These characters are property of Squaresoft

Forget not Yet

by horse_w_no_name

Forget not yet the tired intent
Of such a truth as I have meant;
My great travail so gladly spent
Forget not yet!

Forget not yet when first began
The weary life ye know, since whan
The suit, the service none tell can;
Forget not yet!

Forget not yet the great assays,
The cruel wrong, the scornful ways,
The painful patience in denays,
Forget not yet!

Forget not! oh! forget not this,
How long ago hath been, and is
The mind that never meant amiss-
Forget not yet!

Forget not then thine own approved,
The which so long hath thee so loved,
Whose steadfast faith yet never moved-
Forget not this!

(-Sir Thomas Wyatt- Forget not Yet-)



Chapter 1:



Cloud Strife stood in the doorway watching Tifa Lockheart sleep.
He had been standing there for at least an hour, and he had a feeling
that an hour form now he would still be standing there...still
standing watching this sleeping angel. The dawn was beginning
to break, and the sunrise cast a warm light over the bed that
caressed her beautiful face. Her long brown hair lay about her
body, and sections of it fell in front of her as she turned on her
side. The sunlight created streaks of gold in her hair as it cascaded
down across the bed. Tifa put one of her arms under her pillow and
a sweet beautiful smile spread across her angelic face. Cloud knew
that she must have been having a wonderful dream. He did not dare
to wake her. She was so beautiful, so peaceful.

Then the tantalizing sent of bacon invaded his nostrils. Shera was
obviously now up. He knew that any second now Cid would come
down the hall and yell at him to get his spiky headed butt in the kitchen
for breakfast. Somehow Cloud found it impossible to tear his eyes
away from this angel. She even looked like an angel. The white silk
nightgown she wore shimmered in the morning light.

Slowly, and ever so quietly, he walked over to the bed. Each step gave
him a different view of Tifa, each more beautiful than the last. He
almost had to pause between steps to take in each new view. Finally
he reached the head of the bed.

/Today's the day./ He thought to himself. It was the exact same
phrase he told himself every morning as he went through this ritual.
Every morning he got up before the crack of dawn to watch Tifa
sleep, because he knew it would take him that long to work up the
courage to disturb her sleep. Every day he tried to find a moment
where he could talk to her alone. He wanted to tell her...tell her
how he felt. He had kept his feelings bottled up for so long that it
was just too hard to set them free. So each day he failed to express
his love.

As he stood over her, he felt as though his heart would burst. His
arms ached to hold her. He wanted nothing more than to gather her
into his arms and hold her as close and as tight as he could. He
wanted to kiss her sweet lips and tell her everything. He longed
to run his fingers through her beautiful soft brown hair.

Instead he gently rubbed her arm to wake her. Her skin felt soft
and delicate under his fingers. Slowly her crimson eyes opened
and looked into his face. A smile spread across her lips, and she
stretched her arms out across the bed. She sighed with deep
contentment and rubbed her eyes.

"Just five more minutes." She whispered. Cloud chuckled lightly.
Even her first words of the day were like music to him. She stretched
again then sat up. Thick bunches of hair fell over her shoulders, and
she reached down to smooth out her nightgown. Again she stretched,
but then she just fell backwards onto the bed. She and Cloud both
laughed lightly. Tifa reached up an arm silently asking Cloud to help
her up. One quick jerk had her standing next to him.

Cloud held her hand a moment longer than was necessary. He noticed,
but she didn't. Her attention was already turned towards getting ready
for the day. Slowly, Cloud began to back out of the room. When he
was half way there he stopped. Tifa looked up curiously at him. He
seemed very uncomfortable as he stood there scratching his head. She
clearly recognized it as his universal gesture of nervousness.

"Cloud, what's wrong?" His blue eyes stared into hers. He held them
for a moment, then quickly looked at the floor. Tifa always worried
about him, and this time was no exception. He had been acting strange
for several days now. There was definitely something that he just
wasn't telling her.

