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Chapter VI: And Answers
Take no pride,
for at the end of the game,
both the King and Pawn
return to the same box.
~Italian Proverb

With experienced grace, Aqua Fidelium spun from underneath the hammered blows of her brother's unrelenting attacks. As Terra's great form lurched forward, filling the gap, Aqua summoned a weak fire spell mid-twist, sending out two wheels of flickering flames.

"And to what purpose were the Keblade fashioned?" Father Eraqus asked calmly from the stone seat where he sat cross-legged at the edge of their oval training garden. Though he appeared disinterested, Aqua knew his sharp eyes were seeing more in their movements than either of them was even aware of.

"To defend, nurture and extend the reach of light." Terra grunted the practiced mantra as he swept his enormous Keyblade in a figure-eight pattern, cutting down Aqua's spells as they flew.

Father continued, as he always did, "And where does light reach?"

As Terra was fully dedicated to his swing, Aqua's immediately drew her spin to a sharp stop and darted forward, banishing the Keyblade from her grasp—she liked to dismiss it when moving, to gain full use of her hands. With ease, she took her turn in responding to their Father.

"Into our very bodies, illuminating the path we must walk."

Terra's blue eyes narrowed at her—perhaps he had an inkling of what she was up to, though she knew she had never tested this particular move on him before. Perhaps he might guess it—no matter, she'd still make it work. Meanwhile, his deep voice continued their mantra, "Into our very minds, guiding our soul in the way of virtue."

Aqua watched Terra's Keyblade, long and jutting wide, rise at just the speed she had hoped—predicted, really. He had always moved with the firm and slow ferocity of a lumberjack. As it became level with her knees, she knew already that he was moving for a block—meaning he hadn't yet determined what was coming.

"And into our very hearts, uniting us with the Great Heart!" Aqua finished, leaping just in time to land lightly on the tip of Terra's blade, graceful and balanced; a moment of precision frozen in time.

Terra's eyes widened and a smirk of impressed amusement broke through his tight lips—but it was too late for Terra to stop his own great momentum. Returning to him her own brief smile, proud of accomplishing what they had hitherto only imagined, Aqua allowed herself to be launched into the air by his own swing.

Eraqus continued, his voice utterly impassable to their duel, "And of that which the Great Heart, Kingdom Hearts, consists?"

Aqua's drew in a measured breath as she hung in the air for what was only a brief moment. Recalling the Keyblade to her hand, she pirouetted and fell back toward Terra, who swung his blade horizontally, as best he could to to block as he responded to their Father, "Pure light, polluted by no shadow of darkness, to which we are all called."

A moment of symphonic silence passed by, punctuated by the heavy clang of her Keyblade meeting Terra's. His awkward block against her descending power wasn't sufficient, and his ankle twisted beneath him, forcing him to stumble back with a grunt, almost collapsing onto one leg. As she flipped forward from the strike to land on her feet and twist immediately into another strike, pressing her advantage, Aqua permitted herself a brief smile; proud at how perfectly executed the entire dance was from start to finish.

"And darkness is as what?"

As Terra jumped back again from her swipe, stumbling again on his offset leg, Aqua responded, "A parasite and abominable corruption of light, bound only for destruction."

In one last attempt, Terra placed more weight on his twisted ankle than Aqua had expected him to be able to—typical Terra, pressing through the pain no matter the cost—and launch a counterattack with his massive blade. Caught slightly off guard, Aqua had time only to deflect his strike enough to duck under him—only narrowly missing the last eruption of Terra'a deep and fortitudinous wellspring of will.

Springing up past his swing, Aqua angled her Keyblade to his chin, pausing as it nearly cut his cheek. There they stood, panting, as their individual exertion caught up to them in the moment of rest.

"Well enough, well enough," Eraqus clapped, indicating his satisfaction.

Immediately, both their Keyblade vanished and Aqua dropped to a knee to examine Terra's ankle, already showing slight signs of swelling.

