--------------------------------------------------------------
PART 3 Promises


'I wonder who that could be...?' Tifa wondered as she walked
over to the door to open it.

"BARRET!!!" she exclaimed gleefully as she instinctively threw
her arms around her friend's neck.

"Heya there, Teef," he chuckled. "Long time, no see!"

Tifa noticed Marlene by Barret's side. Tifa knelt down and
embraced the young girl.

"I'm so glad to see you!" Tifa said. She smiled down at Marlene.
"How are you, sweetie?"

"I'm fine," Marlene responded.

"That's good," Tifa said. "Well? Come on inside!"

They all went inside the apartment. "I'm really sorry for the
mess," Tifa told them. "With Midgar still being rebuilt, the bar,
Cloud constantly going out on his different jobs and Zack staying
over with us..."

"Ahem!" Barret interrupted. Tifa looked at him. He raised an
eyebrow. "Um...Zack?"

"Yes," Tifa replied. "He's staying over here. He went out to
do something."

"Who is this guy?"

"Zack? He's a really nice guy. He and Cloud are friends from
long ago."

"Lookie here, Tifa. I'm trying to deal with the fact that you're
living with Cloud ALONE but now you have ANOTHER guy? I
don't think I'll be able to let you live like this without a fight."

"Why are you so protective of me all of the sudden, Barret?"

"Ok, although I haven't been there for ya for the last coupla
months or so, I still care! And I know what's up with you and
Cloud."

"W-What do you mean...?"

"I know ya love him, Teef, but I also know he dun love ya back.
I can't just stand there while he's breakin' yer heart!"

"Barret, Cloud is my friend and all I want to do is to help him!
After we defeated Sephiroth, we both had no where to go to so
we decided to help each other. Is that so bad?!"

"Tifa, you know ya can always go to me. I'm your friend and
I dun want nuthin' bad to happen to ya."

"I know you have good intentions, Barret, but I can take care
of myself. Just because Cloud doesn't feel the same as I feel
for him doesn't mean that I should just go leave him. It isn't
his fault that he loves...um...forget it..."

"Tifa... I ain't sayin' that Cloud's a bad guy. I'm just tellin' ya
that you should do sumthin' before you get hurt. Cloud's still
young and he dun know what he's doin'. I know you wanna
help him an' all but I dun want nuthin' happening to ya while
he's tryin' ta figure out things for himself."

"Barret... If you really care about me then could you just
let me be with Cloud? I know him and I know he would never
do anything to hurt me. I want you to worry about your own
problems. I'm happy with Cloud and that's all I want right now.
I can take care of myself."

"Well..." Barret patted Marlene on the head and smiled down
at her. "I wanna take care of Marlene without worrying about
anything else. But I want you to know that you can always
go to me whenever sumthin' bad happens. I dun want you
worrying that I'll be too busy or nuthin' like that, okay?"

"Okay."

"Now, what are we gonna do about this Zack guy?"

"Don't worry about that, Barret! Zack is a great person!"

"He better not be doing anything to you."

"I'll be fine."

"You sure you can trust this guy?"

"I'm sure."

"Well... You better not go falling in love with him. Like Cloud's
bad enough..."

"I'm not going to fall in love with Zack! We're friends only! That's
that!"

"Friends only, huh? Like you and Cloud weren't friends before
you fell in love with him..."

"This is a completely different situation! Besides, Zack's not
my type!"

"That's good. You SWEAR you won't go fall in love with him?"

"I won't, don't worry. I promise."





~*~*~*~





Zack slowly walked to the apartment door, drawing out the
keys from his pocket. He unlocked the door silently to make
sure he didn't wake anyone up. It was already 3 o'clock in the
morning so surely, Tifa would be asleep. When he entered, Tifa's
eyes suddenly went wide open as she sat up from the couch
she was sleeping on a while ago.

"Cloud...?" she questioned to the figure in the dark. "Is that
you?"

"Sorry," Zack replied. "It's only me. I'm sorry if I woke you
up, Tifa."

"Oh, that's okay," Tifa replied. "I was just...waiting for Cloud.
He said he'd come home early but he had to go leave again
shortly after he would get up. I wanted to see him before I
missed my chance."

"Heh. So you worry about Cloud and not me? You're certainly
very nice."

