Ugh. Sorry for long wait. I've been... preoccupied, to put it mildly.

They decided on the drilling ground and Sephiroth easily had it cleared of troops using a mix of charm and calm authority. Cloud kept an eye on the general the entire time, but there were no signs of the mad man he had known except perhaps for his penchant for manipulation. It was... strange, watching the silver haired man stand idle, listening politely to the awestruck captain, whose drills they had interrupted. The troops had cleared out to the sides and Cloud realised with dismay that aside from all the SOLDIERs, he would be fighting in front of a bunch of troops, some of which he actually recognized vaguely as drop-outs from the SOLDIER program.

He continued the warm-up exercises, eyeing Zack who was stretching while eagerly talking with another Second Class. Kunsel or something.

"Uh, Zack? What am I fighting with?"

"Hm? A sword of course, we're SOLDIERs."

Raising an eyebrow, Cloud had to wonder where Zack's wits were at. "I haven't been issued a sword, Zack."

"Of course not. They're collecting one for you now, hey, no, they have collected... three for you. What the hell?"

"Hey, Fair," Omdahl called, jogging up to him with Jaeger in tow and carrying two of the three swords they had brought. "We weren't sure of his size and besides, we thought he used a pretty big one on our little trip, so we brought a few."

"Ha, maybe he should try with two. Might need the extra edge to beat me."

"I can fight with two, Zack. I better not though," he couldn't help adding. "You'll be humiliated enough as it is, using two would just be overkill."

"When the hell did you get so cocky, Spiky?" Zack spluttered, punching Cloud in the shoulder good-naturedly.

Somewhere between defeating Sephiroth and making it into SOLDIER, he thought but only shrugged outwardly.

He was handed the swords one at a time and decided on the longest one. He swung it a couple of extra times, getting himself familiarized with its flexibility and weight, which earned him a wide array of approving nods from the other SOLDIERs. Of course, they thought he was less experienced than any of them.

"Now, Cloud, go and smack Zack's ass, both Jaeger and I have money riding on it!"

"You what?!"

"Oh, come on, Cloud. Everyone here thinks Zack'll win, they know how strong he is, but none of them ever fought you. We believe in you, kid! Besides, they're taking bets almost four to one, who'd pass up this chance? Welcome to SOLDIER."

The blond could do nothing but shake his head at their idiocy. "Leave the other swords, there was an imbalance in one of them, it'd be too dangerous to take on a mission." Ignoring their surprise at his confident appraisal, he followed after Zack in onto the middle of the open space.

Angeal was playing the role of announcer as Zack and Cloud, prodigy SOLDIERs, faced each other. "Okay, gentlemen! First blood finishes the duel, no killings or I'll disqualify you. No limit breaks or you'll be disqualified as well, otherwise, all's fair." He shot a look at Cloud who rolled his eyes. Just imagining pulling off Meteorain or Finishing Touch here made him cringe. He still hadn't dealt with the ambiguity of his feelings towards Sephiroth, general Sephiroth, and the likelihood that the attacks would hit the general was just too high. He did not want to deal with the consequences of that, but at least he wasn't holding First Tsurugi. Version 5 could kill even Sephiroth in one strike (well, technically it was more than one strike) and the consequences of that would be either execution or Hojo.

No, better to avoid limit breaks altogether.

"Ten steps!" Angeal's voice pulled him abruptly back to the here and now and he copied Zack, turning his back on the other SOLDIER and walking ten steps. He eyed the SOLDIERs and troopers in front of him. The troopers were keeping a respectful or even fearful distance from he SOLDIERs, but the jostling from before had ceased and people were watching Zack and him with a little too much attention to be strictly comfortable. There were eyes at his back too, he felt, and he rolled his shoulders, trying to get rid of the itch. The Firsts gazes especially felt almost like an awl digging into his back compared to everyone else's needle pricks.

"Stand ready!" Why did they had to have all this melodrama anyway? "Fight!"

At Angeal's yell, Zack immediately turned and shot towards where Cloud should have been. But the little blond was already airborne, jumping straight up instead of turning and doing a back flip, taking the opportunity to track where Zack was. Zack had stopped as soon as he realised Cloud wasn't where he was supposed to be and simply stood his ground, waiting for the other to come down. Their swords collided before Cloud's feet touched ground, and taking advantage of the force of the clash he flicked back again, gaining some distance.

