Sorry about the wait, this is chapter two and I hope you enjoy, thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed and faved you're all amazing,

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Tifa had ignored the boys mumbling, mainly because she was busy rather than disinterested in whatever he was babbling about, she smiled at him and nodded to pretend she had heard as she strolled past to grab another couple of glasses. He had growled in frustration, hands on hips, she thought he looked like a mini version of herself when she couldn't get Cloud to listen to her. After her second attempt to, unsuccessfully, side step the stubborn child she sighed and found herself giving in to his demands.

"What is it Denzel, I'm a little busy," she berated with a soft smile, he sighed softly, relieved to have finally gained the woman's attention.

"You haven't been listening," he accused and she sighed running a hand through her hair and placing the glasses down before crouching slightly so that she was at eye level with the boy, showing he now had her complete and utter attention.

"I'm sorry, what was it you wanted to say?" he smiled and quickly looked around before shifting closer to her,

"Marlene told me not to say anything," she raised an eyebrow at that, the girl wasn't usually secretive and it was obviously something Denzel was eager to talk about.

"I won't tell her you said, I swear," she smiled and he smiled back, "so what is it, you can't back out now, I'm far too interested," her voice was melodic as she spoke and Denzel nodded and leant in a little closer so that he was sure she could hear him over the gentle hum of the bar.

"You remember when Cloud fought Sephiroth, when our Geostigma was healed?" she nodded, smile holding even though her confusion was more than evident, what could Denzel wish to tell her about that, he had been in bed, body wracked with illness for the most of it. "When we were heading to the church to see you... I bumped into this guy..." he began and Tifa smirked and motioned for him to continue, he glanced around for Marlene once more before turning his attention back to Tifa, "he wasn't like a regular guy though... he was tall... he had eyes like Cloud's, bright with Mako,"

"Yazoo or Loz?" he shook his head watching as her eyes glazed with mild confusion, brow furrowing,

"He had black hair, spiked back, a scar..." he traced up from his jaw to indicate where it had been, Tifa's heart stilled and she grabbed the boys shoulders shaking him slightly,

"What was his name?" she all but demanded and the boy grimaced at the way her fingertips dug somewhat uncomfortably into his flesh.

"He didn't say... said it was top secret, the man in the suit wouldn't let him say," desperation seemed to burn in her eyes and she stared at him for a long time as if trying to work out if he was lying or not. "He was dressed in black, had a massive sword... he was like... well like that guy Cloud talks about sometimes," she let go of him then, falling back onto the floor, leaning against the cabinet behind her, "Tifa?"

"Man in a suit..." she mumbled to herself, "but... it can't be... they can't... he's dead..."

"No... I saw him, he's fine, really cool, he ruffled my hair, told me to look after Cloud!" he seemed proud of this and Tifa tried to smile but couldn't get the gesture to form on her lips,

"Zack... what happened..."

XxxxXxxxX

Rufus had begun to build his empire, a ShinRa not only focused on brining comfort to the world but preserving it as well, Zack wasn't entirely sure if he trusted him but he did as was asked of him, as he always had. Tsueng followed him more closely now, obviously unimpressed with the incident with the boy in the street, Zack said he needed to lighten up and Tsueng had said things would never be the same even if he did find a way back into Cloud's life, he hated to admit it but he thought the Turk might, for once, be telling the truth. Reno said it was all bull crap and smirked his trademark smirk as he lit his cigarette, despite himself Zack found some hope in the redhead.

When Tifa had phoned the redheaded Turk Zack knew he was in trouble, she screamed and demanded information and Reno had held the phone as far away from him as possible as to prevent himself from losing his hearing.

"You might have to repeat that... didn't quite catch it," he chuckled and pulled the phone away again as she responded with a handful of colourful words, "I was just kiddin' heard you loud and clear, as for Zack Fair you know as well as I do that he's dead so why you callin'? Not a good idea to be wasting the time of a Turk we're busy people you know." She hadn't bought any of it, and Reno rolled his eyes and shot Zack a glare when she spoke of the kid seeing him in the street, he merely flashed the redhead his own grin and folded his arms across his chest to watch the Turk wriggle his way out of this one, Tifa was often stubborn as a mule, if he remembered correctly. "Look Tifa there's nothin' to tell ya, don't know what to say, kid must have got something wrong, seeing things, Geostigma will do that to a person ya know," there was silence for a moment, blissful silence whereby Reno thought he had won, the victorious smile faltered however when she spoke up again.

