Psych Heart- a Final Fantasy VII fanfic by Andrew Robinette
Note: All Final Fantasy characters contained in this story are property of SquareEnix, so don't claim them as your own.
Chapter 1- When Self-Reliance Fails
Dr. H. Torihpes loved being a psychologist. It had been a year since he had entered the profession, and he enjoyed every minute of it. He liked the salary, the respect, and most of all, the opportunity to listen to other people's problems. Haros, as his friends called him, loved to listen to women. It wasn't because he was attracted to them; he simply was the kind of man that would be easily touched by the outpouring of emotion. It wasn't hard for females to talk to Haros. He was very handsome. He had strong muscular arms, short black hair, and a face which could easily be described as a mix between a heavenly angel and a fallen one. Even his trademark black outfit was, in some ways, very appealing. Sometimes, his looks tended to work too well, attracting some less than beautiful ladies that Haros would never dream of going out with. His first patient of the day did not fit that description by any stretch of the imagination.
When she walked through the door, Haros could see that his newest patient had long flowing dark hair, which fell like a waterfall across her masterpiece of a face. Her dark brown eyes accentuated the chocolate color of her wondrous tresses, which shone radiantly in the sunlight beaming in from the window. The lady was clad in a white belly shirt, and a pair of extremely short brown shorts. She was very strong, and seemed to possess a good amount of muscle in her arms and legs. But the best part about the woman's appearance was her breasts. They were quite large, yet did not appear to be drooping at all from the excess size. In fact, it looked as if this woman had stuffed two volleyballs up her shirt. From the back, Haros could tell that she was wearing a special orthopedic bra, obviously because of the strain on her back. He couldn't help but feel sorry for his new patient.
As the young lady took a seat on the couch in front of him, Haros happened to notice that she had an abundance of scars, mostly on her face and forehead. 'It must take a lot of courage to show off such scars.' Haros thought to himself. At first he thought that her unsightly marks could be the result of some type of abuse, but he released the thought from his mind and began to speak. "Hello. My name is Dr. H. Torihpes, but you can call me Haros. What is your name?" The young lady glanced back at Haros and answered, "My name is Tifa Lockheart. I came because I think that I'm starting to lose my sanity." Haros replied, "You did come of your own free will. That's always a step in the right direction. But Tifa, why would you say that your sanity is in danger?" Tifa's head dropped slightly, so that she wouldn't make eye-contact as she uttered, "I hear voices inside of my head." "What kind of voices?"
Tifa, with her head still lowered, began to slowly swing her feet around as she explained, "The voice belongs to a friend I used to know. Her name was Aeris." For a moment, something seemed to click inside of Tifa's mind as her gaze shot up at Haros, and she inquired, "Do we know each other?" Haros quickly responded with a casual "I don't think so." He appeared to be changing the conversation as he asked, "What is it that Aeris is telling you?" "She just keeps chanting an odd poem:
I see your pain through my window with a view,
But I can't get out, and it's shocking you."
When Tifa had finished reciting the poem, Haros noticed that she had started to stare at the dish of honey roasted peanuts on his desk. He reached for the dish, held it toward Tifa, and asked, "Do you want some peanuts?" He had no idea that the psychotic side of Tifa had just been unleashed. Tifa began to shake, and her eyes became like giant saucers as she smacked the dish of peanuts to the ground, scattering the bite-sized treats across the floor.
Haros didn't say anything. There wasn't really anything to say. He simply scooped up the dirty peanuts and threw them into the trashcan beside his desk. As Haros was doing this, he noticed that Tifa was now curled up in a ball on the couch. Haros sat back down in his chair and asked, "Tifa, what's wrong?" Her response was an insane stammering, "No…bad peanuts…sweet poison…so bad for Tifa…fat, calories…horribly bad."
Haros was slightly scared, but he boldly said to her, "You can beat this, Tifa. I know you can. Do you want me to help you?" "Y-yes." "It would help me to understand you if you tell me about your childhood." Tifa stopped shaking and calmly asked, "Are the peanuts gone?" "Yes, they are." Satisfied with Haros' answer, Tifa uncurled herself. While laying face-up on the couch, she began to tell of her younger years.
"My childhood was just fine, I guarantee you. There's no problem there. I had a mom and dad that loved me very much. They were great parents, and they never beat me, abused me, took drugs, or drank. My father introduced me to the art of fighting at a very young age. I wouldn't be where I'm at today if not for him." Haros looked up at Tifa as he asked, "Where do you think that your problem started?" Tifa ran her fingers through her long dark hair and then answered, "By the time that I was a teenager, I had become very beautiful. Every guy in town wanted me, and not just the ones in my age group, either. I suppose I was lucky that the people in my hometown of Nibelheim were very nice and polite. Anyway, when I was young, I met a boy named Cloud Strife. He was so strong, and had such spiky blonde hair.
I never paid him much attention in my early years, but when I was 15, we started going out together. Of course, there really wasn't much to do in Nibelheim, so we'd sit at the fountain at night and just talk. We probably could have been much closer than we were, but Cloud always seemed so distant. It was like his heart was with me, but his mind was in another land.
But the worst part about Cloud was that he was constantly talking about how much he admired Sephiroth. That always annoyed me. It eventually got to the point where I had to ask Cloud, 'What's more important, me or Sephiroth?' I was 16 when that happened. Cloud told me that he needed some time to think things through. It was only 2 days later when he gave me his answer. I remember it like it was yesterday.