Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any of the Final Fantasy VII characters or any Final Fantasy characters in general. Square Enix and VII's creators Yoshinoti Kitase, Tetsuya Nomura, Hironobu Sakaguchi do, thank you.

Episode 4: Changes

Cloud stood at the batter's box with his intense gaze focusing on the pitcher of the opposing team. There was a sense of calm to this moment, though around him the crowd cheered and screamed in pure jubilation at the pressure situation that had come; the bases were full and it was the bottom of the 9th with two outs already made. They were down by two and it was all up to Cloud to win this game for his team, like always. It must have been expected that he would as well, no wonder the crowd was already cheering for victory.

After taking in a deep breath, Cloud set his feet apart, balanced his weight, and completed his batting stance with textbook accuracy. Nothing looked flawed, his physical stature and intensity could not be criticized, not one bit. He looked ready and so when the pitcher released his pitch, it came and Cloud swung. Cloud missed.

"STRIKE ONE!" The umpire called out with a collective gasp accompanying it. The crowd had nearly had a heart attack it seemed...they were also quieter than before. However the opposing pitcher dance on the mound happy that he got the pitch by the star baseball player. Cloud, on the other hand, stood in shock at how he missed the pitch…it was perfect for him to hit and yet he missed. A loud groan came from him in frustration before he took the fat part of the bat and tapped himself in the head with it. "Come on!" he said as he stepped back into the box getting back into his textbook stance.

Now he was focused apparently, his eyes, body and stance had no flaw yet his mind wasn't there. His mind was jumping to and fro thinking about something that had nothing to do with this game.

"STRIKE TWO" The umpire shouted as Cloud stood perfectly still in his stance. He hadn't moved. Suddenly the crowd began to stir with a bit of anxiety; they could possibly lose this game with Cloud at the plate. It was frightening maybe Cloud had lost the magical touch that he had in these circumstances…in all circumstances that surrounded his ability to play baseball. It was the end of the world, pigs were flying, and hell had froze over; Cloud was not to be the hero tonight.

"STRIKE THREE…BALL GAMES OVER IFRITS WIN!" The ump shouted and unlike the others, he kept his professional cool although he very well knew that this was an odd occurrence. The opposing team gathered at the mound and tossed their lucky pitcher up into the air before catching him in pure jubilation. Cloud, the rest of his team, and the home crowd 

were in shock. While everyone else moved and went to their cars or to the dugout, Cloud just collapsed onto to his knees with anger slowly building in his mind.

Meanwhile, in Cloud's dorm, Vincent and Tifa sat in the common living room watching old highly stylized horror flicks together. On screen there was a gaunt and pale looking man wearing all black chasing after a beautiful dame. That man was of course a vampire and that woman was of course, was confused and distraught. It was the normal type of media anyone could have expected from back then.

"She looks so…helpless." Tifa groaned unenthusiastically.

"That's how men like it." Vincent joked with the both of them erupting in a short laughter.

"It all looks so cheesy…I mean, you can tell his fangs are fake." She pointed at the screen as the vampire reared up with his fangs bearing proudly.

"I dunno there's a rumor going around saying that I'm a vampire at school." Vincent mused as he stroked his chin at that thought. He then looked at Tifa, who was looking at him, and smiled widely to show his canines. "See."

"No…Vincent, yours look pretty normal…so no." Tifa shot him down and Vincent dropped his head slightly before looking back at the Tifa. "It's ok" He added, "Blood taste like rust anyway."

They sat in silence as their attention dwelled back into the movie for a few moments. It was interesting again, the girl had been bitten and she was changing into a creature of the dead…the fake fangs, and claymation transformation, the cheesiness. Suddenly though, the door swung open violently and Cloud stormed in with his baseball gear as he went right into the bedroom. He didn't even bother to stop and acknowledge their existence until Vincent said something, a question he already knew the answer to, "Cloud, how was the game?"

"A failure…I fucked up." Cloud announced angrily.

"You…fucked up? Wow, that's a bit of a shocker." Vincent responded as he folded his arms across his chest; he knew Cloud was on the verge of losing it.

"I know…but I had someone on my mind. I couldn't get her voice out of my head." He admitted.

Vincent tilted his head to the side a bit shocked about the mentioning of a woman. He actually kinda thought it was Rikku for a moment then he thought about it a bit more; it was 

Tifa. Looking at her as she watched him with a perplexed look on her face, he smiled broadly and said, "You may have done something to my dear roommate over there."

"What?" She uttered loudly. "What do you mean?"

Cloud walked out of the bedroom into the main room where they were at the sound of the voice that had been in his head for most of the day. His intense blue eyes looked as if they glowed in the dimly lit room and they were locked on Tifa. "It was you."

"…Wait…" Tifa stood from the couch and looked at the two them; the vampire movie in the background played its ambient sounds before a dreadful scream from the TV broke the silence. "What the heck is going on?!" Tifa shouted as well; they were both acting odd…kinda like a scary movie almost.

