SS: Well, looks like I finished before the two year mark! I hope you all like this extra story. It’s meant to make you think so don’t feel freaked if you find yourself going, “Wait a minute!”

Disclaimer/Note: I don't own FFVII. No flames, please! Grammar and spelling errors I missed should be ignored.

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My Sanctuary Epilogue

“Cloud! Cloud! Wait up, will you, Cloud?!” A small voice that seemed a bit matured called to the blonde as it came closer from between a small crowd. Marlene smiled up at the man whom now seemed shorter than he used to be to her only because she herself had grown a little taller. “I’m so glad you decided to come with me here! Denzel and the others were being mean and said they didn’t want to.”

Three years had passed since the incident with the sanctuary and it was hard for Cloud to let it bother him anymore due to the happiness of his friends, though he’d never forget it. For a moment he stood there, silent, just staring down at the younger being and listening. His lips suddenly curved upwards after she was finished and he laughed. “Well, everyone’s tired from the party we had yesterday. Don’t take it personally.”

“I won’t,” She said, shaking her head then grabbing one of the man’s hands and tugging him into a different direction. “Come on! Let’s go look over there! This street market has everything, I swear!” Marlene raced across the way, pulling Cloud to a stand that had a whole bunch of handmade jewelry and her eyes sparkled with delight. “Cloud, can I get something? It’s all beautiful.” The woman behind the table only smiled.

For a moment, Cloud glanced at the selection then nodded. “Of course. Get whatever you want as long as it doesn’t go over the budget. I brought you here for that very reason.” After hearing the young preteen screech ‘yay’, he sighed and turned to gaze out apoun the crowd. This place really cleaned itself up over the years and life seemed to flourish more, but Cloud couldn’t quite put a finger on why since he didn’t recall anything happening that’d affect the whole city.

“Cloud, did you hear me? I said I want this one! Cloud!” Snapping out of his thoughts, he turned back and reached for the wallet in his pocket. He simply handed it to Marlene telling her she was a big girl now and she chirped in delight, taking it and feeling this heaping sense of responsibility wash over her as she paid the woman on her own.

It didn’t take long for something else to catch Cloud’s sparkling sky blue eyes’ interest, for a man came by accidentally bumping into him and almost knocking him over. “Oh, please forgive me,” The stranger said quietly, his voice sounding low yet oddly familiar in a sense. “I didn’t mean to slam into you like that. This place is horribly crowded.”

The ex-soldier shook his head. “It’s alright. I hear you on that one. It’s gotten this big in only three years.”

“Three years? Fancy that.” The other man who from the sound of it appeared older, pulled a hand up to his chin and seemed to be thinking to himself for a moment or two. “Slowly but surely this city’s repairing itself, isn’t it? Ah, it’s a wonderful sight to see. Humanity can be smart when they want to.”

“Yeah, it sure is a wonderful sight.” Cloud never usually got into conversations like this, especially with a stranger of all people. In a matter of fact, he hadn’t yet gotten a good look at this friendly unfamiliar person’s face and they’d started this fairly reasonable little chat, so he was curious now. “Excuse me, sir, may I request your name? I think we’re having a nice talk between men, so I think it’s only polite to ask.”

“Oh, it’s not a problem at all!” The other chuckled softly and turned around, long silver locks of bangs fluttering slightly from when he did. His hair was tied back into a loose ponytail and his clothes consisted of a loose shirt and somewhat tight dress pants. His face was pale and Cloud swore to himself he knew this person. “My friends all call me Tori, but my real name is quite embarrassing.” The taller being bent slightly and whispered into the shorter one’s ear, “It’s Htorihpes, spelt H-T-O-R-I-H-P-E-S. The two hs being silent, of course.”

“O-oh,” Cloud said, his voice sounding shaky all of a sudden. Why did this figure coming so close make him have this horrid feeling of deja vu? A flash of distress showed itself in the blonde’s expression, especially when he realized the stranger’s eyes were a bright emerald green that were to the point of piercing. For a moment he stayed lost in thought. He killed this man three years ago with his own two hands! How was he alive now?! More importantly, why was he claiming to have a different name and acting as if he didn’t know him?

After a bit, Tori noticed the weird looks Cloud was giving him and couldn’t help but pull away from him a tad. “Excuse me, are you alright… err…?”

“Cloud,” He said quietly, his seeing orbs still locked onto the other person standing before him. “Cloud Strife, don’t you remember me… Sephiroth?”

Bewilderment showed in the other man’s expression and he scratched the side of his head. “Can’t say I’ve met you before, Mr. Strife, and why did you call me that other name anyway? I told you Tori is my nickname, my friend.” He chuckled and patted Cloud’s shoulders when he saw the other sigh in disappointment. A smile rested on his lips after he stopped laughing. “Did I remind you of someone you used to know?” He asked in curiosity, tilting his head slightly.

A nod. “Y-yeah… nevermind about that though. It’s just… I haven’t been letting it bother me for years and it suddenly came back to me.”

“What did?” Tori quirked one of his silver brows.

“Huh? O-oh!” Seeming embarrassed by how he started wandering off into space with his thoughts, Cloud shook his head. “It’s nothing. I was talking to myself about something stupid I had done a while ago. Eheh, pretty dumb, huh?” He glanced up to see the other man looking serious and shaking his head in disagreement.

