Happy Halloween greetings everyone! I wanted to write something for the holiday since it happens to be my favorite, but I've been spending all of my time writing for Brothers in Arms that I couldn't think of anything decent. That's when I remembered something that happened to me when I was 13. Marlene's a bit younger than I was when I heard my first story like this so I threw in some Fluff with a protective Cloud. Hope you enjoy! ;)
Final FantasyVII and all related characters belong to Square Enix.
~*~The Girl in White~*~
A loud scream jolted Cloud from sleep. In less than five seconds he was at his bedroom door with his sword in hand. A small creak from the floorboard told him Tifa was right behind him. He listened outside their bedroom for the slightest hint of movement, but heard nothing. Nothing until he got into the hallway. He heard faint sobbing coming from the kid's bedroom.
Cloud turned to meet Tifa's gaze and with a silent nod they both knew the plan instantly. Cloud gripped the door handle and with a nod from Tifa he opened it and came in with his sword raised, prepared to fight whatever had threatened the kids while Tifa was prepared to get them out of harm's way or offer him support. Instead of an intruder or a monster however Cloud was met with two startled kids.
He stopped in his tracks; sword still raised and looked around. Finally satisfied that no one had broken in he lowered his sword before looking down at the two. Denzel was sitting on the edge of Marlene's bed, or at least he had been before the two adults burst into the room. Now he was standing up and looking at his guardian/hero with wide, fearful eyes.
"What happened?" Cloud demanded.
Denzel looked down at the floor as if he didn't want to answer.
"Are you hurt?" asked Tifa in a more gentle tone while sending Cloud a stern glare wondering if he had realized that he had used his 'fighting Sephiroth' tone as if he had expected to confront the silver-haired demon.
"No, I'm fine," Denzel replied as he looked over at girl still in bed, "Marlene just had a nightmare."
Tifa moved over to sit next to the little girl while Cloud's expression softened. The girl's eyes looked red and sore as if she had been crying; more evidence stained her cheeks and left twin trails that ran down her neck.
"It's not a nightmare Denzel and you know it. It's real and he said so," the girl replied, wiping her eyes and leaning into Tifa's shoulder.
"Who said so? What nightmare?" asked Tifa in a soft, motherly tone. The girl only shook her head. "I can't tell you, or she'll really come."
Setting his sword down against the dresser, Cloud sat on the edge of Marlene's bed, "You know you can tell us anything, Marlene. I swear to you that nothing will ever hurt you while I'm around. And if they try it'll be the worst mistake they ever made."
Marlene looked into his eyes and saw the pure determination and honesty in those words. Tifa wrapped one arm around her shoulders, "It's okay sweetie, it's alright to be scared, but just know that whoever tries to hurt you better hope they run into Cloud before I get my hands on them, He may know how to make them scream for their mommy's but I don't even give them a chance to scream," she told her with a wink.
The entire room gave her a strange look and she only blinked in confusion, "What?"
A few minutes later the four had moved down into the dining room where Tifa had just given her a warm cup of hot chocolate with three marshmallows – just the way Marlene liked it. The girl took a sip before letting out a sigh and finally explained what she was so afraid of.
Denzel was sitting next to her while Tifa sat opposite of him and Cloud sat at the other end of the small table.
"I dreamed of the girl in white," she started.
"What girl in white?" the swordsman asked, but shut up with an icy glare from Tifa.
"The girl with the white dress covered with blood splatters. She's supposed to come after you after you hear her story."
Marlene glanced around the room, looking up at the ceiling and in the dark corners of the room, half-expecting the specter to appear out of nowhere, but she kept going only because she saw Cloud was also looking around the room. It made her feel a little better.
"Can you tell us the story?" Tifa asked, but the girl only shook her head, afraid that if she told the story herself that the girl really would come.
It was Denzel who answered, "I know the story, I'm not afraid to tell it."
"No Denzel!" Marlene squeaked out of fear, she didn't want him to be in danger either. The boy only smirked, "I'm not afraid, not with Cloud around."
Cloud looked towards Denzel and gave him an encouraging nod. Denzel began telling the story.
It all began with a happy little girl in a white dress. Her favorite thing to do was count. She would spend every day counting anything and everything she could. The clouds in the sky, the stars at night, the decorations on the wallpaper, the number of friends she had, she counted everything. She loved counting so much that that's all she'd talk about and soon her friends became annoyed. They asked her to stop, but she just couldn't do it.
