#writeblrsummerfest2025

The terminal was loud.

Zack stood near a bench. His shoulders were heavy with a tiredness that clung deeper than muscle strain: a weariness born from hope and responsibility both. The hum of the airport around him felt oddly distant, as if muffled by a thick, invisible curtain. He glanced back toward Cloud, who was sitting stiffly on the bench. His blue eyes were narrowed, as if Cloud never quite rested. Even now that their found family were going on vacation.

Sephiroth and Bianca had gone off for snacks, leaving Zack and Cloud with the twins for twenty minutes. Twenty minutes to watch over Aurora and Lucien, two four-year-olds whose energy was boundless and whose eyes held secrets far beyond their years. Zack loved them like family.

Aurora grinned widely at Zack. Her silver hair flowed past her waist like a waterfall, cocooning her tiny body in her massive locks. Her indigo eyes shimmered. Her navy dress was sprinkled with white chocobos, matching her constant companion, a well-loved plush adorned with a tiny military cap perched upon its feathery head.

Her heavy bottom lip -- a perfect echo of Sephiroth’s -- quivered with excitement as she whispered to her twin brother.

Lucien was quieter. His curly black hair brushed his shoulders in soft waves, and his indigo eyes flickered with wonder. He clutched tightly to his ‘LOVELESS for Toddlers’ book -- a gift from Uncle Genny -- as his pudgy fingers trembled with the weight of a world he was only beginning to understand.

Zack’s gaze softened. “Hey, little lightning and shadow, stay close, yeah? Just twenty minutes. Then Seph and Bia’ll be back with snacks.”

Lucien nodded solemnly, clutching the book tighter, while Aurora’s smile widened.

Aurora tugged Lucien’s hand and said in her sing-song voice, “Look! A kitty! It’s all shiny and sparkly!”

A cat darted out from under a bench. Its fur shimmered like a galaxy, glowing softly with tiny, pulsing stars scattered across its dark coat. Its eyes glowed. As it peeked out, the bell affixed to the orange collar around its neck rang with a soft chime, as if it were singing a lullaby just for them.

The cat paused, then padded toward a door framed by white ivy twisted with rose gold threads, almost like a crown woven from the very air of dreams.

Without hesitation, Aurora’s small hand slipped from Zack’s grasp, and Lucien’s followed.

“Come on, Uncle Zack! It’s a magic door!” Aurora exclaimed, the words tumbling out in a rush.

Zack’s heart jolted. He snapped around. His eyes darted to the terminal screen as the faint hum of boarding calls filled the background. Gate 9 glowed faintly on the far end: a gate not on any map he’d seen and not in any schedule. Yet the door stood open, its threshold beckoning.

“Hey, wait!” Zack called. He turned around quickly, but in the blink of an eye, the twins had vanished, slipping through the shimmering arch.

Cloud stood up sharply. His blond spikes gleamed like a halo against the soft, unreal light pulsating from the door. His blue eyes glinted with suspicion, but then, he turned to Zack.

They looked at each other at the same time and uttered, "Sephiroth is going to kill us."

"Bia is gonna turn us into something unnatural, like she turned those troopers into actual plushies."

“We’ve got to get them back,” Cloud said quietly. Zack swallowed hard and stepped through the door after them.

What lay beyond was a town unlike any they’d seen before on the Planet. The sky above was brushed with soft pinks and blues, like a painting still wet from the artist’s hand. The air smelled faintly of warm bread and lavender. The streets were lined with cobblestones that hummed softly beneath their boots. Each step echoed a lullaby that tugged at Zack’s chest. He felt tired.

Townsfolk strolled past: faces gentle, warm. Their smiles were serene and never left their faces, but their eyes never blinked. They smiled, yes, but with an eerie stillness that froze moments into perfection, as if they were sculped to express fake joy.

Each passerby seemed a fixture in a dream. Their movements measured and graceful like slow-motion dances.

Zack’s gaze fell on a clock tower at the town’s center. It was elegant. It was a graceful spire of white stone and rose gold filigree, but the clock face bore no hands. Only the smooth, empty circle where time should have been. The air seemed to pulse with a strange rhythm. Neither fast or slow. It was as if the town existed in its own bubble, and completely immune to the ticking world beyond.

