Daughter: Ula 'Rain' Strife (Ula - name meaning wolf power) Nickname 'Rain' stuck during a fickle period around when she was twelve, and her parents sat her down to tell her who they really were, etc, etc.


Prologue: Wolf Sense

A wicked thunder cracked over the wastelands, driving creatures out from hiding before a torrential rain began to pour. Every living thing was fleeing for its life from some unseen threat, even the behemoths and reavers were cowering in fear. It was so clear that something was horribly wrong, but as the man looked around, he couldn't tell what. But then, like a strike through his heart, an immeasurable pain ripped through him, throwing him to the ground as the sea of water washed over him, drowning him among the bodies of everything that didn't get out of its way in time. A thick black cloud clung to everything the water touched, burning the man as he tried to swim against an impossible current to reach the surface. It felt like his lungs were about to burst, making him fight harder and harder against the current.

Then, just as the edge of his vision was beginning to turn black he saw a light shining through to him from above, drawing him up out of the water into the warmth of -

Cloud gasped as he shot up in bed, covered in a thick layer of sweat. He looked around wildly, his gaze first settling on his wife, then his sword, then finally his door. He launched out of bed, the sound of his feet hitting the ground making his wife bolt up, and ran out into the hallway, nearly sliding past his goal. Lightning caught up to him as he opened the door to their daughter's bedroom, but she had no idea why the sight of her sleeping peacefully in her bed made Cloud stiffen so visually. The blonde walked over to his daughter's side, and as Lightning followed she was shocked to see a crystal glowing dimly in the girl's clenched hand.

"Cloud," Lightning whispered in surprise. "Why does she have a crystal?"

"I don't know," Cloud carefully removed the rock from his daughter's hand, examining it for a moment before looking at his wife with a pained expression. "It's not a crystal, it's a summon."

"A summon?"

"Like Odin and Fenrir." the man quietly set the crystal down on his daughter's nightstand, then motioned for Lightning to follow him from the room. As soon as her door was shut, the two crept down to the kitchen, where Cloud sank into one of the chairs by the dining table to bury his head in his hands. Lightning paced beside him for a moment, then paused to fix him in a confused stare.

"Cloud, the crystal age has been over for sixteen years. That Eidolon couldn't have come from the same line as ours."

"But Fenrir and Odin aren't from the same line, or the same world. If this one has survived somehow, that means it's probably connected to Fenrir and we both know the only reason you can still call out Odin is because Fenrir took him from your world before he could disappear with the Eidolons your friends had, just like the only reason we are still technically gods is because Fenrir took that part of us and sealed it away when we were jerked to your world for the final thirteen days. We remember the end of your time, and you remember everything that led up to it because Fenrir-" Cloud paused. "Because Fenrir locked it away…"

"Cloud?" Lightning was hesitant to reach out to him, sensing he had come to something.

"Light, I had a dream, one of the ones like you sent me? The world was flooding, but it wasn't normal water, it was like it was made out of these crazy black clouds like the chaos we saw back in your world when the chaos flooded." the blonde looked up at her in fear when she finally sat beside him. "I think Fenrir is trying to warn me about something."

"Do you think he might have sent Ula the crystal?"

"It's possible, and if it was him that sent the crystal, it'll probably be one of his children, maybe even both." Cloud shook his head. "He chose the name "Ula" for her for a reason afterall."

"'Wolf power', right? Maybe that was the first time he tried to warn us." Lightning reached over to put a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe, just maybe he was trying to warn you in his own subtle way, so you could start preparing without alarming the rest of us."

"Maybe...Fenrir has only even been clear with his warnings when it was immediate or insanely dangerous, so it makes sense that he would try to drop hints about the future, knowing anything he says bluntly could be destructive."

"And if he's acting up now -"

"The danger is coming soon." Cloud sighed. "I was hoping after all the trouble with Loki, and then Bhunivelze, we'd be in the clear… But he didn't lock up all that stuff so we could keep it for reminiscing, he kept it because he knew we would need it."

"Yeah, because it would be too easy to let us choose a world and stay there in peace."

"Of course." he looked up at her again, but dropped his gaze when Lightning leaned over to kiss his forehead.

"Let's go back to bed. It's too late for us to try and figure out any warnings right now."

"Yeah… you're right."