A/N – I had this really crazy thought that since Cloud can be so dense, he might need a push from other heroes from the FF universe. So that what made me came up with this story. Various characters and couple will make an appearance in different chapter.

This will be like a collection of one-shots or dumpbox (since everyone of us should have one) and they're not linked directly from one chapter to another. I just made up the whole thing and if they're not as the same as the game-verse it's probably because I change it to suit the plotline.

Should I write a disclaimer note here as well? Everyone knows who this awesome franchise belongs to. Definitely not me or I'll be busy working on the FFVII Remake.

Not betaed.

Chapter 1: A Hopeful Encounter

It was raining heavily that night, not the kind of rain that healed the world of Geostigma, it was a thunderous one. Lightning crossed the dark sky relentlessly, brightening it for a few second to be consumed by darkness again and again.

Tifa looked up from where she was taking shelter from the sudden downpour, groceries in hand. The bar was just up ahead but she was soaked to the bone.

She wiped off the traces of rain from her face and looked around the area. It was deserted, not a single soul outside, making her feel like she was the only one in the city of Edge.

Reaching for her phone, Tifa was about to make a call to the bar to inform Denzel and Marlene that she was going to be a little late when her phone beeped, an incoming message alert.

'I got held up outside of the city. Raining like crazy,' a simple message from Cloud that made her smile to herself.

He was opening up once again and the short messages he sent from time to time were indicator that he was letting her in to his life.

'Take care and be careful, Cloud. We'll wait for you,' she replied before putting her phone into her back pocket securely.

She knew the rain was going to be a long one and decided to just go through it to make it back to the bar.

Blowing out her breath as another strike of lightning flashed the night sky, she readied herself to run.

Then, she heard a groan.

Tifa scanned the area once again, she was sure she was alone earlier. No one in the right state of their mind would be outside in this kind of weather.

"Help…me," a voice in pain reached her ears again.

One shot of lightning with a clap of thunder broke and that was when she saw a figure lying face down on the ground, obviously writhing in pain.

"Hey, are you alright?" Without a second thought, Tifa made her way to the alley and stopped beside the figure.

It was covered in a grey cloak, but she could see blood seeping out from it, staining the cloak, forming a pool around her feet.

"Oh God, you're injured. We need to get out from this weather," Tifa dropped her groceries and helped the figure up.

It groaned again, a gloved hand held its' stomach, trying to stop the bleeding but to no avail.

The heavy rain didn't make it easy for Tifa to support the weight of the stranger.

"My place is just up ahead. Can you walk slowly?"

Tifa asked and the figure just nodded.


They walked while Tifa tried her best to encourage the stranger to put one foot in front of the other, shouting over the sound of the thunder and when they reached the front of 7th Heaven, the door popped opened.

"Tifa, you're back!" Denzel's worried face greeted her and his eyes widened at the sight before him.

Before Tifa could open her mouth, Denzel turned his head a little and opened the door wide to let them in,

"Marlene, get some towels and warm water."

They were drenched and upon entering the bar, the figure lost its footing and stumbled, bringing down Tifa together to the floor.

"Hey, get a hold of yourself." Tifa panicked as she felt the weight if the stranger squashing her.

She could hear the heavy breathing and the warmth of the blood but Denzel's voice stopped everything they were doing.

"Tifa, he has silver hair," it was a mere whisper but Tifa's heart stopped beating.

"Green eyes," Marlene dropped the towel she was holding and Tifa lifted the stranger's head to get a real look at the stranger.

Her eyes widened and all of a sudden, everything turned cold. Silver hair and green eyes had always mean danger to them and tonight, she brought one into their house.

"Help…" he groaned again and after that he lost all support he had on himself and Tifa felt his weight totally on her.

"Do you think we're doing a right thing?" Marlene whispered to Denzel as they watched Tifa attended the wound of the stranger, who was lying on Cloud's bed.

His cloak and wet attired were removed with the help of the children. His face was still scrunched in pain.

"I dunno," Denzel passed a bandage to Tifa, who seemed intent on covering the huge gash on his abdomen but still had a dubious look on her face.

"I mean, he's not Sephiroth or Kadaj, but…" Marlene stopped halfway.

Tifa finished dressing his wound and lifted her head.

"Come on, we'll ask the question later once he wake up. He had it bad so I think he won't be a danger for now," Tifa picked up the wet lump of clothes and made her way to the door.

Marlene looked satisfied with Tifa's reasoning but Denzel looked at the figure suspiciously.

When Cloud wasn't in the house, he was responsible to take care of them and with this stranger sleeping on his hero's bed, wearing his hero's clothes, Denzel was far from happy.

Plus, the weather outside was still torrential, it made his really uneasy.

"I'll stand by here, in case he wakes up and need anything," Denzel decided and took a place next to the bed.

Tifa understood what he was trying to do and just nodded. She took a pre-caution by slipping in some sleeping potion into the medication, so the man won't be awake anytime soon.

