Time for a third chapter. Again, please forgive any spelling or grammar mistakes that have been accidently left in. If you spot any then hopefully they aren't so awful that you can't even tell what the intended text was supposed to be.

Chapter 3

"ATTEN...TION!" boome Cid's voice over the Highwind tannoy. "This is your captain speakin' here, folks. I'm pleased to inform you all that we've now reached our destination. If you're plannin' on gettin' off, well you better check all your equipment 'cause I'm just about to set her down. Once you're ready, get your asses up to here to disembark."

He signed off his announcement with his trademark cackle.

Tifa was sitting in the Operations Room by herself. On the table in front of her was a plate of scrambled eggs, kindly made for her by one of the ship's crew. She'd barely eaten anything since waking up in Junon, managing only a small bowl of oatmeal that Yuffie had practically forced her to have that morning, before leaving Cosmo Canyon.

"You gotta eat something or you'll make yourself sick. Then you'd lose that kick-ass body of yours. And don't even try to bullshit me that you wouldn't HATE that."

Tifa knew that Yuffie desperately wanted to lift her spirits, which she appreciated. She'd forced down a few spoonfuls until the younger girl was satisfied, but as soon as she'd stopped paying attention, Tifa had pushed the bowl away.

Now, though, she scooped up some of the scrambled eggs with a spoon, and brought it up to her mouth.

"It actually tastes pretty good," she thought as she chewed. Still, her appetite was still eluding her, so she didn't eat any more. She hadn't asked for anybody to make her anything (she suspected that Yuffie had again been involved), so it didn't feel rude for her to leave the meal largely untouched.

It was afternoon time and the airship had evidently arrived at location. Given they had not had the exact coordinates, it was impressive how quickly Cid had managed to find the place in question, and get them here.

She placed her spoon down and stood up, deciding she was going head on up to the Deck like Cid had advised.

A short while later...

The Highwind had landed without so much as a bump, and everybody was indeed now gathered on Deck as ordered. Cid, and one of his crewman, were working on lowering the airstairs so that they could disembark.

"Righty ho then," said Cait Sith, clapping his paws together. "Now that we're all here, does anybody actually have a clue who it is we're need to be lookin' for?"

"Well... no," Nanaki answered. "Not really. My grandfather just said that the town here is called Mideel. It's where things that drift out of the lifestream usually end up. He said that the locals are friendly people. So, I guess we can just ask around. Maybe."

"Urgh," said Yuffie in disgust. "Well that sounds like a great plan. So we're just supposed to walk up to total strangers, and say to them; 'Hi , Mr Random Person, do you have anything that might help save the planet, and that we can borrow for a while? Pretty please?' We're all gonna sound like total dweebs here."

"Ey, don't be negative lass," said Cait in response. "I say we just play it low-key, and have a look around for a bit. Have a see if any of the merchants here 'ave gotten anythin' for sale, things that ye' don't see every day and the like. Or, if they know anybody that might know somethin' about the 'stream. A real scholarly type, you know?"

Yuffie crossed her arms and pouted. Barret, meanwhile, was looking around and noticed that somebody actually wasn't actually present.

"Yo, where's Vincent at?" he asked.

"He said that he's not coming," answered Red. "He said unless we find anything related to Cloud, or something that could help us fight, that he'd rather stay on the ship until we leave."

"Pfft, whatever. I bet he really just don't wanna have to get off his ass, and have to be talkin' to folks for information. The guy's got the personality of a dead rabbit."

"It doesn't matter," Tifa declared. "I really doubt we'll run into any trouble here, so anybody who wants to stay behind and wait, can."

She waited for someone to take up her offer. Yuffie, for all her sulking, didn't say anything. Neither did Barret, Cait or Red. Cid, however, did speak as he walked over to join their conversation.

"The stairs are down now, so you folks can get off this rig whenever ya'll ready" he said. "Me, I'm gonna hang back though. The guys and me gotta check the engines, make sure there ain't any problems that need fixin'. Better safe than sorry. I'll catch up with ya a little later, maybe."

Later...

