I'm going to be honest here, I really don't like this chapter until the end of it. It's been unkind to me.
But I want to give some more love to zexydemyx66 who has been much too kind to me with this story. Thank you love. Honestly.
And this has lots more Cloud in it, for those of you who think that Cloud doesn't show up nearly enough.
To Guest: I don't know if you notice, but I really love dragging things out. To me the best part about a love story is getting to that very first kiss.
Words: 3,614
(Day 4 Night time)
The words came from my lips before I could even stop them. He chuckled at this.
"For a time I could have sworn I was." It was my turn to nod slowly.
"What changed?"
"I had never actually met the girl in my life, to be honest…until recently." My eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"Well then how did you know you loved her?" his response was easy.
"I watched television, read articles and heard rumors. I was lucky enough to find out they were all true," Apparently I was supposed to be getting something from this but what I couldn't figure out. He stood up and motioned for me to followed. Then he did it again stepped into my personal space. His hand rose as if measure someone's height. "She's about your height, with black hair and bright blue eyes." It snapped suddenly in my thoughts and I felt myself chuckle nervously.
"You're joking right?" he shook his head, his hand laying with my long dark strands. I wasn't sure if I should have been flattered or scared. "You don't know anything about me. Like what my favorite color is or my height or even the first building I ever saw in Midgar."
"Actually, you answered all of those question in an interview once," he said a teasing tone evident. I shook my head unsure of how to react to all of this. This had to be some sick joke. Then it snapped, the dare with his friends. This was probably another one. "So what is it this time?"
He flicked his eyes to me and a guilty smile spread. A sigh of relief spread across me to find that he was just playing the part. "Nah they wanted to know how you'd react to someone you barely knew telling you they loved you. I was surprised at how quickly you brought the subject up. The scenery was to add to the romantic effect." He added gesturing around us.
"I'm not sure if this is making me want to punch you or to be friends with you," he laughed easily at my words, a warming sound.
"I'm not saying you aren't one of the most beautiful women I have ever laid eyes on, just a harmless joke. Which you took rather well. So how much can I pay you for a kiss?" This confused me even greater. How did the conversation take such a sharp turn?
"What? Nothing-"
"So it's free?"
"No. You're not getting one."
"Not even-"
"Not even if you owned all of Gaia and would make me your Queen." He chuckled at my joke and bent down to kiss my cheek as he did last time.
"I'm surprised you're so normal," He mumbled. I could only think of how I was probably the farthest thing from it.
Josh continued to bargain with me in exchange for a kiss. I couldn't understand where he was thinking that it was a good idea after he very nearly made me want to knock him out for trying to tell me he was in love with me. Naturally I didn't say a peep to him about how much he had creeped me out. It made me think of how bad I was at that emotional stuff. I laughed at him when he told me. Despite the joking that he was doing I wasn't sure I could handle this normal emotions stuff.
"Want to explain why it's so damn important that you get this kiss that you'd be willing to sell your body to me as compensation?" He laughed and I hoped it was because he was joking like he always was. He had a tendency to take jokes too far I noticed. He shrugged and I shook my head. I wanted to sorely know what was making him act so weird around me. He'd say one thing and then say he was joking. He'd lean too close into me and then joke some more. "Is there anything that you do that you take seriously?" I asked him with a quizzical expression. He stopped walking and I stopped too turning around to look at him in the dark. My enhanced vision made it easy for me to see him, especially considering he wasn't too far away.
"Yeah, some things."
"Like?" He paused for a moment as if weighing something. I would say his movement afterwards was too fast for me to comprehend and stop, but then I'd be lying. His lips landed on mine and I took a long breath from my nose. His scent was more than pleasant; his hands wrapped around my waist and didn't end up cupping my ass. My thoughts were racing and it was when they landed on the fact that some stranger was kissing me did I push away from him. His eyes seemed to widen in realization of what he had just done.
