This is chapter two, everyone. I hope you like it, it took me a lot of time and angry parents, and I do hope that it was worth the time. I loved writing this, and I hope you will like reading it as much as how I liked writing it.
I am completely aware of the fact that the last part of my previous chapter really sucked, because I was stressed and I wanted to have it published ASAP. I changed it however into something that doesn't ruin the plot that much but only gives small hints, that you won't probably even notice yet.
For those who don't want to read the previous chapter all over again, I added the changed part beneath. Enjoy, everyone, and thanks again for being so supportive. I would really like you to review this chapter as well as the previous one, because I really want to know what to think.
A special thanks to Lisa as well, who is reading all of my long chapters and finds the time to correct them as well. Thank you!
- Eline

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~Aerith's inheritance~
chapter one
ending

Cloud was sitting in Aerith's church, close to the water surface. He was holding the box of letters in his hand and he was looking into the water as if that would come up with a solution.
"Tell me, what should I do?" Cloud mumbled to himself. He thought of the first day that he had come here, that he fell out of the sky, right into the flowers. There he had met Aerith.
Would she have wanted him to open the box? The box with private letters to Zack?
Yes, she would. He knew. She wanted him to, because she wanted him to be happy, and she knew that Cloud became happy of everything that made him find out more things about her and Zack.
Yes. He knew what to do. He was going to dig up the past again, but this time, his mind would stay in the present. He wouldn't let down Tifa this time. He was strong enough now.
He got the tape of the box, and then lifted the lid. There was a huge pile of handwritten letters, all in a handwriting he knew. His assumptions had been right, they were Aerith's.
He carefully picked up the first letter, scared to find out what was in it, but also curious. His eyes ran over the page quickly and he found himself smiling.

Hey Zack,
It's me. How are you doing? Are you somewhere on a mission, trying to save the world? It sounds pretty heroic, but it makes me scared nonetheless. There is a lot of trouble out there and, even though you're strong, you don't always know what you are up against. Be careful, please?
I think you will like to hear that the flowers are selling really well! I'm making a lot of money, which I use to help the people rebuild their houses. I feel great, because I'm actually helping people.
I miss you, Zack, when will you drop out of the sky again?
I hope this letter will reach you.
Aerith

Cloud smiled again. The sweetness was so overly Aerith. Still, he couldn't help feeling a bit jealous of Zack. Yes, Aerith and himself had never really had a relationship, but still he had really liked Aerith. Even though she had expressed a lot of interest in him, Cloud knew that she had always loved Zack, the way she had never loved him. He lay the letter aside and picked up another one.

Hey Zack,
I haven't written to you for like a week, so I guess it's about time! I never received anything back from you, so I think that saving the world takes a lot of time. Please find some time to write back to me.
Today, this blond boy walked up to me and bought one of my flowers. He seemed kind of nervous. It was really sweet, actually, for he probably bought it for his girl. Nobody has ever given me a flower to show me how much he cares for me. I would like one though.
Anyway, I'm going into town, so I'll write to you soon. I'll post this letter on the way.
I will see you soon, right?
Aerith

Cloud's smile turned into an awed gaze when he read the part about the boy buying a flower. Could she mean him? It was odd, almost as if she was talking to him personally. He picked one letter after the other, all containing sweet information about Aerith's life, and her pleads for Zack to return to her.

Remember your promise, Zack? I wanted to spend more time with you, and you agreed. Now, where are you?...

You probably don't even get these letters anymore, but I just have to have hope! I must keep writing, although I don't even know where I have to send them to anymore…

Zack, where are you?...

