Disclaimer: STILL not mine

Chapter 3

Sephiroth and his friends carefully entered the small house. The ex-members of Avalanche noticed how the General and Zack walked carefully next to Cloud.

"Will some one please explain what is going on?" Yuffie complained.

"I'm not sure anyone knows," Zack replied. "We were just going on a trip. Next thing we knew the sky opened up and we were drenched."

"Trip to where?" Tifa demanded.

"We leave Midgar every year for a short training trip," Zack replied with a smile exerting his considerable charm. The look turned thoughtful. "Are you by any chance related to Tifa Lockhart? You look a lot a like."

Silence descended on the room. "I am Tifa Lockhart."

"Can't be. We saw you three years ago. You couldn't have grown up that quickly."

Tifa could barely breathe. "Three years ago?"

"You were our guide when we went to the Nibel reactor."

"That's not possible," Tifa whispered. "It's been seven years since Nibelheim was destroyed by Sephiroth."

"He did not!" Cloud yelled. All eyes turned to him. "Yeah there was a fire but it didn't destroy your whole town. Only one person died too." He examined Tifa carefully. "You're really strange."

"Cloud!" Zack chastised.

"Well she is! I mean, she thought she knew me back in Nibelheim. Who talks to a random kid like you know him." Now everyone stared at Cloud.

"Cloud she might have known you," Zack replied. He ignored the blond's confused look. The SOLDIER glanced around the room. "It looks like you all know Cloud."

"Yeah, but he didn't act like that," Yuffie pointed at Cloud. "And he was a lot older."

Red moved out of the shadows. "Perhaps they come from a different reality."

"Different reality?" Sephiroth asked dryly. The tension immediately increased in the room. How had they forgotten their enemy?

"Nanaki!" Cloud joyfully greeted the cat. "Did you get back home ok?"

Nanaki looked at the small child. "Have we met before?"

"Yeah! Remember I helped you break out of the lab about four months ago? Hojo wasn't happy but I said he was violating the agreement…" He trailed off realizing what he had just said.

The boy's two guardians looked down on him. "Agreement?" Sephiroth asked his voice as cold as winter.

Cloud fidgeted nervously. "Hojo can't experiment on any other sentient being other than me or I stop cooperating."

"You COOPERATED with that monster!?" Zack yelled.

"There's not much he can do to me otherwise."

Avalanche stared on dumbfounded. The trio had completely forgotten their presence. "You cooperated with Hojo. You let him do all those things to you. You almost died, Cloud. What were you thinking?!" Sephiroth hissed.

Cloud's blue eyes flashed. "I had to! If I didn't Hojo would've turned his attentions to you! He wasn't happy that I stopped Jenova from taking you over at Nibelheim! He was so busy he forgot to look for more ways to control you. And it was hard enough as it was! I could feel you slipping through my fingers!" His voice continued to rise. "And what about Zack? And Aeris? And Nanaki? And everyone else that monster hurt? Am I just supposed to stand by and watch him?!"

"Wait a minute," Tifa interjected. "You didn't go insane at Nibelheim?"

"Not fully," Cloud replied. "Almost, but not quite."

"Your world is very different from ours," Nanaki said softly. He glanced at his comrades. "Perhaps you could tell us what has happened?""

Sephiroth, Zack and Cloud took turns telling the tale. Cloud's eyes widened in shock when he discovered that he was a great deal older that he thought. Hojo's files mentioned he had messed with time but the blond hadn't realized the extent. Come to think of it that explained a lot of things. After they finished Avalanche related the events in their world.

Cloud felt depression settle over Sephiroth even though the silver haired man didn't let it show. After they finished Cloud faced his guardian. "Stop that right now." Everyone looked confused. "Stop thinking you're a monster. You're not already. Jeeze. That's what Hojo wants you to think. It separates you and makes you vulnerable. So knock it off."

Sephiroth was not going to have this discussion aloud in front of a group of people who considered themselves his enemies. So he resorted to using a trick they had learned shortly after the Nibelheim mission. Cloud I…

Did NOT do any of those things. The OTHER you did. You ALMOST did. Not the same thing. If I almost drop a glass but I catch it I'm not in trouble, right? So why would you be for something you didn't do?

It's not that simple.

If you really feel that bad about it help these people out to make up for it!

"I've got a question," Tifa asked Nanaki as Cloud and Sephiroth 'spoke' to each other. (To everyone besides Zack it looked like a glaring contest.) "If they're here, where's our Cloud?"

"I don't know," Red admitted. "There is no evidence that two different versions of the same person couldn't be in the same place. Cloud could be in their world, he could be here or some other world entirely."

"So we're back where we started," Barret grumbled.

"Now we have three #$ people to fit in this tiny house," Cid swore.

"Hey!" Tifa yelled.

Zack made a shushing motion. Unfortunately for the smoking blond, Sephiroth had heard him. "It that how you speak in front of a child?" Cid paled.

"Leave him alone Seph," Cloud sighed. "I'm sure he'll be more circumspect with his language."

"He better be," Sephiroth growled. Nothing more was said after that. Everyone bedded down and went to sleep.

End Chapter 3

Yay! There's chapter 3! Things should be less confusing now. Sort of. evil laugh I know the alternate dimension trick has been done to death. Ask me if I care. Funny thing is Nanaki always seems to end up explaining it. Will try to get four out next week. However next week is the last week of class then finals. Gah.

TWO people to thank:

…: Interesting name. ;p. The point of last chapter was to be confusing. 'chibi cloudy, good seph, and zack is alive' is very good. Hopefully this chapter will clear this up for you.

Rei: Healing hands needs to undergo a major rewrite. Chapter 1 is typed and I could post it but it wouldn't be updated for a while. Opinions?

Minor update: We have two beta readers in the wings: renangel (chapter 4's on its way!) and Matt-kun (Um, where is your email? It's not on your profile. Let me know so I can send you 4!)