Dusk was slowly setting upon Junon. A chilly breeze wafted through the upper city, causing some to shiver as they walked. Some families were enjoying a walk along the road, looking out at sea all the while. Others were settling down at a new outdoor restaurant, waiting for their food and drinks to be delivered.
Cloud Strife was oblivious to his surroundings, however, his mind elsewhere. He was walking rather aimlessly down the road, paying no attention to those he nearly bumped into, completely shutting out those who recognized him as the main hero of Meteorfall. He wore one large sword at his hip, his hand resting subconsciously upon the hilt.
It had been a while since he had last walked anywhere. He usually rode Fenrir everywhere, especially down the streets of Junon. What made me walk again? he thought to himself, his eyes looking at the road at his feet. He gradually stopped and looked out at the sea, the view unobstructed by the cannon that had once been there.
"Oh, hell no. It just can't be you," he heard someone groan from behind him.
He recognized the voice and only said, "It's you."
"Don't be giving me that line of crap," he heard his unwanted companion snap. "Of course it's me! I have a right to walk Junon! A right!"
"Then keep walking," he said simply.
A sigh was barely audible to him. "You're a real pain sometimes, y'know that?" As though to spite him, the new companion joined him at the side of the road. "So, Cloud. How's life been treating you since you saved the world?"
He didn't answer, he didn't look at the woman standing next to him.
"Give me the cold shoulder, will you?" she muttered. "Answer me, dammit! I'm trying to be nice to you for a change!"
"...I've been better," he said slowly.
She waved her hand forward impatiently. "Emphasize, dammit! I can tell you've been better, punk! Never thought I'd see you as emo as that damned vampire that ran with you guys years ago!"
"Why do you seem to care?"
"I don't care, believe me! I'm just trying to hold a halfway decent conversation here! Sheesh..." She brought her hand to her forehead, exasperated. "Have you always been so emo? Huh?"
"...Maybe. I don't know."
"Oh, yeah. That's real reassuring," she said, rolling her eyes. "So 'yes', you've always been this emo. Kind of depressing, actually; you've gotta learn to lighten up a little!"
"Says someone whose heart and soul are both dark," he said snidely, growing annoyed by his companion.
"Least I have a heart and soul. You, on the other hand, are acting like you've just been killed by someone. And last I checked, that makes you dead and long gone. So live a little, stupid emo punk. You let your thoughts weigh you down, you'll never make it anywhere."
"You have a heart and soul? Doesn't being a Turk kind of, oh..." He faked thinking hard. "Murder you inside?"
Elena huffed angrily at him. "Then let me rephrase that, Mister I'm-Too-Technical-For-My-Own-Damn-Good. At least I had a heart and soul, once upon a time. Have you ever had either? Ever?"
He didn't reply.
"Thought so. So shut up; you've got no room to talk, bucko." She resisted every urge to slap her former foe upside the head. "What's eating away at your head, chocobo?"
"'Chocobo'?" he repeated.
"Uh... oh wait, 'Chocobohead'. Dammit, I knew I was forgetting something..." she murmured.
He rolled his eyes. "Nothing's 'eating away at my head', Goldilocks."
She smacked him upside the head. "Hey, you take that back! You don't like your nickname of 'Chocobohead', take it up with Reno, not me! He's the one that started it, remember!"
He rubbed the back of his head, but remained silent.
"So you're sure nothing's bugging you?" she said after she realized he wasn't going to say anything. "Nothing at all?"
"Nothing."
"Alright, if you say so." She pulled out a small newspaper clipping and began skimming it. "Oh, that's right. You heard that Tifa, your former girlfriend, got married, right?" She glanced at him, eager to see if she struck a nerve.
She did, more or less, as Cloud's face sank a little. "Yeah, I know. I saw it in the paper earlier."
"And how was your day up till that point?" she said casually.
"It had been going pretty well. I still think it's a lie, though..."
"Ah-ha! So that's what's eating away at your head!" She pointed a finger almost accusingly at him. "You're unable to believe Tifa got married and you're not the one she married!"
He glared at Elena. "What of it? You going to make a big deal of it?"
"Probably should, just to see you squirm. Don't know why I'm not going to, though... It only makes the most sense, in my opinion." She grinned evilly. "Oh, Tifa got married! Oh, she didn't marry Cloud! Oh, how he aches knowing he screwed up big time and that he'll never get the chance again!"
A downcast air surrounded Cloud. "...So what...?" he murmured.
She frowned at him disdainfully. "Eh, not quite the reaction I was hoping for..." She shook her head. "Oh well. Look, you realize you screwed up, right?"
No response.
"Right?"
