Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Reborn ❯ Chapter 5
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: MikariStar 
Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Comedy / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 07.23.2012 | Pages: 6 | Words: 7.0K | Visits: 299 | Status: Completed
Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Comedy / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 07.23.2012 | Pages: 6 | Words: 7.0K | Visits: 299 | Status: Completed
Reborn: Memory V
Incident 36: Impending Tragedies
At the Shinra headquarters lobby, "Tifa!" Loz ran to Tifa with his arms extended and a big happy smile.
"No Marlene?" Yazoo pouted.
Then Kadaj stood between Tifa and Loz, he wasn't sure who he liked yet, if Tifa or Marlene and until he sorted out his feelings, he wouldn't take any chances allowing his brothers to steal either of them away. Loz collided with Kadaj, knocking him to the floor. Refusing to be on the bottom, Kadaj flipped Loz over.
Thinking it was a game, Yazoo jumped on top of Kadaj, leaving Loz to complain about not being able to hug Tifa with his brothers on top of him, and Kadaj to struggled to push Yazoo under him because if they were going to be in a pile, though he couldn't explain why they would need to be, he would be the one on top.
While Tifa laughed in amusement at the boys' game, Cloud pouted and glared suspiciously, until Reno came running over. "Strife!"
"Hey Reno, tell me the truth about," Cloud could not finish his inquiry, because he was being electrocuted. He didn't expect Reno to attack, so he didn't even try to defend himself. "What are you doing?" Cloud backed away and readied his sword.
"Nothing, my dear friend," that tasted sour, even if it was an act. "I merely wish to test my skills against you in an honorable training combat."
Tifa ignored their antics in favor of watching the boys wrestle to be on top on their little pile and Cloud frowned. "Why are you speaking so formally instead of just saying 'yo Cloud, fight me' or something like that, and if it's honorable training, why did you attack me first without a warning?"
"That is..." because Sephiroth could not resist. "Because I'm such an airhead, yo!"
"Oh, well I suppose that explains it," Cloud nodded in agreement.
'You're making me look bad!' Reno yelled through their mental link, which came from having two souls share a single body.
'Be quiet and don't interfere, go back to sleep," Sephiroth replied in the same way, so only Reno could hear. Then the battle began, while Tifa had a conversation with the newly arrived Rufus in the background, who was wearing a hat.
"Reno, stop playing and deliver the groceries to Healin Lodge, you didn't get the groceries, didn't you? Reno!" Elena, who arrived along with Tseng, Rude and Rufus, did not like being ignored.
With a sharp pull at Reno's his ponytail, Sephiroth's consciousness retreated, leaving Reno in control. "Ow, why did you do that, Elena?"
"Because you were ignoring me, you need to take the groceries to Healin Lodge, I hope you didn't forget the plastic bags and bubble wrap," Elena reminded.
"Where do I get bubble wrap?" While this conversation took place, Cloud pouted, his fight had been interrupted as if it was nothing and now he was being ignored. That was the last time he agreed to spar with Reno.
"I'm pretty sure they must have some in the post office for packages and stuff like that. Go get everything and take it to Healin, we'll take care of the kids," Elena insisted.
"What about Rufus' ha-" Tseng jumped behind Reno and reached over, firmly slapping his hand over the red head's mouth.
Mentioning hair was forbidden at the moment, least they wish to make the president burst into tears, which may upset the deadly remnants. Not to mention that their pay might suffer and Tseng wasn't looking forward to any of those consequences. "Yes, I think the president's hat is very stylish too. In fact, maybe we should all wear hats and since you're going to deliver the groceries to Healin Lodge now, you should stop by a shop and buy hats for all of us."
Reno got the message; Rufus' hair problem must still be unresolved. If he had a gooey, foil wrapped treatment on his head or no hair at all, Reno didn't know and he liked his own hair far too much to dare to ask. Tseng was wise to think of hiding all their hair so as to not create jealousy. Rude's bald head would have to be hidden too, so as to not remind Rufus of his possible future, if it wasn't already a reality.
"Yes, sir, you can count on me!" Reno swiftly left headquarters and headed back to his car, it seemed that Sephiroth had quieted for a while.
Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz, continued their battle, pushing each other down, oblivious to the world. Tseng, Elena and Rude stood around after having safely communicated to Tifa and Cloud without Rufus' knowledge, that they should make no comments about his hat unless they were compliments.
"Alright then, I'll see you later," it seemed the matter discussed by Tifa and Rufus had been settled.
"Yes, we'll be there," Rufus agreed.
The three Turks present had heard it all, but Cloud was too busy spacing out and drowning in self pity to catch what they were talking about. "Tifa, what did you agree on? What do you mean see you later?"
Tifa shook her head, "Cloud, what am I going to do with you? Weren't you listening? Rufus and his family is coming over for dinner, I think it's a wonderful opportunity for all of us to get to know each other and I would be so happy if Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz became close friends with Marlene and Denzel." Tifa loved children too much for her own good and she liked to watch them play together, even if it meant chaos.
As Tifa walked out of Shinra, heading back to the Seventh Heaven to start planning the dinner feast, Cloud followed and complained all the way. "You can't do that, what if they fight?" By then the glass doors of the Shinra lobby had closed behind them and Rufus and the three Turks could no longer hear them. They had not witnessed the chaos in the supermarket and Reno was no there to warn them before the arrangement had been made.
It wasn't until after Tifa and Cloud left, that Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz took time to notice, which made Loz pout and start crying because he didn't even get to talk to his beloved Tifa. Kadaj joined in with cries of double agony, because he was away from both Tifa and Marlene and he couldn't figure out his feelings unless they both spent time with him. Yazoo missed Marlene and started crying as well.
"Don't cry!" Rufus wasn't even sure why they were crying now, completely unaware of his adoptive sons' new crushes. "We're going to have dinner at the Seventh Heaven tonight and I'm sure it will be fun for you and good publicity for me so everybody wins."
The boys immediately stopped crying and smiled happily, surprising Rufus on how easily he was able to calm them this time.
"Let's go back to Healin Lodge," Rufus decided. His head was covered in foil and sticky stuff, hidden by the hat, but he was confident that the treatment would save his precious hair. He was certain that he would be able to attend the dinner looking as handsome as ever, once his hair was healed in a couple of hours. He was sure it would work; it had to, it better.
xoxox xox xoxox
Incident 37: A Solution and a Disaster
If Rufus Shinra thought that dinner at the Seventh Heaven was his only worry, he was wrong, very wrong. Rufus, the Turks and the three little remnants were currently at Healin Lodge, where the boys were kept occupied by video games and snacks, though they were not given too many snacks so as to not spoil their appetite for dinner, albeit Tifa was a great cook and they would surely eat plenty either way.
Rufus was confident that when he removed the hair treatment, consisting of sticky stuff covered by foil, his hair would be perfect again, but it wasn't. His hair was green and broken, almost as if it has rusted or rotted, it was like a zombie's hair and that wasn't even the worse part. His hair was no longer on his head, it lay on the tub were it had fallen when Rufus tried to wash off the hair treatment in the shower.
The stylist had warned him that there was a chance that this might fail and he may go bald, but he didn't listen, he didn't want to hear it. "No!" Rufus' scream of agony echoed all over Healin Lodge and beyond, frightening the remnants, who immediately started crying.
"Stay with them," Tseng ordered as he rushed to find out if someone had broken in and was trying to assassinate Rufus. The Turk Leader knocked on the bathroom door, "president, what's happening?" There were nothing but quiet sobs. "President? I'm coming in."
"Don't!" Rufus yelled from inside, "just stay away, I'm not coming out, I'm never coming out!"
"Sir, you can't stay in that bathroom forever. The remnants are frightened, please come out and reassured them," Tseng tried to reason with him.
"Bring them to the door, I'll talk to them," Rufus agreed between sobs.
