DISCLAIMER: I do not own the characters, places, names, or anything of Final Fantasy VII and AC. This story is purely fan made and made for the enjoyment of writing.

Author's Note: This is takes place pre-Advent Children, and is the start of Cloud's geostigma. Happy Reading!

Chapter I : Restless

Darkness.

Silence.

Darkness.

Come on, sleep already.

Stillness.

This is the third week, Cloud. The THIRD week you haven't slept well.

What?

What's wrong?

What's happening?

His blue eyes fluttered open, and his vision blurred for a moment as the austere ceiling greeted him. Pain immediately enveloped his throbbing cranium. He squinted his eyes shut. His head hurt. His body felt stiff. His mind couldn't sleep.

Great...

With a vitriol sigh, his eyes reopened and they bored once again at the ceiling.

Maybe if I just lye here…maybe I'll just fall asleep…

I'll dream.

I'll drift…

Yeah. Right. He'd been trying that for how many hours, days, weeks…and still nothing. He'll just force himself up again and drown himself in beers to fall asleep and eventually find that same worried look on her face again. That concerned face...Gaia how he hated seeing that bright and early in the morning. He felt guilty every damn time. But…what else can he do to get to bed? Seriously, he had deliveries in the morning–he had a job to do. He couldn't be tired on the job. Alcohol was the only hope.

Groaning, the brute managed to lift his body up to a sitting position on his bed. He stared across the sheets slightly perplexed. He exhaled, his chest felt heavy and numb while his legs were in no mood to move. Spidery fingers rubbed at his Mako eyes trying to remove his hazy sight. He felt totally out of it and drained. He eventually shifted his body out of the blankets and sheets let his feet touch the floorboards.

His eyes drifted towards the window for a moment, catching how blue the room was from the illuminating moon cascading into the room. The violet sky was starry and streaked with charcoal cirrus clouds. It was a tranquil night, peaceful and full of serenity. Why couldn't he feel like that for once? Why couldn't he sleep with that sweet feeling for just one night? Why were his nights always full of nightmares? Darkness? Loneliness?

"Gah, fucking…" He cursed as he soon came back to his senses. The male stood and took a haste stride over towards the bathroom before he headed downstairs to the bar. He flicked on the light and caught his reflected image upon the mirror. His eyes squinted hard, as they adjusted to the light. Obviously, he looked terrible. His feathery blonde, spiky hair materialized flattened and his bangs touched his forehead tenderly. With the lack of sleep, deep plum-colored bags draped underneath his tainted eyes with fresh eye crust. Even his skin seemed to have lost its natural color.

A sigh escaped his lips as he leaned forward to rest his head against the mirror. Gaia. He wanted no one to see him like this. No one. Not even her. Gods, no. One look could break him apart and make him leave for sure to stop hurting her. Leaning back he sucked it up, took a quick piss, and headed out of his room.

The hallway was dark, having only a faint blue hue. He could barely make out where the stairs were as his eyes again had to adjust to the dark. His hands touched the walls as his feet took precise and light steps. They worked around, until his hand touched something incredibly cold, slick, and circular. Naturally, he pushed for a brief moment until the loudest creek erupted from the door. His body froze, his breathing ceased, and everything stopped. Nothing moved. His ocean eyes flickered over towards a new, slight movement within the sheets and shifting movements. It was her room. He held his breath until the shifting stopped.

…Silence. He got lucky. If Marlene was here, she would have confronted him within a split second. That was how much of a light sleeper she was. It was often the child would enter his room, noticing his restless nights and his dreaming. She knew more of the problem than the woman.

Relieved, he started for a moment into the room. Her room was flooded with moonlight and it shimmered on her rested body. She was there, lying in the blankets with the bed taking her shape. She was on her side with a single layer of blankets wrapped around her lean frame, showing her the beauty of her feminine curves. Her head rested against the pillow as her dark, chestnut hair spilled against the whiteness touching her ivory flesh of her face and shoulders. Her pale pink lips looked like they were locked in a small smile as she rested. Her dark eyelashes kissed her cheeks as she slept on, dreaming away. She looked peaceful and calm, making him almost envy her. Her face…her body…her lips…everything…she was beauteous beyond words.

Abruptly, Cloud stumbled back, noticing he'd been examining her for quite some time. Grunting, he took meek steps and slithered downstairs to the bar. All was quiet and silent like normal. No Marlene. No Tifa. Just himself and a case of beers. He hastily found his first cold one for the night and sucking it down his throat. It was bitter, just the way he liked it. It was strange for him to drink like this. He hardly ever drank…well, until now. Drinking seemed to help him fall asleep.

He then opened another, taking his time for this one to think.

Nightmares…pain…

…Reunion

Jenova.

…Wait, what?

The man shook his head as his fingers pinched at the bridge of his nose. What the hell was that for? Reunion? Jenova?

Suddenly, his left arm throbbed with a cutting pain. His heart raced for a moment, as he could feel the strange sensation spread to his shoulder. It felt like it was eating away at him. His fingers felt as if electric shocks were being bolted through them, and they went limp. He twitched, and threw the beer out of his other hand and clutched his arm tightly. The crash of his beer bottle echoed as the amber liquid poured out to the floor. He stumbled back into the counter with his teeth grinding in utter pain. His eyes were shut. His head thumped. His breathing slowed. His body grew stiff. He coughed out a small cry of agony.

No…

Please

Please don't be black…

"Cloud!"

He struggled to keep his balance as the pain continued to smite him. A soft and strong pair of hands grabbed his shoulders, trying to hold him in balance. His head grew light. He took a quick glance to his arm, and was relieved to see his sun-kissed skin color.

"Are you all right?"

Her voice…

"Cloud!"

