01/05/2013

Note: This is posted as a teaser to assess interest. There will be more but it will probably be a while.

Summary: The love of one Mother drove Sephiroth to almost destroy the Planet. Knowing the future, how far would another Mother go to protect her child? The past will be drowned in blood to change the future, all because of a single Mother's love. A time travel fic where it's not Cloud sent back :D

Title: A Mother's Love
Author: Jade Tatsu
Beta Reader: Furious Winter

Like most stories of this Planet, this one begins in the Lifestream. But this story begins in X years. You see, there was an argument going on.

The Planet was dying. Oh, it wasn't going to implode overnight, but there was going to be a long slow gradual decline. Winter would slowly turn colder and longer until it was the only season and by then permafrost would be everywhere and any surviving surface life would die. Something might survive in the oceans but those bodies of water would slowly freeze, with that freeze going deeper and deeper until everything was solid, though mammalian life would have been gone long before that.

And that's how this story begins. Mammalian life has one advantage over other forms of life, it has humans. Sure, we are a destructive, brutal, callous species but we have two advantages: we can think and we can change. We recognise the consequences of actions both of the individual and the community. We see the grand picture, the entire Planet in one eyes and because of that we can recognise problems before they become too great to fix them.

Of course, this time the problem was already too big. It didn't matter what those living did, they couldn't change the fate that was to come. They might have been able to postpone it for a while; a year, a decade at the most, but it was coming. Most of them wouldn't live to see the end, the cold or lack of food would carry them off long before that, but one would. Cloud Strife. He'd see the death of everything and that distressed the Planet and distressed members of the Lifestream more than they could say.

That's what the argument was about. Those in the Lifestream were trying to decide what they could do to stop it. They were arguing over who would be the best person to stop it. It was Jenova, the alien infection that had been incubating in our Planet for a very long time, one that had been cultured by Shinra Electric Company. Some of them had good intensions. Professor Gast, for example, wanted to use it to make humans stronger, to cure some of our more common diseases. But others, Hojo and Hollander, in tampering with life, in making Soldiers, Sephiroth, Angeal, Genesis and Deep Ground, had opened the way for the infection to spread, to breed and to become the infestation that killed the Lifestream. The Planet itself would survive, but it would just be a hunk of rock floating in space and the Planet knew it was meant to be more than that. It knew it needed the Lifestream.

So what could be done to stop this? That was easy. The Planet would send someone back in time. They would change the past, stopping the infection before it became the infestation.

The question was who. The primary requirement was that they had to be dead. The Lifestream is a tricky thing, it contains the souls and memories of the dead, but it also protects the living. The Planet wasn't actually going to physically send someone back in time, it was only going to send their mind, their memories, including memories of what they had learned in the Lifestream. That's why they had to be dead. If they were currently alive the Planet could not take them and their thread of life, their stream within the Lifestream that was not yet merged fully with the Planet could not be changed in such a large way until they died. The secondary requirements were that they would have both the ability and the desire to make big enough changes to alter fate. Those requirements aren't as easy to find as you might think. Which of the myriad people who had perished should go back? Which of them would make changes and which of them could make changes? Not just little changes, but big changes. Who had the courage to change everything? And that's where our story begins…

"All right," a drained voice said. "Who have we ruled out?"

"The list might be shorter if we just run through who's left."

"I can't go," a well-built man with black hair and long tapered sideburns said as he solidified slightly in the green that was the Lifestream. Others appeared around him. "I wouldn't be able to make enough substantial changes."

"That rules me out as well," another black haired main appeared, one who looked eerily like the first but whose hair was longer and spikier. "I'm too straight forward, and I'd probably just come across as being more insane than I am."

There were some amused snorts from the souls that were solidifying their presence in the Lifestream.

"I can't either," the voice was soft and feminine and the green took on the slightest trace of pink as Aerith appeared, becoming more solid than the others. "I was too trapped in life and by the time Cloud came to me, it was mostly already too late."

"I don't think I'd change." The voice was deep and for many in the Lifestream it was a shock to see Sephiroth himself materialise, hale and whole, his long hair floating gently in the currents of the Lifestream. "I'd want to change, but without proof I wouldn't be likely to. And that proof would come too late."

