Cloud looked up nervously as the town settled on the high plateau came into view. The world outside of the labs was still very strange to him. Although he hadn't liked all that mako which made him itchy and tingly everywhere, his body still craved the energized and refreshed feeling after the mako baths. Besides, Cloud had never talked to anyone aside from those who worked in the labs, and he wondered how the other people were going to treat him. Would they see him as a monster and hurt him like those in the labs? He had never met a human child his age and he doubted he could ever behave like one. Although Nanaki had assured him several times that the people in Cosmo Canyon were much kinder and would take good care of him, he still found it hard to believe.
The staff and scientists in the labs were all wary of him, had been for some time. Cloud did enough thought reading to learn that he was the biological son of Jenova, a gray-skinned monster whose body had somehow been frozen permanently. Hojo knew that Jenova was the Calamity that fell from the sky, but kept it a secret and told everyone else she was an Ancient and studying her could lead them to the promised land.
Whenever someone came to tutor him, there was always a reinforced glass wall separating them from Cloud. They set up automatics that would shoot him with tranquilizers if he proved too much for them to handle during test times. He had tolerated all that, holding onto the fact that one day they would release him into the outside world, just like what they'd done with Sephiroth. He didn't mind that Hojo had other plans for him instead of getting him into SOLDIER, as long as he could be let out of his cell. Unfortunately, half a year ago, he heard a scientist's thought that they were considering implanting a chip into his head to control him and was already carrying out related experiments on animals. He had started to plan his escape from then on, desperate to be freed from a lifetime of enslavement. Though to be fair, he did a bit of mind control to the lab staff while carrying out his escape plan, but that was only temporary and almost harmless, unlike the things they would do to him with a chip in his brain.
Nanaki ran up the stone stairs joyously and greeted the guard under the entrance of the town. After explaining that Cloud had helped him on his journey home, the guard welcomed Cloud warmly. The town was lit by torches hanging on the stone walls. Huge windmills turned in the wind whose purpose Cloud was at a loss for. He followed Nanaki and climbed the stone steps, traversing through different levels, then ascended several ladders before arriving at the building on the highest plateau. Stepping into one of the chambers, he saw an old man with a long white beard dressed in a blue and yellow robe floating on a large green orb.
"Grandpa, this is Cloud. I was captured by Shinra and held in a lab, Cloud helped me escape. Cloud, meet my grandfather Bugenhagen."
"Ho ho hooo, aren't you a brave little one. Thank you for helping Nanaki. Although he's wise for his age, he is still a child you see."
"Please stop, grandfather. I'm 33," said Nanaki petulantly.
"Nanaki's tribe has incredible longevity, so you see his 33 years would only be equivalent to say that of a ten or eleven-year-old in human reckoning."
"Where are father and mother?" asked Nanaki.
"They are out of town searching for you," said Bugenhagen. Then he looked at Cloud curiously and smiled. "Cloud, how old are you? Where are your parents?"
"I'm six. Never met my parents, always been in the labs," said Cloud honestly.
Surprise and understanding flashed in the back of Bugenhagen's mind, and Cloud sensed that the old man was thinking up an arrangement for him. A promising reaction. Hopefully, he would find a place for Cloud to stay for a while to learn more about how the world functions out of the labs.
"You may stay here with me for now, I'll find somewhere for you to settle down later. I know a couple who've always wanted a child. Maybe they could take you in. Is that okay for you?"
"Of course. thank you very much, sir."
"You can call me Bugen. Nanaki, how about taking our new guest to the guest room?"
And with that began Cloud's life in Cosmo Canyon. On the second day of his arrival, Cloud expressed his interest in learning about Planet Life, so Bugenhagen showed him the apparatus in his laboratory.
"Ho ho ho, that's a machine only I can use," stated Bugen as he turned off the lights and turned on what looked like a miniature version of the solar system. Beyond the stars of the solar system, countless heavenly bodies could also be seen in the distance.
"Beautiful. What is this? How does it work?" asked Cloud as his eyes glued to the scene.
