Chapter Text
Stretching her arms as she walks, Tifa breathes in the smell of the slums. It doesn't smell any different from before – exhaust, metal, rust, dust and poverty, the same as always. But it feels different – it's like the air is lighter. The signs of the previous night's partying are still everywhere, there are trash and passed out people cluttering the street, and somewhere in the distance someone is singing badly, off-key, and with drunken slur, and it's like a concrete sign of a change.
Of course, it's too soon to say it's really a change. ShinRa might be subtly different, but a big beast like the company, it doesn't just change that easily. Not that the death of the President and one of the Department Heads – and the departure of the rest – is that small, but… probably better not to get hopes up too high.
Still. It feels like it will be a good day. For a little while at least, the people of the slums could look up to their steel sky and feel like things might get better, after all. And for the slums… that's a lot.
"Morning, Tifa," Marle calls from the inn porch, where she's sitting with a cup of tea. "You're up early – or is it late?"
"Late, very late," Tifa laughs. "I got the last customers out just an hour ago, and it took forever to clean. How are you, Marle?"
"It was an interesting night," the elderly woman says, sipping her tea. "Loud, but interesting. It's good for the people hereabouts to have something to celebrate, if only for a little while. Brings the light back in their eyes."
"That it does," Tifa agrees, stepping up to lean onto the wall beside the porch, sighing. She's still buzzing with the night's festivities, and as tired as she feels, she doesn't feel particularly sleepy. She could go for a run, maybe, if her feet weren't killing her. "I hope there wasn't any trouble here – we had a few fistfights at the bar."
"No, no trouble here – although I did notice that merc of yours bringing some friends home," Marle says, setting her cup down and standing up with a stretch, running her hands through her bushy hair. "More than I think would fit in any of my rooms, to be honest."
"I lent my room to them too," Tifa says and gives her a sheepish grin. "Hope you don't mind. They all looked so exhausted. I can pay extra," she offers – Planet knows after last night she'd be easily able to afford it.
"No, it's alright," Marle assures her, waving a hand and leaning onto the baluster beside her, sighing. "Am I right in guessing that Cloud had something to do with what went on up above? Heard he was seen by the pillar – and then there was that helicopter too…"
"Yeah – it was a whole thing," Tifa agrees, looking out and to the town. There's someone's bra hanging off a street light. "I don't know exactly what happened, but Cloud was up there, alright, right in the thick of it, with his friends. I – don't know them very well, but they gave me a hand in the Wall Market, and they seemed nice. If a bit… chaotic."
"I knew that merc was going to be interesting," Marle chuckles. "Ex-SOLDIER – heh. The stories that boy must have. The friends of him – they SOLDIERs too?"
"One of them," Tifa agrees. The others… she isn't so sure about, but they sure were something. And there was the kid too – Tifa really wishes she had gotten a chance to ask about him, but it'd been so busy… "I – don't know much, really. Cloud wasn't very forthcoming, before, and after the Sector 5 reactor there's been so much happening, there hasn't been any time to ask. I'd hoped to ask now – do you think they're awake?"
"There's been some movement upstairs – and I think they used the washer during the night, and someone came down to get something from the vending machine just a bit ago, might've been one of them. Guess you could go find out."
"I think I will," Tifa says but doesn't move, not yet. It's close to that brief moment when the rising sun shows between the slums and the Plate, and direct sunlight hits their scrappy little town – it's already illuminating the tops of buildings, beams of it shining in dusty air. "Do you think… do you think things will be different, with ShinRa in disarray?"
"I thought change was what you were after, what with the bombings and all," Marle comments.
"Yeah, I was," Tifa admits, kicking the dirt slightly. She just… hadn't really believed that they could affect things, not really. For all of Barret's confidence and the weird skills the guys had… ShinRa was so big. Big enough to just eat up entire towns, and leave no traces behind. "I just… didn't think it would be this soon, I guess."
"Soon, hm," Marle hums. "You know, I remember when there was a real town here – before they built the reactors, before they walled us all in. We had stores, buildings, brick and mortar and not scrap metal. Wood too – good sturdy Kalm oak. ShinRa rose like a thunder cloud over all of us, and it's been hovering over us ever since – that was sudden. This…" she breathes in and then out, slow. "This was a long time coming."
Tifa can't even imagine that – time before ShinRa. To her, ShinRa had always been there, omnipresent and oppressive, an unshakeable colossus that would never fall. Nibelheim reactor was the first ever built – where it all began. ShinRa had been built in good Nibelheim granite.
What was Midgar built on, with the good sturdy Kalm oak all gone now? Gravel and scrap?
There's a sound upstairs, footsteps thumping on the ceiling, and Tifa pushes away from the wall. "Maybe in a few days it will feel real," she muses.
"Well, I wouldn't count your chocobos just yet," Marle says warningly. "ShinRa won't give up so easily, you mark my words. But I think for a while we can take a little joy in their stumbling."
