First off - Happy Easter and Feast of the First Fruits! Hope everyone had a great day and celebrated the way it calls for! And - WOW!! So many reviews and so many happy reviewers! And SO many familiar voices coming up again! Oh, heck with it - group hug! You guys make me so happy, my new best beloveds and my returning and consistent best beloveds. I admit, I fine tune my chapters based on some of the things I hear in my reviews. Ohkay, let's tackle this. Jianre - for some reason no one had much faith in me killing off the kids. I can't imagine why. Yep, it had to be Wutai. All younger siblings wait in Wutai apparently ;) zi-ling - my face must glow. I've managed to agast you. Zack was too bouncy to resist writing and yeah, you called it, I couldn't resist the kids coming back. Skykhanhunter - I LOVED that part of Dark Knight too! Yep, kids are alive. Chapter 52 should be for you then to answer the rest of your question. Welcome back! Cal - hey, welcome to the party. Ugh, the review was nearly impossible to figure out what to write considering the story took such a spin after the convention. I'm glad you peeked in anyway. I'm flattered because I am trying to tell a new story but I don't want to lose the characters or the feeling of the origonal. Thanks! Biskitty - I LOVE the stuff you write so I'm flattered you approve of mine. Your reviews always make me grin like the village idiot. And yeah, who could resist a love triangle like that? Other than Cloud, that is. Dis - yeah, you got me. The kids LIVE!! And, heh, what makes you think I'd break Zack? For the fun of it? Just because I could? And its dramatic and will scar some of my readers for life? Would I do that? Kueilan - oh, you so make me want to hug you. Or send you chocolate chip cookies for your wonderful detailed reviews. Yep, Cloud's an older brother - its good for him. Little siblings build character! Your comment about Zack and Cloud not being subtle - I laughed so hard - its SO true! Its makes them a pleasure to write every time. Pull down the safety bar on the ride because we're still going strong. demonegg - you make me so happy every time I see your name pop up in my email box. I loved Cloud's kid posse too. Its just too easy to picture, isn't it? And yes... my hyphens... Peek-chan is so trying to cure me of those but I stick stubbornly to them. I like the way they look. I'm glad you can forgive me for them (and all my other punctuation problems Peek grinds her teeth over :) It's Sunday, yo! Hope these make you happy. Ktisis - I'm SO glad you're here. Yep, it just seemed 'Cloud' to ignore having an entire nation swooning over him. and I'm glad you're enjoying the mystery of Zack and Cloud - I intend to complicate things even more! I enjoy your Clouds in your stories so I'm flattered you approve of mine. Peeka - as always you make my day and save my stories from horrible commaless existance. We'd both be more boring without you to egg us on. And now - wow - let's get this show on the road!
Chapter 51: Back Story
Tifa didn't know how long she lay there with her sister and brother on top of her. It wasn't long enough and for a very long time it was just names and tears and kisses and arms holding so desperately tight that no one could really breath well and no one cared. Finally Tifa's eyes cleared of tears enough to see and she had to sit up just so that she could look at both of the children pressed like a second skin against her. Almost desperate she examined both of them and Denzel finally gave in to his natural response and pulled a face. It made her burst into laughter and tears all over again. Finally, feeling hollow and dry inside – and as if her chest suddenly held all the vastness of the open sky above the plains – she managed to give them both a watery smile and ask:
"What are you doing here?"
"We came with Leon!" Denzel supplied and then all of the sudden Marlene was trying to wiggle out of Tifa's arms and Tifa wasn't letting go and her little sister was looking frustrated.
"You've got to see! You've got to come! Now!"
The fierce surety of it had Tifa letting go just long enough for Marlene to stand up and grab her hand to begin tugging.
"It's a surprise. Come on, Tifa! You're going to cry again."
Tifa struggled to her feet, not at all sure she could handle crying like that again. Denzel grabbed her other hand and they literally pulled her down the garden path away from the building. Tifa, still trying to hiccup air into her, managed to shoot a helpless glance back at Cloud and Zack – enough to see Cloud's eyes were full of light and the clearest, richest blue she'd ever seen – before she was stumbling along behind her brother and sister.
"How - ?" she started but Marlene hushed her.
