Chapter 5

...It turned out that things did work out. The bullies...or should I call them 'people who have a taste for hazing, of all things'?...left Zidane alone for a few days, long enough for him to get to know me...and to truly get to like and respect Alanna. Who would of thought that he really had a talent for using the swordstaff...that no one had caught since there aren't many people who actually USE the swordstaff? I wanna kill whoever tried to teach him to use a short sword, however. He can't hardly use it...he only can use it well enough to look good in a play. It turned out he's a natural at the swordstaff, however. I made sure he had a way to get my attention quickly--as well as I'm more of a partner with him now. One has to be careful of a guy's pride, after all.
...I should've known, though, when I found out that he's noticing and likes girls that it might cause trouble. It did...he tried to help Alanna out and ended up...well...screwing up big time and breaking one of the cardinal rules of being a thief: 'don't get away by getting someone else in trouble if you DO get caught'. Oops. Had to rescue him from Alanna...I'd better remember NOT to get her mad. She turns into a banshee then!
...And then, after Alanna had calmed down...well...I discovered that 'whatever was bothering him' had finally hit him full force--as well as I got a bad case of déjà vu because of the situation. It reminded me of when I flunked out as a SOLDIER trainee...And now I know why Nora chose me over anyone else. It was 'cause I know what it's like to lose a dream...that's what the problem was: he was about to lose a dream. He hadn't realized it was gone until he asked Alanna about what he was looking for...
...And then, on this rainy day, he asked me about what had happened back during the Jenova War (though he didn't know that what me and my friends went through is now being called the Jenova War). I saw no harm in telling him, as long as he knew it's okay to interrupt to ask questions because Vida is really different than Gaia, and some of our technology sounds nearly impossible to someone who hasn't lived there...
~~From Cloud's journal

It didn't take that long to finish the dishes with two pairs of hands, not really. While Cloud was scrubbing the frypan (a nasty job with no steel wool pads) Zidane asked, "Why did you help me, anyway?" Cloud answered, "Because I really hate bullies or people who...erm...do that kinda thing..." Yeah, hate hazing. Really hate hazing. That reminded him of when he first went into SOLDIER training:

It wasn't nice in Midgar, but the part where they actually trained members of SOLDIER was on the plates, not in the slums...it was somewhere behind ShinRa HQ. Anyone could try...many did, but few actually made it...most went into the normal ShinRa Guard. He'd applied...and gotten in...but staying in would be a different story...Well, on his first day, he'd gotten some of the toughest guys pretty mad for some reason. They decided to make him an example. They had strung him up by the collar in the locker room, but then this black haired guy came upon them and yelled, "Get your stinking hands off him!" There was a fight, they all got in trouble, but Cloud and that black haired guy had won. The guy's name who had helped him was named Zack...

That's somethin' I'd rather not remember. How embarrassing...though I'd made a friend that day. Zack was my best friend among the SOLIDER trainees...ah, I still miss him... Cloud shook himself out of the memory and went back to the dishes.

He glanced over at Zidane and noticed he was a little miffed. He thought a second, then realized what the problem was. Must've hurt his pride a bit. Wait, I think I know how to stop this before it starts...Don't wanna be fighting with him...that never works.

"I'm sorry if I embarrassed you when I summoned to save your butt. There's a better way though. Someone once told me a long time ago that "when two or more people team up and work together as one, one plus one can equal much more than two". I think it was that lady Instructor...what was her name? Icicle? No, that can't be right...crap!

Zidane seemed to consider that a second. Then he shook himself and said, "What are you getting at?"

"Simple. I'd rather team up with you than keep jumping in like I just did. If people work together in a fight, they can combine their abilities in a way. Bet you can guess what that means..." Cloud thought it would be better if Zidane could figure it out.

He wasn't disappointed either; Zidane (who had been rinsing and drying) nodded and said, "You mean, fighting together as swordsibs?"

Cloud nodded.

"What did that person mean, anyway?", Zidane continued.

