fandomweekly | [011] Crayons (Final Fantasy VII)

Theme Prompt: #011: Handle with Care
Title: Crayons
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII
Rating/Warnings: SFW, no warnings
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 482
Summary: Marlene has a question for Tifa, regarding crayons.

"Hey, Tifa! Should I use the red crayon for you, or the blue one?"

Tifa looked up, and saw Marlene holding her box of crayons. The box was battered and torn; Marlene's hands were tight around the bottom, so that she wouldn't lose any more crayons as she walked around.

Barret had bought it for her, of course. It had only cost a few gil, all he could spare at the time. “They ain't very good,” he'd said, when Tifa had commented on the old box. “Cheap stuff, falls apart if you try to bear down too hard. I had to teach Marlene to be gentle with 'em after she broke one of 'em to pieces.”

He was out at the moment, scouting for a mission - not something they talked about with Marlene, except in the most general terms. Neither of them really talked about the damage their fight could cause. It was just there, sitting in the back of their minds, and she knew that it haunted him at night. She could hear him muttering to himself, all the people that would have to be hurt to stop Shinra from destroying everything. He was scared, she'd realized, scared of turning into a monster to protect what he loved.

She didn't know if she could really understand that. Barret was quiet when she asked him if he'd had to fight, but he'd done something that he was ashamed of; she could see it. She couldn't feel ashamed about what she did when she was a kid; if anything, she was just unhappy with herself for not being strong enough to stop the Shinra from destroying her home. She'd had to hurt people in Midgar, but only when they wanted to hurt her. It didn't feel like the same thing. She hoped that when the time came, she could be strong enough to do what she had to do to fight them, even if it meant doing something she regretted.

“Miss Tifa?” Marlene asked again, holding out the box. “Is red or blue okay? I might have a green one instead. But you can't be purple, 'cuz that's Papa's color!”

Tifa smiled at the little girl, and stood up from the newspaper. She supposed she should feel lucky that Marlene hadn't started drawing on the walls, while she was distracted. Maybe not red, she thought, not with the way her thoughts had gone. "What other colors do you have? Just so I know, I mean."

"Um," she said, looking at the floor. "I'll have to look. I've lost some."

"Well, why don't I come with you and help you pick out our colors?"

"Okay!” Marlene beamed up at her. “Then we can make sure you an' Papa match in the picture too!"

Tifa laughed at that. They really did match better than most people would think. “Yes,” she agreed. “That's definitely important.”

[011] Crayons (Final Fantasy VII)

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