Vincent turned off the TV with the remote then leaned back in the chair looking away from the two of them. Cloud never looked away from Tifa during this. His mind had to fight off the various thoughts and emotions colliding with each other. It was insanity…the feelings of anger and infatuation utterly drove him to the point of near madness. "Damnit!" He muttered. "You are Tifa right?"

"Yeah…" She replied still confused about everything happening here.

"…There is something about you that's messing with me." Cloud folded his arm across his chest and covered his mouth with the other as he thought about it. Then, after a moment, his eyes widened and his brows rose, "I know what it is," his hand dropped from his mouth. "Did you ever live in Nibelheim before?"

"…yes." Tifa felt something kick into her mind, an old memory of an old youth she knew in time. Cloud looked like him.

"Do you remember me?" Cloud said coolly, though he was anxious for an answer.

"I.." She walked up closer to him then stopped, "Go stand in the light"

Vincent stood up once she said that and turned on the ceiling fan's light above them to light the room. Cloud's face was no longer hidden in shadow and because of that Tifa gasped. "Holy crap! You are that kid!"

He half smiled at her response to—it was kinda offensive but he didn't dwell on that; he knew he'd probably act similarly if he was in her situation. "Yeah, I am."



Tifa shook her head then looked toward the floor for a moment to regain her normal cool composure. "Ehm, well, I'm sorry I reacted in such a way…" Her eyes rose to look at him all grown up now and thought 'He really really grew up'. "It's been a long time…"

"I'm not that short and chubby anymore."

"No, not at all…"

"I'd like to thank you, Tifa. Thank you for always standing up for me when were little kids...well or, you know, making me seem a little bit more normal than most the others thought." He smiled at her after those words she returned the smile.

As they stood there staring at each other, Vincent watched them with a big grin. "…Well…I think I'll go for a walk?"

Tifa looked back at him and nodded, "I'll come with you."

The expression on Vincent's face changed to one of confusion as he watched. She was a confusing girl at times. "You too Cloud?"

"No, I need time to relax…" He finally looked away from Tifa to Vincent; his smile gone along with that glint in his eye from earlier. It looked as if he'd been let down by her.

When they were outside and a good mile away from the dormitory Tifa finally spoke, "Wow…"

"Wow?"

"Yes, wow…I probably looked like an idiot then."

"No, you looked happy."

"…Vincent…you should have told me."

"What? How was I suppose to know you two knew each other?"

"I don't know, you are a vampire, don't you have telekinesis or something?" Tifa sighed after that remark.

"I'm not a vampire…" Vincent folded his arms across his chest. "Look…he likes you."

"He's liked me since we were little…I just thought of him as being a sweetheart but I didn't think I'd find him attractive. I was a bit shallow and shy when it came to those things as a kid…I was kinda popular you know." She placed her hands on the black beanie she wore and pulled it down over her face in embarrassment.



"Then you moved and didn't have many friends as you got older?"

"Pretty much."

Vincent watched her for a moment then looked around, "Break is coming up soon, I'm gonna set something up with you and him…maybe a road trip and sail to Costa Del Sol?"

"Nooo…not there…all the posh kids will be there." Tifa lowered her head…it was still covered by the beanie.

"Fine fine, road trip from Juno, which automatically lands in Costa Del Sol, then after just one day there, we will drive to Gold Saucer. How does that sound?" He knew this was a good idea, she'd told him before how she missed Gold Saucer.

Tifa's head perked up and slowly, she pulled the beanie up. When she looked at Vincent, she wore a smile that was so very genuine, a smile that made Vincent feel great about his idea; it was easy to tell that she agreed.

"What!" Cloud shouted in objection toward Vincent's idea. "Look, I'm not up for that you know…I have too much on my plate right now!"

"You don't…you are lying. All you are going to be doing is sitting your ass in this dorm, complaining about how much life sucks to yourself. You need to get out some." Vincent replied.

"I get out enough!"

"You use to when you had your bike but you went ALONE. I'm talking about with people! Socialize a bit! It's not that hard…I don't like doing it but it has to be done to stay sane." He was angry at Cloud, and it was quite frightening to see him like that for Cloud.

"Fuck it…I'll go."

When the day came, Vincent had managed to pick get an old truck from his friend, it was large enough to carry the luggage and serve as an extra seat or two for the guys to ride in the back. Tifa was already sitting in the back of the truck with Rikku and Cloud was in the passenger seat. He and Tifa hadn't said anything to each other the entire moment they were there and it was annoying Vincent.

"We have everything..so let's go." With that, Vincent started the engine and they were off on the road. The weeklong trip was to begin and Cloud was in one of his moods.

Episode 5: Highway Drive

Cloud and Tifa know about each other's past but they aren't sure of how to act on it. The circumstances have happened so fast that their head is spinning but, the fun still has to go on, it's a road trip after all.

A/n: sorry it took so long to update, the school year is almost over so i had time to write a chapter. Hopefully i can keep them coming out more frequently now.