Dedicated to kellyj17, whose Breath of Fire had inspired parts of one of my other stories and this one, too. (I had forgotten about past inspirations because I kinda go brain-dead at work and run with ideas, but remembered a couple.) So, I hope everyone enjoys and if you haven't read her works you probably should, because they're a lot of fun to read, especially if you're a Cloti fan like I am.
Tifa blinked back tears as she looked at the motorcycle that had been delivered to her bar recently, Fenrir completely intact and merely needing a good wash and a coat of wax. Her hand brushed over the sleek, closed side compartment; she had checked them both and found Cloud's swords still within. He had disappeared while on a delivery to a distant seaside village near Cosmo Canyon, and no one had heard from him in a week. Then the concern began.
Then Fenrir was discovered in a forest between Cosmo Canyon and Gongaga by hunters, who recognized the beast of a motorcycle belonging to the owner of Strife Delivery Service. Tifa had it towed from Cosmo Canyon after desperately asking the hunters who called her if there had been any sign of Cloud in the forest, and they sadly said no.
She refused to believe he was dead, but after two weeks and not a peep from his phone she was beginning to lose hope. Tifa would stay up late and fall asleep at the counter, waiting, hoping he would walk through the door and tell her a crazy story about how he had to fight off a Behemoth with his fists or how he saved someone in the forest and became hopelessly lost. Something, anything. The hole in her heart grew like a hungry black hole.
The children were fretting too. Marlene smiled less and less and Denzel barely talked to either of them at all. Tifa would have to force him to do homework and he would become even more sullen, verbally lashing out on occasion at his remaining guardian. Tifa took it in stride, because she knew how much Cloud meant to him, and to her also. She would catch Marlene crying at night if she headed into her room instead of sleeping at the bar, and sometimes Tifa would hear Denzel whispering softly to the little girl, his room dark and empty as he slept next to Marlene in a bid to comfort her.
The other members of Avalanche hadn't given up the search for their de-facto leader, though Nanaki had trouble catching his scent in the forest as it faded away into nothing. Tifa knew Vincent was probably prowling the area he was last seen at, and Cid kept a look out for Cloud as he bused the Shera here and there. Barret and Yuffie refused to believe he kicked the bucket, and Reeve had Cait Sith dispatched to look for the spiky haired warrior. If he was in the area, they would find him.
It had been a month now since Cloud Strife disappeared off of the face of the Planet, his friends' hopes of ever finding him slowly dying each day. Yuffie would come to the bar every couple of days to check on Tifa, the ninja's spunk dampened further each time she visited. Tifa was thankful for the visits, but each time Yuffie would come through the door she would hope for...anything. A clue, a piece of clothing. Something, anything to either confirm his death or that he was still alive out there.
One evening after the bar was closed and the children were put to bed Tifa decided to take a walk. Beyond the Meteorfall Monument, beyond the other side of Edge. She just automatically ended up there as she fell deep into thought during her journey. It wasn't supposed to have been so long a walk with the children still at home, but now she stood in front of the church, moonlight illuminating the dilapidated building and the piles of metal ruins strewn nearby.
She chewed the inside of her cheek before taking in a sharp, deep breath and walking in. It was quiet but for the gentle sound of water from the spring welling up at the far end of the church, flowers blooming in the dirt that was exposed under broken wooden floor. Tifa walked up to the to the pool, then sat on a pew and pinched the fabric of her shorts as she looked downward at the peaceful, bubbling water. A frog was swimming in it, darting deep into the pool.
"Aerith..." Tifa began, her voice cracking. "I don't know if you've gone back into the Lifestream yet, or if you're still here. But Cloud is gone...I'm not sure what to do. No one does." She heaved a sigh and wiped at her eyes. "Aerith, if he's with you now, tell him we all miss him and-"
A loud croak near her foot startled the distraught woman, and she almost kicked at the frog that sneaked up on her. It looked up at Tifa, its throat flexing as it issued a trill. It croaked again at her. She blinked; it was a huge amphibian, bigger than her foot. Again it croaked, loud and deep as it stared into her eyes. Tifa frowned, the eyes were almost iridescent, like the blue hues in a milky opal.
