It was strange to Zeph, waking up in a room under covers and not in a dark and dirty cell. It was strange being clean. Having a full belly was strange. It was all very nice, however. Strange but nice, that was how he would describe everything so far. From this evening's meal to the hot shower afterwards, to Tifa tucking him into bed.

It was almost like some dream. Waking up in a bed, being coaxed to live here by a spiky haired man that killed a werewolf with his friends. Two children enthusiastically taking him to their room after he cleaned up. A brown haired woman giving him fresh clothing that almost fit but not quite.

But waking up to the family that took him in staring at him because he woke them up with his screams, that was plenty embarrassing. He worried that they might kick him out for being a bother. It was his first night here, and still that nightmare place and Fiore's brutal death was fresh in his mind. Did Cloud and Tifa know what they were getting into?

Instead of yelling at him, Barret ushered the other children out of the room and Cloud and Tifa walked up to the side of his bed. Nanaki sat nearby, and all three held concern in their eyes.

"...Sorry," Zeph muttered into his blanket as he held it to his mouth.

Tifa shook her head. "It's alright. You had a bad dream." She studied him in the darkness of the room, streetlights and Nanaki's tail bringing some light to their eyes.

Zeph looked at Cloud's eyes; they really did glow in the dark. Was he in Soldier, or did he fall into a mako pool when he was younger? The boy lowered his gaze again; they were a little creepy in the darkness. "I just...The sewers..."

"You were down there for a while, weren't you?" Cloud asked quietly, and he was given a nod in response. The warrior patted his shoulder. "We understand, Zeph. It's gonna take a while for the images to fade."

Zeph frowned up at him. Something like that doesn't fade. "What do you mean?"

"He means that over time, the bad things we experience don't hurt as much," Tifa said. Cloud was rubbing the back of his neck and looking to the side, looking embarrassed by his awkward attempt to soothe the boy.

"Oh." He didn't see how. "Did bad things happen to you?"

Both of them nodded. "A lot of very bad things. But, we moved on from it as best we could." Tifa paused, trying to formulate her next words carefully. "It doesn't mean we forget about those that didn't survive with us, but what happened doesn't hang over us quite like it used to."

"We never stopped caring about the people we lost," Nanaki added quietly from behind the two humans.

"Oh." He began to settle down again. Zeph noticed as he slowly fell back into a dreamless sleep that the adults by his side.

It didn't take Zeph very long to learn that at the table set up for meals, everyone had their seat. Last night, he had sat in Cloud's seat after being ushered towards it. Now, he sat on the opposite side of Denzel. It felt right to him.

His stomach grumbled as he smelled whatever Tifa was cooking. Cloud was trying to help her, carefully slicing up some fruit for their breakfast as Tifa cooked something in her pan. It smelled like bacon, something he had seen served by food vendors near his slum home. Zeph wondered what it tasted like.

"Morning, Zeph," Denzel mumbled. He rubbed his eye.

Marlene smiled at him. "Good morning!"

"Morning," Zeph said in a quiet voice. He noticed they were both dressed already.

Denzel sighed before taking a sip of juice. "We gotta go to school after breakfast."

Zeph looked back and forth between them. "You go to school?"

"Yeah. Cloud and Tifa used to home school us after the bar closed for the night, but they enrolled us in the school when it opened up," Marlene said.

Zeph gawked. Were they rich or something? The schools in Edge were private, and that took money. He was at a loss for words.

A plate of food gently landed in front of him. "You can go in the fall, Zeph." It was Tifa.

He felt a little overwhelmed by their kindness. "But I just started living here," he said in mild confusion. He didn't get it.

Cloud nodded before sitting down. "And you're going to school in the fall."

Zeph still didn't get it. School cost gil. He knew it would be rude to ask, but this was a lot to take in for a kid that lived in the slums all of his life. There just had to be a catch, some fine print he was missing.

Denzel nudged him as he noticed Barret groggily entering the bar from a room nearby. "You'll get used to it," he whispered.

Zeph slowly nodded. He supposed it was less a question of "why" and just a process to acclimate to. Still, he couldn't help wondering why as he shyly stabbed at his breakfast.

He paused and studied the food in front of him after moving his bangs away from his eyes. He hadn't had a breakfast like this since his mother died, and even then it wasn't like this. She used to serve eggs and toast, but Tifa had made that and bacon with fruit. He glanced at everyone at the table as Barret sat down, then nibbled a piece of bacon. No wonder Cloud seemed content to chew on the crispy pieces of flesh! It was good.

"Hey Spiky, pass the pepper please."

Cloud glanced up from his coffee mug before sliding the shaker to the burly man. He went back to focusing on his coffee.

