Final Fantasy VII

Tifa x Vincent

Post AC and DOC fluff and stuff. This is my first Fanfic, written to loosen my thoughts before going back to my novel. Be kind!

Broken Locks.

Tifa smiled to herself as she watched the celebrations explode within and around a destroyed Midgar. The Geostigma was gone, Denzel was healed and Cloud was back. Sighing, she turned away from the growing crowd and made her way out of the church, deep in her own thoughts.

"Tifa?"

The sound of her name in that deep questioning voice startled her back to the present.

"Vincent." She smiled softly.

"You are not staying?"

"No. I think I might take a walk away from the noise."

"I would have thought… with Cloud…"

He glanced back into the church. His features never once gave away his thoughts and yet Tifa felt pleased that after everything he had been through he had come out communicating. Well with her at least.

"No… he is fine now… oh. I see." She dropped her shoulders as she realised that he, like many others, assumed she was with Cloud romantically.

"We're… not together that way, Vincent." She turned away from him with a sigh and started walking back towards the bar. Denzel was safe with Cloud and Marlene with Barrett, she had no need to worry about them and it was a huge weight off her shoulders. Her muscles ached from the fight and from not using them for so long. She began daydreaming of a hot bath and a hard shot from the bar.

It took her a moment to realise that Vincent had fallen into casual step beside her and when she glanced sideways at him his features were set into a stern mask. She knew he was pondering what she said. His next words confirmed it.

"I do not understand. Has there not been something between you for these many years?"

The thought arose to her that relationships were foreign to Vincent and with his inner turmoil released with the help of Shelke and the truth about Lucrecia, he was probably still finding his way in a new world. She slowed her step beside him, not really knowing why she suddenly felt the need to share.

"I was in love with him once. When we first met Vincent, remember?" He nodded, recalling the way she and Aeris had almost been in competition for his affection.

"I came to realise when it was all over that I couldn't wait forever for a love that was dying."

"Dying?"

"You know as well as I do Vincent that love unrequited becomes a bitter pill." She stopped at a corner and looked up at him sadly. He glanced away and Tifa felt regret for reminding him of that raw pain.

"If I hadn't let it go it would have eaten at me until I hated him."

Vincent was frowning. She couldn't see his mouth from behind the raised edge of his cloak but his brow had furrowed above those expressive eyes.

"He is back now." He said it as if it were as simple as turning around and going back to where Cloud was in the church to declare her love for him and then everything would be perfect.

"I am glad. Denzel missed him. We all missed him."

Vincent raised an eyebrow that urged her to elaborate. He wasn't going to leave her alone without being satisfied.

"Vincent… just take a look at the life we lead. We live and have lived a dangerous existence that may end at any moment. Today has been proof enough of that. So yes, I was in love with Cloud once, more than I should have been, and it hurt and hurt till I couldn't stand the hurt anymore. Aeris died and he… died a little with her. Just now is the first time I have seen him smile since that day. When it ended, when Meteor stopped and he disappeared I sat around feeling sorry for myself till I realised I had a choice. Either I let him go and embraced my dysfunctional family for what it was, or I kept that hurt close until it did more harm than good. I couldn't do that to Denzel and Marlene and wouldn't have been fair to Cloud. I'm happy he is back, I want him to be happy."

She thrust a gloved hand through her hair and realised she had just unloaded onto Vincent with an honesty she kept deeply locked up. Now, feeling terribly embarrassed, she blushed with a sigh.

"I… I'm sorry Vincent. I didn't mean to say all that." She pasted on a bright smile and started walking again.

Vincent didn't say another word as he walked at her side towards the bar, His features once again hidden behind the fall of his hair. It wasn't until Tifa pushed the door open and made to move behind the bar that he wrapped his gauntlet fingers around her wrist and pulled her to stop.

"So you won't love at all?"

She realised during all that time they had been walking he had been processing what she had said. She couldn't help but smile, admiring the way Vincent weighed words in his thoughts until he had looked at every angle before he responded.

"We have love in our own way Vincent. All of us together like this, I know I am not alone."

"That is not the same." He was still frowning.

"Will you Vincent? Will you love again?" His hand released her wrist abruptly and he made a noise that resembled a grunt.

"I thought as much." She turned away from him to pick up a glass and when she turned back to ask him if he wanted a drink he was gone. Tifa shrugged her shoulders. That was Vincent.

...

Vincent walked slowly back towards the church still deep in thought. It was not what Tifa has said that had got to him. It had been the way she had said it. Final. Almost fatalistically final. She had been so bright and joyful and filled with affection when he had first met her and now she seemed to be going through the motions.

'Like you?' a little voice in his head taunted, making him annoyed and questioning at the same time. Perhaps? But what bothered him most was that if someone like Tifa, who was still so young and had so much to give, could become so dead inside then what hope did he have to move on?

Even as she had smiled at him and said she was fine he could see the hollow reflection in her eyes. That fire had gone out. She had given the last of it to bring Cloud back from whatever emotional pool he had been drowning in and kept nothing for herself.

When he reached the door of the church again he leant into the splintered wood frame and watched as Cloud lifted Denzel onto his shoulders. He wondered if Cloud would ever realise just how much of herself Tifa had given to save him from his own misery and he couldn't help wondering how much of that fire had been given to the rest of them over the years.

Not quite as lengthy as I would have preferred and yet I am content to at least have written something. Writers block is a curse.