Sleeping With Her Enemy

The End Or A New Beginning

Goodbye my lover

Goodbye my friend

You have been the one

You have been the one for me


Near the shores of Costa del Sol one lone figure stood, upon the hill that rose just before the sea, he remained silent and still his face seemed almost vacant and seemingly far away.

His eyes were glazed over, his silver hair catching in the wind and tangling lightly as it flew lazily through the air.

He felt the warm rays of the sun beat down upon his weary body and yet he remained oblivious to it all, he could only feel the numbness that had suffused his being and the icy coldness that had settled upon his heart.

It no longer beat, it felt hollow and heavy within his chest, so great was his sorrow.

It was like stone, like the bleak stone that stood before him, which was untouched amongst the many that had rotted over time.

Would he rot over time? Left to a world where everybody loathed him his soul slowly draining till all that was left was a shell of something that could have once been great?

Life seemed to loom in front of him and all he felt was the great joy he would feel when it was finally over, when he could lay down in the sweet earth and finally be no more.

No.

The one word pierced through his mind, she would not have wanted that for him, a small smile touched his lips as he thought of her but even the smile was tinged with sadness.

She wanted him to live.

The loss though was too much to bear, yet through his numbness the tears would not fall...his eyes remaining strangely dry to the point where they almost burnt him.

A small scuffling noise alerted him and he turned to watch Yuffie amble down the grassy knoll towards where he stood.

Her eyes were puffy and red from the numerous tears she had spilt; he wished so hard that he would spill them freely with her...he needed the grief for something to embrace to help him heal before the sorrow succeeded in taking over him.

She stopped about a metre behind him, he sensed she wanted to offer him some form of friendly contact but would more than likely be too afraid of what his reaction would be, they had all given him a wide birth since it had happened.

Deciding that an action might sever his remaining thread on humanity she settled on words instead.

"How are you?" she said lightly taking the few extra paces it took to reach his side, she didn't touch him and he was oddly grateful for that, he didn't think he could stand the contact at the moment.

"Coping" he said his eyes downcast on the words etched in stone, his eyes almost caressed the words as he read them over and over again still unable to make them sink in with their truth.

They would forever remain engraved in his memory and in his heart.

A Woman who never gave up, who thought of others before herself, in loving Memory of Tifa Lockheart, may you rest in peace.

"Cloud and Barret? How are they doing?" Sephiroth asked his eyes still clinging to the name that he would never again get to speak with such endearment.

"The same" she replied and turned to see Aeris, Red XIII and Vincent heading towards them each one wearing an expression as gaunt as her own, each showing their sorrow in their own way in regards to the loss of not only their comrade but their friend.

But none could match to the heart wrenching expression from the man who had loved her most.

Yuffie could see every line of sorrow etched out upon his pale features, he seemed torn as though he was holding onto his hope, but he knew the truth even if his heart would not accept what his brain already knew.

Tifa Lockheart was dead.

The three stopped and allowed Sephiroth his space, understanding that he needed to grieve, he hadn't shed any tears as of yet and each one was waiting for the time when the damn would finally break.

Sephiroth reached out a hand and traced her name in gold, he took a shuddery breath and his first tear fell.

Sinking to his knees in the hard dirt he touched the soil, caressed it as though it was her body and felt the emotion he had longed to set him free burst from deep within his soul.

His high-pitched sobs echoed through the morning air as he dug frantically at her grave, he wanted badly to dig up her battered body and breath his own sweet life into her still body if only to see her smile at him again.

He felt a pair of hands reach out and pull him back; he fought violently then finally looked up to see the familiar blonde hair and glowing eyes of Cloud and slumped even further down.

"I failed her" he sobbed thinking how he could have done more, that there could have been a way to get to her only he had been too stupid to notice.

Cloud shook his head, putting aside his grief to help the man who had sacrificed everything for Tifa's happiness only to lose her when at last he thought he'd found her again.

"You could never," Cloud said pulling the older man to his feet and lifting his chin so that he could look him in the eye.

"She loved you, not a day went by that you weren't in her thoughts or on her mind in some way, you were everything to her Sephiroth, she wanted to give you a chance of life so you could have everything that Shinra denied you whilst you lived in their hell" he said seeing rationality seep into Sephiroth's watery gaze.

Sephiroth wanted to say that now it felt like he was living in purgatory but he appreciated what Cloud was trying to accomplish.

