Disclaimer (Should have put this in the first chapter): I do NOT own any thing in this story. Except the plot, but even then, it is just a modified Squenix plot.

Aerith stood up and ran over to Cloud. She wrapped her arms around him for a tight hug and planted a small kiss on his left cheek. Aerith had trapped Cloud's arms at his sides, they both knew Cloud's superhuman strength could break Aerith's grip but he was too stunned to.

Aerith let go and repeated the process for each present member of Avalanche. Tifa and Yuffie returned the hugs and Vincent merely moved his arms away from his sides so they would not be trapped.

As she stepped away everyone recovered from the shock their gazes instantly went to her wrist where the small black orb hung from a chain. Everyone knew there was only one object that could be completely devoid of light and still glow.

"Aerith . . . How are you . . . Alive?" Cloud asked still completely dumbfounded "And why do you have . . . That?"

"To answer both question's," Aerith said, her angelic voice soothing everyone immediately "Gran Pulse wanted the Black Materia to have a guardian and it trusted me to not let anyone use it."

"A guardian against what?" Fang asked the Cetra.

"We don't need to worry about anything like that anymore. Sephiroth is in the life stream and can no longer hurt anybody." Aerith was the only person who could speak the name of the living nightmare with a hint of pity. Cloud was curious as to how that was possible, mainly because Sephiroth had killed her.

As Aerith spoke the calming words to the group Lightning developed a very minor dislike for the Cetra. Aerith had the perfect figure, voice, and hair, and Lightning disliked that about the woman.

Lightning was instantly curious about why those thoughts had just come up, she could not remember ever thinking like that since she became a soldier. Tifa was right when she said everyone was different around Aerith.

"By the way, the planet will make sure people can still live on Cocoon," Everyone nodded at Aerith's statement but only understood the last part. Aerith turned to Snow and met his gaze "I think Serah would like to get married as soon as possible."

Aerith ushered everyone out of the very old church and stayed at the back of the group with Tifa. The martial artist loved having Aerith around, the wild spirited woman made sure there was never a dull moment and she was the perfect person to talk to. Tifa needed to talk to someone, she had a secret that was starting to become too much to handle.

"Aerith," Tifa whispered to the flower girl "I'm in love . . ." Aerith raised one eyebrow to show that she was interested ". . . With Cloud," Aerith had a look that said 'anything new?' and knew that Tifa hated when she did that.

"What makes you say that?" Aerith asked fully knowing what Tifa meant but thought it would be better for Tifa to talk it out.

"I mean, when I'm near him my heart starts beating fast, my mouth and throat go dry, and my stomach gets butterflies," Tifa had a very uncomfortable tone "I try to think of him as my brother but a part of me always reminds me that we are in no way related. It's been this way since Cloud recovered from the Mako poisoning."

"Tifa," Aerith said in a comforting tone "If he really is your one true love, don't let anyone or anything stand in your way."

"But he doesn't feel the same way about me," Tifa said sadly.

"How do you know?" Aerith asked worried about how far she should be pushing this subject.

"After we, well, Cloud and her, defeated . . . No, killed Sephiroth, they made out. Right in front of all of us!" Tifa said with murderous rage very obvious in her voice. Aerith was instantly worried about Lightning's safety.

The group walked out of the crystallized ruins of Midgar and were greeted by Barret, Red, and Cid with a cigarette, and Amodar. Amodar informed them that they had brought a transport for the group and the Highwind had been towed to the Bodhum base to be repaired.

One Hour Later, Guardian Corps Transport

"So," Snow said to break the silence "Back to civilian life?"

"I guess so," Cloud said quietly knowing that without any large-scale threats, life was going to get boring quite quickly. He turned to Amodar as an idea popped up "Any chance I could look at the Corps inventory for a new sword?"

"For a hero of the Sephiroth crisis?" Amodar said with obvious surprise "I guess I'll look the other way. But just this once." They both chuckled lightly at the small joke.

Lightning, who was sitting with the former l'Cie across from Avalanche, smiled lightly at the blond soldier before he glanced over at Aerith for an instant. She looked at all the Avalanche members and noticed they all would throw a glance at the small black orb with fear in their eyes. The schoolbooks had said it was what Sephiroth had used to call Meteor, call Cocoon.

"Why?" Amodar replied "Why do you want a new sword, that is."

"Well the Buster Sword is starting to hit its limit. So I'm gonna leave it with . . . one of my friends and see if I can learn to use something new."

