((A/N:Finally! I posted a new chappie!!! Please Review...sorry that that sucked and it took so long.))
"We need to talk." those were the first words out of Cloud's mouth once Tifa was awake. Not a good morning, or how are you feeling, we need to talk. That was usually bad news. Tifa could guess, even in her weary state what he wanted to talk about.
"Who spilled about it?" She asked, quietly. Cloud shook his head. He knew if he answered, Tifa would probably kill Yuffie for letting him know, accidentally or not.
"It doesn't matter. The question is, why didn't you?" Tifa blushed deeply. She felt guilty for not telling him, but come on! She didn't get much of a chance with Aeris trying to kill her, and Cloud saying her loved Aeris.
"You didn't really give me the chance, loving Aeris and all..." She said, turning over on the bed so she was facing the wall. Cloud felt pangs of guilt in his heart. He placed a gentle hand on her arm, but she brushed it off. "...well, too late Cloud. She's Jenova now, don't you know?" Tifa snapped at him.
"Stop it, Tifa! You know that I don't love her....it was Jenova. Always Jenova. I'd never be able to love HER more than you!" He yelled. Tifa curled up, and covered herself with the blanket. How was she supposed to believe him? He'd done all that to hurt her at Jenova's touch...how could she trust him?
"And how am I supposed to know that's the truth? You said you loved her, how can I know you're not lying now?" She asked quietly. Cloud took her cold left hand in his own. He lifted it slightly to be in front of her face.
"What about that ring? Isn't that enough?" Tifa pulled away, and slid off the ring.
"No Cloud. Just having the ring isn't enough." She said. She handed him the golden band, and limped out of the room weakly. Cloud closed his fingers around the ring, and closed his eyes, tears falling as he did. He let himself sink down to his knees, and cry into the bed.
Tifa slid down to sit down against the wall outside the room. Tears poured down her face and her body trembled. She regreted what she'd done more than she knew she could regret anything. It hurt her deeply, and she knew she caused this pain.
"Tifa....Tif, what's wrong!?" Yuffie exclaimed, dropping down next to her friend. Tifa looked up at her, tears still streaming. She lifted her hand so Yuffie could see the lack of a ring.
"I ruined it....totally ruined it all...." She said quietly. Yuffie hugged her comfortingly, then looked at her. She felt bad for Tifa...very bad. And still, the pain she felt for her friend was just an echo of what Tifa felt herself. A slight sample of how it hurt to ruin the best thing you've ever had going.
"Please Yuffie.....I need time alone....." Tifa sobbed weakly. Yuffie nodded, and stood. She looked at Tifa sadly, wishing there was more she could do for her depressed friend.
"If there's anything you need, let me know, okay?" She asked. Tifa nodded and waited for Yuffie to leave before she let herself completely break down. Even if anyone was there, she would've lost it all the same. It's inevitable under the circumstances.
She cried her heart out into her hands, onto her lap, on the cold metal floor. And even though she desperately wanted to be with someone during this, she couldn't. Because the only one she wanted to be with during this, she'd ruined any chance she'd ever have to even be a friend with him any more.
She struggled to her feet, wiping away some stray tears. She needed to do this one on her own. No body could help her now. They'd fight Jenova together, but she'd have to fight to keep her emotions in line all by herself.
"Cloud, get a hold of yourself....I've never seen you break down like this." Yuffie was never too fond of Cloud and found him, quote: 'A spikey headed jerk'. Unquote. But to be entirely truthfull, she didn't have much against him. And to see her leader, the whole group's leader, crying into a bed like a little boy, she couldn't help but feel bad.
"Well, I've never been broken like this...now leave." She wasn't going to leave Cloud alone this easily. She knew Tifa would probably burry her feelings for the rest of this journey, then talk to her once the threat was out of the way. Cloud, on the other hand, would go do some stupid thing. He was practically hanging a noose around his neck the way he was acting.
"I won't. Last time you two got in a fight and someone left you alone, you just about got yourself killed. You're sorting this out. Now." There was no room for reasoning against her points and tone of voice, so Cloud conceded. There was nothing else for him to do. Tifa hated him, what was one more person? What would it matter if he told her the whole story, how it's been this whole time? What would anyone care?
"You want this sorted out, I'll try and break it down for you, okay? I'll tell you what it's been like...with Jenova...how easy it is to fall under her spell...I'll tell you if that's really what you want to hear. But when you're having cold nightmares and chills down your spine every night after this, just don't say I didn't warn you, okay?" Yuffie felt that Cloud was blowing this entire thing out of proportion, but in all truth he was treating it just as it deserved. With the utmost caution and coldness.
