"Did he get his bath for today?" Tommy asked the nurse as she was tending to Cloud.

"Yes." The nurse replied.

"Did you give him his nutrients?" Tommy asked.

"I did."

"Good, I'll make sure he gets more in a few hours when it's my shift."

"Got it." The nurse replied.

Tommy had more or less agreed to let the nurse do her fair share of the work and be allowed into the rotation of taking care of Cloud so no one would burn themselves out. Him, Tifa, and the nurse had devised a schedule where every 3-4 hours where one person would tend Cloud, one would offer that person assistance, and one would rest during that time period.

"Hey Tommy." said Tifa as she walked in, carrying her usual bags of supplies and groceries during her runs to the store.

She placed them on a nearby table and greeted the nurse with a nod, who in turn nodded back.

"Hey Tifa." Tommy replied,

"Any issues getting what we need?"

"Nope." Tifa replied,

"And when you have a second can I speak with you in private?"

"Sure," said Tommy, as he turned his head to face the nurse,

"Take a quick fifteen minute break for now, I can watch him."

The nurse nodded, got up and left the room, leaving Tommy and Tifa along with an absent minded Cloud.

"What do you need?" asked Tommy.

"Do you remember when I said I needed you to answer some questions for me?" said Tifa.

"Yeah," Tommy replied,

"What do you need to know?"

"I need to know what I need to do to restore Cloud." Tifa said,

"You said that I was the key to helping Cloud get back to his true self, but I have no idea what I need to do in order for that to happen." She said,

"Tommy, please…..what am I supposed to do?"

After a few moments of silence, Tommy opened his mouth to speak,

"I don't know." He replied,

"And I'm not the one who said that, my dad did."

"Oh, that's right. I forgot." said Tifa,

"Who is your father? And why does he think I can help Cloud come back?"

"I don't know." Tommy's said again,

"I'm just doing all the things he said in his letter."

"Letter? What letter?"

"It was after the Forgotten City." said Tommy,

"After Mr. Freeman exiled me from the group, I decided I was going to continue my search for Sunkist. I know at this point it's a fruitless endeavor but it was all I had to go for." He said,

"I was gonna go back to Costa Del Sol where I first met you and the others, but on the way there a postman stopped me and gave me a letter."

"And it was from your father?" asked Tifa.

"That's correct," replied Tommy,

"He told me in it that in a week I had to come here and stand by the shore for Cloud, and I was to take him here and ensure he got the best medical care this place could provide him, all of which he said would be covered by him." He continued,

"He also said that you had to be here so Cloud could be restored to his original self. He didn't tell me why he just said that you were the key."

"And where is your father?"

"I don't know." said Tommy,

"I haven't seen him in decades, not since he dropped me off at the orphanage. The letter he sent me was the first time I've heard from him."

Tifa sighed and shook her head. She still had no idea what Tommy's father wanted her to do for Cloud, and obviously Tommy didn't either. The only way to find out was to ask him directly, but neither her nor Tommy had any idea of where he is.

"Alright," said Tifa,

"If we ever see your dad he'll have a lot of explaining to do."

And truth be told, she was kind of angry with his father in regards to dropping Tommy off at an orphanage and not speaking to him or seeing him in 30 years up until now. That was something she planned to tell him off for.

"I also want to ask you about Gordon."

"What about him?" asked Tommy.

"We learned a little while after the Temple of the Ancients he tasked you with acting as Aerith's bodyguard."

"That's right." Tommy replied, although there was clear guilt in his eyes at the mention of Aerith's name.

"Why did he though?"

"I….I…." Tommy said,

"I can't tell you."

"What?"

"Mr. Freeman told me that I couldn't tell anyone why."

"Gordon told you that?" Tifa asked,

"Why? What does he know?" She said,

"Tommy…..tell me, Gordon isn't here and at this point it doesn't matter if you have to keep secrets for him."

"But I….I can't betray his….." Tommy stopped mid sentence.

He was about to say "Can't betray his trust." But after what happened he felt that it was already too late in that regard.

