 'Sephiroth' crossed our minds at the same time.

"Did he happen...to have a black cape?" Cloud inquired.

Dio answered, "Why yes, yes he did. And a tattoo on his hand that said '1'."

Cloud looked like he was gonna jump into the air if he didn't calm down. He almost hit me while he loudly asked, "Where did he go?!"

Dio laughed again. He looked pretty amused. He said, "I have no idea. Well then. I say, stop by the Battle Arena if you like, boy. You'll probably like it. Many of my collections are on display there." He started laughing as he walked off.

That guy is pretty darn weird.

Cloud started scratching his head, trying to think what to do. I really thought that he'd restart his "Let's Get Sephiroth!" spree. We didn't even get to have any fun either!

He turned to me and started standing that weird way he always stands and asked me, "Jeez, I'm sorry. Dio only paid attention to me and not to you. Hope you're not angry. So, do you want to play the roller coaster game here? Or do you want to go somewhere else instead?"

I really thought he was gonna go, 'let's find Sephiroth!' but he didn't! I really tried to not look like I was happy or relieved or anything. I think he noticed, though. I said that I wanted to try the roller coaster game. He nodded and we went in the direction of the roller coaster game. Did I mention that he took hold of my hand this time?

My hand! Gawd, I hope he didn't see my face turn crimson. I've NEVER had a guy hold my hand before. Well, that's probably most of the guys in Wutai don't really approve of me being an outgoing ninja. A lot of them think it's really boyish. Anyway, I'll talk about that another time.

So anyway, we're playing the roller coaster game. I actually did pretty well! It was just like throwing a shuriken, but you have to get used to the fact that you're using a laser-gun-thing instead of a shuriken. It would've been a snap if the targets weren't so small, or if they didn't move so fast, or if I wasn't stuck in this coaster! Cloud was sitting in the seat behind me and he was doing better than I was doing. He was hitting all his targets! He even got that giant UFO that was at the end of the course.

In the end, we got 6000 points! Cloud let me pick out a prize. I chose a necklace with a beautiful sapphire flower charm. We had points left over, but I chose not to use them. I insisted that Cloud should redeem them (he really wanted me to use them all). After all, he got most of the points! He told me to choose something for him so I chose a silver chain with a sword charm attached to it.

"I didn't know that was there!" he exclaimed. "Thanks, Yuffie!" He put it on and smiled at me.

I smiled back. "No problem! If ya need someone to help choose something again, I'm your girl!"

As we were walking back to the Speed Square lobby, he said to me, "Know what? One of my friends said that he had a great time in Wonder Square. It's like a huge arcade. But, if you don't like the kind of games where you fight against a visible machine or video games, then we could go somewhere else."

"I LOVE video games!" I exclaimed. I think I said it a little too loud, so I quieted down a bit. I needed to look and sound mature. "I'd love to see what Wonder Square would be like!"

Cloud grinned. "Alright. I was hoping you'd say that. Actually, I thought that you'd say no. You're pretty different, Yuffie."

With that he took hold of my arm and started running towards the door that had 'Wonder Square' lit up at the top of it.

He said that I was different! Wait, why am I so happy?

Anyway, after we ran through the door, we found a tube and we figured that we had to jump in it. We did and we ended up at Wonder Square. There was a big stuffed white mog with a black cat wearing a cape holding a yellow megaphone on top of its head there.

"Hey you!" the cat yelled.

I didn't want to talk to it. It didn't look ...normal.

The cat looked at me and asked, "What're you lookin' so down for?"

I narrowed my eyes at it and then it turned to Cloud.

"How 'bout it?" it asked, "Want me to read your fortune!? A bright future! A happy future! Oh, but don't hold it against me if it's not a great prediction! Oh, so sorry! I'm a fortune-telling machine. The name's Cait Sith."

Cait Sith? As in 'fairy cat'? Tch. I'd really love to hear one of his fortunes.

Cloud crossed his arms. "You could only read the future?" he asked, not seeming very interested.

"You kidding?! I can find missing things, missing people, anything!" Cait Sith claimed.

