ch8 sephiroth is a moth on the wall

A sharp pain pierced his head and Sephiroth stopped for a moment to lay a hand on the wall, taking the moment to find his balance. Getting a migraine after a visit to a certain doctor were never uncommon, but lately they had been getting more and more frequent. Sometimes, he would even get the odd feeling that his mind wasn't his own. Yet Sephiroth made sure never to tell Hojo. More than anything, he didn't need the older man to give him even more tests. Sephiroth already had a lot on his plate. If he had to tolerate a few moments of pain to avoid the other's man rather... dogmatic dedication to science, he would. It would be worth the sacrifice.

At least the path to the Science Department was a more abandoned one and Sephiroth was allowed his few seconds of weakness without any unwanted eyes. The only other things left in this side of the building were abandoned training rooms that only had old, prototype versions of the virtual reality stimulator, which were, in comparison to the new, sleek machines that everyone used, practically pieces of metal glued to together. No one went to these rooms anymore (probably the reason the Science Department had decided to move here in the first place) and so there weren't even any security feeds, as it'd just a waste of resources.

After a few moments, Sephiroth felt the headache start to subside, until all that was left was a dull clanging, echoing in his ears. Giving him a few seconds to re-orientate himself, he took a breath before starting to walk again, this time, his steps slow and pronounced.

However, the clanging in his head wasn't going away. With every step, the noise only louder and clearer, almost as if the source was getting closer, as if… No, the noise wasn't in his head at all.

Someone else was making the noise.

Curiosity gripped Sephiroth like a wet blanket. With a renewed sense of energy, Sephiroth found himself walking towards the source. As he got closer, the noise become more pronounced. He began to make out the distinct sound of water running and before long, Sephiroth found himself the locker room of what was supposed to be the abandoned training rooms. Even the training room that the infantrymenand regular Shirna employees shared had access to better equipment than this one—so anyone forced to resort to these off-the-path rooms would only do so in order to hide something.

So who…

Sephiroth didn't even have to wait for his answer. The door to the training room slid open and Sephiroth suddenly found himself face-to-face with a startled Cloud Strife, looking as though as if he had just stepped out of the shower. For a brief second, the boy's usual blank face seemed to crack a bit and something akin to panic seemed to slip across his face, before it quickly settled. Curious.

"Sir," the boy finally greeted and moved to put his things away.

"You're still training on your own?" Sephiroth asked.

The boy shrugged. "Shouldn't let everything go to waste."

"Good philosophy," Sephiroth commented lightly. "Though, I can't help but wonder why you remain working at this company. If not SOLDIER, then why stay?"

Cloud gave him a critical look and Sephiroth could practically read the thought at the forefront of the boy's mind: why do you even care. It wasn't a reaction that Sephiroth had been expecting; he had thought the boy would be shy, but would open up at the chance to tell the man anything, impress him, like every other cadet seemed to give off. It was their first conversation, and Sephiroth was starting to realize he didn't know much about the boy at all.

Cloud let out a little snort, as if enjoying an inside joke and just said, "Who wouldn't want to work for a superpower like Shinra. Can you imagine getting to the top of that chain of command? How much you could change the world?"

Sephiroth raised his eyebrows in slight surprise. Cloud didn't come off as the power hungry type; Sephiroth knew how to smell those a room away. Still, the memory of the boy reading Machiavelli at his desk came to the front of Sephiroth's mind, and though his instinct didn't agree, the explanation was consistent with what he had seen from the boy.

"You don't seem the office politics type," Sephiroth commented.

Cloud paused a bit, taking a long, few seconds before he answered slowly, "You don't think I look like a certain President?"

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes, understanding the implication immediately,and his mind was immediately in overdrive; the boy shared hair colour, eye colour, similar facial structure… but another one? Like Lazard? What were the chances—

"I was kidding." Cloud interrupted Sephiroth's thoughts flatly. "Though people used to think that. When… they wondered how I got into the infantry training program."

Sephiroth found himself storing the information away, as everything began to connect in slow, messy, lines. "Is that why you're here? Instead of the regular gym?"

"Yeah," the boy said. "When I was a cadet, I got lost and found this place… I just… get embarrassed when people watch me train."

Sephiroth found himself disbelieving the answer. If anything, the boy seemed anything but embarrassed to Sephiroth. He was taciturn and reserved, but never seemed shaken or out of control. Even now in this situation, the boy didn't give off… well, any kind of feeling at all. It was as if Cloud was never there, never really feeling anything as he talked. Sephiroth had seen something similar in all the war veterans of Wutai, but a sixteen year-old boy? It only intrigued Sephiroth further, like a puzzle that only got more complicated as the pieces fell into the place. What would it take to break this boy, he wondered, and crack that blank mask he always wore?

"You're not made to be a fighter if you're so afraid of what other people think."

"… Maybe. But.." Cloud paused and closed his mouth. He suddenly looked broke eye contact and started to gather up his gym bag. "Like I said, it'd be a waste to stop."

The boy had been going to say something else before he changed his mind, Sephiroth realized, feeling a small feeling of intrigue rising within him. So the boy did have a genuine reason to keep training and not only that, but he didn't want anyone to know. There, Sephiroth had finally seen the embarrassment as tension had subtly entered the teenager's shoulders. This was where the boy was hiding his secrets.

