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CHAPTER ONE - ANGELS

'I don't know where I'm going ... But, I sure know where I've been ... Hanging on the promises in songs of yesterday ... And I've made up my mind ... I ain't wasting no more time ... But, here I go again ... Here I go again ... Tho' I keep searching for an answer ... I never seem to find what I'm looking for ... Oh Lord, I pray You give me strength to carry on ... Cos I know what it means ... To walk along the lonely street of dreams ... And here I go again on my own ... Goin' down the only road I've ever known ... Like a drifter I was born to walk alone ... An I've made up my mind ... I ain¹t wasting no more time ... I'm just another heart in need of rescue ... Waiting on love's sweet charity ... And '¹m gonna hold on for the rest of my days ... Cos I know what it means ... To walk along the lonely street of dreams ... (Whitesnake: 'Here I Go Again')'

Grassy Plain. Morning.

The eight remaining members of Avalanche stood on the grassy plain a distance away from the smoldering remains of Midgar and the shantytown of tents that had grown up to house the once-prosperous city's refugees. Conflicting emotions hung in the air as they congratulated one another and prepared to say their good-byes as each headed off to face their own towns and begin to shape their own futures.

Cloud was squatting on the ground around a pile of brightly colored materia stones. The young ninja from Wutai hovered near him, whining. "But you promised me all the materia when this was all over." Her eyes were glazed over with greed as she looked at the materia pile grow as each of the Avalanche members added their personal stashes to the communal pile.

"Not everyone promised you their materia, Yuffie." Cloud stated, trying to remain patient. "We may all still need our materia." He glanced around the group. "We don't know what remnants of Shinra or Hojo's monsters we may encounter."

Yuffie pouted some more, hoping that the others wouldn't need or want their materia. In reality, she had her eye on the powerful red summons materia orbs. Cure, Restore... useful to her, but not what she was really after. Her father would be so proud of her for returning home with the most powerful materia orbs on the Planet. She smiled, thinking of the homecoming she would receive and of the prosperous future of Wutai.

The Highwind stood waiting several yards away from them as Cid shifted around anxiously wanting to get home, wondering what was left of his own town. He hoped that the devastation wasn't as severe as the hulking destruction that towered behind them, as grotesque in its destruction as it was magnificent in its life.

"The kid can have mine." He announced between puffs on the ever-present cigarette that dangled from the corner of his mouth. "I don't see where I'll be needing it."

Tifa looked in shock at the blonde pilot who had become a friend despite his abrasive manner and initial reaction when they had first asked for the Tiny Bronco. "Are you sure, Cid? You don't want to sell it to pay for new rocket supplies?"

"Hell, I got more important things to worry about." Cid felt all eyes fall upon him and he wondered momentarily if he had really said that out loud. Realizing that his friends were waiting for an answer, he tried to hide the slight blush that crept onto his cheeks, and knew that the words had indeed slipped from his lips. "Shit. Don't you people have materia to sort?"

Sensing his friend's embarrassment, the graceful red beast stepped forward and merely said. "My father and all of those before him protected the Canyon without use of materia. I will do the same." Nanaki's pride and conviction in his place in Cosmo Canyon's future was absolute. "My share of the materia is Yuffie's to keep."

"Hey, Vincent! You don't want a ride?" Cid asked as the silent member of their group nodded to Yuffie, telling her in his dark, quiet manner that he too wished her to have his materia and then turned to walk away. Cid ground out the cigarette with the heel of his boot as he waited for Vincent's response.

Vincent shook his head. His raven hair moved only slightly against his back as if even it did not dare disturb the body or mind of the dark owner it was attached to. "My suffering is mine alone," He stated simply as he walked away.

The remaining members of Avalanche sadly watched Vincent walk away, each knowing that the suffering he had gone through was deeper than any of them could truly begin to understand. As Vincent disappeared from view, Barrett spoke to relieve the tension created by the former Turk's departure.

"Kid can have mine too. I'm goin' home to North Corel. Junon's already announced they're restarting their ol' coal plants. I'm gonna help reopen the mine. I owe it to those people." His face fell momentarily as the guilt of his part in the horror of Corel's past destruction resurfaced, but was forgotten as Marlene hugged Tifa in farewell.

"You'll come visit us, won't you, Tifa?" The little girl asked her favorite "aunt" with her usual childlike effervescence. "Miss Elmyra's coming with us. You can visit her too."

Tifa knelt in order to meet Marlene eye to eye and hugged the little girl. "You bet I will. You be good for your dad and Elmyra." She smiled and gave Marlene a Cure materia that she had held back from the community pile, figuring that Yuffie would neither miss it nor stoop to the low of stealing a Cure materia, albeit mastered, from a child. She whispered in the young girl's ear. "This is for you. Keep it safe. And keep your dad out of trouble."

Marlene giggled and placed the materia in her pocket before running back to her father and Elmyra. She waved to Tifa as Barrett picked her up in his strong arms and boarded the Highwind behind the others.

