To The Morrow, For the Past

Chapter 22 – A New Mother

"I don't understand why I have to come along." Sephiroth grumbled for the third time that day.

Both Cloud and Zack were thoroughly amused. Cloud was pouting and dragging his feet, almost as much as Zeke was, and it was almost hilarious. They walked in to another store, Cloud pulling Sephiroth along and Zack dragging Zeke.

"I don't want to try on any more clothes." Zeke whined, pulling his arm from Zack's grip and folding his arms. "We've already been to four shops! Why can't I just wear the stuff I like?"

Zeke wasn't used to the class structure of Midgar. Back in their time, people wore what they could find or make and nobody really cared. Everybody had clothes that had been worn down to rags, even Cloud, and nobody was judged for wearing them.

Here, however, in this time, if someone was to be seen wearing rags above the plate, it was a sign that they didn't belong. They would be snubbed, shunned, people had even been known to be beaten.

"Because people will see you as a slum rat." Sephiroth said with a tired sigh, "And most people won't treat you very well. And if somebody hurts you, then there'll be a war."

Right. Cloud had actually managed to forget about that part of Sephiroth's protection plan. If anybody hurt Zeke, the entire Shinra military could be dispatched to save him. Cloud wouldn't have put it as far as calling it a war, but Sephiroth always had been a bit dramatic.

"Fine." Zeke muttered and took the clothes that Zack held out to him. He disappeared in to the changing rooms and the three men waited, receiving odd looks from the sales clerks.

"So remind me, why I have to be involved in this?" Sephiroth asked again.

Cloud laughed, leaning on the wall beside Sephiroth. "Because he's your financial responsibility." Cloud told him, "And clothes above the plate are expensive. Especially considering that he'll need a new wardrobe in about six months time since he wont fit any of these by then."

"I was doing you a favour." Sephiroth muttered, "Letting you bring your son above the plate... And this is how you repay me?"

"The way that you brought Zeke here essentially makes us family. At least for the time being." Cloud pointed out, clapping a hand on Sephiroth's shoulder, "So you'd better get used to it."

Instead of the irritated glare that Cloud had expected, Sephiroth just sent him a tired smile. "I suppose it's worth it then." He said, "For my... family."

"Good. Because we're going shoe shopping next."

– – – – – – – –

"That's it." Sephiroth announced as they left the final shop on their trip, "No more shopping." He demanded. They each had several bags, but Sephiroth looked the most ridiculous of them all. And he was tired and grumpy. In fact, he was reminding Cloud of when Zeke had been a toddler. Either Sephiroth was hungry, tired or needed the bathroom. Cloud was pretty sure it wasn't the last one, which left the other two. "Why don't we get something to eat," He suggested, "And then we'll go home."

Zeke and Sephiroth gave him identical looks of disdain for the suggestion, but Zack lit up and bounced on the spot. "I know a good place!" He offered, and was walking away before anybody could object. Cloud just shrugged at the other two and followed him. Behind him, he could hear Zeke groan in frustration.

The cafe was small but nice and Zack had found them a small table in the back. Already, he'd stashed some of the many shopping bags under the table and was greedily reading through a menu. The others soon joined him. "I will remind you," Sephiroth said, watching Zack trying to decide on what to eat, "That I am not financially responsible for you too." Zack pouted a little, but Cloud could see it was just for show.

"I will be back." Sephiroth said placing the bags down and disappeared before anybody could ask where he was going. When the waitress came, Cloud ordered food for himself and Zeke, and ordered a coffee for Sephiroth. He didn't actually know how Sephiroth liked his coffee, so he made a guess based on the stuff that he'd previously given Cloud. If Sephiroth was grumpy because he was tired, that should help.

When Sephiroth came back, he had a bag with him and he handed it to Zack. "I will admit," He said as the boy curiously took it, "That I don't know much about children. The woman in the shop seemed to think that you would like it, but if you don't there is a receipt in there for an exchange..." He seemed uncomfortable as he took his seat beside Cloud.

Cloud gave him a look, wondering what he'd bought Zack, and why he'd felt the need to get him something in the first place.

"Thank you," Zeke said, his voice quiet. In his hands was a small stuffed Chocobo. It was almost identical to the one he'd had as a child.

"You don't like it?" Sephiroth asked tentatively.

