Fountain of Memories

Chapter 12: Northern Lights

Snow was stinging her eyes, Tifa blinked and wiped the snow from her face with a gloved hand. She pulled the hood of her heavy cloak further down over her face, and concentrated on putting one booted foot in front of the other.

'Is that Icicle Village up ahead?' Shouted Cid, pointing. Tifa looked up and promptly tripped over the snow. A hand grabbed her arm before she hit the ground, and helped her up.

'Careful Teef.' Cloud said quietly, 'We're nearly there now.' Tifa was surprised to notice that Cloud didn't let go of her arm, she smiled slightly to herself.

* * *

The villagers were all gathered outside their homes when they entered the village. The women held the children fearfully, a few of the children were crying. One woman was weeping into another's shoulder. Most of the men were carrying weapons, and they turned with unfriendly faces as Cloud approached.

'Who are you people?' One man growled, shifting the gun he held. 'We don't want no strangers here at a time like this.'

'Now don't be so hasty, Marc.' Said another man, glaring at Cloud. 'How do we know it wasn't these people who made off with the children?' The crowd began to mutter angrily.

' I think we've arrived with excellent timing, as usual.' Red muttered sarcastically.

Cloud crossed his arms and matched glare for glare. 'We're not the people you're looking for. We've only just arrived…'

Tifa closed her eyes. Why did Cloud always have to act so aggressive? In this situation it definitely wasn't the best course of action to take.

'Headed north are you?' Asked the man named Marc. 'Just like that woman the other day eh? Going to meet her are you? Friends of hers eh?' He growled, advancing on the group. 'Well she's chief suspect. Reckon she'd come back for you if she thought you were in trouble?' He made a signal and the men were on them before they could even reach for their weapons.

Tifa didn't even try to struggle against the man holding her. Another had a gun pointed at her face. She couldn't even turn her head to see the others but she guessed that the same was happening to them. She heard a brief struggle which was ended by a strange gasp, just as if someone had been kicked in the stomach.

The woman who had been sobbing on her friends shoulder looked up and wiped her eyes. She looked straight at Tifa, frowned slightly, walked forward and placed her hand on Marc's shoulder and said something to him. Walking passed him she walked up to where Cloud was knelt in the snow his teeth gritted. Clearly it had been him who had attempted to struggle. The woman bent down in front of him and gently lifted his chin. She looked into his eyes and smiled slightly. Straightening up she turned around balefully, arms crossed.

'You stupid dimwits!' She snapped, at the men ' This is Cloud Strife. Don't any of you remember faces? These people came and stayed in my inn before they went to the Glacier and besides that, their faces were splashed all over the papers after they saved us from Meteor.' The men looked almost bashful as they lowered their weapons, shuffling their feet like naughty schoolchildren. ' So instead of attacking friendly strangers who walk into our humble village why don't you go out and try looking for my children.' She finished angrily.

'Come on lads let's go search the forest.' Said Marc leading the men towards the dark shape of the woods.

The innkeeper turned back to where Cloud was getting slightly unsteadily to his feet. 'As you can see you've come at a bad time but let no-one say I ever turn weary travellers away from the warmth of my inn.' She motioned her hand for them to follow. 'Come and warm yourselves by the fire.'

* * *

Tifa sat besides Yuffie as the others left the fireside to take a look at the rooms they had been given. Apparently they would be some sharing involved, and the men had looked to be in an arm-wrestling mood, which probably meant that Cid would end up with a sprained wrist again, and that he would end up sharing a room with Barret, who was notorious for his 'road-digger' snoring.

Yuffie was watching them go, chewing a nail thoughtfully. 'Y'know maybe I should go with them, cause no-one ever wants to share a room with Vinnie and I think he might end up sharing a room with Red again if I don't hurry.

'Yuffie can I have a word.' Tifa said with a serious look on her face. Yuffie had the decency to look slightly embarrassed.

'Sorry about this morning Teef. I didn't want to lie to you but…' A red flush came to her cheeks again.

Tifa smiled gently, 'It did come as a little bit of a shock. I guess I didn't expect… anything like that between you and Vincent for quite awhile. What with it being Vincent and all. But I guess I forgot how much time you two have been spending together over the last few months. Sorry if I sound patronising Yuffie but… are you sure he's over… Lucrecia?'

Yuffie smiled slightly and looked directly at her friend's face, 'To be honest Teef… it's a big shock to me too. Can you imagine the feeling when someone who you've admired and loved, who seems so far away, so different from yourself looks into your eyes and confirms that he feels the same way.' She sighed slightly, 'Maybe it does seem fast, I'm so caught up and Vinnie… Under his coldness and cynisism he just wants to be loved, although he feels he doesn't deserve it I think.'

