Shatter

"Tifa, can me and Denzel go outside and play?" Marlene asked once the pair had finished their homework from school.

Tifa hesitated, thinking of the recent problems and the possibility of danger outside. But what use was hiding from the inevitable? She sat behind the counter and began counting that day's earnings at the register, listening idly to the radio. Nothing out of the ordinary, just the usual Shinra promises of a hasty reconstruction and return to glory. Tifa knew better than most anyone that Shinra downplayed trouble, but there was nothing strange anywhere she went outside for the time being.

"Alright, just make sure to stay close to the house and keep an eye out for trouble."

"Okay! Come on, Denzel!"

"Yeah!"

Tifa called after the pair, "And stay together!"

At that moment, Cloud walked in through the back door with a troubled look on his face.

"What's wrong?" Tifa asked.

"Where are Marlene and Denzel?"

"They just went outside."

"Did you tell them to stay close? Zelda and the baby are upstairs?"

"Yes and yes, but what's going on?"

"Trouble, that's what," Cloud huffed, "I went past Midgar on a short delivery and I heard something…bad."

"Bad how?"

"Tifa…Remember when we were trapped in the Lifestream? And how all of the voices…" Cloud struggled for words to describe their shared memory.

"Yes. How could I forget? It was awful…" Tifa shuddered at the thought.

"It sounded like that. But the screams were from living people."

Tifa's face contorted in a mixture of a grimace, worry, and fear. Fear not for herself, but for those close to her, "What do you think we should do?" she asked.

"I don't know. What do you think?"

"I don't know."

"I could go check things out next time I'm out by Midgar."

"No! That's too risky, Cloud. You don't know what's going on in there."

"Yeah, but-"

"We've had barely a year of peace," Tifa sighed, lowering her gaze to the countertop, "Can we keep it a little longer?"

Cloud looked at an unhappy Tifa and caved, "…Alright. Sorry."

Tifa huffed a laugh, "You don't have anything to apologize for. If anyone should be apologizing, it's me."

"You're fine," Cloud took hold of Tifa's hand on the counter and squeezed it reassuringly. Tifa smiled.

"Thank you."

Cloud nodded.

The pair stood there a moment, unsure of what to do but enjoying each other's company, until Zelda came downstairs with a screaming Zell. Cloud and Tifa snapped their hands back to their sides as if caught in a compromising situation and Tifa asked hastily, "What's wrong, Zelda?"

"Oh, calm down, you two," Zelda laughed, "I was just coming down to get some milk ready. The little tyke is hungry again."

Tifa laughed a bit nervously and Cloud muttered something before retreating to his office.

"Would you like me to take him while you heat the bottle?" Tifa offered.

"Thank you, dear," Zelda replied, then handed the screaming child to Tifa and hurried into the kitchen.

"Hey, shh-shh-shh, it's okay. Grandma's getting you some food, honey, just hold on," Tifa cooed, holding the baby close to her. After about a minute of bouncing and talking to Zell, the baby quieted and looked up at Tifa with eyes as blue as the sky.

"Hi, sweetie," Tifa smiled.

Zell continued to look at Tifa, then he dropped his face onto her shoulder and yawned.

"Ahh, so that's the problem. I bet you'll go right to sleep after eating," Tifa adjusted so that the infant's head was on her chest. What? They're softer than a collarbone.

Cloud came out of his office and looked at Tifa, "You made him stop crying fast."

"I guess I'm good with babies."

Cloud raised an eyebrow as if to say 'Are you that surprised?'

"Oh, stop it."

"I didn't say anything," Cloud replied innocently.

"You were thinking it."

"Thinking what?" he teased.

Zell yelled to keep himself awake.

Tifa rolled her eyes, "Oh, stop it, Zell."

Cloud chuckled.

"You stop it, too."

Cloud shrugged and went back into his office.

That night, the wind (or so Tifa told herself) kept her up. It came from Midgar and sent chills down her spine. She put the pillow over her head.

"Tifa," Cloud whispered, "Are you awake?"

"Yes."

There was a shuffing as Cloud turned over. Tifa lifted her pillow and looked at his dark form.

"What do you think it is, Cloud?"

"I don't really want to think about it."

They lay in silence for a bit. The notes given on Cloud's birthday drifted into Tifa's mind. She tried to ask about the topic. After all, she did love him. But what if he didn't feel the same way? She thought about their interaction earlier that day. That certainly seemed like affection, but…

Outside, the "wind" continued its scream.

"Cloud? Are you still awake?" she whispered.

"Yeah."

"…Um…Can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"…"

"Tifa?" Cloud propped himself up on his elbows.

"The notes you got on your birthday…" Tifa fixed her pillow and hugged it close to her.

Cloud shifted awkwardly, "It was just our friends trying to force us into something…"

"Yeah," Tifa laughed quietly, "I suppose so. Why do you think they want us to get into a relationship so badly?"

Cloud laid back down and half-buried his face in his pillow, "I don't know."

An uncomfortable silence ensued. The "wind" shrieked .

Cloud shifted and the door opened. Both he and Tifa looked toward the door to see Marlene and Denzel standing there in their pyjamas.

Tifa got out of bed with a perplexed look on her face, "What's wrong?"

Marlene ran forward and grabbed Tifa's shirt in her free hand. In Marlene's other hand was her stuffed Moogle.

"Can we sleep with you?" the girl asked.

"What happened? Is something wrong?" Cloud walked over and knelt down next to the two children.

"The sounds coming from Midgar are keeping us up," Denzel explained, trying to keep a brave face. The adults weren't the only ones that knew something was wrong.

Tifa patted Marlene and Denzel on their heads, "Of course you can sleep with us."

"Can we push the beds together?" Marlene asked.

"Well, we can try. Someone might fall through the middle if we're not careful, though," Cloud observed.

