A/N: Am I insane or what? Starting another fic now while my other stuff hasn't been updated in ages? I suck, I know, but I love this premise so I'm writing it.

Anyhow, for those of you who follow PRO BONO but have not read my update in THE PORTRAIT, I just wanted to make a note here that one of the reasons I've missing for so long is because my computer crashed, and along with it, most of my notes, outlines and pre-written passages for the stories I've been working on. Suffice to say, I wasn't happy. I've tried reworking PRO BONO but I'm having a hard time with it because I honestly don't remember where I was trying to go with it. Maybe one of these days my muse will be kind to me and let me continue it, but for now, it's very stuck. My sincerest apologies.

Aside from that, I've been doing an internship in China the last few months and let's just say that I haven't handled the transition from college student to full-time work (and yes, in China, an "internship" is essentially a full time job with low pay and no benefits).

With that all out of the way, here is my new story. It is slightly darker, but I promise that this is CloudxTifa even though it might now look it. Essentially, it is a twist on the original game ending. The timeline, after this prologue, is Advent Children.

Last thing, although the title shares its name with a song by Dream Theater, this fic isn't quite inspired by it. There may be some resonant elements, but those are totally incidental.

Enjoy!

(I know this was an excruciatingly long author's note, but at least I'm giving you both the Prologue and Chapter One at the same time! :)

Disclaimer: The rights to Final Fantasy VII and all related characters and materials belong to Square-Enix. I make no profit (except for the pleasure of writing) from this story. Please refrain from suing me or anything stupid like that.

THE KILLING HAND

PROLOGUE

The world was crumbling around her, but Tifa Lockhart couldn't bring herself to care.

Her whole world was right here beneath her prone body, her head tucked against a muscled shoulder, her fingertips resting on a heart that no longer beat. The blood from their wounds mingled together, and the morbidly romantic part of her imagined that the union of their blood symbolized a joining of their hearts. She knew it was fanciful. After all, how could two dead hearts unite? His maybe the only one that was literally dead, but this hollow pain in her chest could only be the shriveled stone of a heart she once possessed.

It was eerily quiet in this isolated chamber deep in the very soul of the Northern Caves, and she was glad for it. Some fool part of her thought that if it was quiet enough, she would be able to make out a faint gasp for air, or the thready beat of a pulse.

She heard neither.

How strange to think that just an hour before, they'd been joking with the kind of humor that only emerges when facing certain death. Less than eight hours ago, she'd been in his arms and they'd had one excruciatingly beautiful night together.

The unnatural green glow of the cavern reminded her of the time they'd spent in the Lifestream, where they had revealed secrets buried so deep in their subconscious that they forgot the thoughts were even there. She ignored the little voice in her head that reminded her that some of the things she'd seen in his head had horrified her.

There was no return to the real world this time and that horrified her more. This was the real world, and in the real world Cloud Strife was dead.

It broke something in her to admit it.

"Tifa! Tifa! Are you there?"

The voice pounded at her misery and brought her back to reality.

She suddenly realized that currents of low rumbling bolstered the ringing silence in the cave. The rumbling intensified, and she watched with detached fascination as the pool of blood on the rocky ground rippled and slid about the floor like someone was tilting a pan of water from side to side. The sudden crash of boulder against boulder should have startled her, but even as the far sides of the cave started collapsing around her, she couldn't get her muscles to move.

"Tifa!" The frantic note in this voice reminded her of Barret, but she couldn't be sure, couldn't even pretend to care.

The cave was collapsing. That's good. She'll be buried together with him. That would be for the best.

But even as she thought it, she knew she wouldn't allow it. As much as she loved him, as much as she wished she could be by his side through all eternity, she couldn't.

She had to survive because she had a legacy to tell-his legacy. She had to tell the world he was a hero. So she couldn't die here.

She kissed his cold, dead lips, the tears rapidly and suddenly falling when her last, ridiculous hopes were dashed. He was not like the princesses in those stupid fairytales who woke with a kiss. He was dead. Dead, dead, dead. And he wasn't coming back.

"I love you, Cloud," she murmured against his lips. "Please forgive me."

"Tifa! You gotta move!"

She wasn't sure whose voice it was; only that it wasn't his and she'd never hear his voice again.

Her body stood up of its own accord, years of survival instincts so engrained into her nature that it didn't need her mind to operate. She didn't look back again when she scaled the crumbling cliffs in that god-forsaken cavern.

She wondered how it was that she wasn't causing the narrow ledges to collapse from the weight of the sins on her shoulders. But perhaps that was the cruelest punishment of all.

For the rest of her pitiful life, she would always be haunted by his ghost.