Chapter I
Deepest calls

I'm weak.

You're not…you're just scared.

…of what?

Being alive…I guess.

……

…don't worry, they'll be here.

"Are going to buy that newspaper, Miss Lockheart?"

Startled from her thoughts, Tifa Lockheart looked up. The old man's smile was sweet and gentle, his hazel eyes glinting with amusement. She smiled back and dug in her pocket for two Gil. The old man who was selling the newspapers and magazines every morning always smiled and saw things in the bright side. He would even smile when he stood outside his stand when the clouds gathered and the rain fell down. Tifa admired him for that.

"A Gil for your thoughts?"

Tifa chuckled. "The same as yesterday, Bill, and the day before that…and the day before that."

Bill nodded, still smiling. "Still that dream again huh?"

She nodded as she finally found the two coins. The newspaper she'd been holding was warm from her hands, she must have been in the clouds a little longer than she thought.

Memories are sometimes plaguing. She thought tiredly as she rolled the newspaper under her arm and waved goodbye to Bill. The dark brown hair swayed with her movement while her shirt hung tightly against her chest area. The skirt was long ago discarded and was replaced with long black pants with two laces. The red battle gloves were replaced with a similar black with a few spikes on the knuckles. She liked this outfit better when days like these came; dull and gray. Besides, she could fight a little easier without any men watching the very interesting moves.

The same conversation was playing over and over in her mind. A conversation she never had taken part of in an awakened state. Someone was weak, someone else was comforting the other and other people would come. It did not make any sense; the dreams were of a couple, sometimes she could see herself and another man, sometimes two different people she could not make out. Dark beings, shadowed by the lack of light; one sitting with head bent down with the other standing and staring off in the distance until the talk abruptly ended as they both whirled around. It ended that way, just like that. Normally you would not remember with much clarity, like what they were or their faces, but Tifa could detect her own voice though she had no clue which person she was referring to. Something would happen all of sudden and the dream ended with her waking up; like someone had hit her with an unseen force.

She briefly wondered if the man was Cloud. The voice was indeed familiar and it sounded like him, but the much deeper tone had made her doubt that. The only time she could fail to notice Cloud's voice was when he was coming of age and his voice became lower and uneven.

A smile tugged the corners of her mouth and she soon gave up, a small chuckle escaped her lips.

She slid to a halt and glanced up to the towering statue in the middle of the plaza. A memory from the past. There were still work to be done on it but everyone knew what it symbolized. The big ball with a tail of powerful flames, the half of it scaled away. A small surface in the form of a part of the world, covered by knotted waves of the Lifestream.

Tifa closed her eyes, remembering clearly the moment when the green light had engulfed them all. Once the light faded, it was all gone. The meteor, Holy and the Lifestream, it all disappeared like nothing had ever happened. Several eyes had opened wide, trying to find a clear answer of what really happened.

Then the rain came and they all fixed their eyes upwards.

"Tifa!"

She smiled, this was the second time her thoughts were broken within ten minutes. The dark haired woman turned around to face the caller. Her smile grew into a grin as she crouched down and hugged the young girl that ran towards her.

"Hey girl, how've you been?"

Marlene laughed. "I've been great, papa is here too."

"He is?"

"Indeed he is." A dark deep voice spoke.

Tifa glanced up at the immensely tall man and gave him a hug. "It's good to see you Barret."

He smiled and embraced back. "Likewise." The man noticed the far-away-look in her eyes and arched an eyebrow. "Somethin' on your mind?"

She smiled and closed her eyes; Barret was a caring person inside despite the rough exterior.

"It's Cloud huh?"

She raised an eyebrow as her smile widened a bit. "Am I that obvious?"

A low chuckle erupted from his throat. "Was there even one time you stopped thinkin' about him?" Tifa cast her eyes to the ground; she knew that was more like a statement than a question. True, Cloud was almost the only thing her mind chanted about.

"Things are not what they would seem."

Barret frowned by her statement. Tifa turned her head and saw his confused expression and let out a sigh. "The tight connection we had has thinned since the battle. After the fight, he began to think." She stopped and cast down her gaze again as if pained by the memory. "Thinking about himself, his past and his life, Sephiroth, Jenova, Shinra…and Aeris. He helped me with the bar and with the children from time to time, but eventually he grew more distant and the visits became more… sparse. I'm not sure if it's his job or the time he spends by himself."

Barret sighed and put his left hand on her shoulder in compassion. "I'm sorry for you Tifa; many things happened in his life and scars won't fade so easily."

She let out a sigh and gave a nod. "Yeah, I know." Even if days go by and the wounds heal, the scars are still there, as a reminder. Some are too deep to be healed at all. Of course, there are people who know how to mask their hurt, cover their fragile emotions with false smiles or fake laughs. She was one of them. When she was a child, her tears would flow and her anger would take the best out of her. Now that she was older, she remembered what Bill had said to her.

"You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can find humor in anything, even poverty, you can survive it."

He had a point; maybe that's why he smiled so often.

"What are you doing here then?" She asked, breaking the silence between them.

"Marlene and I decided to take a walk and visit you. When we found out that you were not home, we remembered that you often go out and would probably end up at Bill's stand." He replied with a shrug and smiled when he spotted the little twitch in her eyebrow.

"I know I'm obvious in certain aspects but THAT crosses the line." She replied with a slightly annoyed tone.

Barret laughed and waved his hand. "Just teasing you, actually I needed some stuff myself." He scratched his head, looking quite sheepish. "Uh, could you watch Marlene for a couple of minutes?"

Tifa smirked but nodded. "Of course."

