Natalie waited outside the dress shop, once the 'old man' in charge of that store was going on about his VIP pass with Johnny. Lee left them and Cloud to settle the rest, rather than listen to that sort of banter.
Johnny and the owner were getting far more into a visit to the Honeybee Inn, than Natalie was comfortable hearing about. She just had no interest in men or women that way, and Johnny was practically drooling.
It wasn't long until Johnny was done mooning over the Honey Bee Inn with the dress shop owner. With Cloud exiting the store just behind Johnny. The blond-haired SOLDIER was similarly unimpressed with Johnny's conversation. Natalie could see a long suffering look on Cloud's face as he stared at the red-haired man's back.
Natalie wasn't sure if Cloud was like Natalie or if it was a general disinterest to react to anything. It didn't seem her place to ask, unless Cloud volunteered that sort of information. So she left herself to wonder.
She then watched Johnny and the tailor go one way and Cloud go the other. Even in the Maze of streets, she could tell who was going to the Honeybee Inn, and who wasn't.
She followed after Cloud, who was going in the opposite direction of the Inn. She had no interest in most of the things that went on in that building, and had only been that close to two people in her life. Both of them were dead and she didn't want a third try at heartbreak any time soon. Or worse, be vulnerable around a stranger at the Inn.
With a small cloud over Natalie's mood, she followed Cloud to the edge of Wall Market. He said nothing to her except gesturing to follow him to Chocobo Sam's office.
Upon arriving, the two of them came into a loud argument between one of Chocobo Sam's stable hands and a shorter woman, carrying a heavy pack around. With her hat and goggles, the older woman looked ready for anything. Including a block and wire spooled around her waist, there was no way it was for lugging anything but her body up heights.
The arguing continued, Natalie didn't really listen as she tried to get the measure of the other woman. When the stable hand asked the shorter woman a question.
He asked "Are you saying that there's multiple Angels on the loose?"
'What? Angels?' Natalie Thought.
"Madam M told me about a Merc, is that you?" the woman had to look up to ask, barely topping Cloud's shoulder. And Cloud was already an inch or two shorter than Natalie. "Maybe you can help us sort this out." Her voice took on a sharp edge of anger, "Some criminals have taken off with a shipment bound for the Leaf House."
Natalie's eyes narrowed in anger, for someone low enough to steal from the orphanage.
"The fiends!" the woman finished her explanation.
"The culprit," Sam's employee drawled, "Is none other than the notorious Angel of the Slums. People worship her as some kind of folk hero. But there's no denying that she's the one that done did it."
Natalie interjected with, "the Angel would never steal from people like the Leaf House." She had only heard rumors of the steal-from-the-rich type figure. But this theft of the Leaf House donations was new.
"That's what I said!" the woman answered. She met Natalie in the eyes for a moment and looked to Cloud, "Friend of yours?"
"Yeah." Cloud said.
The older woman interrupted before he could continue "Who are you?" the older woman asked. Her eyes flicked up and down Natalie, taking her own appraisal of the other woman.
"Natalie." She introduced herself. "I guess the two of you have met?" She gestured to Cloud and the women. "And your name is?"
"Mirelle, are you new in town? I've never heard of you before the tournament tonight."
Natalie deflected with "A few years actually. But enough about me, there's a problem. So what is there to be done about it?"
Mirelle narrowed her eyes for a moment, Natalie almost missed it. Had she not been looking for some sign that Mirelle was already digging into one of Cloud's friends. Mirelle would have been beyond suspicion as an acquaintance of the other ex-SOLDIER. While Natalie had been trying to get a measure of the shorter woman, Mirelle was doing the same thing.
Sam's nameless employee held up a card, now that the introductions were over. "Anyway, look at this calling card: 'The Garden Angle three?' well they must have meant to write Guardian Angel!"
Natalie gestured to see the card herself.
While Mirelle exclaimed, "Oh come on! Garden Angle!" She turned to Cloud to continue her defense of the Angel of the Slums. "Listen to me, this is not the work of the Guardian Angel. I saw it with my own eyes. Three shady looking types wandering around, scouting their mark I bet."
"Well," the stable hand replied, "If you're so sure, then bring 'em here. Prove to me that this wasn't the work of your Guardian Angel." He said the title with an unflattering tone.
