He's The One
Summary: Cloud is not like other cadets and that causes trouble, but nobody cared until the big guys upstairs paid a visit and Genesis found something he wasn't looking for. A puppy of his own.
OH, AND THIS IS SLASH! You have been warned.
A/N: Last Fic had Albus Dumbledore quotes on every chapter. This shall have a song lyric reflecting the mood or action of the chapter. I own nothing.
And I've been a fool and I've been blind, I can never leave the past behind – Shake It Out (Florence + The Machine)
0
Cloud lounged on the couch, his arm flung miserably over his eyes and his hair askew. His pyjamas were a plain shirt and flannel pants, one that had ridden up and the other that had ridden down when he collapsed on the couch earlier that morning. Cloud's sleep had been restless lately, with a mix of nightmares, interruptions and an alarm, which in fairness he had caused but he still wasn't happy about being woken up at 2 am because of Hojo.
Cloud let out a wretched groan, and rolled over onto his stomach. The door to the apartment banged open and the devil himself waltzed through, red leather coat sweeping behind him.
"Come on, Cloud, up, up, up!"
Cloud lay still and silent.
"You'd better be dead and not ignoring me because I have a Firaga here with your name on it and if you're dead, it'll certainly hurt less."
Cloud flopped over onto his back and glared at his mentor. Genesis and he had grown closer over the weeks but there was still a sizeable distance to cross to reach absolute conformability but bit-by-bit Cloud was getting there, with a lot of instigation by Genesis, however he was speeding the process with endearing comments like this.
"It may be too early in our relationship to say this, but I hope you die Slowly."
Cloud rolled over onto his side and glared resolutely at the back of the couch. Genesis' eyes narrowed at his moody protégé and put a hand on the top of the couch, pushing down slightly. The couch front tipped off the floor, leaning solely on the back ends. Cloud rolled onto the back, his eyes popping open and he grasped at the couch with white knuckles.
"What're you doing? Genesis!"
Genesis tipped the couch up and down in a rocking motion, enjoying the way his protégé's face went from unnaturally pale to slightly green.
"Genesis, please stop! I'm getting motion sickness," Cloud cried, as he bounced around the couch.
"All right, but when I stop you have to do work like a good cadet," Genesis taunted, tipping the couch one last time but letting go as it hung tipping back to the floor. The couch thumped to the floor and Cloud slid off the back and rolled to Genesis' feet. Genesis fixed the couch with a grin; this was honestly his favourite part of the day. If he knew that having a protégé meant having someone to torture every morning, he would have done it sooner. Of course, it was harmless torture, not the really good stuff. That he saved for the Third Classes.
Cloud lay breathing in and out steadily as his pallor returned to a somewhat normal paleness. He got slowly to his feet and shuffled into his room to get dressed, Genesis followed behind, occasionally poking his cadet in the back with a blunted training sword that he'd brought just to poke his cadet.
Cloud threw on his uniform and shuffled out of the room. He shoved his feet into his boots and lent sloppily against the kitchen island.
"You are not looking so bright today, Cadet. Did Zack forget to feed you? You poor droopy flower."
Genesis checked himself on that one; he was getting a little mean. It was probably the lack of sleep; it always did put him in a fouler mood than usual.
Cloud shook his head, "I made breakfast before he left this morning."
"And that was?"
Cloud paused for thought, eyebrows drawing together. "About 4 am."
Genesis pushed the blonde boy towards the door and down the hallway. He stopped pushing him when they reached the elevator and instead made sure to yank the kid in.
"You made breakfast for Zack at 4 am? Why?"
Cloud half-shrugged. "He was hungry and leaving soon and I was awake."
Genesis frowned, his head swivelling to look at his blonde cadet. "You were awake at 4 am. You? A fairly normal teen, awake at 4 am?"
Cloud just shrugged again. Genesis' glared at his cadet.
"Does this early morning rising happen often?"
