Chapter 76: Trouble Back East
Fooled you again with another false ending, didn't I?
The rescue of Cloud and Tifa's daughter, Ada, as well as the immortalizing of Tobin and I, did not decide the fate of the children kidnapped by the remnants.
Presently, they were in a Sector Four Plaza. I was told that in the original timeline, when this was Edge instead of Midgar, there was a monument to Meteor. But, since Meteor struck the Western Continent in this timeline, there was a simple water fountain instead. It wasn't functioning, and the children were surrounding it. They were facing outward, at a crowd of a hundred or so frightened parents. All were masked, though, as they were all less than six feet apart, that did little.
Yazoo and Loz were also there, putting chains on the dry fountain.
There was endless yelling and screaming from the crowd.
"What do you think you're doing?" shouted one parent.
"Give us back our children!" cried another.
Yazoo and Loz ignored them.
"Hey!" cried a third. "Can't you hear us?"
Hey, you listening?" yelled a fourth.
"How can you sickos justify this?" shouted a fifth parent, who had to be held back by his wife.
"Give me my baby!" cried a woman.
Just then, Yazoo raised his hand.
The crow quieted down.
"This better be good!" someone yelled.
Suddenly, a shadow creeper materialized and attacked one of the parents, mauling him to death.
Several more shadow creepers materialized around the fountain.
The crowd began to disperse, screaming as they did so.
One shadow creeper killed a mother with a throat bite.
Zack, by the way, was in the background. He was desperately looking for Denzel. He had his mask on, but his infection was starting to take hold of him.
Just then, a shadow creeper came his way.
Zack immediately drew his buster sword.
"Not today, you son of a bitch!" he exclaimed.
He swung his sword at the creature.
The creature jumped back in self defense.
Zack charged the creature, driving his buster sword through the creature's chest.
The creature let out a loud howl, and collapsed to the ground, dead.
It quickly dissipated into nothingness.
He then noticed another shadow creeper pursuing a young woman with a toddler.
"Yoo-hoo!" Zack called.
The shadow creeper turned to face him.
"That's right, fuckface!" Zack continued. "Come and get me!"
The shadow creeper charged him.
Zack took his buster sword and sliced the creature in two, causing it to dissipate.
The woman then approached Zack.
"Don't curse in front of my son!" she reprimanded.
She then turned and marched away.
"You're welcome," he sighed.
He then began to call the name of whom he was looking for.
"Denzel!" he called.
No answer.
"Denzel, where are you!" he pleaded.
There was still no answer.
A third shadow creeper approached him. Zack kicked it against the wall. It vanished into dust.
What nobody seemed to notice was that Sephiroth himself was hiding in a nearby alley.
His time was soon coming.
MEANWHILE…..
Rufus was watching the events unfold from inside the Shinra Building.
The prime Reno approached him from behind.
"The Balen brothers' mission was a failure," he informed him. "And now we've lost contact with them."
"Never mind that," Rufus dismissed as he continued to look down out the window. "A storm is coming."
Rude glanced out the window himself. He saw the frightened parents running through the streets. He saw Yazoo and Loz at the fountain with the children.
"You have work down there," Rufus then said. "I suggest you hop to it."
MEANWHILE…..
Tifa stirred. She opened her eyes, and, as the world returned to focus, she found herself still on her knees on top of the equally stirring Cloud. She was still wearing nothing but her white tank top.
Cloud was next to open his eyes.
Tifa lovingly looked down on him, and stroked his hair.
"Good morning, handsome," she said before kissing him.
"Sleep well?" he asked as he rubbed his eyes.
"Like a rock," she replied, "now that our daughter's safe."
"Did we sleep like this the whole night?" Cloud asked.
"Apparently so," Tifa replied as she stood up and turned around, giving Cloud a more than generous view of her bare butt.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"I just need to stand and stretch my legs for a second," she replied.
"Suit yourself," Cloud agreed.
Tifa placed her hands on her hips.
"I need to go pantless more often," Tifa said. "God, this feels so free!"
Cloud continued to silently check his wife out.
"I wouldn't mind walking around like this all day!" she laughed. "I know you'd like that."
"I would," Cloud admitted. "But aren't you a mother?"
Tifa stretched her arms in the air.
"I'm a mother," she replied. "I'm a lot of things. I'm a daughter, a niece, a cousin, a friend, a neighbor, a president, and, if Cissnei gets pregnant, an aunt."
Thanks, Tifa.
She then walked forward, and climbed back onto the bed, repositioning herself as she had been.
"I'm also a wife," she reminded him.
With that, she pressed her lips against his, and kissed him passionately.
Cloud duly pulled his pajama bottoms down.
"Now you took the hint!" she said.
She pressed her tongue against his.