DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy VII and its characters are wholly the properties of Square Enix. This story is written purely for entertainment and not profit.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This chapter may feel a little chaotic, since it jumps around quite a bit and seems to suddenly bring some familiar names into the story for the first time, but just like any moments that might feel out of place in previous chapters, everything will be tied together into the main theme as the story continues. I hope you'll enjoy it. Now, onward!

Healing of the Heart

Written by daBOSSz

Chapter 10

As her eyes opened the next morning, Tifa was met with a few seconds of confusion. The room was certainly not her own, and the point of view did not match the one she remembered before she had lost consciousness the previous evening. However, once she realized that she was sleeping in Cloud's office and that he had moved her to his bed, her confusion quickly changed to slight disappointment at herself for failing to remain awake by the time he came home.

Never one to be dissuaded, Tifa got up and walked back to the master bedroom, expecting to see Cloud. Instead, all she found was a bed that he had obviously slept in; it was made the same way that the bed in his office was made every day. Determined to find him first, she decided to temporarily put off her morning routine and, after peeking into the children's room to find Marlene and Denzel still asleep, headed downstairs into the bar first.

Upon arrival though, rather than seeing Cloud there, she was greeted by a note in his handwriting.

"Hey, Teef, sorry I missed you this morning. Client in Junon called right before I got home last night, says he's willing to pay double for my deliveries if I meet him today. I'll be back tomorrow night for dinner. Call you when I get to Junon."

Tifa sighed, feeling discontented again at yet another missed opportunity to clear the air and push their relationship forward. As patient as she was, she would be lying if she said there were not moments when she wished that they could simply get out of this limbo that they seemed to be stuck in.

"Tifa?" Marlene spoke, redirecting the barmaid's attention just as she was ready to leave the little girl's room. "Are you and Cloud…together?"

That sudden question caught her off-guard.

"What do you mean?" Tifa asked the five-year-old, trying her best to feign naivete.

"You know, together," Marlene reiterated. "Are you two together?"

It took a few seconds for Tifa to realize that the girl's question carried far more weight than its simplicity would indicate. While she wished that Marlene actually meant something else—perhaps something more innocent and playful—Tifa knew better than to doubt the sharp young girl.

Marlene had every right to find the answer to such a question. Life had become somewhat normal for the three of them: the new Seventh Heaven was doing well, and Cloud had found his footing in his newly established delivery service. On the surface, they seemed like a family that had risen from the ashes of Meteor to live the way everyone desired. There was no doubt that this normalcy had dawned on Marlene, and she was growing increasingly happier with their situation.

However, beneath the surface, the waters were far muddier. While she and Cloud had done what they could to move on from the ghosts of their past, such events were not so easily forgotten. Guilt still weighed Tifa down from time to time over whether or not she actually deserved this life, even though she had already vowed that she would live and only face her day of judgment whenever it actually came.

Additionally, while she and Cloud shared a roof over their heads, they had never actually cleared up what exactly their relationship status was. She knew they harbored feelings for each other, having realized such feelings in the leadup to Meteor, but with their primary focus being the fight to defeat Sephiroth and the rebuilding of their lives in the aftermath, any talk about their personal relationship was pushed far off to the side. Plenty of time had passed since then, and even though everything had seemed to settle down, they had still yet to converse about such matters.

"I…don't know, Marlene," Tifa finally decided to give the girl an honest answer. "I really don't know right now."

She knew what Marlene was seeking with such a question. After all the chaotic uncertainties that no five-year-old should ever experience, the little girl was hoping that Tifa could give her an affirmative response to confirm that their familial situation now had clarity. Instead, Tifa could only provide her with the ambiguity she was hoping that they had already steered clear of.

"Oh," came Marlene's voice with a frown. "I hope you are though."

A twinge of disappointment hit Tifa. She could never lie to Marlene, but this did not mean that her answer felt satisfying.

"I hope so too, Marlene," Tifa remarked. "I hope so too."

It was almost noon by the time Cloud arrived in Junon. The trip should not have taken him so long, but trouble found him en route when he was ambushed by some of the wildlife. The attacks were not strange—he was fully acclimated with the planet's creatures harassing him wherever he went, and such disruptions did tend to delay his long-distance deliveries from time to time—but the sheer size and aggressiveness of such attacks raised a few small alarms.

He spent a good amount of time wondering what could have happened in the week since he last made a long-distance delivery and whether or not the increased aggressiveness among these monsters was connected in some manner to the elfadunk stampede on Edge that he and Tifa had helped to repel. Reeve had promised to update him, but Cloud had yet to hear back from the WRO founder.