"Tifa, I...I uh...that is I..." She walked up to him and took both of
his hands in her own. Cloud's heart thundered in his chest as she
reached up to brush a lock of hair out of his face that had separated
from one of his spikes.

"It's okay...you can..."

"Hey you two! Come and get it before it's gone!" Cid Highwind's
voice always seemed to shake the house. Cloud sighed and shook his
head. Tifa let go of his hands and ran to the door.

"Just a minute!" She shouted, then she turned back to Cloud. He
smiled weakly at her, and she sighed. "I'm sorry Cloud. We'll talk
about it later." Then she quickly trotted off down the hall to the
bathroom leaving Cloud standing there alone. When he was sure she
was gone, he smacked himself on the forehead.

"Stupid! Stupid!" He plopped down on the bed for a moment, and
rested his chin in his hands. /Why can't I just say it? I love you Tifa.
Just four simple little words./ Slowly he stood up and walked into the
kitchen. Shera was busy getting everything on the table for breakfast.
It didn't surprise Cloud that Cid wasn't helping. Shera probably kept
a loaded gun in one of the cabinets in case Cid tried to cook anything.
The egocentric pilot was in the other room having his morning smoke.
Cloud wondered how Shera could stand being around him. Cid reeked
of cigarette smoke twenty-four hours a day. Perhaps by now she was
used to it.

Tifa came in wearing a white T-shirt, jeans, and green socks. That was
another thing Cloud couldn't quite figure out. Why she liked to wear
green socks. She had almost twenty pairs of them. He asked her once
why she wore them. She just shrugged her shoulders and said they were
comfortable.

"So, what's on the agenda for today?" Tifa asked as she sat down.
She experimentally poked at her eggs with her fork. Fried eggs were
definitely not one of her favorite foods. Somehow it always grossed
her out when you broke the top and the yellow mush inside all came
spilling out. She never complained though. If she did, Cid would
probably say something about how lucky they were that he even let
them stay in his house.

"Reeve asked if we would go to the Shinra building in Midgar and
get some files for him." Cloud said as he sat down next to Tifa. As
soon as he mentioned Midgar, a nervous expression crossed her
face. That place really gave him the creeps too. It was a giant
graveyard polluted by people who were still looting the buildings.
It was advised that you not go there unless you had a good weapon,
and a large supply of strong materia. However, even the boldest
looters didn't go into the Shinra building. It was said that strange
noises were heard coming from inside it.

"Pain in the *#$! Forget it!" Cid yelled. Cloud gathered that the
idea of going to the Shinra building didn't seem that fantastic to
Cid either. "Let that freak get his own crap out of there!" Tifa
looked up at Cid with her soft crimson eyes.

"Cid you know he can't do that. Reeve still has yet to fully recover
from the wounds he received while he was trying to save as many
people as he could." She took a sip of her orange juice and looked
back over at Cloud.

"She's right Cid. Well I guess we'd better get going right after
breakfast." Cloud was silent the rest of the meal as he pondered
whether or not there might be something to those rumors about
the Shinra building.

**********************************************

/This sucks./ Reeve sat in his wheelchair looking out of his window.
He had long ago grown tired of wheeling himself around because
of his two broken legs. He had concluded that he could at least try
to get some programs up and running in the new government. The
only way he could really do that was if he could get his hands on
the old Shinra files. That meant sending someone into the ruins
of Midgar. Reeve had offered Cloud and whomever he took with
him a considerable amount of money for doing this, but Cloud had
refused.

Reeve's nurse came in to give him more painkillers. He never
really liked doctors. It was his belief that they were both a blessing
and curse to the world. He had to feel sorry for them though. No
one was ever happy to see them.

