Title: There and Back Again

Pairing: Genesis/Cloud

Time Travel

A/N: Here I am with the second chapter! (more like chapter one haha, I forgot to mention the last chapter was the prologue! Ah well, whatever, it doesn't quite matter anyway!) Just so everyone knows, I've found one beta! Her name is Noctisis Rrhagia! And with that, I'd like to mention that I am looking for one more beta please! Message me or leave a review if you would like the job!

So yeah, I don't own yada yada, enjoy!


"We are lies like the summertime

Like the spring we are such fools

Like fall we are false prophets

And like winter we are cruel"

-The Bravery "Bad Sun"


It was painful. Aerith hadn't said it would be painful.

Curling up tightly in a lumpy, slightly uncomfortable bed, Cloud kept his eyes shut tightly as he gripped at his head, holding his hands over his ears tightly as if it would help with the pain. He desperately tried to keep himself from making any noise, aware that it was very, very early in the morning, and everyone else in the barracks would be sleeping. Alas, he couldn't help it as a scream tore through his throat, startling several people awake.

This body didn't have as high of a pain tolerance as his previous had, and it seemed as if the mako had followed him. He could feel the burning pain of the liquid through his veins. Aerith hadn't said it would hurt so much; why hadn't she said anything?

Cloud barely registered someone picking him up after what seemed like hours had passed. The body was warm, strong, and reminded him of Zack, though he knew it couldn't be. It was probably some instructor that had been called to bring him to the infirmary. Cloud hated doctors for obvious reasons, but he didn't see any other option in this situation. He could barely move as the pain coursed through his body.

It was almost a blessing when he felt the edges of his conscience started to blur and darken.


Waking up the second time, there was no pain, only an aching Cloud could feel in his bones and heart were left from when he had arrived in the past. Not willing to open his eyes in case it was all a dream, Cloud took in the sounds and smells of where he was. There was no doubt in his mind that he was in the infirmary. The smell of medicine and sterilized objects was everywhere, lingering in his senses and making him remember a time where things had been dark and hopeless and filled with pain.

Cracking his left eye open just a bit, Cloud was assaulted by the bright whiteness of the ceiling and florescent lights. Quickly closing it, he heard a shuffling at his bedside and he reluctantly opened his eyes again. Squinting in the light, Cloud turned his head slightly so see who was there. He would've been surprised if it were anyone else than who was sitting there, considering the ruckus he had created not too long ago.

The person who was sitting next to him was Sephiroth, the General of SOLDIER and his lifelong enemy. How was Cloud even supposed to treat him now? He wasn't insane yet. He was still the man Cloud had idolized when he was younger, and that thought brought just a tiny bit of comfort to his mind. Despite this, he still couldn't stop himself from tensing up just slightly.

Sephiroth seemed to notice he was awake as he lowered the papers he was looking at. Looking at Cloud with his piercing green, cat-like eyes, Cloud grew nervous. He didn't know what to expect from this Sephiroth. He half expected the regular questions of 'What he cherished most'. He was completely surprised when Sephiroth only opened his mouth to ask a very different question than from what he was expecting. "Cadet Strife, how are you feeling?"

He… would have expected the silver General to get straight to the point, not asking how he was feeling. Thinking carefully over what he should say, he ended up weakly saluting, "Sir, I feel fine… just a little sore." He dropped his hand, waiting for whatever would come next in this strange interrogation, if it could even be called that. One question hardly qualified as an interrogation.

Before Sephiroth could ask his next question, the door to the room burst open, and Zack bounced in. Now, Cloud wasn't entirely sure when he'd ended up, but he was pretty sure it was before Genesis deserted, if the following two SOLDIERS who entered were anything to go by. Pretty soon, Zack, Angeal, and Genesis himself were all standing there, looking as if Cloud had done something terrible, or maybe they were angry at Zack, who really only looked happy and curious.

Soon after he'd had that thought, Cloud found himself with a face full of Zack. The Black haired Second looked like he would explode from all the questions he had. "What's your name? I'm Zack! Hey Sephiroth, what happened? Is he okay?"

