Disclaimers: Characters © Square Enix

Author's Notes: Okay, I got the title idea from the movie "Brother, Where Art Thou?" in case I get any more questions about it.

Tifa, Where Art Thou?

Chapter 2: Burn

By: Xtine

The sun rose in its usual fashion on the other side of the planet, its rays spreading like fingers across the landscape. Light tore through the open crevices of the window shudder, laying lines of latitude on the floor of the quaint room.

A man stirred in his sleep as he felt the sun beams cautiously heat up only particular parts of his body. His eyes slowly opened, sensing the light that would bore through his pupils. The light bit at his eyes, forcing him to squint as his consciousness finally came through.

I actually slept through the night, Cloud Strife thought as he blinked his eyes. Although he had managed to finally get a peaceful night of sleep, he was still exhausted from the previous months of nightmares that haunted his dreams. Every night it would be the same thing, he would find himself waking up in his room, a green light glowing from outside and leaking into the window. Curious of the strange light, he would always find himself pursuing it.

It would lead to the same thing, him being brought to the rusty well that was in the center of Nibelheim. He would climb the ladder, and just as he would reach the top the light would vanish and he would be left in wonderment; once again alone to face the world on his own. After he found himself alone he would usually wake from his sleep, confused and irritated.

xoxox

Just as the sun rose on one side of the planet, it had begun to set on the other leaving a blanket of darkness in its wake. Tifa Lockheart sat in her bed, looking down at the folds and creases in her blanket that lay over her bare legs. A tear dripped from the corner of her eye as she gazed out the window, watching another day slip by her, leaving her to contemplate her life once again and what was making her happy—keeping her going.

She hated having these debates, because either way she would be fighting, whether it was the fact that she had nothing to live for, or if it were a selfish, weak act to let herself die.

Suicide? No…if I were meant to die, I would die, she thought, her eyes lowering as she glanced down at her hands that were now facing palms up. She shook her head, feeling the emptiness inside seem to levitate and expand throughout the room.

Shadowed corners seemed to grow as she closed her eyes, shutting herself from the confinements around her. She didn't want to think anymore, she wished she wasn't blessed (or cursed) with the power of emotion and free thought.

The fact that she hadn't completely lost her mind was probably the fact that she still held hope, a small pint of it, but she still held the fact that maybe, just maybe her knight in shining armor might decide to come save her one day.

Tifa…stop fooling around, you know the truth and you're just too naïve to accept the fact that you've been lost, replaced by a fallen angel. She laid herself down, trying to lose herself but her thoughts kept incarnating in her head, keeping her conscious. She wanted sleep so badly, as she feared if she were to stay awake she would see the man again.

She rested her head on her pillow, several minutes then passed before she found her eyes springing awake once again. A deep sigh was excerpted from her lips as she knew that sleep would never find her.

She took her hand and brushed it along the contours of her face as she knew that she would have to take another pill, one to help her with her insomniac. They were conveniently next to her bed, for she knew that she had many times in the past woken up several times a night and with the pills on her nightstand; they were right in her reach.

Again like the nights when she would suffer from severe insomniac, she took the pill as always. A quick pop in the mouth and a quick sip from the glass of water she always kept conveniently next to it. That was it; soon she would find herself living in her imagination of dreams and nightmares.

xoxox

A buzzer rang, the sound of Tifa's alarm clock humming into the still air of her room. Instinctively she shot out of bed, glanced at the clock to see what time the face was reading.

1:30? She questioned herself if she were reading the time right. Glancing again, this time trying to focus her eyes properly she once again read, 1:30 a.m. Absurd was the only thing that she could think of, because she would never in her right mind set the alarm to such an early hour. Squinting her eyes, she slammed the off button with her hand and that was when she felt that she wasn't alone.

Her heart stopped liked it always would. The presence sent shivers down her spine—the hair on the back of her neck stood on edge. She never wanted to see the man standing behind her, every time she would just close her eyes and try to deny that he was there.

"Tifa," a cold, monotone voice spoke. He never spoke her name before. Her eyes shot open, and she wisped in the direction of the noise, only to see nobody there.

"What do you want?" Tifa asked, lowering her head and peering into every corner of the room. Silence overcame her and her inner fear was turning into an annoyed anger.

"I want what you want," the voice spoke up again. This time she saw a figure appear before her, the silhouette resembling that of an ordinary man.

Tifa watched and her eyes darkened as a biting tone became evident on her voice. "How do you know what I want?"

