Chapter II: Stand –Part I–
Tifa opened her eyes as she slowly risen up from the chair she somehow fell asleep in. Footsteps filled the small hallway.
'What time is it?' She wondered. Tifa looked around to find the clock, but her eyes caught a glimpse of the lightening dawn blue sky. It must've been around five or close to six in the morning.
She stood up as the footsteps passed her bedroom door. She walked over, and turned her doorknob, she peeked her head out and saw Cloud's shadow descending the staircase. She opened the door and silently followed him downstairs. He stopped and turned around. Tifa guessed that he must've heard her.
Cloud looked immediately confused and bewildered to see her standing there. Tifa continued to walk down the steps till she was standing right in front of him. "Have you been up all night?" He asked her. She shook her head.
"Good luck." She told him.
His eyes widen at her words. Tifa smiled at him, "Be careful too." She added. He nodded slowly and turned toward the back door. Tifa walked out with him and watched as he got on his Fenrir.
She stood with her arms folded as he put on his goggles and revved the engine. He drove off and made a U turn before riding to towards the direction of Sector Five wreckage.
He'll try and do what he could to keep the church standing, while she stayed here and watched the kids.
But that wasn't all she was going to do. There was no way she could stand there and do nothing while something precious to her family would possibly be desecrated. No this was her fight too.
It was already six in o'clock in the morning by the time Cloud had arrived on the church's location. He took off his goggles, and started at the foundation. His Mako tainted blue eyes filled with sadness as his mind became clouded with the thought of it's possible destruction.
He turned off his engine, and got off before he walked inside. Just as he thought, it hadn't changed since he came.
Cloud took a few steps forward to the spot where he placed Zack's sword. He took a moment of silence to pay his respects for his fallen friend. Suddenly a shuffling sound came from behind him.
He turned around and saw a young girl holding a Moogle doll. Her brown eyes stared up at him with caution, "Are you from the construction company?" She asked nervously. He answered, "No."
The little Moogle girl came out from her hiding spot and approached him. A moment of recognition came to her face, "You're Cloud right?" She asked. He nodded. An innocent smile came to her lips, "You're here to help us!" She guessed. "Yeah…I am." She turned around and looked up at the hole in the roof. Soon the sunrays started to shine down on the church.
Cloud stared at the girl, and for a split second he could've sworn that he saw Aerith standing in her place.
"You must be special to the flower girl." She added. Cloud nodded in agreement, "She was special to me too. That's why I can't…" He stopped to scan this memorable building.
The Moogle girl could see that he had a much deeper bond with the church than she did.
She watched, standing seven feet away as he placed his gloved hand on a column, before he moved on to focus on the pool of water. She walked up and stood next to him as he stared down at his reflection.
"Was this where she grew her flowers?" The girl asked. Cloud nodded slowly, before he closed his eyes.
'Who are you?'
"Hello! Hello!" A young woman's voice rang out in the darkness. His vision started to clear, and soon he caught sight of two green eyes staring down at him.
He sat up, and the young woman in the pink dress explained, "This is the sector five church."
"…Did I fall?" Cloud asked. The young woman shook her head, her long braided hair swayed as she explained, "It fell from the sky." She paused pointing to the damaged rooftop, "I guess you're lucky the roof and the flowers broke your fall." (1)
He slowly opened his eyes, and once again met his own reflection on the pond's surface.
"The others don't get here till later on." The Moogle girl told him. He remained silent and nodded. She turned around and walked away from him before she sat down on near the entrance.
"Is she someone that you miss a lot?" The girl asked. He nodded.
"I know how that feels, I miss my brother a lot too…he died of Geostigma two years ago." She told him.
Cloud slowly turned to her. "But I know he wouldn't want me to keep holding on to him forever." She replied. "A nice family took me in, and I have a new little sibling too. So I want to focus on being a big sister to him."
It was a simple explanation to one of the most complicated choices in life. Cloud nodded after hearing her choice, "Your brother would be proud."
She turned to him and smiled.
Silence passed the two of them as they both waited for the others to come.
"Alright I'm ready!" Yuffie declared as she and the other former AVALANCHE members gathered within the 7th Heaven. "Nobody's tearin' down that church before we can say anythin' about it." Cid stated.
"…I agree." Vincent added.
"Wha'cha foo spiky thinking keepin' us out like this?" Barret demanded.
Tifa shook her head and simply replied, "You all know how Cloud is."
"Tsk, he ain't never gonna change." Barret added. Tifa disagreed, and stated that she could see there was something in him that was starting to change, and truth be told there something in her that was changing as well. Somehow her feelings for Cloud were starting to change, and that was part of the reason why she called them earlier that night. She knew that he could take care of himself, but she still needed that extra reassurance.
"So are you coming with us?" Yuffie asked her. Tifa shook her head, "No, I need to watch the kids." Despite what she felt, keeping the children away from all this was her main priority, and in a way it was Cloud's too, that's why he went to take their place.
Vincent nodded in understanding as he stated, "So you asked us to take your place." Tifa nodded.
He knew what her plan was. There was strength in numbers. It was a simple tactic, but often proved to be quite effective.
The bell chimed, signaling the entrance of a customer. Tifa turned to the front door and asked, "May I help you?" She looked on the young man with the light brown and brown eyes.
