Her Letter (AU)
November. A whole year after they found him, alive and well, living quietly in a nameless town with a hundred bullet scars and a tale of dogged survival. A year after they told him Aerith was dead.
They're all supportive, even the strangers and the teenagers and the weirdo ex-Turk who may or may not have been in the coffin he saw that one time.
Tifa, the girl from the photograph, brought him up to speed. About Cloud, and his belief that he'd been in SOLDIER; their adventures saving the planet, and Sephiroth.
She drops by often. There's something caring about her, almost motherly. Cloud drops by, too, slightly gloomier than he remembers him. Zack tells him he needs to man up, and Cloud gives him a wry, unwilling smile.
"Gotta live in your own future, Cloud," he winks. "After all, we kinda shared the past."
She's there with them, on the day they finally say goodbye to that past. They each brought a burden. In Cloud's hand, the photograph from Nibelheim. In Zack's, Aerith's letter. Gently, they allow the November wind to carry them away, spiralling into the sky. Tifa watches as her warriors bid farewell to who they were, and looks forward to who they'll be. As they walk back, Zack catches her arm and grins his thanks.