Author's Note; Kay guys, this is a totally rewritten chapter cos this fic was the first one I ever uploaded on this site and I read back over it recently and realized how little reading context there was in it, and way too much dialogue aswell...and I left loads of loose ends and unexplained happenings, so here it is; the rewritten first chapter and I hope it's an improvement, so plees let me know ppls!! Kas- out :-) XxxxxxxxxxxX

"No Cloud! Please don't go…"

The fourteen-year-old lad sighed and looked down at the girl clinging to his leg, flashing a smirk as he bent downwards and ruffled her locks of bright blonde, not wanting to leave on bad terms. He just about managed to pry the four-year-old from his shin, smiling at her as he spoke in a typical big-brother tone of voice.

"I have to, but I'll be home before you know it."

The little girl looked at him, her bright, gleaming blue eyes becoming rather doubtful as she eyed her older brother with impish suspicion…not sure whether to trust his words or not. She folded her small arms across her chest in a comical fashion and frowned up at him with indignant questioning

"Promise?"

Cloud gave half a laugh as he looked into her Mako-shining blue eyes; she'd been born with the eerie glow of Mako setting her sapphire irises alight. Many of the villagers blamed the unusual trait on the Mako-reactor situated on the nearby Mt. Nibel, but there had been no more children of Ali's age born with glow, leaving the problem unresolved. With a smile, the young adolescent looked into his little sister's eyes and nodded his spikey blond head.

"I promise; and I'll have loads of stories to tell you."

The little girl smiled brightly at the prospect of exciting tales from the Floating City and hugged her big brother goodbye. Her mother then pulled her back to allow her son some freedom to move, her own maternal instincts kicking in and blue eyes watering as Cloud suddenly seemed so grown-up all of a sudden. Cloud stood and, shouldering his back-pack, turned and walked away from his home; Nibelheim. Not once did he look back to see the adorable face of his little sister or the loving gaze of his mother, and he'd never get to ever again, for the malicious Masamune came slicing from out of nowhere, destroying his life beyond repair and annihilating his family-

"Ahh!"

Cloud Strife woke from the nightmare with a violent start and sat bolt upright in the bed, panting hard; he had broken out in a cold sweat. It was a few seconds before the blond realized he'd been the same dream as the last time, and the time before that: the guilt just seemed so agonizing when it invaded his sleep aswell as his day.

With an angered sigh, the young man flopped back down onto the mattress, Tifa stirring slightly beside him, but remaining in an enviously peaceful sleep. The now twenty five-year-old Cloud gave out a long groan as he attempted to close his eyes, only for his mind to be affronted by the sight of his burning hometown and Sephiroth's sickening smile as he walked away from the Strife house. It was as the blood dripped from the tip of Masamune that the blond then lost all interest in sleep and stood from the double bed: knowing that if he did somehow manage to fall back asleep, it would be into the same nightmare again.

Walking to the foot of the bed, to where his trousers lay, the young man ran a hand through his trademark spikes, sighing heavily as he lifted up the garment. He sifted through the deep pockets of the black combats and pulled out his wallet, opening it and looking at the two pictures inside. One was of him and his family: Tifa, Marlene, Kas and Denzel. Tifa had insisted on getting a picture of them all together about three months ago and that's what he'd arranged for their anniversary: a proper photographer was hired and everything. It had taken a lot of persuading to get Denzel to wear the stiff new clothes, entertaining galore to get Kas to sit still, whilst Marlene happily wore her newest dress and smiled quite contently. It had taken almost two hours, but they'd managed to get the pictures taken in the end. Smiling as the memory replayed, Cloud switched his attention to second picture kept safe in his wallet: it was a faded, yellowing picture of an adorable three-year-old girl. She'd had the same blond-coloured hair as him and her eyes were identical to his, only they had been shining with Mako energy since her birth, not due to any malicious experiments carried out by Hojo.

"Ali again?"

Cloud started slightly and spun as his wife's voice interrupted his blameful thoughts. Tifa was sitting up in the bed and looking at him with sympathy overly evident in her soft, earthy irises. With a second's hesitation and one more flashed glance at the picture, he nodded his spikey head.