He ignored her.
She reached out and knocked on the back of his head as hard as she could. "Hel-lo! Anyone home in there?" she said, grinning.
He batted her hand away. "...Right."
"So get over it already. You screwed up and now you're paying for it. Normally, I'd tell you to just wallow in your self-supported pity party, you know."
"I know. As would Reno, Rude, Tseng and Rufus."
"Precisely. But you know what I'm going to do for you instead?"
"...Put me out of my misery?" he suggested.
"As tempting as that sounds, no. I'm going to make you realize that you're being stupid and I'm going to make you realize that, contrary to what I said earlier, you do have a heart!"
"Oh dear God..." he murmured.
She ignored him and gave her chest a small thump. "I'm going to hook you up with someone, Cloud Strife!"
"...No thanks."
She smirked. "This isn't an option for you, you know. You're going to deal with this whether you want to or not."
He gave her an ugly look. "Just try it, I dare you," he growled at her.
"Alright then." She gave her hands a small clap and wheeled around, beaming. "Hey ladies! Looking for a good time tonight? Then look no further than--"
He clapped his hand over Elena's mouth and gave her a death glare. "You even finish that sentence, I'll slice you in half," he threatened. "Mark my words."
She peeled his hand off her mouth. "Marked," she said simply. "Well, you dared me to."
"I didn't think you were serious!" he exclaimed softly. "It was figurative, you idiot!"
"Oh, was it now?" she said, feigning ignorance. "Huh. I thought you were serious." She shook her head, then smacked him upside the head again. "What the hell did you think I was going to do?! Just back down?! No! This is only for your good, you idiot, so get your mind straight!"
"The only thing a Turk can hope to accomplish is evil. No good will come of you trying to help me," he said coldly. "So leave me alone, or I'll toss you into the sea."
"From here? Oh, I'd love to see you try. That is, if you can even find it in yourself to do that to poor, little me." She chuckled. "Okay, I take back the 'poor' part. Turks get paid very well, after all."
He looked away from her, not caring. "Just shut up and leave me alone," he said.
She crossed her arms. "Cloud... Listen to me. You're only hurting yourself by doing this. Take it from someone who's been there, okay? It hurts when the one you love moves on to someone else, but you have to pick up the pieces and go with the flow. I know what you're going through right now, because I've been there before. I've done what you're doing, and nothing came of it. Hopelessly clinging to your empty dreams that something will happen, that you'll wake from this 'nightmare'... You're only self-destructing that way. You need to face the facts and get over it."
He looked at her slowly, a look of sudden understanding in his eyes. "Elena..."
She looked away from him.
"...Alright. I guess I can try moving on."
She gave a small nod. "That's more like it." She wheeled around again, cupping her hands to her mouth. "Hey ladies! Looking for--"
His hand brushed hers away and clapped over her mouth. "No. Just..." He heaved a sigh. "What in God's name are you thinking?!"
"What?" she said almost innocently. "It's as the old saying goes: 'The love of your life might be found on the street one night.' So it's worth a shot, right?"
"Who the hell says that line of crap...?" he muttered. "I think you're delusional."
"Well, you heard it first, so remember that."
"What did I just get myself into...?" he murmured.
She ignored him. "Well then, if you're not willing to try it out on the street, we have to go somewhere..." She thought about it for a while. "Bars are no good; most women in a bar are buzzed, at the bare minimum, so it's always failure..."
He listened to Elena think aloud, wondering how he could move on when his heart was still captured by Tifa. "Elena."
"Huh? What's up?"
"...You said you've been down this road before."
"Yeah, what of it?"
"What'd you do... when your heart was still stuck on the first guy who moved on?"
"I..." She paused a moment. "Nah, that's making life too easy for you. I had to figure it out on my own, now it's time for you to figure it out." She snapped her fingers. "Got it! Costa del Sol! Big vacation spot, big tourist attraction! Meaning lots of proverbial fish in the proverbial sea!"
He rolled his eyes at her last sentence. "You didn't even have to say 'proverbial', you know."
"But you agree, right? Costa del Sol's the best place to go for you!"
"...Sure." He shrugged, indifferent. "Whatever you think is best."
She looked at him out the corner of her eye. "This will only work if you're willing to put in the effort too, you know. If you think something's wrong with Costa del Sol, then tell me! In the matchmaking game, communication is key! Don't forget it!"
"So, who played 'matchmaker' for you?"
"No one. I managed everything on my own." She grinned. "You're weak, though, so you need my help, and bad."
"Weak?" He paused. "...Maybe I am..."
"Like I said, you're weak. Come on, you! It's off to Costa del Sol with us!"
