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To Those Who Wait--A Path to Redemption Side Story	By : Nakkinomiko Category: Final Fantasy VII > Het - Male/Female Views: 1529 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don’t own Final Fantasy VII or any of its characters. SquareEnix does. I make no money from this…I just like to play with them.

Chapter List
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Disclaimer: I don’t own Final Fantasy VII or any of its characters. SquareEnix does. I make no money from this…I just like to play with them.
A/N: This takes place in the same universe as “The Path to Redemption”, only some time has passed. This is Loz/Marlene, and the chapters span the years it takes Marlene to grow up. It’s a little angsty at the beginning, but there’s a happy ending, I promise!
*****
Part 1: Her Thirteenth Birthday
Loz perched on the wooden fence surrounding the chocobo pasture and watched the drama unfolding with a slight smile on his lips. Marlene’s thirteenth birthday was today, and Rufus Shinra had just given her a chocobo. It was an extravagant gift, yes, but then again, the President was drowning in money that he would never, ever use. And, unlike his father, Rufus was generous. Most of his extra money went into enriching his employee’s benefits plans and the rest into charities around the planet. Anything beyond that and what he needed to exist off of was more often than not spent on Marlene and Denzel.
“It’s really mine?” Marlene was looking up at the chocobo with wide, wonder-filled eyes.
“Yes, it’s really yours,” Rufus replied. “Cloud told me how you’ve always wanted one.”
Marlene frowned slightly and looked sideways at Barrett, her adoptive father. Loz knew what she was thinking before she even opened her mouth to speak. “But, how will Dad and I afford to take care of her?” Barrett made enough money to keep them afloat and help Tifa and Cloud pay the mortgage on Seventh Heaven, but there was no way he could afford to feed and board a chocobo, and Marlene knew that.
Loz smirked slightly. One of these days the girl would learn that Rufus never gave anything half way.
“I own this farm,” Rufus said. “You won’t be a little girl forever, Marlene. When you’ve finished school and college and have job of your own, you can start paying for her feed and board, if it makes you feel better. Until then, I don’t want you to worry about it.”
She all but squealed with delight and embraced the big bird around the neck. The Chocobo emitted a happy little wark and leaned into the girl. Apparently the bird liked her.
“What are you going to name her?” Barrett asked.
“Um. . .” Marlene stepped away from the bird a little to look it up and down. The bird flapped its wings a little, almost as if preening for her, and the air around them filled with a few small feathers. Marlene giggled as she reached out and caught one and rubbed it against her nose. “Feathers, I think. I know it’s not very original, but it fits her, for some reason.”
Feathers emitted a happy wark and lowered its head to butt playfully against her chest. Apparently the name sat well with the bird, too.
“It’s a good name,” Rufus said with a nod. “Why don’t you ride her now?”
Barrett gave her a boost into the saddle, and Marlene, who had actually ridden before, was quick to urge the beast into a run. The pasture they were in was huge, and very soon they were tiny dots in the distance. Loz resisted the urge to saddle up his own bird and ride after her. She was good in the saddle and she would be okay. He knew that Rufus would have found a mild-mannered animal for her.
“Worried?” Rufus boosted himself up on the fence and sat near Loz.
“Should I be?” Loz returned with a smirk.
Rufus shook his head, but his gaze remained thoughtful upon Loz. Loz just let him stare. Rufus would say what was on his mind eventually, and Loz contented himself with watching Marlene run Feathers through her paces.
“What will you do, Loz, if she grows up and gives her love to another?”
Loz smirked slightly. The question wasn’t entirely unexpected. He was more than aware that his entire family and most of his close friends were aware that Marlene was the most important thing in his life.
“Most likely, I’ll survive,” Loz said with a shrug. He glanced at Rufus, and the President didn’t look happy. “Don’t worry about it, Rufus. I’m more than aware that I’m setting myself up to be miserable down the line . . .but I don’t care. Isn’t that what unconditional love is all about?”
“Will you really be okay with that, Loz?”
“As long as she’s happy, yes.” And he meant it. Even if it tore his heart out, he’d be okay with it if whoever she finally ended up with made her happy. It was all he’d ever wanted for her, and all that really mattered to him.
“I don’t want you to be hurt,” Rufus said quietly. “None of us do, and she doesn’t see it, Loz.”
Loz laughed. “That’s good, Rufus, because it would freak her out. She’s far too young to be thinking about things like that. I’m her friend now, and that’s all I should be. And after she grows up, if that’s the way she wants to keep it, that’s the way it will stay.”
Rufus opened his mouth, no doubt to protest, but Loz cut him off with a sharp shake of his head. “I know what you’re going to say, that there’s probably someone else out there for me, right?”
Rufus snapped his mouth shut and nodded.
“No, Rufus,” Loz said. “Maybe far in the future, when she’s passed on and I’m still here, but as long as she’s alive and breathing, there’s no one else on the planet for me.”
Rufus just stared at him, and after a moment, asked “Why?”
Loz chuckled. “Why do you love Kadaj? Why does Maggie love Sephiroth? Does there have to be a reason why, Rufus?”
Rufus smirked. “Touché.”
“It will be okay,” Loz assured the man whom he’d come to think of as his brother-in-law. “So don’t worry about it.”
“But I do,” Rufus said with a sigh. “Just . . .be careful, Loz.”
There was true concern there, and it touched Loz. Rufus was, in Loz’s eyes, a gift from the Ancients. The man had saved Kadaj when no one else could, simply by giving freely of himself and surrounding Kadaj in unconditional love. And Loz knew from experience that caring for Kadaj was not always an easy thing. And still, the love Rufus had for Kadaj was strong and unshakable, and it got them through the worst of times. And apparently, that love extended to his in-laws.
“I will be,” Loz said. He looked out over the pasture again, and grinned. Marlene was headed back towards them now. Her dark hair streamed out behind her as she let the Chocobo run at top speed. She was laughing, and it warmed Loz’s heart to see her so happy. She rode the chocobo right up to the fence before she reined it in.
“Isn’t she beautiful, Loz?” Marlene asked. She leaned forward and hugged the bird. Feathers warked happily. “Isn’t she just the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?”
The second most beautiful, Loz thought to himself, but he nodded none-the-less. It won him one of her heart-stopping smiles. Loz nodded towards the barn. “Want me to saddle up Dante? We can go for a ride on the forest trails if you want.”
Marlene looked towards Barrett. “Can I, Dad?”
“As long as you stay close to Loz,” Barrett said. “There are some nasty creatures in that forest.”
“I will! I promise!”
Loz jumped down from the fence and gave Barrett a reassuring smile. “I’ll have her back within an hour.”
Barrett nodded and turned back towards the barn, but not before Loz saw the sadness in Barrett’s dark eyes.
Even Barrett knows, Loz thought as he followed the man. I wish I could convince everyone to not worry about it so much. He shook his head and decided to not think about it anymore. It was Marlene’s birthday, and she was waiting for him. Nothing else mattered.
*****
TBC
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To Those Who Wait--A Path to Redemption Side Story