Hi!

Once again, the procrastination bug strikes.  I'm sorry about the wait on this one, guys, but I think this is a great part.  I'm really proud of it.  Thanks for reading, and more notes on the bottom.

*

"Come on.  It's okay.  Don't cry; I'm here."

Cloud huddled miserably under the thin sheets on his bed, clutching the pillow to his chest.  At the voice, though, he turned over.  "Sephiroth…?"

Bright green eyes looked back at him, set in a pale face, wreathed by silver hair.  It was obviously Sephiroth, but the smile on his face was so different from any expression he'd ever seen on him before.  One strong hand, gloveless, stole up to touch his cheek.

"Hey.  You going to be okay?"

Cloud scowled.  "Why would you care?"  He started to turn away, but Sephiroth held him still.  A frown now furrowed his brow, and he stared right into Cloud's eyes, searching them for something.

"Oh…" he hissed, anger, concern, and understanding touching his features.  "You don't remember, do you?  By Holy, when I get my hands on Hojo, he is going to regret what he's done to you!"

Cloud shrugged, averting his eyes.  He was terribly confused, and very uncomfortable with their proximity.  "Hojo's dead.  I killed him myself."

Sephiroth shrugged in return.  "That just makes it a little harder to get to him.  It won't stop me."  Then Sephiroth smiled again, and ruffled his hair.  "Don't worry about it—you just worry about yourself, for now.  I hope—" he sighed.  "I really hope your memory comes back soon, Cloud."

Cloud woke slowly.  He'd had another of those weird dreams again, the ones about Sephiroth.  This one had been much clearer than the previous one; it felt almost real.  Oddly, he hadn't felt particularly threatened in the dream.  Sephiroth hadn't scared him, had made no threatening moves, had done nothing but speak softly to him and hold him gently.  Cloud wondered about the embrace he had been in what had to be most of the night.  Why would Sephiroth hold him so?  Why would it seem familiar?  Why would he allow it?

And why the hell had he again left a space beside him in his sleep for someone else to lay?  Cloud had two sleep modes—sprawled untidily all over everywhere, or sitting up and taking only a little space.  This pick-a-side-of-the-bed-and-stick-to-it behavior was highly unusual.  He was confused and wanted answers.

Unfortunately, like the previous time, Cloud found he had none, and had to shake himself out of thinking about it.  As he sat up and stretched, Cloud had to admit he had slept extremely well, abnormalities in positioning and all.  Rising out of bed, Cloud padded down the hall to Zack's room to borrow more clothes.  Today it was a set of black jeans and a plain white t-shirt.  He also borrowed Zack's jean jacket.  It was a comfortable ensemble, but tough and workable.  If he was going to do any helping with the reconstruction today, he'd need the sturdy clothes.  He went with his uniform gloves and boots—they were comfortable and sturdy, too.

Stepping out into the morning light, Cloud set off down the street in search of someplace he could grab some food.  He had been so preoccupied last night he hadn't even eaten dinner.  Now, his quick metabolism, further boosted by his Mako enhancements, meant he was paying for it—his stomach felt like it was trying to eat its way out of him.

"Hey, Strife!"

Cloud turned at the voice to see Art, Reggie, and Ricky of the Thirteenth Street gang walking down the street behind him; they'd obviously turned onto it from a side-street.  Artemis's arm was raised in a wave, and it was obviously she who had called out, but Ricky and Reggie were ear-to-ear grins, too.  Cloud stilled his feet and waited until they caught up, smiling as well, and offering greetings.

"Sleep well, Strife?"  Ricky asked.  "You better have to be up this early!  It takes a good hour to walk here from the nearest places below."

Cloud shrugged.  "I slept well enough, but I'm living up here anyway."

"Oh, yeah?"  Reggie asked.  "Where at?"

"Home."  Cloud rolled his eyes at their continuing ignorance.  "You guys do know I was living with Zack and Sephiroth before, right?  Seems they left me everything, so I'm living out of the house.  And thank Holy for that!  I'm wearing Zack's clothes because they're all I have that will fit!  His closet is sparing the lot of you quite the show."

The three of them laughed, and Cloud with them.  He stopped suddenly when his stomach growled loudly enough to turn all three pairs of eyes toward his midsection.  He blushed.

"What?  I forgot to eat last night."

Artemis poked him in the ribs.  "You're waaaaay too skinny to be missing meals, Strife.  I mean, you were always slim and short, but now you're a toothpick.  It's not an eating disorder, is it?"

