In Your Eyes I Saw Hell

Author’s Notes – Sorry this has taken so long to update, but real life has sucked up a good portion of my time. Plus I was trying to get at least 2 chapters written before I posted this, but it didn’t turn out that way, and then I ended up rewriting this chapter. Meh, that’s the way it goes sometimes. Thank you to everyone that’s reviewed so far, I really appreciate it. After I get the next chapter out I’m going to go back and do a bit of editing on the previous chapters. So chapters may be a bit late in the posting. I’m not sure I’m completely satisfied with this chapter, but then again I’m never satisfied with my writing, but I hope you enjoy it.


Chapter 6: And The World Came Tumbling Down

It had only been four months since he’d left.

One hundred and twenty two days since he’d packed his meager belongings into the storage compartments on the Fenrir, and taken off to do some serious soul searching.

It couldn’t be helped really. After consigning the ghost of Sephiroth back to memory, and holding his “brother” in his arms as he faded into the Lifestream, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and he’d needed a break from everything and everyone.

His first stop had been the City of Ancients. To give one last farewell to the woman he could have been loved most by, had he really been Zack.
He’d had to come to terms with the fact that Aeris only loved Zack, a fact that had been painfully driven home when her spirit left the church with the black haired warrior.

Even still, he’d had strong feelings for her. Feelings that had to be sorted out and dealt with before he could go back to his new life.

In all honesty though, it hadn’t taken Cloud all that long to realize that the woman he’d wanted to be with was in fact Tifa.

The revelation had been handed to him when he’d gone to the second time abandoned Niebleheim, to reconcile the last of his ghosts.

Even years later, the once peaceful village was still teeming with the restless souls of the massacre victims. Cloud had hoped that by walking through the center square they would have gained a measure of peace by his presence alone. Knowing that their deaths had been avenged.

However, it also gave him a lot of time to think about his past in this sleepy town, and how he’d almost lost Tifa before he even knew it.

What if she’d died that night at the reactor? What if she’d never been there to pull him out of the Lifestream?

Would he have survived? Would any of them?

Unlikely.

Tifa was the mortar that held them together, while the others were the bricks. You could build an existence with bricks alone, but you can’t build a life without the glue.
He wanted Tifa to be the glue that made his life complete.

Oddly enough, the thoughts had come to him just outside the city, in front of the gates of the old ShinRa mansion.

Nothing good had come out of that building, and it was time to ring the final knell in the dirge of the Sephiroth saga.

When he got back to Midgar, after he went to Tifa and made her his, he’d go to Rufus and discuss his plan. Then it would finally be over.

Or so he had thought.

The tearful reunion that he had imagined faded into the mist, as reality punched him in the nuts.

Cloud’s mind went numb, and he swore his heart clenched and refused to beat for a small eternity, but might have only been seconds.

It was inconceivable! He’d been waiting thousands of miles, to come home to this?
Vincent Valentine lay on the floor in an uncomfortable looking crumple, his human hand clutched to the overabundant chest of one Tifa Lockheart. Tifa, who was crouched over him, a hairsbreadth away from the man’s face was oblivious until he spoke.

“Tifa, I’m home. Can we talk?”

The words came out before he’d really decided he wanted to say them. Almost as if the impulse of perceived happiness overrode the reality of the witnessed betrayal.

Claret colored eyes blinked the fog of the moment away before focusing on him in the doorway.

“Cloud?”

Never voiced, but he could still hear the ‘What are you doing here?’ that Tifa tactfully left out.

How could she have chosen “that” over him? How dare she? What happened to the unwavering loyalty she swore to give him?

Lies! All the promises. All the speeches. Pretty words and nothing more.

So he wasn’t eloquent, or handsome, or even mysterious, like Vincent. At least he was human, unlike that damned man.

“How could you do this to me? To us?” He demanded.

“Do what to you?” Tifa was immediately on the defensive. “There was never an us, Cloud. You made your intentions clear when you called me Aeris that night before you disappeared.

“That was a mistake, I realize that…”

The bar owner was on her feet and stalking over to him a heartbeat before he could finish his sentence. A heartbeat before he could do anything more than pray she didn’t tear him a new one.

Grabbing his arm with more force than necessary, the brunette dragged him through the main room and upstairs to the Strife Delivery Office.

With the door closed it was near impossible to hear what was going on inside. It wasn’t the first time he’d been dragged up there to be yelled at after all.

He studied the girl turned woman through lowered lashes, as she took a deep calming breath. As she settled into a relaxed stance, as she reigned in her temper.

“Before you say another word, or hurl another accusation at me, Cloud, I want you to know that I’m glad you’re home again.”

“I was glad to be home, Tifa, until I walked in the door.” He retorted.
“What changed that?”

“I came home prepared to tell you how sorry I was for accidentally calling you Aeris, the up and leaving you.”

“No amount of apology will fix that Cloud.” Tifa interjected, leaning a hip against the desk.

“I can understand that, really I can, but I came home to tell you how much I need and want you in my life. How I can’t live without you, and I want you in my life. How I can’t life without you, and I find you together with Vincent.” He paced as he talked. This wasn’t how he’d planned to tell her, but there was nothing to be done about it now.

“What’s wrong with Vincent?”

Amazement shot through him as his head snapped towards her.

“What isn’t wrong with him? He’s a walking disaster. A living symbol of how ShinRa fucked the world.”

“What exactly does that make you?”

“Low blow, Tifa.”

“Truth. You just don’t want to see it that way. I’m just tired of pulling the punches so I don’t hurt your feelings.” The martial artist said wearily. “You can’t go off and call someone a monster when you yourself could be viewed the same way.

Just because Vincent got caught up in some things that got out of control, and a psychotic scientist with a god complex did terrible things to him. That in no way makes him a monster.”

“You like him.” He accused, the scorn evident in his voice.

“I’ve always liked him.”

He would not tolerate it. He would not be rejected in favor of that patchwork monstrosity. Tifa’s proclamation sealed the deal on what his next move was going to be.

“Is that so?” He asked as he went to the door and opened it. “That’ll change soon enough.”

“What are you…” He closed the door before she could finish, a plan already formulating in his mind. He just needed Rufus and the Turks to agree.

He would put Vincent Valentine in his place, or back in his coffin, then there would be nothing standing between him and the woman he wanted.