Chapter Seventeen - Epilogue

[ ν ] - εγλ - 2008 | July 17th

Baby Steps

Tifa wasn't sure what time it was when she opened her eyes. All she knew was that the room was still dim and that there was just enough muted haze of foggy silver light streaming into the bedroom that she shared with Cloud that told her it was daybreak. She blinked a few times, yawning before she pushed herself up on her hands, her eyes skimming the space on the bed next to her almost frantically.

"I'm right here, Teef," she heard his voice beside her. Shifting slightly, Tifa blinked, opening her eyes to find Cloud sitting on the bed next to her with his back against the headboard.

And his arms were full, Rain laying face down over his chest, her arms and legs tucked in under the blanket he folded over her.

"Cloud?" she queried. Seeing the baby wrapped safely in his arms instantly quelled her panic, and Tifa tried to clear her brain, remembering the night before when she'd fallen asleep with Rain at her side. "Wait - what time is it?"

Cloud yawned slightly, and Rain cooed in her sleep in response. "It's almost dawn," he answered.

"Dawn?" Tifa repeated, sitting up fully now, tucking her legs under her.

Cloud smiled lazily, and Tifa could see the way the slowly approaching sunlight, a thin sliver against Midgar's backdrop of city skyscrapers and industrial towers, highlighted little shimmers in his hair.

"It's okay," he replied. "I got home from work yesterday afternoon and you and Rain were napping on the bed… I guess you had just fed her. But you were sleeping so deeply that I didn't want to disturb you, so when she woke up, Denzel and I just handled things for the rest of the night. I figured you really needed to sleep."

Cloud turned his lips up in a smile, nuzzling Rain adoringly. Tifa couldn't help the way that she smiled back, admiring the affection he shared with his daughter.

Their daughter.

"You should have woken me up, Cloud," Tifa scolded him gently, stretching her arms above her head as she adjusted to wakefulness. "I still have so much to do around the house, and -"

"Nah," Cloud cut her off, closing his eyes again. "You needed your rest, Tifa. I could tell. Besides, you've been doing so much better these last few weeks, it doesn't make any sense to push yourself so hard that you backslide now."

A little bashfully, Tifa dipped her head, her turn to feel scolded. Cloud was right, she supposed. It had been a little over five months since Rain was born, and in the time since, some of Tifa's symptoms had begun to subside. It was a gradual decline - every day since Rain entered their lives, Tifa woke up to less and less of the aches and pains that had plagued her for the last several years, felt less of the debilitating fatigue that had sometimes made getting out of bed in the mornings a near impossibility. Sure, Tifa thought, having a new baby meant late, interrupted nights and very little sleep - but the sleepiness she felt from waking in the middle of the night to breastfeed Rain was nothing like the bone-deep exhaustion she'd often felt as a result of her condition.

And her star-tears had not returned.

Tifa scooted closer to Cloud on the bed, leaning her head on his shoulder. She glanced down at Rain, raising a hand to the back of the baby's head. At five months old, her hair had begun to fill out and grow past her ears and across her forehead, silky and thick and the color of molten onyx. Tifa carded her fingers through Rain's hair, and Cloud looked down at her and smiled before he began to do the same with her own tresses.

"You ready for your appointment today?" he continued softly after a moment passed.

Tifa huffed out a little sigh against his chest, glancing back up at the window and watching as the sun steadily continued to rise. Since Rain's birth, Tifa had not seen Dr. Lang about the progression of her Star Scar illness. She visited with Dr. Crescent frequently, of course, who monitored her postpartum health and looked out for any signs that her pregnancy and labor had worsened her condition. But when it became obvious that her symptoms were not only not worsening, but - to Tifa's great surprise - actually getting better, Cloud had been the one to carefully and a bit hopefully suggest that she see her specialist for a reevaluation.

Tifa had to admit that she was terrified of the idea. She avoided frequenting Dr. Lang's office over these last few years for the precise reason that every visit was filled with terrible news, each time more devastating than the last. Even now, realizing that her aches and pains had slowly begun to subside and her dizziness and myopia had decreased, she wouldn't dare get her hopes too high. There had been plenty of times when she thought things were getting better, but she always relapsed.

But Cloud smiled at her, warm like the summer sun, and she couldn't possibly let him down as much as she felt deep inside she was certain she was going to let herself down.

And more importantly, she thought as the baby yawned and then instinctively began to roll in the direction of Tifa's warm body, cooing lightly as she roused from sleep, she couldn't let Rain down.

"I think so," Tifa finally answered.

"Everything is gonna be fine, Tifa," Cloud reassured her, his fingers tightening in her hair. "We're gonna be right there with you."

Tifa started to respond, but Rain's eyes popped open and a deep, starry blue stared up at her. Right away, the baby let out a tiny cry.

"I think she's hungry," Tifa said, changing the subject.

Cloud nodded and sat up, taking Rain under the arms and handing her to Tifa. Tifa slipped her breast from her tank top, settling Rain against her bosom, who instantly latched on to her nipple.

Cloud settled back against his pillow, looping his arm around Tifa and holding them both close to him, closing his eyes to catch a few extra minutes of sleep. As he did so, Tifa leaned into him and let her body relax, watching Rain feed and working to calm the thunderclouds in her mind.

Please, let everything be okay.

It was difficult for Tifa to keep the anxiety from spinning throughout her mind for the remainder of the morning, but she did her best by focusing on cooking breakfast for Denzel and Cloud, changing Rain, and getting them all ready to go out for the day. It was midsummer by now, July bringing with it the stifling, dry heat that settled over Midgar under a blend of sunlight and reactor pollution. Denzel, who was now ten years old and going into the fifth grade, had begun to make many new friends at school and was old enough to go out in the daytime on his own. When he wasn't practicing on the piano with Tifa or playing video games with Cloud, he was out with his own friends, and Tifa couldn't help the way her heart warmed over when Cloud smiled proudly at Denzel that morning as he left on his bike with his friends in tow.

