"Wounds Never Lie"

By: Elf Fanatic Lark


Disclaimer- Okay, hopefully by now, you know I have no hope of ever in any point in my life to own anything Final Fantasy 7! Jus' my story! Haha!


Chapter 3


* The Nightmare or a Premonition?*


"Everyday Tif,....I die a little bit. Without Jenova alive, her cells weaken. My body depends on those cells..........which means...."


"No, Cloud! You're wrong you're only tired!" Tifa whimpered.


"You'll always be with me no matter what, you promised! Don't leave me...I'm scared. I don't think I can face this world without you by my side!" she felt weak and betrayed.


"Don't ever leave me, please," she begged, only to see him smile.


"I won't I promise. I swear to you I'll never leave...." his sentence was cut short when he fell weakly to his knees holding his heart.

Tifa ran to him adrenaline pumping through her veins, the only power to her legs was the urgency to help him, her one true love. Every time she took a step in his direction he floated further away. He called to her, begging for her comfort, saying that he would never leave.

He coughed up blood, and removed his hand from his heart revealing what Tifa wished not to see, a hand riddled with blood. There was a gaping hole in his chest, and it was bleeding profusely. It had been inflicted by their strongest foe...Sephiroth.


"I-I...love you.." he gasped before collapsing to the ground, the sound echoing throughout the void they had been in. Only then had she been allowed to run to him, without him being pulled away. She ran to him, but stopped abruptly as she heard a splash, she had stepped in a liquid. She looked down at his lifeless corpse floating in a pool of his own blood, which glinted hideously in the dim light. She kneeled down and lifted up his head and rested it on her knee a smile still on his cold lips.


"I....I love you too Cloud strife." she whispered, not ever wanting to let go of him. The noise of boots clicking on a metal floor became louder, she ignored it in the beginning, but it grew louder and louder until it became deafening. She raised her hands and cupped them over her ears trying to block the sound, but to no prevail.


"STOP IT!" she yelled, and the noise stopped to reveal a deadly silence. She looked down at Cloud, or what remained of his tattered body, he was dead and she was alone. Now she had no one. All too soon, the clicking returned followed by a laugh, a heinous laugh, one that made her sick to her stomach.


Sephiroth appeared out of one of the darker shadows that loomed about the void, laughing, in a way congratulating himself for finally ridding the world of its hero, its savior. His masamune flashed in what little light there was. It was covered in blood, Cloud's innocent blood marred its silver perfection and he threw it towards Tifa. She stepped back frightened, but he hadn't intended on killing her, he wanted her to see what he was capable of. That sword had murdered two of the most important people in her life, her father, Aries and now Cloud.


"This is the future," he whispered his glare filling in the rest.


"What do you mean?" she cried, as she set down her love's corpse, and gained a defensive stance.


"If Cloud is allowed to go to Nibelheim, I will be resurrected, and Hojo's experiments will finally end. Jenova will rule all, and I will be her faithful knight." (A/n Sounds a little like Seifer, doesn't it?)


"You're sick!" she spat, never had she hated a man in her life as much as this scum standing before her.


"There isn't a thing you can do about it, only save your worthless friends hides. And.." he laughed interrupting his sentence, and held his stomach as if he couldn't bare it anymore.


"And...You could save my mother the trouble by handing him over to us now. It would save a lot of innocent lives from being lost. If you hand him over," he repeated, "you could save your friends lives..."


"I DON'T UNDERSTAND!!" she yelled, and she felt a hand on her shoulder, which jerked her back to sweet reality.


Yuffie was standing over her a worried expression had flickered across her features.


"You...You yelled something in your sleep about not understanding something, and I was worried," Yuffie replied looking suddenly on the verge of tears.


"What's wrong?" Tifa asked, sitting up straight in the chair she had fallen asleep in.


"He's been asleep for over 3 days now. I want to know when he's gonna wake up again!" she balled her hands into fists but sat on the floor, stress causing her mind to tire. Tifa put a comforting hand on her shoulder, and smiled.


"I know, that whatever he is going through....He's fighting as hard as he can to fight it off."


"You sure?" Yuffie asked, looking up at her like a lost child.

"I'm sure," she replied, "Now get some sleep."


"Okay, but you keep an eye on him," she whispered her tone both playful and warning.


----((Tifa's P.O.V.))-----


I watched her jog up the steps to her room, and for a moment I was happy. A sudden groan attracted my attention to Cloud's sleeping form. I walked over to him, his face was contorted in pain. His hand was a tight fist and I held onto his hand, ice cold. What was she doing to him? I laid a hand on his forehead it was hot, I ran into the kitchen to retrieve a rag. I turned the faucet on cold, and held the dry rag under it, letting the cold droplets of water fall onto my hands, it was calming really. All the droplets falling uniformly, occasionally one or two drops sprayed out of the line. Those stray droplets were the members of AVALANCHE, ones who were different then most people. They refused to succumb to Sephiroth and separated themselves from others and put a STOP to him.


"Or at least that's what we thought," she whispered as she turned off the faucet and rang out the rag leaving only a little moisture left on the parched rag.


I gently laid the cloth on his forehead. He seemed to notice that I was there, caring for him. His expression softened, had he won? Had he won the battle against Jenova, that took place not only in his mind, but through his whole body? I sighed, I didn't understand my dream. Was it just a nightmare or was it a premonition. All I knew was that I couldn't just hand over Cloud, not now after all that we've been through, not ever.



----((3rd person view again!!))-----


She sat back down on the padded chair that stood across from Cloud. He was silent, a smile brightening his pale face as he slept on the couch. She smiled and closed her eyes. Would her nightmare return? Was its contents even true? She wouldn't know until she had talked to HIM again, and this time she was going to get a straight answer out of him. She soon fell asleep and the nightmare laid in wait to torture her weakened soul. Tonight she would know, tonight she would learn AVALANCHE'S fate. She had to find out about the truth behind Cloud's fearful and silent eyes. Only one man could tell her. Sephiroth.




(A/n WOOHOO!! I'm finally done! That's the ending of chapter 3! If you've already reviewed please do so again! You know the saying the more reviews the better! Hope you liked it! ^__^)