"Think she meant that two people who work together can actually help each other. Nobody can see that monster that comes from behind you; but if you're with a friend or two, they might see it and take it out. It also helps to have friends when dealing with a very nasty monster..."

"Oh, now I get it." Zidane smiled.

It wasn't long after that that they finished the dishes. As they were putting them away, Cloud said:

"Think I need to go get some things... Alanna's comin' over later to train with me for a while. Do you wanna join in?" It'll be stupid if he didn't take the chance., Cloud thought.

"Yeah, I'd better. Don't wanna get rusty..."

"Okay. Then I need to get you a practice weapon. Can you come along?"

"Sure. I gotcha-you don't wanna get the wrong weapon, right?"

Cloud nodded. He grabbed a big basket (for the groceries), locked the door, and they both went to the market. Cloud decided to leave the groceries until last; what other things he was planning on getting wouldn't spoil. They went to the market. When they got to the guy who sold practice weapons, Cloud was surprised to find that Zidane also picked out a short sword as well as a dagger. Weird, I thought thieves didn't use swords, he thought. Then they went to another craftsman that Cloud had noticed earlier. He bought a whistle, then turned to Zidane.

"This's yours."

"Why? I don't need a whistle..."

"It's just in case we get separated and you get in a bad fight. You blow that and I hear it, I'll come running to help." Not perfect.,Cloud thought. I'd rather use a cell phone, but without satellites and all that, the cell phone isn't any good, 'specially since I don't have two. That's why I took the battery out in the first place.

"Ohh, gotcha." Zidane pocketed it. It didn't take them long to get the rest of the groceries and get home. Cloud quickly put the food away.

Cloud turned to Zidane.

"Think it's been long enough, wanna go outside for a while and practice? Alanna is gonna be here soon, but I won't mind if I cross blades with you for a while."

"Okay!"

They both got their practice weapons and went outside. Cloud stretched a bit (he didn't want to get hurt), then they had at it. Cloud held back, not wanting to hurt Zidane. Never forgot what the weapons instructor in SOLIDER said; "If you break your partner, nobody else'll wanna play with you". That's too true. Cloud's big wooden practice sword and the practice dagger that Zidane had got met again and again; Cloud admired his skill though Zidane really wasn't that strong, he could tell. He's not bad, not bad at all. It didn't take too long for Zidane to get winded (Cloud was used to watching his partner for the early signs, he always did that since he didn't want to get someone so out of breath that they couldn't talk; again, that was something his teachers would of rounded him on long ago, so it had become almost instinct)

"Okay, we'd better take a break." Cloud said. Zidane nodded, and walked around the yard slowly a bit (He knows what he's doing., Cloud thought) and then he switched to the sword. He didn't know how to use that very well, Cloud found out very quickly. Cloud was able to disarm Zidane pretty fast. They tried again, with the same result. Goodness, he's clumsy with that sword. Why'd he pick that, anyway?

At about the third attempt, Cloud heard Alanna come up. He wasn't paying attention where she was, but she obviously saw what had happened and said, "Yeek! That 'ol dog don't hunt, how long have ya been tryin' ta learn ta use that thing?"

Zidane looked up. He answered "About three years".

"Yeowch! Your weapons instructor is a dummy and a idiot, he shoulda figured out that ya don't got no talent for that weapon by now! No talent, it's near impossible for somebody ta use a certain weapon. Put that stupid thing away, it's not doin' ya any good."

Zidane looked a bit hurt, but he listened and put it away. Alanna gave Zidane a long look. Something obviously occurred to her, for she said, "Huh, this may seem way off, but...did ya ever meet someone who could use swordstaves before?"

Zidane looked up and shook his head. Alanna continued, "You got the right build ta try one, I think. If ya don't got no talent for it, well, yer no worse off than ya are now."

She cocked her head at Zidane; Zidane looked like he'd been hit with a board. He was that surprised. "You're kidding me."

"No, I'm not. I'm willin' ta see if ya got what it takes. Ya wanna try?"

