AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey Fellas! Wow I know I promised I would be finishing this story a few weeks back, but exams got in the way of writing! To make up for lost time this chapter is much longer than the last few have been! This is the penultimate chapter, the final one will show up when it shows up, I don't wanna jinx it by giving myself a deadline, because I know I'll end up skipping it! Sigh!

Now thank you to all the reviewers! Now that we're nearing the end I feel the need to thank Omega, Divinius Odium and Rydia! You guys have been the most amazing readers anyone could have, giving me amazing feedback chapter after chapter since this fic's earliest days!

Now to the newest reviewers thank you so much! I can't explain in words how much it means to me!

Finally to Rumia! Hey there, I usually make a point of sending a personal thank you to all my reviewers, but as you're a guest I have no idea on how to contact you so I hope if you do comeback to check SC you'll see my reply to you! Thank you!

Enjoy y'all!

XXX

Darkness.

Pure, unfathomable darkness clung to Cloud like a thick blanket. Dammit, why was it so cold anyway? And wet? Hold on, wet?

Groaning, the blonde man opened his eyes; his vision blurring slightly before coming into focus. From what he could tell, he had been lying on his back in some shallow pool of water. The dirtiest, foulest, vile-smelling water possibly in existence.

He noticed the area was dimly-lit by a couple of old fashioned lights along the stone walls.

Must be the sewer, judging by the look, and the smell, yeesh!

Waiting for his eyes to adjust fully in the dull light, he caught sight of two prone figures in the water near him. Praying they weren't face down, and drowned, he rushed to the nearest one.

"You okay?" He whispered, shaking the figure slightly.

"I think so," he heard the reply. This one was Aerith. His stomach unclenched slightly, as she got to her feet, at least she was safe!

"I'm fine too, thanks for asking," Tifa muttered waspishly a couple of paces away, also standing up.

"Well, at least we're still alive!" Aerith said, making a brave attempt at her usual bubbly manner. Unfortunately her voice echoed and caused the brunette woman to jump so violently, she slipped and landed on her backside in the water.

"Where are we?" Tifa asked out loud, squinting through the dark.

"I'd say we're in the sewers," Cloud answered. "Bastard motherfucker! That horny son of a-"

"Cloud, calm down!" Tifa began.

"No Tifa!" Cloud snapped. "I've been forced to dress like a girl, nearly ended up raped by that pig, and got tossed down some chute into the fucking sewers for god alone knows what! Do not tell me to calm down!"

Even if the dark Cloud could see Tifa wince at his voice. Never once had he spoken to her like that. Not that he cared right now! Ankle deep in something he wasn't prepared to think about, the blonde man was in no mood to feel guilty about wanting an explanation.

"I think you're being a little harsh," Aerith said softly, she too was shaken by Cloud's uncharacteristic burst of anger.

Ignoring her, Cloud rounded back on Tifa, who despite looking hurt, was staring back at him, unintimidated.

"I hope you have a really good explanation for all of this Tifa," Cloud said, more quietly.

Tifa held his gaze for a moment longer than looked down. "I didn't ask you to come after me," she whispered.

"Well, what did you expect me to do? I saw you being taken in a fucking prison cart! To Don Corneo! Of course I was gonna come in after you! Tifa I love you!" Cloud shouted.

Tifa looked up in shock, never had he said those words to her. Never.

"Cloud, I didn't want you to get involved in this!" Tifa said earnestly. "You see, Don Corneo and my dad have had this fued going on for years because he wanted to use my dad's bar as a base!"

"A base?" Cloud asked, cocking his eyebrow. "A base for what?"

"Cloud haven't you seen enough of what that perv's like to guess what kind of shit he deals with!" It was not Tifa who spoke, but Aerith. The pretty brunette was glaring at Cloud with a fire in her eyes. "That's really besides the point! We're in the goddamn sewers!" Her voice had by now reached an abnormally high pitch. It hurt Cloud's ears to listen to her. "The further away we get from that douche the better! I don't care if you two wanna stick around, but I'm out of here!"

