Another chapter is here!

dhir2423 : You got it.

jgkitarel : We will see.

Sex scene is ahead. Be warned.

Crimson felt the strength leave her legs the moment the door to her room shut with a soft click. They buckled under the weight of the decision she'd made, pressing down on her body and heart until she couldn't support herself anymore. She braced herself against the wall, closed her eyes, and tried to catch her breath.

She knew it was a risk. Cloud and Tifa would go off to fight against Sephiroth no matter what. But it still didn't change the fact that she'd basically enabled them to do so without complaint. Just like she'd done with Zack beforehand, when she gave him her bike to head off to his death on the outskirts of Midgar.

There was a knock on the door almost immediately afterwards, before she could let the guilt firmly settle. Too strong to be Aerith. Too soft to be one of the others. Cloud then.

Crimson wiped her eyes to hide the fledgling tears beading up in the corners before she opened it. The moment she spotted his mako-colored eyes, she already knew the question he wanted to ask and preempted it. "I'm fine, Cloud."

It was a lie. One that he saw through given his eyebrows fell slightly and compounded the guilt already there. They both knew that she wouldn't take the decision well the moment the question was brought up.

"You made the right call," Crimson said, amending her words to be more truthful. "There would have been no point in living in a future together if we let our emotions compromise us."

"I promise that I'll come back—"

"Don't." Her tone came out hoarser than she liked. She brought her hand to her throat and cleared it before continuing. "I know that you'll do your best to, but every battle is a risk. There's a real possibility that one, if not both of us, won't make it back from this one. So, making that promise will only make things even more painful if it doesn't work out."

Cloud's mouth opened to say something, but no words came out. Whatever he wanted to say wouldn't really be able to contest that fact. Going against Jenova and Sephiroth meant that it might not be possible for either of them to keep that promise. Instead, he guided his hands onto her shoulders and squeezed to comfort her where words couldn't.

It worked. She let out a shuddering breath as she closed her eyes, letting the tension melt from her muscles. She then leaned into the warmth of his broad chest while his arms found their way around her back. "I'm sorry. Vincent's immortal as far as we can tell, but I don't know if this'll be the last time I'll see you alive."

He held her a little tighter. "Like with Zack?"

"And Kunsel." She sniffed. "They died doing what they believed in without regrets, but the people still left behind have to live with it. I don't think I'll be able to pick myself up again if you left me alone too."

"You'll have to. After the fighting ends, we'll need someone to help keep the peace. That's something you can do, and you'll need to be at your best for it. Have you been thinking about Reeve's offer?"

"After that mess with Deepground, I told Reeve I would accept it once we dealt with Sephiroth." She pulled away from him and straightened up. "But, if I have to be honest, I'm not certain if I should take it when all is said and done."

"Why's that?"

"Reeve's intentions are good, but he's going to meet a lot of opposition in trying to make the world a better place. People who would benefit from the chaotic state the world is in with Shinra gone, grabbing power and assets to carve themselves out a place," she explained. "It'd be best to deal with them before they grow too big, but I'm afraid that I'll fall back into old habits and do questionable things because the ends would justify the means—like Tseng, Reno, and the other Turks."

Reeve was someone who she considered to have a strong moral center, but even he was willing to try manipulating Elmyra's feelings to get to Aerith. Even if it was for the right reasons, she could only imagine how badly Aerith's mother had taken it. After all, it was probably the first time she'd opened up her heart to someone after the death of her husband.

"That fear is a good reason for you to take the position," Cloud pointed out. "You'll do everything to avoid slipping up and you'll question every order. That can keep others from going off-track too. Having you around can prevent what's happened to the people in our group repeating itself, so that more people don't end up like us."

"…When you put it that way, it does sounds better," she admitted. As the organization he was working to build expanded, it would become vulnerable. Corruption was inevitable, from internal threats like individuals hoarding power, or from external ones like spies and sabotage. Chances were the organization would last far longer than Reeve would live, so if whoever took his place was less respectable, it would be a second Shinra in the making.

