Cross posted on my Tumblr and AO3 accounts (got one of those too!) Both under the same name.

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII or any of the games associated with that series.

Early morning light peeked through the curtains, leaving stripes on the walls as well as some on the floor and across the four men sleeping in the large bed.

It was Angeal who woke first, lying on his back. He raised a hand to shield his sensitive eyes from the light as he slowly blinked away sleep. After a few minutes of lying in the bed, waking fully, he began carefully untangling himself from the others.

Genesis and Sephiroth were both lying on their sides; the redhead had a tight grip on Angeal's waist, his head buried into the Lieutenant's shoulder. Sephiroth's arm had draped itself across Genesis' waist and part of his as well. Knowing that Sephiroth was more sensitive to movement than Genesis or Zack, it took a few minutes to carefully pry Genesis' arms from his waist and to carefully move Sephiroth's. Zack was lying on his stomach, mostly draped across Sephiroth. The Second Class' head rest against Genesis' shoulder (that looked highly uncomfortable to Angeal); one hand had been barely brushing against Angeal's arm.

When the large First finally managed to escape the bed, he slowly made his way over to where they had piled their bags for the night. Angeal rubbed his face, the palm of his hand rubbing over his chin. He'd need to trim his 'beard' soon, he noticed. After gathering a change of clothes, he walked quietly over to the door. Feeling someone's gaze follow him, he turned to look back at his lovers.

One eye, acidic green in color, was gazing back at him. The corners of his lips turned upwards and he murmured lowly to the half-asleep man, "Go back to sleep, Sephiroth." The eye regarded him for a long moment before closing again. The body underneath the sheets (and Zack) relaxing once more as the man fell back into a light sleep.

Slipping out of the bedroom, Angeal made his way to the bathroom. Quietly shutting the door behind him, the Lieutenant looked at his reflection in the mirror. His eyes were bloodshot (though that wouldn't last long) from what little sleep he had gotten that night. He and Sephiroth had stayed up late, talking. Despite stating that he was going to have a hard time falling asleep, Genesis had fallen asleep rather quickly. Although Zack had crashed first, the redhead had followed just minutes afterwards.

He and Sephiroth had quietly discussed what Cloud had told them the day before. They both agreed that what the blonde had told them was the truth, that he – Angeal – and Genesis were going to degrade sometime in the near future, that they both would leave Shin-Ra and that Angeal would be the first of the four to die, with Sephiroth and then Genesis following years afterwards and Zack a year after that. Cloud would be the only one alive. The brunette's expression turned grim at that reminder, the reminder of how Cloud and Zack would be tortured by Hojo…

Shaking his head, Angeal relieved himself before cleaning up and changing. Before he left the bathroom, he looked back to the mirror. Like he had predicted, the blood veins in his eyes were no longer visible. Walking out of the bathroom, he headed down the carpeted hallway and towards the kitchen to cook breakfast.

Cloud was sitting in the kitchen when he entered. A black wife beater clung to his upper body, showing muscles that the thicker sweater the blonde had been wearing the day before had covered. A pair of sweatpants barely hung off of his hips, just slightly big for the younger (or older now?) man. Sapphire hues were currently having a staring contest with Cloud's refection's eyes in the cup of tea that pale fingers were cupping.

Angeal cleared his throat when he realized he had paused (and been staring for a few minutes) in the doorway. The half-asleep blonde gave a jolt of surprise and moved his gaze from the cup to Angeal. The brunette noted how tense Cloud was, sapphire hues peeking out of long lashes before he gradually began to relax. "Good morning," the (older, Angeal decided) man greeted quietly, his low tone sleepy.

"Good morning, Cloud," Angeal returned the greeting with a smile. "Sleep well?" he asked as he made his way over to the fridge. From the corner of his eyes he could see Cloud hesitate, Angeal smiled knowingly. "I didn't either," he admitted. Opening the fridge, he began to look over the food inside, trying to decide what to make. Omelets with hash-browns sounded good, Sephiroth would agree, but Zack loved pancakes and Genesis would side with the 'Puppy' seeing as he'd get Dumbapple pancakes… "What do you think we should have for breakfast?" the brunette asked, turning to face Cloud.

