A break-in made easier by a family feud; Going with Yuffie's plan; Poor signal and pine trees; Send up a flare; Drinking tea for lack of something stronger; Denial, brief acceptance… and more denial; A moment of tenderness
They didn't wait for the cover of darkness. They'd heard Vincent's talk about discretion, but if the Turks were around, approaching at night was no safer than day. Cloud even walked Fenrir the last several miles to keep its loud roar from carrying up the quiet valley. The slower pace left him too much time to worry and his hands were sweaty under his gloves. Every second of delay could be the second the Turks harmed their families.
They got as near to Nibelheim as they dared. The pine forest thinned drastically closer to town, and they would be too visible if they brought the chocobos any further. When they dismounted, their birds began to scratch and peck at the ground, dislodging matted clumps of brown needles. Cloud flipped down Fenrir's kickstand and peeled his hands from its handlebars.
Yuffie scampered into the branches and squinted slightly up at the town. Even though they were a hundred yards up a mountainside, away from the valley where the road ran, Nibelheim was still above them. "Have you figured out what you're gonna say?" she asked, her voice low.
He took a deep breath but said nothing. The crisp mountain air was cool, and several houses already had their fireplaces lit. The smell of smoke was dull and heavy in his lungs and he resisted the urge to pull his collar over his face to block it. Beside him, Tifa shifted from foot to foot. Needles crunched under her boots. "I want to tell them the truth, but I know my dad. It will take time to get him to believe me and we don't have that option right now."
Yuffie nodded, her eyes still fixed on the town. "Yeah, good thinking. Plus they could've bugged your houses."
Cloud's voice was hoarse. "About the Turks, Yuffie. Stay here with Denzel. We can't afford to lose transportation now." The Turks, though unenhanced, concerned him more than SOLDIER. SOLDIERs were military in their thinking. They would aim for him as the biggest threat and he could deal with that. The Turks however, were espionage. They'd go after Denzel as the weak link, or try disabling Fenrir and the chocobos to slow them down.
The ninja must have thought the same because she didn't complain about being left behind. Denzel, on the other hand, balked. "I can help! I know I won't be any good fighting. But if they have anything they need to carry out or gather, I can do that, and it'll free your hands if you need to fight."
He shook his head. "Not this time, Denzel."
"We don't know how many Turks are here or what kind of backup they have. Each time we run into them it gets more dangerous." Tifa reached up to put her hands on the boy's shoulders. "Stay here and don't follow us. Okay?"
Denzel made a face, but murmured an unhappy, "Okay".
Yuffie, always quick to shift the mood, piped up. "Still, last chance to think it through. What are you saying to get them out?"
He shared a look with Tifa. Telling their parents that they were now targets of Shinra and had to leave the town they'd lived all their lives in wasn't going to work.
The martial artist sighed. "I don't know what we can say. If they think there's going to be trouble, they'll want to meet it head-on. It's the Nibelheim way. I thought of trying to trick them with some sort of fake tickets or giveaway, but they're too stubborn to fall for that."
Yuffie huffed. "The way you talk, it'd be easier to knock them out and explain later."
Cloud felt a little guilty for thinking the idea had merit. It would definitely put off some awkward conversations a while longer. He and Tifa discussed options as they neared town, slipping through the scattered pines. Nibelheim never bustled, but there were people on the street, gossiping, doing errands, and people in yards with low fences. Anything dramatic, even so much as sustained shouting, would draw attention.
"And," Tifa sighed, "my dad will probably do some shouting."
Cloud nodded. His neck felt stiff. "My mom, too."
"At least she'll do us the courtesy of letting us inside first, instead of trying to slam the door in our faces." Tifa's voice was full of practiced calm, but her tight posture gave her fear away.
They stopped, as near to the houses as they could get, and peered around a tree trunk together. This was one of those rare times it was convenient for them to have been neighbors.
The well-kept Lockhart house, though nowhere near as large as the Shinra Manor, was still clearly a house whose inhabitants had held power and prestige in the town for a long time. The Strife house was almost dwarfed by contrast and was a patchwork of repair jobs. Its best feature was its placement. The building was once placed in the sunniest spot in the village, allowing for a large thriving garden - or should have. According to his ma, the story was that a long time ago their family refused to sell their prime spot to the Lockharts and the rich-from-mining family had built their large house so it purposely blocked the morning sun, keeping frost in the garden long into the day. That single act of spite started the feud and when the most powerful family in town didn't like you, the rest of the village followed suit.
The houses' closeness worked in their favor now. That was all that mattered.
"Cloud, look!" Tifa's voice was low and urgent. "Tseng."
His blood went cold. Through lace curtains, he could half-see the Turk, ponytail, slacks and coat instead of the usual dark blue suit, but still Tseng. Tseng standing in his living room, talking to someone out of sight. An image of Aerith, knocked to the floor of a helicopter, Tseng scowling down at her, flashed across his mind.
"We move now. Go with Yuffie's plan. Knock them out, explain later." Please, let them still be there. Don't let them have been taken.
There was a good chance that the Turk would have status nullifying equipment. Instead of materia, he grabbed an hourglass out of his inventory and Tifa took a packet of dream powder from hers. The status items would take out anyone not equipped to resist them, and the sand and powder would make a smoke screen, buying them a few precious seconds against anyone who was.
"Tifa, you get my family."
"Mini and Stop?" she asked and he gave a sharp nod.
They scanned the windows of the nearby houses, looking for lurking silhouettes, the flash of light on a gun, but saw no one. In a simultaneous burst of movement, they rushed from their scant hiding place in the treeline to huddle against the tall fence behind the Strife house. Just as they reached it, Cloud's PHS buzzed. He clapped a hand over it, pressing the mute button through the thick fabric.
The buzz stopped instantly. Tifa glanced at him, mouthing, "Denzel? Yuffie?" He shook his head. Sending a panic alarm took only a single button press - if they were really in trouble, Tifa's PHS would have received the same signal, and mute wouldn't work. Whatever the call had been, it could wait.