Cloud’s unease deepened. “This place. It’s not right,” he murmured, scanning the streets. His every muscle was taut, coiling to protect his friend and the twins. “Feels like a trap.”

But Zack’s eyes softened as he watched Aurora dart toward the cat, now glowing brighter. Its cosmic fur light the path. Lucien followed, hesitating only slightly before the soft pull of wonder overcame his shyness.

Zack felt an unfamiliar calm settle over him. The town’s peace seeped into his bones. It was a balm to years of battle and loss and almost death. Here, the weapons didn’t have any weight to them. The scars didn’t ache. Here, maybe, could be their home. The thought was so sweet it almost made him dizzy.

Then, a woman approached, her smile unwavering as she held out a delicate crown woven from white ivy and rose gold threads—the same as the door’s frame.

“For you,” she said softly, voice like wind brushing through leaves. "Our king."

Zack hesitated, but the crown felt light as a feather, like an offering of peace and belonging. He bent his head and allowed her to place it on his head. The ivy brushed against his dark hair.

Cloud’s voice broke through the haze. “Zack, snap out of it. This isn’t us. This isn’t real.”

Before Zack could answer, a man appeared beside Cloud, pressing a soft, embroidered apron into the younger man’s hands. The apron bore the image of a chocobo, quite like the ones dotting Aurora's shirt: white feathers, plump and soft, and stitched with a child’s care.

Cloud looked at it with disbelief, and then reluctantly slid it over his head, as if the town or the children were forcing them into roles they hadn’t agreed to play.

Aurora giggled. Her silver hair caught the light as she twirled in circles, pulling Lucien with her. Her sundress's skirt billowed around her. “See? We can stay forever here! No bad dreams. Just fun and sleepies when we want.”

Lucien’s shy smile grew. He clung to the cosmic cat, who was now purring softly. Its tail traced glowing sigils and patterns on the cobblestones. Softly, the tip flickered back and forth.

Zack watched. He was torn between the warmth blossoming in his chest and the chill in the back of his mind that whispered caution.

Cloud knelt beside Lucien. His voice was low. “You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to, little guy.”

Lucien’s wide eyes flickering between the two men, as his fingers curled tighter around the picture book. “But kitty says this place is safe. And ‘Rora wants to stay.”

The twins’ innocence made Zack’s resolve waver. Maybe Cloud was right. Maybe the peace was too perfect. But maybe peace was exactly what they all needed: a place untouched by pain or fear. The clock tower’s silent face seemed to watch them with giant, lidless eyes, as if it were a sentinel holding time captive. Holding them captive.

“Zack,” Cloud’s voice was firm now, “We need to get them out. This place. It’s a dream, and dreams can trap you. Bia always says that.”

"Yeah." Zack nodded slowly. His fingers brushed the ivy crown. “But what if she is wrong? What if this is where we’re meant to be? What if home isn’t a place outside but the peace of this place?”

Before either could say more, a familiar, feminine soft voice echoed through the rose-gold light. “Zack. Cloud. It’s time.”

Sephiroth and Bianca stepped from the shadows. Their presence cut through the surreal calm like a blade through silk. Bianca’s eyes held a quiet command. Sephiroth’s gaze was sharp, unyielding.

“This place isn’t ours to stay,” Sephiroth said. His voice was gentle and soft, but, also, absolute and firm. “It’s a refuge for moments. For the twins. Not a home.”

Bianca knelt, brushing Aurora’s silver hair back tenderly. “You two belong with us, little cherub. In the real world. Same with your uncles. Release them, 'Rora.”

Aurora looked as if she were being scolded. "Do we get to keep Scout?" She held the cat aloft, so her parents could see. Once Sephiroth nodded his head, she rubbed her cheek against the surreal feline.

Zack felt the crown lift gently from his head, as it dissolving into petals of white ivy and rose gold that floated away on the non-existent wind. Cloud’s apron slipped from his shoulders as if it had never been.

Scout meowed softly one last time, as the twins reached for their parents’ hands.

Zack exhaled, a mixture of relief and loss tightening in his chest. Home wasn’t the perfect town with no time, no pain, and no blinking eyes.

As the surreal town's edges shimmered and faded behind them, Zack looked around Shinra Airport, he realized exactly where home was. It was here in the messy, unpredictable world and with the people who fought to hold each other close despite everything.

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