Discalimer: once again i don't own...

I'm back and with chapter three!

We hurried down the way I'd originally been headed, towards the portal. It was accident more than luck that she happened to fall right into the portal and into my world. Oops…

I followed closely behind, closing the portal door and opening the other side barely in time before we hit a time wall. Instead, we landed on our faces on the cold hard dirt road as we fell out of the portal. Yeah, this was my routine. Falling face first out of portals. I tried not to make a habit out of it… I failed.

Pushing up off the ground and pulled myself into a sitting position. I had this distinct feeling in ankle and foot that told me it was more than likely sprained or broken. This thought made me frown as I prodded my knee and flinched as the action sent pain signals rocketing towards my brain. My shoulders slumped. Well… at least Sephy dearest hadn't followed us… Yet. A small groan came from a few feet away and I looked over to find Tifa sitting up and holding her head.

"Welcome back to reality…" I sad rather flatly. The idea of being hunted wasn't a pleasant one, especially when it involves your home world. She turned to look at me with what I believed to be shock.

"Where am I?"

"Well…. My world of course. It's known as Midgar or at least… the city we're near is." I cracked a nervous smile and rubbed the back of my neck. My brother was going to kill me.

- - - - - - - - -

"CLOUD!?!?!?!?!" Cloud flinched as his name carried out of the house and into the air surrounding the previously calm and placid farm. I looked over at him a little worried. He'd been limping the entire walk and he had this permanent frown. I didn't know why I was worried. I mean, in my mind it was his fault I was here in the first place. If he hadn't lead me to the portal I wouldn't have fallen in! Men can be really brainless some times!

After flinching, Cloud sighed and visibly slumped his shoulders. He grumbled something inaudible and began a faster pace towards the house. I had to trot to keep up with him. I was expecting an overly concerned mother to come out and greet us by smothering us to death, but I nearly died three times over at the sight of a full grown man coming out of the house in a bright pink apron. Cloud stopped and turned on a dime as he began to run in the opposite direction. A wooden spoon hit him dead on in the back of the head.

"Cloud god damnit! Get your ass over here!" The man bellowed. I froze to my spot.

Cloud landed face first in the dusty gravel road as the spoon hit him and sat up rubbing the back of his head. He stood up and walked over to the man, still rubbing the now forming bump on the back of his head.

"JACK! YOU'RE SO ABUSIVE!"

"SHUT UP! AND GIVE ME BACK THE DAMN SPOON!" I took a few steps back, hoping no one would notice I was trying to run away. I mean, come on… they hadn't noticed me yet.

"YOU!' the man turned to glare at me, brandishing the wooden spoon like a hatchet. I stopped.

"Y-yes!?!" I spluttered out.

"Where do you think you're going!?!"

- - - - - -

I had amazingly gotten Cloud and the girl into the house without much more of a fuss from either of them. Cloud looked like he'd been beaten up…again…. And the girl didn't look much better. Actually, she looked more like she was about to throw up more than anything else. After tending to their wounds I looked over at the girl.

"So Cloud… who's this? You're girlfriend?"

"SHIT NO!" He snapped, nearly falling over out of the chair he was sitting on. The girl just blushed and glared at me.

"Then who is she?"

"Her name is Tifa. She fell into the portal….." I felt like I'd just about choked on my own tongue.

"You mean….? CLOUD! YOU IDOT! YOU JUST HAD TO FORGET TO CLOSE THE PORTAL! DIDN'T YOU!?!" I whacked him over the head with my trusty and nearby wooden spoon a few times. I knew this had to look comical, but with our mother bed ridden for the time being and Cloud deciding he was going to spontaneously leave, I had no choice but to come back home and take care of the woman that bore myself… and the thing I was currently beating senseless. "I can't believe I'm even related to you! By the way! I just thought I might tell you! Mother fell ill… again!" Cloud stopped.

"What?" He looked up at me and I was shocked to find he hadn't known before this. I'd meant only to remind him. Oops….

"What do you mean she fell ill again……?" he said before standing and clenching his fists. I just looked around for an excuse and bit my lower lip. He ran out of the room and seconds later I could hear him running up the stairs to our mother's room. I felt awkward. The silence in the room was what got to me, however.

- - - - - -

The upstairs rooms were all but too quiet as I made my way through the halls. I hadn't been here in years. (1) Had it really been that long since I had met Tifa? Had it really been… seven years? I remember we took her back through the portal that night. The night we'd arrived at the farm. She stayed long enough to be healed and then we took her back, taking all of her memories with us. She would never remember us; only that she had been lost for a day.

The dust stirred with my every step. The floorboards creaked under my weight. It had been seven years since this building had seen anyone living within it. Seven years since She died. Back then I'd been foolish, reckless, bull headed. Now I had grown and learned from my mistakes. I thought things through before ever acting on them, and I took care of those around me.

I walked over to the door that had once been my mother's. I opened the door and the hinges made no sing of protest. They remained in their silent slumber as the door silently slid open. I looked around at the cobwebs. Dust had settled like a blanket over the entire room. The only things familiar about it were the remnants of our lives, hiding beneath the veil of time.

At the nearest desk, I lifted a picture frame and wiped the dust from the surface. The pale, grain etched photo of our family appeared. My mother, my father, my brother, and myself. We were so happy here. But nothing ever lasts. Footsteps behind me alerted me to another's arrival. I looked up and over to the other.

Zack looked over at me with his worried coal gray eyes. His messy brown hair fell into his eyes and gave him a somewhat comical look while still allowed him that look of which demanded respect. He walked over and put a hand on my shoulder. I just stared blankly back at him.

"Cloud…? You alright?" I remained silent. "Cloud?"

"Yeah… Let's keep moving…" We turned and left the house and all its memories behind. The past had no place in the present. We were headed back to new places and to do as we were trained. As a member of the once popular idea SOLDIER, I had been outcast from society and the rest of the normal world without ever wanting to be. Zack shared the same fate. WE were so desperately trying to find a new life and still we were stuck doing mercenary work.

SOLDIER had dissolved two years ago after president Shinra died of a disease labeled Geostigma. Few lived more than ten years of getting the disease. SOLDIER was created as the perfect militia. It was discontinued after his death seeing as its one supporter was dead. Now those souls found cast away from others were labeled as freaks, insects of the world, left behind to die lonely and unwanted.

They made it to Junon, the central HQ of SOLDIER refugees, as they were referred to. The base was jumping with life and activity as the people here had created their own community with shops, homes, a small park, and much more. No one would have guessed that this had been a military camp just a year before.

Cloud walked up to the house that he, Zack and a few other SOLDIER members. The house was smaller than most. The usual five bedrooms, two bathrooms, and other rooms in the house were small and somewhat cramped. They made it work though.

There we go….

(1) every thing you read before was all a memory just explaining that they had met in the past. Their lives are about to collide once again.