A/N: I'd like to thank everyone who's been reading and reviewing Darker Cloud so patiently. Lagged it on this chapter, but I'm gonna try more earnestly to get the chapters out more quick. Forgive me ahead of time. Hope this chapter makes up for lost time. Enjoy!

He knelt to her feet and grabbed a hold of her calve when she began to shuffle back again out of reflex.

"Careful, Tifa."

That voice sent a shiver down her spine, and her nerves burned like hot needles had been prickling her skin, her muscles tense and her fists defensive as she braced the dresser like it was a body guard to her aid. He ripped his garment that hid beneath his armor on his left shoulder. He patted the affected area, so gentle in his caring for her freshly opened wound. He finished by ripping a longer piece that exposed his left breast, and tied it around her heel carefully not to aggravate the wound. He was everything Cloud, but also all things mysterious. He was Cloud, but he wasn't. She searched for questions but her voice had been long gone from her, she hadn't expected this sort of reunion, if one would ever occur.

"Cloud?" The only thing her mouth could mutter.

He reached her level again, but he was standing over her, so daunting. His eyes were soft, and they told a story that she couldn't measure, but they told her yes, and they also told her sorry. But, she wasn't thrilled, and she wasn't devastated, but she was relieved somehow like she had predicted. It didn't dismount the anger and resentment that welled up inside. "Yes, Tifa. It's me." She wouldn't ever know how to respond to that, but she couldn't help but be happy that it really was him, and she wasn't dreaming this up. "For what I've done I am not proud. I'm not your favorite person, but let me explain, from the beginning."

Even though the events happened very carefully and coherently, they were a swirled blur for Tifa. Her heel was devastated and helpless with Cloud's efforts to clean up the wound. Her body ached at his touch, fear to be captive at his grasp. Tifa was trembling without equanimity, and suddenly her body was chilling with goose bumps. She felt sweat drip down the back of her neck, which puzzled her because she was so cold. And with his frame shadowing over her, she leaned down, shying away from his warm ambiance that emanated from his muscular body that was closing over hers. He was just way too close… This was Cloud, or was it? How could it be true? "At the Fundraiser… you.. you were that guy?" She unsettled herself at her own inquiry, her mind forgetting the fresh injury that was now bleeding through the tourniquet he bowed nicely around her heel. She made the greatest mistake in her second attempt to distance their proximity by leaning back and taking a step towards the doorway, her heel slipping because of the blood that seeped through the fabric.

Before she could yelp in reaction to her mishap, Cloud's hand wrapped firmly around her waist, his fingertips barely missing her slim hip when Tifa moved her body to brace herself by fetching for the dresser. It was an awkward moment of silence, her eyes never vacillating in their steadied ponder into his mako eyes, glowing ever so brilliantly. He brought her back to her feet gently, but his hand held the back of her knee firmly, keeping it from creating another inconvenience. "Yes, I was there." Her eyes were focused on him even though he was relieving her injured heel of the old wrapping that was clearly not doing its job efficiently. She gave him a curious glance, wanting him to give her a detailed elucidation. "I've been in Midgar a week already." She flinched at his concession, it knocked the air from her lungs, and her expression changed to inevitable anger. "I was there, but not to spy. I hadn't preplanned a way to, do this… And this isn't exactly the way I wanted to do it, either. I knew I wouldn't come home to a warm welcoming, but I was prepared for that. I had to try, even if you turned me away. I apologize for the appearance at the fundraiser…" All the words he spoke didn't register, but his comment that involved the words "come home". It was strange, that word, especially coming from his mouth.

"So you were just in town and decided to drop by?" Her voice was intolerant and merciless; he broke their shared glance and breathed in gathering a retort. She knew she couldn't be naïve with him, the years that passed had taught her to protect her exterior, which had been easily torn down before. It would not be like before; it would never be the same.

