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Who: Tifa Lockhart and Cloud Strife
What: Waiting in the tunnels for Cloud
When: July 16th
Where: Tunnels
Summary: Cloud's returned from his death penalty fixing, and Tifa takes it upon herself to take care of him.
Rating: PG... I think?

Tifa had gotten ready to head to the tunnels very shortly after her conversation with Zack. She went to find Denzel, told him what was going on, and kissed her son on the forehead before going to get some things together and leave. Grabbing a tiny black pack, she made sure to take some things to munch on, her journal, and for safety's sake, a blanket. Stuffing her fighting gloves into her pockets just in case, she put the pack over her shoulder and headed out the door.

After hopping into the tunnels and getting used to the way it almost instantly took the strength right out of her muscles, Tifa walked just a ways down from the entrance and hunkered down. She wasn't exactly sure where they would drop Cloud off, but she figured as long as she could listen quietly for him, she'd hear him soon enough. Of course, she did get antsy and walk up and down the path every now and then, but for the most part she stayed still, keeping her things in sight so she could always get back to them.

Inside, her heart fluttered nervously. She didn't know what state Cloud would be in when he came back, or when he even would get back. But all she could do was wait, sometimes idly flipping through her journal to see if there was any news she missed. Nothing.

Puffing hair from her forehead, she now sat quietly, journal in hand. Waiting really was the hardest part.

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It's late that night, into the seventeenth that Cloud is released; a droid had phased through the barrier, given him a little shove in the direction he should walk in, and phased right back through to return to John. Cloud watched it leave blankly, wondering what exactly he was expected to do.

Among other things.

There wasn't much that could be done just standing there, so Cloud began to walk. His head felt...empty, but full at the same time. There was nothing...no memories of his childhood, no memories of adulthood; no memories at all. He couldn't even remember his name, or what he looked like; he knew these were things a person should know, but...why couldn't he?

Maybe he was just made.

Cloud walked.

He stopped at the sound of sneakers on stone ahead; there was somebody else in the tunnel.

Pacing had become Tifa's form of entertainment in the early hours of the new day. She wasn't even sure what time it was exactly, but she knew she felt a little tired. Rubbing her eye gently, she stopped her pacing for a minute and listened. Were those footsteps she was hearing or just her imagination? Cupping a hand over her ear, she waited waited, hearing something at least. She turned, her footsteps echoing eerily in the emptiness of the tunnel.

Tifa decided to chance it, not knowing if it was him or not, and called out softly into the dark, "Cloud?"

Whoever was up ahead was a woman, and she was...spouting random words, apparently. Cloud -not having memories of ever running into danger- plodded forward, squinting in the dark to see her. For some reason he felt that he shouldn't have to strain to see in the dark, but he doesn't know why; it doesn't matter, in the end.

The lights above are dimmed, but not to the point of washing out all color; the woman ahead is pretty, very pretty, and vaguely familiar. Cloud's brows furrow and he contemplates calling out to her. Would she know what's going on? There was a pack and a blanket on the floor; did she live down here? "...hello?"

She heard his voice just a moment before she saw him, his form shadowy in the dim lights above. A huge wave of relief crashed over her, and she moved forward, trying to get a better look at him. He seemed fine physically from what she could tell, but she couldn't help but feel like something was amiss from the look on his face.

"I'm right here Cloud, it's Tifa. Are you okay?" she asked, holding out a hand to him as she neared.

"Are you looking for someone?"

It was maddening. She was familiar, Cloud was sure of it...but he wasn't. He had no idea who that woman was. He wanted to ask her where they were...but that wouldn't do him any good. He didn't know where anything was, or what anything was. Even if she could tell him where he was, he wouldn't be able to find his way home from it.

He didn't even know if he had a home.

Tifa's face fell a little, and she stopped, lowering her hand. Why was he answering her questions with more questions? Something was definitely wrong here. She clasped her hands in front of her, and looked at his face. Did he not.... know her?

"Yes, I'm looking for you," she said finally, reaching out to point directly at him to emphasize her point. "Do you know who I am?"

"No."

He should have felt something at that. But he didn't; there wasn't anything. No flicker of recognition, no epiphany, no headache. Nothing. He didn't know her.

But maybe she knew him.

"...do you know who I am?"

The blunt answer caused her to physically flinch. He didn't know her, he had forgotten her. Her. Tifa. A sharp pain flickered in her heart, but she quickly masked it. If she broke down here she ran the risk of scaring him, though at the moment he didn't seem to be feeling much of anything. His second question caught her by surprise and it dawned on her rather quickly what was going on. He didn't even know who he was. Had he forgotten everything?

"I do," she answered softly, managing to put on a gentle smile. "You're Cloud Strife."

Edited 2009-07-17 06:57 (UTC)

Cloud mouths the name silently; so she had been calling for him earlier. That meant she knew him.

