All Cloud could think of during the trip back to the bar was how stupid he had been. He fell right into their trap.
"Dammit!" he snapped.
"What?" said Marlene behind him. She was scared. She had never seen Cloud like this and he was driving very, very fast.
Cloud remembered the child hanging on to him on the back of his bike and slowed down a little. "Its ok, Marlene. We'll be home soon."
"Tifa, please be there," he murmured to himself.
He pulled up to the bar and shut the bike off. Marlene had scrambled down off the bike and was almost inside the bar before he caught up to her.
"Marlene, wait here!" he barked at her.
She stopped in her tracks. She had never heard Cloud speak to her like that before and she knew immediately that he meant business.
"Go wait by the bike and don't come in until I come out to get you," Cloud said to her rushing past her into the building.
He stopped by the back door and listened. He couldn't hear anything, so he pushed on the door and it swung open.
"Shit," he breathed. The door looked like it had been smashed in.
He stepped into the kitchen and took in the sight. Rude lay groaning on top of what was left of the table and Reno was slumped in the corner of the room, out cold. Cloud strode through the small room towards the stairs in the rear of the bar. He almost tripped on something lying on the floor. He stopped and bent down to pick it up. It was one of Tifa's gloves.
"Tifa," he breathed her name, hoping she would answer.
He pushed the glove into his back pocket and raced up the stairs. He threw open the bedroom door and turned on the light. He stood there for what seemed like an eternity, looking at the bed they shared just hours before. He could still see the impressions of her body. He walked over to the bed and picked up the pillow. It was warm and still had her scent.
He buried his face in the pillow, taking comfort from its warmth. He swallowed a sob and threw back his head to scream at the night.
"Tifa!"
"Cloud . . ." Marlene's tiny voice called him back.
"I told you to wait outside, Marlene." His words came out much more gruff than he had intended.
"Cloud . . . what happened? Where's Tifa?" Her plaintive whimper made his heart ache. He sighed and dropped the pillow on the bed. He sat down next to it and called the tiny girl over to him.
She approached slowly, wary of this new and strange mood in her friend.
"Its ok, come over here," he said softly to her.
Marlene burst into tears and buried her head in Cloud's chest. He pulled her on to his lap and held her sobbing body close, rocking her back and forth. "Its ok, everything will be fine Marlene."
"Who . . who . . who are those men downstairs," she whispered through her tears.
"They are friends of ours. I asked them to stay here and look after Tifa." As soon as the words left his mouth he regretted them.
Marlene pulled away from Cloud and looked wildly up at his face.
"Where is Tifa?" she asked, panic rising in her voice again.
Cloud stood Marlene on the floor in front of him.
"Listen to me, Marlene. I need you to be a brave girl now because I have to leave you here and go and find Tifa. A bad man has taken her and I don't know where she is right now, but I promise you, I will find her and bring her back here."
"The same man at the church? The man that took me to that place?" the child asked, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand. She was trying to be brave but the man at the church had terrified her. He was a giant.
Cloud remembered that Marlene had been with Tifa the first time she met Loz and that she had just been through her own version of hell at the hands of that bastard. He sighed again and pulled her close to him, kissing the top of her head.
"Yes, I think so, honey."
"I don't like him, Cloud. He was a very bad man."
"I know, baby, but he's not coming back here. You're safe here now, ok?" He looked into her eyes to see if she understood him, believed him. He brushed the last few tears from her cheek and picked her up.
"Now, it's very late and you need to get some sleep. You've had a long day."
He pulled back the covers on the unused bed and laid her down. Taking off her soiled shoes and socks, he covered her with the blanket and knelt down next to her, brushing her hair away from her face. Would he ever be able to do this with his own child some day? He hoped with all his heart that he would.
"Will you promise me that you will stay here, at least until someone comes back for you?" he asked her softly.
She looked up at the face she loved so much. She suddenly missed her father, Barret, and thinking about him made her eyes well with tears again.
"You know your Daddy is on his way home," he said, reading her thoughts. "He should be here tomorrow and he will be very glad to see you're here waiting for him," he whispered gently to her.
He could see the girl was tired and struggling to keep her eyes open. He smiled at her and brushed her tears away again.
"Now you get some sleep. When you wake up it will be morning again."
"Will you come back home now Cloud? With Tifa?" she asked in a sleepy voice.
He looked down at her sweet face and smiled gently. "Yes, baby I will, very soon."
He kissed her lightly on her forehead, stood and walked out of the room. He turned to look at her as he closed the door. She was already asleep.