Thief of time

Ok, Cloud admitted to himself, when the Planet, or fate, or maybe even Aerith, sent him back here this was probably not what they had in mind.

Not that he'd been given any explanation, not even an odd dream, but he was pretty sure that he was supposed to be heroically saving the world or something. Again.

Still, it's not like time travel came with a manual. And it took him weeks to even realise that he had travelled through time.

Because after everything, he tended to prefer solitude to people – people with opinions and expectations all looking at him like he was something he was not. He cared about his friends, of course, even cared about everyone else - about 'people' as a whole.

Didn't mean he wanted to be surrounded by them all the time.

So these days the ex-SOLDIER tended to wander. Just him and Fenrir with an odd delivery job or two taking him away from the remnants of Midgard. He took whatever detour he felt like, took on whatever monsters he came across because fighting was pretty much his way of life by now. Fighting creatures was easy anyway – it was people that were always the problem, and likely always would be for him.

But no matter how strong you were, there was always a risk - especially when fighting alone. So in hindsight, it wasn't really a good idea to head into a fight with what he thought was just one Malboro.

He had only encountered lone Malboros before, so it was an easy assumption to make. But after killing the one, he was ambushed by an entire group.

It was almost impossible to dodge all of the fumes they spewed when there were so many of them and, though he had managed to kill them all, he'd relied on his materia a little more heavily than he usually did.

By the time the battle had ended he hadn't been sure what was fast or slow, or up or down.

Apparently he had ended up a lot more lost than he had initially thought, but he didn't discover that until he finally returned to something resembling civilisation.

Now, three months later, with nothing to his name but his motorcycle, his sword, his materia and a few odd potions and ethers, Cloud was still entirely without anything resembling a plan.

Not to mention, in need of some quick gil.

So he did the logical thing. He stole some.

He waited until nightfall, climbed right through the window of a five story Shinra building, quietly snuck around, cast Sleep on any occupant he couldn't avoid, took whatever he needed and left.

It was easy – it was necessary – no harm done, really - and it was, surprisingly, the closest thing to funthat he'd had in a while.

So, when he finally ended up in Midgard a few weeks later and got a little low on funds again…

Well, Don Corneo was, apparently, already around. Even if the pervert didn't live in the slums at this point in time.

The slums were, however, a good place to find a few items that would help tackle a well-guarded upper-Plate mansion. Even at this time, Cloud knew enough to know where to go and managed to find a rope-gun and a decent small pack that could hold money and items securely without the risk of them falling out or making too much noise.

And, after acquiring a few more funds, he also bought a leather jacket to wear on top of his regular clothes. Dark and hooded it reminded him a little bit of Vincent and, more importantly, it covered his bright hair perfectly.

It shouldn't really surprise him that in Midgar there were people around to actually take notice of his little crime spree.

Even if he managed to get away without anyone seeing him, the results were certainly clear enough. Especially since he didn't just take gil and expensive items anymore.

He chose his targets carefully and they were usually associated with Shinra (or would be a part of Shinra in the future) – and the very worst of Shinra at that. It was a lot more challenging, with security guards, electronic locks and camera's, but Cloud was not one to walk away from a challenge.

So he watched and practiced and learned. It helped that this was years in the past for him, he was familiar with more high-tech stuff than what they were using now. And, well, it wasn't exactly his first time breaking into Shinra property.

At least he wasn't leaving any bombs behind this time. He had more than enough of the roles of either eco-terrorist or some sort of saviour.

But if he destroyed some stuff here and there, and if he altered or lost a few important documents, hacked into a few computers and painstakingly re-routed Hojo's funding. Well… that was just being a good neighbour - the Planet was certainly better off.

A little nudge here with some darkly hidden secrets dragged forcefully into the light, a block there by taking away the money needed for things that really shouldn't be done. And, should things ever go that far, Cloud Strife would make sure that certain orders never came through due to some sort of administrative error.

Who knows, maybe it would even be enough. For now, though… well, it kept him busy. And well fed.

