Light from Darkness
The Final Fantasy VII Chronicles
Chapter 6- "Memories"
As the mercenary known as Cloud Strife initially set foot in the Seventh Heaven Bar, he soon made his way to a table where Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge seemed to be celebrating the recently attained 'victory'. Abruptly, in the midst of all this, a little girl, possessing of long brown hair and a pink-dress attire, leapt down from her previously seated posture upon the counter, momentarily thereafter approaching Cloud with a hastened, jubilant outcry of "Papa!".
Just as abruptly, her cheerfullness fell away upon recognition of the figure who was clearly not the 'papa' she so excitedly awaited the arrival of, before she ran back to the counter, tears soon released in the form of a silently released disappointment.
In response to the girl's noted sudden depression, another young woman followed suit, pacing out from behind the bar as well, making her way over to the crying girl in swift response. The seeming 'tender' was also possessing of long, waist-length brown hair, tied with a red ribbon at the end. She was additionally attired in the form of a white bare-midriff shirt, accompanied with a suspender- supported black-leather skirt.. rather atypical attire for a female resident of run-down districts like the slums.
The woman was notably attractive, especially in comparision to the more simplistic appearances that women of the slums opted for.. but with one look into the tender's determined brown gaze, and it was clear to tell that there was more to this woman than appearance
Her initial attempt, seemingly, was to try and ease the child's depressed state, one that, rather expectantly, failed.
"Marlene! Aren't you going to say anything to Cloud?," the tendress asked in a light-hearted tone, which was met with only stifled sniffling from the child beside her.
Acceptant of this, she merely gave a light sigh, instead opting to make her way to the recently arrived mercenary.
"Welcome home.. Looks like everything went well. Did you fight with Barret this time?"
Cloud gave small nod to the affirmative, to which his childhood friend responded with a slight tone of worry in her voice.
"I should have known. He's always pushing people around, and you've been in fights ever since you were little.. I was worried."
"You worry too much, Tifa. Here.. I got this for you.. I thought you might like it."
The woman, Tifa, blinked in unexpected surprise, as Cloud offered her the small blue petaled flower he'd acquisitioned from the passing girl in the downtown district. "Flowers..? How nice..You almost never see them here in the slums.. For me?" A wondering pause, which was responded with another small nod from the man across from her, that incited a considerably warmed smile from the tendress.
"Oh Cloud, you shouldn't have.."
Cloud responded with a slight shrug, thinking rather little of the trivial gesture. "No big."
Tifa smiled again, for she clearly valued it a great deal more.
"Thank you, Cloud. It smells wonderful. Maybe I should fill the store with flowers..Oh, and I'm sorry about Marlene.. She's a little shy."
Leaving her go to put the flower at the counter, Cloud turned to Biggs, who was busied with the devout task of downing all the liquor he could get his hands on. A brow briefly quirked in tune to this .. curious display, he eventually took a seat of his own down at the table, placing himself between Biggs and Wedge, the latter of whom was devouring a dinner of the more solid variety.
Biggs let out a content sigh, as an empty bottle was set down with a resounding *clank* of glass against wood, stretching out as he tried to give the alcohol time to settle in his stomach.
"Aaah! Nothin' like that first drink after a job. Hic!! Why don't you have one too, Cloud?," offered Biggs with a tipsy smirk, as he took hold of the emptied container, tilting it in the mercenary's direction.
Even if the bottle had actually had contents within it, it doubtfully would have affected Cloud's eventual, cold response of a simple, flat "No".
"What!? You tellin' me you're too good to drink with me? Don't act big-headed jus' because you were in SOLDIER! Hic! Oh.. and don't tell Barret what I just said... Eh-heh.." Biggs' comment trailed off into another bit of coughing, before his head fell against the counter, collapsed in the way an average drunk would.
Some people just couldn't hold their liquor.
Cloud, rather used to this sort of occurence, glanced over to Wedge, who currently appeared to be the saner of the two.. but no less occupied, for he had to pause in his action of eagerly munching into a freshly made chicken club sandwich, to take note of Cloud's presence. A polite gesture was made of the half-eaten food item in the 'SOLDIER's' direction, who passed with a simple wave of the hand.
