To the Morrow for the Past
Chapter 10 – A New Mission –
Cloud had a conundrum. There was a very real possibility that Cloud would have to kill Sephiroth. Without knowing for sure what his mission from the planet was, he'd assumed that it had something to do with Sephiroth. It had always had to do with Sephiroth. What he didn't know was if he was supposed to kill Sephiroth before he went insane, or if he was supposed to save Sephiroth from ever becoming insane in the first place.
But Sephiroth had his son's face. He was, at least physically, the man that his son was going to grow into. Cloud wasn't entirely sure that he could kill him. His skill was enough, he knew that for sure. If it came down to it, he could physically defeat Sephiroth. He'd done it before – when Sephiroth's strength and speed had been further enhanced by his relationship with Jenova. But mentally... Cloud knew he wouldn't be able to do it and if he somehow did manage it, it would very likely destroy whatever sanity he had left. And he had no doubt that he would blame the planet and then things could go very bad. He knew where to find Black Materia after all.
Which meant that now he knew what he had to do. He had to make sure that it never came down to it. He had to save Sephiroth. Again. He would stop the man from becoming insane. He just didn't know how. Simply telling him the truth about his origins wouldn't work – Sephiroth had no reason to believe him – and it wasn't feasible for Cloud to either prevent Sephiroth from going to Nibelheim or for him to disappear long enough to destroy Jenova first.
However he did it, he would have to do it quickly. Nibelheim was a little under two years away, and that was his cut off. If he hadn't saved Sephiroth by that time, he would have to find some other way of stopping him.
At least he'd made steps towards getting close to the man. Their spar had been hot gossip around Shinra, and Zack had gleefully shown him the explosion within Sephiroth's fan club – he'd even managed to get Cloud to join – and now everybody was asking who the new blonde warrior was. Maybe he should have worn his helmet for the fight...
With a sigh, Cloud rolled out of bed. It was still an hour before he was supposed to head to the science department for his next physical. Luckily he hadn't encountered Hojo yet, but every trip for his routine injections filled him with anxiety. It seemed like Tseng was keeping his word, however. He had no doubt that Hojo was very curious about him. A man who claimed to have survived submersion in unrefined mako and had adapted to the SOLDIER serum with ease was bound to gain his attention.
Thankfully he'd been dosed with the serum before his bloods were taken, so the fact that he had J-Cells had been put down to that. They believed that whatever had allowed his body to survive his fall into a mako pool had allowed him to absorb the J-Cells from that injection a much more rapid pace than anybody expected. The fact that he had far more in his system than he should had been explained away by an over zealous staff member not getting the doses right.
Cloud was glad about that. It stopped too many awkward questions. At least now he was being seen by someone he knew was one of the more trustworthy scientists Shinra had to offer. He'd seen her name a few times in the WRO reports that Reeve had insisted he read.
He was pulling his shoulder guards on when his PHS beeped. With a frown, he picked it up, having no idea who would be calling him at this time in the morning. The ID made him pause. On his screen, in capitalised bold letters read SEPHIROTH.
Hesitating only for a moment, he answered. "Sir?"
"Storm." The man on the other end greeted him, "I have a mission for you. Come to the director's office at once."
"Yes sir." Cloud was sure that Sephiroth outranked the science department in this matter. If not, he would claim ignorance. A physical could wait. It wasn't like he needed the extra boost anyway. From what he could gather, it wasn't actually getting absorbed into his system any more.
Sephiroth hung up without another word and Cloud finished dressing before making his way up to Lazard's office wondering what Sephiroth had needed him to do. He was just a Third, after all.
The ride to the 51st floor wasn't a long one so Cloud didn't have a lot of time to contemplate what the mission could possibly be before the doors opened for him. With purpose, he strode into the office. Lazard was behind his desk and Sephiroth was leaning against a wall. His eyes followed Cloud as he walked in and stopped in front of the desk. He gave a salute and then stood at attention waiting.
"Ah. Thank you for joining us SOLDIER Storm." Director Lazard greeted Cloud. "Sephiroth has requested your assistance on a mission and given the reports that the Turks have given me, I am inclined to agree." He gestured to Sephiroth, obviously intending on allowing Sephiroth to give the mission brief.
