"How did you know I would be here?" Cloud demands as I slow, breathing heavily from the fast sprinting that I have just done, but still grasping his arm so he can't swing his sword. Just the pure anger in his voice is astounding. It makes me think that I never really knew him.

"I… I had a premonition, dream, whatever you want to call it. I knew something was wrong. Let him go,"

Vincent had already transformed back, picking a horrible time for all three of us. I suppose it isn't his fault that Cloud stuck a tranquiliser into him, admittedly. He is sitting, but not actually sitting up. Even worse, however, he somehow remains conscious, alert, yet helpless to physically retaliate as Cloud and I argue about his fate. Life or death.

"Never mind that. Vincent, you've killed too many now. Animals you could have gotten away with for a time. But too many humans have died, Vincent. A family. An entire family. None of them deserved to die. I'm the monster hunter for this area. I can't let it continue. Too many innocent lives are being lost,"

"Gods, Cloud!" I exclaim angrily. "Who are you to preach about innocent lives, when as AVALANCHE in the beginning we took more lives then Chaos ever could? If you're perfect, absolutely flawless, then that gives you the right to thrust that sword through him. If not, then you can't. You have no right,"

"I may not be perfect, but at least I'm not a monster," he says softly, purposefully not meeting anybody's gaze. My own eyes widen. Never would I have suspected Cloud to say anything of the sort. I had thought he and Vincent were… acquaintances, he said, that day when he woke up. I suppose this incident proves how wrong I was. I glance down at Vincent. Yes, he is still alert. He could speak, but I don't think he wants to. The expression in his eyes is all too clear as to how he is feeling. Too many people I have seen that expression of sheer helplessness, defeat on.

Then the realisation hits me like a blow. I have to make a choice. A choice between the only two men I have ever loved this way before. Vincent and his beliefs, or Cloud and his. I helped Cloud overcome his past and the confusions surrounding it. I helped him overcome Sephiroth's trickery. We stayed together, that one evening before the battle at the Northern Crater. It seems so long ago. If anybody had asked me a week ago whether Cloud was the one for me, I would have said yes. But now…

Vincent lowers his eyes to the ground. Cloud puts the sword to his neck. "You know that this would have happened eventually, Vincent. It had to happen,"

What do I believe? I don't believe Vincent is a monster. I believe he is a human sometimes forced into something out of his control by a deranged scientist, who also had a part in Cloud's history. Gods, I thought that Cloud would have been more sympathetic. He was, is no angel, after all. I believe that Cloud's view on this is wrong. I believe now, no, I know. After this… this incident has proved that Cloud never was the one for me. Aeris could have been, they really did care for each other. Not that I didn't care about him, but Aeris was a better person then I will ever be. Perhaps I'm wrong. Perhaps Vincent really does deserve to die. But I don't believe it, and my beliefs are what have gotten me so far. I won't let them let me down, ever. And I won't let them down.

"Stop!" My voice comes loudly into the silence of the early night. "Don't do it!"

To my surprise, Cloud does stop, turning towards me.

"What is this, Tifa? You had no compassion towards the creatures we fought anywhere else all those years ago. What's the difference now?"

Glancing down at Vincent, I can see that to my horror, the icy wall he usually has around him has cracked. The word 'monster' and 'creature' are probably biting at him. Sure enough, Cloud mutters something that has both words in it, and he visibly flinches. Never have I seen him show so much emotion.

Tears are burning at my eyes. I try unsuccessfully to stem them, giving up and letting them flow, although for what seems like eternity they stay, simply clouding my vision. "You're not the Cloud I thought I knew and loved. What happened to him? This Cloud is just a sadistic, ruthless killer. Cloud, I won't say it anymore. You have no right. Let him go, and let this all be over,"

"Too many people have died, Tifa!" The anger flares up in his eyes again. "Just when everybody thought the Planet was safe again! For the sake of humankind, Tifa!"

"For the sake of humankind," Tears are flowing freely now, I can feel them running down my cheeks. I know my voice is mocking. "If Aeris hadn't made her sacrifice, then we wouldn't be here now. Yet if you had done what you were going to do, then she wouldn't have been able to make her sacrifice. She would have been dead before any of us knew what was going on in the first place,"

Cloud turns to Vincent, before turning back to me. "Why are you defending him so much? Is it true? The time that you two have spent together has developed into something more? Is that, Tifa? I'm not good enough for you, anymore?" His emotional shields are diminishing, just like Vincent's, and good Odin, like mine, too. I see traces of hurt in those mako-blue eyes. "After all we've been through, and yet you leave me here now, just because of a week-long crush? Is that it?"

"No, damn it! It isn't because of that!" Now is the time to put it to him, put the ball in his court, where he can hit it to whomever he wishes. "Cloud, if you can even think about killing someone who we all thought was your… close acquaintance, if not friend, then you're not the right person for me. A friend is a friend for life. Not until you decide that their flaws are too much for you to handle. I'll always care for you no matter what you do, Cloud. But if you ram that sword through him then I can guarantee that you won't see me again, regardless of whether I care for you or not. This isn't right, Cloud," My last words have dropped into a whisper, but then my voice rises again. "If you want me to be brutally honest, it's more my morals then anything else. Certainly not a 'week-long crush' as you call it," 

"I go back to the question I asked you before," Cloud stands up straighter, withdrawing his sword from Vincent's neck, for now. "You had no compassion towards the creatures we fought anywhere else all those years ago. What's the difference now?"

"Creatures have no ounce of forgiveness in them. Creatures kill and don't realise what they are doing, or they just don't care," My words are soft. "Exactly the way you're acting now, Cloud,"

He says nothing, just stares blankly at me for a moment. The tears are flowing faster then ever before as I realise just what sort of injury I have put into our friendship, relationship, whatever we had, it isn't now. Why? Just for Vincent, who I've never really known throughout the time I've known him? I do this to Cloud, who's been my friend since we were children? Is that right? No. I do this for me. Whether it was someone we knew, or someone we didn't, forgiveness is the key. And everybody knows that Vincent does regret his actions, after all. I don't know what it is, but it's a second chance. Perhaps my morals are wrong, but regardless I'm going to stick by them all the way.

Cloud looks at me. Really looks at me. And I don't think he likes what he sees. He runs off back to Kalm, leaving Vincent and I back near the chocobo farm.

"Goodbye, Cloud Strife," I whisper softly into the wind, knowing that he will never hear me.

The incident has just come to a big head, I guess you could say… sorry any C/T fans, but hey, no matter. Enjoy, as always.