Wolf Pack

Chapter 2

By Fai Gensou

Disclaimer: There should be a remake. There isn't. Thus, I don't own FF7. Plus, Zack would not be dead. And Nibelheim would not happen.

Summary: See Chapter 1

Author's Note: Does anyone aside from me read these? Anyway, don't expect regular updates from me. Main reason is I'm in college. Second reason is I do things in my own time and hate doing things by a schedule.

No Angeal or Genesis; Angeal because the fact he made Zack kill him makes me angry on Zack's behalf, and Genesis is co-sharing with Hojo for the "must die for causing Nibelheim incident" so he's not in here either.


Chapter 2


Thankfully, the rest of the trip to the infirmary was uneventful, and there were no more mobbings. Upon reaching there, Zack was ambushed by several of the staff. Apparently, he DID go through several doors on the SOLDIER floor, and Tseng (who was taking charge of the whole mess since Lazard was AWOL, Sephiroth unseen since the start, and none of the other department heads cared, save Reeve, but city planning wouldn't help here) degreed he get checked out.

This caused a bit of a problem, as Zack was very intent on staying with Cloud, and thus causing problems for the staff. Problems as in growling and biting, and generally forgetting they were unenhanced. Cloud slid up to him, hands going for his ears, which distracted Zack long enough for the staff to strap him down to a gurney, one reserved for Firsts, and into the room they set aside for when SOLDIERs come in wounded and confused or berserk.

The thud Cloud heard against the door once Zack realized he wasn't there anymore made Cloud wince. Hopefully Zack wouldn't break out before he was done. Or that Zack wouldn't be confined as rabid.

"Corporal Strife? Over here please." Cloud turned to see a woman gesturing to an exam room. She was fairly short with brown hair and glasses (not Aerith, sorry guys), and oddly wasn't wearing a lab coat.

"I'm Dr. Kania. I just need to make sure you're not suffering any side-effects…beyond the obvious ones." She smiled as Cloud sat on the table, which turned to a wince as another thud was heard.

"Will that room hold Zack?" Cloud asked.

"It supposed to be able to hold Sephiroth, but he's never been in a state bad enough to test it, despite the cough professor's claims that it will." The look on her face showed what she thought of Hojo's title.

"Okay, so can you tell me what you were doing before and after you received your shot?" She asked, grabbing a clipboard and Cloud's medical file.

"I had duty when they were giving out shots, so they told us to come in after our shifts were finished. I did, and then I went back to the barracks, had a quick shower, and went to bed since I had the 5 to 11PM shift."

"No dinner?"

"I felt a little queasy, but not bad enough to throw up. I also had a headache, but I thought was because I was on duty right outside the weapons lab. There was an evening inspection" Dr. Kania winced in sympathy as she wrote. Headaches after the weapons development's inspections were a common complaint for all in the general area. Scarlet was a very shrill shrieker.

"Do you have any idea why I'm not…well…" Cloud really didn't want to ask, but better to find out if he was a freak before Hojo vanished him into the labs to be poked, probed, prodded, and pickled in mako.

"Restrained or catatonic?" He nodded.

"Well I'm thinking it's because you went to sleep pretty soon after you got the shot. You were in bed within the hour correct?" At Cloud's nod she continued. "When we sleep the brain does repair and restoration work of the body and of itself. Since you were already in 'repair mode', as it were, when Hojo's extras took hold, your brain could more readily accept the changes. Some of the troopers who had to be sedated or were catatonic have woken up, and they're fine. Well," She shrugged. "As fine as one can be with animal parts. We've found some of the missing troopers in the barracks, and they were still asleep, they're the same as you."

"Zack said some of the troopers were catatonic from mako poisoning. Shouldn't I be too, since that's why I was rejected from SOLDIER." Cloud asked.

Dr. Kania looked up from her notes. "You were told that you were too mako-sensitive?" Cloud nodded; wasn't that in his medical file?

"According to this you're within the acceptance range, a little one the low side but nothing too extreme. Who told you that?"

Cloud frowned. "Hojo's department."

She shook her head. "If you were truly mako-sensitive then we would have received a notice when you were tested for SOLDIER and we didn't. The only thing in your file is…" Dr. Kania scanned his file for something, which apparently she found when her face paled.

Cloud had a bad feeling.

