There was something that bothered Tseng as he made his way from the training rooms. He had broken a serious rule by impersonating the general in order to interview the cadet; however it was Sephiroth's actions that made him curious. True, the general was probably angry that Tseng had impersonated him, but it was the general's concern towards the grunt that caught his attention. Was Sephiroth expressing a stronger concern than normal? Tseng would have to dig deeper into the matter some other time. For now he had already attracted enough attention to himself for one night.

Sephiroth was in a foul mood as he and the cadet rode the elevator to his office. Cloud could easily sense the tension and even though he knew it wasn't directed at him, he couldn't help but feel intimidated. It felt like being in a confined space with a behemoth. A strong wave of unease came over him and he suddenly felt dizzy from an unknown pressure.

Sephiroth noticed this and looked down at the blonde. "What is it?"

Cloud tried to fight off the headache that was threatening to take hold by pinching the bridge of his nose as he answered. "It's nothing. I just haven't been feeling myself today."

The general wasn't happy with that answer and started moving as soon as the doors slid open. He was already pulling out his PHS before stepping into his office and typed something before putting it away and sitting down. He motioned towards the water cooler for Cloud. "Zack insisted I have one since he believes I don't get enough nutrients. He wanted to install a snack bar and I had to remind him this was an office and not a cafeteria."

Cloud accepted the offer, hoping it would help fight off the headache he was getting before sitting down.

Sephiroth was already busy on his computer pulling up a few files. "Tseng believes he is superior when it comes to using Shinra's computer systems, but I was trained to master all sorts of environments including cybernetic. If he thinks he can get away with that stunt then he is sorely mistaken." Within a matter of minutes Sephiroth had already erased all of Cloud's files from the Turk's data base and locked the cadet's files that were in the SOLDIER data base with some red tape of his own. "Tseng won't find it so easy next time."

"Excuse my comment sir, but what does it matter now if he's already got them?"

Sephiroth looked over at Cloud and smirked. "Because the information he currently has is about to become obsolete."

"Won't it look suspicious if you block my files," asked Cloud.

At this Sephiroth nodded, "That's why I've locked all cadet files as well. The Turks shouldn't be picking up worthy candidates from SOLDEIR anyway. Our numbers are growing far too thin for that these days, and with the director missing as well I've taken over his position until the president can find someone more suited for the job. Perhaps his son Rufus might be qualified."

"Not Rufus…"

Sephiroth looked over at Cloud who was now cradling his head in his hands. It was obvious he was in severe pain, but what he had said piqued his interest. "What do you mean? Have you met the vice president?"

Cloud fought through the pain that was striking him like a nail through his head. "The Turks are loyal to him."

Sephiroth had his full attention on the blonde now. "How do you know this?"

The pain started to fade as Cloud stared at the far wall while his mind's eye saw flashes of Rufus before him. Cloud knew he had never met the man before, but Rufus was covered in a white cloth, shielding his face, sitting in a wheelchair with a Turk at his side. The man held his hand out towards Cloud and then the vision faded.

"Cloud?"

Cloud blinked before turning to look at the general. Sephiroth recognized the lost look in his eyes. "What just happened?"

The blonde looked down at the carpet and scowled. "It happened again."

He heard the order to explain himself even without Sephiroth having to say anything.

"Today I've been getting these strange feelings or visions that don't make sense. Just now I saw Rufus in a wheelchair with a Turk next to him and earlier at Tifa's I felt a strong sense of heartache when I met Zack's friend Aerith."

Sephiroth was absorbing the information before asking his own question. "How long has this been happening?"

"I don't know, they come and go, most of the time it's just a small feeling, but I've been passing them off as instincts and reactions." He looked over to the general and there was worry in his expression. "What does this mean?"

Sephiroth had a theory, but he wasn't sure if it was truly the cause. "It could be a result of changing the flow of events. Things are happening very differently than they did the first time and as a result the time stream could be trying to adjust. What doesn't make sense is why they're affecting only you. If it was the time stream then everyone should be experiencing the same."

"Maybe they're good at keeping it secret," Cloud offered.

"True," the general replied, "but I haven't experienced anything like that."

"Maybe it's because you've already seen what happened because you went to the future?"

"Another good point," Sephiroth admitted. "There's only one way to find out, but it seems he's determined to be stubborn." He pulled out his PHS again and checked his messages before frowning. He then dialed a number and waited for an answer.

"Look Reno, I told you I'm busy. We'll go drinking some other time."

"Lieutenant."

"Whoa, General? I had no idea that was you. What's up?"

"Report to my office, now."

With that Sephiroth hung up and set his PHS down on the desk with a bit more force than needed. It was in times like these that he really missed Angeal's patience and his company.

It took several minutes before the two heard a knock at the door.

"Enter," Sephiroth called and Zack poked his head into the room.

"You're not mad at me, are you?"

"It's been an eventful evening," the general replied while motioning for him to enter.

Zack was surprised to see Cloud already sitting in one of the chairs. "How long has your meeting been going on? You left Tifa's place hours ago." He then smirked. "What, did you guys plan a slumber party or something?"

"This is not the time for jokes Lieutenant," Sephiroth warned.

The ravenette took in the atmosphere before his grin vanished. "What happened?"

It was Sephiroth who answered. "Strife was almost inaugurated into the Turks this evening."

"How the hell did that happen," shouted Zack.

"Tseng set a trap for me. The general never set up any meeting," Cloud replied.

Zack clenched his fists. "That no good punk. Where does he get the nerve to pull something so low! Next time I see him I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind!"

"It's already been dealt with," Sephiroth replied. "However there is another, more important matter to discuss."

