The comfortable darkness had disappeared long ago. In its place was the burning green fire that swallowed him whole.

Memories were flooding his brain. Thoughts, feelings, and ideas of other people fought one another as they pushed to the front of his mind. Strangers were suddenly friends and family. People who lived hundreds of years ago lived in the present. He was a million people, he was himself. He was the Planet. He was Cloud Strife. He was no one.

He had to push them back, before he lost himself. But the tide of memory swept past his defenses and submerged him in a roiling sea of information. It filled his nose with a million smells, his eyes with infinite views, his ears with screams, laughs, silence, his head with opinions and beliefs, and his body with once forgotten aches and injuries and feelings.

"Help me!" he cried out to anyone who could hear him. "Please, he—"

-as he crouched down behind the crumbling concrete wall with his rifle in hand, he shuddered in terror at the whistling screech of shells plummeting towards the camp. All his fellow soldiers had succumbed to bullets, gas, and grenades. He could feel himself slipping away as the shrapnel wounds continued to ooze blood from his leg and side. The terror morphed into despair as his back slid down the wall and he fell limp to the ground in defeat. This was the en—

- she hummed to herself as she finished the final stitch on the quilt. She held up the fabric and admired the design. Her newborn granddaughter would be warm throughout the cold nights of their mountain home. She slowly leaned forward and began to push herself up, her joints aching. The door to her bedroom creaked open. Her daughter entered the room and upon spotting her mother, the woman ran over to assist her, saying, "Mom, let me help you wi—"

- the damp evening air whistled past his ear as he swung back and forth on the rusted park swing. Just a little higher, and he could let go and fly like one of those birds up in the sky. He swung his small legs harder as he started to gain speed and height. As he finally reached the highest point, he let go and flew into the air with a gleeful expression on his young face. When he started heading back towards the ground, he could only think of how jealous he was of the birds that could stay up in the blue sky forev—

- her muscles and lungs burned as she made the last few strokes that brought her to the side of the pond before the other swimmers. She heard the shouts and cheers of her friends as she clambered out of the water and onto the bank, throwing her arms up in victory. She joyfully realized that he had seen the whole race. He walked up to her, his light brown eyes glinting. She ran to him, throwing her arms around him as his hand reached up, brushing her cheek and whisp—

He could only observe. He was simply an imperceptible, omniscient being who observed his actions that belonged to another. Nothing truly made sense in the continuous stream of thought.

Tifa sat slumped at the table in the Strife house kitchen. The room was beginning to become dark as the sun sank below the trees outside, and the silence suffocated everything in the room. She picked at the grains in the wood table thoughtlessly. Across from her sat Zack. Stress and grief stretched across his face, making him appear years older than his actual age. He was hunched over the table, staring at his clasped hands. Tifa opened her mouth to comfort him when she heard another sobbing cry from behind Cloud's bedroom door. Zack met her eyes and they shared a sad look.

Upon making it outside of the mako reactor, the paramedics had put Cloud in Nibelheim's only ambulance and hightailed it as fast as possible down the mountain side, leaving Tifa and Zack behind. The two teens had been forced to make the trip back in the bus they had rode up on. Once they were back in Nibelheim, they were told that Cloud had been moved back to his own house to be treated for the time being.

When they entered the Strife residence, they had been barred from entering Cloud's room. One of the medics had explained that only family, the doctor, and his assistants were allowed to enter. Not even Zack's status as best friend could get them past the adamant man. The two had eventually seated themselves at the table where they found themselves now. Since arriving, Mrs. Strife's cries of grief had occasionally made their way through the door.

Zack could understand just how horrible she must be feeling. It hurt him just to think about it. Cloud was the woman's only living family as far as he knew. She and her son had had it hard since Cloud's father had died, but they were very close and made it through some very difficult periods in their lives together. But now, her baby was potentially in a mako-induced coma the doctor was unsure he would ever wake from. Zack shifted in his chair, letting out a pained sigh.

The door to Cloud's room opened and Gertrude, Hollander, and Mrs. Strife all stepped out of the room. Zack and Tifa leapt to their feet.

Hollander brushed past the two teens and walked out the door with his bag in hand. Gertrude moved aside to let Mrs. Strife walk up to Zack and Tifa. The blonde woman's face was starting to lose its blotchy red appearance, but there were still obvious tear tracks down her cheeks.

"Zack, Tifa, the doctor and Gertrude have stabilized him," Mrs. Strife murmured. Her voice was still rough from crying. "You can both see him now, but be careful of the… of the equipment."

