A New Path [Final Fantasy VII Fanfic]

Chapter 11

"Yay! Now I get to finally train!" I jumped up excitedly.

"Not so fast, finish eating first, after that, you'll have to visit Tifa, you didn't do that yesterday did you?" This time, Mom took away from my early celebration. "Alright." I pouted but I quickly pulled myself together and scarfed down my food.

Mom was right, I had to go check on Tifa but to me more than Tifa's reaction, I'm more worried about her father. There might be a chance he would blame me for the whole incident and I knew for a fact I wouldn't be able to deny it.

Once I was done eating, I changed out of my PJs and hopped on a sleeveless jumpsuit. "You ready?" Mom was standing by the entrance, her hand stretched out, I grabbed ahold of her hand and nodded.

We made our way to the entrance of Tifa's house, Mom went ahead and knocked on the door, "Mr.Lockhart? It's me, Daniella."

There was no response, so she went ahead and knocked on the door once again, it wasn't long before I picked up on a few shuffling noises from the other side of the door. The door was now open, not too wide but enough for a cat to crawl its way in.

"Morning Mr.Lockhart, " Mom greeted him and he did the same, "I don't mean to be a bother but my daughter wanted to have a word with you." She gestured, making him open the door wider to take a look at me.

"Oh, I see, would you like to come in?" He opened the door entirely this time, offering us to make our way and we accepted. "Is there anything I can get you?" He politely asked us, "No, it's alright, we wouldn't want to bother you."

"No I insist, how about some tea and I can set a cup of milk for Aura." He persisted, from the way he was acting, I get the feeling that he couldn't possibly be mad at me, I mean if he wanted to kick us out, he would not have let us in, in the first place.

Mom gave in to his persistence and he soon went and came back with a cup of tea and one cup of milk, "So Aura, what is it that you wanted to talk about?" He enquired, this is weird, I don't understand why he's not even the slightest bit annoyed at me.

I didn't even bring his daughter back home on time as I promised for one, and I even got her into immense trouble all because I wasn't careful enough with me eavesdropping yesterday. This man has every right to be pissed off at me!

'Is this some sort of test?'

"Mr.Lockhart ... I'm sorry!" I hopped out of the sofa and did a deep bow at him, "Wha-?"

"It's my fault Tifa got into trouble yesterday and if I hadn't been careful enough, she wouldn't have been treated that way by those Tur-, sorry, those suited people, and I-" I went on and on, thinking of reasons to explain myself, I even almost called those people Turks, I can't have my mom be suspicious of me knowing who those people were.

"Aura, stop, none of that was your fault, how could I ever blame you for that?" The man stopped me from going further.

'Wait, so, you forgive me?'

"But I-"

"But nothing, you did nothing wrong, Aura, if anything I would blame those people, the three of you were hurt, I should be thanking you instead." He expressed, I stood there not knowing what to say.

"You protected both Tifa and Cloud and I couldn't ask for anything more." Tifa's Dad gently smiles and pats my head, I faintly smiled at him and let out a sigh.

'Now I know I won't be banned from seeing Tifa ever again.'

"Is it alright if I see Tifa?" I requested and I got a nod of approval from him.

"Where can I find her?" I stopped before the stairs and turned to the man in question once again, "She's with her mother, the first room on the left."

'Her Mom, huh? Tifa must be keeping an eye on her.'

I made my way up the stairs and entered the room on the left just as he said. I knocked lightly on the door, soon enough I heard a faint come in, the door was slightly ajar so I pushed it open, with my hight there's no way I can reach the door handle.

"Big shista Aura!" The adorable little Tifa ran all the way to me and hugged me tightly after jumping onto me, "Hey Tifa!" I gave her a squeeze before letting go.

I glanced up and noticed Tifa's mom just watching over the two of us, "Hello Mrs.Lockart! How are you feeling?" I made my way to the edge of the bed where she had been laying, ever since she gave birth to Tifa her health had been deteriorating, on some occasions she didn't even look like she could lift a finger.

"Oh Aura, the same as ever but I think I feel better than yesterday!" She pumped her fists and looked determined but that didn't fool me.

'You don't feel any better, do you?'

Part of me knows that she's saying this so that we 'children' don't have to fret over her being sick but the other part of me just wishes that she was honest about her health.

The game never stated the reason why she passed but now I see why, if there is a possibility that I could save her then I would try my hardest to do so, five years from now she passes, I'll do my best to help her at least live a while longer.

"Really Mom?! Thatsh Aweshome!" Tifa went ahead and leapt to her mom giving her a big hug, while I just stood there giving her a 'That's great!' with my thumbs up.

When it was time to leave, Mom and I said our goodbyes and went on back home, "You came right on time, I replaced the guard and the hilt of the blade, it's been polished and the rust has come off." Dad proudly stated as he gestured me to go to his office, where he keeps most of his weapons and tools to take care of them.

"I'm gonna take a look." I made my way to his office door and pushed it open, I got to his desk. With the help of Dad, I got a hold of the blade, the desk was far too tall for me to reach with my tiny stature.

'View Rusted Iron Blade.'

The blade indeed looked polished and parts of it had been replaced when I tried to see the stats, nothing showed up.

'View Rusted Iron Blade.'

Again, I tried once more to see the stats but nothing showed up.

'Why isn't it work- Oh, wait, let me try once more.'

Third time's a charm as many say, so, once again, I checked to see the stats but this time with a different name.

'View Iron Blade.'

_____________________________________

Hello Everyone!

Cecil here, I wanted to say a big thank you because this book hit 1k reads and 80+ votes, I'm very happy that people are in fact reading this story and keeping up with the updates as well.

As a 1k special, I was thinking of doing a Q&A, I want to talk to my
readers and if you have any questions you can comment them here.

Also, don't worry, I'll be posting a chapter along with the Q&A.

Once again,

Thank you.

•Cecil•