Hey, time for the next instalment. Thank you all for the nice follows, favourites and reviews so far. And for going easy on me over the grammar and spelling.
I've read the first few chapters back and can see lots of the mistakes I made. This story is the first I've wrote in several years so naturally I've had quite bit of rust to shake off but I definitely feel I'm getting better the more I write. Hopefully that's coming across to you as a reader, that you're finding it easier and easier as the chapters go by to fly through my writings without stopping to pause and having to re-read something lol.
Also, the story will contain a few spoilers from FFVII Rebirth, so for anyone who has yet to play or finish it please be warned.
Chapter 5
The party, barring Cid and Vincent who were still back at the Highwind, were now all gathered together. Yuffie had indeed fetched the boys (well, the man, dog and cat) and had informed them about what she and Tifa had discovered at the town's medical clinic.
Barret was at a loss for words when he first laid his eyes upon Cloud. Seeing the man whom he affectionately referred to before now as "the Merc", in such a helpless state like this, it was something he found particularly jarring. Cloud, in all the time he'd known him, hadn't ever looked this level of vulnerable.
Red had been overjoyed at hearing from Yuffie that Cloud had been found. He'd bounded off ahead of the others towards the clinic, desperate to reunite with his friend. Upon walking inside (ignoring the shrieks of the on-duty nurse) he frantically called out Cloud's name, hoping to hear his voice calling back. All he heard instead was sobbing, coming in the form of another's friend's voice.
Tifa was sitting in a seat close to Cloud (who was still in his wheelchair) and had her hand over her face. Yuffie, when she arrived back at the scene, went to sit down next to her and try to offer comfort to her friend. The clinic nurse had also kindly given her some tissues with which to wipe her face.
Cait, who had leapt off his giant moogle in order to try and keep pace with Red, stood back behind everyone else to let them be closest to Cloud. Once it dawned on him the state that Cloud was in his ears had dropped uncharacteristically.
"Oh nooooo..." he said.
Barret walked to stand in front of Cloud now and, after taking off his shades, store deeply into the blonde's blue eyes. They looked vacant and soulless.
He brought up his good hand directly in front of Cloud's face. He snapped his fingers a couple of times. No response. Cloud hadn't even blinked.
"Shiiiiiiit..." he said with a shake of his head. "It's like... it's like he's been petrified or somethin'. 'Cept he ain't been turned to stone."
Tifa continued to cry. Barret felt absolutely terrible. Neither before had he ever seen her look this distraught.
"Maybe we should step outside," suggested the doctor now. "Give the young lady her and her friend some privacy for a few minutes."
Yuffie looked up and chose to be the person who answered for everyone.
"Yeah actually, I think that's a pretty good idea."
She didn't feel good leaving her friend's side like this when she was so upset. However, she agreed with the thought that Tifa probably had more things that she wanted to privately express to Cloud, things she wouldn't want the the rest of them to overhear.
She stood up and gave Tifa a small pat on the shoulder before making her way towards the door. Red and Cait both turned around and followed suit, both of them walking whilst looking down at the floor in sadness.
Barret remained stading where he was. He continued to stare down at Cloud for a few moments, but then he too turned around and followed the others outside. When he reached the doorway he stopped, looked over his shoulder at Tifa and Cloud, let out a sigh and then proceeded out.
With the room now empty, Tifa lifted herself out of her seat and dropped to her knees in front of Cloud, taking his hands in her own and resting them on his lap.
"Cloud..." she whispered. "Cloud please. Tell me that you can see me. That you can hear me. Tell me that you know I'm here."
No answer.
She placed her head down in his lap and then let out more sobs.
"I came this far believing in our memories together."
Outside...
Barret, Yuffie, Red and Cait stood together all experiencing the same feeling ofpowerlessness. What on Earth were they supposed to do now?
"Hey, doc," asked Barret eventually turning towards the doctor who was stood with the nurse a few meters away.
"So what's the diagnosis? What is it we gotta do to get him back to normal?"
"It's like I said," he answered. "His is a case of advanced Mako poisoining. I've never seen it so bad in a person before. There really isn't anything we can give him to help him recover sadly."
"So wait, you're saying he's stuck like that forever?!" asked Yuffie.
"Come on," pleaded Red now. "There's got to be something we can do to help?"
The doctor looked at his nurse, sighed, then looked back at them.
