DISCLAIMER: I do not own the rights to Final Fantasy VII or any of its Compilation. I am merely a fan who hasn't had her fill of these amazing characters; this fic is written for pleasure only, not for profit.

.:Chapter I:.
-No Rest for the Righteous-

The sun was just beginning to set when Cloud Strife turned his motorcycle back toward Edge. His deliveries for the day were complete at last, and he was ready for a home-cooked meal and a hot shower.

Home. How strangely wonderful it felt to say that.

.:I:I:V:I:I:.

It had been four years since Meteorfall, two years since the advent of Geostigma, and six months since Deepground's emergence and subsequent defeat by Vincent, AVALANCHE, and the WRO. A few extant cases of Geostigma had popped up, but now they were equipped to handle it. Things had, for the moment, settled down. Cloud really hoped they stayed that way this time.

After the defeat of Deepground, he and Tifa had gone back to Edge with Denzel and Marlene. His delivery service kept him running all over the place, but he made sure to keep in touch when it did, talking on the phone to Tifa and the kids when business kept him away for longer periods than a day. When Barret wasn't working, he came home to Seventh Heaven as well.

Vincent, the immortal ex-Turk, had not gone back to Nibelheim after the Deepground incident - instead, he and the ex-Tsviet, Shelke Rui, had begun working with the World Regenesis Organization and Reeve. Like Barret, they both came home to Edge when they were not on duty, Shelke becoming something of an adopted daughter to the caped marksman. The situation, while not typical, suited the two very well: Shelke had inherited Lucrecia's memories, after all, which had helped Vincent when he needed it. And of course, neither she nor Vincent aged.

Yuffie, the young Wutaiese princess, was supposed to have returned to her homeland after their last save-the-world mission...however, as of late she had spent more and more time in Edge with Tifa and Cloud as things at home had grown more and more tense: as the only child of Godo Kisaragi, there were certain customs and requirements that one of her station was expected to adhere to...namely, finding a husband and continuing the royal line.

Yuffie, of course, had no desire for such pomp and circumstance.

Nanaki had returned to Cosmo Canyon, though he traveled frequently, and Cid and Shera continued to reside in Rocket Town (when they weren't off ferrying the WRO around, anyway). Reeve was constantly busy, but there was progress.

Rufus Shinra remained low-profile. Though it was Sephiroth who had physically committed such atrocities against the planet and people of it, Shin-Ra had had no small hand in it, and Rufus felt a great amount of responsibility for what had happened. The Turks had shown up in Seventh Heaven no small amount of times, but they were (usually) friendly when they did.

.:I:I:V:I:I:.

The bar was busy when Cloud pulled up, as was typical for that time of day. Adults getting off work, families coming in to have dinner together. Cloud parked the Fenrir in the alleyway behind and entered the bar through the back door.

"Cloud!" Had it really only been four years ago that Denzel had come to live with them? Cloud smiled, ruffling the boy's hair.

"Hey," he said. "Sorry I'm late; ran into some monsters outside town. How've things been today?"

"Pretty good. Marlene's in the bar helping Tifa out."

"I figured. Patrons are behaving themselves?"

"No problems yet," Denzel shrugged. For awhile, business at the bar had waned as knowledge of Denzel's Geostigma spread. Now that it had been healed, people were coming again. Seventh Heaven was filled almost every single night.

Cloud went upstairs to put his swords away, Denzel at his heels. He rolled his shoulders to get out the kinks, then headed downstairs again. There had been a few rowdier people coming into the bar lately, and while Tifa was more than capable of handling an aggressive customer, the presence of an "ex-SOLDIER" and his mako-glow eyes usually assured she did not have to.

Tifa was bustling around when he entered, and Denzel hurried to help out. On the far side of the bar, Marlene cheerfully passed out a family's drinks. Cloud smiled fondly at the little girl who had turned eight not long ago. When she turned around, she caught Cloud's eye and hurried over, giving him a quick hug before going on to grab the next customer's order. Tifa soon noticed his presence as well, and greeted him warmly before hurrying to fill another round, and Cloud settled into his customary spot near the front.

Home. How truly blessed he was to say that.

.:I:I:V:I:I:.

The clock chimed eight-thirty, and Tifa announced "last drinks". Some of the patrons grumbled, but those were the breaks. Too many of their customers were families, and schools had been rebuilt now. There were plenty of other bars in the city from which to choose.

At nine, Cloud walked over and flipped the bar sign from 'Open' to 'Closed' and by nine-fifteen, the last patron had left, tired of Cloud's mako-gaze boring into him.

