I tried to wait, I really did. It would have been so perfect to upload this on its one year anniversary, but I'm not that patient. xD It's taking everything I've got to keep calm while waiting for 1.5 and 2.5 for the PS4 to release. I am having fun playing DDD on the PS4 and I'm amazed by the difference between this one and the 3DS version. If the other games look that smooth from the originals I'm going to be one very happy KH fan. Also I heard that the loading screen doesn't exist anymore it loads so fast? No arguments here. xD I'm also looking forward to Episode Gladio.

As for this story, things are going to start going at a faster pace after this chapter. I don't like it when things feel like they're dragging on and on and I ended up scrapping the first version of Chapter 23 because it was doing just that. So, buckle up guys. This chapter is the slow incline up that first big drop on the roller coaster.

Enjoy!


They were scheduled to deploy for their mission around noon and it gave them enough time to stop by to see the girls. They agreed to meet on the landing pad and headed off in separate directions. Zack went to go see Aerith while Cloud went to pack first and then headed out to find Tifa. She didn't answer her door so he called her up on the phone.

Twenty minutes later he found himself heading down to the slums. She had recently gotten a job and had given him the directions. He was a bit surprised when he got there. It was a bar and one that he felt like he knew well, but it was impossible to tell whether it was from another vision episode or if it was one of the bars he had went to with Zack and Reno last night. He got his answer once he stepped inside.

The barkeeper looked up and waved to him with a smile before calling out. "Ho-ho there's the little firecracker! I'm surprised you're able to stand straight after last night!"

Cloud blinked at the man and felt embarrassed. "I don't remember anything from last night," he admitted.

The man huffed a laugh before nodding. "I ain't surprised. Don't worry though, you didn't do anything too crazy, except carve somethin' into my wall over there. My new girl found it and it made her face glow red. She refused to look at it ever since."

Curious, Cloud walked over and looked at what he had done and when he saw it his face also turned a few shades of red. It was a heart with the initials C.S. and T.L. carved along with a sideways eight which meant forever.

Cloud facepalmed before turning to the barkeeper. "How much do I owe for damages?"

The man just laughed. "Damages? Please, that ain't nothin'. The wall's still there and no blood was spilled so you don't owe me nothin', 'cept for maybe apologizing to my new girl over there. She's the one who reacted to it."

He pointed over to a woman who was cleaning up a nearby table, unaware of the two that were talking about her. "Hey Tifa, you got a second?"

She looked over at them and Cloud turned away. He wanted to run for it, but his legs wouldn't listen.

She walked over to the bartender and smiled at him. "What do you need?"

He motioned over towards Cloud and she moved in closer, stopping a few feet behind him. "You have some explaining to do Mr. Strife."

When he turned he saw her pointing to the wall and he could only look away and try to fight the blush. "I…was drunk."

"Oh, so you didn't mean it then," she asked, sounding a bit hurt. That made him feel even worse.

"Yes! No…I don't know." He had really backed himself into a corner.

She couldn't hold it in anymore and giggled. "It's alright Cloud. We're both old enough to admit that we like each other."

He could only look stupidly at her. "Wh-…huh?" She…liked him?

Tifa giggled more and flicked his nose. "Don't go spacin' out on me. What did you want to tell me?"

"Tell you what," asked Cloud, still dazed.

Tifa placed her hands on her hips. "You called me and wanted to talk to me about something. What was it?"

"Uh…oh! Zack and I are being deployed on a mission and we'll be gone for a while."

"How long is a while," she asked.

"A little over a week, it's nothing serious though."

"Well, you better come back in one piece. You didn't grow up in a northern town and survive its harsh winters just to get beat by something else."

He smiled at her before nodding. "Don't worry, I'll be careful." He turned to leave but then stopped as he got another strange feeling. "Tifa?"

"Yeah," she asked.

"Keep an eye on Aerith for Zack, would you?"

"No problem, but he owes me," she answered with a good-natured smile. "Now you get out there and make a good name for yourself. You have a promise to keep."

"Right," he told her with a determined nod and left. He took one more look back at the Seventh Heaven bar and smiled when he realized it felt like he was looking at home before setting out.

The bartender watched the exchange with a knowing smile. "Twitter pated."

. . .

Zack was waiting on the tarmac for Cloud who was running late and the pilot was getting annoyed. "Look I ain't got all day."

"Keep your shirt on, he'll be here soon….aha! Here he comes now."

Cloud ran out of the elevator and up the steps with his duffle bag slung over his back. "Sorry I'm late," he gasped.

They boarded the chopper and it took off high above the city towards the east. Zack let out a big yawn before rolling his shoulders.

"Man, all this sitting around is making me sleepy. I'd love to do some squats, but it's not the best idea to try in a plane, all that rocking and turbulence."

Cloud however was holding his stomach. "Ugh, please don't talk about turbulence."

Zack nodded. "Motion sickness again?"

The blonde nodded.

Zack shook his head. "Just like on our mission to Nibelheim. You ever stop to think about where we'd be if we let it happen like it did the first time?"

