Author's Note: This is my first effort at Fanfiction that I've ever had any intent to finish. Yadda yadda, I am not a member of Square Enix, I do not have legal rights to Final Fantasy of any sort. Kay?

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Light. Painful, obnoxious, bothersome light. His eyes burned and watered, and it roused him from whatever dark place he had been in moments before. But there were no walls, no windows, no soft bed, or familiar ceilings... only cold stone, and the acrid smell of ozone from a recent battle between monsters. Iron giants and dragons... even a few in eyeshot, yet here he was, waking up, mostly unharmed. Mostly. The stiffness and ache in his joints suggested a very long time laying there. But where was he?

Looking further into the cave where he woke, he saw a soft green glow, and ventured towards it. Rounding a corner, his eyes met with a brilliant river of shimmering emerald... Lifestream... and then, he noticed something was amiss. Hands moved quick, checking himself for injuries, making sure he was in one piece. Ten fingers, ten toes, one well built and still intact torso, two healthy, albeit sore and stiff legs, long silver hair, dreadfully knotted, and...dusty? With a swat, a cloud of dust fluffed out from his hair. He wandered back to where he had awoken in order to have a look around.

His eyes fell on his sword, the Masamune, and he was taken aback. It was covered in dust, and... was that rust on the tsuba? Just how long had he been here? Lifting the weapon, he blew the dust off, and looked around. The saya was nearby, but in pieces... trampled by monsters. He would just have to get a new one. He turned towards the opening through which the offensive sunlight that roused him was peeking. Then, he met with a new foe... one he was not overly familiar with.

Uncertainty.

Jenova was not speaking. He searched his mind heavily for her, and when he found her, he was astounded. Fading... wounded... alone. The cells in his blood were all there were. Her body was gone. Destroyed, even on a cellular level. Trying to blink the haze from his head, he though hard about what happened... He remembered Cloud... rotten puppet that he was, felling him. The battle was in this place, the Northern Cave. He and his ragtag group of friends. Time had passed though, and Jenova had been active. He did still have living, breathing clones when the battle for the planet occurred, and perhaps they had something to do with the damage that Jenova had taken.

Perhaps one or two might still be around. First, however, he would need to find out just how much time had passed. Finding the tattered remnants of his cloak, he donned it and ventured outside, blinking tears from his eyes. The sun was much brighter than he remembered, but it was bitterly cold. Getting his bearings, he figured that the Forgotten Capital would be a good place to start.

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Tifa reclined in the lounge chair on her balcony, and gazed thoughtfully at the stars.

Cloud had been gone for over a week, and Barret had Denzel and Marlene for the next few weeks. The bar was closed this time of night, but she couldn't sleep. Alone, and wide awake, thinking about how alone she really was. She'd spent her entire life waiting on Cloud. Nibeheim, the Meteor Crisis, Deepground, and the recent attack from the three clones were all reasons for them to be together. Though all of those events put innocent people in danger, part of her hoped there would be more of them.

It made her feel guilty, dirty and selfish when she caught herself wishing for such things. She let out a heavy sigh, and tried to focus on the stars, hoping to clear her mind and just enjoy looking at something pretty.

"Tifa?" The call came softly from below. Leaning over the railing from the edge of her chair, she spotted the man below. Red headband, red mantle, raven hair, raven leather, and skin as pale as the moon. She offered a broken smile, and he immediately recognized it as such.

"Vincent, it's late. What are you doing out?"

"Walking. Are you alright?"

"Oh, yeah. It's just quiet here with everyone gone."

He opened his mouth to reply, then closed it, pausing.

"Considering it's so late, perhaps you would care to walk with me? I imagine we're disturbing your neighbors." She nodded affirmatively, offering a gesture to suggest that she'd be down in a moment. Stepping inside, she slipped on a pair of shoes, and shoved her keys into her pocket before just short of skipping out the door.

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It made him sick when she smiled. Not so much that he didn't want her to be happy, didn't want her to smile, but he'd grown used to a different smile from her. When they met and traveled together, even in the events of Deepground, her smile was honest and genuine. It made her glimmer with light. Her upbeat demeanor along with that honest smile was just short of infectious, but now... now, her smile was bitter lie. She was utterly miserable and he knew it, but she still smiled. If one compared pictures side by side of a smile six years ago when they traveled together the first time and a smile now, there would be no visible difference. But he could tell, and it bothered him.

