The sun was angled to the west as Cloud and Yuffie approached what looked to be a small fishing village at the edge of the shore. They had broken through the treeline half an hour ago and ended up surrounded by tended fields. The dirt path they traveled led towards the village; another road had branched out to another path to the east.

As they had walked they sighted the occasional farmer, who simply stared in shock at the two as they came towards the village. One of their children charged towards the wooden walls as quickly as they could, while a villager who turned around to lock eyes with Cloud ran off before he or Yuffie could ask questions.

"These people are weird," Yuffie remarked as they came closer to the front gate.

Cloud nodded. He didn't feel like speaking to Yuffie right now, through no fault of her own. He was trying to add up all the puzzle pieces. On the one hand, maybe they were on an alternate planet. What remained of Midgar was there, but Cloud couldn't really tell if Edge ever existed here. 'That was Midgar. Are we in the future...?' If so, how far into the future?

Maybe in this dimension Holy and the Lifestream made sure Midgar would never rise again, and created all that growth. Then maybe it was the present, and he could even meet himself here. Cloud looked at the gate as it opened up to let out a surly looking guard; he was going to get answers today if it was the last thing he did.

"Y'aren't gettin' in!"

The guard looked young in Cloud's eyes, and had a passing semblance to Zack with his dark spiky hair. He stood a good half foot taller than Cloud, and his strong brows were creased above his sea green eyes. The young man was tan and marked with small scars here and there. He wore a simple white shirt with a light brown vest that was the same color as his knee high shorts.

His angled face tried to be menacing but his straw sandals and odd looking spear made him look more a seafaring bumpkin than a fighter. Not that Cloud wasn't a bumpkin at heart himself, he mused. Cloud put his hands up to show no hostility and hoped the young man would get the jist of it. "We're just lookin' for an inn to spend the night in."

The young man looked him up and down and gave Cloud a suspicious glare. "Where're y'from, dressed like that?" He pointed at the Combination Sword. "How're you holdin' that on your back?"

Cloud crossed his arms, making the guard tense. "I'm dressed just fine, and it's none of your business."

"Like hell it isn't my business! Y'from Junon or something?" the young man prodded as he gripped his white bladed spear tightly. "Y'speak funny."

"...I'm from Edge."

The guard narrowed his eyes and looked between the two. "Edge, huh? That's why you came outta the forest? What're you, bandits? Trickster ghosts?"

"Ghosts?" Yuffie let out a groan and rubbed her face. "Do we look like ghosts? Ghosts aren't hungry, agitated and tired and needin' a hot bath!"

Cloud turned his head towards the ninja and tsked. "Yuffie..."

The guard huffed. "Bandits then. Or maybe tomb thieves. Get outta here before I jab a hole through you both!"

Cloud glowered at him. "We're not bandits! We're just travelers." Tired, confused, bug-bitten travelers.

"Yeah, I bet." The young guard glowered back, then glanced behind the two. His eyes widened for a moment, then a smug look grew on his face as he stared Cloud in the eyes. "Not that it matters anymore. You're gonna get a thrashin' for darin' to think you could waltz in here and steal from us like the last ones!"

Cloud put a hand on the handle of his sword. The guard had clumsily given away that there was at least one attacker behind them. He tensed and kept his eyes on the guard, the young man moving his spear in front of him and tightening his jaw.

"That will not be necessary," came a deep and familiar voice.

Cloud and Yuffie turned around to two very familiar persons approaching them. Vincent was staring at them both in tandem, his mouth slightly parted in mild shock as he came to a stop in front of them. The only thing different about Vincent seemed to be his clothing, and even then he kept the same color scheme. Nanaki looked...different. Older.

"Grandfather, who are they?" squeaked a little voice behind the beast.

'Grandfather?' Cloud swallowed hard. He felt his hands shaking as they fell to his sides. "Vincent, Nanaki?" He stared at Nanaki. He was much older than he had been the last he saw him, and that had been a few days ago. His eyes flickered to two shy looking cubs that watched him shyly from behind the red beast. Cloud took a deep breath. "What's going on?"

Nanaki didn't speak, he just looked back at them with an eye full of deep yearning. Vincent coughed to get back Cloud's attention. Those red eyes were for once filled with emotions he could read; he had only ever seen them anywhere like this when Vincent thought of Lucrecia. It was a fond, faraway nostalgia. "We do not know what has happened, but...for you, this is the future."

The guard relaxed his weapon and looked between them all. "What?"

Yuffie scratched her head. "The future? How far into the future?"

Vincent shrugged. "Roughly five hundred years."

"F-five hundred...?" Cloud stammered. This wasn't just the future, this was far into the future. His bones were somewhere in the ground, turning into dust. What he saw was the legacy of he and his friend's war against Sephiroth and Jenova centuries ago.

The Planet flourished, it seemed. He stared off at the distant forest.