"You heard the man merc." Mirelle said to Cloud. "You too if you're up for it," that comment was directed at Natalie and her sword. "I've got to find those thieves to clear the Angel's name. And I need your help to do it. She would never ever do anything to harm the less fortunate. Find the three I saw and bring them here to me." She gave Cloud and Lee directions to the abandoned expressway between where they stood and the next sector.
Natalie was still studying the calling card, with sloppy writing that was barely legible. "Hmm." Natalie grunted at the writing.
"What is it?" Cloud asked her.
"If I had another sample, another calling card. It looks simple enough to compare."
Mirelle, "comparing that fake card to the real thing won't bring those thieves in."
"No," Natalie agreed, "But I can satisfy my curiosity while I help Cloud with the thieves."
"Hmm," Mirelle made a noise. "Based on how well you did with that other friend in the coliseum, it's more like Cloud will help you. How long did you say you've lived in the slums?"
"A little bit." Natalie frowned despite herself, it was a reasonable question. The truth would not leave her in a comfortable place. She had taken her skills and not used them to their best ability. It had been a compromise to keep under the radar from ShinRa. She still didn't know if she had been recognized from a drone camera during the Sector Five job. Safe to assume she had been.
So Natalie ignored the question and continued with, "Well, if this is a fake calling card. And we know where the thieves are. A comparison doesn't really matter now does it? Let's go knock some heads and help the Leaf House Cloud."
Natalie started off down the road to Evergreen Park, away from Wall Market. She didn't look back but felt it itch as Mirelle watched her go. A few moments later, Cloud stomped to catch up with Natalie, his steps were much louder compared to hers.
Mirelle had been like a shorter version of Natalie, just nearly a foot shorter. And they were both light on their feet. Both wider in build and not slim. Cloud might have had no idea how loud he was with his steps. Most people didn't notice things like that about themselves.
"What was that about Lee? With Mirelle?" He asked Natalie.
"I'm not a fan of people asking around about my past."
"You mean even the past few years living in the Slums?" He asked, sounding surprised.
"The past should stay in the past." Natalie insisted. Trying to reiterate that any past of hers, however recent, was no one else's business.
"Not even what you had for breakfast this morning?" Cloud asked with brevity.
Natalie halted her march to the broken highway. "No," she stated. "Not even that." She started marching forward again.
Cloud grimaced, "Sorry I asked. It was just a question."
Natalie huffed, marching forward. She made a slow breath out, calming herself before speaking again. "No, sorry. I've been in a mood lately. I don't like questions." She thought, 'Questions are dangerous. They lead too easily to awkward and dangerous answers.'
"Are you in the mood to 'kick some heads?'" He asked her. Quickening his own marching to keep up with her.
Natalie stared forward, only seeing the curve ahead of this side road, the park wasn't in sight yet. "Always."
A couple of turns into the broken covered highway, well past the park. Natalie and Cloud spotted three goons. They looked like run of the mill bandits that infested the area.
The three of them were conversing and cheering about something.
"Sucks to be you Miss Angel." One crowed over the hoard of stolen goods.
Natalie noticed something a little different, a little distinct about their clothes. They looked like the same fools with the same makeshift weapons her and Cloud and Aerith had fought in the coliseum.
One of them raised their head and noticed Cloud and Natalie enter the area, finally noticed the two of them anyway.
"Hey! It's you and you!" one shook his nail-bat. "The hell are you doing coming after us?"
"Shit!" the shortest one, with the cutlass swore. "Uh, play dead. Play dead!"
"Shut up!" The one called Beck told the short one. "It's too late for that." He chuckled in a manner her thought was intimidating.
Natalie was not intimidated, neither was Cloud by his stance. So Natalie let the little tableau play out.
Beck continued, "Heh, bring it! We're ready for you this time." He gestured further back in the tunnel with his axe. "Wakey-wakey, time to shine."
A brick-shit-house of a man in a sleeveless leather jacket came from around the rubble. Groaning and possibly just waking up. He also had a mask covering most of his face, like Beck and his other thief-friends.
"Heh-heh," Beck threatened, "Check out this brick-shit house. We picked him up at the coliseum. Gonna pay you back double- no quadruple- what you've done to us."
The short one asked a question of his boss, "What's a droople? What are we doing?"
