Peace


"CLOUD! GITCHUR ASS OVER HERE!"

Cloud nearly jumped out of his skin and looked, startled, over at Cid, Barret, Cait Sith, and Vincent. Cid was now waving his arm in a *cough*subtle* attempt to get Cloud's attention. Vincent sighed but didn't look all too surprised.

"What?" Cloud walked over to the pilot and raised an eyebrow.

Cid and Barret dragged Cloud outside of the slums church, away from the confused eyes of Tifa, Yuffie, and all of the children newly cured of Geostigma.

"What do you want?" Cloud asked after staring at the rest of the group upon their arrival outside, he felt as confused as everybody left inside, and slightly ticked at being dragged around.

"So, are you gonna finally get the guts to hook up with Tifa or not?" Cid replied bluntly.

"You don't get movin' soon, some else'll nab her!" Barret warned.

"Oi, he's right!" Cait Sith piped in.

Cloud was too shocked to say anything, but he turned pink and tried to leave, which in turn caused all but Vincent to jump and attempt to pin him to the ground.

All of them (Cait Sith's Moogle included) had forced Cloud to a knee when Tifa and Yuffie emerged from the ruined church. Vincent took a step back from the scene as if saying he had naught to do with this.

"Get off of me," Cloud broadsided Cait Sith and the Moogle with his sword then swiveled and ended up on his feet with Cid and Barret at a healthy 5 foot's distance.

Tifa put a hand on her hip and gestured towards the scene. Then with a laugh, "Um, what exactly is going on here?"

"Yeah, what's the big idea stealing the hero like that?! Well… almost hero," Yuffie shrugged.

"Shutcher mouth, Yuffie! We just needed to get some things cleared up with hair-gel-for-brains!" an angered Barret hollered, waving the girls away. Children started trickling outside to see what all the fuss was about.

Cloud twitched, obviously irritated by the insult, Tifa sighed, and Yuffie shrieked at Barret for disrespecting someone of her status.

Before Tifa, Cloud, or Vincent really cared to pay attention to the increasing noise level, weapons were being brandished.

Vincent looked to Cloud and Tifa, "We should go."

"This will take a while. Or we'll get dragged into it," Cloud sighed.

"Yeah, let's go. Marlene! Denzel! Come on, we're going home!" Tifa called. The two children separated themselves from the dispersing crowd, skirted the full-blown battle, and met up with Tifa, Vincent, and Cloud. Barret immediately separated himself from the fight to accompany his daughter home.

"Papa!"

"Hey, Darlin'!"

Marlene clasped Barret's massive hand in her own small one with a laugh as the group left Aerith's church.


Tifa unlocked the door to the Seventh Heaven and started checking the soundness of the building with the other adults before the children were allowed inside. She turned on the radio, the crackling device announcing in "vivid" detail what happened earlier that day.

Cloud stepped outside once it was certain that no major damage was done, "Alright, it's safe. You can come in," he said as he held the door open for Marlene and Denzel.

"Thanks, Cloud!" the pair chirped as they ran inside and up to the bar.

"Gimme something hard!" Marlene growled in her best Cloud impersonation.

Tifa "hmph"ed bemusedly before filling two glasses with juice.

"Thanks!" Marlene piped.

"Thank you!" Denzel watched Barret's reaction from behind his juice.

"You drink in front of Marlene?!" Barret hollered.

"She lives in a bar, you know I don't drink often, and you've drunk in front of her, too," Cloud sighed, then with a smirk, "Gimme something hard."

"D'you believe this fool?!" Barret yelled.

"Oh, calm down. I think all the adults could use a drink, and Cloud has a point. She does live in a bar. So do any of our friends when they're around… Let me get those drinks," she said with a belated smile.

Cloud had a sudden interest in the wood grain of the counter. He picked at a splinter.


It was an unusually busy and rowdy night at the Seventh Heaven due the celebration resulting from Sephiroth's defeat. Tifa ended up having to stop a few friendly, drunken brawls gone awry before sending the men home. She also had a tough time keeping more than two flirts at bay. Even with the help of the rest of her friends, the night was tiring to say the least. She was tempted not to let Marlene be the waitress, but allowed it since the rest of her friends were there.

"Yuffie! Take those plates back to get washed, please! Marlene, can you help me with some of this food?" Tifa called while carrying a full tray of food and drinks out to a hungry table.

Marlene came to relieve Tifa of some of her burden.

"Got it!" Yuffie hopped over a few rows of legs and gathered dishes to be washed.

"Tifa! We need help in the kitchen!" Barret called.

"You'd better not be cooking, Cid!"

A flare went up in the kitchen and a few men yelled. Cloud and Barret stumbled out of the now smoking room coughing. Cloud was soaked with dishwater and Barret was wearing an apron, both were covered in smoke.

"WHAT DID YOU DO!?" Tifa ran into the kitchen and choked on the stench of the burnt, smoldering something that Cid had doused with water, "What is that?!"

"What's going on in here?" Cait Sith popped his head in from the window.

"Cid. Just keep mixing drinks, Cait Sith," Tifa sighed.

"Hey, this doesn't happen that often! I was gonna call it Chicken a la Bahamut," replied a smoke-and-grime-covered Cid, "but I guess I put too much flare in the mega flare."

"Clean it," Tifa started prepping the other, less charred, area of the kitchen to cook in, "stay away from the stoves, Cid! We don't have time to deal with stuff like this!" she threw a damp washcloth at the charcoal chef and headed out with two more washcloths.

"Barret! You were supposed to keep an eye on him!" Tifa tossed the towels at the two of them before heading back to the kitchen to cook more dishes.