Chapter 9

Tifa ran as fast as she ever did in her entire life. She ran past the screaming crowds, she ran past fallen debris, she jumped over the partially destroyed road and even then kept running. The only sound that she remembered hearing was her shoes pounding off the drab, hard concrete roads. Her only thoughts, well, that was anyone's guess, but they were most certainly centred on one particular person. She didn't see anything else, she didn't feel anything else; she just ran.

The kids, the orphans she'd taken in who had nowhere else to go needed her. They needed her to help them. Even if Cloud was there he couldn't do everything on his own. He needed help too, everybody needed help sometimes.

The Shinra building appeared before her. The sight of it made Tifa put everything into one last sprint. Her eyes focused on a silver haired man standing on the roof, surrounded by a mass of children; the orphans Tifa had taken care of as if they were her own. Rage started to well up inside her. She would find that man, and tear him limb from limb.

The brunette was so consumed in her fury that she almost didn't notice two motorcycles parked near the entrance to the Shinra building. One of them was Fenrir. Tifa stopped, almost tripping because her body kept wanting to propel her forward. She looked wildly around. There was no one here. Why would they just park and leave like that? She looked on the ground, noticing drops of blood for the first time. Maybe they didn't just park and leave like that, maybe that was just the way they wanted it to look...

"Cloud?" she asked the air around her. "Cloud, if you're here, please answer me!"

She approached the motorcycle with caution. Was he already inside, heading for Kadaj? Her eyes travelled past the bike to see a limp form lying on the ground, which made her breath catch in her throat. It wasn't, it couldn't be... The former student of Zanagan took three shaky steps forward and seeing the unconscious man's face made her own flood with relief.

"Yazoo," she mused. She had never seen him before, but his long silver hair and striking resemblance to Sephiroth left no doubt in her mind. She stooped down and put two fingers to his neck. She was surprised to find a pulse; rapid and weak, but a pulse nonetheless. Cloud was becoming more compassionate by the day. It had all started when he had brought Denzel back to the house...

"What's wrong?" she asked. Cloud said nothing, but gestured to the boy nestled in his arms. He was very young; he couldn't have been more than ten. He was unconscious and his black clothes matched Cloud's so well that it was no wonder she didn't notice him first glance.

"Where did you find him?" she pressed, leading him upstairs into the spare room. Cloud placed him on the bed and pulled back his hair.

"He's got geostigma," he said quietly, pointing to the black, oozing wound on his forehead. Tifa frowned; he had blatantly avoided her question. Yet another one of his secrets that he didn't have to keep. She didn't pursue the matter further though, and let it go for now. The boy was in serious pain and right now, that seemed more important than a petty squabble.

"Poor thing," she said sympathetically, going to the next room and emerging a few seconds later with a potion and a white cloth. "He's so young." Cloud made a noise of agreement and applied some of the potion onto the cloth before resting it on the boy's forehead.

"Hey," he said, putting his hand on the boy's shoulder. "I don't know if you can hear this, but my name is Cloud, and the girl with me is Tifa. I'll want my bed back so you better wake up soon, okay?"

Marlene peeked inside. Cloud cut his conversation short and gave her a simple nod in greeting. The young girl's face lit up seeing her 'uncle Cloud.'

"You're back!" she exclaimed. "I thought you'd be working for another few days at least..." she trailed off, noticing their sombre faces and the boy lying in bed.

"Who's he?" she asked.

"He's a sick boy," Tifa replied. "Cloud found him. We're going to take care of him for a while." Marlene looked at the boy curiously.

"What's his name?" Tifa looked at Cloud expectantly but he just shook his head.

"I don't know; he was unconscious when I found him."

"Oh..." she said with a sigh. The boy made a restless murmur. Cloud's face softened.

"He's waking up," he said in relief.

"Thank goodness," she agreed.

"Tifa, could you make him something? He must be hungry."

"Uh, yeah... no problem," she said, taking Marlene's hand. "Let's make him our specialty soup," she whispered to the girl with a wink.

