A/N: Second chapter up! Hopefully, after reviewing my editing techniques, the pacing of this chapter should feel a little better; not so rushed.

Thank you to all who reviewed the first chapter, I honestly didn't expect to get such a response so quickly. I'm thoroughly relieved to see that this fandom isn't quite dead just yet! (hugs all you wonderful diehard Cleon fans!)

As always, enjoy. Xxx

Veronique: Hello my dear! Yes, indeed I'm very well, thank you. I hope you are too. I'm pleased I've managed to reel you in already. I hope you enjoy this update. Much love. Xxx

"Yeah, but if it's any consolation, I was rooting for you the whole time."

Chapter Two

Cloud knew he was dreaming. All the same, the visions that assaulted him in his sleeping paralysis were visceral and real enough to make him flinch. Like the roar of a high speed plane, the sound of bullets cracked and exploded over his head even after they had already passed, leaving in their wake, a thousand tiny sonic booms that resonated outwards like a ripple and then downwards, pushing on top of him like a dead weight, only for him to realised moments later that it was a dead weight. And then a cold, crippling fear would steal over him, locking his arms and legs, immobilising his chest so that even breathing was difficult.

Through cold sweats and a shivering fear, Cloud started awake, a name dying on his lips as he gripped the bed sheets, knuckles white and chest heaving with poisonous breath, too exhausted to even articulate the ghosts that plagued him. It had been his fault. His entire fault… Zack.

Out of the three hundred men that had made up his squadron that day, less than thirty had returned, Cloud among them; limping home, wounded and afraid. The fresh scar on his leg, right above his knee ached terribly and Cloud swung his legs down over the edge of the bed, wincing as he stretched the muscle to work the deep seated pain that would never fully heal.

With only six months between himself now, as he was, sat in the half darkness of pre-dawn and that terrifying day, it was only the barest of scar tissues that covered the wounds both inside and out. With shaking hands he reached for the half empty bottle on his nightstand and unscrewed it. Taking a long drink, he refused to let the shadow in. He'd fight it with whatever he had, for as long as he could.

Sometimes the only feeling that Cloud had left was that of a ticking clock: taking away the seconds and hours, counting down until… what? Until there was no more time left; until he ran out of strength, or will, or liquor?

Cloud finished the bottle, knowing full well that it wasn't nearly enough to start the day right, but he was late already. Standing on broken legs, he wobbled precariously out of his room and squinted down the corridor looking for the door leading to the bathroom.

Quickly splashing his face with cold water, uncaring about the soft stubble or the haggard expression that stared back from the mirror above the sink, he ran shaking hands down his rumpled white shirt that he'd accidentally fallen asleep in. He attempted to tuck it in, hoping he could pass for half decent and made his way out into the expanse of the mansion, heading for the kitchen and the promise of coffee.

As he hobbled in, not really expecting to find anyone in there at six o'clock in the morning, he was surprised and startled to find a teenage boy with familiar chocolate hair sat at the large breakfast table, a small plate of toast and glass of water in front of him.

Keeping to the alcoves around the side of the L shaped kitchen he fumbled about with the coffee machine, relieved to understand that he hadn't been seen yet and that the kid was engrossed in a book which was laid out beside his small breakfast.

Bringing the coffee cup to his dry, cracked lips, Cloud almost dropped the mug when startled by a new voice entering the kitchen.

'No reading at the table, Squall.'

The sound of a hardback cover hitting the floor accompanied the voice and then the screech of wooden legs scraping across expensive tiles as a chair was hurriedly shoved back.

'I'm sorry, I was just…' a smaller, quieter voice began, only to be cut off as the new voice broke over the top of it, flattening everything else in the room.

'What have I told you about reading stories?' The man said the word like it tasted disgusting. 'How you can possibly have time for them when you have so much work to do is beyond me. Perhaps you've too much free time in your schedule?' The tone of the man's voice, undoubtedly the senator's, left a sneaking suspicion in Cloud's mind that exactly the opposite was true. He tucked himself away into the corner of the large kitchen and continued to listen.

'If that is the case, maybe we should review your timetable and arrange another tutor? Maybe for after your languages teacher has left?' Cloud heard the tell tail sound of the book being dropped onto the table.

'That's my free time.' Squall's rather annoyed and indignant voice replied.

