Chapter II

The skies were hoary gray that morning.

A cold, unforgiving wind blew through the deserted streets of Nibelheim.

Cloud kept his distance from Tifa's house, a quaint little two-story cottage that resembled a gingerbread house, complete with gumdrop doorknobs. Cloud had intended to pay Tifa a visit, and do all he could to comfort her in this, her hour of need. However, as was so often the case, he quickly lost his nerve, and beat a hasty retreat the instant he saw someone at Tifa's bedroom window. Cloud knew the person peeking from behind the curtains wasn't Tifa. It was a boy, most likely that jerk Locke. Cloud was angry and disappointed, mostly with himself.

"Hey, it's Cloud," Locke said, peering out the window. "And he ran away. Wonder what's his problem?"

"He's a weirdo," Relm snarked, "that's his problem."

Relm, a rather snooty little girl, was one of Tifa's closest friends. She, Locke and two other friends, Sabin and Edgar, had arrived that gloomy morning in order to provide Tifa with emotional support.

Tifa was suffering from crippling bereavement. She sat curled in the corner of the room, gently rocking back and forth in almost a catatonic state. Edgar and Sabin, twin brothers, sat on her left and right side, respectively. The brothers tried their best to cheer her up, spewing trite platitudes about how everything was going to be okay in the long run. Tifa wasn't weeping at the moment, but her eyes were deep scarlet from having cried so much earlier. Her puffy cheeks were just as tender.

"I have to see Mom," Tifa said in a barely discernible whisper.

The brothers scarcely heard her.

"What was that?" Sabin asked.

She lifted her head and looked him straight in the eyes. "I have to see Mom," she repeated, this time with utmost conviction.

"What are you talking about?" Edgar asked.

Tifa rose to her feet. Standing tall and proud, she spoke to her friends about a city in the sky. "It's where people go when they die, and it's just beyond Nibel Mountain. I'm going there right now to see my mother!"

"Who told you about this city in the sky?" Locke asked.

"Cloud did," Tifa answered.

"Don't listen to Cloud," Relm exclaimed, "that kid's a weirdo!"

"No, he's not!" Tifa defended. "He's the only person who's ever been a hundred percent honest with me!"

Tifa's friends tried reasoning with her, saying there was no such thing as a city in the sky, and Nibel Mountain was impossible to traverse without the proper climbing gear. Veteran mountainmen had been known to slip, fall, break bones, and plummet to their death on account of the jagged, uneven terrain. If Nibel Mountain could chew up and spit out grown men, what were the chances that a grade-schooler as petite as Tifa would reach the summit in one piece?

"I don't care!" was Tifa's response to this burning question.

There was no convincing her otherwise. She was going to the city in the sky regardless of the risk to her life.

"I have to see my mom," Tifa cried desperately, "even if it's only for a minute! I have to tell her I love her! I didn't get a chance to tell her before she died! It's not fair! I have to make it right! I have to!"

"Okay, fine," Locke said, feeling routed, "but you ain't going alone. I'm coming with you."

"Me too," Edgar quickly added.

Relm and Sabin seconded the motion.

"Thanks, everybody," Tifa said, genuinely moved.

After a lengthy group hug, Tifa and her intrepid crew set out for Nibel Mountain, which lied on the outskirts of town.

Meanwhile, Cloud, sad and alone (like always), walked the deserted streets of Nibelheim with no aim or purpose. His rudderless jaunt brought him to the wrought iron gates of Shinra Mansion. The mansion was owned and operated by the Shinra Electric Power Company, the world's leading supplier of Mako energy, a natural resource that powered just about every contraption on the planet. Shinra was a multinational conglomerate corporation that also dealt in communications, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, genetic engineering, and space exploration. Moreover, it had an expansive military force. Shinra's military was the biggest, strongest and most advanced in the whole world. It provided them significant capabilities in both defense and power projection. This military might, combined with their monopoly of Mako energy, effectively gave Shinra a measure of control over the global population.

Some years ago Mako energy was discovered in the peaks of Nibel Mountain. Shinra built the mansion in Nibelheim to house executives overseeing the mining operation. Cloud's father was a miner for Shinra. He and a dozen other miners died when their tunnel caved in. The investigation to determine what caused the mine collapse was still ongoing.

