ONE: "The Kalm Before the Storm"
Cloud wiped his brow as he stuck his shovel into the loose dirt. He looked around at his surroundings and marveled at just how much work had gone into Midgar and the surrounding area. Where once there lay seemingly useless shrapnel, now bloomed brightly with lush green trees and flowers of all shapes and sizes. Overhead the sky was clear; a pleasant change from what it could have been if things had not changed so drastically within the past year and a half. At that time, Cloud would have never believed that anywhere around Midgar would ever look so alive, especially not with only a years worth of work put into the area. He sighed then took his shovel and began to get back to work.
For just over a year now, Cloud has helped with the restoration efforts of Midgar. Ever since the Lifestream came that day, the land where not long ago nothing lived, became very fertile once more. The survivors of the incident thought it necessary to help put a little back into what they had taken away from the planet. With a little guidance from the new Shinra Corporation; headed by the only remaining heir to the company, Reeve, they decided to rebuild what was left of Midgar into a newer, safer Neo-Midgar. This new Midgar would be a place of agriculture and mako creation rather than the previous efficient planet killer. Since this was such an undertaking, many people from all over the world decided to head to Midgar to lend their services to the project. Midgar was not yet ready to become a fully equipped dwelling again; so in no time at all, the small town of Kalm became a base of operations for the project. Not everyone could stay in Kalm either, so every week the workers would shift. If you weren't staying at Kalm and working on the restoration project, you were resting up at Junon Harbor, not too far from there if you traveled by boat.
The sun was starting to set and everyone was beginning to settle down for the night. Cloud was no different; it was hard, tiring work and Cloud was feeling it. He had finally fulfilled his dream of bettering the Great Sephiroth, yet even with all of the strength he had acquired, he was at his end. Perhaps it was because he had no reason to fight anymore, or perhaps it was because he had been on site since day one. He refused to change over when the work squads switched hands. His friends were becoming worried for his health, but they could not stop him as hard as they would try.
It was beginning to get late; the caravan had already arrived to pick up the workers and was transporting them back to Kalm town for the night. Cloud looked back, watching the silhouette of Midgar sink beneath the horizon. After a while he began to find himself thinking about Aeris; he always would end up with her on his mind, like her image was engraved into his very essence. Cloud would often find himself thinking of how he could have told her his true feelings; he had decided that perhaps his gondola ride at the Golden Saucer would have been the perfect setting. Aeris had already begun to show him how she felt, but he was afraid. He told her nothing, and because he withheld his feelings, she never knew how much he had truly loved her.
Time passed quickly and the Caravan pulled into Kalm town. The workers disbanded for the night and Cloud immediately took off for the tavern beneath the markets. That hovel had become a sort of makeshift 'Seventh Heaven' and was the place where Tifa and Barret called their home until Neo-Midgar was complete. Cloud entered and walked up to the bar where he was warmly greeted by Tifa.
"Cloud, welcome back." She said with a smile. "What's wrong with you? You look terrible."
Cloud scratched his head. "I'm fine." He took a seat on a bar as he continued. "I was busy helping the landscape crew with Sector Three all day."
"Thirsty then?"
"Give me something hard."
Tifa pulls out a glass and fills it with some form of liquor and sets it down in front of Cloud. "I'll give you something hard alright, if you don't start taking it easy on this whole Neo-Midgar project - my boot!"
Cloud took a drink and set the glass back down on the counter. "I've told you - "
Tifa interrupted his speech, "- I'll stop working on Midgar when there is something more important to do." Tifa said, mocking Cloud's voice playfully. "The only thing you want is more fighting, Cloud."
"Maybe I do."
Tifa shook her head knowing all to well this very argument. Cloud picked up his mug and was about to take another drink when Barret come barging in out of the backroom. He looked around inquisitively and then sets his sights on Cloud.
"Damn, you'd better give that spiky headed ass o' yours a shake and lissen' to the girl." Barret announced to Cloud in his own psudo-ebonic language.
Cloud looked puzzled. "Shake my 'spiky headed ass'?" Cloud said to himself not quite understanding the context.