At the present moment, Tifa stood in front of the mirror in Aerith and Zack's old bedroom, the one that she and Cloud had been sharing for nearly a year. Its glass was faded, and no matter how many times Tifa tried to wipe it down, she could never seem to get the streaks of age out of it. But she could still catch her reflection, staring at herself through its blurry window.

She was now thirty years old, she thought almost distractedly, studying the lines of her own face. She could still see the youth there; not much had changed. Yet, Tifa couldn't help but wonder about the way that her body had betrayed her, wondering if it was still rotting away inside.

"You all set?" she heard Cloud say behind her.

Tifa turned around to find Cloud had slipped silently into the bedroom, his hands in his pockets. He was wearing a light-colored t-shirt and khaki Dockers, and he looked perfectly suited for the warm weather. For her part, Tifa wore a blue sundress, her first time since Rain was born she was wearing something that wasn't so casual it could be pulled on or off with ease like the sweatpants and tank tops she had been living in for the last few months.

"You look beautiful," Cloud told her as if he could read her thoughts.

Tifa blushed slightly and looked away, but she couldn't stop the smile that crept across her cheeks. "Thanks," she replied. "And yeah, I think I'm ready."

"Everything is going to be fine," Cloud reassured her for perhaps the hundredth time, reaching up to brush her bangs which were badly in need of a trim from her eyes.

She followed Cloud out of the apartment and to the street, unable to avoid appreciating the bright summer sunlight. It warmed her and brought the heat out of her skin, but more than anything, Tifa realized that its glare wasn't hurting her eyes the way it normally did.

They approached Cloud's sedan and climbed into the passenger seat. In addition to his motorcycle, he had purchased it not long after Tifa had fallen pregnant and he had started pulling in steady pay at his new assignment teaching with SOLDIER. He gave her a final look of encouragement before he pulled away from the curb, and Tifa burned it into her memory and etched it onto her heart.

They were both quiet throughout their drive, and Tifa could read that Cloud was giving her breathing room ahead of her appointment. The longer that they'd been together since they reunited, the more that Tifa understood how well they both truly knew each other. She hadn't realized it at first, but the more time that they spent together, the more that she began to instinctively understand Cloud, reading his moods and his expressions, building a strange capacity to almost see and feel what he was thinking before he voiced his troubles. And likewise - perhaps even more so - Cloud was in tune with her, always there when she was uneasy or in disarray, always preempting her needs. And he knew when she needed his comfort or when she needed her space to think.

Tifa watched Midgar pass them by as he drove, and it began to dawn on her how little she had paid attention to the world around her in the last stretch of years. In fact, now that she thought about it - she hadn't studied Midgar much at all since she moved here, instead focused on so many other things than her surroundings - her piano career, her future, her broken past, and a life without Cloud. But now, she sat and stared out of the window as if seeing the city for the very first time, muted spires of iron and steel set against a hazy blue sky that was marred by the mists of mako pollution.

It was so different from the village of her girlhood, and Tifa found herself comparing the two in the back of her mind. Nibelheim was all wispy white skies that floated around piercing gray mountains and dirty cobblestone trails, wooden houses that had been carved right from the pines that surrounded the village.

But those images were far, far behind her, Tifa now accepted. She had no intention to return to Nibelheim. The only person left in that village that was tied to her now was Cloud's mother, Claudia, and Cloud had been talking for weeks about his plans to move her to Midgar so that she could be close to them.

"This is it, right?" Cloud said, breaking her away from her thoughts.

Tifa saw that he had pulled them into the parking lot beside the office building that housed Dr. Lang's clinic. Licking her lips nervously, she looked over at him, finding his expression soft but still threaded with concern. As much as he always tried to reassure her, it was difficult for him to not betray his own worry.

"This is it," Tifa acknowledged.

They got out of the car, Cloud racing to open the backseat and unstrap Rain from her car seat. The baby was wide awake and bright-eyed, giggling as soon as her father gave her a light tickle before pulling her into his chest. Tifa started to reach for her, but Cloud was slipping his arms and the baby into a carrier strapped to the front of his chest.

"I got her, Teef," he redirected her, closing the car door.

Tifa smiled at him, and Rain tipped her head back and let out a bright laugh at them both as if in on a joke with them.

It warmed Tifa's heart as they made their way inside the building and took the elevator to Lang's floor, but the closer they got to her office, the more she could hear her heart ricochet in her chest. The sterile smells of the hallways and offices, the too-clean and polished glass doorways and floors, the signs that pointed to the other medical clinics here - all made her anxiety return.

No matter how she felt inside or how her symptoms may have subsided, she just couldn't bring herself to believe that this nightmare that had reigned over so much of her life could possibly be coming to an end.

They reached Dr. Lang's office, and Tifa filled out the usual screener forms on a glass tablet in the receptionist area while Cloud kept Rain occupied by showing her the assortment of fish in the office aquarium. Tifa bit into her lip as she went through the document, hesitantly ticking off which of her symptoms still persisted and those of them that did not.

"Dr. Lang will see you now."

Tifa took a deep breath and got to her feet, glancing over at Cloud. He immediately turned his attention in her direction, nodding at her before following behind her.

They followed a nurse into the back, into one of the examination rooms. Rain watched with blue eyes wide and observant the entire time, looking back and forth with her fists balled up against Cloud's chest as she took in the strange, new atmosphere. But Tifa could only concentrate on the sound of her own heartbeat, listening to it thunder louder and louder inside of her the closer they got.

The nurse took her preliminary vitals while Cloud sat in a chair across from the gurney that she settled atop before leaving them alone again. As soon as she was gone, Tifa let out a heavy sigh that instantly had Cloud's eyes wide.

