Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VIIany of it's characters and/or references.
Well I said this chapter would be up soon and would be longer, so enjoy.
Chapter 2:
… Towards Tomorrow …
It had taken a few minutes for Tifa to recover from the shock; she had remained silent on the bathroom floor her body curled up. After she recovered she went into her bedroom and got changed, dressed in her usual white tank top and black miniskirt, she prepared to join her comrades in their celebration, and hopefully to find a certain mako infused swordsman among them. As she walked out her room she tried her hardest to push the though of the results of the pregnancy test behind her but it kept coming back like a lingering shadow. A child, she was going to bare a child, within the next year she would be a mother, also add to the fact of whose baby it was she couldn't help but smile. She deliberately ignored the other thoughts that came: of him possibly not wanting to have the child.
When she came down from the enclave and onto the open canyon it was already nightfall, however it did not mean that the celebrations were over; there were cords with small bulbs on them that ran above the tents. The music was still loud and the tents were now all completely open, she went over to the tent where the other members of Crisis Avalanche were gathered, it wasn't the same one as with the food, this one was different it was circular in shape, there was a wooden platform within it also in the shape of the tent, on this platform numerous couples were folk dancing to the music. As Tifa's eyes scanned the dance floor, she made out Cid dancing with Shera; of course he was a bit off time and looked completely drunk, well he would have to be, in order to be folk dancing.
"Tifa!" A young female voice squealed out.
The raven-haired beauty immediately turned around to see a small female child come running up to her. The child hand short light brown hair, she was very small only around six-years-old, and dressed in a one piece orange dress with a blue ribbon in her hair.
"Tifa!" The girl squealed again as she tried to grab hold of the older female.
"It okay Marlene," Tifa replied and she knelt down to meet the child at her own height. The child jumped into Tifa's arms.
"I was so scared I would never see you or Cloud or papa ever again!" Marlene exclaimed, "There were these giant bright lights that came up from the ground, they were everywhere Tifa." Marlene explained excitedly as she broke the embrace and tried to show Tifa using hand gestures.
Tifa in return smiled at Marlene, she played with the girl's already messy hair with one hand, her other hand however subconsciously came over her exposed stomach and gently rubbed it. She smiled at Marlene, Marlene smiled back the young woman, she was beaming with happiness after finally being reunited with her father and friends. Tifa couldn't help but think of her own unborn child at that moment, the infant that had barely begun to develop in her womb. The ruby-eyed maiden kissed Marlene on her cheek; she looked over Marlene's shoulder to see Barret standing behind her, Tifa nodded at him.
"Hey Barret, finally got back huh?" Tifa asked.
"Hmph, you'll never believe all the people that got stuffed into Kalm, I hear Junon is even worse," Barret complained, "Damn Shinra, it's all their damn fault!"
Tifa placed her hands over Marlene's ears so she wouldn't hear Barret's final remark.
"Barret, please watch you language around Marlene!" Tifa scolded him.
Barret immediately shut his mouth, Tifa the removed her hands from around Marlene's ears, she smiled at the younger girl, "You must be tired after your long journey, sweetie, did you eat anything on your journey here?"
"Papa only gave me rations," Marlene complained to Tifa.
Tifa looked up at Barret and glared at him, Barret immediately swallowed a lump of air as a chill ran down his spine.
"Well how about we get you a decent meal, a warm bath then a warm bed," Tifa said smiling at Marlene before looking up at Barret, he simply nodded.
"That sounds great," Marlene chimed in.
"Here come, let's go get some food," Barret said taking Marlene's hand.
"Alright, bye bye Tifa," Marlene said and walked off with her adoptive father.
All the while, Tifa didn't know it but most of the conversation Tifa was rubbing her abdomen. Sighing she stood upright but her calm train of though was quickly disturbed by an annoying yet familiar voice.
"Hiya Tifa!" a playful girl said as she jumped in front of Tifa's line of view.
She was slightly shorter than Tifa, her hair barely reaching to her elbows; she wore a fitted green top and brown khaki shorts, she also had a headband across her forehead.
"Hey, Yuffie," Tifa answered.
"Where ya been whole day, it was boring being her all day by myself," Yuffie wined.
"Sorry about that, but I had some things to care off," Tifa replied.
"Oh okay," Yuffie answered slightly annoyed.
"Have you seen Cloud?" Tifa asked.
"Maybe you should check the dance floor," Yuffie answered.
Tifa's attention to the platform where the couples were still dancing, it seemed that Cid had an early retirement, as Shera now had a new dancing partner, he had long dark hair with a pair of crimson eyes that matched Tifa's as well as a long red cape.
"Is that Vincent!" Tifa gasped.
Yuffie turned her attention to the dance floor, "Well at they very least the folk dancing stopped, damn what I would have given to see that vampire folk dance."