But if she was there she could do her best to stave it off. Rather than watch it happen from afar, she could actively prevent it without resorting to extreme methods. There would be no more need for a group like AVALANCHE either if there wasn't a problem in the first place.

Her fingers threaded through her hair as she considered it more. She could make it so that there were no more children taken and trained to be killers like her. No more people being exploited and experimented on like Cloud and Vincent.

No more victims who lost their families and friends due to an agenda like Tifa and Barret. No more people who had their homelands trampled upon out of greed like Yuffie. It would be the next step after the fighting was done, a future where things were better. Making sure no other people had to suffer from the scars of the past.

"Even so, I don't think that I want it to be everything I'd do in the future," Crimson said. "That sort of thing allows the job to consume you, and I don't want to end up like Tseng and Reno because of it. I want a life outside of that. I want…"

"A family?" Cloud finished for her.

"Maybe," she admitted. "A family wasn't really something I considered having when I was with Shinra. Too many complications and the nature of the work made it a liability. Not to mention having a family meant falling in love with someone to have a child with. I'm not sure that I'll be able to move on again if the worst happens, so…"

Seconds ticked by after she trailed off. Eventually, Crimson conceded that she couldn't finish asking him what she wanted to. She needed to think it through for a few hours.

"I…need some time to myself right now." She forced herself to look up into his eyes. "Not just to think, but there's a lot of things to get together since we'll likely be leaving the base tomorrow. Is it okay if I swing by your room later tonight?"

Cloud gave a subdued nod and then departed, leaving her with her thoughts.

[-oOo-]

Hours later, Cloud was also deep in thought as he stood in front of a dresser in his room, staring at a photo. It was the one he'd taken from the lockbox in his old home, back when they'd went to Nibelheim. Where it all began years ago.

He knew what Crimson wanted to ask him when she'd made that suggestion. The reprieve between then and now had given him more time to think on it. To reflect on his life outside of dealing with Sephiroth.

There wasn't much there. When he was young, it was just him and his mother in Nibelheim. His father had died when he was younger, and she'd raised him mostly by herself. He hadn't been all that close to the others in the town after what happened to Tifa, but his mother was the one person that he loved unconditionally. Yet, he'd left home seeking strength in the hopes of becoming someone like Sephiroth and left her behind.

The last time he'd seen her was when he'd visited and had to confess his failure to her, too ashamed to let the others in the town know that he hadn't lived up the expectations he'd set when he left. His mother had assured him that there was no shame it. That he could come home and settle down. If he'd known that it was the last time he'd see her alive…

He took a deep breath as he set the photo face-down on the dresser and then looked into the mirror's reflection of his eyes. Back then there was nothing he could have done to prevent that tragedy. But now he could stop it from happening ever again to anyone else. That was part of why he'd fought so hard and would put his life on the line to make it so.

There was a real chance he would die. He'd made peace with that. As long as he lived up to the legacy of those who sacrificed themselves for him, carrying on their wish for peace, and put an end to it all, then that would be enough.

Yet, when he thought about Crimson being left alone, he felt his chest tighten. He wanted her happy. But, when he recalled how he had been as a child, after losing his own father and how heavy his death weighed on his mother…

Knock. Knock.

The gentle rapping on his door brushed the thoughts aside for the moment. He made his way towards it, coming to a stop just when he reached it. There, he took a deep breath to center himself, and then opened it.

As expected, it was Crimson. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah." He opened it wider for her to enter and then shut it quietly before sliding the lock into place. Then he went over to the bed where she was sitting on the edge and joined her. He noticed she was looking nervous, her arms wrapping out of her waist and her eyes to the ground.

Cloud waited for her to start since he didn't want to give the impression that he was against it the idea. It took her another minute of awkward silence before she did. And it was with a question he didn't expect.

"Do you think I'd make a good mother?"

