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Time tells the difference

Chapter 1: As a Guardian

The sun appears on the eastern horizon, signaling a new day. Cloud walked into the village, most shops were just opening and so he looked around and headed into a nearby weapon shop.

The shop owner was a short man with black hair and tanned skin. He took in his customer and politely asked:"How may I help you?"

"Do you polish swords?"

"Yes, of course."

"How long would it take to polish seven?"

The shop owner looked at Cloud in a funny way, seven swords? Is this guy crazy? Before replying." if the work is done quickly, it should be ready in just 20 minutes."

"How much?"

"What quality do you want them to be in?"

"As good as possible."

"That would be 7,000 Gil for all seven of them." Come on, you can't be serious. No one can afford the best polishes in this town.

Cloud nodded and took off the harness in his back, passing over the seven swords:"Finish as fast as you can." He then took out a wallet from his jacket and tossed over the 7,000 Gil.

The shop owner stood there dumb folded, then looked at Cloud again and quickly nodded and started polishing. Who is this guy? Oh well, and I thought my best polishing stones would be wasted in this tiny village, lucky me… he smiled to himself as he began working.

Cloud leaned against the wall in the shop and closed his eyes. Things are so expensive these days.

Approximately 25 minutes later:

The shop owner returned to the front of the shop and handed the newly-polished swords to Cloud, "There, it's all done."

Cloud walked forward and took the swords, examining them shortly before fitting them back in their respective harnesses. "Have you heard of a summoner called Yuna?" he asked.

The shop owner shook his head. "No."

"I see. Thank you." And he left.

Behind him, the shop owner stood there pondering: I think I've seen those seven swords before… Overcame by his thoughts, the short man went to the back of the shop and looked at some records of ancient swords. To his surprise, it was there, the legendary six-piece sword: First Tsurugi, he quickly checked the date the sword was made… his expression turned to one of excitement and looked at his own hands. I can't believe I just polished seven legendary swords. He then felt a twinge of guilt as he remembered that he charged the man for it.

Aboard the S. S. Liki:

The ship sailed along the ocean. Tidus looked out a side viewport and enjoyed the view, his brain still trying to work out what had happened. He remembered the 'thing' that attacked Zanarkand, and then the ship's crew saved him, and now what?

"Wow, you seem busy." Startled by the sound of a feminine voice, he turned around to find Yuna standing next to him, an expression of wonder on her face.

"Just thinking." He replied, his lips curved upwards to form a slight smile.

"You don't need to be sorry for what you did the other day." She said," You didn't know what was going on."

"Yeah, but still." He said shamefully, remembering his earlier 'almost' costly interference.

"Don't worry about it." She replied, sporting her unique sweet smile on her lips, making the blonde youth want to ki… No, no, no. What are you thinking about, Tidus. He mentally smacked himself, and answered:" Alright." He spared a glance behind her, and saw her furry bodyguard standing tall as always.

Geez… I wonder if Kimahri would have killed me already if I kissed Yuna just then… Ah, TIDUS!!! Stop thinking about kissing her, what's wrong with me…

"Are you alright?" Yuna asked, seeing many weird emotions flash across the athlete's face.

"Oh, I'm fine…" he reassured her. Stop looking at me like that, ah Geez, I can forget about sleeping today…

A sudden wave rocked the ship, the blonde youth looked around:"What was that?"

"SIN."

Cloud lied on a hotel bed, trying to sleeping and make contact with the Planet.

The familiar green-ish feeling surrounded him again.

Where is she?

The summoner?

Yes.

Not too far from you.

It will take too long to find her.

No.

?

She will look for you.

She doesn't even know that I exist.

Your paths will cross soon. Be prepared.

I see.

You do not lack sleep. Go now.

I understand.

Cloud opened his eyes and sat up in the bed, I better get going. He thought, walking out of his room and returning the key to the receptionist. He left the hotel. A sudden wave of panic registered in his consciousness, SIN, he thought, closing his eyes and entering a temporary half-sleep state.

Gaia, can you get me there right now?

Alright.

Cloud opened his eyes again as wave of green light began to envelope him, he soon found himself on the deck of the S. S. Liki. Inspecting his surroundings, the veteran SOLDIER instantly spotted the SIN. Drawing his sword, Cloud charged at it with blinding speed, he jumped up and scored a slash and a kick on its fin. A deep grunting sound came from within the SIN as its pace slowed down. Jumping up again, Cloud added two more swords onto the First Tsurugi and slashed at SIN continuously. Hitting it multiple times before sending a kick to its side, SIN howled in pain as it tries to moves away from the ship and continues to head towards Kilika Island. Cloud quickly jumped after it, ignoring the looks of disbelief on the faces of the crews. Running across the water, Cloud landed on SIN's back. He added another sword to the First Tsurugi and plunged the sword into SIN's skin, then grabbed the hilt and ran along its back, tearing the hard skin apart and creating a long gash on it. A shriek of pain tore through the air and SIN dived under the water, retreating from its prepared attack on the island.

Seems like I didn't lose any of my skills after all, Cloud thought. He took apart the swords and sheathed them separately back into their harnesses and headed back towards the ship. And the weapon smith was better at polishing blades than I thought.

The company stares as the blonde swordsman that suddenly appeared pursued after SIN, their eyes grew wider when he tore apart the skin on its back, followed by an ear-splitting screech and the sight of SIN moving away from its course.

