Disclaimer: I don't own any of them. Not making any money from this. Love the thought of Sephiroth and Cloud, they'd be so good for each other. Please leave me a review if you like the story.

Author's Note: Hmm. Those of you who have read my FMA fanfic Full Circle know that my plot bunnies have a way of running away with me. This story is proving no different. For one thing, Vincent's playing a larger role in this than I initially anticipated, but as we'll have plenty of time to explore Cloud's inner angst in future chapters for reasons that shall be revealed in said future chapters, I thought it might be interesting to get some insight from my favourite tall, dark and mysterious character (Cloud's not tall and Sephiroth's not dark…in the physical sense of the word, of course. But I still love my guys.) Plus I have a weakness for Sardonic!Paternal!Vincent…. I may also tweak canon a little here and there for the purposes of the story. Please do let me know what you think!

Chapter 2: Turn Back Time

I will always have a cross to wear
But the bolt reminds me I was there
So give me the strength,
To face this test tonight

If only I could turn back time
If only I had said what I still hide
If only I could turn back time
I would stay for the night. For the night...

- "Turn Back Time", Aqua

"Sephiroth?"

"Sephiroth."

"Sephiroth."

"Sephiroth."

"…Sephiroth." A pause. "Sephiroth?"

"Sephi…this is ridiculous." Vincent glared across the counter at the other side of the embarrassingly monotonous argument and folded his arms mutinously. "I am not having a conversation consisting of one word. You are cheeping like a Sephiroth-obsessed chocobo."

Tifa sniffed at the ex-TURK hunched over at the corner of the bar. "You started it. Coming up with such a ludicrous idea." She turned away and began polishing glasses viciously, eyeing the hapless pieces of barware as though they were rows of miniature Jenova heads glimmering at her offensively. "I mean, really! Did you get hit on the head during the fight with Bahamut Sin or something? Cloud would have a fit if he knew you were suggesting that he felt anything but hatred for that evil man…"

"There's a thin line between love and hate," the pale-faced man pointed out neutrally. Now that they were back to full sentences, he was feeling much better. Actually, a little part of him was even enjoying it.

Not that he would ever admit to such a thing, of course. It would ruin his reputation for morose morbidity.

Tifa's dark eyes snapped with annoyance. "Are you suggesting Cloud loves – loved - him? Not that it matters now that the asshole is dead. Again."

Finally, some evidence of a functioning brain cell. "I was merely making an observation, Tifa," Vincent shrugged. "But now that you mention it, it's not implausible."

"Vincent – have you truly lost your mind? This is the monster that burned down Nibelheim and killed Cloud's mother! There is no way Cloud could forgive him for that!"

"Forgiveness and love are two separate issues, Tifa,"

She pursed her lips in a gesture that he recognized as a precursor to an utterly irrational retort and he groaned inwardly, struggling to find that calm center that kept his own demons at bay. Perhaps he should just wash his hands of this argument. What good would it do anyone anyway? Cloud was a big boy – he could deal with Tifa himself. But even as the thought flitted across his mind, he knew that he could not turn away from the situation, if for no other reason than that Cloud would be utterly incapable of standing up to Tifa. He had to make her see how her actions, well-intentioned or not, were hurting the man she claimed to love. Had to change the mind of this stubborn woman – although, he reflected with some bitterness, his history on that front wasn't exactly…confidence inducing.

"Tifa. Hear me out."

The woman nodded reluctantly – it was hard for anyone to say no to Vincent. Not when he would turn that mesmerizing wine-red gaze on you while speaking in that mellifluous baritone, thus making you feel like the worst kind of scum if you didn't go along with him. A corner of her mouth quirked wryly – he must have kept that specialty in his back pocket as a TURK; it would have come in quite useful on ShinRa business.

The ex-TURK sighed in relief. It appeared he hadn't lost his touch over the thirty or so years he'd been in that bloody coffin. "Let us assume the hypothetical and say Cloud did have some kind of…affection…for Sephiroth." He held up a warning finger, catching Tifa in the act of opening her mouth, and she bit her lip sulkily. "Now, if he did, and then he was forced by circumstance to kill him, it would explain the guilt he's been carrying around all these years. Do you not remember the mess his mind was in when we first met him and Aer-"

"That was from Hojo and those ShinRa bastards messing around in his head," Tifa snapped, unable to hold herself back despite her resolution. "You should know."

