I'm sorry this has take so long. Between life, depression, and writers block it's been a bumpy ride. A HUGE thank you to ChaosBalance for being my beta. Chaos has helped to push me and break through those writer's blocks like no ones business. Also, THANK YOU to all of you who are following this story, have left a comment, or even just a kudos. They motivate me and keep me writing. Even if it's just one word, it means the world that someone took the time to let me know you like my work. So without further ado, please enjoy.


He heard it just before seeing Tifa's reaction. That's when he sensed the familiar presences that were approaching at an alarmingly fast speed. Cloud braced himself without turning around as the sound of clawed feet bounded towards them.

"Cloud," was all Tifa was able to scream before she closed her eyes, not wanting to see what would happen to either of them. What she wasn't expecting was the sharp laughter and sounds of yipping that assaulted her ears. She hesitantly pried an eye open. The sight that awaited her had them widening is shock.

She was expecting to see blood everywhere. What she saw instead, was what looked to be Galian Beast hugging Cloud's shoulders from behind and drooling on the ground in front of him with what appeared to be a smile on his face. Cloud had an arm raised, scratching the beast under his chin. He wore a mischievous smile when he looked over at her.

Tifa raised her eyebrow as her eyes tracked Cloud's hand as it skittered along Galian's head and behind his ears. "Does this have something to do with that whole, you being The Ultima thing?"

"Yeah something like that," he said as he looked away.

"Look, I don't want to bring up bad memories, but you never really explained it to anyone other than Vincent as far as I know. I want to be able to help you. I can't do that if I don't know the whole story." She knew that frown, and she had no plans to let him draw back into himself. He surprised her though.

"It all started when I defeated ULTIMA WEAPON and JENOVA. The Planet started calling me her 'Honorary Gold WEAPON' and JENOVA was screaming about me being ULTIMA at the end. I'm still not entirely sure what that entails. It's not like she spelled everything out for me or provided a manual. I do know that I have some sort of hive-mind connection with Zack, but it's pretty difficult to use." Cloud paused with an irritable frown on his face as he looked up at Galian before he continued, "I know for a fact though that Chaos knows more than he'll tell me. The other WEAPONs keep calling me 'Boss' or 'Alpha' as well, not sure why." He sighed when all Galian did was yip for more attention.

Tifa tilted her head as she watched Galian. She had never seen the demon so docile. She also couldn't remember a time when Cloud was so talkative. "You okay? You aren't normally this chatty."

"I was tortured down here during two lifetimes. The second being a hell of a lot worse than the first due to me remembering almost all of it the second time around. I am currently trying to stave off a complete mental breakdown, so yes I am chatty." He took a deep breath as he closed his eyes for a brief moment. When he opened them, he was looking at Tifa. "Anyways, it does have a little bit to do with why Galian seems to adore me, but not the whole reason."

Galian looked down at him as he spoke. He saw the understanding in those eyes that were flashing between red and copper for dominance over the beast. Before he could react, Galian had licked a strip of skin up the side of his neck and face. "Gross! Galian, Chaos, he's embarrassed enough as it is," he grumbled as he pushed the beast away.

The sounds of Tifa's laughter had him focusing his glare on her. "They don't need the encouragement." She was bent over holding her stomach as she tried to calm herself. He sighed as he wiped the side of his face with his arm.

Off to the side Galian's form was now shimmering as a miasma of red smoke enveloped his body before shrinking in size.

"He could do without your encouragement as well." Vincent complained as he righted himself while the smoke dissipated. A blush was staining his cheeks that he tried to hide in his cowl. He felt vulnerable and exposed.

'Oh, my host, my own. How easily Galian is able to overpower you at the sight of The Ultima. He has such a chaotic nature, I enjoy it.' Chaos gleefully cackled unceasingly.

"Bahamut dammit Chaos! Shut the hell up! It's not that funny, seriously you can stop laughing. Chaos, you idiot, just stop already!" Vincent tried to bury his face farther into his cowl with little success.

