Chapter One: I Don't Understand
"Strife Delivery Service; you name it, we'll deliver it," Marena says into the phone on Cloud's desk.
"How soon does it need to be delivered?" she asks.
A man speaks to Marena over the phone.
"I'll tell him right away. Thank you," Marena says.
He speaks again.
"Have a nice day," Marena says and hangs up.
She picks up the phone again to call Cloud.
"Marena, Denzel won't take me to see Yuffie!" Marlene complains as she comes in.
Marena dials Cloud's number while saying, "Why don't you want to go with Marlene, Denzel?"
Denzel stands behind Marlene and says, "We went yesterday to see Barret!"
"Please go with Marlene? She'll need a big strong boy like you to protect her," Marena says and hears Cloud on the phone.
"Hello?"
Marena smiles as Denzel blushes and drags Marlene downstairs.
"Hey, Cloud; David wants you to deliver another part for him. He said he'll give you directions once you get there," Marena says.
"Thanks, Marena," Cloud says, "How are the kids?"
Marena smiles and says, "The two Siamese twins just left your office. They're going to see Yuffie today."
"That's a funny nickname. Listen, I'm not going to be able to meet you at the church, but I can pick you up and take you with me to meet a friend," Cloud says.
"Who are we meeting?" Marena asks.
"You'll see. Be ready at the usual time. Bye," Cloud says.
"Hey, Cloud, wait..!" Marena starts but all she hears is the dial tone, "Damn him! Who is he taking me to meet?"
She puts the phone on the receiver and stands up to go downstairs but the phone rings.
"Strife Delivery Service; you name it, we deliver it," Marena says with a nice voice.
"Yo, where's Cloud? His phone is busy," a male voice asks.
"Who is this?" she asks.
"Rude; I'm trying to reach Cloud," he says.
"Oh, hey, Rude..! How've you been? What about Reno?" Marena asks as she leans against the desk.
"I'm fine and Reno is fine. Now, about Cloud…" Rude says.
"His phone shouldn't be busy anymore. I just hung up with him. Sorry for that, Rude. Tell Reno I said 'hey,'" Marena says.
"No problem, Marena. Have a nice day," Rude says.
"You… too…" Marena says but hears the dial tone meaning Rude hung up before she could reply.
She glares at the phone and slams it back down on the receiver. Marena storms out of Cloud's office and goes downstairs while mumbling to her self.
"People always hang up on me..." Marena says as she walks behind the bar.
Tifa walks back to the bar after taking someone's order at the tables.
"Hey, Marena," Tifa says as she pulls two beers out of the ice box, "Take this to table two. Be careful though, they're perverts."
"Great," Marena says sarcastically as she grabs the beers.
She walks over to table two and sets the beers in front of each man.
"What happened to the other girl? Oh well, you're just as pretty," the blonde says.
"Why don't you take a break and sit with us for a while?" the guy with no hair and a nose piercing offers.
"No, thanks... I don't have time," Marena says as she turns away.
"Aw, don't be like that, girly!" the blonde says as he grabs her belt loop.
Slapping his hand away, Marena gives him an icy glare. The look on his face is priceless as his toothpick falls to the ground in shock. Marena walks back to the bar, satisfied with her self as she waits for Tifa to finish bending under the counter.
"I told you they were bad," Tifa says as she sits up with five clean glasses.
She fills them with raspberry shots and drops a mint in each of them saying, "Table six in the corner."
Marena picks up the tray and takes the tray to the men and women in the back. This continued for a while; taking orders to people, sliding drinks down the bar, and throwing out the two perverts who tried to force Marena to sit with them.
The upstairs phone rings and Marena runs up to Cloud's office, answering the phone as she says the normal logo.
"I'll be there in five minutes," Cloud says.
"I'll be waiting," Marena says happily and hangs up.
Marena walks downstairs, pulling two hair barrettes out of her pocket and pinning her long silver bangs back so they wouldn't get in her way when she rode with Cloud.
"Bye, Tifa!" Marena says as she runs outside.
"Bye, Marena! Have fun with Cloud!" she yells after me.
Heat rises to Marena's cheeks because of the way Tifa said "have fun with Cloud."
She stands outside waiting and Cloud rides up besides her saying, "Ready?"