That one clash had been... exhilarating. Cloud's feet skidded on the ground and Zack was already moving towards him, grinning like a loon. They met again, the sound of sword meeting sword ringing loudly, as Cloud blocked Zack's powerful swing, twisting it aside and retaliating with a thrust, which Zack barely avoided.

"Mother and Planet, Cloud," Zack panted, still grinning fiercely. "I knew you were a prodigy but how can you suddenly be this fast?"

"Mako, Zack. It's called mako." He spun and aimed a blow at Zack's hip, which was blocked instantly, but with his speed he was able to draw the sword back and block before Zack could retaliate.

Off to the side Sephiroth was watching the two combatants as attentively as everyone else, maybe even more so. He had always had difficulty judging other people's abilities, since he had a tendency to compare with his own, but he thought that Angeal's protégé was moving well, showing skill beyond his years and experience. It probably wouldn't be all that long before he made First Class, especially if what Angeal told them about his abilities on missions were anything to go by, and knowing Angeal, the black-haired man was probably understating rather than exaggerating.

The blond, however, was something else entirely. He was showing abilities even beyond his opponent; there was a finesse in his wrists and an elegance in his ankles when he shifted his weight which was entirely too alluring and spoke of supreme ease and the ability to predict his opponent. If Cloud was able to keep his head about him on a mission, and Jaeger's and Omdahl's report had spoken in that favour, then Cloud was born to be in SOLDIER.

"By Minerva's eyes, I've never seen anything like it," Genesis exclaimed, as Strife executed an impossibly tight parry and jumped right out of it into attack. "Well, not in a recently raised cadet at least, are you sure he had no experience before he signed up? He looks like he's been fighting for years."

"I had Zack ask and he said the boy seemed more confused at the idea than guilty of lying or trying to hide anything."

"I see." None of them was going to question whether Angeal trusted that judgement or not. The honour bound SOLDIER would just give them a lecture about trust and friendship and being called down out here in front of everyone would be humiliating.

"Your puppy isn't doing bad, either. Strife seems a bit more skilled and faster, but I doubt many here could have stood up to him for more than a few minutes if that." And wasn't that something to contemplate?

The two figures circling each other in the middle of the square was almost performing pure showmanship of sword art, exchanging parries and attacks in a blur probably too fast fast for the regular troopers to follow. No blood had been drawn yet, and that, more than anything else, was a true testament to their ability.

Still, Strife did have the upper hand.

The blond in question was too preoccupied with the sheer elation of testing his body's limits to take note of the incredulous looks he was gathering. Fighting someone who, well, Zack wasn't quite as good as he was and he was steadily gaining ground on the other, but it was still a challenge; Zack was changing tactics with almost every blow and he still had an edge in pure physical strength. A slight edge, true, but still an edge.

Cloud thought he wasn't as strong as he had been in the new-old memories (he was so going to have to catalogue them properly)(not now, later!), and maybe not quite as fast. His body was of course more limited in and of itself, it was younger, slimmer, shorter, and he had no idea how much the mako injections was affecting him still. He was supposed to feel lethargic, not that he was, so he probably wasn't really at full strength, not even for his currently limited form.

He caught another blow aimed for his shoulder, gritting his teeth, and threw it back. There was also something to be said of a fair fight with no higher stakes than dignity, no live or die deals, no win or condemn the entire planet to destruction situation. Just him and Zack battling it out to see who was best.

Their swords caught and Zack pressed his advantage, putting most of his weight into the deadlock, they stared into each other's eyes for a few moments, both recognizing the glee in the other before Cloud jumped back. Zack followed and their duel went from centred within the ring of spectators to sweeping all over the place, half the confrontations happening mid-air and making spectators lurch back when they seemed to move too close.

Zack realised just a second too late that Cloud's limber body was advantageous when they were that mobile as the blond took advantage of his own lower centre of gravity to make an impossible spin and flick the older SOLDIER's sword right out of his hand.

Zack found himself suddenly with a sharp tip pointing at his jugular. "I give, I give," he laughed, putting up his hands. The admittance, apparently, was the sign of some sort of permission for half the collected SOLDIERs (the troops was still keeping a respectful distance) that Cloud had completely put out of his head to flock around, clap his back and wish him congratulations. Omdahl was the first to arrive and he hit Cloud so hard in the back, the boy almost stumbled, while he bragged to anyone who cared to listen, which wasn't many, that he had known the kid could do it.