"Tifa," he chastised softly. "You really need to try and relax. Haven't you ever heard of white coat syndrome? The more stressed and anxious you are, the more likely you are to throw your results when the doctor sees you."

Tifa shook her head, but despite the rationality of his words, it didn't help the way her insides were presently quaking. She straightened her back and grabbed the edge of the gurney, nervously kicking her feet back and forth.

"I know," she finally agreed. "I just… what if this is a waste of time, Cloud? I've been through this before. I don't want to get my hopes up. Every time my mom thought she was getting better, she always -"

"Ma-bap?" Rain interrupted in a bright voice, blinking over her shoulder at Tifa.

Cloud was grinning at the baby. "I agree," he told her in a sing-song voice that honestly sounded ridiculous, but made Tifa's heart burst. "Mommy's going to be just fine, isn't that right?"

Rain laughed in agreement, looking back to her father and reaching up to grab his nose.

Tifa started to say something else, but the door was pushed open and Dr. Lang appeared with the screener tablet in hand. She had her curly bleached hair pulled up into a high ponytail, and Tifa realized that new age lines were appearing at the corners of her eyes.

"Tifa," Dr. Lang greeted her at once. "It's been a while. Oh, and I see you brought the entire family!"

Tifa nodded, feeling her cheeks warm as Cloud got up to introduce himself to Lang. The doctor took a moment to take Rain's hand and fuss over her, prompting the baby to giggle before shyly turning away. When Cloud sat back down, Dr. Lang refocused her attention on Tifa.

"I'm so glad that everything went well with your pregnancy," she said. "Dr. Crescent sent over all of the reports. You had a couple of scares, but it looks like things worked out for the best in the end. She's a beautiful child."

"Thank you," Tifa replied. She glanced up and over at Cloud, finding his attention focused on Rain as he wiped the baby's mouth with a little cloth, a grin plastered to his face and his cheeks delightfully pink.

"So," Dr. Lang went on, returning her attention to the tablet she held. "You've come in for a re-evaluation?"

"That's right," Tifa responded with hesitation, again questioning internally if this was even worth it.

Lang nodded. "Well, the information I see here in your symptom screener is very promising," she informed her. "However, I must caution you that such a regression is quite rare. It's even rarer after a pregnancy."

Tifa couldn't help the way that she found herself inclined to look at Cloud again, as if for strength. But he returned her gaze with a light smile and a softness in his aquamarine eyes that helped the nervous fluttering in her heart still.

"I see," Tifa answered.

"I'll have to run a series of blood tests and have them sent downstairs to the medi-lab. And of course, a full physical exam with psych screen, and I'd like to also run an X-ray to take a look at your bones. Do you have a few hours to spare?"

Tifa was still holding Cloud's eyes as Lang rattled off this list, but he just nodded at her encouragingly.

"Sure," Tifa heard herself at last respond.

It was sometime later that afternoon when Tifa sat in the clinic's reception next to Cloud, her right knee buckling nervously as she waited and waited for her results. Cloud had unstrapped Rain from the carrier he wore over his chest to let her crawl on the carpeted floor and explore, playing with some of the complimentary toys that were left out for small children. Tifa watched as the baby made her way around the room, Cloud occasionally getting up from his seat to redirect her from a corner or away from a door. But Tifa's thoughts were glazed over, completely consumed by what she was going to learn when Dr. Lang walked back through that door.

Dr. Lang had performed a full physical medical exam on her, followed by a series of blood draws and urinalysis that had to be sent down to the lab for processing. After another considerable wait, she was sent to the radiology department on another floor for X-rays. The examinations concluded with an eye check and psychological screen, and by the time all of it was through, Tifa was exhausted.

Then, they had to wait another two hours for all of the results to be delivered and compiled. Cloud picked up lunch in the cafeteria on the ground floor while Tifa fed Rain, and they both took turns changing the baby when necessary. At one point, while Tifa was in the back for another exam, she had returned to find that Rain had fallen asleep on Cloud's chest.

But presently, it was stretching on into the late afternoon and it would soon be time for them to get home to cook dinner before Denzel returned. And after being here all day, Tifa's nerves couldn't possibly be any more shot.

She just wanted to know the truth: good, bad, or ugly.

"You okay?" Cloud's voice pulled her out of the entrenchment of her thoughts.

She glanced over at him, finding his eyes like the oceans that settled outside of Costa Del Sol on calm summer evenings. Just the sight of them buried some of the fear that was living inside of her, and when he reached over her lap to take her hand, Tifa let its warmth envelop hers as she breathed out a sigh.

"I think so," she answered.

The door opened and this time, Dr. Lang appeared at the threshold, her tablet folded across her chest again. Tifa tried desperately to read her expression, to decipher what she was about to face. But the doctor wore an unreadable mask, a purely blank, professional look on her face.

"Tifa," she began. "We can meet in my office now."

Slowly, Tifa got to her feet, and she could hear her heart thundering again. Cloud rose as well, reaching for Rain and scooping her up into his arms. Without another word, the three of them followed Dr. Lang into the rear hallway, Cloud's hand at some point finding the small of Tifa's back.

As she entered Dr. Lang's office and sat across from her desk, staring up at the medical degrees that lined the wall behind her, Tifa tried to swallow the lump in her throat. She had sat in this very spot many times and she had never gotten good news sitting here. She still remembered the very first time when she learned she had Star Scar, the devastation of realizing she was suffering from the disease that killed her mother crushing her entire world.

It was for that reason that she was trying at that moment, desperately, to not get her hopes up.

"Tifa," Dr. Lang finally started, leaning forward over her tablet which was now placed on the desk. Cloud had reached over his chair to take Tifa's hand next to him, and the only other sound in the room was the ticking of the clock on the wall and Rain's soft coos as she squirmed against Cloud's chest. "I'm going to go over each of your results independently, and then I will present the summation of my findings. Alright?"

