I am terribly sorry for the late update. It was the end of semester of my collage, I had to work on part of my thesis, had classes to plan… (yep, I'm a teacher)
Promise I will try not to take so much time next time.
Thanks for the new followers and favorites. And thank you anonymous guest, K Double Prime and Shade the Hero for the reviews.
Please leave a review after reading and sorry for my english, it is not my first language
Tifa woke alone in the bed, the blankets were not cold; it was just losing the heat, meaning that Cloud had woke up not long ago. She got up and putted her robe before leaving the room, hoping to find Cloud in the kitchen. Tifa found him standing in the hallway with his back against the wall, in front of Denzel's room. He had a green materia between his thumb and forefinger, and he was gazing at it accurately.
When the swordsman saw her, he pushed himself from the wall and lowered his hand.
"Did I woke you?"
"No…" Tifa looked inside Denzel's room, not finding the boy "Where is Denzel?"
"He got up earlier than me, he left half an hour ago, left breakfast ready. He said he was going to Midgar visit Ruvie's and his parent's graves." Tifa was about to say something, but he interrupted "He took his weapon and some of his materia to protect himself." The threw the materia in the air and got it back "And I took the opportunity to check something in his room"
"Wait, it is Denzel's materia?" Cloud nodded "You got in his room without his consent?! Why did you do this? I thought we should trust him, not snoop around on his things! This is not trusting!"
"I know Tifa, I'm not proud of it, but I needed to know" Cloud got closer and showed the materia to her. The barmaid saw that it had a slightly strong glow inside it "See? It evolved, even if a little. Denzel already used it in combat."
The anger she had for Cloud's actions disappeared, replaced by concern. When Denzel used his Ice materia, and why? As far as she knew, the boy only used his materia when he went to Midgar, some monsters still lurked around the abandoned city, together with beasts and criminals, but his ability with the gunblade would be enough, wouldn't it?
"Leave this for later" Cloud got inside the boy's room and putted the materia back where he had found it "I'm going to leave too. Reeve asked me to take Cait Sith back to the WRO headquarters."
"He wants you to do something for him" Tifa knew it wasn't just a devolution, Reeve made the robot go all the way to their house the day before, he could make it go back on its own. Besides, Reeve had the habit to call Cloud when he needed something dangerous to be done.
"He probably wants to book a delivery." When the blond saw the look on Tifa's face he realized that he should have shared his thoughts little by little instead all at once.
Tifa's nature was always a caring and motherly one; she easily helps those who she holds dear and worries about them, but her greatest fault was that she, most of the time, was clueless of what to do. Cloud knew that fault maybe too well; it was that fault that prevented her from taking action when he fell into depression nearly eight years ago, and when she found him at the train station in Sector Seven.
Wasn't that they were doing right now? Weren't them just stepping back and watching everything that was happening to Denzel from afar without intervening?
Cloud got closer to Tifa and hugged her.
"Don't worry Tifa, we will figure out what to do together, as a family" Cloud massaged her back, making her moan a little "We are going to talk to Denzel when I get back."
"You don't really need to do this. I can talk to him"
"Of course I need to do it. Denzel is my kid too, even if my name isn't in the paper" They broke the embrace when Cloud got a hold on Tifa's biceps and pushed her gently "Try not to get your head on this too much."
Cloud kissed her forehead before going downstairs. She heard a small conversation; probably him telling Cait Sith that they needed to go. Tifa went back to the room, she had to get ready for her day.
As she grabbed a few clothes for her shower, she spotted the photograph nailed next to her mirror. The picture showed she and an eleven-year-old Denzel holding a piece of paper, it was taken the day Denzel's adoption papers arrived. Tifa took the frame from the wall and sat on the bed looking at it.
Tifa hurried inside the garage, where Cloud were calibrating Fenrir's swords compartments engine with Denzel assisting him, with a big smile on her face. Her two boys had grease on their faces and shirts, the kind of stain that would never wash up, but it didn't mattered.
"Denzel" When they heard her voice, both of them looked up from the motorcycle "I have a gift for you."
The boy got up and walked toward her, an expectation expression on his face as Tifa opened the brown paper envelope and took a sheet of paper from it, giving it to Denzel.
