Delightful // Cloud x Reader

CHAPTER TWELVE: Lucky Charm

(Omg i forgot the damn title of the chapter)

Thanks for all the support and love you all are showing this book! Thanks you also for being patient with me :) I hope you guys are doing awesome

Also sorry for not having some funny stuff and not a lot of romance, but we're getting there!

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THE ENTIRE TRIP BACK TO SECTOR SEVEN WAS AWKWARD. EVEN AFTER HAVING THE CONVERSATION of how to get back to the sector, the mood was dull. Cloud obviously was facing how he felt alone. Y/n wanted him to reach out to her and tell her how he was feeling. Aerith meant a lot to the both of them, so she could just tell he was struggling, especially since Elmira refused to let them go save her. Even just running through Aerith's home sector was enough to keep the pit of dread in Y/n's chest.

The plan was to make it to the playground structure that Aerith showed them, the secret passage back into Sector Seven. Y/n groaned internally as she stood up from crawling under a bunch of debris that got in their way of getting into the tunnel that led them to their destination. The Collapsed Expressway, if she remembered correctly, is the place with all the annoying hand cranes that Cloud had to go through. Stretching, Y/n followed behind the group.

They came across a few monsters here and there. They weren't really a struggle. But what was a struggle was having to take a detour due to the tunnel collapsing on their usual route. The monsters that were there seemed a bit tougher, and even Cloud was taking his anger out on them it seemed.

After fighting Sweepers, climbing up and down ladders, fighting bandits (yes, those 3 again), and overall having a grand time down in the tunnels, the quartet finally made it to the ladder that would take them to the park.

"I'm almost afraid to go back," Tifa frowned, her pace slowing as she encountered the ladder. "To see it with my own eyes..."

Y/n was afraid, too, but she knew she couldn't feel the same Tifa or Barret, even Cloud, felt. Sector Seven was their home. Their friends' home. Jesse, Wedge, Biggs...

The closer they got to the gate, the more people surrounded the area. It was heartbreaking to see so many people like this. Orphaned, lost, homeless. Despite loving the adventure so far, Y/n wished for a break back at her home world. Things there might not be perfect, but it was at a slower pace. This just made Y/n appreciate the things she had even more.

Y/n let her mind wander as Barret recognized Someone he knew, some man named Wymer. She wasn't paying too much attention to them as they spoke, but she did catch Barret asking who all made it out.

"I wish I knew... Sorry," Wymer sighed.  Tifa, being the sunshine she is, said it was fine and was glad that he made it out.

"I'm just glad you survived," Barret said, his tone a bit more uplifted than before as he set his giant hand on Wymer's shoulder. "Gives me hope for the others."

Cloud walked over to the vendor selling some things and buying somethings. While he and the other two did that, Y/n looked up at the sky. You still couldn't really see it due to pollution, or whatever it was, but it was definitely visible. "Y/n," Tifa gripped the said girl's shoulder. "We're going. Did you want to get anything from the weapons vendor before we left?"

After Y/n told her no, the two met up with Barret and Cloud at the entrance of the playground's structure. Y/n remembered when she was there with Cloud and Aerith. Her heart deflated, wishing her friend was with them. She knew they were going to rescue her, but it seemed so far away. Too far away. 

Y/n followed behind Tifa as they crawled into the space to get to the ladder. Her clothes were already a bit grimy from traveling and fighting so the dirt didn't bother her much. What did bother her was the rats that scurried away from the group of four. Y/n make a face before grabbing the ladder, climbing down above Tifa. Once her feet hit the metal floor, Y/n wiped her sweaty hands on her pants and looked to Cloud, giving him a halk-assed smile.