Freedom

Cloud stood outside on the front step, breathing deeply with his eyes closed. It was pretty early in the morning, so early it was still dark out and the whole town—except maybe the Innkeeper's wife—was still asleep. It was also cold, so he was wearing heavy pants, a long-sleeved shirt, and a thick, fur coat. His boots were fur-lined leather and his gloves were similar, but softer than his boots. Several Materia were in various places around his body, from under bandages around his arms to under his belt or in his stockings just above the boots. His hair, still falling to nearly mid-back like he'd kept it before he'd left for Midgar at fourteen, was tied back in a ponytail at the back of his neck, but the top of his head was still covered in feather-light blond spikes of hair he just couldn't keep down. There was also a small sack tucked in his belt. Well, a comparatively small sack.

Opening his eyes, he looked back at his front door for a moment, then faced forward and took a step down off the front step—and promptly broke into a quiet run. His path took him from the door to his home, down the street, past the Mayor's (and Tifa's) home, and up the road to the Shinra Manor gates. He hoped he'd be back by the time his mother would be waking up, but just in case he wasn't going to be, he had left her a note telling her he was recovered and had gone for a walk, and would try to be back by breakfast. She would still worry, but she wouldn't quite panic if she at least had the note, and in the meantime, he had to get Vincent out of that room.

Quietly, he slipped through the Manor gate, opening it only as much as he needed to get in, then closing it again behind him. When he'd been younger, he'd thought the Manor was haunted—by the dilapidated, creepy, deserted look of the facade, it would have been a reasonable assumption. In all honesty, given the sorts of monsters typically living there, it wasn't very far off the truth, but as his older self, he'd known the only 'ghosts' there were the ones people brought in with them. The Manor wasn't a pleasant place, and held a lot of very negative and vile memories—and the same of very real data. It was unfortunate that one of the monsters he knew was there was immune to magic from the start, so he'd have to hope he didn't meet any 'Mirages' until he'd found one of the weapons stored there.

The front door creaked as he opened it just enough to slip inside, then again as he closed it behind him, but it looked like there were no monsters in the entry hall. Actually, that was unusual, because there were always Funny Faces there. He hoped they were only absent because it was too early for them to be awake, too, and he was suddenly very thankful for the night vision application of Mako infusions. It was dark enough that a normal person would have needed a lantern or flashlight to proceed, but he knew his way around the Manor and was first aiming for the storage room at the back of the upper right hall before he went to the upper left for the safe where the key he needed was being kept.

As such, rather than wasting time searching around, he tucked his gloves into his coat pockets, then immediately turned to the foyer stairs to the second floor, ascending them and pausing at the top to scan the hall. Again, there were no monsters, so he turned to the right and took the several steps to the cross-hall leading further back. The rooms down that hall were essentially discarded storage, and while he and his companions hadn't needed any of the gear stored in them at the time they'd last been there, he needed some of it now. Knowing what he'd find there wouldn't be great quality—he'd have to get into the basement for that—didn't mean it wouldn't be useful, so he targeted the packing boxes he remembered having seen the bracers and swords in before.

It was in the back corner of the room, as he threw open the first box, that he found his first monsters. They were a pair of enemies called Jerseys, which looked like weigh scales and were strong or weak against different attack forms depending on which side of the scales was up and which was down. When the right (when facing them) scale was up, as it currently was, they could be hit by physical attacks, but not by magic, so the only real thing he could do was deal them each a punch.

He'd forgotten a Mako-enhanced punch was more like a mace-blow to an enemy, and both of them slammed back against opposing walls. The damage he'd done had almost taken them out, which left him feeling bemused as he waited for them to recover themselves and react to the physical attack. They propelled themselves off the walls after a few moments, then switched scales so the left one was up, making them immune to physical damage but allowing magic to hit them. Since he had Lightning Materia on him, he cast Bolt 2 on the Jersey most likely to attack first, which defeated it so it collapsed to the floor and went still, then dodged the second one's weak attempt at some sort of magic attack. What had that been all about? Either way, another cast of Bolt 2 was enough to kill it because its health was already so low from his punch.

