"When I backed your plan to train Strife, I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon." Rufus's smooth voice cuts through the din in the conference room like a SOLDIER's sword through Wererats. Though not addressing him directly, he stares at Sephiroth from his position at the head of the table, head cocked to the side, cheek resting on his fist.

After confirming that Cloud did indeed not remember, Sephiroth had called a meeting with everybody else. He sat on the president's left, his fellow SOLDIERs on the same side of the table. Tseng, like always, was on Rufus's right, Reno and Rude next to him with Vincent nowhere in sight. In the spot where he would have expected to see the red-eyed Turk, Reeve sat instead.

Sephiroth had been surprised when he first found out that Reeve remembered, only ever knowing him as the Director of Urban Planning. He had respected the man back then, being one of the only decent men high up Shinra's ladder, but he didn't see how the Director would be of any help with defeating Jenova or healing the planet. Of course, he then learned of Reeve's involvement in the attempt to stop Meteorfall and later with the WRO and his doubts were quickly dismissed.

"Cloud does not remember." Sephiroth responds, quick and to the point as usual. They needed to decide how to proceed from there. While he would have no trouble training the boy for now, destroying Jenova would be significantly easier if Cloud remembered. And if Sephiroth was unable to hold on to his sanity again, it would be better if Cloud did not view him as only his idol and mentor.

"And I hear a certain red-headed Turk almost revealed the Sector 7 plate collapse before checking if the boy actually remembered." Genesis interjects from his spot next to Sephiroth, smirking at Reno sitting directly across from him.

Reno throws his hands in the air. "I thought he remembered, yo!" The red-head's normal cocky pep was gone, replaced instead with a more solemn air. It would appear that Cloud not remembering affected him more than Sephiroth would have imagined.

"We both did," Rude agrees with his partner, face a little red for some reason. Sephiroth vaguely wonders what happened during their interaction.

"I swore he remembered, too! I mean, he totally cried when he saw me!" Zack chimes in, looking a little down himself.

Genesis snorts and rolls his eyes, lounging in his chair with one leg crossed over the other. "I cry when I see you, too." Sephiroth sighs internally – it would appear that the Loveless-obsessed man wasn't entirely done with his theatrics.

"Genesis." Angeal says in warning, shooting the other SOLDIER a disapproving look. Zack leans over his former mentor to get a better look at the red-clad man and yells something that sounds like "How rude!"

Genesis scoffs and waves a hand dismissively, but otherwise ignores his childhood friend. Instead, he turns his full attention on Zack before addressing the teen once more. "At least you don't look like you're about to cry yourself anymore."

Angeal sighs, shaking his head while holding his temples. There is a slight smile on his face, though, so Sephiroth figures he's probably thinking that Genesis has a strange way of showing his affection.

Zack looks confused for barely a second and then he's beaming at Genesis. "You do like me!"

"That is not what I said!" Genesis looks mildly affronted, but Sephiroth thinks it's just an act. The SOLDIER is just as fond of Angeal's puppy as the rest of them are.

"Gentlemen," Rufus interrupts, face still resting on his fist. "Shall we get back to the matter at hand?" Silence falls over the room as the president continues, "Are we even certain that Cloud will eventually remember?" That is definitely a sobering thought and one that Zack looks none too happy about.

"Why would the planet give us all our memories back but not her champion?" Reeve asks, a serious look on his face.

Genesis looks contemplative as he quotes, "Infinite in mystery is the gift of the Goddess."

While Sephiroth finds that he agrees with the sentiment, he would never tell Genesis. Especially not when it concerned Loveless.

"Perhaps the after-effects of Hojo's care the first time around still linger."

If Sephiroth was anybody else, he might have jumped at the new voice. His fellow SOLDIERs certainly did. Looking up, he sees Vincent in the corner of the room, leaning against the wall, arms crossed in front of him. He's a little disappointed in himself for not noticing the Turk sooner – he didn't realize the man was that good at masking his presence.

While Reeve was the one who had asked the initial question, Sephiroth notices that Vincent's attention is on him instead. Going from the almost imperceptible twitch of the Turk's lips, he gets the feeling the man noticed his surprise and has gotten some enjoyment out of startling him.