The blonde regarded him in surprise, asking before he could help himself, "Why?"

"Well, Sephiroth tends to like omelets and hash-browns for breakfast, but Zack and Genesis like pancakes." Angeal knew that he could cook both meals easily, he did it often. But it was something to talk to Cloud about, without any awkwardness (he hoped…) and it momentarily kept his mind off what they would be finding out later as well as what had happened in this timeline.

"Why not both? Either way, bacon and sausage are non-negotiable," Cloud answered, sipping the tea. He hesitated for a moment before setting his cup down. "I'll help, if you'd like," he offered.

It was Angeal's turn to regard the other in surprise. "You will?" The Cloud he knew didn't offer to help cook often…

"Sure." Cloud stood, spikes bobbing slightly at the motion. "Just tell me what you'd like me to do, Angeal."

"Mmm… What is that smell?" Genesis murmured sleepily, eyelids partly opening. The first thing he noticed was that Angeal was no longer in the bed with them, the second that Cloud was not either. Then the memories of the day before flowed into his mind and his lips curved downwards.

"Angeal is making breakfast," Sephiroth answered quietly; his forehead resting against Genesis' neck, as Zack's head was against the redhead's shoulder. "Cloud is up as well… I suppose we should wake Zack and join them, should we not?" he asked quietly, tilting his head to kiss the back of Genesis' neck.

A pleasurable shiver ran up his spin as the Commander hummed in agreement. "It's your job to wake Zack this time," Genesis decided, quickly slipping out of Sephiroth's grip and (carefully moving Zack's head from his shoulder to the silverette's) and out of bed. Looking back at the bed, he noticed Sephiroth pouting. To most, it wouldn't look like a pout, seeing as how the man's lower lip was barely pressed outwards, but Genesis knew the look for what it was. Sephiroth disliked having to wake Zack; the younger man slept like a log most of the time and has a tendency to accidentally hit whoever woke him up… Except for Cloud, for some reason…

Musing over why Cloud was the only one Zack didn't hit when being woken, Genesis slipped out of the bedroom and went to the bathroom, exiting just minutes later, refreshed and dressed. Slipping back into the bedroom (taking a moment to watch Sephiroth's failed attempt to wake Zack) he snagged his leather coat before exiting again and heading to the kitchen.

The redhead paused in the doorway, looking at the scene before him. Angeal was serving up pancakes and Cloud was pouring coffee, both were chatting in low tones. Aquamarine eyes flicked their gaze to Angeal, who was dressed in a simply blue t-shirt and blue jeans, then to Cloud, wearing a black wife-beater and whose sweatpants hung rather low on his hips, mmm…

Angeal noticed his presence then and turned from the counter to smile at him. "See something you like?" the larger man asked teasingly.

Genesis grinned. "You know it." He chuckled at seeing Cloud's faint, fond eye roll.

"Are Sephiroth and Zack up yet?" Angeal asked as Genesis moved from the doorway to sit at the large table. Cloud placed a cup in front of him before taking a seat himself, while Genesis made a 'so-so' hand motion with one hand, the other reaching for the cup of coffee. "Sephiroth is up, and tasked with waking Zackary."

The brunette's eyes narrowed slightly as he placed a plate in front of Genesis. "You're making him do it, aren't you?"

"Of course! Don't want my pretty face getting bruised so early in the morning, you know." Genesis smirked and snatched a fork while Angeal sighed, placing a plate in front of Cloud.

"I should've known…"

"Should've known what?" Zack asked, rubbing an eye as he entered the kitchen with Sephiroth trailing behind him.

"Nothing, Zack," Angeal answered while Sephiroth shot Genesis and annoyed look. Long fingers gently rubbed a dark spot on his cheek, no doubt left by Zack.

When Zack noticed this, he smiled sheepishly. "Sorry again about that, Seph," he apologized as they sat down, Angeal following after placing plates at their (and then his) spots.