"Yeah, she'd be gone fifteen now, y'know, if he hadn't …"

Cloud broke off, not willing to let his self-blame be voiced and yet he was unable to block out that annoying little voice that told him beyond all irrefutable doubt that the murder of his family by Sephiroth had been his own fault; if he'd been able to stop that monster then his mother and sister would still be alive today. Ali Strife had been his only sibling, ten years younger than him and he'd let her die.

The young father had been tormented by the same dream for months now. The same thing over and over; relentlessly reliving the last time he'd seen his little sis; on the day he'd left Nibelheim to join SOLDIER. The next time he'd set eyes on the girl had been for a brief couple of seconds when she was six, but he'd been unable to reveal himself to the people of his hometown because of his shame at not making it into SOLDIER. Tifa had been babysitting her that day and had sent the little girl home to her mother, Vanessa, when the Shinra party had arrived.

Three or four seconds; that's how long he'd been able to glimpse her blonde hair and blue eyes through the visor of his Grunt uniform.

"Cloud, it wasn't your fault."

He looked at his wife's worried gaze as she said the words, slightly surprised that she'd been able to read him like that, but he knew he was always an open book to Tifa. Cloud looked to her and flashed the woman a reassuring smirk, knowing she would worry for him.

"I know, Tifa."

She sighed heavily and looked to the clock on the locker at her side of the bed, resisting the urge to yawn deeply as she registered the unholy hour; the vivid red of the LED lighting was illuminating the time as twenty to four in the early morning. She then looked up to her husband and spoke softly in an understanding tone that she knew fell all too easily from her lips.

"You should get a couple more hours of sleep before starting the deliveries."

Cloud nodded his agreement and, slipping his wallet back inside its pocket, climbed back into the double bed, wrapping his muscled arms around Tifa as she seemingly drifted off to sleep again. But the woman didn't slumber - she remained awake for a few minutes, knowing Cloud to be wide awake behind her frame, with no intention of falling asleep - he would lie awake until the time came to start deliveries: it was the same after every nightmare. Her thoughts began their churning once more as she could sense it happening; Cloud was reverting back to his taciturn and detached ways once more, just like almost two years ago.

The husband and wife were woken at eight by the sound of tiny footsteps running towards their shared room. It surprised Cloud to find that he'd actually managed to slip in about an hour's sleep before the sun came up for the morning. The door was then opened rather abruptly and in bounded their one-and-a-half year old daughter, Kisara Aerith Strife, or Kas, as she was known for short.

"Hey little miss!"

Cloud lifted his tiny daughter high in the air, smiling. It was one of the first smiles he'd cracked in days. Tifa laughed as Kas started giggling; effectively hiding the rush of relief she had felt at seeing her husband smile. The little girl was the image of Cloud, with his face and features; she'd inherited his Mako-shining eyes aswell. The mother didn't have a clue where her daughter had gotten her colourless locks though; Kas had white hair that, with the slightest shade, would take on a deep blue colour. She'd researched her family history as much as she could, and yet Tifa still had no clue about the highly-unusual colouring - it was a mystery alright.

After a couple more blissful minutes of the little child giggling infectiously, Tifa carried her young daughter downstairs to give her a breakfast and open the bar, whilst Cloud walked to the converted-attic that doubled as the base office for the Strife Delivery Service, and sorted through the day's deliveries; most of them were in Edge, so he would be finished early enough.

But the woman couldn't help but heave an abnormally heavy sigh as her love walked out the door to commence these deliveries; things had improved immensely since Sephiroth had been defeated, but ever since the dreams had began he was becoming like the old Cloud again - withdrawn and solitary. Almost functioning on autopilot, she placed two more bowls of cereal on the kitchen table. Kas was sitting in her highchair, playing with her own bowl of rice crispies, spilling more on the floor than what was going into her mouth. Tifa grabbed a tea towel and wiped the cereal from the tiles with a smirk, before walking into the hall and shouting up the stairs.

"Marlene, Denzel; breakfast!"