"No I do." Zeke turned to Sephiroth and gave him a grin. "I'm a little old for stuffed toys, but I do like it. Thank you Sephiroth."

It occurred to Cloud, that Sephiroth truly didn't know how to interact with children, but that he was giving it an honest try. He wanted the boy to like him, and Cloud found that incredibly sweet of him.

– – – – – – – –

"You really should join your fan club." Zack said to him that night. They were sitting on the couch, Zack having convinced Cloud to watch a television show with him. It was a show about chocobo racing, and Cloud had actually enjoyed it.

"Why would I do that, Zack?" Cloud asked with a sigh. He shifted a little, moving the sleeping Zeke off his lap. The boy had insisted on watching with them and had fallen asleep in minutes, his new stuffed toy in his arms (he'd named it Chocolate).

"Because the stuff they come up with is hilarious." Zack's answer came, "We were seen on our shopping trip." He showed his phone to Cloud who groaned.

On the screen was a picture of Sephiroth and Cloud leaning against a wall. There were small smiles on each of their faces, and Cloud could see why people would think that there was more than friendship there. The picture below it showed them seemingly holding hands when Cloud had been literally dragging Sephiroth from one shop to another.

He put his head in his hand and sighed, "Don't these people have better things to do?" He asked.

"They just want to see your human side. Both of yours." Zack told him, "The only thing that the public usually see when it comes to you and Sephiroth is battle. The fact that you're able to keep up with him, even beat him made you just as legendary as him."

Cloud let out another tired sigh and shook his head. He pulled Zeke in to his arms and stood. "I'm going to bed." He told Zack.

As he put Zeke to bed, he couldn't help but wonder why the whole world seemed to want him and Sephiroth to be romantically linked. He could understand it from Sephiroth, he could also understand that at least a part of his own jumbled mess of emotions would like the idea, they were linked, Nexis. The rest of the world didn't know that, but part of him wondered if it was obvious.

He tucked Zeke in, careful to make sure the stuffed chocobo was under the blankets with him. He couldn't help but smile at the thought that Sephiroth was trying to get along with the boy. The chocobo may have been an odd thing to get a nine year old, but it was the thought that count. And Zeke really did like it.

– – – – – – – –

Cloud had finally managed to get some information about Shinra No. 26. It was in its final stages of development, and would actually be ready a lot sooner than Cloud had thought. Apparently there were a lot of tests that the vehicle had to go through before being considered space worthy, but Cloud was sure they could reduce the number of those. After all, they didn't need landing gear of environmental controls. They just needed it to stay intact long enough to get away from the planet. After that, if Jenova suffocated or died from the cold, Cloud really didn't care.

The next problem, was that they needed an excuse to get close enough to both Nibelheim and the rocket to launch it. They had to find some way of loading Jenova on to the rocket, and they would have to get past Cid to get the thing in the sky.

Cloud really didn't want to be the one that took Cid's dream away from him, but the rocket was currently their only hope of getting rid of Jenova without her returning to the planet.

He called a meeting with Sephiroth and Zack, and brought Zeke along. He'd called them to his and Zack's apartment so that Aerith could come along. He'd originally intended on having them meet in Sephiroth's office, but getting Aerith there had been a problem and their new apartment was in a more security strict area.

It was mid afternoon when they were finally all together. "The rocket is nearly finished." Cloud began, "It needs some tests to be done, but I think we can skip most of them. The only problem is getting Jenova into the rocket, and then actually launching it."

"Cid wont be happy with you." Aerith pointed out. "Shinra wont build another rocket."

Cloud grimaced and nodded, "I know, but we don't have much of a choice. This is our best bet..."

"How are we going to move Jenova?" Sephiroth asked, "We could barely be in the same town as her, let alone carry her with us."

"I've been thinking about that." Aerith said, "Imprisoning her in Mako crystals isn't a very good long term solution, but it might be enough to transport her."

"How do we even do that?" Zack asked, looking at Aerith as if she would have all the answers. She just shrugged.

"There are only two people that I know of that have ever done it." Cloud said slowly, turning to Sephiroth, "I'm assuming you don't know how your counterpart managed it?" There was a surprised look and a shake of the head. "Didn't think so."

"Who else?" Sephiroth asked.