Cloud seemed interested. "Then, can you tell me where a man named Sephiroth is?"

Whaaaat? Where Sephiroth is? Look, I know we need information, but I don't think we should be asking this cat, I thought.

"Sephiroth, right? Well, here goes!" Cait Sith exclaimed. Then it started doing this weird shuffle thing! Is that how people tell fortunes?

When Cait was done his...er...predicting, the mog took a piece of paper that appeared from somewhere in its fur and handed over to Cloud.

"What's it say, Cloud?" I asked, thinking that it'd be something stupid.

Cloud looked at the piece of paper and read what it said out loud, "Ordinary luck. It will be an active fortune. Give into the good will of others, and something big'll happen after summer." He frowned at Cait Sith. "What...What's this?"

The cat looked confused too (that really sounds weird). Then he tried again. The mog started doing his weird shuffle thing and took another piece of paper that appeared from that place in its fur and handed it to Cloud.

This time the fortune said, "Be careful of forgetfulness." The stupidest thing it said was, "Your lucky colour is blue."

Cloud got pissed off at this point. "Forget it," he said, taking my arm. "Let's go."

"Wait!" Cait cried, running behind us. "Wait, give me another chance!" When he finally caught our attention, he tried his shuffle (a little faster than the other two times) again and the mog took a third piece of paper that appeared from that mysterious place in its fur. He handed it to Cloud.

Cloud read it silently this time, and then he got a shocked expression on his face.

"What? What's it say, Cloud?" I asked, trying to stand on my toes to see the paper.

He read it slowly, "What you pursue will be yours. But you will lose something dear."

Pursue? Was the fortune referring to Sephiroth? But the "lose something dear" part scared me? Would that be any one of us? Cloud doesn't look he has anyone else...

Seeing the shocked expressions on our faces, the cat said, "I don't know if it's good OR bad...This is the first time I ever got something like THIS." The cat leaned forward, "Then shall we?"

I stared at him. "Then shall we what?" I asked. What's he up to?

Cait sighed. "As a fortune teller, I can't help but think about this. If I don't see what it leads to, I won't be able to relax. That's why I'm going with you!"

"Wha?!" I practically screamed. "Cloud, don't let him come!" I cried, tugging on his arm. Then I stood on my toes and whispered in his ear, "He's kinda...unsavory."

Cait stared at me for a moment and said, "I'm comin' with you no matter WHAT you say!"

It was pretty clear to Cloud that this weirdo wasn't going anywhere, so he whispered in my ear, "I know how you feel, but I have absolutely no choice here. To tell the truth, I want to see what the fortune means too."

Don't we all.

"So!" Cait said (very loudly), stepping between us. "Where shall we go next?"

"Why don't we just stick you in with the chocobos?" I mumbled.

He heard me. "You want to go to Chocobo Square? Okay, then!" Then the mog grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the tube that was labeled "Chocobo". Cloud ran behind us. I pushed down the tube and before I knew it, I was on the ground, rubbing my butt.

Cloud and Cait came down shortly after. When he saw me on the ground, Cloud glared at the cat and ran to help me up.

"Heh, sorry." Cait sheepishly said. "Are you all right? I didn't mean to shove you down so hard."

"I'm okay." I answered, while taking a hold of Cloud's arm. I was very close to adding 'no thanks to you' at the end of that statement.

As soon as I fully got up, we heard some sort of commotion outside. Cloud told to us to stay back while he looked outside. He gasped and stepped backwards.

"Cloud, what..." I stopped as soon as he raised a hand to silence me.

The commotion outside stopped. Cloud nodded his head to tell me that I could start speaking again.

I started again, "Cloud, what was going on? What was all the noise about?"

Cloud took a couple steps towards Cait and me. "Shinra soldiers," he said. He only had to say those two words to get me to know what he meant.

"Even here?!" I asked, total surprise in my voice, and I WAS surprised. I didn't think that Shinra would come here, of all places.

"Even here. I don't think we should stay here any longer. Rufus knows who we are, who I am," Cloud explained, "I won't be surprised to find out that they're looking for us too."