I was half tempted to punch his face into Mount Nibelheim but I had forgotten what having lips against mine felt like and I admit; I was momentarily dazed. I scoffed at his audacity. "I really shouldn't have asked then huh?" He was silent. Somehow I always managed to find myself in these kinds of situations. The only thing that would have made this worse was if there was someone running around that saw that.
I looked around as casually as I could, not spotting anyone and took a deep breath knowing that with my luck there not only was a person running around here who caught all of that, they didn't even see the part where I pulled away.
"Want to explain to me what just happened?" I was serious now, my body coursing with authority. His expression faltered and I said nothing opting instead to just walk away. Fortunately he didn't make a move to stop me. Whether it was to gloat with his friends or revel in how stupid of a mistake he just made I wasn't sure but when I came storming upstairs to find Zack outside the room he shared with Cloud with a deep scowl on his face. I didn't bother to stop and look at him I put a scowl on my face and kept walking.
His scent filled my nostrils as I walked past and I wished I could have stopped to enjoy it. I paused at my door, "Whatever you have to say unless it's Good night- trust me- I don't want to hear it." I opened the door to my room and closed my door. There was no fuss, no knock on it and I locked it before sighing deeply and staring into this foreign room.
No matter how comfortable it was, it could never be my bed. I sighed as deep as I could, kicked off my shoes and removed my armor. I couldn't plop down onto my bed hard enough.
I was going to hate myself in the morning for not punching him. When everyone was giving me weird looks and whispering about me in a horrible way. I crawled under my covers feeling very little without my sword, armor and confidence. I hadn't felt smaller in my whole life. I certainly hadn't felt so stupid either. My throat tightened and stung painfully. It wasn't until I lifted my face from my pillow to lie on my back did I notice the flow of tears streaming down my face. But what was I so desperately sad about?
(Day Five)
Even after I woke up the next morning feeling drained from the crying, then the fighting the crying, and the mentally beating myself up all night, I refused to move. No one came to bother me and no one bother to come get me. I wasn't sure if I was happy or sad about this. I pulled a pillow over my face and screamed into it before getting up to face the day around noon. I was a SOLDIER and I couldn't let this stop me from doing my job.
As I showered I found that my emotions, responsibility and conscience were in constant battle with each other. I was trying to be a Teenage girl in SOLDIER. Nothing was going to go in my favor.
After attending to some important bathroom things, I left fully dressed in armor and clean. I was greeted by Cloud.
"Zack said if you got up by now we'd take to patrolling the Mountain. He took your shift with the other cadet." I nodded solemnly. At least one of us had our head on straight.
"Lead the way," I said, my words barely above a whisper. As we crossed town no one turned their head to look at me, no one whispered behind their hands. No one so much as gave me a second look. Curiously I wondered why. Cloud seemed to noticed my expression.
"Something bothering you Evie?" I was silent. "Yeah, Zack's the same way as you. When there's something bothering him, he stops talking about it until I squeeze it out. Every other time I can't get him to shut up." I chuckled at the cadet. He was quite the talker himself, when he was comfortable enough.
"I never thought we were on that comfort level. Where you could just ramble your thoughts away," A pink color rose up across his cheeks and instantly his shy nature returned. "Aw don't be like that. I was just messing around. Come on, talk to me kiddo. I'm all ears for you." Another charming smile crossed his lips and he shrugged modestly. I waited patiently, more often than not with Cloud I did most if not all of the talking but I could wait for him to talk to me first. I certainly was mood to listen for a change.
"You ever get scared?" He started easily as a fiend in the distance growled ferociously. "Knowing that every day or any day could be your last one? I could never be so fearless, so confident in myself that I could face death like that." My lips parted to speak my thoughts but I held them back waiting for him to continue instead. "I mean Zack came from a small town like this and he made it into SOLDIER. Realistically so could I? I could be like Sephiroth one day. A hero to all. I wish I could be like that." My expression changed softly but I remained silent reveling in the trust he was giving me, into the bond his simple words were forming between us.
