I welcome you again to this lovely fanfic of loveliness.
THS: W00000ts! Thanks for the great reviews! However, I must hit myself. I don't hit believe hit that I forgot hit primary school hit GRAMMAR! hit Thanks a million times over for pointing that out. I may as well owe you my life.
Katori Tsubasa: Thankies!
Disclaimer: All settings, characters in this fanfiction are owned by Square Enix.
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Chapter 5: The Beginning
Cloud woke up, his eyes quickly glancing to each side of the room, at Aerith's sleeping face next to him and the stairs. There was an inhuman groaning coming from the church hall where the group had reunited the previous day. He released himself from Aerith's arms and let her go. She rolled over, still smiling, even in dreams. Cloud turned his mind back to the matter at hand. Silently descending the stairs, Buster Sword ready on his back, still clothed, Cloud saw the source of the noise. Oh no. Not another one of those things.
The monster's semi-fluid body was familiar to Cloud. Back at the Forgotten City, he and Aerith had killed one just like this. This one, however, looked stronger. It was red, and its arms were much thicker, shape slightly more clearly defined. Cloud slowly and silently stepped towards the monster, which was facing away from him, towards the church doors. He had almost reached striking distance. About to draw his sword, Cloud hesitated for just a moment, readying himself mentally. That was all it took for the monster to spin incredibly quickly with a fist flailing out to catch Cloud and send him hurtling into the wall.
He landed, making a crater in the stone walls of the newly-roofed church. The monster leapt towards the slumping Cloud, who was still shaking off the head-spinning impact. It grew two new arms below its human-like original two, and began to pummel Cloud. The pain was unbelievable. He began to hear cracks in his chest as ribs began to break under the creature's huge hands. Dust was falling in streams from the walls, getting into Cloud's hair and mouth. The humongous creature pulled back all of its fists, and its arms began to glow a bright blue. As the creature landed the final blow with all of its fists, Cloud briefly spread-eagled on the wall, before slumping onto the floor, blood dripping from the both sides of his mouth. He drifted in and out of consciousness every few seconds, lucky to escape a living victim of a torture that would have killed most humans. Fortunately for him, he had friends…
"Cloud!" Yelled the group almost simultaneously as they rushed down the stairs upon hearing the cacophonous noise coming from downstairs, weapons at the ready. The creature turned towards them, eyes glowing red with battle lust. These things were made to fight. The group of friends all leapt at the monstrous thing standing over Cloud's seemingly lifeless body. Barret and Vincent stood back and fired at the creature's head, whilst the rest attacked the creature's body. To begin with, it did reel with the impacts of the various weapons, but it began to stand straight against constant blows. Cuts seeming to disappear on the body, it lifted its four arms up and span in a circle, arms extended, knocking all the group members to the floor. It let out another cry. Aerith stood up gracefully, and looked at the monster, which, enraged at her still standing, rushed towards her swinging its arms in a frenzy. Holy was glowing, her eyes shining with white light.
"Stop." She said, in a voice that wasn't her own. She lifted up her arms and stopped the creature's blow. She tensed for just a moment, and then relaxed as the creature dissolved in mid-air. Holy stopped glowing, and Aerith collapsed to her knees, panting. The tired group of friends stood, healed. It was Holy's influence. It was the ultimate White Magic, after all. Even though it had damaged the planet stopping Meteor, it could still heal. Cloud didn't stand though. He was breathing slowly, a small pool of blood gathering where it was falling from the sides of his mouth.
"Is he okay?" asked Tifa worriedly. Aerith, who was kneeling next to Cloud looking tearful, shook her head. She tried calling up healing magic to help him, but it just acted as a painkiller. It couldn't heal all the wounds.
"We need to lie him down." Nanaki said, gesturing up the stairs with his head. Aerith nodded. Vincent moved over to help. He and Aerith put their hands on Cloud's chest, prompting a blood-curdling scream of pain from him. They took their hands away like a shot. A tear ran down Aerith's cheek. She wanted to hug him, to hold him, to make him feel better. Touching him was the worst thing she could possibly do.
"I'm sorry, Cloud…" she whispered. Suddenly, there was a gargantuan explosion from somewhere outside the church. The vibrations sent some of the bricks from the ceiling down onto the pews. Barret whipped out his phone, and dialled in a number quickly.
"Rude, what the &$'s goin' on down there?" He asked in a mock calm tone. A deep voice came from the other end of the phone. Barret's eyes widened a little. "Okay. Thanks." He put the phone back in his pocket. "We have a problem. Monsters have overrun Sector 6. They're attacking Wall Market. From the sound of it, they're like the thing we fought." The group gasped simultaneously.
"What are we gonna do?" Asked Yuffie expectantly.
"Whaddya think?" Cid started loudly. "We're gonna fight 'em!" He cheered.
"But what about Cloud?" Tifa asked, looking with concern at Cloud. Aerith raised her hand.
"I'll stay with him." Aerith said quietly, raising her hand. They nodded in acceptance.
"Awright everyone," Barret shouted. "Gear up!" they picked up their equipment and dashed out of the door. Aerith moved the hair out of Cloud's eyes, looking at his injured form.
"Looks like it's just you and me now, Cloud." She said gently, stroking his forehead. She put one hand on the side of his face and looked into his eyes. He was slipping in and out of consciousness. He was in far too much pain to talk. Lifting an arm, teeth gritted and groaning with the pain, he put it round Aerith's waist. She couldn't bear to see him like this. She began to sob gently. Cloud was angry inside. Angry at himself for making her cry like that. It was his fault. He became unconscious as the crying Aerith knelt next to him and stroked his forehead gently.
Meanwhile, the group approached Wall Market.
"Barret, why do you have Rude's phone number?" Tifa inquired, slightly playfully. Barret laughed.
"He's my secretary." The rest of the former AVALANCHE looked at him in surprise. This was short-lived, however, because as they turned the corner into Wall Market, they all stopped, gaping at the scene before them.
"Oh my God." Said Yuffie, in a small, scared voice. Vincent moved towards her, reaching out an arm to… hold her? He withdrew quickly. She looked at him quizzically, just for a moment. He blushed, pale cheeks suddenly burning red. The rest of the group hadn't seen. They were more interested in the object flying very quickly toward them.
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Hey hey, enjoy, please R&R.
A note to readers: I wont' be able to update so frequently anymore ,as I'm starting school again. I'll probably do a new chapter every Saturday, so watch this space!