The Tears I Drop

Tifa, Leon, Aerith, Yuffie, and Cid made their way through the Bialy and into the Postern. "W…wait…" Cid said. "I've gotta rest."

"Maybe if you didn't smoke all those cigarettes a while back, you'd have better lungs!" Aerith snapped. "We have to get out of here, and wait for Cloud to---" she was cut off by a shattering explosion from far away. It echoed all around the city. They saw a brilliant flash of orange fire leap out of the Castle Garden.

"Cloud…" Tifa said quietly.

"I hope he's alright" said Yuffie. "What if he doesn't come back?"

"He will come back" said Aerith. "I know it. Now let's go." They continued up to the Postern. As they walked up the path, Aerith noticed that the Gummi Port was flashing red. "Uh, guys I think that---" she was interrupted by a cold voice. Saix appeared in front of them.

"So you escaped your prison" he said. His yellow eyes looked at Tifa. "I see…you had help from this traitorous bitch of an assistant captain."

"Hey! Don't insult her scarface!" Cid yelled.

"It doesn't matter" said the Luna Diviner. He raised his large claymore. "Your insignificant interference with our plans…will be extinguished here and now!" he swung it at Cid's head. As the Guild Leader moved to block it, Tifa caught it on her fists.

"No!" she said. She snapped the claymore in two halves and threw it away. "Kill us? Don't make me laugh. You heartless freaks will never win."

"What? My sword?" Saix asked.

"That's right" said Leon. The gunblade master settled into the fighting stance. "Get ready, Nobody. You're taking us all on!" Cid readied his spear. Yuffie raised her shuriken. Aerith gripped her staff and Tifa raised her fists.

"Take you all on?" Saix asked. "Do you think that together, you can defeat a member of Organization XIII?"

"It's worth a try" said Yuffie.

Saix grinned evilly. "You are not Keyblade Masters, or warriors from Disney Castle. I'll give you about three minutes before you fall."

"Enough yapping, let's go!" Cid said and he charged the Luna Diviner. After a minute's hesitation, the others followed.

"Come, all of you" said Saix. "Let me show you your weakness."

"Come on, baby" said Cid. "Let's do this!" he stabbed the spear at where Saix's heart should have been.

"Do you think that will hurt me?" Saix asked. He reached out to grip the spear in his hand and snap it off---but with a jungle of machinery, it extended longer than his reach!

"What?!" Saix gasped as he ducked to avoid it. "A mechanized weapon that---aggghhh!" Tifa's fist hit him in the jaw, sending him flying backwards.

"Alright!" Yuffie said. "Tifa's punch got him!"

Saix raised his hand and cold blue fire formed around Tifa's midsection. The martial artist gasped in surprise as she was lifted from the ground. "Wh…what is this?!" she screamed.

"He's using the moon's power!" Leon yelled. "Sora told me that's his ability!"

Tifa was pulled forward---at the same time Saix materialized another claymore out of blue light. He swung it at Tifa as she flew toward him, but the sword that would have cut Tifa Lockheart in half was blocked on Leon's gunblade. Tifa perched on Leon's shoulders and swung her legs around, her boots connecting with Saix's head.

"Ugh…." The Luna Diviner said as he stumbled backwards. When he looked up, Yuffie was right in his face. The ninja swung her large shuriken down and shattered his claymore again.

"Go!" she yelled. "Come ON guys, we can DO THIS!!"

"Then what are we waiting for?" Tifa asked. She punched Saix in the chest, sending the Nobody flying into Cid, who lashed him with his spear. Aerith slammed Saix's head with her staff. The force sent the Nobody into the metal Postern wall. There was a thud and a huge flood of smoke.

"Yes!" said Yuffie. "We did it!"

"Wait!" said Leon. "I want to make sure."

"Just hold your horses a little" said Cid as he and Leon walked toward where they had thrown Saix. Suddenly the smoke cleared, and the Luna Diviner could clearly be seen. Saix's robe was torn at the edges and his face was covered with dust. His hair was also a little wild. But otherwise, he was unharmed.

"Excellent attack strategy" he said. "Wonderful attacks in themselves…even a little bit effective." He grinned at them. "But not nearly enough."

"No way…" said Yuffie.