"Tifa, I didn't go to upset you. I just…" He wasn't sure he wanted to tell her the truth, but he knew he couldn't lie to her about it. She would know, because she was speculative, more than she had ever been. She wasn't pulling any punches, but he took it like it was something special, he knew he deserved it. She was being polite, in his eyes. Things could be worse; he could be the one bleeding. Ugh, he knew how to really screw things up. He gave her wounded foot a pained expression, apologizing with his eyes once more. He grabbed a towel from the laundry behind her door that she had abandoned moments earlier, ignoring her irate exhale and began petting the affected area with gentle caution. "The first time I arrived in Midgar, I came around. And I saw Vincent, here." Tifa paused, waiting for him to continue with suspense she was sure he could feel in the rigid posture of her ankle. "I supposed that he was visiting, but that was me jumping to conclusions. I began to notice little things, how he would leave in the morning, but be back at night. Taking the kids to school…"

Tifa watched him in questioning stillness. "I know I sound like I stalked you, but I had to be sure, before I interrupted your life. I wasn't precisely professional in my scrutiny, Denzel caught me once. And he was very perturbed with me." Tifa opened her mouth in surprise. Denzel saw Cloud and never said anything? "He was speculative, just as you are now, but much more unforgiving. He wanted to hurt me, like you had been hurt, he made sure that I knew he wouldn't be forgiving me anytime soon. But I could tell I upset him similarly with my leave. And it was important to him, the fundraiser I mean. I made a promise without thinking about how it would affect anyone else, and for that, I'm sorry." It all connected, and she couldn't be angry with him anymore for showing up and avoiding this situation. She couldn't help but think of Denzel having the return of Cloud on his little conscious. She felt so selfish, not even noticing anything different in the way he spent larger amounts of time out front the apartment, like he was waiting for something. She always shrugged it off.

"I didn't leave you guys for a vacation, Tifa. You need to know this." Tifa put up her hand to silence his story; she couldn't handle more than she already had become aware of. The loss of blood was making her queasy, she was used to gore, from all of the battles she had experienced, but the loss of her own blood all the while being overwhelmed was enough to bear. Cloud wasn't going to push it, he could see the fatigue in the bags that formed underneath her eyes, and he hated how there was no right way to do this. He finished tying the towel around her heel and got up to her level once more, looking down at her even though her eyes were reluctant to face him. "I'm sorry, I should've realized that this is a lot on you all at once."

"Stop apologizing." She met his gaze, and regretted it, how it softened her. She forgot how much she missed them, the anger had clouded over the first stage of depression had disintegrated, and she had been terrified to recite the love that had burned inside her resiliently. But she pushed the thoughts to the darkest part of her mind, replaced with the rage and resentment. Safe place. "That's what I really can't stand. It isn't that easy. Not anymore. Don't waste those words on me." And he deserved that too, along with the gesture, her back to him as she exited her room to descend the stairs for a proper tourniquet. She didn't want her kids to see her like this; it would send them into a whirlwind of worry. She felt like a burglary victim, and it felt like she had been burglarized. Cloud followed her, he was sure she had had it with him, and was ready to throw him out like a loose dog. He wanted her to do it, to make him suffer like she had been. No damage he had created seemed like it could be surpassed, and he didn't pardon himself for it.

They were downstairs, and Tifa was nearing the bar when she could hear his voice break the silence a short distance behind her. He had stopped in his footsteps a few feet away from her. "I won't lie to you Tifa, because you deserve the truth. Some of it you won't forgive me for, but some of it you'll understand because you would've done the same, like you've done in the past." There was never going to be a perfect time for either of them, he knew that much, and so did she. Tifa may have not been ready to hear it, overwhelmed to the bout of exhaustion, but she would always be sick of this, and to the inescapable predicament. This would never be the same between them, and that's why he chose to continue. She could yell and scream at him, and kill him if she so pleased, because at the end of it he decided he would leave her like she wished him to. He would do whatever she asked, but before he'd concede to anything, she would have to undergo the blunt truth.

