A Locked Heart.

Nibelhiem was a small town. Not much happened there. Tifa didn't mind it much. She was content with her small group of friends. She was waiting for them outside her house one spring day. She was only 7 but had an adventurous streak and always wanted to explore.

As she sat on her front porch stroking her cat Luna, a boy that looked about her age approached. He seemed a bit shy as he held out a flower. His blonde hair stuck out in spikes. He ducked his head and wouldn't look directly at her as he introduced himself.

"H-hi..." He said quietly, staring at the ground. "My n-name is Cloud."

"Cloud? Like a those puffy white things that float in the sky?" Tifa asked with a bit of a laugh.

The boy ducked his head even more. "Yeah... My name is weird, huh?" He said embarrassedly.

Tifa shook her head. "No! It's not weird. Just different. I like it!" She gave him a smile, hoping he would stop being so shy.

"Y-you like it?" He said raising his head and brightening up a bit.

"Sure!" The girl said. "My name is Tifa! I guess we are neighbors." She said, pointing at his house. They were next door to each other but this was the first time he had ever introduced himself. She had seen him watching her from his window but he would never come out.

"Hey, a bunch of the neighborhood kids are going to the Shinra mansion. Do you want to come along?" She asked as she pointed down the road.

Cloud looked a bit uneasy. "Uh... the big creepy mansion at the end of town? We aren't allowed in there..."

Tifa shrugged. "It's okay. I'm not scared. They say the mansion is haunted. I've heard that a vampire with glowing red eyes sleeps in a coffin in the basement! Isn't that cool?" Tifa looked at him eagerly. "I'd really like it if you came."

Cloud still looked unsure but he gave her a small smile. "You would? O-okay. Sure." He seemed to lighten up a bit. "Let me just grab a flashlight!" He turned around and ran towards his house.

"Cloud!" Tifa called out to him. "I'll wait for you outside the mansion, okay? Oh! And thanks for the flower!"

Cloud looked at her and gave her a bright smile and a nod. "Okay! I'll met you there!" He charged into his house and looked for a flashlight.

When he emerged he made a beeline for the road that ran past the Shinra mansion, but before he could make it, a large boy a couple of years older than him stepped in front and knocked him down.

"Where do you think you're going, loser?" The older boy sneered. Another boy with bright red hair stood next to him. He looked uncomfortable but too afraid to say anything.

"I'm going to the Shinra mansion, Billy." Cloud muttered as he stood back up.

Billy glared at Cloud and shoved him down into the dirt again. "I don't think so! You stay away from Tifa. Tifa is MY friend! I don't want her hanging out with losers like you!"

Cloud hung his head. "S-she invited me to come..." He said quietly.

Billy tossed his head back and laughed. "That's because she doesn't know what a dweeb you are! Isn't that right, Johnny?" Billy turned to the red headed boy and glared at him expectantly. Johnny shrank back from the older boy and with downcast eyes he muttered in agreement. "Y-yeah... a dweeb."

Cloud stared at the ground as tears welled up in his eyes. "Awe... You gonna cry, little Cloud?" Billy mocked. "Go on, cry little rain cloud."

Billy laughed cruelly as he walked away. "Go home, and don't let me catch you talking to Tifa again! Come on, Johnny. Let's go."

Johnny nodded and followed behind Billy silently.

Cloud sniffed and picked up the flashlight that had rolled away from him as he was shoved, and went home with head bowed.

...

Tifa paced back and forth in front of the mansion. What was taking Cloud so long? Two other girls sat on the steps on the mansion as well.

"I see Billy and Johnny coming this way!" Said one of the girls. Tifa looked up as saw the two boys approaching. "Do you see Cloud?" Tifa asked.

"Cloud? You mean that weird boy that lives next door to you?" One of the girls said.

"Yeah. He's not weird! He's just a little shy, that's all." Tifa said a bit defensively.

"Cloud couldn't make it." Billy said with a hint of a smirk. "He said he was too scared, right Johnny?"

Johnny shuffled his feet in the dirt and didn't make eye contact with anyone. "Er... Yeah. He said he was too scared."

Tifa frowned with disappointment. "Really? That's too bad. He seemed excited when I talked to him. I wanted him to come..."

"Oh forget about that guy, Tifa. Let's just go!" Billy said pointing at the looming mansion in front of them. The small group of children snuck into a hole in the brick wall that surrounded the impressive mansion. Tifa's brown eyes were wide with wonder as they cautiously opened the front door and slipped inside.

It was much larger inside than she had thought. The main room had staircases that lead to other rooms in the mansion. Thick cobwebs hung from the crystal chandelier that was suspended above them.

Tifa looked at her friends and could see that they looked a bit rattled.

"We could get lost in here..." Johnny said in a small voice.

"Oh don't be such a scaredy cat or you can stay behind with Cloud." Billy ridiculed.

