HOME | DD

Description
FFVII
Fateful Encounter

Genre: Action/ Adventure/ Emotive themes
Setting: 3 years after DoC
Rating: M
Status: WIP
OCs: 25%
Disclaimer: All related Final Fantasy VII names and characters are copyrighted © by Square Enix. However, this story and the OCs are mine. Thank you.

FATEFUL ENCOUNTER

Cloud landed hard on the rough concrete, bouncing from the impact of what seemed a great height. He stood on a curved ledge high above the ground amidst concrete buildings, erect in some places, but predominately ruined and uninhabitable. It took him seconds to adjust to the pale somber vista that shaded everything in black and grey. The landscape seemed familiar and the tangible darkness was an oppressive weight on his body that was seeking to weaken him. A feeling similar to the geostigma that debilitated him years ago. This was Jenova. It dawned on Cloud where he was. The ruins of Shinra, but they were bathed in an ashen pale devoid of color. He stared down at his sword now in his hand, and the whole length was bound in strips of cloth, and he grimaced at this unexpected snare of the enemy. Within moments, his eyes were drawn to movement across and below him on the floor of a demolished building. The figure's long slender sword was gleaming silver in the shadows and his equally lengthy hair swung in the frigid wind, while his leather coat hung still. Cloud's heart pounded in a merging of fear-filled dread and anger at seeing his old foe. His eyes followed the direction of the sword to its tip, pointing at a figure kneeling in the shadows. A faint radiance of white emanated from within the person. Mounting alarm assailed him as he saw the figure's submissive stance and bowed head. He couldn't see her face but her brunette hair was unmistakably... Tifa?! Frowning, his throat constricted as the scene became painfully apparent, as clear as if every tragedy he had no control over were replaying in his memory. Just like Zack... just like Aeris...

But not this time. Having only seconds to act, he threw his wrapped sword at the wielder of the blade and leaped to the lower building. Without thinking if it was wise, he shouted with fury, "Sephiroth!"

Sephiroth glanced up with a raised brow, the faintest hint that he was shocked, and dodged the speeding sword, shifting enough to send his blade awry into the kneeling figure. "Cloud." Disregarding the slumping figure, he withdrew his sword and hopped back. Standing at the ready, he extended his weapon anticipating Cloud's descent.

On his way down, Cloud discovered the sullen air could suspend his weight enough to allow him to catch his sword mid-flight. Thankful at least that the weapon still possessed one its magical affects, he landed lightly on his feet. Confused, he flicked his eyes to Tifa lying motionless. The light within her had receded to a pale pulsing glow. Is it really Tifa? But why? At the sight of her, his eyes brimmed with burning mako and with all his soul and body desiring her, he tried to reach her straight away.

Sephiroth stepped in front of her and keep a wise distance with his sword level with Cloud. One monstrous black wing folded out and expanded from his back. He spoke, his deep melodious voice brought Cloud back to focus with his mocking query. "Surprised to see me, Cloud?"

His arch enemy was already in his Jenova transformation. Getting to Tifa wasn't going to be that easy. "Seeing you in a place like this is no surprise at all." He glowered back, and he charged him with the full might of his strike with his swaddled sword. With as much attention as he could spare, he looked at her, and cringed at her broken condition. Cuts and abrasions were over her supple skin as if she had been in a brutal battle, but the obvious indication it was her, was her protruding stomach, which seemed bigger than what he remembered. All he wanted to do was get to her. Talk to her… touch her…

Halting Cloud's attack with familiar ease, Sephiroth's mouth curled in a snide grin. "I'm not surprised to see you either." Parrying sword against sword, the two men drove into each other with speed and precision that was beyond the sight of the normal man. Not having the use of his sword's full potential was a major hindrance to Cloud's fighting style and he swore to himself at the cunning advantage the enemy had over him. As if noticing the disparity, Sephiroth spoke. "You cannot win here." He advanced at lightning speed, two hands gripping his blade, his strikes sliced with succinct accuracy and with each one he propelled Cloud upwards and away from the ground.

Cloud clenched his jaw with angry irritation. "Shut-up!" His foe's dismal words shot an arrow of doubt into his thoughts. He was fighting in Sephiroth's domain, could it possibly be true? He had no time to waste on it. He was familiar with Sephiroth's fighting technique and he could battle him blow for blow, but it was never his skill with a blade that could render him ineffective. It was his sublime way of attacking Cloud's resolve and self-confidence with his pretentious self-righteousness. And he was reduced to fighting him with one blade, damn it. But he had done that before and he could do it again. If he had to.

The arching reach of Masamune was like none other, and almost impossible to broach without being sliced by its razor sharp edge no matter how hard Cloud pressed forward. For some reason combating Sephiroth was different this time, and it was more than the impediment of having to rely on the one weapon. His enemy was stronger than he recalled. Sephiroth left him no opening to push through and their clash of swords carried them across the ground to the edge of the floor. With a rapid flick of his sword, Sephiroth cast Cloud backwards through the air meters away. Not leaving it at that, he flew to meet him, his long sword parrying with definite strikes. Preventing him from soaring upwards, Cloud swung into Sephiroth knocking his blade away with an equal measure of velocity. Amid their deadly melding of blades, Cloud kept half on eye on the soft shimmer coming from Tifa. The light gave him hope. He locked onto Sephiroth with an urgent need that he had to get to her. Their sword battle increased with power and ferocity, as they fought and flew over the concrete slabs and edifices. In the heated clash their blades locked together. Cloud scowled with contempt, incensed that he had to stare this man in the eyes again and confront him. Again. Everything about him was the same except his vivid green eyes seemed shadowed by more evil. Even worse than what Cloud remembered. It seemed every fight they had together was replaying itself and Cloud was once more put on the back foot. Driving into Cloud's guard, Sephiroth sprang towards him. Cloud leaped through the air to an adjacent ledge and further away from him and Tifa.

Sephiroth, his hair a stream of silver in the dinghy ashen air, flew at him. The clashing of their swords rang out in the hollow world of churning green above. Sephiroth spoke calmly. "When your light fades, the darkness within will consume you."

Tifa. Not able to conceal the fear in his eyes, Cloud looked for her, but she was beyond his vision.

"And you will become me."

Seizing upon Cloud's hesitation, Sephiroth pitched him with his sword. Cloud fell and somersaulted to a nearby ledge and jumped back, avoiding the rapid incoming strikes that put him on the defensive. His counterattack was chaotic hits that left him vulnerable and unprepared. No matter how he maneuvered he couldn't get a hit on him. Distracted by his intense concern for Tifa, he could not concentrate as well as what he should have.

Sephiroth's voice was controlled without any sign of exertion, and he said, "Face the truth, Cloud, this is my world. I will have the victory here."

Cloud swore at himself, it was just like the other times. He growled, "I won't be controlled by it or you." Not only was Sephiroth forcing him away from Tifa, his negative remarks were resurrecting the old familiar doubts that were quickly corroding his confidence. He was already fighting off the cloying darkness that was seeking a way into his heart. He couldn't let the despair take hold. Whether he won or lost, he would do it near her. Diving backwards, he rolled through the air to land heavily on the stone roof, a few feet from Tifa's inert form. Her midnight hair covered her face and splayed over the stone and blood that seeped from her wound. The unearthly light had receded to a slow uneven beat. Cloud longed to see her eyes, hear her voice.

