[ So sorry for the delay in this response; it has been a bit of a time on my end!
I probably need to delete the wishlist thing; I'm lame and never got around to finishing them. But I would absolutely love to do something with these two! I'm a liiiittle out of practice with Tifa, and have been looking for the opportunity to bring her back out, so as long as you don't mind that, I'm down for pretty much anything at all! ]
[ I actually have not, yet! I finally bought it last weekend - tight finances due to covid, blah blah, but I just haven't had the time to actually play it yet. (but I'm cheating by using icons from the remake cos they're so much prettier than anything else.) once I get into a game I play it pretty heavily though so I'm sure I'll be finished with it pretty soon!
I did accidentally get spoiled and will confess that I am kind of disappointed about the fact that I could even get spoiled - blah blah the word "Remake" makes you think that shouldn't happen blah blah - but I did enjoy the demo and am looking forward to playing it. I think knowing about the twist that I don't approve of in advance will actually help me out LOL.
OK I'M RAMBLING NOW SORRY but what did you have in mind? ]
[Ramble away, I say! FF7 is one of my favorite things to go on about. It actually has to do with that twist. But I'll PM ya about that cuz I have no clever way to suggest it here.
I usually roll around in fluffy smut with these two, but am very fond of date nights or vacations for them. Costa del Sol, Golden Saucer. Camping out for a few nights.]
Two and a half years from the day the group left Midgar, Cloud straddles his trusty motorcycle, Fenrir. He slips his goggles on, revs up the engine, and peels away. He has a delivery to make somewhere outside of the city--to the Chocobo Ranch near Kalm, of all places.
While Cloud rides, something sends ripples throughout the cosmos to disrupt time itself. When he nears Kalm, the ripples rise to create a doorway of energy that sees Cloud hitting the brakes hard. He does a brief front wheelie before the back comes to a stop just in front of this strange energy.
Sighing, he steps off of Fenrir and draws closer. His hand slips in and he can see images of the group splitting up after leaving Midgar. Some of what they're talking about doesn't quite sound right to him. It certainly isn't anything that he remembers. He's about to pull back and dismiss all of this as some sort of funky hallucination when he hears the sound of battle. It's--
"Tifa!?" She's alone, too.
That..shouldn't be right, either. Pulling his hand out suddenly, Cloud turns and hops onto Fenrir, revving it back up. He wasn't sure about any of this, and if he was being honest with himself, this felt dangerous on a level he couldn't even begin to put into words. All he knew was that Tifa was in trouble.
His expression one of resolve, Cloud zips into the portal without sparing a moment more of hesitation and finds himself surrounded by a variety of colors. He ignores it, instead making his way to his goal: the surrounded Tifa. As he drives, he hears voices and sees images. He spares them glances, but never drives off the beaten path. For all he knew, he was imagining them.
Cloud zooms out of the portal in a flash of blinding light, but he doesn't flinch. No one would be dying on his watch ever again!
So he pulls out his sword and steps on the gas. When he gets close enough, he steps out onto Fenrir itself and leaps forward. As the bike slows to a stop on it's own, Cloud comes down on the nearest enemy. Energy erupts from his blade and spreads out to the other enemies, hitting each one from behind. The enemies stall, and then fall apart to the ground in defeat.
Cloud sheathes the blade and approaches Tifa. "Are you okay?"
Things have been a whirlwind since Cloud stepped back into her life. So much has changed, and none of it for the better. She wanted to save the Planet, and now look at the mess she's found herself in. Her friends dead. Sephiroth alive, and determined to take everything away from them again. And Cloud... he's different, somehow; his time as a SOLDIER changed him almost into someone she doesn't even recognize anymore.
Not to mention that somehow, she's become an enemy of Fate itself.
That day in the bar, when she told Cloud she felt trapped, she wasn't lying. But that feeling is nothing compared to the feeling that plagues her now. It's almost too much, and so when it's decided that she'll make her way to Kalm by herself, she's almost grateful.
That's not to say that she's not disappointed or hurt. She'd prefer to be by Cloud's side, and it stings that he didn't seem to want to travel with her. And yet she understands - after all, there's some small relief in being by herself too. This way, she doesn't have to constantly fight against the tears that want to bead at the corners of her eyes, or the way her fingers want to constantly clench and relax.
