Welcome Home

Nibelheim wasn't exactly a prime tourist spot, despite the lovely views it had of the mountains. It was too remote, and there were too many monsters in the surrounding areas. When people wanted mountain views they went to Icicle to ski, not Nibelheim.

As a result, the inn run by Cloud's adopted family wasn't exactly doing a booming business. They catered to the occasional Shinra troop unit passing through to inspect the reactor, and that was about it. It was enough to keep them going, but there was no extra money for luxuries of any kind. For people who'd once run one of the most successful inns in Gongaga, it was a hell of a step down.

Since it was primarily his fault that his family was stuck out here in the ass-end of nowhere, Cloud always did his best to help in any way he could. He'd trailed the smith and carpenter of Nibelheim around begging for lessons, until he'd learned enough to be able to do most of the building repairs on his own. He worked in the garden, growing fresh fruit and vegetables for his mother to serve their guests - and them, when there were no guests. Anything that needed to be done, he did it, as his way of saying 'thank you' for a debt that could never be repaid.

Today he'd been out berry picking. The blackberries were ripe and so thick on the vines all you had to do was put a bucket under one and shake it, but the bramble patches were much further down the mountain, below the tree line. Most people didn't want to make the long hike just for a couple buckets of berries that you then had to carry all the way back up the mountain.

"I'm home!" he called as he shoved the back door open with one hip, manoeuvring the buckets inside. They lived behind the main part of the inn, but he always took the back way in and out. The one chore he did not help with was serving the guests, because it was important for him to stay out of sight.

Instead of his mother bustling about the homey kitchen, however, he was startled to see an unfamiliar girl a few years older than he was. Cloud froze, staring at her, trying to figure out who she was and whether he should be running. He knew everyone in Nibelheim, and their cousins, and their cousin's cousins, and pretty much everyone else in their families. This girl wasn't one of them, and she didn't look like she might be a distant relation he'd never met, either. On the other hand, she also didn't look much like a Shinra drone. So what was she doing here? More to the point, why was she in his kitchen?

Before he could panic and drop the buckets to bolt out the door, she smiled at him. It was such a bright, sunny smile, that he found himself smiling back before he even realized he was going to do it. Clapping her hands under her chin, her blue-green eyes shining at him, she dimpled. "Oh! You must be Cloud! I've heard so much about you, it's so nice to finally meet you!"

The fact that she knew his name made him want to be wary again, but he just couldn't be nervous of anyone with such a beautiful smile. "Um," he replied intelligently, then cleared his throat and tried again. "Er... nice to meet you? Ma'am?"

"Aerith," she said firmly. "Being called 'ma'am' makes me look over my shoulder for my mother! Anyway, we're practically family. Right?"

Her last question had been directed not at him, but towards the doorway leading to the rest of the inn. Glancing over, Cloud felt his heart stop in his chest as he saw a man in a SOLDIER uniform looming in the doorway, taking up pretty much the whole space. It would have been bad enough if it had been a normal Shinra trooper, but a SOLDIER! Cloud had no hope of outrunning one of them.

He tried anyway, the buckets clattering to the floor and spilling berries everywhere as he turned to flee. All his life he'd known that if Shinra ever found him, it would mean the end of his freedom and probably of his life as well. Worse, his adopted family would undoubtedly be killed for sheltering him. That was why they'd moved from Gongaga to remote Nibelheim, after Cloud had been born and his mother had died.

"Whoa, hey!" the SOLDIER exclaimed. There was a flash of movement, faster than any human had a right to be, and the scent of the blackberries hung thick in the air as the man's heavy boots ground them into the floor. A strong hand caught Cloud around the waist and another latched onto his shoulder. Panicking, he kicked back at the SOLDIER, hoping against hope he could get free and find one of his parents. They knew the truth of what he could do, if he could just get to one of them they could use his powers to defend themselves.

"Cloud! Cloud, it's okay, it's just me, I'm sorry." The SOLDIER stood and accepted Cloud's awkward attempts to hit him without so much as wincing, and his voice was oddly... familiar? It took Cloud a moment to realize the man was apologizing to him, which was so far from what he'd expected that he went momentarily limp with shock.

That was enough to let the man half-turn him so he could see Cloud's face. Blue-violet eyes looked down at him, familiar despite the overlying haze of mako. "Zack?" Cloud gasped as his befuddled brain finally made the connection.

"Hey, kid," Zack smiled ruefully down at him and let him go, now that he was sure Cloud wasn't going to bolt. "It's good to see you again. Has it really been two years? Hades, you're nearly as tall as I am, now!" He shook his head and stepped back, letting Cloud get a good look at him. The SOLDIER uniform suited him, showing off his lean muscled body and making his shoulders look even broader than they were. The differences between age sixteen and eighteen were subtle but clear; the extra two years had matured him from a boy into a young man.

