What's this? A new chapter?

I actually had 75% of this chapter written up months ago but I really struggled to make it work- as you will see so much of the plot is revealed and there's so much dialogue and man, it was hard to make it flow right.

I then randomly decided to check back on it today and for some reason I was able to finish it yay (though I'm going to be honest I'm not entirely happy with how it ended).

Anyway, if any of you's are still here thank you so much for sticking around. I really hope you enjoy this chapter- it's not as funny but like I said, a lot of stuff is revealed (it's only taken nearly 4 years…)

Also apologies for bad grammar and such. I'm a bit rusty.

Enjoy and let me know what you think!

…

It was late in the afternoon and Serah was in the midst of finishing chopping up the vegetables that were to accompany her stew. The table had already been prepared, the house chores of the day having all been done.

Serah let out a relieved sigh as she removed her apron and eagerly rewarded herself with a large glass of red wine. Looking up at the clock, she knew that Snow would be home any minute now.

The ticking noise of the clock seemed to be louder than usual, as if taunting her that time was going to be exceptionally slow. The moment she stopped busying herself with something, time seemed to be endless, reminding her of how pathetic her life was- no job, no social life and no friends.

Her mind also always seemed to wander to a particular blonde haired man and that one night where she found out that said blonde was a complete and utter asshole.

And despite the number of profanities and the sudden surge of anger that would come with those thoughts, a large lump would form at the back of her throat and her eyes would threaten to water every time.

'Get a grip of yourself Serah. That happened nearly a month ago and you shouldn't be wasting any more of your energy on him'.

The petite woman took a large gulp of her wine, the sound of keys grabbing her attention.

A smile instantly rose on her face, knowing that she was soon to be greeted by her fiancé. She insisted that the happy reaction was from seeing her love after a long day but she knew deep down, it was because him being here would mean a distraction from her thoughts.

It made her sick to her stomach.

"Supper smells great babe!" The burly blond kicked his shoes off before placing an affection kiss on the smaller woman's lips.

"Well, I hope it tastes as good as it smells," Serah replied, watching Snow as he hovered above the pot on the stove and took a deep breath. "I'm sure it will," He winked.

She smiled as he took a seat on the sofa, soon following him but deciding to sit on the arm rest next to him instead. She stroked her fingers through his hair, an action she found herself always doing instinctively.

The next day after Snow had stormed out of the house, the same night she found out her supposed friend was a compulsive liar, she approached him with tear streaked cheeks apologising for being a horrible girlfriend. He didn't press but he insisted that she wasn't in fact horrible at all and apologised for not being home as often as she liked. As a result, he adjusted his hours so he could at least be home for dinner a couple days of the week. Serah was incredibly appreciative of the action as him being away all the time did put pressure on their relationship and she did miss seeing him.

She was also grateful that he didn't bring up the reasons for them having the argument in the first place. She didn't want to talk about Cloud as selfish as that was. She just wanted to focus on her future and life with her soon to be husband.

"So I learnt some stuff at work today from a work colleague that I thought you would like, since you know, you love your history and your books,"

Serah couldn't help but flinch a little as her mind wandered to that dinky bookstore she dearly missed.

He continued, "And I also think it has something to do with the mystery lover of that sister of yours,"

Now this instantly had Serah's attention, "Seriously? What did you find out?"

Snow smirked, "So you know we had a suspicious feeling he was from SOLDIER considering how unusually happy she would be when she'd tell us she was doing a co-op mission with them?"

Serah couldn't help but smile and giggle at the memory. Lighting wasn't the most emotional person in the world however there would be certain days where there was a slight bounce in her step and smile constantly spread across her face. There was even a time which left herself and Snow completely baffled when she called Snow by his actual name rather than the usual 'oaf'.

Snow smiled at her reaction, "Right? Anyway, I don't know if you remember this but SOLDIER were an elite military group from that mega corporation called Shinra Inc, who were based here in this city."

Serah's eyes widened in realisation, "Oh yeah, a lot of the times Lightning would fly here to Midgar to work with them! I completely forgot! Why didn't I think about this before?"

"Ah see, this is the crazy thing! They were also a huge power company and supplied this energy source called Mako energy all over the continent. On top of that, they were incredibly influential on all social and political spheres- they could govern cities and remove people from high places without being questioned by the authorities." Snow spoke with mirth, clearly excited to share this newfound information with his fiancé.

