"Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress, thererfore, depends on unreasonable people."
George Bernard Shaw
Three months later...
Ever since the last battle, things had been quiet. No one was particularly eager for the next battle. It had taken nearly two months to repair the damages done to the fort. The wall was back up; stronger and bigger than before. But there were some damages that couldn't be repaired as easily as the wall. The death count, as they had suspected, was devastating. The combined deaths from the poison and battle combined, left them short in numbers and low in spirirts. Nearly everyone had lost someone. It seemed unlikely that they would be ready for another battle anytime soon.
But a call from Vincent soothed their worries slightly; he confided that they weren't the only side that suffered major losses. Kale's army was still recuperating too. After failing to seige Cosmo Canyon twice, they were at a loss of what to do. According to Vincent, Kale and the other SOLDIERS became more and more unhinged by the day. They weren't sure whether this was good news or bad news. On one hand, if the SOLDIERS lost their minds completely, they wouldn't exactly be formidible enemies. On the other hand... their insanity could cause them to completely lose their sense of reality and put everyone on the planet in danger, just as Sephiroth had.
So the past few months hadn't only been spent in reconstruction and recovery, AVALANCHE had been planning too. Which is why they found themselves in a conference room an hour before sunrise, sipping coffee and trying to suppress yawns. The meeting hadn't started yet, and so, as always, Yuffie, Reno, and Barret passed the time by muttering darkly about those who weren't present at the early meeting, as the others watched with tired amusement.
"Red's such a dirty little-" Yuffie grumbled, dumping sugar into her coffee.
Reno nodded fervently, looking equally as grumpy.
"Out looking for recruits and refugees? Bull shit..."
The three made mean comments under their breath, until they ran out of insults and fell silent. Cloud, Tifa, Reeve, Rude, and Elena shook their heads, exasperated.
"Cid..." Barret growled visciously. "Such a bum...Bet he never gits up this early..."
Yuffie glowered into her mug.
"We all know why he really wants to live in Rocket Town." she said sulkily.
They exchanged dark looks.
"Dirty old man..." Reno added for good measure.
Barret nodded vigorously.
"An' don't even git me started on Vincent..."
Yuffie and Reno growled grumpily.
"How long did he sleep in that damn coffin?" Reno seethed. "I'm pretty sure it was years..."
"Years..." Yuffie emphasized with a scowl.
Again, the room fell silent. After having these early morning meetings for three weeks, Yuffie, Reno, and Barret were beginning to run out of mean things to say. Instead, they settled with glowering at anything that met their eyes. Their bad moods always wore off by noon. The others secretly warned Cid, Red, and Vincentnot to communicate with Yuffie, Reno, or Barret before then.
A contented snuffling sound caused the three to stop glowering, and search around their companions to figure out who dared to make such a happy sound so early. Their eyes stopped on Tifa; she had fallen asleep on Cloud's shoulder. They immediately began glowering again, this time aimed at Tifa.
"Tifa's such a-" Reno began, scowling fiercly.
He stopped when Cloud frowned angrily at him. Elena, looking disheveled without her usual coat of mascara, backhanded Reno on the back of his head.
"Reno, don't be such an ass!" she snapped grumpily.
Reno cringed away. Yuffie and Barret immediately focused their glowering gazes on something other than Tifa. The others sighed simultaniously. It was going to be another long morning. They exchanged glum looks as someone entered the room.
"All right then..." the war advisor said, sounding alert and awake. "Shall we get started?"
They all straightened in thier chairs, trying to look as though they weren't nearly as tired as grumpy as they were. Cloud gave Tifa a quick shake and she jolted to attention.
"So to continue off where we stopped yesterday..." the war advisor continued. "Have we come to a decision?"
The group nodded seriously.
"We've decided that we aren't going to plan another battle..." Cloud said solemnly.
The war advisor motioned for Cloud to continue.
"We think it's in the best interest of everyone..." he said slowly. "To take the source out directly."
"You mean, President Kale and the other SOLDIERS?" the war advisor asked, leaning in slightly.
Cloud and the others nodded.
"It's the only way this is ever going to end..." Cloud stated quietly, holding Tifa's hand under the table.
The war advisor nodded curtly and sat down.
"Let's get planning then..."
Two hours later, everyone was filing out of the conference room, heads buzzing with all the planning. The sun was now beginning to blare full force over the rocky cliffs of Cosmo Canyon. Everyone mumbled See you later's and set off to begin their day. The Turks walked silently away, glumly anticipating yet another trip to Rocket Town planned for tomorrow. Barret set off to wake Marlene up, Reeve was muttering under his breath about the wall, and Yuffie was already listening grumpily to her father over a PHS. Cloud and Tifa hung back around the conference room door.
"Feeling alright?" Cloud asked Tifa, gently taking her hand.
Tifa reached up to kiss his cheek.
"I'm fine Cloud...really." she told him with a smile.
Cloud returned her smile hesitantly, and they headed away from the conference room hand in hand. Cloud frowned slightly when Tifa wasn't looking. Tifa had recovered quickly with the help of antidotes, but Cloud found himself worrying about her more than he could admit. But Tifa was cheerfully adamant, and refused to let Cloud worry about her. Cloud sighed slightly and sped up to match Tifa's stubbornly quick pace.
"So, what are we doing today?" she asked him, chin on his shoulder.
Cloud grinned and kissed her lips gently.
