Epilogue
Cloud sat on his old porch swing two days later, slowly swinging back and forth as he pondered.
He had been laying there when his life had started to change forever. Yuffie had come to get him about Sephiroth being hurt by the Evil Queen and he had got up, not having a fraction of a thought of how nothing would ever be the same again.
He had a family again. And now Sephiroth was part of that family.
It had been an interesting scene when he had told the Restoration Committee of the latest developments. They were his other closest friends, so they deserved to know and Cloud wanted to tell them.
"Things are really good now," he said when he went out to them. "Sephiroth is going to be okay and he and Zack and I have made some plans."
"Ooh, what kinds of plans?" Yuffie eagerly asked.
"I'm moving in with them," Cloud said. "We're all going to be a family together."
Everyone looked surprised.
"I'm really happy for you, Cloud," Tifa said. "This is what Aerith hoped for, but I didn't think it could ever actually happen."
"I was pretty sure it could, if the two of you could just talk things out!" Aerith smiled and winked.
"It ended up that we started caring about each other even before we understood everything," Cloud remarked.
"That only makes it even more special!"Aerith said.
Yuffie said, "Does this mean you guys won't be fighting all over town anymore?"
"Probably,"Cloud replied.
"Aww. I'll kinda miss that. It was a good show," Yuffie smirked.
"I sort of figured things might end up comin' to this after you started snugglin' up," Cid grunted.
Cloud rolled his eyes. "You figured it before we did, I guess."
Leon looked amused at that exchange, but when he spoke he was more serious. "I'm glad you've got straightened out," he said. "All of us were worried about you. Cid too."
Merlin nodded. "Yes, Cloud. We can see you're happy now and that makes all of us very happy!"
"Yeah," Cloud said with a smile. "I am happy. Really happy."
And Cloud was indeed still happy. But he was worried too.
Would it really work for them to live under the same roof? Cloud knew that no matter how much they cared now, their personalities still might not mesh that well. Sephiroth no doubt knew as well. But he had still extended the invitation and Cloud had accepted.
He would probably still keep this house—not that anyone else would want it anyway. And he would come back to it when he wanted to think, like now. It was lonely, but it was still his own house.
What if it didn't work out? Would that damage the bond that had grown between them?
He didn't want to think of that. He didn't want anything to hurt what they now had.
Maybe he should tell Sephiroth he didn't think it would work out after all. If he stayed here, that might be for the best.
Or maybe Sephiroth would be hurt by Cloud going back on his acceptance. It would be an adjustment for both of them, living together, and apparently Sephiroth felt ready to try it.
It probably wouldn't be an adjustment for Zack, though. He was just excited at the idea of all of them living together.
Something tickled Cloud's face and he scowled a bit as he pulled a long blue feather out of the backrest part of the cushion.
That would be happening even more over there. Cloud had always been so annoyed by it.
But . . . it wasn't gross like finding hairballs on the floor or the furniture. He had always hated that.
Funny that when he thought about it, he couldn't remember ever finding Sephiroth's hair there other than a stray strand now and then. No hairballs.
He sighed, turning the feather over in his hands. Seeing it was a comfort in a way. A big way. Sephiroth had left it while alive and well at some time in the past. Cloud had found him sleeping on the swing a few times. As long as he could keep thinking of it like that, he surely wouldn't care that much to find feathers.
He looked up with a start when a gentle breeze and another feather floating in signaled Sephiroth descending from the sky onto the porch. "Hello," he greeted.
Cloud grunted. "Do you ever make normal entrances?"
"Very rarely," Sephiroth smirked. "I'm going to see Sun now. Do you want to come?"
Cloud set the feather down and stood up. "Yeah, I'll come," he said. "Are we walking, flying, or teleporting?"
"Which do you want to do?" Sephiroth asked.
Cloud shrugged. "It's not far."
"We'll walk," Sephiroth said. He headed down the steps, then paused to wait for Cloud. "Are you having second thoughts about moving in?"