The Turks brought the boys over and they stood in from of the door, wondering why their father wouldn't come out. "Daddy?" Kadaj called, "are you there?"
"Yes, I'm here, I will be staying here for a while so be good and don't cause trouble..." Rufus' started crying loudly.
"Is daddy hurt?" Loz began to cry as well, soon to be joined by his brothers.
"Enough!" Rufus yelled in a sudden fury. He exited the bathroom wearing his normal clothes plus the hat that covered his lack of hair, "I can't take this anymore, if not because of what happened, my hair would still be..." Rufus clenched his fists and glared, "I want revenge!" Then he ran out of Healin Lodge and took off on the helicopter before anyone could stop him.
xoxox xox xoxox
By the time the Turks caught up to Rufus, taking the remnants along since they couldn't very well leave them alone, the grieving young president had gone to the deepest laboratory of Shinra Headquarters and entered an anti-radiation clean room, against the insistence of the scientists, threatening to fire whoever tried to stop him.
Tseng stood behind the glass of the room were Rufus was furiously demanding that a scientist entered a code into a machine. It was a strange looking pod, much like the one where Jenova was kept before, this one needed a password to open.
The scared scientist complied and ran out of the room. "Please stop this!" Tseng went in to get Rufus.
"Stay back!" Rufus took the Jenova flower from inside the pod; that was the thing that started this whole mess. He had sent it to the laboratory to keep under strict observation.
Tseng jumped back, "be careful with that, we don't know what it could do!"
"Mother!" The three remnants cheered, seeing the flower. It had come from Jenova's very last cell after it was planted to feed off the planet.
"This is how it all started and now my hair is..." tears rolled down Rufus' face, "gone..."
"It's not so bad," Rude approached and tried to be supportive.
Rufus removed his hat and the Turks gasped. "Bald doesn't work for everyone," Reno stupidly commented.
"Shut up, you're offending him," Elena scolded. "It's okay president, I think you look... er... very handsome, really." It cost Elena a great effort to tell such a big lie.
"I look terrible!" Rufus cried, then the flower he held started to glow a strong light surrounding him, everyone had to look away from the brightness. Finally, when the flower stopped glowing, Rufus' hair had returned, it was far longer, going all the way to his ankles in a brilliant platinum gold, much more beautiful than the hair he had before. His new hair was strong, healthy and did not need detailed special care to remain shiny and soft. "What happened?"
The Turks were in awe and they did not know how to answer Rufus' question. Reno's consciousness was pushed aside by Sephiroth, he was upset. "Mother! Why do you waste mother's power this way?"
Rufus and the other Turks stared at him, "mother?" they repeated in unison.
"Is that you big brother? I knew I sensed your energy, it is you!" Kadaj hugged Reno.
"Big brother," Yazoo curiously inquired, "how come you possessed uncle Reno, what happened to your body?"
"I knew it, big brother Sephy didn't recover from his fight with big brother black sheep," Loz cried because his older brothers didn't get along, "poor Sephy."
"Don't worry; we won't let black sheep pick on you again!" Kadaj assured.
"Be quiet you fool!" Sephiroth yelled and the remnants cried.
"You're being mean too, both our big brothers are mean!" Loz wailed.
Yazoo sniffled, "uncle Reno was nicer."
Kadaj sobbed, "bring uncle Reno back, you mean big brother!"
"Traitors!" Sephiroth roared.
'They like me best!' Reno sounded victorious, speaking through their mental link.
"Reno is Sephiroth?" Rufus was shocked, "when did this happen?"
"I'm not sure," Tseng admitted.
"I am Reno and no one else," Sephiroth tried to convince them.
"Nu-uh, you're big brother Sephy!" Kadaj insisted, "I can feel it."
"Me too!" "Me three!" Yazoo and Loz agreed.
Sephiroth, still in Reno's body, pushed the remnants away and ran.
"After him!" Tseng commanded.
"Wait!" Rufus stopped them, "we have to go to dinner at the Seventh Heaven; it will be bad publicity if we don't."
"But sir, it looks like Sephiroth is in control of Reno's body, he may cause trouble!" Tseng insisted.
"Yes, I know, it would be bad if Shinra get blamed for it, but if we can prove it was Sephiroth and not Reno, then everything will be fine," Rufus decided. "Besides, I'm hungry and want to go show off my new hair. Let's go, we'll just tell them that Reno couldn't attend. Just one question, Kadaj, Yazoo, Loz, can you tell me if Reno's mind is still in his body?"
The three silver haired boys nodded, "uncle Reno is there too, they must be fighting for control," Kadaj explained.
"Then we'll just have to count on him to keep Sephiroth out of trouble until we can do something about this," Rufus concluded. "Don't worry boys, your uncle Reno will be fine. Dry your tears; it's time to go have a delicious dinner."
The three little remnants nodded and decided to trust that their uncle Reno would be alright. The storm caused by their crying stopped and the group headed out towards the Seventh Heaven.
xoxox xox xoxox
Incident 38: Dinner
As the helicopter approached the Seventh Heaven, Rufus instructed his children not to tell anyone there about what happened to Reno. "It's not lying, it's simply not saying something that will only make people worry," Rufus explained.
The three silver haired boys looked unsure and Kadaj asked, "is there something to worry about?"
"No, of course not!" Rufus quickly assured. "It's just that Tifa, Cloud and the others worry very easily and we don't want that, right?"
The remnants nodded, it would be mean to make someone worry for no reason, though Loz was already worried about something else. "What if big brother black sheep is mean to us?"
"I'll make sure he's not," Rufus was in too much of an optimistic mood thanks to his new hair to seriously worry about anything. The real problem was solved from his point of view and all that was left were only small difficulties.
xoxox xox xoxox
The sound of the helicopter piloted by Rude, announced the arrival of the Shinra family and the Turks. "They're here, be on your best behavior Cloud," Tifa warned.
Cloud only frowned and nodded in response. When the door was opened, casual greetings were exchanged, as if this was a situation of two long time friend families meeting for a nice quiet dinner.
Then Yazoo jumped forward, "Marlene!" His arms were extended, a big smile on his face, but before he could hug his beloved, Kadaj pulled him back by the hair.
Kadaj then stepped forward, "hi Marlene," he smiled, then from the corner of his eyes he saw Loz talking to Tifa and Tifa was patting him on the head, that was unacceptable.
Kadaj immediately went over and pulled Loz's ear, though the act did not go unnoticed by Tifa. "That wasn't very nice, Kadaj."
"He was mean to me too," Yazoo frowned.
Rufus did not like where this was going, "boys, don't fight, no more hair or ear pulling."
"Speaking of hair," Cloud started out casual, though Tifa elbowed him. At least Marlene and Denzel knew that they shouldn't stare and certainly not comment, even if that was secretly exactly what Rufus wanted, for everyone to notice admire his hair.
Tifa tried to sound natural, pretending she didn't just knock the air out of Cloud, "I made some angel hair spaghetti," it was lucky that she had, thus being able to easily guide the conversation to the peaceful topic of food.
"That sounds great," Rufus agreed.
He was going to steer the conversation back to his hair, but Tifa spoke first. "Where's Reno?" If the redhead was missing he was usually either plotting or carrying out a plot. His presence often brought chaos, but not seeing him was also a reason for concern.
"Something came up and he couldn't be here," Rufus replied as calmly as can be.
Though Rufus looked serene, Tifa didn't like this and neither did Cloud. "What happened?" The delivery boy directly asked and this time Tifa didn't complain.
"It's nothing to worry about," Tseng avoided the subject, he then took a deep breath, "the food smells delicious," if the scent could reach the front of the building or not was irrelevant. "Doesn't it?"
Elena caught the hint, "oh yes, it smells wonderful!"
Rude quietly nodded in agreement, while Rufus pouted because no one had complimented his hair. Next it was Tifa's turn to catch the hint about the food and lead everyone to be seated at the table.