"There's a code in your file. One I've only seen on those who leave Shinra for some ambiguous reason or just go missing or dead. It means Hojo had his eye on you before this happened, probably since you came to Shinra. SOLDIER Fair has too."

Cloud turned white. "What's going to happen to me and Zack?"

"Well right now, you need to tell me all the physical changes you've undergone since having the shot. Then you go calm down Fair, and the two of you will probably be like rabbits for awhile. Hojo's in deep shit with this latest stunt, since the money used for this was stolen from the company. It was tolerated, or at least unproved, before, but now it's out. Plus he lied on forms for more funds about what it would be used for. So the two of you will be fine." Another thud sounded, this one with the sound of growling. "If my colleagues decide not to dose Fair up to the gills."

"Well, I have Nibel wolf ears and tail, a patch of fur down my back, I'm more flexible, sights and sounds and smells are stronger, my incisors are sharper, and I'm craving a rare steak."

"What about mentally?"

"I feel like I have to stay in control of myself, partly since Zack isn't, and because it's not safe. It's…not the den."

Dr. Kania 'hmmed' as she finished writing. "One last thing." With that she started blushing. "Uh…you know how male canines have a know at the base of…yeah, if you just, ah, check if you haven't…yeah." She hid her face in Cloud's file. "This is so not what I went to school for." She mumbled into the paper.

Cloud turned bright red. When he had dressed this morning…afternoon, he had indeed checked. Well, he was checking to see if Hojo had done some gender bending as well, but he checked. "…No, no, it's all…normal…"

"Well then!" She looked as glad as Cloud felt that that topic was out of the way. "I'd ask to pet your ears, but I'd probably be mauled by Fair if I did, and not in the fun way." Cloud's blush returned full force with that comment. "You're free to go."

Two more thuds and a yell. "You should probably go and rescue him before they do sedate him."


Cloud retrieved Zack from the medical staff without much trouble, beyond the trouble of Zack being attached to him now, which made dragging them both back to his barrack to grab his stuff problematic. At least pretty much all of the guys who harassed him were still in medical. They already called him 'SOLDIER's bitch' after the first time Zack greeted him in the tower after the mission to Modeoheim. Cloud leaned into Zack's nearest ear and whispered, "/soonmateden/", which calmed Zack enough for Cloud to hand him his foot locker while he grabbed his duffel from the locker under his bed.

Cloud refused to be sad about the fact everything he owned fit into a duffel and a half-empty foot locker.

Getting to Zack's apartment was easier then the trip from medical to the barrack, since Zack couldn't re-attach himself while holding Cloud's foot locker. Cloud even let himself daydream about what would happen when they got there. Cloud had had a huge crush on Zack since they meet; Sephiroth might have been what Cloud dreamed of being, but Zack was the person he wished he was, cheerful and confident and open.

The daydream ended once they were inside Zack's place, and Cloud smelled Him. Sephiroth. Zack dropped the foot locker, and looked thrown between staying put and running to the bedroom where Sephiroth hid, so Cloud chose for him. "Go."

Zack bolted, shedding, or rather shredding, his clothes as he went, the bedroom door still open a crack once he was through.

Cloud couldn't stop his ears from drooping as he tidied up the remains of Zack's clothes. The boots were still intact so they went by the door. Cloud stripped himself, taking the time to fold each piece as if there was an inspection of his folding coming. Eyes focused on the floor, he went to the bedroom door, took a deep breath and slipped inside.

Cloud dropped to all fours once he shut the door, crawling over to the nest Sephiroth had apparently made out of every cushion, pillow, and blanket in the apartment, where Sephiroth and Zack were curled up. He didn't look up as he heard Zack almost breathe his name.

Too slowly and yet too fast, Cloud was in front of Sephiroth. Not meeting either's eyes, he laid on his back, spreading his legs and pulling them back, so he was exposed before Sephiroth. He tilted his head far enough to bare his neck completely, and closed his eyes.

And Cloud waited for Sephiroth to chose. Chose whether to accept him or reject him.


To Be Continued….

Before anyone decides to kill me, A. I planned this ending since I had this story idea B. I'm not the only one who is this cruel C. Next chapter gonna go more explicit, and I need to figure out how much I can put in the FF dot net posting without my account getting deleted or something. I have too many stories on favorites to risk that. I do know that the full version will be on my Live Journal, whose link is on my profile.

……..If it helps, I'm as anxious about the cliffhanger as you are. (goes and hides anyway)