He had called Tifa immediately upon arrival as promised, although not much was said between the two of them, since he needed to reach his client to begin the tasks at hand. After a few deliveries within Junon, his client finally granted him a brief respite during the mid-afternoon hours. Cloud still found it rather strange that he had clients around the world who preferred to summon him all the way from Edge to make local deliveries instead of hiring another delivery service nearby, even after he continued to be unpredictable with his frequently changing schedules, but he would never complain about the increase in business.

Once he was on his break, Cloud initially wanted to contact Tifa and ask her about why he had found her asleep at his desk the previous evening, but he quickly dismissed the idea out of realization that such questions were likely better suited for an in-person conversation. He wanted to find out from her in the morning, but he knew the chance of her being up earlier than he needed to be was small, and with his client waiting for him in Junon, any lengthy conversations would have needed to be saved for another time. He decided to set his curiosity aside for the moment, knowing that if it was urgent, she would have given him a call after she had awakened and mentioned it to him while he was on his way to Junon.

Choosing to do something productive during his break, Cloud went shopping instead. After two years of work, the first schools in Edge were finally set to open their doors next week, and Marlene and Denzel still needed supplies. Edge had its fair share of shops, but none had the selection of Junon's upper district.

Cloud browsed through the shops, purchasing the standard essentials with the extra gil that he had just earned from his client that morning. He then took time to organize all the supplies into the two backpacks that he had bought: a pink chocobo-themed one for Marlene and a blue motorcycle-themed one for Denzel. Once the children were taken care of, he picked up a few bottles of wine not sold in Edge that he knew Tifa was fond of before temporarily returning to the room at his inn to drop everything off.

What he did not expect was the figure who greeted him as soon as he entered the inn.

"Cloud Strife," the muscular man acknowledged the moment their eyes met, and Cloud quickly found that it was more surprising to see him properly dressed rather than just the sight of him alone. "My, my, it's been a while. How've you been, young man?"

Cloud simply smiled and nodded back in response.

"Hey, Dio."

A busy evening at Seventh Heaven was nothing new. It was just out of the ordinary for one to occur this evening on what was usually a quiet day of the week. As luck would have it, the one evening when Cloud was unexpectedly away was the evening that Tifa found herself needing to constantly be in multiple places at once. It almost felt as though her customers had all planned to storm Seventh Heaven together purely to make her life more difficult.

All but one table was occupied, and every seat at the bar area was full. Then, after every customer departed, another would fill that seat immediately. Tifa was glad that both Marlene and Denzel were helping out with the tables, but only she could tend to the cooking and drink mixing duties. Apologies for delays in service were frequently uttered; thankfully, many of those present were Seventh Heaven's reasonable regulars who had seen their fair share of busy nights, and they were more than happy to sing her praises to the other guests to dissolve any impatience that had permeated into the air.

"I have to say, Tifa, you've certainly become a lot more cheerful since Geostigma ended and Cloud returned," one of her regulars remarked after she had handed him a beer.

"Is that so?" Tifa replied in a friendly tone while she started to mix another customer's drink, only giving the speaker a brief flash of eye contact.

"Yeah," the regular affirmed. "I didn't want to bring it up the last time I came here, but the mood in this place seemed so devoid the happiness we all knew and loved."

She cringed internally at his remark. It appeared as though, despite her best efforts to keep the mood of the bar festive, the effects of Cloud's departure had rippled straight through her and into the bar's atmosphere.

"I'm just really glad Geostigma is over with and he's home," Tifa responded, giving him a brief smile before returning to the beverage she was mixing.

No more was said, and Tifa knew it was because, like many of her regulars, this guest was both observant enough to see how preoccupied she was with the other patrons and reasonable enough to know her boundaries. It still surprised her, but she considered it a blessing to have so many frequent customers who always chose to limit their conversations to small talk, never prying too deeply into aspects of her life that she cared not to share with anyone outside of the family. Part of this was certainly because she would watch their drink limits at all times, usually stopping her service when she felt that they were nearing the border between tipsy and smashed, but most of it was due to her being lucky enough to have such considerate patrons.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said about the next two people who walked through the door. Just as she finished making the beverage and placing it in front of her guest, the bar's entrance swung open to reveal the figures of Reno and Rude. Slightly caught off guard by their unexpected visit, Tifa gave them a stare that lasted a bit longer than she wanted, watching as they helped themselves to the empty table without even asking if it was reserved.

A quick glance around the room told her that she had taken care of all her guests' needs at that moment. She spotted Marlene and Denzel talking with a family at the table farthest from the door and, upon making eye contact with the children, quickly gestured her head in the direction of the kitchen. They looked over toward the newcomers, understood immediately, and headed inside.

Tifa strolled out of the bar area and approached the duo.

"How can I help you two today?" she asked in a tone that was both cautiously optimistic and wary.

"Spritzer for me," Reno answered.

"Same," Rude followed.

Tifa nodded in acknowledgement and turned to walk back to the bar.