He looked around and noticed that she had company, "I'm sorry, the sign said the bar was opened…I didn't know I was interrupting anything."
She shook her head and offered him a seat before she went to take his order.
The young thanked her.
"Are you new around here?" Tifa asked. "Yeah, I just moved to Edge City about a week ago." He explained. The bartender nodded, while trying to start a conversation with her new customer.
"So what's your name?" She asked him. "Oh it's—"
Someone had turned on the radio and the news broadcast came in, once again reporting the status of the protest. Tifa attention turned away from her customer and focused on that instead.
The young man smiled lopsidedly and figured that now it wasn't the time for him to reveal his identity. So once he was finished with drink, he got up and paid before quietly leaving the bar.
Tifa, having realized what she'd done, turned her head back to face her new customer but found that he had already gone. She looked down and counted the amount of Gil he had left.
It was the exactly enough to pay for the drink. She looked stared out the window of the bar, and spotted him walking amongst small number of people that walk by. A few seconds later, a young woman walked in front of him, and just like that he vanished into thin air.
The Moogle girl sat up once the door opened. Cloud looked on at the entrance watching as one by one the children came inside with their parents. The Moogle girl gasped in excitement as she spotted two very familiar people amongst the rising crowd.
She ran toward the arms of a woman, with short reddish brown hair and dark blue eyes. Her head leaned against the woman's ash green jacket.
The little closed her eyes at the touch of the woman's hand brushing against the back of her brown hair.
A broad man appeared holding a baby in one arm as he stood behind the woman and the Moogle girl as he placed his hand on his wife's shoulder.
Cloud looked around and watched as the families of the former Geostigma victims gathered along their children inside the church.
Once again his head turned towards the doorway. His blue eyes widen as he watched the group of people entering the building. Yuffie, Vincent, Cid, and Barret.
"Yo spiky wha'cha gawking at us for?" Barret exclaimed as he headed over towards him. "Yeah! Is that anyway to say hello to your friends?" Yuffie added as she joined in. "What are you doing here?" Cloud asked. "Tifa called and told us the news." Vincent explained. "And to be frank, it pissed us all off." Cid stated before lighting up a cigarette.
A soft sigh escaped his lips. That was just like Tifa to be worrying about other people rather than herself. He figured something like this could've happened; she couldn't be here in person then she'd get help the only way she knew how.
"So when those punks gotta get here?" Barret demanded. Cloud turned to the Moogle girl and nodded. She broke away from her foster mother and walked over to Cloud and Barret.
"They're usually here at seven in the morning." She answered. "So we have an hour." Vincent concluded. "Alright! What are we gonna do till then?" Yuffie asked. "We wait." Vincent answered. Cloud nodded in agreement, and turned to all the former AVALANCHE members.
"Thanks for coming."
"Even if Tifa didn't ask, we'd still come!" Yuffie declared. "Yeah! There's no way in hell we're gonna let this place be beaten down like it was nothin' but trash." Cid stated.
All of them agreed that they would do what it took to keep this building standing, for it was far too valuable to be made into ruin.
Vincent folded his arms, and watched the events unfold before him. He knew this would be a difficult task. On one side there were these people who'd fight to keep a memory from being destroy, however by doing so they choose to continue to live in the past.
On another side, there were people that were all about progress and advancements, they were the type who'd step over the past and built a future.
These two conflicting sides had no win/win situation. 'If all else fails, then I'll have no choice but to seek help from the man who has the power to make the verdict.' He thought silently to himself, while he eyed the protestors who prepared their boards and picket signs.
He secretly wondered what was his role in all of this? Was he the silent watcher who'd attack during the slightest sign of danger or was he going to be a peacekeeper?
Yuffie showed the children her small weapons and even handed them a few to use in case things got 'Ugly' as she put it.
She was prepared, which was a good step. After all humans were pretty stubborn and they'd do anything in their power to achieve what they wanted. The possibilities were endless.
He turned to Cloud, who in turn faced him. The blond spiky haired delivery boy/former fighter nodded. It was agreed, they'd both be the silent watchers who'd attack at the slightest sign of danger.
The sound of two footsteps rushed down the stairway just as the clock turned seven. Tifa turned around to face the two children in her care and greeted them, "Good morning."
"Has Cloud left?" Marlene asked. Tifa nodded to her question. "Will he be alright?" Denzel asked. Tifa smiled and assured the young boy that he'd be fine. Deep down she knew how drastic measures would be used as on a serious issue such as this one. She prayed with all her heart that no one would get hurt.
[Author's note]
So here it is folks! Chapter II of Through You (yet another short chapter...)
Sorry for the late update! I was really busy today and I barely had time to work on this chapter!
*Sigh* well such is life...T^T
Okay, now it's time for a head's up.
Chapter II will be split into three parts, before Chapter III will commence.
(1) The dialogue of the flashback was taken from the scene where Cloud met Aerith in the original 1997 Final Fantasy VII game {I do not own the dialogue, the script belongs to Square-Enix [Formerly know as Square Co., Ltd], and I absolutely do NOT make any profit out of this!}
Head's up number two,
I'll be going on a trip up to the mountains, but I will have a modem available to me (yay!) but the downside is, the modem will have to be shared between six people (me included) so, I don't know when I will have time to upload the next chapter unfortunately...
Okay that's all for now,
Please look out for Chapter II: Stand -Part II-
-SAga4000