Summary: Ariana is in a healing coma, and Aridai gets absolutely wasted. Looks like we're taking a stop at Seventh Heaven.

A/N: Looks like I uploaded chapters in the wrong order...Chapter 6 was put into Chapter 5.


Aridai reappeared with his sister in his arms on the fourth floor of the Sector Zero Specialized SOLDIER Medical Facility, greeting the receptionist when he noticed Ari standing there.

"Commander Crescent is injured again?" Aeron Ellmere came to his own conclusion at the check-in front desk.

"Yup," the Turk sighed, "She's not physically injured, but her magic's drained. She also needs to go through a psych eval once she wakes up."

The receptionist entered a new walk-in entry into the database, which had happened so many times it was practically muscle memory, "Go right in, Dr. Warner will see the Commander when they're free. Room 4566," Aeron waved the younger man through, who followed the signs to the room.

Aridai only had to wait twenty minutes, her primary doctor appearing to smooth the somewhat routine process along.

The Turk glanced up at the clock on the wall, noting that he had at least an hour before Alpha-1's AVALANCHE was supposed to appear at Seventh Heaven. He then teleported to his grandparent's duplex apartment, picking out the key from one of his pockets.

Well, it was more like Lucrecia's apartment that sometimes had Vincent dropping in for a few months at a time whenever he wasn't crashing at the Kisaragi's place in Wutai.

He let himself into the modest duplex, calling out, "Grandma Lucrecia?"

"Aridai?" Dr. Lucrecia Valentine appeared from the stairs that went up to her bedroom, "Or are you walking around as a Turk?" The woman was wearing a faded red hoodie and grey sweatpants, fuzzy blue slippers on her feet.

"No, it's just off duty me," Aridai smiled slightly at Lucrecia, "My dumb sister got herself sent to medical again, this time it was Uncle that ordered it. At some point, Ana got the bright idea to use Fade, of all things."

Both of Lucrecia's eyebrows raised with surprise, "Fade? Your sister never uses White Magic if she doesn't need to."

Aridai groaned, following his grandmother to her living room, and settling down on an armchair, "That's the problem. In a few days, there's going to be yet another announcement concerning the arrival of Father's double."

The older woman was taken aback, a questioning expression on her face.

"A double of my son?" she repeated, "Alpha-1's President Shinra said he was killed. Multiple times, might I add, by their Cloud Strife."

Aridai could only shrug, "Ariana decided to use Fade after they started fighting to the death. She managed to get the upper hand with a bit of her Limit Break, but only just. The psych evaluation is for the Digital Mind Wave she cooked up."

"Hm. Your Father called after Ariana and Cloud had their little VR session," the brown haired woman said, "I expected no less of my granddaughter. Unfortunately, she inherited my risk taking habits," Lucrecia grimaced, "Vincent will be home soon, whenever he's done talking to his double. I may have to run some tests to see how the alternate of Chaos is adapting to this world."

Aridai wasn't surprised, nodding along, "Ana's wing turned white when she used Fade again. Are you going to do another blood test?"

"Most likely. I suppose I'll hear more about my son's alternate whenever Rufus decides to bring the Executives together again," Lucrecia sighed, her hand reaching up to rub at her temple, "The visions I had when he was born did not account for you or your sister, Aridai."

"No one expects Ariana. Not to mention, she likes deciding her own fate," Aridai said simply, "I'll be off. Ana's in the hospital, so she's going to need to be on medical leave for a few days."

"Her comas are relatively short," Lucrecia agreed, "See that she doesn't push herself too hard. I will call you if I need to schedule any appointments with Ariana."

"Of course, Grandma."

Aridai stood up before teleporting out with a flash of silver.


Seventh Heaven Parking Lot

The Turk reappeared just outside Seventh Heaven's door, the regulars not even giving him a second glance as he walked in. There's a few rooms upstairs for larger parties, and there's a tablet up there that alerted whoever was at the bar for food or drinks orders.

Tifa is the first one to realize that the younger of the Disaster Twins has shown up, looking over to Aridai when he approaches the bar.

"I heard you had a rough day," she greeted the older man, drifting over to him, "What would you like?"