"I left because I was confused; I was dissatisfied with the truth of their fatalities." He didn't have to say any names because she was sure she knew what he was referring to. "At first I just left to answer some of my own curiosities, to explore boundless possibilities, I wasn't resting until I knew what I could and couldn't fix. It turned into late night deliveries, and those turned into weekend long excursions… I know I wasn't being fair leaving you and the kids for such long periods of time, but I was comfortable with how the excuses would sate you. And eventually, the delivery business got in the way of my searches. I either abused one or the other copiously because of forsaking one for too long. It took me a while to make a decision, but in the end, to leave for a more in depth investigation was my choice." She closed her eyes, his concession sinking in. Even though she had suspected the reason long before, the words confirming it still had a familiar pang of torment, the discomfort sinking in. She clenched her jaw, the anger so hot beneath her skin. She balled her hands into fists; ready to scream at him if that would release all of the anger threatening to burst through every pore of her body.

"Wait Tifa, I'm not finished." His plea didn't catch up with her, her anger outrun his endeavor at redeeming himself.

"Could there be more than that?" She raised her voice squinting her eyes with unthinkable fury, standing up on her toes to express her teeming wrath.

"Yes. Give me a second to explain it all, before you decide to update my expiration date." He paused to let her calm down, and she grew still, her eyes softening. She said nothing, so he continued before giving her a chance to interrupt. "I only planned to be gone a month. When I left, I left. There wasn't a way I knew how to do it, nothing seemed right, because it was wrong. I knew that, but I took the risk anyway, it felt worth it at the time. I was so close to discovering everything." At this point, she just wanted it to be over, if this was his way of getting renovation and reinventing his reputation with her he had a horrid way of getting it back. She started to regret what her former wish used to be, maybe she really didn't want all of her questions to be answered, and being confused was much more comfortable. She could barely fit all of this information in her brain. It felt fairly small at the moment. "But I found something far more important than what I was searching for, something that could change this world as we know it, something that jeopardizes the lives of those who inhabit it."

Tifa stared at him, puzzled, moving closer engaged in his revelation. She began to forget what this whole conversation was purposed for in the first place, curiously encouraged to learn more. But Cloud wasn't continuing his revelation; instead his attention was elsewhere, like there was a silent disturbance. Her eyes were focused on Cloud, like the reason would somehow show itself upon his face. When she noticed his stare was towards something behind her, her eyes followed the distraction, and there stood Vincent Valentine, no word could classify the expression on his face when he spotted Cloud Strife.

He stood in the doorway, silently asphyxiated by the appearance of Cloud Strife, stifling back the urge to attain vendetta. For a few aggravating moments, Cloud and Vincent's eyes were locked and didn't stagger until Vincent looked to Tifa for enlightenment, but she was looking from Cloud to Vincent for any sort of reaction as the silence raged on. Vincent never expected this, to be exact, he was completely positive this was out of the question. All the progress he had made with Tifa seemed to disappear, somehow translucent. The mountain he had been tackling had lost its terrain and he was in darkness unable to find a way back to his endurable incline. He saw no sign of worry on Tifa's expression, which made him relax a little. But there was something in her posture, something of discomposure. He located it quickly thereafter, the dry blood present on her ankle. Tifa had no idea when the events occurred, but a quick gust of wind blew her hair from her shoulder, and Cloud was against the wall, Vincent's gauntlet gripped securely around his throat. Vincent's eyes never left Cloud's, intent on killing him ridden in his death grip, if eyes could kill…

"You come back to finish her off? As if you hadn't done enough?" Vincent's words dripped with venomous apathy, his eyes arbitrating the man in his hold incredulously. Vincent's claws grazed over every increment of Cloud's neck but somehow incredibly maintained his inconceivable grip. Cloud had no expression, no reaction, no sign of distress or fear. He almost looked comfortable bond by the man shaking with anger. He stayed so still, the moments ticked on by which penetrated Tifa waiting in stillness for something to destroy her.

