Hey guys, long time no see. Sorry for the amount of time it took, christmas kind of does that to you. Not to mention the amount of research that went into this bloody chapter. Since I don't own my own psp I had to borrow one off a friend for a few hours each day to make sure I got the dream sequence right. If it's off...just this once please don't tell me, I'm so shattered right now i may try to knock myself out with my keyboard.

I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favourited, and alerted this story. If I never replied to your review it means I hate you...no just kidding, it means I suck and I can't remember I haven't done it. I try to reply to all review personally. Anyway, thanks, enjoy.

Word Count; 7,000 words (at least I'm consistent xP)

Warnings; Nothing much, there might be some bad language somewhere, other than that, probably work safe.

Disclaimer; I am unfortunately not a man, nor am I god. Clearly that means I don't own anything here, although if I did I would make Cloud kill Bear Grylls for drinking his own pee. Yuck.

Rewind

Chapter 3

Without You

Cloud smiled at his mother, pulling the tired looking woman into a tight hug. Her hair was hanging in semi-sodden masses around her face; a clear indication that at some point it had again snowed; something that must have occurred during his brief adventure into the Shinra Mansion.

The gentle embrace was return with a soft sigh of weary contentment and a tender smile. A hug from her son always made Cloud's Mother feel warm and happy again; a fact he often took advantage of. After all, what had been the point of becoming so smart if he wasn't going to use it to his benefit?

"So sweetheart, what did you do today? Did you have fun with the other boys like I told you to?" Rayne asked softly, her fingers curling into the blonde spikes huddled into her stomach and ruffling the strands tenderly.

"Um…well you see, I meant to go and hang out with the other boys, but then I got distracted. I'm sorry; I know you wanted me to hang out with the children here in town. I'm not going to lie to you Mom; I just don't want to go play stupid games with immature boys who only want to play in the mud…" Cloud trailed off for a moment, a sigh breaking the speech as he tried to find the words he needed

"I don't want to play with the girls who're either obsessed with gossip or think boys are below them either. There aren't that many children in this town anyway, only twelve and we both know that I'm too far above their intellectual level to 'play' the way they do. So please, I'm begging you, don't push it." Cloud replied, his head becoming more and more bowed with guilt over not being able be to the child his mother wanted.

For a moment Rayne was unsure what to say in reply to her sons little tirade. For a second she felt like telling him that as his mother she knew what was best for him. Then with a sigh that betrayed the bone weariness that swept through her body she nodded and pulled back. Gently she fluffed the blonde spikes under her hand one last time before crossing the room to plate up the soup she'd left on the stove to boil all day.

"I understand baby; I always knew you were a special child. I just wanted you to have friends. I don't want you to be sad and lonely because you're so much smarter and more sensitive than they are. But if you don't want to play with the others I don't want to force you to do anything you don't want to do I just worry about you," Rayne said, turning to place the steaming bowls of soup on the table in front of Cloud "It's a mothers job to worry about her children."

''I love you mom," Cloud replied smiling as he sat down to tuck into the soup.

"I love you too, now eat your soup." Rayne replied sitting down to eat her own dinner.

Silence reigned all through dinner, neither party really sure what to say after having what passed for an argument in their house. The tension was more than a little thick, and both parties had more than one thing to think about. Then a sigh filled the air and the tension was broken.

"You know young Alistair right? Well Liz was telling me that the other day the silly boy went out to play in the snow, and he fell straight into a rabbit hole. Poor child was buried under the snow for twenty minutes before someone realized and pulled him out. He's sick now, but we think he's going to be okay once he gets better again. His parents are naturally beside themselves with worry about the whole thing, but as I told them a little cold never did anyone harm," Rayne intoned, her inane gossip doing its work to remove the tension from the air around them as they laughed together.

Cloud got the hidden reference however, and was unable to help himself as he stared more than a little sadly at his mother. Really she had good reason to worry. He'd been too focused on being the child Cloud up until recently, the discovery that he was filled up with mako and ready for war as a child was more than a bit disheartening. And at the same time it was liberating.

