For the first time in what seemed like years Cloud was lost in a blissful, silent and dreamless sleep. It was calm, quiet and peaceful. It made it all the more alarming when he woke up and found himself lying in a hospital bed in what seemed like a lab. Panic set in completely when he found himself restrained with thick, metal clamps binding his arms and legs to the bed. He started pulling against the restraints, determined to break free.

"Cloud?"

That voice made him stop and he looked over to see Aerith standing on the other side of the room, looking nervous.

"Aerith, are you alright? What's going on?"

Tears welled in her eyes and she closed the gap in the room and wrapped her arms around his neck. This startled the blond, afraid the worst had happened.

"Thank the planet it worked."

Well, at least until she said that, and then he was completely confused once again. That was happening way too much lately.

"Aerith, what happened? We were in the meeting room, professor Hojo came in and there was so much pain and then…" realization hit him then and he tried to look around. "Where's Zack?!"

Aerith let out the biggest sigh as she pulled away from him. "Right over there. He suffered just like you did, though his case wasn't as severe."

"Case? Aerith, please tell me what's going on. Get me out of these and we can get out of here and find our own way back home."

Aerith looked at him sadly. "Cloud, those weren't to keep you from escaping, they were used to keep us safe from you. Zack needed them too."

Cloud gave her the most hurt look he could offer. "Aerith….you know I'd never hurt you."

"It wasn't you we were afraid of. It was Jenova acting through you."

Well that certainly got his attention. "But, how is that possible?"

"I'm afraid it's because of me."

A woman appeared in the doorway and headed over. Her long elegant hair tied back in a loose ponytail that did little to help keep it in check. "Cloud Strife; the planet's been throwing a royal fit since you and your friend arrived. I realize now it was because of that revolting monster hiding within, but I know you personally are not at fault. My wonderful daughter explained quite a bit after we managed to extract the venom from your systems."

"Venom?"

"That's what we called the calamity. My people, the cetra discovered the creature before the humans could find her crashed meteor and we managed to neutralize it. A few rare cases still pop up every now and then, but it's nothing serious. A small rat here and there or a random minor monster trying to gain power from the natural mako springs. You and your friend over there have had the most severe case in the past one thousand years as far back as I was able to research."

Cloud tried to look over at where she indicated Zack was, but he couldn't quite see him with his movement restricted.

"Can we let him out of those," asked Aerith, fully respecting his discomfort.

Ifalna stepped over to his bedside, studying the monitor before placing a delicate hand on his forehead. She then smiled and reached over to a code panel on the wall behind him and punched in a code and just like that the clamps all released at once. Cloud wasted no time sitting up and rubbing his wrists. He also looked over at Zack. Both his and Cloud's armor had been removed and only their basic pants and shirts remained on. Everything else was in the next room, which was made apparent as Aerith had vanished out the door and returned with his possessions, except for his sword. "How you lift that giant butter knife, I'll never know," she teased as she handed him his things.

"Well someone had to slice through all the evil bread that Shinra left behind," he returned the humor in kind, which only relieved her worries more, and that was his exact goal.

A moan to their left alerted them to Zack's awakening. Ifalna walked over to his bedside and examined his slowly opening eyes as he came to.

"Aerith? How many years was I out? You're still beautiful, but I might be too late to ask for that date."

Aerith bit back a giggle and covered her mouth with her hand as Ifalna smacked him on the forehead with her clipboard. "Honestly, you call that charm? What my daughter sees in you I'll never know."

She checked over his vitals, just as she did Cloud's before deeming him back to normal and released him from the restraints. Aerith walked over to him, handing him his stuff, but it all clattered to the floor when he wrapped his arms around her. "When me'n Spiky went down, I feared the worst. I'm glad you're safe."

"It was pretty scary," Aerith admitted. "After you both collapsed Mom and the professor had you both brought here so she could treat you. I'm still not sure what she did, other than fix some idiot monkey's insane mistake, at least those were her words."

Ifalna returned from the other room and regarded Cloud with apologetic sympathy. "I'm sorry you had to wake up to that, but I needed to make sure nothing of the venom remained, and that can only determined after the patient awakens. You had to be restrained because the venom forced you to lash out at us, fortunately, the general was there to offer protection and Commander Hewley offered back up. I will say though, anyone who judges your strength by appearance alone is a fool."

"Why's that," Cloud couldn't help but ask, still concerned about how Jenova affected him so strongly after all this time. It had to be her, and he didn't even know how.

"Because Sephiroth had trouble just holding you back," she said with a smirk. "If Valentine hadn't knocked you out when he did, the battle would have been an interesting one, not to mention costly."

Cloud held his head in his hands, trying to will away the oncoming headache. Zack on the other hand was curious.

"What about me? I didn't try to attack anyone, did I?"

Ifalna smirked kindly at him. "No, once you hit the floor you were pretty much down for the count, however you were in severe pain and both your eyes were glowing as brightly as a mastered materia."

Aerith smiled down at Cloud as she rubbed his back in a circular motion. "If it makes you feel any better, the head professor isn't Hojo."

