Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 7 or it's characters

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 7 or it's characters.

A New Friend

Tears streamed down Tifa's face hours after Cloud had left the city without saying anything to them. She couldn't believe that he had left that way without even asking if she had wanted to travel with him like in the old days. He seemed to be so different and it pained her to see him that way. It also pained her to know that she and the others were perhaps part of the reason that he was the way he was now. They had hurt him in a way that they would never know and yet Cloud would always remember she was sure about that.

Tifa's eyes were red rimmed and puffy as she wiped away yet another tear that streamed down her face. She was sitting in her room and across from her were both Yuffie and Marlene. They watched her and finally Marlene came over to her and sat down next to her and wrapped her arms around Tifa's shoulders.

"It will be fine Tifa you will see. Cloud will not stay mad and everything will be back to the way it used to be. He was the one who told me that he would do anything for us and I think that he would," Marlene said in order to try to cheer Tifa up.

Yuffie looked at her long time friend and the woman who her children referred to as their aunt. "I am sorry Tifa. If I had not lost my temper Cloud would never have acted the way he did and he would still be here. I am truly sorry it is just that I have never really been able to control my temper," Yuffie said sadly for she was truly sorry for the way she had treated Cloud the day before.

"It's all right Yuffie you had reason to be the way that you were. Your children were taken from you. Every mother would have felt the same way," Tifa said sadly knowing that she would never be a mother probably. She had at one time hoped that she would marry Cloud but now she just didn't know.

"Everything will be just fine I am telling the both of you. Cloud will save Natalia and Laeticia you wait and see. Then everything will go back the way it was," Marlene insisted.

"I truly hope you are right Marlene. I would like everything to go back to the way it was," Tifa said as she cracked her knuckles out of habit. Everyone looked at her but she paid them no mind because she was thinking about doing something and she didn't know if the two of them would support her or not. She wouldn't tell them until she felt that she was ready and that they might just help her out.

* * * * *

Cloud had left Costa Del Sol with nothing but what he had on him which was to say the least not that much. He had his cloths that were on his back and his sword which was all he truly needed. He looked down at himself and decided that maybe he would need an extra set of cloth's since the ones that he had on had a few holes in them from the gunshots.

Cloud was maybe four miles or so out of Costa Del Sol. He thought that he should keep moving even though he didn't really want to. He wanted to go back and apologize for what he had said and the way he had acted towards Tifa and his friends. The more he thought about it thought the more he knew that he had done the right thing. He didn't want to draw them into what was going on since it seemed that they only wanted him for some reason that they didn't even seem to know.

Cloud didn't care what the reason was all he knew was that he needed to help those children. Cloud grimaced at that thought for he didn't even know their names much less what they looked like and if they were boys or girls or both. He shrugged his shoulders then and decided that it didn't matter. He would know them when he saw them he felt sure. When he found them he would do whatever it took to get them back safely to Yuffie whom he loved as much as any other of his friends.

Cloud shook his head when he thought of Yuffie having children. When he had first met her she was little more than a child herself! Now she was a mother and Vincent a man who Cloud had thought would never learn to love again was the father of Yuffie's and his children. It was a thought that Cloud just found hard to grasp.

The sun was just rising over the distant mountains when Cloud finally decided to stop for awhile. He didn't have his bedroll with him so he just found a rock and leaned his back against it. He figured that it would be just as soft as anything else. He closed his eyes and felt at peace.

He had decided to stop not because he was tired but because he just didn't feel like walking any farther without at least taking in the surroundings. IT was something that he had missed in his last twenty years of moving around. He had never taken the time to get to know a place and to commit it to memory. Cloud wanted to do that with what was around him. It was peaceful and there was nothing to disturb the silence except the occasional song of a bird or the chirping of insects.

After an hour of just sitting with his back against the rock he decided that he had better get going. He stood up and stretched. He smiled at what he knew other people would have done had they laid against a rock. They would have been in a lot of pain but Cloud felt no discomfort. He didn't feel the discomfort due to what had happened to him in the past. He healed a bit faster than the average person and he was quite a bit stronger as well.

Cloud checked his sword in it's sheath to make sure that it would slide out easy if he needed it then continued on. He walked for most of the day and when it started to get dark he figured that he would need to stop for the night and get some rest. He found himself a small grove of trees and sat down in a little clearing amongst them. He hunted around and found some dry wood and started a fire so that the flames would frighten any unwanted animals. The light might draw attention but he would rather it be human than animal because had no wish to kill any animals. That and humans made more noise than an animal would so that he would know if anyone tried to sneak up on him which Cloud suspected might happen since he was being hunted yet again.

Cloud moved close to the flames and stared into them. It didn't hurt his eyes like it would normal people but then Cloud wasn't normal. He had been exposed to Mako energy and it had changed him in ways that no one could ever fully understand. He didn't even know what all it had done to him.

