This story means a lot to me. It is by far the longest, most involved, piece I have ever written. I began working on it back in November 2021 and have pushed myself to make it the best it can possibly be. I hope you'll enjoy it.

"The Ancients are laughing at us! Sheltered in their Promised Land—they want for nothing, but do they share that wealth with us? No!"

The President's voice from the television was a familiar drone in the background as Cloud gnawed away on his hunk of bread. He didn't understand everything the man was saying, but he did know that the Ancients were the ones responsible for all of their suffering. It was the only thing anyone seemed to talk about these days after all, although he didn't exactly know why.

"Mom? Why do the Ancients hate us so much?"

"They don't hate us, dear," his mother said, setting down her coffee mug and giving him a small smile from across the table. "I imagine they don't think much of us at all, really."

"But the President says they stole everything from us. Stealing is bad."

His mom's lips twitched slightly. "You're right, stealing is bad, but I don't think they've actually taken anything from us. At least, I'm not aware of anything."

Dunking his bread into his water cup to get it to soften up, Cloud tried to think of what the evil Ancients had stolen from him. It didn't take long for him to realize he couldn't come up with any examples—he and his mother didn't exactly have much of anything worth taking. The television was the fanciest thing they owned, but Shinra provided one to each household for free so it wasn't all that special.

"The time has come to put an end to this unjust greed! The Ancients deceived our ancestors hundreds of years ago and tricked them into signing a Treaty that gave them everything and left us with nothing, trapping us within their magical bubble. Make no mistake, this Barrier of theirs is nothing more than a cage, a prison to keep us locked away. Without the recent, glorious discovery of mako technology, humankind would have perished years ago. Now, as your President, I ask—"

Cloud pulled his attention away from the broadcast and back to his now soggy—but edible—bread. The President was an important man, so he had to know what he was talking about. Adult things were always so boring, though, and now that breakfast was over, he was excited to go meet up with his friends. Wolfing down the last of his meal, Cloud jumped to his feet. "Can I go play now?"

"Of course, just promise me you won't get into any trouble."

"Promise!"

"And don't go bothering Mr. Wallace again, he's a nice man."

"Mom," Cloud complained, drawing out the word. "It was just a prank! He didn't have to take it so seriously."

"Well no more pranks on him then, you hear me? Think about how you'd feel if you were the one on the receiving end."

Personally, Cloud thought the fake snake they'd set up had been painfully obvious, but he did have to admit that based on the shockingly high-pitched scream that had come from the grumpy man, they might have gone a bit too far. "Fine," he relented. "We'll leave him alone then."

Walking over to join him at the door, his mom dropped down to press a kiss to his head before ruffling his hair as she stood back up. "I love you, be back in time for dinner."

Cheeks burning in embarrassment, Cloud nodded his head and pushed the door open, stepping out into the blistering heat and shutting the door quickly behind him. Despite doing this every day, it never ceased to amaze him just how hot it was outside. Apparently, it hadn't always been this way, at least according to the stories his mother read him, but it was hard to believe considering in all his nine years, he'd never known anything else.

The sun glared down at him like an evil red eye, the vision only enhanced by the ever-present smog filling the sky. Staying in the shadows of the neighboring buildings as best he could, Cloud quickly made his way to his first destination—Tifa's house. Thankfully, she lived only a short distance away, down on a neighboring street, so it was a fairly brief trip. Even so, by the time he knocked on her door, a faint sheen of sweat was already coating his forehead.

"Hey, Cloud!" the black-haired girl said in greeting, before turning to shout back inside. "Dad, I'm heading out now!"

"Alright. Take care, Pumpkin," Cloud faintly heard Mr. Lockhart say in response before the door closed behind her.

As usual, Tifa was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, just like he was. Cloud had never seen her dressed in anything else, even though most of the other girls her age seemed to prefer skirts and dresses. Tifa wasn't like the other girls, though, which was exactly why he was here today.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Cloud?" she asked nervously, glancing over at him as they made their way down the dusty street.

"Of course. Sephiroth said we had to try and find some new people to recruit and you're the strongest person I know who's not already in a gang. Besides, haven't you wanted to join for a while?"

"No, you're right I have, it's just . . ."