The chubby man nodded a bit, before finishing the sandwich with a few well-located chomps, happily wiping away at the lingered crumbs with a utilized napkin, before attention was given back to his acquaintance, accompanied with an ever-upbeat tone of addressal.
"Man, Cloud! Tifa really knows how to cook. Mmm, mmm.. Anyway, let me tell you somethin'."
Cloud quirked a brow in faux-attemted wonder. "About what?"
"Tifa always lets me taste her cooking," Wedge noted, gesturing to the array of emptied plates before him. "..and look at me now, I'm rolly-polly!" The man gave a hearty laugh, smirking with a gloved patting against his chubby midrift, proudly.
"Don't know whether I should be happy or sad.. But it's the good food and drinks that make this shop famous."
Cloud nodded in agreement, though he really didn't have half the experience through which to base said agreement. He eventually looked over to the third member of the tabled group, the sole female of whom was fast asleep, and seemingly lost in a dream-like state, through which she muttered lightly, the comments of which were somewhat muffled by her head's rested posture upon folded table-placed arms .
"Careless.. -'re getting all exc-..d.. Wonder what for...?"
Cloud obseved this.. curious display for a moment, before he arose from his seat, about to make for the exit. He didn't have time to waste reminiscing in taverns; there was pay to be made.
Perfectly timed with this attempted departure, the massive appearance of Barret Wallace charged through the formerly closed doorway, which had been knocked aside and opened as most persons would slide a flimsy curtain.
Cloud's swiftened reflexes incited him to jump to the side just in time, while the previously distanced, other AVALANCHE members leapt to standing positions, in a semblance of maintained order.. unless you counted a certain bandana'd liquor-filled male, who had to be shaken repeatedly, and supported by another bandana'd woman's gloved grasp to be prevented from an exceptionally unprofessional collapse.
The little girl, Marlene, who had been crying until this moment, had an abrupt 180-degree personality shift, as little feet carried the again-jubilant child into a run for the imposing gun-armed figure at the doorway.
A happy giggle was released, as both of the man's limbs swiftly took the child into a (thankfully) restrained embrace, and subsequently placed her onto a shoulder that easily could have supported a girl twice her size.
"Papa, welcome home!"
Tifa looked him over with a bit of concern, though she nodded a greeting, all the same. "You all right, Barret?"
"Great!," he exclaimed in the affirmative, before Barret glanced to the rest of the people in the bar with a restrained disdain for their haphazard appearances, before, with a mere shake of his head, he made for a distanced pinball machine near the back, which seemed to have been inoperable for decades, judging by the amount of dust and cobwebs heaped upon it.
Unacknowleding of this, Barret waved his non-prosthetic limb back at the group, gesturing for them to follow. "Get in here, fools! We're startin' the meetin'!!"
In tune with this, the other weapon-hand was utilized to slam down upon the rusted surface of the gaming device, which incited it to come to life with a bright glow of multi-lit neon, and reveal its true nature.
With a motorized whirring, the hidden elevator clicked out of its locked position, and began to lower into the wooden floor, leaving a vacated path in its wake, carrying Barret and his youthful acquaintance along with it.
Biggs' composure snapped back to life as he enthusedly sped over, leaping into the revealed passage, eventually followed by Wedge and Jessie, just before the pinball machine arose to where it had previously been, retaining its ancient, deactivated appearance an instant later.
Cloud, insteated of the others, opted to bide his time, returning to the counter as Tifa observed his approach, gesturing to the array of vacated rounded seats that lined the counter's opposing end.
"Sit down. How about.. something to drink?"
"Give me something hard," Cloud responded, without skipping a beat.
Tifa responded with a simple nod. "Just a minute. I'll make one for you."
She turned, retrieving a brown-tinted bottle from the shelved arrangements located along the back wall. The contents were shaken a numbering of times, poured into a recently cleaned glass, and subsequently placed before Cloud's presence, which had been standing until that moment, at which he finally took a seated position.
Cloud drank the burning substance, a great deal faster than he, upon later reflection, should have. The again emptied container was taken by Tifa soon thereafter, who busied herself with the glass' cleaning, while she spoke with a touch of previously restrained relief.
"You know, I'm relieved you made it back safely."
