Chapter 4 is here and ready for all of you! Thank you everyone so far who has favorited and followed this story! We are glad you guys are enjoying it!

Ch. 4

Several days had passed and things were starting to feel more and more natural. Zack's, and now Cloud's, parents had spend the week hard on filling out the necessary paperwork and now it was finished. Not just for adopting Cloud, but also creating a information file on him, seeing as he just seemed to have come out of nowhere. It was a bit hard to make and fill out forms to create a background for Cloud, but his new parents didn't give up.

Ever since they agreed for Cloud to be apart of their family, they felt even happier than they were before. They both felt that the young, bright-eyed blond was a perfect addition for their family. He had the same energy as Zack did, which did of course make managing them a bit hard at times, though it still felt worth it. And now that all the paperwork had been completed, they could finally relax a bit more. Though that meant that there was a surprise for the boys now to tell them later that night.

Zack and Cloud were playing with action figures as their mother prepared dinner. Both of them were engaging in conversation about what the story was that they had created for their action figures. Emily couldn't help but smile as she saw them playing. It truly did warm her heart to see Zack so happy. Not to say he wasn't happy before, as he always was energetic and optimistic. But now he was a hundred times more happy because he had a little brother to look out for.

Soon though the door opened and David walked through. Both Cloud and Zack stopped what they were doing and ran towards him. Both of them tried to tackle him over before he was halfway through the door.

He laughed as he grabbed the boys and held one in each arm. "Aha. How are my boys doing today?"

"We're having lots of fun dad! Me and Cloud are playing action figures. It's great!" Zack said, excitement in every ounce of his voice and face.

"Yeah! We've been having fun! We were also playing outside earlier. Playing tag and hide and go seek," Cloud also said as he gave a big smile.

"That's great to here," David said as he ruffled both of the boy's heads. "Now how about you two get ready for dinner. I smell something good for tonight."

"It's baked salmon!" Cloud exclaimed. "It smells so good!"

"And it has all the other stuff to make it taste good like lemons and stuff," Zack added.

"Oh is it?" their father asked, as if he didn't actually know what was being made. "Well I can't wait to have some. How about you boys clean up your toys and then sit at the table?"

"Okay!" both Cloud and Zack chimed together in union.

They ran back to where their action figures were and quickly cleaned them up. David smiled happily as he watched them bounce around with such energy. After he hung up his coat he made his way over to his wife and gave her a kiss.

"Have they been like that all day?"

"Oh you wouldn't believe it. I thought for sure Cloud would wanna take a nap today, but he never once seemed to be tired. I'm sure the two of them will crash right after dinner thought," Emily replied.

"Well let's hope they stay awake long enough to hear our surprise," David said as he started picking up the plates to put on the dinner table.

Within a few minutes the boys were called to the table and the food was set. Both children thanked their parents many times before digging in to the delicious meal. It wasn't too often that Emily cooked an extravagant dinner like this, so Cloud and Zack made sure they ate as much as they could. They savored every bite of the rare, wonderful meal.

Once dinner was finished Emily picked up the dishes and brought them to the sink. As she did it she spoke to the boys. "Now don't you two go running off just yet. There is a special surprise."

The boys gasped.

"A surprise? Is it something yummy to eat?" Cloud asked.

"What is it mom? I wanna know. Did you get something for us?" Zack asked immediately after.

She giggled. "Well it's hard to explain, but close your eyes and you'll see."

Both Cloud and Zack nodded as they closed their eyes. They waited a moment before they heard their mother sit back down. "Okay, you can look now."

Cloud and Zack opened their eyes to see that there was now something on the table. It was a basic looking folder and it was placed in front of Cloud. Both of the boys looked at each other in confusion before looking to their parents.

"Just a folder?" Cloud asked.

"Go ahead and open it Cloud. See what is inside," David said, prompting Cloud.

"Okay." Cloud slowly reached forward and held the folder in his hands. He opened it up to see that there were many papers clipped inside of it. But all he needed to see was the top sheet. There were just a few certain words that caught his eye.

First Name: Cloud

Last Name: Fair

There was other words and stuff on the rest of the sheet. Things about Cloud's birthday and various other information that just sounded complicated to him. But it was the first two lines that kept him staring with wide eyes.

"This… This is…" Cloud tried to said, but the words were getting caught in his throat. His fingers gently touching his name on the page.

"That right Cloud," Emily said with a kind smile. "The final bits of paper work were finished and filed today. You are officially apart of our family."

"Though you already were officially apart of our family in our hearts since we met you," David added. "Now it's just stated in the papers."

Cloud opened his mouth to try to say something. He wanted to thank Emily and David. They took him in when he had no one and accepted him into their family. He tried to tell them how he felt, but everything felt so overwhelming for him. He thought he was overjoyed when they first said they would let him into his family, but now… seeing the papers with his name on there… it was the most happy he had felt yet.

Cloud placed the folder back on the table as he started to feel tears streaming down his face. He was just too overwhelmed with happy feelings to do or say anything else. He placed his hands up to his face as he tried to wipe away the tears, but they just kept coming.

