Alright everyone, how is everyone? Who else stayed up until midnight at Borders at the Breaking Dawn release party?! -Crickets Chirp- Okay, I know, I'm a Twilight geek, but in all honesty, that book is freaking FANTASTIC!! If you guys are fans of the series or have even gotten around to reading it yet, tell me about it and we can rant about Bella's little...situation together! Yay!

Okay, I'm warning you all, this chapter's got angst in it, and some serious character development. The next few might be...like that. Hope it doesn't put you off.

Chapter Thirteen: Never Too Late

"Where are you Vincent?" Tifa muttered to herself as she steered the black Ferrari down the highway. Her hands were shaking and sticky against the wheel. She wiped them. No good. Tifa blew out a breath and locked her quaking jaw. She would not cry, even though it was her fault. She'd been so distant towards Marlene when the girl had needed her most of all. And she was so little! That in itself was enough to bring tear—No! Tifa slowly, pointedly accelerated, focusing all of her energy and intensity into her right foot.

She decided to think about Cloud instead. And how he let those bastards go. How. Could he? All Kadaj had to do was mention Aeris's name and he had the planet's best SOLDIER melting into the palm of his hand. Now look what happened. Tifa tapped her thumb in a quiet, angry rhythm against the steering wheel. Damn you Cloud. Damn you. Her thoughts strayed to Barret. Barret had lost his best friend too. But did you see Barret throwing himself away and whittling down to an emotional shell? No! Even through Barret losing his daughter . . . even through Tifa losing . . . her daughter.

Tears pricked her eyes. Tifa swallowed, and with a shaking hand reached for the radio dial. Music. Noise. Anything to distract. She pressed the power.

"Once upon a time I saw something beautiful, once upon a time I thought 'you and I'." A male voice with a guitar crooned. Tifa growled. Cloud. She swiftly rolled to a different station.

"Isn't anyone trying to find me? Won't someone come take me home?!" The tears returned. Marlene . . . Tifa took a deep breath and turned the station one more time.

"And now we interrupt with a special report. It seems that renowned AVALANCHE leader, Barret Wallace, has filed a missing person's report for adopted daughter Marlene, who, as we all know, was found with the Remnants just over a week ago."

Marlene, I'm sorry. I'm so . . . sorry! The weight of the world on her shoulders, Tifa switched off the radio quietly. Something outside through her rearview caught her eye. Black smoke trickled from the back of the car. Something was wrong. Her car began to stall. Tifa bit her lip. The highway wasn't very crowded. There were a few cars but it seemed that not many people were interested in joy-riding at 6:30 on a Saturday morning.

The car was fading quickly and Tifa was barely able to pull off to the side of the road as the car went completely dead. Tifa closed her eyes and let her head thump against the headrest. Now what? After a moment or so she twisted her car door open and stepped out, immediately wishing she'd brought a jacket. Snow slushed against the sides of the road.

Wrapping her bare arms around herself, she took out her cell phone and dialed Cloud's number.

Please, please, pick up! She begged, terrified of what would happen if he didn't. She chewed her lip as the phone rang twice. Then three. Four. Six.

And guess what, Tifa.

Cloud didn't answer his phone.

Pow.

Something like knives ripped open her heart and a dry sob wrenched through her throat. She closed her phone and tears began to fall quickly and freely. The emotion was suddenly beyond her. She sobbed into her left hand, sucking mouthfuls of quick breath. She looked up and with blurry eyes she saw a big 18-wheel truck advertising 'Chippers Potato Chips' pull up to her. Wonderful. Here she was having her own personal emotional breakdown and someone had to have the decency to notice.

The driver of the truck jumped down after switching off his vehicle and started towards her. He was the big n' beefy gorilla type; maybe in his mid-40s with a ruddy face and a wife-beater T-shirt that barely managed to contain his bulging shoulders.

"Hey—you need any help?" He asked her. She wiped her wet face with her right hand and looked at the ground, ashamed. She shook her head 'no'. The man gave her a once-over. Then, after a moment of silence, he decidedly stepped up to her car and pried open the hood.

