A/N: Two in one month! yay! Sorry it took a while guys but AWA took most of my attention and then I was recovering from all the drama. Guh. Won't bore you with that. Anyway, enjoy the chapter and let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: haha! I wish I owned it.

Chapter 14

He didn't like green. He wasn't fond of water, lightening, guns, fire, doctors and hospitals. White drove him crazy with the need to splash paint or something on it, just to cover up the stark blankness. Red was ok. So was blue. White and green, however, made his skin crawl. His ears rang with unheard voices, shadows clamoring for his attention and lingering on the edges of his vision. Someone would talk over them at times, talking to themselves or someone that he couldn't see. The words were too hard to comprehend most times but he knew that it was a doctor talking with the clinical way he spoke about his pain. Other times it was a deeper voice that whispered comforts in his ear while another, lighter voice hummed softly, gentle fingers stroking through his hair and offering a small amount of comfort.

The voices faded in and out, sometimes clear, sometimes silent. His skin and muscles would buzz with pain, less and less often as he sank farther into his own mind and the comfort of the woman with the sad smile. It was unbearable at first, that pain. In the beginning, he could put up with it for it wasn't that often that he felt it. Later though, as he heard the tones of the doctors around him change from blank to mild frustration it seemed that some part of him always hurt from something. Most often it was his lungs and throat overworked from trying to breathe and scraped raw from his screaming. All of the aches and pains combined into one large constant ache that never faded until the lady with the sad smile came to him.

She was beautiful and kind with blonde hair and bright green eyes. Green never seemed to bother him when it came to her. Probably because she radiated calm and concern instead of hostility and pain. At first, he couldn't hear her; just watch her lips move as she tried to tell him something. After a while though her voice began to filter through the static in his mind and form words of comfort, telling him to be patient and hold on a little longer for the one with him still needed him. He figured that he could do that as long as he didn't have to be awake or feel anything for a while.

"I can give you that," she'd whispered, carding her fingers gently through his hair. "I will let you sleep for now and awaken when you wish." A whisper of a kiss to his forehead and he began to float in peace, only the occasional sound or feeling getting through to him. He felt kind of bad about leaving his friend behind but she had promised that he would be alright and that he could sleep until he wanted to wake up. And sleep he did, for a long, long time, so long that she had come to him and urged him that it was alright, it was ok to wake up now. He hadn't wanted to for the place where he was, was so comfortable and safe, warm and inviting. He just wanted to sleep forever. But he was needed. The strong voice from before began to speak to him, telling him that he needed to wake up, that it was safe now.

So he opened his eyes and decided to see for himself, watching from the safe place for now. The room he woke to he didn't recognize causing a mild panic in the back of his mind until he met familiar, warm red brown eyes. That made him want to stay awake a little bit longer. He watched as his other friend, the one that he hadn't seen in such a long time, appeared and his will to wake fully grew that much stronger. However, he almost retreated when he saw the one behind him. At first, a surge of joy had rushed through him, memories of this man rushing by in front of him. His first meeting with him, first friendly conversation in which he didn't make an utter fool of himself, first compliment, first touch, first kiss, the first time he was allowed to bury his hands in the moonlit silk he called hair and not let go, first time he had slept wrapped in those strong arms. And the first and only time he had felt the cold steel blade slice cleanly through his shoulder, sending agony sparking down his spine and into his heart.

He remembered the flames licking and devouring his home town, the village people strewn on the dirt, like broken dolls, the hum of machinery and stench of mako and the creature in the tank that he had called mother. Why? Why was he here? Hadn't he gone to his precious mother? He could see her, just behind him, smiling. Why were the others not afraid of him? Didn't they see her there? Didn't they remember that he did? Surely Zack did! He'd been lying on the stairs when Cloud had run into the reactor, bleeding, and telling him that he had to fight Sephiroth, that Sephiroth had gone crazy. So why, why was he standing there?