"He….he said-"

"Tommy, Tifa?" The nurse said from outside,

"Sorry to bother you both but it looks like your friends have returned."

"Alright, we'll be right out!" Tifa replied,

"We'll discuss this later, right now let's go and greet the others."

Tommy and Tifa exited the clinic and saw the rest of the party walking up towards the clinic. Cid greeted them with a wave which Tifa returned.

"Hey guys." Cid greeted them, as he and the others walked up towards the clinic.

"Hey Cid," Tifa replied,

"How are you guys doing?"

"We're doing good more or less." Cid replied,

"How are things with you guys? Any update on Cloud."

"It's been the same." said Tommy,

"We've been alternating on who takes care of him every few hours. But enough about that right now," He said, as he noticed how uncomfortable the topic of Cloud was making Tifa.

"Have you guys made any progress on rescuing Mr. Freeman?"

"Unfortunately not," said Barret,

"From what Cait Sith has told us they have Gordon locked up tight, and he's been trying everything to make sure Rufus doesn't get to the world in his dreams."

"World in his dreams?" asked Tifa,

"What are you talking about?"

"That's a Coomer question." said Yuffie, as she nodded towards Coomer.

"Coomer?" said Tifa,

"What are they talking about?"

Coomer didn't respond.

"Dr. Coomer?" Tifa said.

"It's best if you don't know." Coomer replied, as Tifa gave him a confused look,

"And……..we do have some good news!" Coomer said enthusiastically, while obviously trying to change the subject,

"We've found a way to destroy Benrey!"

"NO YOU HAVEN'T!" Benrey's shouted from above,

"NOT LEGITIMATELY! 1 V 1 ME IN RUST BRO! THEN WE'LL SEE!"

"So I've heard." said Tifa.

Truth be told from what she could gather from Benrey's rants, the group were in the process of destroying passports (which Tifa still questioned the logic of), and from what she heard the day earlier they were making good progress on it.

"How much progress have you made?"

"We've destroyed my passport along with Tommy's, which I hope you don't mind," Coomer said to Tommy.

"I don't." replied Tommy.

"And we just figured we'd stop by here to see how you were all doing!"

"Afterwards we're going to Rocket Town." said Vincent,

"Apparently Shinra has Bubby's passport in the rocket him and Cid worked on."

"And what are you gonna do after that?" asked Tommy.

"What do you mean?" Cid asked.

"I mean what are gonna do in regards to rescuing Mr. Freeman?"

"We still don't know yet." said Cait Sith,

"I'm trying to find a way for everyone to get into Shinra HQ, like you all did earlier when you first rescued Aerith, but I haven't had the time where I don't have eyes on me 24/7 that I can plan it out."

"Not good enough," said Tommy,

"You're probably someone high up in Shinra. Find a way."

"And I told you, I'm try-"

The ground suddenly began to shake. Everyone simultaneously braced their legs as they tried to figure out what was going on.

"What the fuck is this shit!?" Bubby shouted,

"Are we getting hit by an earthquake?"

"I think that's the least of our problems right now Dr. Bubby!" Coomer said, pointing up at the sky,

"Look!"

Everyone looked up and saw a black, metallic like dragon flying above.

"It's one of those damn Weapon's!"

"Crap, what do we do!?" said Yuffie.

Coomer then stepped forward, cracking his knuckles.

"Well that solves that question," said Cait Sith.

Coomer looked up at the Weapon, determination written in his face. The Weapon, somehow sensing it, looked down out Coomer and, without warning, shot down to where Coomer was standing.

"Everyone get out of the way!" Cid shouted,

Everyone but Coomer dove out of the way as far as they could as the Weapon came in with its clawed hand out, hoping to swipe at Coomer.

Coomer was able to move out of the way and jump onto its chest.

The Weapon flew back up into the air with Coomer hanging on. The Weapon and Coomer began to flee away and out of sight with Coomer beginning to climb up its chest while the dragon tried to get Coomer off of it.

"Uh should we….should we try and help?" said Cait Sith.

"Coomer's more than capable! We'd probably just get in the way!" said Cid,

"Right now I need everyone's help getting these villagers out of here!"

