Disclaimer: I do not own FF7 or FF13.
It was raining again. Dark, yet luminous clouds sagged downwards towards the ground, heavy with moisture that fell in a downpour that clogged up the streets. Tifa could barely see the pulses of lightning past the shimmering streetlight reflecting off the water droplets as she sprinted through the streets. Her ears were plugged, but amongst the sound of her own heavy breathing, she catches the deep rumble followed by the sky splitting crack that booms in the static stillness. It's a rather unnatural storm. Not a breath of wind at all. Still, her hair flutters behind her as she cuts dangerous corners and runs blindly across streets while everyone, in a car or not, is frantically trying to get home. She's probably the only person that's running in the opposite direction of where home is supposed to be.
The storm is here.
By some miracle, she made it back to the heart of Edge unharmed. While everyone sought refuge, Tifa braved the storm and searched for the one person that would look comfortable, and possess the ability to weather such chaos. Lightning was a storm herself, existing as the epitome of instability and quiet discourse, but exhibiting the face that was as calm and still as a statue. That was the world Lightning existed in, and where she stood Goddess and Ruler in the eye of the storm while chaos brews forever around her.
Lightning was Tifa's storm to conquer. It felt like it wasn't so long ago, but probably a lifetime away, that she was whipped out from beneath whatever hole that Tifa had happily burrowed her head into in the slums and unceremoniously tossed her into a new world that offered so much more than the life she had gotten so accustomed to underneath the Plate. Truthfully, she had never paid much attention to the rain or storms because it had always been a passing thought that Tifa would readily overlook.
However, the longer she stays out in the in the downpour, the sensation of the water against her skin heightens her senses and brings back more memories than that, of which, are welcomed. "I like you." That seemingly harmless confession that wasn't so much of a confession than a statement of peculiarity echoes in her ears. Lightning had said it to her shortly after she had caught Cloud and Aerith in a lip lock beneath a random awning as they found cover from a rainy storm. That day, Lightning had been there to pick her up when she had been at her lowest, but she had been too naïve and immature to realize that Lightning's confession made more sense to her than to the pink haired woman who had said it herself.
"Nothing but a liar and cheat." The second time she remembers it raining was when Tifa had single-handedly destroyed everything between herself and Lightning. "Nothing but Cloud's bed toy." She still remembers the insults and how they were each punctuated by an imaginary shiv to her gut. "Nothing but a poor bartender that can't even scrape enough money to buy a kid some hot chocolate." That day, Lightning had thrown her to the wolves and she deserved it. "Nothing but Midgar filth."
The third time it rained was immediately after SHINRA's fall. That day, Lightning disappeared and left her with a ghost summoned by her own grief.
The fourth time it rained was during Cloud's insane gamble on the Highway as he pursues the Turks. Of course, he caught one of the Turks, but also brought with him another twist of fate that Tifa wasn't quite ready to deal with. That day, Lightning came back as a new person.
The fifth storm was in Academia after the destruction wrought upon by Sephiroth's summoned Bahumut, and she finally caught a true meaningful glimpse of who this new Lightning is.
Those were all the times she shared with Lightning; those profound moments of change in her life, and for one reason or another, it was always accompanied by a storm. Time and time again, Tifa could only marvel at how aptly named Lightning is. This would be the sixth time, and she doesn't need a seventh. Six was more than enough. This would be the last time. She needed to beat the storm, and she needed to beat Lightning. Hunkering down, tucking her head in, and hiding in hopes that she will get out of the storm in better shape than she had been entering it is pure idiocy. It made no sense. Lightning. It flashes bright, then fades away. It can't protect. It only destroys. That's why Tifa's convinced that she needs to find the eye of the storm because that's where Lightning is.