"Aqua, you don't have to—" Terra began, as he pulled his foot away, "As the Master says," he glanced briefly at their Father, who he—unlike Aqua—insisted on addressing formally, "Pain is the wisest teacher."

"Yet, Father also says it is in the light that we are healed." Aqua smiled, as she weaved the green glow of Cura magic against Terra's skin. Satisfied, she returned to standing beside him. "You put up a good fight."

"Hm." Terra snorted, "As did you- always inventing some new challenge."

"Yes, indeed." Father Eraqus finally spoke, "That grace that Aqua moves in—that is Kingdom Hearts. You would do well to notice, Terra, that even in training, the light manifests," Aqua tried not to appear too proud and hide her embarrassment, as he continued—she didn't like how often their Father compared the two of them. "In every moment, Kingdom Hearts is being and each of us, feeling the urge in our own hearts, brings our very lives into its flow."

"But Master," Terra inquired, standing stiff and stocky, "Would that not mean—"

"Terra! Aqua! Dad!"

"Ventus!" Father exclaimed, a smile spreading across his face as the youngest of their small family, short, spiky-haired blonde Ven, traipsed out into the field—back from his daily lunch at the Seventh Heaven, "Where have you been, my boy?"

Aqua was glad as always to see him, but she couldn't help but wince as she saw the disappointment in Terra's face as their Father's attention was immediately distracted. Ven had long been the favorite of their Father—there was so much light to see in him, pure and unbridled, overcoming—it was little wonder to Aqua why their Father favored him so.

Aqua only wished Father might see more clearly how Terra, turning to greet Ven with a flashing smile that covered his shame and hurt, might be wounded, too, by his love.

For her part, Aqua had learned to live with reality. The opinion of Father Eraqus, though valuable beyond words to her, was not all she had. She was more than that. If only Terra were to learn that, too…

"—I brought a friend along, too!" Ven was saying, gesturing back toward the house, "He really wanted to you, dad."

"Oh?" Father stiffened, suspicious as he was of outsiders. His intense stare across the few yards to the backdoor of their stone home seemed almost to force out their visitor, who walked awkwardly out with a slight wave into the sunlight and brisk autumnal air.

The man looked slightly older than Ven, with long black hair pushed back messily from his head, creating the impression that he had just taken a blast of wind head-on.

"Zack, meet my brother Terra, my sister Aqua, and my father: Eraqus!" Ven introduced, his voice bubbling.

Aqua, along with Terra, both inclined slightly, while their Father remained unreadable. This Zack fellow immediately seemed to take such silence as an invitation to speak and rushed forward to awkwardly shake his hand.

"Master Eraqus, it is truly an honor to finally meet you. You—" Aqua observed stoically as his gaze fell on her and Terra again, his eyes—to her surprise—filled with earnest admiration, "You all are kind of legends among the rest of us, I mean, your heroics are, well, sir, they are—"

"Many, many years ago." Father responded, pulling his hand back. Such things Father rarely spoke of it. "What can we do for you?"

"Well, Ven's probably mentioned me—no? Well, you see—" Zack stuttered, as Ven shrugged, "I'm an Investigator for the PKF and I just had a few questions for you about the Shinra Company—" Aqua's thoughts began to race—what did this man know? "But it seems I interrupted some training up here, amiright?"

"True enough, but what has that to do with—" Eraqus began to respond but was shortly interrupted.

"So I was thinking, then, maybe I could take one of you on? Y'know, in a friendly duel?" Zack began to perform some sort of funny squatting exercise, crouching and standing in rapid succession. "I'd love to see those crazy swords of yours—Keyblades, right?—in action."

It was then that Aqua decided this fellow was just a bizarre buffoon and not some sort of trouble—and if only for Ven's sake, she would indulge him.

But Terra eagerly spoke up; before even their Father, "Certainly. I accept."

"Awesome!" Zack responded, and immediately reached for the long, wide sword that was strapped to his back. "But just none of your fancy-pants magic, alright? That's not my style."

