CHAPTER 03 - USELESS

Fenrir rumbled as it pulled into the garage of Seventh Heaven. Cloud killed the motor and dismounted before he lifted Tifa from the seat and set her feet on the ground without letting go of her and looking into her eyes.

"So... what'd you think of my second attempt? Not too corny?" There was a hint of a smile in his eyes.

Tifa gazed up at Cloud, intense love shining through her eyes so brightly that it almost glowed.

"It was perfection, my love," she said softly, leaning in and kissing him tenderly.

He closed his eyes as he kissed her back.

"I'm glad you had a good night," he breathed gently into her ear in between kisses.

"This was how the other date was supposed to be..." she sighed happily.

Leaning in, she added a whisper, "I'm gonna go check on my father... then meet me upstairs in a few minutes, my sexy chocobo."

She slowly backed away, making eye contact... and giving him a look he knew all too well. Cloud watched her go, smirking and very much looking forward to the rest of his evening. He headed over to Fenrir to get his phone and keys when he felt a wave of panic and fear come over him.

"Ugh," he grunted as he leaned against his bike, holding his side as his eyes glowed and he saw a vision of men surrounding him. One of them had a fist full of silver hair.

His eyes widened then. "Angel!"

He hopped on his bike, and Fenrir rumbled to life before he tore out of the garage and tried to figure out where she was based on the vision he had seen. There had been bars on the windows of the building she looked at, and a lamp post with a burnt-out light. The bad part of town!

It didn't take long to get to Angel's location, but once he did, his mako-enhanced vision gave him a very clear picture. There were nine men total, four on the ground, unconscious, one holding Angel with one arm loosely around her neck and the other arm holding her hands behind her back, one person in front of Angel, holding a knife up to her neck, and three engaged in a fight with another woman. That woman was being overwhelmed, though; Cloud could see blood on her knuckles as she fought back.

Cloud's eyes widened as he saw the danger Angel was in and used the element of surprise to his advantage. In a blur of motion that only the enhanced could follow, he leaped from his bike, snatching the small blade from the hidden compartment, and used the hilt to knock the man with the knife away, before turning and slashing the man's arm who was holding Angel by her throat, Cloud's weapon perfectly avoiding her. He then turned to the others who were fighting the woman.

One man pulled his fist back to punch her, and Cloud grabbed the hand at the wrist, squeezing tightly and pulled, throwing the man over him forcing the guy to land flat on his back. Stunned, the man looked up only to stare wide-eyed in fear at the man who had arrived and turned the tables.

"It's Cloud Strife! The hell?!"

Cloud just stared coldly at him, not moving his sword away. "I hope your friends stop trying to fight. I won't hold back if they keep it up."

The rest of them turned as they heard the name.

"Shit! Let's get outta here!" one of them yelled.

They all followed their friend's advice and ran away.

"Angel," he asked, not taking his eyes off the retreating men. "Are you two alright?"

Angel stood there, trembling. She nodded at Cloud, tears spilling down her face anyway as she crossed her arms in a self-embrace.

"Thanks for the help," the dark-haired woman spoke up.

Cloud made sure those punks were gone before he walked over to Angel and pulled her into a hug, trying to calm her. "It's alright."

Angel sank into the hug, breaking down into sobs.

He looked over at the woman next, not letting go of his self-adopted little sister, and nodded. Her shiny black hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and she rested her almost black eyes on the hero.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," the woman said, "I just saw she was surrounded by a bunch of punks, so I rushed in to help."

She walked a little closer to the two of them, brushing herself off. "She took out two of them... and that's when they started taking her seriously... you might want to have her checked out... they landed a few good hits on her before I got to her."

He offered her a thankful smile. "I don't know what I would've done if anything happened to her, I appreciate you stepping in when you did... miss... um?"

"Garridan... Corliss Garridan" she introduced herself. "And apparently, you're Cloud Strife?"

His eyes flashed with recognition then and the confusion lifted. "Now I know where I've seen you before. You stopped that mugging the other night. I saw it on the news."

He couldn't help but offer a smirk of respect.

She smiled, self-consciously rubbing the back of her neck. "I don't like it when people pick on the underdog."

She looked at Angel. "Though I don't know what a girl like her is doing in this part of the city."

Cloud instantly took a liking to her; she felt like a kindred spirit. Her comment regarding Angel however made him refocus on the silver-haired girl.

"That's a good question... Angel?" He gave Angel a stern look. "What were you doing over here? This part of town is no place for most people to walk around on their own at this hour."

