10 PM, Midgar continent, Healen Lodge...
Outside the window, he could see most of the Midgar region. The Chocobo Ranch, the ruins of Midgar, Edge, Kalm, and the large swamp area. And if he squinted, the Turks' leader could also see 'that place.'
How long has it been since Tseng had a length of time all to his thoughts? He always kept busy, fieldwork, paperwork you name it. He would gladly overwork himself, all just to avoid thinking, all to avoid going down memory lane.
He tore his sights from the painfully lovely night view. His room was tidy and organized, with an office desk and chair, a simple bed, a bookshelf, and of course a dresser. The only thing out of place in this otherwise clean room was a thin box plopped on his desk with pretty old letters kept messily under a see-through cover with a large 'classified' red label. Tseng had moved away from the large window and sat at his desk, his hand lightly brushing the box.
"Tomorrow is the day..." with a tired voice, he murmured. Tseng kept his gaze on the box, where he soon found himself spacing out to memories of events that long since passed.
~.~.~.
Year 0002, Aerith's Church...
He was young at the time, stationed at Aerith's Church with the lovely flower girl tending to her patch of flowers. It was just like every other day so far; she'll finish tending to the flowers, then collect the completed ones in her little basket to sell to the upper plates. Today though, as she finished, Aerith looked over to him immediately with enthusiasm.
"Tseng! Just in time!" She shouted in excitement, followed by her making her way over to him. "Is Zack back yet? How has he been? Has he called you? "
So many questions, so much concern, he wished he could give her an answer. Yet, he had nothing to offer her. All he could do was turn his gaze away from her. "Sorry, I heard nothing from him."
He could see her face drop, even if slightly. She did her best to hide her disappointment with that sweet smile.
"Right, it's only been two weeks. I guess Zack's just busy with work." She then dug into her basket and pulled out a plain white envelope. "Could you send this to him? Please, Tseng?"
He couldn't say no to her, not when she was staring at him with those beautiful yet begging green eyes. He replied by merely taking the letter off her small hands. She smiled in response.
"Thank you, Tseng, I owe you one."
~.~.~.
"You owe me nothing Aerith; I couldn't give them to him in time."
He couldn't give them to Zack back then when he was alive. But it was time he gives Aerith's letters to her lover.
Tseng pulled out his cell phone and called the Strife Delivery service. While he knew that he and Cloud did not have the best relationship, they still had some sort of respect towards one another. And so far, Cloud did not refuse to deliver bouquets for both Aerith's and Zack's anniversaries in the past.
It took a few long rings, but he finally got a response from the Blond. "Strife Delivery Service, Cloud speaking."
"Evening Cloud, it's been a while."
"...Yeah, it has. Need anything delivered?"
"Yes, the usual."
"The... usual?"
"For Zack's... Anniversary, Tomorrow."
"Oh,... Oooh right. That's tomorrow."
Tseng's brow raised in confusion; it's not like Cloud to forget Zack's death anniversary.
"Are you... Unwell Cloud?"
"No, no I'm fine. So what do you need me to deliver?"
"Flowers as usual. And... a box of letters."
"A box of letters? from who?"
"It's... They were Aerith's letters to him from before the whole ordeal."
"o...k, I'm currently out in the Gongaga Region. Could you come by the bar around midday? I should be back by then."
"I do have some business in Edge tomorrow. Sure I will."
They soon hung up after deciding on the time. Tseng still questions Cloud's reaction from earlier. Unless the blond was too busy to notice the date, he would never forget his best friend's anniversary.
"What are you up to Cloud Strife."
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
12 AM, 7th Heaven bar, Residential level...
Tifa quietly walked out of the children's bedroom after an hour of chatting and storytelling; the kids finally gave in to sleep at almost 12 o'clock. This was usually what they would do to avoid going to sleep in most days, but they always gave in at about the same time every night. She slowly closed the door behind her, leaving a small creak for if one of them got up later, then quietly made her way towards the staircase leading to the roof where she had left Aerith almost hours ago.
