Aerith wasn't herself.

Was that a good thing? Overall, Cloud had no idea. But personally, as soon as he had woken up in that church known that she wasn't the Aerith he knew, that she didn't recognize him and would never really see him, he realized that he had subconsciously hoped she had come back too. It almost made him want to cry.

Stupid pre-teen hormones.

So there he was, sitting in the cafeteria trying to eat breakfast with a less nervous Ian trying to figure out why he was sniffling, when all he wanted to do was complain about how it just wasn't fair and he didn't want to do this anymore, and no one knew anything about anything so don't you even start.

That's when he realized something that snapped him out of the misery fest. Aerith was dead. Yes, that was obvious, but it still was a breakthrough because he was pretty sure he hadn't been dead when he was sent back. Maybe the things about her that made Cloud assume that it would be her, if anyone, sent back with him didn't matter. Being an Ancient who could stop giant meteors from hitting the earth didn't really make much of a difference if you were dead.

If being a dead Ancient wouldn't let you go back in time, but being a live human who was only special because he had enough Mako and Jenova cells pumped into him to make him, for all intents and purposes, immortal would, well, maybe there was someone who came back with him.

Now Cloud was grinning, actually smiling gleefully – stupid pre-teen hormones – and Ian was looking like him like he was crazy, which he probably was, but it didn't matter because Vincent was here because he wasn't in the coffin!

Ignoring Ian's inquiries of his health, – and it was weird because Reno wasn't freaking out which he normally would be but Reno wasn't here, huh. – Cloud just grinned even wider and stabbed the plastic fork into his tray to start eating.

Neither Ian nor he expected the flimsy utensil to break upon encountering a pair of sunglasses.

They both sat there for a moment, staring dumbly at the sunglasses that for some reason were sitting on top of his mashed potatoes. Well, now they had been pushed into the white mush because Cloud had just stabbed the sunglasses with a fork.

It was Ian who broke the silence, asking cautiously, "Why are there a pair of sunglasses on your tray?" The slightly timid boy only hesitated a moment before continuing, "And why in the world are you having mashed potatoes for breakfast?"

If Cloud was Zack, he would have started laughing hysterically.

But Cloud was Cloud, so he didn't. It was hard, though. "I have no idea," he answered, referring to both questions. He picked the glasses up, discarding the broken fork in favor of trying to wipe some of the white food off of the randomly placed eyewear. They actually looked like something he would wear, when he didn't feel like trying to explain why his eyes were glowing. Black and streamlined, they would be less likely to fall off or be uncomfortable when on his motorcycle, and they were tinted darkly enough to block out his eyes.

Cloud used a napkin to clean them off before shoving them in one of his pockets. He liked sunglasses, and these ones were nice, even if they had mysteriously appeared in his food. Not really feeling like eating anymore, but shoveling his breakfast into his mouth anyway, Cloud started thinking. Something was missing; he could tell. It felt like the sunglasses were involved around all the craziness around here lately, though that could just be Zack. Now that he thought about it, the sunglasses could probably be blamed on Zack too, somehow.

Putting craziness out of mind, he focused on his next task: Shinra History. Cloud had no clue how he had passed the class the first time around. It was torture, and since it was torture, he procrastinated studying until suddenly, what do you know, lights out. That only made the next day even more torturous.

"C'mon," Cloud muttered to Ian, planning on using the extra time for a cramming session to make sure he didn't embarrass himself to badly. Not that he really cared, but he was pretty sure saving the world required him to be in SOLDIER, and to be in SOLDIER he needed to pass this class. The requirement was ridiculous, but if it wasn't needed the class wouldn't be in the curriculum, right? "If you're done we should head to class."

"Um, actually, Cloud, I kind of left my textbook back in the room on accident. Sorry," Ian replied, smiling sheepishly, though the cadet's eyes begged Cloud not to be mad at him.

The blond wasn't angry. There was no way he could be, when he had once been like Ian. He was pretty sure the boy wouldn't make the cut for SOLDIER, and Cloud didn't want him too. SOLDIER was a den of monsters. Figuratively, because there was no way Zack could ever be classified as a monster.

"Sure, go ahead."

Ian smiled, and in that instant Cloud was reminded of Denzel. Which was weird, not only because he hadn't thought of the orphan for awhile, but also because he had been a bit like a father figure to the boy, and Ian was the same age Cloud was.

The cadet left, and Cloud continued on to the classroom, fingering the sunglasses that were in his pocket. There was something about them…

And then he froze, because it all clicked into place.

The glasses were familiar because they were his own glasses. All of the random objects – the boot, the sunglasses, and he was pretty sure there had been a glove – they were all things he had probably been wearing when he had gotten sent back. If his mind could get sent back, why not objects? He just really hoped his body wouldn't appear somewhere, because that would be really hard to explain.

But what if- No, they already knew! The alleged PHS message, all that heart nonsense Kunsel was going on about, they knew. Vincent was awake, and remembered something he didn't, because there was a message to him, and he didn't know what it said, and they had it. They had his PHS. He was so stupid. All of the numbers of his dead friends were on there, and the ones who hadn't been born yet didn't matter, but there were so many, so, so many, that could get him in trouble. That had gotten him in trouble. All because he didn't want to forget anyone.

