Summary: A honeymoon provides Marlene with the perfect opportunity to learn more about the man she has a crush on. She soon discovers the indelible marks on his soul left by the people in his past. (Warnings: Shonen-ai hints, adult themes, slight AU and OOC-ness)

Snapshots

A Final Fantasy VII Fanfiction by ntc

Part 1

She would never forget how his sky-blue eyes, tinged with an inexplicable sorrow for as long as she had known him, exuded a genuine kindness that made an impression on her young heart. They've met only five times over the last three years— the times when he had visited her father to talk about the oil-drilling business and, more importantly, the updates on the lives of mutual old friends. She would then sit by her father's feet and listen in on their conversation, pricking her ears up in interest only when familiar names were mentioned (Tifa's being the most frequently mentioned). The rest of her attention was spent on studying the sad but kind man sitting opposite her father, for she knew it would be months down the track before she would see him again, and she wanted to etch every feature of his face in her memory.

At the age of five, she had made a secret vow to marry this man one day. Thinking back now, she could not remember what it was exactly that had prompted such a decision; but she strongly suspected that it had something to do with the flower the man had given her during their first encounter. It was the first time anyone had given her anything that was delicate and beautiful.

Of course, her father had provided for her needs amply all through her life, but he was a gruff man who showed his love in other ways— ways that did not involve the granting of fragile, transient gifts. He never appreciated the effectiveness of such simple gifts in winning over the hearts of the female population. That was probably the reason why it took so many years for Aunty Elmyra to become her current new mother. Her father's clumsy courting ritual involved mainly fixing leaking water pipes, clearing roof drains clogged up by autumn leaves, mowing the lawn twice a month and moving furniture around the house during the spring cleaning season.

Aunty Elmyra, on her part, would always cook an extra large portion of dinner for her father at the end of the day, and she would often find out what types of food her father liked (beef casserole being one of them) and made a point to cook those when she knew he would come over to her place to help her with one heavy-duty household chore or another. Being the precocious ten-year-old that she was at the time, she had been the one to bring up the idea of marriage. "Why don't you two tie the knot already?" Both of them blushed (though in her father's case it was hard to tell, him being so dark-skinned and all) and stammered and became absolutely fascinated by the water stains on the dining table. When the awkward silence stretched, she had followed that question with an observation. "Papa, if you marry Aunty Elmyra, we'll get to eat beef casserole everyday." Her father frantically made shushing gestures at her while Aunty Elmyra retreated to the kitchen to check on a pie that was baking in the oven.

It took a fair bit of prodding and plenty of not-so-subtle hints, but in the end both her father and Aunty Elmyra discovered that they wanted the same thing all along. They both wanted the other to be happy, and they both wanted her to be happy. And since she had made it abundantly clear what would make her happy, it wasn't long before the wedding ceremony took place at the small run-down church in Sector Five. That day, she had searched for him amongst the wedding guests and was not disappointed. He turned out to be the designated cameraman of the joyous event. It wasn't until later that she found out that his career actually centered on photography.

They took a picture together that day.

xXxXxXx

She cast her eyes about as she stood waiting at the central transport terminal at Kalm. A luggage bag almost as big as herself was positioned at her feet and a small backpack carried over her shoulders held the more essential traveler's belongings like money and phone cards. She was starting to feel a bit anxious, surrounded by the large number of strangers around her, and wished that the person she was waiting for would turn up soon. Still no sign of any golden spikes anywhere. She sighed and went back to examining the photograph clutched in her hand. Her lips curved up in a small smile, as they were wont to do every time she gazed at the image frozen in time and printed onto a piece of paper for her to enjoy and treasure at all times.

"Marlene? You're Marlene Wallace, aren't ya?"

Startled by the unfamiliar voice, she whipped her head around to face the person who had addressed her. A tall shady-looking man with a riot of fiery red hair loomed over her. The sunglasses that hid his eyes only made him look more menacing. He was the very picture of 'the scum of civilization' whom her father had warned her about— the type of ruffian who seemed capable of busting kneecaps and setting cats on fire for amusement. Spurred by an innate sense of self-preservation and her father's words of advice on what to do in such situations, she shrieked and made a mad dash towards the security guard station she recalled seeing earlier. Her escape was effectively nipped in the bud by a strong hand gripping the collar of her T-shirt. She could not move further than two steps away from the dangerous redhead, but she could still scream. She proceeded to do just that and continued to do so until she saw two security guards making their way towards them. The redhead was yelling something along the lines of "Will you stop that infernal caterwauling?" and "Shit! Look, I mean you no harm, okay?" but she was too busy creating a ruckus to pay him any heed.

