When Will They Stop?
Damn, my head hurts.
Ah, light! Do I have a hangover?
"He's opening his eyes."
Must you be so loud, unknown voice?
I squint my eyes, opening them slowly. Everything is hazy, but I can make out Barret sitting beside of the bed I'm on. Cid is leaning against the wall behind him, and I don't have a clue where I am. I try to ask them where we are, but I can't move. I can't move my arms, my legs, nothing.
I feel myself panic.
All this does is make me breathe quicker.
"It's okay Cloud. Just calm down." Barret says softly.
What's with him? He sounds so subdued. Where am I? And what the hell happened?
I can't remember what was the last thing that happened.
"I'll tell the others." Cid states, walking out.
Barret nods once as Cid walks out, his head dropping back down.
Barret! What's going on?
Man I wish he could read minds.
Wait...no, I don't.
Speaking of mind-reading, where's Tifa? Shouldn't she be here? She's always there when I wake up. Well, not always, but when I'm sick or hurt she is.
What the hell is wrong with me? I can't move, I can't remember anything that's happened, and I have no bloody clue where I am right now.
Someone's coming through the door now...Tifa?
No...who is he?
There's a man, I don't care who he is. Where's Tifa?
"He's suffering from severe mako poisoning."
Don't talk so loud! My head is killing me.
"Will he be okay?"
"I can't really say, he shouldn't even be alive in my opinion." The man replies.
"Maybe it's for the best." Barret states.
The man frowns. "Why is that?"
"Doctor." It's Vincent.
Vincent? What the hell?
The man nods, and leaves.
"It is for the best right? He'd be like this, or even worse if possible if he knew." Barret says.
"Barret."
"I should've been the first one in. If it'd been me, I'd be the one dead, not her."
Wait...what?
"Shinra...those sick sons of bitches. I hate them all!" Barret growls, his hand balling into a fist.
"It isn't your fault."
"It is. I could've done something else, something more. I could've at least stalled them! Anything! At least...at least they don't have her body." Barret finishes.
Body? Her body?...
"He might understand Barret, you have to tell him."
"No." Barret says, a bitter tinge in his voice.
"I will."
"You can't!"
"Tifa's dead Cloud. Shinra killed her in a gas chamber."
What? No...
This has to be a nightmare...this can't be real, I'm dreaming.
My breath quickens.
"Look you idiot!" Barret shouts, standing.
I'm panicking, as much as I can panic while being paralyzed.
This isn't right, Tifa can't be dead.
"Please Cloud, calm down." Barret says.
Call me Spike, and show me a living Tifa and then I'll calm down. Until then, don't hold your breath.
But, she's dead, isn't she? I know where I am now. It was different last time, I didn't know myself, I didn't want to. But I'm here now, in that stupid hospital. But Tifa was here last time, not these two. Tifa stayed with me.
Tifa's here...but she's dead. They don't have her body, that's what Barret said.
Oh God.
Her body.
Tifa's dead.
I can scream, and Barret flinches at my sudden outburst.
But they're fading, and I'm chocking.
There's water in my mouth, and I'm coughing now, not screaming.
"Cloud! Cloud!"
My eyes fling open, I sit bolt up, rain pouring down on me.
"Get off the roof! Wake up! It's raining! Tifa says it's time to get up!" Marlene's voice is shrill.
And I'm on the roof, a blanket beneath me, and rain pouring down on me. My skin is on fire, and the cool droplets tingle as the land on my bare skin.
Tifa said something, said to get up. That means she's alive, that means it was another nightmare.
Another nightmare...when will they stop?
A/N: Forgive the lack there of chapters... I've been gone. I've had ideas for this one, but I needed to figure out which goes first and what not. Nightmares, Cloud's been having them lately, eh? And bout Tifa dying...he's so negative sometimes. Although I do like to make him sarcastic in his head. Not that he'd really speak this way to people, just in his head. Try to post another chappie tomorrow, and thanks for everything!