--
"Elena, why do you seem to care about my well-being so much?" he asked once they were settled in on the boat to Costa del Sol.
"Like I said, I don't care. It's just..." She frowned. "I lost a fight against you. And now you, the victor of that fight, are letting something as simple as a marriage take you out of commission? While I, the loser, have nothing to worry about? Doesn't that seem wrong to you?"
"...I guess so."
"In short, I don't want the guy who kicked my ass years ago to be so pathetically weak right now; it makes me look really bad."
He didn't reply, and she was fine with that. She looked out over the sea from their spot on the deck. "So..." she began. "What's your type of girl?"
"..."
"Look, you've gotta tell me, or I won't know who to look for! So stop being so damn stupid and just tell me!" She looked at him, annoyed.
"...I don't care who. Just... it doesn't matter to me."
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, counting backward from ten in her mind. "Look, there's no point hooking you up with someone if that relationship ends in failure and crushes your spirit all over again. So we need to make sure we find you a girl that's actually your type." She paused for a moment, rewording the question in her mind. "Who would you be proud to walk down the street with? Who would you be proud to call your girlfriend or wife?"
"Do you even need to ask...?" he sighed.
"Hey, Tifa's off-limits now, Chocobohead. So don't go playing 'homewrecker' on her new hubby. Pick someone else. And make it someone alive," she added quickly, recalling how Reno and Rude said that Cloud and Aeris got along very well, especially how he seemed smitten with her.
"Then I've got nothing," he snapped. "What do you want me to do? Start all over?"
"No! You think?!" She fought all urges to scream out in frustration. "How in hell did everyone put up with you? Especially Tifa! What the hell did she see in you?!"
This seemed to kill any signs of resistance within him, and Elena found herself glaring at a silent Cloud. "What did... she see in me...?" he finally murmured.
She pondered this for a while. "Yes, what did she see in you? Was it strength? The fact that you two were childhood friends? Or was there something else that no one else was aware of?"
"I think... it was because we were childhood friends," he said. "I can't think of anything else, though... You'd have to ask her."
The rest of the boat ride to Costa del Sol was silent between the two of them. They walked off the boat in silence when it arrived at Costa del Sol.
"...Cloud."
"What?"
She crossed her arms across her chest. "I need a few moments to think about this. I'll rent us a room each, then I'm headed to the beach. Don't go off doing anything stupid, you hear? And yes, getting drunk counts as 'something stupid', trust me. Just... go mope in a corner or something, I guess, until I'm all set to keep on helping you."
She had begun to walk away from him when she heard him mumble "Thanks, Elena."
"Don't... don't be thanking me, Chocobohead. I'm not doing this for you, remember; I'm doing this for me. I'm doing this so I don't look like a weakling for losing to you." She gave an angry huff and walked toward the inn.
--
I could leave and she'd never know, much less care, Cloud thought as Elena walked toward the inn. She has something up her sleeve, and it involves me somehow. He looked to the town entrance and took a slow step toward it.
"...Cloud?" he heard someone say from behind him. The voice made his heart sink, and he turned slowly to face the source of the voice. "Cloud! It is you! Oh, wow! How've you been? I didn't see you at the wedding! Did you get the invitation?"
He forced a smile, eyes avoiding the woman's eyes. She was clinging to another man's arm.
"Hey Tifa."
So, new story, new plots, new twists. This one's going to be considerably funnier than any of my previous stories.
I personally don't know much of Elena's character, so for the sake of story-writing, I've made her into a mischievous sort who's still willing to help people out, even former enemies. I THINK I've got it going well enough so far.
Will Cloud and Elena wind up together at the end of this? I have no idea, to be truthful. Parts of me want to put them together, other parts of me want to just have the two of them develop a meaningful friendship. Again, I have no idea. We'll see as this story goes along.
Cloud running into Tifa is NOT my way of making this all 'soap opera'-y. Tifa's presence in Costa del Sol will only contribute to the story in humorous methods, one way or another. Trust me.
As I type this, I am actually working on the epilogue of my last story, Of Crystals Born. It's not done yet, but it DOES focus much more on the central pairing of the story, pitching Vincent and Tifa a few months after their reunion. I can say that you will learn where Vincent was for five months after his fight with Lizu. It also hints to other pairings that cropped up during the course of my story-writing, some of which you might not be so surprised to see, others you might be shocked to see. And yes, the Galian is still a crude SoB. Don't tell me you actually expected that to CHANGE? /sarcasm
Next chapter, Cloud learns a new definition of 'discomfort' as a conversation with Tifa and her new husband unfolds. But what happens when Elena intervenes? -Spiritslayer