LadyTeefStrife, I think the Teef nickname is fictional. Don't worry, we all know Tifa would have won! Thank you soooooo much for the reviews, you guys make me want to keep going!
-x-
Tifa had spent days in the hospital, waiting for Cloud to get better, waiting for the others to visit her. They'd call her a few times a day, telling her what they were doing, where they were. The last time they'd called they were about to go to Fort Condor.
She stared into Cloud's blue eyes and began to speak to him.
"Cloud… Back when I found you at the train station…"
"Come on Cloud, let's get you home." I said. I pulled on your arm to lead you back to Seventh Heaven. Your arms were thick with muscle, you weren't the young scrawny boy from Nibelheim anymore. You had a strange blue glow in your eyes that unnerved me, but I'd been infatuated with you for as long as I could remember, so the anxiety about your eyes dimmed.
As I pulled you back I talked to you, to see if it was really you. "How long has it been?" I asked, hoping you remembered.
"Five years." You said after a long pause. No. That wasn't right. But I didn't have the heart to tell you. Maybe it was an honest mistake.
"It had been seven years… when you told me about your days at SOLDIER… something felt wrong. There was something strange with your memories. There were things you didn't know that you should. Other things you shouldn't know that you did… please Cloud. I need you to wake up so we can figure things out."
Her cheeks were soaked from the tears she didn't realize were flowing. She looked up into his mako blue eyes.
"Just wake up." She whispered, laying her head back down on his knee and drifting to sleep.
-x-
Tifa awoke to the sound of voices in the next room.
"I'm sorry, but your friend's condition remains unchanged." The doctor was saying.
"Well, what are we supposed to do!?" Yuffie shrieked.
The doctor sighed. "You'll just have to be patient and wait it out. These things take time."
She heard footsteps shuffle close to her and Vincent peeked through the curtains to the small room containing Cloud and Tifa. She smiled weakly and Vincent entered.
"How are you, Tifa?"
She shook her head. "What… what if he never gets better?"
Vincent grabbed onto her hand and pulled her into a standing position. "He'll get better. Who wouldn't, with all the attention you're giving. Just keep helping him."
Tifa smiled at the crimson eyed man. She opened her mouth to thank him when the ground started to shake, causing shouts in the next room.
"Whoa!"
"What the hell?"
"Earthquake?"
"No! WEAPON!"
"Shiiiiit!"
"They…………they're……….coming!......." this last shout came from Cloud.
Vincent looked at Tifa. "You stay here, we'll go take care of WEAPON."
Tifa nodded and placed her body protectively in front of Cloud. Vincent joined the others and they all rushed out of the hospital to fight.
Tifa watched her group fight WEAPON from the window. They did good, she was proud of them. They might have finished him off too, if he didn't fly away.
So why didn't the tremors stop? They seemed to be getting worse.
"Tifa! Cloud! Get outta here!" she heard Cid cry from the edge of town. She nodded and turned back to Cloud.
"Ready Cloud? We're leaving now!"
She pushed Cloud's wheelchair out of the hospital and tried to find somewhere to get away from the tremors.
Tifa heard the ground behind them crack and give out, falling into the depths of the planet. She pushed Cloud as hard as she possibly could. But it wasn't enough. She could feel the ground beneath her tremble and fall, as she and Cloud plunged into the rippling green Lifestream.
-x-
Everything was black. She couldn't see anything apart from her own body. She could see her arms stretched out in front of her, aching to touch something, anything, so she'd know where she was.
"Cloud?" she begged to the darkness. She knew he fell with her. He fell right beside her into the Lifestream. So where was he?
She started to hear a voice, it sounded like Cloud. He was here! She could hear him! But what was he saying? She strained her ears.
"you…ignored me…in Nibelheim…" the voice was loud in her ears, booming like thunder, accusing her. "you… lied to me… about everything…" she dropped to her knees.
"No! No Cloud I didn't mean…" she was cut off by more accusations.
"you… let them… hurt me…" this voice cut to the core. She did. All those times in Nibelheim when the boys beat Cloud up, she never stopped them. "I… did it… for you… but you… didn't care."
