The squishing sound of wet sandals meeting against the hardwood floor fills the empty corridor as Tifa entered the bar/house.
"Denzel!Anyone? I'm home!" Tifa announced as she kicked off her wet sandals and place them neatly on the shoe rack. She tip toed into the kitchen and spread the now soaked grocery bags on the counter; she proceeded to sort the groceries but halted when she saw a bunch of keys lying on the counter next to the Brussels sprouts.
'He's back,' She noted with a smiling face, quickly recognizing the silver keychain with the name Strife engraved into it.
She quickly finishes sorting the groceries, stuffing the soaked brown grocery bags into the trash can.
Juggling three soda cans in one arm she headed to the basement where Cloud and Denzel usually are during rainy afternoons like this, most probably tinkering away with some machine monstrosity Cloud always manages to pick up during his frequent trips delivering packages to god knows where.
She froze half way down the stairs when her ears are met by the sound of happy giggles.
"Care to let me in on the joke?" She said
"Tifa!You're back!" Denzel said in between giggles.
"Oh no!" Cloud stated in between heavy laughing, "We gotta get her out of here!" Cloud managed to mouth out before clutching his stomach and continued laughing heavily.
"Hey you guys," She asked confused at the scene playing in front of her, "Can someone explain to me what in the world is going on here?" Tifa said getting frustrated at being left out from whatever's going on between the two boys.
"No… Tifa you laugh don't understand laugh you need to laugh get out of here…Denzel…he…" Cloud tried to speak before bursting into another trail of laughter.
"I like chicken!" Denzel stated, "Chicken, I want you to fly high!"
"Wha- ?" Tifa stared at Denzel, now really confused. 'Wait! Something in here smells funny… "Oh my god! Did you get yourself drunk? …and Denzel too?" Tifa said slapping Cloud on his arm.
"Gee…Tifa that hurts! NO… I didn't get myself drunk! Denzel here leaked the…" Cloud managed to say before passing out, and falling straight into Tifa's arm.
Tifa's face turned red from the sudden excess weight, "Damn you're heavy! Lose some weight will ya." Tifa complained as she dragged the unconscious Cloud Strife and laid him on the floor.
Looking over to Denzel he saw the boy spinning around happily before bumping his head on the wall and giggling to himself.
Slapping his cheek lightly, Tifa tried to wake Cloud up. "Cloud, you said Denzel leaked something, what exactly did he leak?" Tifa asked him, now desperate to know.
Cloud moaned and lifted his arm, pointing towards a small red tank that reads NITROGEN GAS: highly TOXIC a barely audible hissing sound escaping a small hole made by a toy airplane propeller punctured into it.
Realizing this Tifa quickly clasp a hand over her face and held her breath. Pulling the little boy by the hand she led him up to the living room and quickly opened up all the windows.
Tifa bend down and shake the boy by the shoulder to get his attention, "Denzel, I want you to stay right here. Ok? And don't move a muscle."
Denzel quickly obeyed, stiffing himself like a statue.
In a flash Tifa rushed back down to the basement with a peg pinching her nose close and glass of water in tow. Quickly she splashed some water onto his face.
"Gah! What the..!" Cloud yelped as regained his senses but his head feels really heavy and he was ready to pass out again but a pair of hands gently cupped his face, shaking his head to wake him up.
"Cloud wake up, I need you to gurgle this and spit it out, it'll make you feel better." Tifa's commanding voice slowly seeping into his ears.
He felt the warm liquid enter his mouth and he quickly spit it out, gradually regaining his consciousness but he found it hard to control his action. And for no apparent reason,
he feels abnormally happy.
He finally was able to open his eyes and was greeted by Tifa's concerned face.
"Tifa, why is there a peg on your nose? Is it laundry day?" he asked.
"Forget it! Now get up, we need to get you upstairs,"
Tifa draped his hand over her shoulders and pulled him up. Her other hand reaching for support at the sudden onset of weight on her small frame. His head rested on the nape of her neck and as she dragged him up the stairs his head shifted dangerously lower and lower towards her breast. Her face flushed red as she felt his sharp nose poke into the tender flesh of her chest. She silently prayed that Cloud was really unconscious, cause if he wasn't she was going to make sure he wouldn't see the daylight of tomorrow!
Upon reaching the living room she immediately let him go, laying him gently on the floor. His face was abnormally red from the amount of gas he had inhaled and this made her worry more. Removing the peg she dialed for the ambulance and waited patiently for it to arrive.
Author's Notes: Exposure to nitrogen gas is called Nitrogen Narcosis, the symptoms are euphoria (feeling happy for no reason whatsoever), loss of control over manual dexterity (inability to do task, even simple ones) and prolonged exposure may lead to symptoms similar to alcohol intoxication (drunk) but they will not lose their thinking skills, so even if you ask them to do a math problem they'll be able to do it. But never NEVER try to expose yourself to nitrogen gas, 'coz in extreme cases, it will lead to death cause it will dissolve in your fat, and when you use energy obtained from these fats it will cause liver damage and you'll might as well be as good as dead.