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Chapter 2
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Cloud looked around. He appeared to be somewhere rural. Interesting. It must be one of those loops where he was dumped somewhere random. It happened that way sometimes, either with or without his younger other-self being alive. The more loops he was in, the less his personal experience seemed to correlate to his 'real life'. It was a good thing, really, otherwise he would have long gone insane. Or gone insane faster... or something.
There was the one time where he got sent long into the future and the few times he had been far in the past... that had been interesting. Living tens of centuries before Sephiroth killed him and the Planet died or coming right as the Planet was gasping its last breaths... at least there was variety. Cloud wasn't sure any of them- the Planet, himself, Aeris or Zach, even really knew what the point and the motivation for the looping was anymore. That was fine. Cloud didn't care overly much. But this time, in some random rural place... hopefully he could avoid Sephiroth. He shifted uneasily at the thought of the man, somewhere between aroused and uncomfortable. He decided to just ignore it and hope it went away.
Cloud headed off into the distance, patting himself down as he did so. A broadsword of no particular make over his back, a Full Cure materia half-mastered, a Tunderaga on his person... he estimated that he was about 60% of his ultimate high. "Level 69." Cloud said to himself, then smirked. "Or perhaps 66.6?" He mused. "Either way I should stop talking to myself."
First order of business would be to upgrade the sword with some purified mako. He was high enough level in general that nothing much would bother him, but it would be annoying if his sword broke or wasn't sharp enough to actually do damage. It wasn't anywhere close to his level. Then maybe he could get some gil killing monsters on the way to the beach... There was that one girl that he'd shacked up with around this time before. That had been fun. Or maybe he could do something different? Was there anything left to do?
Well, in order to upgrade the sword, he would need to master the Full Cure materia. And possibly get a regular Restore for general use. There was nothing more irritating than dying because you ran out of potions and didn't have a way to Cure yourself.
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Some time later Cloud was happily walking into the town with gil in his pocket and a mastered Full Cure in his hand. Sure letting a bunch of monsters hit you over and over was a bit degrading, but subsequently healing oneself both made the materia level quicker and had the added bonus of making any masochist's wet dreams come true. It also had the side effect of having the monsters get bored and wander off. Ironically they tended to leave behind more lootables than simply killing them. It was rather amusing seeing the monsters pull gil and potions out of places that really should not hold any item and chucking them at a human in frustration... it was a very satisfying way to battle. Or rather, protest for peace. Or something. "I'm on vacation, dammit!" Cloud grumbled. "It's perfectly valid."
He tossed the materia up and down lightly and suppressed the urge to whistle. He ignored the calls from stall vendors until he smelled a heavenly aroma. One detour later and the materia was back in his pocket and he was gnawing delicious, juicy meat off some creature's bone. He wasn't sure what it was, exactly... and how did one get meat anyway if things went back to the Lifestream when they died? Hmm. A delightful conundrum. Perhaps he could become some sort of herder this time?
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The reactor was well guarded, but when you can leap several stories it isn't terribly difficult to make your way inside. There was even a hole in the upper levels that lead straight to the mako.
Cloud found an isolated pool of mako and dropped the Full Cure into it. He spun the sword lazily before gathering himself and his MP and stabbing the Full Cure through the mako. It exploded into pleasing glitters of sparkling essence. The mako flashed and then turned clear and parts of the top layer started to evanesce.
"What are you doing?" Came a challenging demand behind him.
"I'm done." Cloud pulled the now unbreakable sword from the mako and flicked the fluid off of it.
"'Infinite in mystery is the gift of the goddess.'" A different voice murmured in irritation behind him.
Cloud's brow furrowed as he spun on his heel. And yes, it was who he thought it was. The two deserters, sporting mirror opposite wings, black and white. Genesis had a bit of grey in his roots but Angeal looked rather normal. "Hnn."
"I said, 'wha...'" Angeal began again but didn't get to finish his sentence. Cloud had grabbed both of them by their collars and thrown them into the vat behind him.
"What the hell!" The two Firsts came spluttering out of the mako, treading to stay afloat.
"I am on vacation." Cloud announced.