"Okay!" she chirped merrily, and walked downstairs with her to the kitchen. Tifa started running the water and filled the sink. She peeled and chopped some carrots, but her movement slowed after each one. Finally she stopped.

"Marlene? Could you finish these? I'll be back in a few seconds." The girl nodded and started to sing a song as she pulled a chair up to the sink. She needed to stand on it to reach it, something Tifa smiled at as she walked back upstairs. She paused close to the open door of the spare room. She could hear their voices clearly, though they were low. One was scared and confused, while the other was calm and reassuring.

"...about six months, I guess," the boy's voice could be heard. "It hurts a lot."

"I'm sure it does," Cloud agreed. "Six months is a long time. You're a strong kid you know."

"What does it matter?" he asked angrily. "No one lives, they all just die anyway."

"Don't say that. You're only... what age?"

"Nine. I'm almost ten you know," he said proudly.

"See? If you keep fighting, you'll live to see fifty, I know you will."

"What age are you?" he asked.

"I'm twenty-three, why?"

"Just, wanted to know, that's all."

"Have you been living on your own all this time?

"...yeah."

"I'm impressed," Cloud said. "You're free to stay with us for a while if you want, Denzel."

"You pronounced it right!"

"I knew I'd get it eventually," he replied with a laugh. There was a short silence. Tifa was about to leave when Denzel spoke again.

"I'd like that, to stay with you I mean," he said thoughtfully.

"You're welcome to stay as long as you like. I'm not going to turn an orphan out the door. It would be like I was shutting the door on a part of me."

"You were an orphan too?"

"Yeah, my dad died in the war and my mum passed away when I was sixteen."

"How did she die?"

"...she was murdered," Cloud said quietly.

"Oh. My parents died when the Sector Seven plate fell."

Tifa cringed .That was a day she would rather forget. Too many people had died that day, Biggs, Wedge, Jessie... now she knew two more... She was so immersed in her own feelings that she almost missed his next question.

"What was that place? I've never seen any place like it in my life."

"What, where I found you?"

"Yeah. It was really pretty. I felt... different when I was in there, a bit warm."

"It's called the Sector Five church. Nobody knows its real name anymore."

Tifa's whole body tensed. So that's where he was. That was the reason he said he'd be late. At least he could have had the common decency to tell her where his secret rendezvous was.

"How did you find it in the first place?" Denzel asked. "I've been living here all my life, and I only saw it today. I had never even heard of it."

"I, uh... fell upon it," Cloud said simply. The young boy made a puzzled sound but the blonde didn't elaborate any further. "There used to be a woman who went there everyday to tend the flowers."

"Was she your girrl-friennnnd?" he asked in a singsong voice. Cloud laughed, somewhat sadly.

"No, she wasn't."

"Is she the girl who's staying here?" he questioned innocently.

"No, that's Tifa. She's really lovely, don't let me catch you being mean to her or you're dead meat."

"What happened to the other girl?"

"She... had to leave," he said in an even quieter tone.

"Why?"

"Cause her place wasn't here, that's why, Mr. Nosy," Cloud said. His voice had this forced brightness to it that Tifa found very unnerving.

"Ow! Don't poke my nose!" he said with a laugh.

"You were asking for it you nosy little..."

Tifa crept away quietly.

Ever since Denzel had come, the four of them had become closer, and Cloud had been even more reluctant to fight than ever. He took jobs closer to home, and if he took longer jobs he took the safer route to and from the destination. He even started taking time once every two weeks or so to take the kids out walking in the hills near Kalm, or even as far as Wutai to see their Aunt Yuffie. She had thought their life was good, she never expected him to just disappear in the night. She thought he was happy, that maybe they were both happy, together. Unfortunately for her, fantasies like that would only ever be fantasies.

"Nothing left to do here," she muttered, and ran into the Shinra building. She could hear the sounds of battle, getting louder and louder as she ran. The clash of metal could be heard distinctly; the echoing sound reverberating through the empty corridors. Tifa jumped several times when an especially devastating clash made her feel the battle was right behind her.

