Have you noticed that every once in a while, Tifa and Aeris will finish each other's sentences?(in the game that is) Isn't that interesting? Okay yeah, I'm sad. ------------------------------ Yuffie reached the lower deck first, followed by Aeris and Tifa. Red XIII, Barret, and Cloud were already there, and now they all stood in a stunned silence as Sephiroth's voice reverberated off the walls. He seemed to be everywhere at once, and Tifa felt her blood run cold when she realized she could even hear him in her head. "...After a long sleep..." "...the time..." "...time has...come..." "Cloud look!!" Tifa gasped. The others stared in morbid fascination as Sephiroth rose from the floor. He looked detached, and his gaze roved around the room, until it came to rest on Aeris. She saw his eyes flicker for a split second until Cloud regained his attention. "Sephiroth! You're alive!" Sephiroth raised his eyebrows in slight surprise before he regained his monotone expression. "...Who are you?" Cloud looked confused for a second, and then quickly composed himself. "You don't remember me? I'm Cloud!" "Cloud..." Sephiroth repeated dryly. If Aeris didn't know better, she could have sworn he seemed bored. "Sephiroth! What are you thinking?! What are you doing?!" Cloud yelled at him, readying his sword. "...The time...is now..." Sephiroth murmured. He floated to the sky, and flashes of light surrounded the group. Out of nowhere, the disorted visage of Jenova BIRTH appeared. "Tifa, Aeris, Yuffie! Stay back!" Cloud said through gritted teeth. Tifa disregarded the warning and hopped down into the fray, joining Cloud. "Tifa!" Cloud protested, frowning at her. Tifa simply ignored him and started to put a few well placed kicks and punches into Jenova's resilent hide. ~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~ Cloud stared at the tentacle for a moment, and Red XIII sniffed at it and then stepped back, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "Eeeew! What IS it?! GROSS!" Yuffie shrieked, clutching her stomach. Cloud kneeled down and examined the last remains of the beast they had fought. "...Jenova. The arm of Jenova." Cloud muttered, shaking his head. "Jenova...He's been carrying this thing around?" Tifa whispered. Cloud stood to his feet. "So it WAS Sephiroth." "He was mumbling something about time!" Yuffie exclaimed. "Time...is now?" Cloud repeated to himself. "I'm getting so confused..." Tifa murmured, rubbing a sore spot on her arm. "Cloud, explain what's happened so far." Cloud shook his head. "Too much trouble." Before Tifa could think of something to say, a horn blew. Dock workers--We will be docking in Costa del Sol in five minutes. Prepare for docking. Tifa rubbed her shoulder again and frowned. "We should hide somewhere again." The others made their way out, but Cloud remained, staring at the ceiling. "Sephiroth...is alive...The Promised Land...Does it really exist...?" ~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~ "So this...is Costa del Sol...it's beautiful," Tifa murmured, staring around. "Damn!" Barret exclaimed, walking around and stretching. "Sure is hot here! But I sure feel better now that I can say good bye to this sailor suit. Yo, listen up! Ya'll be sure to mingle like regular folks here!" Aeris moved to Tifa's side and giggled. "Oh, too bad. I liked Barret's sailor suit. He looked so cute." Barret turned to her, frowning. "......What'ya mean, 'cute'?" Tifa coughed to hide her laughter. "Right...well, uh...Barret, why don't you use that sailor suit for pajamas? Right, Cloud?" Cloud frowned and rolled his eyes, looking irritated. "Keep your mind on Sephiroth. Remember, this isn't a vacation. We're here to find Sephiroth. I'm going on ahead." Aeris saw Tifa's slightly wounded look, and opened her mouth to say something, but Barret beat her to it. "Hmmph, Cloud. You're the one who's always hangin' around wastin' time. I'm going to skip this resort!" Red XIII looked tired, and shook out his mane. "...puff...puff...Would you kindly hurry? The heat here is drying out my nose." "Yeah, mine too!!" Yuffie exclaimed. The rest of the team gave her strange looks. ~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~ "So Aeris, you're at an island resort, what do you do?" Aeris asked herself, staring around. She saw an inn and smiled. "Maybe I should get a swimsuit. Although...it might help if I was good at swimming. Maybe Cloud could teach me." She remembered the way Cloud had treated Tifa earlier and frowned. "Or maybe Tifa could...though, she might be annoyed...maybe not. If she doesn't want to listen, she'll deck me." She laughed at her own private joke and headed inside the store to find a swimsuit. When she walked in, she was surprised to see Tifa there. "Hi Tifa!" She blinked when the other woman didn't acknowledge her, and waved her arms around to get her attention. "Tifa?" Tifa glanced up, looking embarrassed. "Oh, um, hi Aeris...didn't see you there." "Yeah...I noticed. What are you doing?" "Um...well, I was uh...looking for a um, swimsuit. But I can't find one that fits..." "Oh, well, I'm sure there's something...that one over there looks about your--" Tifa cleared her throat, interrupting her. "No, no, Aeris, I can't find one that *fits.