"Lucrecia Crescent." Cloud said quietly, "I don't know how helpful she'll be. As far as I'm aware, she isn't all that talkative."

"Pretty much all she says is 'I'm sorry'." Zeke mumbled, "But maybe if Sephiroth talked to her, she might wake up enough?"

"You told me my mother disappeared." Sephiroth's tone was dangerous, accusatory.

"She did." Cloud said, "And when I told you about her, I didn't know how you'd react." He added, "Telling you your mother tried to kill herself and instead ended up locked in a crystal mako stasis might not've gone down well if you reacted badly."

"Cloud," Aerith scolded, "You didn't have to say it like that!"

Cloud just shrugged. He'd been a little put off by the darkness in Sephiroth's tone and had felt defensive. Maybe he could have said things a little more nicely, but the truth was the truth.

He looked at Sephiroth who gave him a nod. The man understood at least.

"Then we go and see Lucrecia." Sephiroth said quietly, "That's our first step. Hopefully she will be helpful and we will have a containment strategy."

"Then all we have to do is figure out how to get Jenova to Rocket Town, load her on the ship and steal it from Cid. How hard could that be?" Zeke asked with a cheeky grin.

– – – – – – – –

Coming up with a plausible reason for the five of them to take a helicopter to the western continent was surprisingly easy this time. All Sephiroth had had to do was walk into the Directors office and inform him of his intentions and Lazard had signed off on it.

"That was too easy." Cloud muttered as he, Zack and Sephiroth left the office.

Sephiroth chuckled and shook his head, "After we came back from Nibelheim, I simply pointed out to him how much of his paperwork I do, and how difficult I could make his life."

"I did wonder why you had to do so much paperwork." Zack commented.

"It was either that, or take on a third to train." Sephiroth told them. "Genesis and I chose paperwork. Angeal chose you."

"Huh. I did wonder..."

"So how far does this go?" Cloud asked, curiosity getting the better of him, "How much can you ask for before he shoots you down?"

"I'll let you know when I find out." Sephiroth promised. "In the mean time, I will be in the training room. It's been a while since I've flown a helicopter."

"Wait, you're our pilot!?" Zack seemed quite put out by the idea, but Cloud had a feeling that Sephiroth wasn't as rusty at the skill as he was making out to be.

– – – – – – – – –

As Cloud had predicted, Sephiroth was actually not a bad pilot. He was nowhere near the level of expert that Cid was, he wasn't even as good as Reno had been in the future, but he managed to lift off, get them there and land safely.

It had been a hell of a bumpy ride, and the minute they landed, Cloud shot off and found himself kneeling in the grass, stomach churning. He'd been a lot better about his motion sickness in the past few years, but now he realised it was because he was always the one driving. Being in a helicopter with a professional pilot was bad, being in one with someone who was more or less a novice was very bad.

His stomach contents now on the grass, Cloud sat up and groaned. A bottle of water was shoved in front of his face and he took it, washing his mouth out and then drinking some. "Sorry." Sephiroth said quietly beside him, a hand gently rubbing his back.

Cloud couldn't manage more than a grunt in reply, but handed the water back. After a moment, he felt well enough to get on with things. He stood and nodded at Sephiroth. "Shall we?" He asked, gesturing to the cave.

There had been barely enough space to land the helicopter, but somehow Sephiroth had managed it. Unfortunately it meant that getting to the cave was a little trickier. They had to shuffle past the helicopter on a tiny sliver of land. One wrong move would send them plummeting in to the waters below.

Zeke cheated. Instead of going around, he waited for the helicopter to fully shut down and simply jumped on top and walked over it. If Cloud hadn't already been several steps along the treacherous path, he probably would have followed him.

They made it to the cave entrance safely, and stopped at the entrance. "You okay?" Cloud asked Sephiroth, thinking that he was probably nervous to meet his mother, and that was why he'd stopped.

However, Sephiroth tilted his chin, indicating that they weren't alone and that he could hear something inside.

"I'll check it out." Cloud said, sipping past Sephiroth and into the cave.

It was darker than he remembered, and further in. But then, his memories weren't always the most reliable. He made his way to the crystal chamber, hand on the hilt of his weapon, ready for anything. Upon seeing who was already there, Cloud relaxed.