"Just give me a shout if anything happens," Tifa said before leaving the room with Marlene.


Cloud returned to the bar quite late and was greeted with a sight of Tifa cleaning the floor near the entrance.

His enhanced senses picked up the smell of blood and he stiffened, "What happened?"

Tifa finished the last round of mopping the floor and sighed, "Someone was injured and I brought him back here."

Cloud immediately relaxed and just nodded. "He's in your office. Denzel's looking out for him."

Together, they made their way into Cloud's office.

As soon as they arrived at the door, they saw Denzel had fallen asleep next to the man he was being so suspicious of and Tifa shook her head with a small smile on her face.

"He wanted to stay here in case of anything."

Cloud's feature turned soft. "He's the man of the house when I'm not in."

Tifa entered the room and touched Denzel's hair. She planted a kiss on top of his hair before she let Cloud carried Denzel outside to set him on his own bed.

Tifa looked down on the half-naked man who was still sleeping but now with a peaceful look on his face.

He looked like he was around 25 years old and judging from his attire that he was wearing earlier; it looked like he was some kind of a researcher. Nothing aside from his silver hair and green eyes that said he was a threat.

Tifa turned to walk away but was stopped and when she looked down, his hand grabbed hers, "Thank you…" he said drowsily, through his half opened eyes, she could see his green irises but no traces of Mako.

"It's okay, just sleep," she said and as his grip on her loosened, Tifa corrected the blanket that was covering him.

'Let's hope you're not a trouble.' Tifa prayed silently and exited the room.


The next morning Tifa jolted up in her bed and looked around the room while she could pick up the sound of someone rummaging through her kitchen.

She placed her feet softly on the floor and made her way to the bar, trying not make any sound.

Cloud was already wide awake as he was standing at the bottom of the staircase; his arms were crossed on his chest.

"What's going on?" Tifa placed a hand on his shoulder and she felt him relaxed under her touch.

"Oh, hi! Good morning. Sorry, I took the liberty to make breakfast," a voice replied and behind her counter, stood the silver haired man.

"I hope you don't mind I used your kitchen, it's beautiful," he added and Tifa made her way towards him.

"No problem, but are you sure you should be up?" Tifa asked him, noticing how close Cloud was standing behind her as if he was ready to pounce if anything should happen.

"Yeah, it's just a scratch but thanks to you I'm back on my feet now," he smiled, making his face bright.

"Who are you again?" Cloud interrupted, obviously he didn't trust the stranger yet.

"Oh, where are my manners," he placed the plates he was holding on the counter as he made his way out of the counter.

"Hope. I'm Hope Estheim," he held out his hand to Cloud, who ignored the gesture.

Tifa quickly butted in, not wanting to offend their guest and took his hand instead. "I'm Tifa and this is Cloud."

"Tifa and Cloud," Hope acknowledged.

"So, if we're done with the introduction, I think you should make a move, since you're alright now," Cloud said in a firm voice.

A flash of hurt crossed Hope's face but it was immediately replaced with a practiced smile.

"Yeah, about that. I was kind of wondering if you have any job vacancy since I'm actually new around here and I don't have anywhere to go," Hope immediately turned to Tifa.

"Nope, we're not hiring," Cloud cut him off but Tifa held his arm, as a sign for him to hold himself down.

Hope looked a little beaten down but nodded with a sad smile. "I understand."

"Give us a minute, Hope. Cloud?" Tifa eyed the blond as they made their way into the kitchen to discuss.

As soon as the door closed, Cloud immediately turned to Tifa, "You're not seriously considering hiring him, right?"

Tifa shrugged as she looked around the kitchen. "I could always use an extra hand in the bar."

Cloud's frown turned deeper.

"We don't know who he really is and it's dangerous."

Tifa tapped a finger on her lips as she was deep in thought.

"Okay, that's true but let's give him benefit of the doubt, I mean I was like that when I first arrived in Midgar," Tifa explained.

Cloud's eyes softened as he recalled her incident. Barely surviving the Nibelheim horror, Tifa was brought to Midgar on the verge of death by her master, Zangan.

"I understand how it feels like not having anywhere to go to but I was lucky enough to meet Barrett," she continued as she saw Cloud was in deep thoughts.

"I was really grateful that I met the gang when I was lost and didn't know where to go or what to do," Tifa added as she stopped right in front of Cloud.

Cloud looked up and shot her an annoyed look and Tifa smiled, knowing that Cloud had finally give in to her.

"Fine, but I'll do the background check and if I find even one thing he lies to us, he's out of the door," Cloud finally said.

"Fair enough," Tifa agreed.

Seeing the look of fear on the blonde's face Tifa took one of his hands in hers, "He's not the Remnants or Sephiroth, Cloud. Just the hair and eyes only."

Cloud stiffened a little, taken aback by Tifa's observation of why he was reluctant to help Hope.

Looking at the assurance on her face, Cloud squeezed her hand, "I don't want any of you to get hurt again."