"Genesis can't," Angeal said. "He's still alive."

"None of Avalanche could do it either," Aerith said sadly. "They are all too young."

"So we need someone older," Sephiroth seized on that point. "Veld?" he suggested with a tentativeness that would never have been seen in life. He was used to life and death discussions, he was accustomed to ordering troops to potentially die. Dealing with the Planet's life was something else entirely, something he could not shrug off as insignificant or for the greater good, especially with the madness that was Jenova burned away from him.

"He's a Turk," Angeal considered.

"I don't think so," Zack said finally. "Too loyal to Shinra, and once he found out about Elfie, it was probably too late."

"What about Elfie, then?"

"No," it was Aerith who made the call. "Too much history there for her to turn aside from the path she was on."

"Surely not if she knew the truth?"

"She's still go about making changes in the same way. And we know Avalanche couldn't do it."

"What about your father, Aerith?"

"Professor Gast?" There was a long moment of consideration before Angeal spoke.

"No, I don't believe so," the older man said. "Even if he decided to abort the J.E.N.O.V.A. program, Shinra would just bring in someone else. Once they found the alien, then we were stuck."

"Can we stop them finding her?"

"Only for a few years."

"What about Ifalna?"

"No," Aerith said with a sigh. "Once it became known Mother was an Ancient she was too trapped in life. Hojo wouldn't have let her go."

"Lazard?" Zack was just listing names now.

"Not enough influence," Sephiroth disregarded the name.

"Hollander?" Angeal joined his puppy in the name listing.

"No… Too much like Hojo… just not quite as successful."

"Lucretia?"

"Same problem as Genesis, still alive."

"Cloud?" it was Sephiroth who nominated the blond.

"What? He's still alive."

"He doesn't have to be," the white haired man defended the suggestion. "And he would have the desire to make the changes."

Zack spluttered at the thought of asking his friend to die in order to save the planet. Sure, Cloud was going to die anyway but… it… just didn't seem right. Angeal frowned as he considered the notion. He vaguely remembered the blond from life but most of his knowledge came from watching events after his death. "I don't… I don't think so," he said finally, slowly, as he thought about it. It wasn't asking Cloud to die that made him reject the nomination, it was something else. "I don't deny he'd have the will to make changes, but in early life he was too timid. It wasn't until after Hojo got hold of him that he was forced to show his strength. And on top of that, even if he decided to make alterations, and with the knowledge he'd gain he would make changes, I think he'd be too young and the path would follow too similarly to what we know. Let's look at this logically," Angeal continued. "If we sent Cloud back he'd know what was to come, but what would he do?"

"He wouldn't fail the Soldier exam," Zack said, defending his friend.

"So we get another Soldier. And even if he uses his future knowledge to be hailed as another prodigy, another Sephiroth, what does that really mean?"

"It means Hojo gets his hands on him faster," Sephiroth supplied the answer for Angeal as Zack shuddered. "All right," He agreed with his friend. "Not Cloud."

"So who does that leave us with?" Aerith asked again.

"What about Rufus?"

"I think he'd use the knowledge to bump his father off faster but he wouldn't change. At least he wouldn't change the stuff we need changed."

"Reeve?"

"Too young, and not enough influence."

"Scarlet, Heidegger, Palmer?"

Those three suggestions were met with derisive snorts and abandoned.

"Shinra Senior?"

The name wasn't immediately rejected but after a few moments Angeal shook his head. "No. Even if we went back to when he was really young, he'd have to be seen to be doing the right thing, which means that that most of what we want to prevent would already be in motion before he would act."

"Weiss? Nero?"

"No, anyone in Deep Ground would be too young or too late to make changes."

"Argh this is impossible!" Zack growled. "We need someone with a vested interest in the outcome but who is also old enough and capable of making changes," he summarised the situation.

"Not just changes," Angeal objected, "radical changes. Most of us would make changes, but we'd want to keep the good parts of our lives… we'd try to change what we had rather than reach out to make something different."

"And if things remain that close to what happened, the outcome will be the same," Sephiroth said with certainty.

"This should be easier! There are so many people with a vested interest!"