With one last death-stare at the both of them, Aerith turned around and stalked away. Cloud could see her long braid swinging in the dim light as her feet splashed in the water, the sound echoing throughout the sewer.

With a sigh Cloud made to follow her, but he felt a soft hand catch his arm. Cursing under his breath he turned to Tifa, a snarky remark on the tip of his tongue.

At the sight of her face, he found himself unable to throw the insult her way. Tifa's usually calm face was a keleidoscope of emotion. Her large red eyes were watery and two lone tears glinted on her cheeks. "Cloud please you have to believe me!"

Cloud scratched the back on his head nervously. He was regretting his earlier outburst, now that he had calmed down somewhat. "I'm sorry for-"

"No, you're right. You once told me to trust you and I guess I haven't really done that!" She looked down at her feet. "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"Well its over now isn't it?" Cloud said, trying to shrug the whole thing off.

"Are you two coming or not?" Aerith barked from somewhere ahead.

"We should get moving, else she might hurt herself," Cloud said nodding in Aerith's direction.

Tifa nodded. "Yeah."

"Who knows? It might make a cool story to tell the kids one day," Cloud made an attempt to break the tension.

Tifa allowed a grin onto her face. "Yeah I can just picture that! 'Kids, your dad one saved me from a brutal pervert by wearing a dress! Fuck having a knight in shining armour! I had a knight in heels!'"

"Great, only you'll need to change the language to PG-13. I don't want my kids using language like that!"

"Of course not! They'll be the most well-mannered, polite children on the Planet!" Tifa agreed, giving him a rather painful elbow to the ribs.

Cloud laughed along with her as the two finally caught up to Aerith, who seemed rather ill-tempered at the moment, possibly due to wading ankle-deep in sludge.

"We're all friends again I see," she remarked giving them a quick once-over.

"Sort of," Cloud answered, giving Tifa a look. "But I think we still have a couple of issues to sort out."

"Yeah, we do," Tifa agreed, giving Cloud a glowing look.

Aerith simply snorted. "You two are gonna make me sick! I'll probably be adding to this mess soon enough! Thank heaven I can see the way out!"

Sure enough, there was a bright glimmer coming near the end of the tunnel. The three friends looked up to see a circular portal leading outside, with a conveniently placed ladder near the man-hole's opening.

"Well as much as I'd like to stay and watch you two make up, the smell's getting to me!" Aerith muttered, grabbing on to the rungs and lifting herself up up.

Tifa waited until Aerith was nearly out of the sewer before she grabbed Cloud's arm once more.

"Cloud what you said earlier-"

"Forget it!" Cloud said waving a hand dismissively. "I'm sorry about all the stuff I said! I didn't mean it!"

Tifa's grip on his arm slackened as the brunette looked at the floor. "Not even the part where you said you loved me?"

Cloud felt his jaw loosen slightly. He had forgotten that he had blurted his feelings out during his tirade. "No, that part I meant!"

Tifa seemed to be trying to say something, but she was shivering, refusing to look at him.

"Hey now," Cloud said gently pulling her into a hug. "Look I'm sorry if i-"

"There you go again, apologizing for everything," Tifa said with a small giggle. "I just haven't really had someone say that to me before. And especially not when I feel the same way!"

Once more Cloud felt a warmth rise up within his soul. The way they touched was usually comfortable, friendly. Nothing that he usually dwelt on. They were, first and foremost: friends. Their entire relationship had been built on that mutual feeling of needing someone there. Someone to hang out with, to have fun with, to laugh and joke with. From aquaintances to friends to best-friends, to casual lovers. And yet...there was something different to the way Tifa leant into his embrace this time. It felt intimate, passionate and burning. Nothing like the relaxed feelings he usually felt.

"I love you Cloud," Tifa whispered.

XXX

Two months had passed since the irate threesome had run in with Don Corneo. Luckily the fat old bastard had failed to recognise Tifa as the daughter of a man who had once insulted him and both the young woman and her father had thus far gone unscathed.

