Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot! Final Fantasy 7, AC, Crisis Core belong to Square Enix!
If Things Had Been Different
"Hey Denzel! You have to try and balance your weight, plant both your feet firmly on the ground and hold the sword with both hands tightly at the hilt. Yeah, that's right! Just like that buddy!" the raven haired man instructed as a 16-year-old Denzel took on a fighting stance.
"Uh, it's really heavy…" Denzel grimaced as the sword trembled in his grasp from the weight.
Zack rubbed his chin in thought as he assessed the problem.
"That's no problem at all! We will just do squats and push-ups! You have to build up more muscle if you want to survive in a prolonged sword fight with a powerful enemy, Denzel." Denzel rubbed his face in a display of sheer frustration.
"Oh man…squats again? Can't we do something else uncle Zack? Please?" Denzel pleaded desperately with both his hands clasped together, sending him the "puppy look".
Zack ruffled his hair roughly and grinned "Heh, you gotta get up earlier if you want to convince me with the ol' puppy look! I invented the look little man. Now come on, drop down and give me fifty!"
Denzel groaned loudly and dropped to his hands and the tip of his toes, slowly pushing himself up and down.
"C'mon Denz, don't be like daddy Cloud! He hated squats too! Look at him now! A whole head taller with more muscle than before! Though I couldn't do anything about that hair of his…" he scratched the back of his neck, his grin sheepish and teasing.
"I heard that." The shorter, male blonde was walking toward Zack and Denzel, watching Denzel doing push-ups.
"Just what lies are you telling my son Zack?" the former First Class SOLDIER had the audacity to look highly offended as he dramatically rested a hand against his forehead.
"Wha-but, ME?! Why, good sir, I cannot believe you would accuse me of all people and aliens in this world of possibly telling Denz lies about you, that were oh so true, I mean… who do you take me for Cloud, really?" he crossed his arms playfully, lifting his nose up in defiance.
Cloud chuckled and shook his head, fist bumping his best friend as the two men greeted each-other.
"So, where are Aerith and Tifa?" Cloud asked as he watched Denzel struggle with the twenty-fourth push up. "Zack…how many did you give him?"
"They are upstairs checking out the attic...uh…not many…maybe fifty?" he grinned sheepishly at the blonde.
Cloud sighed heavily and leaned down, patting Denzel's sweaty hair before he said with a small smirk:" Well, keep it up then."
"Hey!" Denzel protested loudly, before Zack lightly placed his boot over his butt and said in a playfully commanding tone:" Butt down! Give me another twenty soldier!" Denzel huffed in exhaustion.
Cloud only shook his head at his friend's antics with his adoptive son as he headed upstairs. He saw the collapsible stairs to the attic were open and he carefully headed up.
Only to have a book slam painfully in his face and made him almost fall over if it weren't for his fast reflexes.
"Oh my god Cloud!" Tifa quickly rushed to him to see if he was hurt from Aerith throwing the book at the exact time when his head emerged from down the stairs.
The blonde groaned in pain, rubbing at his face. He sent a light glare in Aerith's direction, who smiled apologetically and giggled at his sour expression.
"You're even worse than your husband you know that…" Cloud dusted himself off and climbed up the rest of the way, his spikes just brushing the attics roof.
He inspected the damage the women had done. Zack was wise not to come up here.
It looked worse than a battlefield. Old clothes strewn all over the place, kitchen utensils randomly set about in boxes, one fork was actually stuck in the wall, porcelain he had never seen before carefully surrounded by either newspaper or a soft foil.
"Uhh…since when did we have this much porcelain anyway Teef?" Tifa huffed with her hands on her hips.
"Oh…that's from…you know…that one party..and that one other party…" she sent him a sweet, innocent smile. Too innocent.
Cloud gave her a blank look, obviously not remembering anything of "that one party" or the "one other party" at all.
"Aha….well…I think I will go downstairs and see if Zack needs help. I'm sure Marlene is downstairs already." Cloud quickly made his retreat down before another book or something far heavier was thrown at him again.
He shook his head when he heard the two women giggling upstairs, rearranging god knows what up there.
He was right. A 15-year-old Marlene was leaning against the wall outside of Seventh Heaven, giggling as Denzel struggled with holding the sword upright.
"Let's see you holding it up Marlene! You couldn't even raise the tip of the blade off the floor!" Denzel growled, annoyed at her giggling at his frustrating predicament.
Marlene smiled unperturbed by her brother-figures attitude and countered:" Your bark is stronger than your bite Denz. I never said I could lift it." She sent a smile towards her uncle Zack, who winked at her.
Denzel grumbled something under his breath as Zack adjusted his stance, lightly kicking his feet farther apart and positioning his hands to hold the sword in a more comfortable grip which wouldn't put too much strain on his lower arms.
"H-hey…its…lighter…" Denzel was amazed how the sword seemed to be lighter when Zack had adjusted his grip and he looked up at the man in amazement.
Zack chuckled at the bewildered look on Denzel's face and ruffled his hair "It is, isn't it? I did the same mistakes when I was learning how to use a sword for the first time in Shinra. Boy oh boy, Angeal sure had a lot on his hands to train me properly." He scratched the back of his head, an embarrassed yet fond smile on his handsome face.
Cloud crossed his arms and chuckled, " I can imagine that. It's all about the techniques really. Once you learn how to properly wield a sword in battle it's much easier performing attacks and slashes with it." He gave a encouraging nod to the young man now.