"Just?" Cloud glanced over at her, surprised at how hesitant she was being—Tifa was usually so confident, he'd never seen her this uncertain before.

"Jessie asked if I wanted to join Avalanche yesterday."

"Oh." He stumbled to a halt, completely caught off guard. Avalanche was the third strongest gang in the city, behind both his own and the Turks who'd recently claimed the number one position. That was exactly why they were recruiting—Sephiroth couldn't stand being second best. "What did you tell her?"

"That I wanted to think about it. She's going to hate me for sure if I join the Fangs instead."

"That's not true, you've been friends forever. I bet she won't mind." He wasn't entirely confident about that since he didn't know Jessie nearly as well as Biggs and Wedge, but no one other than Sephiroth and Rufus took the gangs that seriously.

Grabbing his hand, Tifa pulled him back into motion down the road. "You're probably right, even though I still feel kinda guilty about it. Thanks, Cloud."

It didn't take them long to reach the old playground where Sephiroth and Zack were already waiting. The place was so rundown that its original purpose had been lost—all but one of the swings were dangling chains of metal with no seats, the slide had collapsed, and the monkey bars were so rusty you risked cutting your hands to shreds. Since no one ever came here, Sephiroth had declared it the perfect location for their base.

As they approached, Tifa dropped back behind Cloud, dragging her feet in the dirt. Not wanting to make her any more uncomfortable, he pushed ahead, coming to a stop in front of his friends. "Hey, guys."

"Yo."

"Cloud."

"Who'd you bring with you?" Zack asked, peering over Cloud's shoulder. "She's cute."

"Tifa. We've been friends for a long time and since she's wanted to join us for a while, I thought she'd be the perfect fit for our new member."

Zack eyed Tifa with extreme skepticism. "But she's a girl. Girls don't fight."

Tifa brushed past him and walked up to Zack without hesitation. Cloud winced, already knowing exactly how this was going to unfold. She punched Zack—directly in his face—sending him crashing to the ground, clutching his nose with a wail of pain.

A sharp bark of laughter erupted from Sephiroth and Cloud struggled not to smile, ready to jump in and intervene if Tifa decided to teach Zack exactly how wrong he was any further. Fortunately for him, she seemed to have had enough as she bent down and offered him a hand back up.

"Care to repeat that?" she asked as she hauled him to his feet.

"Nife punch!" Zack said, slurring his words slightly while grinning widely from ear to ear.

Cloud sighed in relief that Zack seemed to be taking it so well. He knew if it had been Sephiroth instead, the other boy would have been furious, but Zack was much more laid back. "Did you forget about Jessie and Elena?" he asked. "We were the only ones without a girl."

Zack winced, his cheeks reddening. "Right, right. Although to be fair, Elena doesn't really fight. Just please don't tell Jessie I forgot about her."

"Enough," Sephiroth said, cutting in. "Considering that demonstration I have no objections. Welcome to the Fangs."

Tifa's head snapped over to him, her eyes wide. "Wait, just like that? There's no test or anything?"

Cloud was surprised as well. He hadn't expected Sephiroth to be strongly opposed, but he'd assumed it would take a bit of convincing to get the others to agree. Apparently, the older boy really wanted to increase their strength.

"Just like that," Sephiroth replied. "I can tell you're strong, and Cloud vouches for you, so I don't really need more than that. Now, let's get down to business."

"Taking back the number one spot?!" Zack asked, punching the air in front of him.

"Exactly. First—"

"Well, well, well, look who it is, boys."

As one, the four of them spun to face the direction the voice had come from where five people all dressed in black stood in a loosely clustered group. Cloud shot Zack a look and immediately moved to mirror his friend's fighting stance. If the Turks were here then it almost certainly meant violence.

"Rufus." Sephiroth gave the other gang leader a nod of recognition. "Why are you here?"

"What, do we need permission to visit your run-down park?" Rufus asked with a smirk. "Relax. Tell your rabid dogs to calm down, we're just here to check on you, wanted to make sure the beating we gave you the other day wasn't too much."

"Surprised to see you on your feet, Zack," Reno called out.

