"Supercannon," Cloud whispered to himself as he ate breakfast with his family. It was a good name he thought to himself. Something to help categorize the current world he was in, an apt description of the current timeline he had found himself in when he woke up twelve years ago. Where everything was bigger but smaller at the same time.

So many things were similar in large parts but so different in the details. The old reactor is still decrepit as ever on its hill but no Jenova corpse hanging around or mutated experiment in mako tanks. Creepy Shinra mansion still being an eyesore in the middle of town and still many of Hojo's nightmare inducing notes to be found but no Vincent, only an empty coffin with an actual dead body in it. Still the same old Gaia but with a dozen more continents scattered about her.

Shoveling some eggs down his throat he noticed that Lighting was giving him a strange searching look again, as if wondering whether his third eye was going to open on time today. He had noticed her and Thalia have been doing that more and more lately, writing something or other in their journals. Every time he turned around one of the two girls was staring. Like they were waiting for him to slip up and start swinging his sword like a madman.

'Probably trying to get an edge over me and perform a hostile takeover of the company,' he thought, as he stared right back at her in a playful challenge. Cloud wouldn't put it past the girls, he knew they were getting ambitious. Constantly asking him where he's been and if they could come too. When he learned that, how did he know this? Recording his lies about reading it in some made up book. Or his stories about encountering a friendly stranger in the mountains who taught him something as payment for him guiding them safely through the paths. Already trying to learn and accomplish so much, so young. They were adorable.

They must really worship him, to be hanging on to his every word like he was the second coming of Odin. This must be what it's like to be a popular kid, at the center of attention for everything. It touched his old heart.

'Really have to come up with better lies', he thought a little guilty, remembering one particularly funny conversation when they had asked him where he learned to apply makeup. Not being able to reveal the truth to them as much as he may have wanted to. They'd think he was clinically insane and ship him off to the madhouse. Couldn't exactly reveal that he had to wear a dress once upon a time for a mission. But he needed to tell them something or eventually his cover was going to collapse in itself. He needed to be careful.

"Come on, finish up and we'll get started with training," he told his sister, already getting up to go wash his plate. Three months into her sword training and materia use, and she was making steady progress. Nowhere near her old skill level of curse, but then again he wasn't exactly going toe to toe with Sephiroth any time soon. Still about as good as can reasonably be expected from a twelve year old, "Thalia and Tifa are probably already waiting for us outside."

000

The two of them made their way out the door after saying goodbye to their mother, hoofing it to the 'training ground' in the early morning light. Collecting the Lockhart sisters as they were leaving their house as well, they made the short trek to the local neighborhood park. Calling it a park was generous in his estimation, but it was the best they had for the sleepy village. A small clearing among the trees, a few tire swings gently moving in the breeze, a pile of rocks in the corner where some of the hardier children would have 'snowball' fights, and can't forget the famous mud pit at the center of it all. Truly only the best for Nibelheim's young.

The four children set about stretching and checking their weapons conditions before getting on with their day. Tifa going through her usual forms to loosen the muscles, Thalia turning a critical eye at the assortment of materia she wanted to practed with, and Lightning swinging her saber as fast as she can at Cloud's head.

He tilted his head back, watching as it sailed past him by inches.

"Good move!" He encouraged her as she let the movement of the missed strike carry her forward, rushing towards him so she could shoulder check him. It probably would off balance him if she wasn't a tiny twelve year old and he hadn't seen it coming a mile away. Instead he stepped past her and gave her a firm smack with the flat of his sword. He might have overdone it though, as he watched her fall forward, clutching her back in pain.

"Alright asshole, you're asking for it now!" his sister screamed, rushing back over to him, swinging her sword overheard.

As the spar continued he let his mind drift a little, checkmarking all the things he wanted to get accomplished today. Maybe take a walk around the village a little and see if anyone needs some help or assistance. Probably make his way up some of the lesser explored mountain routes and see if he can scavenge for any more materia. And if he was already going then he'd definitely swing by the reactor and try to absorb more mako, letting it circulate through his energy points. He should really catch up on reading through Hojo's notes if he had time later. As crazy as the man was, he had been a genius and Cloud needed every advantage he could get.

Once business picked up and they started making more deliveries, he could finally visit his other friends and confirm if his theories were true or not. Finally start getting some concrete answers to all his questions and get started working on a solution, starting killing those who need killing and saving what's left of his world.

'Well only if it is some convoluted plan by the bad guys and not one giant horrible mistake of nature' the boy thought, as he sheathed his sword, his sister sweaty on the ground. Turning, he faced Tifa as she squared up against him, waiting for her to make the first move. It seemed she finally decided on a different strategy, other than trying to sneak attack him when his back was turned. As he corrected her stance in his mind he thought, 'Might finally be time to get her started on the "Tifa-tyu" style, and come up with a good story on where I learned it.'

