NOTE: Ok, people wanted my
to write a sequal…so here it is. Sorry all my stuff is so short. ^^;;; Am I
being to vague and ending at bad times? Let me know if I am…Well, there might
be more to this story, we'll see! ^_~
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any
of the Final Fantasy VII characters, they all belong to Squaresoft, and I'm not
making any money off this fic. So there!
WORTH THE
PAIN
She watched him from her window, her form
hidden in the darkness of her room. He walked across the grass to the top of
the small hill behind the inn they were currently staying at. Sitting down on
the grass, he looked up at the moon, hugging one of his legs to his chest, the
other stretched out in front of him, his blonde hair look an eerie green in the
moonlight. There he sat, as he did every night.
She watched him with her wine coloured eyes,
the pain evident in them.
"You always
go out there, Cloud." She whispered to herself. "I've watched you...Do you see
her? Talk to her?"
Outside, Cloud bowed his head. Tears unseen
by Tifa flowed down his cheeks, as they did every time. It was the same ritual
over and over again. Tifa cried also. She did that a lot these days. Aeris's
absence hit her hard, and a heavy depression had come over her normally happy
character. She was in pain, as was Cloud, which pained her even more. She hated
seeing him suffer.
"You should go to him." Came a dull voice
from behind her. She gasped a whirled around, peering into the darkness of her
room, barely able to make out the form of Vincent Valentine standing by the
door. His figure loomed in the darkness, and it frightened her. None of them
knew much about this Vincent guy. But she trusted him. He had been there for
her when no one else was.
"I didn't hear you knock…" her voice came
out shaky. Vincent took a few steps toward her.
"That's because I didn't." he said bluntly.
Tifa was slightly taken back by that remark, and wasn't quite sure how she
should respond, so she turned back to the window and Cloud. He hadn't moved.
She heard Vincent approach her from behind, and then he was there, standing
next to her in the darkness, his red eyes following her gaze towards Cloud.
They stood in silence, for what seemed like
an eternity to Tifa. She felt like she should break the silence, but didn't
know how. Finally, he reached out a hand and placed it on the cold glass.
"He's right there…" she began in a soft voice,
almost a whisper. She moved her fingers lightly over Cloud's image. "It's like
I could just reach out and touch him, if it weren't for the glass…It's always
been like that." She paused, blinking as her vision blurred.
"He's always been right there in front of
me, just out of reach. There's always been something blocking him,
closing him off from me."
Suddenly, Vincent raised his own hand and
placed it on Tifa's. I was surprisingly warm, Tifa had always thought that
everything about Vincent was cold. He laced his fingers through her own,
clasping her hand from behind.
"I hate seeing you like this." He said.
Neither of them looked at each other, only stared through the glass at Cloud.
"You should go to him, comfort him. He needs a friend." Vincent turned to her.
"Just like you do."
Tifa remained where she was standing for a
long time, thinking. A friend. He needed a friend. Tifa was Cloud's friend. She
Could comfort him – she had every right. Friends comfort friends in pain, they
were both in pain. The could comfort each other.
She turned and smiled at Vincent, her teary
eyes shining. Removing her hand from the glass, she turned it around and gave
Vincent's hand a squeeze.
"You're right." She said. "He shouldn't
have to go through this alone. I'm going to be there for him."
With that, Tifa spun around, letting go of
Vincent's hand and hurried out the door, leaving Vincent standing by the window
alone.
* * *
Vincent stood watching Could and Tifa for a
long time. Tifa approached Cloud slowly, unsure. Vincent prayed she wouldn't
turn back, and was surprised when she turned looking directly at him, and
smiled. He nodded, reassuring her, though he was quite positive she couldn't
see him.
Cloud gave a start when Tifa put a hand on
his shoulder, speaking softly to him, but in a short amount of time, they were
in each other's arms, comforting each other.
Vincent turned away from the window,
suddenly, and shut his eyes tight. He couldn't watch anymore. A stinging in his
eyes made him scold himself.
"They need each other." He said to the empty
room. "They belong together. It's the right thing to do…" He glanced back at
them.
"It's worth the pain."