Soon the girl began to notice the number of friends she had kept getting smaller and smaller. She met them in the woods one day to ask them why they weren't her friend anymore and they gave her a choice; stop counting and be their friend again or keep counting alone.
She couldn't choose and ran off crying. She was so upset and her vision was so blinded by tears that she didn't see the old bridge until it was too late. It creaked under her as she ran, but collapsed while she was only half-way across. She fell into the darkness below and died.
A few years later one of the kids who had given her the choice woke up in the middle of the night at exactly 1:23 AM. He tried to go back to sleep, but couldn't. As he looked up at the ceiling he saw the ghost of the girl in white. She had blood stains on her dress and a twisted smile with wide eyes that had forever captured her insane fear as she counted the last seconds of her life. She loved counting in life so much that she would continue to count even in death, but what would she count? The souls of kids who heard her story.
So pray with all your might that you never wake up at 1:23, for if you do you better pray she's somewhere else taking another kid's soul. If you listen you can even hear her counting; one….two….three.
The moment Denzel started counting Marlene ran from her place at the table and jumped into Cloud's arms as if she was scared for her life. He wrapped one comforting arm around her while looking over at Denzel with a stern glare, scolding him for scaring her.
"What an awful story!" Tifa exclaimed, "No wonder she's so terrified. Denzel, why would you tell her something like that?"
The boy only held up his hands defensively, "I heard it from school earlier this week, but I swear I didn't tell her."
Marlene had begun crying into Cloud's sleeve and he started to rub her back gently to calm her. "It's alright Marlene, the story isn't real. It's just like one of those chain stories."
"Chain stories?" she repeated. "What are those?"
"Their scary stories you hear and then you have to tell a certain number of people or the rules say you'll be cursed, but they're not real."
"How do you know?" she asked him.
"Because…" he hesitated for a moment while looking over at Tifa and tried to hide his embarrassment, "I've fallen for a few of them when I was a kid. My mother would come into my room and see that I was afraid and she'd sit down with me and hear each one before telling me they weren't real. If that didn't work she'd hold me until I fell asleep." He gently pulled her back so he could get a better look at her, "Would you like me to try that?"
Marlene nodded and leaned into him as he wrapped his arms protectively around her.
Tifa smiled warmly at Cloud before she led Denzel back up to bed. "If you didn't tell her than who did?"
Denzel bit the inside of his lip, "Well, I didn't want to tell on him, but I don't like how scared Marlene got, she almost gave me a heart attack when she screamed." Tifa nodded in understanding. She couldn't remember the last time she and Cloud had gone from sleeping soundly to battle-ready in such a short time. "Just promise you won't tell him I told you," Denzel continued.
"Not a word," Tifa replied.
Back downstairs Marlene had fallen sound asleep, still in Cloud's arms while he slowly rubbed her back in a circular motion, just as his own mother used to do to him. When he was certain she was asleep he gently stood up with her in his arms and carried her back up to bed. Tifa had already tucked Denzel back in and was back in their room. As Cloud pulled the covers over the girl he looked over at Denzel who was trying to go back to sleep. Shaking his head, Cloud was about to try and get a few more hours of sleep himself when a small whimper made him look back.
It appeared that Marlene was having a nightmare and she was reaching her hand out, "Help," she whispered in her sleep. Without hesitating, Cloud took her hand in his and sat down on the floor, with his back leaned against the nightstand that stood between her bed and Denzel's. "I'm right here," he promised.
The next day Tifa stormed over to his house. Of course it had to be him. It was always him! Three solid knocks on the door sounded the lack of sleep she had gotten. It took another three pounds before the door opened and Zack greeted her with a big smile. "Morning Tifa, how's it go-"
WHAM!
Zack was on the floor courtesy of an uppercut from Tifa who dusted her hands off, "That's for telling Marlene that counting story!"
He sat up, cradling his jaw in his hand, "It was just a fun story for Halloween, it wasn't meant to scare her."
"Well guess what, it did and thanks to you she woke up at exactly 1:23 last night crying, convinced the Girl in White was gonna kill her. Cloud had to sleep in her room just so she'd feel safe."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to traumatize her, honestly."
Tifa huffed at him before turning away only to stop at the door, "If you ever tell her a story like that again The girl in white will be the least of your worries." With that she left, slamming the door behind her.