"I want to sit next to Marlene," Yazoo announced.
"Me too," added Kadaj.
"I want to sit next to Tifa," Loz requested.
"Me too," Kadaj again.
"Alright Kadaj, you can sit between Marlene and I, and Yazoo and Loz can sit on either side," Tifa resolved. Thus Loz sat to her right and Kadaj to her left, then there was Marlene, on Marlene's other side Yazoo, next to him Denzel giving Yazoo and Kadaj suspicious looks, much like Cloud was giving Kadaj and Loz suspicious looks, sitting next to the latter.
Rude was seated next to Cloud, forming a silent barrier between the delivery boy and the president, Tseng and Elena sat next to each other and Rufus between Tseng and Rude.
The spaghetti was served along with meatballs and sauce, Rufus, the Turks and Tifa eat it easily and politely, while the children made a mess, save for Marlene, who was a bit more skilled at table manners than the boys. Cloud had sauce all over his face, as did Denzel, Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz. Had Reno been there, no doubt would he be in the same state or worse.
Unable to resist any longer, Rufus finally commented, "I was thinking about getting a new haircut..."
Sensing it was alright after all to talk about his unusually long hair, Tifa casually replied, "your hair has really grown, hasn't it?"
"Really? I hardly noticed, but it is getting long," Rufus was pleased that he was finally the center of the conversation.
"Isn't that just a wig," Cloud received a glare from Tifa, as well as a kick under the table, "ow!"
"It is not a wig," Rufus gently tugged on his hair, "it's real, you can come and see for yourself."
"It has to be a wig," Cloud's curiosity got the best of him and he did get up and went to take a closer look at Rufus' hair. "It's a very realistic wig..." he investigated the hair some more, "no way, he was telling the truth, it really isn't a wig, it's some sort of super long hair implant!"
"It's not an implant!" Rufus nearly yelled, "this is my natural hair, it grew on my head and that's all there is to it!"
"But why is it so long?" Cloud insisted, ignoring Tifa's disapproving glares.
"Why are your eyes so shiny," Rufus retorted.
Then Cloud jumped to a conclusion, "it's mako! I thought it was odd that your hair was so shiny and long, it's mako enhanced hair! Is Rude planning to get whatever treatment this is too?"
"Cloud, that's enough!" Tifa scolded, "if you're not nice I'll send you to your room."
"Big brother black sheep is being mean to daddy and uncle Rude?" Yazoo frowned.
"He's so mean," Loz looked like he was about to cry.
Kadaj had enough; he picked up a large meatball and threw it at Cloud, hitting him right in the nose. Yazoo and Loz followed his example and threw food at Cloud as well.
"Stop that!" Cloud returned fire, but the food fell on Tifa who suddenly got up to try to calm the boys.
"Cloud Strife!" Tifa growled.
"I'm sorry!" Cloud backed away.
"Go to your room!" Tifa commanded and Cloud scurried away in a hurry. "Excuse me for a moment; I need to get cleaned up. Please continue with dinner," Tifa left.
"I told you to behave!" Rufus scolded.
"Big brother black sheep was being mean!" Kadaj argued.
"We wanted to save you from him," Yazoo explained.
"You protect us and keep us safe so we wanted to keep you safe too," Loz added.
Fearing another storm of cries, Rufus decided it was best to go easy on them, "I understand, just don't throw any more food and don't worry about me, I can take care of myself. Besides, I have the Turks to take bullets for me, or food, make sure you three shield me and my hair if Strife breaks out of his punishment and comes back with a vengeance."
Not too eager, the Turks muttered, "yes, sir."
xoxox xox xoxox
Incident 39: Dessert
Dinner gave way to dessert at the Seventh Heaven and Cloud was missing out in his room. The remnants were happily eating their ice-cream, savoring it, as were all others present, though in a far less messy fashion. Then the unexpected happened, Reno arrived, letting himself in and cheerfully greeting, "yo!"
Tifa didn't seem particularly surprised that Reno would just come in; he did that often, though she had warned him he better pay for all the things he ate because she would know what was missing. "Hi Reno, we just finished dinner, are you hungry?"
The other Turks and Rufus stared at the red head, while the remnants cheered, "uncle Reno!"
"Just give me a double dessert, that's the best part anyway!" Reno was being Reno, which caught Rufus, Elena, Tseng and Rude by surprise. They looked at each other perplexed; then turned their scrutinizing gazes towards Reno.
"I thought you would say that," Tifa showed no signs of surprise and certainly none of alarm as she fetched an extra chair, which Tseng so kindly offered to get instead, positioning it between himself and Elena, while Tifa disappeared into the kitchen.
Reno sat down between Tseng and Elena, who stared at him suspiciously. "I kind of feel like the third wheel sitting between you two," he tried to get up, but Tseng and Elena pushed him down. "Relax," Reno whispered, "Sephiroth and I have a deal. I started thinking things that he insisted were too much information and he caved in."
"That's cruel, dishonest and possibly disgusting," Elena hissed.
"Well done," Tseng commended, receiving an indignant look from Elena, "I mean for getting Sephiroth under control with a secret technique that I trust will remain a secret," Tseng gave Reno a warning look and the red head nodded vigorously.
Tifa returned with Reno's ice-cream and dessert was resumed; she felt sorry for Cloud and called him to return. When he came back, Reno's eyes glowed as soon as he looked at Cloud. Their glares were locked on each other, Cloud was not happy to see Reno there. "What are you plotting?" The delivery boy growled.
The glow in Reno's eyes dimmed until it was gone completely and his expression changed drastically from an aura of killing intent, to carefree. "I'm just enjoying the yummy dessert Tifa was so nice to give me."
"Cloud, is there a problem?" Tifa scolded warningly.
Cloud decided to drop the subject for the time being, but he never stopped watching Reno from the corner of his eyes, "no Tifa, no problem."
When Tifa wasn't looking, the remnants took turns making mocking faces at Cloud, causing Rufus to try to discretely get them to stop without saying anything aloud, but the three boys could not, or didn't even try, to read his expression and gestures.
After dessert was done, the entire group sat in the living room, attempting to make conversation, or rather Tifa tried to start a conversation and everyone else shifted uncomfortably and glared around like hunters ready to pounce on their prey.
"So... the boys called Cloud big brother black sheep?" Tifa was starting down a dangerous road. "I think it's adorable."
"I think it's suspicious," Cloud voiced and Tifa glared, she would have elbowed him if he was within reach, but she was currently sitting between Loz and Kadaj again. Loz, Tifa, Kadaj, Marlene, Yazoo and Denzel were crowded on the long couch, in that order. Tseng and Elena were squeezed into a single, rather small, recliner, comfortably cuddled up despite the abundant witnesses.
That left Cloud, Rufus, Rude and Reno on the smaller couch, which was only made to hold two people spaciously and three comfortably. "Yes, they seem quite fond of Cloud," Rufus tried to hide his discomfort as he tugged his long hair away from Cloud who had sat on it, much to Rufus' annoyance.
Yazoo fought to hold back tears; Denzel had been discreetly pulling his hair when he tried to cuddle closer to Marlene. Loz was dozing off resting against Tifa and Kadaj was plotting to protect his beloveds, because he was still torn between Marlene and Tifa, from the big bully that was big brother black sheep. He thought about how Tifa had made Cloud go to his room earlier and she wasn't even his mother, surely their father, could punish him worse. Rufus was married to Jenova now, though the celebration had not taken place, which was another thing that Kadaj looked forward to, whenever that was going to happen; consequently that did make Rufus black sheep's father as well.
Kadaj took one last look as Tifa and Marlene each before slipping out of the couch and crawling over to Cloud. Everyone noticed him, but they let him be as he climbed on Cloud's lap, much to the delivery boy's dismay. Cloud sent a distressed look to Tifa, who seemed to silently warn him to be nice. The little silver haired terror, sat there waiting for the right moment to strike.