"I-I didn't mean it that way! I was just saying that I---"

"I was just kidding! Don't worry about it!"

"Oh, all right."

Zack yawned. "I'm very sleepy. Do you mind if I go to bed
now?"

"No, go ahead."

"You should get some sleep to, y'know. In a nice, comfortable
bed."

"I can stay up."

"You sure? Besides, it's not like Cloud's gonna go get himself
killed. No way! Not without me, he isn't!"

"I'll be fine, Zack. Just go to sleep."

"Why are you doing this anyway? Are you in love with Cloud
or something?"

"N-No! I was just concerned..."

"I'm concerned, too. About you. Could you just go to sleep
now? You gotta open the bar tomorrow, don't ya?"

"I'm sure Cloud will come soon. He would never lie to me."

"Anything could be holding him up. He can't control those
things. I can't stand a lady doing this to herself. If you don't
go to sleep, I won't."

"You'd really do that?"

"Of course."

"Well...if you really insist...then I guess...Cloud wouldn't
mind..."

"Good. Now come on."

Tifa stood up and they both went to their rooms.

'He's so much like Cloud...' Tifa thought. 'But...there's
something...that makes him...different... What is it...?'





~*~*~*~





"Sorry I'm late." a young Tifa, clad in a turquois dress said
as she sat down on the well. "You said you wanted to talk
to me about something?"

"Come this spring..." a young Cloud said. "I'm leaving this
town for Midgar."

"All boys are leaving our town."

"But I'm different from all of them. I'm not just going to
find a job." He stood up. "I want to join SOLDIER. I'm going
to be the best there is, just like Sephiroth."

"Sephiroth... The Great Sephiroth."

Cloud climbed to the top of the well and looked at the
stars.

"Isn't it hard to join SOLDIER?" Tifa asked.

"...I probably won't be able to come back to this town
for a while...huh?"

"Will you be in the newspapers if you do well?"

"I'll try."

"Hey, why don't we make a promise? Umm, if you get
really famous and I'm ever in a bind...you come save me,
all right?"

"What?"

"Whenever I'm in trouble, my hero will come and rescue
me. I want to at least experience that once."

"What?"

"Come on---! Promise me---!"

"All right... I promise."





~*~*~*~





"Zack...?"

"G'morning, Tifa," Zack greeted.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm just...making breakfast for ya..." Zack handed her a
sandwich and chuckled nervously. "Hehe... It's my specialty.
Pretty pathetic, huh?"

Tifa took a bite into the sandwich. "Mm! Not at all! It's
delicious!"

"You're just saying that to be nice. It really sucks. Well,
there goes my attempt to help out."

"Well, I say it's good."

"Well, thanks."

"Your welcome."

Tifa glanced over at the clock. Two more hours until she
had to open the bar.

"How long have you been up?" Tifa asked.

"I dunno," Zack replied, trying to sound as nonchalant as
possible. "Maybe 10 minutes..."

"You sure?"

"Y-Yeah..."

Tifa put down the sandwich. "You can tell me where you really
went, you know. Because I have a good hunch where..."

Zack paused. "I..." he began hesitantly. "I was there."

Tifa took a deep breath and looked away. "Well...there you
go..."

Zack stared at her. "..."

"I don't know why you can't just tell me. I'll understand."

"Well...why do you care so much anyway?"

"I don't want you to get hurt."

"I'm not gonna get hurt. I'm sure you know that already.
We're the same, ya know. Two people who can defend
themselves. But...that's not the reason...is it...?"

"Just forget it..."

"Tell me the real reason you wanted to know. I know you
have one!"

"It's just... Why, Zack?" she forced herself to look him in the
eye. "Why is it that you care for her so much? Why can't you
just let go???!!! Tell me why!!!"

"Because! Because...there are so many reasons. She's
just like the sun, ya know. Bright, warm, beautiful...and I
wouldn't be able to live without her. It's really hard, ya
know!!! I dunno why it's so easy for you to ask me to let
go of her! It's impossible! She's done something to me that'll
never go away!"

"So...that's it... That's why he---you love her so much..."

"I'm sorry if I did anything to---"

"No. No need for apologies, Zack. Thank you...for telling me
this..."

"Are you...okay...?"

"I'm just great. I just...it's nothing..." She forced a smile. "I
should get ready. I have to open the bar soon."

"Uh...yeah. Sure."