"How are you doing today sir?" The nurse asked. Reeve drummed
his fingers on the arm of his chair, and stared at her. She was in
her mid twenties, and she had her red hair pulled back in a tight
ponytail. Basically she was a very cheerful person, sometimes
almost too cheerful. Today was one of those days. Reeve was
feeling depressed as usual. He wanted to get out and do something,
anything. But he knew that he was condemned to a day of watching
television, or looking out the window. He also wanted some real
food. Not this hospital mush. It all tasted like paste.

The nurse deposited a tray of the horrible food on the table next to
him. She smiled and strolled out of the room. He reached over
and picked up the carton of juice. It wasn't orange juice, and it
wasn't orange drink. The label said Orange Juice Drink. /Whatever./
It tasted like someone stuck and orange lollipop in a glass of
water and let it dissolve.

Suddenly Cloud, Tifa, and Cid came in. "Hi guys! What can
I do for you?" Reeve asked, though he had a pretty good idea
why they were here, and Cloud's reply confirmed his suspicions.

"We just wanted to check in before we went to Midgar so we
could ask about where the files are." Cloud sat on the bed looking
at Reeve. Tifa sat on the table and picked up the carton of juice.
After reading the label she promptly made a face and put it down.
She then produced a few bars of chocolate from one of their bags
and tossed them to Reeve. His eyes lit up like he'd just been
given a treasure.

"Oh Tifa, I love you." He said. Then he began to devour one of
the bars. A content look passed over his face; he looked like he
was on cloud nine. After a while, Reeve noticed that everyone
was looking expectantly at him. "Oh yeah, sorry. I'm just so
sick of this hospital food." He motioned towards the tray of
unmentionables.

"How much longer do you have to stay here?" Cloud asked.
He was definitely sympathetic with Reeve. Just the smell of
hospitals made his stomach turn. He glanced at the tray and
wondered whether or not they were really trying to make him
better.

"Only about another week. So anyway, about the files. They
should be in the basement. That's where we always kept the
backups." Reeve looked at Tifa who was looking around and
swinging her legs almost like a nervous child. He noticed that
Cloud was looking at her too. Everyone knew that there were
unspoken feelings between them. You had to be blind not to
see it.

"I suggest we get going while there's still plenty of daylight."
Cloud said. Tifa hopped off of the table and said good bye to
Reeve. Then they left. From his window, Reeve watched as
the Highwind raced towards Midgar.

*********************************************

"Oh this is just too perfect! Jonathan! Get that stuff of yours
into the vents!" Bright red fingernails tapped on the glass of
the window inside of the Shinra building. A woman with blond
hair, and wearing a red dress watched as the airship, called
the Highwind, approached her city. She did not doubt that
Cloud was on board, there was also no doubt in her mind that
they would be coming here.

Jonathan busied himself with getting his sleeping gas into the
ventilation system for the lower floors. If there was anything
he hated, it was being ordered around. Especially by Scarlet.
The woman now had scars on one side of her body. Every time
she looked in the mirror, it fueled her hatred towards Cloud
and his friends. She was lucky though; she was alive. Heidegger
had not been so lucky. Now Scarlet was in charge. She knew
that her only chance of reviving Shinra was to pick up the pieces
Immediately. It had now been about three months since Meteor
had almost destroyed the planet.

The last two presidents had made the same terrible mistake that
cost them their lives. They had allowed Sephiroth to roam freely
about the planet. She would not make the same mistake. This
time he would be strictly under her control. That project was
already thoroughly underway. About a week after the Meteor
disaster, Sephiroth's body had washed up in Mideel. Scarlet
was determined to revive him to get rid of Cloud.

********************************************

Red XII sat in Bugenhagen's observatory. Over the past few
days, strange things had been going on inside the planet. For
the first time in months he heard the cry of the planet. Something
was definitely wrong. There seemed to almost be a churning in
the lifestream. Not just the usual fluxes in the cycle, but it seemed
like something was trying to push its way back. As a result of
this, the planet cried out in protest.

