Um...I'm sorry this took a while to put up...I've been the walking sneeze this week and I actually did homework (gasp) I know, I know...anyways. Chapter 8 folks. I just completely lost my train of thought...I was going to say something really interesting too. Dang. Well then I guess I have to say:
Don't own FF7...among many other things. So there. I don't wanna own it anyways. I'd rather have all the cuties of the FF world be cloned and given to me : ) Well a girl can dream, right? Meh...anyways. Read the chapter.
Chapter Eight-
"This is why I didn't want to let you out." Cloud whispered.
I thought of several comebacks I could make, but never found any good ones. We had been standing here for several minutes with Cloud hiding me against his chest.
"Well what should we do?" I asked. "There's way too many to fight, I doubt we can outrun them all, and I still don't know how so many appeared out of no where."
Cloud slid his arm to rest on the wall near my head in an attempt to hide me better.
"They must be really desperate to get you. They're pulling out all the stops." He sighed as he took a pause to think. "We should have looked before we turned that corner, we may have been able to see that they were hiding from direct view and avoided this whole situation."
A soldier passed by as Cloud finished, barely glancing at us.
"It's getting harder to hide you, someone's gonna notice soon…" Cloud said. "Maybe we can make a run for it if they can't see your face."
"Sounds good, but how?"
Another pause of silence followed. During that time, I started to feel drained.
"Cloud…I don't feel so good…" I said weakly. My legs felt shaky and the whole rest of my body felt exhausted.
"What is it?"
"I don't know…it feels like I've done a really strong spell and drained myself or something…but I was just fine a minute ago." My legs gave way and Cloud grabbed my waist against him in order to keep me from crashing down to the concrete.
"Maybe it's your cold," he offered as he shifted us both in a more comfortable position, which is hard to do when your other hand is trying to hide two faces. "I guess that takes out the option of you running for it."
But it doesn't FEEL like my cold…it feels different. Maybe I really am changing. But what about me is changing, or what into? What if Sephiroth is right? No! Stop thinking about this! Mind over matter! If I convince myself I'm fine then I will be. I've learned to muddle through physical ailments and continue on before. No different now, right?
"Have any other ideas?" I asked hopefully.
Yet another pause.
"I have one idea…" my blonde companion announced cautiously. "Just go with it ok?"
"Go with what?" I demanded. It wasn't long before I had my answer.
No sooner than the last word escaped my mouth did I find myself being lifted up by large, muscular arms and thrown over the shoulder they were connected to.
"Cloud!" I squealed with surprise. "You couldn't have carried me some other way?"
"This is the only way I can think of to hide your face and get you back to the apartment. Now shush and keep your head down."
"Alright, but if I feel anything move an inch higher and I will smack you so hard it'll-" I was cut off by a new voice that had entered the scene.
"Everything okay here?" It was a soldier.
That just figures…the one time someone in SOLDIER is helpful and it's gonna end up screwing me over. I swear if I ever meet lady luck I will kill her. Or perhaps hold her hostage. Whichever is more amusing at the time.
I instantly shot my head as far down and out of view as I could, which I noticed Cloud do too. Looks like I'm not the only one unfriendly with ShinRa. I then shook my head in an affirmative answer and hoped and prayed to God that he would just walk away. But today just wasn't my day.
"Everything's fine." Cloud's voice was lower than it usually was. I assumed he was trying to keep his identity secret too. I guess word got around that Cloud was housing a wanted person. How he stands out less than me, I'll never know. I mean look at his hair. Cute, but kind of stand-out-ish.
"Okay, well if either of you see a girl running around with dark hair and blue eyes, let us know. We're trying to catch the tramp."
I can't believe how stupid he is…he just described me and yet he is completely clueless and-wait a second…TRAMP?
"TRAMP?" I screamed as I shot my head up to look the man in the eye. I let my pride grab a hold of me for two seconds and it causes me a world of trouble. "I may be many things but I am not a tramp! If you're going to insult me do it properly you ninny! I don't even know where the hell you got 'tramp' from! Considering my oh-so-colorful past with you men!" It was official. My brain never did reconnect itself back to my mouth from before. It was still spouting off as usual.
When I finally was able to stop, I nearly kicked myself for being so incredibly stupid.
"Aw f-"
"It's you! I mean she's you! I mean you're her! I mean…OVER HERE!" The soldier's scream caught the attention of every soldier in the city. All 2000 of them.