As Cloud blocked a kick aimed at his side, he thought about how sad he had felt when he realized that Tifa didn't remember him. He knew it was a possibility because nobody seemed to remember that they had been older, that they had lived in other places or that at some point some of them had died.

Still it stung.

"Ooph!" Tifa huffed as he hit her solar plexus, clutching her middle. Deciding to give her a minute to recover he looked over to see what the rest were doing. And there they were again, heads together over that journal of theirs', writing something down on the pages as they watched the spar. Materia and saber long forgotten on the ground next to them. These slackers were probably assessing his strengths and weaknesses.

'Definitely trying to steal my company', Cloud thought with a smile. But he won't hand it over to them so easily! He had too many places to go and too many people to meet. And he needed money to accomplish all of that, thinking anxiously about how much gil he had already invested.
Might have to add monster hunting to his list of his things to do today.

"Alright people, let's end it early here for today, I want to go over the plan now that we have Mary," he said waiting for them to gather around. An impromptu employee meeting to hammer out the final details of their trip to Rocket Town, they had to make sure everything was perfect or they'd be back to square one. Look at their excited faces, he knew this was it. Finally the beginning of everything.

"Now that we have transportation we'll start making our deliveries. Our first request is to pick up some machine parts from Rocket town for the mayor and trade some goods from the other villagers. We'll double up by selling the monster parts and leftover materia from our hunts to anyone interested. The three of us will head out towards the northern pass tomorrow and take it all the way to the Little Rock militia station first, from there we'll follow the river northeast and trade our wares to all the riverside villages that will dot the way. It'll be slow going but at worst we should be able to reach our destination before nightfall."

It was a distance unthinkable to cross in only one day back in his other world, but more than manageable in this one. Every settlement was closer together than before, even if the population was bigger. The land was smaller, making travel more manageable. Even though the planet was bigger. What used to be oceans, were now very big rivers and lakes. Where everything was bigger but smaller at the same time.

"How come I can't come?" Tifa aske surly, still miffed that she was being left behind to man the "shop" as the big kids got to leave. It was for both practical and personal reasons. Practical because they only had three birds to ride and only just enough money saved for rations in case the worst happened. Personal because he was pretty sure Mr. Lockhart would kill him for "stealing" both of his daughters away. It's like the man thought both girls had a crush on him or something!

"Because you're tiny and nobody wants you, squirt," teased the equally small Lightning. Truthfully she only had an extra hair of height but made it a point to bring it up as many times as she could. He could relate, knowing that without some type of divine intervention he was not going to be very tall. For vertically challenged people like the Strifes every inch was going to count.

"We need you to man the fort Tifa," Thalia tried to console her sister, even though he could tell she didn't really believe what she was saying,"this is our first job, we don't know what's going to happen. It might even be dangerous no matter how much we prepare! Heck we might not even make any money from it once we figure out our cost! This is going to make or break us. But we also have to plan for future success. We need at least one person to be here to take requests, look after storage and take care of Mary's chicks. It's a very important job."

"Then why don't you do it? I'll take your place since I'm the better rider. It only makes sense," she shot back, still trying to weedle her way into a spot. It was an old argument that they had been having since the first request came through. This little girl was tenacious. She turned back to his twin, "Besides it's my dad who wants it done, I should be there to see it through!"

"Then he would've asked you to do it, but instead he asked for Strife deliveries," the blond sang, digging the knife in deeper with a shit eating smile,"besides we already have one Lockhart coming with us. The better one I'd like to think. Why would we need two? Just be a good girl and stay put, let the big kids handle it. That's an order from your boss."

"That's not fair, you're only the boss because Cloud asked you and Thalia to join when I was at piano practice!" Tifa cried, almost in tears now. He really got to put a stop to this before fists started flying. He stepped bodily in between the two 'friends' as Lightning was winding up with another retort. She really did not know when to leave well enough alone.

"And that's where you'd be wrong. I'm a boss because I'm a Strife and it's called 'Strife Deliveries', it's nepotism at its finest," she said boldly around him, as if that was something to be proud of. Where had she heard that word? What kind of books had she been reading? Might be from the bad influence, he never did like that older girl she sometimes hung out with behind the school. He was really going to have to monitor her more as her big brother. Well, little brother.

