Title: Explanations
Fandom: Final Fantasy: Advent Children
Characters: Cloud, Tifa
Prompt: 019 - White
Word Count: 491
Date finished: 06/08/2006
Rating: G
Summary: Cloud explains what he experienced those two days Kadaj messed up his life - and ultimately saved it.
Author's Notes: Bizarre, and not so well-written. But it is done.
Disclaimer: Characters are owned by Square Enix and Sony Pictures as far as I know.

When it was all over, after Cloud had relocated his chest and bedroll to the bar, he told Tifa about what he'd seen, experienced, and in some cases, half remembered, sitting in her bedroom.

"White?" she asked.

"Completely," he said. "And then flowers were under my feet, and Aerith was standing behind me."

Tifa gave him a strange look. "I think I remember that," she said slowly. "I mean, after the fight with that guy…."

"Loz," Cloud told her absently, and she gave him another strange look.

"…and you came in. I wasn't completely unconscious when you collapsed."

"Then, too?" He folded his arms. "They were really watching over us, then."

Tifa shook her head. "I think… they?"

He smiled, a sad smile. "The wolf. I think…. I think it was Zack."

"Wolf?" she repeated.

"There was a wolf… most of the time I was in the white place." He shrugged irritably, frustrated that he didn't have a better term for it. "Except the time Aerith talked to me."

Tifa hesitated. "Was she happy?"

Cloud met her eyes. "She seemed to be, yes. And Zack… was not in pain any more."

"Good," she said. "Now… how do you know the name of the man I fought with?"

"I don't know," he said. "But with Kadaj's name came his, and Yazoo's, and even a few memories of what they went through. They've been working pretty steadily the last couple of years to find the last of Jenova." He was proud of himself, that he didn't flinch. "Tseng and Elena interrupted their search, and took the last of it before they could stop them." He winced slightly at the memory. "They all took out their anger on the Turks, too - even Reno and Rude, but more so the first two."

"But how do you know that?"

"I think," he said slowly, "that the Jenova cells connected us, somehow. I hadn't thought to ask Denzel if he had any of that information, too. I'll have to do that tomorrow."

Tifa smiled. "You have your own little guardian angels," she said fondly, and he shook his head.

"Had," he said. "Zack waved at me before they left; I had the feeling I was on my own after that."

"Waved at you?" she asked.

"When I woke up," he said. "In the pool. After Denzel's stigma was cleansed, I saw them. She was with a couple of the kids, and he stood at the door." He swallowed hard; it had been good to see his friend outside of the blurry memories he had while suffering from Mako poisoning. "She said 'You see? Everything's alright', and walked away. Zack waved as he followed her, and they vanished into the light. It felt like good-bye."

She leaned over and hugged him gently. "You'll see them again, you know," she said softly. "Just… don't go too soon, okay?"

"I won't," he said, and hugged her back.

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