Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Stargazers ❯ Chapter Two ( Chapter 2 )

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Stargazers

Chapter Two

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He could see it had been slowly getting lighter out, as told by the light seeping in through the wood's cracks. However, it wasn't day yet. He judged it must have been early morning, that time right before the stars go away when everything in the night sky seems to shine it's brightest.

It had also slowly gotten colder, during the night. Tifa had gotten colder as well. She gave the keen impression, even at such a time, that she was too good to talk to or even to look at, really, and that he wasn't wanted anywhere near her.

A shiver ran down his back, body beginning to tremble again, trying to warm itself up. His hands had been freezing the most, but after being in the cold long enough, they eventually got used to it, and now felt sort of numb.

It felt as though he had been in this wagon for an eternity, and thoughts haunted him of how much longer he would be here, or what awaited when it came time to stop. He wrung his hands together, studying them, trying to get more feeling into them- then, very abruptly, his thoughts were interrupted, a sharp pang darting through his heart, as he felt the wagon jar to a halt. The rumblings of a commotion were starting, though he couldn't make out what any of the voices were saying.

"Tifa-Tifa, wake up!" He shook her shoulder, hissing out her name. Tifa jumped awake, scrambling a moment to gather herself before she remembered where she was.

"…Shit! Cloud, what's going on!?"

"I don't-" he was cut short, as shouts and voices grew, and one particularly loud voice was easily distinguished,

"It's the Turks! Pull out! It's the Turks!"

Cloud looked at Tifa, whose features bore an equally mortified expression. The shade of the glow seeping in the cracks of the wagon had turned red, and the scent of smoke was beginning to waft through the air. The sound of wood breaking began to fill the air, and his mind began to race, gaze darting about the interior of the wagon. This would be the perfect opportunity to escape the commotion, is he could just break out of this damned wagon.

He had tried earlier without success to break open the door side by slamming his shoulder into it, and though he got absolutely nowhere, he was compelled to attempt it again.

Tifa got the idea as he began throwing his shoulder against the hard wood, and after a brief moment of hesitation, joined in. However, they both soon deemed the effort pointless as, once again, it got hem absolutely nowhere.

The sounds of cracking wood, however, were coming closer to their wagon, the shouts already having filled the surrounding area. Suddenly they heard the sound at the door of their own wagon; Cloud tensed and pulled away, preparing himself to defend as best as he could, Tifa doing the same. The door burst open.

"Vince??" A feminine voice shouted the moment her face came into view. Cloud judged she couldn't have been much older than himself, if at all. The blond girl had her hair brushed into a plain, sleek style, and was wearing an un-embellished black suit. Her eyes filled with immediate disappointment, but right before she hoped off again, her eyes met his and she hesitated, before then looking to Tifa. "Well Hurry up, run for it!" She grabbed hold of Tifa's arm, Tifa's defenses having fallen apart at the surprise of the girl's appearance, and Cloud quickly followed after.

The girl had released Tifa, and turned as a rough voice called for her, "Elena, he's not here- get your ass over here, we're leaving!"

Elena ran, hopping over some burning debris of a different wagon, running towards where the shouts were coming from. Cloud and Tifa ran after her, lacking any other ideas. Tifa had pulled somewhat ahead of him, and he was about to call out for her to wait, when out of the wreckage to his side the leader of the Trader's had stepped in his path. Cloud halted, foot stepping backwards, heart leaping near to his throat as the enraged man dived at him, 'Oh shit-'

He leapt back, turned on his heal, and ran for it blindly, in the opposite direction Tifa had gone.

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Cloud found himself wandering down a beaten path that he had stumbled upon a little ways away from the wreckage left by what was destroyed in the wagon train. The sun had risen, crispness just leaving the morning air. He was left feeling more than a bit vulnerable. He had no place to go, had no idea how far it was until he reached a town or city, had no food, no money…all he could do was keep moving. And so that's what he did. He didn't know how long he could travel, though. It was beginning to warm up, praise the gods, but hunger had caught up with him, as well as a good dose of fatigue. Both the mental and physical drain were beginning to take their toll on the little blonde.

