To The Morrow, For the Past

Chapter 31 – Epilogue

His awareness was vague at best. He could hear voices, familiar but unplaceable. He could hear mechanical sounds, beeping. He could smell something acidic. But his brain wouldn't process them. Wouldn't tell him what the sounds and smells were. What they meant. He just let them wash over him.

"Catatonic." "Trauma" "PTSD" "Unlikely to wake up"

He let them flow through him, didn't let him self care. He was numb. He had to stay numb. Not numb hurt.

"Come back to me." "We're waiting for you." "Come home." "Wake up."

Voices. Male. Female. Familiar.

"A new life?" "He'll wake up one day." "You need to go home, get some rest." "You can't spend all your time here." "We could move him," "Bring him home." "Her name is Lilly."

The cries of an infant.

The cries of an infant. Cloud blinked his eyes open. The ceiling above him was grey. The bed he was on was soft. The cries of the infant were to his left. With aching limbs and a struggling mind, he turned and sat up. The baby was in a crib beside his bed, wailing in a way that told Cloud that she was hungry. Without thought, he picked her up and held her to his chest. Her cries became whimpers for a moment before returning to full force. He let her suck on his fingertip and she went quiet, still squirming in his arms.

"Cloud..." Aerith was stood by the door, a bottle in her hand. She was shaking as she stepped forward. "Cloud... you're awake?"

Cloud's body was shaking and he took a step back to sit on the bed. He didn't want to drop the precious bundle in his arms. He removed his finger from her mouth and held out a hand. Aerith handed him the bottle and moved to sit beside him.

"Who is she?" His voice was hoarse, his throat sore. He followed old habits and checked the temperature of the milk in the bottle before placing the nipple against the baby's mouth. She began to hungrily drink it down and Cloud couldn't help but smile down at her.

"Her name is Lilly." Aerith said quietly, watching Cloud and the child. "She... She's mine and Zack's..."

Cloud blinked at her and looked back down at the child. "But SOLDIER serum causes sterility..." Cloud said, his mind still not working up to speed.

Aerith shook her head, a sad smile on her face. "The J-Cells interfered with normal reproduction." She told him, "That's why SOLDIER's couldn't have children... But Zeke called the rain... He neutralised the J-Cells. Anybody who was touched by it... It reversed the effects of the serum..."

That was a lot of information for Cloud to take in, and his brain hurt so he decided to think on it later.

"Only you and Sephiroth kept your enhancements... The rain made your J-cells inert but couldn't get rid of them. They're tied so deeply to your DNA..."

The baby had finished her bottle, and Cloud put it aside, still following old habits. He lifted the young child to his chest and began to gently rub her back.

"How long...?"

"Two years. We were told that you would never wake up..." She smiled at him sadly and gently took her baby. "But we didn't give up hope..." She stepped away with her baby. "I'll let the others know you're awake..." She said and then she was gone.

– – – – – – –

Sephiroth came to him next. He all but flew into the room in his haste but stopped dead the moment he saw Cloud. "You need to stop doing that." He said quietly, finally moving to sit next to the blond. "You promised you wouldn't disappear. But you did. You can't do that again." A shaking, hesitant hand reached out towards Cloud.

Cloud captured it in his own and pressed it against his chest. "I'm here." He told him quietly, "I'm alive... I'm awake... I'm sorry it took me so long..."

There were tears from both of them, and a crushing hug that neither wanted to give up.

– – – – – – – –

Things had changed a lot in two years. The biggest change had been within Midgar. Travel between the plate and the slums was now free for all residents, many had been offered free housing on the plate, and engineers had been sent below to help build better and more stable homes for those that wished to stay. Schools had been set up both above and below the plate and were free for anyone to attend, young or old.

The taxes had been increased slightly, but the people weren't upset about it. In fact, most of them seemed happy about some of the changes. Even when Sephiroth had announced that they were reducing mako production and introducing alternative power generation techniques.

International relations between Shinra and Wutai were at an all time best. Sephiroth had sent supplies and gifts to the nation to help them get back on their feet after the war. He'd pulled out all Shinra personnel and began working on a treaty with Godo Kisaragi in order to preserve the culture of Wutai while still allowing them to be on good terms with Shinra.

Satellite reactors were shut down and dismantled, leaving the only active ones left in Midgar, which were shut down one at a time over the span of the two years that Cloud had been catatonic. Now only one remained powered, and they were looking into ways to be able to shut that down without impacting the population too much.

Cloud stood with Sephiroth in their apartment and looked over the city. It was no longer so dark and dreary. Small patches of colour could be seen here and there. One of the other changes Sephiroth had brought about was public gardens. Since the reactors were mostly shut down, it was easier for things to grow – especially above the plate where there was more sunlight. Sephiroth had made sure that the flowers and grass were given room and had placed public parks around the plate.

In the centre of the biggest park there was a statue of an angel. One wing of light and one wing of dark, an orb clutched between its hands.

– – – – – – – – – –

Sephiroth had taken him to the memorial stone. It was life-sized, slightly taller than Cloud. The angel looked exactly how Cloud remembered Zeke and it broke his heart to realise that this was all that was left of him.

"This is where Holy landed." Sephiroth told him quietly. "We built the statue around it, sealing it inside... His soul is within that materia, which is within the statue..."

Cloud nodded, eyes trained on the small plaque at the base of the statue.

"Not all heroes are known well,
Many do not get known at all

But this is the hero of our people

Zack Strife

He gave his very soul

For the people of this planet

and he will never be forgotten."

AN: I dislike using , so the rest of this series is being posted on archive of our own. I use the same username on there and there is a link in my profile if you wish to find it. There is a WIP sequel that already has several chapters, plus a few side stories and even some artwork. Please check it out!