Final Fantasy VII Advent Children 2

Chapter 9

It was late in the evening and somehow Cloud and Tifa had managed to find a place for Barrett, Nanaki, Cid, Vincent, Yuffie, and Yazoo to sleep in their small orphanage. Most of them with each other and the children were crammed into one. As much as the little ones protested, even Marlene: Barrett's little girl whom he had brought with him, Tifa made sure to explain to them it was only for a short while.

Yazoo was having a tough time coping with the presence of so many new faces and decided to disappear for a little while into the small wooded area outside of the place.

"What the heck is his problem?" Barrett asked, interrupting the current conversation. Quite frankly, like Cid, they were all interested in knowing why they had been brought here, but this new face had bothered Barrett since he had laid eyes on him.

"He's not very talkative, don't mind him." Tifa explained cheerfully to her old friend.

"Not talkative? You two sure seemed to be chatting up a fucking storm on my ship earlier!" Cid cracked at her, grinning at how she blushed.

"I was only asking him what was wrong..." She said, red in the face.

" That's not what matters right now! Let Cloud get on with the point!" Yuffie halted the talk about Yazoo and switched it back to the previous subject.

"Yes. The reason we're all here... A problem has arisen..." Cloud began. He felt the presence in his mind take over, and saw the shocked faces of everyone but Tifa as Sephiroth's voice emerged from him. 

Over the next three or so hours, both Cloud and Sephiroth took intervals at explaining the situation. Eventually, everyone thoroughly understood, even after several outburst and arguments.

"I suppose if we are supposed to get anything accomplished with these silver haired people, we might as well get to bed." Nanaki suggested, after yawning rather loudly.

Everyone suddenly realised how late it had gotten, and how tired he or she was. So, taking the advice of the wise animal, they all headed off to their rooms. Cid, Nanaki, and Barrett shared a room, as well as Yuffie, Vincent and Cloud. Tifa suggested she would stay up a little longer to think.

"Don't be stayin' up to late. We gotta get on with this pretty damn soon before those psychos get their hands on their precious JENOVA. G'night." Barrett walked into his room with Nanaki and Cid, and he shut the door.

Tifa walked into the orphan's room, and checked on the sleeping children. She smiled as they slept peacefully in their makeshift beds, unaware of the trauma befalling the Planet once more. She gazed around, and her smile faded as she noted one particular child's absence.

" Marlene!" Tifa gasped worriedly. ' I'll just go out and get her... I don't want to wake anyone up... She can't have gone too far, right?' She asked herself mentally, before heading out the front door of the house quietly.

Looking around, and straining her eyes to see the dirt ground, she managed to make out the shape of small footprints. Following them eagerly she found she had lead herself into the woods outside. It was a bit chilly outside, and she wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing her hands up and down every now and then to keep warm.

After about fifteen minutes of walking, and losing the trail of footprints she managed to make out two humanoid forms in the distance. One looked relatively tall, and the other relatively tiny- like a little girl. Relief filled her as she broke into a dash towards the two.

Her instinct was right, for both Yazoo and Marlene looked up at her in unison.

" Tifa!" The little girl hopped up and ran to the woman, hugging her tightly. Tifa hugged her back.