Genesis would like to say he was fairly used to the often-varying personalities of his young protégé, but this was a new one. He was also a little concerned because he'd seen Zack go through his teen years, and he had woken up at noon at the earliest and that was after Angeal had dragged him down the hallway by the foot. Maybe, it was just another peculiarity of his protégé. Genesis let it go.
Cloud's blue eyes met Genesis' and he shrugged again. Genesis glared at his cadet, and swiped his hand at the cadet. Cloud ducked, just in time, and pushed Genesis away from him.
"What was that for?"
Genesis crossed his arms over his chest, but his lip curled into a small smile. Still, he pretended to be grouchy for Cloud's benefit. "Stop smirking, you know you're annoying me with all that shrugging but at least have the courtesy to not show it. Also, good reflexes."
Cloud smiled a little at the praise and the elevator stopped at the training floors. The pair stepped out together, Cloud appearing far more vibrant than when he stepped into the elevator. It was probably receiving praise from Genesis, the kid sometimes seemed a little starved for attention and was evidently used to working for the praise he did receive. They entered the training room, while a bunch of Thirds watched on in fear. General Rhapsodos was a well-known tormentor of all Thirds Classes and they lived in fear of the redheaded General, but since he had obtained his cadet he payed less consideration too them.
"Poor kid, the best he can hope for is to not be made to dance in Genesis' flames."
"It wasn't that bad. It was just a little fire."
"You weren't there."
0
Materia was the agenda of the day. They were working on building Cloud's stamina. Today was much the same as the rest of the week had been, channelling and levelling up the ice materia that Genesis had gifted him.
"All right, Cloud, power it up again but don't cast."
The materia remained dull and Cloud frowned in concentration. It began to glow slowly, gaining radiance the more energy Cloud poured into the small orb. Cloud grunted as the control it took to not cast became a strain. There was a weight that settled in his chest as he held onto the materia without casting, and it the weight grew heavier the longer he held onto his control.
"Okay, power down."
Cloud tried to pull the energy flow from the orb. The flow wouldn't stem, Cloud frowned and tried to cut the flow again.
"Genesis, it's not working," Cloud hissed, "I can't power down."
Cloud pulled on the energy but it just continued to build within the orb. The orb was glowing bright enough to hurt Cloud's eyes. The control he had was holding strong but he couldn't risk any suspicion as to why. He should be wavering on the brink of casting. He called out to Genesis.
"I have to cast it!"
Cloud was panicking a little or appearing to be; with such an un-levelled materia the energy drain that he had lost control of shouldn't damage him but a small part of him still worried, even though he knew he was safe. Despite his training, he still held many irrational fears.
"Do not cast it! That is not the aim of the exercise; you have to be able to cut the energy flow quickly and efficiently. Do not cast!"
Cloud tried to cut the flood again but the energy simply kept rushing into the orb. The materia was beginning to splinter and crack with all of Cloud's unrestrained energy being poured into it. He didn't know why he couldn't cut the energy, he had done it before but there was not enough strength in him to pull the energy back.
Cloud watched the cracks spread over the materia and gave a long-suffering groan; Genesis was not going to be happy. He cast the Ice materia.
When the dummy set up was suitably covered in ice spikes, Cloud glanced guiltily at Genesis. The redheaded Soldier was indeed not happy, his mouth was twisted into a frown and his arms were crossed over his chest. He stalked over to Cloud.
"That was not the point of the exercise, I already know you can cast, that you have good aim, are able to narrow and widen the range of the cast, and good power. It's control of the parts that do not involve simply pouring the power in and casting that make a master."
Genesis peered at his protégé. "You're normally much better at this, last time we tried channelling you did fine."
Cloud looked away and scratched the back of his head. Genesis sighed, and took the materia Cloud handed him, pointing towards the running track.
"We'll try again tomorrow. Go do your drills, and include fifty lunges and an extra twenty push-ups."