Denzel read what was written, not really understanding everything, a few words there he did not know. There was only one thing he registered: Denzel Lockhart.
"You don't have to worry about someone taking you away again" Tifa ruffled the boy's hair. "It is official: we are mother and son. No one will take us apart, we are a proper family now."
The boy hugged the barmaid, full of joy. Tifa scooped him up and spun her body with in him, she was as happy as he was.
"Hey!" Denzel and Tifa turned their heads to see Cloud with the digital camera in his hands "This moment needs to be recorded."
Tifa putted Denzel on the ground, kneeled behind him and gave a crushing hug. The boy had the paper in front of him, exhibiting it to the camera. They both smiled brightly as Cloud took the picture.
Tifa smiled sadly. She and Denzel used to be so close, now he was drifting apart from her, from Cloud. What worried her the most was not knowing what kind of reaction her boy will have when he finds out she is pregnant.
XxXxXx
It began with the neighbors him help for a few things, like unloading a few heavy packages, carrying something and fixing electronics and house structure, the good deed always paid a little money for it, even when the boy said they didn't needed to. Then, when it became known that Denzel visited Midgar occasionally, and that he had had a weapon and knew how to use it, artisans and botanists began asking him to bring a few things, like pelts and plants.
Before Denzel realized, he started working as a monster hunter. He had only a few clients on his list; ten would be too much.
As far as Tifa and Cloud knew, he stopped doing the odd jobs and never monster hunted. It was problematic to keep the secret; every time his clothes were ruined because of a claw or fang from a monster, he had to buy a new one just like the old. He also had to buy medical supplies to tend his wounds; much of his possible profit went on potions, antidotes and ethers,
Even with the little profit, Denzel kept going. If an outsider analyzed the boy's practice, he would say to him to stop. He was getting hurt, risking his neck for very little, it was not worth it. Except, Denzel never really did it for the money. Maybe at the beginning, he had a shoebox inside his closet with all his savings, approximately two thousand gil, maybe less. Most of his savings came from his allowance leftovers, took years to get to nine hundred, boosting some more when he began monster hunting six months ago.
It was frustrating realizing he was gaining fifty gil or some less than a hundred gil for profit; but when Cloud said that his skills and reflexes were getting better he saw the benefits of fighting the beasts that lurked around Midgar and Edge. Fighting the beasts and monsters was improving his battle skills and materia wielding.
It was worth it continuing his services as a hunter; he was already becoming a professional. A month ago, he bought a set of clothes he only used for hunting and kept it inside the bag he took only when he goes to Midgar. This way, he wouldn't need to worry about ruining his clothes during a fight, and saved him the trouble of finding new ones exactly the same as the old. Tifa did the laundry in their home; she would realize that his clothes never got worn if he kept buying new ones.
The bag he was carrying had the medical supplies and tools for skinning animals, harvesting plants and the proper material to transport and preserve the spoils.
Denzel stopped walking. Midgar became a spooky place, people never goes there; the ruins had become the monument of the planet's wrath after the meteorfall. The only reason the city was still standing was because everyone saw it as a reminder, something to remember what the mako energy and greed has done to the planet and what would be the humans' fate if it be done again.
He grabbed the handle of his gunblade and pushed the small trigger located by the hilt, activating the weapon. Quickly unsheathing the blade, he turned around and pulled one of the two triggers of the handle, shooting a fireball on a Kalm Fang.
The sheath had the marking 'M.P.G.S-7', abbreviation for 'Materia Powered Gun Sword seventh model'. The sword was broad until the middle of the blade body, then there was a diagonal cut to half the width for a couple inches and then changed the angle became straight again, following the other side of the sword. The broad side had the gun barrel; it fired magical ammunition if he pulled the down trigger. If Denzel pulled the trigger above his thumb, the gun detached from the main body and became an independent firearm with a bladed body.
It was a tricky system. God knows how many times he pulled the wrong trigger before he got used to it.
The smell of burn flesh and fur rose at the same time five Kalm Fangs emerged from their hiding spot. Warily, Denzel put the two bouquets of flowers he was carrying and his bag on the floor. As he raised again, the pack jumped to attack him.
