Serah held a small stack of books in one arm and a handful of cracked materia in the other. She could never guess what Marlene would like best, but Serah liked to think the girl appreciated dark and solemn reminders of Midgar. She took a shine to the more macabre concepts and stories that Serah brought back, after all. A surprising contrast to her sunny personality.

She took a quick breath and knocked on the door.

After a moment, Tifa opened it and greeted her with a warm smile. "The kids are just inside."

Serah followed her in to find the house's windows all uncovered and letting in the natural light of the slightly-clouded sky. The rain from the past couple of days cleared out a lot of the smog and allowed for a brighter sun.

Tifa retreated back into the kitchen and Serah heard the faucet turn on.

Denzel sat hunched at the entrance table, fingers fiddling with some piece of wire. Before him sat a large-scale model of Gaia, with various other spheres populating the space around it, including an even bigger one in the center.

"What's this?" Serah looked Denzel's way. "One of your projects?"

He nodded and pulled out his pliers to force the thing back into position. "The planetary system."

"Well, that's kind of advanced, isn't it?"

Denzel took out a welding torch. "Maybe."

"Oh, Serah!" Tifa called from the kitchen. "There was a 'Sice' looking for you earlier?"

Serah thought for a moment and called back, "I don't know the name! Was it about tutoring?"

"She didn't say!"

"Miss Farron!" Marlene hopped down the stairs. "I swear I did my homework!"

"I should hope you did." Serah set her books on the table but kept the materia in her hand. "Because we'll be continuing Shinra's line of succession and its effects on the population before we deal with Meteor."

Marlene gave a loud groan and took her seat at the table. "But I hate economics!"

"Without Shinra running the city-" Serah joined her- "there's a lot more power in the hands of the people, and it's important for us to know how that all works if we want to keep it that way."

Gabranth's presence returned to her for a moment and a sensation of familiarity and nostalgia swept over her.

"Denzel." Serah looked his way. "Have you reviewed the laws of gravity and physics that I told you about last time?"

"Yes."

"Are you accounting for scaled distances between planets?"

"Yes."

Serah frowned. He was quieter than normal. "Let me know if you have any more questions, okay?"

"Yes, Miss Farron."

Serah turned back to Marlene, who opened one of the books to look at a table detailing the timeline of Midgar's building, development, and politics. "If you're good today…" She set the materia on the table. "… Then I'll give you some of these guys that I found."

Marlene glanced at them, then back to the picture of Midgar, lips forming a pout. She took a moment to respond with a grumbled, "fine."

Serah paused and looked between her and Denzel, their usual synergy all but gone. "How about we focus on Rufus' rise to power? That should be an easy one."

"I already know about it," Marlene mumbled.

Probably for the better, anyway. Thinking about covering the collapse of Sector 7 left a pit in Serah's stomach. She chewed on her lip. "Do you have any questions you want to talk about?"

Marlene rested her chin on the book and flicked at its edges. "What do they say about Avalanche?"

Serah tapped at her chin. "You know about the reactor explosions, don't you?"

"Yeah. My dad caused them with Cloud and Tifa."

"Well, they destabilized the trust of the people in Shinra's leadership and led to a long period of unrest among the upper sectors. Most below didn't notice the effects…"

"Did Denzel notice?" Marlene looked to the boy, who didn't return the glance.

Serah blinked. "That's a good question. Denzel, did you parents say anything about it?"

"Just that it caused problems at my dad's work." Denzel kept his eyes screwed on a piece of wire he was using to connect two planets. "I don't remember anything else."

Serah thought back to the loud debates in the educational offices where she worked – those lasted for weeks after the first explosion. "There wasn't much else to remember."

"Was Avalanche bad?"

Serah blinked and looked down at Marlene, who didn't take her eyes off the book before her. A quote was listed near the picture of Midgar, "Anarchy is the enemy of human existence."

Serah thought through her response before asking, "Why?"

"My dad… he blew up buildings for the sake of the planet, but not for the sake of Midgar?"

Her mouth went dry. "It… caused problems for Shinra. And those problems rippled down the chain of command, through corporate and related businesses. But it was something that had to be done eventually. If your father didn't lead the charge, then either someone else would have stepped up, or…" The words sounded weak to her own ears. "I don't know, Marlene. There are some questions we ask that are harder to answer than others. Your father couldn't watch the planet die, couldn't let us all die with it… but sometimes things get worse before they get better. And addressing a problem often creates other problems in its stead."

"He's not a bad man?"

"Of course not." Serah placed her hand over Marlene's on the book. "Midgar had a lot of problems, and everyone tried to fix them in their own way. Even Shinra wasn't all bad."

