"The truth is like a lion; you don't have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself."

― Augustine of Hippo

"Finally." Red met Cloud and Aerith as they stepped out of the Inn. "Rough day yesterday huh?"

It took Cloud just a moment to situate himself in the familiar conversation. It was always such an odd feeling for Cloud, knowing the great adventure ahead of them and knowing the bonds that he and Red, and indeed the rest of the team, would make. But for Red it was merely the day after Cloud and the others had liberated him from Hojo's lab.

"Hey, Red." Cloud's gaze swept the sky above the town square. He and Aerith had been talking for a while and Cloud knew that the Shinra forces couldn't be too far away. "Look, there's no need to thank me for yesterday and there's no debt to repay. I'm just glad you're part of the team now."

Red paused, blinking at the blonde haired man for a moment before he looked at Aerith quizzically.

Aerith smiled at him and shrugged. "It's a long story."

"Speaking of which, we need to find the others. Red do you think you could find Tifa and Barret and bring them back to the inn? There's not much time."

"Of course." Red bowed his head before turning to leave, throwing one more curious glance over his shoulder as he went.

"So is Red going to think you're a mind reader or something now?"

Cloud looked down at Aerith, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly. "Maybe. Until I explain everything, at which point he'll probably just think I'm crazy."

He reached out and took Aerith's hand in his, loathe to allow any distance between them. The blush that unfurled across her cheeks was both endearing and worrying to him. "Would you rather I not do this?" He lifted their hands slightly. "I know this is a lot, and very sudden in your eyes."

Aerith hummed softly and shook her head. "I don't mind."

Cloud took her at her word and nodded. "Come on, there's someone else I need to speak to."

Cloud had talked to Broden, inquiring about the man's ill health and offering to help Mildred with her windmill repairs. As expected, Broden had given Cloud safe passage out of Kalm by way of the secret route beneath the inn.

Ushering Aerith through the doorway and down the ladder, Cloud had paused and turned back to observe Broden. "My friends-"

"I will make sure they follow you." The dark-haired man smiled. The sound of aircraft thrummed from outside. "But that is your cue to get moving."

Cloud's eyes drifted to Broden's upper arm, where he knew the number tattoo would be present. He wished that there was something he could do to help the man, but curing him of the Jenova cells that infected his body was beyond anything that Cloud could hope to do.

"Broden. Thank you."

The gaunt man paused, surprised by Cloud's sincerity. "Think nothing of it. I just hope you succeed in what you aim to achieve."

Cloud's grip found the metal rungs of the ladder and he looked up, holding Broden's gaze until the door to the inn swung shut. Descending the ladder in to the air raid shelter, Cloud quickly spotted Aerith leaning against the wall as short distance away.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah." Cloud moved to stand next to her. "Broden will send the others our way. We just have to wait."

Aerith nodded, looking around their sparse surroundings. "So what is the rush with leaving Kalm?"

"Hear that?" Cloud pointed towards the ceiling and he and Aerith fell silent. The could just make out the rumbling of propellors above. "Shinra are already on our tail."

"Of course." Aerith shook her head. She moved over to a wooden crate further down the room and sat down. "Guess even outside of Midgar we're not really free."

Cloud followed her to the crate, nudging her leg with his own as he sat down. "They can try to find us. Not gonna happen though."

Aerith grinned up at him. "Is that talking?"

"Nah, it's Mr. Everything."

Aerith's delighted laughter filled the shelter, and made Cloud's chest swell. He draped an arm over her shoulders and leaned his head back against the brick wall behind them, content to wait for the others in relative peace.

It was perhaps another half an hour before the door at the top of the ladder squeaked open again. Cloud and Aerith tensed, gaze fixed on the ladder, before relaxing as they spotted Barret's combat boots and fatigues descending into the hideout.

When the man was on two feet, he gave the room a cursory glance before nodding at Cloud and Aerith. "Damn Shinra. Can't get a break from them."