Denzel rolled to the side and got up quickly; he shoot again, a thunder spell this time, incapacitating another wolf. Using a haste spell, the teen stroke two beasts at the same time, not failing to see another one attacking him by the back. The teen rotated his body, stretching one leg up, and hit a roundhouse kick on the wolf's ribs, sending it against the remaining member of the pack.
Cornered, the wolves ran away, whimpering loudly. He had to admit, the most useful materias Yuffie had given to him were his Time and Deathblow, if not considering the Restore. Denzel deactivated the weapon and picked up the bouquets, a few flowers were crushed, but it made no difference. The good news: his client wanted four wolf pelts and a few fangs. Be attacked saved Denzel from wander around Midgar later, he could go home earlier.
Denzel gathered the bodies of the beasts side by side. He took a hunting knife from his bag, knelled in front of one of the wolves and started skinning one of them. The process as sickening, he never liked doing, but he had learned to depart his thoughts without harming the work. After he finished taking off the pelts, he used a pliers to yank four fangs from each wolf.
Having finished his work, Denzel gathered his things and proceeded his walk towards the sector five upper plate, where Ruvie's grave was located. He knew that Reeve had made a nice and pretty one for her on Edge, but it just felt wrong for the teen go visit that one. He had lived with her in her house on sector five for around a year, it just felt right to go visit her grave on the backyard; he felt closer to her there.
An hour later, Denzel arrived to Ruvie's house. He passed through the ruins towards the backyard, where an old wood cross marked her grave.
The teen putted one of the bouquets in front of the cross. He stared it for a few minutes.
"I brought you flowers, I know how much you like them; I got some for my parents too, I'm gonna visit them afterwards. Hope you like them, are the last of the season." Denzel swallowed hard and scratched the back of his head; not knowing what tell her first.
Cloud had brought him the first time he visited, three years and something ago; the older man did not wanted to intrude the boy's moment, so he waited outside, doing the same when they were at sector seven. Denzel never asked Cloud to bring him over again, so it took some time for him to go to Midgar again, he had to learn how to fight and use his MPGS properly before that.
"Your son, Reeve, I know him, did I tell you that? He is a friend of my foster parents, he is so grateful for me making you company during the time he was out that year that he proclaimed himself my godfather. Although Tifa and Cloud made it official some time ago…" Denzel laughed a little "It was harmless for some time, the most radical thing he ever did was offering to pay for my college, but only if I graduate with honors. But last night he made something absurd! He gave a ten thousand gil check for my birthday! I don't know what to do with it! It is too much! I would have liked better if he let me enroll the military training of the WRO instead. After all, I want to be a WRO Special Ops someday…"
Denzel chatted with Ruvie for some time, talking about his school live, about Lucia, Tifa and Cloud, and his problems. During all that time, he felt like the elder woman actually could answer all his doubts, it felt silly, but also good at the same time. Saying his goodbyes, and promising he would be back again when new flowers bloomed, Denzel walked to the ruins of the sector seven.
Most of the debris were gone, making it easier to walk around the ruins, result of people searching for materials to build their houses on Edge over the years.
Denzel reached a marked place on a clear space, surrounded by rubble and garbage. The had nailed that metal pipe on the earth years ago, on the exact place he had found the photograph of him together with his parents when he was still a scavenger.
The boy sat in front of the pipe and putted the flower bouquet there.
"Hey mom… Hey dad… It was my birthday yesterday, but you already know that" He ashamedly looked to the side; it was harder talk to his parents than with Ruvie. "I still live with Cloud and Tifa, they are nice; I feel safe with them." He did a pause "Tifa adopted me, it was a few years ago, sorry I never told you." Denzel went quiet again. He stayed like that for some time.
"She never said anything, but I know she wants me to call her 'mom' again. I did it some time ago, I don't really remember when or why, it just slipped from my mouth. It kinda felt right at the moment, but I felt bad the next day because…" The boy stopped talking; not wanting to verbalize that he felt guilty doing that after looking at their photograph. "I wish you could meet her."
The teenager said nothing about his problems to them, just talked about silly things or any subject that came to his mind. He left at noon, he knew that to reach Edge from sector seven would take at least two or three hours by foot. He groaned and started walking; daydreaming about using the money Reeve gave him to buy a motorcycle.
