FFVII AU Fic

Title: Shut, My Eyes Are

Genre: Adventure, Romance, maybe a bit of Angst and Humour?

Warning(s): Potential Threesome (though probably not), The Man-Puppy Zack, Time Travel,Slash (boy love/yaoi/whatever you wanna call it)

Summary: Due to the fire of an angry bird, Cloud gets into a bit of trouble; the consequence- time travel.

"Oh shit! Fuck! Shit shit shit! What the fucking shit, shit!" Swerving on Fenrir, Cloud Strife hit the gas once more, hoping above all else that it would be enough to outrun the giant angry bird behind him. "C'mon, c'mon!"

No, scratch that, it wasn't a bird. No, not at all. A bird wouldn't be breathing fire and melting rock and a bird certainly wouldn't be the size of a giant freaking truck! It was just Cloud's luck to have run into an angry phoenix. Just his luck indeed. In fact, Cloud should have expected it, with the way his life was going and had been in the past! But no, he had been stupid and decided to take a short cut for a delivery and lo and behold, here he was, running for his life on Fenrir once more!

No. This thing wasn't a bird; it was a monster—swerve left, duck! Keep going, Keep going!—A very angry monster that probably wouldn't forgive him for all of eternity (though all he'd done was encroach on its territory!). More importantly though, it was a phoenix.

Cloud could only ever recall seeing one phoenix ever, and that had been way back, when the planet was near destruction and WEAPONs were coming out of nowhere and Sephiroth. That time, however, the giant flaming bird had simply taken off and left some phoenix down for the party to take. It was nothing like now; hot fire, screeches that could deafen children, molten rock and that putrid smell of burning.

Cloud knew if he got caught now, he would literally be an unnoticed scorch mark in the deserts outside of Edge, along with the puddle of melted metal Fenrir and First Tsurugi would be left as.

Actually, he wasn't so sure about his sword; the thing was made out of spare WEAPON bits, after all. Someone would probably find and sell it for way less than it was worth.

As Cloud swung his bike around a large boulder, he felt it stutter, and cursing almost silently under his breath, Cloud noticed the gas gauge on his bike running on empty and he cursed cursed cursed—

It was over now, that he knew for sure. His bike would give out any minute now; he'd be left to face the flaming bird and as much as Cloud knew he could probably take it—well, there was something completely unappealing about facing something that could melt his face off with a breath.

Alas, it was inevitable. Cloud was forced to launch himself from his bike, First Tsurugi in one hand and his trusty cure materia in the other. Slotting the materia in his hand into his blade, he prepared for the worst battle he had recently had the honour of facing.

Of course, he didn't expect for the thing to fucking breathe fire right away god fucking damn it—and he swore the whole of Gaia was laughing at him as he leapt away, or tried to.

He hadn't taken into account that his boots, as comfortable and convenient as they were, weren't fire proof at all, and as he tried to leap away he found that he couldn't; his boots. They were melted into the hard rock covered ground, and his feet! It was like he'd dipped his feet into burning coal. His pants quickly caught fire too, and as much as Cloud had saved the world and thrice defeated Sephiroth and multiple other, stronger enemies; well, he was defeated. And it was his own boots to cause his demise!

Cloud cringed when the bird let out a deafening shriek once more, and Cloud tried, tried to defend himself as the bird dived right towards him, gaping beak wide open and more terrifyingly, full of teeth as well. Of course, he didn't have time to feel the thing disembowel him—as everything had gone dark as soon as the phoenix had touched him.

Now if there was one feeling Cloud recognized, it was the feeling of being in the lifestream. He felt weightless—free of his blasted emotions and any physical pain that had been ailing him. He was unconvinced that opening his eyes would do him any good, so he stayed put for approximately three seconds before he was sat on.

Sputtering, Cloud was suddenly out of breath and his eyes had no choice but to fly open, only to be greeted with the sight of his only SOLDIER friend sitting on him, as if it were an everyday occurrence! Why, if Cloud hadn't felt so startled, he would have acted properly and shoved the larger man off him, but as it were, he was still recovering from remembering the phoenix attack. "Zack, gerroff!"

"Nah buddy, I don't think I will..." That stupid grin that Cloud always missed always longed for passed over one Zack Fair's face—until, that is, a voice from behind him spoke up.

"Zack, wasn't it you who just a few minutes ago insisted that we had to be serious about this?" Zack, of course, made a face and turned to look at his lover. A moment passed in silence before the former SOLDIER sighed and got off of Cloud, helping the blond to his feet in the process.

"Yeah yeah..."

Cloud gave the two a happy, albeit curious, look. It wasn't every day one saw their dead friends, after all. In fact, Cloud was sure if he wasn't in so much shock he'd probably be crying or something equally as gross. Again, as it were, he was still coming to terms with what had previously transpired. Aerith, being the beautiful, wonderful woman that she was, clapped her hands together lightly and stood as well, striding over to them so they could stand together.

"Now Cloud, you know what happens from here, don't you?"

"I get sent back to the world of the living, yeah. Something about me not belonging?" His companions both made a face that said they were so sorry it wasn't up to them please forgive forgive forgive—and there was guilt and sadness all around. For a moment, it was perfectly silent, perfectly still.

"That would be the case...but you're body was destroyed. Geez Spike, what the heck did you get into this time...?" the words were spoken lightly, but the question held, and Cloud could only shrug. In all honesty, he had no idea what had happened.

"So if my body is gone..."

"The planet wants to send your spirit back in time."

"What."

It was Zack who spoke next, "Sorry Cloud... we tried to help out, but the best we could do was convince to send along a guide as well. Looks like Gaia's not ready to give up her ultimate protector yet."

Frowning, Cloud couldn't think. His mind felt sluggish and halting, and really, what could he do? Throw a fit? Demand entrance into the lifestream? No, he couldn't very well do either. He would need to adapt as much as he possibly could in this situation. "A guide?"

Aerith smiled politely, nodding in confirmation to what he had heard. "Zack will be going with you."

"Oh..."

"Aw, c'mon man! Don't sound so disappointed! I'm awesome!" The look on Zack's face warranted a push from Aerith and a small smile from Cloud.

"It's not that I'm disappointed... but won't there be two of you? That's a bit much for anyone to handle."

"Nah, you'll see! Aerith, looks like time's almost up!"

To Cloud, Aerith looked sad but also wise and stunning and so ready to say goodbye. It almost hurt Cloud to see her like that, but he understood. Zack understood too.

And now, it was time.

With a kiss on both their cheeks and hugs all around, Zack and Cloud prepared themselves as best they could; though that wasn't much. They had no idea what to expect or where they'd end up. Well actually, maybe Zack knew, but Cloud didn't, so he was completely unprepared for the pain.

It felt like the lifestream was tearing him apart every which way and he couldn't make a sound because he was nothing; he was everything. He felt the void as it filled him up and tore at his mind and screamed directly into his ears. He felt himself materialise cell by cell, molecule by molecule. It was like those hellish four years all over again, being soaked in mako, having needles driven into every vein he had, hell, his mind felt like it had when Zack had abandoned him on the cliff side so long ago.

And then he was once again nothing. There was no pain; just the empty feeling of misplacement and confusion. Memories, not his own but probably his all at the same time—they tangled together, memories of the future and of his past, he suddenly knew every detail of any forgotten past that he'd lost and suddenly he was Cloud Strife: wimpy SOLDIER trainee with hidden strengths and a love for books he had long forgotten about. Cloud Strife: the savior of the planet and thrice destroyer of the strongest man known to mankind.

But he was also nothing, and the darkness claimed him like it had before.