Fortune Foretold

Cloud Strife knew that he was dreaming again.

He knew it, even as he watched the lovely images in his mind. He’d had this dream, or some variation of it, for weeks. Months. Years.

It was kind of silly, really. It wasn’t the deep sort of dream that Vincent had told him about on their journey. The poor man seemed to be cursed with such nightmares.

No, Cloud’s dreams were, well, fluffy.

Memories of his journey, in short little clips, that hopped around without rhyme or reason. Seeing everyone again. He saw Tifa, his childhood friend whom he had promised himself to after the death of Sephiroth.

Somehow, even in his dream he winced at that. Had he been conscious, he would have probably muttered something to the effect of “Best laid plans my ass…” before falling silent.

The dream was coming to an end, he knew. Because it was ending the same way that it always did.

With an image of the Cetra girl and himself, sitting in the tram at the Golden Saucer on their date. It was the last image of her he liked to remember.

Because, of course, seeing someone that you loved impaled by a giant sword is something that one tries to forget…

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“End of the line, everybody! Last stop, Shinra HQ in Sector 8! Everyone off the train! If you’ve stayed on too long, another train will be going back in the opposite direction in five minutes!”

Cloud awoke with a start at the conductor’s announcement. That was one of the advantages of going to the HQ, he realized. He could take a nice nap during the forty minute train ride, and be woken up at the end.

The train slowly began to chug to a stop, and Cloud stood, ready to get off of it. His limbs were somewhat sore from sitting in the cramped seat, and he practically forced his way to the front of the queue to get off.

“Sorry,” he mumbled to a few disgruntled passengers, “but I’m in a hurry.”

Taking care not to hit anyone with his huge sword, Cloud managed to finally slip out the door of the train. He stretched out both arms and legs, before strapping the Ultima Weapon to his back.

“Somehow, he said ruefully, looking up at the edifice of the largest building in Midgar, “this place never changes.”

It wasn’t an entirely accurate statement, of course. The building had suffered severe structural damage from one of many WEAPON attacks. The assault that had claimed Rufus ShinRa’s life had also damaged his building severely.

But like everything else, Reeve had somehow managed to get it rebuilt. It looked exactly like the building that he had infiltrated two years ago. At the time, it had been one of the most ludicrous things he’d ever done.

Considering he’d been captured though, everything had gone shockingly well. If, of course, you called Sephiroth beginning a rampage which would nearly doom the Planet well.

He shook his head, trying to push those thoughts out of his mind as he advanced towards the building. Cloud was hoping for a nice, easy mission that would be worth lots of money.

Of course, considering Reeve had called him, it was probably going to be a ludicrously difficult mission worth lots of money.

“At least I’ll get one out of two, he muttered, trying to pick up his pace.

At the base of the building were all the street vendors, selling everything from The Midgar Post to coffee, Midgar based t-shirts to hot dogs. He looked at his watch, and decided that it was probably too early for a hot dog.

“I haven’t had a good meal in a while,” he reminded himself. For the most part, that hot dog vendor had been one of his primary eating establishments for the past few years. It wasn’t the best food in the world, but it was serviceable. That, of course, didn’t mean that Cloud had any interest in discovering what ingredients were USED in the making of said hot dogs…

He shuddered briefly, finally reaching the revolving doors that marked the entrance of the building. Pushing through the doors, a pretty secretary waved to him. “Hi Cloud,” she said, giggling slightly. “Here for another job?”

“Yeah,” he said, simply, trying to make his way through the crush of employees in the lobby Reaching into his pocket, he carefully fingered the keycard that would give him access to Reeve’s office. Such a keycard was held by only the highest ShinRa executives…and Cloud Strife.

He jabbed at the button for the elevator impatiently. The faster he got up to see what the hell Reeve wanted, the faster he could do it, and the faster he could get paid.

Of course, the second the elevator opened, there was a mad rush of people into the elevator. Cloud felt himself being pushed against the wall, as button after button was pushed.

“Great,” he murmured. “Maybe I’ll get to see Reeve by the end of the fiscal year.”

~~~~~~~~

Roughly, oh, twenty minutes later, the elevator was finally empty, and Cloud was on his way to the top of Shinra HQ, both literally and figuratively. With a ding and a click, the door opened, and Cloud found himself in the plush office of the President of Shinra, Incorporated.

All told, this was probably going to be a much more pleasant visit than his first time there, as a prisoner of the corporation.

He took in the sights of the room, before his eyes snapped to Reeve. The former head of City Development now sat in the finest chair in all of Midgar. His own eyes were focused squarely on Cloud, before he finally spoke.

“Welcome,” the president said, a grin on his face.

Shit. That wasn’t good, and Cloud knew it. It wasn’t an ordinary grin, either. Still, the once and current mercenary decided to shrug it off for the moment.

“You got work for me, Reeve,” he asked, “or did you just call me here to stare at my pretty face?”

Reeve chuckled, albeit in more of a “that was REALLY tacky” way than out of actual mirth. “Oh, do I EVER have work for you,” Reeve said, eyes dancing. “I have THE job for you. The job that’s going to get you out of the slums, and make you not have to worry about Gil ever again.”

Despite his best efforts at self-control, Cloud’s eyes widened. THAT would be a lot of a money. Of course, that would also mean he’d probably be in for one of the toughest tests of his life. Hell, with this much money on the line, kicking Sephiroth’s ass and saving the world might be EASY.

“Out with it then,” Cloud said, his adrenaline already beginning to flow. “Meteor coming to kill us all again?”

“Not quite,” Reeve stated simply, eyes flashing. “First off, I may as well give you the payment for this particular job. You pull this off, and you’re looking at 1.4 MILLION gil.”

Cloud’s jaw dropped. “You’ve gotta be shittin’ me,” he exclaimed, almost unable to believe it. “1.4 mil…damn, looks like someone maxed out an All materia.”

It was, of course, a somewhat legitimate guess. For that amount of money was the going price for a mastered All materia. Cloud himself had two in his Mystile, but they wouldn’t be sold for any price. Pride kept him in his relative state of poverty.

But 1.4 million Gil? Hell, he’d be a gillonaire!

There was one question left to ask. He almost didn’t dare to ask it.

But when it came right down to it, he’d walk through the Lifestream again for 1.4 million Gil.

“Alright Reeve,” he said, bracing himself. “What’s this ‘job’ going to be?”

----------------

And THERE’S Chapter Two.

Sorry it took me so long to write, but schoolwork’s been hellish lately.

Going to try to get 3 out a heck of a lot faster.

Thank you to all those who have reviewed and gave me the motivation to keep writing. Reviews are always appreciated. Thanks!

-Sean