Cloud's hand overlaid Zack's and the world shattered like glass, darkness surging in around them. Maybe he should have asked Cloud what to expect before diving in head first, but it was too late now. He couldn't even see Cloud through the darkness, couldn't see his own hands, or feel them for that matter. Shouting too was a moot point, his voice hardly qualifying as a whisper in these dark chambers, and Zack was starting to think something went wrong when he blinked and colors poured over his surroundings.

His sight adjusted seamlessly as he now stood under moonlight, sandy ground beneath his boots and tall mounds of earth encircling him. At his feet grass swayed beside a slumped figure propped against a rock and he was racked with horror because the figure was Cloud.

"The Turks are here, too. It's too dangerous to move now," Zack's vocal chords worked without his input, tone nonchalant despite how Cloud did not appear capable of hearing him. "We'll rest here till morning. Then we'll leave at dawn."

The blond's hazy, half-lidded eyes didn't so much as blink and Zack barely held his terror at bay, for in Cloud's irises was enough mako to fuel a building. Just like those podded creatures in the reactor, just like Sephiroth as he razed the town, Cloud reeked of mako.

"Eh," Zack's lips stretched into a winning smile. "We'll be alright." He wondered if he spoke for his own benefit or his friend's when crunching footfalls wiped the smile off his face and he hissed, expression severe as he swiveled towards the Turk nearing them.

"Cissnei..." Zack shifted in front of Cloud, hand already reaching back for his sword. He didn't want to hurt her, never enjoyed hurting anyone, but if this was the only way to escape...

"Wait..." Cissnei looked past him, eyes widening. "He...he's the other sample they collected from Nibelheim." She ignored Zack's battle ready stance as she focused on his injured friend. Zack swiftly angled himself to block Cloud from sight, yet Cissnei doggedly continued. "He doesn't look well, Zack." Her lips pursed and she sounded truly concerned while asking, "Is he alright?"

"Mako poisoning. Severe case." He curtly replied, trying to ascertain what type of game she was playing. After all, she made her stance clear on the beach, her loyalties lied with Shinra. They weren't friends anymore. Maybe they never were.

Horror drained the color from her face and Cissnei turned away guiltily. "The experiments, isn't it?"

"Yeah." He confirmed the experiments, the torture, Cloud endured led to his current state, and inwardly scoffed at the sympathy shimmering in the Turk's chocolate brown eyes, not falling for her act.

Only to nearly drop his sword as she lied to Tseng over the phone, lied to her boss for him.

"That's how it is..." Cissnei snapped shut her PHS. "So get away safely." She spared him a tiny smile, though her eyes begged him to be careful.

"Thank you..."

Warm gratitude spread across Zack's veins, rekindling hope in his heart as she turned.

"Cissnei."

Her amber curls bounced as the area faded to black and she rushed into the darkness.

Then the setting rearranged itself. The shadows stretched and shrunk until flecks of gray punctured the black and Zack's eyes opened to rain clouds polluting the sky above.

Every tendon and organ in his body screeched bloody murder as he lied back on the rocky earth. Pain seared his flesh down to the bone. The air in his lungs was acid as it forced his chest to expand and contract, each wheeze reopening the half-healed bullet wounds and severed skin on his torso. Blood was rushing up his throat and Zack choked on its coppery taste while the trooper standing over him cocked his gun.

Maybe Zack could have talked the guy out of killing him if he wasn't hacking out his own blood, but he would never know as the trigger pulled back and the bullet shred his heart to ribbons.

"Will I..."

His angel wore a pink ribbon, wore it every day.

"See you again?"

Shame he was dying drenched red, he only ever wanted to see her in pink again.

'

The rain stopped.

'

Golden light shined down on Zack's body and he reached up.

Those wings...

The white clouds parted as he rose into the sky.

I want them too.

Zack smiled.


Cloud tried to resuscitate Zack, tried everything, yet still the First lied flat on the floor, chest unmoving. So Cloud ran.

He threw open the door across the hall and didn't care how the Turk inside jumped, one arm stuffed in a black suit sleeve and other swinging the sharp tip of her shuriken towards his jugular.

"Zack's not breathing!"

She froze, shuriken a centimeter away from splitting the skin of his neck, and he sped back the way he came knowing she would follow.

Cloud dropped to his knees at Zack's side and a second later the Turk was crouched beside him, black suit still half on. "How long?" she asked, hands hesitating over Zack's prone figure and fingers twitching from inaction.

"Two minutes," his voice cracked while newfound terror shadowed the woman's expression. They both knew brain damage set in after two minutes of oxygen deprivation and after four the damage was irreversible. Being a SOLDIER bought Zack an extra minute, but the seconds were flying by.

"Get the defibrillator." Cissnei ordered before placing her hands on Zack's chest and starting compressions. Cloud was gone by the time she began forcing air into his lungs.

He leapt down the staircase, uncaring how the inn keeper started at the commotion, and flung open the front doors. The crates they couldn't fit inside their rooms were stacked against the side of the inn and Cloud dove at the box labeled HEALTH. The lid thudded back while he dug through the supplies. He pawed past bandages, gloves, a thermometer and stethoscope, and cursed upon reaching a bottom void of a defibrillator.

He shoved the crate and it crashed to the floor on its side, medicine bottles spilling onto the dirt while he tore into the crate that been beneath it. Cloud tossed out medical equipment left and right, his pants thudding in his eardrums while the clock in his head ticked faster and faster. He pitched himself into the crate when he realized his arms couldn't reach all the way down, and wood digging into his gut, barely kept upright as his nails scraped the crate's bottom.

No defibrillator in sight.