"What's going on here?" demanded one of the burly uniformed guards who came to her rescue.

"Nothing to worry about, officers," said her captor smoothly. "My ward just got too excited when she saw me." The man then tried to pat her head but she jerked away from his touch.

"He's lying! I'm not…!" She quietened down and ceased her struggling when he shoved a rumpled photograph in front of her face. It was an exact duplicate of the one she held in her hand.

The guards eyed the red-haired man suspiciously. "What's your relationship with this girl?"

"I'm babysitting her for a friend."

The answer drew skeptical looks from the guards. Before they could question the man further, Marlene blurted, "You… you know Cloud?"

The man turned towards her and smiled. Suddenly, he did not appear so menacing after all. "Who else do you think I got the photo from?"

"Unfortunately, we can't just take your word for it," said one of the security guards finally. "This girl clearly doesn't recognize you. Show us your I.D. please."

The man muttered grumpily, "I should just do this at the beginning and save my breath trying to explain myself." When he slid a hand under his black jacket, the security guards tensed and tightened the grips on their batons. He pulled out a wallet and flipped it open to display his identity card.

The change in the attitude of the two guards was abrupt. They visibly paled and nearly tripped over themselves bowing and backing away nervously from the man, all the while burbling apologetic statements. "So sorry to bother you, sir!" "Didn't realize it was you, sir!" "We meant no disrespect, sir!"

Left on her own with the strange man who claimed to know Cloud, Marlene asked, "Where is he?" There was no need to say whom she meant by 'he'.

"He had something to do this morning and couldn't come himself." The man bent down to pick up her luggage bag and swung it over his shoulder almost effortlessly. "He asked me to pick you up in his stead."

The photograph could have been stolen, and a couple of security guards being terrified of the man was not proof enough that he could be trusted. "Cloud actually trusts you?" She could not keep the note of incredulity from her voice.

"Took me three years of cohabitating with the guy to earn me that trust. It wasn't easy, I tell ya."

"You two live together?" For some reason, that surprised her. Cloud had such a strong melancholy air to him— a melancholy that could only stem from great loneliness— that she was convinced that he must have been living alone. How could someone be so lonely even in the presence of company? Granted, said company was dubious at best, but it was still company nonetheless.

He smirked at her bewildered expression, looking extremely smug. "Care to visit our humble abode?"

xXxXxXx

"Here's the guest room where you'll be staying. The washroom is next to the kitchen. The washing machine— that's where you put the dirty laundry by the way— is outside on the balcony. Any questions?"

"Just one," said Marlene, after taking in the sparse furniture and decor in the small three-bedroom apartment.

"Shoot."

"Why can't I stay in Cloud's room instead?" She was at an age young enough to make such requests without causing too much awkwardness, and she fully intended to take advantage of it.

There was a long pause before he answered, "Cloud likes his privacy."

"I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I stay in his room," she insisted, not yet willing to give up. "I'll ask him when he comes back."

"No, Cloud would mind, but he'll be too polite to say 'no' if you ask, just coz you're Barret's daughter."

Was the man deliberately trying to dash her hopes of getting close to Cloud? She tried to keep her irritation in check. Maybe she was overreacting or reading too much into things. "Fine, I'll stay in this room then," she said sullenly. "I guess I'll just have to take your word for it."

"Hey, I'm not making this up. Cloud really doesn't savour the idea of anyone else rooming with him. Do you know how many times I've been rebuffed in the past?"

Before she could ponder the significance of that last statement, her thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of a motorcycle engine coming from downstairs. "That must be him," said Reno, walking towards the balcony. She followed him without thinking. "The meeting must have ended earlier than he expected."

Through the gaps between the railings at the edge of the balcony, she peered down and saw him just as he was getting off his massive black bike. Their eyes met when he tilted his head upwards in her direction. She noticed that he smiled, and that he appeared glad to see her. The next thing she noticed was that he had grown out his hair, his unruly pale locks now falling past his shoulders and secured in a ponytail. It made him look less like the ageless youth she remembered and more the mature adult whom he had always been. She preferred it when he had shorter hair. At least then the age difference between them wouldn't have been so obvious.

"Yo!" yelled Reno who was standing right next to her. Obnoxious and loud… How someone as quiet as Cloud ended up acquiring a housemate like Reno was a great mystery that was itching to be solved. "You haven't forgotten my beer I hope!"

In reply, Cloud merely dug out a six-pack from the compartment under his motorcycle seat and held it up for display.

xXxXxXx

"So, your dad and Elmyra have decided to spend their honeymoon at Costa Del Sol?" enquired Cloud as he handed her a mug of hot chocolate.