0
Genesis and Cloud were sharing lunch together as usual in Genesis' apartment. This was the time that Genesis labelled as their story time because due to a particular conversation with Angeal, Genesis had decided to try and acclimatise his protégé to sharing his past with Genesis. It wasn't just that Genesis had a burning need to know, although he did and every time he looked at Cloud something twinged in his memory, it was also because after the couple of weeks of mentoring Genesis – Gaia forbid he actually admit this– actually kind of cared about Cloud. The kid certainly made it easy, being rather cute and shy, and then weirdly silent and mysterious.
"So, anything else in your life aside from me? If there is and if it is the reason you couldn't channel properly today, I urge you to remove it quickly."
Cloud meet Genesis' eyes over his pasta. He looked annoyed and irritated with the redhead.
'Good,' Genesis thought, 'I'm his mentor, it is about time he got annoyed with me.'
Cloud blew his fringe out his eyes. "I haven't been sleeping well, especially since you decided it would a great idea to wake me up for late night drinks with your General friends and Zack, and by late night you know I mean 1 am. I can't even drink legally!"
"That didn't slow you down, for such a short person you have an admirable tolerance."
Cloud smiled, letting out a breathy laugh. Genesis smirked, before sobering again. 'He didn't care, He didn't care, I don't care. When I was a cadet, I didn't sleep much and I survived,' Genesis chanted in his head.
"That was once, what about the other times?"
Genesis was just glad he didn't sound too interested or too concerned. He still had a very important reputation to uphold.
"There was an alarm… and other things."
Genesis knew that the hesitation in Cloud's voice signalled the need for his story of the hour. The problem was, which one. Genesis recalled his comments to the boy over the course of the day and winced a little at the harshness that resided in some of them. He could always tell an embarrassing one, it would make up f some of them at least.
He supposed he could just recycle the story that Angeal always told at every Christmas Party, it was one of Genesis' more embarrassing ones. He could sacrifice his pride for Cloud on this one occasion. He'd like to see the blonde smile, especially if it meant the guilty look would disappear from his eyes.
Genesis took a bite of his pasta. "I've got a new story for you today, but my condition of telling it is that you never tell it to anyone else. Also, you have to stop with the sad eyes; it was one of our many training sessions, and not all of them will be successful. Move on."
Genesis paused to drink. "Anyway, when I was just starting at Shinra, Sephiroth made the mistake of thinking I was a woman…"
0
Genesis and Angeal had just been promoted to Soldier Third Class. They'd passed their exams together, and now were aiming to become First Classes together. The training they were undertaking as Third Classes was no more difficult than that from when they were cadets, at least for those with some modicum of talent, however there was an extra insufferable element; the Second Classes who had that additional serving of talent, dedication, and want to see each man pushed to the brink. Those Second Classes ran the drills at the end of training and they would make the Third Classes run, jump, crawl and climb as they saw fit. Nobody was as dedicated to pushing the men than Soldier Second Sephiroth.
Genesis and Angeal were running laps under the ever watchful, not to mention off-putting, green gaze of the aforementioned Soldier Second.
"Soldier Second Sephiroth. That is some awful alliteration," Genesis muttered, inclining his head to Angeal, who ran beside him and trying to hide the smirk that had taken upon his lips at Genesis' comment.
"Push-ups, Soldiers," Sephiroth intoned, his eyes flickering about the Thirds and rested for a little longer in the direction from which he heard muttering between the men. His jade eyes swept over a well-built teen well on his way to becoming burly, and a waif-like figure that had more corded muscle than the impressive mass of the bulky friend. The pair settled down like all the others and counted out their push-ups.
He strode over to the partners, because if Sephiroth did anything like walking it was with purpose, and stopped. There was something odd about the redhead, but with a social aptitude that was severely lacking Sephiroth could not really tell what it was. His eyes slighted when he thought he had discovered the reason for the oddness.
To be honest, he did not really think his next utterance through and it was out of his mouth before he could remind his brain what was and was not appropriate.
"I thought the Turks were asking for all women recruits to reinforce their numbers, are you sure you're in the right program…Miss?"
Genesis' head snapped up and he sprang to his feet.
