Cloud hated being assigned to the labs, considering the sort of things that came out of them, and his sympathy for the experimental specimens kept prisoner there. Sephiroth wasn't too happy about seeing him assigned there either; Dr. Hojo was far too dangerous and interested in testing anything unusual, and Cloud's abilities with materia certainly fell into that category. But there was no way he could do anything about where Cloud was assigned without raising suspicions, and so today his squad were stuck dealing with the mad scientists for the first time - and Cloud still found it hard to believe they'd managed to get almost two weeks into his assignment with the 3rd Sword before his squad had to do this. They'd had night duty of course, twice so far, and always scheduled to allow him time for his meetings with the other medics, but not guarding the labs.
"We all hate doing this, but Dr. Hojo won't let anyone but SOLDIERs and us guard his labs." Cloud felt himself blush as he realised Dylan had picked up on his discomfort and tried his best to get that under control.
"So it's not just me being stupid then? What sort of horror stories have you heard?" He wasn't sure he wanted to hear them, but it would help distract his partner, and hopefully keep him from realising that Cloud had a specific reason for wanting to avoid Hojo.
"You know he's the one in charge of making SOLDIERs, right?"
"Yes, and he raised the General too." Cloud hoped that was common knowledge, he'd deduced that, but...
"Yeah, well I heard a story that he's been trying to clone the General for years, but none of them turn out quite right, so he kills them and harvests the remains to help make SOLDIER 1sts."
"Can't be, the SOLDIER program's almost as old as the General, he wouldn't been able to do that sort of thing back then. I know he comes up with poisons, he sent one of his lab techs to record the results of some of them when I was learning how to use the Heal materia last week." If his friends had been gossiping that was probably common knowledge anyway.
"You're the one my Sephiroth wanted to borrow those poisons to help?" Cloud froze for a second as he realise Dr. Hojo had been listening to them, checking his words over in his mind to see if he'd revealed anything.
"Yes sir." He came to attention, offering a sloppy salute as Dylan did the same beside him.
"The copy of your report Sephiroth gave me wasn't very helpful." Dr. Hojo sounded oddly like a disappointed schoolteacher, but he was creepy as all fuck too, and that didn't make much sense. "And after he said you were so good with materia too."
"Good for someone just starting to learn how to use them, not in his league sir. Even if the General does say I have that potential." Cloud hoped that was safe to reveal to the scientist, but he had to give some reason that Sephiroth would bargain to get him extra training, even if Hojo thought that was secondary to revenge on the Uchiha bastard.
"Hmm. And no, I'm not trying to clone Sephiroth. I don't need to." With that Dr. Hojo turned an walked away, leaving Cloud almost shaking with relief.
"You wouldn't think he'd be so scary, except..." Cloud wasn't really happy with the way he'd reacted to the scientist, and it showed in his voice.
"Everyone knows what sort of things he does. And I heard he has final say on who gets to join SOLDIER."
"Way I heard it he wrote the protocols on the Mako reaction tests, not the same thing. SOLDIERs have to get a check up every six months, you think he writes the protocols for those too?"
"Probably, if he doesn't do them himself. He's really interested in how people and animals respond to Mako. I heard a story that some of the monsters we have to hunt are his experiments that escaped."
"He wouldn't have time to do them himself, not even for all the 1sts, he does have other things to do. Probably just does the General and whichever SOLDIERs have something interesting going on." Cloud shook his head, trying to think of something else to distract his partner with. "Is there a specific patrol route, or just an assigned area?" Because no one had told him the answer to that question, he knew that with SOLDIER territory you just got assigned an area, but he wasn't too clear about the labs.
"Just an area." Dylan looked over at one of the specimen cages and shuddered, then moved on, thankfully silent and Cloud followed his lead for the rest of their shift.
"Want to come out drinking with us? The squad usually finds somewhere under the Plate to get plastered after dealing with the labs, and you look like you need it more than any of us." Cloud hesitated, he'd planned to take one of the few opportunities he got to train by himself, but honestly the squad training regime was demanding enough, and his plans had been based on his need to let out his frustrations, this would work just as well. "You don't have any extra lessons tonight, or extra drill, unless the General's arranged something?"