"Alright," Tifa agreed, hearing her blood rush in her ears.

"Now," Dr. Lang went on. "Let me begin by saying that these results are preliminary and must be interpreted with a certain level of caution."

"Okay," Tifa replied, not realizing she was squeezing Cloud's hand.

"Now," Lang continued. "Let's begin with your lab results. Both blood and urinalysis find a significantly decreased count of both Star Scarring materials and atypical cells… at least a seventy-five percent decrease from your last visit here."

Tifa just stared, her heart bumping up against her ribcage.

"Now, this is very promising, almost alarmingly so," Lang went on, raising an eyebrow. "But I supposed there could be a number of factors that impact this. Hormonal shifts, your lifestyle or relationship changes, impacts of atmospheric and astronomical conditions. It is not typical, but it isn't unheard of. However, I caution you that such a decline can be fortuitous and that there may be increases in these levels over time."

Tifa slowly nodded, trying to digest this, Cloud glancing at her to catch the profile of her face.

Land swiped her finger across the tablet. "Now, the other parts of the exam were promising. Your myopia hasn't seemed to worsen since your last visit, and it would appear that the corrective lenses you've been wearing this past year have at least stopped the progression of eye deterioration. And radiology reveals that your bones appear healthy. I was very worried about osteoporosis, but we don't seem to be there yet."

It was then Cloud's turn to squeeze her hand, displaying how hopeful he seemed to be over the nature of this conversation.

"But Tifa," Lang said, leaning over her desk. She put the tablet down, glancing at the figures and notes on her screen before she looked back up at Tifa again. "Your psychological screen was most intriguing. For lack of a more scientific term, you seem to be… happy."

At this, Tifa blinked and widened her eyes, not sure what to make of any of this.

For the first time, Lang smiled, and she directed at Cloud and Rain a brief look before focusing her attention on Tifa again.

"I supposed having a new baby and a supportive partner would have a lot to do with that," she surmised. "I'm very glad to see that these parts of your life have worked out so well for you. Compared to when I first met you, I have seen a very significant and positive change in you."

"Th-hank you," Tifa managed, disbelieving in what she was hearing.

"I will be honest," Lang continued, her expression returning to its calm, bedside professionalism again. "As I said before, we will need to monitor you over time and I don't want you to think that you are out of the woods. Things can change at any time, Tifa. But… I can say with at least a fair amount of confidence that your disease has gone into a near-complete remission."

As shocked as she was, Tifa couldn't help the way that her face broke out in a bright smile, her eyes lighting up like the sun was shining behind them. Rain laughed happily as if she were privy to what was going on, and Cloud was getting to his feet.

"Tifa!" he exclaimed.

Dr. Lang smiled warmly at them both before she recaptured Tifa's attention, whose cheeks burned at the way that Cloud stared at her, his eyes wide with joy. Lang began to guide her through some additional notes and instructions, but Tifa was so disoriented by this news that she could barely follow along, excitement spilling into her blood the entire time that Lang talked and scheduled a follow-up appointment.

She felt as if she were walking on a cloud when they finally left the clinic, Cloud's hand wrapped firmly around hers. As soon as they stepped out into the hallway and were finally alone, Cloud turned to her, and Tifa could see that tears were in his eyes.

At the sight of them, the ones she had been trying to hold back herself finally began to spill.

"Is this really happening?" Tifa asked, shaking her head back and forth in disbelief. "Am I… going to get better?"

Cloud stepped closer to her at that, a tear slipping from the corner of one eye. He brought his arms around her, pulling Tifa in as close as he could get her with Rain sandwiched between them, the baby squirming and giggling.

"Tifa," he breathed softly, his embrace like the arms of heaven around her back. "I told you, you were going to get better. I told you that everything was going to be alright."

He tightened his hold to the point that Rain squealed lightly, but his lips were soon crushed against Tifa's, and she could do nothing but melt into him, the last storm clouds of the past fading away.

Maybe he was right.

[ ν ] - εγλ - 2009 | January 20th

Forever

"You alright, man?"

Cloud glanced over his shoulder to find Biggs standing behind him, hands thrust into his pockets and his tie loose and disheveled. Cloud, for his part, had been struggling with his own tie. It wasn't like he wore these stupid things on a regular basis, but still, he shouldn't be so incompetent to be unable to put on one properly. But for whatever reason, his hands just weren't working properly.

"No," he answered like a petulant child.

Biggs let out a light laugh and made his way next to where Cloud stood in front of the mirror in the bedroom he and Tifa had been sharing for over a year now. Biggs pulled Cloud by the shoulder and turned him to face him, slapping Cloud's hands out of the way.

"You're just nervous," he told him, his voice lighthearted in a way that helped to kill at least a little of the throbbing anxiety in his heart. "Don't sweat it too much, okay? Here, I got you."

Cloud lowered his arms to his sides and let Biggs reach up to knot the tie into a neat bow at his throat. Cloud heard his heart begin to pound louder and harder the longer that he stood there and thought about what was about to happen that day.

"You need to relax," Biggs scolded him gently with a toss of his head. "You're gonna sweat right through that tux before you even get to the altar."

Cloud sighed when Biggs stepped away from him, and he refocused his attention on his reflection in the mirror. He was dressed in an eggshell white tuxedo with a silver brocade vest beneath, and staring at himself, Cloud had to admit that he never once in his life had dressed up anywhere near as fancy as this. It was almost jarring to see himself in an ensemble like this one.

"You look great, man," Biggs insisted when Cloud began to frantically rearrange the soft spikes of hair on the top of his head.

He let out a sigh and turned back to Biggs, a man who had become a good friend to him over the course of the last year or so. "Tifa's gonna go crazy when she sees you. Just take a deep breath."

Cloud tried to do just that, but he couldn't help the way he continued to fuss with his hair.