That meant he wasn't just created. ...what a relief.

With the unveiling of his name, though, Cloud was suddenly awash with questions; she could tell him more about himself and about where they were. She could tell him what he looked like, how old he was, what their relationship was; whether he had family, whether he had friends. Right? She had to know.

The idea of dishonesty never even crossed his mind.

What had she called herself? "Tifa," he said, but even as it felt familiar it tasted foreign, "what..." He trailed off, though. Even with a thousand questions, he didn't know how to ask a single one.

When he said her name, it almost felt like he knew her, if only for a second. Tifa looked at him curiously for a moment, waiting for him to finish whatever he was going to ask, but when he didn't she gently shook her head. He must be completely confused right at the moment, and standing around here chit chatting probably wasn't on a list of good things to do right now. Getting out of the tunnels and getting Cloud safely back to her apartment was first priority.

"Come on, I'm going to get you out of here. We can talk about anything you want when we're back at my place." Once again she offered her hand. "I'm your friend, and I'm going to help you." She didn't know whether the last bit was necessary, but she wanted to be as reassuring to him as she could.

Obediently -though after a second of hesitation as he realized what she wanted from him- Cloud took her hand, letting her lead him to the exit of the tunnels. She seemed to know where she was going, after all; apparently their destination wasn't somewhere further down the tunnels, instead at the top of the rope ladder.

Cloud was glad. Something in the tunnels gave him serious chills, though he couldn't figure out exactly what it was. In his defense, they were rather poorly lit and pretty damn creepy. It was a short trip up the ladder to the world above; it was nighttime, late enough for the world around them to be quiet. Though that wasn't what caught his attention at first.

Immediately after leaving the tunnel, Cloud felt a rush of something and he snatched his hand from Tifa's before it clenched involuntarily. His eyes widened and he stared down at it, before crouching to pick up a rock.

It was a relief that he was following her without any questions. Part of her felt like she was babying him, leading him through the tunnel by the hand like this, but the other part said to just let it go, it made it easier to guide him.

Once safely at the top of the rope ladder and back on Luceti's green grass, Tifa let out a sigh of relief as her strength flooded back into her veins. But when she felt Cloud's hand quickly leave her's, she turned to glance at him, looking a little worried. Wait, why did he have a rock?

"Cloud?"

Cloud squeezed the rock, and jerked in surprise when it actually cracked. Was this normal, people cracking rocks with their fists? He dropped the resulting fragments and stands again, dusting his hand off against his pants. It seemed like a somewhat extreme thing to do, going around smashing things with his fists, but...

...well, maybe it was normal. Not like he had any experience to go by. "Nothing, sorry. Do we live here?"

Tifa jumped too when the rock cracked in Cloud's fist, though she probably should have expected it on some level. Watching the fragments drop to the ground for a second, she then lifted her gaze and nodded at his question.

"This is Luceti, we live here for the moment at least." She swept her hand to indicate the village as a whole, "Lots of people live here actually, either in the houses or the apartments. I live there, in that building." She pointed to the third community house and indicated for him to follow her.

Cloud fell into step behind her, glancing around at the darkened houses and trying to take in everything he could. Even though it was even darker up above ground, he could see better than he could down in the tunnels. Night vision?

"Do we live together?"

Picking her way through the houses and down the path, Tifa made sure she didn't bang into anything as her building came closer. She glanced back at him, and gently shook her head. "No, we don't," she answered, "You live in another house most of the time."

Finally outside her building, Tifa opened the door and ushered him inside.

Cloud entered at her insistence, though he doesn't go much further inside past the threshold. The room she'd led him too wasn't familiar either; he heaved a sigh. It probably was too much to ask for a room to bring back memories when even a supposed friend of his couldn't.

He moved aside for her to pass him, since he didn't really know what else he was supposed to do. Were they familiar enough that he had a room? That he could enter at all? Should he wait for her to show him somewhere? Should he take off his shoes?

Slipping past him, Tifa started for the stairs to the third floor, heading to room fifteen. Cloud was quiet, which wasn't unusual in the slightest, but she figured he was piecing through thigns in his mind or at least trying to find something familiar. The flights of stairs weren't hard to take and when they reached her apartment, she opened the door and stepped inside.

"Your bed is in that room there," she said, pointing to the middle bedroom of the apartment. "Denzel is sleeping in the last room so we shouldn't have to keep our voices too low." Denzel was going to be really confused when Cloud didn't remember him, but she couldn't just spring the kid on him and not tell Cloud he was here.

"You can make yourself at home, and sit wherever you want."

Cloud obediently followed her inside, taking a seat on the couch. So they didn't live with each other, but they were familiar enough for him to have his own room at her place. Logically... "Are we lovers?"