Although he was loathe to admit it, Cloud would silently allow whilst in the privacy of his own mind that Hojo's tinkering had done its job. He'd always had that final ounce of strength to get the job done. He'd always outlasted any enemy he fought. The old Cloud Strife had fought many a battle and with his ill begotten enhancements had always come out on top with minimal fear involved otherwise.

Young Cloud however; this new body up until recently at least, had been something of a worry for the blonde haired warrior. He'd been stressing for weeks on end ever since regaining all of his memories about how he was going to work his body up to the level it had to be at to fight Sephiroth and win again. Not that he was planning on encountering a Sephiroth whom he had to slaughter on the battle field. After all the point of this exercise in the futility of life was that he was going to change everything.

Still the point had remained in his head that he would need the physical and mental capacity to face a battle like that again. There were too many variables to consider for Cloud to rule anything out; especially with Shinra involved.

Now that he knew he had the mako in his system to help give him the added boost he'd need in order to get as far as he could there was a weight off his chest. Still there were a great many things to do; things that needed his urgent attention. The most pressing of those was the prisoner locked in mortal slumber beneath the sleepy town of Nibelhiem.

Vincent Valentine was his next objective. He'd ruled the stoic man out up until now for more than one reason. The first of which was rather obvious; the mako. There had been no way a five year old with no training routed in this lifetime would have been capable of taking on all the monsters he would undoubtedly find in the basement of the Shinra Mansion.

For all that he knew he had mako in his blood now he'd been unwilling to risk finding out the hard way in the basement of the Shinra Mansion. In order to even get Vincent out of his coffin he'd have to take on at least on monster for sure; the hideously ugly Lost Number that was locked in the safe on the second story of the Shinra Mansion.

Then there were the random encounters that inevitably drew themselves towards the blonde like a needle to a magnet. Several Dorky faces, Ghirofelgo, Jersey, Mirage, Black Bat, and Yin and Yang riddled the mansion in hidden infestations.

In retrospect Cloud was lucky he'd been free of monster attacks in Hojo's former experimental residence so far. He'd have to remember to get a weapon before he went into the mansion next. This day had been so mentally and emotionally exhausting that he'd never even thought about the fact that he could have been attacked at any moment.

More than anything for the majority of the day Cloud had been nothing but the naïve child he was in body. It was only now sitting in contemplation of everything that had yet to be done, that he would have to do he realised that he needed to work more to integrate the child and the adult inside of him.

Often it felt like one aspect gave way to another, like a switch on a board flipping back and forth in silent contemplation. It wasn't that he was an expert on having multiple personalities in his head, although having Zack and Sephiroth swimming around up there for different reasons gave him insight of kind at any rate. It was just that that didn't seem to be the best approach to the situation.

His new plan was to in some way integrate the two personalities, much like he'd eventually done to Zack once he'd realized that his memories and personality were almost completely flawed. It had worked then to make him a more competent and collected warrior, at least as long as he managed to stay alive at any rate. There was no reason he could foresee that would stop it from working now.

And once he took care of that then reason one for not breaking straight into the basement of the Shinra Mansion and rescuing Vincent was taken care of. He had his mako, his semblance of training, the knowledge he needed and the mental capacity to deal with whatever he crossed.

Reason number two was fact that he wasn't sure how he'd rouse Vincent to his cause. It would be hard to prove that Sephiroth was indeed alive and in serious need of a saviour at the tender age of five. Not only was his physical appearance a liability in the eventuality of needing to convince the sleeping gunman his story was real and not the whimsical fabrication of an overactive child's imagination, but there was the lack of evidence.

The Wutai War wouldn't begin for just shy of another year at his calculations, close to 8 ½ months. He couldn't quite remember the specific date the Wutai War started, though he should, he knew it started sometime in the month of March in the year 1992.

Up until the war Sephiroth wouldn't be mentioned in the news, after all Shinra wouldn't risk airing the news of their secret weapon after all. What use was a secret weapon if the whole world knew about it?

At this point and time Sephiroth would probably be training hard under Hojo's watchful eye, his presence in the SOLDIER program still largely a secret except for those who were privileged enough to train the soon to be legendary silver warrior. Of course for the most part they were then sent on a suicide mission afterwards, only for Hojo to claim their remains to experiment on. Nothing was too much for the wonderful Doctor Hojo.