"Fine." Terra smirked slightly. "Actually, I prefer it that way."

As the two moved into readying position, Aqua walked to her Father, who wore a face of impatient resignation, as Ven regaled his friend of Terra's strengths. This only seemed to brighten the excitement of Zack all the more. Aqua smiled with amusement—he had no idea what he was in for.

"Ven's young friend seems to have something to prove." Father murmured.

Aqua's smile continued unabated, "If only he knew—Terra does too, even more than he."

At that moment, Ven stepped back from between the two, grinning widely, as if to referee the match. With a slice of his hand, the round was begun, and Zack sprang into action, charging across their separation with his large sword swung high. Terra, for his part, remained rooted—his Keyblade, the Way to Dawn, held loosely and pointed to the ground.

With a leap, Zack came flying down upon Terra who, lifting his heavy blade, twisted around with a great spin and—like a baseball bat against the ball—swung from the spin with enough force to send Zack flying back through the air and kicking up a cloud of dust as he fell. Ven burst out laughing as Aqua could tell their Father balanced a frown and his own amusement.

"Please, do not kill our guest, my son." He interjected.

"Of course, Master." Terra nodded in reply, returning to his immovably mountainous stance.

"Eheheh…" Zack stumbled to his feet, brushing some dirt from chin, "So that's the power of your Keyblades, huh? I haven't actually ever seen them in action. Pretty cool!"

Aqua raised an eyebrow—this fellow had taken a fair pummeling in his right, and now he was smiling about it? In fact, he looked…even more excited?

Wrapping his fingers tightly around the hilt of his weapon, Zack now approached more cautiously, blade held out before him. Terra, for his part, remained stoically still.

Aqua had to smile. Terra was really enjoying himself here—like the old days, when he had first been found, and saw the magic in every new thing.

It had been nice to finally have someone her own age to talk to.

Meanwhile, in the present, Zack had slipped closer and closer—testing Terra's deflections with brief, restrained strikes which Terra had batted away effortlessly. Suddenly, as Zack raised his sword for another strike, Terra moved like lightning—darting forward with enough surprise that Aqua almost jumped.

Zack, though, actually jumped—and that's what saved him, for as he stumbled to the side, he was able to just barely deflect Terra's powerful blow. Aqua expected the young man to still be a shock and just try to steady his feet, but instead, he seemed to think quickly and take advantage of the moment of surprise.

Reaching up to his blade, Zack made a few motions Aqua couldn't make out and, before she fully realized it, a much smaller blade—almost a dagger really—had been detached from the sword's complex blade (which she now realized to be a composite of, at least, six other blades), which Zack struck with rogue-like precision at Terra's arm.

Grunting, her brother smoothly finished his swing and returned to his stance, before glancing at his upper arm. There, a small slice of red had appeared and begun to drip down his arm.

Immediately, Aqua was ready to move for a healing spell—she was impressed, but there was no point in any more serious injury. But Terra, instead, narrowed his eyes and swung again at Zack—who appeared to be a little distracted with smug self-congratulation. Caught off-guard, Zack was forced back by the first of Terra's blows, which began to come in a flurry.

"You've asked for it now, Zack!" Ven teased from the side.

In precisely three strikes, Terra twisted his Keyblade behind Zack's own sword and, with a snap, flung it from his hand. With one final movement, Terra leveled his Keyblade directly between Zack's eyes. A moment of tense silence followed before Zack chuckled, "Alright, alright—impressive! You win, you win. I'm sorry about your arm."

Terra paused for only the briefest of moments-perhaps Aqua only imagined it—before smirking in return and lowering his Keyblade. "You weren't bad. Just not good enough."

"So I can see!" Zack replied, stooping to pick up his own sword and return it to the holster on his back. "I guess you monks up here do more than just read books and meditate!"

"Well, Ven, you have brought us a strange and interesting friend." Father finally spoke up, "But I cannot imagine you have come here only to train against one of my own, hm?"