"Well, Farron will have to take you to the armory. I trust she doesn't have any issues with that," Lightning only shook her head in response.

Vanille sat quietly and listened to the two men speak and tried to read the others. She admitted to herself long ago that she was horrible at reading deeper emotions, though she could tell when someone was hiding something. As her gaze travelled to Tifa, Vanille saw the martial artist look at Cloud then look away quickly.

Is she in love with him? Vanille thought as she tried her best to see into Tifa's mind.

"Where will you all stay?" Serah asked, wanting to offer her and Lightnings house to Avalanche.

"Most likely on my ship," Cid said between puffs on his cigarette "Unless you guys made arrangements while I wasn't around."

"Me and Serah have an extra room," Lightning said in a semi-friendly tone "And a pull out bed. So we have space for a couple of people," Lightning felt a piercing gaze on her and saw that Vincent was the one looking at her. She did not doubt that Vincent had noticed her subliminal message to Cloud but hoped that the others had missed it.

Another Hour Later, Bodhum Guardian Corps Base

The transport lightly drifted downwards until the landing gear touched down on the concrete landing zone. As the entire group, and Amodar, got off the small ship they were met with the sight of the Highwind's right turbine engine being repaired. Cid started walking towards his airship immediately. Cloud took the Buster Sword off his back and handed it to Vincent, who could hold it as easy as Cloud.

"Put it somewhere where it won't be damaged," Cloud said to the gunslinger as he let go of the handle.

"I have yet to see it get scratched," Vincent said absently as he began heading to the Highwind. He swung the sword onto his shoulder as if it were a stick.

Vincent had barely gone three steps when he heard Cid calling for Cloud. He turned and informed Cloud that Cid wanted to see him. Vincent handed off the Buster Sword back to Cloud as the blond ran by.

Tifa's eyes went wide as she just remembered something important to her.

"What's the date?" Tifa asked Amodar quickly.

"August thirteenth, if I'm correct. Why?" The response he got was Tifa taking off in a sprint towards the airship.

Lightning did some mental calculations and realized it had been roughly a month and a half since the Purge, one month and thirteen days since her birthday. Lightning was curious as to why the date seemed so important to Tifa and decided that she would find out soon enough without asking.

"What is it Cid?" Cloud asked in a polite tone as he caught up to the pilot.

"Happy belated Birthday," Cid said quietly as he handed a small metallic object to Cloud. Cloud looked at it and noticed it looked exactly like his earring, but four times the size.

"Thanks, Cid," Cloud said, a little surprised "Wait, let me guess. If I tell anyone about this, I'm going to be walking everywhere?" Cid laughing confirmed that Cloud had guessed correctly.

"Cloud, go up to the ship," Tifa said when she got to them "I have something to give you," She saw Cid give her a suspicious look and a smirk "No, nothing like that you perv." Tifa said as she gave Cid a playful shove.

Cid climbed up the rope ladder first with Cloud behind him and Tifa last. Cid walked to the far side railing and started to look at the ocean side city of Bodhum. Tifa and Cloud went inside the ship and towards the former conference room.

He and Tifa had managed to convince Cid to convert the conference room into a bunkroom but it was not an easy task. Seeing as how Cid Highwind is a near immovable object when it comes to changing his airship, the two warriors had to jump through thousands of hoops.

"Close your eyes," Tifa said in commanding tone. Cloud gave a shrug and did as she said "I bought part of it and made some of it, so if it doesn't fit just let me know. Open."

Cloud opened his eyes and looked at what Tifa was holding. It was a black outfit that was similar to his SOLDIER uniform but had several major differences. Cloud did not know what to say to Tifa, so he just let his eyes speak.

"You don't have to say anything," Tifa said cheerfully "And I worked on it for most of the time you were suffering from Mako poisoning, if that's what you're thinking. Well I'll go back outside, so put it on and let everyone see it at the same time."

"Tifa, could you look after the Buster Sword for me, at least, until we all find places to live?" Cloud asked with a small hint of disdain for himself. It's better than letting it rust in the middle of nowhere. He thought, basically trying to convince Zack to forgive him for trading up his sword. Tifa gave a small nod and handed the outfit to Cloud.

He grabbed the clothes from Tifa and waited until the door closed to change into the 'new' clothes.

Any guesses at Cloud's new outfit/costume?

Sorry this chapter took a long while to appear but I found out that it is hard to write when I don't have any guidelines to work with.

Please leave a review.