Promise by Aridea Moons

Say you love me

A few hours later
At the table there shared laughter and the mother Elmyra asked many questions. They ate and shared memories together, that in which Cloud had forgotten which caused him to worry.
Z: "Oh! Remember that time I fell out of the sky too?!"
A: "haha, oh I remember alright"
T: "What? What a coincidence-"
E: "Oh yes I never get tired of that story. The raven that fell out of the sky and met an angel"
A: "Haha, Im not an angel", she shakes her head looking down at her plate with a smile.
Z: "Of course you are, you're my angel", he rests his elbow on the table as his hand was on his cheek looking at her as if he was falling in love. Everyone at the table laughs except Zack who sighs.
Z: "What? Its true"
T: "ahehe", she giggles and Zack looks at her
Z: "Your his angel too Tifa", he teases her with facts and she looks down at her spoon.
C: "We should get going its getting late-"
A: "Stay the night", she smiles but her mother looked at her knowing that she didn't confirm it with her, "Oor we'll see you tomorrow if you don't have a place to stay"
Z: "uh..I'm kinda low on gil right now plus I need it to help pay off Clouds sword"
C: "We're sorry for the trouble-", he stands up and Elmyra looks at him grab his plate cleaning after himself.
E: "One night"
T: "Oh thank you", she stands cleaning after herself as well and she decides to wash the dishes helping Elmyra out. Cloud helps her clean and she was surprised he even could.
T: "Where did you learn how to clean?", she lifts an eyebrow and the blonde froze cleaning the counter.
C: "You did"
C: "Um..Soldier", he walks next to her rinsing the soapy dishes Tifa had scrubbed.
T: "hm, that's real neat"
C: "ya"
T: "Thanks for helping", she turns off the water faucet and looks up at him, "um..can you hand me the-"
C: "ya", he hands her the towel as they both dried their hands then they stare again.
T: "I-"
E: "You two seem like the real love birds"
They were both alarmed again as Tifa blushes with her eyes wide open while Cloud looks towards the window hiding his embarrassment. Tifa looks at Elmyra who was leaning on the counter observing the two from a distance for a while.
E: "I have a request", she sits down
T: "huh?"
C: "What kind?", he looks back at her
E: "I want you to protect my daughter, she's all I have. My husband passed away and I accepted her in when I found her at the station with her real mother on the verge of death."
Tifa saddens her eyes and looks at Elmyra
T: "Don't worry, we wouldn't let anything happen to Aerith or anyone"
C: "She's our friend now. We'll take care of her together"
E: "Thank you, they're waiting for you upstairs"
They both nod as they headed towards the stairs but Aerith was eavesdropping and sneakily walks up the stairs. As they both reached their destination in Aeriths room, they all got comfortable and began to talk about the mission.
Z: "Okay, we're all here"
A: "Right"
T: "Whats the mission?"
C: "You're coming with us"
T: "huh? With only you three?"
Zack looks at Cloud not surprised and Cloud grabs her shoulder as they both turn around.
T: "Cloud I can't go with you-"
C: "Please come with us, after what happened in that bridge. You're lucky I caught you-"
T: "Caught me? We both fell-"
C: "I know..but I don't want to leave you here"
T: "What?- where are we going?"
C: "Out of midgar"
T: "huh?"
C: "I asked Aerith to come with us-"
T: "Cloud..I have responsibilities, Marlene needs me when Barret isn't around-"
C: "Ask someone to take care of her, Elmyra will"
T: "Cloud-", she looks at the other two with worried eyebrows then Cloud grabs her hands grabbing her attention.
C: "Come with me. I don't want to be apart from you, you said you would-"
T: "I would help you with your mission but-"
C: "Everything will be okay, I promise"
They both stare again and she looks away
T: "I..I don't know-", she looks away.
C: "Its okay to be scared, but I'll still protect you"
She looks up at him as he grabs her hands tightly knowing he was serious. She nods in discomfort but he accepted that she agrees.
C: "Okay, whats the mission?", he walks over as Zack goes over the mission.
Z: "Okay..first of all we're gonna need new members"
A: "We need to recruit-"
C: "huh? But us four is fine-"
Z: "Its true but, the more the merrier."
C: "Hold on whats the mission?"
A: "We're gonna take down Genesis"
T: "Genesis?"
Z: "uh? You know him?"
T: "No..it just sounds familiar", she narrows her eyebrows as Cloud notices she was lying.
C: "Who is he anyways?"
Z: "Right, he was in SOLDIER. They were buddies with my mentor one of the strongest actually before I was ranked up. Shinra conducted experiments they were failed experiments that withered and died but Genesis disappeared. I thought he was gone but I found him in Midgar not too long ago. They were referred to as monsters, these failed experiments are clones of Sephiroth."
T: "The perfect SOLDIER?"
