paixaorpg | ♥ [Active]

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♥ [Active]

Characters: Aerith, Cloud.
Content: Some chitchat.
Setting: A church near Morem o Lisbo.
Time: Saturday evening.
Warnings: None.

It was very uncommon to see Aerith without some sort of smile - determined or chipper, amused or otherwise. Right then, it was wavering slightly, but it was still there.

Leon had taken off with his issues and had evidently been weighed down by such things, though Aerith didn’t quite get the impression that she had been the straw to break him. That would have been an unfair accusation, in itself, as she didn’t feel it was her fault at all.

Zack had disappeared shortly after, noisily and bustling, and Aerith fondly told herself that “he always was like that”, just to make herself feel a bit less guilty over it. She truly wanted to get to know Zack like she was supposed to - but at the same time, a dinner with Cloud was better than a dinner with Zack, if only because she remembered Cloud, not Zack.

But they weren’t going to dinner, after all. It turned out that all the limbo of who-knows-who and this-new-strange-world had rid most of their appetites for food, and Aerith instead opted to slip into an aging church, somewhere nearby.

She invited Cloud along, naturally. Why wouldn’t she?

It was old and empty - nobody came by on Saturday evenings, apparently, and Aerith couldn’t have cared less. Dim and not the best-kept of places, it had its own charm. She immediately forgot about Leon’s issues and how she would find him again later and talk him out of it, and she forgot about how Zack’s face had fallen when she answered wrong.

“I love these places... so sacred and special. I bet, even with all the fake flowers and the plastic grass around this place, I could get real flowers to grow here, easily,” she said, smiling again, and turned to look at Cloud.

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It had been a while since he had last left Aerith. And even longer since he really had a purpose to be anywhere. He told himself that he was searching for a way out, but in the back of his mind, he didn't care either way. And so he had been wandering the city, working a little bit as a delivery boy, doing some manual labor, and otherwise not doing much of anything.

The Ex-Turk had been wandering with no destination in mind, when he stopped in front of a Church. Crossing his arms over his chest, Vincent got a strange feeling, the church reminded him a little of the church back in Sector 5. The one where they helped cure the people Geostigma. Uncrossing his arms, Vincent stepped foward toward the door, opening it with his claw.

"Hello?" he called out to the seemingly empty church, wondering if it was still in use.

[ I don't know how the thread before this went, but did Cloud follow Aerith to the church? If not, we can wait for Cloud. xD ]

The church was dark and musty-smelling. Cloud was surprised that it wasn’t boarded up and condemned by now. It must be actively used for it to stand for so long, and remain so. It was obviously old, and had seen its share of better days. Aerith must have had some reason for picking out this place. It wouldn’t have been his first choice by a long shot.

As Cloud wandered the aisles aimlessly, running his hand along the backs of benches he passed, he looked towards Aerith. Did he hear her right? She wanted to grow flowers, of all things? He didn’t know quite how to reply to that. So he shrugged and said, “I suppose you could.” But why would you want to?

Before he could say anything more, he heard someone else open the door to the church. His eyes flicked towards the noise’s source. Immediately he went on guard, as the voice who called out “hello” was neither Zack's nor Leon's, the two most likely candidates for following them. He quickly looked back at Aerith and swiped at the air, suggesting she keep back. He would handle this.

Cloud quickly ran for the door at an angle, leaping over any benches that were in the way. He used the darkened atmosphere to his advantage, approaching on the back side of the door, so the door itself would provide cover. Hopefully the man at the door wouldn’t hear him. Now he was in the perfect position for an ambush, if their visitor proved violent, and he was hidden by the door itself. He glanced towards Aerith.

Why all the defensive maneuvers? Well, Aerith was obviously someone who had another key to his personality. Anyone threatening it must be eliminated.

She opened her mouth to reply, to tease him and smile at him, but before she could, someone was calling and Cloud was moving. At first, Cloud's gesture and bristled reaction wasn't threatening or particularly surprising - but after another moment, when her eyes moved to the door, she wasn't quite sure what was going on.

Definitely not Leon or Zack, no.

