Chapter 14
Marlene stared up at the large man she called dad. "Daddy… what do you mean?…" A look of utter confusion came across her face.
"Marlene… I… I said… I said I ain't your real daddy." Barret said, scratching nervously at his chin, averting his eyes.
The little girl stared up at Barret for a long time, then she said slowly. "Who is my real daddy?" Her voice was soft and she sounded hurt. "Daddy… am I one of those kids who's real parents don't want them?" Her voice became high pitched and scared.
"No… no… it ain't like that." The man began to rib at his machine gun arm… an old habit of his. "Marlene… your real mommy and daddy loved you a lot…"
Her eyes began to fill up with tears again. The droplets threatened to overflow. "Then… why… why… why aren't I with my real mommy and daddy?" Her voice began to go soft and she began to hiccup.
Barret drooped; he knew that he would have to tell her. Even if he didn't tell her now… he would have to tell her later. She would ask when she was old enough. "Girl… your real daddy's name was Dyne and your mommy's was Eleanor. Your daddy was my… best friend. He and I would do everything together, but one day. Your daddy and I were out of our village, Corel. When we came back, we found ShinRa attacking Corel. They killed almost everyone in Corel, and that's how your mommy… passed on. We tried to stop them, but the hit us with bullets. We dodged them, but Dyne slipped and he almost fell, but I grabbed his hand. ShinRa shot at us again, and they hit. They got me in the right hand and Dyne in the left; your daddy fell off the cliff. After getting hit in the arm, I had to get surgery and get my gun arm attached." He stopped, it was hard for him to continue, and he could feel the pain come back to his heart.
"Is that how my daddy died?" Marlene asked, touching her adopted father's arm.
He wanted to say yes, and not let Marlene know the truth. He wanted to never tell, the pain would be too great, but he had to continue on. Dyne told him not to tell Marlene, but he his love for Marlene was to great for him to lie to her. "I thought your daddy died that day, but he hadn't. The next time, when I went to Gold Saucer, I was accused of murder, because some man with a machine gun arm killed a whole bunch o' people in the Battle Arena. But it wasn't me. I got sent down to Desert Prison, and then, I found your daddy there. He hadn't died from the fall, and he also got a machine gun arm attached to his arm… but it was his left arm. He wasn't the same as before… he had gone mad when he fell." He paused again, letting his adopted daughter digest the information. "Then… we had a fight." Marlene watched him with wide eyes. "I won, and I seemed to have beat some sense into 'im. He told me that he loved you… and he loved your mommy too, but she died. He couldn't believe that you were already four. The last time he saw you was when you was only a baby." he sniffed, feeling tears falling down his cheeks; he wiped them away with his left arm, then he took something from his left pocket. "He wanted me to give you this. It was Eleanor's." he opened his large hand, inside was the pendant that Dyne had given him. It had never left his left pocket since.
Marlene took the pendant, and her tiny fist closed around it. She picked it up and stared at it. "This was my mommy's?" She asked, tears making their way down her cheeks, she saw Barret nod, and had a question. "Daddy… I have a question."
"Yeah, sweetie?"
"When Corel was in trouble… was it you who saved me?" When Marlene asked, Barret gave a troubled look.
"I uh…" Barret began… then stopped. He cleared his throat and started again. "Yes… it was me… your daddy told me… to take care of you and all… and I couldn't refuse him…"
Before he could understand why, Marlene wrapped her little arms around his large waist. Her arms were not long enough to go all the way around. Barret gently hugged her back, trying not to crush her with his heavy frame.
"Daddy…" she murmured into his torso.
"Yeah, Marlene?"
"Even though you're not my real daddy, inside our hearts, you really are my true daddy. You were the one who saved me, raised me, you took care of me, and you give me your love. You are my true daddy!" She said, and gave a small childish smile.
Barret couldn't help but smile back. Even though it was only child's talk, it was the most important thing that Barret had ever heard in his life. He hugged his daughter tighter. Tears ran down his face, but these were not tears of sadness, but of joy. He had never been this happy for a long time.
From the other room, all the party members watched in awe. Cid was making quiet sniffing noises and Yuffie accused him of crying, but the seasoned pilot denied all accusations.
"That was the most touching thing I've ever seen in my life." Yuffie said, wiping tears from her eyes. "Gosh, I never knew that Barret was so… emotional… and poor Marlene… but I'm glad that Barret told her the truth…"
Cid sniffed again, brushing his eyes of what he said was "annoying pieces of f---in' dirt and nuthin' more." He smiled and murmured to himself. "You go man, you go man."
Cloud and Tifa exchanged glances. Tifa gave a small smile and wiped away tears of her own. Cloud smiled back, unsure of why his stomach had fluttered when she smiled.
AVALANCHE continued to watch the scene of Marlene and Barret, and for once, all of them felt at home.
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Aeris watched as Gast examined Sephiroth's body and made frowns or shook his head. "How is he, dad?" She asked, still wiping away remnants of her tears. She tried to sound strong, but her voice trembled and gave her true feelings away.
Professor Gast was silent for a moment. "I'm not absolutely sure how he is… except for the fact that he has broken at least two ribs. He is bruised quite badly and he has suffered a mild concussion," he paused, Aeris's heart sunk like a stone. "But," she looked up, hopeful. "Sephiroth is enhanced with Jenova cells. As you know, Jenova cells are programmed to regenerate and heal itself ten times faster than a normal human. I'm sure he'll be up and going in a few weeks."
"But his ribs need to be set in place!" Aeris said, hoping she didn't sound to eager to help Sephiroth.
