I am SOOOOO immensely sorry you guys! I've had my hands so full lately it's ridiculous! I can't believe I actually got this one finished!

Cloud sighed and took effort not to look at her. The silence ensued for minutes, but Tifa didn't grow impatient. After knowing Cloud for this long, she knew that this was just natural. During the silence, Tifa could hear and feel the slight cool hum of the wind blowing from the Ravine. Tifa gave a short shiver. She still felt weak, her strength and warmth wisped away as the wind swept right through her. She was never one to get cold easily, but it almost felt like whatever it was that had made her so sick stole her immune system and resistance as well.

The blond swordsman watched her, clearly perceiving her weakness for once. He glanced at the door to Merlin's house then back at her. She shook her head weakly, having full knowledge that he was trying to get her to go inside. His eyes hardened on her. The martial artist knew that he wasn't at all mad at her. His cold, hard and almost angry looks were his way of showing that he was worried about her. Relentless, he continued to look at her, refusing to back down.

Tifa stared back, determined to hear what he was going to say. Suddenly, a stab of pain wrenched at her stomach. She winced and nearly doubled over, painfully muttering his name as he leaned forward to catch her, "Cloud..."

Her unsociable companion lifted her with a sort of awkward rigid gentleness, supporting her arms and trying to slowly pull her to her feet, "Tifa, go inside."

His eyes pierced hers for one of the first times since he had returned. She held his eyes for as long as she possibly could. However, it wasn't long before the sound of clanking footsteps and the feeling of lingering darkness tore Cloud's attention from Tifa and caused him to turn around. Both saw the silhouette of a Soldier heartless scampering down into the Bailey.

With a deadly serious expression, Cloud turned back to Tifa and looked her in the eye, issuing a nod from her. She knew fully what he was proposing. By the appearance of a Heartless so close to the civilized part of Radiant Garden, both knew that the Heartless was definitely not alone, and awaking everyone would be unnecessary and take way too long.

However, Cloud's stern gaze held on Tifa. She stared back at him, now a bit anxious as to what his thoughts were. Cloud's cold voice uttered, "Tifa, go inside."

Tifa shook her head, "I've been through much worse than this, you know that. C'mon, we have to get rid of them before they get too close. And don't even say it. I won't let you go alone."

Tifa felt her strength building again. Just the thought of fighting side-by-side with her comrade once more after so long was enough to push her forward. Cloud had finally come back and she wasn't about to let him get away again, so to speak. She stood tall and mimicked a fighting stance, "Let's go, Cloud."

Cloud gave an inaudible sigh and turned his back to her, "Just try to keep up."

With that, he dashed off to follow the Heartless, his dark-haired companion following close behind.

"Tifa, I want you to go inside." Cloud leaned against the stone wall of the Bailey, looking down into the cavernous valley below. Tifa slowly and instinctively wandered to his side.

She spread her eyes over the view, outlined by the light of the sky's night-light, "You still can't seem to shake the fact that I'm coming with you, can you?"

Cloud's face hardened at the view in front of him, "There are too many..."

At this time, Tifa noticed the mass of dark twitching embodiments of darkness tangling in the valley just below them. Her eyes then found rest on the swordsman as her gloved fingers gently rose to touch his shoulder. His body twitched for a split second before he turned his face away.

He could feel her gentle and determined smile, even though he couldn't see her as she spoke, "We don't...have to be afraid anymore. We can beat them, Cloud...together."

The blond shook her hand from his shoulder and walked heavily down the stairs towards the Ravine Trail. Tifa jogged after him, having full knowledge that his occasional glances back in her direction meant that he was waiting for her to follow.

This is how it always was. He would walk away, but she knew that, deep down, in the part of him he wishes wouldn't exist, he wanted someone to follow. Cloud was the type to make excuses that he wanted to be alone and walk away, trying to ignore the feeling of loneliness deep down. So he would walk and she would follow. She still couldn't understand, however, why he kept running, refusing to look at her until his battle with Sephiroth.

He looked so noble and honorable leaning against the Crystal Fissure, even though he was probably about to say something similar to their impending doom, how dangerous it was, or just try one more time to make her leave.

After a few moments, his low voice came, "You need to go back. It's too dangerous and neither of us could come out alive." Or all three.

Tifa once again fell into her place at his side. Leaning her shoulder on the other side of the fissure wall, she rubbed her hands over her bare arms. Both were silent. Finally, Tifa began to exit the fissure, turning around and giving Cloud a knowing smile, "Come on, Cloud, we can take 'em."

The swordsman seemed to ponder for a moment before he reluctantly made himself follow her.

The sight that met them was definitely a sight to behold. There had to be over a thousand heartless out there in that mass of tangled mess. The army of dark creatures hadn't noticed their visitors yet, and both Cloud and Tifa wanted to use that to their advantage.

