Warning: Harsh language begins here.

The silence was deafening, filled with tension so thick Tifa could swear it was palpable. Jessie's face was white, her eyes wide and unseeing while Wedge shifted uncomfortably beside her and wouldn't meet Tifa's gaze. Biggs sat still as if Petrified, both hands balled into fists where they lay atop the scarred wood of the table.

"I found him unconscious," Tifa began quietly, knowing how important her next few words would be. If they protested Cloud's presence, what would she do? Would she abandon him? Would she leave with him? Where would they go? "I managed to get him up from where he'd fallen and we sort of—stumbled home."

"How…how do you know it's him?" came Jessie's whisper, her voice tight and Tifa could see her fighting her memories. "When was the last time you saw him? How can you be sure? I—my brother—"

"Oh, Jessie," Tifa interrupted, and shot around the table to close her friend in a hug.

Jessie's breathing was harsh. "My brother, he wasn't the same. He was so different, looked the same but he wasn't and then he didn't look at all—" She shuddered in Tifa's arms. "How, Tifa? I can't—please tell me, how do you know?"

"He said my name," Tifa answered. "He didn't say anything else but he looked at me and he said my name. It's not like your brother, Jessie, not like that. He…" She swallowed and forced herself to finish, to hurt not just Jessie but Biggs and Wedge as well. "He's wearing a SOLDIER uniform."

"Wait—what?"

Tifa looked over at Biggs. Although usually just as mellow as Wedge, he was far more volatile when provoked. "He's wearing a standard SOLDIER uniform," she repeated.

"How could I have missed that," Biggs whispered to himself, eyes darkening before they sharpened and he demanded, "What the fuck, Tifa? You brought fucking SOLDIER here?"

Tifa forced herself to release Jessie and flinched, not because Biggs was angry, but because she could hear the pain and betrayal in his roar. I did that, she thought, and felt her throat tighten. "Biggs—"

"What the fuck were you thinking?" the taller man yelled over her, jumping to his feet and over turning his chair. "That we need more of a challenge? That it's not enough that Shinra killed everyone we loved, they need to finally kill us?" His long arm swept the table, sending discarded food and dishes everywhere. "Didn't you join AVALANCHE because of Shinra and the shit they did and yet now you've invited one into your home? If that's not shitting where you sleep, I don't know what it."

"It's not like that—"

"Then what the fuck is it like, huh? You know our story, Tifa, you know. We shared our stories with you, bled when we did so you could have a reason to believe in us and our cause." His voice was harsh, burning, and he leaned over the table to stare unblinkingly into her eyes. "Did they mean anything to you? Do we mean anything to you?"

Tifa could feel her heart squeezing, constricting in her chest as she forced herself to return Bigg's stark gaze. "Yes, of course you do—"

"Then how could you do this? How could you bring Shinra here?" Hoarse and pleading, his voice was bleak. "My family died, Tifa, then they killed my dad, executed him. Not just my father, because I was too young to think of him as a 'father' but my dad, someone who was kind and peaceful and never hurt anyone. Wedge had to watch his three year old sister die, right before his eyes, could do nothing to prevent it. And Mako eyes…Jessie was beaten every day for months by someone with Mako eyes. Every day. She thought Biggs and I didn't see, wouldn't notice but we did. We just wanted to let her have her pride, wanted to let her know it was ok to pretend as if nothing was wrong when she was with us because she couldn't once she was home."

The sorrow crowding her chest was awful, thick and heavy and choking. Aching, Tifa reached across the table and placed a soft hand on Biggs' shoulder, the other finding Wedge's. "I'm so sorry, Biggs," she whispered, throat raw. "I'm so sorry for what they did to you, to all of you, to all of us. I never, ever want to hurt any of you and I'm so sorry that's what's happened."

"Then why?" The question seemed torn from Wedge, whose voice was shaky, puzzled. Usually tentative and timid, his pudgy face was pinched, brows drawn together and low over his eyes. "I-I thought…you cared about us. I thought they hurt you too. I don't understand…"

The knot in Tifa's gut coiled, pulling tight. "They—they did hurt me," she agreed, dread curling her shoulders. "Just like you they took away the things I cared about."

"What things, Tifa?" came Jessie's soft voice. "You've never told us, never talk about it."

Tifa felt her mouth tighten and carefully masked her features. "I know."

"Tifa, we need to know, we deserve to know," Jessie stated, and rose to her feet. She met troubled eyes. "You would never knowingly jeopardize Marlene's life, I know that. But you might not be thinking clearly in this case. Let us in. You have to. If you want him to stay, you owe it to us to give us a reason to let him."

