Chapter 6

Unstable Past

Cloud opened his eyes and everything flooded back at once, disappearing in the tube with Aeris, the Ancient Black, what they had to do…everything. Though the thought process was suddenly forgotten as Cloud realized he was in fact falling through the air.

"What the…" he managed to say when he saw the ground rushing toward him.

Then it was as if someone had simply grabbed him and he was frozen in mid air.

"It's safe to say something went wrong," Aeris said and Cloud somehow managed to turn in mid-air to look at her. She too was floating in the air except she seemed to be in a comfortable sitting position whereas Cloud was frozen in a less rehearsed position.

"Are you doing this?" Cloud asked.

"I thought it would be better than hitting the ground, though I'm sure you would have survived," Aeris replied.

Cloud looked down incredulously and then back to her, "What gives you that idea?"

"Take a closer look at where we are," Aeris said, "you might not recognize it so much as the last time you were here it was all going by a bit faster."

Cloud looked down again and then to his left and right, his suspended position gave him an excellent view of his surroundings.

"Midgar," Cloud muttered, "this is Midgar."

"We've gone back in time it appears," Aeris said, "if I had let you fall there would be two Clouds in my church right now…and that would make things very complicated."

Cloud shook his head, "This is way back, and we're supposed to be going to the future!"

"In my experience such things don't happen unless someone caused it," Aeris said.

"Who would want to send us into the past?" asked Cloud.

"Good question, but to get to where we want to go we need to find out," Aeris replied.

"Damn," Cloud growled, "this is one serious set back."

"It looks like it may be up to the others to kill the Ancient Black," Aeris said, "but we can't give up yet. We've got an advantage this time."

Cloud looked at her curiously.

"Me," she clarified.

"I don't suppose you have a magic spell that would point us to the person who messed up our travel arrangements?" asked Cloud.

"When has anything ever been that easy?" asked Aeris.

"Alright, so what now?" asked Cloud.

"I'll send a message to Wymond, due to the differences in time it may take a while for my thoughts to reach him," Aeris said, "hopefully he'll be able to come up with a way to help us. Until then we have to help ourselves."

"Starting with getting me back on the ground," Cloud said.

"I was getting to that," Aeris said and the two of them floated down and landed atop a building a few meters away from the church.

Cloud caught sight of himself and Aeris coming out on the roof and talking for a while, then jumping from roof to roof away from the church.

"I'm guessing if we run into ourselves it'll mess things up," Cloud said.

"You have no idea," Aeris replied ominously. "This is not what I had planned at all."

"We need a direction," Cloud said looking around. "Do we know anything?"

Aeris stood silently.

"So what the hell do we do?" asked Cloud.

"I guess we wait for Wymond," Aeris said.

Cloud shook his head, "Damn."

"This isn't such a good start," Aeris commented.

"Isn't our presence here alone changing things?" asked Cloud.

Aeris looked around, "We're in an unstable past, who knows what our appearance here has already changed. Good thing is as long as our presence is minor it won't affect our future selves."

"What if something happens to us in this time?" asked Cloud.

"Which us?" asked Aeris, "like us, or the other us."

Cloud stared at her for a moment and she smiled.

"Look, I'm not gonna be able to keep up with all this time travel stuff," Cloud said, "so as simply as possible explain what happens if the other us dies."

"If the other you in this time was to die or the other me was to die earlier than planned then it would ultimately kill every other us that exists in any other timeline," Aeris replied.

Cloud closed his eyes, "So we're standing here with the potential to completely destroy both ourselves and every other self in existence."

"Not to mention the problems our suddenly not existing would cause," Aeris said.

Cloud's eyes remained closed, "So we're standing here with the potential to completely fuck up the balance of time itself."

Aeris just nodded knowing well enough Cloud couldn't see the movement she made, as his eyes were still closed.

"We should follow them," Aeris suggested.

Cloud opened his eyes.

"We already know what's going to happen, there might be a few subtle differences, but we're already ahead of the game," Aeris said.

"I see what you're saying, we should protect them…us…but shouldn't we also be staying as far away from…us…as possible?" asked Cloud.

"As long as we don't see us, or at least as long as the other us doesn't recognize us," Aeris said.

"Disguises," Cloud said.

"The Wall Market," Aeris suggested, "should be able to find some disguises there."

Cloud nodded and turned ready to start moving, he remembered something and quickly turned back to Aeris, "I'm not dressing up like a girl, I want a male disguise."

