No…
Light!
* * *
Tifa
Lockheart grabbed the slender girl's hand once more as the willowy frame shook
with barely restrained screams of pain. She bowed her head, urging the girl in
a hoarse, strained voice.
"Just a
little longer, Amé, that's all…Just a little longer…"
Amé wailed and collapsed, dark brown
eyes filming over with exhaustion and oncoming doom. Tifa swiftly grabbed the
baby and wrapped it in a blanket to prevent a premature illness, soothing the
tiny boy's frantic squeaks of hysteria. She practically shoved the child
against his dying mother's breast, forcefully gathering the girl's limp arms
and hands to the bundle and firmly holding the waxy limbs to the baby. All this
resulted in more shrieks of terror from the newborn and Amé just barely opening
her eyes, staring half-blindly down at the tiny life she had bore onto the
Planet, tiny fists clenched into balls and eyes screwed shut as tears ran into
its open mouth.
"I…" Amé's
voice was faint and raspy. Tifa leaned closer to hear her.
"What
is it, Amé?"
Amé made a
visible effort, bringing her eyes up to stare squarely into Tifa's. "I
don't…want…him…"
Tifa
nearly slapped the half-dead girl in the face. "What do you mean, you don't
want him?! Look at him, Amé! Look!" She raised the baby up, putting the round
face into Amé's weakening eyesight. "He's your son!" Tifa felt tears of
helpless outrage run down her face, joining with the baby's soulful cries. Oh, you poor child, she thought to both
Amé and her baby. You poor, poor child…
Amé fell
back, closing her eyes and stiffening almost instantly as the Planet brought
her to the Lifestream.
With a moan of
despair, Tifa held both children to her, knowing why Amé hadn't wanted her
misbegotten boy, and knowing, all the while…
It's my fault…
* * *
"Tifa?"
Cloud Strife knocked on the room's door, listening inside for a response. When
there was none, he shifted the kettle of hot water and basket of towels to his
other arm, gently cracking the door open to peer inside.
Tifa's
long, silky brown hair faced him as she knelt on the room's floor, rocking back
and forth on her heels and murmuring under her breath. On the bed in front of
her was a white sheet covering something that Cloud immediately knew what it
was. He took a cautious step into the room, placing his burden onto the floor
next to the door and inching forward. "Tifa? What…what happened?"
Tifa
didn't seem to have heard him at first, but she stopped rocking a moment later
and kept perfectly still. "C-Cloud?"
"Tifa?"
Cloud repeated, confusion in his voice.
The young woman's frame abruptly began to
shake. Cloud darted forward, grabbing hold of Tifa's shoulders and facing
directly to her. Distinct tears were falling from her brown eyes, forming in
each corner and then sliding down onto the object in her lap. Cloud looked down
involuntarily and was immediately faced with the slumbering, innocent face of a
newborn baby, Tifa's tears dripping, ignored, onto the downy yellow blanket
that covered its vulnerable body.
"Oh,
Tifa…"
"Cloud,"
Tifa whispered, gulping back nearly hysterical tears and tone of voice. "I…I
couldn't…I couldn't save her…"
Cloud's
heart grieved for the teenaged girl who lay dead on the bed behind him, but he
carefully schooled his face down. "That was…Amé, wasn't it?"
Tifa
nodded miserably. "She…"
"She
was like my little sister," Cloud said, closing his aqua-blue eyes. "And…"
"Cloud,
she told me…" Tifa gently cradled the little baby to her. "She told me, before
she died, that she didn't want him. Her own baby."
Cloud
shook his head slowly, staring down at the little boy. "Amé…never wanted to
have a kid. It wasn't…her fault…or yours, Tifa."
"It
was my fault," Tifa sobbed. "It was my fault, Cloud, all my fault…"
"Shh."
Cloud held Tifa to him, careful not to crush the sleeping infant between them.
"Shh…it wasn't anyone's fault…"
* * *
"Amé, can you take a quick trip to Turtle's
Paradise?"
"Okay, Tifa!" Amé waved
cheerfully, picking up the hem of her cotton kimono and a basket.
"Careful, kiddo," Cloud
warned her on her way out. "Even in Wutai, you never know what's around the
corner!"
Amé made a face at Cloud. "I
know!" She ran out of the door, closing it roughly behind her.
Yuffie Kisaragi slumped up
the stairs of her underground training room, yawning visibly. "I dunno why I
let you two stay here," she slurred as she fell over onto the table Tifa had
set up. "Inviting weird strangers an' all that…"
"Amé's not a 'weird
stranger,' " Tifa said reproachfully as she poured Yuffie a cup of strong tea.
"Besides," Cloud added disapprovingly, "who would be
taking care of you during your hangovers? I swear, Yuffie, if you don't stop
drinking every night…"
"What? Drinking's good for yer heart," Yuffie
responded, poking at her teacup. She rested her chin on her hands and her
elbows on the tabletop, staring down into the brown liquid. "Oh, hey…you didn't
filter out the tea stems real good, Tifa."
"Oops," Tifa muttered, peering into
the teacup. Sure enough, there was a single tea stalk floating straight up
inside of it. "I'll get it out…"
"Aw, don't sweat it," Yuffie
growled, waving Tifa's hand away. "I heard that it's supposed to mean good
luck." With that last comment, she slumped straight over, face just barely
missing the "good luck" tea and hitting the table while her arms hung limply
over the sides. A loud snore emitted from her as she immediately shifted deeply
into her hangover snooze at full force.
Cloud winced. "I wish she didn't do that every
morning."
