The Headless Aftermath and Other Rats in the Sun
From the author of, "An Autobiography of Vincent Valentine,"
And, "Phantom Wall Devils: An Interview with Sephiroth."
By: The artist formally known as Phoenix Down
"'Oly mother of Christ Jesus..." The fat red man in the cowboy hat cursed as Vincent's mighty bat wings condescendingly blotted the sky with darkness.
It was as if a black dragon, or a gigantic huge bat from the underworld had appeared and tormented the skyline.
The construction crew stopped and stared. A handful of them ran in panic.
Then, all of them ran in terror.
Only the fat man in the cowboy hat remained. He didn't blink as Vincent landed right before him.
He gawked, and stared as his hand fiddled with his coat pocket.
He found his cell phone. Without looking, for his eyes were fixed on the terrible nightmarish creature, he dialed Dante.
"Hello?" Dante asked, "This better be important, Ray."
"Get yur ass here, now." Ray, the fat man, uttered with a dry mouth.
"What is it? You need more crew?"
"No. No. There is... a thing here. A big thing. Scared everyone off shitless." Ray paused, he thought his trousers were wet. "Me, too. Here. You wanna talk to it?"
Ray offered the tiny cell phone to Vincent.
Vincent hissed with a mouth full of talon-like teeth, took the phone, and crushed it in his black-clawed hand.
"Uh..." Ray felt himself inch backwards. Vincent's eyes were bright red, and in tiny, brutal slits on his cruel, monster face.
"You... you must be one of them from downstairs, in the Shin-Ra basement, aren't you? Ho-how did you escape? We... we didn't mean any harm. We didn't even wreck anythin' yet!"
Vincent felt himself calm. Something inside of him folded up, and curled away. He was becoming less chaotic- more human... Slowly.
"I am... I AM from down there... but I am not one of them..." As he spoke, he spat cold saliva onto Ray's face. He was rapidly shrinking... His wings were sliding back into his spine... Then, he collapsed to the muddy ground.
"You're a MONSTER, get away from me!" Ray screamed. Tears welt up onto his pudgy face.
Vincent's skin turned from ink black, to ashen gray, then to a ruddy pink... then slowly, easily, to a pasty pale.
Ray opened his eyes, and watched the creature quickly shrivel back into a more acceptable human form.
He lay naked upon the dirty Niblehiem ground.
Ray found himself silent, and no longer screaming bloody hell.
He blinked, fascinated at Vincent.
"You're a ware-bat, aren't you? I've never... seen nuthin' like you before, why; you're no monster at all! I didn' know sons-of-bitches like you existed. Well, I'll be damned!" Ray nudged Vincent with his boot.
"...And in broad daylight. I bet you ass-fucker drinks blood, too, no? Hey... HEY! You awake?"
"...No..." Vincent groaned. "I... don't drink blood." He answered.
"SHIT! You can HEAR me! They say you folk don' remember nuthin when they are transformed." Ray tipped his hat up as Vincent pulled himself together.
"I am not a ware-bat." Vincent modestly wrapped his thin arms around his naked body. "Let me... borrow your jacket." He requested.
"Well, what brings you here, stranger, that you gotta scare off my construction crew like that?" Ray asked as he slid off his huge gray jacket and handed it to Vincent.
"I came to stop you from knocking down the Shin-Ra mansion." He replied as he gratefully took the coat and slung it around his shoulders. Carefully, he stood.
"Oh?" Ray looked through him with a squinted eye, "And why's that?"
"Because." Vincent shuddered. His eyes were not fully adjusted and they watered in pain. He rubbed them with his good arm gently. "Because I can't let you upset the creatures down there. It would be an act of war. You would bring complete chaos onto the world."
"Oh? Then, you do speak fur them, eh? You ARE one of them." Ray spat out the nub of his cigar, and placed his hands upon his round hips. "'Suppose you want a peace treaty, then? Right? Well, you go back in der and TELL your slimy friends, 'no deal.' I gotta contract from Shin-Ra sayin' I OWN this place n' can knock down whatever-the-hell I WANT!"
"You don't understand..."
"THE HELL I don' understand, bat-boy! I wanna go down der, and see for myself what the hell LIVES down there and see if I can make MONEY, ya hear me!? I'm an explorer, if you will, a treasure hunter! I didn' get rich jus' by sittin' on my ass doin' nuthin' and not makin' deals! No sir! Ol' Ray Romeo don' work like dat! Plus, word is dat Jenova do-hicky is down der wit' them! I jus' gotta see fur myself..." Ray dug into his pockets and pulled out another cigar.