"What, that's it?" came Reno's voice behind her. "Not even a 'hi' for your old friends?"

She paused just slightly, smelling his bait. Had it been a less busy night, she might have considered amusing herself with taking it and seeing where he was trying to lead her, but with a packed house to watch over, she chose to continue walking away.

"Wow, and here I thought you were more gracious," Reno continued. "This is the thanks we get for saving you two."

She tried to ignore that comment for the time being, focusing instead on getting their drinks prepared. As irritating as the duo could be, she knew they were not the type to escalate any situations with other customers around. Once she was finished, Tifa brought them their spritzers, servicing them with nothing more than the ordinary "here you go" that she gave all of her customers.

"Really, Lockhart?" Reno spoke up before she could turn away again. "We haven't seen you since you chewed Strife out, and you're not even going to ask why we're here?"

After a brief pause, Tifa finally decided to humor them a little.

"Why bother asking?" she said with a cold shoulder. "You'll just tell me when you feel like it."

"She knows us well," Rude gave one of his rare comments.

"That she does, partner," Reno added, choosing to say nothing more afterward.

Tifa walked back to the bar, resuming her duties to her other customers. For the remainder of the evening, the Turks drank slowly and in an uneasy silence, never once asking her over for anything. She tried her best to ignore their presence as much as she could, knowing that it was impossible to do so completely but still possible to be successful enough so as not to disrupt her other responsibilities. She even re-summoned Marlene and Denzel for help, fully trusting that the two understood not to approach the Turks. Thankfully, Reno and Rude seemed to know where their own boundaries lay as well, never once trying to bait the children into conversations.

Eventually, as the evening rush ended and the last customer left, she walked back to the table that the Turks were still occupying.

"If you want my thanks," she spoke first as she grabbed their empty glasses off the table, "your drinks tonight are on the house. Don't push your luck expecting anything more though."

Her words seemed to fall on deaf ears as Rude took out a handful of gil and placed it on the table.

"We just want a favor," Reno said.

She figured they did and eyed them suspiciously.

"Boss told us you fought the elfadunks a week ago," he continued. "We just wanted to know if you'll give us any information you hear from the WRO."

That sounded far too innocent coming from the Turks.

"Can't you get that information directly from them yourselves?" Tifa asked before she could second guess her thoughts.

"What do you think we're trying to do right now?" Reno replied.

She found that difficult to believe, but chose not to press them further about it.

"What's in it for you, then?" she followed up with instead.

"We just do what the boss asks of us," Reno answered.

It was the response she expected, and even though she wanted to outright reject their proposal, it did not feel right to do so. While she did not consider the Turks to be friends, they had done enough for both her and Cloud to convince her that they were at least no longer the sworn enemies they started as once upon a time. Thus, she decided to give the only answer that seemed suitable.

"I'm not making any promises," she said, hoping that it was satisfying enough to get them off her back.

"I thought you'd say that," Reno responded with his trademark grin that was both snarky and unreadable at the same time.

To Tifa's relief, the two stood up and walked out of Seventh Heaven without uttering another word, but left the gil on the table to remind her that they had rejected her initial offer of gratitude. All Tifa could do was collect the money and tend to her clean-up routine.

Thoughts about what exactly the Turks were seeking continued to plague her mind for the remainder of the evening.

Panic gripped Tifa as she ran around the top of the structure, desperately trying to dodge Reno's attacks. Sparks, smoke, and the sounds of helicopter bullets rained down onto the platform, but all she could hear was the alarm coming from the computer nearby.

"Plate separation authorized," it blared. "Awaiting confirmation."

She tried to attack Reno with a flurry of kicks and punches, but he blocked almost every one of her strikes. She knew he was quick, but she did not expect him to be this agile.

A thunderous crash caught both her and Reno's attention. Barret had shot down the helicopter that Rude had been piloting. Seeing his partner in trouble, Reno slammed his foot directly into Tifa's midsection to knock her out of the way and bolted through the flames to the spot of the crash.

Another battle ensued when both of them re-emerged from the flames. Everything happened so quickly that it all became one giant blur. Tifa remembered landing a few critical punches on both Turks but also being struck by Reno multiple times in various parts of her body while he goaded her with insults.

Then, in the blink of an eye, her worst fears were realized.

"Plate separation initiated," came the voice from the computer. "Commencing separation sequence. Section 1 separation imminent. Evacuate immediately."

Tifa had no time to even gather what just happened. All she heard was the roar of Barret's voice.

"You son of a bitch!" he cried. "What have you done!?"

She watched Rude rush to Reno, picking him up and boarding their escape chopper. She found herself hustling to the computer, confounded by all the keys while its sirens continued to blare. The screen flashed on, showing Tseng, who was now openly taunting her for her futility.