The ex-SOLDIER was already on the ground, his spoils securely squirreled away in his pack, when he heard the barely-there sound of footsteps.

Moments later Cloud found himself face to face with a younger Reno. Judging by his clothing the redhead was already a Turk. The man was clearly assessing him, with those sly eyes that carefully took note of his stance and attire and, considering their past (well, future), Cloud really shouldn't be as pleased to see him as he was.

"You! Don't move," the other man called out, clearly aiming for threatening. It might have been threatening if Cloud hadn't faced off against the likes of Sephiroth and even Reno himself as often as he had.

But he was not ready to take that role upon himself again. Not if he didn't have to. Not yet.

And since nobody here knew him and nobody would recognize him – well, perhaps he could try something a little different than fight his way out. Cloud was a little bit familiar with pretending, after all, and this was hardly as embarrassing as that purple dress.

"Sir?" he asked, as questioningly as he could. He was keeping the man's signature weapon in sight the whole time, even as he hesitantly raised his slightly wavering hands. "What..?"

"There've been reports of robberies around here," Reno replied with a devilish smirk. "Witnesses mentioned a suspicious person nearby. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

The Turk took a confident step forward and Cloud obligingly took a small step back to show how much he was intimidated by this.

"A suspicious person? But… I was just going to a friend's house." Cloud made sure to make himself look and sound as small and harmless as possible. Considering his not very intimidating stature and the fact that he kept his sword stored with Fenrir on his nightly outings, this wasn't exactly hard, even if it wasn't something he was very used to doing.

But Reno was a Turk and, even though he was young and, well, Reno, he wasn't completely oblivious.

The redhead slunk closer, his Electro-Rod still loosely pointed in his direction and Cloud let himself be crowded towards the wall of the alley. "Oh really?" Reno asked, "And why would you need a rope-gun to visit a friend?"

Cloud made sure to look confused, even if it was probably not visible under his hood. "A rope…? Oh! My costume?"

"Costume?" Reno repeated, and Cloud could hear the bemusement that the Turk couldn't quite keep out of his voice.

"My Halloween costume," Cloud repeated as if it was obvious, slowly taking the hood off and zipping the jacket open. Underneath he wore the clothes that would make everyone's mind jump to SOLDIER, especially coupled with the glow in his eyes.

But there were contact lenses out there that could achieve the same effect - something Reno would know and Cloud very carefully didn't mention. He's been around enough Turks (or ex-Turks) to know that providing unnecessary details could be something that either sold a lie or drew too much attention to it and made it fail.

The trick was in choosing what to divulge.

"I'm a SOLDIER-ninja."

"A SOLDIER-ninja?" Reno echoed.

Cloud nodded, shrugging his shoulders a bit and looking as if he was just now realising it maybe wasn't as awesome as he'd initially thought. "Yes? Like… um, well, like a SOLDIER who does ninja stuff?"

Thankfully Reno snorted – if there was one thing you could count on it was the guy's sense of humour, even if it was somewhat shady at times. But the Turk still didn't lower his weapon and pointed out, "It's not nearly Halloween yet – that's still a few more weeks away."

Cloud opened and closed his mouth, purposefully looking a little stupid, and shook his head as if he was at a loss for words.

Reno quirked up one of his eyebrows. "Well?"

Coming from the likes of Reno that sounded more like a challenge than an inquiry, but Cloud pretended he didn't get that – he wouldn't have if the other man was a complete stranger to him. Instead he carefully projected concern, going so far as to lean just the slightest bit closer to Reno – body language was vital when dealing with those as paranoid as the members of the 'Department of Administrative Research'.

Without the dark hood covering him, he was well aware that his spiky blonde hair and bright blue eyes made him look harmless – too harmless considering all he'd seen and done.

"That…" Cloud sounded both concerned and hesitant, "Mister, are you alright?"

Reno just frowned at him, projecting complete scepticism, but Cloud knew him well enough to recognize the confusion underneath. "Oh, I am fine. You on the other hand…"

The threat the man infused in his voice was just slightly less confident this time and he decided to ignore the response of fear it would inspire in most people in favour of his earlier concern.