He then turned towards Tommy and Tifa.

"And I need you two to secure Cloud and get him to the Highwind!"

Tifa and Tommy didn't respond as they immediately dashed back to the clinic. They ran inside and Tommy, wasting no time nor motion, disconnected Cloud from all the medical equipment he was hooked up to and unlocked his wheelchair.

"You take care of wheeling Cloud!" said Tommy,

"I'll keep you both covered!"

"Got it!" said Tifa, as she grabbed the wheelchair's handles.

They both ran out of the clinic with Cloud in tow. The ground around them began to break apart as they dashed towards the end of the village.

"Keep moving! We're almost there!" Tommy shouted, as they neared the village's exit.

But unfortunately, they weren't fast enough as the ground below their feet began to split apart.

"Oh sh-"

They all began to fall into the Lifestream bellow.

And then, time seemingly froze.

From out of nowhere, a man in a blue suit carrying a briefcase walked over to where the trio was falling. He put down his briefcase and grabbed Tommy. He carried Tommy to a safe enough distance before standing him on solid ground.

"Your work is done Tommy." The man said,

"Now, it is time for Ms. Lockhart to do the rest."

He then walked away behind a nearby tree, while simultaneously unfreezing time.

Time flowed again as both Cloud and Tifa fell into the Lifestream.

"What the!?" Tommy shouted.

When Tommy came to where he was, he immediately ran over to Cloud and Tifa fell and frantically looked around for any sign of them.

"Come on, come on!" He said, as he tried to get a visual on either of them.

"Dammit!" Tommy shouted, as he fell to all fours and hit his fist on the ground.

"I can't fucking save anyone! Fuck!"

Tears then began to flow.

"GOD DAMMIT!"

It was pitch black. There was nothing as far as the eye could see as Tifa slowly began to regain consciousness.

"Where- where am I?" She asked, as she looked around at her surroundings (or lack of),

"Cloud? Cloud where are you?" She said,

"Tommy? Tommy?"

As she continued to look around she saw a figure 30 feet away on their knees. From what Tifa could see the figure had blonde hair and black clothes on.

"Cloud!" She said, as she sprinted towards him.

Cloud didn't respond or even pick his head up as Tifa came over to him.

"Cloud…" She said, hoping to get a response from him.

Long moments of silence passed as neither of them said anything.

"Cloud?"

"He's gone." Cloud said,

"The Cloud you know is gone, all that remains is a clone derived from Sephiroth."

"No," Tifa said, shaking her head,

"No that isn't true, I know you Cloud. The real you, and……and I can help you find yourself again." She said,

"And I think we need to go back….back to Nibelheim, where it all began."

"What do you mean?" asked Cloud.

"There are some things there that I know you would prefer not to see, but we need to do it if we want to restore you back to your real self. And I'll be here with you, always."

The darkness that surrounded them suddenly shifted as Cloud got onto his feet. They then found themselves at the gates that led into Nibelheim.

"Do you see this Cloud?" said Tifa,

"This is the Nibelheim we grew up in, look-" She pointed to a nearby truck that was parked nearby the gates,

"That's the only truck that Nibelheim has had, it's been there since we were kids."

"Nibelheim…" Cloud said.

"That's right," said Tifa,

"This is our Nibelheim, the one we grew up in." She said,

"Five years ago, Shinra came here, along with two men from SOLDIER."

"I know," said Cloud,

"It was me and Sephiroth."

Tifa shook her head.

"No Cloud, you're wrong." She said,

"I…..There's something I've wanted to tell you, something for a long time. But I was afraid if I did tell you…"

She then clenched her fists and readied herself.

"But I can't hide it anymore. You were never in SOLDIER."

"What?" said Cloud.

"All those years since you left town to join SOLDIER I waited for you to return, but you never came back." said Tifa,

"You did come here five years ago with two SOLDIER's, one was Sephiroth along with another."

"No…….no." Cloud said,

"But then what about our promise? The one we made the night before I left town? Is that a lie too?"

"No, it isn't," said Tifa.