"Grab those receipts and we'll start tallying everything up," he instructed the children. Denzel had finished wiping down the rest of the tables, so he settled at the one nearest Tifa while Marlene grabbed the order slips from her. Their hours were not typical for a bar, but closing earlier on weeknights ensured the children could spend time with Cloud. Sorting receipts and washing dishes was not glamorous work, but they loved hearing about his travels and all those foreign places. Tifa looked forward to this part of the evening: even if they were all busy, at least they were together.

Hopefully, the peace would last this time.

.:I:I:V:I:I:.

The perks of more people coming to the bar again was that there was more money. The downside? More dirty dishes. At last, at ten-fifteen, Tifa could put down her rag and breathe.

"Business is still picking up, huh?" Cloud asked, descending the stairs after tucking in Marlene and Denzel. The latter was almost ten, but until he complained he was 'too old' for such things, Cloud and Tifa would continue to indulge him. "It's taking us longer to clean up now, even though we close earlier."

"It does." Tifa let the sink drain and wiped off her hands, glasses drying for tomorrow's activities. Cloud sat down on one of the sofas, and after hanging the rag over the faucet to dry, Tifa came to join him.

"How was your day?" she asked. He smiled.

"Good," he said. "Honestly...really good. Yours?"

"It was nice," she said, nodding. "Busy, but...nice. It seems like...things are finally settling down now."

"It'd be nice not to have to run off and save the world for awhile," he said.

"It would. The kids are settling into school nicely, too." A comfortable silence. Cloud put an arm around Tifa, pulling her close. This really was the perfect ending to such a nice-

Wark wark wark! Wark wark wark! Phone call! Phone call! Wark wark wark-

"What is that?" Tifa asked in amusement, watching as Cloud picked up his cellphone and rolled his eyes.

"Marlene must have changed it," he said. She or Reno were the only ones he'd know of who'd pull something like this, but he made darn sure not to let Reno anywhere near his phone the unfortunate times they worked together. "Hello?"

"Cloud?"

"Vincent?" Cloud sat up now, leaning forward on the sofa. Tifa moved with him, fully alert...and worried. If Vincent was calling at this hour of the night…

"...There's a situation," he said. "How soon can you and Tifa get to Healen?"

"Vincent, what's going on?"

"I'll explain in more detail when you get here," Vincent said. "Cid's gone to pick up Barret and Nanaki." Cloud exchanged a frown with Tifa. Vincent's next words chilled them.

"The short of it is...Jenova's returned. And she's brought Sephiroth back with her."

.:I:I:V:I:I:.

"How can he be alive again?" Cloud asked, grabbing some supplies and shoving them into a knapsack. For Gaia's sake, why couldn't the creep just stay dead? Cloud glowered; his ex-general had threatened he would 'never be a memory'. Perhaps he should have taken Sephiroth at his word.

"How did he resurrect himself last time?" Tifa asked. Or the time before that, she silently added. She set her bag on Cloud's bed, then hurried to her own room to make it up for Elmyra. She had called the older woman straight away after hearing Vincent's news; Elmyra had readily agreed to watch over Denzel and Marlene and manage the bar while they went to see Rufus.

"Some mumbo-jumbo about Jenova's cells and memory fragments," Cloud said, following her. She looked at him and jerked her head at the sheets. Obligingly, Cloud went to the other side and grabbed hold, pulling them up and folding as she did. "Honestly, I'm not even sure what the heck that's supposed to mean. You'd have to ask him. Or the Remnants."

(Tifa actually didn't feel the need to ask him or the Remnants.)

"Cloud?" Marlene had woken up, clutching her Chocobo plushie. "Tifa? What's...going on? Why are you making your bed when it's time to sleep?"

"Yeah, and why's there stuff all over Cloud's bed?" Denzel was awake too, standing in the doorway with wide eyes as he took in the activity.

"There's an emergency," Tifa said. "Cloud and I have to go to Healen; Elmyra's going to come stay with you and Marlene."

"What's...happened?" Denzel asked, voice serious.

"We're not really sure," Cloud answered, walking over to ruffle the kid's hair. "Vincent...wasn't able to explain everything over the phone. He just said that Tifa and I have to go see President Shin-Ra."

"Now?!" Denzel looked at the darkened bedroom window as if to say, 'It's the middle of the night!' Cloud put his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Yeah," he said, giving Denzel a nod. "Now." The almost-eleven-year-old looked at the ground.

