The Story of Tifa Lockheart

CHAPTER 9
A glimpse into the Past, # 2.

By all accounts, she was a lucky girl. She had a father who was well off enough to give her anything she wanted, a mother who was loved by the whole town, almost the whole town who idolised her, with all this and probably more most people would think that made her spoilt, but she was an almost perfect girl-if she allowed a tiny bit of arrogance into her life every once in a while, she was usually a sweet, well mannered little girl.

Tifa Lockheart, daughter of Lena and Jack Lockheart was the talk of the town she lived in, a small place called Nibelheim. Everyone had always said that Tifa’s mother, Lena Dehernhee-a descendent of travellers who had settled in the town many years ago-was the most beautiful young woman to have lived in the town for a many sum of years. People talked about Tifa because she was the spitting image of her mother-if slightly different in the colour of her eyes-and as Lena was a very loved person, they predicted that Tifa would turn out just as caring and loving as her Mother was.

The early years of Tifa’s life was a very peaceful one, meeting friends and learning the basic childhood things, everyone was so proud of Tifa, her parents smiled and gave her the support she needed. You could say that fate had been smiling kindly on her life, well some six years into it everything started to collapse for the Lockhearts.

It all started with Tifa’s Mother, Lena Lockheart was a woman who cared for the land and the people of the land, she would help in the harvest fields, work her garden and create beautiful sprays of flowers whenever anyone needed it, but without any real warning, Lena soon found herself becoming more and more tired, she spent less and less time out in her garden, more time in bed sleeping. When the doctors had checked her completely, they discovered that she had developed a terrible form of high blood pressure that was making her heart beat faster than it should normally. It was advised that she no longer take care of her garden and to ease her household chores to a minimum, Tifa didn’t understand any of this, she had no idea what was wrong with her mommy but whenever she spoke with her, she would simply smile at Tifa and tell her that no matter what happened, she would always be near if she needed.
So Tifa spent the next two years in blissful ignorance, that is until one day in June of her eighth year, she had been tending the small flowerbed out the back of her home when her father appeared at the door.

“Tifa…honey, come in.”

She looked up, smiling, the trowel held loosely in her hand, she then saw the look on his face.

Something was wrong.

Dropping the equipment, Tifa followed her father into the house. The doctors were in the house again, they had a big black bag with them.

“Daddy…what’s wrong?”

He had sat at the kitchen table, holding his head in his hands, he was crying.

“Tifa…baby…mommy’s gone to heaven.” He said, his voice cracking. “She had to go, darling.”

“What…where’s heaven, will we be able to see her?” Tifa asked.

Her father shook his head. “Not…not for a long time, baby. She’s gone.”

“Gone…but, what were the doctors doing here?”

“They…it doesn’t matter what they were here for, baby…mommy’s gone, please…sit down.”

“But I want to see her!” Tifa said, stamping her foot. “I want to see my Mommy!”

Before her father could look up, she had ran up the stairs and shut herself in her room, she didn’t know why she felt this way, why the tears were coming so thick and fast. Where was her mommy, why wasn’t her daddy letting her see her?

The day passed on and her friends, Johnny, Evan and Lizzy appeared, she allowed them in hoping for help in understanding all this, but all they did was to try to get her out of the room, it was getting late in the afternoon when Evan-looking out the window-finally said something different than some way to get her out of the room.

“Tifa…come on, you’ve gotta come down…lets go play a game of-hay, look its Cloud…he looks lonely, wonder if he wants to join in, eh?”

Tifa lifted her head from her knees, her eyes were puffy and swollen from crying, she shook her head and said, “I wanna see my Mom!”

“Tifa…she’s left us, her soul has gone over the mountains.” Lizzy said. “She’s still here but she has left us, we all know what happens when a person dies.”

Tifa’s eye’s focused.

“Over the mountain, Mommy’s over the mountain. Then that’s what I’m going to do.”

She got up and opened the window-she had climbed out of here so often over the last five years she was almost perfect at it, she slid down the drainpipe and started towards the mountain trail. Her friends started after her, constantly telling her they wanted to turn back, but Tifa kept on moving, the climb up the rock face took her well into the night-she had felt her skirt rip and tear several times-it had gotten cold when Tifa finally found a level footing, she could see a ropebridge ahead, it was stretching across a large chasm, she started forwards not caring that she could hear the panicked cries from her friends. “You believe this!” A call from behind echoed. “We’ve gone up way too high. This is crazy…if you wanna keep on goin’, you can…me….I’m outta here.”

Tifa knew that it was Johnny and she didn’t care, she started towards the rope bridge, her eyes starting to mist over with tears, soon she would be with her mommy again.  After a second set of footfalls was heard, Evan had left.