Suddenly, Yazoo couldn't take it anymore and began to cry, but before he could wail, Kadaj screamed at the top of his lungs, making all eyes go to him. Thunder crashed and rain started falling, caused by Yazoo's quiet sobbing, but everyone was looking at Kadaj.
Those who knew of the link between the boys and the weather immediately assumed it was Kadaj's doing, which gave absolute credibility to his accusation. "Big brother black sheep pulled my hair! I just wanted to be friends with him but he hates me!" The boy ran to his father with false cries.
"Cloud Strife!" Tifa scolded with fury, her loud and angry voice waking Loz, who was still disoriented with sleep.
All Loz knew was that Tifa was upset and it was big brother black sheep who had upset her. He pointed and cried, "big brother black sheep is mean," which went very well with Kadaj's act.
It didn't help that Cloud had previously sat on Rufus' precious hair, the president was furious. Clearly, Cloud was a danger to the entire planet without knowing it if he continued to upset the remnants. "Ground big brother black sheep!" Kadaj cried.
Rufus panicked and acted rashly, "Cloud Strife, I'm establishing a blockade on your delivery service."
Cloud gasped, "you can't!"
"The Turks can," Rufus argued, "come on everyone, we're leaving."
Tifa was in shock, Cloud needed to make deliveries, he was enough of a hobo as it was, but foiling his deliveries was something she knew the Turks could do, either by getting in his way or threatening the possible customers. Tifa had to fix it, so she thought fast and decided that the boys' attachment to herself and Marlene would be the key to earning their cooperation and in turn Rufus'. "We'll come see them, if you don't mind Rufus, Marlene and I would like to spend more time with the boys."
Cloud grew even more upset, however, hearing this, Kadaj ceased his fake agony and both Loz and Yazoo stopped their real crying. Interpreting it in their own way, the remnants understood that Tifa and Marlene would move in with them.
xoxox xox xoxox
Incident 40: Visit
The days passed and Cloud complained non-stop about the lack of customers for his delivery service. He never had many, but now he didn't have any. Reeve, his most frequent customer, kept making up excuses about not needing anything to be delivered. Okay, so it was probably true, but in the past Reeve had often gone out of his way to create the necessity for deliveries to be made and now he had stopped. Maybe it was the smart thing to do economically speaking, but that wasn't the point. The point was Shinra had influenced his choice and Cloud knew it. "Stupid jerk and his stupid monopoly!"
"Cloud, I don't think insulting Rufus Shinra is going to work," Tifa pointed out as calmly as possible. One could only listen to Cloud's complaints for so many hours in a row before becoming irritated.
"You're right Tifa, it's not. I'm going to march right up to Healin Lodge, literally because I can't afford gas right now and Fenrir ran out, and heads will roll!"
Tifa shook her head, "I'm happy that you're not keeping your emotions bottled up anymore, I really am, but burning fury isn't that much better than pathetic depression. I already called Rufus and he said it was okay for Marlene and I to visit, it sounded like Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz missed us."
The news didn't go well with Cloud, "that's another thing! It's a trap, those boys are spawns of Sephiroth," Cloud threw his arms in the air in exaggerated dramatics. "I wouldn't be surprised if what Rufus and his Turks are really planning is to use you and Marlene as fair maiden sacrifices in a strange ritual that will fuse those three boys into a fully grown Sephiroth!"
"You've been reading too many comics," before Cloud could reply, Tifa raised her hand in silence, "no more, this argument is over and Marlene and I will go to Healin Lodge."
xoxox xox xoxox
Said and done Tifa and Marlene departed for Healin Lodge, leaving a pouting Denzel in charge. "Make sure Cloud doesn't get into trouble."
"Why do you have to go? Cloud told me what he thinks will happen, the story about the sacrifice might be true!" Denzel worried.
Tifa gave Cloud a disapproving look, "don't talk Denzel into believing your silly theories!" Then she turned back to Denzel, "we'll be fine, I promise, we'll be back by tonight."
xoxox xox xoxox
Upon Tifa and Marlene's arrival at Healin Lodge, the remnants ran to them. Loz ran to hug Tifa and Yazoo ran to hug Marlene. Kadaj ran around in circles, torn between the two. He then settled for pushing his brothers out of the way and hugging them both.
"They're such adorable children," Tifa sweetly commented.
"Yes they are..." Rufus still had his ridiculously long hair, shiny and beautiful, albeit he was starting to consider getting a haircut. As much as he loved his new hair, it was just too long, it got stepped on, tangled up on everything and it took ages to wash it and even longer to dry it. However, the dark circles under his eyes were not due to the extra time he spent caring for his hair, but rather because of the remnants and their nightmares.
"Crazy weather we've been having, huh?" Tifa casually commented, unaware of the true origin of the strange weather changes.
"Awful," Rufus felt his head hurting just remembering it. The remnants would have a nightmare, all three of them at once, wake up screaming and crying, making the land shake, thunder crash, rain pour and wind blow. They would run to Rufus' room and refuse to leave, thinking that he could only protect them if he was close. Then the remnants would finally go to sleep, but Rufus would not. He would try to sleep, only to be woken by a hand slapping his face, a foot kicking his stomach, a head using him as a pillow and so on.
"You look tired," Tifa noticed, though it was hard to miss.
Rufus yawned, "how observant."
"And cranky," Tifa added.
Rufus would have replied, but he couldn't, because he fell asleep on his feet. He fell backwards to be caught by Tseng, the Turks were standing around Rufus, two on each side as they often did. "Rude, take care of the president," the leader passed the sleeping blond to the man who never removed his sunglasses, even indoors.
Rude wordlessly took Rufus away, accidentally stepping on his hair and nearly tripping. Rufus felt his hair being pulled and woke up with a yelp. "It was only a nightmare, go back to sleep," Elena urged. As exhausted as he was, Rufus did. Elena gathered his hair and helped keep it out of the way, moving along with Rude as they transported Rufus to his room.
"Can we go play now," Kadaj impatiently asked.
Marlene smiled with practiced charm, she was well aware of Tifa's plans. "That's why we're here."
xoxox xox xoxox
Video games were the order of the day; as everyone knows that's the best kind of game. Reno was Reno and joined in to play, while the other Turks kept an eye on the general situation. Sephiroth had not appeared for days, but every now and then there would be a suspicious glow in Reno's eyes. If Sephiroth was able to overcome whatever trauma Reno's unknown thoughts inflicted on him, or most likely became too insane to care, there would be big trouble.
Overall the day passed calmly, games were played, fast food and sweets were eaten and the sun sank in the horizon. The time came for Tifa and Marlene to leave and the crying began along with the bad weather. "Don't leave! You're supposed to move in with us!" Kadaj clung to both Marlene and Tifa, while his brothers held on to each one respectively.
Tseng looked at Elena and Rude as if searching for answers, Rufus was still sleeping like a rock and Reno was Reno, his ideas were often best avoided. Finally, Tseng spoke, "why don't you stay here to wait out the bad weather, it would be dangerous to go out like that," it was only a temporary solution, but it was all he could think of.
"You're right..." Tifa admitted, "we'll stay until the weather clears up." The boys stopped crying and the skies were clear once more. "That was fast, we'll it was fun today, but we have to go. We can't move in here."
A chorus of "don't go!" came from the three silver haired boys and the weather went crazy again.
"I guess we're staying for a while longer," Marlene concluded and the good weather returned.
"Or not?" With Tifa's words, more cries came and more bad weather. "That's it, we're staying; it really does look dangerous out there." Fortunately, Healin Lodge had enough extra rooms, not that they would be needed, because no one sleeps in a sleepover anyway, they just stay up all night playing video games.
