This chapter was really hard to write because I kept wanting to rush the plot along without moving the characters into place. It took a lot of rereading, walking away, and rewriting to make this chapter get finished. I had to write it on my phone, then switch to my laptop to get the chapter just right, and have the proper format and correct grammar.

Again! I don't own FFVII or its characters. The only thing in this story that is mine is Rain and the plot.

Chapter 2

"I want the name of that damn blonde trooper and all available information on him," Sephiroth growled as he flopped back down on the couch in Angeal's office. Him, Angeal, Genesis, and Zack had just gotten back from chasing the blonde trooper all the way to the mountain terrain surrounding Midgar and to the forest beyond before they had to give up the chase. It infuriated him greatly. And all of them were dead tired from chasing the motorcycle riding trooper on foot.

"His name is Cloud Strife," Zack began, flopping down onto the floor, his back against the arm of the sofa, his eyes closed. "Specialist Cloud Strife of Troop 832. Allowed the use of multiple materia as long as he pays for them all himself and levels them himself. He was reported to be the only one of his troop to walk away from their last mission without a major injury."

"And how do you know this, pup?" came the irritated voice of Genesis, who had flopped into the love seat in Angeal's office. Genesis looked the worst out of all of them, he was tired and his eyes were staring blankly ahead, even if he still held that air of superiority and irritation.

Zack cracked opened his eyes to look at Genesis. "Because I made it my personal business to look into the trooper squad whose mission report was extremely different from the SOLDIER second's mission report. Both Kunsel and the leader of the Second Class SOLDIERs on the mission expressed concern about the major different endings for the reports. And for my buddy's trooper squad."

Angeal groaned as he finally flopped down into his seat behind his desk. "What mission was that?"

"The behemoth extermination mission outside Midgar," Zack said. He stretched his arms out and folded them behind his head as he relaxed against the couch further. "The one where behemoth's broke free from the construction zones of Midgar and were chased out by the infantry patrols. They made a den in the mountains around Midgar and a squad of Second's and one trooper squad went to dispose of them."

Angeal frowned and pulled up the mission reports database on his computer, then began scrolling through the list to find the mission reports. "How long ago was this mission?"

"One month ago."

Angeal sighed and frowned, clicking filled the room as everyone listened to Angeal searching for the report. "I found the report written up by Specialist Cloud Strife of Troop 832. Nothing seems wrong or off about this report. Its filled out correctly and detailed everything that went down on the mission that he saw and was conscious for. His squad were put into critical condition because they were too close to the behemoths, SOLDIER Seconds were injured because of his troops incompetence, until only the leader was the last man standing. He claims that he was injured by one of the behemoths and passed out while the last Behemoths were taken care of. When he woke up he attended to the people who needed major medical attention and took everyone he couldn't help to the nearest med bay, until transfer was available to bring them to the tower."

"I would also be worried about the troopers," Sephiroth spoke up. "Clearly they were not being lead correctly and that led to their injuries. I would also look for the troopers to ensure they were well and alive."

Zack raised his hand above his head and looked up at it, barely contained anger lacing his voice. "Read the SOLDIER report."

Sephiroth watched with interest as Zack tightened his hand into a fist as if clinging to something, only loosening his hand and letting it fall to his side as Angeal let out a strangled sound. Angeal had found the SOLDIER report.

"SOLDIER report reads that the mission was going bad from the start. The troopers were not listening to the Specialist and his orders and all of them but the Specialist were causing the SOLDIER's to be unable to do the job correctly. Its reported that every SOLDIER and trooper but the SOLDIER leader and the Specialist were knocked unconscious and were hanging onto life by a thread." Angeal summarized. Then he looked up at the two firsts watching him. "The SOLDIER leader reported being backhanded by one of the last three behemoths remaining in the nest and slamming into the rock face. He felt and heard his back snap, leaving only the Specialist able to fight. When he regained consciousness the behemoths were dead and the SOLDIER's were healed enough to live, but not fully, while all the troopers and the Specialist were gone."

"Troop 832 went on that mission. Everyone but the Specialist, Cloud Strife, were admitted to a hospital in urgent care, Cloud doing what he could to stabilize the troops and heal them. Bringing them back to Shinra for better medical care didn't stop him from caring for his troop. He never would of gone on a mission his troop couldn't handle, or one he couldn't protect them on." Zack said, standing from his position on the floor. "Well, I better go down and make sure all the severely injured troopers are getting the best care the medical team can manage. Honestly, Cloud was the only one keeping them alive. They are beyond our care now, but hopefully medical can save some of them."