"Alright enough, the meetings adjourned. Everybody finish up what they got to today and be ready for tomorrow. Scatter, you lot," he said, waving his hands to try to shoo his sister away. He had better things to do today then watch them try to kill each other. He watched as the older girls made their way out of the park, Lightning shooting one last smirk Tifa's way and wondered what they might get up to today. Maybe they'd go help their mothers with some chores? Maybe go have a picnic by the lake and laze about in the sun? More than likely trying to find the best place to hide his body once they took the company.

Hearing a sniff behind him, Cloud turned to see Tifa looking sadly down at her feet, shoulders hunched. Even though he agreed that this trip was at full capacity and that she didn't really have anything to offer, his heart still bled for his little not-wife. His sister wasn't going to lose anything from being more gentle with her, they were all childhood friends for goodness sake! He'd better mend the bridges now and make sure tomorrow started on a happy note.

"Hey Tifa, just because you can't come with us now doesn't mean you can't later," he said, trying to bargain with the girl, placing a hand on her shoulder "it may seem like it's a big deal now but trust me when I say it's not. There'll be hundreds, if not thousands more of these in the future. You'll be traveling so much you're probably going to get sick of it and decide you want to work at a bar instead."

He couldn't help but tease her a little with that bit of otherworldly knowledge.

"I know that. I know you three are only going to the next mountain over and that Rocket Town is basically Nibelheim but with machines," she confessed, rubbing her red eyes a little, "but I'm tired of being left out all the time. Those two only ever hang out with each other and won't let me join. Always telling me to go hang out with the boys instead. Last night they had a sleepover and wouldn't even let me in the room. Who does that?!"

Admittedly it was a dickish move on their part but maybe they wanted to discuss something in private. Even after raising children of his own, the mystery of the unspoken hierarchy and rules among girls still escaped him. He still remembered one particularly odd movement when out of the blue Marlene had cut off all contact with one of her friends when she had found out she had kissed Denzel. The girl never did properly explain why she had phased Denzel's girlfriend out of her friend group.

"I'm not gonna pretend what's going on with all of you guys but you know they aren't trying to hurt your feelings. They just aren't aware of how their actions are affecting you. I promise to try and talk to them about it over the trip and get to the bottom of what's going on. We both know your sister at least likes you, Lighting too despite the stupid stuff that comes out of her mouth sometimes. I do too," he consoled her with a grin, seeing that she was already feeling a little better. Alright time to put a smile back on her face, "And when we have a trip to the Golden Saucer, I'll let you decide who has to beg you to go. Wouldn't it be funny to see my sister kissing your feet?"

That got a laugh out of her.

000

As Cloud sat in the reactor, slowly letting the fumes of mako enter his pores, he mused a bit at the idea of ever intentionally putting green energy into his body. All his life the mako had been both a blessing and curse in equal turns. Due to his higher sensitivity to it he got the absolute extremes of both worlds. It gave him power but harmed him. It made him strong physically but debilitatingly weak mentally. Or at least it did till Yuffie found the solution.

The spunky Ninja had been having a lively discussion with Tifa one day, comparing her ninjutsus to his wife's chi abilities. While the results of the attacks were different, their utilizations had a surprising amount of overlap. Apparently both needed to carve energy pathways in their body to use it to full effect, creating efficiency. This discovery was surprising and would later go on to codify a new school of thought on combat techniques.

The basic premise was that you would control and manipulate your inner energy through mediums to create any effect, letting it flow from you body. Yuffie would mold it to do things like create clones or guide her shuriken in battle. Tifa would use it to enhance and reinforce her body, giving her more destructive force than she would otherwise have. Noting the similarities, the two of them came up with a theory.

Mako was energy. It was in his body. Stood to reason that with the right training he should be able to use it too.

He was already using his enhancements passively with his strength and senses. Already he could heal from fatal wounds in moments and swing a giant sword one-handed as if it was a feather. Seeing in the dark and hearing a mouse from a mile away were basically his standard day to day. But if he was actively maneuvering the energy? Giving it a clear purpose and intent? Would he be stronger? Faster? Maybe shoot fireballs from his eyes?

It was an interesting thought.

So for the next four weeks he trained in their cobbled together training regiment. A little bit of ninjustsu learning and unnecessary stealth training. A whole lot of physical conditioning and endurance testing. Quite possibly the worst month of his life since he left Hojo's lab tables. But he persevered. Pushing his body harder then had since his infantry days. And the results were encouraging.

His eyes turned blue.

Soldier enhancements were very experimental at best and lethal at worst. Typically one was bombarded with mako energy and a bit of G-cells to hold it all together. There were variations of course, Sephiroth got the original raw Jenova cells, Cloud himself the unstable S-series. It created super soldiers, the next step in human evolution some would say. It also caused the body to kill itself.

