II.
Home.
Some of the cobblestones wobbled under her feet, and the well was already starting to look as if it was in disrepair. There was an odd quiet to the place; the Shinra employees had fled the town around the time Meteor seemed to be impending certain doom.
A sound was floating on the air, though, and it became clearer as Tifa made her way into the central square. Piano. She smiled to herself. So that's where he is. She became quite excited and half-ran to what appeared to be her old house. She swung open the door and bounced up the stairs.
The playing had stopped the instant she had opened the front door, and she was met by a familiar face as soon as she entered her bedroom. "Cloud," she said with a grin, "At last."
There were dark circles under his eyes and a few days worth of stubble growth on his face. "Why are you here?"
She frowned at the dull sound in his voice. "I don't know, you run away the day after the celebration party and make yourself scarce for six months. Everyone worried at first, but eventually went off to do their own thing. I never forgot, though."
"How could you forget? It was your fault." He fiddled with the chain attached to his belt.
Her face was the perfect picture of shock. "My…how could you say such a thing? I was worried sick!"
"Only because you stopped being able to control my every move!" He stepped closer, chest rising and falling with his angry breathing. "So why don't you stop lying and admit that you freaked the fuck out five months ago when I broke off your manipulate spell?"
"Why the hell would you accuse me of such a thing? Is Jenova trying to do something with you?" Her voice was sweet, but overkill, like honeyed sugar cubes topped with frosting. "I'll help you--"
"You think I wouldn't notice you were in my head? I thought I was going crazy after the crater for a second there…but I woke up to see you use that…" Suddenly, the room flashed green.
Tifa would have fallen to her knees in agony, if she wasn't also petrified. She wasn't familiar with the effects of a Break spell. Tears welled up in her eyes and turned crystalline before they could fall.
"I hope I fuck this part up," Cloud declared before bringing the hilt of his sword down on her armlet. Hard.
However his aim was true, and the manipulate materia shattered along with outer pieces of the Mystile. Please, I was only trying to help! She tried to shout the thought, hoping that maybe, somehow, he could hear…
"Stay out of my head!" He lifted his sword, preparing to shatter her entirely, but her scream of terror echoed throughout his skull. The Ultima Weapon clattered to the floor, as he brought his hands up to his ears, uselessly, in response to the pain.
She noticed that she still existed, and the panic began to dissipate. Can we please just talk about this?
"I trusted you," he said. "It was stupid, but I did. But you're just like everyone else I'd trusted. You lied. Even when you were in my head the first time, you lied. You still wanted to act like we were these perfect friends. Still wanted to believe that I had saved you like a big hero in the reactor…your way, not reality. I confronted you, and you barely said anything. So obsessed, caring so much, but doing everything to undermine me, my sanity…
"And you then try to up it to the next level, expecting me to just take it? Maybe it worked before, more than once. But you were there. You saw me break free. Yet you think me so stupid to fall for it again? You think so little of me that you want to turn me back into your little Cloud. Like I'm a pet, instead of a man. Doing everything you wanted, like right after you found me in Midgar."
I just wanted to make you better…my friend…you weren't a failure, you were the best…
"Why would you, Tifa of Nibelheim, talk to me about being a failure?" His eyes bored in to her unblinking ones. "What dark secrets do you have repressed and rewritten? Why are you so afraid of me remembering? So against me being happy? You never wanted much to do with me, why can't I be with--" He shook his head. "This ends now. You have no power over me." He pulled out a pendant holding a materia orb, green and glowing.
What are you going to do now, cast death on me? When I stood by your side…what is wrong with…you wouldn't dare…murder…monster…puppet… Her thoughts died down to incoherency.
"I prayed. Maybe only Aeris could talk to the Planet. But I got her materia back to see if I could talk to Aeris. I haven't blocked you out yet, because I wanted to see…if there was a mistake…but I was too hopeful. You will not be inside again."
Tifa shouted everything she could mentally, searched as deep as she could, but he was right. She was cut off. This is all a mistake, Cloud…I didn't even want to…but…she…
"You won't see me again." Cloud grabbed the coverlet off of the replica of Tifa's bed and draped it over her form.
Panic didn't hit her until well after she heard his footsteps go down the stairs and well out of the town square.
It was deathly quiet, but that was to be expected for ruins. Cloud had woken up in the middle of the night with some sort of visions. Not only that, but he insisted that everyone follow him to see if his hunch was right.
Tifa yawned, barely registering the conversation that Cloud and Yuffie were having up ahead. …Yuffie. She frowned to herself. They were spending an awful lot of time together. The "date" at the Gold Saucer had seemed innocent enough and, according to Yuffie herself, had been quite the disaster. But still, Yuffie and Aeris were Cloud's only companions into the Temple of the Ancients. He was traveling with three women, and, yet, he'd left the most accomplished fighter of them behind when chasing Sephiroth.
