System: Powering on...
System: Performing POST (Power-On Self-Test)...
System: [OK] Process test passed.
System: [OK] Memory test passed.
System: [OK] Network detected.
System: Loading bootloader...
System: [ERROR] Bootloader failed to load.
System: Critical Error Detected!
System: [ERROR] Bootloader could not be found or is corrupted.
System: Attempting to load alternate b̷̩̬͓̠̞̓͆̽̕ͅo̸̼̘̘̲̦̫̞̪̝̯͑̅̉̐͋͝ͅo̴͇̹̳̖̝̮͓̎́̑̽͛̚̕̕͜͝ṱ̵̩͇̥̯̳̣͈͎̙͇͚̉̍̌͛l̶͖̲͕͔͉̪͈̰͔̠͔̱̆̊̓̈́ö̶̢͇̠́̐̐͠a̴̭͙̾̀͒͘͝ͅd̶͚̘͕̑ȩ̶̛͚͑̂͊̈́͂̔̑̉͒͌̕͝r̴̻̠̲̦̖͕͚̾̒̔̃̊̆̊͘̚͜...
System: [ERROR] Alternate b̷̩̬͓̠̞̓͆̽̕ͅo̸̼̘̘̲̦̫̞̪̝̯͑̅̉̐͋͝ͅo̴͇̹̳̖̝̮͓̎́̑̽͛̚̕̕͜͝ṱ̵̩͇̥̯̳̣͈͎̙͇͚̉̍̌͛l̶͖̲͕͔͉̪͈̰͔̠͔̱̆̊̓̈́ö̶̢͇̠́̐̐͠a̴̭͙̾̀͒͘͝ͅd̶͚̘͕̑ȩ̶̛͚͑̂͊̈́͂̔̑̉͒͌̕͝r̴̻̠̲̦̖͕͚̾̒̔̃̊̆̊͘̚͜ not available.
System: B̵̨̧̛̜͍̠̭͇̃͐͊̍̎̃̀͊͆̈́̈́̽̚͝ō̴̰̮̞͙̙̥͓̬̠͗̏̅̅̒̅̕ơ̷̧̳̻̩̳̬͌̇̈͒̚t̴̢̹̱̳͖̩̠̬̺̍̋́͒̂̓̅͜ process interrupted-
XX. Degrading Memory
Pain. That was the primary sensation Cloud could feel.
Pain crawled up his arm as he continued to channel the spell. The mako pills Cloud popped in desperation burned off in the first few seconds. The materia sluggishly responded to Cloud's command. Yet, as it cast, it drew more and more from Cloud, seemingly taking on a mind of its own. Mana exhaustion set in, but they pushed past it.
Cloud tried to scream in pain when he felt the materia in his bracer shatter and then dig into his skin, but his jaw was clenched so tight he couldn't make a sound. His teeth creaked in his skull.
Distantly, he thought he could hear someone calling his name, but all of it was downed out by a dull roar and the sound of his own pounding heart.
As if his vision was filtered through a telescoping lens, the only thing he could see clearly through his pain was the encroaching eruption. Like a black avalanche, it sped down the hillside, engulfing the forest. Standing before it like a defiant guardian, the wooden keep of Fort Tamblin was already ablaze, centuries-weathered wood becoming dry kindling. The heat was so great that timber caught fire before contacting lava rock.
With a last push, Cloud used up every last bit of energy in his body, emptying it as a vessel for a great flood of energy from the planet itself.
"Do you know why materia overdraw is so serious, my boy," he could hear Dr. Zalinka in his ear, talking as he worked on the fusion equipment, "Think of a balloon. When there's no longer intrinsic mana in your body, there's no outward pressure against naturally occurring mako in the environment and it implodes, you see? Casting a spell is like a vacuum, and when you don't have your internal buffer, you lose the valve that keeps the planet back."
It was as if the flood of mako had burned out Cloud's nerves. He no longer felt anything as time slowed. The wall of raining ash approached at a crawl, and then gold overtook his vision.
Cloud did not know when his sight turned dark after that. When his consciousness returned, he was floating in darkness.
