Chapter 4: The Homecoming

"But where are you going?" Maria asked, as she and Danny followed Cloud's rapid steps to Fenrir.

Cloud flung his leg over the side of his bike. "I have to go away for awhile. I want you two to go home, and play inside until I come back, okay?"

"But we want to come with you!" Danny cried.

"No." Cloud said, "It wouldn't be safe."

The two children locked eyes with the ground.

"I promise I'll have some great stories when I come back." He told them.

They looked up and grinned.

Cloud saluted, gunned the engine, and was gone.

Cloud adjusted his goggles, and barreled down the highway. He squinted. What was that in the middle of the road? And then his mouth dropped open. A figure cloaked in black, with chin length silver hair stood there, a sword pointed at him. It looked like a sword, but Cloud had to pull some evasive maneuvers as bullets erupted from it. What the hell was going on? Cloud punched in some numbers, and two compartments slid open revealing a gallery of swords. Decisions, decisions… Cloud grabbed Zack's old sword, his trusty Buster, and got ready for a fight.

One of Kadaj's bullet's struck Cloud's front tire, and the back of the bike began to rise up. He was going to flip over, and probably get his head crushed. As he flipped in the air, Cloud pulled the front up out of the dive, and successfully completed three sumersaults in the air before landing to the ground in time to smack Kadaj's blade with his own. Cloud turned the bike back toward the figure, and saw that two more had emerged. Was there a factory or something? Cloud hopped off of the bike, and another man, with silver hair a little past his shoulders engaged him in a fight as the other two watched.

Then without warning, the man that had stood in the middle of the road, the one with the chin length silver hair raised his hand. And just like that, in an instant, they had hoped on their bikes, and were gone, leaving Cloud alone and confused.

Cloud never thought he'd be here again. He got off of his bike, and stared up at Tifa's Seventh Heaven. They had rebuilt the whole city, and he was shocked to see that the Avalanche's former headquarters was no longer a bar. It was a school. The door opened, and Tifa, beautiful as always stuck her head out the door. She looked as she always did, brown eyes vibrant, dark hair shining, and a huge grin spread over her face when she saw him. "CLOUD!" She ran down the stairs and enveloped him in a hug. "I thought I heard you."

Cloud was starring around at everything. "It's like nothing's changed. It's exactly how I remembered it."

"Well, a few things have changed. Midgar is one of the richest towns now. Everyone wanted to move to the place where Avalanche was born. Oh, and Healing Materia is used in hospitals now. We don't use Potions anymore."

Cloud nodded to her home, "I see other things have changed too."

"Midgar became a dry community, and I became a teacher." She gave him a smile. "I'm really glad to see you…"

"It's… good to see you too, Tifa." He said automatically, and in a way it was. By seeing her, it told him that Aeris wasn't a beautiful dream. "Is everything rebuilt?" He asked.

"Yeah," She replied, and then she frowned, "Oh… yes, the church in sector 7 has been rebuilt. We don't call it that anymore though, we call it Samsara, which means rebirth."

Cloud gave a nod.

The doors busted open, and Marlene came sprinting down the steps. She hugged Cloud's leg with a force that nearly knocked him over.

"Marlene!" Cloud yelled. The little girl had grown at least a foot and a half it seemed like.

"CLOUD!" She cried, "I knew you'd come back, I just knew it!"

Cloud bent down to her, and ruffled her hair.

"Marlene, don' be rubbin' all over him!" Barret barked as he walked out of the school. He grinned when he saw Cloud. "'Bou time you got your spiky ass back here! I tol' Tifa it wouldn't be the same if all of Avalanche wasn't reunited…"

Cloud snapped his head to Tifa, who blushed.

"Yer still not a mercenary?" Barret asked.

"No," Cloud told him.

"What I tol' Tifa!" Barret announced, and clapped him on the back. "I said once you go Avalanche, you never go back!"

"Uh, Barret…" Tifa interjected nervously, because of Cloud's hard gaze.

"Barret, I'm not…" Cloud started, but he looked down at Marlene's little face grinning up at him.

"You're not wha?" He asked.

"I'm not getting any younger out here." Cloud replied, and Tifa positively grinned.

"What I'm sayin'!" Barret shouted, turned on his heel and started to lead the way back inside. "The sooner, the better we get this done with. Come on, Marlene…"

Marlene raced after her father, so that Tifa and Cloud were the only ones left outside.

"You didn't tell me that Avalanche was coming back together."

"I knew you wouldn't come."

Cloud buried his face in his hands. "I told you, I moved on."

"What about Sephiroth?"

"I was going to deal with him on my own."

Tifa crossed her arms angrily. "Of course, same old self-centered, loner Cloud Strife! I can't believe you! I called you because we need your help, and you're just going to go off by yourself, trigger-happy!"

"If I go, no one gets hurt."

"Only you." She replied, tears in her eyes. "And you're just someone that no one cares about, right?"

Cloud's mouth flopped open, "Tifa…"

"You can't do this alone! Dammit, Cloud!" She shook her head, and walked past him with a curt, "Everyone's waiting."

Cloud knew that Reno and Rude were inside, he was just never expecting to see them. But they stood there, in a corner of Tifa's school, waiting patiently for him to arrive. Cloud gave a nod to each of them.

"Finally here then, Strife. Good." Reno said.

"What's this about?" Cloud asked the red-head.

"Well it certainly isn't about who has the best hair." Reno said, running his hand through his. "I'm coming to Avalanche as a civilian with distressing news. A few days ago, three silver haired men were seen at Northern Crater by many people." He paused, taking in Cloud's face. It was full of anger. "They were also seen bringing a figure from there in a wheelchair."

Sephiroth.

Cloud felt like punching his fist through the wall. "Isn't Northern Crater guarded?"

"Around the clock. Seventeen guards, all dead."

"That's friggin insane!" Barret declared. "How could they all be dead?"

"Can I talk or are you going to interrupt me?" Reno asked him, and then continued, "I'm only here because you stopped JENOVA and Sephiroth and Meteor, and all of that wacky stuff before."

There was a silence.

"We can't do this alone." Cloud said, starring at Tifa. "We need everyone."

She grinned at him, and then asked Reno, "When were the men last seen?"

"I've seen them not too long ago." Cloud said.

Reno snapped his head to him. "You have? Where?"

"On my way here when they tried to take my head off."

Tifa gasped.

Cloud shook his head, "I don't know, there's something not right with them. They just vanished in the middle of the fight."

"They want you for something." Reno said, folding his arms.

Cloud shrugged, "Failed clone of Sephiroth, remember?"

"Speaking of that," Reno said. "I'm pretty sure Hojo is still alive."

"Of course!" Tifa cried. "More clones!"

"I don't think so." Cloud told her. "They had so much power… and why take Sephiroth's body? They must need it for something…"

Reno shrugged. "I told you all that I know."

"And how do we know we can trust you?" Barret asked, slamming his fist on the table. "How do we know this isn't some Turks Reunited plot?"

"Turks Reunited?" Reno asked, scratching his chin. "It sounds like a good movie title." He turned to the brunette. "How long have I been here? Three, four days?"

Tifa nodded, "He has been a big help with the children."

"He's helping with the children?!" Barret declared.

"I live on this planet, too." Reno said. "It's where I'll live until I die. Sephiroth could never understand that. This… this planet is my Promised Land. Why would I want it destroyed?"

Finally, Cloud gave a nod. "It makes sense."

Tifa bit her bottom lip, knowing they were in for a fight they might not survive.