Disclaimer: FFVII and its related franchises do not belong to this writer.
Warnings: Language, dark/offensive themes, violence, slash, het. Rating may go up later. Potentially mixed up facts so corrections/advice would be appreciated, but please remember that this is AU.
Summary: Time Travel/AU. Post AC. Cloud/Seph. Zack/Aerith. Cloud is the perpetual hero, Gaia's hero, and no matter how content his life, he will always answer Gaia's call. But this time, he is not the only one.

Last Revision: Feb 05, 2012.

GUARDIAN
By: Erisdea
CO/Beta: sepulcralis

[0] Prologue

Cloud adjusted the stiff collar of his white shirt and cut the power of Fenrir, silencing the deep purr of the engine. He considered the half emptied crates and mess of truck tracks on the ground and concluded the place had been a warehouse at one point. The cracked windows and half-boarded doorways reminded him sharply of Edge. There were—are—huge portions of these still remaining that had never been salvaged into newer buildings under the WRO's guidance. He slid a hand through messy blond hair and stepped into the dilapidated building. He hadn't had the time to cut it; it was getting too long, reaching his shoulders. He thought humorously that leaving it long might be necessary—he needed to separate himself from the past as much as possible; it wouldn't do for anyone to make the right conclusions. After making a mental note to look for a cord of some kind to tie it back (or get Aerith to cut it for him) he focused on navigating around the broken machinery, moving past several layers of rusted wire and scrap metal. Now was not the time to lose focus. He needed all of his faculties whenever he approached this group.

He was not the first one there. Elfé had picked the best spot—an empty expanse of wall on the right. (He did not expect any less.)

"Cloud." Her characteristic greeting.

He nodded in response (he had secured his reputation over here as the "quiet" sort quite firmly already) and selected a group of crates at the opposite corner to lean against. He surveyed the room for possible entrances and exits: two tiny windows covered in broken glass provided a stark contrast to the beams on his left and the half-blocked doorway to his right. From his mental calculations, he'd be slowed by the assembly line if he wanted to reach the windows, but at least he had a clear view of the door and the best defensive cover courtesy of the crates. With his back against the south wall, he was in the best position he could be.

He waited.

It wasn't long before the rest trickled in. Cloud took careful stock of each member, marking the ones who'd assessed their surroundings the same way he had. Though he was already running a mental list on each members' skills and weaknesses, his years on the road had taught him to leave nothing to chance. It wasn't the dangerous ones he was watching out for. People like Elfé were obvious. They oozed the kind of confidence and command that put warning bells clamoring in his head miles away. It was the ones that didn't seem dangerous that worried him; those who didn't display any exceptional skills, could just as likely hide them too well.

As the last of their motley group—Chris and Brenda—chose their positions, Elfé began to speak.

"You all know what this meeting is for. We've been discussing this at length: we need spies in Shinra." No murmurs arose from her statement.

Cloud hid a snort and waited for her to say something of substance. Truly, if there was one other thing that AVALANCHE was known for besides blowing up reactors, it was sitting around and arguing about it.

"We've argued constantly about who or 'who's' to take on this task. To risk their lives and their families for this," she said seriously, "but we've never reached a true decision. There are not many of us who have the capabilities to execute this." Elfé surveyed the room once, letting her gaze linger on Cloud and a few others. She let the pin drop, "Now, we have Cloud." A flurry of protests arose at her statement. Cloud relaxed his shoulders, rolling them a little as he leaned back, having already guessed the next part.

"You punk, you ain't surprised 'bout this?" snarled Barret, pointing his gun hand at Cloud's head.

Cloud shrugged. It was fairly obvious if anyone paused to consider it.

He had SOLDIER training, he had the equipment, and he had no family to speak of. He hadn't been with AVALANCHE long, that was true, but he'd been on enough missions with them that Elfé would be certain he wouldn't do anything like betray AVALANCHE. Not that he had been planning to, he thought rather wryly. No. He'd choose AVALANCHE over Shinra any day, even if this AVALANCHE wasn't his AVALANCHE. Anything against Shinra had been his motto, and he'd taken it up again when he'd found himself in Midgar.

But he refrained from verbally expressing any of his thoughts. The room was still buzzing worse than an angry beehive. He'd no idea there were that many people who'd disliked him in the group.

Elfé raised her hands for silence. It was a testament to her leadership that they quieted down almost immediately. Cloud had to admire that about her. This AVALANCHE was mixed up in things he didn't quite like, but he couldn't fault the way it was organized. The only reason he had to take over AVALANCHE before was because Barret had been absolutely abysmal in the leadership area. Now, he was just a member, and nothing more.

Thank Odin. He couldn't help but wonder what had happened to Elfé and her CO's that left Barret to pick up the pieces—oh yeah, Shinra.

