Umbrella Against Fate
Disclaimer: The characters belong to Square Cinx. The story itself is mine.
Full Summary: They were both misfits belonging on polar opposite worlds. When they meet in the middle, they decide to do the ultimate act of defiance…they decided to switch themselves. By doing so they entered a bond stronger than any magic that would lead the world as they know it to end. But this is a story about their love and the powerful bond that lead one demon to be turned into an angel and an angel to demon.
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Constant and unrelenting company between two people leads to many things. There becomes a bond that is quick to form and hard to detach from in that time. It is easy to break down walls.
At least that's what Cloud kept telling himself because that was the only reasonable explanation for what Tifa and Cloud were doing now.
It had at first started as light teasing. A few comments later and it became a light argument in which they were mocking each other's strength and capability of fighting. And all the playfulness ignited into the beginnings of a battle.
It's hard to say whether or not it was a lighthearted battle or not, Tifa mused. After all, they were born with innate feelings of hatred for the other being. Still, they now stand in front of each other with weapons raised and stiff wings ready for flight and no burning sensation of the desire to kill have grasped her mind. It was strange, to come into a battle with a small smile on her face and to see one on her opponent's face. Stranger still that Tifa felt so light in the opening of this battle.
Cloud was unsure of how to move. Where to start when a battle is unfolding before him, a battle that is writing it's beginning when its foundation came from jokes? There was no dictation from hatred for the demon telling him where to move and how to attack.
No time to think. She launches first. A flash of her bounding upwards, over his head, another flash of her coming down on him. Left, right, behind. Instincts and adrenaline take over because when a fist comes down, he has raised his arm to block it. It hits him like a pat of rainfall. There is fear and holding back when he counters her attack with a right hook.
Tifa counters with a kick to his chest. He holds his breath, forcing his chest to come out to soften the blow. He inwardly knows that her kick should've knocked him on his back but his feet only slid back. She's holding back too. Muscles are tense and he feels…
He feels unsure. However with the knowledge that she was holding back as well, it bought something warm inside of him. She was just as afraid to hurt him as much as he was afraid to hurt her. The thought should've made him feel emasculated, but it only served to make him feel…warm.
"Is that all you got?" He mockingly asked.
Her eyes narrowed slightly, although the corners of her lips curved upwards slightly. "What about you? You didn't even land a scratch on me!"
"You didn't either." He pointed out.
The next blow she dealt him had more force behind it. So the fight starts. She taunts him. He counters. Each strike he sends at her inflames her and when she commences her next move, there is more force in it which also inflames him.
Her heart was pounding. There was excitement running their course through her veins. Her mind was laughing in glee and for once, there was no fighting of her internal demon and human. It was simply Cloud and her, fists clenching, muscles tightening, and the moves that flow out of her is like the river rushing to meet ocean. Sweat and the coolness it brings when the wind rushes against her skin when she takes flight. The hits she takes seem to heal within seconds even though Tifa knows that there is enough force in Cloud's hit to seriously damage her.
There was no voice of the Taint in his mind. There are no whispers in his ears directing his actions like a puppet. There is only the focus of movements, watching the opponent, and fluid actions of attack. There is a flight up, a flight down, steps to the side, and flashes of colliding limbs of body. There is no one to judge him, no one to look down on him because the ruby eyes that stare at him when she lands an attack are not judging but one that sees that he is a worthy opponent.
And for once, Cloud feels free. He calls upon his sword and Tifa only delights in it. He is only careful to make sure he doesn't cut her too badly. There is that siren call to him again for the fight and for the beauty of it and he answers freely and happily this time because Tifa can only match him.
Eventually magic comes into play. Power building in him until it finally explodes from his hands at her. For a moment, he can only stare in horror. His mouth agape, trying to scream to warn Tifa but the words seemed to have clustered together in his throat in their attempt to choke him. She stands there and his mind screams because she looks like she's too shocked by his attack to MOVE, damn it!
Cloud watches her raise a hand. But he only thinks that she should've attempted to move her legs. He is surprised when something comes out of her hands and the two pieces of magic collide violently and only explode into shatters of light flying around them.
Tifa and Cloud can only think one thing: Equal. We're equal.
And they laugh. They laugh like children who have discovered a world that has never been known and can not be seen but by them. Tifa flies up, sending the bursts of light from their magic scattering like glitter in the wind, and he follows. She flies and flies higher up, she seems to be trying to fly to the moon.
And he follows and follows her higher up but always seemingly never able to get any closer. He thinks there's nothing more beautiful in this world of the Middle Ground and even his own world of the Above than her in the large expanse of moonlight. She looks illuminated, everything about her is shining. Even her oh too black wings, the moonlight has caressed it and he feels…blinded by it all. She stops when it seems that she can't go any higher. And Cloud can only stare and stare when he reaches. She looked so ethereal that he felt like he was waiting for her to disappear as the wind blew by.
When Tifa sees him, she thinks there can't be anything more beautiful than a man who seemed to carry the sun with them. The night was a velvet color and his golden hair and crystal blue eyes remind her of beaches on the postcards humans buy when they're on vacation. Although the moonlight has casted shadows upon his silhouette, it only serves to bring out the taunt muscles flexing in his arms and the hard lines of his face that seemed to have softened like a child. His white wings were like the moonlight itself. Her heart beats faster for other reasons than their spar.
So they stare as the wind blows past them. They have become too captivated to really feel time slip away because for creatures like themselves, time is endless and repeating. But Cloud moves first. There is grace in his hesitant steps, like he was walking on water unsurely, as he took the short distance to her.
"We're equal," he whispers.
"No…no we're not." She replies and suddenly her eyes are brimmed with pain and sadness. "There is no one equal to someone as me."
If it had been someone else, Cloud would've thought she was being too conceited. However, the tone in her voice like a confession of a shameful act could only make Cloud wonder.
"I'm too damaged. There is no comparison to a demon like I." She peeks over her shoulder and left wing to gaze at him. "Not for a demon that has a soul and a demonic side."
And he understands because he tells her, "We're equal for I'm an angel who carries The Taint, the sins of all angels."
Cloud reaches out, touches her gently. She turns around and when she looks at him, she knows. She knows his story because it is her own story. There might be different factors in them, but the story was the same. They were broken with contradictions sewn in and being torn apart by pressures to be only one half. Struggling to hold on to differences while trying to be the same. Trying not to crush like glass beneath the feet of higher power. Trying to stay standing in all their fights.
They float down. And for once, Cloud and Tifa can tell someone their story. They can tell each other with their own voices. A confession of the deepest kind that has stayed locked and trapped and tortured for far too long in their minds and hearts. A confession that could finally be unlocked and free and flowing.
And like the aftermath of their battle, Cloud and Tifa can only feel equal to each other. They have found someone who was equal to them. And they can only feel free.
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Author's Notes: God after a WHOLE month of nonstop exams, I am only happy that I can find the time to read and finally write this chapter to completion. I've had the idea for it for so long and it's taken me such a long time to properly write it out. But I have DONE it!
I've had a couple of reviews saying that my style of writing for this story is very odd and choppy and could use a lot of work. I completely agree. This is one of the hardest stories I've written due to all the complexity and symbolism and I just want to jam it in all in there to have everyone see! So, I will be rewriting some chapters along with updating new chapters with a better sense of writing. I did try to change my writing style a little bit here, to make it more of a story rather than an analytical essay. What'd you guys think?