Reeve hums a bit in thought, not bothered by Vincent at all – then again, the two had worked together before, so perhaps he was used to him. "That is plausible." He says, lacing his hands together in front of him. "Even after Tifa helped restore his psyche, he still didn't remember everything. There were some memories that he never got back. It is possible that it'll take some time for the memories of his previous life to return."

Zack bounces in his seat and adds, "Yeah, I only remembered a few weeks ago!" The teen had received the same 'care', as Vincent referred to it, so Sephiroth hopes that Cloud remembering was just delayed, too.

Reno clicks his tongue and shakes his head. "Blondie's taking his good ol' time again…"

Before Zack can do anything more than open his mouth in defense of his friend, Genesis is voicing his opinion again. "Honestly, I don't see what all the fuss is about this little cadet." He leans back in his chair and crosses his arms in front of his chest. "The last time I saw him, he wasn't that impressive."

"Genesis!" Angeal scolds once again, clearly not finding the other's behavior that impressive himself.

Ignoring Zack's cry of "He was mako-poisoned!", Genesis turns to Angeal and continues, "What? It's not like you knew him either."

"No, but I trust Sephiroth and Zack. If they say that Strife is the only one who can defeat Sephiroth, then I believe them."

Genesis scoffs, "Hmph. Fine."

Sephiroth gets the feeling that Genesis is speaking out of jealousy, having never been able to beat him in a sparring match. Figuring it best not to provoke the other SOLDIER at this point, though, Sephiroth instead responds, "You'll just have to see him in action."

"Oh, I intend to." Genesis counters, a determined glint in his eyes. If Sephiroth knows anything about the theatrically-inclined SOLDIER, he will probably insist on testing Cloud.

"How do we get Cloud to remember, then?" Rufus interjects, cutting off their arguing once more. The President's face and voice are even, not appearing that bothered by the distractions. Then again, he was trained by the Turks and was therefore good at hiding his emotions, so there's no saying what he was actually thinking.

Tseng speaks up for the first time, one gloved hand on top of the other on the table. "Zack and Strife were rather inseparable back then. Perhaps spending time together again will jog the boy's memory."

Zack nearly jumps out of his seat in excitement, clearly having no problem with this plan. "Yeah! I can totally do that! And I'm sure Aerith will help, too!" Zack pauses and then looks like he's just had a revelation. "Ohh! I can ask her if she knows of any way to restore his memories, what with her being able to talk to the planet and everything."

Rufus inclines his head slightly, "Very well. If that doesn't work, though, we'll have to figure something else out."

Reeve sighs, "Must we always rely on Cloud for everything? I think he's been through enough as-is."

"Be that as it may, Reeve, if our General and Commanders are not immune to Jenova, we will need the appropriate backup plan. Unfortunately, Cloud Strife is that backup plan." Rufus leans back in his chair and surveys the room's occupants for a moment before continuing, "In the meantime, I plan to call in some experts from Cosmo Canyon to discuss how best to destroy the Calamity."

Zack looks confused as he leans towards the President, "Why not talk to Aerith instead? She's already in the city and I'm sure she could help."

Rufus sighs and considers Zack for a moment. "While I have no doubt that Ms. Gainsborough could help, my company has already caused her enough pain and suffering. It was extremely generous of her to cure Genesis's and Angeal's degradation and to ease the Tsviets' pain, helping them towards rehabilitation. I would prefer not to bother her again." The president pauses for a moment, thinking, then turns to Sephiroth, "Any indication that Jenova is active?"

"No, sir. I would have felt something."

Rufus looks relieved at the denial as he turns back to Zack. "Then we still have time. If I can't get any answers from Cosmo Canyon, then I will ask Ms. Gainsborough for her assistance."

"I didn't know you were coming to see me!" Aerith beams up at him from her spot in her flower garden outside her house. They've been back together for a few weeks now (she had scolded him for taking so long), but Zack swears his heart skips a beat every time he sees her.

