This came to me through a dream. I don't know if anyone else has done something similar to this story, I hope that haven't as I would like this to be original.
Cloud from a year after Dirge Of Cerberus, wakes up on top of the train that started his journey to save the world 4 years ago. Can having knowledge and skills that he didn't poses back then, help to change the past and improve the future?
Final Fantasy 7: A Second Chance.
Chapter 1 Dreaming Reality
The train buckled and hissed as it came to a stop. With in seconds two people jump off and quickly take out the two guards before they can lift their rifles or call for help. Another man jumps off the train, landing heavily as he has no grace from his big bulky body. He signals to the top of the train and waits for the final member of his team to make his appearance. But his signal is not received as the person is in a sleep like daze. The man calls out hoping to get the guys attention. "Hay Cloud! Get your spiky butt down here! We have to move quickly!"
The man, now called Cloud, wakes up from his sleeping like state. He looks to his left and right, trying to make sense of where he is. He could tell from the instant he smelled the smoke now barely seeping out the trains smokestack. He has had this dream many times before and didn't want to go through it again if he could help it. Cloud closes his eyes and attempts to wake up in his bed. After a while he hears Barret shouting him again.
"Cloud! What are you waiting for! We have to go now!"
Cloud opens his eye and finds himself still on the train. This is the first time he was unable to wake up from this dream and it was getting a little confusing. Finding that the only thing he could do is follow the dream until he wakes up, Cloud stands up. He checks himself and finds that unlike his previous dreams he is not wearing his SOLDIER uniform but rather his normal cloths for the past four years. (A/N The uniform from Advent Children) There is also no sign of his Buster Sword and in it's place his 'Six in One' sword, slotted into its sheath on his back. This didn't really bother Cloud as in a dream anything could happen so he might as well just go with the flow. Cloud walks up to the edge and hops off. Barret gives him a weird and questioning look when he lands.
"What you looking at?" Cloud asks the bigger, more muscular man.
"Where did you get the new get up ... and the armory on your back?" Barret asks. Cloud just looks at himself again then shrugs his shoulders and tells a lie.
"The SOLDIER uniform and Buster Sword are Shinra's. These are my own cloths and swords. Can we get on with the mission now?" Barret gives Cloud his angry look, not knowing that he has seen it hundreds of times before. He turns around and runs off to do hid appointed rounds as leader then he will met up with the others.
Cloud pulls one of his flick swords from the sheath and waits for the two guards to come down the stairs to ambush him. In one graceful swing he slices booth men through their mid section. They collapse to the floor and are slowly surrounded by their own blood. Cloud resheaths his sword and makes his way to meet the bumbling trio. Cloud exits the station and walks up behind Jessie as she is hacking into a doors security pad.
"WOW! You used to be in SOLDIER! ...Not everyday ya find one in a group like AVALANCHE." Cloud ignores Biggs like he did last time he went through this.
"SOLDIER? Aren't they the enemy? What's he doing us in AVALANCHE?" Jessie asks.
"Hold it Jessie. He WAS in SOLDIER. He quit them and now is one of us. Didn't catch your name…" Biggs says jestering to Cloud.
"... Cloud."
"Cloud, eh? I'm…" Cloud interrupts Biggs before he can finish his sentence.
"Your Biggs, the girl on the pad is Jessie and the guy over there is Wedge. We were briefed you know. Try to stay focused." Cloud now really wondered how this teams of Barret's made it this far. They are young, reckless and didn't really what's really know what's going on. Biggs looks at Cloud with an embarrassed look on his face for forgetting Clouds name. He is saved from further embarrassment by Barret returning from is rounds.
"The hell you're doin'!? I thought I told you never to move in a group! Our target's the North Mako Reactor. We'll meet on the bridge in front of it. Move out!" At Barret's order Jessie opens the doors and they make their way to the bridge.
Cloud slowly made his way to the end of the bridge, everything seemed so real unlike his other dreams, he even felt some pain when a guard managed to hit him. He was now taking this more seriously and beginning to believe that this was probably more hen just dream, that perhaps he really as here, that somehow he has been taken into the past. For whatever reason Cloud did not know but if this is all real then perhaps he can change things and even save those that he could not before.
"Yo! This your first time in a reactor?" Barret shouts as Cloud enters the security corridor.
"No. After all, I did work for Shinra, y'know." Cloud could not help but give a small smile as he remembered that he gave the exact same response last time, only this time he really had, it wasn't just a borrowed memory.
"The planet's full of Mako..." Cloud stops Barret from continuing his little speech.
"I know more about Mako and these reactors then you do. So spear me the lecture and lets move on." Cloud didn't know if it was the fact that he interrupted Barret or the fact that he knew more them him or that he showed no interest in listening in what he has to say but Barret was not happy.
"That's it! You're comin' with me from now on." Cloud rolls his eyes at Barret which doesn't go unnoticed to him but he lets it slide as they have more important things to worry about. Jessie and Biggs deciphered the door codes and opened them. Cloud, Barret and Jessie proceeds to the elevator. While going down, Barret speaks with Cloud.
"Little by little the reactor'll drain out all the life. And that'll be that."
"..."Cloud just leans back against the wall of the elevator and ignores Barret.
"The planet's dyin', Cloud!"
"..." Cloud continues to ignore Barret. Clouds complete lack of concern does not go over well with Barret but as the elevator comes to a stop, things more important then Clouds attitude came forth so they continue with their mission. Cloud and Barret moves on. Later, Cloud and Barret reached the reactor.
"When we blow this place, this ain't gonna be nothin' more than a hunka junk. Cloud, you set the bomb." Cloud starts setting up the bomb. The mysterious voice that came to him last time didn't speak to him. When Cloud finishes the bomb and arms it the alarm goes off just like he knew it would.
"Heads up, here they come!" Barret shouts while aiming his gun arm at a giant scorpion robots coming towards them. Cloud grabs his one of his jagged edge swords and waits for the Guard Scorpion to come close. When it gets close enough he jumps at the scorpion and leans at the base of it's tail and with one swipe cuts it off then slices the scorpion down the middle. Cloud jumps off and lands next to Barret just as it explodes. Barret is in a state of shock from what he just saw.
"Come on, let's get outta here." Cloud says calmly Barret just dumbly nods. Cloud and Barret start to make their way out the complex. Cloud quickly helps Jessie get her foot out the grate as Barret just ignores her to save his own hide. Jessie and Biggs decipher the door codes and open them, then they all make there way to the escape point just before the bomb goes off early. (A/N I say early because I always get there with five to six minutes to spare.)
"That should keep the planet going... at least a little longer." Barret say proudly.
"Yeah." Wedge agrees. They go quiet as no one can think of anything to say. A little time passes before Jessie breaks the silence.
"OK! Now everyone get back." Everyone moves to safe distance then Jessie blows the bomb by remote and the locked gate is blown off it's hinges. Cloud wonders why they didn't just ask him to slash it to pieces, it would have been much quieter. The group jumps out and gathers around Barret.
"All right, now let's get out of here. Rendezvous at Sector 8 Station! Split up and get on the train!" With his order given everyone but Cloud runs off. Cloud it thinking about what going to happen next, about meeting Aeris again and how, if this wasn't a dream, he could save her from death.
End Of Chapter 1
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