Promise by Aridea Moons

|You promised|

The brunette enters the second floor of the orphanage to see the wooden floors covered in dust as a child about nine years was sweeping the floor wearing a maids outfit, Tifa tilted her head to the side of this sight and looks around to see the walls painted grey giving off a gloomy feeling. Marlene grabs Tifas hand and shows her the room they were sleeping in to see it completely plain and boring. Marlene had her side of the room and Denzel had his own side of the room which was the left, each side they had their own window but that was about it. Tifa looked concerned at the view and the strange vibe as she knew very well the first floor was more vibrant and colored for children she questioned their safety.
T: "Um Marlene, how has it been here?"
M: "Its been okay we do a lot of chores daily"
T: "I see..you and Denzel sleep in the same room?", she lifted an eyebrow knowing that it didn't seem appropriate for two teenagers to sleep in the same room.
M: "Well Dad said it was temporary til they fix the bar..."
T: "They havent fixed it?"
M: "Um...you were gone for a while right?"
T: "uh yea but-"
Marlene sits on her bed
M: "Well Clouds been looking for you like crazy right? So family comes first", she smiles and Yuffie was watching them from a distance then she looks up the third floor of stairs to hear footsteps going up.
Y: "Um maybe we should talk to-"
M: "Theres a room for you", she grabs Tifas hand again and shows her the third floor which was her room. Tifa was not confused to see her room looked more less plainly I suppose which made her think this was not a nice orphanage, but she knew it was temporary so they can all go back home soon. Just that thought eased her mind and she wondered in her room to see a window next to her bed and a mirror with a desk on the other side of the room. As she walks inside to look around she sees a hair brush has already been used with strands of hair stuck in between the brush which made her lift an eyebrow.
Y: "Well im gonna head back down with the boys", she says gesturing her thumb towards the exit then she walks out seeming nervous.
M: "Um Ill be right back I need to get back to my chores"
T: "Okay-Uh Marlene?"
M: "hm?", she looks back at her from the exit as her hand touched the door frame
T: "Do you like it here?"
M: "Oh the people here are nice, they are just poor at the moment to maintain things in the house but we were planning on painting the walls in the upper floors soon cuz Rosa thinks its so depressing", she makes a face sticking out her tongue as if she making fun of the woman taking care of them.
T: "hehe okay go back to your chores Ill be right down"
When Marlene left Tifa looked at the hair brush then touched the bed feeling as if someone was sleeping was here before her and she knew it felt strange. As yuffie came down the stairs she sees Vincent leaning on the wall next to the door as usual looking cool which for some reason gave him the foot to meet his knee  looking at Vincents eyebrow twitch and a curve at the end of his lip. Yuffie smirks at his reaction as he opens his eyes looking down at her controlling his emotions but Yuffie provoked him and poked his chest with her finger.
Y: "You lied to me!"
Vincent had no idea what she was talking about so as usual he didn't react and stood quiet letting herself explain to him.
Y: "You told me about the summon materia in the ocean! And Cloud didn't go to get it!"
Vincent didn't say anything instead he crossed his arms and sighs
V: "It was...an observational statement"
Y: "Ugh dont you say that to me when you knew-"
M: "Knew what?"
Yuffie froze in front of Vincent hearing Marlenes voice out of the blue then she fixed her poster coughing to her hand.
Y: "Ahem! Just materia talk"
M: "hmm ahuh", she crossed her arms and lifts her eyebrow then walks away leaving Yuffie to twitch her eyebrow nervously.
V: "Hmph and you say Im a liar", he exits the house calmly leaving Yuffie to make an angry face at him as she puffs from her nostril  crossing her arms.
Y: "MMMMM", she screams in her mouth in anger meanwhile Tifa was wondering around the house or should I say building thats four stories tall. Tifa knew they had to add floors due to the past meteor over the years that struck which caused many children to lose their parents at the time but even with the new floors, there were still too many out there orphaned. The brunette walks up the stairs to the top then she finds herself on the rooftop with an amazing view to the edge she spots a teen boy leaning over the counter top of the roof with his arms, Tifa walks closely with a smile.
D: "Dont-", the boy said and Tifa was startled but she walked closer to him touching his shoulder only to have him throw a fit as he moved his shoulder away.
T: "Whats wrong?-"
D: "Whats wrong is that Clouds not here again!"
T: "Denzel-", she touches his shoulder again but he kept pushing her away
D: "He promised he would come back, where is he? Is he doing the disappearing act again?!", the teen walks away with his hands turning into a fist as he looks at the ground then he walks towards the brick wall which was on the other-side of the door and he begins punching it causing Tifa to widen her eyes.
T: "Denze-"
D: "He found me, did he regret it?! Am I that useless to him?"
The teen continues punching the wall with his bare knuckles that begun bleeding and Tifa ran towards him taking his hand
T: "Denzel!"
D: "I dont need you to mother me!", he pushes her against the wall startling her and he looked at her angry then he walks away about to go downstairs until-
T: "Cloud thinks of you everyday"
Denzel stopped on his tracks as Tifa looks down at her feet
T: "He fights for us everyday, he even fights himself if he has to..Cloud loves you Denzel, he loves all of us and I know that your having it rough because he wasn't home very much and I know that you still want parents-"
D: "I dont need parents to take care of me I can take care of myself..he promised me that he would always come back and that he would teach me to fight...so that I can protect all of you too"
Tifa gasps under her breathe then realizes what he wants
T: "..I know that you want to protect us-"
D: "Cloud protects us all the time I just want to be by his side this time, I dont want to be protected...I want to help!"
Tifas eyelids lower
T: "I know that..I wish I could do something too but..we can't we're not strong like he is..", she looks up at the blue sky and the puffy clouds, "We're not strong like he is"
Denzel opens the door roughly and closes it banging the door shut causing Tifa to gasp from the loud noise as Denzel walks down the stairs shoving past Marlene who was mopping.
M: "Hey!-"
D: "Oh do your chores!", he said aggressively as he shuts the door behind him causing Marlene to widen her eyes at his sudden aggressiveness. She looks down in thought as she lifts her finger on her chin then reaches towards the door but hesitates as she shakes her head continuing to mop the fourth floor. The adolescent boy sits down in the small library as he opens a book to reveal a picture of the author the author was his father, he looks down at the picture and runs his finger over it.
D: "Why am I so useless?", he asks himself as a drop of water fell on the picture then he looks towards the window to see a girl sitting down drawing on her lap humming a song that reminded him of his mother. His eyes widen then he closes the book leaving it on the chair exiting the library with his hands in his pockets wearing his baggy pants ignoring the fact that he heard that girl singing.