Cloud smiled bitterly.  "Yeah, it is.  It's called 'Hojo-induced starvation syndrome.'  Anyone who spends time in his lab as a specimen is at risk for HISS."  At their suddenly angry expressions, Cloud waved them down.  "Don't worry about it, guys.  I'm fine.  I've gained a lot since I escaped…what…six months ago?  You don't just shrug off five years of under- and malnourishment.  But I'm okay.  Actually, I  was hoping to find someplace with food, this morning."

Ricky smiled, accepting Cloud's explanation easiest.  "Well, you're with the right crew, Strife.  Since SOLDIERs have high metabolisms, we get slightly higher food allocations than most, right now.  Stick around, and we'll make sure you get some grub."

Reggie smirked.  "Yeah, but we can't say anything about the quality of the food you'll be getting.  I mean, the idiots actually recruited Art to do some cooking—ow!"

Artemis smiled happily, dusting off her hands.  "That's for being a prick.  And I can cook.  I even like to.  I just think the bastards were being sexist shitheads when they picked me to do it—no one knew I cooked, save Maria, and that's because she was my roommate for a while.  Holy, I love that woman.  Not many straight girls that have no problem rooming with an open lesbian."

Ricky shrugged.  "Cap Johnson was like that with everything, though.  Too bad she's out in Costa del Sol, right now.  Her grace under pressure would be great right now.  I think the stress is giving Cap Syracuse grey hairs—and he's not hot like Maria!"

Cloud listened to their happy banter all the way down the street.  It was amazing; the world had nearly ended, the biggest population center on the Planet had been nearly destroyed, and rebuilding was a full time commitment full of pain and weariness and struggle.  Yet, despite it all, people were on the upswing again, making the most of things and finding happiness in even the simplest things.  It made Cloud feel good, like all that had been lost or sacrificed had meaning.  It seemed Aeris's faith in humanity was borne out.  There was a time he would have doubted, but seeing this, and the shadows of memory he was regaining (particularly about the Wutai uprising and the five years spent in Hojo's care) made him believe maybe people were worth something after all.

Shaking himself from his contemplative mood, Cloud found himself in front of the SOLDIER mess hall.  It made sense to get grub here, but for some reason he hadn't been expecting it.  So much of Midgar had been savaged by Meteor, so why did it seem like the SOLDIER sector had hardly been touched?  Maybe the Mako…?  But the Reactors had experienced power surges due to Meteor's proximity.  Similar surges might have had some effect on the SOLDIER population, as well.  Were there more cases of Mako poisoning than usual…?

"Hey, Strife, you all right?"

Cloud jerked his gaze up to Art's worried expression.  "Oh…yeah.  I'm fine."

Cloud darted ahead and held the door for his companions.  They laughed, and Art cooed at his 'gentlemanly conduct,' but allowed him to do it.  Once inside, some of the SOLDIERs gave him suspicious looks, but his company spared him the worst.  He grabbed a bowl of oatmeal, loaded with fruit, extra sugar, honey, and milk, as well as an orange and a carton of juice.  The four of them sat at the table, shoveling their meals in.  Cloud was startled when Artemis dumped half of her extra bagel beside him.  He looked questioningly at her.  She smiled sheepishly.

"You need it more than I do.  Besides, we all know that I have a slow metabolism—for a SOLDIER, anyway.  If not for the Mako, I'd be seriously battling the bulge, you know?"

Cloud looked at her a moment longer to be sure she was serious, then tore into it with a grateful mumble.  Food was good.  He hadn't realized how nice it was to eat real food instead of the slop they'd eaten on the trip to save the Planet.  They'd settled for whatever the inns they stayed at served and the canned goods they'd been able to carry with them on the road.  Funnily, Cid had turned out to be the best cook of the lot, Tifa and Vincent close behind.  (Tifa was understandable, having worked in a bar, but Cid and Vincent's culinary skills were somewhat more mysterious.)  Yuffie and Barrett cooked passably, and Cait and Red were barely survivable, the absence of opposable thumbs (in Red's case) and taste-buds (in Cait's case) complicating cooking a lot.

Suddenly, all three others jumped up.  Cloud looked around to find Colonel Andrews headed their way.  Belatedly, he also rose; he'd been so intent on stuffing his face he hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings.  He mentally berated himself, making sure his lips remained sealed instead of running off on him again.

Andrews smiled at them and gestured for them to sit back down.  They did, and he pulled up a chair beside Cloud.

"Morning, Strife."

"Good morning, Sir."