"...trust him." Elfé finished and looked at him expectantly. Cloud blinked and cursing his tendency to get lost in thought, quickly rewound the scene in his head to catch what Elfé had been saying, becoming somewhat amused at the grudging respect her voice had afforded him as she'd extolled on his capabilities.

He nodded his agreement. You can trust me more than Shinra at least.

Another sweep of AVALANCHE faces told him something different though: they stared at him with a mixture of resentment, unwilling acknowledgment and dislike, making him wonder which god(dess) he could've possibly pissed off in this world to make him join a group whose members mostly hated him.

Ah right. Aerith. He stifled the smile that came with the thought and forced his face to look appropriately grim.

Elfé smirked, "But I know all your concerns. He is our newest member after all. I will be sending someone after him. Jason."

Amusement forgotten, Cloud bit back a real groan. Jason despised him. Hated him with a passion that he'd never understood. Jason was also their explosives specialist and exceedingly high up on Cloud's danger list. And Jason, like Cloud, was young and had no family. He was also very intelligent. He was a good choice, Cloud admitted, though it would make his life quite a few times harder now with Jason on his tail.

Apparently, the other members had picked up on the "rivalry" between them and approved of her decision.

"Jason will be trying to infiltrate Hojo's team. I have full confidence that he will be selected as a lab tech, at the least."

Cloud's eyebrows rose at that statement. He was mildly impressed. Mildly, he cautioned himself. (While it was never good to underestimate a potential enemy, it was even worse to let your admiration for said enemy leave you open. His mind shuttered away from that person.) Hojo was known for being picky about lab assistants; no matter what people said about the scientist and his lack of morals, he ran a tight ship.

Elfé was going through the specifics of the job now. Cloud would do his part by joining SOLDIER. Wait—

"What?" he blurted out.

Elfé stopped and stared at him. Apparently he'd just interrupted her in the middle of a sentence. Oops.

"SOLDIER," he repeated. "You want me to infiltrate SOLDIER?"

Not that he hadn't considered it himself, but the wait for the exam to come around would be a waste of his precious time. And it'd force him to stay in one spot when he needed to be in other places. Niblheim for example.

"I've never forced you to tell us what your past is with SOLDIER," she looked pointedly at his glowing mako eyes, "but if that's going to be a problem, you should've told us from the start."

Cloud shook his head, impatient, "No, my past will not be an issue. I've told you—I've never been in SOLDIER. Hojo and Hollander and anyone else who's privy to their secrets won't recognize me." That doesn't mean they won't want to dig their claws into me in the name of research once they see me though.

Elfé raised a brow, surprised, as someone else muttered, "So he wasn't lying."

"Then what's the issue?"

Cloud raised a finger, "It'd be at least six months before I can take the entrance exams." And a second finger, "If you want me in a high enough position to actually be useful, I'd have to be at least a SOLDIER Second. That's another two years. Impossible. Waste of time."

Elfé's gaze sharpened and she leaned forward aggressively, "And you weren't planning on staying with us for long, is that it?" Her movements seemed to be punctuated by the restless shifting by the rest of AVALANCHE.

Cloud rolled his eyes, "No. But you've never bothered to ask if, perhaps, I had other plans?" He crossed his arms and stared her down. "I'm not your lackey, you know. AVALANCHE is not my entire life." Though not for lack of trying, on your part.

"Sure." She didn't rise to the bait. "But you said you had something against Shinra, didn't you?" AVALANCHE's leader shrugged, "Let me be frank: we don't trust you enough for the Turks." She mirrored his stance, "They say initiated Turks are closer than family. You're not good enough to play double-agent as a Turk. You're not smart enough to do what Jason's doing. And you're enhanced. That'd make you memorable, if nothing else." She paused before driving home her point, "Tell me, Cloud, how did you plan to infiltrate Shinra? Our plans were not a surprise to you."

Those were points Cloud had already considered and accepted. But somehow, at the mention of SOLDIER—all the good reasons had flown out of his head. He'd reacted on instinct and fought to defend the rise of unwelcome emotions. He hadn't even made it last time, and this time, it'd be welcoming ghosts he had no desire to revisit. The uncertainty and—was that fear?—put him off balance emotionally in ways he'd thought he'd long left behind. And even though he'd yet to charge into Shinra and challenge Sephiroth to a duel (oh yes, he'd played with the idea), he'd likely have been thrown out of the building before he could even reach the right floor. Dammit.

"Fine," he said, "I'll do it." Mako-infused eyes took on a hard edge. "But I'll be doing it my way."

It was time to come up with a plan to get to SOLDIER First in as little time as possible.

A/N: Review please?