Okay, sorry for the delay... Last chapter didn't get much attention, but that's okay, I don't write for the reviews, I write because my the inner mechanics of my mind NEVER STOP WORKING and I occasionally come up with what I think are good ideas! Anyway, this chapter will (hopefully) be a lot longer. I hope you all like it enough to tell me your opinion! (I apologize for Cid's language...but he refuses to be 'censored')

Suddenly the lights go out, let forever drag me down!

I will fight for one last breath, I will fight until the end!

And I will find the enemy within... Cause I can feel it crawl beneath my skin!

Dear agony, just let go of me, suffer slowly, is this the way it's gotta be?

Don't bury me, faceless enemy, I'm so sorry, is the way it's gotta be?

Dear agony...

Leave me alone, God let me go, I'm blue and cold, black sky will burn.

Love tear me down hate lift me up, just turn around there's nothing left...

Somewhere far beyond this world...

I feel nothing anymore.

- Dear Agony by Breaking Benjamin

Reeve and his gang, as well as Tifa, stared at the two Turks standing nonchalantly in the church. Cid frowned at Rude's statement.

"What the hell do you mean? That kind of radiation would kill most any damn thing!" he snapped. Rude adjusted his sunglasses.

"Yes, well, that's one reason we're doing a little snooping around to see what we dig up. Something strong enough to contain all that mako and not die is nothing to shake a stick at, especially something that helped to kill Cloud, and I get the feeling worse is to come." Rude said. Tifa flinched at the mention of Cloud's death again, and most of the others in the group had their own reactions.

Tifa looked up, screaming at herself on the inside not to tear up, and subtly biting down, hard, on the inside of her bottom lip. Reno, surprisingly, noticed and nudged Rude.

"Hey, we have to get going. Give us a ring if you guys find out anything more." he said, turning on his heel and walking for the door. Rude nodded slightly.

"What Reno said... I'm sorry for your loss. The Turks' sympathies lie with you all." Rude said curtly before leaving. The gang exchanged glances, a rainbow of emotions visible with everyone in the room.

Reeve and his gang had left the church a while after the two Turks had. Cid had laid his hand on Tifa in passing.

"I'll be keeping us nearby, don't even worry about it. Call if ya need anything at all." Cid said, ducking quickly away. Tifa swore she caught his face turning red and his eyes were, surprisingly, tearing up. Barret had already left, the grief catching up to him. Tifa had heard him muttering and sniffing as he started to jog to Cid's airship. Yuffie, however, was now past her numb phase and crying openly. But... Reeve had left before anyone else with Cait Sith, in complete silence.

Vincent had lingered after the rest, walking up to Tifa.

"I've decided to stay here. Cid won't be going far, but...I can't...don't, I should say, handle grief well. It's so much easier to shove it deep down inside, you know...? I'll always be nearby if you need me." Vincent said, holding up a phone with the same crest on the case as what the chain of his gun had. Tifa nodded, her blank and numb mind struggling to take everything in stride. She walked to the edge of the healing spring in the church, looking up at the now dark and star-dusted sky.

The black and glittering water lapped slightly with the movement at its edge, scattering the reflections of the stars glimmering on its surface. Tifa stood for a long moment, then it was as if a dam broke inside of her and all her emotions burst forth at once. Her knees buckled and she hit the wooden floor, kneeling at the water's edge. A small whimper escaped her throat as a tear slid down her cheek at the same time. The whimper grew into into sobs and finally escalated into a sorrowful keening for who she had lost. Her arms were clamped around her sides as she rocked slightly back and forth on the floor.

Memories flooded her mind of past times, good and bad. She saw when Cloud had saved her so long ago at Nibelheim when Sephiroth had lost his mind, and she felt the grief and pain of not seeing him for four years, of thinking him dead but knowing somehow he was out there. She saw her reunion with him, not a happy one though. He'd staggered into town, looking like death and dragging Zack's buster sword behind him. His spiky hair had been plastered to his face, blood in it and streaked on his cheek, though he hadn't been injured. Tifa remembered how it had taken him a full three days to speak a word to anyone, and he'd talked to Aerith before anyone else. It had taken a lot of encouragement, but Tifa finally managed to pull everything that had happened out of him. He hadn't remembered much at the time, he mostly repeated the words, I am his living legacy, over and over. The severe mako addiction had clouded his mind, but the weeks had passed and small bits returned, and as they did he told them to Tifa.

She kept rocking and keening into the night air as more flashbacks came to her. She thought of the first 'date' that Cloud had taken her on. It had been a hard time then as well, Aerith had died only a short time ago by Sephiroth's hand and both Tifa and Cloud thought a distraction would be good for both of them. He'd taken her on Fenrir far from the city so they could watch the sky together. The sky was dark then, as it was now, and not a square inch of the sky wasn't beautiful. It had been she that saw a shooting star and looked back at Cloud. They were both on Fenrir at the time, Cloud sitting on the back with his head tilted to the sky and Tifa had lain along the bike's length, her head in Cloud's lap. She saw the anomaly in the sky and had sat upright quickly, looking at Cloud with a childish grin.

"Did you see that?" she'd asked. Cloud had nodded, shifting his gaze to her. "Well, make a wish then." she had told him. Cloud gave a short, breathy sigh, like a silent sob, and Tifa had gotten up, sitting backwards on Fenrir so she could see him clearly. He was silent for a moment before glancing back at the sky.

