Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 alright. Some lines in this are from the videogame and the movie, but I don't own them!
Cirrus of the Cetra
By: SpikeStutters (aka GeminiRyoko)
Chapter 2: Knowledge is Power
Cloud walked cautiously into the kitchen where Tifa was. The sound of the gas stove turning on calmed him down a bit. She must be making coffee or something… He turned the corner to find Tifa looking through the sake she had behind the counter.
"What thinking about having a drink?" Cloud leaned against the wall "That doesn't explain why you're boiling water…"
"One of the orphans is sick and can't fall asleep, so I'm making her some soup." Tifa paused, "I'm just making sure that we have enough sake to open up the bar tomorrow, although I really wouldn't mind having one right now…"
"Look, Tifa it can't be mine, we both know that."
"No I don't know that Cloud… But I trust that you wouldn't go around sleeping with other girls, so I hope that's not the case." Tifa put the chicken broth in the boiling water and stirred it.
"Tifa, you know very well where I go when I go out and…" Cloud stopped and realized what he was about to say and let his head fall, letting out a small sigh. "I'm sorry Tifa, I must be worrying you, a lot, and I apologize for that. It's just…"
"Just stop…"
Her shoulders rose up and she used the rest of her energy to hold back from crying. She put the stirring spoon down next the stove and turned around, putting both of her arms on the counter behind her. Cloud looked up at her wit ha gloomy tired face.
"Look, Cloud I know that you want her to come back, and trust me I would like to see her again also…but Cloud, six years have gone by since she had died and there has not been any trace of her."
Cloud looked back at the ground and looked at the palms of his hands.
"If Sephiroth was able to come back so easily, then there has to be a way to bring her back also."
"Cloud you need to live in the present, not the past." Tifa blurted out, trying to refrain from crying. She let out a quick sigh and resumed cooking the soup, this time adding straight noodles and chicken pieces to the concoction. "Plus we have that girl here that claims to be your daughter…we need to figure out who she is and why she thinks that."
"Tifa, I'm not her father! And plus neither of us are scientists so we can't determine that anyway.
"Wrong!" Tifa turned her head around quickly with a grin on her face. "Actually you're right about us not being one, but we have friends that are smart enough with the knowledge of this planet to figure out what's going on here."
"Red and Vincent…" Cloud whispered.
"I'll call them over tomorrow and they'll examine the situation." Tifa poured her home made chicken noodle soup into a bowl and put it on a tray with a large glass of water and walked past Cloud and towards the sick girl's room. "Cloud get some sleep, there's no need to worry over this since we can't get any answers tonight anyway. Plus the girl will get along well with the other orphans here, so might as well keep her until we get some answers."
"And who said we weren't going to do that anyway?" Cloud turned towards her and sighed. He looked out the window at the dark night sky. Tomorrow would be the day he got some answers.
----------
Cloud... I'm searching for you.
I want to meet you.
"But I'm right here."
(I know, I know... what I mean is...) I want to meet... you.
Aeris… are you real?
Cloud…
I'm Sorry Aeris, I couldn't save you… I failed to protect you…Please forgive me.
I never blamed you, not once. You came for me, that's all that matters…
Cloud woke up in a cold sweat. The voice in his head felt so real, like she was right near his bed whispering in his ear. Her voice kept echoing though his head. He grabbed the sheets tight with both of his hands and looked outside. He sighed and got out of bed, opening the window to let some fresh air in. Outside there was a cool breeze which came through the window, sending chills down Cloud's spine. He put his hands in his pocket and found the materia Cirrus had in her hair before the monster attacked her. He held up the bluish green materia to the moon and it sparkled with the moons glow. It looked exactly like the one that Aeris had, the one that dropped into the water after Sephiroth's masamune went through her delicate body killing her. He sat on the window sill and held it between his fingers as he looked up at fading dark sky.
----------
The memories we had together keep running through my mind…
How could I forget about you?
The life we could have had together…
Forgetting would be ignorance to my very existence…
Because…
You saved my life…
Why couldn't I save yours?
Cloud sat there the rest of the night wide eyed, not being able to fall asleep. The night that felt like an eternity had passed and the sun began emit its light from the horizon. Cloud sat up ands held his head, he had a headache. Too much had happened in the past twenty four hours for his mind to handle all at once. There was a knock at the front door of the orphanage. Cloud leaned over his bed and looked out of his bedroom at the wall that was right in front of his room.
"Oh, Vincent and Red thank you for coming on such short notice. You see we have a little problem right now and Cloud and I were wondering if you could investigate and give us some answers."
Everyone's voice began to ring in Clouds ears as he listened to the three of them converse.
"I need to calm down." He threw his covers to the side and walked to the bathroom, holding his head in pain.
