Chapter Three

The early morning sun once again blasted through the paper-thin curtains, casting its warming beams onto the two figures lying entwined on the bed, holding each other tight, as they had been all night. They slowly started to stir, but felt no need to rush. They had the whole day to themselves, a whole day to lie here together, savouring this precious moment, just being together. As the light of dawn wrenched her from her beautiful dream, she squeezed him tighter, a smile on her glowing face as she realised it was not just a dream. He was led by her, his long fingers running through her hair as he woke. She opened her eyes and her bright hazel eyes met with the deep blue of his, losing their greenish tint from his mako infusion so many years ago. The eyes she remembered from her childhood. The eyes she had often looked into longingly on their journeys together.

"I've waited so long to wake up next to you, Cloud." she whispered, unsure of whether Denzel was awake and listening in. He smiled back at her, lightly chuckling to himself.

"I know how you feel. I'll never understand why I waited this long." he whispered back, leaning over to give her a soft kiss on the forehead as she giggled happily.

However, their tranquil moment was soon stolen from them as Cloud's ears perked up, reacting to the sudden and deeply unwelcome din emanating from his mobile phone. He groaned and looked back into Tifa's eyes as they rolled upwards.

"You have got to be kidding me." he moaned, reaching over to his night stand to grab his phone. The caller ID read 'Cid'. Unusual. Cid only ever called when something was wrong. Puzzled, Cloud flicked his phone open and muttered his greetings.

"What the hell took yeh so long? Damn, Spiky. How lazy yeh got since yeh moved?" came the irritating yell of Cid's voice on the other end. He had never been known for keeping his voice down. Although at least he had refrained from using his usual foul language.

"You're catching me at a bad time here, Cid. What can I do for you?" Cloud muttered, exasperated that Cid would have the audacity to phone at this ridiculous hour only to insult him, especially today as he was waking up with Tifa for the first time.

"Do I even wanna ask what's keeping you so busy?"

"I don't think so, Cid. Now what do you want?"

Cloud shuffled out of bed, looking back at Tifa with a frown. She simply smiled back.

"We're restarting the space program at last. We're launching a satellite in a week and it's kinda important, so I need ya here. A lotta stuff I wanna run by yeh. Maybe you could bring Tifa and the kid."

Tifa sat upright, rubbing her eyes. Cid's voice was so loud she could hear every word.

"Maybe we could make it a field trip for my class, Cid. It's not often something like this happens. Besides, a lot of the kids have been asking about the meteor and space. You'd be much better explaining it all than me." she said, raising her voice a little so Cid could hear.

"Yeah, that'd work. But how yeh gonna get all them kids here? I doubt you can fit any more than two of yeh on that bike of yours, Spiky. Tell yeh what. You take care of getting' 'em all together, I'll take care of getting' 'em here. I'm sure I'll think of somethin'. Tifa, can you get the time off?"

"It's a space launch, Cid. I'm sure the school won't mind. How many kids can we bring?"

"As many as yeh like. Not like we're short on space here." Cid yelled back, laughing at his little joke as Cloud rolled his eyes and sighed.

"We'll take care of it, Cid. When can we expect to see you?" he said, the stress in his voice becoming more apparent as Cid continued to dig into his time with Tifa.

"Friday. Be at the city gates at around ten, I'm sure I'll think of somethin' by then. See yeh Friday, Spiky. You too, Tifa."

And with that Cid hung up the phone. Cloud flipped his mobile shut with a sigh, looking over at Tifa with a sorrowful look in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Tifa. I should have left it."

She smiled warmly at him. He was worth the wait, she thought.

"You can't help the phone ringing. It could have been important. Besides, it sounds like fun. It's been a long time since we've seen Cid and Rocket Town. And Denzel's always been interested in space so he'll love it."

Cloud mobile made another beeping noise. He looked down to see the low battery symbol flashing at him. He let out an exasperated groan, looking around for the power cable. It was nowhere to be seen. He must have left it somewhere else.

"I'll be back in a minute. Otherwise this thing will never shut up."

