Chapter Two

Meeting Again

Some crowd tonight, Tifa Lockheart thought, glancing around the bar.

"Hey Tifa! How 'bout another beer?"

"Coming up!" she called. She filled a mug and handed it to Stan, the waiter. He was a childhood friend of hers, one of the little group she had run with as a girl. A group that should have included another boy, but somehow never had.

As Stan walked away, she glanced down at the ring on her finger, remembering.

***

"You're going?" she asked.

"Yes," Cloud replied.

"How-," she hesitated. "How long do you think you'll be away?"

"I don't know."

She didn't know what to say. She had hoped very much that he would stay in Nibelheim with her. There were things she wanted to share with him. She felt tears gathering in her eyes and fought them back.

"Listen, Tifa-"

She looked back at him. He took a ring off his finger, a plain gold band. Taking her hand, he placed it on her palm and closed her fingers over it.

"This was my mother's," he said. "One of the only things of hers that I have. Watch it for me until I get back, okay?"

Blinking away the tears, she smiled at him and nodded.

***

Tifa remembered that Mrs. Strife used to wear the ring on a chain around her neck. She had visited the woman often after Cloud had left for Midgar, despite her father's protestations. Mrs. Strife had given the ring to Cloud before he had gone, saying that it had belonged to her husband. She had told Tifa later that she felt it important that Cloud have something that belonged to both of his parents.

It was strange, but several of the town boys had left soon after Cloud had. Stan had been one of them. Lucky chance, that, Tifa thought. They would have been killed with the others if they had stayed. A few, like Stan, had wandered back after a while.

Tifa's feelings toward Stan and the other boys were ambiguous now. She had changed a good deal since those childhood days. She remembered the kind of boys they had been with disdain. Cloud had been a favorite target of teasing and taunting at their hands. They had goaded him into fighting a few times, and Tifa had grown angrier at each altercation. Cloud had been a quiet child, hardly bothering anyone and spending most of his free time helping his mother. It wasn't fair that the other boys harassed him all the time. She remembered that he had read a lot, using books to escape the torments of the other children. Tifa had wished she could get to know him better, but somehow the others had always managed to distract her. Then her mother had died, and Cloud was gone for Midgar.

Tifa came to care for him deeply once he had left home. She had learned more about him during her visits to Mrs. Strife. After they had bet again in Midgar, Tifa had been reluctant to be too far from him. Sephiroth and Meteor had brought them closer than they had ever been as children. And Aeris, dear Aeris, had helped her see that she really did love Cloud. Once it was all over, Tifa hoped that she would finally have that chance to tell him. It didn't matter if he really loved Aeris and not her. She would have felt better for him knowing.

But every time she tried, her voice caught in her throat. He'd kept in touch for a while, but the PHS had stopped ringing from him after a year. AVALANCHE had searched, but he had vanished without a trace. No once know if he was well or not, whether he had vanished on purpose or not. It hurt more than she would admit to anyone.

***

Tifa's Seventh Heaven closed late that night, after a boisterous, but profitable, evening.

"Hey Tifa." Stan's voice.

She glanced over at him. He was standing across from her, leaning on the bar, as she was.

"Yes, Stan?" she asked. The message light on her PHS blinked from the inside of the bar. It had been so noisy that night she had not heard it ringing. She picked it up.

"I thought maybe we could go out and do something now we're closed."

Tifa groaned inwardly and tucked a strand of long brown hair behind her ear. Stan had been trying to get her out on a date for ages. She had politely, but steadily, refused.

"I'm sorry, Stan, but it's been a long night and I'm really tired," Tifa told him. She tapped her message password into the PHS and set it on speaker so that she could keep talking.

Stan looked annoyed. "Tifa, you can't wait for Cloud forever. He's gone,  and you might as well-"

He stopped mid-sentence as the PHS message began to play.

"Tifa, this is Cloud."

The color drained from Tifa's face. There was no mistaking that quiet tone.

Please don't let this be some kind of cruel joke, she thought.

"I got your message about the reunion, and I'm on my way. Hope things are going well for you and the others. See you soon."

Tifa was frozen for several seconds. Then tear began to dance in her as a smile crept across her face. Anger replaced the irritation on Stan's eyes, and he pushed himself off the bar.

"See you later," he mumbled as he went out the door.

"'Night," Tifa replied absently. Snatching the PHS, she locked the restaurant and skipped up to the second floor of the building, where she lived. Going out to the balcony above the back yard, she smiled happily at the night sky as relieved tears traced glittering paths down her cheeks. She pressed the repeat button on the PHS and listened to the message again.

He's coming back, she thought glancing down at the gold ring on her finger. He'll be back for you soon.

***

Yuffie Kisaragi, her face an odd shade of green, stumbled off the Highwind where it had landed just outside Nibelheim near Tifa's bar.

"There must be a better way to travel," she groaned.

"Aw quit yer whinin'," Cid Highwind said, climbing down beside her. "Be glad this ain't the old Highwind, you'd've really lost yer breakfast then!"

"It could still use a few improvements," Reeve said, coming down from the airship with Cait Sith behind him. "It still gave me bruises."

"Turbulence," Cid defended.