Aridai settled down on a stool, putting his head in his arms on the counter.

"Just give me the strongest SOLDIER special you have," he sighed into his arms, "I want to get smashed."

"Oof," Tifa shot a sympathetic look at him, though he wasn't looking back, "That bad, huh?"

"Ugh, don't remind me," Aridai muttered, shifting so his face was pointed towards the door, "Ariana has a little too much compassion sometimes. Uncle will probably let you know of what happened today later, so don't expect me to go blabbing."

"Right, right, that's expected," Tifa went off to make a drink for the slumping man, something that he didn't often do as he grew older, "Your parents are upstairs drinking up a storm too."

"Oh, and that other AVALANCHE is probably going to show up. That's the other reason why I need something strong," Aridai continued. He looked up when the woman set a champagne flute down a few inches from his face, sitting up properly. "So what's this?"

"Death in the Afternoon with an extra shot of absinthe," Tifa said, "Made it to Ariana's specifications."

"Cheers," muttered Aridai, before drinking it one go, letting the burn crash into his throat. Screw drinking slowly, he needed it.

"And you were going to order the dinner special, right?" Tifa continued, entering Aridai's usual order on the computer.

"Yeah. Extra crispy please," the man requested, which was answered by a nod.

"Gotcha. Oh, and remember to be polite when AVALANCHE arrives," Tifa gestured towards the door, "So look alive."

"Excuse you, I am currently alive," Aridai retorted, "I'd like another drink too." He tilted his empty champagne flute, watching the liquid clinging to the edge of the glass slide around, then slid it over to the other side of the bar.

"At least VP Deusericus is keeping us in business with the amount your whole family makes him drink," the dark haired woman quipped, and the man snorted.

"Hah! I'm surprised that damned part-time alcoholic didn't keel over from how much my parents and sister make him drink with their bullshit," the Turk grinned, already feeling a little looser than usual, "Sister thinks he's fun to be around, that's why she likes him so much. Not to mention her little crush on him. Thought she'd grow out of it."

"I can see that," a wiry grin appeared on Tifa's face, "She likes keeping everyone on their toes."

"Aridai?" The dark haired Turk turned his head so he could look up the stairs that were a few feet from the bar.

"Hey, Father," Ari held up his new champagne flute in greeting, "I'm going to get myself hammered."

Sephiroth looked from the flute to his son, raising an eyebrow, "The others are upstairs drinking as if we were in a liquor store."

Savoring his second drink this time, Aridai got up without a wobble, glancing at the Seventh Heaven's front door to make sure AVALANCHE didn't just pop up out of the blue.

"Both of you, stop staring at the door," Tifa diverts their attention by thrusting two bottles of bourbon into Aridai's hands, "Go up. I'll let you get a head start."

"Thanks, Teef," Aridai flashed a smile, while his Father only said, "Miss Lockhart."

Both Crescents retreated up the stairs, the Nibel born woman calling out to the new arrivals.

When they entered the second floor dining room, there's a mass of chatter, with Genesis guzzling vodka like no tomorrow, Angeal listening to his husband ramble on about Loveless, and Cloud half slumped on the table with his head propped up with one hand while the other is tapping a meaningless rhythm on the wood.

The triplets (or as everyone called them the Trouble Triplets), Kadaj is eating something with his hands, which looked like he going through a roasted chicken with gusto, and Yazoo is reading a book while methodically taking delicate bites off a few dozen chicken skewers that are piled high on a plate. Loz made sure that he was sitting at least one seat away from Kadaj to avoid any arguments, and was eating through a large bucket of nachos and had a similarly sized container of cheese.

"Brother Ari!" The youngest Strife Triplet noticed the younger Crescent twin immediately, "Come over here, Yaz got chicken. And Loz got...that." The youngest triplet scrunched up his nose, narrowing his gaze at the nachos and cheese.

"Hey, littlest brother," Aridai made a wide gesture with his glass while settling the bottle down in front of Cloud, giving the short haired man a half hug, "Ana's stuck in medical again, so she can't come."

"Father told us already, and no talking work here," Yazoo said primly, setting an empty skewer aside. He glanced up at the oldest son of Sephiroth for a moment before offering a skewer to him.

