icedark_elf | Fic: Another Chance, part five (Tifa, Cid, Cloud/Aeris/Zack/Sephiroth, PG-13)

Title: Another Chance
Author: GW Katrina aka

forgottenlover
Fandom: FFVII: Advent Children
Summary: After fighting Sephiroth yet again, Cloud is given a choice.
Pairings: Cloud/Aeris/Zack/Sephiroth
Chapter Summary: Time to think before everyone comes together.
Chapter Characters: Tifa, Cid, Cloud/Aeris/Zack/Sephiroth
Warnings: Alternate Ending for FFVII:AC. Foursome

A/N: Written for

ladynero and her lovely bribes. Go check out her fics at her LJ.

Previous chapters here:
One Two Three Four

New chapter->
Chapter Five

The morning was calm, and Tifa sat at the table, quietly sipping on the mug of tea she had fixed herself. She blamed Cid for getting them hooked on the stuff while traveling together, but she would admit it was soothing. Which was something she needed.

Her mind wasn’t wanting to process the events of the night before. Not really. She was very confused by it all, and Cloud vanishing right after had not helped things.

The church had been in a bit of chaos, and she had been forced to set aside her own thoughts on the matter and help get things calmed down before anything bad had happened. There had been some panic as people realized that Sephiroth was back, and the man was out loose. Thankfully, more than a few had already known Aeris, and that had helped things calm down a lot. Besides, they trusted Tifa and the others, and calmed when they had been told that Cloud wouldn’t do anything to put the world in danger again.

Tifa just hoped that that trust was in the right place. Cloud had been manipulated by Sephiroth before, and while she thought that was over, she just couldn’t figure out why the man was back.

Well, given the kiss, maybe she could.

Still, it was confusing. Why had Cloud done it? Aeris and Zack, she could understand. He had enough guilt over both of them to flood the world. Nothing she or the others had ever done had ever made him feel less guilty. It was simply part of who he was. Everyone had pretty much accepted it, even if she wanted to kick his ass over it when he upset the kids.

And, it fit, really. Cloud had lost them both so early. Zack and Aeris had been young, and they had both died protecting what they had cared for. If anyone deserved a second chance at life, it was them.

Sephiroth, though....

She still remembered the oddest of details. The way the sparks flew up over the fires, moving to set the trees up in flames. Or the way the cries faded, just a few at a time, as the town got quieter and quieter, with only the crackle of the flames. The heat of the fires fading as she ran, no long scorching her lungs as cool mountain air finally pushed back the heat as she had gone for the reactor.

Sipping the tea, she sighed. She didn’t remember much of what had happened after the fire. Until Mideel, she hadn’t even remembered Cloud having been there at all. Everything blurred together into a mess of anger, pain, and loss.

It had been the same for Cloud. His mom had died, and he had ended up in Hojo’s labs. Which is why she just couldn’t understand why he had been willing to help bring the man back.

True, they had a history of manipulation and control, but she was sure Cloud was past that now, had been past that for years. So if that wasn’t the cause, what was?

Those were all things that had run through her mind last night. Even as they had calmed others, she had only gotten more confused herself.

Denzel had stuck close to her, while Marlene had stayed with her dad. Cid and Barrett’s yells for people to shut up had finally gotten the crowd to quiet down enough for Tifa and the others to do some good at settling people who were frightened. Helping them had helped her calm down as well, and Tifa knew that Cloud had to have some type of explanation.

Still, it didn’t seem like she was getting it then, and she heard a few new rumors spreading even as people stopped worrying of another Meteor coming down on them. Those rumors were of a whole different flavor, and she decided to leave before things got even more bizarre. Collecting Denzel, she found herself joined by Yuffie, Barrett and Marlene, Cait, and Nanaki. It was a good thing she had room for people to crash. Cid and Vincent went their own way.

The trip back to the place where they lived was quiet, and Tifa wasn’t surprised when Barrett and the others had decided to go walk around Edge. They had said they wanted to see how much it had grown, though she knew better. She hadn’t wanted to talk about what had just happened, and there had been too much agitation for any of them to go to sleep early. At least the adults. Denzel and Marlene both looked exhausted.

It was Denzel’s quiet question that had made Tifa realize what had been agitating her so much.

“Tifa,” he had said, looking out the window after the others had gone for their walk. “Is Cloud coming home?”

She had opened her mouth to assure him that Cloud was, but found she couldn’t say anything.

She didn’t know.

That was what was bothering her so much. Well, outside the entire Sephiroth issue. She simply didn’t know what this meant for the future. It was disconcerting, and she found herself not sure on how to deal with it.

