Chapter 18: Chapter 22 & 23 – His and Her Memories

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(I was on a trip and well...didn't really have a stable surface to keep the laptop on or when the screen wasn't shaking. I messed up more than once, but now I am home so I swear I won't anymore. :P )

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Tifa and Aerith were walking in the train compartments, wondering where Cloud was, but they didn’t see him. The two searched all the compartments; others joined in the search, but no one found Cloud.

“You think he’s there?”

“Yeah,” Tifa pressed her lips into a smile, and the two of them returned to their compartments, continuing where she left off.

Though Aerith wanted to know something, “You said that Soldiers were coming, but why would they come to a village so far away?”

“There was a monster in the mountains, one that was dragonic, maybe even human-like. I don’t remember exactly, but it was what attracted the Shinra, but all I could think of were the Soldiers.”

“I made the breakfast and lunch, took a bath, and saw the clothes father got me. It was from his friend when he was young; her mother gave it to him. They were for me, but inside was a dark brown vest, a mini skirt that the girl active on a farm would wear. I matched it with a wide-brimmed hat and a pair of boots.”

“You must have looked crazy cute and hot.”

“I thought so myself.”

“Oh, I met Cloud’s mother that day, and she praised me on the clothes, talking about Jasmine, who wore them. And then my heart started racing. I asked her how Cloud was doing, and she said she thought he was doing okay.”

“I thought Cloud was already here, so I asked her if he was in the mountain, but she just gave me a puzzled look. She said even if Cloud were going to come, he wouldn’t say a word, and I agreed. He only told her that he officially enlisted. I think…she wanted to tell me something about the incident when we were eight…the only fuzzy memory. I treasured all the other memories with Cloud, but that one…troubled me.”

“I heard Mal had gone off to the Mountain Gate, and I ran after him, though Claudia warned me I went on the mountain anyway. I came across a monster, and I thought I would beat it, but it was a mutated one, and I almost died, but a lady in a black suit saved me.”

“A Turk?”

“Probably. She asked me to be the Guide for the Hero Sephiroth, and I agreed. Truth be told…it didn’t matter to me who I was guiding. I wanted to be a little bit closer to Cloud.”  

“Though that visit ended in the disaster, I only remember waking a month later, with metal in my chest, a scar, having lost everything and gained a lot of medical debt.”

“Mm,” Aerith didn’t say anything, dreading if she would ask of her, and she did.

“Aerith…, will you tell me what happened then?”

“Don’t ask me,” Aerith blinked, begging her not to make her tell it, but Tifa was adamant; she wanted to know. And she couldn’t deny her that.

“Oh well…I won’t go into details…I don’t want you to live through that trauma again,” Aerith pouted, remembering that time with slight fondness.

“The Soldiers that came to the Nibleheim that day…Sephiroth, the Hero. Zack Fair, another First Class Soldier, dreamt of being the Hero and wielded Buster Sword, one he got from Angeal Hewley. One of the Three Best Soldiers the Shinra Company had. and two Infantrymen.”

She hesitated, smiling, “One of those was Cloud; he was too ashamed of not having become a Soldier. Though, he was doing well for an Infantrymen. I’d say he was too hard on himself…after all, the only reason he wasn’t selected was a lack of self-confidence. You see, Shinra put through every Soldier candidate through experimentation where they inserted Jenova Cells in them, and without a strong mind…they were likely to fail.”

“Otherwise, he would have?”

“With his physical talent alone? He’d be the top candidate. He was building himself and his mind through battles and would have cut either way. Cloud is super talented,” Aerith leaned back.

“Sephiroth… was curious about how Cloud felt after returning to his hometown. Since Sephiroth didn’t have any.”

“Did he answer?”

“No. Zack asked Sephiroth something and the topic drifted away. After that….”

“That part I remember. I asked Zack if there were many Soldiers. I wanted to ask them about Cloud…but…Yeah. I should have,” Tifa regretfully said.

Aerith giggled, “You see. Zack thought you were weird. Cloud too since he was wearing the mask.” 

Tifa softly chuckled, only to hear Aerith continue, “They chose you as their guide, and you guided them through the Mountains. Zack and Sephiroth went inside the Mako Reactor while you and Cloud waited outside. Which was a good thing, or you Shinra might have hunted two to the ends of the earth.”

“What happened inside?” Tifa had always known what happened after that, but not what happened.

“Tifa, the thing is…Nibelheim is special…not only is that yours and Cloud’s hometown. It was also the place where Sephiroth was born.”

“Sephiroth was born in Nibelheim?”

“To be more precise, there was a secret lab in that Mako Facility, and Sephiroth was created there.”