Tifa gave him another smile and placed her other hand on his cheek. "We won't."

Cloud let out a sigh as he closed his eyes and leaned into her palm. Tifa stroke his cheek with her thumb softly.

"But I need to interrogate that man first," his blue eyes were filled with distrust but Tifa gave him a slight nod, "As you wish, sir."


Turned out Hope was a very reliable and honest man. He was a quick learner and easily adapt to the work around the bar. He even let Marlene bosses her around calling herself his senior.

Tifa was grateful for the extra hand but other than talking about the bar, Hope never offered any other information about him. Tifa decided not to push it.

Cloud on the other hand was very sceptical at first but after Tifa caught Hope helping him out with Fenrir one day, Tifa knew that Hope had won even Cloud over. Though she could still hear the two of them bickering, at least Cloud was talking to him.

Usually after helping Tifa out at the bar, Hope would spend the time with Cloud and Denzel tuning up Fenrir while giving some input on how to upgrade certain features of Fenrir.

"Hey, I've seen you working around Fenrir like you're some sort of an engineer. What exactly do you do?" Tifa asked Hope casually as she was mixing some drink for a customer.

Hope turned his head from cleaning some glasses and gave out a small smile.

"I used to work at an Academy, working on lots of machine, you know technical stuff," Hope replied as he continued to busy himself arranging the dishes.

"I'm pretty good at it," he passed a glass to Tifa who poured a cocktail mixture in it before passing it to her customer.

"And what are you doing here?" Tifa couldn't help but to be direct with him. Almost 2 weeks had passed and there was no sign of Hope going to share any info about him.

Hope turned to face Tifa fully, leaning on the bar, "I guess I owe you that much for not kicking my butt out after saving me."

Tifa crossed her arms and waited for him to start talking.

"I was a director at the Academy and I was working on a machine that allows time to be distorted," Hope let out a heavy breath. "It was to save Cocoon."

"Cocoon?" Tifa repeated.

"That was what we called our home, our world." Hope explained again. "Anyway, somehow along the way a lot of things happened and we lost a valuable friend who was trying to fix the time distortion to put things back in order."

So Cloud was right when he suspected that Hope wasn't someone from around here. And he must be a genius for being able to become a director at such young age.

Tifa let him continued though she was really curious who did he mean when he said "we."

"The plan backfired and after almost contributing to Cocoon destruction, I..." he stopped halfway. Running his hands through his silver hair and making his usual neat appearance slightly dishevelled, Hope suddenly looked lost.

"I became a vessel for Bhunivelze, the God of Light to act a conduit for his voice which in turn made me somewhat his puppet," Hope spat at the last word.

Tifa passed a glass of Corel wine to him which he downed in a gulp. "Liquid courage," Tifa said with a small smile.

It seemed to encourage Hope further.

"My last mission before I arrived here was to collect the last human soul left back in my world. The saviour's," Hope continued to look up to Tifa.

"And the saviour's final mission was to collect mine." He concluded and poured himself another glass of the wine.

Tifa gasped, "Isn't the saviour supposed to be on your side?"

Hope laughed dryly.

"That's the tricky part. That bastard Bhunivelze turned us against each other after we managed to bring him down and doomed the world to darkness before his death and the only way to save it is for either of us to die, at each other's hands."

Hope drank another glass of the wine and took a seat at the bar.

Seeing there was no other customer waiting to be served Tifa took a spot next to him.

"So what happened next?" Tifa placed a hand on his arm, trying to calm him.

"We were at each other's neck and she was close to take my soul when a portal suddenly opened and I ended up in that alley where you found me," Hope looked at the glass as his memory replayed the last battle with the saviour.

"He must be pretty strong to be able to hurt you like that," Tifa commented, remembering the condition Hope was in when she found him. The gash on his abdomen was pretty nasty.

There was a look of longing in his eyes as he let out a chuckle, "Yep, she's pretty strong... headed."

Tifa raised her brows in disbelief. A woman did that to Hope?

There was a moment of silent before he let out a murmur, "Cloud reminded me of her so much."

Tifa looked at Hope's feature. All of a sudden he looked like he aged ten years and he was tired of all of the fighting.

"That's why Cloud irritates me sometimes, but don't tell him that," Hope made the situation lighter with a wink.

Tifa let out a small smile with a nod.

"Tifa?" Cloud's voice interrupted and both of them turned at the same time.

"Hi, you're back. Let me help you with that," Tifa quickly made her way to Cloud, helping him with the supplies he got from his delivery.

Looking at Cloud's blank face, Hope finished the remaining of his wine and let out harsh breath before making his way to the kitchen.


"They are bickering again in the garage," Denzel announced as he entered the bar. "I'm beat," he added before turning to Marlene.

"Wait for me, I'm coming with you." Marlene hopped from her stool and the two children made their way to their bedroom, preparing for bed.

