Chapter Warnings: crude innuendo involving a minor.

Ifalna didn't die until after Aeris was born and got her out of the Midgar labs, as per canon, but Sephiroth was never allowed contact with her and so assumed she was dead.


11.

Cloud didn't know why his squadmates were acting so strangely around him, but he ignored it. He was more concerned about having two SOLDIERs in the room.

Zack was sitting on his bunk and looking around with the pained nostalgia of a student returning to the high school he'd thought he had managed to escape forever. His friend, some SOLDIER Third named Kunsel, leaned against the wall with a neutral expression that made Cloud feel defensive. He stood with his gym bag over his shoulder and fiddled absently with the shoulder strap.

"Man, you wouldn't believe how glad I was to get out of this place," Zack was saying.

"You think Sergeant Tokka's bad, just be happy that Sergeant Browning retired before you got here. Now there was a guy with a bug up his butt and a sadistic streak half a mile wide."

"I don't know, Zack, Tokka's streak of sadism must be at least a full mile," Cloud disagreed.

"Bah," the SOLDIER huffed dismissively. "C'mon, Kunsel, back me up here. You had the bastard a year longer than I did."

"Not all of us can be prodigies, you know," he smiled. As Zack snorted and waved off the praise, Cloud couldn't help narrowing his eyes.

"I hear Gysahl's really impressed with Cloud's record and his mission report," Zack grinned and winked. "If you can keep your cool and not piss off any more of your superiors, kid, you could be a SOLDIER within a year."

There was a time when Cloud would have given anything, anything, to hear that. Now it only made him feel cold. "Zack, can I speak with you? Alone?"

Surprised, Zack glanced at Kunsel before nodding. "Yeah, okay. Hey Kunsel, I'll meet you in the cafeteria on the fifty-fourth floor. The secretary there, he makes the best coffee in the building."

"Coffee that doesn't taste like burnt sludge, you mean?" the Third laughed, subtle tension underlying his words. As soon as he left the dorm, Zack asked seriously, "You all right, Cloud?"

"I'm fine. I just…wanted to ask you a favor."

"Sorry, man, not even I can get you into the girls' locker rooms."

He snorted as Zack grinned again, and the sudden pain in his heart came from the smile and the laugh and the stupid jokes that hadn't changed.

"Cloud?"

A hand on his shoulder jerked Cloud out of his thoughts. "Sorry, just thinking."

"Have anything to do with those nightmares of yours?" Zack quietly asked and he no doubt felt the sudden tension in Cloud's shoulders. Cloud wanted to tell him, Next time you try being a hero and saving me, don't. Just keep running, but he also knew that Zack wasn't like that, wasn't going to leave anyone behind even when he knew it'd end up killing him.

So he shrugged. "I was hoping you'd be willing to give this to Sephiroth for me, since I don't have the security clearance."

Zack examined the object Cloud pulled out of his gym bag. "A children's book?"

"He'll know what it is."

Zack leaned in close. "What's going on with you two, anyway?"

"Nothing," Cloud replied in honest confusion.

"…Are you crushing on him?"

He threw his arms into the air, feeling that jitteriness again, the not-rightness and the need to protect and Planet knew what the fuck else. "Hel, why do people keep asking that?"

"Maybe they know something you don't," Zack said as he smirked. Cloud glared.

"It's kind of hard to crush on him when you – you know what, never mind. Will you please just give him the book?"

"Er, I'm sorry, Cloud. Yeah, I'll give it to him."

"Thanks," he mumbled, feeling somewhat guilty for getting snippy over something that wasn't really a big deal, just...weird.

"Hey, kiddo, s'okay. I'll take this to Sephiroth and I won't even tease you anymore, okay?"

"Yeah, sorry. I'm just tired." Cloud managed a smile, and Zack tossed his arm over his shoulder and squeezed a bit.

"That's not surprising," Zack muttered. "Look, I know you've got to get going to one of your sergeant's torture sessions, but, y'know, I might not know everything that's going on, but I'll still help, yeah?"

"Why?"

Zack blinked. "Why what?"

"Why would you say that? You haven't known me that long." And even though Cloud's voice was level, his heart was pounding.

"Hey, like I said, us country boys have gotta stick together!"

Zack walked away with the small victory of putting a smile on the kid's face. He set off for Sephiroth's office, smiling automatically at the people he passed, and as he stood in the elevator he turned the book in his hands over and over. It was old and worn, bound in plain brown leather, and once he was alone in the car he flipped it to the table of contents.

"The Lands of Ice and Fire, The One-Eyed God in the Underworld, The Binding of the Great Wolf…what the hell?" Woodcut illustrations of giants and battles and, at one point, an enormous wolf in chains littered the stories. When he let all the pages fall against the left side, he found a piece of paper tucked between the last leaf and back cover. On one side were notes in a vaguely familiar hand detailing the influence of mako on mitosis – Zack made a face – and on the other was a badly drawn picture of two stick-figures holding hands. One had three yellow spikes on its head and bird's wings, the other had long hair drawn in grey pencil.

Zack stared so hard at the image that he didn't realize the elevator had passed his floor and was descending again. He flipped the paper back over to the handwriting, and – okay, the letters were a little more childish, but that particular swoop to the 's' and the harsh stroke crossing the 't' were all Sephiroth's. Considering how many times Zack had forged the man's signature, he would know. How the hell did Cloud get his hands on something like this?

"Aw, crap," he muttered when he finally noticed that he was nearly back to the floor he'd originally left. Smacking the button for the fifty-ninth floor, he practically danced with impatience for the near five minutes it took people to get on and off the elevator all the way back up. As soon as the doors opened, he squeezed past a few executives towards Sephiroth's office.

And promptly ran into the man himself.

"Forgive my saying, sir, but you're built like a freaking brick wall," Zack muttered, rubbing his nose. Sephiroth blinked at him.

"In a hurry, Lieutenant?"

Glancing at the secretary watching them with interest, Zack firmly nudged Sephiroth back into his office and closed the door behind him. He turned around to get the full force of Sephiroth's vaguely amused scrutiny. "Don't look at me that like sir, it makes me feel like a bug under a microscope."

"Would you mind explaining why you were in such a hurry that you felt the need to manhandle my person?"

Zack winced. "Um. Please don't report me. Cloud wanted me to give you something." He pushed the book into Sephiroth's hands, and the general looked at it blankly. "He didn't tell me where he got it or anything, just that you'd know what it was." Yeah, except that Sephiroth looked as confused as Zack. "Maybe you should look at the back, though that's just a suggestion, it's not like I was looking through it or anything, I'd never go snooping like someone who, y'know, snoops. I mean, Cloud gave it to me in confidence for you, that'd be a real lousy thing to do."

"Lieutenant, shut up," Sephiroth said kindly. Zack shut up. Sephiroth flipped to the back of the book and pulled out the piece of paper, expression briefly darkening when he saw the topic of the notes, then turned it over. Zack was rather fascinated to see the range of emotion that passed over the man's face. After a few minutes of awkward silence, Zack started timidly, "I, uh, take it you know what Cloud was talking about now?"