"At least we got away without being spotted." Tifa dropped the last few rungs of the ladder, eyes also scanning the room. When she spotted Cloud and Aerith, and their close proximity to one another, she was unable to stop an involuntary frown before she averted her eyes completely.

Aerith patted Cloud's leg and stood up, aware of her female friend's reaction.

Cloud moved from his seated position too, just as Red cleared the ladder. The door at the top of the ladder swung shut once more and the five companions stared at one another.

"So where to now?" Barret inquired.

Red inclined his head towards an opening at the end of the room. "There's a breeze coming from direction." "Sounds like a plan to me." Aerith pointed in the direction Red was looking. "Let's go!"

The group made their way through the passageways, ducking under pipes here and there, until they came to a pair of large metal doors. Moving past the others, Cloud braced his palms against the metal, and the doors swung outwards with a groan.

Squinting against the bright sunlight, the party stepped out of the tunnel and took in the sight before them.

"Wow." Aerith gasped, wide eyes drinking in the vista before them. "Just look at it all. It's so green! A living, breathing planet. Even after everything we've done to it, it's still going strong."

"It may look that way," Red spoke, approaching Aerith from behind. "But in reality, it's barely hanging on."

Aerith looked momentarily crestfallen. "Guess I still have a lot to learn."

"Whaddya wanna know?" Barret asked, voice gentle.

Stepping forward, Cloud interrupted the moment. "I really think we should make tracks." As he finished his sentence, two gargantuan airships crested the walls of Kalm behind them.

"Good idea." Tifa nodded. "Guess we won't be coming back here anytime soon."

"So where to?" Barret shielded his eyes with his hand as he gazed out across the grasslands.

"I know somewhere." Cloud moved forward. "And when we get there, I really need to tell you guys something important."

Cloud ushered the others in to the single room of the shack, his eyes scanning the terrain outside before closing the door behind him. Their accommodation for the night was perched close to the cliff edge, not too far from Mildred's windmill. Before they headed any further in to the grasslands, Cloud wanted to try and explain his situation to the others.

"So what's this big news you have to tell us? After last night's storytime I thought you'd be done with talking for a while." Barret took a seat on the floor of the hut they had taken refuge in, his back against the weather-worn wood.

Last night for the others had been his tale of Nibelheim's destruction and Sephiroth's descent in to madness, even if the story had a somewhat unreliable narrator. He glanced at Tifa, knowing she had fretted over his tremulous grasp on reality and the events of their past. He would have to talk to her alone, after he got through the immediate hurdle ahead of him.

"Right." He stood in the middle of the small room and eyed the others. Barret's expression was fairly neutral, if not for the annoyed narrowing of his eyes.

Red sat in the far corner of the room, his tail casting guttering shadows around them as it swayed slightly. His gaze was sharp - he had already noticed Cloud's cryptic mood and the curiosity had built in him.

Tifa had balanced herself on a precariously built stool, the only bit of furniture in the shack. The concern in her expression was easy to see. The last time they had talked, in her lifetime of course, had been on the roof terrace of the inn, when Sephiroth's voice had whispered words of paranoia and bout into Cloud's mind. Cloud could see that guard that Tifa still had up, and he allowed himself a heavy sigh.

His eyes alighted on the last member of their team. Aerith remained standing, rocking slightly on the balls of her feet. She offered Cloud an encouraging smile and he nodded to her.

"There's no real easy way to sat this, and you're going to think I've gone nuts."

"Already do." Barret muttered.

Cloud ignored him. "The short version is that I've come back in time somehow. I've travelled back about a year and now I'm stuck in some kind of time loop where I've ended up on this day in Kalm eight times now."

The silence was deafening.

Barret's eyes were wide, Red's tail had frozen mid-sway, and Tifa was looking at him as though he had two heads.

The slight creak of the floorboards under Aerith's feet broke the spell that had settled over the others.

"What the f-"

"Cloud?" Tifa cut off Barret's stupefied exclamation. "Are you feeling okay?"

