Disclaimer: I own nothing, make no money from anything, and am writing this purely for personal enjoyment.

His redoubled work with the IRD had to be balanced with his increased duties as part of SOLDIER itself. Of course, right now everything was being threatened by his imminent demise. Cloud cursed his arrogance as he huddled under a table in an abandoned kitchen. If he lived through this, he'd never live this down. A bandersnatch howled just outside the window and Cloud winced. It wasn't just the proximity; it was also the knowledge that at the rate this was going he'd have to fight most of the pack again. He thought he'd been prepared to face this alone, but he'd been expecting some idiot farmer who'd tried to keep a monster as a pet. What he'd actually gotten was a full strength beastmaster using the little farm as a hideout.

Cloud slipped his PHS out of his pocket and turned it on. He kept the speaker muffled against the palm of his hand and typed as quietly as he could. The co-ordinates first in case he had to send it before he could finish it, then a summary of the opponents he'd seen, followed by 'please send assistance'. He stabbed the button to send it to Sephiroth and turned the PHS back off. It was time to move on and he couldn't risk it distracting him or alerting anyone. He could find out how long he'd have to hang on for later.

Cloud shifted to crawl towards the door when his leg slammed into a chair. The chair lifted off the ground and then resettled with a clang. The pain in his ankle was a mere distraction as he held his breath, listening for any approaching noises. He had just started breathing and moving once again when the clattering of nails became audible, heading towards the front door – accompanied by the sounds of boots. Boots that would be attached to a person who could open doors and let bandersnatches in. Cloud stood and ran in the opposite direction towards the living room. If he could make it out the back door in time, he could keep them all distracted for as long as it took for reinforcements to arrive.

He was almost half way through the living room when he saw the shadow of a beast in the next room. The bandersnatch must have taken the passageway instead and was already between him and the back of the house. A glance in front told him he could not avoid it, and a glance behind told him he did not have enough time to kill it before the beastmaster caught up. He slammed the door shut instead, and turned to face the man.

"Stun!"

The beastmaster came to a halt, and Cloud waited a few seconds, his breathing loud in his ears. He'd been sure it would work: the science was perfect, and the lab tests had been very convincing. But it was the first time it had been fired in anger and there was always the chance it would fail. For once, though, things had gone right for him. He edged past the frozen body to close the door leading to the kitchen as well and allowed himself to relax. The man wasn't moving, Cloud was safely inside, and the bandersnatches weren't. Cloud turned at the sound of a howl. One – or no, all the bandersnatches seemed to have moved to under the window. Under the large open window.

Cloud tried to get to it, but within seconds they were inside the room and angry. He retreated until his back hit a wall. He couldn't flame them all from where he was without hitting the beastmaster. He couldn't bring down one with a more concentrated attack without giving the other two the opportunity to overwhelm him. There was nowhere left behind him he could retreat to. He was screwed.

Wait, if he couldn't use a wall of fire as an attack, perhaps he could still use it as a wall. The flames hovered as he had hoped a meter away from his body. He couldn't see through it, but the bandersnatches didn't attempt to come through it. It was successful, but he wouldn't be able to keep it up forever.

He tried to pull out and operate his PHS one-handed to find out when help would arrive, but it slipped and clattered to the floor. He told himself not to panic. Sephiroth would have received his message by now, and wouldn't have wasted any time in sending someone after him. There was nothing to worry about. Not even now as his improvised shield was starting to stutter.

Shit.

He had to be reasonable. He had to use this little time he had made for himself to decide what to do if the rescue party didn't make it. When it came down to it, would he expand the fire to kill everything facing him, including the disarmed human, or would he let it contract and kill only himself?

In the world before, it would not even have been a consideration. The beastmaster was a criminal who had attacked Cloud. Killing him even in these circumstances, was self-defence and too worry about the ethics of it would be absurd. But things were different now. Killing humans just wasn't something SOLDIER did. Sephiroth might forgive him for it (and he rather hoped Sephiroth valued Cloud's life above that of some low-life who would probably be sentenced to death anyway), but he'd be disappointed in Cloud. Disappointed that Cloud had come out here in the first place. Disappointed that Cloud had not found a better solution. Disappointed that Cloud had not really been committed to the SOLDIER ideals. Cloud had faced Sephiroth in battle on multiple occasions before, but that was nothing now to the thought of facing Sephiroth's disapproval. He blinked his eyes rapidly, refusing to let tears fall. Stupid child-body and its lack of control.

The tone of the noise changed, and Cloud cautiously allowed his flames to thin. The bandersnacthes were missing. He could only assume they had been drawn back out of the window. A second later he heard the firm "Fira!" from outside. Sephiroth himself had arrived. He let the fire dissipate, sinking to his knees in exhaustion.

"Cloud?"

"In here."

Cloud heard Sephiroth's careful progression through the house, his thoughts only now stirring to think of helping the rescuers. "Everything's contained in here."

Sephiroth opened the door, quickly moving to Cloud and running a thumb under his eyes.

"I'm fine, Sephiroth."

Sephiroth snorted and moved on to check the rest of his body. Cloud let him. His strength was returning, but it there was no point trying to halt the fussing. Then Sephiroth stopped, his hands still on Cloud's arm, and Cloud followed his gaze to the body of the beastmaster. Sephiroth looked back at Cloud, his eyes mako-bright.

"He's not dead," blurted Cloud.

