By the time Zack got out of bed the next morning, Cloud was already gone. The bed was
neatly made except for the large buster sword laying on it, crinkling the sheets. It was
strange how a length of metal could bring back so many good and bad memories.
Zack trudged downstairs to Tifa’s bar where the business was booming. There were a
herd of guys off on their lunch break, getting plastered to steady themselves for the rest
of the day. Close to the doorway, Tifa, Cloud and Barett were occupying a small table
and reminiscing. Zack couldn’t figure out why but Tifa seemed to have a negative affect
on him.
“Hey! What’s to eat?” Zack swung his leg over one of the spare chairs and reached over
to help himself to Cloud’s half finished meal.
“I was still eating that,” Cloud complained. He watched the contents of his plate being
devoured by Zack.
The last piece of toast entered Zack’s mouth, followed by Barett’s untouched mug of
beer. “Thanks!” He gulped it down and sheepishly met everyone’s squeamish faces.
“I’ve been dead for the last few years. I need to eat.” His eyes stared off at Tifa who was
dressed in a black, silk skirt and a light blue blouse with frills. “What’s the occasion?”
“Oh!” Tifa beamed as she straightened out her long sleeves. “Cloud and I are going to
the park this afternoon.”
Zack’s expression became grim but he tried to keep his voice cheerful. “You’re going to
a park in your Sunday’s best?” The sentence came out as a jagged, sarcastic attack but he
didn’t really care how it sounded. He ignored Tifa’s shock and gazed over at Cloud. “I
thought that we had some catching up to do.”
A guilt trip was the last thing that Cloud had expected from Zack but it was clearly that.
“You can come,” he offered. To be honest, Cloud wasn’t too keen on going anywhere
with Tifa alone. She was a nice person but could just as easily turn into an instant pest.
“No thanks. Three is an odd number and odd numbers don’t work for me.” He kept
watching Cloud with his light, blue eyes which wanted to bore a hole through Cloud’s
forehead.
“Then I’ll just go with you.” Cloud winced when Tifa growled like some beast on the
loose. “Or…maybe not.”
“Never mind, Cloud. I’ll just stay here and hang out with Barett. No big deal, right big
guy?”
Barett swore under his breath and muttured, “Whatever.”
“So, it’s settled. Have a nice time, Cloud. And Tifa, that’s not a very ladylike way to
sit,” Zack advised innocently.
Again, Tifa made some unidentifiable noise and crossed her legs. She was really
beginning to dislike Zack in a major way.
Once Tifa and Cloud were gone, Zack began to question Barett who was left in charge of
the bar. “Does Tifa have a boyfriend?” He knew full well that she didn’t but he was on a
rampage to destroy the revolting hold she had over Cloud.
“Nope. She has it in for Cloud, in case you haven’t been paying attention.” He poured
Zack another drink and then one for himself.
“From what Cloud told me, Tifa couldn’t have cared less if he was swept off of the face
of the planet back when they were kids. It took her this long to see what Cloud has to
offer? If you ask me, she gave him up before she even realized he was there.”
Barett pounded his fist on the table and gave Zack a dirty look. “Now, you listen here,
you jerk! I don’t know what you’re trying to pull between Cloud and Tifa but you’d
better stay outta it. That girl deserves to be happy just as much as the next person. The
last thing she needs is for some dead, zombie man to throw a wrench in her love life.”
“And if Cloud has no feelings for her?”
“Who the hell could be better than Tifa? There’s gotta be something wrong with him if
he doesn’t want her. She’s a damn fine young woman with a great body and personality
to match.”
Zack was unafraid of Barett’s icy, unsaid threats to stay out of the matter altogether. He
was no coward and would rather be beaten to a pulp than hold in his right to speak.
“Yeah, she’s full of herself. I’d love to date some chick who dresses like an almighty
slut.”
“That’s it!” Barett yanked Zack’s glass from his hand and got up from the table. “If you
weren’t Cloud’s old buddy, I’d stuff your body parts down the garbage chute. I’m gonna
let you sit here and keep your mouth shut so that I don’t do something we’ll both regret.”