Angel sniffled as she looked up at him. "W-working... I c-cleaned out... Mr. Hansel's g-garage."

She wiped at her eyes, the trembling calming down a little.

"Took longer than I th-thought it would." she finished.

Cloud sighed with frustration, but it was more relieved than annoyed. "Let's get you home."

He looked up at the Colriss, wanting to thank her properly, though, if she was like how he assumed she was, she might not accept any thanks for her deeds. He was going to offer anyway.

"Have you eaten yet, or... there's a decent selection at Seventh Heaven. I manage the bar with my fiance."

He couldn't help but smirk at that; it felt soo good to call Tifa his fiancé. Then he looked down at his nice shoes and pouted when he saw they were filthy from fighting the ally, short a battle as it was.

She gave a short laugh. "Wow! That was next on my list of places to try. Sure. I can meet you there if you like..."

He smirked as he guided Angel over towards Fenrir. "Well, then consider it on the house, as my thanks."

He sat behind Angel and then glanced over to her. "Want a lift?"

"On that sweet piece of machinery? Hell yes!" she replied, her eyes practically gleaming as they swooped over Fenrir. "Is that an FZ-09? What's the torque?... Sorry, I love bikes!"

Corliss mounted behind Angel, gripping the back of the cycle for stability.

Cloud couldn't help it; he laughed. Her excitement reminded him a lot of Yuffie, but it still caught him off guard. "This bad boy can unleash a massive 10,000 rpm torque. I have to be careful when I rev him up if there's cars behind me. I almost blew out a guy's windshield once, the force was so strong."

He revved the bike up as Fenrir growled with anticipation before it shot forward, putting the shady streets behind them and headed for the safety of the bar.

As they approached 7th Heaven, Cloud turned towards the garage, where he aimed to park his vehicle for the night. The sliding door lowered behind them, and Cloud cut the engine before dismounting to help Angel.

He turned to Colriss next. "Well? What'd you think of Fenrir? If we had been out in the wastes, I would've given you a better demonstration, but I let loose a little bit."

Corliss stared at Fenrir with such... lust... there was no other way to describe it. Reluctantly, she slid off the motorcycle.

"It was... so amazing. I... feel like I should be lighting a cigarette or... something..." she laughed. "Such a smooth ride for so much power... and it turns with your movements instead of the handlebars."

She shook her head, her smile bright and wide. "Please stop me! I could go on for hours, and it might get a little awkward."

Cloud smirked at her; it was rare to find anyone with as much passion for motorcycles around here. It was rather refreshing. He nodded when she mentioned how Fenrir's turning worked. "It's custom made. I had it modified so I could fight and not have to worry about steering, and it's come in handy."

Angel slipped off Fenrir with Cloud's assistance, grunting as she clutched her ribs. Cloud focused solely on Angel then when he saw her in pain. "Let's get you taken care of."

He led the way inside, noting it how quiet it was, which was a good thing. He sat Angel down at one of the booths before calling over to Petra, "Hey, can you go get Tifa for me?"

Petra nodded, running upstairs. Corliss switched her attention to Angel, as well. "Yeah, they cracked her good in the rib cage and one punch to the jaw that I could see, but she was putting up a hell of a fight. I got there quick as I could. I know it was a bad part of town... but there were 9 of 'em. That's kinda weird, if you ask me."

Angel looked up at Cloud, and, sure enough, a great big fist-shaped bruise was beginning to emerge on the side of her jaw.

"They had a case full of glowing water," Angel said quietly.

"Mako," he realized as soon as she said it. He shook his head as he examined the bruise.

"They're lucky you showed up first," he said to Colriss. "They wouldn't have gotten off so easily if it had been me."

He hadn't meant that as an insult to her strength, but after all he had been through with Angel, there was no way some lame group of street punks was going to get away with that.

"I'm just glad you showed up when you did." Corliss replied, "I'm okay in a fight, but not more than two at a time without help."

She was silent for a moment., and then something struck her.

"Wait... they had liquid mako?" she asked. Angel just nodded.

"Why did they have liquid mako?" Corliss wondered aloud.

"Reeve informed me there's a rise in the illegal sale of Mako on the street. These stupid idiots forget how deadly the crap can be. They shoot it up their arms like a drug, hoping to get a damn energy high, when all they're really doing is mutating their cells and making themselves sick."

