Tuesday had started fairly uneventful- and Cloud had hoped it would have stayed that way, but it was not to be.
The Echo came out on Tuesdays.
When he had first gotten to school, he hadn't thought much of the over-average amount of people he saw reading the Echo. That is, until he saw the headline and the picture that went with it.
''It Could Be Love'.' Cloud read, face draining of color as he recognized an image of himself drawn underneath the headline. There was no doubt in his mind in regards to what the paper was about.
'Shit. At least no one will recognize me from that picture, right?' Cloud thought. Deciding he needed a closer look, he snagged a paper from a rack in the wall.
''It Could Be Love, by Sephiroth.
Halloween- bewitchment, superstition, witches, and black cats run rampant. Last Friday at the Halloween dance, and girl by the name of Clementine bewitched my heart and has run away with it.
Even now, I am searching for her, and will not stop until I find her. I would like everyone in the school to assist. An artist's image is included on this page, as well as a written description of her. If you find her, either convince her to come forward or tell me where to find her.'' Cloud scanned the article, feeling his heart sink.
'There is no way in hell... he's actually looking for me?' Cloud thought, heart stopping at the last sentence of the article.
''And Clementine, if you're reading this, then know this: I will find you.''
Cloud dropped the paper, numbly moving to his first class. He had gotten in way over his head.
'At least none of my friends read the paper.' Cloud thought, mentally sighing in relief, eyes closing as he tried to recall something that he was sure he was forgetting- someone he knew had an attachment to the paper, but who?
His eyes snapped open.
'Aeris! She's the editor- damnit, she probably recognized me and told Sephiroth or the others and now they're probably laughing- but...' Cloud paused as another thought hit him.
'Why did she post the article? She knows now- she has to know! She picked out the damn outfit!' Nervous, not angry, Cloud avoided Aeris, and succeeded, until lunch.
At Lunch
He had found a nice corner table, far enough away from most other people that his friends wouldn't think to look here. He could eat by himself, and had to avoid his pink-clad friend until he thought of what to say.
"May I sit here?" a light, female voice asked from behind him. Cloud almost choked on his sandwich, coughing like mad as the person sat down and put her tray on the table without her request being answered.
"Aeris? Why are you here?" Cloud asked, getting his cough under control. Aeris looked at him steadily.
"I wanted to talk to you, find out what you're planning on doing next."
"Next?" Cloud asked in a small voice, then pretended like he didn't know what she meant. "About what? I haven't done anything. Why do you ask?"
'Maybe she didn't recognize me...'
"Don't play dumb. I wanted to know what you're doing next about Sephiroth." Aeris said, calmly picking up some of the school's pasta salad on her fork.
"Me? Not anything. I haven't done anything." Cloud protested, an edge of panic in his voice.
'Maybe she did.'
"I heard what happened at the dance. Apparently a few people saw this 'Clementine' run out after 'she' and Sephiroth were engaged in a pretty passionate kiss." Aeris said, straining 'she' so that Cloud would have no doubts about her knowledge of the situation. "I want to know what you'll do."
"Did you tell anyone?" Cloud demanded. Aeris smiled reassuringly.
"No- no one but you and I know. I already know that you like him- one night, you were drunk and said a bit more than you should have." Cloud blushed and looked down.
"What should I do? I can't just go forward and say 'Hey, Sephiroth, I've had the hots for you for god knows how long and lost a bet resulting in me dressing up as a girl for Halloween- you know, as Alice in Wonderland? I was so happy that you asked me to dance I didn't tell you who I was and lied about my name, gender, and everything else. You ended up kissing me, and now I really really want a you to kiss me again.'?" Cloud snorted softly. "I can't tell him. It'll blow over in a few days."
"You read the article, right?" Aeris asked. Cloud nodded, not looking at her. "It won't blow over in a few days- he kept on going on about how close to perfect Clementine was, and how he really thought that he could love her. He wasn't lying." Cloud looked up at the green-eyed girl, shock written on every feature.
