Silmeria - Happy reading.

Disclaimer - I claim no rights to Final Fantasy VII

Chapter Twenty - Alpha Guide Cloud Strife

It took a moment for Cloud to remember that he was no longer in the Fair Manor. It took even longer to realize why he was sleeping in his old bed at Seventh Heaven. And when the memories came rushing back, he buried his face into his pillow and fought back the sting of tears. He supposed that he should have known that Zack had a darker personality in reward for his past, but Cloud had grown used to the smile that Zack constantly bore. The brightness in his eyes and lackadaisical approach that Zack took to life and its problems. Cloud had never felt as foolish as he did now.

The ache of last night didn't pass with a decent night's sleep. So, Cloud rose from the bed, wincing as the cold pierced his bare feet. He trudged down the stairs, far from surprised to see Tifa with a clipboard in her hand and checking the liquor bottles that lined her cabinets. While normal bars tended to stay open seven days a week, Seventh Heaven was known to close shop on Sunday, or in Nibelheim's terms, Minerva Day. It was a considered a Holy Day back home and even here Tifa adhered to the Old Ways, a rarity outside of the rural villages on the Western Continent and one that Cloud secretly loved.

"Good Morning." Tifa murmured, gesturing to the plate of food sitting on the bar. "Your breakfast is ready."

"Oh." Cloud slid onto the stool, his stomach growling when the smell of it drifted into his nose. "Thank you, but you didn't have-"

"I did." Tifa cut with a gentle smile, her reddish-brown eyes bright in the dim lighting. "You had a hard night. How are you feeling?" Tifa glanced at him over her shoulder. "Did you get some sleep?"

"I did." Cloud scooped the eggs into his mouth, his cheeks full for a moment before he swallowed. "Thank you for letting me stay the night, Tifa. I really appreciate it."

"Well." Tifa blew out a small sigh. "I couldn't let you freeze to death." Tifa shoots him another look that was borderline chastising. "You know that it was dangerous for you to leave so late at night. You don't know what or who was out there and you know that Zack is going to be so worried about you."

"I know." Cloud flushed at the thought of Zack not seeing him in his bed this morning or Serenity wondering if she made the right decision in trusting him with such information about her and Zack's past. He knew Zack would be worried, even to the point of feeling abandoned and betrayed, but what he was supposed to do? He couldn't stand the thought of seeing the anger and disappointment in Zack's eyes when he woke up in the morning. He had crossed the line with his questioning and both of them knew it. He wasn't ready to see Zack nor was he ready to apologize.

"I'm sorry." Cloud murmured, breaking himself out of his thoughts. "I know it was dangerous coming here so late at night, but I couldn't - I couldn't.-"

"Hush," Tifa commanded softly, reaching over the bar counter and gathering Cloud in his arms. "It's okay. I didn't mean to push, alright? I didn't mean to make you so upset." Tifa came from around the counter and gathered Cloud into her arms, swaying them back and forth. "You know that he's going to come and look for you, right? Zack isn't the type to just let things fade to the wayside."

"If that's the case then am I not allowed to apologize?" Cloud uttered, remembering Tifa's previous words. "Do I have to stand by and let Zack take me home and let the tension linger-"

"I gave you advice about how to deal with Zack and his behavior, but I didn't intend for you to follow through with it, Cloud." Tifa clicked her tongue, shooting her old friend an amused look. "You were never to follow instructions. If you did then I wouldn't be here, right?"

Cloud's lips thinned at the flash of memory. Of the incident that caused Tifa' to lose that precious part of her when she was just a child. "Right." he agreed softly. "Do you think I should go back?"

"I think." Tifa tapped her finger on her chin with a teasing smile. "That you should help me with inventory. Besides, it's not even dawn. Do you honestly think that I'm going to let you go home yet?"

"No." Cloud breathed out, as he slid off the stool and crawled behind the bar where bottles littered the floor along with cloth covered glasses. "I suppose you wouldn't." Cloud looked down at his hands his lips thinning at the trembling. "Not with Rosso outside your window."

Tifa tensed next to him. Her wide-eyed stare telling that, yes, she didn't know that he was well aware of the Alpha Guide's presence the previous night. "How did you know?" she demanded. "How long have you known?"

"I sensed her." Cloud murmured, shivering as the sweat rolled down the back of his neck. "She was pressing against my shields the entire night." Cloud blinked back his exhaustion. "I'm sure that she's still here in the neighborhood. Is she?"

Tifa lips thinned at the question before nodding. "I received a couple of calls from the other store owners asking who she was and what she was doing her and SOLDIER should be called to...take care of her." Tifa shook her head at the wording. "I don't know what I'm going to do with her. I was hoping that she would wander out of the sector and out of Midgar, but that doesn't seem the case. She seems dead set on getting ahold of you." Tifa reached up and tapped Cloud's temple in emphasis. "She seems eager to get in your head."

Cloud bit his bottom lip. He didn't mean to attract so much trouble for Tifa or her neighborhood. "If I could draw her out-"

"No." Tifa interrupted swiftly. "You're in line for Alpha Guide of Midgar, Cloud. Do you honestly think that I'm going to let you got out there and face her alone? You must have a leave of your senses."

