I do not own Final Fantasy VII.

Twisted Fate

Chapter XII: A Cloudy Day

"He said that to you?" Barret said over the line.

"Yeah, I can't believe it," Tifa glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one was listening. "I don't know what to think. It was so weird, the way he acted…H-he didn't even recognize me, or you, or anyone else that was in the picture."

"That's crazy."

"Barret…you should've seen his eyes, it's like it wasn't even him…"

"Ya gonna be okay?"

"I don't know. I just wish I knew what was wrong with him."

"Maybe it's just stress. An' then there's the accident you said he had."

"Yeah…He might've suffered a serious injury to the head. After all, he did have a weird scar on his scalp, but it was healed."

"What? But…Wait, how is he around the kids?"

"He hasn't seen them yet."

"Are ya really gonna be alright? You want me to come stay a while?"

"No, don't worry. I'm sure it'll be okay."

Cloud sat up, rubbing his head. Tifa had left him where he fell, feeling that he'd more than earned his punishment. Looking around, he had to remind himself that he wasn't in his own home.

"Oh, right…" He groaned as he found his feet, "…That bitch…where is she?"

She wasn't in the room. Running for the door, he sought escape, regardless of the fact that he was barefoot and clad only in pajama pants. But as he made it to the bottom of the stairs, he stopped cold. Tifa was sitting at the bar, talking on the phone.

He watched her quietly, forgetting that he was trying to escape. As she turned around, he felt something inside of him he never knew before. It was a warm sensation in his heart and stomach, some kind of fluttering like wings. Last night he thought she was ugly, but now as he made contact with her eyes, he realized that, while she was not as gorgeous as Sephiroth, she was still a sight behold.

"Hey, Barret, Cloud's awake. I gotta go. Yeah, I'll talk to you later. Bye." She promptly hung up the phone, tossing it onto the counter and slid around the other side of the bar.

"Hi," Cloud said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Hi," Tifa spat, grabbing a wash cloth and a bottle of spray cleaner.

"Look, about last night…" Cloud paused, unsure of how to go on.

"What about it?" She refused to look at him, just wiping down the counter regardless of the fact that it was already clean.

"I just…I mean I…" He shook his head, suddenly looking around, "Where are we? What is this place?"

Tifa froze, keeping her eyes pinned to the cloth in her hands. "Are you serious?"

"Just humor me."

"This is Seventh Heaven, my bar."

"Since when do you own a bar?"

"Since when do you not recognize your friends and family?"

"What friends and family?"

"The ones in this photo you smashed last night." She produced the picture from her pocket, tossing it before him.

"I swear I don't know these people."

Tifa finally faced him, "Who are you?"

"Why are you asking me that?"

"Because you're not Cloud. You have his face, but you're not him. I don't recognize you just like you don't recognize me. So, who are you?"

Narrowing his eyes at her, he decided to humor her in return, "I'm Cloud Strife, Soldier First Class."

She turned toward the bar again, leaning into it slowly. Releasing a deep breath, she murmured, "Of course you are. Please, tell me more."

"Cut it out, Tiffan, let's go home," he came around the bar and wrapped his arm around her waist, "Come on, let's see if they can put you back to normal."

"Why are you calling me 'Tiffan'? And what do you mean by 'normal'?"

Cloud scratched his head, "Come on. You didn't have to become a girl for me."

"I didn't become a girl," She shook him off. "I was born a female. What, are you saying I look like a guy now?"

"No. Actually you've always had girly looks."

Tifa shook her head in frustration, "We're not getting anywhere. I wish I knew what was going on in your head right now. Can you tell me?"

Cloud perched on a barstool, looking around again. "I got no idea what's going on. I was out last night and got wasted and the next thing I knew I was here in bed next to you."

"Wait, you were out getting drunk last night?"

"Yeah."

"You said you were working!"

"Working? Bullshit, I told you I was going to the…Oh…shit…" He faltered at Tifa's deadly glare.

"That explains why you wrecked your bike at least," she gulped, trying to maintain her cool. "Look, Cloud, you didn't have to lie to me. You could've just told me you wanted to visit another bar."

Cloud didn't respond, he just stared at her, watching her anger cool to a pitiful sadness before morphing into concern.

"Last night, you compared me to someone," She forced herself to meet his gaze, "Were you with someone, Cloud? Another woman?"

He gulped heavily before slowly nodding his head, "Yeah." Actually I was with several women…and men.

Tifa never wanted to ask the next question that entered her mind. She never wanted to entertain the possibility that such a thing might ever come to pass, but she needed to know, "Are you cheating on me?"

Cloud averted his gaze. His silence was more than enough, but it truly stabbed her heart when he muttered, "Yeah."

