Chapter 29
There wasn't much time to react before the familiar face nearly tackled him to the ground. Thankfully he was able to hold his ground long enough to keep standing. He still could not believe who it was that he was seeing.
"T-Tifa?"
"Cloud!" she exclaimed again. "It's really you isn't it?"
"Y-Yeah… but how did…? How are you…?" Cloud tried to ask, but he couldn't seem to find any way to end any of his questions.
Tifa didn't give her answer. Instead she pulled away from Cloud and stared at Zack with wide surprised eyes. "You!"
Zack looked around and then pointed to himself. "Me? What about me?"
Tifa's face scrunched up into a scowl. Slowly her hand closed into a fist as she took a few steps forward. Zack could already see the anger in her eyes and he knew that she meant business. He thought for a moment to recall what could possibly be the issue, but then it hit him.
"Oh yeah… Nibelheim. Five years ago. I remember now…" his thoughts trailed off slowly.
Back then, Tifa had told him that she hated Shinra and SOLDIERs after Sephiroth had set fire to the town. Even though he had saved her life, she still showed only anger and hostility to him. To be honest, he couldn't really blame her for her anger towards them. Even though he would normally just accept things, he found this situation harder than usual as he continued to look at her.
"Don't think I forgot about you! I could never… not after…" she huffed heavily before grabbing onto Zack's shirt with her other hand.
"Look, I can understand your dislike for SOLDIERs, and Shinra. I don't like them either. Neither of us do. If you give us a moment, we can explain things," Zack tried to settle her anger.
"What's there to explain? I'll just have to beat you over it," she continued on as she raised her fist.
Just as she was about to bring down her fist, another hand grabbed it and stopped her. "Tifa, stop. Zack's telling the truth. He doesn't deserve this. Especially not now."
"Why doesn't he deserve what I want to dish out to him?" Tifa asked. "You weren't there Cloud! You have no idea what happened!"
"I… I was there. I don't remember much, most of it's hazy. But, I remember you being hurt… and I checked on you. I know there's more, I'm just trying to remember…" Cloud said tiredly as he tried to think and let go of her wrist.
"Hey hey, don't push yourself too hard Cloud. It's okay if you can't remember it all. I remember," he spoke to Cloud, but then he turned his gaze back to Tifa. "He was there with me. I still recall everything about it."
Tifa's face changed with a look of shock etched on it. "You were… there, Cloud? But, why didn't I ever see you then?" she asked more quietly as she lowered her hand and let go of Zack's shirt.
"I think it was… uh, sorry. It's kinda hazy. Hard to remember sometimes." Cloud grimaced slightly as he placed a hand to his forehead.
"It's fine, Cloud. As I said, I can explain everything to Tifa," Zack said quickly as he picked up on Cloud's pain. The last thing he wanted was for Cloud to have any pain in remembering or even worse have some form of panic attack..
"And why would I listen to you?" Tifa retorted, crossing her arms as she still didn't believe him.
"Because it's the only answer that you will have right now."
"Tifa, it's okay. Zack's my best friend. I remember him there, and he'd never lie," Cloud said softly.
"Please Tifa, let me explain. Cloud if your head is hurting, maybe we should find a place for you to sit for a bit while I explain things to Tifa?"
Looking back over to Cloud, Tifa could see that he was having some issues of some sort, but she didn't really know what was going on. She wanted to understand, and currently, there was only one person that was trying to give answers. She spared a look back towards the black-haired SOLDIER and gave him a long stare, which was returned in kind with one of his own.
She sighed heavily and shook her head. "Fine, fine. I'll hear what you have to say."
"Thanks, Tifa. But, I'd rather try to explain in a more… private area. Not out in the open like this. For the safety of Cloud and myself."
"Okay, fine. But I'm doing this for Cloud though, got it? I'll decide on you after I hear what you have to say," Tifa said matter-of-factly.
"Right! Hear that Cloud?"
"Yeah, I did. Glad you are hearing him out Tifa."
Zack looked back to her. "So where can we go then?"
"Just follow me to the bar that I run. It's in the slums here, a little bit away."
With that, she went over to Cloud and placed her arm around his shoulder to see if he needed any help. The blond did not refuse either, as he leaned into it as she acted as a sort of crutch for him. Tifa turned and gave Zack a nod with her head. Seeing this, Zack only grinned slightly and followed the two of them as they set off.
"I guess trying to remember that time wasn't such a good thing for Cloud. Guess his memories still are messy. I'll have to try to keep that conversation away from him then when we're there…"
"Okay here we are," Tifa said lightly as they began to approach a building.
It was a fairly decent sized place, standing two floors tall and made completely out of a wooden material. There were some windows that lined the base of the building, with some lamps closer to the door and strings of lights adorning the rest of the building. A small metal fence surrounded the place and only separated at the front where a set of wooden stairs led up to the front door.