He blinked, in apparent confusion to this statement, arms folded lightly upon the flattened surface before him.
"What's with you all of a sudden? That wasn't even a tough job."
Tifa sighed, and nodded, in relucant agreement. "I guess not.. You were in SOLDIER. Make sure you get your pay from Barret."
"Don't worry. Once I get that money, I'm outta here."
"Cloud.. Are you feeling all right?" Cloud slid off the stool in the middle of her inquiry, while casting a backlong glance over his shoulder to the tendress, curiously. "..Yeah.. Why?"
She responded with a slight shrug. "No reason.. You just look a little tired, I guess. Anyway, you'd better get down below."
A lingered, silent moment passed between the two.
It was broken when Cloud turned and descended into the passageway without another word.
*********
Cloud stepped off the lowering pinball machine-elevator, glancing about at the seeming view of what was the AVALANCHE HQ.. at least, what passed for one. Dramatics in title aside, the 'headquarters' struck him as more of an overcrowded, overjunked basement.
It had barely been wider than the average slum bedroom, and appeared considerably smaller, when one took into account the square table that took up much of the centered location, and the scatterings of other equipment crammed into the living space.
The group's computer and television set-ups were arrayed into a multi-wired cabinet of sorts.. that seemed to be channeling enough electricity through the former to power a small city block. The last two objects of any particular note were a chalkboard filled with all manners of scribblings, that may have been identifable as plans and strategies, and a corner-dangled punching bag, which was being utilized rather noisily.
The observing mercenary knew all too well the sight of a fury-driven Barret, whose massive fists were seen tearing into the bag at a rapid, angered pace. The training object wavered considerable under the strenuous actions; Barret didn't seem to be breaking a sweat.
Marlene was also seen watching joyfully, clapping her little hands in an entertained fashion, while kept her seat upon one of many brown crates scattered around the basement's floor, that had to frequently be doubled as furniture, for reason of obvious space restrictions.
Wedge stared up from an opposing end of the table, at which he had also been seated, to Cloud, his tone considerably lacking in his typical-possessed cheerfulness.
"You think I'm a little too uptight, don't you?"
"Yeah.. Just a little," Cloud noted, matter-of-factly.
"The next mission will be to blow up the Sector 5 Reactor," Wedge noted, with a relucant shiver. "Cloud, you're great! Don't you ever get nervous? Or are you, like, impervious to feelings?"
Wedge dwelled on that consideration, and then thought better of it, with a forgetful shake of his head. "Naw, that couldn't be it."
Cloud opted for a lack of response to these inquiries, instead diverting his attentions to Biggs, who was leaned against a wall, sitting in a delicately balanced chair, maintaining a casual rested pose, content to observe Barret's merciless beatings of the punching bag. Until the second mission began, he didn't have anything else worth doing, really.
Acknowledging Biggs' extensive liking to uninvolvement, Cloud decided to look over the shoulder of the sole person who appeared working on something worthwhile.
Naturally, this venture took him over to the seated, computer-focused Jessie, whose narrowed attentions were intently peering at the explosive schematics that were rotated on the green-black illuminated monitor before her. She muttered under her breath about a noticed flaw in the design, which she tried to forget, by deterring her thoughts briefly to the sight of her unacknowledged observer.
She could tell he liked it that way. The mercenary was funny like that.
"Hey.. look at the news," the AVALANCHE tech commented, turning to the oversized monitor placed just to their left, the static-scattering display of which filled itself with the sight of a detonated structure, erupting into a shockwave of vivrant emerald-infused energy as it did so. "What a blast.."
Cloud gave a sidelong glance to the televised spectacle, while he nodded in seeming agreement.
Jessie smiled proudly, seeming to bask in the afterglow of the fiery explosion. "Think it was all 'cause of my bomb?," she had asked, yet enthusedly continued without awaiting the response, "..but all I really did was make it like the computer told me..Oh no! I made a miscalculation somewhere.."
The tech trailed off into a serious of frantic rearrangements and altering of data numbers and constructions, again lost in her indepth task of desiging a second, hopefully far superior, secondary explosive.. one that would have the Fifth Reactor's name written all over it.
Cloud wordlessly turned, and proceeded to their supposed leader, leaving Jessie to her understandably vital machinations.