"Not yet. You've got to see."
"Marlene – " Tifa wasn't sure she could handle any more surprises today but her little sister was determined as she pulled her around one of the manicured hedges into a different section of the garden.
"See?" Marlene was smiling and triumphant and Tifa's entire face seemed to be on the verge of dissolving into tears again.
"Aerith – " the choked out name was a whisper but the humming figure in front of her turned in mild surprise – that turned into insane joy.
"Tifa!" It was a scream and suddenly her best friend was in her arms and they were both laughing and crying again while the children held on to them. For a long time it was all meaningless babble that came straight from their hearts and then Aerith was holding Tifa's face in her hands and searching it with her impossibly green eyes.
"I knew it. I knew you'd find us. You always find us. I knew you'd come."
"It's Cloud's fault," Tifa managed to choke and her friend raised her face to look around for the blond warrior. The smile she gave him was beatific. And then her eyes moved to the man standing curiously next to him –
and her knees gave out on her.
"Aerith!" Tifa caught her friend and almost went down with her as well. All the color and light had drained entirely out of Aerith's face and her eyes had rolled back into her head. Before she could even ask, Cloud was there, sliding his arms around Aerith to support her as he kept Tifa from tipping over.
"What?" Tifa began but Cloud shook his head in answer and the kids, suddenly pale and worried where there had only been smiles second ago, looked up at her wide eyed.
"She's never done that before," Marlene protested as Cloud settled Aerith down on the grass. Tifa had imagined her friend lying in the grass before as she'd traveled across it. This hadn't been at all what she'd seen. She went to her knees next to her friend and felt her forehead as Cloud laid a hand over her heartbeat. Zack came close, worry but calm competence on his face.
"You want me to go get someone?" he asked. And then Aerith stirred.
"Zack…" the whisper from the brunette was so soft it almost wasn't there but everyone around her heard it. Tifa turned a shocked face to Zack but he looked just as shocked as she did. He went to a knee next to the fallen woman anyway and took her pale hand in one of his gloved ones.
"I'm here," he answered and it sounded so reassuring and solid and – right. Tifa looked at Cloud but he looked as puzzled as everyone else. Aerith's green eyes fluttered open and they focused without hesitation on the dark haired man leaning over her. It pulled a weak smile out of her and she reached up to hesitantly touch his cheek.
"You never wrote back…" Aerith's voice held so much soft emotion that Tifa felt her own throat close up. "I wrote and wrote – and you never wrote a single letter back." Light her fingers gave his shoulder a weak push. "Bastard," the word was laced with so much affection Tifa got it.
Really got it.
The once a year drinking spree. The guy Aerith never talked about. Her best friend's first love. The one that had left her without a word…
Letters?
Cloud had asked Zack about –
Tifa's mouth was already forming the word as she turned her face to look at Cloud. But he was looking at Zack, his own blue eyes wide.
Was he just realizing it had been Aerith who'd written the letters Cloud remembered and Zack didn't?
"I – ah – I didn't get them?" Zack sounded more as if he was asking than explaining and Aerith gave him one of her heart soft smiles.
"No. I didn't think you did. I didn't know where to send them after a while…" Her slender fingers rose again and touched Zack's cheek. And then she started to frown. Started to sit up and pull away.
"Zack?" her voice was suddenly unsure and frightened. "Where's your scar?"
"My scar?" Zack asked without comprehension and Aerith's eyes suddenly went frightened and wide and she scrambled back on her hands and feet like a crab.
"What? – Who – you're not Zack!"
Zack sat back on his heels and let her go, looking confused.
"Sure I am," he was confused about the situation but not about that. "Who else would I be?"
"It's what I've wondered."
It was Cloud's soft voice and Tifa turned her head in surprise to see him watching Zack. Cloud's face was calm and nonagressive – but she saw sorrow in his eyes.
"What?" Zack turned angry eyes on Cloud and Cloud didn't move away from him. Tifa scooted over to wrap her arms around Aerith while Denzel and Marlene watched with wide eyes and no fear. Cloud shook his head and stood up.
"I thought it was just me." He offered his hand down to the other man. "It's not. Something's wrong with your memories, Zack."