Tifa had started to hurry to the room the second she heard she was allowed to see her friend, Zack right behind her. As they walked into Cloud's room Tifa looked around at the new surroundings.

Cloud's room was fairly sparse, with a bed, nightstand, and a closet. There were a few items lying on the floor, mostly school papers and some books, but for the most part the room was clean. The sunset cast a bloody hue around the room. Her quick glance around the room ended as her eyes finally came to rest on the still form on the bed.

Cloud lay with his back propped slightly by two pillows and his arms limply resting on top of the covers. He had been bathed, leaving no traces of the mako, and his left forearm was heavily bandaged. The uncovered skin of his upper arm had what appeared to be heavy bruising. A small tube snaked out from underneath a bandage on his left hand. The tube was connected to a sack of clear liquid held on a stand. Tifa's brows lowered at the sight.

Mrs. Strife saw her troubled expression and explained, "That is called an IV. The doctor said it's giving him medicines that fight the effects of mako and prevent him from feeling pain… But, I don't think it blocks the pain. At least, not completely." Her delicate blonde eyebrows frowned in worry. Tifa could see why she thought that.

While Cloud had never exactly been the same deep tan as his friend Zack, he had not been this pale before the reactor incident. His face was ghostly white, but his beneath his closed eyes hung dark shadows. Instead of having a blank or peaceful expression like most sleeping people, his face would occasionally scrunch up and pain would be written across his features.

Zack sat in the chair at the head of the bed. He looked down at his best friend as he wondered about the treatment he was getting. Tifa had moved across to the other side of the bed. She reached with a hand and gentle brushed some of Cloud's bangs out of his face. He didn't react to her touch.

"ShinRa said they would take care of him," Mrs. Strife spoke up eventually. Zack and Tifa looked up in surprise.

"What?"

"Really?"

Mrs. Strife nodded. "Professor Hollander told me that since this accident took place due to his poor judgment and the lack of safety features in the mako reactor, the ShinRa Corporation has agreed to care for Cloud in their top hospital to make up for their employee's and facility's shortcomings. Or, so he said." She turned away from them. Her mouth shifted into a faint snarl. "None of it changes what happened to my boy. None of it does."

Neither of the teens was sure how to react to that.

Cloud had several visitors for the next two days. Professor Hollander had explained that it would take at least three days for the ShinRa hospital's team to reach Nibelheim, so friends should visit him while they had the chance. As a result, those who knew Cloud well and even only slightly had been popping up on the doorstep throughout the day in hopes to check on his condition and comfort his mother.

A large number of people from the slums had come to visit him, wanting to see how their children's friend was doing. To Tifa's surprise, even one of the aristocrats from town had shown up. She had only introduced herself as Ms. Sherley before giving Cloud a sad pat on the head and disappearing out the door again.

Tifa and Zack had been alternating with Mrs. Strife when it came to keeping an eye on Cloud. The reasons were mostly to keep watch in case he woke up and keep an eye on the amount of liquid in his IV. The medications in his IV were kept in stock at the mako reactor, but the amount available was incredibly low. Cloud's condition was so rare there had never been a need to carry a large amount of the liquids. Few people who were exposed to so much mako ever survived to use them. Professor Hollander and Gertrude were trying to keep the amount he took in at a minimal amount, but even so, Cloud was burning up the small supply. It was no small source of concern.

Hollander had even said at one point that there may not be enough to carry Cloud through to the day the hospital medics arrived. The man had merely been muttering to himself, but he had not had the thought to hide it from the distraught Mrs. Strife, and Tifa and Gertrude had tried their best to console the stressed woman.

Tifa turned a page in the book in her hand as she kept herself occupied during her watch. Mrs. Strife was currently in her room taking a much needed nap. Zack was on his way over to keep Tifa company. She was not expecting him for at least another ten minutes.

Next to her, Cloud still slumbered away. Aside from the occasional chirping bird outside and creak of Tifa's chair, the only sound in the small room was Cloud's ragged breaths. They made Tifa uneasy. They were always shifting from a harsh pant to an almost inaudible whisper. There had been one or two times where she had almost been certain they had stopped altogether. Before she could hurry to get help, they would start to become audible again.