"Ah I see, so there's a little girl that claims to be the daughter of Cloud…" Red sat on the floor and scratched himself. "Did you talk to him about it?"
"Yes, I talked to him about it last night. I had to believe him because the only place he has been going to is…"
"Aeris's grave…" Vincent interrupted.
"Yes, you've seen him?" Tifa looked over at him.
Vincent nodded.
"All he has on his mind is her, and I doubt he would go out sleeping with other girls when he feels so guilty for her death."
"Pretty good point Tifa." Red stated.
Cloud turned on the cold water and let it fill up in his hands. He looked at his reflection, which looked pitiful because of the lack of sleep he had been getting lately, he almost looked deathly ill. He began to splash the cold water on his face, trying to forget about his inner mind and self. He really needed to know what was going on with Cirrus.
"Well can I see the girl?" Vincent demanded
"Yes, I'll go get her. I think she's off playing with the other kids that live here."
Tifa walked out to the room where all the kids hung out, and to her surprise Cloud was watching them.
"What are you doing over here? Don't you want to find out what's going on?"
"You know, she seems to be getting along with the other orphans perfectly." Cloud stared off at the kids who were surrounded by Cirrus; she was in fact the center of attention.
"Cirrus, there are some people that want to see you!" Tifa shouted.
"Hey everyone, I'll be back later!" Cirrus ran to Tifa. "Who's here?"
----------
Cloud, Tifa and Red waited in the living room patiently while Vincent examined Cirrus in the other room. Tifa leaned against the wall closest to Cirrus's room with her arms crossed looking at her feet.
"So Red, what do you think about this?" Cloud looked over at the red fluff sitting on the ground near the kitchen table.
Red closed his eyes, "I need to know more info before I start making assumptions Cloud." He opened his eyes and looked at Tifa. "Is it really possible that this is your kid, or is it a huge misunderstanding?"
"I don't know Red, her name IS Cirrus and that is a type of a Cloud…" Tifa remarked.
"Tifa, that doesn't mean anything!" Cloud said in confidence.
Both Red and Tifa looked straight at Cloud.
"Tifa I can assure you I haven't been going behind your back, I wouldn't do that…"
Vincent then came out of Cirrus's room followed by Cirrus running back towards where the other orphans were.
"So, did you find anything out?" Tifa stepped forward.
"Yeah, you all might want to sit down for this one…"
Everyone sat where they were standing, right on the kitchen floor.
"Cloud, Cirrus is in fact your child…" Vincent crossed his arms. Tifa put her hands over her face and Red began to think.
"Tifa, I'm not lying to you… Believe me!"
"Then how do you explain that child over there?" Tifa cried, "Whos the mother Vincent?"
"That's the part I don't know." Vincent paused. "You I got Cloud's part from a strand of her hair, but the other part is unidentified." Vincent headed toward the door. "I'll contact you when I finish my research."
The door closed and all eyes were now on Cloud, who was just as clueless as everyone else.
"Cloud, now is the time to fess up…" Tifa stood up.
Cloud stood up and put his back on a nearby wall.
"The only person it could have been was Aeris…" Cloud answered, "The night before we went to the Gold Saucer we went on a date." Cloud Puased and looked at everyone's shocked faces. "Everything was going well when we were out until Cait Sith stole the Keystone. After he told us everything and told us we couldn't do a thing about it Aeris and I went back to the hotel. I escorted her back to her room and she grabbed me and we were hugging for a short time." Cloud closed his eyes as if it was painful thinking about the last good memory he had with her. "And we both leaned in and kissed each other, and this was a long passionate kiss. We both looked at each other again and I said 'I don't want this date to be over Aeris...' and she said 'Cloud I…' and I held her tight and whispered in her ear…."
I love you…
That's what I said to her
I can't tell Tifa I said that…
Red and Tifa's eyes were attached to Cloud; Tifa being in complete shock, and Red wanted to hear the juicy details like it was some erotic story.
"And the rest is your best guess…" Cloud opened his eyes and looked at Tifa. "And that was the last time I did that sort of thing… So it would have to be hers…"
"Wait a second, that's impossible, she's…"
Cloud interrupted Tifa, "Yes I know she's dead, and it's impossible for a dead person to have a child so I don't know."
"Wrong." Red stated and both Cloud and Tifa looked at him in complete awe. "I read somewhere in my grandpa's library, it called Mysteries of the Cetra…"
"Red what are you trying to get to?" Tifa asked slowly.
