Author's note: I've got a lot of lovely support for this story. So thank you so much to all my reviewers. I hope you enjoy the ending. You make writing these stories worth it. :)

Eternally Cold

It all started with a phone call from Reno. Shinra and the Turks were looking for Cloud though the reason wasn't properly specified. She rang Cloud up only moments later, by now aware that he was consciously ignoring her calls. That or something had happened to him (she had no way of knowing). She told him to be careful. All the while she had bit back the want to scream his name and demand that he pick up. Was he okay? Was he eating well? Was he sleeping? Had been angry at her all this time? Was he coming back? Did even he care that she was dying? Did he care about any of them any more?

Instead she had said quietly, "Cloud, how've you been?" and hung up.

Then everything else had happened all in a rush, at least in the fogged-up eyes of Tifa. Marlene had got tired, frustrated with her family in its pathetic display of splintering itself all over the floor of her childhood. With Tifa's full-effort but half-lifeless help she had ensured Denzel would be okay for a few hours by himself and then dragged her female guardian out of the back door. Her pale, porcelain-like skin catching Marlene off guard in the sunlight. However her resolution had held fast. She knew what she had to do. She would find Cloud, bring him home and force him to take care of Tifa in her last moments. Denzel would survive a little longer but Tifa would not. She at least deserved him by her side when she finally went to peace.

Of all places it had escaped Tifa's lips almost unwillingly that he may be at the church. With a serious, tensioned look of concentration Marlene had led the way religiously holding Tifa's hand. She was like a half-person. Already half a phantom lost in the mist of exhaustion, heart ache and death.

How could you leave us? Marlene cursed under her breath.

When Marlene had pushed through the heavy doors of the church she had found Cloud's sleeping bag, lantern, a large chest and a patch of pretty flowers that reminded her of a girl with large, emerald eyes and long, curling, brown hair. Tifa had sat quietly against one of the pillars covering herself awkwardly with a light, square cardigan. Marlene felt a kick to her gut. She's cold, she realised.

She began to scope Cloud's belongings for any sign of where he may -

The door flung open. Large, leather boots smacked heavily into the stone floor of the church. Immediately both of the visitors got to their feet. The man who entered was a far cry from Cloud's blond spikes and shy smiles. Before Marlene could gasp, Tifa had pulled her under her protection. The only problem with this picture, Marlene had thought to herself, was that Tifa was in no more of a state to protect them than herself.

As silver hair and inhuman eyes gazed at them both mockingly the world began to fizzle out in the adrenaline rush of fear. Marlene panicked. Cloud should be there to protect them, her mind chanted. Where was he?

"Cloud..." she whispered.

The sunlight dimmed as her guardian and the inhuman brute squared up to fight one another. Clenching her jaw and closing her eyes, it hadn't been enough to shut out Tifa's cries of pain. Cloud hadn't come in time, Marlene sighed, devastated as heavy boots began to walk towards her. And now Tifa is –

A large hand grabbed her by the collar and she felt her body go limp. A single tear fell from her cheek. She lost hope.

In the pretty, warm light of day filtering through the church's roof Tifa lay deadly still. Delicate flowers were crushed underfoot as a confused, shaken man rushed to her side. The sight chilled and then burned Cloud's bones all the way to the ends of his nerves. Tifa. Dead. He had almost howled out her name in anguish. Why here? Why now? At least she had found him. The rest of the world simply did not matter any more. At least now she was -

"You're late..." The words had barely disturbed the molecules of air surrounding her tongue.

His heart constricted and burst into millions shards all at once. Tifa. Alive.

Dark, sickening, murderous intent suddenly captured him, arching his shoulders to hold her closer. "Who did this?"

She had fallen silent again. Like a frail, paper doll. There wasn't enough substance to keep her conscious any longer. Waking hours had fizzled out for her. She would sleep a little longer as a warm human being and then... she would grow cold, stiff and eternally silent.

The fresh disease that had cursed almost his whole family began to bubble up in his arm. He, too, had succumbed to the despair of possibly losing a loved one. Two, in fact, and he had predicted the contraction of his illness long before it had taken him. Now the horrible pussy globules pushed through the fabric of his gloves and soiled the sleeve he wore on his left arm. If I survive this, he thought to himself, Kadaj and the rest will pay.

When he re-awoke next to Tifa's silent, ghostly-white form, both of them lying upon the beds of their adopted children, he needed no other motivation to tear all his enemies limb from limb. He was dying himself now too, yes, but that didn't mean he couldn't get his revenge, force Sephiroth's remnants to face their penance for the damage they had caused. He know knew it was them, their fault that planet was inflicting geostigma on all those he loved, thanks to Rufus Shinra. If he was to die, he would do it causing them a fraction of the pain he now felt. He left silently, picking up his large swords on the way out. Reno and Rude had watched him without a word and shared a nod of understanding. Cloud was going to do this on his own.