"I have my blanket!" Denzel assured, "We can put that in the middle!"

"Okay then," Tifa laughed, "Cloud, you and Denzel push your bed and me and Marlene will get mine."

Cloud nodded and the beds were pushed together. Once everyone was once again under blankets, Marlene and Denzel huddled close to one another and fell asleep quickly, assured of their safety by their two guardians.

Tifa looked over the forms of the two children and smiled at Cloud, "Goodnight?"

Cloud looked back at her and gave a small smile, "Goodnight, Tifa."

After that night, Marlene and Denzel slept in Cloud and Tifa's room, fear keeping them awake if they attempted to stay in their own room. Zelda and her grandson were then moved into the vacated children's room from her spot on the couch. A couple of weeks later, everyone in Edge was on edge. The "wind" originating from Midgar was unrelenting at night, and many people now went through their day with the worry of another restless or sleepless night.

Tifa was out enjoying a day off when her cellphone rang.

"Hello?" she asked upon answering.

"Tifa, is that you?"

It was Reeve.

"Well, Reeve, this is my cellphone, isn't it?" Tifa laughed.

"I know, did a Cait ever come to the bar?"

"No, why? Did you try to send one?"

"Yes, I guess it got intercepted."

"You mean someone kept it from getting to us?"

"Yeah. Probably someone who didn't want my info to get to you."

"What info are you trying to give?"

"Tifa, you need to get Marlene and Denzel and work your way out of Edge. I've already called Cloud and let him know that something's up."

"Wait, what? What's going on? Why should we leave?"

"Midgar is stirring, Tifa. Something dangerous has emerged."

"Stirring. You mean that wind?"

"Do you honestly believe that it's wind?"

"…Sometimes…it's easier to pretend."

"I know, Tifa. But whatever is causing those people to scream like that is surfacing, and it's going to attack Edge."

"How much time do we have, Reeve?"

"I don't know, but not that much. I have to go. I'm trying to figure out what this all is and how to stop it. I've called Vincent to help me."

"Right. Good luck, Reeve. And tell Vincent I said 'Hi'."

"Of course. I'll try to send another Cait to you to keep you in tune to what's going on. If it can't get through, then be expecting more calls from me."

"Right. Goodbye, Reeve. Don't get yourself killed."

"From your mouth to Aerith's ears."

"Haha, I suppose she does help us a lot."

"Stay safe, Tifa. And keep that reckless charge of yours safe, too," Reeve forced a small laugh.

"Oh, absolutely. Someone has to watch him. Lord knows he can't do it himself. Hey, Reeve?"

"Hm?"

"What did Cloud say when you told him this?"

"What do you think? He got that silent and brooding seriousness we all know and love."

"Hmph. He thinks he's so tough to read."

"About as tough as one of Denzel's books. Bye Tifa, I've gotta go."

"Okay, bye for real, Reeve."

Tifa hung up and pocketed her phone, "I guess it's time to call my walk short," she sighed before turning back to the bar to get ready to get everyone ready to leave once Marlene and Denzel got home from school.

"Did Reeve call you?" Cloud asked as soon as Tifa walked in the door.

"Yeah. You getting ready to head out?"

"Yeah."

Tifa sat on the arm of the sofa and watched Cloud walk repeatedly from his office to his and Tifa's room and back.

"You gonna start getting your stuff together?" he asked after watching her watch for a bit.

"You're just getting everyone out of Edge. You're going to come back here. You want to help stop whatever's going on."

Cloud set a blanket down on his growing pile, "Well, what do you expect me to do, Tifa?" he said somewhat angrily "Anytime in the last several years anything involving Shinra started, it ended up threatening the existence of our planet, and who's job has it been to come to the rescue?"

Tifa leaned back against the sofa, "You act like you were the only one there. You may be the main hero, but you had help. Lots of it."

"Sorry," Cloud sighed, "It's just…"

"Yeah. I know. I think that might be one of the reasons Reeve called Vincent to be his main man this time."

"'That'?"

"You get on edge anytime anything goes wrong. Last time, you ran away from home for weeks on end just to hide the fact that you were dying and were refusing to do anything about it," Tifa stood and walked over to Cloud, "You always forget that you have friends who can help you, you oaf."

"I don-…I didn't forget. I just…"

"Would you quit hesitating?"

"I didn't want to worry you, or get you involved, Tifa! What if you got sick because of me? What if Marlene got sick because of me?"

"Cloud Strife. How dumb do you think I am if you think I believe that that's the whole story? You worried me more by disappearing into thin air and I was involved from the get-go! And Denzel was at death's door from the Geostigma when I had you bring him to us! If you were only worried about me or Marlene getting sick then you wouldn't have agreed to bring him here!" Tifa jabbed him angrily in the chest, "I wish that you didn't think that you had to do everything by yourself!"

"I don't!" Cloud shot Tifa a defensive look.

"Don't you?! Every time danger sprouts up, you almost immediately start shutting others out! I'm sick of it! I thought you had moved past this kind of thing! We've all been given lives that will never be entirely peaceful! I wish you would understand that and stop pushing people away when you think that the danger you see in your own future is separate from the danger in everyone else's futures!"

Cloud stared at Tifa, dumbfounded, "Tifa, I-"

"A-and even if the danger you saw for yourself was something only you could deal with, then I still would want you to tell me! I hate it when you don't let me help you! Don't you trust me at all?!"

"Tifa," Cloud's hand moved to wipe Tifa's cheek.

"I have to go get ready," Tifa turned her back and walked hurriedly up the stairs.

Cloud watched her leave, then closed his hand into a fist and continued packing in solemn silence. What fault was it of his that he seemed to be cursed with a war-riddled life? And was it a crime to want to keep those he loved safe away from the danger?