Since there was no war, no miraculous Sephiroth victories to be made, and no newspaper clippings to be shown there was no evidence at the moment that anything he said was true. That is unless Vincent was willing to trust the rambling of a madman. Hojo clearly wasn't very careful with the notes he wanted his son to read. Leaving them in the open there was a chance that someone else might read them; the question there was, would Vincent? And would the gunman trust those words as truth?

Then there was the final problem with releasing Vincent from his self-imposed prison. Cloud had planned what he was going to do and how he was going to go about it. But if the gunman got out of his coffin right now and actually believed his words, there was the chance that he would leave the five year old behind and attempt to carry out his own vendetta.

He didn't want to risk his plans being ruined by Vincent going in too early; after all he had plans for the gunman. Not that the ex-Turk was going to like them all that much. But still some elements of his other plans really centred around him being able to access parts of the Shinra building he wouldn't be able to without Vincent.

All of those reasons were irrelevant now anyway; he was going to release Vincent from the Shinra Mansion's secret catacomb and hopefully some of his guilt as well. For too long now since he'd remembered the existence of his one time party member and friend, he'd been battling the need to rescue him with the knowledge that he just wasn't capable of doing so. Now the time was just about upon them.

Smiling to himself a little at the thought of a reunion with Vincent, even if he wasn't the same man he'd befriended and later stayed in touch with, Cloud turned his thoughts back to reality and to his more than amused mother.

A flush crossed his cheeks, setting his skin ablaze as he realized he'd completely zoned out in his introspective examination. A smirk of gentle teasing quirked Rayne's lips and a short peal of laughter escaped her before she made her playful retort.

"Good daydream? You were certainly up in the clouds long enough," Rayne said snickering softly at her silly joke, "I guess I named you more aptly than anyone could have guessed."

"Funny mom; very funny," Cloud replied, his lips quirking in a sardonic smile.

"Well I thought so, certainly. It's getting late though; you should probably head to bed now sweetheart. You're already spacing out, and you've got bags under your eyes the size of Wutai," Rayne answered smiling gently as she turned away to put the dishes from the remains of dinner into the sink, her spiky blonde hair wavering as he bounced about.

"But Mom…" Cloud whined sounding every bit like the child this body was, unable to contain himself.

"Not buts young man, you may think you can handle the weight of the world on your own, but you're still a growing young man. You need all the energy you can get so you can grow up big and strong," retorted Cloud's Mother, her voice stern as she turned back from the sink to stare down her child.

"As if that's going to happen…" Cloud muttered to himself, more than a little bitter about the lack of height he'd managed to accrue in his previous body. As a cadet heading into SOLDIER, he'd about reached the peak of his height topping off at around 5'5". An amazingly unintimidating body mass to lug about the wastes and mountains as Zack had when they'd escaped Hojo's clutches together.

Then some time after that he'd been extra lucky, because sometime between Zack's death and defeating the remnant's and his consequent suicide he'd grown another few inches to make his total height a whopping 5'7". Oooh scary.

Ignoring Cloud's muttered outburst Rayne continued, "Besides, I happen to know for a fact that you've been getting up after you've had your nightmares and finishing your school work. Did you think I wouldn't notice you'd already gone through all the work books I have here? That was a whole year's work Cloud, and you've finished it all in the last few weeks."

"Sorry Mom, I didn't mean to, it's just that I couldn't go back to sleep after that, you know how I get. And then I was so bored, there wasn't anything to do in the dark, and I didn't want to wake you up. So I kind of went to the trunk where you keep all the school stuff and I filled it in."

"But you're only five Cloud, you shouldn't have finished all that stuff already. Not that I'm not really proud, because I am, but it's the why you've finished all that work baby. You're too young to have all these problems," Rayne crossed the room and pulled Cloud into a gentle hug, "I just worry about you all the time. I can't protect you from these things, and it scares me."