Denzel smiled, feeling his body hum with newfound energy as he engaged his uncle Zack in another sparring season.
"Yeah! That's it Denzel! Come on, show me what you're made of!" Zack laughed as he expertly parried all of Denzel's still sloppy, inexperienced attacks.
Cloud leaned against the wall next to Marlene, kissing her forehead affectionately. They both smiled as they watched the two spar.
Bonus Scene: (added)
It was night in Seventh Heaven and the residents were already sleeping soundly in their respective quarters.
Tifa and Cloud were wrapped in each-other's arms, their foreheads touching, their breathing soft and even in their sleep.
In the other room opposite of theirs, Zack was holding Aerith to his chest, while she entangled her legs with his, soft smiles on their lips.
Marlene was sleeping peacefully in her room, holding a Choccobo plushie in her embrace with an iron grip, thankfully she had her own room ever since she and Denzel hit puberty, she would die of embarrassment if anyone found out she was still sleeping with a plushie.
And then came Denzel's room, just opposite of Marlene's. The teenage boy was tossing and turning in his bed uneasily, drooling slightly from the side of his mouth, his eyes squeezed tightly shut. He was having a nightmare.
Or was he?
Denzel found himself in a place he never saw before, only heard stories about from Zack and Cloud. The room was large, computers lining the outside barrier made of glass, he could just make out the Shinra logo before suddenly, the scenery changed.
He was in a large meadow, rocks here and there and some trees, which was odd, he never dreamed of meadows before.
"Yooo Denzel!" he turned around only to be greeted by a familiar figure, his uncle Zack, jogging towards him with his trademark bright smile on his face…clad in his First Class SOLDIER garb, the buster sword strapped to his back.
"Uncle Zack, what are you doing here?" Denzel scratched the back of his head, making his brown hair only messier than it already was.
"To get started with your training of course! Now drop down and give me fifty!" the raven haired man grinned brightly.
Denzel's eyes widened in horror.
No….N-no…it…it couldn't be!
"WHY ARE YOU IN MY NIGHTMARES!? WHY?! LEAVE ME ALONE UNCLE ZACK! NOO!" Denzel shouted frantically, quickly running away from Zack, trying to hide behind a large rock, only to bump into someone: Zack.
Wait, what? But wasn't he just over there…?
"Drop down and give me fifty soldier!" this Zack repeated the same order, with the same cheerful grin on his face, as if he wasn't scaring Denzel shitless.
Denzel screamed a not so manly scream and ran the other way, only to see another Zack!
He stopped and looked around himself, his eyes widened in horror when he saw he was surrounded by at least thousands of Zacks everywhere!
They all issued the same command at the same time that made Denzel almost wet his boxers:" Drop down and give me fifty soldier!" Denzel clutched his head and released a agonizing scream at the sky.
Zack and Cloud were out of their bedrooms in seconds, their iconic, almost identical swords in their hands at the ready. Tifa already wore her gloves in her PJ's, clad in a robe and Aerith came out in her PJ's armed with a…frying pan? Everyone blinked and looked at her.
"What? I can only heal!" she defended herself
"But…why do you have a frying pan in your bedroom?" Tifa was almost afraid to ask.
"Sometimes I need to physically fend off this knucklehead because he's sometimes as eager as a puppy." She shot Zack a pointed look, a small blush on her cheeks. Cloud and Tifa's faces took on hot shades of pink at her remark.
The man in question blushed lightly in embarrassment and snapped:" Alright, can we just-!" he stopped and gestured to Denzel's room from where they heard the scream coming from.
Marlene suddenly came wobbling out of her room, still sleepy, a plush Choccobo in her arms.
Cloud wanted to uncharacteristically coo at the cute sight, it was still the same Choccobo he had gotten her for her eight birthday!
Focusing back on the task at hand, Cloud and Zack readied their swords to attack as Cloud opened the door, only to see…
Denzel…standing in the middle of his room…
Doing squats…
He kept mumbling in his sleep as he was performing the squats:" Twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three… Yes sir, uncle Zack, sir!"
Cloud's eye twitched, everyone slowly looked at Zack.
"Uhh….I can explain…" a bead of sweat appeared on Zack's forehead
"Zack…" Cloud said slowly, warningly.
The raven haired man grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment.
Aerith bonked him on the head with the frying pan, making him release a not so manly yelp.
"Ouch! What was that for?!" he shot Aerith a wounded, puppy look. She didn't budge with her murderous glare.
"For scaring kids into doing squats in their sleep!" Aerith fumed, holding the frying pan at the ready to hit her husband again.
"Hey…I was a Champion of squats in SOLDIER…" Zack half heartedly defended himself.
Everyone shook their heads before returning back to sleep, Cloud joked to Tifa:" Well, at least you don't need a frying pan to fend me off right Teef?" he smirked.
"I don't need a frying pan Cloud, I have my fists." She smiled sweetly at him as she sent him a bright, innocent smile. Cloud swallowed heavily as they closed their bedroom door.
The only one left standing there was Marlene. She looked at Denzel still doing squats in his sleep, she sighed heavily and went inside his room.
She set aside her plushie and stood next to Denzel and started doing squats.
BONUS SCENE ADDED FOR THOSE WHO READ THE OLD VERSION! IMPORTANT: Is anyone interested in drawing fanart for my stories? Any stories at all? If you are please PM me! :D Thanks!
Please read and review! Hehe I hope you enjoyed it! Prompts for future chapters are very welcome! (Cloti, Zifa, Zerith, Clerith…etc.)
