Friends that Matter

For the next few days, Tifa was gnawed at by Cloud's note. Upon reading it repeatedly and thinking about it whenever she wasn't busy (which she tried very hard to avoid), Tifa noticed more small details that made her wonder if Cloud was even the one who wrote the note. But then she thought about how Cloud had left without even a goodbye. Obviously something had happened to make him do that.

She passed food out to Marlene to take to the customers.

Amid the general business of the bar, the phone started ringing. Tifa finished a meal quickly and passed it to Marlene before leaving to answer it.

"Strife Delivery Service. You name, we deliver."

"Hi, Tifa."

"Cloud?! Is that you? Where are you calling from?"

"Reeve got me a cellphone as a birthday present."

"Ah, alright. What do you need?" Tifa leaned against the desk in Cloud's office.

There was a pause.

"Cloud?"

"Um…Did…you write me a note before I left?"

"You got one, too?" so someone did set this up. Tifa frowned. She had really been hoping that Cloud had given it to her himself.

"Too?" he asked, confused.

"I got a note right before you ran off on this delivery."

"What did it say?"

"Uh, you tell me first, since you brought it up."

Cloud hesitated. What if their notes said different things?

"Well, um…"

"Yes?"

"It had, uh, a, um…" Cloud ran his hand through his hair.

"Well spit it out, Cloud."

"A…statement of your feelings."

"…A confession?"

"Yes."

"About my feelings?"

"Yes," Cloud blushed. He was thankful for closed doors.

"And what were those confessed feelings?"

Dammit, she's doing this on purpose.

"That…"

"That?"

Cloud mumbled.

"…I'm sorry, what?"

Cloud took a breath, "That you loved me."

Tifa blushed. So she was right.

"The note that was written for me said the same," Tifa started.

"The same?"

"That…that you loved me."

"…Oh."

There was an extremely awkward pause.

"So…" Tifa tucked her hair behind an ear, "Where are you now?"

"Still on my way to the port in Costa del Sol. I should arrive in a day or two."

"How are you holding up?"

"Ugh, I always feel like a drug addict when I have to get on boats. My pills will only last for another trip or two, then I'll be sick as a dog," Cloud sighed.

Tifa laughed a bit, "Do you want me to get some more for you?"

"Don't laugh at me. And please do. Can you try and find some that last longer?"

"Sure. Well I'm getting a bit behind in the kitchen. I'll have to let you go. I'm glad you called, Cloud."

"Uh huh, sure. Thank you."

"For what?"

The line was already dropped. Tifa sighed and hung up the phone before going back to the kitchen to catch up.

Once docked in Costa del Sol, Cloud waited a couple of hours for boat protocol to release him from his floating prison, then got Fenrir and left for his delivery in Costa del Sol. After he finished there, he'd go to North Corel.

Cloud was about halfway to North Corel when he encountered a particularly nasty monster that induced particularly nasty status effects. Being out of Remedies or most any other essential item, Cloud rushed to North Corel, avoiding contact with any other monsters.

Cloud rolled into North Corel and nearly fell out of his seat. He would have were it not for the memory that Geostigma had been much more paralyzing, and he had fought off three Reunion criers while sick with that. Cloud stumbled to a nearby crate with a seller behind it, hoping that they had Remedies. Or a lot of minor status fixers.

"Remedy," he croaked.

"1500 gil."

Cloud scowled, but put the money on the box. He didn't have time to barter. Damn overpricing cheapskates.

"Thank you for your business," the vendor took the money and reached under his box to grab a Remedy for Cloud. Cloud took it and drank, relief hitting him as numerous toxins were wiped from his bloodstream. He gave the vendor one final look before leaving to get his delivery from his bike. He looked around him. The ramshackle village seemed to be doing only a bit better off since the switch from Mako to Oil.

He went to the Inn up the slope. It looked much less likely to fall over in a puff of wind than the last time Cloud had seen it.

On his way up, Cloud saw a kid trying to lift filth out of the dried up well the town refused to knock down.

"Hey, that thing's been useless for years. You should get water somewhere else."

"I can't. It's too far, and Dad's sick," the kid looked maybe a bit younger than Marlene, but it was hard to tell: the kid was skin and bone, and small for whatever age he was.

Cloud did a mental recap on the materia he had on him. Maybe Esuna would clear the water.

Dang it! Cloud had totally forgotten that he had an Esuna materia! There went 1500 gil down the drain for no reason!

He walked over to the kid and frowned at the murky water and mud in the bucket, "Can I try something?"

"What is it?"

"Magic."

The kid's eyes widened. Cloud saw a bit of a glint in them, "Do you have materia? What kinds?"

"Lots, but they're mine so don't think about stealing them," Cloud took the bucket and cast Esuna, hoping that his idea was a good one. To his pleasure, the water was cleansed of most of the dirt. He cast it again to get the water totally clean.

The kid stared at the clean water, "Thank you, mister."

Cloud nodded and went the rest of the way to the Inn.

"I have a package for Mr. Gotro."

"Ah, there you are. Good, good, just set it on a bed," Mr. Gotro said, "The one from Junon, yes?"

"That's the one," Cloud handed Mr. Gotro a small clipboard, "Sign here."

"Uh huh," Mr. Gotro signed, "And, actually, if you don't mind, I'd like you to bring something to old Corel. For an old acquaintance of mine."

