21 November 1989

Cloud stood on tiptoe atop the water tower, leaning over the edge of the well and looking inside. The stars in the night sky reflected nicely onto the water, and he was mesmerized by the sight. He shivered and sat back down on the edge of the tower, clutching at his arms for warmth.

He lost track of how long he had been waiting. He crossed his arms and sighed, frustrated and defeated. He swung his legs, staring down where his black shirt covered his dark green shorts.

His ears caught the sound of footsteps. Not turning his head, he continued to listen, hearing the cause of the noise coming closer and climbing up the tower.

"Sorry I'm late," he heard a voice say softly. Again he heard the footsteps. From the corner of his eye, he could see Tifa sitting down close to him. He did a double-take when he caught a glimpse of a bright-colored fabric.

She was wearing a short summer dress which very light shade of green and matching shoes with low heels. Cloud turned away and stared ahead into space to hide his confused expression.

"You said you wanted to talk to me about something?" Tifa half asked, half stated.

Still looking down, Cloud mumbled, "I'm sorry."

"Huh?"

"I said I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"For making you fall."

"You were there?"

"...yeah."

"I didn't notice."

The silence came suddenly, creating an awkward and slightly uncomfortable tension. The blond could not believe it. He almost refused to. But deep down, he knew it was true. He'd suspected he was invisible to Tifa, but he had been constantly hoping the opposite after that one day, many years ago.

After a while, Cloud tilted his head up a little to look at the night sky and quickly gathered his thoughts. He took a breath and said, "Come this spring, I'm leaving this town for Midgar."

"...all boys are leaving this town," Tifa remarked, as if it were common knowledge.

Cloud swallowed his disappointment at his failure to impress. He then shook his head slowly. "But I'm different from all of them. I'm not just going to find a job."

He stood up again, this time to make his next point come across better.

"I want to join SOLDIER."

Tifa looked at her feet with a neutral expression.

Not discouraged by her apparent disinterest, Cloud continued with growing excitement, "I'm going to be the best there is, just like Sephiroth!"

His heart fluttered at the mention of the silver-haired-man's name. He was hit by nostalgia and the yearning desire to see his best friend again.

"Sephiroth... The Great Sephiroth," Tifa said lowly, almost to herself.

Feeling good again for the time being, Cloud walked around and climbed up to where he could rest his elbows on the edge of the well. He pushed himself up, and, carefully, spread his arms to keep his balance on the small spot. He smiled and nodded, paying no mind to the cold air or to the fact that Tifa wasn't even looking at him.

"Isn't it hard to join SOLDIER?"

Cloud nodded again, getting serious this time. His mood also dropped a little as he began to really think about it again.

"...I probably won't be able to come back to this town for a while," he said, looking down at his reflection in the water.

Tifa giggled.

"What?" Cloud asked, slightly offended.

"Will you be in the newspapers if you do well?"

Cloud nearly scoffed. He didn't care about the fame. All he wanted was to be by Sephiroth's side again. If he could work with the man and complete Shinra's missions... That was his real goal in life, if only for the moment.

Having no real way to explain his thoughts and not wanting to, Cloud simply said, "I'll try."

"Hey, why don't we make a promise?" Tifa turned around to look at Cloud.

Cloud didn't answer. He did not expect that at all.

"Umm, if you ever get really famous and I'm ever in a bind..." Tifa continued anyways, "you come save me, alright?"

"What?" Cloud blurted with disbelief.

"Whenever I'm in trouble, my hero will come and rescue me," Tifa said, a dreamy tone creeping into her voice. "I want to experience that at least once."

"What?" Cloud repeated. He got down from the well. He could not believe what Tifa was saying. She wasn't serious, was she?"

"Come on!" Tifa said loudly, almost demandingly. "Promise me!"

She was. Cloud was tempted to immediately say no, but he held his tongue. Reluctantly, he said, "Alright. I promise."

Tifa stood up, a huge grin on her face. She approached Cloud shyly, looking him right in the eyes.

"Well, it's getting late. Thank you for inviting me out here. I had fun, but I need to go home now."

"Yeah," Cloud muttered, wondering just what he got himself into. "Sure..."