"Wow—you gotta real mess in here," he remarked as he picked his way through an engine that was awash with black smoke and liquid. Tifa was silent, but made no move to stop him. "Aha. Problem solved—broken valve. See, look." Tifa looked. The man wiped his now-greasy hands on his baggy black jeans. "I was an engineer in another life—prob'ly a good thing for you, since I carry spare parts around with me now." He began the trek back to his truck, threw open the side-door and began to rummage around for a few minutes. When he turned back around, he had the thick, black tube in his hands.

"It's actually pretty easy to replace, you know," he said as he bent over Tifa's car once more. "Out with the old, in with the new." He tossed the old valve onto the snowy ground. "And you're set," he concluded cheerfully. He smiled then. He had a nice smile. Tifa managed to screw her lips upward just enough to pass for one in return. He smiled wider. "Well, I better get goin'. My boss is a prick and a half. Wouldn't want to be late for my important delivery." He rolled his eyes at the potato-chip logo. He hopped back into his truck, started the engine, and offered a congenial wave.

"You take care now," and the truck rumbled back onto the highway.

Tifa looked up ahead of her, watching the truck drive away. She glanced at her keys and seated herself in the driver's seat. Inserted the key. The car started up with a gentle purr and ran smoothly for the rest of the way.

XxXxXx

"Marlene, you wait here—I'm going to put the bike away," Kadaj said. Marlene looked up at him with eyes that showed something like forlornness.

"They'll be looking for me, won't they?" She asked. Kadaj took her hand. And let it go.

"We'll talk," he promised. Behind their tree-house there was a well-hidden trap door that led to an underground sort of basement. That was where Loz, Yazoo, and himself had unanimously decided to store their motorcycles. Kadaj flung open the heavy door and dragged the heavy machine down the sturdy wooden ramp that Loz had set in. When the bike was set in place, he shut the door again and stayed there a second, alone in the cold forest and a little tired. Then he smiled to himself because the air was clear and a small bird somewhere nearby was singing brightly. He stood and walked back to Marlene who quietly waited for his return.

"Ready?" He asked. "And up!" He hoisted her onto the stairs and as they climbed, Kadaj noted it looked like Marlene was growing tired as well.

When they got to the top, Kadaj pushed open the door, escorting her inside. Marlene seated herself back on the couch in front of the fire while Kadaj ripped open a bag of popcorn they'd found in the cupboards earlier in the week and set to work on popping it in the small, portable microwave in the otherwise old-fashioned and cabin-like kitchen. When it finished, Kadaj plopped himself down beside Marlene and scooped out a handful of popcorn, offering it, then, to her. She took some.

"I guess Loz and Yazoo are sleeping then," Marlene said. Kadaj nodded.

"Yeah," he said quietly, and he saw the reality of what she had done dawn in her eyes.

"They'll be surprised, I think." Marlene's face quivered.

"Very," Kadaj agreed softly.

"And . . . happy?" Her face screwed up. She was trying not to cry.

"Ecstatic," Kadaj whispered. And as relief and regret melted into soft tears on her face, Kadaj wordlessly wrapped his arms around her as she cried. Kadaj leaned his head back and closed his eyes, his thumb absently stroking Marlene's head. Busy day. Eventually Marlene stopped crying, her tears reduced to the occasional sniffle. And they both drifted asleep. The perfect image of dreams, sacrifice, and buttered popcorn.

XxXxXx

I love you, Daddy. I love you, Daddy. I love you, Daddy. Barret's jaw kept clenched as he ransacked Downtown Midgar. If he were three evil Remnants who had kidnapped a little girl, where would he be? He had to find her.

A club, maybe? Some seedy, shit-hole motel? The thought made him taste bile and he retched in an alley behind a dumpster. What if the worst had happened? Then his next thought stopped him cold in his tracks. What if the worst had happened long before? And he'd gloated like a pig about his great new job.

He tasted himself in the next round of bile that reached his throat. Revulsion. Sickly revulsion. Barret locked his prosthetic gun and almost spat at the impersonal touch of it. He wanted to murder that son of a bitch with his bare hands. Fuck Cloud and his 'grudge'. Maybe when Barret had his way with Kadaj, he'd let him watch.