Under other circumstances Cloud might have accused Zack of dressing up just to play a tasteless prank on him. His adopted brother had a quirky sense of humour, sometimes. But the glow of mako in his eyes was unmistakeable, and not something that could be faked. "You're... you're a SOLDIER?" Cloud asked weakly, disbelieving.

Zack had left home to try his luck in the cities, hoping to get a job and be able to send some money back to help support their family. Cloud hadn't seen him once in all that time, and his one letter home had been vague and horribly uninformative. But the thought that his brother would ever have joined Shinra wasn't one that had even occurred to Cloud. It felt horribly like a betrayal; Zack of all people knew what lengths Shinra was willing to go to in order to keep its control over the world, and he should have been the last person who would work for them.

"Aw, don't look at me like that," Zack winced, lifting one hand to run it through his hair. "It's not like that, Cloud. Do you really think I would ever sell you out, under any circumstances?"

Flicking a nervous glance to Aerith, who was sitting in her chair with her hand over her mouth and eyes wide, Cloud shook his head. "No." If he'd been asked to pick the one person he would trust without hesitation, he would have chosen Zack. The older boy had spent his whole life protecting and defending his little brother, and no bond of blood could have made them any closer than they were. Cloud had missed him fiercely while he was gone. "That's why I don't understand..."

"What better way to protect you than from the inside?" Zack asked, smiling sheepishly. "Seriously, Cloud. As a SOLDIER I've got access to all kinds of information, and I can keep tabs on what Hojo is up to. I can probably even pull strings to keep you and mom and dad safe, if necessary. I'm making some friends in pretty high places."

"Zack!" Looking at Aerith again, Cloud winced. He had no idea who she was - she obviously knew Zack, judging by her earlier comments, but that didn't mean he wanted to trust her with his deepest secrets!

"It's okay," Zack assured him, ruffling his hair. The casual gesture of affection was so familiar it made Cloud's chest ache with how much he'd missed it. "You and Aerith have a few important things in common. Like wanting to stay out of Hojo's hands at all costs." His smile turned into a grin. "I swear I'm a magnet, or something. First my little brother, and now my girlfriend."

Aerith was smiling again. "I'm sorry we startled you so badly," she apologized, standing and moving to stand beside Zack. He wrapped one arm around her waist in what was obviously an automatic gesture, and she leaned against him. "I thought you would have already talked to him, he went looking for you almost an hour ago. And now your berries are all squished!"

Looking down at his feet, Cloud grimaced as he realized she was right. There were still some left in the buckets, but it wouldn't be enough for his mother to make even one pie. "Aw, damn it," he muttered, going down on his hands and knees to try to gather up the few undamaged berries. "I spent all morning getting these!"

It was easier to think about the disappointment of losing the berries than to dwell on the pang of jealousy that hit him when he saw Zack so casually holding the girl. All his life Cloud had been the centre of his big brother's world, and it hadn't occurred to him that Zack's priorities might change while he was away. It wasn't that Cloud didn't want Zack to be happy, and he certainly looked happy given the way he'd smiled when Aerith had walked up to him, but it was going to be hard to have to share the older boy.

Trust Zack to find someone else who needed protecting, though. Sometimes Cloud thought Zack just couldn't be satisfied if he wasn't playing white knight to someone.

Soft, slender hands joined his in cleaning the mess, and he glanced up to find Aerith had crouched down as well. "Zack's talked about you so often I feel like I almost grew up with you myself! It's just a good thing for him I'm not the jealous type, or I might end up having problems with the fact that I'm not his most important person!"

Cloud's face flamed as he wondered if his jealous thoughts had been that obvious. Her gentle smile held no recriminations, though, and he found he couldn't blame Zack for falling for her. Cloud liked her already, despite being jealous, and he hardly knew her.

"He's just over protective," Cloud muttered, ducking his head again. "He likes playing mother hen."

"Hey!" Zack protested mildly, wetting a couple of cloths in the sink. "I'm right here, you know. You two are going to gang up on me, aren't you? I can already tell. Maybe bringing you here wasn't such a great idea after all, babe."

The grin Aerith gave Zack was decidedly wicked, spoiling the innocent look she'd had thus far. "Now, why on earth would you suspect me of something like that?" she asked, mock-insulted. "Honestly, is it my fault that someone has to keep your ego in check, and so far I've been the only one available? It'll be nice to have some help for a change!" She looked back at Cloud with one raised eyebrow. "Was he always this insufferably confident and cheerful, or is that a SOLDIER thing?"

"No, he's always been that way," Cloud replied, warming to her a little more. Anyone who could tease Zack like that - and have him smiling at her like it was the best joke in the world - was okay in his books.