Barret nodded thankfully and left. Tifa turned to Marlene. The little girl's outfit silently screamed adorable. Red cotton pants with a red cotton shirt. The brown worn-out sneakers adorned small feet, while her brown hair was put in two pigtails. The woman smiled warmly; she looked like a miniature angel.

Soon Marlene waved goodbye, dashing towards the other children that had gathered not far away. Not long after a small introduction of her, the children began to play.

Tifa took a deep breath and closed her eyes. The breeze was calm and the air was cleaner. Since the fall of Shinra, the reactors were no longer in use and the air grew healthier with time. The clouds hovering above the city thinned and sometimes you could enjoy a glorious sunny day.

She opened her eyes and glanced around from the children playing, to Barret talking with Bill, to the lonesome dog tied up near the monument.

Tifa blinked and stared at the dog. The brown animal stared off in the distance, with its ears up. She followed its gaze and turned back when she spotted nothing peculiar. It continued to stare and stood completely still, never blinking.

Suddenly the dog barked and started to struggle against the rope it was attached to. The bar hostess frowned as the poor thing panicked. She glanced around to see what had caused the dog's worried state, and again she saw nothing. With cautious steps, she walked over to the dog. Once there, she expected the dog to look at her but to her surprise it did not even seem to notice her.

"Hey, calm down." She spoke softly but to no use, the dog whimpered and tugged the rope frantically. Tifa had no exactly desire to touch the dog in its condition, but the sight of him made her heart ache. She then heard voices of the people around her; many in shock and amazed. Nearly everyone had stopped dead in their tracks and gazed up into the sky.

Tifa turned her head upwards and nearly gasped. Above Midgar's highest roofs flew a dark cloud of fluttering birds, flying south. They all made screeching sounds while they eagerly flapped their wings.

The dog whimpered and barked louder until it finally broke loose from its bounds. Tifa turned and watched shocked as the dog dashed towards the south as well.

Then it came. First vibrating slightly until it grew more intense. Tifa gasped and ran towards Marlene who stood with the others. The other children's parents had dashed to their children's aid and escaped with them; leaving Marlene alone.

It had started.

The older woman reached her and hugged the terrified girl while she crouched down, shielding her from the danger that could come. Tifa could feel another pair of arms encircling the two; she glanced up to see the dark skin of her friend, Barret.

The ground shook with extreme authority, pulsing like a beating heart. The wrecked buildings that took a lot of damage from the meteor fell apart and people dashed away in terror, shielding themselves from the piles of metal and cement that came down. Tifa and Marlene held on to each other in a crouching stance while Barret covered them with his body. The young girl screamed as some of remains crashed down a couple of feet away.

Children cried, people screamed and then the tremor slowed down to a stop.

Silence crept in.

-

The ground vibrated as the tremor died away. Small rocks, that sat loose, rolled down from towering stone walls. The cave sung its melody, sending it to the greater depths. He had seen it before and still it did not worry him. Though the time and the raison d'être of the raging earthquake made perfect sense. He curiously wondered how the cursed city looked like now, and tears that must have been shed as the quake rocked the area.

Pulse of the Earth will act three…

Two more times, two more places, no one knew or even cared about it. The figure stood up from the small rock he'd been sitting on and strode over to one of the cave's walls. A quake shows the rage of the earth, while the water shows its true power. He would have smiled, but his lips did not budge at the silent thought. Long time ago, he found these kinds of events quite amusing and entertaining. Watching with glee as people were slaughtered before his very eyes. Purely enjoyable. He greatly missed the sight of a city engulfed by the flames of an ever burning inferno.

The figure reached to the wall and rested a gloved hand on its surface, while his eyes scanned the mosaic images across the stone. His gaze landed on the fifth image from the bottom gently stroked it with his hand. The world was not the same anymore; the Planet had shown its true power and that was only a defensive act. The very thought of the Planet's attack power sent chills down his spine, but that action was yet to come. The white clad hand trembled slightly before he clenched into a tight fist.

Dark eyes closed as he let out deep breath, calming his ill-tempered mind. His deepest desire would be granted, it was only a matter of time.

Never again…mark my word

-

Burgundy eyes glazed with worry as the people that survived tried to find their friends. Some lay dead under the remains that fell down and children cried in absolute fear. Tifa coughed; nearly the entire area was hidden in a thick mist of dust. They had survived with only small bruises and they were happy for that. Barret was concerned for Marlene and hugged her dearly. He was tough and held himself together but whenever Marlene was concerned, it could nearly break him apart. Marlene hugged him back, though not as strongly, smiling softly and comforting her father the best way she could.

Tifa had to admit Marlene was very brave for her age and nearly didn't cry at all.

She felt another vibration and instantly thought of a second tremor. But once her ears caught a low ringing sound, she embarrassingly reached inside her pocket and answered her phone.

"Yeah?"

The signal was buzzing but the caller could still be heard. "Tifa?"

Her heart stopped for a timid moment as concern crept over her dirty face. The voice she had longed to hear. Once she regained her composure, she tried to find her own voice. "Cloud, where are…"

"We'll talk about that later. Listen, something has happened." She was cut short by Cloud's sudden words. Her ears were trained on tone of his voice. He sounded a bit troubled and partly angered, the tone she had not heard since the Crisis.

"What are you…?"

Again she her sentence was cut and annoyance began to rise. However it was quickly washed away as the two last words reached her ears.

"It's Reeve."

To be continued

Read the story, send me a review
And I may update much faster too
Comments from you is what makes me glad
It keeps my mind off from thoughts I used to had

/T.C. Linden