Marena nods with a smile and jumps on behind him.
Once they are going, Marena asks, "Who are we meeting?"
"You'll see!" Cloud yells through the wind.
She scowls at Cloud's blonde head and leans back with her hands on the metal bars on the back of the seat. After a while of riding, Marena realizes where they are going: the Forgotten Capital.
When they're slowly riding through the glowing trees, Marena asks, "What are we doing here?"
"Meeting someone," Cloud says as if it was obvious… and it was obvious.
They stop at a small clearing where two guys are standing. One is bald and the other has red hair… Reno and Rude!
After Cloud turns off the engine, Marena jumps off and runs at Reno.
"Reno!" she yells.
"Rena-kun..!" Reno says as he holds his arms out.
Marena runs into his arms and Reno swings her around; they laugh happily.
Cloud smiles at this as he gets off his bike and says, "Hey, guys."
Reno stops spinning Marena and sets her down saying, "Yo!"
Marena stands beside Reno with her arm around his shoulder and his arm around her stomach.
"Nice to see you again, bro," Reno says to Cloud.
"Likewise; how are you, Rude?" Cloud asks.
Rude nods saying, "Better…"
"I thought Tseng and Elena were supposed to be here," Cloud says as he doesn't see the pair.
"They were?" Marena asks.
"They had to do something for the boss," Rude says.
"Yeah, and I'm glad it's them and not me out there," Reno says as he rubs his head.
Rude clears his throat and Reno laughs saying, "And Rude!"
So some might wonder why Marena is on such good terms with Reno and Rude… After the war with Dante, trouble had started in Midgar. Monsters were appearing in the middle of the city, destroying many buildings and killing several innocents. Cloud, Marena, and the others had been overwhelmed by the number of monsters and called upon Rufus Shinra for help. Of course, Marena had been against this but knew they needed the help. Reno had actually managed to save Marena from being crushed by a giant monster. She had been seriously wounded and could not move fast enough to get out of the way. Reno had scooped her up and taken her to safety. Ever since that day, Marena and Reno had been best pals.
Marena laughs and says, "So what's going on? Why did you bring me, Cloud?"
Cloud shrugs and says, "I thought you might want to see him again so I invited you."
"Thanks!" Marena says as she hugs Reno again.
"Yo, lay off Rena! I'm not a plush toy!" Reno says.
"Stop calling me 'Rena' and I might!" Marena says with a laugh.
"But it makes you sound like my twin because if you replace the 'a' in Rena with an 'o' you get 'Reno!'" Reno says with a whiney voice.
Rude clears his throat and Marena lets go of Reno saying, "Sorry, Rude!" and hugs Rude, too.
Reno straightens his already wrinkled coat and says, "Alright, time to get down to business. We didn't ask you to come here to reacquaint each other. There's going to be another threat to Midgar, Cloud; a big threat."
After hearing this, Marena lets go of Rude and stands next to Cloud again.
"So Shinra wants my help, right? What is it?" Cloud asks, losing his grin and replacing it with a frown.
Reno scratches his head saying, "Well… It has something to do with Marena…"
"Me?" Marena asks shocked and confused.
Cloud looks just as shocked and confused and asks, "Why does it have something to do with Marena?"
Reno looks nervously as he puts a hand on his hip and behind his head.
"Well, they think she has another sibling, but they are far from being the good guy…" Reno says.
"What..?" Marena asks in shock.
Cloud asks, "How do they know this guy is her sibling?"
"He leaves a calling card, so to speak," Reno says as he nods toward Rude.
Rude pulls a plastic bag out of his coat and holds it up. A white piece of paper has a name written in blood on it…
T. McLowd
"Trent..?" Marena asks and says, "But that's not possible! That was my little brother's name!"
"We don't think the 'T' stands for Trent, Marena. We weren't given anymore clues to his identity, but we figured the only McLowds that are left were in Midgar; which is you, Marena. We also know that your parents had more than two children. You aren't their first child. Their first child was a male. He was taken from them and their memory was erased of him. Later, they had you and Trent. Now, the first male child is an adult, and he's going around the continent killing people who work with Shinra and destroying Shinra bases in order to get information. That was the only information they had in his profile. I think they know his first name, but they are keeping it from us so we don't go asking around," Reno says as examines his nails.
