Stolen
Chapter 3
He wear no shoeshine
He got toe jam football
He got monkey finger
He shoot Coca Cola
He say, I know you, you know me
One thing I can tell you is you got to be free
Come together, right now, over me.
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"You'll love it here. Nibelheim is a great place to relocate. Scenery's beautiful. People are nice. It's just what we need to start over. You'll see."
Yuffie Kisaragi sat in the back of her father's used Sedan with an expression of contempt sprawled across her young face. The cool autumn wind blew wildly into her black hair as nude lips lip synched along with the CD in her player. Wutai seemed but a memory, she thought, watching the industrial part of downtown Midgar whiz by the beat up car like a nightmare. Her friends, her school, and her cozy home with the blue shutters and busted answering machine everybody complained so much about.
Her mother's voice had been on that answering machine. It was the happiest Yuffie could remember her being. Her father detested that message but it was understandable. The woman had walked out on him and their daughter without looking back or reconsidering her actions. Early one morning, she just picked up and left with no letter or phone call. He had thrown away the answering machine and passed out on whiskey later that night.
"You as excited as I am, kiddo?"
Violet eyes shifted from the great outdoors to the rearview mirror where a pair of onyx eyes appeared and stared without sign of eventual boredom. She just nodded and looked back out the window not wanting to start any controversy. Godo Kisaragi had a very short fuse. The lightly visible marks on her body were a testament to that observation. Yuffie had also speculated and eventually came to the solid conclusion that it had been the reason why her mother left. It made her silently seethe.
"It was very important to get away from Wutai," Godo explained, eyes growing colder with every spoken word, "We can't let your 'mother' think we've forgiven her. She deserves every miserable thing that's bound to happen to her. We can't be associated with trash, now can we?"
The preteen sighed, nodding her head again as though she were a desolate version of Pinocchio. She missed her mother so much yet resentment burrowed itself into her bloodstream allowing sympathy to go and just as easily pass. Yuffie had always wondered if her mother made a break for it with every intention of doubling back one day for her only child. Unfortunately, since Godo up and left merely a week after his wife's disappearance, whether or not her fate would ever ultimately go in that direction will always remain a mystery.
"What? You can't speak now? I spent almost half of my savings sending you to that fancy private school only to find out my daughter didn't even pick up simple vocabulary skills."
Dead silence continued to ring superior to all revolving sounds. She didn't even give her father the satisfaction of looking at the mirror where his eyes remained stern enough to penetrate the most solid resolve. He was getting angry; Yuffie could tell. The aura in the compact car was quickly taking a turn towards dangerous and for once, she embraced the darkness.
"You better fucking speak when you're being spoken to," Godo shouted, bushy eyebrows furrowing in fury at his daughter's blatant disrespect, "Do you hear me you little shit?"
The car came to a screeching halt followed by the driver unbuckling his seatbelt, reaching back, and smacking the child as hard as the distance could suffice. The side of Yuffie's face snapped back into the seat's headrest causing her headphones to slide off her ears and eyes closing tightly shut so tears would remain hidden. She silently cried within for the throbbing pain spreading throughout her left cheek.
"Are you going to answer me when I talk to you? Are you, you little asshole? Answer me!"
"Yes! I'll answer you," Yuffie screamed, keeping her eyes closed while cursing herself for the obvious crack in her voice. More tears surfaced under closed eyelids before freely making their debut down crimson cheeks. She hated him. The times when he would physically take out his frustrations on her, especially the days after his beloved's abandonment, she would lay awake at night wishing her mother had stuck a butcher knife through his chest on her way out the door.
"Don't be a bitch like your mother. I raised you better," the heavy set man stated, giving the youngster a hard look before turning back around, rebuckling his seatbealt, and continuing on his expedition cross country.