"And that means you decided to dump us into a vat of mako?" Genesis snapped.
"Yes. It's Full Cured mako, which means it is basically Lifestream, really. It's a tricky thing to get right. Because, of course, if you make it too close to Lifestream it evaporates away much like a body. Speaking of which, how is it that we are able to eat anything? Do you know?" Cloud replied.
The two in the vat turned to look at each other then back at the crazy man with a head of hair like a chocobo's butt.
"Why did you throw us into a pool of mako?" Angeal said, drawing on all the patience earned dealing with his puppy and Sephiroth on a daily basis to not leap out of the liquid and throttle the man.
"Well, I got the idea from the time... I guess it wasn't me... but these memories can be rather confused, you know? But anyway..." Cloud paused to knock both SOLDIERs back into the liquid when they tried to climb out. It was a tricky situation since they couldn't get leverage and their ability to fly didn't seem to be working for them presently. Why being wet would affect the wings when only having one didn't seem to be detrimental to flying wasn't something anyone in the room questioned. Out loud anyway.
Cloud might have, if he hadn't already been ranting. "There is the pseudo-science/genetics way of curing the degeneration that leaves you open to attacks from Jenova, or there is the Planet way of being infused with Lifestream. I want to enjoy my life for a while, which means no clones of either of you running around and no civil wars thank-you-very-much." Cloud continued, knocking the two back into the vat enough times that the two decided to bide their time.
Surprisingly neither Genesis nor Angeal seemed to be having any ill effects from the dunking, though their tolerance was high generally speaking. Genesis scratched absently at his shoulder and started in surprise when it didn't really hurt all that much. He twisted around so fast he dunked himself double checking. But it was his previously wounded shoulder that he was poking at. And the bone-deep ache that had been there was receding rapidly. "'My friend, your desire/ Is the bringer of life, the gift of the goddess.'" Genesis whispered in shock.
"Your hair..." Angeal gaped at his long-time friend. Whose roots were now the same auburn as the rest of him. "Your coat!" And indeed, the garment seemed to be healing as well.
"Who is this?" Genesis shifted his hand to avoid it being struck by the sword wielded by Cloud. He had grabbed onto the edge to keep himself from sinking, no longer from any desire to get out of the fluid. "Who are you?" This question was directed at Cloud.
Cloud blinked. "A traveler." He replied enigmatically. "Who is tired of fighting. This is much better than trying to kill one another, don't you think?"
"Yes?" Angeal answered dubiously. "How did you overpower us? Where did you come from? Your eyes aren't even glowing!" His voice rose with every interrogative.
"You don't need mako to be awesome. Plenty of regular soldiers can leap up flights of stairs. Hel, some civilians can!" Cloud shook his head. "And it is quite hard to go through life anonymous with glowing eyes. Admit it."
"'My soul, corrupted by vengeance/ Hath endured torment, to find the end of the journey/ In my own salvation.'" Genesis quoted slowly. "Is this really happening, Angeal?"
"It seems to be." Angeal replied dubiously.
"I... how am I supposed to interpret 'Loveless' with this new information! He has completely derailed the plotline and the three main characters... it's all done. Will it be the ending they give to children? What a mundane existence..." Genesis muttered.
Cloud took a step forward intently, causing the both of them to twitch in the mako. "I need to ask you a very important question." He said seriously. "Would you go gay for Sephiroth?"
"What?" Angeal sputtered.
"No way- he is like a brother to us." Genesis retorted.
"A brother..." Cloud mused. That might make it difficult for Operation: Settle Sephiroth Into Happy. But maybe renewed friendship and pseudo-family bonds would be enough? Well, not that it really mattered. He was not going to try this time. But maybe the change would allow him more time before the world was destroyed.
"If I were going to go gay, I think it would be Rufus Shinra." Genesis mused.
"Genesis!" Angeal exclaimed, appalled.
"What?" Genesis said defensively. "He's hot. Admit it. And he has all that power! With overtones of Daddy-syndrome and so much potential."
"Genesis." Angeal sighed.
"I mean, sure, the fairer sex is definitely the way to go. 'She guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting.'"
