By a Fraction of a Degree

A FFVII Fanfiction work by findthetiger129

Rated T for Violence and Language.

I do not own Final Fantasy VII, or any of the characters, trademarks or likenesses from Final Fantasy VII or its spinoffs. That honor goes to Square-Enix.

Now, where were we?...

Part I: Crossfire

Chapter 12, A New Home

October 5th [ ν ] – εуλ 0007, Late Afternoon

"Wow, this place is incredible!" When the helicopter had touched down in the middle of what had at first seemed like a remote forest clearing on one of the Mideel area's more northern islands, Zack had been a little bit skeptical. But after the game huntress had led them into the woods and brought them to where they were currently standing, he found himself reminded once again that Turks were full of surprises.

The two-story building they stood in front of had once been a hunting lodge, though now, it was old and abandoned. Time had cracked the windows and eroded bits of the stonework around the foundation at the base of walls made with simple wooden planks. The door to the inside hung open, and looked old and weathered. Weeds grew everywhere, ivy wound its way up the walls and traces of an old path constructed of flagstones cut a swathe through the clearing, though it was pockmarked in places by the odd sapling or patch of grass poking out where the stones intersected. This path led from the door, and then veered off to their left before going off in two different directions to places Zack couldn't see. He reflected that he would probably be very busy exterminating monsters around here for quite some time, but on the other hand, if they fixed a few things up, it could very easily be a nice place to live.

"How did you find something like this?" Cissnei was standing behind her fellow Turk, looking appreciatively at the building.

"I used to hunt around here all the time when I was growing up," Freya admitted. "I don't remember it ever being maintained before, but I've camped out here a few times and the inside is in great shape. Would you like to see it?"

"Let's check it out," Aerith said. With that, Freya went to the door and pulled it open the whole way. It squeaked on its hinges until it stopped and she walked through, alert for any sign of danger as the others followed. As they neared the door, Aerith grabbed Zack's arm playfully. "It's like we're going inside one of those haunted houses, isn't it?" she giggled.

"Well, it could be worse," Zack teased back. "It could be one of those Hell Houses."

"Those are just an urban legend."

"You sure? I could have sworn I saw one last night."

Zack was just about to get into telling a yarn when they were distracted as they crossed over the threshold. They had passed into a short hallway with two doors, one leading off of each side. The hallway itself wasn't particularly remarkable. There wasn't anything in it aside from the doors and a narrow set of stairs that went up to a landing on the second floor, but what drew their attention was the room at the end of the hallway. On the opposite side of it, stood a stone fireplace with debris from an old fire still in it. As the room opened out before them, Zack could see that it was intended as a living area though no furniture filled the place. A pair of broken windows adorned either side of the fireplace, and to the left, he could see a door going out the back, apparently leading to some kind of porch.

"The floor seems stable," he heard Kunsel say behind him.

"Of course it is," Freya assured them. "They built this thing to last, even through earthquakes."

"Earthquakes?" Zack asked.

"I guess you didn't have one when you came through here. The town of Mideel is a hot spring town after all, and what are hot springs associated with?" Freya supplied.

"Seismic and geothermal activity," Kunsel said automatically.

"Bingo!" Freya walked to the back door and opened it. "And now, I get to show you the best part." She led the four of them off of the old porch and towards another path of flagstones leading away from the building.

They walked through the woods for a little while until the clearing opened out, and in front of them, lay a wide pool. It had been naturally formed, and a small stream from further inland flowed into it, cooling it, before threading its way out the other side and flowing down into a ravine. However, some unknown craftsman had carved a set of steps into the water out of the surrounding rocks. He couldn't tell when, but it had been long enough ago that moss covered some of the stones. He could feel the heat rising from it even as the evening was beginning to take on a hint of a chill. When he looked to their right, as the sun was beginning to set in front of him, he saw that they were standing a little ways up on a ridge. Down at the bottom, he heard the waves crashing against the shore. The ocean, and the rocks sticking up out of it, being slowly eaten away by the waves were an incredible sight to behold. Aerith walked up behind him and put her hand in his as she took in the view.

"It's so beautiful. I didn't know anything like this existed." Her voice was filled with awe.

Zack looked at the others. "I think the verdict is in. Freya, you've found us our hiding place."

The Turk smiled, as they turned to walk back to the helicopter.

