(A/N) Chapter NINETEEN! So I guess I'm going to take a friend's advice and change things up a little. The story will progress faster if I do things this way, and it isn't even much of a change. The points of view still alternate but it won't be the same content unless something is really important. So… basically no more Cloud recaps. Which I'm sure is a good thing. Even I was getting sick of writing it.

I didn't really reread it as many times as I do to check for mistakes and such, I just wanted to upload it, so there are bound to be plenty of mistakes but I think it's more or less legible.

I strode through the halls avoiding the others. The other night was embarrassing, but only because Cloud had acted like we were doing something wrong. It was pretty bad when they'd just walked in on us. Hadn't they ever heard of knocking? But now I was certain that Tifa saw me as an enemy. She was acting like I was forcing him into this. And it was really annoying to be treated like a rapist when you hadn't done anything. She had been coming up with any excuse to keep us separated all morning. Cid didn't seem to mind and Vincent was acting like Vincent for the most part. I hadn't even been able to talk to Cloud yet. This was just perfect. I really needed to get out and get some air but we were currently flying. I was stuck in the ship. Although if we weren't, and with the way Tifa was acting, she'd probably act like an overprotective parent and run off to a remote area with Cloud in tow.

"This is crazy." I mumbled. I wasn't the bad guy. Quite the opposite. And all I could do was hope that Cloud was trying to tell her that. Not that she appeared to be listening. The weirdest part was that, according to Vincent, this was totally out of her character. I just couldn't understand what it was about me that set her off like this. Once she had taken over for Vincent last night she wouldn't let inside Cloud's room. She kept on saying he was 'too upset to talk to anyone right now.' Whatever that meant. Besides, when I'd left he wasn't upset. Flustered maybe. But it didn't ever take much to get him flustered. "I hope he's okay."

"He's fine." I could've sworn I heard Angeal say. But there was nothing else after that. So I couldn't be sure if it was my imagination or not.

"Zack!" I heard a small voice shout before bumping into me.

"Cloud?" I asked. It could only be him. He was the youngest one on the ship after all. "What are you doing? Where's Tifa?" I didn't see her anywhere nearby. Cloud rubbed his forehead before shrugging. I guess he didn't mean to run into me.

"I dunno. I walked away while she was talking to the others."

"She's going to come looking for you." I said leading him down a hall so it would at least be harder for her. At least Cloud had come to find me.

"I hope she doesn't bother. It's really weird hanging around her. I know we're friends and all but she seems different. Almost like she's too motherly or something."

"Uhh…" She kind of was his mother now.

"Besides, it was torture when she was watching me last night. She wouldn't let me leave and she wouldn't come in the room. She expected me to entertain myself or sleep. And I wasn't tired." He sighed. "And she won't listen to me. I keep on trying to tell her nothing happened but…" He trailed off.

"It goes in one ear and out the other?" I asked.

"Yeah." Came another sigh. "I figured I should just sneak away while she wasn't looking. I don't really want to hurt her feelings but I just couldn't think of anything else to do." He said running his hands through his hair. "She practically has me handcuffed to her!"

I put my hands up when he shouted. That wasn't a good idea. "Shh. She'll hear you." I said placing my hands on his shoulders. "She's just trying to protect you."

"I know. You all are. But sometimes they just go too far."

"What? What do you mean?" The others were going too far? Did he just mean the belt?

"They never really do it." He answered. "But sometimes they talk about things that could be taken as extreme measures. Like keeping me in my room. Things that you do with a prisoner, not someone you're trying to protect. It really scared me."

"But they were only saying it, right?" I asked. Something like locking him in his room all day and night did sound extreme. He nodded. "Of course that doesn't make it okay. Scaring you? When you're already stressed? That's awful."

"Maybe it would be if it wasn't so easy." Cloud said looking down.

True, scaring Cloud wasn't a great feat. Was he stressed all the time? Because he was very touchy anyway. Of course he was bullied quite a bit. And he came from a town that denied his existence. But enough of the recap. "It's still bad. Did they at least apologize?" Another nod. "Good." Not that I could do anything about it. They didn't really like me very much. That's how it felt anyway. There was some animosity between us. It was like they were protecting Cloud from me as well. I really had to consider confronting them about it. Perhaps I'd use diagrams. The imagery was bit funny but Cloud didn't really like it when I laughed.