She was beginning to wonder if the only reason she ever went someplace with Cloud was because everyone else was going, too.
What the hell are they up to? She was bewildered to see them walking into a house that they had searched top to bottom six hours ago, at the latest. Paused, head cocked in confusion, she was being passed up by her other companions.
"C'mon Teef." Barret tapped her shoulder. "I don' know what stupidity's goin' on in his brain, but you shouldn't be stayin' out here by yourself."
She walked in to see that where a large image of a fish had once stood, there was a doorway which led to a crystal staircase. …insane.
Cloud and Yuffie were beginning to descend, followed closely by everyone else. Tifa fell into file at the end. Some sort of mysterious force was afoot in the Ancient Village…whether for good or for ill.
·
Yuffie's gasp was good and loud at the bottom of the stairway, but she had an actual reason, for once. On a raised platform of some clear blue rock or crystal, their vanished friend sat plain as day. Kneeling, with her hands clasped together in some silent prayer. Tifa felt her feet pause when she hit the floor. Has she been here this whole time? Why couldn't she just have explained? We could have let her be in here and just stood guard in the village.
Cloud slowly made his way across the water flowing around Aeris' platform. Each step forward was awkward, like he was fighting some sort of invisible barriers. Tifa cautiously made her way closer, picking her way between her companions, trying not to raise notice.
He paused and held his head for a moment, like when he'd had his attacks back in the Midgar mako reactors. Be all right… He drew his sword, and she looked around. There's nothing to attack…why'd he…
Suddenly he raised his sword high above him, and the only thing for him to swing down on would be Aeris. Tifa's heart leapt into her throat.
"Not again," she heard Yuffie cry. "Cloud!" Her voice had risen to a yell. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
The sound broke Cloud out of his attack, and Aeris out of her prayer. Slowly, carefully, he lowered his sword and sheathed it. "Sorry," he whispered.
Tifa was still looking at Yuffie. Not again? When on the Planet has he done this before? And why didn't you tell anyone?!
Aeris looked up at him, smiling.
·
Quicker than most could see, a form fell down quickly from the ceiling. Tifa's eyes were well-trained, but could still only catch a few glimpses mid-air. Black cape, long silver hair, a thin, long sword.
"Seph…" The name was on her lips, even as the masamune cut through their friend. Aeris looked down, staring at the blade exiting through her own midsection. Sephiroth yanked out his sword with more strength than concern, smirking at all of them. Her body pitched forward, right into Cloud's arms.
Tifa blinked back hot tears, barely able to believe the scene in front of her. Even though she'd seen people she cared about die, this was different…this was in front of her face…this was… She barely heard or saw Cloud screaming at Sephiroth, or the return taunting.
However, she did notice the form of Jenova that suddenly rose in front of them, giving Sephiroth a chance to escape. Cloud carefully laid Aeris down and drew his sword, Yuffie running up quickly to aid him.
Aeris… Tifa did not hesitate to run up herself, fear of being underappreciated forgotten for a moment.
·
The pain had made the battle more difficult, but had also leant intensity to their actions. The fight against the form of Jenova had been brutal and swift. Even as the alien body dissolved into nothingness, she heard Cloud…shouting at it.
"I am not a puppet!"
She moved to comfort him, help him with this problem, but paused. Aeris was still laying there, perfectly still. She would never cheer them up, tell them weird stories about the Turks, talk to the Planet…
Cloud met her eyes over the body of their friend. He looked just as sad as she felt. New tears glittered in her eyes. He started to move towards her.
The moment was interrupted by a loud sob to her left. Yuffie's shoulders hitched up and down. "Oh gawd…" She fell down to her knees.
And Cloud turned to her. "Hey…" He knelt down and slid an arm around her shoulders.
She buried her face in his shoulder. "Aeris was th-the only one who was ever nice to me! Only one who gave a damn…" Her sobs continued, near-hysterically.
He reached over, stroking her hair. "Shh…don't say that…I'm glad she was nice, but don't ever say that."
·
Tifa slowly backed away, her silent tears still unshed. Ignoring the looks and reactions of her friends and their mourning, she began to run back up the crystal staircase, taking the steps two at a time.
I just need some air, she said to herself.
"You just needed to get the hell away from the little girl's hysterical grandstanding," an inner voice replied.
Her tears were freezing to her face. I have to stop this, or… She winced as she pulled the tiny bit of ice from her cheek. …I'll have to admit he won. Have to admit that I let him get to me.