Tifa looked around, feeling slightly uncomfortable now with this frog staring at her. "Um, just...Thank you, Aerith." She glanced at the frog again, sighed, then quickly left the church. Tifa heard the flop of frog belly against wood as it followed behind her. Thump...Thump...Thump...She shut the door, not wanting it to follow her home. Her bar wasn't a good place for frogs anyway. The church pool would suit it better.
Her mind went back to Cloud. They had been through so much! What could have possibly caused his demise? It must have caught him off guard, all of his swords were in Fenrir, growing rust. Maybe. She really wasn't sure if the metal was capable of rusting.
Now with Cloud's income gone, Tifa had thought fleetingly about selling the bike for extra cash, but she couldn't bare to part with Cloud's things. It was too soon yet. Maybe too soon ever. Fenrir and the Combination Sword were his two babies, and perhaps Denzel could use the motorcycle someday. The swords would be a bit out of his league, of course.
She decided she would just put in an extra couple of hours during the night to make up what income was lost. The busy weekends would give her enough income to keep everything going, she was sure of it. It helped that Seventh Heaven was her and Cloud's property, not something they mortgaged like late comers to Edge.
Cloud...
Several days later and still no word on Cloud, as if she was expecting anything more these days. Tifa wiped the counter of the bar after a busy lunch, trying to keep her mind off the spiky headed warrior. Her mind always strayed to him, though. What else could be done? Everyone was looking for him already, had been looking for him. The general area he went missing in had been looked through ten times over.
She looked towards the garage as the sound of running on the concrete floor came closer, then the door to the bar opened. Tifa frowned as she heard a loud croak issue from whatever Denzel was manhandling as he shut the door with his foot. His face was lit up with excitement, a big grin crossing his face; she hadn't seen him in such a mood in a while. Tifa studied what was held in Denzel's hands and frowned.
"Please, Tifa? Can I keep it?"
Tifa grimaced as Denzel held up the biggest, ugliest, slimiest frog she had ever seen. It was black with sandy yellow splotches on its topside, its belly an ashy grey, and murky blue eyes under large brow ridges. It let out a deep croak, slowly kicking its legs as the boy suspended it from the ground by its sides. "You don't know where its been, Denzel!" Was this the frog from the church? It was just as big...
It croaked again.
"I can clean it up! Please!" Denzel pushed out his bottom lip, his eyes big.
Tifa rolled her eyes and sighed. She tapped her fingers on the counter, staring at the hideous thing. Maybe he would get tired of it in a week, and he could use the distraction; Denzel had been so bad tempered lately that seeing him in a good mood over an ugly frog was a godsend. "...Okay, but keep it in your room. I don't want that thing hopping around the bar and...getting squished by a customer." she said distastefully.
He flashed a toothy grin. "I will! You won't even know he's there!" Denzel dashed up the stairs to his bedroom and shut the door before placing the frog on the ground. It hopped once, then clumsily turned to face the boy as it tucked its legs under its belly. Denzel crouched down to look it over, a smile on his face. "What should I name you?"
It croaked.
Denzel rubbed the top of its head and it shut its eyes. "How about Slimy?" The frog almost looked like it was giving him a dirty look after the boy withdrew his fingers. "Okay, maybe not that...I found you outside the back door..." He thought about Cloud, Fenrir and his swords. "Tsurugi!"
The frog...shrugged?
"Alright, well...You gotta stay in here, Tsurugi. But I'll be back with some food, okay?" The frog cocked its head and croaked, and Denzel frowned. It was certainly a unique frog with a lot of personality. Were they supposed to be this calm and friendly? He left his room and shut the door, and went outside towards a nearby pet shop that opened up last year. Cloud had taken him there once to look at the pets they had available, but nothing had tickled his fancy.
