Author's Note: Last chapter... more notes at the end of the chapter.

[Disclaimer: I haven't owned them for twenty-two chapters and I still don't own them.]

Chapter Twenty-Three: Ever After

"Cid, are you sure it's going to be that cold on Hollow Bastion?" Aerith asked from the small bedroom of his Gummi ship as she pulled on the heavy coat that he insisted that she wear. It had been two days ago when they had received word from Sora that he would soon seal Kingdom Hearts and that the world borders would be restored. Therefore, Cid thought it would be in their best interest to be at Hollow Bastion when that happened, and they could only hope that Leon and Yuffie would be there as well.

The Gummi pilot turn to glare at the back of the ship, biting down hard on the toothpick in his mouth. "God dammit, woman. I was just there a little over a week ago and I nearly froze. I think it'd be a hell of a lot colder now than it was then," he shouted as the world of Hollow Bastion appeared in front of the ship. He slowed down and carefully flew the ship into the atmosphere of their home world, trying to ease the jolt they would surely feel.

Walking to the front of the ship, Aerith stumbled and fell against the wall as the ship lurched to the right. "Can't you fly this thing any smoother, Cid?" she cried disgustedly as she attempted to get her balance back. She continued to stumble her way into the control room and gratefully sat down in the empty co-pilot's seat.

"If you think you can do a better job landing this thing, be my guest," Cid growled to the flower girl as the ship hit another bump in the air. They finally got through the atmosphere and began flying over the Rising Falls, the Bastion fortress looming in the distance.

Aerith crossed her arms over her chest, rolled her eyes, and blew the chestnut hair that had fallen into her eyes out of the way. She winced and tensed up when she noticed they appeared to be flying straight for a floating ice platform and Cid didn't seem to be trying to avoid it. "Cid! Watch out! You're gonna hit that--"

She was cut off when the pilot veered suddenly to the right and narrowly missed the ice platform in question. "Aerith, I've been driving this ship for nine years. And before that, I was flying ships like this throughout Hollow Bastion for twenty-five years. How long have you been driving a ship?" he asked in annoyance as he zigzagged his way through Rising Falls and began his approach on the castle.

"Just because you've been flying for that long doesn't automatically make you a better driver than me," the flower girl retorted angrily, watching out the front window as he quickly brought the ship into the lower portions of the Bastion and flew into the docking bay located down there. Aerith grimaced as he nearly hit the wall. "Cid--"

"Aerith, if you don't shut the hell up..." Cid warned, trailing off as he couldn't find a suitable threat for the young woman next to him. Instead, he shook his fist at her as he landed the ship next to Leon's.

Aerith tiredly rolled her eyes at the blonde man and then sighed as she saw the familiar blue and green Gummi ship next to them. "Well, I guess Leon's here. But..." she trailed off and looked around the rest of the empty docking bay, "where's Yuffie's ship?"

Cid turned and gave her a wry look, pulling the toothpick out of his mouth. "How the hell should I know?" He hated being so short-tempered with her, but when in small places, such as a Gummi ship, Aerith could quickly become annoying with all her pointless questions and trying to tell him how to drive.

Taking a deep breath and counting to ten, the flower girl calmed herself down before rising from her seat. "Okay, okay. I get the point," she muttered as she walked past him and let herself out of the Gummi and into the Hollow Bastion waterway. Cid soon followed her, stepping out and looking around as he pulled on a blue jean jacket. "So, where to now?" In the silent corridor, her question echoed, bouncing off the stone walls to return to her again and again.

"This way," the pilot grumbled, hefting one of his bags to his shoulder. He figured they could come back for the others later, but he might as well take one while he was going to save a trip down here. "We can take the lift from the dungeon and arrive in the castle halls."

Confused, Aerith simply followed him, not wanting to get lost in the twisting waterway as she had done many times as a child. "The dungeon? Why don't we just go outside and use the transportation crystal to get to the entrance gates?" she questioned, grimacing when they finally did reach the dungeon and she saw all the dust and grime that had accumulated over the years.

Cid looked over his shoulder at the flower girl, setting his bag down upon the lift. "Because, you feel how damn cold it is in here? Imagine it ten times worse outside. This way we can at least keep a little warmth," he explained hastily as he waited for her to step up on the platform with him before activating the crystal.

"Okay, okay. You win," Aerith muttered as the lift began to rise, taking them up through the lower levels of the Bastion and finally stopping at lowest level of the upper portion. Noticing how dark the halls were, she grabbed a candle from the small shelf on the wall and murmured a soft fire spell to light it.