"Mom? Where are you? Mom…" Snow crunched under Cloud's feet as he stumbled up the steps. "I want…to see…mom…"
They said you went to heaven by climbing Mount Nibel when you passed. So surely Cloud will find Mom there.
They didn't even let him in to see her before they buried her. Said the monsters didn't leave much. But that can't be true, can it?
They said his mother threw herself in front of him. Said she loved him. Said it was trauma- why he couldn't remember. Why couldn't he see her?
The Nibel wind howled relentlessly. The great gusts almost dragged Cloud from the rotten rope bridge and down into the ravine below. Its chill penetrated Cloud's thin coat like merciless daggers.
"Mom…I want to see you…"
He shivered so much that it felt as if his bones were rattling. His teeth clattered uncontrollably. Further up the mountain path, snow piled so high it reached his thighs. It melted and froze again against his skin with every gust of wind.
"Mother…"
When his body could no longer move, the entrance to a cave came into view, so dark and hidden against blinding white snow he almost missed it. Inside, the cave was strangely warm. It made Cloud's blue-tipped fingers tingle as the sensation slowly came back to them. In the middle of the cavern, the heat source was a tall spire of crystal surrounded by green water that glittered in the dark. Cloud stumbled closer to marvel at it. It glowed all on its own.
Mesmerized, Cloud reached a hand forward.
"Cloud…"
Cloud startled at the sound. It came from the pool.
They said you went to heaven by climbing Mount Nibel when you passed.
He strode closer, but his numb and frostbitten feet stumbled on a loose rock. He lost his balance. With a splash, he plunged in. His lungs burned when he tried to gasp. He didn't know how to swim. He was sinking -
"Crack!"
A hole appeared at the dead center of the target.
"Good," a deep voice said, almost approvingly. They stood inside a cavernous space. Lights illuminated the basement, casting beams through a murky darkness. Their presence stirred decades of dust in the air. Ahead of him, there was a row of targets. In three of them, there were smoking holes, tightly grouped, while three others were pristine. The targets were childishly drawn and haphazardly mounted on what looked like any surface where they would stick.
The manor wasn't ideal for living, but it was what they had. They had cleared out the worst of the monsters. Some of the rooms were still usable. Nonetheless, Cloud's skin crawled. He never ventured further except when they needed space for target practice. He couldn't step foot in the lab without feeling violently ill. He knew it had something to do with those visions he saw. Snatches of memories. His own? He would have thought it was hallucinations if Vincent hadn't-
A crimson shadow shifted from where it almost blended into the darkness, just outside the edge of a spotlight cast by the yellowing lamp. There was a flicker of red, and glowing eyes peered back at him.
"Passable."
Cloud almost pouted. "That's it?"
He reached up to pull the shooting glasses off. After waking up from, well, falling into a mako pool, his eyesight was sharper than ever. But his mentor insisted on the glasses.
"I was shooting better when I was not much older than you," the man said. "This is passable. And…Keep the glasses on."
"My age? When was that?" Cloud cheekily asked. He listened about the glasses, though.
There was a rustle of fabric. The man turned away from Cloud, from the light. Dark hair spilled over his ragged band.
Something else vibrated in the air. And suddenly, there was another awareness overlaying his mentor's.
"I-"
"- let the one I loved, the one I respected most, face the worst."
The crimson-clad man said as he stood in front of a coffin. There was a sound of clattering next to Cloud, and when he turned to look, there was another man with a machine gun for an arm standing next to him, weapon half raised.
"So you thought you'd start sleepin' in a box? That's-"
"-hear that?"
The howling was too close for comfort, making the other passengers look around nervously. They milled about an exposed bus stop on the Midgar plain, weathered by wind and rain. The only structure in the middle of an almost empty lot was the small restroom with two grubby stalls.
Shortly after, wolves crested the hill. It was the largest pack Cloud had ever seen, thirty to forty strong. All with damp fur brushed with mako.