The frog he found while playing behind the bar did, however. He had never seen such a thing before and he jumped at the chance to keep it. When has there ever been such a friendly frog? It practically hopped right up to him, croaking. There was something familiar about it, too, the way it held itself. Denzel wondered what brought it all the way to the bar, or how it even made its way into the city.
As soon as he made it into the pet shop he made his way towards the reptile food. 'Frogs like big, juicy bugs...' A finger to his lower lip Denzel looked over the selection of live insects. Some looked too small for an amphibian of Tsurugi's size, and a few were too big. Maybe he would have to feed it baby rats...He looked at the container and decided he didn't want to see that.
A clerk came up to him. "Need anything from here?"
Denzel looked up at him and nodded. "I need food for a really big frog." He used his hands to show the clerk Tsurugi's size. The man whistled.
"Probably some Wutaian cave beetle larvae. They're popular with reptiles about that size." Denzel nodded and the clerk scooped the large, squirming larvae up from their enclosure and into a plastic see through container that held some moist cotton balls and cardboard. "Just come back when you're done for a refill. They like root vegetables, so a few pieces of carrot or potato will keep'em healthy."
Denzel nodded and thanked him as he paid for his pet's food, then hurried home. He opened the door to his room and called out to Tsurugi. "Hey, Tsurugi! I got you some big juicy bugs!" Denzel looked around, then under his bed. "Tsurugi?" He looked about his room but the frog was gone. On the verge of panic he heard a giggle from the room next to his, and he went to investigate. What he saw wasn't pretty.
Tsurugi was on Marlene's bed, a tiny little blue cape tied to the base of his chubby neck, and a doll's crown on his head. He croaked pathetically as Marlene put a princess doll next to him as she hummed. His milky blue eyes looked at Denzel as he came through the door, begging him to save him. The boy was surprised he hadn't hopped away from the predicament. Maybe he didn't want to fall from the bed.
"Marlene, why'd you go in my room and take my frog?" he scolded.
She scoffed. "He was in the hallway!"
Denzel didn't believe her, his eyes narrowing, but decided to not get into a fight about whether she was a liar or not. He pointed at Tsurugi. "I was lookin' for him, he needs to eat. And dress up your dolls, not Tsurugi."
"His name is Prince Froggerton." she enunciated.
"Tsurugi's my pet, and he's not a prince."
"Ribbit..." Denzel and Marlene looked back at the frog, he didn't look too pleased at all. He looked like he was pleading with them to stop arguing. Denzel removed the crown and cape and gently scooped him up. Marlene groaned in disappointment as her brother walked out of the room with the huge frog and into his bedroom, closing and locking the door before putting Tsurugi down.
"I got you some food, boy." The frog looked up at him expectantly as Denzel turned and picked up a container from his nightstand. "Wutaian cave beetle larvae!"
Tsurugi looked disgusted.
Denzel picked out a large, fat larvae, placing it in his palm and lowering it to his pet. "Here's a big one, Tsurugi." It slowly squirmed on his hand, its little legs scrunching up as it struggled. It took up most of his palm.
Tsurugi winced, pulling his head away, then lunged at the larvae, chomping on it and making little mashing sounds as he made quick work of his lunch. He made a strange sound, similar to a groan one makes when they do something they don't want to do. Denzel grinned and fished out another pale larvae, Tsurugi again playing hard to please for a few moments before devouring it.
"Okay, I think that's enough for now." Denzel put the container under his bed and the frog seemed to sigh in relief. He hopped up to the door and let out a loud croak, then looked back at Denzel. The boy shook his head. "Tifa wants you to stay here." He picked up Tsurugi and gave his head a pat. "Maybe she'll like you later. Girls don't like cold, slimy things." The frog growled and Denzel laughed. "Well, I like you, Tsurugi! Marlene does, too!"
Denzel played with the frog for a good part of the afternoon before going off to eat dinner downstairs. He sat at his usual seat, the chair next to him empty. Denzel tensed his jaw before looking away, and Tifa came to the table with a casserole she hadn't made since Cloud left. Meals had become solemn affairs since he disappeared.
