AN: Chapter ten- hallelujah! With school starting tomorrow I was sooo busy this past week. But I have finished this relatively short, tie-together chapter! I hope you enjoy it, please leave a review if you love it or hate it so I can know what I was strong in or weak in. Thank you for reading! :) And thank you thank you thank you to all who reviewed before! I get all warm and bubbly inside when I see encouragement and realize that yes, people actually are entertained by my work. xD I scream and throw my hands in the air every time, like the dork I am. Anyway, onto Chapter Ten!
CHAPTER TEN: New Issues, New Allies
Cloud couldn't think. He couldn't think, he couldn't concentrate, and he couldn't stand one more moment with Leon. The man was completely insufferable. The ride to Hollow Bastion was fine, and the blonde had even managed to sneak in a phone call to Zack and Aerith after dinner at one of the modest restaurants in the city, but the night in the dinky little hotel room had soured the warm feelings between the two close friends. As the hours had passed, the scarred brunette was becoming more and more unsettled, and woke Cloud up often throughout the night to question him and inquire if he was alright. Morning finally came and Leon wouldn't allow Cloud to control the motor bike. And so the blonde was stuck wrapping his arms around the man's slim middle, grumbling and spitting into his back every few minutes.
"Cloud, stop talking, please."
"I can't help it! How can you stand all those goddamned devils spread throughout the entire fucking Military? They're all evil, Leon, and you're too good to be a part of the treachery they take part in. Goddamned demons, devils, thieves, murderers-
"Cloud, that's traitorous talk, please try to hold your tongue?"
"No! I've held my tongue for the last decade and I am sick of hiding behind this stupid façade! The Church is trying so hard to bring this country back to peace and goodness but the fucking higher-ups and Rufus- dear Gods, that idiotic president has to go!"
"Is this really how you feel, or is this the influence talking?"
The blonde man paused but he couldn't concentrate fully on the question. It was like the line between his mind and his mouth had snapped and a new wire had been fixed from his heart to his tongue.
"Of course this is how I feel, damn it! Haven't you been listening? The Military is full of corrupt dogs just climbing over each other's corpses trying to crawl their way to the top! If it wasn't for the greed and vanity of man there would never be a civil war."
Leon tossed him a scathing look over his shoulder before directing his gaze back onto the sun-bleached highway they were riding on. The barren, cracked lands around Hollow Bastion had bled into flat fields of golden wheat and thriving crops, growing larger and more vibrant the further they traveled north. The fields and the road both ahead and behind were eerily empty, though. They'd only passed one supply truck in the last few hours of riding and it was enlightening to see the peoples' silent fear of the Military. Which Cloud voiced, of course.
After a while, Leon cut through one of his drawn-out rants about the sins and sleaze of the Turks- but how Reno was so good despite the despicable group he ran with- with an interested question that stopped Cloud dead.
"What about Sephiroth? You've only said something positive about me and Reno, who you barely know I thought, but what do you think about the General?"
Many thoughtless moments passed in which Cloud's heart cried out with emotion and indiscernible words. But he knew exactly what it was saying, and his mouth was opening before his brain could shriek for him to STOP.
"Sephiroth's heart is good. I know it is, his mind is just not so great. I could never hurt him though; I love him as much as I hate him, and I hate him enough to want to kill him sometimes but I would never really do that of course. Is it wrong of me to think that? But right and wrong doesn't really count when it comes to Sephiroth. He's on an entirely different level, isn't he? Something could be considered wrong but if he did it it would suddenly be right and good and acceptable. But that's okay since he tries to help people. He has practically the same amount of power as Rufus Shinra but never abuses it. I think that's why I fell in love with him. I think that's why it kills me to even think about revealing my association with Aerith and Zack and the whole Church resilience to him. I think that's why I go insane when I try to plan a way to get him on my side; on the Church's side. What do you think, Leon?"
The brunette didn't answer, and didn't say another word the entire way to the North Branch HQ. He ignored Cloud's continuous ramblings and finally pulled to a stop when the massive skyscrapers and few colossal but squat buildings came into view. Cloud barely noticed that they had stopped and just kept talking, climbing off of the bike after Leon. He only halted when a sharp pain shot through his neck, and stared into stormy gray eyes in confusion.
Leon was talking, and so he focused on the lips, deciphering the words that reached his ears after a few moments, "- you probably don't understand me right now, but this is for the best, Cloud. I'm not going to let your secrets be revealed, alright? You'll feel better when you wake up, I promise."