They crept along to a blind corner, where no windows of either house would see them as they jumped the fence. Cloud's body seemed to move on autopilot - he wondered if he'd used this route as a kid. Taking position on either side of the back door, they listened to the muffled voices inside. Cloud could pick up three. His mother, sounding suspicious. A clipped voice that must be the young Tseng. Another man, deeper. He held up two fingers, mouthing the word Turks. Tifa responded with a small nod and readied the dream powder.
Nerves strumming, he reached up to the door handle. His mother always kept it unlocked. He threw it open, rushing to the side so Tifa could get in immediately, Tsurugi held upright as a guard. The world was a fractured, fragmented blur. The Turks, Tseng and another man he didn't recognize, already standing, their eyes widening, reaching for weapons. His mom, just starting to stand. He threw the hourglass. It shattered on the wall above their heads, enchanted sand going everywhere. A rainbow of colored powder burst in the air right after, filling the room with a sweet scent, but also obscuring his enemies.
Gunfire rang out, bullets whizzing overhead and ricocheting off his sword. Things shattered on the shelves behind him. Ceramic shards fell and bounced on the wooden counter and floor. The Turks wouldn't go down that easy. He could hear them moving towards each other, to guard each other's backs and keep themselves away from windows, where the light would show their silhouettes through the sand.
He moved too, standing between his mom and where he could hear the Turks. The sand and the powder were settling. A moment more was all their smoke screen would give them. He glanced behind him. Tifa was already beside his mom, who was frozen in a half-swoon, Sleep having affected her before Stop. Tifa could cast Mini and then they could get her safely out of here.
He heard a cry -"MA!"- and small footsteps beating down the stairs. Stairs that let out between him and the Turks.
"Stay back!" Too late. The boy jumped to the foot of the stairs and a hand, lightning quick, reached out from the kitchen and yanked him in.
Adrenaline filled Cloud as he leapt after. A flicker of movement beside the open door - He slid to a stop a foot outside the kitchen. Tseng stood inside with a gun to his younger-self's head. The boy looked terrified, eyes wide, healing bruises on his arms. The unknown brown-haired Turk stood flat against the wall beside the door, barely within Cloud's peripheral vision. He couldn't focus well on both at once. He detached the hollow blade and pointed a sword at each man.
"Let him go, Tseng." If the Turks wanted to try anything, Cloud stood between them and the two exits of the house.
"You will answer several questions first. Who is your informant?"
"You won't kill him. He's your shield, and if you try, I will kill you."
His younger self's eyes grew even wider at those words, while the Turk's narrowed. Stalemate. Or at least he hoped it was. He couldn't let his younger self be killed for his mistake.
He heard Tifa come up behind him. His fingers flexed around the swords' hilts as he prepared a spell. But before he could get it off, his younger-self stamped, hard, on Tseng's foot. The action nearly gave Cloud a heart attack, but the Turk was well trained. He grunted, but he didn't release the boy. His trigger finger didn't twitch. His gun did dip away, though, for a crucial half-second. With the gun no longer pressed tight to skin, the Wall spell Cloud had prepped would make any bullet useless.
Tifa fired off a spell and Cloud released his not a breath behind. A shimmer of protective magic surrounded the young boy and he suddenly shrank out of Tseng's grip as Tifa's Mini spell took effect. Small as a child, he only stood a few inches now. Tseng stooped to grab him, but Cloud rushed forward. He ducked under the swing of an e-mag rod, trying to grab his younger self, but the boy ran from both grasping hands and disappeared under the kitchen counter.
Cloud was moving too fast in too small a space. He crashed into Tseng, pushing them both through the counter, breaking the kitchen sink. Chill water from the broken pipe shocked both of them. As he pushed himself up, he heard the pop of a silenced gun and hot pain tore through his upper arm. In retaliation he cast Ice1, freezing Tseng, locking him in place. The Turk took a hissing, pained breath and glared as Cloud crushed his gun in his hand.
There was a loud crash! from the room behind him. He whipped around and saw that Tifa had put the other Turk through the dining table. Solid oak, and in the family for generations. It was odd, he wouldn't've thought that seeing it broken would hurt, but the ragged breath he took at seeing it in splinters said otherwise. Tifa, pushing her hair out of her face, caught his look.
"Sorry."
He forced himself to shrug. "Is he out?" He gestured to the Turk.
"For now. You?" She was looking at the neat hole in his upper arm, the blood streaking down from it.
He glanced at it, too. Enhanced healing meant it was clotting already. He stretched his arm out gingerly. It was painful, the muscles bunched and tense, but not the worst he'd felt. And most importantly to him, he could still use it. "Bullet's stuck in there. I'll get it out later."
He cast another Ice1 on the unconscious Turk to buy them some time and returned to the kitchen. He crouched and peered under the cabinets. Nothing down there but dust bunnies. "Cloud, it's okay. You can come out now." No reply.
He closed his eyes, focused on listening. A small quick heart rate, like a mouse, from inside the cabinet. He opened the wood doors and looked around the pots and pans. Sure enough, there was a small hole at the back the boy could've fit through.
"Cloud?"
Movement. A little bit of blond hair peeked out from behind an old iron saucepan.
He held his hand out to the diminutive figure. "Come on, we need to get out of here."
Slowly, the boy crept forward. He put a minuscule hand on Cloud's gloved fingers and clambered aboard. It had been weird just seeing his younger self. Holding him in his hand was ten times weirder. At least he was safe. He rose - the tiny boy wobbling and then hunkering down to maintain balance - and presented him to Tifa.
"Hi, Cloud." Her voice was soft and warm. "We're going to put you to sleep for a little bit."
The boy shook his head. He said something, protesting, but his voice was too high pitched to be clear.
"Shhh, it's going to be okay and only a short time while we travel."
He could hear the ice beginning to crack around Tseng. "We need to go," he said and refreshed the spell holding the Turk in place.
"Right. Sorry, Cloud." She cast the spell. The little body slumped and fell over.
He made to hand the boy over, but she shook her head. "Your pockets are bigger." Emphasizing her point, she took out the miniaturized, sleeping, and stopped form of his mom and handed her over. "They'll be more comfortable with you."
Grudgingly and carefully, he stowed the two away in the deep pockets of his pants. "Next is…" Cloud flicked his eyes in the direction of the Lockhart house, not wanting to say much in front of a Turk.