"Do I need a reason to visit my girl?" He returns, giving her his trademark grin. She's tending to her yellow lilies, the ones that symbolize reunion – Zack thinks that that fits the two of them pretty well considering.

She smiles knowingly at him, "No, but your face says you have one."

He grins sheepishly and rubs the back of his head, "Busted." He sits down next to her and starts to run the fingers of one hand idly through the dirt. "Cloud doesn't remember," he finally says, staring absently into space.

"I miss him, too," she responds, always so perceptive. They fall into a sad, but comfortable, silence for a few minutes, the only sound that of the waterfall in front of them.

Remembering the question he had wanted to ask, he turns to her, wiping his dirt-covered hand on his pants. "Can't you ask the planet to help him remember?"

Putting her trowel down, Aerith turns to him, a sad smile on her face. "The planet already returned his memories to him. It might just take some time for everything to come together."

"What do you mean?" He asks, confusion no doubt apparent on his face.

She taps a finger on her cheek, thinking. "Imagine Cloud's mind is a puzzle. The puzzle pieces are all there, but they all haven't fallen into place yet." Zack nods thoughtfully – that makes sense.

"Not that I'm complaining, but why do we remember anyway?" Definitely not complaining. He's glad for the chance to avoid everything that had gone wrong the first time.

Aerith's face scrunches up, as if the question or its answer brought her pain. "After everything with Sephiroth and Jenova, the planet was dying. Even with the efforts of everybody and everything the WRO did, the damage was just too great. Gaia decided its only course of action was to reverse time and return memories to those it thought would be best able to protect it. With some exceptions, these people are the ones who were trying to save it the first time around."

Zack initially looks alarmed at her explanation, but then so, so confused. "But why let Sephiroth remember when he was the one who almost destroyed the planet in the first place?"

"Gaia recognizes that Jenova was the catalyst behind Sephiroth's fall from grace." Zack grimaces at her words – what a fall from grace that was. "It also acknowledges the extent of Jenova's ability to influence him. The best way to avoid him falling into her clutches again was to provide him the means to fight her influence. The same holds true for Angeal and Genesis."

Zack's mouth falls open at that. "Can Jenova control them, too?" Sephiroth had mentioned the possibility. Watching the General fall to Jenova was bad enough. He didn't know if he could handle the same happening to Angeal.

Aerith shrugs, "It's possible, but there's no way to know for sure without trying." She chuckles and grins at him wryly. "We should probably avoid that, though."

"Yeah, definitely," he agrees, running a hand through his hair. "That's more or less what Sephiroth said. He's going to train Cloud so Spike's ready if he loses it again."

Aerith looks at him for a long moment, eyes twinkling mischievously. "Cloud, Cloud, Cloud." She half-sings. "That's all you've talked about since coming to see me! Should I be afraid that you're going to leave me for him?"

Zack feels his entire face go red as he tries (and fails) to find something to say.

"You're not denying it!" She laughs.

"W-wait! How do I know it won't be you leaving me for Cloud?" He finally manages to stutter out, his face still reminiscent of a certain Turk's hair.

Aerith brings a hand up to her face, thinking. The fact that the mischievous look is still on her face makes Zack dread whatever's about to come out of her mouth. "I'm open to having Cloud join us," she says, smiling widely.

"Aerith!"

"Apparently, Sephiroth wants to train me personally."

The silence that follows is almost deafening. The shocked looks on their faces would almost be funny if Cloud wasn't so afraid of losing their friendship.

Colin's mouth opens and shuts several times, no sound coming out, looking distinctly like a fish out of water. Logan, on the other hand, manages to choke out a stilted, "W-what?" before Garrett steals the conversation again.

"He what!" He shouts and Cloud is afraid that the rest of the floor will be able to hear him.

Cloud shrinks in on himself. "He said that I would no longer participate in normal training and that he would be taking over my training personally." If the metal floor could swallow him now, he would totally let it.

"H-he wants to take over your training personally…" Colin repeats dazed, clearly still absorbing the information and not completely believing his ears.

