What Kind of Magic Could Do That?

News had eventually traveled about the new resident at the 7th Heaven bar, and many of the old friends had phoned in about wanting to meet her. Apparently, the WRO network was spread all over the Planet, thanks to the group joining it, and it was no surprise that Reeve would reveal the division now led by Lightning Farron.

"Lightning, eh?" Cid was immediately intrigued by some new girl staying with Cloud and Tifa. At the other end of the cell phone line, Cloud wondered exactly what was going through his head at the moment. "Well, don't mind if I do!"

"Huh?" Cloud was a bit confused at the conclusion of his train of thought.

"You're gonna throw a big shebang for her, right? Welcome the new teammate?"

"Uhh, not really. Cid—"

"This is great! I'll go ahead 'n pick up everyone else. Let's see, there's Yuffie all the way in Wutai…I can call up Barret 'n see where he's at…Oh, yeah! Can't forget Red!"

"Cid, you really don't—"

"Don't worry about it! I'll take care of lettin' Reeve an' Vincent know, so don't go worrying 'bout 'em. We'll be there tomorrow night, 10 o'clock sharp, so that the bar would be clear by then. You let Tifa know too, a'right, Spiky?"

"Wait—"

"Great! See ya then!"

After the line went dead, Cloud stood by the front door in shock before snapping his phone shut and rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"I take it Cid is up to his usual antics?" Tifa asked as she approached from behind, working hard to stifle her laughs. Cloud sighed as he mulled over the conversation.

"According to him, we're gonna throw a welcome party for Lightning tomorrow night. He's bringing everyone over by 10."

"Well, then. Looks like the bar's gonna be closed tomorrow." Tifa headed up to the office to make a sign telling her patrons of the change in plans. In the meantime, Cloud wondered how well this little reunion was going to turn out, and more importantly, how Lightning would feel about the gathering. He was sure she wasn't one to be the center of attention and would probably do her best to avoid it.

Just then, his phone rang again, and interestingly enough, the caller ID notified him that it was Lightning herself. Most of the time, she would wait until coming home to talk to him or Tifa, what with her patrolling taking up most of her time and concentration.

"Lightning?" he answered.

"Hey. Reeve just called me – telling me about my 'welcoming party' tomorrow?" He could hear the grin in her question, and it was clear she found this bit of information somewhat amusing.

"Uhh…yeah. Some old friends wanted to meet you, since they're also involved in WRO. Listen, it's all right if you don't want to go through with this. I know it's all sudden, so we won't make you go…"

"No, it's fine," she said gently. "It'll be nice for you to see your friends again, right? Anyway, I have to go back and finish training my unit. I'm assessing them on the field."

Cloud's mouth tugged down at one of the corners. "Come back in one piece, all right?"

Lightning abruptly ended her pace down the sidewalk; for some reason, her heart began to beat faster, her cheeks boiling beneath her skin. Even if it was a simple errand or task, Cloud would always warn her to be safe, though he should know well by now that she was more than capable of handling herself.

"Don't need you to remind me," she teased, and she heard him chuckle quietly on the other end. "I'll see you later."

"See ya." He secretly smiled to himself as he hung up and put his cell phone back in his pocket. It's been a week since Lightning received her own cell phone – a gift from Cloud and Tifa. After very little debate, which was mostly instigated by Cloud, they decided that it was a good way to get a hold of Lightning in case she was sent on a mission away from Edge.

After the get-together, she would be considered as one with the group. It intrigued him how much closer she would be…and perhaps she would open up to them more as a trustful ally.

"Daddy!"

Marlene ran straight into the arms of Barret as he stomped his way inside; the joy was clear on both of their faces as they were reunited once again.

"Marlene! You're getting bigger every time I see you. You're doing well in school, right?"

As Marlene nodded, Denzel came up to greet him as well. Behind Barret came Red XIII, Yuffie, and Cid – all of them toting gifts and treats from their hometowns. Tifa had just finished preparing the bar as Cloud set up the tables properly, and all that was left was Reeve, Vincent, and the guest of honor.

