While this is Clerifa, it takes somewhat of a backseat and Tifa/Aerith is the focus here. Cloud isn't present, but is mentioned.
Enjoy.
"Aerith?" Tifa sat up, groggily rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Blindly groping about the bed, Tifa soon realized the other woman was nowhere to be found.
Sitting up, Tifa scanned the dark room, lit only by the moonlight coming through the window, to find her girlfriend nowhere to be found. Not only that, her side of the bed was cool to the touch, too.
It was odd Tifa didn't wake up when Aerith did, usually she was the early riser. Maybe Aerith's heavy sleeping was starting to rub off on her. Regardless, Tifa suspected she knew where her erstwhile bedmate was.
Padding to the door on bare feet, Tifa made her way downstairs to the empty and closed bar. She didn't need to even bother with the lights, the moon gave her plenty to light her way.
Tifa found Aerith exactly where she suspected, sitting on the windowsill of the large picture window in the front. The window offered a perfect view of the path leading to the bar's front, especially if one was waiting for the arrival of someone, like what Aerith was no doubt doing now. The window itself was wide open, with the warm breeze of summer air periodically coming through.
Aerith almost resembled some ghostly maiden, illuminated only by the light of the full moon outside. Her hair, usually up in her customary braid, now dangled and flowed freely like a river over her shoulders and back.
AS Tifa watched, Aerith fidgeted in place and chewed on her lip. Something Tifa long ago learned was a tell that she was excited or worried. This time, it was easy for Tifa to figure out it was the latter.
Not wanting to startle her too badly, Tifa approached and aimed for the creaky floorboards at the base of the stairs. Just as Tifa planned, the sound split through the quiet and Aerith's head shot up in Tifa's direction.
"Oh, Tifa. I didn't wake you, did I?"
"Nope." Tifa trekked across the room to join her girlfriend at the window. "Woke up a second or two ago."
Tifa was barely seated before Aerith crossed the distance between them and turned around to lay with her back to Tifa's front. Tifa's arms already moving to encircle the slightly older woman's middle.
"Better?" Tifa planted a soft kiss to the crown of Aerith's head before burying her nose in Aerith's hair, inhaling a deep whiff of the floral scent that Aerith seemed to radiate.
"Much. Thanks." Aerith happily snuggled into her girlfriend's loving embrace, much like a kitten eager for affection.
"So, are you going to tell me what you're doing still up?" Tifa asked, her lips touching feather light kisses to Aerith's bare shoulders. It didn't take an expert to feel the tension in Aerith's muscles. Tifa knew exactly what to do about that.
"Admiring the moon?" Aerith offered as a weak excuse while practically purring at her girlfriend's ministrations.
"Really?"
"No." Aerith sighed.
Tifa said no more, in their years together she'd learned when to pry and when not to. Aerith trusted her and Cloud wholeheartedly, so when there was an issue, she would come to them on her own. That being said, Tifa already knew what was troubling her, but she would wait until Aerith was ready.
While she did, Tifa continued kissing along her girlfriend's shoulders and the back of her neck. Just as TIfa hoped, some of the tension in the girl's body evaporated. Tifa only paused when her lips accidentally touched a certain stretch of skin marred by an ugly burn scar.
"Sorry." Aerith went from partially relaxed to hyper tensed again. It wasn't something they talked about or brought up very often. None of them liked talking about it. The memory was too painful for all involved.
"Hey, now." Tifa rested her head on Aerith's shoulder this time. "We've been over this. You have nothing to be sorry for."
"But…"
"Ah ah." Tifa gently cut her off. "No buts."
"Okay…"
The comfortable silence between the two stretched on for a little longer before it was finally broken by Aerith.
"I miss him."
"I know." It was exactly as Tifa thought. "I miss him too, but he'll be back soon. You know that."
"I do, but…" Aerith hesitated. "I'm scared history is just going to repeat itself and… I don't know if my heart can take that again. I know I have you, and always will, but…"
"Is it because of… Zack?"
Aerith nodded slowly.
Tifa wanted to reassure Aerith that everything would be fine, but she knew there was little she could say that would actually put the girl at ease. Most words would just wind up being empty platitudes.
Much like the scar, Zack's tale was one they all knew but didn't speak about. Yes, Aerith was long over the man, but you don't just forget about the first person you loved. Tifa was fortunate, Cloud was her first and he came back to her. Then she found a second person to love in the energetic and sassy Aerith.
A tiny traitorous part of Tifa was grateful Zack never returned. It made her feel horrible whenever it popped into her head, but it was a truth Tifa could not deny. Yet, the pain it caused Aerith… sometimes Tifa wondered if she was every bit the awful girlfriend she often felt like.
Tifa mentally shoved all that aside. Zack was ancient history, and there was a different man that truly occupied Tifa's thoughts.