Sighing and pushing a hand through his hair, Cid took a look around as they walked, as though he were sizing the repairs that needed doing up. "I'll take a look at the electricity later today and see what can be done about it. It shouldn't be that hard to get it up and running," he muttered more to himself than the flower girl as they continued down the hall.

They pushed through the double doors of what served as the dining room and noticed a pool of hardened wax upon the sideboard that indicated a candle had been left lit long enough to completely melt down. Aerith reached out and touched it, finding it was still slightly soft and warm to the touch. "Someone was in here recently," she murmured, looking around the room to see if anyone was still in there, the shafts of sunlight shining through the large windows being enough for her to blow out her candle. She noticed Cid picking something up across the room. "What did you find?"

"Just an old sweatshirt," he muttered, dropping it back down to the floor before walking to the door opposite the one they came in. He pushed through it and stepped out into the hallway, momentarily squinting and covering his eyes at the bright sunlight pouring through the glass at the end of the hall, effectively lighting the whole area. Able to see once more, he looked down and found another sweatshirt lying in a pile upon the stone floor. "Found another shirt, Aerith."

Aerith walked out into the hallway herself, furrowing her brows as she looked at the sweatshirt in the pilot's hands. "Wonder what's going--" She stopped when she saw another shirt further down the hall, this one close to where a candle had once stood, but was now a puddle of melted wax. "Here's another one..." she paused as she looked down the hall and saw yet another shirt, this one a t-shirt, "and there's another one."

They continued down the hallway, leaving the shirts they had found behind as they wondered where Leon might have been. Since they did see his Gummi in the waterway, he had to have been here, but they had yet to find him yet, only the traces he had left with the candles. Finally reaching the entrance hall after going through the winding halls, Cid stopped in his tracks and stared at the chandelier in the room, causing Aerith, who wasn't paying attention to where she was walking, to bump into his back. "Watch where you're going, woman," the pilot hissed, his eyes still on the chandelier.

"If you hadn't of stopped, I wouldn't have crashed into you," she whisper-screamed back, wondering why they were talking so quietly when it was only them and Leon. They hadn't even run into any Heartless while they were there, leading them to believe that Sora had finally defeated Ansem. "What did you stop for, anyway?" She slowly followed his line of vision and looked up to see what he was staring at, a small gasp escaping her mouth. "Is that what I think it is?"

"No, it's a dead ferret... a suicidal one that hung himself when everyone left Hollow Bastion nine years ago," Cid told her, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he turned to stare at her. "I guess this means that he found her. But, what I want to know is," he lifted his eyes back up to the chandelier and stared at the small pair of underwear hanging from it, "is why she has glittery stars on her underwear?"

Aerith sighed and tiredly rubbed her temples, giving the underwear upon the chandelier another glance as she did so. "I don't know. So Squall can find it in the dark, maybe? But what I want to know is what were they doing?"

Turning around, the Gummi pilot stared at her, raising one blonde eyebrow. "I can give you three guesses, but the first two don't count," he muttered sarcastically, beginning to walk towards the library doors. "But, they're probably done. I don't hear any screaming."

Rolling her eyes, the flower girl reached up and hit Cid on the back of the head her the flat of her hand. "Don't be such a dirty old man," she warned, reaching for the library doors when she noticed something hanging off the candelabra next to the door. She tiredly closed her eyes when she realized it was Yuffie's bra. "I'm not so sure I want to know what's behind this door."

Cid ignored her and pushed through the library doors, waiting to see if Aerith followed him, which she did despite her protests. Soft snoring drifted down to them from the upper floor and the blonde pilot immediately began winding his way through the shelves to reach the stairs. "Are you coming, Aerith?" he whispered back to her, pausing in his steps.

The flower girl sighed and then started behind him, knowing what they would find at the top of the stairs. "Maybe we should rethink this, Cid. I mean, they aren't expecting us and considering what we found in the rest of the castle..." she trailed off as she saw Leon's clothing littered about the floor. "And in this room, I don't think they're going to be decent."

"Aerith, it's either let them know we're here now, when they probably have a blanket covering them since it's so damn cold in the place or wait and let them wander around naked while they gather their clothes. Which would you rather do?" Not waiting for her answer, Cid started up the stairs and stopped at the top, coughing slightly. Aerith was soon beside him, doing the same.

