Guilt’s Cost: Part XXXVIII

Common Bond

Tifa wasn’t sure if she was having a dream or a flashback. What she was reliving seemed so vivid that it was most likely the latter.

She found herself in Nibelheim, before it was destroyed by Sephiroth and then rebuilt by Shin Ra. Tifa was strolling through town, tears marking her cheeks as the burden of her mother’s death just a few days before tore her heart. At fourteen years of age, she now found herself the woman of the house, and she was slowly making her way toward the market to pick up things for her and her father. At home she did her best to hide her sadness, knowing that her father needed her to be strong for him but now alone in the street, she could no longer hide the tears.

Tifa walked faster, knowing that she was getting near the hangout of the local bully pack. These boys had taunted and teased her most of her life, and she hated the fact that in order to get anywhere in town she had to pass ‘their’ territory. They always made her feel terrible with their catcalls and comments on her body. She was already self-conscious enough about being an early bloomer without their commentary.

Just as she passed the alley where they seemed to always be milling about, she felt a chill go down her spine as she felt the eyes of the oldest member of the pack upon her.

"Hey, there’s Tifa." The seventeen-year-old leader sneered to the others.

Tifa tried to keep walking, but had too stop when he reached out and grabbed her wrist. "Let me go, Rulius!"

He laughed, inciting a snicker amongst the other four boys present. "Oh, we just wanted to share our sympathy for your mama’s death, that’s all."

"I have to go." Tifa said, not able to look the older boy in the eyes. She wished that just this once Rulius would let her go without further teasing.

He tightened his grip on her. "I was thinking that maybe I should help you forget all your troubles for a while."

Tifa’s heart jumped into her throat. Rulius had never talked to her in the tone he was using now, and she didn’t like it. "Please, let me go!"

In a move of surprising speed, Tifa found herself spun around with Rulius’s arm around her neck. She struggled against him, but could do nothing as he drug her down the alley. Rulius covered Tifa’s mouth with his hand, and shouted out to the other boys. "Move the dumpsters so no one can follow us!"

Tifa soon found herself thrown into a pile of garbage bags, with Rulius looming over her. He took something from his pocket, and her eyes went wide as he flicked open his knife.

"What are-" She was silenced as he knelt down before her, placing the tip of his blade beneath her chin.

"No no, Tifa." He said smiling. "You need to be quiet, or I’m gonna cut your throat out."

Tifa felt the heat of tears on her face. They were no longer the tears of mourning, but rather ones of fear. She saw the other boys, all between the ages of fifteen and sixteen gather around.

"No one’s coming, right?" Rulius asked the others.

"Naw." The shortest of the group replied. "What we gonna do?"

Rulius took his knife and started to tear away at Tifa’s shirt. "I promised ol’ Tifa here we’d give her a good time."

The other boys all giggled with excitement, realizing what their leader had in mind.

Rulius pulled away the remains of Tifa’s blouse and became annoyed as she tried to hide herself away with her arms. "You guys want to get over here and help? Little bitch wants to make this difficult."

Tifa froze up as she felt the hands of the other boys upon her. They held her down against the trash she was laying upon. No longer able to see her body, she closed her eyes as she felt Rulius use his knife again, this time tearing into the fabric of her shorts. She wanted to scream for help, but feared Rulius’s knife.

A few moments later, an involuntary cry escaped Tifa as her virginity was cruelly stolen by Rulius. Her struggles against those holding her started anew. There were just too many of them for her to fight. She finally felt Rulius withdraw from her and he appeared in her line of sight again.

"Who’s next?" He asked the group.

Tifa soon felt another push his way in, and Tifa gave into her desire to scream. Her cries echoed through the alley until one of the boys managed to get her mouth covered again.

"Hey, what’s going on?" Someone yelled.

Rulius jumped and took a step away from Tifa. "Fuck off, Strife! This isn’t any of your business!"