Jaeger just offered a confident smirk and dragged his friend off to wherever.

The backslapping continued though, by other SOLDIERs, even as yet others simply turned and left. Cloud didn't even get an opportunity to answer the multitude of questions thrown at him, before Sephiroth and his two lieutenants came over, a path automatically opening for them and the gathering fell silent.

The way Angeal and Genesis was flanking the general, people might be tempted to compare them to a pair of glorified flunkies at a distance but no flunkie would ever move with the quiet sort of dignity Angeal possessed or the dismissive arrogance Genesis managed with every step, making it obvious that he was walking this way on his own right and Sephiroth just happened to be walking in front.

Cloud had to wonder what kind of friendship the three shared; Angeal's dignity, Genesis' arrogance and Sephiroth's pride. There was just no way they could not clash, but then... No. Deal with the memories later! Refrain from automatically attacking the general now.

"That was an impressive performance, from both of you," Angeal praised, smiling. Sephiroth didn't say anything and Genesis was glaring at everyone else, clearly intending them to leave now that the show was over. A couple SOLDIERs did go, but most simply fell back, just out of hearing range.

"Thanks, Angeal!" Zack answered, as though being approached by these three, the firsts among Firsts, didn't faze him at all, although his smile was just a little more blinding than usual.

"I have to ask," Genesis interjected, now that he was satisfied with the distance the other SOLDIERs had taken. "How's it possible for you to be that fast? It hasn't been a day since you came from the medical bay, and additionally, it's your first shots. I think you might match a First for pure speed."

Cloud gulped. "Uh," he hedged, stalling. Well, he could just say what he had been told, couldn't he? "I was told... you know the complications? That the shots I was given was unusually concentrated..." He gave himself a pat on the back for really sounding like a fourteen-year-old awed out of his wits by the presence of the Firsts and not someone their own age, who wasn't entirely impressed. These idiots had broken Zack's heart. Well, they hadn't yet, technically.

He fought back a sigh, keeping focus on the three men while hoping they would confuse it with awe and tongue-tied teenager. He missed a short, calculating look from Zack entirely before Angeal was there, just a little too close, checking his temperature and eyes with a worried frown.

"Your eyes does seem very bright." Cloud recognized that as mako bright rather than fever bright. "But you don't seem too overheated. Any idea exactly how concentrated the mako shots were?"

"Uh..." Probably concentrated enough it should have been crystallized into materia if he really had gotten all his enhancements back. "Not really. They didn't seem too eager to talk about it."

Sephiroth huffed. "They wouldn't. Hojo's not smart enough to admit when he made a mistake."

The statement made Cloud blink in surprise. Of course he already knew of Sephiroth's dislike of the mad-man, but somehow he had missed how vocal the general would be about it with regular SOLDIERs.

"How much did they tell you?" Angeal again, still looking just slightly concerned.

"Well, Ho-Professor Hojo didn't say anything except that I fell inside 'acceptable parameters', but... I asked Dr. Swendsson and he said that it was a miracle I survived. Sir!" He added at the last minute, suddenly remembering exactly how much these people were supposed to be his superiors. They didn't seem to notice though, all four, Zack included, staring at him in more or less veiled shock.

"What?!" Cringing at the shrill tone, Cloud fixed his gaze on Zack. "You could've... and we just... Geez." He rubbed the back of his neck, shoulders hunched, a sign that he felt guilty or nervous and was trying to find the best thing to do or say to rectify that. "I knew there were complications but seriously, buddy, next time just tell me you need rest or something, alright?"

Acutely aware of the three commanders observing them, Cloud chose his words carefully. "I feel okay, though. The cramps stopped sometime last night." Just a normal fourteen-year-old without a clue, out testing his new "ride". He hissed annoyed as just then a violent cramp ran down the back of his left leg. "Ugh, I said that too early. Is it okay if I go back to my room?" And hopefully he could get away from those entirely too penetrating stares in the process. Especially Sephiroth and Zack, of all people, were looking at him weirdly he thought.

"Of course, Cloud. Do you need any help?" Angeal asked politely.

