27

To Run or Not to Run?

"Can I kiss you?"

The question seemed sudden, and I turned pale.

"What?"

I turned, barely able to meet Isaac's eyes, suddenly drawn to his lips and wondering if I was really going to feel them for the first time? I watched them smile nervously, or maybe he was a bit shocked at my reaction, expecting another out of me. He blew out a nervous chuckle, a champagne glass in one hand, while the other snatched for my fingers.

I used my free hand to grip the metal rail tightly, as though afraid I would tumble over it and fall pass thirty floors.

New Years Eve.

Fireworks were going off, exploding music of gigantic booms, mini battles scattered across Manhattan.

"They say, if you kiss the one you love at midnight on New Year's Eve, they will receive good luck for the whole year," Isaac yelled in between explosions. His family was throwing a private party at one of the hotels, hundreds of people invited.

Other residents from the hospital were there, of course, though it seemed Isaac wanted to stay with me most of the evening.

I eyed his tulip glass of almost finished champagne, and teased, "How much champagne have you had?" Grinning, trying to make light of it. I was still on the fence, perhaps always would have.

Isaac shook his head, half his face glowing in rainbows.

"This is all I've had. Aqua, I'm serious. I love you."

"Oh!" I was struck with those words unexpectedly. Suddenly, it felt as though everything was moving too fast. My world was spinning, my ears hearing bells from the too loud of fireworks. Thunderous cracks broke away in echoes, stretching across the dark sky, along with a curtain of fairy dust falling to the tops of skyscrapers. People cheered, laughing and giggling with drink and endorphins.

It seemed like a perfect moment. A perfect man with a perfect career and all that his family had to offer. Why would I reject all of that?

But, I thought we were just friends...

"Isaac, I had no idea," I breathed, in disbelief as he took my hand up to his lips so that he could kiss my knuckles, one after the other like slow playing a harmonica. He closed his eyes, face filled with passion at each kiss, and shook his head again.

"I have been for a while," Isaac revealed, his eyes opening again. They lingered on mine, filled with sparkles from the fireworks.

Before I had time to think, too stuck on how the lights made his eyes almost like a fantasy, Isaac pulled me into him, and kissed me before it was a minute after midnight.

I accepted it, falling into him, and became entranced by his spell. Music played, the cheering, the colors, the lights, and his lips. All of it felt like a special ending to my story.

Six months later, he proposed. We moved in together. The wedding was supposed to be in late October.

Two weeks before...

"Ow!" I gasped, jerked away from my daydreaming.

Aerith dabbed on my left cheek with her compact powder.

"I'm sorry. Just a little more," she whispered, her large eyes trying not to expand farther than they already were. After telling her what had happened between me and Tifa last night, they glistened with bitter fragility.

It was morning, and I didn't want anyone to see how red my cheek turned out. Aerith took away the red mark with her healing magic, but the dark bruise stayed. I hated to answer to Cloud if he saw it.

"She had no right to do that to you," Aerith muttered, dabbing a little harder than necessary, and I winced to each poke.

Her compact smacked shut, and she sighed, letting it sit on her lap of her short floral dress. It was just us two in the room. The rain outside finally calmed, taking in a gentler approach to seek permission to get inside with delicate pats on the two standard windows. No view, just a glimpse of drops smudging across glass, and a creamy wall with Mako pipes from a house next to us. I stared at those pipes, fat, silver plated vessels tangling over quaint and adorable creamy cottages, like Shinra wanted to just bring filth upon everything. I turned my head away from the glass, got up, and took a glance at my reflection to the vanity's mirror.

My hair combed into a loose bun, my face washed, and pressed with Aerith's make up.

Nothing was wrong on the surface.

My eyes blinked, holding back a heaviness that settled behind them since Tifa told me about Cloud's story. I twirled around in my leather corset and skirt, trying to smile down at Aerith, but she frowned, not easily deceived. A bit relieved not having to put on a brave face, I heavily frowned, and suddenly fell into her, finally bursting with my cowardly sobs. There were still tears left in me, even when I cried myself to sleep last night, they still came. My sticky eyes moistened, fresh once more.

"I want to go back," I sobbed discreetly, a voice so cracked and quiet, no one else could possibly hear. My back shook in waves, pulsing to each inhaled gasp and wheeze.

Aerith held me without a word, her hands holding my shoulders to calm the tremors.