'If you want free time, you have to earn it.' The senator snapped back, effectively smothering any argument that the kid might have put up. Cloud frowned. Even for him, who was as indifferent as they came when it concerned rich people's problems, thought that the senator's attitude had been unnecessarily harsh.

'You know, a little bit of gratitude wouldn't go amiss, Squall.' Cloud almost snorted into his coffee. 'You have no right to feel so hard done by. I've given you everything a child could possibly need and all I get from you is this sulky, despondent attitude.' There was a slight pause before Squall replied in a low, almost reluctant voice.

'I'm sorry. I promise I'll try and do better.'

For some reason, the kid's answer made Cloud feel indignant. It stoked in him some kind of fresh fury that had nothing to do with himself for a change; his stale anger at his own situation was temporarily forgotten over this boy's unfair treatment.

'That's all I ask, Squall, yet you constantly seem to disappoint me.'

'I'm sorry.'

There was a tense moment of silence that seemed to last for an age, confusing Cloud as to what was happening, but eventually the senator spoke again.

'I'm confiscating this. Do not expect to get it back.' And with that, Cloud heard the senator leave the room. Waiting a few seconds to make sure the man had truly left, Cloud loosened his death grip on his coffee mug and smoothed his features out. He walked around the cabinets and the sight of the table and the young man came into view.

The kid looked up, immediately smothering his dejected expression and straightened his posture. Cloud pulled out the chair next to Squall, sitting himself down heavily, pleased to be off his aching knee for a moment. He straightened his legs out in front of him and leaned back casually in the seat, placing the coffee mug on the table before looking over at the young man beside him at the head of the table, his fingers toying nervously with the edge of the napkin beside his plate.

'So,' Cloud broke the tense silence, 'you're dad's kind of a dick, huh?'

Squall's frown only deepened, his head lowering just a fraction more and Cloud swore he saw the slightest colouring come to the boy's cheeks. 'You heard that?' Squall asked in that low monotone. Cloud inwardly winced; a soft tug pulled in his chest as he felt for the boy's outward humiliation and all at once he felt bad for bringing it up.

'Yeah, but if it's any consolation, I was rooting for you the whole time.'

Squall lifted his gaze briefly, chancing a glance over at his breakfast companion and raised an eyebrow before his eyes flicked away again to stare at his half empty plate. 'You look like crap.' He deadpanned.

Cloud looked down at himself, at the rumpled shirt and slacks and his bare feet crossed at the ankle and had to concede defeat. 'Not much of a morning person.' He confessed, scratching self-consciously at his morning stubble. 'Not like you, you look like you've been up for hours.' Cloud commented, noting the boy's impeccable uniform.

'I have.' Squall responded, taking a sip of his water. Catching a glimpse of Cloud's wrinkled brow he explained, 'I swim for an hour before school; it's on my schedule.'

Sparing a moment to feel incredulous at Squall's seemingly merciless timetable, it reminded him of why he was currently up at such a godless hour instead of sleeping off a hangover of doubtless epic proportions which he would have acquired had he been off this weekend. 'That reminds me, I'm gonna need a copy of that at some point.' Raking a hand through his hair he lent forwards and placed his elbows on the table, feeling heavy and worn out already. He briefly considered raiding the enormous kitchen for an alcohol supply.

'Here.' Squall slid a folded piece of paper across to him, before sitting back in his chair and continued to pick at the corner of his cold toast.

Surprised at such efficiency so early in the morning, Cloud had to remind himself exactly who he was dealing with here and upon a quick re-evaluation of the situation found that he shouldn't have been so surprised. This kid was so organised, he probably had his underwear colour coded: one for every day of the week. Unfolding the piece of paper, Cloud scanned it quickly, his mind boggling at how much was on there and his sympathies were once again well and truly with the kid as he saw his day started at five am, every day, without fail.

'Holy shit snacks,' he exclaimed, eyebrows nearly disappearing into his hairline. 'They like to keep you busy, huh?' Scanning the schedule for this elusive 'free time', Cloud found it, right at the end of the boy's day; after nearly three hours of extra lessons, pencilled in at half past seven in the evening, was an hour and a half worth of down time before a very strict, very definite bedtime.

'You'll probably want to put that on your PDA,' Squall replied. 'Though, it will be changing in a week.'

'Changing, why?' Cloud asked, folding it up and slipping it into his pocket.

