Punching the Beastmaster with her left, he teetered over for the last time in the deep, underground, coliseum ring.
Natalie brought up her sword to bear, ready to finish the man off.
"LEE!" Aerith shouted, from behind one of the dog-monsters. She was yelling at Natalie, while keeping the monster back with her staff.
Natalie felt a bead of sweat slide down her back. She brought her sword up, unblooded. Making a sweeping motion, like she had not just been about to kill a man. And swiped the dog-thing in the rear. Enough to scare it off Aerith.
"What the hell was that?" Cloud asked, while chasing after the other remaining dog.
Natalie wasn't sure how much he had seen. "We're winning aren't we?"
Three of them versus two 'dogs.' It wasn't long before the first round of the Corneo cup was cleared.
Natalie turned her back on the ring when it ended. She had been about to stab the man in the throat. Nor did she want to look at anyone else.
'Third wheel indeed.' She thought of the way the two announcers had introduced them earlier. Creating a narrative that Cloud and Aerith were on a 'date' and Lee was a tag-a-long, a literal third-wheel.
"That went well." Aerith told the other two. As they exited the ring and headed to the break room.
"Hmm." Cloud grunted.
"What's wrong?" Aerith asked him.
He told her, "The rules seem confusing."
"What rules?" Natalie said.
"Well," Aerith started. "Maybe the next match will be better."
"I wouldn't bet on it." Cloud said, "better to expect the worst."
"So, the usual." Natalie said.
Aerith looked sad, "you don't expect the worst out of everything, do you Lee?"
Natalie shook her head, "No, just most things."
The announcer over the back room PA system called their names for the next match.
Cloud was first out of the break room. "Let's go."
The next match was between them and three thieves that Cloud and Aerith were already acquainted with.
"Hey," Aerith recognized whoever the other three men were. "It's those guys."
One of the masked thieves pointed to Cloud. "It's those guys!"
"Beck's Bad-asses?" Natalie asked Cloud about the name the hosts had called out.
"I don't know who you are!" The one in the middle called out to Natalie. "But we'll be sure to serve all of you a heapin' helping of just deserts!"
Natalie rolled her eyes, the men moved and talked even worse than the goons she had dealt with earlier that day.
Before she could ask Cloud and Aerith anything else. The doors to the ring opened again, letting in five more combatants. All dressed similarly to the goons she had just been thinking about. The additions were clearly some of Corneo's men.
"Uh." Aerith made a noise.
One of the announcers called over the speaker system, "and who are these unscrupulous looking gentlemen? It would seem that there are actually eight members of Beck's Badasses."
Natalie's eyes narrowed. There was even more cheating than she had expected.
"Hey!" Aerith pointed at all eight of 'Beck's Badasses.' "That's cheating!"
The leader of the other group explained, "The only rule here is that there are no rules."
The goons were wielding guns as well, this was not going to be pretty.
The man in the other group finished with, "If Corneo says it's OK. You gotta suck it up!"
Natalie ignored the rest, her and Cloud stood on either side of Aerith. Natalie picked her target to start with. Watching the goon with the semi-automatic rifle. Any of the guns could do some real damage, but that rifle would be the worst of it.
The three original members of Beck's Badasses drew their make-shift close-range weapons. A knife, a bat covered with nails, and a repaired hand axe. Three versus eight. Natalie had seen worse odds, but that didn't make today easier.
Gritting her teeth, she drew her own sword and waited for the match to start.
The announcer finished with, "…begins Now!"
Natalie began casting immediately, pulling a large Firaga spell. Her nose twitched at the memory of cooking flesh from just that morning. Her need to finish this match as quickly as possible overtook her disgust. She had borrowed a blue Materia from Cloud before the tourney, able to blow fire on all her enemies at the ring with one spell.
Reminded of Danny being burnt to nothing by a Firaga spell. In this ring, she only scorched the enemy enough to demoralize them.