Yuffie refocused her watering gaze onto the scenery as she placed the fallen headset back on her ears as though nothing had happened. The rolling breeze felt good on her cheek, cooling the burning sensation down significantly. Father and daughter had moved away from Wutai to start over. A fresh start away from memories of the lying tramp as Godo had poignantly explained. But nothing would change. They would arrive in Nibelheim, unpack their belongings in a house that would never feel like a real home, and soon realize the ghosts they were running away from would be waiting patiently for their arrival.
Godo would continue to beat his little girl, his psyche too damaged to distinguish the realization that his daughter and estranged wife were two separate people. Yuffie would succumb to the appeal of living life as an empty shell. And the woman, who unwilling created this traumatizing ordeal, would forever haunt her family's legacy due to a simple choice she selfishly made for her own satisfaction.
"Nibelheim will be a great place to start over. It'll be the town responsible for the first chapter of our bright happy future," Godo declared, a wide grin beaming on his chiseled face, "...our bright happy future. The beginning to the rest of our prosperous lives."
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He looked over at his companion. His knuckles were white as his hands gripped the steering wheel tight. Her face was flushed, smooth porcelain skin stained with streaks of tears as her eyes remained looking ahead, numb, and without any sign of relocation. I love you, he wanted to shout, grabbing her fragile shoulders and kissing her quivering lips with promises he would suffer through until made possible. He wanted to hug her in hopes that she would ultimately meld into him, making all her pain his to bear. He wanted her to know he was nothing more than a vessel created for her and only her happiness. He not only wanted to whisper in her ear his undying loyalty but jump off the highest mountain with no parachute just because she asked him to prove it. He wanted her to know she was safe. That nothing would ever go wrong as long as he was by her side.
"She'll never forgive me."
The statement caught him off guard. He was so preoccupied in his sentiments that his wife seemed to lose credibility as a resident of the real world. Hands found a way to distance themselves from the wheel and onto the solace of his sweat ridden face.
"Who?"
She frowned as her eyes exchanged the vision of a luxury car for the man beside her, "Tifa. How am I going to tell her? She'll never forgive me for giving up. How can she forgive me if I can't even come close to forgiving myself?"
Dan closed his eyes and reached his arm around Sarah's narrow shoulders. He wanted to say so much. He wanted to tell her what he had been thinking moments before but knew expressing emotional frailty was something predetermined rather than spoken about on a whim. All the man wanted was for once to know the right thing to say. It didn't have to be poetic just sincere.
"I told you before, we'll get through this - the three of us together. We're family and a family does not turn their back when things get rough. Tifa won't have anything to forgive. All she will do is understand that these circumstances weren't anyone's fault and hostility is pointless."
He felt her relax in his embrace while watching a full head of thick chestnut hair falling over his shoulder. They sat together in the dark parking garage for a considerable amount of time. The sound of heartbeats and light breathing became the soundtrack of the moment; their thoughts running a marathon that lacked enough substance to be put into actual words.
"How are we going to tell her?" Sarah asked after allowing the negative side of an otherwise overactive imagination get the best of her.
"Don't worry. We'll figure something out."
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Various old timers strolled down the street smiling and nodding at the lovely young girl engrossed with holding the baggage tight as to avoid any unnecessary accidents. She also smiled kindly and spoke brief salutations to familiar faces.
"Don't drop those eggs, Tifa. You know your mama will be sending you back to that grocery shop with no remorse."
"Of course," Tifa proclaimed, briefly pointing down at her legs "she knows how to profit from my working assets. Plus, I'm getting a little tired of hearing how many hours of excruciating labor I forced her through. I just gave up arguing with her and go when she asks me the first time."
"Smart girl."
She grinned before continuing down the street. One of the many downfalls of living in a small yet well populated town since birth was everyone from that small yet well populated town knew everything about you. Any bad habits - they knew about. Any late night escapades - they not only knew about but also let the parents know about. Even that birthmark on your left butt cheek was no longer sacred. The sewing circles were at an all time low but what they knew and chose to talk about was far harmful to a person's reputation than small, meaningless gossip.