Cloud couldn't breathe. This was the only other medical crate so if it didn't contain a defibrillator Zack was going to die die die!

A red heart symbol on a white box slipped out between the junk he shoved against the walls of the crate's interior. Soul singing, Cloud tore the box free, threw himself up and nearly tripped over the pill bottles littering the ground as he jetted into the inn.

Sprinting up the staircase, Cloud was back in the room and at Zack's side in five seconds flat.

Yet the SOLDIER's chest wasn't moving, and his skin was paling by the second, Cloud swore. The Turk snatched the defibrillator from his limp fingers and yanked up Zack's shirt to set the defibrillator pads on his bare chest, but Cloud hardly noticed as his vision tunneled and the clock ticks in his head grew deafening.

The room darkened around Zack's dead dead body until the SOLDIER was bleeding out and holding Cloud under the storm. Blood stained Cloud's face, boiling hot compared to the freezing rain splattering onto his skin. The sky was weeping as Zack thrust his sword into Cloud's trembling hands and breathed his last. Then Zack's skin decomposed, breaking down into a neon green liquid that was rapidly inhaled by the earth until only his bones remained.

Zack's skull grinned at him.

"It's not working!"

The Turk's frustrated cry broke Cloud out his daze. He blinked and numbly noticed the woman's expression was out of place. Turks were renowned for being flippant or stoic, but the woman on her knees with misty eyes and sweat dotting her brow was undeniably scared.

It stuck a knife in his heart to witness her dedication as she continued chest compressions on the First. Zack always did have an amazing effect on people. He radiated like a miniature sun, heart on his sleeve, energy boundless, and most deadly weapon, his smile. One couldn't help being drawn into Zack's orbit, his gravitational pull rivaling a black hole's. Even Turks weren't immune, everyone hooked on the rare patch of sunshine in their dreary world.

Cloud started crying and didn't care who saw. Wet globs slid down his cheeks and he fell forward on his hands as the defibrillator shocked the First. Cloud watched the SOLDIER's chest lurch up, daring to hope it worked, and knowing it wouldn't as Zack fell still once more.

What had Cloud done? He killed his best friend and didn't even know how. Did seeing the vision give Zack a heart attack? Was witnessing his death that bad-

No, wait...Zack didn't witness his death. He lived it.

Cloud gasped, recalling his talk with Aerith. The Planet didn't just show them the future, it placed them inside their future selves bodies, so if Zack was in his future self's body as future-Zack died then the death carried over from the vision, made Zack's mind think he was actually dead. In order to save him Cloud needed to get the First's brain to realize he was still alive!

"Move aside."

The Turk's head whipped up, tears on her lashes. "W-what?"

Cloud didn't reply as it been four minutes and Zack only had seconds left. He quickly wiped away his tears and searched the floor, eyes darting all over until he noticed Zack's hand loosely curled over his lily. Cloud didn't hesitate to set his hand over the golden yellow flower, call to the Planet, and conjure up every memory he had of Zack alive.

The day they met, snowflakes shimmering in their hair, gold and ebony locks bobbing as their full-belly laughter carried in the wind.

Zack in Junon, greeting Cloud by name and showing nothing except sympathy, no jabs at him for being weak or useless, as his motion sickness lingered.

The First dragging Cloud out the Shinra Building and giving him an unofficial tour of Midgar, never once laughing as Cloud oohed and ahhed over the ginormous buildings and jam-packed streets.

Zack and him in the training room, Cloud falling on the mat and head hanging in shame until Zack's stern expression waned into an easy-going grin and the First offered his hand.

Cloud wasn't sure if he was picturing the memories or the Planet placed him in a series of visions, but understood it was the Planet's doing as he found himself immobile in that yellow truck. Zack was alive, and how wondrous it was to see his lungs inflating with air, skin aglow in the sunlight and smile adorning his face.

"I'm going to become a mercenary! Boring stuff, dangerous stuff, anything for money. I'm gonna to be rich!" His arm pumped in enthusiasm before Zack flashed his teeth at him. "So Cloud, what are you going to do?" He waited a moment as if expecting an answer then barked a laugh. "Just kidding!" His face softened and eyes shiny, his voice shook as he vowed. "I will never abandon you."

Cloud believed him, heard the fervency in his tone, so when the inn room came into focus and the blond found himself sprawled out next to Zack, he wasn't too surprised when the First's hand twitched in his.

"Zack?!" The Turk leaned forward as the raven-haired blinked, groaning as he pushed himself up. Cloud did the same, struggling to do it one-handedly since he refused to let Zack's hand go.

"Ugh," the First shook his head before staring blank-faced at the Turk and making her and Cloud fret because what if they were too late? What if Zack had brain damage like amnesia or-

Zack's eyes grew impossibly wide and darted from the Turk's partially undressed state to the sweat on her forehead, and taking in the mere inches between their faces. "Hey, Cissnei," Zack chuckled nervously, leaning away. "I know I asked you out to dinner once, but I'm engaged now so please tell me this isn't what it looks li-"

Cloud socked Zack's arm hard while Cissnei burst into half-hysterical, half-amazed giggles.

"Ouch!" Zack rubbed his arm and turned to Cloud with a comeback on his tongue, but the blond burrowing into him whisked the words away.

"Y-you idiot!" Cloud shouted into Zack's neck, hand bunching up the back of the First's shirt while fresh tears spilled down his face. "You're t-too stupid to live!"

He wasn't really sure what he was saying, but when the chest beneath him rumbled in laughter, Cloud was infuriated until Zack's hand fell on his head. "Aw, Cloud, of course I'm going to live." The First tousled his hair rougher than usual, reaffirming to the cadet he was solid, real, and not dead while Cloud's tears streamed onto his uniform. "Cause if I didn't, you'd be left alone, right?" His voice mellowed into a tender sincerity. "And I will never abandon you."

