Rebirth

Chapter 23 - Sanctuary

Tifa lay curled up on the ground shivering uncontrollably. She so desperately needed to
rest but she knew if she stayed out here she would die of exposure. She slowly pushed
herself up into a sitting position, her hair flying around her face, and looked around in the
growing dark. She needed to find some shelter. Somewhere she could get out of the
elements.

"What is that?" she asked herself. Her eyes had picked out an area of the cliff behind her
that appeared darker than its surroundings. "Could it be . . .?"

She picked herself up slowly and carefully, trembling violently in the wind and wrapped
her arms around her chest. She stumbled towards the cliff wall, falling two or three times
on the way. Finally she reached it. She extended a trembling hand towards the dark area
of the wall and pushed away the thick, strangling vines that had grown over an entrance
to a small cave. She stooped on all fours and crawled inside.

The cave floor was flat and covered with dead leaves from the vine covering the entrance.
It had obviously been undisturbed for ages because the pile of leaves was quite thick and
very dry. "I must get warm," she thought to herself, looking around for something,
anything that she might use to light a fire. She saw a glint of the rising moon outside
shining off a shard of what looked like brittle rock on the wall opposite her. She crawled
over to it, and picking up a large round stone on the cave floor, she smashed it into the
rock and broke a large piece off into her hand.

"Hopefully this will do," she whispered. She cleared an area in the front of the cave of
the leaves and piled a small handful on the bare floor. Kneeling over her makeshift
campfire she held the flinty rock in one hand and struck it with the other rock. Her hands
were still bloody from the damage they took during her escape and her fingers were now
numb from the cold. She dropped the rock and cut her hand. She closed her eyes to the
pain and cradled her ruined hand under her arm for a few seconds, willing the pain to go
away.

"Keep trying," she whispered. Shaking uncontrollably from the cold, she picked up both
rocks again and gripping them as tightly as her frozen fingers would allow, she struck the
stone against the black flint. A spark flew off the rock and hit the bare ground next to the
small pile of leaves.

"Dammit," she swore under her breath. She tried again, and this time the spark hit its
mark and started the leaves smoldering. She leaned down near the ground and softly
blew on the smoking leaves. A tiny flame leapt into the air and ignited the rest of the
leaves. The small fire grew in intensity, giving off life-giving warmth that Tifa so
desperately needed. She pushed aside some of the vine to allow the smoke to escape the
cave and, gathering some of the rest of the leaves around her, she curled down in front of
the fire to rest.

She was desperately thirsty and hungry, but more than that, she was exhausted. Her body
and mind had been pushed to the limit, trying to both nurture and protect the growing
child inside her and preserve her sanity. She fell into a deep dreamless sleep that even
Jenova and the Others were powerless to wake her from.