Summary: Time travel. Sounds like fun, right? No. No it's not. Cloud was determined to get back home, the past be damned, but with Aerith haunting his every step it didn't look like that'd be happening any time soon. No pairings.

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Remnant of the Vacant
Chapter 3: Russian Roulette

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Cloud could safely say that he'd never been normal. When he'd been a kid he'd always been something of an outcast. His teenage years had been spent joining the military, witnessing the rampage of a homicidal maniac, and floating in a tube of mako. His twenties had been spent saving the world—twice. Three times, if you counted the incident with Deepground, but Vincent had been the real hero there.

And, of course, recently his entire world had gone to hell—literally, in his opinion. He was pretty sure no one else could say that they'd been sent to the past and stalked by not a vengeful ghost, but a "forgiving" one.

So, yeah, his life was fucked up.

However, as strange as Cloud was, he couldn't help but wonder about the man before him. Said man was diligently working on a crossword puzzle with the fervor of a dying man...All while sitting on Cloud's bed.

"...What the hell?" the blond wondered aloud.

"My sentiment exactly," the man said without looking up.

Cloud continued to stare. He'd just walked out of his last class and come back here to spend some time alone—for once even Aerith was gone, apparently trusting that he wouldn't try to leave again—only to find someone sitting on his bed. His bed. And he thought he might recognize the man too, though he couldn't remember from where.

But, of course, such was Cloud's life. Nothing ever went smoothly.

With a sigh, Cloud took a seat across from the man and peered curiously at the crossword puzzle in his hands. It was already more than half completed, but the brown haired man was currently stuck on one and was staring at it intently.

"The Northern Crater," Cloud realized after a moment.

The man glanced up sharply. "What?"

Cloud blinked in surprise; had he spoken aloud? "Northern Crater," he repeated after a moment. "That's the answer."

The man glanced incredulously between the puzzle and Cloud. "...And how did you know that?" he asked finally.

The blond shrugged. "I know a bit about the area," he said simply, not deigning to give away any other info.

"Right." Cloud wasn't sure whether that meant that the man believed him or not, but he didn't care much either way.

Looking back down, the man continued to work on his crossword while Cloud leaned back against the wall behind him and closed his eyes. It crossed his mind for a second to kick the other man out—said man hadn't even mentioned why he was there when he clearly wasn't a cadet, but didn't seem to mind Cloud's presence anyway—but, frankly, he was too tired and lazy at the moment to do anything.

Cloud had been resting for several minutes when he tensed suddenly, sensing that there was someone directly in front of him. When he opened his eyes, he found Aerith's face less than a foot away from his. Instantly, Cloud yelped loudly, tumbled off his bed, and landed in crouch on the floor.

"Dammit! Don't do that!" he snapped. He stood swiftly and straightened his clothes while muttering angrily about "annoying ghosts".

Unrepentant, Aerith shrugged. "I can't help where I'm going to show up when I return."

Cloud scoffed. "Yeah right—"

"Ghost?"

Cloud started and whirled around to stare at the dark haired man, who was still sitting on his bed. He'd completely forgotten that he was there.

"What?"

"Ghost," the man repeated. "You said ghost."

"...Yeah." Cloud shrugged. "Damn thing won't leave me alone." Aerith scowled and hit him over the head, to which he responded with a glare of his own. "And speaking of which," he said to her, "How come you can touch me, but I pass right through you?"

"That's just how Gaia works," Aerith answered.

Cloud didn't believe it for a second.

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Cloud had to admit that the view from the top of Shinra Military Headquarters was beautiful.

...So long as you ignored the smog. And the mako reactors. And the wasteland that surrounded Midgar.

Alright, so he was grasping at straws here, but he'd had little to be thankful for lately. The least he could do was praise the view as he enjoyed the sunset and basked in the knowledge that he finally had some peace.

The door behind him banged open.

