Cloud returned to his room in a daze and fell onto the couch. His head was throbbing with every beat of his heart. Instantly asleep he didn't see Tseng walk in or feel Sephiroth drape a blanket over his still form. The knowledge that the Demon Emperor had given him settled into his mind. When Cloud woke up it was to Zack asking Sephiroth if he knew that an insomniac could sleep for so long. Yawning Cloud rolled over and blinked sleepily.
"Did you take some kind of super sleep medication?" Zack asked and Cloud gave him a look.
"No, I just took care of some unfinished business and found out a lot that I didn't know." Cloud said feeling stiff.
"Want to inform us why you slept all day?" Genesis said sarcastically.
"All day?!" Cloud exclaimed sitting up quickly.
"Yep, all day." Zack said. "SO what did you do?"
"I invoked the Demon Emperor," Cloud said rubbing his forehead. The headache was still there, but not as bad as when it had been earlier.
"Why?!" Jay gaped astonished at the gall Cloud had displayed.
"Demon Emperor?!"
"Yep, so shut up." Cloud grumbled.
"You idiot," Jay said leaning back in a state of shock. "Are you okay?"
"I'll be fine as soon as I get rid of this headache." Cloud said yawning. "Interestingly enough Kai doesn't like being seen as any kind of god. He said that he was simply a mortal changed things around while he was still alive. Calling on him for help he doesn't mind, you don't pray to him."
"Kai?!" Jay squeaked.
"He dislikes titles and isn't really dead yet." Cloud continued. "Really nice guy."
"Vincent is going to grind my bones to dust and then your horse is going to skin me alive." Jay said pulling at his hair with his hands.
"I doubt it, Chaos won't let them." Cloud said flapping a hand at Jay.
"No, he'll go nuts and then I'll be a smear on the ground." Jay mourned.
"Vincent?" Tseng latched onto the name.
"Cloud's adopted dad," Jay supplied. "He asked me to keep Cloud out of extreme trouble."
"I'm guessing that invoking the demon emperor is classified as extreme trouble." Sephiroth seemed amused.
"Just don't tell Aunt Sora." Cloud mumbled.
"She's your AUNT!" Jay shrieked falling off the couch. "Why don't we just add Haru, Queati, Kiren, and Soati to the list and kill me now!"
"Who?" Genesis asked.
"The court of the Demon Emperor. Queati the warrior, Kiren the healer, Soati the just, and Haru the protector." Cloud explained looking more awake. "Don't you know the legend?"
"Cloud sweetie, that's a Chiati legend." Jay said getting up. "Of COURSE they don't know!"
"You should calm down, this cannot be good for your blood pressure." Cloud advised.
"Your AUNT is not good for ANYONES blood pressure." Jay pointed out. "She's practically a modern day Haru. Extremely overprotective and someone who could obliterate you with a flick of her wrist. How can I not panic when you say not to tell her!"
Cloud smiled weakly. The others in the room had gotten used to Jay panicking over something Cloud did. It just wasn't a normal day if Jay hadn't freaked out about SOMETHING. And the chew out talks they got into were rather informative.
"Please tell me that you got something good out of this," Jay begged.
"Yes, Hojo no longer exists." Cloud said happily. "Turns out he was a spirit possessing Spiral."
"How does this possession work?" Angeal asked. If they didn't know something they had to ask.
"Spirit is out of body. Idiot summons spirit and using a unification circle places foreign spirit in unwilling body. Host body's spirit is locked in the back and summoned spirit has most control normally. Sometimes the summoned spirit doesn't, but it usually is the non-host spirit that is not in control. Spirits are in body until death or extremely powerful person, such as the Demon Emperor in this case, expels it through their chosen means." Jay said calming down. "How is Spiral?"
"He's a little disoriented and vengeful. But mostly fine physically. Mentally he is going to have issues with needles and lab coats at least." Cloud replied.
"Mostly fine is rather good considering who Hojo was." Jay commented sitting down.
"What did you do with Spiral?" Sephiroth asked.
"He's healing in the country. Didn't look so creepy without glasses and after a long shower." Cloud said. "And there is something that you should really know Seph..." Cloud hesitated.
"That's a bad sign," Genesis commented.
"More like extremely unexpected." Cloud said rubbing the back of his neck. "He's your older brother. You're a Chiati Sephiroth. Half at least."
"Makes sense." Jay said. "Why didn't he stick around to check out how Sephiroth was?"
"He remembers." Cloud said. "Everything."
Jay winced, "You sure?"
"With that kind of expression on his face if he didn't remember he knew exactly who was going to possess him." Cloud replied.
"Why would that make such a big difference?" Genesis asked.
"Chiati don't hurt family. Your herd is everything to you. To hurt someone that close to you is like ripping out your own heart." Cloud said. "At the moment he can't bear to look at the work his own hands did."
"You speak as if from experience," Sephiroth commented.
"I hurt Jay once in a spar, I wasn't sure if he would survive or be able to move at all should he live." Cloud looked at his hands. "At that moment I would rather have died than see him. To see my handiwork."
~three weeks later~
Reeve called the Chiati, who he now knew was Cloud, to let him know that the science department had been obliterated. The PHS rung a few times before Cloud picked up.
"Reeve? Why are you calling me at 6 a.m. in the morning?" Cloud asked curiously. It didn't sound like he had just woken up.
"I know that you are out of Midgar, but by any chance did you take out the entire science department while I wasn't looking?" Reeve asked. The entrance to Hojo's lab was burned and blacked. It looked like it had been struck by lightning repeatedly. The floor was crimson with the blood of scientists that had been killed and water from somewhere. Millions of dollars of valuable equipment was lying in shambles all around. Nothing was alive.
"No, did someone get to it first?" Cloud asked.
"Yep, and whoever it was knew exactly what they were doing. There is no way that anything here can be salvaged. Years of research and experimentation lost. They were more thorough than anyone outside of ShinRa could be." Reeve said walking away from it. "I'll give you more details after I go panicking to tell everyone about the tragic news."
"They are your people, shouldn't you at least be sad?" Cloud asked.
"Hojo's people. Not mine." Reeve replied. "I don't like bloodshed, but there isn't anything that I can do now."
"What a nice mindset."
"You taught it to me. No use crying over something you couldn't prevent." Reeve replied. "Grieve for a moment and shrug it off. If you get weighed down by guilt then you'll be next."
"How cold, but it's true in times of war."
"Is that what this is?" Reeve asked.
"I hope not. But it does feel like a battlefield at times. Kill or be killed. Be safe Reeve."
"Come back Cloud."
After Reeve hung up Cloud stared at the PHS. This really was like war. A bloody war that apparently someone else was escalating. Stepping into the shower Cloud had to wonder if Spiral had been the one to destroy what Hojo had created.
Walking towards the Director's office to debrief Cloud say an execution notice for an hour previously. Taking it down from the wall Cloud felt himself go numb.
Third Class SOLDIER Jay Thistle has been convicted of selling secrets to enemies of ShinRa. He shall be executed for his crimes at-
Cloud ran to the execution platform to find drying blood on the platform and a lock of his friend's hair being swept away by someone.
"Just missed it," He said chewing on a piece of gum. "Guy took out the President's entire guard before they put him down."
"Put him down," Cloud's voice sounded foreign to himself.
"Yeah, like the thing he was. Did you know he should have been in the Special Unit? Just like a bunch of others he went crazy at the end."