She stood up, unable to take what she was hearing. No!! it wasn't true! Was it? She ran as far as she could, not knowing where she was going, but knowing it partially calmed the angry accusatory voices.
The last statement sent her spinning out of control.
"I…shouldn't have… loved you."
-x-
She had passed out again. She remembered the last words he said and her heart ached. But it made her determined. She would find him and he would prove to her that it wasn't true. That wasn't Cloud saying those things… she knew it! He never said anything like that, and was always so quick to blame himself. She shook the thoughts out of her head and stood up.
She was standing on a green platform. She looked out past her platform and saw that she seemed to be in space. She watched a planet die before being reborn. Her eyes scanned the universe around her before something high above her caught her eye.
"Cloud!" she saw her blonde haired love high above her. He was clutching at his head, and seemed to be in pain. He was writhing and thrashing and all Tifa could do was watch him. She couldn't reach him. But he seemed to know she was there.
"Am I… in your dreams? Or… your subconscious?" she watched him struggle and realized she was the only one who could help him.
"You're searching, aren't you Cloud? Searching… for yourself…" she closed her eyes, unable to look at his pain anymore. "I can help you. You and me, we can work together, and we can get Cloud back. The real Cloud. Cloud Strife of Nibelheim!" She yelled this with determined finality. She would get him back, no matter what it took. She glanced around the platform, the edges still too dark for her to see.
"But… where to start…?" She looked up as she saw this and saw a replica Cloud sitting on the hard platform. She looked past this replica and saw the gates of Nibelheim. She walked up to him.
"The gates of Nibelheim." The replica said quietly. "Five years ago, Sephiroth passed through these gates… that's how it all started."
Tifa nodded. "It connects to Nibelheim. Of course. This is the logical place to start."
The Cloud replica stood up and she took his hand.
"Let's go look Cloud. I'll be right with you. If it gets too hard, just remember I'm here."
The replica nodded at her and the two started through the gates.
This was the old Nibelheim. She just knew it. She ran ahead of Cloud, giddy at the sight.
"Look, Cloud! Here's the well! And Gramps' inn, too." She ran around the town and came back to the gates. She looked at the rusty old truck that had been in that exact spot for as long as she could remember. "The only truck in town. It's been here since we were little kids… right, Cloud? This is the Nibelheim you remember."
The replica nodded slightly.
"It's the same as my Nibelheim. This place is our Nibelheim."
Cloud went to sit at the edge of the gates and Tifa followed him. The two sat down and watched where they knew Sephiroth would appear.
"Five years ago… two men from SOLDIER came. Sephiroth. And… a young and vibrant SOLDIER. Can you tell me what you remember?"
Cloud nodded again and they watched as Sephiroth entered the small town.
"So how does it feel?" he asked.
Tifa spoke, telling Cloud her memories so they could mix with his own muddled memories. "Five years ago… I saw the real Sephiroth for the first time."
"It's your first time back to your hometown in a long time, right?" Sephiroth was speaking again and Tifa watched. "So how does it feel? I wouldn't know because I don't have a home town."
Tifa could heard Cloud answer "Umm… how 'bout your parents?" but she couldn't see him from where she was sitting. She tried to turn to see where the man was talking from but the Cloud beside her gripped her arm, keeping her occupied with Sephiroth.
"So this is the great Sephiroth," she scoffed.
"My mother is Jenova. She died right after she gave birth to me. My father…" he paused to let out a dark humorless laugh. Tifa noted this.
"But… to tell you the truth… I thought he was very cold." She looked over at Cloud and one side of his mouth pulled up to let her know he was listening. She turned back to Cloud's memories.
"What does it matter?" Sephiroth shook his head. "All right, let's go."
He started to walk into her small town. Tifa shook her head angrily. "I remember I felt… a foreboding about him."
The replica Cloud stood abruptly as the memory Cloud walked into the town, flanked by two soldiers. Replica Cloud walked and seemed to meld with memory Cloud. Tifa had to stand up. She wouldn't lie to him anymore.
"No, Cloud. I've been hiding it, thinking if I told you something terrible might happen, but… I'm not going to hide anymore." She blinked as Sephiroth, the guards, and memory Cloud disappeared, leaving only her and the replica. "You weren't here. Cloud did not come to Nibelheim five years ago." She turned away from him, unable to stand the look of confusion on Cloud's face. Everything around her flashed as her memory was shown to him. A younger Tifa was sitting down against the fence next to the gates. She was playing with the dirt on the ground.