"Speaking of," Biggs tried again to prod him along. "We better get going. Jessie just texted me that the women already left Seventh Heaven and are on their way to the church. You don't want to be late for your own wedding."

That only made Cloud even more nerve-wracked, and he finally tore his attention from the mirror, nodding at Biggs and grabbing his blazer as they left the apartment with Denzel and Wedge not far behind.

Cloud allowed Biggs to drive them through the sector, his hands shaking too much for him to even think about getting behind the wheel. It had been a full year since Cloud proposed to Tifa upon their return home from their final visit to Nibelheim, and he had thought the hardest part had been the proposal itself. He had no idea how shaken up he would be on the actual day of the wedding, no matter how many times he had reassured his mother and Tifa and Barret and anyone else who asked him that he was completely ready. But now that the day was finally here, he couldn't help but think that something terrible might happen - that Tifa might change her mind, that he might get cold feet himself and run out of the church, or that a meteor might fall from the sky.

But he knew that all of his thoughts were silly, and as Biggs drove them deeper into the heart of Sector Five to the old Minervian Church on Chapel Hill, Cloud did his best to zen himself and dispel his fears. He and Tifa had now been together for close to two years. They had a beautiful, brilliant daughter who was nearly a year old. Denzel was in the fifth grade, excelling in school and thriving in playing the piano, happier than Cloud had seen him since before the deaths of his parents. Cloud was thirty-one years old and working, for the first time in his life, a job that brought him a real sense of self-satisfaction. Tifa was getting better, her health improving day by day. Even his mother had moved to Midgar that past fall, setting up in a townhouse in Sector Seven so that she could be close to them and help out with Rain.

And more than that, Cloud had a huge surprise waiting for Tifa after all of this wedding shit was over, and that was perhaps what was giving him more anxiety than anything else.

He buried his thoughts when they arrived at the church, and Cloud heaved a heavy sigh before he got out of the car. As soon as he stepped out, Denzel climbed out of the backseat and came around to greet him.

"Cloud?" he began as Biggs and Wedge both made their way inside, leaving them alone.

"Yeah?" Cloud answered, bending at the waist to glance down at Denzel.

"I - I'm really glad you're marrying Tifa," he told him, glancing down at his shoes. The boy was wearing a black tuxedo, and now, at eleven years old, Cloud couldn't help but notice how much he had grown in the last couple of years. "She's really great, and you've been really happy with her. And… I'm glad I have a baby sister now."

Cloud hated the way that his heart suddenly puddled in his chest, because this sentimentality was not what he needed right before he went inside of that church and shared vows in front of his family and friends, regardless of how small the group was. Since Rain had been born, Denzel had taken an active interest in her and tried to be helpful around the house. But he was still a child himself, and Cloud had not expected this level of thoughtfulness from him.

Cloud lifted a hand to ruffle the kid's soft brown hair, offering him a reassuring smile. "I'm really glad to hear that," he told him. "No matter what, we're a family, right? All of us."

Denzel smiled. Behind them stood the church where Zack and Aerith had married just over twelve years ago. Of course, that had been before Denzel had even been born. Despite this, Cloud couldn't help the way his emotions crashed inside of him, realizing that his best friend's son was now forever his own.

"That's right," Denzel agreed. "Hey, Cloud?"

"What's up?"

"Can I… carry the sword?"

Cloud turned the corner of his lips up into a mild smile, and he glanced back at his car that was parked at the curb. Inside was Zack's buster sword, the sword that Cloud had been holding on to since his friends' deaths, that he had kept and allowed to rust above the mantle in their old living room that he had inherited. Like a few other things he'd been letting go of those last few months, it was one of the last things that Cloud had to unburden himself of.

He made his way over to the car and opened the trunk. Inside sat the Buster sword, gleaming under the sunlight. Cloud had been sure to polish and sharpen it, wiping away the decay and rust that had built there over the years.

"Sure," he answered. "It's heavy, though. Just be careful."

Denzel stared into the trunk of the car, and Cloud could see the way that his lip began to shake. But he also saw the look of determination cross his expression, and after a long moment, the boy reached into the vehicle and lifted the weapon by its hilt.

"It's not that heavy," Denzel insisted, holding the sword in front of him.

Cloud smiled at him, feeling the last of his unease slip away.

"If you say so."

His fears may have subsided, but as Cloud stood at the altar inside of the Sector Five church, he realized that his jitters had only grown. In the pews in front of him, the first three rows were filled on either side, all family and friends. On one side, he saw his mother, Claudia, with Rain in her lap, who had begun to walk and babble, her hair grown out to her shoulders. Marlene was at Claudia's side, dressed in a frilly pink gown and fully enthusiastic about her role as flower girl, while Denzel sat beside them, the Buster sword leaned up against the pew, waiting to be taken to its final resting place.

In the rows behind them were Tifa's closest friends, people who Cloud had reluctantly let into his own life. He could spot Jessie and Biggs sitting together, Jessie's expression coy while Biggs grinned proudly at him across the room. Wedge was there, along with Marle and a few of Tifa's regulars from Seventh Heaven.

On the other side of the aisle, the rows were far sparser, but they were seated with people in Cloud's life. In the very front row sat Kunsel, his now-fiancee Katie at his side. Cloud hadn't intended on inviting anyone from SOLDIER to this wedding, but news spread quickly and Lazard was sitting in one of the rows, a smirk on his face, flanked by a few of the rookies who Cloud had gotten to know well from his classes. Even Yuffie, his babysitter who quickly befriended Tifa, was there, and she had been the first person to holler out a cheer when Cloud walked into the church.

"It's time," a voice said behind him.

