Final Fantasy VII (c) Square Enix. Character design by Nomura Tetsuya. No profit is being made out of this fanwork. Please do not distribute without permission.

For maximum coherence, please exercise full suspension of belief.

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Sojourners
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Chapter Twenty-One
A world without you is a world without meaning.


"Oh, hey!" The unmistakable voice of Zax reached the duo's ears before the SOLDIER came into sight. "If it isn't our quarry!"

Cloud leaned forward slightly, eyes wide and breath trapped in his throat. "Zax...?" He whispered in disbelief. In the confusion just now, when he had received all his memories with the force of a speeding truck slamming against an innocent wall, he had almost forgotten that his life saver was walking the earth again.

"In the flesh!" The SOLDIER chirped as he hopped off the chocobo he had been sitting on. It was the black chocobo that Cloud had commanded to stay outside. Right a few steps behind them was the white chocobo, which Vincent was riding on. The dark-haired SOLDIER practically ran up to Cloud and grabbed him by the shoulders, scrutinising him up and down. Startled, Cloud let him. Eventually, Zax finished his examination and released the blond. He stepped back and cocked his head to a side. "It really IS you." His voice was neutral, but there was doubt and confusion in his eyes.

"Zax Fair," Sephiroth forestalled any questions Zax may have had for Cloud by interrupting the reunion. Zax blinked, looking over Cloud's shoulder to his superior, who was staring at him with something akin to mild irritation - but one could never tell with Sephiroth.

Zax did a salute for the sake of saluting. "Heya Sephiroth. Been a while, eh?"

The General's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Follow me. We need to talk," he commanded, and Zax had to shrink a little at Sephiroth's tone of voice. The man was in the mood for lecturing someone. And that someone was him. There was no escaping this, he knew, so he gave Cloud a sheepish smile and walked towards the other SOLDIER.

Sephiroth let Zax go ahead. He waited till Cloud turned around to catch his eyes, then gave the mercenary a slight nod of acknowledgement, before turning away and walking further down the corridor to join Zax. Cloud actually felt his lips tugging upwards at their retreating forms. If what Gaia showed him when giving him his memories back was true, then Sephiroth was going to chew Zax out mercilessly for playing with the reactor's control panel. At least he had the decency to choose to bark at Zax in private.

"Cloud," a monotonous voice jolted him away from his thoughts. He turned, and saw Vincent standing in front of him, holding the reins of both the black and white chocoboes. Red eyes flickered briefly over his form. "I see that you're all right."

Cloud nodded. He found a nearby wall and leaned against it, finally able to relax. "What a ride," he mumbled to nobody in particular.

His friend regarded him for a few heavy moments. "What happened after we got separated at the Crater?" He asked, cutting straight to the chase.

Cloud groaned inwardly and gave his forehead a rough rub, wondering if he should go for the long or short version. "I bumped into Sephiroth and we've been travelling together until now," he eventually settled for the short version.

Vincent's face was impassive, but Cloud could tell that the man was not pleased by the explanation at all. "How did he manage to convince you he was not insane?"

This time, Cloud groaned out loud. "He didn't. I didn't even know who he was."

"Oh?" Vincent's eyebrows shot up and disappeared completely behind his forehead bandanna. Cloud struggled to find the right words to explain the situation to his skeptical friend. "I think, Cloud," the sharpshooter grounded out in a tone that was slightly scolding, "that you had better start from the beginning."

"Well, I..." Cloud opened his mouth, then snapped it shut. He opened it again, and shut it. Putting a hand over his mouth, he thought about what he would say for a while. Finally, he took a deep breath, and said, "At the Icicle Area, when the guides were bringing us to the Crater - I received a message from Gaia. She told me she was going to bring Sephiroth here somehow, and asked me to give him the box and then lead him to the Temple of Ancients in the Woodlands Area. I protested, but she said she'd already done it..."

"That's why you were so distracted and unhappy halfway through our journey there, wasn't it?" Vincent interrupted, wishing to clarify that particular oddity in his memories.

Cloud nodded, the edges of his mouth arching slightly downwards. "You know what happened after that - the Bazookas sneak attacked us and we had to split up. There was this chocobo and her chicks that got caught in the fray. The mother died, so I went into the Frozen Marsh to bury her. That was when I met Sephiroth, coming up from the beach."

