Manifestation
Chapter Three, Part II
Tifa closed her eyes and leaned back against the hard seat, feeling the rocking of the buggy beneath her as it lumbered over the land. Through the windshield, the sky was painted a magnificent red and twinkled with stars. Cosmo Canyon was just ahead.
She gripped her martial arts glove, already strapped onto her hand, and peered over at Vincent. He had gone silent, back to his usual stoic self. He had apparently only decided to talk enough to explain the current situation, because she hadn't heard a peep out of him since they had left Nibelheim to begin the short drive to the canyon.
"So...it'll be nice to see Reeve, Yuffie, and Red XIII again," she said conversationally. "I think the last time I saw those three was around a month after the end of Meteor."
"Hmm." That was Vincent's only comment. Tifa sighed and decided to just give up. They were almost there, anyway.
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Yuffie stopped combing through Red XIII's mane long enough to peep out the window and inspect the area. The animal gladly shook himself free from her grip and stepped up to the window next to her. "Did you hear something?" he asked.
"Yeah, I thought I heard a buggy drive up!" she said excitedly, spotting Tifa and Vincent climbing out. "They're here!" She dashed out of the room to go greet them, while Red XIII shook his head and followed after her. Reeve also shook himself awake from his nap on the couch and went downstairs.
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Tifa glanced up and saw Yuffie dashing towards her. Within seconds, she was being smushed into a very large, affectionate hug.
"I'm so glad to see you! It's been a long time, huh?" the now seventeen-year-old commented, giving one last squeeze for good measure before letting go. Tifa took a deep breath, relieved that she could breathe again.
"Yeah, around four months or so." She thought to herself that it wasn't really too long of a time, but then again, months seem longer when you're younger..."It's nice to see that you haven't changed much," Tifa said with a grin.
Red XIII walked up to the pair and Tifa gave him an affectionate pat on the head. "It's good to see you again, too," she claimed, the grin turning into a warm smile, then turning to hug Reeve. She had missed all of her friends more than she had thought.
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Later that night, they all gathered around in Red XIII's house at the very top of the canyon. The animal rooted around for a bit until finding two folders marked with "Virus Information" on the tab, and handed it to Tifa, who was sitting on the couch.
"This is about all the info that we could gather from...Cloud," he explained, pausing for a bit as all four people fell silent. "...I'm sorry about your loss, Tifa."
"It's not your fault...we weren't speaking to each other anymore. We got into a fight a few months back, and that was about the end of our relationship...in any form, friendship or more."
Vincent glanced at her from the corner of his eye. He was leaning against the wall; his arms crossed, and hadn't said a single word since the meeting had started. "I was going to collect a blood sample from the youth I killed, but I wanted to get out of there before the police came," he said, closing his eyes again.
Tifa opened the folder and flipped through many complicated-looking diagrams. "How many people have you seen infected with this?" she asked.
"Just two, so far. Cloud and the young man from your Inn," Reeve claimed, patting her knee. Tifa looked up as he gave her a warm smile, before lightly squeezing her leg. She weakly smiled back, before sliding out from under his grasp. She knew he was only trying to be friendly, but she didn't like people touching her...not since Cloud.
She then picked up two diagrams and held them up. They were nearly identical, and she studied them, looking for any slight differences. One was marked "Jenova", the other, "Unidentified virus".
"You were right; there seem to be many similarities between Jenova and this new parasite..." Tifa murmured, sitting back and letting the sheets of paper fall into her lap. She could feel a few pangs of fear strike her heart, and she looked around at all of her old friends. The atmosphere was so silent and hurt; everyone had their minds on Cloud's death. He was surely going to be missed.
"I don't want this to happen again," she began, before Vincent cut her words short.
"None of us do. That's why we need to get to the bottom of all this."
She nodded in agreement, knowing he was right. She needed to stop focusing on the past and instead think about how to prevent it from reoccurring. "So what's our next plan?" she asked.
"Well, I've had a lot of trouble getting into contact with some of our old friends. It seems that after we helped to destroy Meteor, we all just went our separate ways. Cid married Shera and is somewhere honeymooning; I can't find him. Barrett and Marlene are living in Junon, and my calls are just going to the answering machine," Red XIII said.
Tifa sighed inwardly. That was another one of the relationships she had lost. Her friendship with Barrett had been very strong; he had been like an older brother to her. But after their fight with Sephiroth was over, she had been so obsessed with making things with Cloud go right. She had ended up neglecting Barrett in the process. They hadn't spoken for quite awhile now.
"So we've decided to quit trying to locate those two, because we really need to start doing some heavy investigation into this virus. Tomorrow we leave for the City of the Ancients. The knowledge of the Cetra is extremely vast, and it could help us greatly." Red XIII sat back on his haunches, apparently done with his explanation.
Yuffie yawned and closed her eyes, slumping back into the cushions of the couch. "Shouldn't we get into bed, then? I mean, it's late already, and we need to get up early..." She half-drifted off in the middle of the sentence, seeming to fall asleep almost instantly.
Red XIII nodded. "We can lay down some blankets around the room to sleep on tonight. The Inn is completely booked up with tourists, unfortunately."
That was fine with Tifa. She could feel herself succumbing to sleep already...
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The light was dim inside the tiny forest, and it was hard to see. Tifa squinted and looked around, trying to locate where the noises were coming from. Sounds of pain and grief.
Where was she? It looked almost like the forest that guarded the City of the Ancients. But she could still hear the noises; screaming, agony. She needed to find the source.
Suddenly, Tifa spotted a head of spiky-blond locks. Cloud? What was he doing here? He was dead, wasn't he? And a quick flash of pale pink. Then more crying. She stumbled towards the colors.
Pushing a bush aside, there she spotted the two. Cloud and Aeris, kissing together on a fallen tree trunk. He had his arms wrapped around her tightly, and the embrace they were in was tight.
Of course. She had always known that, hadn't she? He had left her because he just couldn't forget Aeris. She was fixated in his mind for eternity. And now here they were, together like this. When Tifa herself had been left behind. Angrily, she began to yell and stagger towards the two.
But before she could get there, the embrace she was witnessing seemed to change. Aeris began to rot before Tifa's very eyes, her skin becoming murky and puckered, some of it falling away from her bones. She lifted her hands and sank her nails into Cloud's back, and he began to scream in agony. Tifa stopped mid-step and watched in shock.
Aeris broke away from the kiss and grinned, before closing her eyes and seeming to shoot something into Cloud's back through her fingertips before releasing him. He moaned in agony and slumped back, sliding off the tree trunk, and then twitching on the hard ground.
And the young woman clothed in the pale-pink dress smiled and stood up, not even glancing at Tifa. She turned the other way and was gone among the greenery within an instant.
And then Tifa realized that she had been the one screaming, crying, and aching with grief. The thing she had needed to find, she had found. Discovered in the swatches of pink cloth, of brown hair spilling over decaying shoulders. In Cloud's now motionless body, lying on the cold forest floor. She knew now.
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Tifa awoke with a start, sitting straight up with a gasp. Moonlight streamed in from the open window, illuminating the sweat dripping from her body.
"What?" she muttered, feeling disoriented. "Cloud and Aeris together?" Already the nightmare was fading fast from her sleepy mind, and she rubbed her eyes wearily. "What an awful dream..." She spent a few more moments contemplating before finally laying back down on the soft blanket to close her eyes once more.
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Author's Note: Well...there you go! =) I know that I said I would update on Friday, but I couldn't seem to find a good time to write. So I stayed up tonight to give all my readers this end to chapter three. lol I hope you all enjoyed it! I'll be starting on the next installment soon, and expect another update within the next few days. =)