Zidane cocked his head for a moment, thinking. Alanna let him. I gotcha, ye gal., Cloud thought. Maybe he can, all he can do with the sword is look pretty. And I understand, it's worth a try. It's all up to Zidane though.

It didn't take long for Zidane to make up his mind.

"Okay. I'll try..."

Alanna nodded. "Just a sec, k?" She ran off for a minute; when she came back she had two of her practice swordstaves. She tested the weight of each of them carefully, then handed Zidane one of them. "Ah got cheated a while back. The guy didn't weight it like I asked him ta."

Zidane's eyes widened. "You practice with weighted weapons!?"

Alanna nodded. "Yup. Heck, toldja earlier that it's hard for a gal to get any respect, right?" Zidane nodded. "That's why I get my practice weapons weighted...and I've been gettin' new ones that are slightly heavier every time I get used ta da weight of my current one." She chuckled. "It may seem stupid, but it works. Ya prolly won't be able to pick up my current fav right now tho. It's likely too heavy."

"May I?" Zidane asked. Alanna handed him the one he was holding. He couldn't hold it up; his eyes widened again. "Yikes, that's heavy! I can't believe you actually use THAT!"

Alanna grinned and took it back. "Been usin' weighted weapons from day one when I started trainin'. If ya wanna, I'll help ya get weighted practice weapons a bit later, it really helps. Ya just have ta build up ta it, that's all."

Zidane nodded. Cloud said, "Okay, I'll go beat up the pell for a while..."

"And I'll yell when I'm good an' ready." Alanna finished.

Cloud went over to practice against one of the pells for a while. He did it from one side this time so he could see what was going on since he was a bit curious. Alanna showed Zidane how to swing it in slow motion; he gave it a try and...it didn't look too bad at all, though Cloud was no judge of that.

"Woah!" Alanna said. "Ya never even tried it and ya did better than I did when I first started! What do ya think of it, anyway?"

Zidane balanced the practice weapon for a second. "Like, oh, this is something I lost and I just found."

"Shows yer a natural, Zidane! But don't get lazy now. My old master, Levitz, once said, "Talent will only bring you to 'good'. Practice will bring you to 'great'"

Zidane nodded. Cloud was watching the scene out of the corner of one eye. Looks like Alanna's hunch was right. Zidane CAN use her favored weapon, if he gets enough practice. She told me she trusts her hunches a lot. It got to just practicing, things Cloud wasn't that interested in. He paid more attention then to his swordstrokes on the pell. That, it didn't matter if he broke it, pells were made so they weren't expensive anyway and so they would break...especially with someone as strong as Cloud. After about thirty minutes, Cloud took a break and checked; they'd switched back to daggers for the moment. Cloud smiled at that. Yes, she uses daggers once in a while. She told me that most thieves start with that weapon. After a little while, Alanna turned toward Cloud.

"Okay, Zidane, take a break and get a drink of water. Cloud, ya ready?"

Cloud nodded and raised his blade. Alanna came up as well, raised her swordblade(she'd switched back) and they began to practice-bout. Then it was nothing more than block, strike, dodge...the usual. Cloud this time could feel another's eyes on him; it was obviously Zidane watching them. Cloud wasn't paying much attention since he was concentrating on the practice bout. Eventually, Alanna got out of breath and she took a break. Cloud turned toward Zidane again.

"You wanna give it another go?"

Zidane nodded; they went at it again. Zidane was still using a dagger at this point; Cloud guessed that he didn't feel confident enough to just use the practice swordstaff. Back and forth, dodge and block, the dance went on for a while. That is, until Cloud noticed Zidane was starting to get out of breath. Then Zidane took a break while Cloud had it out again with Alanna. This went on for a couple of hours, then Alanna said "That's enough" and left. She was pretty tired by this time. So was Zidane; he'd quit a while ago.

Cloud turned to Zidane.

"You just stretch and put your practice weapons away. I'm going back inside."