Cloud let out a breath. "I'm fine. I know it's a lot to take in, but it's the truth."

"Time travel? You expect us to believe in some hokey-ass story like that?" Barret spluttered.

"I believe him." Aerith spoke for the first time since they'd made it to the building. The others looked at her and she continued. "Is Cloud the sort of person who would make up stories like this? He knew the Shinra troops were going to storm Kalm and he made sure we got out of there before they turned up, didn't he?"

"Lucky guess." Barret groused.

Red moved forwards, closer to the group. "If what you say is true, then you must know how our journey unfolds."

"That's a long story." Cloud eyed the sky beyond the peeling paint of the window frames. The moon was approaching the midpoint of the sky. They had some time. He turned his attention back to the others. "I can tell you what happened the first time around, and what has happened since I travelled back. Best get comfortable."

"Now hang on a minute." Barret waved his hand about in frustration. "I'm not sitting here and listening to some bullshit story when-"

"Dyne."

Barret fell silent as the name left Cloud's lips.

"Corel. The mako reactor and the Shinra massacre. Myrna." Cloud watched the older man flinch slightly. "I know all about it. I went there with you, and you shared what happened in your past."

He looked at Red. "Nanaki. You may not think it yet, but your father was a hero, he protected Cosmo Canyon from the Gi."

Red lowered his head, his unscarred eye full of emotion. When Cloud turned to Tifa she shied away slightly.

"Tifa, you know that most of my story from last night didn't make sense. I was never the SOLDIER that were to Nibelheim with Sephiroth. That was Zack Fair." He was aware of Aerith shifting in the corner of his eye and he fought the urge to turn to her. "I eventually figured out which of my memories were real and which wasn't, and that was thanks to you."

Tifa pressed her lips together tightly and stared at Cloud.

Red cleared his throat. "What about Aerith?"

"Hm, me?" Aerith pointed at herself.

"What information about Aerith do you have to share to prove you have lived through future events?"

While Red's question was fair, Cloud felt his stomach twist unpleasantly. Thinking of the times he had lost her in the past were already a painful exercise, but having to tell the others added a new level of bitterness ot the act.

"It's okay, Cloud." Aerith smiled at him gently. "Just tell them what you told me."

He took strength from her delicate face, still riding the high that she was alive and well before him, and he took a deep breath.

"So, from the beginning…"

The others remained quiet as Cloud gave them a brief run through of how life had panned out for them the first time round. Barret shifted uncomfortably when Cloud summarised their trip to Corel and the reunion with Dyne, but he held his tongue for the most part and allowed Cloud to continue.

Red remained in contemplative silence as he listened to Cloud talk of Cosmo Canyon, Bugenhagen, and the Cave of the Gi.

He briefly explained who else they would recruit to their cause and the journey they would take to defeat Sephiroth. When his story reached the Temple of the Ancients, he paused.

"The Cloud that I was, that I have been so far in your eyes, well that wasn't completely me." He looked at Tifa who was wringing her hands together in slight agitation. "You know that something has been going on with me Tifa, ever since you found me in Midgar. You've been keeping an eye on me and worrying because you knew something was wrong."

"You're saying you're someone different now or somethin'?" Barret piped up.

"No, just the real me. The one you were trying to find." He glanced at Aerith. Those words had not been said by her yet, at least not in this lifetime, but her eyes glimmered with understanding. She had been probing at the very core of his being since she had met him, trying to draw out the part of him not guarded behind a wall, and not damaged by the events of his past.

"Me back then, well I was still stuck under Sephiroth's pull. I made some bad decisions, and I allowed myself to be used like a puppet." He shook his head, still annoyed with his past actions. "I gave Sephiroth the Black Materia."

"Which he would use to destroy the world?" Red prompted, trying to make sure he was following along.

"That was his plan. To use the Black Materia to summon Meteor and tear a wound in the planet so he could absorb the Lifestream and become a god. He planned to do this across multiple realities, absorbing the Lifestream from each world."

