Web hosting Custom Email SiteBuilder

Tifa sat at one of the table’s in her bar. She was very exhausted, a constant flood of people had been in and out all day long. Finally closing time had come and she was taking a much needed rest.

She had just recently opened up her new Seventh Heaven in Kalm. After the gang’s extraordinary adventure in which they battled Sephiroth, the group decided to take a hiatus. Herself, Cloud, and Barret chose to recide in Kalm, though the others had decided to go their separate ways for the time being. All promising to reunite eventually though.

That had all been 6 months ago, the planet had become a much peaceful place since the destruction of Sephiroth and Meteor. Holy had wiped out most of the known evil in the world. Midgar was even rebuilding as one community, not as separate sectors as before. Even with this knowledge, Tifa’s group of threesome decided after living in the slums of Midgar for all those years, it had put to much of a burden on them to return to the same land. They all agreed they needed a fresh beginning. Tifa’s mind began to drift to the events of the day; some of the interesting customers that had sat at the bar talking to her while she was serving drinks. Her new Seventh Heaven while only open for a month now had become one of the hottest spots in town. Cloud would tease her that the main reason for this was because it had the most beautiful young lady in the known land working at it. In response to this Tifa would generally say, "so you don’t think my business skills are good enough to get people to come to my bar." All this would be said with a smile on her face though. Tifa had trouble taking comments like this from Cloud seriously, she still did not feel that Cloud had the same feelings for her that she felt for him. She also did not feel that Cloud even knew how much he met to her. But she figured she could live with this, as long as they were close together and the best of friends she could find ways to accept it. She had been so excited all day long, Cloud and Barret were returning after being gone for a whole week on an assignment. Barret and Cloud accepted positions as high ranking officers in the new Utariun Forces as it was called. With their enemies of the Shinra being wiped out by Holy, the only persons who were left from the Shinra were just regular soldiers and commanders. Not any of them had a biff with Avalanche; they were just following orders from the higher ranks when the Shinra were after Cloud, Barret and co. So no one had any problem with members from Avalanche joining forces with them. And Cloud and surprisingly even Barret did not seem to mind starting a new army with the few remainders of Shinra. They figured that the corrupt ones were already gone.

Cloud and Barret were assigned to cover the countryside from Midgar to Junon in the search of hopefully finding some young men who would be willing to join the Utariun Forces. Though it was a peaceful time now, the newly formed armies numbers were so small that it was a necessity to find new recruits to strengthen the forces if something should happen to threaten the peace. Tifa had considered joining the forces herself but decided against it on the count that all three of them figured that somebody would need to stay behind and not go on the long excursions that were required. They had just built their own lovely house and someone needed to keep it up, so she decided that she would be the one who would stay behind. Tifa began to awake from the short nap that she had taken, she looked outside and realized how late it had become. She quickly made sure everything was locked up and hurried home, her friends may already be back.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Thank you for your time today, we will send you the forms that you will need to fill out as soon as possible. Once your finished with them, send them to the Junon military base ok." With that Cloud Strife shook the hand of the recruit that he would hopefully be getting. This was a good one in Cloud’opinion. He was twenty three, almost a year older than himself and had martial arts training. A major asset also was he did not have a family of his own. Single recruits were always a higher priority than ones who had a wife and kid. Taking a father away from his family was not very smart, they were needed at home more than they were in the Utariun Forces. Yes John Moffit would be a great addition to the army, with that he said goodbye and left the young man's house. Cloud had had a very successful trip in his opinion, he managed to find five young men who were willing to join the Forces. All of them either in their late teens or early twenties and all of them had backgrounds in martial arts. Cloud was sure he would be congratulated by his captain for finding so many new recruits in such a short amount of time. But now he needed to meet up with Barret and go back to Kalm, today was finally the day that they were allowed to head back. He started off for the restaurant he and Barret planned to meet up at before they headed home.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"There’s my spikey headed pal now!" Barret said to who ever would listen when he saw Cloud arrive. "Cloud get your ass over here and sit down, I’m starving." Cloud just looked over towards Barret and grinned, he never dreamed that he would have friends like this. Barret and Tifa had practically become family to him. He had grown socially so much over the past year since he met them all. He felt that he could tell them anything. "Well come on Cloud, hurry it up, we aint got all day, Tifa is expecting us back soon. Waitress one more menu please." Barret said in a demanding voice. The waitress walked over to their table and noticing how handsome her new customer was, gave Cloud a flirtatious smile as she handed him his menu.

"Well did you have much luck over the week?" Cloud asked Barret.

"Not a damn one of them wanted to join, I tell ya Cloud I’m not sure how we are ever going to fill this army. Oh well, we still got dozens of others roaming the countryside looking for guys, somebody will have to turn up." Cloud just laughed to himself as Barret was saying this, realizing that the main reason for Barret’s failure probably lies in the way he approaches people. He was sure Barret scared them to death.

"So how bout you?"

"Oh I found one or two." remarked Cloud. Not wanting to brag to his friend about how much success he really had.

"Well anyways, let’s hurry up and eat and get home." Barret said next.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

John Moffit sat down in his chair and thought about the decision that he had just made. He had found out just recently that members of the Utariun Forces were going out looking for new recruits. And when he heard this he made every effort for his name to get out in the public. Hoping that the right person would find out that he was interested. Apparently his efforts paid off because he never expected the knock on his door that he had gotten earlier that day. John always knew that he would make a good soldier, he had been living on his own most of his life. He was six feet tall, dark brown hair with a dark complexion and was certainly not a scronny character, there were many young women who would love to be by his side. John preferred the solitude of living on his own, he never had much of a family. He was an only child living with his parents until the age of thirteen. His father was always in the local bars seeking out whatever alcoholic beverage there was available. And his mother was much to young when she had John, she never accepted the fact that she had to settle down and raise a child. When John was twelve his father was found dead at the side of the road a few miles from their house. His mother did not take much time to grieve, her opinion of the matter was that this meant she was free again. Over the course of the next year John’s mother would take long escapades with new boyfriends and would often be away for several weeks at a time, never telling her son where she was. Until one time she did not come back at all. During this period John learned to fend for himself and decided that it was easier to just take care of yourself and not worry about anyone else.

