Disclaimer – I do not own any legal rights to Final Fantasy VII, or any of the Final Fantasy VII Compilation. This is a fan work based off the products produced by Square-Enix and nothing more.
A/N – I've recently been replaying my favorite game of all time, Final Fantasy VII. I took the time to also replay/view the Compilation as well. I do enjoy every entry in their own ways, but I am increasingly frustrated with SE's determination to display Cloud as consistently...depressed. In the original FF7, or at least the English translation of the game, Cloud initially was "Zack Strife" – cool and distant, but with that cocky exterior to hide who he really was. Then after his changeover, it's true he was more on the depressed and self-deprecating side, but more or less this was masked by his determination to see things through to their end. Enter Advent Children, and we see Cloud has become an emotional wreck – which I understand, and it's a fine plot point for AC. I think what is irksome to me is that even in outside works (I'm looking at you, Dissidia) Cloud comes across yet again as that 'Advent Children' Cloud. It concerns me greatly for future entries in the Compilation and/or a remake, because in my opinion that depressed Cloud Strife should have remained where it belonged – in the first half of Advent Children.
So, with that rant over and my motives explained, I present to you,
-Cloud Strife is Not an Emo-
A Two-shot fan fiction by,
TheEndOfTomorrow.
Nighttime in Edge – unlike it's 'Mother' city of Midgar, one of the things that would stand out about the city was that, save for the occasional W.R.O. utility worker here and there, the city actually slept. Midgar had no night, no 'resting period'. The mako-infused metropolis kept itself going off the life force of the planet, which of course became its downfall. Where people roamed the streets and the slums of Midgar with no warrant to day or night, Edge slept nightly. The sky would darken, and people would trickle into their homes in the twilight – to sleep the dark of night away, wake up in the morning and go about their lives within the bustling, fledgling city.
A month had passed since the "Great Gospel" that washed away Geostigma, the epidemic disease that had claimed far too many lives far too quickly. Now, without the sickness to worry about, most had prospered – day by day, the lives of people everywhere got a little better. Perhaps not easier, not without the convenience of Mako energy – but nonetheless in general, the populace settled into daily lives fairly easily and quickly.
For a chosen few, that fit had never been easy – especially for a certain blonde-haired 'imaginary Ex-SOLDIER.' While Edge slept, the brave warrior tossed and turned in his home, tormented by nightmares of things that had passed, and even things that hadn't happened.
He stood once more in the forgotten City of the Ancients. The air of that both cursed and holy place, warm, humid and stagnant, filling his lungs. Cloud Strife felt his soul tearing itself apart – behind him, the chamber transitioned into dusty ground – a bloody cliff, freshly matted with mud from a heavy rainfall. This was his personal hell, the amalgamation of the two places in his life where he had failed the most.
On the cliffside, those he had come to call 'friend' lay strewn, battered and broken – brutally beaten to death. The tormented mercenary saw a rusted and broken Buster Sword, cleaved in two, one end still partially embedded in the muddy brown earth where it had been kept.
'My dreams...my honor...' A familiar, dying voice echoed. Cringing, Cloud whirled back to the City of the Ancients - he couldn't bear the sight any longer. Unfortunately, a new horror greeted him. He saw three people on the altar, none of whom were present only a moment before. Two children, and a certain raven-haired martial artist. It was a sight he was becoming increasingly familiar with day by day – it was no secret that both kids viewed her as their mother. Now that he was living with them again, the battle-hardened 'delivery boy' could appreciate just how much Tifa did for the kids, Marlene and Denzel. He regretted his own selfish decision to leave, knowing he hadn't made things any easier. The spiky blonde knew he had only managed to hurt those he cared about, pushed them away – and in turn, kept himself from the people most likely to help him.
A glance up, however, revealed a horrifying sight. A flash of a metal blade, followed by a rippling black cape – augmented with a familiar, cold laugh. 'Tell me what you cherish most...Give me the pleasure of taking it away."
The grating, sudden sound of the blade cleaving through its intended target slapped the man in the face with his worst nightmare - he had failed again. In response, the anguished warrior could only scream out loud, as if he had been the victim of the attack himself...if only he had been the victim instead..if only he had made it in time. Darkness encroached his vision..
"Cloud?"
"Cloud? Cloud!"
Panting, Cloud burst forth from his sleep and back into the real world. He was back - back inside the Seventh Heaven bar - his home. The same woman he had just seen in his dreams now truly present in front of him. Nearly shivering with his cold sweat, the Ex-SOLDIER sat up in bed, shaking his head. Auburn eyes met mako-enriched azure orbs, wide with a mix of surprise, terror and relief.