“No way I’m staying here if you’re goin, too.” A quivery female voice said. “Come on, Teef…please!!!!”

“No…I want to see mom.” Tifa said resiliently. “Go, if you want, I’m…I’m going to go see her.”

And a scurrying of small footfalls told her Lizzy had gone too, the last thing she heard the girl saw was “Cloud…please, this is crazy...if she keeps going on she’ll fall!!”

Another voice, slightly familiar though they didn’t know each other very well called after her. “Like I don’t already know that. What do you want me to do?”

“Get her to come down, she’s stood right in front of that old bridge.” she said, “Stop her!”

Tifa stopped at the large rope bridge, looking out at the sky she thought she heard a voice on the wind, she would be with her Mommy very soon, then everything would be alright.

A hesitant set of footsteps came up behind her, she didn’t look back, she didn’t want to…mommy was ahead and that was all that mattered.

“T-tifa.” Cloud said, shakily. “A-are you okay?”

Tifa was still staring out at the sky, vaguely she recognised someone was with her for this. “You followed…me?”

“Yeah…” Cloud said, taking a step forwards. “I heard what happened with you Mom. Lets go down and talk about it.”

“But…if I walk over the mountain, I’ll see mom again,” Tifa said, determinedly. “Why would I want to go down when I want to see her?” She stepped onto the bridge with a sure look on her face, a slight smile appearing.

Once it had been in pristine condition, vehicles carrying things across the mountains had once used it, but that had been years ago and now, the bridge was little more than a huge rope bridge barely holding up against the weather. She hadn’t made it more than half way across when a gust of wind knocked her off balance and she stumbled.

The last thing Tifa remembered was screaming, seeing a blur of yellow and someone gripping her wrist before she saw the ground coming towards her.
                                                         **
A soft noise was issuing from next to her, a pleading voice was begging someone not to take someone. Tifa felt heavy, she had no idea what had happened. When she opened her eyes, she was in her parent’s bedroom, in her mom and dad’s bed. It was night.

Suddenly a memory came to her and she gasped, she had been on the rope bridge and had fallen from it. Cloud had been there, he had tried to help her.
Fear welled up inside her, was he alive, she definitely remembered seeing him grab hold of her wrist, seen him topple over the side with her. Was he dead, killed while trying to save her life?

“Oh thank merciful heavens.” And she was taken in a huge, strangely soft hug. When the person broke away, her fathers tear stained face looked back at her. “You’re alive, the doctors said-oh it doesn’t matter, you’re alive!”

“What happened…dad, why am I here?”

“That idiot Strife, he took you up the mountain. Its okay, Johnny told me everything that happened, the little bastard nearly took you away from me.”

“What…is…is Cloud-?”

“He’s fine, just hurt his knee and you spend a week in a coma from the fall, oh baby…”

And he wrapped her up in a hug again.

Tifa wasn’t allowed out of the house for another three days, the time there she feared telling the truth-all the people in town were so happy that she was alive and awake, she’d been told the full story they had heard from Johnny and in telling them different she was afraid that she’d be in terrible trouble.

When the day came that she was allowed out of the house, her first thought was to find Johnny, a bitter twisting inside her was writhing to get out and she felt he was the best person to let it out on.

“So…it got you off didn’t it?” He asked as soon as she had finished screaming at him. “So what if Strife gets the blame, he shouldn’t have stuck his nose in, should he?!”

“He tried to save me, you jerk!” Tifa snapped. And she turned around and marched out of his home, angry tears spilling down her front. She couldn’t change what people thought now, everyone was blaming Cloud for this, saying that one of Nibelheims two gifts had been lost and he had nearly lost them the other- while he had selflessly tried to save her and gotten the blame for her fall, he must hate her for this.

She was walking back to her home when she saw him, his head bowed and sullen-looking, he had purposely rounded his shoulders to make himself look more brooding, when they came close he must have heard her and looked up defiantly. Everything about him instantly softened when he looked at her, his look, his posture, even his mouth opened and quirked into a slight smile. Tifa though, she couldn’t bare to look at him, she had caused him so much trouble and pain, she turned her head away and ran up the road, not allowing him to see the tears falling down her face.

(Two years later)

“Tifa...this is a personal Trainer for you…his name is Zangan and he is known throughout the world as a great martial artist.” Her father said to
her. “I know you’ve gotten a lot of pent up energy, he say’s he’s going to help you work that out.”

Tifa looked at the man. He was tall, muscular and old. A short stubby beard rested on his chin the colour of cement, he didn’t smile when he looked at her. “She has fire inside her…she will make an excellent martial artist, this one will.”

