Author's Note – Thanks for all the wonderful reviews. Have no fear, all will be revealed soon enough as to why Cloud is behaving the way he is in the present time. Just a quick note though about the past (the game story), I mentioned previously that the game is extremely long. I've added some additional dialogue or changed some of it. But not every chapter will have elaborated scenes, otherwise this story would be five hundred pages by the time I finished. I have a short attention span and I'd never be able to remain interested in a story that would take me a year to finish. So there will be times that the past may seem rushed, especially now that things are starting to happen on the quest. I picked and chose the right Cloud and Tifa moments to elaborate that I felt needed something extra.

So anyway, on with the story…

Chapter 10

JUNON – the present

The Junon Inn penthouse had a breathtaking view of the bay. This wasn't my first visit to Junon. We had been here plenty of times while chasing after Sephiroth a couple years ago. But this was the first time I had the chance to really enjoy the sights.

I moved closer to the large panoramic window and glanced to the right. The huge cannon was still there. It had been damaged by one of the Weapons summoned by the planet's own defenses. Remembering our AVALANCHE days only made me think of Cloud.

I reached into my purse for my cellphone. It hadn't rung again since Reno had answered it in the diner. I accessed my voicemail.

"You have four messages," said the electronic voice.

I hit the button to listen to them.

"Playing message one."

"Tifa…" It was Cloud, of course. "Listen, I'm sorry for whatever it is I did or…didn't do. Can you please answer your phone?" Click.

He really sounded desperate in the message. But I wasn't quite convinced he was being sincere.

"Playing message two."

"Tifa…will you answer your fucking phone?" Click.

There was the irrational Cloud, the one that drove me to do things beyond my control. In fact, I once poured a pitcher of cold water over his head when he argued that it was beneath him to tend the bar every once in awhile.

"Playing message three."

"Okay, I know I haven't been easy to get along with lately. I've been selfish and self-absorbed and…maybe a little bit unapproachable. I get that. I'm sorry. I promise I'll stop being a dick." There was a brief silence before he continued. "Please…please, just call me back." Click.

I wasn't sure I liked hearing him plead. It was an oddity, mainly because he never had to beg for anything before. He always got whatever he wanted. But it was nearly enough to convince me to call him back. And I almost did until I heard the last message.

"Why're you doing this to me, Tifa? I don't need this shit. Denzel's asking me a million questions about where you are and Marlene's crying her eyes out because she thinks I did something to make you leave. If you're ticked off at me, then fine, I can deal with that, but will you at least come back home for them?" Click.

I felt like throwing my phone across the room. And I almost did…until it buzzed in my hand.

I looked at the display. It was Yuffie.

"Hello?"

"Tifa, what's going on? Marlene called me in tears. She said you ran away from home."

I plopped myself down on a nearby sofa and was momentarily distracted by its incredible plushiness. "Yuffie, you were right. He's taking advantage of me. I don't know why I didn't see it before."

"Okay, but the plan was to kick his ass out, not for you to leave."

"I can't kick him out. It's just as much his place as it is mine."

"So what now? Who's going to take care of Marlene and Denzel?"

"He's going to have to do it for awhile."

"He can't even take care of himself, much less two kids."

"Yes, especially since he's probably on his way here to Junon as we speak."

"You're in Junon?"

I sighed. "Can you do me a big favor? Call Barret and tell him I need him to stay at the bar for a few days so the kids have someone there to take care of them."

"What're you going to do when Cloud comes looking for you?"

"He's not going to find me."

"You know how persistent he can be. You can't hide out forever."

"I know. I just want to rattle him up a bit."

"And make him realize how much he takes you for granted."

"Exactly."

"Okay. It sounds like you've got things well under control."

I wasn't as confident in myself as Yuffie was in me. "I hope so."

"Make that bird-brained Chocobo head suffer."

I frowned at Yuffie's statement.

Did I really want Cloud to suffer? Hadn't he suffered enough in his life? Instead of helping him mentally mend, I was probably adding salt to his wounds…I knew Cloud lacked self-confidence in a lot of things, but he always made it seem like he was so sure of himself. Maybe he needed this wake-up call to get him back on a reality check.