He drew his dressing gown closer around him, tying the dark green rope into a tight knot. He looked out into the kitchen and saw his phone charger plugged into a wall socket. Wandering over, he plugged in his mobile, slamming it on the counter in frustration. As he headed back to the bedroom, he saw a note left on the table in the corner of his eye, grabbing it as he pushed the door to his room open.

"What's that?" Tifa asked as she saw the note in his hand, swinging her legs out of bed and struggling to stand up, still a little tired.

"It's a note. Denzel left it. Says he's gone out for the day with his friends." Cloud smirked. "Looks like we have the house to ourselves for the day."

"Is that so?"

Tifa gave him her best seductive look as she wandered over to him. He cast the note aside and grabbed her with an unexpected fierceness. She let out a yelp of surprise as he pulled her in close, giggling as he kissed her and they fell back onto the bed, wrapped in each other's arms.

The week went reasonably quickly. Nothing much out of the ordinary happened. The weather stayed beautiful, people went on with their lives, and life generally continued as normal. Denzel had picked up on Cloud and Tifa's change in demeanour pretty quickly, but he had been very understanding about the whole thing. He had walked in on them kissing in the kitchen as Cloud had been trying and once again failing to make anything more complex than a simple breakfast, and had simply shaken his head, muttered something about it being 'about time' under his breath, smiled at them and wandered off.

The rest of the town had started noticing the changes. Many saw them out together, holding hands and giggling. Most simply left them be. After all, while they were worldwide celebrities, most of the locals simply saw them as 'the couple down the road'. A few tourists from Kalm and Junon had pointed at them, but had left them alone.

Tifa had little trouble convincing the other teachers to allow the field trip. She had been quizzed about the security measures to prevent fiend attacks on the journey, but as soon as she mentioned that both she and Cloud would be attending the launch the few remaining fears soon vanished. Cloud had spent most of the week making some repairs to Fenrir, giving it a deep clean and making some alterations to the compartments on the back. On the Thursday night, Tifa came home from work to find him polishing the front panels to a gleaming finish, clearly wanting to make a good impression to the kids early the next morning. As he opened the side panels of the bike to finish his work, she noticed he had placed all six of his blades into their respective slots in his sword racks, after all of the swords had also been given a thorough cleaning and polishing.

On the Friday morning, Denzel and Tifa went out early to gather the kids while Cloud ran a few last minute checks on Fenrir. He rode out to meet Tifa and the kids, seeing them sat waiting on the grass of the low hills just outside town. Cid's supposed transport was nowhere to be seen. Cloud checked his phone's clock and saw that Cid was running considerably late. He looked over at Tifa, who simply shrugged at him and turned back to scanning the horizon for any signs of Cid's arrival.

Cloud's phone buzzed and he flicked it open. Cid yelled only 'Look up' before he hung up. Cloud raised his hand to shield his eyes from the midmorning sun, picking up a blurry shape in the distance. He smiled to himself. He should have known better than to expect Cid to come by land. Of course he would bring one of his treasured airships. Flying was the only thing Cid enjoyed more than outer space, cigars and foul language. Tifa soon glanced over and caught sight of what they could now recognise as the Sierra. Thankfully Cid had taken the time to drape a sheet or something over the lewd painting on the side of the ship as the kids were now looking over in astonishment. The craft came to a stop just in front of them, the whirling rotors blowing hair and grass around as the local wildlife ran for cover.

Cid lowered the craft enough to extend the loading ramp and came out to greet them. He grinned as he noticed Tifa holding Cloud's hand.

"Told yeh I'd sort it. How yeh been?" he yelled, although for once with genuine reason. He had to yell to be heard over the noise of the rotors. Tifa secretly wondered if this is why he always shouted.

"Not bad, Cid. I see nothing had changed with you. Still up in the air at any opportunity." she said, raising her voice as much as she could.