"I'm sorry Mommy, I know you're upset and worried, and that I'm not like other kids. I wish I could be sometimes, just so you wouldn't have to wish and fret. But at the same time there's nothing that can change what we have. We've got each other the way we are, until one of us dies, or until you decide you hate me and throw me out…" Cloud trailed off into silence, his thoughts playing out on the tip of his tongue will little mental interference.

Rayne gasped a breath in and leant down to pull Cloud into her arms, her own body hunched on the floor as she bowed to the weight of her guilt. She was stunned that her child had been carrying guilt over being so precocious.

"Cloud, I want you to listen to me. No matter what you're told, or what your mind tells you I will always love you. You can grow to be a ten foot tall, afro headed, monkey tailed mutant for all I care. You are, and always will be my baby. No matter what happens I'll be there for you okay?" Rayne asked, her eyes spilling over with tears as she asserted herself.

"Yes Mom, I understand. I love you too, and I'll take care of you ok? I'll work hard, and I'll keep you safe. I promise," Cloud answered, his eyes wavering with tears born of high emotionality and fierce determination.

The small blonde was more than adamant that nothing would happen to his mother this time around. Sephiroth wouldn't burn Nibelhiem, the Calamity wouldn't encourage her son to bring forth Meteor, Sector Seven wouldn't drop, and everything would be just fine. Once he brought down Shinra of course.

"Of course sweetheart, we'll take care of each other, just you and me, the way we always have. Now time for bed, okay?" replied Rayne, smiling gently as she turned Cloud around and guided him to bed.

The covers were pulled back on Cloud's thickly blanketed bed, the sheets tucked down, and then he was tucked tenderly into the nestling coverlets. A soft kiss brushed across his forehead, and his eyes fluttered closed tiredly.

His mother was right, more often than not the last few weeks he'd been up all night. Dreams that started well and quickly fell into the realm of nightmare plagued Cloud incessantly. Flashes of image lingered behind his eyes, burn like the flash of film on an old style camera permanently into his retina's for hours after the dream ceased.

In fact he hadn't had a full night's sleep in more than a week. His eyes burnt with the dry heat of inescapable tiredness, and with a final sigh he turned his head and fell asleep. The final noise invading his weary thoughts was the soft shuffling of his mother's steps as she crossed the room to finish rinsing the small pile of dishes left from dinner.

~ 0 ~

The world was at once vast and miniscule around him as Cloud stared at the open sky. In an illogical and senseless way, the contrast between the two mediums made sense. It probably had more to do with the fact that it was a dream, and things that you experience in a dream make more sense than anything you'll experience in waking life, up until the moment you wake and start to question everything.

A gentle breeze stirred the loose dust snow on the caps of the Nibel Mountains. Clearly the season was late winter, the biting wind still cool enough to send a shiver down his spine. Lifting his arms to rub the bare skin there brusquely, Cloud attempted to brush warmth into his bitten skin.

The rush of a swiftly moving wind whistled through the otherwise silent terrain with piercing lividity against the bare terrain. Silence filled the air with an oppressive weight, broken only by the whistling wind. The lack of sound was both a torment and a pleasure as he scanned the landscape idly.

The sky above was the bluest he'd ever remembered seeing it, untainted by the haze of the post meteor blush that coloured the sky a fuzzy vermillion when the sun alit it in a setting blush. And the soft white clouds, his wispy and swiftly fading namesake, shuffled pensively across the heavens in lazy detriment.

A soft whisper carried across the breeze to fade into his ears languidly, "Cloud…"

Turning a little to gaze at the land behind him, blue eyes scanned the blankets of freshly fallen snow with sleepy confusion. He was sure that he'd heard a voice on the wind for a moment, but then that was impossible since he was asleep in bed in his cosy little house right now anyway.

And yet the sound greeted his perception again, "Cloud, have you forgotten about us already?"

The air in front of him wavered a little, like watching a film through bad reception. Pixels of image her and there shimmered to show through another image, splicing the current scene with another. The unbroken visage of the glittering Nibel Mountains wavered and fell away, carried on the wind and scattered by a vengeful breeze.

Before his eyes Nibelhiem burned anew, the flames searing as the consumed the tiny village. The small buildings formed an oddly perfect picture as they all coalesced into one giant ring of shuddering pulsating fire.

