"So, what's Cloud and Tifa to you?"

Denzel scrunched his eyebrows together as they practiced with the wooden weapons Cloud had purchased for them yesterday. He was out delivering packages now, and the garage was free for them to practice in. They were timid at first, going through the motions Cloud showed them before becoming more adventurous with their swings.

Tifa would take Marlene in here in the morning after breakfast and teach her martial arts. Sometimes Denzel and Zeph would watch and even try out a few of the things she taught for the sake of doing something. They would encourage Marlene if she became frustrated; they wanted her to be able to defend herself if it came down to it.

"What do you mean?" Denzel asked as he leaned his weight on the wooden pole in his hand.

Zeph motioned with his head towards the door to the bar. "I mean, if this is a family...D'you see them as your parents?"

Denzel huffed through his nose and looked down at his feet. "Um...I dunno." He sheepishly glanced upwards at the blond boy, and he gave a look that told Denzel to continue. "Like, they're just Cloud and Tifa. They're not my parents even though they act like parents."

"Oh. So what are they to you?" He really wasn't sure what Denzel's feelings were, just that he was hesitant to explain them.

"Mm...Family. They don't have to be blood related to be my family. They taught me that a long time ago." Denzel sighed and walked a few steps towards the garage door before looking at it. "I kinda see them as a cross between a parent and an older sibling, I think. They're always keeping care of us and trying to make sure we're raised right, but sometimes they do things you'd think your brother or sister would do."

"Like what?"

The brunet scratched his cheek. "One time Cloud made a fort between my bed and Marlene's before a thunderstorm hit, and we read comics together. Another time Tifa listened to me complain about school...she didn't lecture me or give any advice, she said she didn't really have any. She just told me to hang in there, then made some hot chocolate." Denzel turned around and looked back at Zeph.

"It's different for Marlene. She calls Tifa 'Mama' sometimes, and even though she never calls Cloud anything but his name she thinks of him as her second dad."

Zeph cocked his head. "Is Mr. Barret alright with that?"

"I guess so, he just wants Cloud and Tifa to raise her right."

He wanted to ask why them and not Barret himself. He and Marlene looked nothing alike, but the love in her voice and eyes when Barret visited revealed that it really didn't matter if they were related or not. That father-daughter bond was there, even if there was no blood between them. "It's something I'm not used to...The family bonds with people that aren't related, I mean."

"Well, I had to get used to that, too."

"Hm." Zeph brought his practice sword back up, and they sparred again for a bit. "I...never had a father," he said as they finished their mock battle.

Denzel put his weapon away on the shelf. "You didn't?"

"No...Mom didn't talk about him when we asked. Just said he died." He placed his weapon on the shelf next to Denzel's, and the two walked towards the bar. It was almost time for the evening rush, and they both wanted some of the tip money.

They worked through the afternoon, and during a slump Tifa made the two a snack as they sat by the counter. The two munched on their sandwiches and sipped their juice quietly, listening to the sounds of the city outside the bar.

One sound made their ears perk up. It was low and growing louder, but there was some sort of huffing noise as it came closer. It sounded like Fenrir. Tifa frowned as she looked towards the garage door. "Is that Fenrir? Cloud is home early..."

The sound rumbled into the garage, then shut off. Then Cloud came through the door, annoyance evidenced on his face. He was covered in dust and his dark goggles rested haphazardly on top of his crown of spikes. "I had to cancel the rest of my deliveries. Something's wrong with Fenrir," he announced.

"Oh." Tifa scratched the back of her head. "Well, call me if you need me."

Cloud disappeared into the garage again as Tifa went back to prepping vegetables for the dinner rush.

"Cloud might have to go to the store," Denzel said after finishing the first half of his sandwich. "Last time he took me."

"...I wanna go, too," Zeph mumbled. He thought it would be nice to get out of the bar before the dinner rush began. He ate the rest of his sandwich faster, and Denzel did much the same.

Tifa reached for a glass in a cabinet and filled it with ice and water, then handed it to Denzel. "If you two wanna help Cloud fix Fenrir, I think I'll be alright. Marlene should be coming home soon, anyway."

"Okay. Thanks, Tifa," Denzel said before walking over to the garage door. Zeph opened it for him and they both slipped inside. Cloud glanced their way as he finished inspecting Fenrir, a thin piece of jerky lazily hanging out of the side of his mouth.

He walked over to the boys as they stood by his work table, and he slipped the rest of the jerky into his mouth in one smooth motion. He motioned one hand almost dismissively towards his bike as he chewed. "I need to buy some spark plugs," he said before swallowing.

