Chapter 23

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A/N - Sorry for not updating for a while. I'm more into my other story, which I've just started making. But I've finally got around to updating THIS one.

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Tifa woke up in an unknown room, it looked like an Inn, with a massive headache. In fact, the whole of her body ached badly, so much that she was scared to move in case she hurt herself more. She couldn't remember what had possibly happened to her... Out the window she saw lightning fork across the sky, and in a flash it all came back to her. Extreme... up on Cid's Rocket...

"How am I alive?" she mumbled, startled to find that she couldn't speak. Raising a hand to her neck, she felt that it was swollen and tender... of course; the Spirit had tried to suffocate her. Tifa tried to get up but failed, finding she had no strength to. She flopped back on the bed feeling like a complete cripple. Her legs were hurting her as well; maybe it was the fact that she'd used them to fight for the first time since the accident. She frowned, trying to remember anything that would point to how she had survived.

All she could hear was that battle cry going round and round her head. Who was that? It sounded so like Cloud it was unnerving. Whoever had made that cry must have saved her. But who? Tifa was so deep in thought she didn't notice the door behind her open, and a tall figure come in quietly.

Midnight nearly dropped the phone she was dialling when she saw Tifa move. She was awake already? Midnight stopped in her tracks. Well, here she was, about to meet her real mother. So why was she so nervous? She forced herself to breathe, and stepped slowly towards the edge of the bed. Man, Tifa sure had passed her looks down to her daughter. Midnight felt like she was looking in a mirror. Except the mirror image was older, and with a severely bruised neck and face. Midnight closed her eyes and cleared her throat. What was she supposed to say?

"Erm...Ti...Tifa?"

Tifa spun around, or at least she tried to, but her aching muscles didn't seem to want to move. With difficulty, she moved her face towards the sound. That voice sounded so familiar. As she saw the person who had spoke, Tifa gasped in her throat. ("She looks exactly like me... but she's younger.") That voice had been the voice that made the battle cry, she realised. The younger woman spoke again. "Here, drink this. It'll release the swelling in your throat and let you speak..." Tifa was handed a tall bottle of purple liquid. She drank the medicine in one long gulp, coughing violently when she finished. She felt her throat tingle, which was an unbearably tickly feeling; but after about a minute Tifa realised she could speak again.

"Who are you?" she wondered. The girl, because on closer looks she was just a teenager, looked nervous, and looked away, as if wondering what to say. And then Tifa saw her eyes.  Eyes she would never forget. ("Oh my god... Mako blue eyes... Mi... Midnight?!") Tifa gasped and let out a slight squeal. "You're... Midnight aren't you? You look so like me, and those eyes... you have to be..."

Midnight sighed with relief and smiled her smile, her father's smile, which made Tifa go weak inside. "Yeah... hi... Mom..." She giggled. "I can't believe I'm actually with you! I thought you were dead..." Tifa looked into her eldest daughter's eyes and burst into tears, pulling her in for a hug. "You saved me, didn't you? How is it you're here?" Midnight didn't answer that one.

Reno stepped out from the doorway, followed by Marlene and lastly Caen, who seemed to be in awe of the fact he was in the same room as the last one of his heroes. Reno smiled as he spoke. "I came here after these lot got me out. I knew that Sephiroth would come for you once he found out where you were." Tifa let out a little scream and sobbed harder as she saw Reno. She let go of Midnight and threw herself in his arms. Reno gently picked her up and placed her on his lap as he sat down on the bed. The look on his face was of pure anger as he traced the marks on her face and neck with a fingertip. "And we didn't get here quick enough to stop them getting to you..."

Reno looked at Midnight for the first time. "Mid, how come you came to get me out? I thought there was no hope then you three suddenly burst in and save my ass even though I've never met you before?!" Marlene answered. "Midnight heard, and wanted to get you out..." Caen seconded that. "Yeah, cos you'd got arrested giving her the note; she thought it was her fault." Midnight nodded. Tifa sighed. "It was my fault though, because I made him take the note. I couldn't do it myself and so I nearly lost my lover again... oh Reno... I thought you were dead... I thought Id lost everything..." Reno hushed her before she got too upset. "Honey, we'll get them back..."