Tifa hugged her friend, 'I'm so glad your happy Yuffie, and I can tell Vincent is too, although it's harder to tell with him. I guess I just had to play the mother figure and check he was good enough for little Yuffie so I wouldn't have to send daddy around to kick his butt.'

Yuffie laughed, 'Not so little Yuffie anymore. And can you imagine anyone's dad trying to kick Vincent's butt?'

Tifa grinned in reply, 'I guess I could probably have sent Cloud after him with a big pointy stick.' She laughed and shook her head at that image. There was a loud groan of pain from the top of the stairs, which sounded like Cid losing an arm-wrestling match against Cloud. 'I think we'd better go and get ourselves rooms. You any good at arm-wrestling, Yuffie?' Tifa asked, flexing her arm comically.

Yuffie laughed, 'Not really. But I might challenge Red to a thumb-war. I think he might be at a bit of a disadvantage…' They went up the stairs arm in arm.

* * *

Tifa sighed as she pulled off her boots and flopped out onto the soft bed. She'd been right about the outcome of the arm-wrestling. She'd last seen Cid looking for some cotton wool to put in his ears. Yuffie had innocently offered to share Vincent's room, claiming that she would scream the place down if he tried anything. Tifa had to conceal a smile at Vincent's dead-pan reply that of course he wouldn't do a thing.

Of course that left Tifa sharing with Cloud. Red was sharing with Reeve, since Yuffie had firmly shut the door on him, and he'd protested that with his heightened sense of hearing, Barrets night-time highway repair work would leave ringing in his ears for days.

She wasn't too bothered anyway. They'd slept in worse and more crowded places than this when they had been looking for Sephiroth. At least she didn't have to share a bed with anyone. Yuffie always kicked her to death (she felt momentarily sorry for Vincent) and the one time she'd shared a bed with Cloud -fully clothed and in a room with all the others - he'd started hugging her arm and sucking his thumb. Barret and Cid had never let him live that one down.     

Cloud had left the room to allow her to get ready for bed. She'd carefully packed pyjamas for this eventuality, and so put them on and slid beneath the patchwork quilt of one of the single beds. She sighed happily as she laid her head on the pillow, and was asleep almost immediately.

* * *

Tifa was already asleep by the time Cloud returned to their room. She looked so peaceful lying with her knee-length hair carefully tied into a bun-knot to prevent it from smothering her in the night he supposed. He carefully turned away and started to undress, and started to curse to himself. He'd nothing to wear to bed. He normally slept naked anyway and it had completely slipped his mind. Of course he hadn't exactly expected to have to share a room with Tifa. Well he'd just have to leave his pants on and hope he woke up before she did.

Lying back on the bed he switched off the lamp and stared at the ceiling whilst his eyes adjusted to the semi-darkness. The curtains were still open, and the multi-coloured lights which danced across the skyline in this region, lit up the room with a faint, shimmering glow. Cloud found it distracting, as he was used to sleeping in complete darkness. Getting up, he stumbled over to the window and reached out to shut the curtains. He stopped suddenly, and leaned closer to the window.

Green light flashed between the trees in the nearby forest. Every now and then a beam of it would shine straight up towards the sky. Almost like someone with a torch. Cloud remembered that the men had been searching for the children. He'd been so tired that he'd completely forgotten. It must be their torches he could see as they searched. He frowned, still, that particular shade of green was quite disturbing.

A cool hand touched his shoulder and he spun around quickly. A little too quickly he realised as he lost his balance. The pair of cool hands grabbed him and steadied him. He looked up into Tifa's dark eyes, and straightened up so he could face her.

'What's going on in that forest, Cloud?' She whispered, staring passed him.

He turned slightly to stare back out at the forest, acutely aware that she still hadn't taken her hands off him. ' Maybe they're still looking for the children. Torchlight?'

Tifa leaned closer and shook her head, 'Green torchlight? I think we should get out there Cloud. It worries me.'

Cloud looked down at the top of her head. She was leaning past him, staring intently out of the window. Her right hand was on his back, her body pressed to his side. He coughed suddenly, and moved away from the window. Tifa barely seemed to notice and continued to frown out at the dark shape of the woods and it's strange green lights.

Trying not to think about her, he pulled on his clothes, and pulled out his sword from beneath the bed. He loosened it slightly from it's sheath, and a blue glow escaped. This was the Ultima Weapon, the strongest sword he had ever wielded. Reeve had kept all of their best weapons in the armoury after they had defeated Sephiroth as it had seemed unlikely that they would need to use the power of their best weapons again. Looking back he realised how naïve they had been to hope it was over.