"Woah." Serah replied, "That's an insane amount of power to have."

Snow nodded in agreement, "Precisely but think about it. As much of a power house this company claims to be, have you seen or heard the word Shinra since moving here?"

Snow smirked once again, as he observed his other half's reaction as realisation dawned on her, "Well shit, no, no I haven't but…that doesn't make any sense?"

Serah slid down the arm rest, Snow moving slightly to give her enough room beside him, as her eyebrows twisted in confusion. "If they had that much control and power on how this continent developed, how is their company logo not plastered on every billboard or products? Or how is the company not mentioned in any form of social media? I remember looking at newspapers that Light would bring back from Midgar and there was always something about a Shinra reactor going wrong or President Shinra appearing at some celebrity party,"

"But look at it from a different view Serah." Snow twisted himself to face her fully, his arm resting on the back of the couch behind her, "Don't you think that just maybe they had that much control and influence, that they even had the power to completely erase themselves from this world?"

The pinkette was dumbfounded. "But why would they do that? What could have possibly happened?"

"Now this is the interesting part," Snow grinned. "Although they pretty much had complete control over this continent, they were corrupt. This Mako energy was completely unethical, it was resourced from the planets lifestream and as a result was killing it slowly. On top of that, they found a way to use this Mako to enhance humans- to give them super strength, heighten their senses, better agility, resist pain and what not"

"SOLDIER. They were these super humans," Serah said in realisation.

"Exactly. But these super humans weren't enough for President Shinra. He wanted them stronger, more powerful. He wanted an immortal army."

Serah settled her now empty glass onto the table as she let this all settle in, "I'm a little scared to ask you what happened next. But, go on."

Snow continued, "The SOLDIER army were split into categories; 3rd Class, 2nd Class and 1st Class being the most elite. It was this 1st Class group that tended to be experimented on the most as a lot of the soldiers below them couldn't handle the increase of Mako intake,"

Serah was afraid to ask, "What happened to the soldiers that couldn't handle it?"

"They were disposed of,"

Serah gasped as she placed a hand over her mouth in shock. How could they treat people this way? It was completely inhumane! These people had lives, families who would never see them again.

"How could they have possibly gotten away with this? And to think that Lightning was associated with this sociopathic company?"

Serah felt a reassuring hand settle in her shoulder, Snow lifting her face so her eyes settled on his, "I'm sure she hadn't had known. No one did. They gave this illusion that this was for the better good. But no matter how much power you have, you can't keep these things hidden forever."

"So they were found out?"

"In a way. People did begin to find out what they were doing and so some eco terrorist groups developed but there was little they could do. How Shinra was truly exposed was actually brought on by themselves."

Serah gestured for him to continue as she made her way to kitchenette to refill her glass with some much anticipated red wine.

"So apparently one of these experiments went wrong. One of the 1st Class soldiers were able to handle the large intake Mako, making him the strongest superhuman Shinra had ever created. However, although it may have appeared that it was a successful result, it was the complete opposite in fact. Mentally, this guy was fucked up."

Having refilled her glass, Serah made her way back to the couch but made sure to grab a bottle of beer from the fridge for Snow on the way, "Gods Snow, what did he do?"

Snow offered her a smile and a nod of thanks, taking a swig of the alcoholic beverage before answering, "He went on a killing spree. No one knew what his intentions were because not only did he kill thousands of people who worked for Shinra but he slaughtered thousands of innocent lives as well. Considering he was incredibly powerful it took a lot to finally take him down."

Serah couldn't stop her mouth from gaping, this was huge and it was a surprise that none of it had become global- even her tiny beach town would have heard of it!

"Too much had been seen for Shinra to cover this scandal up." Snow continued, "Their reputation had been permanently scarred and no one was going to support them after this. Fortunately for them this never left Midgar and so with the little power that they had left, they wiped everything from existence- books, online data, everything."

"What about everyone who witnessed it?" Serah asked astonished, "They couldn't wipe it from their memories!"

"No, you're right. But they were able to either buy them for their silence or threaten them. Midgar had experienced enough death and so no one was willing to see it again."

A pregnant pause formed between the young couple, as Serah reeled in everything Snow had just told her.