"Well, ah, sir—you are right about that." Zack responded, pushing his jet-black hair back and away from his face. "Commander Aeleus said that I should speak with you about a case I'm working."

"Oh?" Father responded, as she and Terra shared covert glances. Had Ven known this was what he was going to ask about, Aqua wondered?

"Yeah, see, there was this…" Zack paused, his eyes seeming to drift slightly, "There was a man who was killed in the Third District yesterday. He was saying a lot of stuff, accusing the Shinra Company of terrible things."

"Many do. Weapons manufacturers are hardly well-loved by the common man." Father replied.

"But they don't all die under mysterious circumstances." Zack finished, meeting Father's eyes with a level of confidence that Aqua was impressed by.

"I see. And what have we to do with your questions, then?" Father asked.

"Commander Aeleus said that you were already investigating Shinra for something. I was hoping we might share some notes." Zack responded, same level of cheer in his voice—either he couldn't sense the growing tension as Aqua could, or he was trying to keep things level. Either way, she didn't like it—or her father's reaction.

"I'm afraid that the good Commander might have overestimated how much I know," Father replied, tucking his hands inside the sleeves of his simple, brown cloak, "All that I can tell you is that weapons manufactured by Shinra have ended up in places where they should not be."

"What kind of places?"

Father paused, "Outside of the Garden; in the hands of all manner of agitators and malcontents."

"And you think Shinra had been selling those weapons?"

"What else does a Company do?"

It was not Zack's turn to pause. "And you haven't heard anything about…experiments?"

"I cannot say—" Father responded, a certain finality in his voice. Aqua could see that Ven recognized it, too, for his face fell, "—all I know is that a company will do what it must for profit. They have no conception of the good; of the light. They do not understand Kingdom Hearts."

Zack snorted, letting his impatience show, "How should we understand legends?" without waiting for an answer, he inclined himself slightly at the waist, "Thank you for your time."

Father returned the gesture, "Terra, will show our guest out?"

"Indeed." Terra responded, turning to walk back toward the stone walls of their simple, monasterial home.

"Don't worry, Master, I will—" Ven turned after to replace Terra, but Father called him back.

"No, Ven. I wish to speak with you."

Aqua sighed. This had been a lovely afternoon before the work had become involved again.

"I'll, uh, catch up with you later then, Zack!" Ven waved after his friend, as they vanished back inside the house. Immediately, Ven turned back to their Father. "Master, why did you tell him nothing at all! He could help!"

Eraqus sighed, his disappointment evident. "You must be more cautious, my son."

"But nothing? Less than nothing? You didn't tell him about the meetings between the Castle and Shinra? About Wutai? Not even a hint about what we've found underground? Don't you trust me?"

"Of course he does!" Aqua interjected, trying to calm the situation, "But it's not about trust, Ven."

"Aqua is right. We are dealing with very powerful and dangerous people." Eraqus said, turning away from Ven, "We cannot take even the slightest of chances."

"I would've trusted him." Terra interrupted, returning from the house to stand behind Ven, "He seemed like a decent person."

"Then you are less prudent than I thought, Terra." Eraqus replied. "We still have more work to do."

"But, Master, every moment we keep quiet, the more damage is done!" Terra replied, dredging up their age-old, bi-weekly argument—now re-energized by Ven's frustration and Terra's own disappointment with their Father. Aqua looked between them worriedly—she loved them both so much and understood so well where there were coming from that she had no ideas on how to help them.

"You know I know that." Father replied firmly. "But I did not ask you to face monsters when you were but children. We do not have the strength yet, nor the evidence, to prove our case. We are still building our power, Terra—information, knowledge, strength. And when we are done, there shall be no mercy for those who shrink from the light and hide in the darkness."

"It seems that we are the ones hiding!" Terra retorted, his voice rising to match.

"I shall hear no more of this!" Father grunted, passing Terra and moving toward the house, "You three are free to go about your day. I shall be meditating."