The enhancements weren't particularly stable because of this. Leakage of the life energy in a container that wasn't meant to have it in such high doses. The body shut down, organs failed, some just went crazy. The lucky few had their consciousness hijacked by Jenova and turned into Sephiroth clones. Truly an ignoble fate for Shinra's finest. And that was just the men.

It was worse for women. Women responded well to Jenova cells, one particular woman, Ginny Hewley would go on to be the basis of the G-cells. But mako was a different story, it would mutate women in inexplicable ways. Many of which were not particularly useful for the company. It was so bad that Shinra would publicly ban female cadets from joining the Soldier program. Not that it stopped them from doing it in secret of course.

The two best known examples were Rosso the Crimson and Shelke Rui, former executives of the Deepground military junta. Both were incredibly strong, with Rosso even being able to fight Cloud himself to a standstill for a while. Both had physical mutations that debilitated them. Rosso developed an advanced form of mako addiction, her body craved it to such a degree that only a few minutes without it could kill her. Because of this she couldn't survive without a mako generating suit constantly pumping new energy into her body.

That might be how Vincent killed her.

Shelke's mutation, while less life threatening, would still cast a shadow over the redhead's life. She couldn't age, she couldn't grow. Destined to watch the people she loved age and die, leaving her alone. Most of life's pleasures were forever out of her reach. A woman forever stuck in the body of a nine year old.

This didn't stop Yuffie from joking that he was cheating.

It cured the mako leakage in his body, allowing the energy to flow in him from organ to organ safely. It solved the very thing that causes Soldier degeneration in the mind and body. He was stronger, he was faster, he couldn't shoot fireballs from his eyes. Disappointing but two out of three was not bad. This theory may have saved his life. It also forced him into the missionary position for two months with Tifa.

Because she wanted to look into his eyes, she said.

"Alright time to finish up,' Cloud thought, feeling his body starting to cramp from sitting down so long. Only the mansion was left on his to-do list and finally some sleep. Had to be at his best when he saw Cid after all. The old grouch was hard enough to talk to when you were his friend. As a stranger he'd be luck to just get a pat on the head and be told to 'fuck off'.

000

Ah, Shinra Mansion.

What more can be said about that hasn't already been said. The horror stories surrounding it were the stuff of nightmares. The kind of stuff that would have parents write their kids as a lost cause if they found how they had disappeared behind its fabled walls. Of course the truth was even worse. Forced human experimentation just to start off. Mad scientists lurking the halls, doing the unspeakable and grotesque. Reluctant man made monsters forever trapped in its depths.

It had a steep history in Nibelheim. Its roots ran deep, deeper than Cloud had ever thought possible.

The Shinra family was one of the original founding families of Nibelheim back in the 1700s. Right up there with the Lockharts and the now defunct Nibel clan. The three families would unite to create many of the settlements scattered around Mt. Nibel. They once ruled like kings over the simple folks of the western continent, or western country as it was known here.

But over time their power would decline from wars and natural causes. The Nibel's would perish from too much infighting, its own sons and daughters spelling their doom. The Lockharts would marry power, both foreign and domestic, and would thrive today. The Shinra's did their own thing.

At some point the last of their scions would set out to make his fortune. His mind was full of big plans and even bigger dreams. He was going to change the world this young country bumpkin thought. And he would, to the detriment of said world. He would later become the first president Shinra, creating the company that would destroy democracy and almost single handedly obliterate the world.

What an asshole.

And the Strifes were related to them, if you could believe it. The fifth son of a cousin, or other. Cloud had never hated his blond hair more when he found out. But beside the interesting history lesson, the mansion held other importance to the delivery man. It was a place for him to hide and research the world. Collect his thoughts when he feels his most helpless, arching for his home. And where he found his resolve to keep fighting. Deep in the basement where Vincent should have been, were his notes on how the hell he ended up here and what he was going to do about it.

"There we go, super cannon," said Cloud, writing down the word on the wall. The wall was a crude map of the planet and its six continents. Gaia, Eos, Spira, Paladia, Valhalla and Oreience.
He only recognized the first three. The homes of Champions. And what he knew was that these three at least should be their own world but were somehow cramped onto one planet. Bigger and smaller.

The why was driving him nuts.

Why were they suddenly all together? Where was the threat? Why only these six? What about Lightning's home of Cocoon? The others? Where were the other Champions of the Cosmos? Were they all children too? Did they forget who they were like Lightning had? Why could only he remember the other life but she couldn't? And who was responsible? Were they in danger? Where was the Warrior of Light?

It just didn't make any sense. Questions upon questions.

Realizing that Tifa didn't remember anything, his first plan had been to get in contact with the members of Avalanche to see if anyone was in a similar situation to him. When he was old enough he tried sending a letter to each of them in hopes of news. That he wasn't alone. No response from Barrett and Nanaki. A polite reply from Revves that he had the wrong address. A stern letter from Cid to stop with the pranks or he'd find Cloud.