Tifa smiled at him again. "I'll see you soon. Bye." She walked past the blond and climbed down the well, heading to her home.

Cloud looked at the stars again, his thoughts returning to Sephiroth. Just as he wished yet again to see him again, he swore he saw a shooting star fly by.

17 January 1990

Normally, Cloud was one to walk away from fights. He was not fond of them at all and hated trouble. Since his extended stay with his mother, the boys of the town had taken an unwanted interest in him. He had no problem avoiding their jeers and attempts to fight. But this time, he really couldn't avoid it.

Almost reflexively, Cloud elbowed a boy in the stomach when he deliberately approached him from behind. He shuffled away quickly, using his skills earned from the many times he'd been physically attacked to his advantage.

The blond didn't stick around for very long before he took off for Mt. Nibel. He took a detour around the bridge and only slowed his pace when he lost sight of his chasers.

Scoffing at their cowardice, Cloud put his hands in his pockets and walked the rest of the way up the mountain. No sense in returning to town with so many of the inhabitants turning on him at once.

He wasn't quite sure what he did wrong, but fights between him and some of the boys around his age seemed to be breaking out more and more often lately. As he stepped into one of the caves close to Sephiroth's house, he wondered what Tifa thought of him and the fighting after that promise he'd had to make her.

"It has been some time since you have returned."

"Do you even care anymore?" Cloud asked rhetorically as he passed by Jenova.

"I am simply stating a fact."

"A very useless one," Cloud muttered under his breath. His skin crawled when he became aware of Jenova following so close behind him he had little personal space. He hated when she did that.

"Are you making trouble? Is that why you decided to return?"

"Trouble decided to find me and force me to return, yeah." Cloud opened the door and entered the house, heading towards the stairs.

"Are you not glad I had taught you how to defend yourself?"

Cloud stopped on the first step. "What do you mean, taught? You haven't taught me anything. Ever."

"I am sure you remember quite clearly."

Cloud snorted. "You mean the times you and your kids would beat the hell out of me?"

"I prefer to call it training."

"Yeah? Well it was the worst excuse for training I had ever seen." Cloud clenched a fist.

"You will be grateful later. You plan to join the Shinra, yes? How could you expect to join in the past when you were so weak?"

The blond grit his teeth. "I don't appreciate your 'training.' It was terrible. It was awful."

"Awful and terrible, yes. But useful nonetheless."

Cloud shook his head. "Do you even know what that did to me? Do you even know at all? Look at it from my view."

"When you see it through my eyes, you will understand."

Seething now, Cloud climbed up the stairs. There was no arguing with Jenova when she refused to see things another way.

Opening the door to Sephiroth's room, he froze when he saw Yazoo sitting on Sephiroth's bed.

The second eldest of the silver-haired brothers gave him an unreadable expression before standing to leave.

"It smells too much like you now," he said quietly as he left and walked into the darkness of the end of the hallway.

Notes:

Started: 2015年5月1日（金）

Finished: That same day.

I'm just as surprised as you are for such a quick update. And only a day afterwards, to boot. Though to be honest, I cheated. A lot of the dialog from the first half of the chapter was taken from the original game and altered a bit to fit the AU. Expect a short delay for the next chapter. I have a few things to take care of before I can work on writing. It shouldn't take too long, though. ;)

If I can just confess something... I personally dislike Tifa partly because of the promise on the well scene. This version is slightly different from the original, but it still felt forced to me; it felt like Tifa really did force Cloud to make the promise. It didn't seem to me that Tifa really knew Cloud even existed until he decided to announce that he was going to join the army. Her not noticing Cloud when she fell off Mt. Nibel does not count at all, by the way. But the few interactions between them as "childhood friends" doesn't make that label very genuine.

Well, that was a bit too long. XD But meh, I'm not going to bash her. Not only is that pointless, it's annoying as all hell. If you really hate a character so much, consider not mentioning them more than necessary, if at all. Don't go out of your way to spew hate in a fic by torturing or otherwise attacking that character for no reason.

I'm gonna shut up for real now. The next chapter is one that many have been waiting for.