Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy or any part of the entire series.
Author's Note: I'm soooo sorry that it took me a while to update. I really am. Always, I give myself a deadline for every chapter, but I had a few problems with this one. First, attending school and submitting requirements slowed me down. Second, I am really really bad with fighting sequences. I took Cerulean Crystal's advice and watched Advent Children (for the 11th time, woohoo! XD) and took some ideas from there. I also watched Kung Fu Panda, which was on television, and inspired myself with some good action moves. :3
Also, why the short chapter? I plan many things to happen in this story, so I thought it's better to chop them off and not bombard you guys with alot of things in one any case, I sill do hope you do enjoy this one anyway. ^_^
Oh, and by the way, I want to thank everyone who read my story and gave me some reviews. They helped me alot to inspire and improve my story (which I hope I did successfully. ^^)
"Cloud,"
Zack , who finally managed to squeeze himself out from the crowd, stood at a safe distance from his raging friend. "c'mon man, you don't have to do this..."
"Take Rinoa from Trepe." Cloud dictated to him warningly.
The agitated Zack knew he couldn't do anything more. Cloud had always listened to him, and he had always supported his blonde friend. He knew him well, and the battle Cloud had gotten himself into was inevitable. This situation had demanded him to step out of the way.
Zack shook his head and turned to a stunned Quistis, who was holding Rinoa by her shoulders. He knew Rinoa should be safe with Squall's friend, and so did Cloud. The strict instruction given was out of pride, that he didn't need any help from his rival's section
"There's no need for that." Squall's low voice shot back. It brought chills down Rinoa's spine.
"Cloud, please." The girl in the middle began pleadingly, tears beginning to form in her eyes out of fear. But Cloud did not look at her. "I gave him a sandwich and he jus-"
"Stay away from her."Cloud growled at the manacing brunette.
"Make me!" Squall yelled in reply. Too quickly, before Cloud can even blink, he grabbed the nearest food tray and swung it to Cloud, but the blonde's reflexes were just as fast and avoided the attack by dashing away from his enemy. He landed on his knees several feet away from Squall, and luckily found a long, metal tube. He clutched it tightly in his hands and ran with great speed towards his rival, who was disconcerted by Cloud's sudden discovery of a weapon. With the tray as the only shield he had, Squall held it in front of him, in time to defend himself from the charging blonde who swayed the bar, aiming at the brunette's head.
Squall pushed himself away as he jumped from Cloud and perched beside a chair with metal legs. He threw the tray away and picked the chair up as soon as he saw the storming Cloud, who was holding the bar above his head for another strong attack. With two hands, the brunette gathered all the strength he can muster and poured it to each of the chair's legs, which blocked the blonde's steel. With endless clanging of metals, the two sparred with Cloud surprisingly having the advantage, despite wielding a single bar against the chair's four. Ultimately, he swung a vigorous blow that threw the chair away from Squall's grasp and pushed him to the ground. But the brunette didn't give up. He quickly dismembered one leg from the chair and then stood up to face the approaching Cloud. They sparred again, which felt easier and lighter for Squall.
And then, possibly out of the momentum he had with the chair, Squall swung his metal bar to Cloud, so powerfully that it heaved the blonde to midair and his weapon flew far away from his hands. The brunette took advantage of the opening and ran as fast as he could to charge at the unarmed Cloud, who quickly broke one of the metals legs from a nearby chair and blocked Squall's assault.
They crossed swords (or bars) again, though this time equal in strength and in weapon, but Cloud knew he would never win that way. He darted away from Squall and jumped by the metal bar he was weilding earlier. He picked it up with his free hand before he ran towards an even annoyed Squall. Despite having one bar against two, Squal still managed to block Cloud's attacks.
Finally, the blonde's enemy decided he won't be playing fair anymore. He blocked Cloud's left hand with his only weapon as he raised his right leg with a kick at Cloud's torso and pushed himself up in the air. Then, he targetted Cloud's chin and kicked it with his other foot. Cloud staggered from Squall's strike and fell on his back as Squall cartwheeled his way in midair to his safe landing on the floor.
