Can't Forget

Rating: PG-13

By: Vampire Toy

Summary: Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz are given a second chance to try be good, but old habits die hard. A sequel to 'Memories'. Warning: Weird pairings, weird plot.

A/N: Wow, thanks to everyone who reviewed 'Memories'! I had no idea so many people would like it, so here I came up with a possible sequel since you guys wanted it XD. I made it a sequel instead of continuing 'Memories' just in case some people didn't like the sequel so here in they can pretend it never happened X3. Anyway, most of you can guess the main pairing yes? Other pairings to-be-decided so if you have some you like, feel free to throw in suggestions (het, yaoi, yuri, whatever), but know that most will be weird.

XXX

The day was a long and dreary one, rain falling almost non-stop for hours, making it impossible to go outside. Marlene leaned her cheek in her palm as she rested her elbow on the windowsill. Her face hung so close to the window that her own breath began to fog up the glass. Her eyes fell slack and her head softly thumped against the window as she dozed off.

Normally rain would make her happy and perky, she enjoyed it because it showed her Aeris was watching her, but this wasn't Aeris' rain, this rain was too different and almost despondent.

"Marlene."

"Hnnf." She gave a small grunt and squinted, lifting her head to look at Tifa's reflection in the glass.

"You ok?" the black haired woman asked as she finished drying the last of the dishes.

"Yeah." Marlene mumbled. Tifa sighed and placed the plate down, walking over to the gloomy looking child.

"Are you sure?" Tifa sat at a table across from the small girl. Marlene yawned and flopped back away from the window.

"Why is the rain so icky today?" she asked sleepily. Tifa smiled and shook her head; "I don't know sweetie."

Marlene sighed and leaned back in her chair, letting her eyes close slowly once again.

"Marlene, why don't you go watch TV with Denzel and the other kids? I'm sure Denzel would like that." Tifa tried again.

Marlene's eyes opened wearily and she shook her head.

"Why not? You don't want to stay here and be bored do you?" Tifa asked gently.

"I think something cool is going to happen." She murmured.

"Hmm? Like what?"

"I dunno…. something cool ….like….." the brunette trailed off slowly and looked out the window hopefully.

"Something like…?" Tifa's eyes narrowed worriedly, ever since she'd taken Marlene back to the church, the little girl had been constantly talking about the three silver haired men that they had defeated only months earlier. Not only was she constantly bringing them up, but she also seemed a lot more aloof and wanted to go back to the church more often. Barret had given Tifa strict instructions not to let her go back; apparently he'd noticed Marlene's change too and he definitely didn't like it.

Tifa tried to pry into the little girl's mind when she had the time, and lately, that had been a lot. The rain had been going on and off in heavy sheets for most of the month. Though that was unusual for winter in Midgar, the most complaining anyone had done was that they got wet on their way to work and sometimes, in the spastically vicious storms, Tifa would silently complain over her lack of customers.

Lately she'd come to accept the rain a slight bit, but only because she wanted to help Barret snap Marlene out of her little daze. Barret having to work a lot more lately, left the biggest part of the job up to Tifa.

"I dunno….something amazing." Marlene finally answered.

"You mean…something with Kadaj?" Tifa asked. Marlene blinked in surprise and giggled; Tifa couldn't understand what was so funny, but she had Marlene's attention so she was doing pretty well.

"I think this is his rain."

"His?" Tifa asked.

"I mean, their rain. It's their kind of rain." Marlene said with a nod.

Tifa sighed and sat back, looking out the window worriedly; she hoped Marlene would just snap out of this stage, it was becoming harder to get through to her. Even the other children were beginning to notice and stayed away from her, Denzel was the only one who still talked and played with her.

"Marlene, those three…" Tifa said gently, trying not to completely deter her, "Kadaj and Yazoo and Loz, they're all gone….forever."

"Yeah they died."

Tifa gave a half smile out of slight surprise and amusement but she quickly nodded to confirm Marlene's statement.

"Yes, so I don't think you should keep talking about them so much…"

"Why?"

"Well, when people die, the people still alive are sad for a little while. Their sad time is over."

"I just don't wanna forget them."

"Why is that?"

"I liked them."

The black haired woman sat up startled; as she recalled, Loz had completely beaten the crap out of her and kidnapped Marlene. From what Denzel had told her she knew that Kadaj and his brothers weren't being the most lovable or likable people. Kadaj was good at persuasion, Tifa would give him that, but all the children knew by now that everything he'd said was a lie. How was it possible for Marlene to like them?

"Can we go to the church?" Marlene asked before Tifa could speak up.

"Oh, no Marlene, it's raining…"

"No, it stopped."

"What?" Tifa turned and looked out the window curiously. The rain had stopped, almost suddenly, but Tifa didn't give it any thought. Now that it wasn't raining, it'd be hard to find an excuse to keep Marlene out of the church.

"Umm, it'll be too wet if we go now, you won't be able to sit down and water might drip from the beams and parts of the ceiling. I don't want you to get wet because you'll get sick."

Marlene frowned and sighed, getting up and leaving the room quietly.

