Hey guys! i hope you enjoy it!

Today is your birthday; you spent all day with Riley and Vincent. At least Vincent understands why you hate your birthday so much, you were thankful he never brought it up. Even though you didn't want to celebrate, Riley spent most of the day planning little ways to celebrate it like serving you breakfast in bed and giving you a birthday cupcake. You had to admit it was pretty cute and you knew he meant well. So far none of his plans triggered any bad memories. Vincent bought you some new clothes, you tried to refuse at first but he insisted that you needed them and he wanted to buy them. The three of you didn't return to seventh heaven until it was already dark.

(Cloud's POV)

As Autumn walked into the bar and everyone yelled surprise, you saw the shock and fear in her eyes, the telltale signs of trauma, that went unnoticed by everyone else. She covered her face, as tears started streaming down her cheeks. Riley reached out to her but couldn't grasp her. Then she ran, grasping the ring on her necklace. Riley instantly ran after her. Vincent was furious, you could hear him yelling as you ran after Autumn. You didn't even realize what you were doing until you were out the door and running down the street.

You found Riley a block away from the bar. "Go home kid."

"But my sister" he cried as you grabbed his arm to stop him.

You kneeled down to his level "Riley I'm going to find her, go back to the bar"

Riley nodded and started to run back to the bar, but then he stopped "Cloud" you turned to look at him "I know you care about us, I just wish you'd show it more often," Riley is the smartest eight year old ever and the first person to say what everyone has been thinking. An eight year old is the only one to call you out on your shit.

You wandered around Edge and couldn't find a trace of Autumn, at least when you go missing, everyone knows to look at the church. You sighed in frustration when you heard someone softly crying at the park. It was a pathetic excuse for a park with only two swings and a slide. Autumn was on one of the swings playing with the ring on her necklace and crying. You realized now that you recognized the ring; you were there when Jace bought it. You, Zack and Jace had a day off in Midgar right before Jace became a SOLDIER first class. Jace spent all of his savings on it.

You pushed those thoughts away as you approached her as quietly as you could, fearing that she would be startled if you made any loud sounds.

"What is it Cloud?" Autumn asked between sniffles, she didn't bother to look up. How did she hear you?

"You're crying"

"Really? I hadn't noticed," she said laughing sarcastically. You didn't understand how she could laugh at her own pain.

"Do you want to talk?" you asked awkwardly.

That caught Autumn off guard. She was speechless for a few moments but finally nodded a yes.

You sat on the other swing and waited a few awkward moments for her to speak, when she didn't you said the first thing you thought of. "Why do you hate your birthday so much?"

Autumn sniffled. "You should know this date, you were there after all, It's the fourth anniversary of the Nibelheim Incident"

You were shocked that you actually forgot that that was today, "you weren't in Nibelheim, so what happened?" you asked.

She wiped away a few stray tears then looked at you and spoke. "I slept really late that morning. Jace and Zack woke me up. I was so upset the day before because I thought I wasn't going to see them. Jace tried to get Zack to leave us alone all morning," she laughed and sniffled, you had to admit Autumn was in no way an ugly crier. "Eventually we got Zack distracted by my step father Zander," she turned to you, "you must have known his brother Angeal"

"Angeal had a brother?" you questioned, as soon as you asked you felt stupid, after all she just said that he was Angeal's brother.

Autumn nodded, "Zander was almost 10 years older than Angeal, he was a First class SOLDIER, but he was injured on a mission when I was little, my mom was the doctor who took care of him" she said with a slight smile.

"Riley uses Hewley so why do you use the last name Knight?" you asked curiously

"Knight is my mother's maiden name, my dad walked out on us right after I was born, but Zander let Riley choose which last name he wanted to use" she giggled.