The three silently tucked into their food, Tifa occasionally trying to start a conversation with either child to break the emptiness. Of course Denzel talked about the frog and how cool he was, and Marlene naturally had to correct him on the frog's name.
"It's Tsurugi, Marlene. Not Prince Froggerton. I found'em so I get to name'em."
"I wanna frog!" she pouted. "A girl frog, so Tsurugi isn't lonely."
Tifa sighed through her nose. "One ugly frog is enough."
She jumped when she heard a loud, deep "ribbit" in front of her. Tifa sat up to peer on the other side of the table, and Denzel's mouth hung open as he turned to look towards the noise. Tsurugi sat on Cloud's chair like he owned the thing. Denzel bit his lip and glanced at Tifa, her ruby eyes hiding a dangerous glint in them.
"Denzel."
"The door was closed, Tifa, I swear."
"Get it off Cloud's chair. Now." The boy quickly did as he was commanded to before Tifa decided to squish the silly thing.
"You shouldn't have sat on Cloud's chair, Tsurugi. Um, I dunno if you'll get to meet Cloud..." Denzel was laying in bed with the large frog listening patiently on his chest, his strangely colored eyes watching the boy in the dark. Were they glowing? It had to be whatever light came through the window.
"Cloud is...kinda like my dad now. Hm. He has a delivery service and it sucks when he's goes off on faraway deliveries, but then he brings us gifts." Denzel looked away. "But he disappeared during a delivery over a month ago. And...I really miss him a lot, Tsurugi." His voice cracked before looking back at the frog. Its eyes seemed as watery as Denzel's.
"Marlene and Tifa miss him a lot, too. Sometimes Marlene cries, or Tifa stays up and waits in the bar for Cloud to come home." Tsurugi croaked, as if asking a question, and Denzel nodded. "Yeah. It's been really hard on everybody." Denzel shuddered out a sigh. "Well...I better get to sleep. Night, Tsurugi." He rubbed the frog's head before getting comfortable on his bed.
Tsurugi laid on the boy's belly, waiting for him to fall asleep. Eventually Denzel's breathing evened out, and the frog very gently slid off of his chest. Looking down towards the floor he decided to slide off the bed using his belly. He fell onto his back and kicked about, squirming until he turned himself back over.
Tsurugi looked back at Denzel; he turned onto his side and faced away from the door. Turning back Tsurugi studied the door before hopping towards it, then cocked his head this way and that before leaping up to the knob and slipping it about. The door opened just enough as he pulled back with jerk of his head, then plopped to the ground. He looked back at Denzel who scratched his shoulder. That was that.
Tsurugi peeked out into the hallway. The master bedroom was dark and the bar was still open, the sounds of a conversation floated upwards. He hopped towards the stairs and clumsily made his way down the steps, and halfway down tumbled the rest of the way down, landing with a croaked grunt onto his belly. To his left, Tifa was busy mixing a drink, to his right, the family table and a cabinet full of items that were exchanged for food and drink.
Maybe there was a remedy or Maiden's Kiss.
He hopped towards it, so very close to whatever treasures could possibly be stowed away within. Tsurugi pulled open the cabinet with a hard tug of his stubby front legs, falling onto his back again before righting himself; he was getting better at that. He looked about at the items in front of him and squeaked out a sigh. They were out of the two items he valued most at that moment. Of course.
Tsurugi closed the cabinet and began to hop towards the stairs in resignation when he heard Tifa giggle, and he turned towards her. Some guy was flirting with her at the counter. Tsurugi narrowed his eyes and somehow scowled before hopping their way.
"That's very funny, Taylor!" Tifa giggled out before serving him his drink. She leaned on the counter, smiling.
Taylor took a sip of his drink. "I'm just full of stories, Tifa." He put his hand over hers. "I know I've been a regular for only the last two months, and maybe this is sudden, but I was wondering if you might be available."
Tifa's eyes widened momentarily before shaking her head. "No, I'm waiting for him...Cloud, to come home."
