Zack's hands slide from Cloud's face to his shoulders. "Hey, you wanna be a SOLDIER, right?"

Cloud nods his head, not trusting his voice. He's sure there's something vulnerable showing on his face, but he can't bring himself to try to mask it. Something about Zack just seems right. Feels right. As if he had known Zack for years rather than just hours.

"Then what does it matter if Sephiroth is the one teaching you?" Cloud swallows, trembling slightly, unable to come up with a good enough response to that. Zack continues, never breaking eye contact. "Take full advantage of this, man. If being a SOLDIER is your dream, then embrace your dream."

"My honor, my dreams… they're yours now."

The voice in his head makes him want to cry, but Zack's voice interrupts him, distracts him. "Sephiroth knows what he's doing. I mean, he wouldn't have picked you if you weren't special." Zack grins at him and winks. "Think about it, he didn't pick Johnson."

Cloud can't help his smile at that. "Don't let him hear you," he says, voice still raw with emotion. It's a good thing that they're the only ones around, Johnson was already beyond pissed. Cloud didn't need to add 'laughing at the bully' to his list of offenses. Johnson would definitely not thank him for that. At least not in the normal, non-violent way.

Zack laughs and moves his hands from Cloud's shoulders to hold them out in front of him in a peace offering. "Ok, ok. But it got you to smile, though."

It certainly did. The self-doubt still lingers, it always does. And it probably always would. But he feels a little better – Zack had made sure of that. He still doesn't think that he is worthy and he definitely doesn't know what Sephiroth sees in him, but Zack was right – at least Johnson wasn't the General's student. He doesn't think he would be able to handle the gloating.

Zack pulls out his PHS again. "Look at this." Zack shows him another picture. This one from when he had summoned Bahamut. Cloud can see the dragon hovering elegantly in the air, gaze trained on him. He, himself, just stands there, arm outstretched, Commander Rhapsodos standing entirely too close – no wonder everybody was talking. "You did this, dude."

Cloud shakes his head, still in a state of denial. "It was just a fluke." It might look amazing, but it probably meant nothing.

"A fluke?" Zack asks, shocked. "Bahamut is one of the most difficult summons. Not everybody can do it. It takes a lot of magic power to pull off." Cloud feels his face heat up again as Zack looks at him knowingly. "And it doesn't look like it even wore you out. That was no fluke."

Cloud runs a hand through his hair and looks down at the ground, shuffling one of his feet. "O-ok. If you say so."

"I do say so!" Zack says with certainty.

Cloud's still not entirely convinced, but he'll give up for now. He's pretty sure Zack won't concede on the matter. Especially not with all those photos. Speaking of photos – just who all had seen them? Wait. Cloud stops his fidgeting as he thinks of something else. "Zack…" He hesitates, a little wary of the answer. "Just how many photos are there?"

Zack's laughter is not reassuring. "Those two, then there are a couple from when you had lunch with Sephiroth and Genesis… Oh! And then there's one where Sephiroth is correcting your footwork."

Cloud groans and covers his flaming face with his hands. Things just kept getting better and better. "Who took those pictures?"

"SOLDIERs love their gossip," is Zack's reply. At least he has the decency to sound sheepish. "I told you the rumor mill is on fire."

Cloud sighs miserably. "I guess it's too late to pretend it wasn't me." He considers dying his hair for a second, but figures that the damage is already done. Johnson and the other cadets already know who he is, dying his hair wouldn't throw them off the scent. Not to mention that he would need to dye his hair every time there was a new photo. Nope, probably best just to grin (or frown) and bear it.

Zack laughs again, "Not with that hair." Cloud gives him a weak glare – had he read his mind? – but Zack just grins and ruffles his spikes. "Hey, you have patrol today, don't you?" He says, gesturing to Cloud's helmet and rifle.

Cloud nods before responding, "Yeah. The Sector 7 slums."

Zack frowns. "Drat. I was going to ask if you wanted to hang out. What about tomorrow?"

Cloud just shakes his head. "Nope, patrol then too." Cloud almost laughs at Zack's pouting – he really does look like a puppy. "I'm off the next day, though."