They crouched behind one of the jutting rock formations, contemplating a plan. As they crouched there, Tifa could feel an ominous wrench in the pit of her stomach. She understood what it meant, and apparently her companion felt it too.

"Tifa, we're not alone."

Tifa nodded silently, also noting, though trying to ignore, the almost overwhelming pain that shot up through her ankles and into her legs. It was getting more difficult to overlook the nauseating sickness in her head that made her eyesight fade in and out. She had to hang on just a little longer, at least. Just until the Heartless were gone.

Cloud's soft murmur jolted her out of her thoughts, "Tifa...?"

Tifa glanced at him, then to the cloud of heartless, "I can feel it too. Whoever brought these Heartless here is probably the one who's watching us."

Cloud's nod affirmed his agreement and the look in his eyes gave her the signal to attack.

One would think that the abyssal creatures never saw it coming. In a split second, their attackers dropped in from out of nowhere. In a flurry of kicks and punches, the woman in dark clothing dispatched heartless by the handfuls, while her companion dispatched them nearly by the dozen with a slash of his broadsword.

Tifa could nearly feel her muscles giving out. She was so close. After this battle, she could relax a bit, maybe. Maybe Cloud would stay a while instead of taking off again. Maybe he would stay just long enough for...well, she could think about that stuff later. Right now she had to focus on ignoring the stabbing pain that shot through her legs every time her foot hit the ground as well as the throbbing in her head and wrenching ache behind her eyes.

Cloud felt as though each heartless he finished off, three more took its place. He really didn't feel like dealing with this right now. He just wanted to get this over with. It was this anxious urgency coursing through his system that drove him to battle faster. The swordsman knew just by the sound of her breathing and how she moved that she wasn't doing well. Her maneuvers were much sloppier than her normal precision and it was easy to see that she was getting careless in an effort to make the battle go by faster.

The blond knew that his partner was fading fast. She couldn't take much more of this. He had to get her out of there and fast. There seemed to be no end whatsoever to these heartless. Tifa wouldn't last long enough to defeat them. It was even harder on her when she engaged in combat with Neoshadows and Morning Stars. Even in the low blue light, he could see the sweat coating a shiny wet exterior on her face and dampening her dark hair.

He could see her slowing down by the minute. Normally, they would be able to handle this many heartless on their own, at least for a while. However, with Tifa's condition, Cloud seriously began to wonder how much longer she would last.

As a Neoshadow dissipated into the ground and emerged at Tifa's back, her partner couldn't make it to her side in time. Her painful gasp sent chills up his spine. His blue eyes trained on the black form with its claws digging into Tifa's back, Cloud's eyebrows wrenched together in anger and anguish. His teeth gritted together, he let out an enraged growl as he closed the distance between him and the Heartless and plunged his sword into its sinewy black hide.

The Neoshadow dissipated in a cloud of ebony smoke. Cloud made sure that his arms were the ones to catch her when she fell. He heard her protest with an exasperated groan as he lifted her onto his back. After all this, she still wanted to fight. That was just like Tifa. Right now, though, Cloud didn't know what was wrong with his companion, but he knew that she was in no shape to be doing any fighting.

He glanced back at her face, rested weakly over his shoulder. He could feel the fury beginning to burn through his blood. It sped through his veins and rushed into his fingertips. In a barely comprehensible flash he released all that pent up frustration on the army of shadowy twitching creatures.

---

Tifa groaned slightly. She didn't quite remember when she blacked out, but she did know that she was still feeling a little sick, but not nearly as sick as before. Somehow, she felt a comfortable warmth, like a blanket or something. She noticed it felt pretty wet though, and a bit scratchy. She also felt something cool and wet on her forehead. Slowly she opened her eyes and let her eyes adjust to the light. Whatever she was laying on wasn't very comfortable. In fact, it felt like rocks and it was pretty cold.

As she opened her eyes, she heard heavy footsteps approaching on solid ground. Her tension subsided when she heard that ever familiar voice. She should have known. She knew those footsteps anywhere. Although, something inside her wondered if it was just another dream.

"Tifa..."

She groaned painfully as she reached up to feel what was on her forehead. Her body jumped a little when a large, firm hand took hers and brought it away from her face. As quickly as he had taken her hand, he let it go. Suddenly the blanket over her body was removed and Tifa heard the shuffling of fabric. A slight smile touched her face. It wasn't a blanket at all.

When her eyes shifted to look at her comrade, he turned away from her as he finished zipping up his shirt. Tifa began with the most logical question she could think of, the one that she thought that a delirious sick person would say.

"Where are we?"

Cloud slowly turned back to face her, but he didn't answer. Taking the cloth from her head, Tifa slowly sat up, under strict attention from her blond guardian. She handed the cloth back to him and watched his cerulean eyes, "What happened, Cloud?"