Where is Lightning? Not at the hospital. If she's not where Serah is, then Tifa doesn't know. Yet, somehow, the storm always manages to bring them together. It feels like it's more than just a coincidence now. Tifa froze with her heart hammering her chest when her search came to an abrupt end. One dark figure stood still, unprotected and unsheltered, and she was before the remodeled Comet-now-Meteor statue in the middle of the city center. Anyone that has lived long enough in the city wouldn't be so seemingly entranced by the structure, and any sane tourist wouldn't brave the storm to stand so unflinchingly apathetic. Every step she took towards this person, the more certain she felt about her hunch. Anxiety expanded and filled her to the brim until she couldn't take it anymore. It broke through her defenses with only a shuddering breath before turning her world inside out and upside down. Her knees went weak and wobbly, her hands trembled and shook with raw nerves, and her heart wrenched and twisted in on itself until it was in knots as she reached out towards that ever familiar straight and unrelenting back of the person in front of her.
She's not an illusion, conjuration, figment of imagination, or whatever other synonym for ghost that Tifa could think of. Lightning is real, and her hand isn't – can't – pass through her because-
The loud ring of her phone shatters the trance that Tifa had went into, and she yanks her hand back as if she had been burnt before contact could even be made. It immediately gives her away, and when the other person turns to find the source of the noise, Tifa's hardly prepared. Half of her face is hidden beneath her hood, but Tifa clearly sees the slight parting of her mouth before it purses closed again. Those were lips that Tifa knew. The phone rings and rings in her pocket, but it's forgotten. Ironically, Tifa doesn't do what she had imagined, and doesn't try to live out the reunion she had fantasized about. All she does is stare at Lightning's guarded expression and she doesn't know what to think or even how to react.
The phone eventually stops ringing, but even then, neither seem to want to make the first move. It feels impossible for her to grasp what Lightning's strict and taciturn countenance means. Lightning threw her life away – she sacrificed their life together, came back in a coma, and now, she can't even see to spare Tifa a smile. That thought alone hit Tifa like a freight train. She doubted Lightning knew how tiring it was to love someone who would never placed enough importance on her to see her as any sort of priority. Words formed before she could even take the time to consider them. "The Goddess of Death escapes death. I guess I should've known better than to worry."
If Lightning noticed Tifa's veiled scorn, then she didn't comment. Instead, she looks back at the statue and spoke with a tone to match the lowering sky, "It's bigger than I remember."
"That's because it's not what you remember it to be." Tifa responded, "It's not the Comet anymore, it's-"
"Meteor." Lightning interrupted, finishing the sentence for her, and from her tone of voice, Tifa could tell that she had caught Tifa's initial scorn loud and clear. "What better view than the one before it kills you? I know; when it's killing you." The words hit like a stinging slap to the face. "I don't know how many times I've died now, but I always come back being the same person. It's always one thing after another." Every word is like a metaphorical step taken, and she feels Lightning getting further and further out of her reach. Anger, frustration, and bitterness all carried a weight in the way Lightning spoke, and for the first time, Tifa heard regret. "It's not like I was expecting a parade or even a thanks for what I did. But… I come back… to see a monument," Lightning sneered, "of the space rock Sephiroth summoned to destroy the world."
The statue was unimportant, and Tifa couldn't care less for the chunk of metal that she didn't even want built. It made sense that Lightning would see this as an insult, after all, for all that she had done, they had gone and built a huge memento of the thing she sacrificed herself to stop. "It's…" Tifa racked her brain for the statemen that had been tossed around during the approval of the construction, "supposed to commemorate how the Planet repelled the Meteor."
Even with her eyes trained on Lightning's back, she didn't catch a single movement. "By building a monument of the Meteor." Lightning repeated it as if she was trying to make sense of something that made no sense.
"What do you want me to do then?" Tifa asked, "What do you want me to say?"
"Nothing." It was cold and sharp, and it left no room for argument. Tifa didn't lie; she truly has no words to offer. She didn't know what to do at all, and when her phone rang for the second time, she also didn't know if the interruption had saved or ruined her. Unwillingly tearing her eyes away from Lightning's back, Tifa slipped her phone of her pocket and saw Aerith's name glowing on the display beneath the droplets of water sitting on the surface.
