"Well, I'm at a loss," said Cloud. "Shinra said Jenova's Heart is at some 'Ancient Holy City" in the middle of nowhere, and I have no idea where that might be in the world."
"No, you've read that wrong," Aerith interjected. "The 'Holy City of the Ancient Ones' is a ruined Temple deep in the wilderness. It has been abandoned for generations. I've never been, but I know how to get there."
"How do you know?"
"Ever since I was a little girl, I've seen it in my dreams."
On the southern tip of the Outter Continent was where they would have to trek to, but a better idea presented itself. A cruise ship was leaving for a tropical voyage to Cape Town, and their illusive temple was right on the way.
"Holy cannoli! How much for tickets again? We could buy a house for that!"
"Let's try to win some in a card game. That worked in a movie I saw once about a cruise ship crossing the ocean. Don't remember the ending, just that it didn't go down well."
So they hustled their way into some tickets and boarded, with Aerith's chocobo having to be stabled with some fancy imported show-chickens.
Barret almost immediately found the Jacuzzi, by the sound of screams fleeing it as he stripped naked to jump in. The rest of the crew talked about taking a look around, and Yulan leapt out on point.
"I'll scout ahead to make sure it's safe."
"Nuh-uh little one." Cloud caught the little street ninja by the collar. "You're not old enough for the bar yet."
A glare like throwing stars threatened to slice Cloud's throat where he stood, but a knowing glance from Aerith put her down. She pouted and stomped off with Red wagging his tail at her side, and a ball he'd stolen from somewhere in his mouth.
They walked past the usher with nods and went inside the main hall of the ship.
The place was a happening happy-hour with a DJ spinning a flowing ascending baseline of house music that had the dance floor filled up with beautiful young people. A band of boys from some backstreet performed live on the stage.
Aerith stared with a slight smile out at the droves of dancers and party-goers having a wonderful time with their friends. A flash of a time that seemed like so long ago played in her mind, of another party, another place, and her heart leapt up with joy for the first time in such a long while.
"I'll find you later," she announced to her crew.
"You dance?" Cloud asked, surprised.
"No. But life is short, remember? I'm going to do something for me."
She flowed through the crowd, disappearing into the sea of waving hands and twirling bodies, to cling to the edge of the chainlink cage that held the entrancing DJ. She let her body move to the ebb and hum of the music, swaying like flowers in the cool wind and allowing her sensuality to flow in serpentine lines of similitude. She moved her hands all up her body, into her flowing tresses of auburn hair, and let the music take her.
Cloud found himself pulled on the same path she had taken, following a line like foxtails lit up in streaks of neon and fuchsia. An aural ascending baseline brought him to lean on the fence near her, transfixed on the vibrant glory that her soft swaying midsection enchanted him with. She saw him, and didn't skip a beat. With a spin on the chainlink she brought herself to trap him in her arms, and moved her hips with his.
Cloud gasped, feeling himself taken high, a delirium that danced in tune with her flowing hands as his arms fell over her, and together they floated off to aphelion in drop-beat tones of tech-trance.
At the sight of Cloud dancing with not just another girl, but her in particular, something came over Tifa, a desperation all women know and that takes over their entire programing.
TIfa leapt up on the bar, strutting like a high fashion model down the runway. She ripped her hairtie out and threw it to the crowd, who mad-dashed to leap for it like die-hard fans. The sail of her black hair whipped out in a stallion mane of obsidian, and she teased the onlookers with pops of her hips in a gyrating beat to the music.
Cloud and Aerith still swooned for each other on the dance floor and Tifa turned up the heat, dropping to her knees on the smooth bar top to command the atonement of the crowd, a burlesque bombshell bestowed with the beauty that drove men to war. The entire cruise ship bowed to her unparalleled power, while Cloud's undivided attention was solely pinned on someone else.
Aerith and Cloud ended up walking the upper deck, talking, laughing, and occasionally holding hands.
"I'm a Libra," Cloud boasted. "I'm supposed to get along with everyone. So why the heck do I have so many people wanting to shove a sword in my earhole?"
Aerith giggled like a schoolgirl next to him.
"I'm an Aquarius. I guess it figures. I take it all with a grain of salt anyway."
