AN: Hi guys. Here is the next chapter in this particular storyline. Thanks to all those who reviewed the past chapter. I noticed it wasn't as much and was wondering if it wasnt as well liked as i though it would be. Do you guys have any suggestions?
Anyways, here is the next chapter. Here our friends from ff7 will have a bigger role. Enjoy!
A bar proved to be a worthy disguise for the resistance members that hid their base below. No one would suspect a haven of freedom and justice to be buried below a hall of sin.
The room was decorated with blank walls that could not afford an upgraded. The bar offered a series of old wooden tables and chairs for its many patrons to take part in.
Although now in the middle of the day there would be no customers to pay it homage. The heat and forever ending dullness sent them away to their own lives.
Behind the counter, a young brunette held a glass in one hand while she cleaned it with a cloth using the other. She was humming a sweet tune to herself to keep her spirits lifted after the last mission. It was never easy to lose a member of their organization, no matter how small a role they played. Some memories were better left forgotten.
She continued undisturbed with her chores despite the ruckus that ensued behind her. The latch that proved to be the gateway from one life to another opened while a spiky-haired blond with eyes that glowed in the darkness rose above the darkness below him.
With his weapon strapped to his back, Cloud Strife did his best to slowly approach the vision of loveliness that stood before him without attracting her attention. Using training that surpassed that of normal men, he neared her without releasing a sound.
Slowly, he raised his arms up near her neck as anticipation began riding his senses on a wave that was about to crash. Then, without warning, he felt his arms locked within a vice-like grip as his eyes met with dark red ones that held a superior smile.
Cloud's body was lashed through the air as if he was a mere rag doll and landed across a clear portion of the counter, sparing his body the injuries caused by shattered glass. It was he who was caught off-guard. The soldier, the genetic experiment, the man who was in love.
"It's good to see you return from the mission unscathed, Tifa. You leave me worried every time you go." A smile brimmed up on the edges of his lips as he spoke.
She stood over him with a triumphant look on her angelic face while the emotions of yet another victory settled in. "I wouldn't want to disappoint you." Slowly, she reached down to meet her lips with his for a kiss that was feather soft and light to the touch.
Cloud's arms began to stretch themselves around her form when she suddenly snapped back and left him feeling more than a little disappointed. Her cocky smile was replaced by a look of concern that washed away the joy of seeing her Cloud once more.
"Rinoa…is she…?" Her cousin was always in her thoughts. Along with Cloud and another who had rejoined their clan.
His happiness upon seeing Tifa was quickly replaced by a serious tone that depicted the harshness of the matter. "Your cousin has gone to see him. She ordered me to leave her."
As the news sunk into her mind and her heart, rage began to surface. "And you left her there? Alone, with that…that thi-"
It was moment for the warrior in Cloud to stand tall. This was no time for silly games to be played between two people in love.
"That person is the object of your cousin's affection. He is the one who always had it, and is the one who will always keep it. That person is the friend whom we both grew up with as children. If he is now a thing, then so am I." She had unwillingly brought up a touchy subject that held with it painful memories.
It was not so long ago that Cloud found himself within the confines of the hellhole he was forced to claim as a home for so many years. His experience, while no less tragic, was vastly different from that of his comrade.
His training involved manipulation that did not affect the mind and emotions as it did Squall, but one that required his very genes to be altered. Their survival rate was drastically low leaving Cloud Strife to be an anomaly among monsters.
That was how they found out where Squall was kept. That was how they all knew for sure whether or not their childhood friend lived at all. Cloud had discovered him there.
The fighter dressed in the clothing of a barmaid was quickly realizing the consequences of her thoughts now turned words.
"Cloud, I…I didn't mean too..."
"I know," his voice was almost a whisper.
But Tifa needed to be heard out. Her concerns towards the little family that she had left were not without merit. "But he is now a trained killer. Ever since he was taken, that was all he knew to do. He…he could kill her. He probably doesn't even know who she is. When you came back, you barely recognized me and at least your mind was left un-tampered."
It was true. Cloud had almost taken the life of the girl who risked everything to save his. He was the first to be rescued from the place where Evil sprout from the ground. He was the first to be saved from the Garden.
In a delirium, he madly lashed out at all those who neared him once he was taken. The world was a strange and new place to him and he reacted like a newborn infant. An infant armed with the knowledge and power to kill.
He failed to recognize the girl whom he constantly hung around during his childhood. Like another, he had been ostracized by other members of the orphanage due to his less than social nature. Only Tifa, with her smile that could soften a rock, had kept him company and brightened his day with her childlike innocence.
Though truthfully, few would recognize the girl after a separation that lasted so many years. It was hard to imagine a spunky little girl to grow up into such a woman, whose features were not timidly developed. While Cloud's body had grown hardened and firm with years of training under his belt, Tifa's body flourished with the elegance of a springtime nymph.
"There was nothing I could do to help. My presence would only hinder his entry into the world. His experience was different from my own. I can offer no counsel." An unspoken understanding flowed between the two.
Rinoa was not a weakling. She could hold her own in a battle. Or at least long enough to delay her attacker until aid arrived. That much was hoped.
It was Tifa's gentle touch that held onto the last sliver of Cloud's sanity. She brought back the child that existed within out into the life that was stolen from him. No one else could have had such an affect upon him. It took a love so pure, so innocent, that it must have been born between children before it could thrive and grow between adults.
Tifa's arm wrapped itself around the soldier's body as her nose searched the nook of his neck for signs of comfort that he offered for her alone. "Cloud, I'm scared. I heard what Quistis said. It was like he wasn't alive anymore on the inside. That drug they have pumped him with it…its like they stripped him of his humanity."