Zidane nodded and walked to the far side of the yard. Cloud smiled and went into the basement, as he did every time Alanna left. First he did some push ups and sit ups...he knew from sordid experience that if he wasn't practicing with his friends, it just wasn't quite enough. Sheesh, if I don't exercise enough, I get cramps...well...in embarrassing places. Darn that Jenova sometimes! I can't be lazy even once!

Cloud soon finished exercising and stretched; then he went into one corner, where he had three or four cushions in a pile. He sat down, settled himself, and relaxed, using meditation to go into a mild trance. He could feel the materia that were on his bangle as the sparks of power that they were; for as his usual habit, he was practicing the mental and physical discipline he had learned in SOLIDER training. It was a kind of trance; but the exercises were designed to fine-tune one's concentration and keep one from getting too rusty when it came to using it with Materia. The only problem with doing it was you wern't aware of externals that much...

Well before Cloud was ready, he suddenly realized that someone was shaking him hard and yelling at him. Drat! Cloud thought, and bobbed up with a painful start. It was Zidane.

"Don't do that!" Cloud said, annoyed.

"I couldn't get your attention! What were you doing?"

Cloud sighed. "I was practicing some mental discipline. Have to; makes it easier to use my materia. What's so urgent that you had to shake me out of it?"

"Not really, I didn't know what you were doing. I just wanted to talk to you."

"What is it?"

"Um...Alanna's nice, isn't she?"

"Yeah, she is. Did she give you any trouble?"

Zidane shook his head. "She was trying to teach me how to get a swordstaff to extend, I couldn't do it!" He looked a bit upset.

Hmm, Cloud thought absently. Then he got a brainstorm. Wait a second! She said that she 'has ta think at it' to get hers to extend or retract. That smells like one of the techniques in using Materia to me. Maybe the mental discipline techniques that I learned in SOLIDER would help him too...if I can teach him? Well, no harm done if he learns it; I was told that it could help anybody, since most of them are designed to flex ones mental muscles a bit and hone one's concentration and focus to a razor edge. That's good for anybody, really, mage or not. He smiled at Zidane. "If that's anything like I think it is, maybe the mental discipline that I use'll help you with that. Would you like to try to learn it? Be warned, it takes a while to master the techniques..."

Zidane seemed to consider it a few minutes, and then said, "Yeah..it can't hurt, can it?"

Cloud shook his head. "Don't think so. Okay, just get yourself comfortable, doesn't matter how..."

The next thirty or so minutes, Cloud did his best to explain it...and he succeeded...at least in explaining it well enough that Zidane could figure out how to start it. However, the usual things interfered that Cloud remembered when he first started -- Zidane got a leg cramp and complained about it. (Cloud got him to stretch it out) Above all, Zidane hadn't done badly for a first try.


Five weeks later...

Zidane grinned as he ran back from the King Mansion. Boy, is Alanna gonna be surprised! She's been looking for Star Daggers for a while, I got two of 'em! That was real easy, too!

He'd come to really like both Alanna and Cloud. Cloud was a nice guy, if prone to brooding a lot and being a bit too serious a lot of the time. And Alanna...! She wasn't pretty, not by a long shot. But she was the first girl he could actually talk to without his tongue freezing to the top of his mouth. Besides, she actually listened to him. Most girls didn't pay any attention to him except to say, "Get lost, kid, your're bothering me".

He'd also found out three weeks ago why he'd had such a horrendous appetite; it was simple. He was growing. AGAIN. He'd thought he was through before this, but nature had to go and throw that at him. Cloud had helped him yet again; he'd helped him get some new shoes since his old ones had started to pinch. He'd have to get new pants soon; they were starting to get a bit short.

He'd gotten the idea to raid the King Mansion the other day. Just as Alanna was leaving for home after she taught Zidane and trained with both of them, she'd told Cloud that she'd raided a certain house earlier and...she'd hoped there'd be some Star Daggers there but there wasn't. Cloud had asked why, she'd said something about a new weapon she'd wanted to get forged, but Star Daggers were incredibly hard to find. Zidane remembered that last time they had been there, the Kings had had a matched set of those daggers. So he'd decided to go get them, not only so he could impress Alanna, but so she could pay her back a bit. He'd finally figured out how to make her swordblade extend, though he didn't doubt that the mental discipline helped. He'd noticed since he'd gotten the hang of it and wasn't bothered by cramps and such any more, he'd had an easier time of doing even the Flee technique; it was easier to activate a pinch of the mintha powder. (That stuff was common as dirt, but to most people it was nearly useless.)