"No." Sephiroth had wanted to meet him when he realised that this would be his first time patrolling the labs, but they'd already agreed that he'd be spending time with Zack tonight. "He's been planning to do the materia lessons once every two weeks, and that's about how often Zack says he'll be able to take the three of us hunting. I'm not sure whether or not he expects me to organise more hunts with Alex and Marius on our other leave days, but I'd rather not. Sounds like fun, are we supposed to bring our weapons with us?"
"Fuck no! Well...if you've got a little back-up weapon you can bring that, but not your sword."
"Best not risk taking any materia either." His Restore would be useful if they were hurt, but it wasn't worth the risk, not at the moment. Cloud ate with the rest of the squad as usual, then they all swung back by the barracks, dumping their swords and picking up money. There were a few who needed to swing by the quartermaster's to draw something from their accounts, but like most of the men Cloud still had some money left over from his last day of leave.
"Should I ask where we're going then?"
"You've never been out drinking?"
"Just when Zack dragged me along with him and Sephiroth, and we stayed above the Plate then."
"You went out drinking with the General?"
"What was it like?"
"Can he get drunk? I heard SOLDIERs can't."
"Whoa, slow down, slow down. I can only answer one question at a time, and shouldn't we start moving too?" He'd managed to forget just how much Sephiroth was almost worshipped, and he shouldn't have, especially not after seeing the way he got swamped by fans when they went out. Cloud refused to say anything more until everyone had started moving again, then he began to speak. "Yes, I went out drinking with the General, except it was more like Zack went out drinking and dragged the two of us along. Because quite frankly it was awful. Sephiroth's fanclub mobbed us everywhere we went, and of course we weren't allowed to kill a few to make the others back off, even if the General did look tempted once or twice. I wouldn't know if Sephiroth can get drunk, he didn't drink enough to tell, except he drank a whole lot more than I think I could've survived, and Zack drank just as much, but neither of them showed any signs. Oh, and there's an exercise Sephiroth suggested would help me improve my ability to use materia, if anyone has a hangover tomorrow morning then I'll cast Poisona to deal with it - at least for the first six to ask, I don't think I can manage more spells than that. But afterwards anyone else who wants some practice can take over."
"Are you sure that's a good idea? We've got materia practice tomorrow, and it's not like we could trade our materia training time at such short notice." It was Sergeant Redson's job to deal with things like that so he would know.
"Well, I won't be able to cast as many spells in materia training, but I'll have time to recover my energy enough to cast some and it'll help with maturing the Heal materia. It's also a good way to get extra practice in on using materia. The General said that the reason materia practice is just casting the lowest level spells over and over again is to build up your reserves of magic energy, and using the Heal will do that as well as using a combat materia does."
"Right. Well, no one else can cast more than one Poisona then, split it up over the squad."
"Yes sergeant. I expect everyone will be able to recover enough over ten or more hours to replace the energy lost in casting a Poisona. I'll pick out the best with materia and deal with their hangovers myself if they need it then."
"Whose turn is it to stay sober and get the rest of us home anyway?" Cloud hadn't expected to hear that, but he wasn't sure why he was surprised to learn the squad wanted at least one person to stay alert, he shouldn't be, it was simple tactical doctrine after all.
"I'll do it. I managed to wrangle messenger duty instead of dealing with the labs." So it wasn't just a rotation. Cloud shrugged mentally and followed the squad into what looked like a pretty disreputable pub.
o0()0o
Cloud couldn't believe he'd let Zack talk him into taking Alex and Marius along on another of his hunting trips on Monday, but he had, and so he was committed. They'd all met up in one of the training gyms after his lesson with Derek, where Zack and Cloud had spent an hour sparring together against Sephiroth - then Zack had dragged Alex and Marius in to spar for an hour against Cloud - and given them orders to go hunting with Cloud. At least he'd agreed to lend his Lightning and Fire materia to his sponsees, so Cloud wouldn't need to feel vulnerable about going out without a combative materia himself, or guilty about making Alex and Marius come hunting without combative materia. Sephiroth had offered to lend him a different materia to give him a chance to practice with something new, but Cloud had told him that he'd rather stick with what he knew until he was hunting with Zack, and had a more reliable back-up than just his friends.