"Man this multiple world crap gives me a headache." Barret muttered. "How does it even work?"

Cloud shrugged. "Sephiroth said that when you defy fate, you create new worlds. Like when we fought the Whisper Harbingers, we changed the course of things. Some worlds blink out of existence quickly while others endure." Barret squinted, as though a headache was building. "You're saying that there's more than just this me running around out there?"

"Seems that way." Cloud didn't want to get into a full explanation of his trip to the alternate Sector 5 slums. At least not yet. It was something for him and Aerith to discuss first, and he had so far merely glossed over it in his explanation of things to her.

"So what happened when Sephiroth got the Black Materia?" Tifa spoke up for the first time. "We did beat him, right?"

"We did. Eventually." Cloud felt so very tired all of a sudden and he moved to mirror Barret's seated position against the opposite wall. Averting his eyes away from the others, he continued with his story.

"Aerith got her White Materia restored and she went to the City of the Ancients to pray for Holy. It was the only thing that could stop Meteor."

"And?" Barret prompted when Cloud fell silent.

"And I died." Aerith supplied, saving Cloud from having to repeat the words yet again.

Cloud heard the collective intake of breath from the others before Barret turned the air blue with his protestations.

"What do you mean you died?" Tifa whispered.

"Sephiroth." Cloud looked at the others now. "I blocked his sword and pushed it away but I guess we're stuck in the world where he was successful because Aerith died at the altar that day. I saw both outcomes and got stuck with the worst one."

"Well we can stop that happening this time, right? Now that we know what is going to happen?" Barret nodded resolutely.

Cloud let out a huff of humourless laughter. "I've tried seven times so far to change things, but I've never been able to do it."

An heavy silence fell over the group and Cloud was aware of everyone's eyes fixed on the flower girl. Aerith fiddled with the bangles on her wrist, pointedly avoiding eye contact with anyone.

"I still don't understand where the time travel bit comes in." Tifa murmured eventually.

Cloud continued with his story. The Northern Crater, the Weapons, and his bout of mako poisoning. His knowledge of what had happened to the others had been gained second hand and so his retelling was spotty.

"I don't remember much until you help me work through things in the Lifestream." He looked at Tifa. "You help me get my mind back in working order and I was able to rejoin the fight."

He summarised the rest of the events as succinctly as he could. In any other situation stories of taking a rocket to space, or a submarine to an underwater reactor would have taken centre stage, but they were by far the least strange tales that Cloud had to tell.

"So we got back to the Northern Crater and defeated Sephiroth. It took all of us, but we did it in the end."

"And Meteor was stopped?" Red asked, tail whipping the air behind him erratically.

"No." Cloud shook his head. "Meteor was already bearing down on the planet, but defeating Sephiroth did allow Holy to come forth. It was a bit too late though, and Meteor was too close for Holy to stop."

Barret had taken to his feet, pacing back and forth. "So after all that crap we went through, we still failed?"

Cloud focused on Aerith who had listened to his story quietly (for the second time in one day). "Aerith gave us a hand. The Lifestream came forth and helped Holy push meteor back."

"Heh, well way to go Little Lady. Still looking out for us I guess." Barret paused and frowned at his own words. "Scratch that, that's some damn morbid shit to be saying."

Aerith reached out and patted Barret's arm. "Don't worry about it."

Tifa had moved to the window, staring out at the dark horizon past the cliff edge. "So what happened next? How did you end up back here, Cloud?"

Cloud looked up at the others from his seated position. "A year passed. We were busy fixing the damage from Meteor, helping people rebuild their lives. Then one day I woke up and I was back in Kalm, the day after we escaped from Midgar."

"Just like that?"

"Yeah. Like I said I've done this seven times already, and I think I was sent back to make sure Aerith survives."

Red's keen eye glinted in the low light of the room. "How so?"

