DISCLAIMER; Blahblahblah I don't own Vincent, Tifa, or any other character associated with Final Fantasy VII. They all belong to the wonderful Square(Enix) and I lay no claim to said characters. I'm only borrowing them for this ficlet. Hee.
DEDICATION; This is dedicated to all the fans of the pairing.
PROLOGUE; Midgar Blend
The old city that had once been under the presidency of President ShinRa, soon taken over by his son—one named Rufus, who, now, is believed to be dead—and had been crushed under the weight of Meteor. The city was slowly growing again, being rebuilt and taking on the name of 'Neo-Midgar'; the president of the ever-slowly being restored city and slums a man who once worked for ShinRa, a man who played both sides of the field, a man who had become a friend to those in AVALANCHE: Reeve.
Several months have passed since the affair with Meteor. People were going on with their lives, yet they never forgot about the near ill-fate that their planet had almost met. If not for Holy and the Lifestream…if not for those two, there would be nothing left. No planet, no people. Nothing.
But such thoughts had not plagued the minds of the children.
--Orphans from Meteor's attack were scarce in all other cities except for Midgar; many lives had been lost and the consequence had been parentless children roaming the slums. Most found their way to warmth of a bar, ran by a young woman who would take in and care for those who had lost their parents. She became their role model, their mother-figure, the person they would look up to and go to with their problems; she was the person who's shoulder was there to cry on if they had nightmare or got a cut somewhere on their body. Her soft words were for their ears alone, the light coos and whispered "it'll be all right" soothing their sobs to tiny hiccups and whimpers.
Over the months since AVALANCHE had defeated Sephiroth and Meteor has been disposed of, the members of the group had gone their separate ways. Each of them had their own lives to live, their own goals to follow.
But it tore her heart to learn that he'd be leaving and would not be staying with her in Midgar; his excuse had been that he had things left undone that he wished to finish before settling down somewhere. And the frown she had given him could have moved mountains but the blond's mind had been made up and he departed. But it was not him that she missed the most.
No. It wasn't Cloud…
With a soft shake of her head, Tifa Lockheart—a young woman of the healthy age of twenty-one with a heart full of love and compassion, and a smile that could cheer up the dead—pushed away whatever thoughts had begun to plague her mind. They were of no importance at that time, though she had been finding herself stopping and falling into a daze. It was enough to worry young Marlene, who had been placed in Tifa's care by Barret as he went back to Corel to help fix it up.
And she could still remember when he had asked her…
"Teef!"
The young woman raised her gaze from her place behind the bar, the motion of cleaning glasses falling to a slow halt as her wine-red eyes fell to the bulky and muscled frame of a man stepping into the bar. A small smile etched her lips as he walked over, his large hands coming to rest on the just polished wood surface.
"Barret…"
The tone in her voice let him know that she wanted the counter top fingerprintless until the opening that night and he complied, moving his hands to his sides and gave her this grin that only he could produce.
"Hey, Teef, I gotta ask ya a question."
"Shoot," the woman said, placing the glass she had been cleaning beneath the bar and then begun on the next, her eyes downcast to watch the rag slip along the inside effortlessly.
"Well, y'know dat I've been thinkin' of goin' back to Corel." She nodded her head to him. "Well, if it ain't too much of a burden—"
"—nothing you ask of me is a burden—"
"Then do ya think ya can watch over Marlene?"
This was when she raised her gaze to him, eyes searching his face for any sort of hint he was just kidding. But she could not find one. He was serious, he being purely serious about this.
"I… don't know. Are you sure you want to go to Corel on your own? I think that Marlene would like to go with you, so she could be with her father."
"Aww, Teef." His hand rose to the back of his neck and he began to rub it, a frown crinkling his features. "Dun go and say that 'cause y'know it's like a guilt trip!" And he caught the grin, though she hid it well enough with the drop of her head, her attention once again returning to the dirty glasses she wished to finish up. "So…"
"So…?" She repeated, holding back the chuckles that wanted to bubble up. It was, to say the least, fun to play with him and joke around. If it had been anyone other than herself? Barret wouldn't have taken the kidding too lightly but she looked up to him as if he was her father and she loved the big man to bits. He had been there for her when she first met him in Midgar.
"Oh, c'mon Tifa, y'know! Will ya?"
Setting the glass beneath the counter the young woman raised her gaze and just smiled at him. The biggest smile that she could produce for him. "Barret, you know I would do anything for you and taking care of Marlene would be more than a blast. Just…take care of yourself, all right? I don't want anything happening to you."
"Take care of myself jus' fine, thank you very much!"
That had been two months ago and every couple of days he would call, to make sure Marlene was okay and see how his little girl was doing. It brought a smile to Tifa's face whenever she heard Marlene's happy giggles and little 'I love you too' during those conversations. And the conversation she had with Barret always left her with a small ache in her heart—each time she would ask if he had seen Cloud and each time he would answer with a negative response.
It was… It hurt.
She hadn't heard from him in months, she had no clue where he was, and her heart sank at the thought that she'd never be able to tell him how she felt. But sometimes words are better left unsaid, in the end.
