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Final Fantasy: A Bond of Love	By : Bubblesoflove Category: Final Fantasy VII > Het - Male/Female > Cloud/Tifa Views: 1937 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 6
- 7
- 8
Chapter 7: A Blast from the Past and Questions to be answered�

�� What are we
going to do?� Marlene asked from where she was sitting on the stool at the bar,
looking at Tifa who was wiping the glasses clean for the night. Tifa smiled as
she looked at her.
�� What do you
want to do?� Tifa walked over to the counter and placed the glass down, picking
up the other one as Denzel made his way into the bar. He saw Marlene and Tifa
and smiled brightly as he pulled himself up onto the stool next to Marlene.
�� Anything
but sitting around,� Marlene pouted cutely, wanting Tifa to give in and take
them out. Tifa rolled her eyes.
�� Go and walk
about then,� Tifa teased, laughing when she saw Marlene and Denzel pout. �How
about this,� she leaned on the counter causing the kids to mimic her, �You let
me finish the glasses off and we�ll go to the park then do some wandering
around in town?�
�� Yeah!�
Denzel and Marlene cheered, throwing their hands up into the air with bright
smiles on their faces. Tifa grinned as she picked up the now clean glasses and
placed them under the counter where they usually went before she rounded the
counter and took the kids up the stairs so they could grab their jackets and
boots and Tifa to grab her money.
�� Where are
you going?� Aerith asked as she came out of the business room that the kids
called it. She cleaned her hands on the small rag that she kept around whenever
she was working with her flowers.
�� We�re
heading over to the park then doing some shopping,� Denzel hurried out, his
excitement clear through his voice as he struggled to pull his boots on,
hopping all over the place. Aerith couldn�t help but smile as she noticed that
he had picked that habit up from Zack.
�� Is there
anything you want?� Tifa came out of her room with Marlene in tow, all dressed
in a light pink jumper and boots. Tifa moved over to Denzel, sat him down on
the stairs so she could put his boots on and tie them for him before giving him
his dark blue jacket.
�� Could you
pick up some more soil and some seeds? I�ll pay you when you get home,� Aerith
told her and Tifa nodded.
�� No problem,�
Tifa let Denzel up and grabbed her own light jacket and pulled it on before
offering her hands to the kids, who took it and promptly pulled on her, hauling
her out of the house altogether, giggling and laughing while Aerith watched
them go with a bright smile before the sound of ringing caught her attention.
Making her way into the room once more, she picked up the black phone.
�� Hello,
Gainsborough Flowers and Strife�s Delivery,� Aerith greeted with a bright smile
only for the smile to fade and a cold look to enter her eyes. �Yes, I remember
you,� she said with a hard tone. �What do you want?�
�� Zack was
riding his bike when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Pulling off to
the side, he slowed the bike down till it came to a stop, sat up and pulled his
phone out of his pocket.
�� Yeah?� Zack
greeted.
�� Hey,�
Aerith greeted and Zack felt a smile cross his face.
�� What�s up?
I was on my way home,� Zack told her, knowing that it was important if she
called him.
�� Reno
called,� Zack stiffened. �He says he�s got something important.� Zack sighed.
�� Where?�
Zack asked.
�� Zack found
himself pulling up outside a building. He climbed off his bike and made his way
up the stairs before he slammed the door open, his right hand reaching for the
buster sword that was attached to his back just as Reno looked at Zack.
�� The red
haired pulled out his baton and swung it toward Zack. Zack ducked off to the
side, causing the young man to run past him and out of the building where Zack
closed the door in his face.
�� Okay �
you�re still good,� Reno complimented. Zack gritted his teeth as he turned the
lock just as the other door opened to reveal a tall bald man dressed in a black
suit similar to the red head but he had glasses on and numerous of earrings.
�� Looking
good, Rude,� Zack complimented. Rude just reached for his baton only to find
himself face to face with the sharp end of Zack�s buster. �Don�t try it,� Zack
warned. Rude cleared his throat as he took a step back just as the door opened
once more.