"Great job miss foot-in-my-mouth! Let's go!" And with that, Cloud started to run back towards the familiar building where his apartment rested.
I watched as a sea of soldiers followed after us and boy did I feel stupid.
"Even if we get up there in tact, what's going to stop them from banging down the door and killing us all?" I had to wrap my arms around Cloud's sheath to keep myself from bouncing around due to the speed we were traveling at.
"We'll build that bridge when we get there!"
"Don't you mean cross it?"
"No, I'm pretty sure we're gonna have to build it. Again, very smooth!"
"Hey, I'm sorry ok! And I would appreciate it if you would refrain from your sarcastic remarks while I suffer from motion sickness…could you bounce any more while you run!"
Cloud thrust me off his shoulder and back on my own two feet.
"Fine, then you can run!" he retorted as he grabbed my wrist and pulled me along.
"Ow! Ow ow ow ow ow ow!" I whined as I sprinted along just a step behind him.
We made it to the building without too much trouble, but once we got there we were greeted by more men in uniforms.
"Unh!" I snapped the first one's neck in one swift movement.
"You're sure enjoying this." Cloud replied to my action as he cut two of them in half.
"Yeah well," I snapped another one. "They piss me off."
I smacked the last one around for a few seconds before finishing him off as well. As the body dropped to the ground, my mako-eyed friend pulled my arm again and dragged me up the six flights of stairs.
"You HAD to live on the sixth floor didn't you!"
He didn't respond, instead he slammed open the door and shoved me inside, and bolted it behind him.
"What's going on?" Tifa questioned.
I took a second to notice that everyone was there before replying. "SOLDIER. They're all out there and they're coming."
"Come on, everyone in that room and away from the door!" Cloud ordered as he ushered us into the middle room on the right.
It had the same basic structure as the one I was using, but it was styled in blue and black everywhere. The bed was neatly made in the center of the room against the back wall, with a dark wood dresser to the right of it. There was no window since it was in the middle, which is what we were aiming for. Stand by the window and we'll get shot down. Stand too close to the outside wall and they might break through. This room might buy us a little more time. This room was Cloud's. No one had to tell me, I just knew it. It looked and smelled like him. I didn't even realize he had a scent until we were locked away behind closed doors. It was hard to describe, especially with the pomegranate candles masking it, but nonetheless, it was there. The only words I can use are comforting and gentle. That is what the scent was.
"These doors won't hold for long." Vincent's voice was grating as it pierced through my thoughts and snapped me back to reality.
"We can take em!" Yuffie shot her fist in the air with determination and popped her leg.
"Sure Yuffie, you can go kill as many as you like. Then when you come back with no arms, we can say at least you tried." I replied sardonically. "There's too many!"
"Cloud, what should we do?" Tifa placed her hand gingerly on our blonde leader's arm, which was crossed on his chest.
He was stoic in response, and appeared to be deep in thought. You could tell by the way he furrowed his brow and how he seemed to stare blankly at absolutely nothing for long periods of time.
"Why don't we just give those SOLDIER punks what they want? Why should we risk our hide to save her?" Our teenage ninja declared crossly.
"I am older than you and I can whoop your sorry ass easily! Bring it punk!" I strode forwards to smack her, but was refrained by Skye.
I noticed the dark haired girl rush towards me as well, and like me, was held back by someone. Vincent.
"I am so gonna hurt you! You sniveling, whining, pathetic excuse of a female!" I spat as I tried to get out of my friend's grip.
"Pfft! I'd like to see you try!"
"Ok retract the claws!" Skye shouted. "Yuffie, Missy, stop this bitch-fest and settle down! We have more important issues right now! Get your priorities straight! Or I will hurt BOTH of you!"
The room was silent. Both of us calmed down enough to be released and not have our first impulse be to rip the other's throat out.
"Now," the red head sighed as she swiped a stray bang from her eyes. "How about we think of something useful before we all get shot to pieces."
"I still don't see why we can't go with my idea…" Yuffie grumbled.
"What was that!" I snapped as I put my fist to my hip.
"Yuffie," Cloud broke in. "We are too deep in to back out now. Besides, we can't just give up an innocent person to ShinRa, much less a friend."
A friend? I guess I never gave it much thought, but I had come to feel like some of these people were my friends. Or at least potential friends. But the fact that I was a friend in return never crossed my mind. Thinking about it, it should have. I mean, I trusted Cloud enough to help me, and to possibly be a friend. Why shouldn't I have figured that maybe I wasn't just the "damsel in distress", and maybe indeed a friend to someone else for the first time in a while?