Write back to me…

I miss you… …Come back!... where are you… I need you…

Almost all the letters contained these little sentences, and Cloud admired Aerith's willpower. She never gave up on hope. She had always trusted that Zack would somehow receive these letters.
The more Cloud read, the more he found out about the way Aerith had lived in her last months. She was protected by the turcs, mainly by some he knew as well. He read Reno's name several times. Rude's, Elana's, even Tseng's name was there from page to page. Cloud couldn't help feeling a bit angry with Reno for knowing Aerith almost better than he had known her herself. For instance

Hi Zack,
I'm sitting here next to my flower field, wondering what to write to you. With me right now are Elana, Reno and Rude. Reno is still such an ungentlemanlike person. He annoys me a lot, because he tries to read what I'm writing to you and he is such a nosy person. Plus, his flirting is not working.
Ha, he read that too. Good. Now he's sulking in a corner.
It doesn't feel nice that they –the turks I mean- are watching my every step twenty-four hours a day. On the other hand, I really like (most of) them, so it isn't such a vexation. It just bothers me that I'm not capable of telling you everything I would like. They love secrecy but they don't respect mine…

The letter continued like that for a while, with complaining about the lack of privacy and things like that, but Cloud wasn't interested in that. She did that in almost all of her letters, complaining about not being able to express what she felt in her letters because people read it and all. But mostly, he was interested in Aerith playfully pretending not to like Reno, even though it was easy to see that she was really fond of him. She just thought he was rude. Without the capital R.
Cloud had read the first eight letters now, and he felt like a weight was pushing him down. Instead of feeling better, he felt worse than before. These letters were so obviously not meant for him, these words of fondness dedicated to someone else. This world, this life that Aerith was talking about, was not one where he belonged in. It was Zack's. Cloud felt like he was intruding in his personal stuff. He knew when he began reading that it was actually wrong to read the letters, because they were not officially his, but still he couldn't not read them.
He sighed, stood up and headed back to Seventh Heaven.
"I'm back," he screamed when he entered the house.
"Are you…okay?" Tifa asked, running towards him.
"As okay as I can be right now," Cloud answered and sent her a reassuring smile.
Vincent came running into the room, looking more upset than they had ever seen him before.
"Come quickly. Denzel is gone, and there is blood everywhere..."

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~Aerith's inheritance~
chapter two
discoveries
By Eline aka Asrialth

The three of them ran towards the stairs. Cloud regretted the fact that he had felt so safe the last couple of days that he had left his sword in his room. Who could have known that he would have to use it again? Just four days ago, everything was normal and then suddenly Cissnei showed up and the whole world was turned upside down.

"Denzel? Denzel!" Tifa screamed as she climbed up the stairs, taking three steps at a time.

"Tifa, be careful," Vincent said to Tifa, trying to sooth her. Tifa didn't listen, she just kept running, unable to notice anything around her and Cloud was sure that she wouldn't even notice if Omega would suddenly appear next to her. And honestly, Cloud couldn't have cared less if it would. All that mattered right now was Denzel and Marlene.

They ran into Denzel's room, Tifa first, then Vincent, then Cloud. Indeed, it was as Vincent has said: the window was open and the grey carpet was filled with little stains of blood.

"What happened? Cloud, what happened? What happened, Cloud? Vincent?" Tifa was on the edge of hysteria.

"Tifa, calm down," Cloud said, knowing that he wasn't calm himself either, "I have to go look for him."

"Where are you going to look? How do you know where he is?"

"I don't, that is why it is called looking." Cloud's voice sounded flat, as if his mind was somewhere else already. Without saying anything more, he left the room and ran up the stairs, to look for his sword.

"Check up on Marlene!" Cloud screamed to them, as he was getting in clothes he could more easily fight in. It had been long since he had worn these for the last time, and doing so pushed a weight on his shoulder. The weight of anticipation. Putting on this suit meant fighting, getting hurt, people dying… And something told him that he was going to have to keep it on for a very long time.

"Marlene…is gone…" Tifa's voice sounded from downstairs. Feeble and without any hope in it. Cloud ran downstairs again and looked through Marlene's room. Indeed, she was gone as well. But there was no blood this time. No trace of a fight, of resistance. Perhaps it was like the last time they had taken Denzel and Marlene away? Marlene had been unharmed while Denzel had had to drink the Black Water. But then again, why would something like that happen again right now? Denzel had been healthy for some time now, the geo-stigma hadn't laid his hands on him again, and Kadaj and his gang were dead. Then what was going on here? Who would have taken them away? And why?

