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- Escondida

Tifa's POV

I didn't see him again for two weeks, and when he came back he looked tired and depressed. He'd found nothing, and all I could do for him was hold him, whether he wanted the comfort or not.

It continued on in this way. As soon as he got off work, or when he didn't have a delivery, he went out looking for her, questioning neighbors, friends, the children she usually played with, former employers, anyone. Each time he returned, face blank, but looking just a little more hopeless than the day before. He only slept when exhaustion gave him no choice, and when he grew restless he would disappear for several hours, probably going to Aerith's church. And there was nothing I could do.

3rd Person POV

It had been two months since she had disappeared, and most of the townspeople had lost hope. But Cloud continued to go out, day after day, this time traveling farther to find any new information. When I heard the door creak open, I assumed he had just come back from another trip, until I remembered he had returned an hour earlier. I looked up from under the bar where I was working to fix one of the taps, expecting to see a customer who had arrived too late, but instead a cloaked figure stood in the doorway.

"Can I help you?" I said, warily reaching for one of the small knives I kept behind the bar.

The figure reached up to grab the hood that covered its face, and slowly pushed it back, letting it slide off to reveal what it hid beneath.

"Tahri." My thought was verbalized in the voice of another and for a moment, I wasn't sure if it had actually been said. A smile, uncharacteristically weak, but content, was her initial response to our odd greeting.

"Getting kidnapped sucks." Before the words had finished tumbling from her lips, she stumbled forward, and would have collapsed onto the floor if Cloud had not swept forward to catch her. He stood motionless, cradling her unconscious form to his body, as if he feared that any action or sound would wake him from this dream and make her disappear. In spite of her disheveled, rain soaked clothing, he held her so close the two almost seemed to blend to one. It occurred to me that Cloud needed a moment alone, and that the poor girl would need a doctor as soon as possible, so I quietly slipped from the room and shut the door softly behind me.

Cloud's POV

I couldn't believe my eyes, but I wanted to so badly. "Tahri." It was all I could think to say, all I wanted to say.

"Getting kidnapped sucks." Yeah, that's her all right. My Tahri. My love. For an instant she wore a shadow of her same old smile, but then her face fell and her eyes fluttered closed, and without even having to think about it, I rushed forward to catch her. I felt so many things all at once, I thought I might explode, and I was perfectly okay with it. I so glad she was safe, and yet still terrified that she didn't have the strength to stand on her own. I loved her so much, and yet I was afraid to do anything about it because I feared she might hate me for my inability to protect her. I wanted to feed her, and kiss her, and make her sleep, and stay up late talking with her forever, all at the same time. There are no real words to describe what I felt, so I just stood there, holding her in my arms.

When I felt that I could let go, I picked her up and carried her into the back and downstairs to the bedrooms, making sure everything was just right so she could be comfortable. I didn't want to leave her, not ever again if I could help it, so I pulled up a chair to the side of her bed and just watched her sleep. The last thing I remember of that night is the warmth of her hand in mine while I drifted off, listening to the easy rhythm of her breathing.

Your POV

For the next few weeks, Cloud was acting…strange. To say the least. Of course, he still had a business to run, so he couldn't stay with you all day, but when he came back, he always came to check on you first. He did random little things for you that might seem normal to anyone else, but really meant something coming from this person in particular. You had always prided yourself on your ability to read Cloud's expressions, when most would say there were none. But you knew. When he was happy, the edges of his lips would curl and his eyebrows would raise just a fraction of an inch; when he was mad, his face grew very still and very blank, and his eyebrows would come closer together, just the slightest bit; when he was confused, he would tilt his head to the side, just barely. Confusion was one of your favorites because his hair would shift to the side, shimmering like gold in the sunlight. It was beautiful.

Anyway, the point is that he started doing strange little things for you. It started with just being there, and then he would bring in your meals, and then he would sit and just hang out with you. One morning, you woke up to find a book that you'd once told him about, sitting on the night stand with a bookmark in it and a note from him telling you to read it. Another time, you found a vase full of flowers from some place he'd made a delivery to, and another time it was chocolates from place even farther away. It was like a dream come true, which is why it worried you. It was almost too much like a dream. Cloud Strife doesn't bring people flowers. Cloud Strife doesn't buy gifts for random people. Cloud Strife doesn't just hang out. He's serious, and driven, and cold, and quiet, and occasionally a jerk, and…well, Cloud Strife.

The thought that this all might be a dream hit you, and then the memories started to come back to you. The testing room, the lab techs in their bright orange suits and purple gloves, the needles, the chains, the pain, everything started to come back, and before you knew it, you could almost feel it all over again. Something grabbed your arms, and you vaguely registered a voice you recognized, but it wasn't enough. The strength of the memories was too great, so all you felt was one of the lab techs dragging you into the testing grounds again. You beat at him with all you had, but you remember being weak, so weak, and so afraid. The arms closed in around you, and you waited for it, for the torture to start again, but it didn't come. Instead, you heard the voice again, whispering your name, calling you out of the nightmare, and you followed it. Slowly, the mocking white walls of the testing facility faded away, along with everything else until you found yourself, cradled in the safety of Cloud's arms as he whispered in your ear that you were safe.

Still shaking, you took stock of where you were. You saw Tifa pacing anxiously in the hallway with Marlene and Denzel peeking their heads out of a doorway further down the hall. The walls were not sterile white, but the old and comfortable wood of the Seventh Heaven bar. The back room, with its familiar odd carpet and overstuffed comfy chair reminded you that you were safe. Afraid to cause more worry, you tried to tell them you were all right, but fear had closed your throat and all that came out was a broken croak. Tifa left the doorway for a moment and Cloud only held you tighter until she returned with a glass of water for you to drink.

Kneeling in front of you, she brushed the hair off your damp forehead and looked into your eyes. "What happened to you? What did they do?" You tensed, unwilling to relive the experience and inspire the inevitable concern. Besides, if they knew the things you had done, had been forced to do, they would never want to see you again. They would hate you. The thought of Cloud hating you was like a knife in the heart, both the real and the emotional one. If just thinking about it hurt, imagine what it would feel like if he actually hated you. No, you couldn't tell them everything.

"Testing." Your voice was still rough, but they could understand you now. "Apparently, there's something in my blood that makes me…resilient, so they tested different chemicals and their effects. A lot of them had…mental side effects. Nightmares, hallucinations, physical manifestations of pain. Once, after a particularly strong drug they," a shiver ran down your spine and you had to collect yourself before you could continue, "they locked me into a cell. No lights, almost no sound, except for the random ones they chose to add to the atmosphere. They had howls and scratching and screams and…I…I thought it was all in my head. It almost made me crazy." That should be enough. They didn't need to hear anymore. Turning, you pressed your face into Cloud's chest and tried to enjoy the moment as much as you could. Tomorrow, you would stop being weak, tomorrow you would stop being so dependent, tomorrow you wouldn't ask for a shoulder to lean on. But tonight, you were small, and scared, and broken.