Barret ceased his rapid punching, noting of the yellow-haired mercenary coming from across the room, to whom he turned with a rare touch of curiosity forming over his naturally complexion-darkened features. "Yo, Cloud!"
Wasting no time on trivial greetings, Barret went before Cloud could have responded to his addressal.
It hadn't made any difference.
"There's somethin' I wanna ask ya. Was there anyone from SOLDIER fighting us today?"
Cloud shook his head, once, his features even with the image of a man that was absolutely certain. "None. I'm positive."
Barret quirked a brow, as a fist was potently driven into the bag, clearly bothered by his hired acquaintance's lack of doubt. "You sound pretty sure."
Cloud nodded, again, hands calmly raised into a folded posture over the mercenary's uniformed midrift.
"If there was anyone from SOLDIER, you wouldn't be standing here now."
"Don't go thinkin' you so bad jes cuz you was in SOLDIER," Barret responded with a threatening sneer. He'd be damned if some upstart ex-Shinra brat was going to make him look bad.
Cloud turned and walked back to the television monitor, giving the easily tempered leader a moment to cool down, before something happened that one of them would most likely regret, a great deal.
It was worth noting that Cloud regretted very little of what he did.
Biggs took this opportunity, after pushing off from his leaned posture and rising to his feet, to go to the punching bag to do attempt some practicing of his own.. except the outswung arm of Barret halted this action, and knocked the overpowered figure aside like a rag doll, who fell to the ground rubbing at his bandana-attired head in a pained gesture, which had begun to throb painfully.
Suffice it to say, the lesson had been well taken to heart.
Content with having had an opportunity to let out his pent-up aggressions, Barret glanced back to Cloud with a more conceding disposition, as he nodded once in hesitant admission.
"Yeah, you're strong. Probably all them guys in SOLDIER are, but," he paused, allowing Cloud his stated point in the conversation, at least until he put his proverbial fist down on the truth of the matter.
"Don't forget that your skinny ass' workin' for AVALANCHE now!
.. Don't get no ideas 'bout hangin' on to Shinra."
Cloud, who had been steadfastedly calm to this point, had finally had his fuse lit by this implied statement. The mercenary's eyes narrowed, in a brief conveying of just how much a threat this 'skinny' man could become if angered to a point.. a thin line Barret was walking very delicately across.
" 'Stayin' with Shinra'?," he repeated in a low tone, a long-sleeved limb cast to his left in a wide motioning gesture.
"You asked me a question, and I answered it. That's all."
Cloud took an intiative step closer to the considerably taller Barret, whose heightened posture he glared into the eyes of, unwaveringly as his own cold blue stare narrowed. "I'm going upstairs. I want to talk about my money."
With that declaration, Cloud stormed off towards the pinball machine, as Barret muttered something along the lines of "..shucks.. Money," dismissing of the threat the merc thought he carried.
Just as this mercenary had been about to ascend through the pathway, a feminine person had leapt down from above in his stead, palms outreached to halt Cloud's approach, browned stare full of worry at the brewing conflict she overheard from the tavern above.
"..Wait, Cloud!," Tifa had warned, her gaze becoming a touch pleading with this outcry.
"Tifa! Let him go," Barret said in an opposingly calm tone, turned away from the two with a slight 'hmph' as imposing-built arms were folded in a disinterested pose. "Looks like he still misses the Shinra!"
Cloud span around with barely restrained violence, glaring at Barret's dettered position. "Shut up! I don't care about either Shinra or SOLDIER!"
He continued to walk off, right past Tifa's attemptive halting, before he hesitated, additionally commenting to the gathering behind him. "Don't get me wrong! I don't care about AVALANCHE or the Planet for that matter!" Barret merely ignored these exclaimations, and returned to his merciless beatings of the inanimate punching bag, with considerably increased amounts of strength and anger backing his intent blows.
Marlene, continually jubilant as ever, as if nothing had just taken place to the contrary, happily clapped and giggled at this energetic display.
"Papa, you're so great!"
Tifa sighed softly. "Straighten things out with everyone for me, Cloud," she attempted, in a hopeful tone that she prayed would calm the volatile situation. Cloud was silent for a time.. before he just gave a mere nod to Tifa, returning his attentions to the television's imagery.. which had begun taking on a strikingly different image. Good, he needed distraction, and fast.