Cloud already had his sword out, circling around to get behind the group, before the eight combatants spread around.
Before the fires faded away, Aerith began casting her own spell. And Natalie was running around the spreading group, to pinch them between her and Cloud's sword attacks.
Natalie could barely see Cloud on the other side of the four men still in the middle of the ring. They both dove away from where the barrels of the guns pointed. Not dodging the bullets, but dodging under where the barrel's were pointed. As Cloud and her both chewed through goons, working their way to the people still standing.
Natalie worked with sword and fist, until the men would drop to the ground, then move onto someone else still standing. She was not attacking to kill this time, only disable.
Someone punched Natalie in the back several times, followed by green streams of light. Aerith was healing Natalie as her reinforced vest took a pounding from the bullets of the one toting a pistol. It had been bullets, not punches that had hit Natalie in the back. The punches had been her coat's armor protecting her from more severe injury. But the rapid fire of the 'punches' meant the pistol was also a semi-automatic. That person could not be left standing for much longer.
Natalie turned to face the man by the edge of the ring, the one who had been shooting her in the back. She felt the soreness fade some under Aerith's magic. As she charged the man.
He continued to point his weapon at Natalie, raising the gun a little to point at her face.
Upon her charge, Natalie dove to the side and tucked into a roll, coming in under the stream of bullets aimed for her. She was in no mood to banter with the man that had tried to shoot her in the back. She jumped up in the air, batting the man around with her sword. Finishing with an elbow to his face and a kick to his crotch with her SOLDIER-enhanced strength.
After being softened up by her fire magic earlier, he went down as quickly as the others. Apparently the fighters here didn't wear cups for protecting their more delicate parts.
Natalie kicked the gun away from the man's hands as he writhed on the floor in pain. He was alive but out of the fight.
She turned around to pick off someone else. As Cloud finished off the last member of Beck's crew. Cloud was already improving, since they had dueled in Sector Seven, even since the fight with the Airbuster.
Lee heard her name, announced with the others, as the winners. As she watched, Cloud put up his sword. He was improving faster by the day, by the hour. Natalie felt a quirk of her mouth as she thought that Cloud might out pace her skills at this rate.
Natalie followed Aerith and Cloud out of the ring of their second match.
Aerith was sighing with relief, talking to Cloud about their next match. It would be their last.
Natalie washed her face in the sink of their break room. Looking at her face in the mirror. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't make her stomach upset from the smell of burnt hair, clothes or singed skin. It bothered her that it didn't bother her anymore.
"Next up," Aerith told them, "The big finale."
"Yeah," Cloud said with trepidation.
"I thought you'd be happier." Aerith asked him.
Cloud shifted his weight, "Just thinking about what we might face next."
"But you know," Aerith reassured him, "We've made it this far. And I'm sure we can handle anything they throw at us."
Natalie finished drying her face. She was not going to be sick unless she took drastic measures. Natalie left things as they were instead.
"How about you Natalie?" Aerith asked her. "You looked green after that last match."
"I'm better now." Natalie put her gloves on just as the PA announced their names in the back rooms. Pulling the magnify Materia out of the slot in her sword, she replaced it with the green gravity Materia that had been there before. Lobbing it to Cloud, he snatched it out of the air.
He asked her a question while pocketing the blue Materia, "You have an idea what we're fighting next?"
"Nope." Natalie told Cloud. "But I would not bet on it being weak to fire twice in a row."
"Lucky guess, last match." Cloud deadpanned.
Natalie wasn't sure if that was a compliment or not, she only shrugged. It had been a lucky guess.
It wasn't long before they were standing in the ring again, waiting for their competitors to be announced.
"Chocobo Sam's Cutty! And Sweepy!" One of the announcers said.
"Robots!?" Aerith cried.
Cloud started drawing his sword. "More like ShinRa Armor."
Natalie followed suit. Wishing that she had had her lightning Materia on magnify, but glad she had it at all in her armlet.