The ever mysterious drug. It was one created by the Garden with a purpose so malicious that only man could devise it.
The drug's sole function was to bury the soul in chemicals to force the mind to function much like that of a robot. The ability to feel and access to the senses where dimmed until their purpose from a military standpoint could be maximized though their link to emotions were now shattered.
The emotions that allowed humanity to thrive got men killed in the heat of battle. Irrational thought had become the downfall to legions of men as many succumbed to fear. Robots were merely tools that mindlessly obeyed their masters. Squall was in the process of becoming such.
Cloud flung Tifa's body around and pressed it tightly against him as his eyes locked upon her own. Every time he stared into them he found himself lost within their red wine-like sea of intoxication.
"Rinoa will help him. Just like how you helped me. Have trust in..." Tifa brought her lips to Cloud's before he could finish that trademark line of his that was sure to come.
Tifa drank of the innocence that she helped restore to him when she washed away his blood stained hands. It was time for her to believe in Cloud. To believe in Rinoa. To believe in her childhood friend Squall. It was time to have trust in love.
In the bunker concealed beneath the bar another pair found themselves clutched together though they were shrouded by the darkness. On a bed sat a lone raven-haired girl with soft pink lips that let a tune, similar to the one her cousin knew, escape her.
She sat on the edge of the bed with her legs dangling off the edge. On her lap was a clump of brown hair that was attached to a man who dwelled in neither the land of dreams nor those awake.
His body was trembling as the affects of the drug have worn off and the signs of withdrawal were taking place. His head tried furiously to bury itself deeper within her lap in order to seek sanctuary from the physical trauma his body was going through.
Her creamy white hand began to run through the frazzled hair of her Squall as the whimpers that escaped his mouth began to increase with intensity. His body was writhing in pain more and more as the time passed on, but that only increased the tenderness Rinoa was extending towards him.
Then without notice, all signs of pain vanished momentarily from his body. The trembling was but a memory to his skin while the moans he released was replaced with a soothing calm. Squall's breathing steadied as Rinoa's hand slid down from his hair to cup the side of his face in a loving gesture that evoked precious rare words from the soldier.
Squall turned so he could lay on one side in the fetal position, careful to never let his head remove itself from her lap, careful to not force her hand away from him. "Mom…? Mom…is that you?"
Rinoa's voice was soft and caring "Shhhh. Everything is ok now. Sleep."
She continued to caress the sides of his face when she noticed the smallest hint of a smile begin to form across his face. It was a smile that belonged to a 10-year old child.
"Mom, I had a dream. It was kind of sad. You were gone, Mom. I was growing up in an orphanage. Most of the kids ignored me. I was alone, but I was doing my best, Mom. I was going to become strong," he sounded almost hopeful while he spoke. That was a good sign. The effects of the drug must be quickly fleeting. That much explained why they required doses twice a day.
Rinoa felt it best to play along with his daze. Any conversation would always be better than the alternative. "Were you happy there, honey?"
She felt the young man's head nod below her before he answered. "Sometimes. There were a few people who were nice to me. Another boy was teased by some of the orphans. At least they left me alone. I stepped up for him, Mom. Are you proud of me?"
A smile curled up upon her lips as she spoke. "Very proud of you. Was there anyone else?" She hoped beyond hope that her Squall did indeed remember who she was.
Her heart soared with possibilities when he opened up the door and found her childhood sweetheart say her nickname when they stood at the door. There was so much she wanted to ask; so much she wanted to know. However, Rinoa was temporarily denied the opportunity when Squall fell to the floor unconscious. He had spent a week alone in his room with little of the relief-giving drug to provide him comfort.
"There was this girl with brunette hair. She said she was proud of the blond kid and me. She kept playing with the other little boy after that. The little girl said hi to me every once in a while, so it was ok." He remembered Cloud. He even remembered Tifa. But where was little Rin?
"Oh. Was she your little girlfriend?" Sometimes it took a little nudging in the right direction to get the results you wanted.
This time Rinoa felt Squall shake his head upon her lap causing a slight blush to rush to her cheeks. "No. But there was another girl I liked. Her name was Rin. You would have liked her, Mom. She was so cute. Like a bunny. I was only happy when I was with Rin. We played together a lot. She even made me get married to her."
Her voice became playful now that it was assured she was remembered. "Aw. You didn't want to get married to Rin? It sounds like you cared for her a lot."
The smile upon Squall's face grew further as he recalled many a fond memory of his childhood love. "I think I did. She made me do it but I wanted to anyway. I even gave her Griever."
The boy who was resting upon Rinoa's lap now turned to rest on his other side thus causing Rinoa's eyes to grow impossibly wide. When the shock of the moment had left her, she realized her free hand had clutched to a chain that hung around her neck. Two rings clanked together as she did so.
"I'm sorry the dream is over. I wish Rin were real. She was my best friend."
Rinoa tilted her head down ever so slightly to the young man. She sounded so motherly as her words dripped with love. "Sleep now. Dream of her. Sometimes, dreams come true. You never know when you will wake up and she will be right there."
Like a hopeful child Squall asked. "Everything will be alright, won't it?"
"Everything will be alright." She had to be his confidence until Squall regained his own
"You will stay with me tonight?"
"I will"
"Promise you won't leave me?"
"I promise."
'I promise Squall. I promise I will never let anyone take you away from me again. I promise you will never have to go through that nightmare again. I promise I will always be there for you. Most certainly of all, I promise I will always love you.'
So what do you guys think? Enjoyed it? I would love to hear your comments and review. Throw in some questions if you are unsure as to what happened or something needs clarification. Thanks for waitin for this update. It kind of felt like it took longer than usual. Thanks for the reviews once again and until next time, take care!. :-)
