A/N: Thanks again for the reviews! They keep me going. Okay, here's chapter three. Whoo!!

Taking Words From Friends

"You can't be serious," Yuffie said.

"Cloud, what's going on?" Tifa asked, her voice starting to shake.

"Vincent didn't explain the whole story. I have to leave now."

"We'll come with you!" said Yuffie quickly.

"No, j-just stay here," the swordsman said in a firmly manner.

He slipped the phone back into his pocket and ascended up the stairs to get his keys and goggles. He later found the materia hunter standing in front of the stairs with her arms folded.

"C'mon, Cloud," she said. "We wanna help."

"Yuffie, you and Tifa just stay put, okay?" Cloud told her. "I'll be back." He headed towards the door when he saw the bartender had a worried look on her face.

"Let us know if everything is alright, okay?" She tried to keep her voice calm.

"I will," Cloud replied with a nod and walked out.

"Cloud can be such a jackass for not letting us help him," Yuffie scowled.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Vincent told the blonde that Cid was taken to Edge General Hospital. That's where he later met the dark-haired man. Vincent was standing over by the double doors outside. After Cloud found a place to park his Fenrir, he hurried over to the mystical man.

"Vincent, were you able to get anymore details?" he asked.

"Apparently, Cid was helping rebuild the rest of this city with the WRO when there was an explosion," Vincent explained.

"An explosion? H-how did that happen?" the blonde asked.

"As of right now," the former Turk looked up at the sky. "The answer is unknown."

The two remained silent. Cloud tried to figure out who or what could've caused the chaos and why. He could only hope and pray that it wasn't serious.

"Well, can we see him now?" Cloud finally broke the silence.

"No," Vincent answered darkly. "His wife Shera should be on her way now."

The pilot's wife later showed up with tears pouring down her face. The spiky-haired warrior wished that there was something he could do. He placed his arm around Shera's shoulders, and they both slowly walked inside the building, followed by Vincent.

Shera quietly told Cloud that he and Vincent could wait for her in the waiting room while she was going to ask the nurse some questions. She approached the front desk and saw a light brown-haired woman on the computer.

"Excuse me," Shera cleared her throat, reluctantly holding back more tears.

"Yes, ma'am?" the nurse looked up.

Shera told the nurse she needed to see her husband. Meanwhile, Vincent told Cloud he had to leave and find any clues that could lead to who or what caused the explosion. Later, Cloud got up when he saw Shera coming his way.

"Any news?" he asked.

"The nurse said Cid was taken to the emergency room. The doctors think he might have some broken bones, and----," she exhaled sharply. "He's unconscious. I won't be able to see him until the next couple of hours or so. I'm just going to stay here for awhile."

"I can stay here and keep you company, if you like," Cloud said kindly.

"Oh, you're too kind, Cloud," Shera smiled weakly. "But you don't have to do that. You've done so much for us and others in the past. You should settle down. It's my way of repaying you."

"Are you sure?" asked the swordsman.

"Yes. Reeve said he was going to meet me here later."

Cloud nodded and gave Shera a hug before he left. He never realized that something like this could happen. Cid kindly volunteered to help others rebuild all that was left, and this is what he gets in returned.

XxXxXxXxXxX

"Yuffie, stop. You're making me more nervous than I really am," Tifa said politely.

The ninja was pacing back and forth for the last five minutes, and Tifa was sitting on the couch with her legs tucked beneath her rear end.

"I'm sorry, Teef," Yuffie sat down next to the bartender. "I wanna know what's going on."

"I'm pretty sure Cloud will let us know soon," Tifa said. "I know he will."

The loud roaring sound of an engine made Yuffie hopped right on to her feet. She jumped over the coffee table and peered through the blinds on the window to see if she could see anything outside.

"Is that Cloud?" Tifa got up.

"I think so."

They heard the sound of keys jingling outside the door, and Cloud walked in with an emotionless look on his face.

"Cloud!" Tifa said. "Is everything okay?"

"Not really," the blonde replied without looking at Tifa or Yuffie. He set his keys on the counter and went over to the couch to sit down.

"Well, what happened?" Yuffie demanded. "Is Cid okay?"

After Cloud explained the whole story, the brunette slowly sat down on the right side of him without saying a word, and Yuffie lowered her head.

"Who could've done this?" Tifa later asked.

"I don't know," Cloud replied in that soft and quiet voice of his. "Vincent and the others are searching for any clues that could help."