�� I�m glad to
see that you still have retained your SOLDIERS moves,� a voice said as a
wheelchair moved closer to Zack. A young man was dressed in a grey cloth with a
hand resting on the arm chair. Zack gaped at the person; he had thought the
young man had died when the Shin-Ra building exploded.
�� Rufus
Shinra,� Zack greeted before scoffing. �Do I feel sorry for you?� Rude cleared
his throat while Rufus looked mildly irritated. �What do you want?� Zack asked.
�� When the
building�� Rufus started.
�� Not
interested,� Zack cut him off.
�� I managed
to get�� Rufus persisted.
�� I�m
leaving,� Zack cut him. Rufus shut up, finally getting that Zack wasn�t
interested in how he lived or how he got away. He just wanted to know why Rufus
had summoned him before him after the hell he had put Zack and his family
through.
�� There are
troubles,� Rufus started. �Ones that required me to hire muscle.�
�� You have
your Turks � they can deal with them,� Zack remarked.
�� But you are
stronger,� Rufus pointed out.
�� Only
because I was experiment on,� Zack remarked as he turned around, intending to
leave, he unlocked the door and it opened to reveal the red haired peering in.
�� You used to
be a SOLIDER, Zack, surely that hasn�t changed,� Rufus said. Zack�s hand
tightened into a fist as he looked at Rufus over his shoulder.
�� That was
before your company allowed Hojo to experiment on Cloud and overdosed him,�
Zack gritted out. �I left SOLIDER because there was no honour left.�
�� How sure
are you that Cloud is dead?� Rufus asked as Zack was about to walk away. He
watched as Zack stopped in his tracks, his muscles tensing.
�� What is
that supposed to mean?� Zack gritted out as he turned Mako blue rage filled
eyes on Rufus. �The scientists said Cloud was dead, that he had been overdosed
on Mako. I saw his body, it was cold and there was no pulse.�
�� What if I
told you that it was a copy you found and that Cloud is very much alive,� Rufus
told him. Zack grinded his back teeth in anger at the audacity of Rufus� guts
to dangle Cloud in front of Zack like one would dangle a carrot in front of a
donkey.
�� Then I
would accuse of you lying to me, trying to deceive me with false hope so I
would come back and work for you in hope that you would give me the whereabouts
of Cloud,� Zack informed him.
�� Rufus just
chuckled before he shook his head. Zack just turned on his heels once more,
intending to stride out of the building and away from Rufus as far away as he
could when Rufus spoke up once more, stilling Zack.
�� What if I�m
not lying,� Zack just squared his shoulders and left the building with doubt
niggling at his mind�there had been copies made of other people back then�who
to say that they hadn�t done the same with Cloud?
�� Come on
Zack � together, we could set up Shin-Ra once more!� the red haired shouted
only to flinch when Zack turned to face him with a hard glare from where he
straddled his bike and the two men to call his name.
�� Reno!�
Rufus and Rude shouted together, anger clear in their voices. Reno winced as he
watched Zack kick start his bike, turn around and peel away from the building
altogether, planning on leaving that past behind him once more�if he could.
�� Reno sighed
as he made his way into the room where Rude had crossed his arms and Rufus was
tapping his fingers on the arm of his wheelchair.
�� Well, that
was a bust,� Reno remarked, sliding the baton over his shoulder but Rufus shook
his head.
�� No, the
seed has been planted. All we need to do now�is wait for him to come to us,�
Rufus told him as they all watched the Motorbike fade out of distance.
�� Tifa watched
from where she was sitting on the bench. Every now and then Denzel or Marlene
would look over to her to make sure that she was still there, that she hadn�t
gone. She would wave whenever they looked at her, touched over how they always
sought her out for security. She sighed as she sat back on the bench and
allowed her mind to wander what it would have been like if her baby had
survived.
�� She had
wondered so much about her baby, would it have been a boy with Cloud�s hair and
blue eyes and quiet personality but with her open heart and easy loving? Or
would it have been a girl with her hair, Cloud�s eyes and a mixture of their
personalities. She couldn�t help but smile as her mental Cloud protested over
that their children had to have his eyes. He had once said that her eyes
reminded him of the rubies that shone brightly when the sun hit them, making it
look like they were on fire from the inside � it reminded him so much of her
passion and easy loving.
