This demanded to be written and wouldn't let me do homework until it was. Totally not beta'ed and I'm not horribly happy with it.
Yes, I just played Cloud's little coma part in VII.
History Repeats But Some Things Change
"Do you really think they could have gotten this far?" Sora cast his eyes about, searching for any sign of life. For the past three hours, most of security and several volunteers had been out searching for two missing children.
"It's possible," Cloud murmured, also keeping his attention on the passing canyon walls and all of the small breaks and crevasses.
There were ten groups of three spread out across the area leading into the mountains. An eight-year-old boy and girl had disappeared out here about five hours ago. Two of the girl's friends who had decided at the last minute to not go with said that they had last seen them at the entrance of the Ravine Pass. Apparently, the pair was planning to go out beyond the Dark Depths.
Goofy, who had brought his son Max to Radiant Garden for a visit, made the third member of Cloud and Sora's party. "Gwarsh, I really hope they're alright."
"Me, too," agreed Sora.
"The fact that no one has found anything is probably a good sign," Cloud stated. "It means they haven't been attacked by any of the monsters out here."
"But what about the Heartless?" Sora asked quickly.
Cloud's jaw tightened. "Then we'll never find them."
All three fell silent.
They reached another split in the path a little while later. Cloud was about to suggest they go left when his phone rang. It echoed loudly against the stone walls and Sora gave a start upon hearing it.
Flipping it open, the blond did not bother with an actual greeting. "Yeah?"
A minute passed. "Where at?" He then glanced to the right. "We're right near there. We'll be there in three minutes."
He closed the phone and moved in the direction he was looking. "Zack found them."
The other two hurried after him. Sora half-ran sideways beside Cloud. "Are they okay?"
"The girl is unconscious and the boy has a badly broken leg." The older man's voice was tense but it did not sound like it was from worry.
"Well, at least they're alive," Goofy declared. "Wonder what happened?"
"We'll find out in a minute."
The trio rounded a bend and spotted a small group of people several feet away. Zack, Leon, Aerith and the girl's mother were huddled around the young female while two unfamiliar men and Tifa were taking care of the boy. As the three approached, they could hear one of the men yelling at the boy.
"What were you thinking bringing her out here? It's dangerous! It's your fault she got hurt!"
Quite suddenly, Cloud sprinted forward. He shoved the man away from the boy and glared at him. "Stop yelling at him. You don't know the whole story!"
Nearly everyone looked at Cloud, surprised at the man's sudden outburst. The swordsman ignored this and went over to the male child. He knelt down and in a totally different tone asked the boy what had happened.
Sniffling and blinking back tears, the boy looked extremely scared and glanced at his friend. "Is she gonna be okay?"
Aerith smiled at him. "She should be. The fall just knocked her out."
"I, I tried to save her but…" He stared at the rock floor. "I wasn't strong enough."
Cloud reached out and brushed at the boy's hair. "It's alright."
Tifa was watching him with an odd expression. It was pretty obvious that she had a feeling she should know what this was about but it was not quite lining up. Cloud did not notice this.
Zack was frowning deeply at his best friend, only partially getting what was going on. Aerith also seemed to have a vague idea but was keeping most of her attention on the girl. Leon and the girl's mother remained focused on the child before them.
"We need to get her out of here," Leon spoke quickly, checking the girl's vitals again.
"I'll fly her out." Zack was already moving to pick the child up. "Meet me at the healers."
Leon nodded and as Zack took off with her, stood. "You have him handled, Tifa?"
"Yeah, we got it."
He touched the mother's arm and they along with Aerith and one of the two other men hurried off in the direction of town. The man who had been yelling remained behind, still glaring at the boy. It was clear he blamed the boy for everything.
"Can you tell us what happened?" Cloud repeated to the eight-year-old, ignoring the man.
