Chapter 3
Cloud descended the crystal staircase. He knew she was here. Nobody believed him, but he just knew that if he walked past those shell houses he'd find her. It was the strangest feeling; like his feet were compelled to walk in this direction, as if they were what was guiding him.
He reached the bottom. There, in the middle of a lake was an altar. And on it knelt-
"Aeris?" he murmured to himself. He stood there for a few seconds, watching her. Braided locks of hair tumbled across her face, being tamed only moderately by the pink ribbon that tied it. Her forehead was touching her clasped hands, emerald eyes shut in concentration. She seemed to be praying for something, but what?
He moved to the lakeside, and hopped across the marble pillars with ease. His boots made a clanging noise with each landing, but not once did Aeris look up or move from where she knelt. It didn't even seem like she knew Cloud was there at all. Cloud walked towards her, ready to give some strange comment on how funny she looked. As he opened his mouth though, his head started throbbing in pain, right in the centre of his head that made anyone feel like it was going to split in two. He pressed his hands into his temples and he could feel it happening, just like at the Temple of the Ancients. He was taking over. When the headache stopped, Cloud couldn't control his body.
Grabbing his sword, he raised it high above his head. Aeris looked up and smiled. She nodded knowingly.
"I always knew you were a puppet," she said. Her eyes were filled with pity. Something Cloud couldn't bear.
"No!" Cloud denied, trying with all his might to stop the force that was making him use his sword against her. "I'm not, Aeris. I'm not a puppet!"
"But you are," she laughed. "You've got strings and everything."
"What?" Cloud asked in confusion. He looked left and right. Sure enough, he had strings on his arms, and looking down, they were on his knees too.
"No…" he said again, this time in pure disbelief. He followed the strings upward with his eyes to look at his puppet master. Silver hair, black clothes…
"Sephiroth," he whispered.
The madman pointed the cross forward, and Cloud could feel his hands giving way and his sword gaining speed as it flew downwards. Aeris closed her eyes.
"Goodbye Cloud."
"Aeris!"
White. Everything was white. It was the only thing he could make out. Not objects or blurred images, just that amazingly bright colour. Cloud could feel himself slipping in and out of unconsciousness, and sometimes he found it hard to tell the difference between the two.
He heard the sound of people rushing around him, tending to different things. Sometimes he heard people talking over him. Often, he felt sharp pins being stuck into his arm, before he felt completely woozy.
I must be in a hospital, he thought. And I'm being jacked up on morphine.
One particular time, reality gripped him harder than usual and he found himself completely awake. Braving what he knew would cause a lot of pain, he opened his eyes to the light. The brightness of the location assaulted his retinas beyond compare; it was too much light to take in after being in darkness for so long. They watered over and he forced himself to shut them.
"Hello?" he called out, but his parched throat could only manage an "auggh."
He tried to put up his hands to shade his eyes but they met stark resistance. Curious, he forced his eyes open and found there were leather restraints tied around his wrists. He tried moving his feet but was faced with the same problem.
What? was the only thought that could enter his head. After about a minute or so, why? managed to find its way into his thought stream. He didn't have anyone around however to answer these questions so he decided to suspend them and looked around instead. His first assumption was right; he was in a hospital. They didn't have much imagination either; the white he'd seen were the walls, the ceilings the curtains… everything really. To his left was a huge machine, and tubes were coming out of it that were pinned to different veins in his body. The machine beeped at different intervals, for what reason Cloud had no idea. He didn't care either. He just wanted to get out of here.
He looked to his right. There was a little table on it with his clothes, and the pink ribbon he had in his hand was lying on top. If only he could reach them. He moved his arms again, pulling against the restraint as hard as he could but to no avail. Weather he liked it or not, he was stuck until someone came along.
His eyes drifted past his unreachable clothing to the window. By the looks of it he was up pretty high, and the metal beams and debris told him he was still in Midgar.
A very scary thought entered his mind. Was he in a mental hospital? He hadn't heard of one in Midgar but these things could usually be kept under wraps. He didn't think he was crazy.
"Ah, I see you're awake."
Cloud's eyes turned to the man in the doorway. He was tall, with black hair and pale skin that was emphasised by the white lab coat he wore. For a fleeting moment his thoughts yelled Hojo! at him which made him tense. As he looked again though he realised he was being absurd and pushed the thought from his mind.
"Welcome back from the realm of the dream world," he continued, walking into the room and sitting down on a chair that was next to the table with Cloud's clothing on it.