It was not an encouraging beginning.

His only hope was to travel to the other continents and see if he could discover anything. He only had two solid leads before he went insane. In Eos he should be able to contact Noctis and hopefully not get skewered by the crownguard for his efforts. The prince's circumstance was the most similar to his own. His power was directly linked to his kingdom's crystal. Powerful magic that won't be easily tampered with from outside influence. It gave him hope that he'd see at least one friendly face.

The other was less certain. Spira was Yuna and Tidus' world but from what he remembered the man wasn't even a native, having been pulled in from the past to be its hero. His head hurts just trying to keep it all straight. Yuna was apparently a pilgrim traveling, finding her would be a nightmare. Even if they were there, Cloud might end up encountering another Lightning situation. And he didn't even know who was supposed to be in the other three continents! He hated that he hadn't been more social when he had the chance.

"Time to get some rest stupid, you can bang your head against the problems later."

000

It was a cool morning in Nibelheim, as the trio prepared for their maiden voyage. There was a small crowd to see them off. Family and friends, excited to see the first interesting thing happening in recent memory.

"Don't die," Tifa sniffed as she saw them off, emotions getting the better of her, "and bring me a souvenir. I want at least one thing from every place you visit. And I'll know if you don't! I got all the names of the villages written in a book somewhere."

"Sure sure, I'll get you the shiniest rock I can find," said Thalia, giving her a hug before mounting up. Even his sister gave the girl a quick squish before getting ready herself. Three Chocobos at the ready, payload secured on the little wagons attached to the birds. Waving their final goodbyes the young business moguls began their adventure.

"Gods this saddle sucks, would it have killed you to spring for softer leather?" Lighting grumbled as they crossed the ten mile mark. She was shifting uncomfortably in her seat as if sitting sideways was going to make it any better. "I was expecting danger from monsters and bandits. But at this rate I'm going to end up dead by butt blisters before we even make it to Little Rock!"

"Quit your bellyaching," Cloud laughed, "Look where crossing the river now, only a couple of more miles to go and we can have lunch. In a new place! You can finally meet people who don't share the same great grandparents as us."

That lifted her mood a little.

"You know, this is a lot easier than I thought it'd be," Thalia mused to the group, "Clear skies, open road, and minimal dangers to our lives. I'm surprised more people haven't tried something like this before. Seems like a missed opportunity."

"Minimal danger to us, you mean. Even the most hardy mountain folk are gonna turn tail when confronted with high levels of violence." Cloud explained, although he'd have to agree. They haven't encountered anything too difficult. Just a few Razorweeds that Lighting threw rocks at. Today was especially beautiful. Probably one of the best starts to a delivery day he's ever experienced. Still, he should impress upon them the need for vigilance. "It's why so few merchants ever make their way through the mountains. Too ruff terrain. Too many monsters. Too many cannibal mountain clans. And that's not even going into the very real chance of a dragon swooping in and eating you."

They made a face at that.

"Why does everything always want to eat us? I get, maybe wanting to take a bite out of the big bird," His twin said, gesturing to her mount. "But why humans? I can't imagine we taste very good compared to everything else they could have. Seems like a lot of work for a gross reward."

"It's very commonly thought that human meat tastes similar to pork," Thalia chimed in, smiling at the odd direction the conversation was taking. How did they even get on to the topic? "There are accounts in the village of forest fire rescuers claiming that when they find burnt bodies, it smelled just like cooked pigs. It only needed a little seasoning and it'd be indistinguishable. Or so they say."

Before Lightning could start laying into her about ruining her favorite animal, they finally turned the bend. And laid eyes on the first sign of human activity outside of Nibelheim. The Little Rock militia settlement, a bygone relic of an Age when people fought each other to the death over a couple miles of rocky land. The once great stronghold that stopped all threats coming north. Now it was a proud collection of a few dozen shanty houses and one mud hut. The people were so closely intermarried, you can track everyone's lineage through one large family tree. Cloud was certain everyone here was his third cousin.

Ah civilization.

"It's amazing," he heard one of the girls whisper in awe. Once in a while being a country bumpkin had its uses. But no time to sight see because they had a tight schedule to keep. Maybe once they're done, on the way back they can enjoy the luxuries of the town's moldy walls. They had to meet with the town's mayor and trade some good's first. Maybe make a little extra money and come out on this venture very firmly in the green.

