Hello again!

Thank you so much for reading this, my first chapter to this story. I would just like to say that I forgot the legal stuff when I posted my prologue (stupid me) so here is the disclaimer: I don't own, nor claim to own any character or aspect of Squaresoft's exceptional RPG Final Fantasy VII. This is merely a bad representation of a sequel from me – Jessie Holmes. So don't sue please. Pretty please?

Well enough notes already, back to the story!

When Heart Rules Over Mind

Solana Mar

"I'll miss you..."

Tifa mouthed sub-consciously, as she dreamt herself speaking the words. She huddled in a tight ball as she slept, clutching her pillow that would become the form of him in her dreams. The scene of that day ten months ago was re-lived in her mind on an irregular nightly basis. Some nights she would drift into peaceful slumber, cradled by the sound of the waves outside her upstairs apartment, and others, she was thrust back there. To experience the same heart wrenching sorrow over, and over again.

Eventually, Tifa slowly opened her eyes.

Her eyelashes were sticky with salty gatherings of tears that almost made the simple task of blinking her eyelids open, painful. She hated waking up this way, her head layed on a cold, wet pillow. To live through such an ordeal once was enough, but to re-live it over and over again only to wake up remembering every detail of the final words they had said to each other, How Cloud held her in his arms one last time before walking out of her life, was more than Tifa could stand, and was beginning to take its tole on her. She had begun to have these nightly recalls ever since she had heard the news.

Cloud Strife had disappeared.

Bringing a hand up to rub her eyes clean, she found her face was covered in dried streams of tears – again. She almost felt like screaming. Why? Why this again? Why wasn't she allowed the simple pleasure of sleeping in peace? It was hard enough getting through each day let alone having to battle with the night as well. As she eventually hauled herself out of bed, she inwardly cursed herself for being weak enough to succumb to the dreams.

Sitting on the edge of her bed, she rubbed her eyed roughly with her knuckles leaving them momentarily sore. She didn't particularly care, as long as she got rid of the sticky residue left in the corners. Blinking hard, the pain gently resided and she cast her attention to the remote half buried under her pillow. She picked it up and hastily held it at arms length, facing the television, and pressed down hard on the power button.

When the television blared into action she silently prayed,

This time...this time something will show up...

Ever since the news of the AVALANCHE members' involvement in the destruction of Sephiroth, media coverage on all of them was intense. For the first month it seemed like the whole worlds media had sprung on them, never ceasing to question them about 'that final battle'. Their homes were soon discovered through what must have only been common word of mouth, and they were forced to keep inside until the reporters got the picture to leave them alone in peace.

All except Cloud.

The news had occasionally reported a sighting of the famous blonde haired warrior, but within weeks they were announced to be nothing more than false perceptions. After a silent period, with nothing turning up from the various media scouts positioned in every town around the world, Cloud Strife was officially declared missing.

The news hit Tifa hard. It was to be the hardest test to her strength of will that she had ever had to overcome. She had gotten through it though – if barely. That morning, over four months ago when the news had been announced, was burned into her mind.

It was the day before her birthday and so she was in high spirits. Until that was, she turned on the television that morning. The people of Costa Del Sol had prepared a very extravagant birthday party for their famous resident, at the world renowned Oselemar Hall – a beautifully decorative hall that boasted some of the most spectacular architecture ever used on a building of that size. Preparations for the event had been planned for over two months, and almost every member of the resort had been involved in some way, whether it was the catering (which featured delicacies from all over the world), the decorations, costume work, or anything in a whole manner of things.

But their guest never showed.

While almost every other member of Costa Del Sol was celebrating, the one person who should have been at the centre of it all, was huddled in her locked bedroom crying all alone...

