Cloud sat his sword down on his bed. His things, few as they were, had already been delivered to the dorm. Sephiroth stood behind him. Neither one had said anything yet. Cloud opened his trunk and started to put his personal things away.

"I'm surprised you haven't asked me about your roommates yet." Sephiroth said.

"I have to admit I'm curious. He even has your name. Who is he to you?" Cloud said as he placed a pair of pants into his dresser drawer.

"He is me, or at least another version of me." Sephiroth explained with a sigh. "There are a lot of things I never told you, not just about Shinra."

Cloud said nothing and Sephiroth was starting to get a little nervous. He had lied by omission for the boy's entire life.

"I'm sure you had a reason. You always have a reason for what you do, even if I didn't understood it at the time." Cloud said finally, putting away his socks.

"This time the only reason is because I was afraid." Sephiroth admitted.

"Afraid?" Cloud said, turning to his guardian. Sephiroth being afraid of anything was unthinkable to Cloud.

"Afraid of what you'd think." He said with a sigh.

"Is he a clone?" Cloud asked, he had read about clones in one of his books. Sephiroth did seem to have extensive knowledge of scientific things.

"No," Sephiroth said swiftly. There had been enough clones of himself to last 2 lifetimes. "Like I said, he is me."

Now Cloud was really confused.

"I don't understand it much myself. I was never given any answers." Sephiroth started, "But from what I've gathered over the years, I am originally from another version of this world."

"That's why you know so much?" Cloud asked softly.

"I know some things, my knowledge in this world is incomplete because things seemed to have happened differently. The man I was worried about you running into, Hojo, is no longer with Shinra for example." Sephiroth explained.

"Did you know me before? Is that why you took care of me?" Cloud asked. His voice had gone neutral. It was the question Sephiroth had feared all along.

"That's complicated." Sephiroth said, not wanting to lie, not anymore. "I was not a good person in my old life. When I first came to this world, I was just as lost as you were. Over time I've changed, you've changed me. You're not the same person I knew either. Trust me when I say, as I stand before you now, I care only about you and not the person I used to know."

"Were you close to him?" Cloud asked again, but his voice was beginning to slip back into its old tone.

"He was the man who killed me." Sephiroth admitted. Cloud looked shocked. Sephiroth just continued. "I asked for a chance at redemption after my death and I was sent to you."

"Is that why no one else can see you?" Cloud asked softly. He wasn't sure how to take what his guardian had just told him.

"I assume so." Sephiroth said with a nod. He was still nervous.

"So you really are my Guardian Angel?" Cloud said with a small smile and Sephiroth was relieved.

"I suppose I am." Sephiroth said as he returned Cloud's smile.

"We did it, Ange, we made it into SOLDIER first day." Sephiroth said, flopped on his friends bed. Angeal was currently putting his things away. Sephiroth had just shoved his trunk in his closet to deal with later.

Angeal let a small grin slip on his face. "Yeah, we did. I didn't believe we could when you first mentioned it, but here we are."

"What about Cloud? You serious think he beat a top ranked SOLDIER 2nd?" Sephiroth said, rolling over onto his stomach.

"I don't think they would have lied about that." Angeal said, making sure his shirts were neat.

"I mean that just doesn't happen, does it? I'd heard rumors about when the General joined, but this is pretty major, isn't it?" Sephiroth said, watching Angeal put his underwear away.

"I think you've got a crush on him." Angeal said with a bit of laugh.

Sephiroth shook his head. "I'll admit he's pretty hot, but seriously he'd chew me up and spit me out. Guys like that don't mess around."

Angeal just let his small chuckle turn into a full blown laugh. "Probably, but that's never stopped you before."

"Yah well," Sephiroth said, "If I'm going to get burnt, I've got my sights set a little higher."

"I've told you, I doubt the General will ever even know you exist." Angeal said, trying to bring his friend back down to reality.

"You've got to have dreams, Angeal." Sephiroth said, looking up at the ceiling.

"And honor. I don't see how lusting after your commanding officer is honorable." Angeal pointed out.

"I'm not being creepy about it. It's not like I plan to steal a lock of his hair or his underwear or something and hide it under my bed." Sephiroth said

"So you say." Angeal said, shaking his head.