Intially, it had been the deep resonance of the heavy-set man's voice which had caught Cloud's notice. What he saw upon turning kept them unwaveringly fixated at the news broadcast.
Beneath the sight of the crimson-suited man, with an intricately trimmed dome of paled blonde hair and striking, cold blue eyes, read a simple, four word caption:
"PRESIDENT SHINRA - Live Telecast."
"Today the No. 1 Reactor was bombed," the flickered President's image began, in a low, morose tone, as if of a man going through a period of intent grief and mourning. "The terrorist group AVALANCHE has claimed responsibility for the bombing. It is expected that AVALANCHE will continue it's reign of terror," the President began, before contuining in a warmer tone, intended to inspire hope in the unitiated.
"..but citizens of Midgar, there is no need to fear. I have mobilized SOLDIER to protect our citizenry against this senseless violence. Thank you, and good nig.."
The President was abruptly cut off in mid-finalization, as the monitor turned black in the wake of a sudden deactivation.
Jessie drew her hand back from the television's off switch, frowning with a disgusted shake of her head.
"What a lying jerk.. He doesn't care about the people.. Just his precious reactors."
Cloud mostly ignored these commentaries, mostly since he already knew their truthfulness from actually being in the man's presence. He had, again, attempted to continue to the pinball machine before he paused on a whim, glancing inquisitively to the nearby Wedge.. who had thus far stayed out of the situations, which struck him as peculiar. Wedge smiled a bit, as he looked up at Cloud's approach, nodding with a bit of greeting.
"....Cloud. You say you don't care, but you came to talk to me. Cloud.. You just want friends. Isn't that right?"
Cloud growled under his breath, rather bothered by the chord the suggestion struck. "Blow off."
Wedge shrugged, unaffected by the coldness of Cloud's response. "Yeah, well. You look kind of lonely to me. If you ever got anything you want to get off your chest, you can always talk to me."
Cloud stayed silent, and began to continue his exit.. though he managed a brief, slight nod, before he finally reached the pinball machine, and ascended back to the tavern above.
*********
Cloud made his way for the doorway of the emptied bar, though he sighed upon the overhearing of the expected elevator's second usage in so many moments. The soft, concerned female voice that followed, calling after him, was especially what he had expected.
"Listen, Cloud.. I'm asking you. Please join us."
Cloud shook his head, unaffected, and paced closer to the door. "Sorry Tifa..." Even through his refusal, he couldn't manage to hide his regret at the words he spoke.
Tifa ran to stand behind his departing presence, unhindered.
"The Planet is dying. Slowly but surely it's dying. Someone has to do something."
He span around at these words, and stared directly into Tifa's light brown eyes, barely managing to not falter at their sad gaze.
"..So let Barret and his buddies do something about it. It's got nothin' to do with me."
The mercenary, figuring that was that, turned away, and continuing to the door once more. Tifa stepped forward, yelling out in a sincerely angered tone. Politeness was clearly doing her little good, so situations called for a change in tactics.
"So! You're really leaving!? You're just going to walk right out, ignoring your childhood friend!?" Cloud froze in the middle of turning the door's knob.. and found his hand lowered, glancing back to Tifa slowly. "What..?," and eventually, recognition dawned upon him, as well as regret for how he had been treating her. "I'm.. sorry.."
Tifa sighed, and turned herself to the side, crossing her arms as she looked to the featureless wall across from them. "..You forgot the promise, too."
Cloud blinked with a touch of confusion, fixating his stare at Tifa's deterred presence, inquisitively. "Promise?"
She sighed again, redirecting her stare down to the floor. "So you DID forget." The tendress finally turned, and redirected her stare to meet with Cloud's as she paced closer, gloved palms outstretched in a pleading gesture. "Remember.. Cloud. It was seven years ago.."
Cloud paused.. and closed his eyes, recollection slowly coming over him, as did the rememberance of events long past..
*********
It was a beautiful evening in the city of Nibelheim.. All was quiet, and almost all the town's residents were peacefully slumbered in their homes.. Almost.