�� Shaking her
head, she shook her thoughts away. It wasn�t right for her to dwell on the
past, mourn forever over what she had lost. Barrett, Yuffie and Cid were always
on at her to get out and start dating, that she was too young to have given up
dating and men for the rest of her life. That she still had time to start a
family but she couldn�t bring herself to tell them the truth of why she
wouldn�t date�that she had lost the one man she had ever saw herself spending
her life with, the one man she had nearly had a child with but had lost it on
the same day she had been told her lover had died.
�� Zack had
always spent the night holding her in his arms as she cried into his chest over
the dreams she had about Cloud. He just rocked her, kissing the crown of her
head and stroking her hair, trying to lull her back to sleep and hopefully
bring some good dreams to her but they would never come.
�� Aerith would
eventually use her powers to put Tifa under a dreamless sleep because her heart
would break every time she heard Tifa cry. The two of them had become closer
since Zack had introduced them that fateful day in the hospital and Tifa was
glad to have a female friend. She rarely had them thanks to the boys lusting
over her in her hometown despite her turning them down and making it very clear
that she had been taken.
�� Mrs. Fair
had been her salvation. When they had first met, Tifa had shied away from a
mother figure as she had lost hers at a young age and the woman in her home
town had problems with Tifa.
�� But over
time, Mrs. Fair had slowly broke Tifa�s barriers down and Tifa had confided in
the older woman of her lover and losing her baby. Mrs. Fair had understood, she
had lost a baby before Zack and she had almost lost her husband at the same
time. Slowly, over time, she had helped Tifa mend her wounds but had warned the
younger woman that you never really get over the loss of losing your first love
to death but over in time, pain would lessen but would never go away.
�� Tifa was
startled out of her thoughts when she felt a small hand tug on hers and turned
to see Marlene was standing off to the side with Denzel behind her.
�� We�re tired
of the park,� Marlene explained. Tifa smiled as she stood up, brushing her
black knee length jeans before she took the kids� hands and they all walked
away from the park and into the town where the shops were waiting for them.
�� The kids
laughed and giggled as they went shopping; admiring all the strange fruits and
vegetables before convincing Tifa to get them so they could try something new
at dinner. They had fun chasing each other around the shop with Tifa hurrying
to catch them before they knocked over some display only to laugh whenever one
of the kids would get tackled by the other, knocking them to the ground and tickling
them.
�� After she
managed to get them back up onto their feet, they would continue shopping,
picking seeds for Aerith�s flowers, funny things for Zack, different sweets for
them and baking stuff for Tifa as she was the main cooker/baker of the family
as Aerith had a habit of burning the edges and Zack just burned things
completely, much to the amusement of the children as he managed to set a pot of
water on fire and let out a girlish scream.
�� Once the
shopping was done, Denzel offered the carry the bags home as he was the �big
strong boy�. Tifa had let him carry the bags only for Denzel to almost drop
them due to the heaviness, eliciting a smile from Tifa and giggles from Marlene
before Tifa took the heavy bags and gave the children the lighter ones and
watched as they skipped the way home, laughing and talking about what they
could make for dinner.
�� Aerith
peered around the door of the business room when she heard the front door open
and smiled when she heard the children� excited chatter and Tifa�s soothing
voice as she tried to calm the hyper children.
�� Zack had
always complained that the children always seemed to have so much energy
despite doing lot of things throughout the day and having no sugar. Aerith and
Tifa had secretly agreed that the children had picked that up from Zack as he
always had boundless energy. So much that all the adults seemed to call him
�Zack the Puppy� much to Zack�s annoyance and the women�s amusement, Zack had
always been nicknamed as a puppy since he was a child and it had annoyed him to
no end that everyone seemed to compare him to a puppy. The girls had silently
agreed that it was the way Zack�s never-ending energy and eager curiosity that
made him puppy like.
