Dilys stared at the blond haired man that leaned on the wall with his arms crossed. She really couldn't see the resemblance, but five hundred years was a long time to dilute traits with other people. She glanced at Corent's hair; maybe that was a physical trait that wouldn't go away. Their father had had a shock of hair just like that. Her bangs and the ends of her shoulder length, dirty blonde hair would end in points just the same. Well, maybe the hair color, too.

Corent seemed to be in a state of disbelief just like herself, but Vincent and Nanaki were extremely old friends of the family, ones who knew their ancestors personally. They never were the kind to joke about such things as it was. So, this fellow was one of her most esteemed ancestors. They were obligated to care for him.

She brought in her catch for the day, one she had hoped they could have dried for later. Dilys had gutted them at the shore; none of them particularly cared for the bitter guts when they had no condiments to balance them out with. Her amber eyes watched Cloud as he glanced down at her while she sat by the hearth, his blue eyes beginning to shine in the dark.

They were hauntingly beautiful, she thought.

Dilys collected the skewers and began fixing the saury to them after Vesta salted them, one by one. The young woman Vesta had put to work was watching them. "You're making sanma?"

Dilys looked over at her. Her brother said her name was Yuffie, one of the people Vincent and Nanaki had told stories about. "Is that what you call it?"

"Yeah."

"I taught them the recipe," Vincent quietly said. "It's quite popular here since it doesn't require much preparation."

"Huh. Never took you for a cook."

"You might later..."

It became quiet except for a few murmurings from Cloud, Nanaki and Vincent. She picked up a little here and there as she watched the roasting fish. Cloud told them they were in a church when an invisible force blew them into a pool, and they opened their eyes to the ruins of Midgar. He had such a peculiar accent, more pronounced than Vincent's or Nanaki's.

Dilys glanced their way and saw her ancestor try to coax one of Nanaki's cubs to come out from behind the large red beast. Eventually one of them did, and Cloud pulled something out of his back pocket. He opened the black thing up and pulled a flat thing out of it to show the cub, and said it was a picture of his grandfather when he was a lot younger. The other cub came out to examine it, and Nanaki stared at it with longing.

"Dilys, you're gonna burn the fish," Vesta warned.

The young woman looked back at the fish and began turning them. "Sorry."

Eventually the three finished making dinner and began to serve everyone. It was a simple meal of rice and roasted fish, and a few vegetables Corent had gathered from the garden out back. They would have to work extra hard to collect food after their visitors left, she thought.

Their meal time was quiet, with contemplative stares on everyone's faces. The cubs were content to play tug of war with their fish only for it to quickly pull apart; Nanaki sternly told them to eat the meal prepared for them. Corent looked at Cloud, still shocked but growing more curious by the minute. "What was it y'were showin' the cubs?"

Cloud looked up from his half-eaten fish. "Pictures." He took his wallet out of his pocket again, took out the plastic fold that held a dozen or so pictures, and stretched his hand out to let his descendants look at them.

Corent took the pictures in an almost reverent fashion after putting down the skewer that had held his sanma. Carefully he flipped through them, looking at pictures featuring a much younger Nanaki holding a cat creature on his head with Yuffie's face smooshed against his, Cloud with a warm looking woman and two children, Vincent with three other smiling men he didn't know. There was a group picture in a dilapidated building, all looking at the camera with smiles.

He gave it to Dilys, and she and Vesta looked them over. Corent looked at Cloud. "How d'you make pictures?"

Cloud rubbed the back of his head as he finished chewing the crunchy tail of the fish. "My phone can take pictures. I mean I don't understand the technology behind it, I just use it."

The young man nodded. "I've heard they can do that in Junon, but y'have to stay still f'a long time. Expensive, too."

"I see." He put his pictures back into his wallet after it was handed back to him and put it away before working on the rest of his meal.

A knock on the door startled everyone a few minutes later, and Corent stood up to see who it was. He opened his door to a middle aged man that stood about as tall as himself, who glanced at the visitors with a disapproving frown. "Who are those two strangers you brought to the village?"

"Uh...Friends of the elders, Araden."

Araden gave a piercing gaze to the two, who seemed nonplussed by his judgemental stare. His eyes went to the shadow of the Combination Sword, then back at Corent. "They best not be trouble. We're still recovering from the bandit attack earlier in the year."

A bitter expression crossed Corent's face. "We're well aware, mayor. N'let us finish our meal in peace." He closed the door before Araden could say more, then sat down to finish his rice. He noticed Cloud had kept himself leaned against the wall, looking away from the door. Those eyes of his would cause trouble, and it seemed he knew it.

"Tomorrow it would be wise to find a way to send you home," Vincent remarked to Yuffie and Cloud. "Before anything bad comes to pass here."

Yuffie huffed at his suggestion. "Gettin' tired of us already?"

Vincent let out a dry chuckle. "If I was selfish I'd have you stay until you finally died of old age...Again."

Cloud took off his shoulder pauldron and sleeve, then his dust apron. He rubbed the fabric of his shirt after peeling off his gloves; it was looking a little dirty after his monster slaying session and trek through the woods. "Is there anyway to clean our clothes?"

"Ah, I use the wash bucket out back to clean our clothes," Vesta said as she collected the bowls and skewers with Dilys. "I can clean yours if you want."