What would be beneficial right now, though, are teammates.
Two of the furred purple creatures were fine, but the one that slammed into her side, claws out, came as a surprise. And she'd barely taken down those three when she caught even more of them out of the corner of her eye. Too many. Not good. The cut across her left arm is bleeding, but there's no time for that. And it's not like she can run - with four legs, they'll almost certainly be faster than her. So she grits her teeth, raising her fists--
--and then reflexively raising them even higher to cover her eyes against the blinding light that erupts out of nowhere, along with the scream of an engine. And when the light dies, and she lowers her arms again, her eyes widen.
Cloud?
No. He's different, right? Even as she watches him leap from the bike and swing his sword into the first of the Fangs, she can tell there's something changed about him, although in the heat of the moment there's too much processing going on in her mind for her to identify exactly what.
He approaches her, and for a single, wild moment, she wonders if he's some kind of trick. Her fingers clench into fists again at her sides. But he saved her, didn't he? In any other case, it would've just been easier to let her die. Her fingers relax, her eyes serious and intent as she tries to search his, covered by goggles as they may be.
"I'm... I'm fine."
She has questions, of course she does, but those words are about all she can manage for the moment.
That seems to be good enough for Cloud, who gives Tifa a nod in acknowledgment before dipping his head to remove the goggles he had on. There was a moment there where he thought maybe he was going to be too late.
It shows when he lifts his head, his Mako-tinged eyes full of warmth as he approaches her to check her arm. The cold look she'd seen throughout most of Midgar was gone. When his hands touch her arm, it's gentle; the motions almost like he were familiar with..this.
Touching her. When his fingers slide slowly up, she could be forgiven for potentially getting the wrong idea. "I'm glad you're okay, Tifa." His voice is soft, his eyes on her. Satisfied that the hit she took is just superficial, one hand drops to his side while the other moves downward to brush over her fingers.
Briefly they slip between her own--but only briefly. Tips brushing over tips. Intentional.
It's his clothes that are different, she realizes belatedly. His sword, too. But otherwise, he seems normal, right? The silent, brief nod of acknowledgement... it's just like him.
And then the goggles come off, and her eyes widen at the warmth in his. Lips part, but the words of confusion won't surface no matter what she tries, and she finds herself frozen in her shock as his fingers slide up her arm to inspect the wound. There's no chance to even begin to form the wrong impression; by the time she processes that he's touching her, and that he doesn't appear averse to doing so, his hand is already falling away.
It's part instinct that her own hand moves as if to follow, part years of longing, but her brain kicks back into gear in that same moment and she snatches it back, cradling it in her other hand as if his touch burned her somehow. She meets his gaze, unflinching, but there's a vulnerability there that she'd never confess to feeling. Not to mention the confusion.
"I don't understand," she says, and her voice is low, although some miracle keeps it from trembling. "You're... different."
And not in the way she had noted in the Slums: the change of years and hardship and training that made her almost afraid of him. She saw him just a few hours ago, and yet this change seems just as complete. How...?
"What?" Cloud blinks, taking a slight step back. His boot scraps along the ground and there's a moment where he looks briefly hurt. Now that she mentions it, something does feel off about the area that they're in.
Something in the air, perhaps? He's about to press Tifa on what she could mean when he turns and catches sight of--"Midgar?" His attention, attitude, and stance changes completely, the blond turning to fully face it. The city looms as large as it ever did, even from this distance.
"It's..in one piece?" He's taking a step back from all of this--several steps back. He should be done seeing things. It was finished! Over!
The look in his eyes makes her heart hurt, and there's a moment where, despite her misgivings, she almost reaches for him. But then a few short things happen in quick succession, and suddenly Cloud is standing several steps further back from where he was, and uttering words that make her eyes narrow, her fists clench.
How can he say that Midgar is in one piece when Sector 7 is no more, when their friends are still lying buried in the combined rubble of plate and slums? When just a few short days ago he held her as she sobbed her pain into his shoulder? She whirls to face him, tears burning fresh in angry eyes... but then she sees the look in his, something almost wild, almost panicked.
"...Cloud?" Her fingers relax again, and Tifa takes a few hesitant steps towards him. "Talk to me. Whatever it is... I'm listening."
He let's out a little huff and motions in the direction of the massive city.