"Don't laugh!" He said punching me in the arm.

"Ouch! That hurt."

"No it didn't."

"You're right… it didn't." Damn! I thought he would fall for that. Hopefully he didn't just hit me as hard as he could. And if he did, I really hoped I was simply able to take a punch.

"Why am I so weak?" He asked sounding depressed.

"You're not. It's just a bad time to make that comparison. We've all had training and… stuff."

"But I couldn't even fight a group of drunken idiots." He sighed.

"That's nothing to feel bad about…" I was trying to make him feel better but I couldn't really think of what to say. Sure, if they were wasted they were idiots but I think that also meant they couldn't handle themselves in a fight. Alcohol wasn't steroids after all. But I suppose it might change the way one reacts to pain. Although… "Sometimes people fight better when they're drunk."

"Zack." He replied with a deadpan look. "This is the real world. Not a tournament style fighting anime."

"What?"

"Just tell it to me straight. I'm a wimp. And I know it. You can't convince me otherwise. Implying that everyone else is just too strong is… nice… but ridiculous." He said folding his arms.

Ridiculous? My trying to be nice was ridiculous? Well maybe. But, "Does it really matter? As-"

"Yes."

"Hey! Let me finish." He looked a little indignant but didn't say any more. "As long as you're willing to change it no one will think any less of you."

"It will take a lot." He answered.

"You don't know that."

"Yes I do." He argued. "I had months of training before this and I'm still practically at square one. I'm a weakling." He shrugged. "I've more or less made peace with it."

"No!" He couldn't just give up. "I'm saying that when we land I'm going to train you. It won't be too hard and after you'll be able to beat up Loz and Yazoo."

"But I don't wanna beat up Loz."

"Why wouldn't you…? Well… you wouldn't want to start any fights. I'm not training you to be a troublemaker. It would be self defense. You need it." I answered.

"Okay… If you say so. Quick question though, what if I don't see those two again?"

"Cloud. You're going to see them again." I answered. There was no question about that. Sephiroth probably had them out doing something idiotic. But it was, without a doubt, something to get him closer to finding Cloud. And we weren't really planning any counter strategies. What were we doing right now? Planning a surprise birthday party. Yikes. "But we got this."

"We've got this?" Cloud asked. Oh! Confusion was so adorable.

I had been so close to kissing him last night. But I got the feeling that if I'd tried again someone would've interrupted just like last time. I was cursed or something. I settled for a hug instead. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you." I said squeezing him.

"Don't squeeze!" He groaned with a great amount of urgency.

"Sorry…" Curse my strength. "Did I hurt you?"

"No. But you should really let go."

"Huh?" I thought I already had. He took a deep breath when I finally did. "It sounds like I hurt you."

"You didn't." He answered. His voice suggested he was getting ever-so-slightly defensive. That meant I did hurt him a little. Dang, now I felt like a jerk. It's not as though I could've forgotten how to handle Cloud. I'd never been around him when he was able to handle what must've felt like a bear hug.

"Cloud?" We both tensed up when we heard the female voice.

"It's Tifa." Cloud gasped.

"Shh!" I answered. I led him down the hall and took the first turn I saw. Tifa sounded like she was just coming down the hall where we had just been talking. And she was still headed our way! I searched around for a place to hide and decided it was best to just go through the first door I saw. Needless to say I made sure I did so quietly and that Cloud had stayed with me. Once I'd made sure he was inside the room with me I had the time to note that it was a closet. How typical. Still, beggars couldn't be choosers. The strangest part was that this particular closet was full of baskets or something.

"Oh geez…" Cloud sighed slumping down.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just don't like these baskets." He answered glaring at the inanimate objects.

I considered pestering him about it but I couldn't. Tifa was too close to the closet. The one thing I did do was turn the lock at the base of the doorknob. That way she'd think we wouldn't be able to get in to hide here in the first place. The blonde moved closer and I held onto him as we sat and watched the doorknob jiggle. Cloud was holding his breath, it was a good idea. If she heard us in here she'd probably just knock the door down.