Sephiroth didn't immediately respond. When he did, it was to say quietly, "I did this when I was approximately nine years old."

"Wow."

"Lieutenant, do you believe in fate?"

"Uh," said Zack, "is this a quiz? Because I didn't study." When Sephiroth looked at him with those vivid feline eyes, just looked as though honestly interested in what Zack had to say, he shifted uncomfortably. "I don't know, I never really thought about it. Probably not, I guess, because otherwise I'd still be stuck in Gongaga hunting frogs and living the country life. Which would suck."

"If you were given the chance to do something differently, anything that's happened in your life, would you take that chance?"

Zack thought of Angeal and said, "Hell yeah." Then he paused. "Well, maybe. Sir, what's going on? What's with the Twenty Questions?"

The general looked back at the drawing. It appeared he was about to say something but changed his mind at the last moment. "Thank you for bringing this to me, Zack. You're dismissed."

"Wait, hold on a sec – "

"Lieutenant. Please."

And that was such a bizarre request to hear from General Sephiroth that Zack couldn't do anything else but hesitantly salute. He glanced back at the office before the door closed and saw Sephiroth staring fixedly at the drawing.

He was rather subdued when he met up with Kunsel in the cafeteria on the fifty-fourth floor, accepting a cup of fresh non-sludge coffee from the guy without thinking.

"Zack, you all right? You're a bit quiet," Kunsel said gently. "Usually when that happens, people hit the deck."

"Huh?"

"Never mind. Was it something Cloud said?"

Zack swirled his coffee with the little plastic stick. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to talk to Kunsel; after all, the guy was always there even when Zack didn't want him to be and he was both level-headed and observant. And Zack hadn't had anyone to really talk to since Angeal defected, and while part of him was saying you could always talk to Cloud, the problem was that Cloud was part of the problem.

It took a moment, but he was able to summon a grin and say, "Nah, just worried about Angeal. So what's on the SOLDIER agenda for today?"

Kunsel didn't look convinced, but he didn't push the issue.

It took some maneuvering, including a favor called in with Gysahl, to get Cloud dismissed from his evening classes and into Sephiroth's office. Sephiroth leaned against the front of his desk with his arms loosely crossed, looking at Cloud's neutral expression and taking in his blue uniform, the eyes far too old for such a young face. He was careful to keep some distance between them, and if there was something fluttering in his chest, nervousness or anger or a child's awe, he didn't show it. "How are you doing, Cloud?"

Cloud's brow furrowed. "I'm fine."

"Are you?"

Cloud looked surprised, as though no one ever bothered to ask him that. "Is something wrong, sir?"

Sir. Sephiroth held back a frustrated sigh and laid a hand on the old book sitting on his desk. "Where did you get this?"

Cloud tilted his head forward, watching from behind his long bangs. "Before I left for Midgar, I made sure to go through the ShinRa Mansion."

"You were in Nibelheim? How long?"

"I was born there. Sir."

Which would make it almost exactly the amount of time since Cloud had disappeared and Sephiroth had been transferred to Midgar under Hojo's orders. He'd been a twenty-something man that wasn't quite real, and was now a teenage boy in a very real body. "You were reincarnated?" he asked tentatively.

Cloud shifted.

"Reincarnated."

"Blame the Planet, I had no choice in the matter," he muttered. Sephiroth pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Reincarnated."

"Sephiroth?"

He glanced through his fingers to see Cloud withdrawing his hand, as though he'd started to reach out and changed his mind halfway through the motion. "Does anyone else know?" he asked.

"Just one, but he's not in ShinRa." Cloud was making tiny, restless movements, a slight curling of the fingers, minute shifts of his weight. He remembered the times his younger self had crawled into Cloud's lap when everything got to be too much, and he suddenly wanted to return the favor, wanted to be useful in a way that Genesis and Angeal had never needed him because they had each other.

"Am I making you uncomfortable?" he asked quietly, and Cloud looked sincerely surprised.

"No, just. No."

There was an uncomfortable lull before Sephiroth commented, "I see your loquaciousness has improved with time," and Cloud ducked his head, unable to help a small smile. "Cloud. What happened in the gym?"

"I don't know," Cloud said quietly, not quite meeting his eyes. "Jenova's dead, I made sure of it, that shouldn't have happened. The Planet should've stopped that, I didn't think it was possible."

"Cloud, I don't understand. What are you talking about?"

"It's nothing," Cloud replied, apparently having mastered the trick of closing himself off without actually moving. "We're fine now, I don't know why, but it doesn't matter now."

"I felt your mind. That isn't something you can just dismiss."

"I'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

"How?" Sephiroth demanded, skepticism making the words sharp on his tongue.

"Don't worry, it's fine. I've got it under control."

"Do you? Because I've been on the battlefield often enough to know when a man is desperate." Cloud hissed out a breath between his teeth, but Sephiroth pressed, "You shouldn't fight alone, Cloud. You talk about not wanting to kill me and wanting to protect certain people. Why? And why do you have it do it yourself?"

But Cloud was shaking his head. "You don't understand, Sephiroth, I don't want you to understand. This isn't – this isn't anything that someone should know, it wouldn't be fair to you – "

"But it's fair to you?"

"That's beside the point," Cloud snapped.

Sephiroth stood up to his full height, purposefully invading Cloud's personal space. "You are many things, Cloud Strife, but I didn't think stupid was one of them. You said you wanted to save Zack, Aeris, and myself. While I don't personally know Aeris, I am reasonably sure she would agree with me when I ask you, did it never occur to you that we might want to do the same in return? Allow us the agency to make decisions for ourselves."

"You don't understand," Cloud snarled so suddenly that Sephiroth almost took a step back into his desk. "You die. All three of you, you die, and I survive. It doesn't matter that she's an Ancient or that you and Zack are SOLDIERs, the two of them sacrifice themselves and I have to kill you because you weren't able to resist Jenova."

"That's why you so determined to destroy her," Sephiroth realized, feeling disconnected. He could remember the way she'd curled into his thoughts, whispering promises of power and love and belonging. "How is this possible, Cloud?"

"What, living the future before it's happened? Ask the Planet, good luck getting anything even slightly human out of it. But I can't, I can't do it again, Sephiroth. I can't."

Eyes wide, something not right in his tone as though he were constantly on the edge. Desperation, but also obsession, like the men under Sephiroth's command who'd gone into battle with no intention of returning. Keeping his voice low, Sephiroth said, "But you've already changed things, Cloud. Jenova's gone."

"Except not, not if my body suddenly wanted to crawl into yours," Cloud replied bluntly. "That happened before, too. It's the living Jenova cells, they want Reunion, they want to make you a god and the rest of us your. I don't even know. Disciples, or sacrifices, or something. I'm still not sure, Hojo wasn't very clear. Never is, all that fucking rambling."

Sephiroth's patience was an odd thing; he could stand silently for hours, watching for an enemy or simply sitting through another useless executive meeting, but people were frustrating. There was no clear-cut motive or goal, no real predictability, and it unbalanced him. "Cloud, I'm not understanding," he managed calmly. "How did you get living Jenova cells? Were you a First?"