"Hey — look at me," he said, giving Denzel's shoulder an affectionate squeeze. Denzel raised his eyes to meet Cloud's. "We're going to come back. We've beaten the bad guys before; we'll do it again." No way was anyone — especially some bloody alien and her so-called silver-haired 'son' — coming between Cloud and his family. Not anymore. At last, Denzel returned Cloud's subtle smile with a similar expression.

"Can we help?" Marlene asked softly, and Tifa nodded at her.

"Why don't you finish helping me make this bed, and Cloud and Denzel can get everything loaded onto Fenrir?" she suggested, and Marlene hurried to stand at the corner of the bed Cloud had vacated. Denzel ran to get his shoes on. Once the room was to Tifa's satisfaction, she and Marlene went downstairs to pack some food and sort out what materia they might need. She would leave some with the children, too, just in case.

"You remember how to use these, right?" Tifa asked, handing Marlene an extra Sense and some other elemental spells. Marlene nodded.

"Denzel and me have been practicing almost every day, just like you taught us," she answered, and Tifa seemed to relax a little. Marlene looked up at her, young eyes grave. "Do you think you'll be gone very long?" she asked. Tifa drew her close in a hug. Was she thinking of Aerith?

"I don't know," she said honestly, pulling away to look at the little girl. "We could be gone for a few days; we could be gone for a couple weeks." She would not suffix that with 'or months'; she would not entertain the idea that they could be away any longer than that.

"Everything ready here?" Cloud asked, himself and Denzel coming back into the kitchen. Tifa gave him a nod in response, and the little family went together out the back door.

"Elmyra will be on the first train out here," Tifa told the children. "You two will be able to manage until then, right?" Denzel and Marlene nodded in response, Marlene moving suddenly to wrap her arms tightly around Tifa's waist.

"Please be careful…" she said, voice muffled in the woman's side. Tifa pulled her close again, wishing she could offer more than scant promises.

"We will be," she said, giving Marlene the only guarantee she could. To her surprise, Denzel also came and wrapped his arms around her.

"Promise?" he asked, looking worriedly up at her. She returned his hug with her other arm.

"Of course." She pulled both children to her in as tight an embrace as she could. They were having a much harder time of this than she had thought...and so was she. When Cloud had gone away because of his Geostigma, they'd at least had her. Now both she and Cloud were needed; what if neither of them came back? What if Barret didn't?

She started as strong arms came and wrapped around all three of them from the other side.

"Tifa will come back to you safe and sound," Cloud promised, meeting first the children's eyes and then hers. Something caught in her throat. "I'll make sure of that." The family stood like that for some moments longer, none of them wanting to break the embrace...until, at last, Cloud pulled away.

"We should get going," he said, offering them a sallow smile. He looked to the kids once more. "Take care of each other, and do everything to help Mrs. Gainsborough just like you would if Tifa and I were here."

"We love you," Tifa said, climbing on the bike behind Cloud. He pulled on his goggles, and they drove away into the night.

.:I:I:V:I:I:.

The sun was just beginning to rise when Fenrir finally arrived at Healen, where Shin-Ra had been headquartered since Meteorfall. Rude and Reno were waiting for them atop the stairs of the building; it was comparatively larger than the other dwellings in town, but nevertheless miniscule when one took into account how huge the Shin-Ra Building had been in Midgar. Rufus had downsized quite a bit since the near-apocalypse they had all experienced three-and-a-half years ago.

"Cloud, Tifa — welcome." Rude's greeting was polite but grave, and not even Reno had a smart remark to add. "This way." The pair followed the Turks inside and down a hall to a code-locked room.

"So it's really true?" Tifa asked, finally breaking the silence. The somber mood of the two could not be missed. "Jenova is back? And Sephiroth, too?" Reno cast her a look over his shoulder.

"...It's true," he said, after a pause. "There's, ah...something else, too." He punched in another code, and the door slid open. Cloud gasped.

"Hello, Big Brother."

"Kadaj?"

.:I:I:V:I:I:.

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

I hope it sounds okay. I had some writer's block and it was really rough to get all the pieces into place, but I was really determined that I get this out by the end of this week like I said I would! (It was published by 11:55 on dA, so I think that still counts, right? ;)

Some of you will notice that I have increased the time it takes to get to Healen from Edge. I got ahold of a map with ALL the cities from the Compilation on it, and it turns out Healen is halfway across the continent from Midgar/Edge.

As always, constructive criticism is welcomed.

Keep on Rockin' in 2020!
~MoonlightTyger