Vincent Comes Home

First, I'm sorry that this chapter is so short. But I found that, when I went over it to try and edit--there was nothing to add or take out. So I've left it as is. If I think of anything amazing, I'll put it in later.


Oh, I also realized that I've been calling the Forgotten City the Ancient City. Because I'm a dumbass sometimes. :) So I'll be going back through this and changing that. Sorry. -_-()

Your mom.


Tifa sat on the bed, staring at nothing. When had things gotten so crazy? When had everything gone so wrong? She had thought it would work. She had hoped, prayed that it would work. And it had only seemed to make him worse. Just last night they had…and now…

Everything had gone so wrong.


She had been dreaming before it happened. Of the Forgotten City. All of them—Cid, Barret, Yuffie, Reno, Nanaki, even those two pilots—were standing, looking up on the dais where Aeris had died. Tifa was with them, staring upwards.

A great flash of white light blinded them.

When she could see again, Cloud was floating in a beam of light. Then Tifa’s perspective would change. Instead of being on the ground, she would be all around Cloud. He looked peaceful and healthy. His eyes were closed, as if sleeping. And a feeling of calm would come over her. She could sense the presence of Holy.

She looked up and saw a flash of silver and rosy pink. Someone reached out and touched Cloud. And Tifa knew that this touch healed him. It made him all better. It drove out the darkness.

It was a sign, for certain. It was telling her where to go. That’s what she had to do. She wasn’t crazy at all. She wasn’t crazy….And she could have hated Cid for telling her she was. He didn’t have the dream. He couldn’t understand how real it was.

And then…there was another flash of light. And she heard yells. She would suddenly be back in her original place again and look over.

Vincent would be on his knees, holding one of his arms, yelling with pain or terror, Tifa wasn’t certain. Someone runs over to him and…

That’s where the dream always faded away. But the message was clear.

Bring Cloud to the Forgotten City.

That thing had a hold on him. It was…eating him from the inside or something.

Tifa hooked her arms around her knees. So much had happened with Cloud.

The dream had just faded when someone called to her.


Tifa sat up, blinking the sleep from her eyes.

“Tifa.”

Tifa leaned over to her bedside lamp and flipped it on. She blinked the bright light away until her eyes adjusted. “Cloud? Are you okay?”

Cloud’s face seemed to spasm. But then it settled again into an unreadable mask. He lifted his sword.

Tifa stared at him, feeling herself tensing to spring. Her hands twisted under her and she got on one knee on the bed. “Cloud…? What are you doing?”

If it takes me over, I’ll end up killing you. And I could never forgive myself for that.

He didn’t answer. His eye twitched and his face spasmed again.

“Cloud?”

It seemed almost in slow motion that he dropped into a spring and ran at her. Tifa came up and jumped. Her feet hit the ceiling and she backflipped to the ground.

“Cloud stop!”

But he seemed beyond reach. His sword had riven her bed in two. He crouched again and went at her.

Tifa glanced behind her. She leapt up, backwards, onto the chair to her writing desk, jumped on the desk and kicked the chair at Cloud.

He smashed it to splinters.

Tifa looked about desperately and saw her armor, Materia, and glove across the room. She jumped up, planted her feet on the wall behind her and shot herself across the room.

And suddenly, Cloud was in front of her, slashing with his sword.

Tifa shrieked, feeling it open up her flesh from underarm to hip. Cloud turned his sword on edge to cut sideways, through her torso. Tifa slammed a hand down on the Materia-hot blade, kicking at Cloud’s head and flipping right over the sword into the wall.

She hit hard, sliding to the floor and landing on her gear. She snatched up her gauntlet and rammed it onto her wrist, feeling the warmth flood her body. She activated Regen and Wall in quick succession. She grabbed for her glove but then Cloud had her by the hair. He drug her up and threw her. Tifa rolled and came up on her feet.

“Cloud, stop it! Cloud!” She held a hand to her side, gasping with pain. Blood was making a hot path down her leg.

Cloud’s sword began to glow. He dropped into the familiar, guarded crouch of a limit break.

Tifa gasped and halted, like a deer in the headlights. “No,” she shook her head. “Cloud! Cloud, stop! Don’t—!”