She lingered around the door for quite a bit and walked away slowly. I really wished she hadn't. Cloud needed to breathe. Would I have to teach him how to be quiet without killing himself as well as everything else? Hopefully he'd work on that himself.

"Well!" I said once she was far away. "Whaddya say we just stay here?"

"Why would you wanna do that?" He asked. "It's a stuffy closet."

Was he really that out of touch? "You obviously make out in closets."

"Wh-What?" He blushed. He sounded really surprised. How could that be? Everyone knew this. Even though he did what I'd wanted. His blush was so bright it was practically glowing. "Not here." He said quickly. "It's too cramped."

"Alright…" I was a little confused by the statement. Did he just mean 'no' or was he willing to make out later at a different point in time and location? He also seemed to have missed that it was only intended as a joke. But joke or not, with that off the table, there wasn't much to do in the closet. Any child would want to see what was in each basket. It definitely would've been something to do… except that I was relatively certain Cloud wouldn't go for it. He appeared to hate said baskets. "Is there anything you want to talk about?"

"Not really. There's too much happening right now for me to even think straight." He said tentatively resting his head on my shoulder. "And most people would only be obsessing with the discovering that they were… uh… well it explains why I could only ever think of Tifa as a sibling. But no. I also have to have a psycho wanting me dead for inexplicable reasons."

I couldn't really do much more than listen and nod at the appropriate times. To him the reasons were nothing more than unjustified. And I had to suppose it was natural to assume that if someone was out to get you, then they wanted you dead. But there really wasn't any way I could tell him that Sephiroth didn't necessarily want to kill him without telling him too much. There was also the fact that the reasons technically weren't random. Sephiroth did have a score to settle with Cloud. But that only led to the problem at the center of it all. Cloud didn't remember what he'd done and hadn't really even done it yet. Therefore, it was completely crazy to want to punish him for it. He couldn't give him any sort of apology and have it mean anything. Not that he was after an apology. He was just a sadistic bastard.

"Are you aware of just how crazy all of this has been?" He asked. "I can't make any sense of it. No one can ever tell me what I did to deserve this guy's hatred. I only know that he's persistent."

"He appears to be." I nodded. There was really no way to stop him. "Do you think we can keep this up? Just keep on running?"

"Honestly?" Cloud asked looking grim. "No. I don't think so."

"I guess that just means we need to figure out a way to fight him then."

"Who is he?"

"I don't know." I answered, trying my best to sound convincing. If Cloud knew he'd probably give up. It was way too risky to tell him.

"Uh-huh. So you're going to switch your 'I dunno' instead of 'I can't say'? Just to shake things up I suppose. I should just stop asking questions."

"Cloud, please don't get mad. I don't want to argue."

"Can I trust you?"

"Cloud, please. I assure you that you can trust me." I held him closer. "I would never hurt you." That appeared to make him relax a bit. He was so cute. I could've held him for hours if I thought he could stay still for that long. However, that went against our track record. Something always came up.

In fact, I could hear that there was something going on outside in the hall. As for what it was, I had no clue. I'd have to open the door and walk out to hear it and be able to understand it. Maybe that was exactly what they wanted. Perhaps Tifa was trying to lure us out of hiding? Or was I just being paranoid? There was only one way to find out but it was just such a gamble. I almost didn't want to try. Oh well…

"What's that?" I asked before unlocking the door. Cloud looked concerned, probably about the same thing I was. But I continued on with opening the door. Taking a cautious first look, I couldn't see anyone but heard the disrupting noise much more clearly.

"I say again…" We both heard Cid over the intercom. "Zack and Cloud, wherever the hell you two are, we're about to land. So get your asses up here so we can make sure no one else goes falling out!"

"We're landing?" Cloud hopped up and almost skipped out into the hall. Apparently he'd chosen to ignore Cid's little knock on his unfortunate accident. "Solid ground! No more getting sick!" He started to jump with joy. "Yes!"

"Hurray!" The cheer was half-hearted but I wanted to join in on the fun. I would be able to ignore any possible down sides to the situation after moments of watching him. Seeing him so happy made me happy. It was as simple as that. His smile lifted the darkness from my heart. He made me feel invincible. I could do anything as long as he kept smiling. Of course that was stupid but it was how I felt.