She turns away to answer the call, and she's understandably meet with questions alongside updates to the pending search for the missing patient. "I found her." Tifa offered, and then a quick, "I'm sorry." Pocketing her phone again, the black-haired woman looked back to Lightning to see that she had turned and was staring straight at her. The hood had been pulled down, revealing wet hair that has been slicked back over the top of her head and the sharp penetrating eyes untouched by the dark blueless sky.
Lightning was reading her, and it got under her skin in the most uncomfortable way. There was a wordless accusation being nailed. "You have questions. I have answers. That's how it always works isn't it."
Boundaries are being drawn. Walls are being built. Somehow, Lightning is on one side and everyone else is on the other. Why would Lightning leave the hospital in the first place? Reason, practicality, logic… those were the cogs that kept the pink-haired woman running, yet in defiance to all of that, she left the hospital. It suddenly came to Tifa out of the blue, "Let's go somewhere far." Her heart thundered in her chest. There was just a small frown weighing on Lightning's brow, but that was all the reaction she got. Sucking in a deep breath, Tifa took another step closer to Lightning and offered her hand armed with a shaky smile. "Run away with me."
What did she expect Lightning to do though? To take her arm so they can go running off into the stormy horizon without a destination in mind? Her offer went ignored, her hand rejected by the silence. What she was met with though, was a crushing embrace. One of Lightning's arms wound around her waist, while the other hand rested against the back of her head. Tifa was more than happy to reciprocate, burring her face into the crook of Lightning's neck. This person with her was larger-than-life, much more meaningful to her than some monument built in the city. This was her way of telling Lightning that she owed nothing to the world and its people anymore… and really, she never did. In two seconds, or maybe three, Lightning's hand weaved through her hair slides down to caress her cheek and she pulls back just enough to kiss her. All the pieces were there, and it was almost effortless in how easily things came together when Lightning allows it. Lightning was an awkward lover, shy at best, but her feelings were true and tender. The rise and fall of her chest, the warmth permeating from her skin, and the sound of her heart beat her sure proofs that Lightning's here with her. Every slide of her lips has Tifa yearning for more. All the questions that Lightning had answers to, the cold rain that continues falling on them, and the dark thunderous clouds above escaped her notice because all Tifa could think about now was that Lightning's alive. All this time, the one thing that Lightning couldn't provide to her was security when the one thing she wanted was to feel safe. She needed to put an end to Lightning's constant arrivals and departures. She needed to know that Lightning was real, and that she was here to stay.
Just like all the other times though, Lightning was the first to pull away. With her lips warm and tingling with the lost sensation, Tifa pursed her lips together as if to prolong it and peered into Lightning's eyes. Lightning's arm was still secure around her waist, and Tifa wasn't about to let go anytime soon, "I'm sorry." Lightning murmured, "When I saw the monument I… I lost it." Tifa could see the depth of a deep and dark thought through the glass of Lightning's eyes, and it was weighing on her. It made sense for her to be angry, after all, Tifa had no idea what Lightning had gone through after she left her on top of the Sister Ray ruins so many days ago. The monument of the Meteor represented one thing for the people of Edge, but it was clear that it represented another for Lightning. To her, they may as well have built a statue of Sephiroth and claimed that it commemorates how Cloud had killed him.
"Let's go." Tifa suddenly changed the subject, releasing Lightning from her arms but keeping their hands locked together. "At this rate, I'm going to get sick. We can go back to my place and stay there until we're ready to face everyone."
Lightning's eyebrow raised, "Who said I'm not taking your offer up on running away?"