The blonde didn't understand. He only knew that his limbs were becoming heavy and his entire being felt hazy and stifled. His eyes fluttered shut and the last thing he felt was a pair of strong arms catching him carefully.
He dreamt of explosions and a vibrant gold dome enclosing a giant city of light and flowers. As fire, belting smoke, and twisted metal crawled over the golden barrier, people ran through the streets, crying out and ducking away from the deafening sounds and scrambling across the shuddering streets. He dreamt he was standing just inside the wall of energy, above a small prone body trembling on the ground. He saw the boy's fingertips digging into the earth and heard the weak cries tearing from a winded throat. He heard the fire screaming just feet away, only separated from the boy by a weakening barrier. He felt the heat of the flames and the desperation that was seeping from the brunette on the quaking ground. He smelled burning metal and the sickening waft of burning flesh coming from the wreckage building up on the walls of the dome.
He saw the army of Military vehicles grind to a halt when the first twenty or so trucks and cycles didn't break through the protective gold. He saw troops with heavy artillery filtering out of the vehicles and sprinting towards the mess of shattered metal and crumpled and broken bodies. He saw how the familiar boy's muscles trembled and the concentration clouding the brunette's deathly pale face.
Cloud crouched down next to the boy and grasped the thin arms, pulling the teenager up onto his knees, but he couldn't tear the grasping hands from the dirt. Sky-blue eyes lifted and locked onto Cloud's darker cobalt as the blonde clutched small shoulders with resolve.
"Cloud Strife?" A small, shocked voice murmured.
"You're going to be okay, Sora." Cloud whispered faithfully, smiling at the drained Angel before him, "You just need to hold on. Riku won't let you fail. He won't fail you."
A watery smile stretched thin lips and Sora nodded briskly, "Thanks, Cloud. You should get back to yourself now, before you get lost."
Feeling as if he understood every single thing that was going on, when logically he knew he had no idea about anything, he nodded somberly and closed his eyes against Sora's trusting smile.
When he opened them once more, he was staring at a head of long silver hair bent over a desk in despair. Hands were tangled in the silky strands in a clear sign of frustration, and Cloud started at the broken appearance of an undeniably un-breakable man.
"Sephiroth?"
The General didn't look up. After a few more seconds the man sighed and picked up the phone on the familiar desk. Cloud witnessed the several seconds of waiting and observed the conflicted poison green eyes of the soldier he was so conflicted about.
"Doctor Even, have they arrived yet?"
Cloud stepped forward and rapped on the desk twice. Sephiroth didn't give any indication that he noticed.
"I see… no, I don't need to talk to Colonel Leonhart, thank you. Just contact me when he's woken. Yes. No, I haven't. Goodbye, doctor."
The phone was set down and those long, elegant hands were splayed over the paper-laden desk as Sephiroth inhaled and exhaled deeply. Cloud reached forward tentatively, placing his hand over one of the tense ones.
"Cloud…"
His eyes snapped up in shock, but Sephiroth looked as if he was staring through the blonde, rather than at him. Cloud still withdrew his hand cautiously.
"Sephiroth?"
"What am I supposed to do with you, Cloud?"
The words were so heartfelt and agonized that the younger soldier's heart stuttered in response. The ever-so-powerful General was speaking so softly and tenderly about him- low and insignificant Cloud Strife. The puppet master was ruminating deeply over the puppet. Sephiroth looked back down and Cloud blinked.
When his eyes opened this time, though, he was staring up at a stark white ceiling that shone brightly with false light, making him wince under the onslaught of pain daggering into his skull. A steady beeping was coming from the left somewhere close to where he lay on a completely starched white bed and under sheets. Unlike the strange dream-like awakenings before, he could feel his wounds pulsating dully. Probably numbed with some kind of medication, but he could pinpoint the gunshots with excruciating accuracy. He hadn't noticed it before, on the way to the North, and he wondered at that curiously.
And then he remembered with total clarity every word he'd said to Leon.
"Shit." He whispered, eyes widening and darting around the room. He had to get out. Surely by now Squall would have told someone about his betrayal.