"I've seen a lot of weird shit." He pulled out a matchbook. "But, bat-boy, you're the weirdest shit that I've ever seen. You belong in a circus."
Vincent didn't dignify that with a response, but instead only stood there shuddering with nothing but an over-sized gray suit-jacket on.
"Ach, for Chrissake." Ray began to unbutton his white shirt. He slid it off, and threw it upon Vincent's matted black hair.
Ray now wore only a white T-shirt.
Vincent muttered a thank you, and slid it on and buttoned it.
He looked like he wore a long, white gown.
Just as he finished dressing himself, there was a loud clapping sound coming from the sky. Treetops hissed under a sudden wind, and the repetitive, loud sound came closer and closer.
Ray shaded his eyes, and looked once more into the sky. A chopper was fast approaching; it was from Shin-Ra.
"Finally." Ray muttered under his breath. "Stupid kid."
The helicopter landed several feet from the two. Vincent held the hem of his shirt down as the wind threatened to lift the gown-like covering.
Before the helicopter's blades stopped spinning, Dante leapt out yelling,
"What in the world is WRONG NOW? Do you have any idea how much money my time is worth!? Just coming out here cost me three million dollars! I was in a MEETING, RAY!"
"It's ok, Dante. Things is cleared up now. But I ain't got no crew no more because of this prick, here."
"Who is this pantless wonder, Ray?" Dante smirked suavely at Vincent. He eyed him once- top to bottom.
"Vincent Valentine." Vincent spoke for himself. He clutched his limp claw as he spoke.
"Well, well, well, I really don't want to know what you guys were doing together that lead him to be so refinely dressed. Your name is familiar, why is that?"
"I don't know. I do not know how you would know me." Vincent dropped his gaze to his white toes.
"Oh! I remember, you're that ex-Turk who was one of the infamous heroes five years ago. Simply. Amazing. I thought someone would have killed you by now. You're a legend, you know. I would have recognized your eyes anywhere. Red. Not just any red, BLOOD red. Remarkable." Dante stepped closer, and peered into Vincent's face.
They were barely an inch apart. Neither one of them flinched or blinked.
"I know why you are here. You don't even need to say anything. I should have considered this before; I bet you are here to save your mansion. Eh?"
Ray watched flabbergasted- he, too, like millions of others, had heard of the Vincent Valentine- he was the mysterious one out of the heroes that saved the planet from Sephiroth several years ago.
Before, Ray didn't believe Vincent existed. And if Vincent did exist, he was a ware-creature, a monster, or some sort of beast, and no real hero at all.
Those whom follow myths and legends and believe in things like vampires, elves, and Bigfoot believed in Vincent Valentine. He was a story you told at night to scare small children.
He was said to have slept in a coffin with vampires and turned into a chaotic monster on full moons.
Often legends and truth are one in the same or close to it.
Ray's cigar tumbled from his lips... THE Vincent Valentine...
He THOUGHT he saw him on Conan O'Brian a few years ago... He and the 'Where's The Beef?' woman were the special guests that day. Then, he seemingly vanished. He thought that Vincent was dead or something.
He became a legend.
"And so... what if I am? You... and ... him... don't know what's really down there, I DO." Vincent spat in Dante's face. Dante recoiled, and pushed away the saliva patch on his cheek.
"And so do I. Thanks to Tseng. He sang like a bird right before he burnt prototype A." Reeve stated simply as he approached the three men. He walked casually from the town's entrance to them.
"Reeve?!" Vincent and Dante chirped in perfect harmony.
"My secretary told me you were murdered in that fire... What an unusual day." Dante said lightly. He turned away from Vincent and stood near Ray.
"He just killed a toy-image of me that I had been working on for years now. It's a pity, really. The plastic flesh was so realistic, it even bled. I was tiered of working on toys for children; I wanted to do something useful. I made the toy-Reeve with a camera- that's how I knew to come here. Tseng was having a tough time burning the plastic Reeve, and he began talking to himself. He told me all about the Shin-Ra mansion..."
"Reeve, tell them, tell them not to tear it down." Vincent pleaded and shuddered under the thin cotton shirt. Then, he paused and reflected a moment. Tseng was... alive?
"No, Vincent, I won't." Reeve grinned, and pulled out a gun. "Sorry, but, what's down there intrigues even me. Sorry, old friend. We are all going down there weather you like it or not. If it is what's left of Jenova, then, it should be totally destroyed." Reeve- the double-crossing expert, smiled like a snake.