'I finish school. I have exams this week and then after that it's the holidays. Senator Ansem has a whole new schedule drawn up for holidays.'

'You finish high school this week?' Cloud asked.

'It's an academy.' Squall corrected, rather self-consciously.

'Whatever, so like, how old does that make you?'

'I'll be eighteen in August.'

Cloud had to admit, he hadn't given much thought to exactly how old Squall was. He'd known he was in school and that was pretty much all he'd needed to know, but thinking about it now, he'd probably placed the kid's age much lower than was fair. He hadn't realised he was only eight weeks off turning eighteen.

'Exciting times for you then, huh?' Cloud replied, thinking back to his own experience of leaving school and his excitement at joining SOLDIER.

'Yeah, sure.' Squall replied, no trace of enthusiasm anywhere. Cloud might have put it down to that moody, despondent attitude that the senator had mentioned before, but for some reason he didn't think that was it. Squall didn't strike him as the pouty teenager type. In all honesty, now that he'd spent even just a small amount of time in the young man's company, he thought the kid more mature than some of his own friends. The last thing Cloud would have called Squall was petulant, yet the kid remained down cast at the prospect of the summer that lay ahead. He was about to enquire further when Squall spoke again.

'Well, I have a cello lesson now. It finishes at half seven so if you want you can go and get cleaned up and meet me back here in an hour. School starts at eight.'

'Huh?' Cloud asked rather incredulously.

'It's on the schedule.' Squall nodded his head towards the piece of paper in Cloud's pocket and stood up, picking up his half eaten breakfast and heading over to the sink. 'You might wanna use the time to get cleaned up. If the senator catches you like that,' he stopped, turning to evaluate Cloud with a raised eyebrow. 'Scratch that, if anyone catches you looking like that, you'll be in big trouble.'

Cloud inwardly scoffed at the idea of being reprimanded over his appearance like a child, but for some reason, from this kid, it was kind of endearing.

'Yeah, you're right; wouldn't want to get grounded.' He teased. The look that passed over Squall's handsome features told Cloud that his joke hadn't been appreciated.

'Whatever,' the young man replied flippantly. 'Do what you want, I don't care.' With an annoyed flick of his hand, he dismissed the conversation and left the kitchen, leaving Cloud to wonder what it was he'd said wrong.

The car ride to Hollow Bastion Academy was silent and tense. Numerous times, Cloud's eyes flicked from the road in front of him to the rear view mirror and the image of the boy sat quietly in the back, eyes gazing out at the passing traffic. Cloud didn't know whether he was imagining it or not, but the look in the young man's eyes seemed to convey a sadness that bordered on longing; as if he were watching the world pass him by from behind iron bars. Shaking the ridiculous notion out of his head, he pulled up to the gates and drove down the long and impressive driveway towards the dark red brick building. Coming to a stop he put the car in park and watched as Squall gave an almost imperceptible sigh, his shoulders rising ever so slightly before dropping in a resigned manner.

'School finishes at four.' Squall informed him, looking away from the window and catching Cloud's stare in the mirror; Cloud held it and nodded.

'I'll be here.'

Without another word, Squall climbed out of the car and disappeared into the building, his posture stiff and formal.

#

Four o'clock rolled around a lot faster than Cloud anticipated. With a small jump, he straightened himself in the driver's seat as Squall opened the back door and climbed in. 'Have you been waiting here all day?' he asked.

'I told you, I've been assigned to you. That means I go where you go.' Cloud replied. Squall shrugged and lent back into the seat, pulling his seatbelt across his lap and clipped it in place.

'All the same, kinda boring for you.' Squall took up his position staring out of the window, only this time his expression seemed tired.

Pfft, tell me about it, Cloud thought, lamenting his numb butt. 'Oh don't worry, I've kept myself busy. A few laps of the perimeter, not to mention I transferred your schedule on to my PDA. Now that took up most of the day!' Cloud replied, flashing a small smile and his electronic organisation device over his shoulder. Squall remained unaffected; that tired almost bored expression still on his face. Tough crowd! Cloud thought turning back to the wheel and started up the engine. After a few minutes they were out of the school grounds and heading back to Radiant Gardens.

The rush hour traffic slowed them to a halt as they crawled their way through the centre of the city and once again, Cloud found his attention being drawn to his passenger sat in the back of the car. Squall had closed his eyes and rested his head back, the motion of the car making it sway gently as it looked like the kid was falling asleep. Cloud didn't blame him. He figured he'd take any opportunity to catch a few Z's if his life was as busy as Squall's.

