Eternal Dream
By: irish d' salmon luver
Author's Note: Hiks...Sob...Sob...Hiks... I'm so sad, I only got 1 or 2 reviews since the last time I posted this story... GIMME MORE!!!
Disclaimer: Not mine.
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I sense you
I see you
I smell you
But I can never touch you
Because you're not mine
You belong to someone else, and I…
I belong to no one. Not even myself.
Chapter 03: Broken Doll
Warm.
That was the first thing he remembered from the cold wind that froze his skin.
But the next thing he remembered was he been dumped to the floor, just like a filthy rag. With the same hands that hugged him with such warmth.
Dark brown.
That was the first color he saw as he opened his eyes for all the eternity. A long, straight dark brown hair that looked so perfectly match with the night sky. But its color was a contrary to her pale skin and with the snowflake that just fell from the same night sky. And also a contrary to his silver tresses.
Honey and lavender.
That was the first unfamiliar scent he smelled today. Before, he always smelt Mako scent, and he sick of it. But now the same smell filled his nostril, intoxicated him and thrown him into unconsciousness again.
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"He's your… son?" Tifa asked Vincent with shocked, horror, confused, and hurt expression on her face. It broke his heart to look her with such expression. How could this woman showed so much mixture of feeling on her small face?
"Yeah," he answered her as he bowed his head. No, he didn't want to look at her face.
"…Lucretia, was it? So when you were Turks back then… you… with her…"
Vincent just nodded. It felt like he'd been cheated from Tifa, even though Lucretia was dead, and it was in the past. But he had neither guilty nor ashamed with Hojo; damn, he was honored to take Lucretia first from that freak scientist.
"…"
"…"
"…Lucretia told me everything. She was already pregnant when she married with Hojo. He didn't know; it was just three weeks of gestation. So Hojo thought it was his own son…"
Tifa just stared at Vincent blankly. It was an awkward situation; the woman looked straight to the man while the man avoided her stare. They just stood there; silent crept between them. Only when a gust of winter wind touched their skin, they woke from their trance. Tifa shifted her eyes, now she was seeing the vulnerable Sephiroth. He was white as ghost, or maybe he was a ghost. Tifa shifted her eyes again, this time on the snow. She left out a heavy sigh, and her breath was visible on the air.
"Maybe I should bring him to Shinra Mansion instead," Vincent broke the silent, "It's not as warm as here, but at last it can keep him from the frozen air." He carefully took Sephiroth's arm and hauled it over his shoulder. "I'm sorry I'm bringing him to here. I just can't think of another place at that time. Excuse us," Vincent said his farewell to the broken woman. But just as he wanted to walk away from there, Tifa's arm reached out for him.
"Don't," she looked at Vincent, her hands pulled his shirt to held him.
"Stay here. It's getting cold."
She eyed the silver haired man.
"He can stay too, but I won't treat him. He's all your responsibility."
With that, Tifa went inside the house. Vincent astonished for a moment, and then he smiled a bit before following her.
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Later that night, Tifa silently went outside her room. She looked after Denzel's room first. There he was, sleep soundly. Tifa smiled as she watching Denzel's sleeping face. He was snoring lightly. His conformer was a bit kicked to the end of the bed. She walked quietly to his bed and fixed the conformer, and then she kissed his forehead gently before she walked to the door.
She took a last glance at his 'son' before she walked to Vincent's room. There was a light from his room; was he not sleeping yet? Tifa opened the door slowly and silently. She peeked into the room. Vincent was sleeping on a chair beside the bed, his arm folded on the bed, his head rested on top of it. Maybe he was exhausted after he treated Sephiroth. And the aforementioned man slept on the bed. If not because the rise-and-fall from his chest, Tifa would assume he was dead. Tifa watched Vincent again. Although the room was quite warm, he was shivered slightly. Tifa sighed and walked out through the door again.
She had back to Vincent's room with a spare conformer from her room and then she placed it on top of Vincent. Tifa looked over the raven-haired guy. She didn't mad to him. No, she didn't angry with Vincent. She just… disappointed. It felt like Vincent had cheat on her, lied to her. To think that Vincent have a son was already made her hurt. And to find out that his son was a megalomaniac that once burned down her hometown, killed her father and the villagers, and… and also swung his sword over her… it just way too tragic.
Just as she made her way to the door, Sephiroth stirred from his sleep. Tifa waited with anxiety for anything would happen to her. Time passed by, and after she made sure that she still had her head, Tifa looked at Sephiroth from the corner of her eyes. He still slept, with an expression similar to Denzel's.
An angelic, naïve, and childish.
Except that Sephiroth wasn't angelic. He was demonic.
She cast a last glance over the father and son. She murmured, "Good night." And then she closed the door.
Just as the door clicked, Sephiroth opened his eyes.
"Good night… Lockhart."
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That night, she saw a weirdest dream she ever had.
There was pitch black, but then the darkness disappeared a bit, revealing a figure of a teenage boy and a little girl. Both had long hair, but Tifa couldn't make out their hair colors. Perhaps the boy's hair was blonde and the little girl's hair was raven… She also couldn't see their eyes; it was like a shadow blurred their face; she could only saw their lower face. A high metal fence, which spread from nowhere, separated them and she couldn't see the end of the fence.
"Why are you here?" a childish girl voice spread into the air.
"…To do my job," the teenage boy answered the little girl.
"What job?"
"I'm sorry, I can't tell you what my job is."
"Oh… Hey, hey, why is the fence so high? Is it to guard you from any bad people?"
A small, sad smile was placed on his face.
"I think… it's to cage me from the outside world."