"What about the weapons?" Red turned to the man who had asked
the question. Vincent Valentine sat on a pile of books reading yet
another book. It amazed Red how fast this man could absorb
information. Within another month Vincent would know more
about the planet than even Red did.

"We'll probably just have to wait and see. If the planet really feels
that something is threatening it, then they might awaken." Red
turned back to read the report from Mideel. After the whole ordeal
with Meteor, several bodies had washed up there. At least one of
them had disappeared a few days after it was found. The description
of him more than a little unnerved him. It had been a fairly young
man with loge silver hair. The more he thought about it, the more
Red felt they should call Cloud.

"Do you think we should tell Cloud about the body?" Red asked.
Vincent looked up slowly with his blood red eyes. From the look
on his face Red could tell that he was thinking the same thing.

"It would probably be best if we did tell him and the others." Red
could tell by the way Vincent talked that wasn't all that he felt, but
Red was used to Vincent being quiet and distant. He was also
getting used to figuring out what Vincent meant by his silence.
This time he could tell that Vincent didn't want to bother Cloud,
because he'd already done so much. Hardly a day went by that
the Highwind did not race across the sky; going off on yet another
errand. Red knew that Cloud envied Red and Vincent a little;
however, he really wouldn't mind getting away from all these
books for a couple of days. Vincent pulled out his PHS and
began to dial Cloud's number.

*********************************************

Cid, Cloud, and Tifa stood on the bridge of the Highwind.
Tifa loved being up here. There was just such a feeling of
freedom. She shut her eyes and felt the soft hum of the engines
under her feet. If she were to walk to the edge and let the wind
flow over her, she might get the feeling that she was falling.
When she opened her eyes, she saw Cloud staring at her. He
quickly turned away and looked into the distance at the rapidly
approaching ruins of Midgar. Tifa walked over to him and put
her hand on his arm. He seemed to tense up as soon as she touched
him. His deep blue eyes turned towards her. Even though they
were kind of scary, she loved his eyes. It was like looking into
the purest pools of water, although there had once been much
confusion and chaos behind those eyes.

"About another ten minutes." Cid announced. He then flicked yet
another cigarette butt over the side. For a moment it matched the
ship's path of flight, but then the wind dragged it down.

"You know something Cid, if we were to ever get lost in a forest,
we'd always be able to follow your trail of cigarette butts back." She
smiled as he looked at her over his shoulder.

"Watch it Lockheart." Normally Cid would be quite happy to
beat the crap out of anyone who made a crack about one of his
two (or three) favorite pastimes. However, he just smiled at
Tifa, and then turned back to his business of piloting the Highwind.

Suddenly a high-pitched ring broke through the peaceful atmosphere.
Cloud quickly pulled out his PHS and spoke into the receiver.
"Hello?" He said. Tifa watched him as he listened intently for
several minutes. Soon a dark and almost angry expression crossed
his face; it frightened her. Then he said good bye and hung up.

"Cloud, who was that?" Tifa asked. He just stared off into the
distance, then he turned away and started to walk off of the bridge.
Tifa started after him. "Cloud?" She ran up behind him and gently
grabbed hold of his arm. He just glanced at her over his shoulder.

"I think I need a drink." He then pulled out of her grasp and left the
bridge. Tifa now stared at the empty space that he had just occupied.
/What just happened?/ In one moment Tifa had completely lost her
grip on the situation. Slowly she began to walk towards the door.

"Don't do it Tifa." Cid said, "He obviously needs a moment to
himself." Tifa turned slowly to look at him. Cid had not even
turned to look at her, yet he still knew that she was going after
Cloud.