"Seven times now I've been unable to save Aerith. When she dies I wake up back in Kalm and I start over again."

"Eighth time is a charm, right?" Barret's rare attempt to inject humour in to the situation fell a little flat but Cloud would have been lying if he said that he didn't appreciate it.

"That's the plan. Telling you all like this, right from the beginning, hasn't been something I've done before. I'm hoping it makes a difference."

"Well to be forewarned is to be forearmed." Red intoned. "Perhaps we can discuss your previous attempts at some point?"

"Sure." Cloud stood, stretching his stiff back. "So you don't think I'm totally crazy?"

"Honestly kid, it's such a crazy story that if you've made it up I say you hang up the sword and just write for a living." Barret's gaze passed over Aerith and he frowned. "Gotta say I've got some issues with the ending though."

"Oh don't worry about me." Aerith smiled. "I'm sure we'll figure something out."

"Well at the end of the day," Barret continued. "I guess it doesn't matter if it's real or not. Either way we need to stop Sephiroth and whatever nefarious crap Shinra has planned. So on we go." "Can our first stop be to bed?" Aerith yawned. "It's been a long day."

"Good idea." Cloud spared the night sky a quick glance. "Dawn is a few hours away at least. Let's get some rest."

The group began moving about the small space, trying to make the most of the meagre surroundings. Cloud moved over to Aerith and took her hand, leading her outside of the building.

"What's up?" She asked when he had led them a short distance away from the shack.

"I know that there's still a lot we need to talk about. I mentioned Zack earlier and-"

"Hey." She cut him off. "There's time for that. You've been through so much, several times over that I don't expect you to tell me, or anyone else everything straight away."

She folded her hands behind her back and looked up at the starlit sky, a sad smile on her face. "I'm just glad that you have memories of him. That other people remember him."

"I do. He was a good friend." Cloud hesitated for a moment before continuing. "He turned up and helped me fight Sephiroth after you… well you know."

"Oh?" Aerith looked at him.

"Yeah, I think he's still out there, in another world. Maybe there's a few Zacks out there."

Aerith laughed. "Causing trouble no doubt." The smile died on her lips and she sighed. "But the Zack in this world, he…"

"Died to save me. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry for that." Aerith shook her head, braid whipping across her shoulder as she did so. "I wouldn't have expected anything different from Zack. He was loyal to a fault."

She took Cloud's hand back in her own and pressed her lips together, searching his face. "The funny thing about the human heart is that it never runs out of space. Zack was my first love. He was good and kind, and it hurts to know that he didn't make it, but a part of me always knew that he was gone, I think." She squeezed Cloud's hand tighter. "But I am so glad that I met you Cloud, that you survived, because my heart has space for you too. Its own space."

She stopped short of making any grand confessions to him, but Cloud could hear her unsaid words and he felt his heart swell.

"I can tell you the stories I have about him, if you like."

Aerith nodded, leaning her forehead against Cloud's collarbone and he felt his heart rate increase.

"I would like that." The sound of creaking hinges drew their attention and they both spotted the lithe shadow disappearing around the side of the house as the door of the shack swung shut. Drawing back, Aerith gave a Cloud one more, small smile. "You need to go and talk to her."

"Yeah." Cloud agreed and he reluctantly untangled his fingers from Aerith's.

"Be gentle. I'm sure that after all this time you know how she feels about you."

"Don't worry," Cloud offered over his shoulder as he headed after Tifa. "This me isn't so oblivious."

"Can't sleep?"

Tifa was sat near the edge of the cliff, knees bent and arms wrapped around them. Cloud lowered himself to the floor next to her, slinging one arm over his propped knee and leaning back on the other.

"Got a lot to think about after that story."

Cloud hummed in agreement and the pair sat quietly for a while, staring out at the starlit sky. The sound of the waves crashing at the bottom of the cliffs punctuated the silence between them.