Andrews smiled.  "You given any more thought to joining SOLDIER for real?"

Cloud sighed.  "Actually, Sir, I hadn't.  Well, not much.  I'd like to—it's been my dream for so long, and it's a place I could do a lot of good.  I know people here, and I'm comfortable in the job, but…  I've kind of gotten used to being without a chain of command, calling my own shots, and doing things my own way; I'm not sure how well I'd manage to reintegrate into military life.  I don't want to be a burden, and I don't want anyone making exceptions for me."

Andrews laughed.  "Do you have any idea how ridiculous that is, Strife?"  Cloud blinked, confused.  Andrews leaned close.  "Listen, Strife.  The minute Colonel Zack took an interest in you, you were an exception.  He saw great potential in you, and wanted to make sure that SOLDIER got all of that potential.  Then you became his friend, and The General's, too.  When you came to Xi-Fe-Xiu, we all got a heads-up.  It was all over how Zack's little prodigy was coming down, and that he'd shot-put the severed head of any fool who crossed you.  If he could pry The General off the offender before he diced him."

Andrews gave Cloud a moment to absorb that, then continued.  "If you join us, yeah, I expect you to follow orders.  The great thing about SOLDIER, though, is that you can act without orders.  The Regulars need orders to take a piss, but SOLDIER is supposed to be more flexible and independent than that.  There are those who require supervision, but generally we need talented individuals with their wits about them.  If you get a direct order, do as you're told; if you don't have orders, do what you think needs to be done.  You're accountable, certainly, but I think you're competent enough not to screw up."

The others were nodding in fervent agreement, and Cloud frowned, falling into deep thought.  He could still turn this down.  He could escape.  He could be his own master, nobody telling him what to do, under any circumstances…

"How long do you want me for, Sir?"

Andrews smiled hugely, hearing the acquiescence in Cloud's voice.  "As long as you'll let me have you, Strife.  We're desperate for help, and this is a time of crisis, so I won't impose a minimum service period.  Hell, your Mako didn't come out of SOLDIER's pocketbook, and neither did your training, really, so it'd actually be wrong to require you to stick around."

Cloud nodded solemnly.  "I'll try to stick it through until Midgar's at least back on its feet.  After that, I'll make no promises.  But…  Sir, I'd like to join SOLDIER."

Andrews ditched his smile, becoming perfectly serious.  "I accept your offer of service, Cloud Strife.  I'd like to be the first to officially welcome you to SOLDIER.  And…"  Andrews fished around in his pocket a moment, before pulling out a small black box.  "As of this moment, you are Lieutenant of SOLDIER Cloud Strife.  SOLDIER First-class has always been the officer corps of our little section of the military.  Once I promoted you out of the very rarely used 'SOLDIER First-class trainee' position, you were an officer.  I can't promote you any higher than this, though, even if you deserve at the very least a Captaincy.  Sorry."

Cloud shook his head, dismissing Andrews's apology, slowly reaching out to take the proffered box.  All too aware of his shaking hands, Cloud cracked the box, and ran a gloved fingertip reverently over the silver crescent moon inside.

"Lieutenant…!" he gasped softly as reality finally struck.  He jerked his gaze back to Andrews, who nodded firmly, as if knowing how much Cloud needed to be told this was real.  He was still half-convinced he would wake up in Hojo's clear tank any minute, but Andrews comforted him a lot.

Andrews stood.  "Sometime today, go see the outfitter to get a real uniform for formal events.  Zack's old uniforms or casual clothes like you have on are suitable for the current work.  Holy knows we haven't the time to stand on formality.  At 0900 tomorrow, report to the Sector One-Two Gate; you'll meet your command there."  Cloud nodded dumbly as Andrews started to leave.  "Oh, and Strife?  Congrats and welcome to the family."

*

Cloud caught himself chewing his lip and stopped immediately.  He didn't want to betray his anxiety, but he was extremely nervous.  He hoped his 'command' would be good for him—just last week he had been convinced he was just a normal guy thrown into a whole lot of shit.  Now he was a SOLDIER First-class with some people he was going to be in charge of, and had apparently been close friends with not just a Colonel in SOLDIER, but The General, too.  No tests, no previous command experience—unless you counted AVALANCHE, which hadn't really been his, anyway—and still horribly tired from tromping all over the Planet to take on a damn convincing clone of Sephiroth.

