(Pre-story) A/N: Woo, another update! How that? Haha. Thank you everyone for all the alerts and faves, but there aren't as encouraging as reviews! Lol. Well, on to the story! I'm sorry if any of the readers may think Zack might be OOC. It's mainly because it's very hard for me to keep him in character for this story. THANK YOU MITCHEL MY LOVELY BETA XD!
Disclaimer: Look at the first chapter disclaimer too see it XD.
---The Black Chocobo: The Rewrite---
Chocobo Bill was chewing on a piece of straw as he helped Zack, who now resides in the body of a Chocobo, to his feet. Bill thought the Chocobo was silly as it didn't even know how to stand on its own two talons.
"Funneh, never see these damn black chocobo 'round 'ere. Just thinking 'bout it and I think yer the only one I seen in the wild in dis area." Bill said while giving Zack a good scratch on his chest. To Zack, the scratching felt oddly weird and nice at the same time. It was Weird because some random stranger is scratching his chest, yet oddly comforting at the same time. Must be a chocobo thing. Zack felt he was close to shaking his leg like a dog getting a belly rub.
"Well, no use pondering such thoughts in me head. Let's get yer home and feed yer and maybe see if yer has a number so I can find yer owner. If yer don't have one, I sure as happeh ta keep yer as mine! Never had me a black chocobo such as you. Lets just hope yer male and then I can mebbe breed yer with ta other fine birdies I got meself at der farm. Ah ha, ya make a fine birdie as a breeder anyway!" Bill spoke with such enthusiasm. Zack's eyes just widened. 'If knew that he was going to breed me, that slimey little…' his thoughts wondered off, and Bill walked up to Zack with a piece of rope. Zack looked on cautiously.
Rancher Bill made a loop with the rope around the black chocobos head but left it loose so it didn't pull any feathers or choke Zack. Said chocobo didn't do a thing.
Bill hopped on his own yellow chocobo while leading Zack back to the farm.
--
When they arrived back at the farm Zack had noticed something. He was expecting 'warks' and 'kwehs' but all he heard was talking as if there was a party or something of the like.
Bill had lead Zack into the barn where the noise had escalated largely. Looking around Zack had saw that it was the Chocobos warking at each other…the thing was though… he could understand them! Zack was lead into a stall with another yellow chocobo already residing inside.
"This is yer new home, well until I can find yer owner. I'll check that tomorrow yer beaut. In der meantime, yer can share dis cage here wit Noodle." Bill said, before walking off to secure the chocobo he was riding in a separate stall. Bill soon walked out of the barn. Zack just stared at Bill's retreating back.
Zack soon turned around to face Noodle. The yellow chocobo was looking at Zack like he was a piece of green. And a juicy green at that. Zack just stared straight back at Noodle.
"Why hello there. Aren't you a beautiful ebony female chocobo? Hmm, yes you are." Noodle looked at Zack with a flirtatious glint in his eye.
"Thank you for the compliment, but you are wrong on one thing. I'm a MALE!" Zack glared at Noodle. Another chocobo, who this time was blue, in the cage to the left, poked its head into cage where Zack and Noodle were.
"Hey Noodle, who's the new comer?" said the blue Chocobo.
"I do not believe I know," Noodle looked towards Zack "What is your name sir?"
Zack smirked. Even though he was a chocobo, that didn't stop him from saying his accomplishments from when he was a human. "I'm Zack Fair, ex-SOLDIER First class of the Shinra electric power company, and former dead person!" Zack said with such pride he tried to do a pose. Too bad it only looked like he was stretching his wings across his body.
Noodle and the Blue chocobo just looked wide-eyed at Zack. The blue chocobo let out what sounded like a bark of laugher and started to shake his head in mirth. Noodle just choco-smiled.
"Haha, what a funny bird you are Zack. Anyway, my name is Azure. I used to be a racing chocobo, but since I had a change of owner, I now explore. I guess it's still better then turning into a fat thing like Floss over there." Azure nodded his head in the direction where a chubby chocobo sitting in a cage was stuffing its face with greens. A young boy was feeding it more greens. Zack quickly looked away, horrified at the site.
"Poor Floss has always been a spoiled bird. Most times we say to him 'It's called Karma' but he doesn't really care and keeps eating. Anyway, Noodle here is a breeder." Azure said.