With the battle over, he returned to the box and searched through it, finding several Shinra Alphas—which were actually quite good quality and shouldn't have been stuck in a box in the storage room—and a few basic broadswords with only two slots which weren't linked on each. With the three linked pairs on the Alpha, that gave him eight slots, so he put an Alpha on one wrist and picked a sword to use. He took another Alpha with him for Vincent to use at first, then assigned some of the Materia he'd taken with him to the slots he now had. That resulted in him initially using Aerial Attack and Lightning on the sword, and the Final Attack and Revive linked pair, Restore, Guard Plus, Fenrir, and Master Summon on the bracer. Then he changed his mind about just taking two Alphas and took a few extras. He'd slot more when he got home, and would get two to Vincent.

:All right in a slot, Zack?: he asked the new Fenrir Summon as he felt him waking.

After a moment, his friend asked him warily, :Where are you, Cloud?:

:Shinra Manor,: Cloud answered simply as he finished strapping the sword in place.

A sigh reached him as the Fenrir informed him, :You shouldn't be there when I'm not even awake yet to help you plan. No one even knows where you are, do they, buddy?:

:It's not like they would have let me come if they'd known, and I've already planned what I needed to do. I just have to go get the Peacemaker from the former greenhouse and open up the safe in the next room over from there, which I'm now prepared to do, Lost Number and all. And yes, I know I'm going to have to fight it, which is why I'm getting weapons and armor to use,: Cloud explained in a dry tone.

:...What's a Peacemaker?: Zack-as-Fenrir asked in confusion.

:A gun Vincent likes when Cerberus isn't at hand. At least until we can get him a better gun,: the now-twelve-year-old answered in amusement.

His friend fell silent, so he left the back room and stayed on the second floor as he made his way across to the far side of the entry area and the rooms there. Straight down the hall was the 'greenhouse', where he lifted a withered potted plant and opened a chest to remove the gun from it. He then shut the chest and put the plant back on it, tucked the gun in his belt, and quietly moved down the hall a bit to the room where the safe was. He stared at the dial for a moment before sighing and going to it to rapidly input the numbers—right thirty-six, left ten, right fifty-nine, right ninety-seven (it was pretty amazing that he remembered the code years later)—ready to jump back as soon as he'd hit the last one.

Sure enough, as soon as he'd activated right ninety-seven, he could feel something shoving the door open from inside, so was already jumping back as he decided what would fight the deformed monster which had been shoved into the safe. It was 'what would fight it' because he'd already decided to use a Summon, and the one which would probably kill it the easiest with the least damage to the surroundings was likely—Typhon. With a quick thought, he called forth the peculiar, two-faced, pink-ish monster of a Summon, which wrapped the Lost Number in a whirlwind of elemental energies and quickly defeated it.

What was left in the safe were the key to Vincent's—cell—and the red Odin Summon, which to that day, Cloud had no idea why it was in the safe, too. Taking the Summon and putting it in a pocket, he picked up the key and went back to the right side of the foyer, but instead of going down the crossing hall, he walked into the room off the main hall. Most of its walls were wooden, but one was a rounded, stone wall (which wasn't suspicious at all, of course), which he went to and quickly found the trigger to open the hidden door to the stairs leading into the hidden basement. Normally, in the stairwell, there would be bats, but the area was currently deserted—the bats hadn't started returning after their nightly hunt—so he had an easy trip down to the solid floor at the bottom.

The hall was also empty, so he went down it to the sealed, metal door where he could use the key to unlock it. He pushed it open and leaned on the jamb in bemusement as Vincent looked up at him and blinked in something like confusion from where he sat, surrounded by papers. Some looked like newspapers, while others looked like report files of some sort, and there didn't seem to be an order to it that Cloud could see, other than one stack which was distinct. All the same, to see Vincent effectively doing the same things he'd been doing over the last few days was—entertaining.