Four sets of eyes closed as they thought about the problem, thus missing when the decision was made for them. The Planet didn't though. They weren't the only ones thinking about the past and how to change it. Others in the Lifestream were and the Planet sensed the exact moment the soul nominated as one who was willing to go back and to make changes; a soul that would actually be in a position to make changes.

The Planet and the Lifestream wasted no time and acted in unison, reaching within themselves to grab the person, gathering up all their threads of memory, and all the memories they had gained since dying before thrusting them deep into the core of green. The Lifestream spun and the Planet hummed and time itself stood still, just for an instant, and then, they were gone and all could only pray that fate would be kind.

"What was that?"

"Oh no," Aerith said, her voice sprinkled with worry. "The Planet has made a choice."

"What? Who?"

"I don't know." Green eyes turned towards Zack and he could see that his beloved was confused. The Planet usually consulted her but it hadn't this time. Who could it have sent back?

Slowly Aerith closed her eyes. Usually in the Lifestream the Planet's voice spoke to her constantly but where only a few moments ago it had been focused on their conversation it was now concentrating on something else entirely and she knew, just knew the Planet was intent on sending back the thread of Lifestream of the one it had chosen. She wouldn't interrupt, though she did want to know who.

"It will be all right," Aerith recognised her Mother's voice coming from the green. They all heard Ifalna.

"How?" Angeal questioned.

"The one who has gone back has everything needed to change the future."

"But who is it?" Zack asked, while Sephiroth raised one eyebrow in that way that he did that spoke volumes.

"You all overlook the obvious," Ifalna chided them, though she did not materialise. "You are not parents, so you do not know the lengths a parent will go to save their child."

"So someone's parent got sent back?"

"Not just anyone's parent. Cloud's Mother."

"But…" Zack wasn't entirely sure what he objected to. Cloud hadn't mentioned his Mother much except to mourn her when she was killed and he didn't really know what type of relationship Cloud had with her. Good, he supposed, but Zack didn't honestly know. He had to admit, from the woman he remembered seeing briefly and the few memories of Cloud's that were within him, she was someone made of iron. She would not accept defeat and after having watched the pain her son went through in life, she would have every reason to want to change that life for him.

"I hope she understands the cost," Aerith said gently.

"Cost?" Sephiroth questioned.

"The Planet was willing to do this, but there is always a price. Whoever went back cannot live longer than they lived this time. While they will possess only one thread of Lifestream as their future and past selves merge, that thread will know when it dies, it remembers it, so they will die at the same time. They might gain a day or so but nothing more. And…" Aerith trailed off as the Lifestream began to swirl around them.

"And?" All three of the males questioned, ignoring the way the Lifestream began to churn. It was odd, but it was not painful, just motion, though more motion than the Lifestream usually made.

"And the Planet wants its Champion. It won't be denied."

Zack gasped. "You mean Cloud's gotta go through Hojo's torture again?" He shouted.

"No," Ifalna's voice was firm. "Cloud is the Planet's Champion but he is tainted by Jenova. If we are getting a second chance, the Planet wants its true Champion."

"What does that mean?" Angeal asked.

Aerith turned her green eyes towards the solidly built man. "It means the Planet itself will enhance Cloud."

"How?"

"I don't know," Ifalna replied to Sephiroth's question. "It is not something we Ancients remember," she added. There was a sense that she was examining the silver haired man carefully. "She will do whatever is necessary to save Cloud."

"Will that be sufficient to destroy Jenova early enough?" Angeal pressed the question.

Aerith's mother was silent for a few moments and the spinning of the Lifestream visibly intensified. "Maybe," came the reluctant reply. "Not even we could think of someone with enough power or influence to ensure Jenova was destroyed who would actually do it. This action will give the Planet its Champion, but it may not save you, Sephiroth."

The Silver General seemed to take a deep breath, a gesture that was truly one for the living but gave comfort to those who were dead with its familiarity. He understood what Ifalna was not saying. Cloud's mother, one of the many he had murdered, had gone back to save her son. His survival, his sanity did not even enter into her thoughts and it was likely if she had the opportunity, Cloud's Mother would cut his throat herself. "I understand," he said when he sensed that Ifalna wanted an answer.