You nodded thoughtfully, and then she continued. Autumn explained that Jace asked if she was ready to marry him later that day, she looked so happy but you knew there wasn't a happy ending. "I was so happy, I was also a bit scared that Zander would kill him, but Jace had already gotten my parent's blessing." She giggled slightly "I was the last person in town to know, though I didn't mind. We decided that after we celebrated my birthday we'd elope, and then go to Midgar to start our new lives. I didn't know till some Turks captured me a year later that Jace was rushing everything because he ran away from SOLDIER after he refused to be experimented on any longer, he wanted us to be away from there before anyone came looking for him."

"I helped him escape" you told her, you felt kind of proud of that, you thought it would make Autumn think of you as a hero. It was a bit childish. "Zack and I hid him on the supply truck"

"You sound so proud of that Spiky," she playfully elbowed you, "I know you helped him. Jace told me all about how you and Zack snuck him to Nibelheim"

Now you just felt silly, as if sensing your discomfort Autumn said "It was very heroic of you two, I know the consequences would have been bad if you were caught."

"Zack had to leave in the early afternoon. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. That night my mom baked my favorite cake, and when everyone was singing happy birthday, we heard an explosion. Jace told me to go up to my room but I never listen, so I followed him out the door. Half of the town was already on fire. Zander ran outside with his sword, we tried to get him to stop because he was slightly crippled from his injury but he wouldn't listen. Sephiroth came out of one of the houses; there was blood all over masamume. We were so confused; we figured out that Sephiroth went insane when he killed Zander right in front of us." She paused holding back tears. "Jace fought him, while I went to find whoever was still alive." She paused to play with the ring on her necklace. "It all happened so fast, my mother died in the fires, the only people I could find were my brother, Alyssa, Ryan and Jeremy. None of us knew what to do. Jace was quickly losing the fight. I remember seeing him on the ground, I knew he was dying. I was so angry I started yelling at Sephiroth, I even grabbed Jace's sword and attacked him. I was so foolish. Sephiroth left me with a scar. I don't know how I had the strength to move, I almost died from blood loss, but I got to Jace, and he died in my arms" she finished as fresh tears streamed down her face.

"I'm sorry," you said quietly, for some reason you felt compelled to reach out to her. You softly put your hand on her back; it was the only way you could think of to comfort her. Absently you lightly rubbed her back, you could feel the jagged flesh of her scar through her thin shirt.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to get so upset," she sobbed in embarrassment "you're just so easy to talk to"

You were speechless, in the last four years you've barely talked to anyone, let alone been easy to talk to. You felt a strange urge to hug her, but your feelings of guilt prevented you.

"Its alright" you paused "I'm going to protect you" you said awkwardly, Autumn looked up at you, "Jace would have wanted me to," you answered her silent question.

She smiled, "thank you Cloud, you know you're the first person I've felt comfortable with in four years." You couldn't help but laugh, Autumn was so strange, but a good strange. "what's this?" she gasped "Did I made Cloud Strife laugh? Who are you and what have you done with him?" she giggled.

"I can laugh, most people just aren't funny" you replied, it was true, Cid and Barret's jokes were corny and Tifa always killed jokes.

A few moments passed. You felt content just siting with her, she didn't force you to talk like Tifa does, she didn't constantly take shots at you like Barret, she didn't annoy you like Yuffie, and thankfully she wasn't drunk like Cid. You had to admit it was nice.

"Hey Cloud?"

"Hum?"

"You can, ah…you can take your hand off my back now..." she awkwardly trailed off.

Your eyes widened in embarrassment as a light pink shade spread across your face. You pulled your hand away as fast as you could move. Good thing she wasn't looking at you.

Autumn giggled as she stood up. "Its alright" she stretched a little bit "come on Spiky we should get home, we've been talking for hours, look the sun is rising" she pointed out.

You nodded, stretching as you stood. It felt like the two of you just started talking. You glanced at the sunrise behind Autumn, her pale skin seemed to glow in the soft light. You must have gotten distracted because Autumn started to leave without you.

As you caught up with her you started rambling, it was as if your voice decided to stop listening to your brain. "I enjoyed talking to you."

"It was nice," she agreed, "thanks again Cloud."