Disclaimer – I do not own any legal rights to Final Fantasy VII, or any of the Final Fantasy VII Compilation. Nor do I own My Chemical Romance, or the lyrics to 'Dead!' This is a fan work based off the products produced by Square-Enix and nothing more.

A/N – This is part 2, obviously. Not a lot to say about it up here, but I am happy with how this story panned out, I think.

-Cloud Strife is Not an Emo-

A Two-shot fan fiction by,

TheEndOfTomorrow.

Yawning, the warrior's tired eyes were shielded from both kicked-up dust and sunlight by the silver-framed double purpose sunglasses/goggles he wore. The sun was only just now peeking out over the dusty wasteland on the outskirts of Edge, that intense blast of early morning light illuminating the Ex-SOLDIER's pale skin. Cloud still idly worried about what threatening phone messages Tifa might send him if she picked up on his intent in leaving so early, but something else had been piled onto the young man's shoulders.

'Am I emo?' The thought filled Cloud with nothing short of dread. 'I can't be. Can I? But...but I saved the world. Twice. Yeah...no person so caught up in his own emotional turmoil could pull that off.' Relaxing, Cloud hit a button on his phone – allowing his preset music playlist to pop up and begin filtering through the headphones he had placed into his ears before beginning the journey.

'Wouldn't it be grand to take a pistol by the hand?

And wouldn't it be great if we were dead?'

Cloud nearly wrecked Fenrir slamming on the brakes so hard. "Dammit!" Cloud swore out loud, tearing out his headphones and stopping his playlist. "I am NOT emo!" The tormented blonde announced to the wasteland. Leaning forward onto his beloved bike, Cloud finally noticed his phone had a text message on it. Grabbing a great intake of air and sitting upright, Cloud flipped his phone open to view the text message.

'If you think missing breakfast will get you out of this talk you're crazier than Hojo ever was!'

Even while Cloud's stomach grumbled in frustration at missing that essential first meal of the day, even as a chill ran down his spine at the prospect that Tifa was more determined than ever to hear his dream now – Cloud Strife couldn't bring himself to care. He had a much more all-encompassing worry. Choosing not even to reply, Cloud swung himself back over Fenrir properly, revving the engine before the bike roared, continuing on its journey to the oil rig near Junon.

"I. Am. Not. Emo!"

"Man, Denzel's a smart kid." Barret's metal arm slapped Cloud on the back – it stung a little, but the Ex-SOLDIER had put up with this for years now. He had just confided to Barret the events that had transpired the night before – which Cloud knew now was a mistake, as Barret seemed incredibly amused by the whole ordeal. The blonde was beginning to regret this whole 'openness' thing more and more. "You're emo as shit, he's right."

Cloud and Barret had formed something of a mutual understanding over the years – namely, Cloud would handle most of the heroics, and Barret would unflinchingly criticize Cloud however he wished. However like most of the party, despite their conflicting personalities, tragedy and impending destruction had forged a lifelong bond between the two of them.

A bond tested by Barret's affirmation. "Wh-what?" Cloud sputtered, removing his goggles to stare at Barret properly. "He's just a kid. Won't even be a teen for years. How would he know?"

Barret smirked. It seemed Denzel, in his sleepy accusation, had accidentally touched a nerve. 'Good.' Barret figured, deciding to go along with the joke. 'Maybe this'll teach Cloud a lesson in manning up.' The gruff gunner had forgiven Cloud for breaking the friendship between the two of them in the months before – but he hadn't quite forgiven him in regards to Tifa and the children, not totally. Barret knew that even though he was Marlene's 'father', Cloud also was to an extent – and so he still held a small grudge against the 'spiky-ass $#%#%' for the whole ordeal. "Dunno, Spikes. The younger ones always seem to know more than we do. At least you're not dressing like a woman...yet."

Cloud flushed – Aerith, Tifa and he had a silent agreement that the particular incident in question would be skimmed over and omitted from their retellings of the events at Corneo Manor. Aerith had, of course, taken the secret to the grave. Tifa herself worried too much about breaching Cloud's trust to gossip about the event behind his back. "Y-yeah." Cloud shifted uncomfortably, something Barret noticed.

'...Could he be..' Barret stared at his friend for a moment, doubts beginning to surface. Finally snapping out of it, he shook his head slowly. 'Best not even go there.' Barret decided that he already knew enough about what went on in Cloud's head – he didn't need any more added mental trauma. "Well, thanks for the rig parts, ya damn crybaby." Barret grinned, Cloud trying his hardest to murder the older man with naught but an angry glare.