"Guess that's something, at least," Tifa agrees with a smile. "I'm gonna go see if they're up yet, maybe get my bed back for a short nap. Catch you later, Marle."
"Have a good one, dear."
There is someone awake upstairs on the access balcony – the black-haired SOLDIER is just outside her room, leaning onto the railing. His hair is damp and he's stripped down to the waist – looks like he's fresh from a shower.
"Morning," Tifa greets him, wondering.
"Oh, hey – Tifa, right?" the guy says, eyes flashing incandescent, almost iridescent blue as the sunlight catches them. True SOLDIER eyes. "Morning – shit, you want your room back? Aerith is still asleep, sorry – she really wore herself out."
"It's okay, I can wait a bit," Tifa promises, looking him over with interest. Damn, he's buff. Cloud's kind of muscular too, but he's stringy to the point where he looks kinda starved – this guy has a little bit of that, too, but he's big. Almost Barret's height, if not quite as hefty. It's kind of… rude of her to think, probably, but this guy is more like what she'd expected SOLDIER to look like, compared to Cloud. "I'm sorry – I'm not sure I caught your name –?"
The guy looks at her and then lets out a sheepish little laugh, scratching the back of his head. "Guess we kind of just barrelled through – it's Zack. Zack Fair. Actually, we met before," he says, offering his hand. "In Nibelheim – I was the SOLDIER with Sephiroth and Cloud."
Tifa freezes, just for a moment, before shaking his hand. It's a little damp. "I – see you used my shower?" she says, numbly, instead of saying, but Cloud was never even there?
"Yeah – only used the cheapest looking soap, promise. I was kind of covered in gunk," Zack says and leans back against the railing again. "Wasn't sure about your towels, so, went without."
"No, it's alright – you could've used them, I could just throw them in the washer later," Tifa says, clearing her throat and trying to put her thoughts in order. "So, you really know Cloud – from, uh… from SOLDIER?"
"Eh, kinda," Zack says, ruffling his hand through his hair, maybe trying to get it to dry faster. "I was in SOLDIER, he was in infantry – we met on a mission to the Northern Continent, to Modeoheim. Damn, feels like half a lifetime ago. Guess it was."
Infantry, huh… "I see," Tifa says, thoughtful. "He never mentioned you."
"You might've not noticed, but Cloud has memory problems," Zack says ruefully, shaking his head. "He got Mako poisoning a while back, and it messed up with his mind a bit."
Tifa opens her mouth and then snaps it shut. What? Mako poisoning –? "I didn't know that. Cloud didn't say."
"Don't hold it against him – Cloud didn't really know it himself," Zack says, shaking his head. "Not before I popped up and it started coming back to him, I guess. He's been getting a bit better, but maybe don't make a big deal about it, okay? He gets these mad flash-fire headaches, it's kind of awful."
"I think I've seen them," Tifa murmurs, frowning, lifting her hand to mimic the thing Cloud does, clutching his head. "Every now and then, it looks like he's hurting."
"Yeah," Zack agrees grimly and then gives her a sheepish look. "Also, don't spread it around? I probably shouldn't have said anything."
"I won't, of course not," Tifa says, and leans on the railing beside him, thinking hard. It would explain why Cloud's been so… weird. She'd wanted to question him about it, but he always got so awkward and stiff and uncomfortable… if he had memory problems and didn't even realise it… "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Desmond's got it, I think," Zack muses. "So far it seemed like the best thing to do is to let it be and give the guy space. He's muddling his way through, at his own pace."
Desmond's got it? Leaning her elbows to the railing, Tifa hums. "Is Desmond one of his old friends too?" she asks.
"Ah, no, not really," Zack says and grins. "Aerith is – well, sorta, it's complicated. Desmond's… the sort of chill Cloud needs, I think."
That probably means something special, but Tifa can't parse it. Zack sounds confident saying it, though, so… "Okay, that's good," Tifa says and clears her throat, trying not to feel left out – wondering if this is how Cloud felt in the company of the rest of the Avalanche. Cloud had seemed so lost before, so – aloof. With these guys… he looked like he belonged. And that was good…
… Even if she had wished that Cloud could belong with the Avalanche, eventually.
"So, what are you guys going to do next?" she asks, pushing that thought aside. "Are you going to stick around? Barret wants a word about what happened above the Plate – I'd like to hear about it too."
"Hmm. I don't know. Aerith's mom is in Sector 5, we're going to eventually head there," Zack muses, shaking his head. "But I guess we're not in a hurry just yet – will have to see what the others think."
"Do you think they're awake?" Tifa asks.
"Well," Zack says, glancing behind over his broad, bare shoulder – and just then the door to Cloud's room opens, and Cloud steps out – with the kid in his arms, wrapped around him like a little monkey, and Desmond following close behind, grinning amusedly.