A laugh sputtered out of Cloud like an old car trying to start, and gripping Zack's uniform with his paper-white knuckle while Zack hugged him back, neither noticed between their joined hands laid the lily. Gray, withered, and fragile as glass.

It was dead.


Aerith didn't get up the next morning.

She lied in bed for hours. Strings of hair dangled over her half-lidded eyes, body a lumpy rock under the covers.

Her mom knocked on the door, peeked in, asked if she was okay, and didn't seem to believe Aerith's claims of a stomach ache.

Aerith didn't care. Her PHS was cold and silent as Zack's smile in the picture atop her dresser. She'd framed the only proof of their love in gold, believing it would outlast wood.

Silly Aerith.

Nothing gold ever stayed.


Cloud was getting tired of repeating himself. However, at Zack's insistence, he explained everything to the Turk sitting beside him on the bed. He appreciated how Cissnei heard him out without interruption and remained straight-face despite how insane it must have sound.

She posed a few questions once he was done, though Cloud couldn't answer all of them since he genuinely didn't know what spurred the Planet to act on Zack's behalf or why Cloud was apparently so important to the Planet. Cissnei squinted at him, peering deep into his eyes, and Cloud unconsciously leaned away. She was a Turk after all, black suit slimming her figure as well as giving her an authoritative presence while she flexed her gloved hands.

Abruptly she smiled and patted his head. She claimed he was too cute to be a liar, adorable as a chocobo chick.

Cloud scowled and whipped towards Zack. "Just how many people have you called me a chocobo chick in front of?!" he demanded.

Zack didn't turn around from where he examined the notebook papers taped and lined up on the wall, chin resting in his palm as he said, "I can't help it if you're cute, buddy." He twisted around, devilish grin locked in place. "Besides, women love the cute ones." He winked and Cloud choked, blush creeping up his neck and face tomato red as the Turk laughed. Sometimes he hated Zack, really he did.

"So, you guys done?" Zack glanced between him and Cissnei, and once they nodded, the First's lips hitched up. "Great. Come over here."

Curiosity sparked in Cloud as he and Cissnei approached the wall while Zack backed up so they could examine it. All the pages from Aerith's journal were taped to the wall in four rows with their titles posted beside each line, having been cut off the top of some pages. Most of the notes contained Aerith's handwriting, her loopy and prim penmanship a stark contrast to Zack's rushed scrawls and Cloud's sloppy cursive.

"Nice arts and crafts." Cissnei smirked while bending forward to read the top row up-close. "How did you order them?"

Zack pointed up to the row's title Messages. "These are all the Planet messages Aerith recorded, excluding the times the Planet talked during a vision, set in chronological order." He waved from left to right and tapped the third page. "This is the last message, assuming she hasn't gotten another since Cloud called her."

Cloud nodded and pointed at the second row. "And these are our theories about what each message means." His finger slid down to the third row. "This is a timeline that has descriptions for every scene we saw in the Planet visions."

"Yeah, and if a scene was shown to more than one person, I put the descriptions on top of each other." Zack thumbed one page to reveal two other pages beneath it. "I tried ordering them chronologically, but I'm not sure it's totally accurate since the visions came to us out of order."

Cissnei scrutinized the fourth row. "And Miscellaneous?"

"That's where we documented feelings or hunches we have about the Planet's warnings, and since Aerith dated all her notes, I ordered them chronologically too." Zack pointed to the first page. "These are hunches Aerith had about my death, which for some reason include me either being set on fire, stabbed, or the sky kidnapping me."

Cissnei cocked her eyebrow. "You weren't kidding, Aerith really is terrified of the sky. She does realize it isn't a living being?"

Zack shrugged. "I didn't think the Planet was sentient either, but then it started telling my girlfriend about the future, so maybe she's on to something."

Cissnei blinked twice. "Fair enough," she conceded.

"Fire?"

Zack and Cissnei turned to Cloud, who stared fixedly at the Miscellaneous row with wide eyes. "Every time I see or think about General Sephiroth, I smell smoke or feel hot like I'm standing next to a fire." Cloud's insides pinched together, his brain screaming there was a connection.

Zack grimaced, nodding. "I noticed that pattern after I read your note, which is why I put your fire thing next to Aerith's hunches about my death." He moved on to another page in the row. "I also wrote about my experience in the reactor when I had thoughts about Jenova," Cloud shuddered, chilled by the mere name, "And Sephiroth that didn't feel right, almost like I was hearing someone else's thoughts. Since Cloud reported a near identical experience, I put our notes together."

Cloud recalled the bugs crawling under his skin sensation as he entered the reactor. The stench of blood burning his nostrils and adrenaline in his veins. Then his rant to Sephiroth, which mortified him even now, not being entirely his decision. Something inside him, like another person's voice, practically forced Cloud to shout at the general. It was a lot like Zack's experience, but Cloud thought the phenomena also likened seeing a Planet vision and being in a body that was not his own, his future self's thoughts floating in his head.

"Bravo." Cissnei clapped, and the boys were taken aback as she plucked all the pages off the Messages row and set them either atop or next to a Timeline page. Seeing Zack and Cloud's confusion, Cissnei smirked. "Don't you see? Time is the most critical factor here." She gestured to the wall. "That means if we want to understand everything we have to get all these messages, theories, and hunches to lineup with the notes in the Timeline."

Cloud let that wash over him and wanted to hit himself while Zack actually did slap his forehead. "Are you telling me I just wasted the past two hours organizing everything incorrectly?"