My head snapped around at the sound of movement and I locked eyes with a floating ball of flames. I clenched my jaw angrily. Cloud turned himself slowly and lifted his gun. I held my hand out, "Don't shoot it; you'll just make it angry." I tried to weigh my options… "I lied Cloud, shoot it and don't stop unless you need to." I pulled my sword off my back a fierce Bliazara shocking the fiend. It took Cloud a moment to realize what I was talking about but by the time the fiery ball realized I had attacked it, Cloud was shooting at it relentlessly.
I smirked, its attention divided and I swung Harpenger down its body. It spun lazily but only grew bigger. I glanced at Cloud as I jumped back from its attack and saw him lock eyes with me. I nodded and he understood my silent command. He pulled his gun up to keep shooting. My long legs pulled me towards the fiend, my eyes darting around to search for any friends of this one's. None. I dodged another attack and slice at it again. It grew bigger once more. If cloud knew what I did, we'd have maybe one or two more chances to kill it before he decided to blow up. I spun my sword in my wrist easily and gasped as a blizzard flew past me and hit the creature. I took the moment it was stunned to slice at it again.
My eyes noticed the creature huff and puff. I turned reaching out for Cloud and pulling him against me as I used my sword as our shield from the blast. We were silent for a moment waiting for something to happen when I peeked over my sword to see the fiend gone and Cloud very much safe. I smiled softly to see him unharmed and returned my sword to its home on my back.
He was a little wide eyed initially but he calmed easily and I gestured to continue on our patrol. "You and Zack have a similar fighting style. I've noticed that. Maybe it's because you two go on missions together often? Or do they put you on together because you work so well together?"
I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat and cleared it to try to speak. "Initially we were mentored together so our basics are the same. Though for the past few months they've been putting us on all the same missions and the like together." I shrugged silently my ability to talk draining at the subject.
"He takes good care of you," I nearly giggled at this and flicked a quizzical eyebrow at the shorter male. He locked eyes with me and I smiled softly at those bright blue eyes. "He looks after you…" he shrugged softly breaking the gaze. "You know, even when you think you don't need it." I flicked my gaze towards the afternoon sky. The clouds looked welcoming and I tried to push down the thick lump in my throat.
"He doesn't have to. I know I can handle myself. He should worry about Aerith. I'm a big girl." I mumbled softly, while maybe it was my imagination, I felt Cloud's shoulder brush against my arm. I smiled softly triying to not to make anything of it. Poor kid didn't need to watch a General of the Shinra army cry like a child. I was afraid to ask about the subject but Cloud seemed to beat me to it.
"He's not sure what he's going to say to her when we get back to Midgar. He's not sure what to do at all actually." I kept my eyes on the patrol route and away from him. My fist was clenching and unclenching at my side. I was almost worried about what he was going to keep saying so I didn't want to listen or look at him.
After a moment of silence I realized how ignorant I was being and frowned a little. "Why doesn't he just figure out how he feels about the other girl and then consider his decision more?"
Cloud glanced at me and I felt his gaze on me, but I refused to meet it. "He knows how he feels, at least I think." I shrugged trying to avoid the thought of who this girl was and the tearing feeling in my throat. My eyes turned towards the end of our patrol route, where the village waited a little after is. I wasn't sure what to say, or even how to say it. It was now that I wished another beacon of hope would save me from this conversation ,but no luck.
"He should figure that out, and then see if this girl he's leaving Aerith for feels the same way. I'd hate to see him get hurt because he made a wrong decision," Cloud looked at me with sharp eyes. Eyes that made me feel like he was dissecting every word that came from my mouth. I closed my lips then and stayed silent as we walked into the town.
"You ever get blamed for doing something bad to someone you care about when all you were doing was trying to protect them?" his words surprised me, but I've been noticing that Cloud did that to me a lot. A small smile fell on my lips; it would be something that I'd have to get used to with him, especially if we were going to be friends.
