A/N: Hey All

A/N: Well, apparently I was on a roll tonight, it's one in the morning on June 20th and I just finished rewriting this chapter. Hope you enjoy it!

0-0-0-0-0

Tempest the Turk

Part 1

Chapter 1

Two Years Alone

0-0-0-0-0

West Kalm, Eastern Continent

18:12 (-2 GST) August 19, 1983

Piper knew something was wrong long before Leo cam to her door with her silent and blood-stained daughter as she was about to start dinner. No words were exchanged as Cloud stepped inside and the sun-kissed brunette handed her Skye's still bloody Buster Sword.

The days turned into weeks and then months without a single word between the blonde duo. Piper still left each morning to work at Mari and Hev's, Cloud still went into the east fields every day to train her magic on the Gnomes and Dirt Mice that roamed there.

One day though, Piper came downstairs to find her daughter already awake, breakfast ready and waiting for her. The blonde herself was seated in the corner of the living room in Skye's well-worn armchair, a familiar leather bound journal in her hands. The journal her father had written in when he was still working with SOLDIER.

He'd been a part of the earliest group of SOLDIER, before the Mako injections became common place. He'd made it through the ranks on sheer skill and ability, as well as an affinity for magic.

While Piper was left speechless by the break in their routine, her daughter looked up upon realizing she was here and tilted her head slightly as she pointed to something on the page, "Mother? What's this word? I don't know it."

She relaxed slightly and walked over to examine the page, following the child's small finger to the offending word and concentrating on giving an accurate definition, "Dorm: it's a place where a group of people live together."

"Is it a kind of house?"

"Not quite, a dorm room itself is usually for students who live at their school, the Academy dorms are an example of that. The Cadets are assigned a room with three other Cadets. That room is their home away from home, they sleep and study there and there's an adjoining bathroom."

"Oh," she blinked as she filed away the information, "So that's what it means . . ."

Piper smiled as Cloud bookmarked her page, "Now, let's go enjoy that wonderful smelling meal you made."

"Okay!"

0-0-0-0-0

West Kalm, Eastern Continent

19:20 (-2 GST) August 20, 1984

Cloud, now eight years old, held up her new dress to her body to get an idea how it would look. It was a pale orange-red with green embroidery making a small flame design in the bottom right corner. Typical Kalm clothing, plain yet vibrant.

Hearing footsteps on the stairs, she quickly tucked it out of sight, but not quick enough apparently, she realized as she heard her mother sigh from the doorway, "Oh, Cloud . . ."

Looking up sheepishly, the younger blonde started to try to explain her actions, "I know you want me to dress like a girl, but . . ."

"But?" the green-eyed widow prompted with a raised eyebrow.

"Most everybody thinks I'm a boy 'cause of how I dress-" she said in a rush, but cut herself off when her mother raised a hand.

"It's almost everybody and because of how you dress."

"Yeah, whatever, Mother," Cloud said in an unconscious quote of her father, "Anyway, the people who think I'm a boy respect me more than the ones who know I'm a girl, Leo and Mari are the only ones who don't treat me like a silly little girl when I talk about using magic."

"Are you saying you want to be a cross-dresser?" the other blonde eyebrow rose to join the first, she knew Hev and Kelli in particular were very careful around her daughter, ever since Skye died, they treated her like glass.

"A what?" Piper almost laughed at the remarkably accurate impression the younger blonde gave of a stunned Chocobo.

"A cross-dresser: someone who dresses themselves so that others think they are a member of the opposite sex."

"Ohh that-I mean . . . yeah," Cloud corrected herself quickly.

She could only laugh at her daughter's antics, if she'd thought it over that much there was nothing she could do to stop her, she was just like her father: loyal and stubborn. "Oh, Cloud . . . just remember though, being a cross-dresser can be scorned sometimes, it is a form of deceit after all."

"Only if they find out!" she pointed out with an infectious grin, a rare sight this past year.

"Yes, if they find out," Piper smiled and tweaked Cloud's nose, "Now put your dress away right and come downstairs, dinner's ready, I made your favorite."

The eight-year-old instantly brightened at the implications, "Sashimi!?"