Tifa also felt bitter apprehension at being compared to the other town's golden calf, Aeris. The two girls were placed so high on pedestals they could only make out the silhouettes of people who had originally put them up there in the first place. Aeris was praised for her stunning beauty and kind mannerisms while Tifa was the wise and funny girl people would go out of their way for a conversation with. She had constantly heard about Aeris through the other's chats and gained a good impression from the girl in pink. Unfortunately, that all changed when Tifa actually met her.
"The pageant queen makes her rounds and awaits patiently for the babies to kiss."
The small brunette walked right by her verbal aggressor without giving him the satisfaction of an acknowledging glance. Reno Perablo was a man of infinite injury and annoyance everyone in town either ignored or spoke harshly of. He was the last person Tifa wanted to end up associated with. His trouble was bound to become hers and she felt it would all begin with becoming acquaintances. So she walked on, paying no mind to the snide comments or intimate looks the red head gave her.
Reno smiled at her silent treatment, removed the cigarette from his mouth, and followed his prey down the street, "I thought pageant queens were supposed to want to change the world starting with the lowest of the low. Now you can't change the lowest of the low and ultimately the world by simply ignoring them."
"No, but I can prevent my day from completely going down the shitter by pushing this chance meeting into the back of my subconscience like a traumatizing memory," she spat, picking up her pace while tightening her grip on the shopping bag, "It'll be like these minutes of pointless communication never happened. Reno? Who's that?"
"Tifa, I'm hurt and appalled especially considering the mere fact that I'm unforgettable," Reno proclaimed before winking at the young woman. He loved to see her get mad. Whenever Tifa got mad she showed a very uncharacteristic form of sassiness. It made her less perfect and more human, something he would give his kidney to see even merely depicted in Tifa Lockheart.
"Go away, Reno! I far from sympathize with you."
"You think I'm that disgusting? Take a walk in my shoes, sugar, and then pass judgments on me."
Tifa stopped, burgundy eyes cold and impatient, and angrily declared without remorse or consideration for the curiosity of ongoing commuters, "I don't have to walk in your shoes, you're a fucking speck, Reno! A vile, shameless, and incredibly trivial speck. If you died tomorrow, the only sentiment felt would be minor disappointment because time in advance would be necessary to plan the block party which will ultimately be your funeral. You know, with music, banners, and a piñata."
"You can really be a bitch, you know that, Lockheart?"
"Yeah? And you're a pervert with no grasp of reality," she hissed, pushing Reno out of her way and continuing on her quest home, "Leave me alone. You have no chance in hell with me. Go take advantage of some other neuron lacking, breast implant statistic."
Reno, in anger, rushed to the retreating brunette, grabbed her arm, and, when no one was noticing, quickly pushed her into the alley he had only moments emerged from. She dropped the fragile bag in shock and proceeded to scream, but her aggressor placed one of his hands over her mouth and began speaking, "You don't know who I am, you don't know anything about my past or my present so the fucking smart remarks prove your own naive ignorance. You think you're a connoisseur to this world but your not. You're a punk ass teenage bitch who walks around with her head up her ass because her parents are respected and the town worships the ground she walks on. You wait, one day, your world will come crashing down around you and the confusion will drive you to do things you never thought you were capable of doing. You wait, it'll happen, and it'll happen when you least expect it."
She stared up into beautiful pools of magnetic green. His eyes were full of passion, a fire that Tifa hadn't seen anyone she had ever encounter possess. He stared into her, through her, and around her; the heat of the moment causing her mouth to dry and attitude to falter. The closeness of his lean body against hers caused anticipation and fear of her own impure thoughts. Her eyes closed as her mind whispered a prayer that the "speck" would unhand her along with the manipulation he was harboring over her raging hormonal mind.
A soft laugh echoed through the dark, enclosed area; words soon sternly replacing the intimidating sound, "When things get remotely heated, you close your eyes and you say I'm the one who wants you in a sexually related way? You're a child. I may be a lot of things but I'm not a pedophile. You've got a lot of growing up to do before I consider looking at you as anything more than just a prissy, snot nosed nuisance."