"I...I'll...just see if there's anything I can do for him." Tifa saw
Cid shake his head as she walked off. She wasn't quite sure
where Cloud was. So she, ever so quietly, opened each of the doors.
Every room was dark and empty. Some of these rooms she had
never seen before. They seemed to be almost like sleeping quarters,
but the furniture was dusty and the rooms unkempt. Finally she came
to a door that was slightly cracked open. She poked her head around
the corner and saw Cloud sitting at a table. He had his back to her and
he was leaning over a glass of water. The room was like all the others,
except for the fact that it was relatively clean. Tifa figured that Cloud
must sleep in this room when he and Cid are gone for long periods of
time. Slowly Cloud began to shake his head.

"It can't be..." He said almost inaudibly. Tifa slowly took a step towards
him. Before she could take another, Cloud threw the glass against the wall.
She was so startled that she walked backwards until she hit the wall. Cloud
grabbed another glass and threw it. Rage consumed him and he began to
throw anything he could get his hands on.

Tifa ducked and fell to the floor as Cloud spun around and threw a tray of
glasses right at the wall where she'd been standing. She cried out as shards
of glass tore through the skin on her hands. Cloud stared at her in shock.
Looking down at her hands, Tifa began to desperately try to pull out the
tiny fragments of glass. She succeed only in pushing them further into her
skin. A tear fell from her cheek and mixed with the blood that was now
dripping on the floor.

"Tifa..." She looked up at him, tears now streaming down her face.
He looked at her frightened face, all of the anger he'd felt had now
left his body. Slowly he walked over and knelt in front of her. Gently
he took her hands in his. A look of pain crossed her face as he began
to pull out the shards of glass in her hands. For several minutes they
sat there like this. Cloud working diligently, and Tifa softly sobbing.
When he was done he looked into her face. /How could I have done
this?/ He asked himself.

Suddenly Cloud stood up and quickly walked to the bridge. Cid was
standing there alone piloting the ship. "Change of plans." Cloud said.
"Take us to Cosmo Canyon." Cid turned and looked quizzically at him.

"What for? We're almost there, in fact I was about to tell you that
we were ready to land." Cloud looked out of the window, and indeed
they were hovering just above the ruins of Midgar. Cid still stood
there, waiting for an explanation.

"Two situations of EXTREME importance have just arisen." Cloud
saw that Cid noticed his hands covered with blood. However, Cloud
didn't wait to answer any more of Cid's questions. He abruptly turned
and went back to see Tifa. She was leaning over the sink washing
her hands. As he looked at his own hands, tears began to well up in
his eyes. He squeezed them shut to try to block out the sight, but when
he closed his eyes, he saw Tifa sitting there desperately trying to pull
the glass from her hands. Once he opened his eyes again, Tifa was
gingerly picking up a towel and patting her hands dry. Cloud walked
over to the sink and quickly washed his hands like Lady Macbeth who
tried to wash the murder of Duncan from her hands.

When he thought he had cleaned them enough, he quickly splashed
water over his face. Then he grabbed a towel and dried himself off.
Before long he could feel the Highwind shifting its course. Tifa
suddenly looked up at him, confused.

"What's going on?" She asked quietly. Her red eyes seemed to still
threaten to give way to more tears. Cloud knew what kind of pain she
must have been feeling.

"We're going to Cosmo Canyon." Tifa arched one eyebrow as though
asking why. Cloud picked up one of the overturned chairs and motioned
for Tifa to sit, which she did. She did not however look up at him.
Her eyes were firmly set on the floor. Cloud realized that she was
frightened. He knelt in front of her and put both of his hands on her
knees. The look on her face burned a hole in his heart.

"Tifa I'm so sorry." He whispered. One of his hands rested on her
cheek. She shut her eyes and leaned into his touch. For so long she
had wanted him to touch her like this. Right now she was so scared
and frustrated, and his touch seemed to make everything else melt
away. Her hands slowly traveled up his arms and she held his face.
His tears burned the cuts on her hands, but she didn't care. She opened
her eyes and looked at him. His mako blue eyes seemed to plead for
forgiveness. Slowly, she slid off the chair and sat in front of him.

