Oh boy, so I based my idea of Reeve's parents being alive on a scene I read about where two elderly people are seen in a room with a Cait Sith doll, I think at the Gold Saucer, and it's implied they're Reeve's parents. For some reason, the Wiki I was reading on did not mention any of the stuff about Reeve's mother from On the Way to a Smile! So I learned about that later and oops. But I still had my heart set on the parents being alive, and since I don't actually accept that book as canon anyway, I decided to go ahead with what I wanted. However, I really like the idea of Mrs. Tuesti looking after Denzel for a while and adapted as much of that idea as I could for this.

Chapter Three

Zack was finding it hard to sleep that night. Instead he lay awake, listening to every sound in and out of the house, his feelings growing more and more awed and mixed the longer he did.

"What're you thinking about?" Cloud finally asked.

"Everything," Zack said. "I'm trying to picture what it was like for Seph to fall asleep in this bed every night, alive and kind of half-sane, wanting so bad to find the secret to getting his sanity back . . . and knowing I was here, just . . . not solid. . . ."

". . . What was it like for you?" Cloud wondered.

"Pretty surreal," Zack said. "But amazing, to finally have hope for Seph again. The Seph we fought at Nibelheim and the one who tried to cause Meteor . . . those aren't the Sephs who would have ever moved into a peaceful little home like this. I knew something had changed about him, and I was going to hang on to it."

"And you did," Cloud said. "The memories we finally saw from back then . . . you helped him every step of the way until he found what he needed."

"Yeah." Zack smiled. "And now we're all happy together and Seph has his wish. Almost all of them." He sobered a bit. "He still doesn't have a mother's love. Maybe he never will. But he finally realized Jenova didn't love him and never had. For him to get it . . . and choose us over her, that's a miracle I never thought I'd see." His voice choked and he hugged Cloud close.

Cloud hugged back. "How did that really happen?" he wondered. "I mean . . . I know her hold on him was finally cut when we ended up on Earth, but . . . was that all it took? Didn't he have to make a choice himself?"

"He did," Zack said. "I was with him when all his memories started coming back on Earth. He was sane again and he had the chance to see everything with a clear mind. He hadn't had that before. And when he really saw the truth of how things were, he . . ." He smiled proudly, though his voice was still cracking. "He told Jenova to get away from him and never come back. His heart was broken, of course, but he kicked her out and came back to me."

Cloud stared off into the distance. ". . . I wish I'd been there then," he said quietly. "Instead, I was drowning in my hate for him."

"You had a lot to go through before you could accept Seph," Zack said. "We're just happy you finally figured it out."

"I had to lose him before I finally accepted how I felt," Cloud said. "And if he hadn't been able to come back, I . . ." He shook his head. "I don't think I would've made it back either. It would've been too much to take."

"Hey. Don't think about that," Zack soothed. "He did come back. Everything's okay."

Cloud sighed. ". . . Was it always so easy for you to put the bad stuff behind you and focus on the good?"

"Heck no!" Zack retorted. "Especially not the really bad stuff, like Angeal leaving and . . . Modeoheim . . . and . . ." He sighed. "You know." He hugged Cloud more. "But I had to find something good or I'd lose it. And I couldn't do that; there were always people I needed to be strong for—people like Aerith and you. Sometimes even Seph." His eyes flickered. "And I still regret that I wasn't strong enough for Seph when he needed it most. So . . . on that, I still haven't completely put the bad stuff behind me. I just have to do my best to stay focused on the good. Especially what we've got now. Can't do anything about the past, as much as I wish I could. But we're all safe and happy now and that's the most important thing."

"I know," Cloud said.

"Even if I could change the past, I might make our present worse somehow," Zack frowned. "It's pretty much perfect as it is, so I shouldn't mess with it."

"Yeah," Cloud said. "I think so too.

". . . I just remembered something," he said. "When the mess in South America went down, I heard Mom talking to Seph when he was sent back. She told him the Promised Land wasn't for him . . . yet. That sounds like the Promised Land is the afterlife."

