(I'll release an extra chapter for every new five star rating!)

Cloud’s eyelids fluttered as he slowly opened them, familiar with the roof he was under. He moved, only to feel a soft body under his arms. He turned his eyes to find Tifa lying against him, her head over his chest.

He turned his head, wondering if Aerith was there, but she wasn’t. Instead, she was sitting on a chair beside his bed, dozing off.

He gently raised his fingers, and Aerith’s body rose in the air, turning, moving towards the bed, and he put her down, taking in her scent, closing his eyes.

“You can kiss too. I won’t know…I am asleep.”

He glanced towards her lips, closing his eyes with a smile, which soon turned into worry, “Sorry for waking you.”

“No,” Aerith bit her lip, raising her chin to make it easier for him to kiss her, “I am asleep, Cloud.”

Cloud gently opened his eyes, “What happened after that?”

“Not...after. What happened then?”

Tifa slowly lifted her body, sternly looking at Cloud, “What…did you do?”

“Did it work? Did he agree to help?”

Tifa furrowed her brows, taking the palm of his hand, “Yes. It did.”

“That’s good enough.”

“Cloud! That’s the thing! It’s not good enough! It’s not good at all! Why do you have to be so reckless?! Why can’t you ask and make sure if we are fine with what you’d do?! You are not the only one in this. We are too! We have a right to say!”

He sat on the bed, looking down; there was something else he wanted to do, to show her, to tell her, but, “It worked. Everything else we can deal with.”

Tifa closed her eyes and took a deep breath, cupping his cheek. She leaned forward, planting a kiss on his lips, a short one, and then another, whispering, “If something happens to you…Cloud.”

“Tifa, trust me….”

“I won’t! I can’t! We both know that you are out of your depth with this one! You cannot keep pretending that you know what you are doing!”

“But I do…I do have a plan. Not the one that voices came up with…but one that is my own,” Cloud gently placed his palm on her waist, “I do know what I am doing. Tifa.”

He didn’t wait for her to ask, “I have many personalities in my mind. Those who can get the work done, those more heroic than me. Those who won’t be fooled…and those who could see things far more clearly than I manipulate the circumstances in their favor. Moreover, they are all me…at the core…there is my hollow self allows them to be who they are. If they are all…parts of me…they are Cloud Strife. Then what’s the harm in them in control of this body? Why aren’t they in control?”

“Wendy said the same thing, right,” Aerith lay on her stomach, resting her forehead on the palm of his hand, swaying her legs to and fro.

“Right. However, there is something that Wendy doesn’t know. Isn’t there?”

Tifa parted her lips, “The System?”

“I am not great…not a hero…I am not even a Soldier. It’s not like I beat them all in terms of willpower. I am at System’s mercy. For the reason that I can’t fathom…from all the better options…it chose me, and so they are being held on the bay.”

Cloud closed his eyes, “That doesn’t mean I have free reign…that I can do whatever I wish. It won’t let me destroy this world and usually blocks the scenario’s will with as little interference as possible. Which would mean…if one of my experiments or risks takes a turn for the worse. It would have to interfere and stop that possibility. As a result, stop whatever I did to initiate that possibility.”

He rested his head on her forehead, closing his eyes, holding her head, “Tifa…I do wish to remain the boy that fell in love with you. And I’d do anything…to wish this battle. I will not fail to protect you this time.”

Tifa cupped his neck, stroking his jaw, feeling tears slide down her cheek, “You never failed to protect me…you always did.”

She parted her lips, clasping his with hers, caressing his hair, “Cloud…I…lo—”

Tifa mumbled in a soft palm, looking up in confusion, seeing Aerith’s puffy face.

“That’s no good, Tifa. We promised!”

Tifa breathed out, feeling the tension leave her shoulder, removing Aerith’s palm, “Sorry, that was sneaky of me.”

“Can you tell me…what happened after that? As much as I wish to experiment. It would be better to have someone like Howard Stark who knows Super Soldier Serum on our side.”

“Right. Once you fainted. We brought Howard, Maria, and Tony to Shetland, where he examined your cells, and once he was sure, which didn’t take long, about only a minute or two. We went to his other house, a secret facility, and he made a call there, making it sound like he was being attacked.”

“When the SHIELD organization came, they only found Howard and Maria’s burned body. Charred to the point that only a bit of viable proved that Howard and Maria were dead. As for Tony. He only knew he was knocked out.”

“SHIELD?”

“Yes, that’s complicated. I’ll explain in detail later. Then we came back here in the afternoon. Currently, it’s dinner time, and everyone might soon come pouring in,” Aerith took a deep breath, “Right. That is all of it. You are all caught up.”

“Ok,” Cloud nodded, looking down, “Tifa….”

“Yes?”

“You are heavy.”

Aerith parted her lips, covering them, and broke out in laughter,

Tifa closed her eyes, fluttering them and patting his cheek, “What did you say, Cloud? Maybe I misheard you?”

Cloud gazed into her eyes, “You are heavy. Tifa. Get off.”

“He deserves a punch for that. I am with you. Tifa. Punch him!”

Cloud shot a look towards Aerith, who was motivating Tifa, wondering if he would get punched when Tifa lay down in his arms, “Stupid Cloud.”

He stroked her head, putting his arm forward, hugging Aerith, closing his eyes, “Sorry….”

Things returned to normal after a few days, and they didn’t return home every chance. But once the Winter Vacations started, they took their leave, returning home. Though, a few things have changed.

“You three are back,” Maria welcomed them to their own home, “Right on time.”

She hastily returned to the kitchen, leaving the three of them confused. She soon returned, bringing lemonade, “I heard from Wendy that the three of you are kids. But to see you three like this. You should have seen Howard’s face when he learned the truth.”

