After a little writing hiatus in December we're back in action. Let's see what the new year brings, shall we?

Loss and Gain

The sound of a pencil scraping across paper echoed through the room as Denzel was sitting in the living room of 7th Heaven. If there was one thing he did miss from getting home schooled, it was the lack of homework he had compared to now. Not that it was hard, it just took a lot of time to finish. Time he could be spending with his friends.

With Jody.

He bit down on the back end of the pencil, scratching his head as he mulled over the answer, before writing it down confidently. Luckily for him, he was a pretty good student. One of the best in their class, in fact!

It made him feel pretty good when Marlene and the others came to him for help.

After a couple of more questions, Denzel was done. Placing the pencil on the table, he closed his homework book, rose to his feet, and made his way downstairs.

"Tifa, I'm done," he called out to her as he rounded the corner. He found her staring at the stew she was cooking, a faraway look in her eyes while she stirred the food almost mechanically. She didn't seem to have heard him. "Tifa?"

Again, no response.

"Tifa!"

That seemed to do the trick, as his foster mother shook her head and turned to look at him, as if she had awoken from a small trance. "Yes?"

"I'm done with my homework and wanted to ask if I could go outside?" he tilted his head to the side. "Is everything alright?"

"Hmm? Oh yes, yes!" Tifa replied and ran a hand over her face, giving him a small smile. "I'm just a bit tired is all, I guess. Probably not gotten enough sleep. Cloud and I will check your homework once he's back, so go have some fun. And don't be late!"

"Gotcha!" Denzel gave her a grin and made his way towards the door. After opening it, he stopped in the doorway to look over his shoulder, only to find that Tifa had gone back to staring into space. A frown formed on his face. She had been tired like this for a few days now. Maybe she was getting sick?

He would talk with her later. Maybe get her to close up and head to bed early to get some rest.

After closing the door behind him, Denzel made his way down the street, greeting some of their neighbours as he made his way to his destination. The local orphanage.

As he walked towards the building, he could already see Jody sitting on the stairs in front of the entrance, looking at the moogle doll that used to belong to her late brother. After their short misadventure last year, Cloud had ventured into that strange forest again to reclaim the lost toy, cleaning it up and fixing any damage it had taken before giving it back to her.

"Jody!" he called out to her. Looking up from the toy, the girl grinned when she spotted him, getting up from her position and sprinting in his direction to meet him halfway.

"Hey," she greeted him. "When Marlene came by to pick up Maya I honestly thought you stood me up here."

"As if!" Denzel replied, then leaned in close with a conspiring grin on his face. "I did her homework today. She owes me a favor now. But no telling Cloud or Tifa."

Jody made a zipping motion across her lips, before playfully punching his shoulder. They both laughed as they slowly walked down the street.

"So what's the plan today?" Jody asked him.

Denzel thought about it for a second, before shrugging. "The playground? Marlene and Maya are probably there."

"I dunno, can we perhaps go somewhere else?"

"Why?" Denzel blinked in confusion. "Did you get into a fight with the others?"

"No. I'm just kinda not in the mood to be honest," Jody replied with an apologetic smile.

"Hmm. Do you have any suggestions, then?"

Jody turned her gaze away from him, looking up ahead, seemingly mulling over his question before finally nodding. "Yeah. There's a place I wanna show you."

Grabbing his hand, Jody started to lead him through the streets. The feeling of their hands touching made his heart flutter in his chest, a feeling he'd been having for some time around the girl, but he couldn't really place it at all. Only that he liked it.

They soon arrived at a construction site for a new building. Edge was always growing, so sites like this weren't a rarity, but this was definitely going to be one of the taller buildings.

"This is it," Jody said, letting go of his hand and making Denzel instantly miss the warmth of her skin. "I found it the other day. Come on!"

Not waiting for him, Jody fastened the doll to her pants and started to climb up the scaffolding.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" he asked her. The girl stopped for a moment, giving him a broad grin.

"Why? Are you scared?"

"Wha—I'm not scared!" he exclaimed, making Jody giggle.

"Don't worry, it's safe!" she assured him, before continuing her ascent.

Denzel looked around nervously before mentally kicking himself. He managed to face down one of those strange creatures that attacked Edge in the past. This was nothing!

Walking over to the scaffolding, he took a deep breath and climbed after his friend. It took him quite a while, but eventually he joined her at the top, sitting down next to her. She was holding the moogle doll in her arms once more, squeezing it to her chest as she stared past the buildings and into the distance.