Sephiroth watched as Zack walked out of the room, his normal puppy personality gone. Giving up wasn't like Zack, neither was this defeated outlook towards a situation. This death hardened and tired warrior wasn't like Zack at all.

Zack's voice carried back into the room as he walked down the hall, loud enough for the three firsts to hear him clearly, even though they could tell he didn't mean for them to hear. "I hope you know what your doing Spike. I can only do so much from where I am to help you if something goes wrong."

Angeal was the one to speak up only after Zack's footsteps had long faded to silence. "Zack knows Cloud personally, what you said probably hit a nerve Sephiroth."

Sephiroth sat up on the sofa and faced the two, while ignoring the last part of what Angeal said. "He also knows more then he's telling us. Zack might be able to lead us to where this Cloud Strife is."

Genesis sighed, and let himself sprawl ungracefully in the love seat. "So much trouble for one small baby. Honestly, why would you believe him without proof that the girl was yours?"

Sephiroth sighed. He didn't know if they would believe him or think he was insane. But Genesis had asked, and he promised to tell them everything when asked when they were younger, so he had to bite the bullet.

"I felt her as soon as they stepped onto this floor," He began, watching them both for their reactions. "As I can with everything that has my DNA or cells implanted into them. Hojo made sure of that while I was younger."

But was it the girl he felt, or was it that trooper? Maybe both because he felt them both as they moved, the girl in his arms and the trooper moving towards the elevator. He felt the trooper all the way to the mountains before the connection vanished. He felt the girl until the blonde trooper vanished from sight.

As lost in thought Sephiroth was, he almost missed the way Genesis' eyes darkened at the mention of feeling the girl. Did Genesis know something?

"Well," Genesis suddenly exclaimed, the darkness gone from his eyes. "We have been running around everywhere and I feel like I need a shower and rest. I'll be in my room if you need me."

Then Genesis was gone in a flashy swish of his coat, leaving Sephiroth and Angeal staring after him until the stairwell door slammed shut at the end of the hall.

"Well, regardless about all that," Angeal began, catching Sephiroth's attention once again. "I'm sure the young girl is safe with Cloud Strife and in no danger. He has been proven time and time again to always know what he is doing. Or at least in all the mission reports that have been written up about him."

Sephiroth nodded. "Your right. He doesn't seem like the kind of person who would take a baby away if he couldn't care for it."

~Did you know FFVII has the biggest known depressed character in all of the FF franchise? Find a more depressed person then Cloud in the FF franchise, I dare you~

He messed up. And it wasn't a small misstep while fighting a monster. No, this was bigger.

Cloud Strife, The Savior of the Planet, the hero who killed Sephiroth multiple times, Leader of AVALANCHE, knew many things and could solve many problems with a clear head and/or his brute strength. The only thing Cloud couldn't do? Raise a child.

Sure, he helped raise Denzel and Marlene, and even that one time when they had more orphans then they could count living in his house cause they had nowhere else to go, but he had never raised a child. All the orphans could care for themselves, he just had to be the provider and protect them.

But Rain couldn't do anything for herself and needed him to do everything for her. He didn't know what he was doing. Even with the help from the women in the last town and tips on how to take care of her he honestly didn't know what he was doing.

"Excuse me?" Came a sudden voice.

Cloud jolted out of his inner panic attack and looked at the person. Small and young, but easily recognizable. Standing before him, hands on her hips, looking annoyed that he was ignoring her, was Yuffie. The small ninja that made his life hard, but could help him... Right?

"Now that I got your attention," She began, flipping her short strands in a very Tifa like manor. "Where have you been? We have been waiting for you to show up for almost a year now!"

Cloud blinked and just shrugged. "Not sure. Didn't get any notification you guys were trying to reach me. Hey Yuff-."

"Didn't get any notification?!" Yuffie screeched. "We have been calling and texting for the past six months!"

Cloud shifted uneasily in his seat, unconsciously bringing Rain closer to him. "I lost my phone while fighting a dragon almost a year ago."

Yuffie then started yelling at him again calling him names and saying he can't do anything right, then turning around and flailing her arms as she continued her rant. The sudden and loud noise that was Yuffie had started to upset Rain, and only Cloud's enhanced hearing allowed him to hear her start crying over Yuffie's yelling.

Cloud sighed and pushed Yuffie hard enough to make her stumble and stop talking, then shifted again to put Rain down in front of him on Fenrir and give her his pinky finger, smiling lightly as she started to suck on it.

"Is that a baby?" Yuffie said, looking at Rain in awe.

"It's General Sephiroth's baby," Cloud said admitted as he used his free hand to dig through his things. Thank god the mothers in the last town were very understanding and helpful in gathering supplies for traveling with a baby. "Where did they put her bottle? I know its in this bag, I watched them pack the entire thing."

