Greener on the other side
by NihilisticAmbition313
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 7. I do this only for entertainment purposes. I do not make a dime from this.
--
-Prologue-
Cloud still had a hard time with these kinds of things, things that had to do with expressing himself, even though he had gotten much better at it recently. Still, for as much newfound confidence as he'd grown since saving the world once again and making peace with Aeris and himself, this was a biggie...
No, this was the biggie, and, there was no turning back. No retreat. He'd let it fall out of his mouth and hang in the air between he and Tifa, and he couldn't take it back. It was there in Tifa's face for her consideration, period.
His mind and his heart raced a million miles a minute as he awaited Tifa's answer. Half of him believed she purposely tormented him by delaying. The other half was starting to feel old insecurities creeping in from the back of his mind.
Geez, did she even hear me? Did I do it wrong? No, I got on one knee and everything...Should I have said please? Do guys say please when they propose? Maybe I should've said please, but, that'd be begging right?
Cloud's internal dialogue was getting the better of him, as Tifa's stunned silence was a little more than he could bear. Feeling his confidence inching toward ruin, Cloud decided it was time to press the issue. If she said no, then oh well. He'd tried. Not his fault if she turned him down, right?
"Teef? Did you hear me?" Cloud forced from his mouth.
"...O-Of course I heard you. How the hell could I have not heard you?" Tifa stammered, glaring down at the little boy with skinned knees who'd become a fine, albeit quirky, young man.
"Right...So, umm...Got an answer or whatever?"
"Umm..."
Tifa's reddish-brown eyes began to sweep the interior of the new Seventh Heaven. She was searching desperately for a distraction, any kind of distraction. A customer, a ring from the telephone, Yuffie bursting through the front entrance door in her annoying fashion, anything. But all that was there in her bar was a man, a ring, and a question hanging in the air.
"...I screwed up." Cloud suddenly hissed unto himself, rising to his boots.
"No, Cloud, no!" Tifa rushed to assure him.
"Yes I did, in typical Cloud fashion." the once-wannabe SOLDIER bashed himself as he felt himself reverting.
" No, you didn't screw up, Cloud, not in any fashion. It's just, you really blindsided me there. Really blindsided me."
"Yeah, well...I was never good at subtle. I just figured I'd come right out, y'know? The heck with it."
"Oh, you came right out for sure, man." Tifa said with a nervous laugh as she anxiously stroked her right bicep.
"...And?"
"...Cloud, this is all so sudden."
"I know...Listen, Teef...You know I suck at stuff like this, so bear with me."
"Okay."
Cloud wanted desperately for one of Red XIII's meaningful reflections or even a darkly shaded musing of Vincent's to take over his thought-to-speech stream, but no such luck. He was on his own, whether he sucked at it or not...
"Tifa, you remember when I was sick...I avoided you, shut you out. I turned away from you when I needed you the most, and frankly, I was a jerk about it all."
"Oh, you'll get no argument from me." Tifa hurriedly informed Cloud.
"I know, I know...Look, you were there, you know what happened. I beat Sephiroth again, for good. I got cured of Geostigma. And also, Tifa, I got some damn sense talked into me by an old friend. She kicked my ass the way only she could do. Told me to wake up and see what all I got around me, and always had even when I treated it like shit."
"She did all that, did she?" Tifa asked in deadpan.
"Yeah..It worked, at least, I'm trying to make it work. The way I see it is, I don't wanna let another day get past me, Teef. Everything that's gone on the past couple years...shoot, the past as-far-back-as-I-can-remember. All the shit I've been through, a good and plenty bit of it self-imposed mind you. I guess...No, I don't guess. That's what I'm saying, Tifa." Cloud emphasized, almost wanting to grab Tifa by the shoulders to stress his point.
"Wha...?"
"I don't guess. I won't just guess, not anymore. No more waiting around on the sidelines, scared to be happy, scared to be myself Not for me."
"..."
"Think about it, Tifa. What did I do all that saving the world stuff for if I'm not out there in the world, yeah?"
"True." Tifa agreed, enthralled with this new attitude that Cloud was displaying.
"...Aeris died, yet we're still here. She loved life and she didn't wanna die. I know for sure she wanted to live."
"Is that what this is about? Pleasing Aeris and her memory?" Tifa asked, now growing cynical.
