Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII

Warnings: Fem!Cloud; Troll!Sephiroth; ambiguous lines to an infant by someone who looks like a child; possible OOC

Un-Beta'd

The moment Cloud realized she was in the past, she had been in bed, staring at the ceiling. Again.

It no longer took her by surprise at this point. She had already lost count how many times she's ended up in the past. Fortunately, she wasn't alone. Otherwise, she may have ended up going crazy. The rest of her rag-tag group of friends retained their memories. Though, it would have been even better if a certain someone didn't either, if only so she could be left alone in peace.

In all honesty, time travelling was not all it was cracked up to be. There were only so many times you could redo your life before it got old. What was the point in saving the Planet if time would always end up rewinding? Once, they ended up spending an entire lifetime just doing whatever they wanted, and at the end of the day, what greeted them in death was the past. Whether or not Sephiroth destroyed the Planet – whether or not they managed to stop him, the result was always the same.

"Oh, are you awake, Cloud?" A familiar voice cooed.

Cloud tried to find the voice, only to see a large figure looming over her. It was her mother. Cloud reached out her hands.

"Good morning, darling." The woman smiled. "Are you hungry?"

Then, Cloud felt a warm hand behind her neck and another on her back before she felt her body being lifted. Her body was held in an embrace, and Cloud could not help but feel safe and secure. However–

Cloud couldn't help but shut her eyes as she felt her mother's arms adjust, clothes rustling. Something poked her cheek and Cloud chased after it and the taste of warm milk filled her mouth.

As much as Cloud loved spending time with her mother, this was always something she'd rather not have to experience all over again. Out of all of the times she had to return to, just why did it always have to be during her infancy?! Was being a toddler too much to ask for?

Life as an infant passed in a relative blur. Most of her time was spent sleeping, eating, and having her diaper changed. Life was easy and carefree, if one could look past the breastfeeding, infantile incontinence, and occasional colic. Bath time and diaper changes were things she did her best not to think about.

As she grew older, she felt the tell-tale signs of the best part of infancy: teething. It was annoying and uncomfortable and made her irritable. The Nibel snow quickly became her mother's best friend as she had discovered that Cloud became less agitated if she mouthed at cold objects.

Just as Cloud was easing back into life as an infant, she sensed a disturbance.

"Hello, Cloud."

Cloud opened one eye, disgruntled.

No.

She was not dealing with this. It was night time and she needed her sleep!

She closed her eyes and turned away, trying to go back to sleep in her crib.

"So small and helpless," the nuisance hummed, hovering in the air.

Cloud could practically feel the presence looming over her. She felt something moving across her cheek. Out of reflex, her hand grasped the offending object. She gave up pretending to sleep and glared. Her cherubic face did her no favors in the intimidation department.

"Go away," she demanded. Unfortunately, it only came out as unintelligible gurgles.

The fucker had the nerve to look absolutely delighted. "Cloud," he purred, eyes glowing. "Did you miss me?"

No, she did not!

Even as a child, he couldn't leave her in peace! Wasn't he supposed to be holed up in a lab or something and plotting Hojo's demise?

Annoyed, she tried to throw away his finger, but her poor motor control failed her. She ended up just thrashing her arms, unable to loosen her grip to complete the throw. The silver-haired brat smirked, and Cloud just wanted to rip it off of his smug face. Since she couldn't let go, she brought the finger up to her face with a tight grip and bit down.

If he wanted to be a nuisance, then the least he could do was make himself useful and be her teething ring.

She grunted in displeasure and did her best to bite as hard as she could in a futile attempt to be an inconvenience. She was more gums than teeth at this point, but she ignored that little fact. It was irritating how his perpetually cool skin allowed him to be a good teething device.

"Enjoying yourself, Cloud?" The boy drew closer. "Look how tightly you clench around me."

Cloud was dumbfounded.

This…

What the hell was he saying to a baby?

Sephiroth was already infuriating enough as an adult with his ambiguous lines. Cloud really did not need to suffer hearing it from what looked to be a six-year-old! Granted, his unearthly features and floating act made him look like a ghost, but still!

The amused look on his face told her everything.

She spat out the finger and glared.

Sephiroth smirked and withdrew from her grip and pinched her cheek with his other hand.

Cloud thrashed. "Go away, you evil cat!" Her words came out like babble, to her irritation and mortification.

"Hm? What was that?" He stretched her pinched cheek in response, drawing tears. "You wish to be in my arms?"

This jerk was playing with her! She knew he could understand her!

Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity, he withdrew, spouting out some nonsense Cloud had opted to tune out. A black feather drifted down into her crib before dissipating Now all alone, Cloud closed her eyes in relief and drifted off into sleep.

Her mother's voice woke her up in the morning.

"What's this?" She heard her mother ponder. "Did a bird get in?"

Suspicious, Cloud rolled towards her voice to get a better visual. Sure enough, there was a black feather on the floor. She let out a gurgle, catching her mother's attention, and struggled to sit up.

"Cloud, honey?" She heard her mother gasp in delight. "Are you trying to sit up, baby?"

Sure enough, Cloud had successfully diverted her mother's attention. As she struggled, she saw the feather dissipate and internally sighed in relief. When she successfully managed to prop herself upright, her mother cheered, picking her small body up and congratulating her with peppered kisses and praise.

Cloud spent the rest of the day practicing how to sit up-right, teething, napping, and playing with toys to stave off boredom. Cloud's mother started introducing her to solid foods, so mealtimes were finally starting to get better. Occasionally, she would creep along the floor, secretly searching for feathers. She couldn't crawl just yet, but the more she practiced, the sooner she could start moving on her own.

By the end of the day, Cloud was exhausted and was ready for bed. She didn't know when her mother had moved her to her crib, nor when she had dozed off. The moment Cloud's body was laid onto her mattress, she fell into sleep's embrace.

A/N: I'm back! Please don't kill me