Walk Soft, Talk Soft, Big Sharp Stick

A FF7 Time Travel Oneshot

Notes: Given the varieties of time travel methods, and the various points in time to travel to, how about a little variety?
Destination: Modeoheim
Event: Modeoheim mission, Zack and Angeal's final meeting.
Method: The mysteries of mako and the Planet
Transport state: Body maintains it's age, but accoutrements are metaphysically generated (a la Sephiroth materializing his sword in movie.)
On Title: Inspired by Walk softly and carry a big stick.

Zack really wished he weren't the next best, only, really, other option for this mission. It wasn't the location or crash, any SOLDIER, even a third should be able to handle those sort of mission specs easily. Okay, the crash was not a planned part of the mission, but still— No, it was his familiarity with the potential targets, Genisis and Angeal, that qualified him for either a diplomatic or a violent confrontation in the case where either of them were present, or identify signs of them if they were not..

He had the unnerving feeling that he ranked higher than Sephiroth for this sort of thing since Banora. And he suspected it was because they didn't want Sephiroth vanishing as well. Even though Zack had heard Sephiroth say himself that he would stay with the company until he was thrown away, Zack thought that had been true for Angeal as well, so what did being 'thrown away' mean? As it was, the thought even crossed his own mind that if something was bad enough for the person Zack respected above all others to leave ShinRa behind, not that he agreed remotely with whatever Genisis was doing, mind, but if things were so fundamentally wrong that Angeal left, perhaps Zack should look into his own options.

As for this mission well, normally Zack wasn't one for signs or portents, and his optimism was usually borne out. Still, Banora had seemed straight forward and simple on arrival, then look what happened. Everything blown up, erased as much as it could be. This mission certainly wasn't starting out well, what the anti-aircraft fire and crash and even the weather, grey clouds, enough wind to lift away any warmth and a light snowfall were not encouraging.

Then again, Cloud seemed to be a decent sort. A little soft spoken, which was unusual after basic training with all the yelling both the instructors and trainees did. The guy even seemed to be negotiating the winter terrain better than Zack himself, and Zack made note of the slight difference in how the trooper walked and raised his brow as the change did seem to improve traversal.

Zack hoped nothing came of the mission itself. He really did not want to fail in bringing the missing pair of Firsts back, and he didn't want to have to beat them up to bring them in either. Any thought that this would just be an investigative mission, like the objectives stated went up with the chopper.

Still, he had been serious with Cloud on country boys sticking together. Too many people were gone, either those who disappeared with Genisis, those sent out to replace those missing troops, just Angeal, gone at first without a trace. All of Banora, gone.

A glow of mako green out of the corner of his eye had Zack turn his head, quickly scanning for the source. Only Cloud was in sight, hand on his head giving it a little shake.

"You okay there, buddy?"

Cloud shook his head in that universal way of clearing one's mind. "Yeah, think so."

He made to put the helmet back on, probably a good idea with the cold, plus the optics and their low grade thermal scan couldn't hurt either. Still, he hesitated a moment before going ahead. "Just— something about this, the crash, weather—I don't know, seems familiar . . ."

Zack raised his brows, considering. He trusted instincts, but he was pretty sure Cloud would have mentioned being here before instead of just being a mountain boy. "Well, keep me posted, could be something from the crash turning up."

"Right."

The Modeoheim facility was no where near as huge as ShinRa Tower, but it was still a veritable maze of offices, labs, plumbing and many,many storage areas. By the time they reached the elevator for the higher floors, which should have access to any residential areas, Zack was quite prepared to say otherwise.

And it didn't help that he kept seeing those mako wisps. Tseng had as well, even if the troopers hadn't. Although, Cloud seemed to be getting more alert as well. Of course Cloud was also in the direction the wisps kept appearing, so it could be in response to Tseng and Zack glancing his way all the time.

Anymore Zack wasn't letting coincidences go by, even if he hadn't commented on it. The other thing Zack had noticed after a time was that Cloud seemed to know where to go in this place. It was very subtle, Zack was pretty sure Tseng hadn't caught on, but then Tseng wasn't leading, and hadn't walked past Cloud at every single door and passageway that brought them closer to their goal.

That was what started to clue Zack in after all. Cloud was quite disciplined, and braced himself to semi-attention anytime Zack walked past. He didn't think about it at first. Only after a long series of passageways turned out to be a dead end, and that first move to double back, and Cloud braced once again by the door did Zack realize the past dozen rooms that hadn't happened.

And it wasn't like Cloud picked a door to stand by either. There was some poking around for anything immediately useful, but Cloud gravitated towards one direction or another, inspecting boxes or papers and the emergency evacuation maps that were entirely inaccurate, while still being at the ready. Curiosity had Zack start following the direction Cloud drifted and they really started making excellent time.

