- Just Like an Action Hero -
The bus ride into town had taken longer than expected, and they arrived in the city late in the afternoon. It was the third weekend of the month, so that meant going into Edge with Elmyra. This was their routine, the three of them. It began right around the time that Denzel had returned, when Elmyra had that awful fit and fell from her chair during dinner. Denzel hadn't known what to do, fork frozen in bandaged hand. Marlene had screamed and rushed over to the older woman, but Elmyra had already recovered and was hushing the girl and telling her everything was okay.
Everything was okay, except now they all took the bus into the city every other weekend because Elmyra went to the hospital here. It was better than the doctor in Kalm, she had said. Denzel wasn't sure why they couldn't just use a materia on her in Kalm, but Elmyra told him this wasn't that type of problem.
The bus pulled into the station and they were greeted with a plume of exhaust from the multitude of other buses parked nearby as they exited. The station was near the slums on the north side of the city. Denzel took Marlene's hand and followed alongside Elmyra as they weaved through the crowds of people and descended into the metro station. After a stuffy train ride around the ring of the city, they emerged near the hospital which still had the ShinRa logo plastered atop though it was technically no longer run by ShinRa, Elmyra had said, but Denzel wasn't really sure because all the doctors still had the logo on their scrubs and coats.
They halted outside the entrance of the towering structure, near the large sliding glass doors and the nauseous fluorescent interior.
"Now, Denzel," Elmyra bent slightly to speak to him, "Why don't you take Marlene over to the movies while I go to my appointment?" She smiled kindly and slipped several gil into his hand, then patted his shoulder.
"Sure," Denzel smiled back and cautiously looked behind her towards the hospital. It always felt strange saying goodbye to her right here, like she would walk in there and disappear forever. He was never allowed to come in with her, but she wanted him nearby in the city. Just in case, she had said, but she never said in case of what exactly.
But she always came back and they always went home to Kalm in the evening, and today would be no different. Denzel squeezed Marlene's hand.
"Okay, see you at four o'clock," Elmyra straightened and nodded at them both, "Right here. Don't be late or I'll worry."
"If you'd just get me a phone, you'd never have to worry."
Elmyra chuckled. "Maybe next month. You know money is tight right now." Then she lovingly touched his cheek and kissed his forehead before doing the same to Marlene. "Mind the time. Be here at four," she repeated sternly.
Once she had disappeared into the hospital, Denzel and Marlene headed off in the opposite direction towards the shopping district nearby where the movie theater was located.
"What movie do you wanna see?" Marlene asked, but before he could reply she went on, "I wanna see the one with that guy who's trying to get back home, but he has to like fight all these bad guys and then his friends don't recognize him anymore and he has to fight them too!"
It took Denzel a minute to recall which trailer she was referring to. "Oh, no, Marlene, that's not a kid's movie." She'd become fascinated with action movies recently for some reason. "C'mon, I have a better idea."
He suddenly switched directions and pulled her down a different street.
"Hey, wait a minute, where we going?" Marlene asked, pointing down towards the shops. "I wanted to stop at the arcade, too!"
But Denzel ignored her and kept moving through the busy streets.
"Denzel!" Marlene released his hand and stood firm, placing one hand on her hip. She looked so much like Tifa for a split second, standing there defiant.
"I just wanna make one stop first, then I'll take you to the arcade," Denzel promised.
Marlene watched him disappear around the next street corner, then ran after him with a huff. He didn't respond to her anymore, though. He was on a mission. The streets grew more familiar as he walked, and he occasionally peered up at a street sign at an intersection or glanced around at the buildings to get his bearings. Marlene's protests eventually died down and after a solid ten minutes, she fell silent.
The sidewalks gradually became less populated and the streets dirtier as they progressed. The occasional garbage can lay overturned, contents discarded openly onto the pavement, and torn fragments of newspapers littered the gutters. A few junkies were lounging in stoops and alleyways. Those that weren't nodding out eyed the kids as they passed. Denzel put his hand in his pocket and held tight to the handle of the dagger he carried everywhere now. He'd never be caught empty handed again, and he was ready for anything.
