Chapter XI

White.

Brightness.

Light.

His ocean eyes blinked.

He was awake.

Get up.

He slowly got up off his back and on his feet. He heard his shoes sloshing around like he was standing in a puddle. He looked down. He saw the perplexed image of himself staring back through disturbed ripples. It was…water. He was standing in water. There was water all around him. His eyes squinted to look as far as he could, but all he could find was nothing but the mirroring water. He looked above him. It was white with beautiful, giant green trees. It was like an aerial reflection of the world but…above him. Everything was so strange…

What happened…to the canyon?

Where is everybody?

Where the hell am I?

"Hello…?" His small voice called. It echoed softly into the distance.

'Cloud…'

He called again, with a louder tone. "Hey!"

Nothing.

He sighed and turned his body around. His eyes narrowed.

There was a figure in the distance.

Naturally, his feet picked up in a quick jog over to the unknown being. Water splashed around him as he ran, drawing closer and closer. With every step his vision improved and the blurred figure began to sharpen. His eyes widened, and his hurried movement ceased. He gazed upon the figure with complete awe.

Tifa…

She stood before him with perfect posture. Her feminine form was clothed in a one-shoulder, white sheer gown with a silk liner underneath. An elegant diamond pin held the fabric at her left shoulder that matched the diamond chain that hugged her natural waist. A long, slender leg was exposed from the deep slit of the dress that ended just at the middle of her thigh. Her contrasting dark hair fell around her shoulders and face. Her red wine eyes were absorbed into his blue ones as tranquility blossomed from her porcelain countenance.

It was like he was looking at a goddess.

She slowly extended out her delicate hand to him, and her pink lips moved.

"Do you trust me?"

Yes…

He tore his eyes away from her and looked at her reaching hand. He walked to her, allured by her presence. He gave a nod and firm answered her.

"I trust you."

He reached for her and wrapped his hand around hers. She smiled.

"Be strong," She said.

He cocked his head in puzzlement.

What?

Suddenly, he could feel a strange burning sensation in his chest and torso. He groaned as he ripped his hand free from hers to grasp his chest that stung of pain. His legs gave out, causing him to crash onto his knees into the splashing water. He growled and winced in agony as he painfully looked back up at the dark haired woman.

"What's…wrong…with me?" He muttered out before he violently began coughing up blood. Large spots of his red blood began forming on his gray thermal. The thick liquid dripped from his body into the water and infected the calm clearness into a hazy crimson. He could feel his breathless lungs aching for oxygen.

She shook her head, as she placed the barrel of her hand gun to his chest.

"Trust me."

Her finger wrapped around the trigger, and the look on her face darkened.

No, wait! You can't!

Why? I don't understand!

He looked down at his chest and watched the gun flash.


Cloud abruptly sat up, clutching his chest and gasping for air. His heart throbbed in his chest like it was about to explode or something as sweat dripped from the sides of his face. He felt a soft hand touch his shoulder in comfort.

"Cloud! It's okay…it's okay…" Tifa assured with worry in her eyes. "Are you alright?"

Cloud looked around him. Above him was the cloudy and early morning sky, colored in shades of sweet lavender, gray-blue, and fire orange-red. Around him was the rocky canyon he remembered falling asleep to. He was lying in his scattered blankets next to the cooled bonfire. Tifa was on her knees at his side, holding him tight and steady with Fenrir awake and closely next to her.

"Cloud…?" She asked again in need of a response.

After catching his breath he looked down at his chest and body. There was no blood. There was no bullet wound. There was no water and no trees in the sky. Everything was normal. He was alive.

The brunette squeezed his arm, and he finally looked at her.

"Are you okay?" She repeated.

He slowly nodded his head. "I just–I–uh…yeah…yeah I'm okay."

"Did you…have a bad dream or something?"

You don't even wanna know…

"It's nothing." He pulled away from her touch and got on his feet. "We should…get ready to leave."