Tifa smiled to herself at her children. It had been a long day for them and the bar was already closed.

After making sure everything was cleaned, Tifa looked around in satisfaction and stretched herself.

As she was about to turn around to leave the bar, she bumped into a body. "Oomph."

She looked up and saw a rather pissed off looking Hope. He held her steadily as he placed both of his hands on her shoulders.

"You okay?" She asked in concern.

His light blue-green eyes looked determined and for the longest time, Tifa felt like she was caught in his eyes.

"Hope?" She called his name again but he didn't answer her, instead the grip on her shoulders turned tighter.

It took a few second before Tifa could register what was happening. One moment she was looking into Hope's eyes and the next she felt his lips on hers, his eyes were half closed.

It lasted for just a moment but by the time he pulled back, there was another person in the room. Hope ignored the blonde and looked at the woman standing in front of him who was still stunned and confused. A small smile escaped him.

"Good night, Tifa." Hope said just loud enough for the blonde to catch his words and landed another quick peck on Tifa's lips.

He released her and Tifa stood still with her hand on her lips. What the heck just happened?

Cloud made his way to her yet his gaze was blazing, watching the other man retreated into his room. Technically, that was his office, that brat was just sleeping in it.

"Tifa? Are you okay?" Cloud's voice was gentle, betraying the emotion in his eyes.

Tifa looked around aimlessly and let out the breath she didn't notice she was holding, "I need to sit down."

What the heck just happened?


The day following the incident was nothing but awkward.

As usual breakfast was made by Hope and by the time Tifa came down, the children were already surrounding him asking for extra serving of his pancakes while Cloud was at the end of the table, poking at his food.

"Morning Tifa," Hope called as he saw her entering the kitchen.

"Good morning," Tifa replied, still feeling awkward from last night. "Come on, let's be seated," Tifa announced to the children and they made their way to the table.

Tifa purposely took a seat in between Denzel and Marlene, away from the two men. One was smiling and talking like nothing unusual happened last night and the other kept on shooting silent daggers to her.

The time passed with the children chattering with Hope and Tifa interrupted once in a while when they asked her questions.

During lunch time, things got even worse. Usually Cloud would already leave for delivery but surprisingly that day, he stayed in the bar, murmuring something about taking the day off.

The children were ecstatic, having the time to spend with their favourite hero but for Tifa, it felt as if she was walking on thin ice.

Wait... Why should she be feeling this way in the first place? Tifa threw the towel she was holding into the sink and gathered up her courage to confront the source of the awkwardness.

"Hope, can I talk to you for a second?" Tifa called the man, who was occupied arranging some bottles on the bar.

Hope turned with a smile on his face and made his way into the kitchen.

Cloud followed his movement with icy glares. "Brat."

"Yeah, what's up?" Hope stood right in front of her.

Tifa looked up to the man in front of her and gulped back. True, Hope was a very good looking guy, standing tall and lean with eyes that could melt anyone if they looked long enough into them and with the friendly attitude, any girl would fall for him.

Tifa snapped herself from the reverie and corrected her voice.

"About last night," Tifa shuffled her feet uncomfortably.

Hope just remained quiet, but the smile on his face never faded.

"Um…" Tifa suddenly lost the words she was going to say.

"Well, are you two dating?" Hope tilted his head towards the door, indicating Cloud.

Tifa shook her head, "Not really."

"Are you in any some sort of relationship with anyone?" He asked again.

Tifa shook her head again.

"Then I don't think the kiss was such a big issue," Hope said in a casual manner but it made Tifa's face turned red.

After a few moment of silence Tifa questioned him, "Why?"

Hope just shrugged, "As a thank you for saving my life." His eyes wandered around the kitchen before settling on her again. "And I like you Tifa."

With that, he started walking towards the door. "Think of it as a favour."

"Plus, a cowardly man like him pisses me off. Dilly dallying when the opportunity is right in front of his eyes. If he's not gonna take it, he can watch someone else snatch it," He added before exiting, leaving Tifa in deeper confusion.

"For a director, you are such an idiot." Tifa blew out her breath.


The weather turned from sunny to a thunderstorm almost immediately as the sun began to set in the sky.

"Come on, we'll find a shelter first," Cloud instructed and made his way towards an empty shop lot nearby the park.

All of them took the evening off to bring the children to the newly build park in the outskirts of Edge. Things were looking good for the city and a lot of new places were emerging and people were finally moving on with their lives.

Marlene and Denzel followed Cloud closely behind and managed to barely avoid the first raindrop that fell from the sky.

"Hurry up Tifa! Hope!" Marlene called from under the shelter as they looked at the two figures running towards them.

Hope was laughing like a kid as he pulled Tifa's hand to make her catch up with him and Cloud ignored the annoyed feeling that was bubbling up in his chest.

It was only a blink of an eye, an out of the world brightness crossed the sky as a lightning illuminated sky that made Hope stopped in his tracks, looking serious all of a sudden.

