Are You Sure You're Not…?
Or,
Another Case of Mistaken Identity
Summery: Axel was late, but Cloud won't let him leave 'til he gets to the bottom of things.
Cloud was incredibly puzzled by the red-haired man before him. He was positive… absolutely positive he knew this man. But when Cloud had run at him with First Tsurugi drawn asking why Shin-Ra Company had followed him to this world, he only looked confused (and probably a little shocked). Cloud was now standing with the man, holding him somewhat hostage at the end of his sword. He asked, though he was sure of the answer, "Are you sure you're not—?
"Yes. I'm sure. My name's Axel. A-X-E-L." The man, Axel, interrupted, tapping his foot on the ground impatiently. "I've never met you before in my life, so can I go?"
"No. I'm thinking." Cloud said, waving First Tsurugi at him. It's true the hair was different, but how many people had hair THAT red and THAT spiky? Besides, he could have cut his ponytail and grown out the rest of his hair. There had been perfectly enough time to do that since Cloud saw him last.
"Look, I'm really in a hurry right now. I have to be somewhere and— can you please stop waving your sword in my face?" Axel scooted away from First Tsurugi a bit, but Cloud only ignored him. Those scars under his eyes certainly seemed familiar, even if they were differently shaped. Who knows? Maybe he got tired of the old marks and decided to try out new ones. That was something he might do, but then again, maybe not.
"Hey, where's Rude? I want to talk to him."
"Pardon?" Axel gave him a bewildered look. "Did… you just call me rude? I'm not the one going around ambushing people and threatening them with swords!"
"You don't know Rude?" It was Cloud's turn to be confused. "Maybe you aren't him."
"Finally. So… I can go?" Axel said, and started to tip-toe away.
"Or maybe…" Axel stopped, and uttered a groan. Cloud looked at him with a cheesy grin spread across his face. "Or maybe you just have amnesia!"
"For the last time" Axel said rolling his eyes to the heavens, "I AM NOT…"
"Do you remember Elena? Tseng? What about Shin-Ra Company? Remember when we met in Sector 5? Remember when you blew up Sector 7 and we had to stop you? Do you remember—"
"Superior, please don't be angry at me for being late and turn me into a Dusk." Axel whined under his breath, running his hand through his hair. This apparently caught Cloud's attention.
"Superior? You mean President? You mean Rufus?" Cloud offered helpfully, or at least he thought it was helpful.
"No. Just… no."
"Oh." Cloud lowered his head and thought for a moment. "Maybe you don't have amnesia. You sound exactly like him, and you look like him, but maybe you're just two people who are a lot alike."
"So I can—" Axel started to ask, but Cloud's head snapped back up to stare at him.
"Are you ABSOLUTLY SURE you're not…?"
Axel felt his eye twitch. He was already trying hard enough as it was to keep his cool. "You know what? No. I'm not absolutely-positivly-super-duper-hyper-uber-zippidy-doo-da-five-million-friggen'-per-cent sure I'm not the person you're looking for. However, I AM pretty damn close."
"Oh." That was all Cloud could think to say. He put First Tsurugi back into its holder and scratched his head. "Er… I guess I should say I'm sorry."
Axel turned and started to walk away. He gave cloud a small wave and said, "Don't worry about it. See you later, dude."
Yeah. If you can figure out who they're talking about, then congratulate yourself. This story came to my head when I found out that he and Axel had the same voice actor too, of all things. A freaky, freaky coincidence.
If someone's already written something like this, then I apologize.