Leon gazed around as he entered the Coliseum Gates. It was incredible, more amazing than any place he had ever seen before. This world seemed unaffected by Heartless… or was it?

Leon bet his life that he would be competing against them in the tournament, perhaps being the reason the Coliseum had gone back into business.

He leaned against the wall and checked his watch. Yuffie had gone to register them in the tournaments 25 minutes ago; it must have been hectic in there if it took her that long. Leon sighed deeply. He still couldn't shake the feeling that fate had something in stored for all of them.

"Leon!" Yuffie called out, running towards him. Leon got off the wall and crossed his arms.

"Well?" he said coolly. "Are we in or what?" Yuffie nodded and grinned. She took out a flyer and scanned through it.

"Alright," she began, still reading the sheet. "I got us in for the Phil Cup today and the Hades Cup next week." She looked up at Leon. "There weren't any places left in the Pegasus Cup. Sorry." She shrugged and continued. "Well…in the Phil Cup, I managed to get us in together, but in the Hades Cup, I'll be doing my own thing and you'll have to pair up with this other guy."

"What?" Leon exclaimed in disbelief. "Why am I the one to be paired up and not you?"

"Because," Yuffie said curtly. "I was the one who had to wait in that stupid line in that room for the whole half hour!" Leon shrugged.

"Fine, whatever," he muttered. "How much are we getting anyway?"

"Well, in the Phil Cup, we'll get 50,000 munny each, that's 100, 000," she said, scanning through the sheet. "I'll get about 40,000 munny in the Hades Cup, and you and your partner will get 180,000, giving you 90,000."

Leon summed up the munny silently in his head.

"230,000 munny," he muttered to himself, sighing. "I was thinking it'd be more than that." Yuffie looked up at him.

"That's plenty enough, Leon," she said sternly. He looked away, a little disappointed. "Oh, come on." Yuffie took him by the chin and turned his face to her. She was a little irritated by his pessimistic attitude.

"You think Aerith won't marry you if the wedding isn't perfect?" she asked in annoyance. "You think she'll just walk away if you can't give her the best of everything? My god, you're dumb." She removed her hand and shook her head. "Look, you've only been engaged for a month and you're already acting like husband and wife." Leon couldn't help but smile.

"Alright," he said. "We'll do this, we'll get as much out of it as we can." Yuffie beamed.

"Good," she said happily, looping an arm around Leon's. She looked back at the flyer. "We probably should get going now. The Phil Cup starts in half an hour." Leon nodded, but he pulled his arm out of her grip and started walking into the Coliseum. Yuffie quickly caught up.

"By the way," Leon said to Yuffie as they entered. "Who's my partner anyway?" Yuffie looked back at the paper.

"Hmm," she murmured, frowning a little. "I dunno. Someone with the initials C.S."

C.S, Leon repeated in his mind. I wonder who it could be.

Aerith sat alone on Cid's bed in his room, staring out the window. She still couldn't get rid of that feeling, and it scared her. She kept thinking about Cloud, she didn't know why, and she kept feeling like something was seriously wrong. Her heart was on a rollercoaster, telling her to listen to it, to believe.

But she couldn't do it. She just couldn't.

Something inside was telling her Cloud was alive, and her heart urged her to believe in it. But she didn't want to; she was scared to.

She was scared if she raised her hopes, reality would just tear it down all over again. She didn't want to get hurt anymore. She knew her heart couldn't take anymore pain.

Cid walked past his door, but stopped and reversed when he saw Aerith, her thoughts a million miles away. He frowned a little at the young woman's odd behavior.

"Aerith?" he said. She jolted back to reality and looked over at him. "You alright?" he entered the room, still eyeing her concernedly.

Aerith laughed nervously and pushed her bangs out of her face.

"Yeah," she told him. She smiled meekly. "Could I talk to you for a minute?" Cid took a seat next to her and smiled.

"I always have time for you," he said gently, placing a hand on her shoulder. Aerith beamed.

He had been like a father to her for the last 9 years. Even though he always worked, he was there with a shoulder to cry on when she needed him. He understood things the others couldn't.

"I've been having these thoughts lately," she said, staring dreamily at the ceiling. "I've been thinking a lot about Cloud, and I don't even know why." She sighed. "I don't know if I should believe what my heart tells me anymore, because whenever I do, it…it just starts hurting." Her eyes began to water, her whole expression saddening. She felt a warm arm wrap itself around her shoulders. She looked back up at Cid. She laughed wryly, wiping her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I must sound silly." Cid shook his head, his face showing no signs of thinking so.

"I know exactly how you feel, Aerith," he said, his voice softening. "I still remember when you kids would walk around town, hand in hand like that." Aerith smiled feebly. "I know you can never forget him, and I know that sometimes…" He looked away and sighed heavily. "Sometimes those wounds just don't heal." He took his arm off her and rubbed his face roughly. Aerith frowned with curiosity.

"I might have never told you about this before," Cid said after a moment. "But I was married once." He smiled at Aerith's stunned reaction. She hadn't ever thought of Cid being married.