The Silver General pushed himself from the wall and regarded Cloud while he spoke in a quiet, even voice. "There have been reports of multiple Midgar Zolom gathering outside the mythril mines. The Chocobo Farm have requested our assistance in eliminating them."
Cloud frowned. "Midgar Zolom are solitary creatures." He said quietly, "Why would they suddenly form a pack?"
"We're not sure." Lazard spoke this time. "Part of your mission is to see what you can find out, if anything, as to why this is happening."
Cloud nodded. "Sir, I'm supposed to have my physical today..."
"I will reschedule it." Lazard assured him. "This takes priority. You were seen to have no trouble defeating a Zolom. You're a perfect fit for this mission."
Cloud nodded. Sephiroth gestured for the elevator and Lazard waved them off. There was something familiar about that man, but Cloud couldn't quite place it. He knew he'd never met the man before his first day here, but he couldn't shake the sense of familiarity. Maybe it was just from Zack's memories.
"We leave immediately." Sephiroth told him as he led them out. "Do you need to gather anything from your residence?"
Mutely, Cloud shook his head. He was quite used to travelling light. Carrying too much on Fenrir was usually a bad idea.
– – – – – –
They had taken an official Shinra truck, but apparently Sephiroth had opted not to take a driver. As they approached the vehicle, Cloud paused. "Sir..." He began, feeling a little stupid. When Sephiroth paused to look at him, Cloud continued. "I get motion sickness. Do you mind if I drive?"
Sephiroth shrugged and climbed into the passenger seat, carefully making sure his hair was out of his way before slamming the door. Cloud double checked his weapon and his materia before jumping in the drivers seat.
His motion sickness was a lot better than it used to be. Instead of hurling his guts up every five minutes, he ended up just feeling mildly nauseous. It still put him in a bad mood, so he preferred to drive when he could – it mitigated the symptoms quite a bit.
Cloud knew the way to the Chocobo Farm very well. He'd made the trip at least once a week for the last handful of years, so he could drive almost on autopilot. This would have given him the opportunity to speak with Sephiroth, if only he could figure out something to say.
They were silent for a while, before Sephiroth spoke up. "You are a puzzle, Storm."
"Uh- Call me Cloud..." He still wasn't used to hearing that surname, and wanted to make sure he would react quickly if his name was called in battle.
"Very well." Sephiroth answered with a casual shrug. Cloud wasn't used to seeing Sephiroth like that and it still surprised him.
"How am I a puzzle?" he asked after a while of silence. He was somewhat curious, but he asked more because it was something to talk about than actually wanting to know.
"Your story has many holes. You're mako levels are much higher than they should be and if you had fallen into a mako pool as you say, then you would have had to absorb enough mako to kill many men."
Cloud shrugged and kept his eyes on the road. If anybody could poke holes in his story it would be Sephiroth.
"I was a kid. I don't remember much about the first time." Most of that was true. He technically was a kid, and he truly didn't remember much about the first time. It wasn't a natural mako pool by any stretch of the imagination, but the tubes had contained mako... The trick to a good lie was to make it as true as possible.
Unfortunately Sephiroth was very observant. "First time? You have fallen into mako more than once?"
Cloud grimaced at his mistake and sighed. He nodded, "Yeah. When I was a kid, and then again when I was in my early twenties. I think all in all I've been exposed to mako three or four times." He shrugged, "I guess I just built up a tolerance."
"Why was this never reported? Surely you would have sought out medical attention?" Sephiroth seemed genuinely astounded and Cloud couldn't help but chuckle. He'd seen that look a few times on a much younger version of that face.
"Nah. My village was tiny. The doctor didn't know what to do with me. They basically just left me in a hospital room until I woke up. It wasn't fun." Again. Mostly the truth. Technically it was completely true. He was just referencing multiple different things as if they were connected.
Quiet fell in the cabin of the truck, both men looking out the front. It was a few minutes before Sephiroth spoke again. "I have never heard of someone surviving such exposure, but I suppose it does explain your eyes."
"My eyes, sir?" Wouldn't simply being in SOLDIER explain his eyes? He'd been in SOLDIER for a month now, receiving his weekly doses of the serum. Sephiroth hadn't met Cloud for two weeks from him starting, so his eyes would have already been explained.
