Crazier than Crazy

Cloud looked over to Yuffie when she spoke, eyeing the picture. He rubbed the back of his neck and chewed on his lip, unsure what to say.
"I uhm...I know, kid." he mumbled. "I work with your sister. I was supposed to check up on you, but you startled me."

Yuffie started to look a mixture of surprise and excited, before she nearly bounced out of her seat.
"Thank you!" She told him, half hugging him from her seat. "You're the best!" She announced. "I've been stealing from the kids at school for weeks, but I wasn't going to have enough for a ticket until the end of the week. Leah's mom is a real cheapskate, she only gives her like five dollars every two weeks."

Cloud raised an eyebrow at Yuffie when she admitted to stealing. In a way he was kind of impressed, but he knew he shouldn't encourage that. Aeris would be pissed.
"You, uh, you shouldn't steel." he said. "It's not good. Even if it is to see your sister."

Yuffie shrugged.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures, Aeris always said that before she stole." She explained. "And I was really desperate. Ms. April was nice, but I didn't want the pool or the school. I just want to be with my sister." She smiled up at him. "She's so cool! And she does all this cool stuff with computers. Are you friends at work?"

Cloud couldn't help but smirk. That definitely sounded like Aeris.
"Fuck..." he grabbed the burner and dialed Aeris number as they got on the exit heading towards the city. When Aeris answered he did his best not to alarm Yuffie. "My last assignment didn't go as plan. I have someone coming back with me and you have to promise not to be upset. There's a good reason."

Aeris was already alarmed, and pacing. She had locked the doors and shut the curtains, her gun on the high kitchen counter and no where near Emma, but still.
"Are you alright?" She asked, obviously panicked. "I can't freaking promise that, Cloud." She snapped, trying not to drop the F-bomb in front of Emma, even if the baby was too young to understand.

"Fuck's a bad word." Yuffie informed him. "And fuck doesn't really answer my question, either." She admitted, still waiting.

Cloud looked over to Yuffie and he made a face.
"Yes, I work with her." he told her before focusing on the road and Aeris. "I'm fine, everything is fine for now. It had to do with your sister, Aeris. I'm bringing her to the apartment and then I'm going to Bruce."

Aeris strained to hear a voice on the other end of the line.
"Who are you talking to?" She asked, hearing the high pitch. "What...my sister-I..." Oh no. "You have my sister with you?!"

While Aeris continued to freak out, Cloud got closer and closer to the apartment. Once they arrived, Yuffie got into the elevator with him, smiling.
"I owe you." She told him, nodding.

"Cloud!" Aeris hissed when the elevator dinged open, about to lay into him when she saw Yuffie. Yuffie didn't give her time to say hi, before she launched herself at Aeris. Aeris bent and hugged her just as tightly, running a hand over the back of her head. "What is going on?" She asked Cloud, her voice thick.

Cloud raised an eyebrow before he smirked.
"I'll take that money you had." he chuckled. When the elevator opened, he was prepared for Aeris to start yelling but luckily Yuffie practically flew to her. "I'll tell you inside."

Once inside, Cloud put on the television for Yuffie before taking Aeris into the bedroom. Once he was sure she wasn't trying to listen he started.
"The assignment was to kill a kid." he whispered. "There was nothing about it being her in the information Bruce gave me. When I saw it was Yuffie I couldn't leave her there."

Aeris put her hand on her forehead, her eyes closed as she listened to him talk. So Bruce had found out about Yuffie but how? It had to be Jamie. Only Cloud, Julia, and Jamie knew. Cloud would never tell, Julia was dead, so that left Jamie. Her mind wondered to how she was going to kill him, when she realized something. That job was Cloud's out. He was doing it for Emma, the one thing he cared about most in the world. And he hadn't done it. And that meant...
"We have to fake her death." Aeris said after a moment. "We have to. I'll find an adult of comparable size and appearance, whack her, and then we can take a not so close picture of her to give to Bruce. Or I'll have Yuffie play a play dead game, we used to do that for practice in case people found us." She rattled on, thinking of Bruce coming for Cloud, or Emma.

Cloud shook his head, he wasn't sure how well that could work, but Bruce was dumb enough. As long as he took a photo it could just work like any other assignment.
"We could tell her it's a game. Bruce is going to want to see her face." he whispered.

"Yeah, right. Of course. Okay." Her head was a mess. She wanted to thank him, but it just wasn't coming out. She didn't want to acknowledge it. That he cared enough about her to jeopardize himself. "I'll ask her to for old timesakes, I can alter it digitally. It'll take me maybe twenty-minutes. I don't think Bruce will suspect anything."

Cloud nodded and he moved forward, taking Aeris hand.
"If I see Jamie. I'll kill him." he whispered. "You know that right? He's the only one who could have done this. Bruce isn't smart enough to find shit on his own."

