Healing In Your Arms

A Final Fantasy VII Fanfiction

By ArcaneWeapon

The idea for this story came to me after I finished doing the rewrite on the fifth chapter of New Friends, New Enemies. The scene with Cloud and Aerith learning more about each other just really resonated with me, and I wanted to focus on that and make it the core aspect of a story. Most of my other stories have had antagonists pushing the plot forward for the heroes to save the day in the end. Not so this time. I want to narrow in on the relationships between Cloud, Aerith, and Tifa this time, and at least attempt to tell a story about what it means to feel; both for yourself, and for others.

While I wrote this originally as a one-shot, it ended up growing far beyond my expectations. I never planned on including chapters, so instead, I've broken it into sections which, hopefully, feel natural together. I'll be posting three of these sections a week, which means the full story should be up before the end of the year.

I, of course, also have to give an immense thank you to Lichtschwert for helping to beta this entire story. You've gone well above and beyond the call of duty and truly helped raise the quality of this story. I cannot express enough how much your help has meant to me. Thank you so much!

Tifa let out a defeated breath, reaching the conclusion she'd been heading towards for what felt like a week now. She'd tried so hard to make this work. It hadn't helped. Because, at the end of the day, she was only half of the equation.

She lay on her back in her bed, one hand resting on her forehead, partially covering her eyes. Tifa was wearing only her underwear under the sheets, her typical choice for the hot summer nights that were so common this time of year in Midgar. "Cloud," she murmured, not looking over at the man in question lying under the sheets on the other side of the bed. "I think we should break up."

"I'm sorry," was Cloud's only response, causing her to frown in frustration.

"Don't," she warned. "You know I hate it when you apologize for something that's not your fault."

She felt his body shifting on the other side of the bed—presumably in discomfort—before stilling again. "Sorry," he whispered.

Tifa let out a loud sigh of exasperation, rolling her eyes, having already anticipated his follow up from past experience. "It's not your fault," she repeated, being completely honest. "I… I just can't take this anymore." She glanced over at him from the corner of her eye and saw him nodding softly in response.

"I know. I get it Tifa, I really do," he replied, his voice surprisingly gentle. "I just wish I could have made you happy."

Tifa shifted over onto her side, putting her back to Cloud, not wanting him to see the tears in her eyes. She took a moment before responding, trying to prevent those same tears from impacting her voice. "You idiot, you did make me happy."

She could feel him move on his side of the bed again, part of her wishing he was closing the distance between them. She wanted to feel him wrap his arms around her and hold her close against his chest in an embrace. But Tifa knew that that was just a fantasy, something Cloud would simply never do. No, he was probably only getting comfortable to fall asleep. She'd never felt so lonely before. So lost.

"Good night, Tifa," he said quietly.

"Night Cloud," she whispered back. "Sleep well."

She sobbed silently to herself—her body softly shaking—making sure not to let any sound escape her lips, as she thought back on the past few months and wished things had worked out differently.

When Tifa woke up and rolled over to find the other side of the bed empty the next morning, she wasn't surprised. Hurt he'd felt the need to leave before she woke, but not surprised. She'd known what she was signing up for, after all. Cloud had been very clear about it from the moment she'd asked him out. She hadn't realized how much he'd meant it. How broken he truly was.

If anything, it only firmed her resolve that breaking up with him had been the right decision. For both of them.

Slapping her cheeks with both hands, she sat up and let out a deep breath. "Come on Tifa, up and at 'em."

Aerith yawned, putting a hand over her mouth to be polite until it had faded. Then, she moved her hand to the door of Seventh Heaven and pushed it open, before stepping inside. Someone who didn't know better might have found it strange, seeing a young woman her age walking into what looked like a fairly run-down bar so early in the morning. Of course, all the locals knew that if you wanted the best breakfast for miles around, there was no better place.

As Aerith entered the bar, she glanced around at the cozy interior, recognizing a few familiar faces she smiled at. Her attention was drawn to the dark-haired woman standing behind the counter, chatting and laughing with a customer. She made her way over to the counter, passing by a jukebox that was currently silent, a well-used dart board, and the annoyingly loud pinball table. Taking a seat at one of the empty stools, Aerith couldn't help but notice Tifa had faint, dark circles under her eyes. She frowned in concern. In the many years she had known Tifa, she couldn't recall her friend ever looking this… disheveled. Once Tifa had finished serving the customer she'd been chatting with, she walked over to lean against the counter opposite Aerith, picking up a dirty glass and idly starting to clean it.

"You alright?" Aerith asked worriedly. "You're looking a little under the weather this morning..."

Tifa sighed softly under her breath, her eyes closing briefly. "I broke up with my boyfriend last night," she explained sourly, her mouth twisting.

Aerith froze, eyes wide, worried she'd inadvertently stepped on a landmine and unsure what to say next.

"Lighten up a little," Tifa laughed, although Aerith thought it sounded forced. "It's... not that big of a deal."

"Did… did he hurt you?" Aerith asked softly, her eyes fixed on the bar.

"What? No, no of course not!" Tifa vehemently denied.

"Then he cheated on you?" she demanded, a hint of anger in her voice. "He had to have done something wrong, otherwise, you wouldn't look so crushed."

"No! Nothing like that!" Tifa put the glass she'd been cleaning down on the bar, and leaned over, Aerith feeling her friend's hand cupping her cheek. She let her head be lifted so she was now looking into Tifa's crimson eyes.

"Look… I know what you're getting at, but this… this isn't like what happened to you, okay?" Tifa said gently.

Aerith slowly nodded her head, a single tear tracing its way down her cheek. "You'd been together for so long though…" she said hesitantly, sniffing as she wiped the tear away.