"I waited." She glanced back to Cloud, as the past Tifa sighed. "But Cloud never came."
The past Tifa stood up, then. She was looking past the gates, the longing in her eyes obvious.
"The two that were ordered here were Sephiroth and… another person…" Tifa looked into Cloud's eyes as the past Tifa hurried back into town. Another flash brought Sephiroth back to the gates.
"All right, let's go." He stated. He walked in like he had before, but this time, instead of a blonde, a raven haired man walked in, flanked by two soldiers.
-x-
Her vision flashed again and suddenly she was sitting next to the replica Cloud on the green platform again. He looked at her, his confusion evident in his features.
"You mean… that member of SOLDIER who came with Sephiroth wasn't... wasn't Cloud?" he asked her quietly. She nodded.
"Take your time Cloud. Let's work on this little by little, okay?"
The replica Cloud of Nibelheim nodded before slowly disappearing. She looked up and spotted another replica Cloud, much younger than the one she had just spoken to. She walked up to him and noticed behind him was the well of Nibelheim. The well that she couldn't get out of her mind.
"That starry night at the well…" the young Cloud said. "And our promise that night…what if that memory was just a lie?"
Tifa shook her head forcefully. "Don't hurry Cloud. Think slowly. Just think of all those little emotions, and things will come back. Little by little, right?"
He nodded and she turned her head to the sky. She looked at the millions of stars that always appeared in her dreams. "Right. The sky that night… the heavens were filled with stars."
A flash.
Now they were standing on the well. She watched as the young Cloud sat down.
"From the beginning, okay?"
A very young Tifa materialized in front of the present Tifa. She was only a year younger than the new replica Cloud. The present Tifa giggled.
"Right, I was wearing those clothes. I remember. We were so small then."
The present Tifa sat next to her younger doppelganger.
"Sephiroth once said…" the present Tifa sighed. "Cloud made up his memories by listening to my stories."
Her doppelganger started to swing her feet, and the young Cloud smiled at her.
"Did you imagine this sky? No. You remembered it."
The young Cloud shook his head, but Tifa was adamant. "That night the stars were gorgeous. It was just Cloud and I. We talked at the well." She said more to herself than to him. She then faced the younger Cloud, who was looking at her expectantly. "That's why I continued to believe that you were the real Cloud. I still believe you're the Cloud from Nibelheim."
Another flash.
Young Cloud was now standing on the top of the highest part of the well. Present Tifa and young Tifa looked up at him.
"But you don't believe in yourself…" she sighed. How could she help more? These memories weren't good enough. She needed him to remember something else. Something more personal. Something that she didn't know, so she couldn't have told him.
"These memories aren't enough." She stated simply.
-x-
Another flash brought her back to the green platform, the well no longer visible. She looked around, but saw nothing.
"Cloud, what about your other memories?" she asked, before shaking her head quickly. "No… not memories. A memory is something that has to be consciously recalled, right? That's why sometimes it can be mistaken as something different." She looked down at her feet, trying to figure out what was necessary now. If not memories, then what?
"But regular memories are different from the memories locked deep in your heart. Those locked up memories can't be fake. We need a memory he couldn't have found… I've got it!" she shrieked, happy with herself. She looked up at the cringing Cloud. "What about some memory that has to do with me?"
The young Cloud from the well materialized beside her. She kneeled down at looked into his eyes. They were baby blue, not mako enhanced. They didn't seem electric or seem to be able to peer into her soul. She forced herself to talk.
"I say something, and you don't remember it… but if you say something, and I remember it too, then we'll know that's our memory. Something he couldn't touch."
The young Cloud nodded at her thoughtfully.
"Talk to me, Cloud. About anything. Some memory that's important to you…" she started to pace around the green platform while his blue eyes watched her intently. "Now that I think about it, why did you want to join SOLDIER in the first place? I always thought it was some… sudden decision you made…" she tapped her chin with her index finger, staring at the young Cloud expectantly. She wanted him to answer her. What she wasn't expecting, however, was the quiet, familiar voice she heard.