The sight of the worn out young man and the memory of his awkward and humiliating exchange with his father that morning caused that dull tug in Cloud's chest again. He wasn't accustomed to feeling empathy for other people. As a rule, he'd conditioned himself to be as unfeeling as he possibly could; his only exceptions being his close friends, and even then it had to be particularly exceptional circumstances. Most of them had been able to fight their own battles for a long time now. He was unused to and inexperience with teenagers and he certainly hadn't expected the appearance of one in his life to make him feel so… concerned?

A sudden idea sprang to mind and with a new found feeling of determination he pulled out of the long line of unmoving traffic and slipped into the inside lane and turned left, taking them down town. After a few minutes of thinking that he'd gotten away with his plan, Squall's voice piped up from the back of the car.

'Where are we going? This isn't the way home.'

With a shallow sigh and a small smile, Cloud replied. 'No files on you, is there?' At Squall's confused and slightly annoyed expression, Cloud elaborated. 'I figured you could use a break; we're going for something to eat. I dunno bout you, but I'm starving.'

'But I have to get back; I have language lessons after school.' Squall replied, a note of concern and annoyance entering his tone.

'So we'll say we got stuck in traffic. Come on, Squall, you really want to rush home and get stuck into more school work?'

'No… I mean, yeah… Look, it doesn't matter what I want to do, I have to get back. I'm not allowed to deviate from the schedule.'

Cloud wondered for a moment if Squall had ever done anything that wasn't on the fucking schedule and then immediately felt bad. 'So live a little. Seriously, what's the worst that could happen?' He asked, checking Squall's reaction in the mirror. What he found confused and worried him in equal measure. Somehow, Squall's face seemed to darken and pale at the same time. When he received no answer, Cloud found a slight chill run down his back. He shrugged it off, determined that he would treat this kid to some fun, even if it was just a burger after school.

'Listen, don't worry about it. If anyone say's anything, I'll say it was my fault: we got stuck in traffic: I had an errand to run, something like that, okay?'

Squall remained quiet but relaxed back into his seat, his troubled gaze turned back out of the window and Cloud couldn't help but notice the way his hands were still balled up on his knees, his knuckles white with tension. Knowing something didn't feel right, but unable to put his finger on exactly why, Cloud shrugged the uneasy feeling away and pulled up outside Seventh Heaven. Climbing out onto the sidewalk, he watched as Squall did the same, his veiled expression turning worried.

'You brought me to a bar?' He asked sceptically, shutting the car door behind him.

'It does food too.' Cloud answered by way of an explanation.

'I don't think I'll be allowed in there.'

'Sure you will; you're with me.' Pointedly ignoring the young man's attempts to sabotage the whole idea, he headed into the bar on a stiff and aching leg, trying to hide his limp as he held the door open for Squall to follow him through.

The bar was dead, and Cloud considered it a good thing. It made his job a whole lot easier when there was no crowd to scan and all the exits could be easily observed. Pointing to a booth in the corner, he indicated Squall should sit down before walking over to the bar and shouting up the stairs.

'Tifa!' a long moment of nothing followed before a woman appeared from behind the bar carrying a crate up from the cellar. 'I'm over here, Cloud.' She replied, making Cloud jump and turn.

Shit, woman, you scared me. I thought you were upstairs.' Cloud exclaimed, a hand placed over his chest as if to calm a pounding heart.

'Pfft, some bodyguard you are.' Tifa retorted, placing the heavy crate on the bar. 'What do you want, I'm busy?' she asked, pulling bottles out of the box and stacking them in the fridges behind her.

Cloud looked around himself at the empty bar with a raised eyebrow. 'If it's not too much trouble, I just want a couple of burgers for me and the kid.'

Tifa stopped her restocking and glanced over Cloud's shoulder to the young man sat awkwardly in the far corner. She looked back at Cloud with a, you know you're not supposed to bring minors in here, look on her face before continuing her task of filling the fridges. 'Not like you to bring your work home with you.' She commented, pulling a note pad from the shelf and wrote the order down. She stuck it on a spindle in a small hatch and rang a bell shouting a quick 'Order up.' Before dusting her hands off and removing the empty crate from the bar top.