Sephiroth swooped after him, faster, more focused, intent on his grueling attack. Cloud landed in time, flicking his wrist to swing wide, parrying the hit. The former Soldier was growing in strength and vigor while Cloud became more stretched and weary. Once more, face to face with his childhood hero, all his shortcomings and ineptness overpowered his abilities and evoked a sense of crippling dread. How could he hope to defeat such a worthy and powerful foe? He stumbled back, rolling in time to evade the relentless sweeps of the long blade. Not able to avoid the constant attack, Cloud missed the thrust directed at his torso. Sephiroth plunged Masamune into Cloud's flesh, slicing into muscle and through to the other side of his body. With the blade as leverage, Sephiroth raised him off the ground. Wincing at the acute pain, Cloud gripped the blade with his free hand and using all his strength, he halted the sharp edge advancing up through his shoulder.

"Your light has forsaken you." Sephiroth, his face tilted upwards and his eyes glazed with fiery aqua, regarded him with contempt, his one wing flaring out behind him. "You shall become the servant of darkness."

Similar to the sword piercing his flesh, his bleak statement stabbed into his soul with scurrilous truth. This can't be happening? Not again. His eyes, dulling from pain, sought out Tifa. She opened her eyes, the slightest flutter to see him, and her hand and fingers crawled along the stone towards him. How could he get this close and fail her now. "Tifa…" he murmured her name in hope that maybe she could hear.

Sephiroth glanced at Tifa, his broad mouth turning into a calculated smile. "Admit it, Cloud. This is your destiny." His free hand lifted and gestured to the unnatural sky above. "You are bound to be controlled by me forever."

Cloud groaned through a heaving chest and he pushed down, cutting his gloves on the sharp blade as if it would stop the stinging within. No... I won't be controlled... because… he was needed. "Tifa." he breathed out in agony. She needed him. Now. Marlene needed him. Denzel needed him. Denzel... Cloud frowned as real thoughts began to filter into his mind from the solid world outside this ethereal hell. Denzel was relying on him to be there for him back at the Cetra City. Realization descended into his mind as he remembered what they had been doing at the City and everything else they had achieved up to that point, and he uttered, "I don't belong here."

"You continue speaking your empty words." Sephiroth drove the sword in further. "But you will die here."

Closing his eyes, Cloud recalled the words of the voice who spoke to him as he arrived in this place and his confrontation with the golem. There had to be more to coming here than to meet his death. The unknown voice had anchored his mind to the life-stream that he could sense beyond the evil of this corrupt environment. There were things he wasn't willing to let go of, not for Sephiroth and not for Jenova. Things he had fought hard to hold on to over the years. And he wasn't willing to lose the memories he had just witnessed of his parents. He wasn't willing to lose Tifa, who lay within his grasp, within touching distance. He wasn't willing to lose the baby within her. Their baby. He concentrated on his body, defusing the incapacitating agony in his flesh, and willing weight into his limbs, he dropped to the ground. He gripped the blade embedded in his chest and with a new strength filling his body, he tilted the sword and lifted Sephiroth off the ground. Sephiroth narrowed his eyes with a cold stare, but even Cloud could see the underlying glimmer of shock. Within moments, Cloud slid the blade from his flesh and threw it and Sephiroth meters away from him. Sephiroth skidded to a halt and glared with an unexpected rage that Cloud had never seen on him before.

Something within was imbuing Cloud with fresh strength, like a fountain inside his core pouring out, covering him in a sheath of white and healing his wound. Cloud's sword shimmered with luminous blue beneath the wrappings and he set it forward, ready to thrust into Sephiroth's anticipated attack. His newfound vigor provided him with the power he had been lacking.

Sephiroth did not advance, but flew up and high out of Cloud's dangerous reach. With his hand lifted to the dirty green sky, he caused it to swirl and twist into a deepening black. Cloud raced up to meet him before he could summon some foul entity out of the miasma polluting the air above and soon to expand over the landscape.

"Where do you get this light?" Sephiroth's voice seemed to quaver for the slightest moment.

Cloud's voice carried his revived resolution over the chasm between them. "The light comes from the ones I want to protect." There was a time when he wouldn't have been so sure of his convictions, but now he could see what had been previously hidden from him for years, the force of his own determination.

Sephiroth glanced down at the ground, his incandescent eyes spying Tifa, and making sure Cloud knew. "What happens when you no longer have anyone to protect." The horrid mire above began spiraling downwards to meet the floor of the building.

With abrupt fear for Tifa and the building below them, Cloud flung his sword forwards from over his shoulder, and sensing the blade unlocking, he relaxed his grip. The bandages flew off in a tangle of white, cut off by the weapons separating from each other. The swords surrounded Sephiroth and without needing to think, Cloud acted on the spiritual awareness and followed the blades path, utilizing the weapons, with the speed of light, slamming into Sephiroth again and again. It seemed easier than times past, as if he wasn't accessing all his power. He could feel surging energy under the surface of his skin waiting to be loosed. He hadn't even reached his exertion point. Similar to his weapon being freed, the blinds were lifted from his eyes. He could see Sephiroth; a hollow specter of his former grandeur, existing in his glorious past while Cloud had grown beyond his old physical limitations and advanced in mental endurance, more than what Cloud even realized. For the barest moment he felt sorry for the old SOLDIER. He was a vanquished foe.

"You will always be a part of me." Sephiroth spoke as he began transforming into a dense shade that merged with the blackened green above.

Cloud dropped to the ground along with his swords that strove into the stone. "I will never be a part of you," he said more to himself than making his assertion known to his enemy. It didn't matter if Sephiroth knew, Cloud knew and that's all that mattered.

Once Sephiroth had vanished, Cloud turned his whole attention to Tifa, his face paling with grave distress over her motionless form. He ran to her and knelt on the ground and gently rolled and raised her with his hand till she was resting in his bare arm. She was cold against his skin and her face was a deathly white. "Tifa..." he whispered, watching her face intently, looking for some indication she was conscious.

Her eyes opened the smallest slit to see him and she mumbled, and her words were barely audible, "You came back…" Her odd remark gave him some alarm, but she wasn't in any condition to be queried over it. He connected with the Healing materia in his glove and centered it on her wound. He studied her face smudged with black dust and blood. Blood had also soaked her white top and covered her arm in streamlets of crimson, and as he looked down her body, he saw bruises on her legs and more congealing blood. Whatever had been happening here, she had been fighting fiercely. He did not stop healing her till every cut had been sealed up. Once he finished he asked softly, "How are you feeling?"

Her eyes fluttered open as the last of the green life force rejoined her flesh. "I'm so tired." Despite the life being restored to her body, her eyes were darker than usual and dull. She stared at him with a look of stark bewilderment, and cautiously, she reached up to his face, yet refrained from touching. She breathed with a tremor, "Cloud, is it really you?"

