A/N Thanks for the reviews. Writing a story and worried about getting it right is very stressful. Constant worries about whether or not you will bore people stiff.

Right off the bat I want to say that any idea that I have is never simple. I don't add stuff I don't need. It's either for character development or for plot deepening.

Please give me your true feelings on whatever you like or don't.

Chapter 3

It was over.

As Cloud lazily steered his bike through the abandoned streets of Midgar, exhausted from the last violent hours of an otherwise normal day, his mind couldn't move past one simple, repeating thought. It was over.

The final confrontation with whatever Reno and Rude had found became messy quickly. Even with his sword Cloud was unable to defeat the creature. This time he had the upper hand, his skill with the blade allowing him to deflect any attack. But the giant sword could not cut through the monster's hide. He would've had more success with a large baseball bat. Whe Vincent arrived he tried shooting it in the eyes, it's only true vulnerable spot. But he never got a decent shot.

In the end it seemed that fate was the one who slayed it. Deep into the heat of the fight, after battling two opponents and holding it's own, the creature suddenly froze in midstrike and hit the ground dead. As the two men came in closer, confused as to what had just happened, a dark liquid dripping from it's mouth as it lay motionless, forming a balck pool around it's head.

"Maybe we beat it to death. Caused an internal bleeding or something." Cloud suggested.

"Maybe." The crimson clad man said with an icy tone.

"What should we do?"

"I'll stay until Reeves' team arrives." Valentine told him as he holstered Cerberus. "Go home."

Cloud was grateful, but soon realized that he had to first go back and find Fenrir, dig it out, check for damage, then drive to 7th heaven. It took about forty-five minutes to find his bike in the dim moonlight and to clear the rubble it was buried under. It had been a terrible last two hours, but it was over.

Once he arrive din Edge, the late traffic was busy, people looking for whatever night life they could find. Back when Midgar was flourishing people were out all the time. Some would even stay up all night long, if they felt secure enough in their jobs. Back then Cloud thought it was pretty cool to hang out at night with Barret, Jess, Wedge and Biggs. They were usually out to decide what their next target should be, but he usually was able to have fun anyways. That was, of course, a time when he felt confident enough to have fun, and back when he didn't know the truth about himself.

"Well…" He muttered to himself as vehicles and people bustled around him. "I know the truth now. Why not start having some fun again?"

It was a nice thought, but when he tried thinking about what to do, he couldn't come up with anything. Besides, doing it alone wasn't much fun. As Cloud gently rolled down the street which he lived on, he tried thinking about what he could do with Tifa and the kids. A theatre? A park maybe? There was none around here, but at the Gold Saucer there were plenty of rides and games. He and Aerith had lots of fun when they had gone out on a date that time, years back. They were bittersweet memories, to say the least. He could bring his family there and they could…

Cloud froze as he drove in behind his house, catching himself off guard. His family? Could he honestly call them that? Is that how he felt about them, about Marlene and Denzel? Did he care for them that much? And what about Tifa? Sometimes it all felt like a game of pretend, the kind the children play. One is the daddy, the other the mommy, and of course the kids. He had always felt that one day POOF! All would disappear. But it's been a while now, years actually. Was it still pretend?

"You know what?" He said softly to himself, a rare smile of his face. "It's time to find out."

With that thought in his head Cloud stepped off his motorcycle…and collapsed to the ground.

At first he couldn't understand what had happened. One moment he was fine, the next he didn't have the strength to get up off the ground. His left leg wouldn't move, not matter how much he tried. Cloud struggled to push himself up with his arms when a jolt of pain paralyzed him, falling back into the dust. That's when he understood. He remembered that the creature had hurt him, cutting him along the ribs down to the hip. He thought it had been a scratch, but feeling it now it dawned on him just how serious it was. Looking at Fenrir, Cloud could make out how wet looking the left side of the bike was. It was the blood he had lost during the drive without having realized it.