"Quite frankly, it's a miracle he's even alive. The fact he survived such a catastrophic event I can only put down to the fact that he must be a SOLDIER. They are exposed to Mako already when they first join up, it creates for them a kind of tolerance of sorts. My only reccomendation for treatment is to keep him away from any materia, or any other Mako-created products. In that case then perhaps, eventually, his mind may repair itself a little and he'll regain some of his faculties."
Barret turned away in frustration. That didn't sound promising at all dammnit. The planet only had days, maybe even hours, left before the Meteor crashed down and destroyed all life in the world. And the Weapons or Sephiroth might have already killed thousands of people before then, unless something was done to stop them. They didn't have time to wait around and hope for Cloud to snap out of it, if he ever could. This scenario was exactly what he had been fearing.
"Maybe someone in the company knows something that might help," wondered Cait aloud now.
"We're not going to Hojo to ask for his assitance," said Red, actually using his alternative voice to emphasise his anger.
"Wha...? Don't be daft now, I'd never go cap in hand to that nutter."
"Then who else do you mean?" demanded Yuffie. "You think ANYONE in Shinra is gonna wanna help us?! Even if they did have a magic potion just lying around someplace that could cure Cloud?"
"Not exactly, but maybe there's some old case notes somewhere I could get my hands on. We know that the lab boys have a history of using living people for their mako experiments. I know, I don't like that one bit either. But perhaps they wrote somethin' down or put somethin' in the computers that might be useful to know."
Red snorted a little.
"Fine, you can look into that."
Just then the door to the clinic opened and Tifa appeared in the doorway.
"I'm sorry everyone," she said now as they all turned towards her. "I'm okay now. Please could you all come back inside? There's something I'd like to tell you."
Back inside...
Tifa stood next to Cloud with her hand on his shoulder as her four friends gathered to hear what she had to say. She took a deep breath then began, opting to just let the words pour out of her mouth. Words that were unfiltered directly from her heart.
"The most important thing in the world to me is Cloud," she told them, trying to keep her tears in check this time. "I've decided, I'm going to stay here with him and do whatever I can to help. I don't care how long it takes or what he needs of me, I'm staying by his side. Either until he gets better, or until the end."
She didn't need to spell it out to them exactly what she meant by that last remark. Surprisingly, it was Barret who was the first person to reply after she'd finished.
"If that's what you think is best Tifa."
His words were non-judgemental. He sounded like he was accepting of her decision.
"Yeah, you just focus on helping Cloud," said Red. "We'll take care of all the other stuff."
"We'll handle things lassie, don't you worry about us," reassured Cait.
"We'll find all the materia we need to win!" said Yuffie with her trademark spunk. "And you tell Cloud when he comes around, that MAYBE I'll show him what I found. If he asks nicely."
Tifa gave them a smile. She couldn't wish for better and more understanding friends.
"Is everything okay in here?" asked the doctor coming in now.
"Yeah doc," Barret answered him. "We was just gettin' ready to go actually. We gotta head back to our ship before nightfall."
"Oh, very well then. I wish you all a safe trip back. And I promise that we'll take good care of your friend here. I assure you he's going to be in the best possible hands."
"Heck we know that," Barret told him. "Tifa here, she's stayin' behind to help out. Nobody can take care of SOLDIER boy better here than her."
The doctor turned to look at Tifa with a wide expression. She placed her hands behind her back shyly.
"That wouldn't be a problem, would it?" she asked.
"Oh no of course not," he answered. "Please, feel free to stay here with us to help your friend for as long as you like. I must warn you though, in the evenings he gets a little difficult to manage."
Tifa gave him a look to show that she understood and then looked back at all her friends.
"You will all definitely be okay without me, won't you?"
"Don't sweat Tifa," Yuffie told her. "I mean, you're kinda tough and all, but when you've got the Amazing Yuffie on your team then no one's got any reason to worry. No offense."
"We'll come back and visit ya'll soon, okay?" said Barret.
"Right," she nodded.
"Right. Come on you guys, let's head on back. Cid probably be havin' his nap right about now. Let's go wake his ass up and tell him to get us the hell offa this island."
Later...
The others had left now and Tifa was alone at the clinic with just Cloud and the staff. It was early evening and the time Cloud normally was washed and changed.
A new nurse had come on duty to replace the former, a woman named Jean who looked to be in her thirties, and she had agreed to mentor Tifa in how best to care for the comatose patient.