"I gotta get going to Junon. Yuffie's got a package, and I want to catch her while she's there."

"Materia?"

"Materia."

"My materia!" The hyper ninja girl, Yuffie, screeched loudly. She jumped in a celebratory fashion, rubbing the glowing orb against her cheek. "Who's a good little materia? Yes you are!"

Cloud's face turned red just watching her. People were staring. Could he get away and act as if he didn't know her, he wondered?

"So, Cloud! Tifa told me you're emo!" Yuffie announced to the entire general area. "Whatcha do, try and cut yourself on the First Tsurugi?"

"Shhh!" Cloud whirled on the ninja, eyebrows twitching slightly in frustration. He spoke quietly, his voice quaking with surprise and indignation. "How did you find that out? Have you been spying on me again? I told you, the damn materia isn't in the bar. Vincent's had it in the forest outside the Forgotten Capital. So go bug him if you want-"

Yuffie laughed, raising both her hands up to quell Cloud's anger. "Chill! Relax, Cloud. I'm not that interested in materia anymore." Cloud silently voiced his disagreement, eyeing the way Yuffie's hands protectively slid her newly delivered materia into her pocket. "Tifa called earlier. Y'know, girl chat and gossip, all that good stuff!" Yuffie grinned. "She said to give you a few messages. That leaving early was a lame attempt to dodge talking to her, and that now it's gonna be even worse 'cause she'll have to deal with you after dealing with the Seventh Heaven's patrons all day...and that she only told me for revenge." Yuffie frowned, scratching her head, wondering if she should be insulted by Tifa's wording there...

Cloud gripped the bridge of his nose with a gloved hand, closing his eyes. 'Ugh. How did you ever manage to beat Sephiroth again, Strife? You're kind of an idiot.' A poke on his arm forced Cloud to return to the 'world of light', and stare at Yuffie pointedly. "What?"

"You really do get kinda moody and quiet. Like just now! Congratulations, Cloud! You're officially an emotionally confused teen-to-young-adult!" Yuffie beamed, her voice continuing to echo up and down the Junon street – passerby still staring, hearing every word Yuffie spoke. Cloud wished the concept of 'volume control' hadn't been totally lost on the ninja. "Aaanyway...I was thinking of visiting Vincent, so maybe I can take his package to him for you? Going all the way to the Forgotten City will make Tifa madder at you for getting home super late."

"Wh-Hey!" Cloud only just noticed Yuffie had been rifling through the packages on the back of Fenrir – having been too caught up in worry and embarrassment to properly 'supervise' her. "Yeah, right. You only want to see him because you know he has the materia now, I bet."

Yuffie grinned, plucking a package of Vincent's custom handgun parts from Cloud's pack. "Ask me no questions and I will tell you no lies. So, when're you and Tifa gonna get married?"

Leave it to the self-proclaimed "Great Ninja Yuffie" to send the stoic warrior reeling with naught but a sentence. "Yuffie. Volume. Down." Cloud spat venomously, giving the girl a glare. "What put that sort of idea in your head?"

"Puh-leease, Cloud. You and Tifa are more obvious than Cid and Shera ever were." The shinobi girl smirked, taking pleasure in watching Cloud squirm awkwardly. "I dunno, maybe you're right. After all, I can't see Tifa liking an emokid. She's way too mature for that."

Mako eyes widening, Cloud was struck with that thought. 'She's too mature for me? But I...Wait. I'm not emo! I'm not! ...Am I?' "I, uhm. Well. Don't you have materia to go steal, or something?"

Yuffie looked offended. "Cloud! Borrow. Borrow is the PC word." The ninja winked, turning and going on her way. "Tell her you love her! And stop being a pathetic sorry sack!" Yuffie called. Cloud wouldn't be surprised if the whole of Junon heard, and his ears burned as a result.

"Vincent?"

"Cloud. What possessed you to give my package to Yuffie?"

Cloud cringed, feeling a stab of sympathy for his friend. Vincent was the party member he most often went to for advice – the man simply seemed to understand where Cloud was coming from. He was quiet and reserved, like the Ex-SOLDIER himself, and that wasn't even before comparing their equally muddled pasts and times spent serving as experimental playthings for the mad scientist, Hojo. "Sorry. I had a package to give to her, and she kind of..lifted it after I let slip you had the materia."

"Hmph. Do you want to know how much materia she 'borrowed'?"