Natalie shifted her feet in impatience, only watching 'Beck's Badasses' get ready.
Cloud only stared, unmoving. Him and Natalie had been ready from the beginning.
"Shut up!" Nail-bat yelled, "we're kicking blondie's ass for being…an ass! And his lady friend too."
As Beck and his compatriot's finished squaring off against the two ex-SOLDIERs.
Natalie shot a look at them, "I ain't no lady."
Her and Cloud drew their swords together as the brick shit-house roared.
The big man charged for the one with the bigger sword, Cloud.
Natalie stepped aside to let the two of them have all the room they needed, while opening with a salvo of fire magic. This time, there weren't several of Corneo's goons to distract her.
"Fire bad!" the short one yelled, reconsidering his cutlass. None of those three would be in time to interrupt Natalie's most basic spell.
Mirelle sounded like she wanted these three, now four, in alive. So Natalie put the fear in them with her magic. Before switching the grip in her sword and batting them around. She stepped and rolled around, not letting any of those three get behind her. Batting them with her sword, trying to disable and knock out. This time she wouldn't strike to kill.
The short one didn't have the strength to block her sword, getting a slap in the head with the flat of her metal, in reward for his effort. The only thing these men had at their advantage was the size of their group, otherwise they had no skill, not even working as a team in this fight. The short one went down quickly enough.
Natalie heard a roar over the shock of stepping on a mine she had missed before. Her muscles jumped and twitched out of control, leaving her barely breathing but still standing. While another of those thieves pilfered the pocket she kept a tiny portion of her Gil.
He laughed over his nail bat. While Natalie could only listen to Cloud's grunts and the big man's roars. They would be at it a while.
Another of beck's buddies pilfered Natalie's other pocket. Taking out an ether she always kept ready.
"That's mine!" she mumbled through gritted teeth. Even with her hoard of Gil, safely tucked away from pilfering hands. Ethers didn't grow on trees.
When her sword hand could move under Natalie's own control. She danced away from the mines and the remaining two thieves. So she could get a good look at Cloud's mini-duel.
Just in time to see the taller man throw Cloud onto the ground, from over his head.
Natalie danced further away from the other two, Beck and another, so she could throw a Cura spell at Cloud.
"Thanks." He yelled as he rolled out of the way of the big man's arms again. Cloud sprung to his feet just as quickly.
These thieves didn't have Materia or backed each other up. They only had the stunning mines. Now that Natalie knew what to look for, she could avoid them and go back after the remaining goons.
They were quickly napping in the dirt. Between her and Cloud, these men were handled.
Natalie cast one more healing spell on Cloud, staying out of reach of the big man, and Cloud's larger sword. Before long the ex-SOLDIER had the last man handled.
While Cloud stood over the defeated, telling them "you're coming with me."
Natalie picked up a stun mine, no longer giving any sign of light or life. The thing had been sending shocks into the ground. With an experimental push of the only button. It didn't spring to life, nor did it shock her hand or stun her again. "Hmm, too bad." She tossed the mine with the others. They were useless to her now.
Cloud was rounding up and shaking away the rest of the thieves while Natalie had inspected the mine. "What is it?"
"One use, they're dead and useless now." Joining Cloud in gathering up the four thieves, taking her stolen Gil back, and then some. She had so much for herself she ended up dropping it all in Cloud's hands. It was only a hundred Gil or so. It was more the principle of the theft than any material loss to her own stash.
Thoroughly defeated and intimidated, the four men didn't struggle, beyond barely remaining awake. As they were led back to Chocobo Sam's place and Mirelle. Cloud half dragged the big man and Natalie urged the other three on from the back. Leaving their weapons behind, Natalie also dragged the hoard of donations behind her. The stolen goods the thieves had taken in the first place.
Chocobo Sam's employee spotted the rag tag group first. In disbelief, he stated, "these are the Guardian Angel of the Slums?"
The short one, now able to talk again, chastised the employee, "aw man, you're real stupid. We're the Garden Angles. Get it right!"
Beck yelled at his friend from where he sat at Cloud's feet, "shut yer trap moron!"
"Huh," Mirelle surveyed the donations and captured 'garden angles.' Speaking to that same stable hand, "You don't honestly think that the beloved Angel of the Slums could be any of these three idiots, Do you?"