An unexpected look of trepidation entered her eyes that Cloud could not fail to see. The notion that she would be afraid of him worried him with a sad sense of foreboding. He couldn't have that. Wanting to touch her hair and skin, he yanked and wiggled both his gloves off. Under her hair, he curled his fingers around her neck and supporting her back with his arm, he raised her up and kissed her, tentatively yet with confidence, seeking her out with a sensitive caress on her lips and delighting in the sweetness of her mouth. Just like he always did.

She made a small gasp in his mouth and whispered, "It really is you."

He sighed at her uncertainty. There wasn't time for him to question why she would have to wonder. "Yeah, it's me." But why and how he couldn't say and he didn't feel he needed to try and work it out. He was here with her and they were together, but… for how long?

"I don't understand..." her eyes dimmed with tears and hesitant relief.

"I don't either, but..." he pecked her on the lips and ran his bare fingers over her skin, wiping the smattering of blood from her cheek. "I'm here and I'm glad."

Tears pooled in her dark eyes and she whispered, "Cloud, I'm sorry for this," and she glanced around at the darkened surroundings, "and everything that's happened..." her tears ran unchecked down her dirty cheek.

Frowning at her sudden irrational confession, he shook his head with slow deliberation. "No, I'm the one who should be saying sorry." His thumb went to the wet line on her skin, brushing it away. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you, to protect you and Marlene and the baby. I should have known." Sadness subdued his voice and he drew her closer. "I let you down. All of you." A raging heartache was ready to break forth at his sorrowful admission. Holding her tightly, he buried his face in her hair and neck, hiding his grief over his failure that had been condemning his heart ever since she had been taken.

Her arms came to life, hooking around his neck, and her fingers stroked the back of his shoulder in a comforting caress. She kissed his ear and whispered, "I will never blame you for anything, you know that. It's you that must forgive you---"

He held her more securely and lifted her onto his lap. "If something happens to you..." his voice caught in his throat, "how can I live with myself?"

She put force into her voice and her hand came round to cup his cheek and with her thumb she wiped a tear from under his eye. "I want you to live. Even if the worse happens." Her hand remained sweeping careful circles over his skin and she gazed into his eyes giving him comfort.

He stared back, discovering he had a world of things he needed to convey, but he was lost in her dark windows, mesmerized by the feel of her skin and body that he had been longing for since she had disappeared. He leaned into her hand stroking his face and smoothed his hand over the soft skin of her waist and lower back. She was right as she always was, but he knew it wouldn't be an easy task, especially for him. Tifa wanting him to continue on might not be enough considering she was the reason why he did the things he did anyway. He didn't want the tragedies of the past to keep replaying. Not again. With the gentlest press of his lips on hers, he kissed her once more with his heart breaking at her nearness. She responded with the same grasping need.

He broke away, bringing to mind the dire situation they were in with gut wrenching clearness. They were still in dangerous enemy territory where any type of evil might appear to confront them. He sensed the sky overhead as a malicious influence upon his mind and he glanced up. The billowing maelstrom had not abated and remained a menacing presence above them. It also occurred to him he had no control over his time in this place. He turned back to her eyes that watched him fearfully, and she shivered in his arms. He told her, "I'll get my swords then I'll take you some where." He tucked his gloves under his strap and reached down taking her hand and lifting her to her feet. With shaky legs, she walked with him to where his swords had embedded into the stone. Clinging to his hand and arm, she kept mere inches from his body and remained tense, her head turning to and fro as if expecting something to appear out from the stone walls. Cloud had never seen Tifa this afraid before. But she had never been in a place so vile and dead to hope before. Letting go of her hand, he retrieved his swords quickly, connecting them all into one and sliding it behind him.

Tifa rubbed her arms in the chill wind and her voice trembled with apprehension, "What is this place?"

Cloud followed her gaze to the sky. "I think it's the life-stream. But different. It's a similar feeling to when I had the geostigma." She stepped closer and looking into his eyes, she reached for his arm to reassure. He continued, "A sense of emptiness and depression." It saddened him that she would have to experience the corruptive taint that he had battled over the years. "A place where fears and doubts are overpowering." Yet it was a release to verbalize the truth about Jenova, although he was reluctant to speak the name aloud as if it would summon unwanted attention. Even so, he already felt vulnerable underneath the ominous darkness expanding above them.

Tifa brushed his waist and her hand circled his arm firmly. "Now I un—" She groaned abruptly and clutched her stomach, nearly doubling over.

"Tifa!" Cloud caught her arm and cried in desperation, "What's happening?" She shook her head with confusion and her pain-filled eyes went to her stomach. Cloud scooped her up in his arms and she arched her neck and gave small whimpering noises as she held her stomach. He assessed the safest route down to the streets below, and holding Tifa securely he bounded down ledges and broken stairs to the darkness pooling beneath them. It was not a hard task for she weighed next to nothing in his arms, but seeing her face contort in pain and hearing her agonized cries and not being able to alleviate the pain was difficult to bear. He could only imagine what heinous depravity the enemy was carrying out on Tifa and the baby. He could do nothing except witness her suffering. Her tormented state only added fuel to his already fuming rage.

The streets were in near dark but that didn't hinder him. He heard the distant high pitched shrieks of monsters and the snarls of creatures not far off, and he glared into the shadows, daring anything or anyone to approach. On a closer study of the dark alleys and piles of twisted metal frames, it wasn't a case of monsters attacking them but of the dense sea of shadows, lurking. They twisted and writhed into deformed apparitions that separated from the mass and floated independently. The darkness itself moved as if it were a sentient being, its sole purpose to envelope the landscape in a shroud of malignant despair. Cloud felt the familiar pangs of depression attempting to seize his will and peace of mind. Years of internal struggles against these same fears and hopelessness had given him the experience and the audacity to withstand. Even so, unlike the real world, it seemed ten times stronger. A man could fight against monsters, but not this type of malevolent entity. It was no wonder Tifa was so afraid.

Between moments of sudden dozing, Tifa stared up at him with amazement. After reassuring her with a tight lipped smile, she would smile in return and relax. Her eyes would grow heavy again as if she had no control over her waking moments. He wasn't sure it was good for her to fall asleep so easily and he gently roused her to wakefulness, and perhaps selfishly in a way, because he wanted to see her face and know she was there with him.

He soon found what he was looking for. He pushed one of the high doors open with his back and heeled it shut once he entered. Tifa needed shelter, although with a gaping hole in the roof and a partially collapsed wall it wasn't the best. But it was the nearest thing to home. A patch of dead grey stalks were in place of the flowers, but Cloud expected nothing less from a place devoid of life and color. The sight of the sword standing erect and unblemished by the tainted air, surprised him, and he stared with his mouth open at the luminous glint along the sharp steel that came from no outside light source. For some reason the very presence of the Buster sword gave him hope, as if a light from the outside word had dropped into their midst, providing a sentry of another force just as powerful as the evil surrounding them. It gave him hope that maybe Tifa would be safe here.

Tifa also looked at the shimmering weapon in wonder as if noticing its significance. She laid her head back on his chest and gazed up at him. "Cloud..."