"Really?! That's great!" Zack exclaimed as he hugged Cloud tightly. "I thought it might happen, but to see if for real is awesome! I officially have a brother now!" Zack said with excitement as tears started to well in his eyes.

David and Emily came around to their two sons and embraced them both in a hug. Tears started to form in the parents' eyes now as they witnessed the reaction of their sons to this information, which made it all the more real for all stood there now as one happy family.

Almost another week had passed already since Cloud had been officially named a part of the family. Besides that big announcement, nothing else had really changed in the household since Cloud had become a part of it, despite the fact that the blonde-haired boy was much more ecstatic now that he had a real family. Cloud still followed after Zack almost in nearly every way, no matter what Zack was doing or where he was going.

The sun had set already on another day, and the boys were slightly exhausted after a long day of activities, but their energy levels were still quite elevated. Their father had taken them down to the docks to see the ocean and have some time in the nice, warm air. There, they were able to see some interesting fish and even had gotten a chance to swim.

Cloud had just come out of the bathroom, and he made his way over to his bed and plopped down face first on it as the springs resonated with a loud noise upon his impact. Zack was in his own bed just beside Cloud as he was sprawled out across it, seemingly quite relaxed.

"Hey Cloud," Zack asked as he stared up at the ceiling. "Do you ever wonder where you must have come from?"

Cloud stirred in his bed slightly and raised up from his position until he faced Zack. "What do you mean?"

"Well I was just curious. Cause you couldn't have just shown up in the forest one day. Everyone comes from somewhere."

"I don't know...but you mean that even though I can't remember, there is still somewhere I may have come from?"

"Yeah. Something like that at least. I was just wonderin' is all. You don't need to think about it if you don't wanna."

"I still don't know. I guess you're right. I don't really think about it cause I don't know. Sorry," Cloud finished, a hint of worry that he might have let Zack down with his unknowingness.

"No, it's okay. Well we're brothers now, so whatever was before doesn't matter. That seems fair to me," Zack said, his voice rising at the end as a grin spread across his face.

Cloud looked at him for a moment before he started smiling and the two boys burst out in laugher. "Funny joke there Zack. But okay, I guess you're right. That is fair," Cloud emphasized the last word as he continued to look at Zack and slightly chuckle.

After both boys had finally ceased their giggling spree, Zack spoke up.

"Well I guess we should go to sleep now. I'm tired for now. Night Cloud," he said as he turned off the lights in the room and then dove under the covers of his bed in an attempt to sleep.

Cloud replied, "Night Zack. See ya in the morning." He then crawled under his covers and shortly after closed his eyes and drifted into a deep sleep.

There were kids out playing in the dirt-covered street, which looked familiar but he could not place where he was. The buildings on either side were large and more square, and seemed a different style than what he was used to seeing. He looked up at the sky that was a bright blue color without a single cloud in view as the warm light soaked into his skin. He then could see a nice mountain view in the distance as well just as a breeze blew downward, seemingly from the direction of them. It seemed so peaceful.

Suddenly, a voice was heard out of nowhere. "Hey chocobo butt!"

It sounded like a voice of a child as the pitch was slightly elevated, but there was a hint of disdain in the voice as well. Just then, he saw a group of three boys walking towards him as the one in the front spoke. "Yea you, you know who I'm talking about. We still haven't finished with you for getting Tifa hurt."

The voice was the same one that he had heard earlier, but now he had a face to attach it to. He started to wonder for a moment who Tifa was as he looked away for a brief moment. The name sounded familiar for some odd reason, but Cloud couldn't put his finger on it.

When he turned back, a slight smirk formed across the kid's face. "Come on guys, let's get him," he yelled out as he pointed towards the apparently spiky-headed kid.

There were three boys running towards him and he had no idea what to do; therefore, he turned around and he took off running through the streets. As he ran, he looked to each side of the street at the adults standing outside in hopes that they would realize what was going on and help him. However, each one he passed, there seemed to be that same look of disdain on their faces as they looked upon him. Why would nobody help him? And why were the kids chasing him? What had he done to upset the three boys?

Whatever the cause may be, he felt like that he needed to continue running. His small legs started to burn with pain as he had been on them for what seemed like a long time by now, but he was certain it had only been a few minutes. He rounded a corner and stifled a glance behind him to see that the boys were almost caught up to him. After running a bit farther, he winced in pain and fell as his legs finally had given out on him. He kept his eyes closed, not wanting to think about what might be going to happen to him.

"Cloud! Cloud! Are you all right honey? They didn't hurt you did they?" he heard a warm and tender voice say that seemed to be moving closer to him.

He opened his eyes finally and looked behind him to see if the boys were still there, and he saw that they had stopped and were backing away, with a sour look on their faces.

"We'll get you next time. You can't hide behind - forever," the one that had spoken before said with a sneer before they all three turned the corner and went back from where they came from.