Marlene frowned. "Get who back?"

"Our children. Arca and Deen. Well, Arca isn't Reno's biological child; she's Cloud's, just Reno raised her with me." Midnight gasped. "Yeah, she's your sister. And Deen is your half brother. They were abducted from the fields outside Rocket Town last week by Extreme, to experiment on because they believe that they have Jenova inside them. Arca does, and so do you Midnight; but little Deen doesn't, and I'm afraid when they find that out they'll just kill him..." Tifa wiped away a tear, surprisingly not breaking down while she told her older daughter about her siblings' fate. "But Arca is strong, and she'll be able to hold out in the experiments they'll test on her. I can't imagine what they'll do; when they experimented on Cloud and Zack," (Caen sat up) "...they made them into different people; and that was so long ago, they'll have made breakthroughs now. I'm afraid that she's so strong they'll ant to use her for something..." Tifa finally broke down. Reno hugged her, burying his head in her hair. They were obviously devastated.

Midnight wiped away a tear of her own that she hadn't even noticed, and turned around. She looked at Caen, and at Marlene. Caen nodded and whispered, "I'm not letting them go through what Dad did..." Marlene smiled. "I'm always on your side..." Midnight bowed her head. "Thank you..." She turned around.

"Reno... Tifa... We'll go get them back."

Reno and Tifa looked up. Tifa spoke first. "I know you're strong. You had to be, to get Reno out. But you could face anyone there... please be careful..." Midnight grinned. "I wouldn't worry. I have the best people on my team..." Tifa gazed at Marlene thoughtfully.

("If the hair wasn't blonde... she has quite a look of Dyne...") She turned to her daughter again. "Midnight, did you do what I told you to in the letter?" Midnight nodded, puzzled. "So you must be Marlene then, am I right?"

Marlene grinned. "Yeah. Pleased to meet you, Tifa..." Tifa smiled back. "Thought so. How' the glove?" Marlene gave her a thumbs up. "Good. Make Barrett proud... nah I know he was proud of you anyway... he never did anything without thinking of you..." Tifa fell into her thoughts and her voice faded away.

Caen stood behind them all, feeling left out. He didn't want to tell them he was Zack's son; he didn't know how they would react to that. Zack wasn't a member of Avalanche. He hadn't really been part of the story. Caen hid his head behind a floppy bit of hair that had fallen out of the band again. Midnight put a hand on his shoulder. "Mom... this is Caen. Can you guess who he's related to? I did, the first time I ever met him..."

Tifa eyed him thoughtfully. "Caen..." ("He's familiar alright. Hmm... Mako green eyes?! Who had them... None of the Turks had green eyes...!!!!! He's not related to Sephiroth?!... Nobody else I knew of had green Mako eyes...") She looked at his face, frightened. Caen noticed her expression and stepped forward.

"What's wrong?! Lemme guess you think I'm related to the General yeah? Nope, its not Sephiroth, although I get that quite a bit..." Caen noticed Midnight's eyes on him, but didn't turn towards her. Instead, he let Tifa take a closer look at him.

Tifa sighed with relief. ("Ok then... SOLDIER all had Mako eyes. But there's no SOLDIER left. He seems about the same age as Midnight. A SOLDIER back then... Hey! Zack was caught not long after the...gulp... Highwind went down. Hmm. Come to think of it, Zack had gorgeous green eyes... must be!") She leant back into Reno. "Zack Rainfall..." she whispered.

Caen gulped. So you could tell by looking at him. He felt so proud... "Yeah, well done..."

Reno frowned. "Listen, do any of you own a summon materia that summons lightening, other than Ramuh?" Tifa shook her head. "No, why?" The other three shook their heads too. Reno paused. "You three know what I'm on about, don't you?" They nodded.