"What's more important than that?"

Sephiroth was careful how he asked his next question. "Have you been getting any headaches lately? Or have you been having any strange dreams or visions, or something you can't explain?"

Zack folded his arms as he thought back. "Not really. I mean, there's this one dream I keep having about me and Aerith riding off into the sunset on the back of a motorcycle. Why?"

Sephiroth stood then and faced his window. "Strife has been experiencing events from a different timeline. I wasn't sure if anyone else was experiencing similar symptoms or not."

"Events from a different timeline, like what?"

"So far just a sad feeling about Aerith and a vision of Rufus whom I've never met," Cloud replied.

"Since only you've experienced this Cloud you have to think harder about when it started. You couldn't have just magically gotten such abilities overnight. It has to have a source, Sephiroth told him.

Cloud tried harder to think back over everything. "The other day during my last mission as part of the infantry, when I was hunting down that thief, I used skills I didn't know I had. Tracking and just knowing what type of opponent I was dealing with. And the night before when I woke up in the medical wing. I had never met Reno before, but I felt like I knew him."

Zack realized something then and Sephiroth noticed his expression. "What is it?"

"Isn't that when you said you remembered seeing Vincent," Zack asked.

Cloud nodded. "Yeah, but I still don't remember anything from that encounter, only that he was there."

Sephiroth looked over at Zack. "Are you implying…"

"It makes sense," the raven-haired First replied.

"What does," asked Cloud. "Are you saying Vincent did something to me?"

"That's exactly what I intend to find out," Zack replied.

"We have to find him first," Sephiroth added.

Zack ran his hand through his hair. "Wish he would have left a number for us to call."

Cloud didn't like feeling so useless. So far all he had provided was a few vague clues and gotten them dangerously close to being found out by a branch in the company that was about as dangerous as you could get next to the science department. "Why couldn't I have been the one to travel through time? It probably would have been better for everyone in the long run."

"Right, give the underdog the challenging role of carrying the fate of the world on his shoulders. That's been done a hundred times over Spiky, no offense," Zack chuckled.

"I wouldn't call him an underdog," Sephiroth countered which surprised both of them. "He has proven himself when it counts and the only thing separating his level from ours is the lack of mako and a difference in rank which reminds me…"

The general searched through the papers on his desk before he found what he was looking for and handed it to Zack. "This should keep the Turks away for a while, but you will need to work with him to make sure he's ready for the test in two weeks."

"What is it," asked Cloud.

Zack's eyes darted along the page as he read it aloud. "Personal training of cadet Cloud Strife has been granted to Lieutenant First Class SOLIDER Zack Fair! Awesome!" He pulled Cloud into a headlock and delivered a powerful noogie which made the blonde flinch.

"Zack, my head!"

"Oh, right, sorry!" He let go and the blonde rubbed his head to ease the pain.

Sephiroth fought to suppress the small smirk that attempted to cross his features. "Alright Zack, that's enough. It's not all fun and games. You have two weeks to turn him into Third Class material and you must keep him away from the Turks. Tseng made it clear he wanted him and it won't take much to overturn the order if they can convince the president otherwise."

"No problem Seph, I'll turn him into one hundred percent SOLDIER material or my name isn't Zack Fair. Come on Cloud, you're bunking with me tonight. Goodnight general."

"I'm what?"

The blonde was dragged out of the room before he could protest further as Zack headed towards the elevators, leaving Sephiroth to his own business.

. . .

Down below in the Sector Five slums Aerith was brushing her hair after a nice shower before getting into bed. Her light blue nightgown flowed around her as she made her way from the bathroom and sat down in front of her mirror. She was humming a Gongagan tune that her new boyfriend had taught her while thinking back on the day's events. She was looking forward to the next time they met up and hoped his friend was feeling better than earlier. She always had a strong connection to the planet and could just sense things that others missed. She felt bad that there seemed to be nothing that could help Zack's friend Cloud, but she didn't sense anything seriously wrong with him.

Something caught Aerith's attention and her heart skipped a beat when something moved outside of the window window. She jumped up as the visitor came in and was about to scream when the stranger rushed forward and covered her mouth with a golden metal claw.

A/N: Yeah, I know. Cliffhangers suck. I didn't intend for this chapter to be a short one, but it had been rewritten twice and both times a longer chapter made it messier than it needed to be and it didn't flow well. This version works out much better. I'm just glad I was able to get it done when I did especially when I have so much on my mind. I also have a dentist appointment coming up that I'm nervous about, but it needs to be done. Hopefully it won't be so bad and I can get more writing done because getting anything updated this month has been nearly impossible. 'Saving the Lost' has been suffering because of real life issues as has the other titles that are starving for updates, but for some reason this is the only one I can focus on. I can't believe it's coming up on its first anniversary. Have I really been writing this for a whole year already? It sure doesn't feel like it. Six months maybe, but not a year. I'm still happy it's been so warmly welcomed considering it had existed as a tiny half chapter on my computer for about a year before I threw it on here just to test the waters. Who knew a Sephy time-travel would be more fun to write than a Cloud time-travel. That being said 'Present from the Past' isn't being put on hiatus or anything, it's just stuck behind a traffic jam of stress and lack of time. I don't want to focus on too many stories at once otherwise nothing would get updated. It also doesn't help when my mind draws a blank whenever I sit down to write these days so I'll take whatever chapters I can get.

Okay, I know, long note is long, but I figured you all deserved a more detailed update about what's going on and why updates are taking so long to appear. I do apologize for it, but you never know what life will throw at you and mine just happens to be a bit chaotic at the moment. xD Take care and I'll see you next time!