I'm giving this too much thought…this is stupid. Focus! Focus! Are Tifa and Cloud…dating? FOCUS DAMMIT!
"This still leaves us with the question of how to get out, and now we've wasted precious time…" Our raven haired, red eyed, half-demon announced with the same, harsh voice as always.
"Missy, can't you create a portal?" Skye asked.
"Well, sorta. I mean, I CAN but the last time I did that it was with the help of Sephiroth. I'm not sure if I have the power or strength to do it on my own. I felt really drained earlier, and it's mostly gone now but it might give me problems with the spell."
"Well, what if we all combined our focus and energy into the spell? Like, letting you borrow our power to do it."
I thought for a moment. It could work. It'd be tricky, but it could work.
Bangs on the door made me hurry my thinking. "Let's try it!"
We gathered around in a circle and held hands. Skye and I were on opposite ends to keep the flow even, since we both had similar magical strength. Skye just never honed her skills. Standing next to me was Cloud, and next to him was Tifa, who joined hands with Skye. On my left, stood Yuffie and next to her, Vincent.
"Wait! Where's Red?" Tifa burst out.
We heard a soft growl and a thump as red fur slipped out from under the covers at the end of the bed.
"What's going on? I was napping." Red yawned, bearing his pearly white fangs.
"We're creating a portal to hopefully transport us somewhere safe. SOLDIER is coming after us." I explained.
More bangs followed, and the door started to bend under the pressure from the outside force.
"Now! Everyone focus their energy towards Missy!" Skye ordered as she squeezed the hands that were in her own.
I began to chant the spell in a loud, clear voice. Hoping with all my heart that it would work.
"I beg thee passage, time and space
To a haven warm and safe
Let my will be cast by thee
Take us now and set us free!"
I waited a few seconds and nothing happened, only the sounds outside filled our ears. I started again.
"I beg thee passage, time and space
To a haven warm and safe
Let my will be cast by thee
Take us now and set us free!"
"Where the hell did you get that spell!" Skye shouted. "'I beg thee passage, time and space'!"
"Well the English translation is a bit weird! I'm not the one who wrote it in the first place! Blame the "blind Tibetan monks" or whoever! Sorry I don't speak dead ancient languages!" I shot back defensively. "So the spell sounds a bit weird. Big whoop. I don't care as long as it saves us!"
The air started to whoosh around the room, playing with everyone's hair.
"Keep concentrating! I think its working!"
I began chanting again, and the wind picked up. It thrashed around us violently, flapping hair in our faces and trying to push us around.
I had to scream the words over the loud sound. As I finished the last word for what seemed the umpteenth time, there was a large cracking sound, followed by a shot of blue lighting. It was a small line, in the center of our circle, floating in mid air. It began to tear apart like a zipper. As it opened up, a bluish purplish portal began to appear. It was no bigger than a dinner plate at first, but it grew into the size of the door.
"That's it!" I yelled. "Get in!"
Red jumped through first, followed by Skye and Vincent. Yuffie looked hesitant, but one look from Cloud sent her running in full speed. Tifa gave Cloud a glance and squeezed his hand before letting go and joining the others.
At that moment the door burst open and the multitude of soldiers were revealed.
"Go!" Cloud took my hand and we ran to the portal. Just before we hit the tear in time, a bullet grazed Cloud's arm, and another one across my back. But we didn't scream in pain, we were too busy traveling through the sea of blue.
We had thumped to the floor on our hands and knees, gasping for breath. I noticed the crimson liquid trickling down my friend's right arm as he rose to his feet.
"That was…really…really…not fun…" I panted. A lump rose to my throat and I rushed into the bathroom, where I lost anything and everything I had eaten in the past 24 hours. Along with a noticeable amount of blood.
After a few minutes, I regained my composure and spat out the remaining taste circling about my mouth. I looked around.
That's odd…
I walked back out where everyone else was, and was greeted with Yuffie's whining.
"We didn't go anywhere!" she complained. "We're still in Cloud's apartment!"
"That can't be…" I murmured as I strode over to the door and peeked outside. It looked just like the housing we just left. The only difference was that there were no soldiers. I walked past the staircase and stopped at the window. There was another difference.
"Um guys? I don't think we're in Midgar anymore…"
The rest of the gang joined me by the glass, and let out a few gasps of surprise.
