Aerith & Tifa

[Elario Luminus]

Leon nodded, shifting his weight across.
'We'll start at where he disappeared. We might find something there.'
Turning to walk out, Leon gestured over his shoulder.
'Let's move.'
He walked out of the Library

[Tifa Lockhart]

Tifa blinked, mildly baffled by her new companions efficiency.
"Uh... surely you're not just doing this to help ME... did you really know Cloud well enough to want to go LOOKING for him?" Tifa was pretty sure there was more motivation behind this man than he was letting on, and seeing as they were going to be traveling together, she thought she ought to get that sorted ASAP.

[Elario Luminus]

Leon sighed and turned around.
'I have another reason for helping you find our friend. One of my friends, out of all those lost to The Darkness, is still lost. All others have returned to my home world, but this is the last one. I have to find her to tell her everything...and helping you seems to be the best way to go at the moment. That, and I'd find Cloud. Two birds with one stone, you could say.'
Leon turned without another word and walked onwards, obviously not wanting to talk about the whereabouts of Rinoa.

[Tifa Lockhart]

"Maybe Cloud's found Zack by now..." Tifa mumbled to herself as she followed along just behind Leon.
Tifa was known for her perceptiveness. When you live with a guy like Cloud Strife, you learn a trick or two when it comes to reading complicated guys, and so, hesitantly she pursued a conversation, not wanting to be left in silence.
"She's really important to you huh?" She asked with Tifa's infamous tenderness.

[Elario Luminus]

Leon hung his head slightly and closed his eyes briefly before refocusing on where he was going again.
'...yeah, she is. I have to apologize to her when I find her...apologize for my weakness...'
Evidently "Squall" was still "dead" in a way, as he still ran by the alias Leon and still blamed himself for now two things; not being able to protect them...her, in the first place, and now not being able to find her.

[Tifa Lockhart]

"That explains it then..." Tifa said gently, catching up to walk directly besides Leon before darting in front of him and stopping, putting a hand on his shoulder, one of her smiles on her face.
"It explains why your eyes are like his." She tilted her head a little, "He's just like you... he's looking for someone important to him... so he can apologise... he blames himself for what happened to him, and to our world... i guess it's why he wont face any of us. If you'd been there you'd probably see why he feels that way but... it wasn't his fault really." She smiled again and removed her hand, brushing a lock of hair out of her face before planting the hand on her hip.
"And i dont think it's really yours either."

[Elario Luminus]

Leon looked at Tifa in the eye, the slightest glare in his own.
'Think what you want. If I was stronger, I wouldn't be in this predicament, and Rinoa wouldn't be lost to me.'
Knowing that she's safe enough to write a letter to him wasn't enough, and he HAD to see her with his own eyes.

He bowed his head slightly and walked around Tifa.

[Tifa Lockhart]

"EXACTLY like him." She muttered with a sigh and a shrug as she let him go around her and began to follow. Despite her happy exterior, Tifa was falling apart inside.
She was imagining Denzel and Marlene back home, waiting for her to bring Cloud back... like she'd promised everyone. She remembered Aerith's sad face as she bid her friend goodbye, making her promise she'd look for Zack as well.
She wanted so bad to find both of them... she needed to tell Cloud all that she had been too afraid to do before... she needed to tell him just what he meant to her...

but he seemed so determined to flee from her... and distance himself from all of them... and it tore Tifa apart inside.

Subconsciously Tifa hugged herself as they walked.

[Elario Luminus]

In what seemed like no time at all they'd reached the ravine where near where Cloud was last seen. Leon turned to Tifa, then gestured out the their location.
'Here we are. Seein' as you were the last person to see him, and it was here, I'll need to hear what happened before his disappearance.'
Leon looked around, himself seeing nothing that could even remotely help.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Tifa looked around the broad ravine, swallowing thickly and walking over to the edge of the ledge, looking around in silence for a few moments before she turned to speak with him.
"Well... i found Cloud here... with that kid, you know, the one with the special key? And well... he was confronting Sephiroth... he's from our world too... and Cloud has always had problems with him..." She walked in a circle around the ledge and then continued.
"Cloud said something about the darkness going away if he defeats Sephiroth... but he said that Cloud could never turn his back on the darkness of his past." She choked on tears that her constant pacing was trying to ward off.
"But he's wrong! Cloud was so-" She stopped, her body shuddering as she collected herself again, "So close... before it all happened... but anyway, i'm off topic. Then i ran over and... well, words just sort of came into my mind... I wanted to offer my help... so i told him he could borrow my light... and then Sephiroth attacked me... and Cloud stopped him and then...." She stopped, pausing on the spot before turning to face Leon.
"He was gone..."

[Elario Luminus]

Leon cocked his eyebrow slightly before placing one hand on his hip and the other to his forehead in thought.
'He just disappeared..? No traces at all?'
He normally would find that hard to believe, but he arrived in Traverse Town the exact same way.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Tifa shook her head.
"None..." She murmured, looking at the ground, willing Cloud to just step out of the shadows...

[Elario Luminus]

Leon thought for a second, then got a call on his cell phone.
'Excuse me for a second, Tifa. Merlin. What's going on? Someone's asking for me? Who is it? What do you mean, you don't know? What's he look like? Is he armed? Yes. Alright. I'll be there in about ten minutes.'
Sliding the phone shut and slipping it into hos pocket, Leon turned to Tifa and jerked his thumb over his shoulder.
'Someone's asking for me. You may as well come with me, as I don't think we'll find anything here.'
He turned and started on his way back to Merlin's House.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Tifa nodded hurriedly and moved briskly to move by Leon's side. She felt strangely anxious, and yet hopeful at the same time. Perhaps it was someone who knew where Cloud was? Or the person Leon was looking for?

Meanwhile back at Merlin's place his guest meandered around the house aimlessly, swinging his arms by his side as he observed the computer set up in one corner.
"I'd know this handywork anywhere." He murmured, grinning as he observed it closer.
"Cid Highwind's been here eh? Figures." He sighed and turned around, grinding his jaw back and forth.
"Man i'm BORED. This Leon guy must walk pretty slow." He grumbled, brushing a lock of black hair our of his Mako blue eyes, giving a casual grin before he dropped into a squat, something he did when he was bored.

[Elario Luminus]

There was a hard thud on Merlin's door and Leon walked through the doorway, the look he used to give his SeeDs on his face. "The Commanders' Glare", they called it.

Leon walked straight up to his brightly blue-eyed guest and held out his hand.
'I'm Leon, more or less the leader of what little defense we have left here. Everyone else has gone back to Midgar.'
Leon glanced at the large sword on his back.
'Forgive me of any rudeness, but what's your business here? What's your name? Where have you come from?'