"You didn't let me finish. Yeah it's about Aeris, but only partially...I wanna be out there, Tifa. I wanna live life for Aeris and everybody else who died. I wanna live to honor their memories and all that stuff that I used to not think was important, so in that sense, yeah it's about Aeris."
"Well, when you put it that way..." Tifa breathed as the tears welled and coated her sparkling cognac-hued eyes.
"...The world's pretty big and scary though, even with a Buster Sword. I could use a partner. There's room on Fenrir for two...Ride with me?"
"...Yes."
"Huh?"
"Cloud, yes! Let's do it! Let's get married!"
Cloud's new bride-to-be threw herself unto his body, and he just barely caught her and took her into his embrace. Tifa cried as Cloud smooted her soft amber locks, and he too felt a tear or two spill from his glowing blue eyes. The two of them remained locked in each other's arms for what seemed like hours, in the middle of Seventh Heaven. It was only them, planted in their own long pent-up revery come to life.
Phew...Now, was that so hard Strife? Nervous over nothing...
--
Chapter #1-"Flowers left behind, but not forgotten"
One week later, it's the morning of the day before Cloud and Tifa's wedding...
"For the millionth time, hold still. Please."
"Sorry, Shera. I'm just so nervous, I can't help it.."
"Well, if you don't get a grip I'm going to end up pricking you, again."
"Better not get poked, Teef. We're out of bandages." Yuffie pointed out, halfway jokingly and fifty-percent seriously.
In Tifa's bedroom above Seventh Heaven, Shera Highwind had been working all that morning on altering the wedding gown she donated to Tifa. The bride-to-be wasn't making it easy with her fidgety behavior.
"...Almost done. Just one more..."
"..."
"...There. Finished." Shera declared as she stepped back to admire her work.
"How does it feel?" Yuffie asked, herself having been fitted for her bridesmaid gown the day before.
"It feels great, Yuffie. Snug, but not too tight." Tifa replied, admiring herself in the tall mirror in her bedroom-turned-Shera's-workshop.
"You look stunning, Tifa. Absolutely stunning."
"Thanks, Shera." Tifa replied, blushing from cheek to cheek. "And thank you for letting me wear this."
"No worries. I don't need it anymore, so you can pass it down to your daughter."
"Ah, ha. One thing at a time, okay? I'd like to get married before I start thinking about daughters and sons." Tifa giggled, blushing.
"Of course."
"Besides." Yuffie chimed in "I think I'd be getting married way before Tifa's daughter. Maybe I could wear the dress."
"Sure thing, Yuff. Just find a fiance first."
"Whoa, I'm not in any hurry to get hitched yet." Yuffie swore.
"Well, Shera's already married and Marlene's just a kid. Who else am I gonna throw the bouquet to? Cait? Heh heh."
A sick feeling came over Yuffie, but it had nothing to do with the prospect of matrimony or Tifa's humorisms.
"Oh, shit."
"...Yuffie, what is it?" Tifa asked, immediately sensing something was amiss.
"Uh...Teef, you are so gonna laugh about this later." Yuffie nervously chuckled as a bead of sweat dripped down her forehead.
"Yuffie, what is the matter?"
"Teef, p-please don't kick my ass."
"I will if you don't speak up!" The already-anxious bride yelled!
"I...We forgot to pick up the flowers."
"We!?" Shera shrieked. "You were supposed to pick up the flowers Yuffie!"
"You were supposed to remind me!"
"I was busy!"
"So was I!"
"Guys!" Tifa shouted. "I don't give a rat's ass who forgot the flowers! Just run and get 'em!"
"Right! I'll go tell Cid to fire up the big bird!" Yuffie declared as she took her hasty retreat.
"...Boy, as excited as she was to be my maid of honor she sure has done a shitty job." Tifa complained, normally not being one who complained about others' folly.
"Oh, don't be so hard on her. She didn't mean any harm." Shera said in Yuffie's defense.
"Yeah...I'm just so antsy and I'm taking it out all over the place. Ever since Cloud proposed I've been a nervous train wreck."
"I know, sweetheart, I know. But just think, as on edge as you are is probably how on edge Cloud is."
"Yeah right. He's probably already on the Highwind on the bridge in his tux waiting for me."
"Ha, ha. Maybe."
"I wonder where he is anyway, for real. I haven't seen him since this morning."
"No?"
"Nope. He left. Said he had somewhere to be and took off."
"On Fenrir?"