After a few audible and sleepy protests, the two children appeared at the top of the stairs, bleary-eyed and still half-asleep. As the three kids sat in the kitchen, Tifa heard the door open and walked out into the bar to see Reeve entering as Yuffie bounded in behind him: she'd been working closely with the WRO for the last few months, as it seemed the organization could take advantage of the young princesses' espionage talents. Barret entered a few minutes after with Vincent almost in tow it seemed by the timing. Tifa smiled as she saw the awkward glances and slight blushes that were traded between ex-Turk and Wutain Royalty. Over the last couple of weeks, Shelke had been dropping a few hints here and there concerning Vincent's "moving on" and Reeve had supplied the other end of the tale about Yuffie's "new victim": it hadn't taken the bar-owner very long to string two and two together. As the men sat and talked about various things, Yuffie stood and walked up to Tifa who was watching from behind the counter of her bar, with an almost wanly expression upon her attractive features as she thought of the new relationship that would soon blossom, whilst it seemed hers was fizzling out.

"You look worried Teef …"

The mother started slightly as the hyper ninja snapped her fingers in front of her reddish-hazel irises, jolting her back to the present and away from her complex reveries. With little hesitation, Tifa reckoned it was maybe time to confide in Yuffie a little: the girl was supposedly going with Vincent Valentine after all, so she must have matured somewhat. The woman cast a cautionary glance over her right shoulder to ensure Marlene wasn't there; the eight-year-old always had a way of reading people's emotions that was very unusual for her tender age, but luckily Barret was occupying his little girl. Tifa turned back to Yuffie and frowned at her friend, talking in a low tone.

"It's Cloud; he's been having dreams about his little sister for months now."

When Yuffie raised her eyebrows in retaliation to this newly learned fact about one of her friends, having not known Cloud to have a younger sibling, Tifa explained everything about tragic little Ali.

"Whoa, killed by Sephiroth? Man, that's harsh."

The Princess of Wutai sounded sympathetic as she mulled over what she'd just been told. It was no wonder that Cloud had neglected to fill them in on that aspect of his history. It was unimaginable to have all of your family wiped out in one night. And then Tifa spoke with an air of slight lamenting as the topic hovered over the small blonde girl with striking Mako-glowing blue irises.

"I didn't see much of her after Cloud left; she was six when she and her mom were killed, I used to baby-sit her sometimes."

Tifa looked at Yuffie with something that passed as a melancholy smirk, thankful that she had someone to talk to; it was tiring to deal with everyone else's problems the whole time. Almost as though she knew what the other woman was about to ask, the normally hyper and uncontrollable twenty-year-old looked at her in quite an unusual and serious fashion, also taming her voice down to a low and sincere tone so unlike the young Princess, and yet appreciated by Tifa nonetheless.

"Don't worry Tifa; I won't say this to anyone. Poor Cloud; that boy never has any luck!"

"Ahh!"

Friday morning harboured no unexpected relief as Cloud woke violently from the same dream for the umpteenth time that week; they were getting even more frequent now. Every time he closed his eyes he could see his little sister's saddened face as she watched him walk away from their small mountain home; two years later and she hadn't even known he'd been in the village, and now it seemed that hindsight was taking it's toll as Cloud questioned why he hadn't revealed himself to his younger sister, constantly beating himself up about it. But retrospect was good for nothing.

Abandoning any more thoughts of sleep, he turned to see Tifa asleep, and then glanced at the clock, subsequently identifying the time as 8.03am.

"Tifa …"

He gently shook her awake, allowing them to fall into their almost automatic weekly routine; Tifa would walk downstairs, feed the kids and open the bar as Cloud went the opposite way, up to the attic-come-base office of his self-titled company, sorting through the many delivery logs and then he'd start the numerous deliveries that would take up the bulk of his day. It was monotonous, but at least it kind of took his mind off of the tormenting dreams for a while, albeit not nearly long enough.

7th Heaven still harboured the majority of AVALANCHE, aswell as one or two WRO members as the lunch hour approached. Tifa walked out from the kitchen, having been summoned into the room by the ringing of the wall-mounted phone, and answering, slightly apprehensive as her mind flashed on her childhood friend who had since become her husband; he'd been pretty subdued this morning as he'd left the house.

"Everything aright?'

That was the unmistakable undertone, calm voice of Vincent asking the query as she re-entered the bar and leaned on the counter, obviously looking a bit confused as she just ran through the phone call in her mind. The young woman looked at him with slight confusion, remembering the conversation she'd just had.

