((Sorry the last chapter was so long in the works, so short, and so terrible, but it should finally begin to pick up here. Please keep reading, and reviewing, all my loyal fans....(yeah right) Wow...people really liked this one. I know you probably won't enjoy this chapter, but it gets lots and lots better. Promise!))
~Three Weeks Later~
Cloud Strife slumped against the large marble memorial that marked Tifa Lockheart's grave-site. He bit his lips, and tears spilled over his cheeks as he rolled the cobalt material in the palm of his hand. He looked up at the bright sky, his hands trembling from the pain in his heart and the cold on the rest of his body.
"Why'd you have to leave me?" he questioned the sky quietly, "Why couldn't you have stayed!? What the hell were you thinking!?" he cried, then stopped. "No...." he smiled now, tears hot on his freezing face. "....it's my fault....I..." his voice broke. "I should've told you when I had the chance."
"You're damn right." The voice shocked Cloud, and he was sure that the cold had taken him. Maybe that wasn't such a bad idea. But he could still feel the stinging cold....maybe he'd gone unconcious. The voice ceased for a moment, but continued, "Cloud Strife, you look at me when I speak to you!" He cringed his eyes shut and didn't open him until he had come face to face with glimmering, transparent emerald eyes.
"Aeris." He said plainly, the tears on his chin beginining to actually solidify.
"Good...you remember me. Now I have a bone to pick with you, Cloud Strife!" Cloud cringed, not sure how else to react. This was some coma-dream (he was sure he'd passed out, then slipped into a coma by now) that's for sure.
"What would you like, Aeris?" he asked dully, as if this was the most common, and perhaps annoying, thing in the world.
"You screwed up." she said sharply. Cloud let out a sharp laugh.
"No kidding."
"But she gave you the cnace to change it, you know." Cloud looked confused for a moment, then it hit him.
"The materia?"
"You can change the future, Cloud. Go to the past, and change today." Aeris said softly, slowly seeming more like the sweet, good-natured flower girl he'd known.
"You can't change the past."
"No...but you can."
***
Cloud looked around, Nibelheim looking just as it had when he was a child. That, of course, was because he *was* a child again. Just a boy, young and vibrant, not that that part of him had changed much until recently.
"Amazing." he whispered. And it was. Nibelheim stood in all its quaint beauty, the small village holding such a nostalgia it was almost frightening. Of course, on that deep-down level, this was very frightening. Everything had happened before, and now he had to relive it. To change it.
It was horrifying, when the young Cloud's adult mind traveled to that dark corner. What he had to do to save his friends. Zack...Aeris...Tifa. He didn't know *what* he was supposed to do, only that he had to act fast.
9 years before he joined AVALANCHE, before the group actually took shape, before the fall of Shinra.
He knew what he had to do first at least, and that entailed a trip to Gongaga. He had to get Tifa and stop Zack from joining SOLDIER. Sephiroth, Nibelheim, Aeris... they would wait. Zack was first up, and he had only weeks to travel across the continent.
"What in the *world* is going on, Cloud Strife?" He turned quickly and his face broke into a boyish grin. Tifa stood behind him in her light blue sundress and flip-flop sandels, hands firm on her hips.
"I came back to save you." He said quietly, his high-pitched, pre-pubescent child's voice catching him off gaurd. Tifa giggled, obviously surprised as well. Her own voice was a sweet, childish, sing-song tone. She seemed like the kind of girl who would sing the lead in a school play, because she had that innocent look and sweet voice. Her huge wine eyes rolled as she let out an exasperated sigh.
"You were SUPPOSED to go save Aeris!" she said, shaking her head. "I swear Cloud, can't you ever-"
"-I want to save you all." he interrupted her, coming a few steps closer. His bright eyes sparkled with such beauty, something partially hidden with the mako that would later infest them, as he spoke; "First...we gotta go to Gongaga..." he said, not bothering explaining who 'everyone' was.