"When I first came back to Nibelheim, I was fine. There wasn't anything inside me...nothing except my own cold heart, and I learned to deal with that a long time ago. After the fire, the attack against Sephiroth, all of that...there was something else. Jenova. At first it was just the all-around struggle to live against the mako. Then it got to the point like it was when I joined up with AVALANCHE. Every so often, I'd just break down. I'd hear her voice. Her cold, god-forsaken, icey voice. And that would most likely be enough to let me get away with murder by any court by pleads of insanity. I guess I am insane, but really, it's not entirely my fault. Anyways, after Nibelheim, I made my way to Midgar with the help of Zack. We were caught by some Shinra SOLDIERS on the way there, and they killed Zack. They let me live because they figured I would die soon enough anyways, or at least revert into the same form as all the other failed clones of Sephiroth. Well, if you haven't noticed already, it didn't happen quite like that. I made my way to Midgar, to the sector seven train station, then I blacked out. I'm not sure how long it was, probably at least a few days, but I wouldn't live by that estimation. I was unconsious, I remind you. When I woke up, it took me a good fifteen or so minutes to figure out where and who exactally I was. And that wasn't quite right either....I figured out where I was and who Zack was. That's where the confusion all began. Then Tifa showed up...she was probably coming for Barret and the rest of them, there were three others who you never met...."
"What happened to them?" Yuffie asked, curiously. Of course, she wouldn't have said anything if she would've known about the whole assault on the pillar.
"They died...fighting Shinra." Yuffie bowed her head, and Cloud was silent for a moment, before he continued his story. It already surprised Yuffie that he was telling her this so deeply, but it would only get stranger to her.
"Anyways, yeah, Tifa was there....She found me and took me in. I can't believe she did, but it didn't seem to be such a big deal before. It didn't take long for me to figure out I still felt the same way I did a good 7 years prior. And I was relieved to see her too. If you forgot, she had almost died in the Nibelheim reactor, and up untill then I had no idea if she'd even made it. Anyways, as strange as it may sound, I think I thought of her as Aeris. Mind you, I hadn't even met Aeris yet at this point. But Zack had....she was his girlfriend. Tifa must've set off something back in my true memory that made me think we were together. Most likely how I loved her so much. After that I was recuted into a mission by Tifa. I did want to stay, but not openly. I only wanted to be there so I could be with Tifa. She was so beautiful and kind...just like she was before I left Nibleheim...but anyways, back to the story, right? I was so glad to be with her...then I fell into Aeris's church. I was so afraid that I was gonna die, and that Tifa would never know all the things I felt. But I couldn't let her know that. I had to keep up the brave act if I wanted her to respect me in any way, shape, or form. So I fell...and I would've died. If I were anyone else, that is. But I'm Cloud Strife...the closest they ever got to a fake Sephiroth, and so full of Mako that even a couple hundred foot fall would'nt kill me." He paused, considering where he would go with this. Even now, he wasn't too fond of telling people this next part. It wasn't the kind of story he liked to share.
"When I woke up, I was in Aeris's church.We talked for a little bit, not about much. She mentioned how I'd bought a flower from her on a previous mission, then remembered she had to get back to watering her garden. I'd fallen right in the middle of it..."
"The garden was in the middle of a church!?" Yuffie asked, confused. She didn't know much about Midgar, being rased on the other side of the world and all.
"It was the only place in Midgar where flowers would bloom. It was a very holy, pure place...probably why Aeris loved it so much...." He sighed, and paused for a moment.
From the other side of the door, the untill now quiet eavesdropper let out a small whimper. Yuffie had already known Tifa would be listening, but Cloud couldn't tell who let out the sound.
"What was that?" He asked, looking around the room cautiously.
"Sorry....I....I just get a little teary when I think of Aeris....." Yuffie said, mustering up some quick fake tears. In all truth, she couldn't feel bad for her any more, or ever think of her as a friend no matter when the time. She tried to kill Tifa by using Cloud....that's below low. That's something not even Sephiroth himself did.
"yeah...well....let me finish my story. I'll speed it up. Anyways, Aeris was being hunted by the Turks. Because she was the Cetra...of course, I didn't know that at this point. So I helped her past Tseng and a few of his little Shinra gaurds. That way we could get her back to her house. On the way there, I saw Tifa...she was.....in a carriage. I needed to figure out where she was going." Cloud decided not to share the scene at Aeris's house, since it played very little importance here.
"So I headed after it, and figured out it was to Don Corneo's mansion." At the mention of the man's name Yuffie let out a small, growling like, noise. Cloud smiled slightly, recalling her experience with the man.
"She wanted some information from him, so she...um...decided to....go there. Thing is, of course, only women are allowed to see him in his mansion. So in order to.....well....y'know....go rescue Tif....I....had to...." Cloud didn't finish before Yuffie burst out into hysterics. She tried her best to picture Cloud in a miniskirt, and it lead to her thinking of him looking like a cross between a school girl and a Sailor Scout*.
"Yeah....well after that I-"
"-someone help!" Shera's shrill scream filled the air, as she sat at the foot of the metal stairs leading to the deck, where Tifa was laying also, covered in blood.
((A/N:I'm guessing you can figure out where I'm taking this? I can't keep Cloud and Tifa apart too long. oh, and *-Sailor Scout/Senshi...I don't own any ^^))