"You've been goin' on about the same damn problem ever since the idea for Neo-Midgar was even announced; and I'm not listenin' to it anymore."
Tifa put her hands on her hips. "Barret's right, Cloud. You need to stop and think about yourself."
Barret slapped Cloud on the back with his good hand. "Your wearin' yourself out."
Cloud pushed himself away from the bar and stood up. "I don't care about wearing myself out. I don't want to think about myself. The last time I gave up and was stuck on myself, people died!" Cloud yelled out.
Some other people at the other end of the bar look over at him. Tifa steadily grew more impatient as Cloud spoke on. "This is not about Aeris!!" She exclaimed.
Cloud backed off, wide eyed with anger. Barret tried to stop him, but Cloud shrugged off his advances and stormed out of the tavern into the rapidly decreasing sunlight. Tifa and Barret exchanged glances. Tifa sighed as she came out from behind the bar and slowly followed Cloud out the door.
Not seeing him at first, she looked around until she spotted his unique hair sticking up over the edge of the Kalm well. She found it puzzling how he managed to climb atop it without a ladder or rope. Then she remembered who she was dealing with and decided not to think to much about it. After a moment she found a stable foothold and began to climb up to the top of the well, getting about halfway up before getting her skirt caught on a protruding splinter of wood. Frazzled, she looked down in disbelief at her situation. Attempting to yank her clothing off of the protrusion, she inadvertently let go of what she was hanging onto, in order to prevent a public showing of her more secluded areas, before finally breathing a sigh of relief - only to have her weight snap the board she was standing on. Not being that far off of the ground in the first place, she tensed her body for the fall onto her rear end. Slowly getting to her feet, she realized that she had broken her only way up to talk with Cloud. So instead, she beckoned up to him.
"Cloud?"
A few seconds passed in silence. Cloud spoke: "Go away."
Tifa sighed and brushed the dirt from her butt. "Listen, I'm sorry. I lost my temper.... I'm just looking out for you... that's what friends do!"
"Your still not right, Tifa." Cloud replied in his usual droll tone.
"Huh?" She could see Cloud moving atop the well; his spiky blonde hair waving in the breeze. The air suddenly chilled, night had settled. Cloud shifted to the side of the well and peered over his shoulder to Tifa below. "This is about Aeris." He said reluctantly. "I failed her."
"No you didn't Cloud... you've never let anyone down."
"I promised Aeris that I would protect her, but when she really needed me I did nothing..."
Tifa walked around the front of the well, dragging her shoes in the dirt. "Aeris did what she had to do to save us, Cloud. I thought we had been over this."
"I know, but even so.... I can't help but know I could have done something to save her."
"So what does this have to do with you now? Why are you destroying yourself in order to 'be useful'?"
"I'm a soldier Tifa, that's what I was trained to be. That's what I've devoted my entire life to. Protecting and defending those that need it. What is there for me now, huh? I have no use.... I need to be useful or else there is no point in even living."
"I know your not that cold-blooded, Cloud Strife - And even if you weren't useful, you're still our friend. You're a friend to almost everyone whose met you. You did save the planet. You go on about how you can't contribute anything to anyone, yet you work day and night helping to restore Midgar." She looked at the ground and took a deep breath of the crisp night air. "If you continue on this way you won't be useful at all... because you'll be too dead to help."
"I'm not going to die, Tifa." Cloud mocked the idea.
"Have you looked at yourself recently? You look terrible. We're very worried about you."
Cloud answered in silence.
"You feel badly for not saving Aeris." Tifa forced herself to continue, knowing what she would say next could give away more than she was willing to let Cloud know. "I would feel the same way if you were to die and I did nothing to help you, even though I could have. Do you understand, Cloud?"
Cloud played around with the idea in his mind for a moment. Feeling a bit better about himself, his sadness diminished and was soon down on the ground beside Tifa. Cloud looked as if the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders. "Thanks Tifa."
"Cloud...."