Aerith stared at the door, then up at Cloud, crouched around the door and prepared to do something. She wasn't a fighter, she didn't care for tactics and surprise attacks, or the logistics of battle. Her concern was who the enemy was, not so much reasons to fight them.

"Hello, hello? Who are you?" she called back, taking a few steps after Cloud. From her angle, she couldn't quite see who it was, and as she stepped around a bit, he fell into eyesight - very tall, dark-haired and dressed in red and black. She didn't know him. He looked... dangerous.

She had yet to encounter evil in Paixao, but she had heard a lot about it.

Vincent stood in the doorway, his eyes only taking a very short amount of time to adjust to the light. And to his incredible surprise, he saw Aerith, and a familiar spikey blond man. He crossed his arms over his chest, his red eyes looking out from behind a veil of raven colored hair. He stood there for a moment, making a "Hmm..." sound. He instantly recognized the two, but it didn't seem like they recognized him. Cloud looked ready to attack(the darkness didn't help to conceal CLoud from Vincent's vision) and Aerith looked almost frightened.

"Strife? Gainsborough?" he asked them, one hand finding it's way to Cerberus' butt. Cloud's swords always even frightened Vincent a little, simply by the ease the blond could wield them with.

Vincent took a step back, putting his hands out in front of him. "I mean you no harm," he said, dropping Cerberus on the ground in front of him. The only thing he was reminded of, was how Highwind didn't know who he was. This was getting very troublesome.

Cloud straightened, now that the danger had passed. The stranger had put a very large, mean-looking gun down on the ground, and raised his arms to show he was no threat. The less violence, the better. For all intents and purposes, the man had been armed with some reason in mind. He couldn’t be trusted just yet.

Cloud came from around the door, arms crossed. He looked the man up and down. He had an interesting, if very similar, taste in clothing as Cloud himself. Was he some sort of fanboy? Or did he too hold precious memories of the past? It seemed likely. And only a friend would put down his gun for others. Maybe they knew each other once. But there had been changes. Trust had to be earned now. Cloud could not recognize the man’s face, no matter how hard he studied it. He settled for backing off, standing near Aerith to guard her, should the man try something daring.

He didn’t know what Gainsborough was, but he recognized his own name. Cloud stiffened. “How do you know my name?” he demanded. “Who are you? Why are you here? Make you intentions clear.” He tried to make himself seem threatening, even if his trademark sword was absent for the time being.

"Uh..." Aerith trailed, eyes widening. She stared, and then looked at Cloud, rapidly. It was alarming.

Again, she thought, and took a few steps forward, towards the stranger. He was startlingly like Cloud, in dress, but he was taller and considerably darker.

"No, no, Cloud, this is the same thing as with you and me, and Zack and I. We don't remember each other," she said, quickly, placing a hand on Cloud's shoulder.

She glanced at Vincent again, and smiled, kindly, "I don't know if you've run into this before, but there are a lot of things amiss, around Paixao... people remember me, but I don't remember them. And I remember people - like Cloud - who don't remember me."

If he knew her, it was okay to tell him.

"And... call me Aerith, you really don't have to call me Gainsborough."

Valentine just stood there, his eyes every so often checking to see his gun. It almost hurt to see it lying on the floor. Not only that, he noticed Strife was equally unarmed. Unless he began to use a new, smaller weapon, but that didn't seem to fit his...'style'.

"I mean you know harm," he explained, pointing at the gun on the ground. "I am a...friend." Sometimes he forgot how to say that word.

It was only then did something hit him. And hit him hard.

"How are you alive?!" he asked taking a surprised step forward. "What's going on?" Vincent was amazed. If somehow Aerith was alive and seemlingly real, was there a way to do the same for Lucrecia?!

Aerith’s hand on his shoulder was strangely calming. Normally he wouldn’t tolerate any sort of touch, but this one was different. He couldn’t come up with why, though, before his thoughts were derailed by the stranger’s sudden outburst.

Cloud narrowed his eyes. “Stay back,” he said, moving to stand more fully in front of Aerith. “As for what’s going on, I think we’d all like the answer to that one.” It might be true that the stranger was part of another memory game, but Cloud preferred to stay cautious until he found out how.