But before he can prepare himself, the raging Cloud threw one of his bars to Squall, who successfully blocked it with his own weapon. But the impact was so strong it dragged him further away. Furious, he growled dangerously and charged at Cloud.
But someone else had enough.
Suddenly, plates with food were thrown to the dueling rivals, who were shocked with the unexpected intereference. They halted with their fight with a long pause and removed the plates from their heads. Squall had mashed potato on the half part of his face, and he had to swipe it all off to see clearly with his eyes. Cloud had long spaghetti strands hanging on his spiky hair, with the sauce staining his head and face.
As the two rivals removed the food on their faces, they searched for the person who threw it at them. But it didn't take them too long to look for Rinoa, who was standing in front of the crowd, breathing fumingly at the sight of their fight.
During their entire confrontation, while the crowds were cheering loudly at the two fighters, Rinoa was screaming for them to stop. But none of those were heard by the two combating enemies. She became desperate and took two plates and hurled those at them instead. She knew that if she didn't do that, the brawl would've gotten longer.
Rinoa glared at both of them, with the most lethal yet that stunned both Squall and Cloud. She would've said 'Stop it you two!' but she already did that for them, though non-verbally. She thought of stronger words to say.
"If you two think I'm judging everything with a fight, then you're wrong." She growled. "I'm on nobody's side! I HATE BOTH OF YOU!"
She stormed out of the cafeteria's swinging door, that gave her a more welcoming exit.
Her feet didn't stop walking, her heart told her never to stop while her mind asked where in the part of the school she was. One thing Rinoa knew was she needed hell of a long time to be alone, to think and to calm herself down. She didn't like the idea of fighting over her, especially with two of her friends. It has always been her dilemma. She thought she was done with her part when she talked to both of them and let them know what she thought about their rivalry. She thought Cloud's nod told her that he would trust Squall more. She thought Squall's explanation back at his house clearly told her that he too, wanted this whole feud to end. But what happened now did not prove any of those. Rinoa's hope, which had reached the highest level that the chance of the two making up will be possible, suddenly fell back down to ground zero.
They're idiots, she tried to convince herself. They don't know what they're doing. They're only leaking with pride and arrogance, that's why they fought.
And she couldn't stand those kind of people.
Rinoa had been walking for quite a long while, she figured she probably had reached the farthest and most hidden part of the school, shunning her away from the rest of the world. Offices and storage rooms surrounded her, but she has yet to see one person in that area. She went to a corner of the dead end and sat on the floor. She hugged her kneews and buried her face between them as she began to sob.
"Well, well, well. Look what we have here."
Rinoa heard a female voice tautingly said. She raised her head and saw three female students standing in front of her. They were all menacingly grinning down on her, especially the one on the middle with bright blond hair filled with huge hairpins who had one hand placed on her waist.
"S-sorry?" Rinoa eyed them questioningly.
"Oh, you poor dear. We saw you walk out of the cafeteria after the whole fight between the two hottest and perfect men in the whole world." The blonde one squeakingly replied. Rinoa rolled her eyes.
"Oh you want to argue?"
Rinoa shook her head.
"Good. Then I want to make some things clear with you."
The other two girls behind her, one with curly black hair and the other one with long, brown hair and thick make-up (whom Rinoa thought she saw once at the library when she returned her Psychology book a few days back) stepped forward, lifted Rinoa up and pushed her hardly against the wall. Pain stabbed Rinoa's back.
The blonde one walked closer to Rinoa's face, glowering at her intently. "I know you're becoming closer to Cloud and Squall. And I want you to to stay away from them." She said threateningly. Then, she touched Rinoa's chin gently, sending a stinging sensation to her skin. "I simply don't want other people getting anywhere near my precious boys. Are we clear on that?"