Not for the first time, Tifa wondered if Cloud should have passed on this job. The money was good, sure. Enough to get them through the next month and allow them to finish the renovations of their new bar years ahead of their first estimates.
A week of guardian a supply caravan, something so beneath Cloud's skill level to be almost laughable. But the owner was paranoid and willing to shell out a lot of money to hire on what he thought was a first-class SOLDIER for his and his company's protection. The three of them knew better Cloud wasn't actually a SOLDIER, but seeing as how Cloud spent so many years believing it himself, none of them saw a reason to abandon the charade. Plus, it made for good advertising.
The entire arrangement was almost too good to be true, but such was life. Sometimes it threw you a bone and good things just happened for no reason. For crying out loud, look at the three of them. None of them had it easy in life and yet here they were, happier together than they could ever remember alone.
Life was strange that way.
There was little actual danger in the job, but the whole situation exacted an enormous psychological toll on Aerith. Especially seeing as how, after their final victory over Sephiroth, the three of them rarely spent more than half a day apart from each other.
Cloud almost turned the job offer down at the last second. If Aerith hadn't mustered enough courage to tell him it was fine along with one of her best dazzling smiles, he would have. Said courage lasted about a day after Cloud left. Aerith was nearly a nervous wreck, barely smiling, eating little, and waking up each night to sit here in the window.
In fact, if Tifa was being honest with herself, the only reason Cloud was alright with the whole thing, was that he knew Tifa was here to look after Aerith. She would allow no harm to come to their girlfriend. Both the physical and the mental.
Tifa just wished she knew how to help. Give her an intruder or monster and she'd clobber it a dozen ways into next week to protect one of her two loves. Give her fear and a heaping helping of abandonment issues and she was powerless. Dear Gaia did Tifa wish there was something to punch or kick!
Out of absolute nowhere, Aerith suddenly jumped to her feet with a gasp.
"Tifa!" Now there was that Aerith smile that made Tifa's stomach flutter. "I just had an idea!"
"No, we're not going on another road trip after Cloud." Tifa decided to nip this in the bud before Aerith could get too far ahead of herself. "Remember last time?"
"What?" Aerith's brow furrowed in confusion before her lips raised into an enthusiastic grin. "No, that's plan C. I gotta better idea!"
"Okay." Tifa couldn't help it, now she was smiling like a loon, too. Aerith's excitement was contagious at the best of times, and this one was no different. "What are we doing?"
"Come on!" Aerith grabbed Tifa by the hands and hauled her to her feet and dragged her toward the stairs leading to their upstairs apartment. "I can't believe I didn't think of this earlier!"
"Think of what?" Tifa tried to get Aerith to give her some information to work with, but it was to no avail.
Jumping back into their bed, Aerith patted the space in front of her for Tifa to sit.
"Now what?" Tifa asked once she was down with her legs crossed, Aerith in a matching pose.
"Um… we, uh…" Aerith's looked like she just had some big realization. It was a look Tifa recognized. She'd had an idea, such as points A and C, but forgot point B and how to get there.
Flustered was an adorable look on her, though.
"Crap." Aerith muttered.
"What were you going to try to do?"
"Call Cloud." Aerith said it like it was the simplest thing in the world. As if she knew right where he was and could magically contact…
Hold on…
"Is this related to that one time you talked to Cloud, back after the sector 7 plate fell?" Tifa remembered a story Cloud had told her once, and the details of that conversation. It seemed too strange and unlikely to believe, and Tifa had written it off as a dream born from stress and nerves at the time, but they had seen a lot weirder things since.
"It might be." Aerith meekly spoke, looking anywhere but at Tifa, a faint trace of crimson creeping up her chest and shoulders, much to Tifa's delight.
"When you told him not to fall in love with you?" Tifa's grin grew in proportion to Aerith's blush.
"It might be." Aerith repeated again, her face burning by now.
"Didn't go so well, did it?" Tifa teased before breaking off into a giggle.
"Can it, Tifa." Aerith scowled, but the sight was every bit as adorable as the rest of her.
"Okay." Tifa cleared her throat in an attempt to stifle the rest of her laugher. "Let's figure this out, how did you do it last time?"
"I'm actually not sure." Aerith confessed. "I was in my old room and… I didn't know what happened to you guys. I hoped, I prayed harder than I ever have, that all of you made it to safety, that you weren't hurt."
Tifa had taken Aerith's hand in hers before she even realized she was doing it, and gave it a reassuring squeeze. That was a dark day for almost everyone. Barret, Aerith, Cloud, Tifa, the people of the slums, the people on the plate, nobody walked away clean from that horror.
"All I could do was tell myself that you were all alright and eventually I managed to fall asleep. Well, pass out is more like it. It'd been an exhausting couple days." Aerith continued speaking while bringing Tifa's hand up to press into her cheek. "I thought I was dreaming of my garden at home and I was looking over the flowers when I saw Cloud there. Somehow, I just… knew, it wasn't a dream, and he was there."