He ran down the street, being careful to keep his eyes and ears open. Those idiots had pounced on him a few days earlier, but Zidane never knew when they'd pounce again.

They're soo...darn...persistent! I remember what happened, I almost got away...

I'd used the Flee technique right at the first, not asking them what they had against me...I knew that it was no good to ask, I'd only get cornered... However, it hadn't QUITE worked...they spotted me again five minutes later....Lucky Cloud had heard the whistle and came running. He'd did a quick bird call to warn me he was gonna use a unfocused spell (it was one that was from around where he was born, he said) and I'd jumped straight up and grabbed a drainpipe to get the heck out of the way. He cast it all right...it was an Ice Spell. Some of them yelled about it, he bluffed by saying that he'd cast a Lightening spell next if they didn't get the heck out of there. They did. I asked him a little later why he didn't just clobber them, he'd said: "I'd rather they learned their lesson and not pick on anyone else. Don't see a good reason to kill them."

Gave me some good advice, he did then. Zidane smiled. He said, never try to pick a fight unless the 'fight's been picked'. He meant that you HAD to fight. And insults don't count.

He chuckled to himself. He's right though. There are times when it IS picked and you can't do a thing about it. That includes when you have to 'settle a dispute with the blade'.

He then noticed something. Uh oh! he thought, for he'd thought he'd seen one of those awful bullies. He ducked quickly behind two buildings and hid behind some trash. He waited there quietly, peeking a bit and making sure he kept his tail down. He knew now that they were too much for him to handle alone; it took Cloud to chase them away. He was right this time; it WAS one of the bullies. He heard him say, "Thought I saw...naah, he ain't around now" and he left. Then Zidane got out from behind the trash and went on his way. Whew, close call. It didn't take him long to get back and go toward Alanna's place. Just as he came up to Alanna's house, the door flew open. A oglop hopped out. A split second later, Alanna ran out with a rather greasy and yukky looking broom. She swatted the oglop with it before it got very far.

"Bleeech!" she muttered. "Darn these oglops in da house..." Then she looked up and saw Zidane. "Heya there. What'cha up ta?"

Zidane smiled. So far so good....


A bit later, Cloud was walking toward the house he was renting. He'd just been going out for some groceries; he now had the first load (some milk and cheese) in a big basket he was carrying. Pretty quiet today., he thought. Just as he rounded the corner, he heard some yelling. It was Alanna...

"You cad! You idiot! Doin' it like that! Getting AMARANT in trouble so you could get away! He'll come after ya, sooner or later, did ya know that ya idiot?" she shrieked. She was chasing Zidane around with a VERY oily looking broom. (Cloud recognized it as the one she used to swat some pesty bugs called oglops with) She continued to chase Zidane around, calling Zidane almost every bad name in the book. At the top of her lungs, that is.

Yikes, what's this about? Graah, I'd better see if I can stop this. What caused her to decide to act like a banshee, anyway? He held on to the basket and ran up to where the fur was flying.

"Alanna! What's going on? What happened?"

Alanna looked at Cloud with a dirty look. "Zidane got some Star Daggers for me, but he got the guard in trouble to get away! It was Salamander..."

"I heard you yelling at Zidane about an 'Amarant'..."

"I just call him 'Salamander' because of his hot temper. His real name is Amarant." She was furious; Zidane cringed.

"Calm down, Alanna. No need to wake up the neighbors, though I think you've already done that." He turned to Zidane.

"What happened? How come you had to 'get that guard in trouble'?" I've been avoiding Salamander erm...Amarant since I don't want to borrow trouble. Didn't want to fight him either.

"Um...he caught me, I had to get away somehow..." Zidane said in a trembly tone of voice.