"…When I think about what being a mother would be like, I think about my own and Aerith's," he said after some thought. Elmyra was willing to shelter Aerith from Shinra despite whatever they'd do to her, while his own mother had taken to raising him alone without a word of complaint about it. "From what I can tell, it takes a lot to raise a child. Especially on your own. Not many could do it, but if there was anyone who could it'd be you."

"You think so, huh?" She drew her knees up to her chest, resting her feet on the edge of the mattress. Her arms then wrapped around them and she hugged herself. "When I try to imagine myself as a mother it still goes over my head a little."

He reached behind her back to grasp her other shoulder and pulled her in slightly, so that she could lean against him. "That's hard to imagine, given everything we've been through to this point."

"I know, right?" A chuckle slipped out of her mouth from the absurdity of it as she took the cue and laid her head against his shoulder. "I mean, we're planning on using ancient magic to summon the Goddess of the Lifestream to smite the spawn of an invasive alien… yet, the thought of being a parent somehow leaves me completely nervous in comparison."

"But you still want to try, despite that?" He felt her nod silently, despite her misgivings and doubts. "Well, if we were to have a child, would you prefer a boy or a girl?"

"Mmm… a boy," Crimson decided, unwrapping her legs and letting them stretch out as she sat straight. "It'd be nice if he inherited your hair too, so he'd look more like you instead of me."

"Why?" he asked.

"Because it'd be a constant reminder of what you've done for me." She brushed her hair behind her ears and then looked into his eyes. "You gave me a second chance to do something with my life that I could be proud of. To save the world and make the future better for everyone. Whatever happens now, nothing will change that."

The same reasons she'd given for why she'd fallen in love with him were the same reasons she'd considered starting a family with him. To her, he brought out the best in her that was struggling to get through everything else. A child would be the ultimate reminder of that, something tangible born from those feelings she harbored and expressed.

"…I'm not really sure if I'd be a decent father," Cloud admitted. He didn't have the experience in what it meant to raise someone else. "But, at the same time, I don't want to leave you alone in the world should the worst happen. I want you to be happy."

Crimson had become someone he didn't want to lose. Someone he loved. He didn't want any regrets should he die. Not offering her the chance to at least do that much would be the biggest one of all.

"And, I want to try," he added. "I've really got no clue on how things will go. But, if you're fine with me as I am being the one who you have a child with, I'm for it."

"If it's not you, then I wouldn't have even considered it," she told him, leaning in slowly with the intention of kissing him.

Anticipation rolled through his body with every deepening beat of his heart as her gentle-looking lips drew nearer. They seemed almost lacquered, the faint hint of cherry reaching his nose as he inhaled. It stirred a desire in his chest that left him wanting to act upon it, until he couldn't resist any longer and leaned his head forward to meet them in a kiss.

"Mm!?" Crimson was slightly taken aback by the abrupt kiss, her shoulders tensing up. But it was only for an instant. Then she leaned into it, reaching behind his head and threading her fingers through his hair.

A feeling of jubilation bloomed the longer their lips touched, spreading throughout Cloud's body and lingering as they both fell backwards. It left his pulse racing and his body restless as he shifted around beneath her touch. And when the need to breathe caused her to pull away, there was a longing ache where her lips once were that only ended when they joined once again.

The cycle of jubilation and longing continued as they grew more passionate, repositioning to the middle of the bed as it shifted under their weight, until Crimson pulled away a final to climb on top of him. Her chest rose and fell as she panted. The outline of her nipples against the thin shirt showed they were taut and aroused as she stripped him of his own.

Cloud's hands slid up from her waist, catching the hem of her shirt to do the same. More and more of her beautiful flesh was exposed until her breasts were laid bare before his eyes. As if drawn to them, his fingers abandoned the shirt and left it perch just above the swells as they shifted beneath his touch next.