"And you didn't think to attack him immediately?" Vincent sounded somewhat impressed.

"Well, no... I mean, I, well..." Cloud sputtered ungracefully, managing to sound offended at the same time. "I fainted," he admitted eventually. "I'd barely managed to escape an Ultima spell, dragged a dead bird a few miles with two hyperactive chicks dancing around my feet at every other step... seeing Sephiroth ALIVE again - and when I least expected it... that really gave me a bad shock. I just conked out. And then when I next woke up," he gazed at Vincent with eyes full of purpose, "Gaia had somehow manage to invade my mind and lock up whatever remembrance I had of Sephiroth. I didn't recognise him at all. He was like a complete stranger to me."

Vincent was silent. He was carefully and meticulously sorting out all the information Cloud was giving him into some semblance of an order. "And he didn't recognise you either?"

"Funny thing, that," Cloud's tone turned pensive. "He's General Sephiroth, not the Sephiroth who'd tried to summon Meteor. Apparently, instead of just spitting him out from the Lifestream as I had originally assumed, Gaia went to the trouble of actually bringing a sane Sephiroth forward in time."

"According to the Seers," Vincent decided that this was a good time to add what he knew to the story, "they brought the two SOLDIERs forward because they wanted them to help out with the Bazookas problem."

"The Seers said that?"

"Yes, when I brought Zax back to see them after finding the man at the Crater."

Cloud thought about it. "Why them in particular?" He wondered out loud. "It's true that Sephiroth is excellent at tactics and Zax knows his strategies, but..." he frowned, "they can't possibly be the only people in history who knew how to fight and manipulate materia well. Why take the risk of bringing Sephiroth, of all people, forward in time?"

"Perhaps you should ask Gaia about it the next time she feels like having a spontaneous chat with you," Vincent commented, wryly. "I can only imagine what will happen if he gets controlled by his pseudo mother again."

"About that..." Cloud's frown deepened. "He IS being controlled," he said, and Vincent's eyes widened slightly. "No, no, it's not what you think," the blond shook his head. "He's being controlled by Gaia. She's using him to destroy the Bazookas' base, if my deductions are correct."

"...it's true that we've been hearing about rebel bases being destroyed rather quickly, ever since the two of them appeared..." Vincent remarked. "But I can't imagine him allowing Gaia to do that..."

"Gaia has her wiles," Cloud sighed. "Either he does it, or she'll possess Zax instead." The sentence made Vincent visibly thoughtful for a second, but Cloud did not notice it. He continued, "I'm actually more confused about HOW she's doing it. As far as I know, she doesn't have a hold on him like that alien did... just... how? Gaia's always been trying to control me, but the most she can achieve is to influence my choices by her riddles. She's never been able to control me outright..."

"You cannot force the willing," Vincent pointed out. "If Sephiroth has given her his expressed approval, then it is only a question of when exactly she wishes to get him to do her bidding. And she will continue to do it, until Sephiroth says enough is enough."

This made Cloud's shoulders droop slightly. "You're right," he mumbled. "He HAS given her the go-ahead. I don't understand why he'd do that, though. He doesn't seem like the sort of person who'd make such a decision..." His words trailed, and he stared at the two SOLDIERs who were further down the corridor, talking to each other in lowered tones.

Vincent followed his friend's line of sight. "I do," he said, startling the blond, who turned to look at him with wide, questioning eyes. "I would have done the same if I were in his position," he spared Cloud a sidelong glance. "Wouldn't you?"

Cloud met Vincent's glance with his own searching gaze. Then he turned away to looked at the two SOLDIERs in the distance. He remembered the conversations he had with Sephiroth in the past few days all too well. It suddenly hit him. It was not that he did not understand, but that he had chosen not to. Sephiroth's position in his memories had always been that of the antagonist. A powerful, unstable man who only had himself in mind, and never others. To have that long held opinion uprooted so quickly and violently in such a short time had shaken Cloud so much that he was subconsciously trying to run away from having to face the facts.

