AT THE CHURCH
Jacqueline parked her motorbike outside the church and removed her helmet. Tifa helped Marlene down as Jacquie stared at the church in front of her. It's been a long time since she'd been here. It brought back so many memories, both good and bad. Memories of when she was Zack. Memories of Cloud and… her… Jacquie felt tears welling up in her eyes and took all her strength to refrain from falling to her knees in a teary heap.
Jacquie felt something or rather someone pull on the back of her cape. Jacquie looked down and saw Marlene looking at her with concern. "Are you okay?" Jacquie rubbed her eyes and gave her a smile. "Of course." Tifa grabbed Marlene's right hand while Jacqueline clutched her left hand as they proceeded to walk inside the huge beautiful church.
Looking around the church, nothing much had changed. The flowers were still there and so were the pews. A few pillars had fallen but it still held its beauty. Marlene let go of the Tifa and Jacquie's hand and ran over to something in the distance.
Both women made their way over and saw a makeshift bed and a few other materials scattered around. "Does Cloud live here?" Marlene asked. "I guess he does." Tifa said. Something caught Jacquie's eye and she turned to the makeshift bed. There was something protruding out from underneath the pillow. It looked like a photo frame.
Kneeling down, Jacquie gently picked it up. Her eyes widened as she let out a chocked gasp. It was the collage of photos of her and Cloud she had made. They had taken photos together so that when she put them together it formed a heart. The outside photos were of them forming the heart and the inside photos were sweet moments of them kissing and just enjoying each other's embrace.
She had noticed it had gone missing a few days after Cloud had left. He must've taken it with him. Jacquie didn't even bother to wipe the tears away as she glided her hand over the glass. She smiled to herself as the memories came rushing to her.
"Come Cloud! Smile for your girlfriend!" Tifa shouted as she stood behind the camera. Cloud let out a huff as he raised his arms in the air in an arch position. His eyes wondered over to where Jacquie sat with Marlene and Denzel and couldn't help but smile as he watched her with such love and adoration.
Tifa took this moment to quickly snap the photo. She smiled in satisfaction at the photo. "That's a cute photo." Jacquie commented. Tifa jumped at the sudden appearance of the young women. "God Jacquie. Could you not sneak up on people like that?!" She shouted clutching her chest.
Jacquie laughed and went to stand next to Cloud. "You should be a model." She said. Cloud looked at her with an amused expression. "Is being a delivery boy not good enough for you?" He joked. "Nah, you'll always be my little delivery boy." She smiled as she stood on her tiptoes to wrap her arms around his neck.
"But seriously though. You'd be a really good model." Jacquie said, looking deep into his mako infused eyes. "Never." Cloud said, clearly unamused.
What surprised her was that Cloud wrapped his arms around her waist. Cloud wasn't one for PDA so this caught Jacquie by surprise, but she wasn't about to object. If she thought that that was a shock then she was in for a sweet surprise.
Using his left hand to cup her cheek while the other was firmly wrapped around her waist, Cloud lent down and pressed his lips to Jacquie's in a sweet and tender kiss. The kiss lasted for a few minutes before they pulled away.
Cloud rested his head against her forehead. "Don't expect me to do that in public again." He breathed and Jacquie couldn't help but laugh. "I love you Strife." She smiled as she placed her hand on his cheek.
"I love you too Hewley." Cloud said pacing his hands on either side of her face. Jacquie placed her small hand over his larger one as he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.
Unbeknownst to the two ex-SOLDIER's, Tifa was snapping photos left, right and centre with a mischievous smirk.
Jacqueline was snapped out of her thoughts when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Quickly rubbing at her eyes, she looked up and saw Tifa looking down at her. "I miss him." She whispered. Tifa drew Jacquie into a hug. "I know sweetheart. We all do."
"What's this?" Marlene asked, making both women turn to look at her. Marlene squatted in front of a silver chest and looked at us curiously. Tifa shook her head. Jacquie knew what that chest was and what was inside but what left her baffled was why Cloud had it.
That's when Tifa spotted something next to the bed on a wooden create. Walking over, we saw that it was a bandage with traces of geostigma on it. Jacquie's hand instantly moved to cover her mouth. "Cloud…" she whispered.
Why didn't he tell us? How long did he have it? Is that why he left? Some of the anger that resided in Jacquie's heart subsided as she gingerly held the bandage in her hand. The anger soon quickly returned as she stood up, a scowl placed on her face. "Why didn't he tell us?" Tifa muttered as she eyed the bandage in Jacquie's hand. "Coward…" Jacquie seethed. She was angry, there was no denying that. Tifa looked at her, as if waiting for her to elaborate. "Instead of facing his problems, he runs away." Jacquie ranted, running a hand through her hair. "Instead of allowing people to help him, he isolates himself." She huffed leaning against one of the fallen pillars.
