The Music Box
By Ceres Sky
Chapter Five: The Carnival
"I'm sorry, Mr. Strife, but the President is not here today." The receptionist looked pleasant enough, but Cloud could see a hidden disappointment in her eyes. She swept a curl of black hair behind her ear and frowned at her computer before looking out the front doors of Shinra headquarters. "He's at the Carnival, near the Meteor Memorial. Shinra is sponsoring it so the President will be making a speech. He should be back in his office afterwards though." Obviously, the receptionist wished she were there having fun instead of working at the headquarters.
"What time is his speech?" Cloud asked, tempted to rub at the sleep that still lingered in his eyes. He settled for blinking rapidly while the receptionist stared at him. His nap had helped him very little in the way of actually making him feel rested, but he had somehow dragged himself out of bed fifteen minutes ago after sleeping for only an hour.
"3:30 this afternoon." The receptionist eyed him warily. "Are you all right, sir?" When Cloud simply nodded in response, she asked, "Would you like me to make an appointment with the President for you?"
Cloud shook his head tiredly. "No thank you. I'll just see if I can catch up with him at the Carnival."
Now it was the receptionist's turn to blink at the thought of someone like Cloud being able to just "catch up" with President Rufus Shinra as if they were old buddies. "All right, sir, have a nice day." She promptly dismissed him from her thoughts and returned to her computer.
Cloud left the building, looked up at the sunny sky, unusual for Edge this time of year, and sighed. He was not exactly hopeful that Rufus would be willing to talk to him at the Carnival, but at least he might run into Tifa and the kids while he was there.
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Reno yawned as Rufus spoke on the platform situated beside the Meteor Memorial. The Turk stood in the midst of the crowd, supposedly performing his job as bodyguard. It was not a hostile crowd but it was a very quiet crowd. The President had been speaking for about ten minutes already. Reno smirked as he eyed the people around him. These folks would not be able to attack the President even if they tried.
"Blah, blah, blah," Reno muttered. "Get on with it, Boss. You know these people want to go have fun instead of listen to you." He would never dare say such a thing to Rufus' face, but when he looked up, he saw Rude glaring at him from the other side of the crowd. Apparently, he had not spoken softly enough because Rude's voice filtered into his ear.
"Quiet, Reno."
Reno shrugged his shoulders, rolling his eyes. He saw Rude sigh and focus his attention back on Rufus. Then he saw him. It was the spiky-haired guy, Cloud. It looked like he had just arrived. Cloud somehow managed to maneuver his way into the crowd without their even noticing him. Reno wondered how anyone could miss him with that huge sword hanging from his back. Not one to let slide an opportunity to goad their former enemies, Reno approached Cloud's position from behind.
He lifted his nightstick, just to give Cloud a friendly tap on the shoulder. Cloud grabbed the tip over his shoulder without even looking.
"Don't even think about it, Reno."
Reno tugged away his nightstick and frowned. "I wasn't gonna hit you, Cloud." When Cloud turned around, Reno grinned at him. "Just give you a nice, friendly hello."
"Sure you were." Cloud pointed at Rufus over his shoulder. "Can you get me a way to see him after he's done with his speech?"
"You wanna see the Boss?" Reno could not keep from showing the surprise on his face. He tried to mask it with a goofy grin. "Why?"
"I need to talk to him." Cloud glanced around the crowd. "Have you seen Tifa?"
"Whoa, Cloud. You're asking me an awful lot of questions. I'm supposed to be working."
Cloud eyed him dubiously. "Working, yeah. Is that what you're doing?"
So the great leader of Avalanche had a sense of humor. It was astounding to see. Reno was about to make another comment when he realized that Cloud suddenly seemed worried about something. He was nervously scanning the crowd. Looking for Tifa?
"Hey, you okay?"
Cloud nodded. "It's nothing." Cloud shook his head, not in answer to any question, because he put his hand to his head as if it hurt.
Reno pointed a thumb behind him. "I saw Tifa and the kids back there..." Cloud's eyes widened and he turned to look at the President, who was already ducking behind the makeshift walls of the platform...
Gunfire erupted in the midst of the crowd, and Cloud was gone, heading in the direction Reno had pointed. Reno looked around at the people crouching to the ground in fear. A few screamed again as the gunfire sounded again. He looked around and saw that there were people hiding behind the various attractions around the platform, people you would have thought were happy-go-lucky carnival-goers except for the guns they were carrying. The people ducking down to the ground were all looking up at him as if he were crazy as he moved toward the platform. He raised his nightstick and tapped it against his palm, listened to the radio chatter in his ear, and caught Rude's eye. They both glanced up at the platform and saw that Rufus had disappeared. From what he was hearing, he deduced that the President was safe, taken away by Tseng and Elena. That was all that mattered, but now it was Rude and Reno's turn to do their job.
"Huh, looks like I get to work after all," he said.
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Cloud found Tifa herding the kids away from the platform. Pushing through the now panicky and uncontrolled mob, he tugged on her arm as soon as he was close enough. She turned to him with fists raised but the concern and worry in her eyes faded a bit when she saw that it was Cloud. Cloud picked up Marlene and hurried along with Tifa and Denzel.
"Who is it, Cloud?" Tifa asked, tugging Denzel along, who was curious to see what was happening by the platform.
"I don't know," Cloud said, feeling as if he had been saying that too much lately. Maybe the one he really needed to speak to was Vincent Valentine. As soon as he felt they were far enough away, he put down Marlene and gently gave them a push toward the carnival exit. "Tifa, I want you to take the kids home. I'll stay here and see if the Turks need any help." He was already reaching for his sword.
Tifa looked ready to protest, but she clamped her mouth shut.
"Cloud, we can handle ourselves," Denzel said, obviously wanting to stay with Cloud but very willing to help.
Cloud shook his head, his eyes on Tifa's face. "No, I want you to go with the kids, Tifa." His voice softened, and he put a hand on her shoulder. "Please."
Tifa sighed, but she gave him a trembling smile. "Okay, Cloud. Just this once."
"Thank you," Cloud said as he moved back toward the platform. "I'll be home as soon as I can." He did not stay to watch them leave.
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Author's note: I'm so sorry about the long wait for this chapter. My son had pneumonia for about two weeks so I've been busy taking care of him. I've also been dealing with morning sickness and being tired all the time so I can't write during my son's naptimes in the afternoon because I'm taking a nap myself. ;) Hope I wrote Reno okay in this chapter. Even if I didn't write him perfectly, it was tons of fun. Sorry this is so short though. I wish I could have made it longer. Anyway, one chapter to go! Hopefully I can get it written in the next few days. Thanks for sticking with this story! I appreciate it. :)