The bridge wasn't crowded as usual. Jus the five of us as it had been through this whole trip. I noticed Tifa was staring. She must not have had the heart to tear us apart when she saw how happy Cloud was. That wasn't really making him like her anyway. It was like overly controlling parents; try your damnedest to keep the children in line but unnecessary force causes resentment and nothing more.

"Where ya' been?" Cid asked.

"Around." I answered. Cloud had walked right up close to the windows. It was making me nervous.

"Oh… That was a mistake." He groaned before falling backwards.

"Ha!" Cid laughed. "Forgot that heights make you ill, Cloud?"

"Don't laugh!" Tifa snapped. I was glad someone did, the planet knew I was too afraid to talk back to Cid. Loud noises really got to me and his volume was stuck on high.

"Whatever, Mother Hen." The older man brushed it off. "We'll begin to descend soon so someone oughta find Cloud a seat and strap him in. First time flyers aren't very steady on their feet when it comes to landing. I suggest the rest of y'all do the same."

"I'm fine standing." Tifa sighed.

"Hmm." Vincent added. I was going out on a limb here but if I had to guess I'd say Vincent just agreed. And if those two were fine I knew I'd be.

"It's okay." I spoke up as I walked toward the window. "I'll hold him."

"I'm sure you will." Cid muttered.

Once again, Tifa took care of it with a quick smack to the back of the head. Cid was really turning out to be a bully. What was I supposed to do about that? I mean, I was more than capable of handling a bully but I just couldn't. It'd be too easy to hurt someone. Of course if he continued to pick on Cloud I wasn't sure what I was going to do.

"You okay?" I asked the young blonde, gathering him into my arms.

"I think so… I just didn't think we'd be up so high…"

"We're on an airship, Cloud. What exactly did you expect?" I hugged him. And not a moment too soon. The ship gave a shudder before it began to sink out of the sky.

"Did anyone contact Yuffie?" Cid grumbled.

"I did." Vincent nodded.

"Did you bring her up to speed?"

There was no answer. I didn't look back to see if Vincent was giving any sign as to what he did. He obviously wasn't. Emotion was out of his reach it seemed. Although he did surprise me sometimes. He must've neglected to inform this Yuffie of the current situation. Poor Cloud. He'd have to put up with being stared at by another person who he, to his knowledge, didn't even know. Must be harder than any one of us could imagine. It made me sad whenever he talked about it. Suddenly surrounded by people claiming to be his friends, people he's never met, the one he knows has aged overnight, and, for some reason, he noticed that I grew out my hair… It wasn't too weird. He'd told me in our previous, not rewound, relationship that he'd watched me in the halls a few times. It made me so happy. My sweet little Cloud had admired me from afar. Too shy to speak to me but wishing I'd notice him.

"Zack…"

"Hmm?"

"Is the room supposed to be spinning?"

"Ohh…No." The question was one that could be considered very ridiculous, obviously rooms don't spin, but no one was ever really looking for an answer. "Have you tried closing your eyes?"

"Yeah, close your eyes. It won't be long now." Cid sighed.

He was right. It was only a few minutes before the ship landed. Finally we'd touched down and arrived at our destination. I'd had my doubts on whether or not we would make it. There were some detours, not to mention Cloud came very close to being captured on numerous occasions. That would've been awful. We hadn't yet located Sephiroth's lair. I'd like to think he wouldn't be predictable and set up camp in an obvious place but arrogance made people do stupid things. Considering that Sephiroth was so arrogant he thought he was a god… he's in the Northern Crater.

"Feel any better?" I asked. "We're back on solid ground."

"Umm… That's nice to know but no. It's going to take a minute."

"Alright." I answered nuzzling into his hair. "Take as long as you need."

"Zack." Tifa walked over and whispered. "Why don't you go take a quick look outside while I take care of Cloud? We wouldn't want to be ambushed by the remnants."

"Nooo… I guess that would be bad." I answered. My arms were still around the blonde and I really didn't want to let go. This felt like a ploy for separation. It felt like if I let him go I wouldn't see him again for hours. That was something I wanted to avoid.

