Chapter 25: Behold! The Nightmare

THE ORIGINAL TIMELINE...

"That's right!" announced Bestla. "I've had the last piece the whole time! It just wanted to throw you off. And for the record, it was hidden in Junon."

"Bestla," began Cloud, "if you use that thing…"

"Oh yeah," replied Bestla as she began to aim her blaster. "I guess I no longer need you!"

"Look," Tifa began. "I know you'll never forgive us what we did. I wish with all my heart there could have been another way, but there couldn't have."

"What makes you think that words are going to make me forgive a bitch like you?" Bestla snarled. "You killed my parents! You made me a fifteen-year-old orphan! How could words change any of that?"

With that, she fired.

Cloud stood, frozen in anticipation.

What would death be like?

Will his friends forgive him?

Would anyone?

He stood there, waiting to feel the impact.

But he never did.

Slowly, he realized.

"You missed," declared Cloud.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Did I?" taunted Bestla.

Just then, the beam hit Tifa, knocking her two yards backwards.

"No!" shouted Cloud. "Tifa!"

He was horrified to the point that he could almost feel his skin turn white.

"I'm okay," assured Tifa, as she repositioned herself on her hands and knees.

She had felt no pain from the beam; only from the impact of her fall. She would get up, dust herself off, and then…

And then…

And then, she remembered the catwalk. That strong, iron catwalk that had disintegrated into dust after being struck by the beam. She only had seconds to live.

So it ends like this, thought the defeated Tifa.

"Cloud," she began as tears streamed down her face, "I'm so sorry." I wish we could have been together. It would have been right.

Cloud turned to Bestla.

"Reverse it!" he demanded. "Reverse it now!"

Cloud can still beat her. He's always been so brave. "Cloud," Tifa continued to sob, "it's too late. Listen…" He can beat her. Barret and I helped. Everyone will be safe. "Don't do this!" Cloud pleaded. "Please don't die!" A woman who dies for the greater good is a heroine. I'm a heroine. "Cloud, I have to," answered Tifa.

"But before I go, I want you to know something…I wish….I wish….I wish I could have been with you…Cloud...I…will…always….love….you…OHHH!"

Those were Tifa's last words. Her body turned a light brown. Then she disintegrated into dust.

Cloud dropped to his knees. He was an emotional wreck once more. His eyes were burning and his mouth was dry; just like that other time, but much, much worse. Tifa was gone. There wasn't even a body. Just dust. She was his best friend. His best friend since childhood. The closest he had to family. The only person he loved. Reduced to ashes.

MEANWHILE, ON AN ALTERNATE TIMELINE….

"Tifa?" Cloud asked. "Are you alright?"

"I-I think so," she whispered.

Cloud looked around the room from the bed. The digital clock at the Gold Saucer hotel read 3:52 in the morning. They were still on their overnight date at the respective amusement park.

Cloud looked at his wife to see her eyes wide open as she rested her head on his bare chest. He could see tears flowing from both of them.

Cloud sighed.

For a few minutes, he lay there, caressing Tifa's bare back. Her beautiful raven-colored hair flowed like a blanket down her back before it stopped at the sheets, which covered her lower half.

He had spend an exhausting two hours making love to her, and they had both passed out right afterward, but now they were wide awake. One was in concern, the other was in fear.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I had a nightmare," she finally said in a broken voice. "About when I was killed."

He pulled her up to his level and kissed her cheek.

"That timeline is gone," he assured her as he held her close.

This was, of course, the original timeline, where Cloud and Tifa were killed in their late twenties slash early thirties. That had been later rectified when their murderer was killed as a teenager in the new timeline.

"But this time," she continued, "I saw something I didn't remember seeing before."

"Something you didn't see before?" Cloud asked.

"I saw five figures," Tifa began as she slid her head back onto his chest. "Out of the corner of my eye. Right before I died. They were on board the Urchin."

Cloud realized what his meant.

"You're saying five people might have come back in time with Bestla and Nara?"

"It appears so," Tifa replied. "They seemed to be hiding."

"Did you see who they were?"

"Two had blond hair," Tifa answered. "One was bald. One had black hair, and one had red. I couldn't see their faces clearly."

This was strange, Cloud thought.

"Did you see them?" Tifa continued. "Did you remember?"

"I don't think I was even paying attention," Cloud admitted. "I was just hell-bent on killing Bestla. I was shot, and then I found myself back at Reactor One."

"But I don't know if it's a real memory or a nightmare," Tifa said. "I guess I'll never know."

Cloud kissed Tifa on the cheek and hugged her tightly; he could feel her heartbeat, and it was beginning to slow down.

"If it is a real memory," she continued, "I wonder what happened to them?"

"I guess they went down with the Urchin," Cloud inferred.

"Are you sure?" Tifa asked.

"Positive," he insisted. "We would have found them out by now. Or they would have slipped up and got caught. Either they went down with the Urchin or Bestla killed them."

"I guess you're right," she sighed. "You go back in time, and you'll slip up sooner or later."

"True," Cloud said.

He was silent about this, but he began to wonder if she might be right. The Urchin had been a large vessel, and it was certainly big enough for more than two people.

And more than two people were capable of hiding there.

"I don't ask this that often," Tifa continued, "but, could you hold me close?"

"I am holding you close," he reminded her.

"I meant spooning," she clarified. "So you can feel if I'm having a nightmare again."

The thought was more than welcome for Cloud. He had never spooned with Tifa before, so he was more than happy to turn her over and hold her against him.

I know he enjoyed the feeling of her butt on him; doesn't any guy?

"So if I have another nightmare," she continued, "you can wake me up."

"You got it," Cloud assured her.

"And if you get horny," she continued, "wake me up, too."

"No problem," he agreed before kissing her cheek from behind.

Soon, she was asleep again.

But, this time, she was smiling; she felt completely safe.

THE NEXT MORNING…

Cloud awoke to the sight of a beaming Tifa looking over him. Still naked, she was sitting on her knees.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Of course!" she replied cheerfully. "I can't watch the man I love sleep?"

Cloud then felt a breeze on his lower half, and looked to see that the covers were down at his ankles.

"You pulled the covers down?" he asked.

"I kind of wanted a view!" she laughed.

"Pervert," he muttered.

"Hey!" Tifa exclaimed. "I'm completely out in the open!"

"That's true," he admitted as he sat upright.

"You were there for me again," she complimented.

"Yeah," he said, still waking up.

"Come here!" she exclaimed as she pulled him in for a hug.

Cloud wrapped his arms around his wife and gently stroked her back.

She then kissed him, and took his hands in hers.

"You know," she began with a seductive smile, "checkout time isn't until eleven."

"And?" Cloud asked, although he already knew the answer.

"I'm up for morning sex if you are," she said.

"I think I am," he replied.

With that, they kissed passionately, with both of them placing their hands on each others' butts in passion.

"Any way you want it, just like last time," she added after breaking the kiss.

"In that case…." Cloud began as he kissed her neck.

"In that case what?" Tifa asked in curiosity.

Cloud leaned in and whispered it.

Tifa's eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open.