"Vincent." He stepped forward, making sure to keep enough distance between them that the man wouldn't spook. In this time, he didn't know him and Cloud knew how wary he was of strangers. Gaia only knew how he would respond to one being here.

"Do I know you?" Came the deep reply.

"No. Not really." Cloud answered, chancing a step forward. "But I'm the one who gave Zack the map to give to you." He hadn't actually asked Zack if he'd done as Cloud had asked, but obviously he had. Idly he wondered how that conversation had gone. He still remembered Vincent's reluctance to wake up in the first place.

"Hmm." Vincent stood, turning to face Cloud. The man didn't look any different from when Cloud had last seen him in the future. "Then you are the one who knew she was here..."

Cloud just nodded, making no sudden moves.

"Your companion said that you had come from the future."

"Did he now?" That was supposed to be a secret, "It's true." He told Vincent, not that he thought for a second that the man would believe him. Then again, he did have a literal demon living inside him. That could make anyone have a more open mind.

"Then I thank you."

Cloud nodded, then hesitated, "Vincent, are you aware that you're the father of Lucrecia's son?" He asked him quietly. He had no idea how the Vincent of the future had found out, but he was pretty sure that the man hadn't known before Cloud left. Vincent was silent.

"Think about the timing." He said quietly, "Hojo may have claimed him, but Sephiroth is your son."

"Do you have proof of this?"

"No. But the information comes from the Vincent Valentine from my time." Damn it all, Cloud had forgotten just how suspicious Vincent was of strangers. It had taken him a long time to get Vincent's trust. He knew that his Vincent wouldn't have asked any questions, if Cloud said it was so, he would have believed it unless he had reason not to.

This Vincent, however, didn't know Cloud. He had no reason to trust him. "Weather you believe me or not, "Cloud continued, "He's here."

"You brought him here?" Over a decade of knowing the man gave Cloud some advantages. While Vincent was giving off a tone of annoyance, he was actually afraid and anxious.

"Yes." Cloud didn't sugar coat it, Vincent didn't need pleasantries. "We need Lucrecia's help. We thought she may be more willing to communicate if we brought him."

"How... is he?" Vincent asked, looking towards the entrance of the cave.

"Right now, probably worried about me." Cloud admitted, "I went on ahead to scout the area. You have a choice right now." He added, stepping further forward again. Now he was within arms reach of Vincent. "Either you can disappear, or you can meet him. But we need him to come in here, and we need him to talk to her."

Over a decade of knowing the man really did have its advantages. Cloud knew that Vincent was reaching for his gun a fraction of a second after the hand moved, before it could be pointed at him, Cloud had his own weapon drawn. He held it in front of him, but didn't aim it directly at Vincent. "I trained with another you for more than ten years." He told the man, "I know your moves better than you do." The warning was clear. "Stand down." Obviously Vincent didn't like the idea of someone else speaking with Lucrecia. Cloud couldn't blame him. She'd told him about the visions she'd had about Sephiroth.

There was a pause, and Vincent's gun was replaced in its holster. The man gave Cloud a long look, sizing him up and deciding weather or not he could trust this man. Slowly, he gave a nod and stepped back in to the shadows. Cloud wasn't entirely sure if he was going to leave or not, but that was up to him.

Keeping his senses open, Cloud turned around and returned to the entrance. In his time, he would have no problems turning his back to Vincent, in fact, there were times when he preferred it that way – that way he knew that his back was being watched – but right then, in that cold, dark cave, Cloud knew he couldn't entirely trust Vincent.

The thought made his heart ache and reminded him just how much he'd lost.

"Clear." He called out, the moment that he was close enough to the entrance that he would be heard clearly over the waterfalls.

One by one his party joined him and he lead the way back into Lucrecia's cavern.

Sephiroth had hesitated only slightly before entering the room where his mother slept, and Cloud couldn't blame him. This had to be an emotionally charged time for the man. He didn't know if it was helping or not, but Cloud found that he'd placed his hand on Sephiroth's arm and was squeezing it very lightly.

He stepped away from Sephiroth and approached Lucrecia. She was exactly as he remembered her, dressed in white, her eyes closed like she was asleep and crystals surrounding her.

"Lucrecia." He spoke quietly, knowing that volume wouldn't change whether she could hear him or not. "My name is Cloud Strife." He told her, "I brought you your son."

– – – – – – –