A motor shut off outside and the door opened to admit Cloud, dressed in black and wearing dark goggles over his face. He pulled his gloves off and put up his goggles to give those at the table an appraising glance. "Serah?"

"Hey, Cloud."

"How's it going?" He came their way and set his gloves on the far end of the table, near Denzel. "Studies?"

"Yeah." Marlene dragged herself upright and made a show of rolling her head on her shoulders. "Just going over Shinra and stuff."

"Shinra. Cool." Cloud looked at Serah and she thinned her lips to express her discomfort. He narrowed his and looked between the kids.

"Cloud." Tifa appeared again and distracted the man with a hug. "How was your trip?"

Serah held out one of her broken materia to Marlene. It glittered pink-ish in the afternoon light despite its dull center and the girl looked at it with not a small amount of longing. "Take at least one."

"Thanks, Miss Farron."

"Any progress with those powers of yours?" Cloud asked.

Serah started and looked up. "I haven't dared touch them since… you know."

"But it hasn't bothered me since." Tifa placed her hands on her hips. "It probably couldn't hurt to try again."

Serah smiled. "Just because you somehow acclimated doesn't mean everyone else did. I'd rather not cause vertigo across the board again."

"Time mages didn't cause issues like that did they?" Tifa turned to Cloud. "You know, in the stories?"

A ripple across her conscious and a weary voice said, "I've found no sign. Watch her closely, Judge."

"I will."

The second presence faded as quickly as it came and Serah was left with a fleeting sense of nausea before Gabranth apologized and also faded for a moment.

She nudged Marlene. "You've been stuck on that same page. Are you doing okay?"

She nodded and turned the materia in her hands without looking. "Yeah."

"I think we're all a little tired." Serah leaned back and stretched. "Maybe we should play a game, huh?"

Marlene sighed and left the table. "I don't feel like a game."

Serah blinked and watched her ascend the stairs.

"Let her go," said Cloud. "She needs her space lately."

Serah chewed on her lip and gathered her books. "I can go if it's an issue."

"It's not." Tifa moved to watch Denzel work. "What's going on with you, though?"

"Nothing." Denzel didn't take his eyes off his system.

Tifa heaved a sigh. "I'd love to know what you're thinking. Did something happen today at the shop?"

"No."

"Then what?"

Denzel shook his head and said nothing. Cloud disappeared into the kitchen for a moment and brought out a box of sweets, decorated after the manner of the southern villages. "Maybe these will help."

Denzel perked up and stared at the stuff like a chocobo in traffic.

"Yes, please." Tifa was the first to break into them. "What about you, Serah? Anything to report from Midgar's ruins?"

"The strange voices weren't lying." Serah fiddled with the book Marlene left behind. "I saw… something over there. Not spirits, but maybe monsters that have taken up residence in the ruins. I'd avoid the place in the future, I think."

Cloud took a bite of the sweets – they looked like filled, bready bites. "The dark offered by the collapsed buildings would be appealing to many creatures. It's prime real estate that they've found."

Denzel gave in and snuck some of the treats, then inhaled them faster than Serah had ever seen.

"It was only a matter of time." Tifa swallowed another bite. "It's kind of sad, but I guess we couldn't expect to hold onto the place for long."

Cloud took on a regretful expression. "There's still mountains to salvage – we could build without creating more metal for years if we got everything out of there."

"But that's just not feasible, is it?" Tifa pushed the sweets toward Serah. "Don't you want some?"

Serah looked at the small, sculpted bread and shook her head. "I ate a little too much before coming, but thanks."

"Suit yourself." Tifa took another. "Oh, well. I guess it's about time those in Midgar found some peace, anyway. The Lifestream will do as it pleases around there and… I don't know. Nature and all that."

"It's still quite pretty." Serah thought of the church's gushing water. "I wish it wasn't in such a state."

Tifa gave a wry chuckle. "Isn't that the way for everything else in our lives?"

They went on talking for a bit and eventually Denzel left his project to go upstairs as well. Serah basked in the opportunity to talk about normal things with these people – sometimes she forgot what normal felt like when she remembered two lifetimes.

Eventually Serah waved goodbye and stepped down the porch with only her books left in hand. Marlene would certainly find something artistic to do with those old materia. She could only hope the girl would involve Denzel and the two would get over whatever was going on with both of them.

She pushed that thought aside and marched her way down the street toward her home.

"This world is healthy," came Gabranth's rumbling voice. "Perhaps it's best I take my leave."

"No one's kicking you out." Serah turned a corner.

Only for a white-haired girl in a black school uniform to stop her in her tracks. "Serah Farron?"

Serah drew up short. "Yes?"

"I'm Sice." The girl held out a hand. "And I'm here to take you off this world."