"You have all shown me your power" said Saix. "Now I will show you mine." He raised his arms to the cloudy sky. "Moon, shine down" he said in an echoing voice. Suddenly, his body began to glow with the same blue fire he had used on Tifa. "ARRRRRRRHHHHHHH!!" he roared. It was the sound of a totally berserk man.

"Aerith! Run!" Leon yelled at the healer. He turned back toward Saix, but the man was right in his face. He smashed Leon with his claymore. Had the sword been sharp, he would have been cut in two. As it was, Leon felt ribs snap as his ribcage shattered under the blunt blows of Saix's sword. "Aaagghhhh!" he screamed as he went flying into the air. Cid attack Saix with his spear, but the Nobody shook off the wounds like they were mosquito bites. His rapid stream of attacks pounded Cid into the ground.

Yuffie threw her shuriken, but it was useless. Saix jumped up in the air and landed in front of her, causing the ground to erupt in concussive blasts of blue fire. He swung erratically, his moves unpredictable. Yuffie went flying into the wall, just as Saix had done a few minutes ago.

S-so this is the power of Organization XIII Leon thought as he tried to pick himself up. He was merely rained down upon by another flood of Saix's blows. He screamed in agony.

Aerith ran over to him to try and heal him. Leon tried to warn her to stay away, but his mouth was too full of blood. Saix threw his weapon at Aerith with an inhuman roar. It hit the healer dead on. Aerith cried out in pain as she fell to the ground. But then she got up, her staff abandoned. She grabbed Saix's claymore and ran at the berserker with it.

"N-no! Aerith, what are you doing?" Cid asked from where he lay.

Tifa ran in front of Aerith, but Saix smashed her out of the way like an insect. He lunged at the healer. Aerith swung Saix's claymore at him. It hit the berserker and smashed him to the floor. As he got up, Saix swayed on his feet. "I…I seemed to underestimate you…" he said to Aerith.

"Now, Leon!" Aerith yelled.

Leon's fireball spell hit Saix and sent him staggering. Tifa rained her blows upon his head and shoulders as if he were a human (or unhuman) punching bag. Even Yuffie managed to get in a few hits.

"Arrrgh!" he groaned. The he raised his hands again. "Moon shine down!" he called. Once again in a berserk rage, he flew around, smashing things into smithereens. The ground was fissured and cracked in a thousand places.

"No!" Tifa snarled as she kicked Saix backwards. "Get out of here! I'll hold him off! Cloud finished off the other guy, I can feel it! Now get going and get him to help us!" Tifa used her fist to knock the claymore out of Saix's hands. The berserker grabbed the martial artist's body and began to slam her into walls and the ground.

"Ahhhhh! Go!" she yelled as he bashed her into the floor again.

"That beast man is going to kill Tifa!" Yuffie cried. "We've got to save her!"

"I'll save her" Leon said. "G-get going a-and get Cloud." Leon ran at the Luna Diviner without another word or waiting for them to agree with him. He slammed his body into Saix, knocking the other man off balance. He dropped the bloody Tifa Lockheart and turned to Leon. He smacked Leon in the chest, sending the gunblade, and its master flying in separate directions. We're doomed Leon thought. This is what we get for biting off more than we can chew. Jeez, I didn't think that this would happen.

Saix was coming toward him now. Leon could see him gaining speed. It was over. Even if he did manage to avoid the actual swing, the shockwaves from the attack would hit him. "Rinoa, I always did---"he began, when suddenly Saix grew still. The Nobody dropped to the ground, with Cid's spear sticking through his empty chest. "Eat that, you crazy son of a bitch" Cid spat.

"Why…" Saix said. He stumbled to his knees. "Thi…this was…how you did…." he smiled again as his body began to dissolve. "Trickery, Guild Leaders…that was how…you won….by trickery…I want you….to…remember…that." Then he disappeared.

"Cid…thank God" said Leon. He allowed himself to fall to the floor. Aerith quickly healed his injures. The problem with healing magic, Leon thought as he struggled to his feet, was that it left you tired, even though it took care of wounds. He swayed, and the world blacked out for a minute. He must have been out for only a few seconds because when he woke up, he was still leaning against the cracked wall. Someone was crying…who was it? Yes, Yuffie, his mind said. Yuffie was always the type to cry like this. But why was she crying? Even someone like Yuffie didn't cry without reason. This brought him alert to any possible danger. There better not be anything… I don't know about the others, but a child could beat me at this point. He looked around. There was no one there but his friends and they were huddled over something…or someone. Leon staggered over to them. Aerith was the first to look up, and he saw that she had also been crying. Not loud sobs like Yuffie, but quiet tears. "Wh…what's going on?" he asked.