"Last time I saw this place, it was in ruins. All of it." More to the point, Tifa should know this. Then again, it did look like the party was splitting up when he was driving through all of that weird light...
"Hey." He turns to face Tifa once more, nodding in her direction. "I like the outfit, but you usually dress different. Were you out here training, or are you going somewhere?" He glances briefly just past Tifa towards Kalm before looking back to her.
Cloud seems like he already knows the answer, he just wants to make sure.
Ruins? She shakes her head, the distress clear on her face. He's not making any sense. It's bad enough that Sector 7 is gone; the thought of the entirety of the city being destroyed... all those lives... It makes her sick. But what does he mean, the last time he saw Midgar? They only just left Midgar, and it's been in view the entire time...
Her lips part, a question on the tip of her tongue, but then he speaks again, and...
Wait, her... her outfit...? For a few long, quiet seconds, her eyes search his. Is it possible...?
"We just left Midgar," she says, her voice soft. "We're going to Kalm. Sephiroth is alive; he killed President Shinra. We're going to find him."
If it is what she thinks, somehow, then that should be enough information... right?
Then..all those things he saw on his way through that portal of light, they were--he was--?
Tifa can see him piecing it all together before he offers a soft, "Oh." in response. He doesn't say anything specific, but what he does follow up with really says it all.
"You're just starting out." As in not just Midgar being barely even the tipping point, but that Cloud himself is from the future. Question is: why did this happen at all?
It's so weird to think of it that way. With how much they've been through, they're only "starting out"? And yet, just looking at him, how different he is... Tifa knows it has to be true.
And isn't there something about that whole thing that she finds a relief? To know that even in the future, he's alive and well... She finds a smile coming to her lips, and this time it's she who reaches for his hand, taking it in both of her own.
"You came a long way to rescue me," she says, her voice soft. "Thank you."
There are other things to worry about, of course. Why is he here? Is it something to do with their fight with the Whispers?
"Of course, I--" Cloud pauses just as his foot starts to drag forward. He almost pulled Tifa into his arms--almost. Instead he places his free hand on top of theirs and settles for taking a single step towards her. He needed to remember that this wasn't necessarily his Tifa.
"--Looks like it, yeah. You seem to have some idea of what's going on." May as well hear her side of all of this first.
A couple of days ago, she sobbed into his shoulder, and he hesitated to comfort her, to bring his arms up to hold her as she practically clung to him. But in this moment? All it takes is for her to take his hand before he's stepping forward and willingly placing his hand on hers too. Whatever he's been through, it's been a lot. She almost wants to ask, but--
That probably wouldn't be a good idea, right?
Instead, she just nods. "It might be our fault you're here." Her voice is quiet. "We fought the arbiters of fate. We... we don't have a destiny anymore."
Their fault? Arbiters of fate? No destiny? Tifa's words kept echoing in his head, bouncing around before settling on a proper and final thought.
"Things might be different back home?" This Cloud has been through quite a bit; and after he was done, there was the aftereffects of said things to deal with on top of that.
Everything that Tifa helped him with. What if--? "Does that mean we aren't--" He stops there and shakes his head, leaving Tifa with one juicy morsel of information to mull over as Cloud slowly pulls his hands away and heads over to Fenrir, his motorcycle.
"Come on. We gotta get you to Kalm first. We can pick up where we left off once everyone else leaves." He waits for Tifa to get good and settled behind him, and then they're off to Kalm!
She hadn't even thought of that. Is it possible that they've changed his world around with their actions? There's something in the way he questions it that has her feeling something twisting in her gut. Guilt, maybe. What if they've just ruined everything for him? She doesn't want to be beholden to destiny, but she didn't think about what that could mean. Until now.
Especially when Cloud starts to say something about what she can only assume is the two of them. Her lips part to ask, despite her decision not to do that only moments before, but he's already moving back to the motorcycle.
Wait, is going to Kalm a good idea? The others are there... Cloud is there...
Still, he seems to know what he's doing. So she settles herself behind him, arms wrapping around his waist. But she can't stop herself from reminding him as they speed over the fields: "We're meeting in the Inn... you're gonna have to wait somewhere, okay? I think you might be too much to explain right now."