End of Memory V
Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Incident 39: Special thanks to demonlifehealer, for the idea of Cloud as Rufus' son and to Emily Le Fat for the idea of Tifa and Marlene visiting/moving with the remnants.
Incident 36: Impending Tragedies
At the Shinra headquarters lobby, "Tifa!" Loz ran to Tifa with his arms extended and a big happy smile.
"No Marlene?" Yazoo pouted.
Then Kadaj stood between Tifa and Loz, he wasn't sure who he liked yet, if Tifa or Marlene and until he sorted out his feelings, he wouldn't take any chances allowing his brothers to steal either of them away. Loz collided with Kadaj, knocking him to the floor. Refusing to be on the bottom, Kadaj flipped Loz over.
Thinking it was a game, Yazoo jumped on top of Kadaj, leaving Loz to complain about not being able to hug Tifa with his brothers on top of him, and Kadaj to struggled to push Yazoo under him because if they were going to be in a pile, though he couldn't explain why they would need to be, he would be the one on top.
While Tifa laughed in amusement at the boys' game, Cloud pouted and glared suspiciously, until Reno came running over. "Strife!"
"Hey Reno, tell me the truth about," Cloud could not finish his inquiry, because he was being electrocuted. He didn't expect Reno to attack, so he didn't even try to defend himself. "What are you doing?" Cloud backed away and readied his sword.
"Nothing, my dear friend," that tasted sour, even if it was an act. "I merely wish to test my skills against you in an honorable training combat."
Tifa ignored their antics in favor of watching the boys wrestle to be on top on their little pile and Cloud frowned. "Why are you speaking so formally instead of just saying 'yo Cloud, fight me' or something like that, and if it's honorable training, why did you attack me first without a warning?"
"That is..." because Sephiroth could not resist. "Because I'm such an airhead, yo!"
"Oh, well I suppose that explains it," Cloud nodded in agreement.
'You're making me look bad!' Reno yelled through their mental link, which came from having two souls share a single body.
'Be quiet and don't interfere, go back to sleep," Sephiroth replied in the same way, so only Reno could hear. Then the battle began, while Tifa had a conversation with the newly arrived Rufus in the background, who was wearing a hat.
"Reno, stop playing and deliver the groceries to Healin Lodge, you didn't get the groceries, didn't you? Reno!" Elena, who arrived along with Tseng, Rude and Rufus, did not like being ignored.
With a sharp pull at Reno's his ponytail, Sephiroth's consciousness retreated, leaving Reno in control. "Ow, why did you do that, Elena?"
"Because you were ignoring me, you need to take the groceries to Healin Lodge, I hope you didn't forget the plastic bags and bubble wrap," Elena reminded.
"Where do I get bubble wrap?" While this conversation took place, Cloud pouted, his fight had been interrupted as if it was nothing and now he was being ignored. That was the last time he agreed to spar with Reno.
"I'm pretty sure they must have some in the post office for packages and stuff like that. Go get everything and take it to Healin, we'll take care of the kids," Elena insisted.
"What about Rufus' ha-" Tseng jumped behind Reno and reached over, firmly slapping his hand over the red head's mouth.
Mentioning hair was forbidden at the moment, least they wish to make the president burst into tears, which may upset the deadly remnants. Not to mention that their pay might suffer and Tseng wasn't looking forward to any of those consequences. "Yes, I think the president's hat is very stylish too. In fact, maybe we should all wear hats and since you're going to deliver the groceries to Healin Lodge now, you should stop by a shop and buy hats for all of us."
Reno got the message; Rufus' hair problem must still be unresolved. If he had a gooey, foil wrapped treatment on his head or no hair at all, Reno didn't know and he liked his own hair far too much to dare to ask. Tseng was wise to think of hiding all their hair so as to not create jealousy. Rude's bald head would have to be hidden too, so as to not remind Rufus of his possible future, if it wasn't already a reality.
"Yes, sir, you can count on me!" Reno swiftly left headquarters and headed back to his car, it seemed that Sephiroth had quieted for a while.
Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz, continued their battle, pushing each other down, oblivious to the world. Tseng, Elena and Rude stood around after having safely communicated to Tifa and Cloud without Rufus' knowledge, that they should make no comments about his hat unless they were compliments.
"Alright then, I'll see you later," it seemed the matter discussed by Tifa and Rufus had been settled.
"Yes, we'll be there," Rufus agreed.
The three Turks present had heard it all, but Cloud was too busy spacing out and drowning in self pity to catch what they were talking about. "Tifa, what did you agree on? What do you mean see you later?"
Tifa shook her head, "Cloud, what am I going to do with you? Weren't you listening? Rufus and his family is coming over for dinner, I think it's a wonderful opportunity for all of us to get to know each other and I would be so happy if Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz became close friends with Marlene and Denzel." Tifa loved children too much for her own good and she liked to watch them play together, even if it meant chaos.
As Tifa walked out of Shinra, heading back to the Seventh Heaven to start planning the dinner feast, Cloud followed and complained all the way. "You can't do that, what if they fight?" By then the glass doors of the Shinra lobby had closed behind them and Rufus and the three Turks could no longer hear them. They had not witnessed the chaos in the supermarket and Reno was no there to warn them before the arrangement had been made.
It wasn't until after Tifa and Cloud left, that Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz took time to notice, which made Loz pout and start crying because he didn't even get to talk to his beloved Tifa. Kadaj joined in with cries of double agony, because he was away from both Tifa and Marlene and he couldn't figure out his feelings unless they both spent time with him. Yazoo missed Marlene and started crying as well.
"Don't cry!" Rufus wasn't even sure why they were crying now, completely unaware of his adoptive sons' new crushes. "We're going to have dinner at the Seventh Heaven tonight and I'm sure it will be fun for you and good publicity for me so everybody wins."
The boys immediately stopped crying and smiled happily, surprising Rufus on how easily he was able to calm them this time.
"Let's go back to Healin Lodge," Rufus decided. His head was covered in foil and sticky stuff, hidden by the hat, but he was confident that the treatment would save his precious hair. He was certain that he would be able to attend the dinner looking as handsome as ever, once his hair was healed in a couple of hours. He was sure it would work; it had to, it better.
xoxox xox xoxox
Incident 37: A Solution and a Disaster
If Rufus Shinra thought that dinner at the Seventh Heaven was his only worry, he was wrong, very wrong. Rufus, the Turks and the three little remnants were currently at Healin Lodge, where the boys were kept occupied by video games and snacks, though they were not given too many snacks so as to not spoil their appetite for dinner, albeit Tifa was a great cook and they would surely eat plenty either way.
Rufus was confident that when he removed the hair treatment, consisting of sticky stuff covered by foil, his hair would be perfect again, but it wasn't. His hair was green and broken, almost as if it has rusted or rotted, it was like a zombie's hair and that wasn't even the worse part. His hair was no longer on his head, it lay on the tub were it had fallen when Rufus tried to wash off the hair treatment in the shower.
The stylist had warned him that there was a chance that this might fail and he may go bald, but he didn't listen, he didn't want to hear it. "No!" Rufus' scream of agony echoed all over Healin Lodge and beyond, frightening the remnants, who immediately started crying.
"Stay with them," Tseng ordered as he rushed to find out if someone had broken in and was trying to assassinate Rufus. The Turk Leader knocked on the bathroom door, "president, what's happening?" There were nothing but quiet sobs. "President? I'm coming in."
"Don't!" Rufus yelled from inside, "just stay away, I'm not coming out, I'm never coming out!"
"Sir, you can't stay in that bathroom forever. The remnants are frightened, please come out and reassured them," Tseng tried to reason with him.
"Bring them to the door, I'll talk to them," Rufus agreed between sobs.
The Turks brought the boys over and they stood in from of the door, wondering why their father wouldn't come out. "Daddy?" Kadaj called, "are you there?"
