Wings of an Angel
By Henrika

Henrika- This is the third time I've written this note since my computer keeps shutting down the site for some happy reason. Anyways...

As part of my "Don't kill me for late updates!" I have awarded fics to three special reviewers: Terry McElrath, Ginger Ninja, and Nentikobe. I have started working on these (trying anyways) and I will try to have them done by the end of the month (total lie, but like I said I'll give it a shot), so you guys can give them their first read. Congratulations and thank you!

And I head back up to school next week. Bah.

If you don't feel like skewering me for the late updates, enjoy and review!

A shard of glass grazed her above the eye and drew blood even as a feather gently caressed her cheek. "Cloud!" She shouted, trying to be heard above the wind rushing past them that was sending up a hail of feathers and glass. "Cloud!"

"Tifa." He said her name again, mako-bright eyes capturing her own wine-colored orbs.

It didn't make sense to her. Moments ago, he had been ready to kill her. Had tried to kill the children. Had been Jenova's puppet again. And yet now his eyes were clear, her name slipping almost desperately from his lips. He gathered her in his arms, his wings flaring up around them, slowing their descent. He pulled her as close to him as he could.

"Help." The plea whispered in her ear, despite the fact that she knew he must have shouted it.

"What?"

"Help me. Please." Tifa could see that horrible silver beginning to fog over his eyes again.

"What do I do?" She screamed. "Cloud, what do I do?"

"She can't save you." Jenova was standing behind him, her words slithering into his head.

"Shut up."

"The truth hurts doesn't it? It hurts you to know that no one can save you. That after all you've done to save your precious friends and your precious Planet, no one is going to come and rescue you."

"Stop it!" He swung at her, but she avoided his fist easily.

"I've been in your head for too long. I know exactly what you're thinking."

"You don't know anything about me." In some part of his head, he realized how petulant that sounded.

"Really? I know the village where you grew up despised you. Even her. She hated you."

"That's not true."

"Your own memories say otherwise. Not only were you not good enough to be a SOLDIER, you barely made it as a Shin-ra trooper."

"Get out of my head."

"Your best friend merely pitied you."

"Stop."

"The flower girl only wanted a bodyguard."

"Stop it." The chains had appeared again, their pull against Cloud's body harsher than before. Blood began to pool around his knees and he wondered when he had fallen. In more ways than one he wondered about when he had fallen.

When did this all start?

"She won't save you."

"No." Cloud was almost moaning, trying to figure out how this creature, who had hurt him so much already, had managed to break him again.

"She used you when you were a child."

You used me too.

"She forced you to save this Planet."

In the beginning maybe, I did it for money. But after awhile…

"And her little attempt at a family." Jenova sneered. "She was only trying use you for anything she could."

Wait, I know that's not true.

"After all, who could ever love a failure?"

Tifa could. Tifa does. Right? She…loves me.

"She tried to kill you. And you will die if you do not use the powers granted to you as my angel."

Why would Tifa try to kill me? He pondered it for a moment, the blood loss making his thoughts fuzzy. Because I asked her to let me die if Jenova took over. She didn't have a choice.

"You're running out of time, even in this place. Do you want to die?"

He wondered about that for a moment. Could I leave everyone behind? I'd be able to see Aeris and Zack. And Mom. But what about AVALANCHE? Marlene? Denzel? Hell, I think I'd even miss the Turks. And I'd miss Tifa. I asked her to help me. She can help me. I know she can.

I love her.

"Tifa!" The whiter-than-white feather from his mangled wing pulled free and floated above his hand. The light from the feather almost burned his eyes and he vaguely heard Jenova begin to scream. The light stretched and pulled, forming into an unmistakable Buster Blade that settled gently into his hands.

He knew it wouldn't be enough to defeat Jenova; somewhere deep in his heart he knew that. But with the weight of his guilt finally gone, it didn't matter that much.

So he smiled.

Cloud's spread wings were slowing their fall, but the ground was still coming up far too fast for Tifa's liking. The man in question had slipped into unconsciousness, though his grip on her waist hadn't faltered at all. He had asked for her help, one of the few times in her life she had ever encountered the situation with him. And she refused to fail him.

Even though she had no clue how to help him.

Holy.

The word sprung to her mind like the answer to her problem it was. Save for the fact that she had no idea how to use it.

Okay, Tifa. Just think this through. You are currently plummeting to your death. You just pushed Cloud out of a window in an attempt to kill him since Jenova is controlling him. Kind of. Maybe. Aeris said that the body has something like the Lifestream in it. Jenova is screwing with Cloud's in one last attempt to destroy the Planet. And Holy is magic so powerful that it can destroy Jenova and heal the damage she causes. I'm supposed to cast Holy to prevent all that from happening.

"How do I do that?" Tifa screamed in frustration, annoyed at how disturbingly easy it was to sum up the end of the world.

All right. Calm down. If you somehow manage to cast this spell… Her entire thought process ground to a halt as she realized she had no magic left. The entire reason she and Cloud were falling to the earth.

It also occurred to her that falling two stories shouldn't take this long, but she was too frantic to be bothered with details.

Like the unnatural wind that was slowing their descent even more. Or the screaming from below her.

She returned to her main problem. If I did somehow have the energy to cast the spell then the fastest way for me to get it to him would be…

Plan in mind, she leaned the few scant inches down to Cloud's face and kissed him, praying as hard as she could that she could save him and that they could finally be happy in their hard-won peace.

It was her last thought before the wind disappeared and they slammed into the ground, glass shards and delicate feathers raining down around them.

Henrika- Yes, falling two stories shouldn't have taken that long. But that's why we have a "strange wind" to cover that fallacy. Heh.

Update to that point: I'm getting nailed for having a two story fall take that long. Nailed to the wall for it in fact. It was wrong of me. Honestly, I should have had them falling off a skyscraper. But, I'd point out (mostly to the reviewers who never have a profile that I can reply to) that A) I'm the one writing this. B) I can turn on review blocker. And C) That just maybe I have something else up my sleeve concerning the darn fall. Time has a funny tendency of screwing with people in danger. And I intend to use that to my advantage. Like maybe saying that the fall did occur from full height. And that even though the weakest member of AVALANCHE could probably survive such a fall, you have to remember that thetwo are not in the best of physical condition at the moment.And maybe, just maybe I can explain all this in a way that will satisfy everyone?

...I seem annoyed, don't I?

Anyways I really liked the imagery I saw for this one in my head. Tried to get my words to convey it, but I think some of it got lost in translation. Hope you enjoyed it. Review please! Next chapter will come as soon as I manage toget my muses back into shape!