"This
is all my fault," Zeo shook his head.
"This isn't anyone's
fault," Tifa replied, swinging her legs back and forth as she sat
perched on a table. Nanaki was curled up by the fireplace staring
into the flames. Cid lay in the bed by the window, groaning in pain
as Vincent and Yuffie tended to him.
"You'll be fine,"
Yuffie assured him.
"The pains will soon pass–trust me,"
Vincent murmured, wiping a cloth over Cid's soaking brow. The other
man just moaned something about hurting to the point of agony, then
rolled over onto his side.
"Red's clone told Tifa that the
answers we need are in the City of the Ancients," Cloud
announced.
"So that's where we need to go," Barret stomped
his foot.
"But it's not that easy," Cait Sith shook his
head.
"We all need to improve our skills before we even think of
heading out anywhere," Cloud continued. "The only reason we
defeated Cid's guy, Marione, is because Cait Sith developed a new
skill. That's what we all need to do."
Tifa inclined her head
to one side. "Are you saying we should go out and train some
more?"
"Most definitely," the blond nodded. "As soon as
Cid feels he can go on, we'll split into three teams. One can train
on each continent, and we'll meet back here."
"Sounds like a
plan," Yuffie walked over from the bed.
Cloud turned to Zeo:
"We'll handle the clones–you can go your own way."
"You
need all the help you can get," the white-haired boy said. "I'll
go in a training group too."
"Then how are we picking
teams?"
"I can do a reading!" Cait Sith raised one huge paw
eagerly.
"The last time you did a reading, I wound up in the
hospital," Cloud glared at him. Cait Sith laughed nervously,
putting his hand down.
"How 'bout we draw lots?" Barret
grumbled from the wall.
"My team goes to Wutai!" Yuffie
stated.
"I'll cut them," Tifa rolled her eyes, got up, and
left the room.
Cloud Strife lowered his sword and let out a
sigh as the last enemy fell dead. Cid Highwind nodded firmly,
lighting a cigarette and inhaling the smoke deeply. Cait Sith yawned,
stretched, and sat back on the dirt trail.
"Can we camp out now?
We've been doing this all day!" the cat-mog wailed.
"Can you
wait until we reach those caves over there?" Cloud pointed to a
ridge just above them–where the entrance to a set of caves lay.
Cait Sith wailed miserably and tottered to his feet. Cid grunted and
breathed in some more of the noxious fumes.
"I don't like the
look of those caves; we haven't been there before, have
we?"
"Nope," Cloud shook his head. "So, there might be
some monsters we missed or something."
"Oh, that's just
great!" Cait Sith rolled his eyes, starting up after Cloud on the
mountain path. Cid had one more puff of the cancer stick, then tossed
it aside and followed them.
Vincent Valentine glanced around
before leaping into the coverage of trees above them. Tifa halted
Kinto, and she and Zeo looked up into the branches at the
cloak-wearing figure.
"See anything?" Tifa called.
"The
coast is clear–we can spend the night," Vincent replied. With a
grateful sigh, Tifa slid off the golden chocobo's back and dropped
to the grass, sitting against the trunk of the tree Vincent had
disappeared into. Zeo sat beside her as Vincent settled into the nook
of a branch. Kinto warked and trotted deeper into the forest to munch
on some grass. Tifa snuggled against the trunk and slowly opened her
eyes, looking up at the thick tangled canopy.
"Zeo?"
"Yes,
Tifa?" he looked over to her.
She glanced at him: "Do you
think we have a chance of defeating the clones?"
Zeo sighed,
leaning back against the trunk and gazing up into the foliage with
her. There was a long silence, Vincent snoring gently from above
them. He turned back to her, placing his bow staff on the grass.
"I
couldn't tell you."
Tifa's eyes saddened and she blinked
slowly.
"I'm going to tell you a story, Zeo."
He sat up
attentively. "Go ahead."
"Once, there was a young girl,"
Tifa started after a pause, "and she had a lot of friends. But
there was this one boy that they all used to pick on. He went far
away, promising the girl he would make it into SOLDIER and then come
back for her. The years passed and they never spoke again. The girl
grew, her friends grew, and deep in her heart she knew that the
little boy that had left was growing too."
"Why are you
telling me this?" Zeo asked.
"I don't know," Tifa smiled
weakly. "But this is kind of a special story–it doesn't even
have an ending yet."
Kinto warked and continued eating.
"Keep
on then."
She nodded. "The girl had finally grown into a young
woman, but the boy had never returned. She kept watch for him, read
the papers, but his face never appeared. She waited for years...and
one day she saw a troop of SOLDIERs marching up the hill toward her
hometown. She ran to meet them, hoping to see the boy from her past.
Instead she saw two Shin-Ra guards and two mercenaries coming up the
path. Her heart sank, but she couldn't let it bother her. The
SOLDIERs wanted a tour of the old Mako Reactor in the center of the
mountains. She took them. Halfway there, there was a bad accident.
One of the Shin-Ra guards was lost in a fall and the survivors had to
take the long and dangerous way to the reactor. After all of that,
the two mercenaries still went inside."
There was a pause; Zeo
stared attentively at her.
"Tifa?"
"She wanted to follow
them inside," Tifa continued quickly, "but the remaining guard
stopped her. There was a scream and one of the mercenaries ran back
out. He told them his comrade had gone crazy at the sight of the
horrible monsters inside the reactor's core. They ran back to town.
The other mercenary came back that night and went down into the
basement of the ancient Shin-Ra Mansion. He found something
there...something that drove him completely insane."
Zeo put a
hand on her shoulder. Tifa was taking in deep, ragged gasps, and
looked as if she were about to cry: "Stop, you're–"
"I
need to finish this."
He pulled away and watched her sadly: "Go
on, then."
She shuddered as the chocobo ducked behind the tree,
still eating.
"One night, the town awoke to fire. It was
everywhere, and the crazed mercenary made his way back up into the
mountains, to the Mako Reactor. The young woman ran after him only to
see him murder her father. She screamed and ran to kill the man, and
he sliced her open–wounding her very badly. She lay there at the
base of the stairs, bleeding and crying and wishing that she could
see the boy from her past one last time. And then, the remaining
guard appeared over her and removed his helmet. He picked her up and
lay her against the wall, drew his sword, and looked down at her.
Something passed between them; something gentle and deep. Just as she
realized who he really was, she lost her thoughts and knew no
more."
Zeo looked into Tifa's round face and saw she had tears
rolling down her crimson cheeks. He touched her face and gently
forced her to turn to him.
"That was you?"
Tifa sniffled:
"Me and Cloud."
"He left you alone for all those years,"
Zeo shook his head, snarling in disgust. Tifa blinked, sitting up and
shaking her head.
"Cloud was only trying to protect me. It was
me who ignored him for all those years–"
"But that's still
no way to treat the person you love."
"Zeo..."
"Tifa,
I love you."