Yuffie, Barret, and Cid immediately went up to Tifa, hoping she would dish out anything interesting about Lightning. However, they only achieved meager information, for Tifa respected Lightning's space and told them to just ask her themselves.

"What?" Yuffie whined as she dropped her elbows onto the bar and leaned her head into her hands. "You're not gonna tell us?"

Barret sighed. "Well, we'll just wait 'til she gets here…When is she comin' back, anyway?"

"Her shift just ended," Cloud explained.

Yuffie suddenly rushed up to him, eager to push questions out of anxious curiosity. "Sooooo, how did you meet her? How did Reeve find someone to start a new division in WRO? I mean, this girl would need skill to be leading a team on her own!"

Over his shoulder, Cloud exchanged a quick glance with Tifa; both were hesitant in what to say. Everyone would be sure to call it a lie or some type of weird joke, but it wouldn't help to avoid the truth, either.

"I found her in Midgar," he simply told them, which left them a little befuddled.

"You mean like Denzel?" Barret asked.

"Not exactly…"

"She says she came from another world called Pulse," Tifa explained, prompting their eyebrows to knit together in confusion. Sitting at a table, Marlene and Denzel looked at each other with concern; it wouldn't be easy to convince the others to somehow accept Lightning's origins.

Cid scratched the back of his head. "Well…y'all don't think it's probably just mako poisoning?"

Cloud shook his head. "No way could mako have done this kind of thing. The worst it could do is making her brain-dead." The look he remembered in her eyes when they first met told him that none of it was a lie. Lightning was truly a stranger in their world…meaning that her presence there was some sort of paradox.

"What kind of magic could do that?" Yuffie pondered. "Of all the materia I've collected, there's nothing that could pull someone out of worlds or realities or whatnot."

They all thought about it for a while, and it was Red XIII who finally spoke with cautious words. "It sounds like something Sephiroth would do – traveling to another world, just like what Jenova had done thousands of years ago."

Hearing his name brought a shroud of silence over the bar. As if they had lost their voices, everyone remained quiet and fought to keep back the terrible memories of the madman. There was no way he had anything to do with Lightning's arrival on the Planet, or else the peace they thought they had finally attained months would shatter into despair.

"No way," Tifa said firmly, as if to convince herself along with the rest of them. "Sephiroth's dead. Cloud defeated him, twice. He's gone…and he's not coming back."

Turning away from the rest of the group, Cloud quietly tightened his hand into a fist. A few months ago, he vowed that man would only stay in his memories. Sephiroth had no place on the Planet unless it was for its destruction, which meant the lives of millions.

Lightning's presence here couldn't be because of Sephiroth…Cloud refused to give the possibility a chance, especially when he noticed Reeve and the girl in question approaching the bar. As he turned around to finish up, the two of them entered the bar, Lightning's eyes widening at the group of people she had never met before.

"You must be Lightning!" Yuffie exclaimed as she pranced up to the newest member of WRO. "I'm Yuffie Kisaragi – the single white rose of Wutai. Nice to meet ya!" Lightning stood dazed as the eccentric young woman shook her hand, wondering exactly where all this energy came from. In the back of her mind, the first thing popping up was Vanille with her happy-go-lucky ways. For a moment, things became dark and despondent…but she reminded herself to look on the bright side and leave the past behind her.

Reeve chuckled as he felt nostalgic at seeing her liveliness. "Yuffie is from a ninja village in the west," he explained. "Her father is the leader of Wutai – she's heralded as somewhat of a princess."

Lightning nodded in understanding before her eyes moved over to the large olive-toned man chatting with Marlene and Denzel. Although he was of considerable stature, what caught her attention was his mechanical arm that clearly had an underlying function. When Marlene began dragging him toward Lightning, his true height was revealed; he wasn't as tall as Snow, but it was still something to marvel at.