"The reason they took the male and why they erased the parents memory was also left out of the files," Rude points out.
"Which gives us reason to believe they did what they did to your parents: made him a part of an experiment," Reno says.
Marena stares at Reno, a sad expression on her face as she says, "So, I have a brother out there somewhere; and he's hurting people?"
Reno nods and says, "He destroyed a Shinra base in Salver. We have reason to believe he could come looking for you. All the files about you were in that base and are missing, but he took them and only them. We'll be sticking around Midgar for a while until we are given other orders. Frankly, I'm glad I get to be stationed here so I know you'll be safe."
"What are you trying to say, Reno?" Marena asks offensively.
Reno looks nervously and says, "Just saying you'll have extra protection if your brother does come snooping around!"
She rolls her eyes and looks away.
Cloud nods and asks, "Is that all?"
"Yep; we're just parked outside the forest. We'll drop by the bar once we check into our hotel," Reno says.
Marena just stands where she is, confused about this new piece of information.
An older brother is still alive?
The drive back to Midgar was silent. When Cloud parks in front of the bar, Marena sits there in her own thoughts, her arms still around Cloud and her face on his back.
"Marena, we're here," Cloud says as he nudges her with his elbow.
Marena sits up and says, "Sorry," as she gets off the bike.
She stands there and Cloud gets off his bike, kicking the kick stand down. He starts walking to the door but stops as he notices Marena standing there.
"Marena, what's wrong?" Cloud asks as he walks over to her.
"I don't understand. I just… Please, just let me have some time to think?" Marena says as she looks up at Cloud, pain clear in her eyes.
Cloud looks worried at her face and just nods. Marena walks inside the bar with Cloud following behind her.
"Hey, Marena, did you have fun?" Tifa asks as she looks up from the bar.
Marena just narrows her eyes at the floor and continues her way to the upstairs. Cloud goes to the bar and watches Marena walk upstairs silently.
Tifa looks worriedly at Marena's retreating form and says, "What's wrong with her? Did you do something, Cloud?"
Cloud shakes his head and begins to explain everything.
"I see, so she does have family left, but that person is a killer?" Tifa asks.
"Yeah; she's pretty depressed right now. She just wants to be left alone. I'll take her some dinner later," Cloud says as Tifa sets a plate of food in front of Cloud and a group of kids run downstairs.
"Marlene and Denzel are staying the night at Yuffie's place. She's bringing them over tomorrow for breakfast," Tifa says as she makes plates for the children and sets them at the tables.
"Okay," Cloud replies as he eats.
He glances at the stairs as he finishes eating and starts making his way to them. Cloud goes to his room and grabs some clothes as he goes to the bathroom, glancing at Marena's room on his way to take a shower.
Marena stands by the window, staring out into the dark of the night. She glances down at her motorcycle and sighs.
"I don't understand…" Marena says as she feels a few tears fall down her sad face.
Reno and Rude had come by a little after dinner was over and had a few drinks before they left; Tifa telling them Marena was sleeping. The children are in bed and Tifa was getting ready for bed.
Cloud is in his room with a small towel on top of his head, just draped over his short cropped hair. He stands beside his bed with only shorts on. Cloud dries his hair then throws the towel in a corner with a pile of dirty clothes. He pulls a black muscle shirt on and walks out of his room. He quietly walks downstairs and heats up a plate for Marena. He gets a glass of water and sets it on a tray along with silverware and the plate of food. Cloud takes the food upstairs and knocks on Marena's door.
"Come in, Cloud," Marena says through the door, recognizing his knock.
Cloud opens the door and walks in, seeing Marena standing by her window.
"I brought you dinner," Cloud says as he sets the tray on her nightstand where Marena's cell phone lays, dead as a doornail.
Cloud sits on the extra bed in the room and says, "Do you want to talk about it?"
Marena just stands there for a moment before she turns and runs toward Cloud tears forming in her mako blue eyes. Marena collapses on the floor between his legs as she buries her face in his stomach, wrapping her arms around him. Cloud looks shocked for a moment before he puts his hand on Marena's head, running his fingers through her short silver hair.
Marena says through sobs, "Cloud, I don't understand…"