Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Word count: 1,617
Author's note: This is something knew that I wanted to try. Inspiration hits me at the weirdest times. Please enjoy and let me know what you think.
It was a few months after Deep Ground's fall when it happened. The dust had barely settled before the WRO and the new Shinra Inc. joined together to create a new super corperation that had the human ideals of the WRO in it's slogan.
Rufus and Reeve bothe mutually agreed on becoming Co-Presidents. Rufus handled the political and economic stuff, while Reeve handled general affairs and social media. The people still did not trust Rufus or the four Turks that remained after the fall of Shinra, but the people liked and trusted Reeve. The people have always liked and trusted Reeve.
He was always liked by the public. He was the genius behind the creation of the city Midgar, it's entire design was his planning. It was a matroplois. Besides his sunny disposition, he's naturally extremely friendly with everyone that he comes into contact with.
So, with Reeve by Rufus's side with a smile and a promise that everything will get better. The people began to warm up to the young President and even began to trust him too. Even AVALANCH members let their distrust of Shinra go when they were all permentently involved in the making of the global superpower.
Cloud even built a friendship with Rufus and his Turks and when you are accepted by the hero of the world, you are accepted by everyone.
Two months later, he reappeared. The one the hero of the world feared. The Ex-General himself, Sephiroth, showed up at Aerith's Church naked and confused.
"Sephiroth?" Cloud says slowly, pulling his sword from its sheath across his back.
The legendary Hero looks at Cloud, confused, before he walks toward him, slightly stumbling. Big cat like blue eyes stare, dazed at Cloud as he stumbles closer.
Looking into those blue disarming eyes, Cloud can tell that whoever is walking toward him, it's not the menacing mother-crazed world destroyer, but someone else. Lowering his blade, Cloud watches as Sephiroth steps up to him and wraps his arms around his neck and lowers his long white haired head to the blond's shoulder.
The blond hero froze at the contact. A heavy, hot breath brushes his neck every frew seconds, getting slower and slower, almost as if he's falling asleep. Standing up?
"Sephiroth?" Cloud says softly, shifting his weight, away from the silver haired man's dead weight.
Sephiroth pulls away to look at Cloud, tilting his head to the right. Sephiroth moves past Cloud and into the flower patch, avoiding stepping on any of the flowers. When he reaches the center, he lowers himself and pulls his legs to his chest. He lays his head down and closes his eyes.
Cloud steps back and just stares n wonder. Is this really the guy he was fighting before? The light from the holes in the ceiling all seem to point at the man. Cloud can see Zack's sword standing, almost like a silent sentinal, behind the silver haired man.
"Everyone... deserved a second chance..." Aerith whispers softly. "Even Sephiroth."
Cloud can feel the flower girl's presents at his back, an undenyable comfert swallows him up. "What's wrong with him?" Cloud finds himself asking, eyes on the slumbering Hero.
"Nothing is wrong. I have given him the opportunity to be saved. I took his memories and locked them up. You will need him at his most innocent form to heal him."
"Heal him?" Cloud echos. "How can I heal him?"
"Teach him what was never taught." Aerith answers softly. Zack appears behind Sephiroth, his hand on the sleeping man's shoulder.
"How to love. Sephiroth forgot what it was like to love and be loved." Zack says quietly, looking at Cloud with familiar mako enhanced blue eyes.
"He needs friends that, for sure, won't leave him. He needs to learn how to care and how to trust. So when the day comes and he remembers, he'll be able to accept what happened to him and not turn back to Jenova." Aerith explains, moving to stand next to the blond. Her green eyes watch the sleeping silverette with gentle affection. "I saw him in the Lifestream. It's not what you expect. In the Lifestream, you take on the form of your soul's true nature. Sephiroth's is that of a small child, weeping in fear and sadness. He's afraid and sad and his soul reflects it."
Cloud looks over at her. "You want me to reteach him...everything? You want all of us to be his friends? After everything that happened?" Aerith nods in affirmative.
Zack's eyes lock with Cloud's and raven haired man smiles, before dissapearing into the light. Aerith looks over at Cloud.
"You wont be alone for long. To change the world, everyone will need to get involved."