Several things happened at once. Zack leapt forward with a yell, Cloud right on his heels—not to support him, but to pull him to a halt. On the other side, Rude elbowed Reno hard enough to make him gasp, pulling a laugh from Elena and an eye-roll from Tseng.

"Seems like you need to worry about your own people more than mine," Sephiroth said, remaining in the same relaxed position.

Rufus frowned. "Apologies, it won't happen again." He glanced over towards Reno. "Will it?"

Reno paled and nodded. "Sorry, boss."

Turning back to them, Rufus smiled again. "I see you've already recruited a new member? It's good that Elena will have someone to play with, but you have to know it's going to take more than that to beat us."

Cloud saw Tifa tense, her fists tightening as she glared at Rufus. He didn't think she'd actually attack the leader of the Turks on her own, but just in case he took a step closer and put his hand on her shoulder. "Hey, don't let him get to you," he whispered.

Tifa let out a deep breath and nodded to him before taking a step back. "Gonna make him regret underestimating me," she muttered.

"No doubt," Cloud said, giving her arm a gentle squeeze. It was only a matter of time until the other gang realized their mistake, just as Zack had.

"Anyway, we're not just here for fun," Rufus continued. "Something's come up, we need to talk, Sephiroth. In private."

Cloud shared a look with Zack—nothing like this had ever happened before.

For his part, Sephiroth either wasn't surprised or managed to completely conceal it, reacting with only a slight nod. "Sure."

Together, the two of them moved over to the swings, talking quietly enough that Cloud couldn't make out any of the words.

"What do you think that's about?" Zack asked.

"Who knows? Their dads work together though, right? Maybe something to do with that?" Cloud guessed, watching as the remaining Turks approached to give Rufus and Sephiroth more privacy. He couldn't help but shake the weird feeling this situation was giving off. It wasn't that the two leaders hated each other, he'd just never seen them have a private conversation like this.

"Ooo, maybe they're planning on merging!" Elena chimed in. "That would be so crazy, wouldn't it? I mean, we've been fighting for months now and we only just managed to beat you guys. Rufus was so happy about it too, you wouldn't believe how—"

"Elena."

Her mouth snapped shut as Tseng said her name, her cheeks flushing a faint red. "Right. Sorry."

Zack snorted. "As if we'd ever want to be Turks."

"What was that?" Reno snapped, dropping his hand to the wooden baton strapped to his belt.

"Reno. Enough." Rude gripped the redhead's shoulder and pulled him back.

"But—"

"Enough."

"Rude's right," Tseng said calmly. "It's their own loss. Besides, things would be boring without the Fangs around."

While Cloud took the words as a compliment, Zack was still clearly upset as he clenched his fists. "We're not here to entertain you. You're so damn cocky after only beating us once."

The reason for his friend's frustration was painfully clear—Reno had somehow managed to beat him in a one-on-one fight for the first time ever, resulting in the Fang's plans completely crumbling and leading to their eventual defeat. Cloud had tried multiple times to convince Zack that it wasn't entirely his fault, but nevertheless, he still blamed himself for their loss.

"Like you were any different," Reno muttered under his breath.

Thankfully, Zack didn't seem to hear him since Cloud was pretty sure that remark would have only set off yet another spark. He also reluctantly agreed with Reno in this case—Zack had never shied away from shoving the fact the Turks were eternally stuck at rank two in their faces.

"Avalanche though, maybe they'd be interested in joining up," Tseng continued. "That would certainly cement the rankings in our favor."

"Huh? I thought they already turned us down the other day," Elena said, giving Tseng a puzzled look.

As one, the other three Turk members all turned to stare at her, each with their own form of exasperation written plainly on their face.

She slapped a hand over her mouth, her face falling. "Oh. You were bluffing. And I gave it away. I am so sorry, Tseng. I promise you that—"

"Elena, it's fine," Tseng said with a sigh, running a hand through his hair. "Looks like the boss is done anyway, let's get ready to head out." He turned to give Cloud, Zack, and Tifa a nod. "We'll be seeing you around."

The leaders did indeed seem to be done talking as they walked back over to the group, Rufus not stopping as the Turks fell in around him and moved off.

"What were you and Rufus talking about?" Zack asked the moment the Turks were out of sight.