The employee agreed, "Nah, I recognize the masks. These guys are just small time crooks who've been pestering folk around here for a minute. Should have listened to you earlier. Sorry about this." His apology sounded heartfelt for Mirelle.
Mirelle accepted it, while still sounding frustrated at the man, "Well you should be sorry. I'll consider us square, once you've taught these boys a lesson."
'Boys?' Natalie thought. All four of them looked to be between her and Cloud's age. Somewhere between a younger and older twenties. Though Mirelle was all gray and somewhat white in her hair now. So most people in the area would be boys or girls to the older woman.
"Deal," the employee agreed with Mirelle. "Alright get moving!" He shuffled the four men, boys to Mirelle, off into Wall Market. And whatever just dessert was waiting for them inside the walls.
Cloud sighed as loudly as Natalie felt, he turned to Mirelle. "So, what about the donations? Do you need help taking them to the leaf house?"
Mirelle thanks him with a nod but, "kind of you to offer. But I can manage on my own."
Between the backpack, bedroll, wire, pulley, the way Mirelle was dressed. She looked like she could manage a lot of things on her own.
Mirelle continued, "I know these streets like the back of my hand. Better even." She walked over to the cart Natalie had rolled to here.
When no one had been looking, Natalie had also slipped in another few thousand gil in one of the boxes. Whatever Mirelle was hiding, it wasn't stealing from the Leaf House. Natalie made no mention of her addition while Mirelle surveyed the donations and treasures.
"The Angel of the slums struck again! She took the Don's stuff!" Someone near the entrance to Wall Market shouted. "He's going to be pissed!"
"Well, I'll be seeing you." Mirelle started to walk away to arrange moving the donations.
Natalie left Cloud to pick up a slip of paper from the ground, walking after Mirelle.
Near the mouth of an alley that pointed away from Wall Market, Mirelle turned to Natalie. "For someone who doesn't like questions. You sure do like to follow people."
Natalie had scraped her boots on the ground, not sneaking up on Mirelle at all. "I may not like questions, but I do like people who jump to the defense of the 'Angel of the Slums.'"
"Oh? And what of it?" Mirelle sounded defensive, and like she wanted to shake off Natalie.
"I won't keep you long. But I have a question. More like looking for advice I mean."
"Oh? And what makes you think I'll answer?"
"You and I know Cloud, and not in an unflattering way."
"What of it?" Mirelle sounded non-plussed.
"A friend of Cloud is a friend of mine." Natalie suggested as a reason for more time from Mirelle.
"And how do you know Cloud?" Mirelle still sounded unimpressed. "You helped him with those thieves, I'll give you that."
Natalie nodded in thanks to the acknowledgment. "I haven't known him very long. But I'm looking for advice, from someone who knows these streets so well…"
"What are you getting at?"
"I was wondering if you, or the Angel you know so well, know of a way into that pagoda." Natalie gestured with her head at Wall Market behind her. There was only one pagoda she could mean. "That isn't exactly on street level. If you know what I mean."
Mirelle frowned deeper. "I'm not one to give advice that will just get some kid killed."
Natalie felt a burst of heat, at being called a kid, she was nearly thirty years old. But she breathed it out. Mirelle was Natalie's elder by some decades. "I may be a kid to you, but I'm not that easy to kill. Not even if I was surrounded by his goons. In his place." Natalie let go of the sword hilt she only now noticed that she had been gripping.
"Hmm, he's more dangerous than you think. But after the coliseum, maybe you do have a chance."
Natalie smoothed out her frown, seeing any acceptance from Mirelle. "It wouldn't be the first time I've run on Wutai-style shingles."
"You've tried that building before? Most people don't get a second chance." Mirelle sounded skeptical.
Natalie shook her head, "No. I was in Wutai at the end of the war. But getting out of a place isn't that different from getting in."
"Huh, you can't exactly knock on a window to get in."
Natalie patted the back she had slung over one shoulder. "I came prepared for tonight." Natalie considered to herself, 'I've been preparing for so many possibilities for years.' Her pockets and bag had accumulated so many small things to get her out of an ever expanding list of possible situations.
"Oh ho, it's a wonder I have never heard of you." Mirelle crowed.
Natalie shrugged, "I like reputations even less than questions."
"Hmm, I see. And friends?"
