Two years.
Has it really been that long since the defeat of Sephiroth? Yes, it has. Two years, twenty-four months, seven hundred and thirty days, it was all the same. It felt as though a lifetime had gone by since then, and yet it felt as though no time had gone by at all. At least it did for him.
Thick heavy boots made contact with the wooden stairs leading down to the bar. Try as he might to be stealthy, Cloud couldn't stop the occasional creak and groan that escaped the wood from beneath his weight. Great. So much for a quiet exit. The children, he was sure would sleep through that, it was someone else that he wasn't so sure about. Cloud got to the bottom of the stairs, his eyes instantly drawn to an uncovered window. The streetlights outside highlighting certain points of the room. The Liquor bottles on a high shelf behind the bar, the chrome sink below and even the metal legs of the bar-stools.
"One bottle." Cloud muttered quietly to himself. One was all he needed, yet even as he was reaching for a particular bottle of Captain Morgan he had to wonder 'why'? Why was he even bothering? He didn't want to be drunk. He needed to be numb but, he needed to feel it-
"What for?" Came a soft unexpected question. Cloud froze mid-motion. His shoulders went tense at the sudden soft voice somewhere behind him. His breath caught shortly in the back of his throat. The bottle of Captain nestled firmly in one gloved hand, the other at rest on his side, slowly curled into a tight fist. "Nothing." He answered, dropping his shoulders. Yeah, so much for a quiet exit.
"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Cloud asked in a soft, quiet voice. His back was still to his company, though she heard him just fine. "That's what I was going to ask you." She replied back. She wasn't too far away from the bar its self. Maybe a table or two in, shrouded by shadow. Convenient that the windows by the dining area were covered. Why hadn't he noticed that? Still, Cloud kept his back to her, and still she stayed where she sat. Just out of sight it seemed. Silence stretched taunt between them. The only sound that could be heard by either one of them, was their own respective steady heartbeats.
Cloud's eyes scanned the unopened Liquor bottle, from top to bottom, that still rested in his hand. The tantalizing deep honey color was almost staring back at him, it seemed. Promising him things only the good Captain could deliver, and he knew it. The thought of Captain taking hold of his body from the inside out sent a cold chill down his spine. Cloud's tongue actually began to tingle and the ghostly familiar liquid heat sensation ran from the back of his throat all the way to the tips of his fingers. Even the good Captain's all too familiar unmistakeable spice had manifested in his mind, and was now playing cruel tricks on him. Entering his nose and clearing all his senses, and his head. Tempting. It was very tempting in fact, but... Cloud shook his head, closed his eyes and gingerly placed the bottle back on the shelf. No. Not this time.
"Cloud?" His name was barely audible as it past her lips. Almost as if the shadows in that room had muted her voice. "I gotta get out of here for a few days." Cloud's voice steadily rose to that warm mellow tone he so often spoke in. Almost as if he'd had an epiphany, as he made his way to the backdoor of the bar. "Again? Cloud-" She protested, emerging from shadow to catch him by the left arm. "Tifa. I just need to clear my head." Cloud caught Tifa's sad doe eyes with his own guarded Mako stare. It wasn't a look to intimidate her, but only to drive his point further home. He needed to get out of the bar, out of Edge and just clear his head. At least, that's what he always tells her.
"It's almost Four a.m. Cloud. Can't you just wait til morning, maybe?" Tifa pleaded. Cloud had noticed that she was still in her regular attire. She never did change into more comfortable sleeping clothes, meaning she'd been waiting up for him. She was starting to piece together the routine he'd worked himself into. He'd have to fix that. However, it seems she's still oblivious to the rest. How long?
"No. I have to go." Cloud answered, though he still didn't make any motion to leave just yet. Why? Before Tifa had intervened there wasn't a damn thing that would have stopped him going right out that back door, firing up Fenrir and just going. Not a damn thing. "Where do you go?" Tifa asked. Her firm grip around his bicep loosened to a soft hold, while her thumb gently moved in circles against his skin. To comfort? "Around." Cloud muttered.
"Liar." Tifa replied in a soft feathery tone. "Not just around. You go somewhere, Cloud. Somewhere specific. I just wish I knew where, and why." Something flashed behind Cloud's deep blue eyes. Something cold and detached, though he caught it before Tifa herself could see it. He didn't want Tifa to know. She didn't need that burden. "I go," Cloud began, then deliberately choked back what was forming in the back of his throat. It was there, though he dare not let it slip. "... to clear my head." He finished. Cloud watched Tifa release a breath, she probably didn't know she'd been holding. She dropped her eyes and released the grip on his arm. "Right." A disappointing sigh. "Well. I guess we'll see you when you get back."
"Yeah." Cloud said as he searched his pockets for Fenrir's keys. Once located, he spared Tifa one last sidelong glance. She was running both hands through her long thick dark brunette hair, though she did manage a small meager smile. "Just a few days." Cloud repeated in a reassuring tone. Reassuring to whom? Tifa, or himself? She merely nodded in agreement and watched as Cloud once again, within the last five months left in the middle of the night to an unknown destination for an unknown reason.