Capitulo Siete!

Disclaimer: Most of this story is property of Square Enix. The only things that aren't are my original character, Harper, and the plot for this fan fiction. In no way do I claim ownership of Square Enix's work.

Chapter Seven:

Finally back on land and in Junon, the first thing done was the curing of Harper's poison. Still, she didn't wake. Vincent asked Cid to fly him back to Bone Village. He found a spot in the Forgotten Forest able to be used as a home-like place, and that's what it became. Harper woke a day later. Cid had left as soon as he knew Valentine knew what he was doing.

Even though she had lived through the poison, was awake and had been given just about the best care in Gaia…Harper still needed rest, was somehow still weak. The passage of time in the Forest was slow but easy, and waiting for recovery wasn't hard.

Some of the pews were out of place, a few were broken, and pieces of a broken one were scattered everywhere as if broken in mid-air. This only registered as vandalism to Cloud as he walked slowly up the aisle to the flowers. But an unconscious Tifa wasn't

vandalism.

Cloud ran to her and propped up Tifa's head; she didn't respond. "Tifa!" Still nothing. "Tifa!!"

Her eyes fluttered and opened though they drooped. "You're late," she teased.

It was no time for teasing. He might be useless, but Cloud did still care. "Who did this?" The scattered and broken pews were now evidence of a fight.

Tifa shook her head, though it clearly pained her. "He didn't say." She relaxed into Cloud's arms, then shot up exclaiming, "Marlene!" At that, dizziness overtook her senses and she drifted off into oblivion again.

Cloud looked around—his ice-chest holding all his materia had been stolen. He cursed again before the stigma dragged him kicking and screaming to unconsciousness as well.

He and Tifa lay in the flowers for a while before Cloud woke up upstairs in his old house near Edge. He was in Denzel's bed. Tifa in Marlene's. Tifa was still sound asleep, and Reno and Rude were by the door.

Cloud spun at the sound of Reno's voice. "You're pretty heavy," he was commenting. After the meeting with Rufus Shinra in Helin, Cloud hadn't expected to see those two again anytime soon. Now, he supposed, he had been rescued by them.

Cloud turned to Rude, who was asking, "Weren't there kids living with you?"

He only glared in answer.

"'Cause they ain't here," Reno stated.

That was new, and caught Cloud by surprise. But he recovered. It shouldn't surprise him: he couldn't help anyone. He couldn't protect anyone: he was useless. Why then be taken aback when something like this happens? He had no answers for them.

"You don't care?" Rude pressed.

"I…" Cloud looked to Tifa, hoping that maybe some of her peace as she slept could be given him and that he could find some answer there. But he didn't.

Reno sighed and began to leave. "You're a real handful." Rude slammed the door on their way out.

Marlene clung to Loz's leg, afraid of the other two—Kadaj and Yazoo—as Kadaj (the youngest of the trio) began talking about "Brother" and going through Cloud's ice-chest. "So, Big Brother was hiding it."

Marlene thought. Cloud wasn't their brother, he couldn't be: they looked nothing alike.

"This is the power of the Lifestream," Kadaj went on, uninterrupted. He selected a blue orb from the many. "This materia will give us renewed power." He held it before his eyes, marveling. His arm simply absorbed it when he pressed it against it; then he held that up and gazed as the materia shown through.

It was wrong of them, Marlene thought. This was supposed to be a peaceful place, not one of destruction. These men were bad, she knew. Now, she also knew what it was like for Harper to be taken…a new fear settled in her hear, so pure and innocent till recently with all the hurt being caused by that sickness and…him. What if these were the same men who took Harper? What if they really had killed her? What would happen to her?

It had been all day almost, but he still expected Reno and Rude to come back. So Cloud had waited all day looking through the window at the angel resting atop and iron crossbeam. He used to be like that, he thought, watching over those he cared for, those he didn't, and (on occasion) those who really didn't deserve it. Now look at what he had become.

Tifa sat up, still looking as if she needed more rest. He wanted to ask if she was ok… but the time for that had passed. Instead, "Reno and Rude are out looking." She knew what he was talking about—Denzel and Marlene.

They would do their best, she knew. Something was weighing more heavily on her heart, though. "You have geostigma, don't you?" Tifa and Marlene had found bandages like Denzel's and no evidence of anyone else living in the church. Cloud sat down on the other bed, not offering any answers; not offering anything. "So it's ok to just give up and die. Is that what you think?"

Still nothing.

Tifa turned away from him and clasped her arms around her legs. "It is..." she whispered incredulously. Cloud had changed so much. He used to be so strong.

"There is no cure," Cloud protested, though he didn't know why. His life was meaningless.

Tifa looked at him, bewildered that he thought his life to be of so little worth. "But that's not stopping Denzel from fighting! Don't run," she faced him once more. "Let's fight it together. We can help each other, I know we can."

Cloud didn't lift his head to look at her. In fact, he hardly outwardly acknowledged that Tifa was talking to him, trying to help him. She sat back and hung her head. "Or do we have to be a real family for that to work?"

So, he thought, I even failed to give her a family. It was a sorry patchwork job I did, he thought as he examined Marlene, Denzel—everyone he had brought together—in a negative light. "Tifa…" She looked up; Cloud still had his head down. "…I'm not fit to help anyone. Not my family, not my friends. No one." The pain in his arm eased a little, letting his head clear somewhat.

"Dilly-dally, Shilly-shally…" Cloud looked up a little at her, surprised that she would mock truth. "Dilly-dally, shilly-shally," she repeated, with no time to explain.