Hero

Denzel eyed his enemy cautiously with his weapon raised at his side and Marlene whimpering behind him. She was cowering in fear, but he couldn't blame her; this was no ordinary enemy. It was much larger than its cousins, its venomous limbs clawing madly at the air, threatening them in a frightening manner.

"Be careful, Denzel," Marlene whispered, clutching the back of his shirt. Denzel swallowed. If Cloud wasn't out delivering, he would have easily felled this foe. If Tifa wasn't out grocery shopping, she'd have given this monster a good beating. But unfortunately for the young duo, their guardians were not currently present, so it was up to Denzel to save the day. It was his duty to be the hero of the hour, to save Marlene from potential harm, and to rid his home of this foul creature.

"Whoa! Denzel! It's coming!"

"Watch out!" Denzel yelled, shoving Marlene towards the back of the room and raising his free arm out to shield her. The enemy was quick—much quicker than his own movements. In order to beat this foe, he'd have to maneuver his way around the room, protecting Marlene at all costs while making sure he didn't lose sight of it.

To Marlene and Denzel, it was a hideous abomination—a bringer of ruination and doom. But to Cloud or Tifa, it would have just been another annoying spider that was probably responsible for all the cobwebs that hung loosely in the corner of the children's room.

Denzel held the spatula up to his side, leveling it with his shoulders, while guarding his frightened companion with his free arm. This was going to be tricky. Nevertheless, he took a deep breath, and turned to face Marlene.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it. Stay here and don't move, okay?"

She nodded. "Be careful, Denzel!"

Denzel grasped the spatula with both hands, charging forward and unleashing a loud battle cry as he swung furiously at the erratic movements of the spider. His attack clashed with the wall twice, but he had missed. Instead, the enemy was now retreating to a higher level of the wall, fleeing like a coward to a position Denzel couldn't reach.

"Aw, you almost had him!" Marlene cheered, her hands balled up and shaking in excitement.

"He's quick!" Denzel snapped, glaring up at his foe in irritation. He'd have to alternate his weapon to a long ranged device. He jerked his head left and right, searching for some kind of tool he could use to decimate the enemy from a distance.

"Marlene! Go to Tifa's room and check if she still has those boomerangs on her table. And hurry! It might get away!"

Marlene gave a quick nod and darted out from the room, leaving Denzel to face the abominable creature alone. "Come on, you coward!" he yelled, waving his fist furiously in the air.

It wasn't long until Marlene returned with Tifa's hair band, which to Denzel appeared as a small boomerang, used as a weapon of range. She tossed it to him from the door, and he caught it with one swift motion.

The spider was still concealed behind a larger picture frame, but Denzel knew exactly where it was hiding. He crept his way around the bed, gripping the "boomerang" in one hand and holding the spatula in the other. "Watch this, Marlene," he grinned, positioning the hair band at an angle over his shoulders.

"Come on Denzel! You can do it!"

He flung his arm hard, jerking his wrist and releasing the hair band as it soared through the air, colliding with the picture frame and causing it to fall to a soft landing on the bed. The arachnid darted towards the next frame, but Denzel had already anticipated this move.

"Hyaaah!"

He jumped up, pushing off the edge of the bed and swinging his weapon hard into the wall, cracking it slightly.

"Did you get it?!" Marlene squealed, still hiding behind the large dresser.

Denzel hissed. "Dang it! I missed!"

"Denzel, maybe we should just wait until Tifa gets back. I mean, last time, she took care of that huge—"

"No, Marlene! I can handle this!" Denzel's glare intensified as his eyes pierced through the frame of their family portrait. There was no way he was going to let that thing hide behind that photo! He climbed onto the bed, hesitating a little before reaching out to pull away the frame.

"Eek! It's there! Right there, under your arm!"

Denzel winced, tumbling backwards onto the bed as the disgusting spider crawled over the skin of his arm. "Ah! Get it off! Get it off!"

Marlene watched in terror as he wriggled around the bed, kicking and grunting in a panicked frenzy. When he finally settled down, Denzel's chest was heaving up and down. "Are you alright, Denz?"

"Yeah…but where'd it go?"

"I think it's still on the bed! Get off, Denzel! It might eat you!"