Tifa began to walk away. "See you later, Zack."

"Y-Yeah... See ya later, Tifa..."





~*~*~*~





'Why DO I care so much about it...?' Tifa wondered to
herself as she opened the locks of the bar. She looked
over at Zack who was beside her, waiting for the door to
open. 'I mean, it's none of my business. He can love
whoever he wants and I wouldn't really care.'

When they got inside, Zack started to put down the
chairs from the tables as Tifa went to the counter.

"Um...thanks a lot, Zack," Tifa said.

"No problem."

She watched as he worked. Why DID she care? Was
it because he was so much like Cloud? Did she really want
to know why CLOUD was so obsessed with Aeris? Or
maybe it wasn't Cloud at all. Maybe upon some miracle,
she had started to...

'No,' she thought. 'No way. I would never... But...
he IS a little... No. I can't be thinking this! I probably
didn't get enough sleep last night...'

Zack watched Tifa as Tifa wiped the counter. 'Why
did she seem to be hurt by me going to Aeris' memorial?'
he thought, taking down the last few chairs. 'Maybe
she really wanted to know why Cloud was there. Cloud
is such a dumbass sometimes! Can't he see that Tifa
is constantly worrying about him?! Would it kill him to
just take a coupla days off and spend some time with her?
Help her out once in a while?'

He sat on a stool by the counter and watched Tifa
wipe the beer glasses. 'What an idiot... He has no idea what
he's missing...' Zack shook his head. 'Damn! What the hell
am I thinking now?! I must be really messed up from
staying up so late. But...she really shouldn't worry herself
like that.'

Tifa went away from the counter and swept the floor
as Zack looked at her. He then forced himself to turn
away. 'Why the hell am I so concerned about Cloud
worrying Tifa?! Damn, I'm really screwed...'

They both looked up when there was a loud knocking
on the door. Tifa set aside the broom and went over to
open the door. Upon opening it, Cloud stomped inside and
roughly pushed Tifa to the ground.

"What da fuck do you think you're doing, man???!!!" Zack
said as he punched Cloud in the face, sending Cloud on the
floor as well. Zack rushed to help Tifa up and they both
stared at Cloud. Cloud got up and hit him hard in the stomach,
opening the wound that had been damaged many times.
Tifa grabbed hard onto Cloud's shoulders.

"STOP IT! STOP IT CLOUD!!!" she begged. Cloud just sent
her flying to the wall.

"T...Tifa..." Zack groaned. He punched him in the face
again and kneed him in the stomach. Cloud dropped to the
ground on his knees, holding his stomach in pain and then
lowered to the floor, unconscious.





~*~*~*~






Cloud slowly opened his eyes to see a teary eyed Tifa
looking down at him.

"Oh Cloud!" she gasped, embracing him when she saw that
he was awake. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

"T-Tifa...?"

Tifa nodded.

"W-What happened...?"

"You came into the bar and suddenly started fighting. That
wasn't you, was it?!"

"I-I don't remember... All's I remember is drinking a whole
lotta liquor and stuff..."

"So you were drunk! You really didn't want to hurt Zack!
...Or me..."

"Z-Zack...?"

Tifa helped Cloud sit up. Zack was standing right next to
Tifa. Zack smiled.

"Hey man..." Cloud said weakly. "Sorry for what I did to you...
whatever that is..."

"S'okay," Zack replied. "Sorry for knocking you out."

"S'okay," Cloud said. He looked at Tifa. "Sorry for what I did
to you, too, Tif."

"I'm fine," Tifa sniffed. "You had me worried, damn you!!!"

"Heh. Sorry."

Tifa smiled. "I'm just glad it wasn't you. And that you're
all right."

Zack looked down at Tifa. 'You're such a nice person,' he
thought. 'But why do you always put his needs before
yours? When will it be your turn?'





~*~*~*~





Tifa looked out her window at the nighttime sky. She put
her hand out to feel the cool glass. It was a night just like
that night when they made the promise. A clear and starry
night. She sighed. 'The promise... My hero would come
rescue me someday... Yes, Cloud kept that promise. But
now...' She remembered the incident at the bar that day.
Cloud was definitely not her hero then. It was Zack. Zack
was there. Ever since he came, Zack was always there
whenever Cloud wasn't. 'I wonder now... Who is my hero...?'