"How long's he been gone?" Taylor raised a brow. He remembered seeing a blonde man either behind the counter or at one of the empty tables on a regular basis. He hadn't bothered to learn his name.
"Um...A little over a month." she admitted. Tifa hadn't spoken about Cloud's disappearance to her customers much at all, especially since it dampened her spirits. Some of the older gentlemen had given her their best wishes for him to return to her safely.
Taylor nodded. "I wonder how a man could leave a woman like you."
She frowned. "I'm pretty sure it wasn't on purpose." Tifa crossed her arms. "He disappeared during a delivery."
He waved his hands. "I didn't mean it badly, Tifa, just-"
A shrill, tiny scream made them both jump and look around. Taylor looked down and noticed a giant frog trying to stare him down from the floor. "Skreeee!"
Taylor snorted as he hopped off of his stool and picked up the frog by the skin of his neck. He brought it near eye level as it limply hung from the fistful of loose skin. "Freaky."
"That's my son's...pet." Tifa said. As much as she disliked the frog she did let Denzel keep it.
"Why would you let him keep this disgusting thing? Its obviously taken a few dips in a mako poo-ahh!" Tsurugi had poked Taylor's eye with his tongue, and suddenly he was airborne, flying into Tifa's chest. To his surprise she caught him, her face warped with disgust as she held his soft, slimy body.
Taylor pointed at Tsurugi as his other hand covered his injured eye. "I'm gonna squish that damn thing, I don't care if it's your son's pet or not!" The man glowered at the frog, who hissed defiantly from Tifa's arms.
Tifa shook her head and frowned, still holding the squishy amphibian. "You know, they say animals can tell if a person is trustworthy or not. For some reason...Tsurugi doesn't like you." She looked down at the frog, his face was...smug? A very familiar smug.
"Whatever. Keep your mutant frog, woman." He left quickly without paying for his drink, and Tifa walked up to the door to change the open sign to closed before locking the door. He wouldn't be back again, so there was no point in caring. One less suitor...She blinked, again looking down at the troublesome frog.
"How do you even get down here, Tsurugi...?" Tifa hissed a sigh, closing her eyes and then slowly opening them again. Tsurugi, Fenrir, Cloud...Those words hurt a lot. "Are you just trying to torture me?"
Tsurugi blinked at her, and let out a little, soothing trill.
Tifa gave the amphibian a half smile, and placed him on the counter. She could clean it later. She sat on a stool and laid her head down on her arms, studying the frog that was watching her back. "I think I'll stay here tonight. Just in case...wanna keep me company?"
Tsurugi...nodded?
She shifted her head to lay on one arm, then tickled the soft underbelly of the large frog. He seemed to enjoy her touch. "Maybe you're not so bad, but don't sit on Cloud's chair again, please." Tsurugi trilled for her again, and she rubbed under his chin. "We're waiting for him. Any day now, I hope..." She sucked in a breath of air, then let it out noisily. "Cloud can't be gone."
Tsurugi let out a quiet croak. Tifa waited at the bar counter, and after an hour or so she had fallen deep asleep, the frog silently guarding the woman. He stared at her and frowned, she looked troubled even in sleep. She made a little noise and scrunched up her brow.
"...Cloud..."
Tsurugi looked at her rosy pink lips. It was worth a try, wasn't it? He crawled up to her face and brought the tip of his snout near her mouth, Tifa's breath warming his fat froggy face. It felt good to be so close to her again, and she called out for Cloud again, once. His snout grazed her lips.
She kissed.
Then she opened her eyes. Tsurugi's snout was connected to her gently puckered lips. Tifa swatted the frog away with a surprised yelp, Tsurugi landing with a splat on the floor on the other side of the counter. She heard a pained croak before a deafening silence fell on the bar.
Tifa quickly walked to the other side of the counter, the frog splayed on its back. "You stupid frog! Blech!" She wiped her lips with her arm, grimacing. After a moment she bent down next to the frog, and gingerly touched it with the tips of her fingers. "Tsurugi?"
