well, this came up much sooner than i thought it would. and even though there's only 2 reviews, ill still update! lol. thanks for the reviews anyway and enjoy!
oops i almost forgot the disclaimer again.
i do not own FF7 or any of the characters.
"Argh…" Clutching his back, Cloud woke up the next day with a rather bad back ache.
"I really shouldn't have spent most of the night on the floor…" he mumbled to himself. Struggling to get out of bed, Cloud slipped on a white long sleeved shirt along with his sweatpants over his boxers. Unable to resist the pleasant smell of breakfast coming from the kitchen, Cloud made his way down to the kitchen and sat down at the table. "Good morning." Tifa greeted him as she served him a plate of bacon and eggs.
"Good morning…" Cloud replied, not bothering to conceal a yawn before tucking into his food gratefully. He didn't have time for dinner last night and was famished this morning.
"So, how did you sleep last night?" Cloud asked between mouthfuls. Tifa cracked a few more eggs into the frying pan.
"Alright I guess." She stopped cooking and turned to face Cloud.
"Were you feeling alright last night?" Cloud raised his eyebrow, mouth still full of egg. He tried to talk only to have pieces of egg coming out of his mouth instead of words. Draining a glass of milk, Cloud washed the remainder of the eggs down this throat and continued,
"Last night? OH." Eyes opened wide in realization.
"OH." Denzel and Marlene mimicked him loudly.
"Since when do I sound like that?" Cloud asked jokingly, just noticing Marlene and Denzel in the kitchen.
"Here." Tifa handed them their bacon and eggs, portion significantly smaller than Cloud's, and sat down on either side of him.
"Where did you go last night Cloud?" Denzel questioned after taking a sip out of his glass of milk. "Yeah, Cloud, we waited ALL night for you!" Marlene added in. Cloud scratched his head and apologized profusely, "Sorry to have kept you guys waiting. I was really busy last night." Tifa joined them at the table, taking a seat opposite Cloud, tucking in to her own breakfast.
"You need to make up for last night!" Marlene chirped.
"Yeah! Let's go out to play today okay Cloud?" Denzel suggested, brimming with excitement.
"But I… I…" Cloud stuttered turning to Tifa for help. Tifa gave him a nod and her usual smile that Cloud always seemed to find overwhelming.
"I… Oh, alright then. We can go to the park today." Cloud finished.
"But!" Tifa cut into the children's cheer,
"you have to clean your room first." Denzel and Marlene turned to Cloud with their puppy dog eyes and tugged on his sleeve. Cloud at a loss of what to do turned to Tifa again. She returned his gaze and both of them seemed to be caught up in the moment. 'Tifa, you look beautiful today, like always.' Cloud thought as his cheeks turned a light pink. 'Cloud, I wish I could tell you how I feel.' Thoughts running through Tifa's mind.
"Cloud…" Denzel whined again, causing Cloud to break his chain of thoughts. Cloud glanced at Denzel, then at Marlene.
"Okay okay… you don't have to clean your room. Just finish your breakfast and get changed. Then we'll set off alright?" Cloud was hoping that Tifa wouldn't be angry at him for giving in to the kids all the time.
"YAY!" Denzel and Marlene cheered as they set their plates in the sink and ran up the stairs to their room to get changed. Cloud smiled at their enthusiasm only to hear a chuckle coming from Tifa.
"Cloud? Does this mean you're gonna clean their room for them?" Tifa asked, grinning from ear to ear.
"What? I never said that!" Cloud quickly trying to cover up his mistake.
"Then at least you'll help me wash the dishes?" Tifa flashed him the puppy dog eyes the kids just used a while ago.
"Don't don't… Now don't you try that on me!" Cloud stuttered as he stood up waving a fork with an impaled strip of bacon.
"Thanks Cloud!" Tifa smiled sweetly at him before setting her plate in the sink and trailing off to her room giggling.
"You're the best Cloud…" Cloud muttered to himself as he chomped his last bit of bacon.