With a knowing look, TIfa rolled her eyes, "You did." She didn't have to actually see Lightning's smile, no matter how much Tifa loved it, to know it was there. Her priority right now is to get them out of the rain. The streets were mostly barren now, except for the occasional straggler under the umbrella that would give them pitying looks. Their clothes were sopping wet, their soaked hair latched annoyingly to their skin, but that was hardly of any concern. Tifa didn't care for the mess they left on the bar floors when they barged in, nor the water trail they left all the way up and into her room, or their shoes that she hastily kicked off. Once they were in her room, Tifa locked the doors behind them and strode towards her small dresser with her attention narrowed onto her phone, "I'll get you some dry clothes and towel." Tifa distractedly told Lightning and the next time she snuck a quick glance, the pink haired woman already had her hoodie on the ground. On the screen were two messages; one from Cloud and one from Aerith. All they said were 'Kids are at Elmyra,' and 'Take care of her.' With a smile playing on her lips, Tifa placed the phone down and began stripping without warning. It wasn't as if Lightning had never seen her naked or underdressed before, and truthfully, the cold was seeping in from the fabric and chilling her to her bones. Yet, Lightning stood stock still with an unreadable glint in her eyes as she watched. Releasing a short breathy snort, Tifa shook her head and crossed the room to open her closet. "Stop staring at me like that. It's getting a little creepy." Tifa joked, so she was surprised when Lightning responded with such a terse question.
"What did it say?" Lightning motioned vaguely towards the phone.
"Well…" Tifa shifted, "Cloud told me that the kids are at Elmyra's, and Aerith said to take care of you." Her eyes were bright and honest beneath Lightning's skepticism, leaving Tifa a bit baffled as to where this distrust was coming from. "I'm not lying… You can look at the messages yourself."
"It's not that." Lightning answered a bit too quickly for Tifa's tastes, "I-I trust you."
There wasn't anything she wouldn't give just to see the workings of Lightning's mind, but then again, she may be opening up a Pandora's box without realizing it. Turning her focus to her clothes, she shed all of her wet clothing and pulled on a slim fitted t-shirt before she felt a cool hand slip beneath her shirt to rest against her lower back. She jumped a little at the touch, but Lightning didn't remove her hand. Instead, she drew even closer, allowing her hand to snake around her waist and stomach while her other hand pressed against her underwear below her hip. Every movement sent jolts of electricity circuiting through her body, and she unconsciously held her breath. Her focus boiled down to her right leg where Lightning's hand slithered inwards, guided by her middle finger travelling the bottom seam and headed in-between her thighs. "Light, what are you-" Tifa bit her lip to muffle a gasp when slow and moist kisses pressed to her neck.
Something was wrong. Something was most definitely wrong, but why did it have to feel so good? "Tifa." Lightning's hot breath washed over her ear, leaving her shuddering so effortlessly.
She has craved for Lightning's touch and affections for so long, wanted to demand intimacy from someone who couldn't offer her any, but Tifa never asked for it. She didn't want to put Lightning in a position to turn her down, so she only settled with what Lightning was willing to give, but it never occurred to her that Lightning may have actually wanted more, and couldn't find it in herself to ask Tifa for it. Her body burned and arched for Lightning's touch, and the heat swirled in her head and clouded her thoughts. The sound of Lightning's lips against her skin, each pull from the suction of her mouth, and all the sensual flicks of her tongue drove her to insanity. She wanted more.
As much as she wanted to kiss her senseless, and to touch the lithe figure beneath her, this desire to feel wasn't driven by lust and this… this felt like it was. In less than a second, everything suddenly felt so different. Her hand shot down and over Lightning's, whose was caressing her inner thigh so precariously close to where Tifa desired her the most. "Stop." Lightning did as told, but all she needed to do was to lean back against the pinkette's body to keep her from running away. A vulnerable Lightning easily turns into a defensive one, and rarely does she ever see Lightning choose to stay vulnerable. "You said you trust me." Tifa started quietly, "So… trust me when I tell you that I know you better than this."
Lightning's hold on her pulled impossibly tighter. "Would you really run away with me?"
"I would…" Tifa answered carefully, "… only if I knew why though."
"Why?" Lightning echoed hollowly, as if she had just posed a question that she was so very tired with. She didn't answer right away, but Tifa was patient. The answer she got though, wasn't what she was expecting. "Because I hate people."
To hide her worry, Tifa just chuckled, "Hope that doesn't apply to me too."
"You're not 'people'." Lightning murmured into her skin.
"And yet you would throw away your life to save those said 'people'." Tifa responded.