Dante began to admire him; he wore the same foxy smile.
"Let's move. Come on." Reeve coaxed impatiently.
"How do we know that you're not a toy-image of Reeve?" Ray asked with his hands in the air.
"You don't. Let's move!" They all turned and began to walk towards the mansion.
"Reeve, you... evil... bastard... We trusted you one too many times." Vincent growled.
"Shut your hole, Vincent, and keep marching. Sorry, old friend, I was never really to be trusted."
Vincent said nothing as the gun barrel kissed his back shoulder blade.
"Nice dress, by the way. Totally takes away that tall-dark-and-dignified thing you had goin' on for a while." Reeve sarcastically sneered as they walked. "Hey, and don't even THINK about pulling any funny business. No tricks, no weapons, no CLAWS, that means you, Vincent, and NO turning into creatures."
Reeve walked behind the single file line that lead into the abandoned Shin-Ra mansion. Ray lead, whit his hands high in the air, then Dante, then Vincent, and lastly, with the gun pointed, Reeve.
"But..." Ray pleased as they walked. "HEY NO TALKING! I DON'T want to hear it!!! That's it, hands in the air, everyone." The party stopped, turned, and lifted their hands.
Reeve walked in front of them, as if a sergeant checking his men for inspection. He started with Ray.
He patted Ray's pockets, checked his hat, and his pants. He found three cigars and a loaded silver revolver.
He took everything.
Then, he patted down Dante before they entered the mansion.
He found three pistols, one of them loaded with the safety off. He also collected them.
He didn't bother checking Vincent.
"All right, MOVE." Reeve ordered. They marched obediently in silence.
~
Cloud bent in to kiss her; his shaggy blonde hair and rough chin tickled her fingers.
"Cloud... no." She whispered.
He stopped. His wide, bright blue eyes burned in hunger.
"I wouldn't do anything that you weren't comfortable with." He whispered back. His breath smelt like turkey.
"I know..." She said softly. She heard that so many times before from men, 'I won't do anything you weren't comfortable with...' But, they usually tried to press on, anyway.
Not that a part of her didn't mind.
"I just don't think I'm ready... to kiss you yet... You know?"
"I... know. I understand." He pulled back completely and looked to his feet. He suddenly felt foolish.
"It's not you." She sat up on the sofa and faced him with serious eyes. "I just... uhm. Cloud. I'm. A virgin."
"What?!"
"Why are you so surprised?" She asked with a unfunny chuckle.
"Well, I'm not, not really, but..." He itched his head nervously. He WAS surprised.
"I don't want to be with anyone until I know that I'm in love with them." She sunk back into a sofa with a shy grin.
He looked at her. "I wasn't trying to... uhm, sleep with you, you know? I just wanted to kiss you. I don't take back on what I said about how I feel about you, Tifa."
Her eyes drifted to his face, "I know."
"Tifa?" He asked as he rested his thin face onto his palm. "Why don't you love me? How long have we known each other?" His voice cracked. Memories of his childhood seeped into his brain: he was unpopular. She hung out with a different knot of kids- they always rejected him. He wasn't good enough for her- he never was. That's why she didn't love him...?
"Cloud. I DO love you. I TRUST you. And "The Incident" has brought us closer... but..."
"No, it hasn't, Tifa." Who was she kidding- Cloud thought- she hadn't called him in MONTHS. She spent all her time with BARRET. "In my mind, things haven't changed since childhood. I wasn't... I wasn't ever good enough for you, was I?" He suddenly gripped her hand.
"Cloud, no..." She whimpered.
"No-? NO? Tifa. I've been in love with you since I could remember. But, I... I can't play those games anymore. I've grown up, maybe you haven't..." His voice fell to a broken whisper, "Five years ago I thought I found a replacement for you in my heart because you never wanted to give me a chance. But, she died, along with my dreams of sharing my life with someone, Tifa. I still haven't stopped loving you. Make up your mind, so I can stop..." He took a breath, "Stop hurting. Do you love me, or do you not?"
She stared at him, and didn't answer.
Cloud did not begin to weep, he began to bleed clear, salty drops from his blue eyes.
"I can't take this." He stood. He wanted her out of his house, but didn't have the heart to tell her that.
"Cloud, wait!" She sat up again. His back was turned to her. He didn't want her to see him cry.
"W...What?" He choked. He felt his eyes burn.
"I...I...love you, Cloud."
He began to walk towards the front door.
She heard the door slam coldly.
