Chapter Twelve

Cloud didn't know why he had taken all his anger out on Tifa. She hadn't deserved that. He sighed, what was he supposed to do now? He knew he should apologize to her, but he had to go look for her and Tifa could be anywhere. It doesn't matter, he decided and started towards the door.

As he touched the knob on the door to open it, a sudden jolt passed through his body. Cloud gasped for air as he felt his head sear with pain. For a few seconds, his vision blurred and he hunched over, feeling very sick. Then it passed. Cloud straightened up, breathing shallowly, wondering what had happened. Is it really the Mako and JENOVA cells affecting me? Cloud wondered and he shook his head.

He opened the door and stepped outside. He headed towards the Cafeteria, deciding to check there first. The pain in his head hadn't faded, but it had dulled. That was the only good thing about the headache, one second, it hurt like hell, and then it dulled. Cloud blinked, feeling his head. It was hot, very hot. He tried to ignore it as he walked into the Cafeteria.

He looked around but he didn't see Tifa anywhere. Cloud sighed and walked out, this place was too big. Next he went to the Quad. Cloud had skipped that because he hadn't been in the Quad yet, but he guessed Tifa might be down there. He entered it and found that it was full of planets and grass. It looked more like a small park than anything. He headed down the steps, looking for Tifa.

When he reached the end of the Quad, Tifa wasn't there either. Cloud shook his head, his mind racing. Where could Tifa be? His head hurt and he was feeling weak. Cloud sighed and hurried out of the Quad and headed towards the Dorms.

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Tifa sighed, hanging over a rail. Rinoa had taken her to a secret meeting spot for people who stayed up past curfew. "So what happened?" Rinoa asked her.

Tifa looked up at Rinoa and responded, "He got mad when I told him that the nurse had taken a blood sample."

"That's not so bad, why would he get mad over that?" Rinoa asked, confused for a moment.

Tifa blinked. Why would Cloud had gotten mad if someone had taken a blood sample from him? Then a thought entered her mind, "Well…for one I don't think he wanted to know what was wrong with him. And another…well a few years ago, a scientist named Hojo worked for Rufus ShinRa. Hojo had created Sephiroth and Cloud along with his best friend, Zack, had been caught by Hojo and Hojo turned Cloud in a Sephiroth clone. I know Cloud doesn't like to think about it. Someone we all cared for died because of what Hojo had created. Cloud had been manipulated by Sephiroth and had given Sephiroth the Black Materia…"

"What's a Black Materia?" Rinoa interjected.

"It a summon Materia that is evil .Sephiroth used it to summon the Meteor that destroyed Midgar. It would have destroyed the Planet if Aeris hadn't tried to stop him. She called upon Holy. Holy is the summon from the White Materia. Well she was a Cetra so she was the only one who could stop Sephiroth because she was the last living one. And Sephiroth stabbed her in the back…" Tifa sighed as she spoke. She didn't like to talk about it either, no one did.

"What about Cloud's best friend? What happened to him?' Rinoa asked suddenly.

Tifa smiled weakly, "He was my best friend too. He died. Zack was his name, he was a first class SOLDIER. He helped us and fought Sephiroth, trying to kill him, but he failed because he was thrown into a Mako pod. Cloud killed Sephiroth. After that, Zack and Cloud were taken by Hojo, just like I said."

"Oh…" Rinoa muttered quietly, not sure what to say. "I'm sorry,"

"No, no, it's alright. Anyway, back to what we were talking about. Cloud told me something that I hadn't expected. He told me that he was losing his memory. I don't know how that is happening, or why."

"Then he said he may forget about me…"Tifa muttered quietly.

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Squall looked down at Yuffie with annoyance. Now she wouldn't leave him alone. Finally he growled, "Yuffie, go away now or I will go find Ivrine!"

Yuffie looked up at Squall with horror and nodded, "Um…okay!" she darted off at once.

Squall sighed. Why did these people have to be such a bother? He was still ticked from everything that had happened in the last three days. Not one of the newcomers understood a thing about this world. Seifer was still missing and now Fuujin and Raijin were gone. Squall wasn't complaining.

Everything could be much worse, and he feared that it might just come to that. Squall sighed and walked away from where he was standing. Suddenly he noticed Cloud walking around, as if looking for someone. Squall walked over to Cloud, who looked rather miserable. "You alright?" Squall asked.

