Tifa's
eyes widened and she blinked away her tears.
"What?" she
gasped.
"I love you–more than he does, I think."
She
shook her head quickly, leaping to her feet. "No! Cloud
does...he..."
Zeo stood as well, grabbing her waist and
pulling her close.
"Tifa, face it: he never loved you."
The
tears reappeared in her eyes: "He came back. Cloud does care for
me–he came back!"
"And you came back for me; do you care for
me as well?"
Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth to try
and say something. Zeo grabbed her face in his hands and pressed his
mouth to hers. She made a strangled cry in her throat, then pulled
away from him.
"Zeo!"
He stood there, his arms held out to
her.
"Stay with me, Tifa–I can love you like he never
did."
Crying, Tifa turned and ran in the other direction. Zeo
started after her but Kinto grabbed a mouthful of his hair and yanked
him backward, ruffling his feathers angrily.
"Let go, stupid
bird!" he thrashed.
Vincent dropped down from the tree and
grabbed Zeo's arms. Kinto warked and released him.
"I knew you
were up to something," the long-haired man growled.
"Let me
go! We have to go after her!" Zeo grunted, straining to be
released.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you?"
Vincent tightened his grip on the white-haired boy. Suddenly, Tifa
shrieked. They both looked up and saw two shadows looming over
her.
"Tifa!" Zeo screamed. Vincent released him and they
both rushed over to her. Kinto let out another wark and ran
off.
"I'm home!" Yuffie Kisaragi threw her arms out,
standing before the entrance to the village of Wutai. Red XIII looked
it over skeptically.
"It's a bunch of huts," he
growled.
"And yours is a bunch of rocks! So what!" Yuffie
retorted.
"That's enough, both of yeh," Barret Wallace
pushed past the two of them and entered Wutai. Yuffie ran after him
and Red followed, looking up at the distant mountains of Dai-Cho.
"This is where we first met!" Yuffie ran about in circles.
"That's where I first stole all your materia!" Barret and
Nanaki face-faulted. "That's the place I found that Shield
Materia! And there's where I stole all of Cloud's materia for
father! Father!"
She raced eagerly toward the Temple of the Five
Gods in Northern Wutai.
"Why couldn't she have wound up with
Cloud or Vincent?" Red XIII growled, laying down in the shade of
the temple. Barret shrugged and wandered toward the path leading to
the Dai-Cho Mountains. He stared up through the knot of scrawny trees
and boulders, a distracted look on his face.
"Father! I brought
more materia!" Red heard Yuffie holler, and he shook his head.
"I'm
going to tear off her arm and smack her with it."
"Yeah,"
Barret said absently.
"Are you alright?" Red inclined his head
to stare at Barret with his one yellow eye.
"I feel...weird,"
the gunman responded, placing his hand on the silver barrel.
"Weird,
how?"
"Like somethin's calling me up there...just up an'
hollerin' at me..."
"What's it saying?"
"...'Come
find them'."
"Find what?" Nanaki stood and Yuffie came
flying out of the temple.
"Come on! I have to check on my
stash!" she bounded up the trail.
"Where you goin'!"
Barret called.
"Dai-Cho hideout!" she yelled back,
disappearing around a bend in the road.
Nanaki and Barret shrugged
then raced after her.
Cloud Strife looked back into the
hollow of the cave at the two sleeping figures of his friends. Cid
had his head on Cait Sith's huge pink stomach, and rose up and down
as the stuffed mog breathed heavily. The older man sucked in a large
breath, then let it out in a long whistle. Cloud chuckled and turned
his gaze back up into the night sky where several clusters of stars
twinkled absently. He found himself thinking again of Tifa and her
strange behavior lately. What did it mean? Did she really have
feelings for that stupid white-haired kid?
"Tifa..." he
whispered. The cold gaze of the stars gave him no consolation. He
sighed, closing his eyes so sleep could try and overtake him. Cloud
sat there for what seemed like hours, seeing Tifa over and over again
in his mind's eye; the way she smiled at him, the way her body fit
perfectly with his, her small, beautiful face staring up at him
solemnly...
A hand had wrapped around his mouth and an arm
pressed across his waist.
His eyes shot open and he was staring up
into two glowing green slits. He made a startled cry in his throat,
trying to pull away from whomever was holding him.
"Moves a lot,
don' he?" a gruff male voice asked from behind him.
"Don't
slip, Waylon. He's stronger than he looks."
Cloud stopped
moving. He knew these voices... He looked up again at the bright
green eyes that withdrew as the person stood. She grinned down at
him, suddenly illuminated in the moonlight.
"We wouldn't want
Damien upset at us for letting him slip away," Tifa Lockheart
smiled. Cloud screamed through the tight hand around his mouth.