Screams, hoarse and terrified filled the air as people died a fiery death, trapped for the last moments of their lives in a blazing inferno. The sound was terrible and bleakly amusing at the same time. His hands reached for the shivering flames, passing ineffectively through them like a ghost.

Already he knew there was no point in trying to take action; after all, this had already happened. How was he going to change the past, change what was long gone and burnt into faded useless memory?

Turning to the height of the flame he watched as his unconscious body , laying in the ash flecked snow outside the inn, wavered into the waking world long enough to catch Sephiroth's whispered words.

"Now is the time for the greeting," murmured the silver haired madman as he turned away from the scene of rampant destruction he'd created.

Silver hair flew like a glistening banner as it sliced through the air with keen ferocity to rival that of the legendary Masamune. The silken masses fluttered unsigned and unharmed through the searing pillars of flame as the swordsman quickly took his leave through the towering inferno left in his wake.

Unable to turn his gaze aside or shut out the image Cloud was forced to watch as Zack ran around the village rescuing who he could; namely the little boy who peddled Nibelhiem's great 'Seven Wonders', and the boy's mother.

When there was no further opportunity to play the hero in town, no chance of rescuing any others Zack abandoned the blazing village to seek out his normally level headed friend. His pace was swift booted feet falling heavy and rapidly upon the wetly crunching snow as he quickly made his way through the Nibel Mountains and into the Nibelhiem Mako Reactor.

The old metal ground work clanked and hummed ominously beneath the porcupine headed man's feet as he rushed into the room. His sword, the enormously large yet oddly elegant Buster Sword, drawn and held steadily in front of his body in weary anticipation.

Hoarse chatter filled the air in a cross between conspirative whisper and incensed growling as Sephiroth talked to the being he believed to be his mother

"Mother, let's take the Planet back together. I…I had an epiphany. Let's go to the Promised Land, Mother."

Zack finally burst in; interrupting Sephiroth's manic tirade, his own voice coloured by disbelief and anger as he purposely strode forward, "Sephiroth! Why did you kill the townspeople? Why did you hurt Tifa?"

Silence greeted the statement during Zack's brief pause before he demanded confirmation, "Answer me, Sephiroth!"

Almost as if he wasn't aware, or simply just didn't care about Zack's need for answers the silver swordsman ignore the words. His attention remained riveted solely on the shining silver android enclosure bound to the outside of the parasitic alien's tank.

"Mother, they're here again," Sephiroth rasped in rapt attention, "You should have ruled this planet. You were stronger, smarter. But then they came. Those inferior dullards. They came and took this planet away from you. But don't be sad, Mother. I am with you now."

Suddenly deceptively strong arms reached up to grip the edges of the angular robotic face hovering inches away from Sephiroth's own. Swiftly the appendage was ripped free from its socket, oil spilling from the immobile mouth, and sparks flying from the grinning head.

Finally, the fake circuitry and carcass torn away from the room and dropped unceremoniously to the worn floor, Sephiroth regarded the real form of the manipulative extra-terrestrial pretending to be his Mother. A smirk drew itself coldly across the silver haired warriors face sending a shiver of terror down dream Cloud's spine (that look never bode well).

"We meet at last, Mother." Sephiroth greeted proudly.

As if the senseless violence had broken through Zack's shield of stunned inaction he finally took up arms again; swinging the large edge of the Buster Sword over Sephiroth's shoulder. His own lavender eyes were hard and angry as slitted eyes flicked to the hovering blade almost dispassionately.

"Sephiroth!" Zack yelled angrily, "Have you lost your mind?"

Masamune flashed up, a sudden silver blur whistling at amazing speeds through the air with only the kind of finesse its wielder could manage to repel the Buster Sword effortlessly. The sharp ring of blades locking paths wobbled through the air alarmingly, the first signal of battle to the angered black haired man.

"Sephiroth, I trusted you!"

Again blades lashed across each other, this time in a more obvious swoop as Sephiroth launched an open attack against his subordinate. A smile etched upon his face, eyes wide with indefinable madness, Sephiroth engaged a subtle war with his friend until he knocked Zack down a level.