"I told you, it's nothing."

"Cloud."

"Gods damn it, Sephiroth, let it go, all right? I've got it under control."

"Do you, now? It appears to me that you're just being stubborn."

"There's nothing more to be said."

"Why not?"

"Because I said so!"

There was a long silence. Cloud put a hand over his face.

"Would you like to send me to my quarters without dinner?" Sephiroth quipped dryly.

"This is so fucked up," he muttered, anger melting away.

Sephiroth's lips quirked. He reached out to put his hands on Cloud's shoulders, fingers tightening against the instinctive attempt to twitch away; and yes, there it was, the slowly rising wave of wantneedmine that wasn't natural but didn't feel inherently malicious, either.

"Cloud, please look at me. Please," he repeated when the other didn't move, but finally Cloud lowered his hand and looked up at him through his bangs again. "It matters. I'm not…reconciled to your leaving when I was younger – no, Cloud, listen to me. I know it was the Planet now, but it will take some time. Even so, you aren't alone." I want to help. I want to do something worthwhile with my life. "If you're determined to save the three of us from whatever you saw happen, then at least respect us enough to let us do the same for you."

Cloud was silent.

"I'm starting to believe you have no intention of surviving whatever is going to happen this time around."

When Cloud didn't deny it, a knot of emotion so tangled Sephiroth couldn't hope to understand it all at once twisted around his heart.

"…It started with a mission to Nibelheim," Cloud whispered unexpectedly, fixing his eyes somewhere behind Sephiroth. Sephiroth didn't take his hands off his shoulders. "You, Zack, me, and someone else, I don't remember his name. Hel, I don't even remember his name. It was supposed to be just a check on the reactor, but it was a set-up from Hojo. He knew that you'd find Jenova, and you – you didn't fight her. You burned Nibelheim to the ground."

Sephiroth fought not to wince.

"Zack and me, we tried to stop you, but you stabbed us. Ran us through. I tossed you into the reactor core before Hojo got to us, and he was…angry. That I'd managed to kill you. He wanted to make us clones of you, but for some reason it didn't take with Zack, maybe because he was already a SOLDIER Second, I don't know. So I…I got the cells. And mako. And probably whatever else Hojo found lying around, he's not exactly careful in his methodology. Zack was the one to get us out."

"How long?" Sephiroth had to know.

"Four years. No, five. Something. I was comatose, Zack had to drag my useless ass around, gods know how he got us as far as Midgar before ShinRa caught up. They killed him, shot him because he's too much of a fucking hero to leave me and get himself out of there. I only lived because they thought I was already dead, got involved with AVALANCHE in time for you to – no. It was one of your clones that looked like you and had your memories, he started trying to destroy the Planet. So I had to kill you again. Aeris died."

"Genesis and Angeal?"

"They didn't exist before. I think Hojo let them stay alive as back-ups, since I destroyed Jenova this time."

Sephiroth's fingers had tightened to the point where he was probably leaving deep bruises on Cloud's shoulders, but Cloud didn't say anything and Sephiroth didn't think he was capable of letting go. "How did you get sent back?"

"After you died, part of Jenova infected the Lifestream," he answered dully. "It created a sickness called Geostigma that made your body attack itself, killing you from the inside out. We managed to stop it, but too much of the Planet had already died. The Plague, it…" Cloud swallowed and snorted humorlessly, "It was like one of Zack's crappy zombie movies. The dead started coming back as these, these things, we called them warps and scions because that's what they were, these warped monsters born from Jenova. Cosmo Canyon went first, I guess because it's always been closely tied to the Lifestream, and so did Mideel. Then North Corel and that whole area, and when Cid and Vincent died I thought Yuffie was gonna go mad, I…I couldn't… Tifa was wearing herself thin, kept giving her rations to the orphans and she still somehow managed to keep me from going insane. Sometimes I wonder if she actually succeeded, I could hear them, everything infected with the Plague kept whispering about hunger and – "

"Cloud - "

"We lost, Sephiroth." Cloud finally looked him in the face. "We lost and I was the last thing alive when the skies burned."

Sephiroth released his shoulders and pulled him close instead, wrapped him in human warmth and the mundane smell of leather. It was like holding a mannequin. Sephiroth tightened his grip until, very slowly, Cloud's hands twisted in his coat. "Listen to me," Sephiroth said quietly. Cloud came up to just past Sephiroth's chin, so his words went straight to Cloud's ear. "Jenova is gone, which means no Nibelheim, no Reunion, and now we know the risks involved. You won't end up alone again." Cloud didn't respond, didn't do anything but breathe shallowly against Sephiroth's collarbone. He smelled like generic soap and clean sweat. "Let us help you."

"You can't promise that," Cloud whispered.

"Perhaps, but the statistical possibility has been greatly increased."

It won a shaky laugh and Cloud pulled away, meeting Sephiroth's eyes, and if there was something raw and distinctly not-okay about him at least the suicidal edge was gone. Sephiroth wanted to push, to know the details of what happened, why Cloud had been the one trapped with this weight, what Sephiroth himself had done to Cloud in another life. But Cloud was visibly pulling himself together, locking it all down tight, and the moment had passed. So instead he leaned against his desk again, gesturing Cloud to a padded chair in the corner of the office, and asked, "Why do you want to talk to Rufus?"

Cloud pulled one of his knees to his chest and wrapped his arm around it, letting the other leg swing and brush the carpet with his toes. It made him look startlingly young. "I think he was AVALANCHE's financial backer a few years ago."

Sephiroth raised both brows. "That is…unexpected. I was under the impression that AVALANCHE had disbanded by now, however. Why does it matter?"

"The Planet's still dying. Maybe more slowly, since Jenova's gone, but the reactors are still draining it."

"You want to take down the whole company." The smirk he got was a complete surprise. "Cloud."

Cloud explained more seriously, "I don't see any other way. ShinRa's invested too much into Zack and especially you to let you walk away, and if Tseng didn't like Aeris so much, she'd have been taken back to Hojo years ago. President ShinRa is determined to find the Promised Land because he thinks it'll provide endless amounts of mako, he won't consider alternate energy sources."

"And how do you plan to do this?"

"I'm not sure," Cloud admitted. "Killing the president comes to mind, but there are plenty of people in the company ready to take his place. Someone also pointed out that with the refugees and people's complete reliance on ShinRa, a sudden change like this could do more harm than good."

"Which means more subtlety is called for." Sephiroth smiled at Cloud's irritation.

"I was thinking that if Rufus had the motivation to back AVALANCHE, maybe putting him in as president means he'd be willing to make some concessions in turn. Like alternative power sources. I mean, he's a bastard, but he's a bastard I know."

"You should know that Heidegger and Palmer are too close to the president to just step aside and let his son take over. Heidegger is holding something over Lazard's head, though I don't know what. If push comes to shove I believe that the SOLDIERs would follow my lead, but until then, involving anyone else is dangerous."

"Reeve," Cloud said immediately.

"Tuesti? Of the Urban Development Department?"

