[ Simple setting, really- this is meant to fit in during the Heartless battle at Hollow Bastion. If any lines from cutscenes are inaccurate, I'm sorry- but I don't have the scenes to hand to check lines. Cloud is basically just in a bad mood the whole time. ]
Cloud was beyond frustrated. He'd been battling wave after wave of Heartless for God-knows how long, and Leon had been swallowed up in the sea of the damned things mere seconds after they both had started to fight. After eventually managing to clear the area, and with his companion nowhere to be found, he'd trudged his way up right into the heart of the Dark Depths, only to be greeted by Sephiroth. And, yet again, the silver-haired swordsman had managed to vanish before Cloud could lay so much as a finger on him. Cloud was walking the long route back to the town alone, and a surprise Heartless attack had left him looking like he'd been dragged through a tornado, and dumped unceremoniously far away from home. Not that he considered Hollow Bastion his home. It was merely a convienient resting spot before he could challenge Sephiroth properly. Yuffie and Aerith had all but begged and blackmailed him into joining their "Restoration Comittee", but his heart was never into any of the fighting or the repair work he was asked to do- he considered it training for what was to come. Of course, he wanted to face it all, to defeat Sephiroth- never mind that he might be lost and without a purpose in life after that. Winning that fight was all that mattered.
He didn't feel like the soon-to-be victor of such a battle at that point in time, though- in fact, the exact opposite. He was tired and cranky and water had leaked into his boots thanks to a particularly vicious encounter he'd had with a bunch of magic-enhanced Heartless, where he'd ended up drenched. With every step he took, that water squidged around his toes, making squelching noises as he slowly made his way up along one of the crystal paths. And with a combination of all that crabbiness and exhaustion and squelchy noises, Cloud was getting more and more angry the further he walked. The town, far off in the distance, didn't seem to be getting any bigger, still just a speck on the horizon. Cloud was too stubborn to rest and hope that somebody would come out looking for him. Leon would be the one they'd send, and he just could not TAKE another sarcastic offer of help from that stupid brunet. It was one of Cloud's pet peeves,- not that he ever complained verbally about it- people who were older than him trying to belittle him and treat him like an inbecile or a weakling. Leon was only a year or so older than the blond, but treated him with just enough superiority to keep him constantly annoyed.
So he was broodingly squelching and staggering his way through some of the caves, when the music caught his attention. It was very faint, drifting along the gentle breeze down there in the Depths, and Cloud suspected that the close proximity of the cave's walls was amplifying the sound. He couldn't make out any kind of tune from that distance, but he could tell it sounded as though somebody was strumming some kind of guitar. It wasn't exactly the right sound for a guitar, but Cloud wasn't really that into music and didn't know much better. He probably should have carried on taking the path back to the town, but curiosity got the better of him; he couldn't fathom why somebody would want to practise their instrument in such an out of reach, Heartless infested dump of a place. Sure, the crystalline caves and valleys might have been beautiful once, but all the Heartless had left it somewhat lacking its appeal. Which meant that nobody in their right mind would choose to travel down there, unless they were trying to help out against the Heartless- but he knew that none of the Restoration Comittee had gone as far into the Depths as he had, and was fairly certain that none of them harboured a secret love of playing the guitar- so who could possibly be playing an instrument like that, so far away from the populated part of that world?
Instead of doing the sensible thing and carrying on with that same endless path home, Cloud took a side route, following the music the best he could, blindly moving through the landscape as the music grew closer, to the point he could almost catch the tune to it... Then he came around one of the cliff faces, and saw the cloaked figure, sitting on a raised patch of blue rock, bold as brass in the middle of the path. He instantly reached for his sword, recognising the coat as belonging to the members of Organisation XIII- and putting two and two together meant this figure had to be one of them. Cloud paused, though, when he saw the Nobody's hood was down, and that he seemed completely lost in the music, hands dancing on the strings of his instrument. It was a boy- he couldn't really be considered a man, he didn't look a day over about eighteen- with dirty blond hair and quite a slight frame, not really what Cloud had expected from the supposedly menacing Organisation. The Nobody boy's eyes were closed, his expression peaceful; which made Cloud start to doubt he could really be that much of a threat.
Then the younger blond's eyes opened, and he jumped out of his skin, seeing Cloud only a few feet away.