Tifa sighed and rubbed her temples. Her worry for her friend was growing every hour. She stopped rubbing her head and started to study Cloud. What was it about him? They had never actually confirmed they were friends in any way to each other. Yet when she thought of him, she couldn't say he was not a friend either. Her eyes roamed from his spiked tufts of hair to his pained face. There was something special about him, she just knew it.

She thought back to their shared history class. She tried to remember anything of him before he had jumped between her and Johnny. There were tiny scraps, small glimpses of him in her peripheral vision. He was never outgoing or extravagant. He always seemed to be staring out the window, lost in his head.

As she continued to dig through her memories, a long forgotten memory quickly flashed before her eyes.

Seven year-old Tifa squealed happily as she chased the ball down the street, Eleanor and one of the local boys chasing after her. Aiming for the goal, she kicked the ball mightily. It flew through the air and ricocheted off of one of the trees marking the goal. The three children watched as it bounced and rolled into the backyard of a nearby house.

"I got it!" Tifa called to her friends. She ran into the backyard and looked around. Where was it? She needed to hurry so she wouldn't be caught trespassing on someone else's property.

She was searching through a garden when she heard something stepping through the grass behind her. She gave a small gasp as she turned sharply. The figure that had approached nervously skittered backwards at her sudden movement. Bright blue eyes curiously stared at her as she realized it was only another kid her age.

He was short; she was taller than him by a couple of inches. His blonde hair was pulled back in a rattail, but there were still several spiked tufts of hair that stuck up. He was wearing a simple gray t-shirt with green shorts. In his small hands was the ball Tifa had been searching for.

"Oh, hello!" Tifa greeted.

"Hi…" the boy mumbled, looking down. "I found this ball over there," he gestured to some trees, "and I thought maybe it was yours."

"Yes, that's mine," Tifa chirped. "My friends and I were playing with it."

"Oh…"

Tifa smiled. He was so shy!

"I'll give it back then."

He took a small step towards her and held out the ball for her to take. She gently took it from him.

"Thank you!" she said happily before turning and skipping back to the group. She had only gone a few steps when she turned around.

"Oh, would you like to play with us?"

The boy just shook his head. "No. Thanks, though."

Tifa nodded and waved before running back around the house and launching the ball to her friends. She was about to rejoin the fray when she realized she had forgotten to ask what the boy's name was.

She called to the others, "Hang on, guys! I forgot something!"

As she rounded the corner of the house she yelled, "Hey, I forgot to ask! What's your name?" She stopped running and looked around. There was no sign of the boy to be seen. She gave a disappointed huff and went back to her friends.

'What is his name?' she wondered.

Tifa studied Cloud's face carefully. She was certain that he was that boy from long ago. Their faces were very similar. She realized she didn't even know what his backyard looked like.

Tifa stood up from the chair and set her book down. She walked up to his window and peered out. Sure enough, there was the group of trees she remembered from the memory. Just to the left of the window was the garden she had been searching through when Cloud had approached with the ball. She couldn't help but smile.

It was a simple memory, easy to forget. But despite that, it made her feel as if she already had some connection to Cloud. Tifa wondered, did he remember their little encounter all those years ago?

A knock at the door startled Tifa from her thoughts. As she looked up, Zack walked through the doorway.

"Someone else decided to come visit," he said. Tifa peered around him and saw a young boy with shaggy mouse brown hair and downcast blue eyes. His small hands were fiddling with the bottom of his gray jacket. He couldn't have been older than seven. Zack put his hand behind the boy's back and pushed him forward.

"Tifa, this is Denzel," Zack introduced.

Tifa put her hands on her knees as she smiled at the boy.

"Hi, Denzel," she greeted him. He looked up and murmured a faint "Hello," before looking back at the ground. Tifa recognized him as one of the children she had seen Cloud playing with before. His shy behavior brought the earlier memory back to mind. She gave a wry smile.

"Would you like to see Cloud?"

Denzel looked up and nodded. Tifa stepped back as he slowly made his way over to Cloud's bed. The small boy seemed to steel himself before he raised himself up slightly to get a look at his hero. Denzel's face stayed fairly emotionless as he took in the bruising and Cloud's pale face. He turned to Tifa and Zack.

"When will he wake up?"

Zack walked over and crouched next to Denzel, placing a hand on his shoulder. "The doctors don't know, so we don't either," he explained quietly. Denzel looked back at Cloud.

"Well, he needs to wake up soon. He said he would play with me again, and playing is better than laying there."

It was late morning the next day when the ShinRa medical team arrived. They had wasted no time in preparing to move Cloud to the vehicle that would take him away.