"I'll talk to you later, Yuffie. Don't forget to call Barret."

"I won't. Bye."

"Bye." I ended the call and scrolled down my contact list until Cloud's name was highlighted. I pressed the Talk button and put the phone to my ear.

It rang…

…and rang

…and rang

Finally his voicemail came on. "Leave a message," his voice requested.

I hung up without leaving a message because I didn't know yet what I wanted to say to him.

Either he couldn't hear his cellphone ringing while riding that monstrosity of a motorcycle of his, or he chose to ignore it so he wouldn't have to stop.

I tossed my phone aside and leaned by head back to rest on the soft sofa. Something was nagging at the back of my mind. He seemed to be over-reacting to all of this. Was he really that lost at home without me? Even for one day? He was fine when he was by himself on the road, gone for days at a time…What was it about home that made him panic when I wasn't there?

COSTA DEL SOL – the past

When we docked at Costa Del Sol, we all waited until the coast was clear before disembarking the ship.

Barret was the first to speak as we glanced around. "Damn! Sure is hot here. But I'll sure feel better once I can say good-bye to this stupid sailor suit."

"Oh, too bad," Aeris said cheerfully. "I liked you in a sailor suit. You looked so cute."

"Whatcha mean 'cute'?"

I tried to contain my laugh. "Right…well, uh…Barret, why don't you use that sailor suit for pajamas? Right, Cloud?"

Cloud rolled his eyes. "Can we keep our minds focused on Sephiroth. This isn't a vacation."

"You're the one who's always hangin' around wastin' time," Barret retorted.

Red XIII was puffing laboriously. "This heat is drying my nose."

Yuffie nodded. "Yeah, mine, too!"

Cloud seemed impatient as he sighed. "Fine, let's just take a short break and then we're outta here. So don't wander too far."

Aeris glanced at her arms. "Maybe I should get a tan for a change. What do you think, Cloud?"

He had a blank look on his face as he stared at Aeris. Then his eyes briefly darted in my direction. "Uh…I guess."

She winked at him. "I'll remember that."

After Aeris walked away, Cloud found me still watching him. "What?"

Was he so clueless that he couldn't see she was flirting with him? Or maybe he knew and was making me think he didn't have a clue. I shook my head. "Nothing."

The sound of approaching voices made us quickly take cover behind a stone wall. We peeked around the side to catch a glimpse of Rufus and Heidegger getting off the ship.

"I heard Sephiroth was on board," Rufus said casually.

Heidegger hung his head down. "Yes."

"And it seems Cloud and the other AVALANCHE members were on board, too."

"Yes."

Rufus shook his head in disgust. "They all slipped through. You messed up big this time, Heidegger."

"I'm ashamed of myself."

"Is that all you can do? Give one word answers and apologize for everything?"

A Shinra guard approached. "The helicopter is ready for departure, sir!"

Rufus nodded and glanced one last time at Heidegger. "Do something. I'll be expecting results." He walked toward a platform where a helicopter rested.

Heidegger became angry and attacked threw sailors, pushing them off the dock. He started toward the platform, but the helicopter left without him.

Cloud grabbed my arm. "Come on, let's go before he sees us."

After purchasing some items from a local vendor, Cloud and I met up with Aeris on the beach, where she had been picking seashells.

"Look there," she said with a nod of her head further down the beach.

Cloud's eyes widened. "Hojo! What the hell's he doing here?"

"Should we go over and talk to him?" I asked, but Cloud had already started in Hojo's direction.

A woman in a bikini stood in our way. "What do you want?"

Cloud looked passed her. "I want to talk to that man."

The woman frowned when Cloud tried to get passed her. "Hey, who do you think you are?" She went back and leaned toward Hojo. "Professor, that scary man says he wants to talk to you."

"I'm busy right now."

The woman returned. "Too bad."

Cloud wasn't put off. He moved forward, forcing the woman to stumble backward.