He forced his eyes open to see a pair of brown ones stared back, all full of fret. He bored into her eyes for a moment, almost as if he was trying to recognize those close, familiar eyes…all in the while his pain seemed to fade.

"…Tifa?"

"Cloud? Are you okay?"

"I-…yeah."

"What happened? Were you drinking again?"

"I'm…not sure."

Tifa sighed, releasing her grip off of his broad shoulders and placing her hands back to her sides. She looked tiresome. Her straight hair sat messily on her shoulders and forehead. Her eyes shook with flickering emotions and feelings. She stood there barefooted, dressed in only a white tank top, which revealed too much of her black bra, and in black shorts that hung lowly around her small waist. It was her normal attire to bed when the kids were away or when anyone wasn't around.

"Cloud…" She looked away to the floorboards with a hurtful expression holding in her eyes.

He stepped back putting on his usual impassive look across his face. He waited. Secretly, he loathed seeing her like this and hated the awkward silence between them. How he longed for better communications skills.

"Teef?"

"I just-…look, I just want you to know that I'm here for you, okay? You can tell me anything. You know I'll listen and understand, right?"

She looked back up again with a stern look, this time making eye contact with her childhood friend. "If something's wrong just tell me. I can help you."

"…I know," He muttered. His eyes broke away and drifted to her lips. A troubled look smeared across his visage.

"Okay…I'm just letting you know."

Cloud noticed her eyes drift past him. His gaze followed hers as he turned to see what she was looking at. Of course. How could he forget his beer shattered in thousands of lost pieces with the liquid still inking and diffusing all over the floor? There it all sat, waiting for Tifa or someone to clean it up.

"It's all right. I got it," Tifa said as she breezed by him while grabbing a wash cloth on her way. He watched her kneel down, pick up the glass, and throw the particles away next to the trash can near her. He hated seeing her doing that. It was his mess and his damn fault he dropped the stupid thing. She shouldn't have to clean up his mistakes, damn it!

"No, I'll clean it up. It's my mess. Here…" The blonde soon then knelt down next to the barmaid and tried to grab all the broken glass he could get to stop her from cleaning.

"Cloud! Be careful!"

Too late.

After throwing all the chunks of the bottle away, his hands dripped in fresh crimson blood. Tiny slits swathed his palms from the cuts of glass. He stared at his hands for a moment, inhaling the scent of iron from the blood.

"Look at you…" Tifa sighed. "All right. Go upstairs into my bathroom and wash your hands off. I'll clean and wrap them before you head to bed again."

"—But"

"Don't worry about it. Just go," She ordered motioning with a wave of her hand towards the stairs. "Everything's okay."

Sighing, he obeyed. He knew there was going to be absolutely no possible way to win the quarrel. He got on his feet and ambled his way up the stairs into her room. Back into the gloomy blue world. Standing there in her room, he examined her bed again. All her white blankets and sheet were tangled and were left in how she unwrapped herself. He continued on, feeling the blood course between his fingers almost dripping off onto the floor.

Flicking on the light switch, which he now covered with his blood, he dumped his hands into the sink. He turned on the cold water and let it run though his calloused fingers, cooling his burning cuts. The blue-eyed man watched as the blood churned with the water making it turn a rusty brown color as it swirled down the drain.

What's wrong with me?

What was that pain I felt?

…Jenova…?

Him?

What?

"Cloud?"

He jumped and all his thoughts crashed and jumbled together.

Tifa stood there in the door way with her hands occupied with rubbing alcohol, a cotton ball, and bandage wraps for his wounds.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Here, let me see your hands." She turned and returned to her bed, sitting on the edge waiting for him.

He turned off the water faucet and wiped his hands before dragging himself over. Emotions were firing off inside as he moved closer…all alien and foreign.

The bathroom light spilled on them as Tifa worked with Cloud's hands, bubbling and burning from the alcohol. She was delicate though, and she tried making it as comforting and relaxing as she possibly could which was working. Cloud just abreast from her felt totally…different being close to her like this. Self-possession, devotion...desire. He loved the feelings running through him, even though his muscles twitched at the flaming sensation of his palms.

"Almost done…" She hummed, completely focused on his hands. After her last dab with the saturated cotton ball, Tifa enfolded the wrapping bandages and completed her work.

"All right?" The brunette woman questioned. Her eyes looked as if they were smiling at him.

"Yeah…thanks."

Strangely, she still held his hands in hers. She stared at them and let her dark eyes tracing up his arm to his chest and finally back to his eyes. Cloud sat there, clueless on what do to next. He waited to be released from her. A sigh released from her parted lips.

"Cloud…I've been thinking about you a lot over the past several weeks. You haven't been yourself. Even though we don't talk as much or see each other that much, I can still sense that you're not okay. You drinking heavily, and you're in more physical and metal pain…" She stopped for a moment, wondering if she'd went too far as still held their locking gaze.

"What are you talking about?" He asserted, sulking inside.

"You tell me you're all right, but when I look at you…you're not. Honestly, I'm a little tired of waiting for you to tell me something or talk to me again. I know why you distance yourself from me. And—"

"Tifa," Cloud growled, slipping his hands out from hers. "I'm fine. I don't want you to worry about me."

"How can I not? You're always out, you never call, and we hardly ever talk to each other!"

"I just…need some time."

The barmaid suddenly hushed. Her eyes dropped to her hands to conceal her true emotions that flickered inside of her. He knew why she stopped. He knew what she was thinking. Her. He didn't want her to think that. If she did, then their whole communication with each other would go downhill and that was the very last thing he wanted. He was getting over the past quite well, though often it would come back and haunt him. But other than that, it was passing.

"Wait. Tifa, it's not what you think..."

"Right," She muttered. "Go back to bed, Cloud." The dark haired woman then rose from her position and strode into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her. Ireful, he sighed.

Shit.