Cloud slung the weapon onto his back and shifted it until it lay comfortably across his shoulders. He was glad that Reeve had agreed to return their ultimate weapons for this mission. Having the Ultima Weapon on his back always made him feel more at ease. The sword seemed to have it's own strange aura of confident strength, as if it had a consciousness.

Turning back to Tifa, he saw her tightening the straps on her Premium Heart gloves. She was already dressed in a white top, tight fawn coloured leggings and brown knee high boots.

Her ebony eyes regarded him for a second. 'Let's go.' Her voice was low, barely audible but her tone brooked no argument. Cloud merely nodded and led the way out of the inn.

* * *

The forest was strangely silent Tifa realised. The only sounds she could hear was the crunch of snow and pine needles under their feet, and their breathing. Shouldn't there be animals, the sound of the shifting snow or at least the sound of dripping water as ice melted? There was nothing, and the green light was getting worse. Every now and then beams of it would flash between the trees and temporarily blind both her and Cloud. Cloud had taken to drawing his sword every time this happened, ready for a surprise attack, but when none came after about the fifth time of this happening he didn't bother to re-sheathe Ultima Weapon and held it ready in his hands.

Tifa thought that the bright blue glow was a bit of a give away to anyone after them, but she said nothing. She wasn't sure how long they had been stumbling through the forest before they found the body. Her foot had come down on something soft and it had turned out to be a dismembered hand. The rest of the body was buried in a snowdrift a few feet away. Since both she and Cloud had excellent night vision they hadn't bothered with a torch, but from the light of Ultima Weapon it seemed to be one of the men who had been searching for the children.

'Something's stalking the men in this forest, Cloud.' Tifa whispered, covering the body back up with snow. 'And it's not an animal. He would have been eaten if it had been a wolf or another scavenger.'

Cloud nodded and readied his sword, 'Aurora. I can feel her nearby.' He shielded his eyes as another flash of light filled the forest, and then pointed towards the source of the light. 'C'mon Teef we might be too late!' He began running steadily through the forest, dodging branches and somehow avoiding tree roots. Tifa followed him, just managing to keep up. When he stopped suddenly she nearly ran into his back.

Aurora was stood in the middle of the clearing emitting a pulsating green glow. In one hand she effortlessly held a large figure up by the throat, and in the other hand she held the Masamune. She started to speak in a language Tifa couldn't understand, her voice was strangely warped by echoes and sounded as if several people spoke at once, almost simultaneously, but not quite. A strange hum started to fill the clearing, a green haze began to circle the man that Aurora held, and he began to thrash around more violently.

Tifa wanted to move, to rush in and knock Aurora out of her trance, but found that her muscles wouldn't move. As Aurora's chanting rose to a crescendo, the hum became louder and the green mist became brighter. Tifa wanted to clap her hands over her ears but she couldn't. She couldn't move. She couldn't do anything but watch as Aurora raised the Masamune, still chanting.

The blade left a silver arc in the air as it chopped downwards and severed the man's arm. He screamed, but the green haze that coiled around him like a snake filled his nostrils and mouth, and moved to cover the bleeding wound where his arm had been. It began to pulsate over the wound, like a leech feeding. Tifa watched in horror as it began to glow a brighter and brighter green as the man's struggles became weaker and weaker.

Aurora snapped something in the strange language and the bright green light which surrounded the man, streamed out of his nose, mouth and away from the wound in his arm to form a ball of crackling energy above his head. Aurora contemptuously tossed the still body of the man to one side, and Tifa realised with a sickening feeling that there seemed to be a pile of bodies beside Aurora.

The white-haired woman raised her arms, the Masamune pointing towards the ground and again snapped a word. The ball of magic exploded, filling the forest with white-green light. As Tifa watched she saw the bright light from the explosion seemed to curl in on itself and suddenly she realised that Aurora was polling the magic back towards her. The girl was floating as the magic streamed around her, filling her skin with sparks and whirling green lights until that too faded.

Aurora lowered to the ground, head bowed and eyes closed. Her bright green eyes opened suddenly, and green light edged with white came off her like flames. Slowly she turned her head to where Tifa and Cloud stood, frozen at the edge of the clearing. She smiled nastily and began to walk slowly towards them. Tifa tried to make her legs move, in her mind she was screaming for her to run, to fight to do something, but her body just stood still.

The Masamune was raised above Aurora's head, and she was close. The nasty smile never left her face as she looked at Cloud.

'Poor little Cloud.' She said in mock sympathy. 'Now you will be able to watch me kill another woman that you love, and yet again, you cannot save her. What a pity you ran away instead of spending time with her while she was alive.' Aurora shook her head, her twisted smile back in place. 'Ah well too late now.' She brought the Masamune down towards Tifa's head.

Tifa did the only thing she could do.

She closed her eyes.