Everything suddenly shifted to night time. Both Tifa and Cloud were on the water tower that was in the center of town. Younger versions of Tifa and Cloud were sitting on it.

"Do you remember this night?" asked Tifa.

"Yes…" said Cloud,

"I…..I summoned you here to tell you I was leaving Nibelheim to join SOLDIER. And….we made a promise."

"That's right." said Tifa,

"We promised that once you joined SOLDIER, and if I was ever in trouble, you would come to my rescue."

"Yes…..that I remember." Cloud replied,

"But…what about my previous memory? I- I was here! I was with Sephiroth! I had to have been with SOLDIER!"

"You were here Cloud." replied Tifa,

"But not as a member of SOLDIER."

Cloud stood there, unsure of himself or what to say.

"After you left town I thought about you a lot. About how you were doing and if you were able to make it into SOLDIER."

"But…..if I never made it then….then what about our promise? Was that even real? Are any of my memories of you real?"

"They are." said Tifa,

"I remember our memories from our childhood, when we would run back and forth between our houses to play, and how at some points my dad had to stop you at so we could get some sleep." She said,

"But at some point we grew distant, why is that?"

"It was….it was because of the people you hung around with when we got older."

"Huh?" said Tifa,

"You mean Emilio, Tyler, and Lester?"

"Yes." said Cloud,

"When you started hanging out with them I…I just felt that we weren't as close as we once were."

"Weren't as close as before?" asked Tifa,

"Cloud, we invited you to be with us almost everyday and you kept turning us down. You even got into scuffles with them at some points." Tifa replied,

"That's because…"

Cloud shook his head.

"We need to go back to Nibelheim." He said,

"Specifically the reactor. I think…..I think if we go there, we might be able to get the real Cloud."

Everything then shifted to inside the reactor. They looked up and saw Sephiroth and Tifa at the top of the stairs. Sephiroth had hold Tifa by her arm as she had tried striking him with his own sword.

And standing right beside Sephiroth was Benrey.

"Benrey!?" said Cloud, shocked.

"That's right Cloud." said Tifa,

"Benrey was here five years ago, and-"

Benrey pulled out his Magnum and shot Tifa square in the chest. The force of it sent Tifa flying down the stairs.

"-he shot me."

"But…that's not what I remember! I thought Sephiroth was one who hurt you, and….how can Benrey be here? I don't remember him at all!"

"That wasn't the only thing he did." said Tifa, as she looked at a nearby corner in sadness.

Cloud looked over as well as. On the ground was Tifa's father Brian.

He was on the ground with a bullet hole in his head.

"Oh my god…" Cloud said.

A man in a SOLDIER outfit similar to Cloud's ram in, he had long black hair and a scar on his cheek.

"That's…that's…" said Cloud.

"Cloud?" said Tifa.

"Z…..Z……Zack!"

"That's right!" said Tifa, as Benrey and Sephiroth went into the room that contained JENOVA, with Zack in pursuit,

"Zack was the other SOLDIER who came to Nibelheim five years ago." She said,

"You were here too. I never saw you face to face but…."

"But what?" asked Cloud.

"Where were you during this incident?" asked Tifa.

A man in a Shinra trooper outfit came running in. Just as he did, Zack was sent flying out and landed hard on the stairs. The trooper, without saying a word, grabbed Zack's and went into the room at the top floor.

As Sephiroth was grabbing JENOVA from where she was placed while Benrey stood by his side. The Shinra trooper charged at Sephiroth at full speed and stabbed Sephiroth through the back of his lower abdomen.

Benrey, being taken by surprise, pulled out his Magnum and aimed at the trooper, but the trooper, being quicker and still had his hands and the sword, used his body and shoved Benrey. Benrey stumbled backwards and lost the grip on his gun. Both he and the magnum went flying down into the pit below.

The trooper meanwhile retracted the sword from Sephiroth, who fell to the ground, and walked away.

He then took off his helmet, revealing Cloud underneath.

"That's….me?" said Cloud.

"That's right Cloud." said Tifa,

"You were here, but you were only a Shinra trooper."