"Based on what Sephiroth told us, I try to avoid it," Cloud replied.

The ride out was an uneventful experience. Cloud was motion sick once again and Zack decided to catch up on his sleep after the previous night. When they finally landed it was almost sunset.

"I'll see you boys in a few days," the pilot called to them before taking off. Once it was out of sight the two looked around at their surroundings.

"So what exactly is this mission we've been sent on," asked Cloud.

"One that'll keep you far away from the Turks while I turn you into top quality SOLDIER material," he replied. "Kunsel and Sephiroth helped me pull it off, but it's an unofficial mission. Our cover-up is a monster outbreak in the forest. It hasn't spread to a village yet, but it's better to nip it in the bud now before anyone gets killed."

"Well, we won't be lying if we kill a lot of monsters," Cloud implied as they made their way towards the tree line.

"That's my student," Zack replied with a big grin and patted the blonde on the shoulder before heading down a path. "It's best if we follow a path in first and then go off the beaten trail. I don't want to get lost, but I don't want to be easily followed either."

"Why would we be followed," asked the blonde.

Zack shrugged. "Eh…don't mind me Spiky. I've just been extra careful ever since all this craziness started. I want to blame it on the Turks' latest actions, but in all honesty, it's been crazy ever since Genesis first went missing."

"I'm sorry I never got to learn much about the other Firsts," Cloud said. "I tried after we came back from Nibelheim, but it's all hidden behind high security clearance."

Zack chose to start heading off the winding path as he sighed in annoyance. "Yeah, the higher ups did that. It's because of what happened to them that they wanted to make everything about them classified. What you should do is find someone who was part of their fan clubs. If anyone knows about them its those guys."

"A fan club," asked Cloud.

"Yeah, Angeal had one and Genesis had two if you can believe that. I mean, who needs two fanclubs?"

"Don't you have one," asked Cloud.

"Yep, so does Seph. It's sort of a thing you earn when you become a First. You'll get one too eventually. Especially if that photo I took starts trending."

"You're deleting it when we get back," Cloud replied flatly.

"Aww, don't be a stick in the mud," Zack whined. "It was a good pic and Kunsel told me it got Seph to smile."

"Really?"

"Hey, if Kunsel said it then I believe him. This looks like a good spot to set up camp."

The SOLDIER gave his student the job of collecting the firewood while he set up their campsite. Cloud had brought his sword along, but wondered why the harder job had been given to him when Zack and his Buster Sword were far more able to cut down good branches than him. He got his answer once he returned with a decent amount.

"It'll build up your strength and endurance. I'm not wasting any chance I get to train you. I'd train you in your sleep if there was a way."

Later that evening, as the stars began to twinkle in the growing darkness the two sat around the campfire, eating from their ration packs. Cloud looked up from his energy bar and stared at his mentor. The ravenette noticed the gaze and returned it. "What's on your mind?"

"Why can't you tell me about them? The other Firsts I mean?"

Zack looked into the flames, his ever-present smile clearly absent. "I could just use the 'it's classified' excuse, but if it were only that I'd have no problem telling you…"

He slowly sighed as he set his food down. "The truth is…it hurts. I mean Genesis wasn't exactly the easiest person to get along with, but it was amazing to see them all together. Gen, Seph and Angeal made the perfect team. Throw an entire army at them and they'd be chillin' at the local bar at the end of the day to toast their complete victory. When Genesis left and Angeal defected soon after I refused to believe it. Sephiroth was never the same either. Even now he's still struggling to cope…kinda like me."

Cloud regretted asking. The last thing he wanted was to force his friend to relive painful memories.

"What hurts most of all was when Angeal forced me to fight him. The last thing I wanted was to….I tried to talk him out of it, but he didn't give me a choice."

"I shouldn't have asked," Cloud replied but Zack shook his head.

"No, it's okay. Seph said you had a right to know and to be honest…it feels good to talk about it…at least to a friend."

The blonde turned his head to fully face him then. He couldn't explain the overpowering feeling of relief and joy to hear Zack say that.

"We're friends, right?"

Cloud shut his eyes and shook his head to clear it as the voice of Zack echoed those words, but when had he said them?

"You okay," asked Zack. "You do want to be my friend, right?"

"Of course I do," Cloud hastily replied. "I just…"

"Another vision?"

The blonde nodded. "It's getting hard to tell what's real and what's not anymore."

Zack gave him a sympathetic smile. "I wish I could help you with them, but I haven't had anything like that happen to me yet."

"I hope you don't," Cloud replied. "They're not fun and if we're in the middle of a battle one of us needs to stay focused."

Zack looked up at the sky and sighed. "What bothers me is how Seph is dealing with it, or rather, how he's not. He's gotta talk to somebody. I've tried to get him to confide in me. I mean Angeal meant a lot to me too, but he just locks himself away. I know it bothers him. Just look what happened on that chopper ride back from Junon. I don't know what he was thinking about, but it was obviously something big. I've never seen him cry."

Cloud nodded as he thought back to that day. Was he thinking about his lost friends or was it something he had seen in the future? Only he could answer that and trying to get Sephiroth to admit something was both impossible and out of line in Cloud's book.