"Zack..." she whispered, her hands letting go of her small, boney, hips and resting at her sides now. "...what are we gonna do? We're just kids....what makes you think he'll listen to us?" she asked, knowing she wouldn't have a choice on whether she was to join him or not.
"He's only two years older than us, Teef. Don't worry, he'll listen. And...how do you know he doesn't remember too? I'll bet everyone in AVALANCHE does... maybe he does too..."
"Then..." Tifa began, biting her lip, "...who's to say Shinra and the Turks and all of them don't remember the future too? And Sephiroth...." she gasped, her wine eyes huge in her small face.
"That's why we're getting Zack before we worry about Aeris. We'll go to Cosmo Canyon too, then Corel..." he stopped. "But first... we need to go to the mansion." Ideas were overlapping eachother in his mind, and he couldn't sort them as endless more tumbled in.
"Vincent..." she said quietly, then nodded. "...but...you don't have any weapons." she said softly. Cloud shrugged. "We'll have to wait until we get out of Nibelheim for that. You can fight without gloves, right?" she nodded so he continued, "And Vincent will be able to shoot...."
"...how can we be sure he'll even come with us?" Tifa asked, not sure things would be quite that simple. Things weren't simple last time...why would they be any better this time 'round?
"He will. Just have a little faith in me, Teef." Cloud assured her.
Tifa had plenty of faith in him. Otherwise, she'd have used the time-turn materia herself to make things better. She knew he could do this. It was everyone else she didn't have faith in. The rest of her 'friends' that she had no faith in.
***
"Cloud...I hate this place....Do we really have to wake him up?" Tifa's shy voice hung thick in the dusty air of the abandoned Shinra mansion. Cloud clutched the key in his small fist and Tifa's wrist in the other.
"It'll only take a minute, Teef...stop being a baby." he scolded, practically dragging her up the stairs and to the bedroom to their immediate right.
Overall, the place was alot less...well, abandoned. Shinra SOLDIERs still used it as recently as just two years before, and the dust was just settled in its semi-thick coat on the stationary adornments.
Cloud let go of Tifa's hand, shoving the key into it. He wedged his small, chubby fingers into the crack in the "furnace" and searched for the release switch. He smiled and flicked his hands upwards, the door coming loose and slowly creaking open.
"I'll go down...you can wait here." Cloud said, starting down the steep wooden stairway.
"No way!" Tifa protested, shivering. "There's no way you're gonna leave me here alone!" she exclaimed, grabbing his hand with both of hers. He sighed, his head hanging low,
"Fine...just don't freak out, alright?" He said, slowly stepping down the unsturdy stairway. The stairs creaked heavily even though the combined weight of the two children couldn't have been more than 120 lbs.
"Me? Freak out? Never." Tifa smiled and Cloud snickered, hopping down the stairs now, gaining some courage. Tifa hung back now, carefully planting her feet gently on each step.
"see? you're already being all-AIEEEEEE!" Cloud had turned around to face Tifa, and decided to hop backwards down the stairs. One, Two, three stairs perfectly, then...BAM! His shoe caught on a large splinter on the next step down, and he flew backwards, his head creating a sickening crack-thud sound on the next step as his body tumbled backwards to the bottom of staircase.
Tifa's heart pounded frantically against her chest and she ran the fastest she could manage downt he stairs after him. "Cloud!" she cried, catching up to his body at the bottom of the stairs. She slowly turned him onto his back and gasped. There was a huge gash on the side of his head, which was bleeding rather bad, and his lip was actually split and also bleeding.
"My God, Cloud..." she whispered, setting the unconcious boy up against herself. She put her pudgy fingers to his neck to get a pulse, and was barely relieved when she found the slight one she did.
She chewed on her lip for a moment, remembering her father's first aid instructions. When a person is injured this badly, it wasn't good to them. But these weren't exactally the most normal of circumstances, so she decided agianst her father's advice and hoisted her unconcious love onto her shoulder, and struggled to Vincent's secret hideaway beneath the dead weight.