Cloud froze to be pinned down on that. "I . . . I'm just wondering if it will really work out," he admitted. "I want to try it. I just . . . wonder what'll happen if it flops, I guess. . . . I don't want to start a screaming match and then storm out or something."
"I have more confidence in you than that or I wouldn't have invited you," Sephiroth said. "But if you find you prefer living alone, we can just go back to what we've been doing, with you coming to visit and then coming back here to sleep."
"Yeah, but . . . if we don't part on good terms, maybe it wouldn't go back to that," Cloud said. "And I . . . don't want to lose what we have now." He flushed to admit it, but it was true.
"Well, neither do I," Sephiroth said. "And since we both want it, we should be able to have enough drive to stay close one way or another."
"Hope so."
"You don't really believe some petty disagreement about feathers could spoil a bond if even you wanting to kill me didn't."
Cloud grunted. "When you put it that way, it does sound pretty stupid."
"I'm glad you agree."
Cloud fell silent as they walked. Finally he said, "Sephiroth . . . I used to be able to retract my wing. I didn't have it out much. Why can't I do that anymore?"
Sephiroth looked surprised at the sudden question. "I don't know," he admitted.
"It came from the darkness in my heart," Cloud said. "For it to just stay out all the time, does that mean my heart got even darker?"
"Could it have got darker than it did when you formed your wing?" Sephiroth replied.
"It could have . . . but it didn't," Cloud said. "I don't think."
"I might say your wing's position solidified because you came to accept yourself more, only it seemed that you continued to have trouble with that after you could no longer retract it," Sephiroth said. "Do you remember when that started?"
"I think it was after we disappeared from here and you put us in that illusion in the Dark Depths to really test if I'd do the right thing or just give in to the dark," Cloud said. "I brought it out during our fight and then it wouldn't go away after that."
"Hm." Sephiroth pondered. "I'm honestly not sure what the explanation is," he admitted.
"It's probably something to do with you, like my other weird powers," Cloud grunted.
"If that is the explanation, how would you feel about that?" Sephiroth asked.
"I . . ." Cloud shook his head. "I don't know. About the wing, I mean. I don't mind the teleporting. It doesn't seem to happen much . . . and it saved our lives in the snow."
Sephiroth smiled a bit. "Yes, it did."
"I know the wing forming was my own fault, at least," Cloud said. "I won't blame you for that anymore."
"I would hope not," Sephiroth said dryly.
Cloud sighed. "I was so stupid . . . so self-destructive. When I made up that dumb idea about you being my darkness, I clung to it so much I decided all the terrible things I'd done were your fault instead of mine. How can you forgive all of that?"
Sephiroth shrugged. "As I said, I recognize it was partially my own fault for the approach I took. That said, I'm glad you've grown up and gotten some sense."
"Yeah. And I know that if the wing staying put has something to do with you, it's just my own feelings about you somehow," Cloud said. "It's not like you deliberately made it happen."
Sephiroth smiled. "It's refreshing to hear that from you."
As they came up on Sun's aunt's house, Sun was sitting on the porch steps. Seeing her visitors, she beamed and ran over. "Sephiroth! Cloud! I was hoping you'd come."
"Me too?" Cloud said in surprise.
"Yeah!" Sun said. "I know you love Sephiroth now."
Sephiroth smiled a bit. "How are you doing?" he asked.
"I'm okay," Sun said. "I don't know why my mom got acting so weird." She frowned and shuddered. "I never thought she'd actually try to kill you guys."
"She's messed-up," Cloud said. Then, sighing as a sudden, unpleasant realization hit him, he added, "Like I was. I didn't want to believe I was doing so many bad things either, so I blamed Sephiroth for it."
Sephiroth looked surprised by Cloud drawing that parallel. But then he said, "You're learning to accept yourself now, unlike Kala-Ansa."
Sun tilted her head. "Do you think my mom will ever get better?"