Marlene began to recognize where they were heading.
"Denzel!" she hissed in a low whisper, "I don't wanna go back there!"
"It will be quick. I just wanna...get something," Denzel assured her, but she grabbed his free hand tightly as they rounded the corner.
At the end of the next block the bar appeared like an old friend. Denzel's former home. Not that much time had passed, but it was in a complete state of disrepair, similar to the buildings on either side with broken glass and storefronts boarded up, like maybe the landlord had just given up and left it all to the eventual decay that had swallowed the rest of the block. The neon sign in the window was of course dim and there were no cars parked out front.
"Denzel, I wanna go. I wanna leave!" She pressed his arm frantically, but Denzel shrugged her away and dug a key from his pocket. "You...you have a key?" she asked, though it was a silly question. Denzel gave her a look that said so.
"Of course I do. I used to live here."
He pushed forward and struggled for a moment with the lock before feeling the key hit the tumbler correctly, as usual. It hadn't changed a bit. With a satisfied smile, he pushed the door open a bit and slid inside. Marlene whined for a second then decided she was better off with him and followed.
The bar was completely dark and freezing. Dust floated in the air visible in the shaft of light that spilled in from the outside. Denzel was prepared for this, however, and retrieved his flashlight from his backpack. Snapping it on, he gazed around at the once familiar surroundings. The dark wood tables and chairs, the dart board, the pinball machine that Marlene had loved so much. The sleek bar with the mirror behind it. The bottles of booze were all gone, of course. Denzel guessed someone had broken in through a window upstairs at some point or maybe the landlord figured this was his version of accepting rental payments. A layer of dust covered everything, and Denzel shivered but not from the cold. The place looked positively haunted. Marlene would be scared, he reasoned, and glanced back at her.
She stood next to him, clutching her arms around her stomach, and looked around with wide eyes.
"I...I don't like this…" she paused, then the fear in her voice escalated, "We shouldn't be here, Denzel. This was a bad idea!"
"Relax. You've been here before. It's the same place, there's nothing to fear." But he was starting to feel the prickling sensation of fear growing in his chest, too. Stop, he told his thoughts, be brave. Brave. We're here for a reason. He exhaled and moved forward.
"Yeah I was here when Tifa was here. And Cloud. Not like this. This is…" She jumped at a creak from the far corner. "What was that?!"
A rat scurried down from one of the tables as Denzel spun his light around to catch the source of the noise. It sniffed the air then casually strode back into the darkness. Denzel let out a breath again.
"C'mon, I'm going upstairs," he told her and felt her grab his arm, but she said nothing else.
As he approached the stairs towards the back, he couldn't help but gaze over at the sink behind the bar. This was the other place his head was trapped. The second place his dreams always brought him. Right here, months ago, watching Cloud wash his hands. He'd held his hands over the sink, rinsing blood away, then he'd looked over at Denzel with an expression that Denzel had never seen before. It was pain, but not the sort from when you scrape your knees or twist your ankle. It was like he'd lost something vital and he knew he'd never get it back. Like he already knew how drastically everything was about to change.
And it had. Here is where Denzel heard that Tifa wasn't coming home. Standing right...here.
"Denzel…?" Marlene's voice was small but firm and searching. "We should go now."
Denzel shook his head, clearing away the awful memory and pulled his flashlight and his eyes away from the empty sink. "No, I wanna get something upstairs. It will only take a minute."
Ascending to the second floor brought back all sorts of scents and sounds of the past. He could practically hear the clink of glasses downstairs, smell the liquor soaking into the wooden floor, hear Tifa laughing or yelling depending on what type of night it was, and maybe he could close his eyes and be back there with her. Maybe he could open them again and find that the last few months had been nothing but a bad dream. Maybe he'd go downstairs and see Cloud washing dishes instead of bloody hands. Maybe.
What a stupid fantasy, he chided himself. Childish. Pull it together. There was no place in this world for meaningless thoughts such as that.