Cloud shook his head. "Next time, watch out and don't get caught in the first place." He then muttered, "I thought thieves weren't supposed to get caught..."

Zidane then said, "I heard that. I won't let it happen again..."

Cloud nodded and then turned to Alanna.

"Take three deep breaths and calm down, I think he's sorry."

She nodded and did so. Cloud noticed her lips moving, he guessed she was counting to ten as well. "Everything okay now?"

"Yeah" Alanna said. "Go take care ah the rest of yer errands, I'll handle things here." When Cloud hesitated a bit, she made a shooing motion with on hand and and said, "Git! It's gonna be okay"

Cloud nodded and ran to the house to put the milk and cheese away. (He always took care of that first since he didn't want anything to spoil) Then he went back to the market to get some bread and fruit and to check on the job he had the next night. That took a while. He went back, taking his time. Everything seemed to be quiet when he went back onto the street that the house he was renting on. He went back into the house, but then he heard Zidane crying softly. What now?, he thought. He ran into the 'living room'. There was Zidane, leaning against one arm and crying. Cloud dropped the basket; a apple bounced out and rolled on the floor, unnoticed. He walked up, touched Zidane on the shoulder, and asked, "What"s wrong?"

Zidane looked up, hiccuped, and said, "Nnnothing. Leave me alone..."

Woah! Cloud thought. He was having quite a case of déjà vu at the moment. He remembered...

He'd been on the bed, crying with his face stuffed in his pillow, with the pink slip that was the notice that he had washed out of SOLIDER training clenched in his fist. Suddenly, a hand had touched him on the shoulder. It was Zack, who said, "What's wrong, Cloud?" He'd whined, "Nnnothing, leave me alone!" He threw a pillow at Zack...

Goodness, I did almost the same thing...but that time, it was Zack trying to get my attention. Now I'm in ZACK'S shoes. I never expected this... He thought a minute. And part of what happened...two years ago...was I had to get rid of Zack's ghost...I'm glad Tifa helped when it came down to it...But I can't handle this his way. Gotta do it my way, though...Zack, wherever your soul is now, guide me now, please?! He reached out again. "No, there's something wrong or you wouldn't be upset. It's okay, you can tell me."

"You wouldn't understaaaand..."

More déjà vu! I said that too. Well, guess he needs a bit more encouragement...

"Try me, I've been through a lot more than you realize. Besides...I won't make fun of you for crying, I promise. Whoever made up the rule that 'only wussy boys cry' ought to be sho...hanged!" Oops. Caught myself just in time. He probably won't know what 'being shot' is.

Zidane looked up. He was still crying silently, but he seemed to be considering that. Then he sobbed out his story. He'd asked Alanna earlier if she'd seen anyone like him on her travels (he'd finally gotten up the courage) and she'd said no...he'd been searching for his people...

"A a all I wanted to know is where I came from. The only memory I got from home is a blue light...Don't even know why I hitched that ride with that airship and came to Lindbulm in the first place...Been dreaming of searching for them for yyears..."

Oh. My. Goodness. It's tempting to just tell him, but I still remember what Nora said: 'it would destroy him'. Don't want to be that cruel. But now it's obvious what the 'searching for something very unwisely' was; trying to find his birthplace on only THAT clue? Fat chance of finding it, he should've known that. And it's also obvious now why she thought I'd do. I know what loss--either loss of a dream or a friend--is like. He had three flashes of memory: Sephiroth falling from the sky and impaling Aeris on the Masamune; the death of Zack; and the time he'd lost his dream to be a member of SOLDIER. Yes, I can help him out here. No problem. Could get a bit painful, though.

He leaned over and whispered to Zidane, "You're not alone; I've lost a dream, as well as friends, myself."

Zidane looked up, startled. Tears were still streaming down his cheeks. He asked, "How...what? What, who did you lose?"