"It would be better if I wasn't here. I wish I could just go back home," I fretted, my tears dropping over her shoulder, slathering like murky clear gloss on her skin. My arms held her tight, hands resting up her back. I wanted to dig my nails into her, mold into her skin and hide in it, to stay warm and hidden for as long as I wanted. But I curled my fingers into fists, despising the idea of tainting her beautiful skin with red lines.

"Or just have you and I run away together. I want it just to be us," I protested, more tears falling.

"I can't do this anymore," I finalized, pressing my wet eyes into her shoulder's warm skin, and powerful darkness bled in my sight. Aerith's hands stiffened, letting me sob as quietly as a ghost, only for her ears.

"Cloud has finally opened up to you, and now you just want to go away?" Aerith asked softly, her head craned over the back of my neck. She didn't know what Tifa shared with me. I couldn't bring myself to tell her that last, suffocatng detail.

I nodded into her, the darkness behind my eyelids coming and fading.

"Yes. I can't do this, Aerith. I can't stay," I throbbed. My ears hurt, my throat swelled, my nose stuffy and face feeling like there was a thin film of syrup over it.

Tifa left me with a difficult strain. She was a professional of keeping things locked up and putting on a face. I, however…

Aerith held my shoulders firmly, pushed me back far enough to look at me in my nightmarish state, and narrowed her innocent eyes.

"You can do this. Trust me, Aqua," she tried, her gaze confident. But I was too distraught, shaking my head.

"It would be better if I went back home. Tell me how to go back. Before it's too late. Please?" I cracked, still more quiet tears soaking my face and smudging Aerith's powder.

Her hands tightened.

"Aqua, running away won't resolve anything. You know you won't be able to forget this. And besides, Cloud needs you. The Planet needs you-"

"Forget about the Planet," I spat, and buried my face into my hands.

Her fingers gripped until it hurt.

"I need you," she choked.

I lowered my hands, watching Aerith gaze up at me with glistering eyes, a few of her secrets swirling in them along the surface of a sea.

"I know it's easier with the idea of going back to your world, to live like none of this ever happened, but you can't just up and leave. What about me? What about what we're trying to do for all the people on this Planet? What about your poor friend, Isaac? What about Cloud? You said it yourself, someday we will all look back on this and laugh. You can't run away!" She announced strongly. Her pink lips twisted up in a crooked smile, a tear about to appear under one eye.

I gasped and sniffled, trying to be brave, trying to listen to Aerith's words and take them to heart. To feel like, I could do anything.

But I was a coward.

A plan was brewing inside my head, and I smiled from it, which Aerith took with her own interpretations.

"There, that's better," she whispered, her thumb delicately wiping away the tears and wet powder across my cheek.

"Let me go get a washcloth to clean this up and try again. I'll bring some coffee, too," she chirped, trying to smile for me, to cheer me up perhaps, or because she thought she convinced me to stay. But I knew Aerith. So, it was surprising when she easily left me alone in the room, closing the door behind her.

Now's my chance.

I sniffed the last bit of tears, wrapped my cloak over my shoulders, and took one last glance at the mirror.

What a stale looking woman I saw blinking back at me, with her green eyes so large and yet, everything else about her appeared small and brittle. I feel I've mentally declined with age, but my appearance decayed, or maybe I was just being critical. I saw a woman who needed to be taking better care of herself, with eyes that carried so much burden, they overflowed too easily. One of her cheeks was dark purple with a bit of smudged powder. I took a wet thumb and wiped it all off, and she smiled a Tifa kind of smile at me in return.

With my bag slung over my shoulders, I crept towards the door. The inn sounded alive when I opened it slowly. Pipes were running, footsteps coming and going below. There were voices downstairs, too distant for me to decipher who was speaking or what was said. I tipped my head out into the hallway, and found no one to be around. Taking it one quiet step at a time, I tiptoed, passing Tifa's room, and grew tense. Since her door was open, I took a peek, and found it to be vacant, nothing but a used bed and a robe thrown on the floor.

I continued on, passing Cloud's room, and hesitated. His door was still close. Should I open it, to see if he was still asleep? No, it would just make it that much harder to leave.

I took in a brave breath, and kept going. Before rounding the stairs, I stopped, hearing Aerith hum to herself when she left the shared bathroom. With a towel in her hand, she took to the stairs, probably to the kitchen to grab us some coffee. As soon as her steps faded, I followed far behind, discreetly, and landed a boot on the first wooden step.

There was a ruckus downstairs, Barret's voice boomed with Yuffie's and Tifa's. Red chimed in, and then, surprisingly, Cait Sith.