Aeris laughed, "It hadn't even occurred to me."

"Yeah, right," Cloud muttered.

The two made their way off the roof and on to the ground; Cloud recognized the place as if it hadn't been a very long time since he'd seen Midgar intact. The place everyone remembered as where it all began and, in a sense, where it all would end. Holy and the Lifestream would battle the final enemy here, not Sephiroth, but his Meteor.

Though their past selves knew nothing about that, and how much simpler life was then for them.

"There they are, looks like they didn't get very far," growled a voice from behind Cloud he turned to see a younger, but no different looking Reno and a single Shinra soldier in blue.

"They think we're…" Cloud paused, "the other us."

"We can't fight them," Aeris said.

"Right, Reno doesn't die, we'd mess everything up," Cloud said, "this time travel thing is getting really inconvenient."

"Come on, we can lose them," Aeris said turning to run with Cloud in tow.

"That soldier with Reno," Cloud said in mid-run, "I got all of them with the barrels, there shouldn't be one left."

"Guess this time's Cloud isn't so amazing," Aeris said laughing.

"What I'm saying is…" Cloud looked at Aeris, "thank you, and that we can fight the soldier because that really wouldn't change anything."

"I guess so," Aeris said, "if it comes to it."

"Go left," Cloud said pointing and the two of them veered off.

"The other us should be on the way to my house by now, we've got time to lose these guys and get to the Wall Market," Aeris said.

"I think I've got my disguise planned out," Cloud said, "split up."

"Why?" asked Aeris.

"Trust me," he replied, "Reno will go after you so you run and I'll do the rest."

"Remember you can't actually hit Reno, if he so much has a bruise that he's not supposed to have it'll change things," Aeris warned.

"I'm not going for Reno," Cloud said and suddenly moved right and disappeared, leaving Aeris alone for Reno and the soldier to chase.

As Cloud had said the two ignored Cloud's absence and went for Aeris. They were, after all, here for the Ancient, not for him. Aeris knew she wasn't so much trying to escape now as much as she was just playing a decoy waiting for Cloud to make a move.

It didn't take him long.

Aeris looked over her shoulder in time to see the soldier running a little behind Reno just disappear. She wasn't sure exactly where Cloud came from; in fact she didn't even see Cloud so she had to assume Cloud was even involved in the soldier disappearing. She quickly turned her attention back to Reno she turned left to try and lose him. Reno was around the corner and still had her in sight. Aeris was about to try another trick she had up her sleeve when she, like the soldier, disappeared.

Reno stood in confusion looking around. He moved to stand in the exact spot where she had last been and looked around.

"Hey, did you see," Reno turned to ask the soldier but he too was gone. "Where's everybody disappearing to?"

After standing there for a few more seconds Reno just shrugged helplessly and wandered off hoping to find her somewhere else.

Directly above where Reno stood confused was Aeris looking down, Cloud had somehow managed to get on top of a large pile of some metal junk and there were enough footholds for him to get low enough to grab people and pull them up.

Behind Aeris lay the soldier that was following Reno, minus his blue uniform.

"He's alive," Cloud told her as he finished putting on the said removed uniform, "if I killed him it'd ruin my disguise."

"Shinra soldier, I guess that's a good disguise for you," Aeris said.

"Right, because I was…" Cloud looked at Aeris picking up the helmet, "you weren't around for the real story but I guess you know?"

"That you're not Zack?" asked Aeris.

"Well, guess I don't have to tell it again," Cloud said putting on the helmet.

"You two are so similar I can almost see why, for whatever reason, you thought you were him," Aeris said smiling, "just you're alive and he's not."

Cloud was a bit glad he had the helmet covering his face so he didn't have to worry about any facial expressions; it was always easier to hide things like that.

"Come on, if we're gonna get you a disguise we should start moving," Cloud said.

Aeris nodded, "We've only got a while until you try and sneak away."

Cloud grabbed the soldier's last item, the rifle, and used some jutting pieces of metal to hop back down to the ground. He turned to help Aeris to the ground and the two headed off in the direction of the Wall Market.

"Walk in front, you'll look more like a prisoner," Cloud said.

"Should I have my hands behind my back and have my head down too?" asked Aeris smiling.

"If you think it would add to the overall effect, sure," Cloud replied.