"Hello?"

Tifa audibly gasps at the voice on the other end of the line. It had been so long. "A-Aerith?" She chokes out, holding back tears. Even though Tseng had given her the number, she never thought that she would hear Aerith's voice again.

There's a matching gasp from the other end, then Aerith is responding, the excitement in her voice palpable. "Tifa?!"

Tifa sniffs, the tears so much harder to hold back now. She hadn't even spared the thought that Aerith might not remember – Tseng would have said something. But the confirmation that she did remember coupled with the reminder of everything that they had lost out on was just so overwhelming. "Aerith. I'm so sorry. I should have – "

Aerith scoffs, cutting off her overdue apology. "Oh, don't you start that. I never blamed you or Cloud for what happened. Not once. You saved me from Hojo and whatever horrible plans he had for me. I treasured every moment of our time together, short as it was."

Tifa lets out a shaky laugh. "We never did get to go shopping on the plate," she says a little petulantly. She's not sure she can ever forgive Sephiroth for cutting their time short, even if he was repentant and not entirely to blame like Tseng claims.

Aerith's answering giggle is perhaps the best thing that Tifa has ever heard. "There's no time like the present! Besides, I hear Cloud is in town. He can still be our pack Chocobo!"

"We should probably wait until Cloud remembers first, though." Tifa swears she hasn't smiled this wide since she first remembered herself. She certainly wasn't smiling after her conversation with Cloud. Her dreams that night had been so bad that she had even woken her dad. She had nearly told him that it was fine, that she was used to the nightmares by now, but luckily caught herself just in time. She had already been reduced to near hysterics when she first saw him again – dang 13-year-old emotions – she definitely didn't need to worry him any further.

"If you insist."

"Besides, I'm technically 13 right now. I don't think my dad will let me leave Nibelheim anytime soon." Not when she couldn't seem to keep it together. "Not to mention that I don't have the same strength anymore now that I'm in this child-size body." And it was super frustrating. Though, she supposes it gives her time to change her dad's mind about Cloud. She would never give up on her friend – not after everything they had been through together – but she would prefer not to alienate her father in the process. Losing him the first time had been painful enough.

"Don't worry. I'll keep an eye on Cloud in the meantime."

When Cloud steps off the train in the Sector 7 slums, he's not sure why the sight of everything gives him such a sense of wrongness. Instead of destruction and fire, which he had expected to see (and he honestly cannot explain why), he's met instead with absolute normalcy. Benches line the train platform and people mill about waiting for their loved ones. Across from the platform, food vendors make a profit off the lingering crowd.

Chalking this up to his mind just playing tricks on him because of Reno's strange words from the other day, Cloud overlooks the strange feelings and focuses on patrol instead. He's paired up with a few other cadets in the program, ones he doesn't know well enough to converse with or even remember the names of (he's at least tactful enough not to mention the latter). They are aware of him, though, if their furtive glances are anything to go by. Thankfully, they do not mention his new training situation, instead limiting conversation to the bare minimum needed to complete patrol.

Patrol itself is finished painlessly enough, having only encountered the stray Wererat. The neighborhood watch seems happy for their help, though – Garrett and Logan had mentioned that before former President Shinra's untimely demise, there were no patrols in the slums, so the watch had to deal with monsters by themselves. This extra help would explain why the slum dwellers weren't inhospitable with them like he feels they should be.

When his fellow cadets head back to the train station, he opts to hang back instead. Indescribably nostalgic, he wanders the slums trying to determine exactly what it is that feels so familiar. The heart of the slums contains clothing and accessory vendors and all kinds of food shops, but there's an empty lot across from that that Cloud feels should be occupied with something – a bar, perhaps? He's just taken his helmet off to see if his naked eyes work better, when there's a gasp and what sounds like "Bro?" from behind him.

Spinning around, he comes face-to-face with three teenagers. The eldest might actually be old enough to be considered an adult, but Cloud's not sure. He has brown eyes and short dark brown hair that's held back with a red bandana. He's wearing an olive shirt, dark green cargo shorts, a black and a brown belt, and brown fingerless gloves.