"When ShinRa fell, before, Reeve was the one that kept things together. Come to think of it, rumor said that Rufus was helping to fund him too."

"It'll be hard to keep the lower sectors from outright rebellion when they sense ShinRa's weakness."

"I've got someone working on that."

Sephiroth other eyebrow rose. "Who?"

"Vincent Valentine. Have you heard of him?"

"He's supposed to be dead."

"Hojo got to him first."

That actually explained a lot. "You trust him?"

"Hojo…ruined him." Cloud's voice started going distant, somewhere Sephiroth couldn't reach him. "And he was always there for me. I couldn't leave him behind."

"I feel like a gargoyle."

Angeal rolled his eyes at Genesis.

"Do you realize how undignified this is, sneaking around like truant schoolchildren?"

"First, you never went to school," Angeal growled. "Second, you're the one that was so determined to push everyone else away that you made things worse, which is far more insulting than your indignity."

Genesis sulked.

The two were on the balcony that ran around the ledge of the sixtieth floor of the ShinRa building, able to look through the steel grating and into Sephiroth's office window. It was unspoken that Sephiroth allowed this sort of mild breach in security because it made people looking for blackmail less likely to look much deeper into more sensitive matters, and normally Sephiroth did nothing more interesting in his office than paperwork. But the bare window must have slipped his mind because Genesis and Angeal could see him clearly talking to a Regular cadet, which was very unusual. Except they knew this wasn't just any cadet.

"How does he know that boy?" Genesis murmured thoughtfully. Angeal had explained to him what Sephiroth had said about this Cloud Strife being exposed to mako at a young age, but neither were stupid enough to believe it was the whole story. "They're familiar with one another." Sephiroth, who normally guarded his personal space jealously, didn't seem to mind the cadet standing so close.

"I hope you aren't suggesting that Sephiroth has suddenly developed a taste for underage cadets."

Angeal's words fell flat between them. Genesis just smiled like a feline. "I wasn't, but now that you mention it, I imagine the kid would look lovely on his knees with his lips wrapped around a cock. And obviously he already has some measure of how different the three of us are from the rest of humanity, so Sephiroth won't even have to angst about it."

His casual cruelty made Angeal feel sick. "Stop it, Genesis."

"Best of all possibilities, really, knowing our big terrible secret but still young enough to manipulate."

"Genesis."

He stopped, but didn't lose his dark smile. Angeal watched him carefully. It sounded like Genesis had formed a personal grudge against Strife. Angeal glanced back down through the grating and found himself looking back into Strife's face. "He sees us."

"Not in this light," said Genesis, straightening up and stretching out his dark wing. "No, he senses us."

It was a shift in perception, a thought-twist and the sensation of being in a thousand places at once before Angeal was standing just behind Genesis' shoulder, where he always was, in Sephiroth's office. Sephiroth had reacted by throwing an arm in front of Strife and arching his own suddenly-materialized wing aggressively, standing tall and cold.

"Genesis, Angeal." His voice was lacked inflection, though his eyes had narrowed.

"Sephiroth," Genesis replied, and probably couldn't help the note of mockery in it if he tried. "I see you have company." Neither Strife nor Sephiroth said anything, and Genesis' tone tried for conciliatory. "I'm merely looking for answers."

"Everyone does."

"I'm not interested in pedantry, Sephiroth. Hollander is useless and, if various sources are to be believed, then Jenova has been destroyed. I'm running out of options."

"Hojo."

"He was never one of those options and you know it."

Angeal could see Sephiroth closing himself off, hiding away the openness that he'd apparently been comfortable sharing with the cadet, and a small voice whispered, See what you've done.

Strife pushed Sephiroth's arm down. "Why should anyone help you, Genesis?"

Angeal could sense the twitch of muscle in Genesis' back. "You would judge another person's life?"

"If you were preparing to take everyone down with you, yes."

"Cloud," Sephiroth whispered, but Strife ignored him.

"You've already taken a squadron of innocent people and turned them into clones." For some reason, that made Sephiroth flinch. "You've already dragged Angeal down. You'd take Sephiroth, if you could."

"This is not your story, boy," Genesis snarled, his already unstable emotions flipping into anger, and Angeal automatically put a discrete hand to the small of his back. Sephiroth cut in with a calm, "Cloud, what are you thinking?"

Without taking his eyes off Genesis, Strife explained, "I know someone who might be able to help. Come to think of it, I'm little surprised you didn't think of her either."

The other two generals were treated to the rare sight of Sephiroth being taken by surprise and a small amount of embarrassment. "I admit that she never crossed my mind."

"Who?" Genesis demanded, but Strife shook his head.

"I'm not telling you about her unless you swear not to harm her. If you do, I'll kill you." Said so mildly, as though it weren't a ludicrous threat, and it became more surreal when Sephiroth agreed with, "He will, Genesis, and so would Zack."

"Zack? What does Zack have to do with any of this?" Angeal broke in with a sudden burst of anxiety.

"A fair amount. If you bothered to speak with him anymore, you'd know this."

Coming from Sephiroth, that was a harsh blow. Angeal lowered his eyes. "I didn't want to get him involved."

"I understand, but that's not possible anymore. Cloud, I'll speak with him about taking Genesis to see Aeris. He'll make sure she is kept as safe as possible."

"The Turks will be there."

"I'll talk with Tseng," Sephiroth was saying.

"The Turks' loyalties are to Rufus first." Sephiroth's amused half-smirk made Strife scowl and say, "Angeal?"

"…Yes?"

"Talk to Zack. You're hurting him."

Angeal flinched. Cloud glanced up at Sephiroth, quietly said, "I'm going back to the barracks," and left the office on silent feet.

"What the hell is going on, Sephiroth?" Genesis demanded.

"Well," the man said as he moved to sit behind his desk, "it appears that we're going to start a revolution."

The following morning, all of Cloud's squadmates were off in the gym or cafeteria or lounging around until an officer caught them, leaving him alone in the room. Or he would've been, if Zack hadn't decided that he had unlimited access to Cloud's bed and was sprawled over the scratchy cover like a lazy cat. Cloud was trying very hard not to stare, to memorize every one of the man's movements like a stalker.

Zack, meanwhile, had been watching Cloud read the same textbook page over and over for the last several minutes and was wondering when the kid was going to give up. When it looked like Cloud was set on out-stubborning him, he said, "What're you studying for?"

"Passing classes is one of the requirements for SOLDIER," Cloud pointed out, and Zack huffed.

"Well, yeah, but shouldn't you be out with your 'mates right now?"

I'd rather be here with you, Cloud didn't say. "I'm fine." He paused, then dared, "Um, why are you here?"

He knew without having to look that Zack would be shrugging as best he could while horizontal, expression sheepish. "What, I can't just be hanging out?"

Cloud gave him a wry glance. Zack shrugged again, more somberly. "I've been seeing you around a lot lately, y'know, but I don't know anything about you other than that you have nightmares, know things that could probably get you killed, and are short."

"Hey," Cloud protested before he could stop himself, and Zack grinned.

"So, Nibelheim, huh? Western continent? What's it like?"