Cloud's heart raced as he wrapped his arms around her waist. Ever
so slowly, he moved his head closer to hers, and their lips met.
Gently at first, but then he pulled her closer to him. Cloud could feel
her heart beating as she slid her arms around his neck. One of his
hands shook as he brought it up to sweep over her face and through
her hair. Then Tifa's tears washed over his lips and he gently pulled
back. He looked at her for a moment and wiped the tears away with
his thumbs as he held her face. They embraced again, and Cloud
mover his mouth next to her ear. "I love you." He whispered. Tifa
smiled and then kissed him again.

************************************************

"What?! NO!" Scarlet beat her fists on the glass as she saw the
Highwind turning away. Then she turned around and punched
whoever was standing closest to her, which happened to be a young
officer. He hit the floor hard and rubbed his jaw. Before she left,
Scarlet kicked him in the ribs.

"Forget it. They're leaving. Get back to work on Sephiroth." He
nodded and walked down to his laboratory. Scarlet was a fool.
She thought that she would be able to control Sephiroth like a robot.
Those kinds of things just didn't happen. Once Sephiroth wakes
up, he'll probably just march right out of the building, maybe he'll
even kill everyone on his way out.

That wasn't the only problem though. Jenova was dead. She had
been what had fueled Sephiroth's rage. There was a possibility that
when he woke up, he would just be a normal person. Either that, or
his mind would just be mush.

Jonathan stepped into the pitch-black laboratory and felt along the
wall for the light switch. He found it and flipped it up. About a dozen
spot lights came on. They were all trained on a glass pod in the center
of the room in which the body of Sephiroth floated.

"When will he be ready?" Scarlet asked as she came in. As she passed
the pod she ran her finger over the glass. Her very presence made
Jonathan sick. Many people asked him why he even worked here. It
was mostly for the money, but he also enjoyed this kind of work. Scarlet
was the only draw back, and it was a major one.

"In another day or two." He said. /Thank goodness! Two more days,
and then I'm out of here!/ Jonathan worked quickly to give Sephiroth
another small treatment of mako. "Once he wakes up he might have
a slight case of mako poisoning, but it should pass." Scarlet nodded,
still caressing the pod. Jonathan's stomach turned, she was looking
almost lustfully at Sephiroth.

"Good, good. As soon as he's conscious tell me." With that she
left the laboratory and went back to watch the Highwind disappear off
in the distance.

************************************************

Red looked up curiously as he heard the hum of the Highwind's
engines. Vincent looked up as well with an equally confused
expression on his face. As he looked out the window, Red saw
the airship rapidly approaching. He jumped off of his table and
motioned for Vincent to follow him outside. The strange and quiet
man quickly finished whatever it was he was reading and followed
Red.

They were surprised to see only Cid coming up the path. He was cursing
and swearing as he bounced up and down on the back of his chocobo.
Red remembered that the animal wasn't particularly intelligent. It proved
this by stopping too quickly and tossing Cid off of its back. As soon as he
hit the ground he began to scream at the bird saying things about how the
stupid thing could keep him well fed for quite some time. The chocobo just
happily pecked at the ground.

"Cid what brings you here? And where's Cloud?" Red asked. Cid stood
up and brushed the dirt off of his pants. Then he spit out his cigarette butt
and looked at the chocobo. It made a soft "wark" noise. Then Cid kicked
dirt at it and turned to Red and Vincent.

"Those are two very good questions, and I would like to know the answers
to both of them." He pulled out another cigarette and lit it up. The chocobo
made a noise that sounded like a complaint and Cid shot an angry glance at
it. Then it went back to pecking at the ground.

"How can you not know where he is? I just talked to him a couple of minutes
ago." Vincent said. There seemed to be a hint of concern in his voice. He
wondered how Cloud had acted after he told him about the body in Mideel.

"Oh, so you're the one who called him. Would you mind telling me what
the heck you said, because he just left the bridge without hardly saying a
word, and Tifa went after him. And now I can't find either of them!" He
waved his arms in the air with frustration. Vincent had to back up to avoid
being hit in the face. Red sat on the ground, reluctant to tell Cid the news.