"Don't make me mention this to Cloud," The Turk had bit his lip in the exact same way he did every time he had his back pressed to the wall, every time things looked tough, his eyes met Zack's and he sighed as he gave in to the woman he was talking to.

"What do you want from us Tifa?"

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He almost hadn't changed a bit and her breath caught briefly as she watched him step out of the helicopter, the blades swirled dangerously kicking the sand from the floor into the air in a mini whirlwind, she covered her eyes with her arm until the blades had stopped and the sand had returned to the floor, only grains left clinging to her long dark strands. Reno growled as he stalked away from the helicopter, hands folded behind his head, the man that walked beside him was silent lifting his eyes to meet with bright chocolate brown.

They stopped less than metre's from one another, so close that he could hear as Tifa swallowed around the lump that was forming in her throat, so close to see the tears that sparkled against her bottom lash line. He smiled up at her, eyes bright,

"I thought you hated me," he chuckled and she smirked moving closer and enveloping the dark-haired male in a powerful hug, he placed his arms around her waist and thought he could smell Cloud in the strands of her hair.

"Never," she smiled up at him, bright and filled with life; she was so much older now, even more beautiful in the way she had grown into her body, filled with grace and poise, "thank you for saving us... I never did want to believe that you'd died... I always wondered..." he smirked and shrugged the two pulling away and Zack scratched nervously at the back of his head,

"Can't keep a good SOLDIER down," she didn't buy it, not in the slightest, maybe it was the way ShinRa had swarmed in after the fire, ripping away any evidence of any of them,

"What happened to you... why didn't you come back with Cloud?" his eyes were heavy with guilt, with a suffering she couldn't quite understand and her hand fluttered to comfort him but never quite managed to reach out and do it.

"He did what he had to," Reno explained, trying his best to light a cigarette despite the rising winds, Tifa shot him a glare and he quieted down finally succeeding in lighting his cigarette and leaning against a nearby rock as he smoked it and allowed the two to talk.

"So?" she prompted all sweet and warmth and he wanted to wrap his arms around her and breathe her in because she was so like Aeris now,

"I couldn't, come back..." he all but whispered his gaze falling slightly, "I wasn't helping Cloud, he needed to forget," he explained and watched as her brow furrowed in confusion.

"He misses you, so much," she hadn't meant for her words to burn him so fiercely but they had and she regretted the way they had so thoughtlessly tumbled from her lips.

"It's complicated, he was so ill, I was trying to get him to Midgar, to Aeris, had the whole goddamn ShinRa army breathing down my throat, anyone I'd ever known that could have helped was dead or insane, I did what I had to," she didn't like how cold it all sounded, how clinical, how desperate and isolating,

"Why does he think you're dead, why does everyone think you're dead?"

"I was a wanted man Tifa, Rufus cleaned the slate took the price off my head, off of Cloud's, so to the world I'm dead, even to Cloud with his jumbled memories and spoon fed lies, I never wanted any of it." There was little more than honesty and self loathing in his eyes, it swirled and danced within the Mako and she saw his pain, saw how deep it ran, grasping his heart and twisting, choking. "It might not have been right, but it was the best I had..." his hands clench at his sides, the leather groans beneath his grip, solid and deadly, he doesn't have to explain himself to her, doesn't even try explaining it to himself but for some reason he needs her to understand.

He needs Cloud to understand...

"Zack... he should know..." she's right of course, she's very rarely wrong, but the webs become ever so tangled and Rufus is perched at the top watching, waiting for them all to get caught up, Zack knows that this has been a trap for Cloud all along, he can feel it in his core in the marrow of his bone and it screams to him, begs him to keep Cloud at distance, keep him safe, protect him, always. Reno's listening it's obvious in the way the cigarette burns ever closer to the skin of his finger, Zack watches him from the corner of his eye finds himself wondering who's side he's really on and if he'll ever really know. "Zack..."