She was frail in his arms and delicate, and she watched him, trustingly. He took her to the opposite side of the open wall and forgoing the pews that weren't in the best condition, he went behind the pillar yet in sight of the Buster sword. Letting her slide from his arms to her feet, he unsheathed his weapon and leaned it against the pillar. There was nothing to make her comfortable or warm, he would have to do. So he cleared a space on the floor with his foot and sat down against the stone work wall. With his hand extended, he beckoned to her to sit on his lap and recline back in his arms. Already hovering over him, she nestled side-on in his lap and into his arms, and bending her knees up, she snuggled against his chest. He gathered her as close as he could get her. He had already spent too much time getting to the church, and he couldn't say how much time he had left to be with her. Every moment counted. "Tifa, can you tell me where you are?"

"No…" She sighed and held his free hand in both of hers, stroking his sensitive palm and kissing his knuckles. Her touch was electrifying on his skin that was rarely exposed and he watched her under her fringe with affection. She went on, "But there were many of us, mainly children, on a train." She creased her brow in deep contemplation. "We stopped under a tunnel, I think."

"Right." It was as he suspected; the underground track. "I know Deepground have you."

She nodded, and took a sharp breath. "And Marlene escaped from the train." As if giving it more thought she added, "She's not with you?"

Cloud frowned as he considered this new development. "No." That means she would have been along the track, somewhere. At least she wasn't in the hands of Deepground. He could hope. "I'll find her."

"And Denzel?" she added, hesitantly, "Is he...?"

"He's with me," he said with firm assurance.

She blew out a gush of relieved air. "That's good. I'm glad."

His voice turned mellow and he spoke against her hair. "Tif—where is your ring?" He noticed she wasn't wearing it as he carried her down. He didn't want to cause her alarm, perhaps she had not put it on that day, but that was highly unlikely.

Her fingers gripped her ring finger and she gasped, massaging the white strip of skin where the ring usually sat. With a quiver in her voice she sobbed, "It's gone! My ring?!" Her eyes swelled with tears and she moaned, forlornly, "I'm sorry, I lost it."

Cloud gritted his teeth at this unexpected assault of the enemy and wished he could get up and punch a hole through the wall. The knot of rage at his center continued to grow to uncontrollable levels. "You didn't lose it, it was stolen from you." The ring's poignant history was still prevalent in his thoughts, and its value was priceless. One of its added properties was Protection from Darkness which would have been sorely needed in this place. Perhaps the enemy's insight was more diabolical than Cloud could guess. Cloud knew how much the ring meant to Tifa and to him. It was a grave blow for both of them. He would have to get it back amongst everything else the enemy had taken from him. But the last thing he wanted right than was to see her upset. "Don't worry, I'll get it back."

"Cloud," her voice went quiet and she continued, "What if I'm already... if I'm... they don't want me, they really want the baby," she shifted, turning her torso into his chest half facing him and she squeezed his hand with unrestrained anguish, "and I just don't know if I'm ali--"

"Tifa, don't say it--"

"You know I have to," she said with staunch determination and gently holding the side of his face, her wet eyes stared into his with sorrow. "Just so you know."

He encased her hand with his and said just as quietly, "I already know."

"That I loved every minute with you and you more than anything, and everything about us. You were my safe place..."

"Tif--," he took a hard breath, deciding to honor her heartfelt confession, even though it was breaking his heart to hear her speak so candidly about her feelings, with his own. "You've been my anchor and my air, I've needed you and loved you more than anything or anyone and...," he lowered his face into her, and whispered, "I don't want to say goodbye."

Tears ringed her moist eyes and she murmured, "But what if that's why you're here, because I'm dyin—"

"No." His brow creased with a stab of grief, fearing the reality of her statement. He muttered through a throat thick with unshed tears, "I won't… I can't give up." He couldn't bear thinking that this was the last time he would hold her in his arms.

Tifa kissed his cheek and said, "I'm sorry, I..." She held her stomach, her face tightened with a spasm of pain, and took a long breath. "I didn't know this," she ran circles over her raised belly, "would cause all this trouble."

"Don't say that." His voice strained against her temple and he also rubbed the stretched silken skin over her stomach. "Don't regret it. I want this baby just as much as you." She nodded, letting her dark strands fall over her face and he knew she was quietly crying. "No matter what happens to you I'll get the baby and take care of it." The honest declaration gave him resolve despite sensing the burdening grief that would come from such a task. For her sake he kept his own tears at bay.

"I regret," she mumbled from a clogged throat, "I didn't find out whether it was a boy or a girl."

It was true. They had decided to leave it as a surprise, but they did choose a name that could be for either. "I think it's a boy."

Tifa shook her head. "No, I think maybe a girl."

Cloud smiled a moment. Either one was fine by him. "At least we picked a name."

She looked up to see him gazing at her with fondness, and she said with some sternness. "And keep it a secret, until... and I don't want the enemy to know, because they already have so much of me."

"I won't tell anyone," he said firmly. Under his open palm, he felt the baby shift and a tiny foot hit against him again and again. His eyes widened in astonishment as he watched the small limb stretch Tifa's belly as it moved from top to bottom, swishing and jumping.

"Your hand is so warm." Tifa gave a short chuckle. "It's nice."

Her skin was unusually cold, almost clammy. Initially he thought she would warm up but she remained chill to his touch. He brushed his hand over her belly and the baby followed his movement. For the first time it really hit home that there was a little person inside Tifa; a life ready to come into the world with its own personality and thoughts and feelings. A person that he and Tifa had made together and they would have to nurture and raise and be responsible for. If they got the chance. "You're amazing, Tifa. Hey little baby, you'll have to keep mummy awake so she doesn't fall asleep so much."

Tifa rubbed his hand before cupping her abdomen, and she leaned her face down. "Sweetie, daddy's coming to get you..." she looked back to him for reassurance.

He added, "And mummy too." The new word sounded sweet in his mouth and his lip curved into the slightest smile.

Tifa blinked up at him as if fighting back more tears and a tremulous tone was in her voice. "You have to go, don't you?"

The sight of her needy eyes pierced him with remorse. "I..." Profound sadness darkened his eyes and he drew her closer to his chest. "I need to find you."

She shuddered in his embrace, her head against his shoulder. "It's this place, it's so cold and empty, and dark with horrible despair and..." her voice was a faint teary sound against his shirt, "I'm so alone."

He inhaled sharply. "I know, but... you're got this little one." He lay his hand on her stomach before enveloping her in his embrace, nearly burying her under his arms, and kissing her long and sweet, and instilling in her as much courage as he could, he whispered his heartfelt instructions, "Stay here, don't wander away and when you get afraid and lonely look at the Buster sword and remember when we put it there and everything it stands for, and who used to wield it. And remember, I'm looking for you." For some reason he couldn't explain, he sensed this was the strength he had to provide for her, as if the sword could somehow protect her soul when he wasn't present, but it wasn't the usefulness of a blade, but everything that had been imbued into the sword since its creation. As if every owner had imparted their inner strengths and convictions and beliefs into the sword's essence. Every owner that had battled Jenova. Sadly, he also sensed that speaking of it was the door to his departure. "Tifa..." he held his breath, and dreading his disappearance, he held her tighter, as if he could prolong it. For moments he gazed into her fear-filled eyes, feeling her body go rigid with apprehension. Then, he held nothing as he sank into blackness, falling hard into the solid unyielding weight of the material world with her voice still clear in his mind speaking his name along with her words, I love you.