"No, I don't think you do," Ifalna murmured and in life Sephiroth knew the words would have filled him with rage. In the Lifestream, without Jenova's influence he merely acknowledged their truth. He understood only a part of it. He could grasp at the implications of the actions but he could not yet see everything. He would understand it all but only once the events had transpired.

"So what happens now?" Zack asked, looking around at the furiously spinning Lifestream. They'd sent someone back, but what happened to them?

Sephiroth's lips quirked. This was one thing he did understand. There were two schools of thought on what would happen now and no one knew which was the right one. Either they would alter, becoming the new timeline or nothing would happen here because the new timeline would diverge, becoming its own reality split from theirs. "Now, we wait," Sephiroth said.

"We wait?" Zack was incredulous and with nervous tension he began doing squats.

Angeal smiled at him and moved to place one hand on his shoulder. "We wait," he confirmed the General's assessment, "And we slowly merge into the new reality that Mrs. Strife will create. There is nothing else we can do."

"Oh," Zack blinked at that and Aerith laughed at the adorably confused expression. He was so cute at times and now that the path was set, not by their hands but by the Planet's choice, she felt she could relax again because both Sephiroth and Angeal were correct. Now all they could do was wait.

"Raisa!"

The voice was frantic but not yet on the cusp of panic, the tone concerned without carrying an edge of despair. The blond woman in the bed felt herself respond to the call, eyelids fluttering, leading to another cry. "Raisa!" Relief flooded the voice as blue eyes opened, blinking in the sudden light. "Thank Odin!"

There was a slight shift in the air at the praise but for once it was overlooked as the woman struggled to sit up. She was blinking owlishly as she looked around, taking in the simple surroundings and the virtual crowd of people. The room was medium sized but in between the people she could see a place for a kitchen, a simple table and another bed. The room may have been moderately sized but it was all the room this abode had and suddenly she was filled with a sense of comfort and belonging that made her feel warm despite the relative chill in the air.

"Raisa, do you remember what happened?"

The question triggered something deep inside her and a confused welter of images danced before her eyes. There was so much information, so many memories that she was going to need more time to process them so she went with the simplest things. "I felt dizzy… and then everything went black." And then my head was no longer my own, she longed to add but held back the observation. The extra memories of things that made no sense, things which hadn't happened yet – Cloud was just a babe in arms, how did she remember him crying over his first lost tooth? – were confusing but something was crooning comfortingly to her, telling her that everything would be okay. It would just take time… And for the joy of the memory of Cloud's first word, she could give that voice and these memories a little time.

"You have low iron levels, Mrs. Strife," she heard the gravelly voice of Jax the old brewery Master who doubled as the town's healer. "And that caused you to faint." There was no question in his voice but she could hear the accusation… about what she didn't know. Well, maybe she did. Her dislike of wolf meat was well established. She resisted the urge to snort. Her husband Damian came from Nibelheim and thought nothing odd about the lack of services. She came from Junon and it had been a struggle to adjust, but Cloud made it worth it. And now she had so many memories of Cloud.

"I'll be careful," she said, wondering what would be appropriate to say in this situation and if they would accept it. She didn't want to deal with them now.

"Of course you will!" Damian was a bright flame beside her and she could sense Cloud in his arms. "I'll make sure she is," he promised old Jax. He knew his wife very well and could see the slight frown on her features that bespoke her desire to have what she would no doubt deem 'half the village' out of their house. Nibelheim was a small village in a harsh environment. The people lived together, they lived with each other and going in and out of other's houses was almost second nature to them. No one thought anything of it because they all did it themselves. It was how they survived. Old Agnor needed help, so someone went and gave him that help. It didn't matter, but it did grate upon the sense of propriety his wife still carried from growing up in Kalm. It was such a small thing, but it reminded him of why he loved her.

"Jax, will she be okay?" Damian asked, already rising to begin to shoo the rest of the worried villagers out. From the gifts littering the table, he wasn't going to have to cook for about the next five days.

"She'll be fine, but make sure she gets that iron. She'll probably want to sleep a bit more."

Damian and the rest of the villagers nodded. The rest then took that as their cue to leave and the single roomed house was suddenly quiet and empty.