John had tried to join the military before, three years ago he attempted to get into soldier. Half way through his military training he was dropped from the program. The Shinra’s reasoning was that he was not strong willed enough to keep his cool, he would crack under the pressure. When the man from the Utariun Forces who talked to him earlier today asked what his background was. Instead of telling the officer that he had once been in soldier, John told him he had been trained in martial arts and he had good fighting experience. He was sure that all the records of the Shinra would have been lost by now, at least he hoped so and they would not discover the reality of John Moffit. John knew that the Utariun Forces would not want a castoff from soldier, thinking about this made John worry. If the Utariun Forces did not find out the truth, he would prove to all of them that he was an excellent choice. John was positive Shinra had made a mistake when they dropped him.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Honey I’m home!" Barret yelled out as soon as he came through the doorway of the three friends house. Tifa jumped out of her chair and came over to the entrance to greet the two men.

"Finally you two come back do you know how late it is!" Cloud and Barret looked at one another with a strange expression on their face. Then Tifa just smiled and reached out and gave them both a giant hug. "You guys just can’t keep on going off on all these trips all the time, do you know how boring it gets here when you're all by yourself. Well then tell me. did you guys have much luck?"

"Hell no," Barret blurted out before Cloud could say anything. Cloud just chuckled and went on to tell Tifa about a few of the people he was able to get to join.

"Wow sounds like you had a successful mission." Then she gave Cloud a friendly kiss on the cheek. "Well anyways, I rented some movies earlier on tonight so if you guys want to we can go watch them?"

"Sounds great to me, how bout you Barret?"

"Ya sure Cloud." Barret was a little miffed that Cloud had not told him earlier about all the recruits he had found.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Man that movie was so boring! Tifa I really question your ability to know what a good movie is." Barret blurted out as soon as the credits began to roll.

"What are you talking about the clerk at the video store said that this was one of the best selections they had."

"Well I just don’t see the fun in watching a movie about two girls who fall in love with the same guy that’s all."

"Suit yourself Barret, you liked it though didn’t you Cloud?" Cloud hesitated for a second not knowing what to say, then he said

"I liked it because I was watching it with you Tifa." She rolled her eyes knowing he was saying that just to make her feel good.

"Well then next time I’ll let you guys pick the movies out." Barret and Cloud both looked at each other and yelled out at the same time,

"Porno!."

"No Porno!" Tifa yelled back ferociously. "Or you guys can find a new chick to live with."

"I have one more video here that I picked out, I’m sure you two will like this one. You guys want to see if this movie is any good?"

" Nope sorry Tif I’m going to bed, that last one we watched wore me out. I’m not as young as you two are, Barret needs his beauty sleep. I have to keep this lovely face goin."

"I’ll watch it with you Tifa." Cloud responded.

"Ok great." she put the movie in the VCR and went back to the couch and sat next to Cloud.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tifa Lockhart was realizing something, this movie really did suck. Maybe Barret was right and she did need to figure out what a good movie was like. She began to focus on the different pictures and decorations they had set up in the room. Trying to remember how they had come about attaining each one of them. Her eyes then fell upon Cloud; he was so handsome. At that moment her mind began to focus in on a thought that had often consumed it. What Cloud Strife may look like naked and if she ever would be able to find out. Sometimes she wondered if the fates were against her, the man of her dreams was so close, yet so far away. She had a few theories why Cloud was so blind as to not recognize how deeply she cared for him but she could not find an answer. Just then Cloud noticed that Tifa had been looking at him.

"Tifa is something wrong?"

"No, nothing’s wrong Cloud, nothing at all. Would you like a drink, I’ll get drinks for both of us." Tifa patted Cloud twice on the thigh and got up and went to the kitchen. While she was fixing them, Tifa looked over in Cloud’s direction and for a brief instant she thought to herself, why am I in love with such a fool. Tifa shook her head and switched her concentration back to preparing the drinks.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Pappy, Pappy, Pappy!" A little girl yelped as she ran through the door.

"Marlene!" Barret yelled as he ran to pick the girl up. "How’s my angel today?"

"Good, Pappy I brought these for you." Marlene handed Barret a tusk of flowers. "I picked them from our garden."

"Marlene also wanted to give you this." Elmyra said as she came through the door. She handed Barret a picture of a man, women, and a little girl all standing outside of a small house.

"I drew that in school a couple days ago, I wanted to give it to you Pappy." Tifa could tell that Barret was having trouble holding back the tears when he looked at the drawing. "See, that person in the picture is you, and that person is Tifa and that person is me."

"It’s wonderful honey."

"I knew you would like it Pappy." Marlene said in response. "Let’s go outside and play Pappy."

"Ok Marlene, let’s go."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"So how is it living with these two?" Elmyra asked Tifa a few minutes later after sitting down at the table.

"It’s not bad, they are gone a little more than I would prefer. It seems like they are not here for any longer than a week or two before they are assigned to go some place. Cloud is at Junon right now, all the new recruits who signed up in this region are checking in there. So he has to help in placing them to different divisions." Tifa paused for an instant and had expressionless look on her face. "Elmyra can I ask you something; for almost a year now Cloud and I have been the best of friends. During that time I have become rather fond of him. Yet Cloud seems so unaware of the feelings I have for him. I know there is no other women in his life right now, and I am almost sure that what happened to Aeris is not the problem. We have had conversations about her and during them Cloud just jokes and remembers the good times that we all shared together with Aeris. I have wondered if it was just me and that Cloud did not want me in that way. But then I say to myself that he does not talk about any other girls and sometimes I do sort of notice him looking at me with a certain look in his eye. So what I am basically asking is if you could shed some light on why Cloud might act in the manner in which he does?"

"Well there are several different reasons why Cloud might act the way he does,and I cannot give you a definite answer." Elmyra said in response. "I do know this though, Cloud has had a very lonesome past. He never had a group of friends to call his own while he was growing up and when he was in Midgar he was alone. So you guys are basically the first group of friends that he has ever had. I know that he is very socially inexperienced and it will take time for him to figure everything out. The few times that I have seen him over the past year. I have noticed that he is much more open than he used to be. It just takes time Tifa; if his feelings for you are true, he will find them eventually."

"Thanks Elmyra, that makes me feel a lot better." Tifa responded.

"Anytime." Elmyra said back and the two women went on to talk about some of the new clothes that they had bought.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Commander Strife, come over here."

"Yes General Akia what is it?" Cloud said as soon as he found his way to the General.

"In a few hours we will have an assembly with all the newcomers. Captain Sharks was originally supposed to be the speaker but he came down with the flu today. So I need you to take his place. Here is what you need to go over." General Akia handed Cloud a handbook.