Reeve's attention was focused on a small group gathered nearby under an outcropping of rock. "Yuffie, Cait's share is yours. My plans don't include materia." Reeve seemed distracted as he excused himself from the rest of the group. "If you'll excuse me, I need to speak with someone." He strode off across the field.

Tifa frowned as she watched him walk away from them and towards the Turks. She could recognize those blue suits from any distance.

"Get your materia and let's go!" Cid bellowed from the ladder leading up to the Highwind. "I ain't gettin' no younger!"

Yuffie looked expectantly at Cloud and Tifa who appeared to be lost in their own worlds and not paying any attention to her. Glancing between the last two Avalanche members on the field and a very impatient Cid, she shrugged and scooped up the rest of the materia into a sack.

"You snooze, you lose." She said to herself as she ran across the field towards the Highwind.

Cloud walked over to Tifa and pressed something flat and metal into the palm of her hand. Tifa looked in her hand to find the key to the Villa in Costa del Sol.

"I, uh, I want you to have this." He shuffled his feet nervously. Tifa looked up and tried to meet his eyes with her own, but the Mako blue eyes shifted away. "I, uh, I'm leaving, Teef."

She could do nothing but stare at him as he spoke the words that followed. "I have to find her. I have to make her understand. It wasn't me that did that to her. I... I.." His voice trailed off, searching for something to say. "I... I'm sorry, Teef."

She knew that his soft apology wasn't what he was really thinking and as he grasped for the words, hiding his true feelings from her, her heart shattered. And from another time, another place, the unforgettable visage of another pair of Mako eyes, aqua colored and devastated by loss, swam into her mind. She closed her eyes against the ghostly eyes, finally understanding, finally knowing the pain he had felt then. Her fingers closed around the key to the Villa, digging into her skin, but she didn't notice the pain.

Cloud turned and walked across the field without another word, not even noticing the missing pile of materia or the Highwind rising from the ground.

She heard Reeve come up behind her as she watched the departure of her friends, never feeling quite so alone in her entire life. She understood the rest of them and their desire to return to their homes, but Cloud... she had thought that he was like her. Alone. She had hoped that maybe they could have made a life together. But he still carried the ghost of Aeris with him. She tried to hide the tears that fell as he walked across the field and towards the City of the Ancients.

"Are you returning to Nibelheim?" Reeve asked her, not wanting to disturb her as they both watched Cloud walk across the field and out of her life.

Tifa shook her head, trying to find her voice through the tears. It came out choked. "No, I have nothing left there. It hasn't been my home in a very long time."

He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, almost afraid to touch the broken woman before him. He had watched through the eyes of Cait her relationship with the spiky haired leader of Avalanche. He had seen the heartbreak in her eyes each time Cloud had whispered Aeris' name, and how she continued on despite that, still hoping. Even now, he still wondered if that flame of hope was still alive. He had always admired her spunk and her spine.

"Kalm then? Junon? Costa del Sol?"

She shook her head and shrugged. "I don't know where I'm going." That much was true. Nibelheim hadn't been her home since it had been destroyed by Sephiroth all those years ago, and Kalm had never been her home and as such she didn't feel much like starting over there. Her home, or what was left of it, was buried somewhere under the dropped Sector Seven plate.

She, like the rest of them, had been running on adrenaline and focused so much on their mission that she hadn't given any thought at all to what would happen when it was all over. She had hoped within her heart that she and Cloud… Well, that obviously wasn't going to happen now. She could do nothing but watch as his retreating form grew smaller and smaller in the distance until he had faded from her sight. She finally felt the pain of the metal key digging into the palm of her hand, but the thought of a life in the fun-loving resort town held no appeal to her.

Reeve's voice broke into her hazy thoughts as he spoke, glancing towards the destruction behind them and then to the Turks across the field. He wasted no time in delivering the short speech that he had just given to the Turks, hoping that she would agree to stay.

"I'm going to rebuild Midgar. Without Shinra. Without Mako reactors. Just a city. There's a mammoth task ahead of all of those who agree to help and we will need all the manpower that we can get. I'd like it if you stayed."

She was aware of Reeve speaking and shocked that he would want her to stay. After all, what could she, a mere fighter, contribute to the rebuilding of the City of Midgar? She sighed inwardly and wondered what else she had to do. Besides, what better way to forget Cloud than to throw herself into work. It was how she had forgotten him before, when he had first left Nibelheim. She had thrown herself into training, working her body and frustrations out in learning her Planet-saving fighting moves.

Tifa looked across the field at the shantytown and the remains of Midgar in the background. Here before her was a fight, a challenge. It was exactly what she needed.

She glanced across the field towards the Turks and, for the briefest moment, her eyes locked with his, bitterness emanating into her even from across the expansive field. She shook it off, resolved even further to stay. Midgar was a large city, and there was a lot of work to be done. Surely they could avoid one another. There was no way she was going to allow a ghost from her past to run her off. A determined smile spread across her features as she answered Reeve's request.

"I'd be glad to."