His question threw her completely off guard, and for a minute she simply stared at him, mouth open in a tiny 'o' of surprise. Her cheeks turned a bright red as she gathered her wits, finally getting where he might have come to that conclusion. "N-No, we're not. You and I are... best friends," she said simply, offering a gentle smile.

She stepped over to him, sitting down on the couch and looking him over with a quick glance of her ruby eyes. "Do you feel hungry at all? Thirsty or tired? I can get you something."

"Oh." Best friends, that's not bad; he has a best friend at least. Maybe he has actual family around here too, that'd be nice.

She took a seat beside him and he noticed that her eyes were a dark red, not brown; interesting. "I don't really...I don't think so." Mostly just very, very empty and confused. Maybe they could take this opportunity to talk now, though. "But could you tell me what's going on?"

Tifa folded her hands neatly in her lap and made herself comfortable, knowing that if they started talking now it would probably last a long time. "I'll try, there's a lot to explain. Where do you want me to start?"

Edited 2009-07-19 02:21 (UTC)

"Whenever is good." A thought occurred to Cloud and he tilted his head. "How old am I, actually?"

Well, that was an okay place to start, telling Cloud a little about himself. "You're twenty-four at the moment, though on August 11th you'll be twenty-five." At that, she had an idea, and stood to go and grab the small mirror hanging on her wall. Bringing it back to the couch, she turned it so he could see himself in the reflective service.

"Does this help at all?"

[Twenty-four, August 11th- facts, these are good! And then she moved, left- handed him a mirror.

Cloud gazed at his reflection; his eyes lifted to look at his hair, and his hand did the same to feel it. Yep, that was his hair all right. Dropping his hand back down, he took the mirror from her. Blue eyes, blond hair, light skin...he didn't look like her at all. Well, except for one feature.

...Cloud scowled.]

I look like a girl.

Edited 2009-07-19 02:55 (UTC)

Tifa snorted, cupping her hand over her mouth at his reaction to his own face. Oh, how to reply to that? It took her a moment, and she stifled a soft giggle before clearing her throat and biting her bottom lip. "No you don't, you just have fine features. You look like a man in all other aspects."

She reached to take the mirror from him, her hand brushing his lightly in a friendly manner. "You're actually quite handsome in my book."

Cloud was only half-listening to her as he glared at his reflection, wondering what kind of sadist parents he had and if they raised him in his mother's image or something until Tifa took the mirror away. He was about to make a grab for it when her hand touched his and her words sank in.

Then he flushed. "...uh."

She stopped, her hand above his and still holding the mirror. Her fingers tightened just a little and she looked to the side, not having meant to embarrass him. "Sorry, that sounded silly." She smiled and stuck out the tip of her tongue, feigning silliness and setting the mirror on the cushion beside her.

"You can look at it more if you want, or I could tell you more about yourself. And this place as well."

Cloud abandoned the mirror, heart beating a little fast. He instead just sat back against a throw pillow, pursing his lips as he tried to decide what he wanted to know next. "Hmm...what about us? How do you know me?"

Edited 2009-07-19 04:17 (UTC)

That was an easy one, she could answer that. "We're childhood friends. Both of us were born in a town called Nibelheim, and we grew up together. You lived right next door to me, with your mother." She traced a circle on the fabric of her couch, looking a bit nostalgic.

"We've been close since we were about eight, before that we didn't know each other that well.... or at least, I didn't know you. But after you caught my attention, we talked a lot."

With his mother...no father, then?

"I caught your attention? What did I do?"

"Mm, well... you... had a habit of getting into fights with other kids when you were young. Sometimes I watched, other times I didn't. But really, when you really made me notice you? Was shortly after my mother died, and I tried to cross Mount Nibel to see if I could go after her spirit. You followed me and my friends, and while each of them turned back, you didn't. You even tried to follow me across a rickety old rope bridge, that snapped while we were crossing. We both fell..." Of course, she didn't remember much after that except coming to a few days later and hearing people mention Cloud's name, blaming him for trying to take her over the mountain.

"When I came to and heard people mentioning you, I learned you had followed me, and that's when I... wanted to get to know you. You had stayed with me when no one else was brave enough to. It meant a lot to me," she concluded, looking up at him with a fond smile. "And that was how we became friends... does any of it sound familiar?"

You could get by with just skinned knees back then.

"I...dunno." Cloud's expression fell blank and he stared down at his hands; it sounded important to her, very important. He knew it wasn't his fault, but he couldn't help feeling like a louse for not remembering something that mattered so much to her.

Tifa reached out to set a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly. "Give it time, I'm sure things will come back little by little." She had to hold out and hope everything would turn out okay, just as she always did. "What matters most is you're back here with us and you're okay."