"Hmm, this place looks familiar actually," Zack stated as he peered all around the building.
"You've been here before?" Cloud asked quickly.
Tifa turned back to him. "Normally I'd say it's because a lot of the slums look the same. But this building was specially built."
"Yeah, I can see that," Zack said as he looked up closer to the top. That's when he finally saw what he wanted to see. "Ah, so that's it!"
"Hm?" Tifa questioned silently.
"The name of the place. 7th Heaven. It's the name I picked out many years ago actually. I helped some old carpenter when he finished with it," Zack admitted with a grin on his face.
"You named this place? No way…" Tifa trailed off.
"Wow, that's really cool Zack," Cloud spoke up again.
"Yeah that was a long time ago though. Well, why don't we go inside then and quit standing around, eh?"
The three of them headed inside, right away Tifa headed over to the bar area and walked behind it. "I guess since you are both here. Is there anything you want to drink?"
"Maybe just some water… head still hurts a bit…" Cloud muttered.
"Hmm, I think I'm good for now, but thanks for the offer."
Tifa poured a glass of water and set it down on the counter for Cloud. He took his seat and started to drink it slowly. "Thanks."
"Now, what was it you were going to tell me?"
"Well first… could we step into the next room or something?" Zack asked as he gave a quick side glance to Cloud.
"And why would that be? Why can't you just tell me right here?"
"Cause…" Zack leaned a little closer as he lowered his voice. "I don't want to stress out Cloud more than he already is. Talking about certain things may upset him more."
Tifa narrowed her eyes at Zack. She still did not trust him that much, but she saw that Cloud clearly did. From what happened briefly before with Cloud's strange head pains, she could only take a shot in the dark and figure that Zack knew what he was talking about. If she wanted to know the answers, she was just going to have to agree and listen.
"All right fine, follow me."
"Okay!" Zack said before looking at Cloud. "Cloud, I'm going to tell the situation to Tifa, okay? You just sit and relax for right now."
"Right," Cloud said before going back to drinking his water.
Tifa led Zack upstairs where there were some rooms located. Those were mainly for tenants that decided to stay, but her room was also in the area, sectioned off from the others. Once they were up there and inside, she closed the door behind them.
"Okay so first off, tell me why you don't want Cloud to hear what you're about to say," Tifa began, her attitude very straightforward.
"That's fair. It's just… ah I guess I gotta start with this first…" he began slowly. "After Nibelheim, we were captured by Professor Hojo, and taken back to his lab for experimentation. That's where both of us spent the next 4 years, a lot of the time in deep sleep but other times...awake, and exposed to mako every single day…"
Tifa's eyes told the story of what she felt as they grew quite wide. She seemed to fumble with words inside of her mind before finally being able to speak.
"W-What?... How? I mean, I had no idea it was like that. I knew Shinra was evil but… to use their own people like that…"
"That's why I tried to tell you to stay away and not get involved. I didn't want to see anyone hurt after Sephiroth… after he went crazy."
Tifa didn't speak, but she bowed her head. Zack wasn't sure if she was just speechless, or if she was embarrassed for being presumptuous about him. Or maybe it was both.
Zack continued. "Cloud… he wasn't used to the mako like I was and he got a severe case of mako poisoning. He's been recovering, but I don't want to end up triggering anything that could set him off. He was already traumatized enough from what Hojo did to him and coupled with the mako, he's blacked out most of it. It's just… a tricky situation."
"Cloud… I had no idea…" Tifa uttered silently with her head still sunk down.
"Should I go on? Or is it too much?"
Her head shot back up. "No. Go on. I want to hear it all now."
"All right then. I'll try to make it as short as I can so Cloud isn't waiting too long. But it is a rather long story…" he trailed off as he began trying to recall every detail.
"That's pretty much the gist of it, without going into too much detail," Zack finished.
Tifa tried to wrap her mind around everything that she had been told. There was so much that had happened to two of them, Zack and Cloud, in the past few years. More than should happen to anyone.
"I'm sorry that I was rude to you before. I… never knew you two were that close," Tifa finally uttered.
"Well, I told him we were in it together. I wasn't going anywhere without him," Zack chuckled slightly, trying to make light of the situation. "We're like brothers at this point."
"I'm glad that he had a friend like you. I'm glad he's safe at least. Thanks."
"Don't mention it. After all, it's what heroes do right?" Zack smirked.
"Okay, don't do that," Tifa warned. "It hasn't been too long. I wanna check on Cloud, make sure he's all right." She then walked to the door and opened it back up.
Zack followed closely behind her as they walked down the hallway towards the stairs. Just then, Tifa spoke up again. "Wait! I almost forgot. You didn't explain how I never saw Cloud… back then."
"Yeah about that. He really was there. He was one of the Infantrymen that stayed with me. Cloud never actually made it into SOLDIER. Cause of that he was too embarrassed and disappointed in himself to come forward with the truth."