He turned around in flash and ducked, as if he was avoiding an attack and brought Tifa down with him.

"So we meet again, Hope." The voice was cold but it definitely belonged to a woman.

Hope jumped back to put a safe distance between Tifa and the woman. He wasn't going to drag another innocent life into their century long battle.

A woman with a stoic face and holding a gunblade standing in front of them as she eyed the two of the cautiously. She looked really young with strawberry coloured hair and pale skin.

"The saviour," Tifa gasped and readied herself with a defensive posture.

There wasn't time to think when the woman suddenly charged once again aiming for Hope. Tifa stepped in front of Hope unexpectedly and landed a hard kick on the woman but she blocked with her gunblade before dashing towards them again.

This time her attacks were blocked by a massive sword and a black figure stood in between them protectively.

"Enough." Cloud growled as he used the weight of his sword to push the woman back.

She landed swiftly on her feet and glared at the three people standing in front of them.

"If you know what's good for you then stay away from this battle. It's not yours to fight," the woman demanded as she raised her blade.

"Hope is with us. Anyone who is his enemy is an enemy to us," Tifa interjected in a firm manner. She glanced at the children and saw they were still hiding under the shelter. There was a look of hurt that flashed on the woman's face but it was quickly replaced by her stoic expression.

The raindrops were all they could hear for the next few seconds before the saviour attacked them again.

Tifa blocked the assault and took the opportunity to land a punch on the woman's gut and began to return the favour in a combo of kicks and punches.

The woman stumbled back but she closed her eyes and brought her hand to her chest, muttering some chant under her breath.

"Look out!" Cloud managed to block the fire spell that was directed at Tifa before he realized it was a plan to distract them as she dashed towards Hope immediately after casting.

Hope seemed to be in daze as the woman slammed him to the ground and a loud thud could be heard and a sharp intake of breath escaped from his lips.

She placed her gunblade at his throat while her other free hand grabbed his collar roughly.

Hope just looked at the saviour in silence, his hands by his side, not even a single struggle to free himself.

Tifa and Cloud stood back and looked at them; there was hesitation from the saviour. She could finish Hope right then but she was hesitating. Even her hand that was holding her blade was shaking.

What exactly was happening?

Hope slowly raised one of his hands to the saviour's face and stopped when he made contact with her cheek. He brushed it tenderly.

"Light."

Instantly, the saviour dropped her gunblade and collapsed fully on Hope, losing her consciousness.

Hope gathered the woman in his arms and got on his feet with a really serious look on his face as Cloud and Tifa approached him.

"You've got a lot of explaining to do," Cloud simply said as he picked up the gunblade and made his way to the children.

"Let's head back to the bar first," Tifa added and followed Cloud's lead. After all, they were all soaking wet from the rain.

Hope just nodded and looked at the woman in his arms guiltily.


"Wait, let me get this straight. You two had a history from hundreds of years ago and now both of you are trying to kill each other?" Cloud summarized after hearing the explanation from Hope.

Hope looked away bashfully, "Not exactly a history. But I got a thing for her."

Tifa raised one of her brows unexpectedly. The ever so confident Hope Estheim was blushing while talking about the saviour.

"So it's a one sided love then?" Cloud took the chance to rub on the brat's face and Hope shot him a look.

"Cloud," Tifa reminded Cloud that they were having a bigger issue on hand. Cloud leaned back into the chair but with a smug look on his face.

"So what's going to happen after this?" Tifa asked as she glanced at the woman who was still unconscious in Cloud's office. She already took the initiative to remove every weapon that the woman carried and changed her into a basic shirt and pants to ensure she wasn't carrying anything underneath her clothes as well.

It was just a precaution step in case the woman went berserk when she woke up later.

"I dunno. I had already given up trying to take her soul a long time ago but every time she tried to take mine, there must be something that stopped her. Just like what happened earlier."

Hope ran his hands through his hair as he was lost in thoughts.

"I think that must be the after effects from travelling from your world to ours. Just like you experienced," Tifa wondered around the room, trying to figure out a solution for the matter.

Cloud's phone rang and he picked it up once he saw the ID.

"Yes Vincent?"

Tifa looked at Cloud who was seemed so intent to listening to the caller and just nodded once in a while.

Hope looked at loss as he gave out a sigh.

"I got it," Cloud ended the conversation and looked up at Hope.

"Turn out your arrival has been causing some disruption. Vincent just reported a spike of monster activity outside Midgar," Cloud explained. "The monsters aren't native to the area."

"I have no idea how to get back to my own world. And with Light's arrival, it'll make thing much more complicated." Hope sighed again.

Tifa made her way to Hope and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't give up yet. There must be a reason why your name is Hope," she gave him an encouraging smile and squeezed his shoulder.

Hope gave a reluctant nod.

"I'm sorry to ask you this but is it possible if you could give me some time alone with Light? I don't want to drag you into another battle if she decided to have my head once she wakes up," Hope pursed his lips together, looking determined.

