Unbetaed. Mostly Point A to Point B. Mild Censoring (see Ao3 for the small Uncensored part).
Sort of boring chapter to cover some ground, more interesting stuff is next chapter.
As a note: If I miss an update over the next, oh, week and a half or so, it's not because I'm stopping the every 2 day business. It's because I've got three birthdays (including mine and my best friend's), Halloween, a movie I've been waiting months for (Thor 2!), Blizzcon (gaming convention), and my ALL of my every week stuff as well. I'm going to try my hardest to keep things moving at the same pace for the next week, but if I fall down, it's going to get back on track immediately after.
Next Update: Oct 31*
EDIT: Ended up taking my first day off this far, and, therefore, chapter 29 will be uploaded on Oct 31st instead. I'm sorry for those who were waiting today!
With everyone back in Midgar, they all convened in Cloud and Zack's apartment to discuss what had occurred over the last day. Cloud was sitting on the couch with Zack and Aeris both pressed tightly against him while Sephiroth and Yuffie paced around their living room. Reno was leaning against a wall and being quieter than Cloud have ever seen him.
"This is... Well to say this is bad would be a huge fucking understatement," Yuffie said with a sigh as she tugged at her hair in frustration. "So not only do we get the evil Sephiroth from before, now we've got two other Jenova filled SOLDIERs out there!"
"Don't lump Angeal in with them! He's not like that," Zack spat angrily. "He's probably a prisoner."
Cloud tightened the arm around Zack's waist slightly, causing his boyfriend to make a small, sad noise and snuggle closer. "We don't know anything right now, Zack. Truth is, Angeal could possibly be on their side. He's close to Genesis and, Yuffie's right, he has enough Jenova cells to make it plausible. I don't like it either; trust me."
"It doesn't matter what's happened to them or what side they're on; we need to help them," Sephiroth growled at no one in particular.
"How how do you propose we do that? There is no known cure for Jenova's mind control. Those who've beaten it, did so on their own. By trying to save them from her, we could end up losing some of our own in the process," he said with cynicism lacing his voice. "I won't put them over my family."
Sephiroth glared at him from across the room. "And Angeal, after all he's done for you, is not family?"
Cloud frowned darkly in response. "If Angeal isn't under her control, I'll do everything in my power to save him. But I cannot guarantee his safety. I'll do whatever I have to, to make sure the Planet survives."
Sephiroth snarled in anger; fist clenching by his sides. "I don't see the point if no one important survives along with it."
"Important to you maybe," Reno added unhelpfully. "I'm with Strife."
Aeris let out a grand sigh of her own and she began to comb her fingers through Cloud's hair gently as she spoke, "We need to form a plan. If Hojo is alive, like Jenova claimed, then he's still out there experimenting on something or someone. We need to nip it in the bud or he'll just use this time to make the same army he overwhelmed the Planet with the first time."
Cloud looked the heavens as though he'd be struck with some divine plan, unfortunately he wasn't so lucky. "We have absolutely no idea where to find him. He's not in Nibelheim, but he could be anywhere else on Gaia. He could still be in Midgar for all we know, and it could take years to find him. I can't sense Sep—Jenova—anywhere, so either she's masking herself or Hojo has her inside a lead-lined container. Genesis and Angeal, I just don't know. They've got every single SOLDIER from Wutai somewhere, and are likely turning them into clones as we speak."
Sephiroth looked up curiously. "Clones of whom?"
Cloud shrugged. "Genesis, most likely."
"...Why?"
"Because that's how he did it the last time. He just cloned himself infinitely until he ran out of SOLDIERs to clone."A look of confusion passed over Sephiroth's face before undiluted fury replaced it.
"You mean to tell me... this has happened before? Did you know Genesis would betray us?"
"Yes," Cloud admitted with a straight face.
Sephiroth lunged toward him, prompting Zack to go completely rigid with fear and Aeris to move defensively as well. The other man's intention was clearly to grab Cloud to shake some sense into him or hit him, but Cloud just wasn't there when Sephiroth reached for him. Instead he grasped at air as Cloud dodged to the side of him before bringing up a single hand and tossing him across the room.
Sephiroth blinked in shock as he hit the wall opposite the couch. Cloud didn't hesitate; he pressed forward and grabbed the larger man by the throat while slamming him against the wall again. Sephiroth's head bounced off the wall as Cloud leaned in and hissed, "That was an incredibly stupid move."
The silver haired man opened his mouth as if to respond but shut it again with an audible click at the sight of everyone around him. Reno and Yuffie both had guns trained on him, Zack was gripping his sword's hilt with white knuckles, and Aeris had a glowing ball of materia ready in her hand.
"Think you can manage to use your brain if I let you go?" Cloud growled down at Sephiroth while tightening his grip on his throat to emphasis the seriousness of his anger. Sephiroth never responded, but glared up at Cloud silently. Still, he knew the point had been demonstrated, so he released him. Sephiroth didn't even get to his feet.