He let out a deep croak and then began to struggle on the floor. It looked like he was...pulsing. That wasn't normal. Tsurugi's body was pulsing and growing, and Tifa took a step back. As his body grew and lengthened, she was frozen in horror at the sight. But something came to mind, a distant memory. Hadn't she seen something like this before, but faster?
Tsurugi's forearm slowly grew and turned into a gloved hand with a gauntlet, his other arm coming up to his head to cover it following suit with a sleeve billowing from the skin. His long legs straightened and grew pants and boots. Tsurugi's torso grew and reshaped, a very familiar black zip-up sweater emerging from the soft frog skin. This new boddy was shivering.
"M-man...th-th-that hurt...ribbit." he mumbled in a deep, familiar voice. Tsurugi rubbed his face and quivered a sigh.
Tifa looked him over, her jaw slack. He moved his hands away from his face to look up at her, revealing spiky blonde locks and blue eyes on a pale face. "...Cloud?" she whispered.
Cloud sat up and shakily stood up from the ground, hiccuping a croak. "Hey...ribbit" He blushed. His shoulders shivered.
Tifa stared at him, looking at him up and down. "Oh, my god. You were Tsurugi the whole time?"
He nodded, cheeks still red. "Sorry...I tried to get home as quickly as I could."
Tifa blinked and tentatively touched him, like he was just a dream that would disappear if she pressed too hard. It felt so real, the skin, the muscles, the soft spikes. "Wh...what happened? Is this just a dream...?" She was still in a state of disbelief. Tifa wanted to hug the life out of him but what if she was hallucinating, or still asleep at the counter next to a frog?
He looked down. "I was gonna make camp in the forests outside the Cosmo area, and my ribbon slipped off as I looked around for firewood..." Cloud rubbed the back of his head. "Uh...I...A Touch Me sneaked up on me." He looked back up into Tifa's eyes. "Well, I guess now you know where I've been...It's been hell trying to get here." He hiccuped a croak again, his blush deepening.
So he had been frogged! She reasoned that she hadn't recognized his froggy visage was the different color scheme; last time he was a deep indigo with yellow splotches. Tifa ran her hand through her hair, then twirled a length of it on a finger. "How did you manage that?"
"I had to hop all the way to the Gongaga ferry without getting eaten by monsters." He chuckled. "That wasn't easy. Then I had to sneak on to the boat, and then I hopped to the church in case the water could help." He sighed. "It's kinda difficult to ask a person for a remedy or a Maiden's Kiss when all you can do is croak."
"You were that frog in the pool." she whispered.
He took one of her hands in his, the soft leather of his glove felt oh so real. "Yeah. I was surprised to see you there. After you left I made my way towards the bar, and then Denzel found me."
Tifa rubbed his hand, looking it over. This wasn't a dream. Her lips began to curl into a smile as her eyes met his again. "He's going to be so surprised when he wakes up in the morning. He missed you so much..."
He nodded, remembering Denzel's lament before he went to bed. "Yeah." Cloud grinned after a moment. "Thanks for letting him keep me. I wasn't sure what I'd do if you tossed me back out on the street." He brought his hand up to her cheek and rubbed it. "It's good to be home and not out in a field eatin' bugs." God, he hoped he never had to eat another bug again.
Tifa tried and failed to not laugh, then hugged him tightly before groaning and pushing away. "You smell like a swamp full of mako!" she hissed playfully.
Cloud laughed softly. "I could use a hot shower...You don't know where I've been, after all." He brought her close, making her struggle; his grin grew. "You should take one with me, you handled a slimy frog earlier, remember?"
Her snort turned into a giggle, and she headed upstairs with him quietly as his arm draped about her shoulders, wanting a few hours of peace with Cloud before everyone found out he was safe and sound. They sneaked into the bathroom, and Tifa cupped his cheeks in her hands. "That slimy frog turned into a prince."
"After he stole a maiden's kiss..." Cloud whispered through his smile.
ribbit.