After Cloud had tamed Vincent's inner demons, he then helped Vincent tame them himself. It meant that they had not been able to overtake him like that very often. The only times they were able to overpower him after that was if the situation had anything to do with Cloud or Reeve and he wasn't paying as close attention as he should have been. Having the power to keep Chaos from taking control of him was not the same as being able to stop Chaos from annoying the shit out of him when it was convenient for the demon. At least the other demons weren't as hard to manage as Chaos, being as they had a more primal mindset.

Of course Chaos reveled in all of the different emotions that Vincent went through. 'If you hadn't locked yourself in that coffin for years, I would not torment you the way I do. For the longest time the only emotions that we felt from you were guilt and sorrow.' His voice was still full of delighted laughter as he taunted Vincent.

"Oh just shut it already! I get it! I have since way before the end of my first life. Since Reeve beat it into my head that life was worth living." He felt the need to scream, or go find a horde of monsters to take his aggression out on.

"Chaos must be being a right pain in the ass if he has you talking to him out loud. He even has you talking about your relationship with Reeve. When was the last time that happened again?" Tifa asked, trying to hide her snickers behind her hand.

"Alright, I think he's been embarrassed enough, by all of us." Cloud said as he clasped a hand on the man's shoulder. He looked the vampire over to assess that embarrassment was the only thing that was wrong.

Vincent waived his hand as if to brush off the concern. What mattered at the moment was that Chaos had finally quieted down. "Yeah, yeah. Nothing could be worse than the bunny incident though." He shuddered just mentioning it.

Cloud tilted his head in a thoughtful manner before shuddering as well. "I'm glad we can avoid that this time around. We just have to make sure Aerith never steps foot in that store, and hope she forgot all about it. Or maybe stop the store from opening?"

"Agreed."

Tifa looked back and forth between the two with an expression of interest. "May I..?"

"No!" were the simultaneous shouts she received before she could finish the question.

"Okay then. Well how about we finish the second half of what we came here for? We know Vincent is awake and obviously remembers the previous life as well. Now I want out of here," Tifa said as she rubbed her arms. She still wasn't cold, but now that the laughter had died down, she felt the chill of the mansion settling over her again. If it had her on edge, she could only imagine how Cloud was feeling.

Cloud spared her a small reassuring smile before he turned back to Vincent. "So, is everything here ready to be burnt down?"

'I am ready to see this place torched,' Chaos breathed through his mind.

"I don't believe there is anything left to be salvaged. I managed to get anything of use moved out of the mansion and stored in a cave near by." Vincent turned his head to look at Cloud before he continued speaking. "I also found Fenrir. It looked to be fully stocked and your Materia case was next to it as well."

Cloud's eyes lit up at the mention of his beloved bike. It felt like a blessing knowing that he wouldn't have to rebuild the beast. He would have built it if he had to, but it seemed like Gaia was trying to help him as best she could.

"Well that solves the problem of needing Gil, and now I don't have to worry about how I'll get to Midgar eventually," Cloud stated.

Vincent nodded, then gave a savage grin. He held up a relatively small object in his gauntlet and nodded to the back wall of the room.

"Vincent! How do you know how to make the Reactor-Busters we used in AVALANCHE?"

"Did you forget I am an ex-Turk?" Vincent asked with an arched brow. "That and I saw Barrett with one in the second round, and he taught me when I mentioned that I would have liked to use them on Hojo."

"If you two are quite finished, I'd like to get out of here sometime before the monsters respawn."

Cloud gave Tifa a sheepish look before replying. "Let's get everything we want incinerated piled up by one of the bombs, and the other bomb moved up by the doors for easy access to take to the reactor. Then we can mosey on outta here."


"I remember everything this time. I don't have to rely on you or, Shiva forbid, Chaos for information." Vincent said as he put his hand over his face in remembrance of some of the scenes Chaos had cause by giving him partial truths or no information at all, to way too much information.

'Oh, you act like you didn't enjoy my meddling,' Chaos rumbled. 'We could always ask Reeve if he enjoyed it.'

"Oh Ifrit! I am begging you, please for my sanity's sake, just stop talking."

"I don't think I want to know what he's going on about if it can make you blush that hard." Cloud commented as he placed a supporting hand on Vincent's shoulder. "So, how much longer until we reach that cave?"