Cloud turned, feeling his heart pound. It was Albert Domino, the Mayor of Midgar who conducted most of his municipal duties right out of the Shinra Headquarters. As Mayor, he was endowed with the officiating rights of weddings and other legal proceedings, and since Tifa and Cloud had both agreed that they did not want a Minervian priest to perform their nuptials, his services had been rendered.

Cloud could only breathe out lightly, unable to form a response. He wasn't afforded much of an opportunity, anyway, because the organ suddenly blared behind him, belting out a rendition of Here Comes the Bride.

Cloud's heart raced in his chest, colliding against every bone that held his chest cavity together. But he could only stare ahead, watching as Tifa suddenly appeared in view at the narthex of the cathedral. Barret was holding one of her arms, also wearing a tuxedo, his eyes bloodshot as if he had been crying.

Cloud couldn't concern himself with that. He was completely captivated by Tifa, so much so that he could only stare with his mouth agape as she approached, making her way slowly down the aisle. She was dressed in a white, fishtailed wedding dress, simple patterns of lace and soft sparkles accentuating the sweetheart neckline and its train. Her long, chocolate-brown hair hung loose but was curled, wrapped around ribbons of white lace and tiny violet flowers. Her scarlet eyes were rimmed with streaks of kohl and lavender glitter, her lips glossy and pink.

Cloud licked his lips. Tifa was beautiful. She was always beautiful, whether it was first thing in the morning when she woke up and her eyes greeted the first rays of the sun, or whether it was when was in the middle of her workday behind the bar, sweat pulled across her forehead and her cheeks flushed from the strain of labor. She was beautiful whether she sat behind her piano, her fingers drifting across the keys, or whether she sat with their baby in her arms, pressed against her chest as she fed her from her very own life. And she was beautiful whether she was seventeen or thirty, whether she had been a rosy-cheeked young girl whose dreams were slowly being chipped away or a sharp-faced, bright-eyed woman who was learning how to put them together again.

But today, Tifa was a new kind of beauty than Cloud had ever seen her before. She was glowing, brighter than any star in the cleanest night sky. She was smiling, her eyes completely focused on him as she drew near. Everything and everyone surrounding her faded away from view; all he could see was her.

She was going to be his wife.

Before he knew it, Barret deposited Tifa at the altar, and Cloud could see that the man had actually been crying. He turned away gruffly to find his seat, but Cloud ignored him, his attention on Tifa again. She was holding on to a bouquet of fat yellow lilies, Cloud knowing exactly where she had pulled them from. She looked up at him and smiled, and Cloud swore he heard the sound his heart made when it slipped out of his chest and found the floor.

Domino began to walk them through the proceedings, but the lines were rote to Cloud, vows that he listened to and repeated but would never go as far as he truly felt.

Better or worse.

Richer or poorer.

Sickness or health.

Yet as Cloud listened to these words, he thought to himself.

We've already been there. We've already been through it all.

Till death do us part.

"I promise I'll never stop loving you," Cloud swore to her after their last lines, before Domino could fully finish. "I promise you that no one, that nothing in this world, will take you away from me."

"I promise too," Tifa responded at once, watching as Cloud slipped a simple band of Mythril onto her finger.

"You may now kiss the bride," Domino gloated.

And Cloud did.

Their friends and family broke out into light cheers, but the sounds were dulled by the thundering of Cloud's heart. Tifa's lips were pressed to his, softer than they might have ever been in all the eternities that he'd kissed her in since he first met her. It was so hard to pull away, but when Domino cleared his throat, he finally ended the connection, his lips burning with the taste of her.

Finally - after all this time - Tifa was really his.

Forever.

Tifa glanced down at her bouquet, and Cloud looked over to see that Marlene was throwing more flowers into the aisle. But he noticed then that Denzel had come up to them, and he stood there with Zack's buster sword in hand, offering it to Cloud.

"Here you go," he said softly.

Cloud stared down at the sword and the way that its blade gleamed under the sunlight streaming in through the cathedral's stained glass windows. He bent down closer to Denzel, resting his hand on his shoulder.

"Come on."

He straightened and turned away, his hand finding Tifa's waist. Their guests and Domino rose to their feet, following behind them as they made their way to the very back of the church, towards its aspe. There, a pool of sparkling water had formed in front of gleaming stained glass windows and a block of marble.

Cloud turned to Denzel and Tifa who were just behind him. He offered them each a hand, and Tifa glanced at the water before turning back to him.

"Trust me," he told her.

The water only came up to their shins, but still, it soaked through the train of Tifa's dress as they made their way through the small oasis. But they both followed Cloud, and when they reached the stone slab in the rear, he dropped their hands and turned to Denzel first.

"This is your honor," he told him.

Carefully, Denzel swallowed. He looked up at the stone and the wedge of space just against the window. Cloud watched his hesitation but said nothing, ignoring the quiet whispers of their family and friends behind them.

"Go on," he encouraged him after a moment.

Eventually, Denzel nodded in a self-assured manner, using all of the strength in both arms to raise the Buster sword. He lifted it over the stone, sliding it by its point into the sliver of space there. Cloud then reached over to help him, pushing down on its hilt to make certain it was secured.

He turned back to Denzel, finding him staring at the sword. Cloud could read in the boy's expression that he was doing everything in his power not to cry. But he simply stepped back, nodding up at Cloud.

Tifa sloshed through the water, holding up her bouquet. She broke apart the flowers, separating them into three bunches and handing one to Cloud and Denzel each. She then approached Denzel, her face softening.

"Here," she told him. "These were your mother's."

Denzel took the lilies and laid them in a circular arrangement around the sword. Cloud watched him, not missing the tear that slipped from the little boy's eye. When he stepped back, Tifa put her flowers down, and then so did Cloud.

They stared at the memorial for a moment together, and Cloud could feel the final weight pull away. There would be no more grief or sadness or guilt over their loss. He would never forget them, but he was finally free.

