Chapter 3:
Waking up early was never hard for Cloud. Finding that Aerith was awake before him startled him, but he quickly dismissed that notion after what had happened the morning before. He still couldn't wrap his mind around how Aerith had gotten ahead of him. When he had snuck out of her house, she had still been in her room. Jumping into the shower to remove the previous day's grime and monster blood from his body and clothes, it was just breaking dawn when they set out from the hotel. No place besides the diner was open, so they kipped in there quick for breakfast. By the time the item shop was open, Cloud and Aerith had wandered around looking at the different wares of the shops just starting to open up. Heading inside the item shop, the two missed Don Corneo's carriage trotting down the road to head towards the Shinra building.
Once inside the shop, it took a moment for Cloud's eyes to adjust to the dim lighting. A few seconds passed by before he could see the item shop owner lounging on his throw pillows. The shop owner looked over to Aerith and she huffed before going over to the doorway and looking out, shoving her fingers in her ears and quietly humming to herself.
"So, do you have the goods?" the shop owner asked Cloud, and the blond nodded before pulling the item out of his pocket and handing it over. "This is it?" The shop owner barked out a laugh before grinning down at Cloud. "Thanks man. Now that I know that he's selling this, I will be able to outsell him! Here. As payment," he then said, pocketing the item. The shop owner then reached up into a box on the top shelf and pulled out a tiara that looked like it wasn't sparkling as brightly as it should. "You can have this. Maybe give it to your girlfriend over there."
Cloud accepted the gift, unsure of what to do with it. Collecting Aerith, the two of them left, the shopkeeper calling after them, "Thanks again man!"
"What was that about?" Aerith asked as they headed towards the dress shop, the wheel tracks from the carriage already fading on the dirt road as crowds started milling about.
"He wanted something that only I could get him. Apparently it was so underhanded, he couldn't expose a girl to it." Aerith made a face at that and huffed again.
"Men, I swear," she said right as she entered the dress shop. The brunette then called out a warm greeting to the dressmaker and his daughter. "How is everything today?" she said cheerfully.
"Great!" the dressmaker replied happily. "I finished the dress last night-"
"Yes, in the wee hours of the morning. I had to force him to go to bed when he finished it," his daughter interrupted with a grin.
"Here, go and try it on!" he exclaimed, pushing the purple dress into the blond's hands and directing him towards the changing room. The dressmaker then turned his attention to Aerith. "So, how did the wig acquisition go yesterday?"
"Pretty good. Cloud beat out Big Bro's champion, and we got this really nice looking wig," the brunette replied as she fished the wig out of her bag. It was a pretty blonde wig with pigtails, and looked very natural. The shopkeeper and his daughter complimented the quality of the wig before Cloud emerged from the dressing room, wearing the dress. It fit well, and without Cloud's measurements, too. "You are an artist," Aerith complimented the shopkeeper and he preened at the praise.
"Thank you. For getting me back in my groove, the dress is on the house! In fact, you, missy, pick out any dress you want as well. That's free too. The both of you helped so much, I can't thank you enough!" the dressmaker continued to gush. Grinning, Aerith thanked him and made her way over to a rack of dresses.
"Oooh, how about this one?" the dressmaker's daughter asked as she went to a different rack and pulled out a similarly colored pink dress in a different cut than the one Cloud was wearing.
"Or this one?" the dressmaker added as he pulled out a dress from the other side of the room that was in a royal blue and has a low cut front. Aerith ignored both of them and pulled out a strappy red dress from the rack she was hovering in front of.
"I like this one!" she exclaimed before heading to the dressing room to put it on. A few minutes later, she exited, her pink dress folded neatly and put in her bag. The dressmaker and his daughter were helping put the wig on Cloud, securing it with bobby pins.
"Don't forget this," Aerith then said as she came over and pulled the tiara out of Cloud's bag. She placed it on the newly wigged Cloud and grinned at him. "Beautiful!" Her following giggle ruined the effect she was trying to create, and Aerith then wandered around the store to try to find matching heels. Pulling a pair of red pumps off the shelf, she swapped her own shoes for them and then headed back to where Cloud was with flats for him. "I think this is your size, right?" she asked. With a flustered nod, Cloud let Aerith switch his boots out with a pair of the most uncomfortable shoes ever. They didn't even offer protection!
"Alright, I think you guys are all set!" the dressmaker's daughter exclaimed happily while clapping her hands excitedly. Her father merely stood there, proudly looking on with a smile.
"Good luck out there, son! You are very brave to do this," the shopkeeper commented before following them to the door. Cloud rounded on Aerith, glad he didn't have to worry about any sort of heels as he walked.
"Aerith, what does he mean? What did you tell him?" the blond asked as he flushed. The brunette giggled at him.
"Don't worry about it!" came her reply, and she led Cloud to Don Corneo's mansion.
The trek was short, and by the time the two nicely dressed 'females' got to the front steps of the mansion, Cloud had gotten used to walking in the shoes, and with Aerith instructing him how to walk like a proper lady on the way, the two of them were confident they could gain entrance at the mansion easily.
However, when they talked to the guy at the door, he merely frowned at them.
"Sorry ladies, but the Don is out right now. Too bad too, your friend is hot! Maybe you can come back later, for a personal tour, eh?" he said, grinning at them. Aerith merely smiled sweetly in reply.
"Do you know where Don Corneo went and when he'll be back? I was super looking forward to meeting him," she asked, laying it on thick. Cloud was smart and kept his mouth shut. He had too much of a baritone voice to pass as a girl.
