Wow, I'm surprised this has so many reviews already! My last story didn't have too many. o.o

Anywho, here's the next chapter. And don't worry, Cloud will enter the story soon enough. ;)

Chapter 3: Reunited

"Who dares to take Marlene?" Barret boomed, his enraged voice reverberating throughout the conference room. "And who would dare to fight Tifa?! Okay, so she was defeated, but still, she's an excellent fighter! They had to have known she was going to be alone. Those goons must have known her weaknesses."

"Barret, calm down," Reeve said passively. "We'll get our answers soon."

"That girl sure can take a while in the bathroom," Cid mumbled, only to be slapped by both Yuffie and Shera.

"She's wounded, you jerk!" Yuffie cried. "It's not her fault she feels sick. Just wait."

"Hey, your daughter wasn't taken, stupid ninja!" Barret shouted.

"No, she wasn't. But taking it out on everyone around you isn't helping the situation."

"She's right," Vincent put in, surprising everyone.

"Fine," Cid snapped, pounding the table. "I just thought ya'll wanted to figure out what's going on."

"We do, Cid," his wife said. "And we will. But we'll only get the answers if we're patient. Tifa's under enough stress as it is; we have to do whatever we can to help her through this. And if that means giving her a moment or two, then it's fine."

At that very moment, Tifa exited the bathroom down the hall. She exhaled a silent breath, instinctively running a hand through her hair. What was wrong with her? She was nauseas and afraid. She didn't want to go into that room with all her friends, because maybe she was afraid of what they would find. What if Marlene was gone forever? Would they blame her for it? Or would they just accept that it was a mistake.

I didn't stand a chance against those three men, Tifa thought. Even if it were only two of them at that time, that was unfair since they held weapons. And it appeared as if they were well prepared for everything; if Tifa had known what was going to happen, maybe she would have been able to protect Marlene.

...But she still didn't understand what her connection was to that one man. He had told her he hoped this fight would end differently than the last. It sounded as if he had defeated her in that same way before. Ugh, why couldn't she make the connection?! This could cost Marlene her life, for goodness sake...

"Tifa?"

The young woman stiffened at the voice, instinctively pulling down the sleeves of her white shirt. No...it couldn't be...She turned around and sure enough, there he was.

"Hello, Cloud," she said formally, sticking out a hand. Cloud took it after a moment, confusion appearing in his eyes.

"Is everything alright? I got the distress signal from the bar. What's going on?"

Tifa sighed softly, shaking her head. "Long story."

"I have time."

"You're not leaving again?" Tifa burst out, surprised at the boldness of the question. Still, it was a justified inquiry. Since he just vanished off the face of the earth for the past few months...

Cloud shook his head, holding Tifa's gaze. "Not this time."

"Yo, hurry up!" a voice from the doorway down the hall called. Tifa turned around and saw Cid standing there, clearly angry "Injured or not, it doesn't take that long to get your butt back in—oh. I, uh, didn't see him there with ya...How're you doin, Cloud?"

"Smooth move, Cid," Tifa muttered.

"Injured?" Cloud questioned, concern rising up in his voice. Tifa nearly smacked herself on the forehead; why did Cid have to say that? "Tifa?"

"It's nothing, Cloud," Tifa said, attempting to sound passive. "It's nothing at all. Cid, I'm coming." She started to walk towards Cid, who was awkwardly standing in the middle of the hall now. But before she could get there, Cloud grabbed her arm. Tifa flinched slightly, but she did her best not to show that she was in pain.

"Tifa, what's going on?" Cloud demanded.

"Just come on. You'll find out soon enough." Tifa pulled her arm out of his and started toward the room. Cid, steps ahead of her, already entered the room. "By the way," Tifa started," how did you know to come here?"

"Reeve called and told me to come here instead of the bar. He assumed I would go there because of the signal."

Tifa nodded faintly. "Reeve, always thinking ahead," she mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing," Tifa said more loudly. She pulled the door open and walked right in, all eyes on her. However, when they saw that she wasn't alone, all eyes went to the man behind her. Tifa ignored the heavy tension and took a seat between Yuffie and Barret, who seemed oblivious to her presence now.

"Cloud?" Yuffie said his name out of reflex, just as startled as everyone else in the room. "What--"

"Where have you been?!" Barret boomed, rising out of his seat. "You better have a good explanation for leaving us without any clue to where you been. You got some nerve showin your face."

"Barret, now's not the time," Vincent said in his normal monotone voice.

"But, Vinnie," Yuffie whispered to the man beside her, "he's right."

"I want to help," Cloud inserted, not hearing Yuffie's comment. "Please."

Everyone was shocked by Cloud's desperate tone. Had he changed? It appeared as if he had, but nobody was ready to believe it just yet. Especially not Tifa. Tifa was the one most hurt by him leaving.

"Sit down," Tifa mumbled, just loud enough for everyone to hear. Again she had their attention, whether she wanted it or not. They all looked confused and lost, exactly how Tifa felt on the inside. But she couldn't afford to show any emotion; they had a case to solve. "Seeing how Cloud always attracts trouble, maybe he knows something we don't about this whole thing." The young woman turned to the stunned man in the doorway. "Sit."

Cloud shifted his eyes to the floor as he obeyed, taking a seat next to Nanaki and Reeve.

"Let's get down to business," Reeve said, taking out a tape recorder. He set it on the table and turned it on before sliding it to Tifa, who was sitting across from him. "Here's how it will work. Tifa, you tell us everything that happened from seven AM to when we arrived at the bar. If necessary, we will throw in questions to gather more details. Tell us everything, even if it seems pointless."