"Yes General." Cloud said as soon as he received the handbook.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"What’s your name soldier?"

"John Moffit sir."

"Very well then.Were you at the assembly yesterday?"

"Yes I was sir." John said in response.

"Good, your trials are scheduled for two weeks from tomorrow. After the results from your trial it will be decided upon which unit we will place you. Until then, you need to attend the various classes that are mandatory for all recruits."

"Thank you sir." John said and then walked away.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

John was extremely proud of himself. He had done very well in the trials yesterday and was looking forward to finding out where he would be placed. He could tell that all of the officers were very impressed to, they were all looking at one another like they were saying.

"Where did this guy come from?" The blonde fellow who had come to his house that one day some 3 months ago was one of the men at the trials. John could tell that he was very proud to. Boasting to all the other officers that he had found this guy. Yes John was very happy with himself. He began to think to himself that before long I will be one of those officers looking over the rookies to see how good they are. He caught himself before getting too round up in all those fantasies and after a few minutes he fell asleep, he would have an exciting day tomorrow.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Mr. John Moffit, you are quite the soldier."

"Thank you sir." John said in response to the compliment he had received from the General.

"You do know John that only a select few are lucky enough to go straight from the trials to the front lines. Your results from the trials were so impressive that we feel comfortable in sending you to the front lines. This means that whenever a mission may come up, you will be one of the names that we will be choosing from over who goes on that mission. This is a great honor that has been bestowed upon you, so don’t let any of us down."

"Yes sir, Thank you sir." John said excitedly back.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"General, may I talk to you for a minute?"

"Yes Captain Omry, what is it?"

"Do you think it is a smart move sending that rookie straight to the front lines?"

"I understand your point Captain and in normal circumstances it would probably never have been done.But our numbers are so low right now that we really have no other choice. Don’t worry Captain Omry, I’m sure the rookie will make a fine soldier."

"Yes General, I understand and thank you for your time."

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Barret did not understand why he had to be here. The trials were all over and done with and the army was finally beginning to come to form. Both he and Cloud were able to have a longer stay at home than they normally did. Once they were done with the trials, though Barret only had to be there for the last week of them. They were allowed to go back to Kalm and it had been a month before either one of them were called back in. Tifa’s birthday was coming up in a couple weeks and her two housemates were busy making plans for it. Barret could not believe that Tifa was going to be twenty two years old. Although he was kind of enjoying teasing her that she better start watching out for those gray hairs. For the celebration they were attempting to get all of the others, Cid, Vincent, Red XIII and even Yuffie to come over to Kalm and party. They all were very enthused by it and said they were definitely there. Barret was a little peturbed that he had been getting so excited about making these plans and seeing everyone and then the other day he gets word that he has to head to Junon ASAP.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"What are the orders General Akia?" Captain Sharks asked.

"You know Captain that we are attempting to destroy all the known materia left on the planet in an attempt to never let another Sephiroth come to form."

"Yes General I know."

"Well we have received word that there is a luster of materia hidden away in the mountains of the Northern Continent. I want you to take as many squad’s as you feel necessary and go over to the Northern Continent and destroy the remaining materia there. Commander Wallace will go along with you on this mission. He is a strong leader and will be a great accommodation. Do you understand Captain Sharks?"

"Yes General I understand."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Are there any questions on the purpose of this mission Commander Wallace?"

"No Sir." Barret said.

"Good, now I need you to gather the group of soldiers that are scheduled to head out on the mission." Captain Sharks handed Barret a list of names.

"Yes Sir." Barret replied back once he received the list.

Barret looked over the list of names that were on the paper, he counted 12 of them. They read, Pickens, Kelly, Jackson, Perkins, Moffit, Singleton, Major, Winslow, Kirkpatrick, Leonard, Barnes, and Wiley. Barret was on his way to gather the troops.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Listen up men." Barret said while the squad was on the boat headed towards the Northern Continent. "We have a very important mission ahead of us. Materia has had a great impact on the history of this planet. It was used in battles by the Shinra and was well known to be the most powerful weapon known to man. A very powerful being came to power and began using materia in a way that was extremely harmful to the survival of the planet and the existence of mankind. This being was defeated though and it is now our duty as civilians of our world to never let another like him come to power. To accomplish this we have decided to destroy all existing materia left on the planet.We have received word that materia lies in the mountains of the Northern Continent at this moment. It is our duty to seek this materia out and destroy it. Is this understood?"

"Yes Sir!" the squad yelled back.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

John did not believe that anyplace on the planet could ever be as cold as it was here on the Northern Continent. Even with it being spring time now it still felt like the middle of winter and they had been wondering through the mountains for hours trying to find the missing materia. That Commander Wallace was such a pain in the ass, yelling out orders to them all the time like they were children and Captain Sharks just walked alongside the Commander not seeming to do anything. John was beginning to wonder whether being put in the front lines was such a great idea. Then John heard a voice.

"I found something, I found something!" The group ran over to the place where the soldier had found the suspicious item.

"What is it Commander?" One of the men asked Barret.

"It’s Command Materia Fire. Let’s go into this cave right ahead of us to see if there is anymore."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"This place is sure confusing." One of John’s fellow soldiers said while they were searching through the cave. "I sure hope we don’t get lost in here. I don’t want to be a pile of old bones that some explorers find 50 years from now." Barret heard them talking amongst themselves and he didn’t blame them for their doubts. He was starting to get worried himself that they could get lost in this place. There were many different paths to choose from, all breaking off the others and heading in different directions. There was also a pit at least 50 feet deep or so all along the right side of the path, they all had to be careful where they stepped. He began to think of how much simpler life would be if he just settled down and got married. But then after a second he caught himself and realized how boring a life like that would be. He did wish that he could be back home with Tifa and Cloud and not at this place. Barret began to get frustrated when he thought that he might miss Tifa’s birthday and even more then that he would not be able to see, Vincent, Cid or any of the others. He had gone almost a year without seeing them and now it looked like he would have to go even longer. He knew that Tifa was really going to enjoy what they had planned for her. She seemed so lonely at times, not really having many girlfriends of her own to hang out with or chat to on the phone. Barret could tell that she missed the girl talk. He thought the real problem with Tifa though was that she was becoming more and more hung over for Cloud. Barret just laughed when he thought about how much of a moron Cloud was. Cloud had no clue when it came to matters of the heart. Hear he had a beautiful young lady who was dying for his affections living right next to him. All Cloud thought though was that if Tifa really liked him she would make her feelings apparent. Barret was beginning to think that the only way Cloud could grasp that someone had feelings for him was if they ripped off his clothes and did him right there on the spot.