"Who then," asked Cloud, assuming things couldn't get any crazier. He was wrong.

Ifalna went to the doorway and stuck her head out, speaking into the hall. "Our patients would like to meet you."

The woman that stepped inside rattled both men as her resemblance was uncanny to someone else they knew. Cloud recognized her, but he couldn't see her features so clearly through the crystal she had been encased in. Zack on the other hand was dumbfounded.

She saw this and smirked slyly at them. "Oh come now, surely you knew Sephiroth had to get his good looks from me."

She waited for the shock to pass over them before he properly introduced herself. "My name is Lucrecia Cresent, head of the science department. You've already met my right hand, Ifalna, and my other right hand is currently finishing up with a round of Second Class injections and will be here shortly."

"The SOLDIER injections," Cloud challenged. "They don't include Jenova cells, do they?"

Lucrecia laughed, "Good heavens no! After removing the venom from you boys, do you honestly think we'd use it on our own army? We use pure mako we channel in our own facility here. Midgar is very rich in the planet's life blood, but we're very careful about it now. The old fat turd was getting far too greedy, I'm glad his son had the good sense to get rid of him."

Zack had to bite back a laugh at the way she described the old president.

Cloud sighed as he relaxed. That's when another worry arose. "Wait, if you removed the Jenova cells, then won't that weaken us?"

Lucrecia got right in his face, and he found himself flinching back, she looked way too much like Sephiroth up close for comfort.

"Do I look like the kind of woman who'd just steal a person's strength and leave them helpless?"

It was Aerith who spoke up, "I'm sorry, but we just met you, so we don't know."

Lucrecia slyly glanced at her, "Hmm, fair point." She pulled back and shook her head. She then looked at Cloud with a devious smirk and it was making his skin crawl. "Rest assured, I replaced what I took with something better and let's say that when you die you won't suffer any pain when you enter the Lifestream."

"Excuse me," asked the blond.

"You see, we've seen it before with the rare creature that's suffered from the venom. When it was killed we witnessed the Lifestream trying to take it, its cells were pulled apart. The natural cells were taken, but the infected cells were left behind to rot."

"Another one of your charming bedtime stories mother?"

Lucrecia looked towards the door where her son was leaning against the frame. "Bedtime stories were originally used to warn children of the world's many dangers, or have you forgotten your early lessons?"

"Difficult to do so when you keep reminding me," he replied as he entered the room and nodded towards the three guests.

"I'm relieved to see you're feeling better."

Cloud would be lying if he said that didn't unnerve him. "I'm fine, thanks." He then shook his head. He had to keep reminding himself that This Sephiroth was different, and that should be a good thing, he just had to get used to it.

Zack smiled as he jumped up and pounded his chest, "Right as rain, Seph!"

Lucrecia giggled as he watched the young warrior. "Oh I like him, such a cute nickname he gave you."

Zack's smile turned into an open-mouthed grin as he beamed brighter. "I always give my friends nicknames." He jerked his thumb towards Cloud, "That moody chocobo over there is Spiky and my mentor I just call 'Geal. He didn't like it at first, but he got used to it."

"We all had to get used to our nicknames," Cloud added with the roll of his eyes.

Aerith pouted a bit. "I don't have a nickname…"

Zack turned and wrapped her in another hug, "Sure you do! You're my angel!" He snuggled his face against hers and she giggled uncontrollably. Lucrecia rolled up the papers she was holding and swatted him over the head. "No lovey-dovey nonsense in my lab! Save it for the honeymoon!"

Zack turned a dark shade of red and Cloud couldn't help but laugh. Even Sephiroth fought to stifle a chuckle.

Lucrecia sighed and shook her head, admitting defeat before looking over at Ifalna who was trying to very hard to keep herself busy, but the head of the science department could hear the woman mumbling something about her daughter and how it was too early for a serious commitment. She found it amusing and planned to tease her for it later.

"Alright," she said turning to her patients. "You've both been given a clean bill of health, but I want to see you back here immediately if the mako I used doesn't agree with you, understood? Mako rebounds can be serious and deadly if not treated in time. I'd like you to stay close by for a few days just in case."

Zack smirked and saluted, "Sure thing Ms. Sephiroth!"

"Don't call her that," the general deadpanned.

"Ms. Lucrecia or Doctor Crescent will do, thank you," she added.

"Okay, okay I got it, my bad."

Cloud had one more thing he needed to know before leaving. "How did you do it? Replace the cells?"

Lucrecia turned and blinked at him, waiting for him to explain. Cloud knew the look only from his experience with Sephiroth. "The one who gave us these cells, and my entire enhancements…he did it over a period of four years and it wasn't a simple dip in a mako tank. He tore us apart and pieced us back together, whenever he didn't feel like waiting for our bodies to do it themselves…" Sephiroth noticed the telltale signs of a man fighting off a panic attack. It was enough to confirm the torture, even if he was fending it off rather well. He turned to look at Zack and he too had lost all humor. It affected them both. Imprisoned together perhaps?