"Huh? Why are you caged? Did you do something bad?"
This time, the boy smiled genuinely.
"It's too complicate for you to think about."
"Complicate? What's the meaning of that?"
The boy held a laugh now.
"It means hard… maybe."
"Hard like… like a rock? Like an iron? Or like this ground?" she asked as she stomped the ground below her little feet. The teen laughed softly.
"Sorry, I can't explain it better. But maybe the closest meaning of it is difficult."
The little girl pouted. The boy stared at her with such warmth and gentleness.
"Soon you'll understand," he reached out for the girl's hands and held them with his.
"You know," he smiled again. "It's the first time someone talking to me like this. It feels like I have… a friend." The girl looked at him bewildered.
"You don't have any friend?"
The boy lowered his head, and then he shook his head slowly. The little girl held up his hands high (for her) and beamed a smile to him.
"Let's be friends, then!"
The next thing Tifa saw was her pale white ceiling on her room.
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"Tifa. Tifa! T-I-F-A!!!"
Denzel's scream and his loud knock –or bang- on her door had woken Tifa. She reluctantly got up from her bed, and as soon as her feet touched the cold floor she felt shivers from her spine to her nape. When Tifa opened the door, Denzel greeted him with his bright smile.
"Come on Tifa, rise and shine!! Vincent already made breakfast for us! Hey Tifa, why didn't you tell that Vincent has come back?"
"Oh…" Tifa thought for a second, "I… forgot. You were already fast asleep when he came, and I didn't feel to waking you up. Sorry," she scratched the back of her head.
"Well, it's okay. Come on, Vincent waiting for us in downstairs!"
It hit her to remember about Vincent. Vincent was already back, but he brought back a 'little gift'. By the way, what about Sephiroth's being?
"Denzel, you go down first, I'll catch you later, okay? I'm going to freshen up first."
"Okay!"
Tifa watched Denzel before he disappeared to the stairs. She walked to her bathroom, brushed her teeth and washed her face. And then she changed into tight T-shirt and short. When she passed Vincent's room, she peeked into the room.
Sephiroth was still slept. Tifa studied his feature. He was thinner from last battle he had with Cloud. There was a wrinkle on his forehead, and his long hair was tangled. Tifa still couldn't believe that she let this murderer sleep in her house. Okay, he was Vincent's son, but still…
Wait.
If Sephiroth was Vincent's son, so…
'He's going to be my… stepson…'
It struck her.
'I'm gonna have an older son?! FREAK!'
Tifa shuddered, and then she closed the door and went downstairs.
Again, she didn't realize that Sephiroth was fully awake from the time she peeked from the door.
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"Tifa, I'm off to school!" Denzel waved his hand to her direction.
"Goodbye. Take care," Tifa waving back and smiled. She was so happy to see her child's happy face. It could soothe her nerves and mind from certain person. Vincent already told Denzel that he was a widower with one son, and now his son was badly wounded and had to rest to recover. Denzel frowned and pouted for a while, but then he said that it's all right. He didn't really care of it. What necessary now was that Vincent finally came back, which meant Tifa would no longer worry about him anymore. Denzel only care of his mother happiness, everything else weren't really important.
Vincent walked to the door, joined Tifa who stood at the doorframe.
"I'm going to shopping for some ointment, bandages, and healing materia. We ran out of it," he said, "You want to buy something? I'll get it for you."
Tifa stared at him. "You… leave me alone in here? With him?"
"I'm sorry, Tifa. But I really need those things. Sephiroth's wound is deeper than I thought," Vincent apologized to her. Tifa looked at her feet.
"Sephiroth is more important than me, huh," she murmured. Vincent jerked his head. "Did you say something, Tifa?"
Tifa shook her head. "It's nothing. If you want to shop, then go. I guess I still closing the bar. I don't feel to open it today. I need a rest too."
Vincent nodded. "Well then, I'm off. I'm going to buy groceries too. Maybe I coming at noon," he leaned to kiss her, but instead kissed her in lips, Tifa turned her face so he ended up kissing her cheek. Vincent's face saddened, but he said nothing and then he off.
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Tifa watched him departed from the window. She didn't know why she avoid Vincent's kiss. Maybe she still couldn't forgive him. Who knew?
Tifa made her way to upstairs. Just when she passed Vincent's room, a hand catch her hand pulled her inside the room. And then she'd been dragged and thrown to the bed. Tifa looked up at her attacker. There he was, standing in front of the door, locking it and then crossing the room into her way. Tifa hissed his name in bitter and venomous tone, full of hatred.
"Sephiroth."
He just smirked. Oh, how she wanted to rip those thin lips so badly. He was towering her, and although he was thinner and badly wounded, his presence still strong and frightening.
"What do you want?" she stared back at him defiantly. Sephiroth chuckled softly, and it hurt her ears to hear his voice. When she met his eyes, she could see excitement inside those glowing green orbs.
"Still the same Lockhart I know. Fiery as ever."
"Don't speak to me like we were old friends," she spat to him.
"Well, I already aver you as my friend."
"I'm not. So, get off of me!"
"Nope. I like our position. It reminds me of that day."
Tifa narrowed her eyes; her face was pale as ever. She bit her lower lip.
"…Don't make me remembering that shitty day. How can you remember that? It was about 7, 8 years ago!"
Sephiroth moved his face closer to her, their forehead touching. He stared deeply at her chocolate eyes, and then smirked again.
"How can I forget? It was the first time I ever taste a virgin's blood."
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A/N: Stuck. Stuck. Stuck. I just want to say that. But please, don't get stuck to review, okay? Like I've said before, GIMME MORE REVIEWS!!!