"Yeah. Let's go."
The back door of the Lockhart's home was also unlocked and the two slipped in with ease. They only made it in a few steps before Mayor Lockhart appeared at his study door. His eyes bulged, and he drew himself up, bristling. "You! I thought I heard trouble next door. What do you think you're doing in here?"
"Sorry, we don't have time to explain," Tifa started. Her younger self peered out from behind the Mayor and she came to a sudden stop.
"It's you!" said the young girl. "Is Cloud okay?"
"Cloud's fine, but we all need to get out of here."
"Who do you think you are, breaking into other people's homes and telling them what to do?"
"I'll explain later. I'm sorry about this." She cast Stop. Their faces were frozen in surprise, staring at nothing as they were put on pause. She followed up with Mini.
Cloud stepped forward and carefully picked the two up, putting them in the opposite pocket from his mom and younger self, while Tifa took a steadying breath. "It's for the best," she murmured. A reassurance to both of them.
"Yeah." Cloud glanced out the windows around the back door. No Turks. Time to go.
On the porch, Tifa's PHS vibrated. She pulled it out to check the ID before answering. "Cid? …Wait, Cid, I can't hear you… hello?" She looked at the device and sighed. "Call dropped."
Cloud frowned and checked his PHS. No service at the moment, but the call he'd muted earlier was from Cid too. Communications were supposed to go through Vincent. Why was Cid trying to call them directly?
Tifa caught his expression. "It's alright. If it was urgent, they would have sent an alert."
Yeah, but they clearly wanted to make contact. Something was up. He wondered if Marlene and Barret were okay. He'd call back when he had service. Right now they'd better get back to Denzel and Yuffie before the Turks got out of the ice holding them.
The wind was picking up when they made it back to the others. The trees creaked overhead, sighing like a sea. Needles fell in soft showers, and muffled thumps in the woods marked the dropping of pine cones. Yuffie wore her characteristic self-satisfied grin. "That was fast. Went with my plan, didn't you?"
"Tseng was there," Tifa said in lieu of a greeting, brushing stray needles out of her hair. Cloud went straight for Fenrir.
"Yuck. So, fast exit?" Yuffie was already climbing onto Nijoror's back as she talked.
"As quick as possible," Tifa replied, fetching Nerthius. The hen dropped the pinecone she'd been working to get seeds out of. Nijoror grabbed the fallen cone and swallowed it whole, jerking the reins out of Yuffie's hands as he did.
"Hey! Glutton!" She recovered the reins and urged the bird forward into a quick trot as Fenrir purred to life.
Denzel, last in the saddle, asked, "But you did get them?" He twisted in his seat, looking for their families.
Motioning him to ride beside her, Tifa explained. "Status effects. Cloud's carrying them." She glanced again at Yuffie. "You hear anything from Cid?"
Yuffie blinked over her shoulder at her. "Nope." She checked her PHS as she rode. "And I have absolutely no service, so who knows if he's tried. Why? He's been calling?"
"He's tried, but until we're out of the mountains, I'm not sure he'll get through."
He kept trying. For hours as they rode, their PHSes would buzz for a moment, then the signal would drop. Eventually, they stopped in a high pass so Cloud could climb a solitary pine. In its top branches, he finally had enough bars for a solid connection.
"Cid?"
"About damn time! Where the fuck are ya?"
"In the Nibel mountains. What's wrong?"
"Be more ruttin' specific! You get your families out yet, or you still on the way there?"
"We got them. We left around three hours ago."
"Well, that's fan-fucking-tastic! You're headed for the canyon, right?"
"Yes?"
"Then make yourselves visible from the sky, we'll pick ya up."
This whole conversation was puzzling Cloud and now he was really thrown for a loop. "Pick us up?"
"Fuck yeah! We got the Shera! Shinra went and dug her up. And we ain't that far from wherever the hell you are, so send up a fuckin' flare already. You on the road or what?"
"A logging road. We're just past some new growth."
"Then head back to it, it'll be easier to get ya there."
"Right." He hung up from the unexpected conversation. Pine sap transferred from his glove to his PHS, and he frowned absently at it. Shinra had found the Shera? That seemed like something urgent enough that Vincent should have told them. And Cid was aboard it, instead of out on the Midgar airfield.
He shook his head, bemused, and jumped from the tree to land in a crouch among the scattered rocks and grass of the logging road.
"Soooo? What did Cid want?"
"They have the Shera. They're going to pick us up." Ignoring their shocked faces, he selected a spot in the center of the road free from overhanging branches and shot a powerful Fire spell into the sky. It climbed high before fizzling out. Even if anyone from Shinra saw it and came to investigate, they should have enough time to get away. Starting Fenrir, he told them, "We're meeting them back at the new growth."
"Yeah, but! Cloud!" Yuffie urged Nijoror forward to keep pace with the motorcycle. "What the heck?! They have the Shera?" Her expression was mixed disbelief and dismay. Probably the ninja wasn't thrilled about the prospect of flying.
He shrugged. "Something to do with Shinra. You can get the full story when we meet back up."
The girl groaned.
While waiting among the sprouting pines, Tifa grabbed a pair of long tweezers from their small medkit and extracted the pancaked bullet from Cloud's arm, picking open the already closing scab to get at it. Denzel watched in wincing fascination. Once the bullet was out, Tifa directed the boy to Cure it. He was putting the materia away when Yuffie pointed out a light in the paling sky. It was too early for stars, and Cloud sent up another Fire spell - though he also warmed up Bahamut, just in case the light was a helicopter. As the smooth lines of the airship became visible, he let the spell dissipate. A small smile tugged at his lips as Tifa and Denzel came to stand next to him. He wrapped an arm around his partner's waist. After two months apart, their family was about to be together again.
Then he'd have to explain things to his mom. Inwardly he groaned, tightening his grip on Tifa just a little. In turn, she rested her head on his shoulder. At least he wasn't alone.
Great billowing clouds of dust and pine needles kicked out from below the airship as it descended. Hovering above the road, it lowered its ramp. Marlene came running down it, leaping off the end before it even touched the ground. "Denzel, Tifa, Cloud!"