[ Simple setting, really- this is meant to fit in during the Heartless battle at Hollow Bastion. If any lines from cutscenes are inaccurate, I'm sorry- but I don't have the scenes to hand to check lines. Cloud is basically just in a bad mood the whole time.
]
Cloud was beyond frustrated. He'd been battling wave after wave of Heartless for God-knows how long, and Leon had been swallowed up in the sea of the damned things mere seconds after they both had started to fight. After eventually managing to clear the area, and with his companion nowhere to be found, he'd trudged his way up right into the heart of the Dark Depths, only to be greeted by Sephiroth. And, yet again, the silver-haired swordsman had managed to vanish before Cloud could lay so much as a finger on him. Cloud was walking the long route back to the town alone, and a surprise Heartless attack had left him looking like he'd been dragged through a tornado, and dumped unceremoniously far away from home. Not that he considered Hollow Bastion his home. It was merely a convienient resting spot before he could challenge Sephiroth properly. Yuffie and Aerith had all but begged and blackmailed him into joining their "Restoration Comittee", but his heart was never into any of the fighting or the repair work he was asked to do- he considered it training for what was to come. Of course, he wanted to face it all, to defeat Sephiroth- never mind that he might be lost and without a purpose in life after that. Winning that fight was all that mattered.
He didn't feel like the soon-to-be victor of such a battle at that point in time, though- in fact, the exact opposite. He was tired and cranky and water had leaked into his boots thanks to a particularly vicious encounter he'd had with a bunch of magic-enhanced Heartless, where he'd ended up drenched. With every step he took, that water squidged around his toes, making squelching noises as he slowly made his way up along one of the crystal paths. And with a combination of all that crabbiness and exhaustion and squelchy noises, Cloud was getting more and more angry the further he walked. The town, far off in the distance, didn't seem to be getting any bigger, still just a speck on the horizon. Cloud was too stubborn to rest and hope that somebody would come out looking for him. Leon would be the one they'd send, and he just could not TAKE another sarcastic offer of help from that stupid brunet. It was one of Cloud's pet peeves,- not that he ever complained verbally about it- people who were older than him trying to belittle him and treat him like an inbecile or a weakling. Leon was only a year or so older than the blond, but treated him with just enough superiority to keep him constantly annoyed.
So he was broodingly squelching and staggering his way through some of the caves, when the music caught his attention. It was very faint, drifting along the gentle breeze down there in the Depths, and Cloud suspected that the close proximity of the cave's walls was amplifying the sound. He couldn't make out any kind of tune from that distance, but he could tell it sounded as though somebody was strumming some kind of guitar. It wasn't exactly the right sound for a guitar, but Cloud wasn't really that into music and didn't know much better. He probably should have carried on taking the path back to the town, but curiosity got the better of him; he couldn't fathom why somebody would want to practise their instrument in such an out of reach, Heartless infested dump of a place. Sure, the crystalline caves and valleys might have been beautiful once, but all the Heartless had left it somewhat lacking its appeal. Which meant that nobody in their right mind would choose to travel down there, unless they were trying to help out against the Heartless- but he knew that none of the Restoration Comittee had gone as far into the Depths as he had, and was fairly certain that none of them harboured a secret love of playing the guitar- so who could possibly be playing an instrument like that, so far away from the populated part of that world?
Instead of doing the sensible thing and carrying on with that same endless path home, Cloud took a side route, following the music the best he could, blindly moving through the landscape as the music grew closer, to the point he could almost catch the tune to it... Then he came around one of the cliff faces, and saw the cloaked figure, sitting on a raised patch of blue rock, bold as brass in the middle of the path. He instantly reached for his sword, recognising the coat as belonging to the members of Organisation XIII- and putting two and two together meant this figure had to be one of them. Cloud paused, though, when he saw the Nobody's hood was down, and that he seemed completely lost in the music, hands dancing on the strings of his instrument. It was a boy- he couldn't really be considered a man, he didn't look a day over about eighteen- with dirty blond hair and quite a slight frame, not really what Cloud had expected from the supposedly menacing Organisation. The Nobody boy's eyes were closed, his expression peaceful; which made Cloud start to doubt he could really be that much of a threat.
Then the younger blond's eyes opened, and he jumped out of his skin, seeing Cloud only a few feet away.