On her way there, she pulled out her cell phone to check on her messages. There was the usual stack from Reeve on the happenings at the WRO that she needed to know, like the recent Deepground network being used, and also some messages from Yuffie. Yuffie's notes used to be childish and silly at the beginning, but recently she actually started receiving useful information from the young ninja. The years may have finally had their toll on her, but maybe there was also another factor at play here? Either way, She was glad that the Wutai girl was finally showing some maturity although she still acted childish in some cases.
After going through her phone's inbox, she sighed sadly that none of them had been from Cloud. Although it wasn't that long since he had left, she already missed him. But just before she could store her phone back in her pocket, it vibrated indicating that a new message had just arrived. She quickly brought the phone back to her eyes level and stopped to place all her attention to the phone screen. Finally, the news she was waiting for all day had arrived.
"Hi Tifa, Sorry I'm late in calling you. You weren't asleep yet, were you?"
Of course, she wasn't! She was ready to stay up all night waiting for him to text her if she had to. Before she could hastily reply, she had to arrange her thoughts in order not to give him the wrong message and then to regret it later.
"Hi. Don't worry about it; you were probably busy with something important. And no I wasn't asleep, I had just finished putting the kids to bed though."
"Really? Shouldn't they have been asleep hours ago?"
"They tried to stay up awake long enough for either you or Zack to get home."
"Zack isn't back yet?"
"No, Aerith told me that he might come back tomorrow. It depends on the doctor he's seeing for her."
"Uhu, if it weren't that then Zack wouldn't have been out this late."
"I can agree to that."
She paused typing her next text, wondering if she should ask him about his trip. Whenever she did so in the past, however, he would just reply that it was dusty or the 'usual.' Nothing really can top what he told her about his late delivery. Maybe she needed to ask him something else then? But before she could think of one, Cloud texted her back in an instant.
"So anything weird happened today?"
That was an odd way for him to ask her about her day. And even more bizarre that he asked her in the first place since he knew how the bar usually was like. But there was something different today that's for sure.
"Nothing out of the ordinary."
She paused, did she ever mention the odd customer that dropped by in the morning? Cloud did arrive after the stranger had gone. And then there was their surprise to Aerith, and afterward was Zack's surprise to all of them. So It slipped her mind by the time Cloud left.
"Though there was this new customer that came by early in the morning after you and Zack left."
"How 'weird' are we talking about?"
"Well, he had mako infused eyes just like you and Zack do, and he was reciting Loveless. He even tried to flirt with Aerith."
"You should avoid telling Zack that last bit. As for the mako infused eyes, he was probably an Ex-SOLIDER like Zack."
"That's what I thought too. BTW, you don't usually ask me this. Has something happened?"
"Not really, I just wanted to ask."
"Alright then."
"Ok. If I'm not delayed, then I'll probably be home some time tomorrow."
"Then I'll be waiting for you."
"I'd prefer for you to sleep if I were late Tifa."
"Not on your life ;p I already miss you so much."
"Me too. Good night, for now, you have a busy day tomorrow."
"You too Cloud, stay warm."
She smiled as her last text message for the night got sent to Cloud. She had to admit that this was much better than not hearing from him at all, it made her happy to know that he changed for the better. Flipping her phone closed she tucked it in her pocket before continuing her way to the roof to finally help Aerith get down. Though Aerith may not have minded her tardiness seeing how much she gets absorbed in tending to her tiny garden. In fact, if no one was checking up on her now and then, she may have continued working on that garden till she passed out.
Tifa carefully opened the roof door to avoid the kids hearing the annoying creaking sound it usually made. The sight that greeted her as soon as the door was open made her freeze on the spot, the smile that was on her face a while ago vanished utterly. Shock took over, and her widened eyes darted around the roof taking in sight. Her wheelchair was left near the tiny garden unattended, and Aerith was nowhere to be found. Upon closer inspection, she saw that the folded rod was also missing and the roof had large black feathers scattered all about. Maybe She shouldn't have dismissed that story Cloud had mentioned before about the figure with a large black wing so easily.
