kudos to anyone who still reads this. updates will forever be unpredictable. reminder this story has nothing to do with the remake, its based on the original game and advent children.

"Explain why you met with Ryan"

This time Cloud stood between you and Damon, if Ryan is involved it can't be good. Damon stood up, he seemed genuinely confused.

"I met him at the Gold Saucer a few months back" Damon replied. "I'm pretty ashamed to say I was drunk off my ass hoping my liver would kill me because I couldn't accept that Adaline is gone."

Vincent crossed his arms sending a glare to Damon, Cloud just stayed on guard more concerned about your safety.

"He told me he was from Hazelton and that he was your boyfriend's brother," you absently frowned, losing Jace and Melody was hard for everyone but Ryan changed so much after their deaths."is that not true?"

Cloud began to speak but stopped himself and turned to you. You bit your lip trying to find the right words to say. " It's not the whole truth." You paused a moment remembering Jace and his mischievous grin. The pain never really goes away; it just dulls in time. "Ryan's brother was Jace and he was my boyfriend but I'm assuming Ryan neglected to tell you that Sephiroth murdered Jace the day of the Nibelheim incident."

Upon hearing that Damon's eyes widened, it was clear from his body language that he had no idea. " I thought he was maybe this big fellow's brother…" He trailed off, pointing to Cloud.

You shook your head. "Ryan isn't a good person" was your only explanation. You didn't feel the need to inform him of who your current boyfriend is, mostly because you're under no obligation to explain yourself and this is all, well a lot to take in. "This is a lot" you mumbled absently biting your lip.

"I think you should leave" Cloud said suddenly. Damon looked at you but you looked away unsure of your feelings. "For now" Cloud added after a moment. "This is alot to take in" he said as he glanced at you, "maybe come back in a few days?*

Damon's face was hard to read but honestly a few days would give you some time to sort out your emotions especially because you've gone through anger, indifference, curiosity and empathy all in the last 15 minutes.

"Leave," Vincent said with a glare. Damon took a few steps back in fear.

"Vinny play nice" you told him then turned to Damon, "Cloud is right, this is a lot, I never thought I'd meet you and I don't really know how to feel about all this"

"I understand" Damon said quietly, he looked pretty sad but was trying to hide it.

"Why don't you come back tomorrow night?" You asked.

"I'd like that"

You smiled at Damon. He awkwardly went in for a hug but you dodged into Cloud's arms. That's just too much for you. Damon looked a bit hurt but understood. He waived and left. Once he was out the door you released a breath you didn't realize you had been holding.

You felt Cloud's arms encircle you, you looked up at him and smiled. "Thank you for being so wonderful," you told him. Cloud just kissed the top of your head. You turned around in his arms, "I'm sorry I made you leave earlier, I don't know what I was thinking, or feeling and I shouldn't have pushed you away I'm so sorry.." you rambled until Cloud kissed you to silence you.

After a moment Vincent cleared his throat and Cloud reluctantly pulled away. "Don't worry" Cloud told you. You just hugged him, thank that he's here for you.

"So is anyone gonna tell me why Vincent threw that drunk on the ground and why he's pouting now?" Tifa asked as she approached, you reluctantly pulled away from Cloud. Vincent just huffed and took a seat at the bar.

"How busy are you? It's quite a story" you told her as you sat next to Vincent and Tifa went behind the bar. Cloud sat next to you.

"Well Vincent did scare away most of my customers" Tifa said, sending a glare at Vincent.

"You're not getting out of explaining yourself Vinny" you told him before turning back to Tifa. By now Cid and Barrett have joined you and Tifa began making drinks for everyone. "So turns out your new regular who Vinny threw on the ground is my biological father" you told her.

"Wait what?" Tifa gasped. "How do you know?" She paused a moment "why doesn't anyone else look surprised? How did you all know?"

"Don't look at me like that girl," Barrett said, putting his hand up. "We just found out too."

Before Tifa could unleash her wraith you decided to start explaining. "He had apparently been looking for me, but I figured out that he was my father. Mom never told me much but she did mention he had a crude homemade tattoo of her name on her arm."

"So what did he want?" Tifa asked curiously as she passed out drinks. Vincent huffed again.

"I think he just wanted to meet me" you said, still having some mixed feelings. "He's going to come back tomorrow" then you turned to Vincent and said " and Vincent is not going to throw him on the floor" you turned back to Tifa.

You must have absently sighed because Tifa spoke, "Hey, it's gonna be ok, we're all here for you no matter what."

You gave her a small smile, "I know" you said to her, then addressed all of your friends "thank you guys, I really can't explain how much you all mean to me."

Cloud put an arm around you as Barrett and Cid eagerly agreed. And so you spent the better part of the next hour trying to explain to Tifa what happened and listening to Vincent explain himself. As it turns out Vinny had been tracking Damon for a while but lost track of him around the time he was visiting Alyssa and Jeremy, surprised to find him talking to you in the middle of Seventh Heaven.

"What I don't get is why now?" Barrett asked, not really seeking an answer.

"I mean he said he's been looking for the last few months after he found out mom's death" you replied.

"Something ain't right about it" Barrett crossed his arms gazing off in thought.

"I don't like that he was in contact with that Ryan feller" Cid commented.

"I don't either but I don't think it was intentional, I mean he really seemed like he had no idea." you replied.

"That could have just been because of Vincent," Tifa added. Vincent seemed like he was about to speak but sighed and glared at Tifa instead.

"What do you think, Spike? You've been awfully quiet." Barret asked.

Cloud took a moment to gather his thoughts, "Well I don't like it, but it's up to Autumn." he nodded to you.

All of your friends looked at you expectantly. "I guess we'll see, I told him to come back tomorrow and we'll talk. If I don't like where it's going I'll cut all ties" you told them.