Um, first of all, Lucas Cabral is our character, created by us, so don’t even think about swiping him! He is copyright Snarfy and fallenange13. We also aren’t claiming that we own anything from Final Fantasy VII, i.e. any places or characters created by Squaresoft. Now, shoo. Go read. And then, cry at its pitifulness. Oh, and there’s some mild swearing. Not too major, as Barret and Cid aren’t in this. ^_~

It was a dark and stormy night. Actually, it was only about three or so, but you get the idea. Tifa sat on top of the water tower in Nibelheim, staring sullenly at the sky, even though it was raining. She didn’t feel the rain. It was almost as if she had pulled into her body, just within her mind, but not feeling or seeing anything in the conscious world. She was just looking at the sky and she allowed herself to be drawn into the magnetism of her mind’s depths. In simpler terms, she was daydreaming. What, she thought, am I doing with my life? Why am I still here? What’s left for me, now that the Planet’s saved and Shinra’s gone and Sephiroth is dead and Nibelheim has been avenged? I don’t even have Cloud anymore. I have no idea where he is… she thought sadly.

After about fifteen minutes of self-pity, she mentally slapped herself and scolded out loud, "Why are you just sitting there thinking of yourself? You have things to do, and you aren’t going to gain anything from self-pity! Snap out of it, Lockheart!"

She then became vaguely aware of the fact that she was soaking. After a bit, she realized just how cold and soaked she was, and she decided promptly that she wanted to go somewhere nice, dry, and warm. She headed for a nearby café.

The little mountain town had almost tripled in size since Shinra’s downfall. However, it still remained one of the smallest cities one could find, and indefinitely one of the most peaceful. The actors put there by Shinra had decided that Nibelheim had become their home, so they now resided there. Almost as a legacy of Shinra, somehow.

It was a year or so after the world had been saved, but everyone still recognized AVALANCHE, and the publicity quickly grew annoying. Everyone had returned to his or her respective lives and towns. Barret realized that Corel was never going to be the same again, so he helped out in Kalm, where they were still recovering from the aftershocks of Meteor. Cid was back in Rocket Town, where he was working on fulfilling his dream of exploring space. Yuffie had disappeared, along with all of her materia. She took only her materia, almost as if she were saying that she had gained respect for them. Vincent, after a brief farewell, left their lives almost as suddenly as he had appeared. Perhaps they would see him again. Cloud had been very distracted and unfocused, and Tifa had only heard from him a few times since they had all separated. She could only guess what happened to Cait Sith, but she was told that his controller, Reeve, had been helping the refugees from Midgar. Red, or Nanaki, as he preferred to be called, was resuming his studies at Cosmo Canyon.

She sighed. Just face it. Everyone’s got lives that they’ve returned to. Everyone but me. She reached the café. I’m just so lonely here. I hate being alone. She slid into a chair.

"Would you like anything?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, um…a cup of tea, please."

"Coming right up."

"Thanks."

Tifa surveyed the café casually. It was pretty empty, which was no surprise, since everyone was probably snuggled cozily at home. However, one person in the café caught her attention. A man sat at one of the corner tables, reading a book. She had never seen him around before. He was probably a traveler, but most people didn’t come into Nibelheim during winter. How odd. Oh well, he was probably just passing through. Upon closer inspection, he was quite young. He couldn’t have been more than a couple of years older than herself. Most women would have considered him more than attractive, but Tifa’s thoughts lay elsewhere. Her tea arrived, and she stirred in some milk and sugar, sipping it contently, feeling the warmth spread through her body. She inhaled the scent of the tea, enjoying the slight fragrance.

After finishing her tea, she paid and pulled on her jacket. She grimaced as a rush of cool air slammed into her body. Occupied with her melancholy thoughts, she didn’t notice when the man in the corner looked up from his book and rose from his chair, quickly paying while keeping an eye on her. Observing that it was still pouring, she noted that lightning and thunder had decided to make an appearance. Not wanting to go home, she headed towards the mountains, hoping to catch a better view of the spectacular show of electricity. She supposed that normal people hardly considered lightning beautiful, but, then again, she hardly considered herself normal.

She shivered again, and promptly decided that it had not been very smart to leave home without an umbrella, or something of the sort. She reached the base of the mountain range in fifteen minutes, or so. By then, she was absolutely drenched and freezing, but she was reluctant to turn around, having gotten this far, and decided to keep going. After all, she decided, it wasn’t that often that lightning was so marvelously displayed, and, after all, she knew these mountains well enough to cut through the inner tunnels.