"Yes, I'm here, I will be staying here for a while so be good and don't cause trouble..." Rufus' started crying loudly.
"Is daddy hurt?" Loz began to cry as well, soon to be joined by his brothers.
"Enough!" Rufus yelled in a sudden fury. He exited the bathroom wearing his normal clothes plus the hat that covered his lack of hair, "I can't take this anymore, if not because of what happened, my hair would still be..." Rufus clenched his fists and glared, "I want revenge!" Then he ran out of Healin Lodge and took off on the helicopter before anyone could stop him.
xoxox xox xoxox
By the time the Turks caught up to Rufus, taking the remnants along since they couldn't very well leave them alone, the grieving young president had gone to the deepest laboratory of Shinra Headquarters and entered an anti-radiation clean room, against the insistence of the scientists, threatening to fire whoever tried to stop him.
Tseng stood behind the glass of the room were Rufus was furiously demanding that a scientist entered a code into a machine. It was a strange looking pod, much like the one where Jenova was kept before, this one needed a password to open.
The scared scientist complied and ran out of the room. "Please stop this!" Tseng went in to get Rufus.
"Stay back!" Rufus took the Jenova flower from inside the pod; that was the thing that started this whole mess. He had sent it to the laboratory to keep under strict observation.
Tseng jumped back, "be careful with that, we don't know what it could do!"
"Mother!" The three remnants cheered, seeing the flower. It had come from Jenova's very last cell after it was planted to feed off the planet.
"This is how it all started and now my hair is..." tears rolled down Rufus' face, "gone..."
"It's not so bad," Rude approached and tried to be supportive.
Rufus removed his hat and the Turks gasped. "Bald doesn't work for everyone," Reno stupidly commented.
"Shut up, you're offending him," Elena scolded. "It's okay president, I think you look... er... very handsome, really." It cost Elena a great effort to tell such a big lie.
"I look terrible!" Rufus cried, then the flower he held started to glow a strong light surrounding him, everyone had to look away from the brightness. Finally, when the flower stopped glowing, Rufus' hair had returned, it was far longer, going all the way to his ankles in a brilliant platinum gold, much more beautiful than the hair he had before. His new hair was strong, healthy and did not need detailed special care to remain shiny and soft. "What happened?"
The Turks were in awe and they did not know how to answer Rufus' question. Reno's consciousness was pushed aside by Sephiroth, he was upset. "Mother! Why do you waste mother's power this way?"
Rufus and the other Turks stared at him, "mother?" they repeated in unison.
"Is that you big brother? I knew I sensed your energy, it is you!" Kadaj hugged Reno.
"Big brother," Yazoo curiously inquired, "how come you possessed uncle Reno, what happened to your body?"
"I knew it, big brother Sephy didn't recover from his fight with big brother black sheep," Loz cried because his older brothers didn't get along, "poor Sephy."
"Don't worry; we won't let black sheep pick on you again!" Kadaj assured.
"Be quiet you fool!" Sephiroth yelled and the remnants cried.
"You're being mean too, both our big brothers are mean!" Loz wailed.
Yazoo sniffled, "uncle Reno was nicer."
Kadaj sobbed, "bring uncle Reno back, you mean big brother!"
"Traitors!" Sephiroth roared.
'They like me best!' Reno sounded victorious, speaking through their mental link.
"Reno is Sephiroth?" Rufus was shocked, "when did this happen?"
"I'm not sure," Tseng admitted.
"I am Reno and no one else," Sephiroth tried to convince them.
"Nu-uh, you're big brother Sephy!" Kadaj insisted, "I can feel it."
"Me too!" "Me three!" Yazoo and Loz agreed.
Sephiroth, still in Reno's body, pushed the remnants away and ran.
"After him!" Tseng commanded.
"Wait!" Rufus stopped them, "we have to go to dinner at the Seventh Heaven; it will be bad publicity if we don't."
"But sir, it looks like Sephiroth is in control of Reno's body, he may cause trouble!" Tseng insisted.
"Yes, I know, it would be bad if Shinra get blamed for it, but if we can prove it was Sephiroth and not Reno, then everything will be fine," Rufus decided. "Besides, I'm hungry and want to go show off my new hair. Let's go, we'll just tell them that Reno couldn't attend. Just one question, Kadaj, Yazoo, Loz, can you tell me if Reno's mind is still in his body?"
The three silver haired boys nodded, "uncle Reno is there too, they must be fighting for control," Kadaj explained.
"Then we'll just have to count on him to keep Sephiroth out of trouble until we can do something about this," Rufus concluded. "Don't worry boys, your uncle Reno will be fine. Dry your tears; it's time to go have a delicious dinner."
The three little remnants nodded and decided to trust that their uncle Reno would be alright. The storm caused by their crying stopped and the group headed out towards the Seventh Heaven.
xoxox xox xoxox
Incident 38: Dinner
As the helicopter approached the Seventh Heaven, Rufus instructed his children not to tell anyone there about what happened to Reno. "It's not lying, it's simply not saying something that will only make people worry," Rufus explained.
The three silver haired boys looked unsure and Kadaj asked, "is there something to worry about?"
"No, of course not!" Rufus quickly assured. "It's just that Tifa, Cloud and the others worry very easily and we don't want that, right?"
The remnants nodded, it would be mean to make someone worry for no reason, though Loz was already worried about something else. "What if big brother black sheep is mean to us?"
"I'll make sure he's not," Rufus was in too much of an optimistic mood thanks to his new hair to seriously worry about anything. The real problem was solved from his point of view and all that was left were only small difficulties.
xoxox xox xoxox
The sound of the helicopter piloted by Rude, announced the arrival of the Shinra family and the Turks. "They're here, be on your best behavior Cloud," Tifa warned.
Cloud only frowned and nodded in response. When the door was opened, casual greetings were exchanged, as if this was a situation of two long time friend families meeting for a nice quiet dinner.
Then Yazoo jumped forward, "Marlene!" His arms were extended, a big smile on his face, but before he could hug his beloved, Kadaj pulled him back by the hair.
Kadaj then stepped forward, "hi Marlene," he smiled, then from the corner of his eyes he saw Loz talking to Tifa and Tifa was patting him on the head, that was unacceptable.
Kadaj immediately went over and pulled Loz's ear, though the act did not go unnoticed by Tifa. "That wasn't very nice, Kadaj."
"He was mean to me too," Yazoo frowned.
Rufus did not like where this was going, "boys, don't fight, no more hair or ear pulling."
"Speaking of hair," Cloud started out casual, though Tifa elbowed him. At least Marlene and Denzel knew that they shouldn't stare and certainly not comment, even if that was secretly exactly what Rufus wanted, for everyone to notice admire his hair.
Tifa tried to sound natural, pretending she didn't just knock the air out of Cloud, "I made some angel hair spaghetti," it was lucky that she had, thus being able to easily guide the conversation to the peaceful topic of food.
"That sounds great," Rufus agreed.
He was going to steer the conversation back to his hair, but Tifa spoke first. "Where's Reno?" If the redhead was missing he was usually either plotting or carrying out a plot. His presence often brought chaos, but not seeing him was also a reason for concern.
"Something came up and he couldn't be here," Rufus replied as calmly as can be.
Though Rufus looked serene, Tifa didn't like this and neither did Cloud. "What happened?" The delivery boy directly asked and this time Tifa didn't complain.
"It's nothing to worry about," Tseng avoided the subject, he then took a deep breath, "the food smells delicious," if the scent could reach the front of the building or not was irrelevant. "Doesn't it?"
Elena caught the hint, "oh yes, it smells wonderful!"
Rude quietly nodded in agreement, while Rufus pouted because no one had complimented his hair. Next it was Tifa's turn to catch the hint about the food and lead everyone to be seated at the table.
"I want to sit next to Marlene," Yazoo announced.
"Me too," added Kadaj.