"Vincent he did-"Vincent interrupted her assertion by ramming Cloud into the wall with vigorous force, creating a crack splitting down the wall. His golden gauntlet grazed his adams apple, getting a firmer grip despite Cloud's nonchalant behavior in response to the treatment. Vincent took the breast of his armor in his other hand that was still in human tact, gaining control over Cloud's movement keeping him in restraint while his gauntlet threatened to rip his throat from his very neck. The idea teased him, provoking a his aggressive quest.

"I didn't come here to answer to you. Now stop your thoughtlessness before this turns into something it shouldn't." The damage was irreversible, that much was candid in Vincent's eager firm palm digging into Cloud's seemingly unbreakable skin. His thirst for vengeance was a heat so bright and uncomfortable around them, even Tifa curled her toes at the inescapable ire. Cloud's sudden grip on Vincent could easily be seen as a clout, his strength combating with Vincent's unwillingness to retreat his threat. "This isn't your concern." Cloud's voice penetrated the silence that had washed over them, and the quiet that followed thereafter picked at Vincent's bone, in recognition of Tifa's silent agreement. He could sense this battle could not be fought by anyone other than Tifa. It was always hers to title, and his violence couldn't take her initials from the bullet.

Tifa closed her eyes, biting her tongue and abhorring herself all at once. "Vincent…" He never detested hearing his name on her voice so much it sent a wretched coil swarming in his abdomen, the feeling of letting a despicable man escape his eligible death. His claw shook as he forced himself to unclamp from Cloud's throat, the sharp tips of his gauntlet clawing at his neck that barely left an indent that it had been scathed. Tifa chewed at her lip, the anticipation of his actions encouraging heat throughout her body. She couldn't see his expression, but his posture bled of his indignation, and she bit back remorse.

"Then I have no business being here." Vincent looked at Tifa from the corner of his eye, directed at the both of them. And it was so cold again, the same feeling that frazzled her earlier. She was so embarrassed by her current betrayal, the obvious protection she was giving Cloud because of her inconclusive inquiries. She couldn't fight her impulse to coax him to stay, her loyal body guard from day 1 of torment. She was held between heaven and hell, her heart combating with her mind. Vincent earnestly turned for the stairs, leaving her behind in the darkness. The abandonment encouraged her to walk after him, but her steps weren't as enthusiastic as Vincent's were, weakening short of the stairs.

"This is his concern… He's been the only reason I'm still here, the only reason the kids still feel safe." Her body was stiff with her back to him, feeling the regret spilling over her. It may have been her only mistake of the night, not acknowledging that Vincent was just as much a part of this than they gave him credit for. Cloud nodded in silent byline, trusting that it was better to understand what he hadn't experienced in the year that he was absent, and that it was unimaginable. She took her leave up the stairs to meet Vincent in his room; she touched the doorframe to brace her for what he had already accomplished. All his things were gone from the closet, and a medium sized suitcase was adorned with his things. His eyes strayed from her intermission; solid in his resolve. She walked to his side, closing the suitcase and buckling it; she turned around and sat on it when he reached to grab the handle. She shook her head and grabbed his forearm. "You don't have to leave."

Vincent's frame towered over her, her face barely meeting above his waistline as her shadowed her. "It's not a choice." Her eyes seared at that, and her heart shook, trying to make out why she had to allow bad things to follow good things. She had used this man as a crutch, but he was much more than that. She was indolent to admit it, but there was no word to express how important he had been to her, and would continue to be. She let her fingers soften against his arm and slip off, unable to beg him against his wishes.

