just a head's up for those that are following. I'll probably be adding another chapter to For Their Own Good in the next couple of days if not tonight. demonegg and Ktisis - thanks for the delicious reviews in my other stories too :D You're both terrible, since you just make me want to write more.

Chapter 50: Family part 2

They reached a small fishing village Cloud knew about that would take them across the water to the island of Wutai. They'd gone further south than Rocket Town because the larger town was a Shinra base even if its dreams of reaching the stars under that banner were forgotten. Tifa had thought of Cid and Shera and imagined that he'd forgiven her in those last moments and told her so. That he'd held her just once as their world ended and the small, quiet woman had realized what he'd been meaning to say all along.

The trip over to Wutai was short and Tifa stood at the front of the little boat and slit her eyes against the salt spray, wind on her face and catching in her hair. She was seeing so much of the world and it filled her and yet made her feel guilty too, because the only reason she was seeing so much was because her family was gone.

Cloud joined her and she looked over at him.

"How does it feel? Kind of coming home?"

His eyes, bluer than the water under them, stayed fixed on the horizon and the smudge of land that could be seen from where they were and he rested his hands on the railing. The wind pushed his hair back from his face, making him look both younger and older.

"Right," he answered after a long pause. "And… wrong. Because I don't really belong there even though I feel like I should."

Tifa reached out and laid her hand over his on the railing.

"It's where your family is," she told him softly and he turned his head to look at her with his aqua blue eyes. His fingers parted to mesh with hers.

"Some of them," he answered in his soft voice and broke her heart into a thousand little wonderful, painful pieces as he looked at her. It drew the helpless smile out of her.

"More of them now," she agreed and watched his own lips smile softly for her.

The boat dropped them off in an almost identical fishing village in Wutai far to the south of the capital. Cloud helped her off of the boat and then seemed to forget he was holding Tifa's hand, not letting go of it as they waited for everyone else. It made her smile too and she pretended she didn't notice.

Several of the children from the village seemed to know Cloud and they gathered around him as they realized who was there. Cloud, a little embarrassed, a little pleased, let them cling to him and tell him their latest adventures in their piping voices and Tifa stood to the side with Zack and Red now that they were parted and watched.

"Bet he's never threatened to kick in the door to their homes," Zack commented and Tifa smiled.

"Bet he has and that's why they love him."

It made Zack laugh.

"My brother and sister loved him from the first moment too," Tifa added softly, watching the children clambering over the silent, shyly smiling warrior and Zack turned his head to look at her. She had her hand resting on Red's forehead and there was such aching emptiness and yet quiet joy in her as she looked at the scene in front of her. Zack slipped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a gentle squeeze.

"I would have liked to meet them."

It made Tifa smile again and she turned her head to look up at him.

"They would have liked this trip. They would have liked you. Opportunities for mischief."

Cloud came over then and Zack threw his other arm over the blond's shoulders companionably.

"So are we going to stay here and let the kids be our slaves or what?" Zack asked and Cloud's lips twitched.

"Zoey says her grandfather is going to Wutai. We can catch a ride in the back of his truck."

"When?" Tifa asked and Cloud moved his chin to indicate a beat up looking powder blue truck parked near the edge of the docks.

"As soon as we're ready."

And so just like that Tifa found herself on the way to Wutai, capital of the island of Wutai and the last country that had managed to resist Shinra. As they passed through the flat lands and salt marshes of the island, she looked at Cloud and wondered what was going through his mind. Wutai was his adopted home – but it was also, from what he'd said, the place of some of his worse horrors. He'd thought he'd killed Sephiroth here. He'd fought against the very people that had adopted him. He'd seen them all slaughtered by one mad SOLDIER.

Zack, easily confessing that he'd never been this far west, sat closest to the cab of the truck and talked to the driver through the open window, asking all kinds of questions about Wutai and the area around it. Cloud sat at the back of the truck, arms folded loosely over his chest and watched Zack with his eyebrows down over his eyes and an intent look on his face, long legs stretched out in the bed of the truck in front of him. Tifa sat on her heels to ease the bumps the truck took and watched behind them on the road as the wet, salty scenery fled past, one arm around Red's shoulders as he watched with her. She'd been offered the only other seat in the cab of the truck but she'd opted to ride in the bed with the guys instead. It felt better.

Slowly the land pulled away from the water but never too far and the marshes gave way to higher, dryer land. Tifa started to see other small villages with their colorful pagoda, distinctively sloped roofs. It was all exotic and beautiful to her and so were the people they passed on the roads or working in the fields or when they slowed down to drive through the center of a town. She saw soldiers too, as they started passing through the larger towns but they weren't Shinra guards. Instead they were in modernized versions of ancient looking armor and she saw they only carried bladed weapons. She wondered if that was a Shinra law now.