"It's just like Denzel's!" Marlene said, pointing to the bandage in Jacquie's hand. "Is Cloud sick?" She asked. Jacquie smiled at Marlene's innocence. Getting up, she made her way to the little girl and ruffled her hair gently. "Did he leave because he's sick?" Marlene asked, tugging on Tifa's hand.
"He just wants to fight alone." Tifa said. Her voice was quiet and distant as if she was deep in thought. Her statement seemed to confuse Marlene. "Fight?" Jacquie shook her head. "No, I don't think that he will Tifa." She said bluntly. She was surprised at how emotionless she sounded but her words spoke the truth. Tifa turned to look at the black haired vampire with an expression she couldn't really place her finger on. But Jacquie knew that Tifa knew what she meant.
Cloud wasn't the kind of person to have hope. After the death of Zack, he's never quite been the same. Heck, she wasn't the same person but she still had hope. Even if it was only a little. Cloud gave up easily. Instead of fighting, he ran away for long periods of time and this was no different.
"Let's go home, Marlene." Tifa said, turning the girl. Marlene shook her head. "We can't go! Not until Cloud returns!" She huffed, stomping her foot. Tifa smiled gently and bent down to Marlene's height. "I know sweetie. Jacqueline and I miss him too." Marlene nodded her head. "Yeah."
"So say he comes back?" Tifa trailed, waiting for Marlene to finish it off. "We can all go home together!" She exclaimed cheerfully. Jacquie scoffed silently to herself. She wasn't trying to rain on their parade but Jacquie had her doubts and something told her that it wouldn't be that simple. "But not until he gets a lecture." Tifa said with a cheeky smile. "And a beating." Jacquie added cracking her knuckles with her own grin. Marlene raised her hand in the air happily. "Uh-huh!"
A little while had passed since their arrival at the Church. Tifa had decided that they'd stay a little longer to wait for Cloud to return. Jacquie didn't say anything but she had this feeling in the pit of her stomach that something bad was going to happen, but in the end shook it off. Jacqueline sat in one the pews closet to the door as she watched Marlene play with the flowers.
Her hand reached behind her cape and pulled out a small glass bottle that was brownish in colour and brought it to her lips. "You're really going to drink in here?" Tifa asked, hands on her hips and she stood in the pew in front of Jacquie. Jacquie looked at Tifa with steely eyes. "Are you really going to deny me the only pleasurable thing I can do before I die?" She asked. Tifa just stood there stunned. Never had Jacquie spoke to her with such hostility and harshness. "You're not going to die Jacquie…" She whispered.
Jacquie stopped drinking to look at her friend. "Wanna bet?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. Tifa ignored the comment and continued. "Don't you have any hope that there might be a cure?" That caused Jacquie to stop and think. "Yes, I do." She said carefully. "But not for me. I have hope for Denzel and the many others who are suffering but not for me. I can feel my body getting weaker by the hour." Jacquie said, raising the liquor to her lips once again.
Tifa opened her mouth to say something but it quickly closed when the church doors burst open. Jacquie jumped up happily, expecting it to be the spiky blonde but that smile soon disappeared. Both Tifa and Jacquie raced over to Marlene. The man had white coloured hair and wore black leather clothes with a gauntlet strapped to one of his arms.
"Wanna play?" He asked as he came closer, extending his hand out to us. Tifa protectively stood by Marlene while Jacquie bared her fangs, crouched down is a defensive position. "I'll take that as a no then. Where's mother?" He asked. Jacquie looked at him, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. What is this moron on about? Mother? Is he drunk? "Hey where's Mother?" He repeated.
"There no-one here!" Tifa shouted. Jacquie watched him warily as his posture shifted into a fighting position. "Fine. Play with me." "Jacquie, take Marlene." Tifa said, pushing Marlene out the way. Jacquie grabbed Marlene's hand and hid behind one of the fallen pillars. "Marlene, I need you to stay here ok?" Jacquie said turning to leave when Marlene grabbed her hand.
"Jacquie no!" Jacquie placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder and placed a kiss on her forehead. "I'll be quick I promise. Just stay here." Jacquie turned around to see Tifa had managed to aim a successful punch to the man's face before quickly connecting her foot with his face.
[A/N: Just giving a heads up that I'm really bad at writing fighting scenes like this so bear with me on this]
With her pupils dilated and her fangs barred, Jacquie lunged towards him and perfectly executed a drop kick in his abdomen. The man let out a puff of air and stumbled backwards. Tifa dashed towards him but he recovered quicker than she expected. It all happened so quickly. The man gripped Tifa's throat and used his gauntlet to send her flying backwards, blue electricity sparking from his weapon.