He looked back up at Colriss, his own mako eyes glowing with anger. "They think all the SOLDIER program had to do was inject mako, and they were set... but it's so much more complicated. It has to be bonded with the individual's DNA and proteins first so it doesn't overwhelm the body and it's accepted into the person's genetic make-up."

He hated that he knew these things, but during his time in the care of Hojo, the man loved to ramble, and Cloud wasn't exactly allowed to go anywhere. "The one who gave me my treatments was a twisted psycho, but at least he knew what he was doing."

Corliss glanced down at Angel. "So she basically witnessed a drug deal..."

She shook her head. "It's terrible the way this city is starting to be overrun with such a bad element. Edge citizens deserve better than that."

She sighed, casting a sympathetic eye on Angel. "Things like this are gonna keep happening, unfortunately."

Cloud sighed as he nodded. He wanted to help the rising crime rate stop, but... he couldn't.

"People ask me whenever I head out what I plan to do about the rising crime, but I never have an answer for them. Well, that's not true, but I can't tell them."

He shook his head as he lifted his activated ice materia and pressed it against Angel's cheek, where she had been hit, to numb the pain and counter the forming bruise.

"I was given the name, 'Hero of Edge', but I'm still just one man. I'll swing in to stop a twenty-foot Marlboro from rampaging... I'll cut down any guard hound or dorky face that tries to take advantage of the weak, but I can't go swinging my sword or my fists at every human who tries to do harm. I can't be everywhere at once, and it... it eats away at me that I know I can't, and I feel a sense of guilt knowing I have the strength to help. But these are people. I can't just play the judge, jury, and executioner on the spot."

He leaned back and focused on Colriss. "Monsters are easy. They attack because they're hungry, or they've been mutated by tainted mako. Humans have infinite reasons for what they do, and not all of them warrant a death sentence."

From the top of the stairs, Tifa came running down. "Angel? Cloud?"

She hurried over to the booth, taking in the sight that greeted her before leaning in and giving Cloud a hug and a peck on the cheek.

"Hey, I came as fast as I could," she said.

Cloud had been so focused on his musings that he didn't expect the sudden affection and so her kiss made him blush. The smile was automatic, but then he pouted, realizing she had bested him once again. He'd get her back one of these days.

"Angel ran into some trouble heading home, and guess who swooped in to help?" He flicked his gaze towards Colriss, which he and Tifa had both been interested in the story of the mystery woman who had been helping people.

Tifa's smirk at his blush vanished quickly as she caught sight of Corliss, her eyes wide.

"Gaia! It's... you!" Tifa exclaimed.

"Yes, I am me..." she chuckled, slightly confused. "and it's Corliss... not Gaia."

"I saw you on the news two days ago, when you pushed that kid out of the way of that car," Tifa smiled at her. "And didn't you stop some mugging, too? I think they should make you the mayor or something."

Corliss burst out into laughter. "No, no... I don't do politics. And besides... I don't think there should be a mayor. There should be some kind of council or something to that effect."

That's when Tifa caught sight of Angel.

"What happened?" she asked, beginning to examine the bruise on her jaw.

"Well, like the man said... she ran into some trouble on the way home," Corliss explained.

"Ugh! Crime in this city is becoming unbearable," Tifa commented, "We'll get you fixed up, Angel... don't worry."

Cloud shook his head, agreeing with her, but as he had already told the girl: he really couldn't do much about it.

"I think she has a chest injury, but you're better at healing than I am when it comes to damaged bones. I'm better at breaking them," he offered sheepishly.

He then gazed around the bar, "Where's your father gotten to?"

Not that he missed the man, but he also didn't think it'd be wise to travel the streets alone on a night like this, and he really didn't want to come to the man's rescue. He also chanced a look up at the clock. The movie Zack had taken the kids to see should be over soon, so he hoped they'd be home not too long from now... unless the over-energetic warrior decided to take them out for ice cream... again.

"He's upstairs in the spare room." she explained, "I don't want him going anywhere at this time of night."

Tifa checked Angel over for any other injuries, eliciting a small yelp when she ran her fingers over Angel's lower rib cage.

"I'm so sorry, honey," Tifa winced along with Angel, "She has a cracked rib."

The barmaid's eyes flared with rage.

"Those bastards," she mumbled. She met Angel's eyes. "This may hurt a little, but I need to know if the bone is displaced before I heal it."

