Chapter Text
Shenanigans
Chapter 1
Costal de Sol proved to not be enough of a retreat for a couple of the members of the party working toward saving the Planet. Despite spending time lounging on the beach in the sunlight, being adventurous with the local drinks at the bar, and shopping for tourist items, they still seemed to need more time before continuing on their journey. While Barret was asleep in his bed at the inn and Red XIII was curled up in the corner of the room dreaming, Cloud sat up in his bed to stare out at the crescent moon. Across the hall, Aerith and Yuffie were sleeping peacefully while Tifa lay awake in her bed staring at the ceiling.
Tifa sighs as her mind completes the swirls in the ceiling into images of various things, such as people and moogles. She looks over at the clock and feels even more unsatisfied to realize she has been lying there for nearly two hours. She hears Yuffie mumble something about gelatin, so she sits up and scoots herself off of the bed. She goes to the door and slips her boots on, and looks back to make sure Aerith and Yuffie are still asleep in their other bed. Quietly, she slips outside of the room and into the outdoor hallway. As she closes the door behind her and looks ahead, she spots Cloud leaning over the balcony.
Hearing her arrival, Cloud looks over to see her, his face full of weary. “I guess I'm not the only one who couldn't sleep.”
Tifa goes next to him and leans over the railing as well. “It's just so stressful. I know we tried to have some fun today, but . . .”
Cloud shakes his head. “Nibelheim . . . I just can't shake it. Acting like it never happened . . .”
Tifa looks over the greenery lit up by the moon in thought. “Cloud, how about we have a bit more fun before we go on? I think that would help us.”
“Not interested.”
Tifa looks at him with irritation. “You can't expect to save the Planet with that kind of attitude. Come on. Let's at least just get a drink at the bar.” She pushes away from the rail and begins walking down the walk way.
Cloud sighs. “Fine.” He follows after her indifferently.
Minutes later, Tifa and Cloud arrive at the local bar, walking inside to see five customers and a single bar tender. Three of the customers are sitting back at tables, looking close to passing out from both sleepiness and drunkiness. The pair passes them by without care and sits on stools at the bar where the other two customers are a few feet away. They wait for the bar tender to speak to them.
“And what'll it be for you two?” the bar tender asks while smoking a cigarette.
“I'll have a dry martini,” Tifa answers happily.
“A cassis,” Cloud says in a depressed tone.
“Coming right up.” The bar tender turns to make their drinks.
Tifa looks over at Cloud and frowns with annoyance. “Can you sound any more depressed?” She gets no reaction from him, so she growls. “Seriously, Cloud. We're at a vacation resort town and that's your attitude?”
“Not interested,” he says in the same voice.
Tifa sighs. “This is the kind of attitude you want to spread while trying to save the Planet?”
“Don't really care.”
Tifa shakes her head. “Nope. I'm not letting you go back to the hotel until you stop moping.” She sees him turns his head toward her. “Just imagine: you save the Planet and kids want to be like you. Kids would want to brood and say things like 'Don't really care'. Just think about that for a minute.”
Cloud's drink is set down in front of him so he picks it up and takes a drink. He puts it back down and stares it while saying, “Don't really care.”
Tifa is so frustrated she wants to pull her hair out. Her drink is put in front of her, so she grabs it and violently drinks it all the way down quickly. She slams the glass back on the counter and yells, “I'll have a double!”
Cloud looks over at her with a slight expression of anxiety, finally pulling out of his sad demeanor just a little. He takes another drink while staring at her. He sees that her hand on the counter is tightened into a fist. “Tifa, you saw what Nibelheim was like. All that pain . . . all that destruction . . . they're just covering it up like it never even happened.” He shakes his head. “But it did happen. I remember it.”
Tifa takes a deep breath and sighs. “You and I are going to have a long night. I'm not going to let you dwell on the bad stuff when there's so much fun to be had.”
“I'm just being real. I don't see the big deal,” Cloud responds.
Tifa scoffs. “The big deal is you're dragging everyone down! And I knew you as a kid! You were always up for some fun! I have to make sure I bring the real Cloud back, and not let your bad attitude become contagious!”
Cloud simply sighs, and Tifa's next drink arrives in front of her. Once again, she drinks it down quickly. Cloud watches with worry, afraid of what kind of trouble Tifa is going to pull him into.