Denzel crowed with delight and ran forward to greet her with a big hug. A tall figure stood at the top of the ramp, waiting more patiently than the little girl. Cloud sucked in a breath. He'd gotten used to Tifa and Yuffie, traveling around with them, but it was a shock all over again to see the teenaged Barret.
Yuffie bounded up to Denzel and Marlene, and in mock offense, huffed loudly to be heard over the engines. "Hey! Don't I get a greeting too?"
Marlene laughed. "Hi, Yuffie." Denzel let loose of her and she promptly squeezed the tiny ninja tight.
"Yeah, yeah." Yuffie patted her shoulder. "I know you wanna say hi to your family." Marlene nodded and gave a tiny, tighter squeeze before detaching and running straight to Cloud and Tifa. She was only a few inches shorter than them now, which made the hug odd, but Cloud did his best to return it.
"Hey, old man!" Barret was coming down the ramp now, but Yuffie was shouting at Cid, right behind him. "What's with this?" She gestured to the ship, flinging her arms wide.
"I ain't an old man, brat," he said without any real heat. "Ain't it great! Shinra went and screwed themselves over digging her up."
"What about your plans back at the airbase?" Tifa asked, still petting Marlene's hair.
Cid grinned, savoring his news. "Well, let's see... Scarlet's dead, Heidegger's in a coma, Air and Space is on strike."
Cloud frowned. Those were some major developments. "And their replacements?"
"We ain't fuckin' miracle workers! I'll give ya the rundown on board."
Barret had stopped at the base of the ramp. His arms were crossed, and he was looking around, almost nervous. "Where your families at?"
Yuffie put a hand to her mouth to hide her grin. "Shrunken and stopped."
"Tseng was at Cloud's house," Tifa offered in way of explanation.
Cid laughed raspily. He looked blond and spotty and young but still had a six-packs-a-day voice. "Ya mean ya abducted them?"
Tifa shrugged guiltily. "We didn't have time to explain."
Cid's laughter grew more raucous. He looked away from them, wheezing, but as soon as he looked back, the guffaws burst out again. "Oh boy, watching you two explain is gonna be fuckin' funnier than a flock of chocobos wearing clown shoes."
Yuffie was laughing too now, barely managing to gasp out, "I know, right? It's gonna be hilarious."
Barret punched Cid in the back, murmuring, "C'mon, man", and Marlene spun on Yuffie. "It's not that funny, is it?" Denzel looked guilty, like he wanted to laugh, but didn't want to upset them. Cloud held back a groan. Hilarious was the last way he would describe the upcoming conversation. Nauseating, maybe. Terrifying. Gut-wrenching, heart-breaking. Something he did not want to face. He'd almost rather fight Sephiroth. Almost.
He shook his head, bangs falling across his face. He made his way up the ramp, lightly bumping his shoulder into Barret as he passed, but pointedly ignoring Yuffie and Cid. Marlene ran up, grabbing hold of his hand to walk next to him, tugging Barret along with her. Tifa came right behind, bringing Denzel with her.
Entering the Shera felt like coming home.
The Highwind had been a warship, with cabins for its crew and passengers, officer quarters, gun rooms, and a small industrial kitchen. The Shera, in its former life, had probably been a pleasure craft for the Cetra. It had been rebuilt from the bones up into a cargo freighter, but it retained aspects of its earlier self. The galley was a comfortable cross between a kitchen and a dining room. A long wooden table with ten mismatched chairs sat in the center, and industrial cabinets with latches that kept them from opening mid-flight hung over and alongside a covered stove. A counter rigged between two steel beams was painted yellow to match the rug that lay under the table. The room was a splash of bright color among the ship's gray corridors.
"You sure you want me here for this?" Barret stood with his hand on the back of a chair as though debating whether or not to sit.
Tifa offered him a small smile. "I think we need the support."
Barret shrugged and sat. "I always got your backs."
Cloud sat too. His stiff, slow movements and blank expression screamed how much he didn't want to face this confrontation, but he was here. He hadn't run away. The kids weren't in the room, but Tifa's heart swelled to have their family back together. Her father too… She was so happy, her chest was tight with it, and her hands couldn't be still, and she felt like throwing up. So happy, and so damn nervous.
She wanted a drink to steady herself. She knew her father would appreciate one as well, but, unfortunately, Cid kept no alcohol aboard. Instead, she set a teapot to boiling, selecting out a chamomile and lavender herbal tea. From one of the cabinet drawers, she drew out six handmade mugs. Made by a neighbor of Shera's who'd taken up pottery, the mugs progressed from lumpy and childish to nearly professional. Requests had been allowed, and the mugs were decorated with different motifs. Among the ones Tifa selected were AVALANCHE's skull and crossbones and Cloud's wolf emblem.
She needed one more… She turned a grey mug toward her. Cid's "Lady Luck" pin-up winked up from under the glazing. Her father would disapprove. Her fingers curled fondly around the cup as she remembered how much he'd clucked at the midriff-baring outfits she'd begun wearing as a teen. She'd loved him and her town, but at the same time, she'd found them stifling. She'd wanted freedom from her position as the mayor's daughter, from the endless pressure of the village's expectations. Her clothes, cobbled together out of ideas from the few fashion magazines that made their way to the remote village and whatever fabric she could buy from the general store, had reflected that. Now that she had him back, she didn't want to upset him unnecessarily. She returned the mug to the cupboard and brought out instead the other childish chocobo mug.
"I guess it's time… or we could wait for the tea to be done?"
Cloud glanced at her swiftly and away again. "Wait for the tea."
She looked to Barret. He shrugged. "Sure, why not."
They waited in a tense silence. Restless, she grabbed a hand towel and wiped down the table and counter. She missed her bar and its routines. It was good that she'd picked a calming tea. The kettle was humming when Barret spoke up. "You should get 'em out of your pockets, Cloud. Get 'em ready for Esuna."
Cloud grunted but did as suggested, spacing them out on the floor. His family, who'd been hit with Sleep first, he laid down carefully. Her family, who'd been Stopped, he balanced so they could stand on their own. Her father and younger-self wore frozen expressions of surprise, anger, and dismay. Tifa's chest twinged and she turned busily back to the stove, where the kettle was beginning to whistle. "I guess it's time." She turned off the stove and brought the pot to the table. Cloud took a deep breath and cast the restorative magic.