�� Aerith made
her way into the kitchen in time to see the kids unpacking the bags and placing
the stuff onto the large island counter with Tifa putting them away in the
correct places. Denzel looked up when he sensed someone watching him and smiled
brightly when he saw Aerith.
�� Aerith!�
Tifa and Marlene turned to see Aerith smiling brightly at them. �We have your
seeds.� Denzel picked up the small pile of packets and hurried over to Aerith.
Aerith took them into her hands before kissing him on the crown of his head.
�� Thank you
sweetie,� Aerith told him, ruffling his hair before watching as he moved back
other to the other girls and helped them to finish of the unpacking. Aerith
frown in curiosity when she saw the strange fruits and vegetables before
looking at Tifa, who just shook her head with a smile playing on her face.
�� Aerith
helped Tifa to unpack the rest of the shopping just as they heard a rumbling
sound of a motorcycle pulling up outside of Seventh Heaven, sending the kids
into a high.
�� Zack�s
home!� Marlene and Denzel shouted, alerting the two women who shared amused yet
sad looks. They had always wondered what the kids would have been like if they
had had the chance to meet Cloud, would they have been excited about him as
much as they were excited about Zack?
�� Denzel and
Marlene tore out of the kitchen just as the front door opened and the girls
could hear Zack�s yelp as the kids launched themselves at his legs before,
excitedly, asking him how his trip had been and where he had gone this time.
�� Used to
this, Zack just laughed as he walked the best he could through the house with
the kids clinging onto his legs and answered their questions before he came to
a stop in the doorway of the kitchen. He smiled brightly when he saw the women
only for a curious look to cross his face over the strange fruits and vegetables
before shaking his head; he had a feeling that it would be an interesting story
to hear at a later time.
�� Aerith,
understanding where Zack had gone and wanting answers to why Reno had wanted to
see Zack, turned to the kids.
�� Kids, can
you help Tifa with the dinner. Zack and I need to go and sort out some stuff
for the business,� the kids nodded as they let Zack go and walked over to Tifa
as she pulled out the chopping boards and knifes before placing them on the
island counter and gave the kids vegetables to chop while Aerith and Zack made
their way up the stairs and into their bedroom. Aerith watched as Zack made his
way over to the window, his happiness was slowly disappearing.
�� Zack,
what�s wrong?� Aerith asked as she placed a hand on her boyfriend�s shoulder.
Zack took in a deep breath before he turned to face her.
�� Rufus
Shinra called me,� Zack heard the hitch in her breath. Despite the fact that
she was an ancient and she doesn�t harbour petty grudge, Shin-Ra was a soft
spot for her. It was because of them that she had been under surveillance; it
was because of them that she had almost lost Zack and in the process, he and
Tifa had lost someone who was close to them.
�� What did he
want?� Aerith asked, pushing her anger down deep where it wouldn�t interfere
with her calm composer.
�� It was more
of what he said,� Zack admitted. Aerith�s gaze turned to one of puzzlement as
she tilted her head slightly, wondering what Zack was getting at. �He
insinuated that Cloud just might still be alive.� Aerith�s mind came to a
screeching halt at the revelation.
�� Cloud was dead; Zack had heard the
scientists say Cloud was dead due to being overdosed on Mako. Zack had seen and
felt the body, it was cold and stiff and it was Cloud�anger bubbled up inside
of Aerith at the thought that they had known that Cloud was alive all this time
and had let them think he was dead but it changed�what if Rufus was lying?
Would he do that? Get people�s hope up, make them confuse about everything they
know before dashing all hope that they had built up just for fun?
�� What did he
say?� Aerith asked, wanting to know word for word of what the man had told
Zack.
�� He asked me
if I was sure that Cloud was dead, that it wasn�t a copy that I had seen and if
I was willing to lose Cloud if he was still alive,� Zack whispered. Aerith
closed her eyes as pain filled her veins for the desolated sound in Zack�s
voice. Rufus� plan was already working, he doubted what he had seen and it was
making him feel guiltier.