But before Sephiroth could interrogate the boy any further, Cloud had finished packing and made a move towards the door—or rather, had been about to.

Suddenly, the world shifted on itself as a white hot pain burned itself into Sephiroth's skull. A sudden pressure descended on his head, almost as if some spirit with long, scaly, ice-cold fingers had gripped his head and was digging its claws in slowly, each digit at a time until the whole hand had dug into Sephiroth's scalp and was attempting to tear it apart. For a moment, all Sephiroth could feel was the searing white burn, and it took him all his strength not to let out more than a grunt.

Find me... my son...

He gripped his head hard, his balance suddenly gone as he swayed slightly, when suddenly two arms had grabbed him and held him steady. Surprised by the sudden contact, through his haze of pain, Sephiroth looked to find himself looking into Cloud's eyes, the boy looking at him carefully, almost as if... he recognized the symptoms. Only when the other's cerulean eyes met Sephiroth's gaze did his eyes widen slightly, and for the first time, Sephiroth finally saw the boy's face contract in fear.

The boy suddenly began to move swiftly, one hand digging through his bag as he searched for something, all the while keeping one arm on Sephiroth to keep him steady. Within seconds, the boy brought his hand out, Sephiroth unable to make out its shape in his daze, when he suddenly realized the ex-cadet's hands was on his mouth and... feeding him something?

Sephiroth barely had the time to struggle against the cadet's hold, about to spit out whatever he had just been fed, when his tongue began recognize the taste, an almost familiar, sweet flavor that Sephiroth could almost swear that he's had before, yet couldn't recall.

And then, oddly enough, the migraine began to disappear.

It took a good minute, as Sephiroth sucked on the melting object in his mouth, but sure enough, his vision began to clear and he was surprised to see Cloud still there. The expression on the boy's face, however, wasn't exactly concern; instead, the boy seemed more thoughtful and confused than caring. Sephiroth wasn't sure if would have been able to handle the latter.

"You may let go now," Sephiroth said when he felt his strength finally return to him as the migraine disappeared entirely. Immediately, Cloud let go, though the resulting sudden lack of warmth disorientated Sephiroth somewhat, if only for a second.

The substance in his mouth having completely melted, Sephiroth rolled the flavour around in his mouth in curiosity... and then a sudden thought struck Sephiroth, perhaps a bit belatedly.

"What exactly did you give to me?" Sephiroth asked suspiciously. The boy seemed surprised, almost incredulous at the question.

"That was... chocolate," Cloud answered slowly. After a brief moment's pause, he quickly added a small, respectful "sir".

Sephiroth raised his eyebrows in surprise. So that was what chocolate had tasted like. As a child, Hojo had made sure to give Sephiroth a thorough review of proper nutrition and health and regulated his diet quite obsessively, to the point that he had never been given any food that hadn't been mathematically calculated to be optimal for his health. Sweets and junk food, weren't even given consideration. Then as an adult, Sephiroth just had never gotten the urge to try, knowing that the junk food he saw Fair wolf down far too often only served to destroy his diet.

But now Sephiroth was starting to have second thoughts.

"I see" Sephiroth finally acknowledged, processing the information and making sure to remember to bring chocolate for his next visit to the doctor. He then looked at the cadet carefully. "And why did you feel to give me chocolate, out of all things, for a migraine?"

Cloud looked a little confused, almost as if he didn't understand the answer himself. "When I had Geo... well, when I used to get headaches a lot, somehow, chocolate always helped."

The boy looked honest enough as he gave his answer, though Sephiroth wasn't all too confident in readings the boy's expressions just yet. There was too much about him that didn't make sense.

"Here," Cloud finally said, handing Sephiroth the chocolate bar. "Keep it in case your migraine comes back. Good night, sir."

As the boy left the training room, Sephiroth merely stared at the chocolate bar, wondering what had just happened. He was concerned with how the migraines seemed to get worse in intensity after every session with Hojo, and more than a little troubling to think about if the migraines should ever occur begin to occur more frequently and in more inconvenient times-for example, during the day, where others could see him, or even worse, during a mission where an enemy could take advantage. No, he certainly needed to make sure no one else knew of his condition and maybe needed to lay low for a while, schedule less press meetings and morale visits for the time being.

And how had the boy known exactly what to give him?

Sephiroth mulled over his conversation with the boy; Cloud had, perhaps unintentionally, revealed having some sort of disease when he was younger, yet it was odd that the treatment for his sickness would be just as effective with Sephiroth's headaches. Could their two ailments be related? But how could that be possible, it's not as if Cloud was getting special weekly treatments just as Sephiroth was...

Or had the boy really been telling the truth when he said he found the training rooms by chance?

Sephiroth stared down the hallway in contemplation, at this point refusing to let his paranoia spin any more unlikely theories. He honestly just did not have enough information to come to any conclusions about this boy. And as much as it bothered him, he also couldn't help but allow himself the smallest flutter of anticipation at the mystery and potential.

And the boy had certainly known how to escape the conversation unnoticed, at least.

However, as Sephiroth began to follow the road back to his quarters, a cold thought took hold of him with sudden force.

The one other person who now knew of his weakness... was also the very person paid to report these things to Heidegger.

"Fuck it all."