"No time to dilly dally, we can explore on the return trip. For now let's find mayor Hild and lighten this load." he said, pushing deeper into the village. It didn't take long to find the woman, they're arrival had caused quite the stir and word traveled fast. Thankfully Mr. Lockhart had already written a letter ahead for them so they didn't need to waste time with greetings or bargaining. It was amazing what having connections could do for you.

Dropping off their surplus at the storehouse, they manage to trade most of their monster parts and few of the weaker materias to boot. It was a good haul all things considered. Even got a few requests to pick some things up from Rocket Town and letters to be sent. Leaving Thalia to negotiate the final bill, the two Strifes set out into town to find something local to eat. No point in wasting supplies if they didn't need to. Unsurprisingly the main staples were fish and more fish. There was also some type of local river turtle soup that the locals swore by but they decided to skip over it for now. Cloud felt a little queasy when he made eye contact with the gentle animal.

Rabbits, squirrels, and chickens. No problem. But it almost felt sacrilegious to eat the green little thing.

Settling on some crunchy small fish, they made their way towards the outskirts to sit in the shade. They found a nice spot up by the river and let they're Chocobos loose to munch on their own supply of greens. The blondes whittled away the minutes, in silence snacking on they're surprisingly tasty food when Thalia made her way over. A look of triumph on her fast told him that the girl had just fleeced every gil she could from the poor mayor. Like father, like daughter, he supposed. Her dad would be so proud.

"How much did we make, you red witch?" Lighting managed to ask around her full mouth. Where did she learn this behavior from? For such a pretty girl she was quite the slob."Do you think we can stop being scared of going broke? Can I finally have some spending money now?"

"A lot, yes and no." Thalia replied, picking up one of the fishes with her fingers. She took a moment to chew before elaborating, "It's already more than we expected to make, so that's good. Honestly if it wasn't for the hit to our reputation we'd take, we could turn around now and still be fine. We should still keep our belts tight, but we have some wiggle room now. Maybe even expand a little, get that fourth Chocobo for Tifa?"

He couldn't help but wince at that. Chococbos were expensive. All the ones they have now were wild caught.

"Let's have a team meeting about it once the job's done," Cloud said, trying to change the subject. By the knowing look in her eyes, she knew exactly what he was trying to do. Thankfully she said nothing as they finished up their lunch and rangeled the birds to restart their journey. Small mercies.

Traveling out of town they would encounter a smattering of huts and houses along the river. Quite a few people came out to see them; asking after news, trading a little with what they had on hand, and even commissioning a job to deliver this or pick up that. The preteens must look like some real professionals or these people were just that desperate.

The rest of the journey was fairly uneventful, with Cloud only having to stab one enterprising bandit. As dusk settled on the horizon, they finally saw the tip of Shinra No.26, the infamous ship that gave the town its name. They had finally arrived at Rocket Town.

And then they saw the Shinra ships.

000

"Ok you little brats, what do you need?" said the smiling face of Cid Highwind, better known as The Captain. A lanky man with blonde hair and gray eyes. Dirty white shirt and worn overalls that have seen some real use. It was strange seeing a grin on this too young face. They had encountered the man as the trio were making their way to the town center to get their bearings and figure out where everything was. Wanting to offload all their deliveries before turning in for the night. Cloud figured he'd get the responsible adult stuff out of the way first before he enacted his real plan. To get Cid to slip up and say he remembers him too.

It wasn't a great plan but he had to give it one more go at reuniting with his friends before booking it off the continent.

But they must have looked more helpless then he thought because swaggering over to them and offering his assistance was a young Cid. Being a bottle of sunshine with a skip in his step was not something Cloud had even believed was possible in his friend. Honestly it made his hackles rise. Had to consciously stop his hand from reaching his sword out of survival instinct. But belatedly he realized that of course he was happy.

Shinra was still here. The project was still on. The dream to go to space was still alive.

One thing you should know about Highwind is that he had a dream. A beautiful dream to see the stars and explore its vast emptiness. And he wanted to be the first to do it. Be the first man in space. The project was a joint operation between Shinra money and Rocket Towns brilliant minds. Cid a tenacious engineer who thought the impossible and strove to make it possible. And Shera, a prodigy rarely seen who did more than strive, she achieved the impossible.

Well Cloud wasn't too surprised to see all the Shinra personal bustle about. From what he could remember during one of Cid's more contemplative drunken rants, the company wouldn't pull the space program project till sometime in 2003. It was 1998. So years away from the moment his friend's dreams shattered and become a bitter man. Years before Shera wouldn't knock some sense into the lout and he became a happy man. Years before he would in fact achieve his dream of being in space.

Still had to stop his hand though.