"What happened?" she asked, turning her position to face him. Cid smiled sadly and cast his eyes down. Aerith had never seen him this way before; he seemed so heartbroken.

"She died," Cid said quietly. "She died over 18 years ago." He sighed and stared up at the ceiling, remembering every detail. "My Shera. My beautiful Shera. She was the best thing that ever happened to me." Aerith moved closer to him.

"What happened?" she asked again.

"We… we were expecting a baby. A son, actually." He chuckled softly. "I was going to name him Lucas." Aerith smiled sadly. Cid cleared his throat loudly, perhaps to hide the fact that he was breaking down.

"Shera had quite a hard time maintaining the pregnancy, I knew she was hurting and I prayed for the birth to come soon." He paused and sighed. "When she was about 6 months pregnant, Ansem called me out for work. I told Shera I'd come back in time for our son." Aerith moved her hand onto Cid's. "But a few days later, things started to change. Something was wrong." He sighed and shook his head grimly. "Shera went into premature labour, and she was taken to hospital. She… she was hurting a lot more than she should have. At that time, I was away, but I felt that she was in pain, that she was calling out to me. I flew straight home. The doctor… he said that Shera was dying and there was nothing they could do. I… I…" Cid rubbed his eyes with his hand. "I was able to see her one last time before she died. They couldn't save Lucas either." Small tears fell from his eyes, but he quickly wiped them away. He looked at Aerith. She had tears too.

"The point is," he said in a firm voice. "Our hearts and souls were connected. I knew when she was in danger, even if I couldn't save her. If I hadn't listened to my gut, I might not have made it back in time to say goodbye." He reached out and wiped a tear from Aerith's cheek. He smiled at her.

"Hey, now. Don't cry," he said. "They're still here." He patted his chest. "My wife and my son will always live in my heart." He took Aerith's hand and placed it over her chest. "From what I know, if your heart is trying to tell you something, you should stop and listen. Never ever stop believing in it."

Aerith nodded and smiled at him. Cid smiled back, and he then stood up from the bed.

"There's something I want to give you," he said, walking to his cupboard drawers. He took a key out of his pocket and opened one as Aerith walked up from behind him. He took out an old dusty case and set it carefully on top of the drawer. He slowly lifted up the lid, revealing the most beautiful thing Aerith had ever seen.

It was a tiara, made out of white gold and diamonds. Its elegant design was just breathtaking. Lightly decorated with diamonds around the rim, in the most beautiful pattern there could ever be, like glittering drops of dew.

Cid gently took it in his hands and turned around to Aerith. He smiled.

"This was Shera's," he said, looking at it fondly. "She wore it at our wedding, and now I want you to wear it at yours." He carefully raised the tiara over her head and placed it neatly on her hair. Aerith gasped with awe as she reached up to touch its magnificence. Cid cupped her face in his hands as he smiled at her like a proud father.

"You've always been like a daughter to me," he told her. "And you're all grown up now." He smiled again. "My Aerith is all grown up." Aerith beamed and wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

"I love you, Uncle Cid," she muttered softly in his ear. Cid hugged her back warmly.

"I love you too, sweetheart," he told her. He pulled away and looked her right in the eye.

"Never give up on your heart, never stop believing or you'll just live to regret it." Aerith nodded. Cid pinched her cheek softly and kissed her forehead. He touched the tiara gently. "Take good care of it. It means a lot to me." She nodded again, keeping her word. Cid smiled again and left.

Aerith walked over in front of the mirrors and stared at herself.

If Cid's right and my heart is trying to tell me something, something about Cloud, Aerith's smile faded slightly. She looked down at her engagement ring and sighed. God, I hope things won't happen the way I fear it would. I really do.

The Phil Cup tournament had just finished. Leon and Yuffie walked out of the Coliseum, clearly exhausted.

"Well," Yuffie breathed. "At leastwe got the money." She clutched her stomach, groaning with pain. "Man, this cramp chose a really bad time to cramp up like this."

Leon let out a weary sigh and handed her a bottle of water.

"You overdid it a little," he said monotonically. "Try to take it easy next time." Yuffie slurped on her bottle and nodded. She noticed a bruise on Leon's arm.

"Ooh boy," Yuffie said, grinning cheekily. "You didn't exactly take it easy, either. Your fiancée isn't going to be too happy with that, Squall."

"That's Leon, thanks," he replied robotically, getting a little bored of her mockery. "Come on, let's get back to the Gummi Ship so we can go home."

Leon walked ahead towards the gates. Yuffie followed, but froze when she something in the Coliseum caught her attention. Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open. Could it be?

Leon turned around. "Yuffie!" She looked back at him. "Something wrong?" He gestured her to hurry up, then went ahead.

Yuffie sighed and shot a glance back at the Coliseum. She quickly ran after Leon.

That's so strange. Am I losing my mind? For a second there I thought I saw a man with spiky blonde hair.

For a moment… I could have sworn I saw Cloud.