~******~
Cloud teetered of the the edge of consciousness and sleep precariously, warmth weighing down his eyes. Slowly sensations started to penetrate through his slumber, and he couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. Someone was above him, looking down. He felt no weight on his body, so they had to be standing. He realized that someone had clasped his hand in theirs. Yet something about the feeling wasn't familiar. He opened his eyes.
Tifa was leaning over him with a worried expression, the light shining from behind her head creating a disorienting blur. He unconsciously tugged his hand away without thinking about it, and regretted it after the hurt expression on her face.
Cloud sat up, immediately looking around the room, but not finding what he was looking for. At the disappointed look on his face, Tifa's face fell into worry. Apparently they knew what he was looking for and weren't to happy with it. He cut to the chase and spoke up.
"Where is he?" he asked abruptly. Tifa flinched and stood up. She looked over at Barret, who to this point, Cloud hadn't noticed was there, which was odd considering the man's size.
"If you're talking about who I think you are, we moved him to the next room over. Most of us wanted to sit in on you, but couldn't stand staring at the man's face without wanting to blow a few holes through him. He hasn't woken up yet."
"Woken up?" Cloud asked putting a hand to his head after glaring at Barret when he stated his feelings on their ex-enemy, well likely enemy still in their minds. "What happened, how long have I been out?"
"I don't know, those two won't tell me fucking thing" Barret said with a glower, his arms crossed
"Those two?" Cloud asked, completely lost now. He slid to his feet out of the bed and ignored Tifa reaching out to him. She dropped her hand.
"You don't even know that? Shit, what's the last thing you remember, how long have you been out?"
"I wouldn't be asking if I had any clue, are you going to tell me anything at all or not?" Cloud said starting to sound a little irritated.
"Cloud." Tifa said from beside him, putting her hand on his arm. This time he jerked away intentionally.
"Don't. Touch. Me." He bit out to her, not even touched by her horrified look. He vaguely wondered why it didn't seem to affect him like before. There had been many a time he couldn't stand the thought of hurting her. Now he was almost indifferent. He almost paused to apologize out of habit, but when he realized what he was doing, he gritted his teeth and held it back. He was trying not to do things just to please people.
"Fuck, Cloud, what happened to you" Barret mumbled. The door opened a moment later, followed by the entrance of Cid Highwind.
"Oh, you're awake" Cid said. "Well I guess that doc isn't completely incompetent" He murmured to himself.
"Do you mean..." Cloud searched his head for a name for a moment. "Louis?" Cid looked at him a little surprised.
"We'll you seem chipper. What happened to the arguing I was hearing a moment ago?" Cloud was about to answer when Cid just continued on without waiting for one. "Yeah Louis, that jackass said you would probably be waking up soon. He said the other one would still be a while."
"He's alright?" Cloud said quietly. Cid nodded solemnly, not knowing what to make of Cloud at the moment. "The last thing I remember is him falling," Cloud continued, "and I know I jumped after him, but after that is a whole bunch of jumbled dreams." Cloud ran a hand into his hair and left it resting there for a moment. "Though I feel different." He murmured, more to himself than anyone else, he let his hand fall over his mouth and rest there as he seemed to fade off in thought.
"I'll take you to him now if you want, Vincent's been keeping an eye on him since we switched you two to different rooms." Cloud nodded, walked over to where Cid was waiting, and followed him out of the room.
Cloud entered the room a little tentatively, strangely nervous about seeing the commander once more, not wanting to see him in anything other than his best condition. He forgot to remember to breathe when he looked over to the bed Sephiroth was laying on and it looked as if he were just dreaming quietly there.
Cloud glanced to his side in question and found the scientist who perpetrated all this standing there. Louis gave him a curious look, through the glasses on his face, and Cloud returned the look with slight confusion. Louis slipped the glasses off of his face with a sigh.