"I...I'm alright, Tifa." Cloud spoke softly, still taking in great gasps of air, trying to bring his heart rate back to a normal level. It had only been a month since he had moved back in, but already he had resettled into the household – for the first time in his life, Cloud felt he truly did belong. This time would be different, he had sworn up and down. His guilt was no longer all-consuming. Of course, it hadn't vanished, not totally, and still haunted his nightmares. For the most part, however, the young man had been getting along fine in the past month. This was the first vivid nightmare he had along such serious lines in the entire last month. The last dream he considred a nightmare had happened a week ago - and simply involved his hair and a nesting baby Chocobo looking for its mother.
Tifa touched Cloud lightly on the arm, expressing her concern. For as much the no-nonsense barmaid she was, chucking excessively loud/obnoxious/drunk patrons out the door at the slightest hint of trouble, Tifa was truly a kind and loving person. Cloud knew and regretted the fact that he had put her through so much, and yet she still deeply loved him – a fact neither young adult had managed to bring into open discussion since two years prior, when they both thought they might be seeing the end of the world and of their lives. "Please, Cloud." Tifa urged. "Talk...talk to me about it. You owe us that much, remember?"
Cloud kept his gaze straight ahead, focusing on the wall. The sole condition Tifa had placed upon him for re-entering hers and the children's lives, no other strings attached, was to confess to Tifa when he had a problem of any sort. No more self-exile, no more pity parties. 'Haven't you begun to realize by now keeping things to yourself gets you nowhere?' She had said, referencing the months prior, as well as his illusion of "SOLDIER First class Cloud" two years ago.
"I..." Cloud began to speak, and found his voice caught in his throat. He didn't really mind telling Tifa about the dream – at least, up to the point she had been in it. Something about the fact that he had dreams about her seemed too...intimate for the shy blonde to share. Besides, discussion of a bad dream might lead to a good dream...or five he had about her. Ending that thought there with a small blush, Cloud decided he should recount the tale. So he did recount a dream he had, in his opinion tactfully omitting the fact that his archnemesis had descended from the sky in his recent nightmare, ready to once again end the life of someone else he loved. Wrapping up, Cloud stated: "So, then they hatched. That's when I woke up screaming."
Tifa, by now used to dealing with children for two years, quirked her eyebrow. For not being an actual mother, the young woman had an extraordinary developed maternal instinct – she knew when a lie was being told. "That's a lie." She said simply, leaving Cloud stunned. "You told me about that dream last week, when you woke up and refused to drive Fenrir past the Chocobo ranch."
'Damn.' Cloud cursed himself and his recently kindled fear of the flightless birds silently, before Tifa spoke up again. "What caused you to yell out, Cloud? You're such a quiet person, it's hard to imagine something..well, forcing you to that emotional extreme. It must've been bad."
"H-huh...?" Cloud hadn't realized at first that he had yelled out loud, but it made sense – after all, how had Tifa known to come to him? Was she psychic? 'Get a grip, Strife.' Cloud would silently chastise himself, not exactly sure how to worm his way out of this anymore.
"You yelled out loud, in your sleep. Something made it happen, Cloud...something bad. Tell me." Tifa urged, now sitting next to Cloud.
"...Y-you-" Cloud began, at least until he was (thankfully) interrupted.
"Cloud!" Something small and high-pitched ran at the Ex-SOLDIER, diving onto the foot of his bed. "Are you okay?" Marlene's inquisitive little voice rang out with concern for the man she had once been afraid to even say a simple 'hello' to.
Cloud smiled, grateful to Marlene both for her concern and the distraction. "I'm alright, just had a bad dream. Nothing's gonna happen to me here. Tifa would scare whatever it was off." He felt Tifa's playful glare from the side, her lightly whispered 'Jerk' comment brushing his ear just as she slapped his arm. Marlene giggled, before stretching into a yawn. "Go back to bed, kid." Cloud ruffled Marlene's hair gently before she nodded, climbing off the bed.
"Denzel! Cloud's alright. He just had a bad dream, he says." Cloud hadn't noticed the other child, the young boy standing in the doorway until Marlene addressed him. With a light flush of his cheeks, Cloud realized he had awoken the entire house.
Denzel, unlike Marlene, looked half-asleep. His hair was tousled, his eyes racooned. He stared sleepily at Cloud and Tifa as Marlene exited the room. "Mnnnh...Cloud, you're so..."
