~Whatever It Takes~

I would like to start with a couple of warnings.
Warnings:
Lots of colorful, graphic language; not just from Barret and Cid.
References to sexual activity and some sexual content, but nothing too explicit
Contains Final Fantasy VII game spoilers and Advent Children movie spoilers.
This story is entirely from Tifa’s point of view as she recalls the events in her life. Since Tifa wasn’t present in every scene of the game, I’ve omitted the ones she wasn’t in and tried to incorporate the missing details in dialogue in order to cover everything that happened and hopefully not miss anything critical to the storyline.

Chapter 1​

MIDGAR RUINS – the present

Did I dare hope that life could finally go back to normal?

Quite honestly, I didn’t even know what normal was anymore. Things had been crazy for me ever since I was eight years old, when my mother died. It was one thing after another, bringing me to the here and now…to this point in my life. I knew I’d have to make a decision soon though…either continue the way things were or just get out before I lost the last bit of sanity left in me.

I watched the children cheerfully splash in the water that filled the broken floor of the church. Aeris’s church…The water filling the large hole was graced with the healing components to cure the black splotches caused by the Geostigma virus, the latest threat to humanity.

Marlene was among the laughing children. In the last few days, I noticed she had really become attached to Denzel during his illness. I knew the two children would grow closer now that the threat was finally over and it was a good thing for her to have someone closer to her age that she could relate to.

Not far away stood the rest of the ex-AVALANCHE team.

While Vincent looked on with his usual indifference, Barret and Cid were light-heartedly teasing Yuffie on the appropriate use of Elemental materia. Apparently the young ninja from Wutai thought she knew everything there was to know about the colorful orbs she liked to pilfer from the rest of us. Cait Sith was straddled on the back of Nanaki’s neck. The mechanical cat controlled by ex-Shinra employee Reeve Tuesti, was incapable of moving around on its own without a moogle. Nanaki, the big, one-eyed beast of Cosmo Canyon, often called Red by some of us, decided to let his mechanical companion take up residence on his scruffy red mane. They actually looked cute together.

Despite the terrible events that brought our humanity-saving team back together, I was glad to see us reunited. It wasn’t often we got the chance to hang out and talk about the old days. Well, not really old…it was only a couple of years since we fought for a common cause and were known throughout the world as the anti-Shinra terrorist organization. Of course, that all changed when we proved our worth and stopped Meteor. We became heroes literally overnight.

One other member of the team was also present.

Cloud Strife sat on a fallen pillar on the other side of the makeshift pool, his Mako-enhanced eyes staring at nothing in particular. It was his choice to sit alone, away from the rest of us as we celebrated our victory. He should have been celebrating with us because he was responsible for single-handedly defeating the recently resurrected madman known as Sephiroth, along with his three clones, Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz.

But I knew Cloud well enough to know he didn’t particularly like all the attention. It wasn’t always like this, though. For the longest time, he strove to be noticed and respected and to be considered a hero. He’d grown much quieter in the last couple of years after AVALANCHE split up to go back to daily life. I blamed it on the fact that there was nothing for him to do but dwell on the degenerative guilt eating away at him for things he couldn’t have prevented. Everything seemed to be his responsibility and he paid the price for what he considered his failures.

I could see it in his eyes. Pain…despair…loneliness…I wanted to take it all away. But I just didn’t know how to reach him…or whether he would even let me. There wasn’t any doubt in my mind that he cared about his friends and anything that happened to us. He just forgot how to show it.

Cloud and I had been friends since childhood. We shared something many people wished they could have. We had been through thick and thin together. There were times I felt so close to him and yet other times it was like we were on completely different continents. Other than anger and pessimism, Cloud had never been able to express his feelings very well, even when we were kids. He fought the deadliest monsters without fear, faced our mortal enemies in intense battles…but he was too afraid to tell me how he felt about us. Whether there even was an ‘us’.

When we were little, back in Nibelheim, he always got into fights with the neighborhood bullies. They teased him a lot for being so small and he was always trying to prove himself, hence part of the reason for his excessive insecurity. There was also a time when the confusion in his head had him believing he was something else.

Even though Cloud acted strange sometimes, I got used to it. It was a small wonder he was able to function at all on his own. He was so naïve in a very innocent way and it really wasn’t his fault. He never got a chance to grow up in a normal way, so he often didn’t have the right common sense to deal with people and feelings and emotions. I tended to correct him in the gentlest ways possible, knowing he was very sensitive about his own ignorance. But sometimes he’d get me so frustrated, I didn’t know whether to hug him for innocently being so dense or slap him for knowing better and acting so stupid.

During the hardships and struggles we faced throughout our history together, we always seemed to find a way to heal each other both physically and mentally every step of the way. No matter what idiotic mistakes we made in our lives or harsh words we spoke to one another in anger, we would always forgive and forget every time.

My heart ached for Cloud…it ached for what could have been. I loved him so much it hurt. He knew it, too. Sometimes I thought there was something there…in his eyes…a spark of interest that transcended friendship. But as quickly as it appeared…it was gone. As if it never existed. I was pretty sure he avoided the subject because he cared about me too much to hurt my feelings. He just didn’t realize that his lack of acknowledgement was killing me even more.

I was faced with an internal struggle every single time I looked at him. My dilemma was whether or not I had the willpower to walk away. And if I didn’t, then what made me think I had enough mental strength to survive each day in his presence…to continue on a path that led to nowhere.

Was I doomed to be just a friend to him?

I often thought back on the years I had known Cloud…beginning with the first day I met him. What could I have done to change things? If I had interfered more resolutely in some of his decisions, would things be different today?

NIBELHEIM – the past

I was only six when Cloud and his mother moved into the neighborhood from across town. At first I thought he was strange looking, with his wild, spiky blonde hair sticking out in every direction. He was so small that I thought he was a lot younger, but I soon discovered he was actually about nine months older than me.

If it hadn’t been for my dog getting away from me, I didn’t think I would have ever approached Cloud at all.

“Hunter, come back here!” I yelled and chased after my undisciplined yellow dog.

Hunter ran up to the peculiar looking boy carrying a box toward the house right next door to mine. My dog bowled the small kid over and everything in the box went flying onto the lawn.

I ran over to grab Hunter by the collar as he licked the boy’s face. “Sorry about that,” I said timidly.

But the boy didn’t seem to be upset about my dog knocking the box out of his hands. In fact, he sat on the grass and let Hunter lick his face. “It’s okay. He’s really cool. What’s his name?”

“Hunter.” I watched him scratch behind my dog’s ears. “I’m Tifa. I live over there, right next door.”

“My name’s Cloud.” He finally got up and went to pick up the things that fell out of his box; a trophy, a bicycle helmet and a bunch of comic books. “I’m almost done helping my mom. Wanna play a game?”

Before I had the chance to respond, a familiar voice yelled out behind me.

“Hey, Tifa!”

I turned around, seeing Tommy, Sam and Charlie walk over. “Hey, guys, this is Cloud. He just moved in.”

The three boys looked tentatively at Cloud and then suddenly started laughing and making rude comments.

“What’s with the stupid name?”

“Was the barber drunk when he cut your hair?”

“Where’d you get those shoes…Dorks R Us?”

I didn’t laugh along because I could tell Cloud didn’t like what they were saying.

“Let’s go play at the well,” Tommy finally said as he pulled me away from Cloud. When Hunter started barking at him, Tommy jumped out of the dog’s reach. “Shut up, you stupid dog!”

Before I walked off with the three boys, I tied Hunter to the lamp post, knowing my mother would eventually bring him inside. Halfway down the block, I turned back and saw Cloud petting my dog, a sad look on his face.

Even though I didn’t like what Tommy and the others said to Cloud, at the time I was too young to know any better. They were the popular kids and just hanging out with them made me feel important.

NIBELHEIM – the past

During the next couple of years, Cloud seemed to ignore everyone’s smart-ass remarks, but I could tell they still bothered him. He pretended not to care. Whenever I looked back on those days, I wondered if he ever cried when he was alone in his room. And if he didn’t, then maybe it was quite possibly the catalyst that caused him to keep his emotions bottled up inside.

As much as he pretended not to care about what others said about him, Cloud still had his pride and he fought for it. He was constantly getting into fistfights. At least ten times a month, he’d leave school with a battered face, a bloody nose and a proud grin on his face over the damage he inflicted on the rival of the day.

As for me, I was torn between my friendship with Cloud and my popularity at school. It was so stupid, when I think about it now. I was only eight years old. Why had popularity been so important to me back then? Each time I ignored Cloud at school, I knew it hurt him. But he never questioned me, never argued that I didn’t choose to be with him over the boys that made his life miserable. He seemed to be content with the brief moments we secretly spent in each other’s company, even if all we did was sit around in his room and quietly read his comic books.

MT NIBEL – the past

My mother died when I was eight and afterward I did a very stupid thing. For some unknown reason, I felt a strong desire to go to Mt Nibel. Even though it was winter time and I knew the mountain pass were extremely treacherous when it snowed, I went anyway.

Tommy, Charlie and Sam came with me, betting that I wouldn’t be brave enough to cross the bridge by myself. The four of us stopped at the beginning of the path that led to the mountain.

“I wonder what’s beyond that mountain.” I asked myself. My father warned me of the dangers. Maybe a part of me was afraid to know, but the other part was curious about the secrets that lay on the other side.

“Mt Nibel is scary,” Charlie said. “Lots of people died there. No one crosses that mountain alive...”

“What about those that died?” Somehow I was convinced that my mother would be waiting for me on the other side. The winds seemed to be howling my name, beckoning me to keep moving. “Mama passed through the mountain.” I walked forward. “I’m going!”

“Let’s go,” said Tommy.

Sam shook his head. “Not me.”

Tommy and Charlie followed behind me while Sam ran back the way we came.

When we got to the bridge, I continued forward while the other two boys hesitated.

I glanced back to see if they were going to come with me, but then they both turned and ran the other way. That’s when I saw Cloud. He had been following us.

“Tifa, wait!” Cloud yelled. “Stop!”

I ignored his warning and kept moving across the bridge. When I reached the other side, I ran forward and slipped on the ice, sending me toward the edge of the cliff. As I fell my fingers caught on a branch sticking out of the ledge, but I couldn’t pull myself back up. “Cloud! Help me!”

Cloud ran across the bridge and reached the spot where I had fallen. He laid down on his stomach and extended his hand toward me. “Grab my hand!”

I was afraid to let go of the branch I clung to.

“Come on, Tifa! Grab my hand!”

That’s when the branch broke. I watched it like it was happening in slow motion. There wasn’t anything I could do about it.

“Tifa!” Cloud reached further, trying to grab my hand, but he slid off the edge and we both fell. The last thing I remembered was hitting something solid before blacking out.

NIBELHEIM – the past

I woke up and found myself lying in a hospital bed. My father was sitting beside me and jumped out of the chair when he realized I was awake.

“Papa…why am I here?”

“You’ve been…in a coma for the last seven days.” He moved closer and hugged me tightly. “I didn’t think you were going to come out of it.”

I remained quiet in his arms. The only other time I had ever seen my father cry was when my mother passed away a couple weeks ago.

“I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you…not after…” he wailed.

I knew he was talking about my mother. It would have destroyed him to lose both of us in such a short period of time.

A few minutes later, my father finally released me and wiped his eyes. “I’m going to talk to the doctor. He’ll probably want to look at you before he’ll allow you to come home with me.” He caressed my cheek and left the room.

As I laid in the hospital bed staring up at the ceiling, I remembered everything that happened. Slipping and falling…and Cloud. What happened to Cloud?

Just as I wondered if he had been hurt, the door slowly opened a bit, revealing the boy I worried about.

I sat up. “Cloud! You’re all right!”

He sheepishly walked to the side of my bed, scratching the back of his head. “Are you okay?”

“I just woke up, but I think I’m okay. You didn’t get hurt?”

Cloud sat down on the chair where my father had been sitting and he raised his baggy shorts to reveal his knees. They were scabbed. “Just my knees.” He looked up at me. “Why did you go there, Tifa? Why did you cross the bridge?”

I looked down, recalling the reason I risked my life and nearly died because of it. “I…I… thought I would find mama…on the other side of the mountain.”

“There’s nothing there but a Shinra Reactor.”

“How do you know? Have you seen it?”

“No, but…it’s what I heard.”

Despite it all, I felt bad about what happened. If Cloud had been hurt worse than just scabbed knees, I never would have forgiven myself. “Thanks for coming to my rescue, Cloud.”

“I didn’t help. You still fell.”

I shrugged. “But you still came.”

The door opened and my father stepped back into the room. When he saw Cloud sitting there, his expression darkened. “What’re you doing here?”

Cloud’s eyes widened and he jumped to his feet.

“I thought I told you to stay away from Tifa. You nearly got her killed!”

“Papa, no…it wasn’t Cloud,” I tried to explain.

He stalked forward and chased Cloud out of the room. Then he turned back to me. “Don’t you ever talk to that boy again! He’s nothing but trouble!”

“It wasn’t his fault, papa.”

“I don’t want to see you anywhere near him! Do you understand?”

I probably should have made a stronger argument to defend Cloud, but I knew it would be impossible. When my father got something in his head, there was just no way to shake it. I was angry with him for preventing me from seeing Cloud, but thinking back on it, my father was just being overprotective because I was all he had left after my mother was gone.

I thought maybe my father scared Cloud off for good, but the first night I was back home after spending three more days in the hospital, I heard something pinging off my bedroom window. I drew the curtains aside and found Cloud standing at his window which faced mine.

After I pushed the window open, Cloud smiled and held up a handful of raw corn. It’s what he used to toss at my window to get my attention. “You’re home. You must be feeling better.”

I leaned on my window. “Cloud, I’m sorry about what papa said to you.”

He shrugged. “It’s okay. I just don’t want you to be mad at me.”

In actuality I thought Cloud would have been mad that my father told him to stay away from me. “Why would I be mad?”

“Everyone said it was my fault.”

“But it wasn’t.”

“It’s okay if I can’t talk to you whenever there are other people around. I don’t mind because I can still talk to you when we’re by ourselves.”

“So we’re still friends?”

He smiled. “Yeah.”

I often wondered why he still wanted to be friends with me. My father threatened him; none of the kids in the neighborhood played with him; he wasn’t popular in school…maybe that was it then. He really had no one else who wanted to hang out with him. I was the only true friend he had.

I vowed to spend more time with Cloud, against my father’s wishes, of course. No one was going to tell me to stay away from him.

 

Chapter 2​

MIDGAR – the present

As it started to get dark outside, people began to leave the church.

Cid was taking Vincent, Yuffie, Cait Sith and Red with him on his airship, while Barret offered to drive Denzel, Marlene and I back home in his truck.

My main concern centered on the young man sitting by himself. Would Cloud continue to live here in the church that once belonged to Aeris Gainsborough? “Let me check with Cloud,” I told Barret as he herded the two kids out the door. I walked over to where Cloud was still sitting on the broken column. “We’re going home now, Cloud.”

Cloud looked up with a startled expression, as if he had forgotten that anyone else was around.

“Are you staying here?” I asked him.

“Uh…no. No, I’m going home, too.”

Just the way he said home made a chill shoot up my spine. “Okay.”

He got up and stretched his legs before heading toward the door.

“Are your clothes still wet?”

He reached down to touch his trousers and then his sweater vest. “No. They’re dry now.”

We walked out of the church together.

In Barret’s truck, the five of us were squeezed together in the cabin seat because there was no back seat. It took about five minutes to get to the spot where Cloud had left Fenrir before he started his fight with Kadaj earlier in the day.

“Can I ride with you, Cloud?” asked Denzel with a hopeful look on his face.

Cloud gave me a brief glance before turning to the boy, as if he was looking for my approval. “Yeah, sure,” he said before getting out of the truck with Denzel.

I stuck my head out the window and watched Cloud mount first before Denzel hopped on behind him. “Cloud…”

He nodded. “I know. Don’t worry. I’ll take it easy.” He started the engine and pulled away.

Barret followed behind the motorcycle and we all headed out of the ruins of Midgar toward Edge.

I gasped a few times when Denzel let go of Cloud and excitedly raised his arms in the air. I thought the twelve year old would fall off the back of the motorcycle for sure, even though I was certain Cloud would never let that happen. Marlene thought it was hysterical and she kept laughing and clapping her hands.

“Think Spikey’s gonna be awright now?” Barret suddenly asked.

I turned to him with a brief shrug, knowing he was referring to Cloud. “I hope so.”

“Is Cloud still sick?” Marlene cut in. “Why would he not be all right?”

I wasn’t sure how to explain to Marlene that we weren’t talking about Cloud’s physical condition. More like his state of mind. Even Barret knew it was questionable lately. But not in a dangerous way, though. “No, honey, Cloud isn’t sick anymore. He was cured of Geostigma, just like Denzel.” I gave Barret a brief shake of my head, hoping he’d interpret it as now was not a good time to talk about Cloud.

“I yelled at him,” Marlene solemnly confessed.

I gave her a curious smile. Marlene was known to lose her temper a lot, but her anger had never been directed at Cloud. She idolized him. “Really? When was this?” I asked.

“Yesterday, when he came to rescue me and Denzel from those weird men with the silver hair. I yelled at him because he told Vincent to take me home.”

“What exactly did you say to him?”

“I said, why can’t you pay more attention to us…” She looked worried. “I think he didn’t like me yelling at him because he changed his mind and took me home himself. Do you think he’s still mad at me?”

“Of course not. Cloud would never be mad at you. In fact, I think you actually pulled him out of his slump.”

Marlene’s face scrunched up into a frown. “He was in a slump?”

I had yelled at Cloud too for wanting to just give up. If there was one thing I could say about Cloud, he took to heart everything that was said to him, even though he vehemently denied certain things sometimes. “His illness made him lose confidence in his abilities. He didn’t think he could help any of us if we were in danger.”

Marlene rolled her eyes in a very adult-like manner. “He’s so weird sometimes.”

Barret and I exchanged an amused glance.

“You got that right, baby,” Barret told Marlene.

“I think he likes Denzel more than me,” she said while watching Cloud and Denzel ahead of us.

“Why do you think that?” I asked.

“When I rode on the back of his motorcycle earlier, Cloud didn’t drive very fast. Not like now.”

I smiled. “No, I think he cares about you so much that he didn’t want to risk you falling off.”

She smiled. “You think so?”

Barret snorted. “That or he knows I’d kill his ass if anything happened to my little girl.”

Marlene was horrified. “No, papa! Don’t kill him!”

I shot Barret a disgruntled glare when he simply chuckled without reassuring his daughter that he had no intention of hurting Cloud.

MT NIBEL – the past

I was eleven the first time Cloud and I experienced a brief moment of physical attraction.

Since we weren’t allowed to hang out together, Cloud and I snuck out a lot to the hot springs at the foot of Mt Nibel. Even though there was snow on the ground, the water stayed warm and we went swimming lots of times in the summer months.

I swung my feet back and forth through the water as we sat side by side on the edge of the bank. “I saw Charlie kissing Becky at school today.”

Cloud turned to me. “Really?”

“They didn’t see me walking by. I almost started laughing.”

“Boy, that Charlie is so stupid. He’s gonna get in a lot of trouble.”

“Have you ever kissed anyone, Cloud?”

He looked at me again, his cheeks growing slightly pink. “No. Have you?”

I realized my own cheeks were heating up. “No…not yet.”

“Whatta you mean, not yet? You plan on it sometime soon?”

I shrugged. “I dunno.”

“You wouldn’t know what to do,” he teased.

“I suppose you know?”

“Yeah, I saw it on television.”

“Well, I saw it on television, too. How hard can it be?”

He shrugged indifferently. “Who knows?”

I suddenly leaned toward him and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

He immediately drew back in surprise. “Hey! Why’d you do that?”

“I wanted to know what it felt like.”

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Yuck!”

I giggled. “Can I do it again?”

Cloud quickly pulled away. “No!” Then he pointed a serious finger at my nose. “And don’t go kissing anybody else.”

“Well, if someone wants to kiss me, why shouldn’t I let them?”

“Because I said so and because I’ll be forced to punch them in the face.

MT NIBEL – the past

It wasn’t until three years later that I grew bolder around Cloud. Maybe it was my raging teenaged hormones. Or maybe I was beginning to like him more than I thought possible, or cared to admit.

Cloud had a dirt bike so I hopped on behind him and we went to hang out at the hot springs one afternoon. It was really the only place we could go where no one would see us together and report back to my father.

I packed a lunch for us earlier and while Cloud spread a blanket on the ground, I pulled out our sandwiches and sodas. We ate first and chatted about school and what we were going to do during summer break. Afterward we took off our shoes and socks and rolled up our pants. Sitting side by side on the bank as we often did, we both stuck our feet in the warm water.

“It’s really nice and warm today,” I crooned.

“I thought it would be colder,” said Cloud after a few minutes. “We should have worn our swimsuits under our clothes.”

“You know what would be so cool?” I asked.

“What?”

Without answering, I stood up and started to undress.

He stared at me in surprise. “Tifa, what’re you doing?”

I took everything off, including my underwear and he stared blankly at me. “What’s the matter, Cloud? Haven’t you ever seen a naked girl before?”

He shrugged, his eyes involuntarily darting around certain places on my body. “What’re you talking about? I’ve seen plenty of them.” I knew he was lying. He never hung out with anyone but me.

Strangely, standing naked in front of him like that made me feel tingly inside, so I quickly turned and jumped into the water.

After a few minutes of swimming around, I swam up to Cloud and tickled his feet under the water.

“Hey!” he yelled and pulled his feet up. “Cut it out!”

“Come in the water, Cloud. It feels really nice.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Don’t be such a coward.”

“I’m not a coward. I just don’t wanna get my clothes wet.”

“So take them off.”

“Yeah, right.”

“I did.”

“I’m not you,” he replied with scorn.

I giggled.

“What’re you laughing at?”

“You.” I giggled again. “You don’t want me to see your penis.”

He splashed water at me with his foot. “Shut up.”

I continued laughing as I swam around the small pool and I thought it was so cute how he was trying not to look at me, but I knew he was watching.

“Are you looking at me, Cloud?”

He quickly looked away. “No.”

I giggled. “Yes, you were. I saw you looking.”

His cheeks grew red. “Well, I can’t help it!” He angrily got up and walked away to sit on the blanket.

We were still young and clueless, not really understanding the physical attraction between boys and girls our age. Cloud seemed a lot more embarrassed about it than me, but he never really shared his thoughts much, not like I did. Whenever I pointed out a boy I thought was cute and wanted to date, Cloud gave me a disgusted glare and said he didn’t care what I did.

Maybe it was cruel of me to rile him up like that, knowing he’d be upset if I dated any of the boys he couldn’t stand.

NIBELHEIM – the past

It had always been my plan to lose my virginity before I turned sixteen. Being so young, I was very impressionable when it came to peer pressure. All of my friends, who were girls, had already gone all the way. But I wasn’t going to be with just anybody. It had to be with someone I trusted.

A few weeks after my fifteenth birthday, I thought it might actually happen. It was around 7:00pm on a Saturday when I heard something hitting my window. I knew it was Cloud calling me out. I pushed the drapes aside and slid the window up.

Cloud was leaning out of his window. “Where’d your dad go? I saw him leaving town.”

“He’s going to the Gold Saucer for a couple of days.”

“Wanna do something?” he asked.

“I’m going to a party at Loren’s house tonight. Her parents are in Mideel for the weekend.”

“Oh.” He looked disappointed.

“Do you wanna come?” I offered.

He sighed heavily. “Tifa, you know I can’t stand any of your friends.”

“I know, but I still want you to come.”

“I really need to talk to you about something.”

“Well, talk.”

“Not here. Meet me at the well in ten minutes.”

“Okay.”

It took me a little longer than ten minutes because I couldn’t decide what to wear to the party. I chose a blue dress that Cloud once said looked really nice on me, but I didn’t know why it was more important that Cloud noticed me rather than anyone else at the party.

When I got to the well, Cloud was already there. “Sorry I’m late.” I sat down on the edge of the platform, right beside him. “What did you want to talk to me about?”

“I’m going to Midgar.”

“A lot of boys leave town when they turn sixteen.” Cloud was actually a month and a half away from turning sixteen.

“No, I’m not just leaving to find a job. I want to join SOLDIER. I’m going to be the best, just like Sephiroth.”

“Isn’t it kinda hard to join SOLDIER?”

“Yeah. Training at the SOLDIER academy is pretty intense. I probably won’t be able to come back to Nibelheim for awhile.”

I suddenly realized he was being totally serious about this. It wasn’t just a passing fancy, like most of his hair-brained ideas. “But why, Cloud? Why do you have to go?”

“It’s just something I gotta do.”

I tried to be optimistic, but selfishness consumed me. All I could think about was how I couldn’t manage without him. We did everything together. Even though I had a lot of friends, I liked hanging out with Cloud more than anyone else because with him I didn’t have to pretend to be someone I wasn’t. I could be myself, just like he could be himself with me. “This isn’t fair.”

“Well, it’s not like I’ll be gone forever. Just for a few years…depends on whether I get to go on missions and stuff.”

“So you might be in the newspapers if you do something good?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

I turned to face him. “Make me a promise, Cloud. If you get really famous and I’m ever in trouble…you’ll come save me.”

His eyes shifted to mine. “What?”

“If I need help, my hero will come and rescue me. I want to experience it just once.”

“I don’t know about that, Tifa. Depends on where I am and what I’m doing.”

“You wouldn’t rescue your bestfriend?”

“Well, yeah…but…”

“Come on, promise me.”

“All right…I promise.”

“Well, at least we can hang out every day during summer break…until you have to leave in the fall.”

He nervously scratched the back of his head. “I’m…I’m actually leaving sooner than that.”

“Sooner? Like when?”

“Like tomorrow morning.”

My jaw dropped. “Tomorrow? Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“To be honest, I didn’t think they were going to call me. But they did. I got the call this afternoon. I have to get to Midgar before classes start next week at the academy. Otherwise I have to wait a whole year.”

I looked away because I felt tears beginning to sting my eyes.

“I’m sorry, Tifa. Please don’t be mad.”

I shook my head and wiped my eyes. “I’m not mad. I can tell this is important to you and I don’t want to stand in the way.”

Cloud slipped his hand around mine and we sat in silence for the next few minutes, each of us lost in our own thoughts.

Finally I looked up at him. “I have to get to the party.”

He nodded.

“Please, come with me, Cloud.”

“All right, but I wanna go home and change my clothes. I’ll meet you there.”

I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek before quickly getting up and walking to the ladder.

It was 10:30pm and Cloud still didn’t come to Loren’s house. I was beginning to think he wasn’t going to show up at all. I wasn’t sure if I was sad and upset because I knew he didn’t like any of the kids at the party or because this was the last night I’d see him. Or maybe both.

“What’s wrong, Tifa?” asked Sandy, one of my friends. “You’re moping around like a lost puppy. Summer vacation starts in a couple of weeks. Let’s celebrate!”

I shrugged and continued walking around. Everyone was laughing and drinking beer and playing games. I was the only one not having any fun.

Just then the front door opened and Cloud walked in. He walked into the room and everyone was looking at him. He ignored the glares and walked right up to me.

I couldn’t control myself and wrapped my arms around him, hugging him tightly. “You came.”

He slipped an arm around me in return. “Yeah. Sorry I’m late.”

“It’s okay. I’m just glad you’re here.” I pulled away and took his hand, dragging him into the kitchen. As I went into the refrigerator to get Cloud a beer, he grabbed a handful of potato chips in a bowl on the table.

“Thanks,” he said as I handed him the beer. He took a long swig. “How’d Loren get the beer?”

“Tommy brought it over.”

“The butthead’s good for something afterall.” He guzzled the entire bottle in less than a minute.

I laughed. “Thirsty?”

He smiled. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Wanna dance?” I asked.

His eyes widened. “No!”

I took his hand again and led him out of the kitchen. We mingled with some of my friends. He didn’t let go of my hand the entire time. He looked extremely uncomfortable around everyone, but I knew he tolerated them for me.

An hour later someone got the bright idea to turn off almost all the lights and play soft music. Everyone paired up and started dancing.

I rejected several offers to dance and quickly went looking for Cloud. He had gone to the bathroom a few minutes ago and I was afraid he might have snuck out the window.

Just as I approached the bathroom door, it opened and Cloud stepped out.

“There you are,” I said.

“What’s going on?” he asked as he looked over my shoulder. “Why’re all the lights out?”

“Everyone’s dancing.”

Cloud poked his head around the corner before turning back to me. “So you wanna dance?”

“But you don’t like to dance.”

“I can dance to this.” He didn’t wait for me to respond. He took my hand and pulled me out into the den.

After Cloud maneuvered around everyone to a clear spot, I put my arms around his neck and he folded his arms around my waist.

Even in the darkness, I could see the rude glares aimed in his direction. Every single person in this room knew there was a special place in my heart for Cloud. They probably didn’t understand why I hung out with him, just as I didn’t understand why no one liked him. It was true, Cloud could be a bit rough around the edges sometimes, but there was a valid reason for it. He didn’t trust anyone. No matter how nice he tried to be, things always came back to bite him in the ass. So he adopted the silent treatment around others…except me.

I squeezed my arms tighter around him, pulling him closer. This would be the last night I’d see him for a long time. In the morning he’d leave for Midgar. It was my last chance to leave a lasting impression on my bestfriend.

It was dark in the room, but I could see him clearly. My eyes drifted to his mouth. It was hanging a little open. I could kiss him. But would he be receptive, especially with everyone around to see? I moved my lips to his cheek and kissed him there. As I drew back a bit, Cloud turned his face toward me, our noses brushing. I felt his warm breath against my lips and before I could change my mind, I closed the gap between us and kissed him.

Cloud froze. At first I thought he’d pull away. But then he started kissing me back. I felt his tongue touch my lips, trying to coax them apart. My stomach fluttered pleasantly as I obliged him. He opened his mouth and lined it with mine before dipping his tongue inside. Our tongues touched and stroked timidly. This was the first time either of us had ever kissed…each other or anyone else.

I moaned as we kissed harder. Butterflies danced around in my stomach and an irresistible heat built inside me. So this was what it felt like…to be turned on, overwhelmed to the point of wanting nothing more than to be lost in each other forever. Forgetting everyone, forsaking traditions and morals. It couldn’t be possible with just anyone. I didn’t feel like this with anyone else but Cloud.

After several minutes of tongue and lip sucking, licking and nibbling, I pulled away to breathe and his mouth moved to my ear.

“Tifa…you’re driving me crazy,” he whispered before moving to my mouth again.

“You have got to be kidding me!” said someone beside us.

Cloud drew away from me as he turned to face Tommy.

Tommy was a head taller than Cloud and he liked to show it off. “Tifa, what’re you doing kissing this loser?”

Everyone stopped dancing and all eyes were on us. Someone even turned the lights back on.

Cloud didn’t back down as Tommy stood less than an inch from his face. “You really gotta do something about your breath,” he told Tommy.

Tommy didn’t find Cloud’s comment very funny. “I don’t remember inviting you, Loser.”

“I invited him,” I rushed to say.

“I thought you had better taste than that.” Tommy pushed Cloud roughly.

Cloud fell backward, everyone quickly moving out of the way and no one helping to break his fall. He got up instantly and with clenched his teeth he started moving toward Tommy.

“What’re you trying to do, get your ass kicked?” yelled Tommy.

I jumped in front of Cloud. “Cloud, no!”

Tommy continued yelling behind me. “Why don’t you take your puny carcass outta here before you get hurt, Peewee!”

Cloud pushed me out of the way as he faced Tommy. “Shut up! Shut up, you stupid shit!”

“You’ll never be anything in this town, Strife. Get it through your Chocobo head.”

“Yeah? Well, I’m joining SOLDIER and I’m coming back to beat you to within an inch of your life!”

Tommy started laughing and so did several others.

Cloud looked around, like he was ready to take on everyone in the room. “You’ll see!”

I grabbed his arm and pulled him away. “Let’s get out of here, Cloud.”

He didn’t resist as I pulled him toward the door.

Tommy kept laughing. “You really think you’re gonna make it in SOLDIER. That’ll never happen. Those guys’ll make you their little errand boy. Or maybe you’ll be their pansy-ass bitch!”

For the very first time in my life, I completely lost it. I left Cloud standing at the door and walked up to Tommy. Everyone in the room fell silent when I slapped Tommy across the face. “You disgust me!” I couldn’t even look at any of my so-called friends as I walked out with Cloud.

“You realize you made me look like a chicken shit just now,” said Cloud after a minute as we walked back toward our houses. “Like I can’t fight my own battles. Why’d you stop me, Tifa?”

“Because I’m tired of seeing you walking around with black eyes and bruises on your face.”

“I’ll show him. I’ll show all of them.”

“Show them what?”

“I’ll come back a First Class SOLDIER. No one’s going to laugh at me then. They’ll be too scared to laugh at me.”

“Cloud, I thought you didn’t care what anyone thought.”

“I…I don’t.”

I took his hand and smiled. “Come on. Let’s go.”

When we got to my house, we went upstairs to my bedroom.

As he usually did when my father wasn’t home to catch him in the house, Cloud plopped himself down on my bed. “So whatta you wanna do?” he asked.

I shrugged as I took off my jewelry in front of my dresser.

“Play video games?”

I shook my head. “Kinda late for that.”

“Watch TV?”

I shook my head again.

“What then?”

I walked to the bed and hopped up on top of him, straddling his stomach with a smile. “I wanna fool around.”

Cloud looked up at me, a red tint forming on his fair cheeks. “We better not, Tifa.”

I bent down and kissed him, relieved to feel him kissing me back. “Why not?”

“Because we’re alone and we might get carried away.” But he wasn’t stopping. He kept right on kissing me back.

“I wanna get carried away,” I said as I kissed his face.

Even though he was small, he was still stronger than me. He flipped me over on my back. “No, you don’t.”

“Yes, I do. You’re going away, Cloud. Who else am I going to be with for the first time?”

Cloud frowned and rolled away from me, laying down on his back again. “Tifa, please don’t pressure me. I’m not ready. I might lose control.”

I turned on my side to face him, watching him stare up at the ceiling. It was obvious he had his concerns about having sex. Or maybe it was me he didn’t want to be with. “You don’t want me?”

He turned his face toward me and reached for my hand. “You’re joking, right?” When I didn’t reply, he scooted closer to me. “You have no idea how bad I wanna be with you, Tifa. Sometimes it’s all I can think about.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“There’s no problem. It’s just…I’ve never been with anyone before.”

“Well, neither have I.”

“That’s just it, Tifa. I don’t want our first time to be a disaster.”

What an amazingly thoughtful thing for him to say. I knew Cloud was shy when it came to these things and it really wasn’t fair of me to pressure him into doing something he wasn’t ready for. “Okay. You’ll come back home soon. I’ll just wait for you.”

“Really?” He seemed surprised. “You promise?”

“Of course, you silly boy. Will you promise to wait for me?”

He scrunched his face in deep thought. “Well, I’ll be living at the academy with other guys my age and going out to bars and parties. I might succumb to peer pressure, you know?”

I stared at him with my mouth open. When a smile curled the side of his lips, I knew he was joking. I slapped his arm and he grabbed me by the waist, tickling me mercilessly. It was a good thing my father wasn’t home, or he would have come running upstairs with the way I was screaming.

Unfortunately I didn’t get to follow through with my plans to lose my virginity, but I was happy that Cloud spent the night with me anyway so I wasn’t by myself in the house. We made out for a little while, keeping our clothes on and playing it safe the way he wanted.

In the morning, I walked with Cloud and his mother to the bus station. He turned to his mother first.

She smiled warmly at Cloud as tears filled her eyes. “You’re growing up so fast.”

“Not fast enough,” he replied.

“Please, be careful,” she said as she put her hands on his face and then pulled him into a hug.

After she released him, Cloud turned to me. “Stay out of trouble, Lockhart.”

I playfully punched his arm before hugging him. “I’ll miss you.”

“Yeah, me too.” He looked like he wanted to kiss me, but not in front of his mother.

A few minutes later Cloud grabbed his duffle bag and climbed into the bus. He waved to us from the window as the bus pulled away.

Cloud’s mother put an arm around my shoulder. “I tried to talk him out of it, but I think it’s important that he goes.”

“I know, but he didn’t have to go so soon. Couldn’t he have waited one more year?”

“He’ll be back, sweetie. You’ll see.”

Back then I actually had a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach, like a foreboding of something terrible to come. At the time I didn’t realize it would come true. Maybe if I had gone with my gut instinct, I might have been able to convince Cloud not to go. Or maybe not. If his own mother couldn’t talk him out of going, what made me think I could have? And besides, preventing Cloud from joining SOLDIER wouldn’t have stopped Sephiroth from burning Nibelheim to the ground.

 

Chapter 3​

EDGE – the present

Fifteen minutes later Barret pulled the truck up in front of Seventh Heaven while Cloud drove around to the back where he normally parked Fenrir.

“Thanks for the ride, Barret,” I said before hopping out of the truck. I waited for Marlene to give her adopted father a hug and a kiss.

“I’ll be back in a couple days to check on ya, Marlene.”

“Okay, papa.” Marlene gave him another kiss and then joined me on the sidewalk to watch the truck pull away.

I took Marlene’s hand and together we walked around to the back of the building where Cloud and Denzel were waiting for us by the back door.

“I’m hungry,” announced Denzel as we all walked inside and into the kitchen.

“Me, too,” said Marlene.

“How about peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?” I suggested. When the kids cheered, I got to work on making the sandwiches. “But then it’s off to bed. It’s late and you both need to go to school in the morning.”

Both of the kids groaned in unison at the mention of school.

Cloud came up behind me and reached around to stick his finger in the peanut butter and jelly jar.

“Do you want one, Cloud?” I asked, knowing it was his favorite.

“No, I’m just gonna take a shower and go to bed.” He stuck his finger in his mouth to lick off the peanut butter and jelly.

“Good idea. You look tired.”

“Do I?” He didn’t wait for my answer as he walked out of the kitchen.

I walked to the table to give Marlene and Denzel their sandwiches and sat down with them. As I watched them eat, I wondered if they fully understood what had happened in the last couple of days with Kadaj and the others. “So do you have any questions about the things you’ve seen yesterday and today? Anything you want to talk about?”

Denzel and Marlene both looked at one another, as if they were trying to maintain some secret pact between them.

Marlene was the first to respond as she turned back to me, a mouthful of peanut butter and jelly impeding her speech. “I have a question. Are you and Cloud ever going to get married?”

I had expected all kinds of questions about what Kadaj had been trying to do or what had happened to Cloud that brought him back to life after the explosion we all witnessed. Surprise wasn’t a strong enough word to describe how I felt when Marlene asked me about marriage to Cloud. “Uh…married? No, we’re not going to get married.” I wasn’t about to pour my broken heart out to these innocent children. They didn’t need to know what was going on between Cloud and I.

“Why not?” Marlene asked, tilting her head in that innocent way that made me want to give her anything she wanted. It was the reason Barret spoiled her to death.

“Well, sweetie, Cloud and I are friends. We don’t have the kind of relationship where two people get married.”

“Why not?” she persisted.

I opened my mouth, but I couldn’t think of a single intelligent thing to say. “I…I really can’t…I can’t answer that.” I turned to Denzel and he had the same curious look as Marlene. “Okay, let me explain it this way. You and Denzel are friends, right? Well, that’s how it is with me and Cloud. When you two grow up, I’m sure you’ll still be friends.”

Denzel finally spoke up. “Marlene and I decided we’re getting married when we’re old enough.”

My eyebrows shot up under my bangs. “You mean…to each other?”

They both nodded.

I found this amusing. “Really…you’ve decided this all on your own.”

“That’s right.”

“So what happens if both of you fall in love with other people by the time you’re old enough to get married?”

“That won’t ever happen,” Marlene said with a shake of her head. “No way.”

I smiled and pinched the bridge of my nose. Maybe it was better if I ended the conversation now before it took a turn toward uncomfortable territory. I definitely didn’t want to be discussing sex with them. Marlene and Denzel had obviously put a lot of thought into their decision, but they really didn’t have a clue what marriage was all about. “Alright, if you say so. Now finish up.”

A few minutes later, I escorted the two upstairs to their bedroom and tucked them both in their individual beds. I kissed each one on the forehead before walking out of the room and closing the door behind me. A thought nagged at the back of my head…Marlene was eight and Denzel was twelve. In a couple years, if not sooner, I’d have to move one of them out of the room. They couldn’t sleep in the same room forever, especially when they were already harboring thoughts about getting married to each other.

Just as I started to walk toward my bedroom, Cloud stepped out of the bathroom. He was wearing pajama bottoms and nothing else. I stopped just outside my door as he walked up. His hair was still wet and there were droplets of water trailing down his bare chest. “The kids are in bed,” I redundantly told him. “They were so exhausted, they fell asleep instantly.”

“I’ll probably do the same. Goodnight, Tifa.” He started to walk passed me.

I reached out to touch his arm. “Cloud?”

He stopped and turned to face me with an almost inaudible sigh. “I know what you’re gonna say and I’m really sorry I didn’t talk to you when I first found out I had Geostigma.”

I shook my head. “No, that’s not it.” Before I could change my mind, I stepped up and slid my arms around his neck. I hugged him tightly, feeling the moisture from his damp chest seep into my teeshirt. Relief spread through me as he slowly put his arms around my back to return the hug. It seemed so long ago, the last time we held each other like this. The scent of his soap drifted into my nostrils as I pressed my face into his bare shoulder. “I’m just glad you came back. When I saw the explosion on the top of that building…I thought you were gone for sure this time.”

Cloud released me when I started to pull away.

I looked down, not wanting him to see the tears starting to pool in my eyes at the very thought of losing him. “Goodnight, Cloud.”

“Goodnight, Teef.”

I looked up only when I knew he was halfway down the hall. He skipped down the three steps to the landing in front of his door. Then he walked into his room and closed the door behind him.

I wiped at my eyes, angry at myself for crying. This was a situation I couldn’t control and I was feeling sorry for myself because I knew things weren’t going to change. Cloud would still just think of me as a friend. It was apparent that he figured I had been there all along and would continue to be there whenever he needed something.

Whatever we used to share during our AVALANCHE days had been out of absolute necessity. For as much as I loved him, I never felt anything in return. It was like he just went through the motions to get it out of his system. He used me to satisfy whatever craving he had at the moment and I was as much to blame because I allowed it to happen…over and over. In my own mind I thought we’d end up together…Not just living together because we had to, but…living together because we wanted to…because we loved each other.

Cloud depended on me to do the everyday things he couldn’t do on his own…like laundry or making dinner or paying bills. He always joked that without me he’d be wandering the streets, starved and wearing wrinkled, dirty clothes. I used to laugh at first when he joked about it. But after awhile, it just wasn’t funny anymore.

NIBELHEIM – the past

For the next three months since he left for the SOLDIER academy in Midgar, Cloud and I communicated back and forth, sending letters to each other. We didn’t talk on the phone. I couldn’t call him because he didn’t have access to a phone and he never called me because he was afraid my father would answer.

I didn’t have much to say in my letters to him, since life in Nibelheim was less than exciting. I just kept telling him how much I missed him and how bored I was without him.

Cloud, on the other hand, had a lot to say. He told me how difficult training was at the academy, but he was getting along pretty well with the others. One particular guy sort of took Cloud under his wing. His name was Zack Fair, a First Class SOLDIER. I was glad Cloud had someone looking out for him. Not that I was afraid he’d get himself in trouble, but at least he had someone to keep him company and he wasn’t alone.

In his last letter to me, Cloud mentioned undergoing the first Mako injection, which was a requirement for becoming a SOLDIER.

I asked the others and for some reason I was the only one that was knocked out for the injection. It hurt like hell when I came out of it. I felt strange, kind of like I was in a fog or something. But I think it enhanced my vision because I can see better and my eyes sort of glow in the dark. It’s really weird. I’ll have to show you next time I see you. Zack seems to think I was given more than one injection because vision isn’t enhanced until after the fifth injection. He’s probably making it up just to freak me out. He likes to pull pranks. Besides, why would Professor Hojo give me more than one shot? Who knows. Well, I better get back to studying for my exam tomorrow. Talk to you soon.

Cloud

XXXOXXX

Immediately after that, Cloud’s letters suddenly stopped coming.

Six months passed and I still hadn’t received another letter from Cloud. Even after I had sent him three more, asking him if he was alright. I didn’t want to think that something bad had happened to him. I even asked his mother if she had heard from Cloud and her last letter from him was also six months ago.

One morning I heard my father talking on the phone, making arrangements for the arrival of several people from Shinra to check on the reactor on Mt Nibel. My father had recently been elected Governor and he often entertained Shinra personnel whenever they came to Nibelheim to use the old mansion on the outskirts of town. But I heard him mention SOLDIERs.

When he hung up the phone, he headed for the door.

“Papa, wait!”

He paused at the door as he opened it. “What is it, Tifa?”

“Shinra is sending SOLDIERs here?”

He took a moment to slip into his coat. “That’s right. General Sephiroth will be arriving in two days. He’ll be accompanied by another SOLDIER and two Shinra guards. I may have you serve as their guide to Mt Nibel. You wouldn’t mind doing that for me, would you, Tifa?”

I grinned. “No, I wouldn’t mind, papa.” He knew I was climbing the walls with nothing to do now that school was out for the short spring break.

After he left, I bit my lower lip in excitement. The other SOLDIER had to be Cloud. This was his hometown. Surely they would send him on this mission so he could see his mother…and me.

NIBELHEIM – the past

When the Shinra party arrived, Cloud was not among them. It was General Sephiroth and a SOLDIER with long, dark spiked hair, who introduced himself as Zack Fair. With them were two Shinra guards wearing helmets, but Zack didn’t volunteer their names.

I couldn’t hide my disappointment that Cloud didn’t come. But maybe he hadn’t been allowed to. The academy could have rules. I was certain he would have come if he could and he would have written to me about it.

I walked up to Zack. “Mr Fair, can I ask you something?”

Zack had a killer smile. “Babe, I’ll do anything you want.”

The Shinra guard behind Zack’s right shoulder bumped him with his rifle. I couldn’t tell if it had been deliberate or by accident.

“As long as you call me Zack,” he said before shooting the guard an amused look.

I knew why Cloud took a liking to him. Zack Fair looked to be the type that could charm venom out of a snake. “My friend Cloud told me all about you.”

He briefly glanced over his shoulder to the Shinra guard again, who shifted nervously behind him. “Yeah? Good things, I hope.”

