Author's Note: This being my favorite video game, and after reading some FANTASTIC fanfic on here, I decided to try my own! This is my first, but comments are welcome (including those regarding grammar, spelling, context, etc.). I know there are a lot of time-travel fics on here, but I hope this one...is slightly different, if nothing else. Timeline is skewed for a reason... Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Despite my dreams to the contrary, I own NOTHING of Final Fantasy VII. It's all Square Enix's. ^_^

Chapter 1

A forceful kick in the chest was nothing compared to crashing into the collapsed remains of the Shinra building after tumbling twenty feet through the air; while dust and debris rained down on him, he stood shakily as his enemy waited patiently out on the helicopter landing platform as if wondering what he would do next.

The eerie metallic howl of Masamune forced a surge of electricity to course through him, and with an angry roar, the muscles in Cloud's aching body bunched and through every pore erupted blue flame-like energy as he reached his Limit Break; he swung First Tsurugi around and struck a pose before dashing out through the broken window, finding that his enemy was already running forward to meet him with sword raised overhead.

Hoping against hope that he could, at the very least, weaken Sephiroth with his unpredictable Omnislash, Cloud hacked and stabbed at the silver-haired man, but with supernatural speed and accuracy, his nemesis blocked every single move. Irritated, Cloud snarled and vaulted head-over-heels backward and, as he landed, launched himself high into the air with First Tsurugi prepped to bear down on Sephiroth.

Too late, however, did Cloud notice Sephiroth take a casual step back, sadistically lock eyes with him and hold Masamune out in his left hand at a forty-five degree angle upward…impaling Cloud fatally through his chest on his way down. Suspended in the air, his body seized from head to toe in unimaginable, searing pain, Cloud's breath caught in his throat and he grasped Sephiroth's blade as blood began to seep slowly down its length.

The General's bass-baritone voice cooed torturously from below, and Cloud forced his mako blue gaze to meet the green cat-like eyes of his enemy. "Is this the pain you felt before…Cloud?"

Cloud's grip tightened on Masamune as he felt his punctured heart struggling to continue pumping, and gritted his teeth as he hung limp and powerless from the end of Sephiroth's sword, hearing hardly anything through the whooshing sound that suddenly filled his ears.

Sephiroth continued to mock him from the ground, pleased with his handiwork. He had positioned Masamune for precise consequences; even the interventricular septum of his mako-enhanced heart could never withstand the thrust of a sword from a god, he thought in satisfaction. For a moment, he simply watched as Cloud's body convulsed on the end of his faithful Masamune, aware that this pain was exactly what the little hero had already felt. A smirk crossed his lips as his black coat and long platinum hair swirled in the whipping wind; tainted, black tendrils of Lifestream mixed with cement dust and dirt from the decrepit building falling down around them.

"Let me remind you; this time, you won't forget," Sephiroth said contemptuously as he sensed Cloud slipping away. The boy's eyes shot open at his words and to add insult to injury, in a flurry of raven feathers Sephiroth's wing erupted from his right shoulder blade; startled, Cloud inhaled sharply, and felt the cold steel of Masamune calculatingly slicing deeper into precious internal organs, sending needles of agony through every nerve-ending in his body.

Without warning, Sephiroth flung Cloud unceremoniously off the end of his weapon, launching him upward in a wretched display of flailing arms and legs. With a single, powerful stroke of his wing, Sephiroth took off after his enemy; hearing the difficulty in Cloud's breathing filled him with an undeniable sense of delight, but he frowned when he noticed the little hero had miraculously maintained a hold of that monstrosity he called a sword.

Sephiroth plunged Masamune at Cloud, and the boy was able to block two of the left-handed General's attempts to make contact with his body, but the rest met their mark with horrifying precision. Cloud's arms, legs, and ribcage became key targets as Sephiroth sought to sever major arteries and hasten Cloud's death on his own terms. Blood dripped past his handsome face and his green eyes became slits, gleaming viciously as he continued his gruesome assault on Cloud's body.