“I'm going to show you such a good time you won't even remember about Nibelheim!” Tifa exclaims triumphantly.
Nearly an hour later, Cloud walks out of the bar with an uneasy look on his face. Just behind him comes Tifa, wobbling and giggling a little. He leads her in the direction of the inn, the path being lit by outdoor lamps.
“What? Where do you think you're taking us?” Tifa asks with a smile.
“We should go back to bed. Besides, you're drunk.”
“What? I'm not drunk! I own my own bar! I know how much I can handle, and I'm definitely not drunk!” she argues.
Cloud shrugs. “Well, it's really late. We should get some rest for tomorrow.”
“Not until I've shown you an amazing time!” Tifa reminds. She stops and grabs Cloud by the arm, stopping him as well. She glances around in the dark and hears the sound of the ocean waves. She smiles again and pulls on Cloud's arm as she runs in the direction from which the sound is coming. “The beach! You can't not have fun at the beach!”
Cloud grunts as Tifa pulls him while running to the sandy area. “Tifa, we already went to the beach today!”
Tifa giggles as she and Cloud arrive at the shore. There is no one there, but the area is visible thanks to some more outdoor lights. She looks around the area excitedly, looking for something to do. She sees a beach ball and approaches it. As she leans over to pick it up, an image is caught in the corner of her eye. She turns toward the water to see what it was, and she sees a dolphin.
“Tifa, come on. We can come back to the beach in the morning. It's dangerous at night,” Cloud tells her with a bit of worry.
“A dolphin!” She exclaims, ignoring him. She watches as the dolphin swims closer to the beach. “Dolphin . . .” Tifa repeats, and gets into a fighting stance. “Dolphin Blow!”
As Cloud reaches a hand out and screams, “Nooooooo!” as if in slow motion, Tifa performs her limit break. He watches in shock as Tifa unleashes her powerful attack on the water. She misses the real dolphin, but hits what appears to be a huge rock instead. Cloud, relieved but frustrated, gets a hold of both of Tifa's arms from behind.
“Come on, before you hurt someone,” he tells her gently.
“Hurt someone? I'm just playing with a dolphin!” she tells him.
Cloud feels a harsh tremble beneath him and looks toward the rock that Tifa had hit.
“You should try riding it, Cloud! It would be so funny to see you on a dolphin!” Tifa continues, paying no mind to the tremor.
Cloud, still staring at the rock, realizes as a head and legs pop out of it that it is in fact an adamantaima. “Uh, Tifa.” His hand are now loosely on her arms as he stares at the fiend with fear.
“What? You're still not enjoying yourself?!” she complains.
“Tifa.”
“I spend all that gil at the bar and even drink a little too much to try to get you to loosen up and have fun, and you are still not laughing?!” She is turned toward him now while he has his hands to himself.
“Tifa!”
The adamantaima stomps right next to the couple, sending them flying from the quake it produces. Tifa lands on her back and slides several feet, destroying a sandcastle. The adamantaima roars while moving its head around, visibly upset from her attack.
Tifa gets to her feet and gets back into her attack position, knees bent and fists up, while eyeing the adamantaima. There is a glowing aura around her, indicating her limit break is charged. She suddenly seems as if her tipsy state is gone as she stares with a burning determination at the massive creature. Just before she launches into an assault, she hears scuffling and moaning. Cautiously, she looks to her side to see the source of the noise.
Focusing her eyes in the dim light, she sees that Cloud has landed in a sand dune with his head down to his rips stuck in it. He is trying to push himself out with his legs, his arms stuck in the sand. Tifa looks back at the enemy, seeing that it looks ready to release an attack. She gasps and runs toward Cloud. She grabs him by the waist and begins pulling with all of her might, grunting while she struggles.
“Come on, come on!” Tifa groans, pulling as hard as she can, feeling Cloud coming loose slowly. She looks again at the fiend with worry, seeing it drawing its head back to attack. Adrenaline coursing through her body, along with alcohol, she pulls so hard that he pops out of the wet dune and lands on top of her in the sand while the beam shot from the adamantaima shoots through the dune, narrowly missing them.
Cloud rolls off of Tifa swiftly and helps her to her feet. “Thanks,” he tells her as he reaches for his sword on his back. He inhales with enlarged pupils as he feels no sword, realizing he had left it in the hotel room. He looks to his right to see Tifa ready for an attack. He looks around in panic, feeling useless and looking for something to fight with.