"Well… it was only six months…"

Aerith felt like a void had opened inside her. Six months seemed like an eternity to her. It always hurt when she realized how distorted her reality was from what was apparently normal.

"Seriously, don't worry about it, okay? The breakup was mutual. We just didn't... work. I'm fine," Tifa said, smiling warmly.

Aerith relaxed slightly and smiled back at her friend, nodding as she felt some of the tension drain from her body. Tifa stood back up, grabbing the glass she'd set down and resuming the same motion of cleaning it with the cloth in her other hand, a somewhat awkward silence settling between them. Aerith was pretty sure it wasn't possible for that glass to get any cleaner, but she wasn't going to point that out.

"What was his name?" Aerith asked curiously after a few moments had passed. "Now that I actually think about it, I can't remember you ever mentioning it, not even once."

Tifa grimaced slightly, her hands faltering for a moment before they resumed their movement. "It's weird, I know," she admitted. "I guess I just always had this feeling that things wouldn't work out in the end, so I never brought it up. Since it looks like I was right, there's not really any reason to even mention it now."

Aerith frowned at this, but let it go, not wanting to push on something that didn't matter anymore. She was a little hurt her friend didn't seem to want to share it with her, but at the same time, Aerith completely understood the power a name could hold. Her stomach decided to make its displeasure with this long conversation known, as it let out a loud grumble, Tifa giggling as she heard it. Aerith joined in, and she felt the last of her tension fade away as she laughed with her friend.

"Let's get you taken care of. I assume you want the usual?" Tifa asked, already turning to start preparing the meal.

Aerith nodded, smiling back at her friend as they slipped into a lighter conversation about weekend plans.

Cloud wasn't sure what he was doing as he wandered through the streets of Midgar. An hour ago he'd been sitting in his apartment, mindlessly flicking through channels on the television, wondering why he kept putting others through the pain of a breakup. He knew he should feel more than he did, if not the pain he could read on his partner's face, or hear in their voice, then at least anything more than only the faint sadness and regret he was left with. For once, the breakup with Tifa last week had actually come close.

As he'd lain there in bed, feeling the mattress quivering softly with her sobbing, he'd thought there had been a faint twinge of... something. It had been so long, however, since he'd last felt anything like it, that he wasn't quite able to place it. That didn't prevent him from staring up at the ceiling, unable to sleep, however. No, if anything, the one thing Cloud was excellent at was castigating himself for his past mistakes as he failed to sleep.

He knew he was broken, more importantly, he knew why he was broken. Not that knowing made it any easier or caused him not to blame himself. Before he'd agree to start dating anyone, he always made sure to tell them the what, but not the why. Never the why.

He felt it was only fair to let them know what they were getting into. More often than not they'd dismiss it, assuming he was being shy. They would reassure him that with them, things would be different. It wasn't like Cloud wanted to be like this, though, so he'd reluctantly agree to try, to see if maybe they were right. So far, at least, that had never been the case.

Glancing around, he realized in his wanderings through the back streets of the city, he'd ended up getting himself lost. Cloud saw a small flower stall across the street, but couldn't see anyone working there to get directions from. He wondered who would set up shop here, given how remote the location was, not to mention the danger of this area. Sighing, he leaned against the wall of the building next to him, glancing at the wide variety of flowers on display, as he pulled his phone from his pocket to get directions back home.

He froze when he saw Tifa's smiling face on the lock screen, cursing himself under his breath for not having replaced it yet. Deciding it was well past time, Cloud snapped a quick picture of the flowers to use for now, until he could find something better. It wasn't that he wanted to forget Tifa, he just didn't like the constant reminder that he'd failed once again.

If anything, despite its short length, their relationship had been one of the best Cloud could remember in a very long time. Tifa had been kind and understanding of his situation. She hadn't tried to force him out of his comfort zone. He'd felt himself hoping that maybe this time things would be different. Of course, in retrospect, he realized that had been silly. Things would never change. Not for him.

"I don't mind you looking, but this is a shop," a woman's voice said, tinged with a hint of playful humor. "You can always buy some of the flowers to take back home to stare at so intently if you'd like."

Cloud was yanked out of his thoughts as he looked over at the young woman who'd appeared behind the counter and had just addressed him. She was wearing a simple, pink dress, that, for some reason, seemed far too large for her. Her brown hair was done up in a single braid that descended just past her waist, but left her bangs flowing down over her shoulders.

"I wasn't staring," he eventually responded, unsure of what else to say.

He watched as one corner of her mouth twitched upward in a smile, her emerald eyes twinkling. Those eyes in particular captured him. Cloud had never seen ones so full of life before. And yet... at the same time, there was something strangely familiar lurking in their depths.

"If you say so," she replied, turning away and returning her focus back to the plants.

Cloud moved to look back at his phone for directions, but found his attention instead drawn to the woman as she moved from display to display. He was taken aback by how carefully and gently she treated each of the flowers, as she watered them and trimmed their stems. Almost like a mother looking after her children. Cloud honestly wasn't sure he'd ever seen someone so clearly passionate about what they did for a living.

"Can I help you?" the woman asked, again catching him off guard as he snapped back to reality. "I don't mean to be rude, but it's rather uncanny having a SOLDIER watching me so closely as I tend to my shop. Is… something wrong?"

There was a slight hint of aggression, mixed with something like fear, in her tone, and Cloud realized he was probably scaring her. He wasn't exactly sure why.

"Ex-SOLDIER," Cloud clarified. "Nothing's wrong, sorry for disturbing you," he finished brusquely, turning around to leave.

"I thought SOLDIERs served for life?" he heard her ask from behind him, a note of surprise and confusion clear in her voice.

Cloud glanced back over his shoulder at her. "They do."