�� You have to
tell Tifa,� Aerith told him. Zack turned to face her with a look of protest but
Aerith was firm. �Zack, Cloud was Tifa�s boyfriend. He was the father of her
baby�she deserves to know if he is still alive.� Zack just stared at Aerith
before he nodded, bowing his head.
�� Zack made
his way into the kitchen and saw Tifa was now alone. She checked the wok that
had the meat, the vegetables and noodles cooking in it before checking the
bread that was in the oven. Sensing that someone was watching her, she looked
over her shoulder to see Zack standing there.
�� Hey Zack,�
greeted Tifa as she grabbed the pile of plates that was sitting on the counter
next to the cooker and headed over to the table so she could set it up for
dinner.
�� Hey Tifa, I
have something to tell you,� Zack said and Tifa nodded.
�� Okay,� Tifa
told him, not looking at him.
�� Tifa, Rufus
had insinuated to me that Cloud might still be alive,� Zack told her. Tifa
looked at him with a shocked look on her face.
�� What?!�
Tifa demanded before rage started boiling her blood as she slammed the plates
down, startling the kids from the living room. �Do they like screwing us around
like this? Giving us hope only to dash them into smithereens just to see if we
can patch ourselves together again?!� Zack winced at the anger clear in her
voice.
�� Marlene and
Denzel shared a look together, unsure of what was happening. Never in their
lives have they heard Tifa with anger in her voice. She was always calm despite
everything that was happening.
�� Aerith moved
into the living room and took the kids out and up the stairs so they wouldn�t
overhear any more of the conversation. There was no need to upset them while
Tifa and Zack had their talk.
�� Tifa�� Zack
started but Tifa shook her head.
�� If Cloud is
really alive and they kept this to themselves for nine years, nine years Zack,�
Zack looked away, �I will kill them myself but they are lying just to build my
hopes up � I will make sure they will rot in hell for what they have just put
me through � I lost Cloud and my baby all in the same day � I�m not in the mood
to deal with egoistical bastards because they think they have the right to fuck
around with my life!� Tifa finished it with a slam of her fist onto the table,
causing it to creak under her strength.
�� Zack just
stared at Tifa, in all the time he had known her, she had never raised her
voice, swore or used violence and it hit him that Tifa was slowly being pushed
to the breaking point � using Cloud was just driving her over the edge.
�� What do you
want me to do?� Zack asked.
�� Get answers
� if Cloud is alive, then we�ll save him but if they are lying to us � give me
the freedom to kill them,� Tifa told him before she straightened up and strode
out of the kitchen, leaving Zack alone with his thoughts and could only hope
that he would never find himself on Tifa�s bad side any time soon.
�� Aerith came
into the kitchen a few minutes later and placed a hand on his shoulder, gazing
up at him with concern in her green eyes.
�� She�s
right,� Zack whispered. Aerith tilted her head. �They just like to build hope
up and shatter us just to see if we can patch ourselves up again. It�s like a
game to them, weed out the weak ones and recruit the stronger ones just for a
future they envisioned only for them to lose control because these people have
decided they worthy of the power they control.�
�� What are
you going to do?� Aerith whispered. Zack looked into her eyes.
�� To find out
if Cloud is really alive,� Zack whispered.
�� Are you
ready, my son?� a disembodied voice asked. The blue eyes snapped open once more
from where he was standing in front of a window, looking up at the star filled
night sky.
�� It brought
out a vague memory in him�of a girl with black hair and red eyes; dressed in a
blue dress�she whispered something to him before she became blurry like a
skipping stone over still water before it completely faded from his mind.
�� What is my
mission?� the man asked and got a faint pleased sound in reply.
�� To destroy
all that stands in your way of becoming the greatest leader in the world�to
destroy all that prevents you from finding your mother and reuniting with
her�to bring the world under your control once more,� the voice ordered.
�� Yes,
Father,� the man whispered.
�� Good,
Sephiroth,� the voice whispered.

TBC

During the film, it always seemed like Rufus had known more
than he was telling (And I was proven right at the end) and he does come off
manipulative when he wants something so I decided to go that route. I hope it
doesn�t bother anyone.
- 6
- 7
- 8
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Final Fantasy: A Bond of Love