A sweet sound rolled from her tongue, erotic in timbre and how it added to the way her body seemed to arch into his touch. She shuddered for a moment before regaining her composure and pulling the shirt off. Then she braced her arms against his chest, tensing to withstand his fingers as they toyed with her breasts and looking away with a blush.

Compared to the last time, it seemed she wasn't used to having the lead stolen from her. The thought of handing the reins back over to her drifted into his mind, but faded away as he noticed how attractive she was like this. The desire to see her flustered and shaken overtook him, causing him to spring forward and reverse their positions.

Now he was leaning over her, on the opposite end of the bed. Staring down into her honey-brown eyes that were wide open, he could hear her pulse racing. It filled him with a carnal delight, desire welling up inside of him to claim her for himself.

A kiss to her lips was met with no resistance on her end, only submission. She accepted when his tongue snaked its way into her mouth and caught the mint-fresh taste there. Unguarded and soft moans slipped from between her lips, coming out louder as the kisses trailed down from there.

From her lips to her collarbone. Her collarbone to the valley of her breasts. Further and further, he left pleasure tingling beneath the surface of her heated skin until he reached the band of her shorts. It was only when he began to pull them away that she resisted.

All at once he felt her legs tense in an effort to close. Murmured words followed, claims that she would do it herself reaching his ears as her fingers drifted down and grabbed the cloth. She was desperate to hide something.

It was pointless in itself. He could already smell the scent of arousal hidden beneath the two layers of between them, its fragrance pounding the desire to continue into his skull with every beat of her quickening heart. He continued, pulling her sleep shorts and the thinner fabric beneath free of her feeble grasp in a swift motion, eliciting a surprised gasp.

"Nooo, don't look…" Crimson mumbled demurely through her hands as they covered her face. Ashamed and flustered enough that her resistance crumbled to dust once more, after the last vestiges of modesty were cast aside, she didn't dare look at him.

Always in control. Only recently opening her heart and body to another. For him to be laying eyes on this lewd side of her was still overwhelming her in mind and heart, even as her body grew even more excited.

Cloud's body was no different. His heart raced drastically as his thumbs parted the folds that laid between her legs and exposed the flesh there. Glistening wet, colored in hot tones and wafting a fragrance that incited feelings of amorous lust, he followed his instincts as a man.

"Ahn, aahh…" A shuddering, strained sound slipped through Crimson's mouth as her body tremored. His tongue had begun caressing the sensitive spot from bottom to top. The pleasure mounted, compounded, and sank deep within her, until the strokes of his tongue finally caused her body to reach the point where it would give in prematurely if she didn't stop him.

"Not yet," she begged him as her hands, which had already descended to his head, pushed to stop him from bringing her to the point of no return. But the blood pounding in Cloud's ears almost deafened him to her pleas, the throbbing almost painfully being constrained by his own underwear. "I want us to do it together!"

Rationality took hold as her words reminded him that this was not to be an act of carnal lust, but one of love between the two, pulling the reins on his instinctive drive enough to free him from its thrall. He then noticed Crimson was laying there, her body twitching ever so slightly. She was hiding her eyes from view with her forearm now, her chest rising and falling as she fought for breath in an effort to calm herself down before the inevitable happened.

"Did I go too far?" he asked, backing off until he was sitting with his back against the headboard.

"It's not… that…I minded," Crimson said, taking another deep breath before she sat up and drew closer to him on her hands and knees. "It actually felt really good. I just didn't expect you to be so…"

From her tone as she trailed off, Cloud suspected she had found a side of her she didn't know existed. To have taken such intense pleasure from being vulnerable. But his own thoughts on the matter were dropped as her hands moved down to the erection he was sporting and wrapped around it. The touch alone made it throb in her grasp and he slid down from having his back on the headboard to lying supine as she guided him to a position she wanted.

In a mirror of the previous situation, Crimson then laid down between his legs as she freed the shaft from its confines. The sensations that followed left Cloud without words, only able to lean his head back and exhale as her mouth worked a magic of its own. Everything, from how the steady exhalation from her nose to the rolling delight of her tongue against the heated flesh, left Cloud feeling pleasure and heat tugging at his loins.