Tifa’s father had put her in a string of different things since her mothers passing and didn’t seem to see that none of it was helping her, she was feeling more and more guilty over what had happened on Mt. Nibel and what happened to Cloud. She had always been told by her parents to accept responsibility for her actions.

He seemed to be taking what happened as badly as she had expected, he had become more of a loner and was starting to really act out, Johnny had been hurt several times since what happened, each time Johnny had tried picking on Cloud he had bit back fiercely, twice he had shut Johnny’s eye, there were yet others who had started on him since this, he still fought with them as viciously as the others, all of this-Tifa knew-was because he hated her. She hadn’t had a chance to say anything to him alone, whenever she’d seen him, she had been surrounded by a group of her ‘many friends’, people who were staying with her because she was getting more attention in the town.

But luckily, as the days passed and Zangan’s training started Tifa had little to think about other than her aching muscles, she saw Cloud virtually every day at school, but he was avoiding her now, shooting dark glances at people like Johnny when they were near her.

And, for a while Tifa’s life was a simple but happy one. She spent days training with Zangan and nights exercising on her own, of all those who had tried to join Zangan’s training Tifa was the only one who had stuck at it. She was finally getting good at something that was hers alone.

Three years would pass before another change started across for Tifa.
Every time now that her father heard the name Cloud Strife, he would go off in a rant about how he was no good, Tifa didn’t know why he hated Cloud so much, she’d heard that her mom and Cloud’s had been very close friends before this had all happened.

Though her father hated him and most of the town thought him a pariah, during the winter of her twelfth year, Cloud stopped her on their way home from school. He asked to meet her at the well that night. Though she didn’t know why, a sudden giddiness had come to her at the prospect of this, finally a moment to tell him that she was sorry for not telling the truth, that she really liked him. Her father had heard that they had been talking together and went into a tirade of yells, telling her that he had nearly got her killed once, he could do it again. He was making sure that night that Tifa had fallen asleep and it had been well past midnight before she could slide down her drainpipe.

He was sat there, his legs kicking idly on the side of the well looking out at the entrance to the town, she stood there a moment, smiling at him before she rushed over and climbed the well.

“Sorry I’m late.” Tifa said, sitting down. “Dad wouldn’t go to bed until he had made ‘sure’ that I had gone to sleep.”

She rolled her eyes and turned to Cloud. She felt giddy asking this, but she did anyway “So, what do you want to talk about?”

He heaved a sigh and looked out to the endless stretch of rolling green hills just beyond the gates. He looked lost in thought for a moment before he spoke “Come this spring, I’m leaving this town for Midgar.”

It hit her like a dead weight, she sat there in silence for a moment before replying, rather sulkily. “All boy’s are leaving this town.”

He shook his head, a firm look on his face “But I’m not like the rest of them, I’m gonna join SOLDIER.”

Tifa looked up at him, shock on her face. He was leaving to become a SOLDIER…a real life living legend SOLDIER! But… “Isn’t it hard to join SOLDIER?”

“Yeah, but they say I’ve got what it takes.” Cloud replied, shrugging. Then his eyes lit up “I’m gonna be the best there is…just like Sephiroth.”

Tifa didn’t need to ask who he was, everyone in the world knew who the great General of the Wutai War was. The general was the greatest warrior in the world and the best of all of the Shinra’s armed forces. “Sephiroth, the great Sephiroth?”

“Yep…” Cloud said, nodding. “I probably won’t be able to come back here for a while.”

Tifa sat there, if he was aiming to be like Sephiroth then that was true, he’d need to train himself harder than Tifa could think of to even reach Sephiroth’s level, but to get better than him…was it even possible. Again, the feeling of him not being here, the idea of Cloud being half a world away was like a little hope leaving the world to her, but she had to ask other things, to try and tell him how she felt. “Will you be in the papers if you do well?”

Cloud looked at her before nodding “I’ll try.”

Tifa sighed and looked up at the sky, but she suddenly smiled. “Hay Cloud, look…a shooting star.”

Cloud looked up as well, his mouth opening. “Yeah…wow.” And without hesitation, Tifa turned to him and looked him in the eye. His seemed to lock to hers as easily as hers did to his.

“How about this, if I’m ever in danger, you’ll come rescue me.” Tifa said suddenly.

“Huh?” Clouds face turned to a look of utter confusion.

“If I’m ever in any danger, Cloud.” Tifa said. “My hero’ll come rescue me.” Please see what I mean…I’m sorry!

“What?”

“I want at least to experience that once. Promise me.” Tifa said, Come on, see it Cloud…its right here on my face, I’m sorry for everything…please, please don’t leave!

“I don’t get-.”