But it was a hot, rainy afternoon.
From the author of, "An Autobiography of Vincent Valentine,"
And, "Phantom Wall Devils: An Interview with Sephiroth."
By: The artist formally known as Phoenix Down
"'Oly mother of Christ Jesus..." The fat red man in the cowboy hat cursed as Vincent's mighty bat wings condescendingly blotted the sky with darkness.
It was as if a black dragon, or a gigantic huge bat from the underworld had appeared and tormented the skyline.
The construction crew stopped and stared. A handful of them ran in panic.
Then, all of them ran in terror.
Only the fat man in the cowboy hat remained. He didn't blink as Vincent landed right before him.
He gawked, and stared as his hand fiddled with his coat pocket.
He found his cell phone. Without looking, for his eyes were fixed on the terrible nightmarish creature, he dialed Dante.
"Hello?" Dante asked, "This better be important, Ray."
"Get yur ass here, now." Ray, the fat man, uttered with a dry mouth.
"What is it? You need more crew?"
"No. No. There is... a thing here. A big thing. Scared everyone off shitless." Ray paused, he thought his trousers were wet. "Me, too. Here. You wanna talk to it?"
Ray offered the tiny cell phone to Vincent.
Vincent hissed with a mouth full of talon-like teeth, took the phone, and crushed it in his black-clawed hand.
"Uh..." Ray felt himself inch backwards. Vincent's eyes were bright red, and in tiny, brutal slits on his cruel, monster face.
"You... you must be one of them from downstairs, in the Shin-Ra basement, aren't you? Ho-how did you escape? We... we didn't mean any harm. We didn't even wreck anythin' yet!"
Vincent felt himself calm. Something inside of him folded up, and curled away. He was becoming less chaotic- more human... Slowly.
"I am... I AM from down there... but I am not one of them..." As he spoke, he spat cold saliva onto Ray's face. He was rapidly shrinking... His wings were sliding back into his spine... Then, he collapsed to the muddy ground.
"You're a MONSTER, get away from me!" Ray screamed. Tears welt up onto his pudgy face.
Vincent's skin turned from ink black, to ashen gray, then to a ruddy pink... then slowly, easily, to a pasty pale.
Ray opened his eyes, and watched the creature quickly shrivel back into a more acceptable human form.
He lay naked upon the dirty Niblehiem ground.
Ray found himself silent, and no longer screaming bloody hell.
He blinked, fascinated at Vincent.
"You're a ware-bat, aren't you? I've never... seen nuthin' like you before, why; you're no monster at all! I didn' know sons-of-bitches like you existed. Well, I'll be damned!" Ray nudged Vincent with his boot.
"...And in broad daylight. I bet you ass-fucker drinks blood, too, no? Hey... HEY! You awake?"
"...No..." Vincent groaned. "I... don't drink blood." He answered.
"SHIT! You can HEAR me! They say you folk don' remember nuthin when they are transformed." Ray tipped his hat up as Vincent pulled himself together.
"I am not a ware-bat." Vincent modestly wrapped his thin arms around his naked body. "Let me... borrow your jacket." He requested.
"Well, what brings you here, stranger, that you gotta scare off my construction crew like that?" Ray asked as he slid off his huge gray jacket and handed it to Vincent.
"I came to stop you from knocking down the Shin-Ra mansion." He replied as he gratefully took the coat and slung it around his shoulders. Carefully, he stood.
"Oh?" Ray looked through him with a squinted eye, "And why's that?"
"Because." Vincent shuddered. His eyes were not fully adjusted and they watered in pain. He rubbed them with his good arm gently. "Because I can't let you upset the creatures down there. It would be an act of war. You would bring complete chaos onto the world."
"Oh? Then, you do speak fur them, eh? You ARE one of them." Ray spat out the nub of his cigar, and placed his hands upon his round hips. "'Suppose you want a peace treaty, then? Right? Well, you go back in der and TELL your slimy friends, 'no deal.' I gotta contract from Shin-Ra sayin' I OWN this place n' can knock down whatever-the-hell I WANT!"
"You don't understand..."
"THE HELL I don' understand, bat-boy! I wanna go down der, and see for myself what the hell LIVES down there and see if I can make MONEY, ya hear me!? I'm an explorer, if you will, a treasure hunter! I didn' get rich jus' by sittin' on my ass doin' nuthin' and not makin' deals! No sir! Ol' Ray Romeo don' work like dat! Plus, word is dat Jenova do-hicky is down der wit' them! I jus' gotta see fur myself..." Ray dug into his pockets and pulled out another cigar.
