Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ I'm Makin' It Right ❯ Chapter 4

(Disclaimer: I dislike Square Enix greatly. I should be the owner of this! ;) )

 

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Chapter 4: Back to the Begging, Where This Began

 

Cloud finally came to a conclusion, both he and Tifa had come to the end of the rope, the last page of the story, now they had to write the ending.

 

Suddenly Cloud felt a vibration on his back. He reached back and pulled out his phone, Tifa. He hit the silent button, he didn't really feel like he should talk to her. This was his silent time to think of something to make this disappear.

 

After a while Cloud picked up his black phone and flipped open the top. After calling his voice mail, he listened to what Tifa had said.

 

“Um. Listen… Cloud… I just, I just want things to go back to the way they were before. At least we were somewhat okay. When you only came home every once in a while. I always thought you were glad to see us, but…but maybe I was wrong.” Tifa's voice faltered here and there but her last line was a mere whisper.

 

Cloud flipped his phone closed as the boring woman came on with “you have no more messages.”

 

This was the last time Cloud ever heard Tifa's voice. For years Cloud cut himself off from the world. For about two years he never spoke to anyone even if it seems impossible. After all Cloud was not a man of many words, thoughts? Perhaps, but we wouldn't know.

 

***Two Years Later***

`I guess this is what love does to you,' Cloud thought as his blue eyes flittered up when he heard Vincent. `If this is the end result, then I might finally know what Sephiroth was talking about.'

 

“What's with the negative energy around here,” Vincent said as he stepped into the moonlight, barely visible. “I thought you and Tifa worked everything out.”

 

`I didn't even know there was any energy here,' Cloud thought as his eyes glazed over with carelessness.

 

“I guess you wouldn't tell me anything anymore, after what happened,” Vincent gestured behind him. “You know.”

 

Cloud didn't look up or acknowledge that he heard Vincent. Cloud had to wonder what was so important that someone had come to him after two years of silence. Not the kind of peaceful silence, but that of which there is a certain dread to hear any sound.

 

Cloud didn't even think that much anymore either, it was just a lot of sleep and silence. No one ever came to him anymore, no one really knew if he was alive, if he had perished and joined his beloved.

 

No one really knew who his beloved was either. Whether it was Tifa or Aerith, that is. Many guessed that he had certain feelings for each, but no one knew whom he liked better. Most people thought he loved Aerith, but others argued that he had equal feelings for both, but others also said that a man could only truly love one woman. Either way it didn't matter because Cloud had ruined his chances with both.

 

Cloud looked up at Vincent, his eyes deadly asking, “Why did you come to me?”

 

Vincent understood instantly, “I guess…I…”

 

Cloud stood up before he could finish.

 

“Have you gone mute? Is that it?” Vincent's last three words rang a vengeful bell.

 

“So you're just gonna give up and die? Is that it?” Cloud remembered the time when he was fighting the malignant Stigma. Jenova's Harbinger. This made Cloud's brain flare with anger, just at the thought of Tifa.

 

Why should he even care about her anyway? Why was Vincent here?

 

`Why, damn it?! Why?!' Cloud thought.

 

Cloud finally faced Vincent and a warning flashed across his face. A warning to Vincent that he may not talk or say anything, but he still had power and he was still the same person.

 

“I get it. You don't want to talk to me?” Vincent was getting a little pissed off.

 

Cloud didn't say anything, just sort of shrugged. Cloud knew he should talk to Tifa, but he knew she would just bite his head off for finally coming back. He also knew that if he didn't talk to her, she would come to him and bite his head off anyway for not even talking. He was a little surprised she had waited this long.

 

Cloud didn't want anything to do with any of this any more, he didn't really know what he was supposed to do. What did all these people want with him? He couldn't please everyone, but… somehow he felt he wasn't given enough time between Aerith's death.

 

“Cloud, you need to talk to Tifa. I'm not suggesting that either.” Vincent glared into Cloud's cool blue eyes.

 

“Go away!” Cloud tried to scream it, but just turned out to be a quiet whisper.

 

Vincent just barely heard Cloud, but he was just loud enough that he was taken aback at Cloud's voice. Cloud's usual soothing and soft voice was now rough and worn from not being used in two years.

 

“What right do you have to be patronizing me about-“ Cloud's whispering voice caught as he tried to raise it from a whisper.

 

“Because I know how hard it is to lose-“

 

“How would you know? You didn't know Lucretia like I knew Aerith!” Cloud had to keep his voice low or the words wouldn't come through his throat. This made him sound deadly, which fulfilled his purpose all the more.

 

Vincent had had it with the attitude. Vincent lunged forward and fisted Cloud's collar. “Look,” Vincent glared into Cloud's eyes angrier than ever. “You better go back to that bar right now and help Tifa. All she does cry every night. And she is living on the edge, so you better hightail it over there before there's another love lost.”

 

Vincent swished his cloak and disappeared into the night sky. Cloud just sat there thinking he was just saying that to get him to go to see Tifa. He couldn't help worry about her anyway though because it was possible Vincent was telling the truth.

 

Slowly but surely Cloud was able to drag himself to the dreaded bar. What he saw was definitely not what he expected. The windows were green and grimy and the sign was hanging from a hinge that didn't look very promising.

 

Cloud stepped onto the wooden porch to open the door. Just as he was about to open the door, the wood lurched beneath his feet, threatening to fall. Once Cloud was sure he wasn't going to fall through the floor, he opened the door with a loud creak. The usual `brrring' of the bell wasn't heard seeing as the bell was cracked and the middle piece was missing. Cloud was shocked by the appearance of the inside of the bar, at first he wondered if he was in the right place.

 

All the pictures that had once been hanging on the wall in a neat row were crooked and falling from their hooks. There were broken beer bottles on the floor just under the pictures and scattered around the bar. Mixed in with the shards of green and brown glass were old pictures that had fallen from their broken frames on the wall.

 

Cloud stepped through the glass and around the bar, up the stairs. The desk that held the phone and flowers and pictures was missing a leg and slanted down. The vase for the flowers was broken and there was a stain where the water had dried. The picture of the four that had lived in the house was burned where Cloud's face would have been.

 

Cloud passed the table to Marlene's room which looked more friendly and familiar. Marlene's toys were scattered on the floor which was unusual because Tifa always made her clean her room. Cloud closed the door softly. He proceeded to Tifa's room and peeked his head in, somehow expecting knifes to fling at his head. When he heard nothing and declared the room mostly safe he stepped in surprised that Tifa's room was a wreck.

 

Tifa's nightstand was tipped over, obviously thrown, and all of its contents lay broken on the floor. Her closet door was open and all of her clothes had been drug out and they were now dusty from not having been worn. Two of the three lights on her ceiling were burnt out giving the room the depressed look it deserved, with its bed unmade.

 

Cloud was at a loss for thoughts so he decided to proceed to his room. Cloud stopped at his door, put one hand on the door-knob and the other on the door. Cloud closed his eyes hoping for the best, planning for the worst. After almost a minute Cloud slowly turned the knob almost expecting it to jerk back any second as if telling him to go back now, while he could. He could feel the bolt sliding back slowly as he turned his hand and he knew he would gain admittance. Somehow he was almost sad the door was letting him in.

 

Cloud opened his eyes and looked down his arm to the door-knob. He had twisted it all the way open and now he could go in. Even though he didn't want to, Cloud knew he had to go in.

 

Cloud lightly pushed the door open and let it swing back. What he saw shocked him. Just the sight of her was depressing.