The next eldest is a girl who looks to be a little older than Cloud himself. She has brown eyes and long brown hair tied in a high ponytail. Like her comrade, she also has a red bandana. She wears a blue leotard, a black overshirt, olive capris, and brown fingerless gloves with red bands. Cloud feels like she's missing a breastplate, but doesn't know why.

The youngest is a boy who appears to be Cloud's age or a little younger. This one has blue eyes and short black hair that is also held back by a red bandana – unlike his companions, though, his covers his entire head. His outfit consists of an off-white shirt, a black undershirt, dark blue shorts, and black knee pads. The boy is heavier-set than his companions – probably one too many Midgar Specials, Cloud thinks to himself. …Wait. What was a Midgar Special?

The youngest lets out another "Bro", tears in his eyes. Before Cloud can correct him, though – he certainly isn't his brother – the girl is in his personal space, staring into his eyes. "Wow. They're just as pretty even without the glow."

"Just keep those baby blues of yours on me!"

The oldest sighs and shakes his head. "Jessie, give the boy some room."

The girl – Jessie – gives the other an exasperated look. "We haven't seen him in ages, Biggs. Besides, he doesn't mind." She then turns her attention back to Cloud, clasping her hands in front of her. "Isn't that right, honey?" At Cloud's dumbfounded look, Jessie just smirks. She leans forward with one hand on her hip, the other in front of her, index finger and thumb raised. "Psych."

The youngest smiles apologetically at him, completely misreading the perplexed look on Cloud's face. "Sorry, Bro. As you can see, Jessie is still Jessie."

Jessie scoffs and turns to the youngest. "What's that supposed to mean, Wedge?"

The oldest – Biggs – shakes his head again, but he's smiling fondly, as if used to the two by now. "Ignore them. I gotta say, it's great to see you again, man. Honestly, I thought that was it for me up on that pillar." He grimaces, but doesn't elaborate.

"Ah." Cloud wants to say that he has no idea what these three are talking about – pillar, what pillar? – but, unfortunately, that is all his confusion-addled mind can handle at the moment.

Biggs must mistake his bewilderment for agreement because the other teen smiles. "Not that I'm complaining, of course. This is much preferable." Preferable to what? Just what exactly had happened on that pillar? And why does he think that Cloud was involved?

"Have you seen Barret?" The youngest – Wedge – asks, looking at Cloud as if they were the best of friends. The boy doesn't give Cloud the chance to even attempt to explain that he has no idea who this Barret is, much less any of them, instead continuing without missing a beat. "We were going to get the gang back together again. You know, help Barret out looking for new energy sources, but he says we're too young."

Jessie rolls her eyes, "You are too young Wedge – you're only 13." Younger than Cloud, then.

"Hey!" Wedge objects, looking mildly offended. "You're not that much older than me!"

Biggs speaks up before their argument can devolve further, cutting Jessie off before she can do more than open her mouth in protest. "We've been working with Rufus instead." He must misinterpret the look on Cloud's face, cause he laughs. "Yeah. I know, man. I was suspicious of him at first, too, but he actually seems to care. We've been acting as his eyes on the ground. We find what really needs fixing and relay it back to him."

Jessie laughs, too, a little unbelieving. "Can you believe it? Avalanche working with Shinra!" She says, snapping her fingers to punctuate her sentence.

"Ah." Cloud swears he's smarter than this, but apparently he hasn't recovered enough to prove it yet.

Wedge throws a fist into the air, a wide smile on his face. "No more blowing up reactors for us!"

"Bombs detonated: one. Members lost: zero!"

This is enough to kick-start his brain again. Ignoring Jessie's scolding of "Wedge! Keep your voice down!", Cloud manages to stutter out, "B-blowing up reactors?"

Apparently, this is not the response they were expecting, the startled looks on their faces mirroring the one on his. Biggs looks at him, something of a desperate look on his face. "Cloud, do you not remember?"