"Nothing you need to worry about. We did come up with a plan for the next competition, though."

Zack's look of frustration immediately changed to one of excitement, his entire body almost vibrating. "When? What's it going to be?"

Sephiroth smiled slightly. "Three days from now. I got Rufus to agree to play Castle Siege."

"What's Castle Siege?" Tifa whispered to Cloud as Zack let out a loud whoop.

"It's basically Capture the Flag," he explained. "The big difference is that instead of an actual flag, the target is a member of the other team—the Ruler."

Tifa cocked her head. "Huh, so you have to subdue and capture someone? I imagine the Rulers are Rufus and Sephiroth then?"

"Not this time," Sephiroth said, looking incredibly pleased with himself. "I convinced Rufus we should go with Queens."

It took a moment for this to sink in before Tifa's eyes widened dramatically. "Wait, me? I'm glad you seem to have a lot of faith in me, but I'm not sure that—"

"No, no, this is perfect!" Zack exclaimed. "You're way stronger than Elena, those dumb Turks aren't going to know what hit them!"

Cloud couldn't help but agree—Sephiroth had clearly outwitted Rufus in this case by setting up things dramatically in their favor. "Just think of it as a way for you to get revenge for them looking down on you. You're gonna do great."

"I've never done anything like this before though. I only just joined today!"

"Which is why we start training, right now," Sephiroth said, walking over to the slide where their wooden swords lay in a pile. "We've got three days to get ready and I plan to use it all. We're taking back our top rank."

Cloud's sword clattered to the ground as he collapsed to his knees, hardly even feeling the impact. His clothes were uncomfortably plastered to his body, thanks to all the sweat from the heavy exercise under the blazing sun. "Enough. I'm not sure I'm even going to be able to make it home at this point."

"He's right," Zack said, dropping his own weapon. "Besides, it's getting close to dinner anyway and I need to get back."

Sephiroth sighed but nodded. "Alright, we'll call it here. I'll see you back here tomorrow for more." With that, he gathered up the discarded weapons and walked off as Cloud staggered back to his feet.

"Is it . . . always like this?" Tifa asked, breathing heavily with her hands on her knees.

"No," Cloud replied. "We've never trained this hard before."

"He really wants us to win," Zack muttered.

"You know it wasn't—"

"Save it Cloud, I get it. I do have to get home though, my parents are going to be upset if I'm late again."

Cloud sighed. "Right, me too. See you tomorrow."

"Night, Zack!" Tifa called out as he turned to leave, giving the two of them a wave.

They'd trained for so long the sun was already low on the horizon—still a few hours from sunset, but not enough for the extreme heat to noticeably lessen. Thankfully, it was at least to their backs as he and Tifa left the park, preventing them from having to stare into it.

"So, did today live up to your expectations?" he asked, glancing over at her.

Stretching her arms over her head, Tifa laughed softly. "Kind of? I didn't think we'd be training so hard, but it was nice, y'know? Time flew by, and even though I'm still worried about this "Castle Siege" thing, I'm honestly a bit excited too."

"Glad to hear it, and don't worry, you're going to do great."

To his surprise, Tifa grabbed his hand and dragged them to an abrupt halt, turning to face him. "Thank you for inviting me to join the Fangs, Cloud. So much. I really appreciate it and I'm looking forward to hanging out with you all even more. I'll see you tomorrow!"

Before Cloud could fully recover, she'd already run off, leaving him standing there with his mouth open and his face faintly burning. He didn't feel like he'd done all that much—Tifa had been the one who first brought up joining the gang—but it was nice to see her so happy.

It only took a few more minutes for Cloud to finally make it back home, a sigh of relief escaping him as he leaned back against the closed door and savored the cool, air-conditioned interior. There was nothing better than this feeling after getting home from a long day outside. He didn't know how they'd ever managed to survive before the discovery of mako power—although if the weather truly hadn't been so extreme back then, he imagined it probably hadn't mattered as much.

"Welcome home!" his mother called out from the kitchen, following it up with a surprisingly loud cough. "Did you have a good day?"

"Yeah . . . Are you okay?"

