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“So,” said Cloud, who was hanging upside-down from a rope trap (which the universe had chosen to spit him out square in the middle of), “this is new.”
A younger Genesis Rhapsodos (not yet the Commander, maybe?) frowned up at him—pouted, really. His face was still a little squishy and he hadn’t quite mastered the proper eyebrow angle to look intimidating. “Damn it all, you ruined my trap!” He irritably blew his bangs out of his eyes and tossed his head. “Who are you anyway? You must be a First, though I don’t know what kind of First falls for a trap meant for a child.”
“Not a SOLDIER, actually,” Cloud said mildly as he swayed back and forth by his ankle. Thank Gaia for electromagnetic sword harnesses, or Tsurugi would have been on the forest floor and then he would have been too annoyed for civil conversation with bratty teenagers.
Genesis gave him a very flat look. "You have mako eyes."
"Yep."
"How would you have mako eyes if you're not a SOLDIER?" Cloud could hear the silent dumbass tacked onto the end of the question. For someone who hypothetically believed Cloud was a First, Genesis was being remarkably irreverent.
Then again—it was Genesis.
"I was bitten by a radioactive Sephiroth,” Cloud said, straight-faced. The look he got in return was absolutely priceless. He wished he had a PHS on hand to document it.
"...what?"
"Don't worry about it. So, want to tell me why you're setting up mediocre hunting traps in the middle of the woods like some low-budget slapstick comedy movie?"
Genesis had that look in his eye like he was slowly coming to the conclusion that Cloud was nuts. Which he wasn't exactly wrong about, but that was besides the point. "I'm...trying to catch the sentient mop of blond hair that stole my materia," was what he said, and suddenly it was Cloud's turn to question his sanity.
"I've heard a lot of weird shit in my life," Cloud said, "but that just might take the cake. The what that stole your materia?" Then he frowned thoughtfully. "Why was your materia even someplace to be stolen in the first place?" Because he knew Genesis. And Genesis did not leave his materia in a position to be stolen.
Genesis scowled at him with all the fervor of a teenaged SOLDIER high on his own ego. "For your information, it was in my pack and we were on a training mission in friendly territory! I like materia well enough but I'm not going to sleep on top of it!"
"Sure," Cloud soothed, holding his hands up in surrender, "of course. Very reasonable. Let's go back to the mop of sentient hair for a minute?"
Genesis narrowed his eyes. "You're oddly calm about being strung up like a helpless rabbit for someone who isn't a SOLDIER," he observed.
Cloud snorted. "What are you going to do, hit me like a pinata with that adorable little sword of yours until I get annoyed and cut myself down? Just because I'm not a SOLDIER doesn't mean I'm not dangerous." He crossed his arms over his chest. "If anything, you are the one who's taking this remarkably well. Now, seriously, I'm dying of curiosity. What's up with the sentient mop of hair that stole your materia?"
When Genesis still looked like a mutinous teenager, he cajoled, "I'll even help you catch...it? If you tell me."
Genesis pursed his lips for a moment. "It...was probably just a kid with a hell of a lot of hair," he finally admitted, begrudging as can be. "I didn't see it, but Angeal said it looked like a walking haystack with mako eyes and human hands that appeared just long enough to steal my materia." He grit the last part out, steaming, and Cloud had to bite very very hard on the inside of his cheek to keep from bursting into laughter.
His amusement died when Genesis added, "come to think of it, your hair looks about the same shade Angeal described. Light blond."
"Oh for fuck sake," Cloud sighed, slumping and letting his head roll down in defeat. The universe never spat him out anywhere by accident, and there was no such thing as a coincidence. Not for him, anymore. "Of course it is."
Genesis was suddenly about two inches from his nose. "What do you know?” he demanded. It still lacked the natural intimidation of an older Genesis, but he was doing a pretty good job all things considered. Cloud resisted the urge to reach out and ruffle his hair fondly.
All these damn universes were screwing with his perception.
"I don't know anything," Cloud said mildly. "But I am quite literally cursed, the universe hates me, and this seems like something that might as well happen."
Genesis gave him another bewildered look. "What?"
Cloud, finally tired of hanging upside-down by his ankle, snapped his fingers and burned through the rope with a concentrated Fira. The finger-snapping wasn't actually necessary, he just wanted to fuck with Genesis a little bit. He twisted as he fell, landing smoothly on his feet. Genesis leapt away in alarm, drawing his standard-issue Shinra sword defensively.