"I've seen a lot of weird shit." He pulled out a matchbook. "But, bat-boy, you're the weirdest shit that I've ever seen. You belong in a circus."
Vincent didn't dignify that with a response, but instead only stood there shuddering with nothing but an over-sized gray suit-jacket on.
"Ach, for Chrissake." Ray began to unbutton his white shirt. He slid it off, and threw it upon Vincent's matted black hair.
Ray now wore only a white T-shirt.
Vincent muttered a thank you, and slid it on and buttoned it.
He looked like he wore a long, white gown.
Just as he finished dressing himself, there was a loud clapping sound coming from the sky. Treetops hissed under a sudden wind, and the repetitive, loud sound came closer and closer.
Ray shaded his eyes, and looked once more into the sky. A chopper was fast approaching; it was from Shin-Ra.
"Finally." Ray muttered under his breath. "Stupid kid."
The helicopter landed several feet from the two. Vincent held the hem of his shirt down as the wind threatened to lift the gown-like covering.
Before the helicopter's blades stopped spinning, Dante leapt out yelling,
"What in the world is WRONG NOW? Do you have any idea how much money my time is worth!? Just coming out here cost me three million dollars! I was in a MEETING, RAY!"
"It's ok, Dante. Things is cleared up now. But I ain't got no crew no more because of this prick, here."
"Who is this pantless wonder, Ray?" Dante smirked suavely at Vincent. He eyed him once- top to bottom.
"Vincent Valentine." Vincent spoke for himself. He clutched his limp claw as he spoke.
"Well, well, well, I really don't want to know what you guys were doing together that lead him to be so refinely dressed. Your name is familiar, why is that?"
"I don't know. I do not know how you would know me." Vincent dropped his gaze to his white toes.
"Oh! I remember, you're that ex-Turk who was one of the infamous heroes five years ago. Simply. Amazing. I thought someone would have killed you by now. You're a legend, you know. I would have recognized your eyes anywhere. Red. Not just any red, BLOOD red. Remarkable." Dante stepped closer, and peered into Vincent's face.
They were barely an inch apart. Neither one of them flinched or blinked.
"I know why you are here. You don't even need to say anything. I should have considered this before; I bet you are here to save your mansion. Eh?"
Ray watched flabbergasted- he, too, like millions of others, had heard of the Vincent Valentine- he was the mysterious one out of the heroes that saved the planet from Sephiroth several years ago.
Before, Ray didn't believe Vincent existed. And if Vincent did exist, he was a ware-creature, a monster, or some sort of beast, and no real hero at all.
Those whom follow myths and legends and believe in things like vampires, elves, and Bigfoot believed in Vincent Valentine. He was a story you told at night to scare small children.
He was said to have slept in a coffin with vampires and turned into a chaotic monster on full moons.
Often legends and truth are one in the same or close to it.
Ray's cigar tumbled from his lips... THE Vincent Valentine...
He THOUGHT he saw him on Conan O'Brian a few years ago... He and the 'Where's The Beef?' woman were the special guests that day. Then, he seemingly vanished. He thought that Vincent was dead or something.
He became a legend.
"And so... what if I am? You... and ... him... don't know what's really down there, I DO." Vincent spat in Dante's face. Dante recoiled, and pushed away the saliva patch on his cheek.
"And so do I. Thanks to Tseng. He sang like a bird right before he burnt prototype A." Reeve stated simply as he approached the three men. He walked casually from the town's entrance to them.
"Reeve?!" Vincent and Dante chirped in perfect harmony.
"My secretary told me you were murdered in that fire... What an unusual day." Dante said lightly. He turned away from Vincent and stood near Ray.
"He just killed a toy-image of me that I had been working on for years now. It's a pity, really. The plastic flesh was so realistic, it even bled. I was tiered of working on toys for children; I wanted to do something useful. I made the toy-Reeve with a camera- that's how I knew to come here. Tseng was having a tough time burning the plastic Reeve, and he began talking to himself. He told me all about the Shin-Ra mansion..."
"Reeve, tell them, tell them not to tear it down." Vincent pleaded and shuddered under the thin cotton shirt. Then, he paused and reflected a moment. Tseng was... alive?
"No, Vincent, I won't." Reeve grinned, and pulled out a gun. "Sorry, but, what's down there intrigues even me. Sorry, old friend. We are all going down there weather you like it or not. If it is what's left of Jenova, then, it should be totally destroyed." Reeve- the double-crossing expert, smiled like a snake.
