Disclaimer: I own nothing in affiliation with Final Fantasy VII.
A/N: At last, the plot starts to show! Sorry for taking so long to come out with it, but that's what happens when you try to write a long story! Hope you like it:)
"Her eyes were open, but she was motionless. One arm was stretched forward, reaching for something that wasn't there. Could it have been him that she reached for, after all this time?"
Always In My Heart
Chapter Four:
Message Between The Lines
Bianka-chan
Three weeks had passed since Cloud left Tifa crying at the well. Neither of them spoke to the other, but their eyes often met. During gym, when the class went off to play basketball, Cloud and Tifa often found themselves watching each other's moves.
Tifa was quick but elegant as she ran across the court. Cloud could've written a book on the way she moved.
Cloud, on the other hand, took long strides, and often sprinted unguarded around the court. No one wanted to be fouled by him.
When the class period ended, the blonde and brunette looked into each other's eyes for a swift moment before moving on with their lives.
During Anatomy, Tifa doodled. She was even caught red-handed as the teacher held a poorly-drawn picture suspended in the air. Though she was sent to stand outside in the hallway, it was worth it. Unfortunately, the teacher thumb-tacked the picture to his board for all to see, writing in huge letters beside it:
TIFA LOCKHEART'S DEPICTION OF CLOUD STRIFE'S ANATOMY.
-- --
During lunch, Vincent watched as Cloud and Tifa stared back and forth. He meant to speak up about it, but he wasn't one to interfere. What was obvious to him, he figured, may not be the same through their eyes. He was a reasonable man, though he was often taken as arrogant.
Across from him, Barrett and Cid ate like animals. Barrett had to eat school food, while Cid's live-in girlfriend Shera fixed him lunch every day. Still hungry, Barrett would often steal food from Cid's lunch while he wasn't looking. On the instances when Cid would notice, he'd curse loudly and start a brawl. The two of them weren't strangers to the detention hall...or the infirmary.
Some things never changed.
"DAMNIT! Gimme back my muffin!!"
"You dun need it...jes' lemme eat it."
"The hell I'll letcha eat it! Shera made it fer me, so give it back!"
"Like she made you every other damn thing here! LEMME EAT THE MUFFIN!"
"NO!"
"I'll fightcha for it! Whoever wins eats the damn muffin!"
"What the hell--FINE!!"
Before the two could launch any attacks, Tifa stood up from the table and walked away. Barrett and Cid, noticing, stopped their argument. They sat quietly back down, watching her retreating form. Of course, while Cid wasn't looking, Barrett thieved the muffin and ate it, but there were more important things going on at the moment.
She was walking towards the fountain, where Cloud sat eating. Cloud noticed her coming, and he looked up.
Tifa, looking down at his sandwich, began to talk.
"Hi...how've you been?"
No answer.
"Um...is that peanut butter and jelly?"
A shrug. Holding out his hand, he offered her a bite. Tifa blushed.
"Oh, n-no thanks. I'm not hungry, really..."
Her stomach grumbled. She hadn't eaten much in the past three weeks. Hearing that sound, Cloud stretched his hand out even further. Grateful but shy, Tifa took half of what he offered.
"Thanks... You know...the house is...pretty empty without you," Tifa managed between greedy chews.
He looked at her, intently watching her eat. She blushed again, chewing slower.
"I guess...I should get to the point."
Tifa swallowed the food and cleared her throat.
"Please come home, Cloud."
A raised eyebrow, an open heart...and the dismissal bell ringing over their heads, the two were locked in that moment. Tifa reached her hand out to grab him by the arm.
"Please come by our house later...to give me your answer."
With that, Tifa ran off to her next class. Cloud watched her leave, still chewing his half of the sandwich.
-- --
Cloud Strife kicked his umbrella as he walked, welcoming the sudden downpour. The skies had little knowledge of how well they portrayed the young sword-wielder's feelings. Cold, confused, and so willing to just hit the ground without a fight.
He was so, so relieved to see everyone doing so well after all this time...and yet...
There were certain risks that even he could not take. He was not brave enough. He was not strong enough.
Despite what the public raved, when it came to Tifa, he was powerless.
So his answer to her plea in the lunchroom was plain and simple.
Seventh Heaven stared back into his eyes, dark and wet. Its curtains were open wide, welcoming anyone who wished to come in...or to return.
"Welcome home, Cloud."
Peeking in through the unguarded window, the blonde found Tifa smiling into a mirror on the wall. She had little to no make-up on, but she was perfect that way. The contrasts between her skin color and her hair color did all the magic that make-up could not. Tifa was beautiful. Everyone knew that.
