Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Squaresoft, or anything. Sadly.

Rating: T

Author Notes: I love you guys. I have gotten so many great little reviews, it just makes me smile when I read them, and go "wheeee!" running around in little circles.

Hopefully I'm not writing too much out of character? Not very sure how Denzel and Marlene act, so I'm kinda rusty on that.

So, yeah. I'm trying to make this a little more angsty, because well . . . I like angst, haha. And Cloud is in this chapter, oh, yes . . .

Crawling

He just couldn't help himself.

Loz wasn't sure how long he'd been staring out the window. Eyes glazed over, he watched the clouds slowly approaching. They weren't the white, puffy ones he'd seen more recently, but they were dark, and . . . and scary. Though the man didn't usually fret at all about the weather, the thought of big, black, monsters looming over the city—while Tifa was out of his protection—made him feel very odd. It was a strange hurting deep within his chest, and along with that, an unsettling sensation in his stomach. And he knew he wasn't hungry.

He just couldn't help himself. It only struck him when Tifa had walked out the door that she was the reason why he was still there. Still there in the house, still there . . . living. It had been her hand that saved him from being pulled away.

Shuddering a bit, the man wondered what being dead was like. All he knew was that it couldn't be fun—his brothers had tried to hard to avoid it . . .

"Tifa's gonna get sick!" came a wail from the kitchen. Standing from his seat for the first time in a long time, Loz cracked his back and lazily walked into the hallway. Marlene was gazing out into the window, tugging rather forcefully at Denzel's sleeve. "Tifa's gonna get sick if it raaaaiiinnnsss!" With that last word, one last jerk nearly drove the older boy into the hard wood floor.

"Marlene, calm down! I'm sure Cloud's already there. He'll take care of her, don't worry!"

A quivering frown appeared on the girl's face. "But what if he doesn't come back again?"

Denzel was silent for a moment, as if trying to find the right words to say. At last, he settled with, "He will come back, Marlene, I just know it."

This seemed to appease her slightly, but she was still not completely content. "I think she should at least have an umbrella." It was then the two looked over at Loz, as if they had just noticed his presence. "Mr. Loz, why don't you bring Tifa an umbrella? Then she won't get sick!"

Loz nodded slowly, not wholly comprehending any of this. What was an umbrella, and what was a sick? Scratching his head, he figured getting a sick wasn't a good thing, because Marlene was very much against it. And if it wasn't a good thing, then he definitely didn't want it to get Tifa . . . or Tifa get it . . . or however it was supposed to happen.

Before he knew it, he was being pushed out the door with this . . . this thing in his hands. It was blue, smooth and made a sort of scratchy noise when he ran his finger against the softer material, and then poking out from the bottom was a black stick-like thing that was curved at the end. This strange contraption was going to keep sick from getting Tifa? He wasn't sure, because he'd never encountered sick in his life.

The silver haired man began to walk quickly down the sidewalk, racing with the dark monsters overhead. He didn't want them to get to Tifa before he did, so he could protect her . . . And suddenly the walking stopped, and brows furrowed. He remembered Kadaj telling him one time, "Shut up and protect yourself", which he figured meant to keep himself out of the way of the Midgar wolf's fangs. Loz had done nothing since that day but protect himself and himself only. But now he felt the urge to protect someone else—Tifa.

Suddenly, Loz stopped abruptly. It seemed that someone had tapped him on the shoulder. Turning around, he saw no one there. And then, another tap—except this time on his other shoulder. Again, there was no one there. He began to wonder who was playing this trick on him when he felt a third tap, except on top of his head. He felt something cold and slippery dripping down his forehead . . . was it water? It was rain.

"Tifa's gonna get sick if it rains!"

With that he lunged forward, feet pounding back against the concrete, running forward as fast as he could. At last, he saw a figure standing outside some place, which he instantly recognized to be Tifa. She was already wet, and the curls of her hair were matted down against her head. The look on her face made something in his chest twist—she looked . . . sad. Maybe she was afraid of those black monsters in the sky? Quickly, he outstretched his hand to give her the umbrella.