"Hey! You guys mind helpin' me with the luggage?!" Barret Wallace yelled down to them from the deck.

"I'll help," Nanaki said, lolloping up from the field behind the Highwind.

They unloaded the airship and carted everything to the Seventh Heaven.

"Guys!" Tifa screeched happily as they entered. She ran out from behind the bar and into a round of hugs from the rest of AVALANCHE.

Gifts were exchanged, eager conversation made. They had hardly changed at all over the last decade. The clothes and circumstances were different of course, as they were all "respectable" now, and Barret was wearing a prosthetic hand instead of a gun. But the looks and personalities were the same as they had always been.

"I never would have thought Barret was such an obsessive packer," Yuffie laughed, fully recovered from her airsickness. "Did you see how much stuff he brought with him?"

"Aw quiet, you," the big man groused good-naturedly. "I figgered I'd better bring extra so I'd still have some after you'd robbed me blind."

Yuffie stuck her tongue out at him.

They stopped at the sound of the door opening. Tifa shot to her feet, as did Barret. Would it be…?

Vincent Valentine stepped into the bar to be engulfed in hugs and handshakes. Though he had always been the most distant person in the little group, no one was about to let him be left out of the good feelings that pervaded the meeting. After quietly answering their questions, he settled into an amiable silence.

Tifa had prepared a picnic lunch. They went out into her backyard where a table had been set up under a tree. They ate and sat around the yard and talked some more. It was just the kind of reunion they al had hoped for, and even Vincent seemed to be quietly enjoying the company.

"So Barret, where are Elmyra and Marlene?" asked Tifa.

"On their way from North Corel," he answered. "I had some business in Midgar and came straight from there."

"What about Shera, Cid?"

"They're stopping in Rocket Town to get her before they come," the pilot replied. "I was in Wutai helping Yuffie's father with the new airship dock, so Elmyra said they would bring her."

Tifa, though thoroughly enjoying herself, kept glancing at the back door of the house. When would he come?

"This is great," Yuffie said. "If only Cloud were here-"

Her words were cut off by a loud crash. They all jumped to their feet, recognizing the sound: a class three lightning attack.

Tifa ran inside to get her gloves, the others close behind her. She was slightly surprised to see them snatching their weapons out of their luggage.

"Old habits," Cid told her, pulling the Venus Gospel free of his belongings.

They were back outside in seconds and dashing towards the source of the sound, in the fields just outside Nibelheim. As they drew closer, Tifa heard the noises of a vicious fight. She poured on the speed, then nearly went flying as she tripped over a knapsack lying on the ground. Vincent recognized it and drew his weapon as he ran ahead.

They found what they were looking for on the other side of a low hill. A big monster, surrounded by five smaller ones, was fighting a man. A man who was carrying a huge and very familiar sword.

They leapt into the fray. Their fighting skills had not left them since their struggle for the planet. Barret and the others attacked the smaller monsters, leaving the swordsman free to concentrate his attention on the big one.

Tifa destroyed the small monster she was fighting and forced her way to the swordsman, calling his name.

"Cloud!"

He was only able to acknowledge her with a quick nod. The large monster was lashing out at him with clawed tentacles, and Cloud was leaping and slashing at it while trying to avoid the. Being careful of the tentacles, Tifa attacked the monster, her fists flying.

Behind her, she could hear their friends gaining the upper hand on the smaller beasts. Cloud was suddenly beside her, speaking tersely.

"The small ones will keep coming back until the big one is dead," he said. "If we kill it, they'll all die."

"Right!" she said.

Tifa renewed her attack on the large monster. Yuffie cried out in dismay as another of the smaller monsters appeared. A flash of green light caught Tifa's eye, and she jumped back from the monster as Cloud attacked with lightning magic before slashing at it again.

"Tifa!" Cloud was suddenly beside her again. One of the tentacles had reared up behind her, ready to strike. Cloud threw them out of the way, but felt the claws slash his back. The tentacles reared up again.

It was just what Cloud needed. He rolled to his feet under the tentacles and dealt the creature a shattering Climbhazard. Somersaulting backward, he landed hard on one knee as the death cries of the monster and its minions shrieked around him.

Vaguely, he could hear his friends cheering behind him. The wounds on his back burned, but he felt cold. His head swam.

"Cloud!" Tifa's voice, calling to him happily. He tried to stand, but his legs felt like water. Closing his eyes and bowing his head, he tried to fight growing dizziness.

"Cloud?!" Tifa again, closer now. She was kneeling on the grass in front of him. He started to shiver as soft hands raised his face. He found himself looking into a pair of lovely wine-colored eyes before darkness swallowed him.

Tifa's heart leapt into her throat as Cloud slumped into her arms. "Help!" she shouted at the others.

Vincent was beside them in an instant, placing his hand on Cloud's forehead. "He's been poisoned," he told the group.

"We have to take him to my house," said Tifa. "I have a cure materia there."

"Here, I'll carry him," Barret said. He went to Tifa and picked Cloud up, careful to avoid the bleeding gashes on his back. "Get his stuff."

