A STOLEN LIFE

By: N. Hana

Disclaimer: I own no Final Fantasy. I own nothing in this world except my body, my laptop, my stethoscope, my phone and my ramen.

Author's Note: This fic is the edited version or revised version. Please read first and I hope you will like it. In case anyone is wondering, this fic is originally known as End of Crisis, but I changed the title because I thought that A Stolen Life suits better.

This fic was also originally all in Tifa's point of view, but I find that it is hard to switch from Tifa's view to Cloud, so I changed it to the third person point of view. It is so much easier to write now!

Side notes: Beta read by THE GENIUS M.L. Ayala

Been revised yet again on June 14, 2013

Theme song: Arashi – Love so Sweet

CHAPTER 1

2:14 AM, Wednesday, April 19

Dear Diary,

It has been a year since Omega was defeated. People are moving on in their lives. ShinRa Company is no longer an authority in governing the world. As for WRO - the World Regenesis Organization - they are in charge of helping to restore the world to its previous condition. AVALANCHE is still active, helping Reeve and the WRO in rebuilding the world. Seventh Heaven was packed tonight as usual. Shelke was helping me run the bar, although it took her some time to get the hang of it.

I am teaching her how to mix basic drinks, cook simple meals and other such things. She had been kept by Deepground SOLDIER so long that her body has remained looking like a 9-year-old girl. The patrons are always asking me who is she and I merely say that she's my little sister. Well, she is living with us now. Shalua is gone forever.

And as for Shelke, she has no one else to count on, no place to stay and no other family members to rely on. Cloud and I agreed to let her live with us. Marlene and Denzel are happy to have a big sister to play with them even though at first they didn't really believe that Shelke is 19 years old. And as for me, I am happy to have a little sister.

I think my family is now complete.

The sound of heavy footsteps climbing upstairs made Tifa stop writing for a moment, she guessed that Cloud was finally home. He's quite late today, she thought. As Tifa heard the sound of the door being opened and closed, she closed the diary and placed it back in the drawer of the desk. The brunette beauty then went to Cloud's room to greet him, but he was already fast asleep on his bed.

She watched him peacefully asleep with his boots still on his feet and his First Tsurugi still hanging onto its harness. Tifa carefully removed his boots and socks from his feet and took his sword from his back, though it was really heavy, and placed it behind the chair.

The wine-eyed martial artist then pulled the blanket over his body. She stroked Cloud's hair and kissed him goodnight on his jaw before heading back to her room.

"Aerith…"

Halfway through the door, she was stunned when she heard him calling that name. The barmaid wondered if he had not gotten over his guilt for what had happened to their lost friends. Tifa walked to her room. The tears that had earlier been pricking at the edges of her eyes were now blurring her vision. Why did she suddenly feel a pain in her heart, like someone had just stabbed her in her chest? Why did it shock her to hear that flower maiden's name being called in his dreams? Was she jealous? She didn't know. The tears were flowing freely as Tifa tucked herself into her bed and forced herself to sleep.

I hope tomorrow will be better.

6 AM, Wednesday, April 19

The brunette barmaid woke up and took a shower. It's really freezing at this time of day. But she doesn't really bother to switch on the water heater, as she loves to take a cold shower early in the morning. At least it helped her to clear her mind and let herself relax more.

Upon remembering the incident the night before, when Cloud spoke their dead friend's name in his sleep, Tifa felt her chest tighten but she quickly dismissed the thoughts, she didn't want to ruin their unstable relationship more.

After she put on her regular clothes, which were a white tank top, black leather zip up vest, black leather knee length pants and ankle length duster, Tifa went to the kitchen bar. The kids would be up for school soon and she had to make breakfast quickly.

She looked into the fridge and pulled out the salmon, miso paste, some seaweed, tofu, eggs and some other ingredients. Tifa then sliced the onion to make miso soup; fried the salmon and made egg rolls for a side dish. Marlene and Cloud really loved her egg rolls, so she decided to make extra for them.

"Morning, sis," greeted Shelke as she walked behind the bar counter, "Smells good,"

Tifa smiled in return. Shelke had just woken up and came to help her in the kitchen.

"Please help me set the table first, Shelke. I need to wake them up," Tifa said as she went upstairs to wake the kids. Shelke just nodded in response. Marlene was already awake, and Tifa just had to wake up Denzel. The little knight is quite a heavy sleeper. Tifa then went to Cloud's room to wake him up, too.

Stopping in front of Cloud's room, she slowly pushed the door open, but Cloud was still in his towel wrapped at his waist. He had just stepped out of the shower, and she could see water dripping off his shoulder.

"You're already awake, I thought you'd still be sleeping," Tifa said to Cloud while leaning against the doorframe.