Sephiroth had given the materia to him this morning, and last night he'd told Cloud that he'd learned what Hojo had thought of him after their chance meeting in the lab. It was a relief to know that the doctor thought him almost completely ordinary and didn't understand what Sephiroth saw in him, so he'd managed to keep from revealing how much he'd interest the scientist if Dr. Hojo knew everything. Sephiroth might be wrong about how much interest Dr. Hojo would have in his gift with materia, but Cloud could understand his paranoia, and wasn't going to contradict him, especially considering how well he knew Dr. Hojo.
"Marius, I know you can manage two Bolt spells from this, you might even be able to manage them both pretty close together, but Alex, I don't think this is matured enough to let you cast two Fire spells less than five or six hours apart. So I thought you could start out using my Ice materia, while I carry this, then we can trade after you use one Ice spell, and we'll try to find something worth you using a spell on early."
"I'd rather not. I don't want to use up my only spell that early." Cloud didn't like hearing that, he knew it normally took a while and more than a little training to gain the energy to cast multiple spells, but Alex sounded as if he didn't want to gain the ability to cast any more spells, not by working for it.
"Too bad! Zack told me to organise this hunt however I liked, and you will do this. After you've cast the Ice spell I'll let you work without equipping the Fire Materia for an hour or so, then you should be able to cast a Fire spell somewhere between three and four hours after you've cast the Ice spell. I'll bet you're still not managing to pull more than one spell out during your squad materia training, neither of you, and you need to be able to cast three first level spells in quick succession from a slotted materia to have a chance at casting the same spell from an unslotted materia. This will give you both a bit of extra training, so you might manage to avoid embarrassing yourselves in front of Sephiroth with how much he has to help you." He wasn't really being fair, he knew that, Sergeant Redson could only cast three first level spells from the training materia, and that only just, the other four 'best' with materia could manage two spells without showing any signs of strain, and from something Corporal Miller had let slip he could only cast five Cures or Poisonas at a time. But they wouldn't improve if they didn't work at it. "I've got an appointment at 1530, so we'll be finished at least an hour before then you'll be glad to know, and I'll bring my Restore unequipped in case we need it, then you can work on the assignment Sephiroth gave you for Saturday. You can return it at breakfast tomorrow, or get Zack to return it to me. Let's mosey." Cloud only realised he'd slipped into using a very Nibelheim phrase when Alex and Marius looked startled and he turned and walked off, letting them follow to cover his surprise.
"Hi. Can you suggest somewhere that would be good for hunting at the moment?" Cloud hesitated before adding some extra specifications. "I'd prefer not to go to a graveyard again, but monsters between the level of whole eaters and hell houses would do nicely."
"You're not that interested in the money, are you?" She sounded surprised, and Cloud couldn't figure out why; even now he was really well paid, he earned as much as it had cost to send him from Nibelheim to here every month.
"No, we need to get better, and I need to mature some materia, so we're after the chance to train."
"Right, well, there's been a problem with the sewers in Sector six, the main monsters down there are a bit weaker than the deenglows and eligors common to graveyards, but from the reports we've got there's more of them. And there are reports of hell houses in areas you could probably check out on your way to the entrance we've isolated as being the main problem. Here." The woman pulled out a map, marking off the sewer entrance they needed to check out and where there'd been repeated reports of hell houses and handing it to him.
"Thank you ma'am. Come on." He glanced at the map as they left the bounty office, planning their route. "Right, the first hell house we come across you two can deal with together. Don't claim that you can't, I know you worked together to take down five of them last week." Cloud had fought each of his four hell houses by himself, but he'd known that if he needed it Zack would intervene, and he'd heal Cloud if he needed that. "And Alex, if you don't use an Ice spell in that battle I'll drag us around looking for another hell house for you two to kill together."