Eventually, Denzel turned away and began to push through the water, back toward where Claudia and Rain and the others were waiting. Tifa turned to do the same, pulling up the hems of her dress, but Cloud stopped her.

"Wait," he whispered. "I got you."

Before she could say anything, Cloud bent down and scooped her up in his arms. He'd turned back towards the church, catching the grins of Jessie and Biggs and Yuffie, the satisfaction and hope that Marle and Kunsel and Lazard wore, the approval on Barret's face, and the happiness and pride on his mother's.

"Let's go home, Mrs. Strife," he said to Tifa before he kissed her again in front of them all.

—

It was hours later when Cloud and Tifa finally left Seventh Heaven. They had been there for most of the afternoon and early evening, celebrating their quiet and simple wedding with their family and friends, with good food and plenty of drinks. They had changed out of their wet wedding clothes, Tifa putting on a simple but form-fitting white cocktail dress and Cloud dressing in black slacks and a button-down. Wedge and Kunsel had gotten drunk before the sun had gone down, and Marlene and Denzel were both exhausted by evening time. As everyone began to file out, Cloud and Tifa were the last to leave, Claudia taking Denzel and Rain back to her townhouse in Sector Seven for the evening.

"Where are we going?" Tifa asked Cloud when they were climbing onto his bike that evening.

Cloud's heart was racing again. As debilitating to his nerves as those wedding vows had been, they were nothing compared to the crippling fear he was feeling over what he was about to do.

"It's our wedding day, Tifa," Cloud responded, revving his bike's engine. "And we've spent it with all these other people all day long. I just want to spend some time alone with you tonight. My mom is gonna be fine with the kids."

Cloud knew exactly what kind of worries Tifa was carrying, and he could feel the relief that slipped from her bones when she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight as he pulled them away from the curb.

For his own part, he was still shaking with nerves and hoping to Shiva that he wasn' about to make a huge mistake.

Thankfully, their drive was not a far one, just to the other side of Sector Seven. He drove them along the streets that had now mostly fallen quiet, into the residential neighbors that sat to the north of the sector. It was an area that was not far from where his mother had moved, though she had chosen a townhouse in a more densely populated part of town, close to the shops and markets.

Cloud slowed the bike the deeper into the neighborhood they got, the houses growing a little bigger, spaced apart by picket fences and man-made lawns. Tifa perked up behind him, setting her chin on his shoulder.

"What are we doing in this neighborhood?" she asked.

Cloud didn't answer. Instead, he drove until he approached a cul-de-sac, stopping Fenrir in front of a white and blue house on the left-hand side of the street. He killed the engine and dropped his feet to the asphalt, toeing the bike's kickstand.

"Cloud?" Tifa queried again.

Cloud's heart scuttled through his chest, rising higher and higher until he could almost taste it. But instead of letting his anxiety win, he climbed off of the bike, turning to Tifa and helping her down next.

"Tifa, I have something to tell you."

The moonlight hit her hair, and she was still wearing those pretty glass and floral adornments in its gentle curls. She looked so gorgeous staring up at him at that moment that he breathed in, doing everything in his power to put steel into his nerves.

"What is it?" Tifa asked, her voice trilling lightly in curiosity.

Cloud reached forward to take her hand, pulling her in the direction of the house. When they drew closer to the front gate, he stopped again.

"Tifa," Cloud started. "I - I can't bring myself to stay in Zack's apartment anymore. And… you deserve to have a place of your own… a place of our own. Where we can raise our family. A real fresh start."

Tifa stared back at the house, and Cloud could see that she was beginning to register what he was saying. His panic rising again, he rubbed absently at the back of his neck, watching the sparkle of crimson in her eyes as they widened slightly.

"I'm sorry," he heard himself apologize. "I know I should have asked you, shouldn't have done this without consulting -"

"You bought me a house?" Tifa nearly shrieked, her voice bright and incredulous.

Cloud was expecting a scolding, and he winced, wondering how stupid he could be to fuck up what was supposed to be the best day of their lives. But instead of getting angry, Tifa began to cry, silent tears streaming from both eyes.

"Cloud!" she cried, turning to him and wrapping her arms around his neck.

Cloud laughed, instantly holding her back. They hugged for a long minute, Tifa's sobs soon turning to happy laughter, and he realized that maybe he didn't ruin things after all.

"I can't believe you did this for us!" she exclaimed when they finally broke apart.

Cloud couldn't help the stupid smirk that crossed his face if he tried. "I would do anything for you," he said. "You want to see inside?"

Taking her by the hand, Cloud fished the brand new house keys from his pocket and led Tifa inside the house. It was a three-bedroom with two floors and two baths, ample living room and kitchen space, a backyard, and a cottage-style facade that reminded Cloud of the homes in Nibelheim.

"It's not yet fully furnished," Cloud told her sheepishly after he took her through the house. "But it's got most of the basics. I thought I'd leave the decorating up to you."

"It's perfect, Cloud," Tifa responded when they stood in the center of the master bedroom. At the moment, it was outfitted with a simple king-sized bed, a dresser, and a TV and stereo set that sat on a shelf above. The room was spacious and the floor-to-ceiling windows let in plenty of starlight.

For this reason alone, Cloud knew he made the right decision.

Tifa was admiring that view, and Cloud turned away to switch on the stereo. He pressed a few buttons, glancing back at Tifa.

"You know, we didn't get to have a dance to ourselves today," he tossed over his shoulder. "Who gets married without a dance?"

Tifa laughed, still staring out of the window. "I didn't want to bother you about it," she responded. "Didn't think you'd want to dance in front of everyone. Besides, you did plenty of showing off today in that church."

Cloud felt his cheeks burn at the coy way she said that, and he rubbed the back of his neck again before he hit play on the stereo. The simple rifts of a guitar began to play, and as soon as Tifa heard them, she turned to look back at him.

