The church was different than you imagined. At one time it must have been magnificent but now it is in ruins, though it still held a certain beauty about it, the type of beauty that occurs when nature reclaims the land. There were vines of ivy and wild flowers that grew within every crack. You had heard stories from Zack about this church, how he once fell through the ceiling and Aeirth had helped him. Once Zack met Aeirth you knew he was in love with her, you absently frowned, they were in the lifestream with Jace now.

Tifa opened the doors and Marlene ran in.

he's not here

You could have sworn you heard a feminine voice ringing in your ears. You looked around but didn't see anyone.

He left a little while ago

Your eyes widened for a moment you could have sworn you heard Zack but thats impossible. You looked to Tifa and Marlene who was now running down the aisle heading to where a small patch of flowers were growing in sunlight that came in through a Zack-sized hole in the ceiling. It was clear that no one else heard anything.

He'll be back soon, just don't give up on him, I trust him with you

Maybe you finally lost it, that last voice was definitely Jace, you'd recognize it anywhere. You looked around trying to clear your thoughts as you caught up with Marlene and Tifa.

"Does Cloud live here?" Marlene asked, you glanced around and saw a bed roll, a box, and a few used bandages.

"I guess he does.." Tifa trailed off as she looked around. You hoped that they wouldn't find the bandages but you knew it was inevitable.

"Whats this?" Marlene asked opening the box.

Tifa shook her head as you replied, "its materia, " upon seeing Marlene's confused look, you clarified, "the stuff Yuffie looks for"

Then Marlene spotted the bandages, "Its just like Denzel and Riley! Is Cloud sick too?" she asked.

"Why didn't he say something?" Tifa questioned and looked to you, you couldn't look at her, "Autumn you knew?" she questioned in a small voice, you couldn't identify the emotion.

"It wasn't my secret to tell" you replied honestly, "I've known for a few months" you admitted. Tifa nodded thoughtfully, she seemed upset but thankfully not with you.

"Did Cloud leave because he's sick?" Marlene asked.

You turned away unsure how to answer her, so she looked towards Tifa. "He just wants to fight alone" she said with a sigh.

"Fight?"

"No I don't think he will" Tifa said more to herself, it seems she taking the news of Cloud's geostigma worse than you could have imagined.

"Tifa" you said, she glanced at you then away again, "He'll fight" you told her.

"I hope you're right" she told you, then turned to Marlene, "let's go home"

"We can't" she said with a stomp of her foot, "Cloud's not here and we have to find Denzel"

"I know sweetie, I miss them too" Tifa said sympathetically.

"We'll find them" you told her.

"say what if they came back?" Tifa said, you could tell she was trying to be optimistic for Marlene's sake.

"We all go home" Marlene said.

"Not until he gets a lecture" Tifa teased.

"Oh he's gonna get one hell of a lecture" you mumbled more to yourself.

(Cloud)

You looked out from the cliff overlooking Edge to your left and the ruins of Midgar to your right. Spending time at Zack's memorial always makes you feel better, but this time it pissed you off, someone had knocked over the buster sword and stepped on the photo Autumn had left here. You had a pretty strong feeling that it was Kadaj. After you set the sword back in its proper place you went to put the photo back. Autumn keep the same photo in her room, your gaze lingered on it as you wiped the dirt away, Autumn looked so happy here… you didn't want to dwell on that thought.

As you stood back up and looked at the sword you said, "I said I'd live both of our lives. Easy to make that promise but i don't think I can keep it" you said it almost spitefully. In your mind you'd never be able to live up to Zack's legacy, and that old guilt had returned in full force as you struggled with yourself for trying to steal Jace's life.

why do you torture yourself?

You looked back at the sword, you could have sworn you heard Zack's voice.

You've never let us down

You shook your head, now hearing Jace's voice too, you really hoped you weren't going crazy again. Its been a few years but part of you is always scared that you'll fall back into that delusion, life was easier to deal with when you thought you were Zack, but it wasn't you.