XxXxXx

"So I've got a few M16s, cherry bombs, spare Materia, and a handful of miscellaneous combat weapons. Anything else we could add to the list?" Reno asked, pacing back and forth, holding a small tablet and a black pen that he tapped against his chin every few moments.

"Maybe some of that petroleum stuff—for the bikes and cars," Cloud suggested, his vision hazing in and out. He leaned against a metal wall of the crowded ShinRa warehouse.

"Right," Reno affirmed, scratching it down on his notepad, "oil. Hey Cloud, you need some water or somethin'? You're not looking so good." He waited a few moments for Strife's response.

"I'm actually very much at peace with myself, Reno," Cloud said, closing his eyes and letting his head thump against the steel.

"And how's that?" Reno asked distracted, scribbling some more in the tablet.

"Well, I've decided that after I kill Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo . . . I'm going to kill myself."

Reno looked up.

"Uh . . . come again?" He asked, fixing his green eyes squarely on the blonde's distant face. Hi eyebrows dipped into a strange combination of concern and disbelief.

"Come on, Reno. Don't make me say it again."

Reno's eyebrows arched to their highest. Yeah, Cloud had always had this angsty emo aura about him . . . but suicide? For real? He's got to be joking. But he can't be joking—his little girl's just been kidnapped.

"Yep," Cloud said, standing straight up and adjusting the buster on his back, "I think that' what I'm gonna do." He plucked the tablet coolly from Reno's hand. "Don't you think we'll need a couple of air pistols?"

Reno guided the table down and locked eyes with Cloud. "You need help," he said pointedly.

"No," Cloud said, "Marlene does. So let's find her." Cloud slapped the order down at the counter after walking away and began to discuss the weapons with the man at the gate, supervising the deliveries.

Reno glanced at his cell phone. Should he inform Ruf about the turn of said 'plot'? No, he decided, dropping the phone back into the flat pocket of his loose, black suit. He'd wait a bit. Maybe it was just some kind of weird, passing mood. Hopefully. Reno would look out for him, though. Definitely. The Turk's generally-laughing green eyes softened as he watched the quiet young man in front of him and he saw Cloud-The-Soldier in a vicarious new light. Reno met Cloud as he finished ordering their supplies. They walked away to the exit and blinked at the sunlight in front of them.

"It'll be alright, y'know," Reno told the wounded man. Cloud blinked and stared straight ahead as they stood by the bike.

"It's too late," he said, "think about it—three young men kidnap a little girl and they don't leave a ransom note." Cloud stared ahead. "Who's to say she hasn't been gang-raped and left for dead somewhere and it's only a matter of time before Barret finds her."

Cloud took a breath. It shook. Reno listened, stoic and serious.

"And," the word was choked. Cloud tried to clear his throat. "A-and this time . . . it really is all my fault. The one person that really . . . and I've killed her. By not killing them."

Reno wordlessly led Cloud around to the back of the warehouse. They had at least an hour before their stuff would be ready. Cloud slunk to a sitting position in the narrow alley while Reno took a seat opposite of him, leaning against the warehouse building.

"It's not too late, Cloud," Reno said. "We can find her. We can help her."

"But don't you see?!" Cloud's voice was raw and husky. "She will be gone. We will never know her again. Look at me—everything I touch, everything I ever cherished—gone. Sephiroth told me he would never be a memory. He told me he would take it away. It's inevitable. It's my fault. I don't deserve to live!" Cloud cried, pleading for understanding from Reno. But at this, the young Turk exploded.

"Deserve, Cloud? Deserve? You saved the planet—twice!"

"I know what I am!" Cloud yelled back.

"So do I!" Reno roared, jumping to his feet and jabbing a finger down at the man's chest. "You, Cloud Strife, are a god-damned hero! And on this planet, it doesn't matter if you deserve to or not—the fact is we need you to survive. Need. Got it? For people like you and me, late isn't an option."

Reno quieted a moment. "It's never too late, Cloud." And was silent.

Cloud moaned.

XxXxXx

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