"It is always good to spread the love around." Noodle said. Azure had said a smart comment back and Noodle got annoyed and tried to nip a bunch a feathers off the blue chocobo. Azure just warked and ducked his head back into his cage. Zack just looked back and forth between the two bickering chocobos before turning around and walking towards a bunch of hay that had been laid down as a bed. Zack lied down and went though his mental list of what he had to do next.
'Hmm…Before I do anything at all, those priest back at the temple place have to turn me back into a human. Well, I guess I can just learn the way of a chocobo with these two.' Zack looked at the two chocobos that were still bickering at each other but also seem to be nipping at each other's necks trying to pull feathers off. Zack just sat back and looked at them. 'Hmm looks like Azure's getting riffled up because Noodle seems to be trying to pull out his favorite feather. How are you meant to know what feather is which? There all look the same to me.' Zack looked down at crest and just looked at it. 'Don't chocobos preen themselves? How do they do that?' Zack took a couple of muddled feathers into his beak and wrapped his tongue around it and moved his head outward till his black feathers had came out of his mouth. He looked down at them and grumbled. His feathers were closed up and curled outward.
Noodle and Azure had stopped bickering after the young little boy that was feeding Floss knocked their heads with a old broom. Azure pulled his head back into his cage and Noodle walked over to the grumbling Zack.
"Is there something a matter? You seem to be grumbling quite a bit." Noodle looked over to Zack. The black chocobo looked up pitifully at Noodle.
"I don't know how preen myself." Zack spoke in a sort of a whisper. Noodle looked down at Zack.
"Well, that is not bad. I myself have seen worse in my days. I once knew a fellow chocobo who did not even know how to run without tripping over herself. It was quite spectacular to see actually. Now with the grooming, could you please stand up?" Zack obliged.
Noodle showed Zack how to properly preen himself. By the end Zack's ebony feathers were glistening in the setting sun coming through the cracks and windows in the barn. The young boy had left double the greens as to feed both the chocobos. After Zack and Noodle had feasted on their greens, Zack had moved back towards the hay patch that they were both meant to sleep on.
"So tell me…Zack," Noodle said his name because it sounded and felt foreign to him, "How did such a pleasant chocobo farmer like ours find you?" The yellow chocobo had moved towards Zack and plopped himself next to him. He turned his head towards Zack waiting for an answer with what appeared on his face to be a choco-smile. Zack was still looking straight ahead.
The black chocobo was just pondering the question around his head back and forth like a bouncy-ball, trying to look for an answer that the yellow chocobo would understand. Zack smiled and turned his head towards Noodle who was still smiling like a goof.
"Well, you see, it all pretty much started when a pack of Kalm fangs ambushed my herd…" Zack spewed out a whole ton of non-sense that Noodle nodded to in understanding. Zack wasn't one to lie, but he couldn't actually see himself telling Noodle that he, in fact, had been reborn from the Lifestream. He hoped that when he said before 'former dead person' that Noodle and Azure took it as a joke. It seemed that Noodle did actually believe the pile of rubbish and nodded. Zack finished his story with saying that he fought off the last Kalm Fang then fainted from exhaustion near the marshes, and when he woke, chocobo Bill was standing in front of him with another chocobo that wasn't speaking.
"Ahh, such a tragic story, but a heroic one at that. Telling your herd to run away while you took care of those dreaded fiends… Kudos to you Zack, I feel honored around you." Noodle smiled.
"Now after such a wonderful story such as yours, I feel the need to sleep." The yellow chocobo lowered his head so he was comfortably closer to his neck and crest, and started to doze off.
Zack looked out the window and noticed that it was already dark out. 'The night sky, I always loved to look out to the night sky when I was a child. Maybe it's because it seems that every single glowing star out there has an answer to everything.' Zack just kept looking out while pondering something in his head. 'Well if they do have the answers, tell me stars: Will I ever see Cloud again? If I do, when and how will I see him?' Zack looked back down to the stony floor beneath him since he knew the question he asked, would go unanswered. 'Oh Cloud, how I miss you. I miss you so much.'
Zacks' last thoughts were of his blond spiky headed friend before he drifted off into a dream state while softly leaning on Noodle, as if he was a pillow.
--
Tonight was a Packed one at Seventh Heaven because tonight was the forth year of the destruction of meteor. Since Seventh Heaven is where AVALANCHE was mainly based, and the only known home the customers know of the hero Cloud Strife, even though Cloud felt like he didn't deserve such a title. People were leaving as fast as they were entering. Drinks and Food were being past out, eaten and digested while only leaving the plate left to be taken, cleaned and food placed on it just to go though the same process again and again.
