Lean On Me (FF7)

40

~Tifa's POV~

"My head hurts," Vincent groans, staring up at the ceiling.

"That sucks," I yawn. He's probably still a little scared of me after his dream or whatever, but he will just have to deal with it because I'm not avoiding my boyfriend over a dream.

"I think your phone is vibrating," he closes his eyes.

"What?" I look over at the table beside me, and sure enough, Barret's number is flashing across my screen.

"Hello?"

"We're all the way out at Kalm, can you get Cid to fly over here ASAP?"

"On it," I stand, moving the mic away from my mouth. "I'll be right back."

"Hurry," Vince sighs.

"Cid!" I hear Barret hang up and I snap my phone closed.

"Yeah?"

"Barret needs us in Kalm as soon as possible."

"Okay," he nods, giving the Highwind a sharp turn. I hang on to the wall to avoid falling over and then we're flying at top speed for the city. We'll be there in two minutes tops. I hear a thud and a loud groan from the other room and then Vincent stumbles into the hall holding his lower back and stretching.

"Hey Grampy," I laugh.

"Shut up, I hit my back on a pole."

"Aw, poor guy,'' I stick my bottom lip out.

"I said shut up," he groans, standing against the wall like me.

"Chill," I roll my eyes.

"Sorry," he laughs. "I'm just kinda grouchy today."

"It's fine," I shrug. "Grumpy Vince, remember?"

"Grumpy Vince," he agrees, smiling.

"So..."

"So..."

"So..."

"Where are we going?" he asks, peering out the window. "Whoa."

"What?" I join him beside it and feel my jaw drop. The fair we flew over every Saturday we've been aboard is going up in flames just outside of Kalm and people are screaming and running. Then I spot them on top of the ferris wheel. Cid lowers the aircraft a tiny bit and I recognize Yuffie, who Sephiroth knocks to the side and grabs her shoulders before she can topple overboard.

"He's gonna drop her," Vincent mutters.

"Barret'll save her," I point to the big figure below, ready to catch her fall.

"Denzel and Cloud?" I hear the horror in his voice as his eyes widen and he points.

"Where..." my voice trails off.

Denzel is lying slumped against a building, scrapes on his knees, a cut across his forehead, and a literal puddle of blood around him. Then Cloud, who's just laying on the sidewalk with his sword in hand and blood seeping from the back of his head, making his pale hair the same color, and the blackish rash on his arm is more visible than before. If it's not Geostigma, than what is it? Barret, just as I predicted, catches Yuffie, and the Sephiroth just.... Poof! Gone. We need to get our hands on those weird disc things they use to just disappear like that. Test em out.

"Down we go," Cid says. I wish the others were here. Let me see... Red is back in Cosmo Canyon with his people, Cait Sith still hasn't arrived yet, which is odd, and Barret, Yuffie, Cloud, Marlene, and Denzel are down there. Cid has been here all day, just flying around. I guess he didn't want to say hi to Shera.