Description
FFVII
Fateful Encounter

Genre: Action/ Adventure/ Emotive themes
Setting: 3 years after DoC
Rating: M
Status: WIP
OCs: 25%
Disclaimer: All related Final Fantasy VII names and characters are copyrighted © by Square Enix. However, this story and the OCs are mine. Thank you.

FATEFUL ENCOUNTER

Cloud landed hard on the rough concrete, bouncing from the impact of what seemed a great height. He stood on a curved ledge high above the ground amidst concrete buildings, erect in some places, but predominately ruined and uninhabitable. It took him seconds to adjust to the pale somber vista that shaded everything in black and grey. The landscape seemed familiar and the tangible darkness was an oppressive weight on his body that was seeking to weaken him. A feeling similar to the geostigma that debilitated him years ago. This was Jenova. It dawned on Cloud where he was. The ruins of Shinra, but they were bathed in an ashen pale devoid of color. He stared down at his sword now in his hand, and the whole length was bound in strips of cloth, and he grimaced at this unexpected snare of the enemy. Within moments, his eyes were drawn to movement across and below him on the floor of a demolished building. The figure's long slender sword was gleaming silver in the shadows and his equally lengthy hair swung in the frigid wind, while his leather coat hung still. Cloud's heart pounded in a merging of fear-filled dread and anger at seeing his old foe. His eyes followed the direction of the sword to its tip, pointing at a figure kneeling in the shadows. A faint radiance of white emanated from within the person. Mounting alarm assailed him as he saw the figure's submissive stance and bowed head. He couldn't see her face but her brunette hair was unmistakably... Tifa?! Frowning, his throat constricted as the scene became painfully apparent, as clear as if every tragedy he had no control over were replaying in his memory. Just like Zack... just like Aeris...

But not this time. Having only seconds to act, he threw his wrapped sword at the wielder of the blade and leaped to the lower building. Without thinking if it was wise, he shouted with fury, "Sephiroth!"

Sephiroth glanced up with a raised brow, the faintest hint that he was shocked, and dodged the speeding sword, shifting enough to send his blade awry into the kneeling figure. "Cloud." Disregarding the slumping figure, he withdrew his sword and hopped back. Standing at the ready, he extended his weapon anticipating Cloud's descent.

On his way down, Cloud discovered the sullen air could suspend his weight enough to allow him to catch his sword mid-flight. Thankful at least that the weapon still possessed one its magical affects, he landed lightly on his feet. Confused, he flicked his eyes to Tifa lying motionless. The light within her had receded to a pale pulsing glow. Is it really Tifa? But why? At the sight of her, his eyes brimmed with burning mako and with all his soul and body desiring her, he tried to reach her straight away.

Sephiroth stepped in front of her and keep a wise distance with his sword level with Cloud. One monstrous black wing folded out and expanded from his back. He spoke, his deep melodious voice brought Cloud back to focus with his mocking query. "Surprised to see me, Cloud?"

His arch enemy was already in his Jenova transformation. Getting to Tifa wasn't going to be that easy. "Seeing you in a place like this is no surprise at all." He glowered back, and he charged him with the full might of his strike with his swaddled sword. With as much attention as he could spare, he looked at her, and cringed at her broken condition. Cuts and abrasions were over her supple skin as if she had been in a brutal battle, but the obvious indication it was her, was her protruding stomach, which seemed bigger than what he remembered. All he wanted to do was get to her. Talk to her… touch her…

Halting Cloud's attack with familiar ease, Sephiroth's mouth curled in a snide grin. "I'm not surprised to see you either." Parrying sword against sword, the two men drove into each other with speed and precision that was beyond the sight of the normal man. Not having the use of his sword's full potential was a major hindrance to Cloud's fighting style and he swore to himself at the cunning advantage the enemy had over him. As if noticing the disparity, Sephiroth spoke. "You cannot win here." He advanced at lightning speed, two hands gripping his blade, his strikes sliced with succinct accuracy and with each one he propelled Cloud upwards and away from the ground.

Cloud clenched his jaw with angry irritation. "Shut-up!" His foe's dismal words shot an arrow of doubt into his thoughts. He was fighting in Sephiroth's domain, could it possibly be true? He had no time to waste on it. He was familiar with Sephiroth's fighting technique and he could battle him blow for blow, but it was never his skill with a blade that could render him ineffective. It was his sublime way of attacking Cloud's resolve and self-confidence with his pretentious self-righteousness. And he was reduced to fighting him with one blade, damn it. But he had done that before and he could do it again. If he had to.

The arching reach of Masamune was like none other, and almost impossible to broach without being sliced by its razor sharp edge no matter how hard Cloud pressed forward. For some reason combating Sephiroth was different this time, and it was more than the impediment of having to rely on the one weapon. His enemy was stronger than he recalled. Sephiroth left him no opening to push through and their clash of swords carried them across the ground to the edge of the floor. With a rapid flick of his sword, Sephiroth cast Cloud backwards through the air meters away. Not leaving it at that, he flew to meet him, his long sword parrying with definite strikes. Preventing him from soaring upwards, Cloud swung into Sephiroth knocking his blade away with an equal measure of velocity. Amid their deadly melding of blades, Cloud kept half on eye on the soft shimmer coming from Tifa. The light gave him hope. He locked onto Sephiroth with an urgent need that he had to get to her. Their sword battle increased with power and ferocity, as they fought and flew over the concrete slabs and edifices. In the heated clash their blades locked together. Cloud scowled with contempt, incensed that he had to stare this man in the eyes again and confront him. Again. Everything about him was the same except his vivid green eyes seemed shadowed by more evil. Even worse than what Cloud remembered. It seemed every fight they had together was replaying itself and Cloud was once more put on the back foot. Driving into Cloud's guard, Sephiroth sprang towards him. Cloud leaped through the air to an adjacent ledge and further away from him and Tifa.

Sephiroth, his hair a stream of silver in the dinghy ashen air, flew at him. The clashing of their swords rang out in the hollow world of churning green above. Sephiroth spoke calmly. "When your light fades, the darkness within will consume you."

Tifa. Not able to conceal the fear in his eyes, Cloud looked for her, but she was beyond his vision.

"And you will become me."

Seizing upon Cloud's hesitation, Sephiroth pitched him with his sword. Cloud fell and somersaulted to a nearby ledge and jumped back, avoiding the rapid incoming strikes that put him on the defensive. His counterattack was chaotic hits that left him vulnerable and unprepared. No matter how he maneuvered he couldn't get a hit on him. Distracted by his intense concern for Tifa, he could not concentrate as well as what he should have.

Sephiroth's voice was controlled without any sign of exertion, and he said, "Face the truth, Cloud, this is my world. I will have the victory here."

Cloud swore at himself, it was just like the other times. He growled, "I won't be controlled by it or you." Not only was Sephiroth forcing him away from Tifa, his negative remarks were resurrecting the old familiar doubts that were quickly corroding his confidence. He was already fighting off the cloying darkness that was seeking a way into his heart. He couldn't let the despair take hold. Whether he won or lost, he would do it near her. Diving backwards, he rolled through the air to land heavily on the stone roof, a few feet from Tifa's inert form. Her midnight hair covered her face and splayed over the stone and blood that seeped from her wound. The unearthly light had receded to a slow uneven beat. Cloud longed to see her eyes, hear her voice.

