Coral City Of The Dead

Farewell to the last saviour

It wasn't long before Tifa had caved in.

Later that night, after having fought off her companions' objections to allow Aeris to delay their journey to tend to Cloud, Tifa sat alone. They were in Gongaga, peacefully gathered in the lower areas of the sleepy town, in a small cove of cottages that sat at the end swerve of one of the small dusty streets.

And Tifa had finally broken when it came to keeping up the act of being completely okay with how Aeris was so openly devoted to her childhood hero.

She had agreed with the majority, that with Cloud being in his condition, they had no better option than to settle here. It was safe, out of the way of detection, and therefore sure protection against harm from any of their enemies.

Tifa had left the group over an hour since. She had searched through her pack for a change of clothing to see the night through in, as she knew she wouldn't be fighting, and astrayed.

Sitting now, she was on a grassy verge at the small peak of a graveyard. It was calm around this place, the air was slight, misty and at peace over the graves. Cuddling her knees to her chest, she watched the scene of barren land before her. Over the gravesite below her, with it's small winding paths marked out in the grass only by footprints, her view was more disturbed. Past the graves, and the small section of town she could view from here, was the scarred lands of the earth around it. The wind caressed loose whisps of her rich hair, carrying them forward to come just infront of her face, drawing her into the view itself, as if an unknown hand was showing her she was part of all this. This cause of hers and her friends, it was to save other places from meeting a similar end to the one Gongaga did.

She silently nodded, before reaching a gentle, ungloved hand up to tuck the loose strands of hair back behind her ear, as if making a bargain with the lands saying yes, she understood.

To seal this bargain as a shared agreement, the wind almost seemed to calm down, leaving her hair in it's place, and leaving Tifa un-touched, apart from the stray breeze still moving.

With a sigh, she uncoiled herself and got to her feet, standing on the landscape steadilly. Her feet were covered in her usual boots that clung to the ground hard, feeble blades of grass diminishing beneath their weight. Her legs were covered in a light, black material - her practise pants that she wore when she had the time to train her fighting skills. The material clung nicely at her hips, the waist-line rounded in a smooth flat section of material that sat snugly against the toned surface of her body, just below her flat stomach.

Her middrift lay bare, below the fitting white top she adorned. Also part of her training outfit, it was comfortable material, one that fitted her body shape perfectly. The style was that of a tank top, no sleeves, just thick straps that were a direct part of the top itself, no line of stitching. The neckline was a rounded semi-circle that fell just above her chest preventing any signs of cleevage or that scar she always hid so well, being seen.

Around her neck, she wore a delicate silver chain that adorned a silver ring and a pearl drop of white - that matched her earrings. The ring obviously didn't belong to the necklace, but had been added by Tifa herself. It had always sat on her mothers dressing table after she'd died, a momento her father kept in it's place, just how her mother had left it that night she'd taken off her jewellary never to replace it again. But the morning Tifa had gone to give the tour of the Nibel mountains, her father had finally presented it to her. 'Take care sweetheart...' He'd said to her with a look of fear in his eyes. He'd never trusted Sephiroth, or the safety of Tifa on the Nibel mountain area.

Turns out, he'd been right on both accounts.

So, to constantly have her father's guiding warnings with her, and her mother's safe care, Tifa had kept the ring close to her heart, hidden under the material of her usual top.

But this one couldn't hide it, as the neck-line came too low.

She didn't mind though, it was a rare relief to feel the wind moving the pearl drop pendant against the ring in a soft chime. She smiled as she felt it just now, and heard the soft sound. Looking down, she clasped her fingers gently around her necklace and closed her eyes. Her hair was unusually loose, with her thick leather hair-band clasped around her wrist instead. Bangs of her hair were now falling down over her shoulders, framing her tipped face and she picked up the scent she recognised as her favoured hair oils.

Calmed at last, she raised her head and her hand slipped back down to her side - just as she caught sight of a retreating figure in the distance. A flash of pink, scurrying at a quicker pace than usual. Furrowing her brow, Tifa began to walk down the large gradually sloping grass hill, back towards the graveyard.

It didn't take her long until she was back at the end turning in one of the main streets, making her way around it into that familiar cove of cottages, the largest of which was the inn. Rolling her eyes with a small smile, she approached knowing full well her rabble would be inside.

After closing the door behind her softly, she walked into the entrance room and saw nobody had decided to stick around after all. With a puzzled look on her face, she tried to figure out what they'd all been up to while she'd been gone. She remembered leaving them all arguing over Cid's useless reputation with aircrafts. The last comment Tifa had heard before she left had been from barrett, 'Yeah, and the last one? Ha! What a joke that hunk a' junk was! Pink aswell! What were ya thinkin' you big fluff!'

"Where are you all...?" Tifa asked herself as she walked through to the back arched end to the corridor that held many doors. Each one had a room number, and her own key for one sat securely in her left pocket. She was about to reach for it, when she noticed one little clue she'd mis-placed before. When she had left, Vincent was to take care of Cloud, watch over him and make sure to monitor his condition and alert the others if he was to awake. Each person's shift was to last two hours. They would keep with him during the night, and if he still didn't wake, the cycle of routine shifts would repeat itself, giving everyone a further two hours with him.

With staying for a good half hour after they'd first arrived, to loosely 'enjoy' the insulting conversation going on, and then to have gone off on her own for an hour, plus a ten minute journey back, Tifa gathered it was Aeris' turn to watch Cloud soon. In that case, why had she just seen her dashing off? Walking to Cloud's room, Tifa knocked lightly and upon getting no reply, she entered gingerly.