Tifa had hired a few more people just for tonight, because the years before on this day she had been over worked and just felt ready to faint on the spot. She was not going to let that happen again. She hired two extra chefs, three extra waitresses and one extra bartender. She had to remind herself to do this every year because now she didn't feel like falling on the floor to have a snoozer.
The waitresses were all females. Their names where Lirasa, Zibba and Kanda. Lirasa had strawberry blonde hair that was up in a tight bun. She had green eyes that just sparkled with happiness as she wrote down an order. Zibba had light brown hair that was in a low ponytail that ended at her lower back. She had brown eyes. Kanda had black hair with a side fringe towards the left of her face. The rest of her hair was up in a short ponytail. Purple eyes hidden beneath glasses.
The two extra chefs were female and male. The males name was Xenlian, and the female was Vinru. They were magnificent cooks and Tifa was proud of them. They were both Wutian.
And lastly, the male helping Tifa in the bar. His name was Tre (1) and he had sandy blond hair and blue eyes. He had a side fringe that ended at his jaw line and the back of his hair was spiked up. Tifa thought he was fun to work with.
Tifa was busy taking orders while making drinks when Marlene came down with Denzel. Marlene tugged on Tifas' skirt (2) to grab her attention. When Tifa looked towards Marlene, the little girl smiled. Denzel looked up shyly and gave her a slight smile.
"Tifa, where's Cloud?" Asked Marlene. Tifa quickly turned around and asked Tre to cover her for a moment. She soon led the to children to the back room.
"Cloud's hiding upstairs in his room. He doesn't want to come downstairs or do deliveries because his scared of all the people down here." Tifa explained.
Marlene giggled. "Why is that?"
"He said that there was this one girl that has been stalking him for the last couple of weeks. He has a fear of her right now and said that she might be here tonight." Marlene tapped her chin in thought. She soon smiled and thrusted her finger in the air.
"Denzel and I are going go see Cloud and talk to him!" Marlene said before grabbing Denzels hand and pulling him along to go to Cloud's room. Tifa smiled and walked back into the bar, to help Tre serve the patrons, and make sure nothing bad was going to happen. She was the boss after all.
--
Marlene and Denzel knocked Cloud's door before entering when they heard the small 'come in'. Cloud was sitting at his desk with only a lamp on, giving him enough light to do his paperwork. He was mapping out his next route for tomorrow and numbering the deliveries. Since he didn't go today, he had double the workload. He soon turned around to look at the two children he and Tifa looked after, and gave a small smile.
Marlene skipped over and sat herself on Clouds lap. Denzel closed the door and walked towards Clouds bed and sat himself on it.
"So what can I do for both of you?" Asked Cloud.
To Marlene, this was the perfect time to ask Cloud the same question she asked Tifa, just slightly changed.
"Cloud," Cloud looked towards her "Why aren't you down stairs enjoying the party with everyone else?" Marlene asked. Denzel just looked at her with a questioned look on his face.
"Well I have to finish some paperwork." He was not going to tell them that there might be that freaky stalker girl downstairs waiting to snip off a couple of his spikes, laminate them, frame them and put it up on the wall. She scared him more then Sephiroth accepting Hojo as his father with gifts of experiments, and a big smile on his face. Both were awful but the fangirl was more horrifying. Cloud inwardly shuddered.
"Well you should celebrate! Tonight is the night you saved the world. Come on now." He really had no say in the matter. Marlene jumped off his lap and grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the door. Denzel silently followed as Marlene was dragging Cloud down the stairs. Denzel shook his head. She really did have a thing for leading people by the hand.
When Cloud was downstairs he immediately ducked and pulled his hands out of Marlene's, flattened his hair while also trying to cover it. He then ran behind the bar to the far corner and shrunk as far as he could to the wall and ground. Tre, who was washing the cups, looked towards Cloud. Cloud made a 'shh' gesture with his right hand and he made a 'shooing' one with his other. Tre took the hint and smirked, then returned to the dishes.
Marlene giggled at him while Denzel just smiled. They then went to the bar and sat on the stools.
Tifa loved back around the bar after she had finished grabbing more drinks from the back room. She saw Cloud in the corner and smiled at him, then put the drinks away. One of the drinks meant she could move towards Cloud and ask him what his was doing down here. She walked towards him and kneeled down and put the drink away in the draw next to Cloud.
"What are you doing?" Asked Tifa. She swore the man was close to sucking his thumb like a child.