"Am I interrupting something?" he asked curiously.

"No," Vincent replied, pushing himself up as he grabbed the stack of papers, his gaze obviously showing how disoriented he was at seeing the man he'd once known looking like a twelve-year-old. "I've just discovered what boredom does to a person who can't sleep. Chaos hasn't been helping. Or has been? Have you recovered enough from your bout of Mako poisoning to be here?"

"I'm fine. I recovered much quicker than any normal person would have, and the hardest part of getting in here was getting to one of the rooms upstairs where they had weapons. Even that ended up not being very hard. Knowing what I'd find and where I'd find it was a huge help to simplifying the excursion. Let's get out of here—I hope I'll be back home before my Mom has a chance to worry," Cloud replied.

Vincent peered at him with eyes which quite literally 'glowed' red in the dark room. "What time is it?"

"Uh..." Cloud paused, then frowned and said, "I think I left home around—four in the morning. It's probably close to five now."

"..."

The expression on the older man's face was enough to make Cloud blush faintly as he said, "It's not like they would have let me come here if I'd gone during the day..."

"Then you should have waited until no one was watching you anymore," Vincent answered in a rather dry tone for him.

"Yeah—thanks to Zack and Leviathan's Blessing, that's probably not going to happen, because they all have very good reasons to try to get into my good books—or try to kill me—after having spent twelve years bullying me. Did I ever mention Fenrir is a 'deity' worshiped here?"

"...No. Why should that matter?"

"The doctor was an ass and almost guaranteed my mother and I would starve or freeze to death this winter, whichever came first. Zack had me summon him for a plan he and Minerva had apparently worked out, and because he's a black Fenrir, he's in a vengeful state by our legends and wasn't at all happy with the way the townspeople have been treating us. He actually did that whole 'godly intone' thing with his voice which pretty much means the whole village heard him recite the legends and facts about the Lady of the Mountains they all know, and as it turns out, the Lady of the Mountains is just another name for Minerva."

"...So you've effectively been exalted to a 'divine' status here?"

"As they call it, the Child of the Mountains."

Vincent was silent for several moments before giving a small sigh and a nod. "Have you got a bag I can put my Materia in?"

In response, Cloud pulled out the sack he'd had in his belt the whole time and tossed it to the older man, who then went to the remains of the coffin in the middle of the room and began fishing the Materia out of it. A few minutes later, he returned to the door, sack and stack of paper in hand, where Cloud offered him the Peacemaker and one of the Shinra Alphas. Vincent nodded, then they both walked out and, other than a detour for Vincent to leave the papers in the lab, headed for the exit, knowing they'd still have time to look around there before anyone would show up for them. Mostly, Cloud really didn't want to be in the basement labs where Hojo tortured and experimented on him for four years, and Vincent wasn't keen on the place, either.

"Did you happen to work out a story for who I am and where I came from?" Vincent asked suddenly as they stepped back into the room in the Manor proper where the hidden passage was. They kept making their way out of the Manor as they talked.

"We're just telling them the truth," Cloud replied easily.

"...Cloud—" Vincent began, tone wary.

"Look, maybe you don't realize this, but Nibelheim is a town of superstitious fools who take strange events around them as 'signs' of what they should and shouldn't do. Telling them that the 'Voice of the Lady' told me to go into Shinra Manor to the hidden basement to free a walking corpse with the ability to transform into multiple different monsters will make them leave me alone. And they'll leave you alone, too. Especially if they see us together a lot and realize the only person you're even semi-friendly with is me—they'll have no choice but to take it as a very clear warning not to harm me, and anyone who had been plotting vengeance would think twice about it. After all, no one in their right mind would go up against an undead shapeshifter."

The older man gave him a side-long look, then sighed and said, "That will make it extremely difficult for me to keep my identity hidden."

"So don't try," the boy beside him replied. He stopped with his hand on the front door and looked up at Vincent. "If you want people to ignore me, Tseng, and Genesis, the best way to do that is to march right into Shinra Headquarters and demand your position with the Turks back, along with reparations for all the years Hojo kept you locked in a coffin in the Shinra Manor basement. We want things to go differently this time, so that means taking different paths than we did last time. Even me."