"Genesis!" Angeal snapped. He turned back to yell at the stranger, but... "He's gone." And with that, the larger man pulled himself out of the mako vat and dropped to the floor.
Genesis dropped down after his friend. His wing felt heavy, though the mako was hissing off of it like it would a corpse. Which was, admittedly, a bit concerning. He pulled the wing back into his body and patted down the now healed shoulder and coat. "Interesting."
"Indeed." Angeal leapt after the blond. Genesis quickly followed. But they were too late. Cloud had already highjacked a gryphon Angeal clone and was flying off into the horizon. Try as they might, the two friends could not get their wings back out to follow. "'The arrow has left the bow of the goddess'" Genesis muttered.
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Cloud went into a trance on the back of the beast. Once the two of them had worked out that no, Cloud was not going to get off and that no, the beast would NOT be directed, they had ended up in an uneasy but stable alliance. It wasn't until Cloud started to shiver that he came back to himself.
"Of course you came here." Cloud sighed. Apparently this damn thing was part homing pigeon. Going back to where it was created. In this case, Modeohiem. "At least it isn't Nibelhiem." Cloud groused. He leapt off of the creature's back and calmly fell through the air. About halfway to the ground it suddenly occurred to him that he wasn't sure how high a height he could currently survive falling from. He certainly had survived this sort of plunge in the past, but that had been mako-enhanced. And assertions of fully-mad scientists to half-mad failed experiments aside, there was something to be said for the healing properties of SOLDIER enhancements as well as the increase in stamina and durability. At this point, though, it probably didn't matter. And Cloud had absolutely zero fear of death. If he could manage to stay dead it would be a Planet-wide miracle.
Unfortunately or fortunately, he survived the fall just fine. He may as well have just jumped over the last stair in the staircase for all the impact it had on his legs. The ground ended up with a relatively large crater, however.
A considerable while later he managed to get to the town. Not because it was particularly far, but more because he used his new 'outwait' method to deal with the local monster population. The only change in strategy was to dodge attacks instead of taking the hits and then healing as he currently had only the Thunderaga.
Correction- a Modeo wolf tried to hit him with a potion but Cloud caught it and stuffed it in his pockets. Cloud had wondered while dancing with the monsters if his pockets were ever going to fill or if this was another one of those things, like food, that one just didn't discuss in polite company. Certainly the origin of said potion was not the least bit pleasant. It was probably pretty uncomfortable having glass up the...
"An inn! Perfect!" Cloud said a bit too brightly, interrupting his own thought process. "And good old-fashioned mountain food I hope."
Cloud entered the dark but thankfully warm inn gratefully and sat down at a table with his back to the wall and eyes towards the most obvious exits.
"Hello there. Would you like the special?" The waitress came over rather quickly seeing as the place was mostly empty. "It is a cold weather soup with vegetables and goat."
"Absolutely." Cloud said gratefully. "And tea, please."
"Are you from the area?" The waitress asked dubiously, eying Cloud's non-sleeved shirt. On the one hand, only an idiot would walk around without proper gear in the mountains. But on the other hand, only a native would consider no sleeves as proper wear for this weather. It was, after all, still warm enough the sun could potentially melt the top most layer of snow during mid-day.
"Why?" Cloud asked. "Oh! The tea?" The waitress raised an eyebrow. Cloud put his hands up to his heart and smiled with a trembling lip. "Oh, please tell me you can make it with butter and salt?"
The waitress's other eyebrow rose. "We most certainly do." She eyed the stranger again. She was leaning toward native, but you never knew when an insane tourist would want to 'go local' and would end up spewing the brew all over the table.
"You have no idea how much I miss a proper tea. They have no concept of it anywhere else. I have been drinking coffee of all things." Cloud shuddered.
Mollified that this was, indeed, a local, albeit one from another town and quite possible mentally unbalanced, the waitress nodded. "I have heard the stories, of course." She commiserated. "It must have been quite horrible for you."
"You have no idea." Cloud replied emphatically.
"I'll bring your order right on out, alright?"