He stood up and motioned towards the door he assumed led to the backyard. "I think you've done enough. May I see it?"

Dilys stood up and between the too. "No, it's alright, you're our guest!"

"...I know, but you've done enough for us already. Besides, family helps each other, right?" Cloud looked down at Vesta. "How about I help you wash clothing?"

She shifted the weight on her feet as she looked at Dilys and then Cloud. "Um...okay."

He gave her his hand and let her lead him into their backyard. It seemed a larger space than the house, with a chicken coop in the far corner and a small garden plot by the back of the house. A large basin sat by the other corner and on the other side of the house was a bucket with a washboard. A rope with clothing swaying in the breeze was above the short stone wall, connected to the top of the chicken coop.

"I-I don't know how you clean clothes in the past, but we gotta scrub it and let it dry out here..." Vesta lit a candle before picking up a soap bar that was on a rectangular grey stone and motioned him to come closer. "I can show you with your shirt..."

He walked up to her and unzipped his shirt. "I used this when I was your age." Cloud pulled off his shirt and took the soap from Vesta, then dunked his shirt into the bucket and rubbed the soap on it. Then, he used the washboard. "My mom taught me how to use it."

"What was your mom like?"

Cloud looked at her, then looked down at the shirt as he worked it. "Vibrant. Kind. She always made sure I had enough to eat."

Vesta studied her ancestor in the dim light of twilight and the candle's flame. Her gaze went down to a scar right below his heart. "What's that?"

He rubbed the scar with his wet hand, then wrung out his shirt. "...Something I'd rather not talk about."

"Sorry, Elder Cloud."

He glanced at her and blushed. "Elder...? Just Cloud, please. I'm no elder." He stood up and hung the shirt up. Cloud looked at his pants and made a face; he didn't want to strip naked. He turned his head as Dilys came through the door with two batches of clothing, one looking like Yuffie's.

"We thought you could use some clothing, Elder Cloud," she said quietly.

He groaned and rubbed his forehead. Dilys bit her lip; she hoped she hadn't offended her ancestor. Vesta took Yuffie's clothing. "Elder Cloud said he just wants to be known as Cloud."

"Oh. Is that really alright?"

Cloud nodded as he took the clothing from her. "Yeah, it's fine. Thank you for the clothing." He looked it over; the shirt was a bit long and a sage green color with no sleeves. He put it on and it seemed to fit alright in his opinion. The pants were of a coarse material and there was a long brown fabric vest that reminded him of what Corent wore; a brown belt laid on top of the pants. He looked at Vesta and Dilys. "Could you two turn around, please?"

They nodded and turned before focusing on Yuffie's clothing. He quickly slipped off his pants and boxers, then put the pants on. They weren't nearly as long as he feared they would be, and after putting on the belt he rolled up the bottoms of the pant-legs.

He put on the vest last, then rummaged around the pockets of his black pants for anything he didn't want dunked. Keys, phone, wallet, the ring box and his small collection of materia and potions. They went into the pockets of the new pair of pants he wore. "I guess I look more like a local now...Except for the boots." He took them off and peeled off his socks. They needed to stay clean, too.

They turned and nodded at him. "It looks good on you, Eld- I mean, Cloud."

He smiled. "Thanks, Dilys."

Cloud helped them with the laundry, answering a few hesitant questions here and there. They kept away from personal questions, but he noticed they were warming to him, and he felt them growing on him too. When the clothing was all hanging up to dry they came back inside.

Corent already had thin bedrolls and pillows out near the fireplace, there were five of them. He was fiddling with something up on a rafter. It seemed the small family kept their blankets rolled up there. "I hope it's comfortable enough."

"It's fine, thanks." Cloud walked towards one. Nanaki was laying near it with his cubs. "Hey, kiddos. Ready to sleep in a house full of humans?" he asked as he sat on one of the bedrolls.

Reki batted the pillow. "Grandfather said you put your head on these things. Do you?"

"Yeah. See?" He laid down and put his head on the pillow. "It's soft."

Reki smooshed his head into it, and Khlali giggled before doing the same on the other side of Cloud's head. "Grandfather is softer."

Cloud chuckled and moved his head to look at Nanaki upside down. "He is."

"Hey Vinny, I'm takin' this bedroll," Yuffie said. She moved it over next to where he sat before lying down. "If ya need the pillow I can use your cape."

He snorted and put a hand on her shoulder. "I'll be fine, Yuffie."

They eventually settled down, the crackling sound of the fireplace relaxing especially to the four friends who had not slept by a fire together in years.

Yuffie began quietly muttering to herself in her sleep, and Vincent's hand went from her shoulder to her head, his thumb rubbing her ear. Cloud kept his eyes closed but couldn't quite sleep just yet as everything began to process in his head.

He was far in the future with his descendants and his still living friends. He died because of the Planet's shortsighted attitude towards humans, and now they would never advance beyond this. Or whatever Junon had, it seemed to be the technological jewel of this era.

His descendants seemed to treat him with reverence, but it felt weird. He worried about Tifa. Would she even notice he was gone? Would he reappear in the church soon, and no time had passed? What if he never made it back? No, he had to or this future wouldn't exist.

His mind slowly drifted to a light sleep, disturbed by an unknown female voice.

Jenova...comes.

Mistakes were made.

I'm sorry.

I need your help. Please.

Save this future.