Resurrection | FFVII

~ Chapter XII ~ Ill Tidings

As the days progressed, the training sessions grew longer and greater in intensity. Cloud and Zack were pushing the children beyond their limits; they knew none of them would be fit enough to defend themselves against ShinRa, let alone Sephiroth, in their current states. By the end of the week, the children couldn't take the SOLDIERs' brutal regime any longer. They were all thankful to finally have a moment of free time. They were all seated together at the Fair's house on a Saturday afternoon while playing video games and enjoying their massive amounts of food they ordered. Clarity reached the middle of the coffee table, broke off a small piece of bread, then plopped herself down on a beanbag next to Rory, looking in his direction. "Where's Holiday?"

"She's in her room, working on some weird project she won't tell me about," Rory replied blankly, not taking his eyes off of the video game before him.

"I'm going to find her." Clarity stood up, dropping her bread back onto the plate. She tiptoed up the stairs, looking for Holly's room. Pressing her ear against the closed door, she managed to hear faint music playing. "Hol?" She knocked on the door.

Almost immediately, Holly swung the door open. "Get in." She yanked on Clarity's arm, pulling her inside and towards her bed.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Clarity stumbled as Holly let go of her, the door closing behind them.

"You know how I make all my bracelets, right?" Holly sat down on her bed, placing her hand on a towel that rested on top of it. Clarity nodded in response, observing Holly's multitude of bracelets she was modeling on her arms. "Well! I made some for all of us." She lifted the towel, revealing twelve bracelets, all of which were crafted from different color beads. Clarity lifted a bracelet, noticing its Mako blue beads. She smiled. Five other bracelets resembled the one she was holding, while the remaining accessories were decorated with a variety of colors. "Everyone's going to wear these blue ones, but everyone also gets their own with their favorite color!" Holly looked up, beaming.

"Holly, these are so cute!" Clarity set the bracelet back down on the towel, feeling the texture of the bead along the tip of her finger. She glanced at Holly. "Why don't you bring these to everyone outside?"

Holly nodded, picking them up and rushing to her door. She skipped the entire staircase, jumping and landing on her feet. "Guys!" She called in a singsong voice. "I have a little surprise for you!" The coffee table nearly tipped over with how forcefully Holly shoved it to the side before sitting in the middle of the living room. "Rory!" She snatched the game controller and tossed it behind her. "Listen to me, this is important!" She took a deep breath. "I love you all so much, and I'm really excited that we get to be a team like this. So... Whatever happens, I want us to stay together and always be connected." She stood up, removing the Mako blue bracelets from around her wrists and handing them out. "These are iridescent mako blue beads that were super expensive to get. We all match. But I also made... These!" The group gasped in excitement as she revealed the different-colored bracelets. "I took into account all of your favorite colors." She stepped over to Rory, handing him a royal blue bracelet. She then moved to Zack and Claire, handing a black and purple one respectively. She moved to the twins, handing Elaina a pink one and Amara a red one. Holly kept the green one to herself, smiling as everyone examined their new gifts.

"This is the corniest thing I think you've ever done." Zack laughed, looking down at his bracelet.

"It's pretty cheesy, Holly." Amara slipped on both bracelets and stretched her arm out, rotating it to see the beads at different angles. "But... I like it. It's pretty."

"I think we were a little overdue for friendship bracelets, to be honest." Elaina giggled as she held her bracelets with both of her hands.

"They're not friendship bracelets!" Holly sat down. "We're family. We're a team now, and it'll always be that way." Holly glanced at the carpet, a pit growing in her stomach. "We'll always be connected somehow, you know? If anything happens to any of us... It would be horrible."