A.N: this chapter is extremely rough in regards to spelling and structure.


He woke woke up with an incessant ache inside inside his skull. There were no windows in the barracks, yet it seemed as if he had baked out in the sun until his skin was tender and uncomfortably hot. He breathed heavily through blocked nostrils and blinked through the darkness. With a small noise he vented his discomfort and resigned himself to the laborious task of getting dressed to go to the infirmary.

Frigg's handmaidens would mock him, he would've told himself. But he was beneath their notice. The halls looked the same with their greyish color. It was supposed to be the last right. But the last right just lead to a longue and he wasn't sure if he even knew right from left anymore.

Stupidly, his brain suggested checking which hand could make a better L.

"It's after curfew." The rumble sent the hairs on his neck jumping out of their pores. He spun around, but tripped over his own heel and stumbled crashing into a potted plant.

A fake potted plant.

Green eyes gazed down at him emotionlessly, pupils thinned into barely visible slits for a split second before widening. "It's after curfew." General Sephiroth repeated. His oval shaped face somehow radiating displeasure despite being stone.

Cloud sniffed heavily, croaking out "Infirmary."

A thin silver brow arched in question.

His foggy brain giggled that the pale general would blend into the off-white wall behind him if he were to strip down naked. "I'm looking for the infirmary."

"Is your condition unstable?"

It took him a moment to process what he said. "No."

"Then going to the infirmary would be a waste of company materials and time. Would it not?"

I'll waste the finest company silk just to blow my fucking nose right now he thought irritably.

Instead of displeasure, the silver haired man began radiating a mix disgust and something else that made his lips a little lopsided. Almost like a smirk but more akin to an alien trying to be cool after watching Grease. "Classy." He deadpanned. "I saw Scarlet visiting the base, if you want to try your hand using her dress as a tissue."

"As much as I want to die, I'm not interested in being bludgeoned to death by stiletto heels right now." He joked lamely.

The general gave him a long look. He could understand Zack's frustration with not being able to read him well, as the man expressed less emotion than a rock. The angelic figure took a step closer and extended his hand. The blond stared at the gloved limb and squinted before glancing back at the General in confusion. "Do you need help standing up?"

He looked down at himself. He was half leaning on the potted plant and spilled the mulch onto the floor. Some of it seemed to be stuck together by some kind of green goo. He nodded, taking the General's hand.

Then he woke up back in the barracks, with a pill of antibiotics on the floor prescribed to him because there was no other place to put it. His squad was gone and their beds were made neatly. He didn't trust the voice that told him he was carried to bed last night. He didn't dare trust it. He refused to believe someone like him touched the hands of a god again.

When he woke up feeling less like a truck had backed over him the next morning he was stuck with double patrol duty to make up the hours he missed. The sky grumbled in complaint, bulging clouds preparing to flood the arid and barren lands below. When he first arrived he realized Midgar never advertised it's whether for a reason. The green clouds promised a week long thunderstorm and both SOLDIER and infantry alike would either be charged with evacuating slum citizens into refuge areas or letting them drown.

His PHS beeped out a warning for low visibility in some sectors appearing already. Thomas who was with him ignored the beep of his phone, grinding an unlit cigarette beneath his boot. "Weather report?" The street lamps turned blue in response changing from their usual green. Something that only happened when they turned down the power to prevent any serious mako spills from damaged pipelines pumping the poison at full speed. "Shiiit."

Thunder cracked and illuminated the black steel framing the streets, the blue glows casting ethereal shadows on the metal of his squad members helmets. "Well fuck." A shorter one swore. "Now I gotta smoke with those assholes inside."

The heavens began to weep, sending a curtain of droplets down and pelting the metal helmets. "Fuck." They chorused.

By the time they were done splashing through puddles they were thoroughly soaked and shivering. Cloud was already sneezing again as he ran a towel through his wild blond hair that he cut unevenly in a broken mirror. His PHS vibrated in his pocket. With a flick of his wrist it opened, and the display made him frown as his eyes traced the letters over and over.

Zack F: 14 unread messages

Zack F:

Hey Cloud wanna hang out today?

5:07AM

Zack F:

Are you busy?

5:20AM

Zack F:

It's purgatory today, isn't it? Just lmk when you can.

5:30AM

Zack F:

Training with Geal early cause he has a mission, txt me later?

5:40AM

Zack F:

What's up?

4:05PM

Zack F:

I'm sorry if I made you feel left out. I know I do that a lot. Let me make it up to you. Takeout and movie at my place ;)

5:40PM

Zack F:

I'm sorry. I messed up. Will you forgive me?

6:22PM

Cloud sighed, not even interested in reading anymore. He was officially ignoring his only friend now- and Cloud knew that made him a shitty friend, but all he could bear was take refuge in the library where he dragged himself and sulked with his current book to keep himself from loathing his existence even more. Quickly hiding there he was an hour into reading and being a coward in the old dusty place the red haired SOLDIER was back again let out a loud sigh, flopping down just one seat away. But he somehow managed to both exaggerate the action and make it seem graceful.

