You were true to your word, and after that day, you stopped hiding in the back room. Starting with little errands here and there, you worked your way back up to your old shift. People were genuinely surprised when they saw you around town again, but after several repeated assurances from you, the poorly concealed stares and not quite whispered conversations faded away and life returned to what it once was. Almost.

Cloud changed again. He was still incredibly nice to you, but you had grown accustomed to it. The difference was that every now and then you would catch him with this look on his face. Like he was hurt, or disappointed, and it was only when he looked at you. Every time you saw it you would replay the moment in your head, trying to figure out what you had done wrong. Every time you came up empty. It only got worse as time went on, which didn't help you as you were still suffering from the nightmares and the drugs. You'd never let them see it, but you were still just as hurt as you had been the day you returned to Seventh Heaven.

During the day, you would talk and laugh, sing and dance, play and run just as you had before, but in the quiet moments, when the city grew dark and the shadows turned to monsters, it was then you suffered. Nights spent rocking yourself to sleep as you cowered in a corner, small fits of insanity would bring the voices back all over again, and mild panic attacks that burned your chest and stole your breath, all became part of your ordinary. If it got too bad, you went to the same place everyone seemed to go when they were hurting. Aerith's church, or so you called it, but the solution to your problems were not at the bottom of the crystal pool. No elixir or magic could heal your wounds, for they were of a different nature. You could pretend you were whole in the light of day, but in this church lay the remains of your tattered soul. Your once bright innocence. The person you were before. You would be all right, everything would be all right, as long as you left your problems behind you when you closed the door.

The harder it got to deal with your memories, the worse your relationship with Cloud became. He'd go out more often. His speech became clipped and stiff in your presence. Conversations between the two of you were never long. When you'd enter a room, he would either ignore you, or just leave. It was killing you, but you were too strong to break down. At first, you pretended not to notice. Then it escalated to a mutual stand off, until it finally grew so bad you would fight over anything. Finally, you'd had enough.

Tifa and the rest of the bartending staff had gone out after she'd agreed to cater an event for an old friend. It had been a rough day, insomnia and constant activity combining to make you too sick and tired to do anything. Despite Tifa's nearly incessant pleading, you had managed to talk her into letting you stay back to close up the bar. You'd hoped for some sort of protest or invitation from Cloud, but luck had never really favored you. Instead, night had come and brought the memories with it.

The glass bottles called to you, promising peace and a respite from this continual grind and, for a moment, the shining amber liquid was tempting, but the thought of not knowing where it might take you, up to cloud nine or farther down the rabbit hole, was enough to deter you. Instead, you opted for a tall glass of orange juice and the company of your thoughts while you stared into the mirror that had hung behind the bar since you could remember. In fact, they had been busy installing it the first time you happened upon the little bar. Rain had forced you indoors, but you were too far from home so you picked the least questionable establishment in this dark side of town. As though to enhance the memory, rain started drumming on the roof and the wail of a heavy wind whistled for your attention. Some sort of party was in progress and the mirror had obviously been a gift. Upon realizing what you had interrupted, you started to back out into the rain again until a peal of lighting and thunder, along with the silence that followed, stopped you. Just then, the room was lit by a flash from the outside and a figure's silhouette now reflected in the glass.

Third Person POV

Her heart stopped for a moment until the lighting readjusted to illuminate the familiar figure of a blonde man. They didn't say anything at first, then she kicked herself into gear and moved to bring him further into the room.

"Hey Cloud. Why back so early?" She said, making sure her happy voice was turned on. He made no effort to reply, but continued to stare at her, looking for something. Eventually he found it, but his expression said he didn't like what he saw. He brushed passed her and started to walk towards the back room. Whether that was actually the last straw or it just so happened that her fatigue and mental suffering had been ready to tip her over the edge anyway and he just happened to be there, Tahri all of a sudden decided she'd had enough. Without registering the fact that she would never, under normal circumstances, do what she was about to do, she marched through the still swinging doors after the dark figure. He was just about to open his door when she caught up with him.

"What the heck is this Cloud? Every time I see you, you give me this look. This, you're doing something wrong, judgmental something!"

"That doesn't make any…"

"Shut up! Because I'm still talking! I haven't done anything wrong. You're driving me crazy. Do you know how much time I've wasted going over every moment we've spent together, trying to figure out what I did to you, and you know what? Nothing! I've done nothing to warrant this!"

He didn't say anything, so she kept going, but all the while she could see his expression growing darker. The logical side of her knew she should stop before something she'd regret might happen, but emotions and exhaustion clouded her mind and gave her nowhere to go but onwards. So she did, and when she finally paused to breathe and gauge his reaction, she was frozen by the deathly cold glare he seemed to be giving her.

"You want to know what you did, Tahri?"

She had used up all her energy, and while part of her wanted to yell 'of course!' all she could muster up was enough energy to nod her head and wait. Something flashed across the man's face, something like heartbreak and sorrow as he reached out to cup her cheek, rubbing it gently with his thumb. There was silence for a moment while the two simply stared at each other. She wanted so badly to know what he was thinking, what he was feeling, what could make this man act so incredibly out of character that it stunned even her. Then anger hardened his features and he dropped his hand and stepped away.

"You're a liar. A hypocrite. You've betrayed me, everyone here, and the person you once were." Each word fell like a blow, forcing her back against the wall weighing her down as she slid to the floor. He didn't stop there. "You wanted me to feel again, to trust others enough to 'let go', as you loved to throw at me over and over again. You said you wanted to see inside my head, to know what I'm thinking, what I'm feeling, well, here it is! I can't even stand to look at you anymore. You've turned into a lie."

Her breath was ragged and unsteady now, and she clutched her chest, as though she could hold herself together by her own strength.

"I…I don't understand Cloud."

He chuckled bitterly, before continuing. "Every time you smile, every time you laugh, there's nothing there. I can see it. I can tell. You're just playing your part, never really experiencing it. It makes me sick to think you thought we wouldn't be able to tell. You have panic attacks and random nightmares, but if we ask, you say it's nothing. I CAN HEAR YOU! When you scream at night it doesn't seem like nothing. When I wake you up and you cling to me for fifteen minutes before you fall back asleep, it doesn't seem like nothing. What is all of this? What happened to you? You scream things about cells and drugs, and something about 21. All the time."

His voice had been raised for quite a while, so he knew that wasn't what had startled her, but as soon as he had said the number 21 she had tensed, almost as if she had stopped breathing completely. Uncontrollable shaking racked her body. Her hands clutched the side of her head as she rocked back and forth and she hummed some tune to herself, as if she could block out the world. Her eyes suddenly seemed so empty and so afraid. Whatever had been left of his fury drained out of him as fast as the blood had drained from his face when he realized what he had done to her. All the battle training, all the memories, all of his calm efficiency and grace left him as he watched her relive some nightmare. He didn't move, couldn't, but he was dying inside. That familiar guilt was creeping up inside of him, robbing him of the senses that would have pushed him into action long ago.

He heard footsteps in the main room and recognized Tifa's familiar gate. In his head he had called out to her, desperate for someone who knew what to do, but his body denied him. She walked through the door, took one glance at the situation, and immediately sprang into action. Cloud numbly followed every order she gave until he finally returned to his senses, then did everything he could and more to help.