"You don't have to. At least not like this. Just give it some time to-" His eyes finally met hers, and they burned into her soul. She finally found her mistake, and it happened so easily. She stared back into his eyes seeing the result of this decision. Letting Cloud back in was shutting this man out, he just couldn't handle letting a man go unpunished for his sins. But she couldn't stroke his vendetta, and she felt strong enough to let go and to pursue the unknown, even without her crutch. She couldn't abuse the privilege of being saved, the serenity of relying on a separate soul. Even as her eyes watered, and her lip softly trembled, her decision stuck. As much as she felt the power from the self-inflicted torture, she couldn't rip herself from her own tenacity and curiosities. She looked away becoming coy to her emotion; Vincent didn't do well with it. He hesitated, and then brushed her hair out of her face and behind her ear.

"This is not something I want to stand around and watch unfold." His words turned her into stone, and her lips opened to speak but nothing ever came to be audible. He hushed her with his eyes as they bore into her soul once more, his hand grabbing her shoulder to steady her as she lost balance taking in his words. "I've watched you agonize enough, with confidences that it would one day decrease…" Her eyes were wet and her body was numbing against his touch, but his grip faltered and found a new place on the suitcase she was coveting. "But if this is what you have chosen, than you need to proceed on your own. I simply can't continue by your side, it's not in me." She got up, her body nearly grazing his as his implications were strong. He grabbed the handle of the suitcase and brought it to his side, and looked down at her despite her lack of strength to look at him. "Please, take care of yourself." He grabbed her chin softly with a delicate touch that happened too quickly for her liking, and he was gone from the room before she could react. Her eyes let the waters fall, and she wept so quietly, for the man that always got what he didn't deserve. For a man that lacked emotions, he cared so powerfully that it cracked his steel exterior, and she couldn't judge him by the demon any longer.

Three months passed painfully slow, which felt a lot more like three decades. Seventh heaven was silent, everyone living on the tips of their toes. When everything else was gone, there was no more cane. With Cloud's return, he still felt absent with Tifa's refusal to let him back in. The children had lost their only "factual" guardian male figure. Denzel acted a lot more like the new man of the house, taking on more chores and relisting orders for Tifa without her knowledge. He had taken on impossible maturity. Against her will Cloud had taken on the delivery business again when Tifa unintentionally missed a few runs due to her late night searches for Vincent's whereabouts, there was still no sign of the man… not even a purchase. If the man was alive he must be living off of reserves. She couldn't forgive herself for using the knife in her back, without even noticing. She hadn't opened her mind to the bigger picture, the one where she was shunning the man that had given her a second chance to live again, to right wrongs, to bandage a heart that would just continue to bleed. She felt as if she was witnessing the past with an evil twist, the lovely man abandoning her but he's not the star role playing the villain. This time Tifa Lockhart had ran him off with her insensitive lack of consideration, but her drive for rehashing an old flame and all its dying glory thrusting the dagger in deeper.

"Please, take care of yourself." She rewound and played those words over in her mind, his last command before he took his leave. Would it be his last? Those words always turned into a nightmare, she would overthink, run herself ragged and it would begin a senseless innocent dream. Vincent Valentine a normal house guest tending to her needs and to wounds that could barely be weathered, but despite the difficulty he took the trouble. But she relives moments she didn't recall by recognizing herself as an ungrateful selfish brute using him for a route to sate the pain, to satisfy the loss she experienced, to gain strength to find another way. But she realized her resolve was so crooked, that she kept hoping instead of letting go. That she knew Cloud wouldn't want to return to a depressed, inane alcoholic, that if he was watching her now he'd rethink his decision to come back. A part of her held onto the thought of crawling out of the darkness for a possible life with Cloud back in the future, and Vincent was the only guy to rely on to get her to that point, to get a healthy Tifa reborn. He believed in her too much to give up on that upshot.

