Before Nibelhiem

Before Nibelhiem 3

Tifa was curled up in her room where she'd been since her father had given her the news. How could Mom be dead? She had heard the families come in downstairs but she was still upset when her three friends came into the room, slowly.

"Hi Tifa." Fulshion said sadly, "Sorry about your mom."

Dale punched him in the arm. "Ow." He complained rubbing it.

"Here." Cecile knelt next to her and held out a present but when Tifa didn't grab it she began opening it herself. She pulled out a doll, "It's Miss Molly, my favorite doll. My mom also brought bread from home."

All Tifa could think about was her own mother's homemade bread and how she would never have it again. She buried her head further.

"Hey look, Cloud's coming." Fulsion turned to Tifa, "You think he wants to come in?"

"Fulshion, we're here to help Tifa." Dale said meaningfully. "You know, Tifa, If you want to play, we'll play whatever you want to." Dale continued, trying in his own way to comfort her.

Normally Tifa wouldn't mind seeing Cloud-- he was always very nice to her--but today was different. More than anything she just wanted things back the way they were. She shook her head vigorously. "I want... To see... Mom." She stood and pushed past Cloud, who had only wordlessly entered the room, to escape down the stairs and out the door.

She ran and ran, not stopping when she passed the edge of town or tripped in the field. Not until she had made it to the bottom of Mt.Nibel did she let herself fall to her knees to catch her breath. Finally the girl was alone with her thoughts. She looked up at the mountain looming above her and her mother's words about it returned to her. "Mt. Nibel is the resting place of our town so whenever anyone from Nibelhiem passes on, that's where we go." But Tifa had been to the summit with her father many times and never seen her grandma who had left them a few years ago so she reasoned that they must be just beyond where Tifa had gone.

Tifa stood, staring at the daunting challenge ahead of her while the other three children approached gasping in air behind her. "...I wonder what's beyond that mountain."

"Mt. Nibel is scary. Many people have died there." Fulsion looked warily at the peak.

Cecile saw an opportunity to deter Tifa from her task and jumped on it. "No one crosses that mountain alive."

"How about those that died?" Tifa looked at her friends in exasperation. She knew none of them knew but all they had tried to do since arriving was dampen her determination and it was frustrating. "Did mama pass through the mountain?" She continued to herself before starting up the path. She stopped for a moment and looked over her shoulder. "I'm going!" She said defiantly.

Dale and Cecile sighed and began following her single file. As Cecile passed Fulsion she realized he hadn't moved. When she looked at his face she saw the fear and instructed him to get their parents.

It was a long hike. Longer than Cloud remembered. Unlike Tifa's father his mother was unable to take him on trips to the mountain. Instead he was left to wait and watch the others play their childish games.

Now he wished that he had taken the time to exercise. The other children had almost been able to keep pace with Tifa. He on the other hand was gasping his way along.

He could see Tifa and the remaining two in the distance. They had slowed and he had closed some of the distance but Cloud knew if he was to catch them he couldn't break pace.

He crawled over rocks and around boulders half driven by his determination to protect Tifa and half by fear.

Yet it was almost five minutes before he was in close enough range to hear their voices. They had just gotten onto the rope bridge that was swaying slightly in the wind, Tifa still at the group's head. Cecile seemed to be warning Tifa that they were going back, trying to persuade her to abandon her plan but she just ignored them.

Cloud finally made it to the bridge just as the others ran back across it. He stepped aside as they exited and then hurried to catch Tifa.

"Don't be stupid Cloud!" He heard Dale yell after him but he ran to catch Tifa who had just made it to the far side of the bridge.

The blonde boy gulped the air heavily trying to reclaim his frantic breathing. His vision was blurred from the lack of oxygen and the water that was gathering in his eyes as he pushed past exhaustion.

Tifa wasn't moving particularly fast, but her determination did put a willfulness in her stride and she turned up the path at the end of the bridge. She only faltered when she missed her step and her stomach dropped as her balance tipped over the side of the cliff cause her to gasp.

Time seemed to slow. Despite running as fast as his tired legs would carry him, Cloud couldn't reach his friend in time. His hands grasped desperately and he caught her wrist but was helplessly carried over the edge by their combined momentum.

Tifa screamed for an instant before her head slammed harshly against the cliff face and the pair tumbled one over the other. Cloud instinctively grabbed his head. He rolled for what felt like forever before they settled on one of the lower paths. For a while he was motionless, his head spinning in an attempt to reorient itself.

Faintly he heard two deep voices but the sound was foggy in his head.

"I can't believe they've run off again. We've really got to--"

"Tifa!" Cloud recognized her father's voice and his heavy footfalls drew closer.

"Cloud! Why'd you bring Tifa to a place like this?!" The other voice was Dale's father and Cloud fought his aching head and tired body to turn and look at the man. Behind him he vaguely noted Tifa's father cradling her limp body in his arms as he stood. "What's the matter with you!?"

The young boy managed to push himself up to his forearms and he watched sadly as the unconscious girl was carried away by her father.

"What if she dies!?" Dale's father continued to berate him before shaking his head in disgust and walking after the other man. "I'll find the other kids. You get her back to town as fast as possible."

Cloud's aching body shook but he again found the strength to move, managing to get to his feet. Uneasily, he limped after the Lockhearts. Unsure of himself, he kept his distance. The shock kept his pain and emotion suppressed until he hobbled home on skinned knees.

Once there, he paused in the doorway, everything hitting him at once. His eyes poured tears and he collapsed to the floor. His mother ran from the kitchen shouting something but his mind was closing off the world to process all that had happened.

She shook him frantically but he stared blankly at the ceiling. Not knowing any way to help him she picked up her boy and carried him to his bed where she began nursing his bloody knees.