Yuffie looked down at Nanaki and anxiously flexed her hands. She was trying her best to stay nonchalant. "You gonna say somethin' or just stare at us, Red?"

She usually dodged his hugs. He would charge her, and she would move, and he would tumble and groan. That was how it was for a few decades until she got too old for that. This time she was so close that all he had to do was lift himself up and grasp about her neck. "H-hey! Red!"

They toppled to the ground as those present watched the spectacle. "Don't call me that," he whispered jokingly as he nuzzled her shoulder and breathed in her scent. "You have no idea how much I've missed you both."

Yuffie squeezed his neck with an arm and rubbed his back with the other. "Y-you turned into a big lummox, didn't you...?" She let out a little sniffle.

He chuckled as he lifted his head. "Oh, Yuffie."

The two cubs walked up to their strangely acting elder. "Grandfather! What are you doing to this human?"

"Saying hello, Khlali."

The guard took a few steps closer. "I don't understand what's goin' on. Elder Nanaki, Elder Vincent, you know these people?"

Vincent looked down at Yuffie and Nanaki as they began to get up again, then looked at Cloud who still had a thousand yard stare, then the guard. He nodded. "Let them in, Corent."

Corent scratched the back of his head. "But we don't have an inn to keep'em at."

Nanaki walked up to him and sat on his haunches. "May we use your home for the night? We promise to tell you all you would like to know about these two..." He had a knowing smile on his face. "And believe me, you would like to know."

The guard wrinkled his brow and bit his lip. He was tapping the pole of his spear as he looked at everyone in turn. "It...It'll be a little cramped. But if you want us to host you..." He turned and opened the gate.

Nanaki nodded and stood on all fours again. "Thank you." He looked at the cubs. "Khlali, Reki. Stay close to me."

The group entered the village. Vincent had to put a hand on Cloud's shoulder to get his attention back to the present, and he and Yuffie both looked about. The houses were made of wood and stone, and there was a pier that hosted simple boats out on the water. They heard the ding of a blacksmith's hammer somewhere nearby, and the sound of clucking chickens and a distant mill. The paths were dirt with cobble here and there.

"This is Aruni, a village that popped up about three hundred years ago," Vincent explained. "I occasionally came in to assist them when they needed the help, so we are familiar with each other."

"Oh." Cloud scratched his arm, the leather of his glove doing him no favors to relieve the itch. The villagers that walked about gave them a wide berth. "What happened to Edge?" he asked quietly.

"We will tell you during dinner. A lot happened."

Yuffie snorted. "Duh. Five hundred years passed, of course a lot of stuff happened!"

"How will we get back?" Cloud asked quietly as he stared in front of him. He was happy to see his friends, happy to see they were alive and happy to see them too. But he had a future waiting for him in the past, which was supposed to be his present. Now the future was his present, and his brain hurt and he felt rather anxious.

Vincent shrugged. "If you found a way here, you will find a way back, I hope. Not that we aren't happy to see you for a visit, of course." He smiled thinly. "But you belong in the past, so this future can come to pass."

Cloud nodded solemnly, then furrowed his brow. "What do you mean? I think I've already done my part, haven't I?"

Nanaki chuckled dryly. "There's much more to your stories. Cloud, how old are you?"

"Almost twenty-six."

"Hm. A little over a year after Deepground, then. I see." Nanaki glanced up at Cloud and Yuffie again. Their faces were both familiar and foreign, a feeling he was used to over the centuries. Visiting someone after a few years always made looking at their face strange until they spent more time with them.

Corent came up to a long home, smoke coming from a grey stone chimney. "This's our home. I live here with my younger sisters, so it's gonna be a little cramped..." He opened the door.

The home was dark but for the fading light from the windows and the glow of the fireplace. The floor was cobbled stone being swept by a young girl with sandy blonde hair. There was a large wooden cupboard and weaved mats rolled up in a corner. The fireplace had a pot hanging inside it.

It was sparsely decorated, without even a dining table. There was a chair in another corner next to a tiny nightstand table. It had a carving knife and some partially cut wood on it. The roof was thatched, and various dried herbs hung from the wooden beams above them.

"Whoa, this is totally roughing it," Yuffie said.

Cloud gently elbowed her. "Will you be quiet?" he hissed.

Corent gave her a look. "This's all we have. If y'gotta problem with it y'can sleep with the chickens out back!"

"Corent! Elder Nanaki and Elder Vincent are visiting?" The girl looked at them, then frowned as she looked at the newcomers. "Who are they?" She studied Cloud's eyes and shuddered at the faint glow just now becoming apparent in the low light of the house. "Is he a ghost?"

Nanaki shook his head and sat to the side; the cubs stayed close to him. "He should be a ghost, but no, he is not." He motioned towards Cloud, then looked at the girl and Corent. "This is your ancestor, Cloud Strife."