"Cold," Cloud replied slowly. "Lots of snow."

"Does everyone speak the language you were using earlier? In the infirmary?"

It took a moment but then Cloud flushed. "I didn't realize I was doing that."

"Hey man, nothing to be ashamed about. Sometimes I wish I'd actually paid attention to my grandpa when he was still alive, he was fluent in old Gongagan."

"My mum taught it to me," Cloud admitted, self-conscious.

"Tell me something."

"Huh?" said Cloud intelligently.

Zack flailed his outstretched arms a bit. "I mean, anything. Here, I'll go first. My favorite color is green."

Cloud wondered if it was because of Aeris' eyes. Green just made him think of mako and, yeah, not thinking about that. "Purple, I guess," he countered, closing his textbook and tilting his body in the uncomfortable desk chair to face Zack more fully. Purple, why not.

"Swords are the best, none of this long-distance rifle stuff."

"I agree." Cloud smiled a little.

Zack face scrunched up in thought. "Tseng's creepy as hell."

"Also agree. Then again, Turk."

"True. Uh. Girls wearing hiking boots with pink dresses are hot."

"Aren't you rather biased?"

"So?"

"Good point," Cloud acceded, then dared to put out one of his own. "Autumn is the best season."

"Lies!" Zack cried dramatically. "Spring. Or maybe summer. No, spring, in summer Gongaga gets like a hundred-twenty degrees and swarms of bugs that always try to eat your flesh. Okay, I take it back, the best weapon is bug-spray because, man, I value my flesh, thank you."

Cloud ducked his head, hiding the apparently permanent smile behind his hair. The pause was somewhere between awkward and relaxed, acquaintances wanting to get to know each other but not quite sure where to go. Finally, Zack said, "So, fairy tales?"

"What do you mean?"

"The book you gave Sephiroth. Some crazy titles in there."

Cloud shifted in his chair, self-conscious all over again. "They're stories from my…ancestors, I guess. The people that lived n the Nibel Mountains before ShinRa decided to build a reactor there. It's not a huge thing, but my mum, she's. Uh."

"Traditional?" Zack supplied.

"I guess that's one way to put it," he said, and started rambling, "Sephiroth's been in Nibelheim before, so I thought he'd like it. Which is silly, I know, but he's never really had anything that wasn't meant solely to be functional, and – "

"Hey, I'm not judging. So, what's your favorite?"

"I don't really have one."

"Aw, c'mon. Pick one."

"Er. Well, my mum's rather fond of the story of Týr and Fenrir. Fenrir was this giant wolf that the gods kept trying to chain down, but he broke out each time. So the dvergar – uh, dwarves, I guess? – made a rope out six impossible things, and Fenrir agreed to be tied down with it only if one of the gods sacrificed a hand. So Týr, this warrior of honesty and courage and stuff, volunteered, and Fenrir bit off his hand when he was chained up. Supposedly at the end of the world, Týr will be killed by the giant hound of Hel, one of the death goddesses."

"…Huh," said Zack, and Cloud flushed again.

"I think it's his willingness to lay down his life for the sake of others that makes her like it so much." But when does someone decide that some sacrifices aren't worth it? Where does someone draw the line between the courage of dying willingly and the courage to keep living? "She always says that our family's blessed by Hel, though, so even after all these years I'm still not really sure where she's coming from."

Zack was looking at him like he was seeing something he hadn't expected. Cloud wasn't really sure what to make of it, so he glanced down and idly picked at the cotton of his uniform trousers. "Do you have anything like that in Gongaga?" he asked, although he already knew, vaguely remembered long hours of Zack talking about anything and everything through the mako tubes until his voice was raw.

"Nah, we've just got the Touch Me frogs," and Cloud laughed aloud.

TO: Reeve Tuesti, Department of Urban Development, Director

FROM: General Sephiroth, Department of Civilian Defense

SUBJECT: Structural Support

Director Tuesti,

It has been brought to my attention from a number of my subordinates that there is an element of instability in the structural support of the Plate. I feel it is a matter best addressed jointly by our departments.

- General Sephiroth, SOLDIER 1st

TO: General Sephiroth, Department of Civilian Defense

FROM: Reeve Tuesti, Department of Urban Development, Director

SUBJECT: RE: Structural Support

General Sephiroth,

If there is indeed a danger to the Plate, I would like to discuss with you the evidence and possible solutions to the problem as soon as possible. The safety of the company and the people are of utmost importance. Please send me a timetable of your preferred available times to meet.

Sincerely,

Reeve Tuesti
Department of Urban Development, Director

"I missed your birthday?"

It was the weekend, a few days after Cloud had gone to Sephiroth's office, and Cloud had just discovered that having a friend like Elena who could and would hack into otherwise private files could be rather annoying.

"It's not a big deal."

"It was three months ago and you didn't tell me. How could I have missed your birthday?"

"Because I didn't tell you?" he ventured.

"Exactly! How could you?"

Cloud automatically ducked the blow to the back of his head but wasn't able to avoid being manhandled to his dresser. The few other cadets in the room were snickering as Cloud tried, "Elena, what – "

"Get dressed. Not in a uniform, mind you. We're going down to the Seventh Heaven again."

"But – "

"You didn't tell me about your birthday, so you owe me this. Here." She flung a pair of cheap black slacks at him, the kind issued to cadets for formal functions, a simple white button-down shirt, and a clean undershirt, similar to what she was wearing herself. "Put these on."

"But – "

She leaned against his bunk with her arms crossed and face stony. Cloud sighed and bid a fond farewell to his plans of training all day on his own as he quickly changed his clothes, and so it was that early on a Saturday evening he found himself sitting at the counter in Seventh Heaven nursing a beer and smiling at Elena's wild stories.

"So Kelga is hanging outside my window, right, and he's butt-naked while Dad's tearing up my room trying to find the guy, and I'm freaking out at this point. So by the time Dad gives up and leaves and Kelga crawls back through the window, his balls are literally blue."

"That doesn't actually happen, you know," Cloud said as he took a long pull.

"Does too, I saw it. You might be seventeen now, but you're about as horny as a monk."

He briefly debated telling her that he'd snuck into the army two years under the age limit and was technically fifteen. "I wouldn't say that if I were you. I've heard stories about monks."

"Ha, yeah, right, you're just saying that because you don't want to admit..."

It took Cloud a moment to realize that her attention had completely wandered. He glanced over to find her staring intently at the far side of the bar where he saw a very familiar figure wiping down the tables. "Tifa?"

"You know her?" Elena asked without looking away.

"Yeah, she's from Nibelheim too," he replied dazedly. What the hell?

"Well then." Elena slid to her feet, set her beer down deliberately, and straightened her clothes before yanking Cloud off his stool. "Introduce us."

"What?"

She pushed him towards Tifa. He stumbled a few times before finding his feet.

"Tifa?"

"Yes, can I help – Cloud?" When she turned and saw him, her eyes widened and her face split into a grin. Cloud felt an answering smile on his own face and didn't even flinch when she threw her arms around him. "Cloud, what're you doing here?"