"…I was devastated… I wanted to be noticed…" It seemed to come from all around her, and she ached to hold him, to comfort him. But that would all come in due time.
The young Cloud then opened his mouth to speak. "I thought if I got stronger, I could get someone to notice."
Tifa nodded, she knew the feeling. "So you wanted someone to notice? …who?"
She could hear a voice in her head. She wasn't sure if it was real or if it was all a figment of her imagination. It seemed to scream to her. "Who…? …you know who!... you, that's who."
She came out of her reverie as the young Cloud spoke again.
"You, Tifa."
Tifa shook her head. Cloud had loved her for this long?
"Tifa, did you forget about those days?" he asked, his voice seeming more mature than his age.
"What… what are you talking about?"
The young Cloud in front of her shook his head. "No, it's all right. You were having a hard time back then." His eyes were wide, sad at some thought Tifa couldn't figure out. "You were so busy with your own things. It's only natural you don't remember be back then."
Tifa walked over to him and clutched his shoulders. " 'back then'?"
The young Cloud let a blush creep up his cheeks. "It's… it's important to me. I hate to say it," he kicked at the ground. "But it's a very important memory to me. Would you like to see?"
The young Cloud didn't allow Tifa any time to respond, he pulled her to another replica Cloud, who was sitting. As they stood in front of him he began to speak softly.
"…a sealed up secret…wish…tender memories…no one can ever know…"
After he said these simple words, he moved to the side to allow the two to pass him. Young Cloud pulled her up to a window.
"Do you know where this window goes, Tifa? Never mind, I'll go."
Another flash and the two were in Tifa's room.
"My room?" she said as she looked around. She choked back sad memories of this room. She saw a younger Tifa, curled up in a ball at the base of her bed. She saw three boys surrounding her. She looked back at young Cloud and saw an adult Cloud sitting on the floor next to him.
"It was my first time there." The young Cloud said, motioning towards the window. "I only used to look up at it from outside."
One of the boys near Tifa stood up and looked out the window. "Hey, look! Cloud's coming." The boy sneered. Young Tifa lifted her head slightly at the mention of Cloud's name, but laid it back down. "You think he wants to come in?"
"Was that the first day you came into my room?" the present Tifa asked. The young Cloud nodded.
"That's right… we lived next to each other. But I really didn't know you that well…" Tifa frowned. "I've known you since we were children, and I always thought we were close… but now that you mention it…" Tifa trailed off as the adult Cloud began to speak.
"Tifa was always with these three."
"…that's right." She said slowly, remembering.
"I used to think," the adult Cloud spoke again. "That they were all stupid."
"What?" Tifa was shocked to hear Cloud's confession.
"You were all childish," he shrugged, "you laughed at every little stupid thing."
Tifa turned to look at her childhood self.
"But we were children then." Tifa said quietly.
"I know," he said quietly. "I'm the one that was stupid."
The young Cloud took over from the adult Cloud. "I really wanted to play with everyone, but I was never allowed into the group." He looked into Tifa's eyes sadly. "But then…I began to think I was different. That I was different from those immature kids."
The adult Cloud stood now and began talking. "I thought that just maybe, they would invite me in. So I hung around…"
"I was so prejudiced… and weak…" the young Cloud said.
"That night I called Tifa out to the well," the adult Cloud said, shaking his head. "I thought to myself that Tifa would never come, that she hated me."
Tifa sighed. "It was sudden. I was surprised." She clenched her hands to control her emotion. "I know, we weren't that close but… after you left… I thought about you a lot." She cradled her head in her arms. "I used to wonder how Cloud was doing… I wondered if Cloud was able to get into SOLDIER…"
She released her head and stared at the two Clouds standing in front of her.
"I started reading newspapers," she shrugged, "thinking there might be an article about you."
The young Cloud blushed and looked at his feet. "Thanks, Teef." She held back a giggle at the use of her nickname. She couldn't remember when he'd started calling her that, but she loved it. "Tell him what you told me, later. He'll be so happy." He motioned at the adult Cloud, who was now sitting on her floor again, his head in his hands. She nodded.
"So… what happened on this day? Was it a special day?"
