The sun had just begun to peek over the horizon as Cloud got off his motorcycle in front of the Seventh Heaven. He had stayed home for nearly five weeks after that night he shared his room with Tifa, unable to force himself to leave, but he left on a job, and he had been gone away for three and a half weeks. Nearly a month...he thought resting his hand against the door. It's been so long since I've been home...His heart was hammering in chest out of happiness to be home, but also because he was nervous. Will she be mad at me? he wondered.
He hadn't meant to stay away for so long. Cloud had rejected job after job for those five weeks he was home, unwilling to go away. But eventually, he ran out of money, and he wasn't about to let Tifa spend her wages on him. So he accepted a delivery job to Bone Village. He thought he could make the trip in two weeks at the most, but the strange spring time weather with its random storms had delayed him over and over again. Cloud cursed himself over and over again during those long three and a half weeks for not carrying a PHS with him.
Now, the spring weather was pleasantly mild. The streets of Midgar were slightly damp from recently melted snow, but the sun was shining down and warming Cloud's back as he placed a hand on the door knob. He turned it, but the door wouldn't budge. Good...he thought with relief, pulling out his keys. At least she's keeping the doors locked at night.
He turned his key in the lock and pushed the door open quietly. The sun's early light was streaming through the open windows, but the house was silent. Cloud wasn't really expecting anyone to be asleep; it was much too early on a Sunday morning. He walk carefully through the bar area into the livingroom. They were empty.
On the upper floor, Cloud peaked into Marlene's room. She was sound asleep, blanket thrown to the floor like always. Cloud smiled and shut the door. In the hallway Cloud debated with himself whether or not to wake Tifa up. Maybe I should just catch some sleep and surprise everyone when they wake up...He opened the door to his room. Two children were fast asleep in his bed. Well that's out...he thought scratching his head. Maybe Tifa's already up...He walked over to her door and knocked lightly and pressed his ear to the door. It didn't sound like she was awake yet.
Cloud cracked the door, looking in to see if Tifa was still in bed. Instead of Tifa's lithe form curled under the covers, there were three small children sleeping close to one another in her bed. Cloud shut the door quietly. Where's Tifa then? he wondered. He walked down the hall to the spare room and quietly pushed open the door. Just like he expected, there were several children squeezed into the two large beds, and there, in an chair by the beds was-
"Tifa..." he whispered, walking towards her.
She was asleep with her legs curled under her, head slumped over on the hard wooden armrest of the chair. Without even thinking about what he was doing, Cloud reached out to touch her face. There were dark circles under her eyes and she looked thinner than the last time he saw her. I shouldn't have stayed away so long...Cloud thought achingly, taking note of Tifa's obvious exhaustion.
"Hey, Tifa..." he whispered, placing a hand on her arm. "Wake up...I'm back."
Tifa slowly lifted her head, and rubbed her eyes sleepily with the back of her hand.
"Morning sleepyhead..." Cloud said softly.
Her eyelids opened slowly.
"Cloud?" she asked, voice fuzzy with sleep. "Cloud!"
She quickly brushed her hair out of her face and sat up in her chair. Her weary eyes now had a sparkle of happiness in them.
"Are you just gunna sit there?" Cloud teased gently. "Or are you gunna give me a proper hello?"
She slid off her chair and onto the floor next to where Cloud was kneeling, gripping the front of his shirt and pressing her head to his chest, eyes squeezed shut. I can't believe I stayed away for nearly a month...Cloud thought as he encircled her back with his arm. She really did seem smaller than he remembered...she was definately more tired than the last time he saw her.
"Oh Cloud..." she whispered, letting go of his shirt and slipping her arms around his neck. "I was so worried."
"Sorry Tifa...I didn't want to be away that long...I got delayed..." he said into her hair, trying to prolonge their embrace as long as possible.
Tifa breathed in deeply.
"It's alright Cloud," she said into his neck. "You're here now."
They both pulled back slightly. Cloud found himself longing already for the hug he'd get the next time he returned...but his mind was pulled to more pressing matters as he looked Tifa over carefully.
"You look exhausted Tifa..." he said quietly.
She closed her eyes briefly. "I am."
He touched her shoulder gently.
"Haven't you been sleeping well Tifa?" he asked anxiously. "Why were you sleeping in a chair? You look like you haven't been eating well either...Is something wrong Tifa?"
She interrupted his interrogation with a gentle hand on his forearm. Her eyes looked weary and sad again.
"The children are sick Cloud..." she said wearily. "So many of them...I don't know what to do..."
"Sick?" Cloud asked, not understanding. "Like the flu?"
Tifa shook her head painfully.
"No Cloud...here I'll show you." she said, standing up.
She stood up slowly and walked over to the bed. Cloud stood behind her, feeling slightly apprehensive. He watched her as she tenderly stroked back the hair of the little boy laying on the edge of the closest bed. Cloud would pin him at about five years old.
"It's okay..." she said to Cloud. "You can come a little closer."
Feeling serious deja vu at her words, Cloud stepped closer, looking at the slumbering child over her shoulder, the ends of Tifa's hair tickling him as he did so. Carefully, without waking the little boy, Tifa pulled the covers off his small body. Cloud gasped outloud at what he saw.
"What is it Tifa?" he said in a hushed voice.
The child's arms and chest were covered in blackish blue markings...and they weren't bruises. Tifa gently replaced the covers over the boy and turned towards Cloud with a sad sigh.
