Chapter 1:

Tifa knew she was at her limit as she blocked another attack that brought her down to her knees. Shit, she cursed as she felt something warm trickle down her forehead and over her eyes. Temporarily blinded. The sound of the battle reverberating through the cavern was heightened. She quickly wiped it off revealing the battle ground before her.

Her comrades were as bad off as her bloodied, battered, and exhausted. She gritted her teeth with anger at the monster before them. The monster who was responsible for the meteor headed to Midgar. He was formidable as a human, but now in his current form it was almost impossible for them to stop his summoning spell of the meteor. The monster before them appeared to have stopped halfway in his transformation from a human to a divine being. His upper body was the only distinguishable human part as the rest of him was made up an array of wings. Tifa could not see how they could defeat him. Luck was on their side at the beginning of the battle, but since the transformation he was hitting them harder with new attacks that she and her comrades were not prepared for. The healers were low on their magic source, and the back up potions they had brought were all gone.

In the corner of her eye, she saw the start of a shadow flare aimed in her direction. Ignoring the light-headed feeling, she pushed herself back onto her feet to dodge it. Move, she commanded her legs, but they did nothing. She tugged at her feet, and realized that the last attack had also paralyzed her legs. Breathing heavily, she put as much force as she could muster to move her legs. She felt her leg twitch as the paralysis began to wear off. A warm wet trickle of fresh blood began to trickle down her face. This was the end of the line for her. She closed her eyes as she braced against the pain that would accompany the attack.

She felt the air change around her, but no pain came. Tifa opened her eyes to the back of one of her comrades. Her eyes trailed up to identify who it was. It was a young man with blond hair matted with dirt and blood. He gripped his buster sword tightly with his left hand. The buster sword was dragging on the ground from its weight. His right arm hung limply next to his body. A steady stream of red was flowing from underneath his right arm armor and onto the ground. She whispered his name and he turned around. His striking blue eyes filled with concern enveloped her view. Even in the chaos of the battle ground, she felt her stomach flutter from his gaze.

At that moment, she felt the cool rush of the healer's cure hit her body. It briefly sealed some of the shallower wounds, and lifted the paralysis in her legs. Tifa gave the young man a smile, and did a few air jabs to show him she was better. His blue eyes were still filled with concern. Tifa waved him on, "Go!" He opened his mouth to to say something, but someone called out his name. He nodded at her before he ran back to the front resuming his position in the battle.

A faint distinct ringing began to fill the cavern and it began to crescendo drowning out the sound of the battle. Tifa glanced around to pinpoint the source of the sound. Distracted, she did not see one of the wings of the monster swooping down towards her. She was sent sailing across the cavern as the force of the wing hit her.

The pain of the impact coursed through her body. She grimaced as the pain intensified in her right arm. As the pain subsided, she pushed herself off the ground. The floor give way a little, causing her to fall back down onto the ground. It felt springy. That is odd, she thought, as she tried again only to find herself with a mouth full of dirt. The ringing was now louder and almost unbearable. Tifa tried to get up, but it felt like moving through a high viscosity syrup. The battle scene before her began to pan away from her.

The young blonde man saw her and ran towards her. Tifa saw him glance at the monster before he turned back to her with desperation. Dropping his sword, he reached out to her. She struggled against the invisible force that was pinning her hand down to reach out to his outstretched hand. But the unknown force pulled her away from his reach. Tifa struggled to yell out the young man's name, but could not. The force pulled her further away and up. "Cloud!" She finally managed to yell out as she awoke in her bed with her alarming ringing relentlessly.

I have to get back, Tifa frantically thought. Slightly disoriented she struggled against her covers that entangled her. She could see the striking blue eyes, and his hands reaching out to her. He is waiting, he needs me. Tifa tried to conjure up his name, but could not. She grasped at the memory, or was it a dream. She was not a sure. Freeing herself from the covers, she rolled over to turn off her alarm that was angrily blinking 0500. Tifa laid back down on her bed as she tried to remember. Was it a dream? A prickly sensation coursed through her arm causing her to flinch. Massaging her arm, she tried to recall the details and the name she had yelled out. It was dark...maybe I was running? What was the name...I swear I yelled out Clo...Chloe? Claude? C... In frustration Tifa mussed her and kicked the blanket. It was no use, it was like grabbing water.

"T!" her father yelled from downstairs, "You are going to be late for your first day as a senior in high school! Get moving young lady!"

Tifa remembered now where she was. She was in the slums of Midgar where her father had bought a small bar. It was after her mother's death that her father used up their small savings intended for a house in Nibelheim and bought a bar in Midgar. They made their home on the second floor of the bar. She snuggled against her worn out Moogle doll as she suppressed the tears at the thought of her mother's death. Not wanting to think of her mother Tifa switched her train of thought to the cold war. The cold war she had started against him after he made the decision of moving. Her thoughts led her down the memories of her first year as a city folk. She snuggled further into her blankets as happier memories surfaced.

"Tifa!" yelled her father again. "You are going to miss the train!"

Tifa peeked out of blanket and saw her alarm blinking 0525. Shit! Tifa cursed. Springing out of bed, she scrambled around for her clothes. She pulled on her typical black leather shorts, and white shirt. Pulling her long dark brown hair in a ponytail she examined herself in the mirror. She made a face in the mirror, she hated how her breasts had grown. They were the culprit for the bit of midriff showing; they were causing her t-shirts to ride up. I need to buy new shirts, again she thought slightly upset. She had just bought new ones about a month ago. Sighing, she grabbed a black leather jacket trying to cover her midriff, but it did nothing but cause the shirt to ride up revealing more skin. Angrily she tossed the leather jacket across the room. Forget it, she thought, as she forced on a smile. Breathe, everything will be okay. She briefly thought to grab her school bag, but decided against it. Tifa made her way downstairs into the bar where she found her father sitting at the bar counter reading. He briefly looked at her and raised an eyebrow, "Are you going to school in that?"