"Be careful Tifa, the world can be an unfriendly place." Vincent's voice was incredibly cold, it made her bitterly uncomfortable, she twitched from the remembrance of his tone. His eyes were in sync with his lips, bleeding the same icy unkindness. "You'll experience it without me this time…" Her heart stung, but she didn't understand it this time. It was a different emotion… "And maybe you'll survive long enough to tell your story. Maybe even long enough to regret decisions and to make better ones." She didn't understand what he was going on about or why. "But tell me Tifa… whose going to scrape you off the pavement when you've become the bottle's loyal servant?" And she felt the pinch of anger leak into her heart, washed over with hurt and resentment in regards to her former self. "Whose going to wipe the vomit from your face when you've thrown your anger into drunken bouts? Or when you've abandoned the very people who've stood by you when you were the most pitiful version of yourself?" Vincent had never spoken to her like this, with such unmanned bitterness; she couldn't trigger a memory this ruthless. "But wait, here's the best question… Who's going to pull your head above water when you've slipped under the deep end, huh?"

The hot tears found their way spilling, and he was relentless, gathering the nerve to step closer towards her to get a few more blows in. He was angry, but boy was he furious, she sensed no forgiveness for her senseless behavior. "Think about it, really. If I would've stood by as a bystander instead of your loyal servant, you wouldn't be breathing as you are today." He put his cold palm to her chest to evaluate her heartbeat, eying it with his stony expression filled with the deepest shade of apathy. "I was the only one to accommodate you when Cloud disappeared as fast as a speeding bullet. I was the only one to guide you through unimaginable pain. I was the only one to watch and rescue a lost cause. I was the only one… the only one to love you in that wretched state." Tifa's eyes widened as the tears kept rolling, and the dagger took its last stretch into her chest. The resentment rushing back like a tidal wave, she had never changed the person she became when Cloud left, she just sated the outward version of it for her children, for her friends, but never for herself. She remained that person out of weakness, out of looking back and never giving herself the chance to look forward.

Suddenly they were cliff-side, and the wind was unforgiving, coaxing her body closer to the edge, his palm never leaving her chest. "So why don't we live as if I never existed during the dark period…"His voice became more menacing, the voice of a premeditated vengeful broken man.

"Vincent I never-" Vincent's voice tore her from her words of compensation.

"There's NO necessity for forgiveness Tifa! When the world gives you pain, you return the favor!" His words gripped her as he grabbed her firmly by the shoulders tipping her heels on the edge of the cliff, dangling her over the side. Tifa screamed with overwhelming pain from his rough grip and determination to decease her. "And in your case, I'm re-doing what was undone… I'm giving you a second chance to make decisions, but this time as if I didn't exist."Tifa whimpered screaming back to startle his actions.

"Vincent! Wait… There may be no necessity for forgiveness, but there is a necessity to tell the truth. I never did before; let me do it now before it's too late…" Tifa grabbed him by the arms that held on to her shoulders as if they granted him some sort of privilege, her nails digging into the cold skin to get through to him. His eyes burned into hers, concentrating and reading their merit, but his expression changed, and she felt her life in his hands, slipping away when he drops her gaze.

"It's already too late…"He gripped her firmer. "Take this as a favor. Giving you back what I took away. Because without me you wouldn't have survived!" His claw digged into one shoulder and whipped her over the cliff. And as she started to plummet she closed her eyes to accept her demise. But the weight of Vincent never left her, and she figured she was delusional as she had been all along. But his voice in her ear startled and terrified her. "And without you, neither will I…"

She jumped up reentering reality and escaping the revolting dream. Her entire body went into an uncontrollable tremble, and she instantly grabbed her shoulder in the area where his claw dug into her skin, but no wound, not as much as an abrasion. Tifa shivered shaking her head and biting her lip severely in deep disgust at the nightmare, at herself. She pulled her knees up to her chin, ruffling the sheets on her bed, coming to a realization that someone had moved her. She had fallen asleep on the couch downstairs hours earlier. Her breath hitched, and then gained composure catching a figure shadowing in the corner sitting against the wall. She closed her eyes choking back the dream, and brought herself back to confront Cloud this time. He had been doing this ever so often, but usually he leaves before she can notice he was ever there in the first place. "You have to stop doing this, Cloud."