“Created?”

“It was an experiment…and Sephiroth was the most successful result. And that is what he learned inside that Reactor, that he was created, and then he locked himself, found the notes of the experimentation, and read all about Jenova. He kept and kept reading, and then one day.”

“He burned Nibelheim to the ground,” Tifa remembered that dreadful day; the streets where children played were empty, the people she used to teach gone, burned, and the pungent smell of the burnt air filled the place.

“Even I am confused. I think that Sephiroth discovered the First Timeline and knew a certain thing, and because of that, he developed an obsession with Cloud. This obsession led him to want to form a connection with Cloud again.”

“In the First Timeline, the connection was formed when Sephiroth fought against Zack; although Zack was defeated, Sephiroth was left weakened, and Cloud, through sheer willpower, picked up the Buster Sword and impaled it through Sephiroth, but Sephiroth still survived.”
“Cloud didn’t think Sephiroth could survive that and came running to check on you, but Sephiroth did. He came out, and Cloud tried to fight him as Zack…asked him to. But that ended with Sephiroth piercing through Cloud’s chest, and yet, with sheer willpower…Cloud… he managed to overpower Sephiroth and finish him off. Though, Jenova’s power allowed Sephiroth to manipulate events from beyond death and revive himself. But that is what Sephiroth thought was the crowning moment of their connection in the First Timeline.”

“I dread to ask…what happened in the Second?”

Aerith breathed in, “Much similar to what happened with you…. Sephiroth… killed Claudia right in front of Cloud, and he made sure Cloud would remember that death…forever. I am not sure if Cloud managed to kill Sephiroth…I doubt it.”

“And then Cloud and Zack were taken in for experimentation, and I woke up with debt and medical injuries,” Tifa touched her chest.

Ever since she came to this world and was de-aged, her body had restored to when she was eleven, and the signs of her injury and the metallic bone had disappeared.

“And Cloud…he woke up with confused, twisted memories,” Aerith looked out the window, “Cloud and Sephiroth, their connection, the marks they left on each other. Unlike Harry…he remembers all too well his mother and her death…murder. Let alone the fact that Cloud has Sephiroth…Jenova Cells. It’s a bad joke.”

“That it is,” Tifa looked down, waiting for a while before nodding, and she stood up, patting her cheeks, “Alright. I am ready to see him!”

Aerith curved her lips, “Then let’s go see him….”

It wasn’t hard to figure it out; they could only be in one place since Cloud wasn’t on the train.

Aerith took Tifa’s hand and apparated and appeared on top of the train, the first compartment, to find the boy, about 13 but much taller than before, sitting as the wind ruffled his hair. 

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Tifa knelt behind him, wrapping her arms around his neck, burying her head in his neck, “Cloud….”

Cloud closed his eyes, placing his palm on her head, “Tifa….”

Tifa leaned forward, looking onto his face, his lips, and she placed hers on him, closing her eyes.

Tifa kissed him, most lovingly and passionately than she had ever before, and then slowly pulled away with a string of saliva forming between them.

She peered into his eyes, “Let’s go back inside.”

“Ok,” Cloud didn’t protest, “But before that…I need to meet someone. Properly.”

“Ok,” This time, she was the one who didn’t protest.

 

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Harry was sitting in his compartment and had been fine a while ago until these three came into their compartment. He had gotten much attention since entering the magical world, but this was different.

They usually treated him like a celebrity, looking up at him, but this guy, the only thing he was interested in, was his mark.

“What? Can’t figure it out? Let me try,” Aerith looked at Cloud, blinking; since he was studying the mark on the boy’s forehead, he was too close, even she felt a blush cover her face.

“I must say…I am a bit jealous,” Tifa whispered in Aerith’s ear as they shared a silent laugh.

The two of them were trying their best to lighten the mood. This was mainly because they knew how much this moment would upset Cloud, as it did them.

“You two are rotten,” Cloud traced the mark with his thumb, wondering, observing. He had an ability that could help with this situation.

Even in Hogwarts, a branch of magic, Legilimency, allowed one to navigate through the multiple layers of a person’s mind. It was in the Fifth Year’s syllabus, but they did it by the end of the Second Year.

Once he was finished learning that magic, it was as if something had awakened in his Cells, and he knew it right away as if he had done it a thousand times. Not only that, even the system sent a message.

[Congratulations. You have awakened Consciousness Scan.]

Consciousness Scan was an ability that allowed Jenova to read through the memories of the target. Unlike Legilimency, this power worked at Supernatural Levels and allowed him to effortlessly know a person’s memories, from birth to the present.

The only problem was that it made Jenova Cells more active, and he lost a part of his cells as the price. He was becoming more Jenova than human.

