Chapter 6

Barret was not a man who admitted he was wrong often, but he could admit it. And as he stood in the doorway to the bar, watching Tifa, he could see he had been wrong. Wrong to start talking about taking Marlene away somewhere safe. Marlene had always been safe with Tifa. But the whole situation was just… it was getting too out of control. It was mind boggling to think that Cloud would ever take in something that was a part of Sephiroth.

Wasn't it bad enough that they had tried to bring back the original Sephiroth? They were obviously evil and given a chance they would do it all again, or maybe do something even worse. It hurt Barret more than he could even begin to describe to think that Marlene might end up hurt, or even dead, when the inevitable rampage came.

He sighed, and could see that the sound startled Tifa who turned to look at him, apprehension clear in all her movements. Barret sighed again and stepped into the bar. It was time to set the girls mind at ease.

He could remember his first meeting with Tifa, then only eighteen and already working hard at making the Seventh Heaven Bar a haven in the sector seven slums. He'd not thought a lot of her at first, until Marlene, who up until that time hadn't shown a single sign that she liked other people at all, had happily attached herself to Tifa's leg one evening when he'd gone in to have a drink, it hadn't taken long after that for him to start seeing Tifa like a little sister, and she had never once complained about him leaving Marlene with her while he did Avalanche business.

"Had a talk with Marlene." He said, cursing the fact that it was just difficult to admit that he'd been too hasty. "Seems she'd prefer it if I stayed here for a while."

He looked away from Tifa's surprised expression and sighed again. "You gotta understand Tifa, all I want is for Marlene to be safe. That's all I ever wanted. And this damn fool idea of Cloud's… it ain't gonna be safe, an' I just can't get why none o' ya see it 'sides me." He looked back at her, willing her to understand his side.

She stepped forward and put a hand on his arm. "Barret, nothing is safe, we can try all we want to make it that way, we can fight a hundred Sephiroth's, take on a hundred Jenova's, but we're never going to be able to make the world completely safe. Marlene could trip and fall down the stairs and break her neck, it would be tragic, but there is no way we could prevent it. We can't just wrap her and Denzel up in wool, no matter how much we might want to."

Barret knew she was right, there were any number of things that could happen, and there was no way he could stop it. But this was something he could stop. "But what Cloud's doing… it's like puttin' a cat in a birdcage, there's only one way it can go, and it ain't pretty."

She sighed and he looked at her. "Don't you trust Aerith?" she asked him.

Now that was a loaded question. He had loved the girl, hell, it had been hard not to with her personality. He had trusted her when she was alive, but she was dead now. The dead were dead, and they didn't go interfering with the living. "She's dead Tifa." He said simply.

"I know that, but we all wear the ribbons in remembrance of her. And even if she hadn't asked Cloud to do this, hadn't asked me to do this, I think we still would have."

Barret frowned. "What?" Surely he hadn't heard her right. She would have done this anyway? "Why?"

Tifa smiled. "Because Aerith was forgiving, and if she was alive right now she would be with Cloud at the WRO trying to convince Kadaj and the other two to come with her. Just because she's not here anymore doesn't mean we can just conveniently overlook the things we should do. If someone had shown them a bit of compassion, a bit of care then they would never have fallen to Jenova's will so easily."

"How can you say that?" Barret questioned her, truly at a loss. "How can you know that they just didn't do it because they wanted too?" he asked.

She didn't answer, and Barret thought that he had maybe gotten through to her. If he could just get through to her then maybe he could put a stop to this madness. He was dismayed when she did finally speak.

"I don't." she sighed and continued, not looking at him. "I don't know why exactly they did it, and leaving Aerith aside for the minute then I can see why you'd think they did it because they wanted to. But isn't it better to give them the chance to prove that they aren't evil, that they aren't going to rampage through the streets on a killing spree. If we judge them it makes us no better than Sephiroth."

Barret shut his eyes and sighed heavily. "I'm not gonna get you ta change yer mind am I?" he asked, she shook her head. "Then I suppose I'd best hang around, make sure they don't do nothing they shouldn't."

The smile she gave him made him feel guilty again, and he had to tell her, for his own peace of mind as well as hers. "You know I wouldn't just take her and never bring her back for visits. You know that don'tcha?" After everything Tifa had ever done for him, all she had done for Marlene, there was no way he could ever do something so final. He coughed to cover his embarssement and looked away when she looked like she was about to cry and said.

"So when's spiky bringin' them in?"

*x*

Marlene was quiet after Daddy had left the room, clutching the small stuffed toy version of Cait Sith Reeve had given her all those years ago after he'd Kidnapped her and Aerith's mum. Marlene remembered being afraid at first, but after the first two days all the fear had seeped out of her, at least, it did when it was just Reeve with them. The Soldiers, Heidegger and Scarlett were scary, and it had been obvious that Reeve hadn't wanted to be a part of taking her and tricking Tifa, Daddy and the others.

He'd always been kind, and when he'd found out she'd been having bad dreams he'd brought her the toy cat. She knew Daddy thought it was strange that she enjoyed being with Reeve, whenever he had the time off work to visit, but she had always just known that he was a good person, and that he was being made to do what he did. It had always been like that, for as long as she could remember. Daddy called her special, but she didn't think he really understood exactly what that meant.

