HHHEEEELLLLLOOOOO ONCE AGAIN!!

How are you all doing? Sorry for not updating in so long, but I've been really busy with school and . . .well . . . life in general.

But then again, who's not these days?


He looked on at her, eyes full of hope and wonder. Now he had proof that she would live if she didn't push herself. He also wondered how she felt at the moment. She'd be in a lot of pain probably. But when Tifa finally realized that she wasn't wearing her regular clothes, she might be angry. Cloud really hoped not. He held her hand a little tighter and felt that same wetness in his eyes that he had felt when he came back. That wetness he felt when he saw her hurt and . . . not-whole. He remembered the way he felt when he held her. And, just like that night, he blinked the wetness away.

"T-Tifa?" he asked quietly.

He couldn't move. He could hardly talk. Hell, he could barely breathe. She was just so beautiful, but so . . . broken. On her bed, scarcely able to move . . . able to breathe. Any action-such as the systematic rising and falling of her chest-would hurt her.

She winced and asked, "Cloud . . . how a . .re you?"

He didn't answer right away. For one, he thought that he should be the one asking her that question. Maybe . . . maybe she just wanted to know what had been going on. Shit, if he had been unconscious for four days, he'd want to know, too. The thing was, not much had been happening. Cloud told her that there were just as many customers in the bar as usual. They had asked about her, and all he said was that she was trying to recover. When they asked what from, he didn't answer. He didn't blame them for being concerned. She was a way better bartender than he was on three accounts:

1.She was a lot faster.

2.She could help people with their problems, which Cloud learned was half the job. He decided to rule this out while he was there. They really didn't want his advice.

3. She was attractive. Cloud guessed that he was as well, but didn't appeal to most men. He didn't want to. And whatever man he did appeal to, didn't appeal to him.

She was quiet for a moment when he was done. Neither one of them spoke for a little while. He leaned his head on the board again and sighed. "Tifa?" When he opened one eye to look at her, she was staring intently up at him. "How do you feel?"

She smiled and said, "Like . . . crap." He chuckled and her smile got wider. He missed her laugh, but knew she couldn't right now. Feeling a light pressure on his hand, he stopped and looked down. "Cloud, how bad . . . am I?" Her breath becamed shuddery, and she coughed several times. Cloud rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. When she was done, she breathed raspy breaths, staring wide-eyed at the ceiling.

He squeezed her hand and Tifa winced, trying to smile. Instead, she just decided to close her eyes. He made up his mind to tell her the damage. "Well, you've got seven broken ribs. Another nine, I think, are fractured." The corners of her beautiful mouth turned when she heard that. "Then you lost a lot of blood. And I don't think you'll be able to-"

He was cut off by a gagging noise. Shortly after hearing it, Tifa bent over and threw up all over him. None of it got on the bed, just him. Out of instinct, he jumped up, but by that time, she was already done. The barmaid looked up at Cloud worryingly. "Cloud! I'm . . . I'm so sor . . . sorry." She looked as if she were on the brink of crying.

He gave her his most reassuring smile. "It's alright Teef. I kind of knew this was going to happen. It's your stomach. It has to get used to being back in your body." He thought about that for a minute and shrugged. "Well, that's the most reasonable explanation I can give to you. So it has to start over and empty itself out. Don't worry; I'm not mad."

"I'm still . . . sorry. This is . . . the worst way for me to . . . repay you." Her voice was so quiet and hoarse.

He shook his head. "It's okay Tifa. It really is."

As he walked out to change, he heard her ask, "What happened to my clothes?" All he did was smile at her and leave.


When he came back in the room later that day, she was asleep. He had changed into some blue pajama pants and a matching shirt. They had stars on them. Stars or not, though, he still liked them. The kids bought them for his birthday, so he wore them. Speaking of which, they were in Tifa's room, sitting on the bed next to her. When he came in, they got off of the bed and asked him if they could stay. He said they could as long as they were quiet.

Cloud made his way downstairs and looked around. Everything was in order. But even though it gave the impression of being a nice, quiet bar, it wasn't. It hadn't been that night. Images ran through his head the minute he began thinking about it. He leaned against the wall and held his cranium.

If only he hadn't gone after Shenin and Sheilia. If only he had just left them alone . . .

Then every child in Wutai would probably be dead right now.

He couldn't take it when he first heard about the child-killing vampires. To hear what they had been doing . . . it was appaling. And even though Cloud wasn't one to socialize, he went to the parents of the kidnapped children to hear their story. Each one was the same: hysterical sobbing, parents who were extremely emotional.

"They came at night."

"To have seen them . . . was the most frightening thing."

"Their teeth were dripping with blood, and their eyes were the same color as what they drank."

"They took my child, my sweet, precious baby, and left."

"During the day after, all we heard were shrill, ear-splitting screams."

"We knew . . . we knew that they were from our child."

"The thing we loved the most. . . was gone."

"We never saw them again."

Cloud could empathize. He thought about it when he first heard. Putting himself in their shoes, it only made him angry. How they preyed on small children, the innocent people in the world, their only reason being for blood. Then again, a child's blood is said to be the purest on the planet. That gave them no right. So, immensly angry, he set out to kill them. The only problem was, he only killed Shenin, and came back home badly injured. He remembered the way Tifa looked when he came in.

"Cloud! Cloud! What happened to you?!"

He couldn't respond to her. Whenver he opened his mouth, blood spilled from it. So she took him upstairs and had taken care of him. She even closed the bar for a few days.

Then he remembered lying to her. He said that he'd gotten in a motorcycle accident. That had to have been the stupidest thing to do, because Cloud would never get into an accident. He said it so himself one day. But it was the first thing that came to mind. The fact that he had used Fenrir in the fight with him was good, because it had a few scratches and dents on it. So she bought it-somewhat. But Tifa didn't bother him, and minded her own business.

Now his lie had come back to haunt him, tenfold.

Only this time, Tifa was the one who paid for it.


So, do you guys think this was a good chapter?

I know. It sucked. But I'm writing more, don't fret. I just didn't have anything to put in. No one really gave me suggestions. No one except for Common Cold and A Forgotten Fairy . . AKA Fairy.

And don't worry. I'll put them in the next chapter.

I really hope you guys like it?