"I've got an idea!" Zack declared, passing the cloths to Cloud and Aerith and joining them in mopping up the berry juice and squashed berries. "Let's all go back down to the briar patch and get more. It'll be a good chance to talk and catch up, we can show Aerith the scenery, and get more than enough berries for the whole damn village."

"That sounds like a plan!" Aerith agreed. "It's so good to be out in the country, with living things all around! I don't know, Zack, maybe you're right that you shouldn't have brought me. Now that I've been here, I'm not sure I'll want to go back to the city again."

"Well, you're welcome any time," he assured her. "Cloud? What do you think?"

"Sounds good," Cloud nodded. It would have been even better if it had been just him and Zack, but if his brother was bringing this girl all the way home to meet their parents then it had to be a pretty serious relationship. He might as well get used to having her around. "How long are you here for?"

"I've got a month of leave, but it took us a couple of days to get here and it'll take a few days to get back, so about three weeks," Zack told him. "It's the first leave longer than a week I've been given since I signed on! I swear, they work us to the bone."

"I think making SOLDIER and then getting two promotions in the space of a year and a half had more to do with your lack of time off," Aerith said, laughing. "Plus you keep saying there aren't enough 1st Class around."

"1st Class?" Cloud repeated, dazed. He stared at his brother, feeling overwhelmed. It shouldn't have surprised him, really. Zack was four years older than him, and everything Cloud had ever wanted to be - bright, funny, cheerful, outgoing, and charming. He had a golden touch, succeeding at everything he did. Of course the older boy had managed to not only get into SOLDIER, but work his way up the ranks with almost indecent speed.

Small wonder Zack thought he'd be able to offer some protection to his family. The SOLDIERs 1st Class were invaluable resources to Shinra. He could probably at the very least get them to agree not to kill his parents if they ever did manage to recapture Cloud, and there was a very real possibility that he would be able to hamper the search internally.

"I'm your big brother, I'll always be there to protect you," Zack said, laying a hand briefly on Cloud's head and smiling at him. A real, genuinely loving smile, not the carefree grin he usually sported. "This just means I can protect you even better. Even if I do have to wear their uniform to do it. Now come on, you find the extra buckets, and I'll go tell mom where we're off to."

Patting Cloud's shoulder, he stood and transferred his smile to his girlfriend. "Play nice," he ordered Aerith. "Don't give the poor kid a hard time. He gets enough of that from me."

"Again with the suspicion," Aerith pouted playfully at him and waved him off. "We'll be fine, go tell your mother so we can go. I want to see the mountain!"

As Zack left, Cloud turned to hunt for the buckets under the sink, watching Aerith from the corner of his eyes. She was industriously cleaning up the last of the berry juice, looking perfectly at home on his kitchen floor. "How... how much do you know?" he finally asked hesitantly, not sure just how much Zack might have told her. He was insatiably curious; as far as he knew he was the first successful product of the project that had created him, and she was older than he was so she couldn't have come after him. But he had no doubts that Hojo was running more than one sick experiment at a time.

"Not much," Aerith admitted, smiling at him again. "Zack didn't give me particulars, he said it wasn't his secret to share. Just that you've been on the run from Hojo and Shinra all your life, and that your mother died getting you out. Mine did too, though I was already a child at the time, not an infant."

"Oh!" Startled, Cloud ducked his head again. Zack hadn't been kidding about the similarities. "Are you... I mean, what are... Er, I guess that would be rude to ask, wouldn't it?"

"I'm not from the same project as you, if that's what you're wondering," she assured him gently. "I'm the only one of my kind, so I'm pretty sure of that! But you can trust me, Cloud. I would no more betray you than I would willingly hand myself over to him. Allies?"

She stuck her hand out, and he looked at it for a moment before taking it gingerly. It was warm and soft in his, and it made him blush faintly. "Allies," he agreed shyly. He'd never had anyone but his family to rely on before, and even they hadn't known the truth of why Shinra wanted him until the time he'd saved Zack's life when they'd fallen off the mountain as kids.

Using the grip on his hand to tug him closer, she leaned in and planted a kiss on his cheek. She smelled like flowers and sunlight, and it made him blush even hotter. "Aw, you really are just as cute as Zack said you were!" she exclaimed in delight as she pulled back and saw him.

"Zaaaack!" Cloud squawked, because his brother loved to tease him about being cute and it never failed to fluster him. Especially when he was saying it to pretty girls.

"Ah, I remember that sound," Zack said as he walked into the kitchen again, his eyes sparkling. "That is the sound of a thoroughly embarrassed Cloud. Didn't I tell you to go easy on him, babe?"

Laughing, Aerith stood and went to wrap her hand around his. "All I did was tell him that you'd said he was cute," she protested lightly. Now deeply flushed, Cloud grabbed the buckets and shoved four of them in their direction.

"Yeah, that'd do it," Zack acknowledged, taking his two buckets in one hand so he wouldn't have to let go of Aerith. "We ready to go?"