"Oh Raisa," Damian sighed, as he moved back to sit beside his wife, placing Cloud down on her belly. The little tyke was sleeping and he knew his Mother would be comforted by his familiar weight nearby. "What am I going to do with you?" He questioned affectionately, realising that she had fallen asleep again.

Raisa dreamed, but her dreams were not her own. She saw things, odd things, things that made no sense, but other things touched her so profoundly she wanted to hold the memory close forever. Something made her hold back. She didn't know what it was but he just made her watch. First there were memories of Cloud. So many memories of her baby boy- but he wasn't a baby any more. He was a child, a teenager, a young man and then nothing more. Why wasn't there anything more?

There was no answer as the visions changed and this time Raisa felt herself cringe. There was so much blood, so much fighting! It never ended. Disease and sickness and so much death. She felt bile rising in her throat as she watched. People screamed and fought but that wasn't the worst. The worst was seeing the smaller children looking up at her with their dull eyes and she could hear them asking her to make it stop.

She resolutely turned her head away but the visions would not stop. This time she could see things, huge powerful things that sang with the Planet's energy. They seemed to be fighting something that was glowing and blue and one by one they fell. Raisa could hear the Planet scream as each one disappeared and then she saw a flash of gold and silver and unconsciously moved towards it.

Cloud.

Her Cloud. He was a young man and his blue eyes glowed but she would recognise him anywhere. He was fighting. His sword was impossibly large and she did not know how he was lifting it. Her boy was slight, but he showed no fear and swung the enormous weapon around without hesitation, flicking it almost as if it was much smaller in the battle against a large man with long silver hair. That man's eyes glowed green, but it was not the green of the Planet, it was something else. She didn't know and she watched as he died. Somehow her son was not happy. He seemed resigned. He seemed tired but he took the time to arrange the other man's body so that he appeared peaceful in death. And then he walked away.

Raisa shook her head but the gesture did nothing and another vision came to her. Her son again. Her beautiful son, once more fighting that silver haired man. How…? He had died… But there he was again. His long black leather jacket fluttering around him like an ebony set of wings. She could hear the flap of the leather, smell the soap that had been used to treat it so that it was supple and soft against his skin. She could see the way he fought, his long katana dancing around him as he moved with infinite grace. Cloud looked almost coarse against him but Raisa didn't care. He was her son and he was beautiful though he still looked tired and perhaps even more resigned. And once again he won, striking down the other man without even uttering a word.

She wondered at that. There was no question in her mind that their battle had been fierce; they had been trying to kill each other but why would her son say nothing? Why was her son fighting that man again? The two visions clashed with each other and she could see both battles again, together. There were some slight differences but they were undoubtedly the same. Both times it was her son and both times it was a man with long silver hair.

Yet they could not fight to the death twice.

There was no chance to think because the visions continued. She saw other things this time. People, their faces flashed before her eyes so quickly that she didn't think she could remember them all. But she could tell, just by seeing them that they were all outstanding individuals; skilled, powerful, not necessarily good but they meant the best. A black man with a gun for an arm, a woman who looked like Tifa, the Mayors daughter and another woman with the gentlest green eyes Raisa had ever seen, though she did not miss the hint of steel that was in the way the woman carried herself. An older man, cigarette in his mouth but with a kind smile; another man, pale, so pale that he might be considered unhealthy, with jet black hair and soft glowing red eyes. He seemed sad but determined. A child… no, a young girl, from Wutai and then a black cat… It made no sense but the cat was smiling and then another cat, bigger, stronger, with deep red fur. A man with wild white hair, and a masked man with black hair, three boys with silver hair, all of different lengths. A man with shockingly red hair and a bald man, both in suits. A man with slicked back black hair and round glasses that did nothing to hide his cold gaze. Someone from Wutai, and a scarred bearded man who had the weight of the world on his shoulders, a blond woman, and a red haired woman, then another young man with brown hair and glasses who's eyes were calculating and another man with a gentle look and a bandana. Three more men, one with black spikey hair and soft brown eyes, one with short black hair and considerate eyes and another with red hair and gold eyes. The faces continued and Raisa focused. She didn't know them but she knew if she were to wake and they were standing before her, she'd know who they were; she'd know what their names were.

