Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII or any material related to Square Enix or any other affiliations therewith.

Note: The interpretations of various characters' personalities stems solely from the movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.

Plip…

An endless field of water, vanishing into darkness. An undisturbed tranquility that was both comforting and melancholy.

"Come on, Cloud…" A gentle voice, soft, caring, familiar…

Plip…

A single ray of light sliced through the oppressive darkness, allowing a minute droplet of water to plunge deep into the pool, a twin of itself springing into the air like a dolphin playing.

"Cloud, don't do this to yourself." A young man surfaced, his eyes closed, mouth set in a soft, contented line, his fair hair fanned out like a haphazard halo surrounding an even paler face. The young man opened his eyes, a deep, glowing, haunting blue which surveyed his surroundings.

Plip…

His gaze fell on the young woman he had thought about for a long time. Guilt clouded his eyes as he looked away. A pale hand cupped his chin, and she gently turned his head to look at her. She smiled at him, a soft, sad smile.

"You don't need to torture yourself with guilt and self-blame, Cloud," she said as she stepped away from him, returning once more into shadow "You came for me. That's all that matters."

Cloud opened his eyes, searching the dark room for any sign of his late friend. Tensed muscles relaxed as he realized there was no one there, only the sound of the rain softly pattering against the window to keep him company. Drawing a hand down his flushed face, the blonde groaned softly, shivering as he drew the quilt up over his nose.

"Damn fever…" he cursed. It had been two days since his childhood friend, Tifa, had come across Cloud on the outskirts of Midgar. At least, he had thought it had been Tifa. He had been riding back on his Fenrir from a delivery in Kalm, when it began to rain. Cloud had already been feeling under the weather that morning when he had awoken, but thought it was nothing more than the changing atmosphere that a storm had brought with it. Looking around the room, he noticed it was nearly morning, the sheer white curtains hanging from a rod above the windows allowing rain-hazy light to filter through the window. Cloud sighed tiredly and closed his eyes, taking note to remember to thank Tifa for dressing him in long-sleeved pajamas.

Cloud was just dozing off when he heard the faintest sound of the door handle being turned. Assuming it was Tifa coming in to check on him, he didn't open his eyes. However, the sound of footsteps on the carpet never reached his sensitive ears. A small frown creased the corners of the blonde's mouth, and his pale eyebrows were pinched together ever so slightly. Hmm. Definitely not Tifa. The young man nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the trickling and warmth of warm water being wrung from a cloth, before being placed on his forehead by a practiced hand. Deciding it was time to give up the ruse of being asleep, Cloud feigned the fuzzy-headed, just-awoken state. Unfortunately, whoever the person was who was administering to him obviously knew he had been awake for a while.

"About time you quit faking it. How are you feeling?" Finding that he was exhausted from the very little movement he had been able to do, Cloud could not open his eyes. He guessed from the timbre of the voice that the speaker was a middle-aged woman, probably in her late twenties or mid thirties, not that he had an extensive knowledge in this field of expertise.

"Cloud, are you able to move at all?" The blonde shifted around a bit, barely managing a single nod of his head, before slouching back against his pillows. The woman sighed, and gently cradled Cloud's head in one hand, propping a second pillow under his back to help him sit up against the headboard of the bed he lay in, much to the blonde's relief. A new position compared to the other one he had lain in for the past two days was a refreshing feeling, and it compelled Cloud to open his eyes, drowsily observing his surroundings more clearly now that the hazy light had brightened the room.

The swordsman saw that he was not in his room-office; neither was he in Tifa's modest, lavender-tinted room. This room was painted a faint bluish-green, making Cloud relax instantly upon seeing the color. The bed he lay in was a modest queen-sized bed; the coverlet was a rich brocade embroidered with blue, green, lavender and silver lotus and cherry blossoms, as well as cranes and butterflies. Four cardinal kanji were painted in the lightest of plums: kita, minami, higashi, and nishi. The woman Cloud had heard speak was, herself, hidden in shadow, her dark brown hair cascading over her face in curls, ending just below her shoulders. She wore a midnight-purple long-sleeved wrap-around top, the sleeves rolled up as she continued to attend to Cloud. A simple pair of fitted boot-cut jeans and cream-colored indoor slippers completed her overall modest outlook. The woman removed the cloth from the blonde's head and did the same to his pajama top, much to the discomfort of the blonde warrior. She then proceeded to take up a washcloth, soaking it in the warm water before gently giving Cloud's upper body a sponge-bath. Not being able to move much, Cloud just let her do what she had to, albeit making a small noise of disapproval which she merely chuckled at.

