Barrett finally visits Marlene and isn't happy on what he hears her say of the happenings in his absence.

Disclaimer: None of the characters or anything that revolves around Final Fantasy 7 has ever belonged to me but will always be credited by Square-Enix.

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Chapter Eleven – Dead Meat

Barrett Wallace was a man of many words, both by him and the people around him. He was quick tempered and known not to be messed with. He adored Marlene, the innocent child and cared for her so much that usually violence is used when someone ruined her. To be honest, the only thing that made the man's image positive was the pink ribbon around his arm.

There he was, thrusting his gun arm back and forth as he made his way towards the bar where he intended to pick up the child and have a walk with her. Even from far, he could notice that there was three figures in the bar none of them the height of Marlene or close.

Resting his fingers around the knob, he stopped himself from turning it to enter when he felt a tug at his shirt; looking down ready to kick the shit out of the person who dared act so foolish until he was faced by the height difference and finally relaxed upon seeing her.

"What are you doing out here, Marlene?" He asked her slightly confused why Tifa or the others weren't watching over her.

"Oh, well Tifa kept ignoring me when I asked for breakfast so I left and made my way to a diner and got myself ice cream instead" the child said innocently as she licked away the last of the vanilla sensation from the corner of her lips.

"She did what? Marlene haven't I told you that ice cream is bad to have first thing in the morning?" Barrett asked not wanting to take his anger on Lockhart just yet.

"Yes that's what I thought also until Cid gave me some ice cream last time to make me 'shut the hell up" Marlene chirped as she wondered if she should ask if she could have another scoop of ice cream.

"He told you that?" Barrett asked now getting his temper up as he heard Marlene not only quote but say a mild language of Cid.

"No, not really he also said….Mffh!" The child cried as Barrett's only fingers clasped around her mouth from saying what she was planning on pointing out.

"I'm going to kill that god da-…Monkey" Barrett of course started out by muttering angrily by the foul words the pilot had taught the innocence but stopped himself quickly from swearing himself by calling Highwind a; monkey instead.

"Cid's a monkey?" Marlene blinked confused as she shrugged her shoulders and noticed Barrett of course look quite unusual. "Are you angry at me?" She asked scared as the sight of her worried made the hot tempered figure calm down.

"No, I'm not angry at you, so tell me Marlene; who else was your babysitter while I was gone?" He said with a soft sigh before beginning to walk and hoping she would follow him.

Chasing after him she began to open her thoughts to remember the most exciting one. "Cait Sith & Red XII were forced at some point to baby sit me" she stated with a smile as she wanted to say more.

"And what did those two do?" He asked worried on what would come next. Marlene of course chose to say nothing as she fidgeted upon her ribbon wondering what to say next. Barrett on the other hand didn't notice the silence of the small kid and kept walking around.

"Can I have more ice cream?" She asked as she didn't know how else to change the subject.

"You just had some…Don't you want some real food?" He asked with a raise of an eyebrow as he made his way towards a building and left the door opened for her to follow.

"I guess pancakes don't sound so bad right about now" She noted after entering. The scenery seemed to capture her quite quickly for being low keyed, there was old music in the background and the place was overpowered by the colors red and white. Happily making her way towards a stool, she twirled left and right while she waited for the menu to arrive.

Barrett didn't like the idea on sitting on the stools as he was planning on being seated on the chairs with tables in the corner. But he couldn't of course disappoint Marlene or leave her alone so he went over and sat down next to her.

After a while which was to be exact half an hour, Marlene had licked away the ice cream from her lips and stared happily at Barrett. "That pancake with ice cream was amazing!" She chirped gladly.

"Glad you liked it though the damn coffee wasn't top of my list" he noted not bothered to keep his sentence clean just that once as he soon remembered something. "You didn't tell me what happened when that noisy cat and Red boy baby sat you" he stated.

"Oh it was nothing" she said trying to make the subject dead.

"Seems like it was, Marlene whatever they did you tell me and I'll go shoot their tails off" he said with a smile.

She played with the fork against the plate as she didn't want to say anything but continued trying to make him not know what happened. "It'll bore you"

"Marlene what happened?"

Finally giving in she spoke of the happenings afraid she would get punished after he found out. "Remember that paper you gave me?" She asked not daring to look him in the eye.

"The one I gave you before I left?" He asked.

"Yeah the one that said 'He'll miss you' but then you scratched the 'He'll' to an 'I'll'. Just to let you know I really loved that paper" she told him still keeping her eyes down.

"Loved?"

"I'm getting there! So anyways Cait Sith and Red baby sat me and soon enough before they left Red XII left earlier and it was just me and Cait Sith…"

"I don't like the sound of this" he said with a sigh, whenever that annoying cat was involved problem was always caused.

"Let me continue, Barrett!" She told him hoping he would change his mind on not wanting to listen to the sorry.

"Sorry, Marlene; go on"

"So anyways, Cait Sith asked about the paper and I wondered how he knew but I figured you told him. Yeah, so I showed him it and he said I need to either pay him the money or give the paper back because it was his"

"Hell no, that cat did not do that!" Barrett muttered angrily.

"And I didn't have enough money to pay for the paper…"

"How much did that damn cat ask for?" Barrett asked just wanting to get a minute with that robot like object to give him a piece of his mind for asking money from a child, but not just any child; Marlene.

"A few thousand grand's" she stated.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Barrett yelled as he soon shut up from the weird stares, paying for the bill he led Marlene outside so he could scream all he wanted.

"So I had to give him the paper…I'm sorry Barrett don't be angry with me!" Marlene pleaded looking quite upset with herself as her eyes seemed wet with new tears.

"What? Oh no, Marlene don't cry. Why the hell would I be angry at you? I'm angry at that cat, not you I'm just confused why you didn't give him a great punch like you did to that chocobo plushie of Denzel's when he stole your dolls" Barrett said with a smile as he patted the upset child and soon enough knew that was the reason why she didn't want to tell him before what happened because she thinking it was her fault.

"Really?" The child asked looking hopeful as his smile made her cheerful once more and she gave the man a hug.

"I wouldn't ever be mad at you…-"

Barrett was stopped in his speech as he noticed a swish of black, white and red pass by him.

"Marlene, close your eyes" he stated as he made his way over to the black, white and red.

Marlene of course let out a giggle as she clasped her hands against her eyes and kept on smiling. There Barrett went again.

"And close your ears!" He ordered her still walking over to the stopped figures. Obeying him the child shut her eyelids tight and clasped her hands at her ears. Upon noticing her listen to his orders he began to speak.

"HEY BITCH! YOU GET YOUR ASS HERE RIGHT NOW!" He yelled at the black and white cat who stared confused at the red creature.

"I think Barrett's gone mad" The cat told his comrade before tilting his head and wondering why his partner was now backing away from him.

"He's talking to you, I have nothing to do with whatever happens" the red of the two mentioned before watching the cat flee for his life as the man shook his gun arm violently and chased after him.

Walking over to the lost of the scenery child, he sat down next to her and watched the little show of Barrett & Cait Sith.

-TOBECONTINUED-

Author Note – Next chapter involves the three Turk; Reno, Elena & Tseng.