Hearing something, Yuffie stirred slightly, then rolled over and burrowed back into the blanket and into the man lying next to her. It was too early to be getting up, especially considering how late it had been before they finally went to sleep. The noise sounded again, and the ninja could have sworn it sounded like someone clearing their throat, but she quickly dismissed that idea since it was just her and Squall at Hollow Bastion. The only other thing alive within the castle walls were the various rodents and Heartless that roamed the halls.

When the noise came a third time, followed shortly by an oh-so familiar voice saying her name, Yuffie's indigo eyes flew open and saw both Aerith and Cid staring down at her and Squall. She quickly pulled the blanket up even further around herself, suddenly self-conscious, and gently shook her lover awake. "Uh... Squall... we have company," she hissed, not taking her eyes of the two intruders.

"Just go back to sleep, Yuf," Squall mumbled, his words a little slurred as he rolled over and very nearly flashed Cid and Aerith as Yuffie had gathered most of the blanket to her. Luckily, she quickly pulled the blanket back over him and shook him again. "What, Yuf?" He slowly opened his eyes, which soon grew wide as he noticed they were being watched.

"Good morning, sunshine. Sleep well?" Cid asked, smirking as he stared at the obviously embarrassed duo on the floor. "Or barely sleep?"

Squall tried to sit up only to have Yuffie squeal when he began to pull the blanket off her while he did so. He settled instead for propping himself against the couch, pulling Yuffie to his lap, and keeping the blanket wrapped securely around them both. "What are you two doing here?" he asked quietly, suppressing the urge to yawn. A glance at the clock on the wall told him it was well after ten in the morning, which he would normally consider late if under different circumstances.

Tactfully averting her eyes, Aerith stared at the library doors while Cid explained to both Leon and Yuffie about the current situation. About Sora finally defeating Ansem and sealing Kingdom Hearts. It was as the old pilot was explaining that the flower girl noticed the shadows playing beneath the edge of the door. "There's no one else here, is there?" she interrupted quickly, turning her head to stare at everyone.

"No. As far as we know, we're the only ones here," Yuffie said, adjusting the blanket as it began sliding down her shoulders once more. "Of course, I thought Squall and I were the only ones here until a few minutes ago, so, really, anyone could be here without us knowing." She gave both Aerith and Cid a pointed stare as she said that last statement.

The flower girl turned back to look at the door and noticed that the door knob was slowing being twisted from the other side. "Well, apparently, somebody else is here," she muttered, pointing to the door. Just as she was about to say more, the door pushed open and a strangled gasp escaped her throat, her hand flying to clutch her chest.

"I heard voices..." the intruder began, trailing off when he saw the woman in pink standing before him. His brilliant blue eyes locked onto her bright green ones, noticing the few tears that had formed there. "Aerith," he murmured, taking a tentative step forward, wondering if she would recognize him. It had been nine years, after all, and a lot can change in nine years. Yet, she still looked exactly as he had remembered her, albeit a little more mature and a little more worn around the edges. But that was to be expected when one took into consideration what she had gone through. What they all had gone through.

Everyone else in the room disappeared as Aerith looked at the man before her. The golden blonde hair that she remembered so well still stood in gravity defying spikes and his eyes were still the same brilliant blue that she loved so much. Blinking back the tears, she walked towards him, her hands behind her back, and leaned forward ever so slightly to look up into his face. "Cloud?" she whispered, a soft, gentle smile coming across her face as she brought her hands around to cup his face.

Cloud quickly closed the distance between himself and Aerith, wrapping his arms around her waist as her hands slipped from his face and entwined themselves around her neck. Slowly leaning towards each other, their lips were only a breath apart when Yuffie interrupted the tender moment.

"Oh my gawd! Cloud! You're alive!" she exclaimed, almost jumping up when she felt Squall's arms stop her and she suddenly remembered her current state of undress. "I'd get up and hug you but we only have one blanket, so one of us would be guilty of indecent exposure."

"I vote it's Yuffie..." Squall said quickly, grinning at the ninja who lifted her head to glare at him. In retaliation, the ninja reached around and pinched his butt, giving him a smirk as she did so when he jumped and yelped. He leaned his head down and whispered in her ear. "My turn. Flip over."

Yuffie turned to glare at him before breaking out into a bright smile and pushing herself up to give him a quick kiss. She then turned to the rest of the people in the library. "Can we please have some peace? We've lost most of our clothing and we don't want people looking," she begged, staring each of them in the eye. "Besides, we were here first."

