Quantum Leap

Cloud knew he was not going to be allowed to ship out to Wutai to join Zack and Seph. He'd barely been in the program three months and still had to take Mako shots every three weeks or so. However according to Chaos his friends needed him and Cloud's personal motto was 'friends come first'.

So Cloud was going to put his health and career on the line and get himself onto the roster of troops getting shipped out to Wutai.

It was almost easy to hack into the ShinRa mission database and replace the name of one of the more seasoned third-classes with his own. The shipping-out date was only two days after his next booster, so he would likely be half-dead and suffering aural hallucinations -not a good combination for someone who suffered from travel sickness- but Sephiroth needed him and nobody else understood the man hiding behind the Silver General's façade. Zack could see the older man alright but didn't really know how to engage with him. Besides, Zack would be suffering as well; Cloud had previously believed Angeal to be the sensible one but no, it seemed that Genesis was. And wasn't that a scary thought.

His next booster shot left him bedridden for twenty-four hours. He probably should have rested longer but the dispatch orders arrived through his company PHS at that point and the blond had no intention of missing his flight. So he packed up, doggedly checked his weapons and Materia, found and ingested his SOLDIER-strength travel sickness medication and stumbled out to the rendezvous point. He could explain away his poor health as the drugs and his hatred of any kind of enclosed motor transport, which would stop people from looking deeper into why he looked so awful. Thank Odin for the concealing SOLDIER helmets though; if he got recognised now he'd be sent back to his bunk in short order.

Once on board the transport plane Cloud found a quiet corner, slumped down in a vacant seat and shut his eyes, willing away nausea as he made sure the medical tags around his neck hung outside his sky-blue third-class uniform. He was also wearing the regulation sword he personally never used, Heaven's Cloud, Yoshiyuki and Apocalypse all hidden away in his inventory pack with his dragon armlet; without them he blended in nicely with the rest of the SOLDIER third-classes, his slightly shorter stature not noticeable when he was sitting down. Letting the drugs lull him into a stupor the blond focussed on what he would have to do on reaching Wutai in order to help his friends; most importantly, he needed to get better as quickly as possible.

The next thing Cloud knew he was being shaken awake. By a fellow SOLDIER, which was why his danger-sense hadn't been set off by the man.

"Up and at 'em, SOLDIER," a second-class -Sebastian, Cloud thought his name was, one of Zack's friends- said quietly. "I saw the tags; travel sickness huh? I'm guessing you were drugged insensible for the entire flight."

Cloud managed to grunt an acknowledgement as he carefully rose to his feet. There were wispy green veils trailing across his vision, whispers in his ears and all his senses were hypersensitive. Too loud, too sharp, too damp, too bright, too rough... He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and resolutely ignored it all. He had not staggered out of bed halfway through his recovery period just to get sent back before he could do anything. He had to stay under the radar until after the plane had left again.

"Everyone else is unloading the supplies from the hold," Sebastian told him as he supported the helmeted blond's tottering steps towards the exit. "I'll get you down to your bunk so you can finish sleeping off your meds. What the science department hands out to SOLDIERs could drop a behemoth."

Cloud allowed himself to be steered across an airfield, through a bustling campsite and into the rough barracks built of logs and full of bunks. Pausing by an empty bed he shoved his official pack and inventory underneath the frame. "Thanks," he managed to rasp before flopping down on top of the covers and just lying there. The second-class chuckled softly, pulled Cloud's boots off and left him there.

"I'll give your excuses to lieutenant Fair," Sebastian promised. Cloud barely had a chance to smile his thanks at the older man before disorientation and sensory overload gripped him again and pulled him down into green haze.

The next time around Cloud was dragged back to wakefulness by a familiar voice.

"... Spiky, you idiot, what are you doing out here? As soon as I saw your name on the roster and Sebastian mentioned a guy with severe travel sickness I just knew something was up; you're Mako-sick aren't you? You're supposed to be in Midgar safely tucked into bed or training in the practice rooms, not out here in the field away from competent medical help," Zack rambled. Cloud still felt a bit queasy and his senses were still a bit to acute for comfort but he was no longer seeing green everywhere and the hallucinations had stopped. No more whispers, roars or howling choruses.

"Zack," he rasped, cracking his eyes open to see his friend sitting on the edge of his bunk. "Water?"

"Spiky, you're awake!" the second-class exclaimed, swiftly handing over a water bottle and hovering as Cloud poured some of the precious liquid into his dry mouth. "What the hell were you thinking, coming out here?"

Cloud shrugged, levering himself halfway to a sitting position. "Ordered to deploy."

Zack frowned at him, eyes suddenly serious and the blond was abruptly and unpleasantly reminded that his friend was being considered for promotion for first-class. However naively optimistic he looked, the tall brunet was smart, quick and highly aware. "Cloud, don't even try to feed me that bullshit. There's no way you would have been deployed during your six-month induction. Try again."

"Clerical error?" Cloud offered weakly. He didn't want to tell; secrets were easier to keep when nobody knew about them.

Zack rolled his eyes. "Fine, don't tell me and I won't call you out on it, but you will be staying in bed until you're better. Mako sickness is nothing to mess about with." The second-class slumped miserably. "Now I'll have to tell Seph that his precious student has smuggled himself out here and is sick as a dog. Joy."

Cloud patted his friend's arm comfortingly. "He won't shout at you, Zack. Just ask you how the hell I got out here then dash over to rip me a new one for being so careless of my health. Then as soon as I'm well enough he'll drag me out to a practice field and work me 'till I drop as punishment for being an idiot."

Zack chuckled. "Heh. So he will. Then he'll hover like a mother chocobo until you're on your feet again and all will be well once more." He paused. "What do you know about what happened out here lately?"

"Valentine stopped by my room a few nights ago and told me," Cloud said, keeping his voice too low for eavesdropping SOLDIERs to pick up on and not mentioning Chaos at all. "Genesis deserted ShinRa Zack, not you or Seph. But it had to be kept secret or you'd have been suspected of collusion. Seph would have had to stay behind anyway to protect the remaining SOLDIERs from the high-ups' idiocy. Genesis learnt he had younger siblings in a ShinRa lab somewhere and defected so he could get them out; I have no idea why Angeal left through."

Zack was silent for a moment, processing the sudden change in situation. "I get it," he replied softly, "but I don't like it. Why would Angeal abandon us like that?"

"No real idea," Cloud admitted, "not even Valentine knew. It may have something to do with Genesis being his first friend but that doesn't really hold water."

The second-class snorted. "So much for honour."

"Honour is all well and good but family and friends come first," Cloud said firmly, "which is why I'm out here in the first place. Honour is cold comfort if everything else is gone. You fight for your comrades and friends as much as you do for the pride you have in your rank, don't you?"

"I suppose so." Zack brightened a little. "I'll go see to it you get fed and tell Seph that his protégé smuggled himself out to the front. That should distract him from terrorising the auxiliary personnel about the fact communications are down."

Cloud shifted around until he was sitting up on his bunk. Yes, Sephiroth would be livid that he was out here and Mako-sick, but it was better than the alternative.

Cloud does his hero thing and engages in a little illicit activity to bend the world his way.