"Rufus wants us all to go to the Shinra building; apparently their new 1st Class SOLDIER arrived from the Junon training camp today."

The members of AVALANCHE looked at one another; it was true that, in the years since Cloud's defeating of Sephiroth, the eco-terrorist group had become close allies with Shinra. The young Rufus had raised his fallen empire from the ashes and resurrected Shinra as a formidable force that would repay its debts to Gaia. Over the last couple of months, there had been a lot of talk concerning this new 1st Class SOLDIER and the person's arrival would be welcomed as it would highlight the beginning of a new era for Edge and Gaia, in such that SOLDIER would be used only as a defence force; no more wars would tear the planet apart and any one or thing that attempted to cause havoc would pay the price of opposing SOLDIER's formidable power. Junon was now in the process of siphoning through its many enrolled troops and selecting the revered couple that would partake in SOLDIER training as the training itself remained as testing and exhausting as ever. B

But the arrival of this first SOLDIER would be a celebratory happening for everyone in Edge. It was Barret who spoke after a moment or two, already in the process of standing up, Marlene holding his right hand and Cait Sith held quite comfortably in her arms.

"Does Spikey know ta go to da buildin?"

"Tseng rang him; he'll meet us over there."

Tifa nodded her head as she answered the question, lifting Kas into her arms and sitting the small toddler atop her hip as she walked out from behind the counter of her bar, and stood as all her friends also got to their feet and made for the door aswell. One thing was for sure - if Rufus wanted them to check out this new SOLDIER, he'd better be good for his own sake, for a new Sephiroth would never be accepted.

Rufus Shinra greeted them at the front lobby, his young son, Bobby, running up to Kas, as did Tseng and Elena's daughter; Selphie. The three toddlers were round and about the same age and would probably grow up to be good friends in years to come.

Bobby was the result of Rufus and a young operative of Reeve's WRO, Rachie, becoming romantically involved with each other, so far that Rufus had proposed to the woman. Complications during Bobby's birth resulted in the twenty-three year old losing her life before she even got to set eyes upon her son, thus leaving Rufus as a single parent to the infant boy.

Tseng and Elena had become an item about three months after the events concerning Sephiroth's return; their time in captivity at the hands of Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz seemed to have strengthened the bond between the two Turks and that stood to testament as they'd been married for three years now, with a young daughter to show for it.

Cloud was already there; the core blade of his Buster Sword, the First Tsurugi, was held in his right hand, the young blond having distributed the rest of the feared sword within Fenrir's confines, but decided it best to bring one of the blades with him in case any sparring were to be carried out to test out this new 1st Class. Though he had to admit he was a bit curios: Gaia had been too long at this stage without a protective militant force and one would surely be needed as, though pessimistic, Cloud could still recall Sephiroth's words before dissipating and leaving Kadaj for dead.

The youthful president of the Shinra Electric Company looked as happy as a pig in shit as he explained all about the new SOLDIER. It was obvious to see the excitement as Shinra entered its new era as a positive company: at total odds to what it had been under the rule of the man's father those years ago. It was still hard to trust Rufus as he attempted to be a do-gooder nowadays, for his father's name would always hang over him, but many supposed that was exactly why he was attempting to turn his ways around - the father didn't want his young son to grow up and carry a burden like his; a notion that somehow managed to make it a little easier to believe the company-owner had reformed his ways.

"A girl?"

Cloud looked and sounded rather doubtful, not being able to help himself from repeating this detail immediately after Rufus had spoken the words. This would be the first time a female ever enrolled in the SOLDIER force, let alone made it to 1st Class ranking, a slight shock to the system. The force wasn't gender-biased or anything of the sort; it was just generally accepted that only males ever made it to SOLDIER level as a woman's anatomy was differentiated from a man's by muscle presence, energy levels amidst other factors; it just served as an unexpected surprise. Then again, if this was a new era, then it was time for a few changes.

"Yes, she's a girl; she enrolled at ten, promoted at thirteen and has been trained since then. She's just over fifteen years of age now. Junon training scouts claim she has a lot of promise. Also, the girl wields a Buster Sword much like your own Cloud; it, too, can be dismantled into six separate blades."