They stopped at midday in one of the larger towns where their ride informed them that was as far as he went but he'd find his cousin to get them the rest of the way. Cloud nodded and the other man smiled. It was one of those proud, private smiles that spoke of personal investment into the source of pride and Tifa wondered just how the people of Wutai viewed Cloud. She hadn't realized so many people would automatically recognize him. Of course, it was hard to miss a blond in the crowd of darker haired individuals, especially one that dressed like Cloud and carried a giant sword but… maybe Yuffie's family was more prominent than she'd thought. After all, they'd adopted Cloud as a gesture of peace so they had to be higher ranked, right?

"Come on," Cloud took her hand again and Tifa told herself it was silly of her to feel mushy just because he was afraid she'd get lost and thought holding her hand would keep her from wandering. "There's a noodle shop around here I remember. It's good."

By the time they'd made it to the noodle shop Cloud had collected another small following of children and when they tried to pay for their meal the shopkeeper refused as if they'd insulted her. Tifa sat at one of the outdoor tables and ate her noodles – and they were good – and watched as Cloud went back to the counter to get small fortune cookies for his flock of knee-highs. Zack was chuckling as he rubbed the top of Red's head.

"You get the idea we're missing something here?" the dark haired man asked and Tifa nodded, still watching Cloud as he went down on his heels to make sure everyone got one of the cookies including the children that were hanging shyly back in the doorway. All without saying a word or making it obvious that's what he was doing.

"Mm hm," she agreed. "Its like he's a movie star or something we don't know about."

"Not what you'd expect from someone that fought against them in the war," Zack commented and sat back to fold his arms across his chest, head tipped thoughtfully as he watched Cloud as well.

"We didn't hear a lot about the Wutai War in Midgar," Tifa admitted, finishing her food and setting her bowl neatly in Zack and Cloud's already stacked and empty ones. Red was still working on his. Noodles took a bit longer when you didn't have lips. "Just what Shinra wanted us to hear. I wonder what really happened."

Zack shrugged.

"Who knows who wasn't here."

It made Tifa pause and she looked at the man next to her. She'd guess he was about the same age as her and Cloud, maybe a bit older. She frowned in thought.

"Didn't you fight in the Wutai War, Zack? I thought they sent all their SOLDIERs over here."

Zack frowned and for the first time his forehead wrinkled. Unconsciously, he raised his thumb and rubbed between his brows.

"No." He paused. "No, I wasn't here. I've never been to Wutai. I was on guard duty in Modeoheim."

"The whole war?" Tifa asked curiously. Wondering what was in Modeoheim that they'd tie up a First Class SOLDIER with it. Zack frowned again and his eyes squinted a little.

"Yeah," he answered, voice not as sure as it usually was. "Weird, huh?"

"Hey," Tifa touched his shoulder. "You okay?"

Zack looked over at her and his face relaxed.

"Headache. Must be all this clean air and good food getting to me."

Cloud joined them.

"Jessie's dad says he's ready to go." He picked up the empty bowls before Tifa could get to them and acted as if he didn't realize she'd been about to.

"Why didn't you tell us you were a rock star?" Zack asked and Cloud gave him a puzzled look. Zack gestured around them.

"Dude, you've got the entire city fawning over you. What did you do?"

Cloud looked awkward and embarrassed.

"Nothing."

Zack crossed his arms across his chest again and sat back in his chair.

"Well, me and Tifa aren't going anywhere with you until you tell us."

Since it sounded good to her, Tifa imitated Zack, folding her arms under her chest and sitting back in her chair as well in imitation. Cloud looked from one to the other – and finally looked down at Red – who ignored them all. For just a moment, Cloud looked like he would rather leave them there than answer. Finally he shrugged.

"Yuffie's family runs Wutai. She's the Kisaragi heir. When I saved her, I saved the future of the ruling family. They're big on that in Wutai."

"You saved the king's daughter?" Tifa was surprised enough to sit forward in her chair. Zack looked surprised too but not as surprised as Tifa. Zack hadn't actually meet Yuffie after all. Cloud's hand went up to rub at the back of his head.

"He's not really the king."

"Wait a minute," Zack interrupted to Cloud's evident relief. "Yuffie – that's your adopted sister, right? And she's the – princess? So that makes you a – prince? Prince Cloud?"