October 7th [ ν ] – εуλ 0007

Shears had wandered the streets of Midgar listlessly for the last couple of days. He couldn't believe what he had heard Tseng had done. He wanted to rip the man's heart out. He'd spoken to Reno when he'd found him heading away from the rendezvous point. The red-haired man had told him the next time they met might be the last, but he didn't have the heart to fight because of what he'd just seen and it wasn't his job at the moment. Upon hearing the news, Shears had taken out the summon materia and smashed it with the first loose piece of steel he could find. No one would be troubled by that vile thing ever again. Soon afterward, he had devoted himself to trying to figure out where Elfe's body might have been taken. Thus far, he'd had no luck.

He was ambling along in the slums of Sector 4, contemplating his failures, and avoiding the other people on the street. There was nothing left for him now it seemed. At least if Fuhito had killed him, he wouldn't have to endure this pain…

He looked up and saw a familiar looking red-haired man walking towards him. It wasn't Reno. It was the other red-head… Rod. The Turk was wearing civilian clothes though as he approached, it was obvious he had a mission on his mind, in spite of trying to avoid attention.

As the two men saw each other, Rod stopped and waited for Shears to come up to him. They stood for a moment, looking at each other and then Rod gave him a sympathetic grin. "You look awful."

"What else is new?" the former AVALANCHE leader grumbled.

"Quite a bit actually." Rod started down another street and gestured that the man follow him.

"You want to show me something?" Shears asked.

"Someone," Rod said. "Come on. She's asking about you."

Shears stopped. "Who?"

"Who do you think?" Rod asked.

"But… She died… Didn't she? Tseng… he…"

"He faked their deaths. Had to injure them pretty bad to make it convincing, but he saved their lives."

"He did, huh?" Shears fell in step behind the young man as they walked down the street, and soon he discovered they were headed for a hospital in Sector 2.

October 22nd [ ν ] – εуλ 0007

Cloud opened his eyes and sat up, observing the morning sunlight splashing across the mattress he was sleeping on. In the last couple of weeks, Zack and the others had managed to get some furnishings into the place, thanks to some guy at the nearest town, but it was very basic right now.

He noticed that Zack's bedroll on the mattress across the room was empty, so he rolled out of bed and stood up, pulling the sweater from his SOLDIER uniform over his head as he came to the door leading out into the hallway. He'd been walking completely on his own a short while after they'd gotten here. It had also been a while since the last time he'd been overtaken by what he referred to in his mind as 'the fog.' The fatigue had stopped being as pervasive too. The first time he made it through a whole day without needing to go back to sleep before nightfall had been last week.

He stretched and let out a yawn as he walked down the stairs. As time had passed, his memories of his and Zack's imprisonment at the hospital had become very fuzzy. He remembered the important parts, such as when Aerith came to see them the first time, and when Tseng had let them go, and who could forget the escape and their subsequent departure? But before any of that, things were still pretty confused. Zack had told him what he could, but even then, the events after Nibelheim seemed completely lost to him.

He forced his thoughts to the back of his mind for the moment. As he walked into the kitchen, he found Elmyra brewing a pot of coffee while Aerith and Freya were working together on making breakfast, which looked like it would be scrambled eggs and toast. Cleaning out the kitchen and getting it fully functional again had been one of the first things everyone had focused on. Fortunately, the place had been built to be hooked up to the power grid for the nearest town. Once they had determined the wiring was sound, and they had pooled their resources, they had gathered enough gil to get the electricity running again, and that had meant a functioning refrigerator, and the ability to have nicer food items that were normally perishable. They had also just recently gotten the water pump on the premises working. The lodge still had a long way to go before it could be called a home, but they were getting there.

Elmyra noticed him first and offered him a gentle smile. "Good morning Cloud."

He returned the greeting as he went for one of the mugs they'd recently purchased. "Good morning."

"I hope you're hungry," Aerith spoke up as she noticed him. "We're having a big breakfast today." She was standing in front of a huge bowl cracking eggs, while Freya was manning the toaster. She had traded out her Turk uniform for a much more rugged pair of jeans and a button-down shirt with the tails tied off at the front.

"We'd have to have that anyway with Zack around." Cloud poured himself a cup of coffee. "Where is he?"

"He's outside." Freya gestured to the back porch.

Cloud nodded and walked to the door. He should have known. Zack had taken to spending most of his free time outdoors now, almost as if to make up for all the time they'd been trapped in that laboratory basement. Not that Cloud minded. If anything, he was just glad when Zack had started letting him help with the heavy lifting. When they'd first arrived there had been a bit of a discussion among the others as to how safe it was for him to be handling tools when there was still a chance he could have an episode, like he'd had on the bridge. However, after a week and a half with no incidents, all objections had been withdrawn and he'd had no trouble since.