Upon hearing this statement from Rufus, Tifa smirked; it was hard to imagine a fifteen-year-old girl being capable of handle a sword like Cloud's; she had tried holding just the core blade herself once; talk about unimaginably heavy! That stunt had earned her a couple of pulled muscles, and then to watch Cloud effortlessly handle the whole, assembled, huge sword with amazing ease was both envy-inducing and a cause for admiration at the same time.

Reno's voice could be heard emanating clearly from the training hall as the group walked through the many labyrinthine corridors, towards the large chamber to the rear of the relatively new building. Upon opening the door, the redheaded Turk was to be seen, hitting heavily and quite obviously upon the newcomer.

"Reno! You'll scare her!"

Tseng scowled at the troublesome young Turk as he instructed the youth to be on his way; Cissnei wouldn't be happy if she found him flirting, for she and Reno had been a proper item for about three months now…the young woman seemed to be the only one capable of taming the redhead and they were working out pretty well as boyfriend and girlfriend. It was only then that the young teenager turned on the spot, laughing as the Turk called Reno hastily slinked away upon his boss's command, only to freeze as she noticed someone hauntingly familiar to her memories and the hall suddenly fell into an unintentionally frosty silence.

As two pairs of Mako-shining blue eyes stared at each other, the now frozen hall continued on with its immense quietness, two Buster Swords clattering to the floor as blond looked at blonde in disbelief, finally shattered the silence. Cloud barely recognized the girl, having not seen her properly in over nine years, and yet her memorable three-year-old appearance had been haunting him for months upon months now.

"Ali?"

Her Mako-gleaming eyes took on a new level of shimmering as they shone with tears whilst she looked at her older brother; Cloud had really changed; his arms were muscled, his shoulders broader, he was taller, a few new scars here and there, but his eyes said it all: it was definitely him. A single tear broke free and raced down her right cheek as she ran to him, her feet acting on autopilot as almost forgotten memories of her youngest years flashed incomprehensibly though her mind.

"Cloud!"

The young father blinked a couple of times as a result of confusion and utter shock and then he wrapped his arms around his little sister, hugging her as one point made it through to his disorientated mind; Ali wasn't dead. Rufus Shinra looked on, as did everyone else severely confused, but it was the unknowing company-president to be the first to speak, directing his question to the young teenager in his employment.

"Ali, you know Cloud?"

The teen pulled away from her older sibling's embrace as she nodded her blond tresses whilst looking up at the man she had become familiar with as her boss. Never had the girl imagined being stationed in Edge would bring about this, never.

"He's my brother, sir."

At the sound of this, Rude began chuckling, which was extremely unusual for the normally uptight Turk; it was a noise rarely heard by anyone else except Reno, who was now looking to his partner with surprised bemusement as the shade-wearing bald man looked back to him.

"Reno, you were hitting on Cloud Strife's little sister."

Even Tseng had to smirk at this comment, especially when Reno's cerulean eyes widened slightly upon realizing his friend was right.

Tifa looked at her shocked husband and his younger sister, her mind a whiz as she thought back over the past couple of months, maybe the dreams had been trying to tell him something? Whether this philosophical approach was correct or not, the young woman deftly realized this was a scene which would do so much better without the overcrowding of intrigued faces that were now about to bear witness to it.

"I think we'll give you two a bit of time."

She then proceeded to pretty much push everyone out until the only ones left in the vast room were the two Strife siblings, accompanied by Yuffie flashing Tifa a knowing smile as Cid and Barret surveyed the hyper young ninja with a curious air; aware that the bubbly youth was privy to some information that they weren't.

Cloud looked at Ali as she picked up her own sword from where it had clattered to a stop on the ground; the little girl had really grown up over the years. Gone was the adorable little three-year-old and in her place stood a young woman with a toned, elegantly muscled frame, her blond hair was layered to the waist with a side fringe that swept gracefully across her brow. Ali's skin was much more tanned now, due to her rigorous training in Junon, most of which was executed outside.

"I was told you were dead, like Mom. How did you survive Sephiroth's attack?"

The teen looked up as she heard her brother's voice: for too long she had forgotten what he sounded like and now the overwhelming sense of Déjà vu was setting in, bringing the young girl on a nostalgic memory-trip. She straightened up and smirked in a melancholy fashion as one night replayed within her mind's eye.