He thought of them all. When he saved Marlene and returned her to Seventh Heaven to stay with Denzel he thought of all the good memories he had had with his family. When the rest of AVALANCHE banded together to help him defeat Bahamut Sin, he had thought of the family photo he still kept on his desk and how he'd like a big photo of all of them together, too. He had also thought of Zack and Aerith. Aerith curing his disease with holy rain before he went off to face Sephiroth, and Zack giving him the final push in the golden moment where he doubted himself. He thought of everyone he had disappointed and everyone he had tried to save over the years and failed. Holding these memories firmly in his head he had stared hard into Sephiroth's eyes and then dealt the final blow.

Sephiroth had fell, disintegrated, Kadaj and the others having the same fate. Anger. Relief. Pain! Two of the remnants had still been alive. One of them had dropped his gun noisily to the ground behind him. Burning, bloody flesh lay underneath his clutching hands at his chest. But his grimace of agony had turned to a scowl. He turned, roared and then the sky exploded into thousands of tiny white lights. His lifetime had faded to darkness. It was all over.

But that had not been so. In the white haze of ambiguity that cloaked itself around him, Aerith's motherly touch had caressed his forehead and her voice had told him he was not ready. Zack had laughed warmly in the background. Together they had promised it was okay to go back and, with little control over his fate, Cloud was returned to the living world.

A cooling, soothing sensation then flowed beneath his shoulders and through his hair. Fresh moist air tickled the insides of his nose and his eyelids flickered apart. Bright sunshine, he observed, falling through the roof of Aerith's church. He now felt light, unburdened, reborn. He righted-himself and gazed at the smiling faces surrounding him in the water.

He recognised that he was alive. "I'm back," he nodded.

"There are still others with the stigma," his friend, Nankai said.

He had spotted Denzel hiding behind the others. I can cure him, he realised. Scooping up some of the water that surrounded him, he allowed it to fall on Denzel's forehead. The cool water instantly dissolving away his bruising. Sparks of warmth, sweetness and life filled the young boys eyes. Denzel was free from death and he jumped, grinning at the others and especially at Marlene.

Then, as he felt Aerith's and Zack's calming presences leave he knew he would be okay. But – there was one person he still needed to see. Tifa, somewhere, was still dying and barely a thread away from leaving him forever.

He launched himself from the water. The others watched him as he explained, "There's one more person I have to save." And he sped off out of the ruins of Midgar.

A clear vial of liquid was gripped lightly in his nervous hands. Would it work? Her infliction was great, covering most of her body now. He simply had one vial of liquid, all he was able to carry. There was no time to move her to the church and he knew it. He popped the top off of the vial carefully. It all felt like a ritual. I'm swapping my self-doubt for her life, he laughed bitterly in his head. It was a ridiculously small sacrifice to pay. He'd have to do more than that, he imagined, to eventually make up for it. Then, as he spread the liquid sparingly over the bruises of death in her flesh, he felt the growing warmth of her skin sinking into his finger tips. Her cheeks began to regain their color. Her tummy was now clear of discoloration and the spreading of healthy color continued. Her breathing had gradually deepened from barely audible to healthy and greedy. Fast, little breaths began to snatch at her lungs. Shock, he realised.

"Cloud!" she gasped. She emerged from her sleep shaking violently. He clutched her to his chest as she began to cry. "I..."

He pulled her tighter against him, silencing her strangled chokes. "You're going to be okay," he said calmly and felt her chest heave in disbelief.

"This is a dream. A final vision before I disappear." Her voice was laced with sadness and stinging with resentment at his impossible, hopeful words.

He chuckled as he allowed a warm smile to tug at his lips. He tried his best to suppress it, though, for her sake. "Denzel and Marlene are waiting back at the church." He tucked several long strands of dark hair behind her ear and then tilted her face up to look at him. "I'm not a vision."

Tears had pooled at the corners of her eyes, not quite falling. "I... was so close. How did you...? I don't believe you."

He kissed her forehead softly and hugged her close until she closed her eyes.

"This is real, isn't it?" she uttered, scared that saying it would shatter the illusion of reality. She curled into the nook of his neck and the swell of his chest. It was all over, Cloud thought to himself.

"Yes, it's real." And as the front door began to open and he heard the light footsteps of their adopted children downstairs he sighed gratefully. I have my family back.