Cloud waited patiently for the sleepy child to finish. "..emo." The boy groaned with displeasure at being awoken for his hero's internal anguish, hobbling back out into the hallway to return to his room and more importantly, sleep.
Cloud could only stare incredulously at the spot where Denzel had stood a moment before. To his side, Tifa burst into a fit of laughter at Denzel's accusation, coupled with the wide-eyed look on Cloud's face. Cloud had of course heard of the phenomenon Denzel referenced, adopted by teenagers in Edge after Meteorfall. It was rather unbecoming, as these 'deeply emotionally affected' teens tended to confess their 'darkest problems' to even total strangers, said problems usually no more than "I broke a nail" or "S/he doesn't love me." Cloud shook his head – there was a 'style' associated with it too, consisting of makeup, wearing flamboyant colors, genders dressing as one another, and tight-fitting clothing.
Unfortunately, Cloud realized with a start he was guilty of most of those, having had worn makeup and dressed up as a woman before in a little episode he would like forever erased from memory. Groaning, the young man flopped back onto his pillow, ignoring Tifa's laughter. He muffled "Go away," into his pillow, which gratefully hid his burning face.
Tifa finally composed herself, stretching and staring playfully at the blonde – she was a martial artist, and could more or less read anyone's body language. She, of course, knew the shy man was hiding an embarrassed flush – the thought of this 'cute' Cloud sending a surge of girlhood emotions through her...ultimately coaxing Tifa to tease Cloud more. "Maybe he has a point, though...After all, you do sulk around from time to time, you don't socialize until you have a problem," That last comment being a small barb at Cloud's dream – which Tifa obviously intended to remind Cloud she hadn't forgotten about the incident. "You mentioned 'My Mako Addiction' was a decent band..."
Cloud removed his pillow-mask, hiding his blush becoming a lower priority to beaning his housemate in the head with it. Naturally, she was too quick and he missed, which only made him lay back, staring straight up. He talked, but only partially to Tifa – it was almost as though he was trying to convince himself, much to Tifa's amusement. "I just said it was decent Fenrir music..some of their lyrics really resonate with me." Cloud sighed, turning only to see Tifa getting another outbreak of giggles. "And, Tifa. I know all about this emo subculture thing." Cloud sat up, staring Tifa in the eyes, quite serious and with his typical deadpan tone in spite of his red flush. "Emo people don't use Omnislash."
Tifa just quirked her eyebrow, shrugging and laughing a little bit. "Go to sleep, Cloud. Your arguments stink."
Cloud sighed, laying back again. "Fine then, Condor Lockheart: Ace Attorney. You are a lawyer instead of a barmaid now, right?" Tifa hated being called a 'barmaid', instead preferring 'bartender', seeing as she did run the Seventh Heaven. Cloud was also referencing one of young Marlene's favorite games – naught but a simple phase of childhood, but for about a week she got on the entire bar's nerves 'Objecting' to things the inhabitants or customers were doing. The "O-word" still wasn't allowed in the bar to this day as a result.
In response to 'barmaid', Tifa grabbed Cloud's pillow and threw it a little harder than usual, nailing the unprepared delivery boy right in his spiky blonde head. "You're not off the hook. You're telling me about that dream tomorrow!" She called, finally exiting his room and closing the door a little harder than usual.
"Yeah...tomorrow..." Cloud sunk a little more into his mattress, pulling the pillow over his face. Blue eyes blinking into the white fabric, he knew he had to get out of here early the next morning – anything to give Tifa time to forget. This was one thing he simply couldn't share. 'I can avoid her 'til she forgets..right?' Cloud sighed, turning and setting the alarm on his phone for a ridiculously early hour - he wasn't looking forward to going on deliveries a few hours early, but he had to escape or face his doom via total embarrassment.
A/N - This will only be two parts, for the record. I haven't searched to see if the idea's been done before, as I usually do with a new idea. If it's been done, and done well, I don't like to retread the ground. Nonetheless, here is part one. Perhaps a bit too lax on humor, when that's what the idea is supposed to be. Please tell me what you think could be improved upon, as this is my first time trying to make "humor" a real aspect of a fanfiction. Regardless, poor Cloud is a bit confused about interpersonal relationships. Keep in mind the next chapter will have him asking Vincent for advice. Vincent. The original emo.
Til next time,
Take care, dear reader.
-TheEndOFTomorrow.