Wine Mixed With Blood
Chapter Two : The Broken-Hearted
Uncomfortable silence fell upon the silent room, and only the dripping of leaking water droplets could be heard. It was all that kept the both of them from going crazy at the moment. Neither of them said a word, neither of them wanted to.
"I'm sorry Teef. I have to go..I have to go find her." The mako-eyed ex-soldier said, breaking the silence.
"This is crazy! You're basing this on a DREAM!?" Tifa exclaimed in hopelessness.
"Teef, c'mon ..I don't want to argue again..you're my best friend.." Cloud said, dragging on the word 'friend.'
They had been living together for four years now as a couple, and now he is using the word 'friend' once again in four years. He knew what he was doing was hurting Tifa, but he couldn't help it. His love for Aeris never died, and he often yearned for her. Tifa had always been there for him, but he had loved her as his sister. The dreams he had been having about Aeris made it hard for him to forget. But last night's dream was unlike any other's. He remembered it so very clearly.
[ dream flashback ]
"Cloud..please come save me!" Aeris's gentle voice whispered.
Suddenly a beautiful place came into view. Flowers bloomed everywhere and the grass was soft and lucious. He blinked twice trying to snap himself out of this dream, but he couldn't. It felt and looked so real.
"Ae..Aeris?" He asked in a childlike voice.
"Yes. It's me. Please come look for me, I've missed you so." Aeris's voice said.
[ end of dream flashback ]
"Best friend..? .." Tifa asked quizzically.
She wanted to break down into tears, wanted to scream at him how much he loved her and how he could do this to her. But what use would that be? She already saw it. She already saw the love in his eyes, the love that wasn't meant for her. She stared emotionlessly into the darkness. They sat across from each other, with no light in the dark room. Her ruby-colored eyes were glazed over, and she didn't know what else to say to the man she had loved for so long. The air was becoming haunting and it was as if they were two strangers.
"I'm going now Tifa." Cloud told her, hoping to get some sort of response.
There was nothing but silence.
"…Take care." Cloud whispered. Those would be the last two words he would say to her.
He waited for what seemed like forever, but in reality was only a second and headed out the door. Tifa didn't even look after him, she was still sitting there…staring into dark nothingness. She heard the door softly shut, and muttered three words that she regretted saying to him two years ago.
"I…love you."
A teardrop fell from her eye, and it was followed by many other teardrops till it overflowed like rain. No sound escaped from her lips. Inside she was wracked with sobs and cries of despair. But she remained still, letting the tears fall freely from her eyes. She felt as though a thousand knives had stabbed into her, and she was too numb from pain to even flinch. Her thoughts were only filled with questions of why. Why didn't he love her? Why did she love him? Why did he love Aeris? Why did he leave her? Why? Why? Voices filled her head, and soon it was swirling with endless emotions. Still, she remained still.
They had lived together for four years ever since Meteor fell, and she was happy. She was happy because she was going to spend the rest of her life with Cloud, a man she genuinely loved. Although at times she felt as though he didn't return that love the way she did, his words convinced her that he did. He always told her how much he loved her, and cherished her. Waste of words, she thought bitterly. In his mind, he still had Aeris. They didn't have anyone to turn to except for themselves, but this, Tifa was happy for. Barret had Marlene. Nanaki was resuming his duties. Yuffie returned to Wutai to live her life there. Vincent…she didn't know where he went.
They were living in Cosmo Caynon in a small little house, and life was simple. He would help Nanaki with duties of protecting Cosmo Canyon, and he would return to a nicely cooked supper from Tifa. It was sweet and simple; they were living a married couple's dream. How could he suddenly just pick up and leave after having a meaningless dream?! It was more than she could bear to think about. To her it would always be meaningless. She didn't know that all it took was a tiny glitter of hope for him to go after Aeris. Guilt and love were still strong in his heart, and that dream had just triggered it. She slowly stood up from her chair as it creaked a little. She remembered that he had promised to fix it. It was a little wooden chair, and was always a little wobbly. Tifa was afraid that one day it would just fall apart, and let her fall.
"Just like you..Cloud." She whispered.
As she made effort to move her legs to her bed, every muscle in her body ached. Her face was already drenched in tears, and the pain was physically hurting her as well as emotionally. She slowly layed down on her bed, and closed her eyes painfully, feeling the wetness of her eye lashes as she closed them. She wanted to sleep, and just forget everything. She wanted to wake up in the morning, and Cloud would storm in and kiss her good-morning and everything would be alright. She wanted to just wake up to realize that tonight was all a nightmare and nothing more. She wanted the pain to go away. But most of all, she wanted him right next to her again.