"I want to sit next to Tifa," Loz requested.
"Me too," Kadaj again.
"Alright Kadaj, you can sit between Marlene and I, and Yazoo and Loz can sit on either side," Tifa resolved. Thus Loz sat to her right and Kadaj to her left, then there was Marlene, on Marlene's other side Yazoo, next to him Denzel giving Yazoo and Kadaj suspicious looks, much like Cloud was giving Kadaj and Loz suspicious looks, sitting next to the latter.
Rude was seated next to Cloud, forming a silent barrier between the delivery boy and the president, Tseng and Elena sat next to each other and Rufus between Tseng and Rude.
The spaghetti was served along with meatballs and sauce, Rufus, the Turks and Tifa eat it easily and politely, while the children made a mess, save for Marlene, who was a bit more skilled at table manners than the boys. Cloud had sauce all over his face, as did Denzel, Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz. Had Reno been there, no doubt would he be in the same state or worse.
Unable to resist any longer, Rufus finally commented, "I was thinking about getting a new haircut..."
Sensing it was alright after all to talk about his unusually long hair, Tifa casually replied, "your hair has really grown, hasn't it?"
"Really? I hardly noticed, but it is getting long," Rufus was pleased that he was finally the center of the conversation.
"Isn't that just a wig," Cloud received a glare from Tifa, as well as a kick under the table, "ow!"
"It is not a wig," Rufus gently tugged on his hair, "it's real, you can come and see for yourself."
"It has to be a wig," Cloud's curiosity got the best of him and he did get up and went to take a closer look at Rufus' hair. "It's a very realistic wig..." he investigated the hair some more, "no way, he was telling the truth, it really isn't a wig, it's some sort of super long hair implant!"
"It's not an implant!" Rufus nearly yelled, "this is my natural hair, it grew on my head and that's all there is to it!"
"But why is it so long?" Cloud insisted, ignoring Tifa's disapproving glares.
"Why are your eyes so shiny," Rufus retorted.
Then Cloud jumped to a conclusion, "it's mako! I thought it was odd that your hair was so shiny and long, it's mako enhanced hair! Is Rude planning to get whatever treatment this is too?"
"Cloud, that's enough!" Tifa scolded, "if you're not nice I'll send you to your room."
"Big brother black sheep is being mean to daddy and uncle Rude?" Yazoo frowned.
"He's so mean," Loz looked like he was about to cry.
Kadaj had enough; he picked up a large meatball and threw it at Cloud, hitting him right in the nose. Yazoo and Loz followed his example and threw food at Cloud as well.
"Stop that!" Cloud returned fire, but the food fell on Tifa who suddenly got up to try to calm the boys.
"Cloud Strife!" Tifa growled.
"I'm sorry!" Cloud backed away.
"Go to your room!" Tifa commanded and Cloud scurried away in a hurry. "Excuse me for a moment; I need to get cleaned up. Please continue with dinner," Tifa left.
"I told you to behave!" Rufus scolded.
"Big brother black sheep was being mean!" Kadaj argued.
"We wanted to save you from him," Yazoo explained.
"You protect us and keep us safe so we wanted to keep you safe too," Loz added.
Fearing another storm of cries, Rufus decided it was best to go easy on them, "I understand, just don't throw any more food and don't worry about me, I can take care of myself. Besides, I have the Turks to take bullets for me, or food, make sure you three shield me and my hair if Strife breaks out of his punishment and comes back with a vengeance."
Not too eager, the Turks muttered, "yes, sir."
xoxox xox xoxox
Incident 39: Dessert
Dinner gave way to dessert at the Seventh Heaven and Cloud was missing out in his room. The remnants were happily eating their ice-cream, savoring it, as were all others present, though in a far less messy fashion. Then the unexpected happened, Reno arrived, letting himself in and cheerfully greeting, "yo!"
Tifa didn't seem particularly surprised that Reno would just come in; he did that often, though she had warned him he better pay for all the things he ate because she would know what was missing. "Hi Reno, we just finished dinner, are you hungry?"
The other Turks and Rufus stared at the red head, while the remnants cheered, "uncle Reno!"
"Just give me a double dessert, that's the best part anyway!" Reno was being Reno, which caught Rufus, Elena, Tseng and Rude by surprise. They looked at each other perplexed; then turned their scrutinizing gazes towards Reno.
"I thought you would say that," Tifa showed no signs of surprise and certainly none of alarm as she fetched an extra chair, which Tseng so kindly offered to get instead, positioning it between himself and Elena, while Tifa disappeared into the kitchen.
Reno sat down between Tseng and Elena, who stared at him suspiciously. "I kind of feel like the third wheel sitting between you two," he tried to get up, but Tseng and Elena pushed him down. "Relax," Reno whispered, "Sephiroth and I have a deal. I started thinking things that he insisted were too much information and he caved in."
"That's cruel, dishonest and possibly disgusting," Elena hissed.
"Well done," Tseng commended, receiving an indignant look from Elena, "I mean for getting Sephiroth under control with a secret technique that I trust will remain a secret," Tseng gave Reno a warning look and the red head nodded vigorously.
Tifa returned with Reno's ice-cream and dessert was resumed; she felt sorry for Cloud and called him to return. When he came back, Reno's eyes glowed as soon as he looked at Cloud. Their glares were locked on each other, Cloud was not happy to see Reno there. "What are you plotting?" The delivery boy growled.
The glow in Reno's eyes dimmed until it was gone completely and his expression changed drastically from an aura of killing intent, to carefree. "I'm just enjoying the yummy dessert Tifa was so nice to give me."
"Cloud, is there a problem?" Tifa scolded warningly.
Cloud decided to drop the subject for the time being, but he never stopped watching Reno from the corner of his eyes, "no Tifa, no problem."
When Tifa wasn't looking, the remnants took turns making mocking faces at Cloud, causing Rufus to try to discretely get them to stop without saying anything aloud, but the three boys could not, or didn't even try, to read his expression and gestures.
After dessert was done, the entire group sat in the living room, attempting to make conversation, or rather Tifa tried to start a conversation and everyone else shifted uncomfortably and glared around like hunters ready to pounce on their prey.
"So... the boys called Cloud big brother black sheep?" Tifa was starting down a dangerous road. "I think it's adorable."
"I think it's suspicious," Cloud voiced and Tifa glared, she would have elbowed him if he was within reach, but she was currently sitting between Loz and Kadaj again. Loz, Tifa, Kadaj, Marlene, Yazoo and Denzel were crowded on the long couch, in that order. Tseng and Elena were squeezed into a single, rather small, recliner, comfortably cuddled up despite the abundant witnesses.
That left Cloud, Rufus, Rude and Reno on the smaller couch, which was only made to hold two people spaciously and three comfortably. "Yes, they seem quite fond of Cloud," Rufus tried to hide his discomfort as he tugged his long hair away from Cloud who had sat on it, much to Rufus' annoyance.
Yazoo fought to hold back tears; Denzel had been discreetly pulling his hair when he tried to cuddle closer to Marlene. Loz was dozing off resting against Tifa and Kadaj was plotting to protect his beloveds, because he was still torn between Marlene and Tifa, from the big bully that was big brother black sheep. He thought about how Tifa had made Cloud go to his room earlier and she wasn't even his mother, surely their father, could punish him worse. Rufus was married to Jenova now, though the celebration had not taken place, which was another thing that Kadaj looked forward to, whenever that was going to happen; consequently that did make Rufus black sheep's father as well.
Kadaj took one last look as Tifa and Marlene each before slipping out of the couch and crawling over to Cloud. Everyone noticed him, but they let him be as he climbed on Cloud's lap, much to the delivery boy's dismay. Cloud sent a distressed look to Tifa, who seemed to silently warn him to be nice. The little silver haired terror, sat there waiting for the right moment to strike.