"All the workings of space are entered into this 3D Holographic System," said the old man. The system moved, making their audiences travel through the vast space, passing by meteorites, shooting stars, black holes, and all kinds of other bodies. Cloud felt like his breath had stopped for a minute watching the stars being sucked into a black hole. "This is amazing! Where do the stars go when they die?"
"Well, what happens to humans after they die?"
Cloud had always wanted to know about that but none of the scientists had even tried to explain when he asked.
Bugenhagen went on, "The body decomposes, and returns to the Planet. That much everyone knows. What about their consciousness, their hearts, and their souls? The soul too returns to the Planet. And not only those of humans but everything on this Planet. All living things in the universe, are the same. The spirits that return to the Planet, merge with one another and roam the Planet. They roam, converge, and divide, becoming a swell, called the Lifestream, a path of energy of the souls roaming the Planet. 'Spirit Energy' is a word that you should never forget. A new life...children are blessed with Spirit Energy and are brought into the world. Then, the time comes when they die and once again to the Planet... Of course, there are exceptions, but this is the way of the world."
The projection showed humans, trees, and all kinds of animals residing on the mini Gaia growing old and die, each dissipating into bright spots and rejoining the glowing Lifestream that circulated all around the Planet. From time to time, a fraction of the Lifestream would be separated from it and give birth to a new life. A never-ending cycle of life and death.
"Spirit Energy is the source of life for trees, birds, and humans. And not only living things, but it also makes it possible to form Planets. And if that Spirit Energy were to disappear..." All the colorful dots on the projected Gaia left it and the Planet suddenly became void of light, then it started to fall apart. "These are the basics of the Study of Planet Life."
"So if Spirit Energy disappears, the Planet will die," observed Cloud.
"Ho ho ho, Spirit Energy is efficient because it exists within nature. When Spirit Energy is forcefully extracted and manufactured, it can't accomplish its true purpose."
"You are talking about mako energy, right?"
"Yes. Everyday mako reactors suck up Spirit Energy, diminishing it. Spirit Energy is compressed in reactors and processed into mako energy. All living things are being used up and thrown away. In other words, mako energy will only destroy the Planet," Bugenhagen explained.
Cloud mentally cringed and suddenly felt like the monster he was for sucking up so much mako in those labs. He wondered if he would be able to return them to the Planet when he dies.
Reira closed the door to the room that belonged to her child, who died of a blood disease last winter. She wasn't young already when she gave birth to him, and now that he's gone her chances of conceiving another are almost nil.
She had always wanted to be a mother. She'd tried for years before she became pregnant with her first and only child. But their child left them at such a young age she wondered irrationally if it was because she wasn't good enough to him that he left her so soon.
Elder Bugenhagen had visited her husband and her yesterday, asking if they'd like to take a 6-year-old orphaned boy into care. The kid had helped Nanaki escape from a Shinra facility wherein the pup was imprisoned. She had discussed it with her husband and decided this could very well be the Planet's gift for them. They couldn't have their own child anymore, and the orphanage was too far away for her frail legs to pay a visit to. She entered the spare room and dusted it, changed the bedsheet and the curtain. She hoped that the orphan would like it here and would accept them as his parents eventually.
Hearing someone knock on the door, she walked across the room to answer it but was one step behind her husband.
"Hi, I'm Cloud. You are Mr. Donovan, right? Bugenhagen said you would like to take me in..."
Reira walked into the living room and saw a small child with blond hair a shade paler than her son's. He stood there fidgeting with his ill-fitting clothes and a gray duffel bag. Her husband welcomed the boy in and led him to sit on a sofa in the living room.
"Nice to meet you, Cloud. Bugenhagen said you helped Nanaki. We would like to thank you for taking care of him. Would you like something to drink?" asked Reira.
"Just water will be fine, ma'am."
"Please, call me Reira. This is my husband Lennard Donovan, you can call him Len."
Reira looked at the child's tattered shoes. "We need to get you some new clothes, dear. I'll show you your room and you can put your bag there before we go shopping."
"Thank you, ma'... Reira," said Cloud as he followed her into the room near the back of their house. The boy was very pale and pretty skinny, looking even younger than his age.