It was late morning by the time Cloud, Tifa, Denzel and Marlene made it to the park. As Denzel and Marlene rushed off to play with the other children at the park that day, Cloud and Tifa were looking for a shady spot under a tree. They finally settled down at the foot of a maple tree, its branches of leaves long and big enough to shade them from the heat of the sun that afternoon. As Cloud lay down to take a nap under the tree, Tifa watched the beautiful leaves of the maple tree drift down onto the grass. It was early autumn and all the trees in the park had a beautiful contrast of color from green to red to brown. Tifa turned her gaze to Cloud already asleep on the grass, 'I wish I could tell you how much I love you. But I'm afraid that you will not return my love, with the result of breaking our friendship. The last thing I want is to lose you. But if I could live with you forever like this, I would be content.' Tifa sighed and ran her hand through her ebony locks, making sure the wind didn't mess her hair too much. Cloud opened one eye and took a peek at Tifa. He loved to see her like this, her natural beauty radiating off her. The way her hair swayed in the wind, the look of delight upon her face. Cloud wanted so much to be with her. But he knew in his heart that she only regarded him as her best friend. Cloud closed his eye and turned his head. Those thoughts hurt him. 'If only she knew how much I loved her.'
Soon, Tifa heard someone calling her name. "TIFA! Come here! Quickly!" Tifa snapped out of her thoughts and turned to where the voice was coming from. Denzel was waving to her frantically, signaling her to come over while Marlene sat on the ground beside him with something long sticking out of her leg. Tifa's heart skipped a beat and raced over. If anything happened to Marlene she wouldn't be able to forgive herself.
Cloud heard the commotion and woke up, still dazed. When he found a crowd forming not too far away and Tifa missing, he sensed something was going on and got up to jog over to the area of commotion.
Tifa tried her best to keep her composure as she examined what seemed to be a extraordinarily large splinter stuck in Marlene's right leg. It looked like it went quite deep in. Thankful that her late father always made it a habit to keep a restore material on her, she pulled out the green orb and started to focus her energy. Suddenly, a hand grabbed the material and her hands.
"Wha…" Tifa began, but only to be cut off by the serious look on Cloud's face. Cloud turned to Marlene and attempted to pull out the splinter.
"You need to pull out the object before you can heal the wound Tifa. I thought you knew that." Cloud muttered under his breath as he yanked the splinter out and used the restore materia on the wound immediately.
"I'm sorry I was just… just…"
"Just not focusing." Cloud finished for her as he returned her the shining green orb. Tifa was at a loss for words. Had she almost put Marlene's life in further danger? She didn't want to think of the consequences if Cloud wasn't there. 'There's something weird about this… Splinter…' Cloud secured the splinter on his belt and picked up Marlene. The wound had closed but there was still a scar and dried blood all over her leg. She had fainted from the excessive loss of blood.
"Is she gonna be okay Cloud?" Denzel asked innocently. He had dried tears stained on his cheeks and hands. 'He was crying for Marlene…' Cloud figured.
"Yeah, she just needs cleaning up and rest." Cloud smiled reassuringly to Denzel. He sniffed and nodded trying his best not to cry any more.
"Aren't you coming Tifa?" Cloud turned around to ask.
"Go ahead. I'll catch up in a bit." Tifa assured him. Cloud shrugged and walked home with Marlene in one hand and Denzel holding his other. Tifa couldn't help but keep replaying the scene in her mind. Marlene having to amputate her leg just because Tifa was careless. Barret blaming it all on Tifa and never wanting to talk to her again. Cloud being utterly disappointed in her for Marlene could not walk anymore. Tifa shook her head and tried clearing the thoughts, but they still haunted her. 'I need to get out of here… Cloud is waiting for me.' Tifa tried to think of other things as she ran her way back to 7th Heaven.
Cloud was tucking Marlene into bed after cleaning up her wound with Denzel by his side at all times incase he needed a hand as well as to see how Marlene was doing. Marlene woke up on the way back to the bar and now was fast asleep in bed. "Cloud, Where's Tifa? I'm starting to get hungry." Denzel asked. Realizing that his own tummy was growling, Cloud too had no idea where Tifa was. A mountain of worry building up inside him, Cloud told Denzel to prepare the table for dinner while he went to look for Tifa. Denzel obliged and scurried to the kitchen, happy to be able to help Cloud. 'These kids couldn't make life any easier.' Cloud thought as he grinned.
Cloud did up his boots and made his way out of 7th Heaven. Deciding that he would start looking around the park and that riding fenrir would definitely cover more ground faster than on foot, Cloud took off for the park in a cloud of dust.
Author's Note: I'm sorry if this chapter doesn't really link to the first one. But i'm trying very hard to have it all make sense in the end! Reviews are very much welcome!