Zack pondered that. "Well, if it is, I don't think it's Gaia's afterlife," he said. "It's an okay place and all, but it's not what I'd describe as the Promised Land. Aerith didn't seem to think that was it either." He paused. "And could glasses really make a map to the afterlife?"

"Guess not. I think some myths have it that the afterlife is a place you can actually visit when you're not dead, but . . ." Cloud shook his head. "I don't know. It's all weird."

"I'm pretty sure the Promised Land is a physical place, like how the religions seem to use it," Zack said.

"Do you think it's that Promised Land or another one?" Cloud wondered.

Zack shrugged. "Who knows! I hope we find out, though. And before Dalton does."

"Yeah, no kidding." Cloud sighed, settling deeper into the bed. There wasn't much space when it was just a twin, but just to try out for one night, it was okay. And he liked being here with Zack.

Somehow, despite his cacophony of thoughts, he dozed, snuggling closer to Zack. Zack smiled, hugging Cloud as he slipped to sleep as well.

Sephiroth also had a difficult time getting to sleep at first. There were so many memories here. Before he had ever accidentally sent everyone to Earth, he had dreamed of staying in this house when sane and had hoped Cloud would come around to visit and gradually grow close to him, no matter how impossible a dream it seemed.

He had all of his dreams now—not the way he had thought he would achieve them, but he had them nevertheless.

"What are you thinking about?" Red XIII wondered.

"I am thinking how different everything is compared to when I used to lived here," Sephiroth replied. "I longed for Cloud to live here with me, no matter how impossible a dream it seemed back then. And now . . ." He stared off into the distance in awe. "Now we've been living together, even though not here. And I am finally able to have him with me here as well."

"It's strange to see him as changed as he is from before," Red XIII said. "But it's a nice change. He's happy. He was often so fueled by hatred for you before."

"Yes. . . . And in my madness, I deliberately made it worse," Sephiroth said sorrowfully.

"I know that feeling of hatred well myself," Red XIII remarked. "I spent years hating my father, believing he had abandoned us. I was . . . very wrong about him. I felt very badly when I finally knew the truth."

"He didn't abandon you?" Sephiroth asked.

"No," Red XIII said. "He gave everything he had to protect us."

Sephiroth sighed. "I, unfortunately, deserved every bit of Cloud's hatred, and more."

"I would think Hojo and Jenova deserved the most," Red XIII remarked.

"I don't want to absolve myself of responsibility because of them," Sephiroth said. "I am still the one who destroyed Nibelheim and tried to obliterate the Planet."

"But you weren't in your right mind," Red XIII said. "Doesn't that count for something?"

"I suppose. If I had been sane and still committed such atrocities, Cloud never could have forgiven me," Sephiroth said. "Nor would I have deserved it."

"Then I guess it's something to be grateful for that you weren't sane and you know you would never do that if you had been," Red XIII said.

It seemed a strange thing to be grateful for, but Sephiroth supposed he could see the point. "Yes," he said slowly. "In my right mind I would have targeted Shinra alone with my anger. I would have ended their evil so no one else would suffer as I, Angeal, and Genesis had done."

Red XIII nodded. "That would have been a good use of your power," he said.

"I try to do that now, but nothing will ever make up for the past," Sephiroth said.

"Do you do it for that reason?" Red XIII asked.

Sephiroth frowned a bit. In spite of knowing that would be useless, did he?

". . . I don't know," he finally admitted. "I feel like part of me perhaps thinks that it's soothing and validating to discover these powers can be used for good . . . that I don't have to be the perfect monster because of them. But I know it will never bring back Nibelheim, nor any of the other people who died in the wake of my madness. Sometimes I think there's no possible way I will ever be allowed into the good afterlife Earth has. I never wanted to die; I fought it tooth and nail every time it happened, and somehow, often because of my bond with Cloud, I have always been able to return."