Z: "Yep"
A: "We all share one goal, we want to save the planet from destruction"
C: "We can recruit Tifas team if you need more people for this, but why?"
Z: "Because Genesis isn't just a Soldier with regular spells, he creates them"
C: "uh! Is that even possible?"
Z: "Genesis is a sorcerer similar to Sephiroth because of their genes."
C: "They are-"
Z: "Part Cetra, which make then very dangerous"
A: "huh? I thought I was the last ancient", she stands up
Z: "uh! Your an ancient?!"
T: "She's an ancient?"
A: "ya-"
T: "Then your real mother was-"
A: "An ancient...Shinra likes to keep an eye on me"
Z: "hmm that explains it"
C: "How are we gonna get Genesis?—"
Z: "Genesis is meeting with Sephiroth for a duel"
C: "How do we-"
Z: "We track him"
Minutes later
The blonde walks out of the room leaving the two girls to share the bedroom then Tifa touches his arm lightly as she closes the door behind them.
C: "Whats wrong?"
T: "Cloud, can we talk in private?"
They both go upstairs to see the view of the garden with the river, while Aerith peaks out of the door going in Zack's room.
T: "I uh..I don't think recruiting my friends on this mission would be a good idea, you know how they are. They've been planning this for a long time now"
C: "Right, but still they share the same goals—", he gets a headache seeing Sephiroths face. Tifa notices and pats his back.
T: "Cloud? Whats wrong?"
He groans as he hears images
C: "Seph-iroth"
T: "what?"
S: "Cloud, it's almost time"
He widens his eyes as the pain stops, he see's Tifas worried brown eyes.
T: "Cloud?"
C: "I'm..fine", he looks away but Tifa gets close to his face.
T: "Tell me"
C: "I..I saw Sephiroth"
T: "What?"
C: "It must be the Jenova cells that keeps us all connected"
Tifa looks down
T: "How am I apart of this?"
Cloud looks at Tifa
C: "What?"
C: "What do you mean?"
T: "You three are connected that way, Aerith is an ancient. So..why am I here?"
C: "Because I want you to be with me"
T: "No really-", she looks the other away
Cloud grabs her shoulders as he leans over her.
C: "I care about you, I don't want you to ever leave my side. Do you understand? I don't want to miss it this time"
Tifa widens her eyes
T: "This..time?"
Cloud sighs
T: "What- what aren't you telling me ?"
Cloud grows irritated
C: "I-"
A memory of Tifa smiling in her black leathered suit fades away. He widens his eyes not knowing what it could mean.
C: "...I..I just..don't want you out of my sight"
T: "Cloud..", she leans close to him touching noses, "If you can't be honest, then don't bother with me". She walks away and Cloud was shocked by her reaction then he turns around grabbing her hand as she pulls her hand away.
C: "Tifa-wait", he grabs wrist and pulls her to his chest then he grabs her other wrist then she looks up at him.
T: "You say you love me, then prove it. Be honest because you have me confused. I don't what I am to you, you say you want to protect me but from what?"
C: "Does it matter? I just want you by my side-"
T: "-No it does matter because I have this feeling your keeping something from me!"
C: "You also have your secrets, about Genesis"
Tifa gasps
T: "Thats none of your business"
C: "Of course it is! It's part of our mission-"
T: "Your mission! I didn't ask to be apart of it, I have my own-"
C: "Tifa-you were all alone without me! Don't walk away from what you already have"
Tifa widens her eyes and tries to fight him off
T: "Let go!-"
C: "I'll never let go again!"
T: "But you did!! You left me lying in the dirt calling your name!", her tears begin to form as they roll down her cheek, "You left me!..I didn't want you to go without listening to what I had to say to you!"
Cloud gasps
C: "What did you wanted to say?"
[Flashback]
The brunette pushes through the crowd as she sees Cloud get on the vehicle.
T: "Cloud! Wait!"
The engine starts as the vehicle begins to leave, Tifa makes it through the crowd and begins chasing the truck.
T: "Cloud! I need to tell you something! Wait!"
The truck goes faster and Tifa trips on a rock, she cries out loud.
T: "I've always loved you!! Don't leave me!!"
The blonde widens his eyes as tears roll down his face he was facing the window and saw her trip. He heard a ringing in his ears knowing that she really did shout.
[End of flashback]
The brunette looks up at him closing her eyes tightly as tears fell down her face.
T: "I love you!!"
The blonde widens his eyes as he heard little Tifa yell those words. He gazes at her with a smile then leans close to kiss her passionately as the blushing Tifa felt his lips. She was so shy she wanted to pull away, but he kept leaning in closer and closer keeping her from escaping. He ended up backing her against a wall, as he kept kissing her passionately then she felt fireworks explode in her body when she started to feel his tongue. He felt her stiff wrists go weak as she gave in, he lightly lets go of her wrists as her hands fell down her sides. He cups her face and kisses her longer making her give out little moans as her face looked submissive.