A/N: Part of a series, still thinking about finishing this one. It's long as shit and I really liked the idea. Plus I got really creative with some of the small details in Cloud's life. I will only post the first piece because it's the one I was really proud of. At the bottom of this chapter I will briefly explain what I had in plan for this. It's a time travel theme, seriously, who hasn't tried it out.

If I plan to post the other two chapters I got I will have the same chapter title. just a heads up for the people who read my ANs and wanna know.

Idea Number two: Cloud Strife, age 26, stared into the eyes of his five year old self.

Pairings: Vincent/Cloud ; Zack/Aerith(?)

It had started out as an easy enough day.

He had an early delivery to make so he had woken up at around 4 AM to make it in time. Tifa had fixed him a quick breakfast and wished him luck with a smile. He gave a muted thanks, promising to be back in time to tuck the kids in.

Denzel would be waiting for it, three years had passed but the kid was milking Cloud for all he had. Not that Cloud minded, he enjoyed letting the kid indulge in small childish things. Not to mention Marlene absolutely adored it when Cloud tucked her in or told her a story.

It had been hard at first but slowly he was telling her tales of their adventures. At first it was strictly fairy tales. Remembering any adventures was painful, it had taken coaxing from Tifa and the kids before he gave in. Mainly because they gave him all the time he needed. One day he decided to tell them the tale about how they had kicked their uncle Rufus' ass.

Since then he managed to spruce up stories, ranging from the dreaded Touch Me's and his weird responses to damn Chocobo's.

He finished up preparing for the trip before he jumped onto Fenrir and made his way out to Kalm. It was a long ride but he was determined to make it in time to pick up a few souvenirs for the kids.

Vincent was also resting there with Shelke, he was currently responsible for teaching the girl. It had been Tifa's decision and Cloud had agreed, if he could raise Denzel despite the kid's prior upbringing Vincent could manage with Shelke.

The thought of sharing some time with the ex-Turk was also making the trip more enjoyable. Catching up on battle tactics and having his moves checked up on was always good. Plus Shelke was doing a good job at helping him correctly start up his business and set up good carriers.

She was a sweet little girl, it was sad the poor thing would never live past the age of 10. Which led him to his current predicament.

The delivery had been easy enough but being bombarded by a whole group of left over Hojo mutations was not.

He had managed to avoid leading the things into Kalm and was ready to snap himself into the lifestream just to bark at the scientist and twist his throat again. Shelke and Vincent had appeared shortly afterwards and silently helped him out.

The disaster happened when one leapt at him when he was in midair. He twisted his blade, carefully running it through the wolf mutation.

Guts were sprayed through the air, mako and blood flooding his scents.

He clicked a few pieces of his blade together, landing beside Vincent before he prepared himself to end the fight with the silent companion who was so much happier since the events of deep ground.

The creations roared, a glow of a materia making itself known. Seems they had a sort of intelligence somewhere in them.

Cloud saw one lunging for them and merely went forward to meet it. He didn't expect his blade hit something that had not resulted in sprayed monster guts. A loud crack resounded and he realized he fucked up somehow.

The pulse from throwing a limit break, MP thrown into the mix he accidentally hit a materia and cracked it.

His eyes lit up in shock, attempting to pull himself away but it was too late.

"Cloud!" Vincent exclaimed, about to run forward before the blond swordsman looked up with a withering look.

He knew things were about to turn to shit and he was not about to drag any of his friends with him. A burst of light and pain engulfed his body.

'...don't go getting yourself killed, you hear?'

Funny, seems he couldn't even take his own advice. Vincent would never let him live it down. Despite the pain he felt the world rushing around him. He heard a shocked and startled scream that sounded oddly like Aerith.

A few other things mumbled by and he could have sworn he heard Zack's angered and worried voice. He was spinning, spinning in agony and pain that was hot and blinding. He just couldn't find a way to scream.

Is this what the lifestream was like? What the hell, it had been a tad bit more pleasant when he fell in with Tifa.

Then suddenly he was tossed into some sort of area. Gravity was felt, pain and vertigo landing all at once. Colors swirled around his visions as his hands tossed the blade in his grip. Gravity and reality slammed into him all at once and he hit the ground with a devastating crash.

Despite hating the stupid bloody fucking scientist his body had been able to make the crash even though it left him extremely dizzy and nauseous.

It took a while for the world to stop spinning. When it finally did he made out the bright blue sky above him. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky, it vast and beautiful. He briefly made out the beginnings of trees.

He frowned, Kalm had a lot of dust and cliffs; how far out was he blown?

Not to mention how Vincent was handling the whole thing.

He briefly thought of ways to make it up to Tifa and kids for not being able to make it home in time.

He sat up, not trusting the change in vertigo to fuck with his head. Looking around he was proved correct by the growth of trees. A forest?