Her father came to yelling, still in the midst of his rant from Nibelheim. "I want you kids out of my house and town! Don't think that…" His voice rang hollowly off the metal walls and he trailed off in confusion.
Claudia and Spike stood hastily, looking around with wild eyes at the strange room. She was unsure if Claudia was more upset at seeing the mayor or at being in an unfamiliar place.
Tifa began pouring out the tea. "Please, sit. We'll explain what's going on."
Cloud led by example, taking one of the Fenrir mugs and sitting next to Barret. Barret, in turn, took one of the red AVALANCHE mugs. "Cid got any honey on this tin can?"
"I think so." She turned back to the cupboards. "Anyone else want honey?"
The mundane question seemed to settle their families slightly. "Thank you, no." Claudia sat at the end, choosing the closest steaming cup, the second AVALANCHE mug. Spike tried to take the seat between his mom and Cloud, but Claudia guided him around to her other side before passing him one of the chocobo mugs. The young boy glanced between them but didn't comment, only saying, "I'll take some honey please."
Her younger-self moved toward the seat by Spike but her father pulled her away, hands protectively over her shoulders. He spoke over her half-formed protest. "I demand to know what the hell is going on."
"Be civil, Brian. Sit down and drink your tea." Claudia took her own advice, though the hand she took the mug with shook slightly.
He glared at the mugs suspiciously. "They could've laced it with something."
Claudia's blue eyes rolled. "Stop being stupid. Clearly, if they wanted us dead, we would be." Tifa's hand inadvertently twitched around the jar of honey at the terrible thought. She passed the jar to Barret and sat, folding her hands in her lap.
Claudia, firm and determined, asked, "Where are we?"
"You're on an airship, the Shera." Tifa's mouth was dry.
"Then this is Shinra business?" The woman glanced slowly around as if scanning for a trooper hiding behind a shelf, a logo poorly hidden by the rug, or another tell-tale sign of the company.
"No, we're not part of-"
Her dad cut her off. "Don't lie. When those folks came to town looking for you, they said you were kids of a corporate bigwig. And if this is an airship, that proves it."
She took a sip of tea before answering. Fear and frustration made a knot in her throat and she had a hard time swallowing. "The Shera doesn't belong to Shinra, it's our friend's."
Her dad's glare turned to Barret. "Yours?"
Barret, already sitting straight, somehow jerked into an even more attentive posture. "Different friend. He's pilotin'. My name's Barret." He paused a moment before adding, "Pleased to meet ya."
This meeting, awkward and painful as it was for her and Cloud, couldn't be much easier for Barret. Even if their parents weren't aware of it, he was trying to make a good first impression.
Her dad grunted, disbelieving. "Shinra's the only one with airships."
Cloud, staring into his tea like the secrets of the universe were hiding in its depths, finally spoke up. "Not anymore."
Her father looked disgusted. "And I suppose your friend just, what, found one laying around? As they're so common."
Tifa pressed a hand to her temple. She loved her dad, really, and she was so grateful for this second chance, but he was making this much more difficult than it already was.
Thankfully she had some help moving the conversation forward. "Brian, sit down already," Claudia snapped. Even if her cooperation was rooted in spite toward the mayor, it was helping. She turned her attention back to them. "Where are you taking us?"
"Cosmo Canyon. You'll be safe there."
"Safe! We were safe in Nibelheim! The only ones we need to be kept safe from are you!"
"BRIAN, for Gaia's sake, SIT DOWN!" Everyone at the table jumped. Even Cloud looked up for a second. Her dad was taken aback, too, but rallied.
"Why are you on their side? They abducted us!" He waved his hands to illustrate his point.
Her voice was icy. "Get a grip. You've always flown off the handle when things don't go your way. I don't trust them any more than you do, but we need answers, and if you keep talking over everything they say we'll never learn a damn thing. So just. Shut. Up." Deliberately, she slanted her body away from him and towards the three time travelers. "Why weren't we safe in Nibelheim?"
It took Tifa a moment to regather her thoughts after that outburst. "Shinra, they've connected you to us."
Finally, her dad sat, muttering, "That's because someone let you stay at their house." He looked at the remaining mugs, no longer steaming. Tifa's younger-self sat beside him. He slid the other chocobo mug to her and took the remaining Fenrir mug.
Claudia ignored him. "And that justifies you breaking into our homes and abducting us."
Tifa crossed her ankles, fought the urge to cross her arms as well. "Those men at your house, they were Turks."
Claudia's eyes narrowed. "Turks?" She tested the word as if saying something wholly unfamiliar.
Of course, their parents wouldn't know the significance of the name. They had never seen that side of Shinra. Maybe, in their remote mountain village, they'd never even heard of that aspect of the company. She shook her head a little. No, with both the manor and the reactor so close, there was no way Shinra's ethical shadiness hadn't been somewhat known to the adults in town. "The Department of Administrative Research is their official name. They call themselves the Turks."
Barret leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms, tea mug held firmly. "Shinra's spies and assassins."
"They could have used you or hurt you to get to us. Or worse. We couldn't leave you there."
"But we have no connection to you."
She took a deep breath. "We… I mean, we're…." She glanced helplessly towards Cloud and Barret. How to explain this, how to get them to believe it when it still seemed unbelievable to her…. Barret met her eyes, supportive and solid, but Cloud was still fixated on his tea. His fingers were white-knuckled around the mug.
Tifa looked back across the table, at her father, his bristly mustache, messy hair, embroidered vest. Her younger self beside him, quiet and observant, demure in her blue shift dress, ruddy eyes taking everything in. Her eyes dropped, tracing the wood grain of the table. She thought back to her childhood, to something important to her. Quietly she started to hum.
It was an old Nibel lullaby. Few outside the village would know it. She began to sing, the words half-nonsense, half-remembered. The old Nibel dialect was nearly dead, surviving only in songs and nursery rhymes and bits of slang. Only a few villages in the mountains had ever used it.