Cloud sent a swift prayer to the universe at large as he neared the Sector One-Two Gate.  /Please.  If there is anyone out there looking out for me, please let this go well./ 

As he came within sight of the Gate, Cloud got his first glimpse of his command.  They stood casually about, in well-worn, color-coded uniforms. Most were SOLDIER Second-class, with only a few Third-class here and there—a highly unusual distribution.  They also all carried black bags of about brief-case size…Cloud's heart leapt to his throat when he realized they were Mako diagnostic kits, some for use on mechanical devices, some for use on living things.  Every one of his 'men'—there were two women also in the unit, another unusually high proportion—wore rank insignia indicating some more specialized training.  SOLDIER had never been able to have the sheer number of specialties the Regulars could, but Cloud got the feeling this was most of Midgar's Mako-trained SOLDIER population.

Cloud approached the gaggle of SOLDIERs, watching as they all began to look up at him.  His un-coded uniform made him obvious to them.  He approached the one who wore the highest rank insignia—the four silver bars of a fourth level Warrant Officer, which SOLDIER had taken to calling Senior Warrant Officers.  The SWO just happened to be one of the women.  She saluted as he drew near, eyes flicking to his crescent-moon lieutenant's insignia as she did so.  Behind her, the other SOLDIERs saluted, too.  Cloud returned the salute, and everyone relaxed a bit.

The woman stuck her hand out.  "Hello, Sir.  I'm SWO Eikins, and it looks like I'm gonna be your senior non-com around here."

Cloud met her handclasp, distantly aware of her powerful grip, but as enhanced as he was, it barely meant anything to him.  He nodded in response to her statement, and responded.  "SWO.  Everyone."  He stepped back to look at the whole group.  "I'm Lieutenant Strife.  Lieutenant as of yesterday Strife.  Colonel Andrews didn't tell me a single thing about what our mission is, but given that everyone has a Mako kit of some description, I'm thinking we're either hitting the reactor, or the hospital.  Feel free to enlighten me if you know any better."

SWO Eikins nodded.  "You're half-right, Sir.  We are going to the clinic.  We've only got so many bio-Mako kits though, so some had to make due with tech-Mako kits.  We're supposed to go treat the Mako-poisoning cases in the clinic, especially those amongst SOLDIERs.  We need the manpower back, Sir, and with a sizable chunk of SOLDIER down with Green Syndrome…we just don't have it."

Cloud nearly shuddered.  Only half his team had what they needed to do what they had to do, and the rest were just squeaking by with whatever they could get.  Of course, he could congratulate himself on predicting the increased occurrence of Mako poisoning in SOLDIER, but somehow he just didn't feel vindicated.  Just depressed.  He straightened, though, forcing himself to project an air of confidence.

"All right then, people!  We'd best be on our way.  We have some lazy co-workers to kick out of bed."  The group chuckled and straggled in the direction of the clinic.  Cloud made eye-contact with SWO Eikins, who looked grimly back at him.  She knew how grim things were, too.

It was going to be a difficult day.

*

Cloud shook his head as he once again gave out a pair of very powerful, not Mako-based painkillers and put another cold compress on another feverish brow.  It was simply amazing how ill-prepared they were for this.  They had supplies only to treat those with the worst cases of Mako poisoning, those unconscious, comatose, or hovering near death.  But that left all the others who were suffering anything from moderate flu-like symptoms, to wrenching muscle spasms and hyper-sensitized nerves.

Mako poisoning was relatively common in the modern day.  Little kids who messed around with the major appliances in their homes could get it—in fact, most did, at some point.  However, it usually just resulted in a headache and mild fever for a few hours, and raised the patient's Mako tolerance.  That way, they'd never get sick from such a low dose of Mako again.  It was similar to chickenpox, and most parents didn't have any trouble with it any more; just one more childhood sickness to look out for.

Mako poisoning, as it was usually thought of, was just a more severe reaction to Mako energy, resulting from a higher dose or longer exposure.  The thing about Mako poisoning was that you never got better—your body never kicked out the thing that made you ill, never 'beat the bug.'  Either your body's ability to handle Mako rose to a level suited to the Mako in your system, or you spent the rest of your life sick…if you survived at all.  That was why SOLDIER testing was so rigorous; if your body couldn't handle the Mako, you were just a waste of resources.

Green Syndrome was the name given to Mako sickness in SOLDIERs.  It was so named because a SOLDIER who contracted Green Syndrome almost always was left with green eyes, regardless of the color they had been before, and always saw things tinted slightly green.  It was only an outward manifestation of all the Mako suspended in the patient's system, though.  Above the concentrations of Mako that made a SOLDIER a SOLDIER, the Mako energy in a SOLDIER's body ceased to be a light that simply shone through the original color of the SOLDIER's eyes—instead it became so concentrated that its own color shone through, overpowering all but the very darkest of eyes.