Aerith snapped open her telescoping staff, "More like cheating."
The three of them waited for the announcers to finish their opening speech and for the match to start.
"…The final match of the Corneo Cup, begins NOW!"
Cloud went left, Natalie went right. Both 'robots' swept around, trying to decide on targeting one human over another.
Cutty had buzz-saw arms, and was eight to ten feet tall on two legs. Sweepy was just as tall, with guns for arms. And looked like the same type of ShinRa robot that had tried to ambush Natalie's group in Reactor Five. As well as a pair of them at the sector six-seven Annex. When it was Cloud, Natalie, Biggs, Wedge and Jessie.
Natalie came up behind Sweepy, out of range of it's attacks to cast a Thundaga spell into it. Cloud occupied Cutty with the Buster sword. And Aerith faced down the shooting robot. Giving Natalie a chance to use her Materia, which felt like forever to draw the most powerful spell, damaging Sweepy severely. But the damn thing kept trying to shoot at the group. As well the shooting Sweepy changed it's target from Aerith to Natalie.
Natalie grit her teeth as she kept trying to circle the robot, not letting it target her directly. She tried to cast a quicker Thundara spell, a slightly lesser spell than the last one. Instead of shooting her it swept Natalie with one of those giant guns, knocking her into the air and interrupting her magic. She felt the mana drain away as she righted herself mid-air. Landing on her feet, the spell was wasted anyway.
Natalie went on the offensive, the robots were too fast for a defensive play. Looking for chinks in it's armor, wiring, something. She gave up on magic for now, as the one with the guns concentrated on her and not giving her a chance to cast any more thunder magic. Which was, of course, her most effective tactic against these things.
This left Aerith free to do what she did best. With two robots and three people, Aerith was free to cast her own magic, which included a Thundaga spell, that still didn't finish off the robot. Followed with healing magic to keep Natalie in the fight.
Natalie felt like a distraction, her sword was just a little bit smaller than Cloud's even if it was a little bit faster. She was just a little bit more skilled.
Cloud followed up Aerith's lightning magic with his own sweeping attack, the skill gap between him and Natalie was closing, and quickly.
This time the robot shuddered and fell to the coliseum floor. While the buzz-saw robot was deciding on a new target, the three of them pounding into the fallen robot until it was nearly finished. Natalie took the chance to cast another Thundaga spell, pointing the lightning magic at the cutting robot. Interrupting it's attack as it came up behind Aerith.
Again it slid along the ground faster than Natalie could run, spin faster than Natalie could get to what appeared to be the backside of the robot. But her set up was followed by Cloud and Aerith. Except now there was only one robot and three of them.
The second robot fell faster than the first under the onslaught.
As the buzz-saw robot popped and sizzled in a system failure, Natalie put away her sword, the good thing about a bloodless foe was that there was really nothing to clean off before putting her weapon away.
Breathing heavily, and full of adrenalin, Natalie felt her heart pounding in her ears. She was still high on a rush of adrenalin, she felt alive. But now that the threat was gone. Her thoughts were creeping up on her again. She could feel the announcer's loudspeaker thrum in her chest and the roar of the crowd. But she wasn't listening.
Natalie was thriving on being in danger. She tried to slow her breath down and start calming herself. As she followed Aerith and Cloud out of the ring.
If everything else went as it should, it was still going to be a long night.
Natalie was sitting at the break room table, her head in her arms, slowly calming herself down from the fight. By counting the space between breaths, she didn't leave her brain have room to creep in and upset her. Aerith was gently rubbing one of Natalie's shoulders while Cloud reiterated the plan.
"So we'll head back to Madam M's, get you changed. Then it's off to Corneo's."
"Right!" Aerith told him.
A knock came at the door, opening immediately and issuing in someone coming in on elevated sandals, their clothes rustling softly.
'Madam M to inform us of our win.' Natalie thought. Rubbing her eyes and lifting her head to hear it from Madam M herself.