"Tifa! I found Marlene!" came Aerith's voice in the middle of Tseng's scoffs. "Run! You have to go now!"

The monitor darkened. The plate above her was starting to crumble. Several pieces of debris landed all around her, and she felt as though she could not move. Everything was literally falling apart, and hope was fading rapidly.

"Hey! Over here!" Barrett screamed. "I found us a way out!"

Tifa's legs churned toward Barret. At the edge, with one final burst, she leaped onto his back. As they slid down the ropeway, deafening explosions completely filled their immediate surroundings. Huge chunks of concrete and steel rained from the sky, setting everything around them ablaze and crushing everyone below who failed to escape in time.

A blast of heat rocked Tifa from behind, propelling her forward through the narrow gates that divided Sector 7 from 6 and onto the asphalt below. She hit the pavement hard, rolling forward until a fallen slab of concrete stopped her momentum. Her head was ringing from both the noise and the impact of her escape and collapse, but once again, Barret's booming voice overrode all the other distractions.

"Marlene!" she heard him crying. "Marlene!"

She got back up to her feet, glancing around at the wanton destruction that now littered the area around her. Fires continued to burn, and any signs of a once-thriving settlement had been completely erased. She slowly approached Barret, catching the cracking of his voice.

"Marlene!" he screamed. "Biggs! Wedge! Jessie!"

It had all happened so rapidly that it was hard to comprehend her sudden reality. Her bar was obliterated. The entire Sector 7 was gone. Friends' lives were lost. All of this was because of…

An abrupt realization interrupted her chain of thoughts. Tifa glanced around once more, and her heart instantly sank even deeper.

"Wait a minute," she whispered loudly. "Where's Cloud?"

"Cloud!" she called out, regaining consciousness.

Tifa's eyes snapped open and were met by the red "3:30" numbers on her alarm clock. It was another nightmare that she had experienced far too many times to count, and she had long grown beyond distraught from having to relive such trauma through her subconscious. Sector 7's demise just would not stop haunting her, and she knew precisely why: in addition to the unfathomable devastation that took away her second home and countless lives, she could never wash away the guilt of having played a role in dooming the sector to Shinra's remorselessness. She still refused to admit it, but deep down, she realized that the moment would likely follow her for the rest of her life.

However, what snapped her awake this time was neither the destruction nor the realization in its aftermath of what had transpired. Instead, it was that Cloud had been absent from the entire recollection of the event. Tifa found it odd, because unlike the nightmare of her fall down Mt. Nibel in which she did not remember seeing Cloud's face, Cloud had been starkly present for the complete saga surrounding Sector 7's catastrophe.

Once again, Tifa's emotions started running away with thoughts before she could reign them in. What exactly was her subconscious telling her by removing Cloud from this iteration of her nightmare? Why did she even re-experience this nightmare at this moment? Last night, her dreams were completely pleasant; how did it all change in just one day? Was it triggered by the presence of the Turks at the bar earlier in the evening? If so, would she be forced to relive it again the next time the Turks showed up? Was this a sign that she should have been sterner and less ambiguous in her response to their request?

The more her thoughts lingered on these questions, the more uneasiness welled up inside her heart. Tifa could only close her eyes and silently plead for the mercy of a peaceful sleep, but she also knew she would not be able to find such solace until her heart's nagging restlessness calmed itself down.

This was a side of herself that Tifa was not proud of. Although she had always outwardly concealed it quite well, the internal battles between a mixture of her thoughts and emotions frequently drove her state of mind into chaotic frenzies. There were plenty of days when she craved a satisfying release of such pent-up feelings, but with so many people dependent on her to maintain her aura of strength, such opportunities rarely came. Even when she chose to vent her frustrations, such as lashing out at Cloud for lamenting on his guilt, she almost always second guessed herself in hindsight.

Moments like this, when her emotions refused to offer her any semblance of peace, were always when Tifa felt as though her strength was no longer an asset. Given all the events that had transpired in her life, weakness was never an option for her to consider, but there had always been moments when she wished she could simply give into her desire for vulnerability and put herself at the mercy of her turmoil. Sadly, the strength that she had trained herself to consistently uphold for the good of those around her refused to permit her to acquiesce.

Pure exhaustion eventually overrode whatever unsettled conflicts that still lingered inside of her, and Tifa drifted back into a perturbed sleep for the remainder of the night.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I hope I portrayed Tifa's internal turmoil adequately. I wanted to write her in a way that makes her seem vulnerable while still keeping true to her character as an emotionally tough individual, because as we all know, Tifa almost never gives off a feeling of being helpless. I feel that it's suitable to write the ambiguous, love-hate relationship that she and Cloud have with the Turks as both a trigger for and reflection of this turmoil.

As usual, please feel free to share any thoughts you may have. I always love hearing from you. Thank you for reading once again, and I hope to see you in the next chapter!