"It's best he doesn't, I should stay in his memories, I should have stayed in yours," he turns because the accusation in her eyes is too much for him to bare, because it's become far too easy for the once proud SOLDIER to walk away, to follow orders, to forget. Her anger flares and he thinks he can taste it on the breeze.

"He hates himself for what happened to you, what he thinks happened, he blames himself, how can you let him live with that when it's not even true, he deserves better and you know it, when did you become such a coward?" He wants her to go away, wishes she'd never stumbled into this horrible secret that he keeps so heavily guarded deep down in the pit of his stomach, he wished he hadn't stopped when he had seen that kid, but he'd looked so much like Cloud, like the Cloud he remembered, the recruit with those bright untainted eyes and he wanted just for once to pretend he was back when everything was so much easier, so simple.

"I know you'll never understand Tifa, but please just walk away, forget all of this, go back to Cloud but don't breathe a word of this, there are things in this world that should stay unseen to him," he grabs her then, pulls her close and brushes the hair from her ear she gasps as she slams into his chest and he holds her tight as the tears burn his eyes, "I'm trying to keep him safe..."

"Who's there for you?" tears slip from her eyes and she brushes at them angrily with the back of her hand, like she's let herself down in some way,

Despite it all, all the tears and the angry words all the heartbroken looks she heads home in silence and does what she promised to do, she keeps his secret, it's like a fire in her stomach but she keeps the facade and pretends that nothing's wrong. Cloud knows that something's different in the very way she moves, she seems to ache with every small gesture, like she'd trying too hard, pushing against a heavy weight until she's just about ready to break. He knows something is wrong, but he won't ask because he thinks it's something personal to her and that's not his business but if he only knew, if the thought somehow passed from her to him then it would still his heart until it was ready to burst.

XxxxXxxxX

Zack spends far too much time watching Cloud; he sits on an opposing rooftop shrouded in the darkness and follows every movement with his eyes, tries to ignore the way it shreds his heart and the way Reno's eyes burn into the back of his head. He's not meant to be here and Reno's not meant to let him but that's Reno all over, nobody has any idea who he's actually working for, most of the time Zack thinks he just does whatever the hell he wants.

It's much later when Cloud falls asleep at his desk, even later when Zack slips from the shadows and carries him to bed and tries to ignore the way the boy reaches for him even without knowing who it is. Zack breaks his heart daily, stood behind a wall of glass or in a shadow watching and waiting, waiting for Cloud to sense him to turn around and see him and realise he's not a phantom, that he's flesh and bone and there are no bullet wounds deep enough to kill, to shred, none but the one called Rufus Shinra.

He knows Cloud mumbles his name every night, chasing a memory in his dreams, he knows that he doesn't fully remember anything, that it's all just that little bit too jumbled and he wonders if maybe there is a grander plan that he's not seeing, not understanding.

Zack wants to reach out and touch the blonde chocobo mane, wants to feel the silken gold unravel against his fingertips but he knows that would be too much, that it would push him to breaking point and so he falls back into the shadows like the ghost he's meant to be. It's when he smells the cigarette smoke that he knows he's stayed too long, that there are places to be and people to appease and when he steps outside Reno never says a word. It's a pattern that happens more nights than he would care to admit to, it's his one weakness and far too many people know it.

He misses Cloud and some nights he'll sit and stare at the sky and he can feel the weight of the blonde pressed up against his side, strong and real and he daren't pull his eyes from the sky to look because when he does everything fades like shooting stars, like sand through fingertips. He remembers the feel of his hair, his skin; it burns him like nothing else he's ever known.

He doesn't know what more they expect of him, he's given everything for Rufus, every last speck that brought him to SOLDIER, that made him the hero he once believed he may have been. There's nothing left of him now, just dog tags that don't quite match up.

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Ok sorry about the late update if people aren't aware I'm having absolutely mental computer problems, I think someone's out to get me . anyway I hope you enjoy and am hoping to get the next chapter up in time for Christmas,

Cookie's for all reviewers,