Obsidian Mary Jaidde.
Obsidian for her hair - blacker than even the fair Snow White's hair. (Who the hell was Snow White anyway?) Mary for the pure virgin mother she sought to emulate. ("Virgin Mother"? Isn't that kind of an oxymoron..?) Jaidde like the green of her eyes, except way more exotic. She was totally exotic. (Because no one has black hair and green eyes around here.)
Cloud was relieved that his thoughts remained his own for the most part. Unless an author specifically described his thoughts, he was free to think what he liked. The snarky, sarcastic comments helped him make it through the newest batch of nightmares.
At the moment, Obsidian was the bane of his very existence. She was perfection - absolutely perfect in every way. Her skin was flawless and ivory colored. Her eyes were like two perfect gems... sometimes they were jades and other times they were emeralds. Her lips, full and rose red, were perfect for kissing and supposedly that was all he could imagine when he heard her voice. Her voice was another miracle to behold... like angels singing.
Luckily her perfection did not stop at her looks. She was also skilled in fighting and magic. Her ability with materia could not be matched. (Not even by Aeris, the Cetra with ties to the Planet.) Cloud still remembered the day Aeris had threatened Obsidian while they were in her church. Aeris's most powerful spells did not even touch Obsidian through her shields. Then the Planet threw its backing behind Obsidian because she was secretly a full Cetra and right. Aeris had never stood a chance.
Neither had Tifa. Obsidian's skill in unarmed combat was untouchable. Obsidian caught Tifa talking to Cloud one night. In their fight, Tifa and Obsidian destroyed Tifa's new bar. The building came down around them and when the dust settled, Obsidian sat on top of the splintered wood. Tifa was nowhere to be seen. Cloud had never been happier. Outwardly, he rejoiced and pledged his love to Obsidian on Tifa's grave. Inwardly, he seethed.
With his two loves defeated, the only girl still standing in the way was Yuffie. A grief stricken ninja threw herself at Obsidian. Within three paragraphs, Obsidian had wrestled Yuffie's Conformer from her grip. One and a half paragraphs later, Yuffie was dead and Cloud was murmuring sweet nothings in her ear.
Obsidian Jaidde was perfect. How could he, Cloud Strife, Savior of the Planet not love, want, and desire perfection?
He was human. (Well... sort of...) That was how.
Still, that did not stop the author. (Mrs. Obsidian M. Jaidde-Strife. Pffft... Why would anyone want to hyphenate their name with his. Everything sounded ridiculous with the word strife on the end.) There were already several dozen stories about this creature and his love for her. He mentally sighed, at least they were short.
The one he was currently starring in was winding down. The "raven" haired girl was curled "protectively" in his arms as they watched the smoking remains of the neo-shinra building in Edge. (Reeve had been secretly trying to bring back the Shinra reign of terror.)
Obsidian looked up at him with "wide, innocent" eyes, "Tell me you love me."
"With all my heart." Cloud said, stroking her hair, "Like I've never loved another."
"Not even Tifa or Aeris?" She asked coyly.
(It always comes to this.)
He smiled and held her closer, "They could never hold a candle to you, my darling."
The story suddenly ended. A quick line or two and he was free. Obsidian stood in place staring blankly out for a moment. Without a master, the little puppet vanished and Cloud returned to Costa del Sol. He scowled darkly and stalked off towards the villa. These stories always made him want to slaughter something as evil as the author.
The door slammed open and Cloud went straight to his room for his sword. Everyone knew better than to try and stop him for too long on nights like this. They had all had their own encounters with a being referred to as "Mary Sue" or "Marty Stu." Finding his materia and weapon at the ready, Cloud grabbed them and headed back out.
Tifa's gloved hand caught his arm at the door. She flinched under his angry cold gaze, but kept her grip, "Cloud... take your cell phone this time. If you're not back by morning, I want to be able to call you and make sure you're okay. Last time we didn't hear from you for hours..."
After a moment, Cloud nodded and took his cell phone from her, "Thanks."
"No problem." Tifa smiled slightly, "Go on then."
Then he was gone. Tifa listened for his motorcycle to start up and peel off into the night before she moved. She hated it when he left in such a temper, but she could ask him to stop. When she went up against her own piece of perfection - a creature named Lightning McSquall - she had pummeled a tree so hard that she splintered it straight through.
With a long sigh, Tifa went back to looking for Aeris. They both had a few hours off in the morning and Tifa wanted to see if the flower girl wanted to go get a late breakfast with her at a nearby restaurant. She had already looked through the common rooms and asked everyone else if they had seen her. As far as Tifa could tell, Aeris had suddenly learned to be invisible.
Tifa paused outside the door to the room she shared with Aeris and Yuffie. Something had caught her attention, a noise...
Then she heard it again - a steady thumping sound. It was like something banging against the wall repeatedly. She considered skipping the room, doubting she would find Aeris cooped up in there on a night so fine. Still, she figured it wouldn't hurt.