"That's right…" said Cloud,

"I…..I never made it into SOLDIER. I was so embarrassed that I could only cut it as an infantryman, I hid my face from everyone when I returned."

The Cloud from the memory then ran back down the stairs and went over to the Tifa. He picked her up and carried her over and began tending to her gunshot wound.

"Don't worry Tifa." He said,

"I'm here. I- I kept my promise!"

Sephiroth then emerged from the JENOVA room, he had what looked like JENOVA's head in his hands. He made haste and quickly stormed out of the room.

"Cloud…" Zack said weakly,

"Kill him, kill Sephiroth!"

Cloud, without even saying a word, immediately ran after Sephiroth. He pursued him into a room with catwalks that stood high above a pit. He saw Sephiroth slowly limping across the catwalk nearest him.

"Sephiroth!" Cloud shouted, charming after him.

Sephiroth however was able to get his sword up and stabbed Cloud through his lower abdomen. Causing Cloud to scream in pain and cough up blood.

"You're just like he said!" Sephiroth shouted,

"I never wanted it to come to this! But this is the role They gave me! And you're the reason all this has to happen!"

Cloud didn't respond. But instead used all his strength and lifted Sephiroth into the air. Sephiroth, surprised by this, tried everything he could to fight back. But Cloud was able to hurl him into the side of the wall and sent him falling down into the mako pit below. Then Cloud collapsed himself.

Everything shifted again. This time it was the same black abyss Tifa was in when she first gained consciousness. Tifa quickly noticed that Cloud wasn't with her and frantically looked around for him.

She quickly saw him standing a few feet away facing the other.

"Cloud?" She said.

Cloud turned around to face her. She quickly noticed that he had a different air about him, like he was a new person.

Or rather one she had not seen in a long time.

"Hey Tifa." said Cloud,

"It's been a while."

Tears slowly began flowing down Tifa's face as she ran over to Cloud and embraced him. Cloud responded by putting his arms around Tifa as she began to sniffle.

"It's you isn't it?" She said,

"The real you, the one that left Nibelheim seven years ago."

"That's right." Cloud said,

"I kept my promise after all this time, I've finally come back to you."

Tifa wiped her eyes as she let go of Cloud and backed away.

"I'm glad to have you back." said Tifa,

"But we need to head back, everyone else is waiting for us."

Cloud nodded in agreement.

"But before we go back, there's something I want to ask you," said Tifa.

"What is it?"

"Back then, when you said you were leaving to join SOLDIER, I always thought it was a sudden decision. Why did you want to join SOLDIER?"

"Isn't it obvious?" said Cloud,

"I thought if I joined SOLDIER, then I would finally get noticed."

"Get noticed?" Tifa asked,

"Who did you want to notice you?"

"You know who," said Cloud,

"You."

Tifa didn't know what to say, as they began to ascend upwards.

Tommy sat by the spot where Tifa and Cloud fell into the Lifestream. His Glock was on the ground and he was spinning it like it was a bottle. Every time he spun it it went in the direction opposite of him, and he was contemplating what would happen if the gun pointed at him.

He then heard footsteps in front of him and didn't even look up. If these were Shinra troopers coming to potentially clean this mess up and finish him off, then so be it.

"Tommy?" A familiar voice said.

Tommy's face lit up with surprise as he looked up and saw a sight he thought we would never have seen again. Tifa was standing in front of him, with Cloud by her side.

"Tifa!?" Tommy said in astonishment, as he stored his Glock and got up.

"I thought- I thought you were dead! And-" He looked over at Cloud,

"-why isn't he in his wheelchair? He should be-"

"It's alright Tommy," said Tifa,

"I brought him back, I brought Cloud back to us."

Tommy didn't know what to say as he looked at Cloud. Cloud however wasn't looking at him, as if he didn't even want to acknowledge Tommy.

"I guess my dad was right." said Tommy,

"The others should be waiting for us, they were able to evacuate the village before the earthquake got real bad. As for Coomer I don't…"

As Tommy was talking, Tifa noticed in the distance a man in a blue suit holding a briefcase standing behind a tree watching them, he had a somewhat pleased look on his face as he observed them.