By that time, the bedrooms now being used by everyone had been cleared out and the kitchen was basically functional. Cleanup duties had moved to the room with the fireplace, and Zack and Kunsel had begun taking turns going out to hunt monsters for gil during the day, and checking in town for any other work in order to fund the restoration effort as well as daily expenses. As things stood, most of the debris had been cleared out, and they were starting to focus on repairs.

As Cloud exited onto the porch, he saw Zack leaning against the wall of the lodge to his right, watching the surrounding woods meditatively, a coffee mug of his own in hand. He looked up at the sound of the door, offered his friend a happy grin, and waved him over. Cloud sat down on the edge of the porch, leaning against one of the support beams. "Kunsel already left?" he asked.

Zack nodded. "He left a while ago with Rayleigh and Cissnei since they were going out for supplies. They said they'd be back for breakfast." The other SOLDIER had been given the task of picking up the windows they'd ordered to replace the ones that were damaged. Cloud listened to the far off sound of the ocean, slightly muffled by the trees as the two drank their coffee in silence for a bit. The statement accounted for everyone, since Mao and Tanjuu had left. Tanjuu apparently had plans to go to Wutai, and Mao had decided he'd travel alone for a while, though both said they'd be in touch.

After a while, Zack decided he wanted to talk some more. "I figure the windows will probably take most of today since there are so many broken ones."

Cloud grunted in agreement as he took another sip of his coffee. Zack had liked to talk before, but based on what he had told Cloud of their escape, it had gained added significance in that talking to him had been Zack's way of keeping himself from coming apart at the seams even as he'd done his best to call Cloud back from his mako-poisoned oblivion. For that alone, he was perfectly happy to let Zack talk to him as long as he wanted. At least now, he could answer back if he had an opinion.

Zack continued thinking aloud. "I guess once we're done with that, we should start thinking about the roof. I know Aerith said she and Cissnei found a couple of spots upstairs where there'd been a little water damage from leaks, and then we can start getting some real furniture in here. It'll be nice not to have to sit on the floor when we eat, won't it?"

Cloud nodded. "Sure will."

Zack grinned. "Putting all that aside though, once we're done with the windows, I've actually got a little surprise for you."

"Oh? What?"

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise," Zack teased.

Cloud shrugged. "I guess not."

At that point, Aerith came out on the porch. "Kunsel and the others are back."

"That was fast," Zack said, standing up straight and waiting for Cloud before they followed her back in.

"Apparently the windows didn't get in on time. At least that's what Cissnei told me." Aerith explained. When they reached the kitchen, Cloud saw that their other three fellow fugitives had brought in several bags of groceries. Zack was already looking around in one bag and pulled out what looked like a package of grapes. The others were busying themselves with putting the rest of the supplies away, so he put them aside to be washed later and then set to work helping them finish.

Soon it was time to eat, and everyone gathered to grab plates as Aerith handed the serving spoon for the eggs to Zack, who predictably, somehow managed to be first in line. It wasn't long afterward that most of the group was seated out on the porch again, enjoying the morning breezes along with their breakfast.

Conversation did not resume until Zack had polished off the last bit of his toast. "So what happened Kunsel?"

The other SOLDIER shook his head in annoyance. "Apparently the guy who was supposed to make the delivery didn't show up today. The owner of the store said to try again tomorrow."

"That's too bad." Zack took another sip of his coffee, and stood to take his cleaned plate back inside. He looked back over at Cloud. "I guess I'll get to show you your surprise a little earlier than I would have. We'll just use a bit of time to check out what needs to be done to the roof and then the three of us are going out by the helicopter, all right?"

Cloud nodded, though he had to admit he was a really curious now. Whatever this was, Kunsel seemed to be in on it.

After spending a couple of hours examining the roof of the lodge for any places where water could come in, and determining that it might just be better to re-shingle the whole thing, the three men finally trooped down the path towards the helicopter with Zack in the lead. By now, Cloud had noticed a key detail about this sortie. Both Zack and Kunsel had brought their swords with them. As they reached the clearing where the helicopter sat, hidden underneath a camouflage net the Turks had unearthed from its emergency supplies, Zack pulled ahead of the other two men and clambered inside before returning with a long object under a carefully wrapped shroud.

"I guess you could call it a belated 'get well' present," he said as he reached them. "The first time I went out monster hunting I kind of detoured into town to talk to the local owner of the weapons shop."

