Chapter 2: The Father Wannabe
"Ti… fa… Tifa!"
The familiar voice echoed in her head. She recognized that voice. She drifted towards consciousness. She could feel that he was holding her as he called her name. Finding the strength to open her eyes, she looked up at Cloud. Then she looked at the green sky with an astonished look. She tried to sit up and he helped her.
"Where are we…?" she asked, still looking up at the sky.
"I'm not sure," he replied. He studied the sky as well, which he had already seen and was amazed by. The sky had the color of the Lifestream, almost like heaven. It was bright green. He turned to Tifa and stood up, giving Tifa his hand.
She grabbed it and he pulled her to her feet. She looked around. They were in a forest and small ponds surround them, slightly glowing in emerald color. "…Beautiful…" she murmured.
Cloud nodded in agreement. It was breathtaking all right. The sky seemed to darken as fireflies flitted around. They looked like shimmering snow. "Vincent went to take a look around this area a while ago," Cloud told Tifa, remembering. "He probably will be back soon."
"Vincent?" she turned to Cloud, away from the beauty of nature. Then she recalled the red Lifestream and being push by it and then falling unconscious. "So… there are only the three of us here?"
He nodded. Then he turned around when he heard the familiar footsteps on the tree. Vincent jumped down from the sky and landed in front of them. He stood up and looked at Tifa. "I see you've come around," he said. She nodded with a smile. Vincent turned to Cloud.
"Where are we?" Cloud asked. He had never been to such an appealing area, despite the traveling he'd done before.
Vincent looked away. "I'm not sure," he said.
"What do you mean?" Tifa questioned.
"Take a look around," Vincent turned his attention back to the two. "The forest… the sky… I have never seen such a thing before. This can't be our world."
Cloud wanted to ask Vincent why he would think that, even though he had a point about the sky. Then the shadows under the trees started to move and several figures jumped towards them. The three of them leapt out of the way. Cloud did not have his sword to defend himself. "What are those?" he narrowed his eyes on the shadowy human figures. They all had red glowing eyes.
More of the shadow figures appeared and surrounded the three of them. A few jumped towards Tifa and she had no choice but to punch them. It disappeared the instant she hit it with her fist. They did not seem to have a solid form but they still faded away. One jumped behind her, but Vincent shot it down and it also disappeared. "Thanks," Tifa smiled at him.
Vincent jumped up to a tree branch and aimed his gun at the strange creatures. There were more than he thought and could not shoot them all down. He fired anyway, the more he did, the less there would be. "What are these things…?" he thought out loud. He looked at Cloud and Tifa. She was doing fine but Cloud is not the close-up combat type. Just when he was going to shoot down one that was coming from behind Cloud, one jumped on Vincent's back. "Cloud, behind you!" Vincent warned, struggling with the one on his back. It's teeth pierced his left shoulder.
Cloud spun around. Someone had slashed through the shadowy figure when it was about to attack Cloud.
A surprised voice went, "Eh? It is brother after all."
Cloud looked at the silver haired boy with the double blade katana. "Kadaj?" he was shocked.
Kadaj grabbed his cell phone when it begun ringing. "…There's still some over on the east here," he said, talking to someone over the phone. "The three of us will take care of it."
Tifa was running from the shadowy creatures. There were too many of them for her to handle. Suddenly someone leaped towards her and punched his way in the crowed shadows. He jumped on them and hit them. Tifa stopped in her tracks and looked back to see who had help her. "Hey, aren't you…?"
Loz rose gracefully. "Hey," he greeted with a grin.
Yazoo walked casually across the battle ground and watched Vincent struggle with three of the shadowy figures. Yazoo lifted his left hand, in which he held one of his pistols, and shot the creatures. They disappeared. Vincent turned. He pointed his gun at the man with the long silver hair. His finger squeezed the trigger shooting through the shadows that were coming behind Yazoo.
"What are you three doing in this world?" Yazoo inquired, aiming his gun at the shadows that were coming from his left. "Don't tell me you guys died too and joined us in the Lifestream."
Kadaj put his cell phone away. He grinned and threw one of Cloud's big swords to him. Cloud caught it. "Found it in your motorcycle, few miles from here," Kadaj said.