"These are the people that shape the future," a soft voice spoke and Raisa almost didn't hear, she was so absorbed by looking at the almost never ending parade of people before her eyes. "Along with Cloud and Sephiroth."

It was odd. She didn't know who Sephiroth was but at the same time she did. She knew Sephiroth was the man she had watched the adult Cloud fight twice and yet things between them were not yet finished. Raisa knew that.

"All of them?"

"All of them."

"So why?"

"Because I don't want that future."

Raisa gasped and turned and almost collapsed as she looked straight into her own eyes.

"Yes, I am exactly who you think I am," the other woman, who looked slightly older than her spoke.

"What? How?"

The copy of herself smiled, though the expression was sad. "What you are seeing is the future. The future I want to avoid, that I want to change. Look at our son."

Raisa looked back towards the images, this time focusing on her Cloud. There were precious few times when he was happy but he was always at the centre of the fighting. Wherever it was the fiercest, he was there. He was injured often, sometimes horribly but he always healed.

"Brace yourself," came the instruction and Raisa wondered what could be about to happen. Her son was fighting, always fighting but then the vision shifted and she realised that while the fighting was bad, while seeing Cloud's blood spilt out upon the earth was something that sickened her, there were things that were worse.

He was screaming and she could see the pain etched in every line of her baby boy's body. Blue eyes were impossibly wide, straining like every other part of him to escape but the bonds that held him down on a cold steel table held fast and all he did was strain his muscles and ligaments. He didn't stop screaming as blood poured around him. There were scientists surrounding him, all in clean white lab coats, but they didn't do anything. They merely tsk'd that the incisions they were making were not straight. Cloud struggled again but the conclusion was forgone and Raisa watched as her son sagged, the fight diminishing as the pain became too much. The soft keen in the back of his throat was worse than the screams.

It went on and on and with every image Raisa knew she was seeing another day, another experiment. It never seemed to end and she watched as Cloud slowly sank away. She didn't know how she knew but she could tell he was hiding. Deep in his mind he was hiding and her heart cried. Her son… her beautiful baby… Why?

"That made our son strong enough to fight, but it killed him. A little bit inside, each day, it killed him. I don't care about the world," the other Raisa said, her voice firm, "that is the part of the future I most want to change."

"How?" There had been so many battles in the visions that she didn't understand the timing of them. She could feel some of them, she knew most of them were in the future, but she didn't know their order and she didn't see how they could possibly act to stop it.

"We cannot stop all of the fighting. Humans are violent creatures, we fight each other far too easily but I don't care about that. And I doubt we can keep Cloud out of the fighting forever, but we can stop him being hurt. We can change it so that victory is possible."

"Victory?" That seemed an odd word to use. Each of the battles had been against something new, something dangerous. If it was something new each time, wasn't each victory fought for itself?

"Look again. Look deeper." The instruction was subtle and carried with it a different set of visions.

Raisa cried out as she had no choice. The thing that was all glowing and blue had returned, but this time it was not a vague impression. This time she could see it clearly and she screamed. It was female, maybe… though calling it female clashed with every instinct Raisa possessed. Its skin was blue and its hair was wild and colourless. Claws tipped each finger and bat like wings spread from its back. Scales covered parts of it and extra appendages, tentacles seemed to wave randomly around it. It was not human. It was not anything Raisa recognised but it sat behind everything. Before her eyes the wars began again, the sickness and disease spread over the planet and this time she saw it from a different angle. It was all the same, the battles, the fighting, the sickness, but it all came from the same source: that glowing blue thing.

And she saw her son, her Cloud fighting again, fighting that silver haired man with the same distant, pained expression. But this time she could see that another was with her son's enemy, another was pushing the silver haired man to fight. That blue thing whispered to him, screamed at him, controlled him. Was that why her son was so pained? Did he know that his enemy was controlled? Did he know that the man did not really want to fight?

