Chapter 3

Stressed

The past three days had been the same for Nymph, every day it started with Loz or Yazoo coming in to the room she was held in with a tray of food that always held a bowl of lumpy hardly edible porridge, a slice of cold barely buttered toast and a glass of orange juice with a lot of pulp and she would force herself to eat after all she didn't get anything else until around 6pm. Once finished her breakfast she would be taken to shower and stripped of her robe and always given a fresh one after her shower it would be then she would be taken to what she now called the 'lab' although she wasn't sure of its official title but it held a lab like feel and there she would be injected with a small amount of the blue glowing liquid that she still didn't know it's name. This routine was beneficial however as she was able to work out the weak spots of the security of the place she was held so plans were being made so she could try and get back home.

On the fourth day a full out plan had conjured in Nymph mind and it would be day 5 that she would attempt to get out of this hell hole she was stuck in but at this point she was so glad her parents were Cloud and Tifa as she had inherited the best qualities from both her parents as well as something that was completely her own which made her smart, strong, independent even at four years old she was her own person like her parents had indeed taught her. So after she had finished her usual breakfast and Yazoo lead her to the showers she had slipped the spoon into to her robe and once she had stepped into the shower cubical and thrown the robe at Yazoo that stood guard at the door just outside the bathroom. The spoon she had slipped into her robe she lifted it up onto the window ledge that hung ever so slightly over the shower cubical, it wouldn't do much at all but she had to do something sadly though they had other plans.

When she emerged from her shower dressed in a fresh clean robe Yazoo led her to the lab once again to get yet more cold blue liquid to be pumped into her veins again pulling her into the land of nod.

Cloud had been pacing the office of 7th Heaven stables waiting for the phone to ring and trying to come up with his own plan to find his daughter no matter the cost to him. Tifa was there sitting on the office sofa her gaze following Cloud.

"Cloud you need to stop pacing they will call I'm sure they will now your wife needs you so come join me" Tifa sighed patting the spot on the sofa next to her to as a soft sad smile graced her lips. Cloud returned the smile and joined her on the sofa and as soon as he sat down Tifa crawled into his lap and rested her head on his chest and he couldn't help running his fingers through her hair.

"I've missed this" Tifa sighed against his touch

"So have I" Cloud agreed nuzzling his face into the crook of her neck where his lips dance over her soft skin. They started to get lost in each other almost forgetting the heartbreak that was consuming their world with the loss of their daughter. Their kisses weren't filled as such with love and passion it was there but the kisses were filled with their grief and worry over their child being lost and that had so thoroughly taken hold of their hearts. Cloud's hands had snaked under Tifa's shirt and just as he was about to remove the garment the phone rang cutting through their romantic moment.

"Hello" Cloud said picking up the phone

"Oh right so no leads then but your saying another girl has been captured" Cloud sighed hearing this what was the police force doing obviously very little to get their daughter back and now another young girl had been taken. 'What was happening to this world?' Cloud thought as he hung up the phone. Tifa had been listening to the whole conversation well as much of it as she could anyway.

"Another girl has been taken?" Tifa asked tears filling her eyes knowing just how her parents would feel with their daughter being taken as well. The one thought however that had kept Tifa and even Cloud going was that one thing they knew that whatever was happening to Nymph she would be strong in the face of it as the blood of her parents ran in her veins and that her parents were the strongest people around and that gave them a small comfort at least.

Nymph had once again woken in her room and slowly began to sit up and as always the room was cold so she wrapped her arms around her body pulling her knees to her chest to try to warm herself up a little.

She hadn't moved within 5 minutes when suddenly the door burst open and a little girl a little older than herself was shoved in before the door closed and was again locked from the outside. The girl was crying so Nymph slowly approached her.

"Hi I'm Nymph what's your name?" Nymph greeted the girl trying to make her more comfortable.

"Kirsten" the girl replied sobbing still.

"Well Kirsten don't cry I've got a plan to get out of here" Nymph whispered trying to calm the girl down.

"You do" she sniffed trying to wipe her tears.

"Yes but now your here I want your help okay" Nymph said, Kirsten nodded but she couldn't think exactly how she was going to get them both out but she wasn't going to leave Kirsten alone they were both going to get out of this together no matter what.