"I really worried you, didn't I?" Guilt sank into Cloud's gut and he wilted. She'd been waiting down there for him to come back from...wherever he was. Possibly for days, judging by the blanket and pack. And now she was putting up with him and explaining his own life to him, and he couldn't even recall a single memory to repay her with.

"Sorry."

"Don't apologize to me, there's nothing here for you to be sorry about. We're friends, and it's my job to worry about you." Her hand slid down his arm to grasp his tightly. The other reached up to play lightly with one of her new braids, and she let her eyes drop to the floor.

"Besides, I should be apologizing to you if anything."

Cloud followed her hand to her hair with his eyes, but his mind stayed with the conversation. He had to wonder exactly how much trouble he normally got into if she'd made it her duty to look after him, though. "To me? Why?"

She paused for a moment. Mostly she was sorry for not being there for him the past few weeks, for not realizing how bad his memory had been getting until Denzel came over to tell her. For being distant from him because she needed time.

"Because I might have been able to save you from becoming like this."

Cloud cocked his head to the side, confused; come to think of it, he didn't know how he became like this, either. He'd assumed that something had happened, yes, but he hadn't applied much thought as to why it did, or what it even was. Tifa didn't seem the type to hurt him, though; maybe it had been an accident?

"How'd this happen?"

Where to even begins with this? Should she start with how Luceti functioned? With his death penalty? That might scare the hell out of him to know he had died and come back to life... unless she explained very carefully. She took a breath, and decided that might be for the best. Lying and hiding things wouldn't help him, and even if it scared him....

"Cloud, even before I found you in the tunnels you were having memory trouble. This place, Luceti, is not as peaceful as it looks. There are scientists who have trapped us here, and perform experiments on us at their whims. They are incredibly powerful, and they have the means to... bring people back from the dead. But it comes with a price" She watched his eyes as she spoke, but continued before he could say anything.

"A while back, you.... were sick. You died. And when you came back, your memory seemed to be your price. As time passed you seemed to forget more and more things, until recently you were forgetting people really important to you. I don't know how they do it, but the Malnosso can fix people too, reverse what they've lost, it seems. I wanted to see if they could help you, but I never got a chance. They took you away before I could say anything." She reached up to rub her eyes, as she was welling up and trying to stop him from seeing her cry. "I didn't know they'd send you back to us like this, and I'm sorry that I didn't act sooner."

That was...a hell of a lot to take in. He sat through the story, in a state of semi-shock, eyes wide as she recalled exactly what had happened for him to end up this way. Scientists? Experiments, bringing people back from the dead?

His gut wrenched, abruptly. He didn't like it.

But then Tifa started to cry...and suddenly his own disbelief didn't matter. He reached forward, before her last sentence even ended, and drew her close to rub her back. For some reason, he felt that her hair should be longer, but he brushed his hand over it anyway. "It's okay, it's okay."

Oh Shiva, what was she doing? She wasn't supposed to cry like this! The words 'stop it' played over and over in her head even as he hugged her and her hands fisted against the material of his shirt. Why did he make it so hard for her to stop caring? She hated this, she was supposed to be his friend, and that was it.

"I'm sorry," she repeated.

"Don't worry about it." Cloud rested his cheek against her temple, shifting to make them more comfortable and leaning against the back of the couch. It didn't feel weird, being this physically close to someone he technically met just a few hours ago; they had to be friends, at the very least.

She nodded, her hair brushing lightly against his skin as she did so. The closeness was nice, and she felt herself relaxing against him as he leaned back on the couch. "We'll make this better, I promise." She let her fingers loosen a little from his shirt, but she didn't want to let go of him.

He was here, he was home. Everything else would sort itself out. Blaming herself was stupid, what had passed has passed, nothing more she could do.

Grateful that she'd stopped crying -because aside from the hugging he had no idea what else to do to fix that problem- Cloud just relaxes himself, throwing his free arm along the back of the couch and closing his eyes. ...he was tired, and she probably was too.

He hummed in affirmation to her statement, but didn't give any indication that he wanted to move to his bedroom. Comfy.

She blinked slowly and sighed very softly. Now that she had wiped away her tears and was sitting on her couch, back home and not on the cold ground of the tunnels. She had napped occasionally down there, with her blanket, but it had made her back and joints stiff. Now she was incredibly comfortable and feeling warm.

She thought to go and and put her pack back in her room, to go and settle into her bed. She should let Cloud get to sleep too, they could always talk more in the morning. And as she thought this, her eyes slipped closed without her really noticing. And before she knew it, she had dozed off right there on the sofa.

Whoops.

Yeah, he thought so. Cloud watched her for a minute, and then...traced his fingertips down the side of her face. Temple to chin. It felt...familiar, as if he'd done it a long, long time ago.

...didn't matter. He was tired, she was asleep; he settled back down, tucking her head beneath his chin and dozing off as well.

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