Angeal stood in the hall, looking between the three men and the dog which was still sliding down the hall. "S-Sorry Angeal," Cloud muttered, shakily getting to his feet. Genesis closed the distance between himself and Zack.
"I'm going to kill you!" he screeched. Cloud sighed, running towards the Commander, and Cloud dove for the man. Genesis felt the lithe form of the teen barrel into his knees, bringing him down instantly, his fingertips merely inches from the dog. "Get off me Cadet!" Cloud wrapped his arms around the red-head's thighs, and wrapped his legs around his calves, preventing the man from standing. Genesis wouldn't be stopped so easily. He slowly clawed his way toward Zack who just sat there, watching the entire debacle, backing up when Genesis got too close for comfort.
Angeal glanced from where Genesis was dragging the blonde down the hall to Sephiroth who merely stood there, holding the book Genesis had launched at him when he lunged for the dog. "Sephiroth," he began, looking back at the pair on the floor, "what is going on here?"
"Maybe if you hadn't gone off on a mission you wouldn't have missed all the fun." Sephiroth didn't know how to continue; he didn't know if he should tell Angeal if Zack was a puppy or not. Deciding it'd be more fun to keep him out of the loop, Sephiroth began with the story. "Well, Cloud suddenly became the proud owner of a lovely puppy. He didn't know what to do with it, so he brought it to me. Only after the mangy mutt destroyed my office, he was sent away with Genesis who currently has a vendetta against the poor animal." Sephiroth smirked. Angeal thought he had a clue of what happened. He urged Sephiroth to continue. "Turns out the pup shredded and defiled Loveless. So, after taking the dog on a trip, we were just returning to my room. We are now at the part where you enter; I think you know what happens from there."
Angeal looked back to the pair and shook his head. He covered the few steps between himself and the dog and reached down, grabbing both the dog and Genesis. He easily pulled the pup free from the Commander's grasp and held both at arm's length in front of himself. Genesis began pouting and glared at the dog behind held by the scruff of his neck beside him. Cloud was still clinging to the Commander, unaware of their new position seeing as how he had his eyes clenched shut. Genesis shrugged out of Angeal's grasp and looked down at the blonde still attached to his legs. He leaned down, flicking Cloud in the middle of his forehead, startling the teen into letting go of his limbs.
Cloud glanced up from where he was now sprawled out on the floor. Angeal was staring down at him while cradling the little dog to his chest, and Sephiroth was now making his way over. When Sephiroth passed Genesis, the Commander yanked the book from the General's gloved hand and stalked off down the hall, brooding. Sephiroth bent over, helping Cloud up, and whispering in his ear at the same time, "Don't tell him about Zack." Once Cloud was on his feet again, he glanced at Sephiroth with a questioning look, and the General just nodded.
Cloud turned back to Angeal. "Sorry for the inconvenience," he muttered.
Angeal just smiled down at the small cadet. "It's no problem. So this is your puppy?"
"I guess you could say that. My, uh, friend needed somebody to watch his dog for a while, and I guess I was the only one who could manage him. When I agreed to watch him, I wasn't thinking about the fact that I live in the barracks, and I don't have anywhere to keep him. I don't have any supplies either. By now, he's already trashed Seph's office, and you saw how Genesis reacted to the poor pup," Cloud said, staring at the floor, afraid to continue, fearing the man would refuse to help. Maybe if he just told him it was Zack . . . No. Sephiroth told him not to. Cloud sighed. "I was wondering if you'd be willing to help." Cloud looked around the hall at anything that wasn't the dark haired male that stood in front of him.
Angeal looked down at the puppy that was snuggled against his chest. "I'll be happy to help." Cloud looked up, smiling. "He can stay in my apartment with me. Of course, you can come visit him whenever you want. I guess I'll need to go to the store to get necessities for him. Would you like to come?" Cloud looked up at Sephiroth who smiled. "You can come too Seph." Both the blonde and the General nodded. The three of them set off towards the elevator, happy to be getting out of the stuffy building.