Snatching up his two buckets, Cloud stamped towards the door. "If the two of you are done teasing me," he muttered, remembering now why having Zack gone hadn't been all bad. Amazing, the things you forgot about after a few weeks or months of separation.

Still, it was beyond wonderful to hear Zack laughing behind him as they made their way to the path down the mountain. Even if the sound of it was tempered by Aerith's higher pitched giggle. It made something relax inside Cloud that he hadn't even realized had been so tense, and felt like a missing piece of a puzzle slotting into place. Zack was home.

Despite being a city girl, Aerith turned out to have an extensive knowledge of - and appreciation for - the plants that grew on the mountainside. She kept darting here and there to pause and exclaim over another kind of flower, with Zack watching indulgently and Cloud looking on with a sense of disbelief. How did she know so much? Everyone knew that nothing grew in and around Midgar, and she certainly was acting like it was the first time she'd seen most of them. Who sat around studying flowers they were probably never going to see?

The side trips and frequent pauses meant it took longer than usual to get down to the berry patches, but the sun was still only about half way down to the horizon when they reached the first of the brambles. It was noticeably warmer this far down the mountain, but not so hot that it was unpleasant. Really, it was the perfect weather for berry picking, which was why Cloud had gone out that morning in the first place.

After a while, it stopped bothering him so much to look over and realize that Zack was gazing at Aerith, or had her hand in his again. He still treated Cloud exactly the same way he always had, and she went out of her way to make sure he was feeling included. It was different, but not as bad as he'd half expected it would be.

And Aerith really was impossible to dislike. She was too sweet, with just enough mischief to keep 'sweet' from turning into 'sickening'. And it was clear that she really cared about Zack. If Zack had to get a girlfriend, Cloud decided, Aerith was about the best sort of girl he'd have wanted his brother to have.

Spotting the dark berries hanging thick from the brambles, Aerith laughed in delight and ran ahead to strip off a handful and shove them in her mouth. Cloud and Zack both smiled as she made ecstatic noises; warm from the sun and fresh off the vine was the best way to eat blackberries, and nothing in the city could ever compare to it. Cloud couldn't even imagine what it would be like to taste them that way for the first time.

"I told you it was worth the trip out here," Zack commented as they reached her. He snagged a handful of berries for himself, popping them into his mouth one at a time as he savoured the taste. "Mmm. I'm glad I finally got my leave at berry time! Wow, I've missed these."

"They're delicious!" Aerith agreed, her hands and lips already stained with berry juice. "Oh, my. You really are never going to get me to leave, you know. You'll just have to send my mom out to meet me here, because I'm not going back to the city!"

"You might change your mind after spending a week here in the winter," Cloud said, smiling back at her. "The snow gets so high you have to crawl out of the upper story windows just to get out."

"It does not," she laughed, tossing a berry in his direction. "You're having me on." When Cloud said nothing and Zack just grinned in amusement, she looked uncertain. "It doesn't really, does it?"

"Actually, that's the best part of winter," Zack told her. "All the snow around the buildings helps insulate them, and it's nice and snug. You do have to be careful not to go out too soon after a blizzard, though, or you'll sink right into the fresh snow. It's a pain in the ass to dig yourself out again."

Biting his lip to keep from laughing out loud, Cloud turned away and concentrated on picking berries. Tall tales were a favoured pastime of Nibelheim residents, especially when there was an outsider around who actually fell for them. It was an art form all of its own. "You have to be careful not to ever talk louder than a whisper in deep winter, though," he cautioned, his eyes bright but his voice steady. "It can set off avalanches. Last year a pack of Nibel wolves started howling at the moon and half the mountainside came down. Not near the village, thankfully."

"Oh... you're both making this up!" Aerith declared, but she still didn't sound certain about it. "I'm going to come and visit in the winter just to prove you wrong!"

"Make sure you're here before the snows block the valley pass, or you won't get in at all," Zack warned. "And be prepared to stay until spring. There's no such thing as a winter 'visit' in Nibelheim! Not only is the snow too deep, but the abominable snow men come out between storms to harass travellers."

"You!" They'd finally gone too far, and Aerith tossed a handful of berries at Zack before tugging at Cloud's ponytail, laughing again. "Both of you! How gullible do you think I am?"

"Gullible enough to believe everything up to the abominable snow men part," Zack said unrepentantly, dodging the berries and scooping her up for a quick kiss. "And you wouldn't believe how many people we can convince about them, too."

His shoulders shaking with the laughter he'd been suppressing, Cloud pulled away from her hold on his hair as Zack distracted her. "Ask Zack to tell you about the monsters around Gongaga that can turn you into a frog," he snickered. "He had me convinced those were real until I was almost twelve."

"Those are real!" Zack protested, as Cloud had expected him to. "Do you think I'd still be trying to convince you if they weren't? I've been frogged, it's not very pleasant."

