Friday, April 30, 2004

Here's episode four, I think...
(due to a request from the person who gave me this idea, this episode has a bit of Cloud x Tifa, so if there are any Aeris fans in the audience, please bear with me...enjoy...)

Eventually, after loosing their way several times and being ambushed by a group of bandits, the weary travelers arrived at the Chocobo Farm. As it had been in the game, there was a large empty pen in front of the stable that had housed several Chocobo during the day. Nothing much had changed, although the buildings seemed older and aged. The boards that made up the Chocobo pen were old and termite-ridden, and the paint on the walls of the stable and the house was chipped and faded. Yes, everything had aged.

Cloud knocked on the wooden door of the house, summoning an old man to the door.

“Choco Billy’s Chocobo Farm,” he asked in his vague country drawl. “And I’m Choco Billy! I reckon you guys is travelers! By golly, y’all are mighty brave ta be wanderin’ round at night, especially when there’s more bandits around these parts than Chocobo droppings!”

He paused for a moment, laughing dryly and slapping his knee, obviously the only one who understood what the joke was.

“…Alright then…” Cloud said, when the old man had finally recovered from his fits of laughter. “We’d like to rent a room for the night.”

“Well, what’re y’all waitin’ for? Come right in!” the old man said invitingly. “But there’s only about three beds, but the rest of y’all can sleep in the stable if ya wanna.”

“What about the cost?” Wing asked suspiciously.

“Cost? We’ll discuss that in the mornin’! For now you folks are free to make yourselves at home.”

“I guess you girls can sleep inside,” Chocobo Gene suggested. “The guys can stay in the barn.”

“In case you guys haven’t noticed…” Sakura stated in a matter-of-factly tone. “…There are four of us girls if you include Tifa.”

“I don’t mind staying in the stable,” Tifa insisted. “I’m really not that tired anyway.”

“…Besides, Tifa’s a tomboy,” Cloud added, “She’ll get along just fine-“

“Oh, please! We know what you’re after!” Dark Sephiroth stated bluntly.

Darksoul said nothing but her infectious, girlish giggling filled the air.

“Oh, yeah,” Sakura stated, grinning from ear to ear. “Tifa’s miniskirt, plus a typical guy like Cloud-”

Cloud glared at the two, his cheeks burning. “Good night, you two.”

“-Equals lots of mischief…eh, Cloud?”

“I said good night!”

Eventually the girls retired to the comfort of their warm beds, and the guys, along with a slightly flushed Tifa, headed off to the stable. Hay was stacked in a disorderly fashion about the room, and the only source of light was a single yellowed bulb that dangled from the ceiling and flickered off and on of its own free will.

“Well, this seems…inviting…” Ryudo stated skeptically.

Wing stared about the stable blankly and took a seat on a tall stack of hay. “I guess it’ll have to do for now. Where are we headed to from here anyway?”

“I’m not sure,” Cloud said with a shrug. “But for now, we should get some rest.”

At once, the single source of light flickered off for good, and the group settled down to sleep. Cloud glanced across the room at Tifa, who had seated herself in a far corner of the dark room, wide-awake. He leapt to his feet and went over to sit beside her.

“Aren’t you gonna get some sleep?” he asked her.

“I’m not really tired,” she stated, turning away. “I was just thinking. What if…what if we die while we’re in this world? Will we wake up out of this nightmare, or will we just pass on?”

“No one knows anything for sure right now,” he said, “But I promise I won’t let anything happen to you or anyone else here.”

He reached toward her and carefully placed his arm around her shoulders in a sympathetic gesture. She flinched at first, but eventually she warmed up slightly to his unfamiliar touch.

“Hey, if I can’t save every single damsel in distress, I can try to save one, can’t I?” he stated valiantly.

“Cloud, I don’t…” she started.

“What is it? Did I say something wrong?”

“No, it’s not you, it’s me…I’m just tired, I guess.”

“It’s okay. I understand,” he conceded, removing his arm from where it was draped over her shoulders. He stood and stretched a bit before returning to the stack of straw on the far end of the room that was to be his bed for the night.

“Good night, Tif,” he said when he had finally settled down.

“Good night.”

Tifa rested her head against a tall haystack and tried in vain to fall asleep. All the while her conscience was screaming at her for pushing him away, yet again.

Unknown to her, a pair of cerulean blue eyes watched over her from a safe distance until she finally fell asleep that night.

Elsewhere that night, a small group of wanderers had assembled and were preparing to set up camp in the safety of the Midgar ruins. Their leader, another Sephiroth look-alike, was scouting about the bushes as though searching for something concealed within the thick foliage. He bent over and picked up a blade of grass on the floor and examined it closely. Its edge had been sliced neatly, as though a blade had sliced it.

“So, he’s been here already…” he muttered to himself, as bitter thoughts engulfed his mind. He then turned to the others. “Listen up! Broken Blade already has a head start on us. We have no time to stop and rest now. We must go on.”

“But, Cross Blade…” a weary, feminine voice spoke up. He glanced across at the figure standing before him with childlike curiously.

She was clad in a familiar black outfit and a green vest and was overall quite similar to Kakashi from Naruto. However, instead if the short, spiky hair, long white locks flowed over her shoulder. She had previously been reading the little orange booklet, entitled ‘Come Come Paradise,’ and occasionally her eyes would widen in surprise and she stated, loud enough for everyone to hear, “So this is why Kakashi’s always reading this thing!”

However, she had risen from where she was previously seated and the one eye that had not been concealed by her headband was glaring at Cross Blade with a mixture of defiance and outrage.

“What is it, Abbis?” he asked her, feigning nonchalance. “Do you have a problem?”

“Yeah, I do,” she stated frankly, resting her gloved hands on her hips. “We’ve been scouting nonstop for hours, and I’m tired. So is Tiago. Right?”

Another, a boy with messy blue hair, added, “Abbis is right. I suggest we stop here and rest until tomorrow.”

“And then what?” Cross Blade replied disdainfully. “He’ll only gain more distance on us. Have you already forgotten that he is the one responsible for our presence here, and that his death will ensure our return to our own world?”

Tiago said nothing, but the dubious expression etched across his pallid face seemed legible enough to speak on his behalf.

“…I still don’t see how you’re so sure of this…” Abbis said, eyeing Cross Blade skeptically.

“Don’t worry,” he reassured her, “I’m sure of it. Let’s get going.”

(...Just keep in mind that everything is fictional, cuz it's a fanFIC...you'll have to wait a while for episode five...I hope you guys don't mind too much...)

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