"I'm sorry I jus..." Her quiet voice drifted itself into silence, upon seeing there was nobody there to apologise to after all. Just the sleeping form of Cloud, one of his bare arms slung across his black sleevless shirt covered chest, whereas the other hung limply over the side of the bed. Walking over to him with concern etched onto her face, Tifa gently took his hand in her own and lifted it to rest it with his other, on his chest.

In response, he fidgeted, his eyes scrunching up even more than before. His grainy throat swallowed as his head turned itself to rest on his right cheek, facing away from her.

Tifa looked over him in the way only she would, her deep brown eyes open to a slight amount, in order to gaze at him with a softness in her glance. Reaching her hand out again, she brushed bangs of his hair from his eyes tenderly, her fingertips barely grazing the surface of his forehead.

With a last longing look, she turned to leave the room - and it was then that she saw it.

Half-turned around, she caught sight of a side table she'd barely acknowledged as she'd entered. Walking over to it, she spotted a note. It was folded in half with the name of the recipient delicately scribed - Cloud.

Tifa narrowed her eyes with interest, biting her lip as she felt guilt looking over her shoulder. But nevertheless, she picked up the note and unfolded it, smoothing the paper out before she began to read...

Dear Cloud,

I know you'll awake shortly. I know from your condition that you barely have any time left in your slumber, and so I have chosen this time to make my move in this journey of ours. Sephiroth is a shared foe, we all have a united cause in the case of him. However, you're cause and everyone else's, is different to mine. I have a duty Cloud, a hidden duty to my people, my ancestors. I know you will all carry on after me, to suceed in your own plight, and defeat him forever cleansing the planet of him. And you will be heroes for your act, finally appreciated for the wonderful, selfless people you are. And I've come to know, and love you,

Tifa inhaled a sharp breath,

all of you,

And relaxed again,

in the short time I've been honored to know you. And I hope you will all come to remember me and my small part in your lives, in years to come. But for now, I must leave you with a farewell, that now it's here, I find myself unexpectedly unwilling to say. I knew this day would come, that the situation would demand my sacrificial help, but I never anticipated I would ever have even the slightest doubt in performing it. For I have met someone i am unwilling to part with. It's breaking my heart if I am truthful to you Cloud, it really is unbearable to leave your side now knowing I'll never return to you again. Because Cloud, I feel a comfort in you. You make me feel at ease with myself, with the person I am and make me proud to be a Cetra. For every time your eyes look at me that way you do, I feel priceless, high beyond any heights a mind can imagine. And I thank you with all my heart Cloud Strife, because I want to tell you I always looked right back the same way.

I'll never forget you, and I will forever be watching over you, my dear, sweet Cloud.

All my love,

Aeris.

Tifa lowered the paper slowly and stared out into her own thoughts, her eyes wide. The words replayed in her mind in a hauntingly slow pace of realisation...must leave you with a farewell...my sacrificial help...I'll never forget you...

The paper had barely come to rest on the ground after it left Tifa's grasp, before she had bolted through the door. She barely had time to grab her battle gloves, before she was out of the inn like shot.

She was running full pelt, her feet pounding against the ground as she ran, kicking up a trail of dust in her wake. She'd wasted enough time already. When she'd first seen her leaving so quickly, Aeris had been a great distance away already. And as Tifa feared, now approaching the town entrance, Aeris had stolen the chocobo they had used to bring Cloud here. Her fears were confirmed, as she came upon the main entrance, seeing the tether in the frontal chocobo stable left limp without it's chocobo Tifa had watched Cid fight with to secure preciously.

She paused, arching over with her hands on her thighs, panting to get her breath back. Her mind reeled. She needed to find Aeris, and quick. There was no time to waste in waking the others, or even trawling the town to fine them. For Tifa had seen Aeris, she knew she was leaving not to come back, she knew enough to stop her before it was too late. But she knew too much to waste the time re-explaining it to everyone else.

Plus, she would feel more comfortable knowing the group were mere seconds away frm Cloud, should anyone come with the intentions of harming him. Plus, Tifa could handle locating Aeris on her own.

Couldn't she?

After thirsty seconds rest, she felt her energy restored enough to carry on, but was stopped by the sudden appearence of a chocobo tender.

"Oh hello!" The young man said brightly.

Tifa's frantic expression drained him of his smile straight away.

"Er, what's the poblem miss?"

Tifa turned on him a little too quickly, and he backed away as she spoke.

"Have you seen her! Aeris? The girl with green eyes? Pink dress? Big staff?"

The man nodded as he gulped.

"Yeah...said summat about going home. She hadn't been there in so long, and it was about time she finally returned, is what she said, honest!"

The man looked too fearful of Tifa's intimidating stance too much to lie or forget his words.

Tifa mulled this over. Home...? It couldn't mean the slums, could it? No. Finally returned? She was going to this place to find Sephiroth. What would Sephiroth be doing in the slu - "The City of the Ancients!" Tifa suddenly proclaimed, a light bulb suddenly pinging in her delayed train of thoughts.

The chocobo tender watched her running off and frowned.

"You're welcome!" He shouted, somewhat irritated at not receiving a thanks.

But that was the last thing Tifa had on her mind. Her vigour restored, she set about locating a chocobo, thanking the stars that everyone in her group protested about carrying that 'damn chocobo lure crap' and was already spotting her first set of chocobo tracks to follow.


Author's Notes:

I decided after the long awaiting my next chapter of WHROM, I figured it was about time I tied up my other works, because before long, my big on-going fic I just mentioned, will be coming to an end itself. So before I hit that, here are a few little things to be getting on with. I am liking this fic, so I think the next chapter will be soon, and finish it up. Then I can move onto the next unfinished piece! As well as writing my next chapter of WHROM - ooh so much to do!

Anyway, as i said, I liked writing this, but what do you guys think reading it? Comments please! You know I love em ;)

Xx Jessie xX