Chapter 43: Time Travel for Dummies

So, before I go any further, I need to clarify exactly what is going on, because there's bound to be confusion otherwise.

The whole story starts with the Chronus Wand, one of Hojo's last inventions before his….unfortunate accident. Basically, he invented it to go back in time in case his plans failed. But he was killed before he could use it.

Flash forward to the year 0016. No, you're not seeing things, even though, at least at the time of publishing, 0016 is in the future. Bear with me. In this year, Bestla, the accidental love child of Heidegger and Scarlet, rediscovered the Wand. She intended to use it to travel back to 0007 with two goals: take Sephiroth's place, and save her parents.

To achieve the former, she planned to assassinate Sephiroth after he obtained the Black Materia. She would then absorb the Lifestream as he had originally intended to, and become a goddess. She was all set to travel back in time when she was confronted by the Prime Cloud, Tifa, and Barret. It was not a happy reunion for those three; Cloud had distanced himself from Tifa over the years, and she eventually married someone else. But they banded together one last time to stop Bestla from using the Chronus Wand. They failed, and Bestla killed them one by one.

She then traveled back to 0007. There, the 0007 Cloud, Tifa, and Barret were initially naive of what was going on. But then, something happened that Bestla did not count on; they began to have premonitions of their lives on the prime timeline, which had now been erased. They soon had feelings of what would happen next.

Eventually, it was Aerith who, after having faked her death at the point where she was originally killed in the prime timeline, tracked down Bestla and killed her. After that, the new timeline was free to progress.

So far, it has, in general, stayed the same on a macro-level. What I mean is that all of the major events of the prime timeline still took place. But if you looked at a person's individual life, there were lots of changes.

This applies to myself, of course.

And now, back to the story.

MEANWHILE…..

Back at the Lodge, the "bad" Reno, whom we'll call the Prime Reno from now on, sat with the Prime Rude.

"Now we just gotta find Elena and the director," Reno said as he flopped himself on the couch. "The other employees give you any leads?"

"No," Rude answered. "Nothing yet."

"Who'd a thunk?" Reno sighed. "A lot of Shinra's people actually returned to work! Now that's dedication. I'm tellin' ya, this could be a fresh start!"

"Well," Rude said, "everyone spared has a lot of making-up to do."

"We've done this before," Reno said. "I wonder if anyone will find out. These people in the past are smarter than we expected. Hell, Zack will probably find us out, especially with our other selves roaming around. Too bad the director's not around, you know?"

"Elena too," Rude added as he took a seat.

"Hopefully, they're still with us," said Reno.

"They are," Rude assured him. "Tseng's just like the president. They're kinda like cats. Nine lives, you know."

"You can say that again," Reno said.

"And if not, their other selves from the past certainly are," Rude continued. "Not to mention, they're almost ten years younger."

Just then, dark-colored smoke began seeping in through the cracks near the door.

It suddenly materialized into a familiar face.

"Found ya!" Kadaj announced.

MEANWHILE….

"What you're saying is that you would like to be President of the Western Continent?" Rufus inquired.

"That is correct," Jack Balen replied.

"And I'd like to be President of the Northern Continent," Sumner added.

"I think that can also be arranged," Rufus agreed.

The Balen brothers were meeting with Rufus in the next room, completely oblivious to what was going on with the Turks. They had been hiding on the Eastern Continent for nearly two years now, ever since their escape. Both had since dyed their hair gold.

"It wasn't a fair election," Jack Balen protested. "And it wasn't a fair trial, either."

"Please," Rufus insisted. "Spare me the bullshit. I didn't rise to power fairly."

"So when can we get started, then?" Jack Balen asked.

"Patience," Rufus insisted. "Overthrowing a government doesn't just happen overnight. Been there, done that. First, you have to find the government's weak point."

"How long will that take?" Sumner inquired.

"In the case of the Western Continent," Rufus answered, "I already found it. In the case of the Northern Continent, that might take a while."

