(Disclaimer: Plata-Azul Firebird does not own Final Fantasy 7, only her OCs… Otherwise, we might end up having a not-so-epic battle with the lawsuits.)
Altering Rhythm
Gentle Baroque
Silver: Okay, once more, the girls are together and they once more meet Aerith! And Baroque means a flowery and emotional music, which seems to be fitting… Also I notice that I also made one mistake in this story… and that one mistake is the timeline. Zack died on the end of September and AVALANCHE strikes on Reactor 1 on December… there's a two months gap where Cloud wanders around Midgar before he is hired by Tifa and the others. Here after Zack's death the girls decided to change their fate and unknowingly advances everything on finding Cloud… so yeah, probably Cloud's level is low than the usual yet retains some of Zack's skills and memories. And a bit of warning… since Mira is a songstress, expect some song fic in some chapters.
Gentle Baroque
Running thru Sector 6 at night is not a very suggestive since there are some monsters that are nocturnal. After putting to sleep a pair of Whole Eater and a Hell House that got on her way, Mira gets into Sector 5 but she hides a bit when she spotted Reno and a bunch of Shinra guards… and she notices something odd about him.
'He got a headache?' she thought, as the redhead swore that he took the wrong day to have a hang over… but it worth it since he met a nice bartender. Then they left for the church and as she is about to follow them…
Someone grabs her from behind.
"GAH!" she yelped. She turns around roughly and presses the keys, but the figure manages to avoid it.
"Da-Ack!" the figure yelped as she fell flat on her back. "Geez Luis! Mira!"
"Riley?" the songstress asked, out of breath and holding her chest. "Crud, you gave me a heart attack."
"Heart attack? You nearly killed me with that gig of yours!" she snaps back.
"That's because you grab me by the back!"
"Right, sorry about that."
"Same here, but we need to get Cloud and Aerith."
"Is Reno there?"
"Yeah, he is suppose to be the one who would try and kidnap Aerith, although… he's kinda staggering… Eh, what's funny?" the songstress asked, looking at her friend who is holding her giggles and rolls on her front. She tells her best friend about her encounter with him and Elena, and Mira couldn't help to gape at Riley before laughing a bit. "Seriously! You made him drink a Pangalactic Gargle Blaster! That's asking to be hit on the brain!"
"Hey, he asked for a drink that would knock him out and I gave it to him!" Riley stated with glee as she stands and dust herself.
"No wonder… and you got Elena's Turk ID?"
"Yup… this is going to be useful along with this." she shows thee songstress the Dark Fire Materia on her bangle. "It's Dark Fire from Crisis Core."
"Seriously?" and looks incredulously at the materia.
"Yeah, apparently from the rumors… Scarlet as been using them as energy source for machines, but that is just the rumors. Anyway, let's go see if Cloud and Aerith got out…" the mime noted. Nodding at this, they look out and heads for the church. Only when arriving at the area where there are more junk, they see a pair of figures jumping down the pile.
"Cloud!" Mira shouts
"CLOUDY!" the brunette, on the other hand, not only shouts but glomps on him as well.
"GAH!" the blonde yelps as he nearly loose his balance as the brunette praises the fact he's alive. "What the? Riley!" he exclaims, seeing the brunette clinging on him again with tears running down her face.
"I heard you fell, man!" she shouts at him and he mentally swears that his ears are starting to ring. "Who wouldn't be this over-reactive! I know you're a SOLDIER! But man, Cloudy, don't pull a stunt like that again!"
"Riley…" Mira calls out and the brunette turns to her best friend. "Get off him."
"Okay." and the blonde sighs in relief as the brunette let him go and then slightly freezes when he is hug again. But he notices it wasn't the mime, it's Mira.
"Good to see you up and still breathing." she quips with a smile and lets him go. "I guess I was right to trust you on that."
"You what?" but the songstress is quick to cut her best friend off.
"Shush, it's not polite to intrude." the ravenette stated quickly, looking at the brunette before looking back at the blonde.