"He's gone...He's really gone..." She kept telling herself over and over. "He must be...he can't just disappear. He wouldn't, not when he knows he has friends who care so much about him. He would have called months ago, he knows everyone has their PHS', even if he didn't want to talk to me, he would have let someone know he was ok and not to worry. Surely if he was alive somewhere, he would have. And his PHS hasn't responded ever since I first tried contacting him months ago...He really isn't anywhere to be found, and he couldn't just disappear...he...he must be...Dead." She remained in this state for some time. The more time she spent with herself, the more she convinced herself that Cloud was gone forever, defying all of her personal optimistic beliefs she had always had throughout her life. Luckily, her local friends became so concerned that she hadn't come out of her room after a week that they contacted the person they knew could do something – Barrett Wallace.

"Come on Teef." Barrett pleaded, leaning on her bedroom door.

"You gotta come out girl. Everyone's worried, you gotta lot of friends here ya know that?" He listened closely, his head pressed against the door. He could hear the faint sounds of Tifa's sobbing and his heart panged for his long-term friend.

"Please Tifa, open the door..." Time passed like this with Barrett trying to persuade a very reluctant Tifa out of her room. After half an hour, Barrett was vastly running out of ideas and tried one last shot.

"Look, Teef, you gotta help me out here. I'm stood looking like a loony talkin' to a door!" With a frustrated sigh he shifted his weight onto the door and leaned against it. "What if Cloud was stood outside here huh? Would you want him to stand here and listen to ya cry? Please trust me Teef, talk to me. If ya keep cryin' like this, I'm gonna start blubberin', and after that overgrown marshmallow suit you made me wear on the cargo ship, I'll have no goddamn pride left!" He added, with his last effort.

Suddenly, he heard her giggling and sighed hugely in relief. A few moments later, he heard the sound of her bed creak and her soft footsteps from the other side. The latch clicked and her door slowly opened. There, stood in the doorway was a very worn looking Tifa, her eyes red raw and puffy and her clothes muffled from being curled up in bed for days on end.

She was greeted by the warm smiling face of her old friend and she had never been happier to see him. Without another second, she flung herself onto Barrett and clutched him tightly. Barrett surrounded her with his huge strong arms and chuckled in disbelief that she had finally come out. "Hey, Teef. You finally learnt how to open your door then huh?" He said light-heartedly, but Tifa didn't acknowledge his words. Her body wracked as she sobbed into his shoulder. "He's dead Barrett...Cloud...he's..." She couldn't bring herself to say anymore, and burst into tears finding it impossible to speak.

Barrett nearly choked on his breath.

"What?!" He declared, prying her off of him to hold her at arms length. "You talking about Spike? Jus lemme clear this up Teef, you're talking about Cloud? The guy who practically ripped Sephiroth's ass into bits twice over?" He demanded. His expression was a mixture of confusion and total shock. Tifa just stood and sobbed weakly, her head lowered. Her arms hung lifelessly by her sides and Barrett feared if he let go of her that she would just collapse on the ground. But he waited patiently until she steadied herself and eventually spoke. Her voice was barely a whisper and Barrett had to bend his head down to hear her.

"I...I don't know...it's just, I haven't heard...not one thing...and...the people on the TV said he..." She trailed off, her eyes beginning to brim with fresh tears in her swollen eyes.

Barrett felt that if he didn't knock some sense into her soon she would wear herself into the ground. He wasn't looking at Tifa Lockheart anymore. This was only a broken woman in her place.

Cautiously, he placed a large but gentle hand on her chin and slowly lifted her head up to face him. "This ain't the Tifa I know." He said, brushing away the fresh salty streaks from her sore cheeks. "Ya mean to tell me, you believe some up-his-ass news reporter over your own head? Come on Tifa, this is dumb! You know Spike wouldn't get his scrawny ass into hot water easily. Heck, he's the luckiest guy on this goddamn rock. He's even got outta havin' Sephiroth's fancy stick shoved through his-"Tifa flinched. Barrett cursed himself for bringing up the issue of Cloud being harmed. Think you overgrown dumbass! he warned himself.