"You know, today would be his birthday," she said after a while. "My brother's, I mean."

His eyes widened in surprise and he didn't know what to say about that revelation. Denzel still remembered the day they had met, the anger and sadness in her crying eyes as she carried her brother through the streets. He wasn't proud of it, but back then the revelation of his death had left him a little bit cold; he had just gotten too used to see people with their condition die.

"I'm sorry..." he murmured.

"I miss him. He was a good boy. Always being nice despite our sickness...well, until his last days, anyway." She held out the moogle doll in front of her to look at it. "Back then, before Meteor, we lived in the slums. We didn't have much, our parents were working hard so we could get by, but we were happy."

She held the plush towards him, and he gingerly took it from her.

"This little guy was their birthday present for him. He always treasured it above everything else, even after they died."

"...How?" he asked her, his fingers running over the large, round pom-pom of the moogle.

"When Meteor fell."

"I see." Denzel didn't pry further. He knew that feeling too well. They sat there in silence, feet dangling in the air as they looked at the sky. After a while, he spoke up again.

"I lived in Sector 7, on the plate. My father worked for Shinra," he admitted, like it was something to be ashamed of. It probably was to anyone that lived in the slums, but Jody looked at him with no judgement in her eyes. "They died when the plate fell. I was the only one that made it out because I was inside the house we were supposed to move into in Sector 5 at the time. Not long after I met a kind old lady that took me in. Her name was Ruvie."

He looked down into the little moogle's face, as if it was holding all the answers instead of just looking cute. "...She died as well. Tried to shield me from the Lifestream. The next day she died of Geostigma."

"Denzel..."

"Back then I used to look down on people from the slums, called them rat eaters, just like Scott." He shook his head and handed the plush back to his friend. Denzel didn't like how he used to be back then and still regretted alienating his friend Rix over it.

Jody looked down to the toy, before returning her gaze to him, a smile on her face. "But not anymore," she pointed out.

"We're all the same," he said and surprised himself with how wise he sounded. Jody giggled and bumped her shoulder against his.

"How wise," she said teasingly, causing his face to flush red.

"Aww, knock it off!"

Jody giggled and hugged the moogle to her once more.

After his blush subsided, he looked back out towards the city. "I miss my parents, and Ruvie, but I have a new family. Cloud and Tifa...they're my parents now."

He knew that he would probably never be able to repay them for taking him in and treating him like their own.

"And Marlene's your sister!" Jody chimed in, making him chuckle.

"That's right!"

"You know..." Jody said after a while. "I've decided to live for my brother and parents. So that when we meet again one day, I can greet them with a smile."

She turned to look at him, and Denzel found himself captivated by her eyes, the sight making his heart do a small leap.

"And I'm not lonely, I've got you now." The smile on her face became a little smaller and she averted her eyes as her cheeks stained a pretty pink, before scooting closer to him and resting her hand to rest on top of Denzel's. Warmth spread throughout his entire body at the contact, and his heart started to thump pleasantly inside his chest.

He was pretty sure that the blush that had just subsided was returning in full force. Swallowing hard, he nodded. "Y-yeah."

Mustering all of his courage, Denzel slowly moved his hand, turning it over to take hold of Jody's and give it a little squeeze.

The two of them turned to look out towards the city of Edge, a place where people that had lost it all gathered, but in the process, gained something precious and new in return.

So maybe Marlene was right, and he had a crush.

Just a tiny one.

A few hours later, Denzel and Jody returned to the orphanage. After they were chased off the site by someone from the construction company coming by to check on it, they had been walking around town, talking and goofing off until it was time to return.

"Well...I guess I'll see ya tomorrow!" Jody said to him, waving him goodbye before turning to head inside, a little spring in her step. Denzel watched her until she was gone from his sight, before turning around to head home. It was almost evening.

When he returned, he was surprised to see the sign read 'Closed'. Perhaps Tifa actually went to bed?

Opening the door, he was surprised at the sight in front of him. Cloud was back, and he was sitting at one of the tables together with Tifa, his arm wrapped tightly around her shoulders and an unreadable expression on his face as he held her close. Marlene stood nearby them, but he didn't really pay attention to her, his eyes locking onto Tifa instead, her face half obscured by Cloud's—

"Denzel!" Marlene cried out and ran towards him.

—as she wiped away tears that were running down her cheeks.

Dun dun dun... Wonder what's wrong?