"It's alright. He won't hurt you I promise. He was just confused before, very confused and very hurt. It's alright. He won't hurt you." He never lied, his pride wouldn't allow him to lie so he nodded and turned away from him, focusing on Zack and Genesis, allowing his constant reassurances to urge him to stay awake and not worry about Sephiroth even as Genesis and Sephiroth spared though he became agitated when the testing blows became strikes to break instead of bruise. They didn't seem to listen to him though when he yelled at them to stop and a bolt of fear had struck him when he saw Genesis's skin begin to tear on his arm. So he'd rushed forward and gotten between them and… was that why his head hurt so much? Must be. Getting knocked into a solid steel wall would probably cause the migraine that was gradually fading away. The fingers running through his hair helped too. Carefully, he blinked his eyes open and snuggled a little deeper into the pillow. He heard a chuckle above him before the fingers tapped out a short rhythm on his scalp.

"Awake now, kitten?" His guest jerked and laughed, catching his hand before it could slither back under the pillow after its attack.

"That certainly answers my question. Get your head out of the pillow and look at me." Cloud grunted and tugged at his hand, squirming when his guest kept his hold and settled more onto the bed, leaning against the head board and running his fingers through his hair.

"No use hiding kitten. I know you're awake. Now up. I want to make sure your brain didn't rattle around in all that empty space you have." Growling, Cloud raised his head and glared up at the red head.

"Least I have less empty space than you," he spat, yanking at his hand. Genesis just smiled at him and tugged him into his lap, long fingers quickly burying themselves in his hair and massaging his scalp. He put up a brief struggle but the strong fingers against his scalp and the steady heartbeat under his ear soothed him into relaxing against the red head, snuggling into the warm familiar embrace. Genesis's other arm wrapped itself around his waist, his chin resting against the top of his head as he began to hum softly, some old folk song from his hometown that he couldn't remember the words to. They sat there for a long while, Genesis humming and soothing away the shadowed memories in Cloud's mind while Cloud listened and soaked up the warmth from the body that held him, his mind gradually waking up fully as he realized that this wasn't a dream, they weren't back with the monsters and that they were—

"I thought you said you'd rip your own arm off and beat yourself unconscious before you came back to ShinRa?" he asked, tilting his head back to peer questioningly up at Genesis. Genesis huffed and rolled his eyes, tightening his grip on Cloud.

"They made me an offer I couldn't exactly refuse."

"Which would be?" Genesis paused, seeming to debate something for a long moment.

"Hojo's still out there," he said and set his chin on top of Cloud's head. "So is Langley."

"Lang…." He knew that name. He knew that name and he hated that name. It brought faded memories of sharp pain, gasping for breath that couldn't get past the clog in his throat, hot tears, confusion, sorrow, rage, pinpricks along his limbs, numbing cold, searing heat, dark screaming voices, shadows pressing in on all sides, people screaming, three voices humming and soothing and white. Endless harsh white that hurt his eyes but there was always a splotch of red somewhere close by when he woke up. Red that made him feel better and think of other things besides the pain wracking his body. Red that belonged to the man cuddling him close right now, leisurely stroking his back as he hummed some absent tune in his ear. As the tune registered in his mind he realized that he was shaking, the wash of memories causing phantom pain to shoot through his limbs and leave them shaking afterwards. Curling close, he took a deep breath and forced the memories back behind the wall they had been sealed in.

"Alright now, Kitten?" Genesis asked softly, fingers weaving through his hair like they always did.

"Y-you're never going to stop calling me that are you?" he grumbled, ignoring the tremor in his voice. Genesis chuckled and kissed his forehead.

"Nope. Hungry? There's some dinner left." Cloud shook his head and tightened his arms around Genesis's waist, unwilling to let go of the man for even a second. Genesis smiled softly and settled more comfortably against the head board, fingers burying themselves into his kitten's thick blonde spikes. Perhaps Zack could stop panicking every time he came over and Sephiroth could stop glancing at the bedroom door every two seconds now that Cloud was actually awake. So he'd been wrong in his prediction on when the boy would wake up, no reason to have a panic attack over it.

"How long have I been asleep?" Cloud asked softly, obviously resisting the urge to fall asleep with Genesis by his side.

"Two days. Zack was about to have a panic attack and I swear Sephiroth was ready to chain himself to the floor in here to wait till you woke up."

"You were too."

"Hmph. No idea what you're talking about." Cloud just shook his head with a smile, eyes drifting completely shut as Genesis resumed humming.

"Get some sleep, kitten," he whispered, ghosting a kiss across Cloud's brow. Cloud stubbornly shook his head, trying and failing to fight off sleep.

"Slept too much."