Behind her, somebody slipped out of the shadows. She’d better know what she’s doing…

Tifa couldn’t shake off the feeling that she was being watched. She tried to convince herself that she was being paranoid. Finally, she whirled around and studied the area behind her. It didn’t appear that anybody was there, so she gritted her teeth and whispered to herself, "You’re losing it, Tifa." Sighing, she continued her journey.

At last, she reached the top of the mountain, coming out into the open air on one of the highest peaks. She headed towards a small boulder that was imbedded into the mountain, and perched on top of it. She watched the skies for a long while, entranced with each majestic lightning bolt.

Thunder shook the sky, while lightning split the approaching dusk. When she noticed the imminent darkness, she shook herself out of her reverie. It’s already been TWO HOURS since I started up here!? Wow! The storm must be pretty strong! She thought, seemingly unaware of the presence behind her. She watched nature’s wrath for a bit more, and then, she spoke through the rain and storming. "You can come out now. I know you’re there."

Startled at the sudden noise, the stranger jerked back and gasped out a reply. "Wha?"

She whirled around. "So I was right! There was someone following me through the mountains! Who are you!? Why did you follow me?"

And all he could say was, "Storm’s are beautiful, aren’t they?"

Tifa was furious. "Who are you and what right do you have to follow me around?! Trust me, I won’t hesitate to kick your ass if I have to!"

"Calm down! I’m sorry, let me explain."

"You have two minutes before I pulverize you."

"Okay! My name is Lucas Cabral, I saw you in the café and you didn’t look very, uh, mentally stable. After you sort of stormed out of the place, I didn’t think you were really in the right state of mind to go stomping around in the rain, especially since you didn’t really have a jacket or anything and you looked really cold."

As if on cue, Tifa shivered violently. Lucas looked concerned. "Hey, are you okay? Here, let’s get back into covered area, okay?"

Tifa was embarrassed that she’d shown weakness, but as she opened her mouth to snap at him, she was suddenly hit by all the numbing weather she had endured, and felt rather light-headed. She nodded, and allowed herself to be led back into the tunnels by this stranger she had met only moments before.

Once inside, Lucas promptly shrugged off his windbreaker, and handed it to her. Tifa looked at it and said faintly, "Oh no, I couldn’t possibly…"

" No, really, take it. I haven’t been in the rain as much as you have, and you look like you’re going to collapse.

All she found herself capable of doing was nodding dumbly and smiling slightly as she snuggled into the jacket and found herself feeling a bit better. She turned her attention to the person sitting next to her. "Thanks."

Lucas nodded, and couldn’t help but congratulate himself on saving himself from complete humiliation. He had neglected to mention the fact that he couldn’t keep his eyes off of her the moment she stepped into the café. She had seemed so sad and pensive, which made him feel protective of this complete stranger. He tried to tell himself that she reminded him of Zoey, but he wouldn’t listen.

"By the way, I’m Tifa Lockheart." Tifa said suddenly. She wanted to kick herself for not saying that sooner.

"Uh…Hey! Aren’t you an AVALANCHE member?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I am. Was."

"I’ve heard a lot about you guys."

"I’m not surprised. We did something pretty big."

"I’d say that it’s more than ‘pretty big’. You beat Sephiroth, Shinra, the WEAPONS, and that Jenova thing."

"Well…Shinra sort of did itself in, with the help of Diamond Weapon. And besides, we wouldn’t have gotten a chance at Sephiroth and Jenova if Shinra hadn’t busted the barrier."

"Yeah, I heard about that. Took a helluva lot of Mako."

"The barrier was practically impenetrable."

"Almost. Not quite."

"True."

Tifa found herself enjoying their conversation. It had been awhile since anybody had really sat down to talk with her.

"By the way, thanks for the jacket. I was freezing."

"No problem. You are freezing."

She blushed. "Hey, we’d better head back. It’ll be getting dark soon."

"Uh…You lead the way. I have absolutely no idea where to go."

Tifa laughed, and stood up. Lucas got to his feet as well, and Tifa inspected him for a brief moment. He stood about a head taller than she, with a lean frame that looked quite fit. His eyes were a light turquoise color, which reflected intelligence and sensitivity. His left ear was pierced once, in the cartilage high in his ear, with a silver ring, which was partially revealed from under golden-brown hair that was split down the middle. Lucas was wearing dark blue jeans, which were slightly baggy, and a black t-shirt that was a bit too big.

For the short moment that Tifa was inspecting him, Lucas was studying her. She had long brown hair that fell barely past her waist, matching her brown, liquid, deer-like eyes. She was about a half-foot shorter than he was, he noted. Her ears were both pierced, and she was dressed in baggy cargo pants, and a gray t-shirt that showed the barest hint of flesh between her shirt and her pants.