Mideel turned out to be a quiet village with an endearing charm. It was something of a hot springs' resort, the sort of place many people, with its' warm climate and laid-back atmosphere, an ideal place to live out their days once in retirement. Unlike Costa Del Sol, a highly-popular vacation town, this place wasn't filled with excited families, or street vendors, selling everything from food to clothing to quirky souvenirs. Indeed, most of the local populace here seemed to be middle-aged or older, with hardly much of an idea of what was actually going on in the rest of the world.

The people who lived here spoke with such tranquility in their voices, it was actually quite jarring, especially for the likes of Tifa and Barret, who had both lived for years in the cramped and hard-knocks environment of Sector 7's slums.

After entering town, the group had stopped, on what seemed to be the main road, (which went straight through the centre of the town), to catch their bearings.

"Shall we split up or all stay together?" Nananki asked his four other companions.

"I say we split up, into two groups," answered Yuffie. "Me and Tifa, we'll go together over this way (pointing behind her). And you three, you all go over in that direction (pointing the other way). I mean, none of any of the elderly geezers here are going to wanna hit on us, not if we're walking around with a guy who has a gun-arm. Or a red wolf-... thingy, that talks, or with a super annoying kitty-cat."

Barret spluttered, quite taken aback at her descriptions of him, Red, and Cait.

"Wait a minute! What you mean, 'no one's gonna wanna hit on us'? Why the hell would you want anybody to be doin' that, right about now?!"

"BECAUSE... doofus," she lectured. "These old crusties probably don't see hot, young beauty queens like us, just walk into their town every day. In my experience, old pervs always tend to have loose lips, you know. One of 'em might just let something slip, whilst we're talking to and humouring them. About materia, or anything else they've found, that's been gushed up out of the Lifestream."

Barret just scowled from behind his sunglasses.

"It's fine, Barret," Tifa reassured. "I'll go with Yuffie, and you three, you can check out some of the stores. We'll cover more ground this way."

He didn't argue. Instead, Barret just shook his head disapprovingly, and muttered "Come on", to Red and Cait. The both of them just smiled, amused at how easily Yuffie could get get under his skin sometimes. They both turned to follow him.

"Come on, Tifa," said the ninja, grabbing her friend's' hand, and then setting them off walking in the opposite direction. The brunette allowed herself to be led, though she did decide to ask a question.

"Yuffie, do you really think that the people here are going to tell us anything, just because of our looks?"

Yuffie just laughed.

"I dunno, I mean, maybe? Or maybe not. It's just Barret gives off negative vibes sometimes. I don't think he even realises. But, I know if someone like him came waltzing into my hometown, I wouldn't even think about helping him out."

Tifa couldn't argue with the logic of this statement. Barret had a good heart, anyone who spent a substantial period of time around him quickly realised this. Just his tough appearance, and sometimes crude manners, often caused problems for him and for Marlene, his daughter. He was never able to shed his rugged exterior, and, sadly, looks did play a huge part in people's first impressions. Reconenance tasks were undoubtedly much better left to other members of the party.

Yuffie eventually led Tifa to a small store, located further down the road. The store that sold... what else, materia. The orbs the vendor had available weren't anything to write home about. Just the basic kinds of materia which one could be bought in most places, e.g. Fire, Ice, Lightning, Healing, etc.

"This really all you got?" Yuffie asked the woman behind the counter.

"Yeah, this is all we have in stock just now," was her almost bored-sounding reply.

"Aw man, none of this stuff is exciting." Yuffie whined.

Tifa wasn't really listening. She was standing a few feet back, lost in a daydream, with her arms folded across her chest. This town, whilst pleasant and welcoming, didn't seem as if it had much to offer for tourists. Coming here was starting to feel like it may have been a waste of time.

Out of the blue, she heard what she thought sounded like an animal's wimpering. She looked to her left in search of the noise, and, what she spotted, was a small dog just ahead, laying in the road. Passersby were ignoring it as it continued to look around, looking desperate for somebody to stop and take pity. Tifa unfolded her arms and headed over, leaving Yuffie to continue her conversation with the Materia vendor.

She stopped in front of the dog and noticed, it was obviously still a puppy. A husky, by the look of it. Thankfully, it didn't appear to be injured in any way.

"What's the matter? Are you all alone?"

She spoke in her most reassuring, motherly-sounding voice, one she usually reserved for Marlene. The dog just whimpered again, so she bent downwards to pet it lightly on the head.

