Chapter Three: To wear a lady

THE TELEGRAPHIC MIDGANEWS - December 3rd

In the second day of investigation of these strange events that occured in Central Midgar, more facts about the case have been discovered. It has been found out that Aeris Gainsborough, 29, was in fact dating Cloud Strife, 25, before the incident occured. At the moment, the police are unsure of what drove Aeris and Tifa to perform these horrific acts on their friends, but police has deduced that it was probably because of internal problems in their relationships.

Aeris knelt over the toilet in Tifa's house, vomiting what was left of the vodka that had remained in her stomach for the last five hours. A lot had happened since they had run down Cloud's bit on the side. Aeris had found out what a great mind she must of had to of thought of such an idea, and she had discovered how good she was with a knife and the sight of blood and internal organs. She wiped her mouth clean and stood up, quickly running her hands through her hair as she passed the mirror on the way out of the bathroom. She walked into the sitting room and spotted Tifa sat down on the sofa drinking another martini.

"I thought you'd finished all of your martini?" Aeris asked as she sat down beside her.

"I found another bottle wedged in the cupboard." Tifa sighed as she took another gulp. It went down rather well, a drink was all that she had needed at this moment. She looked over at Aeris, a rather manic, glazed look in her eyes. "What have we done? We can't go through with this, it's disgusting. It's insane. It's wrong." She shook her head as she said this. Aeris wasn't sure if it was because she either dis-agreed with what she was saying, or because she hated doing this at all. Aeris felt anger rising up inside of her. She didn't want to rot in jail, and it was her that was going to do this horrible stunt to keep them both out of prison. Aeris stood up, her face flushed, and slammed her fist down hard on the coffee table. Tifa didn't jump at all, just looked at the coffee table, the same glazed look in her eye.

"Listen, Tifa! This is the only bloody way we are going to stay on the outside. If you want to go to jail, then fine. Just don't include me. I want a family, I want kids, I want a life. But if you want to chuck it all away because we killed some slutty bitch, then be my guest! I'll be the one doing it, so I don't know why you're getting so worked up over it! You don't have to see anything at all, it'll be me." she had finished her little speech, and saw she had gotten through to Tifa. As a few seconds later Tifa nodded her head slowly and took another swig of her drink. She looked up at the Yellow Bird clock she had recieved for Christmas and noted the time.

"You'd better be off, Aeris. Cloud will be expecting her soon. Just don't forget that.." Tifa was interrupted again.

"Yes, yes, I know. Wear thick clothes to cover up the places where I sewed, I know, I know. What about the stench?" Aeris asked.

"I got some overpowering perfume from my ex-boyfriend in the dresser upstairs. With any luck it'll be so strong you won't be able to smell... anything un-towards and it should repel him." she replied. She took another swig as Aeris climbed the stairs to Tifa's room.

Aeris' "outfit" was laid out on Tifa's bed, the needle and thread lying beside it. Aeris stripped down to her birthday suit and tied her back tightly into a ponytail. She held her breath as she clambered into the "suit", holding back the vomit.

Knock, knock, knock, the door went, as Aeris banged hard on her own house door. She felt sick to her ass, what if Yuffie was still alive? She'd be around here right now, sitting on Cloud's face. Some of the guilt went away as this thought played back and forth in her head. Cloud answered the door, wearing a tight t-shirt and short shorts. He invited her in and told her to sit down whilst he went and got a drink. She could tell the perfume had taken quite a good effect: he hadn't jumped her, which he liked to do back when Aeris and Cloud had first started shagging. She thanked him and sat on the sofa, her voice disguised; Aeris wasn't sure what the bitch floozy sounded like, so she just imitated an Asian woman's voice she had heard on Midgar's PRTA Radio Line last week. Cloud had noticed the difference when he brought the champagne in and asked her why her voice was so different.

Aeris had to make a snap reason, and just said she had laryngitus.

"Oh, I see. I hope it wasn't because of that trick you can do with your throat. I must say, I hope it hasn't affected your oral technique." he giggled as he pressed his body against hers. Her breathing rate increased amazingly as the worry of getting caught dwelled on her. What was she doing? Why did she come here? Why had she done this horrible thing? Had she subconsciously wanted to come here for the ultimate revenge on Cloud? Her pressed his hands on her bosoms, and immediately retracted them. "What the hell..?" he cried out. Blood rolled down his hands slowly as he looked over at Yuffie. "What has happened t..." before he could finished his sentence, he noticed the mark on her shoulder and neck through the slutty dress Aeris was wearing. It was as if she was some sort of haggis held together by... red thread. Cloud stood up, his eyes as cold as ice. Aeris knew she had been caught out, and stood up too. Cloud backed away slowly, his brain working at twice it's normal speed, trying to deduce what the hell was going on.

Aeris sighed, pulled the skin at the neck and peeled off Yuffie's face from her own. Cloud let out a rather feminine shriek and fell to the floor. Aeris threw the face on the ground and picked up the champagne bottle. With one quick, swift movement she cracked it round Cloud's face.

"You bastard!" WHACK. "How could you do this to me!" CRACK. "I thought we'd be together forever." CRACK. "Yet you have to see some slutty prozzy to get your kicks!" CRACK. "Well, I'm fed up with it!" CRACK. "We're over!" CRACK. "Finished!" CRACK. "Kaput!" CRACK. "DEAD!" CRACK. After a few more hits to his head, she dropped the champagne bottle on the floor and fell to her knees. Cloud was virtually unrecognisable now; his face literally had fallen apart: all that could be seen was bone and sinew smattered with blood and pus. She looked him in what was left of his eyes. Nothing there. 'He's dead. Kaput. Finished.' she thought. Not a speck of guilt entered her head as she grabbed him by the feet and started to drag his corpse to the basement door.

"God, you fat bastard!" she heaved as she pulled harder.

She remembered about a year ago when she first made love to Cloud, he had commented on how thin she was. Aeris was flattered, but she couldn't help but comment on his weight gein. He used to be seven stone, but had gained two after that thing with the alcohol. He had tried to lose weight on many occasions, but he could only lose one stone.

She unlocked the basement door, picked him up by under the shoulders, heaved and spluttered, ignoring the drips of blood on the dress and pushed him down the basement stairs. It was like bloody thunder as his corpse rolled down the wooden staircase. After he had reached the bottom, she slammed the door shut and was about to lock it when she remembered about Yuffie. She ran over to Yuffie's face and picked it up. She quickly stripped, ran upstairs and changed into some of her clothes, ran back down the stairs, chucked the skin of Yuffie into the basement and then locked it.

"There, you cheating bastard. Enjoy the company!" she laughed as she walked out of the house.