"Yeah, there's no way to get to Rocket Town unless we cut through Mt. Nibel. The buggy won't be able to cross the bay unless we run into the mountains," the cat shared.

"Well, we ALL can't go to Mt. Nibel, can we? I mean, what else is there? We just have Rocket Town, and I'm not sure what we'll find there," Tifa chimed in, planning out loud.

I took another step, my hands tight on the rail. Each step made a creak into the wood, but if I timed it with their voices, no one may notice.

"We need to wake up Cloud and come up with a plan. Some of us may have to stay with the Buggy, go searching for more clues on Sephiroth's location for this Reunion he speaks of," Red advised.

Step.

There were grunts of agreements.

"Tifa, yo, go wake his ass up?!" Barret snapped.

I froze.

No, don't go upstairs. Don't wake him!

My heart flopped wildly like a fish gasping for air, my palms sweating over the wood railing, and held my breath.

"I would rather not," Tifa muttered, irritated with Barret's demand.

I progressed again, trying to take two steps at a time while facing the door. Just a few more, and I could reach it. I was thankful the stairs were solid, unable to be seen from the lounge sitting behind them as I made tiny step after tiny step, my eyes planted on the door's knob.

Aerith walked into the small kitchen, not noticing my leg in view, and I sighed in relief.

"Who are you, again?" Cait Sith's voice popped up.

"Vincent," the new member grumbled.

There was a long pause.

"Vincent? Vincent Valentine?!" Cait Sith's voice shrieked, the name sounding familiar to him.

I froze when one of my boots creaked a step.

"How do you know that?" Vincent challenged, and I pictured his hard red eye stare on the robotic creature. Cait Sith sounded like he swallowed.

"Uh, I read about it in the Shinra Paper," he muttered. That sounded like a lie. I wonder how good Vincent was at detecting it. I could just see him studying the cat doll with his X-ray or Predator vision, deciding the cat's fate. I wanted to hear more, but I was finally on the last step, and reached for the door. My hand laid on the cold metal knob and pulled it back.

"What's with this town, anyway? It seems funny," Yuffie brought up. And then a whole conversation came up about the strange civilians of the town, not one local remembering the fire from five years ago.

That was my cue to pull the door open, and a light rain welcomed me. As slowly and softly as I could, I slipped through, and closed it.

I took in a deep breath, relaxing some. A tiny cover shielded me from the rain, seeing it start just pass my boots' toes. For a half minute, I savored the tiny bubble I was in, hearing nothing but the heavy drops. The sky never lightened up, as though carrying the dark feelings that resided in my thoughts and spreading it out on a canvas with only grey tones.

Still no residents out. It's like all they really knew how to live, was inside, locked away in their homes that weren't theirs. Making a life of pretend. Oh, the fires never happened. No one went crazy and murdered all the townspeople. That's rubbish.

I was sick of it.

My hands were shaky as they grabbed for my hood and flapped it over my head, and I let my pack settle easier over my shoulders, ready to trek. After another deep breath, I ran across the town's square, fat puddles splashed under me, and took to the stairs to Mt. Nibel as quickly as possible. Where I was going to go from there, I wasn't sure. Just getting back home was my priority.

I paused after the top step, and turned my head over to Claudia's hidden grave. Like it waved for me to visit, I was pulled in, stepping over into it, and instantly putting a hand over the handle of Cloud's sword. Just touching it, made it feel like he was so close, right there next to me. Quick from rain, my hand was soaked, but I let it stay there, embracing the chill that lingered behind. I stared at the stone, reading Claudia's name across it a few times. Yesterday felt like months ago. I thought I was close.

So, so close.

"I'm sorry I couldn't make your son happy," I whispered to the stone. Who knows if Cloud's mother could hear me, but it felt right to say a few words before I did something regrettable. My posture slouched when I thought of how he would think of me, running away after his kiss. A kiss that didn't come easily.

Maybe that was all I ever really wanted. I was content, finally gaining Cloud's trust.

Only to break it…

"I love him so much, but I can't stay with him. Tifa's right. Isaac's right. It would be better if I wasn't here. I should find my way back home, and everything would be better."

My cheeks were suddenly wet, and I rubbed at them, cursing to myself. Nothing but rain answered, and there seemed to be more of it, heavier than it was a minute ago, as though the answer was to drench me. I let the sounds of the rain settle in, a crashing doom for my upcoming choice, its nature shattering sounds screaming for me to go back.

Before lingering too long, I rubbed the back of my hand over my eyes again, twirled around and took a few long strides before coming to a halt.