"You're right" he said to Cloud, though nothing had been said yet. "It was silly to think I'd look like a more respectable scientist with these on" He finished looking at the glasses a little forlornly, like a kid having to put away a favored toy.
"You have a real problem with sincerity" Vincent spoke up, and for the first time Cloud noticed he was in the room. He looked over to see Vincent was almost blending into the shadows in the corner completely, he was situated in a chair, and far enough from Sephiroth not to be considered watching closely, but there was an intensely solid aura about him that spoke volumes of how long he'd been sitting there. Cloud stared at him. Vincent returned his gaze.
"Ah" Louis laughed a little nervously "I guess can't handle serious situations well unless I'm behind a computer monitor or other lab equipment." he paused for a moment, noticing the heaviness of the air in the room.
"I don't know when he'll wake up." He said softly to Cloud before he left the room. "It could be a day, or indefinitely, I think there may be something wrong but I can't find anything." He closed the door behind him.
"Is what he says true?" Cloud asked after he was gone. Vincent shrugged.
"He would know best." Vincent answered. Cloud nodded and walked over to sit on the bed, facing Vincent. He leaned back on his arms, making not to disturb the sleeping Sephiroth and looked up at the cealing. He sighed.
"So you guys came after me huh," He looked down at Vincent "Why?" Vincent was silent for a moment as he looked at Cloud.
"Why couldn't you trust me?" Vincent said quietly, sounding vaguely hurt. Cloud looked at him for a long moment, then turned away to peer down at Sephiroth's soft face.
"I.. don't know." Cloud replied, he looked at Vincent again. "Everything just-" Cloud shook his head and fell silent.
"You seem attached to him," Vincent commented. Obviously Cloud's answer, or lack of one had been enough. It was more likely he had figured he wouldn't get one. Cloud's body jolted lightly at Vincent's observation. He looked away, almost a telltale sign of guilt.
"Why would you think that.?" he murmured calmly, though his voice almost threatened to waver. Vincent gave him a long hard look. Cloud was still looking away. He couldn't resist a look at Sephiroth anyway, while his head was turned towards him. Something in his face changed, and it was a change that Vincent easily noticed.
"It's the way you look at him" he made sure to say while Cloud was still gazing at Sephiroth. Cloud sighed and looked calmly at Vincent.
"You're right." he admitted without hesitating. "Sometime, somewhere, and likely far before I ever even met any of Avalanche, he was already an important part of me I couldn't let go."
"I know" Vincent said. Cloud went on.
"In fact, I didn't want to kill him, didn't want to have anything to do with Avalanche when the goal changed to hunting him down, despite the fact that I was the one who drove the whole thing forward."
"I know."
"I... wasn't exactly.. me, at the time"
"I know," Vincent said again calmly, and Cloud finally stopped, looking at him inquisitively.
"How?" He said, followed by a pause of confusion "When?"
"I've suspected for a while now. Some things you'd do wouldn't match with others. There was always a slight hesitation in response when anything came to Sephiroth, and after that you'd go on as if you'd never even noticed hesitating yourself. It was pretty suspicious." Vincent looked at Cloud for a moment, Cloud was turning slightly pale.
"I never had any proof of anything though. Not until after the end. You retreated into yourself, and then at times I saw the real you, but as if I were looking through tinted glass. As for your feelings for Sephiroth, when suspicious things started happening, with the lab, and the rest, almost one of the first conclusions you came to was that someone was trying to bring him back. It sounded almost, hopeful"
"And of course, there was many an occasion you almost outright told me so, moments where you couldn't stand the hand fate had dealt him." Vincent sighed as he glanced beyond Cloud to Sephiroth. "Of course, people with pasts like ours often pick up on things that aren't obvious to others, so it may have all started as just a supernatural intuition."
"It's the first time I'd ever really seen him up close. I've had a lot to ponder these last few days." He glanced at Cloud with a painful smile "You might not have noticed, but the resemblance is, striking." Cloud's eyes widened as he stared at Vincent, looked at Sephiroth, then back at Vincent again.
