Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy or any of its characters. It all belongs to Square Enix.
A/N – Hello again! I got over loaded with my work this week so I could not edit the last chapter or this one properly, I'm very sorry about that! I'd like to thank all of you again for the support on the story, especially the reviews! Yay! I got followers and reviewers! Thanks Sayaka M, for the tips. I'll make sure to keep track of that next week. Then, enjoy
Tifa's Theme
Chapter 3 – The melody within.
Tifa Lockheart was staring at an entirely section of instruments.
She rose from the bench she was previously sat on and her feet took her unconsciously right to the entrance of it. It had a very large proportion and a vast amount of instruments; all from different materials and with different details and finishes. Guitars, violins, drums and even harps were displayed but her focus was directed only to one object in particular.
A piano.
She didn't notice but her face had lit up and she had a huge smile on her lips the whole walk. After entering the section, she stopped in front of a beautiful and glossy concert grand piano. It was a traditional old-style one, made entirely of black wood. Its lid was open, showing small felt-covered hammers connected to many strings. The keyboard was shut. A piano stool from the same wood material was aligned in the front.
Tifa felt as if the object of her desire was calling her out to touch it and play it; like a low whisper on her ear. Which, she promptly answered, carefully guiding her hands to open the lid of the shut keyboard.
The piano black keys set was made from ebony and the white keys covered with strips of ivory. 88 of them – total.
She traced her finger softly through all the keys, without really taking any sound out of it. Her fingers were barely touching the surface.
"Excuse me,"
She heard a lady calling her from behind. It startled her.
She turned around, dumbfounded and looked at woman, "Hn…?"
"Can I help you, miss?"
The lady smiled kindly at her and Tifa found her senses back a minute later.
"Can I play it?" She hurriedly asked.
She did not hide the excitement from her face.
"Oh! Please." The lady gestured for Tifa to sit on the stool. "Take your time."
She quietly sat down on the stool that was standing in front of the piano, adjusting her body on to a comfortable position.
"Thanks." Tifa had a smile herself.
The lady left her alone with the piano so she could feel at ease with it. How could she sell her products if her clients did not try out its standards? Quality always had to be the motto within a business line.
Tifa was glad that the rest of the store seemed to be empty and the piano was set at a far away corner of it, mostly hidden from the view outside. She was also glad that the saleswoman had left her alone as well. That way she could loosen up a bit considering the fact that her skills have not been put for practice on ages.
At first, she just stood there, sited, admiring the piece of art in front of her. She couldn't organize her feelings and thoughts since all of them felt like a big and threatening wave swirling inside of her belly. She signed. Why did she suddenly feel so nervous?
She smoothed her hands along the keyboard, as if to remove invisible dust out of it. One of her finger shyly tapped a white key. The sound made her thrill. It was a bit strange to listen to it after so many years and her brain rushed for her memories to surface.
She had stopped playing after Sephiroth had killed her father. Her house and all the stuff in it had been burned out on the flames that consumed the whole town – her hometown – on the incident at the reactor. So, eventually, her piano was among it. Her hatred for ShinRa was so great that she had abandoned her previously life and dreams to reach Midgar and have her revenge on the company. Her will to play had also been lost on the process.
She risked another note, and soon one more after. In a while, it was all making sense again. The notes gathered to form chords, slowly molding themselves into a sweet and sorrowful melody. It reminded her of her childhood and she felt nostalgic for the second time that day.
In the blink of an eye, her mind processed the image of a clear blue sky and a chilling sensation from the mountains rose on her skin. She smiled. She was a country girl after all.
Her eyes automatically closed and she welcomed her old memories in. Friends long forgotten, on days she would just run and play without a care in the world. A shy and young blond boy with beautiful cerulean eyes looking from the distance, afraid of mingling and staring at her window without her even realizing or feeling his presence there.
She remembered her master, Zangan, and the time she focused her mind into learning how to fight. No. She had wanted to be stronger. She didn't want to feel powerless anymore. She wanted to protect those she loved; she wanted to protect herself and to never be afraid again. Especially after that night Cloud had told her he was leaving town to become a SOLDIER, right bellow a beautiful starry night, which she told him that she wanted to experience the feeling of having her hero recue her at least once.
She had been so worried about him by that time when he left. She would always check the papers in search of news about him.
She remembered her loving and carrying father's face, always worrying that she might get hurt again.
Again…
In an instant she was back in Nibelheim, running into Mt. Nibel in search of her… Her friends had abandoned her but she kept running because she wanted to climb the whole mountain; she had to… she needed to see her one more time. Why had she gone there? Why did she leave her alone?
Her face had contorted over the vivid memories but she was not aware of it. The chords got higher and deeper as she merged back in time.
She knew she was not entirely alone; there was a boy there, a familiar face, one she could never forget. He called out her name but she didn't dare to stop. She couldn't. She ran over the trail of the mountain, skipping the wild monsters that got in her way.
But then, she fell, they fell, and the pain? There was none.
Peace. She felt a moment of peace.
She heard in the back of her head her father's laugh. They were laughing together. A warm feeling filled her. A happy moment locked inside of her.
She also heard a woman calling her and she felt like her heart would stop the moment after; an icy sensation all over her body. She was numb. And there, on bright colors, she saw her mother's face. She remembered it. She couldn't feel happier to see mahogany eyes as her own staring warmly back at her. She truly looked like an angel in Tifa's opinion.
She knew she was dreaming awake as she could still listen to the music playing as tough a background track on an old movie. She didn't mind, because it made her feel good nevertheless.