"Candice and Mark and F'alla were going to go out to explore the Dark Depths but Mark and F'alla changed their minds so she went alone. I followed her and then when she got to the path up there," he pointed up at a large break in the Cliffside, "it started falling apart. I tried to keep her from falling but…"
The boy started crying and Cloud hugged him. "It's okay. Sometimes, it doesn't matter how strong you are. You can't stop everything."
"But…if I was more like you guys…" The boy's face became fierce. "One day I'll be strong. I'll be a soldier and help people!"
Tifa abruptly gasped, a hand coming up to her mouth. Understanding lit her eyes and she gave Cloud a brief smile. She did not say anything, letting the man do whatever he was going to.
Cloud took a breath and gave the boy a mild smile. He then stood and turned toward the man who had been yelling earlier. "Next time, before you jump to conclusions and risk completely screwing up an innocent child's mind, get your facts straight. You have no idea the damage you could cause."
The man, looking confused and annoyed, simply stalked off. Returning to the boy's side, Cloud softly asked. "You okay with me carrying you out of here?"
He nodded and lifted his arms to that Cloud could scoop him up, careful not to jostle the quickly splinted leg. After Cloud had the child settled, he glanced at Tifa who rubbed at his shoulder. The blond man then walked away with the boy.
Sora and Goofy looked after him for a moment before turning to Tifa. Sora angled his head. "What was that about?"
Tifa took a breath. "When we were little, I decided I want to go to the other side of Mt. Nibel. My mom had just died and I got it in my head that since people tended to never come back from the other side of the reactor maybe that was where the dead went too. The two boys I hung out with got scared at the last minute so I went on alone.
"Cloud… used to follow us around all the time back then. I never really noticed but he was always hanging out outside the group. He followed me into the mountains, keeping a bit away from me. Well, there was a rock slide and the path I was on collapsed beneath me. Cloud tried to keep me from getting hurt but there was no way he could have."
The dark-haired woman pushed some hair back over her shoulder. "I ended up in a coma for a week after so I don't actually remember what happened but according to Cloud's memories, when we were found some of the villagers blamed Cloud for us being out there. They yelled at him, just like that man was yelling at Joel."
"No wonder Cloud reacted that way." Goofy folded his arms. "It was kinda like history repeating itself."
"I think that's what he was afraid was going to happen," said Tifa quietly. "See, after the accident, Cloud became obsessed with getting stronger. He had always been the shy kid and he already wanted so badly for someone to notice him that the two things mixed together. That was when he decided that he wanted to be a SOLDIER just like Sephiroth."
Sora's eyes widened. "Oh! That all makes sense now! I always wondered what really motivated him to do that."
Tifa nodded. "He believed that joining SOLDIER was the only way he could accomplish his goals."
"Which ended up leading into him getting involved in the whole Jenova mess," concluded Goofy, waving his hand in emphasis. "That's why he yelled at that guy. He was afraid something like what happened to him would happen to Joel."
"Yeah."
"Well," Sora said thoughtfully. "Then maybe he'll be good for Joel. Cloud can help guide him a little. Plus, if he can be a positive influence on Joel, it'll probably help Cloud, too."
"Yeah," Goofy agreed. "Sometimes it takes helping someone in the same spot you were when you feel you went wrong that makes it possible to accept it and move on."
"I hope so." Tifa wrapped an arm around her waist. "I know that when he was helping Riku, it helped him deal with a lot of the Sephiroth-influenced stuff. Maybe by going back to the very beginning, he can really let go of everything."
"Yeah!" Sora grinned as Goofy nodded.
Tifa smiled at them. She truly appreciated knowing other people where there to back up her hopes for Cloud. Sometimes she worried that she worried too much about him but now she knew she was not the only one. Between Riku, Zack, Aerith, even Sephiroth and Leon, in addition to everyone else, she knew that it was no longer just her that wanted what was best for her childhood friend.
"Come on, we should get out of here before it gets dark." She started for the way out.
"Hey," Sora shouted as he and Goofy joined up with her. "Got any really embarrassing stories about Cloud when he was a kid? I owe Riku something…"