And then a darkness. This darkness was utterly vast and all-consuming, and grandly unforgiving. And tender and comforting. Tifa thought to herself that this was how she had always thought of Death. It existed and one had to take it as it came.
There was a sadness as she realised she was dead. Her friends were all still alive. And Cloud-
She blinked. Black stretched endlessly. Heh... perhaps she was in a tiny room, she wouldn't have noticed. Just black.
She blinked again, and realised she still had a body beneath her. And gasped for air as she realised she wasn't breathing. Along with her ragged breath came sounds now, voices whispering, accusing. Things she had tried so hard to forget.. familiar voices.
Cloud?
Cloud!?
Oh my God, Tifa thought frantically. He fell in here with me. Where is he? What happened to him?
She tried to stand and run, but couldn't. She felt frustrated at being powerless, and though she didn't want to cry -she never wanted to cry- tears drew their defiant path down her colorless cheeks.
She turned around in every direction, looking for a sign of him, anything at all. She grabbed her head in pain, and the darkness, so tangible around her, began to spin. Tifa collapsed pathetically to the ground.
Copper eyes opened -hours? minutes? lifetimes?- later to the same shattering obscurity. Tifa moaned as she tried to stand. Her whole body felt as if it had been lifted and then smacked into a brick wall. She pushed herself up, blood pounding in her ears. As Tifa's eyes grew accustomed to seeing nothing, a faint, very faint light caught her eye.
She turned to it. It was Cloud.
The glow he emitted seemed to pulse softly, so he seemed to fade and reappear again. Then the vision of him pulsing ceased, and he simply was. He was standing a bit away, sword on his back. His eyes, brighter than the rest of him, were on Tifa.
Her mouth opened slightly. Cloud seemed so sad, so terribly dulled and broken.
His jaw was tight. He broke away from their eye contact and reached for his sword, fluidly sliding it from its sheath. He took a few steps towards her and extended a graceful hand to help her up. Tifa was scared. What's happening? How can he be..?
None the less, she took his hand and allowed him to pull her up. She swayed, still feeling weak, but his hand on her arm held her steady. Tifa felt afraid to speak, as if, for now, they went unnoticed in this vastness, but as soon as she might utter a word, attention would be drawn.
Cloud seemed to have no such problem. "Tifa."
She noticed again how she had to slightly look up to meet his eyes. She wanted to reach and touch his face, but was afraid of that as well. She was afraid of so many things.
"Here. Take it." He said softly, and gave her his sword.
And there Tifa stood, stupidly holding a gigantic sword which even she needed all her strength to lift, let alone to swing.
"Why-"
"Tifa.. listen, you have to do this. I.." He looked at her, eyes kept carefully cold.
"Kill me."
"..What!?"
"Kill me."
She met his eyes, her own wide in growing disbelief. Though she would deny it, she had the uncanny feeling she could see right into his being. Desparation, fear, loathing. His eyes were pleading her to end this misery. She felt something beneath her skin burn. How DARE he..
With all her strength, Tifa lifted the sword and struck Cloud down. The hilt of his sword hit him in the head with a blunt thud. Tifa had flipped the sword, and now carefully held the blade in two hands, panting.
Cloud staggered a little and grabbed his head. "Ow! What the hell-"
"You IDIOT!" she blasted him. "How dare you! You wish you could have the easy way out of this mess!"
"Don't you think this would be easier for everyone on the whole Planet?" He said stonily, one hand clutching his head where Tifa had hit him with his sword.
He continued before she could give another furious reply. "Look at what I've done -I let Nibelheim burn down, I let my best friend get killed, I let the last hope for the Planet get killed, I've let Sephiroth get away countless times, not to mention that I've even helped him! Oh, and not to mention that Hojo has done shit with me I don't know anything about, leaving enormous gaps in my memory, so I may also have lied to you about things! So now, Sephiroth can basically destroy the Planet because of me, and if I try and stop him, he snaps his fingers and has me kill everyone! You're doing the whole world a favor by killing me!"
He stopped his tirade, probably only due to shortage of breath. Tifa lifted her eyes to him. "I will NOT kill you. I don't think it'll be of that much help in saving the world from Sephiroth. But, I do think I will feel immensely relieved after having put you through some considerable pain." And she kicked him square in the chest, full force. Cloud went flying back and landed on the non-existent ground, gasping.
Tifa sighed, feeling much better, and walked over to help him up. He refused to take her hand, and instead stayed sitting, crossing his legs beneath him. His arms were wrapped around his middle as he regained his breath. She could see how angry he still was.
"I won't kill you," she murmured.
They both rested in silence for a while, the Cloud startled her by asking, "Do you think we're dead?"
She looked down at him quite forlornly, then sat down across from him. "I'm afraid that if we aren't yet, we soon will be." she said softly.
He nodded. "I'm sorry."
She looked up. "Why?"
"It's my fault we're stuck down here, wherever.."
"No, it's not, Cloud. You were unconscious before, in a hospital bed."
"What happened after I.. after.."
"After the Crater imploded and formed a magic barrier around itself?" she prompted, but Cloud only met her eyes blankly.
"O-kaay.." she said, and proceded to relate everthing he had missed.
"Execute you!? They were going to execute you!? I swear to God, when I get my hands on Scarlet and Heidegger.." Cloud exclaimed, veering up and startling her.
"Hey.. calm down. I'm still alive, right?"
When she had finished she was ovecome by a strange sadness, and saw how Cloud simply stared, face unreadable.
"It's okay. You're okay." she whispered to him.
He was quiet for a long time. Then, "Tifa, I'm sorry.."
"Oh, Cloud! I said it was okay! Don't be so dense!"
He looked at her smiling, and then laughed. He laughed for the first in a long time. "I think it's kinda cool how I glowed in the dark, though."
She snorted and laughed a little as well, for the first time in what seemed like an age.
*
Later -and later was all it could be called, trapped in this lightless space, with no measurable passage of time- Tifa was sitting. Cloud was standing and occasionally pacing nearby. They had both been quiet for a very long time. The silence was comfortable, simply a lack of the need to speak.
At one point, Tifa had stretched and then curled up on the invisible ground. She felt Cloud's eyes on her and didn't mind.
When she awoke later, she found Cloud sitting close beside her, eyelids dangerously close to dropping.
"You should have woken me up when you started feeling tired." Tifa said as she sat up. They seemed to have made a silent agreement about watching each other if one slept. They didn't know what might happen if they both slept.
"It's okay." he replied softly. "It's nice to watch you sleep."
He whispered the last bit so softly Tifa didn't hear him.