Gast gave a small smile. "No. Jenova cells are… can we say… amazing. Each of them have minds of their own… they can reconstruct the body back to almost exactly as before. Take Jenova, for example. When the Cetra locked her away, she was mortally wounded. When Sephiroth freed her, she was still injured… a few months later, when AVALANCHE fought her, she was at almost full power with Jenova SYNTHESIS."
Aeris felt her hopes rising. "So Sephiroth will get better?" she said brightly.
Her father laughed. "I see that Sephiroth grew on you pretty quickly. That boy… I knew him when he was a little boy, quite nice once you get to know him."
Aeris's cheeks flushed red when her father said this. She thought back to when Sephiroth smiled, how the smile had brightened and changed his face so much. She found her father grinning at her with a sparkle in his eyes. She turned even redder.
Stop it! Her mind yelled. Stop acting like a school girl!
Gast began to laugh. "You know, all the girls who see the 'Great Sephiroth' swoon before him." His eyes twinkled merrily and with a glint of mischief. He began to laugh at the expression on his daughter's face.
"Dad!" Aeris gave an offended look. "I'm not swooning before him! He's only a friend!"
"You know… I wouldn't really mind if you two started dating. Heck I would probably like him as my son-in-law." Gast pushed the joke further.
Aeris groaned and buried her face in her hands. "Dad! I already told you! We're only friends! There's going to be nothing more than friendship! We're going to defeat Jenova, I go my way and he goes his way!"
The professor grinned. "Oh sure. You go your ways… your paths entwined." Gast teased and Aeris gave a sigh of exasperation. The professor's face turned serious. "Seriously, Aeris. You're twenty-three now. You need someone to take of you sooner or later."
"'Course I have someone to take care of me," she said flatly. "I have you."
Gast sighed. "Aeris, you know what I mean. You're growing up, you know. What about Zack or… Cloud?"
Aeris fought back tears. The pain that Zack left her with still burned in her heart… and the image of Cloud, tears streaming down his face as she laid on the ground, dying. It just couldn't be same as before. "No dad. Zack wasn't the one for me… and neither is Cloud. Zack… he's better off with another girl and Cloud… he should be with Tifa or someone that can take care of him. Dad… maybe I'm just the kind that'll be alone for forever."
The professor gave a tired look and didn't argue. "Come now, let's change the subject. Perhaps it is time you get some rest, being up and about all the time. If you don't be careful, you'll tire yourself to death… and there'll be no second chance after death here."
Aeris sighed, she knew not to argue back. Anyways, she was tired. She headed for her bedroom, rubbing her fatigued eyes.
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The next day…
"Come on, people! Let's get a damn move on!" Cid yelled, tapping his foot, and watching as everyone got on the Highwind with packs. He nodded as they trudged a tad faster. "That's more like it!"
When everyone finally got all their gear loaded, only one question was unanswered. Would Marlene come? "Hey, your girl coming or not?" Cid asked, looking over at his large friend, Barret.
" 'O 'course she is." Barret said, beaming. "I'll get her, be righ' back."
The large man walked back into the house ad looked around for his daughter.
Cid climbed straight up the ladder to the Highwind (without losing his shoe of course) and commanded his assistants to start the engines. Loud rumblings echoed through Kalm.
The people of Kalm came out and watched in awe. Many came and others charged toward them, asking for autographs. Barret came out, carrying a tired-looking Marlene.
"Come on, let's get outta here!" Cloud yelled, as the people began to swarm around them. "Excuse us please! Please out of the way! This is urgent!"
One reporter broke through the swarm and ran up to Cloud. "What is the urgent business? Is the world in danger again? Can you save us?"
"Whoa! Slow down!" Cloud yelled and shoved the man out of the way, who went down cursing.
The rest of AVALANCHE ran up the ladder as people began to close in. Barret, holding Marlene, scrambled up the ladder. Most of the members of AVALANCHE were half way up when the Highwind began to rise up.
"DAMN IT CID!" Barret bellowed. "MARLENE IS HERE! STOP THE DAMN SHIP!"
"SORRY!" Cid yelled from inside the Highwind, loud enough for everyone to hear. "BUT I'M NOT LETTING THOSE GUYS SCRATCH MY BABY!"
"STOP WORRYING ABOUT THE HIGHWIND! SHE'LL BE FINE! WORRY ABOUT OUR LIVES!" Cloud shouted over the rumble of the engines, turning back to the rest of Avalanche, he said. "The only thing we can do now is climb!"
Red was having the most trouble going up the ladder, mostly because he his four legs weren't trained to do such things. "I hate this, I hate this." Yuffie muttered, right under him. "Hurry up Red! I think I'm going to be sick!"
Cloud made a noise. "It's fine if you're going to be sick… just don't get sick on me!"
Vincent, who was the highest up, swung himself up and onto the deck. Red was having trouble even getting up and began to howl.
"SHUT THE F--- UP!" Cid screamed from the inside of the ship.
"Many apologies. I do this when I'm very scared and I can't… howl stop it!" Red said over his howls.
Vincent grabbed Red by the right front leg and pulled him up. Red's howling stopped and Yuffie came next, looking very green indeed. Then Cloud, who pulled himself up and helped Tifa up.
Then Barret scrambled up, clutching a very disturbed-looking Marlene tightly with one arm. "Damn! I'm never doing that again!" he huffed, and patted the shaking Marlene.
Cloud drew in the ladder and nodded to the group. "Come on guys, let's get in before one of us falls off from this crazy flying."
Everyone agreed.
Everyone, I know there are some mistakes, but that's because LadyKadaj's not responding to my emails. I don't know why. So I'm looking for another person to correct my stuff.