"Dunno..." he replied. "What do you want to do?"
The others had thought Cloud and Tifa were inseperable before, but now they really were. It was becoming impossible to find a single moment in which they weren't together.
"What do I want to do?" Tifa said with a coy smile. "I want to go back to bed...or maybe we could sneak off to our cliff."
Cloud laughed, but then looked around to check if anyone could hear them.
"Think we could get away with it?" he asked lowly.
Tifa laughed too and gave him a gentle push.
"Cloud!" she exclaimed. "I was only joking."
But she too looked around, narrow eyed.
"If we run now, no one will even notice we're gone..." she whispered.
They smiled at each other and ran off.
Dinner was always a much more pleasant affair than the early morning meetings. Conversation usually stayed pretty light-hearted; war talk was unavoidable, but they always avoided the more depressing topics. The men always got slightly drunk; talking loudly and playing cards. Tifa, Elena, and Yuffie usually watched them, rolling their eyes at one another. Marlene always sat close to them, clinging to Tifa and feeling priveleged to be hanging around the "big girls".
By the end of the night, Marlene was always asleep on Tifa's lap, and the guys would still be drinking and playing cards. Eventually, Elena and Yuffie would join the card games, once the guys were all too drunk to notice that Elena and Yuffie were winning all their money. The only guy that didn't cheated out of his money was Cloud, because Tifa would drag him away from the game, much to the amusement of the others.
However, at the moment, it was still early in the night, and everyone was awake-and sober- eating cheerfully around the table. They all chatted through the meal, mainly about things that had happened in the past year.
"I can't believe we're already on our second wall..." Reeve said through a mouthful of steak.
A little smirk appeared on Reno's face and everyone turned towards him, half-amused half-exasperated; they knew that look on his face too well- he was about to crack some sort of joke.
"We should have known that wall couldn't keep the enemy out..." Reno said, a devious little grin appearing on his face. "After all...it couldn't even keep Cloud and Tifa in!"
There was a loud burst of laughter around the table.
"Neither could this wall..." Cloud whispered into Tifa's ear.
Cloud and Tifa began laughing too, to the confusion of the others. But they just shrugged and continued with their meals. They fell into one of those comfortable silences that never lasted long- as long as Reno was around anyways. After barely a minute of silence, another smirk was already creeping up on his face.
"So Marlene..." he said in a falsely innocent voice. "Those are some pretty cool glasses you've got there."
Everyone turned towards the little girl, and focused on the newest addition to her wardrobe. Even though the sun had set long ago, she was sporting a pair of dark sunglasses that covered half her face. Under his own glasses, Rude glared at Reno. Everyone choked back laughter.
"Thanks Reno!" Marlene said happily. "They're just like Rude's aren't they?"
Reno looked over the pink plastic frames and nodded solemnly.
"Exactly like Rude's." he told her.
Marlene gave him a huge grin and returned to her dinner. There was a collective chuckle and Rude fell into a some-what sulky silence.
"Now, now Rude..." Elena said, patting his arm and holding back a smile. "Hasn't anyone ever told you that imitation is the highest form of flattery?"
Rude crossed his arms grouchily.
"Thought I told you not to wear those things inside..." Barret mumbled half-heartedly under his breath to Marlene.
She ignored him cheerfully. Barret gave Tifa a slightly pleading look, but Tifa just shook her head. She knew better than to try and take Marlene's sunglasses away.
They finished thier meals with light-hearted talking, every now and them shooting an amused look at the sulky Rude and the Marlene, who was smiling adoringly at him. They all sat back when they were done eating, patting their stomachs in an extremely satisfied way. Reno, Rude, Barret, and Reeve had already ordered drinks. Yuffie, with Marlene tightly clutching her hand, had already migrated over to Elena's side of the table. Tifa was up in the bathroom, but she returned quickly and wrapped her arms around Cloud from behind. He turned his head slightly to give her a lingering kiss. Tifa smiled and settled down on his lap, nestling her head sleepily into his shoulder.
"Wanna go to bed early tonight?" she asked him, yawning.
Cloud looped his arms around her waist and laughed.
"Tifa...we slept in all day!" he said, chuckling softly. "Almost all day anyways..."
Tifa giggled but kept her head down on his shoulder. Cloud felt his amusement fade as he noticed that she was falling asleep already. He stroked her bangs back as an escuse to feel her forehead. No fever...he thought, relieved.
"Alright Tifa..." he said, unable to keep the anxiety out of his voice. "Let's go to bed..."
Tifa seemed to notice his concern, and lifted her head up.
"Actually Cloud, I'm not that tired..." she told him, standing up. "We don't have to go to bed yet."
Cloud stood up quickly, taking her hand.
"No Tifa, it's okay. I'm kind of tired too...I think we should turn in early." he told her, forcing the worry out of his voice.
Tifa gave him a hesistant smile and took his hand.
"You know Cloud..." she told him as they left the inn. "You don't have to worry so much...I'm better now, the doctor said so."
He slipped his arms around her shoulder and squeezed gently.
"I know Tifa..." he said softly.
But deep inside, he couldn't shake the doubt. Am I just being paranoid? he wondered as they entered their home. He watched Tifa long after she fell asleep. Cloud slowly ran his fingers over her peaceful face. I think that night will haunt me forever...he thought forlornly, before drifting off into an uneasy sleep.