Cloud was getting impatient not only was his daughter taken another girl had been taken, Ivy was injured and to top it off Kelly had gone into labour early two weeks early and he couldn't help thinking what else could go wrong with the world at this minute and it was just as he asked that that Angeal and a rather muddy Zack entered the office.

"I'm afraid that the fencing is down between the witches and the pitt and to top it off several of the cobs have their manes plaited ready for thieves to take them away" Zack explained shaking his head solemnly.

"Well take all the marked cobs inside and use the indoor schools for tonight and as for the horses in the witches and the pitt move them to Dunnottar and the 40 acre and first thing in the morning I'll call Johnny and have him come fix the fencing" Cloud sighed as if he didn't have enough to deal with he now had horse thieves to contend with and a broken fence as well as everything else.

"Well I'm going to make a quick call" Tifa said getting up from the sofa where she had been stifling through some paper work to try and get her sorrows off her mind not that it helped.

"Hi Yuffie" She said when the other end picked up.

"Yes I need a favour would you be able to come by tomorrow and make sure all our cobs are microchip we've got signs of horse thief about to take place" Tifa said

"Oh thanks so will see you at 10am then" Tifa said and placed down the phone.

"Teef?" Cloud asked wanting to be caught up in the conversation that just went on

"Oh I had just read something about horse thieves and how you can trace your horse if they are microchip I can't believe I forgot about it after all Indi's microchip" Tifa said. Cloud softly smiled at her and he suddenly wished Nymph was microchip so he would know where she was not that they could do it or anything but he would give anything to have her back.

"We'll get everyone available to help with the task at hand and just to be safe we'll take all the cobs in" Angeal stated and with that he dragged his dirt ridden son out the room and closed the door behind him.

"Teef why does bad things happen to good people?" Cloud asked rhetorically he didn't expect Tifa to answer after all who could answer that question really

"I don't know but it's not fair I understand where your coming from, now let's go home we both need to rest otherwise we'll run ourselves into the ground" Tifa said reaching her hand out towards Cloud and he took it. She was right they did need to rest even though they didn't want to he had too otherwise there was going to be no way he would see their little girl again.

They arrived home and instead of getting something to eat they went almost straight to their room but had paused like they did every night outside Nymph room where they would sadly allow their eyes to sweep the room where their daughter should be fast asleep in cuddling into her soft toy that she had named after Arrow insisting the stuffed horse looked like him, before they would retire to their own room.

Often now Cloud would hear Tifa's sobs as she tried to sleep as her sadness finally took control in the darkness of the night. Cloud on the other end would be seething but also worried and also had to comfort Tifa and with all this going on he was bound to crack eventually you can only stretch an elastic band so far before it snaps and Cloud was close to breaking point now. Tonight that anger had poured out of him in the form of angry passion and had taken Tifa by surprise and after he had collapsed beside her and covered their bodies in the covers of their bed he immediately began to apologize for his actions but ever the understanding Tifa forgave him.

"I really don't deserve you" he whispered pulling her closer as her uncontrollable tears began to spill.

"Cloud you are the only one that deserves my love after all if it weren't for you where would I be?" Tifa sobbed she hated this she hated that her daughter was gone that Cloud was having to stay strong and couldn't allow himself to become weak she hated the heavens for all this but she was grateful enough though to them that she did indeed have Cloud and couldn't thank them enough that they had been brought together and had the joy of bringing a new life into this world and even though there were regrets now, they weren't ones of I regret having her they were regrets I could of done more to protect her and they both held those regrets even though they wouldn't even admit it to each other.

"Teef I love you" Cloud said before gently kissing the top of her head and slowly the lull of sleep over took the pair and the fell into slumber.

So far this chapter has been most easy to write so far as this story is a lot harder to write than the perivous mainly because it's not just foucsing on Cloud and Tifa so that's why your gonna have to bear with me while I write.

So as if things couldn't get any worse for Cloud and Tifa Think again, so many things are going wrong for them after the loss of their daugther. the part about mane plating is competly true it does happen (if your unware I should point it out and it is usually cobs that are targeted so I better watch out then as when I can I want to get a cob) what else well I really wanted this chapter to show just how much Cloud and Tifa are well suffering through this, I don't have kids myself but I would understand what they would be going through most people should kinda understand any way enough babbling and I hope again you will enjoy this chapter and looked forward to the nxt