She wasn't supposed to be alive?

This was alarming - her eyes widened and she froze, and with one hand on her chest and the other trailing along Cloud's shoulder, she looked around her bodyguard and stared at Vincent. Something was off. Something was strange. Either she couldn't remember or he was crazy. Or they were all crazy.

She had never died. She had never come close to dying. Even when Hollow Bastion fell, she had escaped mostly unscathed.

"... whoever you are," Aerith said, trailing for a moment. What was his name? "I've never died. What do you mean?"

Vincent stopped in his tracks, frozen in fear. What had he just done?! Wasn't there a rule not to interfere with people from the past so you don't change the future? The ex-turk stood in his place, looking from Cloud to Aerith. After a moment his eyes drifted to the floor, thinking calmly for a moment.

"I'm sorry, I do not mean to upset you," he said quietly, still trying to figure how to explain everything.

"I knew you, or as I understand, a different version of you." Vincent stood for a few moments. How exactly could he figure out if they came from the Planet.

"Have you two ever heard of Shin-Ra?" he asked them.

A different version? As far as Cloud knew, people didn’t come in versions. They weren’t like different models of the same sword. That was impossible. For someone who didn’t mean to upset them, this guy was doing a great job of it anyway.

Cloud looked at the other man, only raising an eyebrow. The guy had to be crazy. “I’ve never heard of that,” he replied succinctly. The other man seemed to be stalling. If he didn’t make his intentions clear in a few minutes, he would have to be shown out. No one ever came just to make witty conversation when they were armed with guns, demanding how someone still lived. He glanced again at the gun, still laying on the floor. It had best remain there.

She wasn't sure. She looked between the two.

"I've never heard of ShinRa either."

Aerith kept her hand on Cloud's shoulder, drawing herself closer to him without being clingy. The last thing they needed was a fight - holding him back, even if it just took a hand on his shoulder, seemed sensible.

"Cloud, don't worry so much," she said, as sweetly as she could, though her own nerves were getting more and more tangled by the moment. "Let's just figure this out. If he meant harm, he wouldn't have unarmed himself, ne?"

Crossing his arms over his chest, Vincent fell silent for a few moments. This was all very troubling, with Cloud not knowing anything about his life on the Planet, and somehow Aerith was alive. How was it possible to extract a single soul from the lifestream? Nothing made sense to him.

Vincent just stood in his place, deep in thought about the whole situation.

"I suppose then I should introduce myself," he said after a few more moments. "I am Vincent Valentine, and three years ago I helped a man named Cloud Strife destroy a man named Sephiroth. You don't remember any of this?"

Cloud’s patience was beginning to be tried. But when he heard his own name mentioned in the same sentence as the past, his interest was captured. He had to stop from lashing out at this Vincent and think. Things were hazy, even happenings as recent as last week, but they were starting to connect. He raised his hand to rub his forehead.

“I can’t say I remember destroying him, but Sephiroth,” Cloud said quietly. “I know the name. Zack just mentioned it. Leon, too. He was a general or something.” General Pigtails, as Zack had so eloquently put it.

“Now that I truly think about it, I may have heard the name Shinra before. Just in passing conversation, though. It had a military?” he said uncertainly, squinting slightly as he strained to remember. “Something along those lines. Anyway, you should speak with Zack. He’s in the Morem O Lisboa. Big guy, ridiculously spiked black hair, obnoxious personality. You can’t miss him, especially with that sword he drags around with him.” Maybe Vincent was a friend. The details were lining up.

The change in both was immediate - Aerith found herself pleasantly surprised, to see Vincent introduce himself, and to see Cloud relax, in his own way. It was incredibly relieving, to see Cloud TALK again, not just vague comments. Actual description. That was good old Cloud, for sure, right there. Vincent, she couldn't quite describe, but at least it felt right.

Threats never felt right.

"Well, then," she said, "Vincent Valentine. Nice to meet you again."

She offered him a hand to shake, beaming.

