By Crimson
*****
CHAPTER 1 - Turkish Delight
"Why can't our place be like this, Rude?" asked Elena. "Tifa and Reno have really made this house into a home."
Just then, Reno and Tifa came in, arms around each others' waists, brandishing a tray of drinks.
"Help yourselves..."
Reno awoke with a start, breaking out into a cold sweat and sitting bolt upright in bed. That dream was wrong, it was all wrong. Why was he dreaming of Tifa? He hadn't seen her for so long, he'd almost forgotten she existed. Why, when he had Elena? Wait, he... had... he had Elena, right? He turned to look next to him. Yes, she was there. Sleeping peacefully as ever, daring Reno to go back to sleep, to dream of further scandal. He ran his finger gently down the length of her back, before turning onto his shoulder and drifting off again. Still, the thought process went on... her... with Rude? Reno was unsure whether he was jealous or mad, the memory of that couple was still too recent.
Tifa yawned, leaning against the bar for support. It was all she had left now really, the bar, and all its customers. She hadn't kept in touch with Cloud. She'd stayed with him up until the point where he went insane, and just wouldn't stop jabbering about Aeris. That's when she decided enough was enough. After all, '7th Heaven' had nearly been closed down, and that was enough for her; the bar was hers alone, but Cloud had always thought of himself as Aeris's. At first, Tifa'd been disgusted at that thought, but slowly it grew and grew until one night she just left Cloud. She'd heard he'd gone to the City of the Ancients to lament for Aeris. She'd never seen him since that night.
'What'll it be' was her motto now, her life's philosophy, her meaning. She'd sip at her own cocktails now and again, when the memories got too much. Recently, she'd been drinking more and more of them. She was reminded of her days in Nibelheim: the older girls there used to drink and drink, and boy did they end up deranged. Tifa stared at the vodka mix in her hand, and suddenly threw it to one side, breaking the glass, and ran downstairs, nearly in tears.
She sat down on the table there, swinging her legs, thinking. A solitary tear dripped to the floor, but she wiped her eyes and no others came. She missed her old life. The adventure, the adrenaline... she could almost taste it. Yet here she was, working as nothing more than a barmaid. Why had she ended her adventure the way she'd begun it? Why wasn't she out, fighting dragons and saving the world? Her thoughts were shattered by footsteps on the stairs.
"Tifa? You okay?"
Great, it was Barret. Completely the last thing she needed.
"Oh, I'll be alright. D'ya need me upstairs?" Tifa sniffed aside any stray tears that were left and turned to face Barret.
"Kind of. But there's someone... someone you won't want to see."
Tifa barged past Barret, running up the stairs. Was it... could it be? She'd never really gotten over Cloud, although she knew she could never love him. She burst through the door that led out into the bar and proceeded to stare, almost desperately, at each face in turn. No, not Cloud. Someone else was there, in the bar. Two people who she recognised, who she had hoped she'd never see again.
"Reno, Elena, how are you?" She couldn't really avoid talking to them, they were coming straight towards her.
"Tifa! Thought we might find you here." Elena. "It was Reno's idea, and a good one too: try to settle the score with all you guys. We thought maybe we could have a chat, over a drink...?"
"Sure, but I've gotta serve these guys first."
Walking over to her position behind the bar, Tifa reeled at the all-too-recent memory of Reno's hand wrapped around Elena's slender waist. She could do so much better than that! But another memory: the way Reno'd scanned her up and down, like she was a car, feeling her with his eyes. She shuddered, but turned her back on the thought, and got on with serving her cocktails. She drank none this time; she wanted to be sober in case she felt the need to beat up Reno. At least in her break from adventure, she hadn't neglected her kickboxing. She was glad of the punchbag downstairs. She'd claimed ownership, though it was actually Barret's. He'd given in, somewhat easily, seeing the state she was in. She needed to take stress out on something, and he didn't intend for it to be him.
In fact, the viewpoint of Barret, standing in the corner by the door, was that Tifa's anger would tonight be taken out on a certain Turk who dared to come into her private sanctuary. Tifa was in the same mind.
After about half an hour, Tifa strode over to Elena and Reno's table.
"Do you want something to drink or are you just going to sit there?" she said in an irritated voice. The two turks looked startled. "Sorry, sorry, it's been a hectic night," said Tifa by way of an apology. "I'll go and get you guys some beer." Reno smiled gratefully.
"What's up with her?" said Elena, concerned.
"Hectic night," replied Reno, unconcerned.
"Here," said Tifa, coming back with a tray of drinks. For a second, Reno was silent: this reminded him of the dream. Yet he accepted the drink with a smile.
"Pull up a stool," he offered.
"No, no, I've got to serve all these customers," said Tifa, waving her hand around to illustrate her point. "I'll be with you when it's quitened down a little."
"Okay then."
But they hadn't got the hint. Three hours later and they were still sitting there, laughing over some recent memory. Tifa shuddered at the thought of Elena going home with Reno. She couldn't really avoid them anymore though, almost everyone else had left the bar, except a couple of regulars and Barret, still standing in the corner glaring at Reno. Every so often he'd glance back, but the message wasn't getting across. Barret strode over to Tifa.
"You want me to kick em out? They're not gonna leave otherwise."
Tifa took a deep gulp of air.
"No, no, I said I'd talk to them, it'll probably get them outta the bar sooner," she replied. "After all, we don't wanna end up in trouble with the Turks again."
"You sure?" Barret looked concerned but Tifa was determined.
"Yeah, I can do this." She strode over.
"So, what you guys up to these days?" Tifa queried, dragging a stool up to their table.
"Not much," replied Elena. "You know, fighting crime and all that, but, to be honest, it's not the same without AVALANCHE."
"You mean that?"
"Yeah... not really in a good way..."
"But not in a bad way either," finished Reno. They giggled.
"How about you, anyway?" Elena turned the conversation around. "What happened with Cloud?"
Cloud. That name again. Could Elena see her thoughts? Was she doing this to torment her? She heard Barret clear his throat in the background. No, she can't know. Tifa scolded herself, she was getting jumpy.
"It just kinda..." she struggled for the words. "Faded out."
"I know what you mean, I've been in relationships like that," replied Elena.
"Rude," Reno muttered under his breath. Elena glared at him.
"So how's the bar running?" he asked, changing the subject and ignoring Elena's piercing stare.
"Alright. It always gets busy on Friday nights, you saw some of the people who come in here. The Wall Market bunch mostly."
"Not the nicest of crowds," observed Elena.
"But they give me money," replied Tifa. "I've tried other ways, but I belong here."
The Turks grunted in agreement.
"If you don't mind..." Tifa said. "I don't mean to be rude, but it's past closing time, and I need to sleep before the morning shift."
"Sure, sure, we were about to go anyway," said Reno. Elena glared again.
"We should do this again sometime," she said, to make up for Reno's rudeness. Both Tifa's and Reno's eyes grew wide.
"Sh-sure, why not?" Tifa stammered.
"I'll call the bar," announced Elena. "Come on Reno."
They left.
A/N: Yeah, this is a strange fic. I dunno how it's gonna turn out, but I came up with the title and thought I should write a fic to go with it! Please review! (Not sure if there's another chapter coming, but I called this 'chapter 1' just in case.) Luv crimson.xx ~forever howling at the moon~