Tifa turned to Cloud and they had a mental conversation before he nodded in agreement.

"Just try not to make too much mess in my office."


"Aren't we supposed to be leaving the two of them alone?" Cloud scratched the back if his head as he followed Tifa from the back into his office.

Hope was still at the bar, mentally preparing himself before confronting Lightning.

"Shh! We'll just double check if there's anything that can be used as a weapon in your office," Tifa whispered as she slipped into the room and motioned for Cloud to do the same.

The blonde closed the door behind him with a soft click, not wanting to alert Hope. They were supposed to leave the bar half an hour ago.

Cloud looked at the woman on the bed, she didn't look dangerous but he had seen her moves and they were lethal. He turned to see Tifa was rummaging through his desk and she seemed satisfied when she couldn't find anything that could be used as a weapon.

Tifa checked the small closet in his office and was about to close the door when they heard the room door opened.

Under normal circumstances, Cloud would applaud Tifa for her amazing reflexes but when he found himself stuck in the closet with Tifa, his body became stiff and tense at the close proximity.

"Crap, he's here too soon," Tifa was still oblivious of the position she was in.

"Tifa," Cloud whispered and that seemed to make Tifa became aware of her surroundings.

Their bodies were pressed together and he could feel her breath on his chest. Even their feet were sandwiched in between each other's legs.

"Oh," Tifa pulled back her head but hit her head on the wood of the closet. Hope didn't seem to notice the sound.

"Don't move around so much," Cloud managed to say while looking away from her. He could feel his face heating up. Tifa just nodded shyly.

At the sound of the stirring on the bed, Tifa peeked through the small crack at the closet door. "She's waking up."

Tifa tried to ignore the feeling of Cloud's chest against her cheek as she continued to watch Hope and Lightning.

"Ugh," Lightning groaned as she tried to sit while holding her head.

Hope just stood beside the bed, holding a glass of water in one hand.

But before anything could happen, Hope was tackled and he dropped the glass and in one swift movement, he was trapped under Lightning. She used her body weight to pinned Hope down and her hand immediately went to her waist only to notice she was unarmed.

Lightning looked at her attire and almost panicked but she recovered fast, using her hands to choke him instead.

Hope struggled to breathe as he tried to pry her hands off his throat but to no avail. She continued to put pressure on her grip and again, Hope didn't seem to put much effort to release himself.

Tifa was about to bust down the closet's door but Cloud stopped her. His eyes were stern.

A tear escaped Hope's eyes and that seemed to have an immediate effect on Lightning as she loosened up her grip on him. At the sudden entrance of air into his lungs, Hope coughed and it took a while for him to catch his breath.

Lightning's eyes seemed to focus when she realized what she had done.

Blue-green eyes looked up to the woman straddling him.

"Light," his voice was coarse but clear. He was still alive.

Lightning took a long look at the man beneath her and it all came back crashing down to her. This was the man she was supposed to kill to collect his soul in order to free her sister. This was the man that was supposed to collect her soul to bring back order in the time distortion. This was the man that confessed his undying love for her even after many attempts were made to kill him. This was also the one man she still couldn't collect his soul because she always seemed to hesitate to end his life.

"Hope," she finally acknowledged in a low voice.

There was only silence that followed as they both stared into each other's eyes.

"Why didn't you avoid my attack back then?" Lightning questioned in a disapproving manner.

"I've told you Light, I'll end this fight. I'm not gonna fight you anymore." Hope looked content even though he was far from danger.

"So, you're gonna just die?" Lightning asked again, utterly confused by Hope's reaction. Cloud stiffened at her question, suddenly remembering Tifa's exact question to him months earlier. Although Hope always acted so carefree and happy, it seemed like they were similar in that sense.

"If it puts an end to your misery Light, you can collect my soul. Do it now," Hope voice was nothing but a whisper but full with determination. He placed Lightning's hands on his neck once again and using his own strength, he strangled himself.

"Stop it!" Lightning tried to pull back her hand but Hope held her hands firmly.

As she felt the pressure increased, she panicked. "Hope, let go of my hands!"

"Let go!" Lightning demanded as she saw Hope's face became paler.

As soon as Hope's strength faltered, Lightning released him. "You idiot!"

Hope just looked at her face longingly, "I'm serious Light. Take my life now. Let's put an end to this."

Lightning let out a cry in frustration as she looked away from him.

There was a moment of silence before Lightning finally sighed.

"Stop messing with my head, Hope." She clenched her fists.

"Then, why don't you stop fucking with my heart?" He asked her back. There was no anger in his voice, just pure regret at how things turned out for them.

Lightning seemed to be taken aback as she sat back on his laps, not understanding why he was so adamant about this matter.

"What exactly do you want Hope?" She gave up, not bothering about keeping up a façade anymore.

Hope raised himself and sat with Lightning still straddling him and held both of her arms tightly.