"Probably also because of your own willpower," Red XIII said.

"But I imagine that sooner or later my chances will run out," Sephiroth said. "Especially on this other planet. Here, I understand the Lifestream and can keep manipulating it the way I want. On Earth, I have no idea how their afterlife really works. Nor do I think the God of that world will allow me to have that knowledge."

"In that case, do you really want to stay there instead of here?" Red XIII asked.

"Yes," Sephiroth said. "Earth is home to me in a way Gaia never was. I am finally happy there. I still don't have the love of a mother, but after finally realizing the depths to which Jenova manipulated and controlled me and never cared for me despite my giving everything to her, I wonder if I even still want such a love. Would it always feel tainted to me now? Would I never be able to fully believe a mother would love me as a mother would be supposed to love their child?"

Red XIII pondered those understandable queries. "Is that what you think?"

"I don't know," Sephiroth said. "Perhaps I'm also afraid. . . . Afraid that if I give my heart and soul to my birth mother, she will only break them again. I am . . . not sure I could bear it happening again. I don't know how I bore it when I realized the truth about Jenova. I would have collapsed in on myself if Zack hadn't been there."

"You're still wondering whether to try to free Lucrecia from the crystal," Red XIII mused. "Vincent told me he asked Cloud about it."

Sephiroth shook his head. "Not wondering whether to, really. . . . I know the right thing would be to do it. But . . . I'm still not sure I'm strong enough to do it without shattering myself."

"Then it's not time yet," Red XIII said. "If there ever comes the time when you can handle it, you'll know."

"I hope so," Sephiroth said.

"In the meantime, it sounds like you're handling your powers in the right way," Red XIII continued. "You've helped all of us because of them."

"I'm glad," Sephiroth said. "And I have Cloud and Zack. They make my fragile spirit whole. I know I love too deeply—too dangerously, even—but I don't know how to not do that. That kind of complete love and devotion is all I know, all I've ever felt for those who mean everything to me."

"To have the love of someone who cares that much is a rare gift," Red XIII said. "Jenova was a fool to not recognize it. Zack and Cloud are very lucky."

"I feel that I am the lucky one," Sephiroth said. "Or blessed would be a better word, perhaps. It's overwhelming to me that they love me despite everything."

"It seems there is always more to learn about love," Red XIII remarked, likely thinking of his father again.

"Yes," Sephiroth agreed.

Talked out at last, they both dozed, Sephiroth smiling to himself.

When he woke up, it was morning. He sat up, sleepily confused about his location. Why was he on a couch? But the sight of the peaceful room and Red XIII asleep in a chair brought it all back. Smiling, he got up and moved to the kitchenette area to start breakfast.

Aerith soon emerged from one of the bedrooms. "Good morning!" she said brightly.

"Hello," Sephiroth greeted. "Did you sleep well?"

"Very," she said. "You picked a cozy house to make yours."

"It has been pleasant," he agreed. "I liked living here with Zack."

"Is it strange to come back?" Aerith wondered.

"Some," Sephiroth said. "But it's fulfilling my dream of sharing this house with Cloud when sane."

Aerith smiled. "Did you hope Cloud would live here with you and Zack?" She started looking through what she had brought to the fridge that might help with breakfast.

Sephiroth went a bit red. "I didn't think I could hope for that much," he said. "But I liked to think he would visit, and that it would be happier than the awkward time when he did try to visit."

"I'm glad you're both happy now." Aerith turned away from the freezer, holding a freezer bag of homemade pancakes left over from a large batch she had made at home.

Sephiroth eyed them hungrily. Everyone loved Aerith's pancakes, made from one of Elmyra's recipes. "You and Zack often encouraged us," he remarked.

"Because we could see you needed each other," Aerith said. "And you both wanted it. You were both just too awkward and shy to really go ahead!"

Sometimes it still seemed incredible that she was right and Cloud did want it.

Sephiroth went an even deeper red as he got the griddle out of the cupboard and turned on a hot plate. "I came across as shy?"