Cloud groans and tugs at his blond spikes with both hands. Not this again. He had thought, hoped, that he would be safe from the strange voices and people expecting him to remember down here in the slums, so far from the Shinra Building. Apparently not. "Why does everybody keep asking that? Just what am I supposed to be remembering?" He thinks that there must be something of a wild look in his eyes, but he can't bring himself to care.

All three of them cringe simultaneously and the tears are back in Wedge's eyes. Biggs is the one to answer again, looking dejected now. "Don't worry about it, buddy. Just forget everything we said."

The sad looks on their faces make him deflate and he offers the first thing that comes to mind – "it's ok". He's still frustrated and still has no idea what the heck is going on – how did they know his name? – but he feels bad for ruining the mood, for making them look so miserable. He gives them a final, searching look, trying to figure out how he's supposed to know them, but when nothing comes, he turns and starts walking back towards the train station.

He can hear Biggs mumbling as he passes a scrap dealer. "How did we not realize? He was staring at Seventh Heaven… What do we do now? Oh, we need to tell Barret." Seventh Heaven? Is that what they were calling that empty plot of land? The name sounds awfully familiar, but nothing comes to mind.

"Biggs, stop overthinking things. It'll be ok." Jessie tries to console the other teen, though she sounds just as upset.

"I need something to eat…" Wedge says, depressed.

Jessie scoffs. "Really, Wedge?"

"What? I get hungry when I'm upset."

Cloud feels like he should report this – blowing up reactors didn't sound like a good thing. However, he's never heard of a reactor actually being blown up and the three had mentioned that they were working with the President, so it's probably fine, right? They seemed harmless enough, so it must all be a misunderstanding.

True to his word, Sephiroth focuses on Cloud's endurance and footwork the next morning. Cloud does laps around the training grounds again, but with a hefty sword strapped to his back – he's far more exhausted when he finishes this time, but he's happy that he was at least able to finish. After training, the General once again insists on getting lunch together, completely ignoring Cloud's protests.

Absorbed with trying to figure out just what the heck has been going on the past few days, Cloud doesn't realize that he's zoned out in his afternoon class – Monster Theory, or as the cadets call it, 'What You Better Know About Monsters Before You're In Deep Trouble' – until it's already too late.

"My class not interesting enough for you anymore, Strife?" The instructor – Sgt. Williams – calls him out. Williams is a man of average build and height, with honey brown hair that he keeps in a buzz cut. He has three long, parallel scars underneath his right eye that he swears are from a run-in with a rabid Coeurl, though rumor among the cadets is that it was nothing more than a regular Kalm Fang.

"Sorry, sir." Cloud apologizes, mortified. So much for not drawing any more attention to himself.

Williams sighs, completely unimpressed. "Since you're obviously an expert, perhaps you can enlighten us – what's a Behemoth's weakness?" Williams was in his mid-twenties and was still in the infantry, having never made it into SOLDIER. There's a good chance that the man is bitter that Cloud is being trained by Sephiroth – they weren't even close to covering Behemoths in class. Glancing around the room, Cloud sees a few other cadets snickering and Johnson sneering at him from his position on the other side of the room, clearly waiting for him to make a fool of himself. Unfortunately, this was the only class his roommates did not share with him.

Before he can come up with a decent apology for his lack of knowledge, his mouth is answering for him. "Behemoths have no elemental weakness and are immune to most status ailments. If you attack with magic while their horns are still intact, they will counter with Flare." He almost finishes with 'And boy, does it hurt,' but he catches himself in time. As it is, he already has no idea how he knows all that. Going from the look on Williams face, it appears that the man is in the same boat.

"That – that's correct," Williams says, looking and sounding entirely stunned. Cloud makes the mistake of looking at Johnson again and finds the other teen glaring back at him. Not good. He hopes he can avoid him after class.

Williams goes back to teaching after that and Cloud thankfully manages to pay attention for the rest of class. He's already planning on shooting out of the classroom the moment Williams dismisses them, using the other cadets as a shield from Johnson, when the instructor singles him out again. "Strife, a word after class. The rest of you are dismissed." The other cadets file out of the room, Johnson purposefully knocking into Cloud's desk and sending his belongings flying.