"What I want?" He repeated. "Everything that I want is what I'm holding right now," his tone was firm but again no anger in it, just pure determination to make the woman understand.

It took everything in his fibre not to shake the woman into some sense but he looked at her intently.

Finally, when Lightning met his eyes, she swallowed back. "I'm tired of fighting, but it's a God that we are up against."

"And what about you? What exactly do you want?" Hope asked her back. He was finally seeing some positive reaction from her.

Lightning looked deep in thought before a small smile made to her face that made her look younger and alive.

Slowly, Lightning raised a hand and brushed his cheek tenderly. "For once in my life, I'd actually want something for myself."


It was as if the time stopped as Lightning leaned down towards Hope and pressed her lips on him. It was like a trial and uncertain. The light feeling of his lips on hers made her stomach knotted but she kept a steady hold on him.

She was pulling back as she opened her eyes to gauge Hope's reaction but he immediately leaned forward to capture her lips once again. She melted almost immediately into him as the kiss became heated. She couldn't help but to smile in the kiss as his lips curved into a smile as well.

As Lightning's hands began to snake around Hope's neck and grabbed his hair, Hope took the opportunity to hold her waist and pulled her closer to him. The shirt that Tifa gave Lightning made it easier for him to make contact with the skin underneath and he hummed in approval.

Meanwhile in the closet, Tifa tried to look away from the crack only to bump her nose at Cloud's chin. "They're making out in my bed?"

"Shh!" Tifa's hand immediately flew to cover his mouth from making any more noise. It'd be more embarrassing to get caught now.

"Lower down your voice!" She hissed.

"Don't tell me we're going to wait like this while they're making out on my bed?"

Cloud tried to talk while Tifa's hand was still covering his mouth.

Tifa tried to peek again but with every movement Tifa made, she kept on brushing some place on his body that had an instant reaction to her.

"We can't just walk out right now, can we?" she replied back in a low voice.

The look that Cloud gave her was one that said he didn't care but Tifa caught his hand before he could open the door.

"Just let them be," she looked down at his chest, away from his intense gaze. Her reaction somewhat managed to calm him down.

They were standing facing each other and couldn't meet each other's' eyes. At the sound of the bed creaking, there was no need to see to know that Hope had pinned Lightning down beneath him as they continued to kiss.

It was a long and torturous moment hearing the groans from Hope and the sighs coming out from Lightning, making the temperature in the cramped closet unbearable.

Tifa bit her lips a few times to occupy herself from fidgeting as she heard the sound of clothes being discarded onto the floor.

She looked up to see Cloud had his eyes closed and when she lowered her gaze, she realized their hands were still intertwined.

Cloud seemed to be breathing normally but Tifa was feeling uncomfortable with the situation they were in. Her breath was coming out short and she tried to calm her nerves. There was no need to be panicked.

"Hey, look at me." His voice came out huskier than usual but Tifa looked up to meet calm blue eyes.

"Don't think about the space so much. Focus on me," he added and Tifa tried to clear her head.

She felt his fingers rubbing on her knuckles and took deep breaths.

"I'm alright," she whispered and a small smile escaped his lips.

"That brat really had it in him," Cloud tried to lighten up the air and Tifa's face turned red at the sound of the sharp breath of Lightning and a muffled groan from Hope.

After that, it was quiet except for the sound of their own breath.

"I guess they're done then," Cloud teasingly said as he peeked at the crack. They were both under covers.

They could hear the two talking about some random things. "Tifa is pretty, isn't she?" Lightning suddenly said.

Tifa arched her brow at hearing her name being mentioned.

Hope raised his head and turned to Lightning. "She definitely is. Did you two meet before?"

Lightning shook her head and looked away from the young man, trying to hide her face.

"I saw them from the time distortion. She runs a bar and takes care of children right?" Lightning asked.

Hope nodded silently with a teasing smile on his handsome face.

Lightning pulled the sheet to cover her face.

"She can cook, good with children, look that beautiful with chest like that," Lightning mumbled while turning her body away from Hope. "No one can compete with that."

Hope's face broke out to a silly grin. So the saviour was a woman after all.

"No wonder why you'd kiss her," Lightning added feeling the bitterness bubbling up in her chest. Tifa looked down at her hand nervously remembering that little embarrassing incident.

Cloud suppressed the growl at the back of his throat at the mention of it.

Hope closed the gap between them and held the stiff Lightning close to his chest and buried his face in her hair.

"Sorry you had to see that." He whispered to her nuzzling her neck. "But I meant no harm when I did that. Plus, we're Hope and Light, Light and Hope. There's no changing that."

Lightning seemed satisfied with that and turned to face Hope and planted a kiss on him.

It took a while until they heard the voice of Marlene and Denzel announcing their return at the bar that made Hope and Lightning got up from the bed.

They were dressing up when Hope suddenly turned to Lighting and grabbed her hands.

"I'm not letting you go. We're in this together. We worked against Bhunivelze before and we can fight this together," he said determinedly.

