The Lone Pierrot's Performance

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Romance is STILL not present yet. Please be patient! I promise it will come in the later chapters, gomen!

All Final Fantasy Characters used in this fiction is copyright Squaresoft. Now known as Square 'Enix'.

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CHAPTER 2--

It was now mid-morning, Aerith was still in front of her, barely a pink speck seen above a field of wild grass that tickled Tifa above the knees. Her legs were now parched, dried, and embellished with scratches from the thorns of various bushes. Tifa could not stand unnoticed any longer, yet she still had fear that once she reveals herself to Aerith, Aerith would probably try and lose Tifa on the way to the North; and that would just make it harder on the team to track her down.

Tifa, lost in her thoughts again did not take in what was in front of her, they were closing in on a small town, sandwiched between two large slabs of mountain. It was a small and poor town, walking closer Tifa recognized that it was North Corel. They've been here before, when they stopped ShinRa's train from destroying the inhabitants of that area.

Aerith has already disappeared into the gates of N. Corel. Tifa stealthily followed, trying not to arouse any attention. Once she was in, she would call up the rest of the members and have them come as soon as possible. Aerith is probably refueling her supplies for the long journey ahead of her.

Entering an inn, she ran to the nearest phone. Dialed Cloud's number, and waited desperately for an answer.

"Hello?"

"Cloud! It's me, Tifa!-"

"Tifa! Is Aerith with you? Why'd you run off like that? Taking Aerith along? The team woke up this morning and both of you were gone!"

"It's a long story, but Aerith ran away, and NO! It was Aerith who had run away, I followed her, and why would you accuse me…?- Well we can talk about this later, you guys should come right now, before Aerith jets off again."

"It's totally unlike Aerith to do a bold thing like that, but okay, we're on our way."

Tifa hung up the phone; heart beating in a fury. She was angry, angry at the way Cloud had reacted, not even caring if she, herself was alright. Then outwardly accusing HER of drawing Aerith to do such a thing. 'Yes, everybody loves Aerith, the goody-goody princess that would do nothing wrong, the innocent one… the--' She let out a sigh. 'What am I doing? Now I'm contradicting everything I have lived up to be… The sweet and always effervescent girl was gone… I'm not like this, this isn't me…"

Tifa let out another sigh, and left the inn. 'I'll go get a drink or something, maybe that will cheer me up…' She let out a chuckle. Ever since leaving 7th Heaven behind, Tifa hasn't had much of a chance to drink. This should make up for the drinks lost. 'Yeah, one drink should do the trick…' She thought sarcastically.

Walking towards the bar, Tifa collided with an elderly looking man, knocking a freshly lit cigarette out of his mouth. His sunken eyes were dark and glass-like, staring fixedly at Tifa… "THIS IS THE SECOND FUCKING TIME SOME CARELESS LITTLE GIRL BUMPED INTO ME TODAY, AND THAT WAS MY LAST STICK!" dumbfounded, Tifa backed away.

"I'm sorry, sir! But you said I was the second girl?" The man growled a reply, "Yeah, there was this other girl, wearing a pink dress, she rushed outta town before I could even start naggin at her for making me lose my first cig." Tifa's eyes widened. "SHE LEFT?! WHEN WAS THIS?" "Bout twenty minutes ago, missy…." Silence. "I guess I'm not the only one with a loss" He said at last, chuckling, obviously satisfied with her shocked face.

Tifa cursed at herself. Now what was she to do? Cloud would probably blame it all on her again. She ran out of town, hoping to find a glimpse of something pink. But Aerith was nowhere to be seen. The once-merciless fighter sunk helplessly to her knees.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

She heard a crunch of leaves behind her. Who could be up this time of night? Following me out of Gongaga? Aerith turned slightly, and saw a shadowy figure quite some distance behind her. It could not be mistaken even in the dark of night, The long brunette mane and sparkle of the silver fighting gear elegantly assembled on her arm was definitely of Tifa. Aerith pretended to not notice this other presence, and kept on heading to her destination. She would trick Tifa at the next city or town, pretend she is there for a while to refuel and rejuvenate but leave almost immediately as she enters. 'I'm not as helpless and innocent as you may want to think, Tifa. I know you're doing this to help protect me, but sometimes I just need to deal with my problems by myself…'

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A blur of yellow came charging across the wild lands. Tifa stood up. The team was riding on ful grown chocobos. Cloud halted to a stop in front of Tifa.

"Hey, where's Aerith?" She hesitated, his spirits sunk to this.

"She took off again, when I was making your call I suppose… I'm… sorry I couldn't stop her… I really tried.."

He understood.

"Hey, that's okay. I'm sorry I accused you earlier… I was just shocked and panicking. I was afraid something happened to you two. Her especially, after all so many people are after her as it is."

Tifa felt light. 'He always says the right things, I can never stay mad at him…'

"Hey, Tifa, we should get going. Here, hop on." He offered her a seat in front of him, hands reaching out in a gesture to pull Tifa up.

She took his hand, and sat comfortably on the chocobo.

"We should head north, Aerith said something about north. And I think she referred to an area around Bone Village." Cloud nodded in agreement. "Yeah, she came in my dream last night, I forgot to mention it to you. But I saw her in a forest, she said she was going to face Sephiroth alone, so I'm guessing there should be a forest near Bone Village… We should make it there before she does, if she goes by feet. Unless of course she got hold of a faster transportation. We should push on.

And they were off, three blurs racing across the lands of the continent. Tifa can only focus on the young man behind her, supporting her from falling off the chocobo by wrapping an arm around her. She felt warm inside; and quite content.

*4 days later*

"We're finally here…"

The team, now low on rations, looked filthy and exhausted from the journey. All stood gawking at the Skull structure Bone Village was constructed on.

They had to release the chocobos halfway through the journey and traveled on foot or hitched a ride with random cargo trucks. The chocobos were growing weary and were not easy to tame due to them being wild.

Cloud entered the Village. Eyes glowing a radiant green, wide, in hope of finding Aerith in time, before Sephiroth gets to her. Tifa trailed close behind Cloud, still in awe at the exotic feel of the place. Vincent and Red XIII (ones who decided to accompany Cloud) also trailed close behind, ready and armed for any threat that awaited them.