"If
you say so, Arina," the guy–Waylon–grunted, hauling Cloud to
his feet. Cloud realized that the arm around his waist didn't have
another hand, but a barrel of a gun: Barret and Tifa's
clones.
Tifa blinked in surprise now that she had gotten over
her scare.
"Yuffie!"
The black-haired girl merely smiled
and pulled out her shurinkan.
"What's going on!" Zeo ran
up. Vincent came up on Tifa's other side, and they watched as a
second figure appeared from behind Yuffie Kisaragi–Cait Sith.
"Cait
Sith?" Vincent blinked.
"Katrina and Quindon, to you!"
Yuffie's duplicate shouted, getting into her fighting
stance.
"We're here for Tifa Lockheart!" the Cait Sith-clone
bounced up and down on the balls of his dark pink feet.
"Run,
Tifa," Vincent lifted the barrel of the golden Death Penalty.
"But
I can fight!" she protested.
"Not right now!" Zeo yelled.
Tifa flinched and took a step back. "Zeo...Vincent–"
Quindon
pounced on her. She threw him away, rolling to her feet and looking
up.
"Go!" Vincent cried, firing at Yuffie's copy. She darted
out of the way and slashed her synthesized Conformer at him.
"Run,
dammit!" Zeo yelled. Tifa shook her head, then turned and started
to run away. She got several steps deeper into the forest, smacking
into something as she glanced back at the fight over her shoulder.
She let out a startled cry and looked up into the handsome face of
Cloud Strife.
"Cloud!"
"The name's Damien, human,"
the blond snarled, stepping toward her. She backed away
hastily.
"You...you're a–"
"A clone, that's right,"
he smiled evilly. "So don't try anything. Come with me, or your
friends die."
Tifa gasped and turned to run
back.
"Vincent!"
She saw him turn, but then felt Damien
slide his arms around her, pinning her to him. His hand was over her
mouth, closing tighter and tighter.
"I told you not to try and
start anything." Tifa attempted to kick him, but he locked one of
his legs behind her and she was stuck. "Now I want you to watch
closely, girl. Watch us eliminate your friends as we destroyed our
own master."
Tifa looked up in horror as he spoke the words,
watching Zeo and Vincent battle Katrina and Quindon.
Yuffie
Kisaragi ran to her "Treasure Room" when they entered the hideout
she had nestled in the gully between two of the Dai-Cho mountains.
Red XIII curled up by the entrance to nap. Barret Wallace wandered
deeper into the cave. He looked around, past the barrier walls of
fire and through the rock tunnels, feeling as if he was searching for
something. Yuffie came back to see only Red XIII and
panicked.
"Where's Barret!"
Red snorted as he rose out
of sleep. "Yuffie, shut up."
"Where's Barret!" she
repeated.
"He isn't here?" the animal looked around.
"I
wouldn't be asking you this question if he was!" she cried.
Then she cupped her hands over her mouth and yelled: "Barret, it
isn't safe around here!"
Deeper inside the cave, Barret
turned as he heard the faint echo of Yuffie's shouts.
"Wha'
the heck's that materia-chick goin' on 'bout now?"
He
turned the corner and came upon a dark, sleeping figure. He paused;
looked beyond it, to the bright blue and gold chest which lay nestled
there. Barret stood silently and debated whether or not he should
kill the sleeping creature, then decided the pros outweighed the
cons. He raised his gun arm and shot the creature dead center of the
forehead.
Back at the entrance, Red leapt to his feet as a huge
roar rocked the cave. Yuffie wailed in dismay, running into the
tunnels.
"What's going on!" Nanaki chased after her.
Yuffie
gulped: "Barret just ran into the Elemental Keeper–guardian of
the lost treasure of Wutai!"
Cid Highwind awoke to muffled
yelling. He opened one eye and froze, not daring to move. Two people
were dragging Cloud Strife into the dark recesses of the cave as he
shouted and flailed.
"He screams like a lil' girl!" the
larger figure, holding Cloud, grunted. "Arina, shu' him up!"
"My
pleasure," the second person sighed. There was a loud thump, and
Cloud let out one last whimper.
"Wha' bout those two
there?"
"We have to get him back to the city. We'll come for
them later."
Cid waited until they had disappeared into the
darkness, then prodded Cait Sith.
"Cait Sith, wake up!" he
hissed.
"Is it morning already?" the black cat wailed, rubbing
his eyes.
"Shh!" Cid looked around. "Listen up; something's
happened."
"What? Where's Cloud?" the cat sat up, sounding
alert.
"Some people took him."
"The clones?"
"That's
what I was thinking."
"So what should we do?"
"What do
you mean, 'what should we do'?" Cid glared at him "We're
going to have to save him!"
"I was hoping you had another
alternative," Cait Sith pouted and got to his feet. The two of them
rushed into the cave after Cloud, Waylon, and Arina.