Reno unhanded Tifa and backed away before pulling out a cigarette to satisfy his intense nicotine craving. His eyes traced every aspect of her, starting with her hair and ending at her feet. She was beautiful; it was one thing the social leper could not deny. But practically every aspect she possessed was lacking. Reno loved tall women with long blonde hair, big blue eyes, a busty figure, and knockers that would rival any planet in the standard alignment. And what was Tifa Lockheart? She was a petite girl with short brown hair, burgundy eyes, a thin frame, and decent knockers but nothing that would rock the planetary alignment. Barely anything for him to gawk at, but yet something to make him wonder about.
"See you around, and be sure that I really do mean that, love."
Tifa watched the man who made her skin crawl by mere thought walk away in a cloud of smoke. Her mouth was parted open in lack of discourse as her one hand touched the arm his hand had viciously grasped. He was a pig who thought too much about himself. He reeked of failure and havoc; not to mention the stench of booze and smoke had clung to him for so long it now became his sole essence. He was too skinny and years of drugs had made his face look haggard and older than he really was. But there was something inside when she glared up at him. Something raw, real, and unbelievably sincere. It was something so appealing, Tifa couldn't bear to look away.
The teenager allowed her rubber legs to solidify for the first time within that ten minute span and move towards the discarded grocery bag. Her hands shook as they reached down to touch the object. Was she a bigot? Everyday, she walked around town embracing the praise her neighbors showered her with yet still convinced herself she was her own person, different. What was the real reason she shunned Reno? Was it because Tifa truly feared for her own safety or was it really because she feared being ostracized? She told herself all along she was nothing like Aeris, arrogant and small minded, but looking back at her actions and mirroring their reactions, she's beginning to think twice.
"Son of a bitch," Tifa muttered, picking up the bag and noticing the thick yellow substance leaking out of the bottom.
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He stuck to the shadows as meditating eyes focused on the pretty girl in pink. She brushed a lock of soft brown hair out of her eyes while sitting down by the well. He knew why she was there. She was going to meet him. The thought made his stomach churn and the bitter anger burrowed deep within his gut to ruthlessly arise. Jealousy had resulted in this monstrous transformation and the man he had become was the man he hated her for creating. So, he watched her in the pink dress waiting for the man who stood between him and his much deserved sanity.
Alas, he arrives. Blonde and chivalrous, the prince enters on his white horse to woo the princess and whisk her away to his castle in the sky. The scenario made him clench his fists and dig trimmed nails into his palms. He began to despise the tricks she played on him, but fortunately his heart protested far too much for the simple despising of trickery to become anything more than that. He longed for her. He longed to hold her in his arms and kiss every birthmark on her elegant neck until she eventually fell asleep. He wanted her so badly. The yearning became so immense that sharing her any more than he already has was not a further option. Ridicule and possible imprisonment was child's play compared to the delusions of a misled imagination.
He stole one more glance at his beloved and walked away. He would get what he wanted consequences aside. No more games.
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"My one and only's sitting by the well with a look of extreme concentration on her face...Should I immediately rush her to the hospital and check out how many blood vessels she ruptured by facial contortion alone or wait until her skin's an unnatural shade of red just to avoid any extra convenience charges at the ER for false pretenses?"
Aeris smirked at the familiar voice and turned her gaze over to the side where her boyfriend resided, "Until my skin's an unnatural shade of red? You must really want me out of the picture."
"No, the picture looks a lot better with you standing in it," Cloud announced, perching himself beside the fair skinned love of his life and planting a kiss on her cheek. He looked up at the sky and closed his eyes as to enjoy the day's dwindling warmth on his skin more efficiently. He was more than happy to be out of the constricting supermarket environment. The desire for escape was so intense, it caused Cloud to countdown the days until graduation. Graduation and the day he could make that overhyped corporate monstrosity nothing more than distant memory.
"Do you ever wonder what it would be like if we never met?"