"I will go with you, Cloud," Vincent said next to him.

"We will all go with you!" Tifa said.

"No," Cloud said in his soft, low voice, "we have to split up. It's dangerous, I know, and I don't like to do it, but it is the best way to look for them."

Cloud always hated to do things like that. He remembered always feeling that way when he had to let Tifa go on her own to some big fight, but at the same time, he knew Tifa was a tough one. She was one who was hard to defeat. Perhaps it was not only her physical strength, but also the strength of her determination. If she wanted to get something done, she would. Always.

It was the mother-figure in her. Like the thing Cissnei and Cloud had already talked about that morning; Tifa always got her way, even if it was about silly things of making a sandwich or doing laundry.

Cissnei.

How could they have forgotten about her?

"Indeed we have to split up. But first, let's check on the turk," Cloud said, and he heard Tifa following him when he ran through the hallway, running into Cissnei's room. Cissnei was still there. But she wasn't awake. She as lying next to the bed, unconscious, a trail of blood coming from her mouth.

He lifted her carefully from the ground and laid her into her bed again. The room showed several signs of a struggle. But Cissnei had been weak, and she had lost. How come Tifa and Vincent didn't hear anything when all of this had happened? It must have been so silent that it could have been no one.

Except if...

"Tifa, take care of Cissnei," Cloud said, "Vincent, would you go look for traces of Marlene and Denzel?"

Vincent nodded.

"And what are you going to do, Cloud?" Tifa asked Cloud.

"I … Have to deal with someone first. Wait for me, here." He put his sword on his back and walked out of the room with big, determined steps.

-----

Aerith Gainsborough was sitting next to her flower field, holding a pencil and a paper in her hand.

"Mr Rude, what should I write?"

"She called you Mister, Rude!" a voice sounded from behind her, mocking, "it's probably because of your suit. I don't see anything else about you that makes you a gentleman."

"Well, at least he doesn't have long red hair, Reno," Elana said, who was standing next to Aerith as if she was her bodyguard. Which she probably was, though, because there could only be one reason for the turks standing around the last Cetra alive.

"I think you should write something sweet to him, honey," Elana said to Aerith and looked over her shoulder to see what she was writing, "ask him to see you soon or to visit."

"Is he allowed to visit, then?" Aerith answered a bit sharply.

"We'll see if it is safe then."

"Should I tell Zack about the danger that is coming?"

"NO!" All three turks said together, "you can't do that. What if it falls into the wrong hands?"

"But what if Zack is in danger because of the things that I know?" Aerith asked, her voice more determined than before. She was trying to get her way.

"Aerith, you are the only one who knows what is going to happen, we aren't even allowed to know," Reno said, a little bit whiney because he felt left out, "Tseng told us that we can't ask you and that no one else may know."

"And he is right," Elana said, who felt a great respect for all the rules.

"Well, if I'm not allowed to tell Zack, then so be it…" Aerith said, and sighed as if the others had won the argument. But those who knew her better, saw the little crease above her eyebrows appearing, the sign of having found a solution to a problem. Leave it to Aerith to break the rules. She would find a way to let Zack know…

With a tiny smile, she began writing the letter to Zack, overly confident that he would understand the message of warning lying behind the text.

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"Tifa?" Cloud asked when he picked up his cell phone. He was riding on his bike and had decided to ignore Tifa's calls, but when she called four times in a row, he figured that whatever she had to say was more important than his mission right now. She knew that he was doing something important and she wouldn't bother him if she didn't think it was more important than that.

"Finally, someone is picking up the phone…" Tifa answered him.

"Yes, sorry, Tifa. What is it? Something wrong?"

"Cissnei just woke up."

"Is she alright?" Cloud asked out of habit, even though right now, he could not be concerned about her now, because there were more important things to worry about. Marlene and Denzel for instant.