~Three Weeks Later~
Cloud Strife slumped against the large marble memorial that marked Tifa Lockheart's grave-site. He bit his lips, and tears spilled over his cheeks as he rolled the cobalt material in the palm of his hand. He looked up at the bright sky, his hands trembling from the pain in his heart and the cold on the rest of his body.
"Why'd you have to leave me?" he questioned the sky quietly, "Why couldn't you have stayed!? What the hell were you thinking!?" he cried, then stopped. "No...." he smiled now, tears hot on his freezing face. "....it's my fault....I..." his voice broke. "I should've told you when I had the chance."
"You're damn right." The voice shocked Cloud, and he was sure that the cold had taken him. Maybe that wasn't such a bad idea. But he could still feel the stinging cold....maybe he'd gone unconcious. The voice ceased for a moment, but continued, "Cloud Strife, you look at me when I speak to you!" He cringed his eyes shut and didn't open him until he had come face to face with glimmering, transparent emerald eyes.
"Aeris." He said plainly, the tears on his chin beginining to actually solidify.
"Good...you remember me. Now I have a bone to pick with you, Cloud Strife!" Cloud cringed, not sure how else to react. This was some coma-dream (he was sure he'd passed out, then slipped into a coma by now) that's for sure.
"What would you like, Aeris?" he asked dully, as if this was the most common, and perhaps annoying, thing in the world.
"You screwed up." she said sharply. Cloud let out a sharp laugh.
"No kidding."
"But she gave you the cnace to change it, you know." Cloud looked confused for a moment, then it hit him.
"The materia?"
"You can change the future, Cloud. Go to the past, and change today." Aeris said softly, slowly seeming more like the sweet, good-natured flower girl he'd known.
"You can't change the past."
"No...but you can."
***
Cloud looked around, Nibelheim looking just as it had when he was a child. That, of course, was because he *was* a child again. Just a boy, young and vibrant, not that that part of him had changed much until recently.
"Amazing." he whispered. And it was. Nibelheim stood in all its quaint beauty, the small village holding such a nostalgia it was almost frightening. Of course, on that deep-down level, this was very frightening. Everything had happened before, and now he had to relive it. To change it.
It was horrifying, when the young Cloud's adult mind traveled to that dark corner. What he had to do to save his friends. Zack...Aeris...Tifa. He didn't know *what* he was supposed to do, only that he had to act fast.
9 years before he joined AVALANCHE, before the group actually took shape, before the fall of Shinra.
He knew what he had to do first at least, and that entailed a trip to Gongaga. He had to get Tifa and stop Zack from joining SOLDIER. Sephiroth, Nibelheim, Aeris... they would wait. Zack was first up, and he had only weeks to travel across the continent.
"What in the *world* is going on, Cloud Strife?" He turned quickly and his face broke into a boyish grin. Tifa stood behind him in her light blue sundress and flip-flop sandels, hands firm on her hips.
"I came back to save you." He said quietly, his high-pitched, pre-pubescent child's voice catching him off gaurd. Tifa giggled, obviously surprised as well. Her own voice was a sweet, childish, sing-song tone. She seemed like the kind of girl who would sing the lead in a school play, because she had that innocent look and sweet voice. Her huge wine eyes rolled as she let out an exasperated sigh.
"You were SUPPOSED to go save Aeris!" she said, shaking her head. "I swear Cloud, can't you ever-"
"-I want to save you all." he interrupted her, coming a few steps closer. His bright eyes sparkled with such beauty, something partially hidden with the mako that would later infest them, as he spoke; "First...we gotta go to Gongaga..." he said, not bothering explaining who 'everyone' was.
