Demons Gate
Chapter 1: Nightmares
Drip, drip, drip goes the blade of the knife…the blade of the knife is wreathed in blood.
The Demons lips twist into an evil inane grin as he stares down in triumph at her lifeless body, a crimson fluid now draining her of colour. Her soul leaving her.
"Cloud…I-it's too late …remember…a rough blade and a p-pure heart will cleanse the d-demons." Those were Tifa's last words before she stopped breathing and the claret turned a dull hue in her eyes.
Tifa awoke abruptly from unconsciousness and groaned at a searing pain that appeared to be shooting through her left leg.
She gazed down at it through blurry, darkened vision and noticed that it was lying at an unusual angle. She smelt blood. As she attempted to push herself upright, even more nauseating pain shot through her injured leg- the realisation that she'd broken it came to her and she fell back to the floor with a thud.
Still in a daze and not yet remembering what had got her into this situation, Tifa rubbed her eyes to try and clear her vision as she put together the pieces of what had just happened in her head…
Cloud, her childhood friend and joint guardian to their foster kids, had arrived at home (aka Seventh Heaven) out of the blue that same afternoon shocking Tifa. She proceeded to shatter several glasses that she had been putting away at the time in her state of surprise.
She stared at him in disbelief, unable to even utter his name in greeting…
Cloud had been gone for almost three months now; he had just up and left not long after the whole Kudaj incident leaving a note addressed to Tifa and the kids explaining how he had to 'find' himself.
She sighed knowing that she couldn't have done anything to stop him, she never could, but how could she? He never gave her the chance.
Tifa took much dismay in telling Denzel and Marlene that he had left and didn't know when he'd be back yet again. She had struggled to do this without sounding angry and calling him exactly what she was thinking at the time, selfish. They took it better than she had expected, probably because they were so used to it… she thought.
When he didn't come back after a month, it started to grate on her. No phone calls, no messages, no nothing. Does he even care? She often thought. What must Denzel and Marlene be thinking of him?
They of course in their innocence just missed Cloud and kept asking when he'd be back. Tifa didn't have the heart to tell them she didn't even know if he was still alive. She would always just force a smile and tell them that he would be back soon. "Everything will be ok." She reassured with another smile. She even believed that herself for a while. But after a month of trying to contact him herself there had still been no word at all and she started to think the worst. Anger turned into depression, depression turned into guilt, guilt turned into suffering, but even with all these emotions going on inside her head, ever humble and loving Tifa still put on a brave front for everyone. She couldn't worry the kids and her friends; it wasn't fair on them to have to deal with one loved one missing and the other one in deep depression.