Hey Guys, Flipkicks here. Today, I'm bringing you a new chapter for "Rewrite." Thank you for checking the story and telling me what you thought of the previous chapter.
Reviews:
Guest: Genesis and Zack may have patched things up, but Cloud doesn't know that since he was comatose at the end of Crisis Core. There's a theory that Genesis may still be an antagonist, with him being a morally wrong hero since he saw Minerva so that he may be an anti-hero/villain, and he may be the planet's guardian.
I do not own the series in general.
First Side Mission: Reawakening
Cloud's apartment room
As Cloud continues to sleep, his dream will be the same one that has haunted him: Aerith's death. The scene plays over and over in the dream for Cloud.
"You won't be able to save her, Cloud." Cloud instantly opens his eyes, sits up straight, and pants heavily. He wipes the sweat from his forehead and stares blankly at the door. "That scene will be engraved into you," he says.
"Shut up!" Cloud yells out loud, tightening his grip on his sheets.
"You won't be able to save them."
"I said shut up!" Cloud stands up from his bed and grabs his Buster Sword.
"Cloud!?" he hears Tifa from the other side of his door. "Are you alright?" she asks him worryingly. He would take deep breaths and calm down. He puts the Buster Sword back on the wall as Tifa enters his room. "You alright?"
"Bad dream." He sits on his bed and covers his face with his hands, "I've been having this bad dream for a while now." She approaches him and kneels before him, "Are sins redeemable?" he asks her, to which she raises an eyebrow, "There's someone I met while I was a SOLDIER, and someone I looked up to killed her in front of me." Her eyes widen in shock, "I could have stopped him, but..." She immediately hugs him.
"Don't blame yourself, Cloud." Tifa assures her friend, "I'm sure she never blamed you. She was happy you came for her; that is all that mattered." Cloud's hands started to shake, "Don't blame yourself." He wraps his arms around her, taking it in that maybe she never really blamed him for her death. He knows that Aerith wouldn't have blamed him, but he couldn't help it. He could have saved her from her impending death in the last timeline, but the Jenova cells in his body almost made him kill her.
Cloud felt he had heard those words before. Maybe they had been whispered by Aerith to him as a whisper in the wind, ensuring his continued existence. Tifa would place her hands on Cloud's shoulders while he put his hands on her hips.
"Appreciate it, Tifa." Cloud says with a rare, small smile.
"By the way, Cloud.." He looks at her, "Even though it's late, I've meant to ask you."
"?"
"If you aren't busy, I was thinking about us having a night out." Cloud didn't expect to hear that from his childhood friend, "Since we haven't seen each other in a long time, to think we would meet each other in the same place. What do you say?"
"Really?" He didn't know what to say to her.
"I mean, why not? It'll be fun!"
"Do you have any fancy clothes?" He asks her a genuine question since he doesn't recall Tifa wearing anything fancy during the previous timeline or their early childhood.
"Not like fancy fancy, but I'll figure something out! So what do you think?" She placed her hands on her hips and couldn't help but smile. While she did have to admit that it was a bit of a rush to ask her childhood friend on a date, there were some things that she wanted to ask of him.
"I uh..." Cloud tried to find the right words but could not find them. He could tell that Tifa wanted a night out to catch up. Of course, Cloud knows they eventually clear everything up, with him regaining his memories of what transpired in Nibleheim and having a family with both of them, Marlene and Denzel in Edge.
"You can tell me later since I just suddenly laid that out on you," Tifa assures him.
"I'll give it some thought. It'll be a nice change of pace, though." He had to admit he would welcome a change of pace. Sure, he did his fair share of gigs to earn a bit of gil, but he was wondering about letting loose with someone he has a close relationship with. "What time is it?" Cloud looked at the clock on his nightstand and saw it was 5 a.m.
"If you're looking for gigs, there should be some extermination jobs." Tifa told her friend, "I recall Killian having problems with rodents, the Wererats. He has an item shop down the road from us, so if you want, head to him. The shop should be open around 8. Another person of interest is David; he runs a junk shop near the train station. He's been having problems with rodents like Killian. Gwen, another friend of the cause, is also having issues with some flying fiends at one of the abandoned buildings. She's by the train station like David."
"That sounds like a plan. I might also need to ask Jessie about something. Do you have any idea where she might be?" Cloud asks her.
"She should be West of the bar." Tifa pointed toward Jessie's place, "I'm sure she has some materia that you might be able to use."
"Thanks." Cloud would grab his Buster Sword and places it on his back,
"By the way, Cloud," Cloud looks at her as she takes his hands in, much to his surprise, "Are my Cloud? The same one that I went on this self-healing journey?"
"Tifa..." Cloud didn't think he would see her again, the same Tifa with whom he went through this journey. She would immediately wrap her arms around him, as Cloud did.
"I was wondering where I was at when I first woke up," she says in the soft tone Cloud is used to. I went through the same things as before until Barret gave you the raise, and you were already assigned to do the Mako Reactor."
"I wasn't sure if you would get your memories back either. Barret and I woke up during the Bombing Mission. Maybe the others woke up as well." Cloud replies to the Barmaid martial artist.
"Plus, you kinda gave it away with what happened in the future Cloud." She touches his cheeks, "I'm sure Aerith would never blame you for anything, Cloud."