"At the very least, he deserves an explanation for why you ran away. It doesn't have to be the truth if you're afraid, but it has to be something so he isn't constantly hoping for her to come back." Aeris said. "I won't tell him, but you should at least tell him that you can't be with him so he isn't searching for someone who doesn't exist. You could always tell him the truth and maybe he'll accept you as Cloud, not just as Clementine." Aeris said helpfully. Cloud nodded.
"I... I'll call in sick tomorrow and come as Clementine. I'll end it tomorrow." Cloud said. "It hurts to live in constant hope of something you can't have- I understand that, maybe better than anyone. I can't put him through that."
"If you need help, I'll help. I'll always be your friend." Aeris said, returning to her temporarily forgotten lunch.
Cloud, however, had no appetite. He shoved his leftover food back inside the bag and retreated into his mind, trying to decide on the best course of action.
'I have to tell him.'
The Next Day
Wednesday dawned cold and foggy, rainclouds in the sky.
'Perfect.' Cloud thought sourly, slipping on the dress Aeris had brought him. The flower-girl had realized late last night that he would be unable to go in his Alice in Wonderland costume and had rushed over with a dress she had never worn much. It wasn't a perfect fit, but it was better than nothing.
Walking over to the phone, he dialed the school's phone number.
"Midgar High Attendence Office." the secretary said.
"I'm calling in sick- student number 911XXX." Cloud said, coughing a bit for effect. "Name: Cloud Strife." He smiled thinly as the secretary wished him well and told him that he was excused, hanging up.
'Sometimes it comes in handy to have a perfect attendence record despite living alone.' Cloud thought wryly, grabbing the blonde wig he had worn less than a week ago.
He groaned in frustration as he realized that the wig's hair had tangled and become a mess. He grabbed a comb from the bathroom cabinet, drawing the comb's teeth carefully through the artificial blonde hair as to not rip it all out. Eventually, he got the wig looking respectable again and slid it on.
When he looked in the mirror, he saw Clementine, back among the living again.
"Time to go." he said, walking out the door and grabbing his keys. He had a story to set straight.
After the Car Ride
Cloud pulled up slowly to the school, checking the clock.
'Is it passing period yet?' Deciding that it wasn't yet but would be soon- and wanting to get this over with- Cloud parked and entered the school.
'What class is Sephiroth in this time of day?' Cloud wondered. He almost groaned when he realized he didn't know. He decided to head to the main office and ask there. If not, then he'd wander around until he found him.
Quietly, nervous beyond belief, Cloud walked to the main office. Once there, he knocked lightly and stepped in.
A secretary at a nearby desk looked up and smiled at him.
"Are you new here?" she asked kindly. Cloud started to shake his head, but then quickly changed his mind and nodded.
"I'm not going to be a student here though. I need to see Sephiroth." Cloud muttered, hoping his light falsetto fooled the woman.
"We can't hand out personal information-"
"Just for a minute. I need to talk to him. Unless you'd rather I wander the halls, please just tell me what class he's in-" The bell rang, signaling the end of the period. Cloud groaned. "Well, what class he's going to be in in five minutes."
The woman was quiet, studying Cloud for a moment.
"This is against policy, but you seem trustworthy enough. I don't think you could hurt him anyway, even if you tried." she said, turning to her computer. "Let me look up his class schedule. Hold on."
"Thank you." Cloud said, looking down. In two minutes the lady had found the room number.
"Room 313 A. Do you know how to get there?"
"Yes- thank you." Cloud turned and walked out into the hall, ignoring the curious stares quickly turing to awe as people recognized 'her' from the picture in the Echo.
Whispers followed him, but he ignored it, heading towards the stairs. As he climbed, he heard the bell ring again.
'Five minutes already?' Cloud thought, grimacing. 'This means I have to call him out in front of his whole class.'
By the time he got to the third floor, the corridors were empty. His feet dragged to room 13 A, but he forced himself to knock loud enough to be heard.
"Come in." he heard the teacher say, irritated at having been interrupted. Cloud opened the door, not looking anywhere but straight ahead as he walked up to the teacher.