Her eyebrows furrowed. She must've noticed that I suspected something. "Just a quick peek. You can even take Vincent with you."

"How does Vincent feel about that?" I couldn't imagine he liked being volunteered for things like this. Although it seemed like if he wasn't volunteered for the job he'd never do anything. But he did help them. I'd seen it. He doesn't ever offer to do anything he just does it. So, since Vincent didn't sound like he was going to answer my question, I felt the need to come up with something else to complain about. "Why me?" I couldn't think of any reason why she couldn't go.

"Because-"

"Just get goin'!" Cid shouted. "The longer we sit here with the two of you arguing the more of a chance those freaks have of finding us!"

Vincent left the bridge before I did. I let out a long sigh before releasing Cloud and leaving myself. I found the gunman waiting by the door. He looked the same as he always did and it was unnerving as usual. My eyes settled on the gun at his side and felt a frown coming. It was only a moment before he noticed.

"What is it, Zack?"

"Huh?" That caught me off guard.

"You look tense. Are you alright?"

"Uh…" I didn't know if I could answer, my eyes wouldn't look away from the firearm. For a moment I felt like there was pain coming from all over, the warm blood trailing down my skin, I remembered where I'd found Cloud in North Corel; the splashes of crimson all over the ground, the bullets… I blinked and Vincent disappeared. I was on the ground back in the Wasteland with a Shinra infantryman standing over me, my body numb and my breathing shallow. My vision would blur whenever I blinked but I could see that he was pointing a gun at me. His finger hovering over the trigger, emotionless.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and everything melted away. I was still standing on the airship with Vincent. Quickly, I shook off that memory and looked him in the eye.

"Are you alright?" He repeated.

"Uh, yeah, yeah. I just noticed I don't have a weapon." I laughed, scratching the back of my head. "I'll just have to make do…" I knew I could probably go take one of Cloud's swords but it just didn't feel right. What if he remembered it when all of this was over? Something told me he probably wouldn't mind but I just didn't want to risk losing it, or breaking it, or any other horrible thing that could happen.

With only a quick nod, Vincent opened to hatch and stepped out. He didn't look like he was paying attention to his surroundings. He just looked like he was strolling out into the open. I took a quick look before leaving the safety of the ship. There didn't appear to be anything out of the ordinary. There were only the sounds of the occasional bird. The air was fresh and clear of any toxin as far as I could tell. And I was pretty sure we didn't have to worry about any Wutai troops attacking us. Certainly wouldn't have to look out for any crazy monster meant to destroy SOLDIER operatives either… or at least I hoped they didn't have those anymore.

I wasn't too sure what Vincent wanted me to do. Did he want me to stay close to the ship or did he want us to split up and cover more ground? If I left and the ship was attacked could Cid and Tifa handle it? Then again if the two of us got far enough away they could be in trouble and we'd never know it. Although it was highly unlikely that the remnants were here. They couldn't fly, I wasn't too sure if they could find any transport over the sea and, if what Cloud said was true, then Yazoo may be injured. But there was Kadaj… We had yet to see Kadaj. That was a problem. He could be anywhere.

I saw Vincent stop and get ready to pull out his gun. He must've heard something. I rushed over and looked at the brush he was staring into. He was right to be shocked, it moved. Vincent took out his gun and aimed it at the bush while I couldn't do anything more than wait. The bush rustled a few more times before something leapt out of it. Vincent put his finger on the trigger and I raised my fists, both of us waiting to see this thing. It had jumped up into the sun so neither of us could see it clearly but then it landed right in front of us.

It was a young woman with short black hair, she looked familiar but…

"Enemies beware, for you have elected the aid of Wutai's greatest warrior! The flower that fights for all that is good, and the conqueror of all evils… Yuffie Kisaragi! At your service!"

Vincent made a sound that was almost a groan and lowered his weapon. That meant she was an ally. Yeah… she said her name was Yuffie, Cid mentioned her… Wait a second! The hair, the eyes, the ridiculous speeches! Yuffie! She-She couldn't be!

"Gah!" I gasped pointing. "It's YOU!"

"Huh?" She looked up and stared before her own jaw dropped. "ACK! YOU!" She pointed as well.

"You know each other?" Vincent asked.