The dark haired man was apparently, like Tifa, torn between finding it all hysterically funny and confoundingly shocking. Until Cloud, in a very uniquely 'unCloud' moment, reached out and hit Zack on the back of his head, blue eyes narrowed.

"Shut up," he told the other man and Tifa suddenly burst into laughter. No wonder he was such a 'celebrity'. He'd saved their only princess from the clutches of a mad man, going against his own side to do so. It was exactly the stuff of legends and hero tales. And she doubted, knowing Cloud, he'd even been aware of what he was doing beyond simply stepping in to defend a child in danger. If she hadn't been in love with him before – this would have pushed her right over the edge into it. She was already been in love with him though, so instead she stood up and threw her arms around his shoulders in a happy hug.

"You're wonderful, Cloud Strife," she told him with a brilliant smile, even daring to give his suddenly pink cheek a brushed kiss. Laughing. "A hero to an entire country and you don't even tell us." She pulled back enough to meet his eyes and even though her face was cheerful and laughing, tenderness moved deep in her as she told him:

"You didn't tell me I was going to have to share my hero."

"Tifa – " his eyes met hers. "I – "

A horn honked and Zack slapped Cloud on the back as he stood up. "Come on. I'm gonna ask Jessie's dad to tell all of us the story while we drive."

"Zack!" for a second, turning his head to protest, Cloud sounded young and Tifa grinned as she let go of him and took the bowls away from his loose hand to bring them back in to the shop before they left.

Zack did carry through on his threat and Jessie's dad was only too happy to tell, in full length and detail, the story of daring young Cloud 'barely a man' facing off against Sephiroth 'that mad magic man' in a duel to the death all for the sake of one 'not so innocent but still unblemished only child of the Kisaragi clan'. While Sephiroth might be considered a martyred hero of the Wutai War in the rest of the known world, apparently Shinra propaganda didn't carry as much power in Wutai. Why he'd gone mad wasn't known by the general public - that was blamed on the SOLDIER program itself, but that he had – and that he'd killed both his side and Wutai's as well until Cloud finally defeated him in mortal combat over the Kisaragi child heir was apparently staple story fare around here. Cloud sat at the back of the truck bed and pretended he couldn't hear – and that he wasn't aware that not only Zack but even Tifa and Red were sitting close to the back window so they could hear the story.

The story didn't stop there either though. Apparently after his triumph, Cloud had disappeared for several years, even the adoption had been proxy, and returned a monster slayer just as they'd started spawning in response to the new Shinra 'multiple curses upon it and its children' reactor. The monsters had apparently caught the Wutai people off guard when they'd first started appearing and Cloud's well-timed appearance had saved more than one village.

And Tifa had met him at a convention…

What kind of countrywide hero went to a convention?

One that adored his little sister and was willing to let her pick out his costume and mess with his hair apparently.

The same little sister he'd saved from a mad man long before she'd been his little sister.

They reached the capital before Zack could start teasing Cloud and the truck pulled up right to the back of a large building that stood in the center of the city. Cloud was off it before its tires had even stopped turning and giving the driver a nod of thanks. Zack and Tifa were more verbal in their thanks and the man was chuckling to himself as he pulled away. Cloud started walking and Tifa and Zack shot each other grins before catching up to him. Red ignored all the ridiculous human interplay as he strode along at Cloud's hip.

Tifa wondered if Cloud had any clue how he was building his reputation, striding in the back door of the capital building with a fire tailed beast at his side, huge sword slung casually over his back – looking exactly like the returning warrior-hero she knew he didn't see himself as.

He'd be mortified if he knew. Luckily for him, she and Zack were right behind him and ragged looking enough to take some of the majesty out of the scene. At least that's what she was thinking as she followed Cloud down the winding path of an immaculately kept garden with the red and black lacquer building rising in front of them. And then she heard her name called –

and even before her ears registered it – her heart did and she was turning toward that young, perfect, heart-sore, alive sound even as her knees gave out and her eyes filled with tears. Horror and heartache pouring over her face as her legs hit the gravel without even feeling it. Knowing better – her arms still opened and a second later, just before she could start screaming, first one impossibly small body and then another impacted with her and sent them all sprawling backward into the stone and perfectly trimmed grass.

And all she could hear was the pure, perfect sound of her name in the two voices she loved most in all the world, saying it over and over again as Denzel and Marlene burrowed themselves into her, filling her world with their weight and their smell and their warmth and their sound and their life. Tifa burst into tears and held them, ghosts or demons or dreams or nightmares, against her with no intent to ever let them go.

okay, Kainos Ktisis, you can breath now ;)