What a scandal! And what blew her mind was how it seemed like it was completely written from history.

Finding her voice, Serah asked "So when did this exactly happen?"

Snow relied slowly, "Three years ago."

Serah paused, the newfound information slowly processing in her mind. She then suddenly gasped, as she began to put the pieces together.

Three years ago. The same time when Lightning's soldier had died.

...

The following morning Serah made her way to Midgar's central library. It was the city's main source of information so she knew it was the one place where she would find what she was looking for.

All day she had spent pacing along the isles, looking up every book and newspaper article in the archive system- she even went as far as to ask the librarian if she could her help out but she politely declined her and said she had no idea what she was talking about.

Serah couldn't find one ounce of information on Shinra.

Nothing. Nada.

No one seemed to know what she was on about.

'Damn, they must be good if they were able to bury themselves this well' Serah thought to herself, as she made her way back home.

Serah wasn't entirely sure why this had sparked such an interest to her. Maybe it was to do with her infatuation with history or maybe it was because she was interested in Lightning's love life considering the older sibling was so secretive about it. Or maybe she was trying to distract herself.

Whatever the reason was, the young pinkette wasn't going to let it go.

As Serah turned the corner to where the main entrance of her apartment was, she began to slow down her pace as she reached her gate. Sitting outside on the door step was the last person she was expecting. The blonde was tapping his foot from what seemed like out of anticipation, his pale skin contrasting against his usual dark attire- and of course his face was void of any emotion. However, once noticing her presence that immediately changed as he quickly got to his feet, his face resembling the same look the last time they saw each other.

Guilt.

Serah felt her breath leave her lungs.

She wasn't expecting this at all.

He said those horrible things about her. Why would he be here? And how did he know where she lived?

Her mind was running a million miles a minute but blurted the first thing that came to her mind.

(Which of course was completely stupid and unrelated to the situation.)

"You're wearing blue."

Cloud looked at the small woman as if she had grown a second head.

"Excuse me?"

"Your shirt, it's blue. You normally wear black. I mean, it's navy blue and it's so dark that it seems black but if you squint your eyes you can see that it's just a really, really dark blue."

Cloud looked down at himself, to notice that he was in fact wearing blue.

"I guess you're right."

Surprisingly, he wasn't surprised that this was the first thing that would come out of the other womans mouth. A normal person would have started spewing insults at him, shouted at him to leave and possibly even maybe throw a few fists here and there. But no, of course she was concerned about the colour of the shirt he was wearing.

But then again, she wasn't normal.

This was Serah.

As an awkward silence settled between the two, Cloud couldn't help but look away from her. He didn't bode well with confrontation. He avoided them like the plague.

"I'm sorry."

There. He said it.

Serah cocked her head to the side, a baffled gaze settling on her features.

"What did you say?"

"Those things I said about you." Cloud started, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head, "I shouldn't have said them, I didn't mean it-"

Serah interrupted him, "But you must've meant it if you said them."

"No I didn't, I just said-"

"Then why?" Serah persisted.

"I can't tell you why."

"Then I think it's best if you just leave." Serah said through gritted teeth, before making her way past him to get to her door.

"Please Serah-"

"If you can't be honest with me then why the hell are you here?!" Serah boomed, twisting her whole body to face him with her fists clenched beside her slightly shaking from anger.

She wanted to scream at him. Slap some sense into him. She wanted to let lose the frustration and emotions she kept bottled up for the past month.

But as much as she wanted to hurt him, she couldn't. Serah was tired of being angry at Cloud. It was emotionally draining and to be quite frank she was exhausted.

Serah let her shoulders sag and unclenched her fists.

"Those things you said about me Cloud. It really fucking hurt." She said weakly.

Cloud took a step forward, "I know. And I'm a horrible person for saying such a thing. I didn't mean it- I mean, I actually sort of enjoy your company as much as I hate to admit it." Serah couldn't help but let out a half-hearted chuckle despite the situation.

Cloud continued, "I'm really sorry Serah. I really am. I just- please don't hate me. I don't know what I'd do if you did." The pinkette looked up at Cloud in slight surprise, the dejection in his tone startling her.

Although he was avoiding eye contact, Serah could sense he was telling the truth. She couldn't explain it- they had only known each other for a short amount of time yet she felt like she knew him all her life.