"Of course I do!" I answered. "I'd never forget her! She tried to steal from me numerous times! And then she stole from me!"

"It's not my fault you fell for it!" She shouted.

"You had me going all over creation, fighting monsters for you, and digging up treasure all so you could steal it from me!"

"Like I said, you kept falling for it! Not my fault."

"I didn't fall for it! I only did it because whenever I refused you cried!"

"Well… I… what are you doing here and why do you look the same as you did twelve years ago? Cloud said you were-"

"Yuffie…" Vincent interrupted. "The both of you. This isn't the right time for arguments."

"Right!" Yuffie answered. "Where's everyone else? On the ship?" She pushed past the two of us and started walking towards it.

"Yes, but Tifa asked the two of us to survey the area." Vincent replied, following her.

"I've been waiting for you here for a while and I haven't seen anyone or anything. Isn't Cloud with you? Why didn't he come out and check rather than zombie-boy over there?"

"Hey!" I scowled. "I am not a zombie…" I muttered. "Anyway, it's complicated. But it all comes down to this: he just didn't feel up to it?"

"What is he? Sick?" She asked.

"In a fashion." Vincent sighed. He went back into the ship to get the others and nonverbally told me to stay put.

"He's also literally sick." I added.

"What's he got? Is it contagious?"

"Noooo… just a bad case of motion sickness."

"Motion sickness? I thought I was the only one who got that?" Yuffie laughed. "When did he get so sensitive? And here I thought there was something going on."

"There is." Vincent answered coming back out. "Too much to mention in an e-mail."

"What's up? Sephiroth back or something?" She asked as a joke.

"Yeah." I answered.

She stared for a moment before laughing so hard she fell over. "Good one!"

"I'm serious." I said folding my arms. "He's back and he's hunting down Cloud. There's nothing funny about it."

"You're really not joking?" She asked.

"I wish he were." Cid sighed. "Tifa, hurry up!"

"I'm coming." She said rushing out. I couldn't help but notice she was alone. What had she done? Where did she hide him?

"Where's the miniature pain?" Cid grumbled.

"He forgot something in his room." She shrugged. "He said he'd be right out."

"What is going on here?" Yuffie shouted. "I feel so out of the loop! When did all of this start happening? Since when is that SOLDIER operative back? I don't get it!"

None of us really knew what to say, there was just too much. No one knew where to begin. Sephiroth was back, but he wasn't up to his usual plots. No, this time his focus appeared to be solely on revenge if anything. And he was dangerously close to succeeding this time. We all understood it just fine but we'd all been following this from the start. I'd probably be the one expected to explain all of it, it was my fault after all but… it was all so complicated. Besides, she'd need to see Cloud first before it would make any sense. Let alone believe any of it.

There was a moment of awkward silence when the spiky blonde exited the ship. He came out holding the baby chocobo and muttering something to it as he went. It looked like he hadn't yet noticed that everyone was staring at him.

My eyes turned to Yuffie to find that she was looking on with a sense of confusion. And once that was gone her jaw dropped. Hopefully that meant she understood. This wasn't something to be taken lightly. However, my hopes were dashed when she displayed a very childish reaction. Cloud barely looked up before she ran up and jumped at him. Overall, it was difficult to see exactly just what happened. Yuffie jumped, Orion squawked and all but flew away, and then the two of them were on the ground.

"Cloud!" She squealed. "You… You've gotten shorter."

"I what?" He gasped.

"Okay!" I shouted, clapping my hands together. It was never a good idea to tell Cloud he was short, let alone tell him he had gotten shorter. He was very uneasy about his height. Anyway, "That's enough of that. Perhaps you can get someone to fill in the blanks for you but now it would be great to not tackle Cloud." Poor kid, getting tackled by people he didn't even know… well… the same weird situation that applied to everyone he'd encountered thus far.

"But why is Cloud so-"

"Cute? He was born that way." I interrupted before passing her off to Tifa. "You alright Cloud?"

"Who was that?" He asked. "She scared Orion away."

"She's a friend."

"Your friend?"

"Nooo." It wasn't that I didn't like her or anything we just had a strange past. It was actually very surprising that she remembered me so well. Of course she did keep me coming back practically every day. What was that all about? Did she think I was easy to fool? She couldn't have. I was never fooled. She was very easy to figure out, she just kept on crying and it was awkward.