"I swore that I would never forget. I tried. But I…" You trailed off

Don't pretend that you're sad. Your eyes widened, it couldn't be. Why tremble with anger that's not even there? You clutched your head suddenly dizzy, maybe Rufus was right, maybe Sephiroth is coming back. Face it, Cloud. All you are is an empty puppet. You held your head in pain as another geostigma attack took over.

(Autumn)

You took one last look at the bed roll where Cloud has been sleeping, you thought back to the night that Cloud argued with you about sleeping on a couch, meanwhile he's been sleeping on the floor of a ruined church. You turned back toward the exit and followed Marlene and Tifa. As you approached the exit, the doors flew open. For a moment you held out hope that it would be Cloud but it wasn't.

A tall man, with short silver hair entered, for a moment you panicked thinking this man was Sephiroth. You looked at Tifa who was already getting into a fighting stance.

"Wanna play?" the man asked as you stood in front of Marlene and Tifa prepared to defend. "I guess thats a no" he continued. "Where's mother?" he asked as he wandered down the aisle and stomped on the flowers holding his nose in apparent disgust "Ugh gross!" He said childishly, before turning back to you "Hey, where's mother/" he asked again.

You directed Marlene to find a place to hide, and glanced down at your boot, glad that you put your dagger there, you had stopped carrying it months ago, but with Cloud gone you started carrying it again.

"Theres no one here" Tifa called to him.

"Fine. play with me" he said darkly. You did not like the sound of that. "This'll be fun" he said with a grin as Tifa pulled on her gloves and you took out your dagger.

Tifa ran at him, skillfully throwing a few punches and kicks, you hung back, you were in no way a trained fighter, you knew some defensive moves but other than that you didn't really know how to use your dagger, but you'd defend Tifa and Marlene with it if it came down to that. Tifa kicked the man back and he landed near you, after he stood back up he made a grab for you, you responded by slashing the dagger at him.

"Now that's no fair! No one said we could use weapons" The man whined childishly. You glanced back at Tifa, was this guy serious?

Tifa and the man began fighting again, after several moments Tifa flung him across the church, where he landed in some pews. You waited several seconds for the man to emerge, you were confused when he didn't but kept your guard up. Then you heard a fanfare, you looked around curiously then spotted the man's arm holding a cell phone first then the rest of him emerged as he answered the call. "She's not here. I'm not crying" the man yelled into the phone, but he was clearly crying. "No I got it. I'll bring the girl" he said then turned back to Tifa as he ended the call, "Where were we?" he asked.

This time when he and Tifa fought, he easily overpowered Tifa. He was trying to force her to the ground and Tifa was putting up a great fight but she was clearly losing. You rushed at the man and slashed at his achilles tendon, you may not know how to effectively use the dagger but you know where to slash to cripple. Seconds before you made contact, the man dodged your attack and in the same motion kicked you. The dagger fell from your hands as you were thrown into a few pews. You hit hard, knocking the wind out of you. As you struggled to breathe let alone stand you watched helplessly as the man prepared to deal a fatal blow to Tifa. You cried out as Marlene skid into the fight and threw the materia at the man. You were amazed it worked, it distracted the man long enough that he forgot all about Tifa but turned and began advancing towards Marlene menacingly.

"Cloud!" Marlene called out helplessly.

"Just run" Tifa told her frustrated, her voice was weak as she winced in pain.

"Don't stop till you're safe!" you added.

Marlene hesitated for a moment looking between you and Tifa before nodding and running off. You struggled to stand fearing that the man would turn his attention back to Tifa who could barely move.

"Awe no fun, the brat is getting away" he said,

"You stay away from her" you told him as you stood, the dagger was a few feet away, their no way you could reach it before he does.

"I'm done playing with you" he said as he walked out of the church, you hoped that you stalled him long enough for Marlene to get a head start, she's a smart girl and you trusted that she wouldn't stop until she is safe.