It had been almost two weeks since they left Cosmo Canyon and journeyed back out into the wasteland. Cloud had gotten used to Tifa and came to find her as a valuable asset. If they couldn't find a local town nearby, they could easily setup camp together. And if they had their camp, some nights Cloud would stay up to watch for fiends or raiders, and other nights Tifa would take the graveyard shift. It was also easier defending against the lurking beasts they would sometimes run into. Even getting food and water took less time and work with Tifa. And no matter where they were, she would always be up to help anyone out in which he ended up doing the same.

Traveling with her made the trip to North Corel both more exciting and comforting. She would always have something to talk about that kept him interested and engaged. He found himself growing out of his quiet, withdrawn shell and was relaxing into his true self. It was like she was morphing him into someone he had always wanted to be…or something he used to be. But he liked the change. He started smiling often, even though most of the time they were just small, crafty grins. The two would even deviously play around to lighten up the mood. Like peas and carrots, they just worked together.

"We there yet?" Tifa's recurring question came out in a sigh, and it broke Cloud out of thought.

He gave his own usual and recurring reply. "Nope."

"Wow, really? It's like we've been out here for centuries," She said as she trekked onwards in their usual formation.

Cloud took out his torn map. "Want me to show you where we are…again?"

The woman stopped and waited until he caught up with her.

He pointed. "We're right…oh, wait…" He adjusted the map and turned it. "Actually, we're not there. We're right here."

"No way. You said we were there the last time!"

"Well, we haven't moved that far since the last time I showed you, which was about fifty yards ago."

She placed a hand on her jutting hip and gave him a playful shove at his shoulder.

"Oh, come on. I don't ask that often."

He placed his map back in his pocket. "Oh, but you do."

"I don't know where the fuck the damn thing came from. Just it the fuck away from here…I'm not letting this little pretty go. We need the damn money."

BARK BARK BARK!

"Get! Get out of here damn mutt!"

Cloud and Tifa looked ahead of them and didn't see the black German shepherd. Tifa looked back at Cloud.

"Let's go."

They ran over to the noise, dodging rocks and muddy puddles of the mountainous terrain. They came up to a small cliff where they saw the black dog, two men and a small girl. The little girl was standing at the edge of the cliff and looked as if she was threatening to jump over it into the pool of black water below. She was clothed in filthy rags and trembled with fear. Her long, black hair was tied in a messy braid and her front bangs were covered in sweat. One of the men was pursuing her, slowly crawling up to her with his blood stained knife drawn while the other was trying to get Fenrir out of the way. Cloud and Tifa took off their bags and drew their weapons.

"Come on, now. We've been through this before. I won't harm you unless you come with us. Now, just step away from the edge there and come with me…It'll make this trip a lot easier…"

"Get away from me! I'd rather jump than become a slave!" She screamed.

Rrrrrrr!

"Dude! The damn thing isn't leaving! I think–GAHH! My leg! It's got my damn leg!"

Suddenly, Tifa's fists met with the screaming man's face, and it sent him into the moist ground. His mouth literally ate the dirt.

The other man turned around. "What are you–ahhh!"

An arrow crippled his leg, blindly distracting him as Cloud went over to the terrified little girl.

"Are you–"

SMACK!

The girl threw a punch that landed on the side of his face and leaped off the cliff.

What is up with these women punching men? Damn!

"You're gonna pay for that, asshole! You don't mess with slavers. We'll fuck you up!"

"Cloud! Behind you!" Tifa shouted as she ran after him.

The blonde turned and was instantly tackled over the edge by the wounded man. They splashed into the chilly, murky water as they wrestled and fought each other. Cloud managed to get behind the man and wrapped his arms around his neck to try and choke him to death. But as the man resisted, his elbow went back and jabbed his nose. Cloud released his grip and struggled to get air. But the slaver pulled him back down and attempted to rip out the knife in Cloud's hand. He could hardly see, but he heard someone else drop into the water, swimming after them. Blindly, Cloud threw himself at his opponent and rammed his combat knife into his gut. The slaver gasped out, losing his oxygen. He continued to stab the man as he aggressively kicked him in the chest and face. So much blood tainted the water that Cloud had lost total visibility. Cloud drew back after he felt someone grab the collar of his coat, and took him up to the surface. He gasped for air as he reached the top of the water.