"Relax, shortstack," Cloud said, sweeping his unruly bangs back. "Alright, a promise is a promise and I'm bored anyway. Give me more details and I'll help you catch your little thief." He glanced around, finally paying enough attention to identify where they likely were. It was, to his utter lack of surprise, Nibelheim.
"Uh..." Genesis assessed him for a second, cautious now that he'd lost the perceived advantage. "There's...not much else. We're within one mile of the campsite where it stole my materia, it...glared at Angeal, I suppose. The mako eyes thing made all of us think it might have been some kind of...I don't know, escaped experiment? Local who fell into a spring?"
"Thanks, that was very unhelpful," Cloud said dryly. Then he sighed. "Alright, come on. I know this area well and I have some suspicions about where the kid is." A thought occurred to him. He smiled at Genesis, who looked instantly wary. "You're a SOLDIER Second, right?"
"...Yeah. I mean—yes. Yes, I am SOLDIER Second Class, Genesis Rhapsodos."
Aw. It was downright cute how he was trying so hard. One day he would make it seem effortless, but for now Cloud had to fight the desire to coo at the way he puffed up like a proud little bird. He wasn't entirely successful in keeping the sentiment off his face, if Genesis's glare was any indication.
"Good, SOLDIER Second Class Genesis Rhapsodos," Cloud said, checking his harnesses. "Then keep up!" He took off with the speed of a SOLDIER First, grinning into the frigid wind at the way Genesis yelped behind him and scrambled to follow.
Maybe this would be a downright fun dimension for once.
Cloud was staring.
Genesis was staring.
The kid was staring back.
The wolf was too occupied grooming her little blond pup to take notice of the staring.
“What the...heck?” Cloud said in disbelief, barely remembering to curb his language around the kids.
“I thought you said you knew what was happening,” Genesis sniped, crossing his arms over his chest as he glared daggers at small Cloud.
“Yeah, so did I.” Cloud was about 99% sure he was looking at his mom. Except, she was a wolf. Which he was 97% sure she hadn’t been in his home dimension. The tiny, feral Cloud between her massive paws was accepting the grooming with a child’s irritable resistance to baths, not a child’s resistance to suddenly being groomed by a giant wolf with fur the same color as his hair.
Cloud scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “Uh...your name wouldn’t happen to be Claudia, would it?” he asked the wolf.
She stopped mid-lick and raised her head to stare at him with familiar blue eyes. Cloud the smaller had also gone still, so surprised he even forgot to glare. After a second of wide-eyed staring from the little guy there was a noise, and suddenly he was replaced by a shaggy wolf pup who turned and scrambled into the shelter of his mother’s chest.
‘Who are you, to know such secrets?’ the wolf asked in a voice that seemed to resonate through his mind. Genesis yelped and fell on his ass. Cloud just blinked, not actually having expected that to work.
“Oh. Huh. Well...this is going to sound really weird, but I’m Cloud Strife from a different dimension, and I um...think you’re my mom? Not my mom-mom, obviously. Alternate universe mom.” He put a hand over his eyes. Why was it so difficult to talk to his mother when she looked like a freaking wolf?
Was a wolf? Semantics, whatever.
Claudia blinked at him slowly, thoughtfully. ‘Come here, pup.’
“I’m uh, a little past the ‘pup’ stage of my life,” he said, but gingerly picked his way forward to stand in front of her. She leaned forward and inhaled, the force of her breath strong enough to ruffle his hair. He cringed—it had been a few days since his last shower, and there was no way he smelled good. But Claudia just whuffed in surprise, pulling back to look him over again before suddenly surging forward and nuzzling her enormous head against him. He staggered, grunting in surprise, and gripped a handful of her ruff to keep his balance.
'Cloud,' she said, her delight touching his mind like fizzing bubbles in a champagne glass. 'My Cloud, yes, yes. You smell like so many places, pup.' She licked at his hair like she had little Cloud's, mussing his already wild bangs into further disarray.
"Lots of places," he agreed, surprised by her quick acceptance. His hands in her fur loosened, then sunk deeper. He couldn't resist swaying into her, like a half-fearful embrace. Wolf or not...she was still his Ma.