Cloud walked behind Aeris, who decided not to do the hands behind the back and head down thing, with his rifle held casually in one hand. From his experience as a soldier he knew that very few men walked and acted as they were trained when no one was looking.

As they passed through Sector 6 Cloud found as soon as the monsters saw Cloud's gun they backed off. This surprised him a little but also made him wish he'd picked up a Shinra rifle the first time he'd come through here with Aeris. Of course if he told the other them about it time would get messed up…like most of the things they could possibly do.

"If we step on a rock or something here that wasn't meant to be stepped on will that change things?" asked Cloud.

"Probably, but not in a big way," Aeris replied.

"The longer we stay here the more dangerous this gets," Cloud said shaking his head.

"As long as we're careful it'll be alright," Aeris said, "in any case we do need to figure out how to get to the future. I'd hoped Wymond would get my message by now."

"Assuming he'll know what to do," Cloud said.

"Yes," Aeris said.

The two entered Wall Market and again Cloud recognized it well. He remembered exactly where he'd gone the first time he'd come here, why he'd come this way, everything.

"Kind of nostalgic, eh?" asked Aeris.

"Yeah, the good old days I guess," Cloud muttered, "guess we should go to that clothing place we went to."

"Yeah, don't get me a dress though, add to the disguise," Aeris said.

Cloud realized he'd never really seen Aeris in anything other than a dress. Her current clothing was the same as what she usually wore but in a different colour, and even that was a bit of a switch.

"You know, something that makes me look cool," Aeris said, "but blends in with the crowd."

"So you wanna stand out but fit in?" asked Cloud.

"Yeah," Aeris said.

Cloud shook his head, "You realize I'm not exactly a clothing expert right?"

"Well, I can't go in there because the person at the desk can't see me now, and then see someone who looks exactly like me in a little while inquiring about getting a dress for a man."

Cloud sighed, "They can't see me either, but I'm the only one with a current disguise that does cover my face."

"Victim of circumstance, so to speak," Aeris said chuckling.

"Try and stay out of sight, we don't want anybody recognizing you twice," Cloud said.

As Aeris went to try and be inconspicuous, Cloud entered the clothing shop where he remembered trying on a dress.

"Can I help you?" asked the daughter of the man who would design the said dress.

"I need some clothing, casual stuff, it's for a partner of mine," Cloud said making stuff up quickly, "we were outside of Midgar and his clothes took a beating."

"No problem," the woman said and showed him to where they kept the casual clothing. "We specialize in dresses mostly, but since my father hasn't been around we've started to focus a little more on other types of clothing too."

Cloud was almost tempted to say something like "go check at the bar" or "don't worry, that's about to change."

"Thanks, this'll do, he's not fussy," Cloud said quickly grabbing a white shirt and black pants. He realized Aeris would probably look like Reno without his blazer so he also grabbed a black leather jacket. On his way to pay for the clothing he noticed a rack of sunglasses and picked out a pair that would sufficiently cover her eyes as a disguise, but would add to the "cool" look she wanted. At least as far as Cloud knew, anyways.

He started to move toward the counter when he realized he had no money.

"Oh, great," Cloud muttered, he knew Aeris wouldn't have any either. They had planned on a trip to the future to save the world, if he had known he was going to need to buy some clothing he would have brought some Gil with him.

"Short on currency, my friend?" asked a man standing in the doorway.

Cloud looked at him suspiciously through the helmet, "A little."

"That's alright, I'll get this one," the man said smiling and paid for Cloud's clothing. He gave the owner a wave and stepped outside with Cloud.

"I'd ask if it showed on my face, but you know," Cloud said, not sure what to make of the man.

He had sandy hair that fell to around the top of his shoulders and brown eyes that looked almost dark enough to be black. He wore normal clothing, a red shirt and blue pants. Overall the guy looked pretty common.

"Well, we both know I'm about as common as you are a Shinra soldier, right?" asked the man smiling.

"You're reading my mind," Cloud said.

"Sorry, I try not to do it. I have to say you take the fun out of it though. Most people at least have a look of confusion or start getting nervous," the man said, "the name's…"

"Get away from him!" Aeris said suddenly coming out from behind a building with her staff out.

Cloud, not in a position to question Aeris, jumped back and aimed his rifle at the man.

"Really, Aeris, dear, must you always overreact like this every time we meet?" asked the man.

"Get back," Aeris growled and the man took a step back.

