Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Final Fantasy- Final Destination Part 1 ❯ Unpleasant News ( Chapter 17 )

Late the next night, Sethrinn came over to Cloud's house. She brought along with her a newspaper. Sethrinn was nicely dressed, though she only wore black. Her hair was up in a small ponytail. She knocked on Cloud's door a few times until Cloud answered it. "Wow…um…You look nice," Cloud said as he let Sethrinn come in. "Have you read the paper?" Sethrinn remarked, sitting down on the couch. Cloud sat next to her. "No. Why?" he asked, clueless of what she meant.

"Three idiotic children fight some type of machine they can't even go up against. One of them gets hurt even."

"Let me see," said Cloud as he grabbed the newspaper out of Sethrinn's hand. Sethrinn pointed to the article. It read in big, bold letters:

Three new academy students saved many lives.

Cloud read over the article. When he immediately saw the names Salira and Lega, he continued to read a little faster to find the main point. One line, however, made Cloud flip out:

The girl was hit by a laser beam and is in the infirmary right now at Black Rose Academy in critical condition.

Cloud stopped reading right after. He looked at the wall in front of him, stunned. "How stupid can those dumb ass kids be?" Sethrinn remarked, "Uhh…what's with you?"

"THAT DUMB ASS IS MY DAUGHTER! THANK-YOU!" Cloud answered.

"Oh…oops…sorry…I didn't know. So then who's the other two boys?" Sethrinn replied.

"The green haired one's Lega. But…wait a minute…who's that?" Cloud says as he points to the older looking person in the picture.

"It says here his name's Raven Cyril, age eighteen," Sethrinn answered, "To me he looks like her boyfriend."

Cloud sent a harsh glare at Sethrinn. "That better not be her damn boyfriend!"

Sethrinn looked away. She noticed Cloud's answering machine had a message. "Hey, Cloud. You know you have a message? Don't you ever check them?"

"It better not be more devastating news," Cloud mumbled as he went over to his answering machine and pressed play:

Mr. Strife, we are calling to inform you of your daughter, Salira Strife. She is in the infirmary at the moment after getting shot by a laser beam in her shoulder…

Cloud's eye started to twitch. Sethrinn paused the recording. "Uh…Cloud…Are you okay? You're twitching…Uh, Cloud…Hello?"

"I'm just fine," Cloud answered sarcastically. He then mumbled to himself, "Damn it! Could my life get any worse…"

"Don't worry…I'm sure her boyfriend…um…Raven, right…Will take good care of her," said Sethrinn, smiling.

"SHUT-UP!" Cloud yelled. Okay my life got worse…I hope it won't get any worse then this…

"Let's just continue the tape," Sethrinn stated as she pressed the play button:

…She was in critical condition, but she made a remarkable recovery. Fourteen year old, Lega Yahto, and eighteen year old, Raven Cyril, both saved your daughter; with Raven helping…

Cloud quickly smashed the machine, and hard. "I'm not listening to any more! Find that damn flyer with that school's number on it!"

Sethrinn looked at the smashed answering machine. "You sure you want to call this late? You might smash the phone as well. Maybe you should calm down…"

"I CAN CALL ANY DAMN TIME I WANT TO!" Cloud yelled as he pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. "Give me the damn phone."

Sethrinn hands the phone next to her over to Cloud. "I thought we were going to that fancy restaurant to talk about protecting matters?" asked Sethrinn. Why did that damn school call…they ruined my plan!

"That's going to wait," Cloud said as he dialed the number. Hurry up and pick up the damn phone, he thought to himself while waiting for someone to answer the other line.

"Hello, the secretary of Black Rose Academy speaking. What can I do for you?" asked a female voice on the other line.

"Yeah. Can you get a hold of a student by the name of Salira Strife for me?" Cloud replied.

"Who's this?"

"Cloud."

"Cloud who?"

"Her father, god damn it! You know…Cloud Strife. The person who saved you peoples many years ago! Don't be such a dumb ass!"

"Oh…Cloud…Don't know ya…Besides I can't let you talk to her because talking hours are closed. Unless it was an emergency, then…"

"God damn it! This is an emergency!"

"What's the emergency?"

"My daughter got shot!"

"She did?! By what?"

"A laser!"

"Oh…who's your daughter?"

"Salira Strife!"

Sethrinn laughed continuously. "Poor you."

"And who are you?" the secretary asked.

"Cloud Strife!" Cloud answered; he was ticked.

"In what relation are you related to Salira?"

"Her father! Now put her on the damn phone!"

"Can't unless this is an emergency."

"THIS IS!"

"Then what's the emergency?"

"She got shot!"

"Who's she?"

"My daughter!"

"Who's your daughter?"

"Salira!"
"Salira?"

"Salira Strife!"

"Why do you want to talk to her?"

"To see if she's alright!"

"Is this an emergency?"

"Yes! Now get her on the damn phone!"

"Get who on the phone?"

"Salira Strife! My daughter!"

"You realize I can't let you talk to her because the talking hours are closed. Now unless…."

"GOD DAMN IT! THIS IS A FUCKING EMERGENCY!"

"You don't need to yell sir…Now calmly tell me…what is the emergency?"