"Yes Cloud." He didn't like the resignation in Alex's voice, but Zack had asked him to try and make sure his friends got more practice and experience in using materia and Sephiroth had seconded that, reminding him that they needed to improve the amount of energy available to them if they were to have any chance of being able to use an unslotted materia. They found the first hell house surprisingly easily and Cloud stood back to watch how his friends dealt with it. They worked together very well, switching off their attacks as each of them got tired, and with Marius holding the hell house off for long enough to let Alex cast his Ice spell before he took over facing the monster directly and finished it off.
"Well done. Marius, could you harvest what we can use from the hell house please? Alex, give me the Ice materia. I'll use the Fire materia once, then I'll swap it out for the Ice, I think I can pull off using that once, and then the Ice materia six, or possibly even seven times depending on how long it is between spells." He tucked the Ice materia away in the bag at his neck with his Restore and they continued moving once Marius had finished cutting up the hell house. They ran into a swarm of whole eaters before they found the next hell house, and Cloud killed twenty-six of the fifty-three monsters, with Alex taking twelve and Marius killing the last fifteen. When they did find Cloud's hell house he used a Fire on it first, then triggered his Speed Plus materia as well as he could and attacked as the spell was ending, using the unexpected speed boost to his advantage. He did get hurt in facing the monster, but not badly enough to merit any healing, and then he harvested everything he could from the corpse the way Zack had taught them and moved the Fire materia from his bracer to the bag around his neck, replacing it with the Ice materia.
"You don't need a Cure yet, do you?" Marius sounded almost analytical, and Cloud liked that, even if he wouldn't have asked Zack that question.
"No, I don't." He stood and began leading the way to the sewers. They encountered seven sahagin before they even reached the entrance, telling Cloud precisely why problems had been reported. He glanced at his watch, and then set his PHS to ring at 1230.
"We'll start making our way out of the sewers when my PHS rings, no matter where we are. Alex, do you want your Fire materia now, or should I give it to you just before we set off back?"
"Just before we set off back. I can't use it now, and you estimated it would take three to four hours for me to recover between castings."
"Well reasoned. Marius, there is an off-chance that you'll be able to recover enough to cast a third Bolt spell if you leave between one and two hours between castings, I doubt it, but it's something to think about."
"I'll remember that, thank you. Shall we move?"
"Yes, we should get going." They made their way into the sewer and Cloud was pleased to see Marius use his first Bolt spell against the first reasonably sized opposition they faced, a group of three sahagin that he assigned Alex and Marius to deal with together, the spell disabling one long enough for Marius to kill it before moving on to the third while Alex fought the second. Overall Alex managed to kill fourteen cripshays and twelve sahagin, and Marius only managed two extra sahagin and three extra cripshays by using the second of his Bolt spells. Cloud had the good luck to kill five cripshays at once with an exceptionally well placed Ice spell, and overall he'd managed to kill twenty-one cripshays and thirteen sahagin.
"We've got time to look for another couple of hell houses, or we can just quit and take our spoils to cash in." Cloud glanced at his watch as they emerged from the sewer. "Which would you prefer?" He thought that each of his friends could manage another spell if they tried and he'd be able to cast three Cures easily enough since he only needed to cast three Ice spells in the sewers. "I can heal us all before we continue if you want to keep on hunting." They whispered together for a few seconds before Alex replied for them both.
"How about this, you go ahead and heal us all, then we look for one more hell house. Marius and I each cast the extra spell you say we can mange at it, and you do the actual fighting, and we split the money three ways."
"Fair enough."
o0()0o
"You wanted to set up two standing orders. Where to, how much and how often?" Cloud was glad that the corporal assigned to help him with this was willing to get down to business quickly, and he'd searched out the details of the account his mother had used to pay for his journey here and his fee to enter the cadet program.
"Both monthly, one to an account with the Nibel-ShinRa bank, two thousand five hundred gil when I get my pay, the details are here." He handed the paper with the information he'd asked Sephiroth to find for him over to the other man and waited as he ran some sort of check on his computer, only continuing when he said that transfer was set up and in order. "The other one's just one thousand five hundred gil, to this account, the same day." No one in the army had to pay taxes on their pay, although they did have to pay taxes on any interest paid to their accounts - not that they got paid interest on the account the army set them up with, and two thousand gil was more than enough for his everyday needs.