Fear instilled inside Rinoa as she stared at the cold and mocking face of the girl before her.
Tifa followed Rinoa out of the cafeteria, but she lost sight of her almost immediately.
"Rinoa!" She called. But there was no answer.
The hallways were empty. All the students were at the canteen. The others who walked out from the commotion were possibly at the gym, waiting for the lunchbreak to end. Teachers were at the lounges where they had their own kitchen to make lunches with, completely oblivious of the chaos.
She could be anywhere, Tifa thought. But the school was big, and anywhere meant tedious searching.
"Rinoa, where are you..." Tifa hysterically said under her breath.
She searched the gym, but only found a few people. No Rinoa.
She went to the library and thought it could be Rinoa's favorite place. But she wasn't there either.
She passed by the hall where offices and storage rooms where aligned, but thought Rinoa couldn't possibly found any comfort from eerily empty places such as that one.
Until she heard that voice, that annoying squeaky one that belonged to none other.
"I simply don't want other people getting anywhere near my precious boys. Are we clear on that?" It said.
Tifa looked at the source's direction.
Viola. There she was. She finally found Rinoa. Only she was pinned against a wall by two female students while the other one with noticebaly blonde and overly decorated hair was standing so close to the cornered Rinoa.
"Leblanc!" Tifa yelled dangerously and wore a deathly frown as she walked quickly towards them.
The blonde one snapped her head to Tifa, her derisive face suddenly turned into worry at the sight of Cloud's friend. She quickly stepped farther away from Rinoa, as the other two girls finally let go of her shoulders.
Tifa rushed by the frozen Rinoa's side and put an arm around her. "Leblanc, what were you doing to her?" Tifa furiously demanded.
"Oh, we just had a small girl to girl talk." Leblanc, the blonde one, replied nervously.
"Once I find out what this is about, Cloud will know about it. And it's gonna be you who will avoid him." Tifa growled as she clung protectively on Rinoa.
The blonde bully looked at Rinoa then to Tifa.
"Hmph! C'mon girls." She eyed Rinoa balefully before walking out of the hall.
As soon as they disappeared, Tifa gave Rinoa a worried look. "Rinoa, dear, are you alright?"
Rinoa, who still had her eyes fixed at Leblanc and her gang, meekly nodded.
Tifa knew it wasn't the truth. Rinoa wasn't fine at all. All the bad parts of her day happening in one lunchbreak could be pretty overwhelming. She gave Rinoa another warm hug, who suddenly bursted out crying on Tifa's shoulder.
During the Psychology class, Rinoa dragged her chair away from Cloud, who watched her regretfully as she settled at the other corner of the class. It wasn't because Leblanc threatened her to stay away from him. It was because she was still mad at him, for making her expect with something that was as good as a promise. And he broke it with a single sway of his metal bar.
It made Cloud uncomfortable. It made him feel like a failure. Again. And it was the last thing he wanted. But he couldn't help it, he just didn't like seeing Squall standing beside Rinoa, buying her lunch when he was supposed to do that for her. It felt like his rival stole that duty away from him.
Then again, it wasn't his obligation to buy Rinoa her lunch.
But why would Squall do that? Maybe to piss him off. Maybe...
In the end, It lead to another fight. And he felt sorry, more than ever, that Rinoa had to see it.
Just because their rivalry got in the way again.
Squall, on the other hand, waited at his usual corner inside the library for a miracle to happen.
He didn't like what he heard at the cafeteria after the fight.
"I HATE BOTH OF YOU!"
He was simply fighting for his right to buy her a lunch as a repay for the sandwich, until Cloud decided to be a smartass and stepped into his way, thinking that he was the only one allowed to get Rinoa some food.
But he wanted to buy Rinoa her lunch too, even before she gave him a sandwich. Even before Cloud started buying her lunch. As a matter of fact, he wanted to be the first one to buy her lunch.
He wanted to be the one beside her. To spend her lunch with.