Denzel said it was like a superpower, but Marlene didn't think it was quite like that either. When she'd asked Tifa once, she had just told her to trust in her heart, and it would never steer her wrong. She could only remember ever choosing to believe in the good in someone for the first time with Reeve, anything before that was a little too faded, and she supposed it was also the first time she had ever been outside Daddy and Tifa's protection, it was the first time she didn't have someone she truly loved and trusted to tell her it was ok to speak to that person, or to stay away.

But she had liked Reeve, and it had all worked out, and Reeve had become one of her most favourite people, ranked above Cloud even. In the same way she had known that Reeve wasn't a bad man, she had gotten a feeling, only a small one, hidden away under all the darkness, that maybe the one called Loz hadn't been as bad as she'd originally thought. It had been no more than a flicker, and very faint, but she was sure it had been there.

That was why she hadn't gotten as angry as Denzel had when Tifa had told them what Cloud was doing, and it was also why she had refused to go anywhere with Daddy, not when she knew it would hurt Tifa so very much. She had tried to explain, but Daddy hadn't really understood. To be honest, Marlene herself didn't really understand, just that there was a part of her that was just sure that the one called Loz wasn't all bad, and if he wasn't all bad, then wasn't it safe to assume that the other two weren't all bad either?

Hearing Denzel in the hall she went to the door of their shared room and looked out. "Denzel?" she questioned when she saw him holding three sleeping bags.

He looked over to her and she knew he'd been crying. "Cloud's coming home tonight. And he's bringing those three back with him. They're going to stay in Cloud's office."

"Oh." She stepped out and followed him down and up the other set of steps to Cloud's office. "Is that ok?" she asked.

He shrugged.

"Did you talk to Tifa?" she asked.

He nodded, and that was all she needed to know. She didn't like it when the people in the house were fighting. "Is your dad taking you away?"

The question surprised her, but she quickly shook her head. "No. He's going to stay here for a while instead." He looked up at her and she smiled at him. "Were you worried?" she asked.

He turned red and deliberately started setting out the sleeping bags. "No, of course not." He said, but it wasn't convincing. And she laughed.

When he was done, having put the sleeping bags in a perfect order tweaking them to cover for his earlier embarrassment, they returned to their room. They talked for a while, but Denzel fell asleep less than half an hour later, and not even the sound of the Airship coming to rest over the house, the engines humming, woke him.

Marlene deliberately climbed under her quilt, having changed into her nightdress after Denzel had fallen asleep. She had promised that she would stay in her room tonight, just in case something happened, and though she didn't think anything was going to happen, she would do as Daddy told her and wait for him to come and say goodnight after everything was sorted out downstairs.

She waited, and listened, hearing footsteps coming up the stairs, there was some talking, but she couldn't hear the words with the door closed. She buried herself in deeper under the covers as the footsteps soon came towards the door to her room and she could hear Tifa and Cloud speaking.

"Maybe I should wait until tomorrow?" Marlene could almost see the eye roll Tifa gave in response to that and stifled a giggle, Cloud was an idiot sometimes, but he was learning, which was really all Marlene could hope for.

"If you don't go in and talk to him tonight he'll think you don't care. I promised him he could see you tonight, and tired or not he's going to want to see you."

Marlene shut her eyes when the door opened, pretending to be asleep, knowing that if they thought she was awake they would feel too embarrassed to talk. Marlene could only be glad that she had Tifa, because boys were very silly creatures sometimes. Why was it so hard for them to say 'I love you' to each other?

"Denzel?" she heard Cloud said quietly, and it took a minute before Denzel muttered something sleepily and woke.

"You're home?"

Marlene angled her Cat toy up to her face and opened her eyes to slits, she didn't really mean to be nosy, but she just knew that Cloud was smiling, and he did it so rarely that she wanted just a little peek. Yep, he was smiling, that small smile, the one he used when he was watching Tifa work and thought no one could see him, or when she showed him the newest dance she'd learnt at the little club down the road, or when Denzel gushed over his swords, asking a million questions about them, she didn't know the exact word for the emotion behind it, but it was her favourite Cloud smile. She closed her eyes again and listened.

"Yeah."

"Are they here?"Denzel asked, a lot more awake now.

"Yeah, they are, but only for a few days, until Reeve can find us a place for them." There was a long silence. "While they're here, just be careful not to startle them, ok. I expect they might spend most of their time in my office, but just in case they do decide to explore a bit, try and stay with one of us, at least until we see if they are trustworthy, ok?"

"Ok…"

"Maybe you should go back to sleep, Tifa told me you were a bit upset today."

"I wasn't upset! I was… I was just…"

"Hey, it's been a stressful couple of months, the last few days especially. You're allowed to be upset… or at least that's what Tifa keeps telling me when I get that way."

"Really?"

Marlene could only assume Cloud nodded in response, and then there was silence, broken only by Denzel moving to get comfortable.

"What's say we go do something, once I get those three settled?" Cloud asked.

"Something?" Denzel asked dubiously.

Cloud let out a little huff that could have been a laugh, or confusion. "Yeah, something. You pick."

"Just the two of us?"

"If you want. But that rules out the Golden Saucer, it wouldn't be fair on Marlene."

"Or Tifa." Denzel yawned.

The sound Cloud made then was definitely a fond laugh. "Yeah, or Tifa. Goodnight Denzel." He got up and went to the door, pausing long enough to say. "Goodnight Marlene." Marlene wasn't sure if he'd realised she was awake or not, but she decided to keep up the pretence of sleep as he left the room.

The next thing she remembered was Daddy kissing her forehead and whispering. "Night Baby girl." To which she mumbled out a sleepy "Night Daddy." And fell back to sleep immediately.