Cloud bowed his head. "As for 'who', there was two friends of mine that were killed right in front of me. As for what, let me tell you that story. You know I came from a different world, right?" Zidane slowly nodded. "Well, once on my world there was a elite part of an army called SOLIDER. I'd rashly decided to run away from home and try to join it. I'd managed to get into training. The odds were against me to make it through, I knew. Eight out of ten people that went into SOLIDER training washed out of the program. I was doing fine up until a couple of months until the end. I checked my mail one morning to find...a pink slip of paper...that meant they were kicking me out..."

Zidane's eyes widened. He shook his head a bit, then said, "You wern't kidding." He leaned up against Cloud's arm; Cloud gripped Zidane's shoulder. Cloud hadn't planned it, but he felt a couple of silly tears trickle down his cheeks.He got ahold of himself and said, "Do you want some advice?" Zidane nodded. "For one, you're lucky. This isn't like my foray into trying to join SOLIDER in one point: one could only try to join once in their lifetime. If one washed out, that person couldn't ever try again. But...this means you didn't come from anywhere on this continent. It's too hard to travel to other continents, isn't it?" Zidane nodded again. "Number one, don't let yourself believe that dream is completely dead. Think of it as if some idiot cast a sleep spell on it and nothing can wake it up; you might be able to make it come true one day, but not right now. Number two, it's as if you're at a crossroads. There are several things you can do; you just have to make up your mind what. Don't rush, think your options over carefully, for one little decision can change the rest of your life." No kidding. Look what trying to join SOLDIER did! "Number three; I won't deny it, this kinda thing hurts. Any loss hurts. Get the feelings out, don't bottle them up inside. It's worse if you don't let'em out, believe me."

Zidane nodded, tears streaming down his face still. He burrowed his face into Cloud's arm again; Cloud carefully put his other arm around Zidane's shoulders. It took quite a while for Zidane to calm down.


Two days later, they both ran inside after training in a nasty rainstorm that had blown up. Pafooey! Hate this kind of weather!, Cloud thought. Still remember what the Instructors said and what I know from experience; "Monsters and attackers don't wait for nice weather"

They parted quickly; Cloud grabbed some dry clothes out of the closet and changed. He made sure both the Ultima Weapon and his armor was all right and dried off; this was another thing that was a very ingrained habit. He then went into the living room with some firewood. I know, 'catching cold from just getting wet' is just an old wives' tale. But they don't know it's an old wives' tale here. I don't like being wet and cold anyway.

It didn't take Cloud long to start the fire. Then Zidane came in. He sat down by the fire; then he grabbed the poker and started poking around in the fire absently. Cloud grabbed a wooden chair and pulled it up by the hearth. Just as he sat down, Zidane looked up.

"Cloud?"

"Hm?"

"You said the other day that you'd been through a lot."

"Yeah, true. Had a lot of adventures, made a lot of friends along the way...even had to find myself all over again after a fashion a couple of years ago."

"Wha? What DID happen that caused you to 'have to find yourself'?"

Whoo boy. Two years ago... that was the Jenova War. But anyway...no harm in telling him. Though I'll have to be careful; there's a lot of stuff he might not get. "Okay, I'll tell you. Remember, most of this took place on my world. There's technology that seems impossible there to someone from here, I assume. Besides, the story is confusing as it is. Go ahead and interrupt me if something puzzles you." Then Cloud began with, "It all started when I wandered into Midgar (which I don't remember how I got into that town too clearly) and ran into Tifa..." Zidane asked what a train was and a few other things; Cloud answered the best he could. When Cloud got to the part about blowing up the reactors, Zidane asked him "Why did your friend ask you to plant those things, since he knew that might hurt a lot of people?" Cloud answered, "I think Barret felt that was the only way to stop them. I've never asked." Zidane also considered Cloud lucky for surviving that fall into the church, was somewhat disgusted by Don Corneo, and thought it was senseless that Shinra had brought down that plate just to get rid of a few people. He was mostly quiet until Cloud described how Sephiroth had killed Aeris; then he cried out, "Shit! That guy is terrible!"

"Was, you mean. He's not around any more."

"You mean it?"

