Timeless

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children. Square-Eniz does.

The sun was shining on the glorious city of Midgar. Or at least, it used to be glorious. It was still the life of the entire place even though everyone lived around it because Midgar was a ghost town. The monument of when the meteor hit Midgar was the center of the new town. It bustled busily with people out and about around town. Tifa Lockhart was one of those people. Along with Denzel and Marlene.

They walked along the busy path, Marlene clutching Tifa's skirt and Denzel holding Tifa's hand. She smiled gently as she watched the orphans with facsination. She really enjoyed helping them. She spotted the Seventh Heaven bar and then hurried along with Marlene and Denzel towards it.

The door creaked gently open as Tifa stepped through the door. She closed the door behind her and flipped the lock shut.

"Cloud, are you home?"

She called out as she walked to the answering machine to check the messages. Cloud rarely checked the ones inside the house. Only on his mobile phone. Denzel and Marlene had decided to stay outside with Tifa's permission of course.

Meanwhile upstairs, Cloud and Aerith were lying underneath the covers and they both froze as they heard Tifa come in.

"What is she doing home?"

"I don't know!"

"Well, you are her boyfriend!"

"I know, but I guess I just lost track of time."

"What are we going to do!"

They whispered between themselves as they lay, their half covered bodies covered by the bedsheet. Tifa raised an eyebrow after checking the messages. She called out yet again.

"Cloud honey, I know you're home. And my guess is that you invited Aerith. I sense her calming presence here."

She said before she started towards the stairs, heading up them. She stood at the top of the stairs and then stepped into the room where the orphans usually stay. She stopped dead in her tracks as she saw who was in the bed and what they were doing. Tears welled up in her eyes. Tears of anger and sadness. Tears of hurt and betrayal. They reflected the many mixed emotions that she felt right now.

"I-I see that you're busy."

She said before she turned around and headed back down the stairs. Cloud immediately stood up to go after her but got held back by Aerith, who looked at him with sympathy.

"Cloud, give her time. She knows now. I think she's known for a while."

"So what! I have a right to go after her. Let go!"

"Cloud! She's going to want to be alone. Give her time."

She said before she got up as well and got dressed. She made the bed before she herself headed out of the house. She spotted Denzel and Marlene out on the streets, calling after Tifa who just ran away. She shook her head slightly as they glanced at her questioningly before she walked away from the bar. Cloud got up and hopped up on his motorcycle. He was wary of pedestrians in his way though. And orphans.

Tears stained her cheeks as she ran towards the one true sanctuary that she had left now. She ran into the church and took in the refreshing rain scent and the lilies that spread in one main area of the broken down church. She ran into the lilies and just collapsed there, knees to her chest, crying. She couldn't believe that he had down this to her. She just couldn't.

"He didn't do this to me. He couldn't have..."

She sobbed. After a few minutes, her sobs quieted down to mere small hiccups as her eyes were red from crying. She took deep, shuddering breaths as she tried to relax. After about 5 more mintues, she had lulled herself to sleep from crying. She lay in the white and yellow lilies, a vision of pure peacefulness. A silver haired man stood on one of the toppled over pillars that was supported by another pillar. It was diagonal as it leaned, obviously. He tilted his head slightly and watched the sleeping young woman with a slightly sympathetic look on his face.

"Sleep tight, my timeless sweetheart..."

Author's Note

Well.. my first one shot. I know that Cloud was OOC and Tifa was too. Except possibly with Denzel and Marlene. And I know that Aerith is technically dead in Advent Children, but the main focus was bashing the Cloud/Aerith pairing, which was instead the Cloud/Tifa one, except Cloud was having an affair with Aerith. And because of an inside joke with Savage Cupid, I got the Loz/Tifa pairing. Yes, he is the man at the end. I might try a sequel to this, not sure. I doubt it. Anyways, that's about all I have to say.

Signed, Princess Artie