"Like hell," Zack stood up without the offered hand but he didn't knock it aside either. Cloud's eyes were calm.
"You don't remember her. But you used to talk about her all the time. All the time. I know because I had to listen to it. A lot. You said she'd promised to write you letters. You never said her name but she was number three on your cell phone's speed dial." He turned his head to look at Tifa. Answered before she could even ask. Or realize what an irreverent question it was at a time like this. "Shinra headquarters and his mom."
"My mom's dead," Zack folded his arms over his chest. "She died right after I was born."
"Your mom lives in-"
"Gongaga," Aerith finished Cloud's sentence.
"I'm from Kalm," Zack stated. Very softly, Cloud responded:
"Zack Fair, Shinra SOLDIER First Class was from Gongaga."
Zack's mako-colored eyes narrowed down and his shoulders shifted defensively.
"Look. I don't know what this is or why you're doing it, but we're done. You've already said your memories aren't reliable," he reminded Cloud, voice harsh. "And, I'm sorry, but I've never met you before," he told Aerith, voice just a little bit gentler but just as determined. "So whatever's going on – it needs to stop right about now."
Aerith started forward, one hand rising – and then stopped herself and closed it against her chest. Zack shook his head.
"No."
He turned and strode out of the garden. Cloud started after him and Tifa caught his arm. She shook her head when he looked back at her.
"Not yet," she told him softly. Cloud looked dubious, but he was a part of the problem and he seemed to understand that. Tifa pressed her lips together and her brows came down for a long minute.
"Can we – can we get some food and somewhere comfortable to sit?" she asked finally. "I think we've got a lot of catching up to do."
Thanks to Cloud's influence they got all of that plus privacy in no time and Tifa found herself sitting on a wide porch, cushions under her and sweet smelling dishes on the low table in front of her. Denzel and Marlene had obviously been here long enough to have figured out what they liked because they divided up their food pretty quickly and then piled more of it on Tifa's plate. There was a weak pink colored wine in the small glass in front of her and even though Tifa wasn't a drinker she thought it was a good idea. Once everyone was settled, the women and the kids at the table, Cloud leaning comfortably against one of the pillars, she simply said:
"Start at the beginning."
It wasn't quite that easy because it was three people telling the story. Aerith carried most of it but Denzel and Marlene piped up with their own versions as well. Tifa listened to it all as if she were starving and it was the food instead of what was in front of her.
Apparently, Aerith had grabbed someone's cell phone in her mad drive to get to Seventh Heaven after she'd left Cloud and Tifa at the Pillar. She'd peeled into Seventh Heaven just as everyone was scrambling out and Leon had taken over the driving. Apparently his driving had been just as terrifying as Cloud's and that was confirmed by all three versions of the story. They hadn't been the only ones fleeing the Sector either. Cell phones made the world very small and Aerith had called everyone she could think of and yelled it out the window when she wasn't on the phone. Barrett had apparently been doing the same. And the message had always been the same.
Shinra is going to drop the Plate. Run!
How many people had time to get out though, Aerith still wasn't sure. The falling Plate missed their truck but the rubble that had overwhelmed them afterward had demolished it and Tifa noticed the way Aerith skipped over the finding everyone and what condition they'd been in when they'd been found. The children stayed consciously silent about it as well and it made Tifa's stomach twist. Cloud's hand touched her shoulder lightly and she looked up to see he'd come back and now he sat down next to her at the table.
He was right. No need to think about it. They were here and alive and that was all that mattered. She laid a hand on his folded knee and looked back at Aerith. Who was watching them with a bright look in her eyes but continued on with the story.
After everyone had been found again, there had been no transportation and mobs of panicked people. They'd managed to stay together – again, Aerith was vague on how well or consistently.
"But your dad was in a real bad way, Teef," Aerith told her softly. "I couldn't do anything and the cold air was really bad for him."
Again the children were conspicuously silent and Tifa wondered how badly that had ripped into them. She'd heard her father when he couldn't breath – and known the feeling of not being able to do anything to help –
"Barrett said we had to take him to the doctor. One of the slum doctors." Because no one above Plate would take a 'slummer'. Tifa knew. "We got to the doctor but – it was real hard. It took us a lot longer than we'd planned."