"No, he left the bike, so I assume he's still in town."
"Well I hope he hasn't wandered too far. He's to get his tux fitted today."
"He won't forget. The boy's not a flake, not anymore." Tifa joked about her fiance, making Shera giggle.
--
"There you are. We been lookin' all over for you. Turnin' off ya damn PHS."
"We did not think you would be here of all places."
"...Me neither, to tell you the truth." Cloud admitted to Barret and Red XIII, who had tracked him down to the vacant church in the Meteor-destroyed ruins of old Midgar.
"...You ain't havin' no second thoughts are ya? "Cause if you are I'll drag yo' spikey ass to the altar myself."
"Ha. That won't be neccessary, Barret." Cloud assured. "I have every intention of marrying Tifa. You're not rid of me that easily."
"Hey, don't worry 'bout me foo'. You just concentrate on Teef."
"I know...I won't let her down, Barret. Not again."
"I'll see."
"You will."
"Hmph...So what ya doin' here anyway? Came to pick ya own bouquet or somethin'?" Barret ribbed, gesturing toward the bed of flowers that remained in bloom even after it's caretaker disappearance years ago.
"Yeah right...I just came to think, that's all."
"What about, my friend?" Red asked in earnest.
"...About life, Red. About the life I'm about to have with Teef and all the things I wanna do with it...How I'm not gonna piss off another day, you know?"
"I hear ya."
"...We are all very proud of you, Cloud. You have grown up tremendously since we first met, in mind, body, and spirit."
"Heh...I had a little help here and there."
"A little?"
"Alright, alright. A lot." Cloud conceded.
"Shoot, yo' butt would be stuck in one kinda jam or another if not fo' us. Don't you forget it."
"Wouldn't dream of it."
"'Ey, don't mock me foo'!"
"Me? Never, Barret."
Red let past a laugh disguised as a gruff.
"Boy, you lucky you 'bout to get married. I can't give Tifa away to no busted up groom."
"Heh. Appreciate it..."
"Yo, we didn't come lookin' fo' ya so we could mess around here, captain."
"Yes, Cloud. It is time for your fitting."
"Wha? The tailor from Junon is here already?"
"Yup. We gotta bounce, Spike."
"Let's roll then."
With Cloud's command, the three of them made way to the giant door. Cloud stopped short and looked back toward the altar...
"Don't laugh at me. I have to wear the tux, Aeris." Cloud said as he grinned and left the church, for the last time.
--
"Alright. Wait here." Yuffie ordered Cid after he'd landed the Highwind just outside of Kalm.
"Hurry it up, will ya? I ain't got all day for you to go flower shoppin'." Cid grumbled as he took a drag from his tenth cigarette of the day.
"It's a preorder, old fart. I'll be right back." Yuffie promised as she darted toward the exit from the bridge.
"I ain't old, goddammit!" Cid barked after her.
Yuffie entered the town on foot and began looking around her in search of the flower shop she had ordered all of the flower arrangements from on the internet. She was glad that she had preordered, but the rub was that she had to pick the flowers up herself.
"Oh, there it is." the female ninja said to herself as she spotted the store named 'Andie's Floral Boutique'.
Having done lots of careful online research for florists and flower arrangements, Yuffie went with this shop because of it's fast blossoming reputation and reasonable prices (price above all).
"Helloooo?" Yuffie called out as she entered the seemingly empty shop, making the bell hanging upon the door chime. "Anybody here?"
"Be right there!" a chipper voice replied from a room at the back of the tiny building.
"Oka-ay." Yuffie called back.
She hadn't noticed at first, but the aroma inside the shop was mesmerizing. Yuffie made a mental note to tell the shop's proprietor just that, if she ever came out.
"Hey, I'm kinda in a hurry and I have a preorder." Yuffie called, growing anxious about getting the floral cargo back to Edge.
"Sorry, here I come."
"..."
A girl emerged from the room in back. A tall, thin young lady with long brown hair down to her bottom, beautiful emerald eyes, and a pale complexion.
"Hi. What can I do for you?" the girl asked Yuffie in a frighteningly familiar voice.
"...O-Oh...my...God..." Yuffie gasped upon seeing her up close.
Either Yuffie was losing her mind, or before her very eyes stood a carbon copy of a friend she had lost a long time ago...
"My name's Andie, and this is my shop." she introduced herself to Yuffie, who was still in shock at the girl's dead-on resemblance to...