*" She waved her arms across her chest and Aeris felt herself blush before she could stop it. "Oh...well...that might be a...problem." Had it suddenly become warmer? "But I'm sure we'll find one if we look together." Tifa nodded dumbly, and they both began the search. ~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~ Aeris, Tifa realized, had noticed the scar. She had pretended not to, but Tifa was able to tell from the way she was behaving, awkward and timid, as if she was doing something wrong by staring. I would stare too, Tifa thought, somewhat bitterly, if I saw someone who had a hideous scar across their chest. "So um..." Aeris began, trying in vain not to stare at Tifa, "that's a nice swimsuit." Tifa nodded, pulling her hair up into a messy bun. "Um, thank you...your swimsuit is nice too." They both avoided each other's eyes for a moment after that. "So...what should we do now?" Aeris began, rocking back and forth and tugging on the straps of her suit. "Do you know how to swim?" Tifa suddenly asked, wishing she could stuff the words back in her mouth. The silence and awkward shuffling was bothering her. It reminded her of the...incident a few nights ago, and she didn't want to think about that. "Well...not really. Actually, I was thinking of...asking you to teach me, but I didn't think that you would--" Tifa cut her off and smiled for the first time in hours. "No, no, I'd love to teach you. We're...friends now, right?" Aeris blinked in surprise, and felt a weight that she hadn't known existed lift from her heart. "Yeah, friends." She glanced over at Tifa again, and Tifa smiled at her, making her way out of the shop. It never occured to her that Aeris might not have been staring at the scar. ~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~ "I'm going to drown," Aeris said, holding on to Tifa's arm. Surprised at the contact, Tifa almost fell backwards into the cool ocean water. "No you aren't. Just relax." And Aeris did. "I'm still worried," Aeris murmured, moving closer to Tifa. Tifa sighed and shook her head. "I won't let you drown Aeris." "You promise?" Aeris gave her a sweet, nervous, smile, and Tifa suddenly felt uneasy. "Cross my heart," she managed to squeak out. Aeris didn't notice her discomfiture and started to wade around in the water. "It's really cold!" she squealed, giggling girlishly and splashing water at Tifa. The other woman squealed herself and laughed. "Hey, cut it out! I have to teach you how to swim now, alright? No splashing your tutor or I might dunk you under the water." Aeris paled and nodded her head rapidly. "Right, right, ok. So what first?" "First? Floating. It's pretty easy to do." "I'll believe it when I see it." "Fine," said Tifa, laughing. She leaned backwards and floated on her back in the water. Aeris stared at her. "You make it look easy." "That's because it is. Now you try." Aeris frowned and shook her head. "No way." Tifa sighed and shook her head. This was going to be a long afternoon. ~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~ By the evening, both of the girls had gone back to the inn to relax. Yuffie caught up with them before they went into their rooms. "Jeez, where have you two been all day?" "Um...we've been..." Aeris began. "...swimming." Tifa finished. Yuffie pouted. "You guys could have gotten me! I'm a champion swimmer!" She whined, stamping her feet. Tifa groaned. "Right." Aeris giggled at her response. Yuffie suddenly looked thoughtful, and stared at Aeris and Tifa in turn. "Hey, you guys should share a room. I want one to myself!" Tifa blinked. "I beg your pardon?" "You heard me Lockheart! You toss and turn too much and the noises ruin my beauty sleep!" Tifa frowned and rolled her eyes. "Beauty sleep, right..." Aeris smiled. "That'll be fine Yuffie. You go ahead to bed." Yuffie sighed in relief and nodded. "Okay. See you guys in the morning!" She went to her room and Aeris turned to Tifa and smiled at her. "Together again." Tifa felt nervous again, for a reason she could not quite place. "Seems like it." With that, they both headed into the room together.
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