"Salt is not the element I'd use to describe you. More like sulfur. Use it to make plants grow but set it on fire and whew! Get out of the way!"
They cajoled around like their problems were nowhere and they were the only two people in the world. Cloud low-key stared out of the corner of his eye while she pushed her hair behind her ear, pretending not to notice. As she laughed she fiddled with the silver necklace that always draped her neckline. Cloud had to comment.
"That necklace. It looks beautiful on you, but you play with it a lot. What is it?"
"Forget-Me-Nots. My favorite flower."
"Most girls like roses."
"It's good to remember things. Sometimes people come into your life on a whim and change you forever, and sometimes they are gone just as fast. Life is fleeting. Hold onto the moments that make it special."
"Like the special someone who bought it for you?"
She went quiet then, a certain awkwardness hanging in the air. Cloud knew he'd overstepped.
"I don't want to be a buzzkill. Afraid you'll kick my ass if I step out of line like you did back in Midgar. I've gotta know, where did you learn to fight like that?"
Since they were on the subject…
"…My boyfriend. He taught me everything."
"Heh, where did he learn to fight like that?"
Aerith stopped. A heaviness descended upon the upper deck thick and viscous. She went to the railing and leaned her arms on it with a forlorn sigh.
"He was in SOLDIER."
The revelations fell like anchors on Cloud's shoulders as he went to lean on the railing next to her.
"I probably knew him then."
"Yes…Yes you did."
"What was his name?"
"…"
"Never mind. I get it, you're not ready. Heh, at least I know his last name."
But she shrunk into herself even further, small and meek, and Cloud knew he'd blown their good night. He sank into himself alongside her, quiet and distant in his soul, gazing out at the water's mirrored surface that refracted the moor lights like glass.
"…I wouldn't remember anyway. Everything's a blur. I don't remember anything from before my last deployment, even the tour itself. But, there is something I remember, something you said to me. When I first met you, you mentioned that we'd been introduced once, and that's how you knew my name. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but I'd like to know. Was it him? Who introduced me?"
Now she bore down into the darkness of the sea as well, brow furrowed in the distant expression of pain buffered by time, now being churned up like tides. A small nod told Cloud all he needed to know.
"That means…he must have been my friend."
The ocean was in her eyes, welling up with salty tears that refused to fall out of pride.
"He died in combat, didn't he? He died on tour with me."
The tears broke through, falling in tributaries from her eyes closed to the world, walling off her soul and failing. They told Cloud everything, affirming a terrible fact that Cloud's blank memory wouldn't allow him to piece together no matter how bad he wanted to. He caught her chin with two fingers and brought her eyes back up to his, then said the worst thing, the only thing he could say.
"I'm sorry."
She broke. She absolutely died inside, with her face rested in Cloud's palm and her heart held out in her hands. He touched her forehead to his and nuzzled his nose against hers, but he didn't kiss her. It was wrong to move in when she was weak and vulnerable like this. Instead he brought her into him, burying his face in her hair. As she failed to hold in silent sobs against his chest, the whole world fell in place. He knew what he wanted now, and the war in his heart calmed as he decided to honor a promise he'd made long ago, a promise to always take care of her, to protect her with his life.
Her tears calmed as she felt a man's heart beat for her, and they stood wrapped in each other's soft embrace holding fast against the oncoming night.
On the lower deck however, Tifa paced, running her hands over her face and hair.
He had to come this way to get to the passenger's quarters, and when he rounded the corner, she took a deep breath and waited.
"Cloud?"
But he walked right past her, like he hadn't even seen her. After everything they'd been through together, she was invisible to him.
"CLOUD!"
"Whoa, Tifa! My bad, didn't recognize you."
Her hair was down, after all. But it didn't stop her from marching straight up to him.
"I need to talk to you."
"Can it wait til tomorrow? I'm so beat."
"Now! You always brush me off, always sidestep like I'm not even real. I can't even get two words passed you anymore without you telling me off and I'm sick of it!"
"Alright! Jeez. I'm here. What do you want to talk about?"
"About…us."
"Aargh."
"Why are you groaning?"
"Because there's nothing to say! We've already talked about this."
"It's so unfinished, like a rushed release date. I feel like I'm stuck on the first level of a bad remake with you."