Sephiroth's face softened. "It is fine, Zack. We all know that, while you are not quite trained enough to wake easily as we do, that you are trained to react quickly and subconsciously. I just happen to be the one who can handle your hits easily."

"Still…" Zack murmured, lower lip sticking out and beginning to tremble.

"You can make it up to me at a later time, Zack," Sephiroth offered and the younger man brightened. "Sure!"

Cloud gave a slight, fond shake of his head as Zack began to chatter away between mouthfuls of food. Reaching for the pot of tea he had made, he topped off his cup before beginning to eat silently. It was weird, he had to admit to himself, to sit among these four, listen to their conversations, just as he had used to, years before… Eating automatically, the blonde's thoughts drifted to the past for a long while before he was brought back by a exclamation of his name.

"Hmm?" Sapphire blinked as he looked to the four younger men. "Did you say something, Zack?" he asked.

Brows furrowed in worry as the four others exchanged worried expressions. "You okay, Cloud?" Zack asked in favor of his actual question.

"Yeah… Just thinking," Cloud answered, dropping his gaze. "Now, you had another question?"

Zack hesitated, wondering what Cloud had been thinking about before asking his question again, "Angeal said you helped cook breakfast, is that true?"

"Yeah," Cloud answered, cocking an eyebrow at seeing the other three exchange looks. "Why?"

"Our Cloud, he can't cook. He's as bad at it as Genesis is," Angeal admitted.

'So that's the first difference between me and their Cloud,' the blonde mused silently as he said aloud, "In my timeline I used to cook with Angeal a lot of the time, or by myself whenever he was away on a mission."

Silence fell between the five of them after that and they continued to eat their breakfast quietly. The only noises made were the scraping of forks or a quiet murmur asking for someone to pass the syrup.

Breakfast was almost finished when the youngest man there decided to speak. "I've been wondering, what's up with the swords, Cloud? Some of them look similar to the Buster… Where is the Buster, anyway?" Zack asked, nursing his cup of tea in his hands while turning his head to gaze curiously at the swords leaning against the wall, as he had done throughout breakfast.

"First Tsurugi? They're a fusion sword. As for the Buster, it's in a safe place, so don't worry," Cloud answered, refilling his own cup of tea. He leaned back in his chair comfortably as Zack pouted at him for not giving them an answer to the Buster's location.

"First Sword?" Sephiroth raised an eyebrow, gazing at the blonde from across the table.

Sapphire looked upwards to meet acidic green. "That's the translation, yes."

"Why First Tsurugi?" the silverette asked. Cloud pursed his lips and looked down at his cup, considering the idea of telling them the reason behind the fusion sword's name before deciding not to – not yet, at least.

"I'll tell you later," the blonde said after a long moment, and to him, that was the end of that. The other four, however, exchanged disappointed (in Sephiroth and Zack's cases) and curiosity.

It wasn't long before breakfast was finished and the fivesome found themselves back in the front room. Zack, Angeal and Sephiroth sat on the couch again, while Genesis had taken up his chair (he was beginning to like the chair too, it was rather comfortable). Cloud himself was back in the chair he had been in the night before.

Once they were all seated, Cloud picked up his story from where he had left off the last evening. He told them of how Tifa had nursed him back to health before he, Tifa, Barret, Jessie, Biggs and Wedge snuck into Midgar's First Mako Reactor, of planting the bomb and of blowing it up. He told them of how he had met Aerith (here Zack perked up, listening eagerly of hearing how his best-female-friend fared) when the group was scattered. He told them about meeting back at Seventh Heaven and deciding to help them with the next mission.

How it was later that day that they snuck into Midgar's Fifth Mako Reactor, how they were confronted by President Shinra after planting another bomb. He told them how he fell from the Plate and into the Slums below when the bomb went off, only to crash through the roof of Aerith's church. At this, Zack started cracking up.

"Sounds like how I met her!" When Cloud turned a curious gaze onto him, Zack's smile faltered. Did Cloud not remember how he had met Aerith? Or was it like this morning, when this Cloud could cook and how their Cloud could not. "During a routine Reactor checkup, we-" He waved a hand at Angeal. "-were ambushed by robots. I accidentally got tossed over the edge and fell into Aerith's church too."