"What?" Cloud looked at her. He saw that she wanted to say something, but couldn't. He understood what she was feeling, he had for a long time, but he wasn't going to let her know anytime soon. Bottling up true intentions inside was something familiar to him, and all too well understood. Cloud figured that when she was ready, she would tell him herself. "Tifa?"
"It's nothing, I guess." She replied. She was amazed at how clueless Cloud was in perceiving her true feelings, even when she blatantly gave them away. She wondered how any person could be so blind to love; except that of his own. "Let's go back inside... it's beginning to get cold out here." Tifa said as she rubbed her arms. Cloud put his arm around her as they walked back into the bar.
The next day came and Cloud awoke with a start. A new will to do something exciting was fresh in his mind. He walked outside to catch the Caravan to Midgar. Tifa watched as he walked out into the street with a sense of ease, no longer that worried for her best friend. As workers in the caravan beckoned Cloud to hurry up he calmly announced that he wasn't going to be working on the project anymore, at least for a while. The driver agreed and took off in the direction of the construction site, Cloud in it's wake.
Tifa, puzzled, made her way through the street over to Cloud. He turned around to meet her.
"Cloud, your not going to Midgar today?" She inquired.
"No, I've decided to take a trip."
"A trip? So spontaneously? Where are you going?" Tifa questioned again.
"I'm not sure. Wherever I end up, I guess."
"When??" Tifa asked, trying to mask any worry in her voice.
"Well I was planning on leaving pretty soon." Cloud said with a slight grin and a gleam in his mako-radiated blue eyes.
Tifa sighed. "I suppose this has something to do with our breakthrough yesterday?"
"Maybe. I'm not sure. I just want to see the world again."
Cloud turned on his heel and began to walk away. Tifa looked back at the bar; Barret walked out of the door in his sailor suit, which he now used as pajamas, and scratched his butt. She turned back to face Cloud again. The thought of going with Cloud began to loom in her mind. Questions like 'Will he be alright?' and 'Will he ever come back?' were the majority of them. She took one last look at the bar before racing after Cloud, a smile etching its way across her face.
Cloud wiped his brow as he stuck his shovel into the loose dirt. He looked around at his surroundings and marveled at just how much work had gone into Midgar and the surrounding area. Where once there lay seemingly useless shrapnel, now bloomed brightly with lush green trees and flowers of all shapes and sizes. Overhead the sky was clear; a pleasant change from what it could have been if things had not changed so drastically within the past year and a half. At that time, Cloud would have never believed that anywhere around Midgar would ever look so alive, especially not with only a years worth of work put into the area. He sighed then took his shovel and began to get back to work.
For just over a year now, Cloud has helped with the restoration efforts of Midgar. Ever since the Lifestream came that day, the land where not long ago nothing lived, became very fertile once more. The survivors of the incident thought it necessary to help put a little back into what they had taken away from the planet. With a little guidance from the new Shinra Corporation; headed by the only remaining heir to the company, Reeve, they decided to rebuild what was left of Midgar into a newer, safer Neo-Midgar. This new Midgar would be a place of agriculture and mako creation rather than the previous efficient planet killer. Since this was such an undertaking, many people from all over the world decided to head to Midgar to lend their services to the project. Midgar was not yet ready to become a fully equipped dwelling again; so in no time at all, the small town of Kalm became a base of operations for the project. Not everyone could stay in Kalm either, so every week the workers would shift. If you weren't staying at Kalm and working on the restoration project, you were resting up at Junon Harbor, not too far from there if you traveled by boat.
The sun was starting to set and everyone was beginning to settle down for the night. Cloud was no different; it was hard, tiring work and Cloud was feeling it. He had finally fulfilled his dream of bettering the Great Sephiroth, yet even with all of the strength he had acquired, he was at his end. Perhaps it was because he had no reason to fight anymore, or perhaps it was because he had been on site since day one. He refused to change over when the work squads switched hands. His friends were becoming worried for his health, but they could not stop him as hard as they would try.