Caen scratched the back of his head (A/N - Cute Zidane-like gesture, which Cloud also tends to do) just as Midnight did the same. They caught each other's eye and giggled at their matching gimmicks. Marlene rolled her eyes. "Tifa, just as we thought we'd lost you to that Spirit's chokehold, this huge bolt of lightening hit the Spirit holding you, and all the other Spirit's we were fighting, killing them all; but  nobody summoned it..."

Tifa frowned, wondering. "Just before I blacked out, I was praying to Cloud and the rest to help me... Do you think?" The others all stared in amazement. Caen let out a chuckle and all the others turned to him, slightly annoyed. "What??"

"We could ask Aeris!" he laughed.

Marlene, Tifa and Reno all looked at him as if he was mad. They were about to speak when Midnight stopped them. "He's getting all giggly because he's getting in tune with Aeris and Zack..." Seeing the puzzled looks she was getting, she giggled herself. "Listen. Cloud was injected with Jenova cells, wasn't he. Well, Zack was injected with Cetra cells. Therefore, Caen, Zack's son, is a mild Cetra. And he can get in contact with Aeris and Zack if I hold on to him and ask questions. I don't know why it has to be me... I guess he could do it alone, but he only does it when I'm touching him for a strange reason..."

Caen grabbed onto Midnight, cutting her explanation short. Their worlds span, and they both collapsed to the floor.

Midnight prayed to Aeris. "Aeris... did my father save Tifa back there?"

Marlene, Tifa and Reno watched in shock as Midnight opened her mouth and Aeris' voice filled the room. "Tifa, best friend, glad you're ok. The thunderbolts were summoned by Avalanche, yes. One thunderbolt for each member... and yes, Cloud saved you, Tifa..."

Tifa burst into tears in Reno's arms. ("Thank you Cloud... Avalanche... Thanks guys...")

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Caen shot up, pulling him and Midnight out of the trance. Midnight screamed at the sudden shock to her mind, but Caen just sat there, pale as snow. He gasped for breath, his eyes bulging out slightly; they were no longer a dark green, but an unhealthy shade of pale. He was literally being scared to death. Midnight scrambled over to him, then as soon as she touched him she saw what he could see. She screamed and screamed. Marlene ran over and pulled them apart.

Tifa leant over and slapped Caen hard, to bring him out of the trance. It had worked with Cloud before when he went into one of his trances - it worked now. Caen gasped again. He started to get his colour back. Midnight was crying her eyes out. She crawled back to Caen and he held her there in his arms. Tifa and Marlene pulled Midnight off Caen again and into Tifa's arms. Reno grabbed Caen's head and turned it to face him. "What did you see, Caen?" Caen stuttered what he wanted to say, but couldn't say it. "J...Je......J..."

Midnight sighed and answered for him. "Jenova... in a monster form. Next to Sephiroth... And it looks like they were coming here..." Tifa went pale. Reno looked at her. "Are you alright to go anywhere?" She nodded.

"Then lets go..." They all jumped up and went to the door of the inn. Outside was a large helicopter. "???" Tifa wondered. "Caen stole it from Extreme... come on, get in we got to go!" Midnight yelled. As the helicopter took off, a group watched from a field outside Rocket Town.

Reno was steering the helicopter towards Costa Del Sol when it suddenly veered to the right. "Holy Planet, what's that?" He screamed. Bullets whizzed past the windscreen. "We're under attack!! Get down!"

Midnight and Marlene both screamed as the windscreen shattered. Reno yelped. Midnight jumped up. "RENO!!!" she screamed. The Turk was collapsed in his chair with glass all over him. Midnight grabbed the controls and tried to steady the helicopter. Marlene grabbed onto her shoulder and kept her from falling out.

Tifa buried her head in Caen's shoulder, getting serious flashbacks from the Highwind's fated flight; seeing first Cloud then Reno injured was too much and she broke down. Caen held her to him, keeping an eye on Midnight. ("Ancients, let her stay safe...")

Tifa sobbed as she huddled up to Caen. ("Not again...")

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A/N - Oooh suspense dun dun duhh! Poor Tifa...

^_^ I'll try and update quicker this time!