Natalie looked back to Cloud, he was near Chocobo Sam, talking with the man. But he had a glance for Natalie. Though the distance was too great for anything but a shout, they each kept to their own conversations. "I've made a few in the last couple of years."
"Only recently?" Mirelle sounded a mix of pleased and surprised.
"I outlived the rest." Natalie gazed off to the dark alley behind Mirelle. Clouding the rest of her past, she only mentioned one thing. "I outlived pretty much everyone else I know who served in the war."
"Sorry for that. I didn't mean...Nevermind." Mirelle shook her head. "That explains why calling you a kid...No never mind. Anyway, if our friend Cloud is an ex-SOLDIER. And you-"
"Fight like a SOLDIER." Natalie finished for the other woman. "But never mind SOLDIER for a second." Natalie glanced at Cloud again. "He might volunteer for this for reasons." Natalie didn't elaborate. "But he wouldn't know how to break in to something or sneak around if his life depended on it."
"But you do, Natalie, is it?"
"Lee to my friends." Natalie turned to look back down at Mirelle. "So, do you have any friendly advice for me?"
"What were you before SOL-no, never mind. Lee." Mirelle shook the question off. "I was being rude, curious but rude. Do you have a prybar?"
"Yes." Natalie confirmed.
"Rope?"
"Yes."
"Lock picks?"
"Several." Natalie licked the inside of her cheek, checking on the place she kept her smallest lock pick. Despite it being discovered that one time.
Mirelle led Natalie closer to the alley, and further away from the bustle entering and exiting this side of Wall Market.
"Well, let me give you some advice a little Angel shared with me. But don't get it wrong."
A few minutes later, Natalie rejoined Cloud by the donations Mirelle was arranging to move to Sector Five.
"What was that about Lee?" Cloud asked her.
Natalie smirked, "Just asking her for advice before she left. What's the note?"
"Here." He offered her the card, keeping hold of the bottle that it had been attached too.
Natalie read the end of the note, in a much neater hand than the first card. The writing styles were as clear as day, that 'Angles' was written in a different hand.
The card read: 'Merc, thanks for catching the imposters and clearing my name. This is a token of my appreciation. -The Guardian Angel of the Slums.'
Natalie handed the card back. "What did she leave for you?"
"Just some turbo ether."
"Can't buy those around here," Natalie reminded Cloud of the drink that would restore not just a fraction of their Mana, but all of it in one gulp. "It's a good way to show thanks."
Cloud shrugged, pocketing the bottle and the note. "Anyway, let's see how Aerith is doing getting ready for the audition."
Natalie followed Cloud back into Wall Market, and Madam M's parlor. "How about Sam. What did he say?"
"He was asking me what I'd learned around here."
"And?" Natalie asked.
"Nothing I hadn't seen before." He said coolly, playing off the hijinks they had both heard and gotten up to.
Natalie smirked but didn't argue the point. Otherwise they trudged off in silence. While the walk to Madam M's was in silence, Natalie went over the plan Mirelle had given her. The advice for which windows to check. And which one's might still be loose. For a 'mere local gossip.' Mirelle knew the Slums very well. As well as Corneo's mansion.
Natalie kept her suspicions on who Mirelle really was to herself. The middle of Wall Market was not the place to talk about the secret identity of the Angel of the Slums. Least of all right after they had robbed the Don.
Cloud did have one stop along the way. One thing to do before checking in on Aerith.
Sam had requested one last bout from Cloud, and only Cloud, in the arena.
People had requested a fight from the Champion of the Corneo Cup.
Natalie wasn't worried about Cloud holding his own, especially not here. If anything, it gave her a chance to gamble on him. Even if the odds were thin, with him being the returning champion.
It was also a chance to watch him fight from afar. See how Cloud could handle himself, how much he had grown since he had first stumbled into the Slums with Tifa.
The man could fight, as young as he was. He had the speed, the strength, the skill. Watching him from the crowd, Natalie could convince herself that he really was an ex-SOLDIER. Like everyone else, she could follow Cloud at his word. As his new sword, not the Buster sword but one he had purchased in Wall Market, came down on a fiend shaped like a flaming bomb.
Cloud took out the first and then the other. Natalie could see him possibly outstrip her own skill one day, if she kept slacking off her own training.