Although by the time she emerges from the Inn a few hours later, once again alone - this time at her own insistence - she no doubt needs some explanation of her own. There's a concerned, confused frown on her face. She's had worried questions about her Cloud (is that even the right term for him?) for a while now, but this is something else entirely.
"I don't know how much is safe to ask you," she says when she reaches this new Cloud's side again. "But I have questions." Tifa pauses then, and tries a smile on for size, with a small shake of her head. She needs to be strong for him, too. "I know you have questions too. Maybe we should go somewhere quieter? I told the others I'd catch up with them..."
"I know!" Cloud replied during their ride, throwing a glance back over his shoulder to her. It didn't affect their ride at all; in fact he continued to ride rather impressively on the bike. When he dropped her off, he explained why she at least needed to go to Kalm.
"He isn't gonna tell the story until you get there." Then he made sure to drive off away from Kalm--in the opposite direction from where the group would be going, of course. Then when he pulls up later, Tifa broaches the subject of something he was also dwelling over: questions. He had a few as well, but he's good about answering hers first.
"We can go wherever you want, Tifa." Cloud holds his hand out for her to take. When she does, they leave again, heading away from Kalm to the edge of the Midgar area. He stops the bike and waits for Tifa to get off first before he does the same.
He's picked a spot facing the ocean. He doesn't say it, but he always thought she would like this view best. Romantic, even. Plus it faced them away from Midgar.
Of course, Cloud's words when he left her in Kalm left her nothing short of confused. And yet if it's possible, she's even more confused by the time he helps her back onto his bike to leave together. The story that the younger Cloud told only served to solidify the doubts she's been having for a while, the feeling that there's something different with him, and not in a good way. It makes her feel sick with worry, and between that and the worry she's feeling for the older Cloud's future...
When she climbs off the bike to find herself facing the ocean, though, she forgets it all for a moment, a small smile finding her lips as she takes a few steps forward.
"It's beautiful," she says in a murmur, turning back to face him as the sea breeze whips her hair back. She doesn't say it, but there's something kind of romantic about it.
She waits until they're seated to pose the question, and she's hesitant about it, even though something tells her it's safe to ask this Cloud, even though it wasn't safe to ask the other. "He remembers that day, but he shouldn't. He wasn't there, was he? The SOLDIER who came, he had black hair..."
When Tifa faces him with her hair flowing in the breeze, the older Cloud can't help wondering if there were possibly a more beautiful sight than that. Even as they sit and face the miles of crystalline clear ocean before them, there's a smile on his face.
Not a dopey one, mind you. Just one of contentment. When she speaks about the story Cloud told everyone in Kalm, the smile is still there. Soft. Especially when he looks at her.
"Zack." Cloud hesitates about whether or not he should Tifa anything, but he is stuck here for who knew how long, so.."He was there. Or I was. We. We were there." Cloud shifts his focus back to the water, watching the way the rays of the sun give the surface a nice shimmer.
"I never made it to SOLDIER. I ended up being nothing more than a grunt. I couldn't handle facing you like that, so I never took my helmet off around you."
The smile on his face is something that's still amazing to see. He's so handsome. He always has been, of course, but that smile is something else. Despite all the worries, she finds that it's easy to smile in return.
At least until he mentions Zack. She nods. That's what she remembers too: the black-haired SOLDIER who came to town with Sephiroth...
...and the Shinra grunt who'd prevented her from following them into the reactor with a silent stretch of his arm?
Her expression softens, and she reaches for him, shaking her head as her hand rests on his forearm. "Cloud, I would never..."
She shakes her head again, falling silent. He knows, right? She's sure he does now. So she changes the subject, just a little: "He doesn't know, does he? He thinks he's telling the truth."
And then, after a beat, with a confused tilt of her head: "Wait. But your eyes..."
Cloud let's his silence do the talking: he knows by now that she wouldn't look down on him for not making it into SOLDIER. He also confirms that his younger self is convinced that what he says and thinks is indeed the truth with a nod of his head.
When Tifa points out his eyes, Cloud's small smile turns into something a little more thoughtful. "Hojo tried to make me one of his experiments. It's why we lost touch after Sephiroth took everything away from us. I barely remember it, but Zack..got us out. Died protecting me."