Suddenly, Yazoo couldn't take it anymore and began to cry, but before he could wail, Kadaj screamed at the top of his lungs, making all eyes go to him. Thunder crashed and rain started falling, caused by Yazoo's quiet sobbing, but everyone was looking at Kadaj.
Those who knew of the link between the boys and the weather immediately assumed it was Kadaj's doing, which gave absolute credibility to his accusation. "Big brother black sheep pulled my hair! I just wanted to be friends with him but he hates me!" The boy ran to his father with false cries.
"Cloud Strife!" Tifa scolded with fury, her loud and angry voice waking Loz, who was still disoriented with sleep.
All Loz knew was that Tifa was upset and it was big brother black sheep who had upset her. He pointed and cried, "big brother black sheep is mean," which went very well with Kadaj's act.
It didn't help that Cloud had previously sat on Rufus' precious hair, the president was furious. Clearly, Cloud was a danger to the entire planet without knowing it if he continued to upset the remnants. "Ground big brother black sheep!" Kadaj cried.
Rufus panicked and acted rashly, "Cloud Strife, I'm establishing a blockade on your delivery service."
Cloud gasped, "you can't!"
"The Turks can," Rufus argued, "come on everyone, we're leaving."
Tifa was in shock, Cloud needed to make deliveries, he was enough of a hobo as it was, but foiling his deliveries was something she knew the Turks could do, either by getting in his way or threatening the possible customers. Tifa had to fix it, so she thought fast and decided that the boys' attachment to herself and Marlene would be the key to earning their cooperation and in turn Rufus'. "We'll come see them, if you don't mind Rufus, Marlene and I would like to spend more time with the boys."
Cloud grew even more upset, however, hearing this, Kadaj ceased his fake agony and both Loz and Yazoo stopped their real crying. Interpreting it in their own way, the remnants understood that Tifa and Marlene would move in with them.
xoxox xox xoxox
Incident 40: Visit
The days passed and Cloud complained non-stop about the lack of customers for his delivery service. He never had many, but now he didn't have any. Reeve, his most frequent customer, kept making up excuses about not needing anything to be delivered. Okay, so it was probably true, but in the past Reeve had often gone out of his way to create the necessity for deliveries to be made and now he had stopped. Maybe it was the smart thing to do economically speaking, but that wasn't the point. The point was Shinra had influenced his choice and Cloud knew it. "Stupid jerk and his stupid monopoly!"
"Cloud, I don't think insulting Rufus Shinra is going to work," Tifa pointed out as calmly as possible. One could only listen to Cloud's complaints for so many hours in a row before becoming irritated.
"You're right Tifa, it's not. I'm going to march right up to Healin Lodge, literally because I can't afford gas right now and Fenrir ran out, and heads will roll!"
Tifa shook her head, "I'm happy that you're not keeping your emotions bottled up anymore, I really am, but burning fury isn't that much better than pathetic depression. I already called Rufus and he said it was okay for Marlene and I to visit, it sounded like Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz missed us."
The news didn't go well with Cloud, "that's another thing! It's a trap, those boys are spawns of Sephiroth," Cloud threw his arms in the air in exaggerated dramatics. "I wouldn't be surprised if what Rufus and his Turks are really planning is to use you and Marlene as fair maiden sacrifices in a strange ritual that will fuse those three boys into a fully grown Sephiroth!"
"You've been reading too many comics," before Cloud could reply, Tifa raised her hand in silence, "no more, this argument is over and Marlene and I will go to Healin Lodge."
xoxox xox xoxox
Said and done Tifa and Marlene departed for Healin Lodge, leaving a pouting Denzel in charge. "Make sure Cloud doesn't get into trouble."
"Why do you have to go? Cloud told me what he thinks will happen, the story about the sacrifice might be true!" Denzel worried.
Tifa gave Cloud a disapproving look, "don't talk Denzel into believing your silly theories!" Then she turned back to Denzel, "we'll be fine, I promise, we'll be back by tonight."
xoxox xox xoxox
Upon Tifa and Marlene's arrival at Healin Lodge, the remnants ran to them. Loz ran to hug Tifa and Yazoo ran to hug Marlene. Kadaj ran around in circles, torn between the two. He then settled for pushing his brothers out of the way and hugging them both.
"They're such adorable children," Tifa sweetly commented.
"Yes they are..." Rufus still had his ridiculously long hair, shiny and beautiful, albeit he was starting to consider getting a haircut. As much as he loved his new hair, it was just too long, it got stepped on, tangled up on everything and it took ages to wash it and even longer to dry it. However, the dark circles under his eyes were not due to the extra time he spent caring for his hair, but rather because of the remnants and their nightmares.
"Crazy weather we've been having, huh?" Tifa casually commented, unaware of the true origin of the strange weather changes.
"Awful," Rufus felt his head hurting just remembering it. The remnants would have a nightmare, all three of them at once, wake up screaming and crying, making the land shake, thunder crash, rain pour and wind blow. They would run to Rufus' room and refuse to leave, thinking that he could only protect them if he was close. Then the remnants would finally go to sleep, but Rufus would not. He would try to sleep, only to be woken by a hand slapping his face, a foot kicking his stomach, a head using him as a pillow and so on.
"You look tired," Tifa noticed, though it was hard to miss.
Rufus yawned, "how observant."
"And cranky," Tifa added.
Rufus would have replied, but he couldn't, because he fell asleep on his feet. He fell backwards to be caught by Tseng, the Turks were standing around Rufus, two on each side as they often did. "Rude, take care of the president," the leader passed the sleeping blond to the man who never removed his sunglasses, even indoors.
Rude wordlessly took Rufus away, accidentally stepping on his hair and nearly tripping. Rufus felt his hair being pulled and woke up with a yelp. "It was only a nightmare, go back to sleep," Elena urged. As exhausted as he was, Rufus did. Elena gathered his hair and helped keep it out of the way, moving along with Rude as they transported Rufus to his room.
"Can we go play now," Kadaj impatiently asked.
Marlene smiled with practiced charm, she was well aware of Tifa's plans. "That's why we're here."
xoxox xox xoxox
Video games were the order of the day; as everyone knows that's the best kind of game. Reno was Reno and joined in to play, while the other Turks kept an eye on the general situation. Sephiroth had not appeared for days, but every now and then there would be a suspicious glow in Reno's eyes. If Sephiroth was able to overcome whatever trauma Reno's unknown thoughts inflicted on him, or most likely became too insane to care, there would be big trouble.
Overall the day passed calmly, games were played, fast food and sweets were eaten and the sun sank in the horizon. The time came for Tifa and Marlene to leave and the crying began along with the bad weather. "Don't leave! You're supposed to move in with us!" Kadaj clung to both Marlene and Tifa, while his brothers held on to each one respectively.
Tseng looked at Elena and Rude as if searching for answers, Rufus was still sleeping like a rock and Reno was Reno, his ideas were often best avoided. Finally, Tseng spoke, "why don't you stay here to wait out the bad weather, it would be dangerous to go out like that," it was only a temporary solution, but it was all he could think of.
"You're right..." Tifa admitted, "we'll stay until the weather clears up." The boys stopped crying and the skies were clear once more. "That was fast, we'll it was fun today, but we have to go. We can't move in here."
A chorus of "don't go!" came from the three silver haired boys and the weather went crazy again.
"I guess we're staying for a while longer," Marlene concluded and the good weather returned.
"Or not?" With Tifa's words, more cries came and more bad weather. "That's it, we're staying; it really does look dangerous out there." Fortunately, Healin Lodge had enough extra rooms, not that they would be needed, because no one sleeps in a sleepover anyway, they just stay up all night playing video games.
End of Memory V
Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Incident 39: Special thanks to demonlifehealer, for the idea of Cloud as Rufus' son and to Emily Le Fat for the idea of Tifa and Marlene visiting/moving with the remnants.