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"Sssssh! For heavens sake, be careful!"
"I'm always careful you dork."
Their hair spilled over their shoulders as they peer down. Gently and quietly, Aerith pulls the last of the rope out from the opening in the ground. Tifa stifles her giggles, and Aerith bites her lip trying to do the same.
"You think he's gonna be mad?" Aerith whispers.
Tifa ponders her question and shook her head. "I doubt it. He likes you too much-"
The echo of disturbed rocks from within the earth make it back to the surface, and soon after they're clutching each other. Cloud just realized his rope to climb out has miraculously disappeared.
"...it doesn't sound right to me, listening to him swear like that. He'd make a sailor blush!" Tifa snickered.
Aerith threaded the next daisy through the stalk of the last, dipping her head over the opening and called to him. "Is everything alright down there, Cloud?"
The barmaid continued where Aerith finished. "You sound like you're having problems..."
Cloud scoffed. "And you two sound like you're up to no good. Give me the rope back! There's no water down here!"
"We know." They replied in unison.
The sound of Cloud kicking rocks bounced from each nuance and uneven surface on the walls of the underground cave system. "..."
"We need a break, Cloud." Tifa yelled authoritatively.
"We'll let you out if you promise us longer than an hour to go shopping..."
Tifa knocked Aerith's elbow mischievously, "-INVENTORY shopping! We're getting low on a lot of our supplies. NOT clothes shopping."
Aerith chuckled and hesitated before she answered so that she could set the daisy chain, evenly, on Tifa's crown. "What she said." Aerith held Tifa's hand between hers and poked her fingers through the holes in the worn leather. She sang down the hole, "Though...Teef could probably do with a new pair of gauntlets too."
Burgundy eyes smiled kindly at Aerith.
"'Kay. I promise."
"You promise what?" They both peered at the blond.
Cloud smiled incredulously. "I... promise we can take more time in the next town we visit."
Aerith leaned further over and Tifa grabbed for the back of her red jacket instinctively - to prevent her from falling in if she lost her balance. Aerith's smile would be sufficient to illuminate the cave system alone as she grinned at him, "What's the magic word?"
Cloud's shoulders slumped. He moved his hands from their placement at his belt and held them out. "Uh..Rapunzel... Rapunzel let down your hair?"
"Which one of us is Rapunzel?" Aerith teased him.
Back at the surface, Tifa couldn't help but to smile a little. Aerith was working wonders with Cloud. As days and weeks were passing, the Cloud she remembered was returning and the personality he had adopted took a seat on the back burner periodically.
Cloud laughed lightly as he looked up, "Does it really matter? You both have really nice hair..."
"Yes it does! Your sword will give me split ends." Aerith replied.
"Toss the rope down, then!"
Tifa squinted at him, "Oh come on! Fly out, Superman!"
"You gonna make me a cape?" Cloud asks hopefully.
"I'll make you a knuckle sandwich." She stuck her tongue at him and Aerith's laugh bellows beside her.
"That hurts."
"You know what hurts, Cloud? Having holes in my gloves. I don't recall the last time my hands weren't stained purple and red." Tifa admired her hand and pulled at the tattered threading coming away at the seam.
"Don't make me beg, you said you'd let me out!"
"He does look like a puppy, doesn't he, Tifa?" Aerith dangled the end of the rope over the entrance. Minerva have mercy Aerith could tease. "Cloud, will you dance?"