Oh, low blow. "Do not presume to tell me what I should and should not know when it comes to Hojo!" growled Vincent, his ragged cape of crimson flaring about him as he stood abruptly, sending the stool he had been perched on skittering backwards into the nearest wall. His heightened senses were vaguely aware of Cid gaping at the two of them from the doorway, his cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth sodden and unlit, but he ignored his friend, the focus of his unnerving attention the sloe-eyed girl who was looking increasingly alarmed.

"Vincent, I just meant that you were also a victim of Hojo and should understand what he does to people-"

"Does it not ever get tiring, this having to tell other people what they should do and think, my dear?" he asked coolly, steel wrapped in silk. "We've already established that I failed miserably on that front, since if I were the expert on his evil mind, I would never have let Lucretia return to him, I wouldn't be the walking deathless Sin that I am, and I would have my son!"

Chaos roared within. He gritted his teeth and willed it to stay silent.

"Your son – Vincent, what are you talking about?" asked Tifa apprehensively as she eyed Vincent's twitching Claw.

Vincent shut his eyes briefly. "Sephiroth is very likely my son. My blood. My kin. Not Hojo's."

"Well fuck me…." Cid was shaking his head in disbelief.

"Not now, Cid, I have a headache," Vincent said curtly. "Ask me again later."

Cid nearly swallowed his cigarette.

"Eww…" Yuffie poked her head in, looking green. "Did not need to hear that! Old people making out, gross." The perky ninja eyed the stunned faces before her and the hostile stance of the ex-TURK, and her eyes narrowed. "All right, what's going on?"

No one spoke up. Vincent wrapped his mantle around himself a little more securely and brooded. Tifa turned away and leaned heavily on the sink not looking anyone in the eye. Cid sighed and scratched his head. He removed the useless cigarette from his lips, and began to use it as a pointer, and Yuffie looked surprised – things had to be pretty bad if Cid was attempting to be the voice of reason.

"Far as I can tell, this is about the fact that Teef won't stop mooning over the kid. Vincent thinks she's driving him away with the fussing – and sister, I gotta say that I agree with the guy. Teef then made some crack about Hojo and Vinnie…"

"…Vin-cent…" came the irritable correction.

"…Vincent – take that stick out of yer ass, why don't ya – which set him off on some kinda guilt trip about not saving Lucretia and his…holy shit!"

"What?" yelped Yuffie. "Spill! Spill!"

Cid's brain was only just catching up to Vincent's inadvertent revelation, and from the stunned look on Tifa's face as she turned back around to face them, so was hers. "Vincent…you…he…son? Oh gawd, my head."

"He? Who's, 'he?'" Yuffie begged in agony. This gossip was too juicy to be kept a secret! "Hojo's Vincent's son?"

"Gah!"

"Ick!"

"No!" came the vehement denunciation from three throats simultaneously, Vincent looking particularly sickened by the thought.

Yuffie frowned and took another stab at it. "Vincent's Hoj-"

"Sephiroth's my son. I think," Vincent hurriedly interrupted, deciding that in this case, indiscretion was the better part of valor. He did not want to hear Yuffie finish that sentence, and he suddenly felt a great sympathy for the ex-ShinRa General who had been forced to believe that his entire life. Contemplating the fact that you might share genes with Hojo was enough to send anyone over the edge.

"What!" That was Yuffie.

"What?" And that was Barrett, who had wandered in at an inopportune time. "What you sayin', fool? There is no way you be related to that asshole! It's a good thing he's dead. Again."

"Denial will not change the fact that I very likely am," Vincent said wryly. Oh what the hell. "And by the way, I don't think Sephiroth's quite dead yet. And I think Cloud might be in love with my son. Don't ask me how I feel about that right away; I'm still brooding on it."

There was a moment of silence.

And then chaos with a "c" broke out, much to Chaos's amusement.

Marlene sighed as she changed the warm washcloth on Cloud's forehead for a fresh cool one. The adults were arguing again, and not ten minutes after they'd left the children to watch over Cloud with strict instructions not to make a sound that might disturb the healing ex-mercenary too! She looked up to meet Denzel's eyes across the coverlet from hers, and he rolled his eyes before going back to watching Cloud's curiously still, pale face. Adults could be stupid like that. She just hoped they didn't wake Cloud up.
"Are you all done now? Anyone else have an opinion they'd like to share?" Vincent asked wryly. The other ex-AVALANCHE members glanced up sullenly from their seats scattered about the bar. He had been forced to knock quite a few heads together to get them to quiet down, and they were all just now remembering why Vincent Valentine had been legendary during his time with the TURKS. Even Barrett was nursing a swollen lip, courtesy of a casual backhand from the deceptively slender man. Damn, but he was fast, the big black man thought with grudging admiration. It was always the quiet ones you had to watch out for.