"Of course you'd still be trying, because if you ever succeeded it would be that much more amusing to you," Cloud retorted. "I'm never going to believe you."

Aerith was giggling at them, one hand over her mouth as her eyes sparkled. "That sounds like something he would come up with, all right," she agreed. "I suppose a fairy princess has to kiss you back to normal!"

"Sure, doubt me even when I'm telling the truth," Zack mock-grumbled, tossing some berries into his bucket before snatching another handful for himself.

"Maybe if you told the truth more often, we'd believe it when we heard it!" Cloud said. "And don't eat all the berries, you'll ruin your dinner. Do you really want to miss your first home-cooked meal? You know mom's going to go all out and make your favourites."

"True," Zack considered his next handful of berries thoughtfully before dumping them into the bucket. "Of course, I'm also a teenaged boy, also fondly referred to as a black hole. Not to mention a SOLDIER, we eat a lot."

"Well, I'd hate to ruin my dinner and offend your mother by not eating enough, but these are so good!" Aerith said, reluctantly tipping her current handful into the bucket. "Cloud, you're not eating any?"

"I stuffed myself on them this morning," Cloud reminded her, grinning. "And they'll still be around for a week or two, we can always come back. But we've got a long hike back up the mountain, and we don't want to be late for dinner either."

They set to work filling their buckets, spreading out around the perimeter of the bramble patch. Cloud had already pretty much stripped the vines closest to the path, so they had to go a little deeper into the forest to get enough. The first rustle in the bushes made him look over his shoulder curiously, but he wasn't worried. Yes, there were monsters in this forest, but a SOLDIER 1st Class had to be more than equal to any of the piddly monsters this area held, surely.

Turning at the sound of the second rustle, Zack squinted into the forest. "Anything new crop up around here while I was gone?" he asked. "That doesn't sound like a Nibel wolf."

"Not that I've seen or heard of," Cloud said, shrugging. "Could be a dragon come down off the mountain, or maybe a battery cap."

"A dragon shouldn't be this far down," Zack replied, brow creasing. "Aerith, get behind me. Cloud, you too. I don't like the sound of that. Whatever it is, it's big."

If it had been anyone else Cloud would have argued that he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself against the region's monsters - after all, he'd been doing just fine on his own since Zack had left. But this was Zack, and the worried look on his face made Cloud a little nervous. Zack knew the monsters in this area as well as Cloud did, after all.

Moving around the brambles, he made his way back to Zack's side. He was a few feet away when the rustling turned into a crash, and a massive black form smashed through a couple of trees into their part of the forest.

It was a dragon, all right, but it didn't look like any dragon Cloud had ever seen on the mountain. It was much bigger and more vicious, and its hide looked too thick to be penetrated by the weapons carried by the townspeople for defence. "That's not a normal dragon!" he gasped, stumbling as it swung its head around on its long neck. Its eyes were as red as Ifrit's flame and looked maddened, but it didn't seem to have noticed them yet.

"No," Zack agreed, his voice tight. "No, that's a dark dragon. They live up north of Icicle, and they're really, really nasty. And this one looks like it might be sick." His fists were clenched, but he hadn't gone for a weapon - he wasn't wearing the big sword carried by most SOLDIERs, he must have left it at home.

A sick dragon was very bad news indeed. If it was fevered or mad, they might not be able to just scare it off, and it probably wouldn't react to smaller injuries. Cloud edged carefully closer to Zack, trying not to draw its attention any further.

On Zack's other side, Aerith was slowly pushing up her sleeve to reveal a bracer full of materia. Cloud had never seen anyone use materia but the Shinra troops; he wondered if Zack had gotten it for her. "I haven't got anything offensive," she murmured. "Just Restore and Heal. Zack?"

"I've got a mastered Bolt, but they're immune to lightning," Zack replied tersely. "And I don't think Seal will work, either."

"If we run, we'll draw its attention," Aerith said. "I don't think it can see us very well right now, but most dragons have good motion detection." It snuffled loudly and took a step towards them, and all three of them tensed.

"Maybe it just wants the berries?" Cloud suggested weakly.

"Move deeper into the brambles," Zack ordered them. "As deep as you can. It might not follow us, if it starts getting pricked by the thorns. Slowly."

Obediently Cloud started moving back, ignoring the way the thorns caught at his clothes and tore at his skin. Blackberry brambles were no joke, and they were all going to be covered in horrible scratches and welts if they made it through this alive, but that was better than being eaten.

Of course, there was another option. "Zack," he started.

"No," Zack cut him off curtly, knowing what he was going to suggest.

"But Zack!" he protested, urgently. He could save all three of them, if Zack would just say yes. Cloud couldn't do anything alone, and he also couldn't use his powers without a willing partner.