Cait stayed quiet. C'mon, if I were him, I'd be asking what was going on. I wouldn't be just standing there, listening to everything we're saying. I think he's up to something. Something, but I don't know what...the swindler.

"Let's go somewhere else then," I said, running out of the tunnel, into the front of the Chocobo Square betting area. Cloud chased after me (he couldn't keep up, heh). I ran into the tunnel that was marked "Battle Square". I climbed up the ladder at the end of the tunnel. I waited for Cloud and that sneaky cat at the top of the ladder before going on. I didn't want to go on alone, not with Shinra soldiers crawling around the place.

When climbed to the top of the ladder, Cloud tried to shoot an angry look at me and said, "Gods, you're fast! Just don't do that again, or else I'm gonna have to cast Haste on myself and chase you down and drag you back!"

He started walking past me and I followed, laughing. Cait came up last and ran behind us telling us to slow down. Know what was weird? Usually, you'd hear music and people talking in the background when you're walking through the tunnel. This time, there was nothing. Absolutely nothing.

When Cloud stepped out of the tunnel, he stood there for a second and then ran out. I started to run behind him. When I got out of the tunnel, I saw him crouched over a body. A dead body. I've seen a lot of those, but it still gets to me. Cloud mumbled something and then he ran up the long purple-carpeted steps. Very fast, I might add.

"Hey! Cloud! Don't leave me alone here!" I yelled, and I ran after him.

Cait ran behind me and yelled at me about the fact that I was ignoring him. I wasn't exactly ignoring him. It's just really hard to have a stuffed moogle and a cat protect you. Cats, maybe. Stuffed moogles? Not really.

When we reached inside the actual arena, we saw dead bodies everywhere. All of them were apparently shot, according to Cloud. One soldier was still hanging on. When we tried to talk to him, he only mentioned a man with a gun on his arm.

A man with a gun on his arm? No way. He couldn't have. Not him.

We heard a voice behind us. A booming, harsh voice that said, "Hold it right there! And stay quiet!!" Dio ran into the arena with a whole bunch of soldiers following him. He looked around and then turned to us, "Did you guys do this!?" he asked.

Cloud looked partially scared. His heart was probably beating a mile a minute. "N, no!" he stammered (pretty surprising), "It wasn't us!"

When Dio turned around, giving orders to his soldiers, Cait said to us, "Hurry and run; it's gonna get ugly."

I believed him this time. Maybe he's trustworthy, but then again...

We started running into the next room (that looked like a dungeon) and Dio yelled at his soldiers to start chasing us. We got trapped. There was no way out and the way we came in was blocked. Cloud pleaded to tell his story, but Dio wouldn't listen and he sent his robots after us. The next thing I knew was getting trapped in the arms of this robot thing and then I was thrown down some hole into a desert prison. Cloud was the last one to get thrown here.

"Are you all right?" I asked Cloud. He looked like he had a pretty hard fall.

"Yeah," he answered. He looked around, "Where are we?"

Cait piped up, "A desert prison, Corel prison."

"Desert prison?" Cloud and I said together.

Cait nodded, "Yup, a natural prison in the middle of the desert, surrounded entirely by quicksand. I heard that once you get in, you never get out. . . There was one special exception."

There was total silence after that. I looked around and I spotted someone I knew near the fence. "Hey," I said, getting Cloud's attention, "Isn't that Barret over there?"

Cloud looked where I was looking, "So it is. Let's go."

We walked over to where Barret was standing and Cloud started interrogating him, "Barret, did you..."

He was interrupted by Barret, "Stay back!" he yelled, "This is something I gotta deal with. Jus' leave me alone!" With that, he ran away.

Cait scratched his head. "That's one of your friends?! He sure looks dangerous."

Cloud shot him an angry look and turned to me, "Let's follow him, Yuffie."

We started to run after Barret, with Cait trailing behind (as usual). We followed Barret into a burnt house (avoiding thieves and other unsavory guys on our way there).