You fell to you knees in pain. Breathing was painful but not difficult, a sure sign of bruised or even broken ribs but definitely not a punctured lung. You felt so helpless, unable to help Tifa, unable to stop that man from going after to Marlene, you got kicked once and you're out of commission. You struggled to make your way over to Tifa who was struggling to stay conscious.

"Tell me what hurts" you told her.

"Everything" she mumbled absently.

"Any difficulty breathing?" you asked, you were dizzy and starting to see spots at the edge of your vision.

"No," she replied as she wiped her face, upon seeing the blood she added "maybe a bloody nose"

"any nausea or dizziness?" you asked as you checked her reflexes, so far no signs of broken bones, she would be badly bruised and sore soon.

"maybe a little lightheadedness" Tifa replied as she struggled to sit but fell back, in a daze she could hardly keep her eyes open. "Autumn you don't look so good either"

You tried to ignore the waved of exhaustion that hit you, this is the one thing you can do, you can take care of people and treat their injuries, you can't black out not now. Tifa spoke but she seemed so far away, you couldn't understand what she was saying. The last thing you remember seeing was the Zack shaped hole in the ceiling before you blacked out.

(Cloud)

You made your way back to the church freaked out that you could have sworn you heard Sephiroth's voice and even more freaked out that you had another geostigma attack, they were becoming more frequent. As you approached the doors to the church you saw that the door was slightly ajar, with your luck it was would be an ambush so you kept your guard up as you entered. At first you didn't notice anything out of the ordinary but then you saw Tifa and Autumn lying in the patch of flowers, you rushed to them calling out their names but they were unresponsive.

Once you were close you carefully pulled Autumn into your arms, she was breathing steadily but did not wake up. "what happened to you?" you mumbled to yourself as you carefully caressed her face. She had a few visible bruises, you then glanced at Tifa she was breathing but not conscious. You looked back down at Autumn, "This is my fault, I wasn't here to protect you." You closed your eyes feeling a wave of nausea hit as another geostigma attacked started, this couldn't happen now.

"Cloud" a weak voice said, you opened your eyes to see Autumn, barely conscious but she still had a smile for you. "You're here" she tried to reach out to you but was too weak to do so.

"Autumn" you mumbled holding her close as she lost consciousness again. You tried to fight the nausea trying to figure out a way to get Autumn and Tifa back to the bar safely,

"you're late" Tifa said as she struggled to sit up.

"Who did this?" you asked still trying to fight the geostigma attack.

"He didn't say" Tifa said as she began to lose consciousness. "Marlene" Tifa said suddenly as she passed out again.

You looked around frantically, Marlene was here too? But all you saw was your box of materia now empty and a few remnants of used materia around. Your vision rapidly became blurry, you knew you were losing to the geostigma, but you couldn't fight it any longer. As you lost consciousness your only concern was making sure you didn't hurt Autumn as you fell.

(Reno)

"Why are we even here?" Rude asked turning back to you. "Rufus gave us orders, he's gonna be pissed when he finds out we ignored them."

"Chill out Rude, you worry too much" you told him as you looked at the church in front of you, you knew Cloud's been hiding out here for months so you figured it would be a good place to look, "Alyssa called me pretty frantic, said my girl Autumn and Tifa left this morning with Marlene to look for Denzel and she hasn't heard from them"

You thought it was strange that the doors to the church were wide open. As you and Rude entered you were shocked to find Cloud laying in a heap in the flower patch, as you neared you found that Autumn and Tifa were also there

"Oh shit" Rude mumbled under his breath.

You rushed to Autumn's side, you couldn't help but notice that her head was resting on Cloud's arm. It pissed you off but you tried not to let your mind linger on that, you knew you needed to get these three back to seventh heaven. You went to pick up Autumn but Rude stopped you, you shot him a glare.

"Don't give me that look, I'll get the chicks, you get Spiky" Rude ordered.

Something about his tone told you it was a bad idea to argue right now so you reluctantly followed orders. Rude secured Tifa to his back and carried Autumn bridal style in his arms while you hoisted Cloud over your shoulder. You knew Cloud was a big dude but god damn is he heavy.