As Father passed out of earshot, Terra growled as he sat back on the grass. "There are people suffering because of them, and yet we sit here and do nothing! Of course all the Master will do is meditate!"

"Terra…" Aqua murmured, "I know it's frustrating, and Father is strict enough, but you know we're getting closer and closer! The Star Charts he drew up for the Lord Protector-they will lead us to whoever is working with Shinra!"

"Perhaps. Perhaps not." Terra sullenly responded, "What is for certain is the evil we know."

"Zack really could have helped, too…" Ven sighed, plopping down beside Terra, "He really is a good one, you guys…"

"We believe you, Ven," Aqua replied comfortingly, as she seemed to do more and more often nowadays. She often felt like she was trying desperately, vainly, to pull the retreating tide back onto the shore.

"The Master's just being paranoid about it." Terra shrugged.

"Just wait until the Princess' birthday." Aqua said, as she joined her brothers on the ground to watch the great clouds pass slowly overhead, "once we're in the Bastion, we'll get a closer look at who the Turks have been meeting."

Every three seconds, Vincent's right index finger tapped against the desk beside him. Not that he intended it to, or that he was counting it off—it just happened that way; the one uncontrollable expression of his inner tension—otherwise he was as unresponsive as ever. Temperature, posture, breathing, heartrate, nerves—all normal and well-regulated. But that finger did not stop its tapping.

Zack. Damn Zack; him and his stupid antics. Basically kicking down the door and ranting about whether Shinra was killing innocent people—what did he expect him to say? Did he think he could waltz right into the lobby and expect Vincent to shout out "Yes, indeed, we are murderers!"?

Even if that were true—which it wasn't-why would Zack think that would be the way to go? What fool promoted him and why?

But still, Vincent sighed internally, he couldn't get Zack's words out of his head. That earnesty; that overflowing cup of overconfident bluster—he never could be ignored; and especially not by Vincent—not since their days at the Academy when Zack had announced to the whole class that Vincent was "not some albino vampire" and demanded all taunting and aggression cease. Somehow, even though Zack was naught but a child then, it had worked.

And Vincent, sighing, had been forced to listen to him ever since—led, unwillingly, by his own undernourished heart.

With sharp tones, the clock in the President's office chimed out the hour. He was the Turk on guard in the lustrous office atop the Shinra Building. Tseng, Elena, Rude and Reno were elsewhere, with the President, as they all always were.

And with each chime, now matching time with the beat of Vincent's finger, he knew he could not simply dismiss Zack's words. He, and the Turks as a whole, had done…questionable things. But outright assassination? Was that what the President had graduated to?

With trained precision, Zack turned and marched into the gravira elevator and, punching in a series of numbers, felt it immediately descend beneath him. Floor by floor, window by window, until it passed the ground floor and entered the laboratories beneath the facility. There, weaponry was tested and R&D worked out under the oversight of Professor Hojo.

Vincent hated Professor Hojo. In fact, in his whole muted spectrum of emotion, Vincent was quite certain that his hatred for Hojo was that which he felt most acutely. His only comfort was that he was confident he made Hojo feel the same way. He wouldn't have even bothered coming down here to inquire if Hojo were the only power in the basement laboratories.

The elevator chimed one, two, three times—indicating the below-ground level he had entered.

Fortunately, there was someone else down here he could speak to.

The elevator slowed to a stop, its door pulled open and, much to Vincent's horror, she stood right there.

Her slight face; gentle brown eyes. Her hair was tied up differently today, wrapped up high above her head, only to fall back down behind her like a waterfall. Her white labcoat flourished around her like a ballroom dress as she turned, a slight, surprised, smile overtaking her lips.

"Lucretia."

"Vincent!" Lucretia briefly glanced over her shoulder as he stepped out onto the metal-grated floor, "What brings you down here?"

"Just a few questions." Vincent started, as he did his best to take in the giant machines covered in tubes and blinking lights that filled the hallway, rather than her. "I am investigating rumors in the Garden about…" he paused, "…unethical experiments performed under Shinra's auspices."