"Hey, morning Tifa," said the blond haired man as he moved to stand in front of Tifa. He let his hands moved to Tifa's waist and he hugged her closed before kissing her. The kiss was gentle but demanding at the same time.

When was the last time they had their time together? Tifa could not remember. All she knew was that they both had been busy with the bar and the deliveries and with Shelke sleeping in her room, Cloud could not sneak up at night to sleep with her.

And also, Cloud's bed was far too small for two persons to occupy.

After a while, with all the teeth nibbling and lips suckling, they both parted. Tifa smiled lovingly at Cloud, her hands cradling his face, "Morning,"

Cloud only replied with a hum before kissing her neck. Tifa let out a satisfied sigh.

"Cloud, let's go downstairs. Breakfast is ready," Cloud just ignored her and started to pull aside the collar of her vest before nibbling her flesh. It left tiny red marks on her shoulder.

Tifa's eyes automatically closed when she felt Cloud's bare hands trace down her chest. "Cloud, the kids are waiting downstairs,"

Tifa swallowed hard when Cloud gave a light squeeze, "Let them wait," Cloud murmured before pulling off her vest.

Just then there were a series of impatient voices and a loud pounding at the door.

"Cloud, we're hungry! Hurry up or we will be late for school!"

Cloud let out a dissatisfied groan, but smiled softly after that. He watched Tifa straighten her vest before pulling the door open while ushered the kids to get ready to the school.

Tifa went downstairs and let Cloud handle the kids alone. She smiled thinking about their time just now.

"Serve the breakfast now, Sis?" Shelke's sudden interference pulled Tifa out of her reverie, "Sis?"

"What?" Tifa had to ask again because she barely heard anything Shelke had said just now "What is it?"

"Are we going to serve breakfast now?" asked Shelke, confused, "Sis, what's wrong?"

"No, nothing, nothing" Tifa smiled, "Yes, I think we should serve breakfast now. Cloud and the kids will be downstairs soon."

Her heart was still pounding fast whenever she thought of the blond warrior.

The kids came downstairs with Cloud. He was fully dressed now and greeted Tifa and Shelke with a small smile of his. After breakfast Tifa helped the kids get ready to go to their school. ShinRa, with the help of WRO, had just established a small school near Loveless Street. Tifa hoped that ShinRa would build a much bigger building next year.

After Cloud finished his breakfast, he washed the remaining dishes in the sink before took his sword and hung it in its harness. "I'm going to be late tonight so don't wait up,"

Yeah I know what that means. That means that he is going to be real late, later than last night.

"Oh, be careful," Tifa said trying to sounded more cheerful but ended more disappointed than she intended.

After she walked Cloud out to his deliveries, Tifa then walked the kids to school and they walked hand-in-hand. Marlene held her left hand while Denzel held the other, and they sang some children's songs. Shelke said she was going to take a nap, so Tifa left her alone at the bar.

After walking the kids to the school, Tifa walked to Midgar, instead of going back to the bar. Her destination was Aerith's church in the Sector 5 Slums. The church was still like before, with the Lifestream healing water filling up the pool. Midgar had been in ruins since the battle with Deepground. Tifa doubted that anyone would ever live here again. It would probably be inhabited by whatever ghosts or monsters remained. But the church remained the same as before.

Thank you Aerith for everything, I hope you will still be his guardian angel.

Tifa walked inside and started cleaning the church. The flowers are blooming in full. It's 9.30 in the morning, after Tifa has finished cleaning, she leaves again. She then walked to the east of Midgar, because before going back to the bar, she remembered somewhere else that she wanted to go. Her next destination was somewhere near Midgar-Kalm. She called and informed Shelke that she would be quite late and asked her to open the bar first.

Author's note: I know I'm screwing Shelke up. As well as Tifa and other characters too. It is so hard to put them into their characters! Some of them would be totally out of character but I try to get as close to their character as much as I can. But as for Shelke, I think I might have just stuck her to that personality. She would play a bigger role in later chapters! *hint hint*

Some of you might be wondering, I told you in previous edition of A Stolen Life that this story contains some explicit lemony goodness but the reason why I cut the part out is because I think it is too early to put that scene anyway. This story is rated T for strong language and mild adult scenes but I might be changed it to M in later chapters, who knows? But as for now, let just stick to T rated fiction, okay?

The reasons why I have rewritten the entire story is because this is the original version of A Stolen Life I had in mind. The previous version was an edited because well for one reason I love to see angst-y Tifa and I just love to torture Cloud. But I think I want to stick to the original story. For those who liked previous version, don't be scared, this new version is not so different from the previous one. So I hope the readers who had liked the previous version would like this story too.

Please read and review. I would love to hear your thoughts of this story.

Thanks for reading!

Cloti is forever.

Hana