He wordlessly collects his belongings and goes to the front of the classroom, Williams either not noticing Johnson's behavior or not caring, not that Johnson would clean up his act even if he was called out. Williams leans against the front of his own desk, arms crossed in front of him. "How did you know that, Strife? Have you been reading ahead?" The man sounds confused, but he doesn't seem mad, so that's something.

Cloud shrugs then shakes his head, just as confused as his instructor. "No, sir. I have no idea how I knew." It was the truth, but that didn't stop Williams from staring at him like he had sprouted an extra head.

"People don't just pull answers like that out of thin air. Did you hear it from the General?"

He gets the feeling that that's not the correct answer either, but he has no idea how to explain his sudden competence otherwise. "I guess so?" It feels like a bit of a cop-out, so he adds, "Him or somebody else."

Williams sighs, exasperated, as if knowing he won't get anything else of value from him. "Well, whatever. It doesn't really matter. Just no more daydreaming in my class, got it?"

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir." Cloud adds in a salute for good measure.

Williams sighs again, "Alright, get outta here. You're dismissed."

Sneaking a glance out the door before exiting, Cloud's relieved to find the hallway completely empty – no Johnson in sight. His relief is short-lived, though, for he's no more than twenty steps down the hallway before he's shoved roughly against the wall, a meaty fist balling up the collar of his uniform. His bully having no doubt hid, out of sight, until Cloud had left the classroom.

"Think you're so smart, do you?" Johnson seethes from above him, spittle spraying from his mouth and landing on Cloud's face. Disgusting. He squirms in the other's hold, trying to find some purchase to kick Johnson and hopefully get away. This just pisses the other teen off more, though, and Johnson shoves him further into the wall, shaking him and tightening his hold on his collar, making it difficult for Cloud to breathe. "Once I'm done with you, Sephiroth won't want you anymore."

"What's going on here?" A loud, stern voice interrupts Johnson's ministrations. The other teen releases his hold on Cloud, his face losing all color – quite the feat considering how red it had been – when he recognizes the intruder as none other than the spiritual leader of SOLDIER, Commander Angeal Hewley.

Hewley is a tall, strong man with chin-length black hair. He's wearing the traditional 1st Class SOLDIER uniform and is walking down the hallway towards Cloud and Johnson. He stops right in front of them, his impressively muscled arms crossed over his chest, a deep frown on his face.

"N-nothing, sir. I was just helping Strife here to his feet." Cloud nearly laughs at Johnson's unease, but thinks better of it. Hewley clearly doesn't believe him, but before he can say anything, Johnson turns towards Cloud. "Isn't that right, Strife?" He says, voice sickeningly sweet, a look that promises pain if Cloud disagrees on his face.

Cloud knows how this works. If he tells on Johnson, he'll be beaten black and blue – snitches get stitches, the voice in his head says, sounding an awful lot like the other teen. "Uh… T-that's right, sir. I fell…" He manages to stutter out, staring at the floor, hands clenched at his sides. He knew this was for the best, but heck if he would lie to the Commander's face.

A few moments pass in silence, then he hears a heavy sigh and looks up to see Hewley staring at him intently, the frown on his face far more pronounced. "Very well." The SOLDIER says somewhat reluctantly, then turns to face Johnson, steel in his eyes. "You're dismissed." The other teen doesn't argue and hurries off down the hallway. The Commander's attention is then on him again and he fights the urge to swallow. "Cadet Strife. I can't do anything if you refuse to speak up."

"I-it really was nothing, sir." He still can't look the man in the eyes, focusing on a point to his right instead.

"This won't make things better." Hewley doesn't sound happy. No wonder, too, since the Commander was all about being honorable – Johnson's behavior anything but.

Cloud stares at nothing for a long moment until he gains the nerve to look at the other man. "With all due respect, sir, speaking up will only make things worse."

A/N:

- 4/18/2021 Update: There is now an alternate take on Cloud's time in the Sector 7 slums where he runs into a Johnny who remembers rather than Biggs, Jessie, and Wedge - Oh (no), Johnny Boy. Please check it out!