"Well if Cloud didn't tell you, then I guess I will. We got a report from
Mideel some time back. It seems that after the whole ordeal with Meteor,
a number of bodies had washed up there out of the Lifestream. One of
them disappeared a few days later. It had been a man, probably in his
twenties, and he had really long silver hair." The look on Cid's face
clearly showed that he got the gist of what Red was saying.

"Let's go find Cloud...fast." Cid turned to face his chocobo, but then
walked past it. Red followed him, and Vincent took the reins of the
poor animal and followed their increasing pace.

************************************************

Cloud and Tifa felt the Highwind landing outside of Cosmo Canyon;
however, neither of them made a move to get up. They just sat there
in each other's arms. Cloud's lips trailed down her neck and over her
shoulder. Tifa gently rubbed the back of his head, and then she
remembered that she had no idea why they were here. Slowly, she
pushed Cloud away.

"Why are we here?" The look on Cloud's face changed as he
remembered what Vincent had said to him. At the moment it didn't
seem real, and it didn't really seem to matter. All that mattered to
him right now was staying here with Tifa. They were both so happy
right now, and he knew that if he told her the moment would be over.
He could not however bring himself to keep anything from her
anymore.

"Vincent called me. He said that...that some bodies had washed
up in Mideel. One of them disappeared, and he looked like...like
Sephiroth." A look of shock and horror crossed Tifa's beautiful face.
Then the look turned to concern as she realized the cause of
Cloud's outburst. She took his face in her hands and looked into
his eyes.

"It will be okay. No matter what happens...it will be okay." Cloud
reached up and held one of her hands. He opened it up and looked
at the cuts. There was no doubt in his mind that there would be little
scars on her hands. Cloud was unable to stop the tears that began to
well up in his eyes.

"What's wrong?" Tifa asked. It was really starting to hit him: what
he had done to her. A tear slid down his cheek and she pulled him
close to her again. His head rested on her shoulder, and he wrapped
his arms around her again.

"Every time you look at your hands you'll remember what I did to
you...you'll never be able to forget..." Tifa shook her head and held
on to both of his shoulders. She made him look into her eyes even
though it was almost too hard for him.

"No. Every time I look at my hands...I'll remember the very first
time you told me that you loved me." With that she kissed him again.
He held her as tightly as he could; never wanting to let her go. Reaching
behind her, he pulled the tie out of her hair, and it fell around them
like a curtain. He ran his fingers through it, as he had wanted to do
so for so long.

Suddenly they heard Cid's shouts coming from down the hallway.
"Why didn't he *&$^@*% tell us?! That &#%*#^@ has to go
and keep everything to himself. When I get my hands on him..."
Then the door flew open. Cid stood in the middle with Red and
Vincent on either side of him. The gruff pilot looked at the room,
then at the two of them sitting on the floor in each other's arms.
Cloud saw a small smile on the corners of Vincent's mouth. He
was happy to finally see the two of them together.

"What the *#%^ did you *$#&%$#(& do to this place?!?!" Cid
looked at the broken glass all over the floor, and then he saw the
small puddle of blood smeared on the floor. "Serves you right!
If you're gonna go breaking stuff on my ship you should get hurt."
As soon as he said that Cloud stood up and looked furiously at
Cid. Tifa quickly stood up and held his arm, as if she were holding
him back. Red wondered what had happened here. Then from
a distance he could see the cuts on Tifa's hands.

"Tifa, we should get you patched up." Red said. She looked
down at her hands and nodded. They left the ship and began to
walk back up to Bugenhagen's observatory.

****************

End Chapter 1

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Well, give me any feedback good or bad ^_^

horse_w_no_name@cheerful.com

http://www.fortunecity.com/rivendell/elfin/311/links.htm