A/N: I just finished my first chapter and am typing out the second. It just shows you how much I care. And I love all of you reviewers! I feel so special...five reviews on the first story. So special, in fact, that I'll reply to you guys below...
Disclaimer: Sorry I forgot this. Ahem…would you be fooling around with fanfictions if you owned Final Fantasy Seven? If I owned it, Tifa'd be dead and Aeris and Cloud would still be having a drawn-out romance after all these years (I love those almost as much as I like medium speed romances). No, wait, Tifa'd be with Brother off of Final Fantasy 10. Hehehe.
lilalou: I hope they are original. We'll see. It really varies.
Beeria: Clerith rocks, I know. I couldn't help myself when I saw all of those plot suggestions. I've been wanting to write one of these fora long time. And thanks.
Princess of the Knight: Can do. I update frequently...sometimes.
Zenithar: Though I doubt you're going to continue reading my story, thanks for the review. I'm pretty much writing this for fun, though. And anyone who can come up with a better summary is welcome to send it to me.
AerithRosey: Oh yeah, I remember that episode. I'm glad you like it, and I hope you'll write a Clorith, too.
Chapter Two
Brandon logged on to FF7 and fully became Cloud when he pulled on the virtual reality helmet. It was three o'clock so he had a couple of hours to do Garret's favor. He went to the chat rooms and began asking around. When he even mentioned Sephiroth, however, every last person in the chat room would leave. How was he supposed to help when no one would help out? Maybe Lauren- Aeris, he reminded himself- would know.
After an hour of searching and a second hour of roaming the woods, Cloud returned to the gates. Aeris stood there, virtual and everything. She must've had a helmet, too. People without helmets couldn't smile when someone approached. She straightened out her pink dress, a far cry from her jeans and t-shirt from school, and stood to greet him. "You're late," she accused him.
"I was looking for something," he replied.
"Like what?" she asked.
"Have you ever heard of a player named Sephiroth?"
The smile immediately faded from her face. "Sephiroth?"
He nodded. "Yeah."
"He's dangerous, Cloud," Aeris warned. "I wouldn't talk about him a lot. He might come after you."
"So you do know something?"
Aeris looked at the ground and suddenly up at him, as if she had an idea. "Cloud, do you want to be my bodyguard?"
"Bodyguard?" he asked.
She smiled again. "Yeah," she said. "If one player is a fighter and one is not, the fighter can become the non-fighter's bodyguard."
"Why would I do that?" he asked.
Aeris thought for a moment. "I don't have any gil- that's FF7 currency- or anything of value…" She brightened up again. "How about I go out on a date with you?"
Cloud blinked in surprise. "A date?"
"Yeah, you know," she said, grabbing his arm lightly. "A D-A-T-E."
Cloud sighed and shrugged. This girl was pretty stubborn.
"It's settled, then. Come on," she said. "We have to go register you as a bodyguard."
Tiffany pulled on her virtual reality helmet and logged in as the fighter Tifa. That was when she noticed a message in her inbox. She clicked on it and smirked when she saw a challenge. Some guy with a private account had challenged her to a fight. She immediately sent a reply to him. He was still online.
"Next week at the volcano area," the challenger replied.
Cloud sighed in annoyance. Becoming a bodyguard was long and tedious work. There were so many rules and status changes involved. Like, when they were together, he got a strength bonus. His defense skyrocketed, too. Plus, Aeris could now use the magic skill called "Cure". If she died in the game, however, his health was cut in half until she could get back on.
"Can I remove words from his use?" Aeris asked the guy who was helping them with the bodyguard issues.
"Some of his?" he asked. "Well, yeah. Only a couple, though."
"Can you remove the word 'Sephiroth'?" she asked.
Being a computer program, the guy just nodded and went to work typing at Cloud's FF7 files. Cloud ran up. "What?" he demanded.
"You can no longer say the word 'Sephiroth'," the program said.
"What do you mean I can't say –censored-?" Cloud demanded. He grabbed his throat when the word was replaced. "Huh? Aeris! G- Barret asked me to find out about him! It's not like I was going to fight him myself!"
"He'd find a way to fight you," Aeris said seriously, "whether you wanted to or not."
Cloud sighed. She was pretty clever.
"Now come on!" Aeris said. "I hear there's a carnival in town. We're not going as a date, though. I have something special planned."
Laura and Brandon went all around the carnival, riding the scariest, most thrilling rides the place could offer. Finally, Laura convinced him to ride on the Ferris wheel. As they were going up, Brandon took the time to study Laura. She was leaning over the bar before them and looking down, excited to be so high up. Her brown hair was in a braid, and her brilliant green eyes shone with her excitement. She looked very much like her character in the game.
Laura glanced over and smiled when she saw Brand looking at her. He, on the other hand, looked a bit different than his character. His blond hair was slightly spiked in places but was rather short. His blue eyes weren't as narrowed either. The rest of his body, though, was toned, just like in the game. She blushed when she realized she was thinking this and looked back at the carnival below them. They were pretty high up and could even see the lake where people were racing boats. Brand quickly looked away from the fraction of her face he could see and watched the races.
"Cl- Brandon?" Laura asked.
Brandon looked up and smiled slightly. "You can call me Cloud if you want," he said.
"What's this place like?" she asked.
Brandon tilted his head slightly. "It's not that exciting. The only interesting thing around here is this old, abandoned mansion," he said.
Laura smiled again. "Let's go check it out."
A/N: So…does Tiffany die? Probably. I hate her in the game. Why? Just do. Anyways, please review. I really hope you liked it.