"We were hoping to find a map of the town, so we got some packages to deliver. Strife Deliveries." Cloud smiled genially , showing him a piece of paper with the company logo. Quite literally a piece of paper he drew the picture on. Not the most professional but everyone had to start somewhere. Cid took it out of his hands to inspect it. Also started lighting a cigarette because why not?

"Oh yeah I've heard of you brats. Thought Shera was pulling my leg when she said Lockhart was sending a bunch of kids to pick up the parts. His own daughter apparently." He puffed some smoke to the side as he looked them up and down, paying attention to Thalia's eyes. The wind still blew it in their faces. "You're actually kids right? Not some malformed goblin in a wig?!"

He guffawed at his own joke.

There was the Cid he knew. Bit of a dick, bit of a tool. Gods Cloud missed him.

"You sure you should be laughing so loud? The zookeeper's might find out you escaped the exhibit." Lighting shot back, tired from the long day and irritated by the smoke. Half his size and in no mood for bullshit. And she wasn't done, "You know how rare half human Chobobos are. They might scramble the helicopters to get you back. Probably run experiments to figure out how you learned to talk. By the way, that's not how humans dress. Try again, bird." Pointing at his dirty overalls.

Stunned silence all around.

His face turned red.

"HAHAHAHAHA! This one got some brass bells on her! I love it!" Cid finished crackling, almost in tears from how hard his body was convulsing. Thank goodness. Cloud was afraid he was going to have to jump into a fist to stop a fight from breaking out. His or her fist, he still wasn't sure. " Alright you little shits, let me show you where the inn is and you drop your personal crap off.

"Then I," He pointed to himself, "The Great Captain, will give you little goblins the grand tour!"

Slowly he turned in place, arms stretched out wide to encompass the town.

"Welcome to the future!"

000

Exhaustion bled out of Cloud as he finally collapsed into bed. He was taxed both physically and mentally. A long road trip on probably the only bird in the world with two left feet. Hauling ass across a whole mountain range and meeting a few dozen new people. Meeting his friends Cid and Shera again. Realizing they don't know him.

It was an old pain but the years did nothing to dull the sharpness of it.

But that was fine, he had been prepared for this. It was more or less what he had already expected and he already had a plan. Contact with the others, test their memories, and if nothing he'd prepare for the long journey off to Eos first chance he got. It took perseverance but he was tenacious. He's been stabbed twice in the chest before and kept fighting. Nothing he wasn't used to. Now get some sleep and face the world in the morning, he tried to tell himself.

There was a knock on their door.

Cloud dragged his body out of the bed to answer it. Wondering who was calling this late in the night. Maybe it was dinner? He had only eaten the travel rations and some fish after all. It'd do him some good to have a full stomach before sleep. He hoped it's not more fish.

It was Thalia and Lightning. And surprisingly they were still dressed in their gear. Had they gone out for a bit when he was taking his shower?

"Can we come in?"

He blinked at the seriousness of their tone. Were they ok? Did something happen? Did they lose their wallet? Was one of the birds sick or hurt? Did those young engineers try to get fresh with them when he wasn't looking? If so then he might have to kill one of them, maybe all of them.

He nodded for them to come in and take a seat on the bed not noticing them locking the door.. Cloud pulled the one lone chair over to face them. Looking each of them in the eyes, he tried to gauge how serious the situation was. It looked pretty serious. Fidgeting in place and fingers twirling. They looked like they were about to announce the sky was falling and that they only had a few minutes let to live. But their eyes said they were determined. Resolute. Whatever it was they were going to see it to the end. Whatever it was he would help them, assuage their fears if he could.

"Who are you?"

Of all the things that could be said that was the last he thought would be asked. He wondered if maybe this was a late night prank. Maybe nerves from sleeping in a new place was causing them to act out and they were trying to let out the tension. To do something familiar. But does he play along or turn the tables? Decisions, decisions.

"I think you know the answer to that," he leaned forward a little to them playfully, "I'm not Cloud Strife."

He didn't see the little fist till it came crashing into his cheek, but he sure felt it. And honestly with all the mako in his body it did more damage to Lightning's fist then it did his face. So no real harm done. Still he made sure to fall off his chair.

"What the fuck, Lightning?!"

Shaking her injured hand, she pointed at him, "Tell me the truth! Where's my brother?! And don't lie, it's two on one!"

Turning his head he noticed Thalia was also looking at him as if he had sprouted two heads. Then he noticed she had on her gauntlets. While not as skilled as her sister, the young lady could pack a wallop. In her palm she held two materia orbs. A Seal and Shield. Her two best. Oh they were serious.

"Look, lets just all calm down," Cloud said from his seated position on the floor, He raised both of his hands in the air, hoping to appear as non-threatening as possible to the two hostiles. "I thought you guys were joking or something. I was just trying to play along. I shouldn't have. That's my bad. Can we please talk this out like normal people? Maybe at least explain to me what I did wrong?"