XxXxXx
The WRO building was far enough from Edge to prevent the city to be damaged in case of a large-scale attack, but close enough to assist quickly. Cloud walked through the corridors with Cait Sith on his shoulder, he got in after showing the receptionist his keycard, for some reason Reeve had gave him and Tifa WRO cards that identified them as part of the organization's Special Ops. Of course, they always were up to help when needed, but as far as the blond knew, they were out from the paychecks.
Cloud talked briefly with Reeve's secretary, who asked him to wait for a few minutes. The swordsman sat on the couch, Cait Sith beside him, and waited patiently. He politely refused the coffee the young woman offered him. Lowering his head, Cloud closed his eyes and let himself doze off.
Being a light sleeper, Cloud woke up a few minutes later hearing a faint sound of music. Looking up, he saw that a third person had walked in the waiting room. The man was wearing a standard uniform of the cleaning crew of the building, a skullcap and round sunglasses. The music Cloud heard came from his big headphones.
Something in that man bothered Cloud, but the tall and slim man never acknowledged Cloud's presence. He ignored the gaze upon him, replacing the garbage bag from the secretary's desk before returning to his cleaning cart to grab a mop. The blond lowered his gaze, probably was just paranoia, the man was just a janitor.
"Mr. Strife, Commissioner Tuesti will receive you now". Nodding, Cloud got up and walked into Reeve's office.
Cait Sith ran into the room and jumped on Reeve's lap, while Cloud took a sit in front of the Commissioner's desk.
"Thank you for bringing Cait back. Did Denzel liked the gift?"
"No clue, all I can say is that he was shocked, like Tifa and I."
"I see…" Reeve ceased petting Cait, turning his eyes to Cloud "You must already imagine".
The swordsman nodded, not in need to vocalize that Reeve would never ask him to travel all the way to the headquarters just to bring Cait Sith back. "What you need to tell me that Tifa and Denzel couldn't listen?"
"News such as the ones I have can't be given by someone as me, but by the man of the family. Especially when it affects you directly." Reeve made a pause, searching for the right words. "Vincent called me a few weeks ago. He reported that while he was on a small village, he heard a couple of people say that three men with silver hair wearing black stole a truck near the town."
Cloud felt a chill up his spine, but did not disclose his tension. After all, it could not be possible. A few seconds after, Reeve continued.
"I know what you're thinking, I didn't believed myself. Until a man with a mane of silver hair and a black coat rented two rooms in a inn in Costa del Sol. He booked two rooms and was accompanied by three people." The middle-aged man turned his computer screen to the blond, showing a bad picture of the man. Beside him, he could figure out a slender figure with long and silver hair walking beside him.
"Sephiroth" Cloud muttered, controlling his voice. He was shaking.
"This is the only picture Vincent had access, it happened several weeks after the theft and the security tapes were already being reused. The staff were unable to give a better description, since they receive many tourists; apparently, one of the receptionists said it's hard to forget him because he terrified her, and he also seemed sickly. Also said one of his companions was assisting him, a young of delicate appearance, probably a -"
Reeve stopped talking when Cloud punched the table. The sound startled him and Cait, making both jump.
"He can't be back, Reeve! It's not possible!" the blond growled between his teeth.
The older man learned closer to him, supporting his forearms on the table.
"But he is, Cloud, and we have to be ready for when he decides to attack." Cloud breathed a few times before slumping back to the chair, Reeve relaxed his posture soon after. "Vincent is still investigating. He said that he will report personally close to the New Year's Eve."
How convenient. Of course, Vincent would report in the New Year, it was when their group reunited at the Seventh Heaven to spend time with everyone together while celebrating and listening to everyone stories.
Reeve grabbed something from one of his drawers and putted in front of him. It was a cellphone, identical of the one Cloud always carried, the difference was the golden Fenrir in the front and a additional button on the lateral.
"Barret, Marlene, Cid, Shera, Yuffie and I already have this new model. It have a panic button on the lateral, when pressed, it immediately activates a GPS and send a distress signal. Vincent carries a prototype of this model. This is yours. I selected another two for Denzel and Tifa."
"This thing is bad Reeve, really bad. It came at a terrible timing…" Cloud had his hands on his head, looking visibly distressed. "Tifa is pregnant."