"I had the doctor come in a week ago..." she said wraping her arms around herself.
"And?" Cloud prompted gently.
"He said there was nothing to be done..." Tifa whispered, voice catching slightly. "He called it Geostigma...he said there were numerous cases of it in the other sectors...most of the victims are children."
Cloud shook his head, confused. "But what is it?"
Tifa looked helplessly at the small children in the beds.
"No one knows for sure..." she said slowly. "The children that have it, have those markings on their bodies...they fall unconscious...Sometimes they're in a lot of pain."
A sudden, horrifying thought occured to Cloud.
"Is Marlene-" he asked hastily.
Tifa shook her head quickly.
"No..." she said. "Marlene's fine."
Cloud nodded, relieved.
"So..." he began quietly. "That's why you look so worn-out...you've been taking care of the children."
Tifa ducked her head abashedly but then looked up at Cloud, her face looking distressed.
"Do I really look that bad?" she asked, cringing slightly.
"Oh Tifa...I didn't mean it like that." he laughed, unable to resist pulling her in for another hug. "You always look beautiful."
His cheeks felt hot as he heard himself say that. I can't believe I just told Tifa that...he thought as Tifa hide her face in his shoulder, undoubtably hiding her own red cheeks.
"I'll kick Marlene out of her bed, and you can catch up on sleep okay?" he told Tifa, cheeks still hot.
Tifa pulled back slightly.
"But the children-" she began.
"I'll check up on them every now and then." he told her firmly. "You're going to collapse if you don't get some sleep."
Tifa gave the children one last worried look-over before allowing Cloud to lead her out of the room with an arm around her waist.
Cloud sighed as he left Marlene's room. It had barely taken Tifa thirty seconds to fall into a deep sleep. She's more tired than I thought...Cloud thought shaking his head. She's gunna work herself into an early grave...He shuddered at this thought and allowed himself one more glance at the gentle rise and fall of Tifa's back before quietly closing the door. Marlene was squirming excitedly in the stairway.
"Come on Cloud!" she said, turning around every other step to make sure he was following.
Cloud smiled at her pajama clad form as she dragged him down the stairs. He remembered Marlene back in the old Seventh Heaven; he thought that she was a meek, shy, and quiet child... Talk about misleading first impressions.
Down in the bar area, Cloud and Marlene sat at one of the tables, eating chocolate pie for breakfast. The pie pan sat between them and they went at it with forks, not bothering with plates. The pie had been discovered on the top shelf of the refrigerator, so high up that even Tifa would need a chair to reach it. But Cloud grabbed it easily, and the two of them ate with relish. Tifa would have a cow if she could see us...Cloud thought a bit guiltily. But I don't know how to cook...and Marlene and I are hungry...and Tifa needs her sleep so...he automatically added this in his defense.
"So Cloud..." Marlene said, licking whipped cream off her fork. "What do ya wanna know?"
Cloud scratched his chin contemplatively.
"She sleeping okay?" he asked, shoveling more pie into his mouth.
Marlene leaned in conspirationally.
"She hasn't slept in her bed in two weeks!" she said, put emphasis on the long amount of time.
Cloud sighed and shook his head.
"Has she been eating?" he asked her. "Please tell me she's at least eating..."
Marlene shrugged her little shoulders.
"I dunno..." she said, thinking hard. "Tifa's always busy...she's either working at the bar or taking care of the other kids...she still plays with me though! Yesterday she showed me how to draw a tree and then-"
Cloud's half-listened to Marlene's chattering with amusement, but his mind was buzzing with concern for his childhood friend. How can I take off some of her burden? he wondered. Hmm...have to think on that one. Marlene's happy chatter stopped and she looked at him expectantly, waiting for the next question. Cloud looked behind him, making sure that Tifa hadn't woken up and entered the bar. He leaned in over their pie.
"How many?" he asked lowly.
Marlene searched her five year-old mind for a minute.
"Three." she said with conviction.
Cloud choked slightly on his bite of pie.
"And she turned them all down?" he said, taking a drink of water to wash it down. "Right?"
"Of course, silly." Marlene said, rolling her eyes. "She always does."
He sighed in relief.
"You shouldn't worry so much about that Cloud." she stated, nodded wisely. "They're all way uglier than you."
Extra pie for you Marlene...Cloud thought, feeling slightly depressed that his new best friend was a five year-old girl.
"Did they give her any trouble?" Cloud asked, trying to adopt a casual tone but failing to keep the protective growl out of his voice.
Marlene tilted her head slightly, her face covered in chocolate.
"One of them wouldn't go away..." she told him, with a dark look. "So I ran into the bar and pretended to have had a bad dream. I'm the best actor ever...I even cried a little."
"What did you say?" he asked approvingly.
"I told Tifa that I had a bad dream and that I wanted Cloud to come home so scary men wouldn't ask Tifa out on dates." she voiced with pride.
Cloud pushed the remaining pie in her direction.. He leaned in eagerly.
"Did you do the face?" he inquired.
Marlene nodded enthusiastically.
"Let's see it then!" Cloud requested, cracking a malicious grin.
Marlene barred her teeth like a wild animal, crossing her eyes and gave a deep growl that was surprisingly frightening coming from such a small, sweet faced girl. She looked completely rabid. Cloud laughed and patted her on the head.
"That's my girl!" he said, smiling indulgently.
She dropped the scary face and smiled sweetly.
"More pie, please Cloud?"