In the next moment, Garrett is back full force. "How did you get so lucky, man?" He waves a hand up and down in Cloud's direction, disbelief and awe clearly on his face.

"I'm so jealous," Logan adds, still in a state of shock. "Gaia…" he exhales, a little breathlessly.

"I can't believe this…" Colin says, starry-eyed. "Sephiroth has never taken a student before." Commander Hewley was the only one of the Golden Trio who had, Commander Rhapsodos too volatile and General Sephiroth too unattainable.

"Wow…" Garrett breathes out, quiet for once. He then notices the look on Cloud's face and softens, "Hey, I'm not mad at you, man. This is great. Can't say I don't wish it was me, but I'm happy for you." He shakes his head slowly as if only half-believing what was happening. "Wow…" He repeats again, quieter as if only meant for himself.

"Yeah, Cloud, we wouldn't be mad about this." Colin says, still starry-eyed. "We're just surprised is all." Logan nods in agreement. Cloud relaxes at that – one less thing for him to worry about. Now if only he could figure out what the heck has been going on all day.

"I'm so proud of you!" Garrett says, back to his boisterous volume, going over to ruffle Cloud's hair. "Our little Cloudy is all grown up." He continues, fake sniffing. If he had a handkerchief, he would no doubt pretend to blow his nose.

Cloud huffs and fixes an entirely unimpressed look on the teen – he had called him 'little' again. "The height jokes are getting rather old…"

Garrett just laughs in response. "But seriously, dude, I'm really happy for you." He says with a smile and Cloud offers his own in return. "Not that I doubt your skill or anything, but did he say why he wants to train you?"

Cloud sighs, running a hand through his spikes. "That's where it starts making even less sense. He said something like I was the only one who could 'stop him'." He says, air-quoting the end.

"Stop him? What does that mean?" Colin asks, brow furrowed. Cloud thinks that that's probably how he's looked at least half of that day alone.

"Something about stopping him from losing himself. Like that makes any sense either, though…" He sighs again – he's been doing that a lot lately.

"Uh…" Garrett starts, looking just as confused as the rest of them. He doesn't continue, though, as if that was the extent of his train of thought.

"Yup. Now you know how I have felt. All. Day." He grits out, a little bitter. "And to top it all off, everybody and their brother keeps asking me if I remember!" He yells – thankfully not as loud as Garrett – and throws his hands into the air.

"Remember what, dude?" Logan asks. Now, wasn't that the million-gil question.

He groans, feeling his frustration rise again. "Heck if I know. Just everybody that I've run into today has commented on my lack of remembering something. But when I ask, nobody tells me what it is that I've forgotten. Zack, Sephiroth, and now three Turks to top it all off!"

"T-turks?" Colin sputters out. "Just what did you do?"

He tugs at his hair. "I don't know! That's the thing!" They look as confused as he's felt all day. "But Zack, Sephiroth, and Tseng all said that there was nothing to worry about, so I guess it wasn't anything bad? It at least sounds like the Turks won't be making me disappear any time soon…" Though, that wasn't much consolation at the moment. He would rather know exactly what they expected him to remember.

"Tseng? Of the Turks?" Logan asks, eyes about as wide as Colin's. "As in Tseng, second-in-command of the Turks?"

"I guess?" He says, shrugging. "Guess it would make sense why Reno and Rude referred to him as 'Boss-man'."

"Wait – Reno, too?" Garrett says, sounding as surprised as the others look. He points a finger at Cloud and continues, "You're friends with both the second and third-in-command of the Turks?" It figures the red-head, who seemed like the most trouble of the three, would be so high up the ladder. Great. Just great.

"Not friends. We're barely acquaintances. I just ran into them in the lobby." More like was accosted by them, but he's not going to mention that.

"Riiiiight." Garrett says, stretching out the word, clearing not believing him. "Just random strangers coming up to you asking if you remember them."

"That is literally what has been happening to me all day…" And Cloud's tired of it. And so confused.

Garrett's back to smiling again, mischievously this time. "Just promise me one thing. If I ever get into trouble, please have one of your new important friends save me."

Cloud shakes his head, smiling in spite of himself. "I make no promises."