Halfway down the path to the park, it began to rain tiny droplets which soon turned into a
flood. Cloud and Tifa had no choice but to hide underneath some trees on an old picnic
bench until it stopped.
“Well, we’re finally alone.” Tifa was practically on her toes with excitement. It was just
her and Cloud, no more distractions.
“Do you think we should call Barett to pick us up?” Cloud was rubbing his arms to keep
away the chill from the rain. For some odd reason, he found that looking at Tifa made
him uneasy and nervous.
“No. Let’s just wait until it settles down and then keep going to the park.”
“What’s so special about this park?” Cloud sat on the top of the table and waited for the
gloomy effects of the thunder and lightning to subside.
Tifa grew impatient and took up a spot right next to Cloud. He glanced over at her and
wondered if he should tell her that her shirt was undone. If he wanted to, he could see
right down it. However, it was also see-through so there was really no point. What was
wrong with him anyway? Here was this gorgeous woman sitting beside him, willing to
be with him and he wasn’t the least bit interested.
“Well, usually, on the weekdays it’s deserted. I thought that we could have it all to
ourselves. Cloud…I really missed you.” Tifa leaned onto Cloud’s shoulder and fluttered
her eyelashes up at him.
Who had said that to him? Zack! Why did he feel indifference towards Tifa’s feelings
but longing for Zack’s? As he was pondering this, Tifa was suddenly kneeling in front of
him and grabbing the sides of his face with two sweaty palms. “Uh, what’re you doing?”
She moved in even closer, shifting her weight onto Cloud’s knees as she held his face
still. Their lips were almost touching when Cloud broke the trance. “No one is going to
see,” she protested when Cloud pulled away.
“Zack might.” Cloud didn’t even have time to regret saying that when Tifa slapped him
hard.
“You…you…BASTARD!!!”
Cloud had never been slapped by a woman. He gingerly felt his burning cheek but
wouldn’t meet Tifa’s glaring, brown eyes.
Her heavy breathing mixed with the high pitched sound of crying. “All you care about is
your precious Zack! What about me?” She grabbed Cloud by his shirt and shook him
but he didn’t respond. Finally, she shoved him back onto the picnic table and wiped the
back of her hand over her eyes. Mascara bled down her face but she was too angry to do
anything about it. “He should have stayed dead!”
This time, it was Cloud’s turn to slap Tifa. The action came from somewhere in his
heart, in a place where only Zack was held onto. “I knew that you hadn’t changed after
all those years!” Now, it was Cloud’s turn to shout above the splatter of raindrops and
looming thunder. “All you are is a little whore! It was fine for you to let me get picked
on when I was a kid and pretend not to see it. You didn’t even want to be my friend! But
now, you think that you’re some fucking princess and I’m supposed to fall for it?”
Tifa’s mouth gaped open and she stood there reeling from Cloud’s physical and mental
blows.
“The only thing I wanted back then was to be invited into your group of friends. To have
someone to talk to and play with. Right at this moment, I couldn’t care less if I never
saw you again. I NEVER loved you and I never will.” Cloud pushed Tifa out of his way
and stormed off into the rain.
Zack was in the middle of some fine steaks and mashed potatoes when Cloud burst into
the room. There weren’t as many people in the bar so his entrance caused some people
to whisper. Cloud looked like a drowned rat with his clothes soaking the welcome mat.
“Cloud?” Zack knew from Cloud’s eyes that he was upset. He had a slight bruise on his
cheek and was barely containing his temper.
“Where’s Tifa?” Barett had come over to see what had gotten Cloud so riled up.
But Cloud brushed off Barett’s question and went over to Zack. “I want to leave,” he
demanded, his voice breaking.
“Okay.” Zack didn’t question him, he quietly marched upstairs and packed up their
belongings. The buster sword was strapped to his back when he came back down. Barett
was trying to get some answers out of Cloud but was having a hard time doing so.