Cloud could already feel the smile blooming on his face from Zack's attitude. He was so much happier than what Cloud remembered, though he'd really only associated with Zack after Angeal's death. By that time, Zack had calmed down Quite a bit. "Uhm, sir? I'm Cadet Cloud Strife." He felt his insides warm as he introduced himself to Zack. He really hoped they would become friends again. It would certainly keep him from losing his sanity.

"The Cadet is fine, Zackary. Apparently he has some mako in his system though…" Cloud avoided the suspicious eyes of Sephiroth and instead looked around the room. It was quite obviously day time, what with the sun peeking through the curtains, but other than that, there wasn't even a plant in the room. It wasn't a very comforting place.

Each of the SOLDIERs pulled up a chair and sat around Cloud. It made Cloud very, extremely uncomfortable, what with all the eyes on him. He could feel the demanded explanation from everyone but Zack. Heck, even Genesis, who usually had his nose in his book, was looking at him inquisitively. Cloud felt himself turn shy at the attention. He always had been a shy man.

"Uh, I don't know what happened, sirs. I just kind of woke up and it was really painful." Cloud directed his eyes to where his hands were resting in his lap. At least it was a half-truth. He was surprised when he felt the familiar, heavy hand of Zack ruffle his hair.

"Hey now, that's fine. It just gives us something to investigate!" Zack drew his hand back and looked between the General and his Commanders. "We should help Cloudy-cakes here figure out what happened! It'll be no problem, right Angeal?"

The taller man, who was Angeal, sighed. "I suppose. Say, Strife, what are you planning to do in the future? What are your dreams?" Angeal had his arms crossed, and Cloud was surprised at the question. Could he do more than be a cadet and get into SOLDIER? Running through the thoughts he'd had before traveling to the past, Cloud smiled just slightly at Zack's mentor.

"I… kind of want to be a weapon designer, or maybe a mechanic." Getting a dreamy look in his eyes, though he didn't know it, Cloud thought about Fenrir's engine and how something so efficient hadn't been invented yet. He would have a lot of fun with reinventing Fenrir and First Tsurugi, no matter how much of a pain it would be. "My dream though… my dream is to save everyone." He didn't mention that most of 'everyone' was sitting in that room with him.

Hearing a scoff, Cloud glared just slightly at Genesis. If Cloud knew he wouldn't be punished, he would have perhaps said some things, but knowing how temperamental the red Commander was, he'd have to save it for when he better knew the man. "What the hell are you doing in the cadet program then?"

The question honestly didn't surprise Cloud. Sheepishly, he raised a hand to play with a piece of his hair. It was a habit he had never been able to quite. He remembered that his mother had called it cute, much to his embarrassment at the time. "I, uh, don't know? My mother wanted me to be in SOLDIER. I wanted to make her happy, sir." The 'sir' had just been tacked on the end there, since Cloud wasn't used to calling anyone that anymore. He'd have to fix his behaviour soon. He didn't want to stand out more than he already had…

Genesis made a face and just made a 'hmm' noise to show that he had acknowledged what the boy had said. Sephiroth, who had been listening and observing the entire time, tilted his head just slightly while looking at the shy teen in front of them.

"If you want, Cadet, I can have you switched over to the mechanic division? Your records show that you aren't doing very well as a cadet. It would be beneficial to the ShinRa Company if you took up mechanics instead of continuing on as a cadet. Unfortunately, we don't have weapon designer training."

Cloud was shocked that Sephiroth was offering him that. Sure, his barely there memory of when he was younger had shown him that he was abysmal in the SOLDIER Cadet program. He'd been bullied and pushed around by just about everyone, and here Sephiroth was, just offering him something different? The General really had been different before his transformation into the monster Cloud mostly knew him to be.

Zack looked kind of excited for some reason, as if he'd never seen Sephiroth so civilized to someone. Genesis was looking mildly interested in the offer, and Angeal was looking at Sephiroth with approval. It almost seemed like they had been responsible for Sephiroth's social training.