Tifa stood up slowly and shook her head lightly, looking back out the window at the dark evening. Though it had stopped raining the clouds still hung in the air threateningly.

"Tifa?"

"Hmm?" Tifa turned to a small bronze haired boy and smiled wearily, "Yes Denzel?"

"Can I take Marlene to the church?" he asked.

"No Denzel." She sighed.

"Why not? The rain stopped and stuff, she won't get sick I promise."

"I can't let you two go by yourselves Denzel."

"But I'm eleven! I can take care of both of us!" Denzel whined.

"I know Denzel, but it's not that simple."

"Why not?" he made a face and crossed his arms, "It's safe there you know! Marlene says Aeris wouldn't let bad things happen to us there!"

Tifa paused a moment and turned to look back outside; if Marlene wanted to visit Aeris it would be ok for her to go to the church wouldn't it?

"…alright…but a little later ok? I'll go with you later, but right now I need to manage the bar alright?" Tifa asked with a smile. Denzel was quiet, scrunching his face thoughtfully before nodding and running out.

There we go, Tifa smiled, everyone's happy.

XXX

"Really, really?" Marlene asked for the twentieth time since she and Denzel had left to go to Aeris' church.

"Yeah! Come on, trust me, she was going to let us come anyway." Denzel reassured his younger friend.

"Thanks Denzel!" she smiled. He grinned in return and nodded.

Suddenly Marlene felt a droplet on her cheek, then another one then another one until Denzel felt it too and began running and pulling her behind him.

"It's raining again!" he yelled, "If we run we might not get really wet!"

Marlene stumbled behind him but he held onto her hand firmly, almost dragging her under the church's high-roofed entrance. The rain was coming down in sheets again as it had an hour earlier, making Denzel nervous as he pushed open one of the large double doors. He had planned to go to the church with Marlene and be back before Tifa could notice, but if the rain kept on they wouldn't be able to get back at all.

Denzel and Marlene trotted slowly to some of the dry benches that were still in place; there was very little roof on the church but enough to keep them dry. Both sat huddled together in the corner of the pew; though they were in a dry place, the cold could still get to them and it seemed near freezing because of their already slightly damp clothes.

"When do you think the rain will stop?" Denzel asked.

"I dunno, I'm cold…"

"Just stay close to me and we'll be warm."

"Do you think Tifa will come get us because she sees the rain?" Marlene asked looking innocently up at Denzel. The older boy blushed sheepishly and mumbled something incoherent; why would Tifa come get them if she didn't know where they were?

"Hey look!"

"Huh?" Denzel looked up to where Marlene was pointing. She crawled out of his lap and leaned over the bench in front of the one they were sitting on.

"Look!"

Denzel couldn't find what she was pointing to; all he saw was the flower patch.

"Can you see?" she asked turning to him with excitement.

"See what?" he asked leaning over the bench also to take a closer look.

He blinked curiously, squinting to see through the rain, then his eyes widened in surprise.

"Something's glowing over there…" Denzel murmured.

"Yeah!" Marlene ran out into the rain but Denzel jumped and pulled her back.

"Hey! Come on Denzel! Look! Look! It's Aeris! Let's go say hi!" Marlene whined wriggling furiously.

"You don't know that! It might just be a freaky glowing murderer!"

"Denzeeeeeelllll!" Marlene wailed.

"That's alright, stay out of the rain for now." Aeris said, her image becoming all the clearer as the rain inside the temple slowly drizzled to a stop while it continued to come down excessively outside.

Denzel stared with his mouth slightly open as if trying to speak while Marlene giggled and pulled him to the center of the church.

"You two have been very good." Aeris smiled, kneeling down in front of them.

"Why are you here? Did you want to talk to me or Cloud or Denzel or-" Marlene stuttered excitedly. Seeing Aeris in these random appearances was the only way for Marlene to directly talk to someone she considered incredibly special. They didn't happen often, in fact, this was only the second time Aeris had appeared to her, Marlene was sure she appeared more often to Cloud but she wasn't around Cloud so much that she could notice.

"I'm here to see you two."

Marlene gave her a big smile and put her hands behind her back shyly, "Did Kadaj come too?"

Aeris' smile slowly faded and she lowered her eyes to the flowers below for a few minutes before speaking again; "I'm here to talk to you about Kadaj."

"Ka…Kadaj! Kadaj, he's horrible! Him and his brothers…I don't like any of them!" Denzel spat out, finally finding his voice, still slightly unsure if he should trust the woman in front of them.

Aeris looked over at him and smiled again, reaching out and placing a hand gently on his cheek causing him to blush. Marlene also tossed a meek side-glance at her friend, slightly deterred by his words. Aeris placed another hand on Marlene's cheek and met her eyes with a smile.

"Yes they've done bad things haven't they? Who would know better than you two?"

Marlene averted her eyes at the comment and felt a familiar pang of guilt build up again; the way Aeris was talking made it obvious that the visit was in relation to Kadaj and it wasn't good.

"This will be a lot to ask of you two." Aeris said, "But I believe you two can handle it and that's why I'm asking it."

Both Marlene and Denzel were silent and curious.

