AN: Written for the ReTi club on deviantArt. After all, members of a club should submit things, right?
"Don't do this, Tifa, please. You're overreacting."
She didn't even look up from the pile of clothes she was folding neatly into a suitcase. "Face it, it's over. I'm not overreacting, I'm leaving."
"How many times can I say I'm sorry?"
"You can say it as many times as you like. You can say it until you're blue in the face for all I care. What matters is whether you mean it, and you don't."
"I love you, Tifa."
That time, she did look up at me, tears welling up in her dark eyes. "I know you do, Reno, but it just isn't enough any more." She threw the last of her belongings into the battered old case and closed the lid. Without another word, she picked it up and walked out of the room, out of the house, and out of my life. She didn't even say goodbye to me. I sat down on our bed, my bed, I should say, and allowed the tears to fall. I may not have always been considerate, I may have cheated on her once, and I may have forgotten her birthday nearly every year, but that didn't mean I wanted our relationship to end. Five years of our lives, just gone. Over. Just like that. Maybe I should have proposed to her, but she'd only have laughed. "You, get married?" she'd have said. "I don't think so."
.-.-.-.-.-.-.
She's gone back to Nibelheim, her childhood home. She told me, while she was packing. There'll be somewhere for her to live, she was certain. I don't know what I'm going to do. It's been a week since she left, and I miss her more than I would ever have believed possible. I've realised that you don't know what you have until it's gone. This is a perfect example.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.
A few hours later, I'd arrived in Nibelheim. The place looked nothing like I remembered it, although admittedly I hadn't been there for years.
"I'm looking for Tifa Lockhart." The man I'd accosted nodded and pointed in the direction of a shop. Thanking him, I walked in. Tifa was standing behind the counter, serving a customer. She looked up as I entered, alerted by the bell over the door. "Come home, Tifa."
She dropped that poor woman's items, which smashed on the floor. "Reno?"
"Don't make me beg, Tifa Lockhart."
Tifa came out from behind the counter and flung herself at me, clouting me round the shoulders with her fist. Before I knew what was happening, she was clinging to me, crying, but smiling at the same time. "I wasn't sure if you actually cared enough to come find me. I hoped you would, but..."
"Let's go home." She nodded, enthusiastically.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.
We couldn't just leave, though. We had to collect Tifa's belongings. She'd been staying with Cloud Strife, her spiky-haired blond friend, whom I vaguely recognised. He, like the town, had changed drastically from the last time we'd met. He pulled me aside while Tifa repacked, gave me a warning.
"If I hear of you hurting her again, I'm going to use the Buster Sword on you. Understand?"
"Clear as crystal. But that won't be necessary."
"It had better not be."
I wasn't worried about Cloud Strife. I'd been given a chance to put things right, and that was what I was going to do, come hell or high water.
AN: So, what did you think? Click the review button and tell me.