The young Cloud shuffled his feet. "Well, Tifa, that was the day…"
The adult Cloud looked up at the ceiling and said "Tifa's mother…"
-x-
Another flash.
"The day mom died…" Tifa said quietly, kneeling next to her double.
"I… want to… see mom." The young Tifa said between hiccups.
Another flash brought them to Mt Nibel.
"…I wonder if there's anything beyond that mountain?" the young girl said. Tifa watched as her young doppelganger stood at the base of the mountain with her three comrades. The boys spoke to her.
"Mt Nibel is scary. Many people have died there."
"No one crosses that mountain alive…"
The young Tifa glared back at her friends. "What about those who died? Did mama pass through the mountain?" the Tifa doppelganger walked farther up the path that led up the mountain. "I'm going." She said softly. As the young Tifa started up the mountain, the present Tifa watched as her friends decided whether or not to follow. Two of them followed her. She watched as the friend who remained behind started to run back to the village, but bumped into a little boy. Tifa grinned wide as she saw that the little boy was the young Cloud. He was following her up the mountain.
Another flash.
The young Tifa was standing in front of a rickety looking bridge. She took a deep breath before starting across it. Her two friends looked at each other before running back to the village. Cloud, however, trekked on. She admired his determination and tried to think back to this day. But she couldn't remember.
Another flash.
The present Tifa shook violently as she saw herself crumpled on the ground. She saw the younger Cloud lying close to her. Tifa walked up next to the adult Cloud, who was watching on the scene as she was.
"Tifa missed her step." He spoke quietly, his emotion creeping through his words. Tifa put a hand on his arm. "I ran to her… but I didn't make it in time." He shook as his words sunk in and Tifa wrapped her arms around the replica Cloud's neck. "Both of us fell off the cliff. Back then, I only scarred my knees, but…"
Tifa looked back at the scene and saw her father and another man approach the two hurt kids. Her father picked her up to bring her back, she was unconscious. The other man screamed at Cloud.
"Cloud! Why'd you bring Tifa to a place like this!? What the hell's the matter with you? What if she dies!?" the man finished his lecture before taking off after Tifa's father, leaving Cloud alone, hurt, on the hard ground. Tifa ached to help him.
The adult Cloud spoke again. "Tifa was in a coma for seven days. We all thought she wouldn't make it. If only I could have saved her…" he punched at the air angrily. "I was so angry… angry at myself for being so weak. Ever since then… I felt Tifa blamed me. I went out of control." His shoulders sagged. "I'd get into fights, not even caring who it was... That was the first time I heard about Sephiroth. If… If I was strong like Sephiroth, then everyone might…"
-x-
Another flash brought Tifa back to the green platform. She was crouching on the ground next to the replica Cloud she'd passed earlier with young Cloud on the way to her window. She gripped his arm.
"If I could just get stronger, then even Tifa would have to notice me…" he whispered.
Tifa nodded angrily. "So, that was it. I'm so sorry Cloud… if I had only remembered what had happened I could have done something…" she shook with anger that everyone would blame him. She was the one who went to Mt Nibel stupidly. He went to save her.
Cloud shook his head and chuckled. "It's not your fault, Tifa. Don't be stupid."
She couldn't help but grin. She couldn't help but feel like she was helping him figure out who he was.
"But I remember back when we were eight! …that's it! Now I know!!"
He looked at her curiously as she jumped to her feet.
"You weren't created five years ago! My childhood memories weren't all made up! Hang in there Cloud, just a little longer okay? You've almost found the real you."
He nodded and stood up.
"Let's go back to Nibelheim, okay?" she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him to where the gates of Nibelheim had been before.
"The truth is right there. We almost have the answer right in the palm of our hands." He said excitedly, pulling Tifa through the town.
"Cloud, wait. Where are you going?"
He looked at her and confusion clouded his vision. "…the reactor…?" he shook his head as if shaking away all doubt. "To the reactor! The mako reactor of five years ago!"
-x-
Another flash brought them to the mako reactor. Tifa held her breath. She knew what awaited her in there. But she would deal with it. It was for Cloud.