Cloud hung his head and sighed. It figured. He was pretty sure that fate hated his guts, or at least was determined to laugh its ass off at him.

"Eh?!" the newcomer exclaimed. Clearly they, too, hadn't expected anyone else to be up here.

Cloud sighed silently, but didn't turn around to look. He hoped against all hope that if he just ignored the other man, he'd go away. But, of course, things were never that easy—at least not for Cloud.

"Dammit," the other person swore. "Usually no one's here!" Despite his words, the man—or perhaps teen; Cloud had always been horrible at judging ages—walked up to Cloud and stood next to him. "So, what're you escaping from?"

Sighing for a third time, Cloud titled his head to the side just enough so that he could see the other man—

—And promptly choked as he was confronted with a very familiar head of red hair.

"Reno?!"

The man blinked a couple of times, surprised by the outburst. A grin quickly overtook his features though and he beamed proudly.

"Yep!" he declared. He waggled his eyebrows. "Heard of me, have you? I'm not surprised; I'm the greatest Turk—"

Cloud stared as the redhead began to ramble on. It was definitely Reno. He didn't have a pony tail and he was skinnier and shorter, but it was him. Cloud couldn't help it then: He threw his head back and laughed.

Reno instantly stopped short and stared at Cloud with his mouth hanging open. After a minute, the redhead drew himself up, indignant, and opened his mouth to demand what was so funny. Before he could, however, Cloud finally began to calm down. The older swordsman shook his head and clapped Reno on the shoulder.

"Sorry about that," he said while still chuckling. "It's just good to finally see a familiar face."

And it was true; other than Aerith—who'd been dead for four years in his world—Reno was the first person he'd seen that he already knew. Of course, this Reno didn't know that. As such, the young Turk was standing there, staring at him with a baffled look on his face.

"…Familiar face?" he repeated uncomprehendingly.

Cloud smirked while nodding. "I'm from the future," he said casually. "I've known you for a number of years."

Reno did a pretty good impression of a fish for a few seconds. "I—You—…Huh? The future?"

With a solemn nod, Cloud replied, "An insane ghost sent me back in time in order to force me to save the world…Again."

Reno looked as though he didn't have the slightest idea of what to say to that. After a moment, however, he apparently came to the conclusion that Cloud was joking and began to snicker.

"The future," he repeated amusedly. "Alright then, what's it like there?"

"An evil alien tried to take over the world by hijacking General Sephiroth's mind and convincing him that it was his mother."

That gobsmacked look returned to Reno's face and Cloud was barely able to stop himself from laughing aloud. Back at home he never would have done something like this, but here, where his actions didn't matter, he'd found great joy in shocking—and occasionally terrifying—people.

"That's a good one," Reno finally said. His smile had returned once more. "Though, couldn't you come up with something just a little more realistic?"

Cloud shrugged. "I've never had that great of an imagination."

"Doesn't sound like it so me," the Turk shot back. "Say, who are you anyway?"

"Cloud Strife."

"'Cloud', really? Your parents must have hated you or something to name you that. What SOLDIER rank are you?"

The blond blinked in surprise. "SOLDIER? Er, no, I'm a cadet."

Reno rolled his eyes. "Bullshit. I can see the mako in your eyes. There's no way that you're not a SOLIDER."

Again Cloud was surprised. As far as he knew, Reno was the first person to recognize his glowing, mako-enhanced eyes.

Before either of them could say any more, a jingling tune filled the air. Reno cursed aloud and rifled though his pockets for a moment before pulling out his cell phone.

"Yeah?" he answered. "I—Oh…Yeah, yeah…Whatever; I'll be right there." With an annoyed sigh he flipped the phone closed and replaced in the mess that was his suit. "Sorry 'bout this, Cloudy, but I gotta go. See you around, ne?"

Cloud snorted at the name and waved him off. "Whatever, Reno."

Grinning widely, the redhead began to jog backwards towards the stairwell so that he could still see Cloud. "And you'll have to tell me another story sometime!" he exclaimed. Then, with another laugh, he disappeared into the building.