"Aeris?" Yuffie choked out past a numb tongue.
"...No. My name's Andie. Andie Chiefstone."
"Andie...? But, you..."
"It's okay. I get mistaken for Aeris Gainsborough all the time." Andie said matter-of-factly, sending a shiver down Yuffie's spine.
"Y-You do?"
"Yes, I do...After all, she was my sister."
--
A/N: Due to an unusual occurrence , I have had to merge 1&2. Sorry about the longer read.
--
Chapter #2-"Her name is Andie"
All of the preparations for the impending wedding of Cloud and Tifa are nearing completion, and the time for the exchange of vows between the childhood friends is closing in fast.
Only one minor setback has arisen; Yuffie forgot to pick up the flower arrangements from an upstart florist in Kalm, a problem easily resolved with Cid and the Highwind at her call to bring her to the sleepy town north of Edge.
When Yuffie gets to the flower shop, however, she is met with an unimaginable shock.
The proprietor, a young woman named Andie Chiefstone, turned out to be a stone cold dead ringer for Aeris, Yuffie's friend who was brutally murdered by Sephiroth two-and-a-half years ago. What's more, not only is Andie aware of her resemblance to Aeris, she reveals that it is because Aeris, who was thought to be an only child, was her sister!
"S-Sister!?"
"...Yeah. You heard right." Andie confirmed.
"W-Wait a minute..."
Even though Yuffie hadn't known her very long before she died, she remembered that Aeris specifically said that she was an only-child.
"I thought that Aeris didn't have any siblings." Yuffie told Andie.
"Well, you thought mistakenly. I am Aeris' sister, but..."
"But what?"
"...I'm her biological sibling, but I'm nothing you could call a 'sister'. I share Aeris' DNA, but that's it."
"What do you mean exactly?"
"...I never knew her. We never met."
"Whaaaat?"
"It's true." Andie said in a dejected tone of voice as she leaned her backside against the sales counter and folded her bare arms over the long yellow dress she wore. "I never met Aeris, and by the time I learned about her...it was too late."
"So...you know she's..."
"Yes, I know that she's dead...I know she was murdered by the great-General-gone-mad, Sephiroth."
"...Just how do you know all this anyway? Who the heck are you?" Yuffie inquired, now more mystified than frightened by Aeris' look-alike. "I don't mean to bust your chops, but, this is kinda weird for me."
"I could imagine. It's not a problem though. I'll tell you whatever you want to know about me."
"Umm...Well...You're Aeris' sister, right? Where the heck were you when she was alive anyway?" Yuffie inquired as she began giving Andie the third degree.
"In Mideel mostly. That's where I was raised."
"Raised by who? Couldn't have been Aeris' folks, 'cause they both passed away."
"No, I indeed wasn't raised by Gast and Ifalna. I was raised by my adoptive parents, the Chiefstones."
"Okay, but, how did you get adopted by that family?"
"I'll tell you, but first I should tell you how I came to exist...Ifalna was my biological mother. When Shin-Ra caught her after they killed Gast, they held her and Aeris captive as test subjects...One of the lovely things they did to Ifalna was harvest the rest of her unfertilized eggs, precious and pure unfertilized Cetra eggs to be exact..."
A nauseating feeling entered Yuffie's stomach as she knew exectly what sick and horrific turn Andie's words were about to take.
"Wait." Yuffie begged as she clutched her mouth, fearing she would take ill if Andie continued.
"What? I can stop if you want." Andie said, concerned about Yuffie's constitution.
"..."
The youngster pondered whether or not to press along with Andie's tale of weird science, and decided that she wanted to know the truth after all.
"...No, I'm good."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah...Go ahead."
"Okay...Like I said, they, namely the good Professor Hojo, harvested the rest of Ifalna's Cetra eggs. The plan was to, basically, create an all new generation of Cetra, only this new breed of Cetra would have extra special ingredients added to the genetic recipe."
"Don't tell me. Jenova cells? Mako?"
"Try both." Andie said as she nodded her head.
"Hmmm...Not unlike SOLDIER."
"No, actually. This program was nothing like SOLDIER."
"It wasn't?"
"No. SOLDIER was the program for manufacturing super-human Shin-Ra fighters. Project GARDEN was an extremely ambitious attempt to repopulate the entire planet with Neo-Cetra. Humans were to be rendered the secondary class of mankind, with the Neo-Cetrans as the primary class. Gaia would then, hypothetically, be a regular utopian paradise, owned and profited from by Shin-Ra."