The blonde-haired swordsman started to run back to the ship and jumped onto the deck, not even breaking into a sweat. They continued to stare at him as he walked towards them, the collar of his jacket covering half of his facial features. He stopped in front of them, and asked a simple question to Yuna:"Are you a summoner?"

Hesitantly, she replied:"Yes." Then her eyes widened, "Are you… unsent?"

Cloud rolled his eyes:"Does it look like I'm dead?"

"Oh, right. Sorry."

"No matter. I take it that you are Yuna?"

"Yes. How'd you know?"

"That's not important. I will be your additional guardian." Cloud continued," if you will have me of course."

"Yeah, of course. But…"

"Hmm? Something wrong?"

"No. It's not that. But… what do we call you?"

"Cloud… Cloud Strife."

"Alright Cloud. I accept you as my guardian." Yuna couldn't help but feel a little excited having a new powerful guardian.

The rest of the group walked forwards, they each exchanged friendly gestures and names. After a brief introduction, the tense atmosphere slowly began to dissipate.

"So, where are you from, Cloud?" Wakka asked.

"As in my hometown?"

"Ya."

"Nibelheim."

"Huh? Where's that?" the dark skinned man looked at his companions for an insight, but they just shook their heads.

"It was destroyed a long time ago." Cloud explained, sensing the irony in his own words, resisting the urge to chuckle.

"Oh, sorry man, ya."

"Don't worry about it." He waved it off.

"Cloud, how did you get here?" Tidus piped in, a slight hint of suspicion in his eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"How did you suddenly appear on the deck?"

"Gaia sent me here. Don't stress yourself on the details, I'll explain later."

"Okay, last question. How did you damage SIN?" This time it was Lulu.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that… yet."

"What do you mean you can't tell us? Are you hiding something from us?" Wakka accused, pointing his finger at the new arrival.

He was awarded with a glare:" Of course I have things to hide, don't you?"

"Yeah, but what you know may help us battle the SIN."

"Don't run your mouth about things you don't understand, youngling. I will reveal in time."

An awkward silence filled the air before being broken again.

"Youngling?" Kimahri asked for all of them. One thought ran through all of their minds: I'm sure the kid is only about 20, why does he call us younglings? "You only look about 20."

"I know, appearances can be deceiving." Cloud calmly answered, realizing his misuse of words and trying not to show it.

"So how old are you then? 100? 200?..." Lulu inquired.

Cloud sighed:"I said that I'll tell you guys in time, okay? Now just forget about this until later." Before any of them can protest, he walked away.

Behind him, the others are engaged in another topic already. "So, guys. Wanna make bets about how old he is, ya?" (It's obvious who said that)

"Uh… sure!" they all answered. "Alright, when he tells us, the one that gets the closest wins, okay, ya?""Alright."

Guesses:

Tidus: 500

Yuna: 2000

Lulu: 500

Wakka: 200

Kimahri: 1000

"Yuna, are you sure that's the number you want to put down? It's kind of unlikely, you know…" Tidus quirked an eyebrow.

"Hmm… Just you wait, when he tells us, I'm sure I'll be right!"

"What makes you so sure?"

"Guts." And with that, Yuna went back to her room. The others just stared at her back as she walked away.

"Now that she's out of the way…"Tidus turned around to the others, "wanna find out more about Spiky?"

"Who's Spiky?" Lulu asked.

"Cloud, of course. Haven't you noticed his hairstyle? I wonder how much jell he uses? I think I'm gonna get a better hairstyle too! Okay, anyways, wanna follow him?"

"You mean stalking, ya?"

"Oh, come on, guys, don't you want to know more about him?"

"But he said he'd tell us soon…"

"Oh, come on! How long's that going to take? Or are you too scared?"

"Who said I'm scared, ya!" Wakka shouted.

Heh, as predictable as ever, one down…

"Don't you guys want to know how he magically appeared on the ship?"

That got the witch thinking.

Heh, two down.

"Are we going or not?"

"I'm coming, ya!"

"I'll come, too."

The three stares at Kimahri…

"… Fine, I'll come too."

"Yeah! Let's go!"

The company of four followed the path Cloud took and saw him leaning on the railing and his eyes unfocused.

"What do you think he's doing, ya?" Wakka whispered, his answers were two shake of heads.

Then suddenly, Cloud frowned.

"???"

Yuna was finding it boring in her room, so she walked out. After a short trip around the ship, she spotted Tidus, Lulu and Kimahri around a corner, hiding their bodies behind the wall and peeking out only their faces, she quickly walked up to them:"Wh…" Before she could make any other noise, Tidus' hand covered her mouth and dragged her out of view. "Shh…… Be quiet."

Before she could ask any other questions, their attentions went back to Cloud, who's still in the same position as before, the frown still on his face. Yuna found his expressions fascinating and joined the group.

"Why's he frowning?" she whispered, when no one answered, she didn't ask anymore and just stared at Cloud like the other four.

And Cloud smiled, a genuine smile, the spies' jaws hit the ground, and just when they were about to pick them up, Cloud chuckled. While the five spies stood there motionless still trying to find out what's going on in Yuna's new guardian's mind, Cloud closed his eyes. The blue orbs disappeared under his eyelids, the smile remained on his face.

Turning away from Cloud, the five stalkers talked among themselves.

"What the hell's wrong with him?"

"How would I know?"

"Are you sure he's mentally stable?"

"Maybe he's hallucinating…"

"I don't know guys. He's lived a long time, remember?"

ETC…

Chapter 1 END

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