DISCLAIMER: I do not own, nor did I create any of the characters in the original FF7 universe. However, Squaresoft Inc. does, and all credit goes to them for all of the unoriginal characters, locations, and organizations in this story.

Chapter 2: We're a Happy Family

The four days leading up to the reunion party Cloud spent practicing songs with Tifa. He had to play down to her level, since she hadn't even owned the bass for a week. But Cloud taught her how to read bass tablature, which was read the exact same way as guitar tablature, except the bass has less strings. Tifa was polishing the bar counter when Cloud showed up the night of the party, he went behind the bar and helped himself to a drink.

"You know I don't like you doing that!" Tifa snapped.

"Yep." replied Cloud simply. Tifa gave him a friendly punch in the arm, and then went back to checking that everything was in order.

"Hmmm… Its quarter past 7, I wonder where everyone is…."Tifa muttered. As if someone had read her mind, The deafening roar of engines could be heard just outside of town. Cloud and Tifa rushed out and, sure enough, the Highwind had just touched down. The two jogged over to where the airship had landed, apparently Cid had picked up everyone. The ex-AVALANCHE members filed out of the plane with their families. First came Cid and Shera, followed by Red XIII, who had Marlene riding on his back, Barret was walking next to them, Reeve came out after that with a delighted Cait Sith bobbing up and down beside him, Then Vincent came, striding in his usual mysterious nature. A few seconds later a green-tinged Yuffie appeared, supported by a blue-haired boy that looked around her age wearing a Stiff Little Fingers T-shirt.

"Oh God, let's get her to the toilet before she hurls!" Tifa exclaimed, but it was too late, Yuffie's lunch came out in a spew of sickly colored liquid onto the deck of the Highwind. The materia hunter's face returned to its usual color and stood up straight, a look of relief on her face.

"Phew, that feels a lot better!…uh, sorry Cid…."

"No problem kid, although, I did just clean that today." Said Cid, going back into the ship to get a mop, muttering curses under his breath. After the mess got cleaned up greetings were exchanged. The party began the trek back to the bar. The three girls we're sitting at the bar discussing Yuffie's new boyfriend, who's name was Gonshiro Inukai, The guys were sitting at a round table in the corner, talking about what each other had been up to in the past few months, and Marlene was playing with the now AI controlled Cait Sith.

Cid had taken his curiosity of the stars a step further by starting a space research facility with Shera. Their current project was constructing a new model of the Shinra No. 26, the space shuttle that gave Rocket Town it's name. Barret was now overseeing the reconstruction of North Corel, and had taken up residence in one of the first homes rebuilt there. Reeve had developed an AI program for Cait Sith, and was still trying to recover from Shinra's closing. Vincent had spent his days traveling the world looking for something to occupy his time, but so far his search had been futile. Red XIII had taken the position of caretaker at the Cosmo Canyon Observatory. Now all eyes were on Cloud, man, they were in for a shocker.

"So Cloud, what have you been doing the past year?" Red asked.

"I've been learning how to play guitar, I want to start a band." Answered Cloud simply. At the end of this remark, even Vincent had an expression of slight surprise. Barret spoke first.

"Cloud. You, starting a band?" he asked with intense curiosity. Cloud nodded, fearing that Barret was going to think of this as a joke. But his fears subsided when Barret leaned back and smiled "You know, I used to play one kick-ass bass before…well, you know." he spoke nostalgically, tapping his gun-arm on the table.

"I personally think its a great idea, but I don't think I could assist you, seeing as I don't have opposable thumbs." said Red, his voice full of encouragement. Everyone else shared in Cloud's excitement, although none of them knew how to play anything, besides Cid, who could play the harmonica, but that wasn't very useful.

A moment later, Gonshiro stepped in to the circle around the table where Cloud's guitar was laid out.

"I can play drums" he said, confidently. All eyes turned to the young man, his blue hair done up in a Mohawk, and a spark of ambition now lingering in his eye. Barret broke the brief silence.

"Well why didn't you say so!?"

"Well, I tend to avoid intruding in on the conversations of groups of fully armed men and women." Gonshiro replied.