“You’re not just gonna take off, are you?” Barett spun Cloud around and tried to see
what Cloud was feeling. “Come on, what did I do?”
“I have nothing against you,” Cloud said firmly.
At that moment, Tifa appeared with her fighting gloves on. “CLOUD! You and I need to
talk.” She edged over to him and narrowed her eyes with hatred. “Outside.”
“Hold on a second!” Zack came between Tifa and Cloud as Barett prepared to help if it
got ugly. “Can someone please tell me what was wrong with the park?”
“You should know,” Tifa hissed. “He wanted to go with you, not me. Cloud can’t stand
women, isn’t that right Cloud?” She batted down Zack’s refereeing hands and leered at
the man she had once thought of as a cute, husband to be. “Or don’t you have the right
equipment to be with a woman?”
Cloud lunged at Tifa, clawing at her face while she sliced his arms with her nails. Barett
held Tifa back although he wasn’t too fond of the cuts he himself received. Zack had a
firm grip on Cloud’s waist and neck and kept him still until he was sure that Cloud had
calmed down.
“”That was a cheap shot,” Zack said to Tifa. “I mean, if you don’t have it then why bitch
about it?”
Now Tifa was thoroughly pissed off as she tried to kick Zack in the groin. “PRICK!”
“Can’t have any,” Zack taunted, back to his own cheap shots.
“This ain’t no wrestling arena.” Barett balled up Tifa’s fists in one of his massive hands
to stop the scratching and clawing. “You guys had better go before I let Tifa loose.
There’s a such thing as too far and that’s where this has gone. YOU--,” he pointed to
Zack, “are out of line. And YOU--,” Cloud was target number two, “don’t belong here.
So both of you can hit the road.”
“Gladly!” Zack dragged Cloud away from Tifa who was stringing off a volley of insults.
“I’ve seen plenty of women and Tifa, you just don’t qualify.” He smiled, knowing that
he had gotten the last word and walked out into the rain. “Shit! You never said it was
raining.” Zack waited for Cloud to reply but he didn’t. “So, do you want to talk about
it?”
Cloud headed down the road which led out of Midgar and to the small town of Kalm.
“This is now way to treat your best friend.” Still no response. “You and Tifa
didn’t…you know?”
When Zack wrapped an arm around Cloud and walked alongside him, he started to come
back to reality. “No. She tried to kiss me and when I refused…well, a lot of the truth
came out that she wasn’t willing to see. The truth can hurt.”
“Not all the time.”
“Depending on what it is, yes it does.” Cloud splashed into a mud puddle and groaned
when his boots filled with water. He didn’t have time to feel sorry for himself because
Zack started to laugh. Zack was always laughing, he was a free spirit. Cloud wanted to
be more like Zack but he knew where that had taken him before. For a while, they kept
walking but it would take days to get to Kalm by foot. “I can’t believe that I said those
things to her.”
“It’s not like she wasn’t just as nasty to you.”
“But, she’s supposed to be my friend. I should have told her nicely that I wasn’t
interested instead of yelling in her face.”
“What did she say that sent you over the edge?”
Cloud could feel Zack staring at him, it brought him back to the day he had first enlisted
in ShinRa’s twisted army. Back then, Zack had stared even harder but why? “She
wished that you had been dead.”
“I am…I mean I was dead. I don’t want to go through that experience ever again.” More
silence followed. “Cloud, can we go back and have you apologize? My only pair of
pants are coated in mud.”
He didn’t need to look to know that Zack was grinning. “If I have to apologize then so
do you.”
When they arrived back at Tifa’s bar, they were both taken off guard when Tifa came
running at them. She had been standing in the rain outside of the building as if waiting
for their return. Her first words were , “Cloud, I’m so sorry.” Then she was hugging him
and Cloud wasn’t pushing her away.
“I’m sorry too, Tifa.”
“Can we go inside now? I want to finish that steak.” Zack received a contemptuous
glance from Tifa but she acted as if he wasn’t there.