Pain or not, he had to get inside. Pain was a funny thing. Once your mind has moved past the confusion and the shock, it wasn't as hampering. Grunting loudly, Cloud fought to his feet for what felt like the hundredth time that day and hobbled over to the back door. It opened with a creak and groaned when he closed it.

"Gonna have to fix that." He thought, then chuckled out loud. "Probably better to fix myself first."

It was late, far later than he had realized. 10:30 showed on the clock. Everyone was in bed. He was now faced with the decision to wake everyone and start a commotion or patch up, sleep, and worry about it in the morning. Sure it bled had a lot, but it wasn't critical and it had stopped, mostly anyway.

Cloud decided not to make a big fuss about it. Taking off his shirt as gently as he could, Cloud went to the bar, painfully of course, and grabbed the strongest stuff he could find. Ten years old Whiskey would have to do as disinfectant. As far as bandages were concerned, they kept some in the washroom…upstairs. Cloud wasn't going to be climbing anything anytime soon. He'd tear up some of the cleaning rags, tie them around his wound, pour on the alcohol and sleep on the couch. In the morning he would-

'Click' went the lights.

"Cloud?"

He froze, looking up at a sleepy Tifa who was standing by the stairs, dressed for the night, looking at him standing at her bar without a shirt, a bottle of her best whiskey in one hand, torn rags in the other, and a long gash down his left side.

"Cloud!" She cried out, nearly leaping the distance between them in a heart beat. "What happened? There's blood everywhere! Are you alright? Cloud?"

He hesitated a moment before answering.

"H-honestly…" He gave her a weak grin. "I could use a drink."

The look she gave him made Cloud believe she was going to knock him behind the head. Tifa told him firmly to sit down as she went to get their first aid kit. Doing as he was told, Cloud looked on as she disappeared upstairs, feeling guilty. He had managed to do the exact opposite of what he had tried to do, again. Was there at least one thing he would not screw up in his life? One thing he could get done right without hurting anyone or getting them involved?

Tifa came back, and a few minutes later Cloud's wound was disinfected and dressed.

"How bad is the pain?" She asked with concern.

He was going to say 'alright', but they had fought together for a long time, ever since he joined avalanche. She would see right through him.

"It's bad."

She got angry almost immediately and demanded, "What stupid thing did you do now?"

"R-Reeves needed help. I helped him." Not the best of explanations.

"Help with what?"

"There was a creature on the loose. It could've hurt someone so I tried to stop it and it scratched me."

"Scratched? It almost split you in half!"

Cloud was too ashamed to argue. "I know. I…I'm sorry."

Oddly enough, his mild reply was like cold water on a fire, and Tifa calmed down almost immediately. Pulling up a chair next to him, she sat and looked at her childhood friend for a few minutes, not saying a word. Cloud didn't feel like talking either, so they sat in silence for a time.

Tifa broke that silence first.

"You said you were coming home early, that…everything was done for the day. Denzel and Marlene were going to surprise you with a cake they made this afternoon. We waited…and waited until…" Her eyes were reddening and her voice cracked. "I told them…that something had happened. Another delivery, or that you meet an old friend. Just anything so that they wouldn't feel like you…abandoned them again."

"Tifa…" Cloud said quickly. "I would never abandon them, or you. I mean, this was serious. Lives were on the line."

"I know. They know it too." Tifa took in a deep breath, which kept her from breaking down. "But Cloud, why didn't you call? When it was over, why didn't you let me know what happened? I hear you come in, and I get angry, thinking you neglected us, come down to give you the mother of all lectures and I see you hurt…hurt badly. I thought my heart was going to explode."

Cloud felt something drop deep inside himself. He had begun to think he was doing ok with Tifa and the kids. But now…he realized that even when he was home, he wasn't really home. He could see it on her face, and he knew it in his heart. Whenever he was here, he didn't spend much time with any of them. He thought that just being there, for them to see, that it would be enough. He wondered when was the last time he felt this rotten.

"I should leave." He said quietly.

"What?"

