(Author's Note: So, sorry about the delay in the update! Last schoolweek crunch, you know how it is. But here's the next chapter, as promised delivered in the first week of May. I always thought that Cloud's issues with him not being a good enough hero for Tifa had come from a very strong, early memory, one that would set the stage for his promise to be her protector later on. Here is my interpretation of what that event may have been. Also, ever wonder why Cloud was so naturally good with a sword in Crises Core? Maybe this can be a [slightly cheesy] explanation why. I hope you all enjoy!)
...I Ever Fought For You
It was a hot and dusty June day, and the kids were playing their usual game of 'Protect the Princess'. Tifa, being the only girl willing to truly roughhouse with the boys, had the unsavory position of being the princess. This meant she had to sit on the water tower platform and watch while the others had fun.
It went without saying that this wasn't her most favorite of games. She sat on the platform, sighing and fiddling with her own cardboard tube and watched the drama play out before her. And what a drama it was.
The heroic battle had gotten derailed somewhere along the way. Currently, Ryan, Johnny and Eric were all loudly arguing over who had actually landed a blow. Little Tommy was too small for these games and so he wasn't present. The argument had been going on for some time now and Tifa would occasionally shout something down to the rest of them but they always ignored her and would be getting in each others faces again.
"You're a cheater!"
"No I'm not, you're just stupid because you can't admit you lost!"
"Liar! You dumb, cheating jerk!"
"You're a dumb, cheating jerk!"
And so on. They'd been at it for nearly a half hour now and a few times the cardboard tubes had come into play but not very seriously. Mothers could be watching, after all. Above it all, Tifa sighed and looked like she was very much in need of rescue from this boredom.
The boys fell silent when Cloud stepped out of the shadows of his house, two cardboard tubes in his hands. For the first time that day, Tifa perked up, excited. The argument was rapidly abandoned and an ominous silence fell over the square. The other boys glared at him with open dislike. United against this common enemy, they subtly shifted to form a line between him and the water tower. Between him and Tifa.
Tension grew thick, heavy in the hot, muggy air. Cloud risked glancing away for them for a second to lock eyes on Tifa. That smile is one he would never tire of.
Then he turned his eyes back to the others. They glared at him, daring him to make a move, but Ryan looked little nervous. He should be - he once caught Cloud practicing his speed on a tree behind his house once. Of the three of them, only Ryan knows what's coming. And not even then.
He never saw what else Cloud was doing.
A soft gust of wind blows through the town, a biting mountain edge to it even this far in the summer.
As if that was the signal they'd all been waiting for, they all exploded into action at once.
Cloud dashed forward, his cardboard swords at the ready. He blocked one vicious overhead chop from Johnny and whipped his other sword across his belly, making the taller boy stumble.
Then Ryan and Eric were one him at the same time, their swords making sinister whistling sounds as they whipped through the air.
Cloud deflected Ryan's attack and rammed his free sword into the boy's belly twice, then reversed the attack to slash at Eric, who jumped back in time to avoid getting hit, but his wrist got a solid smack, leaving a red mark.
The boys fell away, wary. They hadn't expected him to move that fast. Now they circled, reassessing.
Eric moved and Cloud reacted. Eric had four more blows on his arms before he knew what hit him.
It felt natural to move this fast, to be in control. He liked the feeling of swords in his hands, the precision and slightly dangerous edge of anticipation. Above all, he loved getting a chance to fight back at those that had made his life a miserable hell.
Perhaps it was a sign of things to come.
Cloud's arms whipped the swords with ease, one two, one two, and Eric was falling back, desperately trying to deflect his attack. All he got were a lot of red marks on his arms and he finally fell tripped over his own feet, raising his hands above his head in defeat, tears in his eyes. "Okay, okay!" he cried in a wavery voice.
So tempting. So tempting to just bring both swords down on his stupid red face and get back for all the suffering he'd given Cloud. Eric would certainly not hesitate if Cloud were in the same position. Cloud's hand's twitched in an abortive attempt to do just that... but he didn't.
Tifa was watching his every move. If there was one thing he wanted to make clear, it was that he wasn't one of them. He was better then them. For her. Because of her.
He turned away from Eric and met a cardboard tube with his face. It hurt. Tears sprang to his eyes and he stumbled back a few steps, shaking the stars from his vision. He skipped back a few steps, swords up defensively but the other two don't press the advantage. Tifa sat five feet above their heads, looking anxious.
All they have to do is keep him away from Tifa. That's the unspoken rule. He can't win if they don't let him get near the prize they all desire.
Determination flashes through him and he narrowed his blue eyes at Johnny. The boy is smirking and there's a large dent in the side of his tube. He was the one that hit him just as he was turning, the cheating bastard.
This was personal.
They close again and for a long while it's nothing but hack and slash and dodge and spin. They're pressing him hard and the dust is getting in his mouth, like sandpaper. Cloud whirled away from Johnny only to be met by Ryan. He jumped back, slashing madly, and received a sharp, stinging blow on the back of his arm from the other one. Blows have been traded for a while now but the others have only getting it from one kid while he's been getting it from three - two, now that Eric dropped out, but that didn't count for much. What they lacked in numbers Johnny made up for in viciousness.
