Chapter 4

For future reference, Miakis is pronounced Mee-a-kees, or (me a keys) It's like mad gab. ;D

Tifa wandered into the city of edge and looked into the abyss of the metallic grey city.

"There it is," She thought to herself after some wandering. She wandered into the hotel with her backpack slung over her shoulder.

"Room for one please." She told the innkeeper, sliding her gil across the counter. The elderly innkeeper seemed a little surprised at her brief demand of a room. "Sure," he said holding out an old looking key with the number 24 drawn in permanent marker upon its head. She gave him a quick nod of a counter before skipping up the stairs to her room.

9, 10, 11...12! There it was. she jiggled the key for a second or two before the door opened. She stepped into the small hotel room and threw her backpack on the bed. She glanced around. Her eyes traveled from the bathroom to the dresser to the mini bar in the corner. Pleased with her hotel selection, she strode over to the small, black fridge and swung open the door.

"I feel so classy..." Tifa said to herself as she eyes up all the tiny bottles or alcohol. "...I'm stealing all of it before I leave." Tifa laughed at herself before strolling into the bathroom. She frowned at herself in the mirror. Stripping of the uncomfortable men's jacket she placed both hands on the counter and stared herself in the eyes. She looked droopy and frazzled. The picked up her hair in her hands and held it into a high ponytail. "Maybe like this?"... "No." She dropped her hair and turned on the tap o splash some cold water onto her face.

She did not want to spend a lot of time thinking about her situation so she ran out and did a rolling dive onto the bed. Using just her feet to throw off her "Shit-kickers" as Cid had so appropriately call them, she threw her boots across the room and they hit the wall with a satisfying bang. She threw her gloves onto the nightstand beside her and leaned forward to grab the oversized T-shirt from her bag. After undergoing the difficult task of changing while lying down, she rolled under the covers and buried her face in her pillow. She fell asleep almost immediately.

Her sleep was not a peaceful one though; her nightmares came to her again and again all through the night.

She was standing in the courtyard of Nibelhiem manor, Staring up at the blackened sky. It was the middle of the night and the air smelled damp and humid like it was trying to choke them; she wasn't scared though, she had her closest friend with her. Cloud was on her right with a reassuring smile across his face pale face. She heard a voice. Cloud's face lit up. "is that...you?" he asked into nothingness. The voice came again, but this time with a face to go with it. Aeris stood at the gate to Nibelhiem, a distance off with a sweet smile gracing her round face. "Tifa! Cloud!" She beckoned to them. Cloud ran towards her but when Tifa tried to do the same the heavy iron gates stopped her as they swung shut. She tried to call out to them but her voice was gone, what replaced it was airy gasps. She shook the bars as hard as she could as she saw Aeris and Cloud fade into darkness together.

She felt her hands burning. The gate was hot like a cattle brand. They left scalds in her hands. Her voice came back as she cried in pain. She screamed in anguish as she realized that the town was set ablaze before her, The scene was replaying itself before her eyes. She screamed for Zangan to help her as he pulled people from buildings but he couldn't hear her. She ignored the urge to scream as her eyes widened when something was coming from above. She did a sort of handspring backwards so that she could get a good look at her attacker. She gasped at who she saw. Heaven's dark Harbinger, Sephiroth, the nightmare. Partially paralyzed in fear, she shrieked as she ran towards the house. The door was reduced to splinters beneath the crushing force of her roundhouse kick. He was still behind her, a smile gracing his lips. She knew where she would go, she couldn't fight him alone, and so she would hide. She ran upstairs to the secret passage. It was already open. She rounded the corner and started to run down the spiraling staircase, but out of her peripheral vision she saw him coming at her. She let out a desperate scream as she stumbled backwards. Caught on the precipice she teetered for a minute, decided that a death from a floor was better than death by sword anyways, and then fell over backwards down the middle of the staircase. Her mane of hair trailing behind her, she reached out and caught her hand on the edge of the staircase. She didn't catch herself but it maneuvered her into the right position to land on her feet.