"I see," Cloud murmured, looking amused. "Aerith told me that you met her after Angeal's defect," he said, amusement fading.

"A-ah…" Zack rubbed the back of his neck, feeling a bit down at another reminder that they weren't in the same timeline before taking a breath. "Okay then. Continue."

The blonde shot the young man a concerned look before continuing, telling them of how Aerith had asked him to run away from Reno ("Why would Reno be… Never mind."), how he had and then how he had escorted her home. He told them of how he had been introduced to Elmyra and had been convinced to stay the night.

Next came the whole Don Corneo 'Infiltration Mission'. The four time travelers found the whole thing humorous, from Aerith being the one to suggest it, Cloud wearing a dress ("You'll have to replicate that sometime in the near future for us, precious.") to how Cloud had been the one to be invited to Don's room, then of Aerith's kidnapping by the Turks.

They were horrified to find that President Shinra had given an order for Sector 7's plate to be dropped. "Jessie, Biggs and Wedge had all been crushed underneath the plate. Everyone below the plate lost their lives, and almost everyone on top did too," Cloud said, taking a breath to continue before he was cut off.

"That son of a bitch!" Genesis screeched. Launching to his feet, seething, he ranted as he paced around the large room, "How could he drop a plate in an attempt to kill six people instead of just sending his Turks or SOLDIERs!? He killed thousands!"

"We were a problem," Cloud answered quietly. His gaze had dropped to the floor again, his guilt washing over him. "We took out two Mako Reactors with little to no issues. He wanted us gone, didn't want to risk losing more Mako Reactors and money. People above the plate cared little for those down in the Slums."

"Still! That conniving fat-ass of a man!" Genesis' teeth clacked together as he shut his mouth and sat back down into his chair. Angeal and Sephiroth were both furious as well.

"Does he have no Honor?" Angeal growled lowly and Sephiroth sat in silence, plotting ways to perhaps assassinate the President without getting caught. Perhaps he could enlist the help of a Turk?

Zack however, was slumped in his chair, eyes wide and jaw dropped in horror. His whole image of Shin-Ra destroyed. After yesterday he had thought poorly of Shin-Ra, but not as badly as he did now. "H…how could…" He licked his lips and swallowed, trying to even his breathing out again. "How could Reno do something like that?" Zack knew the Turk, who laughed and joked around with him like he himself was a Turk. Treated him like family, pulled off pranks with him.

How could Reno kill thousands of people without any hesitance? Zack knew that Reno disliked killing (unless the person )

"Don't think that he did it because he wanted to. He did it because he had to. Orders were orders and he was the unlucky one to carry them out," Cloud said quietly, defending the Turk. "Barret, Tifa and I were lucky to escape at the last moment."

He told them of going to Aerith's house, of meeting Elmyra and (hesitantly) of Aerith's heritage, of her past. He continued on, telling them of how he, Barret and Tifa had infiltrated Shin-Ra, how they had saw Jenova in its container. Sephiroth stiffened slightly at hearing the name of the thing he had thought was his mother.

Cloud told them of how they freed Aerith and Nanaki (also known as Red XIII) before being caught and imprisoned by the Turks. He hesitated then before saying slowly, "Jenova got out of its container and took on Sephiroth's form at his command." The blood drained out of Sephiroth face, facial expression stone but his eyes showed his confusion and horror. "It…" Cloud licked his lips. "The only way to describe it was slaughter. It slaughtered everyone in its way on its way up to President Shinra's office, where it killed him. For some reason or other, it unlocked my door on the way."

"We woke up to the smell of blood and decay, followed the trail of blood that thing left and found President Shinra. Rufus showed up not long afterwards and fought us, after giving a speech." Cloud shook his head, blonde spikes swaying. "We stole vehicles from the exhibit room. I rode the motorcycle," he said, grinning at the memory.

"When we reached the edge of Midgar, the five of us decided to stick together…" He told them of gathering in Kalm; telling the others of his version of the Nibelheim Incident, then of staying the night in Kalm before leaving in the morning westward, follow 'Sephiroth'.