Tifa watched her younger self scream over the death of her father and wrestle with Sephiroth, both fighting for the Masamune. Sephiroth wins from sheer strength and slashes her across the chest. Tifa clutched at her scar, remembering how much it hurt.
Tifa watched as the black haired man ran into the reactor, the buster sword strapped to his back. Cloud beside her clutched his head.
"Za……….ck…………Zac……….k………….Zack…."
Tifa cheered. "You remembered! That's right. It was Zack who came to Nibelheim with Sephiroth! …then, where were you, Cloud?"
Tifa had thought about this. How could he know exactly what had happened if he wasn't there? Tifa had come to one conclusion. He had been there. There was no questioning it.
After a while Tifa saw Zack get flung out of the room Sephiroth had disappeared into, apparently after a struggle.
"Cloud…. did you …… see it all?"
Another flash.
One of the soldiers that had come in with Zack had entered the reactor and was looking around hurriedly.
"I saw……. everything." he said quietly beside her. Tifa watched as the soldier grabbed the buster sword from Zack and rushed into the room where Sephiroth was.
Another flash.
They were in the room now, watching Sephiroth standing in front of Jenova. The soldier positioned the buster sword so it pointed towards Sephiroth and charged him.
"Mom…. Tifa…… my town…… give it back!" the soldier screamed as the sword stabbed through the SOLDIER. Tifa heard his voice and almost choked in surprise.
"Aaaaarrrggggggghhhhhhh…. Who are you?" Sephiroth grunted. The soldier pulled the sword out of Sephiroth's stomach.
"I had so much respect for you…. I admired you…." He yelled, anger flooding his voice. The soldier turned away from Sephiroth and started heaving his shoulders, breathing heavily.
Tifa's voice came out in a whisper. "Cloud…"
As she said his name the soldier removed his helmet to reveal a shock of spiky blonde hair.
"That's what happened. You were there. You were watching me." She said, almost unable to believe it.
"Yeah…" The Cloud replica said quietly. The vision in front of them was changing now, and the two watched a doppelganger Cloud, Zack and Sephiroth in the truck on the way to Nibelheim. "This is me… I never made it… as a member of SOLDIER."
They watched Zack ask a carsick Cloud if he was all right.
"I even left my hometown telling everyone I was going to join, but…" he shook his head. "I was so embarrassed… I didn't want to see anybody."
The scene in front of them shifted again, to show Nibelheim ablaze. It shifted again to show Tifa, crumpled and broken in the reactor.
The soldier Cloud ran out of the room encasing Jenova and ran towards the young Tifa.
"You came…" the older Tifa said. "You kept your promise."
The younger Cloud picked the younger Tifa up and placed her against a pod, brushing the hair out of her face. Tifa grinned widely despite the tragedy of it all.
"You really did come when I was in trouble!"
He turned to look at her, tearing his eyes away from the scene before them. "I'm so sorry… I didn't get there fast enough."
Tifa shook hear head. "It doesn't matter. You came for me."
They both turned back to the scene ahead of them and Tifa gasped as she saw Sephiroth stumble out of the Jenova room, with a decapitated head in his hand.
"Cloud…" a voice begged. Tifa looked at Zack's crumpled body and saw him push his sword towards the young Cloud. "Kill… Sephiroth…" he managed to command before passing out again.
The young Cloud nodded and snatched up the large sword. He chased after Sephiroth.
Tifa didn't want to watch, even though she knew Cloud would live through it, because he was there with her right then. But she didn't want to see him get hurt.
"Sephiroth!" The young Cloud screamed at the man, the buster sword pointed at him. Sephiroth turned back towards the blond and smirked. The Masamune was too long. He neatly thrust the sword towards Cloud, effectively stabbing him through the stomach.
The older Tifa screamed. The older Cloud grabbed her hand and gripped it tight, reminding her he was there, that he was alive.
Sephiroth lifted the young Cloud off the ground by his sword. "Don't… push… your… luck" he managed to stutter, still wounded. The young Cloud seemed to make a decision in his mind and somehow regained his stance on the ground. He gripped the sword in his stomach tightly and lifted Sephiroth into the air. Sephiroth's mouth dropped open.
"It can't be!" he said loudly, as Cloud flung him towards the wall of the reactor, effectively ridding himself of the sword in his stomach. Sephiroth slammed against the wall and fell to the mako depths below.
