There were things that Tifa expected to happen, and most of the scenarios she thought of ended with her landing on the ground hard. She didn't expect the arms wrapping around her as they landed softly on the ground.

But did he have to show off when he caught her? Did Kain really have to do a flip when he did?

You know, from this angle, I can almost see the rest of his face. She didn't know why that popped into her head. Then again, it could be because his face was always covered.

Just from their previous interactions in the last cycle, She could tell that Kain hated it when people stared at him. Tifa noticed who he would flinch slightly when he noticed that someone was staring at him for far too long.

Though at the moment, he either didn't care that she was staring at him, trying to get a better look at his face, or he didn't notice her staring. Tifa was pretty sure it was the former because it felt like he was staring down at her.

This was most likely just the adrenaline talking, but there was something about being in his arms that made her heart beat faster, and her face turned as red as a tomato.

"Are you alright?" it took her a minute to realize he had asked her a question. Tifa was too busy with thoughts about the knight- No, Dragoon holding her.

"Hmmm… oh! Yes, I'm fine, thank you," Tifa said once her mind started to work again.

To her utter disappointment, Kain slowly set her down. But was still close enough to catch her as she lost her footing.

"Sorry," Tifa muttered, and she straightened.

"It's fine…" he muttered.

"So, what is this place?"

Well, it looked like a school to her, but there was something off about it. Something didn't feel right. There was a strange sadness in the air.

"Who are you!" Tifa heard a voice call out, but something told her that it wasn't directed to her or Kain.

Then she saw them. One was a young boy with blonde hair, and the other was a man in black.

"No one of consequence," the man answered.

Something told her that was a lie...Kain must have had the same voice as he started running to the pair. It didn't take long for Tifa to follow.

The man noticed this, and the smile that was on his face only grew. It was like he was saying, oh look, new things to play with.

"Look out!" Kain said, managing to pull her towards him as something flew by Tifa's head.

At the same, the spear was thrown in her direction, a fireball headed towards the man who easily dogged it.

"Are you okay?" the blonde boy asked Tifa, but he didn't take his eyes off at the man. The boy was like a trained soldier, someone who knew that if you take your eyes off the enemy, it would be the end of him.

"Yes," Tifa answered, noticing the boy's weapon of choice… he was holding cards between his fingers, looking like he was going to throw them at their adversary.

"Oh, come now, I was only helping this boy," The man said.

"Help?" Tifa asked, putting her first up, preparing to fight, "I highly doubt that."

The man held a gloved hand over his heart, "oh, but I am. I swear."

"You attacked me," the boy growled.

Upon hearing those words, Tifa's body acted on its own. How dare someone hurt a child!

Her fist didn't connect with anything, and Tifa watched in horror as the man disintegrated into shadows. None of them could see him, but they could still hear his laughter.

She saw something from the corner of her eyes… the strange man, and as he lunged for her, Tifa knew she didn't have time to do anything.

No!

The air suddenly felt cold as ice appeared around her, surrounded them… and knocking the man back.

The man lost his smile then, in fact, he looked angry, A dagger suddenly appeared in his hand, and he threw it.

"Look out!" Kain pushed the boy away as the dagger flew towards the blonde. Tifa expected the knife to bounce off Kain's dark armor… but it didn't. Instead, the knife embedded itself into his shoulder.

Even though he flinched in pain, Kain stood tall and held up his spear.

The man's smile returned, "I'm afraid we must cut this off here… but we will meet again."

A gold portal appeared behind him, and before anyone could do anything, he jumped through.

"Are you okay," Tifa asked, and to her horror, Kain pulled out the bloody knife, "what are you doing?"

Kain turned his head to look at her for a moment but said nothing. And he started to walk away only to be stopped by the blonde boy.

"Your hurt," he said, "Before you do anything, you should treat the wound."

"He's right," Tifa said, grabbing his good arm, "we need to stop it from bleeding, and we don't want to risk an infection. Do you have anything we can wrap his shoulder with..."

"Ace, I'm Ace," the boy replied, "I can actually cast cure, but he has to stay still… and lean down.

Tifa and Ace looked at Kain, who sighed and kneeled down so they would check his wound and heal him.