Lucretia paused. Vincent noticed her rolling a pen about in her left hand, while her right remained tucked in her coat pocket. "What kind of experiments?"

"Human experiments." Vincent replied, without hesitation.

With a slight laugh, Lucretia turned back to adjust some knobs on a wide computer, "I hope you realize how absurd that sounds, Vincent."

"I do." he lied, concerned that it wasn't so far outside the realm of Shinra's capabilities. The President had built something dangerous.

"And you think, what, that I'm hurting people down here?" Lucretia chided.

"No." Vincent responded, "That is why I am asking you."

"And not Hojo?"

Vincent nodded.

Lucretia sighed, "Well, if you can trust me, those rumors are unfounded. There is nothing going on down here other than boring computer simulations and never-ending gun testing." With a challenge to her voice, she continued, "If you are interested, we are in fact studying now the sub-atomic variations when combining orichalcum with differing levels of Fira mag—"

A metallic creak from down the hall caught the attention of Vincent's automatic responses and, in the blink of an eye, he had protectively pushed Lucretia back against the nearest wall and drawn his favored triple-barreled handgun.

"My, my, my, Vincent—awfully trigger-happy, aren't we?" Hojo's nasally, obnoxious voice echoed down the hall as the Professor's stooped form came into view. His small eyes peered with curiosity over his glasses at the two of them. "Normally, such visits from Turks are to be announced, eh?"

Vincent narrowed his eyes and slowly holstered his weapon, back at his side. He was slower to drop his arm from Lucretia, who had to pushed herself forward to get completely back on her feet.

"The President asked him to check on Project Cerberus, Professor." Lucretia replied, straightening her labcoat.

"And have you finished reporting?" Hojo questioned.

Looking back to Vincent, Lucretia nodded. "Yes, I have."

"Then come with me, Doctor. We have more work needed on…another project." Hojo held out a hand, gesturing Lucretia forward, deeper into the twisted metallic tunnels of the laboratory, which Vincent was considering more and more alike to the bowels of some increasingly unfamiliar beast.

Lucretia stooped to pick up the pen she had dropped with Vincent's sudden defense. "Have a good day, Vincent Valentine."

With that, and without a response offered from Vincent—for what reason, he did not know—her dark brown eyes broke from his and she quickly moved down the hallway to take Hojo's hand and vanished into the basement's maze.

Slowly, he turned back and punched the relevant numbers into the gravira elevator to return to the President's Office. As he waited for its descent, Vincent wondered if coming down here had been a mistake. It would be a lie to say that Lucretia had convinced him of all things being well. In fact, he was now less convinced than ever. He could see it in her eyes. He could sense it in the air. He knew it in his heart—what his colleagues were capable of.

The whir of the elevator came into earshot and he stepped inside, breathing still regular, heartbeat paced, but now it was his foot that was tapping.

What had he hoped to find down here? Answers? Hope? What was the point? Even if it were all true, what could he do?

He knew the terrible truth-he was in too deep and Lucretia with him.

Tifa wiped down another table, clearing all the leftover silverware and plates into a wide tray she carried. At least these ones left a satisfactory tip. She didn't particularly enjoy the work, nor did she particularly dislike it—it was a job, she was good at it, and she got paid enough for it. That was the long and the short of her relationship with the tavern.

Peaking over her shoulder, she caught again the tufts of Cloud's blonde hair peaking over the partition to the other side of the bar. She sighed, wondering when he would work up enough courage to talk with her. He probably didn't even realize that she knew he was there. Like most of the time, it was up to her.

Oh, Cloud…he was so…himself!

She checked the clock and looked over the bar again. The couple at table 2B seemed just about set, the old fogey on the stool had a tub of beer to set him up for another hour, and the group of friends meeting at 4A were, she thought, well-supplied with food and drink. It was the dreary hours of late afternoon, after all, and the perfect time—therefore—for a break.