Actually, he wished he was Cloud, so he would be the one entitled to spend more time with her. To protect her from the rival's leader, or anyone from his gang. To be the first one she would know and depend on. But no, it was Cloud that was given that kind of privilege.
"Lucky bastard."
On the other hand, his father was a good friend to Rinoa's father, and that was enough connection. But then, the old men barely see each other. And it meant that either will they.
I guess I'm just lucky we're schoolmates, he thought. But it didn't help. Rinoa hated him now.
Whatever. I don't care, he tried to persuade himself.
No matter how he denied it, he never cared so much about what a person thought of him, much less hated him, especially someone from 3-B. Never, until Rinoa came. Now, more than anything, he became conscious about how she saw him, how she would look at him. He had hurt her for quite several times, compared to Cloud who had always been nice to her, which made Squall look like the bad one. And he couldn't blame her, he was barely kind to anyone and that was just how he is. He wasn't good in showing how he really feels because he was worried that it might affect how people would think of him. It was enough for him to be called the 'Mean, introverted guy from 3-A'. But Rinoa, she never seemed to mind, and she was the type that forgives easily. Only that, he saw how mad she was during the break, and Squal hoped she will forgive him this time for fighting Cloud just right after he told her that he wanted the rivalry to end. He wasn't just being mean anymore, he became a hypocritical jerk too.
While he reflected on Rinoa, he saw someone enter the row of bookshelves at the corner of his eye. His heart jumped and quickly turned to see who it was.
But it wasn't the Rinoa he wanted to see.
"Oh, Squall! Didn't expect to see you here." It was Leblanc, one of his loyal stalkers.
Of course you didn't, Squall wanted to reply sarcastically.
She stood there for another moment, but Squall didn't care. He was much too serious about his problem to give her any attention, not like he ever did.
"I hope you still remember me." She said sincerely. "My name's Leblanc, I'm from 3-C? I'm a classmate of your friend Tidus." She giggled.
Squall stopped himself from rolling his eyes. He remembered when he was still in his second year, Tidus reluctantly introduced Leblanc to him out of her insistent request. Ever since then, much to his annoyance, she would give him flirty glances everytime he saw her anywhere at the school. He was glad that she had not discovered his favorite private place yet... until now.
"I'm sorry about the fight with Cloud this lunchbreak." Squall couldn't tell if she was being sad or happy, with her squeaky voice. "And that girl, she was being too mean to say those things to you!"
Squall shook his head. "No. It wasn't her fault. I understand her, I deserve what she said."
"Oh, honey, no!" Squall was surprised with her soothing voice and- wait, did she just call me 'honey'?
"Whatever, it's none of your business." Squall plainly said and walked away, leaving the embarassed Leblanc. He had enough of her attempted invasion of space.
Cloud's walk home wasn't a comfortable one, and Zack's silence wasn't helping either. He kept recalling how Rinoa completely shut herself off from him. She didn't even look at him for at least a second. She was clearly angry at him, and it bothered Cloud Strife. The usually warm and cheerful Rinoa had turned cold because of what he had done. He began to think that it was all Squall's fault, but they both ended up fighting each other. Why didn't he just stop it instead? Why couldn't he trust Rinoa to take care for herself?
But it wasn't easy, and it was Cloud's perfect excuse why he always had to step in between wasn't sure about Squall's true intention, and who knows if they were genuinely nice. But the past he had with Squall was never a good one.
He looked up at the sky. It was snowing, but he didn't bring a jacket, his body was unusually resistant of the cold. But he wondered if Rinoa at least brought a coat with her. He would've went back to school and help her back home like last time but there were many reasons why he didn't do that. He didn't have a coat to cover her up for warmth to begin with. Secondly, there were no traffic problems and her driver will pick Rinoa up to bring her home immediately, so walking her home was pointless. Finally, he was scared to receive even more cold glares from her that were worse than being thrown with foods and plates.
