Turn Back the Clock

A/N: *avoids getting shot* It's the Writer! I'm innocent! I swear!

Ven's been busy. For one, Vendetta can't type for a while CUZ SHE BROKE AN ARM! And two, I've been sick. And busy with back to school s*** on top of all that. No, I could not have posted this earlier. She has had me to be her slave, but she isn't happy herself. Ever heard of Bronchitis? She got it, gave it to the rest of us. And our computer broke.

*cries*

September is a cursed month, in Vendetta's own words. Every single year, her life has taken a dip. She thinks it's because of her birthday-which, she hates, because it has gone wrong every year- In epic proportions. This year? She fell down a flight of stairs and broke an arm. Joy. You don't even want to hear what happened last time. It was messy.

Thanks to all our reviewers:

ShinobiTwin05
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honey-taste
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It makes our day, mostly her day when she reads them!

As an interesting note, this was the most attention we received for any of our stories, or any other chapter in this one. We have received more reviews for one chapter than 4 of my other stories combined. Thanks, for the faves and alerts, and Cave of Silent Echoes for adding it to the Community!

When Sephiroth awoke next, he was still hearing a feminine voice, however, this one held him in her arms, large cleavage pressed up against his back, and had a hand running through his long silver hair. And she wasn't screaming at him- she was singing softly, a sad, yet somehow comforting tune that needed no words to pierce straight through his ice-covered heart.

Oh, there were indeed words, but they had simply been spoken so softly, even his mako enhanced ears could not discern them.

He almost wanted to fall back asleep- as he would have no difficulty, everything was hazy in his mind, and he was content to just sleep here-

A shrill screech pierced his mind, causing him to jump straight out of one woman's arms, and onto the cold floor. He let out a pained gasp as his head hit a metal rod, causing sound to ring between his ears. He held his head in his hands, not letting any other signs of pain show, but most certainly he was in a great deal of it.

The first voice spoke, but the sound was garbled, so he struggled to get away, his limbs refusing to work in his state of panic, and he was only more frightened by that revelation. It wasn't until he was entirely restrained that he realized that he was truly overreacting. Hojo would have his head if he knew that his prized General had panicked.

He shut down all of his senses in an attempt to calm himself, and when he did, he opened his eyes, to see the worried face of Tifa Lockhart. She seemed troubled, but Sephiroth was not about to tell her he had panicked because he was hearing a voice for Planet's sake.

As he stood up, memory hit him. Genesis….. Sephiroth wondered what had happened to the man, but his thoughts of his degrading friend were suddenly cut off, and he was reminded forcefully of the betrayal… and the possible revelation of a truth he had sought since he was old enough to want to know what had happened to his mother.

My Son…

"Mother…" The silver-haired man almost sighed with reverence, but withheld himself, if for Tifa's sake.

The books Gast left for you read them, my Son…. And you will see the truth of this race…..

Tifa watched as Sephiroth got up off the floor jerkily, cyan eyes glazed over- partially from sleep, partially from Jenova. A familiar violet glow was in his hooded eyes, and it scared her more than she was willing to admit.

She watched as he sluggishly made his way to the library, even though he had never been in this mansion before, he knew where it was. She gulped nervously. So Jenova was in his head already.

That complicated things.

She didn't want to leave him alone, but she needed to calm herself down. She walked up to the main floor, and went outside. The sun was high above her head, but she was more concerned with what was coming out of the mountains.

"Cloud!"

This complicated things even more.

"It's mako poisoning. Nothing we can do for him." She sighed with a resounding sort of regret. "So, what happened?"

"I don't know Tifa, all of a sudden, I woke up in a pool of mako." Cloud shrugged his black-clad shoulders. "Personally, I am more concerned on why you aren't surprised I look like I am twenty-five." He narrowed mako-glowing blue eyes at her in suspicion.

The ebony haired woman flinched. "….. You wouldn't believe me if I told you, Cloud….."

Cloud pinched the top of his nose, and then ran a hand across Zack's limp body thoughtfully. "…Try me."

She spoke briskly. "I'm from the future." She watched as Cloud's jaw dropped, before he actually took into account the things that had been happening.