And suddenly she was okay again! Tifa was laughing, a smile on her face. Loz didn't notice one creeping its way onto his, as well. He saw her mouth move, but could not hear her through the sound of pounding raindrops against the pavement. The umbrella seemed to take a new form, and she placed it above their heads, blocking the water from hitting them.

Loz scratched the back of his head, wondering why he didn't think of that in the first place. "Are you okay, Tifa?" he huffed, though he was the one out of breath. Secretly, he'd been dying to ask her that question all night. All she did was nod, and wipe away some water that had somehow fallen next to her eyes.

Tifa began shaking, teeth chattering against each other. Loz recalled another memory with his brothers—they were in weather that was cold, and Yazoo suggested, "sharing body heat". He decided that this particular occasion was calling for it. So, reaching over to wrap an arm around her, Loz pulled her closer to her—he was sure he had more than enough "body heat" to share, because he wasn't cold at all. Besides, he rather liked the feeling of her shivering against him . . .

"Oh, Tifa, I'm so sorry!" Marlene flailed her arms around the older woman.

"Marlene, don't do that, you'll get wet."

"I can't believe Cloud did that! I mean, he—"

"It's alright."

"Tifa . . .?"

Tifa put on a smile. "He must have been busy—it's not his fault." At this point, she wasn't sure whether she was talking to herself or Marlene. It didn't matter to her, though, because she would get sick if she stayed in these wet clothes. Hurriedly, she headed upstairs and threw off the dress, casting it to the other side of the room. Tifa stood there momentarily, shuddering at the remembrance of Loz pulling her against him.

As she changed into more comfortable clothes, she reminded herself after he was fully healed, she'd kick him out . . .

"Ready or not, here I come!"

There was a sound of shuffling feet against wooden floors, and hurried steps that grew louder and then fell away. Letting out a sigh, Tifa wondered how she's tell the kids. She put on a stern face when she headed to the door, ready to just break it to them. Yes, that was what she would do—tell them straight how it was going to be . . .

"Found you!" A fit of giggles and laughter ensued, and Tifa watched as Marlene and Denzel pulled Loz from the coat closet, ready to start up their next round.

This was going to be harder than she thought.

All he could really understand was the last part of it:

"But Cloud's never coming back and we need someone like Mr. Loz around!"

"Cloud is coming back, and no, we don't need anyone like 'Mr. Loz'!"

The end of the conversation was completely unfathomable from where he was situated, lying in his bed, listening. But there were raised voices, a bit of what sounded to be screaming from Marlene, and a "Don't talk back to me like that, young lady!"

Did he do something wrong?

A slamming noise echoed through the house, and after half an hour of commotion, there was complete silence. Sitting up in his bed, Loz slowly crept out into the hallway. There, with her back turned toward him, was Tifa, yanking away at her hair. Quietly, he walked behind her. "Tifa?" She spun around, looking up at him with a red face and eyes full of water. "Hey . . ." he murmured softly, inching closer to her.

Tifa merely stepped back, shaking her head. He thought he heard her whisper something about "just a Sephiroth clone", but he wasn't very sure. What was that supposed to mean? Was she mad at him? Something just then hit him hard. He felt a deep . . . fear of her being angry at him, and he wasn't sure why. He stared at her, speechless. If there was something he'd done, he would readily and gladly do anything to change it.

"Good night." She stormed past him, leaving him wondering what he'd done wrong.

Her head slammed hard against the cold steel floors, vision blurred. He towered over her, standing upon at the top of the stairs with his back turned toward her. In that moment, she no longer mattered to him; he was completely absorbed in his own thoughts, his own being, and his own self.