Marlene had helped. She had just looked at them after Denzel’s question and smiled. “Oneesan is back,” she said cheerfully. “Oneesan won’t let anything bad happen to them.”

After that, Tifa had gotten them to bed, and sat down to have a long, hard think.

In the end, there was only one real decision to pick.

She would have to talk to Cloud and try to listen with as open a mind as she could.

Which was why, when morning came, she looked at her house guests, who were sleeping all over the place, and decided to call Cid and Vincent. Might as well make Cloud talk to all of them at once, rather than have to make him go through the reasons over and over again.

When Cid picked up, she sighed. “Hey, Cid. I was wondering if....” A pause, as she listened carefully to the background noise. “Cid...is Aeris there?” She swore she heard Aeris giggling in the background.

Cid coughed a bit. “Yeah, she’s here. Others are, too. They had gotten some type of mob outside of Cloud’s place.”

Grimacing into the phone, Tifa sighed. “Good mob or bad, and why are they over there? Decided to steal them for yourselves?” A bit of teasing in her tone.

“Nah, Vincent just decided he wanted to feed them breakfast and...hey, stop that! Drink your tea the right damn way. And stop that! God damn it, there are other people here. Shit, Vincent, get me a squirt bottle or somethin’, need to spritz them or something.”

There was some type of protest in the background, and she thought she heard Vincent telling Aeris that, really, she did not need to share.

What on earth...?

“Cid,” she said after a minute, trying to not laugh at some of the sounds she heard coming over the phone, though she did smile when she heard Cloud laughing. Hadn’t heard him laughing in a while. “We’ll be over in a bit.”

“Better not mess up my plane.”

“We’ll be there in a little bit, Cid,” she said, shutting the phone on his continued protests that they had better not break his plane, and stood.

This is how it was. Now, to see where it was going to go.

Nodding to herself, Tifa went to wake up the others.

///

Muttering as he hung up the phone, Cid eyed the four who were still goofing off in front of him.

Four.

While Sephiroth might not have been as open about it as Aeris and the Zack guy, or even smiling or laughing as much as Cloud, he was still smiling slightly, something in his eyes reminding Cid of himself. It was just a little, and it was from the first time Cid had looked in the mirror after going to outer space, but it was there. That quiet contentment of finally getting what he had always wanted.

Wasn’t something a person could hide, no matter how much they had wanted to. He hadn’t been able to, and Sephiroth couldn’t either. It was the look in his eyes as he watched the other three, and the small smile on his lips. Even his body language said it. He was relaxed. Not totally, but Cid couldn’t blame him. Not like they hadn’t hunted him down for the sheer purpose of killing him. Even if it had been Blondie every time.

Speaking of Cloud, Cid was a bit surprised to realize how nice it was to hear the kid laugh. While he wasn’t one for playing around, it had worried him some when Tifa had talked about how remote Cloud had been getting over the last two years. The only person that Cid knew saw the blond on a regular basis besides Tifa and the kids was Elmyra and Vincent. And the only reason he knew about Elmyra was because Cloud had asked him to stop by her new home and look at a few things. For all his gifts and the fact he could do the repairs on his own bike, Cloud knew he was worthless with most household machinery. So he had asked Cid to fix the things making odd noises.

Cid hadn’t gotten nearly as much a chance to get to know Aeris as the rest had, but her death had still shocked him more than he expected. There had been guilt there as well. She had been so young, far too young to die when people like Cid were still running around driving people nuts. Since he couldn’t help her when she was alive, Cid did what he could for the people she had cared about, and he did it for Cloud. Whatever guilt he had felt, it was nothing compared to what Cloud had developed after the entire saving the world thing had gotten done and stopped distracting him.

For Cloud, she had just been the latest in the lines of losses.

Right now, Sephiroth was watching the other three, smiling and relaxed in a way that reminded Cid of Vincent, that wary, never fully relaxed way. The only times he actually lost it was when Zack leaned in and murmured into his ear, usually getting a swat from Aeris, who had stolen Sephiroth’s lap again. Cloud simply smiled and would lean in and echo the whisper into Aeris’s ear. Earning himself a swat as well, most of the time.

By now, about half of Sephiroth’s hair was done up into tiny braids, which he eyed, but left alone, giving her a long-suffering look. Still, that look of contentment never left.

“Cid, do you think red or green would be better?” Aeris asked suddenly, looking at the pilot. Confused, he blinked at her, unsure what she was asking about. She waved the end of one of the braids around. “For his hair, should I use red ribbons or green? I always wanted to do this before, but we never had the time, given he always had to be a fuddy-duddy and head back early the few times he got to visit us. So now that I can play with his hair, I will, and I need to figure out what color ribbons to use.”