"I was only trying to save him. I bet he ran straight off to that little slut."
She paused for a moment, feet sinking into the snow. Oh come on, I've never seen anything to indicate that she's a slut.
"She threw herself at him, didn't she?"
Tifa quieted her now-normal chain of mental conversation and continued her trek through the mountains. Normally, petrification wore off in an hour or so, but Cloud had done something to amplify his spell. She was stuck, blinded by the covering, for nearly a week. She winced to remember her savage attack on the kitchen afterwards, eating every bit of food in sight, as long as it contained preservatives.
After resting for two days, regaining her strength and her health, she set off in the first direction that seemed right. She decided to pay a visit to the reactor that had changed her life, Cloud's life, Nibelheim's life. She had no idea what she would find there; most of the answers and lab notes were still in the mansion down in the village. However, things had been made in the reactor. She still wasn't sure she trusted Cloud's hazy memories or Hojo's insane assertions.
Finally, she came to the top of Mt. Nibel. Ahead of her was the old, dead reactor. Somehow in the impending apocalypse, Shinra must have decided that even supplying power to their fake town wasn't worth it anymore. It looked like no one had been inside since…AVALANCHE themselves. Tifa took a deep breath, climbed the stairs, and walked inside.
As she walked down the main corridor, she was surprised to find that she was not going to need the flashlight she'd brought along. Even though the place seemed powered down, yellow emergency lights were adding a glow to the place. Eerie, maybe, but they still did the job of making the dark hallway visible.
She made her way further inside, finally pausing at the platform preceding the reactor's core. A pang struck her, and she could see the image of her father's body, almost perfectly. For a moment, the chaos inside her head quieted down, and she could think for herself.
Papa, why did you ever come up here? You weren't a fighter. You didn't understand what was going on with Sephiroth or the Shinra soldiers. All you did was get yourself killed and lead me to…to…
She shook her head and walked into the reactor core. And was surprised to discover that she was not alone.
·
"Hello." The man looked to be thirty or so, possibly younger. Between herself and Cloud, she'd begun to see that stress and pain could age the body like nothing else.
"Uh, hi," she replied cautiously.
"This looks weird, doesn't it?" He raised a hand, smoothing back his black hair.
She nodded, then put forward a small smile. "I'm sure anyone being here looks weird, so I'm a weirdo, too."
"You seemed a bit more familiar with this place. Like you were supposed to be here." He sighed. "I'm just trying to solve an old, old mystery."
"Mystery, huh?" Tifa looked at him with a hint of suspicion. What mystery would that be? Mysteries are a dime-a-dozen in Nibelheim.
"My brother was in SOLDIER. So was I, I joined up after him, always copied my big bro. But he had the…'luck,' you could say, of going MIA. I never mimicked that. He was sent on a mission with the great Sephiroth. Near here. I know this, because he wrote me a letter talking about it. Mail within SOLDIER isn't scrutinized as much as mail going to civilians. However, Sephiroth disappeared on that mission, along with my brother. All traces of my brother."
Tifa's breath caught.
"It's like Zack never existed, at least to Shinra. I'm sure everyone he was with died or were executed in some fashion, but I would like to know the truth. My parents have gone completely batty. They ask everyone they can find about him, and no one knows what they're talking about. Sometimes I think the reactor incident in Gonzaga was an attempt to take them out, to finally destroy the last trace that proved he ever lived."
"I lived in that village down the mountain," said Tifa softly. "It's weird. The whole place was destroyed over five years ago, in the aftermath of that mission. As far as I know, I'm one of two people who survive and remember the old town. Even the others who'd left home, I eventually lost track of. It's like they were disposed of the first time they went home to visit."
"You were there? You might remember my brother…" He stared at her with disbelief, a smile crossing his features.
"This is just a sidetrack. Tell the guy his brother was shot outside Midgar and get on with your own business."
It's a nice guy. A good looking nice guy. I would like some attention…and it would be fun to eventually wave this guy in certain people's faces. An actual SOLDIER who isn't…
"…isn't a failure?"
Yeah!
"…you've got a point. He may be useful, after all."
·
Tifa smiled back. "While the town down there is fake, there's a bit of edible food, and some comfortable chairs. I know how to build a fire in the quirky fireplace in the mock-up of my old house. We can have dinner, and I can tell you everything I know."
"This is amazing! Luck, or fate, is smiling on us tonight. You can tell the truth, and I can finally get my answers… Thank you."
Tifa leaned forward, playfully grabbing his arm, and led him back out of the door. With just his warm skin against hers, she could feel the power within him. He had not been lying about his SOLDIER membership. There was mako in his veins. And Jenova.
"No, thank you."