Title: Family Visit
Fandom: Final Fantasy: Advent Children
Characters: Cloud, Tifa, Zack's Mother
Prompt: 081 - How?
Word Count: 471
Date finished: 06/07/2006
Rating: G
Summary: Cloud goes to see Zack's mother.
Author's Notes: I thought about how it would be to find out you are the only way your friend's mom knows he's dead.
Disclaimer: Characters are owned by Square Enix and Sony Pictures as far as I know.

"He was my friend," Cloud said quietly. "He… saved my life."

The older woman who sat across the table from him smiled wanly. "They never said what happened," she said. "He wrote me often, and then, suddenly, the letters just stopped."

Cloud could guess what had stopped the letters. "What did he say he was doing when that happened?"

"He was on his way to Nibelheim," the woman said, and Cloud nodded.

Writing letters was one thing he'd never picked up from Zack, although the vision of his mother - he must have seen a picture of her? - matched this woman's face exactly.

"What happened?"

Cloud glanced at Tifa, and she squeezed his fingers. "He was there to investigate a reactor, and it… exploded," he said slowly. "We were both caught in it."

It was a lie, but it was kinder than the truth - that Zack's friend and superior had tried to kill him. "We spent the next four years… under a doctor's care."

That was a lie, too. Care, mostly, but Doctor, too. Hojo was a scientist, one of those who didn't care about his subjects.

"When we were released," escaped, his mind filled in, "we started back to Midgar. I wasn't in very good shape. We almost reached it when he was killed."

Gunned down by SOLDIERs, out to kill them. They'd figured Cloud would die anyway; most people with Mako poisoning did - but most people didn't have Jenova cells in them, either. Was he supposed to thank Hojo for that?

"He… kept me hidden when that happened," Cloud went on, still slowly, fingers clenching Tifa's, hopefully not too hard. "I did what I could, but he was gone. He's buried on the bluff, just outside Edge."

He hesitated. "I'm sorry to bear such bad…."

"No," she interrupted. "No. Don't be. I was never given any kind of information, not even a notification that he was dead."

"I'm sorry," Tifa said gently. "Then we were a little abrupt."

"It's good to know," the woman said softly. "It is always better to know than to wonder."

Cloud stood up abruptly. "I'm sorry for intruding like this," he said, his voice choked, but he had to get out of there, needed fresh air, it all felt so familiar, an echo of a memory. "Thank you for your time."

"Thank you for coming," she said, and Tifa followed him out the door.

He stopped next to Fenrir, arms wrapped around himself, shivering. So much was familiar, but he didn't think Zack had said that much about his home.

Tifa added her arms around his waist, leaning against his shoulder. "Let's go home," she said softly. He transferred his grip to her and just held on, glad she was there, glad he'd done this, glad it was over.

"Yeah."

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