Shades of Gray
Part Four: Things are not Always What They Seem
24 hours after the conversation with Reno
Happiness is the consequence of being satisfied with what fate gives someone. It is reliant on being contented with the simple things in life. It is quite simple to be truly happy, yet only a handful of us know how- not because we cannot be happy, but because we continue yearning for something someone else has, probably something we can never have. And more often than not, our envy overshadows the reason for contentment, and we chase after a ghost of what we want to make our own. Only the children are spared from this melancholy because of their innocence, the trait that allows them to see beyond the have-nots the adults have created.
It had only been a couple of days or so since Tifa accepted Barret's request, and yet, the large pile of gifts by the Christmas tree never ceased to astonish her. She flashed a welcoming smile at the next child in line, pointedly ignoring all the stares of the young men hanging around the area. She had only been here for no more than half an hour, and already, eight creeps had asked her out. Her hands unconsciously balled into fists, and she failed to notice it even if her nails had dug into her skin.
"Easy, Tifa. That frown would send anyone running away, not only those losers." Tifa gave her companion a sidelong glance, mildly annoyed at her friend's tardiness. Elena ignored that look and went on speaking. "You know, those eyes of yours could kill."
"Wonder if it would work on them..." Tifa mumbled quietly, causing Elena to laugh lightly.
"Really now, should we be talking about killing people with little children around?" She shook her head slightly, causing her blonde mane to sway from side to side, "Though, come to think of it, a year ago, Yuffie was with you and that never did stop us from trying to kill each other, right?"
"Heck, she'd flip if she heard you referring to her as a kid. It's bad enough Cid and Barret call her kiddo or brat." She halted briefly, remembering something. "And there was a time when we didn't try to wring each other's throats. In Wutai?"
Elena held up a hand in protest and Tifa squelched a smile upon seeing the indignant expression on her friend's face. "If it's about Corneo, please change the topic!" Her nose crinkled in distaste, and her complexion turned a dangerous shade of red. "I would have broken his legs if I wasn't tied up and all!"
Tifa laughed and raised an eyebrow. Thanks to Elena, her mood had lightened up. "And I thought you wanted to change the topic?"
Elena rolled her eyes. "Gawd, you're starting to sound like Reno." 'And you're starting to speak like Yuffie,' Tifa thought, with a twinge of irony. "Speaking of the Jerk, last week before my dinner with Rude, he had the nerve to actually lock me out of their apartment!" Yeah? Anyone could expect that of Reno. "But I can't really blame him, that's just the way Reno is, I guess."
Tifa wasn't quite sure about that one. "Maybe... Oh, I don't know." The frustration was evident on her face, "I'm just not good in reading people, never have been." She paused awkwardly for a moment, when a thought crossed her mind to break the silence. "Anyway, I heard you already got two people to fill the... open places?" A group of "Santa's Helpers" were caught helping themselves to the giveaway candies and gifts and promptly fire by Barret, which left a gaping hole in his workforce at a very, very inconvenient time.
Elena grimaced, brushing back strands of blond hair from her face. "Oh, them... I think I made a huge mistake! Imagine getting an incompetent jerk and an indolent businessman..."
"I'm sure they're not as bad as they sound... I mean, look at Barret... Marlene would be so surprised."
Elena chuckled softly. "Barret Wallace, the Santa Claus." Her dark eyes sparkled with bold merriment, but it disappeared almost as quickly as Tifa had seen it. "Do you think it's a good idea, to show Marlene that her dad is Santa Claus when he really isn't? Won't it ruin her vision of the real Santa Claus?"
"Marlene is a bright girl. I believe she already knows the Santas she sees in the malls and in television shows aren't the real one." Tifa explained, recalling a time when the two of them were watching a Christmas advertisement and Marlene made Tifa promise to tell her dad that she caught him putting gifts under the tree, once. "When she sees her dad as Santa, she'd be more than delighted to know that her father helped all these hopeful kids."
"Tifa, is that really you speaking? No offence meant, but... Dang, I wish I could sound as wise as you!" Elena went on about how Rude and Reno rarely listened to half of what she says, how Barret went ballistic whenever she mentioned the phrase: "you should have," how the ice cream man habitually gave her chocolate flavoured ice cream instead of the vanilla she had asked for...
She pretty much tuned out what Elena was saying after she heard the part about the ice cream man. For some reason, the growing line of children was much more interesting than what her friend was saying. Too bad for Elena, but Tifa was not in a listening mood.
"... That man is so dense! I mean, when would he possibly reveal his feelings?" Elena waited expectantly, and Tifa came out of her reverie, too late to understand the question.
She shrugged, unable to speak for quite some time. "Rude's bound to tell you he loves you, maybe even sooner than you think." If Elena had been talking about a guy, there was a big chance she had been talking about her boyfriend, right?
Elena playfully slapped Tifa on her shoulder. "Tifa, I wasn't asking about Rude!" Oops. "I was talking about Cloud."
"Cloud?" Tifa could only echo dumbly. Elena mentioning Cloud in a conversation was not something that happened everyday.
"Yes, Cloud." Elena stressed the last word, putting a much-needed emphasis on their friend's name. "When will he come out into the open? When will he tell you how he feels?"
All the colour faded from Tifa's face. "Come on Elena, you and I both know there's nothing for him to say! Cloud only thinks of me as a friend."
"Are you sure that's how he really feels?" Elena prodded, frowning and appearing to be deep in thought. "Because I'm positive I can see something else lurking behind those eyes. You may not know it, but that doesn't mean he doesn't feel anything for you. Don't trust everything you see and don't be paranoid about what you don't see. Things are not always what they seem."
Before Tifa could react, Elena glanced at her watch and grimaced. "Hey, I gotta go pick up the supplies Barret asked me to get before he blows up."
With that, Elena said her goodbye and walked off, leaving Tifa with a line full of children and a whole lot of thinking to do.
Author's Notes: So, I guess Elena gets to be the wise one, huh? ) If you all noticed, I tried to depict another side of the FF7 characters (the optimist being depressed, the "hired killer" finding solace in watching snow falling, the "traitor" having friends, the supposed airhead/ditz sounding so wise...) And there are still more to come. )
BTW, I didn't intend for Reno and Elena to be hostile with one another... It just so happens that there are times when you're pissed with a friend, even for the smallest things ... THAT's what's going on with Elena and Reno. They're just having one of the petty squabbles we usually have with our friends. Anyway, we have Tiy to thank for making this part a lot more decent than its original form. She actually fixed it (made it look a lot better too!) after reading the draft with all the head splitting grammar mistakes!
Thank you for reading! Reviews, comments, suggestions and critiques are greatly appreciated )