A huge shock went through her body as she felt her feet hit the ground. She launched herself backward as Sephiroth landed where she would have been a second ago. He smiled and launched himself at her. There was no escape now.

She felt her breath escape as he hit her in the gut with the hilt or his masamune. She smashed into a book case sending books toppling down around her. Breathing heavily, she anchored herself with her hands and pushed herself up and flew towards the lab at the other end of the hallway. Sighing as she accepted her all too soon death, she stopped and turned in the doorway with her fists clenched. He was flying at her with his sword raised. She resigned herself as she closed her eyes as she waited for the impact. Bang!

But...that wasn't the impact she was waiting for. Unconsciously thinking that he may have somehow ran her trough without her feeling it, her eyelids crept open revealing that Sephiroth was pressed against the wall; hand clenched over the bullet would in the middle of his chest. She was puzzled but then she felt a warm presence from behind her. Feeling so much relief, she spun around to stare Vincent Valentine in his crimson eyes. Tifa felt tears well up in her eyes in relief as he simply reached out his human hand and pulled her up against him into his chest.

Tifa's shrill shriek filled the air as she awoke with a start. She was tangled in her sheets and her hair. She had dried tears on her face and she was clammy. There was more to her dream but that was all she could remember.

She looked over and squinted at the harsh morning sun in her eyes. There was an orange glow cast over everything giving it a somehow eerie look of serenity. Tifa debated the meaning of her dream and then leaned over to look at the clock, to her dismay the red block letters read 11:34 am. She was behind schedule; she would have to be out of the city on a chocobo in a half an hour is she wanted too be through the swamp before dark. She flung herself out of bed before her legs had time to realize what was going on and retreat back to the warm blankets.

Tifa scanned herself in the mirror, and after running a brush through her hair and deciding that she would put her hair in a ponytail; she put on her black short skirt and tank top. Deciding against her "shit kickers" she threw on her converse and picked up her bag to sling it over her shoulder.

Humming a tune as she shoved all the liquor from the cooler into her bag, she walked out the door and down the hall where she grabbed a cranberry muffin from the lunch cart and then made her way down the stairs. She thanked the innkeeper on the way out and then stepped into the sunlight and strolled down the brightly lit street. Her feet carried her to the end of the street before a large black man—probably left over from the night scene—stepped out in front of her with his few friends behind him.

"Can I help you?" Tifa asked, her voice flecked with annoyance.

The man looked back at his friends. "Yeah we were just wondering if we could uh...give you a ride anywhere." He asked with a suggestive smirk on his face. "Ha," She laughed, this is why she hated edge. "No, I'll be fine I think." Tifa said chuckling between words. She went to walk around him but he stepped in front of her almost falling over himself.

"Don't be like that." He said moving to grab her elbow.

He was clearly drunk, along with his little posse. "No, I don't think so." Tifa said calmly, quickly sidestepping his small lunge. He was seemingly enraged by this because he yelled and made a move to strike her. No wonder that she never saw the women of edge out past six without a group.

Tifa grabbed his wrist, sidestepped him and then slammed one of her converse clad feet into his back and pushing on the back of his elbow, slamming him into the pavement. "What, is that all?" She asked him with a smirk, still keeping her eyes on his posse.

"You're breaking my arm!" He yelled, disregarding her question.

"Oh, that's not true." She said rolling her eyes. "This is breaking your arm" Tifa drawled, pushing his arm into an awkward position, still not actually breaking it.

Once she heard the satisfying scream, she let him go and kicked him on the the ground. She had a sort of sense of accomplishment as she walked away, knowing that the chances were good that he wouldn't try that again any time soon. She meandered down towards the chocobo chorale and enjoyed the sun on her face as she walked down the street. She looked into the weapon shop window and marveled at the fighting gloves. She had sold her God's Fist a long time ago and she sorely wished that she had brought more money. She spotted the chorale in the reflection of the window and mentally said goodbye to the gloves.