After that quick inspection of each other, Tifa and Lucas set off on the long hike back.

***

Tifa was amazed. It was about a 45 minute hike downhill, and in that time, she had manage to learn quite a bit about Lucas. She had been right with her guess in the café; Lucas was almost 23. She found out that he could play the guitar, that he liked to write, and she learned why he was in town. He said that he was looking for his sister, but he didn’t really seem to want to talk about it, so Tifa didn’t press it. He told her that he could fight, and that, given the chance, he would have joined AVALANCHE. His favorite weapons were blades, especially knives. With a jolt of pain, Tifa recalled Cloud sword fighting, and how everyone had made fun of his attempt at fist fighting. Lucas informed her that he was staying at a friend’s house, a friend of his, he said, whom he had known since he was 12. Tifa asked who his friend was, and she turned out to be a friend of Tifa’s. In fact, Tifa lived three houses down from where Lucas was staying.

Lucas was practically speechless. He was staying three houses down from Tifa? He wanted to kick himself when he realized how he had declined the tour that Kaz had offered. Tifa laughed when Lucas told her how she had gotten the nickname Kaz.

Her real name is Kathleen, so a lot of people used to call her Kat. Once, she and Lucas got into an argument, and Lucas called her a little spaz. She said, "Kat!"

He said, "Spaz!"

"Kat!"

"Spaz!"

And so on and so forth. It resulted in Lucas getting absolutely tongue-tied, and saying, "Kaz!"

Now, at the time, it had seemed strange, but Tifa wasn’t laughing until he told her that every time he said "Kaz", Kat bopped him over the head, even to this very day. It was just something about the way he said it that made Tifa begin to laugh. She told him about the time that Yuffie had snuck up on her and scared the hell out of her. Yuffie ended up being hurled across the room by a spinning kick that Tifa had pulled off. It was then that everyone in the group began to applaud.

And that was how it went. They made rapid progress down the hill, sharing stories, and laughing together.

Tifa was surprised that she could talk so easily to Lucas. She didn’t even know him! But he seemed like an interesting person, and Tifa enjoyed talking to him.

Finally, they reached the bottom of the hill. Tifa decided to drop by Kathleen’s place, since she hadn’t seen her in a while. Lucas said that he had to get back there soon anyway, so they walked back to Tifa’s neighborhood.

Lucas stepped inside, shaking his head from side to side, splattering water all over the place. Kat emerged from the kitchen. "LU-CAS!!! You look like a wet dog!" Kat sniffed the air. "And you smell like one, too!"

Lucas laughed. "Do not!

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Butthead!"

"Jeez, Kaz, that wasn’t very nice!" Lucas said mockingly, pouting.

She did the first thing that came to her mind. She bopped him on the head. "Ah!! Gosh, no need to get all violent on me."

Kathleen turned her attention away. "Tifa! I haven’t seen you in, like, a week!"

Tifa smirked. "Wow. An entire week. Poor you."

Kat grinned and retorted, "No! Poor you! You must be devastated!"

"Huh?"

"You haven’t talked to me in a whole, entire week!"

"Oh, ha, ha."

The trio headed into the living room. Kat sat them at a coffee table, on a couch, then headed into the kitchen to get them some hot chocolate. Tifa asked Lucas the question he’d been avoiding. "So, what’re you doing in Nibelheim, anyway? We’re not exactly the most exciting town, you know."

Lucas suddenly seemed nervous. His eyes shifted from one point to another in the room, carefully not meeting her gaze. "Well, I, uh, I was, um, I’m here to, uh…"

"He’s here to visit me, of course." Kaz’s voice came from the kitchen door. Her eyes looked strangely guarded. She stood there, and then walked over. "Chocolate’s warming up. Tifa, you look horrible."

Tifa laughed dryly. "Gee, thanks."

Kat gave a little snort, but replied, "No, really. You look sick."

Lucas seemed to snap out of the stupor that he’d been in. "She was freezing, Kaz. She decided to walk around in the mountains without a jacket or anything."

After dealing Lucas a bop on the head, she turned to Tifa. "Tifa! I thought you learned your lesson last time you did this!"

"What! No way some cold is going to keep me from watching storms. They’re incredible."

Kathleen rolled her eyes and retorted. "Yeah, and you’re incredibly dense."

