"So you actually came."

Cloud scowled, warily scanning his surroundings as he entered the other blonde's office. "What do you want, Rufus?"

"Ten years and you still don't trust me," said Rufus sarcastically, his stride unbroken save for the clack of his cane on the floor. "Your next mission. That monster from a week ago? As I'm sure you've heard, it wasn't the only one. Other settlements experienced similar attacks at the same time. Quite the coincidence."

"So what do you want me to do about it?"

"I want you and the other operators to examine the remains. With the help of our friend in the hood, of course."

"The girl?"

Rufus nodded. "Surely you've noticed her special connection to the beasts. She might be able to tell us something about whatever's coming."

"Trying to save the Planet?" Cloud lifted his eyebrow, his expression slightly puzzled. "Never thought I'd see Rufus Shinra actually trying to help people."

The former executive turned philanthropist chuckled, setting his cane atop his desk as he leaned against it. "Now don't get me wrong, Cloud, I still plan on taking power. But let's just say I'm not against sharing it."

"Really?" Cloud crossed his arms.

"Yes, really." The cold, icy blue of Rufus' gaze met the slitted green of Cloud's hidden beneath his riding goggles. "As a matter of fact, I believe you and I share a purpose. I might have a deal for you one day. I hope you make the right choice."

The swordsman's fingers twitched, his old mistrust of the man pushing its way to the forefront of his mind. He chose not to let it show. Instead, he kept his expression calm. "I doubt it."

"Not even for a higher purpose?" The man in white then raised his arms and chin, the gesture dramatic and almost religious. "Because I promise you, I will need your help one day. You and I are strugglers. Brothers in arms. I just don't think you realize it yet."

The younger blonde shook his head, flaxen spikes wavering while he did. "This got anything to do with Jenova? Because if not, I'm leaving."

"No. Just you and me." Rufus took up his cane once more only to double over slightly. "Damn it."

Cloud moved to help him, stopped only by the gloved hand of the Shinra Electric Power Company's living legacy. "Don't. I can do this. Long term after effects of an extended bout of Geostigma. Not all of us have youth or Mako on our side."

Rufus rose slowly, his cane beneath him as the feathered wings upon its blackened surface glistened in the lights of his office.

"So that's what the cane's for," noted Cloud, eliciting a nod from Rufus.

"It is. It helps me walk. Helps me get the job done. Now I suggest you do the same."

The blade wielder nodded, turning to leave when he was stopped at the door by the other man's voice.

"And Cloud? Think about what I said."

Without nodding, Cloud left, intending to do his job and nothing more. It would lead to another awkward conversation aboard an airship bound for Corel. Heading to the last town on Gaia he wanted to be in, the darkly dressed operator would find himself seated on Fenrir.

"So are you and Tifa a thing?"

As a very familiar teenager found herself beside him, her blindfolded eyes mirthful despite the cloth concealing them.

"No." Cloud sighed.

"Do you wanna be? I've seen you looking at her. Don't think your goggles can hide everything, okay?"

He sighed again. "I, uh, I don't."

And in response, a girlish giggle. "Liar. She's not even here right now. You can tell me. We are friends, remember?"

Indeed, Tifa was with them, having managed to convince Reeve to let her join the mission to Corel for personal reasons. Ever understanding, the Commissioner had allowed her to do so. And aside from an amicable greeting upon seeing each other atop the airship's landing pad, not a word had been spoken between them since. Luckily for him, the brawler was nowhere to be found, something that Cloud was thankful for due to the teasing of his nosy young ally.

"Since we are, how about I start asking the questions?" countered Cloud, hoping to change the subject.

"Shoot," replied the cloaked figure.

"What's with the blindfold?"

A finger on her chin signified that she was in deep thought, her usually talkative demeanor gone in favor of a more contemplative one. After a few moments, she spoke. "I don't need my eyes to see."

"Meaning?"

"Exactly what I just said. I don't need my eyes to see," claimed the maiden. "I've got other things."

Cloud offered a disbelieving scoff in return. "Like what?"

A tap to her temple and a thumb to her chest. "My mind. And my heart. Way more useful. It's what's inside that counts."

And those words were familiar to her seatmate, a former infantryman who had befriended a SOLDIER that wouldn't have hesitated to say the same thing. "You sound just like him."

