Cloud Strife had seen many things in his twenty-six years. Good, bad, really bad, world-ending horrible, but one thing he never expected to see was materia pull the mother of all 'what the actual fuck is this – I can't even' moments he would ever experience.

It all started with a surprise attack from a behemoth. Cloud was in a spot near a well known natural mako spring. It had been dried for a while, with the planet trying to recover, it couldn't afford to waste its precious lifeblood by letting it flow on the surface, or at least that had been the case.

The monster shouldn't have been a problem, but it just happened to be a king behemoth, with wings and the power of ice breath. Joy.

Cloud did a masterful job regardless of the mutation, with his Fusion Sword poised to strike down the beast he had victory in his sight, what he couldn't see was the tail hidden behind its wing before it slammed into him, sending him flying into the mako spring.

Cloud landed with a splash as he sank deeper into the pool of acid green. Right away his mind was set in a panic as it struggled to stay focused. The last time he ended up in a mako spring he was comatose for days, though it could have easily been weeks. Sense of time was often one of the first things to go. In fact, Cloud had lost track of how long he had been submerged as the air was forced from his lungs solely due to the body's pure reflex to exhale used oxygen and intake a new wave. The new wave however was liquid, instead of a breathable gas.

As his vision blurred he tried to focus on the materia he had to propel himself towards the surface as a last ditch effort. What he didn't realize was he misjudged the focus and activated four materia at once. The liquid mako reacted to it and there were four concussive underwater explosions. Instead of upwards it pulled him deeper, but his last feeling of sensation told him a hand had grabbed him and he was going upwards.

He felt solid ground under his back before he felt the pressure of someone's hands pushing on his chest before he felt the liquid mako being forced out of his lungs, causing him to hack and choke as he rolled to the side.

He laid there, resting on his arms as he gasped for air, taking in the feeling of the cool, fresh oxygen filling his lungs. He looked around, trying to see where the behemoth went when he saw four human shapes around him, two standing up and the other two on the ground. He was convinced some helpful strangers had seen him fall in, and then they decided to speak.

"Where the hell are we? How'd we even get here?"

"I don't know pup, but I am curious as to who that man is."

"Huh, that guy? Never seen…wait, that hair! It couldn't be!"

Someone crawled closer to him and got right in his face, but all Cloud could see were blurry green shadows.

"Oh shit! It is, Spiky! Hey, you okay buddy?"

His mind was getting too fuzzy to focus, he wanted to figure out who that was…to answer them, but he couldn't even register the idea to form words.

"Mako poisoning, a bad case and getting worse," replied a voice he also clearly recognized, and it put him on edge, but he couldn't focus enough to act.

"Let me see," came a female voice and when she touched him he felt so comforted he almost gave in to the overwhelming urge to sleep, but she stopped him.

"Oh no you don't, we can't have you dying after what you did."

Cloud felt a cold, yet calming energy wash over him and his mind slowly cleared. The mako glow dimmed from his eyes as he opened them and blinked away the fog. Once he had he thought he was still dreaming.

He saw a girl with a familiar pink dress with chestnut hair pulled back in a braid with a pink ribbon tied at the top. Just over her shoulder he could see her ever protective bodyguard and 'perfectly matched for her' boyfriend, complete with his SOLDIER First uniform and X-shaped scar.

"First time a dream has ever healed me," Cloud mumbled.

At this Aerith could only giggle. "And people say you have no sense of humor."

Zack smirked behind her, "Spend a day during a normal patrol with him and you'll find he's got a pretty damn good one, not to mention a quick wit and clever sass."

"Perhaps he can explain how we ended up in the mako spring and why your appearances do not match my memory of you."

Cloud blinked and looked over to his left to see Sephiroth standing there. The next thing Sephiroth knew he was blocking what would have been a death blow from a very powerful sword, not unlike the Buster Sword.

Cloud's eyes glowed with anger as he glared at his eternal foe.

It startled Sephiroth who had slid back from the collision. The other man took a step back in shock as Zack started to intervene, but Aerith beat him to it.

"Cloud wait," she said as she placed a hand on his arm.

"Stay behind me, he won't get you again."

"Again," Sephiroth asked. "Please inform me, when did I attack her a first time? I don't even recognize her."

"Bullshit," Cloud spat as he released a trigger on his sword, sending a smaller blade flying up before catching it and swinging it at the silver-haired man barely missing his throat and cutting a few strands of hair in the process.

Suddenly another sword came flying at him and Cloud turned to block it only to blink in shock as First Tsurugi clashed with the Buster Sword. Sparks flew from both blades as Cloud stared down and realized his new opponent was Zack.

"Spiky, I don't know what the mako did to you, but Seph isn't the enemy."

"Zack, I don't think your friend is well," the other man replied. "And also be careful with that sword."

The younger warrior smirked as he looked over his shoulder at his mentor. "I know 'Geal, use brings wear, tear and rust, but I think keeping my friends from killing each other is a little more important, don't you think?"

"I suppose you're right," the man replied.

Cloud was beyond confused, but he figured if it was some weird mako dream than he should at least try and set it straight. All these facts were so jumbled it was like looking into different timelines.

"Sephiroth is no friend!"

Zack blinked in surprise. "What are you saying Cloud? You've always looked up to the guy. You said he was your hero."

"Before he slaughtered Aerith and the rest of my hometown," boy this mako dream was way out there.

"I have no memory of those atrocious accusations," the man defended.

Man Cloud hated it when he used big words. It was like he was trying to prove he was on a higher level every chance he got. Sure, Cloud could match those words with clever comebacks of his own, but it just really pissed him off.

Zack wasn't backing down however and pushed against Cloud's blade with the Buster and it emotionally hurt Cloud when both swords let out a high-pitch cry. He realized those two swords were brothers and never meant to go against each other. For that reason alone he pulled back and lowered his blade. After all, he couldn't be killed by hallucinations in a mako dream…right?

And that my wonderful readers is the first chapter in my newest story that won't leave me alone. Nightmare Undone is getting a new chapter soon as is Saving the Lost. I've been trying to focus on updating these stories, but it hasn't been easy especially with work. Regardless, I'm trying. I mean, sure, this idea may have been done before, but I don't think in quite this way and hey, for once its not a time travel "fix the world" thing! Yay! lol. I love those, but its always nice to try something new. This is so new I'm not even sure which direction I want to take it. I might want to keep it light and fun, but with a few realistic "Okay, this has to happen" things but hey, at least its something to look forward to. Other smaller stories are in my sights for updates too, but you probably won't see any updates for those until later down the road.

Oh, and if you couldn't tell by the language I used, this one won't be rated K+ Nothing crazy, but well, people curse. it happens.

FFVII and all its amazing characters belong to Square Enix

Hope you enjoy!