"Sephiroth's child?!" Yuffie gasped. She looked at Cloud like he had grown multiple heads, and had gone insane. Which isn't really wrong.

"Aha!" Cloud exclaimed, pulling out a warm water tight satchel. "There you are!" He opened it one handed and pulled out one of the filled baby bottles within. "Yuffie I'll explain everything, but please back up for a second."

Yuffie fell silent, watching as Cloud pulled his only glove off and tested the bottles contents, then picked Rain up and gave her the bottle. Yuffie only looked back up at Cloud for an explanation once Rain was busy with the bottle.

"Explain Cloud."

"So I'm sure you guys already know from Tifa that I left to join SOLDIER a few years ago," Cloud began, moving to sit against his bike instead of on it, looking out over the town below from his spot on the hill. "Well, I made it this time, except I dropped out of the final SOLDIER exams almost instantly. I made it to the labs and everything before I chickened out and dropped to be a trooper."

"Hojo still haunting you?" Yuffie asked, understanding in her voice.

"Zack actually," Cloud said, then laughed. "Which is funny cause I wanted to join SOLDIER because of him. I wanted to get close to him, to save him this time. But when I saw him in the labs waiting room, I couldn't breath. He looked at me, and I saw his eyes widen with shock, like he knew me. Like he wasn't expecting to see me. And I booked it as soon as he started coming towards me. I booked it as fast as I could, and asked to be moved to a section of the army as far from SOLDIER as possible to never see Zack again."

Cloud looked down at Rain when he felt the bottle being pushed away. He grabbed the nearest cloth, threw it over his shoulder, then settled her into position to burp her, groaning as he felt the regurgitated milk splatter his shirt instead of the cloth. He closed his eyes as he shifted, leaving her head against his heart and cradling her, his weight now fully against his bike.

"If you tried to get as far from SOLDIER as you can, why do you have Sephiroth's child?"

"I had to serve time in the normal army, and I ranked up promotions faster then Sephiroth himself. In the two months after I ditched SOLDIER I had gone from being the lowest trooper not even worth the dirt beneath the others shoes, to leading a squad of troopers. Another two months and I had made the rank of Specialist. It took me four months to make that rank, it took Sephiroth almost a year to make it from Third Class to First Class."

Yuffie sighed and lowered her head in between her knees. "He's just rambling now isn't he?"

Cloud smiled. "Yep. And bragging that I am better then Sephiroth." Yuffie groaned.

"Anyway," Cloud began after he finished chuckling. "During a dragon attack mission a year ago, I was nearly snapped in half by the damn thing because I was trying to avoid Sephiroth's attention, which failed horribly. When we got back to the base, Sephiroth had already called the medic team to administer the aid for what he couldn't heal, and I was taken under the doctors tender mercies until we got back to the Shinra tower, where I was moved under Zack's care and he proceeded to pester me for the week before I was deemed fine enough to leave back to my duties."

Yuffie looked at Cloud's torso and raised an eyebrow. "You healed from almost being snapped in half in a week? What did they say? Try to drag you to Hojo?"

"No, actually." Cloud sighed. "Hojo would of been better honestly. Zack dragged me into his room and basically demanded I tell him everything I remember, if any event in my life would explain why my eyes shone like the moon."

Yuffie raised her head, and frowned. "How is that worse then Hojo? Sounds to me like Zack was being a noisy friend and trying to get himself into your life after you ditched him."

"He might have done something else before and after the incident that I will never repeat out loud. Moral is: Don't let Zack guilt trip you into going to a bar with him and his friends, especially when you know Sephiroth is one of his friends."

"Cloud? What happened?" Yuffie placed a calming hand on his shoulder. "I wont judge you for anything."

Cloud sighed. Looking down at Rain's sleeping form he smiled. "I made the mistake of offering to make drinks for them after Sephiroth wanted to get out of the bar. After working with Tifa in the bar for as long as I have I knew I could mix drinks better then the current bars in Midgar, except I forgot the drinks I knew how to make could make even me drunk."

"Cloud," Yuffie began, she looked very uncomfortable. "Did you get them drunk? Did you have drunk sex with one of the SOLDIERs?"