Cissnei's smirk broadened. "Like I said, nice arts and crafts, but how about you leave the detective work to Shinra's Investigation Department next time?"

"Aw, man!" Zack slumped, a motion that was ignored as Cissnei focused on reorganizing the notes, smug look never leaving her face.

Cloud hesitated, but soon offered a helping hand and eventually Zack crawled out of his slump to help too.

Together they realigned the pieces.

Together they reached a horrifying conclusion.


Aerith slept in the church for a week. She reached her limit at home, couldn't take her mother asking, "Are you okay?" with lips twisting in worry and eyes crinkling at the corners. It was Aerith's fault for missing breakfast five days straight, only coming down for a late lunch and rarely eating a third of it.

The guilt lodged in Aerith's chest was too heavy a burden when Zack's disappearance left her frail and shaky, so Aerith left at dawn. She breezed into a Market shop, ignored the cashier asking, "Are you okay?" as he rang up the bedroll and whisked herself off to the church.

Her mom probably thought she was tending to her garden, getting better.

She wasn't.

Aerith laid in her pink bedroll all day, back to her flowers and facing the church doors. She spent her time alternating between waiting for Zack and drifting into a semi-sleep. Sometimes the two pastimes merged. Aerith got so caught up in a daydream she saw Zack pushing open the doors, all smiles and sky blue eyes tasting like freedom, and she would jump up only for the image of him to dull and flicker until like dust swept up in a breeze, there was no sign he ever been there. Aerith would always slink back into her bedroll, cold despite its thick plush, and submerge herself within its folds.

She tried going home by nightfall, lies about flower tending and wedding planning on her tongue, but most nights she couldn't. Lifting a finger was too much work so Aerith slept in the church, barely remembering to text her mom a "I'm okay" before drifting off.

Sometimes she woke up and screamed at the Planet. She shouted like a madwoman at her garden and imagined the flowers shrinking back like children facing their mother's wrath. Aerith pretended not to see the flower wagon lying in pieces at the garden's edge. It didn't matter, Zack would come back and fix it one day. Maybe. Probably. Please come back soon, Zack.

Sometimes he visited in her dreams. Zack's hands ghosted over her hips, lips grazing her own and laugh ringing in her ears. Those were the only times Aerith felt warm, excluding the one time Zack frowned and asked, "You okay?"

She didn't reply, figuring it was a hallucination. She did forget to eat yesterday and the day before that perhaps. Though maybe someone actually did ask, for Aerith woke up to a lukewarm cup of tea and strawberry jam spread on toast set on a gray plastic tray. She nibbled on the bread despite it tasting like dust and drank all the tea because it was clearly imported from Wutai, based on its rich flavor, and even in her misery, Aerith was well-mannered enough to appreciate it.

She trudged out the church to visit her fretting mother later that night and stopped in front of her house. She turned back and offered her stalker a tiny grin. Tseng was too far off for her to gauge his expression, but she hoped he caught hers. "I'm okay," her smile swore.

The next morning there was a steaming pot of tea on the tray at the church. As she poured herself a cup and considered how to repay the Turk, Aerith realized Tseng had caught her expression. He saw her smile say, "I'm okay," but saw beneath that it said, "I'm not, I'm not, stop asking, please, stop. I'm not okay."

Aerith sipped the scalding tea and feigned another smile.


Cloud's heart breached the skin of his chest and flopped onto the floor while he clutched the sides of his face, falling back onto the bed. He couldn't think, words tangled and twisted in his mind as his entire vision was encompassed by Aerith's notes and the letters branded themselves onto his brain.

Nibelheim was going to burn, Zack was going to die, Nibelheim was going to burn, everyone was going to die, and Cloud needed to puke.

Acidic liquid was crawling up his throat already and strangling him of what little air he had left, yet Cloud managed to gasp. "We-we gotta find Sephiroth and stop him. We gotta look for him and stop him before-" He swallowed down the bile and sucked in oxygen through his chattering teeth. "My mom is here, and Tifa, and it's not very big, Nibelheim isn't, but lots of people live here so we gotta find him or-or..."

Cloud looked up and saw Zack staring at him with his brow furrowed and concern in his eyes while Cissnei appeared unmoved. What was wrong with them? Didn't they get it? Nibelheim was going to burn and Cloud couldn't let that happen. Not again. This was his home, his mother and Tifa were here, so why didn't they care?!

Cloud leapt to his feet and marched past the two with every intention to find Sephiroth himself, but his vision cut out at the doorway and he tottered, certain for a terrifying second he was going to faint.

The moment passed, shapes and light flooded his sight, but now Zack stood in front of him with a frown. The First's lips moved, but Cloud only made out pops of consonants, which interrupted the shrill ringing in his head. He tried shaking off the noise and black spots cropped up in his vision while a sudden headache nearly bowled him over.

"-hear me?" Zack stood even closer now and was...taller?

It took Cloud a second to realize he was no longer standing, but seated on the bed. He tried getting up only to find his arms were weighed down. He turned aside and saw Zack's hands holding his elbows. Huh. Was it bad that he couldn't feel the First's hands?

"Cloud," Zack said, a smudge of ebony locks and tan skin as Cloud's sight zoomed in and out. He squinted until the magnifying glass effect stopped and Zack asked, "When was the last time you ate or drank anything?"

Good question. Cloud racked his brain for the answer, but could only say, "While 'go," he slurred or maybe his rural accent was coming out now that he was outside Midgar and back home. Good ol' Nibelheim, home sweet h-

"It's going to burn!" Cloud suddenly lurched forward, grasping Zack's arms back. He needed to warn the First, they had to stop Sephiroth or it was all going to burn!