Through pain-induced shock and his ability to breathe slowly ebbing, Cloud's powerful survival instinct kicked in when Masamune skewered his left foot and raked atop his knee and thigh, all the way up to leave a big clean cut across his left cheek. Gripping the blade tightly, wishing for Sephiroth's merciless bombardment to just…stop, Cloud felt as his body was flung off his enemy's blade for the second time that evening. This time, however, it was away from the sky and toward the hard, unforgiving concrete Shinra helipad.

Cloud watched in horror as the ground came up to meet him, and he crashed-landed hard on the platform, leaving a permanent, blood-stained dimple in the already ruined Shinra complex. Blood dripped from numerous wounds throughout his body, and he took a raspy breath and felt the warm liquid bubble up from the wound in his chest and gush up his throat onto his teeth. The malevolent Jenova buzz in his brain he felt due to Sephiroth's proximity dwindled as his body fought to do nothing but stay alive; without knowing why, he reached for the fallen First Tsurugi at his side, and attempted to stand.

His weakening body would not heed his commands, and Cloud resolved to use his precious sword as a crutch only. Blood dripped from his chest and mouth and joined droplets of its comrades on the concrete as a single thought crossed Cloud's hazy mind: Aerith's church. If he could get there, and perhaps use the Cetra girl's beautiful healing water, he might have a chance to once again save his beloved Planet, and those he loved. If he stayed here, Sephiroth would not hesitate to deal him the killing blow and make good on his promise to use the Planet as nothing but an empty vessel. As his nemesis triumphantly crooned above him, Cloud summoned his absolute last reserves of energy.

"Tell me what you cherish most," Sephiroth commanded as he watched the bleeding, pathetic excuse of an enemy below him slowly die. Knowing the boy's mental defenses would be all but shattered, the General probed Cloud's mind for an answer he knew he would not receive willingly.

Cloud flinched as he felt invisible fingers pricking the recesses of his psyche, searching for an answer he refused to give freely. Not wanting his enemy to have any more of an advantage over him than he already had, Cloud attempted to throw up make-shift mental walls to shield the faces of those he held dear…in vain.

Victoriously, Sephiroth mentally prepared himself to finally end Cloud's life, and has he reached deeper into the blond hero's mind, he was rewarded handsomely with the faces of those whom Cloud loved the most, both alive and dead. Marlene, Tifa…Zack.

"Give me the pleasure of taking it away." Sephiroth said almost in askance as he hurled himself at Cloud on the ground, his Masamune singing its death song.

"NO!" Cloud screamed and with all his might, pulled himself onto his own two feet and sprinted across the platform toward the slums of Midgar Sector 7. Aerith's church was barely visible as he hurled himself over the edge of Shinra's helipad, knowing the momentary confusion would only hinder Sephiroth so long.

Landing clumsily on the lower plate, Cloud staggered and caught himself on one knee as he took a ragged, blood-filled breath and looked up to see the ruins of the church. With purpose, and dragging First Tsurugi on the ground behind him, too weak to hold the weapon up, Cloud made his way toward the church, eying his motorcycle Fenrir sadly as he hobbled along.

A blinding fury rose up within Sephiroth's chest when Cloud verbally and mentally shouted at him, and he watched through a curtain of red as the little hero somehow mustered enough strength to dash across the helicopter landing platform and launch himself over the edge to the lower plate. Sephiroth's downward momentum forced him to take a knee upon landing, but a beat of his wing helped him to stand to his full six-foot-one height and Masamune hung loosely in his left hand. For a moment, he was caught off guard and merely watched in amusement as his prey scurried away.

Oh, no you don't, you little bastard, Sephiroth thought, having difficulty recalling the last time he lowered himself by using such a belittling profanity. Understanding that Cloud was living on borrowed time, and that the little hero was inhaling his last few breaths, Sephiroth snorted and slowly turned and walked unhurriedly to the edge of the helipad.

His mako-enhanced eyes missed nothing, and he found himself content to kneel down and simply observe his victim, in confusion over what Cloud was doing. He had been so utterly close to victory, to sealing a fate that Cloud had chosen when the boy was sixteen, and Sephiroth was loathe letting his enemy have any say in how this day was going to end.

Sephiroth chuckled quietly to himself, and spoke warningly to Cloud as the blond hero disappeared into the flower girl's church. "Do not make the mistake of thinking you are in control, little one. Before this day is out, I will rightfully claim your life as it belongs to me. Take your time, Cloud. You do not have much to speak of, as it is."