Cid gave her a wicked smile, looking back towards the ship. "Yeah, she's my baby. I see you found one of yer own, huh?" he yelled with a light chuckle. Tifa looked at him, puzzled, until the penny dropped and she realised she was still holding on to Cloud's hand. She blushed uncontrollably, nodding almost imperceptibly. Cid just smirked and gestured for the kids to ascend the ramp.

"Are you two coming with us or are yeh takin' the scenic route on that thing of his?" Cid yelled from the boarding ramp, pointing towards Fenrir. Cloud nodded towards his bike to avoid shouting. Cid simply nodded and tapped his watch before wandering back into the ship.

Cloud and Tifa clambered aboard Fenrir as the Sierra rose slowly up into the skies. They could see Denzel and his friends on the command deck, waving through the windows or pointing wildly at various sights in the distance, all with smiles on their faces. As the ship took off towards the mountains in the distance, Cloud kicked Fenrir into life, Tifa sat behind him, holding on tight. He looked back to give her a quick peck on the cheek before revving Fenrir's powerful engines. With a thunderous roar they chased after the ship, speeding away in a storm of dust.

They pulled into Rocket Town a few hours later, looking around in awe. It had been nearly three years since they had last visited Rocket Town. Nothing looked the same. The teetering old tower that had once been visible from a great distance had been torn down in favour of an all new space centre, bright and shining in the noon sunlight. A gargantuan gleaming rocket stood proud on the launch pad, technicians of every variety darting up and down ladders and walkways, performing last minute checks and ticking off items on their clipboards. Behind the launch pad and control tower was the observation area, where the villagers were sat picnicking in the sun while they waited for the launch. The Sierra could be seen on a landing pad behind them, but had clearly been emptied before they arrived.

As they stepped off the bike and Cloud flicked a row of switched on the control panel to lock up his weapon racks, they heard the chattering of the kids emerging from one of the buildings off the side, led by Cid and a short blonde young woman in a white coat who neither of them recognised, presumably a technician of some kind. They could make out Denzel in the crowd, surrounded by his friends and laughing. They looked at each other and smiled, glad to see him getting on so well. Denzel had been quite reserved and shy until they had moved. It made them feel much better to know that they had made the right decision by bringing him to Costa Del Sol. Cid looked over at them and smirked. It didn't escape his attention that Tifa's hair was a mess and there was a noticeable rip on Cloud's jacket.

"What kept yeh? You're late. And yeh look terrible." he called, thankfully keeping his voice down a little around the kids. Cloud and Tifa both blushed, struggling for words and looking around wildly for anything that might give them enough of a distraction to evade the question. "Well? What happened to yeh?"

"Umm...fiend attacks. Hundreds of them. Big nasty ones. Took a while." Cloud stuttered. Cid stared at him, shook his head and smirked at him. Tifa turned bright red and tried desperately to change the subject to anything else.

"So...I like what you've done with the place, Cid. Sure looks different." she muttered, lowering her head and shuffling her feet to avoid his piercing gaze.

"Yeah, the whole place is nuts 'bout exploring the cosmos. Everybody helped build the place. State of the art equipment as far as the eye can see." Cid said, finally looking away from the blushing couple to gesture towards his beloved space centre.

Denzel poked his head out from the centre of the crowd to see Cloud and Tifa. He looked at them and wondered what exactly they had been up to that had caused the delay, but decided not to pursue it. "We've just been to the space museum. It's amazing. There's so much to see. And there's a whole section dedicated to Meteor. I never knew there were more of them out there, Cloud."

"Yeah, hundreds of them. But the chances of them moving without the Black Materia are pretty low. And I smashed it in thousands of tiny pieces. No need to worry."

Tifa finally finished blushing and looked up towards the rocket that dominated the skyline. While it retained the basic design elements of the old rocket that had once leaned precariously to one side, the new model had a brilliant silver sheen and atop sat a copper coloured nose cone, which Cid informed them contained the actual satellite. Steam had begun to rise from the base of the tower as the technicians began the last of the pre-flight checks.