"Mom hid me when he came and I climbed out the back window before the house caught fire. When I saw Tifa running for the reactor, I tried to follow her, but a SOLDIER with black hair stopped me and told me to run as far away from the village as I could, I did what he said, guess I was lucky I did, huh?"

Cloud smirked as Ali raised her blond eyebrows in a lightly joking fashion, his mind having only now made the connecting links between her saviour and a rather cheeky and happy-go-lucky friend of his.

"That's another thing I owe Zack for."

Just to have something to do and stop herself from fidgeting awkwardly, Ali bent down to the floor for a second time and retrieved the other Buster Sword, then straightened up and handed her brother his blade, her glowing blue eyes riddled with confusion as the next of her queries seemingly blurted itself out; she had wanted to ask him this for as long as she could remember.

"Where were you Cloud? You promised me you'd come back."

A stab of guilt literally pierced right through his heart as he heard her voice asking this, and then the young man sat down on the first bench of the rising stand of bleacher-like stands against the far wall of the training hall, motioning for her to do the same, then, over the next hour or so, he told her of the events that had prevented his return home. Of Zack Fair, Hojo, Sephiroth, Shinra, AVALANCHE, Aerith Gainsborough, Meteor, Kadaj, Yazoo, Loz, the Geostigma and then he told her of his family, only to gain a delighted gasp from the fifteen-year-old in return.

"I have a niece?"

"Mmmm hmmm, she's eighteen months now."

"Awww, I so have to see her! You married Tifa, huh? I bet you're happy her dad isn't around to see that!"

Cloud smirked as he nodded his spikey head in agreement, looking up at the sound of the door opening and everyone re-entering the large hall, having spent long enough being filled-in on the facts by Tifa, with inputs from Yuffie every so often. Kas then came running up to her father, who scooped her up into his strong arms, a true smile on his face for the first time in months, a sight Tifa was only too happy to bear witness to as Cloud turned to his younger sister.

"Ali, meet your niece; Kisara, but we all call her Kas."

The fifteen-year-old looked at the baby and smiled as she saw the evidence of her family strains; she definitely had the Strife face, with the gentle curve of her nose and slender chin, and yet with the wider cheeks that were reminiscint of Tifa's.

"Hi sweetie."

Tifa smiled with amusement as Cloud handed Kas over to Ali; the toddler quickly became fixated with the shiny SOLDIER badge pinned to the left breast of the uniform, adamantly trying to disengage this new interesting shiny object from the garment.

"Do you have anywhere to stay, Ali?"

Ali looked up at the sound of the familiar voice and found her gaze to be locked with that of the woman who had once-upon-a-time babysat her, and was incidentally now her sister-in-law. The teen nodded her head, smiling as her niece babbled away and tried all her harder to liberate the SOLDIER badge.

"Shinra SOLDIER accommodation in Healin Lodge."

Tifa frowned as she heard the answer, not at all happy with it. Sure, the Geostigma treatment clinic had been made redundant after the mass curing of the Geostigma epidemic and it was now leased by the Shinra company and utilized as apartments for employees; the rooms were of the highest standard and nothing to complain about, but Healin was a bit away and the woman had a better idea, speaking with a sincere tone to her voice.

"Like hell, you're coming to live with us!"

"I…I don't want to intrude, you guys have a family -"

The teenager attempted to explain her reason for declining the generous offer, but it was truly futile as Cloud's wife cut her short with a knowing smile and finishing the conversation with a few simple, yet meaningful words of her own.

"And you're part of it now."

A/n- what u guys think; better/worse than original if u read it? Let me know anyway peeps!! Luvs ye!! XxxxxxxxxxxX

Author's Footnote; Kisara Aerith Strife is my own oc, the main character from my "Overcoming The Past" fic; she's modelled on the appearance of Yu-Gi-Oh!'s Kisara, but her personality is oc. Bobby is another oc, and as all Final Fantasy fans will have already guessed; Selphie is in fact Selphie Tilmitt from FFVIII (8), I just always thought she suited the role of Tseng and Elena's daughter; call me disillusioned if you want, lol!! Thanks huns!!