The poor girl looked terrified as she stared up at Tifa and nodded. She reached out and latched onto Cloud's shirt, closing her eyes and bracing for pain. Corliss then reached out a hand to stop Tifa, crouching down to make herself eye level with Angel.

"You're so brave, Miss Angel," Corliss told her in a very soothing voice, "but I'll tell you a secret. Did you know that our bodies have pain buttons?"

Angel opened her eyes, giving Corliss a very skeptical look.

"Yep... it's very hard to find them, of course, but..." Corliss looked her over and finally pushed an area of the skin right below her rib cage. Angel yelped, not in pain but in surprise.

"There it is. It doesn't help to be ticklish though."

A wave of relief washed over Angel's face, and she smiled at the woman.

"See?" Corliss ran her finger over the rib in question, and Angel just stared with wonder. The woman turned to Tifa, adding, "You can heal it... it isn't displaced."

Cloud regarded the woman with amazement. He knew that technique, but it was supposed to be a secret! "The Wutain pressure point technique? But that's restricted knowledge, how'd you come across it?"

Corliss smiled at him.

"Well, being a Wutai native, I suppose I learned it there," she told him.

Tifa focused the curative magic on Angel's wounds and then glanced at Corliss. "You're from Wutai?"

The woman nodded. "That's right." And then she regarded Cloud with a new interest. "That explains how I know it. How did you recognize it?"

Cloud smirked, a bit sheepishly, "We might have a friend in the royal family. Maybe you've heard of her? Teenager, stubborn, loud, cocky, has a crazy obsession with materia?"

The woman laughed heartily. "Her royal highness... I see. And she taught you these things?"

She seemed extremely impressed. "She must consider you as her family to teach you such secrets."

Cloud chuckled at that. "I think she's unofficially adopted me as her older brother, though the feeling's mutual. We've been through far too much to be anything but family at this point."

Feeling much better, Angel grasped Tifa's hand and dropped some gil into it.

"Angel, I thought we talked about this," Tifa said, "You don't need to pay me anything."

"I know, Tifa..." Angel replied, "but it makes me feel better."

Tifa opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. Instead, she looked at Cloud, her expression clear: Help me out, here!

He caught the look Tifa gave him and then turned a stern gaze towards the girl. "Angel... cleaning out that garage... that wasn't another small job, was it? Because you do remember when I explained that topic to you unless it didn't sink in and I need to go over it, again?"

He wasn't trying to seem angry, but she needed to learn this sooner before she got hurt and she wasn't lucky enough to get help in time. Because Cloud was pretty certain he wouldn't have made it in time if it hadn't been for the woman.

"You're twelve years old, Angel. You don't need to worry about getting a job. We don't need gil that badly. Do you see Denzel and Marlene getting jobs? No. You don't. If you want to help out, then try doing stuff around the house. There's ways to help without putting yourself in danger or earning money."

He stopped and sighed, letting go of his anger, which he hadn't meant to get angry in the first place, but it was out of worry and fear. Minerva didn't give her back to him for her to risk her second chance on something so silly. "I'm sorry, but... I care about you too much to risk losing you. "

Angel looked down and to the side, clearly upset. She stood up, her eyes remaining downward, and shuffled towards the stairs.

"I'm sorry..." Corliss spoke up, clearly confused, "Did you just say... she's 12?"

Looking over at Corliss, Tifa nodded. "She's 12 years old. It's... a long story."

Seeing the deflated expression on Cloud's face, Tifa wrapped her arms around him, drawing him into her. "You handled it perfectly, Cloud... there's just something bothering her."

His eyes glanced towards Tifa and he offered a loving smile. How the hell did he get so lucky to end up with her? It was so easy for her to zero in on his fears and take his pain away, and she was so warm. Especially since that night... he had been so scared... scared of leaving her behind, scared of fading away before anyone found him, but when she took him in her arms, it made it more bearable.

The most painful part hadn't been the thick metal beam protruding from his chest, it was leaving her. But... when he opened his eyes, fully healed and she kissed him... he felt like the entire Lifestream had struck him full force. He knew in that moment he wanted to spend the rest of eternity with her and he'd take on any challenge that dared to threaten her.

He leaned into her embrace and offered her a small smile of gratitude.

"Thanks. I just wish I knew why Angel has this crazy idea that she needs to earn her place or pay us... for what? Does she think she owes us? How do I get through to her without making her upset?"

"Well, I'm not sure where it's coming from..." Tifa said thoughtfully, pulling back so she could look at him, "But I haven't had the time to sit down and really talk to her about it. I've been so busy with the bar, taking care of the house, and planning for the wedding. I don't mind admitting I've been a little more exhausted than usual."