"Woah, let me finish before you ask questions… Ahem, now this one passage says that: 'If an Ancient dies while they are impregnated with a child, the soul will wonder until that child is born'." Red paused, " But there was also another passage that stated: 'If the Cetra is carrying a child that child will also return to the lifestream with its mother unless there is a crisis, then and only then will the soul carry out the deed of having that child so that child can prevent the world form destruction.' I quote…"
"So let me get this straight, you're telling me that her soul roamed the planet until she was able to have her child?" Cloud asked in disbelief.
"Something like that…" Red answered.
Tifa sat in the chair quietly listening to the two friends talk to one another.
"There's more Cloud, which might contribute to the answers you need." Red smirked while Cloud looked at him with a questionable look. "There was an article in the paper the other day, I don't know if you saw it, but they discovered another entity frozen in the lifestream, now who do you think that is?"
"Aeris…?" Cloud's eyes widened.
"So I'm thinking that's where her soul had stopped and that is why Cirrus had the Holy materia, because Aeris wanted to protect her daughter while she sent her off to the village in the snowy mountains."
Cloud stood still, "How did you know she had the Holy materia?"
"Cloud, you held that glowing turquoise orb in your hand while we were waiting for Vincent's results!" Tifa added after not speaking for a long time.
"So Aeris's body is out there somewhere… Did the article tell you where it was?"
"Nope, the article had no location on it, sorry Cloud." Red sighed.
"Wait, you're not planning on looking for this corpse, are you?" Tifa stood up.
"It's the only way I can find answers about this child Tifa. Maybe if I go to her she can tell me something, maybe she can tell me what I need to know… Maybe I can bring her back!"
"Cloud, forget it you know she's gone for good… She wouldn't want you risking you're life for a hopeless cause!" Tifa yelled trying to put some reasoning into him.
"Tifa…"
Tifa fell to the ground, "I wouldn't want you risking your life if I died instead of her…" Tifa looked up at him teary eyed. "If I died would you try to bring me back?"
Cloud's eyes widened and he gasped. He closed his eyes and stood there for a few seconds not knowing what to do.
"Tifa this isn't the time for this…" Red walked over to her.
Cloud faced the other direction.
"You wouldn't would you?" Tifa put her hands fat on the ground and forced her weight on them.
He began to walk away. "Tifa, you should know better than to think like that. I promised you that if you were ever in trouble I would save you…"
Tifa looked up at him and sat up, the tears stopped coming out and she calmed down.
"So don't think that way…" Cloud walked into his room and locked the door. He didn't want to be bothered with things that hadn't even happened, he needed to think, or sleep, or something. He laid down on his bed and closed his eyes; slowly drifting into a trace.
----------
Does she love me too? I never got a response from her that night. It was as if she knew what was to come. Was it out of pity because she knew I cared about her? No the look was in her eyes she; she didn't do it out of pity, I saw the love in her eyes…But what if that wasn't love? She never did say it back that night, even when we just held each other; she just talked about her childhood and her memories of her mother. She talked as though that the next day would have been our last together. I wish I knew; I miss her.
Tifa… I wish she wasn't jealous of her…
Cloud woke up peacefully this time, even though he wasn't really sleeping. Red had gone home for the night. It must have been about midnight. Tifa was in bed, he could tell by the silence of the rooms in the 7th Heaven. He quietly got out of bed and opened the door. The halls were dark, no one was awake. Cloud knew he had to go find Aeris's frozen body, it was the only way he would get the answers he needed. He walked out in the hallway and peeked into Tifa's room. She was sound asleep, in a deep trance, hopefully having a good dream. He leaned over to her bed and whispered in her ear.
"Tifa, I care about you a lot, and that's why I'm leaving here without you…" Cloud stood up and walked away, closing the door silently.
Tifa opened her eyes and blinked a few times, and then fell back asleep.
Cloud's next stop was Cirrus's room; he went in and sat on her bed. She was resting peacefully, a smile on her face knowing that she had found her real father. He ran his fingers through her long blonde hair.
"Aeris has to be your mother, I will find her, and give you answers when I come back…" Cloud sighed and walked out of the room, using the same procedure as he did in Tifa's room.
Cloud packed his things inside the single rider Highwind and got ready to set off for another epic adventure, only this time it would be himself. He wouldn't get anyone else involved this time. He went back to the city for a brief period of time. He looked up at the orphanage, particularly where Cirrus's room was.
"Tifa, please take care of my daughter… I don't want to lose her like I lost Aeris..." Cloud ran off to the outer world, in hope of finding answers and to return to his daughter soon.
Cloud sat in the driver's seat of the single rider Highwind; the engine roared as he turned the key to turn it on. The single rider Highwind rose into the air, and set off to the snowy continent, the first place he would look for the remains of Aeris.
---------
I hope that wasn't cheesy or anything. Sorry that chapter took so long. I hate getting writers block in the middle of a chapter. Anyway Stay tuned for the next chapter!
-SpikeStutters