"I said no, damn it!" Zack hissed. "I saw what happened last time, you damn near killed yourself!"

"What good does it do me to avoid hurting myself if the end result is that we all die?" Cloud demanded. "Do it!"

"Uh, boys? I think it can smell the blood from the thorn scratches." Aerith's voice was high and thin, and when Cloud turned his attention back to the dragon he realized why.

Those beady red eyes were fixed on them, now, and it didn't look happy. It was drawing in its breath, its chest expanding, and Cloud recognized the signs of a breath attack. They'd worked themselves far enough into the brambles that there was no way they could dodge; if it got a shot off, they were all dead. "Zack!" he exclaimed, terrified.

"Odin take it," Zack swore, reaching a hand out towards him. "Do it!"

Releasing the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, Cloud took Zack's hand and turned into his own mind to reach for the power that lived inside him. He hadn't done this often; once to save himself and Zack from a fall from the mountain about four years ago, and a few times when he'd still been in his mother's womb, but he didn't remember that clearly. Even so it was surprisingly easy to touch his power, to let it well up inside him until he was too full to be contained by his body. This was what he had been made for, after all.

His eyes rolled up as his body collapsed, skin ashen and limbs limp as if he had no muscles at all. It was only an empty shell now; his soul, the part that made him who he was, was outside in a nebulous swirl of power.

Quick as thought, he flashed himself into the form of a barrier between the three of them and the dragon. Just in time - crackles of what felt like electricity spewed from the dragon's mouth and struck him, making his soul tingle in a way that felt very odd. The shield shuddered, but held.

Withdrawing most of his attention from it, Cloud gathered himself until he assumed a human form, hovering just behind Zack with his hands on the older boy's shoulders. Literally hovering; his 'feet' were at about the level of Zack's knees. The shield was solid enough to be visible to anyone, though it looked insubstantial like something from a dream, but only Zack would be able to see and hear 'him'.

*It will hold,* he assured his brother, feeling the tension in Zack's shoulders. *If the dragon tries to get around it I'll extend it the rest of the way around us, but I can hold it longer if I keep it this small.*

"How long can you hold it?" Zack asked, his eyes never leaving the frustrated dragon now pawing at the shield with wicked-looking claws.

*I don't know,* Cloud shrugged. *A couple of hours, at least. Surely it'll get bored and wander off before then?*

"Let's hope," Zack agreed, finally risking a glance away as he looked back over his shoulder. Cloud followed his gaze, and saw that Aerith had forced her way through the brambles to his body. A frown settled over Zack's face as he watched his girlfriend ease Cloud's head and torso into her lap, stroking the wisps of his fine blond hair, and he asked the question Cloud had been hoping wouldn't occur to him. "How long can you safely stay out of your body? It only took you about ten minutes to get us down the cliff, and you were in bad shape by the time we got to the bottom."

*I was only ten, then,* Cloud pointed out, avoiding the question. *I'm a lot stronger now. Well, look at me.* He gestured to his incorporeal 'body' with a wry smile. *Last time I looked like a spiky blob with legs.*

Snorting with reluctant amusement at the memory, Zack's lips twitched. "Yeah, I remember. Scared the shit out of me. What else can you do?"

*I can be a weapon, too,* Cloud told him. *A sword, I guess. Guns are too complicated. Do you want to try attacking it directly?*

"Not if I don't have to, but you didn't answer my question," his brother replied. "How long can you safely stay out of your body?"

*I don't know!* Cloud protested. *I haven't exactly been experimenting, and it's not like I have access to Hojo's research notes!*

"Guess," Zack ordered him tersely.

Looking back at his limp body where it lay half sprawled over Aerith's lap, Cloud winced. Already his lips were faintly blue; he was breathing, but only barely. Bodies weren't made to survive with no soul in them; the only reason he'd lasted as long as he had when his mother had been escaping from Shinra was because he'd still been in the womb.

Briefly he thought about lying, but he knew Zack would never forgive him if he did. *Maybe... twenty minutes,* he admitted reluctantly. *If I'm lucky.* And even that long might cause irreparable damage. Frankly, he'd rather spend the rest of his existence as a formless weapon than be trapped in a body that was little better than a vegetable.

"Ifrit's balls," Zack swore again, gritting his teeth. "It's not going to give up that fast. We'll have to go after it directly."

"You've got longer than twenty minutes," Aerith interrupted them, her voice calm and soothing. She looked up, and if Cloud had been physical he'd have staggered back from the sheer power emanating from her. "I can keep the path from his soul to his body clear and unbroken for at least a few hours. He'll be fine." She stroked one hand through his hair and placed the other over his heart, and slowly the blue tinge faded from his lips. He still looked like a barely breathing corpse, but he could feel his connection to his body stabilizing.