"You... Then....It's" He stuttered in disbelief. Vincent leaned forward resting his arms on his knees.
"I've never had any proof. All in all, I doubted it could be possible." Vincent said as his hair fell haphazardly around his face, his cloak wasn't currently there to keep it somewhat tame. He sounded bitter, and it was the first time Cloud had ever heard that in Vincent's voice.
"But it was right there the whole time, I just didn't even want to look to see it. I slept through his entire life, I wasn't there at all when he was growing up. How could I have known, or not known what his relation might be. What gave me the right to decide before I even knew!" His voice was growing more agitated. his hand was fisted and his knuckles had turned white. Cloud stayed silent. In all the years he'd known Vincent, this was the first time the man had ever spoken so much.
"I..." Vincent trailed off for a moment, his voice calming down, but he was obviously still upset. "may in fact be the one who has done the most grievous sin. For god's sake Cloud, I never even knew my son, he never... even, knew me...." There was a pause of silence, and just when Cloud thought he'd finished he went on.
"She... He was my son too, how could she do it... all this time, and it was Lucrecia that had betrayed me. I don't know if I can ever forgive her, taking away my life, I could forgive.... but damning the life of our son... I would have never imagined, still can never imagine why she did it..." Vincent stopped this time, and Cloud noticed, despite the fact that Vincent's head was tilted downwards, that he was crying.
He stood and cleared the few feet of distance in two steps and knelt beside him, wrapping his arms about Vincent's slumped form. Vincent was tense Cloud refused to move, not demanding though, just giving. When Vincent relaxed in to sobs, he stated to hold a little tighter, and murmur to him.
"Shhh Vincent, I can't tell you to let it go, but, that room was locked from the outside, Hojo had no intention on letting you out, and I doubt he planned on anyone doing it in his lifetime. There was nothing you could have done. The only thing that matters is that you would have if you could." He rested his head on top of Vincent's, trying to transmit the emotion he put in those words. He wasn't just trying to half-heartedly comfort him, no Vincent's was a pain he knew all to well, just like he knew it was one the dark haired man didn't deserve.
"....But what if I wouldn't have?" came a faint whisper from the man. Cloud tugged Vincent toward him suddenly and the dark haired man tumbled further into Cloud's comforting embrace.
"You would have. Absolutely. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, you would have." He said, demanded, not letting any other option even be available to Vincent. Vincent fell silent then, the silent sobs subsiding. He let out a long and painful breath and all the energy seemed to leave his body, worries, cares, everything. He was as vapor, settling to the ground.
And for the longest time he stayed that way, finally falling asleep of exhaustion in Cloud's arms. Cloud carried him to the bed and placed him next to Sephiroth, on top of the covers for lack of a better option. He was willing to bet that Vincent had not slept for a very long time.
He sighed and sat in the chair, contemplating the secret that had just been divulged to him. Vincent had tried so hard to be the oldest one, but it seemed he'd never really had the chance to grow up completely. He hadn't been troubled from childhood like Cloud had, he still expected things from the world, somewhere, deep in his heart.
Granted he'd been a Turk, and therefore a killer, and not exactly an innocent, but Vincent was still one of the most pure hearted individuals he'd ever known. He had already known that darkness dwelt in the souls of men, he'd been one of those shadows himself. But now Cloud was sure he'd probably been somewhat naive in his standing, maybe he'd even been a bit confident. Yet he hadn't been jaded. Not like Cloud.
It was only one, extremely fucked up event that had sent everything hurtling out of anything familiar, Cloud supposed, and he didn't think Vincent had ever completely grasped the entirety of it.
He'd likely been up for days straight trying to process everything. In the end, he had just needed to say it aloud, to make it real. But Vincent's mistakes weren't for lack of trying, just lack of choice.