Cloud looked in the flames and he saw a scene from his past. He saw the time he first met Yuffie. It was in the woods and she had wanted to fight them. Well she had lost and when she did she decided to join up with Cloud and the rest of his friends. Cloud smiled at the memory. None of them had known that she was going to steal their materia. They had found her after that and she had then become a very important member of their team as much for her personality as for anything else. She had brought fun to the group where before they had mostly been morose and intent on doing what must be done. She had shown him that fun was something that anyone could have and Cloud would always treasure that gift from her.

Cloud laid back and put his sword behind his head so that it was in easy reach. He closed his eyes and let sleep take him. He didn't dream and he didn't see Aeris again though he had wanted to very much see her. Suddenly he heard a twig snap and a soft curse. Cloud woke up but didn't move so that he didn't alert whoever it was that he was already awake.

The footfalls came closer and closer and then he heard someone sit down next to the fire. "Ahh that's nice," said a very soft female voice that Cloud had never heard before. Cloud thought about seeing who it was and then decided that she didn't pose any threat to him so he just lay there and let sleep claim him for a second time.

* * * * *

Cassandra had been moving away from her home now for longer than she cared to think about it. She had left thanks to the abuse that her father gave her every day. There hadn't been a day in the last year that she hadn't had a black eye and she finally got tired of it and left.

Cassandra hadn't felt bad about leaving because her mother and other sisters had left before she did and that was one reason that she took so many beatings because there were no other people to beat. She hated her father and had told him that the day that she left. He had told her that if she ever came back he would kill her for being so insolent.

Cassandra had promised to never come back and her father had laughed at her! He had laughed and laughed until she had hit him in the head with a frying pan and knocked him unconscious. She had then looked around the house for things that she would need to take with her. She had gathered up a lot of food and some water to take with her. She had taken all of her father's money since he would only spend it on beer anyway. She had looked around the house and found a small pistol that she had decided to take for protection. She took some of her clothes and a necklace, rings, and any other jewelry that she found so that she could sell it if she had to.

She had taken a knife from the kitchen as well never not knowing if she would ever need it but a weapon was a weapon. She had left then and had been traveling ever since. She had been traveling for about a half a year moving from place to place hoping to find her family. She hadn't yet but that didn't matter she was no longer at home and that was all that she cared about.

It had started to get cold at night and she hadn't wanted to sleep outdoors again in the cold but she hadn't made it to a town. She had started to put two sets of cloths on in order to keep warm at night but not even that was enough to keep her warm. That was why when she had seen the fire down in the trees she had went straight to it without even thinking if it could be someone bad.

She had tried to sneak up on the man and the fire but she had stepped on a dry twig. She had stopped for a minute and looked at the man and the fire along with the warmth that it promised. The man had long spiky blonde hair. His face looked almost peaceful while he slept but that was almost not quite. He wasn't as tall as a lot of men but he was extremely well muscled and he had a sword under his head as a pillow.

She had not wanted to go in close to the fire but she was shivering just sitting there looking and finally the cold got the best of her better judgement and she moved forward and sat down next to the fire. She held her hands out to the fire and whispered to herself, "Ahh that's nice."

She thought that the man would have woken up but he didn't he just kept on sleeping and she started to wonder if he was dead after a little while of him not even moving. She looked over at him and saw that he was sweating like he had just got done running a mile.

She moved up next to him and she listened to his breathing that was coming fast and hard. He thrashed from side to side in his sleep as she neared and she didn't know what she should do. She wanted to wake him but she wondered if she did if he would attack her or send her away. She really didn't want him to do that because for some reason she couldn't explain she felt safe while she was near him.

She reached down hesitantly and touched his arm. He didn't even respond to her touch so she shook him hard and the next thing that she knew was that his eyes snapped open and he was on his feet with his sword drawn in the blink of an eye. He looked around wildly and when he saw her he lowered the sword.

As the sword lowered she let out a breath that she didn't even know that she had been holding. She looked up at him and smiled and said, "I didn't know what to do you were thrashing about so I thought that I should wake you."

* * * * *

Cloud was awoke from his nightmare with a start as he realized something was happening to his body. He was glad that he was out of the nightmare though for it was filled with nothing but pain and he had no wish to relive what happened during his first few years away from his friends.

Cloud looked at the girl who had woken him without a thought for her safety and he wondered what she was doing out here in the cold. He shook his head as he sheathed his sword and then her words sank in. He turned to look at her and said, "Thank you for waking me. I am glad that you did." He saw that she was terrified of him, or of what he might do to her but she didn't run which he admired her for.