"Over here sir." Barret awoke from his thoughts and looked to see what his men had found. "Over here in this small entrance," Barret ran over to see what they were talking about. "Look at this Commander have you ever in your entire life seen anything like that." Barret walked through the opening and inside he saw as much materia in one place as he had ever seen before. "I think we’ve found the jackpot Commander."

"Yes I think we might have." Barret said in response. "Ok men, use the markings you brought with you two mark this spot and how to get to it again. We need to head back to camp to attain our equipment. Tomorrow at daybreak we will come back and begin carrying out the materia."

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Everyone listen, six of you need to come in and help me and Captain Sharks place the materia into cartridges. I need four of you to carry the cartridges out to the entrance of the cave. Two of you stand at the entrance and carry the cartridges we brought to the base we set up earlier this morning. Pickens, Jackson, Perkins, Singleton, Winslow, and Kirkpatrick come help Captain Sharks and I load up the materia. Kelly, Major, Leonard, and Wiley carry the cartridges out to the entrance. Moffit and Barnes, carry the cartridges to the base. Is this understood?" Barret asked.

"Yes Sir." his men responded back.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Hurry it up men, we need to be finished by sundown, you wouldn’t want to spend the night in here." There was more materia here then Barret realized. They had been carrying out the materia all day long and still they could not see an end to it. It was only 3 p.m. but Barret was beginning to worry they might not get done today and he did not want to stay another day out here. "Kirkpatrick be careful with that stuff, you don’t want it to go off right in front of you do you." Barret yelled.

"Don’t worry sir, I know. I’ll be as careful with it as I can."

"Now listen everyone." Barret said next. "This here is Summon Materia, it is the most delicate kind and you have to be extra careful with it. Is that understood?"

"Yes Commander." they responded.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"There, that should be the last of it." Barret said after placing all of the Summon Materia into a cartridge.

"Here you go. Do you have it?" Singleton asked Leonard as they attempted to exchange the materia.

"Yes I believe so." Leonard said back.

"WHAT, SHIT, I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU HAD IT!"

"OH SHIT, I THINK I AM GOING TO DROP IT. FUCKING HELP ME OUT MAN!" The two men attempted to gain control of the cartridge before it fell to the floor. It was to late, the cartridge fell down onto the floor below and to their horror it bounced down into the small pit beside them.

"SHIT!" they said together.

Barret ran out to see what was going on; when he found out he yelled for them to get back. They ran into the entrance where the others were at and yelled at them to crowd into the corner. Next there was a loud explosion, followed by a crashing sound. They began to realize that rocks were tumbling down from the top of the cave. Hundreds of thousands of rocks were falling; after several minutes the whole entrance to the room they were in was covered. The men all looked at each other and at once said.

"Oh shit. What do we do now?"

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

John and Leon Barnes were heading back to the cave after taking their latest shipment.

"I hope we are almost done." Leon told John.

"I know what you mean." John responded. "Hey did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"That sound." John said. Then the two men heard a tremendous crashing sound. They ran to the cave to see what was going on.

"Goddamn what happened!" Leon said as soon as they arrived at the cave. The whole entrance was covered with rocks. John attempted to remove a few of them but to his dismay there were just more and more where those left off.

"The others are trapped in there!" Leon said next.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"What the hell are we going to do?" Some of the men asked Barret.

"I’m not sure, we definitely can not dig our way out."

"Wait a second sir.Weren't there some people outside?"

"Yes I believe so, two of them I think. Let’s just hope they can figure away to help us out of this." Barret said.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Is there anything we can do to free the guys inside if they are still alive?"

"I can’t think of anything at the moment." John responded. "It would take us forever to try to dig through those rocks."

"Wait a second John. How much materia do we have stored back at the base?"

"About 10 carts full I believe."

"Do you think that will be enough to blast our way through this cave?"

"I’m not sure, we can always try though. Let’s go get them." John said.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Ok, how many should we throw at it to start with?"

"Here let’s use four of these lightning materia. As soon as we throw them we need to run and cover." John said. The men threw the materia at once and then ran to a trench that was around 30 yards away. They heard a thunderous sound and saw lights flashing; rocks started flying all around. They headed towards the cave to see how much damage the materia had done. A passage 20 yards long had been indented into the path.

"Great, now for the next batch." The men through four more lightning materia at the pile of rocks and ran for cover. Another thunderous blast was heard, the men went back to see what progress was made. To their delight not only was there considerably more length to the path. But the materia had blown a hole open on the top layer that would allow them to jump up and crawl over the pile. John and Leon did just that and went to see if they could get to the others.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Why can’t we just use the materia that is here with us and blow are way out?"

"The rocks would fall right on top of us dumbass."

"So are we just gonna wait here to die."

"Everybody chill out!" Barret blurted out, growing tired of listening to his men.

"Wait a second did you here something? Everybody keep quiet." The soldiers all stood silent and off in the distance they could here voices. They sounded like they were getting closer and closer.

"All right everyone, if that’s them, let’s let them know where we are."

"How are we going to be able to figure out where they are?" Leon asked John.

"Shhh, do you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"That noise, come on Leon over this way."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"All right we found them. Just a second guys where coming. Come on Leon there just below us."

"Thank God you showed up, we were beginning to go crazy in here."

"No problem, I would do anything I could to get you out." Barret came over to John and Leon.

"Soldiers you will be rewarded greatly for this rescue, you have just saved 10 men’s lives today. Now men let’s pull out, we’ll make an additional 5 mile sweep of the mounntain range to see if there is anymore materia in the area. We will leave the materia we found here alone for now, until the Utariun Forces provides us the equipment necessary to clean out this cave."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tifa whispered something into Cloud’s ear. Cloud tried to control himself but eventually broke out laughing.

"Hey can you kids keep it down a bit." A man whispered in the aisle behind them. Tifa wanted Cloud to take her to the movie theatre for her birthday. She had chosen a pretty hillarious movie and both of them were enjoying it.

"Sorry sir." Tifa said back to the man realizing they were being a little loud.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"That was a funny one Cloud.We ought to go see it again sometime." Tifa said as they were walking out of the movie.

"Ya that was really good, Barret probably would have even liked it."

"Hey let’s get a hot dog before we head back home."