It was beginning to get late; the caravan had already arrived to pick up the workers and was transporting them back to Kalm town for the night. Cloud looked back, watching the silhouette of Midgar sink beneath the horizon. After a while he began to find himself thinking about Aeris; he always would end up with her on his mind, like her image was engraved into his very essence. Cloud would often find himself thinking of how he could have told her his true feelings; he had decided that perhaps his gondola ride at the Golden Saucer would have been the perfect setting. Aeris had already begun to show him how she felt, but he was afraid. He told her nothing, and because he withheld his feelings, she never knew how much he had truly loved her.
Time passed quickly and the Caravan pulled into Kalm town. The workers disbanded for the night and Cloud immediately took off for the tavern beneath the markets. That hovel had become a sort of makeshift 'Seventh Heaven' and was the place where Tifa and Barret called their home until Neo-Midgar was complete. Cloud entered and walked up to the bar where he was warmly greeted by Tifa.
"Cloud, welcome back." She said with a smile. "What's wrong with you? You look terrible."
Cloud scratched his head. "I'm fine." He took a seat on a bar as he continued. "I was busy helping the landscape crew with Sector Three all day."
"Thirsty then?"
"Give me something hard."
Tifa pulls out a glass and fills it with some form of liquor and sets it down in front of Cloud. "I'll give you something hard alright, if you don't start taking it easy on this whole Neo-Midgar project - my boot!"
Cloud took a drink and set the glass back down on the counter. "I've told you - "
Tifa interrupted his speech, "- I'll stop working on Midgar when there is something more important to do." Tifa said, mocking Cloud's voice playfully. "The only thing you want is more fighting, Cloud."
"Maybe I do."
Tifa shook her head knowing all to well this very argument. Cloud picked up his mug and was about to take another drink when Barret come barging in out of the backroom. He looked around inquisitively and then sets his sights on Cloud.
"Damn, you'd better give that spiky headed ass o' yours a shake and lissen' to the girl." Barret announced to Cloud in his own psudo-ebonic language.
Cloud looked puzzled. "Shake my 'spiky headed ass'?" Cloud said to himself not quite understanding the context.
"You've been goin' on about the same damn problem ever since the idea for Neo-Midgar was even announced; and I'm not listenin' to it anymore."
Tifa put her hands on her hips. "Barret's right, Cloud. You need to stop and think about yourself."
Barret slapped Cloud on the back with his good hand. "Your wearin' yourself out."
Cloud pushed himself away from the bar and stood up. "I don't care about wearing myself out. I don't want to think about myself. The last time I gave up and was stuck on myself, people died!" Cloud yelled out.
Some other people at the other end of the bar look over at him. Tifa steadily grew more impatient as Cloud spoke on. "This is not about Aeris!!" She exclaimed.
Cloud backed off, wide eyed with anger. Barret tried to stop him, but Cloud shrugged off his advances and stormed out of the tavern into the rapidly decreasing sunlight. Tifa and Barret exchanged glances. Tifa sighed as she came out from behind the bar and slowly followed Cloud out the door.
Not seeing him at first, she looked around until she spotted his unique hair sticking up over the edge of the Kalm well. She found it puzzling how he managed to climb atop it without a ladder or rope. Then she remembered who she was dealing with and decided not to think to much about it. After a moment she found a stable foothold and began to climb up to the top of the well, getting about halfway up before getting her skirt caught on a protruding splinter of wood. Frazzled, she looked down in disbelief at her situation. Attempting to yank her clothing off of the protrusion, she inadvertently let go of what she was hanging onto, in order to prevent a public showing of her more secluded areas, before finally breathing a sigh of relief - only to have her weight snap the board she was standing on. Not being that far off of the ground in the first place, she tensed her body for the fall onto her rear end. Slowly getting to her feet, she realized that she had broken her only way up to talk with Cloud. So instead, she beckoned up to him.
"Cloud?"
A few seconds passed in silence. Cloud spoke: "Go away."
Tifa sighed and brushed the dirt from her butt. "Listen, I'm sorry. I lost my temper.... I'm just looking out for you... that's what friends do!"