It was hours however, before Cloud finally gave in. He had traveled a good distance, all things considering, and though he wasn't satisfied that he had made enough ground, he could hardly bring his sore feet to carry him any longer. His mind felt hazy, and his vision fell in and out of focus. He half-heartedly carried himself over to the side of the pathway, to lean against a nearby tree, and soon found himself slumping down to sit underneath its protective boughs. His eyes fell half-lidded, and he looked down the path to see if there was a sign of anything within sight resembling a village. After a moment, he blinked, then squinted his eyes, trying to dissemble whether he was hallucinating of not. He believed he saw what could be a collection of quite a conglomeration of buildings: a city.

His eyes felt heavy, and upon finding he couldn't hold them open anymore, they finally fell shut, his consciousness drifting.

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When Cloud finally stirred, he found himself sore and stiff, and found it difficult to see his surroundings. However, his eyes soon adjusted; he was still at that same spot where he had stopped earlier. He was still hungry, feet still worn, and wouldn't consider his slumber refreshing by any means. However, it was enough, and he could continue- especially with the remembrance of what he had last seen before he had drifted into sleep.

Unlike the night before, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The moon was gorged and round, and illuminated the world below it with an ethereal basking of white light, casting everything into shades of nocturnal blue. One horizon was darker than the other, showing that night mustn't have been settled for too long, the sky not having time to even out its nightly aura between the two horizons. He continued down the path, and saw that what he had seen earlier had been true, not a hallucination- there was definitely a city ahead, lanterns alighting streets seen only as dots from where he was standing. After a moment of relief at its sight, he took off at a paced run, wanting to get away from the unfamiliar screeches sounding from the surrounding woods- it was a miracle nothing had eaten him in his sleep, as it was.

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Entering the city streets, he saw they were alighted by well spaced hanging lanterns, and at this time of night, fairly empty. As he delved further down the street, closer to the city's heart, however, the appearance of others increased. Those he passed were the sort to give the impression of 'shady characters,' and for some of them, rich 'shady characters' who kept racy women glued to their side. He wasn't sure where he was headed, or what he would do when he got there, but at least now he knew he was somewhere, as opposed to the middle of absolutely nowhere. Here, the idea of getting home seemed more realistic. Not that he was too keen on returning; he had always wanted to leave. However, his mother had no idea where he was. As of Tifa… he had no idea how he would ever find her. Hopefully she had managed to keep up with that girl, and was somewhere safe.

He finally spotted what appeared to be a tavern or inn of some sort, one that emitted a soft glow from its windows, releasing the music of various tones of laughter and the clanging of dishware as he grew near. Cautiously, having no better option as to where he should go, Cloud entered the building's warmth.

He was greeted with a large room, well lighted by the many candles centered on each of the many small, round tables, just large enough to comfortably fit four chairs. It was spacious, a large bar lining the one side, a currently empty stage at the rear of the establishment, and a piano player to the right side of it, filling in any empty space in the air that wasn't occupied by the voices of its guests.

Cautiously moving forward, aware of how frail he was amongst the others that occupied the tavern, he studied his surroundings carefully. What next? Perhaps he should ask someone what city this was? He gathered his wits about him while attempting to remain as unnoticeable as possible, heading towards the general direction of the bar.

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Zacks was in a particularly good mood that evening, humming as he walked along to the entrance of his usual nighttime hangout, twirling his decorative cane in a blissful manner. His attire consisted of a black tux, black top hat with red stripe of satin at it's base included, matching the red cummerbund, which matched the small red bowtie, which matched the thin bit of red lining on the edges of the frills that decorated his collarbone, which matched the neatly folded red handkerchief displayed ever so slightly from his coat's pocket. The messy black hair that spilled past his shoulders in a somehow charmingly spiky manner, aside from the sleek blue-gray eyes adorning his handsome features, topped off his dashing appearance. The playful, confident smile that seemed to be just waiting for an excuse to burst into a grin helped as well.

He lightheartedly tossed open the doors of the establishment, black cape embellishing his movements as he stepped in side and took in a deep breath of the tavern's air. He was just about to head towards his usual table, when a certain spiky shock of blonde hair caught his gaze, as well as the round blue eyes and slim figure it was attached to, "Why hello, hello…what have we got here…?" He murmured mischievously under his breath, waiting smile slyly curving into a delighted, playful grin.

