Time for the Lifestream segment. Obviously I'm going to re-create but with some of my own spin on things, changes that I hope as a reader you enjoy!

Please forgive any spelling or grammar mistakes, and also remember that Square Enix own all these characters and other intellectual property.

P.S. - Thanks for the follows and favourites, please share this if you know any people who might like to read it.

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Chapter 7

Tifa could only feel herself spinning around chaotically, as if she were caught in the heart of a tornado. Seconds past and she was unable to open her eyes or sense anything around her, not even the cold, wet feeling of the mako. It was instead like she was floating high above the ground, with nothing but pitch-black darkness all around.

After several more moments , Tifa's body and mind both finally began to stop spinning. She again attempted to open her eyes but still found herself unable, though amazingly, she could actually open her mouth to speak.

"CLOUD!" she cried out. "Cloud, are you there? Help me please!"

No voice replied to her pleas, but she could now make out another noise, though not the direction from which it was coming. It was the sound of gunfire, rapid gunfire, like the kind you heard from a squadron of Shinra infantrymen opening fire en- masse.

"What's going on?" Tifa said now, more to herself since she could sense no other presence around. "What is this? What's happening?!"

Now her body had come to a stop and, strangely, she did not feel the least bit dizzy. But gunfire continued to rattle her ears, and it caused her to feel increasingly scared. She called out again in desperation.

"PLEASE, IS ANYONE THERE? CLOUD? ANYBODY?!"

Despite not feeling any kind of ground beneath her, Tifa picked herself up to stand on her feet and began to run. She was filled with the fear that death itself was rapidly drawing near.

"KEEP BACK!" she cried as she ran. "Please, don't leave me here. Don't leave me to die by myself."

She ran and ran and ran, still with her eyes shut and with no feeling beneath her feet. She continued on like this for what felt like forever, but the gunfire only kept getting closer and louder. Closer and louder. Until...

Suddenly she felt herself lifted up and then plonked downward again onto a solid surface. Adjusting herself, finally she was able to open her eyes and see what was going on. She was relieved to find that there was now light in this environment. The site before her however, it was one of complete surreality.

She seemed to have landed on a circular, flat surface of rock, with nothing surrounding it as far as her eyes could see. Above her were floating lights, but Tifa knew these were not stars up in the sky. They were moving and shone very brightly, more closely resembling something like large pyreflies or flame embers. But stranger still was this sight of who was sharing the rock with her. Three individuals, each sat with their backs on her and on the rock's edges, forming a triangle of sorts, with her at its centre. She quickly recognised the person directly in front of her.

"Cloud...", she whispered. Cloud did not turn around at the call of his name.

Turning to her left, she realised she also recognised this second person.

"... CLOUD?!"

Indeed, this person was also unmistakenly Cloud. But he looked slightly different from the former. This one was noticeably smaller, skinnier, younger. It was obviously a teenage iteration of Cloud, looking no older than 16 at the most.

She turned to look to her right and saw that the third person there was yet another Cloud. This one was even smaller still, with longer hair tied back in a ponytail, and he was wearing a white t-shirt with shorts. This version she remembered from her childhood, the boy with whom she had shared that night at the water tower. He couldn't be any older than 14.

She took a few moments to compose herself before standing up. What in goodness' name could this be? What did it mean? Why was she here?

She slowly began to approach the first Cloud, the one she knew from the current day. When she was close enough, she reached out her hand to touch him on his shoulder. He did not flinch, nor did he turn around. He did, however, speak.

"A sealed up, secret wish. Tender memories no one can ever know."

Tifa had no idea what he meant.

"Cloud..." she said softly. "Cloud, where are we? What is the place? What happened?"

He did not answer her.

Tifa desperately wanted to see his face, but since Cloud was sitting right on the edge of the rock, she could not walk around to stand in front of him. She tried grabbing him by both shoulders, forcing him around, but found him, impossible to shift.

""A sealed up, secret wish. Tender memories no one can ever know," he repeated as she did so. Tifa was completely confused. It was as if had no idea she was even there.

She eventually decided to give up. Realising she'd get no more out of him she turned and slowly began making her way towards the second Cloud. Before she could say his name, the teenage version actually began to speak.

"The gates of Nibelheim," he said without turning around. "Five years ago, Sephiroth passed through these gates... that's how it all started... ".

A scene formed in front of him that Tifa could me stop and watch as it unfolded.