What could he tell Cloud about Sephiroth? There were so many things Cloud seemed not to know, but would it be worth it to tell him? Last time he tried to confront reality he was almost lost in the Lifestream.

"Hm..Zack is here? Where I'm from Zack died," Vincent said quietly, trying to figure everything out. It seemed like the best course of action was to meet up with Zack and talk to him. Cloud and Aerith probably had no more information for him, and they could handle some time alone. In the back of his mind he almost felt bad for intruding on them, knowing that some how fate was allowing them to get to know eachother again.

After shaking Aerith's hand Vincent picked up the gun, and twirled it on his hand, then slid it into the long holster on his side. It was odd to touch Aerith after he knew to be long dead. Vincent wondered what it would be like to touch Lucrecia again.

Turning on his heel, Vincent headed toward the door, pushing it open.

"I should go find Zack," he said to them, without turning around. "He might have some helpful information." Then Vincent turned around, his red eyes meeting Cloud's.

"Protect her," was all he said. Last time Cloud had to blame himself for Aerith's death, so maybe in this reality that might never have to occur.

In a flash of red, Vincent was off the ground and gone, the Church door closing behind him in a gust of wind.

And like that, Vincent was gone.

It was both a relief and a disappointment to have him leave now. They were on the verge of uncovering more of the past. It figured the man would leave just when things were starting to match up and make sense. Ah, well. The man had his own agenda and he should be allowed to stick to it.

Cloud looked back at Aerith. Protect her, Vincent had said. Cloud knew he had to do that much. She knew things about him that he couldn’t remember. There were things he would never be able to wring out from Leon that she would know. Vincent could rest assured that he would protect her.

“Anyway, where were we?” he said, taking a few steps from her and looking around once again at the beat-up, worn down church. “You were saying something about growing flowers. Go on.” He would listen. Maybe later he would follow Vincent to the Morem O Lisboa, even if Zack was there, to see what came of his little venture.

Vincent's exit was abrupt, and Aerith watched the doors for a moment after he went. Protect her, huh? Catching Cloud's eyes on her, she turned to look at him and smiled. It was so nice to have him around again, even if he didn't remember things. Good old Cloud, someone she could always depend on.

"Well, ever notice that all the plants around this place are fake? All plastics and glass, and fabric. It's so unnatural. Just imagine how different it could be, if there were real plants. It'd be so much more comfortable. More like home."

It was a shame that all the darkness had stripped Hollow Bastion of its plantlife.

"You don't remember, but Hollow Bastion used to be covered in trees and plants and things."

Hollow Bastion. Squall, er, Leon had also mentioned that place. Was that really his home? Was that where he’d come from? He hardly knew. There was Zack’s story and there was Leon’s. Both were improbable and at the same time they were possible.

Cloud briefly thought back on the argument in the hotel lobby. When Aerith had broken things up and stopped the others from fighting, that had felt right. When she had put her hand on his shoulder to hold him back from giving Vincent more than just a piece of his mind, that had also felt right. Sometimes Zack could be fun, but he never evoked a feeling of rightness. Because of this, he was a little more inclined to listen to Aerith’s side of things. This woman, right here, was really the one he should ask.

Protect her, Vincent had said. Now it was imperative to do just that.

Aerith now had Cloud’s undivided attention. He faced her yet again and looked intently at her. “Hollow Bastion,” he repeated. “Tell me what it was like. Back when the plants lived. Tell me as much as you can remember.” Even if it was sentimental rubbish in reality, it was knowledge more important than gold or gems or the whole of Paixao.

Who were you if you had no history, anyway?

"Well," she smiled, "Hollow Bastion was big. It was destroyed about... oh, just under ten years ago. Darkness came and pretty much ruined everything. Last I saw it, it was a lot different, but really, it was pretty, once. It has districts, sort of the way Traverse Town has districts."

She paused, thinking this over, and then waved it off casually. Cloud didn't know about that either, she supposed. Quickly, she continued, "Traverse Town is where we ended up for those nine or so years. It was comfy, but it just wasn't home. It was strange."

