Double Materia :
Disclaimer : Final Fantasy VII and its characters belong to Square Enix.
Author note : I didn't play the game and don't know how all those materia work. What I wrote in this fic may not be accurate. Don't throw tomatoes at me, please ^^'
Takes place several months after the end of Advent Children Complete.
Tifa was in a good mood this morning. Last week she got a call from Yuffie telling her she would come to Edge for business and would visit them. Tifa was always happy to meet again with old friends, even when it came to the hyperactive ninja (Cloud was not as thrilled as her but she knew he liked the ninja princess nonetheless). Her spunky attitude always brings smiles and laughs everywhere she goes.
As planned, Yuffie arrived at ten o'clock in the morning in Seventh Heaven. Tifa made a late breakfast for the whole family and chatted happily with her friend.
"So guys I'm sorry, I can't stay long I have some important matter to deal with. But during this time, do you mind keeping something for me?" said Yuffie.
Cloud raised a sceptical eyebrow, when Yuffie asked for help it had a good chance to be a source of problems.
"What do you want us to keep for you Yuffie? If you want to leave your luggage here, it's ok." said a friendly Tifa.
"It's kind of precious, and I think it's safer to leave it here."
"And it is...?" asked an impatient Cloud.
"My precious box of new materia" Yuffie whispered to them as if she thought someone was listening to them.
"What?!" both Cloud and Tifa exclaimed at the same time.
"Yuffie! You're leaving your materia in the hands of others? Are you ill?" said a worried Tifa, while putting her palm on Yuffie's forehead to check if she had a fever.
"Is there a trick in this?" asked Cloud. Yuffie huffed at him.
"No chocobo head, I need people I have faith in to keep my stuff during the meeting I have in Kalm. We are friend, aren't we?"
"Of course we are Yuffie!" answered Tifa.
"Good!" she grinned at Tifa and placed on the table a wooden box and opened it.
"Look, it's some rare materia. Aren't they beautiful?"
Cloud leant towards the box to see six balls each nestled in a velvet cushion.
"The colours are weird." he commented.
"Yup! it's called double materia, two colours in one for two abilities in one! Awesome, isn't it?"
"Eh! How is it possible for a materia to have two abilities? I never heard about that!" exclaimed Tifa.
"New generation of materia, stemming from scientific researches."
Cloud sighed, visibly disgusted : "Wonderful, twice the amount of complication. Can't all those scientists stay quiet for a while?"
"Don't worry Cloud, no one will use it, they are under my care. And I'm sure you two will keep them safe." said Yuffie.
"Sure..." said a dejected Cloud.
"Well, Yuffie, we will keep that box for you. When do you plan to come back?"
"In three days Tifa. Thank you guys! Oh and can I stay a few days in Seventh Heaven when I'm back so that we can spend some time together?"
"Of course Yuffie, you're welcome. The kids will be with Barret so you can take Marlene's bed."
"Yeah! Thank you so much! And thanks for the nice breakfast Teef!"
With that Yuffie was gone, leaving Cloud and Tifa with the box of materia.
"We'd better put that in a safe place." said Cloud.
"It's ok, I'm going to put that box behind the bar, no one will touch it." said a reassuring Tifa.
"Ok."
Tifa was washing the last glasses of the evening, only one hour and a half left and she could close Seventh Heaven for the night. A few customers were still drinking cheerfully. She was tired tonight and her gestures began to be clumsy.
She had woke up even earlier this morning because of Barret who decided to pick the kids at six o'clock in the morning, seriously six o'clock, what was he thinking? She had made them breakfast, had helped them pack their bags, had gave them lunch boxes and finally had said goodbye, leaving them in the care of Barret.
She was alone with the kids gone, which also meant no help for her in the bar, and Cloud was busy with his deliveries. It was in those moments that she felt gloomy.
She tried to think about Yuffie, who would be here in a few days and would surely cheer her up.
She began to tidy what was left behind the bar.
She used a rag to clean the counter and inadvertently made the pile of coffee cups topple over. She tried her best to catch them but in doing so the wooden box was pushed towards the edge of the counter and fell to the floor. Tifa swore in her mind.
All the customers turned towards her to see what had happened.
"Eh Tifa, you're ok?" one of the regulars asked.
"Yeah sorry, it's just broken cups, don't worry."
"You look tired tonight, where are the kids and your blond guy to help you?"
