Loveless

Chapter One

"What other girl?"

"That girl...dressed in pink, long brown hair, green eyes..." his list trailed off as he noticed the worried expression growing on Tifa's face. "There wasn't anyone else, was there?"

Tifa shook her head slowly. "No, there was just me and Yuffie."

"Maybe it was an angel or something?" Yuffie suggested. "Maybe you were dying and the Planet sent an angel to send you back to us."

"In other words, you're going bloody crazy," Cid muttered, lighting a cigarette with a calm air about the whole situation. Yuffie stuck her tongue out in reply. Cloud simply nodded, not wanting to dwell on the situation or to cause Tifa anymore worry. But he knew that her image had appeared too real to be imaginative. It was almost as if she was standing right there, completely solid and if he had held out his hand, he wouldn't have been surprised to have felt soft skin beneath his fingertips.

But he didn't say anything more about her and asked the question everyone was dreading. "What now?"

There was silence for a moment as the group looked at each other and a sudden sadness surrounded them. Red XIII spoke first. "Seeing as how I am Protector, I will have to go back to Cosmo Canyon for a while."

"I should go back to Wutai," Yuffie said. "But I want my Materia first, Cloud!" she added, narrowing her eyes in warning.

"I suppose I better see if Shera's blown up the house or not. She better have some god damn tea on the table by the time I get there," Cid muttered. "If you all tell me where you want to go, I'll drop you off."

"I would like to return to Nibelheim."

"Oh Vincent! You're not going to sleep another thirty years in that coffin are you?" Tifa asked sadly. Surprisingly, Vincent shook his head.

"No. I just left my belongings there and would like to retrieve them. After that, who knows." Barret scoffed before turning to Cid

"I need to head over to Midgar to see Marlene!"

"I'll take you to her," Cait Sith piped in.

"I'll go with you," said Tifa before she turned to Cloud. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know," he replied with a shrug. He looked at each of his comrades in turn before locking eyes with Tifa. "Could I come with you for just now?"

"Of course!" Tifa replied with a bright smile, tossing her head to get the hair out of her eyes. Cloud nodded and stood up slowly as the group took their positions on the Highwind.

"Not a scratch on the old girl," Cid declared proudly, giving the steering wheel a pat. Nobody answered him, each member deep in their own thoughts.

Yuffie was the first to go, but not without making Cloud sign the Materia contract she had drawn up. She allowed him to keep the materia just now, for safe keeping of course. Warning him what would happen if he should break the contract, Yuffie then backflipped off the railing, landing smoothly on the ground and giving the group a cheerful wave. It took two minutes until Barret yelled - "The brat's stolen my gil again!"

Vincent left next, but nobody noticed this until they had woken up the next morning and realised that he had left in the middle of the night, silent and without fuss. Cloud and Nanaki seemed to accept this better than the rest of the group, being almost enigmas themselves. Tifa seemed rather upset at not being able to say goodbye. The rest were just annoyed at his continuous social attitude.

Nanaki's farewell was the complete opposite, with the poor creature almost suffocated to death by Tifa's continuous embraces. As he walked past Cloud, he held his gaze and tilted his head, asking Cloud to follow him. Aware of Tifa's acute stare following them, Cloud stepped off the Highwind and walked with the firewolf to the entrance of Cosmo Canyon. The animal sat and glanced quickly towards the Highwind and back to the leader.

"This girl..." he began but Cloud groaned and shook his head.

"I was imagining it."

"Were you?" Nanaki countered cooly causing Cloud to stare at him.

"Nobody else knows what I'm talking about," he replied before frowning. "Or do you know something?" he added accusingly. Nanaki shook his head with a small smile.

"I don't know this girl you're talking about, and I have also never seen her," he answered, pausing for a few seconds. "But I believe that you saw her."

"Why?"

"There's just something in the air..." the creature replied with a shrug. "I'll do some research and get back to you if I find anything out."

"No offence but isn't that going to be hard considering we have nothing on this girl except her ability to randomly appear and disappear?"

"The elders have many answers Cloud. Some that many would think impossible so I think I may be able to find something."

"Alright," Cloud relented, turning to go back onto the ship.

"And Cloud!" Nanaki called suddenly, causing the man to turn around. "Perhaps we shouldn't tell anyone about this yet," he continued. Cloud raised an eyebrow and shrugged to show his acceptance.

"What did Nanaki want?" Tifa asked as Cloud walked over to the railings to watch Midgar come into view. Tifa leaned next to him, staring intently until Cloud couldn't ignore it anymore. He glanced at her, giving her a half-smile and a shrug.

"Nothing important," he replied. "Just, you know, thanks for saving the planet." Tifa raised a disbeliving eyebrow.

"And he needed to take you away from us just to thank you?" Cloud shrugged.

"Tradition, apparently."

"Hmmm."

When the airship began to drift over Midgar, Cait Sith moved forward. "Just anywhere around here please Cid."

"My Marlene was in Midgar this whole time?" Barret yelled. "What if she didn't make it? I swear if...."

"Barret!" Tifa scolded, folding her arms and staring the burly man down with a hard, disapproving stare. "I'm sure Marlene is fine, right Cait Sith?"

"Yes!" the robot agreed quickly. "ShinRa checked on her and Elmyra after the Meteor was destroyed. Marlene was upset but nothing that a nice mug of cocoa wouldn't sort out." Tifa nodded and turned back to Barret.

"You see? Elmyra is taking care of her!"

Cloud, who had been hovering around the back of the group, avoiding the discussion, suddenly frowned. Elmyra....she was the woman who had taken Marlene to safety when the Sector Seven Plate fell down. And then she agreed to look after the girl while Barret and the rest of Avalanche went to try and find Sephiroth. Though his friends would confirm this if he asked them, he couldn't help but feel that he had gotten his facts wrong. He felt like there was something missing, felt like there was another reason why they knew Elmyra and why she had taken in Marlene.

But until Nanaki phoned, Cloud would be no closer to finding any answers.