"But Hollow Bastion was amazing! It had huge walls around it, with walkways and gardens on top, so that you could see over the entire city, and see all the different layers, as it got higher and higher in the districts. There were so many trees. When we were kids, we used to spend hours and hours climbing them. There was always so much to do, too. And all the houses were bright red brick with dark roofs, and there were so many flowers that it was all like one huge, big, completely radiant garden."

Just the way he was looking at her made her confident he'd remember at least something.

"It was amazing. You seemed really happy the whole time, I promise. We all were."

“From what you’ve described already, I’m sure we were all happy,” Cloud said, nodding once. “But like anything else, it was susceptible to the darkness.” Much like Cloud himself was. Nothing was safe from that threat. If he had truly lived there, the darkness must have gotten to him at that time. Or not. Traverse Town seemed a familiar name somehow. Maybe he had been contacted there.

He looked distant as he tried to let the memories return. He could envision the houses and layers of levels in Hollow Bastion. He wasn’t sure if it was his imagination or memories, but he remembered bits of things, like the rough bark of a familiar climbing tree, the boredom of lessons at school, and of course, shades of sword training. Squall had said they were in the military together. This seemed logical. It explained how he could wield his sword so effortlessly. The darkness must have been completely overwhelming if such a military fell.

“Are you trying to get back to Hollow Bastion from here?” he asked. “If you are, I’ll help you look for a way back.” Seeing the place would answer many questions and unite the fragments of memory. “And if it’s Traverse Town you want to return to instead, that’s fine. The destination doesn’t matter much. Getting out of here does. I think we should start looking for a way to leave as soon as possible.”

"Naturally," she said, "But the darkness didn't come from us, nor the place. It came from the King. He disappeared into his castle with his disciples, and things started to get funny."

His use of the word "we" was welcomed. Friendly, even. It made her smile again. Aerith moved to sit down on the bench of a church pew, and patted the seat next to her, encouragingly.

"I don't want to stay here. It doesn't feel right. But I've been in Traverse Town for too long, and it's time to spend quality time at home. You should too. And Leon, and Yuffie, and Cid and Tifa. It's where we all belong."

Cloud hesitated for just a moment before he sat down slowly by Aerith. He didn’t look at her at first, distracted by his thoughts.

Traverse Town. Hollow Bastion. Places with familiar names and only the merest bit of memories attached. Aerith was definitely helping his memory, but he’d best not get too dependent on her. He knew instinctively she wasn’t misleading him, but if he were ever on his own again, he’d need to make sure he could function just as well and efficiently as before. The lure of finding out his past was extremely distracting, as it was only his biggest wish. If he encountered any hostilities, he’d have to make sure Aerith remained untouched. Perhaps it would be best if she remained behind while he did all the legwork. If she came with him, she’d be put in danger. He’d be asking hard questions and pressing his target mercilessly. Did Aerith need to see that?

At the same time, he could hardly leave her behind. Something else could happen to her in his absence. She could even vanish entirely. But that was ridiculous. Still, the only tie to his memories needed to be within reach always. Her loss would be too crippling a blow. Starting over from scratch yet again was undesirable.

Perhaps he should let her decide for herself.

Cloud finally looked over to Aerith with the merest shade of a smile. “We’ll get back soon. Let’s look for a way outside these domes tomorrow. Sitting here won’t accomplish anything.” He stood up again. “I am stopping by the Morem O Lisboa next. I’m interested in what Vincent found out, and what Zack has to say about him. I also intend to spend the night there before rising at dawn to begin the search tomorrow. I will get answers. You are welcome to come with me if you so choose.” He headed for the door, pausing once to see if she would follow him.

She had survived Heartless raids on Hollow Bastion, she had overcome shifting from one home to another and then back again. Aerith wasn't afraid of danger, and there was no way she was letting Cloud get out of her reach again, after looking for him for so long. That was how it was going to be, and she was perfectly okay with a little risk.

What was life without taking chances, anyway?

She rose and followed him, laughing.

"Well, you don't need to tell me about danger," she smiled, "I'm perfectly fine with being your bodyguard."

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