I smiled back. “Yes, all good things.” I sighed and looked down. “Can you tell me if he’s alright? I haven’t heard from him in awhile. Actually, I thought maybe he would have come here with you and General Sephiroth.”

“You have nothing to worry about. Cloud’s fine. As a matter of fact, he’s…on a mission…right now.”

On a mission elsewhere, obviously. “Oh. I see.”

Zack gave me a wink. “But I’m pretty sure you’ll hear from him soon.”

I nodded. “Thanks.” I turned as my father walked over.

“Listen to me, Sephiroth. In case something happens…”

The tall general with long, silver hair practically down to his ankles stood calmly in front of the others. “Trust me.”

My father motioned me over. “This is my daughter, Tifa. She’ll take you to Mt Nibel.”

Sephiroth looked down at me. “She’s our guide? I can’t involve a child in something like this.”

I frowned. “I’m not a child. I’m nearly sixteen.”

Sephiroth turned to Zack and the others. “One of you will have to protect her. Let’s go.”

Someone came running up. It was Tommy. He had recently gotten a position working for the newspaper. “Umm…Mr. Sephiroth! Please, let me take one picture for a story I’m writing about you!”

To my complete surprise, the Shinra guard on Zack’s right stuck his foot out, tripping Tommy and sending him flying face first into the dirt. I was almost positive it had been deliberate.

Tommy quickly regained his feet and glared at the guard. “Watch it, jerk off!”

The guard held his hands up innocently and shrugged.

I giggled at the mishap and decided I’d have to thank the guard later for tripping Tommy. Cloud would have been ecstatic, seeing Tommy humiliated that way.

Zack walked up and stood between me and Sephiroth.

Tommy took the picture. “Great, thank you! I’ll give each of you a copy once I get it developed.” He glared one last time at the Shinra guard that tripped him.

“We better get going,” I said as I started walking up along the path beside the old Shinra mansion. It led to Mt Nibel.

Sephiroth exchanged a few words with his men and then the four of them began to follow behind me. The first thing I had noticed about General Sephiroth, whom I remembered was Cloud’s idol, was the large sword the man carried. The thin blade was long and curved. It was definitely a weapon meant to cause fatal wounds.

Even though it was spring, the snow near the mountain never melted. It took nearly an hour just to get to the path leading to the bridge. I had taken this path several times with Cloud over the years, only because we wanted to overcome our fear ever since we had fallen.

I turned to the Shinra group. “The Reactor is on the other side of this hill. It gets harder from here so follow me.”

When we got to the bridge, I noticed the ropes and wooden planks were completely iced over. “This isn’t good,” I muttered to myself.

“What’s the problem?” asked Zack as he came to stand beside me.

“It’s too dangerous to cross. We’ll never make it.”

Sephiroth pushed his way between us, stepping onto the bridge. “We’re not stopping.”

Zack shrugged and followed behind Sephiroth.

I started to walk forward, but one of the Shinra guards grabbed me by the hand. I tried to see through the visor of his helmet, but it was tinted. He stepped in front of me and pulled me along behind him, making sure the planks weren’t going to break. It was the same guard who tripped Tommy. I recognized him from the way he had his sleeves rolled up passed his elbows.

Just as we reached the other side, the bridge suddenly snapped behind me and disappeared in the dense fog below.

“Everyone seems to be all right,” announced Sephiroth. “Let’s keep moving.”

I pointed to the dark opening on the side of the hill. “These caves are intertwined, just like an ant farm.” I glanced around, suddenly realizing that the other Shinra guard was missing. “Oh no! He’s gone!”

Zack and the remaining Shinra guard both rushed to the edge and looked down into the dense fog below.

Sephiroth cleared his throat. “It may sound cold, but we’ve got no time to search for him. We can’t go back now, so we must go on. Zack!”

“Yeah, yeah, I hear ya.” Zack looked upset and I didn’t blame him. How could Sephiroth not care about the man who had fallen to his death below?

We forged on into the cave.

Many years ago Cloud and I had discovered this cave and often spent time just sitting there, staring at the florescent green-colored water bubbling from a hole in the ground.

Zack walked up to the small pool of water. “What’s this?”

“It must be the Mako energy,” replied Sephiroth. “This place is abundant with it. It’s probably why the Mako Reactor was built here.”

“Isn’t it beautiful?” I commented before turning to Sephiroth. “But if the Mako Reactor continues to suck up the energy, won’t this fountain dry up soon?”

“Materia.” The general’s eyes were glowing an eerie green, almost the same color as the Mako energy in the pool. “When you condense Mako energy, materia is produced. It’s very rare to be able to see it in its natural state.”

I was about to comment on the fact that he didn’t answer my question.

Zack scratched the back of his head. “How is it that materia has magical qualities to it?”

“You should have learned that in the SOLDIER academy, Zack,” snorted Sephiroth. “The knowledge and wisdom of the Ancients is held in the materia. Anyone with this knowledge can freely use the powers of the Land and the Planet. That knowledge interacts between ourselves and the planet calling up magic…or so they say.”

Zack looked transfixed by the fountain. “Magic…a mysterious power…”

Sephiroth chuckled.

“Did I say something funny?”

“A man once told me never to use an unscientific term such as ‘mysterious power’. It shouldn’t even be called ‘magic’. I still remember how angry he was.”

“Who was it?”

“Professor Hojo. An inexperienced man assigned to take over the work of a great scientist. He was a walking mass of complexities.”

“Hey, whatever happened to Hojo anyway? He just suddenly disappeared.”

Sephiroth briefly glanced toward the Shinra guard who stood quietly watching several feet away. “He discovered other prospects elsewhere in the company. Let’s keep moving.”

Shortly after the noon hour, we reached the massive Shinra Reactor.

I sighed. “We finally made it.”

We climbed a long metal stairway.

“Tifa, you better wait here,” said Zack.

“No, I’m going inside too! I wanna see!”

Sephiroth had a special key he used to unlock a panel. “Only authorized people are allowed inside,” the General said in his calm tone. “This place is full of Shinra’s industrial secrets.” He punched a code on the keypad. The door unlocked.

I wanted to be part of what they were looking for. “But…!”

The general turned to the remaining Shinra guard. “Watch over the lady. Make sure she doesn’t get passed this door.”

The guard nodded.

After Sephiroth and Zack walked through the doorway, I glared at the Shinra guard. “Hmm! Why can’t I go inside?”

The guard didn’t respond. He just stood there with his rifle slung over his shoulder.

I angrily skipped down the stairway and sat at the bottom step. “This isn’t fair!”

The minutes seemed to crawl.

When I glanced up over my shoulder, the Shinra guard was busy looking through the doorway at what was going on inside. I could hear raised voices, but couldn’t make out the words being exchanged by the general and the First Class SOLDIER.

“Jerk!” I was pretty sure that if Cloud had been here, he would have convinced Sephiroth that it was okay for me to go with them. What was I going to do, blab Shinra’s precious industrial secrets all over town? “Give me a break…” I mumbled.

It started getting dark and the temperature was dropping fast by the time Sephiroth and Zack reappeared. I had to guide them through the long way since the bridge was gone.

No one talked on the way back. Both Sephiroth and Zack had haunted looks on their faces, as if they had seen something terrifying inside the Reactor. What could it have been? I was curious, but I was still angry, so I didn’t ask.

We didn’t get back to town until 7:00pm. The three men went straight to the Inn, leaving me standing outside like I didn’t exist. Well, at least the Shinra guard held up a hand, giving me a brief wave goodbye.

The next day I walked back to the Inn right after dinner, hoping I could talk to Zack about what they saw inside the reactor. I found him standing near the well with the Shinra guard. Sephiroth was nowhere to be found.

“Where’s General Sephiroth?” I asked.

Zack motioned with his head toward the Shinra mansion. “He’s been in there since late last night.” He glanced at his watch and then at the guard. “It’s getting late. I’m gonna go check and see what’s taking him so long.” The dark-haired First Class SOLDIER headed toward the old mansion and walked up the steps leading to the front entrance.

I smiled as I turned to the Shinra guard. “You know, he sort of reminds me of my friend Cloud.” I tilted my head to see if I could see the guard’s face under his visor, but he turned away to avoid me. “Don’t you talk?” I asked.

The guard shook his head.

I figured maybe he had a speech impediment. “I guess I’ll do all the talking then. Do you know my friend? His name’s Cloud Strife?”

He hesitated before nodding.

“Are you friends?”

He nodded again.

“I wonder why he hasn’t written to me in the last seven months. When you get back to Midgar, will you tell him I asked about him? Or…since you can’t talk, maybe you can write him a note or something.”

Another nod.

“Did you trip Tommy on purpose yesterday?”

He shrugged.

I laughed. “You did. I bet Cloud told you about Tommy and how Tommy used to pick on him.” I wished he could talk and tell me his name so I could mention him in my next letter to Cloud. “You did it for Cloud, didn’t you?”

Another shrug.

“I really miss Cloud.” After a few minutes of silence, I sighed. “Oh well. I think I’ll go take a dip in the hot springs. Hey, you wanna come with?”

The Shinra guard quickly shook his head.

“Oh, maybe you’re not allowed to leave your post. Okay…I’ll see you later then.” I walked away.

A little while later I was swimming in the warm waters of the springs. Every time I came here, I thought about Cloud. I could even picture him sitting at the edge, his bare feet in the water as he watched me swim. It was only that one time I ever swam naked in front of him. I had only been fourteen at the time.

As I floated quietly on the surface of the water, I closed my eyes and pictured Cloud’s face. His aqua-colored eyes…his crooked smile…hovering above me before coming down to kiss my lips. My stomach tightened at the memory of our last night together, slowly making out on my bed. I was literally aching to see him and to hear his voice.

Why wasn’t he answering my letters?

My eyes flew open at the sound of a loud rumble. It was followed by three more. I quickly swam to the edge of the pond and jumped out. As I dried myself and dressed, I wondered if maybe there had been an avalanche at Mt Nibel. It was probably best if I went home.

I headed back down along the curved path. Another loud boom reached me. I realized it was no avalanche. It was coming from town. I started to run…something was happening…

Just as I reached the crest of the hill leading down into town, my jaw dropped open. Everything was on fire…all the houses on every block…the flames reaching nearly thirty feet into the air. Several other explosions followed.

I noticed several bodies lying scattered near the well. I felt like I was walking in a dream as I reached the main road, buildings burning on both sides of me. The heat was stifling and the smoke burned my eyes. “Papa!” I desperately called out. “Where are you? Papa!”

Then I saw Professor Zangan, my music instructor.

“Professor Zangan!”

“Tifa, what are you doing here? You must run to safety!”

“What in the world is going on?”

Zangan was holding one of the villagers. It was the man who owned the weapon shop.

“How could this happen?” I asked in shock. “How could all the houses be on fire?”

“Sephiroth,” Zangan replied through clenched teeth. “It’s all his doing.”

I frowned in confusion. “What? Sephiroth? But that’s…Why would Sephiroth…? Professor, have you seen my father? I can’t find him anywhere.”

“Your father’s at the Mako Reactor on the mountain.”

The man held by Zangan struggled to speak. “Don’t…The mountain’s where Sephiroth…”

Zangan looked down at the man. “Hey, hold on. I’ll get…” But the man died before Zangan could finish his sentence.

I ran toward the path leading to Mt Nibel.

“Tifa! There’s nothing you can do! Tifa!!”

I ignored Professor Zangan’s calls and kept running.

When I got to the path leading to the Reactor, I searched for my father. “Papa, where are you?”

Then I saw him. He was lying on the ground in front of the Reactor, a bloody sword stuck to the ground beside him.

“Papa!” I reached him and lifted his head on my lap. “Hold on, Papa!”

He slowly raised his hand. “Tifa…”

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of you.” But I knew it was hopeless. My eyes drifted over the deep red stain on the front of his shirt.

“Tifa…you have…to run.”

“Please, Papa! Hang on! I’ll get help!” But he was gone. Tears filled my eyes as I hugged him.

After a few minutes, I stood up in a daze, my face wet with angry tears. “Sephiroth did this.” I walked toward the sword stuck in the ground and pulled it out. “Sephiroth. SOLDIER. Shinra. Mako Reactors. I hate them. All of them!”

I ran into the Reactor, carrying the huge sword in both hands. Back then I was young and inexperienced. I didn’t have a clue what I was up against. All I knew was that the man idolized by my friend Cloud had just killed my father and burned down my entire town, with everyone in it.

Once inside the Reactor, I saw Sephiroth at the top of a stairway, ready to open a door. On each side of the stairway, were three rows of strange looking pods. Each pod had a small window. But I didn’t have time to study the strange objects that made up my surroundings. “Sephiroth! How dare you kill my father! How dare you kill my friends!” I ran up the stairs with the intention of sticking the sword into his back. But when I swung the sword, he suddenly grabbed it, lifting me completely off the ground.

I looked at his face. His green eyes were eerier than ever. In one quick movement, he pulled the sword from my hands and slashed it across my torso. I fell backward down the stairway and landed hard on the floor below.

As I tried to remain conscious despite the overwhelming pain, only one person invaded my thoughts. “You promised…that you’d come for me when I was in trouble. Cloud…”

I must have passed out from the pain because the next thing I knew, Zack Fair was shaking me.

“Tifa. Tifa!”

“Zack…”

“You tried to take on Sephiroth by yourself?”

“You all said…you only came to town to conduct an investigation. That’s why I showed you the way here. So why…? How could you do…?” I couldn’t finish as tears filled my eyes.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen…”

“I hate Shinra and I hate SOLDIER. I hate all of you.” I was shaking with anger and remorse.

Zack slowly got up. “I’m sorry. I won’t ask you to forgive me. Just…let me prove I’m different.”

Somewhere behind me I could hear Zack’s footfalls on the metals steps as he slowly headed up. Crackling electrical sounds were followed by a loud bang. “Sephiroth!” yelled Zack.

My vision blurred as the sounds of battle reached my ears from the other chamber. If I hadn’t been so weak from my injury, I would have gone up to see what was happening.

I wasn’t sure how much time had passed before someone else came to my side. I felt myself being lifted and gently laid against the wall. A hand touched my face and pushed the hair away from my eyes.

I slowly opened them and stared, not believing what I was seeing. “Cloud. You came for me.”

He nodded.

“You kept your promise.” I was so weak from my injuries, I could barely speak or keep my eyes open. “You came when I was in trouble…just like you said you would.” In the recesses of my mind, I wondered why he was wearing a Shinra guard uniform…just like…

“I’m sorry,” he whispered as he inspected the slash across my torso. “Looks like I’m a little late.”

A sound in the other chamber drew Cloud’s attention and then he was gone, making me wonder if he had actually been there or not. Had I hallucinated him because I had wanted him to be there so badly?

I lost consciousness before I could determine if it had really been Cloud or just the Shinra guard.

 

Chapter 4​

EDGE – the present

In the morning, I went about my usual tasks. I made breakfast and got Marlene and Denzel up and ready for school.

The atmosphere in the apartment felt so different…probably because Cloud was home again. My usual high hopes kicked in. Maybe things would finally fall into place. Not maybe…they just had to. We had been through too much to just throw it all away. I needed to figure out how I was going to approach Cloud and find out once and for all where we stood. Were we or were we not in a relationship?

Are you and Cloud ever going to get married?

The more I thought about Marlene’s question, the more I liked the sound of it.

Mrs Cloud Strife. Tifa Strife.

It sounded so fluid, like it would roll off the tongue so easily. But I didn’t voice my thoughts outloud…especially not in front of Marlene. My biggest fear would be Marlene posing that same question to Cloud. He’d probably freak and run like a frightened rabbit so he wouldn’t be forced to answer.

A half hour later, I watched Marlene and Denzel climb into their school bus. After that I headed upstairs to wake up Cloud. He hadn’t come down for breakfast and I just assumed he wanted to sleep late. Only the Gods knew how much he probably needed it.

I knocked lightly on his door. “Cloud?” When I didn’t get a response, I quietly turned the knob and slowly pushed the door open. To my surprise, his cot was neatly made and he wasn’t in the room. “Hmm…” He must have left before I got up and that had been pretty early. He hadn’t mentioned an early delivery. Maybe he forgot to tell me.

Or maybe he was gone again…

No. He wouldn’t leave like that again. Not after his apology to me last night about not telling me he had Geostigma. He wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

Going into my usual routine, I walked around his room, picking up his dirty clothes and tossing them in the hamper on my way to the bathroom. There was another pile of his clothes next to the shower. I picked them up and started to put them in the hamper. But not the black sweater vest he had worn the day before. I raised it to my nose and inhaled the scent lingering on the material. It was his scent…mingled with the outdoors and dirt and blood and sweat. Everything that was familiar about him.

The phone suddenly rang, making me jump, like I had been caught indulging in some guilty pleasure. I quickly tossed Cloud’s vest into the hamper and went into my bedroom to answer the phone. Maybe it was Cloud calling to tell me where he was. “Hello?”

“Hey, Tifa!”

It wasn’t Cloud. It was my wayward ninja friend, Yuffie. Cloud only called the house phone if he couldn’t reach me on my cell. “Hi, Yuffs. What’re you up to?”

“Nothing. Just hanging here at the coffee shop around the corner from you.”

I noticed something on the nightstand on the other side of my bed. There was a white orchid resting on top of a folded piece of paper. I hadn’t noticed it there when I got up earlier. “I thought you’d be halfway to Wutai by now,” I said to Yuffie, although I was somewhat distracted by what I saw on the nightstand.

“Nah, I decided to stay in Edge for another day. Wanna go shopping?”

I crawled across the bed with the phone still on my ear. “Yeah, sure. I just need to get some laundry started. I can meet you at the mall at 11:00. We can do lunch, too.”

“Sounds like a plan. See you then.”

“Bye.” I hung up and stared at the orchid. There was only one place an orchid like this could possibly grow. Aeris’s church. And only one person could have left it on my nightstand.

Cloud.

Was he still hung up on Aeris? Was this his way of telling me that he loved her more than he loved me, leaving it as a visual reminder so he wouldn’t have to actually confront me with the truth?

I was afraid to look at what was on the folded piece of paper. Was it a goodbye letter? ‘Thanks for all the good times, Tifa, and for being my friend…but I gotta move on’.

Cloud couldn’t be that cruel. He knew I was crazy about him.

I nudged the flower aside and pulled open the paper, immediately recognizing Cloud’s less than perfect handwriting.

Tifa,

I didn’t want to wake you. I forgot to tell you I had a delivery to make to a weapons guy in Kalm. We need to talk when I get back. Please be home. It’s important.

Cloud

We needed to talk? In the last couple of years, Cloud had developed an aversion to talking. He only spoke when he was spoken to, never contributing to a conversation unless a question was specifically directed to him. Even then, most of his responses consisted of no more than three or four words at a time.

So what could be so important that he wanted me to be home when he got here? Maybe he was going to tell me in person that he was moving out. Or even worse, he’d never be able to feel the way I felt about him.

I frowned as I refolded the note and put it back on the nightstand. I picked up the flower and twirled it in my fingers. Was it a symbol of his affection for me...or a small consolation prize?

When did I suddenly become so pessimistic? Cloud was rubbing off on me.

MIDGAR – the past

At first I blamed everyone associated with Shinra, including members of SOLDIER. But Professor Zangan explained what happened. Sephiroth had lost his mind and acted alone when he set out to destroy the town. Zack Fair had nothing to do with the general’s actions.

I wondered if word had gotten to Cloud. If he knew what happened to Nibelheim and to his mother, I was certain he would have returned from Midgar. But returned to what? The town was a cemetery. Only a handful of people managed to escape the inferno.

As a group, we headed south to Cosmo Canyon. Besides myself, there were two others that were critically injured and were immediately tended to when we arrived.

When I finally recovered from the injury inflicted by Sephiroth, I told Professor Zangan I wanted to go to Midgar. Nibelheim was gone. My father was gone. I had no one left…except my childhood friend, Cloud. And I hadn’t heard from him in almost a year.

Zangan was reluctant to put me on the train.

“You’re only sixteen, Tifa. You can’t live on your own.”

“I have to find my friend. Can’t you understand that I need to do this?”

Zangan sighed and shook his head. “Alright, but when you get there, I don’t want you to get off the train until you arrive at the station in Sector Seven. There’s a man by the name of Barret Wallace. I’ll get in touch with him and have him meet you at the station. You can stay with him until you figure out what you want to do.”

Midgar was huge and noisy, but I was so excited to be there. It was so different from the quiet lifestyle I was used to in Nibelheim. Did it matter anymore? My hometown had been destroyed by a madman.

Instead of following Zangan’s instructions and waiting to get off at the Sector Seven train station, I got off sooner. Sector Three. According to one of Cloud’s letters, he wrote about how Midgar was divided into seven sectors, like a pie. The SOLDIER academy was in Sector Three.

The academy buildings were fairly new, probably renovated in the last few years. As I walked the halls, following the signs pointing toward the main office, I couldn’t help but notice that everything looked strange for a military facility. There were colored drawings pinned up on bulletin boards, like the kind young children would make.

I looked through the glass on one of the doors and saw boys and girls sitting at desks. They couldn’t have been more than eight or nine years old. Were they really training them this young?

I found the door to the main office and walked through it. A woman was sitting behind a counter, stamping papers. Since there was no one else in the room, I walked up and cleared my throat. “Hi, I’m sorry to bother you, but can you help me?”

She gave me an impatient smile. “Certainly. What can I do for you, Miss?”

“I’m looking for a friend of mine. His name is Cloud Strife.”

“Let me check here.” She turned her chair and faced a computer. She rapidly typed on the keyboard. “Cloud Strife. Hmm…I’m sorry, the name isn’t coming up. Are you sure that’s his last name? Sometimes parents get divorced and last names change.”

“No, that’s his name. He should be here. Cloud Strife, S-T-R-I-F-E, probably First Class by now.”

The woman turned away from the computer and gave me a puzzled look. “First Class? I’m not sure I understand.”

“First Class SOLDIER. That’s what he wanted to be.”

She sighed heavily. “I’m sorry, Miss. This is no longer the SOLDIER academy. It’s a middle school.”

I frowned. “But, how can that be?”

“The SOLDIER units were disbanded months ago. Ever since…” She didn’t continue and sighed again. “May I make a suggestion? If your friend was in SOLDIER then perhaps he’s working at the Shinra Corporation building at the center of Midgar.”

Of course! I thanked the woman wholeheartedly and rushed out.

I had to take another train to get to the 70-story glass building in the center of the seven sectioned city of Midgar. Once I got there, it was nearly impossible to get in. I had to lie and tell them I was there to apply for a job.

The receptionist made me wait almost two hours before someone came out to greet me.

“My name’s Cynthia. Come with me, please.” She escorted me into her office and sat me down in front of her desk before she went around to sit. “So tell me what kind of a job you’re looking for, Miss Lockhart?”

I cringed. “Well, actually I’m not here for a job.”

Her friendly smile slowly faded. “Excuse me?”

“I’m sorry,” I quickly said. “But they weren’t going to let me in here.”

She folded her arms in annoyance. “And you wanted to be let in for what reason?”

“I’m looking for my friend Cloud. Cloud Strife. He joined the SOLDIER academy. You see, there was a very bad accident in our hometown a few months ago and I haven’t heard from him in awhile. I’m wondering if he knows what happened.”

At first she looked reluctant to help me, but then she turned to her computer with a sigh. “Just so you know, I’m only going to tell you if he’s here in the building. After that you’re on your own.” She typed on her keyboard and watched her screen. “Okay, here we go. Cloud Strife. Yes, he joined the academy fifteen months ago. His grades were alittle off, but he did excellent in combat training…Received his first set of Mako injections…” Then her face fell. “Oh…”

“What?” I didn’t like the way she sounded.

She turned to me, her face suddenly looking apologetically. “I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but…he was killed during a mission three months ago.”

It took awhile for her words to sink in. Cloud was dead. “No…it can’t be.”

“The mission file is restricted, for upper management only, so I can’t discuss the details of what happened.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and looked back at the woman. “Zack Fair…?” It was the only other tie to Cloud I had. If I could just see Zack…

She typed on her keyboard and paused. “He’s…also deceased.”

I closed my eyes as they quickly filled with tears.

“I’m so, so sorry. Is there something else I can…”

I didn’t wait for her to finish. I rushed out of her office and ran blindly through the corridors and down the four flights of stairs. I left the building as fast as my feet could carry me and through the main gates.

Someone laughed and yelled behind me. “Didn’t get the job, huh?”

I was too upset to respond back to the rude guard at the entrance.

When I found myself in an alley, I dropped to my knees and cried harder than I had ever cried before in my life…even more than when my mother or father died.

It had a lot to do with learning Cloud had been killed. But mainly it was the catalyst to the emptiness in my life. I was completely alone now. I had no one…

It took awhile before I was able to move again. I felt like I was walking in a dream and my feet carried me without my mind actually knowing where I was going.

Somehow or another, I ended up taking the train to Sector Seven and got off at the station. It was dark out and it was raining lightly.

Just then a huge, bulking man stepped out of the shadows. He was well over six feet tall and had arms as thick as tree trunks. I gasped when I realized at the end of his right arm was a lethal looking hook. I was about to run.

“Tifa Lockhart?” His voice was rough and serious.

My feet remained planted to the ground. Could this possibly be Barret Wallace, the man Professor Zangan had told me to meet? “Yes…” I whimpered out.

He sneered angrily. “The hell’ve you been? Kept me waitin’ here for hours!”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and looked down. The tears came again and I couldn’t stop them.

“Hey, now…Ain’t no reason to cry ‘bout it.” His voice softened a bit. “Didn’t mean to yell at ya. Come on, let’s get outta this miserable rain.”

I came to learn that Barret Wallace was caring for a three year old named Marlene. He adopted the little girl when her father disappeared not long ago. Barret told me I could stay with them in exchange for taking care of Marlene whenever he was away.

I was distraught over learning Cloud had been killed. Zack Fair was dead. Both of my parents were dead. I had no one else to turn to. Even though Professor Zangan was kind to me, I couldn’t see myself living with him indefinitely. So I agreed to stay with Barret and Marlene in Midgar.

MIDGAR – the past

There wasn’t a single day I didn’t think about Cloud during the five years that followed. Sometimes I cried myself to sleep at night thinking about him. I ached and ached to see him…to be with him…I missed my mother and father, too. But Cloud had been such a large part of my life growing up.

Barret helped me open a tavern in Sector Seven, just so I had something to keep me busy. And it was also a good headquarters for our secret anti-Shinra organization. Barret discovered things over the years…things about the Reactors and how they were sucking the life out of the planet. Plus he had his own reasons for hating Shinra. They had filled his head and those in his home town of Corel with empty promises. The results were catastrophic.

Together, with the help of several people Barret recruited over the years, we tried to thwart President Shinra at every opportunity.

During those years I met a lot of men who wanted to ‘get to know me’ on a more personal basis. Not all of them were bad. I could have seen myself with one or two, long term. But I just couldn’t. I didn’t want to be with anyone. I didn’t want to be tied down…and there was no reason for it except that I wasn’t over Cloud. Maybe I would never be over him.

By some divine miracle, while walking to the train station one late afternoon to meet up with Jessie and Wedge, I saw something that shocked me down to my toes.

A Shinra guard was nudging someone sitting on the ground near the platform. “Hey.”

I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me because the individual looked a lot like Cloud. But it couldn’t be. Cloud had been killed over five years ago. My curiosity got the better of me and I walked forward.

“Hey, buddy, you okay?” asked the guard. He finally gave up with a disgusted grunt and walked away.

As I approached slowly, he seemed confused and disoriented sitting on the ground. I inspected the individual’s distinguishable SOLDIER uniform and the massive buster sword lying beside him. Zack Fair had been wearing the same uniform and carried the same weapon when he had come to Nibelheim that fateful day.

“Cloud?” I whispered, even though I didn’t think the young man on the ground was my childhood friend.

He looked up with slightly dazed eyes.

I gasped and covered my mouth. There was no mistaking the face.

“Yeah, I’m Cloud,” he said frigidly. He slowly stood up, swaying a bit on his feet. His eyes were different. They had a strange glow to them. He studied my face and his expression turned hopeful briefly before returning to a show of indifference.

“Don’t you…know who I am?” I asked with concern.

“Tifa…”

Tears filled my eyes as my name rolled off his tongue. I started to move closer, but he stumbled backward, away from me. “Cloud…They told me you were dead.” I wanted so badly to hug him, but he seemed so aloof and detached, like he didn’t care that we were finally seeing each other after so many years.

“Not dead yet.”

“I never thought I’d see you again!”

He steadied himself on the edge of the platform. “Yeah, it’s been awhile.”

“What happened to you? You don’t look well.”

“It’s nothing. I’m okay.”

“How long has it been?”

He closed his eyes with a frown as he suddenly shook in spasms. But it was over quickly and he looked at me as if nothing happened. “Five…five years.”

I stared at him. Five years? It was more like almost seven. Five years ago was when Sephiroth burned Nibelheim to the ground. I still wondered if he even knew it happened.

When I reached out to run my hand over his black, sleeveless sweater, he backed away abruptly, like he didn’t want to be touched.

I pretended not to notice his strange behavior. “You got your wish. You joined SOLDIER.”

“That’s right. But I quit and…” He seemed unsure of his words. “…now I’m…I’m a mercenary.”

“A mercenary?” That didn’t sound like the Cloud I remembered. “So you do things for money?”

He picked up the buster sword and flipped it over his shoulder to somehow latch onto his back. “I gotta get going.” He started to turn away from me.

“Cloud, wait!” How could he just walk away from me? In a moment of panic, I said the first thing that came to my mind. “I have a job for you.”

He didn’t turn around to face me completely, only halfway. “Will it pay well?”

“Come with me. We can talk on the way.”

“Where’re we going?”

“There’s someone I want you to meet.”

MIDGAR, SECTOR SEVEN – the past

Barret slammed his huge fist on the top of the bar, causing several beer mugs to bounce and nearly spill their contents. “We don’t need no mercenary, Tifa! We can handle things ourselves!”

I glanced around Barret’s huge frame to where Cloud was standing. I couldn’t decipher his expression, but he looked like he was going to bolt at any second. And then I’d lose him forever. “Barret, listen to me. We need his help. He’s an ex-SOLDIER. He knows the inner workings of Shinra.”

Barret spun around to look at the young man behind him. “You been in the Reactors?”

Cloud squinted his eyes and at first I didn’t think he was going to answer Barret’s question. “Yeah. I’ve been in two or three. They all look the same on the inside.”

Barret turned back to me and pointed a finger at my nose. “If he screws up, I’m blaming you.”

I held up my hands in defense. “Fine. It’ll be my fault.” I followed Barret with my eyes as he sneered in Cloud’s direction and stomped out the front door of the tavern.

Cloud shrugged. “I don’t think he likes me very much.”

I walked over to him and put a hand on his muscular arm. “Don’t worry about him, Cloud. He’s like that with everyone.”

He looked down at where my hand was touching him. But at least this time he wasn’t moving away from me. Then his eyes suddenly darted toward the bar.

When I followed his gaze, I saw Marlene peeking over the top. “It’s okay, Marlene. You can come out. This is my friend, Cloud.”

Marlene’s eyes widened and she quickly ducked back down behind the bar.

I leaned closer to Cloud. “She’s a bit shy with strangers.” I left Cloud’s side and walked to the kitchenette next to the bar. “Are you hungry, Cloud? I can make you something to eat.”

“Yeah, sure.” He scratched the back of his head. “Is there any place I can wash up?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I guess I should show you where you can sleep tonight, too.” I glanced toward the bar, where Marlene was huddled on the floor behind it. “I’ll be right back, Marlene.”

Cloud followed me upstairs where I pointed to the bathroom and then led him into the bedroom Wedge and Biggs shared. There were two beds and a sofa in the small room.

I pointed to the sofa. “We don’t have any unoccupied rooms. The couch is pretty comfortable.”

“It’ll be fine.” He looked up at me, as if there was something he wanted to say.

That dreaded lump formed in my throat, but I was determined to tell him how I felt. “I missed you, Cloud.” I moved close to him, wrapping my arms around his torso.

His arms slowly came around me in response. “I missed you, too.”

I inhaled his scent…sweat and blood and him. “They told me you were killed during a mission. Where’ve you been all this time?”

“I…I don’t know.” He drew away. “I don’t remember.”

I wasn’t sure what sparked it…as if my actions weren’t my own, but I leaned toward him and brushed my lips sensually across his. I heard his breath catch in his throat.

Oh dear Gods, what did I do?

When I drew away, he breathed again. His brows were narrowed and his eyes were a little wide.

I stared back at him, my cheeks heating up furiously. “I’m…I’m sorry. I don’t know why I…I did that.”

He remained silent and unresponsive.

I looked down, feeling foolish and embarrassed. I wanted to just crawl under the bed.

Cloud’s hands suddenly came up to my face and he tilted my head back, forcing me to look up at him. Before I could digest his gentle touch on my cheeks, he pressed his lips against mine in a soft kiss.

As he kissed me a second time, my heart might have skipped a beat, I wasn’t sure. Before I realized what was happening, we were hungrily kissing each other…sucking, licking and nibbling. I had completely lost control, desperately clinging to him, afraid he’d disappear again.

When I finally broke the kiss to breathe, a shiver ran up my spine as I felt his warm breath moving along my cheek to my ear.

“I need a shower.” He nuzzled the side of my face briefly before abruptly pulling away and turning to walk out of the room.

He left me breathless and hot and needing him so badly I started to cry, all the anger and grief and confusion coming out of me at once.

After a few minutes, I reached up to wipe the tears in my eyes. Cloud was alive. I should have been jumping up and down with joy and relief. Yet something nagged at the back of my mind. He was different…uncaring in a way.

Something had happened to him and I didn’t think he would readily volunteer any details. I wouldn’t pressure him, though. If he wanted to talk about it what happened to him, then I would be available to listen.

Besides, hadn’t I changed in the last seven years, too? We weren’t teenagers anymore.

I walked out of the bedroom. Out in the corridor I stopped in front of the bathroom door, leaning my forehead against it as I listened to the shower running. I closed my eyes and imagined Cloud standing underneath the warm water.

“I love you,” I whispered to the door, knowing he couldn’t hear me and surprised at myself for admitting such a profound attachment to him.

I went downstairs to make Cloud something to eat. Remembering he liked peanut butter and jelly, I made him the sandwich and hoped he still liked it.

Just as I was about to go back upstairs and give Cloud his sandwich, Barret returned with the others following behind him.

“Git to sleep now!” Barret ordered as he locked the front door and flipped the sign over, indicating ‘We’re Closed’. “I need all you dipshits to be sharp tomorrow.”

Wedge, Biggs and Jessie headed upstairs.

“Where’s your boyfriend?” Barret asked sarcastically.

“He’s upstairs. I put him in the room with Wedge and Biggs. And he’s not my boyfriend,” I tossed over my shoulder at him as I went upstairs.

As I reached the top, Jessie came out of her bedroom and stopped just outside the bathroom door. “Hey, Tifa. Can I ask you something?”

“Sure, Jessie, what’s up?”

“So you’ve known Cloud since you were kids?”

“That’s right. We grew up together.”

“And that’s it? You’re just friends?”

I had a feeling I knew where she was trying to go with this line of questioning. Problem was, I didn’t even know what my current relationship was with Cloud. If I told her Cloud and I were together, what if Cloud wasn’t in agreement? Then I’d look like a complete fool. “You’ll have to ask Cloud that question.”

“Oh, I see.” She smiled. “Don’t worry then, Tifa. I won’t muscle in on your territory.”

“He’s not my territory,” I said defensively.

Jessie roller her eyes. “Yeah, right. Goodnight.” She walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

I stood in the hallway for a minute, digesting the brief conversation with Jessie. She was interested in Cloud, I could tell. But she wouldn’t pursue him out of respect for me. It was obvious that since Cloud changed physically, he seemed more attractive to the opposite sex. I wondered how many other women I’d have to fight off.

I knocked on the door belonging to Wedge and Biggs. “I’m coming in,” I announced before turning the knob and pushing the door open.

Wedge was reclined on his bed, his clothes still on. Biggs was busy unlacing his shoes.

I found Cloud sitting on the sofa, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. The sight of his bare chest nearly sent me into convulsions. He was still as thin as he was back in Nibelheim seven years ago, but the muscles on his arms, those on his chest were more defined. I imagined wielding a heavy buster sword that was nearly six feet long, one would have to be pretty strong. He looked powerful and far more masculine than I remembered him looking.

Sadly, it reminded me of the destruction of my hometown. If it had still been standing, Cloud would have been able to go back and prove to everyone that he made it as a First Class SOLDIER. He definitely could have kicked Tommy’s ass without blinking an eye.

But everyone was gone…including Tommy.

Cloud took the paper plate from my hands. “Thanks.”

“Peanut butter and jelly. It’s still your favorite, right?”

He didn’t comment and took a bite. Then he looked up at me. “It’s good. Thanks,” he said again.

“How come he gets special treatment?” Wedge asked. “You never brought me a sandwich before bedtime.”

I rolled my eyes at Wedge and walked to his bed, grabbing an extra pillow and the extra cover. I placed them on the couch next to Cloud and turned toward the door. “Goodnight everyone.” I glanced one last time at Cloud before walking out of the room and closing the door behind me.

Barret came up the stairs with Marlene perched on his shoulder.

“Goodnight, Tifa,” Marlene whispered. “Don’t let the bed bugs bite.”

“Goodnight.” I smiled, wondering why she was whispering all of a sudden. Maybe it had something to do with the spiky-headed stranger she had seen downstairs.

I walked into my bedroom and after changing into my nightshirt, I crawled under the covers. I rolled on my side and curled into a ball as I closed my eyes, willing myself to fall asleep. But after awhile I knew sleep wasn’t going to come so easily. Not after I tasted what I knew would probably never belong to me. At least not unless I fought hard for him.

 

Chapter 5​

EDGE – the present

Most of the time, Yuffie Kisaragi was a pain in the ass. But today, she was the biggest one ever!

“Can we please talk about something else?” I pleaded to the eighteen-year-old ninja as we sat opposite each other in a booth at Louie’s Sandwich Shop.

“That numb-skulled Chocobo head takes you for granted.”

“It’s not like that, Yuffie, really.”

She frowned at me. “You think I didn’t know what was going on between you two when we were chasing after Sephiroth two years ago. I wasn’t that big of an airhead back then, you know. Although Barret would say different.”

“I know, we didn’t really hide it after awhile, but…”

“After awhile? Hell, we had bets every night on whether or not you two were going to sneak off.”

My jaw dropped in surprise. “What?”

“Every night it was some lame ass excuse. Cloud, I need to pee, can you come with to watch my back? Tifa, I need to show you how to use that Dragon Claw, follow me.” She changed the timber of her voice as she mimicked each of us. “Cloud, I lost an earring, can you help me find it? Tifa, a word in private, please. Man, I just wanted to yell at both of you guys, who were you trying to kid?”

I shook my head in embarrassment. “And I thought we were being so careful.”

“So why is he being so cold to you all of a sudden?”

“He’s not being cold, it’s just…” I didn’t really know what it was or why our relationship took a turn. “I don’t know. Things changed between us after AVALANCHE split up.”

“You should have booted him out a long time ago.”

I sighed heavily and stared down at the half-eaten sandwich on my plate. “I can’t just toss him out in the street.”

“Why not? He seemed to be doing fine on his own in the last two weeks.”

“He didn’t leave because he wanted to be by himself. He was trying to hide his Geostigma symptoms from me.”

“I still think you should tell him you’re not his slave, so hit the road.”

“I don’t mind doing things for him.” I promised myself I wouldn’t cry. But lately it seemed a difficult promise to keep. Every little thing and the flood gates opened. “I just want to be with him…I don’t care that we’re not together like that anymore.” It was far from the truth. I cared. I cared a lot…

“And what happens when he decides to start dating other girls?”

I shrugged, still looking down. “I’ll just have to deal with it when the time comes,” I whispered more to myself than to Yuffie.

“You’re not fooling anyone but yourself, Tifa. He’s had plenty of time to figure things out. He’s not getting any younger.”

“Yeah, neither am I.” Twenty-two years old and never in a committed relationship. I still held on to the hope that Cloud would come to his senses and we’d be like a real couple. To give up hope would be to lose my faith in him and everything I believed in. I wasn’t ready to give up. Not yet. “Please, Yuffie, let’s just talk about something else.”

Yuffie gave me a worried look, but she sighed and popped a chip into her mouth. Then a grin appeared on her face. “So whatta you think about me and Vincent?”

I nearly choked on the water I had started to drink. “What?!”

“I think he has a soft spot for me.”

I wiped at the water that dribbled down my chin. “Yuffie, you do know that Vincent’s three or four times your age, right?”

She shrugged. “I know and it doesn’t matter to me. Think I should ask him out on a date?”

I rolled my eyes. This was going to be a long afternoon.

MIDGAR, SECTOR SEVEN – the past

Barret fired his mechanical gun arm and scared everyone out of the bar. I was going to kill him one of these days for scaring away my customers. Couldn’t he just make his entrance like a normal human being?

“Papa!” Marlene rushed out from behind the bar to hug Barret.

Cloud walked in and sat down on a stool at the bar. He glanced at Marlene and Barret before turning back to me.

I put a bottle of beer in front of him. “I heard the explosion all the way here.”

“I guess it was pretty loud,” Cloud said.

Earlier this morning, Barret, Cloud and the others had gone on a mission to destroy one of the reactors. “So everything went well?”

“We ran into some trouble, but we made it out okay.”

“Did you fight with Barret?”

“Yeah,” he quietly mumbled.

“I should have known. He’s always pushing people around and I know you don’t like that. I was a little worried.”

Cloud absently pulled something out of his sleeveless sweater. It was a yellow flower.

I stared at it. It’d been a long time since I had seen a flower. “A flower? You almost never see them here in the slums.”

He seemed reluctant to part with it before finally holding it out to me. “Here.”

“Thank you, Cloud.” I held it to my nose. “It smells wonderful. Maybe I should fill the bar with flowers. What do you think?”

Cloud shrugged.

I looked over his shoulder at Barret. He seemed to be brooding about something. “You all right, Barret?”

“Great!” He poked his head out the door. “Get in here, fools! We’re startin’ the meeting!”

I watched Cloud guzzle half the beer before getting up and walking to the pinball machine with Barret. The floor lowered around it, sending them down to the secret meeting room below. The others came in and jumped down through the hole. A few seconds later the pinball machine came back up.

For awhile I tried to keep myself occupied by clearing the tables and washing dishes. But soon I could hear angry voices drifting up through the floor. Barret and Cloud were arguing loudly.

After awhile I couldn’t take it anymore. I took the pinball machine down to the lower level, hoping to stop them before they came to blows.

But when I got there it seemed like the conversation was over. Cloud was angrily walking passed me, prepared to ride the pinball machine back up.

“Wait, Cloud!” I called.

“Tifa!” yelled Barret. “Let him go! Looks like he still misses the Shinra!”

Cloud whirled around. “Shut up! I don’t give a rat’s ass about Shinra or SOLDIER! And I don’t care about AVALANCHE or the planet for that matter!”

Barret growled and started aggressively pounding on the punching bag hanging beside him from the ceiling.

I shook my head in dismay as Cloud went up to the main floor. I turned toward Barret. “What is wrong with you?”

When the big guy didn’t respond, I headed upstairs, finding Cloud getting ready to leave the tavern. “Please, Cloud. Don’t leave.”

“Sorry, Tifa…I don’t think I can work with Barret.”

“I know. He gets under people’s skin sometimes. But he’s really not a bad guy.”

“Why does he keep pushing my buttons?”

“Well, what did he say?”

“He asked me if there was anyone from SOLDIER fighting us today. I said I was positive there wasn’t because if there were, none of those idiots downstairs would be alive right now.”

I knew exactly where the conversation had gone, but I let Cloud continue.

“He told me my skinny ass is working for AVALANCHE and that I shouldn’t get any ideas about hanging with Shinra. Like I’d really side with them after all that’s happened.”

“He just doesn’t know you that well yet.”

He shook his head. “I’m outta here, Tifa.”

“Cloud, please. The planet’s in trouble. It’s slowly dying. Someone has to do something.”

“So let Barret and his buddies do something about it. It’s got nothing to do with me.”

Tears stung my eyes. “You’re really leaving!? You’re just going to walk right out?”

“Sorry.” He started to walk toward the door.

“What about your promise?”

He stopped and looked down in confusion. “What promise?”

“You forgot, didn’t you? You said you’d help me if I was in trouble…”

“I’m not a hero and I’m not famous.”

“Please stay with us. We need you…I need you.”

Cloud looked over his shoulder at me.

Right at that moment Barret came up on the pinball machine. “Wait a second, big-time SOLDIER! A promise is a promise! Here!!” He handed Cloud 1500 gil.

Cloud stared at the money in his hand with a frown. “That’s it? This is my pay? Don’t make me laugh.”

“That’s all you’re gettin’!”

I gave Cloud a pleading look. If he walked out now, I had a feeling I’d never see him again. For certain this time.

Cloud shoved the money into his pocket. “Get the next mission lined up and this time I want 3000.”

“What…!?” yelled Barret.

I held a hand up to quiet Barret. “It’s ok, it’s ok. We’re really hurting for help, Barret. We need him.”

“That money’s for Marlene’s schoolin’.” He turned to Cloud. “2000!”

Cloud rolled his eyes. “Fine!”

A smile spread across my face. “Thanks, Cloud.”

That night I couldn’t sleep again. My mind just kept replaying Cloud’s desire to leave. He didn’t care about anything or anyone. He had completely lost his good nature, or whatever was left of it before he left Nibelheim. It was frightening. I seriously worried about his state of mind.

A sound behind my door made me raise my head. The door opened and Cloud stuck his head inside my room.

He walked in without my permission and closed the door behind him. He was still wearing his clothes, but his feet were bare.

I raised myself up on my elbows, holding the sheets up over me to cover my sheer nightshirt. “Is everything okay?”

Before I realized his intention, Cloud climbed on my bed and tugged the covers off me as he bent to hug my torso. As he rested his head on my lap I was afraid to question his action, fearing he’d bolt like a frightened deer. I hesitantly reached down to run my fingers through his hair.

He hugged my waist tighter and inhaled sharply. “I think about my mom a lot. I shouldn’t have left her.”

Now I knew he knew what happened at Nibelheim. “You couldn’t have prevented what happened anymore than I could.”