Zack's face morphed into a paradoxical mix of emotions. Encouraging smile on his face yet anxiety darkening his eyes into a royal blue, the First nodded. "Yeah, Cloud, I know. It will be okay," he said it slowly, enunciating every syllable with precision yet it took Cloud a good while to understand.

By the time he did, Zack was gone and a pretty Turk stood in his place, offering him a cup of water in a styrofoam cup. He reached for it. Missed. Tried again, and only got it because the Turk caught his hand and adjusted his fingers around the cup, letting go only once his grip was firm.

As he sipped, his hand shook and the water dribbled over his chap lips. Above him the Turk turned back to Zack saying, "He's dehydrated..." Her fingertips tickled his free hand's wrist before she released it. "...steady pulse...not in shock..."

Cloud didn't bother absorbing the meaning of her words, too engrossed by the cool liquid soothing his parched throat and how it felt running down his chest and branching out into his veins. He sighed in contentment, in and out, in and out, breathing deeply while the fog in his brain dispersed.

Nibelheim was going to burn, Zack was going to die, and Cloud needed a break. His brain hurt, chest still sore from the fall and nerves shot after his electrifying encounter in the reactor. Even his heart felt bruised, wrung out and seconds away from bursting. He also hadn't eaten since breakfast and now starlight was winning the battle against sunshine outside as the sun dipped into the horizon. The whole day flown by and anxiety renewed within Cloud because this was a day wasted, a chance to stop Sephiroth lost.

He set the empty cup on the dresser, eyes on the window and searching for a spot of silver hair as he stood.

"Cloud."

He didn't turn back as he approached the window and observed the hustle and bustle of town square. "We need to find Sephiroth."

A hand landed on his shoulder and squeezed. "I know. We will."

Cloud spun back, wrenching out of Zack's grasp. "We have to find him now!"

Zack was shaking his head side-to-side before he even finished. "Not now," he said, expression diplomatic.

"But-"

"Do you think you can beat Sephiroth single-handedly?"

Cloud recoiled, nearly swallowing his tongue in his haste to retract his planned retort. "Uhh, no."

The First sighed, arms crossing. "Good, because I know I can't beat him."

Cloud's eyes widened, and Zack tried to smile, but it was too tight to be mistaken as authentic. "We've had a long day," he turned, walked over to the timeline and stopped. "I've had a long day," he looked over to Cloud. "And even on a good day I'm no match for Sephiroth." His voice wavered and Cloud wanted to refute him, reassure him, but they both knew he was right. Sephiroth and Zack were both First Class, but when it came down to brute strength and speed, Zack would last a while, but in the end the victor would not be Zack.

Cloud's shoulders lowered and he bit his lip. "Okay, I...I guess it can wait till we're better prepared tomorrow."

Zack nodded, staring pensively at the timeline for a moment before sending Cloud a small smile. "Get some rest, okay?" He began walking backwards, smile widening as he reached the doorway. "Don't force me to make that an order."

Cloud rolled his eyes and moved to perch on the nearest bed. Then he sent Zack a petulant look that said, "See? I'm going to bed. You can go now."

Zack chuckled as he turned frontwards, shutting the door behind him. Cloud huffed a laugh, feeling more like himself than he had for hours, and bent over to take off his boots, however, in his peripheral was the wall. He managed to ignore the timeline as he flicked off the lamp and moonlight streamed in, but maybe the world was trying to tell him something because right as he slid under the covers a page fell. It must not have been taped firmly enough to the wall, leaving it to drop down and fold in on itself on the ground. Cloud padded over because he didn't want risk losing a single note, and picked it up.

Zack Fair is going to die.

The paper crunched as his hand curled into a fist and trembled. It was the first page in the timeline, the start of Cloud's misery. The Planet told Aerith about Zack's death, gave a second message, and the third that changed everything.

'

Cissnei had squinted at the date in the top corner of the page she was staring at and frowned. "Zack?" The SOLDIER turned to her, note pages in his hand as he previously was engrossed in placing them on the timeline. "What day did Aerith first write about feeling you would burn to death?"

Zack crossed his arms and huffed. "Wow, thanks for the show of sympathy." He realized Cissnei wasn't even looking his way so pouting, shifted through the pages he held, stopped on the one in question, and read the date aloud.

Cissnei's lips pursed. "That was after the Planet told Aerith your death starts in Nibelheim." Before Zack could question why that mattered, Cissnei regarded Cloud, who was observing their interaction. "And when did you start smelling smoke around Sephiroth?"

Cloud rubbed the back of his neck, nervous due to the intensity of her expression. "Um, the night we left for Nibelheim."

"Before or after you knew your mission was in Nibelheim?"

"After." Cloud hastily replied, tense as Cissnei glared at the floor.

Zack and him shared a look over her bowed head, equally perturbed, when Cissnei said, "Nibelheim and a fire are connected to Sephiroth."

Ice filled Cloud's veins and his core temperature dropped below freezing as Cissnei delved into her nitty-gritty theory. It made too much sense, all the pieces fit together perfectly, horrifically. Hearing about Nibelheim triggered Aerith's hunch that Zack would burn, hearing about Nibelheim caused Cloud to link fire to Sephiroth, and the Planet tied Zack's death to Nibelheim. It all made so much sense. Cloud drowned in the logic and never resurfaced.

'

TIMELINE

The Planet messages Aerith thrice, Zack and Sephiroth travel to Nibelheim, Jenova causes Sephiroth to question his humanity, Sephiroth goes crazy (as SOLDIER Firsts have a tendency to do when overwhelmed, Cissnei points out), and in a fit of insanity sets Nibelheim on fire.

Many people die.