"Ok Tif, that sounds great, we have all afternoon to hang out." Cloud was trying to keep the party he had planned for her a secret. He had given Cid a key to their house and told them that they need to set things up while he was out with Tifa for the day. Cloud wasn’t wanting to head back for at least another hour, not wanting to walk in to early.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"What are you doing Cloud?" Tifa asked as they walked through the door. Cloud had put his hand over her eyes.

"Shhh, just walk slowly this way."

"You don’t have a surprise planned do you?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Cloud responded. Cloud led Tifa over to the kitchen where everyone was supposed to be, he was relieved to see everything was set up. He turned on the light switch, took his hand away from Tifa’s eyes and.

"SURPRISE!" Everyone yelled at once.

"Oh my God, I can’t believe it!"

"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you." everyone started singing at once. Yuffie placed a party hat which everyone else was wearing on Tifa. Cloud brought a cake over to Tifa.

"Make a wish." He said with a smile on his face.

"Oh my God!" Tifa said again, then closed her eyes and blew out the candles. "Hey, hey, hey, maybe my wish will come true." Tifa said to Cloud after blowing out all the candles. Then she read what the cake said and began laughing cheerfully. Twenty two and brand new was what the icing on the cake spelled out.

"We all just had to come pay you a visit on your special day." Cid told Tifa. She gave him a hug and said that she couldn’t have asked for a better birthday present. "Are you sure because we’ve brought lots of presents along with us." Tifa looked over everyone and found her smile getting bigger and bigger, it had been awhile since she had felt this much joy.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Are you sure you can’t stay any longer?"

"Sorry Tifa, but I am working on the Rocket now. I have to get back and see how much my men have screwed it up." Cid said in response to Tifa’s question. Yuffie and Red XIII had left the day before and now Cid was heading out. "Be sure to send my regards to Barret when he gets back."

"I will be sure to do that." Tifa turned around and walked inside.

"Don’t worry Tif, you still have me here." Vincent said when he saw the disappointed look on the young lady’s face.

"I know, I know, it’s just that I’m not sure how long it will be before I see any of them again." Tifa looked at her watch and was shocked to see that she had lost track of time. "Oh crap, I didn’t realize how late it was. Vincent I need to go to work now. Will you be ok by yourself for awhile? Cloud should be back in about an hour."

"Sure." Vincent replied.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Where’s everybody at?" Cloud asked Vince when he got back home.

"Cid had to get back and your girlfriends at work."

"What, my girlfriend." Cloud said when he heard the remark. Vincent chuckled when he heard what his friend just said.

"Hey Cloud, what do you say we go over their and see her."

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Hey guys, what’s up?" Tifa said as soon as she saw her friends walk into the bar.

"Not a lot, we were starting to get a little thirsty so we figured we would come pay you a visit." A smile formed on Tifa’s face when she heard Vince’s remark.

"Well then have a seat, I’ll be with you in a second." Seventh Heaven was rowdy as usual. With it’s normal group of males who enjoyed coming just for a chance to strike up a conversation with Tifa. Tifa as always would joke around with them, attempting to try to give each one of them at least some attention.

"That’s quite a lady over their isn’t it." Vincent remarked to Cloud when the two of them were waiting for Tifa to take their orders.

"Ya she is Vince isn’t she." Cloud looked over towards Tifa while he was saying this.

"You know Cloud, with how popular Tifa seems to be amongst the men of this town.Why is it do you think that she manages to keep herself single?"

"I’m not sure, I think the reason might be is that she doesn’t feel comfortable with how often the guys in town flirt with her. I couldn’t really tell you Vince, Tifa and I have never really discussed something like that. Why do you ask anyways?"

"Oh I don’t know. I wasn’t sure myself and I was wondering if you might know the reason why, that’s all. Anyways, so is their anyone around these parts that you're interested in Cloud?"

"Well I don’t really get a chance to go out and meet people that often, I’m busy with the Utariun Forces most of the time. To tell you the truth Vince, Tifa is really the only girl that I know personally around here."

"Have you ever had any romantic feelings towards Tifa?" Vince asked next.

"Ya, I have always had a little bit of a crush on her. But right now I am a little scared of trying to go to that next level with her on account that it might screw up our friendship. I am also not quite sure if she has the same kind of feelings for me. Sometimes when we talk it seems like she gets so frustrated with me. At those times I get the impression that she doesn’t have romantic feelings for me at all. It’s like she thinks I am really weird or something."

"Mmm I get it." was Vincent’s response.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Hey guys, sorry I took so long; it’s really busy around here." was what Tifa said as soon as she came over to the table Cloud and Vincent were seated at.

"That’s ok, it just gave us a little time to catch up on everything," Vince replied.

"Oh, I hope it was an interesting topic you two were talking about." Tifa looked over in Vincent’s direction in a manner that she might be expecting some sort of gesture. Vince looked at Tifa and winked at her. A smile broke out on Tifa’s face. She looked over at Cloud and brushed her hand through her hair while doing so. After a few seconds Tifa caught herself, forgetting that she had not asked them what they wanted yet she told her friends that she would get their order to them as soon as possible and began to walk off. After taking a few steps Tifa realized what she had done, she turned back towards Vincent and Cloud and said with a very embarassed expression on her face.

"May I take your order?" Vince looked at her with a huge grin and said.

"Certainly."

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"General, we succeded in bringing back several different forms of materia from the Northern Continent." Barret said. Captain Sharks and Barret were giving their report to General Akia over the outcome of the mission. "We swept over the assigned area and recovered as much materia as possible, however we came across a problem trying to recover materia. We found out of a cave on the southern section of the continent. The cave began to collapse on us and we did not succeed in getting the materia out from there. The materia is still buried there, but we will need special equipment to be able to clear it out. Also General, two very brave soldiers rescued us while we were trapped within the cave. There names are Leon Barnes and John Moffit, I would appreciate it if they were rewarded for their efforts."

"Very well men. I will send another squad to recover the materia you talked about and the two soldiers who saved you will see benefits for their actions. I assure you of that. You two are dismissed now, go home to your families."

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Did you want to talk to us General?" John asked when he entered the room.

"Yes, I have received word that you two were instrumental in saving the lives of your fellow soldiers."

"Yes we just did what ever we could to help our friends out sir."

"I am extremely proud of you two, as reward for this great deed you two performed I am promoting you both to Commanders. I feel very comfortable in this decision, you fine soldiers have earned the right to have this opportunity. You now will be able to lead your own squad's into whatever mission may come up. I would like to thank you soldiers again for what you did."