When her hand touched the doorknob, Tifa swore she could hear the bedsprings creak. Something pounding against the wall, bedsprings creaking... Tifa was almost afraid to open the door. It would not be the first time she walked in on two of her friends together. A blush covered her cheeks as she remembered walking in on Cid and Shera in the kitchen a few weeks before.
Aeris having a lover would explain the sudden disappearances lately. Now Tifa's curiosity was at war with her common sense. A distinctly female groan gave even more evidence as to what was going on, but Tifa couldn't help herself. If Aeris was in there with someone, she wanted to know who it was. With a sigh, she pushed the door open and peeked her head inside. Yuffie caught her tennis ball as it bounced off the wall, an impressive feat as her nose was buried in a comic book. She moaned over something she read before she noticed the door.
The bed creaked loudly as she turned to look at Tifa, "Hey. What's going on?"
"Looking for Aeris." Tifa couldn't help the relief she felt, "I thought she might be in here... with someone..."
Yuffie looked puzzled for a moment before she heard the sound of the ball against the wall. She grinned wolfishly, "I suppose that would sound odd out there, huh."
"You have no idea." Tifa grinned back at the younger girl, "I don't know what I was thinking. I mean, who would Aeris be sneaking around with? If she were with someone, she'd just come out and let us know."
"Unless it was a Turk or something." Yuffie mused, "Or... I don't know... Rufas?"
Tifa chuckled, "Right. Next you're gonna tell me she's with Sephiroth in the closet as we speak. Aeris is probably just out doing whatever it is she does during her down time nowadays."
"Want help finding her?" Yuffie asked, hauling herself off the bed, "Last thing I need is more people coming in here trying to figure out who is boinking who."
Nearly choking on laughter, Tifa let Yuffie walk out before her, "Sometimes I can't believe the things that come out of your mouth, Yuffie."
They went on talking and pulled the door shut behind them. A few moments later, the closet door opened and a disheveled brunette poked her head out. After a quick sweep of the room, Aeris stepped out of the closet with a blanket clutched around her, "They're gone."
"No one will bother us in my room." Sephiroth's voice came out in a squeaky imitation of her voice as he pushed past her in all his naked glory, "Tifa will be waiting for Cloud all day and Yuffie and Vincent have been plotting together for nearly a week. They'll be too preoccupied-"
"That was all true." Aeris argued, "When we came in here this afternoon. We've been here since five-thirty!"
Sephiroth crossed his arms, "So?"
Aeris's eyes narrowed at the silver-haired warrior, "It's nearly ten! That's four and a half hours!"
The scowl on Sephiroth's face slowly turned into a satisfied leer, "I don't recall you complaining about my stamina earlier..."
"Well I... That is we... and..." Aeris blushed hotly, "Could you just shut up and put your clothes on? All that skin is blinding me. How have you managed to stay so pale when you live on a beach anyway?"
Her weak arguments did nothing to deflate his pride. He turned collected his clothing slowly. Sephiroth could still feel Aeris's eyes on him. They may not like each other, but they were good together. She could hardly get enough of him. As he gathered his things, his thoughts and her gaze pumped up his ego.
Then he turned back around to see her standing there without the blanket, a fairly amused look on her face. He dropped his things back to the ground.
Tifa paused at the door to the villa as she heard something thud against the wall in the girl's room, "Yuffie, did you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Yuffie asked, grabbing her keys off the table.
"Nothing I guess..." Tifa shrugged, "It sounded like you were throwing your ball against the wall again... which is impossible since you're here."
Yuffie chuckled, "You're just hearing things, Tifa. Come on. If we don't find Aeris on the beach, we'll come back and call out the guard, okay?"
Tifa smiled, "Okay. It'll give me something to do so I can stop worrying about Cloud out there."
Yuffie nodded sympathetically and let Tifa go out first. She had caused more trouble this week than she had in several months. It had not been difficult to see what was going on with Aeris and Sephiroth. They were hardly discreet. After several hours of blatantly ignoring one another, Aeris would leave and Sephiroth would follow several minutes later. Both would be gone for several hours and reappear at nearly the same time acting as if nothing had happened.
Yuffie did not know which was funnier, the fact that Aeris and Sephiroth thought they were being sneaky or that only she and Vincent had caught them. Even after all these years, everyone thought of Aeris as pure and innocent, above things like lust and deceit. If Aeris was missing at the same time as Sephiroth, it had to be coincidence.
With an amused shake of her head, Yuffie returned her thoughts to the soon to be unsuccessful search for Aeris. She only hoped that they would be done and composed after an hour search.
A/N: This is now my favorite story to work on. Who would have guessed? Thank you all again for all the support. This has been great fun so far. This chapter is for MysticSpiritus... hopefully I have mocked bad OCs to your liking. This does not mean that there are not good OCs out there... they're just kinda rare and not so funny.