Zack tries to stop Sephiroth, he is stabbed many times for his trouble (explains why Aerith imagined you being impaled, Cissnei deduced), Shinra covers up the Nibelheim incident (Zack has seen it happen before with Banora and Cissnei won't say a word, but her silence is telling), Zack and Cloud end up test subjects and Cloud suffers severe mako poisoning. He'll never be SOLDIER.

Time passes.

Zack escapes with Cloud, Cissnei lets them go (she doesn't know why, a Turk always follows orders, but maybe Zack really is that special, so special he could make a Turk turn traitor, and that should worry Cissnei, but it just makes her smile), yet it's not enough. The army finds them, Zack is shot up, the rain falls, Zack dies, leaves Cloud in pieces and Aerith alone. Who knows what happens to Cissnei.

The sky opens, Zack falls up into the heavens, and Aerith fearing the sky will take him isn't so silly anymore.


Aerith got worse.

Her head buzzed with clumps of what might have been thoughts if only she was more lucid. Her pink dress didn't her hug her curves like it should and that was a shame. Zack really liked the way it accentuated her shape, even if he was too polite to say it, his wolfish grin said it all while his lips showed her just how much he appreciated it.

Aerith stood on the church steps and drew a pale hand to her cheek, thumb rubbing circles over the spot by her lips Zack used to kiss. She was freezing, but in her mind she was warm. Zack had her folded in his arms and her ear was pressed against his chest, his heartbeat the music she lived for.

Her body swayed smooth and slow to his pulse's drumming and her cheekbones dug into her palm, a low hum breaching the confines of her throat.

"Hey, Aerith!"

Her eyes flew open and when did she close them? She brushed that thought off as her hands dropped to her sides and she turned to find a young boy standing a few feet away. She recognized him, but it took her brain a second to register he was the street urchin who Zack said helped him collect materials for her flower wagon, and by then the boy was tilting left. The boy leaned over so far he stood on one leg for a second, then he straightened and repeated the motion on his other side while Aerith realized he was searching the area around her when he straightened, curiosity mixed with flecks of disappointment evident in his dark eyes.

"Where's the SOLDIER guy?"

Aerith inhaled sharply, but a breeze covered up the sound while the boy casually threaded his fingers behind his head and rocked on the balls of his feet, waiting for her answer.

Her heart chugged like a train gaining speed because the boy was the spitting image of Zack, not in appearance, but by mannerism, as he was unable to keep still while awaiting her reply. Gaia, it hurt so so much to see him.

The boy's arms dropped and he looked concerned, likely seeing the pain in her eyes. "You break up with him or something?"

Aerith giggled, hand snapping up to muffle the sound in case she sounded hysterical as she felt. "No," the word crunched out her dry mouth. "He's away on a mission. He'll be back soon." Her cheeks burned, for she sounded like she garbled marbles for breakfast, her voice was so rough.

"Oh," the boy tapped his foot twice then frowned, staring at the earth. "I kinda miss him."

Aerith's head angled up towards the plate above and she knew beyond it was blue skies, blue as Zack's eyes. The plate was the distance between them, the unbreakable wall, and she hadn't the courage to take the train since Zack left so she simply said, "I kinda miss him too."


Cloud came to awareness gradually as fingers carded through his hair with butterfly touches. He was on his back, under the covers in a bed at Nibelheim, and the fingers stroking his forehead as they swept through his bangs were slim and warm. Feminine.

"Mother?" Cloud peeled open his eyes while a soft exhale sent a whiff of cinnamon and roses his way.

He smiled though the fragrance confused him. Ma always smelled like freshly-picked daisies and mint tea in the morning. She never liked wearing perfumes, especially not the strong scented kind.

He blinked until his ice blue orbs met rich ruby and he could only stare at the image of Tifa standing at his bedside. He would have thought her a fragment of a wonderful, though embarrassing, memory from years ago if only she weren't so tall, tall enough to make her long, smooth legs as prominent a feature as the curve of her hips and...and Cloud really needed to stop his eyes from going up past there.

"C-Cloud."

His eyes jumped to her face. Long lashes batted at him under her cowboy hat and her lips, lush and glimmering in the sunlight formed an awkward half-smile while red dusted her cheeks. No, no, this wasn't real. Cloud was dreaming. Tifa always looked stunning, in his memories and even during the rough trek up Mt. Nibel, but right now she was beyond that, like literally breathtaking, a too good to be true beauty.

Cloud sat up and Tifa stuttered gibberish before giving up on words to rub her arm, ducking her head as the breeze blew in from the open window and her long, dark chocolate tresses whipped forward just far enough to tickle Cloud's nose.

Oh. So Tifa was real after all...and recognized him...and he was wearing infantryman uniform not SOLDIER...and he wanted to scream.

Instead Cloud fumbled. "H-how..." He couldn't decide which of the dozen of questions he had needed an answer first when Tifa jumped, head flying up.

"Oh, I, uh, climbed through the window."

Cloud blinked twice.

"The door was locked, but I knew you were in here so I climbed."

Cloud didn't blink at all, he just gawked.

"N-not that I've been watching the inn since yesterday waiting for you to come out- I mean, Zack said he was going message me, but he never did and he ran after Sephiroth before I could ask about you-"

Cloud lurched out of bed and was on his feet in a flash, grasping Tifa's pillow soft arms. "He went after Sephiroth alone?!"

Tifa's eyes fluttered rapidly, lips parting as she stared at him, and it quickly struck Cloud that he shouted in her face. He hadn't talked to Tifa for two years and the first thing he did during their reunion was yell in her face.