Cloud felt a small smile play across his face as he remembered what Zack had promised him after the Turks had let them go. Upon noticing the reaction, Zack's own grin became even bigger, and he reached down to carefully remove the protective cloth. When the shroud fell away, the steel of the broadsword in his hand reflected the sunlight that illuminated the clearing.

The former infantryman took the weapon, and felt the weight on his palms as he backed up a couple of steps and lifted it experimentally. He had held a sword in his hands before, after all he'd brought the Buster Sword to bear on Sephiroth, and even earlier, he seemed to remember a time when he'd fought someone else using a sword with Freya, but he'd never been formally taught how to wield one. Still, even his untrained eye could appraise this as a rather nice sword. It even had a couple of materia slots in the hilt, linked materia slots at that.

Zack observed his reaction before clapping a hand on his shoulder. "So, you ready to learn how to fight like a SOLDIER?"

"Zack, I… I don't know what to say…" Cloud wondered absently if he still wasn't quite recovered from the mako poisoning. How else was it that he was having so much trouble getting his thoughts in order? The moment was a small one but to him, the magnitude was incredible. He really didn't deserve this, he was sure.

"How about 'Let's get started?'" Kunsel offered.

"That'll work. As Zack spoke, Cloud was surprised to see Kunsel taking a step back to observe.

Cloud thought about the situation for a moment before pushing any remaining confusion to the back of his mind. He would have given anything to have come to this point by any other way than he and Zack losing five years of their lives and in Zack's case, having to endure the painful changes they had wrought largely alone, no thanks to him. But even so, this was something he'd wanted to learn how to do since the first time he'd seen Sephiroth in the newspapers back in Nibelheim and he wouldn't have missed this moment for the world. Maybe one day, he could even use what he learned to make it up to Zack for all the suffering he'd caused him. "All right," he said finally. "Let's do this!"

Zack removed the Buster Sword from his back and leaned it against the helicopter before walking back over to the newly anointed swordsman in training. "First thing's first. Before we even get to sparring, we need to start with sword stances. Building up the strength in your legs is key. That's why they always used to have us SOLDIERs doing all those squats…"

"We still do," Kunsel interrupted. "Don't forget, I was spending most of my time drilling cadets. And I pushed them hard."

"Yeah, we'll need to get back into our own training once the house repairs are done," Zack reflected out loud. "But we'll worry about those exercises when we get back to doing them every day." He brought his attention back to Cloud. "You'll be doing them too, of course, since we'll be training together. But right now, we're looking at the basics…" The lesson continued for the remainder of the morning.

October 24th [ ν ] – εуλ 0007

Tifa Lockhart had been in Midgar since Zangan had left her in the care of a friend following the disaster at Nibelheim. It hadn't been long after his departure when she went off on her own however. She'd been bartending before she was even old enough to drink, and now, opportunity had opened before her. Just recently she'd become acquainted with one Barret Wallace, and his crew who had come from Cosmo Canyon. Like her, they despised Shinra for everything the company had taken away from them, and when she had met the huge black man with a gun arm as he'd strolled into the dive where she'd been working before in Sector 3, she felt she'd found a kindred spirit. He had plans, and though at first he hadn't trusted her, upon hearing her story, he'd told her of the bar in Sector Seven that had once been a hideout for AVALANCHE, the name of which he had soon adopted for his own team.

A few days later, she'd come to him, offering to run the bar as a cover while they did what needed to be done. It wasn't long before she was actively involved in the planning sessions as Jessie, their tech guru explained how the bombs were supposed to work. It was even less time before she was using Zangan's teaching to show Biggs and Wedge, the other two members of Barret's group, how to fight. It would be another month, Barret estimated, before they were ready, but the pieces were slowly falling into place.

She was going to one of the outlet stores in the warehouse district to stock up on supplies for the bar today, and as she walked by the empty train station, completely vacant of any persons of interest, she counted off in her mind the various types of liquor she needed along with some new plates. A couple had broken last night during the evening rush.

November 3rd [ ν ] – εуλ 0007

Zack had been amazed at how fast Cloud picked up on swordsmanship. They had flown through the basic sword stances and drills and had even moved on to some more advanced techniques. In this short period of time alone, the dark-haired SOLDIER's assessment was that Cloud wasn't just going to be a good swordsman. Based on what he'd seen since they'd begun training, Cloud was a natural. Why the folks running the SOLDIER exam hadn't seen that, he couldn't fathom. They had to be crazy. It was for this reason, that when Kunsel managed to find a mercenary contract to exterminate some monsters west of the town of Mideel (the namesake for the region of Mideel which they currently inhabited), he and the other former SOLDIER 1st decided he was ready to come with them.