"Heh, I'm glad you did." he stated, feeling proud at his survival feat and then looks back. "Also I owe it to her for looking out for me." Both girls tilts their heads to see Aerith behind him, with her staff out and once more looking wary at the two.
"Hey, that's… the lady who we bought the flowers from in Sector 8 right?" Riley asked, acting she just meet her again.
"Yeah, apparently I landed on her flower bed in the church and her name is Aerith." he noted.
The mime trots in front of the flower girl with her best friend on her side. "Hey, I'm Riley, thanks for helping him out."
"And I'm Mira and thanks for watching over Cloud here for us." the songstress stated and they both held out their hands. The flower girl seem to pause a moment, taking a quick look on the two before shaking their hands.
And right there… she can sense the huge differences between the two. As she retract her hand, she seems to relax a bit yet on guard while the two assumed to her to be reserved than her usual character in the game.
"So… Why is she with you, Cloudy?" the mime asked.
"It's Cloud." he snaps back a bit on the mime. "I kinda agreed to be her bodyguard since we ran into a bit of trouble back there."
"Really? You agreed to be her bodyguard?" the songstress asked and looks at their new friend. "What did he charge you? Something exorbitant? Way beyond your budget?"
She chuckles a bit and looks at them. "No, I just have to give him one date." she said, as she held up her index finger and Riley gets a lewd smile on her face as Mira grins at him.
"Cloud, seriously, you were about to die from hundreds of feet and not knowing if the flower bed will save you, you pick up girls after surviving?" the songstress asked amusingly as the blonde turns away and coughs.
"Oh wow, so does that mean if we run out of gil, we also offer him a date?" the mime asked and she thinks as the others looks at her. "But it got no gil to pay for the food and stuff for the date… Oh! Don't tell me, it's a one-night stand!"
Everyone bugged out on that one. "WHAT?" Cloud exclaims, his cheeks went a bit red and Aerith covers her face in embarrassment.
"Riley!" the songstress shouts with her keytar out and attempts to hit her best friend on the head. "Mind out of the gutter!" she shouts and swings her instrument at her, only she manages to avoid it and runs.
"Hiiieee!" the mime wailed as she runs. "Mira! That's a musical instrument! Not a big sword like Cloud's! It will break!"
"Hey, during the trip to Sector 5, I find this instrument to be very durable!" the songstress replied and tries to hit her again.
"What about the sounds?" as she hides behind the blonde, using him as a shield.
"No problem."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive! Now get away from him so I can hit you!"
The mime squeals as she runs away and her best friend chases her after, with Cloud and Aerith standing there for a moment before tailing behind. But the chase didn't last long and the songstress stops right in front of the entrance of the Sector 5 market. There she supports herself on a wall while breathing in and out, taking more oxygen as she is a bit burnt out. "Crud… that energizer bunny." she swears, as Riley is hiding somewhere in the market.
"My goodness, are you okay?" the flower girl asked as the songstress takes in one more breath and stands straight.
"I'm going to be fine…" Mira said and puts away her keytar. "Sorry about Riley, she's… quite a loud mouth."
Aerith laughs a bit. "It's okay, she seems to be a lively one."
"Lively? Try the term hyper." she miffs as she gets off the wall.
"Back to the point, Mira call back Riley and Aerith, where to now?" Cloud asked.
"Oh it's not that far… actually thanks to Riley, my house is beyond this market." the flower girl said as Mira calls her best friend and then she just pops out of nowhere giving them quite a surprise. They then follows the flower girl to her home, towards a bright space. Arriving there, the girls are awe on the sight of a flower-filled area, which grows and seems to shine more than the one they saw in the church. Mira leans a bit to look on Cloud and she can tell that he too is amaze, yet he does not show it… except thru his eyes.
Looking at it, she can see the faint mist in it, hiding the truth and creating a illusion that hides the pain. 'Cloud…' she thought and then the blonde notices her staring.
"Is there something wrong?" he asked.
"Oh, nothing, I was wondering if blue is the only color of Mako eyes…" she stated and looks away, as Aerith and Riley enters the house with them following behind.
"Yeah… blue eyes are the icon of SOLDIER that indicates that you are exposed to Mako." Then he notices her staring at his eyes again. "What?"
