Final Fantasy VII:

Destiny of the One Winged Angel

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, nor did I have anything to do with its creation, and all content referring to Final Fantasy VII belongs to Squaresoft/SquareEnix. Also any characters that do not appear in the original Final Fantasy VII have nothing to do with, and strictly appear for the purpose of this story.

"Cephilroud…Cephilroud…" a voice soothing, cooing, calling a name, "the time…is near…" 'Time…what time…' deep within slumber, consciousness knows that the words spoken are true, "Cephilroud…" again, the name is said.

~*~

Chapter: 1 - Journey

Warm rays of sunshine graced through the window, gently caressing the smooth, fine features of Cloud Strife. His brow creased and twitched suddenly, not from the rays, for he relished them, but from whatever haunted his sleep. He opened his eyes slowly and stared blankly at the ceiling, then sat up and turned his head towards the window that the warmth filtered in from. He watched as birds sang and danced among the trees, and relaxed a bit.

"Just a dream…" he said, a smile softening his features and lay back down, among the soft cushion of his pillow. He lay there for a moment, his upper torso bare, and his arms folded under his head.

He let the song of nature lull him again, when the sudden chime of his clock sounded, making him check the time. His eyes narrowed and he sat back up again, 'Dammit! I promised to meet Tifa!' he thought, and jumped out of bed to wash up and take a quick shower. By quarter past he was dressed and ready, clad in faded jeans and a pale blue shirt, he ran out of his house and made his way to the Inn.

"Cloud! Miss. Tifa's been looking for you!" the clerk said from behind the counter, as Cloud barged in.

"I know," he breathed, skidding to a halt at the desk, "where is she?" the clerk opened his mouth to reply, when Tifa came down from the upstairs, with a look that could wither a sapling.

"Glad you could make it…fifteen minutes late!" she said, without even making an effort to hide her displeasure.

"Hey, better late than never…" Cloud said, trying to manage an apologetic smile, but unable to make the muscles in his face work. She glared at him, then softened.

"Well, at least you're here…it only means that we have to travel for longer in order to make up lost time," she said, folding her arms and raising an eyebrow, to see his reaction.

"I can live with that," the other replied, shrugging, "so, when do we leave?" he asked, leaning his back against the desk, with his arms resting on the top. Tifa looked into his eyes for a while and felt the ghost of an old feeling rise up, and die down just as quickly. The clerk cleared his throat, as he bent over to rummage about some account records.

"We leave as soon as Lumira arrives," she replied, and caught the surprised look on his face, "I suggest getting your things ready in the meantime, we'll meet at the entrance to the Town," she continued, and before he could say anything in response, she turned and went into the back, evidently sorting out equipment for the trip, judging by the sounds.

"Hmm…Lumira, huh, I wonder why she wants to come along," the clerk mused, studying the account record he had randomly picked up.

"I wonder why…" Cloud said and left briskly through the door, letting it slam itself shut. He headed towards his home, they had been preparing for this journey for quite some time, and never had Lumira been mentioned. 'Maybe she knew I wouldn't approve, I mean it has only been six months since I found her,' he thought as he entered his house and made his way to one of two bookcases.

He removed a set of keys from one of them, then turned and made his way to a chest and unlocked it. Inside lay the Buster Sword, a blade that had once belonged to his friend, who he owed his life to. He lifted it out and swung it before him, getting the feel for its use, he hadn't used it since he found Lumira, 'Six months out of practice…'.

He let the thought trail on, as he rummaged inside the chest, setting aside the familiar purple suit of the former owner of the sword, and took out a smaller chest. He opened it and took out the two mastered materia, Lightning and Ice, and placed them into the two vacant slots at the base of the sword.

He looked at the set, and felt the memories he had with these items, pushing them down before they surfaced, and dressed in the purple uniform, clasping each and every buckle, the spiked shoulder pad, securing the wide, leather belt. He pulled on the single gauntlet over his left arm, and ran his hands over the leather gloves. He stood in front of the mirror for a while looking back at the same person he had seen just over five years ago, returning to his home for the first proper time, without those posers.

He picked up the blade for a while, looking along its length almost ceremoniously, and with the same reverence strapped it to his back, and turned to leave the house. Cloud stopped momentarily to grab his cloak and throw it about himself, clasping it at his throat, then turned and looked back. Something about this trip didn't seem right, he felt a great sense of foreboding as he closed the door and made his way to the entrance to wait for Tifa and Lumira.