"Back in the bus!" Their driver screamed, hitting the horn when his voice didn't reach far enough. Panicked cries. Cloud was luckily close to the bus. He was half shoved onto the bus by other passengers rushing to get on. Cloud's slight form slammed into the bus driver, knocking his glasses askew. The older man reached one hand out to steady him while the other gripped the lever to close the pneumatic doors. Cloud was so close he could see beads of sweat across the man's brow as panicked brown eyes watched out the large front windows. "You're okay, son," he reassured, more to himself than to Cloud.
The driver pushed the lever at the last possible moment, slamming the doors closed. They locked with a final click. A lagging passenger did not make it. He stared directly at Cloud through the clear bus doors. The man's eyes widened, and he opened his mouth to scream. A loud thud rattled the bus. Cloud closed his eyes involuntarily. When he opened them again, all that was left was a smear of red against the cracked glass.
A dozen more thuds followed. Several passengers hastily pulled up on windows left open during the trip, locking themselves fully in.
"Shit, they're trying to break in," a passenger cursed from where he leaned against his seat, face pressed against the window.
There was a scream and then the sound of shattering glass. In the lot, a couple was trapped inside a truck. The woman screamed again as a mutated Kalm Fang poked in its snout, snapping vicious jaws dangerously close to her horrified face. A few people barricaded themselves in the small restroom facilities. Others, not so lucky, fended off the wolves in vain with what they could in the open lot.
"Where're the patrols?"
A loud crack echoed. For a moment, Cloud thought the wolf had broken into the besieged truck. Instead, dark blood bloomed on its fur. The beast whimpered, then stilled and slumped over.
The sound of motors had Cloud press his face to the windows along with other passengers to watch. The familiar canvas-covered Shinra patrol truck came into view, troopers already leaping from the back. Palpably, the bus let out a sigh of relief. But the relief would prove short-lived.
Patrol squads were composed of seven to ten troopers. This squad was on the smaller side. Rumors were Shinra had been running less frequent patrols as the war dragged on, and it showed.
The lead trooper aimed again at a wolf that was half dragging a struggling person away. The beast flinched, dropping its victim, but did not fall. Instead, it let out an enraged howl. Other howls answered, and half the pack was diverted to circle its new threat.
One of the troopers gestured to them. "Wake up! Get the hell out of here!"
The bus driver didn't need to be told again. The bus started rolling toward the ramp that would bring them back onto the main road. This, however, also caught the attention of the wolves. As one, they charged at the bus, several leaping onto the front hood.
The bus driver screamed, panicking as claws scratched at the windshield. Cloud, still at the front and holding on, hastily hit the black lever beside him, turning on the windshield wipers. It pushed the wolf away, but that was too late. In his panic, the driver stepped hard on the accelerator. The bus hurled itself blindly forward and abruptly stopped when it slammed into a cement light pole. The hood crumpled as the light pole toppled, denting the top of the bus.
Cloud was almost thrown out the front. Instead, he was thrown painfully into the console. The other passengers screamed as they were tossed about the bus. The driver, also not strapped in, did fly forward, knocking his head into the front dash with a resounding bang before going limp.
"Hey!" One of the troopers yelled angrily, "What are you doing?"
Cloud picked himself up off the bus floor and realized with horror that the door was ajar. The front of the bus had buckled, and the cracked but locked door was now freely swinging open.
Oh, dear Odin…
"Shit, hey! Stay back!" a trooper said as he dashed toward the bus. The bullets lodged into two wolves that had circled, getting uncomfortably close to the door. The trooper looked through the red-smeared door, his face covered by a helmet. "Alright-"
"Shit, Smith!"
The man turned around too slowly. He fired blindly, but a fang already latched onto the weak spot between his helmet and vest. He went down with a gurgling cry, weapon clattering against the ground. Smith's squad mate unloaded a hail of bullets into the wolve's side, and the beast finally died, but it was too late.
Cloud gingerly crawled forward, down the two steps toward the exit. He pushed at the door, and it swung freely. Cloud grimaced at the sight. The trooper was still breathing, but the fangs must have nicked an artery. Blood was rapidly darkening the torn green scarf and blue uniform.
"Take…take it," Smith said. Cloud looked at his feet. One step down. There laid the trooper's rifle, still sticky with blood. Cloud crouched down and grabbed it. His fingers were wet. With a practiced motion, he pulled out the magazine. Mostly full. It was heavier than the hunting rifles used by the Nibelheim watch, but the feeling of its butt against his shoulder was welcome.