"Well . . ." Aerith placed several pancakes on the griddle and went about warming them up. "You felt like you didn't have any right to even hope that Cloud wanted to be friends."

"I didn't," Sephiroth said. "Not after all I'd done."

"And Cloud was too prideful to admit he wanted it," Aerith remarked. "Zack and I've been so happy that he's finally opening up and accepting his feelings. Tifa's glad to see it too!"

"It is . . . strange, to discover how affectionate Cloud actually is," Sephiroth said. He looked around to find the butter and syrup.

"You're both touch-starved!" Aerith said matter-of-factly. "You're good for each other!"

Sephiroth was still red at the first comment, but he smiled fondly. "Yes," he agreed. "We are. I have never been as happy as I am now that I have both him and Zack with me."

"Tifa told me it's the same with Cloud," Aerith said. "She's never seen him as happy as he is now. You were always this huge presence in his life—first as someone he idolized, then hated, and now loves. He could never really be at peace until everything with you was settled. He just never thought things could really be settled in a happy way."

"Neither did I," Sephiroth said. "I still don't know how I—I, of all people!—deserves such happiness. Sometimes I think that it must be that I am happy because I am part of someone else's happiness, someone who does deserve to be happy. But it's been suggested to me that it is also specifically so I can be happy as well. That seems . . . too overwhelming to believe."

"I hope you can believe it someday," Aerith said sincerely. She took the hot pancakes off the griddle and added more.

"And all of you have forgiven me. . . . That we can all be a family together is something I never thought I would ever experience," Sephiroth said softly.

"Everyone deserves to know what that's like," Aerith smiled and winked.

". . . There's something I've always wondered," Sephiroth said. "How is it that you were able to forgive me so easily? It took Cloud so long. . . . I don't think even Zack was able to right away. And you didn't know me as they did. . . ."

Aerith sobered. "No. . . . But I know Shinra's cruelty," she said softly. "I was in the Shinra labs for the first several years of my life, until my mother planned our escape one night. I know Hojo's evil ways, as you did. I was often so angry back then, and after my mother's death. If things had been different . . . I might have been the one trying to right the wrongs done to the Cetra and trying to become a goddess. I might have caused Meteor instead of trying to stop it. That's why . . . I couldn't hate you. I never have."

Sephiroth was sobered as well. "I didn't realize," he said quietly. "I'm sorry to have brought it up."

"I don't talk about it much," Aerith said. "When I learned how to really be like my mother and find happiness in every situation, I wanted to talk about happy things." She paused. "I really wished . . . we could have saved you. That I could have saved you. I'm glad someone did." She smiled.

Sephiroth smiled too. Aerith was a remarkable woman. He was glad he finally realized that.

"I am as well," he said.

The delicious smells of food being cooked penetrated Cloud's senses and he stirred, blinking sleepy eyes through the wild blond bangs. Zack was waking up too, looking delighted. "Somebody's cooking something good," he announced.

Cloud started to get up. "Are you going to come see?"

"Oh yeah." Zack grinned.

As they wandered out into the main living area, Aerith was carrying a stack of pancakes to the table. Sephiroth had a plate of bacon. "Good morning!" Aerith greeted cheerily.

"How was the bed?" Sephiroth asked.

"Great!" Zack grinned.

Cloud nodded. "It was pretty comfortable."

Sephiroth nodded too, in approval. "I'm glad you enjoyed it."

"The chair is comfortable as well," Red XIII said as he padded into the kitchenette and hopped onto the nearest chair.

"I hoped it would be for you," Sephiroth said.

The group sat around the table, sharing the delicious meal and wondering what plans could be made for the day. It was shortly after they finished when Reeve knocked on the door.

"Come in," Sephiroth called.

Reeve stepped inside, eyeing the empty dishes as he said, "It looks like you've had something good."

"There's some left if you'd like some!" Aerith said brightly.