"Sometimes, I can't help it, Tifa." Cloud takes Tifa's hand, "While I was able to move on from that trauma from the mixed memories of Zack and myself, the mental scars that I endured from Zack's last stand to seeing Sephiroth taking her from us..." A tear started to leak from Cloud, and Tifa wrapped her arms around him again. "Seeing Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge again and seeing Aerith by Loveless selling her flowers, I have to make things right."
"And we will." She assures him, "If all of us got sent back in time, we'll do whatever it takes to ensure we end Sephiroth."
"Thank you, Tifa." Cloud places his head in the gap of her neck, to which Tifa hugs him tightly. She knows the mental scars of this journey have a toll on everyone, but Cloud has suffered the most compared to everyone.
"I'm always here for you, Cloud."
Sometime Later
With Jessie
'So far, everything's going the same as before, but Cloud is already getting on the next mission, which is different,' Jessie says to herself, wondering how she is alive and back. The only thing different she experienced was Cloud carrying her from her wound, but still the same results. 'Better ask Cloud and maybe the others.' She would get dressed from her nightwear and into her usual attire.
"Hey Jessie, heard that there is some merc that got hired not too long ago. Is he cute?" One of her roommates asks her.
"Well, he is one handsome ex-SOLDIER. Blonde hair with mako blue/green eyes." She replies with a grin, "He's quite the looker, and I'm surprised that he is single."
Another of her roommates says, "You have to show us a picture of him if you know a bit about him."
"He's also stronger to pick me up and jump from the falling bridge." The recent event is still in her head: He carried her and jumped effortlessly to safety. Sure, she hated being held like a princess in one of her plays, but something about that might have changed her mind.
The trio continued their conversation until they heard a knock on their door. Jessie walked up to her door and opened it, revealing the merc of their discussion, Cloud Strife.
"Uh...hi..." Cloud still felt a bit awkward about talking to her.
"Well, if it isn't Cloud Strife," She says teasingly, and her roommates peek over her shoulder to see that she is correct—he is a handsome ex-SOLDIER. "What brings you to my neck of the woods?" she asks the merc.
"Tifa told me that you have some materia that might be useful." He replies to her, "And also looking for some gigs to do."
'Well, this is a change of pace, but luck may be on my side for once...' She thought, "The materia I have are up for grabs, but I might be swayed to give them to you if you do a gig for me."
'Okay, I don't recall Jessie having a gig from the last time unless...', "As long as it isn't inappropriate, I can consider it."
"I'll give you the details in a bit, but..." She takes another green materia orb, one of the materia she stole a while back. "Biggs and Wedge are looking for you. They need some monsters to be killed on the outskirts of town, and I'll give you this as a reward."
"That's fine. What's the materia? Another healing one?"
"It's a barrier materia."
'Gonna need that.' "Where are they?" He asks her.
"The weapons shop by 7th Heaven Bar. It's not far from both our places."
"Thanks, I'll let them know you sent me." He was about to leave, but Jessie grabbed his gear-like armlet on his left forearm.
"Before you go..." she closes the door. "I have to ask...are you the same Cloud I met before?" That caught him off-guard. He didn't expect her to regain her memories, and she knew that he was the same Cloud from the previous timeline. She immediately wrapped her arms around him tightly. "You're the same Cloud."
"Good to see you, Jessie." He says to her.
"I'm glad I got this second chance, Cloud, and I intend not to mess this one up." Jessie muffles in his chest, but Cloud can hear her, "I don't know how this is possible, but I'm going to make everything count."
"I'm Looking forward to it." With a small smile, Cloud says, "I don't know how some of us got sent back in time, but I will need everyone's help to ensure things go how we want them to be." Cloud assures the brunette, and she hugs him tightly.
"You sure know how to make a girl fall for you, SOLDIER boy." Cloud could only roll his eyes from her tease of a comment.
"Alright, alright, mind letting me breathe?" He asks her.
"That depends; mind doing a gig for me tomorrow at dawn?"
"I'll see."
"How about this..." She takes a red materia orb from her pocket, "A little proposition."
"A summoning materia..." He didn't expect her to carry that with her, and he didn't know she had one all this time, "How did..."
"Shh." She presses her finger on his lips, "Can't spill all my secrets." She winks at him and hands him the materia orb, "Help me with my gig, and I'll find some rare materia for ya. Promise?"
"Alight, I promise."
"Good. I'll give you more on the dets later. Now, go out and do your gigs, Cloud."
Alight, guys. That ends the first part of the side gigs chapter, which will be one of three chapters for Cloud to earn money for the next bombing mission. Jessie and Tifa reawakened in this chapter and will join Cloud in the bombing mission.
I am also trying to think of the builds for the new party members; I know Biggs relies on his strategic mind, Wedge was able to run for a big man of his size, and Jessie is my only unknown since she was an actress and the bomb maker. I know everyone will have a healing materia (It was my main go-to for the Hard mode on Rebirth); Cloud will have the elemental materia, Barret will have lightning materia, Aerith will have a materia that can use most of the elements (like Fire-Ice materia), Yuffie will have the Steal Materia.
I am still thinking of what benefits some of the remaining members. Materia like First Strike, Precision Blocking, and the other purple materia will only appear if they mainly work in-game compared to writing it.
I hope to hear what you guys think of the chapter, and, as always, I'll talk to you all later.