Sighing, Cloud stopped Fenrir. His packages had been delivered, and night had fallen in earnest. He was again on the outskirts of Edge, the dusty ground beginning to transition into gray concrete. His call to Vincent served a twofold purpose – to confirm the excitable ninja girl had indeed gotten Vincent his package, and to seek Vincent's advice. "Not really. Vincent, I do have a question."

"Hm?"

"What do you know about...emos?"

"My Mako Addiction is soothing to my savage soul."

"What?"

"What?"

"Nevermind." Cloud shook his head, trying to forget he heard that and get back to the point. "Denzel said I'm emo last night."

"You do have...similar qualities."

"Why does everyone say that? I'm not that depressed. I'm quiet, yes. I may have dressed like a woman once. One time, and it was for a mission. I just don't want to talk to Tifa because-"

"You've dressed like a woman before?"

Cloud slumped forward onto Fenrir. "Er, very long and painful story. Look, what do I do? Everyone I've talked to today seems to agree with that label. It's like I'm just doomed to sulk around and brood about my problems."

"Hm. You mentioned something about Tifa."

Straightening, Cloud gazed at the stars above twinkling brightly. "I had a terrible dream last night. Sephiroth...slew Tifa, and the kids. I didn't want to worry her, but she heard me yelling in my sleep. She doesn't need to know I was dreaming about her."

"Why not?" Vincent inquired. "Maybe the reason Sephiroth was able to slay her in the dream was because you weren't there. I think that might be the root of the problem."

Stunned, Cloud could only blink stupidly. "I...that makes a lot of sense, Vincent. Are you sure you don't want to open up a counseling office here in Edge?"

The Ex-SOLDIER could almost envision the cocky smirk on Vincent's face. "If I began to charge, you couldn't afford my rates."

"Fair enough." Cloud let out a small chuckle. How stupid had he been? The FIRST person he needed to talk to was Tifa. It was nerve wracking, true, but she already knew she had a specially reserved place in Cloud's mind – their tiny 'vacation' to the Lifestream two years prior opening that particular window of his soul. "So, Vincent. Honestly, do you think I'm emo?"

"Well. I don't like to place labels on transient things like emotions. I think most things are a lot more complex than that."

"Humor me."

A sigh of resignation, before: "...You and I are a lot alike, Cloud. I-"

Cloud hung up, horrified. "No. No, no. I am not an emo." Babbling this to himself like a mantra and revving Fenrir's engine, Cloud beelined for the Seventh Heaven – he was about to affirm the truth behind that statement to himself and the most important people in his life.

Halfway across the world, Vincent smiled in spite of himself. "Yuffie, I didn't want to use that line. But it sounds like it scared him enough."

Yuffie dropped down from one of the glowing, crystalline trees, having sat up there juggling materia and listening to Vincent's half of the conversation. "Perfect! Denzel and Marlene will have a younger sibling in no time!" The enthusiasm in the ninja girl quickly turned to a pout, though. "Why'd you sound like that about me visiting you at the start of the conversation, Vincent?"

Vincent flipped open his phone, starting to play a game on it hoping Yuffie would take the hint and leave him be. When she didn't, he finally answered her question. "Because you're annoying." The man spoke plainly.

Yuffie opened her mouth in indignation, but decided to play her trump card instead of yelling at Vincent. "Whatever. I got your Cerberus' keychain!" Yuffie dangled the 'procured' item in front of her, eager to get under Vincent's skin.

Without taking his eyes off his game, Vincent reached into his pocket and took out Yuffie's recently-delivered materia. "Trade?"

"...Well played, Vincent Valentine, you jerkface. Well played."

Cloud Strife entered the side door of the Seventh Heaven bar. The lights were off, and everything had been put away. He knew it was time to close, but it seemed as if Tifa had done so a little early. Usually she'd still be cleaning now. 'That's a bit strange. I wonder wh-'

Tifa Lockhart ambushed Cloud from behind, pushing the surprised Ex-SOLDIER forward. She wrestled him until he was hunched forward over a table, grabbing one of his ears with a free hand and pinching. Smirking at having taken down the mighty warrior, she pressed his head to the table. "Tell. Me."

"Ow! I-I was going to! No, really!" Cloud insisted, managing to look up at Tifa wearing her 'I'm-not-buying-it' look. "I talked to Vincent!" Tifa's grip slackened. As much as Vincent was a mystery, he seemed to have an odd ability nobody else possessed – uprooting Cloud's issues.

"So?" The bartender released the blonde, hands on her hips – still with little to no sympathy for the grown man coddling his reddened ear in front of her.

Cloud propped himself up on the bar, lifting himself and sitting on top. Goading her by patting the spot next to him, Tifa did the same, still guarded in case Cloud tried to slip his way out of things again.

