Beautiful Lie
Tifa Lockhart and Zack Fair

It's a beautiful lie;
It's a perfect denial;
Such a beautiful lie to believe in;
So beautiful, beautiful lie makes me—

Beautiful Lie by 30 Seconds to Mars

By the time noon rolled around on Cloud's third day in Midgar the blonde had placed his bag back on his bike, paid for the room, and started for the bar 7th Heaven. He rolled to a stop outside the bar's entrance and cut the engine. Sedately he grabbed his things, dismounted his bike, and entered the bar.

"Welcome to 7th Heaven," a woman called from behind the bar. Cloud recognized her as Tifa; as he sat down she asked, "Anything I can get you?"

"Something strong," Cloud stated, setting his bag down.

"Coming right up," Tifa replied, immediately beginning to mix a drink. She set it on the counter and watched as Cloud pulled the drink to himself. "Where you from?" she asked after a minute. "You don't look like you've been in Midgar that long."

"I haven't," Cloud murmured and took his drink.

"So?" Tifa tilted her head inquiringly.

"I'm a drifter," Cloud shrugged and put the drink down. "Don't have a home."

"What do you do?" Tifa questioned with a frown.

"I take any job if someone's offerin' to pay," the blonde stated.

"Like a jack of all trades?"

"Mercenary mostly."

"Ah."

Cloud calmly set down the finished drink and asked, "How much?"

"Fifty gil," Tifa replied and the blonde fished out the needed amount calmly.

"Here."

"Thanks," the young woman said with a smile as she took the money and bent down to store it. When she stood back up she noted Cloud hadn't left yet. "Is there something else you want?" she asked with a frown.

"Your name is Tifa, right?" Cloud queried.

"Tifa Lockhart," Tifa nodded warily. "Who are you?"

Cloud watched her for a minute, masking his mild surprise at the last name. He didn't recognize her that was for sure…and she obviously didn't recognize him so he put it out of mind and answered her question.

"I was sent here to protect you."

Tifa stilled slightly, a frown coming to her face.

"By whom?" she asked slowly.

Cloud replied instantly, "I'm not allowed to say; however my services where hired to protect you."

"From what?" Tifa's frown had grown.

"Threats?" Cloud asked with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"Barret," Tifa muttered with a wry smile before saying louder, "You can stay. Upstairs, last door on the left. Doesn't mean I trust you, though."

"I wouldn't expect you to," Cloud replied smoothly as he stood, scooping up his bag with the movement. "Upstairs, last door on the left, right?"

"Yes."

The blonde gave a short nod in reply and headed towards the stairs; he dodged out of the way suddenly as a black blur raced down the stairs and called, "Wedge called; I'll be back later!"

"Don't run down the stairs!" Tifa yelled after the blur. Cloud raised an eyebrow slightly before continuing his trek up the stairs and to the room the woman had designated.

Pushing the door open and setting his bag down Cloud surveyed the area calmly, noting the window, dresser, and small bed in the corner. He strode quickly towards the window and took in the meager view available; pushing it open he noted the drop from the window to the alley below and the height of the roof from the window calmly. He swung it shut after a second and turned around.

"Try anything," Tifa said from the doorway the minute Cloud turned around, "and you'll regret it." Cloud didn't reply; he merely stared at her blankly. Tifa shrugged off the blatant rudeness in favor of asking, "So, you got a name?"

Cloud remained silent and Tifa huffed in annoyance. She turned to leave as he spoke.

"Cloud."

"Cloud?" Tifa questioned, whirling back around. The man made no reply; instead he moved over and picked up his bag before dropping it onto the bed. Tifa's eyes narrowed slightly before she stormed from the room.

'Tifa Lockhart,' Cloud mused as he began to pull out the few pairs of clothes he had, stuffing them into the drawer. 'She hasn't changed.' The mercenary snorted slightly and kicked his bag under the bed once he emptied it.

He crossed the space of the room, pulling the door open and stepping out into the hallway; he moved himself into a position where he could watch what she was doing and a small smirk graced his features.

'Yes, she hasn't changed at all,' the young man thought, 'however I have.'

Now all he had to do was gain her trust, something he obviously lacked at this very moment but he was sure he could remedy it if her reaction to his first name was any indicator.

