The Reunion

Chapter 1

Years passed.

Time passed faster than anyone had thought. Things changed and so did the people. In Edge, everything calmed down. Shinra Electric Company was still extracting energy from the Life Stream but Rufus Shinra was smarter than his father. He made the people from Edge trust him little by little and made himself seem like a saviour. Surprisingly, it worked.

In Seventh Heaven things became normal. Tifa grew very busy with the bar, which turned out to be a real success. Marlene and Denzel were already reaching their teenage years and proving to be troublesome and loud.

Cloud tried his best to talk and socialize more yet the only person whom he could talk to freely was Eloise. Vincent, Cid, and Barret were regulars at the bar. AVALANCHE was a strong and tight family and Eloise came to understand that on her own skin.

Eloise. Eloise Fair didn't change much. She was still afraid to open up and discuss what had happened. There were times she was really cold and scary but she was working on it. Waking up and suddenly going back to her former bubbly personality was impossible. She matured, she was a woman in her thirties already and all those memories were hard to push aside and move on as if nothing happened. Reno and Tseng were the two men who knew that the best. They met her when she was playful and happy but that was such a long time ago.

Eloise had her own issues. After her brother died, she took it upon herself to prepare Cloud for the biggest moment of his life. She used Sephiroth's methods, his mentality when fighting, and even the ways he'd relax just so that in the end, Cloud could kill him. And he did; Cloud destroyed every remnant of that man except her. But Eloise couldn't face Sephiroth in any way and she left as soon as she believed Cloud was ready. However, Cloud found her a few years ago when facing Geostigma problems. Thankfully, it passed and they were all fine.

There was one thing that she couldn't ignore, though. The last battle between Cloud and Sephiroth was still vivid in her mind.

"This is not your fight, Eloise. We were never enemies. I taught you everything you know. I didn't kill your brother, I didn't kill Angeal and I didn't take Genesis from you. You don't have a reason to hate me. I was your mentor. I made you into the soldier you are now." Sephiroth said in a disapproving tone.

Eloise found herself speechless in front of his statement. He was right and yet it was not just about them.

"You took lives, Sephiroth. You started the crisis. You started the pain,"

"You still don't understand, do you?"

She frowned. What did he mean? His face was just a few inches from hers. She could feel his breath on her face and it smelled like medicine.

Sephiroth used to be blunt with Eloise in the past and never kept secrets from her. What hurt the most was that everyone she cared about left or died and everything she fought so hard to achieve meant nothing now. Sephiroth always encouraged her, was always there for her when they were in SOLDIER and acted as an older brother not only a co-worker. Against what most people thought about Sephiroth, she didn't have anything bad to say about him. Throughout SOLDIER, he was her support. He gave her the sword, he helped her control her energy and he taught her everything she knew about fighting.

"But you died, as well," The brunette mumbled dejected before she sighed and leaned her head against the window.

Cloud made a promise to Zack on that sorrowful day. He promised to take care of Eloise and become her brother in his place. Unfortunately Eloise did not accept him as more than a SOLDIER in training and when she finally grabbed his hand, he practically dragged her to Seventh Heaven and somehow emotionally blackmailed her into living there; or that was how it looked from her point of view. Since she wasn't paying rent and she had to earn money she started to help Tifa around the bar but that proved to be harder than expected.