"It's the weekend, ShinRa's letting the cadets off the leash for a little while. But what are you doing here?"

She laughed and put an arm behind her head sheepishly. "I might've been a little jealous of you getting out of the village, so a few months ago I convinced my dad to buy me tickets to get to Midgar. I've been working part-time here in the bar since then."

It was strange to hear another Nibel accent again. Cloud opened his mouth to say something about how hard it must've been to get Lockhart to let his only daughter go anywhere without a chaperone, but a hard elbow nudged him in the spine. Suppressing a wince, he said, "Tifa, I'd like you to meet Elena. She's in my squad. Elena, this is Tifa Lockhart."

Elena slid smoothly past him and took Tifa's gloved hand with an easy smile and a small toss of her long blonde hair. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Tifa. Cloud's told me so much about you."

He tried to look as though that were true.

"Oh dear, I hope it was all good," Tifa laughed, and Elena's smile turned lazy as she replied, "Oh, it was all good."

Cloud stayed where he was and tried to keep his jaw from dropping. Tifa was blushing slightly as Elena maneuvered her to a table and sat her down, all the while looking perfectly innocent and earnest. Cloud sat backwards in a chair, resting his forearms along its back, and watched.

"So what do you think of Midgar?" Elena was asking, voice pitched just right to be friendly without being nosy.

"It's different. I mean, there are so many people! And there aren't any monsters to worry about, no wolves or dragons wandering too close to the buildings. It's so busy. Um. Sorry, I sound like such a country girl," and Tifa's flush darkened. Cloud had the feeling that she didn't see how predatory Elena's smile was becoming.

"Nah, Midgar's got people from all over, your accent is hardly anything compared to some of the others. Even if Cloud doesn't think so."

Snorting, Cloud explained, "My squadmates still give me shit for being from the country. It's not my fault they're all so horrible with our survival classes."

Tifa laughed, and the three of them sat for a time just talking. Cloud was content to add the occasional commentary to Elena's conversation while Tifa smiled and gasped in all the right places, but mostly he just watched from the outside in. Tifa was still reserved, more inclined to simply listen to Elena – which suited Elena just fine, of course, her attention fixed on the other as she embellished her tales almost beyond the point of recognition.

"Cloud, you didn't!" Tifa suddenly cried, smacking him on the arm.

"No, I never put on women's clothing," he deadpanned.

Elena stuck out her tongue. "Denial isn't attractive, y'know. What would Sephiroth say?"

"Sephiroth? General Sephiroth?" Tifa echoed confusedly.

"About that," said Elena, but Cloud was saved from having to respond by someone yelling his name halfway across the bar.

"Zack?"

"Cloud, how could you!" boomed the SOLDIER as he draped himself against Cloud's shoulders and smooshed him against the back of the chair, wrapping long arms around him and hooking his chin over his shoulder. Confused by the unexpected contact, breath catching at the sudden familiar smell of Zack, Cloud had to consciously tell himself to relax before he tried to twist away. "I try to find you up at HQ but your squad buddies are all like 'he isn't here, sir' and I'm like 'where on earth would Cloud go besides a gym or classroom because he's a dork like that' and they're like 'Elena took him to the Seventh Heaven, sir' and I'm like 'why' and they're like 'because he didn't tell her that she missed his birthday.' Which is not cool, because dude. Birthday."

"But his birthday was back in August," Tifa pointed out, and was immediately pinned in place by two stares.

"You told her but not us?" Elena gasped, wounded.

"I grew up with her, Elena, of course she'd know," he grunted against the weight on his back. "Tifa, this is Lieutenant Zack Fair, SOLDIER Second. Zack, this is Tifa Lockhart. She's from Nibelheim too."

Cloud could feel Zack's grin against the side of his own face as Zack stuck out a hand without bothering to stand. "Nice to meet you, Tifa. I'll have to find you later so you can give me all the good blackmail on Cloud here."

"Not if I get there first," Elena said sweetly, and Cloud wished he could stop himself blushing.

"You ladies mind if I steal Cloud for a bit? I promise to get him home before midnight."

"Wait, what – "

"Of course not! Have fun, you two!" Elena waved cheerfully, utterly ignoring Cloud and Tifa's bewilderment. Cloud was hauled out of his chair and propelled towards the door, though not fast enough to miss hearing Elena comment, "If the lieutenant didn't already have a girlfrien, I'd say those two were totally doing each other."

Zack tripped over his own feet. Cloud shared the sentiment.

"What the hell, Zack? I haven't seen Tifa in ages."

"She's living in Midgar, isn't she? She'll still be here later."

Cloud knew he was undeniably sulking as Zack led him by the hand through the crowds of Sector Seven towards Sector Six. He didn't notice that even when the crowds thinned, Zack never released his wrist until they had to go through the hole in the wall behind the playground, and then all he could think about was how Aeris' house must be similar to what the Forgotten Capital had been like in its golden age. Patches of yellow flowers dotted the uneven terrain around the small, cozy house, effectively hiding what had once been a trash heap.

Aeris was standing on the front step as though expecting them. She held an apple in one hand and a peeler in the other, which she waved in the air as they approached. "There you two are! Mom and I have been waiting ages."

For a heartbreaking moment Cloud thought she meant Ifalna before he remembered Elmyra. He hung back, absently smiling, as Zack wrapped his arms around Aeris' waist and spun her in circles, making her squeal with laughter and cheerfully smack him with the blunt side of her fruit peeler. After he stole a kiss and set her back on her feet, Aeris turned to Cloud and held out her arms. "Well, come here, silly!"

Blinking, Cloud obediently stepped forward and hugged her gingerly. She huffed, wriggled out of his hold to hand her apple and peeler to Zack, then threw her arms around Cloud's neck and pressed herself against him.

"Er," he said.

"This is how you're supposed to hug someone," she told the curve of his shoulder. "Now get inside, both of you, we should help my mum finish her pies."

"Pies!" Zack crowed, narrowly missing Cloud's head with the apple.

Aeris sat at the kitchen table and watched the boys get bossed around by her mother. Zack had been set to work mixing ingredients in a large white bowl with a spatula, making him pull a long face at the boring job. Elmyra chopped the peeled apples while keeping an eye on Cloud, who was laying dough into shallow pans and crimping the edges. He was conscientious and careful and had obviously been roped into the same duty by his own mother many times before.

"How come she likes Cloud, but not me? He works for ShinRa too, y'know," Zack whispered across the kitchen table, and Aeris giggled at his scowl without taking her eyes off Cloud. The boy was listening to something Elmyra said before nodding and replying with a respectful, "Yes, ma'am." Unlike the first time they'd met, the Planet was quiet, content to hum softly inside of him like a giant housecat.

"Because you don't need the same things that Cloud does," she murmured, distracted by the Planet's purring. Zack poked at a few stubborn lumps of sugar in the mix thoughtfully.

"You said he's a Cetra too, right? Do you think…was he in Hojo's lab too?"

She blinked and finally looked away from the interaction in the kitchen. "What makes you think that?"

"I think he and Sephiroth knew each other a long time ago, so I thought that if Cloud was like you, well. Even though he says he isn't. Maybe he was there?"

