When Cloud awoke he found Nanaki and Sephiroth in the dining room talking about Aeris.
"What was she like?" Sephiroth asked
"She was the spirit of the group, so when she…died" Nanaki said
"She did not die" said Sephiroth "I killed her"
"Yes" said Nanaki "But after that I thought the group would lose its drive but instead it seemed to give us more drive"
"So when I…killed Aeris, I gave you more drive to kill me?" Sephiroth asked
"Yes" said Nanaki. Sephiroth looked up and sensed Cloud standing behind the door
"You can come in, Cloud" said Sephiroth "I would have told you about this, no need to eavesdrop" Cloud stepped into the room
"Sorry" said Cloud
"Its okay" said Sephiroth "Was what Nanaki said accurate?"
"Yeah" said Cloud "It did make us want to kill you more"
"What effect I have on people" said Sephiroth sitting back in his chair.
"Breakfast?" Cloud asked. Sephiroth and Nanaki were going to say 'yes' but were interrupted by a knock on the door. Sephiroth subconsciously noted that the knock was hard and hurried; someone was nervous about knocking. This information surprised Sephiroth and the fact that he had noted it so quickly.
"Something unexpected?" Nanaki asked noticing the look on Sephiroth's usually composed face.
"Yes" said Sephiroth "I noticed that the person at the door was nervous, only by their knock"
"You are a genius" said Nanaki.
Cloud pulled open the door swiftly and was startled to see Tifa stood there. When he had opened it looked to him that she was thinking of leaving.
"Hi" she said waving embarrassedly
"Hello" said Cloud "Would you like to come in?"
"No" said Tifa quickly "Can we speak out here?" Cloud nodded and stepped out of the manor and closed the door behind him. The two of them sat on the wet grass together.
"Sephiroth came around earlier" said Tifa. Cloud raised his eyebrows
"Did he? He never said" said Cloud.
"He came to apologise for Aeris" said Tifa "And he said you missed me" she said after a few seconds of pause. Cloud lowered his head to try and conceal a smile
"He was telling the truth, wasn't he?" Tifa said smiling herself.
"Yes" said Cloud "He's a good judge of character"
"Yes he is" said Tifa "he has a way with words" she said looking at the front doors.
"Is that what you came over for?" Cloud asked "To tell me that Sephiroth had left the house"
"No" she said pushing him over "I came to tell you that…I missed you too" Cloud straightened up. The two of them sat in an awkward silence; neither knew what to say now.
"Do you want to come in for some breakfast?" Cloud asked.
"I would love to" said Tifa jumping to her feet
"Sephiroth's a good cook" said Cloud getting to his feet and opening the door into the mansion. The door collided with someone who had been listening; Sephiroth.
"Were you listening?" Cloud asked. Sephiroth grinned playfully; something Tifa had never seen.
"No" he said walking off towards the kitchen. Cloud ran after him and tried to slap him playfully across the back of the head but Sephiroth ran and slammed the kitchen door shut. Tifa laughed out loud; the two of them were like young kids, brothers even.
An hour later Sephiroth emerged from the kitchen with three large plates of food. Sephiroth had tried persuading Nanaki to have one too but Nanaki remained adamant in saying he would hunt for his food.
"I could hide it" Sephiroth had suggested but Nanaki had then tried to bite him.
The three of them, plus Nanaki who was watching, sat down to their breakfasts.
"This is gorgeous" said Tifa who had just tucked into the sausages.
"Thank you" said Sephiroth.
"Remember when you figured out you could cook?" Cloud asked "You made a massive feast just for us both" Sephiroth and Cloud laughed
"I did go a bit insane with the cooking" said Sephiroth. Tifa and Nanaki laughed
"That would have been a great sight" said Tifa.
"How did you get from the Northern Boundary?" Sephiroth asked "It's been puzzling me since you got back"
"We got a lift from a private fisherman" said Tifa "How did you get back?"
"We bargained our way onto a ship that stopped in the bone village" said Cloud.
"Have you tried your magic since you have been back?" Nanaki asked Sephiroth.
"I haven't really thought about it" said Sephiroth
"Didn't it come back with your memories from the Masamune?" Cloud asked
"I only got the memories of what I did, not of how I did them" said Sephiroth
"So I could kick your ass?" Tifa asked the laughed with the others. Sephiroth nodded whilst laughing
"I bet you probably could" he said
"We should practice sometime" said Tifa "You've got quite a talent for magic"
"Where?" Sephiroth asked "I've heard from Cloud that I have quite a lot of firepower, we wouldn't want me to burn the village to the ground" An awkward silence fell upon the table.
"What?" Sephiroth asked looking from Cloud to Tifa.
"Nothing" said Cloud concentrating on his breakfast
"Doesn't this place have a garden?" Tifa asked Cloud, breaking the awkward silence. The blonde shrugged
"Never checked" he said
"We should go have a look after breakfast" said Sephiroth
"If it's overgrown we can practice your skills on the plants" said Tifa.
"Such fun, to check my magical gardening skills" said Sephiroth.
After breakfast Cloud was burdened with the dishes while Sephiroth and Tifa found the garden. It was, in fact, overgrown but Tifa found a good place for the two of them to stand. They had their backs to the mansion and were facing the cliff face which was eight hundred meters away from them, perfect for target practice.
"I don't really know how your magic works" said Tifa "It's a sort of feeling thing" the young woman held out her hand and a small tree burst into flames. Sephiroth shrugged and held out his hand and willed a small hedge to burst into flames.