"I'm not a stalker." Sephiroth insisted.

Angeal walked over and sat down next to Sephiroth. "We should go put your things away."

"I did put my things away." Sephiroth replied, rolling back over on his back.

"I doubt that." Angeal said before standing.

"Fine, but I swear if you fold my underwear, I'm going to strangle you in your sleep." Sephiroth said, following Angeal out of the room.

Genesis sat alone in his room, holding Cloud Strife's recruitment file in his hands. No one in the entire program had ever intrigued him as much as this person. He had literally come from nowhere and walked his way into SOLDIER like it was child's play. And then there were his eyes. They had a faint mako glow already, that was true, but they didn't look like a normal 15 year old's eyes. They looked like his own.

"Are you the one who's finally going to challenge me?" Genesis said, looking at the photo.

He had hoped for years to find someone like him. Hollander had told him it was pointless. There was no one like him. No one could equal him. Genesis was a god among men.

"Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul" Genesis whispered as he sat the file down.

There was no point in hoping. Either this Cloud Strife would measure up or he wouldn't. Only time would tell.

Cloud stood, heading for the door, Sephiroth had chosen to stay behind. The man had decided to claim the empty room, giving Cloud back some of his privacy. Knowing Hojo wasn't around made Sephiroth relax a bit. He was more content to let Cloud do things on his own.

As Cloud's hand hit the door knob however, he heard Sephiroth's voice. "Where you going?"

It took his mind a moment to register that it was 'Seph', not his Sephiroth.

"I thought I'd find the training ground and get some practice in before tomorrow." Cloud finally replied.

"Sweet, mind if we come with? We were trying to decide what to do." Sephiroth said, motioning to Angeal, who was standing behind him.

Cloud looked away, feeling a bit nervous. He wasn't used to dealing with people his own age, even if one of those people was apparently a different version of his guardian.

"I can hardly stop you from using the training ground." Cloud finally said before opening the door and heading out.

"Ice, man, Ice." Sephiroth said, shaking his head before following.

"Where are you going?" Angeal asked, looking at his friend.

"He didn't say no, now, did he? How are we gonna break through his shell if we don't annoy him a bit?" Sephiroth said with a smirk.

This was why Sephiroth had more friends and enemies, Angeal realized as he shook his head and followed his friend anyway.

The elder Sephiroth stood in his doorway, almost stunned. Who would have guessed that he was the socially forward one? It seemed a lot more than Cloud's age had changed in this world.

"I really don't know anything about this world, do I?" He whispered to himself before retreating to his room.

Cloud sighed as he looked at the two in front of him. He had no idea what to say, so he said nothing and turned, starting to go through his practice exercises.

"Come on, Angeal, let's go spar." Sephiroth said.

"You always want to spar." Angeal said, rolling his eyes as his friend walked over to the training cabinet and pulled out two broadswords.

Cloud was attempting to ignore them, but he couldn't figure out why the man had taken out two swords. There was no way he could dual wield them. It got even odder when 'Seph' handed one of the swords to Angeal.

He tried to focus on himself, making sure he did everything with the precision Sephiroth had taught him. But it was hard, these two were just so bad.

Angeal was too quick with the broadsword, as in it was always ahead of where he wanted it to be. It was obvious that he was used to training with a heavier weapon. Why he didn't just use the sword on his back, Cloud didn't know. On top of everything, he continually left his right side open.

'Seph' was just sloppy. It was obvious he had raw talent and was very strong, but he completely relied on those facts. There was barely any strategy to his movements. He had even seemed to notice the openings Angeal had and wasn't taking advantage of them. That was likely why Angeal didn't seem to care to compensate for it.

He realized that these two wouldn't last a week under his Sephiroth's training, and further more were probably going to get laughed out of SOLDIER if they showed up tomorrow still with all these glaring flaws.

"Stop please." Cloud said, slipping Ragnarok on his back.

"I'm sorry, if we were bothering you." Angeal said, backing away from Sephiroth.

"You weren't, at least not in the way you're probably thinking." Cloud said, shaking his head. "I just... how did you get past the proctors fighting like that?"

"We were just messing around." Sephiroth said a bit defensively.

"Even then." Cloud said, looking over at Angeal. "Why don't you use your sword? You're better suited for it."