Timid as his voice was, Aeris smiled to let him know that she wasn't angry about him bringing up such a horrible subject. "I don't ever remember seeing him, but he might've been kept in another part of the lab. It was a long time ago, too, so maybe I just don't remember at all."

"I feel like I'm missing something that's right in front of my face," Zack said quietly. "It's annoying. There's something going on between him and Sephiroth, and Sephiroth's told me a little – more than most people know, actually – and Cloud isn't exactly a talker himself. These nightmares he gets, and the effect he has on Genesis…"

Seeing Elmyra still distracted by Cloud, Aeris leaned across the table and took one of Zack's hands. He sounded frustrated, but sad, too. "Are you worried about him?"

"Well, yeah," he said. "I mean, look at him. He's like this little package of, of 'on a mission'and 'I've got a lot of weight on my shoulders but won't admit it' and, I dunno."

Aeris had been with Zack long enough to understand what he was trying to say. "Well, that's when you decide if you think he's worth sticking around or not. If he isn't, then bug out before either of you gets hurt. But if he is, then all you can do is your best."

Zack watched Cloud coax Elmyra into taking a break so he could take over the apple slicing. He said slowly, "I haven't really known him long, y'know. But the way he looks at me, and you too, for that matter, it's like. Like he's really seeing you. It's weird, but I think he might really be worth whatever happens."

Aeris listened as the Planet continued humming through the oblivious Cloud.

The burn scar on the side of Hojo's face was itching uncomfortably when one of his assistants came to his side. "Sir," the man said (Hojo didn't know his name, but it hardly mattered when ShinRa sent him a constant stream of incompetent help), "I think you might be interested in this."

"Will it solve the problem of finding a way to introduce higher amounts of mako into a human body without breaking the cellular walls? Will it find a way around the finite ATP-producing capabilities of a mitochondrion?" he demanded irritably, taking a step back when his latest specimen oozed too much fluid and it spilled over the edge of the table. Useless.

"It might," the assistant said firmly. He was obviously unsettled by the results of the failed experiment, which was just one more indication that the assistant would never rise to the position of a true scientist, but at least his expression was determined.

"Well?" Hojo went over to a sink to rinse the blood from his gloves. "What is it, then?"

"There's a rumor going around the cadet barracks that one of the newer recruits already has mako – "

"Impossible, I would've known about it."

A short pause, then, "It seems the mako didn't come from an official source. I took the liberty of ordering a copy of the cadet's medical records from Doctor Libra's office."

"From the man himself?" Hojo didn't like him. He was far too soft a personality to be an effective doctor in such a high position, even after having served in Wutai, and made no secret of his distaste for Hojo's methods. One would think that a battlefield would kill off such weakness.

"No, one of the other doctors under his direction. Apparently Libra's been checking up on the boy regularly himself. Here are his notes."

Hojo flicked water from his gloves and took the proffered papers, skimming them. He didn't realize that his fingers were tightening on the pages.

"You're absolutely sure that this is correct? This is complete?"

"Yes, sir."

If the assistant wasn't lying and if Libra wasn't as incompetent as his manner suggested, then this cadet had been poisoned with mako at a very young age and assimilated it with negligible mental side effects. His mind hadn't snapped and his damn mitochondria were obviously in fine condition, if he was still breathing. Flipping to the basic information on the cadet's profile, one word immediately stood out: Nibelheim. There was no such thing as coincidence in Hojo's science.

"I want this cadet in my office by the end of the week. Make it happen."

"Yes, sir, but…"

Canting a sidelong look at the assistant, Hojo sneered. "Do it and you get a raise. Work it out with the payroll people, it's what they're there for."

Maybe the assistant wasn't useless, but he was no man of science, just another bottom-feeder trying to profit from something he didn't understand.

Later that same Saturday, Cloud and Elena were sitting in one of the small courtyards that dotted the ShinRa complex. There were no plants, but there were benches arranged around a fountain under the open sky, and at that time of the evening there was no one else around. Cloud wrapped both hands around his paper cup, warmed by coffee that was only slightly burned and not too much like sludge, while Elena sprawled across two-thirds of the bench and rested her head on his leg. It was warm and muggy with the slow transition from summer to autumn.

"So. Tifa?" Cloud said as the silence stretched unusually long for Elena being around.

The girl huffed and bit her lip and made a face before finally shrugging. "Well, I've always said brunettes were the most attractive."

"About the same time you got me drunk and molested me?" said Cloud casually, and grinned when Elena had to twist her arm awkwardly to smack him.

"You were better than nothing, asshole."

He hummed noncommittally. "I guess I drove you away from men, then?"

"No," Elena barked irritably. She wriggled on the bench a bit before admitting, "No, it's just…um. She's. Like, really pretty. You know?"

"Yes," Cloud said dryly.

"I don't know,I never really looked at other girls before. Guys, sure, occasionally, but a lot of them are - well. You know." Her eyes flicked away as she seemed to remember old hurts before turning back to him. "Tifa's just – different. I think. Gods, she's got killer legs but it's like she doesn't even realize it, y'know?"

"She doesn't, most of the time," Cloud agreed mildly, thinking of Tifa's awkwardness when she wore a satin dress the night before he left the village, the short skirt that was at odds with knuckles made large with training, how easily she adapted to rare showers and the dirt of constant travel when they chased Sephiroth around the world.

Elena fell silent. Cloud sipped his coffee patiently.

"I hate being a teenager," she muttered. "Shit like this isn't supposed to happen."

"It's not the end of the world." There was no way he could keep out the heavy note of irony. "Elena, it doesn't have to be a big deal if you don't want it to be."

"Tell that to my father. He's bad enough when I bring a guy home."

"At least you won't get pregnant."

Her burst of laughter nearly knocked the coffee out of hands, and he quickly raised his arms until she settled again. "How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Not care about this stuff."

Cloud tilted his head back to look up at the night sky, tinted orange by the city's light pollution. "It's not that I don't care, I just…have other things to worry about."

She leaned her head back to see him properly, the back of her skull digging into the meat of his thigh. "You don't want that, what's it called, that 'human connection' or whatever?"

Hard to say when one wasn't even quite sure he was human anymore. Didn't know what he was and not sure he wanted to, and it was hard to say when he'd seen sex used as both a weapon and a comfort and sometimes both at once. He shrugged. "Elena, it doesn't matter to me what you decide you are. But if you hurt Tifa, I'll hurt you."

"That macho bullshit just makes you sound like an asshole, you know."

This time, when the silence returned, it was comfortable. The back of Elena's neck was warm, her long hair spilling over into his lap without embarrassment, and who needed sex when this kind of intimacy was possible? For a moment he sharply missed Fenrir and the way the wolf would curl against his back at night.

"Did you hear that?" he asked suddenly, tilting his head to listen more carefully. Midgar was never really quiet, with the trains and crowds and creaking of skyscrapers, but he swore he'd heard something underneath all that.