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sempiternals2019-11-07 04:27 pm
Tifa Lockhart - lockedhearts
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I probably need to delete the wishlist thing; I'm lame and never got around to finishing them. But I would absolutely love to do something with these two! I'm a liiiittle out of practice with Tifa, and have been looking for the opportunity to bring her back out, so as long as you don't mind that, I'm down for pretty much anything at all! ]
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I have a multitude of ideas, one of them having to do with whether or not you've played through the Remake. Have you? Also, did you dig it?]]
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I did accidentally get spoiled and will confess that I am kind of disappointed about the fact that I could even get spoiled - blah blah the word "Remake" makes you think that shouldn't happen blah blah - but I did enjoy the demo and am looking forward to playing it. I think knowing about the twist that I don't approve of in advance will actually help me out LOL.
OK I'M RAMBLING NOW SORRY but what did you have in mind? ]
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I usually roll around in fluffy smut with these two, but am very fond of date nights or vacations for them. Costa del Sol, Golden Saucer. Camping out for a few nights.]
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Spoiler warning for FF7 Remake
While Cloud rides, something sends ripples throughout the cosmos to disrupt time itself. When he nears Kalm, the ripples rise to create a doorway of energy that sees Cloud hitting the brakes hard. He does a brief front wheelie before the back comes to a stop just in front of this strange energy.
Sighing, he steps off of Fenrir and draws closer. His hand slips in and he can see images of the group splitting up after leaving Midgar. Some of what they're talking about doesn't quite sound right to him. It certainly isn't anything that he remembers. He's about to pull back and dismiss all of this as some sort of funky hallucination when he hears the sound of battle. It's--
"Tifa!?" She's alone, too.
That..shouldn't be right, either. Pulling his hand out suddenly, Cloud turns and hops onto Fenrir, revving it back up. He wasn't sure about any of this, and if he was being honest with himself, this felt dangerous on a level he couldn't even begin to put into words. All he knew was that Tifa was in trouble.
His expression one of resolve, Cloud zips into the portal without sparing a moment more of hesitation and finds himself surrounded by a variety of colors. He ignores it, instead making his way to his goal: the surrounded Tifa. As he drives, he hears voices and sees images. He spares them glances, but never drives off the beaten path. For all he knew, he was imagining them.
Cloud zooms out of the portal in a flash of blinding light, but he doesn't flinch. No one would be dying on his watch ever again!
So he pulls out his sword and steps on the gas. When he gets close enough, he steps out onto Fenrir itself and leaps forward. As the bike slows to a stop on it's own, Cloud comes down on the nearest enemy. Energy erupts from his blade and spreads out to the other enemies, hitting each one from behind. The enemies stall, and then fall apart to the ground in defeat.
Cloud sheathes the blade and approaches Tifa. "Are you okay?"
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Not to mention that somehow, she's become an enemy of Fate itself.
That day in the bar, when she told Cloud she felt trapped, she wasn't lying. But that feeling is nothing compared to the feeling that plagues her now. It's almost too much, and so when it's decided that she'll make her way to Kalm by herself, she's almost grateful.
That's not to say that she's not disappointed or hurt. She'd prefer to be by Cloud's side, and it stings that he didn't seem to want to travel with her. And yet she understands - after all, there's some small relief in being by herself too. This way, she doesn't have to constantly fight against the tears that want to bead at the corners of her eyes, or the way her fingers want to constantly clench and relax.
What would be beneficial right now, though, are teammates.
Two of the furred purple creatures were fine, but the one that slammed into her side, claws out, came as a surprise. And she'd barely taken down those three when she caught even more of them out of the corner of her eye. Too many. Not good. The cut across her left arm is bleeding, but there's no time for that. And it's not like she can run - with four legs, they'll almost certainly be faster than her. So she grits her teeth, raising her fists--
--and then reflexively raising them even higher to cover her eyes against the blinding light that erupts out of nowhere, along with the scream of an engine. And when the light dies, and she lowers her arms again, her eyes widen.
Cloud?
No. He's different, right? Even as she watches him leap from the bike and swing his sword into the first of the Fangs, she can tell there's something changed about him, although in the heat of the moment there's too much processing going on in her mind for her to identify exactly what.
He approaches her, and for a single, wild moment, she wonders if he's some kind of trick. Her fingers clench into fists again at her sides. But he saved her, didn't he? In any other case, it would've just been easier to let her die. Her fingers relax, her eyes serious and intent as she tries to search his, covered by goggles as they may be.