Sephiroth swooped after him, faster, more focused, intent on his grueling attack. Cloud landed in time, flicking his wrist to swing wide, parrying the hit. The former Soldier was growing in strength and vigor while Cloud became more stretched and weary. Once more, face to face with his childhood hero, all his shortcomings and ineptness overpowered his abilities and evoked a sense of crippling dread. How could he hope to defeat such a worthy and powerful foe? He stumbled back, rolling in time to evade the relentless sweeps of the long blade. Not able to avoid the constant attack, Cloud missed the thrust directed at his torso. Sephiroth plunged Masamune into Cloud's flesh, slicing into muscle and through to the other side of his body. With the blade as leverage, Sephiroth raised him off the ground. Wincing at the acute pain, Cloud gripped the blade with his free hand and using all his strength, he halted the sharp edge advancing up through his shoulder.

"Your light has forsaken you." Sephiroth, his face tilted upwards and his eyes glazed with fiery aqua, regarded him with contempt, his one wing flaring out behind him. "You shall become the servant of darkness."

Similar to the sword piercing his flesh, his bleak statement stabbed into his soul with scurrilous truth. This can't be happening? Not again. His eyes, dulling from pain, sought out Tifa. She opened her eyes, the slightest flutter to see him, and her hand and fingers crawled along the stone towards him. How could he get this close and fail her now. "Tifa…" he murmured her name in hope that maybe she could hear.

Sephiroth glanced at Tifa, his broad mouth turning into a calculated smile. "Admit it, Cloud. This is your destiny." His free hand lifted and gestured to the unnatural sky above. "You are bound to be controlled by me forever."

Cloud groaned through a heaving chest and he pushed down, cutting his gloves on the sharp blade as if it would stop the stinging within. No... I won't be controlled... because… he was needed. "Tifa." he breathed out in agony. She needed him. Now. Marlene needed him. Denzel needed him. Denzel... Cloud frowned as real thoughts began to filter into his mind from the solid world outside this ethereal hell. Denzel was relying on him to be there for him back at the Cetra City. Realization descended into his mind as he remembered what they had been doing at the City and everything else they had achieved up to that point, and he uttered, "I don't belong here."

"You continue speaking your empty words." Sephiroth drove the sword in further. "But you will die here."

Closing his eyes, Cloud recalled the words of the voice who spoke to him as he arrived in this place and his confrontation with the golem. There had to be more to coming here than to meet his death. The unknown voice had anchored his mind to the life-stream that he could sense beyond the evil of this corrupt environment. There were things he wasn't willing to let go of, not for Sephiroth and not for Jenova. Things he had fought hard to hold on to over the years. And he wasn't willing to lose the memories he had just witnessed of his parents. He wasn't willing to lose Tifa, who lay within his grasp, within touching distance. He wasn't willing to lose the baby within her. Their baby. He concentrated on his body, defusing the incapacitating agony in his flesh, and willing weight into his limbs, he dropped to the ground. He gripped the blade embedded in his chest and with a new strength filling his body, he tilted the sword and lifted Sephiroth off the ground. Sephiroth narrowed his eyes with a cold stare, but even Cloud could see the underlying glimmer of shock. Within moments, Cloud slid the blade from his flesh and threw it and Sephiroth meters away from him. Sephiroth skidded to a halt and glared with an unexpected rage that Cloud had never seen on him before.

Something within was imbuing Cloud with fresh strength, like a fountain inside his core pouring out, covering him in a sheath of white and healing his wound. Cloud's sword shimmered with luminous blue beneath the wrappings and he set it forward, ready to thrust into Sephiroth's anticipated attack. His newfound vigor provided him with the power he had been lacking.

Sephiroth did not advance, but flew up and high out of Cloud's dangerous reach. With his hand lifted to the dirty green sky, he caused it to swirl and twist into a deepening black. Cloud raced up to meet him before he could summon some foul entity out of the miasma polluting the air above and soon to expand over the landscape.

"Where do you get this light?" Sephiroth's voice seemed to quaver for the slightest moment.

Cloud's voice carried his revived resolution over the chasm between them. "The light comes from the ones I want to protect." There was a time when he wouldn't have been so sure of his convictions, but now he could see what had been previously hidden from him for years, the force of his own determination.

Sephiroth glanced down at the ground, his incandescent eyes spying Tifa, and making sure Cloud knew. "What happens when you no longer have anyone to protect." The horrid mire above began spiraling downwards to meet the floor of the building.

With abrupt fear for Tifa and the building below them, Cloud flung his sword forwards from over his shoulder, and sensing the blade unlocking, he relaxed his grip. The bandages flew off in a tangle of white, cut off by the weapons separating from each other. The swords surrounded Sephiroth and without needing to think, Cloud acted on the spiritual awareness and followed the blades path, utilizing the weapons, with the speed of light, slamming into Sephiroth again and again. It seemed easier than times past, as if he wasn't accessing all his power. He could feel surging energy under the surface of his skin waiting to be loosed. He hadn't even reached his exertion point. Similar to his weapon being freed, the blinds were lifted from his eyes. He could see Sephiroth; a hollow specter of his former grandeur, existing in his glorious past while Cloud had grown beyond his old physical limitations and advanced in mental endurance, more than what Cloud even realized. For the barest moment he felt sorry for the old SOLDIER. He was a vanquished foe.

"You will always be a part of me." Sephiroth spoke as he began transforming into a dense shade that merged with the blackened green above.

Cloud dropped to the ground along with his swords that strove into the stone. "I will never be a part of you," he said more to himself than making his assertion known to his enemy. It didn't matter if Sephiroth knew, Cloud knew and that's all that mattered.

Once Sephiroth had vanished, Cloud turned his whole attention to Tifa, his face paling with grave distress over her motionless form. He ran to her and knelt on the ground and gently rolled and raised her with his hand till she was resting in his bare arm. She was cold against his skin and her face was a deathly white. "Tifa..." he whispered, watching her face intently, looking for some indication she was conscious.

Her eyes opened the smallest slit to see him and she mumbled, and her words were barely audible, "You came back…" Her odd remark gave him some alarm, but she wasn't in any condition to be queried over it. He connected with the Healing materia in his glove and centered it on her wound. He studied her face smudged with black dust and blood. Blood had also soaked her white top and covered her arm in streamlets of crimson, and as he looked down her body, he saw bruises on her legs and more congealing blood. Whatever had been happening here, she had been fighting fiercely. He did not stop healing her till every cut had been sealed up. Once he finished he asked softly, "How are you feeling?"

Her eyes fluttered open as the last of the green life force rejoined her flesh. "I'm so tired." Despite the life being restored to her body, her eyes were darker than usual and dull. She stared at him with a look of stark bewilderment, and cautiously, she reached up to his face, yet refrained from touching. She breathed with a tremor, "Cloud, is it really you?"