Tifa nodded. She could do this. She had to do this without breaking down. Taking in a deep breath, she started. "At seven, I was putting away laundry. I had been washing my clothes and Marlene's before she woke up for school. At seven o' five, I woke up Marlene. It took about five minutes of pleading, but she finally got out of bed and headed to the bathroom."

She stifled a chuckle. "You know, it's funny; she just started taking morning showers a few months ago. She said that she wanted to be grown up like me..." tears started to fill the rims of her eyes, but Tifa shook her head slightly and they vanished.

"Around seven twenty five, I gave Marlene a plate of eggs. Scrambled with a side of hash browns. We sat and talked while she ate her breakfast, mostly about school. Then we talked about Denzel and Barret. Marlene really wanted to go to work with her father that day, but I explained it was only for boys today. We ended the discussion there, because the bus was supposed to come in ten minutes and Marlene was still in her pajamas. So I sent her upstairs and cleaned the dishes from her breakfast and the one I had eaten before she woke up.

"...At seven twenty nine, somebody knocked on the front door. I went to answer it even though I wasn't sure who would come in the morning. As soon as I opened the door, I knew something wasn't right. There were two men, both maybe three or four inches taller than me. They both were all black, one of them having the top zipped down partway so you could see his chest. And they had ski masks on. I tried to close the door, but they got in anyway."

"I asked them what was going on, but they didn't tell me. They got into an argument with each other, so I backed up towards the bar hoping I could push the alarm button. But they caught me before I could do anything. A fight started, but I was outmatched. All together, the details of the battle are fuzzy. I don't remember how exactly I was attacked or how I performed, I just know they didn't even break a sweat."

"What weapons did they have?" Nanaki inquired.

"One had a gun, the other had a knife."

Reeve nodded, taking notes. "Go on, Tifa."

"Half way through, another man came into play. He came down the stairs and he had Marlene draped over his shoulder. She was unconscious."

"Was she tied up? What was she wearing?"

Tifa shook her head slightly. "I didn't see anything tying her up. And clothing wise....she had a pair of tan slacks and a dark blue polo. Her school uniform for the days she has gym. Her hair was in her face, so she must not have had it tied up."

"...anyway, as soon as I saw her, I was distracted. Then I was shot. It hurt like the dickens, but I remember only feeling frenetic that I got Marlene back. I ran to attack them again, but I was easily subdued. Sometime during that fight I got shot again. I was down for the count; I could barely breath because my upper chest hurt so much from the bullet. On their way out, one of the men kicked me hard in the stomach. Twice.

"After they left I crawled over to the bar and pushed the alarm button. Then I lost consciousness."

Everyone in the room was silent, a sense of grave seriousness dangling over all of them. They were expecting to hear something terrible, but nothing quite like this. Tifa really had almost died.

"But I don't think they wanted me dead," Tifa put in softly, knowing the thoughts of many in that room. "If they really wanted me out of the way, I wouldn't be here now. They needed me to pass on something. I don't know what, but they needed me alive for some reason."

"Did they say anything odd when they were with you?" Shera asked quietly, almost sounding afraid to speak out in the group.

Tifa nodded. "Yeah, they got into an argument after one of them called me "mother." I think that counts as something bizarre. Oh, and one of them said something that implied we fought before. But I haven't fought in a long time, not since Bahamut attacked Edge."

The room was absolutely silent for a minute. Apparently nobody else had any questions for her. A cell phone rang, and Reeve answered it on the second ring. "Yes?" Pause. "Are you sure? ....alright, see you soon." He hung up the phone before turning to the others. "That was Reno. He wants me to meet him at the bar. We need to share information and try and fit the pieces together. He also told me he thinks they aren't leaving the Edge or Midgar area."

"So we're going to search the area?" Barret asked.

The former Shin-ra employee nodded. "Yes. I recommend doing it in pairs; if you do find anything, you certainly don't want to be alone when you do."

"I call Vinnie!" Yuffie burst out.

"Barret and I can work together, eh buddy?" Cid questioned, sending his friend a wink. Barret smirked; the two potty-mouths working together. That would be interesting. The burly man nodded.

"I will go with Reeve in case Reno has anything I can sniff out," Nanaki offered.

"Good idea, Red."

"I'll be fine searching on my own," Tifa said.

"NOOO..." Yuffie interjected. "You're still hurt; you shouldn't be going anywhere."

"What do you suggest I do, then?"

"Stay here with Cloud and gather information."

Tifa felt her heart drop. "What?"

Yuffie blushed. "Well, you said it yourself, Cloud probably has information that can help."

"Alright, it's settled then. Everyone knows where they will go?" Reeve asked, trying to speed things up.

"What about me?" Denzel asked. Clearly everyone had forgotten about him.

"Denzel, I'll take you back to my house. We can stay there and watch for anything suspicious," Shera said.

"Everyone, let's go!" Barret said, rising to his feet. "We're not gonna lose 'em without a fight. Cid?!"

"Ya, let's do it! Those *#&$* won't know what hit 'em."

"We all have each other's cell phone numbers," Reeve started. "Stay in touch."

Cid and Barret left first, whooping and hollering at the top of their lungs. Shera and Denzel followed them, then Yuffie and Vincent, and lastly, Reeve and Nanaki. This left Cloud and Tifa alone in the large room. Alone for the first time in over a year.

Tifa sighed mentally. Let's just get this over with. This doesn't have to be personal; it's all about Marlene. Once we gather all the information we can, we'll go our separate ways. It isn't a big deal.

Oh what a lie that was.