Cloud lined the sight up to his first target, braced against the steps of the wrecked bus.
The shot -
went through the wolf like butter. But Cloud was no longer crouched on a bus. Instead, Fenrir roared underneath him, guided almost entirely by his shifting weight above. In his hand, a familiar weight. It was the Buster Sword. Zack-
Smiled at him.
"Thank you, my kind sir!" He slotted his new materia gently into his bracer. "Sorry, I'd love to stay and chat more, but I kinda have to run. Angeal can be a real mean taskmaster if I'm late." Cloud felt fond of how excited Zack was. He worked with materia for so long that he had forgotten how expensive they were for the ordinary civilian and how limited they were even for the troops.
"Um…before I go, I'm dying to ask you one question." Zack looked almost hesitant, and Cloud wondered what he could possibly want. Most Soldiers left once they got their supplies and never thought of the materia lab again. The thought caused a twinge of pang in Cloud's chest. "Are you from the countryside?" Cloud was surprised but nodded. "Where?"
"Nibelheim." Zack laughed. Cloud frowned, a little offended.
"How about you?"
"Me? Gongaga!" Cloud laughed at Zack's pose, his chest puffed out as he uttered the name of his hometown.
"Are you laughing? Hey, what's so funny about that? You know Gongaga?" Snow crunched under their feet as they walked. Two country town boys.
"No, but it's such a backwater name."
"Ditto Nibelheim!" Zack said, but Cloud could tell from his grin that the other man wasn't offended at all.
"Like you've been there."
"I haven't, but there's a reactor there, right? And a mako reactor outside of Midgar usually means…"
"Nothing else out there," Cloud finished with Zack in tandem, and they laughed. Cloud was in awe of working with a Soldier on this mission, but now Cloud was in awe of Zack. But Zack aged before his eyes. His smile turned sad. Blood dripped from the corner of his lips.
"You're gonna..you're gonna live. You'll be…my living legacy. My honor, my dreams… they're yours now…"
"I'm your-"
"Cloud," lips were bent in a cruel smirk, shaping his name in a mockery of how a lover would, "I will never be…just a memory."
It was raining. The water glittered as it fell from the sky. Cloud looked down at the blackened affliction on his arm, covered by a sleeve in shame for two years. As the rain fell, it cooled and soothed the pain. Like a healing bruise, the rotting flesh lightened, yellowed, then faded to nothing. Geostigma was healed.
Aeris…
Cloud was back on Mount Nibel again. The blizzard continued around him, but he wasn't cold. Standing in front of him was a woman in a plain dress. Her pale blonde hair was pulled back in a simple ponytail.
"Mom?" The woman turned around, but her face was hazy.
"This is not where you must be," she said, "Go back."
When Cloud woke, it was to a blinding light and the sound of beeping instruments. He was disoriented. His arms felt like lead. When he tried to lift his right arm, pain shot up into his shoulder, enough to snap him abruptly back to awareness. When he attempted to shift again, he realized he was strapped down tightly.
"Hoo, you're finally awake," the voice was close enough that the man's breath brushed Cloud's ear, but he stood out of Cloud's peripheral vision. Cloud could turn his head only a little, squirming against his bounds. He was tightly strapped down to a steel table.
With a soft click, more bright lights turned on overhead, temporarily blinding Cloud. Then the man came to stand over Cloud.
Hojo smirked menacingly.
"Let's figure out-"
"-how you tick, hm?" Square glasses glinted over narrowed eyes. The man, donned in a white lab coat, smiled.
"Who-who are you?" Cloud asked, straining against the thick leather bands holding him down at the wrists and ankles. There was no give. The man paused from putting on rubber gloves to contemplate.
"Hmm, I don't normally interact with specimens, but I'll make a special exception for such an exceptional one," he answered, "You can call me Fuhito. Welcome to Avalanche."
Around them were a variety of mako canisters, half filled with liquid. Some still contained monsters. Familiar ones. The same ones that constantly attacked Nanzen. As Cloud watched, a monster stirred, writhing in its tank. A tail smashed against the side of its prison.
