Cloud/Aerith/Zack Love Triangle Fanfiction; By Ayanami Kaze (shuriken_ninja86)
Chapter 1/???; Story Status: Not Complete
Chapter One: Melody of the Heart
Author's Note: So, what can I mean by Alternate Universe exactly? Well, for starters, this is a FFVII fanfic obviously. xD It takes place in a whole different world. Yes, that's right, whole differen't world. Why did I make an Alternate Universe? Well obviously because it's flippin' hard to make fanfics that have to deal with AERITH when she's DEAD. Well, enjoy anyway. Feel free to comment, ^^
"Really, Aerith, do you read anything else...besides these er...girly comics?" Zack, a fair faced man with jet black hair, set in an odd hair style, had asked his girlfriend. "They're not called girly comics, Zack." his girlfriend said while putting her hands to her hips. Her name was Aerith and she had long chesnut brown hair, braided and tied with a ribbon. Her eyes were of a beautiful emerald and her cheerful expression seemed to never fade. "Then what are they called?" Zack asked, as a comeback. They were at a book store, and as usual, Aeirth was looking at her graphic novels, which most people would call Shoujo Manga. They were about romance, pink stuff, the girl things. "They're called Shoujo Manga. There aren't as many blood and guts like your comics. Mr.Zachary." Zack winced at hearing her call him 'Mr.Zachary'. He hated, absolutely hated when people had called him that. He didn't know why, but it always seemed to strike him down right there in his pride. "...Just hurry up." he said to her. She only giggled and went back to choosing her books.
"Waiter!" someone called. Cloud Strife, another man with an odd hairstyle, but this time, his hair was of a nice blonde and he was quite muscular as well. He turned around at the sudden call, "Can I get a glass of water please? With ice." the customer ordered. "Sure thing." Cloud replied while walking up to the bartender. "So...glass of water? With ice?" the bartender said, obviously hearing the customer's demand. "Yeah." Cloud said, sighing. "You look tired." the bartender commented, as he took a glass from the shelf, cleaning it with a white cloth. "I haven't been able to sleep lately...for some reason." the bartender only smiled, he was a very laid back man, and always made the best out of situations. "What? You scared of the dark or something?" he said with a slight chuckle, while putting ice into the glass. "Course not." Cloud said smirking. "Oh, right. You got over that...when now? Oh yeah, when you turned fifteen." Cloud looked at him puzzled, "What, that's a bad age to get over such a phobia?" "Chyeah." the bartender answered, as he poured the water into the cup, setting it in front of Cloud. "Now get back to work. You get paid more than I do." the bartender whacked him in the head and Cloud chuckled a bit too and picked up the cup of iced water, walking over to the table and set it front of the customer who thanked him later on.
Aerith and Zack walked out of the book store, Aerith's stomach rumbled, "Oh, I'm so hungry." she whined. She looked at Zack hopefully. "Don't look at me again, woman. You already emptied out my wallet in that book store." Aerith's lower lip quivered, as she began to give him...well, what was known to Zack as the, 'Puppy Dog' look. He bit his lip, chanting to himself in his head, 'Don't give in. Don't give in.' Despite his little mental note, it didn't work and he found himself pulling out his wallet. There was money in there after all. Aerith smiled as she threw her slender arms around his neck. "Yay!" she smiled, leaning her head against his shoulder. She looked into his wallet, and he quickly hid it from her, "No peeking." he said and quietly counted the remaining money he had left to himself. Aerith whistled and waited for him to finish. She knew he wasn't good at math and probably wasn't going to get any better at anytime soon. "Hmm...my friend works at a restaurant. The food there's pretty good, you want to go?" Aerith nodded, "Doesn't matter, as long as I get to eat. Who's your friend?" "You know him. Cloud. Remember? Identical hairstyles?" Aerith smiled, "Oh, right, right. I remember."
The customers left and Cloud began to clean the table up. They were complete slobs and the kind of customers Cloud hated letting in. THEY were the ones that made him suffer as he endlessly tried to get food off from the table. The rest of the restaurant was empty. They didn't have too many customers on weekdays. He sighed as he began to chat with the bartender again. "Damn, you know what my car will be like when I get one?" the bartender said, Cloud shook his head. "Good. 'Cuz I don't know either." he laughed, "I have to save up my money." "How come?" Cloud asked. "I have to get the engagement ring my girl deserves." the bartender answered, "She's been waiting far too long. She deserves this. Really, I may not be so great financially, but heck, she's showering me with kisses anyway." Cloud smiled at him, "You'll get there." he said encourgingly. "Thanks man. Maybe I'll make you my best man or somethin' like that." the bartender grinned. Then, the little bell above the door gently jingled as the door opened.
"Hey, Cloud!" Zack said as he stepped into the restaurant. Aerith following close behind him. "What's up?" Zack patted him on the back, grinning foolishly. "...Don't expect anything on the house." Cloud said, "But I haven't even said anything yet!" Zack whined. "Oh, it's okay." Aerith smiled. Cloud looked at her, then looked at the bartender who went back to cleaning glasses. So he shifted his glance back to Zack, "What brings you here?" he asked. "This is a restaurant right? I'm hungry. Well, Aerith is." Aerith giggled again, "Yep." she nodded.
Zack and Aerith ordered their food and they began to eat. Zack's cell phone began to ring, he picked it up, "Hello?" there was a long silence. "Okay. Thanks...bye." Zack hung up the phone, "What happened?" Aerith asked while putting her spoon down. "I gotta go." he said while pulling out his wallet, Aerith frowned. "Cloud," he called giving him money, "I think this should be enough. Keep the change. I have to go and I can't drive Aerith back to her house. Can you do that for me?" Cloud nodded, "Thanks buddy." Zack smiled and gave him one more pat on the back. Aerith walked up to Zack, "Will you see me tomorrow?" she asked. "Of course." he smiled to her as well, and gave her a quick kiss on the lips and ran out of the restaurant. Aerith watched him rush out and Cloud was explaining the situation to the manager, who was nice enough to let him leave for a bit.