Tifa rushes at the huge creature again and punches and kicks it in the head a few times, making it roar. As it moves for an attack, she dodges and lands a counter kick to the top of its head. It swings it head, hitting her and sending her flat on her back with a thud. She jumps up, dodging its next swing, and releases a series of punches. She jumps back and unleashes her somersault limit break. This stuns it for just a moment, so she runs back toward Cloud, who had been watching in awe. She grabs him by the arm again and runs with him away from the direction of the beach and toward the inn. Breathing hard from the fighting and running, she manages to get him to the stairs of the inn when she stops. She reaches into her pocket and finds it empty.
“Huh?!” she asks in panic. She reaches into her other pocket with the same result. “My key!” She shakes her head. “I left it in the room!” She looks at Cloud now. “Please tell me you have yours!”
Cloud shrugs dramatically. “I was just getting some air, and Barrett wasn't fully asleep. Didn't think I'd need it.”
“Ugh!” she growls loudly. She gasps as she sees the fiend approaching, so she grabs Cloud again and runs with him past the inn and toward the entrance of the town. She runs with him until they are outside of the area and into the woods.
Cloud grunts as Tifa runs quickly through the woods, being pulled into branches that she dodges before him. He stumbles as he tries to keep up, trying to keep from slamming his face into a tree trunk and struggling to keep up with her quick pace. After a few manic moments, he is pulled behind a huge tree and released.
Tifa stops and looks around frantically. “I don't see any sign of it,” she declares.
Cloud heaves as he tries to regain his breath. “No . . . I think we got away.” He hears Tifa sigh. “Tifa . . . how did you sober up so quickly?”
“With my limit break.”
Cloud looks at her with confusion. “Your limit break cures you of being tipsy?”
“Haven't you ever gone into a limit break after you've been drinking? Yeah, it's the only way to sober up quickly!”
“Nope. Never knew that.”
“Well, a perk of being a bar owner, I guess.” Tifa now looks around again, shrugging off the conversation. She sees green all around and sighs. “Hmm. Isn't Nibelheim close by? Maybe we could crash there for the night.”
“Good idea,” Cloud agrees. Suddenly, he hears something moving up in the tree they are standing next to, so he looks up suspiciously while tensing up. He looks, but sees nothing.
“What was that?” Tifa asks, also looking up at the source of the sound.
“I don't know, but I say we hurry up and get out of here,” he replies.
Twenty minutes pass with Cloud and Tifa wandering through the woods. Cloud is dirty and has leaves in his spiky hair while walking with the accompaniment of a walking stick. Tifa has mud streaked underneath her eyes in a warrior fashion and has wild flowers in her hair. They both freeze simultaneously as they see what appears to be the end of the woods.
“Is that . . . the way to Nibelheim?” Cloud asks as if he has been on a deserted island for four years.
“Yes! Yes, it must be!” Tifa cheers. She looks over at her companion now. “Come on!”
Just as Tifa dashes toward the clearing up ahead, she comes to a sliding halt as something huge and yellow streaks across in front of her. She turns to see it was an adult chocobo. She turns to her other side as she sees Cloud stop next to her. She shakes her head as if to get it out of her mind, and now begins running again. This time, she runs directly into a green chocobo, knocking her down on her bottom on the ground.
“Ugh!” Tifa complains. She looks up and sees the chocobo is staring down at her unpleasantly. Cloud helps her up and the two stare at the giant bird questioningly.
“Wark!” the chocobo exclaims.
“Uh, we need to get by,” Cloud tells it.
Tifa huffs, irritated. She attempts to walk around it, but it moves and blocks her. She now tries going around it the other way, and once again, it blocks her. “Get out of our way!” She kicks the chocobo in the rear, causing it to jump and cry out. She now passes it and continues onward to the exit of the woods with Cloud following.
Cloud looks behind them cautiously and sees the chocobo flapping and warking. “Uhh, Tifa.” He drops his walking stick.
“Hurry up!” Tifa tells him, getting him by the arm again.
The chocobo suddenly releases an ear-piercing wark and accelerates toward them in anger. Hearing the sounds of the incoming attack, Cloud and Tifa yell and sprint toward the exit of the woods, not looking behind them from fear of slowing down. The go as quickly as possible in a state of panic, exiting the woods, but still hearing the flapping of wings, pounding of feet, and warking of the huge chocobo behind them.