"Yes. They're much brighter than they should be."
Cloud frowned. What did that even mean? He hadn't noticed any discernible difference between the brightness of his eyes and those of his fellow Thirds. "Sir?"
Sephiroth let out a chuckle and just shook his head. "Never mind."
It was still incredibly strange to see Sephiroth like this. So... human. He hadn't heard a single word of malice from the man yet, and he was having an honest to god conversation with him.
Idly he wondered if his favourite colour was still pink.
– – – – –
The rest of the trip was mostly quiet. Neither man was really one for small talk, which made starting a conversation somewhat difficult. That was fine with Cloud, however. His mind was still churning over the mission. Midgar Zolom were almost never seen together – it was very rare to see more than one out of the mines at a time. Yet they were grouping and acting hostile. There had to be some reason.
He vaguely remembered Reeve excitedly babbling about something his scientists had discovered a few years ago, and he struggled to remember what it was, or if was even relevant. Zack had been teething at the time, so he hadn't really been paying attention to much of what his friends were saying. He had been exhausted. Still.. He knew there was something...
"Oh!" His exclamation surprised both of them and caused Sephiroth to actually jump slightly. "Mating!" He'd remembered what Reeve had said. His team had been studying the local monsters and had found evidence of a mating cycle of the Midgar Zolom.
Sephiroth looked at him and raised an eyebrow waiting for him to continue, so Cloud did. "The Zolom has a ten year mating cycle." He said, "I don't know much about it, but that's probably why they're gathering."
Sephiroth regarded him for a moment. "That would make sense. Where did you get this information?"
Cloud shrugged. He couldn't exactly tell Sephiroth that he'd got it during their last mating cycle, ten years from now. "I had strange friends." he answered simply and Sephiroth let the question drop. "We'll probably still need to look around, see if we can find proof, but I'm pretty sure that's why they're massing."
– – – – – –
The mission was over quickly. It had actually taken them longer to get to their destination than it had to dispatch the serpents. Between the two of them, it was an easy job. Either one of them on their own might have had a little trouble, but for some reason they were able to cover each other almost instinctively.
It felt weird to be on the same side as an adult Sephiroth, but it wasn't a bad weird. For some reason, it felt like this was how it was supposed to be. It felt right. They hadn't needed to speak to communicate, they seemed to simply know what the other was going to do and where they were. They were completely in sync. It was exhilarating and oddly terrifying.
After killing the creatures, they had headed inside the mines to make sure that there were no more in hiding that could come out to terrorise the Chocobo Farm after they left. While inside, they came across a mako pool.
"It's beautiful." That wasn't a sentiment Cloud had ever expected to hear from Sephiroth. He turned to look at him for a moment before turning back to the glowing liquid.
"Yeah." He agreed. They stood, staring at the pool for a moment, which was apparently all the distraction needed. From behind them came a guttural cry and before Cloud could turn around, he felt the world under him shift. A long tail had swept under his feet and he flailed to regain his balance, failing completely and landing in the shallow pool. With a grimace, he looked up at where the sound had come from and was able to watch the end of a fight between Sephiroth and what appeared to be a baby Zolom. When the danger had passed, he looked down at the green liquid he was sat in.
He'd half expected to feel the burning normally associated with mako exposure, but instead he felt a tickle making his legs itch. That was relatively mild, Cloud reflected as he got to his feet. Something behind him caught the light and he frowned, turning to reach it. Ah. Materia. Natural stuff too. He took it into his hand and poured a small amount of power into it. Not enough to cast it, but enough to know what it was.
"Cloud..." Sephiroth sounded nervous but Cloud just lifted his other hand to quieten the man while he concentrated.
Ah. It was a Restore materia. A strong one at that. Opening his eyes, he pocketed it and then returned to the edge of the pool to a wide eyed Sephiroth.
"Sir?" He asked, tilting his head to one side. "Are you alright?"
"Am I... Cloud, you just fell into a pool of mako. I should be the one asking that question." Sephiroth pointed out, eyeing him in concern as if afraid he would pass out. Cloud grimaced and looked down to his soaked trousers. The itch was intensifying, but it wasn't something he couldn't ignore. Instead of commenting, he pulled the materia from his pocket and showed it to Sephiroth.