"We wanted to go to the church," Denzel piped up, frustration still in his voice. "Like you said we should if anything ever happened. But we couldn't leave Dad."
"It's okay. You did what was right," Tifa took his hand in hers and held it while Aerith went on.
They'd gotten her dad to the doctor but the place had been packed with wounded and dying people. The devastation of the fallen Plate was huge and had covered a lot more than just the confines of the Sector Seven slums. Shinra was apparently below in force too, telling anyone that would listen it was the terrorist party that had been destroying the reactors that had finally blown the Pillar. They'd also been enforcing their law and harshly. The kids had been frantic to get to the church but it hadn't been possible.
Then they'd seen her bruised face on one of the TVs. And heard that they were blaming her for blowing up the Pillar.
At that point in the story Marlene crawled over to squeeze herself between Cloud and Tifa and wrap her arms around Tifa's waist. Cloud touched the little girl's back gently and Marlene surprised them all by reaching out and trapping his hand in hers when he started to pull away, holding it tightly against her heart while she pressed into her older sister.
"We saw you. And Cloud." Marlene's voice was muffled against Tifa's side. "An' they said it was all your fault and they were going to kill you for it. And we knew we had to save you."
"Leon got the team together and they figured out how to get above the Plates because the trains weren't running anymore," Aerith explained as Denzel left his own spot to press into Tifa's other side. "They didn't have any supplies or anything but Shinra was making such a big deal about the upcoming execution and how terrible you were when you really just looked – so small and beat up." Her friend's voice caught and Aerith took a sip of her wine. Tifa managed to free a hand to take Aerith's and her friend clung tightly to it.
"I guess Leon managed to sneak into the building when the others couldn't. Apparently it was really hard because security was impossible. Once he was inside he found out why. You were already gone. He called us when he finally managed to get out again."
"I knew you were with Cloud," Denzel's voice was sure and he looked past her to look shyly at the blond man. "I knew you'd be okay."
Tifa gave Cloud a soft smile.
"I was."
"Tifa," Aerith's voice was soft. "Your dad didn't make it…"
"I know." Tifa answered it gently. "I knew he wouldn't. But you were with him. I… couldn't be," her voice tightened but she forced on. "But you were and he didn't have to be scared. So it's okay."
Aerith's hand squeezed hers and they were quiet for a long moment before Aerith finally supplied:
"We always seemed to be just a step behind you. We went to the church but you'd already been there. I saw the flowers you left on the pew we always sat on when we'd go. And I finally got to mom's – and she said you'd already left. She doesn't have a cell phone and the Plate wrecked the land lines for the phones and I didn't even think to call our neighbors – "
It was Tifa's turn to squeeze Aerith's hand. Apparently her friend had had a lot of time to think of what she hadn't done and blame herself. It didn't matter now. The pain, the heartbreak, the horror and the despair... none of it mattered. That was all in the past and things were right again.
"We tried everywhere we could think of that you might have gone. Mom said you were with 'two handsome young men' and that 'that sweet blond' had said you were going to be leaving town."
Cloud was finding something interesting with the ceiling when Tifa shot him an amused look and Denzel grinned, not getting Cloud's embarrassment but understanding that his hero had once again come through and protected his sister.
"Shinra was really starting to come down hard on anyone and everyone they'd ever had problems with. They were rounding up everyone, using the 'suspected terrorist' excuse. There were starting to be clashes on the streets. Leon said we had go and Mom promised that if you came back she'd tell you where we'd gone."
"Wutai?" That was the only part so far that didn't make sense to Tifa and Aerith laughed softly and shrugged.
"Apparently, Leon's group started in Wutai. Shinra sent the Turks in to destroy it a couple years back but instead it just grew another head and moved to Hollow Bastion. He thought it would be safe to bring me and the kids here and I remembered Yuffie and knew you were with Cloud... so I figured 'why not?' And – here we are." Aerith finished her story with spread hands and a smile, ignoring, for the moment, the white elephant of Zack. Tifa nodded and kissed the tops of both Marlene and Denzel's heads.
"Wait until you hear this one." And with that Tifa began her own story. And her only interruptions were when Cloud would make a low noise in his throat when he thought she was making too big a deal of his part in something.