Cocking a brow, the former Turk asked, "What do you plan to change?"

"Let's start by capitalizing on my engineering ability," Cloud said wryly. "And the Turks are, ironically enough, the ones who would most benefit from my ability to craft versatile weapons. My only question is then what can I do to make that story feasible for any Turk or SOLDIER who comes by?"

Vincent was quiet for a minute, then gave a small nod and asked, "Do you truly believe anyone will attack you in vengeance if they believe you qualify as a 'divine child'?"

"I've learned not to underestimate people's ability to hate others, especially not here. Nibelheim has always been the place where all the worst things have happened to me, all for no reason except that I exist." Cloud's expression became sad and pinched at the words, then he turned to the door and opened it. Light had started coming over the mountains, but it wasn't quite dawn yet.

The blond boy led the way out of the Manor's property and down the street back to his home, where he quietly opened the door. No one was up and about yet, so he took the note from where he'd left it and crumpled it into a ball which he threw in the garbage. He then put his outdoor clothes on the hook by the door and started fixing himself a hot chocolate, holding up the cocoa for Vincent to see as he looked over his shoulder. The older man shook his head and cautiously sat at the table, waiting while Cloud made his drink.

When the now-twelve-year-old sat across from him, the former Turk said, "I think we should make it look like you don't actually know where I came from—you may have known me in the future, but my turning up just now was a surprise to you as well. If you want my sudden appearance to look the way you want it to look, better for me to come of my own accord to protect you, rather than you having gone to get me. And no, you aren't allowed to answer questions about me, only to tell them to ask me for my answer. Even if it's Tifa asking."

Cloud blinked in surprise over his cup, then lowered it and asked, "Why so indirect?"

"Because it'll leave Hojo guessing at how I got out of the room he locked me in," Vincent answered. "Regardless of what I end up doing with my path to change things, this ends up giving me the most maneuverability and the least traceable key points."

After pausing to assess the words, Cloud nodded and said, "I can do that, then. So, you just knocked on the door early in the morning, and since I was awake, I let you in?"

Vincent gave him a smirk as he glanced towards the top of the stairs. "It will be especially entertaining watching your mother berate you for letting a stranger in, just like that."

"You aren't a stranger to me, Vincent, and she knows about Leviathan's Blessing," Cloud replied with a sigh. He then looked towards the stairs and called, "You may as well come down here and meet Vincent, Mom. He's going to be around until the others in the city come get us."

The older woman walked carefully down the stairs, eying Vincent warily. She then frowned at the cup in Cloud's hands and asked, "You didn't prepare one for your guest?"

"He didn't want one when I offered," the boy replied. "Anyway, this is Vincent Valentine—as you heard, he's another of the ones with Leviathan's Blessing. He came to find me as soon as he was able."

She seemed puzzled by the introduction, but looked at the man with a certain amount of curiosity, too. "Why wouldn't you want perfectly good cocoa?" she asked at last. "We make some of the best in the town."

"I don't eat or drink," Vincent replied blandly.

Her eyes went wide. "How?"

"Because I'm effectively an animated corpse whose soul didn't pass on, thanks in great part to Hojo and one of his associates," the older man explained evenly, and noted how Cloud's lips twitched in amusement as his mother's gaze morphed into something like a cross between amazement and horror.

"Vincent, is there a particular reason you're trying to give my mother a heart attack?" the blond boy asked, still looking amused.

"Cloud! This—this—" he mother began.

"Man," the boy filled in dryly. She glared at him. "He's a man, no matter why he's still alive now. Hojo killed him, then experimented on his body—none of that was his choice. Doctor Lucrecia Crescent is the reason he's not just a mindless beast, but he is still a man, a human, even if some of his bodily functions don't work right. Also, it isn't that he can't eat, it's that his body will only somewhat process small quantities, and he doesn't need the nutrients from food. In this case, he doesn't feel like eating or having a drink, and for my part, I'm so used to the way he is that it doesn't bother me."