“Why do I feel so empty inside?”

I bent over and kissed him on the forehead. “I’d be worried if you didn’t feel anything at all, Cloud.”

Cloud pulled away and reclined on the bed, lying on his side with his head on my pillow. He reached for me and I willingly laid down beside him. As he wrapped me in his arms, I cuddled close, relishing in his heat and his scent. “I need to feel something real,” he whispered.

A shiver ran through me as he closed the gap between us and lightly kissed my cheek.

But he wasn’t finished. He moved in again and kissed the corner of my lips. “Please, don’t say no.”

I breathed as he tilted his face, our noses touching, our lips only an inch apart. His warm breath tickled my lips. “Tell me what you want, Cloud.”

His lips touched mine, mouth open and breathing. “I want you.”

Unlike the rushed kissing from the day before, our lips moved against one another’s slowly this time…kissing softly…breathing and inhaling. Tongues touched tentatively before stroking with more confidence. Breathing became more labored…lips sucking…teeth nibbling…wet tongues probing and exploring. It was as if we were kissing for the first time.

It wasn’t long before our mutual passion escalated. We kissed harder, deeper…thirstier as we drank from each other.

He still tasted so good, just like he did seven years ago. I couldn’t get enough. I hummed in pleasure, letting him know how much I was enjoying it. He remained silent, the only sound was his heavy breathing through his nose and the sound of our wet kisses.

His hands drifted down my back to rest just above the curve of my butt. He pulled me closer, pressing harder.

I gasped as I felt his arousal against my thigh and as my hand drifted between us to rest on his chest, I could feel his heart beating faster. It was probably keeping pace with mine.

Without breaking the contact between our lips, Cloud tried to pull off his sweater. I helped him by pushing it up over his head. He tossed it away and his lips immediately captured mine again.

As I touched his bare chest, tracing the lines of sculpted muscle, Cloud shivered a little and a small sound escaped his throat.

His hands touched me everywhere after that, forcing quiet cries of pleasure from my throat. It wasn’t long before we were moving together, our bodies joined for the first time. My first time…

Everything I ever imagined…it was nothing compared to the real thing. Pain and bliss. All rolled up into one.

When it was over, Cloud raised his head slightly and I lifted mine to kiss his lips. Then I kissed every inch of his sweaty face. He seemed to savor my lips on him and moved his face where he wanted me to kiss until I was kissing his mouth.

After several minutes, Cloud rolled off me and got up, searching my room for something to clean himself with.

He came back to bed and pulled the covers over us.

I moved into his arms, seeking his heat.

Cloud raised my chin and his glowing eyes found mine. “You kept your promise, Tifa.”

“Yes,” I confirmed.

“You didn’t find anyone…even though you thought I was dead?”

“I didn’t feel right with anyone else.”

“Yeah. Me, too.”

I wondered if he was lying about not being with anyone else. There really was no way for me to know for sure…other than he had nothing to gain or lose by not telling me the truth.

“You believe me, don’t you?” he asked, probably because of the uncertainty on my face.

I snuggled against his chest. “Yes, Cloud. I believe you.” I closed my eyes and fell asleep almost instantly.

MIDGAR, SECTOR SEVEN – the past

When I woke up in the morning, Cloud was gone. But a quick check in the bedroom occupied by Wedge and Biggs made me sigh in relief. Cloud was lying on the couch. He hadn’t left like I feared.

I went downstairs and started making breakfast.

It wasn’t long before the others came down, one by one. Cloud was the last one to come downstairs.

There was the usual banter between the guys. Marlene still seemed a bit leery around Cloud, but I could tell she was starting to get curious and fascinated by the large sword he carried.

Barret got up from his chair. “Alright, our next target’s the Sector 5 Reactor. Head for the station first. I’ll fill you in on the train.”

Wedge, Biggs and Jessie finished their last bites and rushed out of the tavern.

Just as Barret and Cloud were about to walk out the door, I quickly followed them. “I’m going with you this time.”

Cloud gave me a disgruntled look, but he didn’t stop me from going.

At the station, we boarded the train and met up with Wedge, Biggs and Jessie. Barret grumbled loudly and scared almost all the passenger to the other car.

One man wearing a suit jacket with a Shinra insignia on the pocket remained in his seat, mumbling under his breath, but loud enough for us to hear. “…hoodlums again. God, don’t I just have all the luck…”

Barret wandered over to the Shinra employee. “You say somethin’?” When he didn’t get a response, he leaned closer to the man. “I said, did you say somethin’!?” Still no response. “You notice the car’s empty alluva sudden?”

The Shinra employee finally looked up at him. “It’s empty because of g…guys like you…”

Barret laughed outloud.

“You…you’ve seen the news, right?” the Shinra employee stammered on. “AVALANCHE says there’ll be more bombings. Only devoted employees like me would go to work on a day like today.”

“You workin’ for Shinra?”

“I’m not giving you my seat either!” The man was really trying to be brave.

I figured he’d had enough. “Barret!”

Barret gave the man a menacing look. “You’re a lucky shit!”

Cloud looked around before his gaze settled on Barret. “So, now what?”

“Shit! The hell you so calm about? You bustin’ up my rhythm…”

The train finally started to move.

“What’s our next target, Barret?” Cloud persisted.

“Hah! Listen to Mr. Serious-about-his-work! Awright…I’ll tell ya! Jessie’s probably already told you, but there’s a security checkpoint at the top plate. It’s an ID scan system checkin’ all the trains.”

“Which Shinra is very proud of,” I added.

“We can’t use our fake IDs anymore,” Barret went on to say.

The conductor’s voice came over the speaker. “Good Morning and welcome to Midgar lines. Arrival time at Sector 4 Station will be 11:45.”

I turned to Cloud. “That means we’ve got only three more minutes before we reach the ID checkpoint.”

Barret moved to the door. “In three minutes, we’re jumpin’ off this train. Got it?”

After Barret walked away, I leaned closer to Cloud. “Is everything okay? You seem preoccupied.”

His eyes lifted toward mine. “Sorry about last night, Tifa.”

I wondered if he regretted what we did. “Why are you sorry?” I carefully asked.

“It wasn’t supposed to happen like that.”

I frowned at him. “Well, how was it supposed to happen?”

He shook his head and looked down. “I don’t know. I’m not experienced in that kind of stuff.”

I smiled at him. “I thought it was perfect.”

He looked up, a hopeful expression crossing his features. “Yeah? You think so?”

Suddenly the emergency light started flashing.

I stared at the light. “That’s odd. The ID Checkpoint was supposed to be further down.”

A mechanical voice came over the speaker. “Type A Security Alert! Unidentified passengers confirmed! A search of all cars will be conducted! Repeat! Type A Security Alert! Unidentified passengers confirmed! A search of all cars will be conducted!”

I turned to Barret. “What’s happening?”

Jessie appeared from the adjacent car. “We’re in trouble, I’ll explain later. Hurry! Get to the next car!”

“Shit!” hollered Barret. “Someone blew it…”

The voice came again. “Unidentified passengers located in Car number 1. Preparing for Lock Down.”

We all rushed out of the car and entered the second car.

“Car number 1 locked down,” the speaker blared. “Upgrading to Level 2 warning.”

“Hurry!” yelled Biggs as we ran toward the other end of the second car.

“They’re gonna lock the door!” warned Wedge.

Jessie waved us onward. “Just run! Changing to Plan 2!”

“Unidentified passengers located in Car number 2. Preparing for lock down.”

Our group rushed into the third car.

“Car number 2 locked down. Upgrading to warning Level 3.”

Barret turned to Jessie. “Awright! We clear?!”

“Not yet,” she replied. “They’re starting another check. If we’re caught, we’re done for! But if we move up the train, car by car, we should get past it!”

“Unidentified Passengers moving to front of train,” the speaker continued. “Currently tracking location.”

We all proceeded to the fourth car and kept going.

“Car number 4 locked down. Upgrading to Level 4 warning.”

We finally got to the front and final car.

“Upgrading to maximum security alert!!” the speaker blared.

Barret pushed open the side door and waved everyone forward. “Let’s go! We’re gonna dive outta here!”

I grabbed Cloud’s arm. “Scary…huh?”

“Too late to be saying that now. Why’d you come along anyway?”

“Because I…” I never got to finish my sentence.

Barret growled ahead of us. “Hey you two! There ain’t no time for that!”

“You don’t mind if I go before you?” Cloud asked Barret.

“A leader always stays til the end. Don’t go gettin’ your spiky-ass hurt! It’s only the beginnin’ of the mission!”

Cloud turned to me. “You go before me.”

I jumped off the train and rolled as I landed on the hard ground. After brushing the dust off my short skirt, I jogged ahead and soon ran into Barret and Cloud.

“So far nothin’s going as planned,” said Barret. “Better not let our guard down til we get to the reactor in Sector 5. Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie should be getting everything ready for us. So let’s move it.”

We headed down the tunnel and soon came across several red light beams blocking our way.

Cloud grabbed Barret’s arm before the big guy could move toward the light beams. “Not that way. Those are Shinra security sensors.” He looked toward a hole near the light beams. “Down there.”

Barret eyed the hole distastefully. “In that damn tiny hole?”

“Unless you wanna wait here,” replied Cloud.

“Damn man, that hole gives me the chills.”

“Don’t be a coward, Barret,” I said. That seemed to work because Barret scowled at me before he squeezed into the opening on the floor.

Cloud waited for me to go next and then he crawled down after me.

After some jogging around in the lower levels, Cloud led us to the reactor’s core. He took the bomb from Barret and walked toward the wall panel. Suddenly he pitched forward and fell on his hands and knees.

“Cloud!” I yelled and ran to him just as he collapsed. I dropped to my knees and picked up his head. “Can you hear me?” I didn’t know what to do or what was happening to him. “Cloud…”

His eyes slowly opened and he looked up at me as if he was seeing me for the first time.

“Are you all right?” I whispered to him.

“Tifa…”

“What’s wrong? What happened?”

He groaned and shook his head. “Nothing. Forget it.” He slowly pulled away and stood up. “Come on, let’s hurry!” He set the bomb and followed behind me and Barret as we ran outside of the reactor.

Just as we crossed a catwalk, a group of men in blue uniforms appeared.

Barret held his arms out to stop us from moving any further. “Shit! Shinra guards!”

We turned to go back the other way. More guards appeared. We were surrounded.

“It’s a trap,” said Cloud.

Barret pointed. “Look there. It’s President Shinra!”

I watched the well-known bulky man walk forward and wondered why he’d be here at the reactor.

President Shinra stopped several feet away from us. “Hmm…So you all must be that group...what was it?”

“AVALANCHE!” Barret sneered. “And don’t ya forget it!”

Cloud took a step forward. “Long time no see, Shinra.”

“Long time no see?” He stared at Cloud curiously. “You’ve been exposed to Mako, judging from the look in your eyes. You’re a SOLDIER. But I see you’ve decided to join AVALANCHE. Bad move on your part. Tell me, traitor, what’s your name?”

“Cloud.”

“Forgive me for asking, but I can’t be expected to remember each person’s name. Unless you become another Sephiroth. Yes, Sephiroth…He was brilliant. Perhaps too brilliant…”

Barret was losing his patience, which wasn’t unusual for him. “Don’t give a damn ‘bout none of that! This place is goin’ up soon!”

“Such a waste of good fireworks, just to get rid of vermin like you.”

“Vermin!? You all are the vermin, killing the planet! That makes you King Vermin! So shuddup jackass!”

President Shinra rolled his eyes. “You are beginning to bore me. I’m a very busy man, so if you’ll excuse me, I have a dinner I must attend. But I’ve made arrangements for a playmate for you all.”

A fifteen foot robot appeared from below the catwalk.

“Meet Airbuster, a techno-soldier. Our Weapons Development Department created him. I’m sure the data he’ll extract from your dead bodies will be of great use to us in future experiments.”

“Techno-soldier?” mumbled Cloud.

A Shinra helicopter appeared and President Shinra climbed aboard. When it was out of sight, the Airbuster robot let loose an ear-splitting screech.

Cloud ran to the other side of the catwalk, drawing his buster sword and slashing at the robot from behind. Barret fired his gun arm while I delivered a series of steel-crushing kicks to its legs, distracting it from Barret and Cloud.

After a few minutes of battling, it looked as if we were defeating the mammoth, until it started to whine again, the sound steadily increasing in volume.

An explosion followed and a piece of the catwalk collapsed. Cloud lost his footing and managed to grab onto the unstable ledge. The Airbuster robot let out another whine, this time even louder.

“It’s gonna blow again!” yelled Barret. “Let’s go, Tifa!”

“No, we gotta help Cloud!”

Cloud tried to grab another piece of the ledge, but it immediately broke off. “Shit!”

I watched in horror as the ledge he clung to was beginning to collapse.

“Cloud! You can’t die! There’s still so much I want to tell you!”

“I know, Tifa…I’m sorry. Get her out of here, Barret!”

Barret grabbed me from behind. I struggled to break his hold on me. But then it was too late. Airbuster released another explosion.

When the smoke faded, the robot had disappeared. The entire ledge was gone.

And so was Cloud.

 

Chapter 6​

EDGE – the present

By the time I got home from shopping with Yuffie, I had three bags full of clothes and shoes.

I walked in through the back door and nearly jumped out of my skin as I entered the kitchen. Cloud was sitting at the table. I hadn’t expected anyone to be home. “Cloud, I didn’t think you’d be home so early.”

He practically jumped out of his chair. “You need help?” he quickly volunteered to take my bags.

“No, I can handle it. I’ll be back down in a few minutes.” But as I left the kitchen and went upstairs, Cloud sprinted up the stairs behind me.

In my bedroom, as I busied myself putting my new things away, he walked to the window and sat down on the ledge. I noticed his eyes were following my every move. It looked like he was looking for me to get the conversation rolling. I just wasn’t sure what he wanted to talk about.

So I started with a safe and common topic. “Yuffie called earlier. We had lunch and went shopping.”

“I noticed. Did you have fun?”

“Yeah, but you know Yuffie. She goes off on her tangents and gives you a headache.”

He nodded with a hint of a smile. “Yeah.”

When I finished putting everything away, I joined him by the window and sat down beside him on the ledge.

“Is everything okay, Cloud?”

His eyes slowly drifted toward me and he gave a quick nod. “Everything’s fine.”

I couldn’t interpret the look he was giving me so I decided to just get to the point. He’d lose his nerve if I prolonged it. “Your note said you wanted to talk.”

“I do.” He looked down at his boots. “But…now I wish…”

When he didn’t continue, I tilted my head down to draw his gaze. “You wish what?”

He looked up at me again. “I wish we could go somewhere else.”

“Somewhere else in the apartment?”

“No. Not here.” He sighed. “It just doesn’t feel right.”

“I don’t understand, Cloud. Where do you want to go?” I could tell he had already made the decision to delay whatever it was he wanted to say to me.

“I want us to go away somewhere for awhile.”

That was a totally unexpected surprise. “You mean, like a vacation?”

“Yeah, sort of.”

“That’s a great idea, Cloud! We can plan something once Marlene and Denzel are on summer break. The four of us can…”

He held up a hand to stop me. “No, not all of us.”

I gave him a confused look. “No?”

“No. Me and you, Tifa. Just us two.”

My jaw hung open in surprise. Did I really hear him say he wanted to go somewhere, just the two of us? “Cloud, I…I…” I didn’t know what to say.

“Neither one of us has had a break in years. I think we deserve it.”

“Well, where did you have in mind?”

“We have the villa in Costa Del Sol.”

I kept forgetting Cloud had purchased that villa a couple years ago. He’d suggested selling it a few times, but I always talked him out of it, saying that we’d use it eventually. The place was the perfect retreat, with a strip of private beach for swimming, scuba diving, or just laying out in the sun. “Perfect choice.”

“I’ll talk to Barret. He said he’d take care of the bar if you ever needed him to.”

I nodded. “Yes, he did say that.”

He got up from the window ledge. “How about Saturday? We can leave Saturday and stay at the villa all week.”

A whole week? Just me and Cloud? It sounded too good to be true. “Okay.”

“Good.” He started to walk away.

“Cloud?”

He paused at the door and turned back to me.

“So…what brought this on? I mean, all of a sudden…”

Maybe I shouldn’t have asked. His brows drew together. “Why does there have to be a reason, Tifa? I said we both need a break. Isn’t that enough?” He looked away with a sigh. “I’ve got a delivery outside Edge. I’ll be back later.”

I watched him walk out of my room. Isn’t that enough…? A large lump grew in my throat, making it hard for me to swallow. He couldn’t have made it clearer that we were only getting away because we needed a break. There was nothing romantic about it, not the slightest implication. Like two buddies going on a fishing trip and hanging out together.

I wanted to scream my lungs out. The hope I felt earlier this morning was shattered by three little words. Isn’t that enough…?

Seriously, though…did he really think I wouldn’t read more into his invitation than just needing a break from everyday life? He knew damned well I’d be thinking of it as a romantic getaway. Or maybe he didn’t. Cloud was dense sometimes, but I never realized how clueless he could really be.

Isn’t that enough…?

No, it wasn’t enough. Far from it.

WALL MARKET – the past

For the second time in my life I had to deal with Cloud’s death. I cried for two days straight. Not even Marlene could cheer me up.

On the third day I crawled out of my slump and convinced Barret to let me infiltrate the residence of Don Corneo, a slum lord who was likely to have valuable information we needed to further our efforts against Shinra. It was a risky mission because I was posing as one of his ladies for the evening. I didn’t care. I just needed something to do to take my mind off of Cloud.

After one of Corneo’s henchmen left me in the basement of the Honey Bee Manor, I paced around and tried to come up with a plan. Corneo’s ritual was to choose one girl out of a lineup of three. What could I do to make sure he picked me?

Just then the henchman brought another girl downstairs to join me.

“Tifa?” asked the red-haired girl cautiously walking toward me.

“Huh?” How did she know my name?

“I’m Aeris. Cloud told me about you.”

I stared at her with my mouth open. “How do you know Cloud?”

“He’s such a sweet guy. He fought off the Turks for me.”

My heart sank. Had Cloud been with this girl before I found him at the train station? What good would it do to be angry now? It didn’t matter anyway. He was gone. “I hate to break the news to you, but Cloud is dead.”

Aeris smiled and shook her head. “You’re mistaken. He’s not dead.”

At that moment a third girl was escorted downstairs. This one was blonde.

“Here he is now,” said Aeris.

What was she talking about? I looked closer at the blonde girl walking toward us. It was Cloud! “Cloud!” I threw my arms around him in a hug. Then I remembered he was wearing a dress and a wig. And he had on makeup. “Why are you dressed like this!? And what are you doing here!? Forget that, what happened to you after the fall!? Are you hurt!?”

He held me at arm’s length. “Hey, give me a chance to answer. I’m dressed like this…because there was no other way to get in here. I’m all right and Aeris helped me out after I fell.”

A sudden wave of jealousy hit me, blocking every other thought that was scrambled in my mind. “Oh…”

His eyes wandered over my revealing outfit. “Tifa, do you have any idea what kind of place this is?”

“Of course I know.”

He looked angry. “Well, then what the hell’re you doing here?”

“When we left the number 5 reactor, there was this weird man. So Barret caught him and squeezed some information out of him. The Don’s name popped up in the conversation. Barret told me to leave the leach alone...But something was bothering me.”

“So you wanted to get the story straight from Corneo’s mouth.”

“I have to be the girl he picks tonight.”

Cloud shook his head. “No way! It’s too dangerous.”

Aeris jumped in. “Well, there’s three of us, right? He has to pick one.”

He turned to Aeris. “No, Aeris! I can’t have you get involved either.”

“I grew up in the slums…I’m used to danger.”

The argument was brought to a halt as we heard someone coming down the stairs.

Corneo’s henchman appeared. “It’s time, ladies. The Don is waiting! I told you not to mingle with each other…I tell ya, women nowadays…Hurry up, will ya!”

Cloud turned to me and Aeris. “I probably don’t need to ask but the third girl is…me…right?”

I couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across my face. “You’re right, there was no need…”

“…to ask,” Aeris finished.

The three of us went upstairs and followed the henchman to one of the rooms on the second floor. Standing at the other end of the room was Don Corneo, looking totally ridiculous in white silk pajamas underneath a bright red robe. And the blonde mohawk haircut made him look even more despicable.

“All right ladies!” said the henchman. “Line up in front of the Don!”

Cloud, Aeris and I stood side by side in front of the Don’s desk.

“Hmmm!” said Corneo as he leisurely walked in front of us. He inspected each one of us at great length. “Good, splendid! Now, let’s see…which girl should I choose? Hmm…” He stopped in front of me. “This one?” Then he glanced toward Cloud. “Or this one?”

Cloud tried to act natural, but I could tell he was feeling uncomfortable being lustfully scrutinized by another man.

“Yes,” Corneo continued and touched Cloud’s chin. “My choice for tonight will be this healthy looking girl!”

Cloud sighed heavily. As much as he wanted to keep Aeris and I out of danger, he didn’t look pleased to have been chosen.

Corneo turned to his henchman. “You can have the other ones.”

“Yes, sir! Thank you sir!”

As the henchman led Aeris and I out of the room, I glanced back over my shoulder. Cloud pulled away from Corneo as he tried to grab his arm.

“Oh, I like it when girls play hard to get!” Corneo chuckled.

The henchman followed behind us toward another room. Aeris and I glanced at each other. We were both thinking the same thing and turned around at the same time. The henchman was taken by surprise as Aeris and I delivered simultaneous punches to his face. He collapsed in a heap on the floor.

Aeris grinned. “We better go help Cloud before Corneo finds out he’s not a girl.”

We ran into Corneo’s office again. But it was empty. I could hear voices coming from behind a screen on the other side of Corneo’s desk.

“You don’t like me?” we heard Corneo ask. “There…isn’t someone else, is there?”

“Yes, his name’s Barret…” Cloud replied.

“Barret? That sounds familiar…”

“He’s one of the ones you were trying to find out about. You know, AVALANCHE…?”

“Enough talk. How about a little kiss? Hmm?”

Aeris and I looked at each other and charged into the back room.

“Cloud, wait!” I yelled, hoping we weren’t too late. The sight of the bedroom literally made me nauseous. It was overflowing with different colors.

Corneo was kneeling on a large bed covered in colorful sheets. He turned to Aeris and I. “What’re you two doing back here? Guards!”

“Unfortunately, no one’ll be coming to help,” I said.

Cloud moved away from Corneo and ripped off his wig and dress at the same time, revealing his SOLDIER uniform underneath.

“A man!” Corneo cried out in shock. “What’s going on?”

“Shut up!” I yelled. “We’re asking the questions now. What did your assistants find out? Talk! If you don’t tell us…”

Cloud propped his left foot on the edge of the bed. “I’ll chop them off.”

Corneo cringed. “No! Not that! I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything!”

“So…talk already.”

“I made them find out where the man with the gun-arm was. But that’s what I was ordered to do.”

I moved closer to the bed. “By who?”

“No…! If I tell you, they’ll kill me!”

“Talk! If you don’t tell us…”

Aeris raised her left foot on the edge of the bed. “I’ll rip them off.”

Corneo cringed again. “Waaaaah…! It was Heidegger of Shinra! Heidegger, the head of Public Safety Maintenance!”

Cloud glanced in my direction. “The head of Public Safety Maintenance? This is getting more and more complicated by the minute.”

“You mentioned Shinra?” I asked Corneo. “What are they up to!? Talk! If you don’t tell us…” I raised my left foot on the bed and squeezed my hands into fists. “I’ll smash them.”

Corneo looked terrified. “Shinra’s trying to crush the rebel group called AVALANCHE. He’s wanted to infiltrate their hideout for a long time and hasn’t been able to. Now they’re really going to crush them…literally, by breaking the support holding up the plate above them.”

My eyes widened. “Break the support!?”

“You know what’s going to happen?” Corneo continued. “The plate’ll go PING and everything’s gonna go BAM!! I heard their hideout’s in the slums of Sector 7. I’m just glad it’s not here in Sector 6.”

“They’re going to wipe out Sector 7!” I turned to Cloud. “They’ll kill everyone. We’ve gotta do something!”

We were about to rush out of the room.

“Just a second!” said Corneo.

Cloud glared at him. “Shut up!”

“Just one question, please. Why do you think scum like me babble on about the truth?”

“Because you think you’ll win,” Cloud replied.

Corneo grinned. “Right!”

Before we realized what was happening, Corneo reached for something on the headboard and pulled it. The floor beneath us opened up and we fell into a pit.

It seemed like we were falling forever. And then the three of us landed with a big splash.

I must have blacked out because the next thing I knew, Cloud was shaking my shoulder.

“Tifa, you alright?”

“Yeah.” I sat up and looked around. We were in a sewer and there was a sickening stench in the air. “Oh, man. This place stinks.”

Cloud walked over to Aeris and helped her up. “Come on, while we still have time.”

We ran through the sewers until we came to a ladder and climbed up through a manhole. We found ourselves in a junkyard full of broken down train cars. From there we headed toward the Pillar Station.

Along the way we were assaulted by three different groups of bums and had to fight our way through. Kicking some ass didn’t bother me because it helped me sharpen my fighting skills.

“We made it!” I yelled. “The pillar’s still standing!”

But when we got there we could hear gunfire coming from above. Just then someone fell from the tall pillar and landed on the ground ahead of us. I recognized him. It was Wedge.

Cloud reached him first. “Wedge!! You all right!?”

“Cloud…You remembered…my name. Barret’s up top…Needs help…”

Wedge’s eyes closed. He was dead.

Cloud turned to Aeris. “Stay here with him.” He ran toward the pillar staircase.

I started to follow and then stopped. “Aeris, there’s a bar right down the street called Seventh Heaven. A little girl named Marlene…”

“Don’t worry. I’ll put her somewhere safe.” She left Wedge and ran in the direction of the bar.

I took a deep breath and chased after Cloud. Along the way up the stairway, I came across Biggs. I stopped to help him but he waved me to keep going.

When I reached the top Barret was shooting at a Shinra Helicopter. “Stay back, Tifa!” he yelled.

The firing went on for almost a half hour before someone hopped off the helicopter and approached the console controlling the power in the pillar. He had a long red ponytail and wore a dark suit. I recognized the uniform. He was a Turk, a special group working for Shinra.

“You’re too late,” said the Turk with a grin. “Once I push this button…” and he pressed the button. “That’s all, folks! Mission accomplished.”

I ran to the console as Cloud and Barret began fighting the redhead. He had a steel rod that delivered a paralyzing shock. But the two of them were giving him a good beating.

“No one gets in the way of Reno and the Turks!” he yelled just before throwing himself over the side of the platform.

At first I thought he purposely committed suicide. But then I noticed he had jumped into another helicopter.

I went back to trying to stop the self-destruct sequence on the console. “Cloud! I don’t know how to stop this!”

He came up beside me and inspected the console. “It’s not a time bomb.”

The helicopter drew closer and someone stood in the open door. “That’s right. You’ll have a hard time disabling the self-destruct sequence. It’ll blow the second you try tampering with it.”

“Shut yer hole!” Barret fired at the helicopter.

Just then the Shinra executive pulled someone next to him. “I wouldn’t try that…You just might make me injure our special guest.”

I recognized the red-haired girl in the pink dress. “Aeris,” I cried out.

“Oh, you know each other? How nice you could see each other one last time. You should thank me.”

Cloud stepped forward. “What are you gonna do with her?”

“I haven’t decided. Our orders were to find and catch the last remaining Ancient. It’s taken us a long time, but now I can finally report this to the President.”

“Tifa, don’t worry!” Aeris yelled down. “She’s all right!”

The Shinra executive slapped Aeris across the face.

She fell on the floor of the helicopter, but managed to sit up. “Hurry and get out!” she yelled.

The helicopter flew away.

Barret ran to the other side of the pillar platform and waved us over. “Yo, we can use this cable to get out!”

Cloud grabbed the thick cable further up from where Barret had a grip on it and he grabbed me around the waist. He signaled to Barret and the three of us swung off the pillar platform.

We landed in a sandbox at the center of playground in Sector 6, just inside the perimeter. Seconds later we stared in horror as an explosion destroyed the Sector 7 support pillar. The top plate groaned and in agonizing slow motion it fell on top of the slums, crushing everything and everyone below.

When the dust settled, I placed a hand on my chest, devastated by the sight in front of me.

Barret ran forward but was blocked by the plate that crashed down. “Marlene! MARLENE!!” He started pulling pieces of debris away. But there wasn’t anything he could do to save the people that had been crushed beneath the plate.

Cloud and I couldn’t do anything but watch him continue to push debris aside.

“Biggs! Wedge! Jessie! Dammit! Goddammit!! DAMMIT ALL TO HELL! What the hell’re we fighting for!? ARGHHHH!”

Cloud moved toward Barret. “ Barret!”

I followed behind him. “Barret, stop…Please stop!”

Barret fired his gunarm into the debris, scattering pieces into the air. “Goddamn…Marlene…” He stopped firing and dropped to his knees in sorrow.

I slowly approached him and touched his shoulder. “Barret…Marlene is…I think Marlene is safe.”

He spun around to face me. “Huh?”

“Right before they took Aeris, she said, don’t worry, she’s all right. She was probably talking about Marlene.”

“R…really!?”

“But…”

Barret swallowed a lump in his throat. “Biggs…Wedge…Jessie…”

Cloud kicked at some debris before he glanced at Barret. “They didn’t make it out.”

“Think I don’t know that? But...we…all of us fought together. I don’t wanna think of them as dead!”

I turned to look at the devastation again. “…and all the people in Sector 7.”

“This is all screwed up! They destroyed an entire city just to get to us! They killed so many people…”

I frowned. “Are you saying it’s our fault? Because AVALANCHE was here? Innocent people lost their lives because of us?”

“No, Tifa! That ain’t it! Hell no! It ain’t us! It’s that damned Shinra! It’s never been nobody but the Shinra! They’re evil and destroyin’ our planet just to…to build their power and line their damn pockets with gold! If we don’t get rid of them, they’re gonna kill this planet! Our fight ain’t never gonna be over until we get rid of them!!”

“I don’t know,” I said and shook my head.

“What don’t you know? You don’t believe me?”

“It’s not that. I’m not sure…I don’t know how I feel right now. This is just so…crazy.” There wasn’t any time to grieve for the friends we lost or the people we didn’t even know.

“An’ what about you?” Barret directed at Cloud.

Cloud didn’t respond. He just stared at Barret before walking away.

“Yo! Where’s he think he’s goin’?”

After one final glance at the fallen plate, I turned and followed Cloud out of the playground.

 

Chapter 7​

EDGE – the present

“Why does there have to be a reason?” I mumbled his words to myself as I angrily threw things into a suitcase. “I’ll give you a reason…see how you manage without me around…” I knew I wasn’t going to fit everything I owned into one piece of luggage. But I didn’t care. I didn’t need everything.

I dragged the overloaded suitcase down the stairs, tears blinding my vision all the way down. In the laundry room, I rummaged through a pile of boxes and ripped off a piece of the top. With a black marker, I wrote a message on the cardboard.

‘CLOSED FOR REMODELING’

I stomped through the dining area of the tavern. After taping my hastily written sign on the front door, I went back into the kitchen and grabbed the phonebook. As I searched for the phone number of the taxi company, images of Marlene and Denzel popped into my mind.

Who would be here to let them in? What if it rained and they were stuck outside until Cloud got home? What if he didn’t come home until later in the night? What if Marlene and Denzel got pneumonia from being out in the rain?

No, I wasn’t going down that guilt trip. Besides, Denzel had a key to the back door.

I dialed the taxi company and asked for an immediate pickup.

The cab arrived within ten minutes. I dragged my suitcase to the curb and the driver loaded it into the trunk.

After we both got inside, he glanced over his shoulder. “Where to, Miss?”

Funny how I didn’t even have a plan once I had made the last-minute decision to leave. Where the hell was I going? I said the first thing that popped into my head. “Train station.” That was a good enough start.

It took only fifteen minutes to get there. I paid the driver and dragged my suitcase to the ticket window of the station.

“Destination, please?” asked the woman behind the glass.

Another decision to make. What were my options? Kalm, Fort Condor or Junon. From any of those places I could take a boat to another continent. “Fort Condor. No, wait…Junon.”

“That’ll be one hundred fifty gil.”

I paid her and took my ticket.

As I sat at the station, waiting for the train to arrive, that guilty feeling began creeping in again.

Marlene and Denzel would blame Cloud. Especially after the conversation we had the night before when Marlene asked if Cloud and I were going to get married. They’d probably give him all kinds of grief. In fact, I was pretty sure everyone would give him grief. But they’d all figure out the reason I left.

The only one that probably wouldn’t get it was Cloud.

“Why does there have to be a reason, Tifa? I said we both need a break. Isn’t that enough?”

It was like trying to swallow a sea urchin, its pointy spikes sticking into the sensitive areas of my throat. I couldn’t take it anymore. I completely lost every ounce of faith I had in Cloud. It evaporated…poof. Nothing existed between us except friendship. I wanted more and he didn’t. A chunk of my heart was stuck on the heel of his boot and he kept stomping on it with every step he took. If I stayed I’d probably snap…and I didn’t want to babble like a raving lunatic in front of Marlene and Denzel. I needed to get away…from him. My heart had no chance of healing in Cloud’s presence. I’d never get over him if I continued to torture myself into believing there’d ever be any genuine romance between us.

A violent pain seized my chest, clenching it as tight as a vice.

Would I ever really get over him? I already felt empty inside, like I was leaving my soul behind, to simply exist in the outer shell of myself. Without emotion, without feeling…nothing. No, not without emotion. If that were the case then tears wouldn’t be burning my eyes at the moment.

Why did I have to be so in love with him?

The train rushed into the station and slowed to a stop with a loud hiss of steam.

The conductor stepped out of the last car. “All aboard!” As people standing around the station moved toward the train, he took their tickets.

I couldn’t move. My butt was frozen to the bench. My feet wouldn’t move. My brain wouldn’t function.

A shadow fell across my line of vision. I looked up and stared at the man in front of me.

“Miss? Are you alright?” It was the conductor. When I didn’t respond, he tilted his head. “Are you getting on the train?”

“Yes,” I managed to croak out.

He smiled. “Let me help you.” He took my suitcase and walked away with it.

Now I didn’t have a choice. I forced my unwilling body to move, to follow my belongings as they were carried onboard the train.

I took a seat as far away from everyone as I could possibly be. I needed the solitude. What I didn’t need was someone thinking they could strike up a conversation with me. I wasn’t in the mood to talk. All I wanted to do was curl up into a ball and feel sorry for myself.

But instead I decided to torture myself further. I reached into my oversized purse and pulled out a small book. After opening it to a certain page, I gently picked up the small dried yellow flower I kept pressed between the pages. It had been a spontaneous gift from Cloud a couple years ago. I later learned he had bought it from Aeris the first time he met her on the streets. Despite the implication and my continued belief that he and Aeris had some kind of intimate interaction, I had kept the flower anyway.

I raised the dried flower to my nose. Some of its scent still lingered, but it would eventually fade completely. In a way it reminded me of the relationship I had with Cloud…lingering but doomed to fade.

MIDGAR, SECTOR FIVE – the past

Cloud led Barret and I to a house in Sector 5. It stood overlooking a large garden not too far away, the only garden I had seen in the cold steel environment that made up Midgar.

“What is this place?” asked Barret.

Cloud continued forward. “Elmyra lives here. She’s Aeris’s mother. I’m almost positive this is where Aeris took Marlene.” He knocked on the front door.

A few seconds later the door was opened by a middle-aged woman. “Cloud…isn’t it?”

I noticed the sorrowful look on Cloud’s face and knew it would be hard for him to break the news to her.

“It’s about Aeris, isn’t it?” She stepped away from the door and allowed us to enter her house.

“I’m sorry, Elmyra,” Cloud finally said. “The Shinra have her.”

She nodded her head. “I know. They took her from here.”

Cloud frowned. “They were here?”

“I don’t understand. Why is Shinra after Aeris?” I asked.

“Aeris is an Ancient,” replied Elmyra. “The sole survivor.”

“But, aren’t you…her mother?” asked Barret.

“Not her real mother. Oh…it must have been 15 years ago…during the war. My husband was sent to the front. Some faraway place called Wutai.”

We all sat down in the living room as she told her story.

“One day I got a letter saying my husband was coming home on leave. So I went to the station to meet him. But he never came off the train. I wondered if something happened to him and thought maybe his leave had been cancelled. I went to the station every day. Then one day…I found an injured woman there. Her last words were, please take Aeris somewhere safe. My husband never came back. I had no child. I was so lonely. So I decided to take her home with me. Aeris and I became close very quickly. That child loved to talk. She used to talk to me about everything. She told me she escaped from some kind of research laboratory somewhere and that her mother had already returned to the planet, so she wasn’t lonely. She talked about so many other things.”

“What’d she mean by returned to the planet?” asked Barret.

“I didn’t know what she meant. I asked if she meant a star in the sky, but she said it was this planet. She was a mysterious child in many ways.” Elmyra stared out of her window as she continued her story. “One day, when Aeris was still very young, she came to me and told me not to cry. I asked her why she thought I’d cry. Of all things, she said someone dear to me just died and that his spirit returned to the planet. I didn’t know what to make of it at the time. Several days later…I received a letter saying my husband died.” She smiled sadly. “And that’s how it was. A lot happened throughout the years, but we were happy.”

“When did Shinra start pursuing her?” Cloud asked.

“Tseng of the Turks came to the house one day and told me to return Aeris to them. He said she was a very special child, with special blood and that her real mother was an Ancient. In his own words, he said the Ancients knew of a land of supreme happiness and that Aeris would be able to bring happiness to all those in the slums. Aeris denied everything, even denied she could hear voices when she was alone. But I knew. I knew about her mysterious powers…She tried so hard to hide it, so I acted as though I never noticed.”

“She managed to avoid the Shinra all these years,” I said. “How did they happen to get her now?”

“She brought a little girl here with her,” said Elmyra. “On the way here, Tseng found them. She probably couldn’t get away fast enough. She decided to go with the Shinra in exchange for the little girl’s safety.”

Barret sighed. “Marlene. Aeris was caught because of Marlene? I’m sorry. Marlene’s my daughter. I’m…really…sorry…”

“You’re her father? How in the world could you ever leave a child alone like that?”

“I know, I think about it all the time. What would happen to Marlene, if I…” He shook his head in despair. “I don’t got an answer. I wanna be with Marlene…But I gotta fight. ‘Cause if I don’t…the planet’s gonna die. So I’m gonna keep fightin’! But, I’m worried ‘bout Marlene. I really just wanna be with her…always. See? I’m goin’ in circles now.”

“I think I understand what you’re saying…She’s upstairs asleep, why don’t you go and see her.”

Cloud and I followed Barret upstairs.

In a small bedroom Marlene sat up in bed as Barret walked inside. “Papa!” She jumped out of the bed and rushed over to him.

Barret hugged her. “I thought I lost you. I’m so glad you’re all right…”

“Don’t cry. Your whiskers hurt!”

Barret turned to Cloud as we stepped in the room. “You gonna help Aeris, right? She’s done so much for me…If it’s the Shinra you’re dealin’ with, I can’t just sit here! I’m comin’ too!” He hugged Marlene one last time before walking out of the room.

Marlene looked shyly at Cloud. “Guess what? Guess what, Cloud? Aeris was asking me lots of questions about you. Like what kind of person you are. I bet she likes you, Cloud.”

Cloud gave me a brief glance before turning back to Marlene. “You think so?”

I cleared my throat and gave him a dirty look.

Cloud turned toward the door, giving me a crooked smile. “Come on, let’s go.” He waited until I was following behind him before he continued down the stairs. “We’re going right to Shinra Headquarters. We gotta be prepared for the worst.”

“I’m ready.”

When we walked back into the living room, Barret was talking to Elmyra.

“I would really appreciate if you could take care of Marlene a bit longer.”

Elmyra smiled. “I don’t mind at all.”

“This place is too dangerous now. You better go somewhere else.”

“You’re right. But promise me that you’ll come back to her. Don’t get yourself killed.”

The three of us walked out of Elmyra’s house and headed toward Sector 6.

“How do we get to the Shinra building?” I asked.

“There ain’t no train that goes up there anymore…” added Barret.

Cloud didn’t have any answers. He just kept walking with determination.

I sighed. “Well, let’s just go to Wall Market. We might be able to find something there.”

WALL MARKET – the past

When we got to Wall Market, we went into the Weapon’s Shop to see if we could upgrade our equipment. I bought a Metal Knuckle and Barret bought a new Assault Gun fitted to his arm.

As we paid for our items, the clerk gave us a cursory once-over. “You goin’ up to the plate?”

“What’s it to you?” Cloud asked suspiciously.

“You better buy some batteries.” He reached under the counter and pulled out a box containing the batteries.

Cloud frowned when he picked one of them up. “You’re gonna sell me something that’s been used? How do I know they work?”

“I repaired them myself, so they’re all right.”

“Why do I need a battery to climb up to the plate?”

“You’ll find out when you get there.”

Cloud glanced at me and Barret. “Whatta you think?”

I shrugged. “Better to be safe than sorry.”

“I’ll sell them to you for 100 gil each,” said the clerk.

Cloud turned back to the clerk. “Fine. Give me three of them.”

After we walked out of the Weapon’s Shop, we noticed a bunch of kids excitedly running through a hole in a cracked wall. We followed them. On the other side was a thick cable that hung down from somewhere on the upper plate.

“Hey, kid,” Cloud called out. “What’re you looking at?”

The kid pointed to the cable. “Everyone climbed up that way. It leads to the Upper World.”

“Can we climb it?” I asked Cloud and Barret.

Barret grinned. “You know what that looks like to me? A golden shiny wire of hope.”

Cloud rolled his eyes. “That’s gotta be the dumbest analogy ever, Barret, but I get your meaning. Let’s go!”

We started climbing the cable. Along the way we came across some obstacles. Some of the platforms weren’t connected and the power switches weren’t working. Cloud produced the batteries and placed them in the control boxes. With that we were able to maneuver the platforms on our way to the upper plate.

SHINRA HEADQUARTERS – the past

Once we reached the top plate, we walked through some massive power lines that were taller than Barret. Finally we were within sight of the front entrance of the tall Shinra building.

“Hey, Cloud, you oughta know this building well,” said Barret as we remained in the shadows to inspect the immediate area.

“Actually, I don’t. This is the first time I’ve ever been to the Headquarters.”

“I heard about this place before,” Barret continued. “Every floor above the 60th is special and not easy to get to even for employees. Must be where they took Aeris. The security’s pretty light now. Let’s go!”

I grabbed Barret’s arm before he could move out of the shadows. “Wait a second! We can’t just barge in through the main entrance.”

“Why the hell not? I wanna kick some Shinra ass and…”

“That’s not going to work! We’ve got to find another way!”

“Ain’t gonna be no other way! If we keep wastin’ time like this, Aeris’ll…”

“I know that! But if we get caught here…Cloud, what should we do?”

“Tifa’s right. We need to go in quietly.”

“See?”

Barret didn’t look happy as we strolled peacefully through the main entrance and went up to the receptionist.

“Do you people have an appointment?” she asked suspiciously.

Before Cloud and I could stop him, Barret jumped forward. “Don’t need no appointment…This is an emergency! Anyone who don’t want their face bashed in better git outta the way!!”

The plan had been to distract the receptionist after she told us to wait in the lobby. Unfortunately Barret blew that plan when he opened his mouth.

The receptionist screamed and yelled out. “You’re that terrorist group! AVALANCHE!”

Shinra guards ran out of another room and we had to fight them. All fifteen of them.

After what seemed like hours, we finished them off and headed toward the elevators. We jumped into one of them and Cloud pushed the button for the top floor.

He shook his head in disgust.

“What’s wrong, Cloud?” I asked.

“I didn’t want to start a ruckus until after we saved Aeris. I should have known that was impossible though…” He glared in Barret’s direction.

Barret chuckled and grinned.

“Why’re you staring at me like that, Barret? You’re giving me the creeps.”

“Thought you didn’t care about nobody. I’m impressed.”

Cloud looked annoyed. “Who cares if you’re impressed…?”

“Ya know, I ain’t so good at sayin’ this, but…Sorry…for lotsa things.”

The uncomfortable moment was disrupted by a siren wailing loudly inside the small elevator compartment.

Barret covered his ears. “Shit! Cloud, stop this thing at any floor! I don’t care!”

Cloud pushed a bunch of buttons. The elevator stopped and the doors opened. On the other side of the doors stood four Shinra guards. We ducked their gunfire and Cloud pushed another button. The doors closed and the elevator started climbing again. At the next floor we ran into more guards. It was the same for the next five floors the elevator stopped at until we got to the 59th floor. This elevator didn’t go any higher.

“We have to get to that other elevator,” I pointed. At the other end of the large room was another set of elevators, which had to be the ones that went to the upper levels.

“Hang on,” said Cloud, walking up to me and inspecting a ribbon of blood trailing down my arm.

I tried to shake it off, but in truth I hadn’t even noticed the pain until now. “It’s nothing.”

“Just let me check it,” he insisted. “I wanna make sure you don’t have a bullet in you.” Cloud poked and prodded my arm for a minute before summoning a healing spell using the green materia attached to his wrist guard.

The pain vanished immediately.

“Is that better?” he asked.

“Yeah, it feels great.” I looked at him strangely, wondering where he had learned to use materia so skillfully. But then I remembered he was a First Class SOLDIER. He obviously learned all he needed to know at the academy.

“Okay, let’s go.”

We proceeded out of a room and engaged more security guards. When the last of them went down, we quickly went through their pockets and came up with a Keycard. It proved useful to access the 60th floor in the elevator, but it wouldn’t allow us to go to any of the other floors.

After maneuvering through a maze of rooms, we found a room with an escalator.

“Okay! We gonna rock!” said Barret.

“Remember, we’re here to save Aeris,” I reminded him before he went off on another tangent.

“Hell, I know that!”

The three of us headed up the escalator to the 61st floor. When we didn’t find anything, we went to the next floor…until we were on the 66th one.

The only thing of interest was a restroom with an air duct above one of the stalls.

Cloud looked at each of us. “Whatta you think?”

I shrugged. “Might as well.”

Cloud helped Barret into the air duct first. Then Barret pulled me up by the arms. Cloud climbed in after me.