As usual, Tifa was the first to jump in. "You didn't need to resort to violence-"

He glared at her, a look that clearly said that was rhetorical and she shut up, aided by a timely nudge by Cid, who had wisely stayed out of the brawl, opting to watch it from the safety of a corner with the same expression of horrified fascination he reserved for traffic accidents and weeping women. "Thank you."

"Yeah, well…fuck, Vincent, you can't go droppin' bombshells on people like that and not expect some kind of response," the grizzled pilot sighed. "Truthfully, I'd like some answers too. Let's start with the most obvious one."

"And that would be?"

"Why the hell would'ja think that bastard Sephiroth was yer kid?"

A casual shrug. "You can't say you haven't noticed the family resemblance. He has Lucretia's eyes, true, but apart from that…" he trailed off, looking at the disbelieving faces, then deliberately straightened, squared his shoulders and allowed a slow, cruel smirk to spread over his face, full lips curving almost sensuously. Vincent's face was a fraction narrower, true, but those cheekbones...that aristocratic nose, the curve of the brow...

Yuffie gulped. "Uh, guys? He's right." The normally irrepressible teenager was visibly stunned by the revelation, taking a half-step back. Vincent relaxed and gave her a wry half-smile – he'd always had a soft spot for the perky child - which she returned tentatively, but there was still a hint of fear in her dark almond eyes.

"I'd always suspected it, but when he possessed Kadaj this time, at the moment of his return, I felt…a connection to him. I think it had always been there, but I'd been too…raw…in too much pain…to notice before," and his red eyes darkened with memories best forgotten. "Maybe it's a parent's connection to a child, or maybe it had something to do with my Mako treatments as a TURK, I don't know. But I think that was why Hojo had me locked away once he realized that I was the father of Lucretia's child – he didn't want me in any way near Sephiroth because he knew he would need to keep the child isolated and alone in order to mould him without interference, make him as susceptible as possible to Jenova's influence. And if I had known the truth of his parentage…and even if not…"

"…nothin' on the Planet would have kept ya away from ya kid, huh?" Surprised faces swiveled around to stare at the surprising source of this insight. Barrett looked around ponderously. "What? I can understand that – it's the same way with Marlene! Even if his kid is a crazy-"

Vincent winced. "Thank you, Barrett, for the…support."

"Whatever, fool. He's still crazy."

"Really," said the ex-TURK wryly. "What gave it away?" Ah, dark humor. The only thing that kept him going some days, when the guilt got too bad. Admittedly, it was a little hard to successfully commit suicide when one's healing abilities were tweaked to the maximum, but on the other hand, that meant you got to try out many, many different techniques. And without the pressure of aging, it wasn't as if time were an issue. Still, the humor route hurt a little less.

Tifa made an incoherent noise of frustration. "Okay, fine, we've established that Vincent believes Sephiroth is his son. What does this have to do with anything?"

"Teef, could ya be any less sympathetic?" Cid blustered. "So ya hate the guy – we all do – but Vincent's our friend. It sucks to lose family. You should know," he pointed out, throwing her words back in her face.

Yuffie spoke up hesitantly, her eyes darting back and forth between Vincent's dark visage and Tifa's annoyed one. "Um…yeah, it does. But I gotta agree with Tifa. I mean…I'm sorry for all Vincent's been through in his life, but I don't see how it matters. Sephiroth's dead now, right? We can't change anything that's happened."

Tifa nodded, grateful for an ally. "And that means that Cloud being in love with him is a moot point anyway. If he were. Which he isn't."

"And you'd be the expert there," Vincent said contemptuously, hackles rising again. "Because he talks to you all the time." The glare that earned him told him that the shot in the dark had told.

"Some of us are trying to get on with our lives, Vincent," snapped the feisty brunette. "Just because you can't escape your lousy past, don't make the mistake of assuming that everyone else is the same way. Cloud is strong, and he knows we need him to be here, and he'd never-"

Chaos raged. Vincent clenched his jaw and concentrated on not letting leathery wings unfurl, on not casually ripping out the throat of the irritating woman standing before him. There was a shriek of metal, and he looked down in vague surprise to see that he had ripped a section of the bar rail out with his human hand. Everyone was staring at him, and he looked up, struggling to keep a bland expression on his face. "Oops."

"You're paying for that," Tifa said darkly.