And as much as Serah wanted to forgive Cloud, she just couldn't.

"I could never hate you Cloud," The blonde turned to face her, a glimmer of hope reflecting in his blue hues, "But I don't think I can continue to be your friend,"

Serah could feel the back of her eyes burn as she watched all signs of hope instantly fade from the blonde's eyes, a sad frown settling on his features.

Serah felt a lump form in her throat as she began to explain herself, "The key to friendship is honesty. I mean, I talk to you about my interests, hobbies, friends and family. I tell you stories about where I came from and who I am."

"Cloud, I've invited you into my world, however small it may be and told you things that I don't tell many people." Serah said in honesty. She looked back at him, his eyes for once boring into hers.

"And yet, I know nothing about you."

Silence settled between the two. It had gotten to the point that Serah didn't actually care anymore what Cloud had said about her to his friends that night. What saddened her the most was that he felt like he couldn't talk to her. Yes, she understood that he wasn't one for opening up but he didn't tell her anything about his life. All she knew about him was that Tifa was his child hood friend, he lived in an apartment above a bar and occasionally read to children at a bookstore. To be honest she was tired of trying to knock down that wall he always kept barricaded up.

She just couldn't do it anymore.

Realising that he wasn't going to say anything in response, Serah decided it was time to bid farewell.

"Goodbye Cloud."

The pinkette turned her back to the man, feeling her eyes begin to prick as she took her keys out from her bag and let herself into her apartment.

"Her name was Aerith."

Serah instantly froze, her heart hammering in her chest.

"I was seventeen when I first met her." Cloud continued, his voice soft, "She was selling flowers at the corner of South street and I thought she was the most beautiful person I had ever seen. Every day I would buy flowers from her just so I had an excuse to talk to her" Serah heard him laugh at the memory.

"She had the brightest green eyes and always wore this pink bow in her hair. She shone the brightest amongst the crowd in the slums and I remember I would always think she was some kind of angel. Three months later I finally had the courage to ask her out on her a date. It was only at some cheesy play that people were raving on about at the time but she seemed to love it. Five months later I told her that I loved her. Two years later I asked her to marry me."

Serah could tell where this story was heading but didn't want to believe it. She could hear Cloud hesitate, before taking a deep breath.

"We had planned to move to this cottage on the outskirts of Icicle Inn. It was where she grew up. She always had this infinite love for nature and the planet and so I knew it'd be the perfect place for us. And as young and naïve I may have been, I was certain that this was where we would raise our children and where we would grow old together. A month before our wedding she was murdered."

Serah placed a hand on her mouth as tears began stream down her cheeks. She continued to face to door, too afraid to look at him. She heard the raw emotion in his voice, his voice ever so slightly breaking when he spoke.

"Serah," Cloud started, "The reason I didn't tell you about my life wasn't because I didn't trust you. The reason was because I was too afraid. Unlike yours my world is an incredibly dark place. I watched my mother die when I was just fifteen years old and spent the rest of my life in some corrupt military. Aerith was the only light that was shed in my life but that was eventually taken away from me."

Serah heard Cloud take a step towards her but then seemed to change his mind and reluctantly took a few steps back.

He let out a shaky breath, "And then you showed up out of nowhere. And as much as I complain about how annoying and frustrating you are, you've somehow wormed yourself into my life and I've been so afraid that if I let you get too close you'll disappear too. I'm so sorry I've hurt you and I want you to know that I do value our friendship as much as you do too."

Not waiting to her hear her respond, Cloud turned around and immediately began to walk away from Serah and head towards his parked motorcycle.

Serah couldn't seem to find her voice but her legs felt like they were about to give

and her heart pound in her chest.

As numb as she felt she couldn't just let him leave. Not after that.

She ran. Her eyes were blurry but she needed to get to him.

"Cloud!"

Before he had time to turn, Serah threw her arms around Clouds torso and buried her face into his back. Her body began to shake as she cried, wailing as her body overflowed with emotion.

"I won't disappear Cloud. I wouldn't leave you."

A pair of arms slowly wrapped Serahs body, a warm yet shaky breath brushing against her ear.

"I know you won't. I know that now."

...

Looove is in the airrr la la la la