Fountain of Memories

Chapter 11: A Rude Awakening

Tifa rolled over in her bed and switched on the lamp, staring blearily at the door on which someone was banging loudly.

'Who is it?' She called, pulling on her dressing gown.

'It's me.' Came Cloud's voice in reply, 'I've err… kinda hurt myself, but the infirmary's not open and I wondered if you had brought any materia with you.'

Tifa yanked open the door and raised an eyebrow. Glancing down she saw his hand dripping blood on the floor and her eyes widened. 'Oh for Ramuh's sake. What the hell did you do?' She dragged him into the room. 'Sit down on the bed. I've just got to find it…'

Cloud obediently sat down, holding his hand so he wouldn't bleed on her bedding.  Tifa turned around wearing a bracelet heavily laden with materia. Kneeling in front of him she closed her eyes and a greenish glow surrounded her briefly. The deep cuts on Cloud's hand closed over leaving purple scars.

Tifa opened her eyes. 'How does that feel now?' She asked, removing the bracelet.

Cloud shrugged, 'Numb, but I reckon it'll hurt like hell tomorrow.'

'Well be careful with it. I used Cure3 but you know that it still only numbs the wound and performs enough healing to stop you from bleeding.' She said, replacing the bracelet in the drawer she had found it on. ' There's still nothing better than the body's natural healing, so don't be too rough with it and get it seen to at the infirmary tomorrow morning.'

'Yes Nurse Tifa.' Cloud said, sarcastically. 'I do know all this. "Materia's only good as a short-term cure". I remember every excruciating moment of the bone reset they did on my shoulder after we came back from the North Crater. All because Cure3 had knitted the wrong bones together.'

Tifa smiled wryly. 'Alright, if you're so clever how the hell did you do that to your hand?'

Cloud looked slightly abashed. 'I punched the mirror in my bathroom. I think Reeve might be a bit pissed when he's sees the hole I've left in the wall.' Cloud sighed and rubbed his face tiredly. 'I had this really… messed up dream. It was about the night Nibelheim was destroyed… but not quite how I remember it.'

'I have nightmare's about that night all the time.' Tifa said quietly. 'So vivid. I can feel the heat on my face as I was standing on Mount Nibel. Can hear dad's last cry echoing around the reactor…'

'It was just like that only… it wasn't my memories. It was someone else's, or seemed to be.'

Tifa looked at him sympathetically. 'It's just your mind warping it and adding bits which never happened. Making it seem worse. That still doesn't explain why you punched a mirror.'

Cloud shook his head, his limp spikes of hair flying out around his head. 'That's just it. I don't think I would ever imagine Sephiroth as I saw him in the dream. He seemed to be just another pawn of Jenova's… not evil at all. He was being controlled all along.' Cloud closed his eyes. 'You remember the guy from the balcony on the evening we went to that ball?'

Tifa nodded silently.

'I met him in the garden earlier this evening. He stopped Aurora from killing me. Told me his name was Linus and said he would try and prevent her from reaching the Northern Crater but we would have to follow him.' Cloud looked Tifa directly in the eyes. 'In my dream, it seemed I was seeing it from his point of view. He's Sephiroth's brother I think. There were some other things that I'm sure were important but… I can't quite remember.' Cloud frowned.

Tifa looked at him concerned. 'You're serious aren't you Cloud?'

'You don't believe me?'

'No… actually I do. That makes sense… ' Tifa looked thoughtful. ' You're right he is Sephiroth's brother, I read it in the report we found in Hojo's lab… there was other stuff in there too.' She said vaguely, frowning.

' Well I suspect that Linus sent the dream to me. He seems to have more mind powers than Sephiroth did.' Cloud shook his head again. 'I just don't understand why he would bother. Does he want me to feel remorse? Because I fucking well don't! Sephiroth was insane. He killed Aeris. He deserved to die.' Cloud said fiercely.

'It sounds almost like you're trying to convince yourself, Cloud.' Tifa said smiling slightly. He opened his mouth as if to retort, but Tifa continued. ' But don't work yourself up about it. We did what we had to do.' She sighed. 'You should get some sleep Cloud. If we're going to be heading for the Northern Crater you should probably tell the others tomorrow morning.'

Cloud nodded, 'Thanks Teef. I guess I'll see you in the morning.' He quietly shut the door behind him leaving Tifa alone to her suddenly complicating thoughts.