"You could have done more for them," he accused hatefully.
"Maybe," Cloud agreed. "But I'm only human."
They all decided that they needed to stop there for the night, so everyone retreated to the respective homes. Yuffie and Aeris stayed with Cloud and Zack, because it was too late at night to get them down to the slums.
Yuffie hunkered down on the couch and tried to call Vincent a few times as the other three headed to bed. Aeris was informally decided to share their bedroom; it felt much more proper than having her sleep in the living room with Yuffie.
Cloud got relegated to the middle of the bed as the two settled in at his sides. He pulled them both close and basked in their warmth for a moment. It'd been a long time since he'd gotten a chance to sleep beside Aeris, and he'd forgotten how wonderful it was. She was a wellspring of comfort for him, even as he was for Zack. It was something he was even more appreciative of this time, compared to before. He reveled in the feeling of having her so close. Being with them just made him whole, and it made it all worth it.
The two beside him got to sleep rather quickly; the stress of the day putting them under in moments. Cloud was once again reluctant to try sleeping; especially with Sephiroth out there.
Thinking of his former nemesis as solely Jenova was almost impossible for him, though he referred to him as such in front of the group. They didn't need to start doubting the sane Sephiroth just because Cloud couldn't bury the past.
The Sephiroth in Midgar had proven now that he was much more stable than his former self. He'd endured Jenova's influence in his head and managed to combat it long enough to get help. Cloud was impressed and had to give him points for being smart enough to know to get help at all, but it came with side-effects. The pull of Cloud's own cells was greatly increased, and now he could feel the other man even from several floors below him.
Finding out his cells were able to aid in resisting Jenova's influence was shocking on its own. He'd always had to fight her pull, so why Sephiroth now had immunity, or at the very least strong resistance, from them was a mystery. A mystery doubled by why Yuffie knew it'd work like that. He wanted answers, but demanding them from Yuffie wasn't appealing.
It felt like his life was now full of mysteries. Where was Hojo? Where were Jenova, Genesis, and Angeal? Which side was Angeal on? What were they planning? All these questions and no immediate answers. At the moment, his only real guess was that they'd be stationed in the Northern Crater, but getting there to check would be a job and a half.
He didn't like the feeling of this. None of this was according to plan and he'd not seen any of it coming. All these months, what time they'd been in Wutai, Hojo had to work on whatever he was planning. If they were going to stand any chance at beating him, they'd need to find him fast. Even if it meant searching the whole Planet; top to bottom.
The only problem with that plan was that Hojo didn't want to be found, and apparently was frighteningly good to making sure it didn't happen.
From Reno's thorough search of the Northern Crater to Cloud's scouring Banora and Mideel, no clues turned up. And not a single SOLDIER was ever found after they went missing in Wutai. Eventually, Zack and Sephiroth were both forced to return to Wutai to restructure after losing the entire front. Cloud got left behind to hold Midgar together and to continue looking for Hojo.
A month passed with no changes at all, and then another. Vincent left Tifa and Rocket Town and acted as another pair of eyes as Cloud directed him to search high and low for any sign of Hojo or one of the Jenova project SOLDIERs. Yuffie and Aeris stayed in Midgar for safety after many arguments with Cloud about the matter, but it didn't add up to much anyway. Cloud had traveled to every major city on the Eastern Continent and found no trace of anything.
Three months into their search, Director Lazard had all the missing SOLDIERs, including Genesis and Angeal, declared dead. Sephiroth had fought tooth and nail for over a month to delay the announcement, because, so long as they were classified as MIA, people would be looking for them. But even his word as the General couldn't overturn the directive once it was decided upon.
He was given a month to find a replacement SiC, since Genesis was gone, but it took him all of five days to name one. And every single one of those five days had been spent convincing Cloud to accept the position no matter how much Cloud encouraged him to find someone else.
To Cloud, it was comical. Him? Second in Command of the Shinra Army? He hadn't even been a SOLDIER the first time around. Zack had earned the position in their past life, and Cloud felt more than a little guilt at usurping it. It's not like he hadn't argued. He had put up a hell of a fight and nearly succeeded several times in convincing Sephiroth to name Zack, but had his arm twisted in the end to accept it.
He wasn't quite sure what to do with his new rank, Lt. General, and often cringed when people referred to him as such. It was like playing dress up again as someone else. Only this time, instead of Zack, it was him pretending to be Angeal. The rank, the power, the responsibility; none of it suited him. More than once he considered just leaving Shinra employ all together. But that wasn't really an option; Shinra gave him the sway to conduct the kind of searches necessary everywhere he visited. And, if he was honest, his new rank gave him the free time to do it as well.
It didn't make any of his fellow SOLDIERs happy though. They all looked at him in hostility, though the younger cadets seemed to find him interesting enough to look up to. From his sword, which drew a lot of attention, to his young age; Cloud was a walking target for petty jealousy.
