Cloud smiled as he looked over at Lightning and Tifa chatting on the sofa. As he walked over to join him, both women paused and looked up at him giggling. Cloud gave Lightning a curious look.

"Hey Light, you wouldn't happen to know anything about my earring would you? I put it on

the dresser earlier and it's suddenly gone missing."

Tifa kicked Lightning's foot. "We don't know anything about it Cloud. Maybe it fell off?"

Lightning smirked. "Yeah it might've fallen behind the dresser or something."

He smirked deviously. "Oh? Well if it fell behind the dresser then why do I see it on your ear?"

She blushed lightly and looked away. Sure enough, his Fenrir earring hung on her ear, glinting in the light of the room. Cloud smiled and shook his head.

"I had planned on buying you one but it seems as though I'll have to get myself a new one instead."

Lightning looked up at him. Tifa giggled and stood, saying she had to go fix dinner. As Cloud took the brunette's spot on the sofa, Lightning moved over so she was pressed against his side. Her blonde lover wrapped his arms around her, feeling a little odd as his thoughts drifted off. Lightning seemed to notice as she poked his cheek.

"Cloud are you okay?"

He shook his head. "I got a call from a friend. He says a new group has suddenly appeared, and he's worried about what it could mean for the Planet."

"Why would that have you worried?"

Cloud looked her dead in the eye. "It started about the same time I started hearing you."

"So you think I might be connected to it?"

He nodded slowly. "I'm just worried you might be in danger. I mean, I know you can take of yourself and all but you don't have much experience with things in this world."

She shrugged. "Well I took to using materia pretty well, and as long as I have my gunblade I can pretty much handle any monster I come across."

He smirked. "What about that behemoth in Nibelheim?"

Lightning rolled her eyes. "I was out of bullets from fighting all those monsters in the mansion…"

He chuckled. "Well Light, you're officially staying with me when you leave this bar. I don't care what you say I am not going to let you be in danger."

The woman started to protest but was silenced by Cloud as he pressed his lips to hers for a brief moment. She muttered and leaned into him. He held her there, listening as the others moved around downstairs. When it suddenly fell silent, he tensed. Gently moving Lightning aside he crept over to the door and peered down the stairs. Lightning crept up beside him, gunblade at the ready. Cloud motioned for her to stay back as he pulled a switchblade from his pocket.

When Marlene's scream echoed up the stairs, Cloud shot down and prepared for a fight. He quickly found it in the form of a masked man towering over a crumbled and twitching Tifa while Marlene cowered in the corner. Denzel was doing his best to defend the little girl with Cloud's smaller fusion sword. Cloud sent a desperate glance toward Tifa as he rushed over to help Denzel. He didn't turn as several gunshots sounded, instead shouting at the kids to look away before he killed their attacker. When he turned to go help Tifa he saw Lightning tying up the other attacker. The masked man shouted profanities while the woman checked on her fallen comrade.

Tifa slowly stirred under Lightning's gentle touch, looking dazed and confused. When she looked up and saw Lightning instead of her attacker, she smiled slightly before letting herself pass out. Denzel set down Cloud's sword and helped Marlene to her feet. The boy looked up at Cloud.

"Is Tifa alright?"

Lightning lifted the woman into her arms. "She's okay Denzel, just a little dazed. She'll be fine once she gets some rest."

Cloud nodded and looked down at the kids. "What happened? Tell me everything."

Marlene hugged Denzel's arm. "We were helping Tifa with dinner when all of a sudden those guys barged in. They asked us where the "warrior girl" was and when we said we didn't know they attacked us."

Denzel watched as Lightning came back down the stairs. "Cloud, is Lightning the warrior girl they were asking about?"

Lightning crossed her arms. "In Valhalla I was Etro's warrior goddess. Maybe my arrival here brought about some of Etro's enemies."

Cloud tilted his head. "Warrior goddess?"

Marlene looked up at Lightning in amazement. "You're a goddess? A real live goddess?"

Lightning laughed quietly. "I guess you could say that."

Cloud looked thoughtful. "Well that explains the armor…"

Lightning smirked and walked over to where she had left the other attacker tied up at. "If any of you need me I'll be interrogating this sick creep in the back yard."

"Why in the back yard?"

"Well I doubt Tifa wants anymore blood on her floors."

"Oh yeah… I better clean that up…"

Marlene grabbed Denzel's hand and started for the stairs. "We'll go check on Tifa!"

Lightning snickered and dragged her captive outside. As Cloud started to gather the cleaning supplies he was aware of the man whimpering and crying out. Shaking his head, he laughed and started to scrub up the blood.

"Damn Tifa'll kill me if she sees her floors like this."