Tifa watched as two medics carefully maneuvered Cloud onto the stretcher. One of the other medics was currently talking to Mrs. Strife.

"ShinRa has requested that someone from Nibelheim accompany Cloud to Midgar." In the corner of the room, Tifa perked her ears. "However, you are not permitted to come along, Mrs. Strife," intoned the medic whose scrubs read 'Daniels.' Mrs. Strife stared at him in shock.

"What do you mean, 'not permitted?' That's my son you're taking away!" she cried.

Daniels answered, "They believe you will cause… disturbances… at the hospital."

"What disturbances?!" Mrs. Strife shouted.

"They believe word of your son's condition will spread and cause citizens to lose faith in their local mako reactors, therefore causing a drop in the number of consumers and creating a loss of profit for the company."

Disbelief was written across Mrs. Strife's features. "That is absolutely absurd! They have no right to separate us!"

Daniels continued, ignoring the outburst. "That is why this case will be kept quiet. No one needs to hear about it from rumors you could potentially create. You, ma'am, will be staying here." The medic was about to head back to the transport vehicle before he said, "You should go ahead and choose who will accompany him to Midgar. The ambulance will be leaving shortly."

After he left the room, Tifa approached the blonde woman.

"Mrs. Strife? I could go with them and keep an eye on them," she offered. Mrs. Strife shook her head.

"Oh, Tifa. You are such a sweet girl, you truly are. But I can't ask you to do this for me. Besides, you must remember that your father would not want you to go along."

"I can ask him for permission! Please, let me go. Cloud saved me, and I feel like it's my responsibility to help him recover." Tifa felt like she was begging as she tried to make her point. Mrs. Strife sighed and thought to herself for several moments.

Finally she answered, "Very well, Tifa… but you must ask your father first. I appreciate your offer, but it is truly up to him."

Tifa nodded and surprised Mrs. Strife with a hug.

"Thank you," she whispered before darting out the door as she sprinted back to her house to speak with her father.

Reaching her house in record time, Tifa hurried up the porch steps and flew upstairs to her father's study. She spotted him at his desk and walked over, panting from her run. The older man looked up in surprise at his daughter.

"Tifa, what is it?"

Tifa took a deep breath. "The medics from ShinRa have arrived."

Mayor Lockhart nodded. "I thought they would show up today." He gave a small frown. "I also thought you would be there until Cloud left."

"Well, Dad, I was but something… came up," Tifa said. She was unsure how to continue.

"Oh? What came up?"

Tifa took another breath and said, "They need someone from Nibelheim to accompany Cloud to Midgar, and they said Mrs. Strife is not permitted to go with them, so…"

"So?" Mayor Lockhart gave a playful grin. "You want me to keep an eye on that boy for you? Is that what you're trying to say?"

"No!" cried Tifa. "What I was trying to say is… I'll go with him. But I want to know if it's alright with you."

The mischievous grin was gone from the mayor's face. Shock flitted across his face for a moment before his expression turned stern.

"Tifa, you are not going with them." His tone was hard.

"Please, Dad! Let me go with them! Cloud helped me, now it's my turn to help him! Please, let me go!" Tifa pleaded. She hated begging, but this was important.

"No. You're not going, Tifa. That's final," her father growled.

"Why? Why can't I go with them?" Tifa angrily asked. Her voice was starting to rise.

"Why? Because you're a young woman who only just turned seventeen! Because Midgar is on a completely different continent! Because these are the ShinRa we're talking about, Tifa!" Mayor Lockhart's voice was also slowly growing louder.

"I can take care of myself," said Tifa. "ShinRa won't do anything to me."

Her father rubbed a hand across his face in aggravation. "Tifa, you don't understand. Midgar is a different kind of place. The rules there are different than they are here. People act in their best interest even if it involves ruining someone else's life. If there's something that company wants from you, they will take it! They are dangerous, Tifa!"

"I told you, I can take care of myself!" Tifa shouted. "This isn't about me anyway! It's about Cloud!"

"I know, Tifa, but you're not going. They will find someone else to go with Cloud." Mayor Lockhart was beginning to frown, anger clear on his face from Tifa arguing with him.

"No, they won't! I'm going with them, Dad!"

That was the final straw for Mayor Lockhart. He stood up from his desk and walked over to Tifa. He grabbed her arm and marched out of the room, pulling her with him. They entered her room and he let go of her arm before putting his hand on the doorknob.

