Just want everyone to know that unfortunatly neither Cloud or any other wonderful charatcers from Final Fantasy VII belong to me no matter much I wish they did.

Chapter 2: Only Human

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My body still aches even thought everything has calmed down and although I have woken up to this same never ending pain for years it still causes me to wince as I become aware of reality once again.

"Tifa! He's waking up!" I hear an excited voice holler from a distance; the voice I recognize to be Marlene's.

Forcing my eyes open slightly I can hear fast paced footsteps closing in from beside me.

My eyes are almost fully open yet my vision is too blurred to make anything out. I stare at the ceiling above me trying to make sense of the blurred shapes but my eyes won't seem to cooperate.

My futile attempts have left me oblivious to the figure standing a short distance from me. I turn my head in an attempt to see my onlooker, but my vision still hesitates to clear.

Though I can't actually see the one staring at me I can tell by a faint sigh that Tifa is there next to me. She takes one step closer and I feel the warmth of her palm on my forehead.

Without warning my body twitches at the contact. With the movement of my body I feel my head clear and my eyes snap into focus.

The unexpected rush of my senses has left me disoriented I look at Tifa's expression as she stares into my eyes only to feel even more confused.

"Tifa?... What's wrong?" Only a barely audible whisper leaves my lips. I clear my throat in an effort to regain my voice.

Tifa seemed to drop at the sound of my voice. She fell to her knees on the ground beside me and rested her head on my shoulder.

Extremely confused now I just want to know what is going on. Before I am able to ask anything I hear Tifa's quiet voice.

"I thought I was going to lose you..." She explained with a trembling voice.

Though her pride would not allow her to cry in front of me her voice tells me that she wants to.

Still unaware of what she is talking about I try my best to comfort her. I place a hand softly on the back of her head.

"What are you talking about?" I ask as I carefully pull away the hair covering her amber eyes.

As she moved to look into my eyes I saw a look of disbelief in hers. She stared for a minute not sure what to say before giving me any clue as to what happened.

"You have been passed out for three days... At first I though that maybe you were just exhausted from working so much...but then I realized that you had a fever. You had a dangerously high temperature for two days, and you wouldn't wake up..." She explained still staring at me.

Three days... What the hell happened?

Tifa's eyes began to fill with tears as I just stared back in awe.

I knew something like this would happen, and now I was putting Tifa through so much. If only I had left before things got this bad I could have prevented the whole thing from happening.

Even if I couldn't prevent the geostigma from affecting me I could have at least avoided hurting Tifa so much.

I hate seeing her like this.

I hate seeing her so hurt because of me.

I never want to see her cry over me again... It's all my fault for doing this to her.

I could have done something to protect her, but then again I never did accomplish to protect her... Yet, she has always stood beside me, and every time I have let her down... It isn't fair to her.

I force my arms over Tifa's body trying to embrace her only to become fully aware of the extent in which my body has suffered. Using all the strength I could I pulled my arms over her body and held her close to myself.

"I'm sorry Tifa... It's all my fault." I confess in hopes that her pain will be eased but I know that some things aren't forgotten so simply.

In mind my I beg for forgiveness; scolding myself for allowing this. I can't help but hate myself for this weakness.

"Just promise me one thing Cloud... Please, just take sometime to rest and get better. You've been pushing yourself too much lately... Your only human, you can't keep it up forever."

Am I really human? I don't remember...

As she left my grasp she aligned her eyes with mine. The look in her eyes show how desperate she is.

I can't help but agree with her terms, yet I know I need to find a way out soon.

I can't let this happen again.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just wanted to thank all of the people that read this story and go out of their way to help me make it better. Just a reminder that all comments and criticism is greatly appreciated.