"Am I really shorter?"

"What? No. No, you're not short. You're perfect."

"Zack, don't be corny." He sighed before picking himself up. "You've gotten so tall."

"I'm older than you."

"Not by much."

"But enough for me to have a growth spurt." Geez. I was really good at lying.

He looked at me a bit skeptically but accepted it. He'd been having to do that a lot lately and said he was used to it. But out all the lies I'd told him this was more believable. It was also about something that he shouldn't be concerning himself with. His height was great. Why in the name of the planet did he want to be tall? Being tall was a hassle. People could find you wherever you went, certain rooms were very crampt, all the 'how's the weather up there' jokes… They always did it to me. And I wasn't even the tallest guy. Of course it did seem like a really dumb idea to tell Sephiroth a joke back then and forget about doing it now.

I blinked when I noticed Cloud had started walking away. Was he angry? I didn't know what I would do if he was angry. What was I supposed to do? Tell him the truth? I couldn't. He couldn't handle it. It probably wasn't even necessary. He'd understand once I changed him back.

"But..." I wasn't so sure I wanted to change him back. Things had gotten way too complicated. I'd set out to change him back but then there was the question of what would happen to this Cloud. Were they different or did I have to concern myself with this? I just couldn't figure it out on my own. Of course if I didn't change him back, what did that mean for the older Cloud? Was he dead if I didn't get him back to normal? Why hadn't I thought about this before now?

"Hey Cloud, where are you going?" I asked, catching up with him. "You sure you're alright?"

"Yes."

"You're not upset?"

"No." He shook his head. "I just need to go ask Vincent to uh… help me out with something."

Help him out with something? What did he mean by that? I couldn't remember if there was anything specific he couldn't just ask me for. Not that I was possessive or anything. He was allowed to talk to other people. I'd just been separated from him up until now and was trying my hardest to make up for lost time. I hadn't even thought about how I had to go back after all of this was over! What was I supposed to do about that?

I really hated time limits. They never failed at adding pressure to any already stressful day.

"Zack!" Tifa called. "Come over here and help me with Yuffie."

Oh boy. Here we go, recaps a plenty. I didn't want to talk to Yuffie I wanted to stay with Cloud. But it was necessary to bring her up to speed while he was gone. Even though I didn't know the entire story. Cloud would love for me to just drop it but I wanted to meet the man who'd saved him. Was he a friend or a double agent working for Sephiroth? He kept his true identity a secret from him, what was his motivation for that?

"Zack!" She called again.

No more time to think about that I suppose. I strode over and followed them as they walked to the clearing on the other side of the ship.

"So what exactly is going on?" Yuffie asked again.

"Well…" I wasn't so sure how all of this was going to sound but I had Tifa to back me up. For whatever reason they'd all taken it a face value. Probably because I, Cloud's dead boyfriend, was the one telling it. But Yuffie wasn't appearing to be very open minded to it all. "You see," I had try, "I kinda… accidently turned Cloud into a child. Well, not a child. He's fourteenish. He'll be fifteen tomorrow. But that's not the point I guess. The thing is he's very vulnerable right now and at the same time that the Ancients sent me to fix this Sephiroth escaped. He found me and told me he wasn't out for blood but… It's Sephiroth and he's not to be trusted, right? So we brought Cloud here to hide him and all but not without a lot of trouble along the way mind you. Those remnants are also back working as Sephiroth's cronies. Cloud said Yazoo was injured by some guy he met when he got separated from us. And we really don't have to worry about Loz but we haven't encountered Kadaj."

"You're not serious…" She sighed. "More work for us?"

"It's not work." I argued. "You're protecting a friend! How is that work?"

"Is Cloud aware of all of this?" She gasped.

"No, not really." I answered. "He's aware that someone's after him but that's about it. He doesn't know that he's been altered or that the enemy is Sephiroth. He thinks everything is back the way it was twelve years ago. So that means he thinks Sephiroth is the General is Shinra's armies and that he's a cadet training to be in said army."

"So he's not a sword fighting, butt kicking, would-be-SOLDIER guy anymore?"