Madam M glided into the room, looking disappointed. "Sorry to be the bearer of bad news."
Natalie's heart sank, but now Madam M had all of her attention.
"But," Madam M continued, "You still have one fight left."
Aerith asked with curiosity, "What do you mean?"
Madam M explained, "The crowd loved your show a little too much. People were placing hefty bets, much heftier than you can possibly imagine. Corneo is going to milk this for as much as he can."
"Meaning what?" Cloud asked.
Madam M fanned herself as she went on, "Meaning you face and defeat Corneo's fighter of choice. And only then will you be declared winner's of the tournament."
"Hey!" Aerith cried, "That wasn't the deal!"
Natalie got up to crack her shoulders and knuckles, while Madam M responded to Aerith.
Getting angrier with every word. "Don't you think I know that!" She issued a frustrated and wordless sound from her throat, "You greedy bastard! Scum sucking piece of shit festering asshole!" Madam M immediately regained her composure and finished in a perfectly calm voice. "That's the way it is. Corneo is the one that makes the rules around here. But if you win this match, Corneo will have to accept your victory. And the crowd will make sure he does."
Cloud asked her, "So this is the last one?"
"Hmm," Madam M said, "I sure hope so."
Natalie stuck her blade in the remaining Tonberry in frustration and exhaustion. While Cloud and Aerith also barely stood over the remains of the robotic house.
'That was my trick. And Zack's technique.' She wondered silently to herself over the remains of the fight. The sound of the commentators washed over Natalie.
She had never taught Cloud how to fight. And he was copying her moves in with a heavy helping of Zack's fighting style. Not that there were many styles that could accommodate the buster sword. But she could see moves and strategies in his movements, from he feet to his sword, things that took muscle memory to replicate and could not be simply mimicked at a glance. This little mystery was shelved for now, as exhaustion filtered in.
She was angry at the feeling of their success, as her adrenalin faded away and let in her dark mood again. Natalie should be happy for their success, but the win embittered her.
Natalie was angry that they had nearly been knocked out of the fight multiple times, except for Natalie's final strike Materia and the three of their combined skills, Materia, and Summons. It had been a while since she had been given a real challenge of a fight. Her fighting edge had gotten a little dull in her years of hiding, despite her continued practice. Her continued fighting of various monsters in her path over the years. Including her recent road trip to and from Banora, which had included evading ShinRa and any monsters she crossed on that round trip.
She probed the Tonberry with the tip of her sword, before she was sure it would not stab her or anyone else ever again. Not looking away until it faded to nothing, returning to the Planet.
From behind her the streams of magic settled over Natalie. Turning to look back, Aerith was smiling and nodding to Natalie.
"Let me get that for you Lee." She told Natalie. "We did it."
"Yeah," Natalie said flatly. "We did."
Aerith's face started to frown at the look on Natalie's face. "Is something-?"
"Let's go." Cloud interrupted. "Before there are more surprises."
Natalie nodded, her and Aerith following Cloud out of the arena.
Natalie watched Cloud leave Madam M's. Leaving her and Aerith together.
Remembering the words of an old friend, 'Someone is basically a child until twenty-five.' She could not remember them otherwise, not even a face. Cloud was barely twenty-one. So off he went, to experience Wall Market for himself. Madam M had given him a list of people to talk to. Maybe he would grow up a little more. And whatever he did, it seemed the sort of thing that Natalie would not be a very good teacher of anyway.
Not from her own ignorance, but there were some things best experienced for oneself.
For now, Natalie followed Aerith and Madam M into the back room. Natalie understood the concept of dressing up, hair and make up. She just didn't have it as a priority. Her version of dressing up was no make-up, slapping on a binder, and putting her normal clothes on over that.
Madam M left Natalie to witnessing the team of people that began to work on Aerith. And they could talk while Aerith was getting done up.