"No, you're not…you're not the Sephiroth I once knew," Zack yelled, his weapon flying into the air as an extension of his arm to point to the other man with resigned determination.

Bracing his arms wide to encompass the world Sephiroth fell into another psychotic inclined speech, "I am the Chosen One. I have been chosen, to rule this planet."

Battle waged, a fierce and brazen engagement flying across the empty floor. Parries, thrusts, and barely avoided slashes befell Zack as the sable swordsman attempted to fend of his friend. His jaw was locked, teeth forced together harshly as he stiffened his frame at every blow to try and push back the jarring shocks to accompany them.

Clearly the winner wasn't going to be Zack, and the moment the acknowledgement appeared in his eyes he was knocked down and disarmed, flying through the door and into the pod room again. There had been little to no chance of the SOLDIER winning against Sephiroth; even as a first class SOLDIER the General's enhancements were far better than his.

In skipping jolts the scene changed, and the air turned thick and green until the images in front of Cloud's face were obscured by the sickly green of Shinra's refined Mako. Every inch of skin burned and seared with pain, trying to reject the unnatural substance. The added chemicals in the mix of Hojo's own creation from his latest experiment waged war with the planets life blood in vicious agony across sensitized skin. His mouth opened to scream, to yell for Zack, but only the glugging of Mako moving through his throat filled his ears.

Agony.

~ 0 ~

Cloud awoke with a hoarse scream dying in his throat, the blurry reality of his tormented nightmare hanging in a confusing haze over his eyes. The searing tang of Mako stuck like glue to the inside of Cloud's throat causing him to swallow convulsively, trying to rid the taste from his memory.

The darkness of the house was well illuminated by Cloud's Mako enhanced gaze, as he crossed the room as silently as possible to get a drink of water from the tap. He'd been so tired upon falling asleep he'd thought, rather foolishly, that the nightmare might evade him tonight.

But of course, why would luck be on his side allowing him a full night's sleep? Of course, if he really tried there was a high chance he could get his hands on some tranquilizers to help him sleep. If he wandered into the wastes just outside of Nibelhiem there was the chance a random encounter might afford him with the blissful stuff…

But with his luck it was unlikely.

Sighing Cloud drew a glass of water from the tap and guzzled the liquid down quickly. When the glass was empty, and the ghost of his past was gone, Cloud turned to look at his mother. Her blonde hair draped the pillow in long blonde strands, a blissful smile on her face as she dreamt of something wonderful.

It was for her, and for those waiting for him to save them yet again that Cloud ignored the nightmares. That he continued on in this five year old body with an infuriating lack of mobility. There were so many things the old Cloud could have done in his sleep that he'd have to either train into effect or wait until he'd grown again to implement.

A sigh of frustration passed his lips and he turned to the sink and placed his glass down gently before with wraith-like quietness he left the house in search of inspiration. He knew what he needed to do; in fact there were many things he needed to do, but at the top of his list was the most important thing of all. More than anything else, Cloud needed to find himself a weapon. At the very least a temporary one.

Grinning to himself Cloud left the water tower and skulked into the Shinra Mansion. It mightn't be his favoured weapon, but he would teach himself this time to make do with anything he found around here. Through the door to the north he found the chest he'd been thinking of, and smirked victoriously when Yuffie's favourite weapon; a Ninja throwing star by the name of Twin Viper emerged from the box.

It wasn't the most ideal weapon in the world for someone who worked predominantly with large and generally unwieldy swords, but under the circumstances it was good enough. After all, he only had to last long enough to get Vincent out of the basement. Even as a five year old, now that he had a weapon he felt almost invincible.

With that in mind Cloud made his way to the top of the stairs and into the decrepit room that had always reminded the blonde of some kind of study. The safe, innocuous enough in appearance, drew the blonde's attention almost immediately. A smile drew across his lips as he contemplated the effort he'd have to expend to defeat the creature within.

Totally worth it.

With swift fingers he threw the combination Right 36, Left 10, Right 59, Right 97. With a click the safe unlocked, and with trepidation Cloud opened the door to release the entombed creature. The horrendously ugly Lost Number flew out of the box and he had to fight the urge to laugh.