That at one point of time in his life, Sephiroth had been human. He had feelings for the people around him; feelings that moved him to positive action, sometimes at the price of self-sacrifice. Gaia had taken Cloud's memories away from him because she knew how he would react when faced with his former nemesis again. He may not have struck down the General outright, but he would never have trusted him enough to bring him to the Seers.

And then the Bazookas would remain undefeated. The Planet and everyone on it would eventually perish from decay.

"You're right," Cloud admitted to Vincent. "I would make the same decision. Any normal human would," he smiled sadly. They could have avoided this big merry-go-round if he had been strong enough - reassured Gaia that he was up to the job and could treat Sephiroth like the normal person he was. "And he's human too, isn't he?"

Vincent tilted his head to a side. "For now," he agreed. "And that's all that matters at the present." Noticing that Cloud still looked a little uneasy, Vincent continued, "You've been travelling with him for some time. You're in a much better position than I am to judge if Gaia has made the right choice or not. If you don't intend to continue going along with her plan, just say the word." He nodded towards the slightly surprised blond. "I'm with you."

"No, no, it's not that," Cloud frowned slightly as he turned away to look at the two SOLDIERs in the background. "It just occurred to me... WHY does Gaia need to control Sephiroth? I'm sure he's fully capable of destroying the rebel bases by himself... yet... why does she need to do that...?"

Vincent considered the question. "Yes, Sephiroth would, no doubt, be able to take out a rebel base by himself if he really wanted to," he said in agreement. "The Sephiroth we knew and fought against, that is," his last addition had an ominous ring to it. "The man who was being controlled by someone who knew how to tap into his unknown powers."

Cloud stared at Vincent.

"Even normal men can do terrible things when stripped of their natural inhibitions," Vincent explained gravely. "A powerful man like Sephiroth could easily tip the balance of many worlds..." the man's eyes flickered over to the tall figure of Sephiroth, "...in the wrong hands."

The silence stretched when Cloud said nothing in reply. He kept staring at the SOLDIERs, his eyes glowing softly. "Fine," he suddenly pronounced. "So Gaia wants to wield him like a mindless tool because it's the only way to unlock his supernatural powers. That's between them, I suppose. I may not always trust Gaia with what she's doing, but..." the glow in his eyes intensified, as if in determination, "...I actually trust him - against all odds, ha ha..." His laughter trailed off into a deep, long sigh, and all the tension flowed out from his body. "Come to think about it, I was fighting alongside with the man who was my childhood hero all this time..." Cloud smiled a little at that. "That took a while... but the Planet sure has a strange way of granting wishes."

Vincent raised an eyebrow inquiringly, but held his tongue from uttering a teasing comeback. He rarely got to see his friend at true peace with himself, so he let him be. "And I trust you," he said instead.

"...you don't always have to, you know..." The blond sounded like he was protesting mildly. Vincent cut him short with a slight raising of an arm.

"Yes, I do have to," the taller man lowered his arm once he had Cloud's attention. "A world without you is a world without meaning," he said, and meant every word of it. "Who else should I trust, if not you?"

Cloud just stared at Vincent. Stared at him with innocent and probing eyes. At long last he simply nodded, and his smile widened ever so slightly. "Thank you," he whispered.

"You're welcomed," Vincent replied politely. "Now, shall we go see what our SOLDIER friends are up to?"

"Of course," Cloud straightened, no longer the picture of self-doubt. "There's something I need to tell them both."

The two chocoboes - who had been marvellously quiet up till now, warked suddenly and jolted free from Vincent's grasp. The man watched helplessly as the blond was immediately attacked by two rabid birds starving for attention. Cloud let out an undignified yelp, trying to keep the two birds at bay to no avail. Vincent let his eyes stray from the pile of bird feathers, to where Sephiroth and Zax were standing, still having a conversation in low tones. Soon, the noise that the chocoboes were making forced him to turn back to where Cloud was having a scuffle with the two birds. He sighed, shaking his head and moving in to help.

The SOLDIERs would come when they were ready, he decided. Until then, he had better remove Cloud from his feathered friends before they pecked a hole through his head.

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"And that's about it, sir!" Zax finished his oral report with yet another mock salute. Sephiroth's brow twitched slightly, but he kept his composure. Zax did it all the time, knowing full well how much the General hated it, especially when it was obvious that Zax had no modicum of respect for military decorum at all. "It wasn't anything spectacular, just me and Vincent old man chasing the two of you all around the Planet. If I'd known we'd be ending up here again, though, I would've just went to the nearest town and booked a room or something..." He muttered, slightly discontent.