Zeph looked at Fenrir, then Cloud as Denzel put the glass of water on the table. "Can we go with you?"

The courier nodded. He sat down at the chair next to the table and took a sip of water. "Yeah, the shop isn't too far away. I'll show you guys how to replace a spark plug when we get back."

Zeph had a grin growing on his face. It had been a long time since he had had the chance to learn anything about machines, and never a chance to learn about vehicles. They waited for Cloud to finish drinking, then left through the sliding door that opened up into the alley behind the bar.

The two boys walked to Cloud's side as he guided them to the store, talking about this or that.

"Where did you go this time, Cloud?" Denzel asked.

"I had to go to a village near Mideel."

Zeph had heard of the islands of the Mideel area. "What's it like there?"

"Hot, humid. The islands are close to the Lifestream, so the countryside is full of farms and orchards." Cloud turned towards a street that branched off from the plaza.

The parts shop was tucked away near a mechanic, the pavement leading into the back where the garage was hidden was stained with black splotches. The three walked into the shop, and Cloud began talking to the owner as the two boys looked at some of the merchandise. There was a metal tang to the air, and the heaviness of grease that wasn't quite like the scent of the deep frier at the bar.

Air fresheners, rows of oil cartons and tools for mechanics, antifreeze and lubricants. Neither of them knew exactly how Cloud used half of these things. Denzel knew a little, enough to gloat. He pointed at the shelves of oil. "Cloud taught me how to do an oil change."

"Oh. So you could do one by yourself?"

Denzel puffed his chest out a little. "I bet I could. It's pretty easy."

A gloved hand gently grabbed his shoulder. "I don't think you're quite ready for that, Denzel," Cloud said with a playful smirk. He lifted his other hand, and it held his spark plugs. "Time to go home, guys."

They left quietly, Denzel holding a blush on his cheeks. The sun was still over the tops of the buildings to the west, and Zeph wondered if Mideel was as humid and hot as it was here. He never liked the stickiness in the air that would invade the slums, making the grimy atmosphere clammy in the summer.

As soon as they made it back into the garage Cloud was rummaging through his tool box. He took out this and that, then popped open the engine compartment. It revealed the complex of metal and grease that took Cloud to far away lands. His finger pointed at four black things.

"This one needs to be replaced." He started working on one of the things he had pointed out, using a ratchet to unscrew it out of its home. After a minute Cloud had the ruined spark plug in his hand. He handed it to Zeph to study. Cloud held up the fresh spark plug, then let Denzel hold it. "See the difference?"

Zeph tilted the piece of metal and plastic. "It's dirty," he declared.

Denzel pointed at the metal tip. "It looks pretty busted up."

Cloud nodded approvingly. "A spark plug ignites the fuel in the engine. No spark plugs, no combustion." He unzipped his shirt and took it off, then tossed it onto his work table. "Now, we put the new one in. I'll talk you two through it..." He began pointing out this and that on the engine and answering their questions as he fixed Fenrir.

It didn't feel like it took all that long at all to Zeph, and it delighted him to look at machinery again. There had been plenty of makeshift engines and generators in the slums, and he had hoped to someday learn enough that he could have made a living repairing those things in his home sector. He thought that perhaps he still had a chance to do so in this mangled world, especially with Cloud's tutelage.

He watched as Cloud stood straight and turned to look into Fenrir's compartments after closing the engine hood. Zeph noticed there was a strange scar on his chest, like a sunken in, white shooting star. He wondered if Cloud got it while delivering packages, or if it was from some earlier part of his life. Maybe he had a rough early life, he thought. He frowned when he noticed a similarly patterned scar on his back; he had been run through.

How was Cloud still standing?

"Hey."

Zeph looked up; Cloud was standing in front of him, holding something small. He tentatively took it and looked it over. It was a dark brown, wood carving of Bahamut, down to the last scale on his tail. It had a beautiful, earthy scent to it. "...For me?" His green eyes looked back up at his guardian.

Cloud nodded. "Yeah. Just a little souvenir from the village." He walked over to Denzel and handed him one, and Zeph noticed there was one left. It was probably for Marlene. They were all different statues of deities.

"Thank you," Zeph said before his eyes again studied the wood carving.

"You're welcome," he heard Cloud say.

Zeph wasn't sure if he held the same stance as Denzel on Cloud and Tifa. They certainly acted like parents to him, but he felt the same hesitancy towards calling them parents as Denzel had. Still, the brunet called them his family, and that particular feeling had been growing. He had a family. It was makeshift and not a little weird, but it was a family, and they had willingly invited him in.

The thought felt wonderful.