"I didn't." Lightning confessed, and there wasn't even an ounce of guilt or regret for thinking that she should feel any different. "I did it for you."
"I'm flattered." Tifa responded dryly, "But I know that's not true either. You did it for Serah and the others as well. As for the other 'people,' let's just say they all got lucky and were handed a get-out-of-world-destruction-for-free card… no offence to those who died." The black haired woman added solemnly, but a darker turn in conversation wasn't what Lightning needed. Closing her closet doors, Tifa turned and looped her arms around Lightning's neck, "I sometimes wonder if you ever see life as some sort of game since you've seen so much of it."
"It's not a very fun game."
"I can imagine." Tifa smiled, holding Lightning's eyes with her own, "Still worth it though, right?"
"When I was up there…" Lightning paused, her stare flickering away from Tifa's as if she was afraid. It was a look that suited Lightning horribly. "I wasn't going to do it. I wasn't going to stop Meteor. I thought this place… these people… weren't worth my sacrifice. And… I was right. Sephiroth was right."
"But he was also wrong." Tifa said, pressing her hand to Lightning's cheek, "You saved the world, and even if it wasn't your intention to save everyone… you still did. You aren't – You've never been the picture perfect hero… and frankly, you come across as the martyr. I hate that. Don't think that you are obligated to feel that you should, and be willing, to die for anyone… because you're not. You don't owe anyone anything." Perhaps Lightning was merely looking for some justification to feeling the way she did, and maybe that was why she had fled the hospital before people could start forcing expectations onto her. It explained why Lightning was so furious with the monument of the Meteor as if it was a confirmation of all her doubts in the people of this world. "We all have questions, and you have answers, but that doesn't mean that you have to do anything after answering them. You've done your part."
Lightning suddenly leaned forward, stealing her lips with her own for a chaste kiss. "You're the only one that feels real."
"Well, I am the only one you've seen." Tifa smirked.
She watched Lightning's eyes darken and felt her own body flush in reaction. All it took was one small step back before Tifa's back hit the door of her closet. "What if I want to see more?" Her throat dried seeing Lightning's eyes rake over her face and focus on her lips. She lent in close again, whisper hot against her lips, "Feel more?"
All Tifa did was nod and permission was granted. It was much rougher, much more desirous then their first time together, but not to the point of acting purely to satisfy carnal urges. Her back bumped against the closet door, leaving the bang to sound loudly in the silence of her room. Hungry kisses marked the skin of her neck, frantic for a taste of her skin. Hands wandered her body unhesitatingly, tugging on her t-shirt to let her know that Lightning wanted it off. It came off, falling to the ground by their feet. Taking that short opening, Tifa slipped herself out from between Lightning and the closet, and pulled the other towards her bed where she took a seat on the edge. As Lightning pulled off her undershirt, Tifa make work of her jeans. After yanking them down, she wasted no time sealing her lips against the taut stomach, kissing as she went lower and lower, dipping dangerously as she teasingly tugged on her underwear.
"Is that what's to come?" Lightning's question was almost lost in her heavy breathes, "Or…" with a quick shove against her shoulders, Tifa fell back onto her bed as Lightning mounted her, "… is that what you want me to do to you?" She didn't need to say anything. The self-entitled smirk she flashed Lightning was enough. She loves the weight of Lightning's body on her or how her senses explode with delight when her hands take her to a new level of pleasure. Even as she squirms or whimper on the bed, she still feels powerful. She doesn't understand how being loved by Lightning could be so sinful yet pure.
Tifa's head rolls back, shivers assault her skin and travels in waves up her spine. Her back arches off the bed, a long sensual moan slinks free, and her hands grasp onto the back of Lightning's head as if there's no tomorrow. Her lips and tongue aren't the only thing Lightning tastes, but before she's undone, Lightning stops. Curling onto her side, Tifa buries her face into her sheets as she fights off the pulsing need for a finish, and that's what Lightning gives her. Lightning's body presses flush against her backside, one hand slips beneath her arm and over her breasts to hold and play with her rounded flesh, while the other finds its way down between her legs again. One stroke and Tifa moans, another and she gasps, and when Lightning dives deep into her, she screams the name of her lover into her mattress. Something's different this time though, unlike the last time they had made love. There's a determination to feel and to relish in what was being done rather than to place emphasis on the emotions behind it all. It was like Lightning was finally letting herself go, and taking what she had been abstaining from for far too long.