"Hey, that's not fair!" Sumner protested.

"It is fair," Rufus insisted. "It seems your brother Jack and I have a common enemy. One we both need eliminated as soon as possible."

MEANWHILE…..

The good Tseng, whom we'll call the 0007 Tseng from now on, arrived home. He now lived in one of the newer homes, built when Nibelheim was expanded; it had been an empty field outside of town two years before.

The meeting had been a lot to take in, and he needed some time to process it.

Another Tseng out there, he thought to himself. And apparently up to no good.

He realized he needed to sort out the implications of the whole ordeal.

"There you are!" called a familiar voice.

Tseng smiled at the pleasant sight the voice belonged to.

It was the 0007 Elena.

She stood before him with a smile on her face and her hands on the small of her back. She was wearing a red tank top, but was naked from the waist down.

And for any perverts who might enjoy that, I'm about to spoil your mood.

She was nine months pregnant, and two weeks overdue.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

She couldn't go out and buy maternity clothes, due to the Geostigma lurking around, as clothing retailers were somehow not considered essential business. So she wore her regular clothes as long as she could, but eventually they became way too uncomfortable. She initially wore the tank top with a bedsheet tied around her waist as a skirt, but it was too long and became too much of a hassle, so she just wore the top.

"It's nothing you haven't seen before," she had said to Tseng.

She was not wearing makeup, either. Her fingernails were not done, and her hair was a mess.

She was also wearing a wedding band; they had indeed married in the interim.

"Did you stay six feet away from everyone?" she asked.

Tseng nodded.

"Good," Elena said.

She was extremely paranoid about being infected, fearing what it might do to her unborn baby.

But, seeing everything in the clear, she signaled for him to come over to her.

He did so, and they kissed.

"I missed you," she said.

"I was only gone for an hour," he said.

"That's still too long during a pandemic," she pointed out.

"I suppose," he admitted.

"You didn't discuss anything that might be upsetting, did you?" she asked.

"I probably shouldn't say," Tseng replied.

"Good boy," she complimented.

Both knew it would not be wise to stress her during her condition. Of course, that did imply a yes.

"I'll be back," Elena then announced. "Dinner's almost ready. Have a seat."

Tseng looked down on his wife's bump.

"You're okay doing that?" he asked.

"I'm having a baby," Elena laughed. "Not dying!"

She then turned around and waddled into the kitchen.

Tseng sighed, sat down on the couch, and turned on the TV. Nothing good was on; production of new movies and TV episodes was suspended everywhere. Instead, they had an old episode of Down on the Downing Farm that was three weeks old, about the family trying to go shopping without masks and dealing with the consequences.

And then, something new happened.

"We interrupt this program to bring you this special news bulletin," an anchor announced from his makeshift news studio at home.

"Finally," Tseng sighed. "Something different."

"Tragedy unfolded two days ago when a young helicopter pilot was gunned down in cold blood last week," the anchor announced. "His helicopter was subsequently stolen."

"They interrupted the Downings for this?" Tseng asked aloud. "They must really be bored."

"Footage of the incident was discovered today. Please use discretion; this video is violent and graphic."

The newscast then cut to the video.

Tseng took a close look, and recognized the individuals in the video. It was himself, and Elena. Both were wearing their blue Turk uniforms.

Tseng gasped in shock.

He knew right away that it was their prime versions, but it was still a shock to watch.

And, as he watched helplessly, the Prime Elena produced a handgun and shot the unfortunate chopper pilot.

"Those involved have been identified as former Turks Tseng and Elena Huang of the Western Continent. No arrest warrants have been issued as of yet. President Strife could not be reached for comment."

Elena can't see this, he realized. She won't be able to take it.

He quickly changed the channel.

But it was too late.

Elena was standing in the doorway; she had seen everything.

She closed her eyes.

She placed her hand on her mouth.

She began to cry.