A/N - A long one this time! Thanks again to you guys who've reviewed, you've been so nice! Hope you enjoy this!
I watched as the sun rose, peeking through a gap in the curtains. A night of restlessness was behind me, and I was feeling sore and weary. Thoughts of days gone by had plagued me, not allowing me to sleep, but instead doze hazily between dreams and reality. Twice I had been startled by a figure in the darkness, only to slip from the sofa and find that I was alone. Eventually, I decided not to try and sleep, but to decide what I was going to tell the others when they awoke. I assumed they would have questions for me, so I readied myself with answers for them.
It was gone 6:30 when light footsteps padded downstairs. I looked around and saw that it was Marlene. She smiled at me, waving a little, a book clutched under her arm. She was still in her pyjamas, rubbing her eyes free of sleep. Without encouragement she sat on the sofa next to me, curling her feet up underneath her and opening her book. I watched her for a little while, as she became absorbed in her fantasy world, amazed and somewhat envious that she was able to slip away from reality so easily. Heavier footsteps descended, and Tifa was in the living room, ruffling Marlene's hair and saying good morning to me.
"Did you sleep well?" She asked, moving to the kitchen area and filling the kettle. I stood, trying to ease my cramped, sleep-deprived muscles. Tifa looked at me and shook her head.
"I'm guessing you didn't sleep so well then," She answered herself, and I shook my head, watching her as she made coffee. She offered me a mug, which I gratefully accepted, taking a sip of the hot, sweet liquid. Tifa leant against the counter, looking over at Marlene.
"That was quite a story you told last night," She said, looking at me over the rim of her mug as she drank. I nodded, somewhat anxious that, in the clear light of day, she might not believe me. She shook her head again and drained her mug, gasping a bit as the hot liquid burnt her mouth. Tifa began taking cereal packets from a cupboard, bowls from another, making preparations for the day ahead.
"You know, they did that to Cloud too," She said quietly, her back turned. She was making sandwiches and wrapping them in tin foil. She called over to Marlene, who obediently hopped off of the sofa and sat up at the table. Tifa handed her a packet of cereal and a bowl, and Marlene poured it out, splashing a little milk onto the table in the process.
"It's difficult to hear about it," She said, packing the sandwiches into clear, plastic boxes, one with 'Denzel' written on the top, the other 'Marlene'. "It brings back bad memories for him...for all of us." I nodded my understanding, finishing the coffee.
"It's hard for me to talk about it, but it's better knowing that you understand," I said, rinsing the mug in the sink and leaving it to drain.
Tifa called upstairs to Denzel, telling him it was time to get up. She poured him breakfast and put his lunchbox into his rucksack. At last she turned to face me, the morning's necessities finished for now.
"The others are going to be coming back here today," She said. "We're going to have to tell them what happened to you. If you need us to help you, if there's any way we can, then we all need to know the full picture."
"I understand," I said, looking back at her. "I'm not sure how you can help me, to be honest." And that was the honest truth. I had been drawn to these people by a dream, a dream full of unspoken questions, hidden from me, and the promise that they would help me find an answer to whatever it was that gripped me. "I don't know what I'm looking for."
Tifa smiled and called upstairs again to Denzel. This time, the call was followed by a groan and a thump, signalling his getting out of bed.
"We'll help you look," She said, taking a step closer to me.
"But why?" I asked, realising that they knew nothing about me, that I was a stranger who had approached them with a crazy proclamation, that they didn't need to help me at all. Tifa just shrugged, smiling again.
"Because that's just who we are." She said simply.
The rest of the morning was spent getting Marlene and Denzel ready for school. I had mainly stood in the background and watched, marvelling as Tifa kept everything under control, finding homework due for that day, the other shoe, Marlene's favourite hair bobble. The only thing I had done that morning, as the request of Tifa struggling with a school shirt Denzel had got toothpaste on, was to help Marlene tie her hair. I watched Marlene as she combed it through, then stood, wary, as she handed the comb to me and waited.
"What do you want me to do?" I asked, looking from the comb to the mass of hair that trailed down her back.
"Put it in a ponytail, please," She said, bunching it between her hands in a demonstration. I gently combed the hair back from her face, then brought it together at the base of her neck until it sort of resembled the tail of a pony. Marlene handed me the hair bobble and I awkwardly wrapped it around her hair, when at last it was all contained. I stood back and observed. Marlene dashed to the mirror and looked. She smiled at me, giving me a little thumbs up, and I weakly smiled back at her. I was getting used to smiling around these people. They seemed to like it more than nodding, which was what I was used to.
With Marlene and Denzel packed and off to school, Tifa offered me use of the bathroom. As I showered and freshened up, she was on the phone to the others, asking them if they wanted to come over. Within half an hour they had all arrived, having spent the night in a quaint little hotel a few hundred meters down the road. They were soon settled, each with a glass in hand full of home made lemonade. I stood, as did Tifa and Reeve. I saw Vincent standing by the doorway and I nodded to him, knowing that a smile could not be expected in return from him. He nodded also, then turned his attention to Tifa.