Except for Tifa.
Cloud wished he had the courage to tell her. There were so many things he wanted to say...that he could have said. Sadly, there would be many things that Cloud would never have the courage to tell her.
Never.
"I'm sorry."
He continued to stare at Tifa through her window, the rain falling in lines along his face.
-- --
Meanwhile, Tifa Lockheart looked at herself in the mirror, making poses. Sometimes she'd smack her lips seductively, and other times she'd try smiling and winking at the same time. With a sigh, Tifa came to the conclusion that the latter was impossible. She looked like someone who'd just gotten a slingshot wound in the eye.
Instead, she settled on dressing up. She wore a short blue skirt, leaving her legs bare except for heeled pink flip-flops. Tifa's white shirt had silver and blue spirals on it, each design rolling down to the hem of her shirt. Instead of pulling her hair up like she typically did in the restaurant, she opted to let it flow down. Around her face, she clipped silver and pink butterfly barrettes.
Cloud was coming home! Tifa could barely contain her excitement. After three weeks, everything would return to normal. Normalcy was what she needed, especially when it involved the company of Cloud. After all, he was her hero. He just didn't know it yet.
Running a hand through her hair once more, Tifa returned to sitting at the bar in her restaurant. Spinning around on the barstool, the brunette thought back on her time with Cloud before his two-year departure.
Flashback.
Alone. They were alone...but they were together. If they were to die in their fight against Sephiroth and Meteor, the members of the group wanted to be with their families. Cloud and Tifa...both having lost everything aside from each other...stayed in the Highwind together.
That night, they stayed outside under the stars.Wiping away tears, Tifa had finally found the courage to be as forward as their deceased comrade. That night...she would sleep with her head on his shoulder.
Maybe more happened, but Tifa wouldn't tell. Cloud wasn't the type to brag, either, if anything quite like what you're thinking happened.
What a beautiful night that was. He spoke so softly that Tifa believed things between them were looking up. They dreamed together that night, holding each other the only way they knew how.
When morning came, he let her stay on his shoulder..."just a little longer." A little longer still wouldn't be enough...for neither of them.
The two of them even planned on making the final voyage together, believing the rest of their party to have left permanently. Tifa smiled then, watching him as he tried to comfort her. She knew that he would make the end perfect, if that had been the end. For a moment, she even wanted to die there with him.
To die with him holding her. It was morbid...but it was enough for her.
That night by the Highwind, though beautiful it was, made his departure even harder for her to endure. Everything had seemed so perfect between them, yet he still left. What had she done wrong?
Was there some message between the lines...that she couldn't read?
End Flashback.
-- --
A sound.
Tifa stopped spinning.
Cloud opened the door, halting fully when he saw Tifa. Her beauty...she looked like a princess straight out of a fairy tale book.
Unfair, unfair, unfair. Tifa made things so much harder for Cloud when she looked like that. And she always did.
She looked so expectant. Her hair was a bit messy from the spinning, so it created a waterfall of chocolate along her back. Cloud found it hard not to stare, and Tifa didn't try to stop him.
"Tifa."
The brunette shivered. She loved the way she said her name--so seriously, like she was the most important person in the world to him. She wanted to believe that.
"Oh, Cloud. You really came."
The blonde's heart raced. Her voice was like music, and she was playing his heart strings.
"So...are you coming here to stay?"
Cloud looked at her with all the sincerity he had in him. Tifa felt like she was falling somewhere, but it didn't matter. Cloud would catch her, she was sure. Just as sure as she was of his answer.
"No."
She could have been hit by a bus twice, and it would have hurt less.
"Wh-wh-why not?" She really was trying not to cry.
"Because, Tifa...I just can't. It's impossible for me. Don't make me explain myself."
But she wanted an explanation. Didn't she deserve it? For every tear he made her cry...she deserved an explanation. At least one word...that's all she asked for.
Instead of asking, she allowed herself to cry. She didn't make a sound, but the sight still hurt Cloud. Seeing her like that shook him so much that he found himself walking closer to her. Taking a finger to her face, Cloud wiped away a new tear from underneath her eye.
"Don't cry for me, Tifa. I don't deserve it."
Whether he deserved it or not didn't matter. She would cry for him many other times.
With that, Cloud opened the door and left, forgetting a very important item near the coffee table.
Tifa, on the other hand, was beside herself with grief. The tears came down her face quickly at first, but soon she had more serious happenings to worry herself over. Taking a step back, Tifa prepared for the worst.
