AN: Feb 21 Prompt was "Peace."

Summary: Amidst all the chaos, he finally let himself feel at peace.

Tags: canon, contemplative


"Another round over here!"

"Coming!"

He watched Tifa run around the bar from his seat in the back. Marlene trotted back and forth, delivering drinks on trays. She liked to help on busy days, reminiscent of her role just over two years ago. These days, Tifa tried to keep her out of the bar as much as possible, thinking maybe it wasn't great for such a young child to be tending one. But Marlene was quite a precocious girl – sometimes Cloud didn't know how to handle her himself – and she wasn't so easily influenced. He wasn't worried.

It was a busy evening, several Saturdays after he'd come back home. People crowded around tables and up at the bar, laughing and joking. Some people even broke out into song a few times. He was used to seeing it pretty lively on the weekends, but not like this.

The provisional Edge government, largely supported by WRO, was having a festival to celebrate the end of Geostigma. They were calling it the "Renewal." People had been in high spirits for weeks as the city prepared for it. Yesterday, it finally kicked off with a somber ceremony at the new Meteor statute to commemorate all that has been lost in the past two years. Today, Seventh Heaven was hosting the first of a series of celebratory activities that would continue into the week.

A small smile crept onto his face as he watched her mix two drinks at once, tie her hair back, then serve some plates. Yuffie was also around, and she was keeping up pretty well, all smiles and laughter with the patrons. At the beginning of the night, Cloud had tried to help by serving, but he had never been the best with people. Even now, after everything, he still found crowds like this a little difficult to navigate. And when he tried to go behind the bar to see what Tifa needed, she'd only shaken her head with a grin.

He'd only get in the way, and he knew that.

He also knew he'd be on serious clean-up duty later, which he honestly preferred anyway.

So, he sat at a table near the back, watching the evening unfold with a plate of fries and one of Tifa's new drinks that she'd come up with for the Renewal. A few times she came over to replace his fries and his drink, a lingering touch on his arm, before going back to what she was doing.

And even amidst all the chaos, he finally let himself feel at peace.