Zack wondered if he should be suspicious, but he just couldn't manage it. Cloud seemed to be a very good trooper, a likely candidate for SOLDIER at that. He was alert, but not jumpy, observant, with a tempered curiosity, plus he seemed to be of rather hardy stock, given how well he'd kept up so far as even Tseng had started to droop. They bantered a bit as they progressed, mostly about the weather and the cold, wildlife from their respective hometowns, a little about becoming SOLDIER, but even though Cloud was definitely interested he was reticent in his inquiries. All in all, Zack just liked Cloud, the youth's quite nature and wry observations just put him in a good mood.

Still, Tseng found what he was looking for in some recently used data terminals near the lift, and after making sure the area was clear of any immediate danger, only Cloud and Zack proceeded up. It was almost surreal how close the timing was in stopping whatever argument held Hollander at Genisis' swordpoint. He didn't have time to feel sorry in asking Cloud to restrain a man near three times his size in bulk. The situation was too volatile to check on the trooper when the scientist knocked him to the ground. He didn't dare even blink as brighter green flash from below occurred while trying to keep Hollander and Genisis separate.

All he needed to see was in Genisis, briefly puzzled look over in Cloud's direction.

"Cloud! After him!"

But it didn't matter, because Genisis was attacking, and the only thing he could do was send his new friend after the fleeing scientist.

The search for Cloud and Hollander was what kept him from thinking about Genisis. Zack was pretty sure Cloud would have had the guts to stand up to Genisis, even if it was suicide, but he hadn't faltered at chasing Hollander. Heh, the guy seemed rather good about following the mission directives. Might even make a better SOLDIER than Zack himself was!

But if Cloud was as stubborn as he thought, then there was an even odds chance he'd fight with Angeal if it came down to it.

Only Angeal didn't look as if he'd been fighting. Yet there was no sign of Hollander either. Cloud was just sitting against the wall, but awake with dazed eyes. Zack had checked here as soon as he'd noticed the mako glow on the outside wall. He didn't see any glow in here, but he was pretty sure that Cloud leaned against that exact spot. He really, really hoped that his new friend wouldn't end up with mako poisoning after everything else.

And then his world shattered once more as Angeal attacked! It wasn't any better when Hollander appeared, going on about Angeal's mother and Projects and cells. He couldn't figure out why Angeal attacked him, was it because Zack stopped Genisis? But he just said he should have done so! Or did he think Zack was going to jump him?

And the stuff about Gillian. He'd hoped Angeal hadn't done it, but the evidence at the time was inconclusive, and only the bloodless blade of the Buster Sword kept the doubt at bay. But Zack couldn't fathom what Genisis or Angeal were thinking. Had the death really been suicide? Or was that what Angeal told himself? Or like how it was 'suicide' for the Wutaiins to attack en masse in the hopes of besting the General?

And there was nothing he could do to stop it, as the monsters descended from above.

And there was nothing he could do but ready his sword as they charged.

And there was nothing he could do as they passed him by.

And there was a flash of blue.

A blue glow came from the sidewall where Cloud was, but Zack couldn't see through all the monsters in the way.

The blue grew and spread. Five beams lanced out. One for each monster and the fifth behind Angeal.

Then a different movement. A blue being skated between beast and man. It took until the second monster fell, before enough shock passed, for Zack to feel the energy of a truly impressive Limit Break in action. It had to be Cloud, but how? The mako? The circumstances it took to drive a person from the corporeal into the energy state of a Limit Break were extreme. Once attained, one could usually access a Break on demand, but this, this was unbelievable! A veritable dance of death, something beyond the coordination of an Omnislash had to be practiced, even as a Limit Break. Some Breaks were just a mindless unleashing of power, others unmitigated skill. This was the later.

In the heartbeat's between recognition and awe, a gut wrenching fear for Angeal also took hold, because he too was within that dance, he too rocked from blows, pinned in place by the energy of the Limit Break.

The light that was Cloud surged upwards, then down upon the last beast and the blue faded.

But was that really Cloud? Cloud wasn't by the wall anymore, and Zack didn't recognize any of the blades that demarked where the Break had taken place. And the figure now standing in the center of it all wore primarily black in fashion Zack had never seen before. The figure, had to be Cloud with that hair, looked around and Zack realized that Hollander was missing.

Quick steps and Cloud was in front of the gasping, injured Angeal, and Zack could only call his mentor's name as Cloud reached, grabbed the man by his belt, lifted, and drove the man against the support pillar in the wall behind. Only after Cloud slugged Angeal in the jaw could Zack move, but only a few hesitant steps as confusion leant everything a surreal cast of light.

"Coward." Cloud's voice was low, deeper than before, and near emotionless. "The man who trained the greatest hero I know, is a coward."

"Cloud," Zack hesitated not sure where he was trying to go with his thoughts, or where this new Cloud was coming from.

But Cloud wasn't addressing him. "Don't you dare do this to Zack! Don't you dare! Oh, he would do it for you, if you take away his choice. Suicide by student, pathetic. He'd move on, because he's better than you."