When she pulled her head away, he almost gave into the urge to chase it with his hands and place it back. But that desire was replaced as she moved her legs until they were on either side of his waist, her womanhood hovering just over the tip held steady by both her hands. Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, she slowly moved down to take it into her.

But it was too slow. Whether it was because she'd been left extra-sensitive, or because she was being too cautious, it was too slow for the primal part of Cloud's mind to withstand. As if she was teasing it, the leash he'd had his instincts slipped and it took hold of his hands to brace her by her waist.

"Wait, if you do it now—" Her words of warning transitioned into a surprised cry that was possibly the most wonderous thing he'd ever heard from her mouth as his hips drove up into her with a single, powerful thrust. Then her back arched, bending like a bow as the surge ran along her spine. "Ahhhhh!"

His loins tensed from how tight her insides became as she climaxed and was left trembling on top of him from the insertion alone, the walls of flesh pressing him from all sides in retaliation for the abrupt thrust. The sensation threatened to steal his breath and rob him of his sanity entirely. It was only through gritting his teeth and stilling his lungs, bracing against the desires to not ruin the moment entirely, that he managed to stave it off and lowered her gently on top of him once strength left her body and she began falling forward.

Resting against his firm and taut muscles, her eyes were half-open. The color in them slowly regained their luster as she became lucid from blanking out at the abrupt climax. Her voice came out soft. "You did the same thing as last time."

"Sorry," he told her.

"What am I going to do with you…" As her strength and lucidity returned, Crimson pulled him over with her as she rolled. She stared into his eyes from on her back, allowing him to take her place on top while between her legs. A deep breath followed. "There. All you have to do is brace the bed and then go ahead."

"You sure?" he asked, heart practically threatening to burst out of his ribcage at the offer.

"Yeah, since I won't be able to move well now after that." She swallowed as she felt his manhood shift within the cradle of her heated, rapacious haven that still pressed against it from all sides. "Just remember what happened last time."

He nodded before he brushed her hair out of her face. The strands were sticking to her skin since the heat surrounding them had caused sweat to glisten on both them. His hands then braced against the bed before he followed as nature intended and began thrusting away, slow at first.

Crimson's expression was beautiful to watch as he sped up, transitioning from controlled to strained as she tried to hold in her voice over the course of minutes. But, by the time the bed's springs creaked under the force of his thrusts, her efforts had been completely forgotten. Her eyes were screwed closed, amorous cries ringing out in his ears as her fingers dug into his back for dear life and would have broken the skin if not for how tempered his flesh was.

Cloud huffed while his hips kept working, his eyes never leaving her face. He was drawn to seeing this side of her that no one else had, a privilege for only him. That spurred him into grinding into her even faster, until he felt an orgasm building within him. "Crimson, I—"

His words died as she wrapped her legs around his back before he could finish, pressing their hips together so they were inseparably connected. Then her entire body tensed for a second time and her insides contracted. She was climaxing, having managed to stave off the second time until now.

The pressure was insane, blanking out every other thought in his mind from the ecstasy. Having driven into the deepest point within her, nature took its course and all at once he felt as though he melted within her. The world vanished with the carnal heat until what felt like a lifetime later.

When his reason returned, he looked down at the woman he'd marked intimately. She was as lost to the world as he was, gasping for breath while her fevered body quivered under the easing contractions. Her limbs had slipped off him at some point, leaving them to lay freely by her sides, and her eyes were clouded until he lowered his head to kiss her on the forehead.

She blinked a few times as he pulled back before regaining her senses. She opened her mouth to speak, but what came out was a slight whimper as another aftershock rolled through her. Instead, her hands slowly came up to gingerly cradle his cheeks and their eyes locked.

"Are you okay with this?" Cloud asked a final time.

Crimson took a deep breath and nodded. "Whatever happens next… I will be…."