Sephiroth’s expression was almost hangdog, and that almost broke Cid’s brain more than the contentment had. Sephiroth, general and madman, almost pouting.

Cid wanted a camera. Nobody would believe him. If he ever told anyone he had seen Sephiroth with that expression, he’d end up locked away somewhere for his own safety.

Though his thoughts had given him a question.

“When are you telling Elmyra?”

A general pause, and he found himself the focus of four sets of eyes, three with a bit of dawning “oops”, the last one clueless.

“Elmyra?” Sephiroth asked, finally.

“My mom,” Aeris answered him. “We’ll have to go as soon as we get done talking to the others. I don’t want her to hear rumors and get upset, and it’s not something I should drop on her on the phone....”

Zack shifted, and then leaned against Sephiroth some. “Maybe Spike should take you out there on his bike, Aeris. Once we get done here. It’ll be good for you guys to see each other, and you’ll get to ride Spike’s kickass bike.”

There were currents there that Cid wasn’t getting, though he did see the tension that sprung up in Zack once Elmyra was mentioned. He wasn’t the only one to see it. A moment after Zack had tensed, Cloud had as well, watching the dark haired man.

Another person Cid wasn’t really sure how to react around. He wasn’t sure what real role Zack had played in all their lives, other than lover, and the fact he had known the man in a vague way as General Sephiroth’s SiC and in nearly as many photos as Sephiroth had been in. Outside those facts, he didn’t really know anything about Zack.

“Zack, you know Mom didn’t really mean anything she said the last time you two...talked.” Aeris looked unhappy, and reached up to tug Zack down for a hug. “She felt guilty after she heard what happened.”

Watching this, feeling more than a little intrusive, but not willing to stand up and leave and make even more of a scene, Cid held still, feeling Vincent do the same next to him. Cloud and Sephiroth were looking at the other two with the same curiosity that Cid felt, and he had a feeling that they were just as clueless as him.

“I know she didn’t really mean it, Aeris,” Zack mumbled, letting his forehead rest against hers as he leaned down. “Still, was a bit of a shock to hear those words from her. And given what happened next....” He trailed off, looking a bit strained around the eyes.

Aeris scowled a bit, hugging him tighter. “You know she didn’t mean it. She never would have said it if she through you really weren’t going to come back from the mission.”

“She was doing what she thought best to protect you. I know that. Still, being told that she hoped I never came back from Nibelheim was a hell of a shock, babe.”

There was a little surprised grunt-gasp from Aeris as she let go of Zack and swatted Sephiroth’s hands. “Sephiroth, air,” she gasped, and Cid realized that the man’s arms had gotten very tight around her as he looked at Zack, eyes slightly angry. Feeling the urge to grab a weapon at the look on Sephiroth’s face, Cid managed to beat the urge down as Cloud and Zack both snagged one of Sephiroth’s arms and tugged, hard.

Letting out a harsh rasp of air, Sephiroth closed his eyes and took a slow, deep breath, letting it out slowly, relaxing his arms at the same time. “Sorry,” he said, after a moment. “I.... That is not the most pleasing thing to hear.” He glanced at Zack, looking oddly confused. “I know your mother feared for your safety from Shinra, but why would she want anyone to hurt Zack? That,” a pause. “That makes little sense to me.”

Cid continued to watch, exchanging glances with Vincent, and then eyeing the door. If only he could get out before this got even more uncomfortable.

“Guys,” Cloud said softly. “Not now. We can talk about it later. Right now, Tifa and the others are on their way, and I want us to be ready for them, okay?”

The soft plea in his voice was enough to make the others drop it for the moment, and Cid could only sigh slightly in relief. “That’s right,” he agreed. “And don’t any of you even think about anything that might lead to my ship ending up damaged, or I’ll take the worth of it out of your hides myself, got it? That includes all of you.”

He gave them all a look, not glaring any more at Sephiroth and Zack than he did at Aeris or Cloud. Aeris was included as she would not stop trying to break their brains with small comments about positions or this or that. She had Cid on the edge of retreating to the cockpit. Who know such sneakiness laid behind such an innocent face.

“Cloud and Cid are right, you two.” She looked at Sephiroth and Zack as if Cid wasn’t including her in his glare. “Now, Cid, before we get distracted again.” She held up a mass of Sephiroth’s hair as Zack and Cloud let go of the man’s arms.

“Tell me, red or green?”

Word count: 2,805

Man, I need a OT4 icon that isn't Gracious. *makes note to start hunting*

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Date: 2007-03-18 06:56 am (UTC)

From:

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