Chapter 8

"How long has he been out?"

"About seven days now, I think."

"Any sign of him waking up?"

"Well, he's still breathing; that's a plus."

"Seriously: how'd he wind up like this?"

"I told him about Tifa."

"How she—"

"And it made him obliterate everything? All those monsters?"

"Every last one."

"Well, at least the survivors made it here alright."

Caleb opened his eyes. The people around his bed reacted instantly.

"Caleb!" his aunt Yuffie cried, throwing her arms around his neck.

"Good 'te see yeh okay," Barrett clapped him on the shoulder.

"You had us worried!" Marlene added, her arms coming around him as well.

"Give him room to breathe ladies, sheesh!" Cid rolled his eyes. "We don't need him dying of asphyxiation after he just recovered."

"Comatose for a week and the women still flock to him," Vincent shook his head. "He's his father's son, all right."

"Where am I?" Caleb gently touched both Yuffie and Marlene's hair, looking around at all his friends and guardians.

"Nanaki brought you back to Nibelheim," Yuffie answered him, turning to smile at the aforementioned creature. He shook his angular head, looking up at Caleb.

"I didn't know what else to do—you scared me half to death with what you did."

"What… did I do?" he blinked. The animal stared at him.

"You don't remember?" Caleb shook his head and Nanaki winced: "We were in the Cave of the Gi, and suddenly, this white light came out of your body and killed everything."

"Everything?" he paled.

"Just the monsters," Marlene added abruptly. "The townspeople are safe, and they're taking refuge here for now."

Caleb put a hand to his head and closed his eyes, trying to recall what Nanaki had said. All he could remember was feeling guilty, feeling helpless and alone and angry. It was something about his parents.

"About my parents…" he mumbled, and caught the look they all exchanged over his head. "It was something about them, wasn't it? I can't remember—please, tell me."

"Don' think yeh're ready fer it jus' yet," Barrett shook his head, his hand still on the younger man's shoulder and squeezing tightly.

"I want to know," he demanded softly.

"After what happened, maybe it's not the best time to tell you," Cid answered back gravely, scratching the beard stubble on his chin and jawline. Caleb's eyes narrowed, and Yuffie quickly put her hands up.

"Caleb, sweetheart," she said gently, "we're afraid if we tell you, you may hurt yourself. Nanaki said you were crying blood."

Caleb lost his harsh expression, and it turned to one of confusion. He had never heard of someone crying blood before. It didn't sound like an everyday occurrence, so he understood why they were hesitant to tell him, but still—

"Were mom and dad's deaths my fault?"

They looked stricken. "Of course not, honey," Yuffie took one of his hands and held it reassuringly. "You were only a little baby when it happened, and it was a freak accident—it was no one's fault."

"'Sides," Barrett spoke up gruffly, as if he had a lump in his throat all of a sudden. "Methinks yer pop'd ne'er die that eas'ly. He's still out there, searchin'."

"Searching?"

"Your dad had a lot of unanswered questions when your mom passed away," Cid licked his lips, trying to word it properly. "He went to find out why she died the way she did."

"How…" Caleb tried, then shook his head—they weren't going to tell him anything else. "That was right after mom died, wasn't it? So, he's been gone seventeen years now." Hesitantly, they all nodded. He slipped his legs out of the bed and tried to stand. Vincent—who had been silent for this entire conversation—reached out to steady him. Caleb looked at him gratefully and started to limp out of the room. "I'm going to see Kali." He left. They looked after him.

"We should have told him," the black-haired man spoke up.

"We don't know what that was," Nanaki said evenly, his eye still on the way Caleb had left. "Whatever happened could have endangered him. We won't tell him until we've figured out what that light was."

"Only you saw it—that's not leaving us with much," Cid retorted, moving the hand from his face to his hair, pushing the gray-blond strands back.

"Maybe it's a limit break?" Yuffie offered optimistically. "An odd one, yes, but…" her eyes moved to her husband. He waved off her apologetic glance.

"I know I'm a freak; move on."

"S'possible," Barrett sat down on the now-empty bed, leaning his elbows against his knees.

"He has the right to know what happened to his mother and father," Vincent argued. "Not telling him is a disrespect to both Cloud and Tifa."

"But Cloud told us to take care of him," Nanaki shot back. "If we kill him with this information, wouldn't that be disrespecting Cloud's wish?"

"What about Caleb's feelings?" Marlene voiced. They all turned to look at her. She blushed from beside her father, one hand resting on his artificial arm. "I mean, yes, Uncle Cloud asked you all to take care of him, but doesn't he have the right to make the decision whether or not he wants to know? If he wants to take that risk? I know that I wanted Papa to tell me about my real parents," she looked lovingly at her adoptive father. "And he told me the truth, because that's what I wanted."

"Yes, but, you knowing the truth didn't cause this giant pillar of light to kill everything in a twenty mile radius," Nanaki said and instantly looked sorry.

"We should tell him," Vincent pushed.

"Well, how?" Yuffie sighed, running both of her hands back through her lengthening black hair. "We don't need him going insane or destroying everything here."

"It didn't affect the people, or the village itself…" Nanaki admitted.

"So, it only targets enemies; Yuffie's limit break theory could be right," Cid brightened.

"Still, how do we let him know without…evoking that again?" the red-orange animal asked.

"…very carefully," Yuffie bit her lip.