Cloud recalled reading in one of Hojo's journals that Sephiroth had been exposed to concentrations of Mako in the womb equal to those required to cause Green Syndrome.  As he had grown, his biomass had started to drown out the Mako, and his eyes had paled first to blue, then to grey.  To keep that highly concentrated environment, Hojo had regularly given him more Mako to keep up with his growth rate.  By the time he was an adult and stopped growing, his eyes had permanently appeared green.  However, his body was long used to such amounts of Mako, and he suffered no adverse effects.  As a child, it must have been torture.

At roughly double the body weight-to-Mako ratio that caused Green Syndrome, spontaneous, uncontrollable mutation began.  Well, systemic mutation did, anyway; cells mutated all the time, it was organismal mutation that Mako caused, unlike most other mutagens, which worked on a cellular level.  Further, after a certain point, all that Mako shorted cells out and they stopped life processes…without dying.  The Shinra Science Department had experimented for years with a form of cryogenics based on the so-called 'Mako overload' theory.  There were all kinds of problems with it functionally, though.  First, that the pressures at which that kind of Mako concentration occurred were practically those needed to make Materia…more than enough to pulp the hapless specimen.  Second, that they had to shut the cells down quickly, or they would absorb the Mako and die.  If you managed to shut the living cell down fast enough, it didn't absorb much Mako, a necessity, since you could never be rid of the Mako afterward.  Too slow, and once you brought the cell out of stasis (assuming it survived the pressure) it would have enough Mako in it to mutate crazily until it expired.

Yuck.

Of course, there were a few ways to bring down Mako count by a tiny bit.  That was what they were using on the truly ill SOLDIERs, right now.  It was kind of like osmosis—water moves from areas of high concentration to areas of low concentration.  So the bio-Mako kits had these discs that looked a lot like slate, that were put in a dialysis machine.  The patient's blood was pumped through the machine, where the Mako settled out on the disc, while the blood kept moving.  It was drastic—it was freakin' dialysis, after all!—but it was usually enough to keep a patient in serious danger from dying.

Aside from 'the little black disc method,' all that modern medicine could do was treat the symptoms of Green Syndrome and give supplements to help the body adjust to all the extra Mako playing merry havoc with a patient's system.  Well, they could keep all other sources of Mako away, too, which was pissing Cloud off, since no one could even tell him how all these people got poisoned, or why them and not their bunkmates on the other side of their quarters, or the rest of their details, or their 'in house' lovers.  Cloud didn't like the thought of some source of Mako poisoning out there, unremarked, undescribed, and unknown.

There wasn't a heck of a lot he could do about it, though, so with the ease of one long used to being helpless, Cloud simply accepted it.  For now.  His mind was already attempting to narrow down the possibilities; he kept returning to the surging Mako Reactors, but he had no way to figure out what was going on yet.  He would have to be patient.  In the meantime, it was getting late; technically his team would have gone off shift an hour and a half ago, but he hadn't been able to drag himself away.  Now, though, he was more than ready to plod back up to the top of the Plate and crash at home.  Of course, that involved hiking back up the Plate, and if he didn't eat tonight, he'd be sorry for it tomorrow.

Holy, he hadn't realized how great trains had been when riding them had been an option.  He would kill for a ticket on an evening train to the Plate, right about now.

Sighing, Cloud made one last pass of the Mako ward.  He checked on the handful of patients that would be on disc therapy overnight, and changed a few cold compresses before turning to head out.  Just before he exited the Mako ward, though, he felt a buzzing in the back of his awareness, like a milder form of the disorientation that accompanied Jenova blackouts.  He looked up again and found himself in the very back of the Mako ward, standing at the door of a private room.

The door was slightly ajar.

Glancing around to be sure no one saw him, Cloud entered cautiously.  If his Mako or—Holy protect him—Jenova cells were reacting to something in here, he had to check it out.  The hairs on the back of his neck and arms stood on end, raising goosebumps and sending a convulsive shudder through him to his very boots.  Something in here was definitely not right.

Cloud approached the bed, sucking in a breath as he caught sight of the man upon it.  Looking pale and small, and hooked up to all manner of life support equipment and monitors of every possible function was Reno.

As in, the TURK.

As in Mr. Larger-than-life 'I'm invincible' Reno.