He gingerly sat up, allowing himself to groan and stretch out his limbs. He felt aches and pains and he couldn't fathom why. He remembered being thrown into pure white, such as the times Aerith had tugged him into the lifestream.

He never felt aches and pains because of it though.

"Hell-ooo!"

He paused, eyes blinking at the childish voice that called out through the trees. He briefly thought of Aerith, the young flower girl had called out to him the same way when he had fallen through the church. A piece of him was satisfied he hardly flinched at the thought of Aerith.

It helped with how much Marlene had taken a shine to the flower girl. She was happily pulling her hair up in the same way and wearing pink outfits. Cloud was slightly amused when he was chosen to braid her long hair and apply the pink ribbon. The nostalgia hurt at first but he really enjoyed seeing Marlene's warm and understanding smile when he finished.

He shook his head from the thoughts, looking around again in order to place where he had fallen and where his precious blade had fallen. The thing was a pain to make, no way was he losing it now.

"Hell-ooo!" The kid's voice called out again, it was soft and innocent. He found himself moving towards it. A kid out in the forest by himself was not a good thing. Especially since kids were hardly looked after nowadays. He always tried his best to look out for them, a small piece of him always blamed himself for the kids being orphans. Taking in Denzel and administering the cure to the kids eased the guilt just a bit.

"Hmm." The voice said, startling Cloud when he had reached a tree and peered deeper in the groove to encounter the kid.

A shock of bright blond hair caught his attention.

A few trees away was a short child, probably a little over four years who was inspecting a tree and kneeling down to pick something out.

Cloud stopped breathing as he ran his eyes over the small frame.

He was dressed in a sweatshirt, it was a light grey color and matched the light grey shorts he was wearing. His shoes were a bright white, smudged and dirty. His legs were bandaged up, small scraps from tripping and such in plain view.

Cloud stared, waiting for the small boy to turn to him.

It had started out as an easy enough day but if what he was looking at was any indication it ended fifty times harder.

The boy stood up, dusting his shorts before gazing up at the feel of a stare. Bright blue eyes stared at him, not one hint of mako soured in the bright soft color.

Cloud Strife, age 26, stared into the eyes of his five year old self.

"Hi!" The child said brightly, running up to him and not caring at his frozen state.

Shit was currently running through Cloud's mind at each step the tiny child took.

The blonde spikes were what gave it away. It was ridiculous what a tiny trim could do to untamable hair. He would know, a good year of his life the spikes were terrible. The past few years he trimmed it down in order to not be that... Recognizable.

"I saw you fall! Are you okay?" The child was smiling, it seemed stranger danger was the farthest thing on his mind. How naive and sweet, it was almost sad.

It startled him to think what on earth he was doing in the woods at such a young age. He could barely remember his childhood but he was sure being in the woods was a bad thing.

Realizing the kid was still awaiting a response he nodded. "Fine." He replied gruffly. It was enough to pacify the child as he rocked back on his heels, a shy smile in his face.

"You dropped your sword! I know where it is!" There was something in those childish eyes that Cloud had to do a double take. The blonde desperately wanted to jump on the stranger but his shy nature prevented it. There was something else, a sort of hope lurking in those childish blue orbs.

Cloud wondered if he had been a lonely child. He gave a nod, extending a hand before realizing what exactly he was doing. He cursed his habit with Marlene before trying to quickly fix it up.

"That so... Uh, let's go get it then."

The kid smiled, the same shy smile though it was wider now. He tucked his hand into Cloud's wide gloved one. He didn't seem to care that Cloud was covered in dirt or that his eyes had just a bit of a glow.

The kid shyly led him down the forest, twisting in certain areas like an expert. Then, they appeared in a small clearing where his blade had cleaved a tree in half and sat proudly in the dirt.

He released little Cloud's hand (okay that was weird, referring to someone else as Cloud...) and approached the weapon. Grasping it he tugged it out and almost sighed in relief that he had thought ahead and connected all six blades. The materia was still loaded into their slots. A mastered Cure and a restore the main ones in his arsenal.

Well, at least the ones he carried with him daily. Sadly he had ditched his bracer at home. Deciding mourning his mastered materia wasn't worth it he quickly placed his blade into the harness on his back and turned to look at the small child that was watching in complete wonder.

"It's pretty!"

The comment cracked a smile on the adult's lips. Most people didn't call a blade like First tsurugi pretty, maybe scary, deadly, fucking big, but not pretty.

What was currently striking him was the fact if his younger self was here that meant he was near Nibelheim.

"Are you tired?" The child was sparkling again, not at all caring that he had found a stranger with a massive sword. "Mama makes the best food!"

There was another shy smile, he was slowly starting to melt at the kids looks. Not to sound obnoxious but he was adorable at five years old.