"As you wish, oh great powerful Cetra…" the man paused, "…dead chick…I guess would finish the title."

"You brought us here," Aeris accused.

"Me," the man said, "why would I do that?"

"You're an idiot, why else?" Aeris asked.

"Oh, I always love it when you give me compliments, Aeris. It raises my self-esteem ever so much," the man said smiling. "Now you know as much as I do that I don't just pop up and say hi for no reason."

"Why did you bring us here?" asked Aeris.

"I told you, I didn't, really, I'm not lying," the man said. "I think it's far more fun to watch you two do your thing than have you walk around in disguises but this isn't my doing at all. In fact I'm here because you're here."

"What the hell is going on?" asked Cloud.

Both Aeris and the man looked to him.

"You think I'm here for him, don't you?" asked the man.

"Tell me you're not," Aeris said.

The man put a hand over his heart, "Sweetheart, really, I'm hurt. You know I only do all that Angel of Death stuff part time."

"So then why are you here?" she asked not yet ready to let her guard down it seemed.

"Oh, you know me, just traveling through space and time, heard my attractive little Aeris was back in town. Not just back in town in fact, but alive and in another time," the man said, "obviously I'm supposed to come here and get you the hell out because…well…you aren't supposed to be here but you knew that already. When I discovered that I, in fact, could not get you two out, I had to come here to find out who exactly wanted you to stay."

"You figure out who yet?" asked Aeris.

"No, but you know all us Cetra expect one guy for everything nowadays," the man said smiling, "and you realize in this time, he's alive."

"Who?" asked Cloud.

"Oh, come on," the man said smiling, "everybody's favourite buddy, credited with the worst psychotic break down…ever. I know you know this one…anybody, you definitely know this one guys, Aeris? No?"

"Sephiroth," Cloud said lowering his gun.

"A-ring-a-ding!" the man said laughing. "I shouldn't be all that surprised. You should be able to smell the guy from a mile away, you've killed him…what…twice now?"

"Give or take," Cloud muttered.

"Come on Aeris, beautiful, put down the weapon, let's all be friends," the man said.

Aeris hesitated and put away her staff.

"Good, now I can kill you all," the man said.

Cloud and Aeris raised their weapons.

"I'm just kidding," said the man laughing, "lighten up guys, all the shit you're gonna be going through with time travel you need to work up a sense of humour!"

"Cloud, this is Samael," Aeris reluctantly introduced, "he's something of a free agent in the Lifestream."

"A mercenary one might say. I used to do some dead collection for the Ancients so I gained a bad reputation as you can see. My friends call me Sam, if you wanna be my friend you can call me Sam…if you don't you can still call me Sam just don't tell anybody or I can't say 'my friends call me Sam' anymore," Sam said smiling amiably.

"Cloud," Cloud said shaking Sam's hand, a little annoyed by the man's overly elated attitude but also a bit amused by it, "you're an Ancient."

"Well, a lot of people don't like the idea, but yes, dead and floating in the Lifestream with the rest of them, you know," Sam replied.

"Uh, here," Cloud said turning to give Aeris her new clothes, "hope they're satisfactory."

She took the clothes and nodded, "What do you know about our being here, Samael?"

"See, Aeris here insists on calling me Samael to unnecessarily emphasize that I'm most definitely not her friend. They say women are hard to understand, but I know how to translate everything about her," Sam said matter-of-factly, "in truth I've got a bit of a crush on her, but I've realized the fact she would rather kill me sort of hinders that you know, very Romeo and Juliet."

"Who and who?" asked Cloud.

"Romeo…" Sam paused, "wrong plane of existence, sorry, I get them mixed up sometimes. Actually it's nothing like Romeo and Juliet, but if you don't know who they are then you can't really call me on that can you?"

Cloud just stared at him; he didn't need to take the helmet off to convey his confusion.

"Look, he can explain things later," Aeris said, "I have to change and we need to get out of sight."

"Look, here you come," Sam said pointing to the Cloud and Aeris from the past, "it's rather strange isn't it, staring at yourself from afar."

"Come on, let's go," Aeris said.

Cloud followed Aeris and Sam walked behind them.

Sam smiled, "Although, you know, this is kind of good for me, because I do have this recurring dream of having two of Aeris."

Cloud and Aeris both stopped and looked at him.

"Oh, sorry, did I take that one too far?" Sam asked. "I can never tell when to stop, you know?"