The ex-mercenary told them of how they fought their way through the eastern marshes and of running into Rude and a new Turk named Elena at the Mythril Mines. "She's one of the Turk's sister, if I remember correctly… I can't remember which one, though." How the newbie Turk had let slip that 'Jenova' in Sephiroth's form was heading towards Junon. "On our way to Junon, we stopped by Fort Condor and helped them fight off the Shinra Army from attacking the nest."

A chuckle escaped Cloud's lips. "In the forests near Junon, we ran into a ninja. She's our Materia expert, actually. Her name's Yuffie, Yuffie Kasaragi." He silently relished the look that Zack gave him, practically choking on air.

"Yuffie?! My Yuffie?!" he asked, spluttering. Three sets of brows rose in his direction and Zack's cheeks flushed. "She's a kid from Wutai, or I thought she was just a kid from Wutai. She got my number somehow…"

"She's good at that," Cloud interrupted. "Vincent's still not sure how she got his number. He told me to tell her that she's not allowed to call him." It was his turn to get the raised brows and he shrugged. "You'll find out soon."

Ignoring the slightly irritated (Genesis) and curious (Angeal, Zack and Sephiroth) looks he was given, Cloud motioned for the ravenette to continue. "Err, yeah. She got my number somehow. Likes to send me out on treasure hunts, usually nabs the treasure at the end…" he grumbled. "But seriously? She's the Princess of Wutai?"

Cloud nodded, his expression still amused as he continued his story, "When we reached Junon, we met a young girl named Priscilla and her friend Mr. Dolphin…" The blonde then told them of how they had saved Mr. Dolphin from a monster, of how while Priscilla was recovering, a local woman had offered them shelter at her house for the night. "The next morning, we found out that Rufus Shinra was going to visit Junon. We discussed it for a while before coming to the conclusion that Rufus was pursuing Sephiroth…" Cloud told them of how he, with Priscilla and Mr. Dolphin's help, was able to reach the military base above the old Junon village.

"Wait a minute, Spike," Zack stopped him. Turning his attention to Zack instead of his memories, the blonde raised a brow at the amused look on the blackette's face. "You're telling us that you jumped off of a dolphin that was jumping in the air due to a whistle that a little girl carried? That's a bit of a stretch there, Spike."

Cloud shrugged. "Just telling it of how it is. If you believe me or if you don't, it still happened." Zack looked a little affronted at being brushed off. "Anyways, I was mistaken for a trooper ("Probably because you used to be one, Spike.") and had to join Rufus' parade…" He told them of hearing about 'The Man in the Black Cape' and how he had killed several soldiers. Cloud told them of meeting up with the others on Rufus' ship.

The blonde paused for a moment, hesitating. His gaze fell on the grim-faced Sephiroth. "On board we encountered 'Sephiroth' which cast off another piece of Jenova's body to fight us." He purposefully used his fingers to make quotation marks in the air when he said the silverette's name. Cloud then ran a hand through his hair, sighing as he began to explain, "Before you ask how 'Sephiroth' was controlling Jenova when she was controlling him, the answer is simple but complicated. 'Sephiroth' is Jenova in another form, but still apart of Sephiroth's conscious mind, just the insane part that she had driven him to be. The rest of his mind was practically shut away, and the parts of her body that he was used to make himself formed into a solid body weren't her head." At seeing the confused looks from all of his ex-lovers, Cloud sighed again.

"Think of it this way. Jenova is the General, and the rest of her body is troopers. They're expendable while she is not. She's the brains of the operation and they're just pawns, soldiers to fight as she wants them to. With me so far?" At the nods he got, the blonde continued, "Sephiroth is the Commander, Second-In-Command. He's able to command the 'troopers', but if the 'General' commands something else, they have to listen to the 'General' first. And the 'General' is in charge of the 'Commander'. Well, the 'General' made the 'Commander' think he was in charge, but in reality, she was. Understand?" he asked.

"Kinda…" Zack smiled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck thoughtfully. "What you mean by everything, is that Jenova made Sephiroth go insane. So, she controlled him while he was insane, and then later chose that insanity to come back and made him think that he was in control when really she was?"

