Yuffie yawned and stretched, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Last night had been a disaster, when Tifa and Reno had finally shown up, Cloud had a cow. A big one. He had blown up in both of their faces, and Tifa had given him a good couple of hits, which he still had purple bruises over his arms and face to show for it. Reno just started yelling, then everyone, save for Yuffie and Sephiroth, were engaged in a fierce argument. They had almost gotten kicked out of the inn too. Yuffie winced, feeling the guilt hit her like a herd of wild chocoboos. Guilt, Yuffie just hated that emotion, and when she had confessed that she was the one that had caused the trouble, it looked like she was in deep water, and she would be on her best behavior. She was too young to die! So, giving a groan, she went downstairs to face her fate.
Christy sat silently, watching her brother silently sip some coffee. He was definitely not a mourning person. He almost got into a fight with Reno again if Tifa hadn’t show up and said if she heard a peep out of them, both of their @$$#$ would be kicked. Christy rubbed her temples, the silence weighing on her shoulders like a ton of bricks. Looking at Sephiroth, who was going over the route to the still unknown destination, the site of him calmed her down. Looking up, Sephiroth noticed that Christy was staring at him. She waved and smiled, while he acknowledged her with a nod. He sighed, the attraction that she had for him was obvious, but in light of what Yuffie had been doing lately, he’d rather pretend to be indifferent towards her. Besides, what would people say if they found out that the great general had a crush on his archenemy’s sister? He rubbed his temples and went back to looking at the map before him.
Yuffie stood, her mouth gaping open at the site before her. Reno looked so weird when he wasn’t in his Turk suit. But, in blue jeans, and a white shirt, she had to admit that he looked okay. Maybe it was just that she wasn’t used to seeming the redhead without his suit. “Don’t just stand there and admire the view, come and help me load all the junk you girls have on the chocoboos.” Reno said, giving her a flirtatious grin. She stuck her tongue out at him, the girls only had a bag to each of them. Obviously someone was over the fact that Yuffie had almost got him killed, all because she wanted some entertainment. But Cloud was a different story. Still clad in his famous, if not tacky, purple suit, Cloud would send her death glares every once in a while. Yuffie sighed, everyone seemed over the ‘event’ as she called it, but Cloud hadn’t. Suddenly, getting another idea, that wasn’t evil, Yuffie raced to find the brunette.
Tifa sat silently on Spike, twirling a strand of hair and daydreaming. Just then, Yuffie raced up to her, a huge grin on her face. “Tifa! My best friend in the whole wide world!” Yuffie exclaimed, while Tifa looked at her friend suspiciously. “What do you want Yuffie? If it’s about the materia, forget it. It’s mine, and I’m keeping it.” Tifa said to Yuffie, who began to shake her head vigorously. “No, not that! I have a favor to ask of you. You see…” Yuffie said, whispering her plan to Tifa, who broke out in a grin. She nodded, and then both brunettes walked off to the chocoboos.
Cloud looked up, to see a very happy Tifa and Yuffie walking up to him, Tifa with an evil smile, while Yuffie looked extremely pleased with herself. Cloud had a sinking feeling in his stomach. What torture were they going to bestow on him? Hadn’t he suffered enough? Sephiroth, also sensing something about to happen, looked up from the conversation he was having with Christy. Christy and Reno both looked at the deviously smiling Cetra and the happy Yuffie, both who had stopped in front of Cloud. They heard him gulp and say, “um, hi?” Both girls smiled sweetly at him. “Oh, Cloud, it’s nothing, just that Yuffie had the perfect idea! And I think that’d it work just fine. Break it down Yuffie!” Tifa said. Christy paled, Sephiroth raised an amused eyebrow along with Reno. This would be interesting…
Rufus stood next to Koji, who was standing in front of his beloved capsules that held his precious clones that he had formed form Sephiroth’s DNA and another Avalanche member who was totally clueless. One of the mothers was a fallen Ancient. They had taken blood DNA from their selected people, and fused them together, like it would happen if they did ‘something’. That had made the 2 clones that were floating in front of them. They had been enhanced with Jenova cells. He smirked, they’d be strong, just like their daddies.
Christy felt like she was in heaven. She didn’t even care that she was sitting on one of the giant birds she hated so much. She didn’t want this moment to end! She sighed contently, as she felt his arms wrap tighter around her. She had to admit that Yuffie’s plan wasn’t so bad, she could get to like this. “So, when do you think that we’ll reach, um, wherever you’re taking us, Sephiroth?” Christy asked looking at the silver haired general. “In a day or two.” He replied softly, turning around to see how the others were doing, trying to ignore the warm feeling he got by being with her.