"Gawd...What kind of plan was that?" Yuffie asked as she scratched her head.
"An over-the-top plan that totally bombed." Andie said, giving the thumbs down signal and sticking out her tongue. She continued "I'll make a long story short. The proverbial weight of this gaudy, horrendously-conceived project was far too much for Shin-Ra's shoulders to bear. They had no choice but to call it a loss. Project GARDEN was scrapped, all knowledge of it was disavowed, and all related materials were destroyed...well, almost all materials were destroyed anyway, if you know what I mean."
"You mean you, right?"
"Yes, which leads me to your question about my family. You see, I grew up partially in the scientific facilities of Shin-Ra. I was an important specimen, so there were a certain few persons who tended to me on the daily basis. Most of them were just Hojo's lackeys whose only job was to make sure I was alive and healthy, well, as healthy as a volitile experiment could be. I didn't care for them, all except for one that is. His name was Andrew Chiefstone, a young up-and-coming scientist under the tutelage of Hojo. Chief, as he was called for short, was different from the others. To him, I was not just an experiment. I was...a child in his eyes. A defenseless, innocent child. Whereas the others just took interest in me for science's sake, Chief took an interest in me..."
"Uh-huh..."
"...I was never given a formal name in the lab. I was 'PAG-S-001-BETA' to Hojo, nothing more. Chief, on the other hand, decided no little girl should be without a name, so...Heh heh. He gave me one. His."
"Andrew?"
"Ha ha ha. Andrewella to be exact." Andie revealed with a proud vocal inflection. "Of course, that was too long for common purposes, so he called me Andie for short...Anyway, Chief and I bonded more and more each and every day. He taught me how to talk, how to laugh...But, we bonded so much so that Hojo took notice and berated him for becoming attached to a mere specimen. Chief was kicked out of the program for caring about me, basically. It was the first time I'd ever felt heartbreak..."
"Hmmm..."
"...The day came when the axe got dropped on GARDEN, and that was the very day I, along with the other Neo-Cetran prototypes, were to be destroyed. For us, there was to be no existence outside of the laboratory, for we were evidence of Shin-Ra's miserable failure."
"Yet you live, Andie."
"I do...All thanks to Chief...The day I was supposed to die, he rescued me. I mean, he virtually broke into the facility, found me and whisked me out of there with no explanation. In and out with me in tow, just like a ninja or something."
"Ah ha..Really now?" Yuffie, the ninja, snickered.
"Yes, really. It was all so fast, I don't even remember most of it. Before I could get a grip on anything we were already on the island of Mideel, far away from Midgar...Next thing I knew, I had a dad, a mom, a brother, and a dog. My name was Andie Chiefstone, and I was simply a normal kid, not an experiment. Not a Neo-Cetran."
"Wow...That's pretty wild how you got away from the Shin-Ra, but weren't you afraid they'd come after you and Chief?"
"At the time, no. I didn't really know any better, Yuffie."
"Fair enough..."
Then it occurred to the youngster that she hadn't shared her name with Andie the whole time she was there.
"Hey, how did you know my name?"
"Oh...Sorry about that. It was my sixth sense."
"Sixth sense? You mean mind tricks?"
"They're no tricks. My Neo-Cetran abilities are very real."
"Neo-Cetran...Sounds to me like, in a way, the Cetra isn't extinct after all then, right?"
"In a way indeed." Andie confirmed.
"But you're alone. I mean, the other Neo-Cetra were terminated, right?"
"Yes, my siblings were destroyed, sadly."
"Does it bother you, being the only one who made it out? Do you ever feel...guilty?" Yuffie asked, knowing she was reaching uncomfortable territory.
"...Say, didn't you have an order?" Andie asked in attempt to change the subject.
"Order? Oh, oh. Yeah, I did...It's for a wedding."
"Oh, I love weddings. I do my best work for weddings as a matter of fact. May I ask who the lucky couple is?"
"Ummm...Y-You wouldn't know them."
"Yeah, probably not."
"Goddammit, ya brat!" Cid bellowed as he stormed into Andie's shop. "You said ya wouldn't be all damn...day?"
His cigarette dropped from his mouth and hit the floor.
"What the holy hell...?"