This is a new story I got the idea of while reading Final Fantasy 7 time travel fics. Strange considering that the only mention of Chocobos in all of them that I read was nods to Cloud raising Racing Chocobos, or Cloud showing up SOLDIERs as he controls chocobos effortlessly, especially the wild ones. But anyway!

This isn't a solid story yet, I don't know where I'm taking it. I am going to work on this one and my other FF7 story while the world slowly goes crazy though so don't think that this is going to sit unworked on for months. Not anymore since my mom was forced to close her store and I have free access to her laptop now. Rip our paychecks.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1

The breeze felt great, soft and airy but filled with the scent of fresh grass and rain. It felt good to feel it again after feeling nothing for such a long time. No offense to his girl, but if the breeze left when he opened his eyes then he didn't want to see her again. He shifted without opening his eyes and he felt wrong like things weren't in their proper place.

So caught up in his own feeling of wrongness, he didn't even feel the movement beside him, his eyes shooting open as a startled and distressed call came from in front of him, a call soft and poetic and oh so familiar, but also very much that of a startled chocobo. And sure enough, panicking and trying to stand was a beautiful crimson chocobo, his cries only increasing as he kept failing to stand.

Looking around showed him two other chocobos, a silver and a black, both watching the struggling red chocobo, the black one slowly trying to approach by falling forward, only to catch itself with its wings, almost as if it didn't know how to walk properly. He watched silently, wondering if this was a dream or reality, as the black one finally reached the red one and started cooing gently, his voice deep but friendly and still also very, very painfully familiar.

Then the silver one moved, shifting its head to look at him, glowing green cat-like eyes watching him closely, as it stood gracefully and took two steps forward, towards the red chocobo as well, only to fall flat, its wings flying out too late to catch him. When his head lifted from the ground, his feathers covered in grass and dirt, his eyes were wide with shock and confusion, and maybe a bit of fear that it had fallen flat on its face when the other two had just fallen back down onto their chests. The silver chocobos eyes narrowed into a glare at him, a deep, rich, and smooth warning sound coming from it, and he froze in place. He knew only one person who had eyes like that, whose voice could command even without words, and suddenly he was scared to look at himself. But he did, and the sound that came from him alerted the other two to his presence.

Zack Fair, SOLDIER First Class, Defender of the last Cetra, and the only one capable of getting through to Cloud Strife to make him go home when he was gone too long, was a black chocobo on his side watching three other chocobos who he could finally put names to. And Zack didn't know how to feel about that.

Genesis Rhapsodos, ex-SOLDIER First Class, was watching him with narrowed glowing sapphire blue eyes. Angeal Hewely, also ex-SOLDIER First Class, and his deceased mentor, was watching him with less suspicion than Genesis, but also very suspiciously, with glowing steel blue eyes. Sephiroth, Calamity's son, adored and loved General of SOLDIER, and fellow First Class SOLDIER, was standing back up, his green cat-like eyes flickering between Genesis, Angeal, and Zack, almost as if nervously watching for any sign that he would have to interfere and stop a fight.

Zack cautiously stood, finding himself a lot more balanced if he just let his body flow with the motions, and slowly turned around in a circle, once to show he wasn't dangerous and then a second time to survey the land again. He knew of a lot of plains, but this one screamed Chocobo to him, something to do with chocobos, and not the three still watching him. He paused and stared off at the mountains in the distance, something, most likely instinct or repressed memories, screaming at him that going in that direction would be a bad idea, something about giant snake monsters.

"That's the marshes," came a quiet and awed voice from beside him. Zack's head whipped over to the source of the sound, only to see that the three had gathered closer to him while he was looking around, apparently having already mastered their new bodies if they were able to move quietly again. Sephiroth looked confused and lost and so very, very innocent, Angeal was staring towards the marshes in confusion and slight hints of fear, and Genesis looked on with almost childlike awe at the marshes before them, clearly wanting to run in and explore them. It made Zack want to gather them around him and explain that they couldn't go play in the dangerous places and that they had to stay close to him and do as he says, like Cloud does with the kids in Edge and the other towns he travels to where the kids tend to follow him around like baby chocobos do to their mothers.

Then Zack recognized why they were looking on like they were. They were out of there times and thrown into sometime after that whole Reunion experience. Angeal had died first so the changes would be unknown to him, Sephiroth second though he was more a pain than anything else, using clones to chase and terrorize Cloud around the world and try to kill him again in the ruins of Midgar, but he also wouldn't have been around to see the world-changing, and Genesis… Last time he saw Genesis was on the outskirts of Banora after healing him and then taking Cloud and trying to make it to Midgar. Last he checked, Genesis wasn't dead but Aerith had said that he was sleeping somewhere and was constantly getting weaker. Zack knew he had died on the cliffs overlooking Midgar, had left Cloud alone and broken, but Aerith and him were watching over their slowly recovering Chocobo headed family member together from the lifestream.

"Come on guys," Zack said, moving in front of the others, only to realize he was smaller than them, but that had never stopped him before, nor did it ever stop Cloud from taking down something ten times his size. "We are heading towards Bill's Chocobo Farm. He should realize we have Mako in our systems and will call the only man on the planet that can care for Mako Chocobos."

The three ex-SOLDIERs blinked in shock as they were pecked and shoved away from the Marshes quite violently by the smaller black chocobo, though they didn't really try to stop him either, just made it easier by turning around and following where he led, and soon they started hearing the soft 'kweks' from other Chocobos.

Zack sighed and resigned himself to being the three's guardian until Cloud could come get them. 'Damn I own Spike so much,' Zack thought as Bill's house came into view.

FINAL FANTASY 7

Cloud groaned as he stretched out his sore and bruised muscles. No matter how strong someone got or how many times you fought the same giant monster, they always found a way to change things and send you flying through the nearest solid object. Especially the damn mako fuelled and crazy Nibel Dragons.