"So.." her voice pulled his attention from her false smile. "You do this often?"

"Do what?"

"Walk around like this at night. Edge isn't a massively friendly city."

"Every night. Nobody really bothers me." He forced himself not to look at her. "Tifa?"

"Hmm?" She leaned forward slightly, trying to see his face as they walked. She clasped her hands behind her back while she broadened her steps to keep up.

"Have you heard from Cloud at all?" He regretted the question as soon as it left his mouth. She straightened in response, halting in her steps a moment before moving again.

"Nope. Didn't say he was leaving, and he won't answer his phone or respond to messages. Why, do you need something from him?"

"No." He didn't want to continue this arc of the conversation, but couldn't think immediately of something else to say. He felt awkward at her expectant silence, and fished around in his mind for something to say. "So what are you doing up so late?"

"Oh, is it past my bedtime?" The words came from her with some amount of mirth, and she grinned broadly at him.

"I take this walk every night. Your building is always dark when I pass. I was concerned."

"Really? Oh... well, I was just stargazing."

"At 3am...?"

"Is it that late?" She put a hand to her mouth in mild surprise. "I guess I just lost track of time." He shot her a look that suggested she'd said something foolish.

"That is not like you."

"No, I suppose you're right. I guess it just bothers me how unstable Cloud still is. I thought, that after the Geostigma cured up, and he got his closure, that he would feel better. I guess I was wrong."

"His closure... I don't believe he accepted it. I think he still feels responsible."

"I imagine so." She sighed heavily, gazing wistfully upwards. "I wish... well... I wish that I didn't feel so jealous. I know I'll never be what she was. She was... perfect. It's not a wonder he's still so taken with her."

"Kind, maybe. Not perfect. You're kind." He didn't look at her when he said it. She might have taken it as a compliment, were it not for the solid, even tone in his voice. He continued. "You were very similar to each other. Perhaps..." He paused, as if searching for the words that would fit his meaning. "Perhaps he felt more attached to her, because she seemed less capable."

"Less capable?" She was a bit confused now. Aerith had played an integral role in the saving of the world. How could she be less capable?

"She needed rescuing a lot. Needed help a lot. She was a sweet girl, but she couldn't do anything by herself. The one time she tried..." He stopped there. He knew better than to talk about her death. He didn't mean to talk bad about her, but the aim was to console Tifa.

"So are you saying that if I had been–" She halted. What an awful, whiney sounding things to voice... She backpedaled, hoping to save herself the loss of dignity that would come with finishing that statement. "Nevermind. It wasn't meant to be, me an him. Otherwise, it would have been." Instead of speaking in response, Vincent nodded. She put it simply, and well. He was satisfied enough that she didn't lead him to offer flattery to make her feel better, though he likely would have anyway. After a long pause, he spoke again.

"You want to travel again, do you?"

"What makes you say that?" Of course it was true, but she hadn't said it aloud.

"You only seem to display such despair when you're being forced to live a normal life. Perhaps some travel would be good for you."

"What did you have in mind?"

"Hmm?" He looked at her, almost surprised that she asked, as if suggesting they travel together. "Oh. Well, Aerith was your best friend, was she not?"

"Yeah..." She gave him a suspicious look.

"And you would like to see Cloud happy again, do you not?"

"Yeah..."

"Why don't you go find him? Help him search?"

"I wouldn't even know where to start, Vincent."

"The Forgotten Capital sounds like a good place. He was spending some time there before Kadaj and his others decided to attack."

"I'm not sure I remember how to get there. I never did travel that way alone, you know."

"I know. But I do know how to get there, as it was where I was staying after the incidents with Deepground. I could take you there."

"Seriously?" She asked somewhat incredulously, not expecting an offer to travel with her. "You'd do that?"

"I don't see why not. Might be good for me too."

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Author's ending note: Review for me please. Offer some encouragement or tell me never to write fanfiction again, I don't care, but do tell me what you think.