Title: Paths taken
Characters: Cloud, Tifa
Setting: This takes place during the beginning of the game, right after Cloud collapses on when they are going to set up the bomb and he has the flashback of Tifa's father dying.
Warnings: I'm not sure if Cloud, at the very least, is in character for some of these stories. This is what comes after seeing Advent Children, reading the Wiki page, reading fanfiction, and finally seeing a little Crisis Core before looking at the actual original game.
I should have started with the game first, in retrospect.
Excerpt: She walks ahead of him and he thinks he can see the path of anger and hatred that lead her here.
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Cloud wakes up to see her worried face hovering over his. She's older now, with trials of the battle and loss etching their marks on her.
(He can see it in the careful way she moves, in the quick steps she ran to him, the fragile strength in her voice and the darting of her eyes.)
"…Tifa," he mutters, not quite sure what he wants to ask. Maybe it is what happened that time, when her tears paved trails across her face and her fists trembled with rage. Maybe he wants to ask how she ended up like this, what had happened to that carefree girl he used to know.
"Hmm?" She replies, curious but looking around for enemies all the same. He's reminded of where they are (of who she is) and shakes his head.
"Nothing."
She walks ahead of him and he thinks he can see the path of anger and hatred that lead her here.
He only wonders if she still walks it.
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