"I gotcha!" Tifa's voice came.

He tried to respond but ended up swallowing the black, dirt water and his own blood dripping from his nose and face. She dragged his struggling body out of the water and onto the ground. He was on his back, coughing up grimy and watery liquid mixture. Half of his face was painted in his blood that dripped from a small cut at his brow. Tifa hovered over him with concerned eyes. His hazy eyes looked back. Gods, his chest hurt. He could feel her hand caress the side of his bleeding face.

"My gods…he really hit you badly…" She said in a small voice.

"Yeah, but he didn't finish the job," A smooth voice came.

Cloud watched as her body froze as a thick metal rod touched her skull. He turned his head to try and see who it was. He saw a man with a lanky physique. He had unkempt red hair with a pieces of his long hair tied in the back. He had two symmetrical tattoo marks on his cheek bones in the same fiery red color as his hair. He had on a pair of black goggles on that covered his eyes. He had pierced ears and was dressed in a grubby unbuttoned blue suit and an untucked dress shirt. Smudged on his pale face was a scheming grin as he ripped the woman away from his side.

"Hey!" She protested. "Get off of me! Let me go, dammit! Stop!"

"Ooohhh, you've got a mouth on you, yo!" The red haired man snickered as he flashed his electrifying electro-mag rod at her. She quickly fell silent. "The boss is gonna love to see you use it!"

Suddenly, his body didn't hurt anymore. Cloud attempted to move to beat the living shit out of the male, but a bald man was already standing over him with a gun pointed in his face. Four other guys armed with sledgehammers emerged from behind him. The tall, bald man was dressed in the same suit as the other, except in a neater fashion. He wore sleek black sunglasses and earrings as well.

"Hold on there, Spikes…" The lanky man said and looked over at the bald man. "Rude, take the girl and make sure she gets the royal treatment. She's the kind of material the boss is looking for."

The man named Rude nodded and casually stepped over Cloud and gently took Tifa. One of the four men spoke up, hungry for bloodshed.

"You want us to finish this kid, Reno?"

"Hey, hey, hey…I'll handle Spikes, don't worry, yo. Just get the fuckin' truck ready and make sure the broads don't pull some bullshit stunts. Are the two slavers dead?"

"Yeah, and we captured their prisoner."

"Good…all right, yo…get to the fucking truck, damn."

They nodded and left.

Reno squatted down next to the blonde man, who was still motionless and boiling in anger. Reno's smile grew wider as he saw the resentment in Cloud's Mako eyes. He took off his goggles, revealing his icy blue ones.

"Yo, Spikes. Sorry about takin' your woman. I know...you're not gonna get laid tonight, but hey, you can always stop by Costa Del Sol and pick up a slave to do the job. You know, so you can blow off some steam or whatever crazy shit you're into?"

"You fucking asshole…I'm gonna murder you…" Cloud growled as his grip tightened on his knife.

"Chill, yo. Look, your broad is the kind of bitch my boss is lookin' for. So don't worry. She's gonna be in good hands…well, okay, not really. I've seen him beat his bitches like they were rags. Anyways, don't blame this shit on me, 'ight? Me and my partner are just doin' our job. We don't chill with the slavers. Maybe the slave women, but not the slavers. And part of our job is takin' out assholes that get in our way…"

Cloud threw his arm over to stab the red haired man with the knife in his hand, but he was faster. Reno easily blocked the assault and rammed a fist into his face. Reno shook his head as he stood up.

"You're fuckin' with the wrong people, Spikes." He said as electricity flowed through his rod. "Enjoy living in hell!"

He brought down his weapon with a hard swing and whacked Cloud into complete darkness.