Hojo sat up in the lounge chair he had been laying on. "I remember you now. All of you. Yes, yes. It's been a long time, Cloud."

"What're you doing here?" Cloud asked.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm getting a tan."

"That's not the answer I'm looking for!"

Hojo smiled at Cloud's frustrated look. "I believe we're both after the same goal."

"You mean Sephiroth?"

"So you saw him, did you? I see…Ha! Ha!"

"You see what?"

"I just remembered a certain hypothesis…Haven't you ever had the feeling something is calling you? Or that you had to visit some place?"

Cloud frowned for a moment as if he was thinking about something. Then he turned back to Hojo. "I'm going wherever Sephiroth is going so I can beat him and put an end to all this!"

"Hmm. This could be interesting. Yes, I remember. You were in SOLDIER. Heh heh heh! Would you like to be my guinea pig once again?"

Cloud angrily drew his buster sword.

"Oh, now what? Are you going to kill me?"

I jumped in front of Cloud, which was a very foolish thing to do when he had his buster sword held ready to strike. "Stop, Cloud! I know how you feel, but you can't. Not right now. We need answers."

Cloud reluctantly lowered his sword.

Hojo looked passed us. "Hey, you're the Ancient."

"I have a name," replied Aeris. "The least you can do is call me by it. And I know I'm an Ancient. My mother told me."

"Your mother? Oh, you mean Infalna. How is she?"

"She died. Don't tell me you didn't know that."

Hojo shrugged.

Aeris stepped forward, the anger on her face quickly vanishing. "Professor Hojo, is Jenova an Ancient? Is Sephiroth an Ancient? Do we all have the same blood?"

Hojo tilted his head down and started mumbling.

Aeris turned to Cloud and I. "He's hiding something!"

I kicked the lounge chair. "Hey! Answer us!!"

Hojo leaned back and closed his eyes. He wasn't going to talk to us any longer.

Cloud shook his head and walked away. "Let's find the others and get the hell out of here."

Aeris and I exchanged glances before we quickly followed him.

MT COREL / NORTH COREL – the past

Our next destination was North Corel. When we reached the outskirts of some mountains, Cloud and I ran into a man while the others were trying to catch up to us.

"Hey, is this the way to North Corel?" Cloud asked him.

"Whew! You're actually talking to me," the man replied.

"What's the problem?"

"I passed a guy in a black cloak not too long ago back there. I tried to tell him that it's dangerous up ahead and he ignored me!"

Cloud turned to me. "Sephiroth…"

I glanced over my shoulder and waved to the others. "Come on! We have to hurry!"

The six of us walked into the town together.

I glanced around. Everything was in ruins and people were living in tents. It reminded me of Nibelheim, after all the fires were out.

Someone pointed at us…or rather at Barret. "You!" He stuck his head into a tent. "He's back!"

Barret stepped forward. "You all wait here."

The rest of us watched Barret approach the first man who was soon joined by a second.

"Well, looky here!" said the first man. "Never thought I'd ever see your face again. Those people over there, they with you? Well, I feel sorry for 'em! Hangin' around a walkin' death sentence like you, Barret."

"You got a lot of balls comin' back here!" yelled the second man. "Look at this place! It's all your fault North Corel turned into a garbage heap!"

"Why doncha say something!? Or did ya forget what you done here already?"

Barret hung his head. "I'm sorry…"

"Shit! You ain't even worth the effort. Just leave."

Barret left the men and returned to our group. "You heard 'em. It's my fault this town was destroyed." He walked away.

The rest of us followed him through the demolished town to the Ropeway Station that led to the Gold Saucer.

Aeris approached Barret while Cloud purchased tickets from the ticket booth. "Barret, what happened?"

Barret shook his head. "Sorry. My hometown used to be around here."

"What do you mean 'used to'?" asked Red.

"It ain't here no more. Heard it got buried…in just 4 years."

Aeris pressed on. "But how could those people say those terrible things?"

"It's my fault. ALL my fault."

After Cloud returned with the tickets, we all boarded the Ropeway car. It left the station a few minutes later.

