Through space and time the path unwinds | @emosey

[somersaulting]

Tifa's first thought when she wakes up is something about the bedding. Her open eyes show her that she's in the Operation Room of the Highwind, so how is it that she's lying on something soft? Did those guys take it from some Inn they shouldn't have even been in? The last thing they need when the world is falling apart is to start a life of petty crime, and--

Cloud.

The thought strikes her much stronger, much more suddenly than the rest. She sits up, eyes sweeping over the room. There's a sigh of relief on her lips when she sees him, still sleeping, an arm's length away in a bundle of the same bedding. Relief, and something softer too, something that unfurls like it's been waiting for her to find it all along. And so there's a smile on her lips as she reaches for him, fingers finding his arm--

(She wants, she realizes, to tangle them in his hair.)

--and shaking him gently.

That's right. She found him. No... he found himself, really. She was just there to support him in doing so. And she learned things too. About him, about herself. About their past.

She knows that when he wakes up, his eyes will look the same. But will the expression behind them be different?

"Cloud...?"

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[emosey]

"Hm? I'm... Good, I think." He's still a little groggy but that's probably to be expected.

In the past, Cloud might have given a similar answer automatically without even thinking about it, undesiring of the scrutiny from others, and certainly unwilling to scratch beneath the surface of his carefully-built up facade. To be able to say that now and truly mean it without any sort of reservation is a new experience.

The brush of her fingers on top of his draws his attention. His hands are completely bare for once, without the usual protective barrier of his gloves. He carefully turns them over beneath hers, so that their palms are lightly touching.

"Thanks to you."

[somersaulting]

The credit he offers makes Tifa shake her head.

"No, Cloud. Thanks to you."

Her fingers curl, taking a light hold of the hand that has turned under hers. (Is it too far to push? Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, it's worth the risk.)

"You did all the hard work yourself, you know." There's no lie in what she says. There would've been nothing she could do if he wasn't ready to face the truth of everything that had happened. It was his trouble to face. Just being able to be there for him was enough for her.

"I was just there to support you while you did it."

And to continue supporting him now. In anything and everything he needs.

[emosey]

From his perspective, she deserves more credit than she's allowing herself to accept but... It's remarkable, how much clarity he has in the moment that he was previously lacking (without even realizing it). How easy he suddenly finds it to just let go of things that, frankly, don't matter all that much in the end.

Besides, there's no need to argue with words when he knows that he can start proving himself by his actions going forward. The first of which is to not flinch away when she lightly curls their fingers together.

Such an intimate touch would have previously sent him reeling but it's a feeling of connection that he now cherishes with every fiber of his being, rather than wanting to pull away and hide from it.

"You've been doing that all along... I guess I never realized how much."

[somersaulting]

It's a relief when he doesn't pull his hand away. A relief, and just... it's nice, when the last time she remembers him being conscious - how long ago was it? she doesn't remember - she knows he definitely would have pulled away.

And so her fingers tighten slightly on his - she can't help herself - as she shakes her head again, a smile on her lips. Once more, the credit he's giving her is too much, almost to the point of it being embarrassing. For her, it's always been enough just to be with him. Somehow. Even if it hasn't been in the way she's wanted.

She's not quite sure she's ready to put that much of it into words, though.

Instead, she tells him: "I was worried about you."

[emosey]

His gaze lowers a bit, no longer quite meeting hers, a terrible guilt washing over him then. Of course, the strangeness of his behavior, the seeming discrepancies between what he always claimed happened and her true memory of the events, must have all taken a terrible toll on her.

It would be easy for the others to want to blame her for not voicing any of her suspicions about his mental state sooner but Cloud knows that it's not that simple. He wasn't ready to be confronted with the truth before, that much had been evident. It's actually quite a miracle that things happened exactly the way they did. Without the Lifestream swallowing them both up like that, it's more than likely that he would have never been made whole again.

While there's no way that he can make up for anything that happened in the past, Cloud's only hope going forward is that he can relieve as much of that burden as possible going forward.

"I know."

[somersaulting]

Even with his eyes failing to meet her own, Tifa can see the stricken look behind the shining mako lights. She shakes her head, a soft chuckle on her lips as she lifts her hand just enough to pat his own. His guilt is written all over him, and she doesn't want him to feel that way. There's nothing he could have done.

Sure, maybe in a few days or so, she'll allow herself to feel angry. All those years ago, he was by her side and didn't tell her. He was ashamed, he couldn't face her -- but she'd been waiting for him. From the moment he left town, Tifa's eyes had been on the news, searching for something, anything. Somewhere along the line, she fell in love with the idea of him. And he was so close...

But right now, she's not angry. Right now, she's just relieved. Cloud is back, for real. There's probably still a lot to work on, to figure out... but he's back.

Tifa turns on the bedding so that she can face him more directly, reaching up to take his other hand in hers now too. "Hey. If you ever wanna talk about... you know, why it happened? With your memory? I'm here." She may know what was wrong with him, now, but she's still in the dark as to why it happened in the first place.