He opened his eyes and looked over at Aeris quicker than he intended. The question was so out of the blue it left the blonde speechless. There were times were Cloud caught himself guiltily asking himself 'what if' but never to the extent where contact was concern. He didn't know where this was going or even came from but what he did know was he didn't like the possible karma that could be associated with it.
"I mean, did you ever ask yourself what life would be like if me and you never met or dated?" Aeris asked, her usual confidence setting along with the sun. She shifted her eyes over at Cloud and took in his expression. He looked exactly as she expected and it gave her some incentive. At least she had some kind of premeditated control over this conversation.
"To be honest I asked myself what it would be like if we never dated but I never asked myself what things would be like if we never met. Do you regret us?"
"No! You were always good to me, Cloud," she proclaimed, placing her hand on his shoulder in comfort, "I really want you to know that I appreciate everything you've done for me. I want you to know that I care so much about you and that you took such good care of me. I wouldn't trade what we had for anything."
"So what's with the question?"
She frowned again. How could she make things work with Zack if she wasn't willing to give up Cloud. In a way, both men symbolized very appealing character traits to Aeris. Cloud was funny, kind, considerate, affectionate, polite, and incredibly patient. He was the man her parents loved and constantly asked her to bring to supper. The man who got along with her friends, whether they were friendly or sarcastic. It was impossible to find a quality man like that in the world so what exactly were her chances of finding someone that perfect in Nibelheim?
And no, she wasn't going to counter that rhetorical question by mentioning Zack because Zack was anything but perfect. He was quick tempered, jealous, possessive, too opinionated, and foul mouthed. He was the man she would tell her parents chauffeured her real boyfriend around when necessary. They would never approve of him. Not of his mannerisms. Not of his clothes. And especially, not of his job. Zack was the direct result of Cloud's exorcism. The evil twin. But, no matter how imperfect this working man was, he did possess something that Cloud Strife did not have. Her heart.
"I was just wondering. That's all."
"C'mon, Aeris, questioning our relationship involves some kind of issue. Just talk to me."
Aeris sighed, "I'm just a little jealous of Tifa. There's just something between you two that makes me wonder whether you want me out of the picture to see what could develop. I'm sorry, especially if I'm wrong. I don't mean to be so petty."
More guilt inhabited the young socialite as she watched her boyfriend's normal happy-go-lucky expression transform into one of serious contemplation. This wasn't a complete lie. Cloud and Tifa's close friendship had made her feel uncomfortable, but she never put much effort into questioning it. Aeris felt she had no right considering her very own predicament. It would have been the pot calling the kettle black, or so they say.
"Aeris," Cloud began while putting his arm around her and battling guilt of his own, "I've known Tifa since I was a kid. Her mom baby-sat me until I was old enough to take care of myself. We're old friends and that's it. Line drawn. You're my girlfriend and I couldn't be happier. Don't be so apprehensive about Tifa and me because it's nothing you should worry about."
"I know, and like I said, I'm sorry for being petty. I just get a little nervous sometimes."
He embraced Aeris and rested his chin on the crook of her neck. Tifa wasn't far from his mind and fibbing to his girlfriend about possible feelings wasn't something he was exactly proud of. Cloud had this internal debate earlier today and the conclusion seemed plausible. Tifa was just an outlet for the stress he was experiencing in his relationship. Once things improved, the stress as well as the fantasies would cease to exist. He has had a crush on his best friend since the minute harmones replaced a chronic fear of cooties. It made sense the girl he chose to picture himself with in times of turmoil would be her.
That was all it was, he told himself, just a fluke. A coincidence.
Aeris felt the comforting warmth emulate from the well toned body of her beau and sighed again. She would never be able to do this. Before, she couldn't even muster the courage to ask the simple question, "Do you regret?" and now that she refused to chicken out and approached the unapproachable, the main idea of this whole discussion was left behind in the shadows of her cowardice. She shamed her self worth by not satisfying her needs, shamed Zack by continuing to prove how dirty this secret truly was, and shamed Cloud for being the woman who cheated a perfect man. Her heart felt heavier than usual.