We were above thousands of people in the middle of a bustling city. Bright lights traced over signs everywhere above the massive amount of shops and buildings.
"Where are we?" Tifa asked.
"We're in…" I shook my head in disbelief. "We're in Tokyo!"
"Where's Tokyo?" Cloud joined in.
"It's in Japan…"
"Where's that?"
I shook my head again. "It's on Earth…"
"How did we end up here?" he continued to ask.
"I'm not sure. Something's weird though…"
"What do you mean?" Yuffie leaned over the railing outside the window, admiring everything in sight.
"Well, I can sense this mystical energy…" I began. "But this is Tokyo. Earth! There isn't supposed to be magic in this dimension."
"Wait, does that mean we can't use magic here?" Yuffie pulled out her biggest pout at the thought of not being able to use material.
"No, you can. It's just a bit harder and it takes a bit of time getting used to using it here. But that's because we come from a dimension where we can use magic. These people here can't. So I shouldn't be sensing magic."
"Maybe you're sensing us, or our magic. It's possible right?" Cloud added as he too leaned over the rail.
"No, it's stronger. It's definitely something else. Something…big. It has a different feel to it."
"So what do we do now?" It was Vincent's turn to speak.
"I don't know. But…" I thought for a moment. "We should be safe here. At least from ShinRa. It's my knowledge that they can't travel through dimensions, and let's hope it stays that way. So for now…I guess we take it easy."
We stood there in silence for a while, letting everything sink in. So it seemed we were safe, for the time being. I had told everyone that we could relax for a bit, but I was going to see what had traveled into this world along with us.
"You're bleeding." Cloud said. I noticed that everyone had gone to stand by the rail, and that Cloud and I were the only ones held back. I wondered when he had moved back to join me.
"Yeah, so are you." I replied.
"Just a scratch." He shrugged. "Why don't I help you with it?"
We walked over to the kitchen where I jumped up and sat on the edge of the counter. Cloud slipped off his gloves and held a washcloth under the warm water.
"Turn around."
I did so, and held my hair over my shoulder. There was a long cut high up on my back, just below my shoulders. It trickled down a few inches and almost came to the top of my shirt. It was low enough in the back that it was spared of any scratches or blood stains.
I felt Cloud press the cloth firmly on my wound with his bare fingers. They were just like 'his'. Slender and soft, but also very strong. I had to remind myself who was behind me more than once.
During my thinking, I suddenly felt a warm breath upon my skin. I twisted my head around to see Cloud squint his eyes while looking at the cut.
"What is it?"
"That's funny…" he murmured. "It's closed up. It's already almost gone. Like it was never there in the first place."
He set the cloth down and traced his finger over the spot. I shuddered at the touch, and I felt my mouth tense up. It felt like he was touching it for several minutes before finally pulling his hand away, slowly.
"Um," my voice faltered as I said my words. "Here, I'll take care of yours." I quickly washed off the blood from his large bicep and tied a bandage around it that was nearby. The second I finished I rushed out of the kitchen and joined everyone else.
"You know what bothers me?" Tifa said. "It's the fact that the apartment is exactly the same. I don't get it."
"Perhaps there was an apartment here before, and when we traveled here, the traits of the previous apartment carried over as well." It made enough sense to me.
Again silence followed, and it continued on into the night. Everyone was trying to go to bed, but I had a feeling that most were like me, and were simply staring at the ceiling. I just couldn't stop thinking of all the things that didn't make sense. ShinRa, Sephiroth, why we came here, that energy that consumes this dimension, how my wound healed so fast, and then, there was Cloud.
I finally got out of Midgar! The reasoning behind the whole apartment thing is...well...basically, I'm too lazy to come up with a new design for their hang out, and I'm rather fond of how it looks in my mind. And why Tokyo you may ask? No reason. I just like Tokyo, as I do JPOP and other Japanese things. I don't know why, I just do. Oh, and I know the little spell was kinda lame, but it's the best I could do ok? I'm not good at writing spells and such...mostly because the ones I hear on TV shows are in other languages or else I just have a really hard time rhyming it and making it sound decent. Sorry...
I'm really trying to think of something else to say here...but my brain just wont work with me today. So since I can't think of anything, go review please! It makes me happy! Seriously! It makes my day. I do the snoopy dance of joy! Not as good as Xander though. His is just cute. So again, go review, and I shall go back to annoying the neighborhood by singing JPOP. Hope I don't suck. ; ) TTFN