"Done. Is there anything else?"
"No. Thank you." Cloud stood up and left then. He needed to talk to Zack about how well Alex and Marius had done, and he wanted to let him know that Alex had actually managed two spells, and Marius three, today instead of the one and two they were usually limited to respectively. Zack had mentioned that he might be in one of the gyms this afternoon, and even if he wasn't there Cloud could always get a little sparring in with someone.
Zack was there, and sparring with another SOLDIER 1st, one Cloud didn't recognise, but he could recognise the skill they were both showing, and he joined the audience watching them. Zack's opponent won shortly after he arrived, disarming Zack in a move too fast for him to follow and Cloud joined in the applause. The other man helped Zack up and then Zack noticed him, and began dragging his sparring partner over to Cloud.
"Cloud, this is Angeal, he was my sponsor, and Sephiroth said that he was one of the SOLDIERs assigned to teach him swordplay. Angeal, this is Cloud-"
"I've heard of him. He's the General's protégé isn't he? And everyone's heard about your skill with materia, I don't think any cadet since Sephiroth's cast more than one spell in the display course, and he was promoted directly to Major and shipped off to Wutai once they'd made a show of having him trained with the normal cadets."
"Let me guess, there were more drop outs from that class than from any before or since?"
"It was the only class ever without a specific SOLDIER 1st as mentor too, instead three of us rotated that duty."
"Cloud, you were going to report on my sponsees? Come and eat with us while you do that."
"Sure." He followed them to the SOLDIER mess hall, collecting more than a few stares on the way, but picking up his meal and following the two men to a table.
"So, tell me how they did. Especially with the materia. Did you make them cast as many spells as they could?"
"Yes, they were both dead on their feet after the last hell house we dealt with. The first monster we found was a hell house, and I had them deal with that together, you saw how well they do that, and made sure Alex cast an Ice spell on it early in the fight. Then he gave me that materia back and I used a Fire on the second hell house before I attacked it. Marius used Bolt twice in the sewers - that's where we went hunting today - once pretty early on. I only needed to cast three Ice spells in the sewers, and we weren't in the best condition when we got out, so I cast Cures on all three of us, then we went after hat last hell house, Alex cast a Fire on it, followed up by Marius' Bolt, and then I fought it physically. So, they managed to better their usual level of magic, it's not enough for them to cast unslotted of course, but it's pretty good, don't you think?"
"You can cast seven spells over the course of, what five hours?" Angeal sounded almost disbelieving at that.
"I could probably have cast another if I needed to, they were all first level spells, from third level or mastered materia after all. And Corporal Miller seems to have taken to giving me practical training as a medic, since I spend the time I'm working with him in the infirmary, healing troopers they wouldn't normally bother using a Cure on, or once there was a case that merited a Cure, a broken leg, but the doctor'd run out of energy and resorted to putting it in a temporary cast."
"Sephiroth says that one day Cloud might be as good as him with magic, now, tell me more about how Alex and Marius dealt with that hell house." And for the rest of the meal Zack was asking probing questions about how Cloud's friends had performed, bringing out more details than Cloud had realised he'd noticed.
Cloud worked on finishing the report Sephiroth had asked him to have ready for Saturday while he waited for his lover and he was just putting the finishing touches to it when Sephiroth walked in. He felt a little bit guilty about ignoring him while he wrote the final sentence, but he didn't really have any choice, since he'd probably forget what he was going to say if he stopped in the middle of the sentence.
"Here, I'm handing my assignment in early. Alex and Marius should be doing theirs now." Cloud just left the report on the desk, and stood to kiss his lover hungrily. "Have you eaten today?"
"Yes, I was ordered to attend an early dinner with President ShinRa and the rest of the board." From the scowl on his face that had not been a very enjoyable experience. "What about you? Did you have a better meal?"
"I ate with Zack and his sponsor Angeal, while Zack interrogated me about how Alex and Marius had done. I didn't expect Angeal to be so surprised at how many spells I could cast." He should have, he knew, but...