"Surprised you didn't kiss him right then and there." Tifa smirked.
"Thought about it." Aerith let out a dreamy sigh, obviously imagining exactly such a scenario. "Thought hard about it but I physically couldn't. And even if I could…"
"You still thought you were fated to die." Tifa answered so Aerith didn't have to. Even then, the thought was like an icicle through Tifa's heart. Not too different from whenever she felt Aerith's scar.
"I did." Aerith nodded. "My plan to spare him a broken heart would have gone to hell if I did, so I held back."
"How did you do it, though?" Tifa was stumped. This was way outside her field of expertise. Aerith was the one with the fancy Cetra powers none of them understood. "Did you, like, focus really hard or something?"
"I guess?" Aerith shrugged, every bit as perplexed as her girlfriend.
"Then try that." Tifa took hold of Aerith's other hand in hers and gently held both atop their touching knees. "Just think about Cloud, close your eyes and imagine it's his hands your holding now. Imagine he's right here in the room with you. Imagine how much he must miss you and want to see you, too."
"Kinda hard."
"Why's that?"
Aerith had taken Tifa's advice and closed her eyes but opened one to look at Tifa for a moment. "Because I want to be holding both you."
"Of course." Tifa smiled warmly. "But I'm here and Cloud isn't, so focus on him for now. I miss him, too, but you're the one who needs him right now. I can be patient. I waited five years and some change. What's a couple more days?"
"Still be better if I could take you with me." Aerith took in a few deep breaths and shut her eyelids once more.
Instead of answering, Tifa remained quiet so her voice wouldn't distract Aerith from her task.
Slowly, Aerith's breath evened out. Tifa almost thought her girlfriend had fallen asleep, if it wasn't for the gentle grip on her hands telling her otherwise. Aerith sat still as a statue, and Tifa grinned in joy that they'd succeeded.
Tifa might be unable to help, but hopefully seeing and talking to Cloud would do wonders for the girl.
"Damn it." Aerith swore, eyes opening, dashing Tifa's hopes in the process.
"Still nothing?"
"Nope…"
"Were you laying down back then?"
"Now that I think about it, yeah, I think so. Not unless I passed out sitting up."
"Let's try that and get you comfy. We'll set up some of the pillows and make a nice spot for you to relax." Tifa tried to pull her hands away, but Aerith's grip was like iron. Aerith might be the physically weakest one of their trio, but she could be deceptively strong when she wanted to be.
"Tifa, what gives? Why are you trying so hard?" Aerith looked Tifa square in the eye. "I'm grateful, make no mistake. But, I mean, I know you care, a lot, but you seem… a little too eager. What's going on?"
"It's because…" Tifa knew there was no point in lying. Even if Aerith didn't have a built-in lie-detector where Tifa and Cloud were concerned, which Tifa was still sure she did, she'd never been able to deny her girlfriend anything. Especially when those beautiful emerald eyes were solely focused on her. "I've been really worried about you, and… I've been so useless."
"Tifa…"
"No, it's true." Tifa didn't allow Aerith to stop her. "You've been hurting and all I've been doing is sitting here telling you it's going to be alright. I haven't done a single damn thing to…"
Tifa was unable to finish before Aerith lurched up to tackle her girlfriend and throw her arms around the younger woman.
"You're not useless." Aerith's arms tightened around her. "You're the only thing that's made this all bearable. You help more than you know just by being here."
"I…"
"Shut up." Aerith's voice was gentle, without a single drop of venom. "If it wasn't for you, I would have already gone insane and gone running after Cloud or worse. You've been here patiently looking after me and I wish I knew how to thank you properly. You're one of my two everythings and I love you."
"I wish I knew what to say…" Tifa's voice caught in her throat.
"I love you, too, might be a good start."
"I love you, too."
"Good, now how about I am not useless?"
"I am…"
"Yes?"
"I am not useless."
"What? I don't think I heard you." Aerith cupped her hand behind her ear. "Speak up."
"I am not useless!"
"That's better." Aerith's smiled brighter than the sun as she looked down at her girlfriend, her forehead coming down to rest against Tifa's. Emeralds meeting rubies before both drifted closed.
Neither said another word after that. Both simply took a moment to bask in the moment and their warmth and affection for the other. Sure, they were a third short of their whole, but even with just the two of them, it was worth savoring.
This was originally inspired by the Aerith resolution scene from the remake. I was going to have Aerith's attempt at contacting Cloud work instead of fail (and Tifa joining in on their dream reunion) but I figured some one on one time with Tifa and Aerith made for a better story. Even in triad poly stories, there's three pairs at work and each need their time.
Who knows, I might do a follow up involving Cloud if people are interested in that.
Let me know what you all think!