"Something like that… It's complicated," Cloud admitted after a moment.

"You're tellin' me…"

Sephiroth cleared his throat to catch the blonde and ravenette's attentions; an amused expression on his face as he waved a hand slightly. "If Cloud would continue, please."

The blonde nodded; a hint of a sheepish expression on his face before it disappeared. "When we reached Costa Del Sol, we took a break that day; rested up, relaxed, got a tan. Met Hojo on the beach with woman draped over him…" Cloud grimaced at the memory and the other four shuddered at the mere thought. "The next day we traveled across the mountains to North Corel." He told them of how when they got the North Corel, the villagers recognized Barret and how they berated him. And of how before they took the ropeway to the Golden Saucer, Barret had told Cloud of how Corel had been destroyed. "It was night before we reached the Golden Saucer. Barret split from the rest of us as we checked out the place." Cloud continued on to tell them of how he had met Cait, of Cait 'telling him his fortune' and joining the party with the rather lame excuse of wanting to see how the fortune came true. The blonde had rolled his eyes fondly at that.

"Reeve may be a rather smart man, but he isn't the smartest at some things." Cloud chuckled before his expression turned bitter. "The good time we were having didn't last though. Dyne ascended from Desert Prison that night and killed quite a few SOLDIERs and injured a few Golden Saucer employees." He told them of how the group had gone to the Battle Square, where the dead SOLDIERs and wounded employees had been, of how one of the employees had said it had been done by a man with a gun machine arm, and of how Dio had cornered them and tossed them into Desert Prison.

"We arrived at Desert Prison early the next morning and we were reunited with Barret. He told us he wasn't behind the shootings before telling us the rest of the story about Dyne and Corel…" And Cloud told them, every detail he could remember that Barret had told them, and some of what he had found out later. He then told them of when they found Dyne not long afterwards, and his and Barret's fight. Of Dyne entrusting Marlene to the other arm-gunman before falling to his death off of a cliff. "I was, uh… Sent to the Chocobo races-" Cloud pointedly ignored the amused looks and snickers he got from that. "-and thanks to my 'manager' Ester, who listened to our explanation of what happened, we were pardoned by Dio and was given a buggy to travel in."

Cloud fell silent for a moment, licking his lips. He sat for a long moment; head ducked a bit to not make eye contact with any of the four as he considered whether or not to tell them what happened next. He knew that in this timeline, Zack hadn't been on the best of terms with his parents. They loved him and he had loved them, yes, but they hadn't supported his decision of becoming a SOLDIER and that had made for tense and awkward visits, especially after Zack had begun dating Angeal, and then Sephiroth and Genesis.

Out of the five, Cloud himself probably had been on the best terms with Mr. and Mrs. Fair. Probably because they hadn't known about his wishes to be a SOLDIER, and because they had found him 'sweet' and 'innocent', while viewing Angeal, Genesis and Sephiroth differently. Angeal had been Zack's teacher, his mentor, one who had been supposed to raise him in their stead after he had taken Zack under his wing, not sleep with him. Genesis, well… He didn't have the best reputation out of the 'Top Three', known for his violence and tendencies to burn things alive. Sephiroth… well, he was Sephiroth.

Just thinking about that trip to Gongaga… It almost felt like a hand was squeezing his heart. Cloud had been the one to tell them about Zack's death, how he had saved him, dying to protect someone who had little chances of even coming out of the coma… Dying to protect the last person he had loved that was alive. How Zack's parents had died not long afterwards…

"Cloud?" Zack's quiet voice saying his name stirred the blonde out of his thoughts. Dark brows were furrowed in concern as the delivery boy looked up. "You okay, Chocobo?" Zack asked.

Glancing around, sapphire eyes noticed the concerned looks that Genesis, Angeal and Sephiroth were giving him as well. Genesis had even reached a hand out, probably to comfort him, which was merely inches away from his shoulder. Taking a deep breath, Cloud nodded. "Yeah… Sorry."