"Nothing… the glow just suits you." she stated as she enters the house with him following behind.
:::^*^:::
Inside is pretty homey and warm, like those interiors one would see in a countryside back in their world. Despite the size and lack of living room, it is comfortable and welcoming as Aerith calls for her mother.
'Well… adoptive mother…' Riley thought as a elder lady in a green dress and white apron came out from the kitchen.
"Mom, this is Cloud, Mira and Riley." Aerith introduces them to her mother and looks back at her. "They're my bodyguards."
"Bodyguards…?" her mother asked, then looks at her adoptive daughter with worry realizing they are after her again. "You mean you were followed again! Are you all right! You're not hurt, are you!"
"I'm all right. I had Cloud with me and these two are quite of a help." her daughter said and she looks at the blonde and the two girls.
"Thank you." Elmyra said with gratitude and a polite bow.
"So what are you going to do now?" the flower girl asked looking at the three as her mother went upstairs.
"Well, since we found Cloud, we'll have to bring him back to Tifa's bar in Sector 7." Mira stated.
"Yeah, but the gates are close for tonight" Riley added.
"D'oh… I guess we'll be spending a night here or in the Wall Market Inn."
"Oh don't worry." Aerith said and they look at her. "You guys are welcome to stay here for the night."
The three looks at each other and they shrugs. "I guess we can take up your offer then." Mira quips with a smile.
"By the way…" the flower girl stated and looks at Cloud. "Is Tifa…a girl?"
"Yeah." he answered and the two freezes for a moment to see his reaction on this one.
"A girl…friend?"
"No way!" he sputtered and shaking his head violently, as the two fell to the floor laughing so hard on his reaction and Aerith giggles.
"You don't have to be THAT upset." she points it out as the girls gets up and Cloud glares at the two. "Well… how about these two?" as she also looks at them.
"EH?" both girls stated and stops when she mentions that.
"Is one of you Cloud's girlfriend?" she asked, looking at them.
Mira seems to blush lightly on that one but is able to hide it from them, Rile, on the other hand… "I know, Cloudy here is charming, makes the ladies stare at him with hearts and all, but I'm opting more of a tall guy."
"Excuse me?" the blonde asked, he seems to be offended on that one.
"I'm an inch taller than you, buddy." the mime points out as he crosses his arms. "Oh don't be too upset, you'll grow taller… someday… just make sure you drink milk."
"Hey!" as both Mira and Aerith laughs.
"Hee, hee, anyway, Sector 7, right? You don't mind if I go with you there?" the flower girl asked as she breathes to stop laughing and calm down.
"You gotta be kidding. Why do you want to put yourself in danger again?" he turns at her.
"I'm used to it."
"Used to it! …Well, don't know… have enough getting help from girls…" he said out of thought.
"Well, excuse us!" Mira snaps and he flinches, realizing that he is in the presences of three ladies.
"A GIRL!" Also Aerith is quite peeved on that. "What do you mean by that!"
Now Cloud seems to be cornered and Riley takes this opportunity to fool around again. "Hey, don't tell me you're gay!"
"WHAT!" he yells on that one, glaring at the brunette and both Aerith and Mira burst out laughing again.
"Well, usually when a guy does not have any interest on girl, they're gays… since you don't have any interest on getting help from us, are you one?" the mime asked with a grin and hands on her chin, as if she's a detective. But seeing Cloud's death glare made her flinch slightly and backs away slowly. "Okay… maybe you're not." she quickly said.
After a good laugh. "Mom! I'm taking Cloud to Sector 7, tomorrow." the flower girl announces as her mother climbs down the steps.
"But dear…" but she is cut off on seeing her daughter's determined face, which mean that she made up her mind. "I give up. You never listen once you've made up your mind. But if they are staying here, you better go and make the bed for three."
"Okay mom." and she goes up the stairs to prepare their rooms, then she goes back down and looks at them. "Hey, is it okay for all of you to stay in one room?" she asked. "We only got one bed and a sleeping bag there."