Sitting up was harder than it should have been, harder than he thought it would be, but he fought against the straining pain around his wounds and was upright, panting lightly, within a minute. Shaking, his hands grasped the side of the bed and he swung his body around, letting the bottoms of his feet flatten against the ice-cold flooring of what looked like a hospital room. The machines that were hooked up to him were swiftly disconnected, only making him wince when he had to pull tubes out of his veins. The walls were white and blank, with a rack of medical supplies lining one wall and a sink and countertop on the other. The wall with the door was almost completely made of glass, but there were blinds on the inside that were shuttered closed for privacy. Cloud glanced at the machines surrounding the bed and barely heard the high squeals of protest they were giving. Mindlessly, he leaned down to rip the cords from the wall, breath stuttering as the shock of pressure on his abdomen swept through him.
His mind went hazy and his body slumped to the floor so hard his head spun. The room that he could see was spinning, and he could see three hands where he knew there should have only been one facing the ceiling, limp and empty-palmed. A whoosh of air met his ears and was followed by a strangled growl he knew all too well.
That one familiarity gave him the strength to push himself onto his elbows, twisting his body to look towards the door, but Leon was already kneeling over him, strong hands grasping his upper arms and pulling him onto his knees, just as he had done with Sora what seemed like moments ago.
"Damn it, Cloud, what the hell is wrong with you!"
"I don't like hospitals." Cloud snapped as the scarred man helped him back onto the bed, though he couldn't be persuaded to lie down. He sat on the edge and stared up at Leon, suddenly remembering why he had felt so much urgency to get out. Leon knew. Who had he told so far? Cloud needed to get Reno and get out of the East as soon as possible. Gods damn that foolish Clandestine! What the hell did she think she was doing, influencing him like that? Now the whole plan was fucked. The decade-long plan that had been moving along so perfectly before those Gods damned Clandestines stepped in, completely ruined.
But Leon was talking again, and he resolved to lament about the wreckage of the Church's golden opportunity later- once he was away from the Military.
"We're not in a hospital, dumbass. We're at North HQ. Vexen already injected you with some kind of serum that should have cancelled out the Clandestine influence. How are you feeling?"
"Fine," Cloud murmured, much more subdued, "…serum?"
Leon shrugged, shifting his weight onto one leg and crossing his arms in a comfortably uncomfortable looking stance, "Doctor Even said it was a mixture of chemicals that restored balance to your brain. Unfortunately, that means the Clandestine influence on your body is gone as well, so it'll take a while longer for you to heal."
"Right."
They stayed silent for a few too-long minutes, in which Cloud's eyes were locked on the floor as his mind cranked at a hundred miles per hour, going through every situation he could think of as to how he was going to get himself and Reno out of this alive. It wasn't looking good. Leon just watched him, gaze flickering over his body and face as if trying to gauge his thoughts or the level of pain he was feeling.
The typically easy silence was quickly becoming awkward for the first time ever, so the blonde soldier was relieved when the door swung open once more to admit Doctor Even himself in a floor-length white lab coat and trusty clipboard tucked into the crook of his arm. Long platinum hair was surprisingly groomed back into a ponytail and shined cleanly in the light. A usual lined and twisted face was practically glowing with health and vitality, crazed emerald eyes were sharp but with more intelligence than insanity. Cloud had to wonder what had happened recently for the scientist to go through such a dramatic transformation. Whatever it was, though, the blonde hoped it continued. For once, Vexen looked human.
And damn did those eyes seem to actually glimmer when they took in Cloud's state, and thin lips flickered as if in an attempt at smiling.
"Brigadier Strife. It's wonderful to see you awake and already in extreme throes of panic. I assure you that everything with you is going well, your recovery should be fast if you decide to enjoy your promotion time here with my medicines. Also, the attacks on the Military have all been wrapped up. There's no reason to concern yourself over the state of the war right this moment, although I would like to talk with you later about what you went through under influence. As I have already discussed with your friend here, the Clandestine people have so many sneaky ways of getting into a person's head, and Gods know what that woman did to yours. Hopefully the connection is broken but I would like to monitor you for the next two or three days to be sure."
Cloud could only nod, puzzled and shocked at the 180 turn everything just took. So… he wasn't going to be thrown in front of a fire squad? He was in the clear? Vexen was talking bullshit, he knew that, but why would he…?
"There's also a few someones here to see you." The doctor smirked ironically and opened the door once more, waving to the 'someones' in the hall.
Leon stepped back to the side of the bed, shuffling out of the way so that there could be more maneuverability space in the small room. Three people filed in past the doctor, making Cloud's eyebrows rise more and more at the sight. First came Reno, who immediately went to his bedside and sneered almost angrily, and then came Axel Sinclair, following close behind his brother. From the rear came Roxas, with a test-tube shaped vial of what looked like blood hanging from a chain around his neck, nestling right over where his heart would be. It looked like he was doing a lot better than what Cloud had last heard.