Lightning just nodded in agreement. "You really live up to your namesake, Hope."

It was around 15 minutes after the room was emptied only then Cloud and Tifa stepped out from the closet.

"Remind me to change the covers later," Cloud finally spoke and Tifa replied with a chuckle.


The four adults looked at each other as they sat at the bar, figuring how the time distortion worked. Lightning and Hope needed to return to their world as their time travel was causing a major disruption all over the Planet.

"I can open a portal with this but it's the last one," Lightning showed them a glowing materia like device.

"That's the Ultima Artefact," Hope explained as he stood up.

"We got it after Bhunivelze was defeated. I thought I lost it," Hope studied the artefact carefully, getting into his Director mode immediately.

"I found it after our last battle, you dropped it just before you fell into that portal and ended up here," Lightning replied in a cool manner.

"But?" Tifa sensed something was amiss.

Hope shot a look at Lightning, uncertainly.

"It will lead us to the final battle against Bhunivelze darkness but we wont know under what condition it will be. What century we'll be in, how old I will be or whether I will remember anything that had happened today," Hope walked around the bar still holding the artefact.

"I'm worried if you become his vessel again Hope." Lightning finally said.

All eyes turned to her.

"I can't defeat all the darkness knowing that the one I'm fighting is you," she added solemnly.

For once, Hope looked lost.

In the end, it came back to killing one and another.

There was a tense silence in the bar before Cloud finally spoke.

"The darkness will always be there, Hope. You just need someone to surround you with light."

Tifa's head shot up, feeling somewhat familiar with his words.

"We can run away from darkness but if you can find your light, don't lose sight of it," Cloud said while looking at Tifa.

Hope looked deep in thought and nodded.

"Sometimes even if you feel like you're fighting a losing battle, don't give up. Once you give up that's when you lose the battle," Cloud added.

"Yup, after all there can be no Hope without Light, and no Light without Hope, can it?" Tifa made her way to Lightning and placed her hands on Lightning's shoulders.

Lightning gave her a smile and agreed.

"Come on Hope, we got a century long battle to end and a God's curse to break," Lightning got up from her seat and made her way to Hope.

"And a time distortion to fix," Hope added, looking at the blonde warrior with his brunette companion.

"Sorry about the mess we've caused and will be causing in your world but thank you," Hope said as he held out his hand to Cloud.

Cloud returned the gesture firmly.

"Ready?" Lightning looked at Hope. He nodded.

Once Lightning opened the portal, bright lights illuminated the bar and they could feel the ground shook.

Hope took hold of Lightning's hand and they took a step into the portal.

"I'll find you once all of this end."

Lightning smiled and squeezed his hand. "I'll wait for you."

As their figures were being engulfed with the bright lights, Cloud and Tifa could hear Hope's teasing voice calling out to them.

"We're fighting against time, a bastardly God and centuries to be together. You're an idiot if you don't make your move, Cloud! She's right next to you!"

"Go win your battle, brat!" Cloud called back but with a small smile on his face.

The bar shook roughly and Tifa had to cover her eyes from the bright lights before everything went quiet again.

Cloud looked around and noticed nothing had changed. Even the bottles that Tifa had arranged on the shelves remained unmoved.

"I hope they'll make it." Tifa whispered softly.

"They will." Cloud replied. "After all, that brat has his namesake to upkeep."

Tifa smiled and agreed with him. His eyes lingered on her face longer than usual.

"Tifa, we're hungry," Marlene's voice broke the tranquillity and the adults immediately fell back to their routine.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Hope and Lightning had just returned to their world. I'll make lunch immediately."

Denzel and Marlene looked at one and another. "Who are Hope and Lightning?"

It was the adult's turn to be perplexed.

Cloud looked at his phone, "The date has changed."

"It's just before I found Hope in that alley!" Tifa gasped when she saw the date on his phone and looked at Cloud.

They were silent as they look at the children.

"You said you need to pick up some groceries today Tifa. Do you want me to come with you?" Marlene asked.

"Yeah, it'll be raining this evening they say," Denzel added as he looked at his adoptive parents.

"It's okay Marlene. I'll bring Tifa to the grocer." Cloud volunteered and dragged Tifa to the kitchen.

"That was why that brat apologized."

"What just happened?" Tifa questioned.

It was quite a while before Cloud answered.

"Time distortion."

Tifa looked lost in thought. Everything that had happened was erased as soon as Hope and Lightning went back to their world. There was no traces of them left behind as well.

"It couldn't be,' Tifa thought as she touched her lips, feeling a tingling sensation where Hope stole a kiss from her. It was real. They were real.

Looking at the woman in front of her lost in thought while holding her lips like she was trying to replay some memories made Cloud grunted.

'Brat, I need to erase this trouble you leave behind.' He sighed as blew out some of his hair from his face.


A/N - Yep, I shipped Hopurai as well! And who would've thought it was going to be this long. Let's see who will make an appearance next.