Cloud became hyper aware of the presence next to him, how the man would lean in Cloud's massive personal bubble when he lingered too long on a page with his blue eyes flickering up and down the page. "What are you reading?" The words spilled ouout stumbling like a deathclaw on ice. The SOLDIER looked up at him with his lips pressed together tightly and a wrinkle between the bridge of his nose and his brow.

"LOVELESS." He closed the book, displaying the white cover and gold embroidery. "Don't you know? It's my favorite."

"Should I know?" The muscles of his lips twitched down, but he tired to force them to remain neutral.

The SOLDIER's fair features shifting into something like resentment. "I'm Genesis Rhapsodos." At Cloud's lack of reaction he scowled. "I suppose you'd be more familiar with the 'Almighty Hero of Wutai Sephiroth.'"

"I know who you are." Cloud glared back. He should just leave it at that- go back to reading or even leave. Anything was better than possibly being accused of insubordination, to a SOLDIER no less. "I just don't care."

Rhapsodos narrowed his eyes, inhaling sharply. "Now-" But Cloud was already turning around and shoving his book back into the shelf with such ferocity it would make his Ma proud before she promptly scolded him for rough handling it. "Are you leaving?" Rhapsodos huffed behind him, his leather boots loud against the floor.

"Well I'm not staying to talk to you." Dear gods, Strife shut up. Insubordination and unprofessional were going to be the go to word for others to describe his career.

"Why not? I'm sure I could prove to be much more entertaining than your squad." His scowl deepened, throwing his hands up. "What do they even talk about? The general? His god like strength? Do they talk about how much they'd like to bed him? How wonderful." He drawled, eyes smoldering with acid green mako.

"I said I'm not going to talk to you and I don't want to deal with your stupid ego issues. You're already worshiped like a god, is to not enough for you that you need to go and bother with people like me?"

He was about to step out but the man grabbed his arm and held him there with ease. "People like you?" His thin brow was arched high.

"Let go." He grinded his teeth together with a seething glare.

"Explain."

He made a noise in his throat, glaring up at Rhapsodos with a shrill screech squeaking out from frustration quickly masked by covered by a string of beeps.

Both of them paused at high pitched tune of a PHS, and both checked their pockets to see whose was ringing.

It was Cloud's.

His throat clenched when he saw the number and Rhapsodos' eyes fixed themselves on his face. The commander's broad shoulders tensed and a scowl made its way into his lips. "Well? It'd be rude to ignore them."

He cracked pathetically. "Hey."

Zack's voice came garbled through the speaker but Rhaspodos' scowl grew deeper as the 2nd class went on "Cloud! I was so- you sound like shit. Are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine." He closed his eyes slightly staring down at the stained patterns under the leather boots instead of the ginger's face. "Hey I…"

"Don't you dare apologize, or else I'll come find you and hug the shit outta you." He quickly insisted with a chuckle. "I wanted to ask if you wanted to go to a cafe with me. I know I fucked up, and I wanted to apologize."

"You don't have to."

"I want to." There was a long inhale on the other line. "I worry about you. You sound so sad all the time now, and I want you to know you can trust me. We're friends aren't we?"

"... yeah." He bit his lip, the flesh burning in protest as blood began to pool. "You're my best friend." He bit back a self deprecating remark.

Zack let out a little breath and there was some crackling. "I'm on the train going into a tunnel right now, so I'll meet you there at the usual spot, okay?"

"Okay…"

He placed a hand on a table to steady himself as his lungs contracted violently in his chest.

"Commander."

A man in a blue suit stood in the doorway, dark eyes observing them both with a blank expression. "Director Deusericus has called all the first classes together for a briefing.

A pained sound came from somewhere in the room and Rhapsodos huffed. "I'm done wasting my time on SOLDIER rejects." He strode past the new occupant, coat billowing behind him and boots thudding against the floor.

The man turned to him a brow raised, before he left as well, leaving Cloud alone. The sounds grew louder in intensity, closer and right by his ears. Animal and foreign, it came from the blacking edges in his vision and the sudden lack of air that reminded him of the sparse breaths he once suffered going too high on mount Nibel.

Tears began streak down his face when he realized those noises where coming from him. He fell to his knees and wheezed there quietly until a hand pressed against his back and rubbed in slow circles. From the corner of his eyes he could see a blue pant leg and black dress shoes. "It's okay," The voice hushed with a faint Midgar accent.

When he was calm enough the red haired Turk helped him stand and helped guide him towards the door. In the hall he turned around and shoved his hands into the pockets of his wrinkled blazer. "Yo… you never saw me here." He sauntered away, shouting as he rounded the corner. "You better not keep the dog waiting either."

Rubbing his eyes he made his way back to his bunk to freshen up. Staring at his reddened eyes in the mirror Cloud Strife reminded the boy in the mirror "Don't fuck up."