He stalled a few moments before he answered, though he did answer this time.

"The Heartless are gone. For now, anyway. We're going to have to get back to the town soon. They're going to be wondering where you are."

Tifa painfully scooted a little closer to him, "Cloud, they'll know where I am. Don't try to use that as an excuse so you can run away again."

Tifa knew that she saw Cloud flinch. Maybe she shouldn't have said it, but she knew that was how she felt. Her eyes found the crystallite ground beneath her. That was when she noticed blood dripping onto the ground. Her gaze trailed the droplets up to her companion's ribs.

"Cloud, you're bleeding."

He seemed to ignore her comment, but he hissed through his teeth when he felt her hand gently touch his side. His accusatory blue eyes snapped at her. Her eyes challenged his.

"You have to let me look at it. You don't even care if you get an infection, do you?"

He gave a slight huff, muttering, "It's fine."

Tifa's hands came to rest on her hips, "You can be pretty childish when it comes to this stuff, ya know that?"

He said nothing. Tifa sighed. She turned her eyes away from him, "We should get back to the town. Aerith would be able to fix it up much better than I can."

Her dejected tone and the implication of the last sentence caused Cloud to jerk his head back to Tifa. Did she actually think...?

When Tifa moved to stand up, still avoiding Cloud's eyes, Cloud reached out and grasped her wrist, giving her a gentle tug back down, "Sit."

Tifa froze in her place for a few moments until she finally complied with the swordsman's command. She sat down on the edge of the precipice, dangling her legs over the cliff. Cloud did the same, his eyes discretely scanning over her, trying to catch some clue into what she was thinking. When she spoke, his eyes snapped back to the dark horizon.

"Cloud, what were you looking for?"

He thought for a moment before mumbling an answer, "I guess, I was searching..."

"For what?"

He closed his eyes, letting the wind from the valley flow through his hair, "For my light..."

Tifa leaned over, her eyes bright and inquisitive, "Did you find it?"

Cloud sighed, "I'm not sure."

The martial artist bit her lip and shifted her gaze to her lap, "I'm...glad you came back, Cloud."

Her friend didn't answer, but Tifa felt him flinch when she touched his arm. As her bare fingertips brushed over his shoulder and trailed down his upper arm, she almost felt him shiver.

"Cloud, you're freezing cold."

He seemed to ignore her, but he couldn't deny that it was true. He was pretty cold. Both inside and out.

"You won't go back to the town at all, will you? Even with that wound in your side, you're not planning on staying."

Cloud knew that he was a fool for thinking that he could plan on sneaking off without Tifa knowing about it. They both sat in silence for what seemed like forever. Cloud contemplated his decision and how it would affect his friends and family. Tifa was still trying to bring herself face to face with the fact that Cloud was leaving again.

The blond's shoulder twitched as he felt pressure on it. He didn't turn his eyes to look at her right away, but he could hear her voice from her place leaning on his shoulder, "I'm sorry I couldn't help you...find your light."

Cloud closed his eyes, as did Tifa. Both sat on the edge of the cliff in silence, until Cloud was positive that Tifa had fallen asleep.

---

The obnoxious smell of something resembling bacon invaded Tifa's nose and mind, causing her to wake up with an equally obnoxious exclamation, "Rise and shine, people! It's party day! And we got breakfast!"

Tifa slowly opened her eyes to the sight of the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee bustling around Merlin's house for breakfast time. It took a few moments for Tifa to realize where she was. When she did, her eyes scanned the house frantically for any sign of Cloud.

Aerith, with a plate of eggs in her hand, walked over to Tifa and knelt down beside the cot, "Tifa? Would you like some breakfast?"

Tifa just looked at her hands for a few moments, muttering, "Where's Cloud?"

Aerith tilted her head softly, "Tifa...Cloud hasn't been here...it must have been a dream."

The dark-haired woman shook her head, "No, he was here!"

As she rose from her cot, Yuffie, Cid, Leon, and Merlin all turned their eyes on her. Yuffie stared at her sadly. Cid seemed angry at something. Leon had a nearly unreadable expression on his face. Yuffie theorized that Leon's daze was because of that strange letter he got that he wouldn't let anyone see. Merlin shuffled his mustache indignantly.

When she digested the disappointing looks of her friends, Tifa slumped back onto the cot and leaned her head against the wall. After all that work she did to find him, the mysterious swordsman managed to slip out of her hands again. Looks like she'd just have to start looking for him again. Then again, some still small hope inside her said that maybe...Well, that would be telling, now wouldn't it?

Don't worry everybody! I hate unhappy endings! There's still one chapter left! Stay tuned and hopefully I won't get bogged down too much! Love you guys and God bless ya! I'll be praying for ya!