Cloud dropped larger man. Angeal landing on his knees. His injuries severe, but clearly not life threatening, at least on the surface. Two quick steps, then back and Cloud drove the Buster Sword almost to the hilt before it's owner.

"This sword, in your hands, worthless."

"Wait Cloud! That's too much!" Zack protested. Finally Cloud looked over. Zack saw the other's face soften, and felt his own relief. He was clueless, by everything he was so frustrated at being clueless, as to what happened, or rather how, but now, maybe things might be alright.

Cloud nodded and stood again. He moved to pick up the largest of those mysterious blades. "That sword—"

"Your Honor? Dreams? Pride?" Each word separated by the collection and addition of one of the other blades.

"Use brings rust, you said?" Cloud shook his head and silently added the last two blades to the assembly. Zack was rather impressed, in shape it looked exactly like the Buster Sword.

"Disuse does as well, you know. Neglect, forgetfulness. If you have Honor you ignore, Dreams you neglect, Pride that is forgotten, what use such a blade? Fear is your rust. You fear to test your blade against that which can hurt it or make it stronger, and so it slowly diminishes. All you had was faith." Cloud's voice never wavered in it's tone, calm, soft, sure.

Zack knew he understood the words being said, they were what he tried to live up to every day. But he thought Cloud meant them differently, and he thought that Angeal understood them the way Cloud was saying them.

A quick spin and Cloud's own blade was quickly buried as deep as the Buster Sword. Zack would have thought that such a complex blade would shred the floor more going in, with all the extra edges on the sides. Yet the debris of the cut was less than that of the first sword in, and Zack was pretty sure it had gone in smoother too.

"These blades," Cloud want on, touching the hilt of the combined weapons, "are nameless and could still represent so many things. They are greater together than apart. Each has a time and a place it is best. In the end it is only a tool I choose to wield." Cloud grabbed both blades and stood, easily pulling them both free. "There is nothing from this Planet I don't cherish, and I will do my utmost with everything I have to defend it. Weapons of metal, Weapons of words—"

Cloud stumbled, and Zack moved to catch him. Whatever Cloud had been doing, that spell of words he wove in the soft, sure voice, was done. Whatever was keeping the boy moving was fading, too, and that complex sword and the black outfit faded away returning the trooper to his standard uniform.

Metaphysical manifestations was some pretty heady stuff, but Cloud's eyes still glowed with mako, though that too seemed to dim.

"Wh-who?"

Zack started at Angeal's question. The older man's mumbled word accounted for with the swelling jaw. But Zack was encouraged by the set of Angeal's face. The man was thinking over Cloud's words, and probably in a good way, by the absent touch given to his blade that lay across the floor.

"New friend." Zack said. Whatever actually happened to and with Cloud was surreal and scary. But the trooper had stopped Angeal from—Zack didn't even want to think it—and in doing so Zack would make sure to return the favor any way he could.

"Zack?" Cloud's voice came questioning and uncertain, even a tad lost.

"Yeah Cloud?"

Cloud smiled, drifting off into exhaustion. "'Milliar. 'Member a'fore. I'aveta al-ays try. Chan'e the pas-, chan'e the fu're."

Final Notes: Here is where this piece ends. I foresaw too many possibilities with just the temporal mechanism, never mind the story, to continue this. And while my mind has finally settled on how this story might continue with said mechanism, storyline changes and a potential plot haven't been contemplated.

And as I have a bad habit of not being clear in my writing: Yes, all those mako wisps were going into Cloud, but he didn't have a clue what was going on until enough mako tipped the scale for him to become his future self as he was roughly after the movie. If I read the wikia right, Cloud's sword is nameless in canon, even though the base blade was dubbed 'First Tsurugi' by one of the people working on the film, and really naming each blade would be cumbersome, and then would you need a name for each possible combination? I'll try to update any further clarifications here if people ask …

Part of this story was to try something different in the time travel section for a story that works well with it. I do love good do over fics, but then I also like more traditional time travel as well (I've watched Doctor Who since the 80's) Only most do over fics for FF7 rely on either pre-training, or some form of 'don't get caught!' subterfuge. I wanted to see something a bit different so I wrote what I did and offer a pair of challenges. So…

Challenge 1: Anyone who knows how they would end this story may continue it. I think the large number of unfinished fics out there are because people just think 'wouldn't that be cool' and run with it, only they don't have a destination in mind. I ask any who continue this for two things, A) a recommendation back to this story, and B) that if you discontinue the story, you post a summary, outline, or whatever that explains where you were going to finish it.

Challenge 2, Lightning Never Strikes Twice: As much as I love time travel stories, especially with Cloud, there seem to be only a few key 'start over' spots. The first, in early Nibelheim, the other in some form of training. Neither of which are played in game. This is a simple challenge, just pick some other key event to interfere with. Conditions: Only the same as B above. Other than that, any character(though I prefer Cloud), any other game event, it can be a do over, or older-younger selves. It is amazing what can be plausible in a well written story. Good Luck!