"Hear what?" Elena sat up, reaching for the very much illegal firearm under her coat. She'd probably stolen it just to see if she could and carried it because she shouldn't. Cloud set down his coffee and reached for the small knife in his boot. "I don't know, I – "

Hands grabbed Elena and yanked her off the bench so roughly that her pistol spun uselessly away into the courtyard. Cloud was up and moving before they could grab him, falling into a roll and coming up on his feet behind their attackers. Four men, he identified immediately, two trying to hold down a hissing and spitting Elena and two more after Cloud. They were too slow turning, were probably surprised by Cloud's sudden action, and he was able to stab one from behind in the kidney before the second grabbed his shoulder. Holding on to the dying man, Cloud twisted sharply and knocked the second attacker away with sheer force of momentum before letting the body drop dead to the ground. The Planet writhed in the back of his head, distracting him with a sharp flare of pain.

"Get the fuck off of me!" Elena was screaming. She managed to kick in the knee of one of her attackers before getting pinned to the ground, head held still by large hands gripping her hair and pulling until she was nearly scalped.

Cloud's world narrowed down to the simple kill or be killed. He saw Elena, nearly sobbing with helpless fury, and he saw an enemy, and his grip on the blood-slick knife tightened. The man that he'd knocked away had gotten back to his feet, but then Cloud's knife found his throat.

"Drop your weapon or we kill the girl!" one of the men holding Elena yelled, but Cloud was faster. The third man was dead by the time he hit the ground, and the fourth didn't even hesitate to release Elena and take off running. Cloud threw his knife, but long-range fighting had never been his specialty and so he only managed to stick the man in the side and not the throat.

And then the man was gone. Cloud was left standing with three bodies and a crying Elena. He looked at her blankly for a moment, body vibrating with adrenaline while his mind tried to remind him to breathe.

"Elena," he murmured, falling to his knees and pulling her into his arms, "Elena, it's all right, they're gone."

Elena sobbed into his shoulder, shaking with anger and shock. It had all happened so fast, so completely from left field, and Cloud was feeling very old as he fumbled for his PHS, keeping one arm around Elena's shoulders as he punched in a number.

"Fifi's Massage Parlor, where all your dreams – "

"Zack, I need you to get down to the first-floor courtyard right now," Cloud said evenly. "Elena and I were attacked."

"Holy shit, Cloud!"

"Just get here, Zack, please," he repeated tiredly, then hung up his PHS and put his other arm around Elena as well.

Zack wouldn't forget the details of that night for a very long time.

By the time he managed to get down to the courtyard, less than ten minutes had passed. Under the stark yellow light of the streetlamp he found Elena curled in the circle of Cloud's arms, trembling, with the unmistakable shape of three bodies and enough blood to fill a bathtub staining the pavement. It never ceased to amaze him just how much blood was in a human body.

He'd been talking with Angeal for the first time since the Banora mission when he got Cloud's call. Uncomfortable, his heart already twisted up because of Angeal, Zack had immediately called Sephiroth while Angeal followed him to the elevators. Sephiroth remained eerily silent while Zack related what little he knew, then commanded that Cloud and Elena be taken to Libra's infirmary as discretely as possible. Zack wondered if this was related to Sephiroth's paranoia about Hojo, which wouldn't be paranoia at all but common fucking sense.

"Cloud, what the hell happened?" he demanded, kneeling next to the duo and looking them both over. He couldn't see any obvious injuries, although it looked like Elena's hair had been yanked hard enough to leave blood at her hairline.

"We were sitting on the bench when four men came out of nowhere," Cloud said lowly. "Two went for Elena and held her down. The other two went for me. I killed three but one escaped." He cursed softly. "Damnit, lost my knife, too."

Zack wasn't sure if he should approve of Cloud keeping track of where his weapons went or disturbed that he was capable of doing so in the middle of action. "Did you know them?"

"No, and they didn't say anything."

Which suggested it wasn't something personal or a sick prank. "Who the hell did you manage to piss off now, kiddo?"

The rhetorical question made Cloud's mouth twist. Angeal, inspecting the three bodies, said, "I recognize them. They're the Regulars that Hojo has assigned to his own command."

Zack blinked. "A scientist can do that?"

"A scientist in Hojo's position, yes," the general replied softly, and he turned to Cloud. "They were killed very efficiently."

"They were hurting Elena," he said simply. Elena had stopped crying and was now just sitting with her face pressed into Cloud's shoulder, looking very small.

"I'll take care of these bodies. Zack, will you get them both to the infirmary? I'm sure Sephiroth is out of his mind by now."

"Sephiroth?" Cloud echoed.

"I called him on the way down," Zack told him. "He was real quiet."

Cloud muttered something under his breath that made Angeal snort. With Zack's help, he got Elena to stand up, and she stared at the ground while hugging herself. "Elena?" Cloud tried gently, but she didn't respond. It looked like he was going to reach out for her again before he noticed the blood liberally streaking his arms and clothes and winced.

"C'mon, let's get you both cleaned up." Zack put a hand on Elena's shoulder to steer her and an arm around Cloud's shoulders. He was a little shaken to realize that Cloud could've died or disappeared and he wouldn't have even known.

By the time Sephiroth could get off shift without being suspicious and be down in the infirmary, he was ready to kill something with anxiety. He knew Cloud could take care of himself – hell, Cloud had once been a match for Sephiroth himself, apparently – but he was only fifteen now and in a mortal body and could make perfectly human mistakes like anyone else and...yes. Just breathe.

"General," Dr. Libra said with some surprise as Sephiroth swept through the infirmary doors and into his office. "Is something wrong?"

"I'm here to see Cloud. Strife, that is." Damn it. Be professional.

The doctor's brow wrinkled and a cold knot of fear began twisting up Sephiroth inside. "Private Strife hasn't been here since his bi-monthly exam last week."

"Are you certain?"

"Yes, sir, I always treat him myself."

But Sephiroth was already storming away with his phone in hand, mentally willing Zack to pick up on the other end. When he was taken to voicemail, he snapped the phone closed and strode on faster.

If Cloud had a gil for every time he woke up disoriented and with a pounding head, he'd have been able to buy that summer house in Costa del Sol and the whole damn town at the same time. Instead of panicking, he waited for the screeching in his head to die down to a dull roar before opening his eyes very slowly, letting them adjust to the light.

Except that the light was intense, forcing them closed again. So he tested his limbs, pleased to feel them respond but confused when he realized that they were strapped down to a hard surface. Infirmary. He must've had another night-terror and been taken to Libra, except he didn't remember going to sleep. He'd spent the evening with Zack and Aeris, and then came back to the ShinRa compound to hang out with Elena in one of the little courtyards…there was a fight, he thought they must've been attacked…blood, but that was nothing new…Zack, Zack was there, and Angeal? Yes, Angeal was going to take care of the bodies while Zack took Cloud and Elena to the infirmary, except…they never got there. There'd been a commotion, Elena yelling and the flash of Zack's buster sword.

"You're awake. Finally. I was beginning to think that the incompetence of my inferiors was beginning to outweigh their occasional usefulness."

The voice, that voice that was like sandpaper on the inside of his skin.

Cloud woke up in a lab.