"Mm-hmm," her mother nodded at the now hyperactive child, "And if you're good, I'll let you make your own from the leftovers."

"Oiyaah!" she exclaimed and quickly pulled the dress out again as Piper stood to leave the room, shaking out the newly forming creases.

"You've got ten minutes."

"Okay!" Cloud replied as Piper left the room. "I wonder what scorned means . . . sounds like disliked . . ."

She'd be sure to add sashimi to her list of 'Things That Make Cloud Happy,' it was considerably shorter than it had been a few years ago . . . she shook away her somber thoughts and descended the stairs.

Fifteen minutes later, Cloud could be found on a chair in front of the kitchen counter, working with exaggerated care and somehow avoiding getting rice stuck to anything other than her fingers as she carefully made the rolls.

Piper watched her work, smiling in amusement at the serious yet pleased face the younger blonde wore. Yes, definitely need to add making sashimi to the list.

0-0-0-0-0

West Kalm, Eastern Continent

18:30 (-2 GST) August 28, 1985

Today had been rather busy at Tree-Mark Apparel, leaving the blonde woman very eager to make an easy dinner and relax with a cup of Kanella Blossom tea. Cloud had other plans apparently as the nine-year-old rose at her entrance, a small box in her hands.

"Mother! I've got something for you!"

Resigned to enduring a little more time before relaxing in exchange for the proud air her daughter was exuding, Piper took a seat and accepted the metal box. It had two combination locks as well as a latch where she suspected a padlock had rested. A very familiar padlock, she remembered when Skye had bought it, she'd seen the key on a chain around her daughter's neck time and again.

"What is it?"

"I know you've been wanting to move and you'd even looked at a house in Nibelheim, but you didn't think we had enough gil for it," the blonde's face fell at the blue-eyed girl's discovery.

"Cloud . . ."

"Wait!" Cloud stopped her before she could say anymore and opened the box, "I've been saving these for a while, but . . . I know that Leo can give you a lot for them!"

Her eyes widened at the sight of several colored orbs, six green and one blue, "But . . . Cloud, aren't these . . . ?"

She shook her head with a hesitant smile, "Each time I mastered one of my materia, I started on a new one, I'm already at third level on most of my newest ones, those are all my older Masters. There's three Lightning, one All, one Restore and two Ice . . ."

"That's . . ." She scrunched up her face as she struggled to remember the exact number, "One million, six hundred . . . and seventy . . . three thousand gil . . . I think. And the house was only five hundred thousand, so . . ."

The widow laughed slightly, "Cloud, I know for a fact that just this one All Materia," as she spoke, she reached in and selected the odd one out, "Will be more than enough, keep the others, you might need them some other time."

Cloud's face dropped at the partial refusal, "You sure?"

"Yes I'm sure," she leaned forward and kissed her forehead fondly, "Thank you."

The smile instantly returned to her daughter's face and she proudly said, "Thank you, Mother, now I can see where you grew up."

"Mm-hmm," the Nibel-born woman nodded and closed the box, pressing it into Cloud's hands, "Now, go put away your materia while I make us some dinner."

The small blonde nodded obediently and disappeared upstairs.

0-0-0-0-0

West Kalm, Eastern Continent

05:45 (-2 GST) October 2, 1985

Blue eyes stared at the dark and familiar details of the bedroom ceiling, it wasn't morning quite yet, so why had she woken up? She usually didn't get up until dawn was an hour past at the least. It took that long for the sunlight to hit her bedroom properly, since her bedroom was one the west side of the house.

Then her mind clicked and she sat up with a noise that sounded uncannily like a kweh, today was a very important day, a very important day indeed.

Outside, everything was silent, a small Redwing was peacefully sleeping above the window of a small home. It fell off it's perch with a strangled squawk as sound roughly woke it from it's rest.

"Yes! We're leaving today!" Cloud blinked as a reddish blur dropped past her window and then shook her head, slipping out of bed as she realized there was no way she'd be able to get anymore sleep.

0-0-0-0-0

0-0-0-0-0

A/N: There you go, chapter one in all it's redone glory! By the way, are any of you fanatics enough to spot the line which is something of a quote of Harry Potter from book 1?

Rewritten: 6/20/08