Tifa chuckled to herself, then she saw him, though his back was turned away from her she recognized him immediately, she could recognize him anywhere, and it wasn't because of his outstanding hairstyle. Every time her eyes cast themselves on him it was like looking at him for the first time and being completely rapt, a smile formed on her lips, however the smile was short lived. What she saw next filled her with an alien rage. Cloud was dancing with one of the local girls. It was a slow song and his arms were around her with her's around him. Tifa gritted her teeth and clenched her fists tightly. Yuffie immediately recognized the change in Tifa and began to back away slowly. Despite Tifa's slender and petite figure, the girl could punch through a reinforced steel door.
"Umm…Tifa?" Yuffie called out.
Tifa immediately calmed down once Yuffie said her name, she turned to her friend and nodded, however once she turned back to the dance floor, she realized Cloud was looking directly at her, their eyes connected with each other, Tifa however was unable to hold her gaze and quickly broke contact, she smiled sadly and began walking away leaving Yuffie behind but didn't even notice that Cloud had begun to trail behind her.
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The two girls that had approached Cloud earlier in the day had somehow coaxed him into dancing with both of them, how it had come to this, he didn't know. Cloud couldn't help but feel a strange uneasiness and awkwardness as he danced with presumably a younger girl and had his arms around her. Awkwardness was a mild way of putting it, he was wanted to leave although he held up the front that he was enjoying it, all to often his mind would shift to a certain raven-haired female and what she was probably doing. That was until he felt an unexplained heat burning through him. It was intense, the same as being hit by a firaga spell, although he was not actually on fire, he could feel the heat. So the blond-haired swordsman released his hold on the girl, not noticing her confused expression and turned around.
That's when their eyes connected. Though there was a fair distance between them and despite the sea of people between them they could see each other firmly, it was as if time had pulled both of them out from the rest of the people. Cloud saw something in her eyes, they were filled with both hate and disgust. He continued to watch her as she brought her shoulder around and turned away from him. However as her first steps she took to move away from him, he lashed forward leaving the female he was dancing with behind in bewilderment. Interrupting the numerous other couples that were dancing by colliding with them, the blue-eyed warrior made no attempt to offer apologies he just kept moving forward colliding with even more couples but ignoring them and their remarks, he was only concerned with trying to close the distance between both him and the raven-haired beauty.
He had finally made his way across the dance floor.
"Hey Cloud!" Yuffie cheered trying to start a conversation, however she was ignored as Cloud burst into a sprint, he was so close now.
"Wait, Tifa!" Cloud called out when he was only a few feet away from her.
However despite being able to hear him Tifa kept walking away from him, both her arms cradled in front of her stomach.
"Hey wait," Cloud called out once more, this time his hand grabbed one of her shoulders, when it pulled her hand away from her stomach he let his grip drop to her palm.
Without waiting for Cloud to say another word, the young female spun around to face him, anger was present within her crimson orbs.
"Let go," She said firmly, Cloud could also hear the tone of malice within her voice, malice directed at him. Cloud was too shocked to respond, he never expected her to direct malice towards him especially after the night they both shared under the Highwind.
"I said let go!" Tifa said a little more loudly, letting her anger leak into her voice.
Without waiting for him to loosen his grip, she violent pulled her hand away before she started running away from him as fast as her long slender legs could carry her.
Cloud was still in shock at the tone Tifa had used with him, it was so unlike her, however once he saw that the distance between them had grown larger than before and the gap still increasing he took off towards her again. He didn't know what he was going to say, or what had just occurred or if he should leave her alone, all that he knew was that he was following her for an unknown reason if nothing else, then to have her company.
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Tifa didn't know how long she was running or why she was even running away from Cloud, especially when she had to tell him she was going to have his child all that she knew was that she had to run away, it was more of an instinct than anything else. Now however she knew she had run a long distance away from the town because in front of her, now there were trees that had started to grow into a small developing forest. The female stopped running, though it was a long distance and her breathing rate had increased she didn't need to stop to catch her breath, she walked forward gracefully and calmly until she saw a large rock drenched into the earth, it was huge, even she would have trouble lifting it up. But at the same time the rock was extremely familiar, it looked similar to the one she and Cloud sat on, the night they conceived the unborn child.
She didn't know it but a small smiled formed on her lips as she moved towards the rock, she sat down on the rock and relaxed her body, her face lifted towards the heavens, what awaited her were countless stars that lit up black abyss above her, some brighter than others, some forming intricate designs. Tifa exhaled a sigh before she spoke to herself.
"I wonder my little one, if you can see what I'm seeing right now?" Tifa asked herself softly, although it was a rather ridiculous question as the child had barely begun to develop or perhaps she was speaking to its soul.