"It wasn't all a waste. I found this. Natural materia is of a much better quality than manufactured." He told him. He shrugged and re-pocketed the small orb, deciding to add it to his bracer later. He would level it up. A mastered restore materia could be very useful, not to mention very valuable if he ever needed quick money.
"You're not at all affected by the mako?" Sephiroth asked, voice doubtful. He was still tense and Cloud wondered if he was readying himself to catch Cloud. The idea made him chuckle.
"No." Cloud shrugged, "Aside from being rather itchy," He muttered, absently rubbing one leg against the other to try to relieve the itch, "But I suppose that'll go away eventually." Sephiroth didn't look convinced and Cloud rolled his eyes. "Don't we have a mission to get back to?"
– – – – – –
The rest of the mission passed without incident. They had found newly hatched eggs, proof of Cloud's mating theory. They collected a few shells to take back with them and then left the caves. Cloud's legs felt like they had tiny insects crawling all over them and he couldn't stop scratching, even when he tried. Apparently it had been concerning Sephiroth enough for the man to take action. He found a small stream running down to a pool at the base of the mountain and pushed Cloud in.
More like threw him in, but once the cold water hit his burning legs, any complaint Cloud had had had disappeared in a relieved groan. He found himself sitting down to let the water run over every itch he had. Rinsing off the residual mako made him feel better.
"Hey," He caught Sephiroth's attention. "Can we maybe not put the mako thing in the report?" He asked quietly.
Sephiroth regarded him for a moment. "There may be future consequences of your little... swim. It would be prudent to include the incident in your file in case something comes of it."
Cloud shook his head and let out a chuckle. "Mako makes me itchy." He said, "If there was going to be any other effects, we would've seen them by now. This isn't my first time exposed to Mako. I'll be fine. I'd just rather not end up caught up in Hojo's curiosity." Now that he thought about it, this was probably this sixth time he'd been exposed, not counting the tiny amounts in the pre-SOLDIER solution.
After a moment of contemplation, Sephiroth nodded. "Very well." Not wanting to be the source of Hojo's curiosity was something that Cloud knew Sephiroth understood well. "However, if it becomes relevant at a later date, I will tell whomever requires the information. Until then, we can... keep it off the record."
"Thanks."
– – – – – –
Cloud felt a lot better after his impromptu bath. His trousers were still a little sticky in places, but were no longer stuck to his skin with mako. They returned to the company vehicle and Cloud hesitated. "Sir..."
He'd been asking Sephiroth a lot of favours today, and he was still just a Third, so he was a little hesitant to ask anything more of him but...
"We used to- I used to have a tradition..." He said quietly, correcting himself half way through. His friends weren't here any more. He didn't have any traditions with them. None of their traditions had technically begun yet. "We'd come here every year and I... I missed this year." He gestured to the Chocobo Farm. Sephiroth glanced towards it but then turned back to Cloud.
"You wish to visit the farm?" He asked and Cloud nodded.
"I was wondering if I could meet you back at the city?" He longed to ride again. It was amazing how quickly you could get used to doing something often, and how much you could miss it when it stopped.
Sephiroth hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. "I have orders not to leave you alone." He admitted, "There is some worry over your history."
"Yeah," Cloud said bitterly, somehow managing to keep his irritation mostly contained. "They made Zack shadow me." At least Lazard was honest about it.
"However, it is getting late." Sephiroth continued, opening the door to their vehicle. "It is well within the mission perimeters to camp for the evening and return tomorrow." He gestured for Cloud to get into the truck. "I don't believe it matters to them if we camp here or closer to the ranch."
Was Sephiroth offering him a compromise? Once again the Silver General was surprising Cloud, though he should have probably been used to it by now. With a small smile of gratitude, Cloud got into the drivers seat and headed towards the ranch. He would be able to see the Chocobo Farm after all.
– – – – –
They camped not far from the Farm. Cloud could hear the chocobos in the distance. He had offered to take the first watch, and waited until he was sure that Sephiroth was asleep before allowing himself to dwell on the past (future?). He allowed himself to remember bringing Zack here, the joy on the young boy's face as he challenged Cloud to a race. The petulance and irritation when he'd realised that Cloud had let him win the race.