"I'll wake you up early in the morning."

"Promise?"

"Of course."

"K." With Genesis as his pillow and the song as his lullaby, Cloud set aside the tingling paranoia in his spine and allowed himself to sleep.

~*~

As if by some unspoken agreement, the next morning, everyone on the ShinRa compound was jittery as though they were waiting for something. The SOLDIERs stuck together in pairs or groups of three or more, communicating silently with each other to be on the lookout for something they didn't know was coming or not. They felt it though, something looming on the horizon, waiting to pounce. That anxiety slowly bled into the Turks who knew what was coming though they could only guess as to the shape it would take. They stationed themselves around the president's office, two at a time, switching every six hours by some unspoken schedule they had drilled into themselves years ago. By noon, everyone was quiet, glancing around in an attempt to spot the mystery they could feel coming. Zack tried not to let it bother him as he walked with Sephiroth from the gym, both showered and changed from their gym clothes to their regular clothes.

"Is it just me," he said after stepping into an empty elevator to head up to the president's office. "But does it seem like everyone's waiting for something to leap up and bite 'em?"

"That seems to be the general atmosphere," Sephiroth answered. Zack leaned against the wall of the elevator, arms crossed over his chest and took a moment to look over his friend. His shoulders were back, posture ram rod straight and his jaw was trying very hard not to clench. Apparently the anticipation in the air was starting to affect him as well. Heaving a silent sigh, Zack shook his head.

"Nothing's gonna happen, Seph," he said.

"That you are aware of, Zack."

"Hey, when have I ever been wrong?" Sephiroth tore his gaze from the floor indicator above the doors and sent him a flat look, one eyebrow quirking in silent question.

"Other than that!" Zack exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air. "Honestly, one time and I'm branded for life. Never should've told you about that." Sephiroth smirked at him.

"You didn't," he said. "Angeal did." Zack stared at him for a moment before his jaw dropped.

"What?! That traitor!" Sephiroth chuckled and shook his head as Zack went on to rant and rave about his former mentor. The incident in question wasn't very big, however, it had almost cost Zack his leg. In the early months of his mentorship with Angeal, Zack had thought it'd be a good idea to try and take on a monster by himself. Angeal has hung back and watched, ready to jump in if it looked like Zack couldn't handle it. For all appearances, he had been able to, striking down the monster with quick heavy blows but when he'd turned his back on it to grin at Angeal, the monster had lunged and latched onto his leg, attempting the gnaw it off. Needless to say, Zack wasn't allowed to do any fighting on his own for quite some time and he had a ring of rather impressive scars around his right knee as a reminder not to try something so stupid again. He did, but he always remembered not to turn his back on his opponent until he was absolutely sure it was down.

The elevator sounded a short ding as it arrived at the correct floor, the doors sliding open soundlessly. People were scurrying back and forth, nearly frantic to get to a stopping point before going to lunch though most nodded to them as they stepped from the elevator to transfer to the next one.

"Good afternoon, General," spoke a voice behind him. Sephiroth glanced over his shoulder, giving the petite woman behind him a quick once over as Zack swept the keycard through the scanner. Short, wutaian, slender, black hair pulled into a bun at the base of her neck, hands folded in front of her, clothes the mark of an aid to a dignitary.

Must belong to Godo's daughter, Sephiroth thought to himself, nodding to her absently as he stepped into the elevator. The aid followed, keeping her eyes politely lowered and standing in a corner across from them. A few moments of silence passed before Zack glanced at the aid and smiled.

"So what're you going to see the president for?" he asked. She looked mildly surprised that he had guessed right, looking up at him with a smile.

"How did you know?" She asked.

"Well, Wutaian dignitaries don't come for much else really." Her giggle, meant to be cute, sent a chill racing down Sephiroth's spine. Zack didn't seem to notice, his gaze focused on the pretty, unassuming little thing.

"Very true," she said, straightening as she spoke, a lock of hair escaping the bun to brush against her face. Dark eyes glinted up at them, a ring of gold beginning to circle the dark brown iris.

"However, I think just this once, a wutaian is here for a different purpose." Her left hand came up and brushed the lock behind her ear, sword tattoo a black stain on her skin.

"I'm here to see Genesis." Zack summed it up perfectly with just one word.

"Shit."