'Yeah well, this one's kind of a special assignment. Plus I need to pick up a few things; gonna be spending a few weeks over at HQ.' Cloud explained, helping himself to one of the beer bottles Tifa had left on the side. Tifa glanced over Cloud's shoulder again, circling a glass round and around in her hands as she dried it with a towel.

'He's cute.' She observed with a quick flick of her eyes to test Cloud's reaction; Cloud stared back, unimpressed.

'He's seventeen.' He informed her.

'That's never stopped you before.' Tifa noted, a slight lift to her brow and an amused smile on her lips. Cloud had to give her that one, though at the time he had been closer to seventeen himself; the six year age gap between himself and Squall at present was much larger.

'This is different.' He retorted somewhat churlishly, hating that his best friend often had the upper hand on him and his rather fluid morals.

'Sure,' Tifa replied sceptically. 'Sit down and I'll bring your order over.'

Collecting his beer and a soft drink for the kid, Cloud made his way over to the booth and sat down heavily, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and lit one, pointedly ignoring the disgusted look from his dinner companion.

'Are you really supposed to be drinking while you're working?' Squall asked him as Cloud downed half of the bottle in one long swallow.

'Probably not.' Cloud confessed, completely unaffected by the implications of what he was doing, and who he was doing it in front of. He sat for a few moments, leisurely peeling the label from the bottle and far too aware that Squall hadn't taken his eyes off him. He could feel the weight of the stare press in on him from all sides and he had to try very hard not to let the rising flush creep up his neck.

'Are you trying to lose your job?' The young man eventually asked him. Cloud snorted a soft laugh.

'I don't much give a flying fuck either way, kid.' He replied as nonchalant as he could, completely aware that he probably wasn't fooling anybody. It wasn't that he wanted to lose his job, but well, it was hard to care about anything anymore. None of it seemed important; none of it seemed to matter in the end. He could lose this job, but he'd find another. He looked up to see Squall staring at him, his face unimpressed but with a soft edge of concern, like he was wondering something.

'When did she leave you?' The boy asked out of the blue making Cloud's heart stop and then jump start, all at the same time. He scowled to try and hide his surprise.

'Who said anything about anyone leaving me?' Cloud answered, almost a little bit too quickly.

'Because nobody can be this pathetic for no good reason. I think she left you.' Squall retorted, folding his arms and leaning back in his seat.

For the space of a full minute, Cloud sat watching the boy in front of him. To anyone else it might have seemed that Squall sat there with a sense of smug self-satisfaction. His posture was certainly haughty enough, and his eyes flickered with a challenge, but for some reason, Cloud refused to take it that way. He was right in a way. He had lost someone. What were semantics when loss was loss?

'You're wrong on both counts, kid.' Cloud finally broke the silence, 'But nice try. Why don't we talk about you for a second anyway; what's your story?' Squall rolled his eyes at Cloud's pathetic attempts at diverting the conversation, but he humoured him anyway.

'My story is a matter of public record.' This time, he was almost definitely, without a doubt being as flippant as he could. 'If you'd done your homework you could have researched any archive in any public library and found out anything you like about me.'

'I like to get my information from the source.' Cloud replied, maybe a little too firmly. He took a swig of his beer and reminded himself to relax his jaw. 'So start talking.'

'There's not much to tell.' Squall shrugged, wiping at the condensation on his glass. 'I was born in Winhill, brought up in Dollet until I was five and then I was adopted by the senator. I've been living here in Hollow Bastion ever since.'

'Any idea who your real parents are?' Cloud asked, wanting to at least try and hit as close to home as Squall had attempted to hit with him. He was rewarded with a weary stare and a sharp look that flashed through Squall's grey eyes.

'No.'

'Ever wanted to find out?' Cloud pushed, knowing he'd found a weak spot. He watched as Squall's icy glare cut away to the table, his knuckles clenching ever so slightly.

'There wouldn't be much point. I was told my mother died giving birth to me and my father was missing in action over eighteen years ago. Either way, it doesn't matter. They're both gone now.' This last part was uttered quietly, delicate eyebrows coming up to crease in the middle of a stoic face above hard eyes that glittered with ice.

Like most of his impulsions, this one left Cloud feeling dickish. He hadn't wanted to cause the boy any real pain, he'd just wanted to ruffle a few feathers and let him know that he could be read just as easily as Squall could read him. Changing the subject quickly, he breathed in one last drag of his cigarette and stubbed it out.

