It's gonna be short, I think.

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Marlene looks out the window from her house in Kalm an entire week had passed, the sun was setting, casting a warm orange glow over the town. She still wondered if everything was a dream, Tifa leaving her, the time when Aeris was killed, the dropping of the plate in Midgar, Avalanche, the fire that had killed her mother in Corel.

But all the proof she needed for the events to have happened were right in front of her, the ruins of Midgar stood in the distance, leaving a mark of the past within everyone who saw it.

The last seven days for her were the worst in her life, her school marks had dropped immensly, and Barret had been imformed of it. He had tried to cheer her up, even though he was also down in the dumps.

Marlene felt terrible, when her mother had died, she turned to Tifa later as the replacement, and now that Tifa was gone as well, what could she do? She wanted to be just like everyone else, everyone at her school had parents that hadn't suffered pain and death, why was she the one?

The sky became dark now, she had been staring at the sky for an hour without realising it.

"...Aunt Tifa...you promised me you would come back..."

"Marlene! You should be sleeping, you have school tomorrow."

"...but papa..."

"...I know you still feel bad about your Aunt Tifa, we all do...but you can't change the past."

"...I wish mama was still here..."

"I do too Marlene...now I think you should go to bed."

"...okay papa."

The little girl climbed into her bed, the thoughts still stuck in her head. What if papa dies too...? Marlene couldn't bear thinking about it, she would lose everything she ever had, it had been like that her entire life, everyone she cared about always seemed to leave her behind.

Why?

The tears finally came, she heard the door open again, knowing it was Barret checking up on her, she turned towards the wall and pretented to be asleep, trying to hide her tear from him.

The door closed with a small thud, Marlene looked up at the roof, the curtains were still open and the stars were shinning brightly in the sky. It was a peaceful night, but she couldn't sleep, the troubles in her mind kept her awake.

What was the point in even trying to sleep, she knew she couldn't, just like the past nights since Tifa had died, all she could do was lie there and think, she wanted to see her, to know that she still had someone to look after her, sure Barret was her father, but she needed a mother, someone who could explain to her everything and help her at school. Barret had a job and even with all the time he spent with Marlene, she didn't seem to think he understood the way she was thinking or the was she did things.

She stood up and headed for the door, she could hear voices, Barret had guests. She opened the door an inch and looked out, Barret was sitting at the table with a man who she recognised as Cid and a woman sitting next to him, she wondered if that woman was Cid's wife?

The woman spoke, "I think Marlene is still quite brave for her age, she's been through much more in her life than she should have.."

"What is that suppose to mean? You think I've been lookly after her badly don't you?"

"Barret! Don't you %$^*$# talk like that to Shera! She was only making a comment!"

"%^&%$#%^#! She said I was mistreating Marlene!"

"...I didn't say that..."

"See! Stop acting like a bigshot and taking everything the wrong %$^&^$ way!"

Barret and cid were fuming at each other, Marlene backed away from the door, she was afraid, as the two men stood up, Shera ran in between them,

"Stop it! Both of you!"

"Shera get out of the %$^&$ way!"

"Move it woman!"

While the three began to verbally fight again, Marlene quickly crept out of the door and out of the house. She wasn't the only one suffering from the death of friends and family, but at least she could control herself.

She looked around at the town of Kalm, it definetly was calm, except for the faint sounds coming from her house showing that the three were still fighting.

She began to walk, when she reached the edge of the town, she continued out until she could only see the houses faintly when she turned around. Sitting down on the ground, she began to think again, about everything that was happening to her and everyone she loved.

A growl echoed in the distance, she whirled around, scared, she started to run, her footsteps pounding on the ground, she only stopped when she reached the sea. In front of her, water lay, waves crashed gently on the edge between land and sea. She watched it, faintly aware of the growl she had heard earlier.

"...Aunt Tifa, I wish you were here with me..."

The water seemed to rise and whirl around in a circle like an invisible tornado was pulling up the sea in front of her, she stared at it, half anxious, half scared of what would happen once the water came up high.

"Aunt Tifa?...Cloud?"

The two figures came out from the rise of water, both of them looked like they were made of smoke, but their voices proved their existance there.

"...Aunt Tifa...why did you leave me...?"

The clear voice of Tifa came from the shadowy figure.

"I'm sorry Marlene...but I had to."

"...why?"

"Because Marlene...I couldn't stay in your world, without...Cloud. You still have your entire life ahead of you...just forget about me..."

"...are you happy then Aunt Tifa?"

"...yes..."

"Then I guess it's okay..."

"Promise me."

"...but-"

"No Marlene, no buts, you have to promise to go on with your life, forget about the past."

"...I...I promise."

"That's better, now Cloud and I had to go Marlene..."

"...Goodbye Aunt Tifa and Cloud!"

"Goodbye Marlene."

"Hey! Say hi to Barret for me!"

Marlene looked at the shadow of Cloud for a minute, then back away from the two.

"I will, bye bye!"

The water swirled up again and Marlene was thrown back, the waves crashed and the two disappeared.

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Marlene woke up to find herself on the grass, just next to the sea,

"...it was all just a dream?"

She looked around, there was no sign that Tifa and Cloud had ever shown up, but they had to have, didn't they?

She looked up at the sky, the stars were still shinning brightly,

"Yes, they did come...Aunt Tifa kept her promise."

She turned around and headed back to Kalm, where her loving father waited. Now she would have to keep her promise.

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...whoa! That was longer than I thought, oh well. That's the end of the story then everyone!