Cloud yawned as he flicked bubbles into the air. Suddenly the entire mansion was shaken to its foundations. Cloud grabbed onto the pile of plates to stop them crashing to the floor. Tifa and Sephiroth came stumbling into the mansion's hall covered by dust and bits of singed foliage. Sephiroth was coughing and laughing at the same time leaning against the banister for support while Tifa had fallen onto her hands and knees grasping her sides for support, trying to cope with the waves of laughter that had consumed her. Sephiroth laughed out loud again and wiped his eyes on his sleeve.
"Going well?" Cloud asked trying not to burst into fits of laughter himself.
"I can't believe you just did that" Tifa said laughing
"What?" Cloud asked smiling. Tifa shook her head as she got back to her feet
"I can't tell you I'd just start myself off again" she said "Come on you, let's get a handle on that power" Cloud watched with a smile on his face as the two of them disappeared back into the garden. Cloud shook his head and walked back into the kitchen. Those two, they seem to be like kids thought Cloud.
Tifa and Sephiroth found their way back to the small patch of earth which now had a small blast zone around the area where a small bush had been before.
"Try and concentrate, use only small bits of energy" she said. Sephiroth tried; a leaf caught fire.
"Too little" said Tifa who walked over to him. Tifa took his hand in hers "Try and focus on my energy" she said "Close your eyes" Sephiroth did; he was aware of another power source. He felt a slight twitch in the energy and opened his eyes; a small tree was, again, on fire.
"Try that" she said. Sephiroth did; he closed his eyes and tried twitching his internal energy. He heard the spark then the roar of flame. When he opened his eyes a small tree was engulfed in furious flames.
"Good" said Tifa "You got it in one" Tifa pointed to a vacant birds next high in a tree "Do the nest, see if you can do it without blowing the tree to smithereens" Sephiroth kept his eyes focused on the nest and willed it to burst into flames; it did. White flames engulfed the nest without scorching the branches.
"Very good" said Tifa hugging Sephiroth who was still watching the nest.
"What else?" Sephiroth asked smiling. Tifa looked around; there was a pylon on the roof of the mansion.
"See if you can hit that with lightning" said Tifa
"But it's on the mansion" said Sephiroth "What if I miss?"
"You won't" said Tifa "I have faith in you" Sephiroth shrugged and concentrated on the pylon which stuck up high above the mansion. Suddenly Sephiroth came over defenceless.
"I don't feel so good" he admitted. Black clouds had begun to gather over Nibelheim. Tifa was stood watching the cloud gather. Thunder rumbled high above them. The young woman was unprepared for this type of event; Sephiroth's powers were spiralling beyond his control.
"Cloud!" she shouted. Suddenly Tifa heard a crashing behind her and whirled around to see something red shooting through the branches of the trees towards her; Vincent Valentine. Vincent crashed onto the earth next to his son.
"Sephiroth" said Vincent "Listen to me" he ordered. Sephiroth groaned slightly; he was very faint. Sephiroth nodded
"I can hear you" said Sephiroth "I don't feel well" The wind had picked up and the trees around them were being rattled violently.
"Concentrate" Vincent told him "You're doing this"
"I can't stop it, I've got no power" said Sephiroth
"You must have" said Vincent "You're powering this storm" Sephiroth looked up at the sky; Vincent could see the sky reflected in his sons eyes.
"Come on" said Vincent "Close your mind" Sephiroth closed his eyes and tried concentrating. A bolt of lightning hit the pylon blowing it to smithereens.
"Well you hit the pylon" said Tifa sarcastically. Sephiroth laughed despite his light-headedness.
"Come on" said Vincent "Please concentrate" Vincent thought about it "Concentrate on my voice Sephiroth, focus on it"
"Just don't aim for it" joked Tifa who was knelt next to Sephiroth. Sephiroth felt happier; he wanted to laugh. Slowly the clouds began to part and a brilliant blue sky was visible above them. Slowly the black clouds transformed back into white. Vincent straightened up
"Congratulations" said Vincent helping Sephiroth to his feet.
"Were you watching me all this time?" Sephiroth asked
"When I heard the explosion I guessed you were practicing your magic" said Vincent.
"And you didn't kill your father" said Tifa "Big bonus" Vincent looked up at the sky
"I better be off" he said and leapt into the trees and, seconds later, was gone.
"Come on" said Tifa putting her arm around Sephiroth's waist; he still felt ill. Tifa lead him up to his room where he collapsed onto the bed and fell into a deep sleep. Tifa couldn't help smiling as she watched him sleep. There was a small red chair at the bottom of his bed; Tifa sat in it and watched Sephiroth slumber. There was something naïve about the new Sephiroth, something with a childish innocence. Tifa had enjoyed the very short time she had spent helping Sephiroth
Is this what Cloud felt when he first decided to help him? Or is it something else? Tifa thought as she watched the well-built male who was sound asleep. There was something angelic about him also; Tifa guessed it was his white hair but also Tifa felt the air of ambiguity that surrounded him; the thought that maybe, one day, he could snap again and go down that fateful path. Tifa started when Cloud came into the room with a cup of tea for her.
"How is he?" Cloud asked
"He used quite a lot of power; he lost his self-control" said Tifa "Is it okay if I carry on helping him?"
"Of course" said Cloud "I can't do it by myself"
"Thank you" said Tifa taking the cup of tea. Cloud watched Tifa as she sat back in the chair sipping her tea and watching Sephiroth sleep. Quietly, Cloud walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.
"I heard Tifa say she wanted to help him" said Nanaki who was sat on the floor in the hallway looking up at the stained glass windows.
"Yes" said Cloud "Do you think I made the right decision?"
"I don't know" said Nanaki "I think a female influence will do him some good"
"Depends who it is" said Cloud meaning Yuffie
"Yes" said Nanaki who chuckled "We don't want Sephiroth becoming a kleptomaniac" Cloud walked out of the mansion and decided to get some air by walking up Mount Nibel.