She began to speak, telling the others about what had occurred last night. I shifted on the spot, feeling awkward, as she recounted the details. When she had finished, the others looked at me, Yuffie with her eyes wide.
"So, you had the same kinda thing as Cloud?" She asked, only to be reprimanded by Cid, who told her that if she'd only listened she would've realised that. Yuffie sat back, huffing, swigging her lemonade. I didn't know what to say, so merely stayed impassive until something was asked of me.
"Okay, so you're were a part of the Jenova project, like my friend Cloud here." Said Cid, standing, eyeing me up. "He's a pretty tough guy, but being injected with cells from Jenova and showered with mako didn't make him able to toss wolves like cotton wool. What else happened to you?"
I looked from face to face, wondering whether to tell them everything, or just pretend that I had no idea. Then I remembered what Tifa had said, that they would help me but they needed to know the whole truth.
"I was injected with Jenova cells, showered with mako too..." I began, looking over at Cloud. He nodded at me to continue. "The reports said that I had experienced prolonged exposure to the lifestream, and been forced into it, though that's not something I remember." Cloud stepped forward.
"That happened to me, on more than one occasion. Tifa too," He added, looking over at her. "If that's all that happened to you, I can't understand where you got this power from," His eyes clouded in thought, and Yuffie spoke up.
"Maybe she's just really strong and she just pushed that wolf off. We all know how strong some stuff can make you," She said, making a passing reference to a large, snake-like creature, the Midgar Zolom, whatever that was. A hush descended on the group, a quiet full of remembrance. I thought it best to continue.
"That's not all," I said, looking around the room. "Having decided to take testing one step further, I experienced what they termed as 'direct materia interaction', which basically means that they took materia and forced it to become a part of me." Collectively, the group gasped, though Cloud and Vincent remained stony faced as they listened.
"I don' mean to be rude," Barret said gently, "But how are we supposed to believe ya? I mean, we only known ya two days, how can we know you tellin' the truth 'bout all this?" The others nodded, it was time for some physical proof to convince them I wasn't a liar.
I rolled up my left sleeve, exposing the stigma marks that lay there. Yuffie physically recoiled.
"You've got the stigma?!" She cried in disbelief. I nodded, rolling my sleeve down again. "But...but...wasn't that cured?!" Reeve explained to her that no-one was sure why it was there, but that they intended to find out. Silence fell across the room.
"Still doesn't explain that power o'yours," Cid said, seated again.
"It comes from the materia in me," I said, raising my hands to suggest no other alternative. "There's no other reason for it."
"But materia can't be bound with the human body," Said Reeve, "Scientists have tried, but it cannot be done..."
"It can be done, I'm living proof," I said, a feeling of anger welling up inside me, my voice a little harsher than I intended it to be. Remembering the pain, the all encompassing pain, as the men in their white suits held me down and cut me...I took off my shirt, a tank top laying underneath. Three raised scars adorned my upper right arm, horizontal, an inch apart from one another. They wrapped around my arm like bangles.
"There's your proof," I said coldly, pointing at the scars. "That's where they sliced open my skin, day after day, pressing those little, glowing balls in. Patching me up, waiting for them to be...absorbed into me." I lifted my top up slightly, exposing another three scars along my right hip. Turning around, I showed them the scars that shone white across my back, just like the others.
Shaking with anger at the memories, I put my shirt back on and turned to face them again. None could meet my eye, except Vincent, who boldly looked at me, a touch of anger written across that emotionless face. My own face remained blank as I watched the reactions of those around me. I raised my hand, causing them to look at me.
"Don't feel sympathy for me," I said, seeing the look already emerging on their faces. "What's done is done, nothing can change the past. What we need to figure out is why I need you all so badly," And why you so readily took me in, I thought to myself. These people, so often defensive and resistant, had let me in with open arms. I took a seat next to Yuffie.
"I hope that you can trust that I tell the truth," I said, met with a vigorous nod from Yuffie, who also put her hand on my arm. I gently removed it and continued. "The dreams I have, they've told me so much about you all, I can't even begin to explain. If I could stay here a little longer," I said, looking at Tifa, "I hope that they will inform me as to what happens next."
Tifa looked at Cloud questioningly, only turning back when he had nodded. Having nodded at me, I said my thanks. Cid shook his head and sighed.
"I don' know how much we can rely on your dreams," He said, drinking down the last of his lemonade. "Seems a little weird to me." I nodded at him, looking down into my lap.
"Believe me, you don't know half of how weird it is," I said, draining my own glass.
I didn't have to wait long to be told what would happen next.