Reaching out for the second time her traced Tifa's name lightly "I love you" he whispered.

Then turning he walked away...away from Cloud and his group, away from her grave and away from his only form of healing.


He walked for hours not caring where he was going or where he would end up; he just wandered aimlessly and let his desolation consume him he had nothing left anymore; everything he had ever wanted or loved had been taken from him.

Soon he felt another more potent emotion filter into his soul, anger, fierce consuming anger.

"You'll pay Zack" he muttered and swore on Tifa's grave that he would find the other man and relish greatly in making his suffer, he would regret the day he had taken Tifa on what would be her death sentence.

He noted that his surroundings had changed without him even being aware of it, he also noted that he did not recognise the silent village in which he now stood.

Heading to the centre he looked passively over his surroundings, it was quiet eerily so and there was no sign of life.

He felt a chill creep up his spine and shuddered, he'd always hated places which relished in silence, he had suffered through it his whole life, he preferred the noisy towns he frequented in his youth, and silence reminded him of the cell in which he had mostly lived.

He wandered over to a nearby bench and sank gratefully onto it, he body was weary and his eyes wanted badly to close, he couldn't remember when he had rested last, when he had slept without the plaguing nightmares that taunted him.

But he fought against the impulse of sleep, knowing to well that her face would be there to haunt him when he slept, even if exhaustion took him he knew that she would be there waiting for him the moment he closed his eyes.

He was so deep in thought that when a voice called out to him it took a while for it to register.

"Sephiroth"

Turning he saw a hooded figure behind him, the only indication of gender was the voice that floated from within the recess of the deep hood that covered the whole of her face.

"Do I know you?" he questioned and she held out two objects to him, he instantly recognised them as materia, one a large materia and the other possibly a master.

He frowned down at the offered items and felt her take his hand and place them within his grasp closing his fingers over them slowly as though they were the most precious things in the world.

He felt a jolt race through him at her touch.

"What are these for?" he asked as he stared down at them, he had no use for materia, not now, he wasn't in need of it especially for what he had in mind.

"You will know when the time is right" the voice said lightly then pointed to the village entrance.

"Now you must go" it said and against his will Sephiroth found his feet walking towards the exit, he willed himself to stop but found he could not.

"But how will I..." he started to ask when he regained his functions, he turned to assess the fig his voice trailed off and his eyes widened the hooded woman had gone as if vanished.

Turning he walked out of the village his mind a whirl of confused and bemused thoughts.

Back in the Village of the Dead as it was so rightly named, a slender woman stood in solitary silence and let her eyes rest on Sephiroth's departing back.

Her heart filled with longing and her dark eyes glazed with tears.

She pulled the hood back from her head and let her raven hair fly wildly in the wind, in tangled out behind her in a way the silver haired man had always found endearing.

She reached her left hand up to pull lovingly at the locket that hung suspended round her neck.

A ring twinkled in the dusky light and she smiled as Sephiroth was lost to her view, it was a smile mixed with happiness and sorrow.

"Find your answer soon my love" she whispered her voice caressed by the wind, she knew that the words would not carry to him but she hoped he heard it within his heart.

"And bring me back to you"

And with her final words to her lover, Tifa Lockheart closed her eyes and disappeared as the sun sunk below the horizon and the moon took its regal place amongst the stars in the sky.

The end?

And I still hold your hand in mine

In mine when I'm asleep

And I will bare my soul in time,

When I'm kneeling at your feet

Goodbye my lover

Goodbye my friend

You have been the one

You have been the one for me

Lyrics taken from James Blunt's 'Goodbye my lover'


Authors Notes

TA DA finished it at long last, I would like to thank everyone who ever reviewed my fic, couldn't have done it without you. Just so you're all clear there will be a sequel to this fic (what you didn't think I was going to leave it like this did you?) called 'The Resurrection Of Fire' which I am currently in the process of writing (yay) if you want a Sequel then please let me know in your review.

I want to say a big thanks to 'd u s t y. w i n g s' for always taking the time to read my fic and telling me it was under reviewed (glad you stuck with me on it though) and anybody reading you should check out her stories they are well worth the read.

So once again thanks a lot especially to all of you who have been with me till the end, I really appreciate your encouragement and kind words in your reviews and I hope I can live up to standards in the sequel, take care and thanks again!

Angel - Wings XxXxXxX