She knew she could never have avoided her mother's death as well because she was so young back then. Only 8 years old. She was only a child. It didn't make her feel less impotent but she had come to terms with it long ago. She would forever miss her, but Tifa knew that her mother was back to the Lifestream now. Waiting for her when her time came… Waiting for them be reunited.
She tried to reach for her mother's figure ahead but it was in vein. She was not able to. So, she stood there, a while, with her hands moving on their own playing that lost melody, just admiring the vision in front of her.
Suddenly she felt her cheeks getting wet as she realized she had started to cry. She saw her mother extend a hand to touch her face and gesture to wipe the tears away. It looked so real that she had the sensation of actually feeling her touch on her face. Was she real, somehow? Was her mind playing tricks on her?
"Tifa?"
Mom?
Her hands quickly came to a stop, interrupting the song.
Silence.
She slowly opened her eyes and turned her head to the side a bit but it wasn't her mother there. No. She was back on the reality now and her mother was now gone. Her face a blur. What she did see was Marlene and she was staring at her. Her faced was a mix of worry and something else, something… what was that, fear?
Marlene lowered her body to level her face with Tifa's. She had been the one that touched her cheeks to wipe the tears rolling down from her eyes, Tifa noticed. How easily was she mistaken by an illusion?
"Why are you crying?" Marlene looked on the verge of tears herself.
Why does Marlene looked sad?
Tifa felt like kicking herself for showing so much vulnerability in front of the girl. Marlene was afraid for her. She absorbed Tifa's emotion into her own. She was supposed be the strong bond and look after the girl. Protect her from any harm. Not the other way around. Where had her strength gone to? When had she come back to being weak?
"No, Marlene… I –"
She chocked on her words.
She was embarrassed.
Tifa inhaled deeply. She took a moment to recover herself and wiped the rest of the tears from her face. She smiled to Marlene and saw the girl's face relax a bit.
"I–It's just… I haven't played for so long that I got a bit carried away. That's all"
She avoided the girl's eyes.
"Are you sure?" Marlene eyed her suspiciously.
"Yes, sweetie, I'm okay already." She lied.
Marlene had her arms crossed over her chest and for every outside viewer she was the one that looked like the responsible head. She seemed about ready to scold Tifa at any minute.
"Well… you do seem a little off today."
"I guess I do." Tifa faked a smile.
Marlene was not fooled by it but at the moment she was about to query Tifa about it she beat her to it.
"Now, tell me… did you find what you were looking for?"
Tifa winked at the girl and Marlene's face flashed from concern to euphoric in a second. She was so easily distractive, Tifa couldn't help but smirk.
It was not fair to trick Marlene like that but it was Tifa's role to free the girl's mind from the problems of the world, especially hers. She had long suffered with the crisis from the past and she deserved to have a normal childhood and worry herself with only trivial stuff; childish problems. As much mature she was; she didn't need to be.
"I did!" Marlene shouted.
Curiosity took the best of her. "What is it?"
Marlene quickly reached for the bag that had been hanging on her forearm the whole time and took a small package out of it. "Look!"
She handed the package to Tifa who looked at the girl waiting for the permission to open it. Marlene nodded her okay and Tifa unfolded it.
Inside of the unfolded package was a small amulet of some sort. It was entirely made of bronze or so it looked liked and for incredible as it seemed, it was lighter than it was supposed to be.
Tifa had a puzzled look on her face and shook her hand up and down to weight it.
Marlene caught the cue.
"The lady told me it is because of its magic. You will know when it had taken hold of your wish when you feel it get heavier. You have to believe it tough; otherwise it is just a regular pendant. You have to focus and think–".
As she calmly explained about the proprieties of the object as if she was a renowned expert on the subject, Tifa got a better look on it to inspect it.
It was a round piece of pendant. It had a strangely thin and symmetric spiked shape on the borderline, and in the middle the surface was smooth with a shaped uplift and crooked starfish that had a tiny hole in the center.
She was vaguely aware of Marlene's voice now. What was she saying, again? Tifa couldn't quite catch the topic anymore. She had her eyes glued on the small object on her hand and lost sight of the world around her. She had the weird sensation of being pulled into the hole in the center of the crooked starfish.
Silly, wasn't it? She obviously could not fit in there, but it kept attracting her body to it, pushing it like they were, – the amulet and her – different poles of magnets.
She couldn't blame it on anything other that her mind being oddly off the whole day. She had been day dreaming their entire ride and couldn't concentrate on anything for more than 5 minutes. Strangely enough, she had been hooked on thoughts of her past for far too long.
Every girl must have its moody days, she thought.
As if to prove her point, her mind traveled back to her past again and back to the day that all had changed in her life. The day everything she had was brutally taken away from her. The day she was consumed by an uncontrollable hate. The day she felt a scathing pain and was marked forever.
Could that have been different?
She unconsciously brought a hand to her chest. Even though she had her clothes on she swore she could feel her scar through the fabric.
She turned her head up, taking her gaze away from the amulet to look back at Marlene but what she saw made her eyes go wide in astonishment.
She was no longer at the instrument sections she had been. Marlene was nowhere to be found. And what was more terrifying of all things, there was nothing around her. She was stuck on her place and all she came aware of was white.
A white light that soon brighten her vision to the point where she tough she had gone blind.
What was all of this?
Where was she?
What happened?
Had she finally gone mad?
Where am I?
She though of Cloud for a moment, remembering his beautiful eyes and hidden smiles on the corner of his lips that he would share only with her. She wanted to cry, but couldn't.
She felt a shiver run through her spine and suddenly her mind went blank.
Nothing.
She could think of nothing.
She felt the air escape her lungs and choked before her whole world came to black.
Darkness consumed her.