". . . Thank you," Reeve said in surprise. "I haven't eaten breakfast yet."

"I figured as much!" Aerith said.

Soon he was settled at the table with pancakes and bacon. "I called my mother earlier," he said. "She always likes getting up early to enjoy the sunrise. When I told her about the missing glasses, she was concerned. It seems we did have them . . . but my parents' house in Sector 5 was destroyed when the Lifestream burst out of the Planet. She's concerned they may have been destroyed with it."

Aerith looked down. "Oh. . . ."

"There is still hope, though," Reeve hastened to say. "They were always kept in a protective case. It's possible the case wasn't destroyed and someone stole it."

Cloud grimaced. "Then they could be anywhere." Everyone knew the black market had been booming ever since Meteorfall.

"Hm." Aerith pondered. "Don't you make Don Corneo do things for you now?" She smiled impishly at Cloud. "Too bad you can't have him put some of his people on it."

Cloud grunted. "He might have the glasses himself, for all we know."

"And if he doesn't, do we really want to let him know there's a valuable case of diamond-studded glasses somewhere on Gaia?" Sephiroth said. "Just because you seem to have him under your thumb now, he might refuse to stay in that position if he learns of the glasses."

Aerith nodded. "I was just joking. I don't want him to know anything about them if he doesn't already."

"And I think if he does have them, he'd be using them to build up his businesses again," Cloud said. "He wouldn't just have them on display or something. So maybe find out if he's doing any better than he was before and go from there."

"I can answer that," Reeve said. "He still isn't doing well. I doubt he has the glasses."

"Man, I'd like to deck that guy," Zack remarked.

"Go ahead," Cloud said. "I'll bring a camera."

"There's also the chance the case might still be somewhere in Sector 5," Reeve said. "It could be buried in the remains of my parents' home or even have been carried away by the Lifestream. My mother missed the country so much that I got them a new house near Kalm."

"That sounds nice," Aerith said.

"They enjoy it," Reeve said.

He hesitated, looking to Cloud. "The boy you and Tifa have been looking after, Denzel. . . . He came to me once wanting to join the WRO. I decided children should not join. Shinra destroyed so many childhoods ahead of their time by creating child soldiers. I didn't want the WRO to follow suit."

Cloud looked surprised. "Denzel never told me he tried to join up."

"He also told me a strange story about what he had been up to before you found him at Aerith's church," Reeve said. "Apparently my parents looked after him for a time. He was with them when Meteor struck. When the Lifestream came out, it tore the house apart and they tried to protect Denzel. After it was all over . . . everything was destroyed and Denzel couldn't find them. He believed them dead. So did I, for a time."

Sephiroth frowned deeply. "I am so sorry," he said quietly.

Reeve nodded to him. ". . . They were finally dug out of the rubble by search-and-rescue volunteers. They were both in the hospital for some time with no identification, too badly injured to speak. But at last my mother was able to say my name and I was contacted."

"That's wonderful they're alright," Aerith said sincerely.

"Oh yeah," Zack agreed.

"I never had the chance to tell Denzel they're alive," Reeve said. "When you go back, will you give him that message?"

Cloud nodded. "Sure."

The group continued to ponder what their next move should be while Reeve ate. Finally Sephiroth sighed and said, "The most logical thing to do is go through Sector 5, starting with the remains of the house."

"It's really unlikely you'll find anything still there," Reeve said apologetically. "But you're welcome to try."

"Thank you," Sephiroth said with a nod.

"By the way, how are the modifications on Cait Sith coming along?" Aerith asked.

"Good," Reeve said. "I've designed a stronger transmitter, so I'm hoping that he'll be able to broadcast what's going on with you much more clearly. We may even be able to speak across dimensions."

"That would be so cool!" Zack exclaimed.

"And useful," Sephiroth said in approval.

"Yeah, that's really great," Cloud said.

"I'll bring him by probably tonight," Reeve said.

"Let's just hope we'll have some success by then," Sephiroth remarked.