Tifa sighed. "I wish I had known he was there… I wouldn't have thought of him any different if he made it into SOLDIER or not."
"Well maybe later on you could try talking to him about that. I am sure he would be glad to hear that. But… don't bring up too much about it. I'm still not sure of how to clear up his issues he's having, or if there is a way to do it…"
"Okay then. I'll watch out for him of course. We'll find a way," she said as they walked back into her bar area.
Cloud was still sipping on his water slowly, just staring at the wall for the time being. He heard them come down the stairs and enter the room as he turned his head to face them. "Get everything figured out?" He seemed to be doing much better than earlier.
"Yep! Tifa understands what was going on now," Zack chimed in.
Cloud's vision turned towards Tifa as he stared at her. She returned his gaze, her crimson red eyes locked completely on his deep blue ones. She sped towards Cloud and embraced him, giving him a tight hug as if not ever wanting to let go.
Upon seeing this, Zack stepped back to the side to let them have their moment as he cracked a smile.
"I'm just glad you're here now Cloud. I don't know how comfortable you are talking about certain… things. But you can tell me anything. Just… you're not going to leave anytime soon right?" she pulled back and looked at him.
"Nah, I'll be staying I think. Besides…" he started with a grin. "I've gotta keep a promise I made to a friend a while back. To be her hero if she's ever in a tight spot."
Tifa's eyes softened. "You remembered."
"How could I forget? I know… I'm having some memory issues. But I can't forget something like that."
A smile etched across Tifa's face again. "Good!"
"So I guess we're all good now," Zack finally spoke up from off to the side whilst leaning against a beam.
"I suppose," Tifa said before crossing her arms. "Though now I need to ask both of you, what are your plans now that you guys made it to Midgar? Do you even have a place to stay?"
"I mean yeah we do, kind of," Zack explained as he scratched the back of his head. "Just staying in a temporary place before we can actually get the gil to get a proper place to stay in."
Tifa raised an eyebrow. "A temporary place?"
"Just a little, old church that a friend of mine owns. Cloud and I are just staying there until the whole getting the gil part can happen."
Tifa shook her head and closed her eyes. "That won't do at all. How about this," Tifa opened her eyes again. "You guys can stay here in the extra rooms."
Both Cloud and Zack widened their eyes. Cloud was the first to speak between the two of them after that. "Wow, really?"
"Yeah, you really mean it? You'd let us stay here?" Zack added quickly.
"Of course," Tifa nodded. "But I need to warn you… I am not really alone here. I have friends… a group I am a part of… AVALANCHE."
Zack immediately tensed up. His eyes narrowed, heavy with suspicion. "AVALANCHE? You seriously are with-"
Quickly Tifa held up a hand to Zack, warranting him to stop. "It's not the same group as you'd be familiar with. We're just using the name. We are not as ruthless as that original group was. While we do still want to stop Shinra though from destroying the planet, we have different methods about doing it."
Zack still felt a bit hesitant, given what he knew about the AVALANCHE from when he was back working for Shinra. But if he had to go off of anything, Tifa could be trusted. She was Cloud's friend and he knew for a fact that Cloud trusted her.
Slowly he sighed. "Okay, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt for that. And… if what you are saying is true. Then I'd want to join you guys."
"What?" Tifa asked.
"I want to take down Shinra as much as your group probably does. They've done enough hurt, not just to the planet but to so many people." Zack's fists tightened as he continued. "I'm sick of what they are doing, so please Tifa, let me join."
"I'm staying with Zack. So, I'll join too," Cloud added.
"Yeah, both of us want to join," Zack replied with a head nod. "You know that we would be good additions to have anyways cause we know Shinra like the back of our hands."
Tifa smiled. "I think that would be a great idea, but you would have to convince the leader of our group, and he won't take too lightly to ex-Shinra employees, especially SOLDIER."
"Well," Zack clapped his hands together. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see. When can we meet him?"
"We're supposed to have a meeting later today, so if you wait around long enough you'll get your chance then."
"All right then I say that is settled," Zack said before he finally decided to take a seat at the bar.
Tifa circled around behind the bar and started cleaning glasses. "Well I still have to get this place ready for later anyways. You boys want anything else?"
Zack thought for a moment. "You know, after what we've been through, I think I do. Just give me something hard."
"Same here," Cloud stated.
"Oh really?" Zack questioned.
"It's like you said, it's been a long journey. We have a break at least. For now."
"You got me, guess you're right," Zack chuckled.
Tifa found herself laughing. "You two really are close like brothers."
Zack and Cloud looked at each other and then chuckled. It was true what Tifa had said, and they were just glad they were where they were at the moment. It seemed as though things could almost get back on the right track. There were just a few things to work out along the way.
So here we have yet another chapter. Tifa is here and now the the story continues to keep on rolling!