Cloud waited several minutes before leaving as well. The sun had long since gone down and it was beginning to get cold—and in Midgar, when it got cold, it got cold. It was a byproduct of all the pollution in the air. So instead, Cloud took to strolling through the halls at a sedate pace. Technically, he shouldn't have been there, considering the time, but he just couldn't bring himself to care.

He didn't get more than a couple hundred feet into the building, however, before he rounded a corner and immediately had to sidestep, less he run into a person coming the opposite direction. And, naturally, it turned out to be someone he knew: The puzzle-man from a few days before.

With a near silent groan, Cloud moved aside to allow the other man to pass. The puzzle-man didn't continue on, however, but instead stopped to stare at Cloud with a raised eyebrow. The blond twitched.

"You know," Puzzleman began dryly, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you were stalking me."

"I am," Cloud replied seriously. Both he and Puzzleman were blatantly ignoring the fact that it'd been Puzzleman who'd come into his room first, several days ago. "I'm stalking you. In plain sight. In broad daylight. With permission from the government."

"…It's dark out right now," Puzzleman pointed out.

Cloud just nodded. "Exactly."

"…Right. Well, if you're going to be stalking me in plain sight, then why don't you join me for a walk?"

The blond swordsman was highly tempted to just knock Puzzleman out and walk away, but he didn't. Loathe as he was to admit it, Puzzleman intrigued him. Cloud didn't know who he was or what he wanted, despite the numerous times he'd run into him. Puzzleman was just that—a puzzle.

So, instead of knocking Puzzleman out, Cloud shrugged. "Sure, whatever," he replied. "Where are you headed?"

"Down to my office."

One of Cloud's eyebrows quirked upwards. "You have an office?" he asked curiously. "You're a military officer?"

Puzzleman nodded. "Yes," he said simply.

The two lapsed back into a comfortable silence for the rest of the walk. All that could be heard was the muffled sound of their boots against the tile. Puzzleman's footsteps were actually a fair bit louder than Cloud's, but that was only because Vincent had taught Cloud how to walk like a Turk a few years ago.

Eventually Puzzleman stopped in front of one of the airlock doors with a digital code that section off the more "important" parts of the Shinra Military Headquarters. Cloud watched curiously as Puzzleman entered the pass code with a speed that suggested he'd been doing so for a long time. Again Cloud found himself curious about whom Puzzleman was.

After that they passed through several more such doors, each with more and more complex codes. With each door that they passed through, Cloud curiosity was also piqued just a little bit more. Finally, Puzzleman opened an office door that was a little ways off a wide hallway. He stepped up to the desk here and began to rifle through some papers while muttering softly to himself. Cloud followed him inside, casting an interested look around the office.

The room looked surprisingly lived-in for a military office. There was a tall stack of books beneath the single window, a magazine tossed haphazardly onto one of the chairs, and a red coat—identical to the one Puzzleman was currently wearing—was hanging from a hook on the back of the door. There were also a few other odd things around the room that also gave it a very unique atmosphere.

Cloud nudged a book on the edge of Puzzleman's desk and looked down at it curiously. "Loveless," he read aloud. He didn't recognize the name, but he'd never really been one for reading.

"Brilliant play," Puzzleman said, glancing up briefly from what he was doing. "You should read it sometime."

The blond shrugged and turned away. A moment later, Puzzleman began to chuckle.

"Not one for words, are you?"

Again Cloud shrugged. "I have nothing to say," he said honestly.

"Good rule to live by, that," Puzzleman answered. "Only say what you need to. Anything more might be too much." He paused for a moment, contemplative. "By the way, is that 'ghost' still following you around?"

"Not right now," Cloud replied. "She disappears sometimes and then reappears at the most inopportune times—" He blinked and suddenly Aerith appeared, standing a few feet behind Puzzleman.