"Not here, as you can see" she sighed, no need to remind her that. She took the dustpan and the broom and began to clean her mess.
"Need some help Tifa?" another regular asked. At least she had kind customers.
"No it's ok, really, thank you." she answered politely.
Once she took care of the broken pieces, she saw Yuffie's box and blanched when she noticed it was upside down. She took it with great care and noticed one of the materia was missing. She really swore this time. She crouched to take a look under the cupboard.
To her utter relief the missing materia was there. She retrieved it and checked if it wasn't broken. She rubbed it to take off the dust and was about to place it back in the box when it began to glow in a purple and white light. Tifa froze, she knew what it meant, she had activated the materia without wanted it. She panicked and put back the materia in the box and closed it quickly, but it was too late, she knew it.
She didn't know what were the abilities of that materia, she wondered if she would be transformed into a frog or a monster or anything else.
She had to do something and quickly, she took her cellphone and called Cloud, to her surprise he picked up instantly.
"Cloud! I'm glad to have you! I have a problem, one of Yuffie's materia activated and I don't know what is going to happen. Where are you? Can you come back please?"
"Shit, I knew it would bring some problems. How are you feeling Tifa? Did something change in you?"
"No, at least not yet. But I'm scared, please Cloud, can you come back?"
"Don't worry Teef, I'm already on my way back home, I will be here in fifteen minutes. You're careful, if you are not feeling well, sit on a chair and don't move, ok?"
"Yeah ok, Cloud, thank you." She felt relieved he wasn't far away.
Those fifteen minutes were the longer of her whole life. She continued to serve beers to her customers while internally praying she wouldn't suddenly have a weird behavior.
Cloud parked Fenrir in the garage and stormed into the bar. He spotted her in the middle of the room. Her eyes lit up as soon as she saw him, she all but threw herself at him, to Cloud's surprise.
"Tifa, are you alright?"
"Cloud, you are here finally!"
She hugged him so tight he felt as if she wanted to break his ribs.
"Oh god, that's a nice welcome! Me too I want to have Tifa hugging me like that!" said a partially drunk customer.
"You can dream, you're too old for her! And too bald!" laughed one of his friends, also a little drunk.
Cloud shot them a dirty look and they quickly stopped their comments.
He tried to make her loosen her grip on him but she didn't want to comply, she even began to cry. And in that moment Cloud really knew something was wrong and that the mysterious materia already had some effects on her.
"I'm sorry but the bar is closing earlier tonight, you have ten minutes to finish your drinks." Cloud announced.
"What? But why?" the same drunk customer asked.
"Are you stupid? Can't you see Tifa is not feeling well?" answered the same drunk friend.
Cloud coaxed her towards the kitchen to have some privacy.
"Tifa? Why are you crying?"
"I... hu... I'm happy you're here for me."
"Of course I am. Tell me what happened with the materia."
"Hu... the...what?" she clearly was elsewhere, her mind unfocused.
"Tifa, do you remember? You called me saying you activated a materia?"
"Ah, yes, everything was on the floor, I was so scared..."
"Ok, which materia? What happened when it activated?"
"I... just... don't remember. I have a horrible headache."
"Tifa, please, try to remember, it's important." he hugged her a little to soothe her.
"Well, I was on the floor, and there was a purple and white light and I thought it was ok but no, and I called you and... and... I was suddenly really scared, I wanted you to be here."
"I'm here now, don't worry."
"But I'm sorry I made you come back home when finally nothing happened, I'm not transformed into a frog."
"You're not but it had some effects, you're not normal right now Tifa."
"I'm not?"
"No you're not. Your mind seems confused and you're crying."
"Oh... What am I going to do then?"
"Going to sleep and wait for the effects to stop. Can I let you go upstairs while I'm closing the bar?"
"Ok." she nodded at him.
"Good" he noticed her frown and uneasiness. He really had to call Yuffie to understand which spell she was under.
After closing the bar, he spent ten minutes on the phone hearing Yuffie yell about their foolish behaviour and finally got her to send him on his phone the list of the abilities of the materia. Because the ninja girl herself didn't know what they were made for! She said she didn't have time to play with her new toys yet. She was not of a big help, to Cloud's dismay.
NdA : I'm sorry for making Tifa looks like a crying baby lol She's not that kind of girl but it was fun to write her that way.