"This is my dad," Marlene said with a smile on her face.

"Barret Wallace," the man said while holding out his regular hand. Lightning shook it as Marlene beamed. "You've been keepin' Marlene and Denzel company…thank you."

Lightning gently smiled. "It's nothing, really."

A wolf-like creature emerged from beside Barret, its fiery tail swirling around. Lightning stared as she observed the tribal tattoos and battle scars, particularly the one over its right eye. "You can call me Red," it said in a masculine voice. She only nodded in response, amazed at the sight.

'An' you can call me Cid," a rough redneck voice shot out from beside her. As he appraised her from head to toe, Cid only smirked as his eyes twinkled. "Well, now. Cloud said nothing 'bout how tempting you look."

Cloud's eye twitched at Cid's choice of words, provoking a fire to spark inside. However, he didn't have a chance to voice his opinions when Lightning herself cocked an eyebrow at the remark.

"Tempting?" Her hand lingered over the grip of the gunblade, flicking the handle up in preparation of pulling it out. She shot daggers straight into Cid, who luckily got the message and nervously chuckled as he held his hands up.

"Hehe…I-I meant charming, of course." His fast save got him a free pass as Lightning slowly pushed the weapon back in its sheath; everyone around breathed out a quiet sigh of relief. No matter how much time passed, Cid was the only one who didn't really change.

"Where's Vincent?" Tifa asked curiously.

Everyone quickly glanced toward Reeve, who responded with a purse of the lips. "He declined the invitation. Probably didn't feel like joining this time around."

Lightning noticed how everyone gave the smallest hint of disappointment before continuing on with preparations. No matter how she looked at it, Vincent must have kept to himself a lot, if no one would press the issue any further. She herself couldn't help but feel deflated; somehow, she wanted to learn a little bit more about him, whether it be from conversations or just simple observation.

Once everyone settled into seats, Tifa passed around glasses filled with drinks, and there was an immediate chatter of adventures and stories. Barret was still searching for oil in hopes of ensuring supplies while Cid helped in constructing an airship fleet for the WRO. In the end, he revealed his plans to marry Shera, his assistant, which led to applause from the rest of the team. As for Red XIII, he had been taking his grandfather Bugenhagen's stead and continued the research of the stars and the Planet, hoping to somehow foresee the Planet's future. Lastly, Yuffie was able to put her ninja heritage to good use within WRO, tasked with espionage and intelligence gathering.

"So, hey. I've been meaning to ask you guys," she said with a serious face. This caught everyone's attention as they put their drinks down. "Has anyone been missing from your towns and villages? Like Edge, or even Cosmo Canyon?"

"No, but why?" Tifa eyebrows knitted together with worry. "Are kids going missing again?"

Yuffie wrung her hands. "Not just kids…lots of the adults, too. Most of the time, they would travel to the mainland and just never come back. We would send troops out as search parties…but some of them end up missing, too."

From across the table, Reeve and Lightning exchanged serious glances. Neither of them had seen nor heard movement that abducted or killed people; it was definitely something to look into.

"I'll take a look around," Cloud offered out of the blue, and everyone turned to him with wide eyes. Including Lightning, no one had expected him to go out of his way to help outside of Midgar Area. "Cid, you mind if I stay with you for a bit while I'm in the area?"

Cid nodded. "You sure can! Shera's been dyin' to see y'all again, especially you."

"You ain't treatin' her bad now, are ya?" Barret asked gruffly.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean, ya big lump?! I'm gonna marry 'er!" He playfully locked Barret's head in a vice grip, which led to him swinging around as Barret tried to wrestle him off. Around them, everyone else laughed at the sight, as their antics reminded them of the good old days.

"It's like any other family," Lightning murmured to herself, but from beside her, Tifa was able to catch the words and nodded in agreement.

"Yup," she confirmed. "We were all brought together two years ago, and now…there isn't any other family better than this."