Aeris pulled away from him when he touched her. It was going to undo her. He didn't belong to her, he never had. She didn't know why she had thought she could hold it together and just be friends, especially when it was her fault Julia was dead. She had been so jealous, had pictured that being her life, and then boom, Julia died. In childbirth. In the twenty-first century.
"I have to get this done." She whispered, leaving the room.

She kidnapped Yuffie to her room and just spent time with her. She brought up the game, and soon they were taking turns playing dead, both of the girls laughing.
"Okay, hold super still, best attempt ever. I wanna show the girls I work with." Aeris laughed, snapping a few pictures. She sat next to Yuffie on the bed, letting her pick the show while she edited the picture. She changed the bedding appearance, made Yuffie paler, added blood and a bullet wound, before double checking the physics and printing the picture for Cloud. When Yuffie got tired, Aeris took the picture to him.

"Here. And here." She told him, giving Cloud a very old looking locket. "It was Marisol's. Yuffie used to wear it everywhere, it's in her school picture. I'll buy her a new one, this might help seal the deal." She explained.

Cloud let her go and he went to check up on Emma. She was sleeping away, completely oblivious. When this was all over he had to leave. He didn't want to stay nearby, he didn't want to give anyone a chance they could find him, and hurt Emma.

He almost fell asleep by the time Aeris came to him. He took the picture and locket and he nodded.
"Alright." he whispered. "I'll go do it now. The sooner the better...Don't wait up. Get some sleep."

Aeris nodded, looking at him for a moment.
Thank you. I love you. I love Emma. I know what you did had consequences and I know you still did it and I'll never be able to thank you enough.
"Okay." She whispered.

Two hours later

Yuffie called Cloud from Aeris's phone number, her voice wobbly and distressed, Emma crying in the background.
"C-Cloud, I called you and I called 9-1-1, I c-c-you have to come home." She hiccuped.

The door to Cloud's apartment was wide open, blood seeping into the entryway around the corner. Aeris was slumped against the wall, blood leaking out of the corners of her mouth. When Cloud got there, she could hear the sirens. He must have just beat them. She was so pale.

Jamie was lying face down, heading into the girls room. She had shot him six times in the back, although it only took one to take him down. She had told Yuffie to take her phone and take Emma and hide when she heard the door break in. And then he was just there. He was so strong, but she had fought so hard. Even with multiple shots, she had gotten to her gun and got him before he could get to the girls.
"Hi." She said weakly when Cloud came around the corner, her breath a whoosh. One lung was clearly collapsed. "The girls are okay."

Cloud thought that the meeting with Bruce went well enough, but then he got the call. He made his way as fast as he could to the apartment, nerves making him shake. He saw the blood, and his stomach immediately sank.
"I-I was supposed to kill him you bitch." Cloud said, trying to chuckle. "The ambulance is coming...you just gotta hold on a bit longer, okay?"

Aeris smiled weakly, her eyes closing. She was so tired.
"I know, but I couldn't resist." She whispered. "Did Bruce buy it? Are you and Emma going to be safe?" She asked.

Cloud nodded, smoothing back her hair.
"Y-yeah, he bought it." he whispered. "We'll be safe. You too now that the jerkface is gone. You and Yuffie can live with me and Emma. We'll be a strange family, but a family."

Aeris smiled, finally opening her eyes. The paramedics were coming up in the elevator. She put her hand on the side of his face.
"You have to make sure that she doesn't turn out like me, okay?" She whispered. "I know you've already done so much, but you have to." She breathed, tears rolling down her cheeks. She put her other hand in his, blood all over his palm. "I-I love you. I'll tell Julia, what a great father you turned out to be." She promised, her fingers squeezing his, until they went limp.

"Sir, you have to move." One of the paramedics told him, the other coming through with the flatboard. "Female, multiple gsw to the chest and abdomen, we're gonna need blood tell the ER." The other said as they loaded her up. "No pulse, we gotta move. Bag her."

Aeris had told Yuffie not to leave the room, so she was still in the corner, holding Emma.
"Hello?" She cried, hearing the movement.

Cloud didn't want to move, he didn't want to be away from Aeris, but he found himself moving as the paramedics came in. He shook his head, no she couldn't be dead, what the fuck was going on around him? He turned when he heard a small voice, and he made his way over to the door.
"It's me, Cloud." He told her opening the door. He saw her and Emma in the corner, and he had to swallow his emotions.

Yuffie looked up at the stranger, standing after a moment. She had been crying. She was a tough little girl, but she was still a little girl. She stood and handed him Emma.
"Is Aeris okay?" She asked him.

Cloud nodded.
"But she's hurt." he whispered. "They're going to take her to the hospital, and we'll know more. You're going to stay with me for a while. Is that okay?"

Yuffie nodded, sliding her hand into Cloud's. The police had arrived, documenting Jamie. One stopped Cloud to get a statement, but an old cop said they could ask again at the hospital, so they let him go.

"She told me to take the baby and the phone. So I did." Yuffie told Cloud, still in shock.

Cloud took her hand and he nodded, soothing down Emma.
"I know, you were very brave." he whispered. "I know Aeris is really proud of you. I know I am."