As the fight goes on, the other two are getting smarter. Every time they come too close, they earn a smart one-two strike from Cloud, hard enough to bring tears to their eyes. Ryan almost quit once but Johnny kicked him hard enough to make him decide the was more afraid of Johnny than he was of Cloud. But now they refused to ever get close enough with the avenging blond, just lunging at him and giving him stinging blows with the ends of their weapon and leaping back.
A sharp sensation in the small of his back makes Cloud jump and spin around, one sword already lashing out for retribution. He just manages to catch Johnny's wrist with it but the boy had already retreated, out of range of any more attacks. Cloud snarled at him and decided to teach him a lesson but Ryan came back and brought his sword against Cloud's ribs. Cloud whacked Ryan on the back of the head, making the kid stumble and he can already hear Johnny closing in. He skipped out of their reach and they all paused to take a breath.
The whole time they'd managed to keep Cloud from reaching the water tower. They had their backs to the structure now, Tifa's feet dangling above them, but he hadn't managed to break through.
Their dodge and swipe tactic is working too good - they're wearing him down and in this heat he can't keep such an careful offensive for long. They don't have to beat him - they just have to make him quit.
Tired. He was so tired and every part of his body was stinging from the constant rain of blows he'd endured, fighting to gain an inch. Some scratches on his arms had begun to bleed and the dust and sweat made them sting almost beyond enduring.
Tired. All he'd like right now is some cool water and shade. His mother would loving apply band-aids to the deepest scratches and would kiss his forehead and hum something soothing while he just rested, letting all the aches fade away.
Cool water and shade... rest...
Cloud shook his head. No. He came here to win. He glared at Johnny and raised his swords, reversing the grip on one so it lay against the length of his arm. "Let's go," he rasps, his throat dry. The other two blink in surprise - it's the first time he's spoken since the fight began.
They wouldn't come near, so he decided to do them a favor. He dashed up to Ryan and whack whack whack, he was down before he could do more than fetch Cloud a blow on the shoulder. Ryan fell, stunned, but that wouldn't last long. He had to move fast with the time he'd bought.
He turned to Johnny and this time he managed to block the back-stabbing blow to his face with the reversed sword. Johnny gaped, clearly not expecting such an easy block.
Cloud smirked. Then his other sword went into action, WHACK WHACK WHACK hard, solid blows against Johnny's midsection that echoed in the town square. Cloud managed to land three more before Johnny grabbed Cloud by his shirt, spun around, and let Cloud fly.
As he sailed through the air, Cloud could only think, Well I didn't expect that.
He landed with a grunt, skidding to a halt on the worn cobbles.
Pain! Tears sprang to his eyes and for a second he just lay there, his skin screaming at him that it had been torn and burned on the rock and it hurt like mad bastard. He must have hit his head or something because there were black, flashing stars in his vision, actually rather fascinating and kinda pretty.
Johnny looms in his vision all of the sudden, a triumphant sneer plastered on his face. "We don't like you," he snarled. "Stay away from us and stay away from Tifa!" The last was said in a growl, low enough so Tifa wouldn't hear.
Cloud could only stare at him, still too dazed by the throw to shoot something back at the bigger boy. Defiance took too much energy and coordination. All he could do was lay there and try to get feeling back in his lungs.
But it wasn't enough. Johnny had to take it a step further and he brought his sword down on Cloud's stomach with both hands, as hard as he could. Cloud groaned and curled up in a ball, in too much pain to do much else. Dimly, from somewhere far off, he could hear Johnny walking away and Tifa shouting with that familiar heat in her voice that meant someone is going to really Get It.
It felt like time had slowed to a crawl as he moved his head. Johnny was walking away, his tube clenched in his fist as he shouted at Ryan, who looked sheepish. Cloud's gaze dragged across the area, over the storefront with the green and red letters in the window and over the white walls of the hotel. The wooden struts of the water tower crept into his vision next, dark and sturdy, the inside faces growing lichen, and finally a pair of shoes enters the scene, dangling above the cobbles. His eyes slowly tracked up the legs, the jean shorts, and a pink shirt with cartoon ladybugs on it and finally, his eyes locked with Tifa's.
Johnny must've seen the alarm in Ryan's face because he whirled around before Cloud had fully straightened up, both his weapons ready for battle. The taller blond grinned evilly, more than happy to beat down the challenger again.
Cloud glared at him so coldly, Johnny's smile faltered. Slowly, with lethal clarity, Cloud raised one sword and pointed it right at Johnny. "You," he said, voice anything but weak. "I'm not done yet."
Johnny abruptly looked uncertain.
Then Cloud arrived.
