Companion piece to the last one. Still following the events of the extra scene from the game. Italics are lines from it. It freaked me out that Tifa was so calm after Cloud and Sephiroth just vanish! Does that happen all the time or something???
I actually meant to post this yesterday but I've started playing FFVIII again and kinda forgot... heh. Would you believe that that game is 10 years old?!
Disclaimer: SquareEnix owns the recognisable bits.
Tifa.
Turmoil: a state of great commotion, confusion, or disturbance; tumult; agitation; disquiet.
They were gone.
They were gone, and she was here.
She was still here.
"Where'd they go?"
How could this be?
She'd given Cloud her light, so…
…shouldn't she be gone?
"Do you think they made it back to they're own world?"
Shouldn't she have vanished?
Forever?
What did it mean?
"They went somewhere else…"
Was he talking to her? The kid, with his Keyblade, the reason she'd been able to stay this long.
Because... that's what the Keyblade did.
It took a wish...
...and made it come true.
"Cloud went to fight a great battle – to defeat the darkness inside him."
His words snapped her out of her trance. She felt the air in her lungs… the beat of her heart… that insistent tug on her soul, calling her back.
Nearly time to go.
Nearly time to say goodbye.
"Gone again."
Her voice surprised her. It sounded… careless and light, reflecting nothing of the turmoil inside her.
"What will you do now?"
Such a simple question. Just the kind of thing a kid would say, especially a kid like Sora, who'd never imagine not doing anything.
What was she going to do? Not much of a choice really.
"Guess I'll keep looking."
Keep looking, for as long as she existed.
"Got any leads?"
Not a one, but then, she'd never had any before and she'd found him, through sheer strength of will. Just pray she had enough strength left to find him again.
"Don't worry…"
Easy to say, not easy to do. She sometimes wondered if she'd been born worrying, or whether it had afflicted her only after she'd met Cloud.
"Light is easy to find."
But Cloud never was. Never easy at all. Sora didn't need to know that though.
She knew her time was up. Knew that this extra long period of physical existence was over, even as she gave the kid a keychain. She'd been saving it for Cloud, but…
"Thanks for helping me out."
Because they had. The Keyblade, the wish… but more than that, just knowing that someone else knew she existed had helped.
Only… now that Cloud was gone, she had nothing to focus on. Nothing to bring her back here.
" But wait…"
She couldn't wait, not anymore. A final look around… And then…
…nothing.
"When did we help?"