"Hello Doctor," he replied. "By any chance am I in a mental hospital?"
"What?"
"Nothing," he replied with relief.
"I suppose you're wondering about the restraints," the doctor started.
Cloud said nothing.
"I'll have you know it was for good reason. In your unconscious state you kept thrashing about and became a threat to both yourself and the nurses. You even gave one a very nasty bruise on the cheek. That must have been some dream you were having."
Tell me about it.
"Could you untie me now?" he asked instead, preferring to keep his dreams private.
"Of course, of course," he answered, quickly reaching for the straps. He fumbled on them in his haste, obviously not wanting to anger an AVALANCHE member. Cloud noted this in amusement.
"I'm not going to kill you Doctor," he said calmly.
"Sorry, sorry," he excused himself, finishing up.
"I understand that you were just doing your job so please, don't worry about it. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it." Cloud, now freed, sat up in the bed and brought his legs into a more comfortable position.
The doctor walked over to the window. He seemed to be in a thoughtful mood.
"What is it?" Cloud asked.
"Nothing major really," he said. "I just never thought I'd even meet a person from AVALANCHE, never mind treat one. And Cloud Strife of all people. The most famous of them all."
"I would have thought that would have been Barret," he replied with a laugh. "He's such a big mouth."
"What's it like to be famous?" he questioned.
"I'm just another person," Cloud said, brushing off his celebrity status with a wave of his hand.
"But you're not!" he exclaimed, punching his fist in the air. "You saved the whole world."
I didn't. Aeris did.
"That was a long time ago," he murmured, looking past him into the ruins of Midgar. "Sometimes I wonder what it was all for."
"Don't say that. Sure, bad things happen, but we all suffer through and come out as better people. We couldn't become better people if the world wasn't here, so that I'm really grateful for." He looked over at Cloud. "You helped us all, even if you don't realise it."
"You're an interesting man to say the least Doctor…"
"Berhing. But please, call me Dave."
"Nice to meet you Dave," Cloud said, extending his hand. Dave took it and they shook.
"Likewise," he replied.
Cloud suddenly realised what being in a hospital meant. A hospital was for sick people. He wouldn't have been kept in if he wasn't sick.
"What's wrong with me Dave?" he asked.
He looked very uncomfortable.
"Well, you, ah…"
"Just tell me," Cloud prompted. Dave sighed.
"You have Geostigma." He put his hand on Cloud's shoulder. "I'm sorry."
Cloud couldn't speak, he couldn't think, he couldn't breathe. He had gone completely numb, nothing was registering in his mind. The things he saw and heard would not let themselves be felt. He froze, as if somebody had cast a stop spell on him. Even later, if asked to reflect on the moment, he wouldn't be able to remember anything.
"Mr. Strife, please snap out of it!" the doctor shouted, shaking the blonde's shoulders violently. Cloud's head turned slowly to look at him. His face was devoid of expression. Dave looked into his eyes. They were empty, as if Cloud's soul had been removed with his words.
"Oh, I'm going to get in so much trouble for this," he said, taking a glass of water from the table and splashing the liquid on his patient. Cloud blinked twice, snapping out of his shock.
"Breathe, Cloud," he urged, slapping his back. "Breathe."
Cloud did. In, out, in, out. It was all he could concentrate on, as everything else was far to big for him to comprehend.
"That's it. Good." He sat on the bed next to him.
"It know it's a lot to take-"
"There's no cure," Cloud interrupted.
"That's right."
"I'm going to die." Cloud didn't want false hope. His words were more of a statement than a question, as if clarifying the fact would make him believe it easier. Dave bowed his head.
"I'm sorry," he repeated.
"What are you sorry for?" Cloud asked. "It's not your fault."
"I don't know. Sorry I can't help. I became a doctor to stop this kind of thing. But I can't."
"Everyone dies," Cloud pointed out.
"Yeah, but-"
"It's alright. I know what you mean."
Silence hung between them.
"Is there anyone I can call?" Dave asked. "Family, friends?" Cloud shook his head.
"No one."
"That must be tough, surviving on your own like that. Not to mention lonely."
"I get by," Cloud clipped shortly.
Silence resumed.
"How long?" Cloud suddenly asked.
"What? Oh, it varies from person to person. A year, perhaps, if you're lucky. Probably eight months. Depending on the person's level of resistance, some have passed in under two months."
"Two months…" Cloud trailed off.