The carpeted floors of the second level were dirt-stained and hard. The entire place had been overturned, not at all like the last time he'd been there with Cloud. Then he noticed the broken window in the office, the one overlooking the fire escape. Someone had vandalized the place. Likely junkies looking for cash, Denzel reasoned. The stream of light from his flashlight moved around the room, falling on the various pieces of furniture emerging from the darkness like spooks.
He swallowed his fear and stepped forward over bits of glass and paper. Marlene was tight on him like glue, clutching his arm like a raft in a storm, and she was shivering.
Opposite from the office was his old bedroom.
"I wish Cloud were here... " Marlene was barely audible, just a tiny squeak.
"No, you don't. And there's nothing to be afraid of. It's just an empty building," Denzel said, trying his best to remain strong despite the curling coldness in his stomach.
Keeping his breath steady and even, he pushed open the door to his old bedroom and shone the light around. The bed was a wreck and the drawers of the dresser had all been removed. The closet was open and everything was bare. But maybe, just maybe, they hadn't taken everything, whoever they were.
He tip-toed into the room and spotted the nightstand on its side next to the bed. Quickly, Denzel knelt next to it and rifled through its content with Marlene practically on top of him still, though now she was emitting a low sad whine faintly.
There! Denzel saw it. The photo.
Victorious, he pulled the photo of Tifa and him free from the disorganized contents. They were both smiling, outside in front of the bar. Cloud stood apart in the frame, to one side with his arms crossed. Who had taken this photo? He couldn't remember exactly.
"That's it?" Marlene said over his shoulder, "You dragged me here to get some stupid picture?"
"I don't have any photos of us together. I wanted to come back and get this one." He folded the picture and put it in his pocket with a sigh of relief. Now he had something more reliable than memories to see her face from that day.
"Denzel, we have pictures of her already. I can't believe you made me come with you here."
"Yeah, well, I like this one."
Marlene curled her mouth up like she was about to hurl a stream of terrified words at him, but they were both interrupted by a sudden sound downstairs.
BANG!
Loud. Like a door slamming shut in a hurry. Denzel secretly ran through his motions when he'd unlocked the door. Had he really not remembered to lock up behind him? How could he be so stupid!
A scurrying noise was downstairs. A shuffling.
"D-D-Denzel…!" Marlene whispered and her hand was so tight in his he thought for sure she would bruise him.
The clutter of noise became clearer, drawing closer. Like something crawling up the stairs.
With his free hand he withdrew the dagger and flipped the blade open. Marlene gasped. "You carry that…?" But there was no time to explain to her.
He moved her behind him and held the dagger hard in his fist, suddenly feeling his heart beat so loud in his ears and chest.
"Don't worry, Marlene," he whispered back to her, "Just stay behind me."
Denzel switched off his flashlight, then slowly took a step forward, dagger in hand. Marlene's eyes had been desperately begging him for something, to stay at her side perhaps, but his attention was focused on the sounds coming from the stairwell.
A slow creaking moved up each step, accompanied by heavy gasps. But the sounds didn't get very far. Suddenly, another loud bang came from downstairs. The door again slammed shut, and the noises on the stairs halted. Denzel froze, one hand in the air, motioning to Marlene to stay back. Carefully, he peeked out into the hallway, but from his bedroom he could only see the top step around the corner. There was a faint light emanating from the staircase. Someone else's flashlight.
"I know you're in here!" A new voice shouted from below and Denzel jumped. Marlene threw her hands over her mouth.
"You can't hide from me!" the voice continued, and the distinct sounds of tables being overturned, glass smashing aside, a general loud ruckus emanated from below.
The noises on the staircase shifted slightly, like weight settling.
"How far did you think you would get? I mean, really?" the man's voice was growing closer. He was approaching the back of the bar, surely. Denzel's heart pounded hard and he wished his hand would just stop shaking.
"Ah, there you are," the voice was right on the stairs now, and a strangled scream came from someone else. The source of the first intruder.
"No! You...you can't!" a second, closer, more desperate voice piped up.
"I can." Slow steps approached. "I will."
"T-t-tell the boss," the quieter voice stuttered, "Tell the boss it was a mistake and-"
"No, that's not how this works. You fucked up. You got greedy. Now he's ordered your termination. It's that simple."
