[A/N part deux: Ok, again here just tweaking some of the grammatical errors (Ugh!) and toning down the descriptive imagery a bit. Just a bit! I don't know why I went so berserk on the thesaurus before; in hindsight it made the story flow a little less easily. Hopefully this will roll off the mind's tongue a little more fluidly ^^]
.x.X.x. Raven Beauty .x.X.x.
Tifa sat upright with the speed of a frightened dove, a thin layer of nervous sweat glistening on her pale, clammy skin. Her dark wine eyes darted across the shadows in her large bedroom as if expecting a misshapen creature to lunge at her any second. Her heart thumped furiously in her chest as her breathing sounded heavily against the walls, the mournful voice still resonating in her ears.
Something moved beside her and she nearly jumped from her skin, her alarmed glance darting to the occupied pillow beside hers. A pair of cold blue eyes fluttered open and peered up at her, followed by a quiet sleepy groan.
When Cloud saw the tension in Tifa's eyes and heard the shallow breaths emitted from her trembling lips, he immediately sat up and slipping his arms around her. Feeling how much her body quivered, he tightened his hold in an attempt to soothe her enigmatic fears.
He spoke quietly to her, stroking her hair tenderly, feeling how matted it had become from her restless turning in the darkness. "Sweetheart, what's wrong?"
Tifa could think of no words that could accurately describe the anguish in the voice that had called to her. She held Cloud closer to her, wishing to feel the protection of his strong arms, wishing that he could erase the memory of the horrible dream.
The haunting, twisted melody brought back to life all the heart wrenching pain of her mother and father's death. It seemed to tug at her hidden emotions, those of which she tried to keep locked away from consciousness.
The melancholy tune danced around her mind, playing all the images behind her eyes that she wished to never see again. She was a very strong young woman, yet this voice- this agonized plea broke down every barrier she had ever created and peeled apart her emotions.
It literally scared her beyond the depths of the abyss, as if it were reaching it's long and twisted fingers to grasp at her and take her away from life. It was strange how something so simple could shake one's consciousness so easily, as if an ancient riddle had been synthesized into the voice, riddling her to fall into it's fear ridden spell. It just didn't make sense why it left her feeling so vulnerable..
To her dismay, Cloud pulled himself from her just far enough so that he could look her straight in the eyes. "Tifa, I'm right here with you. I'm not going to let anything happen, ok?" He placed a warm, tender kiss on her forehead.
Tifa closed her eyes, almost feeling childish for the fear she was experiencing from a mere dream. Regardless, if anyone would understand, it was him.
"It's.. Those dreams again, Cloud." Her voice was soft and trembled just as much as her hands, which she held tightly around his warmth. "The voice from my childhood.. That deep, empty cry.."
Her eyes were fixed on the darkness behind Cloud as she bit her lip, hoping that he wouldn't ridicule her for her simple, fatuous nightmare. Yet when she lifted her eyes to his handsome face, he showed none other than concern and reckoning. He didn't smile or scoff, only nodded in silent acceptance, remembering the anxiety and anguish she had felt when the nightmares first came to her in their more youthful years.
Tifa would often come to him crying, usually behind the backs of the other children in their outlandish town of Nibelheim. They belittled any contact with Cloud in those days and would scorn her if she ever so much as looked at the boy; So in the darkness of the night when her dreams became just unbearble, she would sneak into Cloud's window and lay in his arms, begging him to make them disappear.
Just like now.
He tenderly stroked her hair and laid back, slowly pulling her down in a quiet invitation to his warmth. He left his arms around her to show that he wouldn't let her go for the duration of the night, that he would protect her unfailingly. She accepted and nestled in, closing her eyes and sighing deeply.
As the night slipped further into the dawn, Tifa finally managed to fall into a shallow, discomforting sleep. While she was relieved that the voice wasn't there waiting for her, in it's place was a shadowy figure.
She concentrated on it openly, trying to manifest the image into something she could recognize or understand. She couldn't focus -it seemed as though it was shrouded in the misery of it's own bleak existence, and just before she could approach it further, it imploded into nothing but the pitch black of darkness, enveloping her mind with a sadistic sense of nothingness.
Her eyes fluttered open as quickly as the darkness came upon her, and to her contentment and relief, it was daylight.
The brilliant rays of the morning sun filled her heart with a renewed sense of happiness and she readily embraced it with open arms; The darkness was finally gone. All the thoughts and feelings of despair quickly vanished, and were just as soon replaced with an energy of life and gratification. The sensation of Cloud's arms still around her tightly brought a smile to her face as she looked up to see the sleeping features of her beloved.