"Why are you here?" Cloud asked.
"Our father wannabe is west of here," Kadaj pointed, ignoring his question. "You should go and meet up with him." Within a blink, Kadaj jumped down into the space the shadows were coming from. With one smooth strike he took them all out. He looked over his shoulder at Cloud. "Take your friends with you already!" he glared, annoyed by Cloud's questioning expression. "Our father wannabe will explain to you so hurry!"
Cloud, forgetting his questions ran towards Tifa who was talking to Loz. "Tifa! Follow me!" he ran pass her.
"We'll play later," Loz waved to her before turning and knocking down more shadowy creatures.
Tifa glared, not knowing if he was a friend or foe, and ran after Cloud. "Where are we going?" she asked as she punched one of the shadows out of the way.
"I don't really know," he said. Cloud cuts down a couple more down. The shadows he killed the more there seemed to be. He hoped Kadaj and his gang knew how to deal with them. "But let's head west anyway. Vincent!"
Vincent leapt down from the tree and followed the two of them. He fired at the shadows in the front. "Yazoo says we're in the Lifestream," Vincent told them.
"What?!" Tifa looked at him. The three of them jumped over the shadows and kept running. "You mean we're actually dead?"
"Probably," Vincent said, uncertain.
Tifa jumped into the air, her leg swinging out to knock a shadow out of her way. "I can't believe it," she said. "When did we die?"
"Don't assume so easily," Cloud said, slicing the shadow figures away. "Let's just keep going until we get somewhere. Kadaj said to go this way so…"
"You believe what he says?" Tifa asked with disbelief.
Cloud nodded. "It's just a hunch, but they don't look like they are going to hurt us. Otherwise they would have welcomed us in a different approach."
"True…" Tifa figured. She looked around and the shadows had stopped following them. "So, this is how it looks like in the Lifestream?" A world with an emerald sky, with live bugs, and evil looking creatures. It seems like whoever had passed away still had a life here. "I wonder if Aerith…" she trailed off when Cloud and Vincent stopped in their tracks.
They had come across a wooden bridge, with ropes tied at each end. It seemed like it would break if shaken. Vincent looked over his shoulder as he sensed that the shadowy creatures were still coming after them. "You two go on ahead first," he said, preparing to shoot the monsters down.
Cloud looks at Tifa. "You go first. I'll be behind you," he said.
She nodded and walked slowly to see if the bridge would break or not. Then she walked a little faster when she was sure it would be safe. She turned her head to see if Cloud was following her. He took a step and walked behind her. The two of them walked together and made it to the center of the bridge. "Vincent!" Tifa called. "Come on!"
Vincent was standing where they last saw him. He was still holding his gun, listening to the awful cries of the creatures. He could hear Yazoo's gunshots as well. Vincent waved his hand, telling Cloud and Tifa to keep going.
The cry of an eagle echoed in the sky. Cloud and Tifa looked to the left side of the bridge and saw a shadowy bird flying their way. The shadow human creatures caught up with them. They all jumped out towards Vincent and he quickly shot them away. The bird was about the size of two people. It went straight towards the bridge, the side where Vincent was snapping the ropes with its deadly claws. The bridge started to fall.
Vincent heard the flying fiend and quickly jumped to grab the rope to the bridge. He almost fell off the cliff. He struggled to get up on his feet as he pulled the rope tightly to keep the bridge from falling. The bridge tilted sideways. Cloud and Tifa both held onto the rope tightly.
The bird flew around the sky and turned back to attack the couple who were hanging on the bridge.
"Tch," Vincent looks away from the bird when he heard more of the other creatures heading their way. "I thought Kadaj and his friends were going to take care of them." Were there too many of them for just the three of them to handle? Vincent quickly fired away into the forest.
The shadow creatures in the forest were shot by Vincent's bullets and disappeared.
Cloud was prepared to slash the flying creature that was circling him. With his left hand holding tightly onto the rope, he waited. Tifa pulled herself into the air and got up on the single rope, spreading her legs to keep her balance. She risked a glance to see how Vincent was doing. He would not be able to keep shooting the creatures away and holding onto the bridge at the same time. She turned her attention back to the bird. They would have to get off the bridge so they would not burden Vincent with two things at once.
