Author Note: God, I am so sorry this took so long to update ;u; lots of things happened to me. I've moved out of my parents and into my boyfriends' home. I also lost motivation and lost the sense of direction for where I was taking this fic to. Plus, if that wasn't bad enough, I ended up getting immersed within quite a few anime and I'm working on an original novel :3 hopefully I'll become published xD Anyway, the very long overdue Chapter 9 of New World Order.
Clouds' eyes fluttered open, his vision blurry and his head feeling groggy. The last thing he remembered was fighting the Homunculi Pride. He tried to sit up but pain surged through his body, forcing him to lie down again. His vision began clearing and he scanned the ceiling of the room. Dim lights flickered, each one spaced evenly apart. He forced himself to lean up a bit to scan the room. His eyes drew to a glass cabinet with, what Cloud could only assumed were, medicinal liquids arranged in perfect order alphabetically and by height. He scanned the rest of the room, seeing operating equipment and machines with their lights flickering in a hypnotising rhythm. His body began aching again giving him no choice but to lie down once again. Cloud looked down at his body, bandages peeking out from under the covers. His eyes narrowed, gripped the sheets and threw them off his body, letting out a small gasp seeing his torso covered in white bandages. His legs felt slightly numb as if they'd fallen asleep. He sighed and threw his head back into the soft pillow. The bed he was laying on was quite comfortable.
The door opened and footsteps echoed through the near-silent room. Cloud didn't bother to look up as a man wearing a pair of blue scrubs and holding a clipboard came over to him. His face was cleanly shaven; his eyes were narrow and green. His nose looked like it was too big for his face, drawing Clouds' attention to it. He began humming a quiet tune while checking all the machines around him.
"Where am I?" asked Cloud, hopeful for an answer. The man just ignored him and continued checking the machines. "Answer me!"
The man sighed, flipped over the paper on his clipboard and looked at the blond haired man.
"You're in Nibelhiem, sir," he replied while walking away from Cloud.
"Nibeliem? Where's that?" he murmured to himself. He had to get out of here and find Serah and the others. His legs had regained feeling, which he was thankful for. He swung his legs off the bed, grimacing with the pain in his side and back. He ripped the tubes coming out of his arms off, speckles of blood splattering the floor and bedding. His head still felt groggy but it was slowly clearing. He staggered to the door and used his hand to hold himself up as he gathered the strength to walk again. He opened the door enough to peek outside. In the bright white hall he saw nurses and doctors walking from room to room checking on patients. Cloud noticed one of the doctors heading towards his room. He slowly closed the door and grabbed a nearby coat. He slipped into the coat, a pain white doctor lab coat, and hid in the nearby bathroom with the door slightly open. He watched the male doctor from before come back into the room and began searching for Cloud. Cloud grabbed a nearby bedpan and crept up behind the doctor. He raised the bedpan above his head and brought it down hard upon the doctors' head, knocking him out. Cloud threw the bedpan on the bed and grabbed the doctor by his ankles. He dragged the unconscious body into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. He took a few moments to change into the doctors' scrubs and walked into the hallway. He tried to act confident as he walked through the halls with a look that showed he knew where he was going when he didn't have a clue. He found the reception desk and decided to ask the receptionist, a pretty brunette lady with almond eyes.
"Excuse me, can you tell me if a Serah Farron has been admitted?" he asked while trying to avoid eye contact. The receptionist eyed Cloud suspiciously before typing information into the computer.
"She's on Ward 3 on the third floor," she replied, giving him a slightly smile. He thanked her and walked with the signs pointing to the third floor. From the corner of his eye he caught the receptionist grabbing the phone and smashing the emergency number into the phone before speaking in a hushed tone. Cloud knew he didn't have much time to find Serah before the police or whoever the receptionist called arrives.
He made it to the stairway and leapt up them two at a time. He spun around the corner for the first floor, continuing into the second and then onto the third. He slowly opened the door, peeking out for any nearby doctors. He saw nobody so stepped into the hall. He found a patient sheet, showing which patient was in which room. He ran down the list, finding Serahs' name and room number. He threw the sheet onto the nearby office desk before running down the hall to the room. He swung open the door and smiled. Serah was sitting upright on the bed, looking straight ahead at the shadow filled wall in front of her. Her head turned towards Cloud, her pale aqua eyes were red – signs of her recently crying. Cloud looked over to the wall and watched as a figure emerged from the shadows. An evil grin was plastered on the face of a man wearing dark sunglasses, a black leather jacket, black jeans and a pair of heavy duty, black boots. His hands were covered in black leather and he ran them through his jet black, short spiky hair.
"Who're you?" Cloud growled. The stranger continued grinning while walking towards Cloud. The light hit his face, chasing the shadows away. Underneath his left eye was a familiar symbol, the same one Pride had on her chest. "Homunculi!"
"Hehehe," laughed the creature, "I am the fourth Homunculi, Greed."
"Greed…" whimpered Serah, her voice breaking.
"Thanks to you and your friend over there, three of the seven seals are broken. Not long now until Chaos takes over the joint," smiled Greed, looking out of the window into the light given off by the setting sun.
"Why are you trying to destroy the world?" gasped Cloud, the pain in his back surging through his body.
"It's what we were created for, we don't know anything else really," said Greed solemnly. "I have to admit I like this world, it's beautiful but then you humans are…" Cloud looked to Greed, confused as to why he had stopped talking midway through a sentence. Greed sniffed the air like a dog catching a scent. "You're not human." Clouds' eyes widened. How could he not be human? How could Serah not be human? What is it that makes them not human?