"Like who?"

Cloud smirked. "An old friend."

A pout and name came. "Aerith?"

"No. Zack. Aerith's boyfriend. My best friend. He's gone too."

"Lying again. No one's ever really gone," reassured the unnamed woman, her tone teasing but sincere all the same. "You remember. The Planet remembers. The Lifestream remembers too."

"The Lifestream hasn't been that helpful lately." A mournful sigh escaped Cloud, thinking of the years since he had last heard from Zack and Aerith. Even though both had passed on, their collective presence had always offered him reassurance. "There are friends I don't hear from anymore."

The staff wielder perked up in surprise. "The Planet talks to you too?"

"No, it…" paused Cloud. "It doesn't. It talked to Aerith. And her and Zack used to talk to me from the Lifestream."

"They don't do it anymore?" The black haired youth's voice had become sad and timid.

"They don't. It's been a few years since I heard from them. About five actually. They way they talked." The operator took a deep breath, steadying himself as the old flood of unpleasant memories washed over him. "It sounded like something bad was gonna happen."

"And something bad is happening."

Cloud could only nod, his response voiceless as all was silent for a few moments. Then he spoke. "Not while we're around. You, me, Vincent and Genesis. We'll fix things, right?"

"I.." trailed the nameless girl, her lighthearted demeanor having been replaced by grimness. "I know that. B-but I'm scared. There's a lot I don't know. A lot I don't understand. Did I ever tell you? I don't even really remember if I have a name. I just woke up one day and Genesis was there and…"

"Hey, I was like you a long time ago. I didn't know who I was. Not really. But if there's one thing I've learned, it's that you have to keep pushing. Even if it scares you. That's the only way to find out who you really are. Do that and things'll always turn out fine," promised Cloud.

His friend nodded, her dark hair bobbing beneath her hood. "You're right. Thanks. And speaking of finding things out, I've just found out that I'm pretty hungry."

A barely visible half-smile from her older companion was all she got. "Head over to the commissary then. Make it quick too. We're getting close to Corel."

"Hey, I'm a fast eater," said the figure in purple, regaining her customary energy. "Don't worry, Cloud."

And as soon as she left, Cloud started counting the minutes until touch down in the old mining town. And when they landed, he immediately disembarked alongside Vincent and Genesis, concealing himself behind their taller forms from the one person who had never forgiven him for walking out on his old life.

Unfortunately, his golden spikes had always made him easily identifiable, a fact that he was reminded of as soon as a familiar voice roared in fury. "The hell're you doin' here, dumbass?"

The man's gun arm whirred to life, spitting out lead as the target of his wrath pushed past his two allies. Cloud drew his First Sword, easily deflecting the bullets with his blade only to lay them out on the dirt before him. Vincent and Genesis flanked him, hands hovering near their weapons. Both men were obviously protective of their younger friend and neither took kindly to the sudden burst of gunfire, their eyes narrowed dangerously at the man who had taken aim.

"Barret!" Tifa hissed, blocking the gunner from charging forward.

"Hey, heck're you protectin' him for, Tifa? You forgot what he did or somethin'?" The years had only added more lines to Barret's weather beaten face, rendering his countenance only more threatening despite the age they showed.

And before Tifa could respond, someone else stepped in, the rim of her cloak trailing gently behind her as she stepped up to face the dark skinned titan. "Hey, you must be Barret."

"I don't know ya, kid, so get outta the way before I you get hurt 'cuz I'm about to smack me some-"

"Some what? He swings a sword as large as you around. Think you can take him?" asked the girl, a hint of playful mocking in her voice as she planted one hand on her hip and her staff beside her. The effects were immediate.

Barret cocked his head to the side, his gaze focused on the dress wearing mage. "What'd you say?"

Only the combined efforts of Aerith and Tifa had ever managed to stop the one armed man dead in his tracks.

"Well, you heard what I said, big guy." The girlish interloper smirked lopsidedly. "Think you can take on a SOLDIER?"

Barret crouched low, intending to meet the growing woman's gaze. Instead, all he found were impishly quirked lips beneath a patterned blindfold. "Only two people ever talked to me like that," said the older man. "You remind me of one of 'em."

Cloud's pint sized protector sighed tiredly. "Aerith?"

Barret's eyes widened in shock. "You know her?"