She blinked, then blinked again, then asked slowly, "How long did you know him for if you're so 'used to' him?"

"Uhm..." Cloud murmured thoughtfully.

"About four years," Vincent filled in.

"Yeah, about that, isn't it? Since it was December in oh-seven when we found you," Cloud agreed.

"Yes," Vincent agreed. "As to why I'm 'trying to give your mother a heart attack', you were the one who thought I should be blunt. Do you still want me to be?"

"Yes," the boy agreed in amusement.

"Fine, here's another blunt thing," the black haired man began, and Cloud gave him a curious look. Vincent drew the Peacemaker and an older handgun from under his cape and dropped those onto the table in front of the blond. "If you want to have something to prove your apparent engineering skills, make me a better gun, something which would be made easier by you having parts to use from my former weapons. You don't have the tools here, but your town's blacksmith or people who do maintenance on the Reactor will probably have them. If Fenrir has made it clear you're a 'divine child' and you have an undead shapeshifter as a protector, I doubt they would say 'no' if you asked to use their tools."

Cloud's expression was truly amused as Rayne's jaw dropped, but the boy said, "My skill isn't 'apparent'. I made Fenrir—my bike, that is—and First Tsurugi, after all."

"...I thought you commissioned those from Reeve..." Vincent blinked.

"I made them, Vincent," the blond smirked. "I did ask Reeve or Cid about a few points, but that was only with a few technical issues I had never dealt with before. All the blueprints and design details I followed were my own creations, with next to no input from mechanics or engineers. You saw for yourself how well both worked. So, if you want me to make you a better gun, you need to give me more details—am I trying to re-created Cerberus, or doing something different?"

The older man blinked and rubbed the back of his head, then gave a nod and said, "Something similar to Cerberus, but where I have more control over the shots from the gun barrels. I had been playing with each barrel shooting a different elemental property or type of bullet, but no one had yet made a gun which could separate them out, so all it really did was allow me to shoot one to three of the same bullet."

"Hmm..." Cloud murmured thoughtfully as he stared into the distance.

"Hold on, I thought you wanted to join SOLDIER?" Rayne asked in confusion.

The boy made a face and replied, "Do I actually need to now that I have natural Mako enhancements? Besides, I found out the hard way in the future that SOLDIER isn't all it's cracked up to be. It's better for me to try something different this time."

"...Is that why Tifa said she was checking the general store's magazine racks for a mechanic's book for you?" Rayne asked in sudden realization.

Blinking, Cloud said, "I guess that would have been why she picked that kind of book." He tipped his head to the side for a moment, then turned to look at Vincent to say, "I never actually did finish the introductions, did I? This is Rayne Strife, my mom, and Mom, this is Vincent Valentine, formerly of the Turks. Well, until Hojo got pissed with him."

Both stared at him, then at each other for a moment. Vincent offered a small smile and said, "As late as it is, it's nice to meet you, Ms. Strife."

The woman just stared at him for a moment before sighing and saying, "Can I assume you'll be moving in with us, Mr. Valentine?"

"For the moment. I doubt this will be long-term," the man agreed.

With a nod, she replied, "If it's true your—condition—doesn't require that you do ordinary things like eating, you'll need to let me know if there's something you want. I won't ask you every time I make something just for you to turn me down. But, don't be shy to let me know if there is something you want."

"I'll do that, then," Vincent nodded, then turned his gaze back to Cloud. "And my gun, Cloud?"

The boy was sitting there, tapping his chin absently with the fingers of one hand while staring at the two guns on the table, but he answered absently, "It should be doable if I make three bullet slots, one for each barrel, and a safety for each of them..." He then got up and ran upstairs, leaving the two adults to stare after him.

"...Maybe the idea of him being a mechanic or engineer isn't so far-fetched after all," Rayne commented.

"In that, we currently agree," Vincent replied.