It had been a relatively short trip by boat from the small fishing village, near the lodge, to the main town, and once Kunsel made contact with the fellow who had issued the contract, being the best negotiator in the group, the three of them made their way out into the woods with Freya and Cissnei who had decided to come along on the hunt. Kunsel and Cissnei broke off to clear out the monsters in the woods while Zack, Cloud, and Freya spent most of the afternoon hunting around in the tall grass for Hippogriffs.

They were just about finished with one such beast as the afternoon shadows were starting to get long. Freya had just used a shotgun blast to herd the winged beast towards the two men and as it drew close, Zack charged it with a powerful cleave of the Buster Sword. The hippogriff screeched as it lunged again but Zack was already there. It was at that moment that Freya let out a cry of pain and surprise. Since Zack was occupied, Cloud tore across the field and he saw out of the corner of his eye that his friend had taken a defensive position in front of the huntress.

He finished the hippogriff he was on with a slash before hurrying over to help, and then he saw what had happened. Apparently, Freya had been accosted by the hippogriff's mate and it had clawed at her arm before she'd been able to back away. Now, Cloud was standing in front of her while she was pulling out her Cure materia. As he watched, the hippogriff circled around the field warily, as though sizing up the threat Cloud posed. The blonde swordsman tracked its movements with the same wary gaze, not daring to look away. After a moment, the monster crouched as though it was ready to charge again and Zack was about ready to dive in and help but Cloud was there first, running his sword through the monster as blood dripped off the exposed portion of the blade.

Zack was already moving in as the hippogriff snapped out with its sharp beak and Cloud pulled away, blood starting to darken his sweater at the shoulder. It was at that point the kid did something Zack totally didn't expect. He leapt up into the air with his sword held behind him and brought it down with a bone breaking slice onto the hippogriff. Needless to say, the monster was almost dead before it hit the ground. Zack stared for a moment before letting out a whoop.

"That was awesome! That was a limit break wasn't it?"

Cloud said nothing, but straightened up a little as he walked over to the huntress. "Are you all right?" he asked.

Freya waved off his concern with a warm smile before becoming serious again. "I should be more worried about you. Hold still, I'll fix that for you." She indicated his bleeding shoulder. Without waiting for an answer, she pulled out the bangle her Cure materia was in and started casting again. Zack joined them as the wound knit itself closed

"That was a great job, I didn't get my first limit break until after I made 3rd class!" He continued laying on the praise, even as Freya finished by lifting up the sleeve of Cloud's sweater to make sure the wound had closed properly before putting her Cure away. He pulled away uncomfortably, glad to reclaim his own space when she let go of him.

"Thanks…" Cloud trailed off at that moment because Freya held up her hand to silence the two men before kneeling on the ground to examine it. After a moment she stood again.

"Looks like we have some Chocobos in the area," she observed. "We've got some tracks here."

Zack looked where she had indicated. "You think so?"

Freya nodded. "Judging by the age they're not far either." They hunted around the field a little longer, alert for more of the hippogriffs, before they came upon a large pond full of lily pads and cat tails. As they neared it, Freya knelt down and searched the ground again for any signs of large animals passing through. She was finishing up when Cissnei and Kunsel walked out of the woods, sporting cuts and bruises but otherwise undamaged.

"I think we got the last of the ones in the trees," Kunsel reported as they approached.

"How many did you bag?" Zack asked.

"About three of them." Kunsel had sheathed his sword. As he pulled level with the pond, he picked up a small stone from the edge and tossed it so it skipped across the water's surface a few times before sinking into its depths.

"Yeah that sounds right." Zack picked up a second stone and the others watched as it skipped slightly further than Kunsel's. "We ran across about four of them, so it looks like we've taken out the herd. The town shouldn't have too much more trouble after this."

"So we're done, then?" Cissnei asked.

"Yup, all that's left is to go collect the reward." Zack fist pumped the air as everyone turned to walk back towards town.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something moving and looked back at the pond just in time to see a third stone skimming across the water like it was a rocket. He looked over at Cloud.

"Did you do that?" he asked.

"Do what?" Cloud had turned away from the pond to follow the others,

Kunsel let out a low whistle as he held a hand over his brow in the dying sunlight. "I think that one went straight across."