Raisa shook her head. It didn't matter. Her son was again in pain and another battle was shown to her. The silver haired man was there, holding the head of the blue thing and laughing the laugh of one who was insane. She cried out as her son was stabbed, the long thin blade driving completely through him but she could not help but feel a stirring of pride, of admiration for the sheer stubbornness of her Cloud as he continued to fight far past the boundaries of others and he won, flinging the silver haired man into the glowing pit in the reactor before he collapsed. Her Cloud, her son! He was so strong!

But the glowing blue thing always remained and watched. And hated.

"What is it?"

"It is Jenova."

"What is Jenova?"

"I don't know whether she was an Ancient infected with a virus or if she was the virus herself. Jenova is the calamity that fell from the sky in ancient times."

Raisa frowned. She'd heard something about that… somewhere… In a story a long time ago.

"It's an old tale and we think of it as nothing but fantasy, something to please the children with before bedtime, but it's true. And she is the evil behind everything."

"Evil?" Was there really such a thing as evil?

"There is evil. Jenova is evil. Hojo is evil."

"And you want to change the future?" Raisa asked, remembering what her other self had said earlier.

"I do."

"How?"

"By changing it so that victory is possible." The same answer was repeated.

"How?"

"Shinra is already using Jenova and they are about to make something called SOLDIERs."

"Aren't soldiers just part of the army?" Raisa was confused.

"These SOLDIERs aren't. They are stronger and faster than regular humans. They are what kept Shinra in power for so long in the future. You noticed the glowing eyes of some of them?"

Raisa nodded. Cloud's eyes glowed, the silver haired man's eyes glowed and quite a few of the people in the parade that had been shown to her had glowing eyes as well.

"They are SOLDIERS, or those with the power of one. They have been injected with mako and Jenova. Though not all of them are loyal to Shinra."

"And you think I can stop them?"

"No, we can't stop them. It's already too late for that."

"Then how do you want to change the future?" Raisa blinked at her future self who seemed to be completely calm.

"We have a bit of time yet," the older version said. "The infection doesn't become terminal until Cloud is about twenty one. But I don't want this future to follow closely to the other. I want to change it completely."

The memories Raisa had seen sorted themselves out in her mind becoming a part of her and she could see the way that everything fed into everything else. They fought so hard, her son fought so hard to defeat Sephiroth but each time Jenova became that little bit stronger in the Lifestream until it was too late. The death of the Planet hadn't happened in her son's future, but it was only a matter of time. She could not let the same future play out. She could not even let a parallel future play out. Parallel was too close, they had to take a completely oblique angle.

"There are things we cannot change. The creation of Sephiroth and SOLDIERs is one of them," her future self mused. "Though I admit we could possibly kill Sephiroth while he is a child."

Raisa wasn't sure about killing a child but the memories were clear. Sephiroth was the antagonist in a lot of the fighting. If he didn't exist… "How?" She at least had to consider it.

"He is in Nibelheim but killing him wouldn't change anything," her future self said carefully despite being the one who initially suggested that path. "Jenova is the one who has to be destroyed."

"How?" She seemed to be asking that a lot.

"I don't know."

Raisa blinked, a soft disbelieving smile forming on her features before she took a deep breath. "You show me memories. You've shown me the future. You give me the love you have for Cloud, a love I already have. And you tell me you want to change the future, change those memories that you already have, yet you don't know how?"

"I do have an idea," her future self defended. "It remains to be seen if you will have the courage to take the path I can see… I do not know if it will work. But it will be different, and that could be enough."

"If I have the courage?" Raisa hissed, anger lacing her tone. "If I have the courage?" She repeated. "How dare you suggest that? I have seen your memories. I have lived that future," she continued. In seeing the memories, she had felt everything her future self had; the love for Cloud, his pain and suffering, the pain of the world, of thousands as they cried out when they died. She had lived the future. If her future self was prepared to do it, then there was nothing she was not prepared to try. "If you think there is anything I would not try to spare my son… our son that pain, then you are not fit to be me."

"I was hoping you'd say that," the older woman smiled, her eyes narrowing and it was then that Raisa felt, she knew, they really would change the future.

As previously said, posted as a teaser to assess interest. I thought it would be interesting to see what happens if it wasn't Cloud or someone else like that sent back, but someone who wouldn't be afraid to change the past radically. And that's what will happen with this fic.

Cheers for reading.

Jade