"Fine, fine. What about us?"
"We were…intimate."
He looked away, rubbing the back of his head.
"You're still on about that?"
"Still on about it? It happened and it doesn't mean anything to you?"
"I never said that!"
"You act like it! I need to know…"
She bore into him with all she was in life, and braced herself.
"Where do we stand?'
A long moment of silence passed between them. Cloud took a big breath and faced her back, with all he was in life as well.
"Tifa. I love you. I always have. I always will. You found me when I was fucked up. You took me in, took care of me. You've probably saved my life more times than I can count. I'll always be grateful for everything you've done for me, and I'll always work hard to give it back. Knowing you has made me a better man. You're my best friend. But that's all."
Tifa stood stunned, not even recognizing the man who stood in front of her anymore. As the tears welled in her shocked eyes, Cloud almost couldn't take it. That was two girls he'd made cry tonight. He was done. A little nod, and he headed off, in the direction of Aerith's room.
A huge explosion in the hull rocked the cruise ship, throwing Cloud and Tifa sideways. He lunged for her, grabbing her arm and pulling her into him. He pressed her against the wall as a second explosion rained bits of flaming debris down on the deck where they stood.
Aerith, Barret, Yulan and Red dashed out onto the lower deck to where Cloud and Tifa huddled. The ship swayed in violent jerks to and fro with the waves. A third explosion blew out the last engine, ripping a gaping hole in the hull of the vessel. The boat began taking on water in rapid gulps from the dark ocean below.
Everyone toppled over each other to get their bearings.
"The lifeboats!" Cloud exclaimed and Barret shoved everyone on toward the stern. When they got there, to their horror, they'd found them destroyed, ugly gashes slashed in their sides as if by a giant sword. That's when Cloud looked around and found no passengers panicking, no one rushing out after them to escape, and he knew they were already dead.
The all too familiar mist peeked over the sides of the distressed ship, spilling in forlorn purple waves across the deck in predatory tentacles.
"Come on!" Cloud shoved everyone toward the bow. They ran tripping over flying pieces of cargo.
Luggage and storage boxes toppled over everywhere, but Tifa and Yulan caught sight of one box in particular.
"Cloud!" they called. The box had a picture of pool toys on it, and they ripped it open to find a blow up raft. Scrambling to pull it out of the cardboard and splay it open, Cloud got to work blowing on the inflator with all his might while the girls held it open for him.
Barret studied the whole charade of his party members frantically blowing up a pool toy raft with their lungs and realized a somber sinking truth. He would never in a million years fit on it. He took a deep breath, cocking his arm-canon.
"You kids go on ahead. Ole Barret's gonna go down with this ship."
"What? The hell are you talking about, Barret?"
But he held up a finger, shushing them.
"Just remember, ya always gots ta have rope!"
He threw them a rolled up anchor line, then dashed off to cover their escape.
Everyone stood frozen for a second, their minds a blur.
"It's leaking!" Yulan yelled about the raft, and Cloud jumped back into blowing it up.
They got it plugged and prepared to launch it off the beach of the lower deck.
"Cloud! Your sword will pop the raft!"
"Ahh! Do I have something that's blunted?"
He scrolled through his weapons menu like flicking away Tinder dates until…
"Here we go! Baseball bat!"
His sword fused into an aluminum bat and he sheathed it behind him fittingly.
They launched the raft off the sinking lower deck, and Cloud held it until Tifa, Yulan and Red had climbed in. Then he jumped in to push off, tying the rope around one of the hand holds. All the stunning show-chickens leapt into the water, and Aerith's white chocobo who had now bonded completely to them leapt in after.
Believe it or not, chickens float like ducks, and by instinct all birds head for land. Aerith dove into the water and climbed on her chocobo's back, while the chickens picked a direction, paddling in the dark, and the chocobo followed. Aerith tied the rope around its neck, pulling the raft along behind them to a fleet of sea chickens.
Cloud, Tifa, Red and Yulan watched the cruise ship go down in a flaming pile of wreckage. But from the lower deck, far off into the night now, bullet flashes still peppered the dark all the way until the bow exploded and dipped below the sea.
[Received Leather Cord]