"No, thanks, I'll be fine. Goodbye." Annoyingly aware of what would expected of him he saluted to the general, battling a somewhat instinctive revulsion, and turned to walk back inside and take the elevator and hopefully find his own room.

He felt their gaze on him the entire way, even while he was excusing himself to other SOLDIERs, who were trying to congratulate or challenge him or both.

Angeal turned with a raised eyebrow to Zack, who was still looking pensive. "What is it?" If there was one thing Zack was better at than anyone else, it was reading people and for the young SOLDIER to look like that, he must have seen something unusual.

"I dunno, Angeal. It's... kinda like he's hiding something, yanno?"

"He was lying," Sephiroth interjected, sounding annoyed.

"No... No, I don't think he was," Zack replied, oblivious or maybe not caring who he was talking back to. "It's more like he just didn't say everything there was to say." Strange. Not that Cloud withheld information, the kid rarely said anything if it wasn't relevant, but rather that it seemed like it was important information.

- - -

Cloud finally, safely, made it back to his room, where he allowed himself to drop bonelessly into bed. Being the centre of attention had always been exhausting but it was definitely worse when the people interested had superior rank. You can't, as a recently raised Third, just tell a Second or, hell, even one of the few Firsts not in Wutai, that you needed some time alone. At least the returning cramps were good for something, since they gave him an excuse to make himself scarce even if they were rather more painful than they had been yesterday. Note to self: Don't take part in excessive physical activity right after having mako injections. Not even when feeling hyper active.

It meant though, that now he had the time and peace to ponder and he wasn't likely to fall asleep either. The spar, including all the fuss and commotion, had taken perhaps an hour. There was another five or six until dinner. Plenty of time. He hoped.

The first thing to do would be to categorise them. It was getting tiring to refer to them as 'those visions or delusions or whatever'. And they felt like memories. Surely if it had really been a vision it would have been a worst case scenario? Like even if Sephiroth hadn't won, surely he would have seen the result of Aeris' death? Like how the world would end? Besides, they were much too consistent. There were too much between the, what could he call them, world events? So. Definitely not visions.

Delusions? Made no sense either. Delusions would have him be First first and then save the world. And they wouldn't contain all the bad stuff, the guilt and the misery and the death.

Besides, if he had been sent back and somehow lost his memory on the way... everything made sense. The latrophobia (which he thought now wasn't all that illogical and now that he knew why he was scared, maybe it would be easier to battle?), the reasons he had been so scared for his mother back when he was five, his abilities with a sword, his inability to adjust to Mårdh's instructions, his abilities with materia, the ease with which he had relearned... well, he had never had biology or history to the extent he had had while as a cadet, but he had been tuning on Fenrir for years, had built First Tsurugi from scratch himself. He had at least known machines and metal. The ease with the rest could be the result of the fact that he had been forced to get used to a lot of homework right at the beginning of training. Or maybe that he was just very focused.

He hadn't had that... before. Nor had he been as stubborn or rather, he had been exactly as stubborn, but with no sense of self-worth there had been no drive to prove that they were wrong. Planet, he had been pathetic in those memories, his first attempt at joining SOLDIER.

Maybe he preferred to think of the other-memories as an illusion but then... no. He was certain all of the bad things had shaped him, had given him part of who he still was. So they had to be memories (it was surprising how easily he had just accepted that) and... all the happiness that he had finally found had been taken away from him. Again. Growling, he hit the wall, satisfied that even reinforced walls, like the ones the SOLDIER quarters had been built of, dented when he hit it.

That made him, what? Twenty-seven or fourteen or thirty-six? No, definitely not thirty-six. He might have been in the past for nine years, sort of, but it wasn't as though he had matured any in that time and in any case, he had gotten the other memories fresh from the lifestream. Even having decided that chronologically they fit before he woke up with their family doctor hovering over him, the memories of the last nine years still felt parallel to the other memories and it wa sjust slightly disconcerting to remember. Five years ago he had saved a nine-year-old Tifa from that rickety old bridge, six years ago... He had helped a twenty-year-old Tifa save the world. And Aeris had died.

Saving Aeris was going to be complicated. The possibility of letting events unfold and just keep her safe was too ridiculous to even contemplate and carried too many risks, so he would have to get to the root of the problem and take that out, which meant either Sephiroth, Hojo, or ShinRa company.

