"Rumble"
A fork in the road. The path to the right seems to lead back towards the City, but we've discovered the Ancients were fond of long, winding roads and switchbacks. The path to the left is a relatively steep hill, but it heads North and away from the City. Cloud glances between the two paths, then turns to Tifa and I. "I'll be back in a few minutes," he says, then jogs off down the right hand path. A sharp turn takes him out of sight, but Tifa keeps staring after him.
Humans are rather ridiculous. Those two have been-- flirting, I suppose-- ever since I joined the group, and they still haven't figured each other out. With my people, if there are two who like each other, they simply tell each other and eliminate all this confusion and longing glances.
Tifa sighs and continues staring down the path. I paw at her arm.
"He said he'll be back soon, and I think Cloud can handle anything that might come along." Hopefully he's also smart enough to run away if he can't, I silently add, then continue out loud: "Why don't you sit down?"
I'm worried about her. She's been acting very strangely since Aeris died... that's to be expected, to some extent, but she hasn't been eating at all or sleeping more than an hour a night. And though she'd never admit it to anyone, she hates letting Cloud out of her sight for longer than a minute or two.
Tifa doesn't seem to hear me at first, but then she sighs and sits down on a nearby rock. She absently scratches behind my ears, still looking back the way Cloud went. I sit quietly at her feet, figuring there's little chance of conversation with her so distracted. About a quarter of an hour passes in silence, then we both look up as the sound of boots crunching on gravel reaches our ears. Cloud walks into view, trying to dust himself off. His clothes are covered with a thin layer of white dust, and his arms and hands are scraped.
"Hopefully that isn't the way, because the road collapsed just past that turn. It took me a while to climb out." He shakes his head, and a small cloud of white dust rises up from his hair. I'd start laughing if I didn't think doing so would earn me a thrashing with the flat of Cloud's sword.
"We'll have to go that way," Cloud continues, nodding at the left-hand path. He brushes at his clothes again, rolls his eyes in disgust, and heads off. Tifa stands and quickly falls in step with him, while I trail along behind.
"You all right?" Cloud asks Tifa quietly. She nods. I can tell Cloud doesn't believe her, but he doesn't ask her anything more about it. Another thing about humans-- they're so non-confrontational! If it were a member of my clan acting like this, I would talk to her until she told me what was wrong. It would be expected from me, as a friend. Humans usually just leave each other alone when they're upset. No wonder they're so confused about each other all the time--
A sickle-like barb whizzes over my head and catches Cloud in the back. I spin around to see two flying creatures overhead, accompanied by a large wolf pacing towards us.
Wonderful. An ambush.
The wolf lunges for Tifa, who dodges out of the way. The wolf lashes out as it flies past, and I see blood fountain from a large gash on Tifa's leg. Another sickle flies towards Cloud, who hits it away with his sword and starts towards Tifa. The wolf skids to a stop and prepares for another charge. I cut him off, slashing at his side and face with my claws.
"Red, look out!" Tifa shouts, and I feel my hair stand on end. I dive to the side as a lightning bolt crashes down on the wolf, leaving it a sizzling mound of flesh. Two thumps behind me tell me the flying creatures got the same treatment. Cloud lowers his hands from the magical attack and kneels by Tifa.
"I'm fine, Cloud, it's just a cut--"
"The hell it is." Cloud ignores Tifa's protests that she's fine and digs some bandages and a potion out of his pack. He glances over at me. "Red, go make sure they don't have friends lurking around." I nod and head back the way we came, peering under the sparse growth on either side of the path. I can hear Tifa arguing with Cloud-- or rather, arguing at him, since Cloud isn't responding to her.
I wander off out of hearing range and give them about ten minutes alone, then head back. I can't help but smile a bit at the scene that greets me: Cloud is sitting on a rock with his arms folded, glaring at the ground while Tifa cleans the cut on his back.
"If you say one word about how you're fine after you completely ignored me, I swear I will shove this potion down your throat!" Tifa threatens. Cloud sighs, then notices me. His glare intensifies as he notices my amused expression. I shake my head and pad over to Tifa. "There wasn't anything back that way," I report, sitting. Tifa nods absently, most of her attention still focused on Cloud. "You didn't get hurt, did you Red?" Tifa asks after stowing the empty potion bottle. I shake my head. "I'm perfectly fine, I swear," I reply quickly. Cloud nods, standing. "We'd better keep going. I want to be as far away from the City as possible by nightfall." His eyes flicker back at the road behind us, and for a second, he looks terrified. It's so brief, I think I might have imagined it, until I look at Tifa. From the worried expression on her face, I know she saw it too. Cloud starts walking down the road again, and Tifa and I follow.