[The look in her own eyes mirrors his, and she wonders in that moment what it is he's thinking that makes him so... sad, and so suddenly, but he confirms it, and her stomach does a small flip at the mention of Cloud. It's not often that he's brought up between them, and she prefers it that way, but she would be remiss to say that she hadn't thought the exact same thing every now and then.

Not that she's ever come up with an answer to it.]

... I don't know.

[Tifa really, truly doesn't know how things would have gone if Cloud had been more present in her life. She knew nothing about it there, and so she could never make assumptions about it, but she doesn't want to either. Doesn't want to think of a life without Eustace in it, and at her side...

Because that is what's harder to imagine now.]

I might have been confused for a while... or maybe we might not have met at all...

[The latter pains her the most. She closes her eyes and keeps his hand close, but her heart feels like it's being pulled on.]

But we're connected now. In ways I don't even think I can understand... I think... that maybe my heart would've gone to you anyway. Just like yours did when you came back.