Sephiroth had already been... created was probably the best term. He could maybe manage to eliminate the general; being a Third Class ensured that he would have the opportunity to get close enough, surely, but... a picture of the general listening politely to a regular infantry captain entered his head together with the way he had seemed inordinately satisfied after his bout with Zack, as though Cloud's accomplishment had actually pleased the man. And then another memory, from another time, intruded. A memory where he was standing with a sword, bloodied, exhausted and feeling a well of pity for the one-winged creature he was fighting.

"You just don't get it at all. There's not a thing I don't cherish!"

He had been wondering then, faintly, underneath the focus of the fight, what it felt like to have nothing to cherish. No friends, no family, not a prized possession or a valued pet. Nothing. The thought had made him sad. It must have been lonely. Sephiroth hadn't even cherished Jenova, not even though he thought she was his mother. Maybe he had tried, once, but the hatred had not left space for any other, more tender emotions.

He had never really known the general in the past, only a trooper, star-struck and naïve to boot, he had seen only what ShinRa projected. But Zack had known him and respected him and cared and... Cloud was willing to trust in Zack's judgement. Zack wouldn't care for someone who was really evil.

Eliminating ShinRa Electric Power Company was... something he was going to have to do eventually, but it was doubtful that he could do it within the time frame that had been set, if he was supposed to prevent all those terrible events that would shape the world in general and himself in particular.

And Zack.

In his old life, he had never known Zack until just before that fateful mission to Modeoheim, where Zack had been forced to slay Angeal and had inherited the Buster Sword. Zack had still been Zack after that, and Cloud felt oddly humiliated thinking of the strength of character that must take, but it had been more than just his hair that had changed. Zack had been forced to grow up in a way the usually happy SOLDIER should never have had to, had been forced to realize that the world didn't turn out fine if only he put enough effort into it and that had probably broken the warrior just a bit.

Likely as not, that could have been the reason he had put any effort at all into their then friendship.

Cloud had the faint sense that he had been a 'project' for the SOLDIER at the time. He had been slim and not all that tall, the runt of the pack so to speak, lacking in both social skills and self-confidence. Perfect for someone like Zack to concentrate on rather than the grief of losing his mentor.

And now that Cloud actually knew Angeal, had seen him, talked with him, and more importantly had actually seen the friendship between mentor and mentee, he knew that he would have to prevent that final confrontation between them. He could not allow Zack to lose faith in the world again, not even a little.

And that meant he had Hollander to worry about as well.

He had never really known all that much about what had happened to the trio of Firsts, except that... Genesis had deserted, because of some medical condition, taking Hollander with him to avoid the possible end result. Angeal had followed and then later, the Nibelheim incident and Sephiroth's madness. The rest, as they say, were history. Except it wasn't, not here, not now. Not yet.

There was no telling what exactly had provoked that chain of events, it hadn't exactly been public knowledge and he had only been a trooper. Even a trooper on a mission to retrieve the two missing men was only told the objective. Who would bother explaining the details, especially when they were of such a sensitive character, to a footslogger?

So, that left the doctors. Hojo and Hollander, the creators of the top three. Joy.

It wasn't that he couldn't look forward to exact his revenge on Hojo, but... Hojo carried a high degree of esteem by the company and it wasn't like President Shinra would simply throw him to the wolves if Cloud revealed to the rotund man what the professor had been using his company resources for. President Shinra had no empathy, no ethics and certainly didn't care if he, directly or indirectly, had been the source of immense suffering for another human being.

Maybe if he proved that Hojo was planning on raising Sephiroth to the level of a god? No, that would only ensure ShinRa Corp.'s power, or that's how the president would view it at least. No, the only way to get Shinra to wash his hands of the sick scientist would be if it somehow got out to the public and the public reacted and Cloud simply did not have the resources to convince the public to such a degree, never mind having the proof in the first place. And with ShinRa's public relations as they were, it would be easy, more than easy, for them to discard everything as fabricated.

If he was going to pull Hojo down, he needed help. There was just no way a no name Third Class, however praised, would be able to turn public opinion about.

The question was; who could help him?

I noticed that the story was put on several more community listings (and thanks to whoever did that!) and since it seems like I got a couple new favourites since then (ahaha, master of understatements, that I am) I'm just curious... To all my readers, how did you guys find the story? Just, like, FFVII frontpage or through other means?