"Cloud…"

But Cloud just approached her, gathering her into his arms and pulling her close until their bodies were touching. The notes began to lull over into the first lyrics of the song, and Cloud felt their back and forth sway begin naturally, hips moving in sync with each other.

We'll do it all

Everything

On our own

We don't need

Anything

Or anyone

"Tifa," Cloud whispered softly, leaving one hand on her waist and bringing the other up to her cheek. "I… everything I said…"

He paused, his voice breaking away from him as he stared down into her eyes in the darkness, seeing that deep garnet color that had bonded him to her for so many years, even when they weren't together. His words tangled themselves up in his throat, caught up in feelings and memories he had been holding onto for so long, and they felt like they were disappearing into the mist in his head.

"Yes?" Tifa whispered in response, leaning even closer to him, her hands tightening over his shoulders.

I don't quite know

How to say

How I feel

Those three words

Are said too much

They're not enough

"What I said in the church," Cloud finally responded. "What I said to your father. What I said to you twelve years ago. I meant all of it. But this time…"

"I know," Tifa breathed against his neck, and when she began to tremble in his hold, Cloud realized that he could feel wetness against his skin, Tifa's tears beginning to flow again. "I know, Cloud. And it's okay now… just like you promised."

"Don't cry, Tifa," Cloud couldn't stop himself from saying.

"But I love you… so much."

Forget what we're told

Before we get too old

Show me a garden that's bursting into life

Let's waste time

Chasing cars

Around our heads

I need your grace

To remind me

To find my own

Hearing those words from Tifa was devastating, but the destruction that Cloud felt was liberating. At this point in their lives, he and Tifa exchanged those three words all of the time. But there had been a time when they had been impossible for him to say, and he nearly lost her forever because of it. Yet hearing it from her on this night, with tears in her eyes and sobs climbing from her throat, her body pressed to his now as his wife and the mother of his child after years of thinking he would never see her again, was too much to handle.

Letting his thoughts disintegrate, Cloud lowered both arms and scooped Tifa up under her rear, her wrists looping around his neck when he lifted her. Carefully, he brought her to the edge of the bed, laying her down beneath him. Her hair spilled in a tumble of dark waves around her, and Tifa opened her eyes to look up at him, the moon and the stars highlighting her skin.

"Cloud?"

He brushed his hand over her cheek, feeling the delicate warmth of her skin under his touch. He trailed the rest of her body with his free hand, brushing over the softness of her breast, the dip of her waist, the curve of her hips. He positioned himself between her thighs, pressing them back with the force of his body until her dress was riding up and the warmth of their centers was aligned.

"I love you so much, too, Tifa."

Forget what we're told

Before we get too old

Show me a garden that's bursting into life

All that I am

All that I ever was

Is here in your perfect eyes, they're all I can see

I don't know where

Confused about how as well

Just know that these things will never change for us at all

Tifa brought both hands up to either side of his face, cupping his cheeks gently in her hold as she stared up at him. He watched her lick her lips, and he bent down to kiss her, their lips connecting in a far messier spill of passion than any kiss they had shared throughout the rest of that day.

As their tongues collided, Cloud dropped both hands to her thighs, smoothing them up under her skirt and pushing the material up to her waist. Tifa shifted under him, widening her thighs and locking her ankles around the back of his waist to pull him in even closer. Encouraged by her display, Cloud roamed one hand over the front of her body while the other drifted between her legs, rubbing her over the slick heat of her panties.

It only took a moment, but Tifa quickly began to moan, and Cloud found himself soon pulling the lacey white material away, tossing it to the floor. Tifa sat up, pushing Cloud away from her so that she could frantically pull open the buttons of his shirt, popping some of them in the process. When he managed to help her tear it off, he returned his hands to her body, finding her shoulders and yanking the straps of her stress down so that her breasts were exposed.

Cloud attacked them with his mouth, returning his hand between her legs as he lapped at her nipples, rubbing his fingers right over her swollen clit until she was moaning and twirling her hips in wild little patterns. Cloud nipped and sucked at her nipple, sliding two fingers inside of her and feeling all of the clenching wetness that was desperate for him while he leaned up and kissed her on the mouth again.

"Cloud," Tifa cried against his lips.

Hearing her call his name like that was too much. Cloud pulled back fully again, this time focusing on the front of his pants. He worked the buckles and zippers open, pulling his leaking cock from his shorts as he let them and his pants slide down to his knees. As soon as Tifa saw him take himself in hand, she snapped her legs around him again, pulling him closer so that he fell on top of her.

Cloud pressed another scorching kiss to her mouth, devouring her tongue and giving her no room to cry out when he slid his entire length inside of her. She was so tight and inviting and warm that Cloud felt as it was the very first time that they made love under the brightest stars in the Western sky. The memory of that night suddenly pierced him, and as he rocked back and forth inside of her, holding the top of her head with one arm and her arm above her head with the other, listening to her vivid cries, Cloud couldn't stop himself from weeping.

He wasn't sure how long he made love to her, but at some point, she trembled and sobbed and he found that he wasn't far behind her. He spilled inside of her, and as soon as he lost himself, he collapsed. Tifa bore his weight as long as he let her, but when he pulled some semblance of coherence back into his brain, Cloud finally rolled off of her, laying at her side on the bed.

They both breathed heavily and loudly, Tifa still stuttering out tiny little whimpers. Cloud glanced over at her, still seeing the starlight reflecting in her skin and her hair and those beautiful carmine eyes. Tears painted her face, and all Cloud could do was thank whatever gods might still be listening that they weren't streaked with stardust or with blood.

"Tifa," Cloud breathed, still catching his breath.

"Cloud," she replied.

"Forever," he promised again, rolling over to her and pulling her back into his arms.

Maybe, Cloud thought as Tifa nodded and smiled and held him back, forever is all they'll need.

If I lay here

If I just lay here

Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

FIN