Denzel sat at the kitchen table, trying to peel a piece of metal from his world representation back into place. The sphere was made entirely from wires and spare parts that he collected from the shop, who would have just thrown it out if he didn't take them home.

Aerith left him alone since the morning and he jotted down notes that he would need to collect from her next time she visited. Like why Cloud and Tifa weren't married, or how to add more white materia to his staff, or if dying hurt.

Denzel focused on getting the wire to bend into the right position. He would have to weld it again to keep it from popping out of position.

The clouds outside hid any light that would creep in by this time in the evening, and instead he used the ceiling fixtures to illuminate his workspace. The space smelled of bread, its yeasty presence made strong by the rolls and other small treats Cloud set out to rise before he took to preparing some icings and such things.

Denzel steeled himself against the instinct to work out a plan to sneak out the finished products later.

"How's it going?" asked Tifa as she sorted through their collection of drinks. "It's a pretty involved project, looks like."

Denzel pulled out pliers. "It'll take a while still to finish."

"Did we tell you about the planetarium we saw in Cosmo Canyon?"

Denzel shook his head.

"It was an amazing spectacle. Like we stood in space itself and could see… well. Nothingness. But it was a lot of nothingness, you know?"

"A massive void," said Cloud.

"I don't know if it was magic or technology, or if Bugenhagen just had some hardcore drugs pumped into the air, but it felt real. Saw the motion of the planets – do you have any idea how fast we're spinning right now?"

"Pretty fast," Denzel said.

"Holy Ramah, yes. But we don't feel it at all – I wonder how that is? Really, we try to understand gravity and the workings of the planet, but it feels like we'll never catch up. We know some of the science, but we keep finding out more and more every year and sometimes it undoes our progress before it helps. What's up with that?"

"It's fascinating." Cloud mixed some sugar and spices together with milk. "I'd love to know what lies on those other worlds."

Denzel frowned and leaned back to inspect his system. Gaia "hovered" toward the center, held up as it was by a thin rod, but it was dwarfed by the other planets. They didn't know a whole lot about those planets, but they certainly looked nothing like their own. Denzel wondered if anything could live in such different conditions.

"It's kinda scary, though, isn't it?" Tifa pulled out a wine bottle and brushed it off with a cloth. "They're so mysterious, and it's hard to get any information on them. What if they house some deadly monsters?"

"Bugenhagen didn't seem to think they did."

"Would he know?"

Denzel adjusted the stem of the farthest, smallest planet from the sun. He wondered if it was big enough to be anything more than a rock spinning out there.

"Who's Bugenhagen?" asked Marlene. She stood in the doorway and looked at them with curious eyes.

Tifa consolidated two bottles of whiskey. "A wise elder from Cosmo Canyon. Barret didn't tell you about him?"

"No." Marlene hopped into a seat beside Denzel. "Why?"

"He had a cool planetarium," Denzel said.

"Really?" Marlene looked at Cloud and Tifa. "Can we go there?"

Cloud drew himself to his full height and brushed his hands off each other. "That's a good question."

"Maybe." Tifa capped the whiskey and set it aside. "After the school term ends and you've both passed all your tests." She turned to Cloud. "Couldn't hurt to get an update on his progress, either."

"Barret would know where he is."

Marlene went still at the mention and Denzel's insides clenched. Tifa and Cloud didn't appear to think much of it as they went on about their former adventures like it was something nostalgic to them.

When he thought about spending time outside Midgar and Edge, he could only think of living out of a tent in the outskirts. It sounded so boring to him, yet their stories never seemed to end.

Marlene looked at the table. "Can you ask Daddy to visit?"

Tifa and Cloud stopped short. "But he was just here," Tifa said. "Do you have something you want to ask him? We can put him on the phone-"

"I don't wanna talk to him on the phone. I wanna talk to him."

"I'll ask." Cloud pulled out his cell. "But he might be too far away."

Tifa looked at Cloud in a way that Denzel knew meant she couldn't say something in front of them.

A faint tone sounded from Cloud's phone, and Denzel stared at the wires crisscrossing about the system he'd created. They looked chaotic and uneven to him now and the idea of finishing left a sour taste in his mouth.

The tone continued for a bit until Barret's voice took over. Denzel glanced up, hopeful, only for Cloud to shut it closed and say, "Voicemail."

"So, we'll catch him later." Tifa gave Marlene a smile. "I'm sure he's just busy."

"He's always busy." Marlene stuck out her arms on the table and dropped her head to rest with them. "He doesn't love me anymore."

Denzel tried repeating what Aerith told him, "Maybe he just has trouble showing it-"

"He doesn't!" Marlene hit the table with her fists and it rattled. "My papa's never hid his feelings from me!"