"May I speak with Sephiroth, ma'am?" Cloud asked, polite as he could. Excited whispers broke out in the class as he spoke, everyone having read the Echo.
"He's in the middle of cla-"
"I just need him for a moment, ma'am. I'm sorry for the interruption." The teacher seemed baffled by the sheer politeness of Cloud's tone and wordlessly assented. Cloud turned to face the class, eyes locking with Sephiroth's.
Cloud swallowed hard, palms sweaty. This was more nerve-wracking than the dance had been. He heard the teacher tell Sephiroth to follow Cloud out to the hall, but didn't really notice much else as he numbly turned and walked back to the hall and waited.
'What do I tell him? This is too difficult...' Cloud had had no trouble pretending to tell Sephiroth to go after someone else, but seeing the man himself was another matter altogether.
"Clementine?" Sephiroth said, soft footsteps sounding behind Cloud. "You wanted to see me?" Cloud turned around, biting his lips as he saw how Sephiroth was dressed.
Loose black slacks- not jeans- nicely accented Sephiroth's legs, and he wore a black turtleneck, making the man seem even slimmer than he already was. Short black boots adorned his feet, and Sephiroth had let his hair hang loose to frame his face.
"I... I wanted to tell you to stop thinking about me." Cloud said, words hard to form past the lump in his throat. "Just pretend we never met. It's better that way." Cloud looked down again, not missing the hurt and confusion on Sephiroth's face. "It's for the best."
"Why?" Sephiroth asked softly, like the word cost him. "I deserve to know why. Am I not desireable to you?" Cloud laughed hollowly.
"It's nothing to do with you, but... it's my fault. I can't be with you. You're very desireable to me, Sephiroth. I just... I just can't." Choking on tears that threatened to burst from his eyes, Cloud turned and began to run, berating himself for coming to talk it out and the running from Sephiroth- again.
He was almost to the stairwell when a strong hand grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back against a strong, muscular chest.
"Why can't you be with me? Are you... involved with someone else?" Sephiroth asked. Cloud shook his head, not looking at Sephiroth and too afraid to speak. "Then why? Tell me why, and I'll leave you alone."
"I... it just wouldn't work between us. I know it wouldn't work." Cloud said, feeling hot tears sting as they coursed down his cheeks. He rarely ever cried, and yet here he was, crying for the second time this week because he had- for a short time- had what he most wanted. It hurt to let that go, and Cloud had selfishly almost convinced himself to stay silent.
"You keep saying it won't work. Why is that? Why, Clementine?" Sephiroth asked, turning Cloud around to stare deep into his blue eyes.
"I... it..." Cloud was at a loss for words, unable to speak from sorrow and the thrill he got at- once again- being close enough to kiss the silver-haired man.
"Tell me why, and I will leave you alone, unless it's just a silly fear keeping you from me." Sephiroth said, serious.
"I... I'm not who you think I am. I'm no good for you. Please, don't make me say more." Cloud said, trying to pull away from Sephiroth, but the silver-haired man held him in a viselike grip. He couldn't escape.
"What do you mean by 'no good for me'? Who are you, if not yourself?" Sephiroth countered. Cloud closed his eyes.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, but please, just forget you ever met me. Forget it, please." Cloud said, them twisted as fast as he could and ripped his wrists out of Sephiroth's hands and ran down the stairs, jumping entire flights to put a bit more distence between himself and Sephiroth.
He was so relieved when he ran out to his car and managed to get in and pull away without Sephiroth following, but it was a hollow victory.
'I ended it. It's what was best for him. It... it's over.' Cloud thought, pulling into the parking lot for his aparment complex and turning of the engine. He let himself cry, just sitting in his car. He didn't have the energy or will to move.
Sephiroth's POV
Sephiroth watched Clementine run- again.
'Why did she go?' He had too many difficult questions- the 'why' of almost any question you asked was the most difficult to answer, and rarely was answered. All of his questions were 'why'.
'Why did she say she was no good for me? Why did she say that she's not who I thought she was? Why-' Sephiroth thought, eyes lightly misting over as he walked back to class. '- did she seem so hurt when she turned me down?'