“Come on, promise me!” Tifa pleaded, she took on a pained expression and felt her lower lip starting to tremble.

Cloud seemed to finally understand, he nodded, replying. “Alright, I promise.”
                                                       **
It had been a year since Cloud had left and in that time, a lot had changed. Tifa had tried dating, but for some reason she just couldn’t get Cloud out of her head. Some Turks had come and inspired her to begin a mountain climbing business, taking people up the safer paths of the mountains. She had taken out a subscription of the Shinra Times, to learn about things in the big city-honestly! Even her training in Zangan Ryu was progressing,  but all of the positive things in her life had again been ground to a halt because of the things that was ambling though the town square right now.

A large green monster lizard-walking on his hind legs-was stepping through the town not looking at the houses, just simply walking through it to get to the world outside.

She had no idea what they were doing out there or where they were coming from, sometimes Tifa wondered whether the people of Rocket Town were alright or had been killed by these things that were now coming through Nibelheim, but without being allowed to travel over the mountain to check, she would never know.

Once the all clear had been sounded, Tifa exited with the rest and headed straight for the old Shinra mansion, they had said that they would have a town meeting if one more creature had appeared. Tifa sat by her father at the front of the huge open room, the town coming in cautiously-this place had been left empty too long, it had long been the home to some kind of wild beasts. But she and Zangan had cleared the main hall before anyone came in.

“Alright people, what are we going to do about these things?” The Mayor asked.

“Well we can’t keep the place as safe as it is for long, I’m not as young as I used to be and Tifa is nowhere near skilled enough to take on things like a Monatar Lizard or a Black Dragon.” Zangan said. “If we don’t do something soon, we’ll be overrun by the things.”

A sudden thought came to Tifa…she and Zangan couldn’t, but maybe there was one man…one group that could.

“What about the Shinra, they have SOLDIER don’t they?” Tifa asked. “They’re supposed to be the best on the planet in terms of fighting prowess, they’ll be able to stop the monsters won’t they?”

“That’s an idea.” Her father said. “The Shinra promised at the end of the war to keep the peace in the world, well we need ‘em.”

“Then we send for SOLDIER.” The Mayor said, nodding

As the meeting died away, Zangan took Tifa’s arm. “You came up with that idea very quickly…I wonder, would you still be thinking of a certain young man who left this town a year or so ago?”

Tifa stopped and smiled guiltily at Zangan. “Well, it’s a idea, right…SOLDIER is the best idea.”

They started for the tree line, Zangan shook his head. “Tifa, Mr. Strife was placed in the training program for SOLDIER a year ago, if he made it to the end of that program-and it is a very difficult thing to complete-then he would be one of many SOLDIER’s ready to take the call up. He might not be the one or the ones sent here to deal with this problem.”

Tifa frowned slightly as she realised this was true, but she shook her head slightly. “Even if he isn’t one of the ones to come, they’ll know him, won’t they…they’ll be able to tell him that I asked about him, then maybe he’d come back and…”

She allowed herself a moments pondering, seeing Cloud striding into town in a SOLDIER uniform, a sword strapped to his back, smiling as he swept Tifa up in his arms and proclaimed his undying love for her.

She giggled for a rather long time.
                                                          **
The news had only gotten back a month ago, the people who had gone to Midgar and returned had said that the Shinra would get someone out when they could. Now a year later, the monster problem was getting worse, few people were venturing outside these days, Tifa and Zangan were one of the few to try. Tifa felt as scared like everyone else, but she could defend herself if attacked.

Then the news had come, Sephiroth himself was coming with a newly instated SOLDIER First to deal with this problem, that had to be Cloud. He had said he would be like Sephiroth and what better way to become better than The Great One than to travel and train with him?

As the days wound close to the SOLDIER’s arrival, the mood of everyone in the town started to pick up, they were all awaiting the arrival of Sephiroth, she though, she could only think of Cloud.

The suspense was so much that on the morning that they were supposed to come, Tifa sat herself out in the square, waiting for them from six in the morning. They didn’t appear in the first hour, or the second, the third she started to worry that they weren’t coming that day.

By the fourth hour she had started to trace the line of cobblestone with a stick, her head bowed.

Are you coming or what?

“This is Nibelheim, is it…” A voice called from up the lane. “Hay, well look at that.”

Tifa looked up and saw a troop of people walking in, the one in the front, clothed in black leather, long silver coloured hair and the legendary sword on his hip was clearly Sephiroth, with him were three guard-one of which was hastily snapping on a helmet-and a younger man, his hair long, spiky and black. Tifa got to her feet and looked over them but no one else was there, feeling her cheeks burning, she turned and ran back into town, she would ask them later, yes then she’d find where Cloud was…