No one said a word, so Vexen once more broke the silence by motioning Leon out of the room, saying something about needing him to sign papers. When the door closed behind the two, Reno finally greeted Cloud with a palm to the side of his head.
"What the hell was that for?" the blonde snapped rubbing at his temple in agitation and straightening back up from the blow, glaring at his ally darkly.
Gray-blue eyes flashed and arms crossed tightly in uncharacteristic somberness, "Dumb shit, you almost got yourself killed!"
"Running in the middle of a group of Clandestine commanders is suicide, got it memorized?" said Reno's little brother, whose poison-green eyes were just as sharp as the Turk's.
Cloud jerked back at the words and emotion in the young man's eyes, stunned that Axel cared when they hadn't even really met each other. And then Roxas, the odd one out, spoke up quietly,
"I'm glad you're alright, sir. I've heard that you were keeping tabs on Axel and I for Reno, so I'd like to say thanks."
Sapphire eyes met shadowy cobalt for a few moments before Cloud nodded slightly to the teenager, trying to keep his head straight in all the sudden confusion. He just woke up and this was almost too much to handle at the moment. Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself enough to turn on Reno.
"Sinclair, what's going on here?"
He didn't have to say more; his ally of a almost half a decade understood immediately. Reno waved dismissively at Axel and Roxas, but the hand motion completely belied his words,
"I came to conduct investigation of the break-in here previous to the most recent attack, and ended up running into these idiots. After Roxas started gettin' better, and with the amount of investigation now goin' on over the Clandestine follow-up of the Church assault, I'm pretty much stuck here with 'em for now. It's given the three of us plenty of time to talk, too."
Cloud analyzed the subtle slang usage within the Turk's words and narrowed his eyes when he recognized it as a sign of nervousness. The redhead's drawn-out city drawl almost shielded it completely, but Cloud hadn't gotten to the point he was at by being inattentive, "Reno…"
"What?! I couldn't help it; my own little brother called me a filthy dog of the Military that heeled on command! What the hell was I supposed to do?"
"Not give everything away!" the blonde was yelling now, pushing himself to his feet unsteadily so that he could get in the slum rat's face.
"Oi, Cloud."
He rounded on Axel angrily, swaying only a little with the movement. The younger Sinclair was staring at him soberly, a protective hand firmly attached to Roxas's shoulder.
Before he could utter a single thing, Axel dipped his head slightly, meeting his eyes with a fierceness that Cloud had yet to see in the older brother, "We're a part of your secret now, got it? So get over it. If it means protecting Roxas, and my stupid brother, then I'm all in. I've already gone too far now to do anything else, so don't even think about telling me to mind my own business. This is my business now."
Cloud stared him down, then Roxas, then Reno, and couldn't think of a single thing to say. They had found their allies in the North. So he just nodded respectfully, sitting back down on the bed.
"So… what now?" Roxas asked it in such a bland, uninterested way that the Brigadier just about failed to notice the note of apprehension that the words were carried with.
Reno hummed, humor lighting in his eyes once more as the tense moment passed, "Well, Roxas, you're still recovering, Cloud is about as useful as a chocobo with a broken leg" at this Cloud stiffened indignantly, but the redhead rolled on without apology "and there's still a hell of a lot of paperwork to do here. So, to answer your question, I think we're going to be stuck here for a while yet. Which gives us the chance to just relax for now. Sound good?"
No one could object to that, and with a dramatic cheer Reno threw himself onto the medical bed, jostling Cloud and receiving a deserved smack to the head. Axel and Roxas just smiled. After almost a half an hour of relaxation and mild conversation, Cloud finally voiced the question he'd been wondering about since he first woke up.
"Reno, why is everyone calling me 'Brigadier' and 'sir'?"
AN: Next chapter- Demyx and Axel. Finally, one of the pairings will come together. :) I'll get to writing when I can, but with school starting it may take a little while longer than usual. I promise to update AT LEAST once every two weeks, though. Hopefully things will be easier now that the story is up that hill and the wheels are steadily approaching that sudden decline. You know the one; the fast rush of plot that seems to be on paper before you even have a chance to think it through. That's the best part. Leave me a review if you wanna, if you don't then I suppose I'll imagine a review you would have written. :D Thank you, see you next chapter!