The replica Cloud brought Tifa's hand up to his mouth and kissed it. "I remember now, Teef. It was you. I knew… I couldn't die because I had to get back to protect you. You… saved me." He said. Tifa couldn't hold back the tears anymore and she clung to the replica Cloud as hard as she could. She forced herself to watch as the young Cloud stumbled back to where Zack and the younger Tifa lay, wounded. He gripped Tifa's hand and slumped to the ground.
-x-
Another flash brought a very distraught Tifa back to the green platform. She realized she was surrounded by a plethora of replica Clouds. The youngest Cloud from the well looked up at her.
"Well Tifa… until we meet again." He smiled at her before walking towards the other Clouds. They all seemed to meld together to form the Cloud she had wanted to see for so long. The Cloud of now.
"Cloud!" she cried, clinging to him. He smiled and rubbed her back with his hands.
"Teef. We meet again."
The eerie silence of Cloud's subconscious was broken by a loud wail. The cry of the planet. Tifa pulled away from Cloud.
"I see… this is the Lifestream, isn't it? Everyone's waiting, Cloud. Come on, let's go see them."
He nodded, hugging her tightly to him once again. "Okay, Tifa. Let's go home."
-x-
Tifa's head was pounding. She could feel the mako swirling around her. She seemed to be laying in a shallow pool of mako. She shook her head and sat up.
"Tifa! Yo! You all right?" Barret's face suddenly appeared right in front of her.
"Barret? Where… where is Cloud?"
Barret shook his head and laughed in relief. "Don't you worry about him, darlin'. He's a tough one."
Tifa nodded slightly before she started to feel light headed. Barret's face seemed to swim in front of her and she passed out again.
-x-
"Mmm." She woke up again to the feel of hot breath in her ear. She opened her eyes and saw his blonde hair. She sat up and saw that Barret must have put the two together. She rested a hand on Cloud's arm and he opened one eye.
"Tifa…" he said quietly, his mouth widening into a toothy grin. She punched him hard on the arm.
"Ow! What was that for?" he asked, sitting up beside her, rubbing his arm.
"Don't you ever leave me again, do you hear me?" She yelled. His face relaxed and his grin returned.
"I promise. I don't want to ever leave you again." He said nuzzling Tifa's neck. She felt her eyes roll to the back of her head. No, Tifa, talk to him.
She pushed him away reluctantly. He sighed.
"Do you remember?"
He nodded. "Bits and pieces. The more I sit here the more I remember of what you helped me find."
She smiled. "So I have my Cloud back?"
Cloud nodded again. "Hey, Tifa?" he rubbed the back of his head nervously. She cocked her head to the side.
"Yes, Cloud?"
"What you did for me back there… it made me think…"
"About what?" she pressed.
"About you. And since you know more about me, I want to know more about you." He said, quietly. She was confused.
"You want to know more about me? Like what?"
His grin returned and it was mindblowing and gorgeous and she could barely contain herself. What were they talking about again? She'd lost her train of thought.
He made a show of looking around the room they were in.
"Well, I'm pretty sure we're all alone…" he said, leaning in and kissing her neck. "And no one's going to bother us anytime soon…" he added, nibbling on her ear. "And I want to know what you like." He said seductively. Tifa had to be imagining that. Had he really just said something that suggestive?
"Is that right?" Tifa asked, the blush rising in her cheeks. He nodded, pulling away from her neck. "Well, I like fighting, and stars, and…" she giggled, teasing him. He pushed her down on their bed and hovered his body over her.
"Funny." He breathed. She blinked at him. "That's not what I meant."
Tifa tried to make her facial expression innocent. "Well, what do you mean then, Cloud?"
Cloud shrugged as he held up his body weight on one hand, the other tracing Tifa's collarbone. Tifa shivered at his touch.
"I want to know where you like to be touched." He whispered before capturing her mouth with his own.
-x-
WHOA this was long. It took me FOREVER! I hope you like it because I am pretty much in love with this chappie! Tell me exactly what you think reviewers! What was your favorite part? Least favorite? I can't wait to read what you think! Loooooove you guys!
-Kaylee Marie.