If that happened, anyone could believe that he had made it to First Class.
After the quick match, Natalie collected her winnings and met Cloud back out front in the spectator entrance to the arena. Every inch of him looked the SOLDIER he said he was. Natalie left no room for anything else.
"Let's check on Aerith." Cloud led the way through Wall Market.
Natalie followed behind him.
They were both about to enter Madam M's Parlor. When Johnny came running from nowhere to stop them.
"No!" Johnny broke down about Tifa. Barely getting complete words out in a rush of words.
Cloud instructed the other man, "Take a deep breath. What about Tifa?"
Johnny took that slow breath and restarted, "I heard that Corneo was going to audition new girls soon, and Tifa's-Tifa's gonna be-…I just-I dunno what to do."
Cloud reassured Johnny, "Well I do."
Johnny perked up, "I'll come to!"
Natalie fought the urge to roll her eyes. Johnny did have his heart in the right place, even if he was an incompetent fool. He was a well-meaning fool.
Johnny took off for the shortest route to the pagoda-shaped mansion. Cloud jogged to keep up.
Natalie sighed and slowly jogged after the two of them. She knew where they were going, even if she lost sight of Cloud through the crowd. And she could just hear what Johnny was saying to him. Not in the late-night burble of an active Wall Market.
"I said-I'm not you're bro."
Cloud's voice carried to Natalie's ears. But she couldn't make out what Johnny said before or after that.
The last turn, Natalie found herself at the bottom of the stairs that was the last bit of street to the pagoda. Johnny and Cloud were easy to catch up to now that the crowd had thinned. People kept to the lower streets and below the slope, unless they were going to the coliseum.
Johnny called to Cloud, "I really wish I could be just like you."
Natalie frowned at Johnny and Cloud's back. Thinking, 'No you don't.'
Johnny went on, "My problem is that I tend to over think and over analyze things." Natalie got a few steps closer as the street continued to climb.
"So, bro." Johnny, "Do you have any advice for a smart-stand-up guy like myself?"
Cloud's reply was flat "No."
"Aw, c'mon bro." Johnny caught Natalie's eye. "What about you Sister, any advice?"
"I said call me 'Lee'. Johnny." She warned for the umpteenth time. "Never 'sis' or 'sister'."
Johnny smiled, unflappable. As the three of them crested the last stair, and started crossing the red-painted bridge at the entrance to Corneo's mansion.
Johnny sighed, "well this is it for me. Call me crazy, but I have a feeling that I'd just be getting in the way.
"Good instinct." Natalie told him.
Cloud sighed and held his forehead, "Go find Aerith at Madam M's. Tell her to wait for me there once she's done." He asked Johnny, "Think you can handle that?"
"Yessir!" Johnny took off without another word. The boy could run, when he was motivated to.
Natalie sighed again, "I was afraid for a second there he was going to charge the place to save Tifa."
"He still might." Cloud warned.
"Oh I hope not."
"Let's go." Cloud told her.
Natalie's boots made a sound louder than she liked on the wooden bridge, with Cloud stepping heavily beside her. Two pairs of boots crossed the last part of the bridge to enter the mansion, Cloud had Aerith's letter of approval in his pocket.
The same gray-haired youth in the same black jacket was waiting between two of Corneo's goons.
"You again?" The one in the middle, Lesley, asked out of boredom.
Cloud pulled the envelope out, "Got a letter of approval right here."
Lesley ignored it, telling Cloud, "You know that's only good for women right?"
"Yeah, it's for Aerith." Cloud told him.
"Who?" Lesley asked, "Her? Dressed like that?" He took in Natalie's coat, and boots. She was not dressed for any audition unless it was for the coliseum.
"What?" Natalie was surprised to be mistaken for the other woman. "I'm not Aerith. I'm-"
Lesley interrupted with, "Oh, that other girl you were with." He turned his head to look away from Cloud and Natalie, tsking "sorry to hear that. Well either way you're both stuck out here. I can't let you in."
Natalie shifted her stance when Cloud grabbed the sword hilt sticking over his shoulder.
Cloud declared, "I wasn't asking for permission!"
None of Corneo's men moved to react to the threat.