A loud scuffle on the stairs, a smack, a yell.
"You should be happy," the loud man continued with a strained grunt, "that he doesn't care enough to kill you himself. Otherwise, I'd be dragging you back to Junon and then you'd really know how badly you fucked up. You've heard the stories, I'm sure."
Denzel winced as the quieter man cried out along with a sudden crunch like broken bones.
"You're real damn lucky," he emphasized again and the tension in his voice was clear.
Something brushed past Denzel's leg, a soft flurry against his skin and his spine reacted before his brain could. With a sharp inhale, he could barely suppress a tiny cry and stumbled back. A snap of wood under his boot sounded awfully loud, and the scuffle in the stairwell stop.
"We aren't alone, it seems," the loud man said.
Brave, Denzel repeated to himself. Please be brave. He exhaled then held the dagger tighter. He had to do something. At least to protect Marlene. He had to show her he was tough, otherwise what good is him telling her to be when she wakes up in the middle of the night with bad dreams?
Denzel stepped forward into plain view at the top of the stairs and switched back on his flashlight.
"Get out," Denzel said to the world, dagger in hand.
Halfway up the moldy stairs, two men were perched staring up in the circle of new light with surprise. Both of them had the shine of drugs in their eyes, and one held the other by his collar, the clear victor. The loud voice. The other was curled beneath defensively, blood leaking from his nose. The quiet voice.
Denzel swallowed hard and repeated himself, "Get out. Now."
This elicited a sharp laugh from Loud Voice. "Oh yeah? What, is this you're uh…shack? This dump?"
"This is my home," Denzel said, trying with all his might not to let his voice waver. Don't show them you're afraid, he begged his body.
A stream of laughter erupted from both but Loud Voice smacked the other man roughly.
"I don't think so, kid. Now just run along. This doesn't concern you."
But Denzel stood firm. "Get out, I said. Take your...friend and go."
The man's laughter stopped and his expression grew dark. In a flicker of movement, a short sword appeared in his hand. The quiet man took advantage of the distraction Denzel was providing and kicked upward, hitting his foe clean in the chest. The other stumbled backwards a step or two but immediately caught his footing and turned all of his attention to the original threat. In a single calculated swipe, the blade cut through the quiet man, stabbing directly through his chest. Denzel jumped. Blood gushed out from the wound as Loud Voice removed his sword and focused his eyes back onto Denzel.
Instantly, all that supposed bravery melted away.
"You know, that could've been a real fun time I had cut short by you," the killer said harshly to the boy, "And now you're going to pay for that…"
Denzel's feet were frozen to the spot, though, as if nailed clean to the floor. The flashlight began shaking and in the beam the Loud Voice approached, climbing the stairs slowly, eyes locked on Denzel. The sword in his hand dripped blood across the old carpet.
Then something flew through the air. A chunk of broken wood hit the guy directly in the head. Hard. Denzel heard Marlene step right next to him. The intruder's free hand covered the spot on his head where the object had struck, a bruise already welling up, then his eyes flashed in absolute anger up at Denzel. A cold look of pure intent. This man meant to kill him. But even still Denzel was frozen.
"Go away!" Marlene's voice cut sharp through the air. "Go away right now!"
The man's expression broke into a murderous smile and he laughed again but this time it sounded more cruel. "Kids…" He rolled his eyes and shouted upstairs, "Anymore goddamn kids up there wanna come on out?"
Marlene crossed her arms over her chest and glared.
"You fuckin' kids should've stayed hidden up there! Now I'm gonna kill you both."
"It's my home," Marlene echoed Denzel's words, "And I'm telling Cloud that you broke in!"
But the man's face froze and his smile instantly faded. "...What did you just say?"
Marlene didn't falter. "I said I'm telling Cloud!"
"You...uh, you shouldn't say things like that, kid." His eyes darted frantically between the two children. "You don't know that name."
"Cloud Strife," Denzel chirped, invigorated by the sudden ammunition they somehow had, "This is his place. And he's going to...he's going to kill you once I tell him you were here, messing up the place."