"I never use it unless I have to. It's a family heirloom and I don't want to bring on unnecessary wear and tear." Angeal explained, also getting a bit defensive.

"That's just insulting." Cloud said almost astonished. "That sword was made for combat. It's an impressive weapon. If you know how to properly care for it, then you shouldn't have to worry about 'wear and tear'. I can show you if no one's ever taught you properly."

Angeal didn't know if he should be angry at Cloud for talking to him this way or just thrilled that the man was talking to him at all. Finally he said: "It would be nice to know how to properly care for the Buster. I never learned from my father."

Cloud just nodded, then turned to Sephiroth. "And you're just a mess. You have a lot of talent you're just wasting. Where did you learn to fight?"

Sephiroth looked a little taken aback and Cloud noted how odd it was to be in this position with 'Seph'.

"I learned from some of the instructors around town, books, TV and sparing with Angeal." Sephiroth finally admitted.

"Your stance is too broad, your swings are too wide, and you use way too much energy when you fight. If you ever get into a fight with someone who can match you, you'll lose simply from wearing yourself out. You need more control." Cloud pointed out rapidly and Sephiroth just blinked at him.

"You figured out all of this by watching us spar for 10 minutes?" Angeal asked astounded.

"Well, I did figure out you leave your right side open and that Sephiroth pays way to much attention to his hair when he fights, but I figured we could cover that later." Cloud said, nerves hitting him again. He finally realized he'd thrown himself into a conversation with these two.

"Do you have any suggestions on what to do about it?" Sephiroth said, turning Cloud's attention back to him.

"By tomorrow? No. But if you seriously want to improve, we can figure out what our schedules are like and I can work with you after hours." Cloud said, shifting his weight a bit.

Sephiroth started to groan, extra work was not something he was looking forward to. But if it was time spent with Cloud, it would be worth it. Especially if he improved enough to get noticed by the General.

"Alright." Sephiroth finally said and Angeal nodded.

"Well, if that's the case, for now we can at least work on some of your basics." Cloud said, walking around behind Sephiroth. "Relax your shoulders a bit and bring your feet closer together. Your center of balance is all off. "

"Yes sir." Sephiroth said with a bit of a smirk. Angeal just rolled his eyes at his friend's shameless flirting, but Cloud seemed to have missed it all together.

Genesis stood in the observation deck above the training room. He had been on his way to the VR room for some personal training when he had spotted the mass of blonde hair that had come to hold his attention.

He watched the recruit making his way into the training room, trailed by the other two and had decided to see what they were up to.

Genesis had been about ready to leave, Cloud was just practicing and the other two were making fools of themselves, when he saw Cloud stop their spar.

He listened to the blonde's critique and thought it a bit harsh, amazing for him. The two weren't perfect, but they were better the most of the useless bodies which applied for SOLDIER. They really weren't any worse than the other men already in the program.

The flaws that Cloud had managed to pick out amazed Genesis. Not only did his blonde know how to fight, he knew how to watch others. It was a deadly ability in on the battlefield, but served instructors back home as well.

When Cloud asked the silver haired boy where he had learned to fight, Genesis found himself wanting to ask the same question himself. Who had trained this boy?

"You just get more and more curious, don't you." Genesis whispered, looking down, arms crossed.

He stared in fascination as Cloud tried to instruct the two others in the room. Several of the things he was showing them could be difficult for some 2nds or even a few of the new 1sts. The thing was, Genesis was certain that this Cloud Strife wasn't showing off. He'd seen plenty of braggarts in his day. The blonde really though that these were maneuvers the other two would need to know.

"You will fight me." Genesis said with a bit of determination in his voice. He pulled out his phone and checked the schedule for mako injections. Cloud and 2 others, a Sephiroth Nojima and an Angeal Hewley, were scheduled for next week. Genesis assumed that the other two where Cloud's current companions.

"That won't do." Genesis said to himself. Using a technique he had picked up from some of the Turks he had worked with, he shifted the schedule around, pushing a couple of newly promoted 2nds back and placing the three in front of him in the slot 2 days from now. He would have only changed Cloud, but that would have been too suspicious.

In one fluid movement, he closed his phone and dropped it into his pocket. "Don't disappoint me, Cloud Strife." Genesis said as he turned and left the observation deck.