Cloud shrugged and checked that his broadsword was secure in its harness on his back as everyone turned to head towards town. Zack was already telling Kunsel and Cissnei about the limit break he'd pulled off while they were gone, but as they walked back, he stopped in his story to notice Cloud pause again at the edge of the treeline.

"What's up?" he asked.

"I thought I heard something…" Cloud trailed off as he strained to hear the noise. The others listened too, and after a moment, Zack heard it too.

"Wark?" It was a faint cooing noise but Zack didn't think it sounded like a full-grown chocobo. He'd been around the birds enough when he'd done missions at the chocobo farm that he felt he could tell the difference. Cloud passed into the trees and after a moment the others followed, curious.

As they crept closer, the sound echoed through the trees again and soon, the woods opened up to reveal a nest with two downy yellow chicks in it.

"Careful," Kunsel whispered. "We don't want to spook them."

"That's right," Freya added. "We're lucky we even found these little guys. Normally you need a Chocobo lure before you can even get near them in the wild."

Cloud strode back into their line of sight having disappeared when the others had seen the nest. "There's a dead one not that far from here. It might have been clawed by a hippogriff. But Freya would probably know better."

The huntress crept in the direction he indicated and disappeared like a ghost before quickly returning. "You were right. It was a female. Had to be the mother. The body wasn't even being absorbed by the Lifestream yet, so it was a fresh kill and they don't let any other birds near the chicks in the wild until they're at least juvenile age."

"You seem pretty knowledgeable about Chocobos," Zack observed.

"Just the wild ones," Freya laughed, dismissing the comment. "I wouldn't know what to do with a tame one."

That was when Zack noticed that Cloud had stepped near the nest and knelt down by the tiny birds. To his complete surprise, both the little ones crawled to the edge and the swordsman gently reached out a hand to stroke the head of the one that was closest to him. Maybe his hair had them confused. It wouldn't be the first time someone had noticed the color and appearance of his hair mimicked the trademark feathery crest Chocobos generally sported.

"They wouldn't be nearly as friendly if they weren't newly hatched. They probably won't survive long without the mother around," Freya said. "It might be better to take them into town and see if anybody's looking to adopt."

Zack frowned as he thought about it and then looked down at Cloud again. The other little Chocobo was now pressing its beak up against his hand and both of them were crooning at his attention. "You're probably right. Cloud, go ahead and gather those two up. We'll take'em back with us. We'd better get going before Aerith and Rayleigh start getting worried. They're probably done shopping by now, and we don't want our contact to get impatient."

Carefully gathering up the two tiny birds, Cloud joined the rest of the group as they headed back towards civilization. "We probably ought to figure out what they eat so they don't get hungry before we find them a home," he said.

"Yeah," Zack agreed.

Getting rid of the birds turned out to be a lot harder than it was to find them. In fact, it turned out that in the immediate, it would be quite impossible. After Zack and Kunsel collected the reward and distributed the gil, everyone had looked around town to find information on whether or not there was a local Chocobo rancher who might be interested, but it seemed that no one was looking for more chicks at the moment. Someone had mentioned the possibility of a farmer just to the north of the fishing village near the lodge.

So it was that on the ride back, Cloud found himself carrying a small box with the two hatchlings inside it, and Aerith sitting next to him, as she had immediately fallen in love with the little things upon seeing them. If they got noisy, he'd feed them a few of the gysahl greens they'd picked up from one of the farmers they'd talked to.

It was dark by the time they'd finally gotten to the boat, so everyone sat in the back, exhausted after a long day. "So what's the plan for tomorrow?" Aerith was asking Zack.

The dark haired SOLDIER thought for a moment before answering. "Well, first thing, we find these guys a home. Then, if that courier actually manages to deliver things on time to the hardware store for a change, maybe we'll be able to finish repairing that wall in the back room…" He continued on his ramble for a while as the boat floated along the Mideel area shoreline. Cloud allowed his mind to wander a little, taking in the star studded sky, the tiny sliver of the moon reflecting off the water and the salty breeze on his face. There was still a lot that was wrong, and some things that probably never would be right with either him or Zack, but right now, he felt content.

If only he could see what was coming their way a mere month from now.

End of Part I

A/N: We have hit a of major milestone here. To everyone who has reviewed so far, thank you very much for your feedback, and I hope to continue to keep everyone guessing. ^^

Tune in next time as we begin Part II! Reunion is coming! Are we ready for it?