"We don't have a bath tub here sadly," the nurse told her. "And we can't put him in the shower because he can't stand and support himself. So instead we have to fill up this bowl and wipe him down by hand." Jean was prepared to show Tifa exactly what to do but, to her surprise, the young woman seemed to have a perfect understanding already. Tifa took a washcloth and dipped it into the warm, soapy water which the bowl in question had been filled up with. She started by slowly wiping his forehead and face, making sure to be as gentle as she could. Then she moved onto wiping his arms, then she unbuttoned his gown and began on his torso.
Jean was going to begin wiping down Cloud's legs but, upon seeing how dedicated Tifa was to caring for him, decided to hang back and just watch unless specifically invited to help. She didn't know the exact nature of the relationship between the two of them, she hadn't asked, but it was abundantly clear that the young lady in front of her absolutely adored this man. She decided it best for her not to go about touching him in his intimate places, even in her capacity as nurse. Clearly he was Tifa's domain.
"I'll go and fetch him a clean gown," Jean said eventually. She stood up and headed towards a cupboard at the other end of the room as Tifa continued to wash Cloud's up and down. He had remained in his trance-like state throughout this unorthodox bathing.
"Here we go," said Jean kindly placing the fresh gown on the bed nearby. "I'll let you put it on him. But if you need me to help then just ask."
"Thank you," said Tifa nodding. She did have a question she wanted to ask.
"Erm... Jean. What happened to the clothes he was found in? I mean, the uniform he was wearing? And to his sword? I was told he was holding it when they found him."
Jean looked up and thought for a moment before answering.
"His clothes? They were drenched in Mako from the Lifestream. We took them to be specially cleaned. Since it was the purest kind of Mako it takes a little while for everything to dry out properly and be safe to wear again. A person in town is handling it, he should be returning them and, his boots, either tomorrow or the day after. And his sword? We put it away, it's in the next room in a closet, along with the bangle and gauntlets he had."
Tifa nodded. So Cloud's gear was safe. She knew if he could speak he'd be mightily relieved to know that fact. He was very attached to his Buster Sword. And he'd be highly annoyed if he knew any of his other stuff had been swiped or lost.
Tifa herself had been pushed into a pool of Mako, ironically by Cloud himself (though clearly not in his right mind at the time), and she too needed her clothes to be cleaned before she could wear them again. She remembered waking up in Gongaga, in Cissnei's house, wearing the other woman's pyjamas. She was highly grateful at the time but still felt very uncomfortable.
That was the occasion Cloud opened up to her for the first time. Like properly opened up. Sharing with her his insecurities and jumbled up memories. She'd tried to reassure him, tell him that his fears about degradation were mis-placed. He seemed unsure whether or not to believe her. They had been so close to each other, so close they nearly kissed.
She finished wiping him down and Jean passed her the fresh gown before heading into the next room to boil some tea for them both. Tifa pulled off the gown Cloud had been wearing and prepared to dress him in the new one. Cloud was now naked but Tifa refrained from looking at any of his private parts. Never would she do so when he was in a vulnerable state like this. If Cloud was ever to be without any clothes on her in presence she would want it to be because he'd removed them himself. She knew that, in a scenario where their current roles were reversed, he would absolutely be respectful of her modesty.
Once the new gown was on him she thought about what else to do next? She wondered if he needed feeding? He had no feeding tube attached so she assumed he was able to eat, even in his current condition. Or perhaps she should talk to him more, perhaps tell him what had happened with her and the others in his absence?
Jean returned and asked Tifa how she took her tea. It reminded her of the fact that she'd barely eaten or drank anything for days.
"Jean," she asked now. "Earlier the doctor said that Cloud, that he gets difficult to manage in the evenings. What does that mean?"
"It's when he falls asleep," the older woman explained. "We think he has dreams, and he starts thrashing around and saying a few words. None of them making any sense really. He just keeps talking about numbers, and something about a reunion."
Tifa didn't respond to this. She merely turned back towards Cloud and, impromptu, decided to give him a hug.
"I'll... I'll go check on the tea,"Jean said awkwardly turning to leave.
Tifa continued to cling to Cloud, her eyes becoming wet again.
"Cloud, you're not a number. You're not just a clone. You're a real person."
She let him go and brought placed her hands upon his face.
"I know you're in somewhere, the real you is, the person I grew up with. And I'm going to stay here with you until you come back."
End of chapter. Slightly shorter one this time but hopefully you enjoyed. We'll keep things moving a at nice pace. This story is very much a CLOTI fic so we won't be depicting what the rest of the party get up too during this period of the game, we're going to stay in Mideel with these two.
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