"Yeah, I'm getting to that." And Cloud went on. Zidane told him when he got to the part where he'd just given up fighting and just listened to Sepheroth that "that was terrible. What happened?"

"I just lost all hope when what Sephiroth told me that stuff. Lost my confidence, lost all hope. That's when I truly became a puppet for a while. Part of me deep down really hated what I was doing; part of me welcomed it...After that though, I ended up drifting in the Lifestream for a while...didn't care, didn't even remember who I was..." He went on. Zidane was astounded at what Tifa had managed to do ("now that's a friend!") and interrupted again when he got to the part about Holy. He asked, "Did Aeris...really have to die then?"

Cloud answered, "I'm not sure. Red XIII told me later there were two translations from the original book for that. One said, 'one's spirit must reach the Planet' and the other said, 'one's wish must reach the Planet'. It's not clear which one was right...I guess only Aeris knows." He quietly continued his story...Zidane didn't say a thing more until Cloud got to the part where Sephiroth pulled Cloud away like he'd had...then he said, "Whoo! That idiot.."

"No kidding he was an idiot. I let him have it then." It didn't take Cloud long after that to get to the part where they escaped from the Northern Crater and flew near Midgar. He described the battle between Holy and Meteor and then said, "I knew somehow it was Aeris but I don't know how, but the Lifestream came from everywhere and focused on Midgar. It blinded us for a good five minutes...."

Zidane then said, "What happened after that?"

"Well, first thing after the spots cleared from our eyes, Cid landed the Highwind. Then we went into Kalm and met Reeve in the flesh for the first time. He did something that I didn't quite see and Cait walked away. Then we all started evacuating Midgar; that place had become very unsafe. All of us helped find survivors; there was a lot of people who died. Only eight out of ten people in Midgar survived that..."

Cloud could tell then that Zidane was doing some fast calculations in his head. "Not good odds..."

"That's true. Anyway, when we were almost finished, Reeve started muttering about "This didn't have to happen, is there a way to prevent it from happening again?" Just as we rescued a baby from the rubble, he got a brainstorm! His idea was to build a new Midgar...I had to stop Barret from throttling Reeve right then and there. It turned out he didn't want to follow the old designs at all, let alone use Mako Reactors; he wanted to build a town...which was a center of learning so that people could actually learn what had happened...and maybe find a career along the way. Reeve said, "They say, he that does not learn about and from the past is doomed to repeat it. I'd rather that future generations learned that the Jenova Project and using Mako for power was a Very Bad Idea." Then Barret calmed down; he liked that idea. After we finished, me and Tifa went back to Nibelheim for a while; it turned out that while we were cleaning up Midgar, the actors had all skivvied off. The quiet became really oppressive after a while...so we moved to New Midgar, which isn't that far from Kalm. It"s a big town on the coast, but the way it's designed...it's beautiful. They get power there from coal, wind, and the tides.'

"Woow..must be a pretty place then, right?"

"Mmm, it is. I couldn't stay still for a while and went wandering to help sort things out. I finally did..but not without ending up on still another world...That was quite an adventure in itself. Didn't like how that one ended though."

"How did that one end, anyway?"

"I woke up one day to find myself in the snow in the Northern Crater..."

"Yuck. You're lucky you didn't freeze.."

"I guess. Anyway, that's when I finally fully came to grips with the fact that Aeris was dead and there was no way, really, to bring her back. She'd been temporarily revived on Ramza's world, but she was killed again. I talked to her spirit in the Northern Crater before I left...she said that she had been willing to die if that's what it took to stop Sephiroth...that's when I finally understood."

"And what happened after that?"

"Not much to tell. I went back to New Midgar and started goin' steady with Tifa. It's been pretty quiet up until now..until the day I got shifted pretty suddenly to this world."

Zidane nodded. Cloud then thought, Who would of known a bit of curiosity would of got me here? It's gonna be hard to leave, I know that. It's like I found Zack all over again, though it isn't the same. There's no one that's the same as someone you leave behind...well, I just hope this turns out well in the end...

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