Cloud glared at her over Puzzleman's shoulder. "She also is apparently watching me from a distance," he said pointedly. "Definitely a stalker ghost."

Aerith rolled her eyes and, to Cloud's utter shock, actually flipped him off. He gaped openly; he'd never before seen her be rude to a single person, let alone swear or anything.

While Cloud proceeded to splutter incoherently, Puzzleman glanced over his shoulder and shivered, as though he could feel something there. He looked back at Cloud with a frown on his face.

"A ghost, you say?" he murmured.

Cloud wondered why the contemplative look on Puzzleman's face suddenly bothered him.

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Reno exhaled sharply as he plopped down into a large, padded chair. "You wanted to see me, boss-man?" he asked. The man sitting at the desk across from him nudged a file forward.

"You didn't fill out your last mission report," he said shortly.

Reno groaned loudly. "Oh, come on," he whined, "Why do I have to—"

"Reno."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm doin' it."

Still muttering under his breath, Reno flipped the folder open and began to systematically fill out the papers under the watchful eye of his boss. After a couple of minutes however, his scribbling gradually slowed to stop and Reno was left staring blankly at the paper without really seeing it.

"…Hey, Veld?" he finally said. A grunt was his reply. "You know all the SOLDIERs, right?"

Veld frowned. "Yes," he answered finally. There was a suspicious look on his face. "Why? What kind of trouble have you gotten into this time?"

"Oh come on! Why does everyone always assume that I'm in trouble?!" Reno protested.

"Because you usually are."

"…Point. But I'm not this time," he assured. "I just ran into this really odd SOLIDER earlier and I was wondering if you knew anything about him.

Veld quirked an eyebrow. "It's strange for you to take an interest in such things," he commented.

Reno shrugged. "Normally I wouldn't give a damn," he agreed, "But this guy insisted that he was a cadet even though he obviously had mako-enhanced eyes. There was just something…off…about him."

"Off? How so?"

The younger Turk rolled his shoulders in a hesitant shrug. "I'm not sure. I just have one of those feelings, ya know? It's almost like déjà vu—like I've met him before. Oh! That was another weird thing: He said that he knew me."

Veld relaxed back in his seat and snorted softly. "Then you probably did know him and just forgot about it."

Reno thrust his chin into the air indignantly. "I don't forget things!" he proclaimed. "I remember the face and name of every single person I meet and I know that I've never met this guy before."

"Except that he seems to have met you," Veld pointed out.

Reno deflated. "Yeah," he agreed. "Like I said, he was really odd."

Veld's gaze drifted over to the wall behind Reno's head. "Odd…" he mused to himself.

"You know something?"

"…Perhaps. I have heard recently of a mentally unstable cadet in the military program," Veld replied.

Reno's eyes widened marginally. "A cadet?" he repeated, remembering Cloud's denial of being in the SOLDIER program.

"A cadet," Veld agreed. "A cadet…"

How odd.

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A/N: Geez, short chapter. I was going to make it longer, but I felt like ending it there, so here you go. As compensation, hopefully the next one will be up sooner…Though I really shouldn't be working on this story so much; I've been neglecting my other stories because of it. But I really can't help what I have inspiration to write, so meh.

And besides, this story is just so much fun to write. On a similar note, I bought a new laptop recently, which makes me very happy. Hopefully that happiness will also transfer over to give me more drive to work on writing.

Also, in case you didn't notice, the titles of chapters in this story are actually a song titles and the story title itself is a line from a song. I'll be surprised if anyone knows the song that this chapter is titled after though—which is a pity because it's a good song and actually fits Cloud pretty well.

Thanks for all of the reviews for the last chapter! Your encouragement is much appreciated.

[Eternal]

"Do you ever get that strange feeling of vujà dé? Not déjà vu; vujà de. It's the distinct sense that, somehow, something just happened that has never happened before. Nothing seems familiar. And then suddenly the feeling is gone. Vujà dé." – George Carlin