He cleared his throat before speaking, "We followed 'Sephiroth's trail to Gongaga-" At this, Zack perked up a bit. "-Where we met Elena, Reno and Rude. We fought with them. It was after that fight that we realized they knew that we had been coming, and that there might be a spy amongst us. And while we were in Gongaga, we met up with Zack's parents." Cloud swallowed, a slight lump in his throat. "I… They asked me if Zack was okay, told me that they hadn't heard from any of us since the Nibelheim mission. They old me that Shin-Ra had proclaimed Zack dead. I told them it was true, I lied to them… I told them that he had died protecting me in Nibelheim, from monsters that would've killed us both, that had already killed Sephiroth. That I barely had made it out alive, even with Zack's sacrifice. That it took me years to recover. I told them that he had died the way he would've wanted to, protecting someone he loved." A faint smile flittered across Cloud's lips before his expression turned grim. "They cried, of course. Mourned their son, and then thanked me. Thanked me for telling them the 'truth', told me to keep in touch and that they wanted to know more about their son's time in Shin-Ra. Thanked me for keeping a part of Zack alive, by living."

He fell silent after that, giving time for what he had just said to sink in. Tears were gathered in the corners of Zack's eyes. The Second Class SOLDIER knew that if his parent's had found out the truth behind their son's death, what had really happened to him and Cloud, that it would've been signing their death warrant.

By the look that had been on Cloud's face as he had talked, the blonde had known it then too. "Thank you." Cloud regarded Zack in surprise as the Second Class smile at him through his tears. "Thank you for not telling them what really happened, Cloud."

Cloud stared at Zack for a moment longer before giving an awkward shrug. He wasn't used to that many people actually thanking him for something he had done during that time in his life… To hear it from a younger version of his Zack was weirder. "It was nothing…"

Before Zack (or any of the others) could insist that it wasn't nothing, Cloud continued hastily, "After we left Gongaga, we traveled west…" Cloud told them of the buggy breaking down and of their on-foot trip to Cosmo Canyon. How they found out Red XIII's name was actually Nanaki, and how Nanaki had told them that his part of the trip was over now that he was home. He told them of how they had been invited inside, to rest up before leaving again with the supplies to repair their buggy. How they met Bugenhagen and his hologram machine, how Bugenhagen talked about Nanaki and late that night had lead them through the secret tunnels to below Cosmo Canyon, where the Gi tribe had been attacked. Where the petrified statue of Nanaki's father, Seto, stood. "When we were about to leave Cosmo Canyon, Nanaki appeared and told us that he decided to keep traveling with us." Cloud smiled faintly. He considered the teenaged Gi to be a friend and loyal companion, like the rest of his group.

"We repaired the buggy and traveled to Nibelheim," Cloud said, facial features twisting into a disgruntled look. "We found the town 'intact'."

"Intact?" Genesis questioned, a brow raised quizzically. The look that Cloud gave him almost completely explained everything.

One word did. "Shin-Ra."

"Ah." Genesis sighed and nodded. He knew all too well how well Shin-Ra could cover up something. "Continue," he urged the blonde man.

"In Nibelheim, we encountered 'Sephiroth Clones', dressed in black capes and seeming to think that they had lived in Nibelheim all of their lives." Cloud grimaced. While he had never personally loved his hometown, it still had been his hometown. "Thanks to their clues, we went into the Shin-Ra manor in search of 'Sephiroth'. We found Vincent instead," Cloud said, looking up. His gaze fell on Sephiroth, who looked back at him, puzzled.

"And who is Vincent?" Sephiroth asked; cocking a brow and his head tilted just slightly. Brows scrunched in confusion a moment later when the blonde across from him chuckled quietly. "What?"

Cloud's lips twitched upwards. "It's easy to see, sometimes. You look a lot like him, in the face and in your height, anyway. You two make the same expressions… Simply put, Vincent Valentine is your father. Didn't I tell you that?" he asked, feigning confusion.

At the expressions that the other four men were currently making, it was clear that he hadn't. The corners of Cloud's lips twitched upwards slightly as Sephiroth asked.

"He is my… what?"