We proceeded down several ducts until we heard some voices echoing. Cloud pointed the way and we crawled in the direction of the sounds. The voices were coming through a vent up ahead. When we reached the vent, we positioned ourselves around it and looked down.

It was a conference room and of all the luck, President Shinra was there. I also recognized the others from their images on the news and in the papers. Reeve, Heidegger, Palmer and Scarlett.

Reeve was speaking when we got there. “We have the damage estimates for Sector 7. Considering those factories we already set up and all the investments, the estimated cost to rebuild Sector 7 is…”

“We’re not rebuilding,” the President interrupted.

“What?”

“We’re leaving Sector 7 as it is. And restarting the Neo-Midgar plan.”

“…then the Ancients?”

“The Promised Land will soon be ours. I want you to raise the Mako rates 15 in every area.”

“Rate hike!” said Heidegger. “Rate hike! Tra, la, la! And please include our Space Program in the budget!”

The President turned to Reeve. “You and Scarlet will divide the extra income from the rate increase.”

“Sir,” replied Reeve. “If you raise the rates, the people will lose confidence…”

“Don’t worry about it. The citizens are too ignorant. They won’t lose confidence. They’ll trust Shinra, Inc even more.”

Palmer started laughing. “After all, we’re the ones who destroyed AVALANCHE!”

Barret shook his fist. “That dirty shit.”

Someone in a white lab coat entered the room.

I noticed Cloud frown at the appearance of the man.

“Hojo. How’s the girl?” asked President Shinra.

“As a specimen, she is inferior to her mother. I’m still in the process of comparing her to Ifalna, but for now the difference is 18.”

“How long will the research take?”

“Probably 120 years. Not in our life time. Or in the lifetime of the specimen for that matter. That’s why we’re thinking of breeding her. Then we could create one that could withstand our research for a long time.”

“What about the Promised Land? Won’t it hinder our plans?”

“I need to figure that out still. The mother was strong…and yet this one seems to have all her weaknesses.”

President Shinra sighed. “Do whatever you must to make it happen. That concludes our meeting.”

Everyone left the room.

Cloud looked up at Barret and I. “They were talking about Aeris…right?”

“Probably,” I replied. “Did you recognize that man, Cloud? The one in the lab coat?”

Cloud nodded. “Yeah. Professor Hojo.”

“I know him, too,” said Barret. “He’s in charge of Shinra’s Science Department.”

We proceeded down the air duct until we were back at the restroom. From there we headed down the corridor and spotted Hojo again. He went into the room with the escalator and we followed him up to the 67th floor. After following Hojo down several more corridors, we went through a door that led to a laboratory containing different sized crates and equipment.

We quickly hid behind some crates when someone else entered the room.

“Is this today’s specimen?” the unknown man asked.

“Yes,” said Hojo. “We’re starting right away. Raise it to the upper level. My precious specimen…” He looked at something inside a glass chamber before walking away in the opposite direction the other man went.

When they were both gone, I stepped out from behind the crates and walked up to the glass chamber. Inside was a red-furred creature. “Precious specimen…? Is it going to be used for a biological experiment?”

From the corner of my eye, I saw Cloud walk to a steel tank attached to the wall. He glanced through a glass panel. “Jenova…”

When I saw him stumble backward and fall to his knees, I rushed over to him. “Cloud!”

He bend forward, covering his head with his arms. “Jenova…Sephiroth’s…They…they brought it here.”

“Cloud, are you all right?”

He pulled away from me and slowly stood up. “Did you see it?”

Barret turned to the tank. “See what?”

“It’s moving…is it still alive?”

Barret peered through the glass panel. “Where’s its fucking head?”

A cold chill shot through my spine. Whatever was in that tank, without a head, was making Cloud nervous. “Let’s just find Aeris and get out of this place.”

We walked to a freight elevator and took it to the 68th floor.

When the folding door opened, Cloud ran forward. “Aeris!”

It was too late for any of us to realize that Hojo was in the room.

“Aeris? Oh, is that her name?” Then he noticed we weren’t Shinra staff. “What do you want?”

Cloud moved toward Hojo. “We’re taking Aeris back.”

“Intruders…”

Barret moved beside Cloud and aimed his mechanical arm gun at Hojo.

“Are you going to kill me? I don’t think so. The equipment in this room is extremely delicate. Without me, who could operate it?”

Cloud nudged Barret’s gunarm aside.

“That’s right,” Hojo continued. “I recommend you think things through logically before you make any rash moves.” He motioned to someone in a glass-enclosed control room. “Bring in the specimen!”

A floor panel opened up inside the glass chamber that Aeris was in. Just then the red beast from the level below jumped through the hole.

Aeris screamed. “Cloud, help!”

Cloud rushed toward the glass chamber. “What’re you doing?”

“Lending a helping hand to an endangered species. Both of them are on the brink of extinction. If I don’t help, these animals will disappear.”

I felt another chill shoot up my spine. “Animals? Aeris is a human being! Are you crazy?”

Inside the chamber, the four-legged beast was about to pounce on Aeris as she cowered on the floor near the glass.

Cloud turned to Barret. “Do something! Shoot the glass!”

Barret raised his gunarm. “Awright! Step back!”

Hojo raised his arms. “No! Stop!”

Barret shot at the glass door.

Hojo rushed forward. “What are you doing…Oh! My precious specimens…”

Just as the glass door shattered, the red four-legged beast jumped out and tackled Hojo.

Ignoring the attacking creature, Cloud went into the chamber to help Aeris out. But suddenly he backed away from the chamber, keeping Aeris behind him.

“Cloud…what’s wrong?” I asked.

“The elevator…it’s moving.”

The red beast raised its head. “I know what’s coming. They’re rather strong. I can help you fight them.”

I gasped and took a step back from the beast. “It talked!”

The beast nudged the unconscious professor aside. “This man called me Red XIII.”

“Fine, you wanna help?” asked Cloud. “We can use it.”

We all stood side by side, waiting to see what came up in the elevator. Then I wished I had never seen it. It looked like an experiment gone wrong. And not only that, it had three little round minions with a huge eye.

It took awhile to kill the things. While Cloud, Barret, Red XIII and I fought them, Aeris remained behind us, casting a healing spell every time one of us received an injury. I was surprised, but grateful she had the ability.

When we finally defeated the creatures, Cloud turned to Aeris. “Are you all right?”

Aeris nodded. “I’m fine. I’m just glad you came for me.”

Red XIII shook his head. “I apologize for what happened back there. I was merely acting to throw Hojo off guard. I never would have attacked you.”

“What are you?” asked Barret.

“An informed question, but difficult to answer. I am what you see.”

Barret rolled his eyes. “Alright, we’ve saved Aeris, so there ain’t no need to be is this building! So let’s get the hell outta here!”

“We need to split up,” suggested Cloud. “If all five of us are together, we’ll be noticed.” Cloud grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the others.

“Meet us on the 66th floor,” Red XIII called out. “That’s where the elevator is!”

As Cloud and I headed out of the laboratory, my thoughts jumped to Professor Hojo. Somehow or another, I had a feeling it had been a bad idea leaving the leech alive.

 

Chapter 8​

JUNON – the present

Three hours later the train pulled into the Junon station.

Besides me, there were only a few people getting off the train. I picked up my heavy suitcase and followed everyone out. A minute later the train pulled away to continue on to its next destination.

I glanced around as the other people went on their way, leaving me standing alone at the quiet train station. A clock on the wall of the station building told me it was 6:15pm. The sky would be growing dark soon.

Marlene and Denzel would already be home and by this time probably wondering where the heck I was.

Guilt. It was eating away at me like cancer. Maybe I shouldn’t have left. Maybe I was being selfish and stupid.

I tried to convince myself that what I was doing wasn’t childish. Running away…maybe it wasn’t such a good idea.

I needed to just go home.

I walked to the station window and the bored employee sighed and walked over to help me. “What time is the next train to Edge?” I asked.

“Didn’t you just get off the train from there?”

“Yes.”

When I didn’t offer any further explanation, she glanced at something pinned to the wall beside her. “Not until tomorrow at noon.”

“When’s the next train coming in and where’s it going?”

“The next train comes in at 7:30pm and its headed for Fort Condor.” She anticipated my next question. “The next one after that is at 8:15pm headed for Kalm. And that’s it until tomorrow at noon.”

“Thanks. I’ll come back later.” I dragged my suitcase down the sidewalk and glanced at the buildings across the street. There was a diner on the corner. I’d get something to eat and sit around until the train to Kalm arrived. From Kalm it would only be a two hour bus ride to Edge. I’d be back home by two in the morning. Alittle late, but at least I’d be home.

I walked across the street and entered the diner. It wasn’t very busy, only three other people sitting around. I sat at a booth furthest away from everyone.

The waitress came over and handed me a menu. “Something to drink, hon?”

I needed something to keep me awake. “Coffee, please.” After she walked away, I glanced at the menu and couldn’t decide what to order. I really wasn’t very hungry. But I had to order something or they’d boot me out of the place and I really didn’t feel like sitting on a hard bench at the train station for two hours.

A minute later the waitress returned with my coffee. “All set to order?”

“Just a burger, please.”

She nodded and took the menu from me. “Thanks, hon. It’ll be up in about ten minutes.”

I watched her walk away and turned to stare out the window, absently listening to the quiet conversations coming from the other patrons.

“Ever since the train station was built, this town has grown considerably,” said someone.

“That’s all well and good, but the military around here is getting too lax. Just last week two punks mugged me,” said someone else.

Just then my cellphone rang. I pulled it out of my purse and looked at the display.

It was Cloud.

SHINRA HEADQUARTERS – the past

Cloud and I headed down the escalator to the 66th floor and ran down the corridor to the elevators. When the doors slid open, we went inside. Just as he was about to hit a button, two men suddenly entered behind us. One had a bald head and wore dark sunglasses. The other had long dark hair. Both of them wore the typical Turk uniform.

“Would you press ‘Up’ please?” asked the man with the sunglasses.

Cloud and I exchanged glances, knowing we were trapped. He pressed the button.

“It must have been a real thrill for you,” said the dark-haired man. “Did you enjoy your little escapades?”

Cloud didn’t respond. He reached for my hand and held it tightly.

A few minutes later we were led in handcuffs to a large office on the top floor of the Shinra building. Sitting behind an elaborate desk was President Shinra. Before Cloud or I could say anything, the rest of our group was dragged into the office.

Everyone except Aeris.

Cloud turned to Barret. “Where’s Aeris?”

President Shinra stood up. “In a safe place. She’s the last surviving Ancient…Didn’t you know? They called themselves the Cetra and lived thousands of years ago. Now they’re just a forgotten page in history.”

“Cetra…” mumbled Red XIII before turning to the President. “That girl is a survivor of the Cetra?”

“Cetra or the Ancients. They can show us the way to the Promised Land. I’m expecting a lot out of her.”

“The Promised Land?” Red XIII continued. “Isn’t that just a legend?”

“Legend or not, it’s just too appealing not to pursue. It’s been said the Promised Land is very fertile. If the land is fertile…”

“Then there’s gotta be Mako!” Barret concluded.

“Exactly. That’s why our Mako Reactor is necessary. The abundant Mako will just come out on its own. That’s where Neo-Midgar will be built. Shinra’s new glory…”

“Shit! Quit dreamin’!”

“Oh really, don’t you know? These days all it takes for your dreams to come true is money and power.” President Shinra snapped his fingers. “That’s all for now. I need to decide what I want to do with all of you.”

The bald-headed Turk pushed Barret first. Several other guards appeared behind us.

“If there’s anything else you need, talk to my secretary,” we heard Shinra say as we were led away.

They brought us downstairs. They pushed Barret and Red XIII through the farthest door along a corridor. Aeris was led through another door. Cloud and I were thrown together through the middle door. The room was a small cell with a cot that folded down from the wall.

I sat down on the cot. “Now what’re we going to do, Cloud?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. Let me think.”

As I laid down on the cot, I could hear Barret rambling on through the wall.

“Aeris is an Ancient and the Ancients know where the Promised Land. I only heard stories ‘bout the Promised Land. Don’t know if it really exists. If it does exist and the Shinra get there, they’ll suck up all the Mako energy. The land’ll wither away and the Planet’s gonna get weaker. I can’t just leave ‘em be. I’m recruitin’ new members!! Me, Tifa, Cloud…and Aeris too. How ‘bout you?”

I guessed he was talking to Red, who didn’t respond.

“You’re so damn boring.”

“Grandpa…” Red XIII finally said.

“Grandpa!?” Barret muttered. “Ha, ha, ha…Grandpa, hmm…ha, ha, ha…”

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothin’…ha, ha.”

“Cloud, are you there?” It was Aeris in the next cell.

I turned my head and saw Cloud move closer to the wall.

“Are you okay in there?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m all right. I knew you’d come for me.”

Cloud leaned his back against the wall and closed his eyes. “Hey, I’m your bodyguard. I’m supposed to come to your rescue.”

“The deal was for one date, right?”

I raised my head and noticed the hint of a smile on Cloud’s lips. So that was it. He met her in the slums and helped her dodge the Turks. Now he was calling himself her bodyguard at the cost of a date. “Well, isn’t that sweet,” I said sarcastically.

“Tifa?” Aeris called out. “You’re in there, too?”

Before we got into a debate about Cloud, I decided to ask my own questions. “So, tell us something, Aeris. Does the Promised Land really exist?”

“I don’t know. All I know is the Cetra were born from the Planet, speak with the Planet, and unlock the Planet. And…then…the Cetra will return to the Promised Land. A land of supreme happiness.”

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t really know.”

“Speak with the Planet?” mumbled Cloud.

“What does the Planet say?” I asked.

“It’s too full of people and too noisy.”

Cloud opened his eyes and turned toward the wall. “You hear it now?”

“I…I only heard it at the Church in the Slums. Mother said that Midgar was no longer safe. That is…my real mother. Someday I’ll get out of Midgar…Speak with the Planet and find my Promised Land. That’s what mom said. I thought I would stop hearing her voice as I grew up, but…” She fell silent after that.

Cloud turned back around and looked at me.

“Do you think we have a chance of getting out of here?” I asked him.

“Leave it to me.” He slid down the wall and sat on the floor. “Let’s just get some sleep.”

I closed my eyes.

I wasn’t sure how much time had passed when I felt my shoulder being shaken.

“Tifa…Wake up!”

I sat up and turned to Cloud. “What’s wrong?” Then I noticed the cell door was open.

“Something’s wrong,” he said as he moved toward the doorway.

I followed him out of the cell and we stumbled upon a dead Shinra guard. He was mangled almost beyond recognition. I gasped. “What…what happened to him?”

“He should have the key on him.”

We searched the guard’s pockets. Cloud found the key and rushed to open the last cell door.

Barret rushed out and noticed the dead guard. “The hell’s goin’ on!?

Red XIII inspected the lethal wounds on the body. “No human could’ve done this.” He ran ahead down the corridor and turned the corner.

After Cloud opened Aeris’s cell door, we went in the direction Red XIII had gone and found him in the large room where we had first seen him in the glass chamber. The door of the tank that had held the Jenova specimen was ripped completely off and there was a large splatter of blood on the floor that trailed in the opposite direction.

“The Jenova specimen…” said Red XIII. “Looks like it went to the upper floor using that elevator.”

We followed the trail to the elevator and took it up to the next floor. In the laboratory, there were several bodies strewn about on the floor, torn apart like the guard. We continued to follow the blood trail to the other side of the laboratory and went out the door. It led up the escalator to the 68th floor and finally to the President’s office.

What we discovered shocked all of us. President Shinra was sitting in his chair, slumped forward on his desk, a large sword sticking out of his back.

“He’s dead…” uttered Barret in disbelief. “The leader of Shinra is dead!”

I ran around the desk, just to check Shinra’s pulse. I didn’t expect to find one. The man was dead. I looked at the sword, recognizing it immediately. “This sword…it belongs to…”

“Sephiroth…” Cloud finished.

My jaw dropped. “Sephiroth is alive?”

“Looks like it. Only Sephiroth owns that kind of sword.”

Barret stepped in. “Who cares who did it!? This is the end of the Shinra now!”

Palmer suddenly appeared from behind a column. “P…p…please, don’t kill me!”

Cloud grabbed him by his shirt. “What happened?”

“Se…Sephiroth. Sephiroth came.”

“You saw Sephiroth?”

“Yeah, I saw him! I saw him with my own eyes!”

Cloud shook him roughly. “You really saw him?”

“Yes, yes. Why would I lie to you at a time like this!? And I heard his voice too! He said something about not letting us have the Promised Land.”

I turned to Aeris. “Does that mean the Promised Land really exists and Sephiroth’s here to save it from Shinra?”

Barret frowned. “So he’s a good guy then?”

Cloud released Palmer and shook his head. “Save the Promised Land? A good guy? No way!! I know him! Sephiroth’s mission is different!”

A Shinra helicopter appeared outside of the office and Palmer ran for the door. As Palmer jumped into the helicopter, someone else stepped out. I recognized the young blonde man. It was President Shinra’s son Rufus.

“Vice President Rufus,” Barret sneered. “I forgot about that asshole.”

As the five of us headed out onto the terrace, Rufus Shinra stopped in his tracks upon seeing us. “Who are you guys?”

“I’m Cloud, ex-SOLDIER First Class!”

“I’m from AVALANCHE!” yelled Barret.

“Same here!” I yelled next.

“A flower girl from the slums.”

“A research specimen.”

Rufus raised his eyebrows. “That’s quite a crew. Well, I’m Rufus. The President of Shinra.”

Barret shook his gunarm. “You only President ‘cause yer old man died!”

“That’s right. I’ll let you hear my new appointment speech. Old man tried to control the world with money. It seems to have been working. The population thought that Shinra would protect them. Work at Shinra, get your pay. If a terrorist attacks, the Shinra army will help you. It looks perfect on the outside. But I do things differently. I’ll control the world with fear. It takes too much to do it like my old man. A little fear will control the minds of the common people. There’s no reason to waste money on them.”

I rolled my eyes at Cloud. “Apparently he likes to make long speeches just like his father.”

Cloud turned to Barret. “Get everyone outta this building!”

“What?” I yelled.

“Just go. I’ll take care of him!”

Barret herded us off the terrace, leaving Cloud to fend for himself against Rufus. When I glanced one last time toward Cloud, I noticed a sleek black creature moving to stand beside Rufus. I had seen it before, a trained catlike creature called Dark Nation.

The rest of us headed down one level.

“No, Barret,” I said before he could lead me down the escalator. “I’m waiting for Cloud.”

“Tifa, he said to get everyone out.”

“I’m not leaving without him. Go on ahead. I’m waiting.”

Barret growled, but he led Aeris and Red XIII down the escalator.

When they were gone, I headed back to the duel stairways. I wasn’t going to let Cloud fight against Rufus and Dark Nation by himself. He’d need my help. But just as I was about to go up the left staircase, Cloud was coming down the right one.

“Tifa! I thought I told you to get out of the building.”

“What happened to Rufus?” I asked.

Cloud took my arm and led me away. “I couldn’t finish him. Looks like this is gonna get complicated. Rufus seeks both the Promised Land and Sephiroth.” Then he stopped in his tracks, something catching his eye. He turned back to me and pointed in the direction of the room with the escalator. “Go meet up with Barret and the others. I’ll be down in a few minutes.”

I watched him move toward one of the many displays on each of the floors. The one that caught his eye had a motorcycle in it. Cloud always did like two-wheeled vehicles over automobiles. I shook my head with a sigh and headed down the escalator.

When I finally reached the ground level, it looked as if I had gotten there in the nick of time. Barret was about to go out the front entrance and confront a horde of Shinra guards waiting for us. “Barret! Wait!”

All eyes turned to me as I approached.

“Tifa! Where’s Cloud?” Barret asked.

I spotted a vehicle resting on a platform. It was a small pickup truck. “Come on, this way!”

Barret and the others followed. “What’s up? Where’s Cloud?”

“Don’t worry about Cloud. Just get in.”

I jumped into the driver’s seat and Aeris took the seat next to me. There wasn’t any more room inside the tiny compartment. Barret and Red XIII hopped into the back of the small pickup. I hotwired the engine and it roared to life.

Just as I drove off the platform, Cloud made his grand appearance, coming down the staircase on the large motorcycle. He passed in front of us and led the way through a maze of corridors. Finally he paused, revved the engine and shot forward.

I gasped as he drove toward a large window and crashed through it. A few feet from the building was the freeway. He landed smoothly on the surface.

“Hang on tight, everyone!” I pushed the accelerator down to the floor and followed the same path. The pickup was airborne for about five seconds before we landed safely on the freeway next to Cloud.

But we weren’t out of the clear yet. Four Shinra guards on motorcycles were headed toward us.

As we raced down the freeway, Barret picked off the Shinra guards, while Cloud used his buster sword. It was an easy victory…until we reached the end of the incomplete freeway.

Waiting for us was a huge tank with six spiked wheels. It suddenly rose up to a height of fifteen feet and blasted us with a flamethrower. Luckily Red XIII was quick enough to caste a Barrier spell around all of us or we would have been fried.

It took a while, but Fire, Ice and Lightning materia spells worked wonders on the thing.

When the battle was over, we all sighed in relief and looked at one another.

“Well, what do we do now?” asked Barret.

“Sephiroth is alive,” said Cloud. “I…I have to settle the score.”

“And that’ll save the Planet?”

“Maybe…”

“Awright, I’m going!”

“I’ll go, too,” said Aeris. “I have things I need to find out.”

Cloud turned to her. “About the Ancients?”

“About many things.”

I glanced toward the circular city we were about to leave. “I guess this is good bye, Midgar.”

We climbed down from the freeway ramp using a rope.

Barret stopped in front of us. “Hang on. We need someone in charge of this journey. ‘Course only I could be the leader.”

I gave Barret a skeptical look. “You really think so?”

Aeris motioned her head toward Cloud. “I think it should be Cloud.”

Cloud frowned at Aeris, but then shrugged.

Barret kicked a stone near his toe. “Shit…awright. Let’s head for Kalm then.”

I watched Cloud closely as we left the perimeter of Midgar. Without even asking him, I knew what was going through his mind. He wondered if he could really be a leader. Being an ex-SOLDIER, out of any of us, he had the most training. But I knew he still doubted himself.

KALM – the past

Cloud and I had never been to Kalm, so we took a brief tour, checking out the Weapon and Materia shops for things that might come in handy during our quest to find Sephiroth.

“It’s really quiet in this town,” I said as we headed toward the Inn where the others were probably waiting. “Kinda reminds me of Nibelheim.”

“A lot has happened since then, Tifa.”

“I know.”

After entering the Inn, we headed upstairs. Aeris, Red XIII and Barret were relaxing in the room that contained two beds.

“Yo man, you’re late.” muttered Barret as he sat down on one of the beds.

Aeris sat down beside him. “I guess we’re all present now.”

“So let’s hear your story,” Barret directed at Cloud. “You know, the one about Sephiroth and the crisis facing the planet. Let’s hear it all.”

Cloud sat beside me on the other bed while Red XIII sat on the floor facing Cloud. “I used to want to be like Sephiroth so I joined SOLDIER. After working with Sephiroth on several missions, we became friends.”

“You call that a friend?” Barret interjected.

“Yeah, well…He’s older than me and although he hardly ever talked about himself, we trusted each other. Until one day…”

“One day?” Aeris prompted when Cloud stopped talking.

“After the war it was SOLDIER’s duty to put down any resistance against the Shinra. That was five years ago. I was sixteen…We were in the back of the truck, me and Seph and two guards. One of them had motion sickness and I was trying to help him while Sephiroth briefed us about the mission. We were to investigate an old Mako Reactor. Apparently there were reports of it malfunctioning and producing brutal creatures. Our job was to locate the problem and neutralize it.”

“Brutal creatures…Where?” asked Aeris.

“The Mako Reactor at Nibelheim. It’s my hometown.”

My eyes instantly darted to Cloud. Nibelheim? But he had never returned to Nibelheim during that crisis. Instead of questioning him in front of the others, I decided to let him continue and see what else he’d say.

“Something crashed into our truck and we went out to see what it was. Sephiroth didn’t need any help. He defeated the monster by himself. Sephiroth’s strength is unreal. He’s far stronger in reality than any story you might have heard about him.”

“So what happened next?” Aeris prompted again.

“Sephiroth asked me how it felt to be back home after so long. He said he wouldn’t ever know the feeling because he didn’t have a hometown. I asked him about it and he said his mother, Jenova, died right after she gave birth to him and he never knew his father.”

“Jenova,” Barret grunted. “That’s the damned headless spook livin’ in the Shinra building.”

“That’s right.”

I gave Barret a dirty look. “Would you please let Cloud talk? You can ask questions later.” I turned to Cloud. “Go ahead, Cloud.”

Cloud gave me a small smile. “I was really surprised to see Tifa again and that she was our guide to the reactor on the mountain. When Sephiroth and I were in the Inn, he stared out the window for the longest time. He said the scenery looked familiar, like he somehow knew the place. In the morning Tifa led us through the mountain pass. We lost one of the guards when the bridge collapsed. Later we got to the reactor. Sephiroth and I went inside alone.”

I frowned at his version of the story. Cloud didn’t go into the reactor with Sephiroth. Zack Fair had gone with him. But I kept silent as Cloud continued.

“We found the reason for the malfunction and I fixed it. Then Sephiroth started talking about Professor Hojo and someone named Professor Gast. He said Hojo put something in the compartments that were used to enhance the abilities of SOLDIERs. I looked through the window of one of the compartments. The creature I saw inside was once human, a SOLDIER exposed to high levels of Mako…more than either me or Seph. Hojo was creating these monsters inside some of the reactors.”

Barret slammed his fist on the bed, making Aeris bounce slightly. “Damn, Shinra! The more I hear, the more I hate ‘em!”

I shook my head in shock. “Who would have ever thought the Mako Reactors held such a secret?”

Red XIII gave a nod. “That explains the increase in the number of monsters recently. I think we should listen carefully to the rest of Cloud’s story.”

Aeris turned to me. “So, Tifa, you were waiting outside then?”

The question caught me by surprise. But there was only one way to answer. “Yes.” It was the truth afterall. I turned to Cloud for a reaction, but he didn’t seem to think there was anything wrong with his story…except I happened to know he wasn’t even there.

“We returned to Nibelheim,” Cloud continued. “Sephiroth wouldn’t talk to me. He confined himself inside the Shinra mansion. When I went down to check on him, he was mumbling about a dead organism found in a 2000 year old geological stratum. Professor Gast named the organism Jenova. Sephiroth’s mother’s name was Jenova. Sephiroth didn’t think it was just a coincidence. When he saw me, he called me a traitor, a predecessor of the people who took what the Cetra and the planet had made without giving back anything in return.”

“What does Sephiroth have against the human race?” I asked, feeling a cold chill run through me at the memory of Sephiroth’s destruction of my hometown.

“He told me that long ago, disaster struck the planet and while the planet was saved, the Cetra were sacrificed. After that humanity continued to increase and all that was left of the Cetra was in a bunch of reports he was looking through. I didn’t understand what he was trying to tell me. He mentioned the Jenova Project, which involved producing people with the powers of the Cetra. Then he said he was one of the results.”

“Sephiroth was produced?” asked Red XIII.

“He was convinced that Professor Gast, leader of the Jenova Project and genius scientist, produced him. After that Sephiroth left the basement of the mansion. When I followed him out, he was already destroying the Nibelheim. I tried to save some people from the burning houses. But it was too late.” Cloud hung his head. “I went to the Reactor. Tifa was there. She had tried to take on Sephiroth by herself and he nearly killed her.” He glanced toward me briefly before continuing with the story. “I followed Sephiroth further into the Reactor and stabbed him through the back with my sword. I thought I had beaten him. But he grabbed me with the same sword and ran it through my chest.”

I followed him with my eyes as he got up from the bed and took several steps away.

“That’s it. That’s the story.”

“What?” Barret hollered. “Wait a damn minute. Ain’t there more?”

“I…I don’t remember anymore,” Cloud replied.

“What happened to Sephiroth?” Aeris asked.

“In terms of skill, I couldn’t have possibly killed him.”

I shook my head. “Official records stated Sephiroth was dead. I read it in the newspaper.”

Barret snorted. “Shinra owns the paper. They could’ve printed any story they wanted.”

Cloud spun around. “I want to know the truth. I challenged Sephiroth and lived. Why didn’t I die?”

I got up and walked up to him. “I’m alive, too.” None of the facts of his story made any sense to me. How could he have killed Sephiroth if he had been on another mission somewhere else? Zack had told me. Zack was the one in the Reactor so he had to be the one that killed Sephiroth. But Cloud seemed so convinced that he had been the one there. I almost started to believe his story myself.

Aeris shook her head. “Seems like a lot of this doesn’t make sense. What about Jenova? It was in the Shinra building, right?”

Cloud nodded. “Shinra shipped it from Nibelheim to Midgar.”

“Did someone else carry it out after that? It was missing from the Shinra building.”

“Sephiroth?” I suggested.

Barret hopped on one of the beds. “This is damned confusing. I’m goin’ to bed.” He was snoring within seconds.

Cloud turned to me. “You and Aeris can have the other bed. I’ll sleep on the chair over there.”

Aeris and I laid down while Red XIII curled up on the floor between the two beds.

Cloud turned off the lamps before taking his seat on the chair near the window.

I watched him for awhile, his eyes glowing in the darkness.

Sometime in the middle of the night, a sound woke me. I raised my head and looked in the direction of the chair. But it was vacant. Cloud was gone. I carefully got out of bed, trying not to wake Aeris and tiptoed out of the room.

The hallway was dark. The only light came from underneath one of the doors.

I walked up to it and placed my ear to the wood. The sound of a running shower echoed through the door. There was no one else staying at the Inn and Barret and Aeris were both still asleep. It had to be Cloud.

When I turned the doorknob, I was surprised to find it unlocked. So I stepped inside the steam-filled bathroom.

“Cloud?” Hopefully no one else would respond.

“Tifa, you should be sleeping,” he said.

“I couldn’t sleep anymore.”

He pushed the shower curtain aside. “How come?”

I shrugged and bit my lower lip. “Is there room for two in there?”

He snorted out a laugh. “Sure, I’ll make room.”

I undressed quickly and pushed the curtain aside to step into the shower cubicle.

Cloud was rinsing his hair under the water. When he finished, he reached out and pulled me toward him. He switched our positions so that I could get wet.

The water was warm and felt good on my back. I didn’t get to enjoy it for long. Cloud had other ideas. He tilted my chin up and bent to kiss me. I nearly swooned. It felt like an eternity had passed since the last time we kissed, when in fact it had only been a couple of days. There just hadn’t been any time.

As the kiss deepened, my hands automatically drifted up his bare chest. I was aware of my fingers seeking something on his skin…a scar…to prove that I was the one who was crazy, that it had been Cloud and not Zack in Nibelheim.

I touched something in the middle of his chest, between his ribcage.

I broke the kiss and looked down to where my fingers rested. There was a faint scar marring his skin. It was a couple inches long. I abruptly turned him around and found a similar scar on his back. It was just like he said…he had been run through with a sword…Sephiroth’s sword.

But how could it be?

Did it matter?

I wrapped my arms around him from behind and kissed his shoulder. “Cloud? How badly was I injured when Sephiroth cut me?”

“I thought you were a goner. I was really upset.”

I kissed his shoulder again.

Cloud turned around in my arms to face me. He captured my lips again, kissing me passionately.

No, it didn’t matter. We were both alive and reunited. And soon the family Sephiroth stole from us…my father…Cloud’s mother…all those that died in the Nibelheim crisis…they would be avenged.

The shower cubicle may have been small, but we made good use of the space…and the floor after that.

 

Chapter 9​

JUNON – the present

I flipped open the cellphone and put it to my ear. “Hello.”

“Tifa, where the hell are you?”

I was surprised at the angry tone in Cloud’s voice. No ‘hello’, no ‘how’re you doing’. I pretended to ignore his tone. “I’m obviously out right now.”

“Marlene and Denzel are starving and you know I can’t cook for shit.”

“You’ll have to deal with it, Cloud. I’ll be home later.”

“No, you gotta come home now.”

Why was he being so demanding all of a sudden? “Excuse me?”

“And what’s with the sign outside the door? We’re not remodeling the bar.”

“Well, I decided we are.”

“Without consulting me?”

“Since when do you care about the bar?”

“I better see you walking through the damned door soon, Tifa…”

This was the first time Cloud had ever spoken with such abrupt hostility toward me. It really made me mad. I could almost feel the steam coming out of my ears. “I said I’ll be home later.”

“Where are you?”

“I’m out.”

“Yeah, I know. Out where?”

“I don’t have to answer that.”

“…” Silence.

“I’ll be home later,” I said for the third time, hoping the conversation was over.

“Where are you, Tifa?” he asked again, his tone becoming very serious.

“What is your problem, Cloud?”

“My problem? I don’t have a problem. Why won’t you tell me where you are?”

“You know what? I’ve had it. I’m not coming home tonight. And I’m not coming home tomorrow. In fact, I’m not coming home until I decide I’m coming home.” So much for taking the train to Kalm. There was no way I was going back home now. Not while he was being so demanding.

Cloud and I had gotten into some serious verbal battles over the last two years, usually ending in him walking out and coming back a couple hours later with his most sincerest apologies. Most of the time our arguments were petty squabbles. But no matter what, things were forgiven and quickly forgotten.

Maybe not this time.

“Is this your way of getting back at me?” he asked after a moment of silence.

“What’re you talking about?”

“You’re still mad because I disappeared for awhile. So now you’re doing the same thing.”

I sighed. He really had no idea what was going on here. And I decided I wasn’t going to enlighten him. I wanted him to worry about where I was.

“I said I was sorry. I’ll say it again. I’m sorry, Tifa. I’m sorry for taking off like that.” His apology reeked with sarcasm. What was the matter with him?

“I’m not trying to get back at you for leaving.”

He sighed. “Tifa, please…just come home.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I can’t talk about it.”

“Is it something I did?” His tone changed again. He was yelling. “What did I do?”

“It’s what you didn’t do, Cloud.” I pulled the phone away from my ear and closed it, cutting off the call. Just for good measure, I turned the ringer volume down before setting the phone down.

Sure enough, my phone vibrated ten seconds later, telling me I had a call. It was Cloud again. I watched my phone traveling across the table from the vibration and I fought back the urge to answer it.

He was clearly upset that I wasn’t home and wouldn’t tell him where I was.

Being difficult was not something I was used to. That was usually Cloud’s forte. Hearing the frustration and anger in his voice gave me the chills. Making him angry didn’t make me feel good, but I wasn’t about to jump at the snap of his fingers or grovel at his feet because I loved him.

A demonstration of long silent emotions was not going to bring me back so easily. He was going to have to work harder than that.

My cellphone buzzed again and I sighed heavily, barely remembering the last time Cloud had shown this much emotion.

The waitress walked over with my food and set the plate down in front of me. “Let me know if there’s anything else you need, hon. Enjoy.” She walked away.

I ate my cheeseburger and tried to ignore the two dozen calls made to my phone in the last ten minutes. But the more I ate, the more I felt the food lodging in my throat. Giving up, I pushed the plate away from me and stared at my cellphone after it stopped buzzing.

I waited for it to vibrate again, announcing another call…but it never came. The calls finally stopped. Did Cloud give up? Somehow I doubted it. He was probably thinking of some other way to get a hold of me. Maybe later I’d check to see if he left any messages.

“Which is it? A memory or us?”

Cloud never did answer my question from the other night. He merely walked out of the room to pursue the lead Reno and Rude had given him on where Kadaj had taken Marlene and Denzel.

So why didn’t he answer? Was he afraid to tell me Aeris would continue to hold his heart forever and that there just wasn’t any room for me? How could she have captured his heart in so short a time when I had known him all of my life? Because I was just a tomboy to him. He didn’t think of me as a woman anymore. I was just a friend that did every day, menial tasks for him. Maybe he regretted ever being intimate with me and now he didn’t know how to tell me it was never going to be like that again.

Well, he wasn’t going to have to worry about it anymore. I’d make his life easier and just stay away. Maybe it would be best for both of us.

My cellphone buzzed. It was him again. He hadn’t given up afterall.

The bell above the diner door rang as two men walked in.

My eyes widened as I realized I knew both of them. Reno and Rude of the Turks. Of all the people to run into in Junon, it had to be those two jokers.

Rude headed toward the restrooms while Reno snatched a menu from the counter before the waitress could hand him one.

“Don’t worry about it, babe, I’ll just seat myself,” he told her before turning further into the open area of the diner.

I held my hand up over my forehead, hoping to conceal myself enough so that he wouldn’t see me. When I peeked between my fingers, I saw Reno sitting three tables away, his feet up on another chair as he checked out the menu. Good, he didn’t see me. Unfortunately I lowered my hand too quickly and Rude saw me on his way to sit with Reno.

Reno followed Rude’s gaze and immediately got up.

I covered my face again, but I heard footfalls coming in my direction.

“Well, well, well…fancy running into you here. Of all places.”

I removed my hand and looked up. “Yeah…what a coincidence.”

Reno was smiling that little smile that annoyed the hell out of me. Then he glanced around the place. “Where’s Chocobo head?”

“He’s not here,” I replied a bit too quickly. Maybe it would have been better if he thought Cloud was with me so he’d leave me alone.

His smile widened even further. “Let me guess. Cloud’s getting on your last nerve and you needed to get away from the guy.”

I didn’t respond and sighed heavily as Rude walked up. To make matters worse, Reno slid into the booth right next to me and Rude took the seat on the opposite side.

“Hello, Miss Lockhart,” said Rude.

I gave him a half smile. “Hi.” I knew Rude had a bit of a crush on me, so at least he wouldn’t make a pest of himself. At least I hoped not.

Reno reached over and pulled the plate with my half eaten cheeseburger toward him. He started eating it. “So really, what’re you doing here?” he asked with his mouth full.

“Nothing. I’m…I’m thinking of going to Costa Del Sol maybe.”

“It’s pretty crowded this time of year,” Rude offered.

“I’ll take that under advisement.” I tried to take my cheeseburger back, but Reno wouldn’t release my plate. “What’re you two doing here?”

“Our boss is taking up temporary residence in the penthouse at the Inn,” Reno offered. “He’s looking at some commercial property in the area. He can’t stay at Healin forever. Especially since he was cured of Geostigma.”

“So Rufus Shinra is back on his feet?” It was a rhetorical question. “Am I to assume he’s going to continue righting the wrongs he’s committed over the years?”

My cellphone buzzed again. I stared at it…the display clearly reading CLOUD. Just as I started to reach for it, Reno snatched it off the table.

To my utter horror, he flipped open my cellphone and answered it. “Hello, Cloud. Guess who?”

I tried to grab the phone out of his hand, but he slid out of the booth and took a couple steps away.

“Hey, take it easy,” Reno replied to whatever Cloud had said to him. “Just having something to eat with Lockhart.” He pulled the phone away from his ear and cringed. “What the hell crawled up your ass all of a sudden?...No, man, we’re in Junon…”

I closed my eyes and shook my head. Great! Now Cloud would know where I was.

Reno pulled the phone away from his ear again and stared down at it. “The little prick hung up on me.” He slid back into the booth and placed the cellphone on the table.

I snatched it and threw it into my purse. “Thanks a lot, Reno,” I snapped.

“For what?”

“Why’d you tell him where I was?”

“Is there a problem between you and Cloud?” asked Rude.

I sighed and looked down, not really wanting them to know what was going on between us. “Everything’s fine,” I mumbled.

“Doesn’t sound like it to me.”

I turned to Reno. “What did he say to you?”

Reno snorted. “For some strange reason, Cloud seems to think we kidnapped you and he said he’d skewer me like a shish-kabob if I touched you.” He poked my arm with a finger. “There, I touched you.”

So much for keeping my distance from Cloud. I stared out the window and calculated about a half hour had passed since I arrived in Junon. So it was almost 7:00. If Cloud left now, he’d probably drive ridiculously fast to reach Junon in less than four hours. I glanced at Rude. “Tell me about that penthouse at the Inn.”

“Nice place,” Rude replied. “All the amenities of home.”

“How many bedrooms?”

“Three or four, I think.”

I pushed Reno roughly out of the booth. “Let’s go.”

“Where’re we going?”

“Just move!”

KALM / THE CHOCOBO FARM / THE MYTHRIL MINES – the past

Barret, Aeris, Red XIII and I gathered outside the Inn while Cloud settled the bill at the front desk.

When he came out to join us, Aeris handed him what looked like a cellphone. He looked down at it. “What’s this for?”

“So we can stay in constant contact with each other.”

He looked up at her. “Why? Are you leaving us?”

“Red said he’d help me find some of the answers I’m looking for. I have to know my purpose, Cloud. But I’ll join you again very soon.” She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. Then she walked away with Red at her side.

I watched Cloud’s reaction. He seemed alittle upset that Aeris was temporarily leaving. Deep down inside, I was relieved that she wasn’t continuing with us for the time being. It was a selfish feeling, but I couldn’t help the jealousy that sprouted every time she was near Cloud.

“Where to now?” asked Barret.

Cloud was still looking regretfully in the direction Aeris had gone. Finally he turned and started walking away. “The Mythril Mines…” he mumbled.

I exchanged a glance with Barret before we both moved to catch up with Cloud.

“How you supposin’ we get there with that Midgar Zolom lurkin’ in the swamps near the entrance to the mines?” asked Barret.

Mountains blocked the upper section of the continent from the rest of it. The only passage was through the Mythril Mines. “We could try crossing over the mountains,” I suggested.

“Not an option,” said Cloud and he didn’t say anything more to elaborate on his plan.

Along the way Cloud led us to a Chocobo Farm where he purchased a Chocobo Lure materia. I wasn’t sure what purpose it had and didn’t want to ask him because of the foul mood he seemed to be in since we left Kalm.

As we headed for the swamp in front of the Mythril Mines, we ran into some monsters along the way and had to fight. In the process Cloud miraculously caught two Chocobos. That explained the purpose of the Chocobo Lure materia. It rendered a Chocobo helpless. Wild Chocobos were impossible to catch, much less train to be ridden.

Barret mounted one of the Chocobos while Cloud and I mounted the second one. The Chocobos were fast as we started across the swamp.

I glanced back over my shoulder and beneath the murky waters I saw a long dark shadow pursuing us. The Midgar Zolom. “Cloud, it’s right behind us!”

But I was concerned for no reason. The Chocobos managed to reach dry land before the Midgar Zolom could catch up to us. Unfortunately, the moment we dismounted the Chocobos, the pair squawked and dashed away.

Barret rushed forward. “Come back here, ya stupid birds!”

“Forget them,” said Cloud and he walked inside the entrance to the mines.

Before I could follow, Barret grabbed my arm. “How does he know where we need to go?”

I had asked myself that same question when we left Kalm. What had made Cloud decide that we needed to go this way? How did he know which direction Sephiroth had gone? “I don’t know, Barret. Do you know which way we should go?”

He didn’t answer.

“Then I guess we need to trust Cloud, don’t we?”

We followed Cloud inside and caught up with him just as he went through a passageway. It lead into a large chamber containing two other passageways leading outside. The closest passageway led to a dead end. The other was situated on a higher level, so we began looking for a way up.

“Well, look who found their way out of Midgar.”

Cloud, Barret and I froze in our tracks at the voice and looked up to the very passageway we were trying to reach. It was the bald Turk with the dark sunglasses. Two others entered behind him. One was the Turk with the long dark hair and the other was a blonde short-haired woman.

“Stupid Turks,” muttered Barret.

“Don’t criticize without knowing what we do. But it’s difficult to explain what the Turks do…”

“Kidnapping, right?” Cloud offered angrily.

“To put it negatively…you could say that. But, that’s not all there is to it, anymore.”

The woman stepped up beside him. “It’s all right, Rude. I know you don’t like speeches, so don’t force it.”

“Then you explain it Elena.”

She looked down in our direction. “I’m Elena, the newest member of the Turks. Thanks to what you did to Reno, we’re short on people. Although, because of that, I got promoted to the Turks… In any case, our job is to find out where Sephiroth is headed. And to try and stop you every step of the way. Wait a minute, it’s the other way around…You’re the ones that are getting in our way.”

The dark haired Turk rolled his eyes. “Elena, you talk too much.”

“Sorry, Tseng.”

“No need to tell them our orders or tell them our names. Just go and don’t forget to file your report.”

“Oh! Right! Very well, Rude and I will go after Sephiroth and catch him before he reaches the harbor in Junon!

Tseng sighed heavily.

Elena gasped and covered her mouth, obviously realizing she had just given up the location Sephiroth was headed. “Oh! I’m, I’m sorry…”

“Get out of here and don’t let Sephiroth get away.”

“Before I go,” said Rude, “…Reno said he wanted to see you after the injuries you gave him healed. He wants to show his affection for you all…with a new weapon.” Then he walked out of the passageway with Elena at his heels.

Tseng turned to us. “Well, then… Where’s Aeris? She’s not with you?”

“Wouldn’t you just love to know?” Cloud said sarcastically

“Alright then, give her my regards.” Tseng walked out of the chamber.

We waited a few minutes before we each climbed a stone pillar to reach the higher ledge.

“So we’re headed for Junon then?” I asked Cloud.

“I already knew before Elena told us.” He walked on.

“He’s spooky,” said Barret.

On the way to Junon, we hiked through a small forest where we were suddenly attacked by what looked like a young girl. She was pretty good at using materia, but we were able to defeat her nonetheless without actually killing her.

“Man…I can’t believe I lost…’ she turned her gaze to Cloud. “You spiky-headed jerk! One more time, let’s go one more time!”

“Not interested,” replied Cloud.

“Thinking of running away? Stay and fight! FIGHT, I said! C’mon…What’s the matter? You scared of me, right?”

“Petrified.”

“Just as I thought. What do you expect with my superior ninja skills? Next time I won’t go so easy on you. Catch ya later!” She started to walk away but slowed her steps and glanced back. “I’m really gonna leave! REALLY!”

I leaned toward Cloud’s ear. “Maybe we could use her.”

Cloud gave me an incredulous scowl. “She’s just a kid, Tifa.”

“I know, but…”

Cloud sighed and turned toward the slowly departing ninja girl. “Wait a second!

She gleefully turned and walked back. “I know you want my help because I’m so good! You want me to go with you?”

“That’s right.”

“Heh heh…thought so. If you want me that bad, I can’t refuse… All right! I’ll go with you!”

