Sleep, it never came easy to Cloud strife as much as he wish it did; the phone they never used –save for emergencies was going off as he finally had finally started to drift off. Unfortunately, the phone wouldn't stop and he finally decided to make a lazy attempt at grabbing the phone

"Hello…" He said wearily he couldn't really even see everything was as dark as his clothing

"Who is it…" His wife mumbled the words eyes still closed

Clouds eyes shot open with shock his adrenaline kicked in and anger filled him

"WHO!? WHO DID IT!?" He shouted

The person on the other line went quiet for a minute – obviously moving his head away from the earpiece of the phone he started soon after Cloud calmed himself.

Tifa jolted up at the sound of Cloud raising his voice the door to their room slowly opened up and a younger brown haired teenager soon walked into the room.

"Mom…what's wrong with dad…?" The teenager asked

"Hang on sweetie; he's still on the phone." Tifa said softly beckoning her son to come sit with her.

When she was nervous, she played with her sons brown locks it calmed her, even if it reminded her of her husband's own spiky hair.

"Did Cloud wake you up, Sora?" She cooed

The young brunette was sixteen – his mother always babied him no matter what, which is why he's being poked and prodded by his mother's fingers, a part of him hated being treated like this but he knew she needed something to comfort her.

"I was having trouble sleeping but now I'm wide awake" Sora smiled softly

Her child was energetic, had brown hair which seemed to change depending on his mood – his eyes deep blue they lit up when he was happy, dark when serious or angered and she loved that about him.

"I see… one forty-five…I understand I'll be there" Cloud said softly as he ended the call

"Dad…is everything al-"Cloud looked to him his eyes going into that feral state. Sora didn't even hesitate to leave the room.

"Both of them…gone" Cloud said softly

"What…wait you don't mean?"

"Zack and Aerith both passed on – since we're listed as god parents we…have to decide on if we want to keep their children or send them to foster parents" Cloud looked at her his eyes still held anger

"They…said it was a homicide someone- or possibly a group just came in and killed them, they didn't even have time to defend themselves, and whoever it was, was gone before anyone even knew what happened the kids were at school and came home to…to see…" He grit his teeth

"C-Cloud we have to help them…they could be next" Tifa whispered

"Tomorrow I'll go fill out the paperwork, I know you'd do anything to get them to stay here no matter my answer" Cloud smiled softly.

"How do you think Sora will take it?" Tifa asked slight concern in her voice

"He's no child he'll be alright" Cloud placed a hand on his loving wife's hand before he laid back down eventually relaxing and drifting off to sleep.

"Tomorrow's going to be a long day"

The daily routine of the house – Tifa's the first awake to get breakfast started, on the off chance Cloud's awake first he'd start it, today was different Sora was already out the door, pieces of food falling from his face as he raced towards the only few classes he's attending at the moment.

This was the last day of his classes before school started

If only he took the easy way, and skipped today.

His class instructor, in the closet with his assistant – the kids he talked to were either making out holding hands or something inappropriate more so to the point he completely blocked it out as something taboo. Sora sighed and got up quickly leaving his friends – Riku and Kairi before it got too…personal and went to the only place he could have a moments rest.

"Guess, I'll brush up, not much else to do…" Sora reasoned as he hit a few buttons on the device in front of a dome

They had countless enemies of which the young warriors may or may not have to fight one day – the most recent only a select few had the pleasure to meet. Shadow walkers, they weren't normal even among the heartless and nobodies they were like…a fusion of everything anyone had ever faced, they were stronger, faster, and they weren't completely driven by instinct. In short, they could think which - was the worst aspect although, Sora not knowing any of this selected to face one that they captured.

"Can't be hard if people haven't seen many of them, should be a good warm up" Sora mused as he stepped into the dome after selecting the enemy – only then did it show its rank.

Cloud had arrived at the house of his closest friends' home, only now it didn't have that glow of warmth it only held death. "This house would no longer hold fond memories…for them anymore…"

Cloud was in a sports car – unlike his normal bike then Fenrir – that'd be just a fun way to get back and forth.

The children Zack was blessed with were both girls Rikku and Yuffie, Cloud constantly questioned why he named his children such names but after a few months dropped it, out of friendship and would only bring it up to annoy his best friend. Now it was more like a keepsake the gift of a loving home and names that would always be with them. As they put everything they owned into the car. Cloud questioned how the girls were taking it, not aloud mind you; he didn't want to upset them but was concerned.

"Alright let's-" He heard sniffling from the back seat, then it started to come from the seat next to him, both girls started to cry as soon as Cloud put the car in start, he realized he was inadvertently ripping them away from the only home they ever knew.

"I feel like the bad guy when I'm not even the one who did this," Cloud thought in a sullen state

"I…know you girls are sad, but believe me, I'll find the person or people responsible for this, and believe me when I tell you, they won't get away with just getting arrested. I'll make them pay." Cloud's eyes started to change but resisted the urge to lose it in front of his new charges

"You…Promise?" Rikku said in between sniffling and whipping her tears away

"I swear" As he revved the engine alive and made his way home

Sora was having a bit…of trouble with this Shadow walker…seeing as a majority of the area happened to be covered in his blood. Huffing heavily he thought of one idea, he had yet to use. He threw his practice blade at the shadow walker and quickly used sonic rush.

As his instructor said, his keyblades will always return to him so he decided to use it to his advantage striking without thought so long as he hit the concoction on his last run through he finally managed a fatal blow that was causing it to fade away.