Sephiroth flopped on his bed. "Ok, I take it back, he's not made of ice. He's just insane."

Angeal laughed a bit. "I think we got lucky."

"You call that lucky!" Sephiroth said, pointing in the vague direction of Cloud's room.

"We'll learn a lot more from him than we would on our own. Yes, I think we're lucky, lucky he wants to take the time to teach us. You just don't like working hard. I still think you'd have been better off in the transportation department." Angeal said, crossing his arms, grinning down at his friend.

"Very fun, Ange." Sephiroth said, kicking his boots off.

"Either way, we should thank him, do something for him." Angeal said, thoughtful.

"They only thing we could do for him is teach him how to have a good time." Sephiroth said with a bit of a laugh. Then thought about it a bit more.

"Oh no, you don't. I know that look." Angeal said, backing away from Sephiroth a bit.

"But that's a really good idea. He needs to get laid." Sephiroth said with a grin.

"You think everyone needs to get laid." Angeal said, rolling his eyes. "Besides, I don't think he's interested in sex. Or really anything other than swords."

"It's not healthy. He'll snap under pressure." Sephiroth said, trying to sound serious.

"Let me guess, you've got the perfect person in mind." Angeal said with a bit of sarcasm in his voice.

Sephiroth thought for a moment. "I just need to figure out how to get him interested. He wasn't picking up on anything during the training."

"Here's an idea, he may just not be interested. So why don't you try focusing on the training instead of trying to get in his pants?" Angeal pointed out. Sometimes he didn't know why he hung out with Sephiroth.

"I suppose it would distract me from my main goal." Sephiroth relented.

"You make me sick sometimes, you know that?" Angeal said, slightly annoyed.

"You know you love me." Sephiroth said with a grin.

"Just stop talking about people like they're objects to have sex with. You need to have more respect for yourself and other people." Angeal said, crossing his arms.

"Alright, alright." Sephiroth said with a sigh. Pulling his shirt over his head and throwing it in the corner. "You know me, Angeal."

Angeal just shook his head. "I don't want you to do something you'll regret."

"Yah yah." Sephiroth said. "Enough with the heavy stuff, I'm beat."

"Fine, just actually sleep. I don't think tomorrow will be an easy day." Angeal said, leaving the room.

Sephiroth just stuffed his pillow up under his head before kicking his pants off. He had a lot to think about.

"So how did your training go?" Sephiroth asked Cloud as the blonde sat his sword down.

"Weird." Was all Cloud said as he took his shirt off and placed it in his laundry hamper.

"How so?" Sephiroth asked, leaning against the wall. He had promised not to come and observe Cloud. Instead he did what he could to acclimate himself with this new world. Something he should have done 9 years ago. Some of the changes had been rather surprising.

"They followed me." Cloud said, referencing his new roommates.

"Was that such a bad thing?" Sephiroth asked, he had hoped that Cloud would make friends here.

"It was weird, like I said. I don't understand." Cloud said, shaking his head.

"What was there not to understand?" Sephiroth asked. How bad were Cloud's social skills?

"Them, they... they were horrible. I don't know how they let them in the front door." Cloud said, a bit frustrated.

Sephiroth looked at him a moment before he realized what his charge said, then let out a small laugh. "They aren't so bad. Actually well above average to have made it into SOLDIER with you. You're very skilled, Cloud. Just go a bit easier on them, ok?"

"It was just so surreal, to see someone who looked so much like you, so sloppy. He's strong, but that's about it. He admitted to learning some of his skills from the Television!" Cloud said, raising his voice a bit.

Sephiroth took a moment to process it. "You aren't serious." He finally said, trying to fathom any life time that he would have learned anything from one of those big black boxes.

"You see!" Cloud said before sitting on his bed and taking his boots off.

"This world is indeed odd." Sephiroth acknowledged.

Cloud stood dressed in the uniform, helmet and all, that had been delivered that morning. Sephiroth and Angeal stood next to him.

"Listen up, you whelps. Just because the General, the Director and the President all signed off on you doesn't mean I'm convinced you're SOLDIER material." A First Class, who Cloud hadn't caught the name of, walked back and forth in front of the Trio.