"My mother used to sing that to me when I was falling asleep. She would sit on the edge of my bed or play the piano next to it, while I lay under the pale yellow quilt that my grandmother made with embroidered flowers." Her fingers ran over the tabletop, tracing out the old patterns. "Sometimes my dad would join her and they'd play duets. I loved those nights. But she died when I was seven. She got sick and…." She looked up. Her voice trailed off.
Her father's face was milk pale. Her younger-self's mouth wobbled, and tears threatened to spill any second. A lump rose in her own throat. It had been years since she lost her mother; many terrible things lay between her and that grief. For them, it had only been two years. She spoke again, gentle.
"There's this old legend where I grew up. After someone dies, their soul goes up to the mountain peaks. I was scared, but I wanted my mom back so badly that I tried to climb up the mountain. Some of the other kids followed me, but they all turned back. All but one."
"Now wait just a moment." Her dad put a concerned hand over his daughter's and squeezed it lightly, trying to comfort the distressed little girl. "This story… who do you think you are, telling it?"
"I know exactly who I am." She sat tall and looked him straight in the eye. "I'm a time traveler."
The proclamation left a stunned silence. Her father's jaw hung open, trembling slightly. Her counterpart looked at her wide-eyed, her tears forgotten. Claudia's gaze darted around the table, comparing faces, putting pieces together. Spike's eyes were fixed on the younger Tifa, too concerned about her to be concerned about his future self.
A large fist bumped her shoulder - Barret, proud.
"You…" The girl across the table leaned forward slightly. "You're…" Her uncovered hand lifted off the table, began to slowly reach across. "...Me?"
Tifa smiled back, reaching out her own hand, but her father took her counterpart's hand instead.
"That's ridiculous!" His voice was shaky. "You're only a few years older than my daughter, so stop with this… hurtful nonsense."
"Dad." Her voice nearly broke. "This is the truth, I can prove it. It was Cloud who followed me," - the young boy sat up straighter at his name - "and when the bridge broke, he tried to catch me. We both got hurt, we both have scars." She stood and walked around the table to her younger-self. "Tifa, stand next to me a moment?"
Hesitantly, the other girl started to get up, but her father held her back. "I know what my daughter's scars look like."
"Then you'll recognize these." She pushed the drape of her skirt aside, revealing white scars on the back and outer side of her left leg, running up from mid-calf to disappear under her shorts. They were thinner and paler than what her counterpart would have, and the smallest had faded altogether, but they were still distinct.
"I-" Cloud's voice was hoarse. His hands were curling slowly away from his mug. He took a deep breath and cleared his throat. In one smooth motion, he pulled off his right glove and laid his arm out on the table, palm up. A pale scar ran from the base of his thumb to his wrist. It wasn't large, but he'd gotten it trying to catch her. Spike, realizing what was going on, laid his own hand out. The two scars were a near match. Spike's scar was longer and pale pink, the edges unfaded.
"I don't remember the songs Ma used to sing, but I remember sitting in the kitchen. There's an old metal first aid kit on top of the fridge. I'd come in, cut up from another fight or having slipped on the mountain and she'd just sigh and reach for it." Cloud never looked up from his hand. When he finished talking, he clenched his fingers and let out a slow breath.
Claudia looked from boy to boy, perturbed. "This can't be right. How old are you?"
Naturally, they'd have trouble believing this, even with proof. The physical age difference between Tifa, Cloud, and their younger selves was only a few years, but their attitudes were a decade older. Time travel alone couldn't explain that.
Tifa circled the table, resting her hand on Cloud's shoulder for a beat as she passed. "We don't know how we came back, it just happened and it… changed things." She slipped into her seat. "We aren't kids, even if we look it." She looked first at her father, then to Claudia. "For us, we've traveled back about fourteen years. Cloud's actually twenty-five, I'm twenty-three, Barret's thirty-seven."
The kid's eyes, which she had thought were already as big as they could get, widened further. Her father's head sank into his hands, and she could hear him murmuring under his breath. Mrs. Strife shook her head slowly. "You expect us to believe that the three of you accidentally traveled back in time and shrank?"
"Eleven. There are eleven of us."
"The others you had with you?"
Tifa shrugged. "Sort of. Yuffie's de-aged. Denzel came back with us but stayed the same. He's our son. Vincen-"
Her father's chair shrieked back and fell over. He stood with his hands out before him, halfway between forming a warding sign and angry fists. "Your son!?" His eyes flicked from her to Cloud to the doorway and back, so fast she was surprised he wasn't dizzy. "The two of… how old… with a Strife?!"
She could have been offended, but honestly? She'd been preparing herself for this reaction, or worse. At least it looked like he believed her. "We adopted Denzel, the three of us. And Marlene, Barret's daughter."
Her dad's mouth opened and shut soundlessly. Claudia, sagging, put a hand to her forehead, and the younger Cloud reached out to her, his small fingers grasping her sleeve. She patted his hand somewhat absently and looked at them again. "And she's here?"
"On the bridge with the others," Barret replied.
Her dad looked at him. His mouth and brow wrinkled up in an uncertain expression Tifa couldn't name and asked, "Your last name wouldn't happen to be Wallace, would it?"
"Yeah, it is. Why?"
Tifa tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, a little color sweeping across her face. "That's the last name we took in Nibelheim." Barret stared at her, and a little flush came up his cheeks too. He swung his head around to look at Cloud, who was still staring down at the table, but perceived Barret's question somehow and nodded. The corners of Barret's mouth twitched up in a smile, wobbled down in embarrassment, then crept back up. He looked off into space, grinning just a little. Spike and her younger self looked between the three of them. Her counterpart stared hard at Tifa, then suddenly blushed red to her ears and looked hastily down into her mug. Spike echoed the motion, but his expression remained puzzled.
Claudia was still rubbing her temple. In a high voice, she continued, "And this airship is from the future as well?"
"Yes."
"At least time travel explains that," she mumbled.
Barret, still smiling, half-mumbling himself, added, "And we did find it laying around."
Tifa explained hastily. "Barret runs a few oil fields in the Corel desert, and they dug up the remains of an ancient airship. Our friend, Cid Highwind, restored it and owns it now."