"Tifa!" Jacquie shouted running to her side. "I'm fine." She said as she wiped the blood from her lip. Jacquie turned to the man with a hard and menacing glare. Extending her hand, a sword began to materialise in her grip - Her sword. (A/N: Just imagine it like the Heavenly Sword Nariko wields in the game Heavenly Sword - ) "Let's make this fair shall we?" She mocked, gripping her sword in front of her. The man grinned back at her. "I'm waiting." He taunted.
Jacquie grit her teeth and charged at him and the sound of metal against metal echoed throughout the church and both their weapons clashed against each other. Jacquie took a step backwards, moving her front foot back feigning a quick to his legs. As anticipated he took the bait as went to block her when she quickly swapped feet and swung her foot into the crook of his neck.
The man stumbled sideways and Jacquie used this moment to stab the hilt of her sword into the back of his head. The white haired man fell to the floor, lying motionless. With her sword gripped tightly in front her, Jacquie warily approached him.
It all happened before Jacqueline could even blink. The man had suddenly sprung to his feet and knocked the sword out of her hands. Before she could even react, Loz grabbed her by the throat and threw her into one of the isles of pews.
He turned his attention back to Tifa. The onyx haired female charged and him with a sliding kick which he counted by a backflip. Just as the man turned around, Tifa managed to hook him, sending him flying sideways into the corner of the church. Not wasting time, Tifa landed punch after punch before ending it with a backflip kick.
Jacquie stumbled out of the mass of broken wooden pews clutching her head. Recovering quickly, Jacquie reclaimed her sword and charged towards Loz and Tifa. Tifa went in for another punch but was countered once again as his gauntlet made contact with Tifa's stomach, temporarily stunning her and kicked her in the chest making her stumble backwards. "ARRR!" Jacquie shouted as she pulled Tifa behind her and aimed a horizontal slash at Loz's chest, ripping the fabric of his shirt. Jacquie ducked as Loz aimed his fist at her head and was redirected to the wall.
She proceeded to elbow Loz in the arm, stunning him and shoved him backwards and using him to launch herself up. Just as Jacquie leapt, Loz grabbed her ankle and swung her into the pews before throwing her into the far wall.
Marlene watched with wide eyes as Jacquie defied the laws of gravity and balanced herself against the wall like spider-man (A/N: I had no idea how to describe this part. If anyone has a better way of writing it, I'll edit it so it sounds better). Jacquie pushed herself further against the wall to gain momentum before she pushed herself of the wall towards Loz, grabbed him by the neck, slamming his head into the ground as she ran and flung him into the air.
"Tifa!" Jacquie called. "On it!" Came Tifa's reply and she leapt into the air and threw Loz down into the pews before gracefully landing on her feet. Jacquie walked up to Tifa and both women high fived. "Tifa! Jacquie!" Marlene exclaimed as she ran over to the two women. Marlene was definitely impressed by the display they had put on against Loz.
Both Tifa and Jacquie were covered in dirt, cuts and bruises but neither of them minded. "Jacquie that was so cool! How did you do that?" Marlene asked. Before Jacquie or Tifa could answer, a phone began to ring. All three girls looked around the church confused. "Is that you?" Tifa asked. Jacquie looked at Tifa in shock. "With a ringtone like that? No." Jacquie scoffed.
All of a sudden, Loz busts through the wreckage of pews and dusted himself off. Tifa and Jacquie automatically stood protectively in front of Marlene, watching the male like a hawk. So he's the one with the victory fanfare ringtone. Jacquie thought. Loz reached into his pocket and answered his phone.
"She's not here." He said sounding irritated. Was he referring to…Mother he mentioned earlier? "I'm not crying!" He exclaimed angrily. Tifa and Jacqueline shared a look of confusion. "No, I got it. I'll bring her and the girl." He said. Jacquie's eyes narrowed. If he's referring to Marlene then he's got another thing coming! Jacquie thought, standing in a fighting stance.
Loz readied his weapon. "Where were we?" He smirked. Jacquie grit her teeth. Tifa stared intently at him, watching his every move. Using his foot, Loz kicked one of the pews towards Tifa who smashed it with ease with a backhand swing.
It all happened so quickly. Loz had teleported behind Tifa and wounded her badly, sending her flying into the patch of flowers. He then rounded on Jacquie but she was ready. She aimed a high kick at his head but was shocked when he caught her foot with ease. "Nice try." He smirked and head butted Jacquie, rendering her unconscious and her body crashed to the ground harshly.
"Jacquie!" Tifa screamed. Loz walked back to Tifa and picks her up by her shirt, placing his gauntlet against her head ready to deliver the finishing blow when something hard is thrown against his head. Turning around, he saw Marlene standing next to the chest that was filled with orbs of material.
Tifa falls to the ground as Loz stares at Marlene menacingly. He advanced towards her, slinging the unconscious Jaqueline over his shoulder. "Cloud!" She cried.
"Just run!" Tifa screamed. The last thing she saw was Jacquie and Marlene being taken away before everything went black.