They started to chat, Lucas and Kat telling stories of pranks they had pulled and the trouble they had been in. Tifa laughed along with them, but she was wondering why Lucas had seemed so nervous when she had asked him what he was doing in Nibelheim. If he was here visiting Kat, why didn’t he say so? Tifa had a feeling that he wasn’t just here to visit an old friend. It didn’t fit. He was so befuddled by the question, it just didn’t seem right.

Eventually, the storm blew itself out, and Tifa realized that she really had to be going. She’d promised the manager of the general store that she’d watch his shop while he went to run a few errands. It was easy stuff, just wrapping up a few sales and then locking up. No big. Tifa got up, promising that she’d drop by tomorrow sometime. Kat waved goodbye.

Kaz looked at Lucas with eyes that said it all. Lucas saw her look and spoke. "I know. Thank you so much for covering for me. When she asked, I couldn’t say anything."

"Luke, you really need to come up with your own excuses. I don’t like lying to my friends."

"I’m sorry. It’s partially true, though. I did want to see you. I missed you."

"You miss her too much Luke. I’m not saying you should give up. I’m saying you should try to move on with life."

"I can’t. She’s my little sis, Kaz. I can’t just accept the lie they told."

"How do you know that they weren’t telling the truth? How do you know that she didn’t die in that car accident?"

"I know her. That’s not her style. She would rather bike somewhere then drive."

"Maybe she was tired."

"Zoey didn’t have a friend named Ben, much less a boyfriend. You know she had just broken up with Josh. She was devastated."

"I remember. I also seem to remember you wanted to kick his ass."

"I did. He hurt her so badly."

"Luke…how do you know she’s still…"

"Don’t’ say it, Kat, don’t even think it."

"You have to accept the possibility."

"I don’t and I won’t."

Kathleen sighed tiredly. "Lucas. Listen to yourself. This is driving you crazy! You’re obsessed! You can’t do this much longer."

"I’ll keep searching till I find her, Kat."

"What about everybody else? Remember the heart you broke? Remember Nina? She loved you!"

Lucas hung his head, wincing as if the memory pained him. And it did. "I was so messed up then. I couldn’t drag her down with me."

"Well, you did. I seem to recall having to talk her into handing a gun over. A gun pointed at her head."

"I meant well, Kat. I was so screwed in the head. My life was falling apart. It was set. I was going to make it in life. I had a girlfriend. I was going to make it into SOLDIER and become first class. I had it all. I was an idiot."

"No, you weren’t. Those expectations were perfectly valid. You could fight, you were good with computers, and you were good-looking."

"I was blind."

"You were not."

"I was an arrogant bastard. I was on top of the world. Nothing could phase me."

"You were a teenager, Luke. That’s the technical definition of one."

"I was so sorry about Nina, believe me. I hope she’s moved on."

"Lucas, you’re a good guy. Trust me."

"I was an asshole until Zoey went missing. That really shaped me up."

"What exactly happened, Lucas. You didn’t give me a straight answer, all those times I asked you."

"I’ll tell you now, Kat. You’ve stuck with me and put up with me. You’re my best friend, you know. You deserve the truth, finally.

"Zoey and I were kind of the oddballs in the family, I guess. More her than me, actually. Lance was always kind of my parents’ favorite, even when we were children. That’s why I wanted to be first class. He was always bigger, better, faster, and stronger than me, especially after he was injected with mako. Just for once, I wanted my parents to pat me on the back, look me in the eye, me, not him, and say, ‘Good job, son. We’re proud of you.’

"Zoey always had these…visions. I guess that’s why Lance was such a success in their eyes. He was normal. Not like Zoey, the freak child, and not like me, the oddball. He was successful.

"He hated me, you know. My big brother hated me so much."

"He didn’t."

"Yes. Lance hated me. I was a challenge to his ‘reign’ as favorite son. He was always competing with me, even in things that were stupid. He’d gloat when he ran faster. He’d laugh if he won a sparring match. But, if I won, he’d go ballistic. Yelling, accusing me of cheating, the works. Eventually, I just stopped trying. Let him win, I mean, it didn’t really matter to me, one way or another. The only thing that really irked me was the way he’d gloated. I guess, over time, his brotherly hate became mutual. I felt like Zoey was my only ally.

"I knew my mom loved us, but…I had doubts about my dad, sometimes. It’s strange, now that I look upon it. My mother was so loving and tender and gentle, yet she was the assassin. My father, so distant and…and uncaring, was the one who sat behind a desk.

"I don’t know what happened to them. When Shinra fell, I had already lost touch. My mom was on an assignment when I left. I miss them, in a strange way.

"But that’s not what you wanted to know. You want to know what happened to Zoey. I’ll tell you."

And, finally, Kathleen Lantay learned the truth about her friend’s only sister.