'Many places, and great suffering,' she said, softer and far less delighted. 'What have they done to you, my Cloud?'
What haven't they done, he thought, but he wasn't about to say that to his mother. So he just huffed a laugh and fully committed to the embrace, burying his face in the thick fur of her neck. It was impossible to breathe, but that was a small price to pay. "I'm fine, Ma," he said, so muffled he doubted anyone else could hear him.
There was a shift in the air, so deep that Cloud felt it in his bones, and suddenly the fur was gone and his face was pressed into a very human shoulder. “It’s not nice to lie to your mother, pup,” his Ma whispered, strong arms coming up to catch him in a gentle cradle.
Maybe it should have hurt, to feel her arms around him again. Maybe. But it didn’t. “Yeah, I know,” he murmured, bringing his own arms up to squeeze her back.
“Hi, excuse me,” said Genesis, breaking the tender moment. “Can we maybe revisit that whole... different dimension thing for a second?” His voice was pitched way up with stress, making him sound like a proper teenager.
Cloud laughed, but he wasn’t about to let go until his mother did. “Nah. That’s all the detail you’re gonna get, kiddo.” And since he could practically feel the impending explosion, he added, “don’t you have some materia to beg for?”
“Materia?” Ma repeated curiously, pulling back only to take one of Cloud’s hands in both of hers.
Cloud watched Genesis suddenly refocus on what he really cared about—namely, his materia. The teenager’s eyes turned down, and Cloud felt a small hand touch his leg. Small Cloud had returned to his human form and was poking halfway out from between big Cloud and his Ma, glaring daggers at Genesis.
“Ah, yes ma’am, your little... son stole my materia.” He managed to make it sound arguably polite. He even managed to keep from outright glaring back at small Cloud, which was genuinely impressive for a teenager. And for Genesis generally.
Claudia turned and gave the smaller Cloud an expectant look. Little Cloud glanced up and then swiftly looked back down, shuffling under his mother’s scrutiny. “Cloud?” she prompted. “Have you been going out raiding again?”
“...no?” he said, voice roughened as if he hadn’t used it in a while.
“Cloud.”
“...yeah.”
Claudia sighed. “Well, go on then. He tracked you here, you have to give it back.”
Little Cloud glared up at big Cloud. “But he cheated, mama! Other me helped!”
“You still need to give it back,” she said after a pause, apparently having no real argument against his accusation. Cloud stifled a laugh and squeezed his Ma’s hand. She squeezed back as small Cloud whined and skulked away into the cave-house hybrid.
Genesis blew out a breath as the kid left. “Thank you, ma’am,” he said, and actually sounded sincere.
“You’re welcome.” Conspicuously, she didn’t apologize on little Cloud’s behalf. “And what’s your name, young man?”
He paused, as if contemplating whether he wanted to tell her his rank. “Genesis Rhapsodos,” hr said eventually.
Claudia looked pleased. “What a beautiful name. You will be blessed, Genesis Rhapsodos. You may call me Claudia.”
He looked at her oddly, but was distracted by little Cloud returning, dragging along a sack nearly the same size he was. Cloud felt his eyes widen at the sight. Was the whole thing…?
It was. Little Cloud pulled open the mouth of the sack and started rooting around, apparently perfectly aware of what exactly he’d stolen from Genesis even amongst the absurdly-sized materia hoard. He tossed the orbs over his shoulder as he located them, leaving Genesis to either catch them or scoop them up off the floor. The teenager seemed too stunned by the stash to complain.
Cloud noted that his Ma didn’t seem all that surprised.
“There,” little Cloud said irritably, shoving stray materia back into the sack and tying it shut again. “There’s all you stupid materia, I didn’t want them anyway.” He somehow managed to look down his nose, despite being a solid few feet shorter than Genesis. “They all sucked.”
Genesis bristled like a cat at the insult, holding his regained materia possessively to his chest. “As if you’d know quality materia,” he sneered back, and little Cloud also bristled, mouth opening to respond—
“Boys,” Claudia said firmly. They both subsided. Cloud had a hard time not snickering.
Ah, kids.
She turned to Cloud, touching a hand gently to the side of his jaw. “Will you stay for dinner, pup?” she asked. “I want to hear your stories.”
And despite himself, Cloud smiled and leaned into the warm cradle of her palm, eyes slipping shut for just a moment. “I would love to.”