Hurt
Everything was as it should be. Sephiroth was gone for good, Denzel and Marlene were back where they belonged, and the Geostigma was gone. Tifa was glad of that.
The kids were anxious to get home now. They lived above Tifa's bar, 7th Heaven. That area was also where Cloud ran his delivery service. As far as Tifa knew, Cloud was out on a job. She often worried that he'd get hurt. But she knew that could never happen.
"Come on, Tifa!" Denzel shouted to her, breaking her concentration.
"We're almost home!" Marlene added, excited.
Tifa smiled tolerantly. "Take it easy, you two. Slow down. I have to unlock the door, remember?"
"Oh yeah," Denzel replied, his face falling.
But she didn't have to unlock the door. It was already open. Tifa was worried. "Go sit down over there," she told Denzel and Marlene, pulling her leather gloves on.
The two kids didn't argue. They looked scared. It was probably the serious look on Tifa's face that scared them so much.
Tifa climbed the stairs. When she was about halfway up, she heard a guitar playing. That's weird, she thought. We don't own a radio or anything.
Soon, a deep, soulful voice joined the guitar.
I hurt myself today,
To see if I still feel,
I focus on the pain,
The only thing that's real.
The needle tears a hole,
The old familiar sting,
Try to kill it all away,
But I remember everything.
What have I become,
My sweetest friend,
Everyone I know,
Goes away in the end.
And you could have it all,
My empire of dirt,
I will let you down,
I will make you hurt.
The guitar continued. Tifa moved silently to the door of the room the music was coming from, and was startled to see Cloud playing an acoustic guitar. She was even more stunned when she realised the person who was singing was him.
I wear this crown of thorns,
Upon my liar's chair,
Full of broken thoughts,
I cannot repair.
Beneath the stains of time,
The feelings disappear,
You are someone else,
I am still right here.
What have I become,
My sweetest friend,
Everyone I know,
Goes away in the end.
And you could have it all,
My empire of dirt,
I will let you down,
I will make you hurt.
If I could start again,
A million miles away,
I will keep myself,
I would find a way.
The song ended with a chord from Cloud's guitar. Tifa realised she was crying. Cloud was still struggling with his demons, but that song was helping him get over it.
"You do still feel, Cloud," she said in a broken voice.
Cloud looked at her, startled. "Tifa…"
"Don't worry. I won't tell anybody."
He smiled. "Thanks."
"Oh, and Cloud?"
"Yeah?"
"Who's your 'sweetest friend'?"
Cloud looked away. "You are," he said quietly.
"What was that?"
He turned back to her. "You are," he repeated, louder.
She walked into the room and hugged him. She didn't kiss him. She just hugged him. He probably wasn't ready for her to fully admit her feelings yet.
There they sat, arms locked around each other, as if nothing else in the world mattered.
And in truth, it didn't.