"You will not go with them, Tifa. I'm sorry, but you're staying here." With that, he shut the door. Tifa heard the outside knob become locked. She stomped her foot on the wooden floor boards with an angry shout. She walked over to her bed and fell on it with a huff. She glared at the ceiling for a few seconds before her eyes drifted to her window. She slid off her bed and went over to the window. She unlatched it and pushed it open. She looked around the frame and the side of the house.

"Ah, right there," she murmured under her breath. Just a couple feet away was the downspout of the house's rain gutter.

After shaking the spout to check its security, Tifa hurried to her closet and grabbed a duffel bag. Throwing it on the bed, she started to rush around her room collecting clothes and toiletries. She stuffed anything she thought was a travel necessity into the bag before quickly zipping it shut and throwing it over her shoulder. She jumped onto the windowsill, straddling it as she looked back at her room for the last time. She took in her bed, writing desk, and piano with a sad smile before she stretched for the spout and slid off the windowsill and down the spout to hit the ground with a soft thud.

Tifa carefully peered around, making sure no one had seen her stunt. The coast was clear. She hurried to the forest behind her house. She was not sure if her father was still in their house or if he had gone to the Strife house. She would stay off the main path and run next to it in the forest.

It took her fifteen minutes to reach the Strife residence. Tifa stayed in the cover of the trees and bushes as she looked across the street towards the house. There was no sign of her father anywhere. She darted across the street.

The medics were finalizing everything for the trip. Daniels was standing by the back of the transport vehicle with a clipboard in hand as he sounded off a checklist for the other medics. At the sound of Tifa's approach, he looked up. He looked confused as he looked her up and down and took in her duffel bag.

"What, are you going with us as well?" he asked. Tifa quickly nodded.

'What did he mean by 'as well'?' she wondered.

Daniels shrugged. "Alright, throw your bag up top with the rest of the luggage and hop in the back," he said distractedly as he finished the checklist. Tifa tossed her bag up to one of the men strapping luggage to the top of the vehicle and was about to enter the back when Mrs. Strife walked up.

"I assume this means your father gave his permission?" the blonde woman asked. Tifa looked away but nodded.

Mrs. Strife quirked a brow. "I find that hard to believe."

"Me too," Tifa muttered under her breath. She jumped a little in surprise when Mrs. Strife put her arms around her in a hug.

"Thank you for doing this, Tifa. It's very kind of you. Take care of yourself and Cloud, alright? I couldn't bear it if something bad happened to either of you," Mrs. Strife whispered. Tifa returned the hug and nodded.

"We'll be alright," she answered. Just then Daniels appeared at the back of the vehicle.

"What are you doing? Come on, don't put us behind schedule."

Tifa let go of Mrs. Strife and jumped into the back of the vehicle. She waved at the woman who waved back as the doors shut and the vehicle started to pull away.

Tifa turned and started to look around the inside of the vehicle. The inside was large, with cabinets stretched along one wall and several long benches with cushions on the other. Between them was the stretcher where Cloud was lying. He was securely strapped down so he would not be jostled during the trip. He was hooked up to several monitors and he had a new IV. One of the medics, a woman, was holding a mask to his face. It seemed to be helping him breathe; Tifa noticed his breaths were less raspy than before, but it may have just been from the mask on his face. At least he seemed more comfortable.

She turned to sit on one of the benches, but the sight of black spikes surprised her so much she nearly fell down.

"Zack?!"

A/N: There's a lot of shouting in this chapter, wow. Also, Tifa is a badass.

So, this chapter was a real toughie. I struggled with EVERY scene in this, which is strange. Normally at the very least one will flow. Huh. Also, there were so many distractions that kept me from finishing. Finals, getting a new computer and reinstalling freaking EVERYTHING and moving files and downloading Microsoft office and and AND AND AND- *explodes*

AND I finally found a copy of Final Fantasy VII. I have been glued to my TV, that game is so addicting. I've played Crisis Core, some of Dirge of Cerberus, and I've watched Advent Children and Advent Children Complete, but this blows those out of the water. Seriously. Cloud is so different from what the fanbase stereotypes him as. He's not emo and depressed; far from it. But he is moody and fairly quiet, although he's done a lot more talking than any of the other characters so far (I'm about 10 hours in.) Right now it's just his fake, JENOVA persona, but he is surprisingly aggressive towards some random people in towns, and unsurprisingly towards Barret, lols. The Honeybee Inn scene killed me a little inside.

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