Her voice interrupted his short slumber, his mako eyes shot open immediately after her voice broke silence, startling her a bit; making her rock back on her heels as she was trying to stay balanced kneeled in front of him. "Maybe when you start giving me reasonable chances to see Denzel and Marlene, to make amends… I'll stop having to sneak around here. I had to make my own way if you won't let me in, Tifa."

"Look, there's just too much that's going on to focus on, THIS." Tifa turns away from Cloud standing up to walk across the room to the edge of her bed to breathe. She exhales while stroking her hand through her dark locks trying to rid the images of the nightmare from her racing mind. "It's not all about us reconciling. The world revolves around a lot more than this. Marlene and Denzel deserve better…" Cloud was watching her from the corner, his head tilting a little to catch her excuse, his lips curving a little and his mouth letting out a breathless huff, not believing her story for a second.

Cloud took a spot in front of Tifa and stood in front of her, staring down. "Your right, they do deserve better. But that isn't what this is about." Tifa was staring in the distance, unable to catch him staring at her. She smiled sarcastically shaking her head denying his allegations. "Don't play this game Tifa, years have passed but that doesn't mean I don't know you anymore. I can see right through the exterior." Cloud professed with conviction. Tifa bit her tongue, her anger starting to radiate when he made this comment, her eyes slowly turning to catch his gaze. How could he possibly act like he knows the person she is at present? "Denzel told me… that you had some bad moments, rougher than most, and that Vincent was always there to help you through it. I know that you were close to him…That he helped, balance you out…" It panged her to listen to him speak in the past tense. She closed her eyes to fight her seething, returning her gaze to her hands quivering in her lap. "I know I've ruined that closeness by coming back. And I know that you not only resent me for his leave, but you've been punishing yourself also." He knelt down to buy back her gaze but she turned away, repelled that he would try to discover a reason for her behavior and try to make sense of her world when he, of all people, had chosen to desert it.

"Don't talk to me like you suddenly give a rats ass about it all, Cloud." She used her words with such venom and stress, a wounded side of light. "Yes, you're here. But that's not proof that you're suddenly someone better. You are still a coward hiding behind twisted curiosities. And I'm sorry I'm not going to just let you back into our lives like you didn't just leave us behind like temporary tenants in yours." She blew past him, her unrelenting umbrage evident as she opened the door to encourage him to take his leave, once again. "We faired just fine without you before, there's no reason for that not to continue just because you woke up one day and decided it'd be nice to come back."

He gave a soft nod, understood, and walked slowly over to her to accompany her accusations. Before withdrawing, he looked to her to say one last thing. "You won't admit it, but it's important to you. And because of that, I'll find him." Tifa was startled by this exposé, her eyes turning on him with this current development. "I can't stand that I'm the man to haunt your dreams Tifa. I'm the key to all of the pain in your head; pain I don't think can ever be refunded. For that I won't stop trying Tifa. I will keep trying to repay my debt until they burry me. And if it keeps proving to not amount, well then I'll try harder, enough to overwhelm you. I won't expect your forgiveness; not even reconciliation. All I want is to see you and the kids content, and safe. I'll never forsake that, never again…" He took one last look into her eyes, and then reluctantly left her side and out the door into the cold midnight weather.

In the distance, blood red eyes glowed watching the man walk away from Seventh Heaven, his arms crossed in secret. He was gone, but had not forgotten what had occurred months ago. Although he may not be in her life, he wanted to remain aware of everything that was going on. Through connections and his own eyes, he was keeping tabs. He had a new resolve, not only to keep Tifa alive, but to find out everything on this new Cloud Strife. To uncover his secrets, his whereabouts over that year absence, and to figure out why he was back. Because it was severely obvious that Cloud Strife had bigger reasons why he was back in Midgar.

Thanks again for your tolerance on my tardiness! R&R my darlings. Till' next time! ^^