...

[mako_memories]

The sound of the children laughing and playing in the blessed water was music to Cloud's ears, but he'd probably never admit it. They splashed and swam and tugged at his arms, trying to get him to play too, and after seeing Aeris and Zack fade into the white-bright distance, Cloud felt free enough to smile, for the first time in what felt like

Comments

[wutaiheart]

Well, she wasn't stoned anymore, but for a couple of seconds, Yuffie sure thought she was. She stopped in her tracks, the chocobo's reins falling from her fingers. Cloud?

No, she'd burned the stupid mushrooms (bad choice there) yesterday. She'd had to make a couple of promises relating to her non-use of drugs, but still--

Cloud?

"Hey!" She took off at a dead run. "HEY, CLOUD!"

[mako_memories]

Not his first choice, but at least there was someone he recognized. Someone who could hopefully explain what was going on, if she could. Knowing Yuffie Kisaragi, the explanation would be something that didn't make sense at all unless you, too, were an ADD kid on acid.

Cloud turned in the direction of the ninja's voice, only to see her running at him full tilt. He ducked, instinctively, hands over his head.

This was gonna be interesting. If he came out of it alive.

[wutaiheart]

If he was gonna assume the position, Yuffie was going to take advantage of it. She jumped, enjoying a moment or two of airtime before it was Cloudtime, all four of her skinny limbs wrapping around him.

"CLOUDohmygawdI'msogladyou'rehereIwasallaloooooooooooneexceptnotreallyImadesomefriendsbutthey'renotyouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu."

[mako_memories]

Braced as he was, the impact sent Cloud swaying, but somehow he managed not to fall over. He merely stood there, solid as a monolith, until she'd stopped shrieking in his ear.

"...What's the big idea?" he asked, attempting to disentangle himself, without much success. "I just saw you two seconds ago, and you weren't alone. The others..." He looked around. "Where are the others?"

If this is Yuffie's idea of a joke...

[goldeneyedflash]

Bart had been thinking to grab some clean sand for the project he was working on, as he walked down to the beach with a bucket. He'd need quite a bit, and probably have to replace it at regular intervals, if he couldn't get Tim or Jill to help. How the former speedster had become the man-of-all-work around the treehouse was beyond him, but he didn't mind.

It was just the shouting, especially shouting those names that startled him, and he broke into a run. He just had to see if it was what he'd thought. And it was.

"Oh...my...GOD!"

[mako_memories]

Cloud's reaction to a man shouting and running head-on at him was to reach back to draw his sword, except he didn't have his sword. @$^$#*. This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all. He didn't know what, exactly, it was, but he knew that the word 'good' definitely couldn't be used to describe it.

He fell back into a defensive position, fists raised, his boots giving an embarrassing squelch when he shifted his weight. He ignored it, instead facing down the man advancing towards him, eyes narrowed.

He didn't need to know what was going on to make sure he was prepared for it.

[goldeneyedflash]

Bart slowed, keeping his distance, putting up his hands in a gesture that probably would have seemed more harmless if he'd remembered to drop the bucket first. The reaching for a weapon worn on a back-harness, the fighting stance, the clothes, it was even better than he'd ever believed.

"You're him, you're really him! I can't believe it."

[mako_memories]

"Who?" Cloud demanded. It probably wasn't the best thing he could have said. He should have said 'What the hell is going on?' or 'Who are you?' or even 'Where am I?' but Cloud was the king of one-word answers and one-word questions.

Even as the man slowed, Cloud remained crouched, ready to fight, fists clenched in front of him as he bounced on the balls of his feet. He probably didn't present much of an imposing figure to people who didn't know who he was, but a lot of people did nowadays.

"Where have you taken me?" he asked, after a second or two, figuring that this guy was probably responsible for his current predicament. Whatever it was.

[rig_the_game]

"You might try that big, ugly building back there," muttered a voice from down on the sand, where a man lie on his back with a rather unattractive cloth cap pulled down over his face.

Right then and there, Sands vowed to find a route to the beach that didn't involve taking the main path down from the Compound. Even if it meant putting a gun to some fucker's head to lead the way.

[mako_memories]

Cloud tensed, searching out the location of the voice. When he spotted the man lying on the sand, he stared for a moment, but he didn't seem to be armed or threatening at all. Not that this said much. The most unassuming of people could turn out to be supervillains. Just look at Hojo.

"I don't see a building," he said, taking a couple of steps towards the man. His sword harness felt pathetically empty. He would have felt much better with the weight of a sword - any sword - in it.

[rig_the_game]

"Yeah, well, neither do I," Sands answered cryptically as he elbowed himself up off the beach and pulled the ridiculous hat down from his head. Now, judging by the poor sap's tone, he was either pitiably confused or suffering from some kind of mental retardation. Which, in a place like this, usually meant one thing...

"Say, you wouldn't happen to be new around here, would you?"

[mako_memories]

"That depends," said Cloud, just as cryptically. He folded his arms across his chest.

"Where is 'here'?"