*  *  *

A loud knocking on her door jerked Yuffie awake, she quickly sat up in her bed, instantly alert.

'Hey Yuffie, are you awake?' Came Tifa's voice.

Yuffie blinked, 'Umm…yeah I'm awake.'

'I need to talk to you. Is this door open?'

'DON'T COME IN!' Yuffie yelled, and the lump in the bed next to her grunted, sat up, and a dishevelled looking Vincent blinked blearily.

'Don't over-react so much Yuffie. Look it's urgent and besides we're both girls, it's not like I haven't seen it all before.' Came the response, along with the sound of someone scrabbling at the door.

'Quick! Into the closet.' Yuffie hissed, shoving Vincent out of the bed, and trying not to laugh as he tripped over his boots and fell into the closet with a loud crash. Jumping out of bed she ran over, grabbed her shower robe and shut the closet door just as Tifa walked in with a hand over her eyes.

'See? I'll do this if it makes you feel any better.' She said, smiling. 'What the hell was that noise, Yuffie?'

Pulling on the robe quickly, Yuffie subtly tried to nudge Vincent's clothes behind the bed with her foot.

'Oh…I…uh, just threw a pair of shoes in my closet a bit too hard that's all.' She winced at her obvious fib. Her lying skills were obviously getting rusty. 'You can take your hand off you're eyes now. I'm decent'

Removing her hand, Tifa's eyes glanced around the room slightly suspiciously. Yuffie was usually surprisingly tidy, but today her clothes were strewn everywhere. Yuffie hastily picked up all the clothes on the floor, and shoved the bundle down the laundry chute. It was a moment before she realised that she'd put Vincent's down there too.

'So…' Yuffie began, desperately. 'What was it you wanted to speak to me about?'

Tifa sat down on the bed and rolled her eyes at Yuffie, 'Well there's two things really. Firstly, Cloud wants a meeting with us all in about an hour. He actually wanted to have it about an hour ago, but I persuaded him that it could wait until after breakfast.'

'How did you do that Teef? Cloud's usually so single-minded about something once he's decided about it.' Yuffie said, more in an effort to keep her friend's mind on something other than inspecting her room, particularly the closet.

Tifa grinned, 'I reminded him of what a complete grouch Barrett is if he doesn't get his Cheerio's and black coffee in the morning. That changed his mind instantly.'

'So what's the second thing then?'

'Oh, nothing really. It's just that Vincent's not answering his door, and I was wondering if you'd seen him?'

'No. Definitely not.' Yuffie said quickly. A little too quickly, she realised when she saw Tifa's face. 'Last time I saw him was last night, before we all went off to our rooms. I haven't got a clue where he is.' She strove to keep her face impassive, and refused to let her eyes stray to the closet door.

Tifa looked suspiciously at her for a moment before shrugging and standing up. 'Ok, no problem, I'm just checking with everyone that's all. If you see him, tell him about the meeting.'

Yuffie stood up and walked with her to the door, breathing a sigh of relief. Tifa reached out her hand to open the door and then stopped suddenly, and Yuffie could see the frown on her face. She suddenly realised that Vincent's red cloak was hung up on the back of the door.

With the healthy speed of terror, Yuffie opened the door with one hand and propelled Tifa out with the other. 'Well it was nice seeing you anyway Teef, but I gotta get ready for this meeting so I'll see you later, don't wait for me. Bye!' She slammed the door in her friend's confused face. Leaning back against the door, Yuffie took a deep shuddering breath. She heard the closet door open gently, and bare feet padded towards her.

'That was a close one.' Vincent said wryly, putting his arm around her shuddering form.

'Heh, understatement of the year! If she didn't know that you were here then I'm President ShinRa.' Yuffie said hoarsely.

Vincent chuckled, and the sound immediately made Yuffie feel better. He so rarely laughed that it brought a smile to her face to know that, recently, she had been the cause of his smiles and laughter.

She giggled suddenly as the memory of Tifa's incredulous face as she shut the door on her came back to her.

'That's better,' Vincent said, ruffling her hair with his good hand. 'It's not so bad if she knows anyway. Tifa's pretty discreet.'

'Yeah, but we'll have to put up with her knowing glances, and insinuating remarks.' A thought suddenly occurred to Yuffie, and she smiled wickedly up at Vincent. 'Hey Vinnie, we have a more pressing problem you know. Or should I say you do.'

'Oh yes, what's that then?' He said, raising a quizzical eyebrow.