"I-... I want to be forgiven." he'd said, looking back at Tifa slowly. She noticed, startled, that tears were glistening in his eyes. Without a second thought, she'd leaned forward and hugged him tightly. He had, for one of the first and only times, allowed himself to lose control. Tifa had held him for a long time while his body shook with sobs.

Tifa got one last memory, the first time Cloud had kissed her. It hadn't been anything special, but she'd always thought that moment was everything to her. It had happened in his apartment right before he left on a delivery, she'd called to him as he had grabbed his carrying bag and headed for the door.

"Be careful, I'll see you soon!" Tifa remembered herself saying. Cloud had stopped, turned around, and walked to the counter she was behind, his boots making the old floor creak as he walked. He leaned over it and pressed his lips to hers, kissing her before adjusting his bag.

"You too." He'd left on his delivery then, but she'd caught the uncharacteristic smile on his face as he adjusted his goggles and kicked Fenrir into gear.

Now Tifa's keening in the church had died to steady sobs. Tears spilled freely down her face as her memory flashbacks faded, leaving a feeling of emptiness and loneliness. In her grief, she didn't even notice the sound of shifting metal on wood or notice the subtle sounds of a person walking until Vincent was on one knee beside her. He silently reached out and put one arm around Tifa's shaking body, wrapping her in his cape and holding her close to comfort her. Her sobs died into a hyperventilating sort of hiccup, but she couldn't stop the tears if she wanted to.

"Shh, it's alright. Everything is going to be alright." Vincent's deep voice soothed her, and she laid her head on his chest out of a sheer loss of what to do.

…..

"You know, I suppose this place isn't all that bad." Cloud said, in good spirits after his 'game' with Angeal and Zack. "I really wasn't planning on dying though..." he said. He, Zack, Angeal and Genesis were sitting under a large Banora white tree, relaxing in the shade even though none of them felt more than a slight discomfort at anything anymore. Pain, hunger, heat, cold, none of them were felt for more than a fleeting moment.

"Well, none of us 'planned' on dying either." Angeal said. Genesis smirked, absently drawing with a stick in the dark soil. "But the City in the Sky is definitely better than anything back on Gaia." Angeal finished. Zack tilted his head.

"What? Is there something wrong with being dead?" he asked. Cloud looked at him sadly.

"Not for me, no. But...the ones I left behind. The kids, Reeve and his gang...Tifa..." Cloud said. Genesis looked up.

"Why does it concern you? You aren't of that world any longer, why trouble yourself with the conflicts of people you can't help?" Genesis asked. Cloud looked at him a long moment, then bowed his head, not able to come up with a good answer.

"I don't know...I just feel like...like my job isn't finished, you know?" Cloud said. Zack smiled.

"I feel your pain." He rolled onto his back and rocked backwards before flipping himself onto his feet. "I think I've got something for you, Cloud. Come on." Zack said, reaching out his hand to his best friend. Cloud took it, was helped to his feet, and looked back down at Angeal and Genesis. Angeal gave a friendly wave, not bothering to get up.

"Good luck. Don't work yourself up too much, this place is as close to a paradise as we'll probably get, but nice meeting you, kid." Angeal said. Genesis gave a short wave of his hand in goodbye, still drawing in the soil with a faraway look in his eyes.

Zack unfurled his wings and socked Cloud playfully in the shoulder before taking off, leaving a raven-black feather to drift in the breeze. Cloud shook out his own golden wings, rolling his shoulders at the still-unfamiliar feeling. He pushed off the ground and flapped hard, gaining altitude so he could catch up to Zack.

"So, where are we headed?" Cloud asked. Zack smiled again.

"First back to Midgar, you said before you wanted a way to check on Tifa? After that we'll go meet some more old friends." Zack said. Showing off, he angled nearly vertically and climbed upwards into the sky before rolling and folding his wings, shooting down past Cloud in a black blur. Zack twisted into a corkscrew maneuver as he dove, waiting until the last possible moment before he the ground. He suddenly snapped out his wings, the wind catching them as he skimmed so low to the ground he actually snatched a handful of wildflowers before rejoining Cloud.

"For you, m'lady?" he said, trying not to laugh. Cloud rolled his eyes.

"I wore a dress ONE time, and that's because I was forced...you're never going to let me live that down, are you?" Cloud asked, sighing. Zack shook his head.

"Nope! And now I have eternity to tease you about it. I was just kidding, by the way. I think I'll give these to Aerith." Zack said. He looked over at Cloud.

"Race you to the church?" he asked. Cloud looked back at him and smirked.

"You're on." Cloud said. He pulled up slightly, mentally laughing at what he was about to do. With a confused look, he looked down past Zack's foot and pointed. "What is that?" he said.

"Where?" Zack replied, turning in mid-air and looking down. As soon as he did, Cloud shot off through the sky towards Midgar, leaving Zack in the dust. By the time Zack realized he'd been had, Cloud was already almost out of earshot. Zack dropped his flowers and wheeled in the air, flapping hard to catch up.

"You sneaky bastard! Get back here!"

Well, okay, it wasn't a LOT longer, but still. Hope everyone liked, got some feels from this, whatever. Review if you'd like!