Tension stretched tight across her spine, Tifa inhaled sharply, knowing Jessie was right. But she couldn't tell, not all of it. Not yet. She'd barely had time to process the fact that part of her past was still alive.

"I…I'm from a small town," she began slowly, carefully choosing her words. Truth without specifics, she reminded herself. "It was just a country town, next to the mountains, nothing big or fancy. One day Shinra came and just—they burned the whole town, everything, just set fire and watched it all burn. My mother had already died when I was younger but my father was still alive and…they killed him when he tried to stop them. I got hurt too, trying to do the same thing but my sensei, Master Zangan, he rescued me. He brought me here to Midgar while everything that I'd ever known… my home, every single friend I'd ever had, my father…my entire life died that day."

"Oh, Teefs," Jessie whispered, and she felt a comforting hand on her shoulder, much like hers on Biggs' and Wedge's.

"Cloud…Cloud left town to join SOLDIER before all that happened," Tifa continued, brows drawing together. "I never heard from him while he was gone, thought he'd died too even though I'd hoped—and now I've found him—" She felt her breath hitch, a sound like a sob escaping her. Ah, Shiva but she'd found him. It hurt to say the words, scalding her, and she couldn't understand why.

And she refused to cry, couldn't even if she had wanted to. She hadn't cried since Master Zangan had abandoned her alone and desperate and aching for anything familiar when she was fifteen.

"He hasn't said anything except my name since I found him," she continued after taking a deep, calming breath. "His eyes glow with Mako, then fade to its original blue and...I can see him fighting it. I just…I want to help him get better. I would never abandon a friend." She looked up, asking. "Please."

Jessie peered at her, assessing, while Wedge turned away in discomfort. Biggs' eyes shone blatant with refusal.

"He's the one you dream about," Jessie murmured, and Tifa felt her hands tighten, flexing on tense shoulders before she let go and clasped them in front her.

She couldn't deny it; she too, fought nightmares and sought shelter in a vanished hero. "Yes," she admitted.

"You don't know him anymore, Teefs," Biggs held, shaking his head and turning away, much as Wedge had. "You don't know what Shinra might have done to him, how they changed him."

He was right of course, and she couldn't refute that either. "You're right, I don't," she agreed, "but shouldn't I be allowed to find out? Shouldn't he be given the chance too?"

"It's Shinra, for Ifrit's sake!" Biggs exploded with fists clenched. "He's the enemy, in our home! You don't know what he's capable of, you don't know how much of him is left! Is he still even the boy you remember?"

Tifa could feel her stomach clenching as Biggs continued to mouth her every fear.

"What if we let him stay and he goes back and informs Shinra who we are, where to find us? What do you think will happen? Mako and SOLDIER and Shinra changes people, warps them. They destroy lives. They've already destroyed ours once. Are you going to let it happen again?" Heavy fists slammed onto scarred wood. "What if he leads them back here and they kill us? Kill Marlene?"

"Stop it," Tifa whispered, trembling. Gods, oh gods…

But Biggs was beyond her pleas, sneering at her with naked pain in his eyes. He needed her to hurt, to realize what she was asking of him, of all of them. "Better yet, what if he kills us and takes Marlene? What then? What the fuck is a four year old going to do against SOLDIER? Throw her godsdamn dolls at him—"

"Biggs—" Wedge interjected, placing a calming hand on his best friend's arm.

But Biggs shrugged him off and leaned forward, much as he had earlier, and looked at Tifa with menace in his eyes. "No, Wedge, she needs to hear this. C'mon, Tifa, tell me what little Marlene should do when everyone she knows is dead, killed because someone she loved decided to trust the enemy? You want her to lose everything too? Just like you, you want Marlene to have everything she loves die? It hurts you so much you need to hurt her too—"

The blow Tifa struck was bone shattering, one drawn fist that knocked Biggs off his feet and flat on the floor, nose bleeding profusely and broken in more than one place.

"You don't get to question my love for Marlene," Tifa spat, shaking so hard she could barely recognize her voice. "There is nothing on this Planet worth more to me than her smile and her happiness. You can say whatever you want about me but never, ever question my love for her or I will break more than you fucking your nose. You've been warned." Turning, she met Jessie and Wedge's shocked gazes.

"Cloud's too sick to go anywhere tonight. We'll be gone in the morning," she told them, and swiftly left the room.