"He shouldn't have been. I have been boasting about you, albeit subtly. Should I go and get cleaned up?"
"Please, do." It would give Cloud a chance to think of what to do with Sephiroth, since he knew his lover was expecting something. "Meet me in the bedroom when you're finished."
Kitchen first, Cloud was thinking of using sensory play and ice would be a good starting point. Sephiroth's freezer did contain a lot of ice cubes, which was a relief, he didn't want to have to use an Ice spell to make some, although he would have if he had to. And he'd seen a box of candles and a box of matches too, obviously there in case of a power cut, even though Sephiroth had once said he needed very little ambient light his quarters didn't have a window. What else? Besides a plate to rest the candles on that was. The brush he'd used with the chocolate body paint would be useful, and a couple of glasses of water too. A feather might have been nice, but he didn't have anything like that, and the fridge didn't include anything that might be fun as they played. What he'd found would have to do, and Cloud arranged everything on a tray, carrying it through to the bedroom.
Sephiroth looked excited when he saw that Cloud had the blindfold, earplugs and some scarves laid out on the bed, and he ignored the candles.
"You're going to tie me?"
"Not while I take you, but beforehand, yes I will." Cloud smiled at Sephiroth, handing the blindfold and earplugs to him. "By the way, once I've got you positioned I want you to stay still. And if I do something that makes you uncomfortable tell me."
"Yes Cloud." Sephiroth quietly put the earplugs in and fastened the blindfold around his head, letting Cloud guide him to lie down on his stomach and tie his hands over his head, with his legs spread open, sliding a pillow under his hips for better access. He licked up between Sephiroth's ass cheeks, once, sliding his tongue inside him for a moment. Then he pulled back and picked up the brush, running it down Sephiroth's spine, then using it to tickle some of the sensitive spots he'd identified on his lover's back and slid a single oiled finger inside him for a moment.
He loved hearing the quiet moans he got from that, and then he picked up one of the longer candles, dripping wax at the hollow of Sephiroth's back until there was a large enough puddle to stand it in, and then he left it there, picking up some of the ice cubes. They were melted enough that they didn't stick to his fingers, or to Sephiroth's back, instead moving around where Cloud pushed them easily, leaving a trail of cold water until he let them come to rest at the base of the candle set on his lover's back. This time when he slid his fingers into Sephiroth it was two of them, and he crooked them ever so slightly, to tease his prostate.
He made sure to touch Sephiroth in other places as well, stroking that pale perfect skin, and then taking up another candle, and carefully dripping wax onto it, trying to focus on the areas where he'd put the ice, enjoying the faint tremors running through his lover's body as he slid three fingers into him.
"Ohh...stop, please." Cloud blew out the candles first, moving them to the plate he'd taken them from quickly, as he carefully worked his fingers out of Sephiroth - he was sure it would hurt him if he just jerked them out. He pulled the earplugs out and began untying Sephiroth next.
"Did I hurt you? Or scare you?"
"No. I...it's just...I want you inside me when I come, and..." Sephiroth had rolled over as he spoke, looking up at Cloud with a soft smile on his face.
"Oh. I can do that." He reached between Sephiroth's legs to finish stretching him, only for the other to grab his wrist.
"I'm ready for you now Cloud." He didn't really trust Sephiroth's assessment of that, but even so Cloud settled between his lover's spread legs and thrust into him. It was the right decision, since Sephiroth climaxed almost as soon as Cloud entered him, and Cloud didn't take much longer to climax himself.
"Let's get cleaned up love. I take it you'd like to do this again sometime?"
"Yes, please."
o0()0o
'Mother,
'I've set up a standing order to your account from my paycheck, to be paid monthly. No, don't protest, keep it and use it to make your life better. ShinRa pays its troops very well, and all of our basic needs are provided, so effectively all the money I get is for luxuries. I'm keeping enough to pay for what I need that they won't provide and besides, I'm told it's pretty common for us to hunt monsters on the side, and I make quite a bit that way as well.