"Since you haven't had your mako injections yet, they won't let me do - much." The man said as he punched in a set of numbers on a security pad.

"This is the Virtual Reality training room. Or VR room for short. Your objective today is not to die. Now get your asses in there." The man barked. Cloud gave a quick salute and hurried into the room, Angeal and Sephiroth were close behind him.

The lights flickered on and the three of them were surrounded by the Corel Desert. Cloud quickly pulled his sword off his back and the other two seemed to follow his lead.

His eyes were searching and his senses were alert. When something popped out of the sand, Cloud sword had connected with it before the other two could even register they were being attacked.

"Move!" Cloud screamed at them as a large sand worm reared up out of the desert.

Angeal and Sephiroth didn't hesitate to follow his order, both had their weapons drawn.

They fought the sandworm together, mostly coordinated through Cloud. His Sephiroth had taught him how to issue clear and concise orders, but he'd never been able to put it into real practice before.

It was still a long and hard fought battle. The only one who seemed to be able to do meaningful damage was Cloud. Coupled with the fact that the thing regenerated, they really weren't making any headway and were starting to lose ground.

"Get back, I'm going to try something." Cloud yelled at the other two, who quickly followed his orders and fled to a small rock outcrop, while Cloud kept the creature from pursuing.

When he was certain that the others were in the clear, Cloud crouched down, before taking a leap and landing on the creatures back.

"I told you, freaking insane!" Sephiroth hissed from behind the rock. Angeal just kept watching the blonde.

He ran his sword down the thing's back as it flailed. Cloud used his sword that was embedded in the creature to keep his balance as he moved. Finally, when he reached the creature's head, he ripped the sword out of it back and slashed, severing the head in one go. As it came crashing down, he leaped off of it and rolled.

Before the body was fully collapsed, the lights flickered and they were back in the training room.

Cloud stood, as Angeal and Sephiroth moved, now hiding behind a nonexistent rock.

The doors hissed open and the First they had been assigned to walked in. His face contained a mixture of anger and awe.

"Seriously, I told you your objective was not to die. What the hell made you think fighting the thing was a good idea?" The man finally said, looking at the three.

"Well, Sir, its dead and we're not." Was all Cloud said.

The man looked almost livid for a moment, but couldn't argue Cloud's logic. "Get out of here, go get something to eat and be back in an hour."

"Yes Sir." Cloud said and Angeal and Sephiroth weakly mimicked him before the three of them left the VR room.

It wasn't long before they were sitting in the mess hall eating lunch. The air had been a bit heavy until now, but Sephiroth wasn't the type to let things bother him for long.

"So Cloud, I was talking to Angeal, and we thought we'd go out this weekend and have a good time. Celebrate and all. You should come with us." Sephiroth said, looking at the blonde. Angeal just groaned internally.

Cloud just looked at Sephiroth a bit confused. "Go out? Go where?"

"You know go out, hit the streets, go to a club, something." Sephiroth said, before taking a drink of his soda.

Cloud still looked confused. "Club?"

"Oh wow, you really don't know." Sephiroth said before glancing at Angeal.

"Leave me out of this." Angeal said, holding up his hands.

"What's the point?" Cloud finally asked.

"The point? The point is to relax and have fun. You do know what that is, don't you?" Sephiroth said, looking back to the blonde.

"Oh," Cloud said, thinking for a moment. "I usually read a book."

Sephiroth nearly fell out of his chair.

"That's a very good pastime, Cloud." Angeal said, shaking his head at Sephiroth.

"You need to live a little." Sephiroth said, looking almost horrified.

"Sephiroth, I've told you to leave him alone. If he doesn't want to go out, he doesn't want to." Angeal said.

"He doesn't even know what it is!" Sephiroth said, holding his arms out.

"Well S-my guardian. He did always say it was good to try out new things." Cloud said, glad he had corrected himself so quickly.

"See Angeal, it's good to try new things." Sephiroth said with a grin.

"So yah, when does that apply to you?" Angeal said, raising an eyebrow.

"Hush now," Sephiroth said, before turning back to Cloud. "We'll go out Friday night. I'll get it all planned out. Don't worry."

Angeal just groaned and Cloud was still completely lost. He just hoped this counted as trying to make new friends.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Young Sephiroth entertains me to no end. Please Review-DHT