“Great,” Cloud turned to walk away. “I’m ecstatic,” he added with sarcasm.

Barret and I exchanged a smile and followed behind Cloud.

“Hey… HEY! Wait! I haven’t even told you my name…I’m Yuffie! Hey, wait up! Wait for me!”

JUNON – the past

I had never been to Junon, but I expected the town to be somewhat like Midgar. What we found was completely different.

Cloud was the first to voice his opinion. “What happened to this town? It’s so run-down…”

We chatted a bit with some of the local people and were directed to a Shinra guard standing in front of a metal door attached to a tall pillar. At the top of the pillar was a platform leading to an upper level. But the guard wouldn’t allow us through the door.

We began to look for another way. Our search took us to the beach where a large steel-beamed structure rested in the water. At the top was another platform to the upper level. But there was no way to climb it. The beams were too far apart.

At the edge of the water we saw a little girl playing with a dolphin.

“Mr. Dolphin, my name is…Priscilla. Pri…scil…la,” she sounded out. “Now you say it.”

Our group approached the beach, startling the girl named Priscilla.

“Who are you? Are you members of the Shinra?”

“No!” Barret butted in before anyone else could respond. “You got it all wrong! We’re fighting against the Shinra!”

Cloud rolled his eyes. “Here we go again.”

“I don’t believe you!” yelled Priscilla. “Get out of here!”

Cloud turned to Barret. “Great job scaring the kid, Barret.”

From the corner of my eye, I saw something huge rise out of the water. “Whoa, look at that!”

Priscilla suddenly rushed into the water. “It’s Bottomswell! Be careful Mr. Dolphin!”

Bottomswell swung one of its flappers, knocking Priscilla unconscious into the water.

Cloud pulled his buster sword from behind his back and ran forward to attack the creature. Barret and I followed close behind.

“Hey, wait for me,” said Yuffie.

Defeating Bottomswell had been difficult. The creature kept calling up a tidal wave that pushed us backward. When the dead creature disappeared beneath the water, Cloud carried Priscilla out of the water and carefully laid her down on the sand.

I crouched down beside him and reached to touch my fingertips to the side of Priscilla’s neck. “This is bad. Her pulse is pretty faint.”

A man rushed down to the beach. “Priscilla!”

We all stepped back as the man shook her in an attempt to revive the little girl.

“She’s not breathing…” The man turned to us. “Do something!”

I turned to Cloud. “Cloud, didn’t they teach you CPR in SOLDIER?”

He gawked at me like I had lost my mind. “Mouth to mouth!? But, she’s just a little girl…”

“Please…” the man pleaded. “You have to help my daughter.”

Cloud dropped down beside Priscilla and began performing CPR on her. A few seconds passed before Priscilla coughed and regained consciousness.

Priscilla’s father picked the little girl up and carried her way from the beach. We all followed behind him. He carried her into one of the houses, leaving us standing outside.

A woman approached us. “You can all come back to my house for awhile. I have plenty of beds.”

We followed the woman to her house. She directed Cloud and Barret into one of the bedrooms, while Yuffie and I took another one.

When I woke up it was daylight outside. I left Yuffie in the room and crossed the hallway to the other bedroom.

Barret was snoring loudly while Cloud was mumbling in his sleep.

I approached the side of the bed where Cloud was lying and leaned closer to see if I could hear what he was saying.

“…I don’t know…I can’t remember clearly…”

I reached out and shook his shoulder. “Cloud, wake up.”

He instantly came awake and sat up. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing. It’s morning.”

Cloud ran his hand over his face. Before I had a chance to pull away, he grabbed my wrist. “Tifa…”

I turned back to him.

“When Sephiroth and I went to Nibelheim, where were you?”

I frowned. “What do you mean? We saw each other, right? You don’t remember?”

He looked puzzled.

“Come on, Cloud. We need to figure out what to do next.”

A half hour later we were all gathered near the beach where Priscilla met us.

“Are you all right now?” asked Cloud.

“Umm…thanks for helping…I’m sorry, I mistook you for one of those Shinra people.”

“No problem.”

She pulled something out of her pocket. “I’ll give you something special! It’s an amulet.”

As Cloud took it from her and looked down at it, I moved closer to see what she had given him. I immediately recognized the red materia. We exchanged a surprised look.

I leaned closer to him. “She obviously doesn’t know what to do with a Shiva Summon materia.”

Cloud nodded. “Good thing, too.” He noticed Yuffie staring at the red orb in his hand and quickly attached it to his wrist guard.

Barret looked up when music suddenly started to play. “What the hell’s that?”

“They’re rehearsing the reception for the new Shinra president,” replied Priscilla. Her smile faded. “Grandpa and grandma told me this beach was beautiful when they were small. But after the Shinra built that city above, the sun stopped shining here, and the water got polluted. I was raised on that story and hate Shinra so much, I could die!”

Barret looked up again. “We gotta get to the town up there…Mebbe we could climb the tower?”

“No! No!” yelled Priscilla. “There’s a high voltage current running underneath the tower. Don’t wander near it, it’s dangerous! But…you might be able to if Mr. Dolphin helps you. Follow me!”

“High voltage tower,” I said and turned to Cloud. “Maybe you'll be all right climbing it.”

Cloud looked at our expectant faces. “Wait a second. I didn’t volunteer for anything.”

Priscilla blew a whistle and as we all turned toward the surf, we saw the dolphin jump up into the air.

“I ain’t never seen no Dolphin jump like that!” said Barret with his mouth hanging open.

Priscilla ran up to us. “Pretty cool, huh? When I blow this whistle, Mr. Dolphin jumps for me. Here, Cloud.”

Cloud took the whistle from her. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

“Just go into the water, blow this whistle and Mr. Dolphin will jump you to the top of the pole!”

“Jump to the top of the pole?”

“See that rod sticking out at the top? If you jump just right, you can land there and then climb up to the town.”

Cloud turned to me. “If Rufus is planning to cross to the other continent, we have to get on that boat. I’ll try to find out what he’s going to do.”

I nodded. “The rest of us will see if we can subdue that guard in front of the elevator. We’ll meet up soon.”

“Okay.” Cloud walked to the water’s edge and began wading in. He swam toward the steel structure and when he was in position he blew the whistle.

I watched in fascination as the dolphin jumped out of the water, lifting Cloud up into the air with its snout. Cloud grabbed the rod sticking out and hopped up on the nearby beam. He waved down to us before starting the long climb up to the top.

SHINRA BOAT – the past

It had been a difficult task, but the rest of us finally made it to the town at the top of the mountain. Barret had knocked out the guard while I hot-wired the elevator controls to gain access inside. We rode the elevator to the top and split up in order to find out as much as we could.

When the ship at the harbor blew its horn, we all met up behind some crates, each of us having found a disguise. Then one by one we came out from behind the crates and boarded the ship without drawing any attention.

The ship soon left the Junon harbor.

A uniformed guard came up to me and I quickly stood at attention and saluted.

The guard raised his visor to reveal his identity. It was Cloud. He grabbed me by the arm and pulled me behind some cargo crates. “Where’re the others?”

“They’re all in disguises. I’m not sure where they are though. They must be around.”

Someone came around the side of the crates. I recognized Yuffie in the sailor outfit. She was holding both of her hands over her mouth and looked extremely green.

“Yuffie, are you all right?” I asked with concern.

She shook her head. “No, I’m seasick.” She gagged and ran around to the other side of the crates.

“I was seasick, too,” said Cloud. “But I took something and I’m feeling fine.”

“Maybe you should give it to Yuffie.”

Cloud crowded me against the crate. “Maybe later.”

The next thing I knew, Cloud was ravaging the side of my neck. Despite the seriousness of our situation, I didn’t attempt to stop him. We messed around for a few minutes before I stepped out from behind the crates first, adjusting my uniform and my sailor hat.

Cloud came out a few seconds later, glancing around and seeing two guards standing on either side of a door. “Good work, sailor!”

I saluted him. “Thank you, sir!” I bit my lower lip to contain my smile as I watched Cloud walk away. He saluted the two nearby guards and headed up the stairs.

Yuffie was making gagging sounds from behind another stack of crates. I went to check on her. She didn’t look good at all.

“Yuffie, let’s go topside. You look like you could use some air.” I helped her up the stairs and to the reiling.

“Emergency alert!” blared a voice over the loud speaker. “Reports of a suspicious character found! Those not on detail, search the ship. Report when found! I repeat. Suspicious character found on board! Those not on detail, search the ship. Report when found!”

Yuffie and I exchanged concerned glances and quickly headed to the middle of the ship where we met up with the others in our group. Aeris and Red XIII had also managed to steal aboard the ship.

“Everyone all right!?” I asked.

“You all right!?” Barret asked at the same time.

“If we’re all here,” said Aeris, “…then who’s the suspicious character?”

Barret turned to Cloud. “You don’t think it was…?”

Cloud clenched his fists. “…Sephiroth! Let’s find out.”

We all headed down to the cargo area. The two guards that had been standing near the engine room door were lying dead on the ground. Cloud rushed forward through the doors and the rest of us quickly followed.

Cloud was shaking another guard. “Hey, you! Talk to me, dammit!”

The guard collapsed at his feet.

Cloud looked up and spun around in place. “He’s here. I can feel him.”

“After a long sleep…” said an echoing voice. “The time…time has…come…”

Barret pointed. “Look, Cloud!”

We all turned to where Barret was pointing. Sephiroth had literally risen right through the floor like a ghost.

Cloud took a step forward. “Sephiroth! You’re alive!”

Sephiroth slowly turned to face Cloud. “Who are you?”

“You don’t remember me!? I’m Cloud!”

“Cloud…”

“Sephiroth! What the hell do you think you’re doing!?”

“The time…is now…” Sephiroth vanished just as quickly and mysteriously as he appeared. But in his wake he left a hideously disfigured creature.

It took the strength of all of us to defeat it.

When the battle was over, Cloud was shaking his head. “The time…is now? What could he have meant by that?”

Barret shook his gunarm. “I don’t know what the hell’s goin’ on, Cloud! We gotta do somethin’ ‘bout that guy!”

A voice came over the loud speaker again. “We will be arriving in Costa Del Sol in five minutes. Prepare for docking.”

I grabbed Cloud’s arm and tugged at it. “Come on, Cloud. We have to hide.”

“Sephiroth…is alive…” he mumbled. “The Promised Land…Does it really exist?”

 

Chapter 10​

JUNON – the present

The Junon Inn penthouse had a breathtaking view of the bay. This wasn’t my first visit to Junon. We had been here plenty of times while chasing after Sephiroth a couple years ago. But this was the first time I had the chance to really enjoy the sights.

I moved closer to the large panoramic window and glanced to the right. The huge cannon was still there. It had been damaged by one of the Weapons summoned by the planet’s own defenses. Remembering our AVALANCHE days only made me think of Cloud.

I reached into my purse for my cellphone. It hadn’t rung again since Reno had answered it in the diner. I accessed my voicemail.

“You have four messages,” said the electronic voice.

I hit the button to listen to them.

“Playing message one.”

“Tifa…” It was Cloud, of course. “Listen, I’m sorry for whatever it is I did or…didn’t do. Can you please answer your phone?” Click.

He really sounded desperate in the message. But I wasn’t quite convinced he was being sincere.

“Playing message two.”

“Tifa…will you answer your fucking phone?” Click.

There was the irrational Cloud, the one that drove me to do things beyond my control. In fact, I once poured a pitcher of cold water over his head when he argued that it was beneath him to tend the bar every once in awhile.

“Playing message three.”

“Okay, I know I haven’t been easy to get along with lately. I’ve been selfish and self-absorbed and…maybe a little bit unapproachable. I get that. I’m sorry. I promise I’ll stop being a dick.” There was a brief silence before he continued. “Please…please, just call me back.” Click.

I wasn’t sure I liked hearing him plead. It was an oddity, mainly because he never had to beg for anything before. He always got whatever he wanted. But it was nearly enough to convince me to call him back. And I almost did until I heard the last message.

“Why’re you doing this to me, Tifa? I don’t need this shit. Denzel’s asking me a million questions about where you are and Marlene’s crying her eyes out because she thinks I did something to make you leave. If you’re ticked off at me, then fine, I can deal with that, but will you at least come back home for them?” Click.

I felt like throwing my phone across the room. And I almost did…until it buzzed in my hand.

I looked at the display. It was Yuffie.

“Hello?”

“Tifa, what’s going on? Marlene called me in tears. She said you ran away from home.”

I plopped myself down on a nearby sofa and was momentarily distracted by its incredible plushiness. “Yuffie, you were right. He’s taking advantage of me. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before.”

“Okay, but the plan was to kick his ass out, not for you to leave.”

“I can’t kick him out. It’s just as much his place as it is mine.”

“So what now? Who’s going to take care of Marlene and Denzel?”

“He’s going to have to do it for awhile.”

“He can’t even take care of himself, much less two kids.”

“Yes, especially since he’s probably on his way here to Junon as we speak.”

“You’re in Junon?”

I sighed. “Can you do me a big favor? Call Barret and tell him I need him to stay at the bar for a few days so the kids have someone there to take care of them.”

“What’re you going to do when Cloud comes looking for you?”

“He’s not going to find me.”

“You know how persistent he can be. You can’t hide out forever.”

“I know. I just want to rattle him up a bit.”

“And make him realize how much he takes you for granted.”

“Exactly.”

“Okay. It sounds like you’ve got things well under control.”

I wasn’t as confident in myself as Yuffie was in me. “I hope so.”

“Make that bird-brained Chocobo head suffer.”

I frowned at Yuffie’s statement.

Did I really want Cloud to suffer? Hadn’t he suffered enough in his life? Instead of helping him mentally mend, I was probably adding salt to his wounds…I knew Cloud lacked self-confidence in a lot of things, but he always made it seem like he was so sure of himself. Maybe he needed this wake-up call to get him back on a reality check.

“I’ll talk to you later, Yuffie. Don’t forget to call Barret.”

“I won’t. Bye.”

“Bye.” I ended the call and scrolled down my contact list until Cloud’s name was highlighted. I pressed the Talk button and put the phone to my ear.

It rang…

…and rang

…and rang

Finally his voicemail came on. “Leave a message,” his voice requested.

I hung up without leaving a message because I didn’t know yet what I wanted to say to him.

Either he couldn’t hear his cellphone ringing while riding that monstrosity of a motorcycle of his, or he chose to ignore it so he wouldn’t have to stop.

I tossed my phone aside and leaned by head back to rest on the soft sofa. Something was nagging at the back of my mind. He seemed to be over-reacting to all of this. Was he really that lost at home without me? Even for one day? He was fine when he was by himself on the road, gone for days at a time…What was it about home that made him panic when I wasn’t there?

COSTA DEL SOL – the past

When we docked at Costa Del Sol, we all waited until the coast was clear before disembarking the ship.

Barret was the first to speak as we glanced around. “Damn! Sure is hot here. But I’ll sure feel better once I can say good-bye to this stupid sailor suit.”

“Oh, too bad,” Aeris said cheerfully. “I liked you in a sailor suit. You looked so cute.”

“Whatcha mean ‘cute’?”

I tried to contain my laugh. “Right…well, uh…Barret, why don’t you use that sailor suit for pajamas? Right, Cloud?”

Cloud rolled his eyes. “Can we keep our minds focused on Sephiroth. This isn’t a vacation.”

“You’re the one who’s always hangin’ around wastin’ time,” Barret retorted.

Red XIII was puffing laboriously. “This heat is drying my nose.”

Yuffie nodded. “Yeah, mine, too!”

Cloud seemed impatient as he sighed. “Fine, let’s just take a short break and then we’re outta here. So don’t wander too far.”

Aeris glanced at her arms. “Maybe I should get a tan for a change. What do you think, Cloud?”

He had a blank look on his face as he stared at Aeris. Then his eyes briefly darted in my direction. “Uh…I guess.”

She winked at him. “I’ll remember that.”

After Aeris walked away, Cloud found me still watching him. “What?”

Was he so clueless that he couldn’t see she was flirting with him? Or maybe he knew and was making me think he didn’t have a clue. I shook my head. “Nothing.”

The sound of approaching voices made us quickly take cover behind a stone wall. We peeked around the side to catch a glimpse of Rufus and Heidegger getting off the ship.

“I heard Sephiroth was on board,” Rufus said casually.

Heidegger hung his head down. “Yes.”

“And it seems Cloud and the other AVALANCHE members were on board, too.”

“Yes.”

Rufus shook his head in disgust. “They all slipped through. You messed up big this time, Heidegger.”

“I’m ashamed of myself.”

“Is that all you can do? Give one word answers and apologize for everything?”

A Shinra guard approached. “The helicopter is ready for departure, sir!”

Rufus nodded and glanced one last time at Heidegger. “Do something. I’ll be expecting results.” He walked toward a platform where a helicopter rested.

Heidegger became angry and attacked threw sailors, pushing them off the dock. He started toward the platform, but the helicopter left without him.

Cloud grabbed my arm. “Come on, let’s go before he sees us.”

After purchasing some items from a local vendor, Cloud and I met up with Aeris on the beach, where she had been picking seashells.

“Look there,” she said with a nod of her head further down the beach.

Cloud’s eyes widened. “Hojo! What the hell’s he doing here?”

“Should we go over and talk to him?” I asked, but Cloud had already started in Hojo’s direction.

A woman in a bikini stood in our way. “What do you want?”

Cloud looked passed her. “I want to talk to that man.”

The woman frowned when Cloud tried to get passed her. “Hey, who do you think you are?” She went back and leaned toward Hojo. “Professor, that scary man says he wants to talk to you.”

“I’m busy right now.”

The woman returned. “Too bad.”

Cloud wasn’t put off. He moved forward, forcing the woman to stumble backward.

Hojo sat up in the lounge chair he had been laying on. “I remember you now. All of you. Yes, yes. It’s been a long time, Cloud.”

“What’re you doing here?” Cloud asked.

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m getting a tan.”

“That’s not the answer I’m looking for!”

Hojo smiled at Cloud’s frustrated look. “I believe we’re both after the same goal.”

“You mean Sephiroth?”

“So you saw him, did you? I see…Ha! Ha!”

“You see what?”

“I just remembered a certain hypothesis…Haven’t you ever had the feeling something is calling you? Or that you had to visit some place?”

Cloud frowned for a moment as if he was thinking about something. Then he turned back to Hojo. “I’m going wherever Sephiroth is going so I can beat him and put an end to all this!”

“Hmm. This could be interesting. Yes, I remember. You were in SOLDIER. Heh heh heh! Would you like to be my guinea pig once again?”

Cloud angrily drew his buster sword.

“Oh, now what? Are you going to kill me?”

I jumped in front of Cloud, which was a very foolish thing to do when he had his buster sword held ready to strike. “Stop, Cloud! I know how you feel, but you can’t. Not right now. We need answers.”

Cloud reluctantly lowered his sword.

Hojo looked passed us. “Hey, you’re the Ancient.”

“I have a name,” replied Aeris. “The least you can do is call me by it. And I know I’m an Ancient. My mother told me.”

“Your mother? Oh, you mean Infalna. How is she?”

“She died. Don’t tell me you didn’t know that.”

Hojo shrugged.

Aeris stepped forward, the anger on her face quickly vanishing. “Professor Hojo, is Jenova an Ancient? Is Sephiroth an Ancient? Do we all have the same blood?”

Hojo tilted his head down and started mumbling.

Aeris turned to Cloud and I. “He’s hiding something!”

I kicked the lounge chair. “Hey! Answer us!!”

Hojo leaned back and closed his eyes. He wasn’t going to talk to us any longer.

Cloud shook his head and walked away. “Let’s find the others and get the hell out of here.”

Aeris and I exchanged glances before we quickly followed him.

MT COREL / NORTH COREL – the past

Our next destination was North Corel. When we reached the outskirts of some mountains, Cloud and I ran into a man while the others were trying to catch up to us.

“Hey, is this the way to North Corel?” Cloud asked him.

“Whew! You’re actually talking to me,” the man replied.

“What’s the problem?”

“I passed a guy in a black cloak not too long ago back there. I tried to tell him that it’s dangerous up ahead and he ignored me!”

Cloud turned to me. “Sephiroth…”

I glanced over my shoulder and waved to the others. “Come on! We have to hurry!”

The six of us walked into the town together.

I glanced around. Everything was in ruins and people were living in tents. It reminded me of Nibelheim, after all the fires were out.

Someone pointed at us…or rather at Barret. “You!” He stuck his head into a tent. “He’s back!”

Barret stepped forward. “You all wait here.”

The rest of us watched Barret approach the first man who was soon joined by a second.

“Well, looky here!” said the first man. “Never thought I’d ever see your face again. Those people over there, they with you? Well, I feel sorry for ‘em! Hangin’ around a walkin’ death sentence like you, Barret.”

“You got a lot of balls comin’ back here!” yelled the second man. “Look at this place! It’s all your fault North Corel turned into a garbage heap!”

“Why doncha say something!? Or did ya forget what you done here already?”

Barret hung his head. “I’m sorry…”

“Shit! You ain’t even worth the effort. Just leave.”

Barret left the men and returned to our group. “You heard ‘em. It’s my fault this town was destroyed.” He walked away.

The rest of us followed him through the demolished town to the Ropeway Station that led to the Gold Saucer.

Aeris approached Barret while Cloud purchased tickets from the ticket booth. “Barret, what happened?”

Barret shook his head. “Sorry. My hometown used to be around here.”

“What do you mean ‘used to’?” asked Red.

“It ain’t here no more. Heard it got buried…in just 4 years.”

Aeris pressed on. “But how could those people say those terrible things?”

“It’s my fault. ALL my fault.”

After Cloud returned with the tickets, we all boarded the Ropeway car. It left the station a few minutes later.

Barret was holding his head in his hands while Aeris sat beside him, rubbing his back. “The only one against it was Dyne,” he started to say. “He didn’t want us to throw away our coal, protected for generations, our ancestors risked their lives for it. Simply to be replaced by Mako energy.” He raised his head and clenched his teeth. “That crazy woman, Scarlet. She said Shinra, Inc would guarantee our livelihood once the Mako reactor was built. It was the Shinra troops that burned the town and lots of people died.”

“Shinra troops?” asked Cloud. “What for?”

“There was an explosion at the reactor. Shinra blamed the accident on the people. Said it was done by a rebel faction.”

“That’s so terrible!” I said. Barret never spoke about his past. I never knew what had happened to him to make him so bitter or how he had lost his arm.

“I couldn’t forgive myself. Never should’ve gone along with the building of the reactor.”

I felt bad for him. “Don’t blame yourself. We were all fooled by the promises Shinra made back then.”

“That’s why…that’s why I get so pissed off! Not only did they take advantage of me…But I lost my wife, Myrna, too…Dyne was my best friend. We was close ever since we was kids.”

Yuffie shrugged. “I’m not sympathizing with you or anything, Barret, but none of you should have trusted Shinra, Inc.”

After that no one spoke for the rest of the ride to the Gold Saucer.

GOLD SAUCER – the past

As the tram approached the Gold Saucer, I stared at the structure in awe. There were blinding lights everywhere. There was so much to see, I couldn’t see any of it before the tram entered the station.

We got off the tram and Cloud handed each of us our tickets.

“Don’t lose them cuz they’re lifetime tickets and I’m not paying for any more.”

We passed through the archway entrance and came to a room with seven round openings. According to the woman who had stamped our tickets, every place at the Gold Saucer was accessed by these chutes.

Aeris clapped her hands. “Let’s have fun! Come on, Barret, cheer up!”

“I ain’t in no cheery mood. So jes’ leave me alone.”

“Oh, that’s too bad.” Aeris walked over to Cloud. “Let’s go!”

I walked up to them. “Aeris,” I whispered. “Don’t you think that was a little harsh?”

“Just act normal when this happens.”

I frowned. She acted as if she knew Barret and she didn’t. “I don’t think so…”

She ignored me and walked back to Barret. “We’re gonna play…”

Barret threw his arms in the air. “So PLAY! …messin’ round! Shit! Don’t forget we’re after Sephiroth!” He stormed away and jumped into the chute labeled ‘Wonder Square’.

Aeris shrugged. “Oops. I think he’s mad.”

I sighed. “He’ll be fine.”

“Come on, let’s go!” Aeris jumped into the chute labeled ‘Event Square’.

Yuffie and Red jumped in after her.

I turned to Cloud. “We’d better be careful, Sephiroth might be around.” I started to walk toward the Event Square chute, but Cloud grabbed my arm.

“Let’s stick together then.” He led me toward the Speed Square chute instead and we both jumped in.

Upon landing on the other side, I noticed the entrance to a rollercoaster ride. There was a short line at the ticket window.

“Are we going on the ride?” I asked Cloud.

Cloud glanced around. “I dunno if I can. I might get motion sick.”

“Do you have any more of those pills?”

Before Cloud could answer, a muscular man with a dark tan walked up to us. My eyes involuntarily looked him over. He wore nothing but red bikini briefs. I checked my gag reflex to make sure it was functioning because this man really made me want to vomit. Who in the world walked around an amusement park in just their briefs?

“Hey, boy,” he said, ignoring me completely.

Cloud frowned in annoyance. “Boy?”

“You having fun? Good, good for you boy.”

“The name’s Cloud. Stop calling me boy.”

“I’m the owner of the Gold Saucer. My name is Dio. But you can call me…Dio.”

Cloud looked like he had stopped listening to him as he continued to glance around. He had a tendency to do that if he was bored with someone.

“By the way, boy,” Dio went on. “Do you know what Black Materia is?”

“What is it?”

“Ha ha…that, I say, that’s a good one, boy! But it’s not good to lie. You can’t fool me.”

“Then why’d you ask me?”

“Well, someone recently asked me if I had any Black Materia. I thought you might know him, seein’ as you both have that Mako look in your eyes.”

Cloud suddenly gave Dio his full attention. “Did he happen to have…a black cape…?”

“Why yes, yes indeed. And a tattoo on his hand of the number one.”

“Where did he go?”

“I have no idea. Well then, I have to move on. Stop by the Battle Arena, boy. You’ll probably like it. Many of my collections are on display there.”

Cloud waited until Dio was gone before he grabbed me by the arm again and led me back to the chutes. “Maybe we should look for Sephiroth instead. Let’s go find Barret.” We jumped into the Wonder Square chute.

On the other side was the entrance to a building. Before we could head there, a cat on a white moogle hopped in our direction.

“Hey you!! What’re you lookin’ so down for!? How ‘bout it? Want me to read your fortune!? A bright future! A happy future! Oh, but don’t hold it against me if it’s not a great prediction! Oh, so sorry, maybe I should introduce myself! I’m a fortune telling machine. The name’s…Cait Sith.”

Cloud folded his arms. “You can only tell us about our fortune?”

“You kidding!? I can do more than that. I find missing things, missing people, anything!”

“Then tell me where I can find a man named Sephiroth.”

“Sephiroth, right!? Okay, here goes!!”

The moogle beneath Cait Sith performed an interesting foot shuffle, making me laugh. At the end, the moogle spit out a card and handed it to Cloud.

Cloud looked down at the card and read it outloud. “Ordinary luck. It will be an active fortune. Give into the good will of others, and something big will happen after summer.” He looked up at Cait Sith. “What the hell’s this? I thought you said you can find missing people.”

“Let me try again.”

The moogle performed his shuffle again and again handed a card to Cloud at the end.

“Be careful of forgetfulness. Your lucky color is…blue?” Cloud tossed the card away. “Just forget it.”

“Wait, wait…give me another chance!” cried Cait Sith. “Just one more try!”

Cloud was quickly losing his patience.

Cait Sith’s moogle shuffled a third time and again gave Cloud a card.

Cloud read it to himself this time and looked up with a startled expression. “What the…!?

I tried to catch a glimpse of the card. “What does it say?”

“It says, what you pursue will be yours, but you will lose something dear.”

Cait Sith shrugged. “I don’t know if it’s good or bad. This is the first time I ever got such an odd fortune. Shall we go then?”

“Excuse me? Go where?” I asked.

“As a fortune teller, I can’t help but wonder about this. If I don’t see what it leads to, I won’t be able to sleep. That’s why I must go with you on your travels.”

I looked at Cloud.

He was shaking his head. “No. No way.”

“I’m coming with you no matter what you say!”

“How about it, Cloud,” I said. “The moogle looks fairly strong. We could use him when we cross paths with any monsters.”

“I guess I don’t have a say in the matter.” He gave in and turned to Cait Sith. “Fine. You can go. So did you happen to see a big guy with a gun on his arm?”

“He was here a few minutes ago. But he went to the Battle Square.”

The three of us jumped into the Battle Square chute.

On the other side we walked to the entrance where a Shinra guard stood. Suddenly the guard startled us by dropped to the floor.

Cloud crouched down to check him. “Dead…” Then he stood back up and rushed through the entrance.

The next room was full of corpses.

I stared in shock. “Did Sephiroth do this?”

Cloud shook his head. “No, it’s not him. These people were all shot. Sephiroth would never use a gun.”

We heard someone moaning behind the ticket counter. It was a young woman. She was still alive. I helped her up on her feet.

“What happened?” Cloud asked her.

“A…a man with a gun…on his arm…”

I gasped. “Barret? No, it can’t be.”

“Hold it right there!”

Dio and several men appeared. “Grab them before they escape!”

As the men grabbed us, Cloud turned to Dio. “We didn’t do this!”

Dio wouldn’t listen. He motioned to his men. They dragged us to the center of the arena and surrounded us with their weapons raised.

“Listen to me!” yelled Cloud.

“There’s no need to listen,” Dio said calmly. “Pay for your crime below.”

The floor suddenly opened up beneath us and the three of us fell into a dark abyss.

 

Chapter 11​

JUNON – the present

A knock on the door woke me.

Funny how I didn’t even realize I had fallen asleep on that comfortable couch.

I got up and walked to the door. As I swung it open, I found Rufus Shinra standing just outside, his hand raised and ready to knock again. “President Shinra…”

“Miss Lockhart,” he acknowledged with a slight bow. “My associates informed me of your request to use one of the rooms here in the penthouse.”

I felt a slight blush on my cheeks. “Uh…I…I could get my own room, if you prefer.”

“No. You’re welcome to stay.” He strolled inside without invitation.

I couldn’t be rude and kick him out, especially not after he said I could stay. I closed the door and watched him walk around.

“Reno told me Cloud believes you were kidnapped by the Turks.”

“I tried calling him, but he’s not answering his phone.”

Rufus walked to the window and glanced over his shoulder at me. “He’s on his way here?”

“I…I’m pretty sure he is.”

He turned around and leaned on the window ledge as he folded his arms. “I get the impression you’re running away from something…or someone.”

I shifted from one foot to another, not willing to supply him with any information. “Why is everyone suddenly so interested in what’s going on in my life?”

Rufus smiled. “Humor me, Miss Lockhart. You could have gotten a room at this Inn, yet you choose to stay in my penthouse. My guess is you don’t want your name to appear on the registration log.”

I raised my eyebrows. It hadn’t even occurred to me, but now that he mentioned it, I was sort of glad I hadn’t booked my own room.

“And the only reason I surmise you wouldn’t want your name to appear on the registration log is so Cloud can’t find you.”

“I just want to see how the rich live.” I glanced away from him because I was afraid he’d know I was lying. “This is a pretty fancy place.”

“Something happened between you two.”

I folded my arms across my chest and looked him in the eye. “No offense, Mr President, but it’s none of your damned business.”

He smiled again. “You’re right. It’s not my business to pry into your personal affairs.”

“It’s not an affair, it’s…” I stopped myself before I said anything more.

“You do realize that when Cloud arrives in Junon, the first place he’ll come looking for you is here.”

Shinra was right. Since Cloud thought Reno kidnapped me, then he’d immediately ask around for the whereabouts of the Turks. Everyone in Junon obviously knew President Shinra was in town. They’d tell Cloud that Shinra and his crew were staying at the Junon Inn.

“He’ll more than likely cause trouble for me,” Shinra added.

“Maybe I should leave.”

He continued his stroll around the room as if this was the first time he had ever stepped foot in it. “Were you aware that I was afflicted with Geostigma?”

I raised my eyebrows at this bit of news. “No, I didn’t know that.”

He turned around to face me. “Cloud didn’t tell you?”

“Um…to be honest with you, Cloud and I haven’t had a chance to talk about anything for awhile.”

“He handled the Kadaj incident fairly well.”

I frowned at him and folded my arms. “Fairly well? He nearly died.”

Rufus nodded, as if understanding. “Tell me about the healing rain, Miss Lockhart.”

I unfolded my arms and looked at him suspiciously. “I don’t know anything about that.”

“Is the Cetra still alive?”

His question surprised me. “No. Sephiroth killed Aeris two years ago. I was there. I saw it happen.”

“Then where do you suppose the healing rain came from?”

“Why’re you asking me? You should ask Cloud.”

He smiled and walked toward the door. “Oh, believe me, I plan to.” He opened the door and walked out, closing the door quietly behind him.

A cold chill shot up my spine. What was Rufus Shinra up to now?

Maybe staying here wasn’t such a good idea. But if I left now, then I’d lose my chance to find out if Shinra had anything up his sleeves.

COREL PRISON – the past

We landed hard on the sand-covered ground.

Cloud immediately came to my side. “Tifa, are you okay?” He helped me up on my feet.

“I think so.” I looked around and everywhere I looked, all I saw was sand.

“Where are we?” asked Cloud.

Cait Sith was back up on his moogle’s shoulders. “A desert prison. The Corel Prison.”

“A desert prison?”

“Yup, a natural prison in the middle of the desert, surrounded entirely by quicksand. I heard that once you get in, you never get out. But, there was one special exception…”

We started to walk toward what looked like a heap of garbage. Further along the path there was a building made of rusted metal. We found Barret standing near it.

I rushed over to him. “Barret!”

Cloud came up beside me. “Barret, did you really…”

Barret moved away. “Stay back! This is something I gotta deal with. Jes’ leave me alone!” He moved around to the other side of the building.

“That’s one of your friends?” asked Cait Sith. “He sure looks dangerous.”

We followed him into a dilapidated house.

“Didn’t I tell you to leave me alone!?”

“Barret, we just want to talk to you,” I pleaded.

My eyes widened when he spun his gun arm on us and fired. But the shots didn’t touch any of us. The sound of a yelp came from behind us. A man laid dead on the broken sofa.

“Didn’t want none of ya to get involved…” said Barret as he lowered his gunarm.

Just then Aeris, Yuffie and Red XIII walked into the house.

Aeris shook her head with her hands on her hips. “Isn’t that Cloud’s line? ‘It’s too dangerous, I can’t let you get involved…’blah, blah, blah…”

“We’re already involved in this,” I added. “Just tell us what’s going on.”

“I heard the murders at the Battle Arena were done by a man with a gun-arm. Was that your doing?” questioned Red.

Barret shook his head sadly. “There’s another…another man that got a gun grafted inta one of his arms. It was four years ago…Dyne and I came back from a trip. The town was being attacked by Shinra guards. Then they started shooting at us, too. We tried to escape. Dyne fell and I grabbed him by the arm before he went down in the canyon. They kept shooting…the bullets hit both of our arms, where we were joined. Dyne fell.”

We all stood quietly as Barret told his story.

“From then on, I couldn’t use my right arm no more. I was depressed for a while. But then I threw away my artificial arm and got this gun grafted in. Got a new right arm to get revenge on the Shinra, who took everything away from me. Back then, I heard the doc say there was another man who got the same operation as me. But his was the left arm.”

“Dyne’s injury was the same as yours then?” I asked even though I already knew the answer. “He was deceived by the Shinra, just like the rest of us. He’ll probably join us to fight against them.”

“I wouldn’t bet on it. I gotta ‘pologize to Dyne before I can rest in peace. An’ that’s why, I gotta go alone.”

“I can’t let you do it, Barret,” said Cloud. “Because, if you die on me, I’m gonna have nightmares.”

I gave Cloud a look, telling him now wasn’t the time for jokes.

Barret walked out of the house.

Cloud pointed to me. “The rest of you stay here.”

We remained several paces behind Barret as we followed him. After nearly a half hour of walking, we entered a ravine and found a man with a gun on his left arm. It had to be Barret’s friend, Dyne.

“Dyne…Is that you?” asked Barret.

“Now there’s a voice I haven’t heard in years…A voice I’ll never forget.”

“I always hoped I’d be able to see you again someday. I knew you were alive somewhere. We had the same operation.”

Dyne suddenly fired at Barret.

Barret ducked behind a pile of garbage.

“What’s that?” Dyne asked. “I hear her voice.”

Barret realized Cloud and I were right beside him and he scowled angrily.

“I hear her voice,” Dyne went on. “Eleanor’s voice, begging me not to hate your rotten guts. That’s why I didn’t hunt you down.”

Barret yelled out. “I know I was stupid. I’m not asking you to forgive me. But…what’re you doin’ in a place like this? Why ya wanna kill those that ain’t even involved? Why?”

“Why!? The hell do you care for!? Are the people killed going to understand ‘why’? Are the people of Corel going to understand just hearing Shinra’s excuses? I don’t care what the reason is! All they give us are stupid excuses and death. What’s left is a world of despair and emptiness?”

Barret looked confused by what Dyne was saying.

“You wanna know why? All right, I’ll tell you. ‘Cause I want to destroy everything. The people of this city. This city itself. The whole world! I got nothing left in this world. Corel, Eleanor… Marlene…”

Finally something caught his attention. “Marlene…She’s still alive!” Barret slowly stepped out from behind the debris. “Dyne, I went back into town. I thought she was gone for sure. But I found her. I found Marlene.”

Cloud and I both peeked around the debris to see what was happening. Barret was trying to move closer to Dyne.

“She’s in Midgar. Let’s go see her together, all right?”

“So…she’s still alive. All right, Barret. I guess that means you and I gotta fight.”

“Whatcha talkin’ ‘bout?”

“Eleanor’s alone all by herself. I’ve gotta take Marlene to her.”

“Are you insane!?”

“Marlene wants to see her mom, don’t she?” Dyne started shooting toward Barret again. “My life’s been over for some time now!”

Barret avoided the shots. “Stop! I don’t wanna fight you!”

“Barret!” Cloud yelled out.

“Stay the hell out of it, Cloud! This is my problem!”

I watched in horror as Barret started shooting back, occasionally ducking behind various debris around the area. My mind was in a whirl. Dyne was Marlene’s real father. So this is what happened to him.

The fight didn’t last long. Dyne was hit several times and collapsed on the ground.

When Barret tried to approach him, Dyne stood up and aimed his gunarm again. “Stay back!”

Barret froze in his tracks. “Let me help you, Dyne.”

Dyne shook his head. “It wasn’t just my arm back then. I lost something irreplaceable. I don’t know where I went wrong.”

“I don’t know either, man. We can resolve this.”

“I told you. I want to destroy everything…Everything. This crazy world…Even me…”

“An’ what ‘bout Marlene? What’s gonna happen to her!?”

“Think about it, Barret. How old was Marlene back then…? Two? Even if I did go to her now, she wouldn’t even know me. And what’s more, Barret, these hands are too stained to carry her anymore.” He went into his pocket and pulled something out. “Give this to her. It was… Eleanor’s…my wife’s memento…”

Barret caught the item tossed to him. “All right.”

“Wow. Marlene’s gotta be what…seven by now?”

“That’s right.”

“Barret, don’t ever make Marlene…cry…”

I gasped when Dyne suddenly flung himself over the side of the cliff.

Barret rushed forward. “Dyne!” But it was too late. “Me an’ you were the same,” he yelled down into the chasm. “My hands ain’t any cleaner. I shouldn’t be able to carry Marlene either.”

Cloud and I came out from behind the debris and moved toward Barret.

I touched his arm. “I’m sorry, Barret.”

“Let’s get outta here,” he mumbled.

We went back to where most of the other prisoners were. One particular man caught Barret’s attention and we walked up to him.

“You want somethin’?” asked the man.

“I wanna go back up,” replied Barret.

“Like I told you before, you gotta get permission from the boss and then win the Chocobo…”

“The boss is dead.” Barret held up the pendant Dyne had given him.

“So you killed him? You must’ve or you’d never be holding that thing. Good. Maybe now the place will calm down a little. Dyne didn’t care who anyone was…around here…”

Barret grabbed the man by the front of his shirt and lifted him off the ground. “The hell do you know!”

“I…I don’t know anything. Sor…sorry.”

Cloud stepped up as Barret pushed the man away. “Get us outta here.”

“I already told him, there’s only one way to get outta here. That’s to win the Chocobo race and that’s held up there, in the Gold Saucer. And, only one racer can go up at a time.”

Barret grabbed the man again. “Say what!?”

“Noooo! Really, even if you threaten me! A rule is a rule. I can’t change it. If I do, the whole system down here’ll get messed up! An’ I can’t do that! I’ll let one go up there. After that, he’s gotta deal with Dio.”

“Awright then.” He released the man. “You go, Cloud. We’ll wait down here. Hurry up an’ win that Chocobo race, an’ get us outta here!”

Cloud turned toward the elevator the man pointed to. “Why do I always get stuck doing everything?” he mumbled to himself along the way.

GOLD SAUCER – the past

Cloud eventually won the Chocobo race and we were all released.

On our way to the Ropeway station, someone delivered a letter and handed it to Cloud.

Cloud read it outloud. “Boy, if you’re reading this letter, then you must’ve won. And won a victory that I’m sure you earned. I heard about Dyne from some of my staff. Now that you’re victorious, I promise that you and all your friends will get a full pardon and you all will be set free. And also, by way of apology, I prepared a little gift for you to use on your journey. Sorry I couldn’t be there to tell you this in person, but I’m a very busy man. Sincerely, Dio.” Cloud looked up. “A gift?” He continued reading. “P.S. When I met Sephiroth, I thought he must have a lot of fans that are boys your age. Why don’t you get his autograph? It seems he’s headed south of the river, towards Gongaga.”

The messenger motioned for us to follow him and we entered an elevator that took us down to the ground level. Waiting for us there was what the messenger referred to as a ‘Buggy’. It was big enough to fit all of us, including Cait Sith and his moogle.

At least now we wouldn’t have to walk any longer.

GONGAGA – the past

We approached Gongaga in the Buggy and realized we’d have to abandon it outside the small town. The path ahead was a maze of fallen trees and large boulders. So we were back to walking for a little while.

Since we started our quest, our team had now grown to seven with the addition of Cait Sith. At first I was resentful of the added company, but after fighting the growing number of monsters, I was thankful for the extra power the rest of the team provided.

As we walked along the path, weaving through the tree and rock obstacles, voices drifted from up ahead. We all stopped behind a boulder to listen. I recognized the voices belonging to the Turks, Reno and Rude.

“Hey, Rude. Who do you like?”

No reply.

“What’re you getting so embarrassed about? Come on, who do you like?”

“…Tifa.”

At the sound of my name, I tried to peer around the boulder, but Cloud kept pushing me back.

“She’s a tough one. But, poor Elena. Weren’t you and her…?”

“No, she likes Tseng.”

“Tseng? Really?! I thought Tseng liked that Ancient…”

Just then we realized someone else had joined us behind the boulder. Another Turk. It was Elena.

Her arms were folded across her chest and she had a smirk on her face, like she had caught us all by herself.

Cloud motioned with his head toward Reno and Rude. “What are they talking about?”

Elena shrugged. “It’s so stupid. They’re always talking about who they like or don’t like.” She took a few steps away from the boulder so Reno and Rude would see her. “Hey! They’re over here!”

We all stepped out from behind the boulder. Reno and Rude seemed a little surprised. Maybe they hadn’t realized our group had grown either.

“Don’t go easy on them even though they’re girls in the group,” said Reno.

“I’ll report to Tseng!” Elena ran off in another direction.

Reno grinned. “It’s payback time for what you did in Sector 7.”

Cloud unsheathed his buster sword. “Out of our way.”

“I don’t like being taken for a fool.”

The battle began.

Reno and Rude had shields that blocked any lethal materia, but Cloud pressed them back with the blows he delivered with his sword. It didn’t last long.

“We’re still victorious,” Reno yelled as he retreated with Rude.

Barret started to pursue.

“Let them go! We have to move on,” said Cloud.

We proceeded forward until we came across a demolished reactor. After searching around the outside and interior of the reactor, we didn’t find anything but an angry monster that needed to be terminated.

Just as we were about to leave the reactor, the sound of a helicopter forced us to scatter for places to hide.

Cloud and I peeked out from our hiding place and watched the helicopter land. We recognized the two people that got off. Scarlet, who was the head of Shinra Weapon Development and Tseng, the man in charge of the Turks.

Scarlet glanced at the wrecked reactor. “This one isn’t any good either. You can’t get good materia out of a junky reactor. Besides, what I’m looking for is big, large, huge materia. You haven’t seen any by chance, have you?”

“No, I haven’t seen any,” Tseng replied. “I’ll get on it right away.”

“With Hojo gone, I’ve got a bigger budget. But even if we make the perfect weapon, could that stupid Heidegger even use it? Oh, listen to me. Sorry…I forgot Heidegger was your boss! Ha, ha, ha!”

Tseng didn’t say anything.

The two of them boarded the helicopter and it was soon airborne.

All of us came out of our hiding places.

“Did you hear that?” asked Cloud as we watched the helicopter disappear. “Big materia? The perfect weapon? Wonder what Shinra’s up to?”

We proceeded to the town west of the reactor. The buildings were mainly made up of domed huts. There definitely weren’t any riches here. But we spent the night at an inn that had comfortable beds.

In the morning we walked around the small town for awhile, talking to some of the people and hoping to get information on Sephiroth’s whereabouts.

One man was looking at Cloud strangely. “That glare in your eye…you in SOLDIER?”

The woman standing beside the man noticed Cloud, too. “Do you know anything about our son?”

“His name is Zack,” added the man. “It’s been close to ten years since he left, saying that he didn’t want to live in the country…He left saying he was going to join SOLDIER. Do you know him? Do you know Zack?”

I turned to Cloud, knowing that Zack had been his friend at the academy.

Cloud shrugged. “I don’t know…”

Aeris looked down sadly and whispered, “Zack…”

The woman moved closer to Aeris. “Young lady, you know him? I remember he wrote us six or seven years ago saying that he had a girlfriend. Could that have been you?”

Aeris shook her head. “No…Sorry.” She quickly walked away.

I turned to Cloud again, waiting for him to say something about Zack. When he didn’t, I walked away as well. Zack was dead. If these two people were his parents, I didn’t want to be the one to tell them their son was dead.

