All right I am officially back to write my story. I know it's been a while that I have written and updated and I apologize because my fans deserve better.lol. But I hope that everyone has had a wonderful Christmas and happy new year. So here we go once again. Much thanks to firebolt for giving me a review saying that he/she is bored because I wasn't writing. That made me feel mad good. So this chapter is dedicated to firebolt.

Chapter 15: Acceptance on the track to Nibleheim.

She stood there with her mouth hanging open. She was stunned, she was shocked, she was breathless, and she was speechless. The man of her dreams had just asked her to marry him. Tifa didn't know what to do. She didn't know whether to cry or to laugh or to jump around and scream. Tears started to stream down her face but she didn't even know that she was crying. She was slapped back to reality when she heard a soft "ahem"… from Aeris.

She looked at Cloud and he was staring at her. He laid Sephiroth on the ground all the while never taking his eyes off her. When Sephiroth was safely on the ground Aeris face twisted into confusion. She was going to ask Cloud what happened but thought better of it and held her tongue. Cloud walked up to Tifa. He looked at her standing there with tears of either joy or sadness falling. He didn't know what they were but he prayed that they were tears of joy.

Tifa had always imagined that they man of her dreams (Cloud) would have always proposed to her in such a romantic way. She dreamt that he would take her to an open field of white elipticas (That is my own flower that I made up so booooo-yah, lol), which were her favorite flowers. She dreamt that he would prepare a beautiful picnic for them and they would run together and laugh and play and roll around in the flowers. Then when night fell they would gaze up at the stars together. And when the time was right he would turn her face to his and smile. He would then pick out a star for her and name it after her. After that he would tell her to stand up and he would get on one knee and propose to her. He would tell her that he loved her and that he always dreamed of her and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. She dreamt that they both would be wearing all white. No blemishes and no spots or wrinkles. It would be perfect.

But that is not the way it was. Instead they were both in the middle of a charred ghost town. She had scratches and bruises, her clothes were torn, she was sweating, her hair was in a mess and there were no stars or elipticas to look at. The man of her dreams was limping not running, had blood all over him, his perfect features were distorted and he was not in white but his clothes seemed black. Even through all of these odd circumstances Tifa thought that this was the most romantic thing that ever happened to her. She saw him walking toward her with slow steady steps. She was hesitant at first but then with her confidence growing she took more and more steps until she was in a full-fledged run and within an instant she was in his arms crying her eyes out.

Cloud was hysterical. All he could do was laugh and caress Tifa's back as she cried on him. He was so happy that she was happy. He had a strong feeling that she was going to say yes but he still wasn't too sure. He held her out at arms length. He looked at her scratched face, her red blotchy and her hair matted to her face with sweat. She never looked more beautiful to him.

She looked up at him with a timid smile. He caressed her face and wiped away a stray tear. He pulled her into his arms and rested his chin on her head.

"Tifa this is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I have dreamt about marrying you, ever since that day when you kicked all your friends out so that we could be best friends. All my life I have waited for this moment to come and now it is here. I swear on my life that if you make me your husband you will NOT regret it. I love you to much for that".

"Cloud…I don't know what to say. I always wanted to tell you about the way I felt for you, but I didn't because I thought I wasn't good enough. I always thought that you just thought of me as a comrade and a friend in battle." Tifa said.

Cloud laughed.

"I have thought of you as my comrade, my friend in battle, my wife, my lover, and the mother of my child."

This brought an even bigger smile to her face. She couldn't believe that she was actually standing there. She couldn't believe that it was her Cloud saying that he loved her. He had just told her that he wanted her to mother his child. If she was the mother of his child that would be the greatest gift that he could ever give to her. Cloud wanted her to be part of his life and that was something that made their current situation seem unimportant.

Aeris really was happy that her friends had found each other and they were even going to get married but she really had to know what was wrong with Seph.

"Sorry to spoil your moment of bliss…but what happened to you guys. Cloud you look a mess and Seph is unconscious".

Cloud broke the embrace and gave Tifa a peck on the check. He reconsidered his action and gave his wife to be a kiss on the lips.

"I think that the whole team needs to hear this story. He said slowly. Some strange things happened out there and I am not sure that I understand all of it. Lets get back to the airship."

Aeris nodded her head, in understanding and gave one last look at Sephiroth before turning away to gather her belongings.

When the team was safely aboard the airship, everyone gathered into the briefing room. Cloud had took a shower and tended to his wounds. He was now wearing a blue and white Enyce shirt with some White and blue Polo shorts to match and fresh white and blue Tims. (Timberland Boots)

When the whole team had gathered and settled down Cloud looked out at his friends with a smile.

"Before I start I have an announcement to make.

Everyone looked up at him.

I am proud to say that I am the husband to be of the beautiful mistress Tifa", he said with a smile.

At first the team didn't get what he was saying but it sunk in to each of their brains at once and they all burst out cheering and laughing.

All eyes were now on Tifa who was sitting next to Cloud blushing furiously. She stood up and turned to Cloud. Then she turned back to the crew.

"Yes it is true. We are going to get married and everybody is invited except potbelly Cid and Barret".