'It should be easy enough,' Cloud figured as he watched Tifa move slightly, 'you did know her once after all.' He frowned slightly. 'I can't let that get in the way; past affiliation or not if she pays a threat she goes. I cannot forget my mission…I'll just have to be careful.'

Nodding his head slightly Cloud turned away and headed back towards his room to wait; it was only a matter of time before he got the information he needed.

…

When Zack stepped into the bar he was slightly surprised to see Tifa scrubbing at the glasses furiously.

"Tif?" the dark haired ex-SOLDIER questioned with a frown.

"You'd never hire a bodyguard for me, would you?" Tifa questioned without looking in his direction.

Zack threw on an affronted look as he exclaimed, "Of course not!" loudly. "Besides, you'd rip me a new one if I ever did," he amended and then frowned. "Why d'ya ask, though?"

"Barret hired a mercenary to protect me," Tifa growled and scrubbed at the glass in her hand harshly.

"Whoa, wait, what?" Zack blinked and sat down on one of the stools.

"Barret hired a mercenary," Tifa replied as she slammed a drink in front of the man.

"He hired a mercenary?" Zack cried incredulous and then added, "And don't take your anger out on the drinks! You're wasting good alcohol!" Tifa glared at him and the man gave her a weak smile and accepted the glass with a quick, "Never mind."

He sipped at the alcohol while watching Tifa go about her cleaning. After a few minutes of silence he asked, "So where is the mercenary?"

"He's rooming upstairs," Tifa replied and relaxed slightly.

"…why," Zack asked slowly.

"He's staying, Zack," Tifa stated. "Barret hired him."

"I don't get it," Zack frowned and shook his head. "Why is he staying? You are going to convince Barret to de-hire him or something, right?" Tifa gave him no response and Zack asked again, "Right, Tifa?" He watched as she stopped washing the counter and it was then that he saw it. Something was troubling her and worry began to gnaw at the ex-SOLDIER. He stood and quickly maneuvered around the bar as he asked, "Tifa? What's wrong?"

"It's nothing," Tifa stated, shaking away her sudden stillness. "He's staying either way, Zack; the poor kid looks like he needs the money anyway." Zack frowned.

"I don't like that Tifa…" he said slowly.

"You'll confirm his story, and if he checks out he'll stay," Tifa stated and Zack reluctantly nodded.

"Alright."

"I'm still going to have a few words with Barret, though," the dark haired woman stated and Zack smiled slightly.

"I wouldn't expect it any other way," he replied, mentally adding 'And I wouldn't want to be in Barret's shoes anyway.' "I'm going to go check him out either way."

"He's still upstairs," Tifa nodded and Zack thanked her as he headed up the stairs. Halfway up them Tifa called, "What did Wedge want anyway, Zack?"

"I'll tell you later!" Zack called back and Tifa sighed.

'AVALANCHE business then,' she thought.

Zack stopped outside the only free room in the bar, noting the closed door. With a small bit of trepidation he knocked on the door. It swung open seconds later revealing glowing mako eyes and a familiar blonde hairstyle.

Zack immediately froze, shocked.

"What do you want?" the man asked, his voice not giving anything away and Zack forced himself to relax.

"You're the mercenary that was hired to protect Tif?" he asked.

"And if I am?" the man replied cautiously.

"Then I want you to answer me a few questions," Zack stated, eyes narrowing.

"Come in," the man said with a slight smirk, pulling the door open further and stepping aside. Zack warily stepped into the room, his eyes immediately darting around and taking in the few articles the man had sitting around. The man shut the door and headed over towards the bed where a sword was leaning.

"That's a nice sword," Zack muttered, surprised as the man picked it up.

"Isn't it?" the man replied calmly. "What questions do you have for me?" He grabbed the blade and cloth beside it; Zack supposed he interrupted the man as he was working on the blade.

"How long have you been in Midgar?" was the first thing Zack asked.

"Two days," the man replied calmly. "I came here because I heard there might be jobs worth something. Before that I was in Kalm; nothin' good was there and I heard a few rumors so I came to Midgar."

"Have you ever worked for Shinra?"

The man didn't raise his head as he asked, "So you're a part of AVALANCHE then?" Zack narrowed his eyes and quicker than the eye can see he had the blonde man up against the wall.

"What do you know," the ex-SOLDIER snarled.