"You will never be rid of us, we will come after you, and do whatever we can…to end you, human harbinger of chaos, you hold too much…to let live." The demon of shadow shot a blast of energy from his mouth sending the brunette into shock…and flying out of the dome and over the cliff.

"Sora!" Terra – his instructor shouted he couldn't even reach him in time to even so much as grab his hand.

"Terra look! He defeated a shadow walker!" Aqua shouted

"He…defeated a Shadow walker?!" Riku had a look of annoyance and jealousy flash in his eyes

"Shit…c'mon looks like we're getting sued... again" The kids deadpanned

Cloud felt he must've had some sort of odd luck to have the sun roof open or just knew his son would do something stupid – but everything boiled down to how lucky his son was at this point when he landed in the car half alive…Cloud sighed heavily as both Rikku and Yuffie began to scream.

"Damn it, Sora" Cloud whispered

Cloud raced home even faster and almost blasted out of the car as soon as he got to his homes driveway and rushed into his sons' room to let him lie down and rest after Tifa rushed in giving him her full attention

"Well, least today's his last day there" He said sarcastically as Tifa came out of the boys' room with an annoyed look about her.

"He nearly died and was lucky enough to black out before hitting the car, otherwise he'd probably be worse off, and you make a joke?!"

"Because if he's anything like us he'll be up in about an hour wanting food and playing call of duty like nothing happened" Cloud shrugged Tifa huffed at his response but nonetheless dropped her argument.

"This will be his first year there; I wonder how he'll do…don't you?" Tifa questioned

"He had to hone his skills for a full year before they'd let him enter, so hopefully fine, the girls have it a bit easier, they've been accepted because of the recent loss and the fact that Zack was a registered solider first class no less - they have a full ride" His voice subdued

"Oh c'mon Cloud, you know you're strong, just because you didn't make it into that program all those years ago doesn't mean anything!"

"But it does!" He retorted

"It's affecting my child's studies because I wasn't good enough!" Cloud looked away from his wife

"I'll go check on the girls alright? We need to be as perfect as we can for them; we can't let them see this side of us" Tifa whispered

"Perfect…huh?"

Tifa made her way to the vacant room at the end of the hallway that was adjacent to her son's room giving it a soft knock she entered and saw the girls sitting with what seemed distant faces.

"Hey, are you two doing okay? Need anything?" She asked softly with a warm set look in her eyes

"Do, you know when it'll be? The funeral that is" Yuffie asked Rikku sniffled a bit more

"Look will have time to deal with that later, you two need to cheer up just a bit, if you walk around like that even Sora will start to wonder if something's wrong" Tifa smiled softly

"He's...the one who fell through the sunroof right? Haven't seen him in such a long time, he looked so different

"Well that's true you two haven't seen him in a few years, since he went to a different middle school, but now you'll all be going to the same school so, hopefully you'll get along with my battle ready son" Rikku giggled

"He seemed – even after that fall- so…carefree," Rikku said softly a smile forming on her face.

"He was covered in blood, I'm surprised he's alive, but…He looked a whole lot hotter than I remember" Yuffie said – her expression showed her to be deep in thought her sister…was perplexed at this statement.

"How can looks be all that important?" Yuffie shrugged and started unpacking

"Weirdo" Rikku huffed out and started to do the same.

"Let me know if this room isn't enough, I know you two girls might want your space and don't be afraid to let me know" Tifa smiled

"Yeah, but, why would you bother? Aren't we just going to be transferred to-"

"-No" Tifa said grimly

"As long as you girls are here, this will be your home, Cloud and I agreed to this." Tifa said firmly

"Just…act as if nothing's changed, call me if you need me" Tifa smiled tenderly as she left the girls to unpack

"This…is our new home…" Rikku said softly

Yuffie huffed and sat down on the bed next to her sisters and looked at the walls

"We need paint and lots of it" Yuffie smiled softly

"When do you think it'll hit them?" Cloud questioned in a hushed tone

"I…don't know they've been keeping themselves busy, they need time to grieve just as we do, they'll do it in their own way just leave them be for right now, how's Sora?" Cloud gave an odd look

"Oh yeah, he's been playing call of duty for the last twenty minutes, when I went to check on him a second ago he was finally falling asleep" Cloud said softly.

Tifa gave a knowing look and seductively made her way to the room her and her husband shared.

"Guess will grieve in a more physical way."

Sora finally shot up from bed in a rushed almost panicked manner and looked over at his clock, it read 5:30, he still had another hour – hour and a half to get ready at best, so he got up and almost dashed down the hall to relieve himself. After doing his normal hygienic duties in the bathroom walked at a more subdued pace back to his room, until he heard sniffling.

"It'll be okay, Rikku, if you keep crying like that I'll-"He assumed she'd started as well

He wasn't one for eavesdropping but he felt worried for the two females he – hadn't even seen yet at all which made him feel somewhat guilty.

"Do you really think, they'll let us stay, that this could really…become our home?" It seemed as though Rikku asked it

"This…is our only option we have to do whatever we can to make it work…we have to" Sora deciding his best course of action was to quickly head back to his room he shuffled back but…his eyes felt hazy, although his mind, his mind was full of resolve.

Those two, I will make sure they make it through this.

This is only the start the original outline I had for this story was a lot longer but...alas was erased - although i'm glad it had a few things that had already been done but hopefully I can keep this fresh and new for everyone, drop a review if you wish but i'll have the second chapter out later today. Peace

-AE