When he noticed Tifa was looking at him he gasped and and quickly slipped behind the tree. This caused Tifa to walk over to where he was standing by.

"Tifa?" said Cloud,

"Tifa, where are you going?"

Tifa didn't reply as she made her way to the tree. She looked behind it and saw the man hastily walking away.

"Hey!" said Tifa.

The man jumped and suddenly broke into a full run which led to Tifa to start chasing him.

"Come back!" said Tifa, as she gave pursuit.

They ran for a good mile before the man ran into a nearby house. As he tried to run out the back he caught his foot on the rug and tripped and fell, he slid across the floor head first towards a cabinet.

But luckily he stoped just inches from his head banging against.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he quickly got up and made his way to the back door.

"Stop!" Tifa shouted, causing the man to stop in his tracks.

He slowly turned around to face Tifa with a nervous look as he was beginning to sweat.

"Who are you?" asked Tifa.

"A…..A….." The man stumbled to get words out.

"Wait," said Tifa,

"Are you Tommy's father?" She asked.

"W……W……"

"And are you the one who sent me that envelope a year ago, the one about Cloud?"

The man continued to struggle to get anything out, before finally getting the will to speak.

"Wikipedia, Ms Lockhart." He said,

"The free online encyclopedia that no one will ever edit again."

"What?" said Tifa, baffled at the man's response.

The man's face suddenly turned to that of surprise as he looked behind Tifa and pointed.

"Look out! An Arch-Vile!" He shouted.

Tifa spun around and got into her fighting stance and prepared to face whatever he was talking about. Only nothing was there.

"Wait, there's nothing here," She said, as she turned around to face him,

"And what is an Arch-Vi-"

But when she looked, she saw the man was no longer there and the back door was open. She quickly ran to the back door to see where the man had run off, but he was nowhere in sight.

"Dammit!" She shouted.

"Tifa?" Cloud's voice could be heard behind her.

She turned around and saw Cloud was walking into the house with Tommy behind him.

"What was that about?" He asked.

"Uh, n-nothing." She replied,

"Now let's get going, the others are waiting just as Tommy said."

A loud noise was heard from above, they all went outside and expected to see the Highwind, but instead it was Ultimate Weapon.

"It's one of the Weapons!" Tifa shouted,

"That's the one Coomer was fighting, and if it's here does that mean-"

"Wait!" said Tommy, as he pointed at its chest,

"Look!"

But upon closer observation they saw that Coomer was riding on the Weapon's chest. When he saw where the trio were standing he pointed down toward them. The Weapon then landed a few feet away from them and Coomer hopped off.

"Well it was nice talking to you!" Coomer said to the giant black dragon,

"And make sure you also bring it up with your friends as well!"

The Weapon didn't respond as he lifted itself up into the air and flew away. Coomer then turned around and walked over to the group.

"Coomer?" said Tifa, astonished at what she just saw,

"How, how- what was that?" She said, struggling to make sense of what she saw.

And judging from Cloud and Tommy's faces, they were too.

"Well, I had a nice conversation with the Weapon as we were in the air!" He replied,

"Don't worry, I'll tell you all about it once we're on the Highwind!"

He then turned his attention to Cloud.

"And Mr. Strife! It's good to see you back with us and in good health!" He said.

"Yeah uh, hey Coomer." Cloud replied,

"And there's some things I need to tell you all too."

"Welp, let's get going!" said Coomer.

Both Coomer and Tommy began to walk away. Cloud was about to follow but Tifa stopped him before he could.

"Wait Cloud," said Tifa.

"What is it?" Cloud asked.

"It's about Tommy." She said, as Cloud's face suddenly turned unhappy.

"I know you're probably still mad at him." She said, reading the look on Cloud's face,

"But there's some things you need to know."

As Cloud and Tifa conversed, the man in the blue suit stood atop the roof of the house, hiding behind the roof's arch.

'That was a close one.' He thought.

Authors Notes: Just want to give a quick heads up and say the next chapter won't be out until a little later.