"So why are you back from your mission early?" Sephiroth questioned while they waited for the elevator to make its way to their floor.
"Turns out the guy I was after killed himself. So I was able to come back early." Sephiroth nodded. "So, who are you watching the dog for Cloud?" Cloud's eyes widened.
"Uhm, just a friend," he said, staring at Zack who was extremely content in the man's arms. He reached out to ruffle his ears.
"Well, alright then. He is cute though," he murmured. Zack looked up at Angeal, yipping in agreement, and wagging his tail. When they got to the bottom floor finally, Angeal put Zack on the ground, hoping he wouldn't run. When he didn't bolt, they went on their way. As they walked, Zack wound his way between everyone's legs, almost tripping everyone at least once. When Sephiroth almost fell for what seemed like the tenth time in under a minute, he placed his foot on the underside of the puppy and launched Zack into the grass. There he sat, staring at the three men, refusing to move. When Cloud noticed the lack of the annoying dog, he looked around, spotting the furball in the grass.
"Zack, c'mon." The puppy shook his head. "Zack." Another shake. He narrowed his violet eyes at the General standing next to Cloud. The blonde looked at Sephiroth. "Seph, what'd you do?"
"Nothing," he muttered, glaring back at Zack.
"Seph."
"He tried to trip me again and again so I taught him how to fly." Both Cloud and Angeal stared, gaping at the General. Cloud shook his head.
"You can't do that Seph. Apologize."
"I will not. He tried to kill me."
"Sephiroth. I don't think he could kill you, even if he was trying."
"I will not apologize to a dog." Cloud punched Sephiroth in the arm and glared daggers up at the taller man. "Fine. Sorry," he muttered, and the dog instantly came trotting over, obviously happy at winning the battle against ShinRa's best. Angeal stared as the dog wagged his tail, prancing ahead of them.
"Strange," he said to himself.
Eventually they made it to the pet store, and almost instantly they regretted it. Zack was running rampant around the store as soon as he made it in. Cloud, of course, went running after him screaming his name. By the time Cloud caught up with him, Zack had his head jammed under one of the shelves in the food aisle. Cloud grabbed his hind legs and yanked the dog free, hauling him back to the two men who stayed near the entrance. "If I put you down will you be good?" Zack nodded. Cloud hesitated, and then placed the dog on the ground.
Almost instantly, Zack took off again. Cloud simply sighed and stared off in the direction the dog had run. He stalked off, and the two SOLDIERs followed him. When they finally found Zack, he was running up and down the aisle that held treats and bones, while carrying a bone that was at least two times his size. When he saw the three, he stopped dead in his tracks. "Zackary," Sephiroth said, "Drop the bone." Refusing, Zack slowly backed up, right into a display. A container of tennis balls rained down on the puppy and scattered across the aisle.
Sephiroth sighed, stomping over to the dog, yanking him off the floor. "C'mon." He stormed back over to where Angeal stood and passed Zack off the bulky man. He grabbed Cloud and dragged him over to the mess. "It's your fault we're in this mess." Before Cloud could protest, Sephiroth cut him off. "If it were up to me, the pup would be wandering the streets until he came crawling back as the normal, overzealous SOLDIER we all know." Sephiroth looked at Cloud then down at the scattered tennis balls, signaling him to start cleaning. Cloud sighed, swearing to himself that Zack was going to pay for everything he's made Cloud clean.
A/N: First off, I would like to apologize for such a late upload, and the fact that this chapter is relatively short. As of lately I have had no will to write due to some problems with friends. Hopefully, I should be back into the swing of things soon, but it's hard to tell. Thank you to those of you who've stuck with this story, to those who have followed, and especially those who reviewed. I feel like this chapter is not as good as the rest, but I promise the next will be better. Remember to leave some love. Thanks again. -Ales