"But, sir, uh, I wouldn't need special training for mechanics or designing weapons..." Cloud trailed off, unsure of whether or not it would be safe to say anything more than that. "In fact, I've kind of already designed my own sword? I would have used it when I became SOLDIER and had adequate funds to build it. I could draw it out for you right now if you wanted, sir." For some unexplained reason, Cloud felt compelled to show them his skill. He wanted them to admire him in some way. He didn't want to be looked down upon like some weakling who didn't know a screw from a staple, or a blade from a hunk of weak metal.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, that got everyone's attention and they all looked mildly interested as Sephiroth nodded and handed Cloud the papers and clipboard in his hand. The backs of all the pages were blank, so it would provide acceptable sketching room. He was very much looking forward to seeing what the sword would be like, and it seemed even Angeal was leaning forward in anticipation. Zack was nearly falling off his chair, he looked so excited.

Feeling uncomfortable with all the eyes on him and the paper in his hand, Cloud flipped the paper over to get to the blank side and thought back to his initial plans for First Tsurugi. Titling the page with the name of his sword, he drew the complete version of it, explaining as he went, drawing neat lines. "This is what it looks like. I based the complete version off Commander Hewley's buster sword, since it was a design big enough to hold all the features I wanted. From there, it breaks up." Cloud drew the base blade on the paper beside the completed version, already, Angeal was looking pleased and impressed that something had been inspired by his sword.

Meanwhile, Sephiroth was filing all the things Cloud was saying and drawing in his mind. It was fascinating, since he'd never seen something be designed right in front of him. It seemed like Genesis was the same, and it looked to be that Zack was trying to hold in his manly squeals of how awesome Cloud was.

"This is the base blade. It had two forms, which are the battle mode and the rest mode. In the battle mode, it just opens up a bit wider in the middle, allowing me to easily put the other pieces of it together as I fight. It can be done in rest mode too, but it takes longer. From that, there's another blade," drawing out the blade that had grip attached to the blade and not the end; he turned his smile to the others in the room. "This one doesn't have a special feature except for its design. It's one of my favourites."

Setting the first page aside, he let the others look at it. He could see from the looks on everyone faces that they were surprised and even slighted awed. Even Sephiroth looked slightly taken aback.

"I'm not done yet sirs." Calling their attention back to him, he continued, already having sketched out the next four, and final, blades. "These are the last four blades that complete First Tsurugi. As you can see, it's quite complicated. Especially these two," pointing at the shorter one, he gestured to the handle. "This one's handle flips up and down so it fits properly. I would need to have a locking system on it. There are also places for six different materia along the blade, creating easy access if you aren't using a bangle. The whole this is called First Tsurugi. It's probably the most complicated thing I've ever designed."

Finishing his explanation, Cloud hadn't expected to be tackled by an excited Zack, who was now rambling about a better sword, something awesome like Cloud's except less complicated. Cloud, not thinking as it were, pushed Zack away, laughing slightly. "I would make you a sword if I could, Zack, but I don't have the money." He didn't even register that he had called Zack by his first name, and that was something that didn't go unnoticed by everyone else.

"I would pay you! Man, this is so awesome!" It seemed Angeal was in agreement, for he nodded and reached to ruffle Cloud's hair. Cloud suddenly felt included in something he hadn't been in before, and that was a friendship between all these people who had died. Smiling proudly, and happily, he was completely startled when a sheathed red rapier was dropped in his lap. The handle itself was something to admire.

"I want you to better my sword. I'm a strong materia user; I need something that can channel magic." Cloud's eyes widened and he nodded, carefully unsheathing the sharp red blade. He barely remembered this sword, and seeing it now, so closely, was awe inspiring.

"I can do that. How do you feel about runes and a flaming sword?"

Genesis let a cruel, yet strangely smooth smile cross his lips. "That would be… perfect." He used his fire Materia the most, after all. It sounded perfect, and suddenly this cadet was seen in a whole new light.

It was the beginning of a very beautiful friendship between the five of them, and Cloud found himself in the Sword Design Division not a day later.