"Ran outta fruit?" Barret asked as he pointed at Cloud's plate with one hand and peppered his eggs with the other.

Cloud's cheeks turned pink. "Figured you could use more fiber in your diet."

Barret grunted before picking up his plate, stretching it out, and plopping a few pieces of fruit onto Cloud's plate. "I don't need all that."

Tifa rolled her eyes as she ate a bite of breakfast. It seemed this gentle banter was something she was used to. Marlene shoved her plate towards Cloud. "I want more fruit!"

Cloud chuckled and slid the fruit next to her bacon. "Sure."

That was his first breakfast at Seventh Heaven, the name of the place he would be living at he learned afterwards. The other two children had dressed and charged out the door with Barret; he insisted on walking them to school. Now it was just four of them: Cloud, Tifa, Nanaki and him.

"You're going to need new clothing, Zeph," Tifa commented as she strapped a purse to her shoulder. She walked closer before putting a hand to his shoulder and ushering him towards the door.

Zeph moved as she willed, though there was a little resistance on his part. "You're gonna buy me clothing?"

She snorted. "Of course I am! We can't have you in rags."

He wanted to ask why again, but held his tongue. What had Cloud said last night? 'I guess adults do things just because.'

It was all so very strange, going to a clothing shop with who was still practically a stranger to him. A very nice stranger, but he was pretty sure it had been less than a day's time since he was rescued by them.

Tifa checked this bit of clothing or that, asking him if liked one thing or the other. It wasn't a lot of clothing in the end, enough to last a week at a time, but it was still something spent on him like he had value to the family. He moved his bangs out of his face as they finished looking for sneakers.

"Zeph, do you like your hair that length?"

He touched his hair again. It was always messy and a little long. Not as long as Denzel's, but enough to get in his eyes. He was used to it. "Yeah," he said simply.

"Hm." Tifa turned around and went to a wall covered in accessories. She looked at him, then at a few of the products offered before plucking one off of the wall. She nodded and headed towards the cashier with the pile of clothing.

After they left with their bags Tifa took out the accessory she had bought for him and handed it to him. "That should keep your bangs out of your eyes, hopefully."

It was a black fabric headband. He looked it this way and that before sliding it over his head and adjusting it so his bangs wouldn't cover his eyes as much. Zeph followed Tifa again, back to the bar. It gave him time to formulate his question better.

"You're going through a lot of trouble, just for me," he said to Tifa as he looked up at her.

She continued to walk as she looked down at the boy. "It's not much trouble at all."

"How is it not?"

Tifa raised a brow. "You decided to live with us, right?" A nod came in response, and she looked forward again. "So why would it be trouble at all? You're part of the family now."

"...Just like that?"

She nodded. "Yeah. It was the same for Denzel, too. Oh, we had to bond and everything, but in the end he's just as much a part of the family as the rest of us."

"He's adopted too?" Now it made sense why Denzel said he would get used to the family; he wasn't their biological child.

"Yeah. Cloud found him in the slums...he had Geostigma," Tifa said quietly as they climbed the steps of Seventh Heaven.

Zeph entered the bar after Tifa opened the door. They took Denzel in despite having Geostigma? "Just like that, huh?"

Tifa looked down at him and nodded, but something in her eyes told him there was more to it than adults doing things just because. "...Just like that."

"Hello, you two. How was your shopping excursion?" It was Nanaki, the dog-cat beast flicked his tail as he regarded the two.

"Fine. Did Cloud go out on delivery?"

Nanaki nodded. "He said packages don't deliver themselves," the beast replied with what looked like a grin to the young boy.

Zeph looked up at Tifa for answers, and she smiled before answering him. "Cloud runs a delivery service. He'll probably stay in the area in case of an emergency for a little while."

"Oh." A bar and a delivery service, ran by fighters who took in orphans and knew strange red beasts with fiery tails. He had only been here a day and felt welcome by the patchwork group of family and friends. He still didn't understand the whys. The slums weren't exactly hostile, but you made friends by scratching each other's backs first and hoping you didn't find a proverbial knife there instead. Except for literal family, of course.

Not that everyone in the slums was untrustworthy, but that was how it was in a place where crime and desperation ran rampant. What could he do to scratch their back? Maybe it was too soon to ask, he thought. He looked up at Tifa again as she moved past him and towards the stairs behind the counter, then at Nanaki as the beast patiently watched him.

His decision to stay was going to lead to interesting times, Zeph decided. But he wouldn't be alone like he thought he would be after his sister was eaten. His eyes flickered down; he really didn't deserve this new life. But it was thrust upon him anyway, so what was the point in walking away from it? She would have scolded him for that.

He took a deep breath and followed Tifa, Nanaki tailing him. A new chance at life. It was offered, and he would take it.