She now saw what was indeed the gates to Nibelheim, the entrance to their hometown village as it was before it was all destroyed. From where she was standing she could also see the town well, the door to the local Inn, and, also, the rusty truck that had sat abandoned for years close to the fence. It had been there throughout their childhood, none of the adults in town ever being bothered enough to have it moved somewhere else.

"Is this what you remember?" she asked the teenage Cloud, whom she was now stood next too. "Is the Nibleheim from your childhood?"

He did not reply but Tifa could tell that, unlike the former, this Cloud had understood her. She took her chance to keep engaging with him.

"Well... this is also my Nibelheim," she told him. "It's exactly how I remember it too. In fact, it's OUR Nibelheim."

Cloud looked up at her and she immediately noticed another difference in him from the current Cloud. This young man had clear, naturally-coloured eyes. They were eyes he'd been born with, the ones she remembered him having before he left for Midgar. After a few seconds he turned to look back at the scene and stood up from where he was sitting. Tifa carried on;

"Five years ago, two men from SOLDIER came. Sephiroth, and another man. He was young and vibrant."

She paused and took in a large breath.

"Cloud, can you tell me again how you remember it?"

Cloud quickly looked at her again and then back at the memory in front of him. He closed his eyes and bore a look of real concentration.

Tifa turned to view the scene as it was now unfolding. She saw Sephiroth suddenly stroll into view, stopping just before the village entrance. He turned around and said;

"So, how does it feel? It's your first time back to your hometown in a long time, right? I wouldn't know the feeling, for you see, I have no hometown."

He then let out a laugh. No, in fact it sounded more like a cackle. Tifa found it unsettling.

"Five years ago I saw the real Sephiroth for the first time," she said now. "I'd heard so much about him. So many of the other kids in town looked up to him. Some of the adults did too. Everybody used to say how great he was, how he was a mighty hero. But to tell you truth, when I finally met him, I really found him to be very cold."

"Right," the Sephiroth incarnation said now after he'd finished cackling. "Let's go."

Tifa continued to watch the events unfold. Suddenly, two Shinra infantrymen came into view. And then, slightly following behind them,entered another figure. It was another Cloud, identical to the one stood next to her now.

Tifa's heart sank. She reached out and touched the Cloud next to her's shoulder, and he subsequently turned to acknowledge her.

"No Cloud," she told him sadly. "I'm sorry but I can't keep this from you anymore. I was afraid. Afraid that if I told you the truth, that something terrible might happen."

The young Cloud's expression turned confused. She felt her emotions begin to well up inside her.

"The truth is," she said, her bottom lip now quivering. "The truth is you weren't here. You didn't come back to Nibelheim five years ago."

She released her grip on him and turned away, desperate to hide her tears.

"I waited..." she sniffled. "I waited, and I hoped, and I prayed, but you never came. I used to... to read the newspapers. I read them hoping I'd find a mention of you. I asked anyone who came to the village who had any business in Midgar if they'd heard of you. I even asked your mom, I asked her about whether you'd been in contact or not. But I never found out anything."

She could hear the Cloud whom was stood behind her take in a sharp in-take of breath as she spoke. She could tell he was floored by everything he was being told.

"The two men who came here for the reactor were Sephiroth and another person," she revealed, trying desperately to compose herself.

After a minute or so, Tifa finally managed to dry away her tears and turned back around to face Cloud. He was still wearing the look of astonishment.

"You mean that member of SOLDIER who came with Sephiroth wasn't... me?"

He sounded as if his voice were about to break. Tifa felt truly heartbroken.

"There's... there's... nothing else I can say."

Cloud looked away from her and then slowly sat back down again.

Tifa wanted to comfort him somehow, but she decided the best thing to do was to leave this Cloud be, at least for now. The answer, whatever it was, was something which he needed to figure out for himself.

She began to walk towards the third Cloud now, the one who was the youngest and looked how she remembered him from their younger years. Like the second, he began to talk first before she could think of something to say.

"That starry night at the well, and our promises, what if that memory is all... a lie?"

"Don't jump to conclusions!" she told him with panic in her voice. "Just keep trying to remember as many details as you can, okay. Try to think of the specific things, like..."

She paused to think for a few moments. Then it hit her.

"Like the sky that night!" she exclaimed. "Yes, the stars were out that night. I remember that too."