They look at each other and Riley responses. "It's cool. Cloud can take the sleeping bag while we take the bed."
"Just make sure it has enough space, otherwise she'll drool on me again." the songstress added as her friend yelps a bit on that and she looks at Cloud. "Are you okay on this arrangement?" she asked.
"… Yeah, as long as we can get back to the bar quickly as possible." he stated, nodding at her as she heads back up. Then the elder woman takes a close look on the blonde and saw the glowing, blue eyes.
"That glow in your eyes… you're from SOLDIER, right?" she asked.
He seems to draw back a bit, when the elder woman knows about SOLDIER like her daughter. "Yeah… or rather I used to be one."
"… I don't know how to say this, but… would you and your friends please leave here, tonight? Without telling Aerith." the mother requested and the blonde seems to agree since he doesn't want to place her in danger. As he goes upstairs, the two girls heard this from Elmyra… "SOLDIER… the last thing Aerith needs to get her feelings hurt again…"
Both girls look at each other and decided to console this. "Excuse me…" Mira called.
"Yes?" the mother asked.
"… SOLDIERs are not that all bad… it's just…" Mira stated and tries to find a suitable word to describe Zack's Last Stand.
"Shinra is nasty when it comes to retirement…" Riley quickly intervenes when Elmyra is about to say something. "We both heard rumors that they don't give a "nice" retirement to their… high-ranking employees…" with a shrug and heads up. Both of them stares at her retreating figure and looks at each other.
"I guess I could only say, don't assume too much… kay?" the songstress quips and follows Riley to their room. There they saw Aerith bid the blonde good night and turns to them. "Good night, Aerith."
"Night, Aerith." Riley also bid her good night and the flower girl smiles.
"Good night." she replies and heads down the stair.
"Oh, man…" they heard the blonde groan and they both enters the room, closing it.
"Oh man indeed, how are we going to get out without alerting her?" Riley asked, despite knowing that they'll meet her right at the entrance of Sector 6, she can't help but to asked. The blonde shrugs as Mira sits on the bed and removes the keytar from her, placing it besides the bed. "Okay… so, mind telling me what comes in your mind when you decided to take the fall?" as she eyes the blonde.
He then explains the event back at the reactor and Mira add in some few pointers, as the brunette listens to all of this. After that… "Seriously, you are one destructive person, no wonder the family name Strife fits you best." as the brunette stated, as she falls on the bed and hits her head on the wall. "Ow!"
"Riley, be careful." the songstress said as she turns to Cloud. "By the way, you promise you are going to tell me about THAT time."
"He what?" the mime asked, sitting up straight and looking at the two, very interested on the topic.
"I'll tell you next time. For now, let's get some sleep." he stated, as he pulls out the sleeping bag and immediately lays down on it. Both girls stares at him before they look at one another.
"Is he… avoiding the topic? OW!" she yelps when she felt something smack on the back of her head, and turns to see her best friend glaring at her. "What?"
"Nosy." the songstress snaps as she takes the cover and lies down on the bed.
"Hey!" but no answer came and she sighs as she too lie down and sleeps.
:::^*^:::
The next morning, before the sun come out and before Cloud's sneaking attempt, the two are awake and have gears up. Mira left a note on Cloud's pauldron and then they sneak out carefully not to alert Aerith. Once out of the house, they head to the garden to find the purple materia which is the Cover Materia. Riley picks it up and pockets it, then turns to her best friend.
"Okay, mind telling me Cloud's avoidance on a topic?" The mime asked.
"We were suppose to be talking about the breakdown issue back in Reactor 5, unfortunately you're in the way." the songstress hissed.
"Oh… OH! I get it! Dr. Phil. My mistake." the mime sputtered and smacks her forehead. "I guess you'll be waiting for a more private moment once we save the people in Sector 7. Anyway, the next scene is coming soon." she said with glee and rubs her hands.
"The next…?"
"Oh come on, don't tell me you forgot! I mean we practically stayed there while watching over featherhead."