It was all Johnny could do to scramble backward, pitifully trying to block as Cloud came at him like a vengeance from hell. The two swords slapped and stabbed and slashed at every possible opening, never letting up for a second, and very soon Johnny had a score of scrapes and red welts that just promised to form bruises. Johnny cried out helplessly as his heel collided with a broken cobblestone and he went down, arms flung up to protect him. "Alright! Stop!"
Cloud stopped just as he was about to bring a sword down on the boy. Johnny peered at him from between his arms, sniffing a little, his eyes red. Cloud turned to Ryan, who'd been watching the whole scene play out in stupefied amazement. His sword was still held up for action, utterly forgotten as he watched his leader get soundly beaten.
Suddenly, he realized that a pair of piercing blue eyes are trained on him.
Cloud made a sudden movement and Ryan squeaked, dropping the sword and skittering back several feet in the time it took to blink.
Cloud carefully kept control of his expression. Knights don't smirk at the fallen dragon when they rescued the princess. Heroes didn't sneer at the defeated villain. Heroes are always more concerned about the people they rescued than with personal victory.
He wanted to make sure Tifa saw him as a hero. Her hero.
Cloud stalked over to the ladder and dropped both his swords. When he climbed the ladder, he took his time, doing his best to look like the heroes in comic books and cartoons - always noble, always dignified, always cool, calm, and collected. But he couldn't help wonder if those heroes ever had to deal with problems like a pounding heart, sweaty palms and a suddenly dry mouth.
The grin Tifa wore made all the aches and sores and weariness vanish and his chest swelled with pride as he went up to her. He sat down next to her, feet dangling over the edge, doing his best to ignore the heat rising in his cheeks. It's been so long since he'd managed to get this close to her that he can feel the shyness coming up again. "I'm here to rescue you," he blurted out.
Tifa giggled. "Thanks! I really needed to be saved!" And they both know what she means. Boredom is a prison of its own.
Cloud can feel himself grinning - it's hard not to grin when sitting next to Tifa. She's the only person besides his mother that made him feel comfortable, like he belonged. It was natural to be happy around her; it always had been.
Tifa, encouraged by his smile, sat up a bit, her dark eyes bright with excitement. "That was so cool!" she said, then started laughing. It was a bright, cheerful laugh that rang with through the mountain town.
He couldn't help it. He started laughing too. All he could do was watch her, totally enthralled as she weakly pantomimed something he'd done, laughing too hard to describe. It felt so wonderful there, with Tifa and the warm sun on his face and laughter bubbling up, rich and sweet, from somewhere deep inside. He couldn't remember the last time he'd laughed like this, just for laughter's sake.
That's when something grabbed his feet and yanked, hard. He was too shocked to realize what was happening until he hit the ground with a thud, knocking the wind out of him. He stared up at the bottom of Tifa's shoes woozily, gasping weakly.
"Now!" someone shouted and his vision was filled with cardboard tubes, all coming down on him with the full, petulant power of six-year-old hate. One of the tubes hit him in the face and a cry of pain burst from him as agony lanced through his nose. Spreading warm washed down his face and he tasted blood on his lips. He curled up into a ball as the other boys went at him viciously, their weapons raining blow after savage blow on him.
It hurt. It hurt more than anything he'd known before, more than the time he'd accidentally stepped on a rusty nail. It hurt more than watching his mother's stiff, proud back as the other grown-ups shot her nasty looks at the store. As the beating wen on, he could vaguely hear Tifa screaming at the top of her lungs. From between his arms, he caught a glimpse of her going full out with her own cardboard tube at the backs of the boys beating him, but they ignored her, focused on taking out their humiliation and hatred on him.
Suddenly, adults were everywhere, shouting and snatching up their children, voices hard and angry. Cloud stayed curled up on the ground, still expecting the next barrage of abuse when his mother's gentle voice made him open his eyes.
"Are you okay, honey?" she asked, smoothing his hair back from his eyes. He could only shake his head and she hugged him close, kissing his hair and murmuring soft reassurances, rocking him slightly.
Though he did his best to hold them in, tears of pain ran down his face and blood dripped from his nose and lip. He hugged his mother, welcoming the comfort.
Then, off to the side, he saw Tifa looking at him, her brown eyes warm and sad.
No. He didn't want her to see how weak he truly was.
He tore himself way from his mother and ran, chin tucked to his chest to hide the blood and tears. He ran, ignoring the shouts from his mother and Tifa and everyone else, ran until he found his secret hiding place in the rocks behind his house. Then he collapsed, sobbing and cursing that Tifa had seen him fail, had seen him so weak; that she'd seen him for the false hero he was. He stayed there long after dark until his mother found him, still hating his own weakness and failure, cursing himself for just not being good enough.
Perhaps it was a sign of things to come.
(My deepest thanks and love to Lartovio, DarthMittens, CK - Ace, ffangelwing, kerapal bubbles, .PyR, Kurosaki girl 0890, The Beginning of Talent, Juliet's Replacement, WishingDreamer5, LatteJazz, Strifegirl, Bmonti and anyone else I may have forgotten to mention. It's because of your wonderful reviews and support that I continue to write and that is a debt I can never fully repay. Thank you.)