Tifa switched on her flashlight and headed for a staircase that lead to a series of other rooms.

The two other girls followed cautiously behind, barely daring to breath as they shrunk away from shadows that danced on the walls.

Tifa found a room with a mysterious stairway that lead downwards.

"This must be the way to the basement..." She said in a hushed voice. "Do you think it's true? The stories about the vampire that lives in the basement?"

"I don't know about this, Tifa..." The older girl named Julie said. "It's so dark down there. Maybe this isn't such a good idea."

Tifa shrugged. "Oh come on! Where is your sense of adventure? Let's go!" She started down the steps. The old boards creaked and groaned with every footstep. Rebecca, the younger girl let out a shrill shriek when she walked into a thick mass of old cobwebs.

"Ew!! Ewww!!! I hate spiders!!" Rebecca shook her head violently to rid herself of the sticky mess.

Tifa put a finger to her lips. "Shhh!! Keep quiet! Don't wake up the vampire!" She chided.

The the winding spiral staircase ended in an underground tunnel with rocky walls. Tifa's flashlight shone up on the ceiling and showed rows of bats hanging upside down.

Johnny's face went pale. "B-bats?! You never said there would be bats here!"

Billy was clearly shaken as well, but not wanting to lose face in front of Tifa, straightened his back and put on a brave air. "Oh suck it up, Johnny."

Tifa, unfazed continued down the damp dark tunnel. She stopped in front of a large wooden door. She tried to open the door but it was locked shut.

"I wonder if we can pick the lock?" Tifa wondered aloud.

"Let's not..." Julie said in a whimper. "Let's get out of here."

Rebecca shined her flashlight around frantically, as if she would see a monster jump out at her. As she turned around, a massive spider crawled down the wall just inches from her face.

Rebecca let out a bloodcurdling scream, that echoed down the tunnel. The scream disturbed the bats suspended on the ceiling, causing them to flap around in the tunnel, swooping around the group of children.

"Get it off me! Get it off!!" Johnny yelped as a bat clung to his shirt.

As pandemonium exploded in the tunnel, the large wooden door in front of Tifa slowly began to open, creaking on it's old hinges. Tifa shone her flashlight at it and watched in stunned silence as a tall thin figure stood in the doorway and peered at the group of children that had disturbed his slumber.

The figure was a man with long black hair, wrapped in a ragged scarlet cloak that covered most of his youthful face. Two ruby red eyes peered from behind ebony locks of hair. He stared silently at the children.

Tifa felt her heart skip a beat. "He's real..." She said in a hushed voice. "The stories are true..."

When the other children stopped running from the bats, they froze in place as they gazed at the looming form in the doorway.

"Eeeeeaaaaahhhh!!!" Julie and Rebecca screamed and ran as fast as they could towards the stairs, with Billy and Johnny not far behind.

Tifa ran after them but not as fast, she looked behind her a few times to glance at the "vampire". He didn't look angry, he looked tired... and melancholy.

The children charged up the rickety stairs and into the room above panting and wheezing.

"The vampire! He's real! He's really really there! He's..." Johnny stopped to gasp for air.

Billy stood stiff as a board, unable to say anything tough sounding.

Tifa was the last up the stairs. "You know... he's not as scary as I thought he would be. He looked almost... sad." She said thoughtfully.

"I wanna go home, Tifa." Rebecca said fretfully. "My parents will be worried." Julie nodded in agreement. "Yeah let's get out of here."

Tifa nodded and headed out of the room towards the main hall. As she walked she took out the flower Cloud had given her, from her pocket and looked at it.

"That's a pretty flower." Julie commented as she looked over Tifa's shoulder. "Where did you get it?"

Tifa gave her a small smile. "Cloud gave it to me."

Julie and Rebecca exchanged glances and smirked. "Oooooooh Tifa has a boyfriend" Rebecca said in a singsongy voice.

Tifa's cheeks flushed bright pink and she shook her head vigorously. "No I don't!"

"Yes you dooooo!" Julie remarked back. "Only boyfriends give girls flowers. He likes you." She laughed.

Julie and Rebecca laughed and started to chant "Tifa and Cloud, sitting in a tree, K.i.s.s.i.n.g!"

Tifa covered her face in embarrassment. "Stop it, you guys!"

Billy watched the girls from afar with burning jealousy. How dare that little twerp give Tifa a flower?!

Tifa ran out of the mansion and gave one last look behind her. So the stories about the vampire were true... She wondered how much else was true? Had a mad scientist really created monsters in the basement? Had a man really been shot and killed there?

Tifa waved goodbye to her friends and made her way home. It was doubtless her father would lecture her for being gone for so long. As she walked up the steps to her home, she glanced over at the house next door and looked at the upstairs room, and saw Cloud peeking at her from behind his curtains. She gave him a wave but he closed the curtains quickly as if to hide. Tifa shrugged and entered her house. That Cloud was a strange boy.

...