"Marlene dragged me downstairs to celebrate." Cloud whispered eyes franticly looking around. Tifa giggled.
"Want a drink while you hide?" Tifa asked.
Cloud shook his head and motioned her to move away. When she looked back up, over the counter was some girl smiling at her. Tifa's eyes widened when she looked at the female. She had orange hair that was put into two pig tails that where put up high. They were curly enough to curl all around her headbands. She had freckles dotted all over her face and had big glasses around her green eyes. Her teeth had multi-coloured braces on them, and her clothes were daggy. Tifa noticed that she was holding a small figurine of Cloud. She was a teenager around the age of sixteen.
Tifa had to close her eyes and take a steady breath in and out to prevent laugher before opening her eyes to smile.
"Hi, want can I get you today?" She asked trying not to laugh even though mirth was laced in her voice.
"Cloud Strife." She said.
"Excuse me?" Tifa asked in disbelief. In the corner of her eye, she saw that Cloud was trying to mentally turn himself invisible but failing. So instead he slowly moved his hands up towards his hair to flatten it like he did before.
"I said I want Cloud Strife. He is here isn't he?" She asked.
"I'm sorry but he isn't here." She thought quickly. A little lie can't hurt right?
"But his beautiful Fenrir is parked out side of this building." Tifa turned to see the two children giggle at her comment. The girl sent the children a dirty look. Tifa gave her a dissatisfied look.
"Yes, the motorbike his parked outside, but he is not in."
"Why not?"
"His out on deliveries."
"How?" She was getting on Tifas nerves.
"He's on a trip to Wutai so he decided to take a ride on the Shera." These days, everyone had known what the 'Shera' was.
"Oh…" She looked dejected.
"So, are you going to order a drink?"
"No thank you. But can I leave a message for him?"
"Sure." Tifa just wanted her out of her bar as quick as possible.
"Can you say to him that his lovely Melinda has come to see him, that she misses him dearly." She said before walking off.
Tifa waited till she was out of the bar and gone down the street before looking down at Cloud. She laughed at the site she saw. Cloud's eyes were wide and frightened. Marlene and Denzel ran behind the bar, barely missing Tre and laughed hard at Cloud. Tifa leaned down and waved a hand in front of his face. He soon got back to his senses.
"Is she gone?" He asked. Tifa nodded. Cloud peeked his eyes over the bar and looked around for that scary female. He sighed in content and fully stood. Cloud cleared his Throat and dusted imaginary dust off, trying to get the tough look back on him.
"I…think I'll just head back to my room now." Cloud bolted for the stairs and into his room before the scary fangirl could return.
Marlene and Denzel giggled and Tifa smiled at them.
"That must be his scary fangirl." Marlene said as she giggled.
"She sure is scary" Denzel replied.
"She's scary, even to me. I just wanted her out of the bar. Well, enough of talk, I've got to get back to work. You two run along now and don't cause any trouble." Tifa said. Both children nodded and ran off to there own room to play.
In the room upstairs, Cloud was peeking through his window like a paranoid man and found Melinda Standing across the street, two houses down she was smiling as if possessed staring straight towards Seventh Heaven.
Cloud meeped and quickly moved out of the window sight.
'Please just go away and leave me alone you freaky little girl!' Cloud pleaded in his mind. Even though he was away from the window, he could see the stars that were trying their strongest to shine through the tainted sky. He soon moved to his bed, took off his boots, since his armor was already taken off and next to first Tsurugi (?), and crawled under the sheets. He curled into a fetal position and fell asleep that way dreaming of his cadet days…and Zack. Cloud smiled in his sleep.
---The Black Chocobo: The Rewrite---
A/N: Oh my freaking gosh! I can't believe I actually got this finished! *Wipes sweat on forehead* Ahh ^^! Well that's really the latest installment. And thank you for all the faved/alerts and all that!
(1) Pronounced 'tray'
(2) Didn't really know what to call it.
(?) That's how it is spelt right?
I had this crazy thing for Sephiroth for a while, like those moments you just can't get over one character so I gotta tell you a few things:
-Listen to Sephiroths dialogue on Dissidia 36 and 37. They sound so dirty w!
-There is a Toyota Prius ad on television and Sephiroths' voice actor is doing the…talking…and it sounds so funny! I'll give you the link, just backspace the spaces XD!
http : // www . youtube . com / watch?v = Tq4nrmnqY9o
And this is where I first found it
http : // www . youtube . com / watch?v = ppQ6FfRlXtw
Love you all and out!
Lady-yuna7