It was while standing in front of the wrought iron gates of Shinra Mansion that Cloud spotted Tifa and her friends. They were ambling up the dirt road that led into Nibel Mountain. Overwhelmed by curiosity, Cloud followed them, keeping out of sight by ducking behind boulders and hiding under shrubbery.

By early afternoon the weather had become treacherous. Pitch black clouds blanketed the entire sky, giving the impression night had already fallen. From within the boiling black clouds came the crack of thunder and the spark of lightening. Each crack and spark was louder and more ferocious than the last. The ominous weather instilled fear into the hearts of the children ascending Nibel Mountain. That fear was most palatable to Relm, who retreated after giving Tifa a half-hearted apology. Relm passed Cloud on her way back to the village. They locked eyes but said nothing to each other. The cataclysmic sound of thunder spooked Relm. She jumped, shrieked, and ran as fast as her little legs could carry her. Cloud sallied forth.

The dirt road wasn't all that precarious at first, but after a time, it disappeared and was replaced by a beaten trail. The children were now climbing more than they were walking. Huge rocks jutted out of the mountainside like craggy prongs. These rocks were completely unstable. Nibel Mountain was as brittle as dry clay. There was no telling when the ground would give way. This was a barren and inhospitable environment, to be sure. The cold rain pouring down from the pitch black sky made it all the more inhospitable.

Cloud was undeterred. Neither torrential rain nor towering mountains would keep him from watching over Tifa. He felt it was his duty, and his duty alone, to protect her. He'd even go so far as to journey into the depths of the underworld just to prove his devotion. When Edgar, Sabin and Locke abandoned Tifa one by one, Cloud grew evermore concerned for her safety. Climbing Nibel Mountain was dangerous enough in good weather, but doing it alone in the rain was practically suicide. Cloud quickened his pace, hoping to catch up with Tifa before something awful happened to her.

The rain was bitterly cold, and the thunder and lightening merciless. Cloud had enormous difficulty grasping the slippery rocks, and fell farther back as Tifa pushed onward without a hint of slowing down. Cloud lost sight of her just as she reached the top of a small summit. Battling the elements and his own wavering vitality, Cloud doubled his speed and reached the summit just in time to witness a lightening bolt strike the cliff above them. Rubble fell down on Tifa. In dodging the rubble, she tripped, fell, and slipped over the edge. Her high-pitched shriek was drowned out by echoing thunder.

Cloud scrambled up the side of the mountain and ran to where he last saw Tifa. To his relief, she was alright, relatively speaking. Tifa had her back pinned against the mountain. The tiny ledge she stood on was crumbling beneath her feet.

"Tifa!" Cloud yelled, trying to get her attention.

Tifa looked up with quivering eyes.

"Cloud?" she cried in amazement. "Please, you gotta help me!"

Cloud grabbed her hand just as the tiny ledge disintegrated. Tifa dropped and Cloud with her. Thinking fast, Cloud tangled his left foot in the roots of a nearby shrub, halting any further descent. From his new vantage point, Cloud saw the impending fall wasn't a vertical drop, but a rock-strewn incline, perhaps sixty degrees. Vertical or not, the possibilities of surviving such a fall was most certainly in doubt.

"Cloud, please, pull me up!" Tifa cried.

Icy rain pounded against Cloud's weakened body like a thousand needles. He had all the passion in the world to save Tifa, but unfortunately, his power didn't match that passion. Cloud was drained. He'd expended so much energy climbing the mountain that he simply couldn't muster the strength to pull her up.

"I, I can't!" Cloud yelled through clenched teeth.

"No, you can!" Tifa yelled back. "I believe in you! You can do it!"

Her words, though meant to be encouraging, filled Cloud with a great deal of shame, because he knew he didn't have the strength to save her. He was much too weak, and what little strength he did have was quickly fading. Cloud was in agonizing physical pain. The muscles in his arms and legs were so strained that it felt like his limbs could tear off any second now. Making matters worse, the roots he'd tangled his foot in were giving way. It became painfully clear there was no way both of them were getting out of this predicament unscathed. His only options were to either let go and save his own life or hold on and share her fate. But for Cloud, there was really only one option.

In what he figured would be his last words to Tifa, he said, "I'll never let you go, Tifa! Never!"

The world seemed to go in slow motion as they tumbled down the mountain, their little arms and legs flailing in the cold wind. Lightening flashed across the sky, igniting the heavens with a brilliant white flare. The light was blinding, but it only lasted for split second. After that it was total darkness