Barret was holding his head in his hands while Aeris sat beside him, rubbing his back. "The only one against it was Dyne," he started to say. "He didn't want us to throw away our coal, protected for generations, our ancestors risked their lives for it. Simply to be replaced by Mako energy." He raised his head and clenched his teeth. "That crazy woman, Scarlet. She said Shinra, Inc would guarantee our livelihood once the Mako reactor was built. It was the Shinra troops that burned the town and lots of people died."

"Shinra troops?" asked Cloud. "What for?"

"There was an explosion at the reactor. Shinra blamed the accident on the people. Said it was done by a rebel faction."

"That's so terrible!" I said. Barret never spoke about his past. I never knew what had happened to him to make him so bitter or how he had lost his arm.

"I couldn't forgive myself. Never should've gone along with the building of the reactor."

I felt bad for him. "Don't blame yourself. We were all fooled by the promises Shinra made back then."

"That's why…that's why I get so pissed off! Not only did they take advantage of me…But I lost my wife, Myrna, too…Dyne was my best friend. We was close ever since we was kids."

Yuffie shrugged. "I'm not sympathizing with you or anything, Barret, but none of you should have trusted Shinra, Inc."

After that no one spoke for the rest of the ride to the Gold Saucer.

GOLD SAUCER – the past

As the tram approached the Gold Saucer, I stared at the structure in awe. There were blinding lights everywhere. There was so much to see, I couldn't see any of it before the tram entered the station.

We got off the tram and Cloud handed each of us our tickets.

"Don't lose them cuz they're lifetime tickets and I'm not paying for any more."

We passed through the archway entrance and came to a room with seven round openings. According to the woman who had stamped our tickets, every place at the Gold Saucer was accessed by these chutes.

Aeris clapped her hands. "Let's have fun! Come on, Barret, cheer up!"

"I ain't in no cheery mood. So jes' leave me alone."

"Oh, that's too bad." Aeris walked over to Cloud. "Let's go!"

I walked up to them. "Aeris," I whispered. "Don't you think that was a little harsh?"

"Just act normal when this happens."

I frowned. She acted as if she knew Barret and she didn't. "I don't think so…"

She ignored me and walked back to Barret. "We're gonna play…"

Barret threw his arms in the air. "So PLAY! …messin' round! Shit! Don't forget we're after Sephiroth!" He stormed away and jumped into the chute labeled 'Wonder Square'.

Aeris shrugged. "Oops. I think he's mad."

I sighed. "He'll be fine."

"Come on, let's go!" Aeris jumped into the chute labeled 'Event Square'.

Yuffie and Red jumped in after her.

I turned to Cloud. "We'd better be careful, Sephiroth might be around." I started to walk toward the Event Square chute, but Cloud grabbed my arm.

"Let's stick together then." He led me toward the Speed Square chute instead and we both jumped in.

Upon landing on the other side, I noticed the entrance to a rollercoaster ride. There was a short line at the ticket window.

"Are we going on the ride?" I asked Cloud.

Cloud glanced around. "I dunno if I can. I might get motion sick."

"Do you have any more of those pills?"

Before Cloud could answer, a muscular man with a dark tan walked up to us. My eyes involuntarily looked him over. He wore nothing but red bikini briefs. I checked my gag reflex to make sure it was functioning because this man really made me want to vomit. Who in the world walked around an amusement park in just their briefs?

"Hey, boy," he said, ignoring me completely.

Cloud frowned in annoyance. "Boy?"

"You having fun? Good, good for you boy."

"The name's Cloud. Stop calling me boy."

"I'm the owner of the Gold Saucer. My name is Dio. But you can call me…Dio."

Cloud looked like he had stopped listening to him as he continued to glance around. He had a tendency to do that if he was bored with someone.

"By the way, boy," Dio went on. "Do you know what Black Materia is?"

"What is it?"

"Ha ha…that, I say, that's a good one, boy! But it's not good to lie. You can't fool me."

"Then why'd you ask me?"