The girls made eye contact for a brief moment, an entire conversation in seconds. And they looked to have come to a decision.

"Fine," Thalia's voice was hard but at least she was pointing her Seal away from him. "But you stay on the ground for now. And keep your hands in front. If they dip down you're in for a world of hurt."

She looked back at Lightning. A brief nod. And she began to speak.

"Three months ago we started following you," she began, ignoring his look of surprise. "At first it was just to see what you were up to. Where you disappeared all the time. Where you spent hours of your day when you weren't with other people. Idle curiosity mainly. But what we saw made us fear the worst. Fear you."

He didn't know what he was expecting but it certainly wasn't that.

"You've always been weird. No need to hide that. We grew up with you after all," Thalia continued, "You'd say things that didn't make sense. Know things that you shouldn't. Do things that are supposed to be impossible. But people just chalked it up to you being some type of genius or savant. We did too, until we saw you jump twenty feet in the air."

Well shit.

"After that we tried investigating you, keeping track of your movements and location at all times. One of us was with you as much as we could afford without you getting suspicious. And then we noticed there was a pattern: mountain, reactor, mansion.

"Going up the mountain made sense, you were hunting monsters or exploring. Maybe even training. You'd even take us with you sometimes. But when we followed you into the reactor, we saw you trying to drink the mako. Lighting almost jumped in after you to stop you! But then we saw you get up like you had just been drinking lemonade in the summer. You weren't injured. You weren't sick. When you thought no one was looking we watched as you fought monsters three times your size! Jumping from cliff to cliff like you were flying! "

Maybe he should've taken Yuffie's stealth training more seriously.

Cloud was training, goddammit! Each new dose of mako kept him off balance with their improvements and he had to train so he didn't accidentally tear a door off its hinges. And what better way to do it than by fighting monsters? Plus he really didn't think he was being watched. He was in parts of the mountain that most people haven't visited in a hundred years. That was his bad.

Still he could spin things. Over a decade of lying coming to his rescue.

"I was just training," He started, trying to sit up. He stopped when he saw them tense. It was fine, he could deal with a little numbness in his legs. "I drank the mako because I heard that Shinra Soldiers used it to get stronger. And I just wanted to be like them. Stupid I know but I was curious. And guess what? It worked! But I wasn't used to it so I went hunting. I didn't tell anyone because I didn't want to get in trouble. My ma would kill me if she found out."

There, a good enough explanation for why he did what he did. How he did what he did. And why he hadn't said anything. It was common for Soldiers to be idolized, especially by young boys with dreams of being a famous. It was also an open secret that mako was involved in their transformation, couldn't exactly hide it with those eyes. And Cloud was always hunting the mountain predators, only made sense that he'd think fighting them was good training. Plus what child wasn't afraid of getting into trouble? All perfectly reasonable. They were still frowning at him though.

"And the mansion?" Lightning growled, glaring fire into him. This one definitely was not convinced. "We found your secret little room. All your notes. All your ramblings. The experiments! The stuff you wrote about me and other people. What's your lie for those?"

Thankfully he already had a story for this one

"Those were book ideas," He casually shrugged, as if it was no big deal. At this he stood up, ignoring their protest. A little physical nonchalant to hammer home the idea that this interrogation was over and done with. That he showed his cards and there was nothing to hide. "It was my back up plan, just in case the company went down under. I was just using names I knew to fill out the world. Write a fiction book or something, since ma said my head was always in the clouds. It was a fun little hobby that grew into its own thing. And the notes? Stuff that was already there. You've heard all the ghost stories before. It's not even in my writing!"

Just enough truth to sell the lie. Hopefully they'll drop it for now so he could have some alone time to think. Strategize. Maybe run for the hills. And by the uncertain looks of their faces it was working.

"Look I know how it seems but it really is just one big misunderstanding," Cloud consoled, the adrenaline finally leaving his body. Time to seal the deal. "And I'm not mad that your guys were following me. I know it came from a good place. A paranoid place but still with the best of intentions. How about we all just get some sleep and talk more in the morning. I'll answer any questions you have then."

He made his way across the room to open the door to shoo them out. Thalia made a few hesitant steps his way but Lighting didn't move, her face had a mix of emotions. Finally stealing her resolve, she looked him straight in the eye.

"I remember some things." she began, "fights I've never been in. People I've never met. Places I've never seen."

This last bit seemed to take the energy out of her, "Who's Serah?"

'Now that,' Cloud thought, as he closed the door and turned to face them again. Finally letting the mako heal his cheek, 'changes things.'