Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Cloud in Spiraland ❯ Besaid volume 1 ( Chapter 1 )

"Hey there sleepy head."
Cloud moaned lightly in his sleep, opening his eyes slowly. "Aeris?"
The woman in pink smiled, as did the man with spikey black hair beside her. Cloud looked around himself, he was still in the bar. Tifa behind the counter was proof enough. but something was wrong...time had stopped. Her hand was in midswipe of the counter, her flyaway hairs in midair. Vincent was in the corner, eyes widened at the now stationary water coming from Yuffie and Marlene's water pistols. The darts from Barret and Cids hand's both a breath away from their intended targets. Cloud turned to look at the two he considered siblings.
"Aeris? Zax?" CLoud looked at the two in confusion. "Whats wrong this time?" It couldn'tbe Sepheroth, he was dead, again. ShinRa included them in their meetings, so it wasn't them. Everything was pretty peaceful...and boring.
"I know what yer thinking," zax said laughingly as he put a hand on the blondes shoulder. "And yes, it is quite boring isn't it?"
"Zax! Cloud!" both males winced lightly at being caught. "Boring is safe! But...Cloud, there's something you need to do, alright?" Aeris walked over to an empy barstool and sat down, looking at Tifa with a sad smile. "When the planet fought against meteor, and removed Geostigma...it called upon the energy from a sister planet."
Cloud nodded his head, letting her know he understood before walking over to Vincent and placing peanut's in the air above him. He was going to be soaked anyways right? "So now what? I have to go and help them out of a crisis?" When silence met his ears he stopped putting peanuts above the caped man and sighed, turning to the woman by the bar. "I do, don't I?"
"'Fraid so little buddy," Zax laughed putting an arm around Clouds neck. "But don't worry. We'll set you up with who ya need to be with."
"Huh?"
"Cloud," Aeris said, removing the peanuts from above Vincent. "You need to prevent the same mistakes from happening. Their about to go on a journey much like ours, with the same outcome."
Cloud would have asked what she meant, as well as complained about his now missing peanut trap, but The two disappeared. The images around him began to fade out, first becoming blurry, then, objects disappearing in puffs of rainbow light. Then the room faded into darkness, followed by the people. When nothing but darkness remained, the swordsman felt himself falling asleep. Or was he waking up?

He opened his eyes, trying to stay awake. But the sight before him was not that of inky darkness, it was a pair of two differently colored eyes, blinking curiously at him. Further inspection revealed them to be set in a pale, heart shaped face void of any blemishes or wrinkles. A pert nose was a bit farther below the eyes, right above a pair of rosy lips. Moving lips, he noticed.
"Are you alright?" She was asking.
Yuna brushed some hair out of her eyes, looking down into the shocking blue orbs of her 'patient'. Since he'd arrived on the island a week ago, she been teased relentlessly by Lulu and the other girls. 'Possesive' they'd called her. She preferred thinking of it as 'Protective'. He appeared on the beach, clutching the huge sword like a lifeline and dead to the world. Obviously he was a warrior, and a skilled one at that. He wasn't big and bulky like wakka, the blonde was mor eher height with a lithe, slender build to him.
"I'm fine," His voice cut through her thoughts. It was smooth and masculine and seemed to fit him perfectly. "Where...Where am I?"
"Besaid village, you washed up on shore about a week ago," Yuna turned away from him as he sat up. It was bad enough she'd been staring at his chest while he was asleep, but now that he was up and moving about it looked all that much better! "Oh!" She whirled around to look at the man sitting up in her bed. "My name's Yuna by the way. I was your nurse while you were down."
Cloud raised a brow at the semi blushing girl. She was about Yuffie's age, though he couldn't be sure, Yuffie never seemed to act her age. "Would you be the one who undressed me then?" he asked. when she blushed wildly he was fairly certain that it had not been.
"No! Oh my no," she stuttered through her words, "That was Lulu, I could never, it just wouldn't be right you see, and because I'm, but you probably don't...It wasn't me."
Yuna didn't understand why she'd fizzled out like that. Normally she had no problem talking to half dressed men. She spoke to the Blitzball team, and Wakka and she bathed with Lulu and the other women. So why was this man so different? Perhaps because he was a stranger?