Unexpectedly, I took into sight of Cloud's cerulean blue eyes, his hands in his pockets. We both held still, neither of us willing to move an inch, as though it would unsettle the very balance of our world. Only rain braved the movements, coming down like tiny little straight lines, taking nose dives into the peaked rocks and bodies of dead trees with twisted bare branches. My lips partially opened, just with enough space to help me inhale a tiny, sharp breath. Quietly, Cloud let his eyes fill with Mako, preparing for battle, and he blinked them closed for a moment, sorting his thoughts before saying them out loud.

He remained shirtless, like he's just woken up and hurried out of bed without so much as his pants and boots, breathing fast as though he just ran. His chest let the rain wash away old blood and phantoms of our tight hold only yesterday.

I settled my stare to his scars, the three lines across his chest. A sharp guilt cut my breath short, thinking back to Isaac's blades leaving those two darker red marks. All because Cloud was trying to protect me.

Cloud was never there…

I really wanted to run away because I couldn't keep holding such a heavy weight of knowing the truth. If I stay, I would end up telling him, and I couldn't do that. But I couldn't lie to him either. Couldn't keep it from him…

If I ran away, then I wouldn't have to feel such dark claws dig into my throat, pulling out the words that Tifa threw at me with bitterness, forcing me to hand them to Cloud on a rusty iron platter.

I should have never asked her.

A sharp pressure jabbed me in the gut when Cloud's eyes glowed brighter, giving a little more color to the grey world around us, and his lips finally opened, but barely.

"You're leaving," he realized, voice fragile.

I swallowed, fighting back phantom claws that pried my mouth open to dig for what I didn't want to say. Instead, I bit my tongue hard, and gripped my pack's strap tightly across my shoulder.

"It's better this way. If I stay, I will just tell you the painful truth," I confessed, and that icy pain cracked its way inside me.

Cloud studied me, rain collecting under his chin until he lifted it just a bit. It looked like heavy tears.

"That's why you want to leave? To protect me," he challenged softly, and took a step closer, only one. Any closer and I would bolt. My legs were already tense, waiting until the gap closed between us before they decided to kick off.

His eyes flickered to my bruised cheek, and they squinted at it. He made a hard line at his mouth.

"I don't want to be protected. Not from you. Not from Tifa. Not from anyone," he declared with a gentle confidence that rattled away the dark ice growing inside me.

"If you run off, I'll just go with you," Cloud added, and he turned his head to survey the view of Nibelheim through the screen of rain.

"You may as well tell me, get it over with. And then we'll go from there. I'd rather you tell me, if it means you will stay."

He returned his eyes back to mine, and waited grimly. It almost felt like we were bracing for a fight, but our greatest weapons were not of swords nor magic. What should I say? My lips quivered, eyes tingling with heat, until Cloud appeared as a fuzzy half paled figure. I blinked, and my vision cleared just a bit, almost not catching his other foot forward.

"I can't," I cracked, my hands up to my throat. If I choke myself, would that have stopped me? Fingers curled around it, ready to grip if needed, just in case I leaked.

Cloud's stare achingly hardened.

"Tell me," he uttered, his breath creating a long mist of white fog.

I shook my head, shaking away tears that mixed in the air with rain drops, not able to tell which is which.

"No. Ask Tifa," I begged.

He took another cautious step, and I took one back until his half buried sword hit against the back of my legs, forcing me to stay and face my fears.

"I am asking you," Cloud demanded in a low voice.

I began to wheeze, feeling trapped. My vision blurred once more, until everything morphed together into a fuzzy mess like I was underwater. Tension grew, my fists tighter and tighter until my palms ached from my hard nails digging into them. My teeth pressed together hard, flattening them out until they were ready to shatter.

The cold returned. A soft glow emitted from my left arm, and like Cloud knew why, he gazed at my beads of Materia.

It wasn't fair. He knew when I was holding back so much pain, even without asking. He just had to see them glow, and that was enough. His face dropped a little, the glowing of the beads like bright white dots in his eyes.

"I don't like seeing you hurting yourself, even if it's for my sake," he muttered, barely heard over the rain.

He took a few more steps. Too many.

Like a dam breaking, the claws finally gripped what they were after.

And yanked.

"Your memories are wrong!" I cried, and the tears spilled heavily. I dropped my head, my hair almost touching the mud, and even more tears fell, speckling on top of my boots with rain. My toes were numb again.