An unexpected look of trepidation entered her eyes that Cloud could not fail to see. The notion that she would be afraid of him worried him with a sad sense of foreboding. He couldn't have that. Wanting to touch her hair and skin, he yanked and wiggled both his gloves off. Under her hair, he curled his fingers around her neck and supporting her back with his arm, he raised her up and kissed her, tentatively yet with confidence, seeking her out with a sensitive caress on her lips and delighting in the sweetness of her mouth. Just like he always did.

She made a small gasp in his mouth and whispered, "It really is you."

He sighed at her uncertainty. There wasn't time for him to question why she would have to wonder. "Yeah, it's me." But why and how he couldn't say and he didn't feel he needed to try and work it out. He was here with her and they were together, but… for how long?

"I don't understand..." her eyes dimmed with tears and hesitant relief.

"I don't either, but..." he pecked her on the lips and ran his bare fingers over her skin, wiping the smattering of blood from her cheek. "I'm here and I'm glad."

Tears pooled in her dark eyes and she whispered, "Cloud, I'm sorry for this," and she glanced around at the darkened surroundings, "and everything that's happened..." her tears ran unchecked down her dirty cheek.

Frowning at her sudden irrational confession, he shook his head with slow deliberation. "No, I'm the one who should be saying sorry." His thumb went to the wet line on her skin, brushing it away. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you, to protect you and Marlene and the baby. I should have known." Sadness subdued his voice and he drew her closer. "I let you down. All of you." A raging heartache was ready to break forth at his sorrowful admission. Holding her tightly, he buried his face in her hair and neck, hiding his grief over his failure that had been condemning his heart ever since she had been taken.

Her arms came to life, hooking around his neck, and her fingers stroked the back of his shoulder in a comforting caress. She kissed his ear and whispered, "I will never blame you for anything, you know that. It's you that must forgive you---"

He held her more securely and lifted her onto his lap. "If something happens to you..." his voice caught in his throat, "how can I live with myself?"

She put force into her voice and her hand came round to cup his cheek and with her thumb she wiped a tear from under his eye. "I want you to live. Even if the worse happens." Her hand remained sweeping careful circles over his skin and she gazed into his eyes giving him comfort.

He stared back, discovering he had a world of things he needed to convey, but he was lost in her dark windows, mesmerized by the feel of her skin and body that he had been longing for since she had disappeared. He leaned into her hand stroking his face and smoothed his hand over the soft skin of her waist and lower back. She was right as she always was, but he knew it wouldn't be an easy task, especially for him. Tifa wanting him to continue on might not be enough considering she was the reason why he did the things he did anyway. He didn't want the tragedies of the past to keep replaying. Not again. With the gentlest press of his lips on hers, he kissed her once more with his heart breaking at her nearness. She responded with the same grasping need.

He broke away, bringing to mind the dire situation they were in with gut wrenching clearness. They were still in dangerous enemy territory where any type of evil might appear to confront them. He sensed the sky overhead as a malicious influence upon his mind and he glanced up. The billowing maelstrom had not abated and remained a menacing presence above them. It also occurred to him he had no control over his time in this place. He turned back to her eyes that watched him fearfully, and she shivered in his arms. He told her, "I'll get my swords then I'll take you some where." He tucked his gloves under his strap and reached down taking her hand and lifting her to her feet. With shaky legs, she walked with him to where his swords had embedded into the stone. Clinging to his hand and arm, she kept mere inches from his body and remained tense, her head turning to and fro as if expecting something to appear out from the stone walls. Cloud had never seen Tifa this afraid before. But she had never been in a place so vile and dead to hope before. Letting go of her hand, he retrieved his swords quickly, connecting them all into one and sliding it behind him.

Tifa rubbed her arms in the chill wind and her voice trembled with apprehension, "What is this place?"

Cloud followed her gaze to the sky. "I think it's the life-stream. But different. It's a similar feeling to when I had the geostigma." She stepped closer and looking into his eyes, she reached for his arm to reassure. He continued, "A sense of emptiness and depression." It saddened him that she would have to experience the corruptive taint that he had battled over the years. "A place where fears and doubts are overpowering." Yet it was a release to verbalize the truth about Jenova, although he was reluctant to speak the name aloud as if it would summon unwanted attention. Even so, he already felt vulnerable underneath the ominous darkness expanding above them.

Tifa brushed his waist and her hand circled his arm firmly. "Now I un—" She groaned abruptly and clutched her stomach, nearly doubling over.

"Tifa!" Cloud caught her arm and cried in desperation, "What's happening?" She shook her head with confusion and her pain-filled eyes went to her stomach. Cloud scooped her up in his arms and she arched her neck and gave small whimpering noises as she held her stomach. He assessed the safest route down to the streets below, and holding Tifa securely he bounded down ledges and broken stairs to the darkness pooling beneath them. It was not a hard task for she weighed next to nothing in his arms, but seeing her face contort in pain and hearing her agonized cries and not being able to alleviate the pain was difficult to bear. He could only imagine what heinous depravity the enemy was carrying out on Tifa and the baby. He could do nothing except witness her suffering. Her tormented state only added fuel to his already fuming rage.

The streets were in near dark but that didn't hinder him. He heard the distant high pitched shrieks of monsters and the snarls of creatures not far off, and he glared into the shadows, daring anything or anyone to approach. On a closer study of the dark alleys and piles of twisted metal frames, it wasn't a case of monsters attacking them but of the dense sea of shadows, lurking. They twisted and writhed into deformed apparitions that separated from the mass and floated independently. The darkness itself moved as if it were a sentient being, its sole purpose to envelope the landscape in a shroud of malignant despair. Cloud felt the familiar pangs of depression attempting to seize his will and peace of mind. Years of internal struggles against these same fears and hopelessness had given him the experience and the audacity to withstand. Even so, unlike the real world, it seemed ten times stronger. A man could fight against monsters, but not this type of malevolent entity. It was no wonder Tifa was so afraid.

Between moments of sudden dozing, Tifa stared up at him with amazement. After reassuring her with a tight lipped smile, she would smile in return and relax. Her eyes would grow heavy again as if she had no control over her waking moments. He wasn't sure it was good for her to fall asleep so easily and he gently roused her to wakefulness, and perhaps selfishly in a way, because he wanted to see her face and know she was there with him.

He soon found what he was looking for. He pushed one of the high doors open with his back and heeled it shut once he entered. Tifa needed shelter, although with a gaping hole in the roof and a partially collapsed wall it wasn't the best. But it was the nearest thing to home. A patch of dead grey stalks were in place of the flowers, but Cloud expected nothing less from a place devoid of life and color. The sight of the sword standing erect and unblemished by the tainted air, surprised him, and he stared with his mouth open at the luminous glint along the sharp steel that came from no outside light source. For some reason the very presence of the Buster sword gave him hope, as if a light from the outside word had dropped into their midst, providing a sentry of another force just as powerful as the evil surrounding them. It gave him hope that maybe Tifa would be safe here.

Tifa also looked at the shimmering weapon in wonder as if noticing its significance. She laid her head back on his chest and gazed up at him. "Cloud..."