It had been too long since he'd last seen his boy. An ache was growing in his heart, but he knew that there was nothing he could do about it right now. He had to complete his mission before he could go home.
It wasn't just Zack that he missed. He'd grown so used to being in Tifa's company, to Marlene and Denzel rushing home after school to spend time with him and Zack. He was missed the random visits of his team. He even missed scolding Yuffie for giving his kid yet another weapon or sugary treat.
Rising his face to the stars, Cloud took a breath, watching the twinkling above as he let his memories wash over him.
– – – – – –
Zack had been three the first time that it had happened. The boy had been having one of his rare tantrums, complete with stamping of his feet and screaming. Cloud's usual strategy of just walk away hadn't worked this time. Ordinarily Zack would quickly calm down, realising that his actions weren't getting him the reaction he wanted, but this time... This time he just screamed louder.
Cloud had made it to the doorway of the bar before sighing and closing his eyes, calming himself down. "Zack." He spoke in his normal voice, knowing that the boy could hear him over his own screams. "If you don't settle down and behave, I won't take you to the church today."
That did the trick. The awful wailing stopped almost instantly. Zack stood there, his arms folded over his chest and his bottom lip trembling as he glared at Cloud.
"Now." Cloud kept his voice quiet and his tone reassuring. "Tell me what's wrong, and I might be able to help." He walked over to Zack and knelt before him, gently wiping away the tears on the boy's cheeks.
"I wanna fight." He'd told Cloud.
"When you're bigger." They'd had this conversation before. Zack was only three, and Cloud wasn't comfortable with him handling weapons yet. Not even the practice ones Yuffie had bought. "I promise, when you're big enough, I'll teach you."
"NO!" Zack stomped his foot, his arm flailing towards the ground. "NOW! NOW! NOW!"
Cloud rolled his eyes and was about to stand up to walk away again when something caught his attention. Around Zack's left arm a dark wisp of smoke was coiling. "Zack..." Cloud had no idea what it was, but it frightened him. It didn't look good or safe. But before he could do anything about it, Zack flailed his arm again and the smoke disappeared.
Leaving behind the hilt of a weapon. Cloud's eyes widened and he looked down at it. "Zack." He said slowly, noticing the boy's wide eyes were also trained on the weapon. It was a scaled down version of the Masamune.
"Da..." Zack's voice was shaking and he looked up at his dad, "I dunno how I get." He promised pushing the hilt of the blade towards Cloud for him to take. Cloud was more than happy to oblige, but the moment Zack's hands let go of the weapon, it disappeared in another wisp of smoke.
It had taken Zack about a month to learn how to summon it on command and another month for it to stop randomly appearing when Zack was upset.
Not really having much of a choice any more, Cloud taught his son the proper way to use a sword.
– – – – – –
"It's my turn for watch."
Cloud jumped slightly startled by Sephiroth's voice. He nodded but didn't move. The stars had moved in their position while he hadn't been paying attention. It was a very good thing that they hadn't been attacked while he'd been spaced out.
They sat in silence for a long time, both watching the stars. You couldn't see the stars in Midgar – there was too much light pollution for that to be possible, even from the top of the Shinra tower – but here in the middle of nowhere the sky was wide and bright.
"One day," Sephiroth eventually spoke, his voice quiet in the night, "You will tell me your story."
"My story?" Cloud's gaze moved from the stars to look at Sephiroth. The other man continued watching the stars as Cloud watched him.
Sephiroth nodded, "You have fallen into mako many times yet live, you are able to keep up with me in battle, possibly even defeat me. I have never met anybody else who could do either of those."
Silence fell again for a moment as Cloud thought on Sephiroth's words. "That's... something not even my friends know." Friend. At this point in time, Cloud only had one. But the sentiment was the same.
"Then I will just have to become a better friend." The words were said with such ease, and Cloud again turned his attention to Sephiroth. Could it really be that easy? He'd been trying to figure out a way to get close to Sephiroth, and here he was, stating that he should become his friend?
Cloud supposed that he was definitely a puzzle for Sephiroth, and the man had always been very curious, wanting to know everything that happened around him. He shrugged.
"I'm not an easy man to befriend." He warned him and Sephiroth finally turned to look at him, a small smirk on his face.
"Good. I've always liked a challenge."
– – – – – – –