Cloud tried as much as he could to keep his anger in. "My daughter, Salira Strife, got shot by a laser beam yesterday; and I'm calling to talk to her and to see if she's alright."

"Why didn't you say that before? Hold on I'll transfer the call…"

--

Salira laid on her bed, half-ready to fall asleep after a long first day of non-stop classes. A knock on the door startled her. "Who is it?" Salira asked, turning over on her back.

"It's Raven," a male voice answered on the other side.

"Come in," Salira replied. The door opened and Raven steps in, shutting the door behind him. Salira sat up looking tired. "Man today was tiring…"

"I agree," Raven replied, sitting down next to her. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel fine at the moment…just tired. Where's Lega?"

"Probably somewhere about the cafeteria. That's my guess."

"Oh…" Salira yawned and Raven noticed. She blushed a little. Salira flops on her bed, looking up at the ceiling, and closed her eyes. "I want to sleep so badly," she mumbled as she tried to sleep. Just as she was about to, the phone rings on her desk. Too tired to think straight, Salira pointed at the ceiling and said, "Attack of the chocobos!" She put her had back down.

"Uh…no…It's the phone, Salira." Raven rolled his eyes as he spoke. The phone continued to ring.

"Make the chocobo answer it…"

"There is no chocobo…"

"Then go and buy one…"

"How about I answer it?"

"No, let the chocobo get it…that's why I hired it…"

"You didn't hire any chocobos. I'll answer it," Raven tried to get Salira thinking straight.

"I did hire a chocobo……" There was a short moment of silence.

"The chocobo said I could answer the phone for it," Raven tried to play along.

"Why…"

"Because he isn't feeling well. So I'm going to answer the phone now."

"Yeah…sure…sure…whatever…" Salira mumbled, falling back asleep. Raven got up and answered Salira's phone, "Hello?"

"Who's this? This is Salira's room, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Good…the secretary got it right…hey wait a minute…who's answering the phone?"

"One of Salira's friends."

"But you're a guy…."

"Yeah…no duh…Now who's calling?"

"Her dad, damn it!"

"Hold on," Raven remarked. He pulled the phone away and looked at the half-sleeping Salira, "It's your dad."

"Tell the choco-man to go bye bye," Salira answered

"The choco-who?"

"Tell the chocobo-man to go bye bye," Salira repeated.

"I'm not the chocobo-man!" Cloud yelled into the phone. He overheard Salira's sentence. Sethrinn's laughs could be heard over the phone.

"Salira's very tired at the moment…" Raven started, putting the phone back to his head.

Cloud interrupted, "…I don't give a damn. Get her on the phone. But first off, tell me who you are."

"Raven."

"Raven who?"

"Raven Cyril, why do you ask?"

"Oh…what the hell are you doing in her room?!"

Salira sat up and interrupted, "I'm hungry…Oh…Hi, Raven…. How long have you been here…Wait…Who's on the phone?" She seemed to be wide-awake. Raven tried to answer Salira's question, when Cloud interrupted again, "You still didn't answer me…Why the hell are you in her room?!" Cloud yelled into the phone so loud, that Raven had to move the phone away from his ear; even Salira heard. "Oh, shit!" Salira mumbled to herself. She motioned Raven to give her the phone. Raven handed it to her.

"Hello?"

"Salira?! This is Salira, right?"

"The one, the only."

"Good…it's your dad…are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"No broken bones or anything?"

"Dad, I'm fine. Just a decent amount of blood loss, but I'm doing fine. Raven an…"

"Who is this Raven person? And what is he doing over there?"

"He's just a friend I met on the bus. He's one of Lega's old friends, before Lega moved. He and Lega helped save me. Raven's only here just to make sure I'm feeling fine and I'm okay. So I'm not pasted out or anything like that."

"As long as it's only that reason, I'm fine."

"Don't worry I don't have a boyfriend."

"Let's get off that subject…"

"Whatever."

"Aeris, are you crazy?! Fighting that machine!"

"No, dad. I was…"

"You could have been killed…"

"Dad, listen! I was only trying to save the students on the bus. The professors forgot their weapons, so I decided to help. I couldn't resist not helping them."

"Aeris…," Cloud's voice softened, "You sound a lot like me before I found you. Not resisting…that sounds a lot like me. Just be glad that wasn't Sephiroth, Aeris. You mean too much for me to lose. You're special to me. I don't want you dead. I took you out of that orphanage and raised you for a reason. Aeris, promise me you won't do that again. Nothing stupid like what you did yesterday. I don't want you to have the same problems in the future as I did. Promise me that you won't do that again."

"I promise, father," Salira said just as Lega ran in. "Salira…Raven…we're gonna be late for our first mission if you don't get going! Come on!" Lega said as he walked up to Salira.

"Hey, dad…I got to go. I can't be late to this BRMSeeD Mission or the instructor will get ticked."

"Okay, but call me when you get the chance."

"Alright, love ya."

"Bye."

Salira hung up the phone and dashed out the door with Raven and Lega. This was her first mission and she didn't want to ruin it, nor her reputation. She doesn't quite realize that this is just the beginning of something very important that will soon happen and change her life forever…

XVII Unpleasant News