"Thanks!" Cloud said, feeling much more cheerful than when he had landed. Maybe a vacation in the mountains was just what he needed after all. The beaches were over-rated and rather boring, really, when you came right down to it. And they certainly did not have meals that could still instill such a sense of nostalgia.
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"Genesis! Angeal!" Lazard looked at the two of them with such a look of shock on his face that it was quite comical.
"Hello Director." Angeal said genially.
"'Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul/ Pride is lost/ Wings stripped away, the end is nigh.'" Genesis muttered. Only Lazard did not hear the comment. The others in the room had enhanced hearing and had no troubles making out what he said. Although Sephiroth continued to stand ram-rod straight without expression and Zach's swings between elation, confusion and anger only shifted marginally more into confusion at the quote.
"What... you... how did you... This is a secure building!" Lazard sputtered.
"Our vacation was quite satisfactory, thank you." Angeal inclined his head.
"Your vacation?" Lazard exploded, throwing his arms into the air.
"Did you not receive our leave request forms?" Angeal asked innocently. "Genesis was supposed to file them. Genesis?"
The red head threw a startled look at his friend before raising an eyebrow. "This is the first I have heard of it." He replied honestly.
Angeal sighed. "I suppose it was inevitable, leaving such things to a thespian."
Genesis clutched his breast dramatically and quoted sorrowfully. "'My friend, the fates are cruel/ There are no dreams, no honor remains!'"
"Well..." Lazard started hesitantly. He knew for a fact that the two had been... and should still be... being experimented upon by Dr. Hollander. But neither of them looked like they were suffering degradation anymore. Had they been cured? Why had he not been told about this? And just the thought of the paperwork that would be necessary to bring them back from the dead (and more challengingly) off the deserters' list was frankly horrifying. "I am glad your vacation was so satisfactory." Lazard sighed in defeat. It wasn't like he could say no to the second and third most powerful SOLDIERs and two of the three with Jenova cells.
"We threw out your 'Loveless' collection." Sephiroth said flatly, his voice ice.
There was a moment of stunned silence in the room.
"You what!" Genesis shrieked.
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Cloud sat back against his glowing backrest and sighed contentedly. The barley bread and spicy meat had definitely hit the spot. "It's too bad I can't share." He mused. "You haven't eaten in, what? Three thousand years? That's got to be some kind of gnawing hunger." He looked over his shoulder at the glowing eye of JENOVA. He couldn't decide if the eye was looking at him, or just glowing at the room indiscriminately.
"I mean, ok, trying to kill every living thing on the Planet maybe wasn't a nice way to greet your host, but it's not like the Planet hasn't tried to do that, too. Hel! The Planet would up and leave us all and bail if it decided it needed to. Omega WEAPON- what kind of good idea is that? I say it can't possibly be hard to snap up everyone into the Lifestream and bounce on over to a new Planet together instead of going about traumatically killing them and then deciding, oh no, actually, I'm just going to drop you like a teenage girl drops her newborn baby in the dumpster." This time there was definitely a flicker of the eye in his direction. Cloud smirked. "I know you can talk to people, you know. But you can't control me if that's what you are waiting for." He said seriously. Ever since finding JENOVA he had been coming up for a picnic lunch at the base of her prison.
Cloud shrugged and started to pack up his lunch basket.
"You know what I am." The voice skittered against the edges of Cloud's mind like hasty nails across a chalkboard. Only experience kept Cloud from reacting. "Why are you sitting here... chatting."
"Instead of killing you or something, you mean?" Cloud shrugged. "Been there, done that."
"Yes, I can feel my death upon your soul. And the remnants of non-linear time. What is the Planet playing at?" She hissed into his mind.
"Honestly? I just don't ask the question anymore. He sat down on the floor with his legs crossed and rocked back and forth a couple times in contemplation. "Sort of like I don't ask why you want to kill everyone on the Planet. It's just better to accept these things."
"I wish to leave this planet. I am trapped so long as the Planet inhabits the soil. I must make it leave." The voice in the head was growling now, and Cloud was glad that he did not currently have any cells that would allow him to experience the emotion going alongside the comment.
"That... makes a strange amount of sense." Cloud allowed.