"Yes. Well, no, actually. But she is healthy, if that is what you mean," Tifa said mysteriously.

"What do you mean by that?" Cloud asked, alarmed by Tifa's tone.

"She is saying things I don't understand."

"What?"

"I don't know, Cloud, but she says things that don't make sense and I've got the idea that she doesn't recognize me…" Tifa said, "Cloud, what's going on? What is happening? And what are you doing?"

"I don't know what is happening, Tifa. But with Cissnei, it might be the shock? Or the fever has returned?"

"Cloud, she is a well-trained and extremely talented turk, who has been through so much lately that a thing like this just can't get her into shock. And she isn't running a temperature."

"So there must be something else going on with her… What else could make someone so confused in such a short time?" Cloud stopped in his tracks, suddenly everything falling into place.

"Mako poisoning…" Tifa and Cloud said together, corroborating with Cloud's earlier assumptions.

"Tifa, I've got to go! Watch Cissnei!" He hung up the phone before he got an answer and started walking faster. He got the sword in his hand and sighed heavily. This was never going to end, was it? He would try to save the world over and over until he would fail once. He couldn't always be the one ending the battles. There was going to be a time where he wouldn't be strong enough anymore.

But that time wasn't now.

He stopped in front of the building he had tried to reach. It had been long since he had been here for the last time. It felt wrong to be there. But he had to get in anyway. He walked up the stairs towards the big iron doors that led to the building of the turks. Not the one where Rufus Shinra and Reno and Rude had hidden last time, but the official building. After the defeat of Sephiroth, the turks became an official organization again, not a secret one anymore.

And when you had to get to the director of the turks, you had to go to the big building.

He opened the door, and he came into a big white hall, with chairs on both sides for people to wait until they were helped by some of the turks.

"Hi, sir, can I help you?" a receptionist asked Cloud.

"Call upstairs and tell Rufus Shinra that I want to have a word with him," Cloud said, without pausing. He walked over to the giant staircase on the other side of the room.

"Now, sir, please, would you take a seat and wait until mister Shinra wants to speak with you?" the receptionist asked with a nervous look at Cloud's sword and intimidating appearance.

"No, I would not," Cloud said darkly and walked up the stairs with big steps, looking stronger than ever. When Cloud was determined and when he believed in himself, he was lethal.

Halfway up the second staircase, three young turks in uniform came towards him, with guns held high, pointed on Cloud's chest.

"Sir, turn around now," they said, "or we will have to stop you." Cloud nodded and frowned, still determined to walk further.

"Stop it! Glenn, Maddy, Folkert, put away the guns. Let me through," a voice came from behind them.

"Tseng!" Cloud said, surprised. It was a bad thing that he liked Tseng. He would never be able to hurt him if it were necessary.

"Cloud, what are you doing here?"

"I need to speak to Rufus."

"What is wrong? Is Cissnei okay?"

"Right now, Tseng, Cissnei is the only one that is okay. She is suffering from a mako poisoning, but otherwise, the fever is gone and her wound is healing."

"Mako poisoning?" Tseng nodded and his face looked more concerned than before. He was a man who truly cared for his employees. He was a noble man. "But why do we have the honor of your hostile visit? What do we have to do with it, other than that it is one of our employees? You could have just called…"

"It's not about Cissnei, Tseng. I need to speak to Rufus, now. There is something wrong with Denzel and Marlene and I think he knows more about it," Cloud said slowly.

"And what makes you think that Rufus knows more about the kidnapping of children?" Tseng asked, suspicious now.

"Because he did last time."

"That is no argument."

"And I think the people who did this to the kids, were SOLDIERS."

Tseng opened his mouth and then closed it again. He looked at the three young turks who were standing in front of him, all three with eyes big of wonder and eager to know more.

"Follow me, Cloud. Let's continue this somewhere private."