And somehow that just did it, and he felt something in him snap. He shoved his face to within an inch of Tifa's, his eyes flaring up and glowing bloody crimson as he hissed in low, ragged tones, "I've been paying ever since that day I let Lucretia walk away from me. Just tack that onto my tab." The confusion in her eyes was fuel to the fire that raged inside. "Every single one of Sephiroth's crimes is a cross I bear each day of my life, knowing that I could have done something to stop them, to erase them…to prevent them from ever happening!"

"Now you're jus' talkin' crazy talk, fool!" Barrett grimaced. "What he done ain't none of your business, even if he is your kid."

"So his numerous mortal sins of commission outweigh my single venial sin of omission? Forgive me if I disagree and fail to see the distinction," Vincent smiled mirthlessly. "In my case, at least, I think the reverse is true. Had I been more forceful…had I been able to make Lucretia see reason…none of this would have happened. Aeris would not have died. Nibelheim would never have burned." He glanced over at Yuffie. "Your parents might even still be alive," and the teenager closed her eyes as if to block out the memories.

"And Sephiroth…he would have known me. Would have known the love of a parent. Lucretia might not have wanted him except as one of Hojo's pet projects…but I would have. I still do," and the bleakness in his voice made everyone look away, unable to bear the weight of his burning gaze. "Don't you understand? My sin of omission didn't just cost me thirty years of life, it cost me the woman I loved, it cost me my son, and the planet and numerous innocents paid the price for my inaction."

"Might he still have joined ShinRa? Yes – I was a TURK, after all. And he might have chosen to give in to Jenova still. But I could have made the choice that much harder. I could have made him understand that he wasn't as alone as he must have felt to choose her over everything else. I could have been there for him, and I know he would have chosen differently if I had. I know it."

"You don't know that," Tifa's voice was tight and hard, but there were tears in her eyes. "You don't, Vincent. Don't do this to yourself."

"Oh, but I do," he said sadly, his voice so low that it hurt to hear it. "He's a Valentine, after all. A stubborn, proud Valentine who refuses to become a mere memory."

Cid slumped down the wall until he reached a seated position. "Sweet holy fucking Shiva. Teef, ya got anything strong behind that bar of yours?"

She looked at him wearily. "For this situation, I'm breaking out the good stuff."

The adults had stopped throwing things around. That was a good sign, wasn't it? Denzel sighed, and turned his attention back to the man lying on his bed. Cloud's breath was slowly deepening, indicating that his chest wounds had probably closed up completely, and that his body was shifting into the rhythms of normal rest instead of the dark depths of Mako-induced healing. Perhaps he should go down and tell the grown-ups? He started to stand stiffly from his cramped position by the bed, and Marlene shook her head.

"They'll come get us when they're done, Denzel. Or at least, Tifa will. You know how she is about making sure we eat dinner on time. I think they have iss-yues to work out."

He thought about that and sat back down again. She was right about the dinner part. "What are iss-yues?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I once heard Cait Sith say that about Vincent. I'll ask papa later."

He nodded. "Maybe Cloud will have woken up by then, too."

The whiskey burned like fire going down, and the speed with which it was disappearing was disconcerting. But then Vincent had Mako-enhanced tolerance, Cid was a regular drinker, Barrett had the mass, and Tifa was a bartender, so it was no surprise that the only person feeling a little woozy as a result of the alcohol was Yuffie. And she needed it too. What with Cloud…and Sephiroth…and Vincent…and…and….

"Yuffie, you should go upstairs and lie down for a bit," Tifa said, genuinely concerned as the little ninja swayed vigorously on her stool.

"Nope. Nooooo…I'm fine. Really! See? I can touch my nose," she said, narrowly missing her eye. "Oops."

Vincent sighed and steadied the girl. "No more drinks for you."

"Meanie," she pouted. "You would have been the biggest meanie as a parent."

"Possibly," Vincent replied dryly. "Although I can't exactly see Sephiroth being a rebellious sort of teenager. Brooding and angst-ridden, perhaps, given his lineage."

"Uh-huh," Yuffie wasn't listening. "Saaaaaaaaay…what was that other thing you said?"

"That Sephiroth wouldn't have been a rebellious…"

"No, no, earlier! The other thing," she said irritably, gesticulating wildly at the blank faces of her friends. "Earlier. Other."

The ex-TURK looked as bewildered as his poker face would allow. "That he's a Valentine?"

"Yesssh!" crowed Yuffie. And then her face fell. "Noooo…Valentine…hearts…."