"In a twisted sort of way, that makes sense." He sounded marginally surprised. Tifa grinned meekly.

"So, what are we going to do with the body?" Cloud smirked as a blond eyebrow rose, and Tifa laughed. "What'd I do?" He asked, confused.

"I-It's just… just…." She burst out laughing again as his face scrunched up.

"It's just what, Tifa," Cloud folded his arms, looking much more in-character for his elder self.

Her smiled died, and she explained. "You hardly ever smile in the future." She looked sad at that, before forcefully cheering herself up. "Well, I know where we can put him!" She pushed at Cloud playfully, before grabbing one of Zack's limp arms. His head lolled forward. "Follow me!"

Cloud picked up Zack's other arm, and slung it around his shoulder. Zack's legs dragged between them.

"Was General Sephiroth muttering to himself…?" They had through the library.

"Yes. That's a major problem in the future. Him going insane- that is." Tifa sighed as she noted how quickly Sephiroth was going through those books.

Cloud's eyes widened. "Sephiroth goes insane?"

"Jumped right off the deep end," Tifa muttered. "We are here."

Cloud's eyebrow rose. "….. Is that…?"

Tifa followed his gaze to the drugged Genesis. "Yes."

"….Does he…?"

"No."

"….Why…?"

"Because!" Tifa threw her arms into the air out of annoyance. The one thing she did not miss about Cloud's future self was his inability to understand things beyond science. Older-Cloud was paranoid enough to believe anything. This Cloud was still marginally naïve.

Especially when it came to these things that were beyond the realm of humanity and concerned the Goddess.

Tifa took Zack from Cloud's hold, "Can you open the tank for me?"

"Right-o," Cloud almost broke the door on accident. "Whoa…. Tifa… What did I do?"

She sighed. Tifa loved Cloud like a brother, but right now, he was lacking the maturity that had made her fall in love with him all over again. "You have SOLDIER strength. And you think you have the strength of a fifteen year old. It's no wonder that you are having problems." Tifa placed Zack's noodle-like arms into the pads there to hold him. She pushed a strand of messy black hair out of his face, though she knew it to be a useless motion, and kissed his forehead.

Zack's face moved a little in response, and Tifa smiled. She closed his eyes with her fingers, and watched as his body fell into sleep.

She had always regretted not knowing Zack, especially when Cloud talked about the misadventures he had while a part of Shinra. In this life, she would know him.

She closed the tank, put on the breathing tube and IV, and filled the containment unit up. He looked peaceful, sleeping like that, not like his mind was not connected to his body. She dragged Cloud, who was staring at Zack dolefully, out of the lab, and through the library, until they were back in the hall of the Shinra Mansion.

"What is it Teef?" He raised a blond eyebrow.

"We have to find a plan of attack. We need to destroy Jenova, without hurting Sephiroth. We have to distract him long enough that one of us might be able to destroy Jenova." Cloud peeked inside the room, at his idol with suspicion.

"Alright. What are we going to do?"

"Uh…." Tifa wished she knew.

Something had gone wrong. She knew from the moment she felt Zack that something had gone wrong.

Aerith was very worried about her boyfriend at that point in time. He was immersed in the lifestream for a whole day, before being removed. She had freaked when he had showed up there, but had calmed down when he did not join the voice of the stream. Maybe he was in a vat of mako? Or maybe he fell in the reactor?

She didn't know, and she hoped she would find out soon.

On a better note, Golden WEAPON appeared in Nibelheim, and so it would be saved.

Aerith stood from where she had been praying to go home to her mother. Elmyra would be worried if she was out too late.

A/N: Short chapter is short. But, then again, I got frustrated because Ven talks faster than I type. We called it quits after an hour.

Then again, on a note.

WE ARE NOT DEAD.

We are going to just flood the site one day, and you guys will be excited.

I am going to have a poll on my profile page for what story I should get working on first. Those of you who read my other stories will also be alerted on my profile, and I am going to tell those on my other fandoms as well. ^^

I will hopefully see you all soon, The Writer, KAM.