Cissnei still didn't know where she was, though she was coming around finally. Five minutes ago, she recognized Tifa and just a moment ago, she started to speak English again, instead of that other odd language that Tifa didn't know. This was good news, it meant that Cissnei was stronger than the poisoning. Cissnei was such a tough girl, it surprised Tifa that her body and mind could take so much and that she was still standing. Sort of.

"Tifa?" Cissnei's voice sounded odd and crackly after having screamed for so long.

"Cissnei? Are you alright?" Tifa asked and immediately ran to Cissnei's bed. She had been surfing the internet for information about the kids, but, of course, she had found none.

"I don't know," Cissnei said, and in her voice, you could hear the wondered crease above her eyebrows appearing. "TIFA!" she suddenly started to scream, "WHERE IS CLOUD?"

"Relax, shhh, shhh," Tifa said, trying to calm Cissnei, "Cloud is alright."

"But where is he, Tifa? Where is he?" her voice was thick with despair and Tifa didn't understand her anymore. Just a minute ago, at least she had been completely nuts. Now, she knew where and who she was and she was still acting oddly.

"He's fine, Cissnei," Tifa said, talking as if Cissnei was a stubborn five-year-old.

"I need him," Cissnei whispered, "without him, everything will be lost…" And without another word, she sank back into her pillow and lost consciousness.

Tifa sighed. Cissnei wasn't making sense, but for some reason, she felt really scared because of Cissnei's last sentence. All would be lost? What had she seen and heard before she had been floored by the mako? Were there things she knew that could lead her to Marlene and Denzel?

At that moment, the telephone rang. Tifa decided if she could just let it ring, but what if it was something important? Perhaps it was Cloud or Vincent with news. She walked out of the room to the bar and picked up the phone with the regular sentence.

"Strife Delivery Service, you name it, we deliver…" she said.

"Tifa Lockheart," said the voice on the other side of the phone. Tifa was sure she had never heard that voice before, but it was so cold and dark that it turned her blood into ice in that instant. Certainly not a regular costumer.

"Who's this?" Tifa asked firmly.

"Well well… I had never believed that I would ever talk to you in my life…"

"I asked who I am speaking to," Tifa said harsly, preparing to hang up the phone.

"The name doesn't matter. Nor does anything else. All that matters, Tifa Lockheart, is that I have the kids."

"Marlene? Denzel?" Tifa asked and for one little moment, she felt relieved that the kids were alive. That feeling immediately vanished, though, when the man on the other side of the line started talking.

"I will hurt them."

"Don't! Please! Tell me what you want, and I'll make sure you'll get it!" Tifa bluffed desperately.

The voice on the other side of the line laughed humorlessly.

"I am fairly sure that there is no way that you can give me what I want. You can, however, help me get it."

"Anything! Just leave the children alone!"

"You have to come to me, Tifa Lockheart, and the children will be safe."

"But-"

"One hour," the voice said sourly, then he told her where she had to come to and disconnected. Tifa stared at the telephone in her hand as if it was going to whisper a solution to her any moment, but the line stayed dead and Tifa realized she was alone. She dialed Cloud's number, but the line was dead completely. No answer, not even a ring.

Tifa nodded silently to herself as she decided what to do. She had no choice but to obey the anonymous caller, because she had to save the children. She had to get to the address that he had given. She would do anything to save Denzel and Marlene, even if it asked for risking her own life. Her own life meant little to her this time. It was Denzel and Marlene that mattered.

She nodded again and walked back into the hallway to get her stuff. Her heart was pounding wildly, because of the stress of not knowing what it was where she was going. Perhaps she would have to fight, because whoever he was, he would never get Tifa Lockheart, master in the martial arts, without going down himself as well.

Perhaps Cloud's story had finally been told. Perhaps it was time for her to do something that could change the outcome of whatever battle they were in right now. Maybe she would go to the given address to save the kids and she would be defeated very soon. At least she had tried then, and at least the children would go free. Perhaps it was time for her to be the hero for once. Her story might be over soon, and the outcome would be bad for her, but at least she would go down bravely. It would be for a good cause.