"Yup, Cloud's been telling me all about her. Right, Cloud?" She whirled around only to find the stoic warrior walking off.

"And good riddance," hissed Barret, his steely gaze focused on the retreating form of Cloud Strife.

"And there's so much to fix." Gaia's boon then walked towards her two other protectors, both fixing Barret with a glare. "But until then, I'll hang out with my two other babysitters, right, guys?"

"Genesis can take care of you. I have things to take care of." Vincent then vanished in a dark whirl, leaving two colorful figures behind.

"Shall we then?" Genesis gestured towards the direction Cloud had gone, no doubt towards whatever quarters had been prepared for them for the duration of their stay in the mining town. The two then set off, eager to find rest after such a violent start in Corel while WRO personnel scurried about the ship.

Meanwhile, Tifa trudged up to her father figure, her face exhausted. "Really?"

"Hey, he walked out on y'all," spat Barret.

Her gaze fell as she could offer no retort, the truth in his words undeniable. Still, Tifa was a woman of peace, refusing to condone violence among her allies. "I know," she admitted, her voice quiet but firm. "But what do you want me to do, Barret? Stay mad at him forever? Hate him?"

"You soft on him, Tifa? Don't tell me you still sweet on him!"

"None of your business," shot back the fighter, adept with her words as well as her fists and feet. "I've been angry at him for a decade. And that's not me. Besides…"

The carmine of her eyes traced the path he had walked away from her, a mix of hurt and understanding on her features.

"He had his reasons. Maybe they're not good ones." Her hands, clad in black leather and metal, clenched. "But I see why he left now."

And as soon as she uttered those words, Tifa gave Barret a pleading look. One laced with everything she had endured for so long, her heart unable to bear much more.

Seeing how his actions had pained her, Barret felt remorse. Head hanging slightly, the former rebel nodded. "Fine," he gritted. "I'll play nice."

"Thank you."

And within the confines of his own room, Cloud fared no better. There he was, hands folded behind his head as lazed on his bed. With his eyes shut, many would have thought him to be the height of tranquility. But those who had come to know him knew better. His light sleep would end in pain, the calmness upon his visage only temporary as carmine, ebony and ivory blended together as he slumbered.

"Good night, Cloud," whispered Tifa, a smile gracing her lips as she dozed off after a hard day's work, her form filling the space beside him on their bed.

And he did the same, only to find himself waking into the harsh nightmare that had become his reality.

"Every damn time," huffed Cloud, swiping at the tears that had begun tracing the lines of his face. Taking a moment to compose himself, a knock on the door compelled him to lace his boots and wear his goggles. Sure that he looked presentable, the swordsman slung his weapon across his back before finally opening the door.

All he found there was a boy who had grown into a man. One that had been a stumbling wreck when Cloud had taken him in fifteen years ago, his body ravaged by Geostigma.

"Operator," greeted Denzel. His former son had grown well into his twenty secondth year. The younger man was tall enough to look Cloud in the eye, a steely blue gaze from beneath his shaggy brown locks meeting nothing but tinted lenses. Clad in the white of a WRO aide, the scrawniness of youth had fallen away, leaving behind leanness and fitness. Even more than that, his sharpened features lent his stern glare a weight it hadn't possessed as a child as he continued to address Cloud. "They're ready for you."

Cloud simply nodded, glancing at the name sewn into the left side of Denzel's garb.

It read "Lockhart". All thanks to a formal adoption that had occurred five years ago. Shortly after the name Seventh Heaven had reached the zenith if its popularity in Edge, turning the small bar into a respected local hub for fine food and drink. Both were moments of triumph for his family, ones he had missed thanks to old decisions. The realization only fed into the regret he had harbored for leaving them behind, even if it had been for a worthy cause.

Somehow sensing his ex-parent's gaze, Denzel followed it to its obvious destination, his eyes narrowing upon realizing where it had landed. Immediately, the brown haired man drew his lips into a thin line. Anger. Sadness. Disappointment. To Cloud, all these things were evident upon Denzel's face. Yet none were formed into words. Instead, the aide puffed his chest and strolled down the hall, turning away roughly from the man who had abandoned him.

And wordlessly, that man followed.

PART FOUR! If it so pleases you, do review. If not, no problem. Though I would appreciate them. =)