"You got lost, didn't you? Separated from someone you love? Silly thing."

She continued to try to comfort the animal as best she could. It had a beautiful coat, and also was wearing a collar, she saw now. The dog finally stopped crying, and then actually sat, a sure-sign she had succeeded in helping it to feel better. She inspected the collar and saw a name enscribed. It read, ' Thunderbolt'.

"Thunderbolt," she said aloud. "That's a very interesting name. I bet it's because you're really brave, aren't you?"

The dog closed its' eyes and allowed her to continue petting it. She thought for a minute about what to do. Clearly, she was going to have to help this poor animal, help it find its way back home. Yuffie would probably roll her eyes and argue, complain about how they had better things to be doing, but Tifa didn't care. She could never not help a soul in need like this.

Fortunately, her services on this occasion weren't actually going to be needed. Just as she stood up, and looked back toward the Materia store where Yuffie still was, a voice from behind her cried;

"Oh Bolt, here you are boy! You naughty, little scamp!"

Tifa turned around and saw a man lightly jogging over to her. He appeared to be in his early-to-mid 60s, with hair that was completely white, and wearing a light green shirt. He was likely a local man.

"I'm sorry, Miss," the elderly gentleman said as came to a halt in front of her. "Is my dog bothering you? This is here is Bolt, he's my pet, I've been looking for him everywhere."

"Oh no," Tifa reassured him. "I just noticed that he was out here all alone, and I wanted to check he was okay."

"Yes he looks fine," he replied. He bent down to pet the dog himself (which had stood back up, and was now furiously wagging its tail, clearly overjoyed to see him).

He's got this bad habit of running off on his own whenever I turn my back," the man said now. "Sometimes, he goes so far off, he forgets how to get himself home. But thank you very much for taking care him for me."

"Oh, it's wasn't any problem at all," Tifa smiled. "As long as he's safe, and gets to go back home again. That's all that matters."

The man stood back up and extended his hand for her to shake. She took it whilst giving him another warm smile, even closing her eyes for a second as she did so.

"I've been all over the place lookingfor him," he told her after they'd finished shaking. "I even went up to the medical clinic, just over the way there, to see if anyone there had seen him. Should have known though that wouldn't have been able to help even if he had. The doctor and them nurses, they've their hands full for over a week now. They ain't got any time to be looking after lost pets."

Tifa was intrigued by what he'd just told her.

"The doctor and nurses, have their hands full?" she asked. "Why is that? Did something happen here? I man, this place doesn't seem like it gets many fiends who come by."

"Oh no, it's nothing like that " he explained, shaking his head. "You're actually right, there's hardly any fiends around here, in this neck of the woods. No, it's because a poor kid washed up down the coast. Was about a week ago, it I think."

"A kid?" she enquired.

"Yeah. Well, when I say it was a kid, I really mean it was a young man. About the same age as yourself, actually. He must have drifted from somewhere pretty far away. Nobody knows anything about him, only that he was wearing a SOLDIER uniform, and he was holding a big sword."

Tifa heart skipped a couple of beats. Before she knew what she was doing, she'd grabbed the elderly gentleman by both of his arms, and actually began to shake him.

"Wait, what did you just say? Did you say it was someone wearing a SOLDIER uniform?!"

The man was completely taken aback by her sudden change in demeanour, he simply clammed up. Tifa shook him again, this time a little than she intended.

"ANSWER ME!" she demanded. "Did you say that the person who washed up here is a SOLDIER?! And that he had a sword with him?!"

"Y...Y... Yes...".

Her blood was now running at red-hot temperatures.

"WHERE... WHERE IS HE? IS HE SAFE?!

"It's... it's like I said," he spluttered. "He's over at the clinic. It's just up ahead, over there." He craned his neck in the direction of the road which led up to a small mound earth. Atop of that was a small building, but one which looked distinctly more modern than most of the others around town.

Tifa let go of his arms and tried to quickly catch her breath.

"Hey, what's goin' on?"

Yuffie was now approaching with a look of befuddlement. Tifa turned to her.

"Cloud!" she exclaimed. "It's Cloud. He's alive, Yuffie! We've found him!"

Yuffie's jaw dropped.

"What... seriously?!"