“I don’t find it stupid at all. To be honest, I think it’s better to let things out even if you’re only ranting to yourself. If you’d like, you can tell me about these events that happened some time ago. I’ll listen.” Tori held out his hands, patting Cloud’s shoulders like before. “You don’t have to,” He added noticing the look of melancholy shadow the younger man’s face.

Cloud flashed him a smile. “It’s something I prefer not talking about to anyone, even my friends. Sorry, but I thank you for your offer. It was kind of you.” Suddenly hearing a young girl’s voice calling to him, he glanced past Tori and sighed. Marlene was waving from a distance, signaling for him to get over there with her. “Well, looks like I’ve got to go. It was nice meeting and chatting with you.”

Tori returned the look of happiness. “Same, same. Have a nice day.” Cloud squeezed his way by him politely saying ‘excuse me’ as he made quick steps to catch up with the preteen girl. “Oh and Cloud!” The sapphire eyed man stopped a moment and looked back. “I hope to see you around again! I just moved here!”

“Is that so?! Well then, I’ll be seeing you soon again hopefully!” Cloud called back, feeling much more cheerful after seeing how kind of a stranger that man was. Mimicking a wave to the other who’d started doing it to him first, he bolted up ahead to an impatient Marlene.

“What took you so long?” She huffed, placing her hands onto her small hips. “And who was that man?”

“I’m sorry, he’s a new friend who just moved here. He’s very polite and kind. I think we should invite him to the bar sometime.” Cloud glanced further up ahead and began trying to change the topic. “Oh! How about we go to that cute booth up there? It looks like they have those clothes you like.” He looked back at the female only to be given the ‘suspicious’ look. “What? I’m trying but still failing to get used to what you like.”

“Cloud,” Marlene said in a soft tone of voice, her expression changing to concern. “That’s… not it. Why is it that you seem so upset all of a sudden?”

Cloud blinked in silence. He seemed upset to her? Was it really that obvious? Today was the anniversary of when the whole events of three years past occurred, it suddenly came to his mind and made him realize why he kept thinking of him. “Don’t you worry about me.” He patted her on the head and ruffled her hair slightly. “I’ll be perfectly fine.”

A pout crossed her lips. “Oh, don’t do that!” She muttered all aggravated, moving her hands to fix her hair. Did girls really start going through these stages at this age? He tried to think back to Tifa, but couldn’t remember clearly enough.

“Well, where do you want to go next? I can take you to get a treat if you want.”

“Really? Yay! Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!” She grabbed his hand and jogged forward through the crowd of people making sure to use her manners with each person.

Cloud only laughed and let her tug him along. She had a pretty strong grip for such a small and young lady, it made him smile. Thinking back to his previous thoughts, today was a day that he could never forget, one that stopped haunting him only when he stood tall and strong, simply not letting it. That other man ‘Tori’ reminded him more of Sephiroth than any other person he’d seen since that day and caused him to remember even more boldly.

Since then, not many things had happened. Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz all ended up deciding to take care of the sanctuary in the end, nursing it back to care and having a change of heart like their master had from staying there so long. All of his friends were doing fine, hanging with him once in a while, chatting on the phone and celebrating when something great occurred. Everything had been normal and these were probably the happiest times of his entire angst-filled life.

“Hey, Cloud, what’s that pretty chain sticking out of your pocket, huh?” Coming back into the world of reality, he dropped his gaze to Marlene then to his pants.

“What do you mean -- huh, what is this?” Noticing what she was talking about, he moved a hand to grab the gold links that were hanging from his pocket. When he pulled it out there was a small golden locket attached, one with a bright blue sapphire and emerald next to each other on the front. Glancing at the younger one a moment, she nodded and he opened it up to find a small note. “My dear precious one, I hope you haven’t forgotten about me over these three long years. I always think about you and your gorgeous blue eyes. Please, take this as a token of appreciation to the beautiful memories we made together and happy ‘anniversary’.”

“Oh, wow!” Marlene chirped, examining both the letter and locket. “That’s such neat handwriting and the locket is very pretty! Do you think Kadaj, Yazoo or Loz did this for you to be nice?”

“I… I don’t know to be honest.” Cloud lowered the letter and held the locket up in one hand. An emerald and sapphire, huh? Those were the two colors of Sephiroth’s and his eyes. Taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, he refolded the note and placed it back inside the small piece of jewelry. How in the world did that get into his pocket in the first place and when did it happen? His mind began spinning in circles.

“Come on! Let’s go show Tifa and the others. It’s really, really wonderful!” The slender girl grabbed at one of his muscular arms and he laughed slightly, giving her a nod as she started leading him along back home.

Cloud, being sincere with himself, had no idea what this locket was all about. His brain threw him into space as he began pondering all the possibilities for it. Ugh. That only confused him more so he simply pushed it aside, staring down at the thing with a soft expression appearing on his face. All he knew right now was that he’d treasure this small piece of metal with all his heart and soul, pledging to never lose it.

Oh! That and he’d have to search for Tori once more sometime soon. If it was true that he lived here now it probably wouldn’t be too hard to find him. Cloud was certain when he did so, he’d invite him to the bar so he could meet the others and they’d all have a blast by throwing one of those random parties like they’d been doing for a while now. After all, he seemed like such a pleasant guy and reminded him of someone special.

The end.

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SS: The real end and about darn time, too. I think I’ve dragged this fic out long enough. Hope you enjoyed.