Yuffie sat with Cloud’s arms wrapped around her. Unlike Christy, she was in a living #$**. Gawd! She had apologized a million times, and he still was mad at her. But, from what she could see, the others were all enjoying this. Maybe this was her punishment. “What do you think they’re doing back there?” Yuffie asked, turning to see Cloud’s reaction. He just glared at her angrily. “I’d rather not know.” He snapped coldly. Yuffie sighed and swerved to look and see what Tifa and Reno were doing.
Tifa sighed deeply as Reno’s grip tightened thinking to herself as how much she felt for him. Sighing again, Reno whispered softly in her ear asking, “ What are you thinking about?” snapping out of her thoughts and answering “ Ah nothing. Just wondering when we’re going to stop and rest.” Making up the sentence out of nowhere, and mentally hitting herself for her stupidity. Reno looked ahead and saw Christy falling asleep in Sephiroth’s arm and answered “Soon, it looks like Christy is falling asleep.” Tifa nodded, also feeling a little sleepy. Soon, she was fast asleep in Reno’s arms.
Cloud sighed, running a gloved hand through his hair, silently cursing himself. Yuffie had informed him of today’s events, and he had felt the jealousy rage up within him. Tifa, falling for Reno? Christy falling in love with Sephiroth! What was wrong with them? They used to be the enemies! Used to be… those words echoed through his head. Jenova, he felt her presence stronger, every time he got closer to Cave Island. He smiled a little, maybe he could have a little heart to heart with Tifa about this.
Yuffie tossed and turned in bed. Sweat was glistening her frail body as she had a nightmare, the one where she saw her mother die in front of her eyes. The one she hadn’t had in years. The one that usually meant something horrible was going to happen. She gave a small cry, tears were starting to flow down her cheeks, making her seem more like a small child than a 19 year old. Tifa watched sadly as her small friend fretted. Deciding to do something, she kneeled beside Yuffie, silently she began to pray for this nightmare to end.
Cloud walked into the girls’ room, it was well past midnight. He could hear Yuffie’s agonized cries, and he quickly ran in, sword raised. Instead of seeing the girls in immediate danger, he saw a silver glowing Tifa, kneeling beside a Yuffie, who was howling in agony. Feeling Jenova grip his mind, he felt the urge to make Tifa stop hurting Yuffie or anyone else. Sword raised over her head, he felt the memory of how he almost killed Aeris, but he pushed this aside. Only now there was no one to stop him. Grinning evilly, he lowered his sword to an oblivious Tifa.
Reno rounded the corner of the hotel, headed to his room that he shared with the other guys. He was totally wasted, he had spent several hours at the bar, trying hard to forget Tifa. He had fallen head over heels for the Ancient, and he was angry to admit that her heart belonged to someone else. Strife. The word was like a vile curse word on his tongue, and he had tried to get images of Tifa and Cloud together out of his head, pretending that he didn’t care, but he did, with all his heart. He had never fallen in love, only thinking that women were only good for a night or two, but Tifa was different. She hadn’t fallen for his charms like every other girl, instead he had fallen for hers. So what about the other times? When they had sat on the roof together? Stop thinking like that! He commanded himself silently. Maybe he should check on Ti- the girls. He opened the door a crack, to see a sight he never thought he’d see. Strife was about to kill Tifa! He charged forward, knocking Cloud to the ground, not worrying about himself.
Cloud felt Reno charge and hit him, knocking the wind out of him, and Jenova still controlling him, he slashed Reno 5 times across the chest, making the redhead scream. He didn’t know what had just happened, all he knew was Tifa was safe, and he all he could do was thank Reno with all his might, something he thought he’d never do.
Reno’s cry snapped Tifa out of her trance, just as she finished Yuffie’s nightmare. She looked up to see Christy sitting up in bed, staring in horror as her brother slashed Reno, getting her gun under her pillow, she shot the sword out of her brother’s hand. She saw Tifa run over and start cradling Reno and comforting him in Cetra, while her necklace glowed silver, healing the Turk. Yuffie woke up with a start, to see Reno in Tifa’s arms as she cried over him, and to see Sephiroth comforting a sobbing Christy. What is going on? She wondered. Only then did she see Cloud, and the look on his face told her everything. She suddenly felt nauseous. Cloud had almost killed Tifa! What was wrong with him? As though hearing her thoughts, Sephiroth said, “Jenova.” While rocking a sobbing Christy, who was watching the scene with wide eyes. Tifa looked up, and instead of seeing wine-colored eyes, Yuffie saw golden eyes that were narrowed dangerously. Sephiroth tightened his hold on Christy and whispered, “She’s going to eliminate the enemy.”