"First off, Zack was already drunk, and he guilted me into following through. Said I owed him for speeding up my recovery and making it so I could continue walking and moving without a wheelchair. So, I made my strongest drinks for them, just to make him happy." Cloud grimaced. "When I managed to get Sephiroth drunk, I found out he is a very cuddly drunk, Angeal just passed out when I got enough alcohol in him, and Genesis was actually surprisingly silent and actually stopped quoting Loveless. Zack was also cuddly, but he fell asleep cuddling Angeal, who fell asleep on Zack's couch. So I was forced to bring Genesis and Sephiroth back to their rooms, dropping Gen off first, then getting Sephiroth back to his and then couldn't leave his apartment until Sephiroth was passed out."

Yuffie blinked and looked down at Rain. "She doesn't really look like Sephiroth. She looks more like you."

Cloud chuckled. "And I think I know why, but I need Vincent to check for me with a DNA test before I get my hopes up."

Yuffie nodded. "Well, I think it's time to get back to the others. You want me to show you the way to where we are, or are you going to go off and raise her in a small town where she can be raised normally?"

"I'm going to go raise her in the mountains. I kinda already told Sephiroth, Angeal, Genesis, and Zack that I would be in the mountains." Cloud said softly. "I'll go see the others with you, maybe Cid can give me a ride to my little mountain lodge so I don't have to put Rain in any unnecessary danger."

Yuffie sighed but stood up and nodded anyway. "So were going to be leaderless then?"

Cloud chuckled a bit. "Nope. Our base of operations is changing from Tifa's bar to my mountain lodge. I'm not leaving you guys without a leader just to raise Rain. I still lead troopers while I was in bed rest, this is not going to change anything."

Yuffie smiled brightly, and started hopping up and down in excitement. "I can't wait to spoil the little girl. I'm totally going to be the best Auntie!" Then she ran down the hill laughing, only to turn around at the bottom and wave for Cloud to hurry and follow.

So maybe he had made a mistake taking Rain when he knew nothing about babies and their needs, but he had many friends who had raised children from birth to adulthood through multiple lives who could help him. This might have been the best unplanned addition to his family yet.

"Come on, sweetie. Let's go see the rest of your new family. And hope Hojo didn't fuck you up too much while he had you."

He could work with this. Everything would be okay. He wouldn't let anything go wrong again.

~You Know Cloud isn't the best parent, even though Marlene and Denzel love him to death as a parent, but he'll be a good mother to Rain~

"It's as you thought," came the voice through the phone. "The mother of Sephiroth's child was enhanced. I found the records in Hojo's office."

"How old does it report her? Any experiments done?" The man asked. He was draped in the shadows of the room, keeping his voice low and quite.

"He tried to inject more J-cells into her, but they never took and were destroyed or nullified as soon as they entered her body. The girl is only two months old. She was born a week before Cloud's forced coma was ended when Hojo had no more excuses to keep him as an experiment. He was suppose to die on the mission he took not even a month later, and when he didn't Hojo tried to make Sephiroth kill Cloud and the girl together out of frustration of being unable to make proper experiments out of them." The person responded through the phone.

"But Sephiroth didn't kill them, instead he chased them to keep them close to him, because he felt the connection through the J-cells." The man stated.

"What will happen now? Sephiroth wants them by his side. Will we have to kill him, or kill Cloud and the girl?"

"We do as Cloud instructed before he left. Get as much information about Shinra to bring it down or make SOLDIERs and troopers desert, so bringing the power house down is easier." Hissed the man. "We leave Sephiroth, Cloud, and the girl to Red and the Puppy."

"Are you sure this is the right path, Boss? If anyone finds out all of us are going to be killed or made to disappear Hojo style."

A heavy sigh. "We will do this, and if things start going south all of us leave Shinra. I'll be damned if I lose any more people to this fucked up company. Get as much information to T as you can so he can pass along her physical records to Cloud through CS. Well have a more in-depth meeting tomorrow night to discuss how much we have found on the scientists and their pet projects that President Shinra doesn't know about. Keep up the good work. Good night."

"Night Boss."

CHAPTER END

So we have mysteries and families. It's amazing. Zack and Genesis know things, Cloud seems really close to the top four SOLDIERs, closer then he's admitting, and now something is going to happen beyond SOLDIER and AVALANCHE in Shinra. What's going to happen next?!

Next chapter is going to be more focused on Cloud and AVALANCHE getting used to having Rain around and caring for her, and finally starting to be trolls to Shinra in a more fun way then just getting the top four SOLDIER's drunk. And maybe Cloud will open up to tell the story of why he took Rain from Sephiroth to AVALANCHE. And maybe well find out what the mystery people are doing and who they are.

So many things happening. Stay tuned for more, and if something doesn't add up or your confused about anything let me know in the comments below and I'll see if something went wrong in this chapter or if it's going to happen in the next chapter. And let me know if you guys have any theories about what is happening in this story and who the mystery people are.

Love you all!