After Cid tried to size up his friends from a teenager's point of view he then agreed "yeah, we may look a little intimidating, but we're not after you, unless your some Rufus reincarnate…"

"That, is something I'm sure I'm not, but back to the original subject. I'll join your band… if you guys would take me, that is."

"are you kidding? Of course we'll take you!" Cloud exclaimed.

Tifa gleefully concluded, "Then its set, we have a band! Gonshiro, have you ever been in one before?"

"I had a band maybe two years back, it was me and a couple of my friends…" The teenager stopped in mid-sentence, a look of carefully hidden pain in his eyes "we were on our way to a gig in Junon, a bunch of Wutai boys… all crammed in a van with all our gear… we got pulled over by some Shinra troops right outside the city… they dragged us out of the van, and just started beating us… We fought back, and they brought out the assault rifles, then we didn't stand a chance… I got hit in the arm, and blacked out from blood loss, the sole survivor of that attack. When I regained consciousness, there was a someone bandaging my arm, I couldn't tell who, for the character's face was shadowed in a cloak… after the person had finished bandaging my arm, they took off on a chocobo, a marvelous golden chocobo, I'll never forget it, it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen…." Gonshiro began to space out, but Barret interrupted his reminiscing with a question

"Didja try to find the person?"

"Huh?… Oh, yeah, I did, I spend about six months looking for him, or her, and I didn't come up with anything, Then I went back to Wutai to build a new drum set, my old one had been destroyed when Shinra… you know…."

Yuffie came over to Gonshiro to comfort him.

"How come you never told me this?" She asked.

"I guess it just never came up."

"Yeah Yuffie, I don't think that's something that Gonshiro would brag about to his girlfriend." Cid stated.

Tifa interrupted the depressing conversation by reverting back to the original topic.

"So, what are we going to call ourselves?"

"The Pink Fluffy Bunnies!!" Marlene blurted out from the top of Cait Sith's head. Everyone Chuckled.

"Sorry Marlene, Pink Fluffy Bunnies isn't going to work," Cloud answered "any other suggestions anyone?"

"Hmmm…this could take a while…." Gonshiro said.

And take a while it did, the clock ticked one, and the newly formed trio sat at a booth in the corner, still undecided on their name, Everyone else was asleep in the upstairs rooms sleeping. Cloud shuffled through the pages of the list they had come up with.

"What was wrong with Pink Fluffy Bunnies again?"

Gonshiro chuckled and then added "I know, this whole name thing is just one major setback…"

"That's it!" Tifa exclaimed.

"What? Whats it?" Cloud asked.

"Setback! That's a great name!" Tifa responded.

"Hmmm… You do have a point, Setback sounds pretty nice, and now its got a meaning behind it." Gonshiro observed.

"Then its final, our official name is Setback, now we've gotta put some music to that name, I was thinking we could go practice after we decided on a name, but I wasn't expecting to be up until one A.M. and still be undecided on one," Cloud concluded "So we can work on that tomorrow?"

"Sure" Gonshiro replied, "I've got my set on the Highwind, so we can unload it tomorrow morning"

"I'm up for it." Said Tifa, Yawning before continuing "It's been a fun, but we should crash for the night, 'cause I have a feeling we've got a lot of work to do at practice."

"Alright, goodnight both of you, I'll crash at my house tonight, those upstairs rooms must be packed." Cloud said, and he walked outside. He saw Vincent crouching atop the water tower gazing towards the shadow of a house on the outskirts of the little town. Cloud climbed up next to his dark friend, who seemingly didn't take notice of him. After a few moments, Vincent broke the silence.

" So , you're starting a band…"

"Yep… Why are you looking at the Shinra mansion? You can't possibly miss that place, could you?"

"Of course not, but there's something in there that could be useful to you later on."

"What is it?"

"You will see when the time comes." And with that, Vincent leapt to the ground and strode into the now dimly lit bar. Cloud would have followed him and question him persistently, but those techniques did not work on the complex entity known as Vincent. So Cloud retired to his humble abode and sat against the headboard of his bed. He thought about what he was going to work on with Gonshiro and Tifa at the next day's practice, what secret Vincent knew about in the Shinra mansion, and if this whole band thing was going to work out. His mind swimming in ambitions, Cloud dozed off into another dream-filled night.