[This just keeps sounding better and better, really. He's painting a pretty flawless picture. The mention of Aerith's church still makes her chest ache, but she swallows and forces herself past it.]
[It seems like an odd answer, and it makes her pause again, unsure how to continue. She wonders if he's doing better, if he's happier, and she can't quite find the words to ask. It does seem that way, from the little that they've talked since he arrived.]
[It doesn't surprise her that he feels that way, because she'd rather be trapped here if it means he isn't here by himself. Still, though, she'd rather be here alone than have him deal with Norfinbury, even if he does make everything feel easier just by being around.]
We'll figure out a way back. There has to be one, right?
No. The only thing any of us remember is waking up in a house. But I think they must have at least examined us before we woke up. We all have medical records on file.
[She hesitates, trying to work through a gentle way to explain. Obviously, this would upset him, but he has a right to know, and she can't hide it from him just because she knows it's going to be difficult for him to hear. She'd already promised herself she wouldn't do that again, although that doesn't make the words any easier to find. Her tone turns softer, her voice quiet.]
I don't know much. We requested our records from the admin, and...
[She exhales, an excuse to stall as she pauses to think again.]
It seems like... whatever they do to take away people's abilities here, they do it before we wake up. Or maybe they... do something to us so that we don't remember. The admin has taken memories from us before. They immunized us, too, against things I've never heard of.
[She can't tell him whether or not they did anything else though, and she's realizing as she's talking that all of this is just going to sound terrifying, and she's not doing a great job of softening the blow, is she?]
Dead, eerie silence engulfs the connection, stretched out over long tense moments as those words circle around within his mind, as their meaning becomes clear and the shock settles in.
Everything he had been given, each ounce of mako that had come to replace the blood that had once flowed through his veins, each abnormal cell that had been implanted within him and each gift and enhancement they granted, had been given against his will, without his consent.
And it had all been taken from him just as easily, leaving him with an empty filling in the pit of his stomach, one that churned violently and threatened to rise into his throat.]
[Even when he finally speaks, when he finally breaks that silence, his voice is rough, tinged with something akin to anger. Each word is like venom, falling rapidly from his lips before he can give it any true thought or contemplation.]
What... gives them the right?
[Being here, the general feeling he had gotten from everyone since his arrival, the sense of despair and sadness. Suddenly, it all makes perfect sense in a way it hadn't before. And he half way wishes it still didn't.]
[Nothing. Nothing gives them the right, and she absolutely hates all of this. She can only imagine how Cloud must feel, or Zack. She also knows there's nothing she can say to make it better, and suddenly she just wishes she could be there with him, so that at least he isn't alone, hearing this.]
I don't know what it means, or if...
[If it is the admin doing this. Angel is certainly convinced that the admin is as much as a victim as they are. Maybe she is just trying to help, but the whole thing is so invasive and awful that it's impossible for Tifa to think of the admin in a positive light.]
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Both? What do you mean?
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... That's right. She didn't know about Denzel, did she?]
I found a kid when I was visiting Aerith's church. You've been taking care of him too.
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What's he like?
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Denzel's a good kid. He tries really hard.
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That all sounds so...
[Impossible.]
Nice.
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Well, you know what they say. If it sounds too good to be true...
And in this case it actually is!]
Sure about that?
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Isn't it?
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You didn't sound so sure.
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Yeah. I guess it would be.
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I wish you weren't stuck here.
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[If they had to be stuck in snow hell, at least they were stuck in it together.]
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We'll figure out a way back. There has to be one, right?
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[Because maybe if they could figure out how they were bringing everyone in, they could use the same route to escape.]
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1/3
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I lied, it'll be four
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[Please tell him you're lying Tifa these past two days couldn't possibly get any worse.]
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I don't know much. We requested our records from the admin, and...
[She exhales, an excuse to stall as she pauses to think again.]
It seems like... whatever they do to take away people's abilities here, they do it before we wake up. Or maybe they... do something to us so that we don't remember. The admin has taken memories from us before. They immunized us, too, against things I've never heard of.
[She can't tell him whether or not they did anything else though, and she's realizing as she's talking that all of this is just going to sound terrifying, and she's not doing a great job of softening the blow, is she?]
I'm sorry, Cloud.
1/2
Dead, eerie silence engulfs the connection, stretched out over long tense moments as those words circle around within his mind, as their meaning becomes clear and the shock settles in.
Everything he had been given, each ounce of mako that had come to replace the blood that had once flowed through his veins, each abnormal cell that had been implanted within him and each gift and enhancement they granted, had been given against his will, without his consent.
And it had all been taken from him just as easily, leaving him with an empty filling in the pit of his stomach, one that churned violently and threatened to rise into his throat.]
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What... gives them the right?
[Being here, the general feeling he had gotten from everyone since his arrival, the sense of despair and sadness. Suddenly, it all makes perfect sense in a way it hadn't before. And he half way wishes it still didn't.]
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I don't know what it means, or if...
[If it is the admin doing this. Angel is certainly convinced that the admin is as much as a victim as they are. Maybe she is just trying to help, but the whole thing is so invasive and awful that it's impossible for Tifa to think of the admin in a positive light.]
Do you want to see mine?
[Maybe that would help? A little?]