Though, one of the words the kid had spoken he didn't quite hear, and he reached his hand out towards the direction of the boys in hopes they might repeat what they said, but they were already gone. As he continued to look in that direction, a hand was placed on his head softly as that same voice spoke again.

"What's wrong Cloud? Come on, let's get you inside. Sometimes I wish we never would have moved here to Nibelheim."

Suddenly, he felt a jarring pain in his head as he started to feel like he knew that name. Is it where he was from? He didn't really know at that moment. The only thing he knew is that his head was hurting and it would not stop. But he also thought that voice sounded familiar too. Through winced eyes due to pain, he turned his head around to try to see the person the hand on his head belonged to. He had to see who it was. He felt like he needed to see who was speaking so kindly to him. Whomever it was felt extremely important to him. But as he peered upward, everything started to go hazy and black.

Cloud jolted awake in bed and let out a loud groan as he huffed loudly. His head was still throbbing but it was slowly fading away. Placing a hand up to his face he saw that his cheeks were wet. Everything was a slight bit hazy, but he could still recall the dream that he just had. He had no idea what it was about now that he was awake, but he wondered if maybe it was where he came from.

He shuddered slightly at the thought of it, as some snippets of the dream danced freshly in his mind. Worried, he crawled slowly out from under his covers, out of the bed, and walked over to Zack, who was sleeping soundly beside him. Cloud began to tug on Zack's shirt slowly in an attempt to wake up his brother.

"Hey. Zack… Can you wake up please?" he said softly, trying to keep his emotions in check.

Zack did not budge at all, chest rising and falling slowly as he continued to sleep. Cloud tried again.

"Zack. Zack. I need you right now," he spoke in an elevated voice as he tried to get Zack's attention without being too loud to wake their parents. He started to shake his brother's shoulder slowly back and forth until Zack seemed to start to stir.

"Eh...yeah...what is it…" he said, sleepily, as he was still obviously not quite awake.

"I need you to be here Zack. Please…" Cloud's voice wavered as he finished.

Zack started to rub his eyes and finally opened them to see what was happening. "Cloud? What is it? Are you okay?"

"I had a dream...and I don't know what it means. I don't wanna have to go away from here," Cloud responded, a hint of worry filling his small voice.

"Sit down beside me here," Zack said as he sat up in bed and swung his legs over the side of it so that the other end of the bed was clear for Cloud to take a seat. "Why would you think that?"

Cloud sat down slowly beside Zack and turned toward him, eyes red from tears welling up. "I...I think it may be where I was from, but…" he was cut off by Zack.

"You mean you might have remembered where you're from!? Well that's good right?" Zack burst out with a joyous sound, trying to not yawn through everything.

"Well, I don't know. It was weird. I kind of feel like I know it... but I didn't know it too. And if that is true I'll have to go away and I love being here. I'll have to go back 'cause I remember, right? And my head hurts. And…"

"Stop!" Zack exclaimed as quietly as he could, stopping Cloud where he was with his ramblings and wrapping his arm around his head. "You don't have to worry about that. That's not going to happen," Zack said quickly wrapping his other arm around his brother and embracing him in a hug.

Cloud relaxed into his brothers arms slightly. "But...wouldn't mom and dad want to make sure?"

"Well, they don't have to know now do they?" Zack asked with a little bit of a smile. "We can just keep this between us."

"Really? So I don't have to worry about it then?" Cloud asked with a shaky voice.

"Of course not. Zack's here for you. We're brothers now. I'm not gonna let someone take you away," Zack said as he squeezed Cloud tighter in their hug. "And mom and dad love you, they aren't just going to make you go back to your original home. You're a Fair now and that's how it will stay."

Cloud then hooked his arms around his brother's back as well and hugged him harder as well. "Thanks, Zack. You're the bestest brother I coulda asked for," he said with a calmer tone in his small voice.

"I should be the one saying that to you, Cloud. I'm glad we found you and that you're a part of the family now," Zack stated with sincerity as he continued to hold Cloud.

The two boys stayed like that for a good few minutes, sitting on the bed and holding each other tightly with neither one wanting to let go in that moment. Cloud needed someone to help, and Zack was there, just as he had promised that he would be.

"Well, why don't we go back to bed okay?" Zack questioned to his younger brother, insinuating that he wanted to get some rest, and he hoped that rest would help Cloud to relax as well.

"Can I just sleep with you tonight Zack? So you don't feel so far away?"

"Of course you can. Come on. I'm sure it'll be just fine."

"Okay then. I believe you. Night then."

"Night to you buddy."

After bidding each other goodnight, each of them became comfortable quite quickly as Cloud made sure to stay next to Zack. Zack had placed his arm over him, so that his little brother would know that he was right there beside him. Cloud was at ease after that as he quickly faded into sleep, with Zack not too far behind.

So we got Cloud having flashes of memories from his original life. Hmm things will happen from that later on XD

But next chapter more things shall happen... maybe something to do with Shinra? Turn in next time! Thanks for reading!