Cloud rubbed his eyes with his thumbs, as he rested his head on the rest of his hands. He felt almost depraved for feeling refreshed still. He'd only woken up two hours ago and so much had happened, or so much had happened while he'd slept so it seemed. He hadn't even begun to touch what the hell was going on. He had no clue. He felt like he should be exhausted as well, and he sat there, envying the two sleeping on the bed, and watching over them, somewhat peacefully.
Father and son, side by side, yet they had never been introduced, nor did they even know their position beside each other. It was the first time any such sight might be witnessed, and Cloud was the only one to see it.
The strangest part though, wasn't any of that, but the fact that the father was the younger looking one. And it would stay that way, because no one in this room currently was likely to age at all.
At least they weren't alone.
~******~
Cloud placed Vincent on the bed in an adjoining guest room, not wanting Vincent to be startled by waking up next to someone else. Nor did he want anyone else to walk in on the scene.
Afterwards, as he closed the door gently, he decided to search up something to eat. He wasn't sure how he'd been kept fed, and he really didn't want to know, but he did feel as if he hadn't eaten in days. It was possible, as a Soldier, to survive for longer than a normal person without food, but it would often lead to aftereffects he'd rather avoid.
If he didn't eat for a day or two it wasn't much, but he would start tasting mako on his tongue, and although it wasn't anything horrible to taste, it held bad memories. And if he left off without eating for extremely long periods, the malnutrition would drain the color from his skin and the mako would leave a faint green tint. Not to mention he started to run a fever from the accelerated flow of mako through his system.
He doubted it would get that far if he left off for a couple hours, but he enjoyed eating, and he needed a break. Especially from anything that would remind him that he was less than human, less than normal.
He still wasn't used to the lack of noise, of conflict in his head. It seemed that Zack had left, though Cloud hoped nothing bad had become of him. It gave him a lot more time to follow a constant thought, and to arrive upon conclusions faster than he felt necessary, or even healthy. He had never really had the chance to fully experience the differences in his body since the experiments had been done to him.
It was as if he was born anew, yet he had full control over his coordination. It was more like he'd come home to a house he'd left empty for a long time, that someone had left pristine in anticipation of his arrival.
Cloud was surprised to find a drink and snack machine on the ship. Cid had always been telling him he wanted one put on each side of every floor. He seemed to have done it after all. Cloud leaned his head haphazardly against the buttons, not caring what he got to eat. As he heard the machine churning something out, he carefully selected hot coffee to drink, being a lot pickier when it came to what he was drinking.
He waited for a moment while it poured the hot liquid into a cup, sitting down at the small round table nearby. The machine seemed to be warming up. He sighed and stared at the blank white wall. Some parts of this ship were still only sparsely furnished, since Cid only spent time near the deck of the ship anyhow. It seemed he'd gotten the machines in though, and tables to rest at, so it was enough. There was two wastebaskets between the machines, one labeled 'recycle!' Cloud looked at the sign in amusement. It really was too classic.
He heard footsteps on the ground down the hallway, but he ignored them. As they passed by, they paused for a moment, but Cloud didn't want to deal with anyone at the moment, and he seemed to have made it apparent enough because the footsteps continued and passed behind him, fading off as they traveled in the direction of the rooms.
He stood up and got his coffee and the snack, an oatmeal cookie, which was acceptable, and the hot coffee had cooled just enough to drink. Granted he didn't notice heat as much a he used to. He stood to drink it, opening the wrapper with one hand and taking a bite out of the cookie.
Yet something was creeping up at the back of his mind as he ate. Halfway through he started to question it. Who would have paused and not said anything? He hadn't particularly given off any sign of wanting to be alone, but..
While it could have been the crew, someone who didn't know him, they were all upstairs. And, it hadn't been Nanaki, nor Barret, for ether of them would have been discovered by the sound of their footsteps.
Why was it bothering him anyway, except that.... He'd left Sephiroth alone. Alone on a ship of people who might find it easy to take the chance to kill him. People who hated him. And how better to do so than when he was asleep. Vulnerable... Alone.
