It had been seven days sine Tifa had vanished and the storm had finally begun to slow. Sephiroth was on his final bed-day. Just like the six days before he just lay there with Yuffie talking.
"After spending a week in bed with you, I actually find you quite bearable" Sephiroth told her making her smile.
"I still want to take off your boxers" Yuffie informed Sephiroth for the millionth time, he had never gotten changed after they had stripped him of his wet clothes a week before.
"No" Sephiroth told her, Yuffie grinned.
"Come on, like you said you've been in bed with me for a week" Yuffie trailed off
"No" Sephiroth told her.
"I'll start shouting" she warned. Sephiroth merely prodded her in the ribs making her laugh. Yuffie settled down again and Sephiroth went back looking out of the window at the incredible amounts of snow. Sephiroth felt a flood of sorrow for Tifa's demise. Sephiroth moved lower in the covers so that he and Yuffie were at the same height. Sephiroth pulled the cover tighter so that he was more comfortable before falling asleep.
Elsewhere in the house Cloud was still shuffling about, thankfully he had gone to sleep once in the last few days and so he was not crazy, yet.
"Lucrecia, how much more of that stuff can you make?" Cloud asked Lucrecia as she came out of the dining room where she had been talking with Vincent and Barrett.
"About two glasses" Lucrecia said "But you are not going out there"
"I was actually hoping Sephiroth could defrost the garden so I could go out for a small walk, these four walls are boring me" Cloud told her.
"I will go ask him" Lucrecia asked "But don't get your hopes up"
Sephiroth looked over as his mother entered the room
"You're done" Lucrecia said "And Cloud already has a request"
"What is it?" Sephiroth asked sitting up
"He would like you to defrost the garden so he can go for a walk" Lucrecia giggled "You're a human de-froster" Sephiroth squinted
"I will be down in a minute" Sephiroth informed her. Lucrecia nodded and left the room. Sephiroth quickly retrieved his dry clothes and put them on before leaving the room. He found Cloud sat by the back door, legs crossed and looking at the floor.
Sephiroth and Cloud had not spoken at all in a week and so Sephiroth said nothing. He went over to the door and pushed it but it was frozen shut. Sephiroth kept his palms in place and began to warm up the wood. The two of them remained in silence until Sephiroth shoved the door open.
"Thanks" Cloud mumbled and shuffled out into the garden.
"It was nothing" Sephiroth replied, trying to start a conversation with Cloud but Cloud ignored him and began to walk towards the bottom of the garden. Sephiroth watched Cloud walk down the garden for a few seconds until he heard Yuffie come running down the stairs.
"You're up!" she exclaimed
"No I'm not" Sephiroth answered. Yuffie glared at him before taking his hand and dragging him into the garden.
"Wait!" Sephiroth quickly said. He ran back into the manor and grabbed a woollen version of his coat, his thick winter coat, before walking out into the snow.
Cloud walked down to the bottom of the garden, near to the cliff face which was warm to the touch because of the Mako being pumped through it. Cloud sat with his back to the cliff and looked up at the snow-covered manor. He wished Tifa could have been there with him; she would have loved to see the manor the way it looked now. Silently he put his hand into his pocket and removed his phone, again he opened it and its face glowed a light blue. It was at maximum battery, but that was not what was important to Cloud. He sighed when he saw that he still had no signal. Something about the storm was affecting everything around them, including telephones. Cloud was about to snap it shut when a single bar appeared. Cloud quickly held the phone up and another two bars appeared. Getting to his feet quickly Cloud flicked through his phonebook until he found Tifa's number. Cloud pressed the call button and put the phone against his ear. Cloud's heart-rate rocketed when it began to ring. Suddenly it was cut off by a beeping, Cloud looked at his phone; he had just ran out of signal. Cloud swore and snapped his phone shut angrily.
Sephiroth and Yuffie walked over a bench that was situated under a large willow tree that had survived Tifa's purge of the garden. Sephiroth quickly wiped the bench down with heat before they sat down. Yuffie settled in his arms with her head against his chest. Sephiroth looked up at the snow-covered branches; his enhanced vision could pick up the perfect shape of the snowflake if he concentrated hard enough. Yuffie shifted slightly so that she could wrap herself in his coat too. The two of them watched Cloud who was pacing at the bottom of the garden holding his phone. A great cracking noise drew their attention to Cloud when the ground beneath Cloud's feet disappeared.
Sephiroth jumped to his feet, startling Yuffie, and sprinted down to the hole. Sephiroth skidded onto his knees as he reached the hole. There seemed to be a never ending cavern beneath the garden. Cloud had hit a ledge and was now dangling perilously over the pit. Sephiroth dropped into the hole and began to edge his way across the ledge so that he could reach Cloud. His visibility was near enough nothing, the only light came from the hole in the ceiling.
"How brilliant, stuck in a hole" he heard Cloud mutter. Yuffie, Vincent and Lucrecia then appeared at the entrance to the hole
"Cloud, Sephiroth are you alright?" Yuffie called
"Not just yet" Sephiroth replied as he edged even closer to Cloud. Sephiroth tried reaching out but he was still too far. The ledge shook dangerously
"You should go back" Cloud told Sephiroth "We don't know how deep this thing is, we don't need both of us dying"
"They would probably think I pushed you off to get rid of you" Sephiroth told him. Cloud laughed despite hanging perilously.
"True" Cloud admitted. Sephiroth reached out and grabbed Cloud's hand, which was exactly when the ledge gave way.