The dress, with all it's ruffles, stood on a mannequin in the change rooms. It really did look like a million gil, with all it's ruffles and layers. It also showed far more skin than Natalie would ever be okay with wearing herself. It was showing too much back skin. And what it showed off in the front made Natalie doubly uncomfortable to wear herself.
"Do you think Cloud will be okay?" Aerith asked Natalie.
"He can take care of himself just fine." Natalie reassured her. And she believed her own words too. The Cloud that had met Natalie in Wall Market, or even the Sector Seven Slums, had changed for the better. Natalie could see the impact Aerith had had on him, but she wasn't the only one. Tifa, Barret, Biggs, Wedge, Jessie. They all had had an impact. In a way, Natalie probably did too, but she couldn't tell how, other than her fighting techniques inexplicably rubbing off on him
"Excuse us, just a moment." Madam M left her people to work on Aerith, while she motioned Natalie to follow her to the front of the parlor.
"What is it?" Natalie asked the elegant woman.
"Just for a moment, Natalie."
"Just Lee is fine." She followed Madam M out until they couldn't hear the people ask Aerith to keep still, or turn her head this way and that way.
"Well, Lee," Madam M started. "I was just curious about your plans for tonight."
Natalie felt something prickle on the back of her neck, "What did you mean?"
"Well, your friends seem pretty determined to be in that audition. And I was wondering about your position as the fourth wheel."
"Hmm." Natalie grunted. She still didn't have a firm plan. Just the seat of her pants, and a pry bar she had grabbed from the Watch's store room before leaving Sector Seven behind. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, I was just curious, you don't seem the type to settle for the sidelines."
"Hmm."
Madam M continued, "And I was wondering if you were planning on doing something stupid tonight."
Natalie looked up at Madam M, surprised she was onto Natalie. "What makes you think that?"
"Well," Madam M started fanning herself, "there are four of you and three spots for the audition. So…"
"Hmm," Natalie had been figured out. "It's not what you think. I have something more epically stupid planned for tonight." Corneo was a crime lord of a part of the Undercity that he had control over. If Natalie was caught by his goons sneaking around the mansion, violent goons that tried to ambush people in back alleys. Natalie might not live the rest of the night if she was caught inside the mansion itself, especially alone.
'If I'm caught.' And Marin had already been cornered by groups of those goons and come out the other side just fine already.
Madam M held her fan still for a moment, then started moving it again, "To be young and stupid again."
"Heh, I'm not that young. I'm twenty seven."
"Like I said, to be young-"
"It's not about the years, it's what I spent doing it." Natalie glared at Madam M. They were on the same page for Natalie having a foolish plan. But she was not going to let her apparent youth lie. So many of those years had been bought with shed blood, mostly other people's.
"And I suppose you survived some death-defying events, and think that makes you immortal?"
Natalie glared, the words echoed something a former friend had told her years ago. Val had been right then, and Madam M was right now, it still hurt though. "I was in the war." Barely, but she had seen the losses stack up, the SOLDIERs that hadn't come back. She had field experience, even if most of it was not a battle front. And Natalie had defied death several times already.
"Don't tell me, you're also an ex-SOLDIER, like your friend Cloud?"
"Hmph," Natalie grunted. "Cloud might enjoy how that title adds to his reputation as a merc. But I never did."
"Well, you're not a very good mercenary if I've never heard of you. And I make it my business to know who's who around the Undercity Slums."
Natalie smirked, "You've never heard of me because I never tried to be known."
"Ha!" Madam M laughed, "And what about that little performance at the Coliseum? Hundreds of people chanting your name."
Natalie folded her arms across her chest, she had no good explanation for that. Not after the cameras at the Reactor Five job, and not with the remaining events she expected to still happen tonight. If even one Turk had been in that crowd…
"A reputation is finding you, whether you like it or not, Lee." Madam M told her, "Meanwhile, do you even have a plan to sneak into the mansion? Or are you just another meathead, who thinks it's just a matter of finding an unlocked window?"