“This time. I can make an exception,” Cloud rose on his feet and peered into Harry’s eyes, “I can go through your memories and reach their end. I can even figure out and help you live the memories, days, months…whatever time your parents spent with you, and…their death. Tell me when you are prepared to face it.”

“My memories…of my parents…?” Harry muttered, while Ron, who had stayed frozen since the moment Cloud, his idol, entered their Compartment, whispered under his breath too.

“Is that possible…?”

Hermione whispered back to him, “Yes. It was a subject mentioned in passing. I still remember because I wouldn’t want anyone reading my memories.”

Cloud turned to leave, only for Harry to hastily stand up, his eyes brimming with excitement and hope, “Please. I want to see them!”

Cloud stopped, looked over his shoulder at the boy, and closed his eyes. When he opened them, his Mako-infused eyes were different, cat-like, and dangerous, and they peered into Harry’s mind, picking his latest memories, and created an illusion, down to the last detail for them to see.

“UP! Get up!! NOW!”

Harry nearly jumped out of his skin, hearing his aunt’s voice, finding himself on his bed. If Cloud, Ron, Hermione, and the two girls weren’t there, he would have lost his mind, wondering if he was genuinely dreaming everything until now.

He heard the sound of his Aunt rapping on the door, and his head and heart rung. It was something he didn’t want them to see. It was private, and the illusion disappeared when he was about to say the same.

He barely managed to let out a sigh of relief when Cloud talked to him, pulling his attention, “It would be vivid…how they looked…talked…felt…lived….”

“And died.”

“You are not ready to go through something like that. When you are…I will show you.”

Harry had much to say; he wanted to, he desperately wanted to see them, but he felt stumped with the thought of them dying. Since he couldn’t come to a decision now, he asked the other question on his mind, “Why?”

Cloud closed his eyes, and the features of Jenova visible in his eyes disappeared. He opened them, parting his lips to say something but closed them, leaving the compartment.

Aerith followed him right after while Tifa bowed towards them, closing the door after her.

Aerith grinningly watched him, “Now that I heard so much about your childhood. I have to say this… Cloud has grown up so much,” Aerith stood before him, putting her hands together, watching him with sparkling eyes.

Cloud scowled, remembering the few memories of his childhood, but sighed, turning his eyes towards her, “That’s why…you don’t have to worry so much about me.”

“Awww,” Aerith hugged him tightly, burying her head in his chest, “Kiss me and prove it?”

Cloud exasperatedly gasped, looking towards Tifa for help, who shrugged and started walking, “I’ll leave you two alone.”

Cloud raised his hand to stop her when Aerith raised her head, looking into his eyes, whispering, “Cloud…?”

He bent forward, cupping her cheek, locking his lips with hers, gently kissing her. He put his arm around her waist, and Aerith shifted his palm from her back to her ass, “Have I…grown up enough?”

Cloud pulled away, “No, not enough.”

Aerith chuckled, putting her fingers on her lips, walking behind him with a bounce in her step.

While these three were leaving, there was someone else who couldn’t stop thinking about them.

“Who were they?” Harry asked Ron, sitting up. He didn’t know who they were, but he thought that knowing that might help him understand why that guy wanted to do what he was doing.

Ron stood up, still out of sorts, “That’s! That was Cloud Strife!! He’s famous…but then he’s only famous in Hogwarts, so it makes sense, you don’t know.”

“Famous?”

“Yes, his picture even came in the newspaper. He is in his third year, and in the last two years, he dominated the Quidditch matches. Not only was an exception made when he joined the Quidditch team, but the Gryffindor hasn’t lost ever since he did. There are rumors that professional Quidditch Teams are looking forward to recruiting him.”

“So basically, he is another jock, no wonder he is so rude,” Hermione shrugged. Even though she perked her ears up, even she thought she was in Harry’s house, and that was something else that annoyed her.

Ron’s mouth shriveled at her comment, “He’s not just good at Quidditch. The three that came? They are my brothers’ friends and are great at studying. They have taken the top three spots for the past two years. But there is something that makes them even more mysterious?”

“What?” Even Hermione got pulled in as she leaned forward, let alone harry, who wanted to know.

“My family is from the Magical World, while the two of you are from the Muggle World, but the three of them, no one knows where they are from. Some say they fell into Hogwarts using Teleportation magic before learning what magic was. That kind of talent is something else!”

Ron sighed, “I should have asked him for an autograph; I couldn’t speak. Even when he came to see Fred and George.”

“Hm,” Harry was lost in thought as he looked out the window, waiting for the Hogwarts to come, ‘Mom…Dad….’

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