"I need to apologise." Cloud was the first one to break the stillness of the moment. He was aware of Tifa turning her head to look at him, but when she didn't speak he continued. "I think our last conversation was an argument, wasn't it?"

"Oh." Tifa looked back at the dark horizon. "Yeah, last night on the roof?" Sighing, she turned her head to regard Cloud full. "But it wasn't yesterday for you, was it?"

"No. More like two years ago." The first night in Kalm, his flawed retelling of the events of Nibelheim, and his argument with Tifa on the roof - all of those instances were prior to the moments that Cloud had found himself reliving. So much had happened for him since then that he found himself digging through his memories, trying to recall the details of what had happened between himself and Tifa. Looking at Tifa now, he offered her a grim smile. "I'm sorry. I wasn't my full self back then and I blamed the gaps in my memory on you, rather than on myself."

Tifa met his gaze, her ruby eyes wet with tears. "So you don't think that I'm an impostor?"

Cloud chuckled awkwardly. "No, I think you've more than proved yourself."

'And where were you again?'

The bite of Tifa's accusation chimed clearly from the depths of Cloud's memory and he ran a tired hand over his face.

"I was there, in Nibelheim. The Shinra grunt who accompanied Zack and Sephiroth? That was me."

Tifa stared at him, mouth parted. "What-"

"Yeah, I was too ashamed to show my face to you as a lowly foot soldier, but I was there. I saw what Sephiroth did to Zack, and to you."

Tifa squeezed her eyes shut and Cloud could only imagine she was trying to banish the memories of that horrible night. "What happened afterwards? Zangan never mentioned anyone else being in the reactor."

"Now that is a long story." Cloud offered her a small smile. "I can tell you now if you'd like?"

Tifa's gaze drifted to the horizon where the slightest shade of purple was beginning to show. "Maybe another time. I think we've had enough long stories for one night."

"Right." Cloud huffed out a laugh and Tifa regarded him for a moment.

"You are different." When Cloud merely tilted his head in question, she continued. "You're a lot more open than I'm used to… not as guarded."

Cloud nodded, leaning back on both elbows. "Yeah. I have you to thank for that too you know." At Tifa's inquisitive look he smiled wryly. "Another long story."

"Forget I said anything then." Tifa laughed. She lowered herself to mirror Cloud's position. "So, can I ask you something?" "Shoot."

"You and Aerith… are you-"

Cloud kept his eyes on the night sky above, for both his sake, and Tifa's. "Yeah. That first time around I felt things but I never acted on it. Guess it ate away at me afterwards." He thought about the despondent figure he cut through Edge. "I took to sleeping in Aerith's church in the slums once everything was done. Felt a lot of guilt about what had happened."

"Were we still friends?"

Cloud turned his attention to Tifa then. "Of course we were. You spent most of your time trying to get me to rejoin the living."

Tifa lay back fully on the scrubby grass of the cliff edge, turning her head to look at Cloud. "I wasn't successful?"

"No." Cloud shook his head. "And if you couldn't do it then I don't think anyone could have."

The previous, heavy silence fell between then again, and Cloud and Tifa both stared at the constellations above them. The sky here was different than the one they shared in Nibelheim, but it was easy for them both to think of the night they had spent sat together on the water tower. Just two children, unaware of what life had planned for them.

"So about me and Aerith." Cloud intoned eventually, breaking the peacefulness of the approaching dawn.

"Hey, don't worry about it." Tifa had closed her eyes by this point, and a small smile played about her lips. "I mean you're travelling through time and fighting against fate to save her life. Pretty hard to fault you for that."

Cloud blinked before shaking his head. "Right. It's just I didn't want anything to come between us, or between you and Aerith. I've sort of sprung this on her too so I didn't want to cause any problems for her."

Tifa cracked an eye open and levelled Cloud with a chastising glare. "Oh please, Cloud. Aerith's my friend, there's no way I'd let a boy come between us."

"Ouch." Cloud deadpanned and Tifa laughed as the sun breached the horizon and heralded a new day.