"Well, he did head out to the Shinra building with the Lieutenant General and his bride. They were planning on gettin' married there, get it all official and such." A jolt of fear ran down Cloud's spine. "I think they said they'd be back sometime in the afternoon, or somethin'. You ladies are always welcome to wait here, too. We could get to know each other better." He leered at the two lecherously and raked his eyes up and down Aerith's figure. Giving a weak chuckle, she shook her head.
"No, we really must be going for now, if Don Corneo really isn't in. We'll come back later," Aerith promised before turning and grabbing Cloud's arm. The brunette suddenly jumped, letting out a yelp as the man stationed at the door smacked her rear end. Cloud quickly led a red-faced Aerith away as the doorman laughed.
"What do we do now?" the brunette asked in a small voice, a hand going to rub the bruise that was now sure to be forming as soon as they were out of sight.
"We'll just have to regroup at our base and see if we can stage a break in at Shinra. We'll have to hurry, though," Cloud replied, ushering her back into the dressmaker's shop so they could change back into their normal clothes. "I'm not sure how long they'll be at Shinra, and if we can ambush them as they're moving between the main building and Corneo's mansion, we'll have a better chance of surviving and succeeding if we have Barret and the others with us."
Nodding in agreement, Aerith quickly got changed and followed Cloud out of the shop, again thanking the shopkeeper and his daughter for their hospitality and kindness. As Cloud bribed their way through the gate between Sector 6 and Sector 7, Aerith's only thought was, I hope we get there in time.
Tifa had other things on her mind as the group of three headed for the Shinra building. She had woken up early to find Astasia already up and Don Corneo needing to be woken. The sun was just rising as they ate a hearty breakfast that sat heavily in Tifa's stomach before heading out, Astasia riding in the carriage with them to afford a 'chaperone' for Tifa. She explained that it wasn't really old fashioned values that had her acting this way, it was the fact that Corneo was a lecherous freak, and the Lieutenant General was entirely unsure as to why Tifa was willing to marry him in the first place. The barmaid flushed and refused to comment, merely averting her gaze and the carriage reverted to silence. Corneo was already helping himself to alcohol, and Tifa declined, knowing she would need all of her wits about her in order to not end up with a husband at the end of the day.
Their commute seemed very short, and when they pulled in front of the Shinra building, Tifa felt like she was going to throw up. Astasia exited first, her eyes sweeping the area to make sure everything was safe. When she stepped forward, Corneo came out next, and then turned to help Tifa out. His palms were clammy, and she withdrew her hand from his almost as soon as her foot touched the ground. He didn't seem to notice, but he did let her walk in front of him, probably to watch her walk as Tifa followed Astasia into the Shinra building. Once inside, she faltered, not knowing where they needed to go. Corneo moved past her and motioned for her to continue. Astasia had already disappeared into the elevators, most likely to report to President Shinra.
"We'll head to public documentation. We'll get the mayor to marry us, and then after I take care of my meeting with President Shinra, we can head home and christen your new bedroom," Corneo added with a giddy grin. Tifa offered a shaky grin in return. If she had anything to do about it, they'd never get to the "I Do's". The only problem was getting to a place where it was just the two of them so she could get the information that she needed. That was going to be hard, though. If they went into an elevator, she could easily overpower him, but that was only if the elevator was empty. If not, then her mission would have been a failure, and she would have gone through all of this for nothing.
To her disappointment, Corneo led her up the stairs to a counter on the second floor. "We'd like to get a marriage license," Corneo said with a grin, thinking he had everything he wanted within his grasp. He grabbed Tifa's hand, and in her distraction of trying to figure out a way out of this aside from fighting or killing everyone here, she didn't really notice. "We would like to do it quickly. My bride here is really excited." Tifa just nodded, her focus returning to the secretary in front of her. The woman at the desk nodded, pulling her glasses down so she could read her screen more easily.
"I think we can manage that. Name?" she asked, her mouse clicking on the proper documentation before her fingers poised over the keyboard, ready to get started.
"Don Corneo, obviously. Everyone knows who I am," he said jubilantly, and Tifa noticed the secretary grimace.
"Yes, I know," she had said before her eyes shot over to the silent brunette by his side. "Name," she repeated, and it took Tifa a few tries to get her voice working.
"Tifa," she said.
"Tifa what?" came the short reply as her fingers made quick work of her first name.
"Tifa Lockhart. No 'e'." There was a silence so thick, it could be cut with a knife. The secretary frowned, before double checking the spelling with the barmaid. After reassuring her that it was correct, the secretary's frown grew deeper.
"I'm sorry, but you two can't get married," the woman in front of the computer said. Tifa's mind just went into overdrive, ecstatic that half of her plan was already done. Now, to get him alone so she could threaten him-
"WHAT?!" Corneo exclaimed, his voice echoing all along the first and second floors, causing Tifa to come out of her musings just as the secretary repeated herself.
"You can't get married. She already has a husband."
A/N: BOOM! There's the plot twist! (that's not really a plottwist haha). We're getting to some juicy stuff here! How is everyone enjoying the story so far? I can't wait for the husbando reveal so I can add his name to the character list huehuehue.
Like always, don't forget to favorite, like, or even leave a review. Feedback is important to me and I appreciate all of it.
Until next time, my Lovelies!
Edit 6/24/2020- Fixed Grammar and Spelling