Cloud walked along the damaged road of Sector 6 on his own. He was a lone wolf and he preferred it that way. He had known Tifa for a very long time. She always wore her heart on her sleeve and sometimes it overwhelmed him.

"Cloud!" yelled Barret.

He whizzed around to see him dashing up the concrete with a fiercely determined look on his face.

"Take me to Marlene!"

"Okay," Cloud responded.

"You're going to help Aeris?" Tifa asked with concerned eyes. She and Aeris had only just met but Cloud could see that bonds had already been formed between the two girls.

"Yeah… but before that, there's something I want to know."

"What's that?" enquired Tifa, cocking her head slightly.

"…It's about the Ancients."

A minuscule figment of something he'd heard a long, long time ago suddenly flashed in his mind.

"In my veins courses the blood of the Ancients. I am one of the rightful heirs to this planet!"

"Sephiroth…?"

He fell to his knees and couldn't quite catch his breath. He felt arms tugging at him; Barret and Tifa were trying to help him back to his feet.

"Are you all right?" Tifa asked him.

"Pull it together, man!" boomed Barret, unsympathetic as ever.

He was, however, completely right. This was no time to get weak at the knees over a snippet of conversation he had had with Sephiroth years in the past. His main objectives right now were to take Barret to Marlene and to find Aeris and rescue her.

They stopped at Aeris' house first to tell her mother the bad news. She stood with her back to them, her head turned down ever-so-slightly.

"Cloud… wasn't it?" she called, her voice tiny. There was a faint tremor in her voice as if she was expecting some devastating news.

She finally turned to face them. Her eyes were crystalline as if hiding entire oceans beneath them. When she blinked, a solitary tear rolled down her right cheek.

"It's about Aeris, isn't it?" she asked, swallowing as if to suppress a sob.

"…Sorry," Cloud mumbled, dipping his head. "The Shinra have her."

Elmyra turned again and paced towards the foot of the stairs. Without looking back she said, "I know. They took her from here."

"They were here?" Cloud asked.

She turned and walked back to face them.

"That's what Aeris wanted…" she told him.

"Why is Shinra after Aeris?"

"Aeris is an Ancient. The sole survivor," she whispered, her voice quivering.

"…What did you say?" Barret chimed in. "But, aren't you her mother?"

She gave a sad sigh.

"…Not her real mother. Oh… it must have been 15 years ago… during the war. My husband was sent to the front. Some far away place called Wutai. One day, I went to the station because I got a letter saying he was coming home on leave."

She paused for what felt like a lifetime. Cloud and Tifa gave each other a look; a look full of the deepest compassion. The brave woman's story was breaking her heart, but she wanted to tell it. Even Barret understood. They remained in the poignant silence for some time until Elmyra found the strength to continue.

"My husband never came back. I wondered if something had happened to him. No, I'm sure his leave was just cancelled. I went to the station every day. Then, one day…"

The station was quiet, except for the haunting sounds of a child crying. Elmyra saw a girl straight ahead, her hair golden brown and full of waves, sitting beside a motionless woman who looked just like her. A mother and daughter; she was sure of it. She ran up to them, her breaths coming out quick and sharp. The little girl looked up at her. Even though she was silent, her eyes told her Elmyra everything. She wanted this to go away. She wanted her mother to be all right. But it was never going to happen. She was gravely injured and there was no hope…

"You used to see this sort of thing a lot during the war. Her last words were, 'Please take Aeris somewhere safe.' My husband never came back. I had no child. I was probably lonely. So I decided to take her home with me. Aeris and I became close very quickly. That child loved to talk. She used to talk to me about everything. She told me she escaped from some kind of research laboratory somewhere. And that her mother had already returned to the planet, so she wasn't lonely… and many other things."

"Returned to the planet?" asked Barret.

"I didn't know what she meant. I asked if she meant a star in the sky, but she said it was this planet… She was a mysterious child in many ways."

"Mom," drifted her daughter's voice from the top of the stairs. She plodded down the steps into the lounge and peered straight into Elmyra's eyes.

"Please don't cry."

"Aeris just blurted that out all of a sudden," Elmyra said. "When I asked her if something happened…"

Her eyes told Elmyra that something terrible had happened. Aeris was never one to hide her emotions. They shone out of her. She wore her heart on her sleeve.

"Someone dear to you has just died," she said, her eyes heavy and shimmering with liquid, but her voice unwavering. "His spirit was coming to see you, but he already returned to the planet.'

"At that time, I didn't believe her." She paused for a second to compose herself. "But… several days later we received a notice saying my husband died… and that's how it was. A lot had happened, but we were happy. Until one day…"

"We want you to return Aeris to us. We've been searching for her for a long time," the slick-looking man with long black hair and ironed suit demanded.

"No! Never!" Aeris screamed, hiding behind her mum.

"Aeris," the man said. "You're a very special child. You are of special blood." His tone was patronizing, and not the least bit friendly, even though the man was trying to gain her daughter's trust. "Your real mother was an 'Ancient'."