Put on the spot with such a question, Sephiroth exchanged an uncomfortable look with Cloud before finally replying, "It's not impossible." Truthfully, he doubted it. But he didn't want to discourage a young child with innocent hope. It was technically possible, after all.
"Maybe if I don't give up on her and keep encouraging her to be better, like you do with Cloud," Sun said.
". . . That'd be good," Cloud said gruffly.
"Will you come to church again, like you did with Zack?" she asked, looking to Sephiroth.
Again put on the spot, he finally, awkwardly answered, "Yes, probably."
"You can bring Zack, and Cloud too!" Sun said.
Cloud flushed. "I haven't been to church since my mom was alive."
Sephiroth smirked a bit. "I hadn't either until the other day."
"Well . . ." Cloud shrugged. "If you can do it, I can do it too."
Sun beamed. "I'll look for all of you!"
They visited a bit longer before excusing themselves and starting back up the street.
"Seems like she's doing okay," Cloud said.
"Yes," Sephiroth said. "But she's hurting inside. No one could go through having a loved one fall to the darkness without being deeply affected by it."
Cloud frowned and looked away. Sephiroth would certainly know. He had seen how Zack had suffered with Sephiroth's own fall as well as how Zack had worried about Cloud. And after Sephiroth had come to care about Cloud, he must have suffered to see Cloud wallowing in the darkness as well.
". . . Can we do anything for her?" he mumbled.
"Visit her, support her. . . . Of course, what she longs for the most is her mother's redemption. Unfortunately, I cannot help her with that. I will not associate with that woman any more than I have to at the court trial."
"Yeah," Cloud said. "You shouldn't have to see her more than that. You shouldn't even have to see her that much." He clenched a fist at his side, the memory of Kala-Ansa's sickening assault on Sephiroth still burned into his mind. If Sephiroth hadn't regained consciousness, how much worse might it have gotten? Surely the townspeople would have tried to stop it. And Cloud would have, once he would have got free.
But he didn't want to think about what else she might have done.
Sephiroth looked to him questioningly at his silence. "You saw what she was doing," he remarked. It wasn't a question.
"It was messed up." Cloud stared ahead. "I know it could have been worse . . . and would have, if she'd had her way. I hated seeing it."
"I was aware enough to feel what she was doing," Sephiroth admitted. "I couldn't muster the strength to stop it until she kissed me."
Cloud made a face. "So being woke up with a kiss isn't always a fairytale experience," he said with dripping sarcasm.
"Instead, my 'fairytale experience' involved being cried over," Sephiroth remarked.
Cloud blushed a bit. "When I told Tifa and Aerith what happened that night, Aerith asked if I kissed you to bring you back," he said.
Sephiroth smirked. "That would have been an experience. I'm lucky the spell didn't require that to break. I doubt you would have done that at that point in time."
"Not if I hadn't thought about it," Cloud said. "But . . . if I'd thought it would have worked, I would have done it."
Sephiroth looked surprised at that and then smiled. "Really."
Cloud nodded. "I tried everything I could think of. I didn't think of that, but even if I had, I didn't know I cared about you yet. I wouldn't have thought it'd ever work."
"If you had, that would have been an interesting way to wake up," Sephiroth smirked. "And it would have left little doubt as to your feelings."
"Yeah. But you'd better not ever be that bad off again," Cloud said.
"I don't intend on it," Sephiroth grunted.
"Where is Zack anyway?" Cloud asked.
"He stayed home to allow us this time to talk while he fixes lunch for us," Sephiroth said. "It should be done by now. Do you want to fly back the rest of the way?"
"Yeah, sure," Cloud said. "It'd be faster. Don't want the food to get cold."
Smirking, Sephiroth spread his wings and took off. Cloud flew up after him.
It was a short trip but pleasant, flying side by side with a former enemy who was now a dear friend. And as they landed and Zack ran out to them with a grin, Cloud smiled.
This was definitely right. He wanted it to work. And maybe, with a little luck and a lot of patience and love, it would.