"Look, I ain't no good at this stuff but all I'm tryin' to say is that Cloud ain't no Reeve. He knows how to watch his back. And though he might be a loony, he ain't stupid either, as much as I hate to compliment the guy." At that Tifa relaxed and looked at Barrett intently, with sunken eyes. Barrett felt pressured to continue now he had her attention, and stuttered.

"So uh, yeah. That's the point; Spike's a smart guy. Look, you happy now? You made me say it goddamn twice!" Then Barrett's eyes almost popped out of his head –

Tifa smiled.

After Barrett's initial reassurances, Tifa realised how naive and stupid she had acted. She felt ashamed of acting so childish and dramatically, despite Barrett claiming she was only human after all and should be allowed time off from being 'so damned optimistic all the time' as he put it. Her old friend had stayed with her for a week in her apartment, and listened to her worries and fears intently, which was a big feat for Barrett, as she knew he wasn't the best listener in the world. She respected him for sticking with her more than he could ever know. He had constantly advised her on keeping her head high and getting on with her life, so that when, when Cloud got back, he would have something to be proud of her for, rather than meeting her in the sorry state she was formerly.

And that was what drove her.

Her belief that he would eventually return was the initial driving force for getting up and carrying on each day. If she got through each day successfully, she would be one step closer to reaching Cloud some day, and if he came back, she believed he would now have something to come back to – Solana Mar - or 'sunshine sea'. Tifa had named her bar after the first night she had ever walked onto the beach alone, after news on the defeat of Sephiroth had subsided; she stood in the exact spot where the previously derelict bar had stood. She remembered watching the sunset, the glistening sunlight dancing on the surface of the beautiful sea and had for the first time in a long while felt truly at home and happy in herself, which was quite a feat considering how the blow of Cloud's departure had hit her hard two months prior to her arrival in the resort.

She had been advised to move here for a long overdue vacation by her AVALANCHE friends. They had all been there for her after Cloud left, and all of them – especially Vincent surprisingly – had offered her advice and support along with the friendly guiding hand she had needed. She had agreed after much persuasion to situate here if only for a short break. But she hadn't left since. Though it was greatly to do with how beautiful and homely the resort seemed to her, it was also in the back of her mind that Cloud's villa was here. The one place she thought Cloud would return to. Someday.

Tifa had renovated her bar with help of the local people over a five-month period, and refurbished the upstairs into a homely one-bedroom apartment for herself. Business was never scarce. Ever since her grand opening, on the 21st of May, Solana Mar had been packed with customers ranging from tourists in the height of the holiday season, and occasional journalists, to local people in the quieter months and of course her AVALANCHE friends.

Tifa prided her bar for it's unique qualities that she had given it. She had become a huge fan of the famous Costan artist Federico Gustovar, and the interior of her bar was themed with his work. Gustovar's various pieces were mounted on the walls of her coastline bar. The painting of the young mermaid entitled oblandir jinete was mounted on the right wall above the cushioned wall edge seating, a piece filled with original sea creatures in an oceanic background, Mar Criatura, hung on the left wall near the public restroom doors, and finally the merfolk couple mounted on the entrance wall between the doors and the front window named Amante Mar completed the artwork display. The centrepiece would have been The Sea Urchin (or Mar Pilluelo as Gustovar named it) but she had yet to get her hands on it, as it was a rare painting. Instead, Tifa had requested replicas of the painting to be mounted either side of the bar's name that was situated in beautiful calligraphy above the entrance double doors.

The bar was a dream come true for Tifa, who had thought years ago that the small grubby bar in Midgar had been a palace of her achievement.

Tifa switched the TV off and chucked the remote on her bed so hard it bounced off onto the peach carpeted floor. "Nothing!" She shouted referring to the fact that the news held no headline news other than the fact that a local restaurateur had been recently labelled as bankrupt.

Standing at the foot of her bed now, Tifa stretched her aching muscles and yawned. She soon began to notice how itchy the dried water streaks on her cheeks were becoming and made her way to her adjoining bathroom in need of refreshing.