"Thanks for driving me home." Aerith said, while Cloud unlocked his car. "It's fine with me." he said as he opened the door for her. She seated her self in and Cloud closed the door, getting into the driver's seat. He started the car's engine, and began to drive. "I never knew, and I never bothered asking, but how did you and Zack meet?" Cloud looked at her, then back at the road, "School." he simply said. "School? Really? That's nice. All my friends from school either moved or I just lost contact with them." Aerith sighed, slumping into the chair. "What about you? How did you meet Zack?" Aerith rolled her eyes at the question, "It isn't exactly romantic. But...it all started as me, Aerith Gainsborough, a victim of Mr.Zachary's flirtatious ways." Cloud chuckled, that was Zack alright.
"It's not funny." Aerith said, pouting. "He went up to me and said, 'Hey, what's a pretty girl doing all the way over- Hey, are those flowers?' and then he grabbed my basket of flowers. I said that they were only a dollar each, and he bought the whole basket. He's pretty rich if ya ask me. A dollar was nothing to him!" she flung her arms into the air. "His dad is this big buisness tycoon or something. I don't know. That's why I was lucky he was single." "That doesn't make sense to me." Cloud said. "Well, what I mean is, most girls fell into his charm because he's super rich and they knew he'd spoil them to the point where they would actually say, 'I'm the happiest girl in the world,' and actually mean it. He hated people like that, so he was alone for a while. That is, of course, till he met me." Cloud listened, still not exactly sure, but still listening. "He didn't mind spoling me though. He liked spoiling me, though usually I don't like to. Except for today. Since it's close to my birthday, and he'll be on this trip with his dad and won't be around. So he decided to make his days left with me till he leaves worth wild." she smiled, looking out the car window.
"I guess that's nice, right?" Cloud said, as he made a right turn. "Of course. It's just like this comic book, called Sanctuary Dream!" "Comic book?" "Yeah, the one that girls like. The romance stuff." Cloud stayed silent. "In other words, the cheesy stuff men don't like." "Oh, I get it." Cloud said as he drove up in front of Aerith's house. It began to quickly rain, it was pouring, since it was nearing fall soon. "Oh boy. Look at it pour." she said as she was still in the car. "You can rush into your house." Cloud said, "Aw, but I want you to come in too." Aerith said, turning to him. He looked at her, but this time, he looked at her from a whole new perspective. "...Why?" he asked. "Well...um, I don't know. I just want you to. Just doesn't feel right making you drive away so quickly. Your boss doesn't mind if you take a few extra minutes, right?" Cloud shook his head. She smiled as he opened the came out of the car. He opened her door as well, letting her out, He quickly closed it and locked the door, closing all its windows.
She grabbed his hand and they ran to the safety of her home. It only began to rain harder outside. Though it was only for a bit, Cloud's hair was pretty wet, and Aerith handed him a towel. "This morning, it was really nice and sunny." she said, looking out the window. "Not everything turns out the way you want it to." Cloud said looking at the carpet floor. He handed her the towel back and she left to go place it somewhere. Cloud walked around the living room. There were numerous pictures of her mother and Zack. Though there was one that cought his eye. It was on top of a grand piano, Zack was holding Aerith in her arms, they were both smiling happily. Cloud picked up the frame, staring at the image. He was silent. "We took that picture the first year we started dating." Aerith said from behind him. He turned around, "It's...a nice photo." he said as he put it back on the piano. "So...do you play the piano?" Aerith smiled. "Yep! Do you want to hear me play?" she offered, Cloud nodded, sitting back on the couch. She sat in front of the piano, cracking her knuckles and she hovered her fingers over the keys of the piano. "Hmm...what should I play?" she paused, "Oh, I know!" she pressed one key, and then came a melody of notes, echoing through the room. Cloud listened to her play, it eased him, and he only stared at her face, still smiling, her eyes were closed, yet she opened them every so often to see what she was doing. There was a piece she remembered, but not completely, so she had to check the notes every so often. When the piece had ended, Aerith looked at Cloud, "Well, that's it." she said, still smiling. "That was beautiful." Cloud complimented her. "Is there-" before Cloud could complete his sentence, the phone rang. Aerith quickly got up from the piano, rushing to the phone. "Hello?" she answered.
Zack had called.
"Hey, Aerith, did you get home safe?"
"Of course."
"Yeah, shoulda known."
-Aerith giggles- "Yeah, you should've."
"Sorry sweetheart, I won't be comin' home tomorrow."
"...why?"
"The flight had to be scheduled a little earlier..."
"I...but...what about the promise?"
"........"
"Nevermind...have a safe trip Zack."
"...I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I know you don't really have a choice."
"...will you forgive me?"
"Come back with a handful of candy, then I'll think about it."
-Zack laughs- "Sure thing. I love you."
"Love you too. Good night."
"Good night."
-they hang up-
"Who was it?" Cloud asked, "Zack." she answered, her smile, disapearing suddenly. She sat down next to Cloud, "Cloud, do you have a girlfriend yet?" he shook his head. "Wow, that's surprising." "How so?" "Well, one. You're cute. Two. Your hairstyle is obviously cool. And three. Your strong and I'm sure you'll be devoted any woman that you hold in your arms." she patted him on the back, her smile returning. "Thanks." he said, looking at her smile. Which seemed a little different from before.
Yet what was he not capable of?
-End Chapter One; Alternate Universe