"If They did not want me here in the first place, They should not have pulled me from my Path through the stars." JENOVA said bitterly. "I had no interest in this Planet. I have met such Creatures before and no good has come of it."
"Really?" Cloud asked in surprise. The thought of more than one Lifestream-blooded Planet out there had honestly not occurred to him. The way it had been explained to him the Lifestream built up as things lived on the planet. JENOVA seemed to be implying that it was the other way around. That there were more than one Planet... an interesting concept.
"You are surprised at their duplicity? How has your own life been, WEAPON?" JENOVA said with faint irony. Which lead to a slightly less abrasive mental voice.
Cloud eyed the alien warily. "I am not going to be brainwashed into working for you, but I can concede the point." He said finally. He ruminated on what she had said for a while. He could choose to believe her or not, he supposed, but it was a rather outrageous claim. And this JENOVA didn't know him at all and was powerless currently. Why she would lie about it was somewhat beyond him. "Why not use a rocket then, to leave?"
"The rocket failed."JENOVA said flatly.
"It did, didn't it." Cloud said slowly. Not that ShinRa would want to lose their valuable asset and source of their perfect SOLDIER.
"ShinRa... betrayers!" JENOVA screamed.
Cloud winced, but did not grab his head as he knew the pain was all mental. Physical means would do nothing. "Yes, they are absolutely jerks." Cloud soothed. "Do you want to talk about it?"
The glowing eye narrowed at Cloud, turning an unhealthy red color.
"If we work together, maybe we can get you off this rock, eh? Hel, even if you came back for revenge and killed the Planet... disappearing into nothingness has a certain appeal at this point, though I would prefer to be able to stay in the Lifestream."
"I would... very much like to leave."JENOVA said so softly that it was almost gentle. "There is no possible way I would come back Here!" She finished with a shriek.
Cloud winced again. "Maybe not you, but perhaps a relative of some sort? Do you even reproduce like we do? Have a parent or something."
"They know where I am." The alien replied petulantly. "They could have rescued Me if They so chose. They warned Me about the danger. I knew the danger. I ignored Them and They probably think I will 'grow' and 'learn' from this."
Cloud had a budding suspicion. "How long do your kind live. You know, on average."
There was a long pause and Cloud wondered if maybe he had overstepped some boundary. Last time he had done that he had ended up with Masume through his ribs. And the time before that... and before that... it was a rather common way to die. Now if only he could always get Sephiroth to do it while disheveled and half naked... or fully naked... or... Cloud blinked and focused on JENOVA. Think about mako... the Calamity... Hojo in his underwear. Eugh! Cloud shuddered. That worked.
The feel of JENOVA in the back of his mind assumed a distinctly puzzled flavor. "Human, you are very odd." She said finally. "But your suspicion is correct. When I first crash landed, I was very young for my race. Even now I would be barely considered an adult. They might not even think of the millennia I have spent here as truly aging me."
"I see." That certainly changed the perspective. Not a malicious force come to subvert and destroy but a young adult having a temper tantrum. Assuming that a word coming out of her.. uh... mind could be trusted.
"Though this time has likely assured I will not resorb into my parent when we meet again." JENOVA mused.
"Resorb?" Cloud asked. He had a suspicion that she meant a Reunion type event, but on a larger scale.
"You have the concept of it, yes. Sent from out father, we fly to new horizons. Back too soon a messenger. Kept apart a child."
"That's... one way of procreating." Cloud allowed. And it was rather like what the Lifestream did, to be honest. On a massive scale and with a rather sinister vibe. "Are you, by chance, a fan of 'Loveless'?" Cloud asked finally. That last conversation had a somewhat bad poetry feel to it.
"'Loveless?'"
Cloud's grin turned feral. "Oh, you are definitely going to owe me a favor for this one."
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A/N: Been ridiculously busy... so forgot about writing. Oops! This has been sitting on the computer a while. First while I played through FFVII (mostly a fun experience). Then life hit. Ak!
Cloud's tea preferences are based on Tibetan customs.
Genesis' lines are coming mostly from Loveless (from FFVII).