"Oh my god, I forgot how ugly you were," Cloud giggled raising Twin Viper and throwing the weapon at the monster. Using the momentary empty handedness he slipped on the silver armlet he'd found when cleaning the puppies rooms.

For a moment Cloud wished he'd taken the time to gather some material before heading into battle first, but shrugging it off as something to remember he caught the star as if flew back to his hand. Lost Number growled angrily at the physical blow before retaliating with a hit of its own.

"Sorry, but it's true," Cloud giggled, euphoria making him more than a little addled. The rush of adrenaline soaring through his veins was better than any drug.

Attacks flew back and forth as Cloud endeavoured to take down the ugly creature, continuously mocking the half purple and green, half red and yellow monster. His own small body took more than one hit, but with the mako in his system healing the wounds nearly the moment they happened, and the silver armlet bolstering his health the attacks were damn near pointless.

Not that the blonde couldn't feel each and every hit, in fact they did more damage than he was willing to let on in those first few seconds until the wound was healed. However mako could only go so far, and Cloud knew he had to finish it. The creature finally split off into its final form, taking on the purple and green colour in its entirety.

Suddenly every hit that slipped past Cloud's too inept guard was even harsher than before. Grunts and whines of pain filtered out of the boy as he took every hit. His energy and stamina were waning; the adrenaline running through his veins the only thing keeping the child going.

And then the final hit was struck with the ninja star, and Lost Number crumpled and disintegrated. Left where the monster had been was the non-too paltry sum of 2,000 Gil. When Cloud searched the vault the creature had been guarding he found a small collection of treasure. Inside the vault he found the manual for Red XIII's limit break Cosmo Memory, the Odin summon materia, and the most relevant of all the items; a key to the Mansion's basement.

A quick glance out the window told Cloud he'd run out of time however; his mother would be waking soon, and if she found out that he'd been out of his bed and wandering around after the talk they'd had just hours earlier then she might just flay him alive…while cackling gleefully.

Rather than face that kind of torment since his skin was guaranteed to grow back thanks to the mako enhancements, he made the decision to hurry home. Now wasn't the time to rescue Vincent. His body needed time to refresh and replenish energy. It was true that had he wanted he could have gone after Vincent and been perfectly fine, but as a five year old; better safe than sorry.

Light footfalls hit the wet snow, the footprints he left behind blurred and fragmented thanks to the awkward run he was forced to take to reduce the chance of getting caught. Carefully he opened the door, shucked his boots and climbed into bed.

Now that the adrenaline was gone from his system, and the weeks activities had caught up with him Cloud was ready to sleep again. This time the nightmare stayed dormant, his dreams blissfully non-existant.

~ 0 ~

With a languid stretch and a pleased smile Cloud awoke. His bones clicked and snapped causing a sigh of pleasure to pass his lips, and then he sat up straight. Only to find that his mother had already gone. A quick glance out the window showed the blonde he'd overslept.

Rushing to the kitchen table he picked up the note his mother had left behind. Really he hadn't meant to fall asleep this long. He'd intended to do some more school work and then head across the town to rescue Vincent.

His eyes scanned the note quickly;

Cloud,

I saw you'd finally fallen asleep again once you came back in last night, that's right I noticed so if you're going to leave then be careful okay, so I've decided to let you sleep in. Clearly you're up to something, but whatever it is I don't think I want to know.

No blowing up houses, leaving the village or playing in dangerous areas. I can already tell you're going to be a brave, mature, wonderful young man someday. Keep yourself alive so I can see that okay?

Be safe, don't bother with the school work I know you'll be looking for. You've already finished every piece of work you need up to the age of eight. Stop working so hard my wonderful little prodigy. Go out and have fun.

Love,

Mom

Ps- I left you an apple for breakfast; I know how much you love them.

Smiling with amusement he put the note on the table and picked up the apple sitting next to the paper. The skin was lusciously red and unbruised. With a delighted smile he brought the apple to his lips and sunk his teeth in, enjoying the crunch as the flesh gave way. Apples were definitely his favourite fruit.