"Well, someone recently asked me if I had any Black Materia. I thought you might know him, seein' as you both have that Mako look in your eyes."

Cloud suddenly gave Dio his full attention. "Did he happen to have…a black cape…?"

"Why yes, yes indeed. And a tattoo on his hand of the number one."

"Where did he go?"

"I have no idea. Well then, I have to move on. Stop by the Battle Arena, boy. You'll probably like it. Many of my collections are on display there."

Cloud waited until Dio was gone before he grabbed me by the arm again and led me back to the chutes. "Maybe we should look for Sephiroth instead. Let's go find Barret." We jumped into the Wonder Square chute.

On the other side was the entrance to a building. Before we could head there, a cat on a white moogle hopped in our direction.

"Hey you!! What're you lookin' so down for!? How 'bout it? Want me to read your fortune!? A bright future! A happy future! Oh, but don't hold it against me if it's not a great prediction! Oh, so sorry, maybe I should introduce myself! I'm a fortune telling machine. The name's…Cait Sith."

Cloud folded his arms. "You can only tell us about our fortune?"

"You kidding!? I can do more than that. I find missing things, missing people, anything!"

"Then tell me where I can find a man named Sephiroth."

"Sephiroth, right!? Okay, here goes!!"

The moogle beneath Cait Sith performed an interesting foot shuffle, making me laugh. At the end, the moogle spit out a card and handed it to Cloud.

Cloud looked down at the card and read it outloud. "Ordinary luck. It will be an active fortune. Give into the good will of others, and something big will happen after summer." He looked up at Cait Sith. "What the hell's this? I thought you said you can find missing people."

"Let me try again."

The moogle performed his shuffle again and again handed a card to Cloud at the end.

"Be careful of forgetfulness. Your lucky color is…blue?" Cloud tossed the card away. "Just forget it."

"Wait, wait…give me another chance!" cried Cait Sith. "Just one more try!"

Cloud was quickly losing his patience.

Cait Sith's moogle shuffled a third time and again gave Cloud a card.

Cloud read it to himself this time and looked up with a startled expression. "What the…!?

I tried to catch a glimpse of the card. "What does it say?"

"It says, what you pursue will be yours, but you will lose something dear."

Cait Sith shrugged. "I don't know if it's good or bad. This is the first time I ever got such an odd fortune. Shall we go then?"

"Excuse me? Go where?" I asked.

"As a fortune teller, I can't help but wonder about this. If I don't see what it leads to, I won't be able to sleep. That's why I must go with you on your travels."

I looked at Cloud.

He was shaking his head. "No. No way."

"I'm coming with you no matter what you say!"

"How about it, Cloud," I said. "The moogle looks fairly strong. We could use him when we cross paths with any monsters."

"I guess I don't have a say in the matter." He gave in and turned to Cait Sith. "Fine. You can go. So did you happen to see a big guy with a gun on his arm?"

"He was here a few minutes ago. But he went to the Battle Square."

The three of us jumped into the Battle Square chute.

On the other side we walked to the entrance where a Shinra guard stood. Suddenly the guard startled us by dropped to the floor.

Cloud crouched down to check him. "Dead…" Then he stood back up and rushed through the entrance.

The next room was full of corpses.

I stared in shock. "Did Sephiroth do this?"

Cloud shook his head. "No, it's not him. These people were all shot. Sephiroth would never use a gun."

We heard someone moaning behind the ticket counter. It was a young woman. She was still alive. I helped her up on her feet.

"What happened?" Cloud asked her.

"A…a man with a gun…on his arm…"

I gasped. "Barret? No, it can't be."

"Hold it right there!"

Dio and several men appeared. "Grab them before they escape!"

As the men grabbed us, Cloud turned to Dio. "We didn't do this!"

Dio wouldn't listen. He motioned to his men. They dragged us to the center of the arena and surrounded us with their weapons raised.

"Listen to me!" yelled Cloud.

"There's no need to listen," Dio said calmly. "Pay for your crime below."

The floor suddenly opened up beneath us and the three of us fell into a dark abyss.

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