Disclaimer: Final Fantasy, characters and everything associated with the Final Fantasy world belong to Square Enix.

Summary: In which Tifa fights alone and drinks lots of Remedies.

Warnings: Please note that some of the stories will contain spoilers or reference to the original game, Advent Children, Dirge of Cerberus, Crisis Core and Remake.

~Fortitude~

She was an absolute hypocrite.

Tifa did not want to admit it to herself because she had given Cloud a lot of grief about this very thing with her constant nagging.

She made him promise her to never allow anything get between them and to always be honest.

Yet she decided this was something that didn't need to be known. It was minor, nothing to be worried about. She could fight through it.

Tifa was inflicted with far worse ailments before, and this was something that a simple bottle of Remedy couldn't cure.

Gulping down a third bottle for the day, Tifa continued on with her routine at Seventh Heaven as normal.

Within the span of two hours into the evening rush, she had stumbled a few times, nearly tipping mixed drinks over her customers.

Fortunately, Tifa quickly regained her balance and it looked like she was simply just showing off her new Barmaid dance moves, grooving along to a techno-beat song called "Let the battle begin! -REMAKE-" that was taking Edge by storm.

There was some confusion with two or three orders of food, but with her sweet charming smile, most of the customers were too drunk to notice or care.

She managed to get away with it all.

Denzel and Marlene did not notice a thing either, and Tifa wanted to keep it that way. The kids definitely did not need to worry, because if they did, they would tell on her. Those kids were good kids, but were such tattletales.

When she began to feel a migraine come around, she downed her last drop of Remedy. The sour liquid stung her throat, but it helped, just a little.

Tifa closed her eyes for just a moment and took a deep breath. She wiped the sweat off her forehead and then let out a slow sigh. Her breathing exercises, which Zangan taught her long ago, helped keep her calm.

She had overcome this before. It had only been three days now since it started. She was sure this would be the last of the symptoms.

Cloud had caught her resting her head against the refrigerator, which surprised her as she was just standing by the bar mixing drinks...Or was she cooking in the kitchen?

She couldn't remember what she was doing at the exact moment. She had a white towel in her hand, and noticed that the bar was now silent and empty.

"Tifa?" Cloud turned her to face him.

"Hmmm…?" Tifa swayed back and forth, unable to keep her head from spinning or the image of Cloud from getting blurry.

"Hey, you ok?" He reached up and brushed a few out of place locks from her face.

The moment his fingers touched her burning skin, Tifa knew she was done for. She couldn't hold this facade any longer.

Tifa hoped to avoid him until she got better. He had been away on odd delivery jobs and returned late at night, so she had been lucky until now.

With all her might, she wanted to gaze deeply into those magnificent mako eyes and tell him that she was fine.

But she couldn't lie to Cloud. She was tired of this.

Just seeing him made her heart thump rapidly and breathing erratic.

Tifa spiraled into his arms and let out a sob, "I'm so sorry Cloud."

Cloud thought he knew her well enough that she would never in a million years do something as stupid as this.

He swallowed the angry words he wanted to throw at her and quickly carried her up to her bedroom.

When he attempted to step out to grab her a cup of water, Tifa begged for him to not leave her side.

She reached out from underneath the blankets and wrapped her fingers around his wrist, gripping as tightly as she could in her weak state, "Are you angry with me?"

Cloud did not glance back at her or give a reply.

"I know, I messed up and lied to you." Tifa placed the back of her other hand across her forehead, "I didn't want you all to worry. There are so many other things that need to be done, and I..."

Cloud spun around and threw his arms into the air, "You've overworked yourself and Remedy bottles aren't the best to take when you have a burning fever!"

"I guess that means you'll have to take care of me then?" Tifa looked up at him innocently. She pulled the covers up where only the top of her head and eyes were shown.

It was exactly what Marlene did to get out of trouble. And somehow, it worked out for Tifa.

"Yeah, until you are fully recovered." Cloud's voice was soft and soothing now. He gently placed his forehead against hers, "It's the least I can do. You've done so much for us."

Tifa blinked at his odd forehead touching gesture. "What are you doing, Cloud?"

Cloud pulled away and shrugged, "Checking your temperature?"

"Silly, that only works on precious children..." Tifa let out a soft yawn at the end of her sentence. With her eyes drooping, she finally drifted off into a deep slumber.

Cloud gazed longingly at her serene face. Knowing full well she wasn't going to hear him, he replied back in the barest whisper,

"You're precious to me.."

~owari