As soon as we got into the house Barret turned around and yelled, "Didn't I tell you not to come here?!"

Gawd, what the hell's his problem now?!

Cait got scared. "J,just hold on for a second! We just want to talk! You'll understand if you just hear us out!"

Then Barret pointed his gun at us. The same line went through my head over and over, IOh my gawd, he's gonna kill me; Oh my gawd, he's gonna kill me.

He fired, but he didn't fire at us. He fired at something else. When he stopped firing, we heard a body collapse behind the burnt sofa. I guess the guy died instantly.

Barret looked at the floor and said, "I didn't want none of ya to get involved..."

Suddenly the door burst open. Aeris, Tifa and Red came running into the house to see what was going on. I wondered how they got down here.

"Hey! That's Cloud's line! 'It's too dangerous, I can't let you get involved'. Blah, blah, blah," Aeris said, imitating Cloud's "leaderly/fatherly" way of saying it. Hey...sad, but true.

Tifa grinned at Aeris and then turned to Barret, "Yeah, we're already involved in this."

Cloud scratched his head, indicating that he wanted to know how they got here. Aeris saw this and said, "We saw you ran here." That didn't exactly answer the question. Then she asked Barret, "Barret, just tell us what's going on!"

Red XIII nodded and said, "I heard that the murders at the Battle Arena were done by a man with a gun-arm. Was that you?"

Barret started talking. He told us that there was another guy who got a gun grafted into their arm too. Four years before (yeah, we're continuing the first half of the story that he told us before), Barret and Dyne (Barret's best friend, remember?) were returning from a trip to the Mako Reactor and they ran into an old man, who told then that the village was in trouble. Anyway, they were trying to get back to the village when they got attacked by Shinra soldiers and the hyena (Scarlet). Dyne was knocked over and was about fall off a cliff and Barret grabbed his left arm. Then the soldiers continued shooting them and they ended up losing one arm each. Barret survived, but he didn't know what became of Dyne.

Barret took a short rest from speaking and then spoke again, "From then on, I couldn't use my right arm no more. I was depressed for a while, but then I threw away my artificial arm and got this gun grafted in," he waved his gun-arm. "Got a new right arm to get revenge on the Shinra, who took everything away. Back then, I heard the doc say there was another man who got the same operation as me. But, his was the left arm."

Silence again after that, until Aeris broke it a little while after. "But, Dyne's injury was the same as yours, right?"

Tifa nodded and said, "Yeah, that's right. He was deceived by the Shinra, too. He'll probably join us to fight against the Shinra!"

Barret shook his head. "Wouldn't bet on it. I gotta apologize to Dyne before I can rest in peace. An' that's why, I gotta go alone."

Cloud grunted. "'Do whatever you want', is that what you want to hear? Well, I can't let you do it because if you die on me, I'm gonna have nightmares."

"Me too," I added. "Ya can't do this alone, Barret!"

Aeris nodded, "Barret, this isn't the end."

"Weren't you going to save the Planet?" Tifa added.

Barret frowned at her, "Shit, Tifa, you oughtta know by now!" he yelled.

Tifa smiled, "That's all right. I'm not so different from you."

"That's easier to understand. It's you, Barret," Aeris said.

"Right!" Cloud yelled, "So there it is, Barret. So I guess it'll be me, Barret and..."

"Me," I said, with my hand raised.

Cloud grinned and said, "Naw, I think you should take a rest Yuffie. I'm pretty tired, and I'm guessing you must be tired too. It's been a long day, and you've done a lot. So take a seat and relax, alright?"

I smiled and I nodded. "Thanks for your concern, Cloud."

"I'll go then," Tifa said.

Cloud nodded, "Alright. The rest of you stay here and take a rest. And uh. . .try to not have anything stolen."

With that, they left.

So, I took a nap (pretty short, I was awakened by Red because some guys wanted to come in the house to 'party') and I'm writing in my journal.

I hear a knock at the door. I hope Cloud's back. I just want to get out of here. I'm writing by a window in the house and some guy's just sitting there, in the bushes, watching my every move. It's just freaking me out.