She wasn't nervous anymore. She had always known that there was going to be a time where she was going to have to prove herself. That time had come.

"Tifa, don't go," Cissnei's voice sounded from the room next to her. Tifa's had forgotten about Cissnei, to be honest, but she was going anyway. She magically made a smile appear onto her face and went into the room.

"Just going to get some groceries, Cissnei, I'm sure you'll be fine for a moment? Cloud and Vincent will be back any minute now," Tifa smiled assuring and prepared to walk out of the room, but Cissnei's stopped her.

"Don't treat me like a fool, Tifa," Cissnei's voice said threateningly, "I am completely aware of my surroundings again and I just heard your conversation. You can't safe the kids like that. You can't turn yourself in and expect the enemy guy to be such an honest man to let them go as soon as you get there."

"Do you know more about this, Cissnei? Please tell me, then. What happened to you before?"

"I don't know. I only remember images. I remember them talking about using the kids as bait."

"What?" Tifa asked.

"It's a trap, Tifa. He, whoever he is, won't let the kids go if you get there and he won't treat you well. It's a trap for you. He's luring you there!"

"I have to go anyway, Cissnei, if I don't try and something will happen to them… It's better to die trying than to sit back and do nothing. I have to go. You will be safe. Apparently, whoever took the kids didn't need you, so I don't think they will come back for you. Explain everything to Cloud, please, when he comes back, and tell him everything you remember from before the kidnap." Tifa backed out of the room.

"Tifa, wait-"

"Take care, Cissnei."

She walked out of the room, putting on her leather gloves, and prepared for the fight. If the kids were harmed, the mystery man wouldn't get away with it.

--

Vincent kept dialing Seventh Heaven's number, but no one answered the phone. Tifa was there just before he had gone to look for the kids, right? Then why wasn't she picking up the telephone? Had she left or something, or was something bad going on?

After what he had just seen, something bad going on didn't seem so unlikely anymore. He had to reach Cloud or Tifa, or they would do something stupid.

After what he had just found out… All of their lives were at stake now. If Cloud or Tifa fell into the hands of the enemy, whose base Vincent had just found, not only they would be lost, but probably everyone else as well.

Now he had just seen what Mako energy could do… He didn't doubt the power of Cloud's strength and bravery or of Tifa's heart and will, but after what he had just seen people doing to other people… Who could still trust their own will?

No, Cloud nor Tifa, nor anyone else could fall into the hands of this sick organization, or all would be lost.

"Tifa, pick up the damn telephone… Pick up, damn it!" Vincent muttered to his phone, but no one answered. The line kept ringing and ringing, but no one picked up.

The kids were already here, Vincent suddenly thought. What if Tifa had found out? She would do anything for those children. Just like Cloud. Or anyone else of his friends, including himself.

What if Tifa had found out about the place where the children were kept? What if she was already coming here? What if that was the reason that she wasn't picking up the phone? Yes, he was sure that that was the case.

For the first time in his long, long life, Vincent put his head in his hands and groaned in despair of all that would soon be lost. He had just seen it happening… He didn't know who was doing all of this, but there was no doubt about it that he was dangerous, strong and sick. If Tifa would fall into his hands, it would be the beginning of the end.

His phone rang and Vincent quickly picked up.

"Tifa?" he nearly shouted, even though he was very close to a secret camp with dangerous unknown enemies.

"Not quite," a voice as cold as ice said on the other side of the line.

"Who are you?" Vincent demanded, quickly composing himself and sounding as calm as ever.

"Ah… Vincent Valentine. How I have longed to hear your voice again…"

Vincent's phone fell to the ground as he suddenly recognized the voice, and he heard the line disconnect.

No. How was this possible?

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This was chapter two. I am working on chapter three at the moment and I'll update as soon as possible, but I don't know when that will be, because I'm going on vacation for a while. I'll keep working on it there, though.
Thanks for taking time reading and reviewing!