'So what's with the scar, anyway? There's gotta be an interesting story behind that!' Cloud commented, indicating the long diagonal scar sliced in between the brunet's eyes and over the ridge of his nose.

'Not really, it happened when I was six or seven. It was an accident with one of the house staff. I was in the kitchen getting under her feet. She tripped and cut my face.' Squall replied with a shrug, a soft pink bottom lip disappearing into his mouth to be worried between his teeth. For no discernable reason whatsoever, Cloud didn't believe a word of the story, however, as he was about to probe further, Tifa arrived at their table with their food and set it down.

'You actually gonna pay this time or am I putting it on your "tab"' she raised her hands, sweeping quotation marks into the air as she looked down, unimpressed at her friend.

'What do you think?' Cloud replied, face serious though his eyes belied him.

With a roll of her eyes she sauntered away, leaving the two young men to eat in heavy silence.

Attempting to sneak into Radiant Gardens was always going to be a bad idea. Considering the security cameras and sensors, not to mention the small army of security personnel actually situated in the grounds of the giant mansion, it would have been difficult for a fly to sneak a fart without someone picking up on it. Consequently, Cloud and Squall had no hope.

Only moments after entering the large kitchen both turned upon hearing the sharp clicking of stiletto pointed shoes on the tiles.

'Squall, is that you?' A woman called, rounding the cabinets and clocking sight of both of them. 'Squall, where have you been? You're late by over an hour! Your father is furious.'

Squall was about to open his mouth a reply before the blond haired man beside him piped up, subtly stepping in front of him as he diverted the frantic woman's attention.

'I'm really sorry, that was my fault. I had to swing by my place and pick up a few things. Got stuck in traffic on the way back.' He explained holding out his hands in supplication.

'That's not going to make a bit of difference to the senator. It's your job to make sure he's on time, for everything,' she emphasised the word, looking pointedly at him over her round spectacles. She looked past him, catching Squall's weary eye over the blond's shoulder. 'You'll have to make up the time. You know he won't let you cut anything.'

'I know, I'm sorry, Quistis.' Squall offered, stepping out from around Cloud, keeping the man in the corner of his peripheral vision. Before he could say anything else they all turned at the sound of the senator's voice entering the kitchen from behind them.

'So this is where I find you!' Ansem spoke dryly, clearly unamused. He stopped in front of Squall and held his serious, weighty gaze for a few uncomfortable seconds. 'You're late, Squall.'

'I know, I'm sor-'

'It was my fault, senator. I had to pick up a few things on our way back and we got stuck in traffic.' Cloud interrupted, not wanting to hear Squall apologise once again for something that wasn't his fault. Senator Ansem's unflinching stare swept from Squall to Cloud, hovering and assessing for a moment before moving his displeasure back to his adopted son.

'You are late, Squall,' he repeated, placing his hands onto his hips. 'You are now an hour and fifteen minutes behind in your schedule. I expect you to make it up. You will work through your free time this evening.' He announced, flicking his wrist out to check his watch.

'But…' Squall started, unsure if he should go on from the glare his father was giving him. 'But I was planning on going to the kennels after languages. I haven't been down there in nearly a month. Griev-'

'You should have thought of that before you decided to neglect your studies.' Ansem barked, effectively silencing Squall.

'Please, sir, it really was my fault.' Cloud interjected feeling even worse for his insistence that Squall break some of his ever stifling rules. He was ignored however, as Ansem turned to the woman stood behind them all.

'Miss Trepe, please escort Squall to his study, he has a lot of catching up to do.'

Squall turned dejectedly, ignoring the heated stare of his father and the guilty apologetic look on Cloud's face as he followed his tutor out of the kitchen.

'And in future, Mr Strife,' Ansem began seconds after the kid had left. 'If you wish to take my son anywhere, you will inform HQ before doing so. We are on high alert at the moment, as you well know and your actions today put Squall in undue risk. For the sake of you job, at the very least, follow protocol. I don't expect to have to talk to you about this again, do I make myself clear?'

With tense shoulders and balled up fists, cheeks flaming with humiliation and rage over being reprimanded like a school boy, Cloud nodded stiffly.

'Yes sir.'

With a low and dangerous 'Good,' Ansem turned and left the kitchen and disappeared back into the gilded corridors of the mansion.