Cloud had been walking home from a game of baseball when Tifa’s screams drew his attention. He now stood on top of one of the dumpsters blocking the alley with his bat in his hand. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the alley, he saw Tifa lying beneath one of Rulius’s cronies. "Tifa!"

The other boys noticed Cloud and quickly got away from Tifa, including the one that had been on her. Although Cloud had been an object of ridicule, he now had a reputation as a short fused and violent kid. Despite the fact that all those in Rulius’s gang had knives, no one was about to challenge Cloud with his bat. Several of them had suffered concussions from it before, and nothing was worth that.

As Cloud jumped off the dumpster and made his way toward Tifa, the gang scattered down the alley, calling out obscenities at him as they did so.

Cloud knelt beside Tifa, and cradled her in his arms. The gang had a reputation for attacking girls, and he knew all too well what had been done to Tifa.

She barely responded as he held her, still in too much shock and fear. Tifa just lay trembling in his arms.

"Tifa, are you okay?" He asked her gently, rocking her.

***

"Tifa, are you okay?" Tseng sat on the edge of her bed, shaking her gently with his hand.

She opened her eyes slowly; her vision blurred from the sedation that Angel had given her after the attack. Tseng’s long black hair caught her eye and in confusion, she whispered, "Vincent?"

He smiled. "No, it’s me, Tseng. I came to see how you were."

"Oh, I’m fine." The pain medications she had been given made this statement seem true.

"You’ve been talking in your sleep." He said.

Tifa grew embarrassed, afraid of what he may have heard. She had been reliving that long ago attack time and again since Chaos had assaulted her. "What did I say?"

Tseng’s expression grew sad. "I couldn’t understand much, but I heard enough to realize that what happened yesterday wasn’t the first time."

Tifa tried to sit up, but the weakness she felt kept her from doing so. "I’ve been asleep for awhile…"

"Tifa," Tseng leaned closer to her, "If you need to talk about something, I’m here for you."

Tifa tried to hide the tears. "How’s Vincent? Why isn’t he here?"

"He’s fine, and he’s somewhere safe." Tseng reached out and wiped a tear from her cheek. "Right now, we need to worry about you."

She knew he was genuinely concerned and gave in. "You’re right, it wasn’t the first time."

He nodded knowingly. "But that first time still seems like yesterday, huh?"

Tifa moved to nuzzle into his side. Tseng pulled his legs up onto the bed so that he could hold Tifa, knowing that was what she wanted.

Tifa closed her eyes and enjoyed the feel of Tseng next to her. He both felt and smelled so much like Vincent that she was able to imagine he was. "How do you know?"

Tseng sighed. "Because it happened to me, too."

"Really?" Tifa was comforted by his willingness to open to her.

Tseng kissed the top of her head. "Yes, when I first joined the Turks. With the Wutain-Shin Ra war still so fresh in everyone’s memory, Wutains were still looked down upon in Midgar."

"And that’s why Vincent changed his name?" She asked.

"Yes," Tseng replied. "He could get away with changing his name and pretending not to be Wutain thanks to his appearance. But I didn’t have that luxury. Even if I changed my name, I’m afraid my ethnicity would still have been obvious."

"So what happened?" Tifa asked.

Tseng held her closer. "I was out alone making my way to a bar when I ran into a rather drunk group of Shin Ra guards. I didn’t have my gun yet, and wasn’t able to defend myself against them. They beat me badly and I thought I was going to die. Most of them left after I fell to the ground unable to move anymore, but one of them stayed. I guess it doesn’t take too much imagination to realize what he did."

Another tear fell from Tifa’s eye as she was overwhelmed by the sadness of his story. She could see the tears in his eyes as well. "I’m sorry, Tseng."

"It’s all right." He wiped his eyes with his free hand. "I just wanted you to know that you aren’t alone."

"Thank you, Tseng. You’ve made me feel better." Tifa smiled faintly. "But I want to see Vincent."

"We’re almost home, and once we are, I’ll take you to see him, I promise." Tseng kissed the top of her head again.