And suddenly, it was right in front of her.

Cloud and Loz were fighting furiously, each trading blow for blow. No one seemed to have the upper hand, it was just and ever-lengthening flurry of movement. Tifa was transfixed for precious seconds; seeing the two twist round each other, clash their weapons briefly and bolt away, the action complete. And it would start over again, the dance continuing. They did not notice her, too busy trying to better the other; searching constantly for some gap, some small slip or weakness that would make everything come to a fast abrupt end.

It wasn't any weakness or imperfection of technique that stopped their fight, but a shower of icicles that rained down on Loz's body. The burley fighter gasped in surprise and threw his hands over his head to stop the onslaught of frozen daggers.

Cloud looked up sharply at Tifa, who merely smiled. He wavered momentarily, and then nodded and darted down the corridor. The spell ended, and Tifa was on him in an instant, launching attack after attack. Loz sneered at her, blocking them easily.

"I was enjoying that fight," he said gruffly, annoyed by her sudden appearance.

"Guess I'll just have to do then," she replied, throwing three punches, followed by a sweeping kick. It caught him, plunging him to the floor. Tifa attempted a stamp to his body, but he caught her and flung her against the wall.

"You little pest!" he insulted her. "I should have finished you last time." Tifa got to her feet, wiping the blood seeping from her forehead.

"I am NOT going to lose to you again!"

Cloud sprinted up the steps, taking two at a time, all the while cursing that the lift wasn't working. He flew past the head office (what was left after Diamond Weapon's work) and out onto the roof. Kadaj was waiting for him. All the children encircled the silver-haired warrior, refusing Cloud the opportunity of a quick attack.

"Kadaj!" Cloud called, unsheathing his sword and pointing it at him. "Let the childr-"

"Oh, that's all I've been hearing today," he said with a sigh. "These children are here to see mother."

"I don't care about that stupid woman! This is between you and me; they have nothing to do with this!"

"We found her you know," he said with the delight of a small child, continuing as if Cloud had never said a word. He held out the box that was cradled in the crook of his right arm.

Yazoo's words entered the blonde man's head:

"He was a thief and a liar. He stole Jenova from us, made her suffer. We asked for her back, but he said he never had her."

"What have you done with Rufus?" he demanded, a touch of panic entering his voice. The teen half-grinned and nodded at the kids. They parted, revealing Kadaj's whole figure, with something crumpled at his feet. Kadaj picked up the lifeless body of a man in white. Cloud froze, his senses refusing to believe what he was seeing. He knew the kid was cruel, but he never thought he would go that far...

"I apologise for accusing you, brother. It turned out this other traitor had her all along." Kadaj looked at the man with a faint smile and threw him off the roof in disgust.

"You heartless bastard," he snarled.

"But it's okay now," he reassured himself, looking down at the box in complete adoration. Cloud thought he looked like a man possessed. "Everything's okay, mother is here. The reunion can finally take place." Kadaj looked at Cloud and smiled. He ripped the top off the box.

"NO!"

Author's note:

I haven't got any real words of wisdom cough today so I'll leave it with a simple request: Please review, I like knowing where I can improve my writing and they really help. And they're nice to read!

Thank you all for reading. There's not much left, so I'll try and update as soon as I can. I'd say I've one chapter left and an epilogue, so depending on my mood I might post them together.

To my lovely reviewers:

Lilmione: I think it's an unwritten law in rpgs that enemies are stronger when you fight them first... and have cooler attacks, and have higher hp... Take Yuffie, with her amazing tidal wave attack thing. I was so exited, I opened up her materia slots to find... throw. Throw. Wow. I can do SO much damage with THAT thing! Arrgh. Oh well. shrugs It seems monsters find their humanity once you tame them, and oh! Suddenly your enemies aren't good enough to fry to pieces like he tried to do to you!

I hated Rinoa! She was so... clingy! Ugh! Squall! Save MEEEEE! ahem Thanks for reviewing again!

Adhar: I actually updated in a reasonable length of time for once! Thanks a million for reviewing, next chapter should be up soon!