In the center of town, the Nibelheim well had stood as a constant of peacefulness and serenity in the township. The faint waters had glittered under the blue, starry night sky, along with the faint candlelight that eminated from a scant numbering of windowed residences.
Cloud heard the resonance of Tifa's voice echoing through his thoughts, inciting him to better recollect the events. "Look, the well. Do you remember..?"
Cloud glanced down through his mentally distanced state, then back up, nodding a few times. "Yeah.. back then.. thought you would never come, and I was getting a little cold."
The well came into a clearly view, revealing a young boy of about 15, with spikey yellow hair, wearing dark green pants and a black t-shirt, sitting on the edge, legs dangled over the side of the platform that surrounded the widened, circular well.
A soft voice was heard, piercing the youth's wandering thoughts. "Sorry I'm late.." The boy smiled slightly, as he glanced to his right, as a young girl of about the same age came to join him, attired in a sky blue, elegantly fashioned dress. The female of the two youths was possessing of a childish radiance that threatened to outshine the very stars above. Lengthened, unbraided brown hair was swept aside from the girl's shoulders with a brief flourish, as she quietly lowered to a seated position besides her friend, to whom she looked at, visage tilted with fair inquiry.
"You said you.. wanted to talk to me about something..?"
"Come this spring.. I'm leaving this town for Midgar."
The girl sighed sadly, letting her legs dangle back and forth as her quiet stare was fixated downward. "..All boys are leaving our town."
"Everyone has their destiny, Tifa.. I have to go out to find mine." The boy stood up, and over to her, supported by the strength of his conviction.
"I want to join SOLDIER."
He just as soon turned away, blue gaze turned up to the reflective sky above, with an unending sense of hope for the future, that the teenager knew would belong to him.
"I'm going to be the best there is.. Just like Sephiroth!"
Tifa, froze at the very legend's mention, as did her dangled legs, while she quietly repeated the name in a low tone of hushed reverance. "Sephiroth.. The Great Sephiroth."
The boy paced around the platform in the meantime, and climbed onto the top of the well's stone edge, directing his resonant stare down at the sparkling waters.
The girl sat up a bit, pulling one knee to her chest in a concerned posture.
"Isn't it hard to join SOLDIER, Cloud?"
Cloud nodded slowly, with hesitant agreement. "..I probably won't be able to come back to this town for a while."
Tifa looked back down, wiping her eyes with a light gesture.. she wouldn't let the tears flow, not on this evening.
Cloud looked back down at her, unnoticing of these occurences, inquiring of her concernfully. "..Huh?"
She just again shook her head, preferring to change the subject.
"Will you be in the newspapers if you do well?" Cloud nodded slightly, to attemptively affirm her hopeful beliefs. "I'll try."
The girl finally managed a thoughtful smile, smiling radiantly as only she could, tilting her stare back to fixate upon the above-located Cloud. "Hey, why don't we make a promise?"
This struck the spikey-haired youth as .. peculiar, but he vocalized no objection, and so, Tifa continued. "Umm, if you get really famous, and I'm ever in a bind.. You come save me, all right?"
Cloud blinked. Twice. "What?"
Tifa looked back down to the town's emptied center, legs again slowly dangled over the side of the platform.
"Whenever I'm in trouble, my hero will come and rescue me. I want to at least experience that once."
Cloud still looked utterly confused. "What?
Tifa sighed, trying not to get frustrated with the boy. It was just how he was.
She brought her leg up against her in a rested pose once more, looking up at Cloud, with sad, pleading eyes.
"Come on--! Promise me----!" Cloud sighed, and nodded, reluctantly. "All right.. I promise."
In the dark night sky above Nibelheim, a bright, northern fixated star twinkled above the young teenagers.
Tifa smiled softly up at it, as if she was always aware of the guiding star's presence.
"No matter how far we grow apart.. We'll always remember our times together..
Our memories can never die.. Right, Cloud?"
Cloud sighed a bit.. then reflected on the words. Then, for the first time in the evening, he felt he understood what Tifa meant.
The boy slowly smiled down to Tifa, with a soft facial gesture, and nodded, his worries for the future becoming considerably distant.
For now, there was only the moment.. and the two of them.
"Yeah.. They won't."