"Of course I heard it. That she was an Ancient." Elmyra was wringing her hands together nervously. It must have been awful to relive the past knowing that her daughter was with the Shinra right now.

"The Ancients will lead us to a land of supreme happiness. Aeris will be able to bring happiness to all those in the slums. That is why Shinra would like Aeris' cooperation."

Aeris ran forwards, shaking her head defiantly.

"He's wrong!" she declared. "I'm not an Ancient! I'm not!"

"But Aeris," the man said, trying to act thoughtful and friendly, but coming off instead as patronizing and false, "surely you hear voices sometimes when you're all alone?"

"No, I don't!" Aeris announced, not taking her eyes of the man. Then she darted out of the house, her gloriously long hair bobbing up and down with each step.

"But I knew. I knew about her mysterious powers… She tried so hard to hide it, so I acted as though I never noticed."

"It's amazing how she's avoided the Shinra for all these years…" Cloud said, quite unable to take in Aeris' startling, haunting past.

"The Shinra needed her," she replied, "so I guess they wouldn't harm her."

"But why now…?" Tifa asked.

"She brought a little girl here with her…" said Aeris' mother. "On the way here, Tseng found them. She probably couldn't get away fast enough. She decided to go with the Shinra in exchange for the little girl's safety."

"Must be Marlene," Cloud said.

"Marlene!" Barret gasped. "Aeris was caught because of Marlene!?"

He ambled towards Elmyra and dipped his head as he spoke to her.

"I'm sorry. Marlene's my daughter. I'm… really… sorry…"

Elmyra's face suddenly changed from sorrowful to angry disbelief.

"You're her father!?" she cried. "How in the world could you ever leave a child alone like that!?"

Barret inched backwards slightly. His head dropped even further.

"…Please don't start with that," he mumbled. "I think about it all the time. What would happen to Marlene, if I…"

He trailed off and stood looking at the ground for an uncomfortable few seconds.

"But you gotta understand something," he continued, his voice getting back some of its fighting spirit. "I ain't got an answer. I wanna be with Marlene… but I gotta fight."

He gesticulated with his arms.

"Cause if I don't… the planet's gonna die."

He raised his gun arm into the air, a signal of determination.

"So I'm gonna keep fighting! But, I'm worried 'bout Marlene. I really just wanna be with her… always."

He let out an annoyed sigh.

"See? I'm goin' in circles, now."

Cloud often believed Barret thought with his feet, his fist and his gun-arm and had little respect for the man. But now he was finally starting to see the deeper side to him. He was a man who was devoted to the planet and those around him. And he would let nothing get in his way.

"…I think I understand what you're saying…," Elmyra said to Barret. "She's upstairs asleep. Why don't you go and see her?"

He didn't need to be asked twice. He rushed upstairs quicker than lightning, which was a feat, considering the man was all muscle. Cloud could hear his heavy footfalls as he bounded across the first-floor landing.

Cloud turned to Tifa and could tell that something was on her mind. Just as he began to turn the other way, she blurted out her feelings.

"It's my fault…" she grumbled. "I was the one who got Aeris involved in this."

"Don't say that," Elmyra comforted. "Aeris doesn't think that."

Cloud left the lounge and went upstairs. He could hear soft voices and the laughter of a little girl. As he peered into the door in front of him he could see Barret holding his daughter tight.

"I'm so glad… I'm so glad you're all right…," Barret sniffled.

"Daddy, don't cry," Marlene told him. "Your whiskers hurt!"

He turned to leave. Barret needed some time with his daughter, alone. This might be the last time they ever see each other. Or, maybe not. Who knew? Barret understood the dangers of the job. That was evident with the loss of his three friends, Biggs, Wedge and Jessie. He would have lost Marlene too if it wasn't for Aeris.

Aeris, he thought.

They needed to help her...

"Cloud!"

Barret's voice boomed through the upper levels of the house.

"You gonna go help Aeris, right?" he asked as if reading Cloud's thoughts. "She's done so much for me…"

His face was one huge grimace. He clenched his teeth together.

"If it's the Shinra you're dealin' with, I can't just sit here! I'm comin' too!"

Marlene ran up to Cloud with a huge grin on her face, peering at him with sparkly brown eyes. If she had picked up on any of the tension around here then she was choosing to ignore it, and she did it well. She was actually glowing with excitement.

"Guess what? Guess what?" she chimed. "Aeris was asking me lots of questions. Like what kind of person Cloud is. I bet she likes you, Cloud!"

"Let's hope so," Cloud replied, not really believing it. It's not that he was self-conscious about himself; it was more that he didn't have the time for this kind of stuff. But Marlene was only a little girl. He knew he could be a cold-hearted bastard most of the time, but he did have a little compassion in his heart… somewhere. He decided he'd humour her, that's all.

"I won't tell Tifa," she whispered, her tone deadly serious.

He went to his room and fell to sleep almost instantly.

To be continued…