"Sephiroth killed you."

Needless to say, that wasn't what Tifa was expecting. "What?" Understanding dawned on her. "You mean in the dream. That's what you were...?" Tifa felt a flush creep up her neck in spite of herself.

"Mm." Cloud affirmed with a light nod. "It was...it was a little embarrassing."

Smiling, Tifa placed her hand on Cloud's bare arm. Cloud always figured it remarkable she managed to have such smooth hands in lieu of all the training and fighting she had done in her life. "It's nothing to be embarrassed about, Cloud. I..." She hesitated. Her heart pounded in her chest – she hadn't felt this way around Cloud since that night, underneath the Highwind... "I...dream about you too, sometimes."

Cloud felt his blush returning to him quickly. He had gone into this confident, but hearing such a personal thing affirmed...it threw the shy young man off guard. Suddenly it felt less like they were in a bar, and almost like they were sitting on a well underneath the starry sky...or the night before their (so-called) final battle with Sephiroth all over again. "Y-you do? Like what?"

Tifa mused, kicking her legs back and forth a little, as she was wont to do when thinking. "And I should give that up so easily after you made me interrogate it out of you?"

"Don't make me pin you down like you did to me." Cloud said it before he thought about it – his face flaring completely red. 'What in the hell am I thinking...?'

Tifa's face flushed beet red as well, but she wasn't going to allow Cloud to get away with that. "As if you could. Besides...I might just let you. You never really know 'til you try." The martial artist spoke coyly.

So it was that Tifa Lockhart found her wrists bound to the polished wood, the love of her life crashing his lips against hers. It had really happened before either of them knew what was going on – exactly like two years ago. Their rational minds finally catching up with them, the two young adults pulled apart – breathing heavily, blood pounding in their ears. Cloud jumped off the bar, composing himself. In spite of what had just transpired, he couldn't help putting on a cocky grin in spite of his blush for his childhood friend whom had long since been something more to him. "Told you I'd do it."

Tifa couldn't contain her smile. "So you did. You're still a jerk, though." She watched Cloud walk up the stairs to his room, and both of them knew that a particular barrier between the pair had just been breached – things would be different. They would be a family, for sure.

Cloud stopped himself before entering his own room, though. Pausing, mulling over a certain thought, he turned – knocking on Denzel's door lightly, to see if the child was awake.

"Cloud?" Denzel sleepily called.

Cloud nodded into the dark room. "Denzel." He spoke simply. "I'm not emo. Good night."

"I know you're not, Cloud...but you could probably make a passable Goth. All the dark clothing, the dark black motorcycle..."

Cloud's eyes widened with that sudden realization. Was he...?

"Give me the pleasure of taking it away..."

Cloud dreamt again that night. The same dream, the same hellish environs – but this time, his black-cloaked nemesis was knocked off course in his deadly descent by an energy blade beam. Cloud readied his blade, prepared to strike again.

The silver-haired man leapt out of his fall, skidding down the side of one of the Ancient's ornate columns – propelling himself off of it just above the water, he jumped back towards the altar. Determined to punish Cloud...by stealing the lives of those he loved most.

But he only met Cloud's blade – parrying the Masamune to the side, Cloud pushed up with a grunt, hitting Sephiroth with the blunt side of his own sword – sending Sephiroth sprawling into a new landscape. The grass was a verdant green, the sun and blue skies shining overhead. "What is this?"

Cloud spun his blade in typical fashion, holstering it onto his back. "Your worst nightmare. Not mine. I'm right where I'm supposed to be, Sephiroth." Cloud smiled, turning back around to his family – he knew his nemesis was defeated soundly. His family protected, his light preserved.

"How dare you..." Sephiroth staggered to his feet. He was prepared to charge the 'inferior puppet' once again, 'til...

A tiny baby chocobo nuzzled against the villain's black boot.

"Kweh?"

Sephiroth yelled out in sheer agony, defeated soundly.

A/N – Silly, but it's supposed to be. I suppose one could construe a bit of Yuffie/Vincent from their back-and-forth, but it wasn't written with that in mind. Take from it what you will. I ask that you please read and review, constructive criticism applies, etc, especially given that this is my first humor-fic.

By the way, to answer a question I'm asked fairly often for any interested – no, I do not have a beta reader. I do all writing and editing on my own. It is perfect practice for writing collegiate papers, although I know the wonders a second pair of eyes can do for a written work.

'Til next time,

Take care, dear reader.

-TheEndOfTomorrow