"Your welcome sir." John and Leon both said at once.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

General Akia sat alone in his office thinking of the decision he had just made. He did feel that this was a good reward for the two soldiers and it would give him an opportunity to see if his two new young officers would make good leaders. At peace time he felt it was ok to do something like this, although some might feel otherwise.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"When will you come again Vince?" Tifa and Cloud both asked as they were saying goodbye to their friend.

"I’m sure I will be back sometime within the year, you two take care of yourselves now."

"Don’t worry we will." As they both waved goodbye.

"Cloud, I would like to thank you for that wonderful birthday present you gave me, having everyone come see us was just wonderful. That was one of the happiest three week period’s I’ve ever experienced."

"No problem Tifa, be sure to thank Barret also when he gets back. He helped a lot in getting everything worked out."

"Don’t worry I will. Hey why is it that you can’t tell me why he had to be gone for so long Cloud."

"I really can’t say anything about it, it’s top secret."

"Oh come on, it’s not like I am going to tell anybody." "Sorry Tifa, I really can’t." "Well then, I guess I am going to have to go undercover and find out." Tifa said sarcastically and then patted Cloud on the stomach. "Hey Cloud let’s go into the kitchen and chat for awhile."

"Ok, that sounds great Tif."

"So how many guys at the bar do you have now attempting to get your phone number day in and day out?" Cloud asked Tifa once they sat down at the table.

"Oh, one, two, five, six, maybe eleven, twelve or thirteen different guys." was Tifa’s response.

"That’s all, I would have thought you would have way more than that." Tifa couldn’t keep herself from staring admiringly at her hearts desire across the table from her. She was now beginning to understand the man she had loved for what seemed like ages. Things seemed so much clearer now after Vince had that talk with Cloud in the bar. She had asked Vincent if he could attempt to get Cloud’s perspective on their relationship. After finding out the truth about Cloud, how he worried that she did not care for him and that he was the one with unrequainted love. Since finding out those facts, Tifa had felt like a giant burden had been lifted off her shoulders. She had felt so lonely at times, like she was drowning in her own misery. But since the events of two days ago, she had felt like a beautiful young prince had come and rescued her from those rushing waters. So now she just needed to convince Cloud that her feelings for him were true.

"So Cloud, what do you think a girlfriend and boyfriend should act like when they are around each other?"

"Well, I think that they should umm," Cloud paused for a second. "Tifa we’ve been best friend’s now for quite awhile, so I guess it’s ok for me to tell you some of the things that I have always tried to keep to myself. Tifa the truth is I never really have had many friends during my life, you guys are the first people that I could really consider my good friends. So when people ask me about girlfriends and stuff like that I really don’t know what to say. I try to understand, but the truth is I really don’t." Tifa looked at Cloud and smiled.

"Ok I see, is what she said."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tifa was sitting in the living room trying to fill out a crossword puzzle. She never had done one of these before and she was seeing how good she was at them. This particular one did not seem to be that hard and it was quite fun thinking of the word that they were asking for. She was realizing that this was a good way to pass the time. But then Tifa found something that was much more interesting then the crossword puzzle. Cloud came into the kitchen, he was checking the mail that they received for the day. He’d been helping the neighbors move some furniture into their house earlier today. When he got back Tifa commented on how bad he smelled and said he needed to wash up. He had just gotten out of the shower and hadn’t managed to put on a shirt yet. Tifa was having trouble thinking about anything else accept for the sight that was before her in the other room. She could not remember a time when she had seen Cloud look as good as he did at this moment right now. Tifa felt her mouth begin to water, she did not feel anything in the world could pull her eyes away from the sight they were beholding at that moment. "Is something wrong Tifa," Cloud said as soon as he noticed the strange way in which his friend was looking at him. Tifa chuckled to herself when she heard Cloud say this. At that moment an unbelievable urge came over Tifa to show Cloud how she felt right then and there. For an instant she tried to fight it but her whole body was telling her otherwise. Tifa got out of her chair and walked to the kitchen to where Cloud was.

"Tifa are you ok?" Cloud asked when Tifa came close to him.

"Better than ever." Was her response. She placed her hands on Cloud’s bare chest and continued to rub them along his shoulders, to his back and then moved her hands down to his ass. Cloud seemed rather startled by what Tifa was doing, she just looked into his eyes and smiled when she noticed the expression on his face. Tifa kissed Cloud on the lips one time, than moved her tongue along his left cheek to his earlobe. She placed her tongue inside of Cloud’s left ear. She could not believe that this was finally happening, two months ago she was beginning to feel that it would never happen. Tifa realized that she needed to take her man to another room, the kitchen would not be very comfortable. She pulled her toungue out of Cloud’s ear and took a step back. Cloud didn’t appear he knew what to think, Tifa smiled and kissed him once on the left tit, than took his hand and led him to the living room; their was more comfortable carpeting in their.

Tifa pushed Cloud up against the wall in the living room. She began to work along his neck, attempting to leave her mark on it. She began to kiss him down to his chest, swirling her tongue along his left tit, over to his right one, and a few minutes later back to his left. She continued to work her way a little further down. Tifa had not yet reached her target area, which was by far her favorite part of the male body. She began to kiss and lick along his stomach, Tifa slipped down to her knees, she kissed Cloud a few times on his belly button. Tifa’a eyes then focused in on the goal of her mission, even with Cloud’s pants still on she could tell he was very excited. She massaged his crotch for a few seconds, than began to unbuckle Cloud’s belt. She remembered that she had given Cloud this belt as a gift a few months ago. She unsnapped his pants and unzipped his zipper, her mouth watered with anticipation, she noticed her tongue was hanging out. Tifa pulled down Cloud’s pants and then a wondrous sight appeared before her. It was beautiful, even larger than she had imagined. Tifa imagined Cloud’s cock being around 7 inches long. This had to be even larger than that, a good 8 to 8 and a half inches. Tifa opened up wide and attempted to place as much of it into her mouth as she could, she managed to pull in a good portion of it. Tifa slowly began to suck on it, moving her mouth up and down the shaft. She loved the feeling of her beautiful Cloud’s beautiful cock in her mouth. Tifa had done this a countless number of times in her dreams, though she never imagined the reality of it would be just as good as it was in her dreams; that was exactly what was happening though. Tifa continued to suck on it, pulling it out of her mouth every now and then to lick the head. She noticed Cloud’s moaning getting louder and louder, his cock began to tighten up. A few minutes later Cloud exploded inside of her mouth, this is exactly what she wanted to happen. Tifa wanted to swallow every last drop of it. She pulled it out of her mouth and spent the last few minutes cleaning the cum off of Cloud’s penus with her tongue. Afterwards Tifa stood up, kissed Cloud on the cheek and said,

"I love you Cloud Strife, now do you understand?"