Slowly, she wobbled onto her knees, gazing at the man before her. Black cloak . . . but his head was shrouded in darkness. Opening her mouth, she tried to yell his name. But her voice was muffled in the void of darkness that was consuming her—the walls began drawing closer and closer, but still the man did not budge. Wrapped up in his thoughts . . .

And then there were the sound of rushed footsteps behind her, boots clanking loudly against the ground. "Tifa!"

"You're late . . ."

She turned her head, only to be faced with glowing green eyes.

"Tifa?"

Immediately, a scream erupted from deep within her. No, he wasn't . . .

"Tifa!"

. . . Her hero . . .

"Tifa! Tifa, wake up!"

Eyes fluttering open, she felt the warm blankets around her, cold sweat dripping from her forehead, and saw the person standing over her bed. ". . . Cloud . . . ?"

". . . Yeah . . . ?"

"You're back!" Tifa threw her arms around his neck, causing him to fall forward. He placed an arm on the side of the bed in order not to crash into her. With his free hand he patted her lightly on the back, not knowing what else to do.

"Uh, I didn't wanna wake you, but you were yelling."

Burying her head into the crook of his neck, she replied, "It's alright . . ."

Cloud pulled away abruptly, breaking her hold on him. He scratched the back of his head, as if he felt awkward just standing there. "Uh, sorry 'bout yesterday night."

"It's okay! You're back now, so we can do something tonight!"

"Uh . . ." he stepped back, staring steadily at the bed sheets. "I dunno, Teef, I just got here, and I'm kinda tired."

Tifa smiled, "Okay, then maybe—"

"Tifa are you okay?" Marlene and Denzel came dashing into the room, running directly into Cloud. The two merely stared at him before it registered in their minds—he was really back!

"Cloud, I knew you'd come back!" Denzel grinned.

The man nodded in return. Tifa looked at the happy faces around her. Maybe they could really be a family . . .

But the content look on Cloud's face disappeared when a fifth member walked into the room. In an instant, his sword was in hand, and he was briskly pushing the children behind him. "How the hell did you get in here?" he demanded, glaring daggers at Loz. He was trying to figure out how the brute was still alive—he was sure he'd killed him.

The silver haired man merely stood there, tilting his head to one side. "I . . ." he looked about the room, not knowing what to say. Upon spotting Tifa, though, his confusion dispelled, replaced with a concerned look. "Tifa . . . are you okay? I . . . I heard you scream, so . . ." Loz wanted to say how he was afraid something bad happened to her, how he'd left what he was doing and ran, how he followed Marlene and Denzel into his room, and how he'd seen 'Big Brother' with a sword . . .

Of course! It was he, Big Brother, who had made her scream. He remembered how sad she looked when he failed to show up last night, and how . . . how she seemed so angry at him . . . was this Big Brother's fault?

Loz turned to face the man, observing the large sword in his hand. "Did you hurt Tifa?"

"What?" Cloud glanced over at her, and back at Loz. "What's going on here?"

"Cloud, I can explain—"

Loz watched as Tifa rose from bed, taking a place at Cloud's side. Just watching her choose Big Brother over him made him feel even stranger—it was like being angry and sad at the same time.

"Well, you have a lot of explaining to do." Cloud put the sword away, eyeing Loz for a while, before turning to the woman.

"Tifa . . .?" Though he called her name, she wouldn't even look at him. What had he done? Was she really mad at him?

Cloud gritted his teeth. Tifa, sensing his discomfort, at last turned to Loz. "Please leave . . ."

And so he did.

Author Notes: Augh, sorry if it turned out kind of crappy. I haven't really been writing lately, and blah. It was hard for me to describe a lot of things, and I kind of debating on what to do next right now. Well, I hope this is longer than the other chapters I have up, and enjoy? Writing as Cloud was difficult for me. I don't really like him; I think he's kind of a prick.

But yeah, please give me some feedback? I feel like such a failure right now, I don't know if this chapter is really up to par . . . -sobs- Review now please?