It would explain the hesitation without comment, they had in fact, been heading towards the rooms, and if he thought about it, the footsteps weren't without purpose, no meandering walk... He crushed the cup in his hand, dropped the cookie and took of running.
He didn't want them to know he was coming, though his fears were more instinct than reason, it was enough for him.
As he burst into the room, the door was already open, and there was indeed someone standing over Sephiroth. A long, brown haired someone. A girl someone. Tifa froze as she heard him come in, but didn't turn to look.
She was situated so it was hard to tell what she was doing, but a glint of metal and he saw it, a knife poised above his throat. Cloud twitched, not wanting to move for fear of Tifa moving as well. His breath stopped.
"Tifa." he said simply. "What are you doing?" He finished slowly, precisely. She flinched at her name, unconsciously drew back to look at him, but her hand moved as well, and a bead of crimson red started to well at Sephiroth's throat. She'd cut him. The knife was out of the way.
Cloud snapped.
He cleared the distance in point five seconds, slamming Tifa against the wall with brutal force, her head would have snapped back if the wall hadn't been in the way. In the movement, the knife in her hand carved an angry line up the length of Cloud's arm. He didn't notice.
Tifa dropped it, unable to hold on anymore, blood circulation being cut of from her arms from Cloud's grip, and the force with which she was forced into the wall. She was shaking, genuinely terrified, to taken aback to struggle or break free. Cloud couldn't see anything but red now.
"What the Fuck, did you think you were doing," He said as his fingers dug in more, the indentations turning white. Her feet Couldn't touch the ground. She wondered if Cloud had always been this strong. Had she never noticed? No, because he'd never touched her in anger... she'd never seen him angry. She tried to choke a response past her fear.
"I.." She barely gasped "He... supposed to be dead... evil.. you.. he, my father... Controlling you, you've changed... not, Cloud anymore..." She sobbed the last few words, tears falling desperately from her eyes in torrents.
Cloud dropped her abruptly, and she didn't have the strength to stand. Her knees buckled as she hit the floor, and her arms were tingling from the sensation of blood rushing back to them. she clutched them, seeing the blood splatter from his arm.
"You're hurt," she said, still sniffling. She reached up to grab his hand, maybe to tend to his injury, but it never got that far. He smacked it away with a stinging force.
"Don't. Touch. Me" He said, Tifa flinched, it was the second time he'd ever said that to her. It still wasn't sinking in though, she refused to let it sink in.
"Don't look at me, don't speak to me. Don't," he paused, clasping and unclasping his fist. "Even breathe near me. I don't want you here, I don't want you in my life, I don't want to ever see you again, not once, not ever."
He looked down at her, and his eyes were a dark blue, from anger. He looked away, raising a clenched fist in front of his face, the blood from his arm fell faster from the pressure.
"You have a life, a husband, children. Go to them, leave me to my life, however..." He looked down at her out of the corner of his eye, without moving his head "Miserable, lonely, or wrong, or otherwise demented it may turn out." He dropped his fist and relaxed his body. His back turned to her completely now.
"If I ever see you near Sephiroth again" He said calmly, and the voice was somehow scarier than the anger from moments before. "I'll kill you" He finished quietly. Tifa paused for a moment, than struggled to her feet and ran out of the room, sobbing.
Cloud sighed, closing his eyes. The blood still rushing to his head, and adrenaline flowing, made a thudding sound in his ears, and he failed to her the sound of sheets ripping... Yet he felt a presence in the room after a while, and he turned.
Sephiroth was sitting up, holding out a long strip of cloth for him to place his arm, waiting patiently to me noticed. When Cloud turned to face him, he spoke.
"You're bleeding," was all he said and Cloud took a step forward, holding out his arm to silently allow Sephiroth to wrap it up. When he'd finished, Cloud dropped his arm.
"So are you." He said, and Sephiroth just shook his head.