"I'm... I'm fine."
She has questions, of course she does, but those words are about all she can manage for the moment.
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It shows when he lifts his head, his Mako-tinged eyes full of warmth as he approaches her to check her arm. The cold look she'd seen throughout most of Midgar was gone. When his hands touch her arm, it's gentle; the motions almost like he were familiar with..this.
Touching her. When his fingers slide slowly up, she could be forgiven for potentially getting the wrong idea. "I'm glad you're okay, Tifa." His voice is soft, his eyes on her. Satisfied that the hit she took is just superficial, one hand drops to his side while the other moves downward to brush over her fingers.
Briefly they slip between her own--but only briefly. Tips brushing over tips. Intentional.
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And then the goggles come off, and her eyes widen at the warmth in his. Lips part, but the words of confusion won't surface no matter what she tries, and she finds herself frozen in her shock as his fingers slide up her arm to inspect the wound. There's no chance to even begin to form the wrong impression; by the time she processes that he's touching her, and that he doesn't appear averse to doing so, his hand is already falling away.
It's part instinct that her own hand moves as if to follow, part years of longing, but her brain kicks back into gear in that same moment and she snatches it back, cradling it in her other hand as if his touch burned her somehow. She meets his gaze, unflinching, but there's a vulnerability there that she'd never confess to feeling. Not to mention the confusion.
"I don't understand," she says, and her voice is low, although some miracle keeps it from trembling. "You're... different."
And not in the way she had noted in the Slums: the change of years and hardship and training that made her almost afraid of him. She saw him just a few hours ago, and yet this change seems just as complete. How...?
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Something in the air, perhaps? He's about to press Tifa on what she could mean when he turns and catches sight of--"Midgar?" His attention, attitude, and stance changes completely, the blond turning to fully face it. The city looms as large as it ever did, even from this distance.
"It's..in one piece?" He's taking a step back from all of this--several steps back. He should be done seeing things. It was finished! Over!
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How can he say that Midgar is in one piece when Sector 7 is no more, when their friends are still lying buried in the combined rubble of plate and slums? When just a few short days ago he held her as she sobbed her pain into his shoulder? She whirls to face him, tears burning fresh in angry eyes... but then she sees the look in his, something almost wild, almost panicked.
"...Cloud?" Her fingers relax again, and Tifa takes a few hesitant steps towards him. "Talk to me. Whatever it is... I'm listening."
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"Last time I saw this place, it was in ruins. All of it." More to the point, Tifa should know this. Then again, it did look like the party was splitting up when he was driving through all of that weird light...
"Hey." He turns to face Tifa once more, nodding in her direction. "I like the outfit, but you usually dress different. Were you out here training, or are you going somewhere?" He glances briefly just past Tifa towards Kalm before looking back to her.
Cloud seems like he already knows the answer, he just wants to make sure.
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Her lips part, a question on the tip of her tongue, but then he speaks again, and...
Wait, her... her outfit...? For a few long, quiet seconds, her eyes search his. Is it possible...?
"We just left Midgar," she says, her voice soft. "We're going to Kalm. Sephiroth is alive; he killed President Shinra. We're going to find him."
If it is what she thinks, somehow, then that should be enough information... right?
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Tifa can see him piecing it all together before he offers a soft, "Oh." in response. He doesn't say anything specific, but what he does follow up with really says it all.
"You're just starting out." As in not just Midgar being barely even the tipping point, but that Cloud himself is from the future. Question is: why did this happen at all?
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And isn't there something about that whole thing that she finds a relief? To know that even in the future, he's alive and well... She finds a smile coming to her lips, and this time it's she who reaches for his hand, taking it in both of her own.
"You came a long way to rescue me," she says, her voice soft. "Thank you."
There are other things to worry about, of course. Why is he here? Is it something to do with their fight with the Whispers?
And what do they do now?
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"--Looks like it, yeah. You seem to have some idea of what's going on." May as well hear her side of all of this first.
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That probably wouldn't be a good idea, right?
Instead, she just nods. "It might be our fault you're here." Her voice is quiet. "We fought the arbiters of fate. We... we don't have a destiny anymore."
It's a much longer story than that, of course...
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"Things might be different back home?" This Cloud has been through quite a bit; and after he was done, there was the aftereffects of said things to deal with on top of that.