Lucrecia and Ifalna both regarded him with sadness and pity. It was Ifalna who spoke. "Your medical stats proved to us it had been torture, but we didn't think it had spanned over such an insane length of time. I hate to make what happened to you seem worse, but our results show he was testing some experiments out for…"

"For fun," Lucrecia finished, anger clear in her voice. "The one who did this to you could have done it in far less time if he hadn't tried different things, and none of them connected together. He would try one thing and then shift to another. Some of it was to further enhance, while other evidence shows he was trying to test his progress by trying to kill you and see if you survived before he started again. I had hoped my findings had been wrong, but you confirmed it. If I ever meet this man I will stab him in the heart with a syringe and inject fluorosulphuric acid just to watch him squirm."

Cloud wasn't sure what that was, but he saw both Ifalna and Sephiroth pale, so he knew it was bad. Zack apparently knew it too. "If he even has one," he added.

Ifalna tried to change the subject as she turned to Cloud. "To answer your question, it was all a matter of a simple transfusion, similar to a blood transfusion, only the mako we injected needed time to be absorbed by your system and eradicate the venom. Since it's a mako we produce we made sure it has a compound that neutralizes all traces of the calamity. It only took about six to seven hours and you woke up about an hour later."

"So…Jenova's gone," asked Zack.

Ifalna turned to him and smiled, "Erased completely."

Cloud let out a sigh of relief, knowing that connection to Hojo was finally over.

"But since this is basically like a booster shot for you two, you will need time to adjust to the change. How difficult it is depends on the individual, but you're both free to go whenever you're ready, and don't hesitate to come back if you feel ill, or have questions. You'll usually find one of us three around here."

Cloud nodded as he got down from the bed and headed for the door. He saw Zack still chatting with Aerith, but he needed some fresh air and some time alone ot himself to take this all in. "Thanks." He passed by Sephiroth, who gave him a curious look and then looked up when he saw someone approaching. "Mother, I believe she's finished with the Second Class injections."

Lucrecia smiled at this. "Oh good," she cupped her hand around the side of her mouth. "Strife, get in here!"

"What now?"

Zack blinked and did a double take as his blond friend poked his head back around the corner with his eyes nearly closed with annoyance on one side of the doorway and on the other side an equally blond woman in a lab coat with identical blue eyes (with the lack of mako glow) glared into the room with the same expression.

"Holy Shiva…" he breathed.

The two blonds looked at each other and while Cloud's mind froze with shock at the face he had last seen covered in ash and blood staring right back at him, the woman's eyes widened for a moment, but then she entered the room and stomped her foot right on the head scientist's own foot. "What kind of sick game are you playing at Crecie! I thought I told you to stop with your teasing pranks! You can't just grab some poor young SOLDIER who looks like my son, dress him up and tease me! It's not fair to the poor trooper and it's cruel!"

"Skye, listen to me," Lucrecia tried to say through the pain and gritted teeth.

"No! No more excuses! Now apologize to this poor man and let him get back to his duties!"

Zack chuckled. "Oh look, they have the same temper!"

Skye turned and glared at him next. "Can it porcupine, before I turn on you next!"

Ifalna decided to intervene, something she was clearly used to. "Skye, calm down, this isn't a prank. Look, even my own daughter is here."

Skye stopped then and focused on the young lady who was consoling a distraught Zack. "She called me a porcupine," he whimpered. "Shh, there there," she said stroking his dark spikes. She didn't dare tell him that the description was accurate.

She turned back to the blond warrior then who was still just staring blankly at her before turning back to Lucrecia. She also noticed his reaction. "This should be interesting."

To the guest reviewer that just posted that the wait was causing you pain, fear not, for I have arrived with the perfect remedy!

Actually, I had just finished it this morning and was double checking to make sure everything was right. And by this morning I mean 4am. xD Don't you guys know some writers never sleep? They keep going on power naps, junk food and loads of caffeine! Well, that kinda true, I don't eat much junk food. xD

Okay, so update status. oh my, it looks like Cloud. exe has stopped working for now. Lucrecia or Skye may need to reboot. xD But things are starting to explain themselves a bit with this new Gaia's history. And it seems Hojo was far more cruel than we originally thought...(how is that possible?)

Overworld update time! A wonderful person on here by the name of screwygirl has been reviewing my works and following along a lot recently and we got to chat quite a bit on here. Long story short we decided to do a collab. While she is working on several stories, there is currently only one on her profile, but it's pretty interesting, go check it out!

Our collab can be found on my profile and if you go to hers you'll find a link to it, plus a youtube trailer vid I made for the story. It's only got one chapter so far, but we've written a total of 9 up to this point, but we'll be uploading it on a by-weekly basis and won't upload anything unless we both believe it's ready. The writing was split 50/50 and she's doing a fantastic job with the editing. We're still writing it and having a total blast!

She loves feedback, as do I, but as she's a fresh fanfiction writer any constructive feedback you give her/us is greatly appreciated.

An update for Nightmare Undone is also in the works too! So much is happening, no wonder I'm not getting any sleep. xD

Thank you for all of your support guys, see you next update!