"What, this?" she asked, coughing lightly as she emerged from the kitchen with a large pan. "Don't be a silly goose, it's just a small cough, nothing to get all worried about. Come, sit, I managed to get lasagna today."

Cloud perked up at the mention of his favorite dinner, the fatigue from training slightly fading away. Hurrying over to the table, he stopped to look over at the television, one hand on his chair. "Should I turn it on?"

"I think we've heard enough of the President for one day, dear. Let's just enjoy our meal."

"Mom!"

"What? It's always more of the same, we're not going to miss anything."

Settling into her seat, she served him a heaping pile of lasagna before taking a smaller one for herself. Not wanting to argue, Cloud sat down and dug in, immediately forgetting about the television as the delicious taste of the meal filled his mouth. This was exactly what he'd needed after a long day.

He wished they could eat good food more often, but of course, extravagant meals like this had to be limited to once every few months. All too soon his plate was empty. Belly full, Cloud was overcome with a wave of exhaustion as he set down his fork.

"You look about ready to collapse," his mom said, a hint of amusement in her voice.

Wearily, Cloud nodded his head. "Sephiroth is training us harder than normal. I think I'm going to go to bed early tonight. Thanks for dinner, it was delicious."

"Of course, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Don't worry about washing your dishes tonight, I can take care of them."

As tempting as it was to take her up on the offer, washing was the least he could do to thank her for preparing dinner. "No, no, I can handle that much at least," he insisted, grabbing his plate and bringing it over to the sink. Turning on the tap, he soaped up the sponge and began scrubbing away. It wasn't until a pair of arms wrapped around him from behind that Cloud realized he'd zoned out while cleaning the same section of the plate over and over.

"I think that part is clean enough, don't you?" his mother teased, gently pulling the plate from his hands. "Go get yourself washed up and into bed, I'll finish up here."

Realizing she was right, Cloud slipped out of the pseudo hug and made his way to the bathroom. His shower passed in a blur and while he felt like he'd done a better job cleaning himself than the plate, he honestly wasn't entirely sure—it was entirely possible he'd accidentally washed his hair twice. Quickly brushing his teeth, his final destination was the bedroom and the comfort of his bed. The moment his head hit the pillow he was out like a light.

Cloud woke refreshed and recharged the next morning as the sunlight coming through the window reached the familiar brightness that indicated it was time to get up. A moment later his alarm went off and he quickly silenced it, wondering for the hundredth time why he continued to use it despite waking up without it every morning.

Hopping out of bed, he got dressed and made a quick stop at the bathroom to brush his teeth before heading to the main room where his mom was, as always, drinking her morning coffee and reading the newspaper. He flipped the television on—quickly dropping the volume to a low murmur when he realized it was the same speech as yesterday—before taking his seat and grabbing some bread.

"Morning, Mom."

"Good morning, dear, did—" She cut off with a short bout of coughing before continuing, "Did you sleep well?"

A spike of concern shot through him. "You're still coughing?"

"Just a bit. Don't worry, I'm sure I'll be as good as new by tomorrow!"

Cloud frowned but didn't press any further. He was pretty sure that if the situation were reversed, she would have taken him to the doctor by now, but maybe he was worrying for no reason. Slowly eating his bread, he kept his attention focused on her and was relieved to see the coughing did seem to have stopped.

"More training today?"

He jumped slightly in his chair, realizing he'd finished off his bread and had just been watching her. "Oh, yeah. I should get going."

"There's still some lasagna left over so you can look forward to that, just don't work yourself too hard, okay?"

It was a struggle not to roll his eyes. "Now who's the one worrying?"

She wagged her finger at him, her eyes twinkling slightly. "Nope, it doesn't work that way. I'm your mother, it's my job to worry."

Cloud grinned back at her, one hand on the door. "Fine, I'll make sure not to overdo it. See you tonight!"

"Have fun!"

Doing his best to ignore the heat as always, Cloud hurried to Tifa's house and knocked on the door. While they hadn't made plans to go to the park together this morning, he figured it was better to check than to leave her waiting. To his surprise, Tifa wasn't the one who opened the door.

"Ah, Cloud, good morning," Mr. Lockhart said. "I imagine you're looking for Tifa. You just missed her, she left about ten minutes ago."