"You weren't there apparently! You weren't the SOLDIER that came into Nibelheim! Tifa waited for you, and you never showed up! She never saw you!" I gasped, wheezing in between sentences.

I was too scared to look up again, to see his face, the pain I've caused him for my fucking honesty. Why couldn't I just keep it all inside?

Sometimes, the truth hurst, Aqua. Think about that.

Tifa's warning rang in my ears, the beautiful collected woman on the beach, her drink in her hand while she stared solemnly at the shoreline. The ice cubes in her drink clanked to life.

I gasped, eyes open and laying over my boots, watching them wedge deeper into mud, their toes cleansed from my tears and rain. Strands of my hair slipped, falling into mud with tips of their silver tails, wet and grey.

"I'm so sorry! I wish I didn't know! I wish Tifa hadn't told me, and everything would've been fine!" I wailed, hands tight on my knees.

Was Cloud still there? I was still too afraid to check. I squeezed my knees a little tighter, my fingers digging into the bone of their joints.

Footsteps quietly came closer.

"So, that's what that was all about? You two did argue then. I thought it was all just a dream," he spoke in a whisper.

I looked up, catching Cloud examining the grey sky, admiring something I couldn't see. Perhaps he was taking in the detail of the tiny holes of sun, hopeful for the rain to lift a little.

"You two argued about me, and Tifa told you what she knew all along..." he dragged bitterly, dropping his head until he gazed down into his ghost town. Haunting memories filled his eyes, and he frowned heavily. Cloud curled a fist at his side.

"That's why..." he didn't finish, too distraught to even clear it up. Instead, he swallowed and closed his eyes.

"God damn it," he hissed, opening his eyes again and glaring out over the rooftops. His eyes narrowed, and for a few seconds, they flashed with disbelief, doubt, and frustration. But with a shake of his head, all of that was in his eyes, vanished, replaced with a depressing distortion.

"I don't care anymore…"

I dropped my head again, to avoid his gaze. All I saw were my boots in the mud.

The toe of one of Cloud's boots tapped at the end of mine, purposely.

"You goof, that's why you wanted to run away? You wanted to leave over a stupid thing like that?"

My eyes widened, and suddenly dried up when I sucked in a long gasp. The beads' glow faded, falling asleep.

"Cloud, it's…" My back straightened, vertebrae by vertebrae, but I kept my head low, eyes glued to his boot.

"It's not stupid. It's your memories. You don't know five years, and now it sounds like there's even more left in the dark. Doesn't that…" I swallowed. "Doesn't that scare you? Don't you hate me for telling you?"

One of his bare hands reached across my field of vision, and took my hand from my knee, both wet of rain. His hand was warm, fingers squeezed in between mine into a tight stitch.

"What would scare me, is discovering that you've disappeared," I heard, his voice over my head.

My heart walloped against my chest, making me take in a startled inhale.

Another hand, just as warm, found my chin, and very lightly, it lifted my head up. I closed my eyes tight, looking up and feeling rain wash my face, noticing his warm breath at my lips.

"Look at me," Cloud whispered.

My eyes squinted open a crack, barely able to find Cloud in the darkness. A little more, and I began to notice his glow. All the way, and I found him lending me a small smile, drops dripping from his spiky bangs, onto the bridge of my nose and cheeks, slipping down loosely as tiny single rivers.

Cloud squeezed my hand.

"I told you, it doesn't matter anymore," he reassured.

I was startled at how composed he was, unable to detect if it was pretend. The old Cloud from Midgair, acting like he wasn't affected by anything, when inside, he was hurt, didn't seem to appear. Though in his eyes, they speckled with a hint of pain, either a painful realization that he may never recover his memories and just had to live with that, or maybe he still wished he knew, deep down. But one thing was clear, Cloud was trying to be brave, for himself… For me...

His eyes grew delicate when he asked, "Does it upset you, knowing that I may have a blank past?"

Immediately, I shook my head.

"No, of course not," I blurted. "Let's make new memories while I help you find your old ones," I decided, hoping it wasn't an impossible quest.

His smile widened.

"Okay. Let's find my old memories. Meanwhile, let's make new ones. Starting now."

And for the second time, Cloud lowered his head, and kissed me. I closed my eyes, enjoying the heat his lips brought, a lovely contrast to the chilly air, and the taste of him returned after too long of a break. His hand that held my chin, traveled to the back of my head, gripping my hair closest to my skull, and pushed my face into his.

My hands planted on his chest, feeling his heart beat into my palms, warm and hyper like a child's. Even my fingers could tell where the scars began and ended, rubbing gently over them with careful contact.