'How are we going to smuggle you out of my room and back into yours? I accidentally threw your clothes into the laundry chute.' She pretended to be thoughtful for a moment. 'Of course there's always you're lovely red cloak, but…oh dear… it's a rather distinctive colour don't you think?'

Vincent's face was so nonplussed that Yuffie couldn't stop herself from laughing.

'Well, thank you for you're sympathy.' He said, putting on a hurt expression. 'It's nice to know you care so much.' He sniffed theatrically, and looked highly affronted.

Yuffie collapsed to the floor in fits of giggles. Partly, with the relief that came after the ordeal with Tifa, and partly because it still surprised her when Vincent acted this way.

'Oh sorry Vinnie,' She said, standing finally, tears streaming down her face 'It was just your face…' She began to giggle again. Chuckling at her, Vincent put his arm around her slim shoulders again and brought her towards him, so their faces were a few inches apart.

'I don't mind, so long as you're happy.' He said, smiling gently at her.

She grinned back at him, and he saw the traces of mirth disappear from her face to be replaced by something much more serious. Her eyes were filled with happiness, but not from amusement. She moved her face forward suddenly and kissed him deeply. Finally releasing each other, Yuffie sighed ruefully. 'I suppose we'd better start getting ready for this meeting.'

'We've got plenty of time before then.' Said Vincent, glancing at the clock.

Yuffie merely smiled at him daringly and raised an eyebrow.

* * *

Cloud paced the room agitatedly, glancing at the clock impatiently.

'Fo' gawd's sake Cloud. Jus' sit down.' Rumbled Barrett from the corner, of the room. 'Ya makin' me tired jus' watchin you wear a hole in the carpet.'

'They'll be along as quickly as they can Cloud.' Said Red from where he was sitting.

Right on cue, Tifa opened the door and entered.

'Did you get the others?' Demanded Cloud.

Tifa rolled her eyes, 'Calm down Cloud. Of course I went and got them.' She retorted, sitting herself down on a chair. 'I wasn't exactly going to lead them here by the hand now, was I?'

'Did you find Vincent?' Red enquired.

Tifa smiled oddly. 'Oh yes. I found Vincent all right. He might be a bit late.' She looked thoughtful for a moment. 'Yuffie might be too.'

The others looked at her strangely knowing smile, mystified.

The door opened again, and in came Yuffie and Cid. Yuffie looked like she'd pulled her clothes on in a hurry, and had run from her room. She seemed to be avoiding Tifa's gaze, and sat down without comment.

'Is this gonna take very long Cloud?' Cid asked, sitting on one of the chairs and placing his feet on the table.

Cloud just ignored him, and continued to pace backwards and forwards with his arms crossed over his chest.

The next to arrive was Vincent, who also seemed to have arrived at a run. Tifa gave him a bright smile. 'Yuffie gave you the message then, Vincent?'

Without so much flickering an eyelash, Vincent merely replied with: 'Yes, thank you,' and then seated himself down. Red noticed that Yuffie's cheeks were burning a dull red however, until she turned away and looked out of a window.

The last to arrive was Reeve, who seemed rather flustered.

'Sorry I'm late. Had a complaint from a member of staff which I had to deal with.' He apologised before sitting himself down.

'Must have been important to make you late, Reeve.' Said Cloud, sarcastically.

Reeve shrugged, 'An elderly cleaning lady ran into my office in hysterics because she'd just seen a naked man running through the garden's. I didn't think it was anything too serious, just pranksters I expect, but I had to put security on alert just in case.'

'An elderly lady, eh?' Said Cid, sniggering. 'Just wishful thinking I reckon.'

'Well she did describe him as tall, dark and well muscled.' Replied Reeve, grinning.

Barrett guffawed loudly, and set Cid and Red off laughing. Vincent's face stayed impassive, as ever, also curiously so, did Tifa's, although a certain twist to her mouth suggested she was trying not to laugh. Yuffie got up suddenly and went to pour herself a glass of water from the jug at the back of the room.

'Yes, ha-ha, very amusing everyone.' Cloud said, sarcastically. 'Now that everybody's here, I'd like your attention if possible…'

* * *

Authors Notes: Heh, I just inserted the Vincent and Yuffie scene on a bit of a whim really. This isn't meant to be a story about their relationship, I just thought it was time to put something less deep and miserable into the story. Please r&r, Chapter 12 will be up really soon! LOL