"I can't say that I have. Sometimes that's what happens though. You fight for someone or you try to help them with good intentions and you end up just getting into trouble for it. Then when you go to explain yourself no one will listen." I nodded recalling the feeling. It happened during the war with Wutai. A squadron of the men under my command were wiped out while I was away, I came back to try and save them and ended up getting in trouble for leaving them in the first place. It was sort of the same… right?
Cloud nodded silently at my side. I caught no sight of Zack and I could feel myself fight myself over how I felt about this. One part of me was grateful, and the other part longed to see him, or to even be around him. I lifted a gloved hand to my forehead and shook it. This was getting absurdly annoying. My heart clenched remembering why I had woken up so worried, but no one had said a word. Did that mean that no one saw? That Josh hadn't said a word?
A part of me wanted to find him and demand an explanation but the more logical side of me said to just drop the subject. His actions were only making things worse for me. Then the thought of being selfish crossed through my thoughts. I rolled my eyes at myself taking a deep breath and stalking towards the hotel. Halfway there I forgot about Cloud. I turned to say something to him, but he was already gone. My jaw dropped a little, but I looked around once before realizing what time it was. I had the rest of my day left. My hand dropped away from the hotel door , I opted instead to walk towards the water tower at the center of town, and lean against it staring at my feet.
"Waiting for someone?" My attention flicked up to see Zack walking over with a confident smile on his features. I shook my head before shrugging.
"Not really, what are you doing here?" He smiled brightly, he seems to be in a good mood.
"I just got back from the patrol you were supposed to be doing. What are you doing?" I looked away ashamed for my behavior lately, but my heart beat was fast enough to distract me.
"I don't know." He gestured for me to walk with him and I hesitated at this. He tugged at a piece of my hair mumbling something to me. So I followed instead of arguing.
"Let's go do something, I mean we have all day right?" I froze at this unsure of what we were going to do all day in a town this small. I wanted to ask why, but I shrugged and put a fierce look on my face. I was going to get through this, whatever it was.
He lead me towards the mansion and a worried feeling filled me like there was something I needed to worry about, I remained silent looking forward as we walked in through the doorway. Together we explored the mansion, going through different rooms and touching things we probably shouldn't have. We laughed together and made jokes. It was easy with Zack… feeling this way, I mean. I lived in the sensation my heart felt from being around him and having all of his attention.
Occasionally our conversations would turn to Angeal, Genesis and Sephiroth. Once I saw his expression tighten I dragged him away and changed the subject quickly. It ate the day away. It was something rather than nothing. When the sun was setting we moved into a room with a view of the sunset. Together we stood and watched it pass over the mountainous horizon. He smiled at me, I smiled at him and for a moment, we froze.
My eyes searched his, his eyes began searching mine…I think. He smiled easily, In turn my features fell into a soft smile.
What do I do? What do I say? Should I say something? Why are we just smiling at each other? Is he okay? I think I should say something…, my thoughts raced violently. His gloved hand rose to push some of my hair behind my ears and his eyes watched me softly.
The moment was special… until I heard a noise. My head perked and I turned to try and figure out the source. Zack seemed to hear it as well, because instead of asking what I heard he was silent and listened as well. We moved away from each other, our instincts kicking in. I crouched and put a hand on my hilt as I headed towards the door. There was a skittering noise.
The noise was getting louder, "Oh shit!" I jumped to the side grabbing towards Zack as the Cactuar from before came jumping in. Zack laughed until the creature starting shooting us with its needles. We started hissing as they pierced our skin causing blood to drip down. "Ow… what the hell…" I muttered, reaching for my sword.
"You scared it," Zack said plainly before guiding me away from the doorway it had jumped in through.
"Yeah, well let me kill it." Zack gave me a reprimanding look attempting to show the creature that it was free to leave and we wouldn't harm it. It wasn't long until it got the hint and left with an odd noise. He guided me towards the bed in the room so we could pull out the needles stuck in our arms and sides.