When breakfast was over and done with Cloud threw the core into the trash, drew his shoes on, and left the house. Such was the height of his good mood that he was almost skipping. When a slender figure appeared from the edge of his vision and nearly walked right into him the blonde caught the person and steadied them.

A shock of shining sable hair wavered into his vision, and as Cloud turned his head to regard the person he was holding the familiar shock of recognition hit him. Standing in his arms was none other than Tifa.

While it was true he'd seen the girl many times since she was born the year after him, he'd had little to no interaction with her personally. With a jolt he realized what was about to happen. They were about to talk for the first time.

His mouth opened and closed pointlessly, no words coming out as he tried to find the answer to the situation. It appeared that he was just as socially inept now as he'd been the last time he'd talked to Tifa...well the last time he'd talked to Tifa alive that was.

"Hi, sorry about that…Cloud right?" Tifa asked, ignoring the fish imitation the blonde was making.

"Yeah, um, hi Tifa," Cloud replied stupidly, cursing his inability to think of anything smart to say. They'd once been friends after all, not that this Tifa would remember that, he should be able to speak to her about something.

"I…better go. I'm going to play with Alice and Jenny. I'll see you around okay?" Tifa replied with a friendly smile, ignoring Cloud's blonde moment.

"Tifa, wait," Cloud called as the girl turned away to leave, "If you wanted to hang out some time then…never mind."

Unable to complete the sentence Cloud broke off turning his vision to the side, eyes down cast. He missed his old friends. Up until he'd contemplated getting Vincent out he hadn't really given the idea too much thought. He'd been too busy trying to sort out his plans for the future and trying not to appear too smart.

The last thing he wanted to do was to tip anybody off that he knew more than he ought to. No one could know the extent of his plans ahead of time. Granted a lot of his plans needed more work before they were entirely feasible.

With Tifa standing in front of him he'd suddenly become nostalgic, and the need to reach out and be close with her again was almost tangible. For a single moment he'd forgotten himself and made the effort to reach out and speak the way Tifa had always encouraged him to.

"Okay, I'll see you around soon and we can play, right Cloud? Bye!" Tifa called running across the town to where her two friends stood waiting, watching with giggling voices and whispers.

Blushing with embarrassment Cloud waved and continued on to the Shinra Mansion, carefully checking before he entered that no one was watching him. His footsteps were obnoxiously loud in the building as he rushed across the foyer, up the stairs and into the puppies' room.

When his eyes scanned the room the blonde found the state to be better than he'd hoped. For wild animals the two wolf pups hadn't destroyed too much, or even covered the floor with much excrement. They'd gone mostly where Cloud had shown them the day before, with only the smallest amount of mess elsewhere.

The low keening of the pair let the boy know that not only were his pets awake, but they were hungry and he grinned as he handed off his offering to the two. As he'd made his way through the gate to the mansion a stray monster had nipped at his leg.

Annoyed at being bitten through carelessness he'd swiftly killed the beast and dragged it to the room for dinner. The pups yipped happily and dug into the carcass with starved gusto that brought a smile to Cloud's face.

Reaching out he gently pet one of the pups while he was distracted by food, enjoying the oddly coarse feel of the fur. With a sigh Cloud stood up straight and turned to leave the room.

"Well, wish me luck," Cloud called leaving the room.

Wandering downstairs he gathered his small set of supplies. In hand he had Twin Viper, his silver armlet, and the Odin materia which he equipped to a free slot on the band. When his supplies were readied and there was no more stalling to be done Cloud took in a deep breath and slowly let it out before heading to the secret panel on the wall in the upstairs bedroom to the right.

With a click and scratching growl, the secret door opened to reveal the rickety boards nailed to the wall that passed as some sort of ramp. The air was stale and dry for such a long time of enclosure. Dust settled over every inch of the wood in a way that hadn't happened in the main house.

Resigning himself to having to go down to the place from some of his worst nightmares Cloud stepped up to the frame and made his way over the threshold. Now was the time.

Well that's it for now. Thanks for being here guys. Next time; Cloud will get an ice cream...just kidding we'll see Vincent. We hope. Damn vampire.