"You know in death that you become part of the lifestream, part of the earth?"

Both nodded but stayed quiet.

"Though Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz have all entered the lifestream, there's a threat they will be spit back out."

"Huh?" both children tilted their heads simultaneously.

Aeris giggled and held up a finger to show she wasn't finished; "You see, because we become part of the earth, we give back some of what was taken out by the rest of the living. Therefore the earth will only take good spirits."

"So where do those creeps go if they're already in the lifestream?" Denzel asked.

"Why did the lifestream take them if it thought they were bad?" Marlene asked nervously.

"That's part of what I wanted to ask of you two." Aeris said softly, "You see, children always go into the lifestream when they die regardless of whether they were good or bad because their judgement isn't as clear as an older persons. Kadaj and his brothers were technically children, they were around three years old each so when they died, they immediately went into the lifestream."

"But…?" Denzel pressed.

"But they have the evil of an adult in the things they've done and the earth does not want their negative energy."

"So…?" Marlene asked eagerly.

Aeris chuckled at their impatience; "So, I have suggested that they be put back on earth so that you two can help them be good. When they're good, the earth will take them back, but if they are killed again while remaining bad, then the earth will reject them."

"R-reject them? What's that mean?" Marlene asked.

"It means they go to a bad place called hell and they stay there forever and ever and get tortured." Denzel said turning to Marlene with a grin. The little girl began bawling at his comment and Denzel was taken aback, and started frantically trying to comfort her.

"You two," Aeris shook her head and wrapped her arms around both children, holding them close, "I believe you both can do this, I believe that you can make them better people."

Denzel frowned and hugged Marlene, "Tifa won't like them either! Neither will Cloud or anyone else!"

"Yes they will!" Marlene sniffled.

"That's right," Aeris said much to Denzel's disappointment, "Because you two will set such a good example of forgiveness, won't you?"

Denzel pouted fitfully but nodded despite his expression. Marlene sniffled a 'yes Aeris' and hugged Denzel tighter.

"Good then. I'm so proud of you two, I know you'll do a great job." Aeris smiled and kissed the top of their heads affectionately before standing up.

"They will come when I leave." She turned and began walking away, "I'll be watching alright?" with that said she disappeared in a familiar white flash and both children were left in the flowers. Both began looking around for the three promised men but found nothing. The rain began gushing into the church again and both children let out yelps, scuttling back to the benches.

"Man I wish she woulda told us that was gonna happen!" Denzel muttered.

"Are we gonna get sick?" Marlene asked.

"I dunno, probably not." He told her with a nod. Marlene and Denzel slowly wrung out their clothes and hair to try dry off a little more but it didn't seem to help much. Eventually they curled up together in the corner of the bench again and, despite the storm becoming more and more violent, they fell asleep.

XXX

"Denzel! Marlene!" Tifa cried desperately throughout the building. No answer, only the echo of her words by the other children helping her look for the two.

This isn't happening; they wouldn't go off on their own! Would they?

Tifa had searched throughout the entire bar with the help of the children and Cloud who had arrived in the middle of her panic. As soon as he'd entered the bar the rain had started up again, more violently than Tifa had seen it before. The rain kept her from looking outside for the children, however, and she kept hoping they'd simply fallen asleep in a little corner somewhere, or perhaps she missed them, or perhaps they were hiding, playing a game.

"I've looked all over, I couldn't find them." Cloud announced, emerging from the door leading to the basement.

"Auntie Tifa! They're not upstairs!" one of the children cried down. Tifa's maternal instincts were driving her crazy; the only place they could be now was outside and the rain was pelting so hard that it would be impossible to see anything let alone try get through it.

"We have to go find them!" Tifa wailed.

"Calm down! It's ok, you said you thought they went outside? They're smart kids, they probably found shelter before the rain got too bad." Cloud tried to reassure her.

"What if they didn't? Or what if they got kidnapped? I told them I'd take them out later! Why don't they listen!" Tifa let out an overwhelmed groan and flopped into a chair. Cloud sat across from her and tried again to calm her down; "Where were you going to take them again? The church right? That's probably where they are, they'll be ok."

"I know, I know…." Tifa muttered rubbing her temples; if Barret found this out, she was going to be in big trouble, she knew they were probably in the church, she knew they were probably ok, but they would be cold and possibly wet. They might get sick and if that happened, Barret would definitely question their whereabouts. Tifa had only wanted to take them to the church once, that wasn't supposed to do any harm, but she hadn't even taken them and the situation was already getting out of hand.

XXX

A/N: Hahaha I'm a spaaaz. Ok, lemme know what you think of the first chappie eh? Denzel seems dedicated to Marlene (and vice versa) kind of like an older brother (or boyfriend, but not in this story XD). Okie, lemme know if anyone is OOC, I hate OOC'ing stuff so help catch my blasphemy early on so I don't get too used to writing a character a certain way XD. I don't think Denzel ever knew anything about Aeris other than what people told him right? Yeaaah……well, our favorite pretty boys appear in the next chappie if this gets any reviews XD, whelp, hope you guys liked it! R & R and flames welcome.