Everything that Tifa helped him with. What if--? "Does that mean we aren't--" He stops there and shakes his head, leaving Tifa with one juicy morsel of information to mull over as Cloud slowly pulls his hands away and heads over to Fenrir, his motorcycle.
"Come on. We gotta get you to Kalm first. We can pick up where we left off once everyone else leaves." He waits for Tifa to get good and settled behind him, and then they're off to Kalm!
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Especially when Cloud starts to say something about what she can only assume is the two of them. Her lips part to ask, despite her decision not to do that only moments before, but he's already moving back to the motorcycle.
Wait, is going to Kalm a good idea? The others are there... Cloud is there...
Still, he seems to know what he's doing. So she settles herself behind him, arms wrapping around his waist. But she can't stop herself from reminding him as they speed over the fields: "We're meeting in the Inn... you're gonna have to wait somewhere, okay? I think you might be too much to explain right now."
Although by the time she emerges from the Inn a few hours later, once again alone - this time at her own insistence - she no doubt needs some explanation of her own. There's a concerned, confused frown on her face. She's had worried questions about her Cloud (is that even the right term for him?) for a while now, but this is something else entirely.
"I don't know how much is safe to ask you," she says when she reaches this new Cloud's side again. "But I have questions." Tifa pauses then, and tries a smile on for size, with a small shake of her head. She needs to be strong for him, too. "I know you have questions too. Maybe we should go somewhere quieter? I told the others I'd catch up with them..."
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"He isn't gonna tell the story until you get there." Then he made sure to drive off away from Kalm--in the opposite direction from where the group would be going, of course. Then when he pulls up later, Tifa broaches the subject of something he was also dwelling over: questions. He had a few as well, but he's good about answering hers first.
"We can go wherever you want, Tifa." Cloud holds his hand out for her to take. When she does, they leave again, heading away from Kalm to the edge of the Midgar area. He stops the bike and waits for Tifa to get off first before he does the same.
He's picked a spot facing the ocean. He doesn't say it, but he always thought she would like this view best. Romantic, even. Plus it faced them away from Midgar.
"Ask whatever you want."
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When she climbs off the bike to find herself facing the ocean, though, she forgets it all for a moment, a small smile finding her lips as she takes a few steps forward.
"It's beautiful," she says in a murmur, turning back to face him as the sea breeze whips her hair back. She doesn't say it, but there's something kind of romantic about it.
She waits until they're seated to pose the question, and she's hesitant about it, even though something tells her it's safe to ask this Cloud, even though it wasn't safe to ask the other. "He remembers that day, but he shouldn't. He wasn't there, was he? The SOLDIER who came, he had black hair..."
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Not a dopey one, mind you. Just one of contentment. When she speaks about the story Cloud told everyone in Kalm, the smile is still there. Soft. Especially when he looks at her.
"Zack." Cloud hesitates about whether or not he should Tifa anything, but he is stuck here for who knew how long, so.."He was there. Or I was. We. We were there." Cloud shifts his focus back to the water, watching the way the rays of the sun give the surface a nice shimmer.
"I never made it to SOLDIER. I ended up being nothing more than a grunt. I couldn't handle facing you like that, so I never took my helmet off around you."
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At least until he mentions Zack. She nods. That's what she remembers too: the black-haired SOLDIER who came to town with Sephiroth...
...and the Shinra grunt who'd prevented her from following them into the reactor with a silent stretch of his arm?
Her expression softens, and she reaches for him, shaking her head as her hand rests on his forearm. "Cloud, I would never..."
She shakes her head again, falling silent. He knows, right? She's sure he does now. So she changes the subject, just a little: "He doesn't know, does he? He thinks he's telling the truth."
And then, after a beat, with a confused tilt of her head: "Wait. But your eyes..."
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When Tifa points out his eyes, Cloud's small smile turns into something a little more thoughtful. "Hojo tried to make me one of his experiments. It's why we lost touch after Sephiroth took everything away from us. I barely remember it, but Zack..got us out. Died protecting me."
Another person he couldn't save.
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had to use this icon again, really
XD OoOo~ Cloud: *shakes head* Tifa: *Careless Whisper plays*
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Dammit Tifa, the fish! XD
Yep, fish totally forgotten. LOL
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