"You should calm down," Cloud spoke as he looked around the hut for his clothing. "Uhm...if I give you my name can I have my clothes?"
Yuna jumped at his request, completely forgetting that he was only partially clothed. "Of course." She dug through a chest at the foot of the bed, leaving CLoud to think as she pulled out numorous articles of clothing and boxes and bags and everything else that seemed to accumulate in a females area. Was this girl the one Aeris and Zax had sent him to help? He glanced over when she hit her head on the lid of the trunk. She seemed to need it.
"Are you alright?" he looked under the sheets, checking his modesty, before walking over to her and kneeling down. "Let me see." Her hands backed away from her head as he inspected it.
"Is it bleeding?" She asked worriedly. "It feels like it is."
"Nah, just a bump," He assured her. "Cloud."
Her head tilted to the side questioningly at his response.
"Are puffy?"
He couldn't help but laugh at her for that one. "My name, it's CLoud Strife."
"Oh! I see," She smiled then. It was a smile eerily similar to the one Tifa gave the children when she was worried about something and didn't want them to know. "Well, as I said earlier, my name is Yuna. Is it okay if I call you CLoud instead of Cloud Strife, it's a bit long."
"Yeah, Strife is my last name."He shifted uneasily then, wondering weather he should tell her what he was doing here or not. He didn't have much of a choice when she stood up and pulled him to his feet. She wasn't particularly strong, but her nails were sharp and very persuasive.
"Come on, the rest of the village will want to meet you," She laughed dragging him out the door. The bright sunlight was a shock to his mako enhanced eyes and he was forced to squint, thus stumbling into his guide.
"Sorry," he mumbled, slightly embaressed. He thought about putting his shirt one, but the muggy heat was successful in convincing him otherwise. He looked around again, taking in the sight of the small village. All in all, there was about 12 huts, maybe less, people walked around in a semi-mindless fashion. one girl played with her dog while smaller children ran about in circles, laughing at each other carelessly. A few teen males were hanging out over beside one of the larger tents. And approaching them was a woman dressed in leather, silk and fur. Her hair was dark and her skin was almost paler than Vincent's. It was all very offset however by the stuffed moogle she held in her arms.
"You're awake I see." Her voice was husky and dark, but her eyes shone like Tifa's. Not to mention she was built like Tifa as well. "I'm Lulu."
Yuna watched Lulu introduce herself to Cloud and vice versa. He seemed slightly uncomfortable now that he met her. "Lulu," Yuna began. "Has Wakka decided if he wants to wait in the temple?" She noticed Clouds ears perk up at her question.
"He decided to train with the Aurochs." Lulu sighed, pinching the bride of her nose. "Honestly, what kind of gaurdian doesn't put his summoner first?"
"It's alright. Cloud," Yuna turned to her charge. "Do you know what it means to be a gaurdian?"
Lulu gasped at Yuna's question and began to scold her while thoughts of Aeris filtered into his brain. Tell them yes.
And he did, causing both women to stop. "I was a gaurdian for my sister."
"You 'were'?" Lulu asked curiously.
"Lulu, I don't think we should pester him to much about it." Yuna turned to Cloud. "If it's okay with you, I'd like you to become my gaurdian."
Cloud nearly stumbled as the voices of Aeris and Zax yelled at him to agree. "I would be honored."
Lulu beside them simply sighed before going to inform Wakka of what had transpired while Yuna pulled Cloud off to find someone named Khimari. It was a bit odd, running through the jungle with a barefoot teen girl. They weren't really running of course, Yuna was stepping on too many pointy sticks to run. And Cloud, finding himself in a fit of impatience, picked her up and rested her on his hip as though she were a child.
"Which direction?" He asked, hitching her up.
"Straight ahead," she mumbled. "Uhm, Cloud...Do you know a woman named Aeris?" When the blonde nearly dropped her she knew, he did know an Aeris. "She came to me in a dream, the night before you woke up. She told me to make you a gaurdian."
Cloud listened as she seemed to struggle for words. "Is that why you brought me out here?"