'I'm being trained as a medic because I have a natural affinity for materia, and that means I should get a promotion soon. I told you that the General's sponsoring me, and he's focusing mostly on my abilities in magic, and he's a good friend too, and so's his second, Zack.
'Love you,
'Cloud.'
Cloud folded the letter into an envelope, addressing it quickly and hurrying out to catch up with the others. He could drop it off to be posted on the way to the mess, really he should have written the letter earlier, but he hadn't had the chance, until he forced himself to make time. It was platoon exercises again, and even though it didn't make sense Cloud had ended up being treated like the second in command for his team. This was just the third time he'd ever worked in any sort of real group - hunting with his friends didn't count - and he finally voiced the question during the third exercise when they split into two groups of three, and he was assigned to lead the second group.
"Why me?"
"Materia specialists get promoted faster, even if they're not in the direct chain of command. You need the experience."
"Oh." There wasn't much else he could say to that, and the theme continued throughout the exercises. Cloud's drill wasn't as perfect as the rest of his team's, but it was better than it had been.
"Are you working with the General again this week?" There was something odd in Sergeant Redson's voice, almost as if he thought Sephiroth was neglecting his duties somehow.
"Yes sergeant. Three hours extra drill practice tomorrow then?" It had just been two hours on Saturday and Sunday the week before, but...
"Yes. If you had more free time..." Cloud was personally surprised he didn't end up being ordered to do the extra drill after his work with the medics, but he wasn't going to object. On the other hand...
"The training I get with Corporal Miller's just practice in casting Cures and in seeing when they aren't really needed." Let him make of that what he would. Sergeant Redson didn't say anything else then, but it did look as if he was considering Cloud's statement throughout the meal.
Cloud brought the squad Restore to the lesson with Sephiroth, as he'd been asked, but Sephiroth didn't order it to hand him over to one of his friends the way he'd expected. Instead he'd brought a box containing fifteen materia, labelled with numbers and handed a sheet and a pencil out to each of them when he took the reports Alex and Marius had prepared.
"Assess each materia, and write down which one it is, and of what level. You can take them out of the box and hold them for as long as you like, but I want your answers back within an hour." It wasn't that difficult an assignment, at least for Cloud, he just touched each materia in turn for a few seconds, while Alex and Marius each had to actually pick them up and concentrate to tell what each materia was, with Alex starting at number one and Marius working his way back from fifteen. He glanced up to see that Sephiroth had finished with both reports, and walked over to hand his answers to Sephiroth.
"Here, read these while I check your answers." Alex and Marius had both given pretty simplistic descriptions of how they perceived the Restore materia, Alex even more so than Marius, but he noted that they filtered their perception of magic through different senses, with Marius seeing the spells as songs of rising volume and Alex perceiving them visually.
"I half expected some comment on how you perceived the materia, not just the simple listing."
"That wasn't what you asked for, and besides it would be a bit suspicious. What were you planning for today?"
"I'll teach you how to link magic with someone, and supply energy for them to cast a spell. I thought it would be more useful if you got the chance to mature you squad's Restore a bit more than to work with a mastered Restore when we help your friends cast a Cure."
"They'll be totally drained." But it was worth it for what they'd learn he supposed. "I take it I'll work with Marius?" Because he didn't have anything like the energy reserves Sephiroth did, and Marius had greater energy reserves than Alex.
"Whichever you'd prefer. This isn't something most SOLDIERs learn, but I do teach it to some of them. To start with I'll link to you, and supply energy for you to try casting a Bolt2, from this. Then I want you to try and link to me."
"So, that means the link's just one way, whoever makes the link supplies energy, or lets the other draw on their energy, but not the other way around?"
"Good question." He frowned, obviously thinking it over. "I normally just use the link to feed energy into whoever I'm supporting, once or twice I've felt them draw on my energy directly, but the key point is that when I make the link I have control over it, and the person I'm linking to doesn't. When you link to me we can see if you can use that to draw on my energy."
"Yes sir." Sephiroth handed a lighting materia over to Cloud, and laid a hand on his shoulder while Cloud slotted it - he'd picked up the habit of always wearing the bracers he could slot materia in, rather than his issued bracers, and no one had called him on it.