"Uh… AH! That's right! Wall market!" she said loudly and the mime quickly shush her, they look back at the house if they disturb anyone. Seeing that they didn't, they continue with the topic. "As much as we want to see Cloud get into a dress… We really can't, we have to save those people from the wrongful and senseless death that awaits them."
"Duh! I know, which why there are two of us, girl! If I weren't the manager of the band and the handy girl, I would go and watch that." the mime pouts a bit then looks at the ravenette and hugs her. "Please record it for me in your cellphone?"
"Eh? Why not yours?"
"Cause I need it in case we need to contact one another." she then let her go. "Besides you got the make-up kit, so Cloud will not suffer a homophobic trauma in that Honey Bee Inn."
"True… I don't think the underwear add much points do they?"
"From the wiki, they don't." then they heard the door open and saw the spiky blonde hair come out. Cloud silently closes the door and looks for the two, he finds them coming to towards him from the garden. Once they exchanges greetings, they quickly run off into the market and arriving there… "Whoa wait, wouldn't we buy potions first? I mean, we're going thru Sector 6."
"She's right, that place is filled with creatures and vicious houses." Mira points out.
"Fine, make it fast." he said and goes to an armor shop. The girls finds the Item shop and Mira bought some potions when…
"Riley!" a boy shouts and the brunette mime turns to see the familiar boy running towards them.
"Joey! Nice seeing you again." she quips.
"It's a good thing I found you, here." he then shoves a rather messy, wrapped gift to the mime. "It's a thank you gift for helping me find my wallet." she smiled and also thank him for the gift as he runs off. She opens it to find a turbo ether and notices something on the paper.
"Hey… this is…"
"Riley! Mira! Come on or I'm going to leave you!" they heard Cloud shouts. Mira quickly paid for the potions while Riley pockets the items, and they both scramble after the blonde who is nearby the pathway to the entrance of Sector 6. Once they regroup, they heads for the entrance… only to meet a certain pink, flower girl there.
"You're up bright and early." the flower girl stated cheerily at them.
"How could I ask you to go along when I knew it would be dangerous?" he said, almost he wants to face-palm right now.
"What about them?" she asked, looking at Riley and Mira.
"Hey, we manage to survive at this point." the songstress huffs as Riley places a hand on her shoulder.
"The thing is… Cloud's enhance, I'm a handy girl and she cast status-induce spells from this instrument." the mime points out. But she just giggles at that and tells them that they need to pass Sector 6 to get into Sector 7. She then runs ahead, leaving a frozen Cloud and two girls who shrugs at this. The two then grabs his arms and drags him into the hole and towards Sector 7. Then they heard a yell and they run to Aerith who is being surrounded by 4 Whole Eaters and a Hell House. "Oh snap, hold on Aerith! We're coming!" and focus on casting Matra Magic on the bugs… only to jump back when the Hell House launches a missile on them.
"Ack!" Mira yelps as she falls on her side while both Cloud and Riley are able to avoid it.
"Mira!" the mime shouts as she jogs other to her friend. "Are you okay?"
"Ow… do I look okay?" the songstress hissed at her.
"I think you are." and they both avoid another missile again. "That is not a haunted or a horror house-"
"Will you focus back on saving Aerith!" snapping at her as the songstress grabs her keytar and attacks back.
"Right! I guess this is the right time on testing this mean fire." the mime then focus on the Dark Fire Materia and casts it. Similar to Fire except with a darker hue, it flies toward a Whole eater, hitting it and inflicting poison. It made the creature stagger and whimper in pain, before collapsing on it's side having a hard time to breath. "Wow… I have an effective bug killer."
"Fire!" Cloud shouts as he cast a ball of flame and hit's the Hell House, which in turn changes it's appearance. It now looks more of a disfigured house with a lot of robotic arms, legs, what seems to be some machine parts and a head poking out on one side. It then attacks the blonde with Hell Press, which nearly flatten him if it weren't for the sword poking up, hitting the center and killing it effectively. The blonde grunts as he push the monster house away to see… Mira dancing in front of the Whole Eaters which got something black on their eyes. "Is she…?"