Dante began to admire him; he wore the same foxy smile.
"Let's move. Come on." Reeve coaxed impatiently.
"How do we know that you're not a toy-image of Reeve?" Ray asked with his hands in the air.
"You don't. Let's move!" They all turned and began to walk towards the mansion.
"Reeve, you... evil... bastard... We trusted you one too many times." Vincent growled.
"Shut your hole, Vincent, and keep marching. Sorry, old friend, I was never really to be trusted."
Vincent said nothing as the gun barrel kissed his back shoulder blade.
"Nice dress, by the way. Totally takes away that tall-dark-and-dignified thing you had goin' on for a while." Reeve sarcastically sneered as they walked. "Hey, and don't even THINK about pulling any funny business. No tricks, no weapons, no CLAWS, that means you, Vincent, and NO turning into creatures."
Reeve walked behind the single file line that lead into the abandoned Shin-Ra mansion. Ray lead, whit his hands high in the air, then Dante, then Vincent, and lastly, with the gun pointed, Reeve.
"But..." Ray pleased as they walked. "HEY NO TALKING! I DON'T want to hear it!!! That's it, hands in the air, everyone." The party stopped, turned, and lifted their hands.
Reeve walked in front of them, as if a sergeant checking his men for inspection. He started with Ray.
He patted Ray's pockets, checked his hat, and his pants. He found three cigars and a loaded silver revolver.
He took everything.
Then, he patted down Dante before they entered the mansion.
He found three pistols, one of them loaded with the safety off. He also collected them.
He didn't bother checking Vincent.
"All right, MOVE." Reeve ordered. They marched obediently in silence.
~
Cloud bent in to kiss her; his shaggy blonde hair and rough chin tickled her fingers.
"Cloud... no." She whispered.
He stopped. His wide, bright blue eyes burned in hunger.
"I wouldn't do anything that you weren't comfortable with." He whispered back. His breath smelt like turkey.
"I know..." She said softly. She heard that so many times before from men, 'I won't do anything you weren't comfortable with...' But, they usually tried to press on, anyway.
Not that a part of her didn't mind.
"I just don't think I'm ready... to kiss you yet... You know?"
"I... know. I understand." He pulled back completely and looked to his feet. He suddenly felt foolish.
"It's not you." She sat up on the sofa and faced him with serious eyes. "I just... uhm. Cloud. I'm. A virgin."
"What?!"
"Why are you so surprised?" She asked with a unfunny chuckle.
"Well, I'm not, not really, but..." He itched his head nervously. He WAS surprised.
"I don't want to be with anyone until I know that I'm in love with them." She sunk back into a sofa with a shy grin.
He looked at her. "I wasn't trying to... uhm, sleep with you, you know? I just wanted to kiss you. I don't take back on what I said about how I feel about you, Tifa."
Her eyes drifted to his face, "I know."
"Tifa?" He asked as he rested his thin face onto his palm. "Why don't you love me? How long have we known each other?" His voice cracked. Memories of his childhood seeped into his brain: he was unpopular. She hung out with a different knot of kids- they always rejected him. He wasn't good enough for her- he never was. That's why she didn't love him...?
"Cloud. I DO love you. I TRUST you. And "The Incident" has brought us closer... but..."
"No, it hasn't, Tifa." Who was she kidding- Cloud thought- she hadn't called him in MONTHS. She spent all her time with BARRET. "In my mind, things haven't changed since childhood. I wasn't... I wasn't ever good enough for you, was I?" He suddenly gripped her hand.
"Cloud, no..." She whimpered.
"No-? NO? Tifa. I've been in love with you since I could remember. But, I... I can't play those games anymore. I've grown up, maybe you haven't..." His voice fell to a broken whisper, "Five years ago I thought I found a replacement for you in my heart because you never wanted to give me a chance. But, she died, along with my dreams of sharing my life with someone, Tifa. I still haven't stopped loving you. Make up your mind, so I can stop..." He took a breath, "Stop hurting. Do you love me, or do you not?"
She stared at him, and didn't answer.
Cloud did not begin to weep, he began to bleed clear, salty drops from his blue eyes.
"I can't take this." He stood. He wanted her out of his house, but didn't have the heart to tell her that.
"Cloud, wait!" She sat up again. His back was turned to her. He didn't want her to see him cry.
"W...What?" He choked. He felt his eyes burn.
"I...I...love you, Cloud."
He began to walk towards the front door.
She heard the door slam coldly.
But it was a hot, rainy afternoon.