Denzel quieted, arms suddenly heavy at his sides.

"If he won't even answer the phone, then how could he care about me?" Marlene jumped from her seat. "I may as well die!"

Tifa took Marlene by the wrist. "It's not as bad as all that and you know it."

Marlene wriggled to get free. "It is! I know my daddy!"

Denzel left his structure and retreated from the room. Behind him, Marlene kept yelling about being ignored and unloved.

He stopped in the entryway and struggled to swallow. Heart raced, blood pounded in his ears. Took his pipe from its position against the wall, but it felt like nothing more than a hunk of lead in his hand.

"Why isn't he here?!"

A crushing weight settled over his chest. He looked toward the door.

"No!"

Looked toward the kitchen, where Tifa worked to calm Marlene. Cloud leaned against the counter, brows knit together.

Denzel forced one leg forward, though it felt like moving one of those heavy and ruined parts in the shop.

"Don't touch me!"

He turned to see Marlene fight Tifa and squirm away from her hold.

The door. Denzel put another step forward. It was so close.

A sick feeling settled in the pit of his stomach and anticipation made his heart pound harder. He reached the door handle. Turned the knob.

It squeaked, but no one showed any signs of noticing.

The door cracked open, and Denzel slipped through the smallest exit he could manage before gently shutting it behind him. Even outside, he could hear Marlene's screams of frustration.

Standing at the top of the stairs leading out back, Denzel forced himself to swallow. The sun was warm on his skin, but a cold wind raised goosebumps along his arms. He took a breath and ran down the stairs.

And through the streets of Edge where people passed him in a blur.

Denzel blinked tears out of his eyes and kept moving. His legs burned beneath him, and his sides throbbed. Every breath hurt. He kept moving.

"And where are you going?" Aerith's translucent form coalesced beside him.

He ignored her. Passed by official buildings, friends' houses, post offices, grocers, florists, antique traders, loan brokers…

"Denzel, please stop!"

He grit his teeth against the pain in his chest. Kept running.

"Okay." Aerith stilled beside him. "I'll just stay with you for now."

His surroundings grew dirty and unkempt as he moved, and Denzel finally slowed to a walk. Doing so reignited the burn in his lungs and he doubled over in a coughing fit. His ears throbbed, and his legs felt like noodles.

"Interesting place." Aerith circled about him. "I haven't been here much."

Denzel gulped down a breath and looked up. Rundown buildings surrounded them, and the pedestrians mostly wore worn and ragged clothing. Many cast him hungry looks and the ground was littered with trash. A man in a tattered, brown-grey-ish coat passed him by, followed by a one in dark cloth with hair like Cloud's and freckles across his face. Both wore notably clean and crisp, checkered patterns on pieces of clothing.

Denzel straightened, still panting and coughing.

"Hey, there." The man with the freckles stopped to lean down and take Denzel's shoulder. "You doin' okay, buddy?"

"He would make for a suitable vessel," said the other man.

"Denzel, get out!" Aerith's presence flared in strength and he felt the overwhelming urge to run.

He did so.

Aerith faded away from him, but he didn't look back. He bolted through alleys and under towering buildings until he felt like he couldn't move another step and he finally slowed to a stop. Glanced about him to find more strangers milling about.

Eventually Aerith popped back into existence. "Geez, that was a close one. Wait, is this the slums?"

Denzel cast a wary look about them. His lungs burned, and his throat hurt, and he gulped down breaths to try and assuage the pain.

One large man passed with red clothes and a painted face. Denzel thought that had to be the strangest fashion he'd ever seen, yet people kept staring at him like they'd never seen someone like him before. And… he knew those looks.

"Let's find somewhere else, okay?" Aerith placed a hand on his shoulder. "This place-"

A presence behind him.

Denzel spun and struck where the legs should be. Only to hit nothing.

He scrambled back to find a man in a fine suit kneel to his level and take him by the shoulders.

"Hey. Hey." His voice was a soft baritone. "Look at me. Shh." Black hair, slicked back to show dark, almond eyes. He smelled like tropical fruit.

"Tseng," whispered Aerith. "Oh, Tseng. What happened to you?"

Denzel tried to pull away, but the man held firm. "Let me go."

"I think not." The man touched Denzel's chin and forced him to look up into those dark eyes and notice a white sliver running across his forehead. Something about him didn't feel as… slimy as these other people. "You're Cloud's kid, aren't you?"

"… Why?"

"Sweet Mother." The man stood. "Come on, I'll take you somewhere safe."

"I'm not going home."

"No, I'd say not. I'll take you to my base instead."

Denzel frowned and look behind him before he reluctantly followed. Aerith whispered something about returning and her presence vanished.