Pulling out his PHS he sent a quick text to Reno telling him that the dragon problem on Mt. Nibel was done and he expected the payment to get to Seventh Heaven before him. Then he opened his contacts and hovered over the call button next to Tifa's name. Signal was spotty, but it was good enough where he could call her and let her know he was done and heading home. Another moment and his mind was made up, but before he could press the call button, his PHS rang, rather loudly at that, and he hurriedly answered it before even checking who was calling.

"Hold on you damn bird," came the gruff voice over the phone, as if the person calling was half asleep. "I'm calling him now."

"Hello?" Cloud asked, blinking owlishly, heart still pounding in overdrive, his eyes scanning to see if any other dangerous monsters were going to come to explore the very loud and sudden noise.

"Cloud!" Came the relieved and slightly more awake voice. "It's Bill. I have a chocobo here that I think belongs to you. I mean I think it does, its eyes are glowing and unless it's a wild bird, you're the only one who can actually raise and tame the damn things."

"Describe the bird for me, Bill," Cloud said, his heart finally settling, leaning against the cliff wall beside him since service was spotty and Cid was supposed to pick him up at this spot in an hour or so.

"Smaller black, eyes have the mako glow," Bill started listing, and Cloud started running through his flock mentally, so far the description matched three of his blacks, though all of them were too well behaved to run half the continent to get to Bill's place. "But his eyes are strange, way too intelligent for his own good. The color is also extremely unusual."

Cloud paused, none of his blacks were male, the intelligence was explained through mako exposure, but the color? "What color are they? And be careful around him until I get there, the bird is a wild."

"Not your bird then?" Bill snorted. "Doesn't matter, he keeps pecking your picture and insisting I get you over here. He wants to be owned by you for some reason."

"Color of the eyes Bill," Cloud repeated, though the birds' actions were really suspicious in and of themself.

"Blue, but when they hit the light right," Bill paused and cocked his head, then chuckled. "Smart one alright. When the light hits his eyes just right they are the most vibrant purple I've ever seen."

Cloud hummed in thought, listening as the sounds of the Shera got closer to him, and pulling his phone away to check the time, huffed a laugh. Figures Cid would come forty minutes early.

A very sudden and very loud distressed sound rang from the phone and Cloud heard Bill yelp and then loud crashes were heard.

"Bill?" Cloud called out, his phone back to his ear quickly. "Bill, what happened? Are you alright?"

"Fuck!" Was all Cloud got before something smashed again and the line went dead.

"Bill?!" Cloud growled and quickly tried to recall the man, only to get the answering machine. "Damn It!"

Cloud could hear the Shera more clearly now, and Cloud quickly scanned the sky to find Cid's most loved ship, and when he found the airship, he sent a silent prayer for Cid to forgive him and then ran up the mountain as fast as he could and leapt with all the strength he had to land on the Shera as she came closer to him, though he just about jumped into the side of the ship if he had gone any faster, or if Vincent wasn't there to grab him and stop the force that would have broken something in the ship.

"Hello Cloud," Vincent said, his face a neutral mask even though they had both fallen into the position where Cloud was sitting on Vincent's hips. "You make a habit of jumping off mountains?"

Cloud snorted and stood, before helping Vincent up. "Only when I don't have time to wait for Cid to stop the Shera and then start her up again." And then they were walking with a purpose into the bridge where Cid was fuming with anger. Cloud was suddenly very happy he would just get yelled at for jumping onto the Shera instead of breaking something on the Shera.

"You better have a damn good reason for jumping onto my baby!" Cid growled, spinning around to face him as he got closer. "Or you'll find your ass walking back to Edge!"

"Bill called inquiring about a Mako enhanced black chocobo," Cloud started.

"And in your haste to get home to grab your bike to go see the damn thing you thought jumping onto the Shera was a good idea?!" Cid growled out.

"I thought jumping onto the Shera would get us to Bill's farm faster," Cloud answered, pulling out his phone and trying to call Bill again. "Something happened to him right before the line went dead." A low inhuman growl left his throat as he slammed his phone shut again, though only his friends noticed. "I'm hoping that the Black just got into something he shouldn't have and Bill dropped his phone and then the bird broke it. But it's a wild enhanced bird, intelligent enough to ask for me, and nothing asking for me is ever simple and safe."

With that said, Cloud moved closer to the windows of the bridge and dialed Tifa's number. He needed someone with Bill an hour ago.

Vincent and Cid shared a look and then Cid returned to the wheel and changed the course to reach Bill's Farm. They both knew any wild creature, monster or animal, that was exposed to mako either got violent or intelligently violent, unless raised at birth with mako in them to control themselves and behave without violence unless necessary. Cid liked Bill, knowing that Bill could be in danger made Shera's Captain put all systems into overdrive, if something broke Vincent and Cloud would help him fix it, and push his baby to get to the Chocobo Farm faster.

Cloud's conversation with Tifa and the relieved sigh Cloud let out helped calm Cid's nerves just a bit, thankfully Tifa had training driving the monster of a bike Cloud loved and she could use it to reach Bill first. Knowing that Cid let his baby run just a bit faster, Tifa or not, Bill might need to use the emergency supplies they kept on the Shera.

"Five hours till we reach Bill's Farm," Cid announced, watching everything in front of him and taking in all the readings. "You got a blizzard in that arsenal of yours today, Blondie?" Cloud nodded, looking back at Cid. "Good. Then go down to the engines and if they start hitting the red cool them down. I'm going faster than the Shera can handle for a trip this long. So get working."

Cloud nodded again and left the bridge. Cid only hoped they got to Bill and found him safe and sound with nothing more than a few broken items and equipment.