"Do you have a last name? I need to fill in some forms if we were to adopt you officially."
The child looked lost, putting down his bag. "Just Cloud, I don't know my parents or other family members." Reira's heart hurt hearing those words. From what she'd learned from Bugenhagen, the child had been a test subject in the labs and had just escaped with Nanaki last week. He'd probably been taken from his parents before he was old enough to learn their names.
"The scientists said I don't have a family out there," said the child as he surveyed his new room with interest.
"You may do whatever you like to this room, dear. Just make yourself at home."
"Thank you. You are very kind to me."
"You are welcome to our family, sweetheart."
After showing him around the house, they took the kid to the tailor in the middle of the town. Cloud looked on curiously as the tailor measured him. They went on to the other shops to get daily necessities for the child as they waited for the new clothes to be made. Reira picked up a pair of stuffed animals that Cloud only looked at with confusion. Reira chuckled and said they were for him to cling to when he went to bed. She put a stuffed Chocobo into Cloud's hands and the other one inside the cart. The child looked adorable with the fluffy toy.
They went to the nearby restaurant after shopping. The kid looked around at the counter and the other customers with curiosity as if he'd never been to a restaurant before. They ordered roasted chicken, soup, pasta, and desserts. When the food arrived Cloud awkwardly picked up the utensils, obviously trying to imitate his foster parents' moves.
"This is good, thank you very much," the kid said as he finished eating not long after he started.
"I'm glad you like them, sweetie. You should have more, we need to put more meat on your bones."
Cloud smiled at her. "I'd like to, but I'm not used to eating a lot at a time. I didn't get much food back there."
They went back to the tailor's and tried on the new clothes. They all looked good on the child, especially the blue shirt that brings out his eyes. Cloud asked questions about how they made electricity in this town if they didn't use mako. Reira explained that they used wind power, coal, and solar panels for energy. They also got him some children's books when they passed a bookstore that drew the kid's attention.
"Nanaki, what do you think of Cloud?" asked Bugenhagen as he worked on an optical instrument in his studio.
"He's...strange, but he helped me when he didn't know me. I like him as a friend." Nanaki flicked his tail, careful not to set any gadgets lying around on fire with his tail tip. He hadn't told his grandpa about the kid's special skills. It was not his secret to tell.
"Ho ho hoo, the Planet was terrified of him before he arrived, but then it almost seemed intrigued. I have never seen such a strange reaction."
Nanaki opened his mouth to speak just as the door burst open and his parents ran in. "Nanaki, You are back! Where did you go? We've looked around half of the continent searching for you!" asked his mother, worry lines etching into her forehead.
"I'm sorry for making you worried, mother. I was running near the outskirt of the village to the north, got chased by a bunch of Gagighandis and ran into a trap. Shinra captured us and sent us to a lab somewhere farther north."
"What did they do? How did you escape?" Nanaki noticed his father's mane looked messier than usual, like he hadn't groomed for days.
"They branded me and injected me with something. I don't know what it was. Cloud opened my cage and helped me out of the place. I was only there for a day or two. I feel completely fine, father."
His father bristled at his now healed scar from the branding and carefully inspected him. Finally, he stopped smelling Nanaki and said, "You smell fine, my son."
"There's a powerful presence lingering around, is that the Cloud you were speaking of?" said his mother as she wrinkled his nose, brows furrowing.
"That would be the boy. What can you tell from his presence?" asked Bugenhagen.
"Not much. The presence is too faint. I need to meet him in person to be a better judge."
His father walked around the place and mused, "My instinct tells me this one's not human. He could be dangerous. Where had he gone?" his father asked with a little trepidation.
"Cloud has been adopted by the Donovans. He came here today to learn about Planet Life," said Bugenhagen as he calmly disconnected a pair of tubes. "Elder Bughe and I would continue to teach him about it and Nanaki can also keep an eye on him. They are friends now."
"You should have been more careful. Letting him stay in town could put y'all at risk," replied his father Seto looking sternly at the old man. "I'll need to see this one immediately to decide what to do."
AN: Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment or leave criticism!