Her eyes drifted down to the counter, staring at a dent in the surface. She aggravated on it for a bit, straining to remember where it came from all the while feeling her heart sink little by little down into her gut. "How long has this been going on?"

"A while."

"Is it someone I know?"

"Yeah."

Her heart plopped sickeningly in her stomach. Slowly, she inched around the bar and left out the front door. Cloud remained at the bar, staring at the same dent in the surface. His heart was racing, his stomach twisting. He wanted to pursue her, he wanted to persuade her to come back and tell her he wanted her. To tell her he was wrong.

Then his mind suddenly cleared and his nerves settled.

"Why the hell do I feel so damn guilty? It's not like I love her or anything."

Tifa stood in the middle of the street, people shuffling around her, paying her no mind. She looked straight forward, staring into the wall. She couldn't decide if she should stay or go, run or walk, left or right. Her heart was hammering painfully into her back, her head throbbing with each frightful beat.

Something cold struck her shoulder, another icy drop landed in her hair. Dragging her eyes upward, she looked up to the sky. The day proved dark, cool…cloudy. The sky was mocking her. More rain began to fall, each drop in quick succession, disguising the tears of shame that rolled down her cheeks. Sucking in a sickening breath, Tifa swallowed the scream she'd been expecting to release and calmly returned inside.

Cloud wasn't in the bar. Gathering her nerve, she found him in the bedroom, looking through a photo album she kept. Despite the fear and pain she and her friends had endured during their time chasing Sephiroth and fighting Shin-Ra, Tifa always found a moment to snap a photo. She wanted to remember everything and everyone, especially should someone be lost. A few of the only remaining photos of Aerith were in that album, proving that Tifa's idea was intuitive.

"Tifa," Cloud whispered, "How old am I?"

Taken aback by such a strange question, she gulped heavily, "Er…24…"

"And you?"

"23."

"So we're eight years in the future."

"What?" She stepped back, but rocked forward again and joined him on the bed. "What do you mean?"

"I was looking at the dates on these photos. They start three years ago. But the date according that calendar there, is eight years later than it was yesterday."

"You're saying you're from the past?"

"I'm saying I think something weird has happened. What I have no idea. Last I checked, I was 16-years-old and you…my boyfriend, Tiffan, was 15."

"D-did you say boyfriend?" Tifa's back stiffened and her breath quickened.

"Yeah. Where I come from, I live with and date a guy that looks just like you. Hey, can you tell me about this picture? I don't understand what it is." He turned to Tifa's copy of the picture that was taken in Nibelheim. It showed Tifa posing with Zack and – Tifa shivered as she realized he'd pulled the photo from the sleeve, unfolding it to reveal something purposefully hidden – Sephiroth.

"That was taken in Nibelheim when you, Zack, and…Sephiroth came to inspect the mako reactor. It was napped right before I led you up the mountain.

"Why the hell would you be in a photo with that piece of fuck? We hate that guy!"

"Well, th-this was before Sephiroth went crazy."

"Sephiroth? I mean Zack!"

"Zack? But he was your best friend." Tifa searched his face for reason.

"Nobody is that guy's friend. Even the guy that trained him hates his guts. And Sephiroth…I never thought she'd make such a hot guy."

"W-what?!" She jumped from the bed.

"She's the one I've been screwing."

"Sephiroth?"

"Yeah," He smirked as he continued to gaze at the picture, "She's quiet and reserved, but damn is she a freak between the sheets!"

"Oh, stop it!" Tifa, turned away, covering her mouth, biting the skin between her thumb and forefinger. "Look, Cloud, I don't know what happened to you, but there's no need to make up stories. You can tell me who you've really been with, i-it's okay…But please, don't tell me how much more satisfied you are with her. I'm sorry…I'm sorry I can't satisfy you, that I'm not a 'freak'…Sorry that I like to do it with the lights off, that I prefer missionary over other positions, that I don't wear sexy underwear, sorry that I don't like to give oral…I'm sorry that I'm so boring you had to go off and find someone else who will do what I won't!"

She shot up from the bed, pacing around frantically, trying with all her power to keep from bashing his head in again. There was something wrong, but she couldn't figure out what it was. Cloud was not himself, his body was someone else's, his thoughts were backwards and haywire; and to top it all off, he dropped a bomb on her by confessing to cheating.

"Tifa." He said her name slowly, purposefully. Grabbing her wrist, he pulled her close to him. "I don't know any more than you do, and do be honest, I'm asking myself why I'm not more freaked out and confused than I am. But somehow, I don't think it's you I'm bored of."

"What?"

"I don't know, but when I looked at you before. I thought you were something I could sink my teeth into." Tangling his fingers into her soaked hair, he yanked her toward him and kissed her with a vicious hunger.