Chapter Two
I'm not supposed to be here. What happened?
Tifa's face stared out at her through the glass, but she wasn't Tifa; she was Aerith, the last of the Cetra who had been killed two years ago.
How? How could this be?
Aerith moved around the room, looking for something brighter than black to wear. Of course, Tifa would not have pink in her closet but a nice blue would do just fine…Gah!
With a sigh, Aerith gave up her last optimistic thought on wardrobe and dawned a pair of black Capri pants with a black vest over her white tank top. As an afterthought, she added a black cape skirt type sarong for a bit of feminine flair before heading down to the bar.
A bar! How was she supposed to run Seventh Heaven all by herself? And take care of the children? Surely they would notice a difference in her attitude, style, even movement since they saw Tifa every day.
Aerith had never had enough time with Tifa and her life after Shin-Ra while alive since she had been killed before everything was put back in a resemblance of togetherness. Even with watching from the Promised Land, Aerith could never replace Tifa in her actions, words, all of it…and yet, she had to.
Okay, then I just have to try.
Wandering behind the counter revealed dishes piled up next to the sink that looked in sore need of a good scrubbing. Dishes...dishes she could handle. Soon Aerith was up to her elbows in bubbles scrubbing merrily away when the phone rang.
"He's not here anymore."
Tifa's voice spoke in her mind and Aerith was reminded of something like this before…she'd seen this before. The phone continued to ring and she made her way to it, navigating through the hallway to the rooms as if she'd lived here her whole life.
"Strife delivery service, you name it, we deliver…"
Now she was speaking in Tifa's voice and that man on the other end sounded so familiar but Aerith couldn't place it.
"Hey, Lockhart, it's Reno."
Reno…images of a red head with an attitude and odd sense of humor went through Tifa's mind and Aerith understood.
"I remember you."
"Good to hear. Say, do you think you could get a message to Strife for me?"
Cloud? Where was he, anyway?
"Sure."
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Beep.
"Reno called, says he has a job for you in Healin. Cloud…how have you been?"
Aerith disconnected the call and tried to focus. This had all happened before, she knew that. Using Tifa's memories with her observations confirmed that. And yet, it was as if something in the original time line had to happen before Aerith could realize it.
How would that be any help? It would carry on through its original course, but what if that wasn't good enough? What if it had to change?
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Cloud snapped his phone shut after hearing Tifa' message and put his cell in his pocket. Maybe he should call her back for once…but no, that wasn't his style. He needed to do this without Tifa, like he'd been doing so for the last two years, ever since…
He shook his head to clear his mind of that. He looked off across the barren land and couldn't help but think he would never find what he was looking for. She wasn't coming back, but that's not what he needed. He let her die…
Putting his glasses on, Cloud kicked off and headed for Healin, letting this job possibility serve as a much needed distraction to his clouded mind and soul.
A/N: Still short, I know. So onto chapter three to get the review ball rolling!