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Barret walked in the door, he was just returning from his mission and was very tired. He was a few days later getting back than he thought he would be. There was some paper work that needed to get turned in before he felt comfortable leaving the base. So he was finally getting back a few days after the general had released him. Barret was very excited about seeing his friends once again, he noticed Tifa and Cloud sitting next to one another in the living room.

"Barret your finally home!" They both said at once; they got up and came towards him. There seemed to be something peculiar about the way Cloud and Tifa were acting. For one thing he noticed how closely they seemed to walk together, as if they were connected to one another.

"So how was everything Barret?" Tifa asked him.

"Oh, some unexpected things popped up but I will tell you guys about them later on tonight. I am really exhausted and I need to go get some sleep right now. By the way, what’s up with you guys. You two seem to be acting a little differently then normal today." Tifa and Cloud both looked at each other and giggled.

"No nothing’s wrong with us Barret, where fine." Tifa said in response.

"All right then we can catch up on everything a little later but for right now I’m going to go get some sleep."

"Ok." They both said at once again. They waited for Barret to go into his room. They looked into each other’s eyes and kissed. Then Cloud and Tifa went back into the living room to continue looking through the albums.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

John was very excited. It had been only 2 weeks since the General had told him he was being promoted to Commander and already he was receiving word that the General wanted to speak with him.

"Commander Moffit, come in here." General Akia called out.

"Yes General, what do you want?" John asked as soon as he entered the room.

"As you may have already discovered Commander, we are attempting to rid the world of all forms of materia. We want our planet to be a safe place to live, if a being with the same powers of Sephiroth were to ever arise it would be a great hazzard to the life of this planet. So we are attempting not to let a scenario like that ever to have a chance to come about. We thought the best way to never let another Sephiroth come to form was to destroy the center of Sephiroth’s power, the materia. Do you understand Commander?"

"Yes General, I understand."

"Very well, we have discovered that a group of persons in the Central Continent are gathering materia themselves and storing it for their own use. We have tried to negotiate with the heads of their organization, but to no prevail. They will not listen to our requests. I want you to destroy the base in which they are storing the materia, is that clear Commander Moffit." "Yes sir, it is clear." "Here’s a map which shows where their headquarters are located, it looks like a regular home. Another thing Commander, the area in which you will be going into is populated by local farmsteads. This is a top secret mission Commander, I do not want any of the locals finding out the Utariun Forces intentions. Is this clear Commander?"

"Yes General, it is clear."

"Than gather your men and be off."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Mike come outside and help me in the field."

"Ok dad, I’ll be there in a second." Michael had been watching one of his favorite shows on tv and was hoping that his dad would not call him until it was over. It was the time of year when the whole family needed to be working in the fields to keep on top of everything. He didn’t mind though, he really enjoyed spending time with his family. They had lived in the country all his life, himself, his mother and father, his older sister Mary who was sixteen and his younger sister Sarah, who had just turned nine two months ago. Mike himself was a very happy go lucky eleven year old. His family was all he really knew, they did not really have any neighbors close by. The nearest ones were some five miles away and he didn’t even know who they were. Their was not a large population in this area, so their was no schooling system set up in the region in which they lived in. The few people who did live in these parts generally home schooled their children. His father liked to get all of the chores done before dinner time and after supper they liked to sing songs with each other. Mike’s mother had gotten them into that, she was a very talented singer and he and his two siblings loved to hear her sing and sing along with her.

Mike’s mother and father enjoyed this solitary life they lead. They enjoyed the feeling of fending for themselves, not having to depend on anyone else. At first they were afraid that the children would not enjoy a life where they were not around a whole lot of kids their own age. They tried to raise them in a very loving household, letting them know that they were all the best of friends. It appeared to pay off, the three siblings seemed to adore one another. Always playing outside or watching tv together when they were not working. The children appeared very satisfied hanging out with one another, not to worried about the fact that they did not know to many other young ones. Mary never attempted to rebel against her family like so many children of her age tend to do. Mike seemed grown up beyond his years, his parents were amazed with how anxious he was to help out. Whenever relatives would come to see the family, they would all be very impressed with how high spirited and cunning the young lad was for his age. He was very social also, everyone was impressed with him in those situations. He was capable of carrying on interesting conversations even with adults. Sarah was an absolute delight, always seeming to have a smile on her face. Nobody could remember a time when young Sarah was upset about something, everyone thought she was an absolute angel. Sarah especially loved the evenings the family spent together, mother thought that Sarah would end up being a wonderful singer and dancer when she got older.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"If you guys don’t start running faster I’m gonna catch you!" Mary yelled out to her siblings in a playful voice. The three were playing tag with each other, Mary enjoyed playing this game. With her being several years older than her younger brother and sister she was able to run faster, so she often won more times than not when the three opted to play tag. Mary would let them think that they were getting away from her first, before she showed them how good she really was.

"You’ll never catch me Mary!" Mike yelled out to her.

"You think so, I bet you that you don’t last ten more seconds." Than Mary began running her hardest in Michael’s direction and caught him in no time. "Now it’s your turn little Sarah." Mary yelled out.

"Never, you will never find out where I am!" Sarah said back with a giggly voice.

"Is that so, I guess we will just have to see about that." Mary saw Sarah hiding behind a tree. She snuck over in the direction where Sarah was at and caught the young girl when she wasn’t looking. "Hah hah hah, can you guys ever defeat me?" Mary said smiling.

"Just wait sister, one of these days me and Sarah are going to beat you and afterwards we are never going to let you forget about it."

"Oh you guys don’t really believe that do you?"

"Absolutely!" Sarah and Mike said at once. The three children laughed with one another for a few minutes than began thinking of something else they could do.

"Hey guys, remember that cave that we saw a couple weeks ago when we were playing by sycamore creek?"

"Ya." Mary and Mike said to their sister.

"Do you want to see if their is anything in there?"

"Sure, maybe there might even be some gold in it." Mary said sarcastically.

"Let’s go then guys." And the children went off on their next adventure.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Kids come in and help me get dinner ready."