"This requires contact, I suggest you actually use skin to skin contact the first few times and work up to linking while there's a layer or two of clothing in the way. The principal is the same as linking to a materia, except you need to perceive, and link to the core of magic or energy that lies within everyone."
"Right." And then Cloud saw-heard-tasted-felt-smelt it as Sephiroth's personal energy came into contact with his. It felt wonderful, and there was something about the contact that seemed unreservedly sensual to Cloud, but he pushed past that distraction, and drew from that heady ocean of power to cast a Bolt2 at the targets set up for him. Then he felt the power withdraw from him and turned to see a hint of surprise on Sephiroth's face.
"I always had to talk my students through drawing energy from me before now. I was just planning to feed energy to you. Now, it's your turn." He pushed the sleeve of his coat back, waiting for Cloud to touch him. "I'll know when you've established contact, and you should be able to tell as well, but if you fail, and do not realise I will inform you after five minutes."
"Thank you sir." Cloud obediently reached out for the power he could almost still feel burning inside Sephiroth's deceptively slender frame, connecting to it the way he would a materia, and then doing something he would never have tried with a materia. "I'll try to use your energy to cast another Bolt, if you don't mind." He spoke absently, and cast the spell perhaps half a minute later, certain that Sephiroth would have told him 'no' by then if he was going to. "Well, did I connect correctly?"
"Yes. I never thought of applying it that way...and I couldn't do anything to stop you drawing energy from me."
"Clarify, was the link stopping you telling me not to cast the spell, or were you just trying to keep me from drawing on your energy on the magical level?"
"The latter, it was something we needed to establish. When I created the link I could have stopped you drawing on my energy if I wanted to."
"I see. I think I should check that I can consciously feed energy through this link, rather than leave my energy as an additional pool for someone to draw on. Tell me if I succeed please." He just hoped Sephiroth would be aware of whether or not he succeeded, and he began to pour a thin strand of his energy into that pool of power lying within Sephiroth's body, the way he'd pour his energy into a materia, but carefully, and very slowly.
"I can feel your energy entering me. Interesting, I've never been on this end. See if you can take it back, and perhaps a bit extra in case you need it. I will recover easily enough, especially if it is less energy than I would use in a battle."
Cloud obeyed, drawing back the energy he'd put into Sephiroth at a slightly faster pace than he'd provided it and then drew out a bit more, about as much as he'd focus through the lowest stable energy level of an unslotted Restore, adding it to his own personal energy reserve. Then he disconnected from Sephiroth and they settled back to watch Alex and Marius trying to figure out which materia was which. Marius finished first, with Alex just five minutes after him.
"You'll be learning to cast a Cure without slotting the Restore materia. Since the energy demands are so much higher either Cloud or myself will link with you to provide the energy. Come." Cloud smiled at his friends as they followed Sephiroth through to the infirmary.
"If you try to cast the Cure and fail I will not be angry, but if you do not even try then I will. Marius, you have more energy reserves than Alex does, so you will be working with Cloud, as I talk you through it. Do not worry about how you get the energy Cloud supplies, just focus on using it." Cloud handed the materia to Marius, and wrapped his hand around Marius' other hand. When he connected to Marius' energy he realised something he hadn't noticed before; he'd already been aware of the energy reserves Marius possessed, on a subliminal level, that was how he'd known that Marius would be able to cast a third spell if he had enough time to recover. He'd just never paid attention to it consciously before.
He dismissed the thought and began feeding energy into Marius' reserve until there was about a third over what Cloud considered necessary to cast a Cure unslotted - since he suspected energy requirements for a spell varied slightly from person to person. He listened as Sephiroth patiently explained what Marius needed to do over and over for almost an hour, and felt it as his friend kept on trying, drawing up the energy from his reserve, but never quite managing to direct it into the materia.
Then it was Alex's turn, and he fared no better.
"Work on improving your personal energy reserves, I'll see if a combative materia works better next time. Dismissed."
"Yes sir." Marius and Alex virtually fled, but Cloud stayed behind for a moment, until Sephiroth told him to go too.
o0()0o