The wrecked church was a welcome sight as Cloud pushed open a door and stepped inside. Feeling as if he were walking in a dream-state, knowing his dying body was starved for oxygen and blood, he propped First Tsurugi up at the door and unbuckled the sword harness around his torso. He let the cumbersome piece of equipment drop with a thud to the floor, collected his weapon and continued in slow painful strides toward the glistening water.

His eyes were heavy and his breathing was labored, and with his chin dipped almost to his bleeding chest, Cloud made it to the ethereal pool and dropped to his hands and knees; First Tsurugi clanged pitifully to the wood floor at his right side. Blood dripped into the water and swirled about before being consumed to its depths, and for a fleeting moment, Cloud held a sliver of hope.

Straining all his senses to determine Sephiroth's whereabouts, Cloud thought he perceived his enemy land softly outside; he was shocked, however, when a small voice in his head told him he really did not care anymore. If this fails, it's over.

He turned his head and looked at his reflection in the glassy water; blond spikes were dirtied by blood and dust, and his once radiant glowing blue eyes were filled with pain, nearly lifeless. He noted the blood on his mouth and made to quickly wipe it away, but the movement was like an ice pick and Cloud found it hard to look at the gory wound on his chest.

Dipping a gloved hand into the water then, he pressed the healing liquid to the most critical of his wounds, but soon discovered a pain unlike any he had felt before when the cool water made contact with the exposed nerve-endings in his chest, and he nearly lost consciousness. Tragically, the holy water seemed to have no effect on the direness of his wounds, and Cloud even resorted to taking a gulp of it to no avail.

Evil laughter filled his ears and, with the creaking of a floorboard, a high-frequency whine with which he was too familiar suddenly forced an adrenaline rush, and Cloud turned his head to see his enemy standing triumphantly over him. Sephiroth nestled the tip of Masamune on the ribs under Cloud's left arm, gave it a small flick and the blond hero cringed as the blade sliced his flesh open again, and blood trickled down his side.

"The Cetra girl's holy water was ineffective? That's unfortunate," Sephiroth purred from behind his enemy, to which Cloud responded by closing his eyes tight and clenching his teeth in an attempt to shut out the General's words. He found himself wishing it was yesterday, when Sephiroth's existence was no more than three feeble remnants, and Cloud wished he could have done things differently. He would have confronted Rufus about the man's flexible relationship with the truth regarding the whereabouts of Jenova's remains, thus possibly preventing an unstoppable chain of events that inevitably led up to this moment.

My existence is hardly feeble, little hero, the General's chilling voice sounded in his head, and Cloud put a hand to his temple. I live in you, Cloud; you are a part of me, as I am you, and there is no hope of escape.

"There is always hope of escaping evil," Cloud muttered almost incoherently as Sephiroth stepped beside up him, momentarily breaking the telepathic connection between them. The blond-spiked head lifted as blue eyes met green and the silver-haired man knelt down to be eye-level with his fallen nemesis. His wing was folded at his back and Masamune hovered too dangerously close for Cloud's liking, but he could gather no strength to swat his enemy away.

A cascade of silver tumbled over Sephiroth's exposed chest as he placed a hand on the pauldron covering Cloud's left shoulder and gave him a mighty shove backward. The blond swordsman landed on his back and Sephiroth grinned as he sensed the boy had, at long last, relinquished any attempt to fight back. He stood once again to his imposing height and gazed down on his fallen enemy; Cloud looked up at him through defeated, tear-filled eyes, gasping for breath.

The blood on Cloud's shirt-front made the dark blue material look black, and Sephiroth inhaled supremely, glancing at the blood that laced the corners of Cloud's mouth. Stretching his wing to its fullest in a last show of intimidation and conquest, Sephiroth placed the tip of his sword to Cloud's chest, relishing the fact that the life-force that beat within belonged to him…and it would be Sephiroth, in the end, who would decide when it beat its last.