Like before, in front of them a scene was beginning to form and it once again it became Nibelheim. This time however, it wasn't the front gate, or a rusty truck, that they were given to look at, instead both of them were treated to the sight of the water tower. Acommpanied by the beautiful, starry sky from the night in question.

Tifa looked down at the boy Cloud and she put her hand on his shoulder.

"From the beginning now, OK?"

The forms of another 14 year-old Cloud, and of a younger Tifa herself, appeared on the water tower now. They were sitting close to one another. Close enough that it they appeared happy and cute together, but also with enough distance that made it obvious there was a lack of familiarity between them.

Current Tifa watched and actually allowed herself to enjoy reliving this moment.

"I remember wearing that dress," she said, managing a small smile. "And your hair used to always be tied back like that. You really were so small back then, not like now. You ended up growing up to be really strong. And handsome too."

She brought her hands together and looked down at the floor. A thought was bothering her.

"Sephiroth once said, that Cloud made up his memories by listening to my stories."

She bit her lip nervously as she ruminated.

"But if what he said is true, then how come Cloud can remember so much about our childhood? How can he know so many small details about things? Things that he can't possibly have imagined, or have been told by Professor Hojo? How can he so perfectly remember the sky from that night when we made our promise?"

She thought back to that promise, how she had essentially tried to rope Cloud into it but, to her pleasant surprise, he had agreed to it without much convincing. She looked up again now to take in that gorgeous night sky.

"The stars were so bright and beautiful that night. We talked and shared with each other our hopes and dreams for the future. It was the first time ever that it was just the two of us, no other kids or adults around to spoil anything. Just Cloud and me, and I loved every second of it."

She looked now back over at the boy Cloud, stood on the rock with her. All this of time she'd been thinking, he had been staring transfixed at the water tower and the figures sat under it, the other him and young Tifa. She watched him for a little while, studying his features up close.

His eyes were of course free from Mako, but Tifa did recognise several other physical characteristics in him that were still present in the adult Cloud. His unique posture was still the same, as was the way he tilted his head slightly when he was totally consumed by something unfolding in front of him. Suddenly Tifa then thought of something.

"Cloud..." she exclaimed, rushing over to him. The boy was roused from his trance and looked up at her, shocked.

"Cloud, please let me see your knees," she asked him. He gave her a look of slight confusion.

"Why...?"

"Just please let me see," she urged. "I need to check something."

Though clearly still confused, Cloud nonetheless complied. The boy lifted up the bottom his dark shorts to show Tifa the upper parts of his legs. She studied them with great interest. After a few seconds she gasped.

"You have scars. There (pointing just above where his kneecaps were), look. It's just like you told me."

The young Cloud did indeed bare some faded scars in the spots she was referring to. He looked down at them before simply shrugging.

"You got them when we fell from Mt Nibel," she told him. "Don't you remember? I went up the mountain looking for my mom. You followed me to try and protect me, you were worried something bad was going to happen. We fell and hurt ourselves, and afterwards everybody in the village blamed you for what happened."

The boy looked shaken now as he listened to her repeat all of this.

"How... how do you..."

"Because..." she told him now, trying to sound reassuring.

"Because, you told me about it. You told me everything, when we were in Gongaga. The other you did."

She tried to calm herself down, but the excitement inside her couldn't be contained.

"I hit my head and I was unconscious for a whole week. But you... thankfully you were okay. You said you just scarred your knees a bit, that's exactly what you told me."

She paused to allow her thoughts to catch up. This discovery could only mean one thing.

"You really are Cloud..." she told him as tears began to fall down her face again. "You definitely are the person I remember from Nibelheim. The person who wanted to save me, and the person who promised he'd come back and help me. You're the Cloud whose mom is Claudia Strife, and who left the village to become a SOLDIER. Everything Hojo and Sephiroth say about you is lies!"

Young Cloud just listened, trying to make sense of everything she was saying. Before he knew it Tifa had thrown herself at and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him so close to her it reminded him of when his mother used to cuddle him as a very young child, to help him go to sleep. He felt the wetness of her tears, and her hair smelt really pretty. He eventually decided to just let hold him until she whenever she was ready to let him go.

That's chapter 7, I hope you enjoyed. The next one will continue with the rest of the lifestream section. It may be out tomorrow.

Please leave your reviews as to what you think. :)

He stopped looking at the scene and turned his head towards her.

"This is... this is your subconscious, isn't it?