Cloud leant back against the cool metal of his motorcycle and closed his eyes. Winter had hit the bare outskirts of Midgar hard, and it was only for the pressing delivery work that Cloud left the scarce warmth of Edge.
But half an hour ago his faithful bike had given a great choke and splutter, before coming to a standstill and toppling onto its side.
There had been a few seconds as he registered what had happened from his new position sprawled on the hard-packed ground.
Then there were a few more seconds as he noticed the cliff above him with the lone silhouette of a sword atop it marking it as the one place Cloud usually avoided.
Then the package had fallen from its place beneath the seat and onto the ground with a noise like china breaking.
And then minutes passed filled with nothing but cursing, stamping and bashing of heads.
Today was not going well for Cloud Strife.
On top of all this, there was now a wolf sitting only feet away from him, watching his every move.
Cloud wasn't afraid of wolves. Growing up in Nibelheim, he had seen plenty roaming the mountains and even venturing down into the village. They weren't dangerous as long as you stayed well away.
This one had approached him on its own, though, and had made no attempt to attack or even to chase him off. It just sat there, watching.
"What do you want?" Cloud snapped irritably, glaring at the animal.
It didn't respond, only beating its tail a few times to each side.
Its eyes were odd too- a bright, almost glowing blue-violet. They reminded him of SOLDIER eyes.
He wondered idly if the wolf had Mako in it.
"I'm calling Tifa." Cloud pointed a finger at the wolf. "Don't bother me."
The wolf barked and ran in a circle as Cloud pulled his phone from a pocket. The damn thing acted more like a dog than a wolf.
"Go away," Cloud hissed as the phone began to ring, but the wolf only began to wag its tail again.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Tifa. Look, I won't be able to make the delivery on time..."
"Oh, Cloud! How come?"
"The bike broke down. I'll take it to Kalm if I can't fix it here."
"Oh, alright... Take care, Cloud."
The wolf had sidled closer when Cloud's attention was elsewhere, now sitting at his feet and looking up expectantly.
"What? Are you from Nibelheim or something, s'at what this is?" The wolf wagged its tail and jerked its head in some faraway direction.
"You're from the Western Continent," Cloud guessed, having nothing better to do than begin the tiresome repairs on his bike.
The wolf nodded, and pointed its nose southwest.
"Not Nibelheim? Cosmo? Wutai?" The wolf shook its head this time. "Gongaga?"
The wolf nodded.
"Didn't know they had wolves in Gongaga." The wolf wagged its tail hard. "Well, least that explains your eyes. Sort of."
Cloud extended one gloved hand. "Nice to meet you, you weird little Mako wolf."
The wolf happily stuck its nose in Cloud's palm.
"So," Cloud said conversationally as he and the wolf sat side by side, "what do you actually want?"
The wolf didn't answer this time, nor had it answered any other time Cloud had asked it.
Cloud changed tactics.
"You need a name. What do I call you?"
The wolf didn't answer, but it seemed more to do with the language barrier than just being plain stubborn.
"Well, nod once if you're a boy, twice if you're a girl." The wolf dutifully nodded once and accepted the pat Cloud offered happily.
"Alright, so that's that. Now tell me," and Cloud leant down so he and the wolf were eye to eye, "what do you want?"
This time, the wolf turned in a circle, barked, and began to bound up the cliff.
Cloud hesitated, before standing up and following it.
Atop the cliff, the wolf was sitting patiently, waiting. As Cloud appeared, it trotted over and sat by the rusty, dented sword that was planted firmly in the earth.
Cloud stopped and folded his arms.
The wolf jabbed its nose towards the sword.
"What about it?"
It still hurt to see it, remembering the first hazy, Mako-fogged time he had come up here, and what the sword marked.
The wolf seemed oblivious to Cloud's distress and very deliberately made a licking motion towards the blade.
"You want me to clean it," Cloud deadpanned, feeling suddenly guilty at seeing Zack's once-magnificent sword in such a horrific state.
The wolf merely sat back and panted at him as he carefully drew the battered old sword from the earth.
"Fine. I'll clean it, so I can stick it back in the dirt and forget about it and you can leave me alone," Cloud snapped, fitting the sword into the belts on his back and marching back down.
He gripped the handles of the motorcycle and began to wheel it back towards Midgar, not looking back up at the cliff.
The wolf followed, whining quietly.
Cloud opened the heavy doors to the Sector Five church and sighed heavily. Twice today he'd ended up back in two of the places he tried to avoid. If the wolf tried to lead him to the Forgotten City, he'd shoot himself.
He walked in nonetheless, wolf on his heels, and over to the small pool of water where the Lifestream had once emerged. Flowers had grown all around it and even continued to grow in the water, probably due to Aeris' influence.
Cloud put all thoughts out of his head and sat down, sword in lap and began to clean.
The wolf became bored minutes into the long task, and had curled up to nap under a fallen pew.
Cloud considered giving up on the sword, taking it back to the cliff and ditching the wolf, but found himself unable to. So he ignored the nagging voices in his head that brought up Zack, Aeris, ShinRa and why a wolf would want a sword cleaned, and continued.
"Wake up, you," Cloud said irritably, nudging the warm furry pile of wolf with his foot. The wolf cracked open one gleaming eye and instantly sprang up upon seeing Cloud's work completed.
The sword sparkled with droplets of the holy water, all rust gone, all dents straightened. It looked better than it had in years.
The wolf jumped on Cloud, heavy forepaws on his chest, and began to wag its tail happily. Cloud sighed and stroked its head idly before looking outside and seeing that night had fallen.
"Oh, for-" And so Cloud's bad day had come to an end, with his delivery broken, his bike immobile, and a very clean and shiny sword on his lap.
"Great. Great! The day's been wasted, I'm not gonna get paid, and now I'm stuck here for the night with you." The wolf gave a fair grin and curled up once more on Cloud, forcing the blonde to lie down himself and surrender.
"Stupid dog," he muttered, patting the wolf's silvery back before joining it in sleep.
In his dreams, Cloud remembered stumbling in a Mako-drenched haze, half-carried by someone else. He remembered shouting, gunshots and the stench of blood. He remembered seeing Midgar for the first time from the other side.
Cloud woke up nose-to-nose with none other than a First-Class SOLDIER named Zack.