Marlene nodded and sipped the sweet beverage happily. "They're also planning to visit North Corel if they get the chance. She is curious about Papa's hometown."

"I'm surprised that Barret is willing to leave you in my care during this time. I would have thought he'd prefer you to accompany them, honeymoon or no."

"He initially wanted me to come along as well, but once the notion of visiting North Corel was brought up, he'd rather I stayed here instead."

The girl's eyes grew thoughtful at this but Cloud kept quiet about his suspicions of Barret's intentions. He knew that his ex-teammate had his own reasons for not wanting Marlene to return to the mining town where her parents had died. In fact, he wasn't even sure if Marlene knew that Barret was not her real father.

"But why would he leave you here with us?" This from Reno who was sprawled on the couch in the living room with a can of beer in his hand. "You'd think that he would trust Tifa more when it comes to babysitting his precious daughter."

Cloud inwardly winced. Reno didn't know the meaning of tact sometimes. He wasn't surprised when Marlene's eyes began to mist over. "Am I a burden to you?" she whispered in a tremulous voice, as if she was dreading the answer. "Do you want me to leave?"

Cloud tried to reassure her by reaching out and giving her tiny hand an affectionate squeeze. "No, you're not and don't you ever think that. However, I'm afraid I won't be a very good host during this time because of my job commitments."

"Job commitments?" asked the young brunette curiously.

"Didn't I tell ya?" said Reno, butting into the conversation uninvited once again. "Cloud here is getting ready for his debut exhibition at the town gallery in a week's time."

"Exhibition? Really?" Marlene was practically bouncing with excitement. "Can I help out? I promise I wouldn't be a trouble to anyone."

Cloud laughed, not unkindly, at her childish exuberance. "Of course you can. But aren't there other parts of Kalm you want to visit while you're here? I can't expect you to stay in a stuffy gallery during your entire stay here."

"Oh, there's the library, the night market and I also heard that there's a stage show here that has been getting rave reviews in the papers. Can we go there together tomorrow, Cloud? That is, if you're not too busy with your work. But tomorrow's a public holiday and I was hoping that we can spend some time together…"

"Eh? I…uh…" It was true that tomorrow was a public holiday, but tomorrow was also the day that…

Reno joined them at the table and placed both his feet on the table. Cloud frowned in annoyance. He thought he had rid Reno of that bad habit months ago. "I can bring you to where ever you want, kiddo," Reno said to Marlene, who appeared less than thrilled with the proposition. "Cloud has important things to do tomorrow."

"But…!" protested Marlene.

"You can make a pest of yourself any other day, okay?" growled Reno, patting his pocket for cigarettes. "Just leave Cloud alone for tomorrow."

Cloud watched Reno silently, trying to catch any hint of how much he knew. "Smoke in the balcony if you have to, Reno. Not in here. On second thought, you should refrain from smoking completely while Marlene is here."

"Aw, hell! I'm sure she's made of sturdier stuff than that. Some passive smoking wouldn't kill her," complained Reno.

"And while you're refraining from smoking, you should also cut down on the cussing too. Barret will gun me down if his daughter returns home spouting some of your more colourful vocabulary."

"What! I don't suppose you'll start asking me to leave the toilet seat down from now on and stop squeezing the toothpaste tube at the middle just to please her!"

"You know, it really wouldn't hurt if you squeeze the toothpaste from the bottom instead of…"

"Argh!" Reno howled dramatically, as if all the injustices of the planet had suddenly fallen on his head.

Their bickering was brought to a halt by the sound of Marlene giggling. Like tiny bells jingling in crisp morning air. Like… Aeris. It took effort for Cloud to wipe off all traces of the ache he felt and grin at Marlene. He was relieved that Marlene had not been too hurt by Reno's rude behaviour and was enjoying herself, even if it was at Reno's expense. "What Reno said is true, Marlene. I don't think I'll be able to accompany you on your tour around Kalm tomorrow. But I promise I'll make it up to you another time."

"You should be grateful I'm willing to spend time with you, little minx," said Reno haughtily. Gods, would it kill the redhead to be civil to other people for once in his life?

"I have a name, you know," grumbled Marlene.

"That wouldn't be 'whiny brat' now, would it?"

Cloud flipped Reno's legs upwards until the chair tilted over and crashed onto the floor with the Turk still sitting in it. He didn't regret it, seeing how it had earned him another giggle from Marlene.

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A/N: This was originally meant to be a one-shot but the story was getting too long, so I had to split it into parts. The shonen-ai part doesn't come until later (but you can already guess who it'll involve, right?), and certain game events had to be changed to suit the story I want to tell. I hope people would still continue reading this fic despite the liberties I'll be taking with the original game storyline. Till next time then.