Once she stepped over the cold white tiled floor to the sink she lifted her head to look at the bathroom cabinet mirror. She frowned at her grubby appearance and hastily turned the taps on, grabbing the soap. After a few minutes harsh face scrubbing, Tifa rinsed her skin and reached for a towel, smothering her face with it.

Suddenly there was a loud bang coming from downstairs that caused Tifa to jump and drop her face towel. "What the -?" She began and was welcomed with another series of bangs. Angry, she made her way back into her bedroom and walked out the door into the brightly sunlit lounge area. Now facing the kitchen area across the lounge, she turned left and approached her apartment door. She unlocked the lock and latch and made her way down the mint green carpet stairs lit by windows running down the left hand side, and down to the hallway.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

"Ok ok! Give me a second, sheesh..." She mumbled irritated as she walked through one of the ground floor hallway doors and stepped onto the cold tiled floor of the bars kitchen. She walked through the swinging doors that led to the large public bar area, which was a beautifully sunshine filled room (courtesy of the huge windows), at this early hour.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

"Alright! All right! I'm here already! Just wait a second will you?!" She cried rushing to the front doors and as she fumbled with the many latches she heard the sound of two familiar muffled voices talking on the other side. She rolled her eyes and wondered what are they doing here so early?

As the last latch was freed, she took a peak through her peephole to make sure it was whom she thought. She was right. The tallest was a man of about twenty-one years, a true Costan in appearance judging by his short floppy sandy coloured hair and young, handsome features. The woman standing beside him was of a younger age, barely an adult of eighteen years. Her most striking feature was her beautiful raven hair that flowed in light curls to the small of her back. Like her brother beside her, she was blessed with shimmering light brown sun-kissed skin.

Then Tifa finally opened the door, allowing sunlight to flood in from the shoreline that glistened behind the man and woman standing in the doorway.

"About time--WOAH!" The man stated, gawping at Tifa. She was a sight. She was barefoot, dressed in crumpled bed clothes that consisted of navy fitted shorts and a small white t-shirt that looked like it had never been ironed in it's life. Her hair, un-braided, hung in a tangled mass that stuck up on one side of her head where she had slept on it. Her face mirrored how tired she felt.

"Well don't you look a fright?! Now I know why opening hours are after 8:00am, smart thinking on your part. We wouldn't want to scare the customers away." He said with a wink.

Tifa frowned.

"Good morning to you too Miguel, always nice to see you so early on a morning." Tifa added with a false sweet sounding voice thick with sarcasm. Miguel smirked back at her ready to reply with another smart comment before his sister stepped in between them with the brown grocery bag she was carrying and walked past Tifa. "Now listen you two, I don't want to have to put up with your bickering today." She began, placing the bag on the bar top and turning back to them. "It's a lovely day out there, and the sun isn't exactly going to stay there forever, so what do you say we make the most of our closing day and get the new stock sorted early enough to give ourselves an afternoon's rest?" She asked looking between them. Tifa only yawned and looked at the young woman blankly.

"What are you doing here so early?" Tifa asked seemingly ignoring all the woman had just said. This earned her a frown. But before she got a reply, Miguel burst his way past Tifa and walked inside with the crate he was carrying laden with bottles. "What are you doing sleeping in so late more like." He stated dropping the crate on the floor in front of the bar. "Shorty here –-"He said motioning to his sister. "Decided it would be best to stock-up much earlier on a Sunday from now on, so that we could have a nice longer break in the afternoon, which suits me." He looked at Tifa carefully with a smirk as he walked up to her. "Getting forgetful in our old age are we sleepy-head?"

Tifa narrowed her eyes at him. She didn't want to admit it to Miguel, but she had completely forgotten about the two of them coming early today, if at all. Was it true? Was she finally beginning to lose it?

"Give it a rest Miguel, take a look at her would you? She looks like she's in need of a break. A long one at that. She works harder in one day than us two put together. Though that doesn't say much for the amount of work you do..." the young woman said with a coy smile as she tossed her loose hair over her shoulder.