Her dad was still focused on Barret, head tilted slightly with eyebrows drawn down. She thought he was looking at him to avoid looking at Cloud. "Oil field? But, Shinra-"
Cloud cut him off. "Shinra collapsed."
Irritation flashed across her dad's face, and his eyes snapped over to Cloud, narrowing. "And I suppose you're SOLDIER after all, so you'd know all about that?"
Spike, who had still been staring, thinking, into his tea, lit up at the possibility. Cloud's voice was flat as he answered, "Not a SOLDIER, just a delivery boy," and the kid slumped back, but the curiosity didn't leave his eyes.
Barret, seeing the boy's reaction, nudged the swordsman next to him. "He hunts monsters on the side."
Spike perked up a bit, but Cloud only shrugged. Her dad looked unimpressed. Tifa grit her teeth. They'd moved past the denial stage a lot more quickly than she'd thought, and her hopes were suddenly soaring. Could there be a day when the feud was healed, and her father was as proud of her family as she was?
So she added, with some heat, "And he's a field doctor for a lot of remote towns."
Cloud was quick to deflect the praise. "That's just materia and basic first aid."
She leaned forward to look at him around Barret. Take the praise, Cloud! "It makes a difference."
Barret was also used to his deflection and nudged him again. "You raise and race the best damn chocobos on the planet."
Her dad's scowl was reverting to the considering look he'd been leveling at Barret a minute before. Claudia was equally intent, while the two kids were again wide-eyed. Cloud seemed to squirm minutely in his seat. C'mon, Cloud, you're proud of the birds, I know you are! She wanted him to look up, to face her father head-on. She cast around for ideas. Cloud didn't make much of his delivery business; it was just something he did. The speed and strength that made him an excellent monster hunter had been forced upon him, and even the field medicine he provided came with bad memories of the Geostigma and his self-enforced isolation during that time, researching fruitlessly for a cure. He took pride in his materia skills, though - they were something he'd developed by hard work of his own.
"And you're in the materia business. Buy, sell, level up and trade." To be strictly honest, all of AVALANCHE was in on the business, Cloud's traveling just made him their best salesperson.
Barret nodded. "You're a bouncer at the bar sometimes."
She didn't know whether Cloud was proud of that, but she was proud for him, that he stuck around and helped with their family's business. "He waits the tables for me when I'm swamped and he's getting better at mixing drinks." Cloud was definitely looking embarrassed now. Before they could go on about his abilities as a mechanic and a weapon designer, her dad interrupted.
"You work at a bar?" He was looking at her, dismayed and disdainful.
The blood suddenly pounded in her ears and her jaw locked. She'd been prepared for him to deny her as his daughter. For him to hate Cloud. For him to disapprove of her romantic arrangements. But she hadn't been ready for him to diss her beloved bar. She tossed her head back and replied, "I run a bar." She had put a lot of work into Seventh Heaven, into their home.
Barret also came to her and their home's defense. "I owned it, but it was Tifa's baby. She put her heart into that place and it showed."
Her father put his head in his hands, shaking it. "I don't believe this," he muttered.
At the head of the table, Claudia sighed. "I don't disbelieve you, but… it's a lot to take in."
"I know." She stood, pushing back her chair. "We'll leave you alone." Her pulse was pounding. Before, she'd missed her dad and Nibelheim. Right now, she missed Edge and Seventh Heaven. "You're free to wander the ship and you can talk to the others if you like. You've met Yuffie and Denzel and the Vincent from this time."
Claudia's eyes widened. "Vincent?"
She remembered the woman's dislike for him and twitched her mouth into a reassuring smile. "We'd just recruited him when you met us. His counterpart's here too."
The older woman looked at her contemplatively. "There's a lot we're going to have to get used to, isn't there?"
"Sorry."
"Well, could've gone worse."
Barret felt as wrung out as after a full day's work on the oil field, and he folded himself down to the floor of the cargo bay and stretched out his legs with a grunt. Neither of them responded. Cloud went straight to the makeshift chocobo corral, the birds kweh-ing excitedly, never mind that they'd last seen him just an hour ago. Tifa sat on a metal crate, staring at her hands, running her fingers over the calluses. Barret watched her with concern, not sure what to say, but figuring he should say something.
"Those hands've done a hell of a lot of good, don' be mad at 'em."
Her hands clenched, then relaxed. "I know. It's not that."
He frowned, studying her. "It's hard on a parent, accepting their kids as grown, even when they get to watch 'em do it. Yours are just gonna need some extra time."
"I hope you're right." Her fingers rubbed back and forth, back and forth. "It's…. I'm glad he's safe…. I'm glad he's here... but it still feels like I've lost him."
"That's cuz you did," he answered bluntly. He'd been thinking about this since they first made their decision to change the past. He got to his feet, restless despite his tiredness. "He's here now, but yer always gonna remember him dead. And he's ain't gone through with you what you went through with him. Just like Myrna's alive here, but…" He drew in a breath, blew it out. "I wanna do what I can to help her, make sure she don't get sick, but she's got her own life here, and I'm with you and Cloud now."
Her hands stilled. When she looked up, her smile was tender, sad, and meltingly sweet. "I guess you're right. It's an important memory, but..." She slid off the crate and came to stand in front of him. She tugged on his shirt to make him lean down, the size difference between them the most severe it had ever been. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "...this is us."
Barret wrapped her in a hug and she leaned against him, holding tight. "Cloud, quit fussin' with those birds and get over here."
Cloud, scratching a chocobo in the soft place under the beak, glanced over. They each extended an arm out to him. His eyes were soft, but his lip quirked up, a sure sign he was about to be an ass. Sure enough, he deliberately turned his back on them, offering a green to the bird instead.
"Just has to make trouble, don't he," he grumped to Tifa.
She laughed and dropped her voice to imitate her dad's tone. "Well, he is a Strife." There was a little bitterness there and he squeezed her shoulder. She looked up and smiled. An unspoken it's okay.
Together, they trudged over to their stubborn partner. He let them corner him and pull him into their circle. Yeah, thought Barret, his arms full.
It's okay.