They hurried back, Tifa and Yuffie picking up Cloud's sword and backpack, Barret bearing the unconscious mercenary as gently as he would have his daughter.

***

Tifa and Vincent came downstairs to the bar where the rest of the group was waiting.

"How is he?" Yuffie asked.

Tifa's face was grave with worry. "I cast a cure-three spell on him, but he hasn't woken up."

"I got his things here," said Barret, gesturing toward the pile of cartons he had brought with him. "D'you think he'll have anything that'll help?"

"Not likely," Vincent said. "I've examined him. The spell is working, but very slowly."

"How'd you get his stuff?" Cid asked Barret.

"He called me a week ago while I was in Kalm. Asked me to go to his place in Midgar and pack it up for him. He said he would be coming here to see us, so I brought it with me."

"Midgar," Nanaki said. "Is that where he's been all these years?"

"No."

Everyone looked at Vincent, surprised at the sureness of his answer.

"How do you know?" asked Tifa.

Vincent glanced around at his friends and decided that there was no harm in telling them now.

"Cloud and I chanced to meet nine years ago in Junon. He was abducted shortly afterward, but managed to get a message to me before he was taken. I followed his instructions.

"He knew who was after him. The ones who took him were dressed as Turks, but were far less skilled than the ones we encountered before. I tried to help him, but they caught some hostages and used them to force his surrender. I was forbidden to search for him to tell you what happened. He asked me to take the Ultima Weapon to Midgar and leave it in the hideout he kept there.

"I couldn't search for him, but I did return there periodically to see if he had gone back. I was there a week ago, and he arrived just after me. He had escaped his captor a week earlier and fought his way back."

They listened to Vincent's narrative in stunned silence.

"You-you said that Cloud knew who was after him," Reeve said at last. "Who was it?"

Vincent's eyes hardened. His hand clenched into a fist when he answered.

"It was Hojo."

"How can that be?" Cid burst out. "He died ten years ago!"

"A clone," Vincent answered. "I don't know the specifics. Cloud will likely be able to tell us more later."

Tifa had stood silent throughout Vincent's story, gripping the banister so hard her knuckles were white. She felt ill.

"Someone should stay with him until he wakes up," she said. She turned away abruptly and went back upstairs.

When they looked in on her later, they found Tifa almost feverishly cleaning the spare bedroom where they had put Cloud. They watched her from the door as she straightened the furniture and gave a few spots an extra going-over with a dust rag.

Cloud was lying on his stomach, the wounds covered by pieces of bloodstained gauze. Tifa finished her cleaning and went to the bed. She carefully changed the bandages, then pressed her hand to his forehead. Frowning, she reached for a bowl of water and a cloth on the nightstand and sponged his face carefully. After fussing with the sheet that covered him to the waist, Tifa seemed not to now what to do with herself. With an air of indecision, she sat down in a chair next to the bed and fiddled with a tattered piece of cloth hanging on the arm.

Yuffie moved toward her, but Tifa got up and went to them, twining the cloth in her hands.

"He can't wear this when he wakes up," she said hesitantly to Barret. They could see now that the ragged fabric was the remains of a shirt. "We had to cut it off him. Can you show me his things so I can get him another one?"

"Sure, said Barret. "They're downstairs with mine."

Tifa glanced over her shoulder at the bed. "Can someone stay with him?"

Yuffie nodded and went into the room, taking Vincent and the others with her. Tifa followed Barret down to the pile of boxes he had brought.

"He didn't have very much there," Barret said. He sorted out three boxes and asmall trunk. "That big crate is his swords. The next biggest one is armor, material and a bunch of potions and ethers and stuff like that. I'm not sure about that trunk, but whatever clothes and personal stuff I found are in this last box."

Moving mechanically, Tifa opened the third box. She began picking through the items, but stopped after a few moments, her hands shaking.

"You okay?"

Tifa's hands moved to cover her face in response. Barret put a big hand on her shoulder. "Now don't start that."

"Nine years," she whispered. "Trapped with that monster. I don't even want to think about what Hojo must have done to him during that time. Look at what he did to Sephiroth!" She paused for a moment, her hands dropping away from her face. "Cloud and I talked about Sephiroth once, you know. Before he left. He could have been a very good man, but Hojo had already destroyed him long before we fought him at the crater. And now Cloud…" She stopped again. "There were a lot of things that I didn't tell him. Maybe if I had, he would have stayed here and been safe."

Barret thought back to Cloud's farewell to tem as he was leaving ten years ago. "No," he said. "I think that when Cloud went away, he needed to figger out some things on his own. I don't think he would have stayed no matter what you might've said. That trip was probably as much for him as it was for Aeris. He might not 'a known it, but I think that's how it was. And anyway, he's here now." He ruffled Tifa's hair affectionately. "And he wouldn't want you to worry like this."

"You're right." Tifa wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Reaching into the box again, she pulled out some clothes. "These will do fine, I think."

"He'll probably want this stuff too." Barret reached into the box and lifted out a small bag. "Razors and stuff." He held it out to her.

Tifa took the bag and bundled it up with the clothes. Then shen stood up on her toes and gave Barret a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thanks," she said. Barret gave her a playful punch on the arm, and they went back upstairs.