"I want what you want," the voice repeated.

"Knock this off! Just leave me alone," Tifa finally ordered, and she laid back down and covered herself up with the blanket tightly around her head and neck. For a moment she had begun to think that the presence had disappeared, and for a moment she was at peace.

"I can give you what you want," the voice whispered delicately in her ear. Her heart skipped a beat as she felt a cold breeze sweep over her entire body. She felt herself about to cry, the torments and pesters from this person beginning to completely un-nerve her.

"I'll do it—whatever you want I'll do it, just as long as you leave me alone. That's what I want," she finally subordinated to him, finding herself with no other option left.

"Good, then follow me."

She found herself being roused from her bed, mindlessly following a floating sphere in front of her. Casually she walked out of her house, only in a long t-shirt and a pair of wool socks she reluctantly put on before she went to sleep.

The light floated in the air before her, flashing violently when she didn't keep up to step with it. An hour must have passed before either of them spoke a single phrase.

"Here," the light informed and swayed slightly in a breeze. Tifa finally figured it was best to observe the surroundings, as she found herself on the far side of town where the buildings were not as large as the rich side of town, but it was surely not the ghetto either. She stood before a house painted a dull brown color and green-shingled roofing on top of it.

She looked up, for there were two stories to the quaint little household, and two windows on the top floor—one open letting the outside breeze flourish within it. Her eyes pierced as her mind could put no familiarization to it, although at the time she really didn't know anything, anybody, or anyplace except for the brilliant light guiding her way.

"Burn the house down," the light spoke melodramatically and suddenly disappeared, leaving Tifa to contemplate the task on her own. If she were in a right state of mind, she would have never even given it a thought whether to burn the house down or not, but considering she was in a delusional state; she hadn't the clue as to what exactly was happening.

Feeling as if she had to obey orders, she quietly opened the unlocked front door, and let herself in. She made sure that she would make no sound, thankfully her socked feet prevented that even more as she tip toed across the tile of the landing.

It was strange, for she felt as if she had been here before, for she knew exactly where she would find some gasoline and matches, and she also knew that all the inhabitants of the house were sleeping soundly upstairs. How exactly she knew all that was beyond her, but all she cared about was knowing what she knew and using it to her advantage.

There was one set of stairs, and she figured that would be a good place to begin a fire, that way the people sleeping soundly would never have an exit, and by the time they realized what was happening it would be too late for them. It was an evil and devious plan, but then again it wasn't exactly Tifa thinking the thoughts, was it? It was her delusional mind playing cynical tricks on her, forcing her to do things that she never even dreamed of.

That power she had now was what she used as she emptied the full can of gasoline all over the bottom of the steps and across the walls and floor. She had a booklet of matches in her pocket that she scrounged up in one of the kitchen drawers, and without a second thought she lit a single match and threw it down on the floor.

Flames brewed and ate at the precious gas as it was their only source of life. Expanding and growing, she watched only for a minute making sure that it was really lit, even though the light was probably enough evidence.

She knew that she would now have to make a fast get-away, and she took the opportunity to run out the back door that she for some reason knew was there. It didn't take her long to make it there, and she soon found herself running through the freshly cut grass of a back lawn and down out into the large grass fields that grew outside of the small city.

Her feet carried her faster as she ran, not knowing when or even how to stop. Eventually she felt herself weaken, and she had to steady herself down to a slow walk. Finally finding that she had run at least a mile, she looked back to see a calm and peaceful city before her eyes, the chaos and disruption still not evident.

Taking in a few last hard gasps, she finally found that her body was wracked with exhaustion. Closing her eyes, she felt her balance be lost and she plummeted down to the ground. She would rest easy, quickly becoming unconscious in a mindless and dreamless stage of sleep.

xoxox

"Hey," a voice from nowhere began to speak. "Hey!"

Tifa found herself trying to pry her eyes open, but the sunrays that glistened around her made the task seem impossible. She blinked, trying to prevent the burn of the bright light, although in reality there really wasn't much she could do.

"Hey, are you okay?" the male voice seemed to continue speaking. She slowly regained full consciousness, and lifted her head up and propped her upper torso up with her arms. Looking around in mere amazement, she found herself to be in an open field of grass. She looked over to the source of the voice to see herself being stared down by a large yellow beak right in her face.

She was too exhausted to scream or run, so she simply turned onto her back, trying to avoid the large creature. Her legs screamed in pain as she felt them aching for some unknown reason, for she had no recollection of the previous night.