Cloud frowned, "I hope you realize how hard it is to get to Corel. This would be an expensive delivery."

"I realize. Do you by any chance have a Gold Ticket for the Gold Saucer? You could use that as a shortcut."

"Yes I have a Gold Ticket, but I can't just leave my bike here for a week," Cloud replied, folding his arms across his chest, "Who is this acquaintance of yours? I doubt you're the one paying me for this."

"He told me not to say. He only asked me to request the delivery yesterday."

"…Fine. Do you have the delivery item?"

"Yes," Mr. Gotro reached behind his desk and handed Cloud a somewhat long, thin box.

"Is there a specific time this needs to be delivered?"

"My acquaintance said as soon as possible.

Cloud sighed, thinking of the apology messages he would have to make for delayed deliveries. Thankfully, nothing was on a schedule this time. Cloud took the box and went outside.

When he stepped out, he saw that tiny kid sitting on his bike. He'd better not be messing with anything. Cloud picked up his pace a bit. When he got closer, he heard the kid making engine sounds and noticed him pretending to steer. Cloud laughed a bit. Kids. He'd caught Denzel doing the same thing.

"Vroom! Vroom! Hey, watch it! Reeeeeao, Reeeeao!"

"Having fun?"

The kid froze, "I wasn't messing-"

"I know."

The kid stared at the ground, "Sorry."

Cloud shrugged, "You're fine…" Cloud went up to the bike and the kid hopped off, "No, get back on. I'll let you ride it up to your house."

The kid's eyes nearly fell out of his face, "Really?!"

"Sure," Cloud waited for the kid to get back on and started the engine from next to the bike, "Don't push any buttons," Cloud slipped the kid's fingers under the gas and break handles.

The kid was beaming from ear to ear, "This is awesome!"

Cloud smiled and gave Fenrir a bit of gas, then walked next to it going up the slope and kept it steady, "Which house is yours?"

"The one on the left."

Cloud walked over and parked Fenrir in front of the house. From inside, cloud heard a yell of "What's going on out there? Skye?"

"That your dad?" Cloud put Fenrir in park.

"Uh huh," the kid hopped off the bike and started inside, "Thank you again, mister."

"Sure…" Cloud searched his pockets for something, "Hey…Skye, was it?"

"Yeah?"

"Here," Cloud tossed his Esuna materia to Skye, "I've used it a lot, so it's really powerful. It might be able to fix your dad up. You can get clean water, too. Just don't use it too much or it'll wear you out."

Skye stared at Cloud, "But-"

"Take it."

Skye's father came to the doorframe. He had the body of a worker, but that wasn't enough to hide to sickness in his eyes or the slump in his body.

Cloud looked at him, "Do you know how to use materia?"

"A bit, yeah. Why?"

Skye showed his father the Esuna materia. Cloud mounted Fenrir and started out of town.

"Thank you!" Skye called.

Cloud stopped by the vendor from before and got a fair price for a bagful of remedies.

After being saved by that strange Chocobo carriage twice, Cloud finally found the Gold Saucer and Corel. He put the last of his gasoline in Fenrir and hid the bike away from the thieving gazes of those around. While here, Cloud would keep an eye out for the crooks that made off with a pair of Tifa's gloves and a gun of Barret's. Even if the weapons had already been sold for dirty money (which was more than likely), Cloud could still beat the stuffing out of the thieves.

Unsure of who to go to, Cloud went to that old train car to talk to Mr. Coates. Cloud was eyed by the guards, but was granted entry. Cloud wasn't easily forgotten. Blame the hair and eyes. Mostly the hair.

"Coates, I have a question," Cloud stated upon entry.

"Eh? Aren't you that guy who went up to the races in no time flat and won on his first day?"

"Yeah. Do you know who this goes to? I have a package."

"Ah, I might have heard something."

"…Well?"

"I'm not entirely sure. My memory needs a bit of jogging."

"Don't mess with me, I haven't got the time to wave money in your face. Just tell me where this goes."

"Now, that's no way to treat an old friend. Why, if it weren't for me, you'd probably still be stuck down here."

"That's a lie. If I stayed down here, there would be no here to be stuck in."

Mr. Coates gaped. He tried to think of a clever comeback, but none came. Mr. Coates sighed, "It goes to where Boss used to be. You know where that is. Take the box and put the contents where Boss died."

Cloud nodded and left. That explained who Cloud's mystery customer was.

Cloud got off of Fenrir and looked around. The place was just as much a junk heap as the first time he had seen it.

"Yo, Spike. You made it. You got the package?" Barret stepped off of a boulder and walked toward Cloud.

"Yeah," Cloud offered the box to Barret, "Didn't expect you to be here personally, though."

Barret shrugged and took the box before opening it. Inside were some (wilting) flowers and a current picture of Marlene.

"Wanted him to see what she looked like now, at least. Wasn't able to before…"

Cloud shifted awkwardly, unsure of what to do in a situation like this.

"You can go, Spike. I'd…like to say some real goodbyes."

"Right," Cloud turned halfway, then hesitated. He turned back around and gave Barret a pat on the shoulder before leaving, "Don't cry too much," Cloud joked.

"Like hell I will, dumbass! Now get out of here!" Barret laughed a bit too loudly and walked toward Dyne's dying place.