"Explain."

"I used a new materia. It'll keep him in stasis until the reverse is cast on him. But he isn't hurt at all."

"Is this one of the new experimental materia from Shinra?"

"Yes."

"Care to tell me why you just happened to have one with you?"

Cloud tried out a few lies in his head before concluding he had no option but the truth. "I was hoping for a chance to field test it."

"Well, you certainly achieved that."

Cloud choked, but said nothing. There was nothing he could really say to that, after all.

"Remind me again, Cloud. What is the procedure we follow when we expect a hostile human presence?"

"We request a Security Team to accompany us. We assess the situation on arrival, and deploy the specialists as required for the safest outcome. But-"

"So I can only assume the Security Team is just out of sight, somewhere? Popped off to fetch some Hero Drink, have they?"

"I didn't request a Security Team. But I-"

"Oh, please tell me how you equipped an untried and experimental materia that only works on humans, signed off on an incorrect threat assessment, and came without witnesses or informing anyone to a remote part of the country because you thought it was a simple monster hunt with no possibility of hostile human presence. Please do tell me, I'm dying to hear it."

Cloud chewed on his bottom lip. Put that way, his out-of-control-pet theory did sound a trifle naive. This precise situation was one of the reasons they had the guidelines about bringing back up in the first place.

"I'm sorry."

"Not yet, you're not. But that will change. Report to medical when we arrive back at the compound, and see me when they clear you."

"I don't need to go to medical, I'm—"

"You'll have to forgive me, but I'm not inclined to trust your word for it just at this moment. Go to medical."

"Yes, Sephiroth."

Cloud knocked on Sephiroth's door two hours later.

"Are you well?" asked Sephiroth, his gaze resting on Cloud's bandaged ankle.

"More bruised than anything else. The bandage is just a precaution."

"Good to hear. Have a seat and tell me about this materia of yours."

Cloud took a deep breath. "It's working name is SOLDIER stun. It's been tweaked to only work if a SOLDIER uses it. You cast stun and then later when you have the situation under control, you cast unstun. As you already know, it only works on humans. Ah… how did you know that, by the way? "

"Because you didn't use it on the Bandersnatches."

"Oh." Cloud should have realised that himself. He found himself colouring, and again cursed the weakness of his body.

"What happens to the person while stunned, and what can undo it?"

"The person is in status, but does not become invulnerable. That is, any effects cast on them will pause, and in the longer term, thirst and hunger won't affect them, but new instant damage will still accumulate. So far, of all the counters we've tested, only the SOLDIER unstun or a phoenix down can release them."

"An unstun of that particular materia, or any of that type?"

"Any if the new type, as long as it's cast by a SOLDIER."

"And if the person is left stunned indefinitely, what happens?"

"Ah… well, indefinitely isn't something we can test. A lab rat was left under for two weeks and one of the volunteers was left for sixteen hours without any negative effects. Why?"

"Because before we agree to start using this, I want to know what happens if we don't control the situation and unstun the person. What happens if we are killed or are forced to retreat and leave stunned victims behind? A time delayed death is still a death."

"The clean-up team could pick them up, or their friends could bring them into a Security station and get them unstunned. Any SOLDIER can do it after all."

"But bringing them in would be the equivalent of surrendering. They're not going to choose that."

"Then any negative consequences of removing their friend from the scene are entirely their responsibility." He won't back down this time. The SOLDIERs needed a way to defend themselves if they were confronted with armed, organised opponents trying to carry out the Cosmo plan.

"Cloud."

Cloud closed his eyes. He wasn't backing down, but he couldn't really explain himself. He didn't like upsetting Sephiroth. "I'll ask the research guys to add in some fail safes, but I don't like the thought of our people being helpless if they get caught out or something happens."

"Then I'm sure you can understand how I felt about you answering an incident that severe alone. We can discuss the use of this SOLDIER stun again once you've seen what the research people say. From now on, come to me about experimental material before you equip them, and don't expect to be allowed out into the field alone for some time."

Cloud couldn't complain about that. He'd been entirely stupid and needed a rescue, after all. "Yes, Sephiroth."

"Good. Come on, it's just about time for supper, and I've organised something."

Cloud followed him with trepidation that was soon proved to be entirely justified. If this had been back in the pre-REWIND SOLDIER, his punishment would either been handled informally with 'corrective sparring sessions', or formally with a letter in his file, extra duties, restrictions and pay cuts. Cloud had known that Sephiroth would not even have considered airing dirty laundry to Director Lazard (once again nominally in charge of the project), but Cloud had been expecting something similar in effect.

Instead Sephiroth played it mean. He'd asked every one of the SOLDIER lab-rats to sit down with Cloud individually. They were almost as uncomfortable as Cloud was, but they earnestly persisted until they let Cloud know just how they would have felt if something had happen. If something had gone wrong because Cloud hadn't taken backup. If Cloud had been hurt because he hadn't trusted them enough to take them with. If Cloud had died and abandoned them. Cloud squirmed, embarrassed and ashamed, at every interview. Underneath the awkwardness was a growing feeling of warmth, however. These people cared about him, and he cared about them. They weren't 'The People' in an abstract term; they were his people. He could rely on them. Even if he could never tell them about the future-that-never-was, he didn't have to handle everything alone. He'd protect them from Cosmo and the Second Calamity, and they'd protect him from everything else. They'd do it together.