"From the tests we've run, the disease started affecting your body about four months ago."
"How?" Cloud questioned.
"Well, there's the pain. It can start anywhere, but from the looks of it so far it has only affected your left arm. One poor girl that came into the hospital had her whole eye split open. I don't know where she is now. Poor girl, she was only eight…" he looked over at Cloud's impatient face.
"But I digress. There's also weakness in the joints and body, coughing, delirium, fever -"
"Delirium?" Cloud asked, his curiosity mounting.
"Yes," he replied. "You know, hallucinations, illusions, that sort of thing. It usually happens before feeling pain in a random area, or in this case, your arm. Have you, experienced this?"
"What are they of?"
"Again, depending on the person, it's different. The Jenova cells use it as an enticement to put the patient at ease so she can attack and consume the body without much resistance. She uses an illusion of something your heart desires."
"My heart…desires?
"Yeah. At least that's the information we've collected from other patients. Was your illusion different?"
"No," Cloud replied, shaking his head. "Not at all."
"What did you see?"
"I'd rather not say. Sorry."
"Please don't worry about it. It was a personal question." Cloud nodded his thanks.
"Here," the doctor said, handing Cloud several pure white bandages. "Every person who acquires the disease must wear one. The population are still paranoid even though the disease isn't contagious. They want to be able to 'pick the infected out from a crowd,' or something like that."
"Infected…" Cloud murmured under his breath.
"If they find you without it, you can be thrown in prison until such time that the disease can be cured."
"But there's no cure," Cloud deadpanned. The doctor looked away.
"Exactly," he sighed. "Anyway, we'll need to run some more tests."
"I don't want tests," Cloud replied forcefully.
"We need to find out if your condition-"
"I'm sorry Doctor, but you can't force me to stay." Cloud got up from his bed, ripping the tubes out of his veins and walking over to where his clothes were neatly folded. He picked up the pink ribbon on top and tied it around his arm.
"Cloud, you're being unreasonable, get back to your bed."
"I'm not going to wait around in some bed till my number is up. There are things that I have to do." He looked away from him and there she was again, leaning casually against the wall, smiling at him.
"He's a bit annoying, isn't he?" she giggled.
"Aeris." The doctor looked to where Cloud's eyes were trained. All he saw was empty space, but the look in Cloud's eyes was as though he'd seen a goddess.
"Cloud!" he demanded, trying to divert his attention. "It's just an illusion, nothing more."
"What does he know?" he said to Aeris, gesturing toward Dave.
"Even his voice is enough to tick me off," she replied.
"Yeah, I suppose," he laughed. "I've been listening to it for the past hour now, so you're lucky." She smiled.
"You better watch yourself, it's going to start now."
"What?" Cloud asked in confusion, before falling to his hands and knees in pain. No matter how strong he was, he couldn't hold back the cry that escaped his lips.
"Cloud!" Dave exclaimed, rushing over to his fallen patient.
"Get away," he hissed, pushing him off. "I'm fine." Gritting his teeth, he stood up and dressed himself.
"At least let me give you something for the pain," he pleaded, desperately trying to get through to him. "It will help with the illusions too."
"No," Cloud clipped.
"You want to stay like this?"
"Thanks for the help doctor," he said, before striding out the door.
Author's note: I actually don't know what to think of this chapter, I really don't. It was the kind of chapter that just went bleh onto the pages and yahoo! Chapter three is up!
Now, I'm going on holiday for a week so it might take a bit longer to update the next chapter. I am the kind of person who writes EVERYTHING out in longhand before I type it all out again. It makes me write more easily so hey? I have some of it typed out but just not all of it, so hopefully I'll have it up in two weeks, again, hopefully. Please don't hold me to it though! So anyway, thanks for reading, and now… drum roll onto my wonderful reviewers!
Clorith: Thanks! Clerisness rocks! Long live Cloud/Aeris! (Which is kinda bad to say since she died and all!) Thanks for reviewing!
ff fan: Insane… hmm, I wasn't going that way, but like the idea. Evil Cloud, imagine the possibilities… grins Thanks for reviewing!
asga: Thank you!Expressions say it all, don't they?Thanks for reviewing!
chaosxShion: Same here, I love Cloud/Aeris, but I am kinda biased since she is my favourite character, (hence my penname!) No one has ever called my stuff thrilling before, it made my evening when scrolling through my inbox so thanks! And thanks for reviewing!
LetMeLive: Do no wrong? If you say so… Thanks for reviewing!