"Take your own advice Shorty and give your own mouth a rest." He threatened, though harmlessly.

"Will you stop calling me that? It's S-O-F-I-A!" she stated emphasising every syllable. "Not Shorty! Just because you didn't inherit mama's looks like me, you make fun of my petite size." Sofia barked.

Miguel nearly fell over laughing.

"You? Inherit mama's looks? What? Did we eat a second helping of our fruity loops this morning? And as for petite, don't even get me started –-"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Tifa shouted at the top of her lungs, causing Sofia and Miguel to turn and gawp at her, stunned.

"Thank you." Tifa said more sweetly. "Now if you have both finished, I would like you to finish loading the drinks crates in and fill in the stock-count if you could bring yourself to stop shouting your heads off for two minutes. I'll give you a hand with putting away the groceries in the kitchen Sofia when I come back down, and in the meantime, Miguel, exercise your lifting skills and move the crates into the cellar and store them please. Ok?" She received nods from both - and a usual wink from Miguel.

Glad to get the chance of five minutes peace, Tifa made her way to the swinging doors that led to the back kitchen. "Tifa wait!" Sofia cried as soon as Miguel had gone outside to check all crates were correct and tick-off the stock amounts. Tifa stopped and turned, her hand on the saloon-style swinging door. "What is it Sofia?"

Sofia looked at her friend sympathetically. She looked worn out and her eyes were marked with tired circles. Sofia knew exactly what was wrong. "Tifa, you look tired out. I think it would be a good time to take a break you know, from the bar. Miguel and I can handle it for a while, seriously. I just, well, we're both worried about you. I know Miguel jokes half the time, but he really cares about you as much as I do." She said with a smile. Tifa couldn't help but smile back.

"Thanks Sofia, but I think I can handle it. If I don't keep to a routine, I'll only end up spending too much time with myself and end up feeling sorry for myself again..." She trailed off.

Sofia looked at the woman before her with concern in her brown eyes. "Is it the dreams again?"

Tifa sighed; running her hand through her dishevelled hair and nodded meekly. "They just keep coming. I don't know when they're going to stop and I just don't know how many more times I can go through that day again. All I see is him walking away from me at the end of my dream, I reach for him and – I wake up." Her voice was heavy with sadness. "Maybe my mind is trying to tell me he really is out of my reach now. Wherever he is."

"Tifa..."Sofia began, but she found herself talking to Tifa's retreating form as she disappeared from view.

Just then, Miguel came barging through the front doors with a crate in his hands. He stopped and looked at his sister who was staring at the swing doors Tifa had just left through. His expression saddened, and he instantly understood why Tifa had been looking so tired.

"She's not doing good is she?" He asked looking to his sister as he stood beside her.

"I'm worried Miguel. She's getting worse. If this Cloud guy doesn't show up soon, I'm afraid she's going to break."

Miguel cursed under his breath. "I know. But we can't judge him; he did save the world after all right? He can't be that bad? I mean Tifa's not stupid, she wouldn't get this hooked on someone who was an asshole."

"I guess..." Sofia concluded. But seriously, who was this guy? She really couldn't understand how anyone never mind her childhood friend, could treat Tifa like this. And Tifa still stood by him! This was one thing she would never understand.

"Yeah well, whoever he is, if he ever gets here I will personally be the first to tell him how big an asshole he really is." She growled and stormed into the kitchen. Miguel smiled after her.

"God help him if he ever comes back then."

Authors Notes: Ta da! See, I do update! I don't like it when you read a story, get into it and then BAM! You realise it is not only half done, but was written in 1999, so no chance of an update! Well, I am prepared to go the full way with this story so bare with me if updates are a little stretched, this is my exam year after all! :(

RnR please, and my greatest thanks goes to the four people who have already reviewed. Thanks for giving my fiction a chance. You know who you are ;)

Xx Jessie xX