"Who are you speaking to?" A new voice called out.
Tifa broke her gaze on the brilliant lights above her to look directly in front of her, where the new voice originated from. There she saw the spiky-haired swordsman that she had an earlier encounter with, upon seeing him she immediately became saddened.
"Can I sit next to you?" Cloud asked.
Tifa nodded, no longer looking at him.
Cloud approached her and sat on the empty space of the rock beside her, he could feel her sadness bleeding from her. Somehow it also managed to make him sad also. He also made a mental note of the similarity of the rock she was sitting on and the one they sat on before the battle with Sephiroth. As he sat beside her she laid down on the hard surface of the rock and gazed back up at the night sky. Following her, he also laid back down on the rock.
"Can I ask what you're thinking?" Cloud asked.
"Nothing in particular, just about recent events," Tifa answered.
There was brief pause, there were many questions Cloud wanted to ask her, particularly about her earlier actions with him, however he also didn't want to upset her.
"The stars are beautiful, aren't they?" Even he would admit that was a very cheesy and cliché statement however he said it with sincerity, it was an honest observation and statement that he had made.
"I guess they are," Tifa replied.
It seemed that Tifa wasn't pursuing the conversation but rather trying to brush him off, and it was killing him.
Cloud sat up, "Tifa is something wrong?" He asked.
Tifa sat up also, "I'm sorry Cloud, I just, things are difficult for me right now, and I guess it's making me depressed."
"Well that's why I'm here, you don't have to face your problems alone, you can share them with me also, remember you did the same thing to me when we were in the lifestream," Cloud explained to her, "You took on my problem and helped me though it each step of the way, now let me return to favor but I can't help you if you won't let me in."
He could feel the change in her mood; the sadness had disappeared almost instantly. Cloud looked down at the space between both him and Tifa, he saw her hand laying on the rock, slowly but deliberately he inched his hand closer to hers until it laying on top hers. When they had connected he closed his hand on her's and Tifa responded by closing her grasp also. She immediately turned to him and smiled, it wasn't a sad, face or small smile that she had come to give to frequently, but a genuine one, one she had not given since their night of passion.
Cloud smiled back at her, "Are you alright now?" He asked.
"I guess I will be…as long you're here," Tifa stated.
Cloud smiled again, "I'll always be here from now on."
Tifa looked down at the rock beneath her, "Cloud, do you ever think of Aerith? I mean do you miss her?"
Cloud sighed, he shifted his gaze from her to the star filled heavens, "This may sound strange or maybe even cruel, but I hardly ever think of her, I can barely even remember her or even us traveling together before I fell into the lifestream."
Tifa remained silent, "So you don't remember her?"
"No I remember her and our travels, but it feels strange, like they're not really my memories," He went on to explain.
"But they were your memories," Tifa added, "But I guess I can understand what you're saying, you weren't exactly yourself."
Cloud turned to her and smiled awkwardly, "Yeah, you know, I had so much of Zack's personality it's like looking at one of his memories but it's actually mine, and Aerith, well I feel like I didn't really know her to begin with."
Tifa scooted over closer to him, and put her free arm around him, she also rested her head on his shoulder.
"It's alright, Cloud, you're fine now," The ruby-eyed maiden commented.
"Yeah, it's all thanks to you," He added.
"No, no, I didn't do anything!" Tifa immediately protested.
"Now you're just being modest, it was you who did all the work inside my head, sorting out all my memories….learning about my childhood crush on you, face it Tifa, if it weren't for you I wouldn't be here today." Cloud explained.
Tifa remained silent, she only smiled, she wanted to ask him 'What now?' she also wanted to tell him about the baby, this would be the perfect time to tell him that she was pregnant, and that he was going to be a father, however something inside kept her from telling him, it was like being bound yet wanting to roam free, this unknown feeling kept her from telling him, despite how desperately she wanted to tell him.
Cloud got up and took Tifa with him; she was still holding his hand, they walked forward a bit, until they both realized there was a ledge a few feet in front of them, neither had noticed it before. As they looked down they could see in the distance that the party was still continuing in Cosmo Canyon, the bright lights were a dead giveaway.
Cloud repositioned himself so he stood behind her, his arms coming over both sides of her shoulders and resting on top her stomach. With one hand Tifa held both his hands in place, the other went up to his neck and began to massage it.
"Cloud," Tifa whispered softly.
The blond-haired warrior rested his chin on her shoulder, they both looked at each other and smiled once more before looking out at Cosmo Canyon.
"From tomorrow, well start a new life Tifa…everything will be different," Cloud told Tifa who was still trapped in his embrace, "I promise."
To Be Continued…
Well there second chapter up, no the story isn't finished, it's now started. So show your support and leave a review, or not, it's your choice.