"Your still not right, Tifa." Cloud replied in his usual droll tone.
"Huh?" She could see Cloud moving atop the well; his spiky blonde hair waving in the breeze. The air suddenly chilled, night had settled. Cloud shifted to the side of the well and peered over his shoulder to Tifa below. "This is about Aeris." He said reluctantly. "I failed her."
"No you didn't Cloud... you've never let anyone down."
"I promised Aeris that I would protect her, but when she really needed me I did nothing..."
Tifa walked around the front of the well, dragging her shoes in the dirt. "Aeris did what she had to do to save us, Cloud. I thought we had been over this."
"I know, but even so.... I can't help but know I could have done something to save her."
"So what does this have to do with you now? Why are you destroying yourself in order to 'be useful'?"
"I'm a soldier Tifa, that's what I was trained to be. That's what I've devoted my entire life to. Protecting and defending those that need it. What is there for me now, huh? I have no use.... I need to be useful or else there is no point in even living."
"I know your not that cold-blooded, Cloud Strife - And even if you weren't useful, you're still our friend. You're a friend to almost everyone whose met you. You did save the planet. You go on about how you can't contribute anything to anyone, yet you work day and night helping to restore Midgar." She looked at the ground and took a deep breath of the crisp night air. "If you continue on this way you won't be useful at all... because you'll be too dead to help."
"I'm not going to die, Tifa." Cloud mocked the idea.
"Have you looked at yourself recently? You look terrible. We're very worried about you."
Cloud answered in silence.
"You feel badly for not saving Aeris." Tifa forced herself to continue, knowing what she would say next could give away more than she was willing to let Cloud know. "I would feel the same way if you were to die and I did nothing to help you, even though I could have. Do you understand, Cloud?"
Cloud played around with the idea in his mind for a moment. Feeling a bit better about himself, his sadness diminished and was soon down on the ground beside Tifa. Cloud looked as if the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders. "Thanks Tifa."
"Cloud...."
"What?" Cloud looked at her. He saw that she wanted to say something, but couldn't. He understood what she was feeling, he had for a long time, but he wasn't going to let her know anytime soon. Bottling up true intentions inside was something familiar to him, and all too well understood. Cloud figured that when she was ready, she would tell him herself. "Tifa?"
"It's nothing, I guess." She replied. She was amazed at how clueless Cloud was in perceiving her true feelings, even when she blatantly gave them away. She wondered how any person could be so blind to love; except that of his own. "Let's go back inside... it's beginning to get cold out here." Tifa said as she rubbed her arms. Cloud put his arm around her as they walked back into the bar.
The next day came and Cloud awoke with a start. A new will to do something exciting was fresh in his mind. He walked outside to catch the Caravan to Midgar. Tifa watched as he walked out into the street with a sense of ease, no longer that worried for her best friend. As workers in the caravan beckoned Cloud to hurry up he calmly announced that he wasn't going to be working on the project anymore, at least for a while. The driver agreed and took off in the direction of the construction site, Cloud in it's wake.
Tifa, puzzled, made her way through the street over to Cloud. He turned around to meet her.
"Cloud, your not going to Midgar today?" She inquired.
"No, I've decided to take a trip."
"A trip? So spontaneously? Where are you going?" Tifa questioned again.
"I'm not sure. Wherever I end up, I guess."
"When??" Tifa asked, trying to mask any worry in her voice.
"Well I was planning on leaving pretty soon." Cloud said with a slight grin and a gleam in his mako-radiated blue eyes.
Tifa sighed. "I suppose this has something to do with our breakthrough yesterday?"
"Maybe. I'm not sure. I just want to see the world again."
Cloud turned on his heel and began to walk away. Tifa looked back at the bar; Barret walked out of the door in his sailor suit, which he now used as pajamas, and scratched his butt. She turned back to face Cloud again. The thought of going with Cloud began to loom in her mind. Questions like 'Will he be alright?' and 'Will he ever come back?' were the majority of them. She took one last look at the bar before racing after Cloud, a smile etching its way across her face.