Zack seemed to read his thoughts as he smirked at the blonde. "If you want to talk to him, don't let rank get in your way. Maybe that's what Seph needs is someone unbiased and not a kiss-ass to ask him."

"What does that mean," sputtered Cloud.

Zack smirked. "Not callin' you one. But the people Seph has to deal with are annoying. They either poke him with endless questions, burden him with pointless paperwork or keep reminding him when it's time to see the science department. Seph hardly gets any free time, especially lately. That mission to Nibelheim was the most vacation he's gotten in Gaia knows how long. I've tried to be there, to let him know that he has a friend to turn to, but maybe it'll be better coming from you."

Cloud shrugged as he finished his meal. "I'll give it a try, but I don't have much confidence."

"You will by the time this mission is over," Zack replied with a knowing smirk.

The rest of the night went by uneventfully aside from Zack chasing off a few curious predators. Cloud was impressed when the ravenette didn't even need his sword. He stared the wolves down and just glared at them. The wolves glared in return and began growling but all it took was making his eyes glow and issuing a growl of his own and they fled with their ears pulled back and their tails tucked under their hind legs, keeping low to the ground as they retreated.

They took turns keeping watch for anymore uninvited guests and keeping the fire going. It was three hours before daybreak when Cloud took his last turn. Staring up at the starry sky he tried to work through some of the visions he had experienced recently. They were becoming more frequent. Showing up when he was awake and in his dreams. The latter were more vivid and easier to remember than the former.

He closed his eyes and he felt a presence beside him. It was a connection that he found hard to describe. The specter wasn't beside him in the physical world, but he felt real all the same.

"Who are you," Cloud whispered, trying not to wake Zack, even though his snores said he was deep in slumber.

The specter never spoke, only stood beside him. He held out his hand and Cloud found himself falling into another vision. This one was of a bar; the same one he had found Tifa in before his current mission. It looked different, but it felt safe…like home. His vision took him inside and he was greeted with the expected chatter any bar would contain, however there was a group sitting at a large booth that felt different from the rest.

He approached the booth and the occupants turned and greeted him. He couldn't make out their words, nor could he clearly see them, but they were happy to see him and he in turn couldn't fight the warm feeling building deep within his chest. It was a strong sense of belonging, one he never realized he needed until this moment. The vision cleared from a foggy haze into a glowing mist and he was able to make them out more clearly.

There was Tifa standing near another girl with a bandana and a strange outfit on. There were two other men there as well. Another blonde like himself with a cigarette sticking out of his mouth and the other man was polishing his arm that was sporting a powerful-looking gun.

"Yo Spiky, you finally made it," his gruff voice boomed, but it wasn't intimidating, instead it was full of cheer. A large lion-like beast lifted his head and sat up from where he was resting on the floor. He was careful to keep the flaming tip of his tail from burning anything as he rested it on his paws.

"You're late," came the even more gruff voice of Vincent as he appeared from behind and joined the others.

Cloud heard his own voice ask: "What's this about?"

He knew it was his voice, but it wasn't right. It was slightly deeper and held a commanding confidence that he didn't have.

"It's your birthday idjit," replied the older blonde. "Did you honestly think we'd forget?"

"Guys, it's not that important for all of you to stop what you're doing and come out there. You have your own lives to live."

It was then that the gun-arm man got up and stood in front of him, which intimidated the young blonde. Vision or not the man was huge, both in height and in muscle tone.

"Let me spell it out for ya Spike. If you hadn't been born on this day thirty years ago then the planet wouldn't live to see another birthday for anyone. I'm not saying it's important. I'm saying it should be made a national holiday."

Cloud felt his older self's shoulders sag at the ludicrous praise and give an exasperated sigh. He just knew it was impossible to argue with them.

The vision faded then and he found himself reaching out to hold onto it. He didn't want to let it go. Not when the connection with those people seemed to strong, but reality reclaimed its firm grip on him when he felt someone shaking him awake.

"Some guard you'd make. Come on Spiky, the sun's rising, time for a morning jog!"

Cloud blinked his eyes open and looked up at Zack as he moved a little bit away to do some squats while he waited for his student to rise and shine.

Cloud rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he gave up on trying to reclaim his grip on that dream….but had it been a dream? No…it was too much like how Sephiroth had described them to be…

"Zack…"

The older warrior turned to his friend with a smile, but it vanished when he saw the confused look on Cloud's face.

"What is it," the SOLDIER asked.

Cloud wanted to tell him what he saw, but he didn't see Zack in his vision at all which didn't seem right. He decided he would test a theory. If he was seeing things from the future then he wanted to make sure it was changing before he told anyone about them.

"Never mind, let's go."

And so began a week-long training adventure that felt more like an extreme boot camp to Cloud while Zack trained him up to become perfect SOLDIER material. Progress was going great...and then Zack received a message that would change everything.

"Meet me in Cosmo Canyon immediately. Trust no one from Shinra."

The message was from Sephiroth and when Zack and Cloud exchanged worried looks they knew something was seriously wrong.