Part One:
Chapter Four
Solemn Cry of Death
"Wakey,
wakey!" Tifa's father said as he gently shook her awake. Tifa
groaned but got up anyway. She walked though the fur-covered doorway
out into the crisp morning air. The sun was shining, but through a
thin layer of fog. Cloud was sprawled out by the Cosmo Candle waiting
for them. Tifa and her father walked by him and he got up and
followed.. Mr. Lockhart started up the truck and the two kids took
their seats by the obsidian bars. For many hours they sat in silence
staring at the scenery that was passing by. Clouds' head started to
lull off to one side when he heard a small short howl.
"What was that?" Tifa asked. Cloud pointed to the cliffs that they were going by. Standing on the cliff was a silver furred Nibel wolf. They were unusual because the Nibel wolf was usually brown or black. He stood on the top of the cliff with thick clouds in the sky behind him.
"A silver Nibel wolf? That's weird I've never seen one before." Tifa said staring at it in awe.
"He's cool, isn't he? I think he is the last of his kind now." Cloud said smiling softly.
"You've seen one before?" Tifa asked curiously.
"Yeah…he was just a puppy then… I saw him and his family running across the plains from my spot. That was a couple of days after my father died, I think." Cloud said quietly, but his soft smile still remained. He squinted hard as if he was trying to remember something, or forget it.
"I'm sorry…" Tifa said looking down at her hands.
"Don't be…being sorry won't do any good. You know what I named him." Cloud said leaning up and waving to the silver wolf fading into the distance.
"What?" Tifa said still not looking at him.
"Kuja… " Cloud said briskly getting to his knees and watching the wolf start to run after the truck.
"Kuja?" Tifa was shocked. It was sort of a weird name for anyone. She wondered where he got it from.
"I don't know why I called him that it just seemed like a wolf-like name." Cloud said drifting off into his dream like state again. Tifa leaned her head on the railing of the truck and stared at the ground.
An hour or two later the truck pulled into Nibelhiem and screeched to a halt.
"Have a nice time back there, didja?" Mr. Lockhart asked as he opened the door.
"Well now teef go up there and tell the ShinRa that we have the metal they wanted. Cloud and I will lug these heavy son of a bitches back to the shop." Mr. Lockahart said after receiving no answers to his previous question. Cloud picked up as many bars as he could carry and walked off. Tifa ran down to the gates of the ShinRa mansion. She nervously pushed open the gates and scooted towards the door. When she raised her hand to knock a tall ShinRa soldier opened the door. Tifa almost fell to the ground in fright due to his face mask, but stood strong.
"What do you want, kid?" The man said with sternness clear in his voice. Eventually Tifa figured out what the garbled words meant..
"The blacksmith said to tell you that your metal was delivered." Tifa said shakily.
"All right I'll tell my boss now scoot!" The man said forcefully. Tifa hurriedly exited the yard and walked toward her house. Cloud stood by the door staring with heavy concentration at his feet.
"Hey is something wrong?" Tifa asked a bit worried by Cloud's behavior.
"Ummm maybe you shouldn't go in your house for a bit." Cloud said trying his best to hold back his tears.
"Why?" She asked reaching for the doorknob. Cloud immediately latched onto her wrist and pulled her gentle hand back.
"You should just trust me on this." Cloud said wiping a tear that rolled down his cheek away. Tifa saw this and her face went pale. She ripped her hand free and opened the door. Inside the rank smell of death filled the air. In her father's arms was her mother's limp body. She turned around and wrapped her arms around Cloud that was standing inside the house. It was slightly awkward due to the difference in size. Cloud was a little shocked, but wrapped his arms around her trying to comfort her. Tifa buried her head in his shirt that laid loosely on his shoulder and started to cry. The house was torn apart. Drawers were opened papers were thrown about. Blood marked the walls in the kitchen and was stained all over Mrs. Lockhart's dress. Tifa's mother had been dead for sometime her body was tinted with blue except for the pink and red around the laceration on her neck. Blood was splattered all over the floor too. The smell in the house was starting to make Cloud's stomach turn. He unwrapped his arms and led Tifa outside. She collapsed on the porch outside her house Cloud laid her down and went to go get the town headman. A few minutes later her returned with an old man running close behind. Tifa was sitting up staring blankly into nothingness. She started to get up and walk out of town towards the mountains.
"Where are you going?" Cloud said frantically running up to her.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine. Please Cloud stay here." Tifa said as she continued walking. Cloud stood in the middle of the street and watched her as she walked away. He didn't want to stay there. He didn't want her to leave him there, but he knew she needed some time. Tifa's father walked out sometime later looking very dazed. Cloud walked up to him, but was pushed to the ground. Tifa's father also walked off, not towards the mountains, to his truck. He got in and sped off. Cloud looked around for a bit not really sure of what to do before he went into his house. He told his mother and she also started crying. Cloud sat on the stairs by the furnace for hours constantly glancing out the window to see if one of them had came back. His mother eventually fell asleep and not one of them had come back yet. Cloud went outside and sat on the porch. Cloud sat on the steps clicking his tongue eventually her started tapping his foot impatiently.
"Oh screw this." Cloud said after several more minutes of fidgeting. He got off and ran out towards the mountains. Cloud panted as he reached the cave to the cemetery. As he enter he noticed that three of the torches were light and one was missing. Now Cloud was sure were Tifa was. Cloud walked quickly through the cemetery he always felt like he was being watched when he was there. Then he came to the small bridge he used to cross, underneath it he heard the sloshing of the stream he looked over the edge to see a silver wolf's dull red eyes staring back at him.
"Kuja…it's good to see you're alive. Though I had secretly hoped not to see you again, but it happens I guess." Cloud said standing stoically on the bridge. The thing he didn't tell Tifa about that wolf was that it was attracted to death and the only times he'd ever seen it was around the times people died. The wolf looked at him for a second Cloud thought he saw a look of understanding, but Kuja didn't stay around long enough for Cloud to look again. Cloud walked out to the cliff and felt a dizzying sensation of relief as he found Tifa with her head on her knees asleep. Cloud picked her up and carried her down the mountain. Cloud wished he wasn't so small, or so weak. He wished that it would be a breeze for him to carry her down the mountain, but it was quite a hard task. He was very grateful that she was as light as she was and the stars shone with great force that night or this would have made for a more laborious job. Later he made it back to town and set her down on the porch of her house. He opened to door and knocked backwards by the scent, the body of her mother was gone but the smell and blood still remained. Cloud closed the door and thought for a second there wasn't much of a choice she was going to have to stay at his house. He sighed heavily and picked he up again this time she stirred a little but didn't wake up. Cloud took her into the house and laid her on his bed. Cloud was so physically and emotionally exhausted he kind of felt angered that Tifa got his bed instead of him, but that passed in a matter of seconds. He took a blanket from a closet and laid down next to the furnace and fell asleep quickly.
