Thank you everyone who reviewed! I really appreciate it. They motivate me :D
So, I've come up with a schedule for posting a new chapter. Every Sunday . . . how does that sound? I usually have the chapter written beforehand, but I don't wanna get ahead of myself. So sorry if you don't wanna wait :P
Anyway, enough of my rambling, on with the show!
And of course, I don't own Final Fantasy VII.
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I placed the girl in an empty seat, sat down next to her, and resumed time. I breathed deeply. I was sincerely beginning to believe I was on an acid trip. None of this made sense . . . why me? Am I even human?
I glanced over at the girl. Her eyes were shut tight and her hands were trembling. My guess was that she was in post-traumatic shock. The same thing happened to me the first time my dad beat me.
"Hey," I said, placing a hand on her leg to calm her. Wrong move. She jumped up at my action. I withdrew my hand before speaking again. "Are you okay?"
The girl looked up and a faint smile appeared on her porcelain face. "I will be, thanks to you. Who are you?"
My brain frantically worked when she asked that question. Should I give her a fake name? If I gave her the real one would she try and contact the cops?
"I'm Cloud," I said before I made up my mind completely. "You?" I brought my knees up to my chest and rested my chin on them. I was surprisingly tired, something I hadn't noticed before now.
"Aerith," she said. She seemed to have the same idea as me: don't give out your full name. Though considering how unique our names were, I doubt it would have made much of a difference if we added a last name. "You look young to be going on a bus by yourself."
"I'm sixteen," I said defensively. I didn't want Aerith judging me based on my age; I hated it when people treated me like a kid.
Aerith laughed a beautiful, quiet yet full laugh. It was nice to hear coming from her, just trembling moments before. Hopefully that meant I was distracting her from her recent experience. "Don't worry, I'm only eighteen." She too pulled her legs up onto the seat, only curling them under her instead of resting her head on them like me. "So was I hallucinating, or were those people really not moving?" she asked.
I took a look out the bus window. We had started to move. I guess the driver didn't bother to look at the tickets. Oh well, a waste of a hundred bucks then, but it saved Aerith from some trouble. "You know this bus goes to Midgar?" I questioned, ignoring her question.
"Yes," I heard her say, but I didn't look back. I was still taking in the sights, if you can call a small town sights. Well it was home, I was about to be leaving it. I was feeling a little sentimental. "I saw the sign on the bus."
"You're okay with that?"
"I don't really have a choice."
I instantly felt guilty for bringing her onto the bus. Couldn't I have dropped her off at the police station instead of making her come along? It's not like I didn't have the time to do that.
My guilty conscious was telling me to answer her question. I sighed. This would be weird, trying to describe it. I took another deep breath.
"Okay, so about the people frozen in place." I tried to speak quietly so no one else on the bus would hear me. Everyone around the two of us seemed to be busy with other tasks, the last thing on their list of things to do was hopefully listen to two teenagers.
"No, you weren't hallucinating. Well, you might be, but if you are, then I'm absolutely insane."
Aerith looked confused. I continued. "Look, I can stop time," I said slowly, trying not to sound like an idiot. I failed miserably. I sounded like a moron.
I waited for Aerith to laugh at me. "You . . . can stop time?" Aerith asked, eyes wide as she slowly nodded her head. Yep, she thought I was insane.
"Look at that," I said, pointing to a red bottle that sat in a cup holder next to a man reading a newspaper. "Now look back at me."
I let Aerith get a good look at me before shifting. I quickly grabbed the water bottle, sat back down, and shifted back.
Aerith continued to stare at me as if nothing happened, which to her, nothing did, but then she jumped. I couldn't help but smirk, feeling a little cocky. "How did you get that?" she asked, close to shrieking.
I placed my hand over her mouth. Luckily, this time she didn't freak out at my touch. I told her to quiet down. "Don't go alerting everyone!" I hissed.
"Sorry," she mumbled, turning bright red.
I shifted quickly and put the water bottle back without warning Aerith this time, and then I sighed when I resumed time, running a hand through my hair.
"Why are you going to Midgar?" she asked, completely oblivious to what I just did.
I rubbed my eyes, quickly getting exhausted. I couldn't help but think that shifting wore me out. "It seems like an easy place to lose yourself in.
"I'm running away from home." Anticipating her next question, I added, "I just found out about my power. My dad was about to beat me, and it just kinda . . . happened."
I felt her hand touch my arm. "I'm sorry," she said.
"Don't be. I'm glad to finally be free from that son of a bitch."
"Going to start a new life?"
"That's the plan." That reminded me . . . "Have you seen a grey duffel bag at all?" I asked.
Aerith shook her head. I slid off my seat to check if it was there, trying not to freak out. It wasn't. I began cursing under my breath as I frantically searched around for it. Then I realized I had left it in the bathroom at the bus station.
"Did you have anything important in it?"
I quickly ran through a checklist of the contents of the duffel bag. Just some clothes and a few books; those would be easy enough to replace. And then I had the picture of my mom and me. Someone would be sure to recognize me from that picture; I mean, I hadn't changed much looks-wise throughout my entire life. Not to mention I had the same blonde hair when I was little.
"A picture of my mom and me. The police would be able to track it back to my dad." I thought of Tifa.
"Do you have a cell phone I could borrow?" I asked.
Aerith nodded before digging into her small pink purse. Her hand emerged seconds later with a pink phone that matched both her purse and her sundress. Cute. She handed it to me.
I felt around my pocket for crinkled receipt with Tifa's number on it. When I found it, I dialed, and sat anxiously, waiting for her to pick up.
"Hello?" she asked when she answered.
"Tifa!" I almost shouted. I released a breath I didn't realize I was holding.
"Cloud?" She recognized my voice. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Just sitting on the bus. Are you still at the station?" I crossed my fingers, hoping she'd say yes.
"Yes, my shift ends in five minutes, why? And I didn't see you board the bus, I was watching."
I avoided her comment. Telling once person was one too many already. "When your shift ends, can you go into the men's restroom and pick up a grey duffel bag? It's mine. Do not give it to my dad. Keep it. Hopefully I'll be able to pick it up sometime."
"How'd you manage to forget it?"
"I . . . got distracted." Understatement of the year. "And when you go to get it . . . be careful."
"Um . . . okay." I could tell I was freaking her out a little.
"Thanks." I was about to hang up when she asked a question that made my heart skip a beat (yep, still a hormonal teenage boy).
"Will I ever talk to you again?"
" . . . I'll call you when I get to Midgar."
" . . . okay." She sounded uncertain but accepted my answer. We hung up silently.
I turned to Aerith to return the phone only to find that she had dozed off. She must have been exhausted.
I decided to get some shut-eye too.
Next stop: Midgar.
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I know this chapter is a little short, but it was a good place to stop so I did.
Yes, it's odd that Aerith is staying with Cloud and willing to travel with him, but she's doing that for a reason that only I know about :D
Um, I think that's it . . . next chapter will be up on Sunday!
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