Then, with a hiss the capsule opened. The creature inside spilled out. It still had enough human features that Cloud, no Zack, could see its face distort with pain. Overhead, an ominous door and a plaque with a familiar name.
"Juuust a moment," Fuhito said and turned away from Cloud. He hit a few buttons near the tank, and something was added to it. The monster stilled. Deeper in the cavernous space, something howled.
Evidence of past bloody experiments was scattered around the space. Further, Cloud could see the dim glow of countless capsules. He turned to Fuhito, who unhurriedly returned to his side and asked, "What do you want from me?"
Not pausing in his work, Fuhito answered, "When I heard about Mount Tamblin, I had to have a look at you for myself. The blood samples have been most fascinating." He grinned as he cleaned a scalpel and carefully put it back on the tray with a soft clatter.
Odin, help me, Cloud thought and looked down at the tiny dot of blood on his arm, evidence of a pinprick when he was unconscious. Hojo withdrew a syringe from Cloud's arm, crackling to himself. "Now, to find out if S cells will interact similarly. How-"
"Very fascinating," Fuhito continued, speaking more to himself than to Cloud, "I never thought to use a summon crystal matrix as a biological stabilizer. No wonder my previous materia implantation experiments failed. I wondered how you could channel such a large amount of mana. I had to see for myself. I wonder how-" "you could have prevailed against my greatest creation…"
A hand gripping a scalpel appeared over Cloud, hovering over his sternum. Dark eyes peered at Cloud over the rim of the glasses, not a trace of human empathy visible. They instead were like bottomless voids, pupils blown. "Open wide…"
Jensen's face suddenly appeared over Fuhito's shoulder. His lips were pulled back into a snarl. Fuhito was knocked away with a resounding blow, the scalpel clattering somewhere under the operating chair. Fuhito fell to the floor and sat back up. He braced himself with one hand and calmly wiped blood from his lip with the other.
Eyes still on Fuhito, Jensen reached down and hit a button on the console. With a quiet click, Cloud's bonds loosed. Cloud hastily slid his hands through even as his entire body protested at him moving.
"Now, what does a rat think he can do, hm?" Fuhito smirked, "Do something useful and subdue the subject."
On hearing Fuhito's command, Jensen started shaking violently. While Fuhito was distracted, Cloud slid himself off the table, landing on his feet shakily. His muscles protested, but the short burst of adrenaline was enough. Cloud grabbed the first weapon in reach, which looked like a large knife. He brandished it shakily at Fuhito.
Vacant, unsettling eyes stared back above an empty smile. As if they were under the man's microscope. Fuhito made no move to stop them. Cloud grabbed Jensen instead, "Let's move."
Adrenaline was wearing off as they reached the entrance of the cave. Suspiciously, nothing stopped them on their way. Light filtered in as the metal door opened without protest. Just as Cloud could feel fresh air on his face, Jensen stopped. Cloud was so surprised he surrendered the weapon to Jensen. Jensen's other hand tightened around Cloud's wrist.
"Jensen, what the hell-" Cloud turned to see Jensen's slack expression. Behind him, two muscular guards closed in. There was a glint of light off glasses further behind, walking between the experimentation pods.
"Come back now with my query, rat. You know your place."
"Jensen-" the man started shaking again. His slack face slowly tightened into fear.
"Ah, wolves and ravens are much more reliable," Fuhito said, masking a tsking sound. The guards closed in.
"They can't take me again," Jensen said as he slowly lifted his other hand to hold the knife to his neck. He looked like he was about to shake apart. "I am not their p-" "uppet!"
"Jensen, wait-" As a red gash appeared across his neck, Jensen's hand slackened, releasing Cloud. As he fell, the guards ran forward.
"NO!" A surge of familiar energy filled Cloud again. It caused excruciating pain as it poured from him. The blast threw him out of the cave in a bright burst of fire. Roars of screaming trailed behind him.
Valley wildgrass cushioned Cloud's landing. He rolled down the hill, knocking the breath out of him.