She didn’t even see him move. All she felt was the white-hot pain that seemed to come from every direction. The only thing she heard was her own screams. Wall was what saved her. Tifa dropped to the floor when it was over. She felt a flood of heat from Regen course into her limbs, trying desperately to restore strength in her. She looked up.

Cloud’s sword had stopped glowing and he was glaring down at her triumphantly. He raised his sword.

Tifa put both hands on the ground and flipped herself sideways. It swept his feet right out from under him.

He landed hard, his sword thumping to the ground. Tifa was on him instantly, getting behind him and locking him in a stranglehold.

“Listen to me, Cloud. It’s me! It’s Tifa! Stop…”

And that when the door had opened.

Cloud had broken her calf…she was lucky Barret and Reno and Yuffie had come. Barret and Reno had brought Materia.

But then Vincent…Vincent had grabbed Cloud and threw him outside and fought him. She had screamed at him, tried to tell him to stop…but he either didn’t hear her, or he ignored her.

He did it to protect you.

“But why?” she said aloud, her voice cracking.

Because he cares about you.

“No,” Tifa said, wretchedly. “He can’t. Not like that. Not with Cloud the way he is. He can’t.”

Can’t—or are you afraid that he does? Because Vincent is sane…for the most part.

“Cloud is going to live…and then…things will be okay.”

Are you so sure?

“No…”

Vincent is a worthy man. Are you afraid that you will betray Cloud?

Tifa hugged her legs tighter to herself. “Yes…,” she whispered.

But you love Cloud.

“Yes.”

But you care about Vincent, don’t you?

“Of course I do. He’s my friend.”

A very good friend.

“Yeah,” Tifa muttered, tears coming down her face again. “Just like Cid or Barret or any of the others.”

But if Cloud dies?

Tifa stiffened. “He’s not going to die. Don’t even start to think like that, Tifa. He’s not going to die.”

Tifa was silent for a moment.

“I can’t believe I’m talking to myself.”

Do you believe that talking to oneself proves insanity?

“I’m not crazy.” She bit her lip. “So no…I suppose talking to yourself doesn’t mean you’re crazy.”

Everyone talks to themselves at some point. It ensures that you always get the answer you want.

Tifa smiled miserably. “That makes everything seem simple.”

But it’s not.

“No.”

Tifa stretched out, lying back on her new bed. “I just need to relax.”


She dreamed that night, the dream that she’d had since she’d left Midgar. Of white light and the Forgotten City. Each night, the dream became progressively clearer. It was when they were coming out of the Crater that it had all made sense. She suddenly realized all the bits and pieces. And now the dream didn’t change at all. This was what she was meant to see.

Cloud, healed.

And, for some reason, Vincent…in agony.

They had both been touched by Jenova, maybe that was the reason she saw them? But why on earth would she have these dreams herself? She’d never been touched by Jenova. And she was no prophet or seer. The only thing she’d done was been taken away in the Lifestream. Maybe that was relevant? Or maybe it was Aeris. She had died in the City. And Cloud called her name in his sleep sometimes, always in a whisper of despair that he couldn’t save her.

But no, Tifa herself had called for her in her sleep too. Cid had told her. And when she shared that Cloud did it as well, Cid had had her watch him while he slept a couple nights, to see if he did it too.

For four nights, she had stayed up and watched him (sleeping during the day). And he had called her name, once. But Cid also mumbled and sometimes moaned in his sleep. Once, he had cried (she had never told him that, knowing it would humiliate him). And the third night he had jumped awake, covered in sweat, breathing hard.

“I didn’t know you had nightmares, Cid,” Tifa had told him, feeling sorry for him.

Cid had smiled tiredly, wiping his brow off while Tifa handed him a glass of water. “Yeah, ‘most every night. I’m beginnin’ to understand why Vincent was so goddamn quiet all the time. At least I wake up, sometimes he couldn’t. Poor bastard.”

And if it was Aeris, why was she only giving dreams to Tifa? Why not Cid, Nanaki, Barret, and the rest? Why only Tifa?

Who knew? Hopefully, she’d find out at the City.

Tifa took comfort in the white brightness of Holy. She watched Cloud. Everything would be fine. She glanced at Vincent, writhing on the ground, and felt a pang of horror. He would be okay. Of course he would. Both of them would.

Everything would be fine. And they could go home to Midgar and…everything would be okay. Right?

Everything would be fine.