"It must be!" Tifa cried, her voice full of joy. "Cloud. Cloud's alive!"

She turned and sped off in the direction which the man had pointed out, up the mound and towards the clinic building. After a few seconds rooted to where she stood, Yuffie took off after her. The elderly local, still in shock, remained in the road with his dog, trying to make sense of what had just happened. He looked down at Thunderbolt, who was looking up at him, confused.

"Well, that's young love I suppose," he said with a shrug.

Seconds later...

Tifa burst through the clinic's doors so quickly that she almost knocked them off their hinges. Her eyes scanned around frantically in search of Cloud. The only other person in the room though, it was a moustachioed-man, wearing a white doctor's coat. He turned around to find out the source of all the commotion.

"Hey! Young lady, you just barged in here like the Meteor was crashing down or something."

"I'm sorry," Tifa said breathlessly. "I've heard a friend of mine is here...".

"A friend?" he asked, sounding puzzled for a moment. But the lightbulb went off in his head, then he nodded.

"Oh... that young fellow? Don't worry, he's next door. But his condition..."

Tifa didn't let him finish. As soon as he'd pointed toward the door on her right, she immediately went through it.

This next room was filled with beds, and at the far end of the room Tifa saw a nurse. She appeared to be leaning down over somebody, whom was sitting down.

"Cloud?!"

The nurse turned around and looked at Tifa.

"Oh, hello. Are you a visitor?"

Tifa walked toward her.

"Where is he?! Cloud, Cloud is that you?"

She looked over the nurses' shoulder, and sure enough, there indeed he was. Cloud Strife, living, and in the flesh. He was sat in a wheelchair and his eyes were open. Tifa immediately lost herself in them, the deep-blue eyes he was given as a result of being injected with Mako, like all those who entered the ranks of SOLDIER. She'd never told him how much that she secretly admired them.

"Oh Cloud," she gasped, her voice breaking. "I'm so glad you're safe."

Cloud didn't answer her. Instead, he continued to just stare blankly, his expression unreadable. He wasn't wearing his SOLDIER uniform like usually, instead he was dressed in only a light-blue patient gown.

Yuffie entered the room now also, coming through the door behind Tifa. When she got her first look at Cloud, she couldn't help but let her emotions spill over too.

"Dude, it's really him!"

Tifa walked past the nurse and then leant downward, bring herself directly in front of Cloud. She brought herself to a level where her own eyes were directly in-line with his. She then leaned forwards slightly, so that they were almost nose-to-nose.

"Cloud," she whispered to him, with tears starting to come. "It's okay, I'm here now. You don't have to worry about anything at all."

There was still no response from him. Not even a twitch. Something was wrong.

"Cloud?" she said again, now sounding confused. "What's wrong? Cloud, please say something."

"I'm afraid he can't," said a voice behind her. The nurse came to stand next to her, and then she gently placed a hand on Tifa's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, but he's very unwell," she said sadly.

"What's the matter with him?" Tifa asked her. Her tears were now starting to fall. But instead of being tears of happiness like they should have been, they were instead tears of increasing anguish.

"Mako poisoning..." answered another voice now. It was the doctor with moustache. He had quietly entered himself and was standing next to Yuffie.

"It's quite an advanced case. I'm afraid to say that this young man seems to have been exposed to high levels of Mako, for what had to have been an extended period of time. He hasn't spoken at all really since he came in, that was a week ago. We haven't been able to do much for him, except try to keep him comfortable, and well-tended to."

Tifa tried giving Cloud a light shake but it had no effect.

"Doctor... please..." she begged, turning around and giving him the most pleading of looks. He simply shook his head. She turned to face Cloud again, then buried her head in his lap. She began to sob.

" Tifa... I'll go find the others," said Yuffie, sounding at a complete loss at what else to do. "You... you just wait here, okay? Just wait with Cloud."

Tifa placed both her hands in Cloud's, her head still bowed in his lap. This couldn't be happening, it was too cruel.

End of chapter. Thanks for the favourites and follows. Hoping people are enjoying this so far, they take a lot of work you know lol. Next chapter maybe tomorrow, if not then probably the day after. Don't want to rush them out because it inevitably leads to a dip in quality.

Please leave a review if you would.