In a moment, the brunette became overcome with paralyzing pain. She grasped at her throat for air but none came. Her body felt like wood, as well, leaving her only to fall hard onto the ground. Still conscious, Tifa held out a hand into the air, reaching out to nothing.
Tifa, in a panic, involuntarily shut down her senses just to focus on breathing through her nose. Had Cloud taken the breath away from her...or was it something far more serious?
-- --
Cloud noticed he was missing something. Putting a hand to his shoulder, Cloud sighed. His bookbag. He'd left it by the coffee table earlier. He would have to go back to Tifa's house to get it...even though he'd just told her that he wouldn't return.
Maybe...she'd be happy that he came back? Maybe...she'd confuse him some more, hugging him like he'd always wanted her to. Maybe...he'd be convinced to stay. Tifa had that power over him. She just didn't know how to use it yet.
The blonde began to make his way back to the Seventh Heaven, balling his hands into fists as he walked. He didn't know what it was that made him do this... Stress? Anxiety? Tifa?
He wasn't sure...but something certainly didn't feel right.
On that capacity, Cloud felt rushed. He ran to the door of the Seventh Heaven, turning the knob.
She hadn't locked it. That was even more suspicious. She always had the door locked before she opened the restaurant.
Opening the door, Cloud looked around. His bookbag was still there as it had been, but no one stood around. He remained standing at the door, searching, searching...
There!
Her eyes were open, but she was motionless. One arm was stretched forward, reaching for something that wasn't there. Could it have been him that she reached for, after all this time?
Not entirely convinced, Cloud walked toward her unmoving body. Putting a hand to her back, Cloud lifted his childhood friend's upper body off of the ground. He nearly dropped her just as soon as he did. His hands burned with the contact. Tifa's body had grown dangerously hot.
Tifa, still conscious at that time, at last gave herself in to the pain, cradling herself in his arms.
"Besides...you can take care of yourself."
Knowing nothing else to do, Cloud picked her up once more. Bursting through their front door and leaving his bookbag behind once more, the blonde ran as fast as he could to the nearest hospital.
-- --
Hours.
It had been hours since Cloud brought Tifa into the hospital. He had been pacing through the waiting room the whole time. Did he feel guilty? A bit.
What had happened to her? Cloud wondered if there was anything he could do.
Shoes. Someone was coming.
Stopping in mid-stride, Cloud looked toward the approaching woman. She wore a white uniform, a matching hat on her head. She carried a clipboard, held tightly to her chest. Though there was nothing much to be happy about, she smiled.
"Your friend seems to have woken up," the apparent nurse said, the creases by her eyes wrinkling.
Without thinking, Cloud tried to push past the nurse and go see her. Before he could, the nurse took him aback with her quiet strength.
"I'm afraid I can't let anyone in...that isn't related to Tifa in some way."
"My name is Cloud Strife," Cloud spat, annoyed. Every second apart from Tifa was killing him.
"Oh...okay."
Somehow Cloud's declaration made it all okay. Something written on the clipboard made it so that the simple mention of his full name would leave his statement undisputable.
"Let me through!"
The nurse, startled by the quiet man's sudden outburst, did little to stop him from walking toward Tifa's room.
"They aren't ready for visitors right now! Just wait a couple of minutes...!" her voice echoed across the hallway. Cloud heard it. But he didn't care.
He pushed open the door to Tifa's room. Blinded by the whiteness of the space, Cloud lifted an arm to shield his eyes. In that time, Tifa's doctor scurried out of the room.
Taking his arm down and away from his eyes, Cloud at last looked at Tifa again. It was hard for him to absorb his surroundings. This place...was like death. He didn't like seeing Tifa in a place like this. It seemed like foreshadowing.
He saw her face. So scared, so alone...so empty. Tifa was as pale as a sheet. Before she could summon up her voice to speak again, Cloud spoke first.
"I'm coming home."
Instead of being glad, though, or even smiling, Tifa looked to the ground in horror. There was something on her mind that she wouldn't tell Cloud. Moments before, her perspective on everything changed...
She heard from the doctor some devastating news...news that would break her away from Cloud once again.
Shouting your name in the silence on my lips,
Only the echo of my misfortune remains.
I am left here in my dream of loving you still.
It will be...It will be how you want it to be,
But it will be that way.
Even if I have to wait for you seven more lives,
I will stay hooked on this feeling.
For loving you this way...
This is my fortune,
This is my punishment.
Perhaps love like this is forbidden,
And I remain here dying to be with you.
A/N: Thank you so much for reading! There's a lot of foreshadowing here...so watch out for it. REVIEW, please! You know it makes me happy when you do:)