The bird was flying around carefully as Cloud swung his sword at it. Unable to get at Cloud, it then flew towards Vincent who was preventing them from falling. The bird cut off the rope and Vincent lost his grip, almost falling down because of the weight he was pulling. Cloud and Tifa started to fall but still held onto the rope. The bird, satisfied, followed Cloud and Tifa who were falling to the other side of the cliff.
Tifa glared when the bird came closer to them. She jumped towards the bird and struggled into a straddling position on it's back. She held on tightly. The bird crowed angrily and flew into the sky, not giving Tifa a chance to fight back.
Cloud lifted his head and saw the bird flying higher. "Tifa!" he shouted. Cloud was still heading straight to the rocks along side of the cliff. He would get hurt if he did not think fast.
He took his sword and waited until the bridge was about to smash into the rocks. At the right moment, he thrust his sword into the cliff to slow the motion of being pushed to it. The sword embedded deep in the rock face. He hung from his sword, wincing as his back collided with the rocks. He swung himself and stood on the handle of his sword. It was too bad this sword does not have another one inside it. He could have used it for this kind of situation. Kadaj had given him his least favorite for this.
Tifa then thought of something to get rid of the bird. Since the shadow figures disappeared if they feel pain… Her arms were around the bird's neck and she started to squeeze it as hard as she could. The bird flapped its wings, crying out. After another moment of struggle, it disappeared.
"Great…" she mumbled under her breath. She was falling from the air, right in the between the two cliffs, facing down to it. She should have waited until the bird was over the land, but then again the ground at the bottom of the cliffs did not look too far. She would survive the fall, at the very least.
As Tifa fell past Vincent and then Cloud, she twisted so she faced away from the ground. She saw Cloud jumping off and falling towards her.
"Tifa!" he reached his hand to her.
"Isn't there another way instead of falling after me?" she asked, half smiling. Some of her hair caught in her mouth. "Judging by the look of the fall, it shouldn't be fatal."
Cloud did not smile. She grabbed his hand and held it firmly. "I know," he said. But he was worried about her. He knew she is capable of surviving but he jumped after her anyway. "Then again, maybe not… there's still more of those things down there."
Tifa looked around and then both of them looked down. There were more birds of the same kind flying up towards them, mouths open wide to tear them to shreds.
A beam of light shot down pass the two and down to the shadows. When the light hit them, all of them disappeared. "Hey! Cloud! Tifa!" a familiar voice called happily.
Cloud and Tifa eyes shifted towards the voice. They were surprise to see who it was and could not believe their eyes as a few glowing white feathers fell around them.
Angeal was holding Zack's hand, flying down to the couple. Lazard was right behind them. Zack grabbed Tifa's hand and Lazard grabbed Cloud. They all flew back up and landed where Vincent was. The shadow human figures had disappeared. Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz were waiting with Vincent.
"You two were heavy," Angeal said, his white wing disappearing. "Really, Zack, did I have to carry you out here to meet with Cloud."
Zack laughed and patted on Angeal's shoulder. "Of course! When I heard my son telling me that Cloud and Tifa were here, I had to go and see them!"
Cloud and Tifa looked at each other. They were really confused. Were they really dead? These were people they knew were dead! Was it true that this is not their world anymore?
"We're not your sons," Kadaj pointed out, giving him a flat look. "Stop being a father wannabe."
Zack laughed cheerfully, enjoying himself.
Angeal looked at his other clone. "Will you go and make sure that there aren't any more around?" he requested. Lazard nodded and flapped his wing, flying away. Angeal looked at the three silver haired guys. "And you guys?"
"We'll be glad to," Kadaj said, walking away. Yazoo and Loz followed him. Without saying anything. The three of them just wanted to get away from their father wannabe. Hunting down those creatures was more exciting after all.
Cloud looked at Angeal and then at Zack. "Are we… really dead?" he asked. It was the only thing he could ask, shocked to see Zack. Though, he had seen Zack once before after the incident with Sephiroth's remnants months ago.
Zack smiled and said, "Don't worry. This isn't hell. This is a world in the Lifestream."