It was now less than an hour before the launch and the group decided to grab a bite to eat before heading off to the command centre's observation deck. As they sat in the local cafe, Denzel sat with his friends listening intently to the blonde technician as she explained the launch procedure. Occasionally Denzel would work out the next part of her explanation as she spoke, causing her to ruffle his hair and smile when he got things right. He smiled when she told him he would make a good engineer. Cloud and Tifa sat with Cid and watched him as Cid explained the nature of the satellite.

"Basically, we're sendin' it up there to look for anythin' out of the ordinary. But we've programmed in Jenova's biological profile an' set it to scan for anythin' like her that might be out there. Set it all up here so if there is any more of 'em out there, we'll know. Better safe than sorry, right? This thing'll look for Jenovas, meteors, Sephiroth wannabes, anythin' that might be a threat to us. Plus we put a pretty big telescope on it so we can have a look around for anythin' interesting. "

Soon enough it was time for the launch as the announcement bellowed over the speakers dotted around the town. The group made its way over to the main tower and up onto the observation deck, aside from Cid who took his leave to return to the main command deck to oversee the launch. The observation deck was surprisingly large and many of the technicians they had seen earlier had made their way here after their pre-flight checks to see the fruits of their labour. The kids all ran to the windows as the blonde technician who seemed to have taken on the role of tour guide for the afternoon explained to them that while the glass was designed to be thick enough to block a lot of the noise from the launch, it would still be extremely loud.

Cloud took a step back from the group and put his arm around Tifa, smiling at her. The speakers in the corner of the room announced that the launch was now in the final stage and began the countdown, with the kids all counting along. The clouds of smoke and steam rising from the engines grew larger as the countdown drew ever closer to the end. As the timer reached one, Cid's voice boomed over the tannoy as he yelled out "Hold on to yeh heads, boys and girls. This is gonna be pretty damn loud."

There was a deafening roar as the engines ignited in a great stream of fire and smoke, everything from the windows to the floor shaking almost to breaking point as everyone covered their ears in a futile attempt to drown out the noise. The shining silver tower of the rocket slowly lifted from the launch pad and powered its way towards the stars, followed by a grand trail of smoke and fire, as everyone looked on through the glass ceiling of the observation deck. Below on the grass the villagers could be seen cheering as the rocket pierced the clouds and slowly vanished from view. Cid gave a whoop over the speakers as the rocket disappeared.

After Cid had taken them on a tour of the centre and another quick walk around the museum, It was finally time to head home to Costa Del Sol. Cid loaded all the kids into the Sierra again and took off, speeding towards the mountains once again. He told Cloud and Tifa to take their time as he could take care of Denzel if they were running late, but couldn't help but smirk as he said it. They climbed back aboard Fenrir and sped off homewards.

About half way home, Tifa tapped on Cloud's shoulder and asked him to pull over. The events of the day had left her a little drained and the long ride home on Fenrir was exhausting. Cloud pulled the bike to a stop high up one of the mountains and they took a break, sitting together enjoying the view. As the sun began to set in the distance, the clouds were alight with a magical blend of reds and yellows as they sat on the grass, the wind blowing Tifa's long dark hair into her eyes. Cloud held her close and brushed the hair away from her face, smiling down at her and kissing her gently.

As she moaned gently and leaned in to the kiss, closing her eyes, he ran his fingers through her hair and they began to fall back on to the grass. Their passion increased and Cloud began to run his hand over the curves of Tifa's body, eliciting a groan of delight as her tongue began to explore his mouth. As his hand ran up the back of her leg, she flipped him over and sat atop him, giggling, breaking their kiss as they stared into each other's eyes.

Cloud suddenly looked strange. He asked Tifa to move off him and stood up, looking over at the horizon. She followed his gaze to see black smoke rising in the distance. As they looked on in horror they saw a great host of dark shapes hurtling towards the fires spreading across the ground, hundreds of fiends charging into battle. As the flames licked higher and the smoke became thicker, they suddenly recognised the target of the attack. The grand wooden turrets high atop the great walls of red stone, the mountaintop observatory ablaze.

Cosmo Canyon was under attack.