She anxiously stoked the smooth surface of her materia as she waited for a chocobo to be brought around. 'What would she do at Nibelhiem?' she thought to herself, kicking at the floor with her boot. Well, visit her father and mother's grave, obviously. Maybe she would climb mount Nibel. She didn't know for certain, but that was where she needed to start, that much she was sure of.

The chocobo gave a kweh from behind her as its handler scratched the feathers on the back of its neck.

"She's all yours, her name's Miakis." He said with a definite pat on the bird's back.

"Thank you," Tifa said handing him the gil.

"please come again!" He called after her as she led Miakis to the city limits.

She hopped on the chocobo's back as soon as she passed the "Leaving Edge" sign. She ushered the bird forward with her heels so to make it run faster. It was a nice feeling, to have the wind whip around her, no real care in the world, that is until the sun had settled behind the mountains with the swamp barley in her view.

"We'll stop and you'll eat when we get to the swamp," Tifa whispered into Miakis' ear. As if she understood, Miakis gave a kweh and ran full tilt for the swamp.

"That's a good girl." Tifa said, a smile flashing on her face.

Had Miakis not dodged, they both probably would have been dead. The Giant snake had come straight out of the ground beneath them and Miakis, like the chocobo sent from the gods, stopped and propelled backwards.

Tifa let a small yelp of surprise out as she smacked into the back of Miakis' neck. She looked at the giant monster. She remembered them from her days of traveling with her friends. It had taken all of them just to take it down; Tifa was in a deal of trouble. She may be able take it though, but she could only hope that Miakis would stay while she was fighting. She climbed off Miakis

"Stay. Please?" Miakis stood where she was and with a triumphant smile Tifa ran at the scaly monster.

Jumping into the air she used her fire materia to burn its face. The vile creature writhed and lashed out violently, its full body now out of its hole. Tifa took a swinging kick at the creature's head when it came close enough to her for her to do so. The snake, caught off guard, recoiled and lashed out its monstrous tail and struck Tifa, knocking her flying. Gasping for air, Tifa rolled over and got to her knees before getting up. She raised her hand high in the air and the materia glowed. The sky darkened with clouds as the dragon raced down from the center. Tifa ran to steady Miakis as the dragon raised its read and a blue glow appeared in its mouth. The blue light cast a sinister shadow over everything and then...bang. The snake writhed and coiled before dying.

Tifa sighed a breath of relief when the dragon disappeared but then took a sharp breath in as she realized what grave danger they were in. She felt the vibrations of the other snakes beneath her feet as she hopped onto Miakis.

"Yah!" she yelled as Miakis shot towards the cave opening in the distance. Jumping over plants and rocks the cave opening became closer and closer. Tifa looked behind her and to her dismay there were two more snakes in the distance, gaining ground on them fast. "C'mon girl, almost there!"

Miakis gave a nervous warble as they grew closer still. The snake struck out at Miakis, "Jump Mia!" She yelled. Miakis gave a short hop and as the snake's head slid under them in its miss, Miakis used it to jump towards the cave.

They were in darkness of the underground pass instantly. Miakis' sudden startled halt caused Tifa to fly to the ground and hit her head unconscious.

Note: There, didn't I tell you that the chapters would get longer? I think my writing skills are improving in the middle of my doing this. I haven't wrote a story or fanfic in a LONG time, just my damned science papers. Okay, this little note does have a point to it though, and that is this; my word processing program is down so I've been using notebook so soory for any spelling/grammatical errors, yeah, sad huh? TT Well Whatever. Life is handing me lemons soI'm gonnamake me a long island iced tea. Wait...no that's not right. Whatever, I'll just bite em' after a swig o' Tequila. Just kidding, I hate tequila. But I can make a mean Pain in the Ass. (That's strawberry and rum if you don't know.)