A small smile tugged at the blonde swordsman's mouth as he watched the ninja and Gunblade wielder tease each other. "I see that you found her, Leonhart," Cloud said quietly, still holding onto Aerith who had latched herself onto him with her head resting beneath his chin. He noticed that his flower girl lifted her gaze to stare at him confusedly. Leaning down, he placed his mouth against her ear. "Come on. Let's give them their privacy and we need to talk." He slowly led her out the door he had come in, leaving just Cid and the two lovers.

The Gummi pilot stood in front of Squall and Yuffie, staring down at them. They simply stared back until Cid gave in and sighed. "Okay, you've got my curiosity peaked. Why are you two on the floor when there's a couch right there?" he asked, pointing to the sofa with his eyebrows raised.

Biting her lip to keep the giggles down, Yuffie grinned. "Well, ya see, we started on the couch, but after round two, it got a little difficult to stay balanced so we ditched it."

Throwing his head back, Cid wandered off towards the stairs, throwing his hands up in the air. "I didn't need to hear that," he muttered as he descended the stairs.

"YOU SHOULD TALK MISTER PLAYBOY MAGAZINE FOLDOUTS!" the ninja shouted loudly as she saw him leave the library, slamming the door behind him. Smiling now that they were alone, she twisted around to where she was facing Squall and straddling his lap. "So, we're alone now."

Squall simply yawned and leaned his head back against the sofa behind him. "Mm hmm," he muttered, briefly closing his eyes, then opening them again to stare at her.

"So you know what that means, right?" she whispered.

"Yeah, we can go back to sleep," Squall mumbled as he slid back to the floor, pulling the ninja down with him.

"Damn right, we can," she said, smiling as she snuggled up against him and closed her eyes. The feel of his arms wrapping around her made her snuggle even closer to him and lay her cheek against his chest. "I love you, Squall."

Squall bent his head down and placed a small kiss on the top of her head. "I love you, too, Yuffie."

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

About a week after arriving on Hollow Bastion, Cid finally got the electricity in the castle working again, allowing them be able to use the refrigerator in the kitchen once more. And, on this dark night at midnight, on Cid Highwind was found rummaging around said refrigerator looking for something to eat.

Thinking to himself, he began to wonder if perhaps he would have been better off staying on in Traverse Town. He was hardly needed here. In fact, he hardly saw anyone as the young lovers tended to stay to themselves. And when he did see them, they always came in pairs and were unable to keep their hands to themselves.

"Buncha damn lovebirds, that's what they are," he muttered as he reached behind a jar of pickles to grab the lunch meat. Sandwiches always made the best midnight snacks in his opinion. Hearing the sound of footsteps in the background, he growled softly to himself. He really didn't want to deal with any of them right now. But the voice that spoke didn't belong to any of the lovers he was thinking of.

"Captain?" a voice called softly, footsteps increasing as the owner of the voice quickened their pace.

At the word 'captain,' Cid jumped, effectively bumping his head on the freezer door. He began to rub it, muttering curses under his breath as he turned around. "Damn it, Shera. How many times have I--" He broke off when he realized that is was Shera. "Shera?!"

Smiling, Shera quickly stepped over to him, taking his head in her hands and pulling it down so she could get a better look at the already forming knot. She gingerly ran her fingers over it, noticing him wince as she did so and still cursing under his breath. "Still the same old Cid, I see," she murmured softly as she stood on tiptoe to kiss the knot.

"Shera, how do you still care about an old man like me?" he whispered, still in shock at seeing her there. It had been nine years since he had seen her, his mechanic. And it was still a wonder that she was alive. Of course, he'd been in the same shock when he found out that Cloud was still alive.

Shera sighed, shaking her head gently and smiling. "Because... I love you." She stepped away from him, turning to grab the tea kettle. "Why don't you sit down and I'll make some tea, okay?" she asked, already busy looking in the cabinets for the tea bags.

Cid did as he was told, his eyebrows furrowed. "Shera?" She turned to look at him, giving him a questioning glance. "I love you, too, Shera."

Author's Note: Okay, I said at the beginning of the chapter that this was the last chapter. And, well, it kinda is. BUT, I'm gonna do an epilogue, too. And that should be up by tomorrow night, Friday night at the latest. Anyways, here's the chapter. Review a way 'cause I love you guys so much.

Oh, and this site has me fed up. I mean, they SAID they were going into 'read only' mode and then they never did it. But, when they don't warn us, they do go into 'read only' mode. I have come to the conclusion that they like to mess with our heads. That can be the only explanation.