A/N: I'll try to keep this short so those of you who follow me just know I haven't given up on my other fics it's just this past year has been extremely difficult and I am only now getting the inspiration to write again. I am not sure the exact pairing for this fic just yet I only know that I want Seph/Cloud for sure but I'm torn on Seph/Cloud/Tseng, Seph/Cloud/Rufus or Seph/Cloud/Zack. If you have any preferences let me know and while I can't guarantee it will happen, I will take suggestions in account. That being said, since I am just getting back into writing again I decided to keep this first chapter short to minimize errors and get a feel for where I want to go with this. This fic is not beta'd so if you see anything wrong I have no problem fixing it. I'll end it here and I look forward to all your comments and hope you all enjoy this new fic.
Disclaimer: In my imagination I own FFVII and everyone loves on Cloud but sadly this is real life and Square Enix owns FFVII and all it's characters.
Chapter 1
Brilliant blue eyes snapped open abruptly and with a heaving gasp the small child levered himself In to a sitting position. Slender fingers pinched at the bridge of his nose while he clenched his eyes and forced his breathing to slow. It was a nightly occurrence, memories become nightmares, long passed but never forgotten. This night it was a deep sinister voice of a once idol that echoed in his mind and it was taking a little more time than usual to push it away.
Eventually his heartbeat slowed and his breaths became less labored and more even and the voices in his head quieted. He dropped his hand to his lap and froze in place, his eyes snapping open once more when he felt the rough wool fabric covering his legs and not the crocheted blanket he gotten from a little old lady he'd done a delivery for. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped in shock. He was in his childhood bedroom, in Nibelheim, which had been destroyed. But no that wasn't correct; the small mountain village was fine it hadn't been burnt to the ground.
The boy shook his head, blond spikes fluttered with the movement and he frowned in concentration. He had two sets of conflicting memories; yesterday he had been 8 and 25. It has been a clear mild day on the outside of Edge, Nibelheim had been cool and overcast, the village covered in a dense fog for most of the day. He had spent the morning doing deliveries, the afternoon tuning up Fenrir, the evening was spent with Tifa, Marlene and Denzel and the night tending to the bar with Tifa. He spent the morning doing chores, the afternoon doing his school work and the evening with his Mother. He went to bed as usual.
Nothing made any sense, from his earliest memories as a toddler to last night where crystal clear but overlapping that were faded, disjointed memories he barely remembered from his childhood leading all the way until he recovered his own mind after so long think he was Zack Fair. He shouldn't be able to remember any of his childhood except for Tifa and her father, the bridge incident, his mother and the near constant bullying. The memories warred against each other and thinking about them was just giving him a headache.
He fisted the rough blanket in his hands and fought against the panic rising in his chest. He bite his lip to keep the scream that was building in his throat from erupting past his lips and felt the pain and blood flood his mouth as his teeth cut into sensitive flesh. He was freaking out, he had no idea what was going on. Obviously this wasn't a dream considering his lip was now throbbing in pain and there was no way everything had lived through and done was a dream. There was no way time travel was possible, right? Jenova or the Planet surely would have been able to do something like that, they were the two most powerful entities in the known universe after all. So what was real?
There was one way to prove that everything he knew, had done, wasn't a dream. He glanced to the side at the rough wooden night stand next to his bed where his clock sat, it was just past 3 a.m. He had roughly three hours until his mother woke to start breakfast, if he hurried he could possibly make it back before she was up. With his mind made up he threw his legs over the side of the bed and ignoring the cool floor under his bare feet he pulled his night clothes off and a pair of jeans and a black sweater on. He opened his door with a creak and pause to make sure he hadn't woken his mother, she may not have been a light sleeper but she didn't sleep like the dead either. Once he had determined she hadn't woken, he tiptoed his way through the house, to the front door. He snuck out with his boots in hand and put them on once the door closed behind him.
The blond stood at the gate leading to the Shinra Mansion frozen. Memories, dreams? Assaulted him, leaving him breathing heavily and gritting his teeth. He could almost feel the heat of a raging fire on his back, hear the crackling of burning wood and hear the fading screams of dying villagers he'd known his entire life. He shook his head and forced everything to the back of his mind before making his way to the front door. This wasn't the time to get lost in his head, he needed to know and was determined to prove he hadn't imagined or dreamed his whole adult life.
Despite the rundown appearance, the door opened with only a whisper of sound. The inside, while covered in dust on every available surface, was in decent condition. He shut the door behind him with a quiet click. The place looked exactly as he remembered, dreamed? The hair on the back of his neck rose and goose bumps pricked along his arms. He'd have to be careful to keep away from the few monsters that roamed the halls. He hoped like Hel that Vincent was real and he hadn't just had a bad nightmare because the only way he was getting to the man was to go searching for something to pick the lock on the door to his room, was not match for the monster guarding the safe that contained the key to his room. And the only place where there would be anything remotely similar to lock picking tools would be in the labs, he really didn't want to go down there.
The childlike boy crept through the house ignoring the elegant curving staircase leading to the upper floor and made his way deeper into the house and eventually down the basement stairs. Terrifying mental images froze him in the doorway to the lab. Flashes of green and unimaginable pain, bright blue eyes and encouraging words, rough hands and the laugh of a madman. He sucked in a shuddering breath and clenched shaking hands, all he had to do was find something to pick the locks and get out. He took one quick step into the room then another, he just needed to focus.