"Yes, she is doing Darkness Dance." he nearly jumps on the fact that Riley is beside him, and she helps him up. "They're blind." she noted and focus once more on casting Matra Magic, as the blonde nodded and readies his sword. Once the songstress stops dancing, she quickly grabs the flowers girl's hand and runs away as Riley bombards the monster with the spell. While Cloud slashes any stray bugs that manage to escape or survive the blast.
Once it's over, they went on check on Mira and Aerith. Seeing them to be okay, they then proceed on heading for Sector 7.
But… Riley and Mira couldn't help but to notice something odd from her… Like why is she a bit relax when Mira is around and more cautious when she's alone with Riley?
:::^*^:::
Arriving at the playground where the gate of Sector 7 is…
"Here we are… but it seems it's still close." Riley quips and scratches the back of her head.
"I guess this is goodbye." Mira said, looking at Aerith beside her and Cloud.
"You gonna be all right going home?" Cloud asked.
"Oh no! What ever will I do! …isn't that what you want me to say?" she said the first part a bit dramatically and Mira turns away giggling at this.
"Do you want blondie to escort back home, after this?" the songstress asked, pointing her thumb at the Ex-SOLDIER who looks at her.
"Isn't that a little out of the way?" she replied, as Cloud and Mira shrugs together while Riley scratches her head. "Anyway, can we take a break?" she then turns and walks into the playground with the three behind. There her eyes seems to light up and smiles. "I can't believe it's still here!" she squeals in happiness and runs towards the slide. "Cloud! Mira! Riley! Over here!" she waves at them and the two girls look at on another then at the slide.
'I guess the slide is strong enough to hold four adults.' Mira thought, as Cloud climbs on the top and sits beside Aerith.
'I guest I can sit on the slide without sliding, that's Mira's job.' Riley thought, as she and Mira follows. Mira sits behind Cloud while Riley sits on top of the slide. There is a moment of silence for them and then…
"What rank were you?" Aerith asked
"Rank?" the blonde asked.
"You know, in SOLDIER."
"Oh, I was…" for a moment there is a slight pause and he answers. "First Class."
"Just the same as him."
"The same as who?"
"My first boyfriend."
"You were…serious?"
"No. But I liked him for a while."
'Oi… you and Zack are meant to be together.' Riley thought as she looks away. "If only we realize that we are in FF7 sooner… maybe...'
'He didn't left you for another girl, Aerith.' Mira thought as she sighs. 'He tried to get back to you… he really did.'
Then the gates of Sector 7 opens, revealing a chocobo pulling a cart and right there… "Huh? Hey, back there…" Cloud said and saw someone familiar and the two turns to see... "Tifa!" and both Mira and Riley are quite bugged out on her appearance. The bar maid looks more of those sluts in their home world, bust push up to show more cleavage, the skirt if she bends would show her underwear and really, really red lipstick that makes them think it's paint instead of make-up.
"Whoa, that's Tifa?" Riley sputters out as she balance herself from sliding down, and the chocobo pulls the cart away to the Wall Market.
"What the heck is she wearing?" the songstress asked incredulously as the cart disappears in the distance.
"That girl in the cart was Tifa? Where was she going? She looked kind of odd…" Aerith said and jumps down to follow the cart.
"Wait! I'll go with Mira and Riley! You go on home!" but it's too late and she is too far to hear him. He slumps a bit as Mira jumps down and follows Aerith to make sure she's safe and Riley stands up.
"Life of a girl." the mime quips at the blonde and he looks at her. "Well, better get going." she jumps down and heads for Sector 7.
"Wait! Where are you going?"
"Hey! I have to tell the rest of our groupies that you live and not an egg splat on the ground!" she replied and he looks at her. "Besides, you still got Mira when things goes wrong."
"Alright, watch yourself, Riley!"
"Same to you, Cloudy!"
"IT'S CLOUD!" the blonde screams at her as she laughs all the way to Sector 7. But beneath the cheery expression, lies a determination on changing everyone's fate.
Silver: Once more, the girls splits… and the moment you been all waiting for… drum roll please… Cloud's cross-dress experience! Only now, he got a songstress who can help him on make-up! XD!