After a while, Cloud spoke, a little muffled against Barret's chest. "Barret?"
"Hmm?"
"How did you get the Shera?"
That was Cloud-speak for, "I'm glad you're here, but please fill me in on what the hell happened."
Letting them go, he crossed his arms and moved to lean against a wall. He gave them the basics of the story, starting with their arrival in Midgar through to their encounter with the striking Air and Space Department in Brarrow. He mentioned Scarlet's death but left out that he was the one who fired the killing shots. He didn't feel like talking about it, even with them.
"So Cid's younger-self took out Heidegger." Tifa, seated on her crate again, leaned back, wrapping her hands around her knee and looking at the arcing metal support beams above them. "Things really haven't gone according to plan, have they?"
"Yeah. We forgot to account for all the people livin' in this time. They got their own shit going on."
"Is he going to be okay?"
Barret rolled his eyes. There went Cloud worrying about everybody. "He's a big boy, and he's got the whole department with him. As long as we keep givin' Shinra hell and don't stop until the place has been turned on its head, they won't have time to worry about him. 'Sides, with the publicity and the fan clubs, Shinra can't ax him immediately. Guy's got time."
Cloud wore a thoughtful frown. "Fan clubs? I thought only SOLDIERs had those?"
For once, it wasn't Cloud's shitty memory giving him problems. "That was our clever Marlene's idea. It gave us a huge fuckin' boost."
Two of the chocobos - Barret didn't know them well enough to name them - suddenly squawked, mantling their feathers at each other and making hissing noises. "Hey there," Cloud said. "Cut it out, you don't have room to fight here." He proffered another batch of greens, distracting them. Barret scratched his head. Talking about things that weren't the same as before... "Where'd you guys get the chocobos? They really the ones from the future?"
"Right outside Banora. We used Chocobo Lure and Cloud's flock showed up."
"And you entered 'em at the track?"
She gave a minute shrug. "We didn't have much gil to start with. We needed to work finances out somehow."
He chuckled. Tifa was always the one thinking about balancing the books. "We saw 'em on TV. Cid thought the time-space continuum was collapsin' or some shit. Little Marlene was a star with the kids with her chocobo knowledge."
"Really?" Tifa grinned. By the birds, Cloud looked proud.
He told them about Dajh and Chocolina, and the whole little posse of kids who'd trooped admiringly around with their girl.
"Is she alright, leaving them all behind?"
"She's a tough little thing."
"And you?" At his odd look, she explained. "You've been looking after us, but are you okay?" Seems like the way he described Scarlet's death hadn't gone unnoticed.
"I'm fine." He paused, considering. If he'd had to go to Corel, see it for real, like them with Nibelheim, maybe it'd it all seem fresher. More painful. As it was, he was okay with letting it stay in the back of his mind. It could rest a while. He rolled his right shoulder, moving on. "But my arm's a little gummed up. All that damn grit in the wastes's gotten in the gears or somethin'." Basic maintenance, he could do on his own, but anything past that and he needed two hands.
Immediately Cloud moved toward the workbenches lining the bay.
"Didn't mean you needed to fix it right now, it ain't that big a problem." Cloud hadn't made the arm but he'd been quick to learn how to fix it.
The blond took off the black duster he wore and laid it over one of the counters, setting small fiddly tools with delicate ends down on top of it. "It's part of you." Cloud tilted his head, inviting him over.
He felt himself blush a little at that. Covering, he grunted back, "Don't get sentimental on me" and went to stand beside the bench.
Cloud reached up, his hands gently running over the border where flesh and metal met. Carefully and slowly, he removed the prosthetic. There was a tingling feeling, not really painful, as the nerve sensors disconnected. Tifa came and leaned against Barret, and they both watched Cloud turn the arm round and round, inspecting it, as gentle with the prosthetic as he was with them.
His hands slid up and down the metal, pressing and prodding gently. Barret's thoughts wandered a little, looking at those calloused hands, feeling Tifa's warmth pressing against him, until he realized where that mental path was leading and reeled himself hastily back in. Teenage hormones were the goddamned pits. He didn't know how the hell he'd made it through the first time. Disgruntled, he grumbled, "I don't like our ages."
Tifa peered up at him, and seeing his expression, smiled knowingly. Mercifully, she peeled away from his side and put a step between them. Cloud, focused on his work, only commented, "Physically, we're closer in age now than we were before."
Barret rubbed the stump of his arm, feeling the welted scar tissue, distracting himself. "It's jes' weird. You're 'bout the same age as Denzel now." Just shorter.
"What about me?"
All three of them looked up to the catwalk and saw Denzel and Marlene, backlit, entering the bay.
"Everything alright?" Tifa called up.
"We're good!" said Marlene and ran down the ramp to them, hopping up to sit on the counter beside the array of glinting tools, peering at Cloud's work with interest. Denzel came down at a more sedate pace and stood between Tifa and Barret, who ruffled his hair. The boy leaned into it for a moment, then recovered his dignity and ducked away, grinning. As soon as Barret's hand dropped, Denzel came right back. He looked at the half-disassembled arm, too, then seemed to snap himself into focus, like a scout giving a report.
"Your parents are talking to Cid and the Vincents on the Bridge, Shera's taking a nap, and you might have to save your younger selves from Yuffie. They wanna know about the future and she's giving them every non-answer she can. I think their heads are going to explode."
"She's given them both nicknames, Spike and Bruiser," Marlene chipped in.
"Hey, now," said Barret. "You're gonna have to hurry up, Cloud. We gotta get up there. She's stealing my nicknames for y'all."
Notes:
Firstly, the revealing of the scars is something WingsOfTime used first in her wonderful story Two of a Kind. I loved it so much, I couldn't help adopting it. Continuity in fandom, right? If you haven't read her story, I highly recommend it. You can find it on both FF and Ao3.
Secondly, if this story was a drama, this chapter is where things would have gone downhill, with the Turks taking young Cloud. However, as said before, this is an unabashed fix-it-fic. While fecal matter will hit the air circulation device, it is locked on target to Shinra. Going Postal is our happy fic, something pleasant to write, as each of us is working on a darker fic that we aren't posting until this one is finished. (Long Dream & Ragnarok)