"I dunno if your mom would like me there." He wasn't sure he could take seeing a woman he could barely remember as his mother again. Not to mention she wouldn't even know him. But a tiny hand had grasped his, eyebrows lightly furrowed on his tiny face.

"She won't mind. Can you tell me how you fell? Like-like an angel!"

Cloud was completely baffled. Like an angel?!

He was pretty sure he could hear Zack howling with laughter at him somewhere in the lifestream. The kid tugged him along the forest, slowly starting to talk and then full on gushing.

It seemed the fact Cloud, being an adult, hadn't told the kid to go away was enough incentive to completely let loose. It was sad, actually. Little Cloud was shunned, he had no friends and here he was desperately hanging into a stranger. Despite being completely overwhelmed he felt a twinge of pity and kept up a silent conversation.

Mama Strife had seen them coming and nearly exploded in worry.

Cloud stared, eyes staring at her with a newfound light as she gushed over her son.

Yeah, he really did miss his mom.

She rose, bright blue eyes taking in his dirty form with mistrust.

"Mama! I told him to come for dinner! He crashed, like an angel! And-and! Having an angel to dinner is-is-amazing!" Her child was so excited she couldn't help but soften up to the stranger.

Cloud was still completely astonished. His mom was a brunette.

"He also brought me home! I got lost, but that's not important!"

"Cloud Strife." The woman scolded, not realizing the way Cloud's eyes snapped up at him.
She looked away from her child, peered at the curious gazes of Nibelheim going around before shuffling them into her yard. "I guess I should reward your hospitality. Come inside, Cloud, grab and extra plate."

The kid ran off with a large grin and Cloud walked inside, stumbling a bit before cringing at his dirty boots and his ragged appearance.

His mom (he couldn't remember her name, it was eating at him) closed the door, shutting the curtains before turning a careful eye in his direction. "Now, I don't know how you got here but you took care of my baby. I don't want any trouble with ShinRa, he's my baby-"

"ShinRa?" Cloud blurted before he could completely comprehend what he was saying.

She looked perplexed. "You... You look just like him, I know you are related to him. Isn't that why you're here?"

A small part of him was cringing at the implication that he was related to a ShinRa, oh the damn horror. "No... No, I'm... I'm not sure what I'm doing... Ma'am. I don't work for ShinRa." He was firm with his last statement.

However his mind was running on empty. He unlatched his blade, mind spinning and he knew pretty soon he wouldn't be able to handle the gravity of the insane situation.

He managed to barely, barely, hang onto his image when he was leading little Cloud. He took two steps, his once upon a time mother's voice fading before the world went black around him.

His dream was strange.

He could hear a soft voice arguing, flashes of pink and brown staining his vision. His mind was in a whirlwind, he swore it was Aerith arguing with someone he couldn't see or hear. There was a shift and suddenly he saw her face, stern and creased with worry that made her seem ages older.

"Cloud... Okay! You'll... Fine!" She extended a hand, fear scattered across her face. "Materia!" Was the last thing she screamed before he was torn away.

He was jerked back to reality, blue eyes snapping around him in shock. He was met with a dark room, his senses slowly fading when he realized he wasn't in danger.

He squinted, making out shapes before slowly piecing together that he was in the living room, near to where he had fallen moments before.

Despite being a stranger his mom had taken care of him; spread a blanket over his form and gave him a pillow.

Staring at the coffee table he had narrowly missed, a plate of food was resting with a tiny note to enjoy it. His vision was pretty good in the dark and was able to make out a tiny drawing a five year old could make.

With those thoughts he took in a shuddering breath and laid back down, not trusting to be upright with the thoughts spiraling in his head. He was in the past, nearly 15 years into the past. He was sleeping in the same house his five year old self was.

He remembered striking a materia and-

He sat up sharply, the image of Aerith reaching out to him returning. Her voice had been hard to hear but he knew she had shouted materia. Was she trying to help him get back to his time?

He fought hard for his future, he was getting better mentally and now he was thrown into the midst of everything. He felt sick.

What a twisted joke. He gnashed his teeth together, anger fueling through him at how unfair this was. What about Denzel? What about Tifa? What about the life he had finally carved for himself after many false starts?

He wanted to go back to his own time, wanted to wake up and have everything right in the world again. Everyone was happy, finally moving on. Vincent finally released his guilt and was aging again. All the wrongs were righted, it was a hard earned happy ending. How many times did they save the world, three?

Now, now back in time he had nothing. No friends, no Tifa, no Denzel, no identity! What was he supposed to do now?!

A pair of footsteps startled him, his eyes narrowing on the stairs when a boy came down. He could make out the movements with clear eyes.

The child was sleepy, he could make out sluggish movements as he crossed Cloud to enter the kitchen.

This was still weird to him. Seeing the younger version of himself was just... Strange!

