Lean On Me (FF7)

2

~Cloud's POV~

I slam the brakes on my motorcycle. The 7th Heaven's bright red Open sign flickers slightly. The debris from three years ago is mainly gone, except for random chunks of scrap metal on the side of the street. The city now has more light, since now it isn't sucking the Mako energy from the planet. I frown, thinking of all the things Avalanche went through to stop that. All I wanted was money at the time, but of course Tifa made me tag along. I grit my jaw and brush away my thoughts before they can lead to Aeris.

As soon as I push into the familiar bar, all conversation stops. Barret, who still looks the same with his small head, black beard, and oversized muscles. But Denzel... He's more grown up. Something aches inside when I realize he's twelve. I swore to him I would come back on his birthdays but never fulfilled my promises. Not even a letter. His bright blue eyes settle on me just like Barrett's black, beady ones. Tifa, whose back is to us, seems to notice the silence. She turns, and I will never forget the look on her face. Shock, confusion, excitement. She blinks a couple times and leans into the counter, gripping it as if she was going to faint.

"Cloud?!" Denzel speaks up.

"It's me," I nod to him.

"I thought... You're back!" he rushes to me and wraps his thin arms around my waist in a tight hug.

"Yep," I let a small smile spread across my lips.

"Yo Spikey Butt! Come 'ere!" Barret teases me.

"Hey Barret. How's Marlene?" I ask casually as if I haven't been gone for years.

"Great, she's actually back there," he gestures to the curtain that divides the building in two with his gun arm. I only know that because I lived here with Tifa, Denzel, and Marlene before I left.

"We need to talk," Tifa speaks up.

"Right," I say, walking out the front door.

She follows me with a sigh. As soon as I lean back against the outer wall, she throws her arms around my neck and pulls me into a hug. I rest one arm on the small of her back so it doesn't appear that I'm rejecting her hug. Even though I am. She pulls away.

"Where have you been?" she asks, leaning next to me and crossing her arms.

"Around," I shrug.

"Cloud..."

"Do I really have to list everywhere I've been lately?" I sigh.

"Just tell me some of the places."

"Well I visited Choco Sage for a week or two. Then I went to check up on Nanaki in Cosmo Canyon, but he wasn't there. So I went to Junon and hung out with that little girl Priscilla. The one that had a crush on me?"

"Yeah, her," Tifa scoffs.

"Jealous," I smirk, bumping her shoulder.

"Not a chance," she bumps me back.

"So yeah, just been exploring everywhere."

"But Cid flies everyday, he would have spotted you eventually. And how did you cross the water?" she looks confused.

"Where I was living doesn't matter, and I still had the black chocobo, so I could breed another golden one," I shrug as if it's simple.

"But it matters to me," she sighs.

"Well it shouldn't," I roll my eyes.

"But it does, so at least tell me the city."

"Fine. For the first half if the time I was gone, I stayed in Wutai. Then Yuffie came back, so I lived in the mythril mines."