"Oh. Thanks, sir. Sorry to bother you."

"No need to be so formal, lad. I actually wanted to thank you, I haven't seen my daughter so happy in a long time. I hope the two of you will continue to get along."

Cloud wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that. "Oh, uh, yes, of course." Why wouldn't he and Tifa get along? "I better go catch up, bye!"

"Take care," Tifa's dad called after him before closing the door.

Walking quickly toward the park, Cloud slowed to a stop as he passed by the city's western gate. A lone guard leaned against the wall nearby—something that always confused Cloud considering no one ever went in or out. Taking a step closer, he looked out over the barren desert that surrounded the city on all sides. His mother had told him stories of how there used to be plants growing around the city, that it hadn't always been this way, but it seemed almost impossible to believe.

"Nothing to see, boy," the guard said. "Just miles and miles of wasteland, at least for us. Damn Ancients . . ."

Cloud frowned, not sure what he'd expected or why he'd even bothered to come. Of course there wasn't anything here. He turned, eager to get back to training with Zack, Tifa, and Sephiroth when a shocking flash of color caught the corner of his eye.

He spun back around, his mouth dropping open as the man gave him a strange look.

There, on her hands and knees, was a young girl—somewhere around his own age—wearing an orange dress with a pink ribbon tied in her hair. Her clothing was what had captured Cloud's attention. It was like nothing he had ever seen before, shockingly bright and so . . . colorful. It almost hurt to look directly at her.

"What are you staring at, boy? Gone mad?" The man glanced over at the girl, his eyes seeming to pass right over her. "I told you, there's nothing to see out there."

Cloud fervently shook his head, pointing his finger directly at her. "She's right there!"

"She? The hell are you talking about? You gone heat sick?"

"That girl, right there!" Cloud insisted, taking a step toward her. She seemed to be . . . playing with the dirt? Cloud didn't understand what she was doing, her hands were moving, but there was nothing there. "She might be hurt! We need to help her!"

"Sure, sure. You go along and do just that," the man said, rolling his eyes. "Kids and their wild fantasies," he muttered.

Cloud hesitated for a moment, even though he'd been given explicit permission to leave. No one ever left. There was no reason to, everyone knew there was nothing outside the city worth going to. He knew he wasn't heat sick, but maybe she was, maybe she'd wandered out and needed help.

He took a step outside the gate.

"Dammit boy, I was only joking! Your parents are going to—"

The guard's voice cut off with a faint hint of shock, but Cloud hardly noticed. Because when he'd taken a second step, everything had changed.

Gone was the desert, the heat, the scorching sun. In their place was a sight he didn't understand. Everything was so green, like the wilted vegetables his mother got for dinner that he hated so much, except thousands of times more intense. Towering green plants surrounded the clearing he'd stepped into, with strange animals fluttering through the air between them and making noises that sounded almost like someone singing.

Somehow, the sky was even more blue than it usually was—the sun brighter and yet not as piercing, not as oppressively sweltering as he was accustomed to. The ground was blanketed in color, covered as far as he could see with smaller plants, each more different than the last.

It was these strange plants the girl had been playing with, tweaking their leaves, or . . . something. She'd gone completely still, her eyes locked on Cloud, her mouth a wide "o" in a mirror of his own.

And then she screamed.

After just over a year since posting my last fic, I'm back! It's honestly crazy to me to finally be writing this end note in preparation for posting this story after having worked on it for such a long time. I'm so excited to be able to share it at last, and I look forward to hearing what everyone thinks of it. We've got a long journey ahead of us, but you can look forward to regular, weekly updates at least.

The story kicks off with the "gangs," aka pre-teens misusing names to make things sound cooler, and then also gives a brief introduction to life in Midgar. Writing Cloud as a nine-year-old was certainly a challenge, and just to be clear, this story takes place in three distinct parts: the childhood years, the teen years, and the adult years, with large time gaps between them, so the story isn't only going to have everyone as kids, and it also won't attempt to cover the passage of years and years. As for the mysterious girl at the end of the chapter, it's anyone's guess who she could possibly be, but I'm sure we'll find out next week. Thanks for reading!

Next Chapter: Cetra