It was going to be the one thing she missed most: her family. Of course, Serah was going to always be on her mind, but Snow, Sazh, and Hope were part of a family that changed Lightning forever. If it weren't for them along with Vanille and Fang, she would have been a C'ieth right now, aimlessly wandering all throughout Pulse. They all helped each other in their darkest hours, and Lightning made sure to keep them in her heart, no matter how far she was from them.

Cid reached into his back pocket and pulled out a deck of cards. "All right, you hairless ape! There's only one way to settle this."

Barret grinned from ear to ear. "You got it, you shitty pilot!"

"What was that?!" With fierce eyes, Cid pointed toward everyone else sitting around them before slamming the deck down onto the table. "A'right, everyone. Jump in and show this large piece of nothin' whatcha got! You too, Cloud." Cloud himself was lazily leaning back in his chair, its front legs slightly coming off the floor. "No runnin' off this time around!"

The man simply shrugged in response. "All right," he said before straightening up his chair and leaning forward. "Deal them."

After that, Lightning noticed the brief moment of silence surrounding everyone at the table, eyes looking in Cloud's direction. Some eyebrows shot up, and Cid's cigarette almost fell out of his mouth from a hanging jaw. She questioningly looked over to Cloud as well, who only kept up a straight face among the astonished expressions. He definitely wasn't going to answer any questions for a while.

Clearing his throat, Cid returned to his raucous self and grinned. "Excellent! Spiky's in. Time to whip all your asses!"

Denzel and Marlene laughed uncontrollably as they left the table, knowing that they sure weren't advised to stick around. Meanwhile, it was only Tifa and Lightning who passed up the offer as the rest of them waited for Cid to finish passing out the cards for a game of poker. The two of them cleaned up the table and brought everything back into the kitchen, with Tifa washing and Lightning drying with a dish towel. All the while, Lightning kept making glances in Cloud's direction, intrigued by the warm smile and chuckles he gave out as he played in between Yuffie and Barret.

"It's strange," Tifa pondered when she noticed Lightning's preoccupation. In turn, Lightning made sure to go back to her cleaning errand.

"What is?" she asked.

"Most of the time, Cloud wouldn't stick around long enough for these kinds of get-togethers. Once Cid and the others began lingering around, he would just go up to his room and call it a night."

"What do you think is on his mind this time?"

Tifa coyly smiled as she faced Lightning. "Probably you."

At the sight of Lightning's flustered face, Tifa began to laugh aloud, briefly catching the attention of everyone back at the table. When Cloud looked up, his eyes immediately went toward Lightning, but her back was turned to him, making him wonder what her expression was in reaction to Tifa's laughter.

"Oh, come on, now," she said in a lower voice so no one else could hear. "You really haven't noticed lately?"

Lightning sped to finish putting away the dishes. "Notice what?"

Tifa rolled her eyes and smirked. "Never mind. It's just me assuming things…But honestly, what do you think of him?"

At that, Lightning hesitated and thought. Of everyone in Edge and the Planet, Cloud was constantly on her mind. It could have just been the fact that he was the first person she met in this world, but there was something about him that made her want to smile whenever he came up in her mind. Was it that he was similar to her: a hard exterior with a caring heart? Cloud was constantly there for her, helping her adjust when it really wasn't necessary.

Lightning gently smiled as she stood amazed at how kind he was, but it quickly faded when she remembered that Tifa was still present, waiting for a reply.

"Uhh…he's a good guy," she tried to say smoothly. Tifa already knew enough from the expressions on her face…and warmly smiled. When she went back to cleaning up, Lightning breathed out a small sigh of relief.

He's just a friend, she kept telling herself throughout the rest of the night – a good friend who she's indebted to. In this world, Lightning was bound to meet many more people, see the Planet, and venture out for the rest of her life.

Through all that, she knew she was going to be sure of one thing: Cloud was always going to be important to her, and if and when the time came to leave this world behind, Lightning was going to miss him.