Natalie narrowed her eyes as she looked back up at Madam M, "I'm not just a meathead. It also wouldn't be the first time I've walked across the tiles of a pagoda roof." This time Natalie had boots. With the sector Six plate only a little rebuilt, the night sky would be visible above Wall Market, at least rain was rare over Midgar.
"Well, ex-SOLDIER and not just-a-meathead Lee. If you're determined to follow through on your plan. I recommend you catch up with Cloud. There's someone on the list I gave him that might point you in the right way."
Natalie looked back to the room Aerith was in.
"Don't worry about Aerith," Madam M told Natalie. "You seem the type to be 'one of the guys.' Would you fit in with what Cloud is up to?"
Natalie gave Madam M a look, "I'm ex-military. What do you think?"
"Hmm, well then. Shoo, live a little. Let me take care of Aerith."
Natalie bobbed her head in thanks, "thank you I-"
"Just one more thing, Lee."
"Yeah?"
"Whatever you plan tonight, don't get caught."
Natalie felt her lips make a thin line. She could already imagine the consequences of that. "I know. Let Aerith know…I'll be out." Sweeping out of the massage parlor, Natalie went outside to find Cloud.
Natalie stood on the main thoroughfare between the gym and the south entrance of the market. Keeping any potential pick-pockets distant. It burned her to remember Jamie practicing that on Natalie and her other friends. Natalie had never had the knack for it, Jamie claimed it was all practice. Natalie had gotten the hang of lock picking, thanks to Jamie. But Natalie had never gotten the knack of picking pockets.
She managed to keep a distance from the various types of people that crowded in wall market. People from topside clearly here to spend their Gil, people from the Slums hoping to spend what they had or make some more. And the people who would use various means to make Gil off of all of them. With no sign of Cloud.
A shock of styled red hair poked over the crowd, disappearing before Natalie was sure who it might have been. Stepping aside from someone else getting within arm's reach, she kept looking until she saw the blond hair, with a sword handle over their shoulder. Natalie had spotted him.
Slipping into the crowd, Natalie went after Cloud, who was going in the direction of the red hair.
Natalie remembered, Johnny was here too, he was still in the Midgar Slums. He had left the dangers of the town that was comprised of Sector Seven. He could still get in trouble here. Cloud, new Cloud, might be able to keep Johnny out of trouble or get him out of it.
Who knew what Cloud had already gotten up to, while Aerith was still getting ready for the audition?
Natalie stood in front of a soup-noodle restaurant, she had lost sight of both men. Looking back and forth, she was deciding which way to go when the door slid open and someone came stumbling out the door of the hole-in-the-wall eatery.
Natalie managed to step out of the way of the red-haired man that was about to puke, shouting for medicine. "Outta the way! Outa the goddamn way!"
Cloud came out the open door seconds behind Johnny.
"Lee? What are you doing out here?" He asked Natalie.
"Madam M recommended I find you."
Cloud looked both ways down the street. "Which way did Johnny go?"
"That way." Natalie pointed.
They both went down the main street, looking for where Johnny had stumbled too.
Cloud asked Natalie a question while they made their way through Wall Market "How's Aerith doing?"
"She's fine." Natalie answered, "She's worried about you, actually. Looks like you're doing fine to me."
"And you? Why did Madam M send you?"
Natalie shrugged, she could hear Johnny's voice over the crowd nearby. "Something about helping you with something on the list she gave you. She wasn't clear."
"Does she know a way to get you into the audition?" Cloud asked.
Natalie shook her head, "Madam M already sponsored Aerith. Besides…" Natalie trailed off, about to say something stupid. 'Besides,' she thought to herself, 'I refuse to be the one to end up in a dress tonight.' Something about what Madam M had said, Natalie was putting something together. But she kept to herself about a certain people getting into dresses for now.
"Besides what, Lee?" Cloud asked her.
"Look, there's Johnny."