A smirk crossed the older man's face now. "No, you can't possibly know him. You're….you're lying."
Marlene suddenly grabbed the flashlight then reached over and pulled the photo from Denzel's pocket. "This guy!" she shouted, shining the light and pointing at Cloud standing there.
The man took one look and instantly backed away. He sheathed the bloody short sword and nodded at both kids quickly with apology. "I...I didn't know the boss had kids…"
"We're not his kids," Marlene snapped, full of vigor. Then she shoved the light and photo back into Denzel's hands. "We're his friends!"
But the man was no longer listening and had completely fallen back with a look of fear on his face. He glanced down at the body of the dead quiet guy on the stairs, and for just a moment he paused, as if considering something. Then he said nothing more and vanished into the darkness of the first floor. Denzel heard his footsteps rushing over to the door below, then another slam.
The guy had run out.
"Shit, Marlene," Denzel breathed out at last, "I think you just saved our lives."
Marlene stood in a daze, though. "Why was he so afraid of Cloud?"
Denzel had an idea why, though he wasn't about to tell Marlene. "C'mon, let's get out of here," he concluded, once more squeezing her hand in his.
"What did he mean when he said Cloud was his boss? Why would Cloud be his boss?" Marlene asked, standing absolutely still at the top of the stairs.
"Forget about it, Marlene. C'mon, let's go now," Denzel implored, "...please."
Together they stepped carefully down the stairs. Denzel tried to avert his eyes from the dead body as they went past while Marlene stared fixedly at it, as though intrigued. They didn't speak again until they were outside of the bar. Denzel locked it shut behind him, though he knew it was a senseless motion. He'd never come back here.
The sun was falling lower in the sky, and a light flurry of snowflakes drifted through the air. Denzel shivered, but not from the cold. Wordlessly, he took Marlene's hand tightly again and they began walking towards the shopping district, back exactly the way they'd came.
There was no need to say anything. Both children were lost in thought at the very real danger they'd both survived. On their own. Without any grown-ups.
At length, they approached the movie theater. Denzel glanced up at the showtimes, but his mind was nowhere near thoughts of entertainment. It was getting late in the day and they'd need to meet with Elmyra in a little over an hour, but the sanctity of being near so many people crowded outside the theater comforted him. He glanced over at Marlene, and she was staring up at a movie poster of that one she'd mentioned earlier. The action movie she'd wanted to see.
"Don't tell Elmyra," Denzel said at last.
Marlene gave him an initial look that said she had every intention of doing so, but then she paused and her expression softened into a subtle nod of agreement.
"Good," Denzel exhaled. Elmyra would kill him if she knew where they'd gone and how much trouble they'd almost been in.
They remained in front of the theater together, holding hands in silence for several long moments.
Finally, Marlene looked over at Denzel.
"Was I brave?"
Her question startled him. Had she not seen how close they'd come to being in serious trouble? How close they'd come to death? But he relaxed and tried his best smile.
"Yeah, Marlene," he assured her, "You were great. Just like an action hero."
But now he had even more questions running around his head, about Cloud. Marlene apparently had them, too.
"Do you think Cloud's in trouble?" she asked.
Denzel shrugged. "I don't know, but it sure seems that way."
"We should help him," Marlene concluded.
Denzel didn't agree.
"He'd help us, Denzel, if we were in trouble," she stressed.
Denzel pointed up at the movie poster and tried to change the subject. "I think we can still catch this show if we hurry." Then he picked the gil from his pocket and counted it out.
"Well, I'm going to figure out what happened to him," Marlene stated boldly, ignoring Denzel's feeble attempt at switching the topic, "I'm going to find him and help him. And you can help me if you'd like."
A long sigh came from Denzel and he simply stepped up to the counter and bought two tickets. Marlene was still so innocent, Denzel realized. She'd been kept blissfully isolated from everything, and Denzel knew he'd keep trying to protect her. He had to. He was the only one who could, especially from the truth.
"Sure, Marlene." Denzel smiled at her. "We stick together."