He jumped back, yanking his hands to his chest. "Sorry!" He wanted to apologize on his knees and beg for forgiveness, yet there was no time. "But I really need to know, it's important."

Tifa's brow furrowed and she looked wary. "No, Zack went with that woman...in the suit." She briefly looked puzzled, perhaps never having seen a woman in a suit in such a small, old-fashioned town. It was unlikely she even knew what a Turk was.

"There's something wrong." Tifa's amber red eyes cut into his soul and she reached out as if to touch him, but aborted the motion halfway. "With General Sephiroth, and that reactor, right?"

Cloud blanched. He couldn't answer her, could he? He wasn't allowed to share Shinra's interior matters with civilians, but Tifa's gorgeous eyes were begging him and the truth was sizzling in the back of his throat.

"He smells like smoke."

Cloud nearly dropped dead, but his heart restarted before the shock killed him and he sputtered. "What?!"

Tifa's lips were a line, a hint of desperation sprinkled across her expression. "Sephiroth smells like smoke. I thought I was imagining it, but when we reached the reactor my whole body felt hot like I was by a fire and I had this weird feeling-"

"You had been in the reactor before." Surprise sprouted on her face as he continued. "It's like you're reliving the same day again."

"Exactly!" Tifa reached out and this time actually grabbed his hands, holding them tight. "Ever since Sephiroth arrived, I felt like I was repeating myself, saying things I already said. That's why I wanted to go into the reactor so badly, I need to know for sure if my feelings are real, if I've been in there before."

She took a step closer so their hands were the only barrier between them and appeared desperate and needy. "You know what's happening? Tell me, please, Cloud."

He couldn't have denied her if he tried, not when she was so close, not when she was in a bind. This was Cloud's chance to save her just like she made him promise. And maybe...maybe he didn't even have to bring up his lack of a SOLDIER status. He could just wait until he returned to Midgar and became a SOLDIER. Then he would come back and Tifa would see him in his uniform, dream fully-realized and promise completely fulfilled.

Cloud led her by the hand to the timeline and recounted all he knew. He watched terror twist her expression, felt her hand quake in his as he brought up Nibelheim's burning. Then they sat on the bed together in pensive silence and Cloud didn't think much about their interlaced fingers until the door creaked open.

Their hands zipped apart, both of them flushing as Cissnei walked in. If the Turk was surprised, she didn't show it as she bared her teeth in a coy grin. "Am I interrupting?"

Cloud paled and Tifa leapt to her feet, waving her hands wildly, but Cissnei laughing cut her off. "You don't have to answer."

They both sighed in relief.

"I've actually been listening for a while."

Tifa's brow rose and Cloud stood as she sent him a questioning look. "Cissnei is a Turk, it's part of her job to spy," he explained.

Tifa nodded, and though she still didn't look happy about it, she quickly crossed the room and offered her hand to Cissnei. The Turk was startled, yet shook it.

"Thank you for the help yesterday." Tifa smiled and the whole world lit up, Cloud swore.

"Oh, that?" Cissnei returned her grin. "I'm sure you could have taken them by yourself." She let go while Tifa turned red at the flattery, claiming it was all thanks to Master Zangan.

Cissnei nodded and looked over to Cloud. "Zack wants you to come to the Shinra Mansion, it's where Sephiroth is."

Cloud instantly sped to Cissnei's side. "Is he okay? What's Sephiroth doing?"

Cissnei held up her hand and he obediently quieted. "Zack is fine, Sephiroth isn't, but Zack claims he has a plan and he needs our help, so come on." She took her leave and Cloud hurried after, nearly crashing as the Turk paused to wave at Tifa. "You can come too."

Tifa brightened and ran to catch up with them at the top of the staircase. "Let's go."

Cissnei started down the steps as Cloud and Tifa descended together, their fingertips colliding as they walked, and Cloud ached to hold her powder soft hand again, but she didn't reach out and Cloud wouldn't dare.


The Shinra Mansion was creepy enough before Zack found the coffins. If the top floors were eerie, he didn't even have words to describe the underground caverns. A creepy lab that made a deathly cold chill run down his spine. Him growing queasy as Cissnei pointed out the lack of cobwebs or dust on the equipment, meaning Shinra was here fairly recently, and he couldn't help remembering Kunsel saying there were no records of this place. However, if Shinra still used the mansion, why weren't there records about what was being conducted here?

Cissnei said she could think of a couple reasons as she stared at a dark stain on the floor by the examination table and her gaze slid up to the pods that could comfortably fit humanoid bodies lining the wall.

He walked away before she could go on.

Then there was the library where Sephiroth paced, muttered under his breath, and studied like a man possessed by a deranged scholar. He ignored Zack like one ignored a pesky fly and it didn't sting so much as frighten him because Sephiroth wasn't himself. The way he walked, typical regal strut now a caged beast's prowl. The fact Cissnei, a Turk, didn't garner a glance from him not because he deemed her a pest like Zack, but the general didn't even notice her. Zack couldn't decide which freaked him out the most as he stood in the hallway leading to the library, his enhanced hearing picking up Sephiroth's mutterings of Professor Gast...why did you die? and Jenova verified as an Ancient...

Zack was starting to think the skeletons peeking out the dirt by the coffins weren't the most disturbing things around, nor was the unhinged powerhouse of a SOLDIER perhaps moments away from razing the town. No, the real terror was the feeling Zack had been here before. The fact he nearly stepped into that lab pod just to see if his feelings were genuine, he was once in that pod and the world outside was filtered through sea foam green, glass too thick to break yet not thick enough to block Cloud's screams-

"Zack?"

The First spun back to Cloud, Cissnei, and...Tifa?!