"What choice do we have?" Cloud protested with a tight swallow. "Do you honestly think that she's going to leave on her own? Zack and Rufus are still searching for her while her own Sentinel is letting her run loose-"

"Hoping that she'll kill you for disgracing him during the Gathering," Tifa uttered. "Alpha Sentinel Weiss is well aware of her madness and revels in it." Tifa's lips thinned at the thought of a Guide running wild without help - without salvation. "It was a long time coming and no one did anything about it. No one prompted or provoked her-"

"Until now." Cloud finished with a tight sigh and a bitter smile. "Of course. It had to me to set things in motion, right?"

"If not you then someone else in the near future." Tifa shrugged off Cloud's chiding look. "She was a ticking time bomb and I'm honestly surprised that this didn't happen sooner."

"Now that's happened what do we do?" Cloud glanced back to the window, relieved to see no one lingering but the wind and few drops of rain and the occasional passerby. "We can't just let her run amok-"

"We'll find her," Tifa reassured gently, tossing Cloud a pen and a notebook. "Now. Get to counting."

The deep cynical part of Zack expected to find Cloud's bed empty when woke the next morning and he often regrets trusting that part of himself, but it often saves his and others live so he tends to keep buried deep in the back of his mind. Still, he could help but feel the sting of rejection as he stared at the mussed bedsheets and hastily packed clothing. Cloud didn't grab all of his belongings which meant that there was a small chance that he might return. Eventually.

"Your anger is going to cross a line one day, Zack." Zack turned to Aerith who grimaced at the quote. "Isn't that what you told me six years ago?"

"Ah." Aerith murmured, staring at the empty bedroom with a sad smile. "That I did, but that doesn't mean he's not going to come back-"

"That's-" Zack swallowed the painful lump rising in his throat. "That's not what I meant. I meant that you were right, Aerith. My anger did cross a line and this is my just reward."

"You still don't know each other very well." Aerith began, cautiously. "You're going to step on each other's toes for a while yet. Cloud isn't used to the despair that you suffered and you're not used to the happiness that he was smothered with during his younger days. Each of your lives was as different as night and day." Aerith blew out a small sigh when Zack's shoulders tensed at the comparison. How could she make him understand? That their differences weren't that bad? That it made them better?

"Cloud loves you." Aerith murmured, trying a different approached. "You know that he loves you. He just needs the space-"

"As did I, but you didn't see me running out of our home," Zack remarked, bittered. "I-" Zack looked agonized. "I wanted to apologize for what I said and what I was going to do with Serenity."

At the mention of Serenity, Zack's Head Maid and Advisor, Aerith's face darkened. It was true that Serenity's talents were valued among the Sentinel-Guide Community, it was no excuse to go around and threatening what would be the new Alpha Guide of Midgar. Of course, she understood what Serenity was doing and it was her job.

"What Serenity thinks matters little in regard to your feelings, Zack." Aerith continued, placing the truth of her thoughts about Serenity to the back of her mind for now. "What matters is how you feel towards Cloud and how the both of you are going to handle this situation. I think you should go and apologize, but not without a guard. I'm still worried about this Rosso situation."

"I can handle myself." Zack brushed off Aerith's protests. "I don't want a body count with this Rosso situation."

"And if there is?" Aerith goaded not without malice. "What will you do then?"

"I will take her down," Zack responded as if the answer was but a simple one, but to the Sentinel and Guide, it was far from it. Rosso's death would have untold ramifications. Not only would it cause a war between Edge and Midgar, but it would drive Weiss to the brink of insanity. It was unspoken that the bond between Rosso and Weiss ran deep as the ocean itself and their love ran as a deep as the Goddess Minerva's. So, killing Rosso was not only unwise but dangerous as well. For she was one of the first Combat-Ready Guides: an empathic being that could control the wills of soldiers on the battlefield. She was his grandfather's most prized achievement and quickly proving to be a most inconvenient problem. Before Cloud, Zack could only glance at her with pity. It was his grandfather's fault that she was this way in the first place. So, what right did he have to judge her behavior? The way she thought about life?

However, the moment she harmed Cloud. The moment she took his chance at having a Guide away, the pity disappeared. No longer would he excuse her behavior because he felt guilty for the way she was treated-experimented upon. The moment she chose to escape and hunt Cloud down as if he was a plaything was the moment Zack stopped caring for her as an individual. He would only see her as a target - a problem.

"I'm going to find Cloud," Zack stated, turning on his heel and striding for the stairs, leaving Aerith in a flushed, frustrated state at his sudden departure. "You're in charge while I'm away."

"Of course," she called out with a dry tone. "Aren't I always?"

Zack raced out of the door with a smile on his lips at the quip only to stop at the sight at a lone figure near the gates. He narrowed his eyes and reached for the small knife that he kept underneath his jacket. He took one step forward, freezing when the figure slumped overall but forcing Zack into a dead run.

"Are you alright?!" Zack slid to his knee and reached a hand toward's the person's shoulder, giving them a rough shake. "Hey-" he stopped when the hood fell over revealing the face of a girl that be couldn't more than fifteen. It was a face that was familiar-one that he had grown up alongside. One that should have been as old as he was now and this wasn't-

This wasn't right.

"Shelke...?"