Cloud and Zack reached home with neither of them talking, even until they reached the tall structure where both of them resided. They entered the building and as usual, they were greeted by the pretty, red haired receptionist.
"Good afternoon Mr. Strife, Mr. Fair."
"Hey Cissnei! What's up?" Zack greeted back with a forced cheery voice.
Both stepped into the elevator and Zack pushed the number '17'. After a while, they finally reached their floor and silently entered their suite.
On the couch at the receiving area sat a ginger head adult, wearing his usual crimson cloak, reading his favorite book 'Loveless'. He had been reading it everyday in his whole life, but everyone in the suite already understood that it was a part of him.
And then, from one of the six bedrooms in the flat, another adult with black hair came out.
"Hey kids," He greeted. "How was school?"
"Yeah... well, it was fine Angeal." Zack scratched the back of his head.
"Yeah?" The black haired detected the edginess in Zack's reply.
"I had a fight," Cloud said without looking at Angeal. "with Leonhart."
"Again. Why am I not surprised." Angeal crossed his arm.
"Be quiet, I'm trying to read." The one sitting on the couch irritably said.
"Sorry Genesis." Zack apologized.
Cloud walked into his bedroom and closed his door.
"So, Sephiroth is not back yet?" Zack curiously asked Angeal in a low voice, careful that he might disturb Genesis again. He shook his head.
"Not yet. But he said he'll be back within thirty minutes or less. Why? Cloud?"
"Yeah, the school principal might ask for Cloud's guardian again or something because of the fight. Unless you wanted to posse as his guardian in Sephiroth's place!"
Angeal shook his head. "It's a bad idea."
Zack gave him a puzzled look. "How come? I don't see anything wrong with that."
Angeal snickered. "They don't want to see the same face again when you get yourself into trouble."
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean!"
"SSSHHH!! Keep your voice down!" Genesis ordered impatiently.
Angeal chuckled.
"I'm sorry! I'm so-"
Zack was cut by a ring of the phone.
He sighed. "I got it."
Zack picked up the phone. "Hyellow?... Sephiroth! What's up man?... Oh, Cloud's in his room, why?... Sure thing! I'll go tell him.... No problem! Bye!"
The black haired teenager put the phone back down and turned to Angeal as he walked to Cloud's room. "It was Seph, he just got back from the mission. He said he needs Cloud at the examination room."
Cloud stood patiently inside the elevator as it brought him down to the third floor where Sephiroth was waiting for him. It had became a routine for both of them; everytime his guardian Sephiroth comes back from a mission, he would call Cloud and fill him in with new things that he got from his experience as a General.
After he heard the 'ding', Cloud stepped out of the elevator, headed left and went into the small, examination room. Seated on one of the silver chairs was a tall adult with long, silver hair and pale skin. His icy blue eyes with slitted pupils looked up at Cloud as soon as he heard the door closed.
"You rang?" The blonde asked.
"Come, I'll give you a task to do." Sephiroth said with his big, low voice as he stood up and walked towards a door behind him. Cloud followed. Then, his mentor gestured at him to open it himself.
After he did, his sky-blue eyes widened with surprise as he looked at the only occupant of the room.
On the single bed at the center of the brightly lit, white room, laid a sleeping girl with green, curly hair tied in a red ribbon. She was just about Cloud's age, and even if he had not seen her in a very, very long time, Cloud could still clearly remember who she was.
"Kefka got hold of her again when I infiltrated his secret base. So I saved her from him." Sephiroth began to explain. "This time, instead of bringing her back to her own base, I took her with me for her own protection. And I'm giving you the mission to look after her."
Cloud didn't take his eyes off the slumbering girl. After all the years she had been away from him, he wasn't expecting to ever see her again, though he planned to search for her after he has gotten stronger like what he had promised her. His mouth opened and muttered the name of the girl he was put in charge to protect.
"Terra."
A/N: Next chapter, Cloud's past. :3