And Reno wasn't there. They had sent Reno after him because they knew everything and he was going to die because he didn't even have his Mako yet and Reno was a Turk and there was so much left to fix! There was so much that Vincent didn't know that he had to know but he never would know because Cloud was going to die and Reno was after him.

Cloud dropped the book and slipped on his sunglasses, striding quickly to the nearest elevator. Using the stairs would be so much more suspicious if anyone saw him, no matter how much he didn't want to be stuck in an enclosed space with strangers and potential assassins at the moment. Shinra might need proof to hold someone, but he knew for a fact they didn't need anything to unleash the Turks.

The elevator was empty when he got in it, thank the Lifestream. When it stopped a few floors down, however, Cloud nearly started hyperventilating. Of course he knew there was about a two percent chance of actually getting an elevator to himself, considering the number of people in the building, but he couldn't get rid of the paranoia that Reno would be standing there when the door opened, electro-mag rod in hand and cocky smirk plastered permanently on his face.

The man was definitely not Reno. No, while still familiar, this face was more friendly, though it was missing a moustache.

Reeve blinked, hesitating before entering the elevator, casting a cautious look at the blond. Cloud supposed he probably did look odd, with the cadet uniform, spiky yellow hair, and the dark sunglasses. Maybe he shouldn't have put them on; it wasn't like not being able to see his eyes would make him any less easy to recognize, not with the neon sign on his head that screamed out 'spiky chocobo head is here.'

It was silent except for the beeps that signaled another floor passed for about two seconds before the ever involved Director of Urban Development tried to solve another person's problems. "Are you alright?" he asked, throwing a concerned look Cloud's way.

Okay, so maybe he had problems, and maybe he was on the edge of hyperventilating, but he wasn't about to… oh who was he kidding. Maybe Tuesti could give him some helpful advice.

"I'm quitting," Cloud started, thinking carefully before speaking to prevent any more mistakes, "the training program. I was in the dorm of a kid who was smuggling something, and the Turks questioned me. I couldn't take it, so I'm leaving."

Reeve's eyebrows shot up. "Don't worry about the Turks if you're joining SOLDIER. They will only take you if they're sure you're what they need. The two programs stay away from each other, so once you are accepted you won't have to worry about them."

The elevator dinged again, and Reeve left, sending a soft smile to Cloud on the way out. The cadet sat down heavily, one line ringing through his mind. 'They will only take you if they're sure you're what they need.' From what he remembered, the opposite was just as true. Turks were manipulative, and would only take someone out if it was an order from Rufus or they were sure they couldn't turn the situation in their favor.

Reno wasn't a Turk yet, Cloud reminded himself. There had to be a perfectly normal reason for his absence, and the ex-mercenary's paranoia was just overreacting. A lot. Plus, with no money, no connections, and no form of transportation, the only thing fleeing the building would do was prove that he was guilty of something. Innocent people don't run, and the Turks could easily find him anywhere in the city. Also he was pretty sure Rufus was dabbling in AVALANCHE, so that slip about finding the rest of them he made to Angeal when he first came back might actually help him.

It was clear, running would only harm him, but at the same time, could he really just walk straight back into their clutches?

He had no other choice, unless he wanted to sit in this elevator for all eternity. More than one passenger had given him a strange look since Reeve left, but, Cloud supposed with a quiet snort, working in Shinra got you in the habit of not questioning things. Especially with some of the messes the higher class SOLDIERS got into.

With a sigh similar to a man approaching the gallows, Cloud rose to his feet and pressed button 32. It really was no different from before, the cadet told himself, he was just more aware of the traps laid out for him. It was a good thing he had figured out what was going on, really.

If only he could convince his paranoia of that.

Meanwhile, the Director of Urban Development walked into a room a few floors away.

Angeal glanced up from his paperwork, a warm smile appearing when he realized that it wasn't a certain Third Class coming to confess that he had destroyed, burned, spilled boiling coffee on, broken, or defenestrated an important object or person. Again.

"Reeve," he exclaimed, pleasant surprise obvious in his voice. "I haven't seen you recently, how've you been?"

"Things are going well, and it's good to see you. However, you know that cadet with yellow hair your apprentice was telling me about two weeks back? I saw him on the elevator and he said he was going to quit. I think I convinced him otherwise, but I just thought I would stop by to warn you that there might be a devastated puppy on your hands in an hour or two."

"…"

"Angeal? Am I missing something here?"

Dreams of the Morrow, Chapter 17: Breakthrough. 2,083 words. Updated July 10, 2012.

Okay, so I kind of lost my outline, but that's because I wasn't really following it that well anyway. Also, I have 104 reviews. I am happy. Believe it or not, the period between those sentences should be a semicolon, they're so related.

I apologize deeply for the number of typos in chapter 2. I am fixing them now, as well as an ironic one from 7. It was during the sentence where Ian in complaining about Reno's speech. No matter how ashamed I am or all the errors in 2, I was rereading this story backwards from 7 and realized how amazing my Genesis is. I do realize how many runons there are in this chapter, but they just fit Cloud's franticness so well.

The real question is, why was Shinra serving mashed potatoes for breakfast? (I have no idea where that came from; my dialogue is rarely planned out.)

If you have suggestions, feel free to give them. The randomness of my brain can only send me so far. (Thank you reviewers)