The confession made the older man's eyes wide, his face torn between concern and happiness. A child was a beautiful thing, a true miracle coming from the mako-enhanced body of Cloud, but how could he be happy if it meant a big danger for the swordsman and his family?
"When?"
"We found out last week. No one knows yet, not even Denzel. We were planning to tell everyone at the New Year Eve's party." He nudged the table "Besides, Denzel is not a child anymore. He won't want stay back while we all fight."
That was true. Tifa's pregnancy made the fighter a vulnerable target to Sephiroth, since she could not fight back in her condition. They had to work with the possibility of Denzel also become a target, after all, the ex-ShinRa general hate for Cloud was known; hurt his family to get onto the blond's head was a low blow, but almost eminent.
To add that, Denzel had a protective personality. He would never stand back and do nothing when something was threatening his loved ones.
"Bring Denzel here. I want to test his abilities."
Cloud raised his head to look at Reeve. "What?"
"Tifa has been teaching the boy martial arts since he was thirteen, right? And you have been training him in swordplay and materia use for a while now, no?" Cloud nodded silently "Besides, he have that nice gunblade and materia we gave him last year, it would be a shame to let them gathering dust."
"Are you serious? You are suggesting we involve a sixteen year old kid into a battle against the biggest threat to this planet?" the swordsman voice was almost a growl "We taught him this technics so he could visit his parents and your mother in Midgar and be able to protect himself. We allowed him to have a weapon for this reason too."
"You said yourself that Denzel will want to fight, isn't it better we prepare him for a life-threatening fight instead of let him find himself in one without prepare?" Reeve had made a good point "My scientists were able to rescue the data from the virtual simulator training room from ShinRa, the technology they used to train SOLDIERs. Denzel can train and experience struggle of a fight in a controlled environment. If he does badly, he will star coming here once a week for training. This will prepare him to defend himself and it is better than forbid him on doing something he wants, and encourage him into endangering himself" That didn't seemed to convince Cloud "If you were on his shoes, what would you do?"
The question hit Cloud like a sucker punch. His expression continued black, but the answer was obvious: them wanting or not, I would fight. The same thing Denzel was going to do.
"I can bring him tomorrow, Tifa will want to come too, and I don't have the vehicle for it." Cloud grabbed the phone and pocketed it "I will ask Barret a ride."
"Call me later to confirm the appointment." With this, Cloud left the room. Reeve settled Cait Sith on the side of the table and gone back to work.
Closing the door, Cloud unconsciously looked for the janitor he saw earlier.
"Miss" he addresses the secretary, who looked up from the computer monitor to listen to him "Who was the man that was here a few minutes ago?"
"You mean Kurt? He is one of our janitors; he started working here a few months ago." She shrugged "He is really quiet, always listening to music, I think he doesn't talk."
"Thank you"
Cloud walked to the elevators, ready to get his motorcycle and go back to his usual schedule. What he had just done was uncommon for him, why did he bothered about a janitor? He never was someone to care about other people business; maybe he was just paranoiac because of Denzel's secrecy.
Even so, when was the last time he got bothered by someone's presence?
XxXxXx
"This one is in a bad state." complained the tailor, pointing to the burned marks on the wolf pelt.
"Sorry about this, you can cut off from the payment."
"I'll pay half of the price for this one, lucky you I can still find a use for it". The man counted a few bills and handed it to Denzel "Let me know when you are going to Midgar again, I might need more stuff again."
"Sure. Have a nice day".
Denzel made his way back home. The street seemed darker than usual, as if the city was mourning the lack of the sun and heat; soon first snow would fall. The teen only a few memories of falling snow in the Midgar area, usually it happened just once or twice during the winter, and it had to be night and really cold; but for the last years, it started gradually more frequent and intense.
Edge had pollution, but not the heavy brown mass from the mako fumes Midgar had, actually, that nasty smoke was rarely sighted nowadays. Probably the lack of frequent and violent pollution from the mako reactors was being nice for the planet.
"Deep in thought?"
After realizing that he stopped walking and stayed staring at the sky like an idiot, Denzel looked around him, trying to find the owner of the voice. Eventually, he looked down, finding the large fire lion-like beast guardian of the Cosmo Canyon.