Cloud looked at him and sighed, shaking his head. "No, have you seen Tifa anywhere?" Cloud even sounded miserable.

Squall shook his head, "No, I've been trying to get Ivrine away from Yuffie and Yuffie away from me all day."

"Oh, well, will you tell me if you see Tifa?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah," Squall replied and then walked on. Cloud was too gloomy to talk too. Something must be up. Then again, he might have found out about the blood tests. Squall wouldn't have been too happy if someone had taken a blood sample of his blood.

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Vincent was now confined to his own little dorm. He was sitting on his bed, glaring at the wall. Why he had tried to shoot Reno in the back of the head, he would never know…Actually it might have had something to do with wanting to just get out of this place. He wanted to go back to the Planet. Vincent fingered his gun subconsciously as he stood up.

He wasn't really confined to his dorm, but he felt bored and he wanted to go see Lucrecia. Then there was the matter about Rufus ShinRa. He hadn't bothered to tell anyone about Rufus ShinRa because they hadn't seen him anywhere.

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"Reno! We are going to leave right now!" Elena snarled at Reno who was sitting down on a bench eating an ice cream. "We have stayed here long enough! We were supposed to get back to Tseng and Rude yesterday!"

Reno looked up from his chocolate ice ream and sighed, "Oh alright Elena!" he groaned and stood up, walking over to his companion. Elena grabbed his sleeve and began dragging him towards the Gates.

She ailed Tseng's number and waited for him to pick up.

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Tseng heard his phone ringing. He flipped it open and said, "Tseng here,"

"Hey Tseng, it's Elena. Sorry we're late. Reno here nearly got shot in the back of the head by Vincent." Elena's voice rung through the phone. She sounded angry.

"Vincent? He's here? Who else is here?" Tseng asked, glancing at Rufus and Rude. They had searched the town and found no one that they knew and Rufus was planning to go see General Caraway after Reno and Elena got back.

"Cloud, Tifa, and a few others, Barret, Red XIII, all those others except for Cid Highwind. He isn't here." Elena informed him.

"I see, well hurry back. Rufus is waiting." Tseng growled.

"Rufus? He's here?" Elena sounded panicked.

"Yes."

Suddenly Tseng heard Reno shouting, "Elena! Look out!"

He heard a scream and then gun shots. Tseng looked at his phone with confusion. Who was shooting and who had attacked Elena and Reno? "Hello?"

No answer.

"Hello? Elena, Reno?"

"Tseng, we have a problem. I'll call back later." Elena talked quickly. Tseng barley had time to ask why. He heard a dog barking and snarling, but then the phone hung up.

"What was that?" Rufus demanded, looking at Tseng confusion expression.

"I don't know…"

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Cloud had checked everywhere and hadn't found Tifa. Just as he was heading outside, he saw someone in the corner of his eye. He turned to look at them and saw that it was Tifa. She was walking towards him with a hesitant aura about her. Cloud walked towards her, "Tifa, I'm sorry…I didn't mean that." he apologized at once.

Tifa smiled at him, "That's okay, I understand…I think."

Cloud nodded. He was about to say something else when he heard a gun go off. Cloud spun towards the door, realizing where it was coming from. "Uh-oh," he muttered and glanced at Tifa. "I think we'd better go check it out."

Tifa nodded and they both rushed outside. They ran towards the gate and saw a dog growling at Elena, who had her gun raised at it. Reno was looking at a girl in pink and then back at a man who was holding a buster sword.

"You're dead…" Reno muttered, looking from both the girl and then the man.

Cloud knew the girl, but the man with the buster sword was a mystery to him. He drew his own buster sword. Reno was looking around and suddenly spotted Cloud and Tifa; along with Rinoa who was yelling, "Angelo! Heel!"

The dog backed off, but she was still growling at Elena. The man turned to look at Rinoa and saw Cloud and Tifa. He sheathed his buster sword, waving, "Hey Cloud and Tifa!"

"Cloud!" Aeris shouted, beaming at him.

Okay! I feel very generous today-despite the fact that my great-grandfather passed awaya nd his funeral was today-so I'm giving you this AND chapter Thriteen. Please review. I was kind to give you so many chapters when I had thought about not doing that and only giving you three instead of all this. Please review, I was told you don't ask because people won't review, well I'm asking because I like to know opinions whether they're bad or good. Also, I'm running out of ideas-fast. Help me out here! And for those who HAVE reviwed, THANK YOU!

-Riku54