It wasn't just sex; not like what their mild-mannered joke from before implied. As Tifa's rolled onto her back again, her thighs are parted as Lightning takes residence in-between, and by instinct Tifa's hips move to match the rhythm. Lightning pushes her until the end, allowing her to reach a new peak before she's undone. Tifa's much too tired to respond to the passionate kiss that Lightning ends it on, choosing to burrow into Lightning's embrace to rest. "Thank you." Lightning's whisper brushes against the temple of her head, "For running away with me."
She knew what Lightning meant, and Lightning knew that she knew too. So instead of answering her with that same seriousness, Tifa played it off, "If that's what you meant by running away, then we should really do that more often. I'm more than happy to oblige." Lightning's chuckle rumbled from her throat, leaving Tifa glowing at her own accomplishment. They just laid there then, and for Tifa, it felt as if the rest of the world had just faded away. She wishes she could share that with Lightning; to take her to a place where nobody else was, and where no expectations would be continuously placed on her just because of who she was rather than what she can actually do.
That's why the next words Lightning spoke left Tifa speechless. "I'm not Etro." Tifa lifts herself up and looks to see Lightning staring at the empty ceiling. She speaks as if she's in a trance of sorts, "I can't see the Gates. I can't hear the souls. I can't feel the Chaos. It's… all gone."
"You mean…"
"I'm mortal." Lightning answers airily, "I think I am…" Words fail to come to mind at Lightning's revelation, and Tifa had always imagined that this would happen in her happiest dreams, but now that this was reality, she didn't quite know what to feel. "It's so strange." Lightning continued talking, "I've never felt… hungry for so long that I was…" her brow weighed down into a frown, "… afraid that I'd forget, but when I woke up," a broken laugh followed, "I actually woke up and… I felt hungry. I remembered what that felt like… I-I'm human again." Now, Tifa was scared. Either all her dreams came true, or she has been dreaming all this time. "Tifa?"
She blinked, looking to see that Lightning was staring curiously at her. "I-I just… Wow…"
"Wow?" Lightning repeated with a raised eyebrow, "That's it?"
"I mean," A slow but steady smile spread across Tifa's face, and by then she just can't stop herself from grinning as if she had found the answer to life's greatest secret, "we can be human together."
"Right."
"Like, human until the end." Tifa excitedly tried to explain, "We can die together!"
"Yeah…"
Exploding into gleeful laughter, Tifa hid her face into the crook of Lightning's neck. Still, she couldn't stop herself from smiling until her cheeks hurt. "I love you. I love you so much." Lightning shifted, but her hold never loosened. A kiss was placed on her forehead. Just when she thought she had settled, another idea came to Tifa's mind and she popped her head back up again. "So… you're human again."
"That's usually what 'I'm human again' means." Lightning retorted, earning a playful slap to her hip.
"That means…" Tifa purred, purposefully dropping her voice to a seductive prowl, "… we can focus on making you feel good." Lifting herself over Lightning, she hovered above on her fours. "You up for it?"
"Is that a challenge?" Lightning smirked and Tifa's mouth watered at the sight. A challenge was something Lightning refused to back down from.
"You bet it is."
Hello~! Sorry for the late update! I couldn't quite decide on how much angst (hahaha, cause y'know, theangst and I kinda come hand-in-hand) to put into this chapter. So... this was a rather physical chapter between Lightning and Tifa, but there's definitely more to come in terms of their relationship. Lightning may have seemed off-kilter this chapter, but she's still dealing with the repercussions of her sacrifice alone. Future chapters in Lightning's POV to come!
Now we're finally starting to move into the aftermath of the war! Thanks for reading! Till next time!