"I can't seem to do things right. I've tried to fix things up, but they didn't work out…did they?" He looked at her squarely. "Tifa, if by leaving I can make things better, I will. Just say it and I will go and never come back. I'll still support the kids, and you, but you guys can't rely on me, even though you've given me so many chances."

She stared for a moment, then shook her head, an insincere smile on her lips. "What, you think I want a divorce or something? 'Sorry Tifa, but see ya later.' Is that it? What, were you planning on this!!?"

"Hey, I just came back from fighting a monster that almost killed me to a girl that won't get off my case about not calling her enough! You know what I was thinking as I came in, ya know, before I found out I had surgery? That I would like-!"

He looked at her, realizing by her wide-eyed expression that he was shouting. He was standing up too, not feeling the pain in his side because of the adernaline. He hadn't gotten upset in years, not like this. Not since Sephiroth killed Arieth, the same anger he felt when that same man almost killed his childhood friend years before that. It wasn't an anger directed at Tifa, or the kids, or the petty argument. It was at himself.

"I would like a family. A real family…with you." He said the last past so low Tifa almost missed it.

Tifa continued to stare, stunned at everything he had said. Her gaze then fell at the white bandages that were wrapped around his middle, now stained red. She rose up, pressing against the wound to try and stop the fresh bleeding.

"You tore it open." She whispered.

"I deserve worse." He muttered, sitting back down again, acutely aware of every pain.

She got more bandages, and once again patched him up. Cloud remained quiet, meditating on what he had just said, things he realized that he wanted to say for quite some time now. It felt good, but wretched all at the same time. When Tifa was done she didn't go back to her seat. She wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head against his, their hair almost in perfect contrast. Then Cloud slipped his arm around her and held her tightly.

"We'll always be your family, Cloud. We love you." She said softly.

"I love you." He replied, closing his eyes with fatigue, her warmth giving him comfort. "I'll never leave."

"Promise?"

"…It's a promise."

So they stayed, holding each other tenderly, unaware that two little children that had been awakened by the ordeal had sneaked out of bed, went near the stairs, having seen and heard everything. The young boy and girl looked at each other, smiled, then went back to bed. Cloud promised to never leave them, and that made them very happy.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Denzel stood at the threshold of Midgar, overlooking the ruined city that had once been proud and full of life. If there was one thing that he had learned through all the tough times he had seen in his life was that nothing ever lasted. He had had two families, his real one and his adoptive one; both of them had been torn apart. His friends had either died or left his life, even his dear wife, Marlene. The only sure thing he had come to rely on was that he would always be alone.

The cliff he stood on was one he knew well. Growing up he had often come to this spot, the same spot where his "hero" would spend a lot of time. Denzel had believed the man he had looked up to all his childhood would come to this spot to think about serious things and meditate on problems and how to solve them. But as he grew up the truth struck home. Cloud Strife would only come to this spot to mope and feel sorry for himself.

Nearby, not ten feet from where he was stood the sword Cloud had erected a shrine to a dead friend. It was beginning to rust, exposed to the elements for days on end. A cynical smile spread across the man's bearded face as he looked at it.

"You died for the wrong man, Zack Fair. You should've saved yourself, and done us all a favour."

He stepped closer until the sword was within reach. With one hand Denzel grabbed the hilt and wrenched it out of the earth, holding it high above his head. Despite the shape it was in, the buster sword gleamed bright in the moonlight, the wind whistling along its still sharp edges. Denzel couldn't help but to stare at it admiringly.

"This sword has taken many lives, and protected one that should've never tasted the breath of existence. Come, my dear friend, my true companion, and together let us remove from our lives the one that caused myself, Marlene, and Tifa so much sorrow and agony."

Attaching the large blade to his back, Denzel began on foot the long trek to Edge.

A/N Yes, I am a CoTi beleiver. I should've warned about the fluff.

Thank you for reading and reviewing. I plan on having ten chapters total, and a lot longer chapters too. I'm working on several more as we speak, mostly crossovers and comedies. But I think serious stories are good every now and then.

Later!