Disclaimer: Do not own anything but the story plot and Renan. Although…I would so love to own Reno and Cloud and write random little snippets of them all day…and then air them and scar the world, but unfortunately…I don't. Sigh. There's always next year…

A thousand dark moons.
A thousand winters long.
A million fallen stars,
The candle burns in the womb,

We tried not to forget,
They live through us,
Slowly they die away at every candle's end…

--Within Temptation, Candles

The soft clanging of the bell on top of the door signaled the entrance of someone. Tifa sighed silently as she turned around and headed back down the stairs to the bar area. Honestly, didn't people read the 'closed' sign on doors anymore?

"I'm sorry, but we're clo— Oh! Hey!" Tifa smiled at the spiky redhead that entered the bar. "What's up Ren?"

"Is daddy here?"

Tifa's smile quickly faded as she glanced down at the tightly wrapped package in the small ten-year-old's hands.

Ren quickly noticed her look and grinned up at her, brushing away his unruly red hair from his bright green eyes. "Rufus told me to give this to him. It needs to go to Junon."

Tifa's frown deepened. "Rufus gave it to you?"

Ren grinned sheepishly. "Well, I kinda asked to take it to dad…ok, ok. So I stole it from him when he wasn't looking. But I really want to talk to dad and couldn't think of anything else." He admitted, hanging his head a little as he saw Tifa's look of disbelief.

"…I really don't think you should talk to him today, Ren. You know what day this is, don't you?" Tifa shifted nervously, beginning to contemplate calling Vincent over just in case…

"Yeah, yeah, I know Tifa." Ren brushed her concern off quickly, but then looked down at the package and added solemnly, "Today's the day mom died…but that's why I want to talk to dad! Maybe…you know…" He looked up at her pleadingly.

Tifa sighed and pulled the child into a tight hug. "I know, sweetie. But sometimes you have to know when to give up—"

Ren pushed himself out of the embrace. "No! I'm not giving up! I'm gonna talk to dad whether you want me to or not! And don't think about calling Uncle Vincent here 'cause I'll just run away from him again!"

Tifa was silent for a while before nodding slowly. "Go on then. But be careful, okay?"

Ren shot her an annoyed look. "Okay, okay, jeez." Then with a huff, he stomped up the stairs.

Taking a deep breath, the ten-year-old hesitantly knocked on the wooden door. There was a short silence afterwards, and the child held his breath as he waited for the okay to go in, contemplating whether this was really a good idea and maybe he should wait at least a day or two—

"What."

That was the only okay that dad would ever give anyone at all. Ever since mom died, dad had become colder than ever towards everyone around. But it was now or never, so Ren hesitantly turned the doorknob and the door opened with a mournful creak. Peering around the dark room, Ren noticed that the curtains were drawn over the window, so that barely any light could pass through. The room was also bare of any decoration or any unnecessary furniture, save for a picture frame that was facing down on a small nightstand next to a very simple bed. Ren had an idea of what the picture frame held, but never had the courage to actually go in there and take a look.

The sound of a pen furiously scribbling on paper reached his ears then, and Ren noticed a hunched figure sitting at a desk in the far corner of the room, in the dim light. "Dad?"

The scribbling stopped, but the figure did not turn around. "What are you doing here?"

Ren paused, hesitating a little as he clutched the package tighter to himself. "Dad, Rufus—"

"Don't call me that. You have absolutely no right at all to call me that."

"But—"

"Get out. You are not welcome here."

"Rufus has a—"

"GET. OUT." The figure stood and turned in such a swift motion, that the chair he had been sitting in toppled to the ground. "NOW."

Ren took a small step back and bit his lip, holding up the package in front of him like a shield. "It needs to go to Junon…" He whispered in a small voice, staring into his father's cold mako-tinted eyes.

A hand quickly slapped the package away, hurling it to the floor where it bounced once and then rolled until it hit the wall with a soft 'thud'. "I don't deliver for you. If Rufus wants something, tell him to come himself or send one of his Turks." With that, the figure turned around and trudged back to his desk, yanking the chair upright again.

Ren watched him for a while before taking a shaky albeit silent breath and opened his mouth to try again. "Dad…"

The figure dropped the pen he had just grabbed. "You're still here?!"

"I turned ten today." Ren tried again weakly, but immediately regretted it when his father suddenly snapped the pen in half, spilling the ink everywhere. But his father ignored it as he got up again.

"Do you honestly think I care?! You shouldn't even be alive!!--"

"I didn't mean to kill mom—"

The figure scoffed. "Whether you meant to or not, you still did, and that makes you a murderer." He spat out that last word as if it were made of venom.

Ren felt tears well up behind his eyelids. "And what does that make you then?! You killed people too!!" He shot back without thinking. This wasn't how it was supposed to go…

The figure's eyes narrowed. "I wasn't the one who killed people I loved. Unlike you, you ungrateful brat. I'll never understand why Reno wanted to keep you so much…If it had been up to me—"

"But it wasn't up to you!" Ren shot back, his voice rising as tears began to fall freely down his face. "It was up to mom and you're just bitter because mom didn't choose you!"

The figure growled. "Get out. I have had enough of you." But when Ren didn't move from his spot, he reached towards the sword that was propped beside the desk.

"Put the sword down, Cloud."

Ren jumped and turned around, looking up in surprise at the red cloaked man who suddenly appeared behind him, silently and calmly, his face betraying not even a hint of emotion.

Cloud straightened as well, his eyes glimmering with barely repressed rage, but left his sword in its place. "Vincent."

Vincent glanced around the room once before looking at Cloud again. "Open the curtains. At this rate, even with that mako-enhanced vision of yours won't keep you from going blind."

"I'm a grown man, Vincent. I will do as I see fit. And if I want to sit in darkness, I will sit in darkness. Now, what do you want?"

Vincent didn't even blink at the rude retort. "I came to take Renan home, and to make sure you didn't do anything that you may regret later on, Cloud."

Cloud sneered. "How very thoughtful of you. But I doubt I would've regretted anything that might have occurred in here."

Vincent 'hmm'-ed at the comment and nodded towards the package that lay on the floor. "That package needs to be delivered to Junon. When you get your act together, call Rufus for the delivery information. Come Renan." And with that said, Vincent swiftly turned on his heels and strode towards the stairs, stopping only to look back to see if Ren followed.

Ren glanced back at his father for a second, before slowly following Vincent. As soon as he was outside the room though, the door slammed shut behind him and he heard the lock click. Ren let out an almost inaudible sniffle.

Wow, that was short. Hm. Oh well.

R&R please. And please constructively criticize, not flame.