He looked like he weighed about ten pounds more than Cloud had when he escaped from Hojo.  His cheeks were sunken, and his skin pale unto translucence.  His scarlet hair only made his ghost-like appearance all the more startling, and the hospital issue sheets did absolutely nothing for his complexion.

Cloud stumbled over to the foot of the unconscious TURK's bed, fumbling for his chart.  Cloud's specialty had been in Mako's effects on living things, which necessarily included a lot of medical applications.  He wasn't quite a medical doctor or nurse, but he knew more than enough to read a chart.  What he saw wasn't reassuring.

Apparently, Reno had been admitted just after the clinic had been set up.  He was pretty much comatose, only occasionally rising into the realm of sleep, and when he did sleep, it was accompanied by delirious dreaming.  He'd pulled his IVs (and other, even less comfortable tubing) out several times in his delirium, until they had been forced to restrain him whenever his coma seemed to lighten.  And, surprise, surprise—his condition seemed to be caused by Mako poisoning from an unknown source, of unknown intensity, for an unknown duration…  This was really starting to piss Cloud off.

"Hey!" a voice suddenly exclaimed from behind him.  Cloud whirled on suddenly battle-ready reflexes, containing himself only at the last moment.  The man in the doorway continued, bright blue-green eyes glaring at him.  "Just what do you think you're doing in here?  The SOLDIERs are down the other way, and anyway, shouldn't you all have cleared out…by…now?"  The man, about Cloud's age, trailed off, staring at his face before drawing in a breath.  "Cloud?"

Cloud groaned.  Not another person who knew him that he didn't remember!  As soon as he thought that, though, memory sprang fluidly to mind.  A semester of classes together, earrings as a graduation present, a full-contact kiss on a street corner on the Midgar University Campus.  His eyes widened.  "…Galen?  Holy…is it you?"

The taller red-head laughed and crossed the space between them, flinging long, slim arms around Cloud's neck.  "Cloud!  Oh, Planet, it's been forever!  What are you doing here?  Did you make SOLDIER after all?  I thought—" the other man's exuberance died down a little.  "I thought they said you were dead.  You, General Sephiroth, and Colonel Zack."

Cloud shook his head.  "That, my friend, is a long story.  One I have told far too many times this week.  I'll tell you, but later.  First, I want to know what you're doing here, and why you're standing guard over Reno of the TURKs."  He glanced at Reno on the bed, then studied Galen's face intently.  "…You're related, aren't you?"

Galen sighed.  "Listen, Cloud.  I don't want to talk about this here.  I go off shift in half an hour, though, so if you want to meet up someplace private…I'll bring the alcohol.  I'd suggest the pub, but it's rather populated at this time of day."

Cloud nodded slowly.  "Okay.  Sure thing, Galen.  We'll hit my place…assuming you can make it onto the Plate?  Or would you prefer yours?"

Galen smiled a tight, forced smile.  "My home was pretty much destroyed when Meteor came.  Almost killed my youngest brother.  I've been living in communal quarters ever since."

Cloud nodded decisively.  "My place it is, then.  I'll help you get the alcohol, then we'll walk there together.  They might not let you into the SOLDIER sector without a chaperone.  Idiots."

Galen nodded.  "Okay.  I'll meet you out front in thirty minutes, then."  With the air of a busy professional, Galen bustled out of the room, pausing in the doorway just long enough to say quietly, "It really is great to see you again, Cloud."

"You, too, Galen," Cloud whispered in return.  "You, too."

*

                Hi, again!

                I hope everyone liked the part.  Cloud accepted into SOLDIER and got assigned duties and other people to work with.  Hey, it's the military, more or less; can't do whatever you want all the time!  *grin*  And now Cloud's met up with Galen, again, after all these years and discovered where Reno's been.  TO ANYONE WHO HASN'T READ SCENIC ROUTE TO THE PROMISED LAND: now would be a good time to do so.  I'll include a brief synopsis at the beginning of the next part, but that's mostly because Scenic Route is incomplete.  It won't really say much, so, if it's even a little possible, please visit one or both of the sites currently hosting it and at least skim through.  The timelines are converging, so a little background info really will enhance the experience.

                So yeah.  Next part, expect the Scenic Route synopsis, a conversation with Galen, Cloud thinking over some of the more recent revelations, and perhaps another Sephiroth dream.  If you have any comments, questions, concerns, or whatever, just drop me a line!  I'd love to hear from you all!  I'd also like to thank those who have reviewed so far.  You really are the biggest reason this thing got out as soon as it did.  Thanks so much!

                --Akuma no Tsubasa