While Cloud was not quite sure where he was exactly, he was sure, however, that he was above the Seventh Heaven bar; he could hear the familiar clink of shot, martini, and hurricane glasses being vigorously scrubbed to rid them of the previous night's liquor and frills. Cloud also heard the announcing whistle of the liquor delivery boy, the very same one who delivered the liquor Tifa often had to special order from remote cities. Abruptly, he found his voice.

"Who are you?" he managed to get out in a hoarse whisper. The woman didn't pause in her work as she answered, laughing.

"I'm not surprised you don't remember me, Cloud," she said, looking up at him. "It's been a long time since Nibelheim, huh?" Cloud's mouth nearly dropped open; the middle-aged woman before him was actually in her early twenties, and she was also none other than Tifa's neighbor.

"And also one of my childhood crushes…" Cloud thought to himself, but his pride and virtual incapability to speak made it impossible for him to voice his thoughts.

"Pacifa…" The woman nodded solemnly, piercing silvery-blue eyes catching the immediate interest of the mako-eyed blonde. Closing his own eyes to avoid her intense gaze, he exhaled tiredly, exhausted from the warmth Pacifa had doused his body with.

"Tifa's downstairs fixing something hot for you to eat. She can't feed it to you, she's keeping one eye on Denzel and Marlene, and one on that Yuffie girl." Pacifa returned to wringing out the cloths she had used. "So she asked me if I could give it to you, instead."

Looking over, Pacifa saw that Cloud had apparently slipped into a light doze. Deciding to see if his soup was ready, she stood up to place the used cloths into a bag to be washed later. Before she managed to fully straighten up, Cloud's hand shot out and grabbed her by the wrist. Pacifa fell over, slamming her right hand next to the blonde's head to keep her balance.

"Cloud, what the-" Her voice failed her as she saw Cloud's mako-blue eyes staring at her intently. A single sentence flew out of his mouth, something he had wanted to know ever since he had left Nibelheim, before Sephiroth had leveled it to the ground.

"Did you ever love me?" he asked. Pacifa felt as if a ton of bricks had knocked into her; she had never expected Cloud to ask her that question, let alone even contemplate it. The swordsman expected even a slight reaction from his brunette friend: a skipped heartbeat, a muscle twitch, anything. But everything remained as schooled as ever, Cloud reflected remorsefully.

"She hasn't changed a bit," he thought to himself, his grip on Pacifa's wrist loosening slightly. Ever so gently, the young woman pulled her wrist out of Cloud's slight vice. She caught his gaze as she tilted his head upward, brushing a single, smooth, delicate finger over his lips.

"I think I heard Tifa calling me," she said, gathering her things and tip-toeing to the 

door. "I'll be right back with your food, Cloud." With that, Pacifa quietly shut the door behind her, leaving the blonde swordsman alone with his thoughts. Touching his lips with his fingertips, he managed a small smile. Cloud shook his head, chuckling despite his illness and sighing to himself.

"That girl… She always has to do something that will pacify, never satisfy," he thought, as his eyes strayed back to the falling rain, drowsiness overcoming his senses before he slipped into a heavy slumber.

A/N: I already know there are many things wrong with this, and I intend to fix those problems as soon as I hear feedback from readers. I have a feeling that this could also be the start of a multi-chapter story. However, this is my first shot at trying my hand in this category, as well as my self-reintroduction into writing fanfiction. As some of my previous readers may know, I have not been writing because I have a serious case of writers block. Therefore, if this does, in fact, turn out to be desired as a multi-chapter story, I have no idea how long it will take me to finish it.