"Only what your man kept yellin' 'bout," the man replied. "Not very discrete are you?" Zack shoved the man harder and with a small grunt the man stated, "I haven't worked for Shinra in years."

"You have previously?" Zack demanded.

"Yeah, but Shinra quit hirin' me after I got rid of one of their SOLDIER's," the man stated bluntly. "Don't think they liked that I got rid of the General."

"You killed General Sephiroth?!" Zack cried, shocked. The man took that as a cue to break free of Zack's hold. With a quick sweep of his legs the ex-SOLDIER was down on the ground.

"Did you know him or something?" the man asked with mild amusement. "Sorry if you did; no hard feelings though. It as merely a job and he was the target."

Zack didn't move from the floor, too much in shock.

"You gonna get up?" the man questioned. "I didn't knock you down that hard, did I?"

Zack pulled himself up slowly, turning to stare at the man.

"You killed Seph?" he asked again.

"I already answered that," the man stated, heading back towards his blade.

"You're the one who killed him," Zack repeated slowly. "My friend is dead because of you?"

"Like I said, no hard feelings—" the man jerked back, holding his jaw from where Zack had decked him.

"Yeah," Zack spat, "no hard feelings." The dark haired man eyed the mercenary for a second before asking, "You got a name?"

"Cloud," Cloud replied. "You?" he asked as he carefully stretched his jaw.

"Zack Fair, ex-SOLDIER First Class," Zack replied coldly. Cloud blinked slightly, not quite able to mask his surprise this time.

"Nice right hook," Cloud finally decided on saying.

"Thanks." Zack eyed him for a second before asking, "Your last name wouldn't happen to be Strife, would it?" Cloud didn't reply, instead feeling around inside his mouth with a slight wince. Zack shook his head, "Never mind," he muttered and left the room.

Cloud stopped inspecting his jaw the minute the ex-SOLDIER left.

"Zack is here, huh?" he muttered with a slight frown and then winced. He gingerly touched his jaw and glanced in the mirror, noting the slightly darkening skin.

'Meet the same way we parted,' Cloud thought with detached humor and turned away from the mirror. 'How fitting.'

He grabbed his sword from where it had landed on the floor when Zack pinned him to the wall and calmly went back to servicing it.

"What the fuck, Spike?!" Zack yelled angrily. "What's going on with you?!"

"What's going on with me?!" Cloud yelled back. "What's going on with me?! I should be asking you that! How can you condone what he's done?! HOW CAN YOU!?"

"Look, Spike, I don't condone what he did but you gotta look at it from my perspective!" Zack stated.

"Your perspective?" Cloud asked, shocked.

"Yes, my perspec—" Zack started.

"Damn it Zack, he burned down Nibelheim!" Cloud yelled.

"Well yeah but you don't—"

"He burned down my home Zack! He killed my mother in front of me!"

"HE WAS ILL, Spike!" Zack cried.

"That doesn't matter—I don't care if he was ill or not! He still did it!" Cloud snapped and backed away.

"Spike—"

"No. I don't care," Cloud shook his head. "If you can brush it all under the rug like it's nothing then I don't want anything to do with you."

"I'm not—" Zack started but Cloud shook his head.

"You're so—so—so caught up in these stupid dreams that things will be fine that you don't even notice how much your friends are hurting!"

"I don't notice—?!" Zack cried, incredulous. "I notice, Cloud! I notice!"

"You sure as hell don't act like it, asshole," Cloud growled. "Go ahead and keep licking the boots of that psycho and livi—" Cloud was cut off as Zack punched him straight in the jaw, knocking the teen onto his ass. Cloud held a hand to his jaw in shock.

"He's not psychotic," Zack said coldly, "and I'm not licking anyone's boots. I thought we were friends, but obviously I was wrong. Now get out."

Cloud pulled himself up and growled, "Gladly," before turning and leaving the room.

Two weeks later Sephiroth was released and Cloud left the Shinra Electric Company.

End chapter.

Thank you so much for the reviews! They made me so happy that I tried to get this written as quickly as I could. It posed a bit of trouble at first but I finally got it to a place where I wanted it. Thank you so much. All the positive responses made me smile, and the criticism some of you gave me I took to heart. Thank you.

I do hope you like this chapter!

And thank you to FinalFantasyFan for the very positive, long, and helpful review. It made my day.

TK
Twin Kats