"Oh, Leon" Aerith said, and she hugged him.

"I still don't get it" Cid was saying. "Why'd you try and take him on yourself? Why?" Cid wasn't crying yet, but he sounded like he was on the edge. Leon limped over to see what they were all crying about. Tifa lay on the ground in the middle of their gathering. She was breathing shallowly and her face was very pale.

"Wrong with her?" Leon demanded. "Was it the Nobody? Aerith, use your healing magic to---"

Aerith shook her head. "I can't" she said tearfully. "Magic has very clear rules. One is you can't heal the dead. Cloud, Tifa's dead. She has several internal injures and I can't treat them without a surgeon…it's useless."

Leon tore at his hair in frustration. Here they were, framed for murder and conspiracy, Tifa mortally wounded, the Bastion Knights and that demon Nexumair possibly closing in, and Cloud was missing. "I'm going to kill Sora when I find him" Leon said. "He dragged us into this. He turned our lives all topsy turvy." He knelt next to Tifa. "Tifa" he said. "Tifa…I…are you hurting? We can…get you something…"

Tifa smiled softly, and Leon saw that it was indeed over for her. "I'm…I'm fine" she said to him. "It does hurt a little…but I can last…until he comes."

"Who?" Leon asked. "Until who comes?"

"Cloud" she said and her voice sounded like she was in a deep sleep. "Until Cloud comes. I want to say goodbye to him."

Suddenly they heard footsteps on the remains of the Postern stairs. "Guys!" Cloud yelled. He ran toward them. "I saw the blue light, and I heard the blasts and roars…and I thought…I thought you were…" he couldn't continue.

"Don't celebrate too much" Cid said grimly. He limped away from Tifa's body, leaning heavily on his spear.

Cloud's eyes widened as he looked at Tifa. "No…" he said. He knelt next to her and took her hand. "Is it really that….?" he asked them in a low voice.

Tifa laughed softly. "I can still hear you Cloud. Yes…I'm going to die. But I'm not afraid. I was waiting for you Cloud. You always did keep me waiting…"

At this Aerith cleared her throat rather loudly, indicating that Tifa should go on with her Death Speech, and not go into the past.

"Fine, fine" the martial artist said. "Cloud…I love you" she said. "I will never forget what you said…you wanted to join SOLDIER to impress me. I guess…" she coughed and a trickle of blood slid from the corner of her mouth. She turned her face away so Cloud wouldn't see it, but he saw it anyway, and it filled his heart with sorrow.

"Tifa, you don't have to talk if you don't want to" said Cloud, using his hands as a pillow so her head wouldn't rest on the hard ground.

"I can't tell you tomorrow" said Tifa. "I can't even tell you a few hours from now. So I need to say this. I guess that's kind of why I joined the Bastion Knights and fought my way to the top…that way, I knew the day you returned, you'd see me right there, protecting things for you."

"Oh, Tifa" Aerith said and began to cry again.

"I guess that…was kind of…stupid…Tifa said. "Even…helping Organization XIII…yeah…that's why….I think I needed this…lesson." She winked at Cloud. "At least…I'll be a lot wiser from now on, you think?" and her eyes closed and Cloud felt her body go limp.

"AAAAHHHHHHHH!" he yelled at the sky. "Damn it, NOOOOOOOO!"

"Shhhh!" said Cid. His eyes glimmered with tears, but they also were bright with anger. "Shut up, Cloud. We can do plenty of mourning later, but right now we've gotta get out of here. Tifa died so that we could get out of this safely. So let's get going. We'll need to get to the Highwind. Then we can fight all the fuck we want."

Now all the Tifa lovers in the world are all probably royally pissed at me. Would it help if I explained that I had Tifa's death scene planned out from the beginning of this story? Nah, that probably just makes it worse. But, I'll see you in a little while. Or a long while. My family's going on vacation, so…I'll see you then!

-Mechanist, out!