"Did you just call me 'Miss'? You know what, Soldier Second Sephiroth, which I still think is a ridiculous title and, yes, I know you heard me before. Angeal and I laughed, it was funny. You know what, I am not a woman. I am very much male, and I am not afraid to show you exactly how much. Not to mention, calling me a woman is really Pot calling the Kettle Black, I mean, have you seen how long your hair is?"
Genesis stepped closer and closer to Sephiroth, going well past the point of 'personal' space and right into 'Sephiroth's very very personal' space. By the end of his rant they were nose to nose and, though Genesis' blue eyes still spat fire, he took a step back.
And then he promptly socked Sephiroth in the jaw.
"Never call me a woman again."
Genesis pulled Angeal to his feet and walked out of the training room.
0
"We were in trouble for months, but the incident became renowned by the end of the week so it was probably worth it. Not to mention the look on Seph's face."
Cloud was laughing, his small body causing the couch to quake with tremors. Their lunch was finished and soon they would be returning to the training rooms to start Cloud's weapons training for the day.
"Is that how you became friends?"
Genesis smiled at the memories, collecting their plates. "Well, that and some other incidents."
Cloud smiled back at his mentor and collected their glasses. They both entered the kitchen, sharing the duty of washing and drying the dishes.
"All right, quid pro quo. You owe me a story and make it good. That was pretty embarrassing for me, so you owe me something well worth the pride I just sacrificed."
Cloud's eyebrows descended in thought, his lips pursed and twisted. His eyes alit but he frowned and shook his head. He forced a smile and said, "So, once in Nibelhiem I had this Nibel Wolf–"
"Not good enough, something else."
Cloud sighed and pouted cutely. He shifted on his feet and sighed, scratching the back of neck and blowing his fringe out of his eyes.
"This stays between certain peoples, all right?"
Genesis nodded, face as serious as Cloud's voice had become. Cloud looked extremely uncomfortable, but he opened his mouth and began anyway. Inside, he was overcoming his natural instinct to clam up and leave the apartment, never to look back. His boss would really ream him out for this story.
"The bullies you punished, well, they knew stuff about me–"
Cloud broke off. He swallowed, he was going to be in so much trouble but he owed Genesis something for getting rid of tormentors. He deserved to know why Cloud was even being bullied in the first place, not the whole reason but at least some of it.
Cloud began again. "Ren and Fen were the most dangerous because they were ones to have first knowledge and the ones who liked to hurt people the most. I wasn't tormented because I'm short or blonde, weak or an easy-target, although undoubtedly those reasons did play a part, they harassed me because they could. They had knowledge they shouldn't and it was knowledge I couldn't let into the public, so I let them hurt me."
Genesis' head snapped around so fast Cloud was surprised he didn't break it. "You did what?!"
Cloud fiddled with his hands. "You heard me. I had a secret that they knew and I did what I had to, to keep them quiet."
Genesis' eyes were wide. "Cloud, what in the world could they know that would mean you would let them hurt you?"
0
Genesis was up late that night, a tumbler of scotch in one hand and his PHS in the other.
Cloud's words rang in his head as he stared at the phone.
"They had knowledge they shouldn't and it was knowledge I couldn't let into the public, so I let them hurt me."
"This stays between certain peoples, all right?"
Genesis dialled.
The line rang and Genesis could help but mutter to himself, "I don't recall Angeal having this many problems with Zack."
The line connected.
"This is Genesis. I need to ask a favour."
A voice sounded through the phone, a confirmation of a favour owed.
"I need to know about my protégé, Cloud Strife. He has a secret that meant five young cadets tormented him, and I need to know what it was. I know you know, so that's the favour I'm asking you."
"We'll meet soon to discuss this in person. I'll contact you."
The line disconnected.
0
A/N: This has been revised and re-posted, but I'll still read it over tomorrow and I may change some it again. I won't change it too much, just words here and there.
I hope you like the revised version.
Reviews are very much appreciated.
This will be the last update for awhile because I have my Year 12 exams starting right about now, in fact I have already done two. If I do update, consider it a very lucky happening but I wouldn't expect anything until early December because by then everything will have been finished.
Tawnyeyes