"Thank you for that most illuminating report, Zax," Sephiroth decided to cut in before Zax went off on a tangent again. "Your experience more or less tallies with mine. It appears we were summoned here... the future, to help out with some rebels who are harming the Planet." He discreetly left out the part about Gaia making a deal with him. "And I don't suppose the Seers told you why, when you first met them?"

Zax considered it. "I don't really remember what they said exactly... they did mentioned something strange, though... something about 'Shinra war blocks'. But I don't remember SOLDIER ever having any war blocks - whatever those things are supposed to be, even during the Wutai War." He glanced at Sephiroth. "Any ideas?"

At first, Sephiroth was silent, and his face as impassive as ever. Soon, though, he let out a sigh. "I believe I do have an idea," he admitted. "War blocks, you said?"

"War blocks," Zax confirmed.

"Well," Sephiroth sounded disconcerted, and this disturbed Zax greatly. "It's no wonder they summoned us, then," he mumbled, while trying to get his features under control again.

"Stop teasing me and just tell me what this war block thing is already," Zax huffed, but in a quiet manner.

Sephiroth had the fingers of his right hand on his forehead, and his eyes were shut. "...let's get our hosts. They probably should hear about this as well," he eventually said. Opening his eyes, he turned around and started walking towards where they had left Cloud and Vincent - at the entrance leading to the Seers' throne room. Zax shrugged dramatically. But he followed, nevertheless.

When they reached the other two, Vincent had just managed to drag the black chocobo away from Cloud. Cloud was gently trying to push the white one away from slobbering all over the front of his cape, and when Zax saw that up close, he laughed out loud. Offended, the blond shoved the white chocobo into Zax, who yelped and fell, the feathery creature falling on top of him. Sephiroth allowed his lips to quirk slightly upwards as the sight of Zax being sat on by a bird.

"Oof," Zax eventually managed to get up. "There, there," he pat the white chocobo on its wing, and the chocobo puffed up with a wark. "Smart birds, these," he remarked. "Came running over the ocean while we were at Mideel and took us directly to the two of you!"

This was certainly new information to both Cloud and Sephiroth, who glanced at each other for a brief moment, astonished. "They did?" Cloud turned and asked Zax. "That's... interesting." He frowned. "How did they know... they've never seen you two before... and then there's the question of how they knew where to find US as well..." he looked squarely at the white chocobo, then the black one. The chocoboes looked back at him with large, doleful eyes. "Suspicious," he shook his head. "Very, very suspicious..."

"Yes, I thought so too," Vincent agreed. "But I've checked, and they're most certainly birds of the chocobo breed."

Cloud gave the two innocent looking birds a final once-over. "I suppose that's not important for now," he finally said. He turned his attention to the other three, who were looking at him expectantly. "Sephiroth, Zax," he nodded at both SOLDIERs, surprised at how calm he sounded despite his pounding heart. "Especially Zax. I'm going to have to ask you to suspend your belief and not ask me about how I've managed to live so long, because that's not going to matter much once you eventually get back."

"You know how to send us back?" Sephiroth asked.

Cloud nodded. "I remember everything now," he said by way of explanation. "Gaia pulled you two into the Lifestream when you were at the reactor, and brought you forward in time. Since you came here via the Lifestream, the only way to go back is to go through the Lifestream again. As far as I know, only the Seers have the ability to activate the Lifestream. And they're not going to do that until the Bazookas are out of their hair..." The blond tsked quietly.

"What if they don't?" Zax pointed out. "What if they decide to keep us here even after we do their dirty job for them?" He held his hands up, when he noticed that everybody was staring at him in disbelief. "I'm sorry, I don't know these guys all that well, but there's no guarantee that they'll send us back when we're done, right? Heck, we don't even know if they CAN do it. What if it's just a one-way trip?"

"That is a possibility I have considered as well," Vincent declared, much to the surprise of Cloud. "However, I am very sure that they have the ability to send you back. Let us consider this one step at a time. The Seers are normal humans who do not have an affinity with the Planet by nature, just like all of us," he paused. "How does a normal human usually communicate with the Planet to draw on her powers?" He threw the question out.