“You seem to be doing well,” Cloud picked up the glass, observing her.

“Well, not to say that I wasn’t shocked. Aliens? Experiments? Magical World? Too many of my views were destroyed that day. But then again…I married Howard Stark. It wasn’t the first time it had happened, “Maria chuckled, “So you three need not worry about me.”

“Ok,” Cloud picked up his bag, “I am going to my room.”

“Sure, is there anything particular you want for lunch?”

“No, not really.”

“I’ll help with the cooking,” Tifa offered, but Maria hastily shook her head, “No. Not today. Just have rest, and you can help me with breakfast tomorrow. Tell me all you like.”

“Yes, Tifa must be tired. How about I help,” Aerith grinned, excited at the prospects.

“Oh….” Maria was going to reject either way, but she saw Tifa hastily shaking her hand and head, trying her best to convey the need to keep Aerith out of the kitchen.

Aerith looked back, blinking, only for Tifa to stop, smile at her, and nod, “Maybe tomorrow. Today we should rest.”

“Right, rest,” Maria suggested, watching Tifa confusedly, mouthing when Aerith wasn’t looking, ‘That bad?’

‘Worse,’ Tifa rolled her eyes, taking her and Aerith’s bags, putting her arm around her waist, and walking her up to the second floor.

“Then tomorrow.”

“Sure,” Maria nodded, trying to maintain her smile, chuckling when Aerith left her sight. She walked up to the main stairs, placing her hand on the railing. It seemingly read her palm print, and the stairs folded one on top of the other, revealing more stairs that went downstairs.

She followed them, entering the elevator, which went down until her surrounding turned dark, and then there was light, not too bright, but it was far too massive for a person to take in.

Thousands of humanoid, mechanical golems they called were melting tanks down in lava on one side, while another thousand helped put copies of what Spacecraft spare parts on its side.

She still didn’t understand much, and it seemed childish to her. From what she understood, it was easy for them to earn as much money as they wanted, but they thought what they sold would kill people and didn’t wish for it. They’d instead take the long and painful way than the easy one.

When the elevator stopped, she walked into the control room. The one used to guide all those Golems in ways that went over her head. It was some combination of magic and technology.

Her eyes looked towards another alien, blinking, “Where is he?”

“In the other lab. He seems obsessed with those cells,” Wendy pointed towards the new lab that was still in works, created by the hands of golems and a few Skrulls who controlled them.

Maria went inside, looking at Howard looking down on the microscope, much like yesterday and the day before.

“Howard. What would you like for dinner?”

Maria asked, but he couldn’t hear her, so she walked closer, “Howard?”

“Howard!”

“Hm, hm,” Howard abruptly pulled away from the microscope, running his hand over his face, “What did you say?”

Maria sighed, “I haven’t seen you like this in a long time. Is it that tough? Even for you?”

“Tough? Tough is a small word for it! Maria, what these Cells represent is the evolution of a parallel universe! There is so much to unpack here, and that is not counting on the cells of an alien creature which are so complex that it feels like I am trying to decipher millions of races!! This is beyond anything I have ever seen! This thing has swallowed planets, more than one for sure. I am not even sure how the boy is still alive! It goes beyond! Way beyond anything possible!”

Maria breathed in, patting his chest, “Now, calm down. We don’t want you dying, do we?”

Howard took deep breaths, wiping his sweat, “Sorry…it’s just that. This is something else. If I was young, and then too if I put my whole life on the line, I could never sort everything out that only one of these cells has to offer. I’d need thousands of scientists and state-of-the-art technology, no, maybe more. And then, I could probably try to make some headway.”

“If only they had come to me when I still had the resources of the Stark Industries,” Howard rubbed his eyes.

“I just came to ask what you wanted to eat?” Maria chuckled, hugging her husband, “I can tell when something is going on in your mind.”

Howard closed his eyes, “If I don’t solve this problem, then in seven years. No, after that little stunt, six years and ninth months. He will turn into a creature with knowledge vaster than our civilization and any that came before us. And if not that, then if one of the voices in his head goes out of control…either way, that boy is a walking, talking apocalypse. But…I don’t feel…I have enough time.”

“He seems like a sweet boy,” Maria said, though she didn’t need Howard to remind her, the bodies, dead, alive, littered all over.

“Probably…but I can’t risk the whole world on that.”

“Howard….”

“I hope you are not planning anything stupid like trying to kill the boy.”

Howard raised his head, looking towards the other person who said it.

Wendy leaned against the entrance, her arms crossed, “Let’s not talk about how much it would hurt the girls. But you can’t kill him. He is…Jenova is immortal in every meaning of the word.”

“Immortal? Like Immortal Immortal?”

“There were two wills inside these Cells. From what I understand, Sephiroth’s and Jenova’s. Before coming here, Sephiroth had overpowered Jenova, but after coming to another universe out of their range. Jenova’s, the natural one, overpowered the artificial one. Right now, the voices in his mind are his personality, but once Cloud Strife dies, so do those voices, the ones holding Jenova at bay. All hell will break loose. The last thing we need is you doing something silly from fear.”

“Oh. Good to know, but that wasn’t what I was planning. I am thinking more about going with the Skrulls, learning more alien technology, getting another spaceship, and finally using that newly gained knowledge to solve his problem.”

Wendy nodded, “Fine, that works.”

He stopped, looking at her in doubt, “Immortal, Immortal?”

Wendy shrugged, “According to Aerith, the whole thing started when Cloud killed Sephiroth, who manipulated the events so he could revive from beyond.”

“Immortal.”

“Darling. You are stuck.”

Howard shrugged, “Immortal.”

Wendy sighed, turning her eyes towards Maria, “So? What’s there for dinner?”