Cid shook his head tiredly and lit up a fresh cigarette. "Mebbe one of us should take her upstairs, let her sleep it off. She can keep Cloud company."

"Cloud! You said Cloud loves Sephiroth! Whaddya think about that?" And Yuffie promptly fell off her stool as Vincent let go of her.

"I told you not to ask me about it yet; I'm still new at being a father. Even if my son is…not exactly alive in the physical sense."

Tifa snorted. "That's what started this whole argument in the first place. You and that ridiculous idea."

Barrett knocked back his drink. "I gotta agree wi' Teef. Cloud? That kid ain't never even gotten laid if you ask me."

"No one did ask you," growled Cid protectively. He liked the kid, even if he did spend way too much time wandering about like some lovesick woman in a decline…shit. Holy fucking Bahamut Sinning shit. "Oh fuck me now, I think Vinnie's right."

"It's Vin-cent, and I told you already: later."

Tifa groaned. "Not you too, Cid…."

"No, Teef, listen to me! When I was still a ShinRa man, before I realized what they were…when I was still one of their best pilots…we'd sometimes transport the SOLDIERs, y'know? And they'd talk, the way guys do. Anyway, there was this rumor, right before I left, something about a real runt of a new cadet who was aimin' to become a SOLDIER. Said he had the weirdest blonde hair – sound like someone we know? Anyway, some of the guys, they were saying as how this cadet was obsessed with the General of SOLDIER, kept hanging about trying to get a glimpse of him, and that they thought that maybe that was why he wanted to be in SOLDIER so badly. To be closer to Sephiroth." Cid shook his head in disbelief. "Man, I was feeling so sorry for that kid – I'd watched Sephiroth come up through the ranks, and he was all business, all ShinRa, younger than all the rest and yet never had time for anything else but his duties. No one ever got close to him but his inner circle – the company commanders - and even then, he was the General and they were his officers."

The grizzled pilot's eyes were wide and unseeing as he looked back into memories he hadn't brought up in years. "Truth is though…and I can't believe I'm sayin' this…the men loved him anyway, if only from a distance. I didn't get it until I flew him once. He came to the bridge once his men were billeted, y'know? He didn't have to, but he insisted, courtesy to the Captain and all that. Shit, he was high-rankin' enough that if he'd wanted to, he could have booted me from my stateroom and kept it to himself for the trip. But he wouldn't take it even when I tried to give it to him – said he appreciated it but that he'd sleep in the same sort of quarters as his men, because that way they'd know he was dealin' with the same things they were – so no excuses once they hit dirt. And no one ever gave him any, because no one wanted to disappoint him, that's the kind of leader he was. Last in the chow line, first on the field." He blinked, his blue eyes refocusing on his friend, and he gave Vincent a lopsided smile. "Actually, you would have been proud of him, Vinnie," and the ex-TURK didn't bother to correct his name for once as he struggled with an unaccustomed surge of emotion.

"I can't believe I'm hearin' this crap about the asshole who almost destroyed the Planet," boomed Barrett in disgust. "So you're really thinkin' that Cloud loved that…that…Sephiroth…because he was a good General before that snake-haired bitch got to him?"

"Ah, hell, I don't know. I just know what I saw, a long time ago. And I'm just sayin' that there were rumors, you lunkhead. But y'know what they say about smoke and fire."

"Who knows why we love who we love?" Vincent murmured softly.

Tifa was leaning heavily against the bar now, shaking her head stubbornly. "No. He couldn't…love…no."

The ex-TURK shrugged. "Perhaps it may be less than love. Obsession? Hero-worship? But whatever the emotion, it was enough to make Cloud carry around the guilt of being the cause of Sephiroth's demise. In his mind, he bears the sins of both omission and commission: he failed to be there for Sephiroth when he was struggling against Jenova's influence, and then he killed the man he cared for, in whatever fashion. And each and every time he is forced to face him, his guilt weighs ever more heavily upon him. He sees the deaths of Aeris –and his friend Zack – as being extensions of his original sins, you see. Every time Sephiroth is able to return, he believes it is his fault because he was unable to stop him that day in Nibelheim."

"…shit…" Cid sighed for what seemed like the thousandth time that day.

Vincent wrapped his mantle around him tightly, needing its warmth suddenly. "Indeed. And any way you look at it, it begins and ends in the ShinRa mansion In Nibelheim all those years ago. But as Yuffie said, it is too late." His eyes gleamed with dark emotion as he added bitterly, "It is all past…and we cannot turn back time."