"Mister Nanaki, good to see you."
"It is good to see you too" Nanaki eyes Denzel up and down "You have grown".
The two started walking together, clearly going to the same destination.
"What's brings you to Edge?"
"I was in the area, since I would have to come back for the New Year Eve, it would be a waste of time travel to another location when I eventually come back."
"That's nice. Cloud and Tifa are going to love the idea of you staying with us." Denzel noticed a brown wool scarf around Nanaki's neck "What's up with the scarf?"
"I defeated a Chocobo Eater a few weeks ago. Apparently, it was causing problems to a farm. The owner's wife knitted this as a 'thank you' gift."
"Looks good on you."
Nanaki proceeded telling Denzel about the time he expended at the farm as they made their way to the bar. He had learned a lot about chocobos, sheeps and farming in his time there. The owner's children had played with him and the family listened his stories with great interest, they had never gone to anyplace but there. They had invited him to stay during the winter, which Nanaki politely refused, so they gave him a scarf to 'protect him from the bitter cold wind'.
"Have you named it?"
"What?" the fire beast pointed to Denzel's gunblade, which was fastened on his back "No, I should have?"
"Names are important Denzel. Everything that is special, dear or hold a meaning to us need to have a name. Names gives meanings to feelings, objects, places, people; That's why we name our children, cities, vales and weapons."
Denzel understood the reason to give names to cities and locations, it had an geographical reason, had to mark places somehow, ending up giving something a particularity. But naming a object like this made no sense to him.
"I don't know, it just seems…gaudy. I get name people and places, bet name a weapon just feels stupid" Denzel knew he was being too sincere, and had a good chance in offending Nanaki. "Besides, it already have a name, it's MPGS."
Nanaki shook his head slowly.
"That is not It's name, it is the model. Your 'model' is 'human', but you are Denzel" the guardian's voice was filled with knowledge. "Weapons are extensions of ourselves. It fight we us and we end up relying on it to keep us safe, to protect our loved ones and be by our side. It's only natural for us to become attached to it, to give it a name and make it unique."
Denzel thought about it, remembering that Cloud had named his motorcycle even when he never needed it. Also, Marlene, many years ago, had asked Tifa what she had done with her 'Premium Hearts'; when he questioned about it, the barmaid answered that it was her fighting gloves, and she kept them inside a nice wood crate inside of one of her drawers. Likewise, Cloud had once mentioned that the primary blade of his Fusion Sword was named 'First Tsurugi'.
In the end, he could see logic in Nanaki's philosophy. Maybe it was alright to name weapons, it wasn't a bad thing.
The boy grabbed his MPGS handle and putting it in front of his eyes. Deactivated, the blade folded backwards and held by a piston that made part with the handle, cutting the length for about half of it. After a few minutes analyzing his gun sword, he sheathed it back.
"I'll think of a name for it." The chance on the boy's mind made Nanaki grin.
The talking done for the rest of the way was all about how Denzel was doing and why he was so far away from home, Nanaki clearly wanted to save his stories for the New Year party. Every year, everyone of their little group listened to his stories. Of all of them, Nanaki was the only one who was fascinated by the small things of the nature and life, that's why Denzel and Marlene always listened what he had to say; His stories were amazing and they always learned something.
Denzel grabbed his keys and opened the back door of the bar (the health surveillance knew how to complicate things) laughing about he still having the cushion Nanaki slept the last time he was there. The scene they found was not what they expected. Cloud and Tifa were sitting on the kitchen table with two phones between them. The dense atmosphere made their arrival awkward.
"I'm home…?" Denzel announced slowly "We got visit" he pointed to Nanaki.
Tifa got up "Good to see you Nanaki, it has been a long time" She got up and got a bowl and a glass, filling both with water.
"Denzel, sit down" Cloud ordered. Not understanding a thing, Denzel complied while searching his memories to find whatever he did wrong.
'Oh crap, they found out about the monster hunting. I'm screwed'
"You arrived at the right timing, something has happened." Tifa putted the water for the boy and the fire beast "It involves everyone of us."
Denzel relaxed a little, the subject had nothing to do with him, which was good. In the other hand, Cloud's tone creeped him out.