Cloud walked up to me, looking a bit suspicious. “Do you know Zack?”

According to Cloud’s version of the Nibelheim incident, Zack hadn’t been there with Sephiroth. So technically I wouldn’t have known Zack. Not sure of the truth anymore, I shook my head. “No…I don’t know him.”

“Your face tells me differently.”

“I told you, I don’t!”

Cloud held up a hand. “Okay, okay.”

I folded my arms across my chest. “Sounds just like you, leaving town and joining SOLDIER.”

“There were a lot of guys that went.”

I wanted Cloud to come out and tell me the truth…that he hadn’t come home five years ago. But I didn’t know how to bring the subject up without me directly calling him a liar. “You must really be something making it in SOLDIER out of all the others that went.”

Cloud blinked several times. “I…I just got lucky, I guess.”

Maybe I didn’t want to know the truth anymore. Maybe it was more important for me to believe that Cloud believed he was there. I took his hand. “Come on, let’s go find Aeris.”

We found her sitting against the wall of one of the huts.

She looked up at us with tears in her eyes. “What a shock…I didn’t know Zack was from this town.”

“You knew him?” asked Cloud.

“Didn’t I tell you? He was the first man I ever loved. Zack…SOLDIER First Class. Same as you.”

Cloud shifted uncomfortably. “There weren’t that many who made First Class, but I’ve never heard of him.”

I knew it was a lie. Cloud wrote to me about Zack. How could he say he’d never heard of him?

Aeris shrugged. “It’s all right. It’s all in the past now. I was just worried because I heard he’d been missing.”

“Missing?”

“I think it was five years ago. He went on a mission and never came back.” She smiled even though tears were still coming down her cheeks. “He loved women, a real lady’s man. He probably found someone else…I just feel for his parents.”

I moved closer and put an arm around her shoulder, trying to comfort her. She didn’t know Zack was dead either. I couldn’t say anything, not after telling Cloud I didn’t know Zack.

“We should get going,” said Cloud.

Aeris wiped her eyes and nodded. “Yes, let’s move on.”

I kept my arm around Aeris as we followed Cloud in search of the others. In the back of my mind I kept wondering why Cloud was maintaining this charade. Why was he making everyone, including me, believe that he had been in Nibelheim at the time Sephiroth destroyed it? He seemed to be walking in the same steps as Zack Fair. Was this the reason he was also saying he didn’t know Zack?

It was all driving me crazy, but since I didn’t know why Cloud was lying, I had to pretend to believe him. But for how long?

 

Chapter 12​

JUNON – the present

It was 10:45pm when I spotted Fenrir coming down the main avenue. There were no other vehicles on the road at this hour.

I watched from one of the bedroom windows of the Junon Inn penthouse as Cloud stopped on the side of the street, parking beneath a streetlight. He dismounted and after drawing his sword from the harness on his back, he walked into the diner below. I couldn’t see what was happening from up here. Hopefully Cloud wasn’t killing anybody for information.

A few minutes later Cloud left the diner and made his way across the street to the train station. Apparently the waitress and the people in the diner didn’t give him any information or he would have been on his way to the Inn.

After exchanging a few words with the employee at the ticket window, he slammed his gloved fist against the wall, making the girl jump. I expected him to raise his sword at any moment. But he backed a few steps away from the window and left.

I watched him walk back to Fenrir. He pulled his cellphone out of his pocket and made a call.

My phone buzzed where it rested on the coffee table.

I quickly crossed the room and grabbed it. “Cloud…”

“Tifa, you didn’t listen to any of the messages I left on your phone, did you?”

“Actually, I did.” I walked back to the window and looked down at him.

He sat sideways on the motorcycle seat. “I’m sorry for acting like such a jerk off. I didn’t know what was going on. I’m here in Junon now. Tell me where they’re holding you.”

“Listen to me, Cloud, I wasn’t kidnapped.”

“I get it. You can’t talk, right? Are they right there?”

“There’s nobody here. I’m by myself. The Turks have nothing to do with this.”

“They’re forcing you to say that to me, aren’t they?”

“No, I said there’s no one with me…”

“I’ll skin them alive if they hurt you.”

I lost my patience. “Cloud, stop it!”

“…” Silence.

“What is the matter with you? Why are you falling apart like this?”

“I need to see that you’re all right.”

“I’m fine and you’re not going to see me.”

“Tifa…”

“You wanna know the truth? I’ve decided I need a break away from you.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“No…don’t do this.”

“Why not?”

“Because I…I just…”

I waited for him to continue. When he didn’t I sighed heavily. “Yeah, I figured you wouldn’t have anything to say.”

“I don’t like talking on the phone,” he admitted slowly.

“On the phone…at home…you don’t like talking anywhere, Cloud.”

“We’re supposed to go to the villa in Costa Del Sol. We’re supposed to talk there.”

“What’s so different about Costa Del Sol that you can talk there, but not in our own home?”

“I don’t know. I just wanna be somewhere that doesn’t remind me of everyday shit.”

I felt a stab in my heart. “Everyday shit…is that what I am to you?”

He groaned. “Tifa, come on. You know that’s not what I mean.”

“So what’re we supposed to talk about?”

“Us.”

“I don’t think I want to hear it.”

“You’re assuming it’s bad.”

“Well, isn’t it?”

“No…”

“Why don’t I believe you?”

“You used to believe everything I said, even when you knew it wasn’t the truth. What’s changed?”

“You don’t think you’ve changed, Cloud?”

“A lot’s happened to me. You know that.”

“I can’t be your crutch forever.”

“I know. I need to learn to let go.”

“Apparently, so do I.”

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe you should stay away from me for awhile.”

“It’s not what I really want.”

“Marlene and Denzel need you more than they need me. I’ll leave.”

“Did you even hear what I said? It’s not what I want, Cloud.” My cellphone chirped and I quickly looked at it. It was the battery. “My phone’s about to die. Listen, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. We’ll go to Costa Del Sol just like you wanted and we’ll talk. Okay?”

“Tifa, there’s something I need to say to you. I…”

Silence.

“Cloud?” No reply. “Cloud?” I glanced at my phone.

It was dead.

“Shit.” It was time to leave anyway. I rushed around the room, grabbing all of my things before heading to the door and flinging it open.

On the other side were Reno and Rude.

“Were you two eavesdropping on me?” I asked indignantly.

“Us? Never.” Reno looked guilty regardless. “The boss wants to see you.”

“Maybe next time.” I tried to push my way between them, but they wouldn’t let me pass.

“Sorry, Tifa,” said Rude.

“But Cloud is…” I stopped myself before mentioning that Cloud was in town. “I have to go.”

The next thing I knew, they were dragging me down the hall to a doorway at the end.

“What’re you doing? Let me go!”

On the other side of the door was a stairway. They had to pick me up and carry me because I wasn’t going as quietly as they thought I would.

At the top of the stairs was another door that Rude kicked open.

We were on the roof. What was their plan? Were they going to throw me off?

The sound of a helicopter reached my ears. I turned in the direction Reno and Rude were carrying me. Sure enough, a Shinra helicopter with spinning blades looked ready to take off.

I was tossed unceremoniously inside, crashing into someone in the back seat.

“Sorry,” hollered Rude.

I pushed away from the hands that tried to help me into the seat. When I turned to see who it was, maybe I wasn’t so surprised to find Rufus Shinra sitting there with a smug smile on his face.

“Ready to go?” asked Reno as he sat himself at the controls.

“Ready,” Shinra replied.

Less than a minute later, we were airborne.

As the helicopter left the rooftop and banked toward the street, I pasted my hands and face against the glass. I saw Cloud still sitting on Fenrir, punching numbers on his cellphone.

He suddenly looked up just as the Shinra helicopter passed directly over his head.

Our eyes met for just a brief second before he was no longer in sight and we were flying over the water.

COSMO CANYON – the past

For some odd reason, the Buggy’s engine suddenly died as we tried passing through a canyon.

“Whattup, Cloud?” asked Barret from the backseat.

Cloud shook his head as he tried to figure out what was wrong. “Don’t know. It just stopped.”

“Open the door,” Red XIII panted. “Let me out!”

I opened the door on my side and stepped out just before Red bolted from inside the Buggy. Everyone else got out and we all followed Red toward a staircase carved into the stone.

“I’m home!” Red called out.

At the top of the staircase, I found myself staring at a town built into the mountains.

“Hey, Nanaki! You’re safe!” said a man standing guard beneath an archway.

Cloud glanced at me briefly. “Nanaki?”

The guard looked at all of us. “Welcome to Cosmo Canyon. People from all over the world gather here to study planet life.”

“Yeah!” Barret whooped. “I always wanted to come here!”

“Unfortunately we’re at full capacity at present, so I’m afraid I can’t let you enter.”

Red turned to the guard. “They helped me escape my captors. Please let them in.”

The guard looked at all of us again. “Is that so? You helped our Nanaki? Well then, that’s different. Please, come in.”

Cloud leaned toward the guard. “Who’s Nanaki?”

The guard pointed to Red. “That’s his name.”

Red stood looking at the town. “Here is where I was…I mean…this is my hometown. My tribe were protectors of those who appreciate this beautiful canyon and the planet. My brave mother fought and died here, but my cowardly father left her. I am the last of my race.”

“Cowardly father?” asked Cloud.

“Good timin’,” said Barret. “Let’s take a breather. I got stuff I want to find out, too.”

Cloud motioned me to follow him and we went with Red…or Nanaki…up a series of stairways.

In one of the homes, we were greeted by a man with a thick white mustache. “Nanaki, you’ve come home!”

Cloud and I stood off to the side as the two greeted each other.

“Cloud, Tifa…this is my grandfather, Bugenhagen. He is incredible. He knows everything.”

“Ho, ho, hoooo. So you looked after Nanaki. Thank you. He is still a child afterall.

“Please stop, grandfather. I’m 48.”

“Nanaki’s tribe has incredible longevity,” Bugenhagen explained. “So you see, his 48 years would only be equivalent to say that of a fifteen or sixteen year old in human reckoning.”

Cloud and I exchanged a surprised look.

“He’s quiet and very deep. You thought he was an adult?”

“Well, yeah,” said Cloud.

“You can’t stand on your own yet, Nanaki. To do so now would destroy you in the long run. Reaching up into the heavens, threatening to snatch the very stars from the great city of Midgar. You’ve seen it, haven’t you? Well, that’s a bad example. Looking up too much makes you lose perspective. When it’s time for this planet to die, you’ll understand that you know absolutely nothing.”

“When the planet dies?” Cloud asked before I could.

“It may be tomorrow or 100 years from now. But it’s not long off.”

“How do you know this?”

“I hear the cries of the planet.”

“Whatta you mean by that?”

“The sound of the stars in the heavens. Planets are born and they die. They suffer…they hurt…”

Red stepped forward. “They have come here on a journey to save the planet. Why don’t you show them your apparatus?”

Bugenhagen chuckled. “To save the planet?” He continued to laugh as we followed him up a ladder into another room.

The room was round and all around us I saw what looked like planets. So lifelike…

“This is my laboratory,” said Bugenhagen. “All the workings of space are entered into this 3D holographic system.”

I grabbed Cloud’s arm excitedly and pointed. “Look! A shooting star!”

Bugenhagen chuckled. “Yes, it is something, isn’t it? Well, let’s get to the subject. Eventually... all humans die. What happens to them after they die? The body decomposes and returns to the planet. That much everyone knows. What about their consciousness, their hearts and their souls? The soul too returns to the planet. And not only those of humans, but everything on this planet. In fact, all living things in the universe are the same. The spirits that return to the planet, merge with one another and roam together. They roam, converge and divide, becoming a swell called the Lifestream. Lifestream…in other words, a path of energy of the souls roaming the planet. Spirit Energy is a word that you should never forget. A new life…children are blessed with Spirit Energy and are brought into the world. Then the time comes when they die and once again return to the planet…Of course there are exceptions, but this is the way of the world.”

“So, if the Spirit energy is lost, then our Planet is destroyed?” Cloud asked.”

“Spirit Energy is efficient because it exists within nature. When it’s forcefully extracted and manufactured, it can’t accomplish its true purpose.”

“You’re talking about Mako energy, right?”

“Mako reactors suck up Spirit Energy on a daily basis, diminishing it. Spirit Energy gets compressed in the reactors and processed into Mako energy. All living things are being used up and thrown away. In other words, Mako energy will eventually destroy the planet.”

I couldn’t believe what Bugenhagen was saying. I knew we were fighting for a cause, but this was huge.

“If you want to know more,” Bugenhagen continued to say. “…then you must listen to the words of the elders.”

Cloud’s eyes seemed to be glowing brightly in the dimly lit room. It was almost eerie. We sat down and listened to Bugenhagen as shared more of his knowledge with us.

Later that night Cloud and I met up with the rest of the group. They were all sitting around a campfire. After I sat down, I followed Cloud with my eyes as he crouched down to talk to Barret.

“Cosmo Canyon,” said Barret as he stared into the fire. “This is where AVALANCHE was born. I promised my guys someday, when we saved the planet from the Shinra, that we’d all go to Cosmo Canyon and celebrate. Biggs…Wedge…Jessie…Now they’re all gone…died to save the planet. Will they ever forgive me for leading them to their deaths? I really don’t know. But I know one thing. If there’s anything I can do to save the planet…or the people livin’ on it…then I’m gonna do it! I don’t care if it’s for justice or revenge or whatever. I don’t care.”

Next to Barret sat Yuffie. “What a boring place! I wanna go somewhere! Let’s go find some Materia!”

“I learned a lot,” Aeris spoke up. “The elders taught me many things. About the Cetra and the Promised Land. I’m alone. I’m all alone now…”

Cloud turned to her. “We’re here for you, Aeris.”

“I know. I know, but…I’m the only…Cetra.”

“Does that mean we can’t help?” When he didn’t get an answer, Cloud stood up and moved around until he was between me and Nanaki. Then he sat down.

I smiled as I stared into the flames. “Bonfires are funny, aren’t they? They make you remember all sorts of things.” I turned toward Cloud. “Like what happened five years ago.”

Cloud stared back at me…and for a brief second I thought he might say something.

But then Red started to speak. “Long ago, when I was still very small. We were all around this fire…No, never mind…”

“What happened?” I asked.

“It’s about my parents. When I talk about my mother, I am full of pride and joy. But when I remember my father, my heart is full of anger.”

Bugenhagen joined us. “You really can’t forgive your father?”

“How can I? He left my mother for dead. When the Gi tribe attacked, he ran off by himself, leaving mother and the people of the Canyon!”

“Come, Nanaki. There’s something you should see.”

When Bugenhagen and Red left the bonfire, Cloud and I exchanged a glance before we quickly went to join them.

CAVE OF GI – the past

Cloud and I stood with Bugenhagen and Red in front of a door with steel bars sealing it to the wall.

Bugenhagen glanced at each of us. “It’s dangerous in there. So we must all be alert. Ready?”

Cloud gave a nod.

Bugenhagen pulled a lever and the steel bars slid away from in front of the door. A hiss followed as the door slowly opened.

The four of us walked through the doorway one by one, entering a large cave with many dark openings.

“Everyone here is a Ghost of the Gi Tribe,” explained Bugenhagen. “Killed in a certain battle. The vengeful spirits of the Gi didn’t disappear and couldn’t return to the Lifestream. Come, we have far to go.”

Giant insect creatures attacked us on three different occasions while we headed toward another cave. Luckily they didn’t take to fire very well. Cloud and I used Fire materia as often as we could.

Bugenhagen was pleased with the way Red handled the insects and praised him.

Upon entering the next cave, Bugenhagen waved a hand around. “As you can see, this cave leads to the back of Cosmo Canyon. It was fortunate that the Gi were larger then us. If they had been able to fit in these caves and attacked through here, we wouldn’t have stood a chance.”

We moved on into the next cave.

“One warrior took this same path all alone. Fighting attackers one after another…”

“Grandpa…That warrior…?” Red started to ask.

“We’re almost there.”

After another cave, we were confronted by something Bugenhagen referred to as Gi Nattak.

When the fight was over, Bugenhagen sighed in relief. “Thank you, Cloud and Tifa. Because of you, we survived. Nanaki, you have grown strong, too.”

Red smiled proudly in his own animalistic manner.

“Now I know it wasn’t a mistake bringing you here. Come, I have something I want to show you. Right through this opening.”

We entered the final cave and saw that it was actually a small gulley.

I gasped outloud when I saw what looked like a large statue of a creature that looked just like Red. The statue had been impaled by dozens of arrows.

Red was more surprised than I when he saw the statue.

“The warrior who fought against the Gi,” Bugenhagen said solemnly. “He kept them from taking even one step into Cosmo Canyon. Even after the Gi’s poisonous arrows turned his body to stone…Even after they all ran away…he continued to protect us and still protects us even now. But he was never able to return to town.” Bugenhagen turned to Red. “You thought that he was a coward and ran away. But he alone risked his life to protect Cosmo Canyon. That is your father, Seto.”

Red looked on sorrowfully. “That is Seto? Did mother know?”

“Yes, she knew. She made me promise to keep this cave shut and asked me to seal it myself and not tell a soul.”

Red shook his head. “I don’t know what to say. All this time…”

“I wanted to show you your real father before you left on your journey. I'm so glad that you came back this way.”

Red raised his head. “I am Nanaki of Cosmo Canyon! The son of the warrior, Seto! I'll come back a warrior true to that noble name!”

Bugenhagen smiled proudly.

NIBELHEIM – the past

We stayed in Cosmos Canyon until morning. After Bugenhagen’s people helped fix our Buggy, we headed north.

Cloud and I were both quiet when everyone decided on our next destination. Barret took up the driver’s seat after awhile to give Cloud a break and Aeris sat beside him. Yuffie, Red and Cait Sith were sitting in the middle seat. That left the back seat available for Cloud and I.

“You nervous?” he asked me.

I stared wide-eyed at him. “A little bit.”

“Have you been back since it happened?”

“Just once. Professor Zangan was taking care of me. We came back to see if anyone else survived besides us. There weren’t very many.”

Cloud gave me a troubled look.

I knew what he was thinking about. His mother. She hadn’t been among the survivors.

Several hours later, Barret stopped the Buggy at the foot of the crest leading into town. We all got out. Everyone waited for Cloud and I to go first.

Cloud took my hand. “Ready?”

I nodded nervously, not sure I really wanted to do this. But we had to see if Sephiroth left any clues in the mansion.

After a deep breath, we both started walking up the hill.

Steeling myself for the sight of the charred houses and buildings that would greet us, I stood stunned when I actually looked down to see what remained of our town. Everything looked normal…all the houses and buildings stood untouched…as if nothing happened. “It was all burnt down before. Am I seeing things?”

Cloud was just as shocked.

“My house…it’s still there too…”

Barret came up beside us with the others. “The hell’s goin’ on!? This a dream or somethin’?”

“This can’t be,” Cloud whispered. “I remember…the intense heat of the flames…”

We proceeded forward. Some people were walking along the sidewalks, looking strangely at us.

“Somebody must have rebuilt the town,” Cloud commented. “Do you recognize anyone?”

I didn’t recognize anyone. None of these people were original citizens of Nibelheim. “No.”

“Let’s just do what we have to do here and leave as soon as possible.” Cloud led the way to the dilapidated Shinra mansion.

After searching around the main floor, we found nothing but several monsters lurking around that needed to be disposed of. On the second floor, Cloud found a key that didn’t go to any of the doors on that level. Then he led the way to one of the bedrooms and pressed a certain brick on the fireplace.

A doorway appeared.

I raised my eyebrows. Interesting. How did Cloud know there had been a secret passage? Unless he had been in the mansion before…

We went down a long stairway that spiraled along the walls of the circular tower.

At the bottom we walked into a dank and dingy room with two wooden doors. One of them was locked.

Cloud tried the key and as luck would have it, the door opened.

Inside the dim room was a coffin.

Barret stepped forward and before anyone could stop him, he lifted the lid of the coffin.

To our surprise, there was a man in a red cape lying inside it. A well-preserved corpse. Who knew how long he had been in the coffin. Just then his eyes came open. After everyone jumped back in fright, Cloud bravely moved back to the coffin.

“I was having a nightmare,” the strange man said in a hushed voice. “My long sleep has given me time to atone.”

Cloud briefly glanced back at us and shrugged before turning back to the man in the coffin. “’Scuse me?”

“I have nothing to say to strangers. Get out. This mansion is the beginning of your nightmare.”

“You can say that again.”

The man sat upright and gave Cloud a cursory once-over. “What do you know?”

“I know Sephiroth. Like you said, this mansion is the beginning of a nightmare. He lost his mind after he found the secrets hidden here…”

“Sephiroth!? You know Sephiroth?”

“Unfortunately I know too much about him.” He went on to tell the strange man all he knew. When the tale was over, Cloud folded his arms. “So what do you know about him?”

“Sorry…I cannot speak of it.”

Barret jumped forward. “Hey! You lyin’ white-faced…!”

“Hearing your stories has added upon me yet another sin. More nightmares shall come to me now, more than I previously had. Now…please leave.” The stranger laid back down, closing the coffin lid along the way.

Looking frustrated, Cloud flung the lid back open.

“You’re still here?” the stranger asked in annoyance.

“Who the hell are you?”

The stranger sat upright again. “The name’s Vincent. I was with…the Shinra Manufacturing Department in Administrative Research, otherwise known as…the Turks.”

Cloud glared angrily. “You’re with the Turks!?”

Vincent held up a hand. “Formerly of the Turks. I have no affiliation with Shinra now. And you all are?”

Cloud made the introductions.

“So you were also with Shinra?” Vincent asked. “Did you happen to know Lucrecia?”

“Who?”

“Lucrecia. The woman who gave birth to Sephiroth.”

“Gave birth...? I thought Jenova was Sephiroth’s mother?”

“That isn’t entirely wrong, but just a theory. He was born from a beautiful lady. That lady was Lucrecia. She was an assistant to Professor Gast of the Jenova Project. Beautiful Lucrecia.”

“So she was a human experiment?”

“There was no way to cancel the experiment. I couldn’t stop her. That was my sin. I let the one I loved…the one I respected most…face the worst.” Vincent hung his head sadly. Then he laid back down and closed the lid once again. “Let me sleep…”

This time Cloud didn’t reopen it. “We should leave him alone.”

We all followed Cloud out of the room and through the second doorway. The next room was a library.

Just then we were confronted by Sephiroth. Everyone drew their weapons simultaneously. Except me…I just had my fists.

“Sephiroth!” Cloud yelled.

The madman looked up at the mention of his name. “Being here brings back memories. Are you going to participate in the Reunion?”

“What Reunion? What’re you talking about?”

“Jenova will be at the Reunion. She will join the Reunion becoming a calamity from the skies.”

“A calamity from the skies? You mean she wasn’t an Ancient!?” Cloud glanced briefly in Aeris’s direction.

Sephiroth frowned. “I don’t think you have the right to participate. I will go North past Mt Nibel. If you wish to find out…then follow…”

Cloud stepped forward, holding his buster sword. But Sephiroth levitated and suddenly flew over all of our heads. When he disappeared out of the library, Cloud turned and started to rush out.

We all followed behind him.

Just as we reached the main floor, Vincent suddenly appeared. “Wait! If I go with you, will I meet Hojo?”

“Dunno,” replied Cloud. “But we’re after him and Sephiroth. So, chances are pretty good…”

Vincent nodded. “All right. I’ve decided to go with you.”

Barret held up his gunarm. “No one invited you!”

“Being a former Turk, I may be of help to you.”

Cloud pushed Barret’s gunarm away. “Fine. Let’s go.”

We left Nibelheim and all its strange people behind, heading further north and to whatever awaited us.

 

Chapter 14​

Somewhere in the Middle of Nowhere – the present

The helicopter landed in the water with a huge splash and in a matter of seconds the cabin began to flood. I got up from the floor where I had fallen from the impact and desperately kicked at the door handle next to the seat.

It was every man for himself apparently because Rufus, Rude and Reno were each trying their own sides.

Finally getting my side open, I jumped into the water and swam as far away from the sinking chopper as I could get. It was going down incredibly fast. Unfortunately I noticed the bobbing heads of my foes.

A quick glance around revealed an island close enough to swim to. There wasn’t anywhere else to go. And in the darkness I wasn’t sure I wanted to remain in the water. Who knew what lurked around under the surface.

I swam in the direction of the island. But it seemed like I wasn’t getting any closer. My arms were starting to get tired. No, I couldn’t give up now. I had to keep going.

A quick glance behind me and I saw Shinra and the Turks swimming as well.

After what seemed like an eternity, I finally felt the ground beneath my feet. I stood up, only to be plummeted by a strong wave crashing behind me. I fell face first into the water, swallowing a huge gulp of the salty liquid.

A set of hands grabbed me by the arms and hoisted me out of the water. It was Rude. He was the only one big enough to carry me on his shoulder. When we were on dry land, he unceremoniously dropped me on the sand and collapsed beside me.

I coughed up saltwater and promptly passed out.

My eyes slowly crept open and a blazing light blinded me. I threw a hand over my forehead to shield the light as I sat up. As my eyesight adjusted, I found that I was sitting on a beach. It all came back to me in a flash…running away from Cloud, talking to him on the phone, being kidnapped by Shinra…the chopper crash.

I fell back down on the soft sand with a disgruntled groan. “I should have just stayed home.” I slowly sat up and climbed to my feet. “What the hell was I thinking when I left yesterday?” When I turned around to face away from the beach, I spied a campfire. Sitting around it were my kidnappers, cheerfully talking to each other as if they were on a camping trip.

Reno glanced my way as he held a stick in the flames. “Well, look who decided to join the living.”

I stalked my way toward their little party. On the way, I reached into my pocket for my phone. Water dripped from the cracked display screen. “Shit…” I tossed the worthless phone in the sand.

When I reached them, Rufus held a stick out to me. Something burnt to a crisp was skewered on the end of it. “Care for some gopher?”

I put my hands on my hips. “No, I don’t want any gopher.”

He shrugged and tore a huge piece out of it. “Tastes like chicken. Not bad, Rude.”

“Thanks, boss.”

I loudly cleared my throat. “Excuse me, but what’re you going to do to get us out of here?”

Rufus stopped chewing and looked at me like he just realized we were stranded on an island. And then he took another bite of gopher.

“Hello? Are you listening to me?!”

“I heard you. No need to shout.”

Reno snorted. “You’d think she’d be grateful after we made sure she was safe.”

I turned to him. “Grateful?” It was hotter than hell in the sun and they were basking in front of a hot fire, cooking…no, burning gophers and acting as if nothing happened. “This is all your fault, Reno!”

“My fault? You’re the one who shot up the chopper.”

“Blame that on your boss. He forced me.”

“You should have just sat quietly. But, noooo…you had to go and spoil our plans, just like you always do.”

I clenched my fists and growled in a very unladylike manner. “That’s it! Get up!” I took several steps back and held up my fists.

“What? You wanna fight me?” He started to laugh.

“Quit messing with her, Reno,” Rude warned. “Just leave her alone.”

“Get up, you annoying little weasel!” I challenged.

Reno laughed again. “I’m not fighting a girl.”

“You fight like one, so it’ll be an even match.”

He stopped laughing and jumped up on his feet. He tossed his stick of gopher on the ground and moved toward me, the unevenness of the sand forcing him to stumble in an unmanly manner. When he got to within a couple feet of me, he held up his fists. “Alright, Lockhart, let’s see what you got.”

“Reno, leave her alone,” Rufus called out.

Reno temporarily looked toward Shinra. “You heard what she said, she practically called me a…”

I didn’t let him finish his sentence as I sent a foot across his face.

His legs wobbled and he landed on his butt. Shaking his head, he glared up at me with clenched teeth. “Son of a bitch!”

Before he could get up, I landed a solid kick to his chest, sending him back several feet. What a stress reliever...it felt great.

“Need any help, partner?” Rude asked.

“Fuck you!” Reno got up and charged me.

I jumped up and wrapped my legs around his neck, bringing him down.

As I squeezed my thighs tightly, he struggled with his arms flailing around helplessly. “Uuurrrgh…”

I leaned closer to his face. “Give up?”

Just then I heard the sound of a motor. A boat! I quickly released Reno and jumped away from him. As I ran toward the beach, I waved my arms over my head. Sure enough, a speedboat was heading to shore. In the distance I noticed two of the chopper’s propellers were sticking out of the water. Either it was floating, or the chopper had landed on a sand bank.

I stopped waving my arms when I spotted spiky blonde hair sticking up from the boat cabin. It was Cloud. “Cloud!!” I waved my arms again and ran into the water.

Cloud drove the boat right up on shore. “Tifa!” He jumped over the side and caught me as I literally threw myself at him, wrapping all four of my limbs around his body.

I hugged him tightly and then kissed his entire face.

He released me and pulled me off of him, holding me at arm’s length. “Are you all right?” He didn’t wait for an answer as he stormed through the sand, stopping in front of Rufus, Reno and Rude.

“It’s so kind of you to come rescue us, Cloud,” said Shinra.

“Shut up! I’m not here to rescue you. I’m here for Tifa.”

“I wouldn’t have hurt her.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Still don’t trust me much, do you, Cloud?”

“You haven’t earned my trust, Shinra.”

Shinra held his hands up in defense. “Understandable. Despite everything, I’d like to help.”

“Help with what?”

“With whatever is going on between the two of you.”

Cloud looked at him in confusion. “There’s nothing going on.”

I grabbed Cloud’s arm. “Cloud, let’s just go…”

He held a hand up to silence me. “Hang on a second, Tifa.” He walked over to stand in front of Shinra. “What do you think is going on?”

“Personal problems in the…romance department.”

“And how is that any of your business?”

“It’s not at all.”

“Then shut the fuck up.” Cloud grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me away.

His grip was so tight, I let out a strangled cry.

And then a shot was fired. The sand next to my feet flew up in the air.

We stopped in our tracks and slowly turned around.

Shinra held his pistol aimed in our direction. “Sorry, Cloud, but we’ll be taking that boat.”

Cloud released my wrist and drew his Apocalypse sword from the harness strapped to his back. At the same time, Reno and Rude drew their own weapons…those dreaded steel rods that shot electrical currents, incapacitating everything and anything.

I stepped out from behind Cloud and held up my fists.

“Nothing good can come out of this, Cloud,” Shinra announced. “Drop your weapon.”

“Make me!”

I didn’t have the good sense to keep quiet. “Need another kick in the face, Reno?”

The red-headed Turk aimed his baton and fired at us.

Cloud and I ducked at the last second. The blast flew over our heads and struck the boat, causing it to burst into flames.

“Reno, you idiot!” yelled the usually cool Shinra.

“Oops…” was all he could say.

Cloud lowered his sword. “Brilliant move, asshole! You just destroyed the only means out of here!”

“Bite me!” Reno snapped.

“Everyone keep quiet!” yelled Shinra. “Arguing isn’t going to help our situation.”

“Look who’s talking. You did a good job putting us here in the first place,” I snapped back at him.

Shinra holstered his pistol and walked forward, his hands raised. “Let’s just relax and talk this through.”

Cloud made no move to put his sword away.

I turned to him. “Cloud, your phone!”

He turned to me with a sorrowful look in his eyes. “The battery died on the way here.”

Shinra looked up and around. “Where are we anyway? What island is this?”

“I was headed north to Icicle Area. If I hadn’t spotted the chopper blades sticking out of the water, I would have gone right passed this island.”

“Alright, so we’re between the Midgar and Icicle Areas. What’s on this island?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. We’ve never set foot here before.”

“All that time chasing after Sephiroth and you never came this way?” Reno asked skeptically.

Cloud turned to Reno. “How’d you like me to scrape the bottom of my boot across your face?”

Rude grabbed Reno by the arm and pulled him away. “Keep your trap shut, Reno. You’re not helping us here.”

“I say we start walking,” suggested Shinra. “Perhaps we’ll find something that will help us get off this island.”

I grabbed Cloud’s arm and pulled him away. “Cloud, I don’t trust him.”

“Yeah, I don’t either.” He turned back to the others. “Fine, we’ll walk, but not with you.”

Shinra raised his eyebrows. “As you wish.”

Cloud motioned for me to start walking. He fell in step beside me and then turned around to walk backwards, making sure Shinra and the Turks weren’t going to try anything.

When they were out of sight, I turned to Cloud. “We need to find water, Cloud.”

“I know. We’ll have to go in.”

I stared at the dense jungle making up the interior of the island. Never having been on this island, I had no idea what creatures lurked around. But this wasn’t the first time Cloud and I faced danger. “Okay. Let’s do it.”

We started walking away from the beach and soon entered the jungle.

WUTAI – the past

When we reached the beach on the island of Wutai, Yuffie was the first one out of the Tiny Bronco. She nearly knocked Barret off his feet trying to get out.

“What the…?!” Barret yelled. “Dammit, Yuffie!”

We all got out of the Tiny Bronco and followed Yuffie along a path up a hill.

“I know this area pretty well,” she said. “It gets pretty tough through here.”

Barret leaned closer to me. “Why do I suddenly not trust the little brat?”

And before I could provide my conjecture on the situation, two Shinra guards jumped out from behind some rocks, their rifles drawn and aimed at us.

“What the hell’s goin’ on!?” yelled Cid.

Cloud glared at Yuffie. “You’re behind this?”

Yuffie shook her head. “I swear, I have nothing to do with this one!”

Barret was spitting mad. “Whaddaya mean ‘this one’!? ‘This one’! So you were plannin’ somethin’!!”

“No, umm, uh…”

The two Shinra guards exchanged glances.

“What should we do?” asked one of them.

“Grab them and ask questions later!”

We all prepared for battle. The two guards were difficult to beat. Cloud kept having to block the rifle shots with his buster sword so they wouldn’t hit any of us. Cait Sith’s moogle pounced on one while Cid and Vincent handled the other. When the guards were finally down, the battle was over.

Cloud glanced down at his wrist guards. “Hey! My materia’s gone!”

Cid glanced around. “Where the hell’s that damned kid?”

Barret slammed his fist into a boulder. “That fuckin’ kid!! She was after our materia from the start!!”

I checked the ground for tracks. There were small footprints leading to a rope bridge. “She went that way!”

Our group ran along the path and crossed two other bridges before the path sloped downward. Up ahead was a small town.

We split up into four groups of two. Vincent and Cid, Cait Sith and Barret, Aeris and Red…and Cloud and I. Cloud led the way to one of the houses.

I raised my eyebrows as I watched him pick the lock with a pocketknife. “Was lockpicking one of the courses they taught at the academy?” I asked when he pushed the door open.

He tossed a smile at me over his shoulder before stepping inside the house.

After a thorough search, we found someone sleeping in one of the bedrooms.

Cloud tactlessly nudged the man with his toe. “Hey you! Wake up!” Forget the fact that we had broken into his house.

The man woke up with a start and stared at us. “What do you want?”

“Looking for someone named Yuffie.”

“Never heard of her.”

Cloud wasn’t convinced. “Yeah, right.”

“What’re you doing in my house? I said I didn’t know her! There isn’t anyone named Yuffie here in Wutai!”

This was frustrating.

The man stood up, eying us suspiciously. “I’ve been seeing a lot of Shinra guards around here lately. You wouldn’t have anything to do with that would you?”

“Absolutely nothing.”

“I don’t care who you are, but if you’re in trouble with the Shinra, I’m going to have to ask you to leave. I don’t want the Shinra hanging around here looking over my shoulder.”

Just then Yuffie jumped out from behind a screen. “What’s with you, you coward!”

“Yuffie!” the man yelled in surprise.

“You scared of the Shinra? Then why don’t you fall to your knees and obey them, just like everyone else in this world!” She pointed to me and Cloud. “These guys are the ones who are really fighting the Shinra!”

“Shut up! What would you know about this?”

“You get beaten once and you call it quits? What happened to the mighty Wutai I used to know?”

“Don’t talk to me like that! You should be ashamed of yourself!”

Cloud and I glanced back and forth between the two as they continued to argue.

“You can’t dictate what I should do!” yelled Yuffie.

“You’re a miserable fighter!”

“You’re a sad excuse for a father!!” Yuffie ran off, her father chasing after her.

Cloud glanced at me, his eyebrows raised. “Well, that was pleasant.”

We walked out of the house and entered a Weapon and Materia Shop to purchase a few items, but the shop owners told us they were all out of everything. That seemed a bit strange.

As we continued our search, Cloud grabbed my arm to stop me. When he pointed to a large jar sitting near the door of a pub, I noticed it was wobbling a little. He put a finger to his lips, telling me to keep quiet as we snuck up to the jar.

Cloud kicked it several times and when Yuffie jumped out, he grabbed her arm. “You can’t get away, Yuffie.”

“Okay, okay. I was wrong. You win. I’ll give you back your materia.”

Cloud released her arm and we followed her back to her house.

“Before I was born,” she began with tears in her eyes, “Wutai was a lot more crowded and more important. You see what it looks like now? Just a resort town. After we lost the war, we got peace, but with that, we lost something else. Now look at Wutai. That’s why…if I had lots of materia I could…”

“Listen, Yuffie, I don’t care about the history of Wutai or your feelings. You’ve got our materia and I want it back…now! Give it back and we’ll forget you ever took it.”

I thought Cloud was being a bit cold all of a sudden and I smacked his arm. “Cloud…”

“Fine.” Yuffie sniffed back her tears. “That switch…the lever on the left. The materia’s in there.”

Cloud walked over to the levers and pulled the one on the left. Just then a cage dropped around both of us.

Yuffie’s expression suddenly turned to pure delight. “Haha! You should’ve listened! The Materia’s mine!” She ran off.

Cloud gave me a disgruntled look. “And you were starting to feel sorry for her?”

I was fuming. “I’m gonna kick her little behind.”

He drew his buster sword and slid it through the bars. It was just long enough to reach the levers. After trying various combinations, the cage finally lifted back up.

Just as we rushed out of the pagoda, we saw Yuffie sneaking through a door beneath a platform on the other side of the courtyard. We went after her.

When we rushed through the same door, we discovered someone we hadn’t expected to see in a million years.

“Corneo!” Cloud yelled out.

Yuffie struggled as the bulky man threw her over his shoulder. “Let go! I said let GO! Hey! Who do you think you…Ow! What’re you doin’...? Jerk!”

Corneo carried Yuffie up a flight of stairs at the other end of the room. When Cloud and I followed the same path, we found the door at the top locked. We retraced our steps and went back out the original door.

Outside we saw Corneo running toward the path leading out of town. He had handed Yuffie off to one of his men. Another man was holding a blonde-haired woman. It was the Turk, Elena.

“If she’s around, then the others have to be around here, too,” Cloud assumed.

Just as he finished the statement, Reno and Rude bolted out of the pub.

Reno pointed to Corneo and his men. “Hey, that asshole took Elena.” He pulled out a long metal rod. “Let’s go Rude. We’ll give them a taste of what the Turks can do.” Then he froze in his tracks when he came face to face with me and Cloud. “Ah, shit.”

Cloud wasn’t flustered by the appearance of the Turks. “Corneo took Yuffie and without her there’s no way we’ll get our materia back.”

“We have no intention of joining you. But for now, we’ll agree not to bother each other. That’s all.”

“Fine. We don’t intend to cooperate with you Turks either.”

Reno turned to his partner, Rude. “Nice attitude, huh?”

Cloud, Reno, Rude and I headed in the direction Corneo and his men had gone. At the end of the street was a path leading to the mountains. We finally came across Corneo in front of a giant face carved into the mountainside. Yuffie and Elena were tied to each of the statue’s eyes.

Reno was about to run forward, but Cloud grabbed him and pulled him back. “What?!”

“Just wait a minute, will ya?”

The four of us crouched down nearby.

“Let…me…go!” yelled Yuffie.

Corneo was wringing his hands together. “Hmm! Delicious…scrumptious! I think I’ve just found a new hobby! Which shall it be? Hmm. Should I go…with her?”

“Hey!” yelled Elena. “I’m one of the Turks! Don’t think you can get away with this!?”

“Or…maybe…her?”

Yuffie paled. “Oh Gawd! If I knew this was gonna happen, I would’ve taken my rope lessons more seriously!!”

“Hmm! I’ve made my choice! My companion for the night will be…” He pointed to Yuffie. “The cheerful one!”

“Grossness! Don’t mess with me, old man! You don’t even have any Materia!”

“Oooh! And she’s saucy, too! Wheee! Wheee!”

The rest of our group arrived and all of us, including Reno and Rude, jumped out from behind the rocks.

“All right, Corneo, that’s it!”

Corneo whirled around to face Cloud. “Heehee…long time no see.”

Cid twirled his harpoon above his head. “Maybe God’d forgive an ugly prick like you, but I won’t!”

Barret had to put in his two cents. “You damn Midgar hyena!”

Corneo screwed his eyes. “Be quiet! None of you know how much I’ve suffered since then. It’s a long story, but…”

Cid stepped forward. “I don’t really give a fuck! You’re gonna let the two girls go or else I’m gonna break your arm!”

Corneo grinned. “You killed my little Aps back at Wall Market? I’m gonna make you play with my new pet, so you will no longer get in the way of my search for a bride! Rapps!”

Just then a large, winged Dragon flew out of a cave and attacked us. Aeris sent it a spell that froze the monster. Then we all pounced on it with our own weapons.

After it was defeated, Cloud turned to Corneo.

“Wait…Just wait a second!” Corneo pleaded.

“Shut up!”

“Just listen to me a second. Why do you think a bad guy like me would swallow his pride and plead for his life?”

Cloud frowned, obviously remembering the last time Corneo tricked us with a question. “Because he thinks he’s going to win…”

Corneo pulled something out of his pocket. “Right!” He activated a switch.

Yuffie and Elena were suddenly turned upside down. They both screamed in fear.

“If I push this button, they’ll fall upside down and we’ll have squashed tomatoes!”

“Damn!” Then he quickly glanced around.

I did the same and noticed Reno and Rude had vacated the scene.

Corneo laughed. “I guess I’m the one laughing last!”

“No, that would be us.” Reno appeared from out of a cave next to Corneo. “You knew this was gonna happen ever since you leaked that secret. We’re going to take care of you personally.”

Corneo held up the control unit. “Then they’re all goin’ with me!”

Rude appeared from another cave and pushed Corneo off the side of the ledge.

“Good timing, Rude,” said Reno.

Seeing Corneo was hanging on the side of the ledge, Reno walked up and stepped on his fingers. “All right, Corneo. This’ll be over quick, so listen up. Why do you think we went to all the trouble of teaming up with these guys to get you? One, because we were ready to die. Two, because we were sure of victory, or three, because we were clueless.”

Corneo hastened to respond. “Two…Number two?”

“Wrong.” Reno stepped harder on Corneo’s fingers.

“No! Wait, stop...!” He lost his grip on the ledge and fell.

Reno looked over the side. “The correct answer was…”

“Because it’s our job,” Rude finished.

Reno’s phone rang. He answered. “Yeah, this is Reno. Yes…Yes…I’ll get right on it.”

Rude managed to untie Yuffie and Elena from the statue’s face.

“Was that the company?” Elena asked Reno.

“Yeah, they want us to find Cloud.”

Cloud stiffened.

“Relax, man. Today we’re off duty.” He motioned to Rude and Elena. The three of them leave.

“That was damned peculiar,” Cid noted.

“Yeah, no kidding.” Cloud turned to Yuffie and cleared his throat. “Our materia?”

Yuffie laughed nervously. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot.”

We all followed Yuffie back to her house where she uncovered our materia.

“So anyway,” she said after returning the materia to each of us. “That sure was close, huh? I mean, normally I would kick their butts…Boom…Bang!! That Corneo guy’s a real pain. I’d rather deal with my dad than deal with that guy. Oh, by the way, some of those guys from the Turks are good, huh? At least, after all that, we got the materia back. Now come on everybody, let’s continue our journey.”

Cloud looked at everyone else in the room. “I’m pretty sure I speak for all of us when I say, we don’t trust you.”

“Oh, come on, people. I was just kidding. I was going to give it back. Honest!”

“Let’s give her one more chance, Cloud,” said Aeris.

Cloud looked at Aeris for a moment, then turned back to Yuffie. “You’re lucky you have an advocate. Let’s go talk to your father.”

“What for?”

“There might be more he hasn’t told us about the presence of Shinra personnel here.”

Yuffie whined as we all left the house.

Again Cloud told everyone but me to wait outside while we entered a pagoda with Yuffie.

A small woman greeted us. “Oh, Miss Yuffie! Will you be climbing the pagoda today?”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

“Then I, Sacred Gorky, will be your opponent on the first floor!”

Yuffie was forced to fight one on one with Gorky. She easily defeated the small woman.

The three of us climbed the stairway.

On the second floor we were greeted by a child. “Hmm, I thought you were just a wild girl, but you handled Gorky. But we’ll see how you do on next one.”

Yuffie glanced around “Who’s next?”

“Are you blind?” said the child who didn’t look a day over six. “I’m right here!”

“What? I gotta fight a punk?”

“Heh! Punk. I’m more of an adult than some bimbo girl!”

“Wha…what did you say!?”

“About the only thing you do really good is breathe! Sure you’re brave enough to fight?”

Yuffie kicked her ass. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to applaud her or fear her.

We climbed the stairs.

On the third floor we were greeted by a little man. “Hm…so you beat both Gorky and Shake. It’s been awhile since I’ve felt pain.”

Yuffie held up her shuriken. “Stop your yappin’ and let’s go!” She started fighting the little man.

I leaned toward Cloud as we watched. “What the hell is going on here?”

Cloud shrugged. “Looks like she has to fight somebody on each floor to go higher.”

“Just to see her father? Isn’t that a bit crude and barbaric?”

Yuffie defeated the little man before Cloud could respond. We followed her up to the next floor.

There we were met by yet another little man. “I can’t believe you beat Chekhov. But this is as far as you go, little girl. No one has ever defeated me. You still want to try?”

Yuffie rolled her eyes. “Just come on!” She used mostly materia spells in this battle and defeated her opponent skillfully.

On to the next floor. Finally, there was Yuffie’s father, the man whose house we broke into earlier.

“I’m glad you made it this far, Yuffie.”

Yuffie stepped forward. “I have to fight you now?”

“Hold nothing back. Come as if you’re trying to kill me! If you don’t…then I’ll have to kill you!”

I couldn’t keep quiet any longer. “Oh, come on now.”

Godo slipped on a mask with three sides. As Yuffie battled her father, each time she demolished a side of the mask, the mask would turn to another side. The battle went on for almost a half hour.