"W—where am I?" she asked, looking over to the man that was sitting atop of the beautifully elegant yellow chocobo.

The chocobo rider had to think for a minute as he looked around at the surroundings. "Not too far out of Kalm."

Tifa nodded, and slowly sat up, knowing that it was best that she try to make her way home. Carefully manipulating her legs and arms to push herself into a standing position, she found that a match booklet fell down onto the ground below her. Curiosity of where it could have come from filled her mind and she bent down and picked up the tiny booklet and placed it deep within the pocket that was on her T-shirt.

She took the walk home at a leisurely pace, feeling the soreness in her legs and lungs strange and unusual. She didn't remember ever running anywhere the night before, but somehow she was on the outskirts of town, sleeping in the grassy field.

Sleep walking, she convinced herself, not really knowing of any other explanation. But even if she were only sleep walking, that still didn't explain the booklet of matches that was riding in her breast pocket.

xoxox

Cloud Strife slumped in the large armchair relaxing a bit while trying to set his mind at ease. For a moment he thought he would have some real time to relax as he reached over for the tiny television remote that lay on his armchair, perfectly in his grasp.

He pressed the small red button near the top of the remote, heard the snap of static electricity and watched intently as the screen formed into dancing, swirling pictures as it tried to focus. The sound of a woman's voice became audible and, from the tone, sounded like a damned news reporter.

"AVALANCHE, heroes of the planet…" the woman on the television spoke, but by that time Cloud had blocked out her mindless rambling in annoyance. He was tired of hearing about the legacy that he had created, and for God's sake, it had been a year since the whole ordeal happened! But still, he blissfully watched the television screen, more in spite of boredom than anything else.

It was a blessing that he never took his eyes off the screen, for in front of him a scene of horror was unfolding as he watched firefighters desperately try to drown a fire that was engulfing a small brown house. At first he paid no attention until he slowly began to recognize certain features of the little cabin.

The reporter continued, "Late last night a fire had mysteriously started in the downstairs hallway of the Wallace's house. For two hours the fire burned unnoticed, until a call came in at 5 o'clock this morning. The blaze was put out shortly after, but there are no survivors."

Cloud lost his breath. His jaw hung open and he was now clenching onto the armrests of his chair in disbelief. Sweat began to form on his brow as the information began to clearly sink into his mind.

The thought seemed impossible; the big burly man that had saved his life several times had now died in a fire. Everything spiraled again; he became lackadaisical and utterly mortified.

"Police still haven't found the source of the fire, but they suspect that it was a broken gas pipe and a carelessly lit match…"

xoxox

Broken gas pipe… Tifa's thoughts rested on the television set in front of her. I wonder where they get their proof. She gave a cynical laugh out loud, not really knowing why she had found that humorous, but knowing that it definitely wasn't a broken gas pipe that was the source of the fire. It wasn't an accident that much she knew for sure, but she didn't know why she knew that.

Tifa, you're in denial. Your best friend just died, she tried to think realistically. It doesn't matter how he died…he's dead.

Her cheeks became damp as she thought of all the memories the two had been sharing in the previous year. Even though Barret considered her more of a baby sister than anything, they were still close and she felt she could talk to him about almost anything that she needed to discuss.

There was one exception though, and that was that she would never mention Cloud in a disheartful way, for she knew that Barret would take her defense and strictly blame Cloud for all her problems. It wasn't his fault though, it was her fault for hanging on and letting him control her in such a way.

Thoughts continued to flood her head and it began to give her a migraine. She tried to ignore the flooding of her concerns, leading her to a dream she had recently had. In her dream she was simply standing on the beach, a gun in her hand. Gazing out at the sea, she watched as the waves flipped and turned amongst each other in a chaotic manner.

In her dream she would take the gun, look at its cylinder and run her deathly cold fingers across the barrel. She would blink and a tear would escape, falling onto the metal and splashing in every direction. In a quick easy motion, without a second thought, she would find the gun pointed straight to her temple and with a quick blow of the trigger she would end her misery.

Kind of funny, she snapped back into the real world, smiling about her dream. The dreams in which I'm dying…are the best I've ever had.

Author's Notes: Pretty melodramatic. I'm not too happy with the last few paragraphs, but I guess it helps show the state of mind that Tifa is falling into. And don't worry, there is reasoning behind her madness, but you won't find out about that until later on. I'm telling you this because I don't want people to just think that I'm trying to simply write her off as insane.

Reviews are greatly appreciated. Constructive criticism is ever more appreciated!