There was a familiar and unfamiliar lightness in his step. The blast should have knocked him out, but it barely knocked the breath out of him. When Cloud picked himself up again, thick black smoke came out of the mountain, trailing ever higher. Something growled, and black shapes started pouring out of the opening, well disguised from the outside.
Cloud had no more weapons. He looked around for anything. A rock. A stick.
The first mutilated beast was met with a heavy swing of a branch. Cloud only spared a moment of shock when the swing knocked the monster away with such force that it slammed into another, knocking them both down. Then, he raised his wooden staff to guard against an angry open maw.
Blood sprayed around him as the impact cracked a skull. Cloud didn't look again to see where the wolves were coming from. He ran deeper into the forest. Twigs and stones dug into the bottoms of his bare feet, but Cloud didn't heed the stings. Twigs left scratches across his bare torso, but he couldn't feel the nicks.
Half out of his mind, he ran and ran. The forest flew past him in a dark blur.
He crawled on his hands and knees when he couldn't run anymore. Through the forest, more howls echoed. Cloud looked around. His gaze couldn't penetrate the darkness and haze. He twisted around as more howls echoed.
Only hair-trigger reflexes prevented a wolf from taking a bit out of his jugular. Cloud batted the wolf away and hobbled along.
The further he went, the more sparse the trees became until he found a clearing. Pausing at its edge, Cloud raised his weapon to bat another wolf away. One found him, and now the rest of the pack followed its scout. Whatever power allowed him to escape Avalanche was failing him now. He couldn't muster more than a spark of magic. This was it.
The stick began to crack under the repeated hits, and Cloud was well past collapse when the sound of a helicopter became audible. As its downdraft brushed through Cloud's hair, a black figure not unlike an avenging angel fell upon the monsters that circled Cloud.
Cloud's world tilted as his knees gave out under him.
"Good to see you-"
"-Cloud? Cloud!"
Someone was shaking him, but Cloud could barely raise his head anymore. He breathed desperately. His chest felt tight.
"Ngh…Ugh-"
"Wait here, alright? I'll be right back." Zack said, but Cloud couldn't respond. He was locked in his own body.
A gloved hand gently tilted his chin up. Green eyes gazed deeply into Cloud's own.
Cloud could only see Sephiroth's expression as the other man bent over him, silver hair cascading over his shoulders like a curtain. His brows were furrowed together, his lips downturned.
"...Cloud? Do you know where you are?" Cloud continued to breathe rapidly. It felt like his chest was constricted, and he wasn't getting enough air. Sephiroth?
Where was he? He remembered being in Edge Nibelheim Desolation Wutai. He was fighting Kadaj Sephiroth Jenova Avalanche. Then he whimpered.
"Hurts," he said, clutching his head, curling as much as he was able into a fetal position. But no squirming was alleviating the intense headache, the ringing in his ears. "Make it stop."
"Cloud," Sephiroth said, but his voice sounded like two people in chorus—the same voice, one taunting, the other worried. A gloved hand reached forward into Cloud's field of view, and then two hands superimposed on each other. He was seeing double.
"Don't touch me!" Cloud cried desperately, then choked off another whimper as he squeezed his eyes shut.
"Cloud!" a different voice called. A familiar voice. Cloud snapped his eyes open. Over Sephiroth's shoulder, concerned blue eyes gazed down at him.
"Za-Zack…Zack?"
What is Zack doing here? Don't hurt him. Don't hurt him.
"Please…" Cloud said, becoming more agitated. Don't hurt him don't hurt him donthurthim DontHurtHim DONTHURTHIM
A bright glow flared around Cloud, and even through his panic, Cloud could feel the burning sensation that now afflicted him. The sensation preceded the uncontrollable channeling of a spell.
Distantly, someone commanded, "Knock him out now!" A green light overtook Cloud's vision, and he knew no more. His last view as his eyes closed was a look of sheer devastation on Sephiroth's face.
Midpoint Achievement: Our time traveler is in another castle!
Award: Cloud's POV unlocked.
A/N
FFN editor wiped out some of the formatting. See AO3 if you want to see them, but they are fairly minor
See if you can spot some interesting details in this chapter- lot's of reveals - thanks for reading!