When we broke away, me pushing Cloud back lightly, I had to ask.

"I don't understand. What changed since Cosmo Canyon? I thought you wanted to hold back," I whispered against his lips.

Cloud replied, "There are many reasons. One, I was afraid. But what Aerith said, got me thinking, I don't want it to be too late. Second, telling you the hard truth that I have no memories since the day before I met you, and yet you still accepting me. There was almost losing you to Sephiroth. And then…" he looked over my shoulder, his eyes soft on the stone with his mother's name on it.

I twisted around to gaze with him, trying to understand where his thoughts went.

"Talking to mother, the way that I did…" he cleared his throat as his hands slipped down my waist.

"That helped me the most," Cloud admitted, and his cheeks burned as his eyes nervously flickered back to mine before falling away again, embarrassed.

What did he say to her? A very private conversation, left for Cloud to keep to himself. It didn't matter, as long as it helped him reach a place where he wanted to be. I smiled up at him.

"Well, don't forget, I've got problems of my own," I quipped. "Are we just supposed to wait until we feel capable enough as human beings to be with someone?" I teased, reminding Cloud of his inner dilemmas. Waiting to be a hero, until he regains all of his memories, until he was strong enough? I ran a hand up his cheek, brushing away the rain.

Cloud shook his head, returning the smile.

"No. I don't want it to be too late," he vowed, and tickled my left cheek delicately with the tip of his fingers. I winced, flinching away.

Cloud stiffened, and then he frowned.

"I deserved that mark. Not you," he grumbled, looking back down at Nibelheim and onto the Inn where he pictured Tifa was hiding.

I quickly gripped his arm with both of my hands, and gasped, "No! Don't. It's okay."

Cloud turned his head, a displeased look on his face.

"It's not okay. Tifa should've told me, but instead, she just left it up to you, almost pushing you away."

"Cloud, please. Let her be. Please? She's been through enough," I pleaded, squeezing his forearm tight.

Cloud thought quietly, giving me a look I couldn't define, something depressing and thoughtful swelling in his beautiful eyes. The flat line of his closed lips grew, but then he sighed, and his body relaxed. He turned away again, taking one more glimpse of the Inn below us.

"Fine. If that's what you want," he muttered, unsatisfied. I bit my lower lip, nodding quietly.

"Let's go back. Then, you can dry up, and I can figure out a plan. We need to go find this Temple of the Ancients, right?" Cloud asked. If it weren't for his hand taking mine, I would've drowned in the fears that came at the mention of our planned destination. My heart grew, glad to have our hands together once more. I was so afraid I would never experience the feel of his hand with mine again, and so, when I saw them holding together again, my eyes glowed, and I felt whole and warm.

We took our sweet time, a two-minute walk stretched to five, descending the steps together, taking in the rain sounds and the quiet town.

I squeezed Cloud's hand as I thought of his hometown, how thrilled I was when I thought of it, and yet, how everything flipped upside down when we got here.

"Will you come back?" I asked, my eyes glued to his home, the tiniest house in the square.

Cloud stopped, two steps below, and looked at me at almost the same eye level.

"No. Not unless I were to visit my mother," he replied easily. With that, he turned away again, and led the way, always a step or two ahead.

In the middle of all that, I randomly requested from him, "Please, don't tell Aerith."

I would've hated for her to know I tried to run away, even after hearing her inspirational speech, how she needed me. Some friend I was…

Cloud remained quiet for a moment, filtering his words and shuffling them around in his head before he finally replied in a dry tone, "I won't."

When we were almost to the inn, I came to a halt, accidentally stopping Cloud from entering when our hands still locked. He paused before the door, and looked over his bare shoulder at me, not puzzlement but knowing in his eyes when he asked, "What is it?"

He was shielded from rain, under the roof, but I still stood out in it, letting it tap over my hood and cloak, wetting our hands.

I swallowed, anticipating a terrible tension between Tifa and I, worse than it's ever been.

"I'm not looking forward to the stress ," I mumbled. Cloud closed his eyes and smirked.

"I know what you mean. You're not the only one on Tifa's death wish. But we have to just keep going, taking the track we're on," he groaned, almost with light humor.

"We're on this train, and we have to keep letting it take us where it needs to go, twists, turns and all," he ended, opening his eyes with that spark only for me to see.

"Cloud…"

His metaphor took away my words, surprised at his perspective.

He squeezed my hand, and pulled me gently with him.

"Let's go."

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