The light flicked on, momentarily blinding them both before the small child went into a cupboard to pull out a plastic cup that had a Chocobo painted on the side. He turned, sleepy blue eyes staring into the living room before he jumped in shock.

"God!" He exclaimed, clutching the cup to his chest in surprise.

It reminded him of those times he had caught Marlene or Denzel trying to steal cookies from the top of the fridge and freaked out when he made his silent presence known.

"Cloud!" Marlene would shout, furious he had scared the crap out of here. Denzel had been panting, trying to calm down his heart.

"That's really mean." The small boy stated, sniffing as he walked to the water gallon and tilted it to pour himself a glass. Cloud didn't respond, he sat up, watching and silently happy he had a distraction to his negative thoughts. All he could think was what he was supposed to do if he was stuck here. The boy decided to join him, coming forward and nestling himself on top of the blankets that had been tossed on top of Cloud.

"Are you okay? Mama was gonna take you upstairs but you're hea-vy! Mama's the strongest and she couldn't move ya!" The boy looked excited again, smiling shyly as he drank up the water he had poured himself. The light was still on, the kid seemed pretty awake now too.

"Sorry..." He mumbled, slightly awkward and unsure how it was even possible to be talking to his past self. It was hard to imagine this small little kid would one day face the hardships he had.

He would be tortured for four years, lose a best friend, lose his village, and lose Aerith, his first real love before trying with Tifa.

"It's okay! As long as you're okay. My names Cloud!" The boy smiled sheepishly, carefully placing his full cup on the coffee table where the food was. The boy shuffled for a moment, seemingly to gather courage before looking up straight into his eyes. "Your eyes look really sad. Did you have a bad dream? Mama says it's always good to kiss the bad dreams away." He looked determined, awaiting a response Cloud wasn't sure he could give.

"Uh... It wasn't a bad dream. I just... Just lost my friends." He blabbed, nervously rubbing a hand his neck, unable to help it. The kid was as good as Marlene!

The small child blinked owlishly, a deep understanding on his blue eyes. "Lost your friends? Well, why don't you go find them?"

The kid shyly moved closer, Cloud stopped himself from moving back.

"I... I don't think I can." He averted his eyes for a moment, then, he jumped when a hand found his.

"Don't be sad! I'm sure you'll find them! I lost my friends! But its okay, I'm sure they'll come back."

Cloud's heart clenched. He knew what this was. As a child he had been shunned, no one wanted to be friends with the bastard child. He remembered a few who attempted it. He knew Tifa had been one of them but the girl had other things and people to be friends with. His Tifa had apologized for it but he realized it must have really hurt for a five year old boy to have to go through that.

"I'm okay by myself though, the forest is really pretty and there's a lot of cool stuff! I mean, I found you!" The child was bouncing back but a sadness loomed in those eyes.

Cloud hesitated, he felt terrible to just leave the kid when he knew things were gonna get fifty times shittier. It wouldn't help him, lord knows time paradoxes no longer existed if he was existing two times in one reality.

"And that sword! I want one but Mama thinks it's scary! Sucks, I really wanna play with one."

"You don't play with a sword, Cloud." He spoke, softly and swiftly, only slightly cringing at using his own name. "Swords hurt people, they are scary things."

The child seemed to ponder this, taking Cloud's hand and carefully looking at how big it was compared to his own.

"But... But I don't think you're like that. You didn't hurt me." The child was so innocent it hurt. "Swords protect, right? Then I can use it to protect."

Cloud clenched his hand lightly around the child's.

What if... What if he protected him? Of course it would be strange but maybe, just maybe he could make things different for this tiny and precious child. He didn't think of the kid as himself, it didn't take a genius to see how different they were. How would Cloud had been had he some sort of help? If he had someone to save him and the others?

"You're too small to protect anyone." Cloud said bluntly. The child pouted, put off until Cloud opened his mouth again. "But... You can become strong enough to protect people. For now though..." His heart raced at what he was about to say. How could he save someone? He couldn't save them... But... But this time it was different. The scared child looking up at him needed guidance, needed someone to reach out and protect him from the horrors he didn't even know about yet. "For now... How about I keep you safe?"

The child blinked before grinning and nodding enthusiastically.

"Okay! But promise me you'll teach me how to protect people okay?" He held out his pinkie and Cloud was eerily reminded of Tifa. What a childish promise.

Cloud, carefully and slowly, hooked his pinky around the child's.

With that, Cloud Strife hero of Gaia created a new universe, one that no longer had the straight course of the future.

He sealed his fate with a small child and sealed the fate of a world.

A/N: Cloud Strife gets transported to the past and ends up making a promise to his younger self and mother. He wakes Vincent early and they travel the world with small Cloud. They somehow manage to gain Zack as their apprentice and take Shinra by storm, stopping Jenova and dealing with angry first class Soldiers. Aerith ends up in their Strife daycare service to Cloud's annoyance.