"Were you able to see Cid?" Yuffie glanced up at Cloud.

"No."

"Well, I'm not going to stay here and let that total bastard get away with this," the material hunter said with determination. "We can't let Cid fight this alone."

"Yeah, she's right, Cloud," Tifa jumped in. "We can go and help."

"You can't," Cloud finally raised his head up.

"Why the hell not?" Yuffie frowned.

"Who knows what else could be out there?" the swordsman said, not realizing that he was raising his voice just a little.

He noticed Tifa jumped a little. He didn't mean to scare her if he did. He was just disappointed and perplexed on this situation.

"I just don't want you guys to get hurt or….worse," Cloud added, looking down again.

"It's okay, Cloud," Tifa smiled and placed her hand on the swordsman's broad shoulder.

He didn't understand why he was starting to get this strange feeling in his stomach right after Tifa touched him. Maybe he was hungry or something.

"I want to go and help, but Shera said I should just settle down," he continued.

"I think she's right," Yuffie sat down on the arm of the couch. "I mean face it, Spiky. You've been moving from place to place constantly as if you have bugs in your pants or something."

"What do you expect? I'm a delivery boy," Cloud told the ninja.

Yuffie rolled her eyes and headed towards the door. She turned around and faced Tifa.

"You're a martial artist, right?" Yuffie asked her.

"Yeah," replied Tifa.

"You should kick his ass whenever Cloud refuses to relax. Bye!"

"Kick my……?" Cloud hesitated.

Tifa had to laugh and said, "I would never do that to you, but Yuffie and Shera are right. Relax."

She got up and went upstairs to her bedroom, followed by Cloud.

"But what about the accident?" the spiky-haired swordsman asked. "I want to know who's behind this."

"I understand that," Tifa said, sitting down on the full sized bed. "But you said Vincent and the others are investigating, right?

"Yeah."

"Also, you said Shera was the one who told you that you should relax, right?"

"Yeah."

"So, why don't you do that?"

Cloud didn't really know why he should relax. He wished he could do two things at once. He hated to admit that Yuffie was right about him constantly moving from place to place; he was only doing his job. The only days he could relax were Saturdays and Sundays.

Why should Yuffie be the one to tell me that I need to relax? Cloud thought. She's the one that needs to relax, too busy bouncing around and annoying the crap out of people…..

"Cloud?" Tifa said, noticing the swordsman was staring off into space.

"Hmm?" he quickly glanced up at the brunette.

"Are you okay?" she asked with a short laugh. "Were you listening?"

"Yeah, I was just------."

"Come over here and sit down."

Cloud slipped his hands out of his pockets and approached Tifa. He sat down on the foot of the bed.

"I'm pretty sure you know that it was very generous of you for rushing over to the hospital to check and see if Cid was okay," she told Cloud. "And I'm also pretty sure that Shera was so happy that you were willing to help out, but just take her word for once."

"I'm trying to relax, Tifa," Cloud said quietly. "It's just…..I want to know who caused this, and why."

"Cloud," Tifa began, pushing her long bangs slightly off to the side. "We've been going through this before, haven't we?"

"Yeah."

Cloud definitely remembered the night when Tifa gave him a strong lecture. Those words she gave him never left his mind. All he wanted to do was help. Was that too much to ask?

"Cloud, I'm only telling you this because you're my best friend, and I care about you," the bartender continued.

The swordsman felt his cheeks getting warm. He didn't want Tifa to see that his cheeks were red. He thought if he looked down at the carpet floor, maybe she wouldn't see his face.

"I know," he later said. "Thanks…."

"What are you looking at?" Tifa chuckled. "I'm over here."

The blonde tried to hold his smile back, but his lips were just too strong. He turned around and looked at Tifa.

"Were you blushing?" the brunette asked, smiling.

"No," Cloud rubbed the back of his neck.

"Admit it. That's why you were looking the other way."

"Tifa, I was not blushing," the blonde said, trying not to laugh.

"Okay," Tifa said. "If you say so. Hey, we should do something."

"Like what?"

"We should go out, enjoy this beautiful weather or something."

"Okay," Cloud smiled.

A/N: How did you like that? As for Cid, I can't tell you if he's going to improve or not. You just have to wait and see. The part where I mentioned 'Edge General Hospital', I made that up, just so you know. Chapter four is slowly approaching, so get ready. Review, please and thanks for reading! XD