And, without any other form of explaination, the brown haired girl is gone. Cloud couldn't believe it. A Sephiroth that has no idea how to take care of himself. That is practically an infant in the body of a grown man.
Tifa is going to flip shit. She's the one that going to have to help him take care of the mute silver haired man. Cloud doesn't know how to take care of someone else. He barely knows how to take care of himself.
What was Zack and Aerith thinking?
And what did Aerith mean when she said that he wouldn't be alone for long?
Aerith has already proven that she has the power to affect the living relm even after death and she has also shown that bringing someone back from the dead is not an impossible task. Is she planning to bring more people back to life? If so, who?
Cloud looks at the sleeping Ex-General, trying to decide his next move. Aerith left him as Sephiroth's caretaker and he needed Tifa's help and support. Aerith was right. Everyone deserves a second chance and if they can save Sephiroth, why wouldn't they help?
Cloud never hated Sephiroth. He pitied him. Sephiroth had been through so much in his life and it lead him to insanity. So many factors. Everything spiraled out of controlled. Sephiroth couldn't escape the darkness that surrounded him and eventually it swallowed him up.
The blond could never turn away from someone in need on good concious. Besides, he really didn't blame Sephiroth for all the terrible things he's done.
But this doesn't stop the fact something needs to be done now. Sephiroth is sleeping in the middle of a patch of flowers. Dead to the world. He is truly in danger. Even if the world is improving, it's still not completely safe. People don't know the story about Sephiroth, only that he was killed in action. They might be able to salvage his former self, while at the same time recreating an image that is purely his own. Not influenced by the media.
But for now, Cloud needs to get Sephiroth some clothes and a place to sleep tonight.
The blond looks around the otherwise empty Church. Unfortunately, and maybe fortunately, no one comes here. If he left for a few minutes to pick Sephiroth up some clothes... he'd be fine. Right?
Cloud knows that you aren't suppose to leave a baby home alone for any time frame but Sephiroth isn't a baby, and certainly can not be considered one. Can he?
He can't take Sephiroth with him though. Not now that he doesn't even have a shirt on his back. It's good thing there isn't anyone around for miles, but still how would anyone react to seeing a naked Sephiroth walking around with no memory of anything?
Sephiroth let's out a tiny snore, still unmoving from his place in the middle of the flowers. Deciding that Sephiroth shouldn't be left alone in his... slumbering state.
Pulling out his phone, Cloud dials the number of one of his friends, he knows will hear him out and react calmly.
He picks up after the second ring. "Cloud."
"Hey Vincent. I need a favor from you. Are you busy?" Cloud turns away from the sleeping man to look around the Church again.
"No, I'm not. What do you need?"
"I need you to get me a pair of long sweat pants and a shirt and bring them to the Church. I have a friend that is in desperate need of them. Plus, I need your assistance." Cloud says, turning back to Sephiroth. "It's big. And it's about Sephiroth."
After Vincent hung up, Cloud walks over the patch of flowers. He kneels down and looks at Sephiroth's peaceful, sleeping face. There is prominent dark circles under his eyes. Like he hasn't slept in a long time.
"Sephiroth," Cloud says softly. The silver haired man isn't bothered. Cloud watches his face and calls out to him again. This time Sephiroth stirs, opening his eyes. For a moment Sephiroth just stares at Cloud before he starts to crawl toward the blond. All his limbs avoid even touching a flower, Cloud notices.
Sephiroth stops inches from him, sits and pulls his knees back up to his chest.
"Sephiroth, are you okay?" Cloud asks.
Sephiroth's face remains blank.
"Sephiroth..." Cloud trails off. "You have no idea what I'm saying, do you?"
There is no facial reaction. If he did have any idea what Cloud was saying, he was hiding it really well. Or maybe Cloud really sucked at reading people.
The mute Hero leans forward and lays his head on Cloud's shoulder, almost like he's seeking comfert or a shoulder to sleep on. Judging from the light snore that soon follows, Cloud is willing to bet on the latter.
Cloud couldn't help but chuckle lightly, as he accepts the weight of the slumbering hero and waits for Vincent to arrive.