"You have no hope, hero." His voice was lowered to barely a whisper as he added pressure to Cloud's sternum. "Now, you shall die…"

"There is always hope, Sephiroth," a small, feminine voice sounded from all around them. The only emotional response Sephiroth gave was a furrowing of platinum eyebrows and Cloud merely blinked in confusion. Near one of the fallen pillars, a human form began to take shape and Sephiroth retracted slightly as the pink-clad flower girl materialized out of thin air.

"And Cloud, he has never given up on hope," Aerith's innocent, soothing voice filled the church as she took a step toward the two men. Gently, she put a hand to Sephiroth's out-stretched arm and he gave her an incredulous look before pulling away in anger.

"Aerith…" Cloud sputtered hoarsely as he attempted to stand up. He got to his elbows before the Cetra girl knelt beside him and placed a hand on the wound on his chest. In her palm, blue wisps of light mended the wound, and Cloud sucked in breath as old magic coursed throughout his body, mending every cut, stitching every muscle, and sewing every blood vessel back together.

Her beautiful emerald eyes danced with delight as Cloud's battered mind came back to reality; she stood and stretched out her hand in an attempt to help him stand. Cloud, now miraculously fully healed, knew the delicate woman would be injured should he accept her help, so he shook his head as he stood shakily.

"Do you believe in second chances, Cloud?" Aerith asked when she saw that he could, indeed, stand on his own. His eyes flicked to Sephiroth standing in a shadowed corner, and furrowed his blond eyebrows.

"I don't know," he answered honestly, his voice sounding more familiar to him. Cloud stepped toward Aerith as emotions suddenly flooded him; he wanted to hug her, hold her, to see if she was real or a figment of his imagination.

She took a step back, however, and almost imperceptibly shook her head. "I am not physically here, Cloud. This is my essence, my spirit that became one with the Planet, and I have come before you to offer both of you a rare opportunity."

Remembering what it felt like being run through by Masamune made Cloud clench his fists. "What do you mean by 'both of you'?" He locked eyes with Sephiroth in the corner as the General stepped forward to engage in the conversation.

"Evidently, your hearing is as bad as your hairstyle." Sephiroth replied and Aerith cautiously put some distance between her and the big General. "If I have surmised correctly, this will be something that the Planet has never before attempted. An opportunity for…"

"You mean going back in time? To when?" Cloud interrupted Sephiroth, not too fond of the General's boorish monologues, dismissing the insult against his meticulously-styled spikes.

"Not to a time you lived, but a time that could have been, so to speak," Aerith clasped her hands together as the two men gawked at her. "My people have deemed it necessary to furnish you will all your enhanced abilities and memories for this second chance; but just so you know, this opportunity has stipulations. Wrongs must be righted, connections must be made, and catastrophes must be averted…or you will be returned to this exact time and spot to suffer whatever fates the Planet already had in mind for the both of you."

Immediately, Cloud thought of Tifa, and his eyes widened in anticipation. Second chances…stipulations? "What is going on?"

"Second Class SOLDIER Cloud Strife," Aerith began, and it only took Cloud a moment to realize she was speaking to him about what he was going to be in this second chance. He never made SOLDIER in this reality. "You must make amends with your family, your friends, bring down the corruption within Shinra, fight with honor still as the Planet's Chosen Hero, but you will answer to no one but…him."

As emotions flooded him, the mako in his bloodstream surged and his eyes lit up like lightning. Cloud's heart sank at her last sentence, and he saw the smirk on Sephiroth's lips and felt his green eyes drilling him ravenously. With a cute giggle, she turned to the man who had executed her in this lifetime, her ponytailed hair situating itself over one of her tiny shoulders.

"General Sephiroth Crescent, SOLDIER First Class, you must aid Cloud in exposing the corruption within Shinra, learn the truth about your family, prevent disaster, but you will be held accountable to him, as he is to you." Aerith said wistfully and as a reply, Sephiroth struck Masamune into the church floor and glared at her.

"I will do no such thing," he growled at her and held up a gloved hand when Cloud began marching toward him. "Unless I can pencil-in my own requests."

"Unfortunately, I cannot grant any personal wishes," Aerith sighed heavily and Cloud's breathing relaxed. She stepped toward the middle of the sanctuary, making sure that both warriors' eyes were fixed on her. Sephiroth had felt rejection on numerous occasions in the past, but this one cut him to the quick, and he watched her with an evil smirk as she stood in the middle of the church.