*You can hear me?* he blurted out, amazed. By the way her eyes were focused on him, she could probably see him, too. That wasn't supposed to happen, as far as he knew - unless he materialized his power into something solid like a sword or the shield, he should have remained invisible to anyone except the person he was connected to, his wielder.

She smiled. "Yes, I can hear you, and see you too. You're not the first spirit I've talked to, and I doubt you'll be the last. In that form, you're just a more coherent than usual bit of the Lifestream." Her smile turned sad. "I'm half Cetra, you see. And I'm sorry - it was probably Hojo's studies of my mother that allowed him to do what he did to you."

Zack looked as astonished as Cloud felt. Half Cetra? Aerith was an Ancient?

Well, it certainly explained why she would be able to see him and help him. The legends of the Ancients were full of their ability to manipulate the Lifestream directly. Which meant she probably could hold him together and keep his body from decaying while his soul was out of it.

Just when he was starting to think they really might be able to sit quietly and wait the dragon out, the monster roared in frustration and gave up on its futile attempts to claw its way through the shield. With a thunder of wings it rose into the air, drawing breath for another magic attack. Yelping, Cloud barely managed to extend his shield into a dome shape to protect them from the lightning that rained down from above.

Wincing with each strike against the shield, Cloud realized it was taking a lot more of his power to fend off the magic attacks than it had to block the physical ones. The dragon was strong. If even one of those bolts made it through, Zack might survive but Cloud and Aerith would be fried.

*Uh, guys? I'm not sure how long I can hold it if the dragon keeps this up,* Cloud said nervously. His 'hands' tightened on Zack's shoulders as he tried to steady himself, shivering as each blast of lightning ran through him.

"We're going to have to go on the offensive," Zack decided grimly, rolling his shoulders to loosen the muscles there and tilting his head to crack his neck. "Cloud, I need you to be a sword. A really big one, like the..." He blinked and trailed off as Cloud's incorporeal body vanished and a massive sword appeared in his hand, as close to the ones Cloud had seen SOLDIERs carrying as he could make it. "Like the ones SOLDIERs use," Zack finished, his lips quirking in a wry grin. "I forgot, you can read my mind in this form, can't you?"

*How else would I be able to be a proper weapon and give you whatever you need?* Cloud asked, and managed to keep all but a touch of bitterness out of his tone. This was what he'd been designed for; Hojo had intended to kill his body once he'd developed his soul enough to be useful, but before he'd formed a strong attachment to his own identity. He was supposed to be a thinking, reasoning, but unquestioningly obedient weapon, fulfilling his master's every whim.

The last time he'd been linked to his brother the older boy had been too startled to do much but hang in Cloud's grasp as he'd lowered them carefully down the cliff. This time, though, Zack was very much in control of the situation and it was Cloud who was simply allowing himself to be moved.

"Ready?" Zack asked, tightening his grip on the hilt as he tensed the muscles in his leg for a leap. "Next time it starts drawing breath, drop the shield so I can get through."

Cloud couldn't nod as a sword, but he sent wordless assent to his brother as he readied himself as well. He didn't drop the shield; he modified it so Zack could get through, but Aerith would still be protected. As Zack leapt up with a battle cry, he felt the older boy's approval and did the mental equivalent of beaming.

This was what he'd been born for, Cloud thought happily as Zack swung him and he bit into the thick hide of the dragon. He didn't particularly enjoy blood and gore, or fighting for its own sake, but the ability to protect the people he loved was worth every bit of what he'd gone through in his life because of it. He liked being human, there were enough benefits to it that he wasn't in any hurry to die and free his soul, but he never quite felt complete except when he was fulfilling his true purpose.

Fighting with Zack was worlds away from his hazy memories of helping his mother to escape. For one thing, Zack actually knew what he was doing, employing Cloud to best effect and hardly even needing the shielding Cloud could provide from the dragon's attacks. Working with a SOLDIER was like becoming the claws of a panther, fierce and unstoppable. Cloud's silent laugh of delight drew an answering grin from Zack, the older boy's eyes glowing with the mako in his system.

The dragon was tough, but no match for their combined strength. Long before Cloud's strength threatened to run out it was nothing more than a mutilated corpse on the ground, still bleeding sluggishly from the myriad wounds Zack and Cloud had inflicted. Zack approached and examined it carefully to make certain it was really dead, but the maddened red eyes had faded and glazed over. It was gone.

Reluctantly dissolving from the form of the sword, Cloud regained his human appearance. As an afterthought he removed the shield, absorbing its energy back into himself as well. He wasn't likely to get a chance to be himself again any time soon, he knew; even if Zack was going to be around for a while, his brother was horribly reluctant to invoke Cloud's powers except as a last resort.

"That was amazing," Aerith told them as they approached her, ducking and weaving through the path they'd forced into the brambles. "I could have done without the need to fight at all, but you both looked wonderful out there. Zack, were you injured?"