Johnny was dry heaving on the ground, in front of the pharmacy. Someone in an apron was trying to help Johnny up.
"Hey, you," the man in the apron asked Cloud, "Is this yours?" He meant Johnny.
"Well…" Cloud started. Holding a paper in his fist since he had left the soup-noodle restaurant.
"Oh, that voucher you got there? Should've said something sooner. Come on in."
Natalie got one of Johnny's arms over her shoulder. "Whatever you do Johnny, don't puke on me." She told him and she and the pharmacist helped a sick Johnny into the store. With Cloud behind them.
Inside, the pharmacy had shelves against the back wall. With bottles and cannisters of various sizes. Natalie didn't recognize any names, only what they treated. Like a diuretic that had some brand name she had no idea what it was. And various other substances that looked like they might belong in the pharmacy. But she had no way to know by the brand what it would treat for.
Natalie mostly knew about painkillers, because of missions. Which ones were for what type of pain, which ones were more or less addictive. SOLDIERs got hurt and sometimes had to wait for full treatment of their injuries, and they could ignore a lot of pain but not all of it.
Johnny continued to kneel on the floor, dry heaving and talking like he was about to puke.
Natalie brought herself back to the now. With Cloud and the pharmacist talking.
"Loads of 'em." The pharmacist responded, "I got enough outstanding orders to fill a book. I was about to leave and make some deliveries, but…"
Johnny groaned, "I'm gonna hurl."
The pharmacist sighed, "I very well can't leave him alone, now can I?" He looked to Cloud. "Hey, you're not doing much. Maybe you can deliver that medicine for me. You're, what, military or something right? Then you must know a thing or two about dealing with the sick and injured."
Natalie was kneeling beside Johnny, rubbing his back. They weren't the best of friends, neither were Natalie and Johnny strangers. She still didn't want him to suffer.
Johnny groaned again, "thanks sis." He clapped his hands to his mouth, making terrible noises.
"It's Natalie, or just Lee, Johnny. Never 'sis' " she reminded him.
Cloud made a sound of affirmation while Natalie had been talking to Johnny.
The pharmacist was glad, "You're a lifesaver-literally. So, lemme see, what needs delivering…" He pulled out a few bags of meds, all with little labels on the outside of the paper. "Here-you need to deliver this to a few people around the market. And make sure you check their symptoms before giving them their meds."
Cloud nodded to Natalie before heading out to help the pharmacist.
"How's he doing?" The man behind the counter asked Natalie.
"Not well, I'm not sure if he needs a purgative or for his nausea." She glanced at the shelves at the back wall of the pharmacy. She had no idea what was what. There was no way she could have helped Johnny on her own.
"When did he get sick?"
"Not sure, I saw him go running out of one of the noodle shops."
"Hah, still hasn't fixed that fridge? Figures." The pharmacist browsed the shelves behind him. "I know just what your friend needs."
"Good, because I don't."
"Hey, that sword." The pharmacist asked, while still looking for the right bottle. "You ex-military too? Like your blond friend?"
"Hmm, I've gotten around a bit."
"Sure, whatever," the man sounded insulted, "It's not like I was asking for your life story or anything."
Natalie narrowed her eyes at the man's back, trying to find the right words to ease the situation. "I served in the War, okay?" It was only somewhat true, but it was close enough to the truth to shut down further questions.
"Oh," the man pulled a bottle off of the shelf. Sounding apologetic, "Sorry. I didn't know."
"Don't worry about it, you wouldn't know from just a look." Natalie accepted the apology, bottle, and proffered cup of water.
Dosing the liquid per the man's instructions, she helped Johnny take the medicine. It acted like room temperature cough medicine. But she wouldn't know from reading the bottle what it was. It was a medicine was all Natalie could tell, but the pharmacist knew what he was doing.
"Water." Johnny sputtered after swallowing the last of the liquid.
"Gotta wait a few minutes before you can drink anything." The pharmacist told them.