Cloud stepped up to be more in line with him and with a sneer, Sephiroth stepped closer to the boy in order to make situation as uncomfortable as possible. Aerith noticed the General's silly charade and shook her head; those two will always play mind-games with each other, no matter how often the Goddess intervenes.

"Cloud, Sephiroth, your fates will be forever intertwined should you accept this gracious gift," Aerith began, coming to the more sobering details of this plan of the Ancients. As always, her voice was gentle and sweet, but the pink-clad young lady's face betrayed her inner emotions. "However, should you fail to right the wrongs of your individual pasts, the Lifestream will seize your souls and you will be placed right back in this old church, and you both will die.

"Should one of you attempt to be noble and destroy the life of the other, you both will die. Cloud and Sephiroth, as you are in this life, you are bound to each other in this second chance, liable to the Goddess, the Planet, and the Ancients…and each other." Aerith finished and Cloud blinked and Sephiroth scoffed.

The Cetra girl momentarily let her child-like innocence shine through, and before she asked the two men if they accepted this mission, she added: "Please don't mess this up."

"Wait," Cloud interjected. "Will everyone else have the same memories or…?"

"They will not." Aerith replied lightly. "They will have memories that suit this next life only. Should you wish to enlist the help of some, you will have to go get them." She smiled sweetly, and Cloud knew of whom she spoke and nodded appropriately.

The silence of the church pressed down on the two men as each withdrew to his own thoughts. Cloud believed he heard the propellers of the Shera high overhead, and thought about every single person onboard…Barret Wallace, for all the man's complaining, he had a lot to live for, and Marlene was his whole world; Cid Highwind, the washed-up pilot who really did love his wife in some demented way…and flying machines; Vincent Valentine, the brooding, quiet and dangerous man Cloud trusted with his life above all others; Yuffie Kisaragi, the Wutai Princess with an annoying affinity for materia, drunkenly sharing her secret feelings for a certain ex-Turk one night during a trip to Costa del Sol; Red XIII, the mysterious, thoughtful cat whose words held so much meaning; Cait Sith and Reeve, Cloud found himself missing the snarky comments from the facetious feline robot.

Then, there was Tifa. The bratty little girl who had grown into an incredible woman; his best friend, the one person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with and be a husband to, and a father to their children. He knew this second chance would be the opportunity he needed to finally share the feelings he had had for her since childhood, how she was the reason he went off to join Shinra, how she was the one who's smiling face and encouraging words always brightened his day during the darkest period in his young life.

Cloud smiled outwardly, a gesture he had not made in a very long time and Aerith nodded, perceiving he had found one of the main reasons he was going to accept her offer.

Sephiroth crossed his arms in front of his muscular chest and dipped his head in thought. The faces of his two long-lost friends Genesis Rhapsodos and Angeal Hewley stirred dormant emotions within him and he pursed his lips. Exposing Shinra's corruption would be easy, and it started with the weasel of a man who claimed to have fathered him. The notion had always held a significant amount of doubt in the General's mind, and aside from Strife, he had never truly desired to kill anyone other than that "walking mass of complexes".

But what would Mother say? He thought with a frown, and found himself silently wondering if the blue alien had been pulling his strings the whole time, rather than the other way around.

It would give him an opportunity to get away from this proverbial present-day hell, also, and to break the ties of torment Jenova had put him through on an hourly basis, giving him a chance to question her legitimacy when the Calamity had laid claim to his mind which, at the time, was emotionally shattered and in pain. She would be wise to have answers for me when I confront her this time.

As for Cloud…hmph, we shall see, little hero. Regardless, your life still belongs to me.

With a jerk of his head, his cat eyes rose to meet Aerith's big emerald orbs, and she visibly relaxed. She snickered, and said, "I see you both have come to a conclusion. Is it safe to say that you both accept this mission with honor, and will, to the best of your ability, see to it that it is accomplished?"

Yes, both men thought simultaneously, eliciting a glance from both of them to each other. Aerith then stepped forward and commanded the two kneel before her. In the language of the Ancient's, the flower girl placed a palm on the forehead of each man, and began a prayer.

In a swirl of light, the church disappeared, and the world faded to black.