Cloud and I became bored after awhile and started telling each other jokes.

Finally Yuffie defeated Godo and both of them ended up lying flat on their backs, completely out of breath. Suddenly they started laughing. It was the strangest father-daughter relationship I had ever seen in my life.

Awhile later, after Yuffie and Godo collected themselves, Godo held something out on his palm. A red materia. “It’s time I give this to you, Yuffie. This is Leviathan materia. Take it.”

Cloud stepped forward and grabbed it before Yuffie could get her hands on it. “I’ll take that, thank you.”

The little man on the floor defeated by Yuffie blanched. “Lord Godo. The Leviathan materia should only be given to the person who conquers and takes over this Pagoda. That is our custom.”

Yuffie groaned. “Custom, custom, custom. I’m so sick of hearing that! It’s so stupid! You have all this power and you’re satisfied being cooped up in this tower?”

“Yuffie!” scolded Godo.

“You too, dad! Just because you lost the war! And turning Wutai into a place like this! A cheesy resort peddling to tourists. How dare you!?”

Godo frowned and looked down. “Forgive me. It’s all my fault.”

“What are you saying, Lord Godo?” asked Gorky.

“Losing the war...turning Wutai into this. It was all my fault...”

Chekhov stepped forward. “Lord Godo!”

“Silence!” Godo turned to Yuffie. “Yuffie, I am the same now as I was before when I wanted the war. But after I lost the war, I began to think. Is strength only for defeating the enemy? Or just something to showoff to others? Might begets might. That’s the same way as the Shinra.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I knew you were looking for materia for the good of Wutai. But the reason I hide my strength now is also for the good of Wutai. And now I realize both are necessary. Strength without determination means nothing. And determination without strength is equally useless!” He suddenly turned to me and Cloud. “You there! Please take Yuffie with you! I perceive that you all have both determination and strength!”

Cloud shrugged. “A wealth of it…”

“Go, Yuffie! For the sake of strengthening Wutai! Survive till the end!”

“You bet!” Yuffie didn’t wait for us. She charged down the stairs as if she was headed for battle outside of the pagoda.

I gave Cloud a look. “I’m glad I’m not in her shoes.”

He nodded. “Me, too.”

We nodded a farewell to Godo and the others and quickly headed down to make sure Yuffie didn’t destroy our only means of transportation with her sudden enthusiasm.

 

Chapter 15​

Somewhere in the Middle of Nowhere – the present

As Cloud and I trekked through the dense rainforest, it suddenly occurred to me that we never even spoke about what happened.

Just then, as if he had been reading my mind, Cloud asked the inevitable question. “Why’d you leave, Tifa?”

I shrugged. “You know what I want and you choose to ignore it. I’m just sick of all your bullshit.”

He tossed a frown in my direction. “You didn’t even give me a chance to explain.”

“What’s to explain, Cloud?” I shrugged again. “Besides, you don’t like to talk to me anymore.”

He paused a moment to unsheathe his sword and hack at a section of bushes we couldn’t get through. “I already told you…” He grunted as he hacked at some branches. “…we were supposed to talk at the villa.”

“Well, it looks like we’ll have plenty of time to talk now.”

Cloud stopped hacking and turned to me. He started to say something, but then averted his eyes.

What was he so afraid to tell me? I was really starting to get scared. Did he have some terminal disease? Worse than Geostigma?

“Just before my cellphone died in Junon, you were about to say something to me. What was it?”

“Uhh…” He scratched the back of his head like he always did when he was nervous. “I need to get you a longer lasting battery for your phone?”

I folded my arms across my chest, not in the least bit amused.

“Tifa, I don’t know where to start,” he finally said with a frustrated sigh.

I decided to abandon my anger, afraid that if I showed it too much, he might change his mind and clam up entirely. “Cloud…we never used to have a problem talking to each other. You used to tell me everything.”

He nodded. “I know.” After a silent moment, he crouched to rest and wipe the sweat from his forehead. Another moment later he finally looked back at me. “I lied to you.”

A chill suddenly shot up my spine. I wasn’t sure why. When he didn’t elaborate, I asked, “About what?”

“Two years ago…you asked me if there was anything going on between me and Aeris. I said there wasn’t.”

My breath caught in my throat and I felt as if my heart was being squeezed through a meat grinder. Something did happen between them. This is what he was going to tell me. “Go on,” I prompted slowly.

“Before you start drawing conclusions, I just wanna say that nothing happened. I swear it. But… she wanted to get closer to me. I’m pretty sure it was because I reminded her of Zack.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was afraid you’d confront her. But I should have told you the truth back then. I’m sorry.”

It wasn’t as bad as I thought, but Cloud seemed to be avoiding the topic of his own feelings about Aeris. “How long did she have feelings for you?”

He shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe it started the first time I met her. When I fell through the roof in her church. But I wasn’t sure until the date at the Gold Saucer. She said she wanted to get to know me…the real me. I guess she knew I wasn’t really myself. In the end, before she died, she told me I’d figure it all out.” He stood up and resumed hacking at a thick branch with his sword.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, desperately needing to know how he felt about her. “Were you…in love with her?”

Cloud stopped and met my eyes. “No, Tifa. I wasn’t. But…I keep thinking that if…maybe if I had been, she’d still be alive.”

For the longest time I thought Cloud had been in love with Aeris and in actuality, it had been the other way around. Cloud bore the guilt of her death because he was convinced he could have prevented it if he had been in control of his own faculties.

When he pushed the broken branch aside, I followed him through. “Why do you think things would have been different if she thought you loved her?”

“Maybe she wouldn’t have gone off after Sephiroth on her own.”

“You have to stop thinking her death was your fault, Cloud.”

“Why did she do it? Why did she go off on her own like that?”

I sighed heavily. It didn’t matter how much time passed. Cloud would never get over the guilt. “What it is you want me to say, Cloud?”

“I’ve been carrying this guilt with me for so long, I don’t know how to get passed it.”

“Well, you need to get over it and move on.”

“How?”

I stopped and folded my arms across my chest. “You know what I think? I think you were in love with her and you want me to tell you that it’s okay.”

Cloud also stopped when he saw I wasn’t moving. “No…that’s not it.”

“Then what is it?”

He ran his fingers through his sweat-dampened hair in frustration. “I shouldn’t have told you.”

“Why did you tell me, Cloud?”

“I said I felt guilty and I needed to get it off my chest.”

I wanted to trust him. I didn’t want a reason not to. Was he really in love with her and making me believe he wasn’t? “Apparently even after Aeris died, you weren’t feeling so guilty about boinking me every which way.” I couldn’t control the angry tone in my voice. But I also hadn’t meant to voice my thoughts outloud.

He frowned and looked away. “Should never have happened,” he mumbled under his breath.

“What? Are you saying you regret what we did? You came to me, remember? You were the one that initiated it that first time.”

“No…”

“No?”

“No, I mean…I don’t regret it.”

I looked down and shook my head, not wanting him to see the tears that were suddenly brimming in my eyes. I didn’t know what to believe anymore.

“Tifa…” His voice softened.

“It doesn’t matter.” I wiped at my eyes. “It’s obvious you don’t want to be with me.”

He started walking toward me. “That’s not true.”

I moved away from him and walked ahead. “Bullshit, Cloud. You haven’t even bothered to…to kiss me or anything in the last two years, so what am I supposed to believe?”

“I didn’t think you wanted me to.”

I stopped again and stared at him with my jaw hanging open. “Oh, come on!. Were we not living under the same roof all this time? How could you think that?”

“I told you before, I’m not good at picking up on stuff like that. I never had a girlfriend. I don’t know what’s expected of me!”

He was right. He really didn’t have the experience a normal person would have growing up from an adolescent to a man. I had expected him to simply pick up on my feelings. But maybe I had been exhibiting signs that were more like resentment and frustration around him. It was my fault. I should have told him how I felt. I decided to cut him some slack. “You’re right. I shouldn’t come down on you for that. I’m sorry.”

Cloud sighed, looking chastised. “No…you’re not supposed to be apologizing. I am. I’m sorry for taking advantage of you while we were chasing after Sephiroth. I was confused about who I was and you were the only real thing I had. I’ll say it again, I don’t regret it…but it was wrong of me.”

“I could have stopped it. I’m just as much to blame.”

“No, Tifa, you loved me. I didn’t do it because of how I felt about you, I did it because of how it made me feel. I was selfish. It felt good. It made me feel good.”

“You think I didn’t know that, Cloud? I knew and I still didn’t stop you.”

“Well, why didn’t you?”

“You already said it. I loved you. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t have done for you.” I could barely see him through the tears blurring my eyes.

“You’ve always been the most important person in my life, Tifa. More than any of the others.” He took several steps toward me and this time I didn’t move away. “No one compares to you. Yesterday, today or fifty years from now.”

I held my breath as Cloud came up to me and placed his hands on my shoulders.

The sound of thunder rumbled above and in the next second a torrential rain poured down on us.

Cloud pulled me beneath a canopy of leaves and wrapped his arms around me. Despite the smoldering humidity, I couldn’t stop shivering.

WEAPON SELLER’S HUT – the past

Riding around on the Tiny Bronco was making Yuffie sick so we parked on a beach. Nearby was a small hut.

Cloud started walking toward it. “I’m gonna go check it out.”

I jogged toward him. “I’ll come with you, Cloud.”

As we got closer we saw a sign revealing the hut to be a weapon shop.

A man greeted us as we walked in. “Huh? Oh another customer. You sure picked an out of the way place but…if it’s the keystone you’re looking for, you’re too late. Don’t have it.”

Cloud gave him a curious look. “Keystone?”

The man looked at both of us in confusion. “Oh, you didn’t come here for that? Well, the keystone is the key that unlocks the gate to a very old temple somewhere. You’re not going to believe your ears, but I heard it was the Temple of the Ancients!” He laughed. “Don’t take it seriously. It’s just a legend.”

Cloud followed him further into the shop. “So this keystone, you said you don’t have any longer?”

“Nope. Sold it to Dio. You know Dio, right? Owns the Gold Saucer.”

“Yeah, unfortunately I do know him.” He turned toward the door, motioning me to follow. “Thanks.”

We walked out and headed back to the Tiny Bronco where the rest of the group was sitting around.

“Anything interesting?” asked Cait Sith.

“Just a weapon shop.” Cloud glanced toward Aeris. “He mentioned a keystone that unlocks the gate to the Temple of the Ancients.”

Her eyes widened. “Where is it?”

“Our bizarre, perverted friend Dio has it.”

Cid groaned as he got to his feet. “Looks like we’re headed for the Saucer.”

Yuffie clasped a hand over her mouth. “Ugh, no…I can’t get back in that thing yet.”

“Fine,” said Cloud without any congeniality. “We’ll just leave you here.”

Everyone started climbing into the Tiny Bronco.

“Wait for me!” yelled Yuffie as she finally jumped aboard.

GOLD SAUCER – the past

At the Gold Saucer, we split up into groups to search for the keystone. Cloud, Barret and I went to the Battle Square. The last time we were there, we noticed Dio had a showroom of artifacts. It was a good chance the keystone might be there on display.

Cloud pointed to a round glass ball on a pedestal. It almost looked like materia. “Wonder if that’s it.”

The three of us surrounded the pedestal, trying to figure out how to take the item on it without setting off an alarm.

“Heh, heh, heh. Long time no see, boy.”

We turned to find Dio walking into the showroom, in his usual red Speedos. Somebody needed to tell this guy it wasn’t a good look for him.

He motioned to the item we had been looking at. “You like that, huh? I got it from a guy in a little shack south of here, past the river. If you want to know about it, go there and talk to him.”

“Mind if we borrow it?” Cloud casually asked. But he probably already knew the answer.

“Heh, heh, heh. Sorry, but it’s not for rent.” He rubbed his chin, giving Cloud a once over. “Hmm. Since you’ve been good to me in the past, I can let you have it on one condition.”

Cloud frowned. “What kind of condition?”

“Entertain me!”

Cloud’s face paled. I had a feeling he was getting the wrong idea of what Dio wanted from him.

“It’s not anything difficult,” Dio went on. “This is the Battle Arena. Show me your fighting skills. Just you, boy. I’m expecting a good fight.”

I squeezed Cloud’s arm. “Be careful.”

While Barret and I found seats, Cloud entered the Battle Arena. I wasn’t familiar with the creatures that emerged from the opposite door and had no idea what they were capable of. As the battle began, I began to wonder what was wrong with Cloud. He was only making a half-hearted effort to defeat them. I knew he could do better.

After a few minutes, Cloud dropped to one knee in defeat.

Barret was hollering madly beside me. “What the fuck?!”

We left the arena to meet Cloud on the other side.

Dio was already there. “That’s the best you could do?”

Cloud shrugged.

“Well, a promise is a promise. Go ahead and take it.”

Cloud went into the showroom and returned with the keystone in his hand.

Dio laughed. “Well then, we shall meet again.” He walked away.

Barret pushed Cloud’s shoulder. “Damn, man. Was the hell’s wrong wit’ you? Marlene could have done a better job fighting those things.”

“I didn’t want Dio to know what I’m really capable of.”

“Why not?” I asked.

“Draws less attention to me. The guy freaks me out…the way he looks at me.”

We left the Battle Arena and met the others at the Ropeway Station.

When we tried to board the tram, a man in a Gold Saucer uniform stepped forward. “Sorry folks, but the tram is out of order right now. I’m afraid you won’t be able to leave until it’s fully repaired.”

“We can stay at the hotel,” suggested Cait Sith. “They know me here.”

We went into the Ghost Square chute and on the other side was a spooky looking hotel building.

In the lobby, after Cait Sith checked us in, he turned to Cloud. “Since we don’t usually get the chance to be together like this, maybe we should talk about what’s happened so far. Cloud, how about it? I don’t really know what’s going on because I wasn’t here from the beginning.”

“Yeah, I’m all for it!” Cid agreed.

Vincent nodded. “Good idea.”

Barret shook his head. “I been here since the beginnin’, an’ I still don’t know what the hell’s goin’ on. Cloud, the hell’s goin’ on?”

Cloud sighed. “I’m tired...”

Cid sat down in one of the chairs scattered around the lobby. “All we have to do now is sleep! You’re still young! What’re you complaining about?”

Cloud crossed his arms. “We’re going after Sephiroth. He’s in search of the Promised Land, which is a land full of Mako energy...or at least that’s what the Shinra believe. I don’t know if it really exists.”

“The Cetra return to the Promised Land,” said Aeris. “A land that promises boundless happiness.”

“Cetra, that some kinda disease?” Cid asked ignorantly.

“That’s what the Ancients call themselves. The Promised Land isn’t a place you can see. You search and travel until you feel it.”

Cloud turned to Aeris. “Can you feel it?”

“I think so.”

I broke the uncomfortable spell as they looked at each other. “So Sephiroth is traveling the world because he’s searching for the Promised Land? Is that it?”

“That and the Black Materia,” Aeris replied. “It’s the most powerful materia ever.”

Barret walked toward the stairs. “That’s it then. I’m going to bed. Somebody wake up Cid.”

“Hey, Aeris, wanna check out the Chocobo races?” Yuffie asked excitedly.

“Sure.” Aeris followed Yuffie out of the hotel.

Vincent poked Cid in the ribs, making the pilot jump. They followed Barret up the stairs while Red went with Aeris and Yuffie.

That left Cloud, Cait Sith and I alone in the lobby.

“I think I’ll go chat with some old friends,” said Cait Sith before his moogle hopped out of the hotel.

I turned to Cloud and took his hand. “Come on. Since Aeris and Yuffie are busy, you can come back to our room so I can take care of those scratches on your face from Battle Square.”

He followed me without hesitating.

Upstairs, in the room reserved for me, Yuffie and Aeris, I sat Cloud on the bed while I gathered some things from the bathroom. Fortunately he hadn’t left when I walked back into the bedroom.

As I cleaned his face with a damp cloth, his eyes were on me. I smiled. “Stop staring at me like that.”

Cloud pushed my hand away and put his arms around, dragging me down to straddle his lap. “I need you.” He coaxed me out of my tank top and buried his face in my cleavage.

I made no effort to discourage him as he lifted me up and tossed me on the bed.

Fifteen minutes later, we were adjusting our clothes.

The door suddenly opened and Aeris walked in.

She was surprised to see Cloud and I noticed her eyes were focused on his hand as he zipped his slacks. “Oh…I didn’t know you would be in here, Cloud.”

I pulled my suspender straps up over my shoulders and was about to say something but Cloud beat me to it.

“We were just talking,” he said casually, as if just minutes ago he hadn’t been making love to me.

“Well, actually, I need to talk to you about something.” She nodded toward the door.

“Okay.” Cloud followed her out and closed the door almost all the way.

I could hear their voices, but couldn’t hear what they were saying.

Until Cloud spoke louder. “I know what it is, I’m not an idiot.”

I edged closer to the door as I heard Aeris giggling. Just as I reached the door, Cloud poked his head inside.

“I’ll be right back.” He disappeared again and closed the door this time.

I immediately opened the door and snuck a peak out in the hallway. Cloud and Aeris were just rounding the corner and she was holding his hand with both of hers.

Her giggling was starting to get on my nerves. “I can’t believe we’re finally going on our date,” she said as they disappeared.

My jaw dropped and I huffed angrily. I had a good mind to follow them and see where they were going. But I didn’t want Cloud to think I was spying on him. So I went back to the bed we had occupied minutes ago and sat down on the edge of it. I’d just wait. He said he’d be right back.

I waited…

…and waited…

…and waited…

An hour passed when the door opened. I jumped up, thinking it was Cloud. But it was only Yuffie.

“Didn’t win a darn thing. Stupid chocobos.” She jumped on one of the beds and promptly fell asleep.

I clenched my fists in anger. Where the hell was Cloud? I headed for the door and walked out of the room.

Down the hall was the room the guys were sharing. I tried the doorknob and it opened. Inside the room, Cid was lying sprawled on his back on one of the beds, snoring loudly. Red was curled up asleep on a sofa. Barret was snoring loudly from another bed. The only one not asleep was Vincent.

He turned from the window he had been staring out of. “Everything alright, Tifa?”

With a heavy sigh, I plopped down on the side of the only vacant bed. “It’s just perfect.” I had said it with a bit too much sarcasm.

Vincent remained silent after that.

More time passed. Another fifteen minutes.

The door opened and Cloud walked in. He stopped in his tracks when he saw me sitting on the bed. “Tifa…I…I was just looking for you.”

Sure he was.

A frown formed on his face. “What’re you doing in here?”

I was so pissed at him, I couldn’t think straight. “Waiting for you.”

“Is something wrong?”

I stared into his eyes. He seriously had no idea why I was suddenly angry with him. “No, Cloud. How was your date with Aeris?”

Then I saw the realization hit him. He shrugged indifferently. “It was okay.”

I wanted to ask him if he kissed her…if he made love to her. But most of all I wanted to slap his face. I was about to walk out before I did something I’d regret.

“Tifa, we’ve got a problem. Cait Sith stole the keystone from me and gave it to Tseng.”

I quickly forgot the reason I was mad as I realized what this all meant. “Oh, no.”

“Vincent, wake up the others and meet us in the other room.” Cloud took my hand and led me out.

A few minutes later we were all assembled in the room I was to share with Aeris and Yuffie.

Cait Sith was sitting on his moogle’s shoulder in the corner, being guarded by Aeris and Yuffie. “I was hired by the Shinra,” Cait Sith confessed.

Aeris clenched her fists. “We trusted you!”

“I couldn’t help it. How about we continue like nothing ever happened?”

Cloud shook his head in anger. “No way, stupid cat!”

“Then, what are you going to do? Kill me? You’d just be wasting your time. This body’s just a toy anyway. My real body’s at Shinra Headquarters in Midgar. I’m controlling this toy cat and moogle from there.”

“Who are you then?” yelled Aeris.

“Whoa, I can’t tell you my name.”

Cloud ran a hand over his face in frustration. “We’re not getting anywhere.”

“See? I told you! Talking won’t do any good, so can’t we just continue our journey?”

He whirled back around to face Cait Sith. “You think I’m joking!?”

“Alright, yes, I am a Shinra employee. But I’m not exactly an enemy.”

Cid snorted in disgust. “Let’s just waste the cat and move on.”

“Something bothers me,” Cait Sith went on. “I think it’s your way of life. You don’t get paid. You don’t get praised. Yet, you still risk your lives and continue on your journey. Seeing that makes me...It just makes me think about my life. I don’t think I’d feel too good if things ended the way they are now.”

“And so on and so on...” Aeris ridiculed.

Cloud shook his head again. “He’ll never tell the truth. Once a spy, always a spy. We can’t go on

with someone like that.”

Cait Sith sighed. “Just as I thought. Talking won’t make a bit of difference. But I prepared something in case this happened.” The cat raised a device from behind his back. “Listen to this?”

“Papa! Tifa!”

I immediately recognized Marlene’s voice.

Barret started moving toward Cait Sith, a killer look in his eyes. Cloud and Vincent both stopped him.

Cait Sith lowered the recorder. “So, you have to do as I say.”

“You're the lowest...” Cloud said through clenched teeth.

“I didn’t want to do this... using dirty tricks and taking hostages. But this is how it is. No compromises. So why don’t we continue on as we did? Oh, you may or may not know this, but... the keystone is the key to the Temple of the Ancients. Even so, you’re all going, right? I happen to know where it is.”

“Marlene better be all right!” bellowed Barret.

No one left the room after that, afraid that Cait Sith would try something else.

 

Chapter 16​

Somewhere in the Middle of Nowhere – the present

It got unbearably hot when the rain subsided.

Cloud removed his weapon harness and pulled off his teeshirt. He stuck one end of the teeshirt into his back pocket, letting the rest of it just dangle. The harness he hung from a branch.

I remained a few feet behind him as he continued hacking at the branches that got too thick, preventing us from passing.

Twenty minutes ago Cloud started talking and he hadn’t stopped since.

I was amazed by the sudden burst of verbal energy.

“When Sephiroth got me through the stomach, I thought I was dead. I don’t remember how I ended up at the Shinra mansion.”

The muscles on his back moved in a pronounced manner. I was hypnotized as he swung his sword at the branches.

And then he stopped, turning toward me. “Tifa? Did you hear me?”

I realized he had been directing a question at me while I had been momentarily distracted by his bare upper half. “Huh?”

“I asked if you were sure you didn’t see anything else in the reactor?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “All I remember is seeing Zack go after Sephiroth. And then you were there. I thought I was hallucinating. After that Professor Zangan carried me out. I heard him say he hoped the boys in there would be alright. He must have meant you and Zack.”

Cloud managed to cut through the branch. Then he paused. “Do you hear that?”

I moved closer to him and listened. There was a distinct sound of bubbling water. I gave him an excited look. When he moved forward, I grabbed his arm to stop him. “What about your weapon harness?”

“Just leave it. I can always come back here and get it another time.”

A few minutes later we found a small stream. It wasn’t big enough to immerse ourselves, but we both laid in the water and drank as it gently splashed over us. Despite the humidity in the air, the stream was surprisingly cool.

I sat up after soaking myself from head to toe. “I wonder if the others found any water.”

Cloud gave me a frown from where he remained lying in the water. “Who cares?” He promptly closed his eyes.

My eyes drifted down to his bare chest and watched the water trailing over it. I had to look away because it only reminded me of all the times Cloud and I had…done things…in water. Yuffie was right when she told me yesterday that during our AVALANCHE days, Cloud and I made ourselves scarce at every opportunity. How embarrassing it was to know that the rest of the group knew what we were up to…even placed bets amongst themselves about it! I contemplated telling Cloud, but I wasn’t sure he’d think it was funny.

Just then a sound echoed through the rainforest. Gunshots…followed immediately by a small explosion.

Cloud sat up.

We waited to hear more sounds. But there was only silence.

He got up on his feet. “I don’t think we’re alone on this island. Maybe we should keep moving.”

I got up and fell in step with him as we continued on.

I missed his voice already. Why had he stopped talking? “So what happened after they took you to the Shinra Mansion?”

“I regained consciousness a lot. But it always seemed to be at the wrong time. His face was always in my line of vision…Hojo. Whenever I was lying on the table, they stuck me with needles and injected stuff into me. It was painful, but I tried not to show it.”

“Did Zack suffer the same treatment?”

“I’m not sure. I never got a chance to ask Zack. I imagined Hojo only worked on one of us at a time because I could see Zack in a clear container full of Mako. The empty container next to him was probably where they kept me.”

“You were kept in a container full of liquid Mako? You must have been so terrified.”

“I was a lot of things…terrified, repulsed, furious. I felt desecrated in so many ways, poked and prodded with needles until I wanted to scream. Hojo just laughed at me. He could tell I was holding it all back and would purposely do things to try and break me. I might have…I don’t really remember.”

“So was it the Mako that messed you up?”

“That or the injections…I don’t know. I was so out of it when Zack busted us out of there. After Zack was killed, I knew I was Cloud…but I got it in my head that I was a First Class SOLDIER and everything I had done were actually things Zack had done.”

“You survived, that’s all that matters.”

“I never told any of this to anyone, Tifa.”

“I know.”

“Almost five years of my life…wasted. I might have finally made First Class SOLDIER if none of that ever happened.”

“Blame it all on Sephiroth. He caused both of us a lot of hardship…loss of family and friends.” I ran my fingers through my wet hair and smiled at him. “And by the way, you would have made First Class, Cloud…not might have.”

“I shouldn’t have stopped writing to you while I was at the academy.”

“If you were embarrassed about not being a SOLDIER yet, you know it wouldn’t have mattered to me.”

“I know, Tifa, but it’s an ego thing. I had been at the academy for a year, passed every exam…except…”

“You failed one of the exams?”

“Well, it wasn’t an exam…I guess I had a bad reaction to the first Mako injection…or injections, according to Zack. They told me that if I couldn’t tolerate the Mako, then I was out of the academy.”

“But that’s not fair. If you got more than the normal dose, then it wasn’t your fault.”

“Zack checked into it. He even talked to Sephiroth and I think something happened because Hojo was gone a week later.”

“Sephiroth had Hojo fired?”

“Maybe.”

We decided to follow the stream further inland, keeping close to our water source, as we searched for something that could possibly help us get off this godforsaken island. At least there weren’t as many branches and bushes that needed to be cut down to make a path.

All the while Cloud continued talking. “Zack Fair had this way…I don’t know what to even call it…but things always seemed to fall into place around the guy. People bent over backwards to accommodate him.”

“Maybe it was his smile,” I teased.

“Guess you noticed, huh?”

“When I first met Zack, he came across very flirty.”

“Yeah, I don’t wanna repeat what Zack said to me the night after we came back from Mt Nibel.”

“What did he say?”

Cloud shook his head.

“Oh, come on, Cloud, tell me.”

He turned and walked backwards, his eyes settling on mine. “I can’t…”

“You can’t make a statement like that and then not tell me.”

“Well, if I tell you, you can’t get mad at me.”

“I promise I won’t get mad.”

“Remember what you were wearing when you led us to Mt Nibel?”

“Hat, boots, suede skirt and vest. What about it?”

“Okay, Zack said if I wasn’t going to let you ride me like a bucking chocobo, then he’d be glad to take my place and show you a real thrill.”

I gasped. “He did not say that.”

“He did. I swear.”

I looked away. “That perverted bastard.” When I looked back at Cloud, he had a crooked grin plastered on his face. “You think it’s funny, don’t you?”

“Well, I can laugh about it now. But at the time I was pretty ticked off at him for saying it. I nearly put him through the wall before I realized he was kidding.”

I smiled. “You defended my honor. That’s so sweet, Cloud.”

He rolled his eyes.

I laughed, knowing he didn’t like to think of himself as very chivalrous. “Remember when you tripped Tommy?”

Cloud smiled again. “Yeah. I came real close to pulling off my helmet and revealing myself.”

“But you were afraid he’d make a comment about you not being a SOLDIER.”

“No. I didn’t wanna start a fight. I had grown a lot stronger while at the academy. I would have really hurt him.” He remained silent after that.

I studied his profile briefly as we continued walking, wondering if he was thinking about the fact that Tommy died not too long after that, like most of the people at Nibelheim did the night Sephiroth went crazy and burned everything down. I was about to say something about it.

“I wasn’t strong enough to help Zack, though.” He ran the back of his hand across his forehead to wipe away the sweat. “After he broke us out of the Shinra mansion, we hitched a ride to Midgar. The driver dropped us off near the cliff overlooking the city. I still couldn’t move much. Zack left me behind some rocks near the road and went to look for a way down.”

This was the first time Cloud had ever talked about what happened to Zack. In the past, the memory was just too painful for him to talk about.

“I couldn’t move…but I could hear what was happening. Shinra guards…lots of them…had cornered him at the cliff. He fought them by himself, with just his buster sword, taking a few of them down. But there were too many. I think they thought I was a goner because they didn’t even bother with me.”

I wanted to reach for Cloud’s hand, to give him some comfort, but decided to let him finish his story first.

“After awhile I crawled to where he was lying. He was still alive. I knew he wasn’t going to make it. They had shot him up pretty bad. He gave me his buster sword and I remember his exact words. He said, ‘Continue living. You’re proof that I existed. My dreams and pride, I give it all to you’.” He swallowed hard. “And then he was gone. He died protecting me.”

I realized this was another tragedy that Cloud seemed to blame himself for. It wasn’t just Aeris, or the people that died during our quest to find Sephiroth. This time I did reach for his hand and squeezed it. “I’m glad he gave you the chance to live. We never would have been able to defeat Sephiroth without you.”

“Is that the only reason you’re glad I lived?”

I caught the hint of a smile on his face and smiled back. “Of course not. You know how I feel about you.”

Cloud dragged me to a stop and pulled me toward him as he anchored his sword into the soft ground.

I stared up at him, my eyes alittle wide, wondering what he was going to do and wishing it was what I had wanted for a long time.

He continued to hold my hand and reached up to my face with the other, his eyes locked on mine. “Tifa, you know how I feel about you, too, right?”

I gently shook my head. “No, Cloud. I don’t know.”

He leaned toward me, tilting his head to the right and planted a soft, open-mouthed kiss on my lips before drawing back a couple of inches. “I am so crazy in love with you, it scares me. But what scares me more than anything is that I’ll lose you…and I would die if that happened.”

I couldn’t breathe as I languished in the warmth of his breath on my face. “I would die, too.” I anticipated his lips touching mine again. It had been so, so long since we last kissed. But instead his breath moved away. I opened my eyes and noticed his eyes were focused on something behind me. “What?” I started to turn around, but he shushed me and held me firm.

The intense look in his eyes was scaring me.

Then I suddenly realized something disturbing. The sounds of the rainforest had faded. There wasn’t a single sound. Not even a cricket. Just the sound of the lightly blowing hot breeze and the bubbling creek.

Cloud slowly began pulling me by the hand, drawing me behind him.

When I had the chance, I glanced around the area. But I didn’t see a thing. “Cloud, whatta you see?”

He didn’t answer, his eyes darting around, seeing something I obviously couldn’t see.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a small movement. When I turned to see what it was, there wasn’t anything there.

Almost abruptly, I finally saw what Cloud had been seeing. Shadows moving just beyond my peripheral vision, never in full sight. They weren’t animals. They were human. Five mud-covered men moving among the trees, perfectly camouflaged and practically invisible against them. They were carrying spears and seemed prepared to use them.

Cloud slowly reached for the handle of his sword and pulled it out from the ground. “Cannibals.”

Cannibals…The word sent blood-curdling chills through me. “How can you tell?”

“Look at what’s hanging from their necks,” said Cloud.

I focused on their necklaces and realized in disgust that shrunken human heads were dangling from them. There weren’t too many creatures I feared in this world, having battled almost everything imaginable. But the thought of cannibals quickened my pulse and my breath.

Cloud forced me to back up and we slowly backed away from the approaching natives. I glanced behind me as we headed in the direction we had just come.

The natives kept approaching, the whites of their eyes standing out starkly against the dark mud caked all over them.

“When I say go,” Cloud whispered as he raised his sword. “I want you to turn around and run like hell.”

I was suddenly trembling all over, not sure if I could get my legs to propel me fast enough. These natives looked like they’d be able to overtake us in seconds.

“Shit,” he suddenly said.

I glanced at Cloud as his hand went up to the side of his neck. He plucked a small dart out of his skin and looked down at it. Then he wobbled and stumbled back against me. I turned and come face to face with a cannibal hanging upside down from a branch, a peashooter sticking out of his mouth. I screamed and tried to climb on Cloud’s back, but he fell to the ground. I pulled on his arm, trying to revive him. It was no use. He was out cold, or maybe already dead.

The cannibals continued to approach and I panicked, whirling around as they surrounded me, forgetting I was a skilled and accomplished fighter. Then I felt a sharp pain on my left arm and saw a dart sticking out of my bicep.

My last conscious thought was that I hoped they choked on me.

TEMPLE OF THE ANCIENTS – the past

In the morning we were notified that the tram was functioning again. We left the Gold Saucer and after leaving North Corel, we headed for the Tiny Bronco. It was still where we left it.

Cait Sith directed Cid on where to go and the pilot took us south of Junon to the Woodlands Area.

After leaving the Tiny Bronco on the beach, we trekked through the forest until we came across a huge pyramid shaped temple.

There was a fragile looking bridge leading to the entrance.

Aeris walked forward and stopped halfway across the bridge, kneeling on the loose wooden planks. “I feel it…The knowledge of the Ancients...floating...You could become one with the Planet, but you’re stopping it with the strength of will. For the future? For us?”

Cloud exchanged a glance with me. “What is she saying?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know.”

“You’re uneasy but happy?” Aeris went on as if she was speaking to someone standing in front of her. “Because I’m here? I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”

Cloud and I moved forward to follow Aeris as she slowly got back up and moved to the entrance.

When the others stared to follow, Cloud held a hand up. “Everyone just wait out here. I don’t think this bridge can handle much more.”

Cloud and I followed Aeris through a series of cramped corridors until we emerged into a small chamber.

Aeris rushed forward where someone was lying on the floor near a pillar. “Tseng!”

Despite the fact that Tseng was a Turk, seeing him lying there with blood seeping out of a wound in his stomach was nerve-wrecking.

“I’ve…I’ve been had,” he said in a raspy voice. “It’s not the Promised Land...Sephiroth’s searching for...”

Cloud stiffened and his eyes darted around. “Sephiroth is here?”

“The President...was wrong...”

“You’re wrong,” Aeris said. “The Promised Land isn’t like what you imagined. And I’m not going to help. Either way, there was no way Shinra could win.”

Tseng smiled weakly. “Sounds like something...you’d say.” He held something up in his hand. “Cloud…the keystone... Place it on...the alter...”

Cloud took the keystone and Aeris and I followed behind him. When Aeris whimpered, he turned around. “Are you crying?”

Aeris wiped at her eyes. “Tseng’s with our enemy, but I’ve known him since we were little. There’s not a lot of people I can say that about. In fact, there are probably only a handful of people in the world who really know me.”

Cloud placed the keystone on the alter and suddenly the three of us were transported to another room.

Aeris looked in a daze. “Words...feelings...So many of them here.”

There was only one door in the room. We walked through it and found ourselves on a narrow path. The moment we started forward, several boulders came rolling toward us.

“Duck, quick!” yelled Cloud.

As the first boulder reached us, I realized it had a hollow side that came down over us and then continued on. With the next boulder, Cloud timed it so we were in the exact spot the hollow came down. The next three boulders were the same until we reached the end of the path.

I sighed in relief. “Phew! We did it!”

Cloud looked at Aeris and I. “Everyone all right?”

Suddenly Aeris turned back and headed for a pool of water. “Oh no...! Come quick!”

We ran up to the pool as Aeris kneeled in front of it. “It’s full of knowledge...consciousness...a living soul. It’s trying to say something.” She reached down to touch the water. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand. What is it? Danger? An evil...consciousness? You’re going to show me?”

Suddenly a bright light flashed all around us and the scenery around us changed. We were inside a large chamber with hieroglyphics all over the walls. But we weren’t in the room. It was like a hologram.

Cloud looked around. “What’s going on?”

Aeris grabbed his arm. “Wait! Look! It’s showing us!”

Two figures materialized. Tseng and Elena of the Turks.

“Tseng, what’s this?” Elena asked as she saw the keystone in Tseng’s hand. “Can we find the Promised Land with this?”

“I’m not sure. Anyway, we have to report to the President.”

“I’ll go. Just be careful, Tseng.”

“Yeah...” He turned as Elena started to walk out. “Hey Elena, how about dinner after this job’s over?”

Elena smiled. “I would love it.” Then she walked out.

Tseng turned toward the wall of hieroglyphics. “Is this the Promised Land? No, it can’t be...”

I gasped when Sephiroth suddenly appeared behind us. But he was also a hologram.

Tseng seemed surprised to see him. “Sephiroth!”

“I see you opened the door. Well done.”

“This place...what is it?”

“A lost treasure house of knowledge. The wisdom of the Ancients. I am becoming one with the Planet.”

Tseng frowned. “One with the Planet?”

“You stupid fools. You have no idea of the power. All the spirit energy of this Planet. All its wisdom...knowledge...I will meld with it all. I will become one with it...it will become one with me.” Sephiroth moved toward Tseng, drawing his Masamune. “The way...lies here.” He swung his sword, slashing it across Tseng’s torso.

Tseng fell to the floor.

“Only death awaits you all. But do not fear. For it is through death that a new spirit energy is born. Soon, you will live again as a part of me.”

The white light flashed again and the hologram was gone.

“We have to get to the room with the pictures on the walls,” said Cloud.

Aeris led the way. “We’re almost there.”

Cloud drew his sword. “If Sephiroth is here, I’m taking him out this time!”

We finally entered the large chamber from the hologram.

Cloud moved to the center and looked around. “Where are you, Sephiroth?!”

Just then he stepped out from behind a pillar, Masamune in hand. “You should know I am always by your side.” He raised his hand to the room. “A treasure house of knowledge...Look well.”

“At what!?”

“At that which adds to the knowledge of...I am becoming one with the Planet. Soon...we will become one.”

Aeris and I maintained our distance, but I wasn’t going to be left out of the conversation. “How do you intend to become one with the Planet?” I asked.

“It’s simple. Once the Planet is hurt, it gathers Spirit Energy to heal the injury. The amount of energy gathered depends on the size of the injury. What would happen if there was an injury that threatened the very life of the Planet? Think how much energy would be gathered!” He laughed maniacally. “And at the center of that injury will be me. All that boundless energy will be mine. By merging with all the energy of the Planet, I will become a new life form, a new existence. Melding with the Planet...I will cease to exist as I am now...Only to be reborn as a ‘God’ to rule over every soul.”

“An injury powerful enough to destroy the Planet?” Aeris asked incredulously. “How do you intend to injure the Planet?”

Sephiroth stepped toward the wall. “Behold the mural. The Ultimate Destructive Magic. Meteor.”

I studied the pictures and saw an image that looked like a huge ball crashing into the planet. When I turned back to Sephiroth, he was gone.

Cloud moved to the spot Sephiroth had been standing and suddenly started laughing. It was a crazed, demented laugh.

I rushed over to him and shook his shoulder. “Cloud, what’s wrong with you?”

He continued laughing. “Black Materia…Ha, ha, ha...Call Meteor.”

I shook him again, but he seemed a million miles away.

“Cloud...” he mumbled. “I’m...Cloud...How should I…? I remember…! I remember my way...” He suddenly snapped out of it and shook his head. “Huh? What’s wrong? Is something wrong?”

“This must be magic.”

I turned to find Aeris intently studying the mural on the wall.

“Just what Sephiroth was saying. The Ultimate Destructive Magic. Meteor. It finds small drifting planets with its magic. And then collides with them. This Planet might get wiped out entirely...”

Cloud noticed something at the other end of the chamber. It was a small pyramid floating above an alter. “What’s this?”

Aeris and I both walked over and stood on either side of him.

Aeris leaned to look closer at the altar. “There’s something written on it. Let me see if I can translate the inscription. B... l… a... c... k... m... a... t... e... r… i… a...”

“Black Materia!” Cloud and I both said at the same time.

I turned to Cloud.. “What should we do?”

“Let’s take it.” He reached for it and the room suddenly started to shake. “Now what?”

Aeris stepped away. “Wait a minute, I’ll ask! I don’t understand.” She was speaking to her invisible people again. What? Really!?” She turned back to us. “They said that the Temple itself is the Black Materia.”

“What?” asked Cloud. “This whole building is the Black Materia? Then no one could take it.”

“It’s a device that gets smaller each time you solve a puzzle. As the model becomes smaller, you become smaller too. Until it’s small enough to fit in the palm of your hand.”

“So if we solve the puzzles, the Black Materia will get smaller and smaller and we can take it out?”

“Yes, but there’s one problem. You can only answer the puzzles inside the Temple. So anyone who solves the puzzle will be crushed by the Temple.”

Cloud raised his eyebrows. “The Ancients obviously didn’t want this dangerous magic to be taken out of the Temple so easily.”

“Let’s just leave it alone then,” I suggested.

“No, we can’t. We’ve gotta think of a way to get it out. Sephiroth has a lot of flunkies. It’s nothing to him to throw their lives away to get the Black Materia.”

Cloud’s phone rang. He answered it right away and put the call on speaker.

“Hi, Cloud. It’s Cait Sith. I overheard the whole story! Everything you said makes perfect sense! You can use my stuffed body for the future of the Planet.”

“We can’t let Sephiroth or Shinra get their hands on the Black Materia.”

“Alright, then you need to trust me.”

Cloud exchanges glances with Aeris and I. “I guess we have no choice.”

“Good, I’ll be waiting at the exit!”

As Cloud put his phone away, we rushed to the door, only to find it locked.

Aeris and I started to quickly look for another way out.

“It’s warm,” said Cloud.

I turned back toward the door as Cloud started moving away from it. Suddenly something came through the wall. “Cloud! Behind you!”

He turned and backed away, unsheathing his buster sword.

I quickly used the Barrier materia to caste protection over the three of us as we engaged the large lizard trying to morph its way into the room.

Cloud summoned Odin using his red summon materia and the Grunge Lance destroyed the creature before it could inflict any further harm on us.

Aeris suffered a few scratches that she quickly healed using her own power.

When Cloud tried the door, this time it opened. We made our way back the way we came until we were outside of the temple.

Cait Sith was waiting for us there. “Well, everyone. This is it. Take care of yourselves.”

Aeris watched him sadly. “Poor Cait Sith. Cloud...Say something.”

Cloud shrugged with a frown. “I’m not good at this.”

The mechanical cat smiled. “I understand. I feel the same, too.”

“I know,” Aeris said excitedly. “Why don’t you read our fortunes?”

“Say, that’s right...I haven’t done it in a while, huh? Now, what should I predict?”

Aeris wrapped her arms around Cloud’s left one. “Hmm, let’s see how compatible Cloud and I are!”

Cloud looked uncomfortable. He glanced with trepidation in my direction.

“Okay, here goes,” said Cait Sith. His moogle did a little hopping dance before a ticket popped out of its mouth. “Uh oh.”

Aeris tried to take the ticket from him. “Tell me! What does it say?”

“It says you’re perfect for each other! Both of your stars show a great future! Cloud, I’ll be your matchmaker, preacher...I’ll do whatever you want me to! You just call me when it all happens! Thank you for believing in me, even though you knew I was a spy. This is the final, final farewell!” Cait Sith entered the temple.

“Now what?” asked Cid.

“We wait,” replied Cloud.

I frowned and kicked at some stones near my feet. My eyes drifted up to where Aeris was still affectionately clinging to Cloud’s arm. So they were perfect for each other? I felt a stab to my heart and walked away, unable to look at them together any longer.

I found a fallen tree and planted myself on it, wiping at the tears in my eyes, hating myself for hopelessly loving Cloud. When I heard approaching footfalls, I wiped my eyes again.

“Tifa?” It was Cloud.

I didn’t look up at him.

“Something wrong?”

I shook my head.

“Why’re you crying? He was just a mechanical cat. He wasn’t alive.”

Did he really think I was upset because Cait Sith was going to his death? “Just leave me alone, Cloud.”

He didn’t listen. He came up and crouched down in front of me, right in my field of vision. “What’s wrong, Tifa? Tell me.”

I looked at him. “Is there something going on between you and Aeris?”

“Huh? No…there’s nothing going on.”

“Then why is she hanging on you all of a sudden.”

He looked down. “She’s just messing around. There’s no meaning behind it.”

So why couldn’t he look at me and say it? “Messing around? Well, isn’t that what we’re doing, too, Cloud?”

He looked up with a frown. “What’re you talking about?”

“I don’t know anymore.” When he tried to hug me, I pushed him away and got up. “Let’s face it. Your future with Aeris is perfect, according to Cait Sith’s fortune.”

“That’s just a bunch of crap. I don’t believe in fortunes.” He came up behind me.

I felt his breath on the side of my neck.

Cloud wrapped his arms around me. “I don’t want her. You’re the one I want.”

My eyes closed in pure bliss as he brushed his lips against my skin. “No…”

“Yes…”

My knees were growing weak. “Are you sure nothing happened on that date with Aeris?”

“Nothing…” Kiss. “…happened.”

I turned around in his arms to face him and greedily accepted his mouth as he kissed me. “No more dates with her?” I asked between kisses.

“No more dates…with her or anyone else.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck as he deepened the kiss. My will-power was shot when it came to Cloud. I couldn’t help it. I burned and ached for him. And I was pretty sure he knew it, too. He knew exactly the right buttons to push.

A loud rumbling sound forced us apart and we quickly headed back to join the others. When we got there, the entire temple had disappeared.

“What the hell happened?” Cloud asked.

“Hell if I know,” Cid replied, a halo of smoke surrounding him from the cigarette dangling from his lip. “Thing just vanished.”

There was a huge, gaping hole where the temple had been.

Cloud peered down into the hole. “There’s something down there. That’s gotta be the Black Materia.”

As Cloud jumped down into the hole, Aeris followed him. Their voices echoed up to us as they spoke.

“Are you able to use it?” he asked Aeris.

“Nope, we can’t use it right now. You need great spiritual power to use it.”

“You mean lots of Spiritual energy?”

“That’s right. One person’s power alone won’t do it. Somewhere special. Where there’s plenty of the Planet’s energy...Somewhere like the Promised Land.”

“What about Sephiroth?”

“Sephiroth is different. He’s not an Ancient.”

“He shouldn’t be able to find the Promised Land.”