Natalie had left her canteen alone, suspecting as much.
Johnny hacked and sputtered some, from the floor of the pharmacy.
Natalie stood up, while her and the pharmacist waited for the medicine to take hold.
Johnny didn't throw up, and it wasn't long before he stopped looking about to puke.
"You yourself look like a man about town, er- a-" the Pharmacist stumbled on his words.
Natalie waved him off, "person about town, whichever. Doesn't really matter." She could tell by his tone he meant nothing by it. He didn't have strange looks. Nor did he ogle her like Corneo's goons had.
"Your friend might be a while," the pharmacist told her. "If I had noticed you were ex-military sooner. I would have split the deliveries between the two of you. Ya'know, save some time."
Natalie shrugged. "I'm sure Cloud will do fine."
"Cloud?" Johnny asked. "Cloud? Where'd he go?" Johnny was up and sounding fine now.
Natalie and the pharmacist shared a look. Natalie didn't say anything to the obliviousness to Johnny, she didn't like insulting people who had their hearts in the right place. Even if their brains were still trying to keep up.
"Lemme tell you about Cloud!" Johnny started. Recounting Cloud's performance at the coliseum. Play by play. "Sis, here, er-a I mean Lee helped too…"
Natalie had been too pre-occupied with the matches, and too far from the audience to get a good look at anyone in it. It turned out that Johnny had been watching the whole thing.
Unfortunately for Natalie, she had to listen to Johnny prattle on about it until Cloud returned. Occasionally inserting something Natalie had done, possibly not to take her for granted while she stood next to Johnny, as he recounted the whole thing. But recounting it in his own words.
Natalie was relieved to see the door open and Cloud enter the pharmacy. Just as Johnny was getting to the fifth match.
"And then there was this crazy-looking house, right? And it was all like trying to kill 'em! But then Cloud was all like bing, bang, boom! You were good too, I guess Lee."
The pharmacist was in disbelief, "Your friend fought… a house? A house?"
Johnny noticed Cloud had returned, "Oh, hey! Welcome back bro."
"Better already?" Cloud couldn't believe it.
"Yeah," the pharmacist told him. "And now he won't shut up. Anyway, how'd the deliveries go?"
"I did what I could." Cloud told him.
The owner of the pharmacy thanked Cloud, "Thanks for the help. And great work. Anyway, I promised it'd be worth your while. Here, I've got something you're definitely gonna like."
"What is it?" Johnny asked him.
"Well," the pharmacist responded. "It belonged to the owner of the clothing store first. Heard from the cook that you boys been running all over town looking for this, am I right?"
Natalie didn't like the direction the man's tone was going. But this was Wall Market, even if she didn't enjoy just about everything Wall Market had to offer. However, she could leave people alone to do as they wished.
"Wait," Johnny scratched his head. "We have? Hold up. What were we doing before all this? Oh shit! The inspiration!"
Natalie had no idea what they were talking about, she just let it play out in front of her.
The pharmacist talked about the card games him and the other shop owners played every night, how they gambled with each other. And that this 'inspiration' changed hands several times. Before Cloud and Johnny came looking for it to take back to the original owner. The owner of the dress shop.
"And now it's yours." The pharmacist handed a card over to Cloud. " 'Cause hey-why the hell not. It's a VIP card, highly coveted and extremely rare. They're only given to a select few. Not that having it is going to do you much good, but…"
Natalie caught the honeybee logo on it before Cloud pocketed it.
Johnny recognized it as well, "holy mother of…no way! Bro! We gotta get to the Honey-er, um, I mean the Drunkards' on the double!" Johnny ran out immediately, for one of the bars Natalie had passed on her way through Wall Market. The three of them inside the pharmacy could still hear Johnny call back for Cloud and Lee to follow.
The pharmacist told Cloud and Lee good bye with, "Tell the old man I said hi!" as the two of them left after Johnny.