AVALANCHE had taken up refuge in Icicle Inn waiting for Sephiroth's plan to come full circle. Cloud, Red, and Aeris were held up in her parents' home. Cloud had been sleeping on the couch with Red sleeping just below him, if Cloud fell off he would've landed on Red. Aeris had been sleeping in her parents' room. It was early one morning, before dawn actually. Cloud had set his PHS to 'vibrate', unaware that it would shake violently. He was fast asleep when he received a call, he awoke startled to the fact that his a was shaking. He got off the couch accidentally stepping on Red's tail. Red howled madly in pain. "Cloud, do you realize how early it is, and if you want me to be awake you don't have to stomp on my tail!" Red yelled. "I'm sorry Red, but my a$ is shaking!" Cloud responded. Red got a tired look on his beast-like face as he curled back up, "You set your PHS on 'vibrate' the other day, remember?" "Yes, I remember now…" Cloud responded before answering his PHS. "Strife…" Sephiroth replied when Cloud answered. "Do you ever sleep?" Cloud asked. "This is important! I found out why Jenova can control us…" Sephiroth answered. "That's great tell me in the morning…" Cloud answered through a yawn. "Oh, make yourself some coffee and listen up!" Sephiroth responded. Cloud was still in a bad mood, having been woken up at an ungodly hour.

He walked into the kitchen and turned on the coffee maker to read the clock on it saying that it was 6 am. "Are you ready, Strife?" Sephiroth asked. "Yeah, I guess," Cloud replied sipping his coffee and yawning. "For reasons I am still unsure of, Jenova controls us by using amnesia!" Sephiroth informed him. "Amnesia? You mean lack of memory?" Cloud answered. "That's right! Whole parts of our memories are completely missing, that's what Jenova uses to control us!" Sephiroth replied. "How do we fight her control then?" Cloud asked. "We have to awaken our hidden memories…" Sephiroth instructed, "That's all I found out, ask your Cetra friend if you need any help…" There was a click and the cell-phone gave a dial tone. Cloud pushed his PHS back into his pocket and continued to drink his coffee. "Oh well," he figured, "I'll get in a few extra hours of sword training…"

Cloud grabbed his Buster Sword and walked outside, closing the door behind him as he left. He then came back inside, and put on his snow gear. Once back outside he left the small town and began to swing his blade widely and devastatingly. As he trained his speed with the massive single-edged blade became more and more deadly. After about three hours of training in the bitter cold snow and freezing winds he came back into the house, took off his gear, and ran himself a hot shower.

"I'm going to need to be in top shape if we want to even stand a chance against Jenova…" he told himself out loud. As he came out of the bathroom Aeris had a worried expression on her face. "Where have you been, Cloud! I was worried sick!" Aeris told him practically in tears. Cloud remembered not so long ago when he had said so carelessly, "You were worried about me?" If he said that now, he didn't know if he could live with himself. He shook his head, "I'm sorry, I left to do a little training since I woke up earlier than usual…" Cloud told her. "Next time leave me a note or something!" she demanded, worry still obvious in her voice. She smiled and replied, "Anyway breakfast is ready if you're going to be joining me…" "Where's Red?" Cloud asked. "He left a little while ago to tell the others something about a call from Sephiroth… Is that why you were awake so early?" she responded. "Yeah, that is why," he said.

"Care to join me for breakfast?" she asked. "Well, I am kinda' hungry… Alright, I don't see why not…" Cloud sighed passively. Aeris started to cook while Cloud waited patiently. As time ticked slowly by Cloud realized he was nervous being with Aeris alone. Aeris set a plate down in front of him, before sitting down. "Y'know, you don't have to serve me…" Cloud told her. "I like to…" Aeris replied, "You always seem so grateful, even if you don't say anything…" He found himself smiling, again, that seemed to happen a lot when he was with her. He thought back to when he was a mercenary, he never showed any emotion as a merc; he did his job, collected his pay, and that was that. Ever since he dropped in on her, though, his life had taken a dramatic change. He shook his head trying to clear it of unclear thoughts. "Are you going to eat or do I have to feed you?" she asked demurely. "Ha-ha, very funny… I was just-just thinking…" he replied. "About your life as a mercenary?" she asked. "Yeah, how'd you know?" he asked. "You were muttering about it…" she replied. Cloud went quiet, he put his fork into his hash brown and bit them. "Hey, this is really good!" he exclaimed half-surprised, "Where did you learn to cook?" "I don't know why, but for some reason I've always known…" she told him, "So, ah, what did Sephiroth have to say?" "He said that the reason Jenova can control us was that we have missing memories, whatever that means…" Cloud replied taking on a serious demeanor, "He also said that you might be able to help me, he seems to want you to help me an awful lot…" "Hmm, well I might know some way of helping, but you'll have to date me again…" she replied with a hint of mischief in her eyes. Cloud was slightly scared of her mischievous look, but he replied, "All right…"

After Cloud helped put away breakfast, Aeris walked him into the living room. "You want me to help, right?" she asked. "Yeah…" he responded. "Do exactly as I tell you…" Aeris told him, "Sit down on the floor…" As Cloud sat Aeris started to light candles around the room. "Close your eyes and think of nothing…" "Odd…" Cloud thought but he obeyed without question. Aeris continued to light candles in the room, she also started turning off the electrically powered lights in the house. "This is the most difficult task of all; don't get distracted no matter what I do to you…" she sold him, "I'm going to test your concentration…" She walked up behind him and kicked him as hard as she could in the head. It took some will power but Cloud refrained from taking any action. "You're really focused right now…" she said half-amazed, "Now listen this is going to seem like a term of affection but if you keep thinking nothing it'll put you in a state of trance. Once you're in this state, you'll start to have visions. These visions are reflections of memories forgotten. You may be encountered by visions of yourself, these are just apparitions controlled by your inner emotions. Don't let them get the better of you…" With that said she wrapped her arms around him and pressed her forehead against his. He seemed to fall asleep, Aeris let him down softly so he wouldn't be injured when he woke up.