“Ah, but I have,” an all too familiar voice responded. Suddenly Sephiroth appeared hovering over the hole. “I’m far superior to the Ancients. I became a traveler of the Lifestream and gained the knowledge and wisdom of the Ancients. And soon, I will create the future.”

“I won’t let you do it!” yelled Aeris. “The future is not only yours!”

Sephiroth laughed. “I wonder…Wake up!”

Cloud fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around his head. “Shut up! Shut up!”

All of a sudden a younger version of Cloud appeared, just like he looked when we were younger.

“There, Cloud,” Sephiroth said in a soothing voice as he floated down. “Good boy.”

Cloud wailed loudly. “The...noise!”

I stared in disbelief as the young Cloud took the Black Materia from Cloud and handed it to Sephiroth.

“Well done.” Sephiroth rose back up and disappeared.

Aeris crouched beside Cloud. “Cloud, are you all right?”

“I…I gave the Black Materia to Sephiroth...? Wha...what did I do...tell me, Aeris.”

She tried to get him up. “Be strong!”

“Urrrrrrgh...What have I done!?”

“It’s not your fault.”

All of a sudden he pushed Aeris roughly, knocking her hard into the wall. She hit her head on the rocks and collapsed. “I…I’m…”

“Cloud!” I yelled down. “What’re you doing?” I ran to another side of the hole and hopped from one jutting rock to another until I reached the bottom.

But by that time, Cloud had passed out.

 

Chapter 17​

Somewhere in the Middle of Nowhere – the present

I woke with a severe headache. How much did I drink the night before?

Then I remembered…I wasn’t home.

Cannibals…

As I studied my immediate surroundings, I realized I was in some sort of cage. The ground was covered with hay or straw and in a corner was a trough full of water. What the hell…? They were treating me like some kind of barn animal.

My head throbbed painfully as I stood up and walked to the bars. They were made of a surprisingly strong bamboo. I wrapped my hands around them and tried to shake them loose. They didn’t budge.

I was about to give the bars a power kick, but then I noticed one of the cannibals was sitting on the ground several feet away. He had a lethal looking spear and a peashooter in his hands. He was watching my every move. The last thing I wanted was to be shot with another one of those darts that rendered me unconscious.

I didn’t like the look in his eyes. My stomach convulsed when I thought about him possibly thinking I was good enough to eat.

Outside the cage was some sort of village. From the looks of it, it was well-hidden in the dense rainforest, daylight bathing only a few small areas under the canopy of trees above. The only other light source came from torches staked all around. The scattered huts looked mainly comprised of mud and straw. They weren’t very big at all. The natives of the village were all dark-skinned, thin and short, wearing simple loincloths and nothing else. The women carried baskets of wood or plants, or stoked a large fire in the center of the village.

There were no riches in this village. It was obvious these people were very primitive and had no influence from the rest of the outside world. I imagined they probably spoke a different language so there wouldn’t be any bargaining for my freedom.

As I continued visually inspecting everything, I came to realize there was a lack of laughter from any children. Judging from the small glimpses of sky through the trees, it was still daylight. Either the children went to bed very early or there were none in this village. The latter left me with a very uneasy feeling.

My next thought was Cloud. Where was he? What had they done to him?

I spied a hut with white smoke streaming out of a bamboo pipe on the thatch ceiling. “Oh God, please don’t let them be cooking him.” The bile rose to my throat. I was going to vomit any second.

Thunder rumbled and in the next second it started to pour.

The ceiling of my cage was also made of bars so there was no protection from the torrential rain as it found its way through the leaves in the trees. In a matter of seconds I was drenched.

The native outside my cage didn’t seem to be affected by the rain. The dirt around him immediately turned to mud and he still didn’t move.

I decided to see if he could understand me. “Excuse me…what’s the name of this village?”

No reaction. He just sat there staring.

With nothing to do but watch the movement of the villagers, I sat myself down near the bars.

I wasn’t sure how much time had passed before a door to one of the huts opened. Four men stepped out, dragging something behind them. I gasped when I realized it was Cloud. He had been stripped of his boots and trousers, leaving him in just his boxers. Was he alive? He wasn’t putting up a fight...wasn’t even moving.

As the native men dragged him by the feet, moving in the direction of my cage, I was shocked to see Cloud’s bare chest covered with blood. I couldn’t tell if it was his blood or where it was coming from. As the rain began rinsing it away, he didn’t appear to have any cuts or open wounds.

I jumped to my feet as one cannibal opened a nearby gate and the other three flung Cloud inside my cage. He rolled several times and hit the bars at the back of the cage.

I rushed toward him. “Cloud!”

He quickly scrambled away, cowering from me with a frightened wail and forcing me to stop in my tracks.

I turned my attention to the natives as they tied the gate with a vine.

Cloud weakly rolled onto his hands and knees and started coughing and gagging. A minute later he puked some dark red liquid. It looked like blood.

The cannibal who had kept guard earlier was back at the same spot, sitting down with his spear and peashooter.

I moved toward Cloud again. “Cloud…It’s okay. It’s me. Tifa.” I approached him and this time he didn’t move away. As I sat on the straw, I pulled his upper body over my lap.

He was shivering violently and groaning in what sounded like pain.

I didn’t know where he was hurting. It was too dark for me to see if he had any bruises. Seeing him like this made me sick to my stomach. I couldn’t take it anymore. I burst into tears.

This was all my fault. If I had just stayed home, we wouldn’t be in this predicament.

Cloud had another coughing fit and vomited again right next to me.

I tried to comfort him, massaging his back and running my fingers through his hair, which was plastered with mud.

Finally he stopped coughing and his breathing slowly went back to normal.

I cradled him against me. “What did they do to you?”

Cloud closed his eyes, his brows crinkled together…in anger, in pain, in fear…maybe all three.

I waited for him to tell me, to say anything. But he remained silent.

After awhile the rain finally stopped and with the passing of the storm clouds, the sunlight streaming through the trees lightened the area.

Now I was better able to assess Cloud’s injuries. As I looked him over though, I didn’t see any visible signs of abuse. He was just dirty from the mud they had dragged him through on the way to the cage.

I leaned closer to his face. “Cloud? Can you hear me?”

His eyes slowly came open, but they didn’t look at me.

“Are you hurt? Are you in pain?”

He barely moved his head from side to side, but it indicated he wasn’t.

“Then what’s wrong? Why are you so weak?” I waited for a response and didn’t get any.

He just stared blankly.

I bent forward and kissed him on the forehead. “It’s okay,” I said with my lips still pressed against his skin. It was on fire. He was burning up. “You’ll get better as soon as we get out of this.” I kissed his forehead again. “I believe in you.” I remembered saying those same words to him before, after he had given the powerful Black Materia to Sephiroth the first time.

Sometime in the middle of the night, Cloud pulled away from me and was on his feet.

Thunder rumbled overhead and the rain soon followed, coming down hard again. This place was a rainforest in every sense of the word.

In the near darkness I watched Cloud moving around the cage. He stopped and tilted his face up, letting the rain wash over him. His Mako-enhanced eyes glowed eerily. It was a trait I thought I had gotten used to, but every time I saw his eyes in the darkness, it made me shiver and reminded me of the things Hojo had done to him.

I sat up, drawing my legs to my chest and wrapping my arms around my knees. I suddenly felt chilled to the bone despite the perpetual heat and humidity of the rainforest.

That’s when Cloud started to pace. He moved from one end of the bamboo bars to the other, his eyes focused beyond them. His fear had virtually disappeared, as if it never existed.

GONGAGA – the past

The closest town was Gongaga on the other side of the sea.

Before we left, to our complete surprise Cait Sith appeared. He told us he was number two, but we all knew the brains behind the mechanical cat and moogle was sitting at Shinra Headquarters.

During the ride in the Tiny Bronco, Cloud remained unconscious. I was worried he suffered some kind of mental trauma from the confrontation with Sephiroth. His mind seemed so fragile lately. I started to think that whatever happened to him, between the time he left Nibelheim seven years ago til the time I found him at the train station in Midgar almost a week ago, was far more serious than he led me to believe. He hadn’t offered any kind of explanation for his whereabouts all those years or why the records at Shinra Corp said he was dead.

When we arrived in Gongaga, Barret and Cid carried Cloud inside one of the houses and laid him on a bed. I stayed in the bedroom with him, occasionally dabbing his forehead with a cold rag.

It wasn’t until late into the next morning that Cloud finally moved. He was still out, but was mumbling something and shivering every few seconds.

I gently nudged him on the shoulder and he jolted awake.

His eyes traveled to mine in confusion.

“I think you were having a nightmare. How are you feeling?”

Cloud sat up, glancing around the room. “Alright, I guess. Where am I?”

“Gongaga. We didn’t know where else to go.”

Barret suddenly stormed through the door. “Thought I heard voices. Finally up, are ya?”

“Where’re the others?” asked Cloud.

I bit my lower lip and decided to just come out and say it. “Cloud, Aeris is gone.”

“Everyone’s out looking for her,” Barret added.

Cloud looked down with a frown. “I know.”

“How do you know?” I asked. “You were unconscious the whole time.”

“City of the Ancients. She’s headed there. Only the Ancients, only Aeris can save us from the Meteor.”

I touched Cloud’s hand. “That’s where we have to go. If Sephiroth finds her, she’ll be in trouble.”

“Sephiroth... already knows.”

“Then why the hell’re we still sittin’ around?” yelled Barret.

I stood up. “Let’s go, Cloud.”

He shook his head. “No. I might lose it again. If Sephiroth comes near me I might…I might go crazy.”

Barret pointed a finger at Cloud’s face. “Yeah, Goddammit! It’s ‘cuz of you that Sephiroth got the Black Materia in the first place. It’s your damn fault!”

I tried to quiet Barret down, but he wasn’t finished.

“Half the time you get all pissed ‘cuz you don’t understand yourself. Just a damn jackass, that’s what you are. How many people in this world do ya think really understand themselves? People get depressed all the time ‘cuz they don’t know what’s up. But, they go on living. They don’t run away. That’s how it’s supposed to be.” He stormed out of the room.

I slipped my hand around Cloud’s. “You’ll come with us, right?”

He didn’t respond.

“I believe in you.” I let my hand slide out of his and silently walked out of the room.

Barret was in the hallway, his gunarm resting on a piece of furniture.

I was about to turn and go back into the bedroom.

“Wait a minute, Tifa. Give him a chance. He has to decide this on his own.”

A few minutes passed before the bedroom door opened and Cloud stepped out. He had an uncertain look in his eyes as he looked at us.

“I just wanna know what it’s gonna be?” asked Barret. “You wanna find out about yourself? Or are you too afraid? Either way, you stay around here and about all you can do is worry about it. Even if you do go nuts again when you see Sephiroth...If it happens, it happens.” He raised his gunarm. “I’ll go upside your spiky white head and bring you back to normal!”

I thought I caught a hint of a smile on Cloud’s face as he passed us and headed for the front door.

CITY OF THE ANCIENTS – the past

I didn’t question Cloud about how he knew the location of the City of the Ancients. He seemed to follow some mental map, as if someone had put it there.

We went through a forest of white trees on foot and through a maze of boulders and dead tree trunks in a canyon before the city was finally in sight. A thorough search was conducted of every building we came across. We found a few useful items and rested a bit in one of the rooms.

But Cloud seemed anxious to keep moving. He was right. Aeris could be in danger.

“I feel it...” he said with a haunted look on his face.

Barret had been chewing on an energy bar and stopped mid-bite. “Feel what?”

“Aeris is here...and so is Sephiroth.”

Cid took a drag from his cigarette. “Hey, how do you know?”

“I feel it in my soul.”

An involuntary shiver ran up my spine.

We left the house and our group headed back along the long path we first encountered. There were two other paths at the fork.

Cloud pointed down the center path. “Aeris’s voice…coming from there.”

We headed down the path and through a tunnel leading to a quiet forest. There was a lagoon with amazingly clear water. The sun was shining brightly down on it. On the other side of the lagoon was a structure with a doorway.

Cloud led the way.

Inside the structure was a long, winding stairway into a vast underground chamber containing a castle with three spires.

After searching the interior, we found a staircase. At the bottom was a platform overlooking another body of water.

Cloud stepped forward to a set of five pylons sticking out of the water. On the other side was another staircase. “Aeris.”

I looked up toward a small circular platform. Aeris was kneeling at the center as if she was praying.

Yuffie rushed forward. “Let’s go!”

Cloud held his arm out to prevent Yuffie from advancing. “No! Stay here.” He went alone, jumping from one pylon to the other until he reached the other side.

There was something strange about his movements as he slowly climbed the stairs. My eyes widened when he drew his sword. I looked around, thinking that something was about to attack him.

But there was nothing.

Cloud shook his head, as if he was trying to gather his senses. He took another step toward Aeris, raising his buster sword. Another step and he was standing in front of her kneeling form. He raised the sword over his head and started to bring it down.

I rushed forward. “Cloud!”

His arms locked, the blade only inches from the top of Aeris’s head. He shook his head again and stumbled backward. “What am I doing?” He continued to stumble backward until he was halfway down the stairs.

Aeris looked up at him at that moment. She smiled.

Just then Sephiroth appeared, dropping from above. Before anyone could react, he plunged his Masamune through Aeris’s back. The tip of it came out the front of her torso.

“No!” I yelled.

Sephiroth had a maniacal grin on his face as he pulled the sword out.

Aeris slumped forward and Cloud caught her before she hit the ground.

I was about to rush forward, but Barret and Cid held me back.

All of us were in shock.

Cloud shook her. “Aeris…this can’t be real!”

“Do not worry,” Sephiroth said in his disturbingly calm voice. “Soon the girl will become part of the Planet’s energy. All that is left is to go North. The ‘Promised Land’ waits for me over the snowy fields. There I will become a new being by uniting with the planet. As will this girl...”

“Shut up!” yelled Cloud. “Your stupid plan doesn’t mean shit! Aeris is gone. She won’t ever talk, or laugh, cry...or get angry.” Cloud hugged her limp form before turning to look over his shoulder at Sephiroth. “What about us? What’re we supposed to do? What about my pain?” He lowered Aeris to the ground and raised his hand. “My fingers are tingling. My mouth is dry. My eyes are burning!”

“What are you saying? Are you trying to tell me you have feelings now?

Cloud stood up and spun around to face him. “ Of course! Who do you think I am!?”

Sephiroth laughed. “Stop acting as if you’re sad. No need to act as though you’re angry either. Because Cloud….you are...” He didn’t finished his statement as he floated upward and disappeared.

Something dropped down and flashed. When the light was gone, a hideous creature stood in front of Cloud.

Our group jumped along the pylons to help Cloud battle the creature.

We summoned Bahamut and Odin. Still the creature wouldn’t die. It took Cloud’s Meteorain skill to finally defeat it.

As it vanished, a voice echoed. “Because, you are...a puppet.”

“I’m...a puppet?” Cloud whispered to himself.

We all stood staring at Aeris’s limp form, unable to believe she was gone.

Everyone took turns paying their last respects to her and walked away.

When it was just Yuffie and I standing with Cloud, she suddenly burst into tears and flung herself at Cloud. Cloud hugged her tightly as she cried. When he released her, she fled to follow the others.

I crouched down beside Aeris and stared at her pale face. For the last couple of days I thought terrible things about Aeris, thinking she was trying to steal Cloud away from me. Whether that had actually been her intention, I’d never know. Now I felt bad because she sacrificed herself for our lives. But it was all in vain. Sephiroth was still alive.

I reached down to push the hair away from her face. “Goodbye…” As I stood up, the tears came. I ran, not wanting Cloud to see me crying.

But I stopped a short distance away and looked back.

Cloud picked up Aeris and carried her down the stairs. He carried her up the winding staircase until he reached the lagoon in the forest.

I watched with tears in my eyes as he carried her into the water until it was waist deep. My hand flew to my mouth to stifle my sobs as he gently released her on the surface of the water.

Aeris floated for a few seconds and then slowly sank.

Cloud hung his head in grief. I left him alone.

Later on we were gathered in one of the huts in the City of the Ancients. No one was talking. We were all lost in our own thoughts.

Cloud finally appeared. He shuffled his feet as he walked around the room, finding a place to sit beside me.

The silence in the room was deafening.

“I’m Cloud, ex-SOLDIER, born in Nibelheim,” he suddenly mumbled and looked up. “I came to settle up with Sephiroth.”

Cid snorted from the corner. “I heard that before.”

“I came here by my own free will,” Cloud said slowly as he stood up. “Or so I thought. But the truth is, I’m afraid of myself. There’s a part of me that I don’t understand. The part that made me give the Black Materia to Sephiroth. If you hadn’t stopped me…Aeris…I might’ve...There’s something inside of me. A person who is not really me. That’s why I should quit this journey. Before I do something terrible.”

I stood up, ready to argue.

Cloud held up a hand to stop me. “But I’m going. He destroyed my hometown five years ago, killed Aeris, and is now trying to destroy the Planet. I have to go on.” He glanced around at each of us. “I have a favor to ask. Will you all come with me? To stop me from doing something terrible.”

Barret shook his head. “I dunno, man. This is all fucked up.”

“I don’t know how Aeris tried to save the planet from the Meteor,” Cloud went on. “And I guess now we’ll never know. But we still have a chance! We must get that Black Materia back before Sephiroth uses it.” He looked around the room again. “Are you with me?!”

“Yes!” I cried out and realized everyone else in the room had said it at the same time.

Cloud led the way out of the City of the Ancients. “Sephiroth said he was heading north, passed the snowy fields.”

Cid lit a cigarette. “Looks like I picked the wrong day to dress light.”

ICICLE VILLAGE – the past

We went to the northern continent in the Tiny Bronco. Upon arrival, we found the place crawling with Shinra guards.

Among them was Elena. “There they are, hurry!”

We tried to leave town from the other side, but they caught up to us.

Elena was out of breath. “Cloud...I won’t let you go any further!”

Cloud looked down the side of a ledge. “What’s down there?”

“Can’t tell you. Anyway, it doesn’t matter.” She looked furious. “You really got guts doin’ my boss in like that!”

“You mean Tseng? That wasn’t us. Sephiroth did it.”

“No! Don’t think you can fool me, liar!”

“I’m not lying...it was Sephiroth.”

“Don’t act so innocent. I’ll never forget it!”

Cloud looked over his shoulder at the rest of us, probably wondering what to do.

Elena moved closer to him. “Looks like talking alone won’t cut it. You’re going to have to feel some pain!” She raised her fists. “There’s no way you can avoid my punch.” She threw a punch and Cloud stepped out of reach. Elena lost her balance and tumbled down the hill.

I stared with my mouth open as the Shinra guards chased after her, leaving us unguarded.

Cloud turned to us and pointed innocently to where Elena and the guards disappeared. “Can’t blame me for that. She did it on her own.”

We decided to check out the shops in town to replenish our supplies. In one of the shops, while the owner wasn’t looking, Cloud managed to swipe a map of the glacier we needed to cross. Another shop owner told us we needed snowboards if we planned to make it down the slope, so we ended up buying eight of them, one for each of us.

The way down the slope was treacherous and most of us kept crashing our snowboards. Luckily we were all alive by the time we reached the bottom, and the beginning of the glacier.

Cid shook his head in disgust. “I’m getting to old for this shit.”

“Come on before we freeze to death out here,” Cloud suggested.

We walked through a blizzard and found a small hut, making no qualms about going inside uninvited.

A old man greet us. “Now, this is a surprise! How many years has it been since I last saw anyone here? Oh, excuse me. My name is Holzoff. I’ve lived here for twenty years now. You mind listening to the stories of a lonely climber? Why don’t you all sit down.”

We decided to keep the old man company while we warmed up.

“You ever hear about those who challenged the cliff?” he asked.

“No,” replied Cloud.

“There’s an old legend that says something fell from the sky here a long time ago. That’s what supposedly pushed the land up and formed this cliff. Thirty years ago, Yamski and I took this cliff on to see what was on the other side. But we weren’t prepared for it. We did expect the temperature to be low but...on that cliff, there’s always a biting cold wind. The cold air lowers your body temperature. Yamski was below me. He cut his own rope...and I didn’t even notice... Ever since then I’ve settled here...continuing to challenge the cliff and provide warning and shelter to my fellow climbers. If you’re going to climb the cliff, there’s two precautions you’ll need to take. First, check your route. It’s hard to find because of all the snow. Second, once you get to a ledge, make sure you warm yourselves up. Understand?”

After we all had a chance to rest and warm up, we headed back out.

Barret was shivering in the cold. “You know, Cloud, I’ve been thinkin’.”

“About what?”

“Seein’ a place like this makes you realize how awesome nature is. But if anyone ever told me to live here, I’d tell them to...you know...I tell you one thing though, if I did have to live here I’d change things around and make it better. I guess the total opposite of this would be Midgar. When you think of it that way, Shinra don’t seem so bad.” He paused and shook his head. “What the hell am I sayin’!? The Shinra, not bad!?”

“Barret and I will secure the route,” Cloud told us. “The rest of you stay here until I call you.”

It was dark by the time we all made it to the crater.

When I walked up beside Cloud I noticed he was staring at the wide chasm below.

“Something fell out of the sky and crashed down here,” he said outloud. “Leaving a scar on the planet.”

“So all this energy’s gathered here for the planet to heal itself?” asked Barret.

“Sephiroth took that energy and is trying to use Meteor. Next time the wound won’t be so small.” He turned to me. “Maybe you and Yuffie should wait out here.”

I frowned at him. “You’re going to have it out with Sephiroth, aren’t you? Because of Sephiroth, I lost a lot of things, too. I want to come along. Please don’t say no, Cloud.”

He let out a deep sigh. “Alright. Have it your way.”

Our group started down into the crater.

 

Warning – This chapter contains a moment of sexual weakness ;o) Not very detailed though.

Chapter 18​

Somewhere in the Middle of Nowhere – the present

Days passed. I began to lose track of time.

What were these cannibals waiting for? Why hadn’t they killed us yet? Were we not fattened enough for their liking? If that’s what they were waiting for, then they’d be waiting a long time. Neither Cloud or I had ever had a weight problem. We were both thin.

During the days that passed, Cloud became extremely guarded toward me. Anytime anyone came near the cage, he’d immediately crouch in front of where I sat on the ground. He’d stare menacingly at whoever approached.

I tried to get him to talk, but he remained silent, almost as if he had lost the ability to speak. It was starting to get on my nerves.

Every day one of the natives would bring food and a gourd. The first time it happened, I went to check it out and discovered the gourd was full of a blood-red liquid. I left it alone. Days ago Cloud wouldn’t touch the stuff either, but as time passed, he was getting the shakes, as if he was going through withdrawals. Now he couldn’t wait for them to bring the liquid to him.

The oddest behavior he exhibited was when instead of using the designated corner pit to relieve himself, he shamelessly urinated around the edges of the cage, as if he was marking his territory. I yelled at him to stop, but he wasn’t even listening to me.

He paced and paced…endlessly…staring out into the darkness, seeing things I couldn’t see, hearing things I couldn’t hear. I was certain he slept on his feet as they carried him back and forth along the bars, like some caged animal waiting for the right moment to strike…waiting for his freedom.

Occasionally I saw the dark, ominous expression in his eyes and it made me shiver. I wondered if he was slowly losing his mind. All the things he had been subjected to throughout his life…and now this.

I started to fear him and was thankful he kept his distance from me most of the time.

One rainy night I just couldn’t take it any longer…the constant pacing.

“Cloud, will you please stop?” I timidly asked, afraid to speak any louder and possibly angering him.

His eyes darted in my direction, but he made no move to stop pacing.

“Why can’t you just sit down?”

He pushed the wet hair out of his eyes and looked away…and kept pacing.

I stood up with a frustrated growl and moved as far away from him as I could in the cage. As the rain came down, I let it wash over me. Modesty was no longer a luxury in this bamboo cage. I had abandoned my panties days ago because it was just easier without them. My tank top and miniskirt were getting worn from the abuse of the rain and lying on the straw covered ground, but I wasn’t about to walk around naked in front of the natives. Or in front of him.

As I washed myself in the rain, something caught my eye at the other end of the cage. I looked and noticed Cloud had stopped pacing for only a second, his glowing eyes turned in my direction. Then he started moving again, his eyes not leaving me.

I stared back at him, wondering if I was doing something to upset him? All I was doing was washing myself in the rain. It wasn’t anything new. I did it every day.

Just then Cloud shifted direction and moved toward me, a determined look on his face.

I immediately backed away, afraid he’d suddenly get physically violent with me, something I had feared in the last few days. He came up to me just as my back touched the bamboo bars. I grunted in surprise as he began rubbing his face against mine. The fear crept into my soul. What was he going to do? The heat emanating from him was scorching.

Finally his mouth found mine and he kissed me. He started out gentle and quickly became more desperate.

At first I tried to push him away, wondering if he knew what he was doing. But he ignored my protests and hungrily demanded my surrender, easily overpowering me. I could have fought harder against him, but my knees grew weak…my entire body grew weak. I was overwhelmed by my rampant emotions. I wanted him, but I couldn’t stop the fear. He wasn’t himself. He was acting like some wild animal.

Somehow or another I ended up with my back on the ground. He started at my neck, kissing and licking and nipping at my skin. As he moved down, he uncovered me along the way.

I moaned softly as his hands touched me in all the right places. It had been so long since he had touched me this way…or in any way.

When he had his fill with his hands and mouth, he pushed his boxers down and finally entered me. His mouth claimed mine just as hungrily as when he started. He grunted with each thrust and his lips moved to the side of my face. “Tifa…” he whispered.

I was momentarily distracted by the fact that he had actually spoken. Or maybe I was just imagining it in my delirium.

He reached for my hands, guiding them up over my head as he rolled his hips harder between my legs.

I had forgotten how incredible sex was. Well, it was incredible with Cloud. I had no one else to compare him to.

Cloud lifted his weight off me and pulled me up by the hands until we were sitting up and I was straddling his lap.

I let out a blissful cry, shivering from the sensations I hadn’t felt in so long.

And then I suddenly remembered we weren’t alone. There was always one or two natives sitting outside the cage, watching every move we made. I slid my arms around Cloud’s neck as he set a new pace and I looked over his shoulder. Sure enough, the cannibal’s eyes were on us. “Cloud, he’s watching…”

Cloud didn’t care. He didn’t stop. I didn’t want him to stop.

I closed my eyes, blocking out everything accept him. When I reached my climax, I buried my face against his neck to muffle the sounds coming from my throat.

Seconds later he reached his own release and had no qualms about voicing his pleasure. I could swear it echoed through the whole village.

Our arms remained locked around each other for a few minutes after it was over, the rain continuously pelting us from above.

When his arms loosened, I slid off Cloud’s lap, adjusting my miniskirt along the way. He adjusted his boxers and surprised me by lying down next to me. Was he done pacing? He pulled me closer to him and possessively wrapped a leg around both of mine.

I snuggled against his bare chest, seeking shelter from the rain, as well as the comfort in his familiar scent. There wasn’t anything to fear. Even if he wasn’t himself, deep down inside I knew he wouldn’t hurt me.

Or maybe he was coming around…back to his normal self.

I could only hope.

In the morning, the sun was shining brightly, casting scattered spots of light all around where it found its way through the leaves.

Despite the fact that Cloud and I were still at the mercy of a village of cannibals, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of accomplishment. It had a lot to do with the intimate moment we shared the night before. How long had it been? Since the night under the Highwind before Cloud finally defeated Sephiroth in the crater.

That was over two years ago. I could never truly understand why it stopped…Cloud offered no explanation. For the longest time I believed I had only been an avenue for him to blow off steam through sex. And maybe it was true according to his reasoning the other day when he spilled his guts about everything. He confessed to having taken advantage of me. Well, deep down inside I felt as if I had taken advantage of him, as well. Both of us had desperately needed that intimacy back then.

But why did it stop?

I looked up to where Cloud was pacing along the bars again. Since I knew I wasn’t going to get him to stop, I decided to get up and march beside him.

For the next few minutes, I walked alongside him as he paced. His face was turned the opposite direction, his attention focused on the activity outside of the cage. After awhile I began to realize he was more focused on the hut with the white smoke coming out of the bamboo pipe.

Another few minutes passed and Cloud froze so abruptly that I had taken two extra steps before realizing he had stopped walking.

His brows were furrowed in anger as he looked at me. “What’re you doing?”

Aha! He could talk! I knew it!

I shrugged. “Just getting some exercise. I figured if I can’t stop you from pacing, then I might as well join you.” I laughed alittle.

He didn’t look amused and immediately started walking again.

I rushed to catch up to him and when he glared at me, I thought it was probably in my best interest not to irritate him. So I stopped and leaned against the bamboo bars. A quick glance over my shoulder revealed one of the natives sitting on the ground, watching us as usual. I turned back to Cloud and sighed. “Can I ask you something?”

He didn’t respond as he passed me.

“What happened after we settled in Edge? Why did it stop?”

He passed me again, going the other way, and gave me a confused look. Like he didn’t understand what I was asking.

“Why did we stop sleeping together?”

On his way back, he paused in front of me. “I already told you.” He walked on.

“Actually, no, Cloud. You didn’t.”

“I did, Tifa. I said I didn’t think you wanted me that way anymore.”

“I don’t understand what made you feel that way? What did I do to give you that impression?”

“It’s not what you did.”

“Was it something I said?”

He paused his steps briefly before resuming. Now he wasn’t looking at me again.

It was something I said. But what? What could I have said to make him stop coming to me? I would have remembered if it had been significant. Or maybe it had only been significant to Cloud. “What did I say to you, Cloud? Please tell me.”

“You didn’t say it to me. I overheard you talking to Shera.”

“Shera?” She was Cid’s wife. I went into the vault of my memories, trying to recall every conversation I had had with her. There hadn’t been very many. And suddenly I remembered in vivid detail…every word spoken.

“Cid asked me to marry him,” Shera confessed to me.

“Oh, Shera, that’s wonderful.”

“What about you?”

“What about me?”

“I’m sure Cloud will be proposing to you soon.”

“Cloud? Oh no. I doubt it.”

“Why? I thought the two of you were close?”

“It’s not like that between me and Cloud. We’re just really good friends.”

“Well, you could have fooled me.”

I laughed. “Besides, I could never marry someone like him. He’s too messed up and too reckless. I want someone more stable.”

I didn’t know why I said that to Shera. I just didn’t want her to think there was anything going on between Cloud and I because I wasn’t sure whether Cloud wanted anyone else to know yet. Too messed up and too reckless? I couldn’t believe I said it and I couldn’t believe Cloud overheard me saying it. “So I guess it’s all my fault then. You know I didn’t really mean what I said to her.”

“I know now. I didn’t know it back then. I was really hurt.”

I stepped into his path, forcing him to stop and I slid my arms around him. “I’m so sorry, Cloud. Why didn’t you say something?”

He accepted my hug. “I didn’t want to start a fight with you and give you a reason to throw me out. I wanted to be with you, in whatever capacity you allowed me to be.”

My heart clenched painfully. How could I have been so selfish in the last couple of years, thinking he was to blame when it was all my fault? I couldn’t imagine how hurt he was by what I said. I thought back at all the times I caught him looking at me with longing in his eyes before he walked away. I just thought I was seeing things. And all that time he thought I didn’t want him.

“I’m sorry,” I repeated, drawing back alittle and kissing his face. “Please forgive me.”

“I forgive you, Tifa. I’ll always forgive you.”

“You should have just grabbed me and kissed me, just like this.” I kissed him hard, not caring that there was a cannibal watching us.

“I was afraid you’d reject me,” he mumbled between kisses.

Then suddenly Cloud abruptly pulled away from me.

Now what? I thought to myself with a sigh.

I turned to find Cloud standing in front of the bars. He was following the movement of someone who had just stepped out of the hut with the white smoke.

As I moved to the bars, I suddenly realized that I recognized the man…I recognized the white lab coat…recognized the walk, hands clasped behind his back.

It was Professor Hojo…

NORTHERN CRATER – the past

When we reached the bottom of the crater, we came across several people wearing black cloaks. I remembered seeing them in Nibelheim, too, but didn’t really pay much attention because everything else in town was fake.

One of them mumbled something incoherent. “B…back…to Sephir…back to…”

Cloud reached out to touch the person, to get their attention. He quickly jumped back when the figure suddenly vanished.

Barret nudged Cloud’s shoulder. “C’mon, let’s keep movin’.”

We walked through an area where tall stalagmites poked upward through a dense fog. There were certain areas we had to jumped down from ledge to ledge.

A high wind blew through a valley and tried to knock us off a treacherous path. Luckily we all made it across without falling to our deaths down the hundred foot drop.

On the other side of the path we saw a strange sight. Dozens of people in black cloaks were weeding their way forward, in single file. We followed them to what looked like a dead end.

And then we saw him. Sephiroth.

“This is the end...for all of you,” he said as he swung his sword and knocked the black cloaked people down into the chasm.

“Sephiroth!!” Cloud yelled as he rushed forward.

Cid followed behind him. “This is the end for you!”

“This is the end of this body’s usefulness,” Sephiroth said before he vanished.

Cloud stopped in his tracks. “He disappeared again!”

I walked up beside Cloud. “He might still be nearby.”

“Our purpose is to deliver the Black Materia to our master.” None of us had spoken. The voice seemed to come from all around us.

“What’s goin’ on?” Cid asked, tossing his half smoked cigarette on the ground and raising his harpoon.

“Those who carry Jenova’s cells...”

Cloud looked around in confusion. “Master...!?”

The voice laughed. “Sephiroth, of course.”

Just then a large creature appeared. We raised our weapons and caste every summon spell we had. Neo Bahamut, Alexander and Kjata. When that didn’t bring the creature down, we caste Ice, Fire and Comet. In the end, it was Cloud’s constant use of his mastered Bolt that defeated it.

As we all breathed a sigh of relief, Cloud took several steps forward. “Jenova’s cells...so that’s what this is all about. The Jenova Reunion...”

“What’re you saying, Cloud?” I asked. “All this time it wasn’t Sephiroth responsible for everything?”

“Sephiroth is still responsible. I have to beat him.”

“But what else is here?”

“Something…it’s releasing a powerfully strong will from deep within this planet’s wound.” Cloud picked up the Black Materia Sephiroth had dropped after he released the creature we had just defeated. “The Black Materia is back in our hands. Now all we have to do is defeat Sephiroth and that’ll be the end of it.”

I touched Cloud’s arm. “Maybe you should give the Black Materia to someone else to hold on to.”

Cloud nodded in agreement and walked toward Barret, holding the Black Materia out to him.

“Damn, man! Why do I have to be responsible?”

“Don’t give it to anyone. I’m counting on you.”

“Let’s go find Sephiroth,” I said, tugging on Cloud’s arm.

“Who wants to go in first with us while the rest stay here and keep watch?”

Cid lit another cigarette. “Guess it’s my turn to play hero.”

The three of us moved ahead through another narrow path.

Suddenly everything went white.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Calm down, Tifa,” said Cloud. “Sephiroth is near. Anything could happen.”

The light faded and we were suddenly standing in front of the main entrance of Nibelheim.

Cid looked a bit freaked. “What the hell’s this!?”

Cloud glanced around. “It’s gotta be an illusion. Sephiroth is trying to confuse us. Let’s keep going.”

“You’re right... Look!” I exclaimed as four figures appeared ahead of us. It was Sephiroth, Zack fair and two Shinra guards.

“All right, let’s go,” said the illusionary Sephiroth.

Cid turned to Cloud. “I thought you said you were there.” He pointed to Zack. “That ain’t you, man!”

Cloud looked confused.

The illusionary Sephiroth started to laugh maniacally before all of them disappeared from the courtyard.

“Cloud, it’s just an illusion,” I assured. “Don’t worry about it.”

Another illusion suddenly appeared. We were in the center of town and all of the buildings around us were on fire.

Cloud looked around “This is what actually happened five years ago. But...it probably won’t be me coming out of the Shinra mansion. He’s going to try and show us another stupid illusion.”

Zack came bounding out of the mansion.

“See? I knew it.”

I watched wide-eyed as the scene unfolded.

Professor Zangan turned to Zack. “Hey it’s you! You’re still sane, right? Then come over here and help me!”

I moved closer to Cloud. “I don’t want to watch this. Cloud...don’t watch.”

“I’ll check this house.” Zangan pointed to another house. “You check that one over there!”

Cloud’s eyes drifted to me. “What’s wrong, Tifa? This is all an illusion. There’s no need to be scared.”

Cid walked over to someone lying on the ground. “Hey! Hey you! You alright!?” The illusionary person didn’t respond. “Damn! This is all made up.”

Cloud moved away from me and looked up. “Sephiroth! I know you’re listening! I know what you’re trying to do! You want me to think I wasn’t in Nibelheim five years ago. That’s it, isn’t it?”

Sephiroth’s laughter echoed around us just before he appeared. “I see you finally understand.”

“You’re just trying to confuse me! Showing me these things won’t matter. I remember it all. The heat of the fire... the pain in my body... and in my heart!”

“Oh, is that so? You’re just a puppet. You have no heart and cannot feel any pain. How can there be any meaning in the memory of such a being? What I have shown you is reality. What you remember, that’s an illusion.”

Cloud was furious. “Why...why are you doing this?”

Sephiroth laughed. “I want to take you back to your real self. The one who gave me the Black Materia that day. Who would have ever thought a failed experiment would prove so useful? Hojo would die if he knew.”

“Hojo!? What does he have to do with me!?”

“Five years ago you were...constructed by Hojo, piece by piece, right after Nibelheim was burnt. A puppet made up of vibrant Jenova cells, her knowledge and the power of Mako. An incomplete clone of myself. Not even given a number.” He glared at Cloud. “That’s your reality.”

“No, Cloud,” I yelled. “Don’t listen to him! Close your ears! Close your eyes!”

Cloud looked over his shoulder at me. “I’m not affected by anything he’s telling me.” But I knew it wasn’t true.

“All that talk of Hojo constructing you is a lie. Don’t we have our memories together? Growing up together?”

Sephiroth laughed again. “Tifa, why are you so worried and scared by my words? Hmm...Shall I show everyone here what’s in your heart?”

Cloud walked toward me and I stared fearfully at him. “What’s going on?”

“Cloud...” I started out, but couldn’t say anything more.

“Why are you so scared? Don’t worry about me. I’m all right. No matter how confused I am, I’ll never believe a word he says. It’s true sometimes I can’t figure out who I am. There’s a lot of stuff mixed up in my head. But, Tifa, when you found me at the train station in Midgar, you knew me. I’m the one you grew up with. I’m Cloud and I returned to Nibelheim five years ago.” When I didn’t say anything, his expression grew concerned. “What? Am I not the same Cloud you grew up with?”

Yes, he was the same Cloud, but he had not been the one that came to Nibelheim five years ago. “Please don’t make me say it, Cloud.”

“Cloud, don’t blame Tifa,” said Sephiroth. “The ability to change one’s looks, voice, and words, is the power of Jenova. Inside of you, Jenova has merged with Tifa’s memories, creating you. Out of Tifa’s memory. A boy named Cloud might’ve just been a part of them.”

“You’re wrong!” I yelled at Sephiroth.

Sephiroth laughed. “Think, Cloud. Cloud?” He continued to laugh. “Oh, that’s right. You never had a name...”

Cloud frowned at Sephiroth. “Shut up!”

“I see you still don’t understand. Do you remember the picture we took before we headed for Mt Nibel? Tifa, you remember, right? But there’s no way he would know. Now, what happened to that picture?” Sephiroth pulled something out of a pocket and tossed it toward us. “Is this it?”

The photo drifted and landed at Cloud’s feet.

“Cloud...don’t...”

But Cloud didn’t listen to me. He picked up the picture. “I...should be in the picture. Tommy took it.” He looked at the photo.

I already know Cloud wasn’t in the photo. It was Sephiroth, Zack and me.

Cloud crushed the photo in his fist in anger. “This picture’s a fake. The truth is in my memory. Five years ago, I came back to Nibelheim to inspect the reactor. I was sixteen. The town hadn’t changed at all. Tifa led us to the reactor in Mt Nibel. I was excited about it because it was my first mission after becoming a First Class SOLDIER.” A frown formed on his face and he looked down. “SOLDIER, First Class?...SOLDIER?” He shook his head in confusion. “When did I enter the SOLDIER academy?” He reached up to hold his head. “How did I join SOLDIER? Why…why can’t I remember? I’m...I’m...That’s right...I didn’t have to worry about it, because I was...”

The area suddenly darkened.

“Cloud?” I called. “Cid?”

As the light returned, I found myself in a cavern. I could hear voices on the other side of some stalagmites.

“Wow, this is amazing!”

I peeked around to see who the voice belonged to. Scarlet. She was standing beside Rufus Shinra.

“It’s all materia?” she asked as she pointed up to the ceiling at a strange stone structure that branched out on every side.

“The outside is rich with Mako energy,” said Rufus. “The inside is a treasure trove of materia. This truly is the Promised Land.”

“There is no such thing as the Promised Land.” Hojo walked into the chamber, his hands clasped behind his back. “It’s an utterly ridiculous legend.”

Shinra turned to Hojo. “Everything’s exactly as I imagined it to be. Isn’t it splendid?”

Just then the cavern began to tremble and the stone walls crumbled.

“What’s happening?” Rufus asked no one in particular.

Scarlet pointed to the far wall. “It’s coming from within the wall there! Something’s in there! It’s moving!”

I shifted my position behind the stalagmite, trying to get a better look at what she was talking about. My jaw dropped when I thought I saw a giant eye blink several times against the wall. Was I seeing things?

“Weapon…” whispered Hojo. “It really does exist. I never believed it…”

“What’re you talking about, old man?” asked Rufus.

“Weapon. Monsters created by the planet. They appear whenever the planet is in danger, reducing everything to nothingness. That’s what Professor Gast said in his report.”

“I never saw that report. Where is it?”

Hojo chuckled and pointed to his head. “Here, right here.”

“You keep a lot of things to yourself.”

The cavern trembled again.

Scarlet looked around nervously. “Mr. President, I’ve got a bad feeling about this place.”

“Hmm...maybe we should go back to the ship. We need to prepare for the inspection anyway.”

The room darkened and when the light returned, Cloud was suddenly among them.

Scarlet gasped. “Hey! Where did you come from?”

Cloud looked up. “…don’t know...This place is gonna get rough. Better leave things to me and get out of here while you still can.”

Rufus moved toward him. “Leave what things to you?”

“This is where the Reunion is taking place. Where everything begins and ends.”

I ran out from behind the stalagmite. “Cloud!”

Barret suddenly charged in. “Hey, Cloud! I’m here!”

Cloud turned to him. “Thanks, Barret. Where’s the Black Materia?”

“Cloud!” I yelled again, but he didn’t seem to hear me.

“It’s safe,” Barret said, patting a pocket on his shirt. “I have it.”

Cloud held out his hand. “I’ll take it from here. Give me the Black Materia.”

I rushed forward. “Doesn’t anyone hear me?”

Barret looked at him momentarily. “You alright then? Tifa said you were in trouble and needed my help.”

I froze in my tracks. When had I talked to Barret and told him that?

Barret pulled the Black Materia out of his pocket and handed it to Cloud. “Too much pressure holding this thing.”

“No!” I yelled. “Don’t!”

“Thanks. Leave the rest to me.” Cloud looked at everyone. “I’m sorry,” he said to Rufus. Then he turned toward Barret. “...Sorry.” Finally his gaze landed on me. “Especially you, Tifa. I’m really sorry. You’ve been so good to me...I don’t know what to say...I never lived up to being ‘Cloud’. Maybe one day you’ll meet him for real.”

Hojo chuckled. “This is perfect! It means that my experiment was a complete success. What number are you? Where’s your tattoo?”

“Professor Hojo...I don’t have a number. You didn’t give me one because you said I was a failed experiment.”

“What? You mean out of all my experiments, only a failure made it here?”

“Please, Professor...give me a number. Please...”

“Shut up, you miserable failure!”

Cloud suddenly levitated up in the air for several seconds before disappearing into the stone structure above.

I moved closer to Barret, not understanding any of what was happening. Why had Cloud said those things? What was going on?

“Who was that?” Rufus asked Hojo.

“He’s a Sephiroth clone I created after the real Sephiroth died five years ago. Jenova cells and Mako, with my knowledge and skills, have been combined with science and nature to bring him to life. I’m not wild about the failure part, but the Jenova Reunion Theory has now been proven. You see, even if Jenova’s body is dismembered, it will eventually become one again. That’s what is meant by Jenova’s Reunion. Five years have passed and now all the clones I created have began to return. Being the genius that I am, I soon figured it out. You see it was all Sephiroth’s doing. Sephiroth is not just content to diffuse his will into the Lifestream. He wants to also manipulate the clones.”

I glared up at the stone structure and saw Cloud mumbling to himself.

“Yes, that’s how it got started.”

“I wondered where the clones were going,” Hojo went on. “But I was never able to figure it out until now.”

I gasped when I saw Cloud standing up. But he was upside down, defying gravity.

“I couldn’t figure it out, either,” he mumbled.

“The one thing that I did know was that Sephiroth was at their final destination.”

Cloud shook his head in confusion, still talking to himself. “I wasn’t pursuing Sephiroth. I was being summoned by him. All the anger and hatred I felt for him made it impossible for me to ever forget him. I’m here, Sephiroth and I brought you the Black Materia. Show yourself to me. Where are you?”

The structure on the ceiling cracked and something dropped from it, lodging onto some of the branches.

Hojo gasped. “Do you see that?! It’s Sephiroth! This is perfect! The reunion between Sephiroth and Jenova.” He laughed.

I glared angrily at him. “What’re you so happy about? You know what this means? Cloud has the Black Materia! Sephiroth is going to summon Meteor! Every single person is going to die!”

Rufus moved toward the cavern’s exit. “Whatever I say is too little...too late...We must evacuate. I want you all to come with me. There is still much more I want to hear.”

Barret looked up. “Yo! Cloud! Knock it off!”

“Cloud!” I yelled and stared in shock as he handed the Black Materia to Sephiroth…for the second time.

The structure began to crumble and pieces fell around us.

Barret grabbed me and carried me out, following the others.

We climbed a ladder up to an airship. Just as the ship began to move away, the ground inside the crater erupted outward. Several giant creatures were released.

I stared in shock as one of them turned to the airship and fired something from its chest. The blast hit the side of the airship, bouncing it around. I lost my balance and my forehead struck the reiling.