Tifa's brows shoot up.
Zack snorts. "Morning," he says, turning around to face them. "I see he's up."
"No, really?" Cloud asks, looking somewhere between annoyed and determined – the kid's arms are so tight around his neck it looks like the kid is almost trying to strangle him, which can't be comfortable. Cloud's still holding him, though – not trying to get him off. "Hey Tifa. Is there a shop here with kid's clothes?"
"Um – ye-yeah? It's not far – just down there," she points, staring at him – the way he's holding the kid is a little awkward, but secure, and gentle in a way she didn't know he could be. "It's, uh – it's the first turn left – there are mannequins in front, you can't miss it."
"Is he being shy or is he trying to kill you?" Zack asks Cloud, craning his neck to try and get an angle on the kid's face, while Desmond closes the door to Cloud's room.
"Little bit of both," Desmond says with an amused chuckle while Cloud just sighs. "Seph's a little… confused. And cranky-tired."
"Yeah, I bet. Seph, huh?" Zack says, shifting his weight like he's thinking of stepping up closer to see and then deciding not to. "That's cute. Maybe he needs something to eat."
"We got food from the vending machine," Cloud says, looking down at the kid, frowning a little, uncertain.
"Should be fine for a bit. Later we'll get some actual honest to god people food in him," Desmond promises, stretching. "But the kid needs some proper clothes first – and shoes. You mind if we pop out for a bit?"
"Not going anywhere, though you might want to wash up first – wait," Zack stops, looking them up and down. "You've washed your stuff – how did you wash your stuff, when did you wash your stuff? My clothes are still covered in Jenova gunk! Is there a washing machine in your bedroom, or something?"
Shaking her head and trying to collect her wits, Tifa answers for Cloud, "There's a laundry room downstairs – I can show it to you." Jenova gunk?
"You do that," Cloud says, clasping his hands under the kid and lifting him slightly higher so that he isn't hanging off his neck quite as much. "We'll be right back, aright?"
With that said, he heads down past them, and with a wave at Zack, Desmond goes after him, yawning as he goes. Tifa stares for a moment, trying to figure it out – the little silver-haired head buried in Cloud's shoulder, the way Desmond leans close, lifting his hand as though –
What…?
"That's gonna be so cute," Zack mutters, grinning. "Or a disaster, one or the other. Oh well. The washer, Tifa? No, wait, I should get Aerith's clothes, they're disgusting too – can you hang on for a bit?"
"Yeah, sure," Tifa says, leaning her hip against the railing, more confused than anything, and while Zack heads into her room, to get Aerith's things apparently, Tifa cranes her head back to look over her shoulder.
"What's that you got there, merc?" she can hear Marle ask, amused. "Some new friends?"
Cloud's sigh is audible, as is his eye roll. "Morning, Marle – sorry, gotta go. Bye."
Tifa snorts quietly as Cloud and Desmond come into view in the yard below, headed for the street she'd pointed them at – Desmond's leaning close to Cloud, saying something to him, or to the kid, it's hard to say. They look… comfortable.
Zack returns with an armload of smelly, sweaty SOLDIER uniforms, and shaking her head Tifa shows him where to wash them.
Tifa ends up hanging out with Zack, waiting for Cloud and Desmond to come back. He tells her a bit about his girlfriend, about Cloud and the stuff they'd gotten into when they'd both been working for ShinRa – and a little bit about what happened in the ShinRa Building.
"It was a bit of a mess, really," Zack says. "We didn't kill the President – that was, uh… something else."
"The news says it was Wutai insurgents," Tifa comments with a frown. "But I know that sword – that was Sephiroth's sword, wasn't it? That was the Masamune." And if there's a sword she'll never forget, it's that fucking sword.
"Yeah," Zack agrees with a scoff. "Turns out Hojo, that rat bastard, had it up on his office wall like a damn trophy. Wutai had nothing to do with it, either way – does anyone really buy it?"
"Some people do, most people think it was a ShinRa set up, that they dressed up the scene afterwards to pin it on Wutai," Tifa says, shrugging. "They've been doing that sort of thing a lot, lately. They say Avalanche is in with Wutai too, and we're really not."
"Yeah," Zack agrees, sighing. "Fuck, ShinRa has not gotten any better in the last five years, huh?"
"No, not really, no."
By the time Cloud finally returns, Zack's got his and Aerith's clothes out of the dryer and Tifa's learned that Zack actually fought in the Wutai War – he'd been there when the peace treaties had been signed, he'd met Lord Goto and everything. Apparently, it all had seemed pointless then, too – only back then it had been about ShinRa wanting to force a Mako Reactor on Wutai, whether they wanted it or not. Now, according to ShinRa, it's Wutai who wants the Reactor, and they will do everything they can to get it.