/The night is gone.. Along with the emptiness and desolation./ She sighed inwardly. /Back to the thoughts of my childhood.. What is it that's bringing these horrid nightmares back to me? Those were just simple, childhood fears.. Fears that I overcame./
Tifa gently attempted to remove herself from the grasp of the sleeping Cloud, yet as soon as she wriggled the slightest bit, he turned over muttering meaningless nothings from his dreams, smothering her beneath his mass.
She let out a muffled cry just before his arm landed across her face, and before much longer she was being snuggled to death like a giant teddy bear. He had her unconsciously pinned, dashing any hopes of escape.
She looked up at him from underneath the assortment of his arm to see his relaxed and peacefully sleeping features, the biggest grin spread across his face. He was obviously dreaming of snuggling with a giant teddy bear.
/Not that I mind.. Except the small, tiny, meaningless fact that I can't breathe./ She thought ruefully.
She began to fruitlessly jab him in the side with a restrained elbow until the signs of life began to stir. Cloud's eyes slowly drifted open and looked down at the strangled Tifa beneath him. He blinked several, deliberate times as the wine colored gaze of the young girl stared up at him, patiently waiting for release.
Cloud smiled brightly at her, quite content with the position they were in. "Good morning, Tifa." He said with sunshine dripping from his voice.
She let forth another muffled cry as Cloud effortlessly turned over, flipping her over to the other side where he happily held her tighter, making any kind of movement unthinkable. The chill of the untouched blankets shocked her, sending goose bumps along every centimeter of her exposed skin.
She shot a deadly look at his face, only to see that he had closed his eyes once more, playfully willing himself to go back to sleep.
"I don't think so sweetheart." She whispered as she began to struggle for the freedom of at least one arm. After what seemed like decades of trying, she finally managed to grasp the edge of a nearby pillow, and with a deft flick of her wrist, the pillow made a quick flight towards Cloud's face, landing with a satisfying thud.
Tifa smiled, waiting for the grasp of his arms to lift away, or at least slacken so she could slip free..
Nothing.
Cloud merely forced his counterfeit snore into a louder one. Tifa clenched her jaw and furrowed her brows in frustration, flinging the pillow insanely again and again against his annoyingly handsome face.
Unable to hold it back any longer, Cloud finally laughed and muttered between definite blows, "Alright, alright! You win."
It was then when he released her that Tifa realized that it wasn't the blanket that was cold anymore, but the lack of blankets as she plummeted to the floor. She groaned, silently vowing for revenge.
Cloud's face appeared above her as he looked down at her from the warm comfort of the bed. He was smiling graciously at his own little accomplishment, then after a moment of watching her poison filled eyes reached a hand down to help lift her to her feet...
...to which she replied with a deft smack in the face with the pillow that was still clenched in her fist. Tifa then smiled just as happily as Cloud had, picking herself up and satisfactorily pranced to the door.
Quickly leaving the room, she shut the door behind her just in time to hear the weight of a pillow in flight smash into it, barely missing her by a hairs width.
/HAH!/ Was her last thought as she descended down the flight of stairs to the kitchen.
Now this is how life is supposed to feel; the complete contradiction to the nightmarish dreams in the empty darkness of night.
.x.x.x.x.
Vincent Valentine stormed through the dark hallways in the empty mansion that was his. The air surrounding him was musty and dank, the smell of an old home that had been lived in for hundreds of years then abandoned without warning. Inside of him, a tempest was raging.
/How could she have known I was there? It is simply incomprehensible, no one has ever been able to detect my presence before./
His spaced footsteps echoed quietly through the silence of the old mansion, it's still, quiet air seemingly acknowledging no one and nothing. His family had owned this old manor for many generations, and not more than a hundred years ago did the townspeople know the bloodline of it's possessors. In a tragic event, they willingly blamed the Valentine lineage and brought upon them death and destruction, a so-called "revenge".
Vincent flexed his anxious clawed fingers, remembering the anguish this town had brought upon his family so long ago. But it didn't matter any more- so he banished those thoughts for what seemed like the thousandth time. He'd been able to live in the shadows of darkness, concealing himself away from everything- even the secretive evening moon.
And now, this girl had seen him when nobody could before, where nobody had the right to before. /I must seek her out, I must know why./
"Yes," He whispered aloud to himself, his intrinsic, musical voice echoing against the unseeing walls. "I shall find this raven beauty after the rising of the next moon."
.x.x.x.x.x.x.