"She's…had it pretty rough," Tifa commented as she
rescued Yuffie's teacup from accidental spillage. Almost immediately, Yuffie
hand twitched into the area that the cup formerly sat on and rested there. "I
mean, Godo's been pressing her to start taking things more seriously now. She's
only sixteen, Cloud, and she'll only be seventeen four months from now. She
still sees life—and the world—as a big bouncing ball, ready to play with."
Cloud snorted.
"Amé just turned sixteen, and she acts more
mature than Yuffie." He glanced at the tea Tifa still held in her hand. "Say,
is that tea really supposed to mean good luck?"
Tifa shrugged. "Darned if I
know. It might just be one more of Yuffie's made up myths."
"Yeah, knowing her," Cloud
agreed, taking the cup of tea from Tifa's hand and downing it in one gulp. He
immediately made a face and picked the tea stalk off of his tongue. "Good luck
has its drawbacks, I suppose."
Tifa laughed before turning
her attention to Yuffie. The teenaged ninja was still slumped over at the
table, unconscious and dead to the world. "Yuffie! Wake up!"
"…Five more minutes, mom…"
Yuffie replied sleepily.
Cloud lost his smile for a
minute. "Poor kid. I almost forgot that she never knew her mother…"
Tifa began to say something
right when an ear-piercing scream filled the air. Her head jerked up as a
fervent curse in the Wutai language rang out, followed by more screams and a
high, piercing wail of fright. Cloud went flying out the door, even forgetting
his sword that hung in the back of the room in his haste. Tifa followed,
dismissing Yuffie and her frequent hangovers from her mind. Who would be making
such a racket this early in the morning?
"Cloud-san!" a young girl
cried out, beckoning frantically. "Over here!"
Cloud ran over as quickly as
his legs would take him. "What is it?" he demanded.
"Cloud-san, it's…it's
Amé-chan! She…she was…"
Cloud swore and pushed his
way through the crowd to the orphaned girl he had "adopted" as a little sister.
She lay on the ground in an alley behind Turtle Paradise, bruises covering her
pale throat and just barely breathing. He knelt beside her, gathering her in
his arms. "Who did this?!" he demanded of the people.
"We do not know, Cloud-san,"
the same girl apologized. "Whoever it was escaped before we found her."
"Oh!" Tifa arrived, clasping
her hands over her mouth. "Amé!"
"She's been hurt badly,"
Cloud gasped out as he cradled the slight girl like a baby. "I don't know what
happened…"
"This way!" Tifa led Cloud
out of the group and into Yuffie's house, where the ninja was still sprawled
over the tabletop. They set Amé on the futon in the back of the room that
Yuffie usually used, except with her nightly drinking habit she never inhabited
it anymore.
Amé whimpered and coughed
slightly, whispering something under her breath and opening her eyes slightly.
Cloud leaned over her, concerned, and gently touched her forehead to check to
see if she had a temperature.
Almost instantly, Amé cringed
away from his touch, shrieking in terror as if Cloud had just attacked her. She
seemed to recognize Tifa and feverishly grabbed the young woman's hands,
sobbing hysterically.
"What? What did I do?!" Cloud
demanded confusedly. "Amé wouldn't…"
"She's traumatized inside and
out," Tifa announced as she held the trembling girl. "But…that strong
reaction…She's been living as your sister for a little less than half a year,
but she's never reacted like that before!"
"It's as if…she's scared of
me," Cloud whispered.
"If I didn't know better…"
Tifa ran her gentle fingers over the dark bruises on Amé's throat, careful to
not cause the girl any more pain. "Cloud…" She looked up at him with troubled
brown eyes.
"What?" Cloud asked
impatiently.
"…I think Amé was…well…" Tifa
swallowed. "Raped."
"WHAT?!"
"Why else would she react to
a man's touch like that? She immediately went to one of her own gender for
comfort, even though you're her only family! Those bruises…and her attitude…"
Tifa trailed off.
"No!" Cloud shook his head
vehemently. "What sorry bastard would do that to Amé?!" He leaped to his feet,
every line of his body intent on grabbing his Ultima Weapon. "I swear I'll find
him and kill him if it's the last thing I do!"
"Cloud! You won't be able to
find whoever did this; it's too late." Tifa put out a hand to restrain the
young man. "The best thing to do…is to just let Amé rest."
Cloud sighed gustily and
dropped to his knees, watching as Amé shook and let out hoarse, clipped sobs.
"You're right, Tifa. But…I
swear that I won't rest until I find that bastard and kill him."
* * *
Tifa
set the baby in his crib as gently as she could, watching as he snuggled up on
his side. Faint patches of dark black hair, echoing Amé's own, shaded the boy's
scalp. She sighed and sat down in a chair next to the crib, lowering her head
in despair and sorrow for Amé.
Oh, Amé, if only you knew how sorry I am…
* * *
Cloud stared up
at the starlit sky, deep blue eyes glaring hatefully up at the heavens.
"Why,
you bastard?! Why do you always have to come back and haunt me?! Why does your
ghost always have to take away everything I love?!"
"Because…you are a puppet…"
The harsh,
grating voice ran through his mind like sandpaper against rock. Cloud clenched
his fists and fell to his knees, lowering his head.
"Damn
you, Sephiroth. And damn your mother, too. I just know that you are somewhere
at the root cause of all of this…"
The
stars overhead, the same stars Cloud had looked up to as a small child living
in a different place, glimmered knowingly at the blonde-haired man below,
slumped over in defeat.
"…Damn
you…"
Go to Chapter Two
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Fate's Prisoners
By: Kage