She was frail in his arms and delicate, and she watched him, trustingly. He took her to the opposite side of the open wall and forgoing the pews that weren't in the best condition, he went behind the pillar yet in sight of the Buster sword. Letting her slide from his arms to her feet, he unsheathed his weapon and leaned it against the pillar. There was nothing to make her comfortable or warm, he would have to do. So he cleared a space on the floor with his foot and sat down against the stone work wall. With his hand extended, he beckoned to her to sit on his lap and recline back in his arms. Already hovering over him, she nestled side-on in his lap and into his arms, and bending her knees up, she snuggled against his chest. He gathered her as close as he could get her. He had already spent too much time getting to the church, and he couldn't say how much time he had left to be with her. Every moment counted. "Tifa, can you tell me where you are?"

"No…" She sighed and held his free hand in both of hers, stroking his sensitive palm and kissing his knuckles. Her touch was electrifying on his skin that was rarely exposed and he watched her under her fringe with affection. She went on, "But there were many of us, mainly children, on a train." She creased her brow in deep contemplation. "We stopped under a tunnel, I think."

"Right." It was as he suspected; the underground track. "I know Deepground have you."

She nodded, and took a sharp breath. "And Marlene escaped from the train." As if giving it more thought she added, "She's not with you?"

Cloud frowned as he considered this new development. "No." That means she would have been along the track, somewhere. At least she wasn't in the hands of Deepground. He could hope. "I'll find her."

"And Denzel?" she added, hesitantly, "Is he...?"

"He's with me," he said with firm assurance.

She blew out a gush of relieved air. "That's good. I'm glad."

His voice turned mellow and he spoke against her hair. "Tif—where is your ring?" He noticed she wasn't wearing it as he carried her down. He didn't want to cause her alarm, perhaps she had not put it on that day, but that was highly unlikely.

Her fingers gripped her ring finger and she gasped, massaging the white strip of skin where the ring usually sat. With a quiver in her voice she sobbed, "It's gone! My ring?!" Her eyes swelled with tears and she moaned, forlornly, "I'm sorry, I lost it."

Cloud gritted his teeth at this unexpected assault of the enemy and wished he could get up and punch a hole through the wall. The knot of rage at his center continued to grow to uncontrollable levels. "You didn't lose it, it was stolen from you." The ring's poignant history was still prevalent in his thoughts, and its value was priceless. One of its added properties was Protection from Darkness which would have been sorely needed in this place. Perhaps the enemy's insight was more diabolical than Cloud could guess. Cloud knew how much the ring meant to Tifa and to him. It was a grave blow for both of them. He would have to get it back amongst everything else the enemy had taken from him. But the last thing he wanted right than was to see her upset. "Don't worry, I'll get it back."

"Cloud," her voice went quiet and she continued, "What if I'm already... if I'm... they don't want me, they really want the baby," she shifted, turning her torso into his chest half facing him and she squeezed his hand with unrestrained anguish, "and I just don't know if I'm ali--"

"Tifa, don't say it--"

"You know I have to," she said with staunch determination and gently holding the side of his face, her wet eyes stared into his with sorrow. "Just so you know."

He encased her hand with his and said just as quietly, "I already know."

"That I loved every minute with you and you more than anything, and everything about us. You were my safe place..."

"Tif--," he took a hard breath, deciding to honor her heartfelt confession, even though it was breaking his heart to hear her speak so candidly about her feelings, with his own. "You've been my anchor and my air, I've needed you and loved you more than anything or anyone and...," he lowered his face into her, and whispered, "I don't want to say goodbye."

Tears ringed her moist eyes and she murmured, "But what if that's why you're here, because I'm dyin—"

"No." His brow creased with a stab of grief, fearing the reality of her statement. He muttered through a throat thick with unshed tears, "I won't… I can't give up." He couldn't bear thinking that this was the last time he would hold her in his arms.

Tifa kissed his cheek and said, "I'm sorry, I..." She held her stomach, her face tightened with a spasm of pain, and took a long breath. "I didn't know this," she ran circles over her raised belly, "would cause all this trouble."

"Don't say that." His voice strained against her temple and he also rubbed the stretched silken skin over her stomach. "Don't regret it. I want this baby just as much as you." She nodded, letting her dark strands fall over her face and he knew she was quietly crying. "No matter what happens to you I'll get the baby and take care of it." The honest declaration gave him resolve despite sensing the burdening grief that would come from such a task. For her sake he kept his own tears at bay.

"I regret," she mumbled from a clogged throat, "I didn't find out whether it was a boy or a girl."

It was true. They had decided to leave it as a surprise, but they did choose a name that could be for either. "I think it's a boy."

Tifa shook her head. "No, I think maybe a girl."

Cloud smiled a moment. Either one was fine by him. "At least we picked a name."

She looked up to see him gazing at her with fondness, and she said with some sternness. "And keep it a secret, until... and I don't want the enemy to know, because they already have so much of me."

"I won't tell anyone," he said firmly. Under his open palm, he felt the baby shift and a tiny foot hit against him again and again. His eyes widened in astonishment as he watched the small limb stretch Tifa's belly as it moved from top to bottom, swishing and jumping.

"Your hand is so warm." Tifa gave a short chuckle. "It's nice."

Her skin was unusually cold, almost clammy. Initially he thought she would warm up but she remained chill to his touch. He brushed his hand over her belly and the baby followed his movement. For the first time it really hit home that there was a little person inside Tifa; a life ready to come into the world with its own personality and thoughts and feelings. A person that he and Tifa had made together and they would have to nurture and raise and be responsible for. If they got the chance. "You're amazing, Tifa. Hey little baby, you'll have to keep mummy awake so she doesn't fall asleep so much."

Tifa rubbed his hand before cupping her abdomen, and she leaned her face down. "Sweetie, daddy's coming to get you..." she looked back to him for reassurance.

He added, "And mummy too." The new word sounded sweet in his mouth and his lip curved into the slightest smile.

Tifa blinked up at him as if fighting back more tears and a tremulous tone was in her voice. "You have to go, don't you?"

The sight of her needy eyes pierced him with remorse. "I..." Profound sadness darkened his eyes and he drew her closer to his chest. "I need to find you."

She shuddered in his embrace, her head against his shoulder. "It's this place, it's so cold and empty, and dark with horrible despair and..." her voice was a faint teary sound against his shirt, "I'm so alone."

He inhaled sharply. "I know, but... you're got this little one." He lay his hand on her stomach before enveloping her in his embrace, nearly burying her under his arms, and kissing her long and sweet, and instilling in her as much courage as he could, he whispered his heartfelt instructions, "Stay here, don't wander away and when you get afraid and lonely look at the Buster sword and remember when we put it there and everything it stands for, and who used to wield it. And remember, I'm looking for you." For some reason he couldn't explain, he sensed this was the strength he had to provide for her, as if the sword could somehow protect her soul when he wasn't present, but it wasn't the usefulness of a blade, but everything that had been imbued into the sword since its creation. As if every owner had imparted their inner strengths and convictions and beliefs into the sword's essence. Every owner that had battled Jenova. Sadly, he also sensed that speaking of it was the door to his departure. "Tifa..." he held his breath, and dreading his disappearance, he held her tighter, as if he could prolong it. For moments he gazed into her fear-filled eyes, feeling her body go rigid with apprehension. Then, he held nothing as he sank into blackness, falling hard into the solid unyielding weight of the material world with her voice still clear in his mind speaking his name along with her words, I love you.