Lesley put out a placating hand, "I wouldn't try that if I were you." Gesturing with his one black-gloved hand. "Trust me, you do not want to screw with the Don." Lesley continued matter-of-factly, "If you even think about causing any trouble, he'll make sure someone pays for it. And that someone might end up being the girl you're trying so hard to break out."
Cloud eased up his grip at the explanation. He eased up from looking about to attack the men in the foyer.
Natalie frowned at the words. Hating the Don even more than before.
"Or it could wind up being someone you've never even met before. Get it? You're in the Don's world now." He shook his hand for Cloud and Natalie to leave. "Anyway you've got some time yet. The audition won't start for a while. If you're sure you want to go through with this. Then bring the girl and the letter." But," Lesley looked away again, his side part hiding his face, "If I were you, I wouldn't."
Natalie glared at the other two goons, especially the one that had been staring at her. He wasn't intimidated in the least by her glare. She kept her own hands off of her weapon and followed Cloud out of the front hall of the building.
Outside, there was some people across the bridge, despite the stairs.
Natalie could hear Johnny yelling for people to move out of his way. As well as a few camera flashes.
Cloud and Natalie watched Johnny make it to the front of the people, and lay out what he had been carrying. He rolled out a red carpet that was long enough to cross the bridge, for Aerith.
Natalie had already seen the dress, layers of the reddest fabric she had ever seen. Aerith had had to be sewn into it. With layers of ruffles falling down the skirt of the dress, under a corset that hurt Natalie to think of the effort that Aerith would have to take to change out of it. Her hair was held back by multiple ribbons, in large curls that Natalie had thought would need wire to hold themselves up. But Madam M's people had found a way.
In another life, Natalie might have been tempted to try and make the dress herself, her heart ached that it would have been with Jamie's help. But that life was not the one she lived. 'I don't even remember how Jamie and I had met.'
Natalie had the mind to see that Cloud was rendered speechless, he only gasped as Aerith crossed the red carpet. Her hair, make-up, dress and shoes had been done up to perfection.
Natalie wasn't feeling whatever Cloud was feeling, but she had the eyes to see why he might be given pause.
Aerith was slow and steady in her heels, under the skirt that was parted on one side, to just above her left knee.
The way the skirt moved made Natalie reappraise the dress, not wanting a version of it for herself anymore. Natalie normally hated dresses. Natalie was struggling to remember what other sorts of costumes Jamie had made, but the impression faded like smoke. She struggled with the gap in her memory while she watched Aerith step carefully across the bridge and the red carpet.
"Hey-ya." Aerith told Cloud.
"That's really…" He paused.
Natalie came out of her inner thoughts enough to smirk at Cloud's awkwardness. As Aerith looked down on herself.
"Yeah." Aerith explained, "Corneo's got certain tastes." She looked back and forth, studying her own dress. "This dress is so gaudy and impossible to move in."
"Uh, yeah-" Cloud made a few wordless noises.
Aerith stepped even closer to him, "Cloud?"
"Uh," He replied, "excuse me."
Natalie smiled to Aerith, forgetting for a moment the past that eluded her. She lived in this one while something passed between Cloud and Aerith.
"Huh," Aerith watched Cloud recompose himself.
Natalie winked at Aerith, unseen by the man beside her.
Aerith's eyes twinkled with something, before Cloud started onto something.
"Hey," Cloud spoke up, "Wait a minute, did Johnny forget to give you my message?"
Aerith replied, "the one asking me to stay put? No, I got it. I was worried about you and Lee."
"Huh," Cloud sighed, "I'm starting to think this place is more dangerous than I thought. Who knows what they'll ask you to do in this audition? No way in hell will I let you go in there by yourself."
"By myself? Oh, don't worry." She turned on her fancy heel and started back towards the heart of Wall market. "I wasn't gonna." She started towards the stairs, and the people that had lot interest in the glamorous woman in the red dress. "Come with me, you'll see."
"See what, exactly?" Cloud asked her.
Natalie stepped after the other two.
Aerith explained, "According to Madam M, you've caught the eye of a certain fabulous someone. And they'd like to meet in person."
"Huh?" Natalie asked.
But Aerith had already hiked up her skirt a couple of inches, off the ground. And was off down the stairs to Wall Market.
"Do you know what she's up to?" Cloud asked Lee.
Natalie shrugged, "No, But I know how to find out." Natalie went after Aerith, Cloud was only a step behind.