"Not really," the SOLDIER shook his head. "I took more damage from the damn thorns than from the dragon. Wait until we get out of the briars to cast any healing magic, though." Turning his head to look at Cloud, he gestured at the blond's unresponsive body. "Now get back in there before something goes wrong and you end up stuck like this!"

Rolling his eyes, Cloud floated towards his body. *You've been spending too much time giving orders to people,* he said, sticking his tongue out at his brother. *You sound like a drill sergeant. You're not my commanding officer!*

"No, but I am your big brother, and I know where you're ticklish," Zack replied, eyes glittering. "I also know who you've got a crush on, unless that's changed while I was away, and I could always tell her..."

*Zack!* Horrified, afraid the older boy really would do it, Cloud all but flew to Aerith's side. *Don't you dare! I'll... I'll... I'll tell mom what really happened to her favourite vase!*

"Hey, that was your fault as much as mine," Zack countered, starting to grin. "Are we going to get into another blackmail war?"

Aerith was giggling at them, her eyes sparkling with laughter. "You're definitely brothers, all right. Cloud, do you need any help?"

*No, I can do it,* he sighed, and reached for his body.

There was a sickening moment of disorientation as he was sucked back inside, and for one split second he was hyper aware of every nerve, muscle and blood cell in his body as his soul reconnected itself.

Then he was coughing, his limbs jerking weakly as his nerves fired and he tried to remember how to move. He hadn't anticipated how strange it would feel to come back when he'd been out of his body for this long. It was like wearing clothing that was far too tight and restrictive, and which resisted you when you tried to move the way you wanted to.

"You okay?" Zack asked, leaning over him with a hand on his shoulder.

"Nng," Cloud replied incoherently. Working his jaw carefully, he drew a breath and tried again. "I'm fine," he said, speaking slowly to give himself time to remember how to shape the words. "Just disoriented."

"I bet," Aerith said sympathetically. She brushed his hair out of his eyes and smiled at him. "You saved our lives, you know. And you didn't realize I could keep you alive, so you were willing to sacrifice yourself to do it. You're very brave." She leaned down and kissed him sweetly on the cheek, and Cloud discovered that his blush reflex apparently hadn't suffered for his time out of his body. "I can see Zack comes by it honestly."

Chuckling, probably at how red Cloud's face was, Zack helped him sit up. "Climb on my back," he invited, turning away and crouching in front of Cloud. "I don't think you're in any shape for a hike back up the mountain, and I won't have any trouble carrying you."

Wanting to protest that he didn't need to be carried like a baby, Cloud took stock of himself and grimaced as he privately admitted he probably did need the help. He'd be okay by the time they got home, but he was weak and uncoordinated at the moment. "I feel like I'm five again," he muttered as he clambered awkwardly onto Zack's back.

The SOLDIER stood with ease, lifting Cloud as if the younger boy weighed nothing at all, and Cloud blinked. "Hey, I loved giving you rides back then," Zack told him cheerfully. "I was always sorry when you got too big for me. I feel like a big brother again."

"As opposed to what, some guy who randomly hangs out at my house a lot?" Cloud asked incredulously. "You've always been my big brother, stupid. And you always will be, no matter what."

Blue magic settled over both of them, and the nasty scratches Cloud had picked up from the brambles melted away to nothing. Craning his neck, he saw Aerith lowering her bracer with a smile. "You two make me envious that I never had any siblings," she told them. "I never realized how much fun it could be!"

"How much of a pain in the ass, you mean," Cloud muttered, thumping Zack on the shoulder when the older boy just laughed. Ducking his head, he blushed again as he added, "Anyway, now you do. You're Zack's girl, so that kind of makes you my big sister, right? Like you said, we're practically family."

And, he realized, he didn't mind in the least. Any lingering resentment he'd had towards her for stealing Zack's attention away from him had vanished, leaving him feeling like she was adding something to their relationship rather than taking something away from it.

He felt Zack relax marginally beneath him, and Cloud realized his brother had been worried about how Cloud would receive Aerith. Draping himself more firmly over Zack's shoulders, he smiled and made sure they could both see it. "So, welcome home," he told her, and she beamed at him.

"And it's a damn fine welcome," Zack agreed, tilting his head to rub his cheek against Cloud's hair. "It'll be even better if we get back with some of these berries before it's too late for mom to make anything with them," he added impishly. "Aerith, grab those buckets, we should be able to get at least two full ones with what we picked already. Cloud, you can carry the empties. Let's go home."

Settling in on his brother's back, Cloud accepted the empty buckets Aerith handed him and smiled again. Yes, it was definitely worth everything Hojo and Shinra had put him through, to have the ability to protect the people who were precious to him. For that, Cloud would have gone through just about anything.

Return to Final Fantasy VII Page

Return to the Main Index

Email Miko no da