"Partly," she whispered, looking away from him. It seemed as though she had an esteem problem. "We do need to find Khimari though. If it makes you feel anybetter, all she told me was to include you as a gaurdian."
"I see." Cloud looked at her feet then, curiously. "Are we going to any cold places on this journey?"
"Yes, We're heading through a few snowy places. Why?"
Cloud shrugged it off, changing the subject to finding Khimari. Yuna was unhappy with his choice and tried to wheedle the answer out of him, but he remained silent, only furthering her resolve to get the answer out of him. Thus, the game of 'Bother Cloud' began.
"Bother."
"No."
"Bother."
"No."
"Bother."
"N o."
"Bother."
"Stay back!" He shouted, pulling out ultima and setting her down. Before them was a snarling, growling beast. He was a blue Nanaki with bird wings, armor and a broken horn. Yuna was in the background trying to get them to stop, but neither of the two paid heed. He faintly heard that this creature was in fact khimari, but the fight between them was something Yuna wouldn't understand. It was a guy thing. Showing off to new members of a group to establish order, discover if he was in fact worthy off travelling with his pack. Simple, clean (sometimes) and completely barbaric.
The spear was thrust at him with skill Cid had possesed closer to the middle of their journey. He had to go asy on this beast it seemed, play with him a little maybe. Block, slash, dodge, dodge block, slash stab slash block. duck jump jump duck, block slash dodge stab slash.
"Stop! Please!" the two heard Yuna scream. Cloud backed off and walked over to her so he could apologize.
"I'm sorry."
"You too Khimari." yuna scolded.
The blue beast nodded his head at CLoud, who returned it, before walkign back to the village.
"I'm sorry," she began, "He's-"
"Don't worry about it," CLoud ruffled her hair with a smile. "He remind me of Nanaki actually. Only standing on two legs, and he has wings. And Nanaki talks...alot."
"Really?" yuna asked leaning foreward to hear more.
"Yeah, he's like a red lion, but the tip of his tail is on fire. Oh, and he has kids now, I forgot about that."
Yuna laughed as she put her arms out for him to carry her. Again the duo was off, stopping only to defeat a few 'fiends' as Yuna called them. She healed him every now and then, more out of concern than actually needing to be healed. Their journey back was a bit slower, Cloud taking in his surroundings and listening to the white mage talk about her friends or he talking about his own.
"Tifa sounds very nice," Yuna smiled her fake smile again. Cloud decided he hated it and she needed to actually learn to smile again, or for the first time. "Adopting all those kids and caring for them. Not to mention running two business'...I'm so envious."
"Yeah well, when she's angry, she turns into Lulu. And she's very violent," Cloud pretended to rub his arm in pain. Of course, this meant reaching around Yuna. They watched each other for a moment. Mako blue met bi-colored green and aqua for a moment and everything aroun them seemed to stop. It looked quite picturesque in fact, from a third party point of veiw. With a firey sunset behind them and a tropical paradise.
In truly cliched fashion however, someone had to come along and ruin it.
"Eh! Yuna!" Both turned their heads to look at a large man with red hair running towards them furiously waving his arms. He dressed in bright yellow overalls and went without a shirt. He looked very upset. "OY! Yuna! Whats da meanin of dis ya?"
Cloud set her down gently when Yuna placed her hand on his arm. "What's wrong Wakka?" She asked sweetly.
"What's wrong....oh dats a good one! You goin and makin a new gaurdian without tellin me! Not to mention he's a blonde kid," He shook his head in annoyance. "What if he gets mistaken for an AlBehd ya? Then where we gonna be?!"
"Wakka, I..."
"It's not up to you," Cloud spoke up for her. "This isn't your journey, it's not your story. It's Yuna's. Yuna's life to do with as she pleases." Yuna watched as he walked past Wakka, stopping at his shoulder. "People who make others their puppets, who try to control their lives...They make me sick."
And he continued walking.
"Wakka," Yuna spoke up softly. "He's very strong. And he has experiance. And..."
"Ah, don't worry about it ya?" Wakka scratched the back of his neck. "'sides, he's right. It's you're life."