"No." Tifa said shaking her head. "He's as he was all those years ago."

"So we've got a lot to worry about then?" Yuffie sighed and stretched. "Those three royal pains and the big baddy controlling them…" She stared at the ground with a contemplating look.

"Vincent said that Rufus and the Turks are also ready to help in any way they can." Tifa added.

"And asking me for help tipped the scales in your favor!" She exclaimed. "We can handle this! Sephiroth can send an army if he wants, he'll never win!"

I couldn't help but smile at that. Positivity was flowing off of the kunoichi like waves. We could. We really could do this if we all worked together. Nothing was lost yet. We had allies all over and he had his three brothers. They were outnumbered and outmatched!

~Extra Sephiroth P.O.V.~

I could feel a slight tick coming on when Loz brought Yazoo's mangled form before me. Genesis had done a real number on him and not only that but he'd rejected my offer!

Loz shrunk back into the far corner of the room when I approached them. It amazed me that Yazoo was still alive after all the damage he'd taken. Loz had definitely taken the time to stop the bleeding and patch him up a bit before returning to me. If he hadn't Yazoo wouldn't have made it back with him I suppose. I glanced at him but he didn't make eye contact, he sometimes surprised me by showing trace amounts of thought and lower-level intelligence.

"You got what you deserved." I sighed. And he was lucky he had. If he'd gotten away with such an idiotic act I would've administered his punishment. "Tell me Yazoo, just what were you thinking?"

He didn't answer.

"Did you honestly believe that no harm would come of shooting Cloud?"

"I didn't shoot him."

"It doesn't matter if you actually hit him or not!" I snapped. "You were trying to harm him! You wanted to shoot him and you tried to! That is why I had second thoughts about saving you!" I raised my foot and brought it down hard on his ribs.

Yazoo lurched before starting to wheeze and cough.

"What did you think I would do if you'd killed him?"

"I wasn't thinking."

"You weren't? And all this time I thought Loz was the dumb one." I knew all too well that Loz was the dumb one. He'd gotten his own punishment for giving Cloud the virus instead of the tranquilizer.

"He made me angry. I didn't realize what I was doing."

"Stop making excuses for yourself. You knew what you were doing." I sighed. He'd also done quite a bit of lying when it came to my orders, but I could overlook that. It was an attempt to discourage and such. But none if it stopped Genesis. He'd shot the man! And it didn't do him any good. "You fired on Cloud four times. The first three were in anger but by the fourth I'm fairly certain you'd come to your senses."

"It was a ploy…"

"It was a gamble." I said correctively. "You had no way of knowing whether or not Genesis would take the bait. And I ask you again, what would you have done if he hadn't?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know." I repeated. "Did I instruct you to do anything like that?"

"I wasn't trying to kill him."

"And yet you could've. So why take the risk?"

"It was stupid… I'm sorry."

Sorry? Yes, he did sound genuinely apologetic. It didn't make it alright but I was willing to accept it. "Very well." I sighed, tossing Loz a cure materia. "My chance of success is much higher if I have you all on my side. I guess I can't let any of you die just yet."

"Thank you, Nii-San." He said once Loz was finished healing him. "Do you want us to return to our assignment?"

"No."

"No?" Loz asked.

"There's going to be a slight change in our next move." I answered. "You all are such idiots, you've forced my hand." I grabbed Masamune and headed toward the door. "I realize now that I can't trust the two of you with something like this. I'll have to take matters into my own hands."

(A/N) I know it's a shorter chapter but now things are finally getting into motion. I was originally going to put this in another tiny recap chapter but it wasn't exactly necessary. So I just tacked it on to the bottom of this. So sorry this took so long. I got really distracted by a lot of things and now I don't know if I can promise to get the next chapter out sooner. All I can say is that I'll definitely make the effort to write more often. I pretty much to a break to draw and such, completely forgot how much fun I have writing this, and you know the rest… I've just got so many other projects that need to be worked on. And I don't mean school projects either. I just like to come up with A LOT stories and share them. But I suppose I should really be concerning myself with finishing this… or at least getting it to a point where Sephiroth is a more important character. There will probably be a Genesis Point of View at the end of the next one.