Pretend

Aria wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. The rain was coming down faster than when she had left her house, a cold downpour that plastered her hair to her face. If she hadn't been in such a rush to get out the door, she would have grabbed a raincoat or an umbrella. Too late to worry about it now.

Seventh Heaven was farther away now than it had been when she was living at the children's home, and she moved as quickly as she could through Edge, ducking her head when she crossed paths with anyone. There were still a few people out and about-mostly people heading home from a late night work, or visiting bars that were still open at this hour.

Aria jumped over a puddle and shot a wary look toward a dark alley as she heard someone coughing in the shadows. She picked up her pace, tugging the hood of her sweatshirt further down her forehead. She hoped Tifa or Cloud would be awake when she got to the bar. She hoped she could talk to one of them without alerting Denzel or Marlene to her presence. Especially Denzel. She didn't want a hundred and one questions from him tonight.

There was a light on inside Seventh Heaven. After a couple years of knowing the Strife family and their habits, Aria realized that this meant Cloud was probably still out on deliveries, and Tifa had left the light on for him. Stopping at the front door, she knocked quickly. Shifting from foot to foot in an attempt to stay at least a little warm, she waited until the door finally slid open. Relief swept over her when she saw Tifa's concerned face peering at her.

"Aria?" Tifa opened the door wide and put a hand on Aria's sopping back, escorting her into the bar. "What's wrong?" She shut and locked the door before turning her full attention on Aria, who focused her gaze on the floor, at least until Tifa's hand cupped her chin and turned her face upward. Aria hoped that the tears streaming down her face would be confused as rainwater, but when Tifa's thumb smoothed across her cheek, she knew that Tifa wasn't fooled.

Tifa studied her for a moment, and then steered Aria toward the stairs. "Let's get you cleaned up and into dry clothes. Then we'll talk."

Aria silently went with Tifa, casting glances at the closed bedroom doors. She accepted dry clothes-drawstring pants that belonged to Tifa, and a t-shirt that was Marlene's. The pants were a little too long, but were much better than her soaked clothes. Finally, she sat downstairs on one of the barstools as Tifa fixed a cup of hot chocolate and set it in front of her.

Tifa sat on the stool beside Aria's. "Care to tell me what happened?"

Aria shifted. "I had to get away from the fighting," she finally said.

"Who was fighting?" Tifa pressed.

Aria shrugged jerkily. "People," she replied evasively.

"Was it your new foster parents?" Aria swallowed and Tifa's eyes darkened. "It was," Tifa said, though Aria hadn't said a word.

"They fight all the time. About everything. About me. They don't think I'm…'working out,'" Aria quoted. She bit her lip, her hands clenching the hot mug of chocolate. "Business has been bad for Mr. Elstead and he says I eat too much and cost extra money."

"You eat too much?" Tifa echoed disbelievingly. "You're ten years old! You're growing like crazy-I hope you're eating plenty!"

"They're going to send me back to the children's home." Aria struggled to keep her voice level. "It's okay," she said bracingly, even though okay was the last thing she felt. "I didn't even think I would get put in a foster home at all. I'm too old-most kids my age are heading out on their own before long. I can take care of myself, but-" Her breath hitched. Tifa was watching her with those caring, sympathetic eyes, with the gaze that always seemed to be able to draw Aria's thoughts out of her mouth, even if she didn't want them to come. She could never pretend anything around Tifa. "But I thought I might finally get a chance to have a family of my own." Several tears slipped down her face, and she brushed them away furiously, ducking her head over her hot chocolate. "Instead I'm just a burden."

Tifa's warm arms folded snugly around her. "Aria, sweetheart, you are not a burden. If the Elsteads are too blind to realize what an amazing chance they've been given to know you, then that is their loss. It is not your fault. And you don't have to pretend to be okay if you're hurting."

As if that was all Aria had needed to hear, the dam broke and the tears she had been struggling with all evening came in a wave of painful sobs. She clutched Tifa and cried into her shoulder. She was just calming down when the key turned in the bar door. It opened, and Cloud stepped in, just as wet as Aria had been a little while earlier.

Cloud looked over at Tifa and Aria, and then he was hurrying over to them. "What happened?" Aria recognized his tone. It was his 'whose ass do I have to kick' tone, and while she was touched that he cared that much, the last thing she needed was a sword-wielding Cloud Strife showing up at the Elstead's home in the middle of the night.

Drawing back from Tifa, Aria wiped her face on her sleeve and averted her eyes. She didn't even have the mental energy to be embarrassed that Cloud had arrived to see her a weeping mess.

Tifa pulled Cloud aside and they held a whispered conversation. Aria stared down at her hot chocolate as they talked about her and glanced over at her. When Cloud finally disappeared upstairs, Aria told Tifa, "I should go."

"I don't think so." Tifa put a hand on Aria's shoulder. "I'm going to call the Elsteads and tell them you're staying here tonight. Cloud's setting up a bed in Marlene's room for you. We'll look at this from a fresh perspective in the morning. After I make sure you eat enough eggs and pancakes." Her eyes crinkled in a smile, but Aria could still see the worry on Tifa's face. "We'll help you work this out, Aria. I promise." She squeezed Aria's shoulder. "Why don't you finish up that hot chocolate and I'll find you a toothbrush."

Aria finished her hot chocolate and then tiptoed up the stairs. She took the toothbrush Tifa procured for her, and slipped onto the cot that Cloud had set up in Marlene's room.

Seventh Heaven had already been a sort of second home to her over the years, one place where she was more than just another face in a crowd of orphaned children. Maybe that made sense-after all, Cloud and Tifa knew what it was like; they were both orphans, too. Or maybe they were just the very rare sort of people who just cared and helped when and how they could.

Either way, as Aria tugged a worn quilt up over her shoulders, she felt completely comfortable and secure for the first time since she had been moved into the Elstead household two weeks earlier. She knew that this was why she had come to the Strife house. Because even when life was a mess and even if her world was falling apart, they had never brushed her off or let her down. Because if Tifa said they would help work this out, then Aria knew it was true.

Because in a world where disappointments and hurts and broken hearts abounded, there were still some people she could count on to be there for her.