"Materia," Sephiroth answered immediately.

And the light dawned quickly.

"They're using materia to talk with the Planet AND use her powers to do things!" Cloud almost exclaimed.

"Yes, they most probably are," Vincent nodded solemnly. "The question now is - which materia?"

Cloud was thoughtful for a few seconds. Then his eyes widened. "Of course... the materia that has the longest and most powerful connection with the Planet... Holy and Meteor...!"

"The black and white materia," Vincent supplied, "which the Seers gave to us at the outset of this entire event."

Cloud blinked. "They did?"

"That's what they said," Vincent shrugged. "That box you were holding on to when we were at the Icicle Area. Is it still with you?"

The blond reached behind him and pulled out a weathered box from where he had it attached. He held the box out to Vincent, who took it. "It's empty," he said, as Vincent opened the lid to the box. "I sort of dropped it during the tussle with the Bazookas up north. I'm not sure how and where, though... I didn't even know it was the black and white materia back then," there was a slight strain of mortification in his voice, and Vincent took pity on him by not questioning him any further about it. He slammed the lid of the box back down.

"In any case," Vincent decided to continue on with the discussion, "I believe the key to sending our visitors back may lie in the black and white materia. There may be uses for these two materia besides normal spellcasting - perhaps a dimension spell that only the Seers know how to use. If we can get our hands on the black and white materia, we may be able to work out a deal with them to ensure that they don't renegade." He passed the box back to Cloud. "Or we could try to figure out how to use them to send the two of you back ourselves."

"So in other words..." Zax folded his arms across and slowly paced a large turn on the spot. "...our next agenda is to find those black and white materia thingy - nevermind I've never heard about materia being black or white, and then decide where to go from there?"

"In a nutshell," Vincent concurred. Contrary to his carefree nature, Zax was, in fact, extremely quick on the uptake. "I'm sure neither of you like being dragged into a war that is basically none of your businesses, am I right?"

"Oh, hey, I don't really mind. The Legend of Zax the Hero can be forged at any time period I want, you know," Zax grinned widely. "But as it is, I need to ask the boss about it first," he cocked his head in Sephiroth's direction. "Well, boss? What say you to the plan?"

Sephiroth ignored Zax' antics. "I wouldn't say that this war is completely none of our business," his tone was careful. "But just in case I've come to a wrong conclusion, I would like to speak with the Seers about the matter, if it is possible, and ask them for some information as well."

Cloud and Vincent glanced at each other. Cloud then said, "They usually appear automatically in the throne room when someone steps inside. I don't know if they will appear now, though. Since the Lifestream just carried them into hiding from the Bazookas..."

"They will, if they want to win this war," Sephiroth pursed his lips tightly together. "But before that, I think you had better remove the Glyph spell surrounding the room," he smiled wryly. "I wouldn't want to get separated from my fellow SOLDIER again so quickly after we've just been reunited," as he was saying all that, he reached out and grabbed the moving Zax by the collar of his uniform.

"Hey!" Zax complained. "I was just trying to get into the room!"

"Sorry about that, Zax... There's a teleportation barrier surrounding the room at the moment. Let me take it down first, okay?" Cloud went towards the entrance while apologising. He cast a magic shield around his hand and stooped down to uncover the dirt that was on top of the Exit materia he had put there. Once he found the materia, he grabbed it and deactivated it. The missing link quickly put a stop to the Glyph spell. The air around the room stopped buzzing with a magical thrum. All present were highly attuned to the Planet's magic, and they noticed the powering down of the spell immediately. Zax whistled in appreciation.

At the same time, he wondered if he could ever get used to this older, wiser Cloud who was so different from the little cadet he knew, and yet so alike.

"We can go in now," Cloud declared, keeping the materia in his pouch. He did not wait for any of them to react, stepping in to show that the coast was clear. The two chocoboes followed, hot on his heels. Vincent went in after them, and Sephiroth had to push the still ruminating Zax into the room. After that, he stepped in as well.

The brightly lit entrance suddenly vanished from the stone corridor.

No one would find an entrance here anymore, no matter how hard they tried.

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20feb2009