Cloud meanwhile, had just become apparent to the fact that he had failed in making himself unnoticeable. A tall man smoking a cigarette had stood up from a table that he had been occupying alone, and stepped in his path.

"…Hello there, pretty little thing…don't be so shy…y'look as though you might be needin' some company, ay?" Cloud cringed slightly at the smell of whiskey coming from the man before him, and stepped back, stumbling a bit when his legs met a chair. He was not too proud of this current situation, which wasn't going as well as he had hoped, though he wasn't at all surprised; he always managed to screw everything up. The man gave to keen impression that he wasn't the sort to back off, and they were beginning to collect several glances of the others surrounding. Cloud felt warmth beginning to spread across his features like fire, and stepped back and away, weaving back towards the entrance of the tavern as swiftly as he could. This was, apparently, not a very choice place to be at the moment.

He threw a glance over his shoulder and saw the man hadn't followed. Though he apparently hadn't stayed where he was, either, but rather disappeared from view altogether. No matter, however, as long as he wasn't anywhere near him.

…Now Zacks, on the other hand, whose eyes had been avidly trailing the small blonde since he had first caught sight of him, hadn't missed where the other man had disappeared to. Eyes narrowing, he opted to follow the man through the side exit he had so promptly been inclined to take as Cloud made to depart from the tavern.

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Cloud let released a restrained breath as he stepped out the tavern doors, exasperated and bewildered as to what to try next. He began heading up the side of the street, deciding this area wasn't promising, and failed to catch the movement in the alley between the tavern and the building next as he passed it by, the tall man that had confronted him earlier silently stepping up from behind and swinging and empty glass bottle towards the back of Cloud's head.

Cloud's vision suddenly flashed white as he toppled over, and the last thing he saw as he felt himself supported by a single strong arm was a flash of a black and red, and the brief flickering off light cast from an unknown blade.

Zacks, who had managed to trail not too far a distance behind Cloud's stalker, stuck like lightning, barreling out of nowhere to catch Cloud before he hit the ground and slipping apart the bottom, hollow half of his cane that acted as a sheath to the long thin blade connected to the upper portion and which currently found its self placed threateningly along the throat of the man he had interrupted. Casting the man a superior smirk, Zacks flicked his wrist, sending the flat of the blade to swiftly smack the side of the man's head along the temple. The move had been hardly detectable to the eye with the speed it carried, and amazingly had held enough force in the simple maneuver to make the other man crumble onto the sidewalk.

Zacks gazed down at the boy in his arms, and frowned, sliding his cane back together and then into a small loop at his side, where it disappeared beneath the folds of his cape. He was out, and most likely would be for quite some time, and have one hell of a headache when he woke, though more worrisome was the prospect of a concussion. However, the kid was out of it for now no matter what he did, so he'd just have to wait.

Without further adieu, he scooped him up and headed down the street towards the inn, where he already held a permanently reserved room due to a good amount of pay for it previously.

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His head hurt. His head really, really hurt. And he wasn't quite sure where he was, or where he was supposed to be. And it was right about then that he noticed the pillow beneath his head was unusually soft, the cover of the bed not as course as it should be, and the bed overall felt entirely wrong. His eyes opened, and he sat up immediately, trying to recall the last trace of his memory- reason he wasn't at home came rushing back quickly enough, the tavern, then- the alley. Someone had attacked him from the alleyway aside the tavern…

"Hey now, sleeping beauty woke up…"

Cloud's gaze darted to the doorway, and he gave a yelp as he leapt out of the bed. His eyes steadied on the tall stranger there warily as his head spun slightly from the sudden movement.

Zacks grinned, leaning against the door frame to the adjoining room, where he had been sleeping on the couch. He hadn't changed his attire from the night before, but rather just ditched everything aside from the white, ruffled shirt and black slacks, hair just as messy as it had been before he lay down. However, the grin soon vanished as his eyes widened, and he very suddenly had to duck a flying paperweight, followed by a thankfully well stoppered inkwell, followed by book that he managed to snatch out of the air just before it hit his face, "H-hey now, kid, calm down! You're alright, you're alright-! Gah!"