Cissnei answered his unvoiced question. "Tifa has seen snippets of the future ever since Sephiroth arrived in town, so we filled her in on the situation."

Zack's eyebrows rose to his hairline. Okay. That was a twist. He couldn't see how Tifa factored in the equation, she never showed up in the Planet visions, didn't seem tied to anything, but maybe the Planet knew something about Tifa that Zack didn't.

"Cissnei says you have a plan?" Cloud inquired, expression terse. Really, the whole trio looked tense. Cissnei's hand was on her hip, mere inches away from the shuriken she stowed in the small of her back under her suit. Tifa's hands were flexing and Cloud's eyes were cold as he stared ahead unwavering.

Nope. This, this was not gonna fly.

"Yes!" Zack beamed and set his hands on his sides in a classic hero pose. "It's called Operation Cuteness Overload!" He pointed at Cissnei who arched a thin brow at him. "First, you flirt with Sephiroth, soften him up," her brow rose higher, "And Tifa, you do the same!"

"W-what?!" Tifa turned beet red, which wasn't his intention but now she was stressed in a more light-hearted manner so he rolled with it.

"And you," Zack pointed at Cloud who was gaping at him, "Just be your usual adorable self." He aimed his thumb at himself. "And I'm going to bat my puppy-dog eyes until Sephiroth agrees not to burn Nibelheim." His grin broadened as he spread out his arms as if to shout ta-da!

The trio stared back with varying degrees of disbelief.

Then Tifa whispered. "Is he always like this?"

Cissnei and Cloud gave rather vehement nods and okay, warranted as it was, that was a low blow.

"Hey!"

"So what is the real plan?" Cissnei asked, smirking a little as her eyes twinkled in amusement, and maybe Tifa and Cloud didn't see it, but Cissnei knew all along what Zack was doing and went with it anyway. Whoever said Turks didn't have a sense of humor?

Zack grinned while Tifa sighed in relief, apparently she wasn't the flirting type. "Okay, so the actual plan is follow my lead."

Even Cissnei was taken aback by his proclamation, but he quickly hurried into the library before they could demand clarification. He heard them following as he stepped into the room, but Zack only had eyes for Sephiroth.

The man looked no better than he did an hour ago, though at least he was sitting down at the desk while he read. Although the muttering under his breath thing and his eyes zipping across the text, never lingering on a page for more than eight seconds, were disturbing.

Before he could second guess himself, however, Zack darted forward, whipped out his sword and swung at Sephiroth's neck.

Someone gasped while one of the girls, likely Tifa, screamed.

Zack ignored them as Masamune's cold steel poked his chest, so close to fulfilling a dark prophecy if the owner nudged it forward just a little, while the desk ahead was vacant and his Buster sword hovered over the oak. His eyes slid over to Sephiroth who was staring at him coolly, one arm holding the open book because even one-handed the man could kill them all.

Yet Zack smiled. "Oh, so you aren't as far gone as I thought!" He cheered, watching the man's face closely. It didn't change. The tension in the room was thickening and the temperature rising so Zack hurried on. "Well, now that I have your attention," he slowly drew back his sword back and though Masamune minutely cut into his uniform, Zack successfully sheathed his sword without losing his life. "I was wondering if you wanted some help?"

Sephiroth's eyes narrowed, flicking to the space behind him and Zack sighed. "Guys, you can put away your toys, we're all friends here."

A beat of silence.

Then there was the rustle of weapons being re-stored on multiple persons and fists uncurling, lowering the tension in the room by thirty percent. The number dropped another thirty as Sephiroth retracted his sword back to, well, wherever Sephiroth hid that huge thing. Something he hoped to ask Seph one day. Assuming Nibelheim didn't burn in the next hour.

"I do not require your aid." Sephiroth slid back in the chair, setting the book on the desk. "Leave m-"

Zack smacked his hand on the page and for the first time all day Sephiroth showed an ounce of emotion, which was frigid anger and a venomous glare that scared Zack far more than Masamune pointed at his heart.

"No."

Sephiroth's glower intensified and the temperature was below freezing, but Zack shook his head. "You can ignore me, threaten me, kill me if you want to."

The barest twitch in Sephiroth's expression, and maybe Zack imagined it, but some of the heat in his glare was tempered by reluctance, hesitation.

"But I'm your friend," Zack took on a kicked puppy look that was mainly authentic because Sephiroth didn't look angry so much as confused now, even if only Zack could see the slight contracting of Sephiroth's eyes. "And when my friends need help, I'm going to help them whether they like it or not."

That said, Zack marched to the nearest shelf, tugged out a random book and sat cross-legged on the floor, flipping the book open in his lap. He proceeded to read, truly read, so hardly registered how Cloud, Cissnei and Tifa were spreading out to the other corners of the room and grabbing their own books.

"What are you doing?"

Zack looked up to Sephiroth, who stood over him with the most neutral expression yet in his eyes were a hint of uncertainty.

"Helping you get through this library faster."

"Why?"

Zack smiled thinly. "Because it's important to you and I wanna help." He blinked, frowning. "Sorry if I'm disobeying orders, this won't go on my record, right?"

Sephiroth's face went blank because Zack's question was an olive branch, yet whether the man would accept was uncertain, which was why the whole room paused as Sephiroth's lips parted to reply.


Aerith rose from her bedroll, flicked off her lamp, and walked unsteadily down the aisle to the church doors. She had every intention to visit her mother when a knock on the wood made her still in front of the doors.

"Yes?" she asked roughly, dry mouth no longer used to producing speech.

The door creaked open and the SOLDIER stepped in.

She saw his raven hair.

She saw his sky blue eyes.

Aerith threw herself into Zack's arms and swore she would never let go.