"I will not hurt you or any such thing. I owe you so go ahead and make yourself comfortable," Cloud said as he sat back down and really looked at her for the first time. She had long black hair that glistened in the firelight. Her eyes were of the deepest green and seemed to sparkle and dance as the firelight flickered in their depths. Her skin was a pale white and she had the look of someone who had been on the run for awhile. She was quite beautiful he noticed but didn't really think about that. Cloud knew that there could never be a woman for him.

The girl made herself a little spot next to the fire and sat down to warm herself. He could tell that she was extremely cold and he again wondered what had made her come out here all alone without the proper cloths. Cloud smiled at that thought because he didn't have the proper cloths either. He was wearing a pair of black pants with a black shirt that had no sleeves. He had a reason for not having any other cloths but then again the cold didn't bother him either.

"My name is Cassandra and I thank you for sharing your fire with me," she said through teeth that chattered with the cold.

"The name's Cloud and it is no problem Cassandra. You look cold so don't worry about staying here. You can stay for as long as you like," Cloud said not knowing what else to say.

At the mention of his name though he saw her back stiffen. She turned slowly to look at him and her eyes were wide. "The Cloud. The Cloud who saved the world with his friends. That Cloud," She said wonderingly.

"The one and the same," Cloud said while shrugging his shoulders. He didn't think that it was any big deal because he honestly didn't care about the world. At least he hadn't cared until he met Aeris. Then the war had become personal and the world was just an added bonus when he saved it after killing Sephiroth.

"I…I'm sorry for intruding Cloud I didn't mean to come to your fire," she stammered. Poor girl Cloud thought as he looked at her. She was in awe of him for some reason. He had thought that most people would have forgotten about him after so long. He had dropped off the face of the planet and yet still people like Cassandra thought of him as a hero.

Cloud took off his shirt and tossed it to Cassandra. "Here put that on. I know it isn't much but it should help warm you a bit," Cloud said casually.

"But won't you be cold," she asked and then hit herself on the forehead. "Of course not you are Cloud and you are too tough to allow the cold to affect you."

How I wish that were true Cloud thought to himself. He just smiled at her though. "Why are you out here anyway. Shouldn't you be home after all you are no more than seventeen or eighteen right?" Cloud asked.

"I am twenty one and I am not going home because that is where my father is. I will not return to that man. I will not return to the beatings and the abuse," She said almost as if Cloud wasn't there at all.

Cloud understood the reason she was out here alone then. She had no reason to be home if her father was like that. Cloud didn't blame her for that because Cloud himself wouldn't put up with that. "I see. Well you should get some sleep if you can. If you push hard tomorrow you might be able to make Costa Del Sol," Cloud said as he stretched himself out and readied himself for sleep yet again.

"What if I don't want to go there," she asked curiously.

"You should in order to get some warmer cloths if you are going to continue to travel like this. That and there you could get supplies. Out here you have none of that," Cloud said as he closed his eyes.

"What if I don't want any of those things. What if I would rather travel with you," she said softly. So softly in fact that Cloud barely heard her and he wondered if he was supposed to.

"I don't think that you want to be traveling with me. I am going to do something that will be extremely dangerous. I don't want to get you involved and I don't want you to get hurt because of me," Cloud said sternly.

She looked at him and he could see tears starting to gather at the corners of her eyes. He hated it when women cried. He was a weak man when it came to that, "I will tell you what. You sleep on it and if you still want to travel with me in the morning then I just might let you. You will have to get a weapon though so I will have to see where your talents lie," Cloud said.

"Thank you Cloud. I will still want to go with you I can promise you that," she said happily as she rolled over onto her side and prepared for sleep.

That is what I am afraid of Cassandra Cloud thought. I don't want you to get hurt and yet how can I refuse you when it was the same way with half of my old friends. I found them in different ways but it was basically the same. They wanted to travel with me and I let them. Who am I to deny you when you may well turn out to be someone important to the mission. I can't think that you are but I didn't think that about any of the others either.

Cloud just sat there for over ten minutes looking at Cassandra's back and he wondered if he would get her to grow to hate him just like all his old friends. He then wondered if he would get her killed just like he had gotten Aeris killed. Cloud hoped that he didn't but he just didn't know. He let those thoughts stay with him as he went to sleep. He didn't see Cassandra roll over and watch him all night long.

* * * * *

Tseng wasn't happy that his daughter had left. It had caused him to sober up and he was going to find her for being so disobediant. She was going to get what was coming to her and then he was going to send her away to get married in some far off land where he wouldn't have to see her ever again. First though he was going to get his revenge for what she had done to him her own father!

Cassandra was going to pay for taking his money and hitting him in the head with a pan. He wasn't going to let her get away with it and he would deal with whoever he had to in order to get her back. He had returned to his days as a Turk in order to find his daughter. He was wearing his suit and everything and he pulled his sunglasses on. "Well daughter when I find you no matter who you are with I will get you back and you will pay just like your mother and other sisters will pay if I ever find them," Tseng whispered.