"Don't start," Tifa said as she grabbed a slice of toasted bread. She slathered on raspberry jam on the slice. With the toast in her mouth, she walked over to her father. She gave him a hug as she checked the Midgar Tribune over his shoulder. She frowned seeing the header. "Shinra Corporation Making Elite Soldiers with Mako." She leaned in closer as she tried to read the small print. Her father cleared his throat as he closed the newspaper. "You, young lady better eat your breakfast. You need to get going or you will miss the train prior to the morning rush." Tifa looked at the clock, and silently cursed.

"I got to run!" she yelled as she shoved the rest of the toast in her mouth. She started coughing. Her dad shook his head as he handed her a glass of juice and patted her back. He chuckled, she was never an early riser. It was probably his fault with her helping out at the bar. He watched his daughter turn red from the coughing fit. "You okay?" he asked as he patted her back to help her. She waved at him to stop.

"Just went down the wrong way," she said in between coughs.

"Do you need your backpack!?" her dad shouted at her as she rushed out of the bar. Slamming the door behind her. He cringed, "That girl..."

Tifa paused and yelled back at him from outside the bar, "Love you! See you later! Thanks for breakfast!"

He shook his head. He prayed silently for his daughter to stay out of trouble. He picked up the newspaper again and frowned as he re-read the headline and skimmed the content. A name in the content made him pause. His hand shook as he flipped the newspaper to see the image associated with the name. He slammed the newspaper down. He went to a drawer behind the bar and shuffled through the junk drawer. He rummaged briefly in the drawer until he pulled out an worn silver cellphone and a battery pack. After several minutes he was able to figure out how to open the cellphone, and insert the battery. The phone immediately lit up when he got the battery in correctly.

He sighed as he squinted at the numbers. Slowly, he dialed a number he thought he would never use again.


Please don't let me miss the train! Tifa prayed. She ran as fast as she could to the train station. Praying that she would make it in time for the train prior to the morning rush. Riding the morning rush hour train was always an unpleasant ride. Cramped, and packed in like sardines in can. Tifa cringed, there were also perverts that took advantage of people in those situations.

Tifa sighed with relief as arrived at the station. She saw the train she wanted arrive as she made her way to the gate. Tifa got in line behind an elderly lady with a faded pink bow in her hair. Cute, she smiled. The elderly lady was swiping her card repeatedly as she tried to get the machine to accept her card. It was holding up the line. People behind her began to complain while others moved to another gate. "Here let me try," Tifa smiled gently as she offered to help the elderly lady.

The elderly lady bobbed her head and thanks. The lady handed her train pass card, "I don't know why its not working. I never had this problem."

She swiped the card a few times, and got the same result. It did was not working. Impatiently, she got out her own student ID card and swiped it for the lady. "Its on me," she said as she returned the lady's card, "You should definitely have this card checked out at the service counter."

"Thank you child," the elderly lady said as she walked through, "I will."

Tifa left the line to purchase her ticket, since her card only limited her entrance for twice a day. She cursed the Shinra incorporation silently at their ridiculous rules. When Tifa finally made it through the gate, the train she had tried so hard to get on was gone. If only I had not ran into that elderly lady, she thought as she waited for the next train. More people began to fill up the station as she waited for the next train.

Finally, the train arrived and everyone rushed inside. Tifa found herself smashed against a window furthest from the door. It was so pack she could not move her arms to even scratch her nose. Her nose was began to itch. Reaching it's capacity, the train started to close its door. Ignoring the train conductor's instruction to stop filing in, people continued to stuff themselves into the train compartment. This caused a small delay as the train serviceman had to drag out some people so the door would close. The train compartment began to heat up from all the bodies stuffed like a sardine in a can. She could hear the a/c kick in. Some people sighed with relief as the cool air drafted through the compartment. Thank goodness everyone bathed today, Tifa prayed thankfully. The train whistled signalling it's departure. The train sped away from the slums into the nicer part of Midgar.

After five minutes on the train, Tifa felt a hand move against her breast. Horrified, she realized that the hand was actually groping her breast. She could not move her arms to slap it away due to the crowd. Gritting her teeth, she mentally threw curse words at the owner. If my arms were not pinned, you pervert. You would be on the ground crying and asking for mercy. She felt tears welling from her rising anger. Cursing under her breath, she took a deep breath to yell at the pervert. Before she could do anything, the groping stopped. The hand was quickly pulled away. As someone exclaimed,"That hurt you little punk!"

The crowd murmured as someone attempted to move through the department. Tifa found herself pressed against the window even more. This is one of the many reasons why I hate riding the rush hour train. So many inconsiderate jerks. The movement stopped as the person who caused it arrived in front of her. Already frustrated by her morning, she opened her mouth to say something. But she became speechless as the person placed his hands on either side of her and audaciously pushed against the crowd. The movement gave her room, but now she was trapped in between the person's arms. She could feel the heat from her blush. "Sorry," murmured a young man's voice in her ear. The familiarity of the voice caused Tifa to look up at the owner of the voice. The first thing she noticed were his eyes. Her dream bubbled up below the surface of her mind as his eyes caused butterflies to flutter in her stomach.


Author comment:

Edited a little bit. Thank you again for the views! -21OCT15