This brought another roar of laughter from the crew and when it died down they all got down to Business.

When Cloud had sobered up he looked out across his friends and his heart warmed. These were the same people that stuck by him through thick and thin. These were the same ones who were at his side when he was lost in the life-stream. These were the same people who helped him destroy meteor and these are the same people who are now with him to take down yet another threat to the well being of the planet. He must say he was truly happy to have friends backing him up all the way.

"I am happy to see all of you guys here once again. As you all know you are not obligated to stay here and fight, but if you were to leave there would be no hard feelings but you will be sorely missed".

Red and Yuffie shared a silent smile and she scratched behind his left ear.

Barret spoke up:

"Hey where the hell is Sephiroth? Shouldn't he be here?"

Cloud cleared his throat.

"That was my next order of business. I am sure you all know that he and I went to go look for anything that may have been left over by Jenova".

The team nodded their heads and continued looking at him.

"Well I might as well tell you the story.

Seph and I both felt a familiar tug on our mind when anything of Jenova was around. We both felt it and decided…

She opened here eyes but pain shot through her body.

"What happened to me?" she thought.

Mariah tried to sit up but was not able too; she closed her eyes again and tried to refocus her vision. When she opened her eyes again she was able to recognize the familiar hum of the engine on the Highwind. She then remembered her last condition. She was in the clutches of that Bashdiko thing and it was squeezing the life out of her. She looked around and saw that she was in her room and she was alone...again. Her heart rate quickened, as she looked around frantically for her weapon. She turned her neck so hard to the right that she swore she had broke it. Hot white pain soared through her neck, but she ignored it as a smile crossed her features. It was on her nightstand. As long as she had that weapon she would never truly be alone. Mariah believed that the spirit of her father dwelled inside of the weapon and anytime in battle he would help her.

Her features softened as the pain in her neck and body subsided. She didn't know why she felt so at peace. Maybe I am dying she thought. She didn't care anymore. She just wanted to be with daddy.

"And that is what happened" Cloud said, as he ended off his story.

He had gone into deep detail of everything that happened and the order of which they happened. He told them about the battle the training, he even told them about that move that Sephiroth had did.

The team was in shock they had never heard of such a thing before. Now they had no source of information, they were a couple of hours behind Jenova, and two of their comrades were unconscious.

Tifa cleared her throat and spoke up:

"So Cloud, what's next from here?"

Cloud pondered this for a moment.

"I was thinking that we would first go Cosmo Canyon and look into the libraries to see if we could find anything on the Anjasukatei fighting technique that Sephiroth was involved in and seemed to be so important, Then we would head over to Nibleheim and survey the damage that was done since there is nothing much that we can do over there, and then we would head over to the Northern Crater. There were several gasps from the team members at the mention of that forsaken place.

I don't know why but my mind is pulling me toward that area".

Everyone understood.

It was quite obvious as a matter of fact. First she attacked Mideel. Mideel was one of the places on the planet that had an open area that she could easily access the Lifestream. The Northern Crater was another place that was an open area. From the current knowledge that team had, it was not known that the Lifestream could be accessed from that point, but with Jenova lurking around anything was possible.

Yuffie was taking in all of this information. She was letting it sink it. She was also trying her best to just sit there and keep a calm and cool attitude. It was things like this that made her feel like wanting to live that normal life. She didn't want to have to bother about going back to that horrible place. She didn't feel like chasing another maniac halfway across the world, and she sure as hell didn't feel like flying in the damn Highwind all day. She felt utterly useless and she didn't like it. Everyone seemed more or less excited about their new adventure. How could she make herself noticed? She needed to feel like she was needed. Then it hit her. She remembered that Vincent had told the group that he was sending Herda and Lincoln over to Nibleheim because of their current living conditions. But Jenova was heading there too.

"Hey cloud. What about Herda and Lincoln? Weren't they headed to Nibleheim also?"

Cloud's eyes widened in realization. He turned to Cid.

"Cid can you get Reeve on speaker phone right now?"

"Sure can" he replied.

He spoke into the intercom, and told one of the co-pilots to get Reeve on the phone. Within in seconds everyone in the briefing room heard the ringing of Reeve's PHS.

"Hello, Reeve speaking". Reeve answered.

Cloud spoke:

"Hey Reeve this is Cloud"

"Oh, hey Cloud. How are you?"

"I'm fine, than you. I am not taking up any long period of time but I just called to ask about the two people that Vincent wanted you to send over. Where are they?" Cloud asked.

"Oh yea, about that. I just wanted to let you know that they are being housed in my building complex because the pilot of the chopper saw the commotion down there and decided to bring them back. Don't worry they are safe." He ended.

Cloud gave a sigh of relief.

"Thanks Reeve".

"No problem Cloud. Ill talk to you later."

"Will do" cloud replied. And he hung up the phone.

He turned back to his crew.

"Guys…looks like we are headed toward Cosmo Canyon in the morning. So get some shut eye."

The crew departed and went their separate ways. But Cloud and Tifa went to her bedroom and their night was blissful.

Ok everyone that is the end of that chapter and I will get started on the other one ASAP as for now I gotta go. So ill catch up with you guys later. TTNC