"Yeah, yeah," Aridai agreed, sitting next to his brothers, grabbing the offered bit of food.

Sephiroth settled back with his husband, the blonde stealing a kiss from the other man with a soft smile.

"Ana always gets in trouble, I swear," Cloud sighed, before getting up so Sephiroth could sit down, then sat on the older man's lap and angling himself so he could to put his head on the green eyed man's chest, and scooting his butt lower.

The older man hummed, hand raising to thread through fluffy blonde strands. "Ariana is Chaos' favorite among our children for a reason."

"She is. Man, Ana can be just walking down the road and she'll bump into a monster or something," Cloud grinned when Sephiroth snorts, a small smile coming to the silver haired man's face as he makes a slight purr, the sound rumbling under Cloud's head.


At least ten minutes passed before the door opened, revealing Biggs and Wedge with a cart of food.

"Right! Aridai, your fish is ready," Biggs gave a half wave to the older man, who looked up at him.

"Biggs. Good to see you," Aridai let the brunette set the plate of fried fish on the table in front of him, and Wedge went off to exchange a few words with 'bro' interspersed in his sentences.

"Man, bro, the other you is really short and glowery," the green eyed man could hear the other Seventh Heaven server tell Cloud, who gave a grunt of agreement.

"It's probably the trauma," the blonde said, letting Sephiroth feed him a chicken tender, "Mpmph, dis is gud."

"Propriety is a virtue, Cloud," the General commented in a flat voice, before picking up a piece of garlic bread for himself, "And much of what Tifa creates is delicious."

"Yeah, Cloud, were you raised in a barn? Don't talk with your mouth full," Aridai complained, "I can hear you chewing."

"Oh hush," Cloud scoffed, his hand darting out to toss a tender at his stepson, who caught it before the breaded chicken could smack him in the face.

With their job done, Biggs and Wedge pulled the cart back out, leaving the room.

"Thanks." Aridai took a bit out of it, much like his sister, he was not the type of person to waste food.

"So…the other Sephiroth…" Cloud said softly, standing up from his position over his husband's front, "To have no one because all his friends turned on him or died…that sounds lonely." He flipped over so he was straddling over Sephiroth's lap, moving closely that that their foreheads nearly touched.

"The Goddess blessed us with the twin's birth," Sephiroth muttered to the blonde, "I am not alone."

"No. I swear to Odin, and all the Old Gods, I won't ever let you be alone. You're stuck with me, Sephiroth. Just like on the day we got married."

Cloud kissed the man on the forehead, smirking when Sephiroth gave a small, contented sigh, his fingers curling with obvious delight.

"Those two should get a room," Aridai grumbled into his fish, Kadaj mumbling his own agreement, the younger silver man's eyes flashing with jealousy at Cloud's open affection towards their Father.


Alpha-1's AVALANCHE showed up on the second floor when the hour was winding down, Genesis and Angeal having since left to sleep off the alcohol and Yazoo returning to his apartment. Loz also left for his apartment, which was also in the same building as the other two triplets.

Kadaj was aggressively scarfing the last of Yazoo's untouched chicken skewers, pausing to swallow every so often.

He caught the younger Cloud's eyes from the door, his chewing coming to a stop as he swallowed his last bite.

"Big Brother, the outlanders are here," Kadaj pointed out, gesturing with the skewer while looking over at his Cloud.

"I can see that," Cloud nodded, before settling a lingering kiss to his husband's hair and getting up to greet the other him, and also Barret. It looked like the other Tifa was watching over the kids.

"So, Cloud," the taller Cloud greeted the shorter version of himself, "You want to talk to my stepson, I'm guessing?"

"Uncle, I can ask myself," Aridai pushed out his chair, "As he's here for me."

"You should watch what you say," warned the blonde, "The last thing we need is a bar fight."

"Remind me again who started the last bar fight, Uncle?" the younger man asked sweetly, "Even so, we're going to need a bigger room. Or as my sister would say, 'Cease your mindless drivel and get your ass moving, Cloud.'"

Cloud made to cross his arms in a huff, but paused, "She does say that a lot."