Cloud wasn't listening all too well, and instead opted to continuing throwing a barrage of whatever was within hands reach as he headed towards the nearest door to him, then reached for the handle and promptly whipped the door open, slipping in and locking himself inside, bracing against the door.

Zack paused a moment, and brought his arms down from where they had been shielding his face, "…All finished then? With the throwing, I mean…" Despite the seriousness with which he should have been taking the situation, he couldn't help it as a slight smile crept up to find its place tugging at his lips. The boy was entirely too skittish- though he supposed, at the time, he couldn't really blame him- but the situation really was rather funny; no one else would throw things at him like that except Seph in a foul mood.

Zacks walked over to the bathroom door that Cloud had locked himself behind, and folded his arms, watching it expectantly, "…It's all right, you know. I'm not here to hurt ya, kid. You ran into some trouble last night, I took the liberty to assist…a tavern like that really isn't a good place for someone like you to wander into alone, y'know, 'specially that time of night. Good thing you caught my eye, or you would've been in a hell of a lot of trouble… speaking of which, how's your head? You seemed well enough anyway, good aiming with those books 'n things, least nothings broken, I don't think…hey lookit, I had forgotten about a lot of these knick-knacks…"

Cloud listened as the man on the other side of the door drawled into ramblings of nothing much important, and found himself somewhat bewildered by the randomness the trails of speech seemed to follow.

After a moment or two, Zacks finally brought himself back around to the original topic at hand, "…So anyway, c'mon kid, open the door, there's no where else to go form there anyway. Aren't you hungry or something? What's your name, huh?"

Cloud hesitated, but looking around, saw there really wasn't much good to staying locked in the small bathroom anyway, and slowly opened the door, peering out around the edge before gently letting it swing open the rest of the way.

Zacks was watching and waiting, sitting on the edge of the bed leaning forward with his legs crossed, elbow of the arm propping up his chin nestled in the palm of his other hand, which rested on his knee. A smug grin occupied his features. "There we go, not too bad, eh? Now then, let's try again, shall we? What's your name, kid?"

"…It's Cloud. My name's Cloud Strife. …Thank you …for helping me last night, that is…"

Zacks shook his head lightly, "Don't worry about it; I'd have to be a real jackass to just stand by. Cloud, eh? …S'nice, it fits you. Well, Cloud…" He stood up from his seat and gave a sweeping bow, "Zacks, at your service. Heard a' me?"

Cloud faltered- Zacks? As in the Zacks? It couldn't- he paused, taking the man's appearance and personality into serious consideration. Tall, handsome, dark messy hair, confident to the point where he probably attracted trouble easily, and fitting the overall outlook of a real lady killer…

He felt what little color he had in his face draining away, and then remembered that moments before he had been bombarding him with books and desk trinkets, upon which he attempted to stutter out some strange mix of an apology and shocked gibberish and essentially failed in saying anything at all. At least the color had returned to his face, though now it was unnaturally red, and Cloud miraculously found himself somewhat even more bewildered than he already had been.

Observing the boy's expression change to shock and eventually the 'deer caught in headlights' look, Zacks shook his head and waved a hand slightly, "Don't get so frazzled, kid- now look, let's go downstairs and get some eats, and you can tell me where your supposed to be right about now, alright? Well, c'mon now, don't lock up on me…"

Feeling the strong sensation that wanted to crawl in a hole and hide for a few years, and that he was entirely not worthy of being within even 5 miles of the man currently inviting him to breakfast, he quickly declined, backing towards the exit as he did so, "I'm alright, really, you don't have to, I know you're busy and all, I should probably be on my way-" He soon found himself interrupted by a hand clamped on his shoulder and a finger pressed tightly against his lips.

"Now look here, you honestly think I'm going to let you just walk out and get yourself into trouble all over again doing god knows what? I offered help, you obviously need it, so its not an offer any more- you're sticking with me, understood? Downstairs, breakfast. Hop to it now, go, go, go…!"

And thus, Cloud found himself being taken by the shoulders, turned and steered out the door and towards the stairs, any attempt at protest failing miserably.

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