Cloud's expression lit up. "Teef, you're a genius! Could you keep Corliss company for a little bit? I need to talk to Angel."

Once Tifa agreed, he went up the stairs after her, finding Angel in the kitchen about to make up some tea. He seated himself at the table.

"You know... I'm not mad at you, right? I just wish I knew why you think it's so important to earn your keep when you don't need to."

Angel smiled at him. "I know you aren't mad... you're worried. I could feel it."

She sat down, reaching out to grab his hand. "I just... ever since you and Tifa took me in, I've felt... what's the word?..."

She stopped, trying to think of the right one. "...I can't think of the word. You are an amazing warrior and a fantastic leader. You run a business, and you take good care of your family. Tifa is such a great fighter... she runs a business... she keeps up with housework... and she is such a good teacher. Denzel is a wonderful protector for Marlene... and me... he always sticks up for people. Marlene is so wise and always seems to know what to say to make people feel better..."

She looked down, biting her bottom lip. "What do I do?" She stood up and started making some tea for them. "I don't... do anything. I feel... useless."

As she spoke, she cleaned up after herself; setting the tea down in front of him, she sat in the chair again, taking a sip from her own mug. "So I thought... maybe if I can make gil... that I would be useful."

He gave her a smile that reflected both sympathy and amusement. "Angel, you're not useless. Just because one of us has a quality doesn't mean the others can't share it. Hell, Tifa's a far better leader than I am. She's taken charge of planning the wedding and I just roll with it. She knows a lot more about that stuff than I do."

He knew the perfect example. "Just the other day we were shopping for matching colors for our tux and bride's dress. The woman asked if we preferred pearl white, chalk, or mountain air."

He couldn't help but laugh. "What's the difference? White is white! I don't care, but if Tifa thinks a certain super-detail-that-you-can't-even-see shade works better then she can have whatever color she wants."

He realized he was getting off-topic, but he felt like a little humor would help. "You act like you've done nothing since we found you. I know I wouldn't be here without you, neither would Denzel or Tifa, but if you still have trouble seeing your self-worth you can ask people like my mom, Zack, Aerith, Sephiroth, I sure they'd convince you, if I can't."

He then shook his head. "Even if you hadn't brought anyone back, family doesn't define the value of a member based on what they can do. You should know this by now. I love you no matter what."

She sighed. "I used to be able to bring people back from the Lifestream... but I can't anymore. That part of me... is no longer."

Looking down, it was easy to see that it bothered her horribly.

"It isn't about value, Cloud..." she tried to explain, "At least, I don't think it is... I just feel... out of place... no... not out of place... lost?... ugh!.. like... extra."

He understood. "It feels like everyone else has their role sorted out and you feel like a spare, and in the way."

Now he knew his plan would work perfectly; sometimes he amazed himself with his crazy ideas. "You know... I... I feel like I don't have the right to ask you a favor, since you saved my life an' all, but I could really use your help. It's about Tifa... with all the planning and the kids and the bar, Tifa's overworked, and I've had almost no time to help out. She could really use your help with things like cooking and helping with the kids. Think you can do that for me?"

The brightness in her expression could have lit up a 10-story building. She flashed him a dazzling smile, and her eyes sparkled with joy for the first time in a while.

"Of course!" she exclaimed, "I would be happy to help!"

She stood up, ran over to him, and hugged him tightly.

"Thank you!" she whispered. When she pulled back, she didn't seem so burdened.

He hugged her back. "I really appreciate it. I feel horrible. Here I am, her fiancé. and I can't even support her when she needs it. You helping her out, though, will really make a difference. If only it wasn't the holiday season. Deliveries always pile up around this time. You just took a load of stress off my back."

He looked up at the clock then and noticed the time. "Zack definitely must've taken the kids out for ice cream after the movie; they would have been back by now if he hadn't. Typical."

He looked down at her and gave her a sheepish grin. "I hate to ask, but you think you can whip up something for them to eat? Ice cream or not, Tifa wouldn't be too happy with any of us if the kids ended up having junk food for dinner. I'd do it, but I'm going to check on Colriss and help Petra close up. She looked really worn out tonight."

"I can do that!" she beamed at him, and she immediately went to work.

"Thanks, Angel," he grinned. As she began taking out pots and pans, Cloud rose from his seat and left, heading back down to the bar.