Lean On Me (FF7)

4

~Cloud's POV~

I can't help that I wake up, as much as I don't want to. I can't open my eyes. They're too heavy, but I can definitely hear Yuffie yelling 'Holy crap!" right next to me. I guess that's my cue to speak up. Fortunately, she beats me to it.

"Why are unconscious people so freaking boring!?" she groans.

"Maybe because my head's killing me," I mutter, surprised by how quiet my voice is.

"Cloud?" She says, surprised, and I feel her dark eyes on me.

"Yep." My lips barely move and my eyes are still closed.

"Are you still dead?" she asks after a short moment of silence. What...?

"What are you talking about?" I groans, shifting slightly in an attempt to pull the blankets higher.

"Never mind, inside joke," she snickers.

"Ah," I mumble weakly, my throat beginning to hurt.

"As much as I would like to stay and awkwardly wait for you to speak again, I better go get Tifa." she says, the coldness in her voice clear as she stands.

My head is killing me and I have no choice but to think about what happened before I went out. Sephiroth... he was there, the voices were there, the ringing... I scrunch my eyes tighter, trying to ignore the issue with this situation. Sephiroth is dead, I killed him myself. Of course, I thought that he first couple times as well. I hear their murmured conversation, also laced with coldness and sarcasm. Girls tend to speak that language naturally, don't they? Sarcasm?

"Hey Cloud," I feel the edge of my bed dip in. I let a small noise escape through my throat to let Tifa know I'm not out cold.

"How's the head?"

"Okay," I sigh.

"Can I get you anything?"

"Peace?" I grumble.

"Sorry..." she mutters. "I forgot how grumpy you get when you get hurt. It's been three years, remember," she mocks me.

"I though we got past that," I try to reason.

"Cloud, as long as you've known me, you should know I don't let things like that go lightly."

"Right," I avoid nodding.

"So.... Can you take the pain like a man and tell us what happened?"

"They're still out there?" I furrow my brows.

"Yeah."

"How long has it been?"

"You've been out for three hours, if that's what you meant."

"That's what I meant," I agree. "But can it wait until tomorrow?"

"Only if you agree to pay for the inn fee for tonight."

"Inn fee?" I frown.

"Where else are the guys gonna stay? Literally all of then are here!"

"Biggs and Wedge aren't," I mumble.

"Hey, don't bring that back up, okay?" she takes my hand and gives it a squeeze.

"Fine. How much?"

"Ten gil a person," I can hear the humor in her voice.

"Why can't they sleep in the Highwind?"

"There's no beds, moron," she scoffs.

"Fine," I give in. "Sixty gil."

"I thought it was fifty?"

"Yuffie...?"

"I was hoping she could sleep outside," she mutters.

"Tifa, seriously?" I mentally roll my eyes.

"Whatever. I'll go get the money, you rest it up. Tomorrow, are talking, whether you feel like crap or not." she leaves.

I always feel like crap the second day though....