Mostly because this was Reno and because there was something thrilling about trying to out-Turk a Turk – and Cloud was enjoying himself far too much.

He made an aborted attempt to reach out to Reno, making sure to eye the Turk's weapon before drawing his arm back to his body. "…Sir. It's…" Cloud's voice was quiet, hesitant and careful, as if talking to a spooked animal that he wasn't sure was going to bite him, "It's Halloween today."

For a moment Reno just stared at him and Cloud managed to look up at him with a shy innocence that he'd likely lost a long time ago – that had been slowly chiselled away from him by the unrepentant hits life dealt him.

But it was surprisingly nice to be able to pretend, to let himself be the Cloud that he'd been before he knew, and lost, Zack. Before SOLDIER and Hojo and Sephiroth and everything.

"Are you…" And Cloud did that aborted reach again, as if he wanted to do something but wasn't sure what and his arm ended up hanging awkwardly in the air for a long moment. He looked down, as if embarrassed and didn't think he quite managed to summon a blush.

"Are you sure you're alright?" he finally whispered as earnestly as he could. And he could read the redhead well enough that he could see it the moment Reno was sold. He knew then that the long days stalking, training, hacking, questioning, threatening and shadowing made it as hard for the Turk to keep track of time as the shaky memories of early days in SOLDIER training indicated it had been for him once upon a time.

"Just fine," Reno finally answered, a bit grudgingly. Then he turned the tables back to Cloud immediately, "That's an interesting choice of costume."

But Cloud knew that this time Reno was just deflecting, not really suspicious anymore. Or at least no more than was usual for a Turk.

So now it was just a case of seeing this through, of being the younger – still so very young and unsure and unbroken – Cloud Strife that might actually exist in this world at this time. Something that could cause a lot of problems later on, he acknowledged to himself. But that was a problem for a later time - for now… "Thank you?"

"Looks good on you, though," the other man continued, with a leer settling comfortably on his face.

And Cloud blinked his blue eyes at him, retreating just a tad as the other advanced and this was actually working.

"What's your name?"

"Cloud," this time his answer was completely honest which might not be a smart thing but neither was lying to a Turk any more than you had to. "My name is Cloud."

"Cloud," Reno repeated, drawing his name out in such a way that he wasn't sure if the Turk was aiming for threatening or seductive. Chances were that the difference between those two wasn't exactly a clear-cut divide for the Turk. "I'm Reno."

When Reno finally 'let' him leave, Cloud made sure not to go directly to his own rented apartment. Instead he went to one of the larger apartment buildings he had 'visited' some time ago, pretended to send someone a message on his phone and let himself into the building.

Then he immediately ran to the exit on the other side of the building and, keeping to the shadows, left before anyone following him could have gotten around the building.

Because, when dealing with Turks on their home ground, you could never be too careful.

Not much later, safely in his temporary home, Cloud took off his jacket, set down his rope-gun, glanced at the calendar on his wall and smiled.

He couldn't help but picture Reno's cursing when the redhead did the same.

Well, time was really just how you looked at it anyway. What did a few weeks matter in the scheme of things when he was already years out of place?

Maybe this wasn't what he was supposed to be doing – if he was supposed to be doing anything at all that is.

But then, maybe that's what made it so much fun.

He was never the one who was meant to be the hero anyway.

A.N.: Written for the Writers Anonymous Halloween Challenge.

The time travel thing is totally cliche, of course, but I love the whole genre anyway. The Halloween part of this story ended up a bit of a smaller part than I thought - I started with the whole interaction between Reno and Cloud and then needed to explain the backstory and well... this happened. But today's the deadline and it's all in good fun anyway.

I haven't actually played Final Fantasy VII, since I didn't have a Playstation back then (still don't). But I love the characters and the story so I want to give the remake a shot. I really hope they will bring it out for the PC as well (doubt it, though).

I'm not sure if I'll actually go so far as to buy a Playstation 4 just for this.

I think I might go so far as to actually buy a Playstation 4 just for this.