Dropping her apron behind the bar, Tifa snatched up two bottles of ginger ale and marched around the partition, pausing only to shake her head at the back of Cloud's wild spikes. What a dummy. He wasn't even sitting—just standing there at attention beside a table, like it was his commanding officer.

"Surprise!" she announced, dropping one of the bottles in front of him before sliding into the seat across, "What's up?"

Cloud's frozen shock confirmed all she needed to know—he really thought she hadn't noticed him. His mouth worked up and down for minute before he suddenly blurted out, "I'm sorry about last night. You were right and I don't know why I—I…I…"

Tifa let him dwindle down before she popped the cap off her drink, "A whole ten or twelve words…" she sighed, smiling slightly, "You must really mean it."

Cloud nodded in response, "I…also brought you this."

Reaching beneath the table, Cloud produced a single flower, short and thin in stem, with five delicate petals sprouting from its tip. Their baby-blue shade brought a breath of clean air into Tifa's lungs, blown down from the cool of the autumnal mountains.

"You went back?" she asked, almost breathless, as she took the ever-so-small thing from Cloud's hand, turning it over to examine it in her own.

Cloud immediately shook his head. "A shop. In Kalm."

Tifa's eyes flickered to him and back—just a single flower, but bringing with it all the weight of younger times, of fresh air, of mountains and fields and a life before everything changed. It held in its frail form all of the good and none of the bad.

"Thank you." She said, cradling it in one hand, "and I'm sorry, too. We both got angry." With one hand, she popped the cap of her ale and took a drink, wondering if she should also tell him that her frustration came from his distance—which was almost always the same, whether home or away. Instead, it came out more like, "The drink's on the house, y'know."

After a pause, Cloud's shaking hand reached out to grab the bottle she had placed before him. Tifa's brow furrowed and she leaned forward, "What's wrong, Cloud? It's okay, I'm not upset with you."

He looked up from trying to pop the cap off, but his eyes passed by Tifa and caught something distant, outside, beyond the windows of the Seventh Heaven. His fingers immediately stiffened and the glass slipped straight through them, clattering to the table and spilling its contents.

Tifa's waitressing instincts only vaguely noticed, though, as she half-heartedly tossed a few napkins over the spill. Rather, she had leapt to her feet and dashed to the window—nearly knocking an exiting guest over on her way. Plastered to the glass, she took in the whole view—sunny evening sky, people walking by, normal storefront and stone houses of the Garden.

Turning back, she rushed to him, finding Cloud wiping up the spilt ale, eyes trained on the table. Leaning in close, worry knotting her chest, she cleared her throat until he looked up at her.

"What did you see? Was that it?"

Cloud nodded, his blue eyes wide.

"It was worse at Shinra."

"What?" Tifa replied, now taking his hand. She could feel his pulse racing.

"At the Shinra Building. It was the worst I'd ever felt. It was waiting." He tried to look down again, with some mix of fear and shame, but Tifa kept following him, "Just…hovering there."

Tifa bit her lip, "And you haven't talked to anyone about it? Zack? Aerith? All this time?"

"I don't notice it, most of the time."

"But you told me it follows you." Tifa replied, her eyes turning away briefly to scan the bar, "Where is it now?"

"I don't always. It was just there for a second." His eyes turned back to the windows, briefly, across the street and up to the blue stone roofs off the houses across the way.

Tifa moved to look again, knowing though that she wouldn't see anything, but Cloud's hand snapped out to her, grabbing it almost desperately. "Please don't—it's…better if you stay."

"What?" she asked, sliding in now to sit behind him, "Why?"

"It stays furthest away when you're here." Her cheeks warmed slightly as he spoke, but his eyes had dropped down to his lap. "It's like that with Zack, too. With Aerith. With Squall and Rinoa."

"But why, Cloud? What does it want?" she wrapped an arm around him, trying to bring his eyes up to meet hers—but when she did, they looked so distant. So fearful that she almost wished she hadn't seen them. When he spoke, his voice was a hoarse whisper.

"Everything."