"I doubt it. From what I remember, Wutai wants nothing to do with Mako, and more power to them," Zack muses. "If there's anything they do want from ShinRa, it's Materia. They're crazy about that stuff."
It's kinda fascinating to hear stuff about Wutai that isn't either propaganda, or that weird… stuff that goes on in the Wall Market, which also kinda seems like propaganda, but in the opposite direction. Tifa would've loved to hear more about it – but then she spots Cloud and Desmond, slowly making their way back.
The kid is clothed now in a black shirt a little too big on him and grey slacks – and he's walking, sort of, between the men, taking determined, clumsy little steps with his knees wobbling like those of a freshly hatched chocobo. Cloud is holding one of his hands in his and Desmond has the other – and the only reason the kid isn't flat on his face on the ground is because they're half carrying him, picking him up and putting him back on his feet every time he stumbles. And judging by the looks of it, he stumbles with every step.
Zack lets out a noise that's between a giggle and a gasp, and Tifa leans over the balcony railing, to watch. Cloud has a look of mixed pain and forbearance on his face, Desmond is grinning widely, and neither is looking away from the kid. Between them Seph is scowling at the ground like gravity is doing him dirty and he's determined to beat it.
It's – pretty cute. Weird, to see Cloud doing… whatever he's doing, but cute.
As Tifa and Zack watch, the kid's knees buckle and he almost falls on his knees, and with a little laugh Desmond crouches down beside him. "I think that's about enough now, buddy. You're gonna tire yourself out," he says and lifts the frowning boy up and to his arms with more confidence than Cloud had shown before. "Gotta build up those muscles slowly, else you'll just strain yourself."
The kid makes a face at him and then leans away from him – reaching for Cloud instead.
"Aww, what, I'm not good enough?" Desmond says, pouting. "You wanna take him, Cloud?"
"No, I carried him to the store, and he kicked me. Suck it up, Seph," Cloud says to the kid, shaking his head and stepping back. "I'm not going to be carrying you everywhere."
The boy makes an insistent little noise, fingers grabbing at the air. When Cloud looks away, Seph drops his hands, drawing a deep breath in a way which Tifa suspects will be the prequel to a lot of screaming – but isn't. Instead, the boy lets out a frustrated sigh and looks at Desmond dubiously.
"Don't take it personally, Seph. He's new to this," the guy says comfortingly, giving him a reassuring pat. "And still got some issues to work through. Don't worry, though – I absolutely love carrying you around."
Seph sighs and then, reluctantly, lays his head on Desmond's shoulder – all the while pouting at Cloud. Cloud shakes his head and then steps quickly past them, heading for the inn – but not fast enough to leave them behind. And Tifa would know – when Cloud wants to leave you behind, you're left behind.
"This is going to be adorable," Zack mutters, covering his grin with his hands.
Below them Marle greets Cloud cheerfully with a, "Well, I suppose this explains how things went with Tifa, huh? Or how they didn't."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Cloud demands.
"Oh, nothing, I'm sure. Are you going to introduce me to your partner – and who's the handsome little fellow? Hello dears – I'm Marle, I run the Stargazer Heights."
"Lovely to meet you, ma'am – I'm Desmond, and this is Seph," Desmond introduces them cheerfully while Cloud sighs. Desmond laughs, and adds, "He's a bit out of sorts right now, sorry," and it's a bit hard to tell if he's talking about Seph – or Cloud.
Tifa shakes her head. She's not sure what is going on, exactly but – yeah, whatever it is, it looks like it will be pretty adorable. And so, so, awkward. Turning to Zack, she asks in a whisper, "Did they, uh…" she isn't sure how to even say it. "Did they… hook up or something?"
"I think they kinda skipped all the usual steps in between and just adopted a kid together," Zack snorts, leaning his elbows on the balcony railing and his chin onto his palms, trying to see past the balcony – looking a little like a big kid himself. "I can't wait to watch them figure it out."
Tifa tilts her head. Cloud and adopt a kid in the same sentence doesn't seem quite right – but there's really no other way to put it, is there? Cloud and Desmond and the kid together look like a family. "You've must have had some crazy time up there, in the ShinRa Building, huh," she muses.
"Oh yeah, we got around," Zack agrees, grinning.
"I bet," Tifa says. Cloud's coming up the stairs now, and there's a fixed look of confusion, exasperation and mulish stubbornness on his face – like he's just waiting for them to comment on it. Well, some things don't change. The guy is still expecting everything to be a fight, isn't he?
Tifa decides she's not going to be that girl and instead shrugs her shoulders and offers, "How does breakfast at Seventh Heaven sound like?"
Cloud eyes her dubiously and then relaxes a little. "Good. Sounds good."
"I could definitely eat," Desmond agrees, patting Seph's back.
"Yeah," Zack agrees, grinning. "Lemme go wake up the sleeping beauty and then we'll go."