Speaking of Tifa, she and Cloud found themselves happy. Despite Cloud knowing from the moment he had seen her that she was the girl of his dreams, they had faced a couple of rough spots and come out for the better. As Cloud had said, they had a lot of issues, it was to be expected when dealing with two equally stubborn and prideful individuals. And while they had not sorted everything out just yet, they were getting there.

Final exams had come and gone, Cloud was now not-so-eagerly awaiting the results. Aerith had mentioned something about mucking up a question, but Cloud had resolutely ignored her, as Zack had once said, "no need to write that exam more than once!"

It had been strange to go to class with just the two of them. In a way they had grown closer, yet at the same time alienated.

Cloud had also found an unlikely friend in one of his professors; Cid Highwind.

It had been his first day back at class when the usually irritable professor had held him back following a particularly difficult lesson on Intergration By Parts.

"So Strife," Cid had said after seating him opposite his desk, in an uncharacteristic gentle voice. "I heard about what happened with your friend Mr Fair. I would just like to extend my condolences to you!"

"Why to me Sir?" Cloud had asked, perplexed, Highwind sounded almost human! A change from the usual rusty exhaust pipe with a nasty temper he usually was.

Highwind pulled out a cigarette and lit it, he seemed to debate with himself, before handing the box to Cloud.

"Uhhh," Cloud said, eye-ing the box uncertainly.

"Just take the fucking cigarette Strife!" Highwind snapped, with a sudden and rather unpleasant return to form. "I won't give a student anything that ain't clean! At least not on the premises!" He muttered darkly to himself about "keeping up appearances."

"Now where was I?" He said, after Cloud had reluctantly taken the cigarette. "Oh yes, now it didn't take a genius to figure out how close you were to the poor fucker!"

It may have seemed a bit odd, if not downright insulting to hear someone refer to his late friend as a "fucker" but Cloud knew from the old professor's tone that he meant no harm.

"Now, I wanted to offer you a job Mr Strife," Highwind's voice broke into Cloud's thoughts, suddenly brisk and business-like.

"A j-job?" Cloud blinked, certainly not expecting that.

"Of course if you want one, but only if you drop that fucking stutter!" Highwind exploded. "I can't handle people that can't speak to me without stumbling on their fucking words!"

"Maybe if you didn't fucking shout like that they wouldn't!" Cloud shot back before he could stop himself.

For a second Cloud that Highwind was going to have a nervous collapse, his face had turned a decidedly unhealthy shade of puce and he seemed to be swelling with barely concealed rage.

That, with all the subtlety of a foghorn in a echoing mountain rage, Highwind deflated and began laughing uncontrollably. "You got some fucking guts kid, I'll give you that!" He said between hearty chuckles. "No one, not one fucking person in this goddamn universe has talked back to me! They think I'm so fucking ogre or some shit!"

They're not that far off the mark, Cloud reflected, watching the professor hose himself. "So what's this job about? Maths tutoring?"

"Are you fucking insane!?" Highwind asked, or shouted, the man seemed to speak at a volumn above the average shout. "You think I'd be doing this piece-of-shit job if it didn't pay well?! My job for you involved mechanical work, actual engineering to get you a bit of experience!"

Cloud had to admit he was more than interested, some hands-on experience would most definitely be welcome when he was looking for a job, especially if it was with his professor!

"Okay, so what are my hours?" Cloud asked.

Highwind raised an eyebrow. "I take it that means you want the job!"

"Yes sir!" Cloud replied with a smile.

"Alright, on the condition you wipe that faggot smile of you're fucking face!" Highwind shouted. "You're ugly enough without doing that to your features! Now get out of my sight, we'll get into the details on Monday!"

Smirking to himself Cloud stood up and left the classroom.

XXX

It was nearing 9pm as Cloud lay on his bed, trying to contain his excitement at his new job. Just working with Highwind was bound to be amusing at the very least!

Though reasonably Highwind probably just wanted someone to be his bitch, buy him cigarettes, make him some goddamn tea or any other vile activities the man could concoct.

His musing was interupted by his cell-phone buzzing.

Irritably picking it up, Cloud mumbled "hey."

"Cloud! I'm in trouble-"

XXX