"You'll get to see your beloved bike in a few minutes Cloud." Vincent said, thankful for the topic change. He pointed at a spot up ahead, "It's just up around that bend there."

Cloud bounced as he walked. He was trying so hard to just run ahead and find the cave by himself. He knew Vincent was looking at him strangely, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

Upon reaching the cave, Cloud let out a high-pitched squeal that hurt Vincent's ears. He blinked his eyes a few times, trying to register the fact that the squeal did in fact come from Cloud, only to realize that Cloud was actually hugging the motorcycle. He tilted his head in confusion before silently chuckling in amusement at the blonde's antics.

"You do realize that even if you not making a sound, I can still tell you're laughing?" Cloud asked without pulling away from his bike. The only two things that had a chance at drawing his attention were Zack, who wasn't there, and the Materia chest that was besides Fenrir.

"So how many of these All-Materia do you think it will take to buy the SHINRA Villa again?"

"More than it will take to buy a decent ranch in Rocket Town, that's for sure." Cloud said as he finally reigned his enthusiasm in.

"You gonna raise Chocobos again? I thought you gave that up when you ended up getting Golds whenever you bred your Yellows?" Vincent watched Cloud carefully. Cloud seemed to be coming back to himself, but he wanted to make sure he had time to cover his ears if he needed to.

"Gold are only banned from racing, but they make for excellent courier mounts. I'm gonna expand my business and I'll need more than just me doing deliveries." Cloud kicked the ground in thought for a moment, "Yeah, I have no plans to build a fleet of Fenrirs. Gold chocobos will be the easiest."

"Well, now that you have your bike, I think it's time to set the charges and get out of this town."

"You're forgetting something Vince."

"What?"

"MY MA! THAT'S WHAT!"

"I didn't forget. I was including her when I said that."

"Good! You better not forget my ma. Besides, she'll adore you." Cloud reached down and began strapping the Materia chest in place before swinging his leg on to Fenrir. He opened a compartment and pulled out two pairs of riding goggles.

Vincent stared at the pair that was held out to him for a moment before raising a brow at Cloud.

Cloud stared back, unfazed by the intensity in the vampire's eyes. "Don't give me that look. We're trying to not draw any extra attention to us. You flying around the town would be the exact opposite. So put these on, get behind me, and hold on tight."

Vincent glared at him for a moment before conceding and snatching up the goggles.


"I SAID SLOW DOWN!"

"MA!"

Rain looked up at the noise coming towards her and felt her jaw drop. There was her little boy on the back of a death trap. It took a moment to realize that there was a man in red hanging onto the back of Cloud. "Cloud Strife! Get off that monstrosity now! You have a room to pack and boxes to help me move."

"How could you? He has feelings too!" Cloud looked at her like she had murdered someone. He pet the handlebars of the bike before speaking to it, "She didn't mean it, I promise."

"You may have built that bike yourself, but must you really treat it like that? Also, even with your enhancements, do you have to go that fast and get that close to obstacles? I swear you even scared Hellmasker quiet. I am never riding bitch with you again, no matter WHAT Chaos might say."

'You can fly faster than the speed of sound, but you are scared of how he drives?' Chaos chimed in. 'And here I was starting to respect you. Tsk, tsk.'

'Since when have you ever shown me respect?'

'I didn't say show respect, just that I had been starting to respect you.'

"VINCENT!"

Vincent blinked his eyes and looked sharply at Cloud.

"You're being rude. I'm trying to introduce you to my Ma. Stop talking to the demons, and say hello." He received a glare for that. He couldn't really seem to mind though, he kinda deserved it.

Vincent looked at the woman in front of him. Blinked at her resemblance to Cloud, and offered his flesh hand out to shake.

"What are we business partners?" Rain said before taking Vin's hand and pulling him in for a hug, leaving the man floundering as to what he should do. He looked to Cloud for help only to find him already headed into the house, leaving him to an unknown fate.


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Preview for Chapter 5: "SEE, I told you it wasn't a false alarm!" Genesis had started glaring at Angeal. He finished staring at Angeal before looking to Zack to explain. "We're having an intervention for you. Something is wrong and we plan to figure out what.