I wrote this for my group's monthly Contest. Let me know what you think. I'm personally very proud of this one. Thanks!

Pairing: Cloud x Tifa (Sorta.)
Disclaimer: Made this for FF7-RP's Contest. I don't own the char's.
Rating: PG.
Theme: Pain.

Cloud was sitting in his cozy, one room apartment-on the sofa. Not much was going on lately...life was...the same. He sighed gently and shifted his eyes from the floor to the coffee table before him. The same. Everything was the same. Noticing the chill creeping up through the space between his toes, he flexed them-and then swung his feet upwards and over so that they now lay on the fuzzy sofa he was already sitting on.

A ring.

An abrupt, familiar... ring.

He quickly leaned forward and swept up his phone from the coffee table, trying to silence it almost immediately-he didn't like the fact that it was disturbing his peace, his solitude, this silence...

Soft lips parted, "Hello?"

A pause.

"Cloud, I love you and I always will. Stop leaving...please. I need you I...I..." She was in tears.

"...Tifa..." Cloud couldn't bear to hear the woman speak, the woman cry. He loved her, but didn't see himself fit to take care of her, the kids...he couldn't, especially with the wretched curse of geostigma. What exactly was he to her? How did she even come to love someone like him? The blonde furrowed his eyebrows, clearly pained by the thoughts. This was the emotion he was afraid of. "Don't cry, I'll come back. I promise-"

"-When! When will you come back?" She interjected, her tone serious and hurt.

"Mh..." Cloud was rendered speechless, not sure of how to handle the situation. Subconsciously, he had grabbed a nearby pillow...and began gently tugging at the edges...the loose string. Another pause. "I...don't know. I just..."

"You just what, Cloud?! Being alone won't fix anything! We can find a cure together, we can fight together, just like back then..." Tifa's words softened as she let them out.

The blonde lowered his cerulean gaze onto nothing in particular, waves of memories coursed through his blood...his body. He could feel Sephiroth. He could recall Zack and Aerith's death with such vivid detail. "And how many more lives do we have to lose in the process?" He didn't want to be alone, but didn't think he could save Denzel...especially if he couldn't even save himself. Cloud didn't want them to know of his illness, but Tifa had found out by going to Aerith's church. Ever since then, the blonde had sought out his own small apartment. Something affordable.

"What," Tifa sighed, "...none. None, Cloud!" She paused, breathed..."Trust me. We're going to be alright. Let's fix this together...okay?"

"Tifa, you don't understand." The blonde mustered up the courage to confide in her, "I can't help anybody...like this. I've tried, but nothing is working..."

"So you're going to just give up and die? Alone? Think about us, Cloud...don't you know we love you? We want to be there for you. We can help eachother. "

Cloud sighed, and slid his hand from the pillow over to his stomach, so that it lay flat on the navel. He knew that he was loved, cared for...but he felt like he gave nothing in return. He had lost his will to love ever since...

"Cloud..." Tifa wiped the tears from her eyes, breathing softly, more evenly into the phone line. She was sitting in her room, in Seventh Heaven. The kids had gone to sleep, and she was still wide awake...It had been a few weeks since she found out about Cloud's geostigma, his sickness. She had called him a few times, left a few messages...but the blonde would never respond. Until today. Finally. Hence the tears that had formed in her eyes earlier...Hearing no response from Cloud, she grew a bit angry-her emotions were all releasing sporadically throughout their attempted conversation. "We barely talk now. If you wanna stop talking, it's fine. I'm just tired of waiting and watching you avoid me like this."

Cloud lost the resolve to speak, it was too difficult for him to let her know...to let her know that it was hard. Incredibly hard to move on, and let go...he wanted to be forgiven for letting them die. He was afraid of letting the people now currently present in his life slip away into the lifestream as well...

In his head. He heard a crisp voice. It sliced through his mind, seared up and about his arm-just as that very same sword...pierced through him those few years ago. "Nnh...!" Cloud's hand quivered, he dropped the phone. He grasped his tainted left arm, gasping in the process. "Mh..." his body shivered, pitch black liquid screamed out of his pores...it dripped onto his sofa, onto the floor...he leaned inward, and arched his back-he fell onto the cold, hardwood floor. The blonde's muscles twisted, irritated by pain and locking-he stiffened up and tensed, eyes forced shut. He was in pain. Cloud turned over on his side very, very slowly...his face was still furrowed in pain. His upper shoulder was now pressed onto the cheap, slick floor as he held onto his stressed arm with his free hand-causing his knuckles to press onto the floor. Thick, slick darkness oozed out of him...it was like he was bleeding out his emotions, the past...

And he was okay with that..."Hah..." he exhaled sharply, lightly-forgetting about Tifa.

"Cloud!" The maroon eyed beauty wavered, sparked with great concern. "Cloud are you there?! What's wrong!?" She had a feeling in her gut, that it was the devil that they were just speaking of..."Cloud..." she heard him gasp sporadically, and then a thud...did he collapse? "Where are you! I'll be there, I promise! Tell me, talk to me...Cloud..." She held onto her phone with great intensity.

The spikey haired blonde let out another shot of air, his lapis optics blurred. Fall into the shadows. Cloud's eyes rolled shut, his cheek pressed onto the cold floor gently. The grip on his cursed arm...faded, weakened.. Zack's voice floated around the blonde's body, "You remember...what I told you, right?" Aerith chided gently, "Dilly dally, shilly shally...Isn't it time...you did the forgiving?"

He had never told her where he lived.

Rate and Rev! n_n