Capitulo Diez

A/N: if you remember where I left off… good for you. Still…I'll help everyone else out by saying that Vincent has just said that if they wanted to, Kadaj and his brothers could create another Sephiroth….

She seemed fine, but then…Harper was good at "seeming" anything.

"Kadaj…what is he?" Cloud asked.

It was a rhetorical question, but Vincent answered. "I'd rather not know."

A rustle in the brush behind Harper (she jumped out of the way) made Cloud jump up and grab his sword. Vincent's gun hand stood at the ready. Harper picked up the sword she had found in the sub. An offensive attack from Kadaj would not be smart…

Marlene burst from the bushes and made a B-line for Cloud. "Marlene!"

They all relaxed.

"Cloud! Denzel and Tifa!"

"Tifa is all right," he assured her.

"I wanna talk to her!"

That made sense—Tifa was like her mother… Cloud couldn't find his phone. He had lost it in the fight with the three. He looked at Marlene apologetically.

She turned to Vincent. "May I?"

Harper couldn't help laughing—the PHS's batteries had died, and they hadn't gone back to town to replace them. Vincent held open his cloak, showing his lack-of-phone.

"You don't have a phone?!" Marlene was astounded.

Vincent dropped his cloak. He was sorry he couldn't help, but the face she had made was priceless.

Marlene saw Harper and smiled.

"Vincent, will you take Marlene back to the bar? I'm gonna go get some answers from Shinra."

"You know I can't."

"But…"

"Forget it, Cloud!" Marlene fussed, pulling away from him. "Why don't you ever pay any attention to us?" She turned and fled to Vincent, who covered her with a corner of his cloak.

Cloud took a few steps toward them, Harper watched silently. "Marlene, please give me some time. There's a battle to be fought…but it's not as simple as just fighting it. You see?"

"No, I don't!"

"Cloud, fighting: is that what this is about?" Vincent asked. The time for trying to change his mind had come.

Cloud thought back to when Rude had told them where Kadaj was… 'Where are they?'

'The Forgotten City,' Rude said, 'Their base.

'Can you go? I have to talk to Rufus.'

'Stop running!' Tifa had pleaded. 'I know: even if you find the kids you might not be able to help them. Maybe something will happen that can never un-happen. That scares you, doesn't it? But you need to think about now. Take it in.' She wasn't stopping. 'You think you've got it hard? Tough. Sharing your life with other people is hard.' Tifa wasn't distracted by Reno and Rude's squabbling. 'I know you don't want to be alone. You might not answer your phone, but I don't see you throwing it away either.'

She was done…for now.

It looked like Reno had lost the fight. 'You go to the base, Cloud,' he said, looked at rude, and both left.

Cloud didn't turn around. Even though, Tifa had one more thing to say… 'Why do we have to lose out to a memory?'

That memory was what triggered his second trip to the flower field where Aeris waited. Perhaps he understood what Aeris meant when she had asked who he wanted forgives from. "But I let you die," Cloud said.

" 'Boo-hoo. Poor little me.' Cloud, why can't you forgive yourself?" Aeris asked.

"Are sins ever forgiven?" Cloud asked Vincent, having figured that Vincent would have been the one to ask in any other situation.

"I've never tried," was his answer. For atonement, maybe…but it was true that Vincent had never sought forgiveness.

"What?...tried," Cloud repeated. "Marlene, let's go home."

She stuck her head out and nodded, running to Cloud and grabbing hold of his hand. "I'm gonna try," Cloud said. "I'll let you know how it goes." He motioned using a phone for that purpose.

When they were gone, Harper said, "Well, looks like we're gonna need a phone."

"Looks like," Vincent affirmed. "Are you all right?" he asked, taking a seat adjacent to her.

Harper smiled. "Of course, why wouldn't I be?"

"What I said before, about Kadaj being able to recreate Sephiroth."

"What about it? Why would it bother me?"

It seemed she was fine…seemed. "He would be…"

A/N: Sorry! That's all the time I have for now! I hate to cut it off like this, but it can't be helped under these Circumstances. Later!