"Yeah, and I'm going to keep saying her phrases if you don't move."

"Ari, don't torture your Uncle with words," Sephiroth rolled his eyes.

"Hey, at least I'm using words. Ariana would volunteer to scruff him like a kitten like she used to," the younger man shot Cloud the stink eye.

"Hey!" Cloud protested, "That was before I was ever even in SOLDIER!"

"Yes, and you were like 5'3" at 15, shorty. I was taller than you at thirteen. Hell, I bet Father was taller than you when he was eleven."

"Aridai," Sephiroth warned again.

"Yeah, yeah, no insulting your precious husband," the younger man rolled his eyes, "I know, Father."

"Shut it kid, you're pretty hammered. You don't pull out the height jokes when you're sober," Cloud admonished.

"I've only had two SOLDIER specials and a whole bottle of bourbon! My blood's more alcohol than mako, I'm surprised I can still speak coherently."

"Ari, you will die of alcohol poisoning at this rate, I'm surprised you didn't pass out."

"Hah! I've outstripped Lazard," Aridai gave a slightly menacing smile, meeting Cloud's flat stare, "The part-time alcoholic's crown has been taken."

"Yeah, you're pretty much in orbit. You should go sleep it off, I'll deal with those guys."

"What? No! I said I'd be here!"

"If I don't, you're going to hate yourself when you're sober."

"You're no fun, Cloud. No wonder Father likes you." Aridai honest-to-god pouted petulantly.

"Oh for Odin's—Sleepel," the older blonde in the room snapped his fingers to cast the spell, and Aridai teetered on his feet before Cloud caught him.

"Hey, Kadaj, bring him to my place and drop him in the twin's bedroom. It's bad enough when he gets in trouble when he's sober, Ari might break Midgar."

The youngest silver haired man perked up, almost bowling over his plate of sticks with excitement to carry his oldest blood brother.

"Okay, big brother!"

It should be illegal to look so cute, Cloud thought absently as he handed off Aridai to Kadaj.

"Still got your key? Alright, drive safely," Cloud patted the twenty one year old's shoulder, who beamed like the attention was the greatest gift of the goddess.

"You got it, big brother!" Kadaj didn't give any mind to the AVALANCHE group from Alpha-1, lifting the older man on his arm into a fireman's carry and walking out the door.

"Kadaj is a good kid," the older Cloud said, "Prickly and proud, but good."

"Who…he's real," Alpha-1's Cloud muttered, "Not a Remnant."

"Kadaj is as real as you and me," Cloud put a hand on his hip, "Come, sit. Don't think too hard about the mess."

"I…will stay downstairs, perhaps assist Tifa," Sephiroth muttered to his husband, itching to get away from the Alpha-1 AVALANCHE group with an excuse, still wary of their blatant distrust.

The taller Cloud turned his head to glance over at the silver haired man, "Are you sure? You can stay."

"Cloud, we've spoken about this. Clearly, I make your alternate and his compatriots uncomfortable," the older man said, "I will not pry into why they are wary of me, but I believe I can discern correctly that my presence is unwanted. Perhaps I've tried to kill them, who knows."

"I already told the other me I'd break his kneecaps if he even thinks about attacking you," Cloud dryly rebutted, "You're fine."

The doubtful expression written on Sephiroth's face could be seen by everyone in the room.

"Cloud, I will jump out the window for a tactical retreat if I must."

The younger man opened his mouth for another rebuttal but paused when he considered Sephiroth's words, shrugging.

"Alright, that's fair. Let me get my PHS out and film, or your daughter is going to murder me terribly if she finds out she missed it," Cloud's tone brokered no argument.

"…I'll see you downstairs."

With that, Sephiroth waited for Cloud to start recording, rolled up his sleeves, tied his hair into a ponytail, then opening the window, backing up, and jumped out. From outside, the man landed on his feet perfectly with barely a sound or stumble.

Cloud tapped the end recording icon, a smirk coming across his face.

"Ana's going to love this."


Notes: "It's probably the trauma." Truer words have never been spoken, Cloud.

Alpha-0 Sephiroth would rather not have death glares thrown at him frequently, he already got enough in the Shinra-Wutai war, thanks.