"Ok mom." The three youngsters yelled back.

"What are we fixing tonight?" Mary asked her mother.

"We’re going to have brunch. Mary help me prepare things in the kitchen. We need to be quiet though your father is resting in the other room. Michael, Sarah, can you go out side and pick some eggs for us?"

"Sure mom."Michael said. Hey Mom, something weird happened to us yesterday while Mary, Sarah and I were out playing. We saw a group of soldiers walking about."

"Whatever their means are Michael be sure not to disturb them, just let them go on with what they are doing."

"Ok Mom." Michael replied.

"Now let’s begin to prepare dinner children."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"This looks like it could be it commander."

"Look’s like it, we have followed the directions correctly up to this point." John said in response. "Take another look at the map just to make sure."

"I am almost positive sir, we couldn’t be mistaken." John’s squad had been traveling all day, searching for other materia as they went along. They had found several different forms of materia in the meantime. The squad stood a good 100 yards away from what they perceived was their target.

"Men use the materia that we have found to blow up this house.That way we will be rid of both of them."

"Ok commander." And John’s soldiers retrieved the materia. They stepped up and threw the fire materia in the direction of the house, the house exploded in a blaze of glory.

"Mission accomplished men, let’s go home." John said next to his squad, thinking they had destroyed the right house.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Mike, do you think mom will like the song that we wrote?" Sarah asked her brother.

"I’m positive of it, she would enjoy it just because we were the ones who wrote it." Sarah was talking about the song that her and Mike had written for the family to sing to one another during tonight’s session of family time. Sarah was so excited about it, she could hardly wait for when her and mom would sing it together.

"Come on Sarah, right now we have to finish picking these eggs for dinner tonight."

"Ok Mike, Sarah said back to her brother." Just then the children heard an explosion in the distance, they turned around and saw that their home was ablaze. Mike and Sarah looked at one another in horror, then without thinking started running towards the fire yelling.

"Mom, Dad, Mary!"

"Mike, Mike, Mike what happened, what happened to our home!" Sarah yelled to her brother in panic. Mike did not respond, he just stood their expressionless in front of his burning home, realizing that his family was inside of it when it blew up. "Mike what about Mommy, what about Daddy, what about Mary!" He heard his sister yell out to him. Mike looked over at his sister, the tears were streaming down her face. He hadn’t been able to keep the tears from falling from his own eyes. Mike grabbed his little sister and said I don’t know Sarah, I don’t know. Mike found himself beginning to wail uncontrollably at this point, he did not notice that Sarah had began running over to the side of the house. Then he heard his sister scream horrendously.

" Mike, Mike, Mike!" He ran over to where his sister was and saw something that would cause him to have countless long sleeepless nights. "Those soldiers, those soldiers Mike, are those the soldiers that we saw before!" His sister yelped again. Mike looked over at the group of soldiers that were standing around in their field laughing with one another. Mike swore that those were the same group of soldiers that they had seen the other day. "Mi, Mike, did those soldiers do this to our house!" Sarah yelled out to her brother.

"Run Sarah, run Sarah!" is all that came out of Mike’s mouth at the time."We need to run now!"

"But Mike, did those soldiers blow up our house!" Sarah screamed back.

"Just run, we need to run away right now!"

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Cloud looked over towards the horizon, what a wonderful day this was. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping loudly and their was a comforting breeze.

"Cloud, Cloud!"He came to his senses and heard Barret calling his name.

"Cloud what’s your problem, you’ve been staring into space for the last ten minutes. You havn’t heard a word I’ve been saying have you."

"No Barret sorry," Cloud responded. "I’ve just been thinking."

"Thinking about what?" Barret asked.

"Just about stuff, you know normal stuff that happens." Barret looked over towards his friend and smiled.

"You havn’t been able to get your mind off of Tifa, have you buddy." Cloud just smiled and said sarcastically.

"No no, that couldn’t be it!" It was true though, Cloud could not get his mind off of the beautiful women that he had been living with for sometime now. Thinking back on it now he realized that if only he had recognized Tifa’s signals earlier, they would not have had to go through that process of worrying whether or not the other person truly liked them. These past couple of weeks had been some of the best times in his life. He never realized how wonderful it was to share romantic feelings with somebody else until now.

"I’m really glad that you two worked things out." Barret said. "Tifa has also seemed so much happier recently than she had been for along time. You didn’t realize how much she needed you."

"I know, but now I understand and I will do whatever I can to make this thing work out."

"That’s good." Barret remarked back to his friend.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Mike, I can’t sleep again tonight." Sarah said to her brother. "I’m scared to go to sleep, I feel if I do those soldiers are going to come and get us and we won’t be able to get away."

"Don’t worry Sarah, those soldiers won’t hurt you, I won’t let them hurt you. Just try to get some sleep now, we have to keep our strength up." It had been three days since those men burned down their families home. Mike and his sister had spent those three days wondering aimlessly, hoping that this was all a nightmare and they would wake up in their warm, comfortable bed in the morning. Morning had not come yet though and each day was becoming even more difficult to bear. They had gone back to the location where their house was, the fires had died out by now and only rubble remained of their previous lives. Mike and Sarah had called out trying to see if Mother, Father, or Mary would suddenly appear out of nowhere and tell them everything was all right. But their calls for help were only answered by animals startled by their screams and running away from them. For his entire life Mike had never seen his sister’s face without a smile on it. But for the last three days the only look he saw from her was an expressionless glare into the distance. They had not eaten for the first two days but Mike managed to catch them some food today. He went to the pond and got his hands on a few fish, which he brought back for himself and Sarah to share. They were spending the night in the old cave by sycamore creek they had discovered. He remembered back to the first day they were in this cave and how much fun it was being around his siblings. He felt the exact opposite feeling now though. Mike felt no joy, no warmth, no comfort. Only the feeling that a child lost in the woods would feel. He looked over towards his sister again, her beautiful blonde hair was ragged and dusty. Mike was also beginning to have a feeling he had never experienced before, for his whole life he had only known the feeling of love and kindness. But now a strange feeling of hatred, jealousy and revenge was beginning to see it’s way into his heart. Mike did not know at this point what to think of these feelings, he just ran his hand through his sister’s hair and thought to himself.

"What are we supposed to do now?"

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The End

Author’s note: This is the first story I have written. I hope to do a whole story line, this being the first segment of it. So if you enjoyed it please email me at listen_close_99@yahoo.com and offer me your opinions.