Denzel quickly rolled off, swinging the spatula in random flings at the air, and backing off to where Marlene was crouched behind the dresser. Maybe it was a better idea to just wait for Tifa to get back. Denzel found himself a bit frustrated at his failure to kill that stupid spider, but most of all, he was just trying to protect Marlene.

"Do you think we should resort to Tifa's Death Sprays?" Marlene asked. The last time a bug came in, Tifa had killed it with some air fresheners, and as a consequence, Marlene had entitled them the death sprays.

"No, that's just cheap. We might as well put up a good fight," Denzel argued.

That's when he saw it.

The eight-legged black bringer of ruination was crawling out from under Marlene's pillow!

"Ew!"

Denzel leapt forward, smashing at the white sheets with his weapon relentlessly, swinging harder and harder each time until he was sure he had killed it.

"Is it dead? Denzel, did you get it?"

"Yeah. I killed it," he gasped, panting for air.

Marlene crept up slowly, approaching the bed with cautious steps, just in case the beast had survived. "What if it's all smushed up under our pillows? I don't wanna sleep with spider guts!"

Denzel grinned. "You'd rather sleep with a live one?"

"No!"

"Then c'mon, help me clean up the sheets."

Denzel lifted his pillow, and sneezed as the feathers hovered down onto his form, tickling his nose and sprinkling onto his shaggy brown hair.

But Marlene's attention was elsewhere.

"Oh my—Denzel! It's still alive! It's still alive!"

She darted back to the dresser, trembling in horror as the spider hovered across the room, weaving its web as a transportation to escape the rage of Denzel.

"Denzel! Help! It's coming!"

Denzel snatched up the spatula, waving it frantically towards the floating spider, but he only managed to break its web, sending it falling down to the floorboards beneath. He gaped, eyes wide, as it crawled its way towards the screaming Marlene.

"Aak! Get it away! Get it away!"

"Marlene! Run!"

Denzel twisted around, snatching up the glass cup on the side table and diving towards the fleeing spider. He trapped it.

"Did you get it? Did you get it, Denzel?"

With a deep sigh, he nodded.

Of course, he intended to kill this thing that had threatened his little sister, but when Denzel saw the little spider darting around inside the glass container, he couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for the sucker.

"What are you going to do?" Marlene asked, approaching him slowly. "Are you going to kill it?"

"Of course I am! It almost ate us!"

Marlene frowned. "I kinda feel sorry for it."

"Why?! It tried to attack you!"

She nodded. "But still. It looks so helpless."

The spider was balled up inside the cup, its eight long legs scrunched up to its body.

"Maybe it's just a little kid. Like us," she continued. "Maybe it got lost."

Denzel shrugged. "Hmm…maybe."

"I think you should let it go, Denzel."

Denzel sighed, still staring down at the helpless creature. What would Cloud do in this situation? If Marlene had suggested such things, would he have killed it anyways? Maybe it was just a little lost kiddy spider.

With another sigh, he returned to his feet, slipping out a sheet of paper from his desk and sliding it under the cup. The spider rolled onto the white surface, but began to dart around again, frantically trying to escape from the glass prison.

Marlene smiled as she followed her hero down the stairs. He held the cup upright, and placed his hand over the paper shield so the spider wouldn't climb out.

"Can you open the door?" he asked.

Marlene nodded and turned the knob, letting the cold winter wind break in through the opened door.

Denzel looked down at the little creature one last time, before shaking the cup down towards the doorsteps, setting the spider free and watching it scramble away.

"You're a real hero!" Marlene yelled, smiling widely. "You saved me, and the spider! You're awesome, Denzel!"

Denzel grinned, a bit embarrassed. "Ya think so?"

"Yeah! Wait till we tell Tifa about this! And Cloud! You stopped a spider without even killing it!"

The two children returned to their rooms, cleaning out the messy bed and returning the spatula and "boomerang" to their rightful places.

About half an hour later, Marlene heard a loud shriek from outside. When she ran down the stairs to see what was going on, she saw Tifa slam the door behind her, dropping the grocery bags and gasping for air.

"Oh my God!" she yelled. "There's a huge spider on the door!"