It took a few minutes of rummaging around, but eventually he found 2 small sturdy metal medical tools that would works. He grinned triumphantly and ran out of the room. When the lock opened with an audible click, he sent up a silent thanks to Reno. He took a deep calming breath and shoved the door open. There were the coffins lined up in the middle of the room. He approached the coffin that should hold Vincent and cocked his head in thought. There was no way that his unenhanced 8 year old body would be strong enough to move the stone lid, but maybe he'd be able to find something to lever it off.
He looked around the room, there was plenty of refuse laying around and if he didn't find something here the basement was large so he was bound to find something. He finally found a piece of wood long and flat enough in one of the neighboring rooms, he just hoped it was strong enough. For what seemed like an eternity he heaved and pushed trying to get the stone lid to move. The boy was panting and dripping with sweat by the time the lid moved just enough for him to wedge the piece of wood in the opening of the coffin.
He stopped long enough to catch his breath and wipe the sweat from his eyes, silently cursing his young weak body and lack of mako enhancements the whole time. The only good to come from Hojo, besides his creation of Sephiroth, was giving Cloud the strength to do what needed to be done. There would be time to change some of that later, right at that moment though he needed to dig deep and free an ex-Turk. He hopped up on the edge of the coffin and jammed the piece of wood in the opening. He used all of his miniscule body weight to get the heavy stone lid to budge and for a moment he worried he just wouldn't have the strength.
In the blink of an eye the lid suddenly slid off and landed on the floor with a loud crash and without anything to hold him up the boy went flying forward, but before he could land an arm caught him around his waist and he found himself sitting in the coffin across a pair of legs. The blond looked up into a pair of ruby red eyes set in a pale face with sharp elegant features, framed by wild black hair. He couldn't hold in the half hysterical laugh that escaped.
"Vincent." He breathed, relief coloring his voice. "You're real. I knew it couldn't have been a dream. I was starting to think I was going insane." He knew he was babbling but couldn't stop the words pouring from his mouth. Thankfully Vincent interrupted him.
"I don't know how you know my name, Child. But you should not be here. Go home to your parents before you get yourself killed." Vincent demanded even as he released the blond. His monotone growl was a comfort to Cloud who was stuck in this strange familiar place.
There were only 3 things that would get Vincent out of that coffin and the child knew them all, luckily. "My name is Cloud Strife and I think I need your help. You are Vincent Valentine, ex-Turk whose mentor and partner was Veld. You are the keeper of 4 demons known as Chaos, Galian Beast, Hellmasker and Death Gigas. You are in love with a woman you used to guard named DR. Lucrecia Crescent, mother to Sephiroth and wife to DR. Hojo. Sephiroth is still alive and so is Lucrecia, sort of. I have reason to believe that if something doesn't change Hojo will set Sephiroth up to destroy the Planet." Short, to the point and the most efficient way to get Vincent to listen.
Cloud awkwardly climbed out of the coffin, allowing Vincent to gracefully jump out and tower over him menacingly. "What do you mean Lucrecia is not dead and how do you know?" He demanded harshly.
Clouds 8 year old self wanted to fidget nervously but his inner adult prevailed and he stood steady under that piercing red gaze, he should have known Vincent would focus on her and ignore the rest for the time being. "There is a cave to the south east right in the middle of here and the Gold Saucer. If you can find a map I can show you where it is. You should know that while she is alive she has encased herself in crystallized mako. You can still talk to her though."
"How do you know all that?" Vincent asked wearily, eyeing the child with barely concealed suspicion.
Cloud shook his head, "That's a long story and we don't have time for me to tell you, let alone get you to believe me. Let's see if we can find a map, you can see her for yourself and that'll reinforce my story."
Vincent nodded his agreement but said nothing more. "The library would be the best place to search for one." Cloud turned away and exited the room, leading the way to the library. They would have to pass through the lab but it couldn't be helped.
They spent close to an hour looking for a map before giving up. Cloud then collected a loose blank piece of paper and pencil left around on one of the desk and drew him a rough sketch that should get him to the cave. As they made their way back to the foyer, Cloud made a mental note to have Vincent go through the manor with him to collect all the materia hidden around and go through the books in the library to get rid of all the false information just in case. They departed the manor together and made a plan to meet up at the gate 3 days from then and went their separate ways.
The sky was just starting to lighten when Cloud made it home. He sighed tiredly and opened the door to step through. His mother poked head out of the kitchen and frowned. He could just imagine how he looked, dirty, sweaty and probably still flush from his unexpected work out trying to free Vincent.
She stepped into the living room as she wiped her hands on her apron. "Cloud, sweetheart, where have you been? Are you alright?" She asked worriedly.
"I'm okay Ma, just had a bad dream and couldn't go back to sleep so I went for a walk." He gave her a kiss on the cheek and went back to his room to grab a fresh pair of clothes before she could ask any more questions. He knew there were going to be problems though since he was acting and talk very differently and he wasn't sure he had the skills to act like he was supposed to. He had always been a terrible liar.