Hide and Seek
She looked towards the sky, yearning. It was a strange irony, to be sure. The five years she spent in Seventh Heaven prior to the destruction of Sector 7 brought an overwhelming desire to be in the presence of sunlight. Now, the sunlight was bountiful, but it brought a sense of incompleteness. She yearned for the times the group was all together, even if it was stressful and dangerous, even if they suspected that any day could be their last. The infiniteness of light represented complete freedom; wherever light travelled, it was unhindered by circumstance or the actions of others, and continued forever. It represented all of the possibilities in life. And one of those possibilities was finding him. Oh, how it would be great to be like light.
It had been an entire year since the events that shaped their destinies had unfolded. A year since the world's most notorious SOLDIER had attempted to eradicate humanity to ascend to the title of god. A year since the death of a close friend. A year since meteor was destroyed. And sadly, a year since she had last seen him.
Cloud had always been a walking labyrinth; hell, even he didn't know who he was for a while. Every maze in this labyrinth represented a potential Cloud, and only when one finds the center of this labyrinth do they find the true Cloud, devoid of any outside confounding. He was most likely, she thought, still trying to find that center.
For the first part of his life, he had a dream to be a hero like Sephiroth, in an attempt to impress others. Was that dream really his? She didn't think so. As a result of being excluded from social activity as a child, he just wanted to be admired, and that happened to be the best way to do it. Then, his memories were replaced with those of Zack's, and at that point didn't even know who he really was. Maybe, wherever he was, he was trying to discover what he really wants out of life, for himself and no one else. At least, she hoped.
After Meteorfall, there was a brief world celebration which culminated in a time of rebuilding. Midgar was largely being rebuilt, but with Mako reactors being replaced with oil-based electrical plants, a project which was headed up by Barrett. The funding was provided by the World Regenesis Organization, led by former Head of Urban Development for Shinra, Reeve. Junon, now also under the control of the WRO, took off the huge roof covering the lower city, thus allowing fishing to once again become a staple in the local economy. Mideel also rapidly rebuilt, though in a location a bit further from the Lifestream, so as to avoid future catastrophes.
Everyone was happy. Except for one person. She was hopeful that he would cheer up, and enjoy the celebration with their closest friends and colleagues. After all, they were the ones responsible for the celebrations and rebuilding that was occurring. But to her despair, it never happened. Three days after the defeat of Sephiroth, Cloud disappeared, and had not been seen or heard from since.
Primarily, Tifa lived in a semi-rebuilt Sector 7, having reconstructed Seventh Heaven. The upper plate had been removed, allowing for light to reach the slums. However, she spent the bulk of her time searching the world for Cloud. In all honesty, she hadn't a clue where he would have gone. The only possible place that would make sense to her was the Church in Sector 5, but that idea proved to be incorrect. It was a painful feeling to know that, despite her best intentions to become close to Cloud, he still left. And what's worse, she didn't even know why.
She desperately pleaded with her friends to assist her in her endeavor, and most agreed at first, but after weeks of searching, everyone gave up and moved back to their hometowns. Cid married Shera and was working on a new airship. Red XIII, whom they all affectionately called Nanaki now, returned to claim his rightful place as the guardian of Cosmo Canyon. Barrett travelled around looking for oil mines, but lived primarily in Sector 7 with Marlene, so Tifa saw him often. Vincent was a mystery; he came and went, but where he went, nobody really knew. The only person who remained to assist Tifa in her quest was the ninja-extraordinaire, Yuffie, who was incredibly confident in her abilities to track down their missing comrade.
"Well, he's not in Wutai, that's for sure," the materia hunter claimed as she placed her drink on a picnic table outside Seventh Heaven. She looked up, staring into the sky above the bar.
"Hm, I'm sure you performed a thorough search there. And I'm sure you had an excellent theory as to why he might be there," Tifa sarcastically replied, grinning.
"I did! Obviously, he might have went there to see me!" she winked.
"Haha. Maybe." She joined Yuffie in looking upwards. The sense of yearning bubbled to the surface once more. She wanted to know that he's okay. She wanted to know why he left. But after a year of searching, there had been no results. Just about everyone had given up. But she vowed she wouldn't. What else did she have in this world? Her hometown was gone. Her family was gone. Her friends were all spread out. There were no personal goals to attend to. She just wanted one thing. Him. And if she had to spend the rest of her life searching, she'd do it.
"So when is Barrett expected back?" the ninja questioned, breaking her friend out of her agonistic thoughts.
"Hm. He called yesterday. He's found an area containing a vast amount of oil near Rocket Town, so he's spending three days there to initiate the drilling, and then he's coming back," she answered, smiling.
"Ah, sounds cool. Betcha he hangs with Cid a little while," she said, a smirk forming on her face. "Ya know, when I first met Barrett, his tough guy attitude and huge physique scared the hell out of me."
"Yet you still had the guts to steal his materia?" Tifa winked.
"Yep! But when I met CID, now that guy makes Barrett look humble."
"No kidding! Every time I drink tea now, I can't help but think of him."
"One time, while we were riding on the Highwind, I had a terrible bout of motion sickness. Cid came up to me, and in no uncertain terms, told me that if I puked on his ship, he'd spear me with his Venus Gospel and use me as a mop to clean it up," Yuffie chuckled. The two cracked up.
"So how's materia hunting going?" Tifa changed the conversation. Yuffie's wide grin shifted to one of disappointment.
"Not going. Kinda hard to find any materia that is special, ya know? I mean, I don't just want materia you can buy in a store. I want a rare piece, one that everyone will want to come to Wutai to see!"
"And Leviathan wasn't enough?"
"No way! Knights of the Round might be, but well, dunno where Cloud took it."
"Well, then there's your motivation to find him!"
"Yeah. Man, even though you guys hated me for a while, I miss stealing your materia, heehee. Those were the good old days," she said, placing her head in her arms, a nostalgic expression finding its way to her face.
"Yup. I really miss them. Even the battles. Even the dangers."
"And Cloud most of all, am I right?"
Tifa nodded, a tear forming in her eye.
"C'mon, Tifa! We're gonna find him!" Yuffie jumped off the picnic table, and pounded her chest confidently.
"I wish…but I just don't know where he'd be."
"Well, we've looked all over Midgar, I've checked Wutai. Nanaki would let us know if he was spotted in Cosmo Canyon, and the same for Cid if Rocket Town."
"True. And he's not the type to take a vacation, so I doubt he'd be at Costa del Sol or Icicle Inn."
"So that only leaves….seven places! Mideel, Nibelheim, Gongaga, Bone Village, Corel, Junon, and Kalm."
"Only?" she replied sarcastically. "You sure are optimistic."
"No negative Nancy's around here!" she winked in response. "Look at it like this: we're playing a game!"
"Um, a game?" she raised an eyebrow in question.
"Yeah! Hide and seek! But on a WORLD scale! So when, and that's a when, not if, WHEN we find Cloud, it'll be an awesome victory!"
"Heh, I guess. Well, I doubt he'd be in any of those places. For the majority, there's nothing there. Junon is the second largest city in the world, so there's a possibility. But I still don't know why he'd be there."
"Well, it's your call, girl! Where are we going to go next?"
Tifa closed her eyes, concentrating. "Let's try our luck with Junon."
"Then Junon it is!"
A/N: Starting a new story! Hopefully it doesn't disappoint. The first chapter is relatively short; I promise this won't always be the case.