"Zack..." she whispered, her hands letting go of her small, boney, hips and resting at her sides now. "...what are we gonna do? We're just kids....what makes you think he'll listen to us?" she asked, knowing she wouldn't have a choice on whether she was to join him or not.
"He's only two years older than us, Teef. Don't worry, he'll listen. And...how do you know he doesn't remember too? I'll bet everyone in AVALANCHE does... maybe he does too..."
"Then..." Tifa began, biting her lip, "...who's to say Shinra and the Turks and all of them don't remember the future too? And Sephiroth...." she gasped, her wine eyes huge in her small face.
"That's why we're getting Zack before we worry about Aeris. We'll go to Cosmo Canyon too, then Corel..." he stopped. "But first... we need to go to the mansion." Ideas were overlapping eachother in his mind, and he couldn't sort them as endless more tumbled in.
"Vincent..." she said quietly, then nodded. "...but...you don't have any weapons." she said softly. Cloud shrugged. "We'll have to wait until we get out of Nibelheim for that. You can fight without gloves, right?" she nodded so he continued, "And Vincent will be able to shoot...."
"...how can we be sure he'll even come with us?" Tifa asked, not sure things would be quite that simple. Things weren't simple last time...why would they be any better this time 'round?
"He will. Just have a little faith in me, Teef." Cloud assured her.
Tifa had plenty of faith in him. Otherwise, she'd have used the time-turn materia herself to make things better. She knew he could do this. It was everyone else she didn't have faith in. The rest of her 'friends' that she had no faith in.
***
"Cloud...I hate this place....Do we really have to wake him up?" Tifa's shy voice hung thick in the dusty air of the abandoned Shinra mansion. Cloud clutched the key in his small fist and Tifa's wrist in the other.
"It'll only take a minute, Teef...stop being a baby." he scolded, practically dragging her up the stairs and to the bedroom to their immediate right.
Overall, the place was alot less...well, abandoned. Shinra SOLDIERs still used it as recently as just two years before, and the dust was just settled in its semi-thick coat on the stationary adornments.
Cloud let go of Tifa's hand, shoving the key into it. He wedged his small, chubby fingers into the crack in the "furnace" and searched for the release switch. He smiled and flicked his hands upwards, the door coming loose and slowly creaking open.
"I'll go down...you can wait here." Cloud said, starting down the steep wooden stairway.
"No way!" Tifa protested, shivering. "There's no way you're gonna leave me here alone!" she exclaimed, grabbing his hand with both of hers. He sighed, his head hanging low,
"Fine...just don't freak out, alright?" He said, slowly stepping down the unsturdy stairway. The stairs creaked heavily even though the combined weight of the two children couldn't have been more than 120 lbs.
"Me? Freak out? Never." Tifa smiled and Cloud snickered, hopping down the stairs now, gaining some courage. Tifa hung back now, carefully planting her feet gently on each step.
"see? you're already being all-AIEEEEEE!" Cloud had turned around to face Tifa, and decided to hop backwards down the stairs. One, Two, three stairs perfectly, then...BAM! His shoe caught on a large splinter on the next step down, and he flew backwards, his head creating a sickening crack-thud sound on the next step as his body tumbled backwards to the bottom of staircase.
Tifa's heart pounded frantically against her chest and she ran the fastest she could manage downt he stairs after him. "Cloud!" she cried, catching up to his body at the bottom of the stairs. She slowly turned him onto his back and gasped. There was a huge gash on the side of his head, which was bleeding rather bad, and his lip was actually split and also bleeding.
"My God, Cloud..." she whispered, setting the unconcious boy up against herself. She put her pudgy fingers to his neck to get a pulse, and was barely relieved when she found the slight one she did.
She chewed on her lip for a moment, remembering her father's first aid instructions. When a person is injured this badly, it wasn't good to them. But these weren't exactally the most normal of circumstances, so she decided agianst her father's advice and hoisted her unconcious love onto her shoulder, and struggled to Vincent's secret hideaway beneath the dead weight.