His age drew the most criticism, though he had already turned 18 by the time he was promoted. That made him the same age Zack was when he was given the same rank, but Cloud still felt like a child in his shoes. It was a small miracle that his body was nearing its peak age, where he had been in his past life, at which his Jenova cells would kick in and he'd stop aging. This was because all strains of Jenova cells, except Genesis', prevented the body from decaying.
Thinking about it filled him with intense dread though. To him, years would eventually become a drop in the bucket. It had been a big worry for him in the last life too. While he stayed the same, all those around him would age and die like normal humans. The thought of watching Zack and Aeris leave him again tore at his heart, though he knew that was a long time off. And that if he did well this time, he may get the rest he so craved.
He had a lot of time to think lately. The months kept passing and passing until it was already nearing a new year. They'd had no leads in all the time between June and November, and Cloud didn't like it at all. He just couldn't explain where they had gone and how they were managing to stay hidden for so long. Surely the SOLDIERs they captured would need to eat so that Hojo could experiment on them, but no one ever saw any of them retrieving supplies or food. That was Cloud's only clue; that they were likely able to self-sustain wherever they were hiding.
They theories were progressively becoming stranger and stranger as everyone threw in various ideas at where the hell they could be hiding. Yuffie often joked about opening a betting pool and so far someone of the wildest theories had been a compound underneath the Chocobo Farm and somewhere in outer space. Cloud was half tempted to accept the latter; Jenova had come from space at some point.
To add to his misery, Rufus was having more trouble securing the company than expected. Whether he'd gone through such bullshit the first time, Cloud didn't know, but he was contemplating just killing Heidegger, Scarlet, and the other executives just to speed things up. The only real light note they had was that Reeve was making incredible progress on the mako alternative. His research was moving forward in leaps and bounds and he seemed confident that they'd be ready to harvest a sample soon for testing purposes.
"Can you just... I don't know," Zack teased playfully. "Lighten up? You're thinking too much."
Cloud smiled softly in apology at Zack, who was laying against him nude. "Sorry."
Zack smirked and pressed his head against Cloud's chest to listen to his heartbeat. "Come on. It's my birthday. I want you to be as happy as I am. We can go back to worrying tomorrow, okay?"
"You may have to distract me then," he purred. Abruptly, Cloud rolled over on top of Zack, and moved his hands to pin his boyfriend's wrists to the bed. Zack grinned lewdly up and him and rolled his hips upwards.
"Alright then. Bring it on!" Zack taunted.
Cloud laughed a leaned down to lock Zack's mouth in a sweet kiss that was contrasted by the dominance he was showing in holding Zack down. His lover never bothered to struggle, well aware he could never break free if Cloud actually wanted to hold him down, and usually seemed to enjoy the almost-rough treatment. He figured that Zack must enjoy pleasing Cloud, and Cloud was very pleased to get to have Zack as he wanted him.
It was Zack's seventeenth birthday now, and Zack was looking more like the man Cloud had fallen in love with all those years ago. His hair was longer and the bangs were gone, though that one errant piece still hung down in his face. All the angles of his face were sharper now. In fact, the only thing that really had yet to change was the youth in his eyes. The edge that used to be there just wasn't created through experience yet. Wutai had taken a lot of Zack's childishness away; having to kill so many people on a regular basis tends to do that to people, but Zack yet clung to most of his innocence.
They'd spent most of the day with Aeris and Yuffie, being dragged around Wall Market, before deciding to return home for a more private celebration. Zack was only on leave for a week before he'd have to return to Hailei and Cloud planned to spend most of it in bed. If he hadn't found any clues about Hojo in all these months, he wouldn't find any this week.
On the other side of the Planet, Sephiroth was slumped over a map of Wutai like he'd spent many nights for the past eight years. Losing the SOLDIERs all those months ago had cost them precious time and ground. They lost the entire western road and were forced to recapture it, refortify Suitae, and then recapture Hailei. Ft. Tamblin was still far too strong for them to even consider an outright assault. The high walls would make it a slaughter they couldn't afford.
They were still low on SOLDIERs. Sephiroth wouldn't get a chance to step out of Hailei until he and Cloud traded tours or they'd risk losing the village again. If they lost Hailei one more time, they'd be risking another loss of Suitae as well. If that happened, they'd be screwed as the northern pass was still collapsed.
Supplies were starting to run low as their fewer numbers made a complete guard on the western road nearly impossible. Many times their supplies were taken by Wutai ninja who managed to sneak past them. All they could do to fight this was slash and burn the forest to give them no cover, which enraged the already emboldened Wutai troops further.
Sephiroth was at a loss how they were going to win this war. Wutai was holding what they had left with an iron fist, and Sephiroth's motivation dwindled by the day. He wanted to be out looking for his friends. He wanted to hunt Hojo down and cut the man in half personally. Hell, he even wanted to go find this mysterious Vincent Valentine and ask him all the questions he'd wanted answered his whole life. All of those things were much more appealing than securing Shinra its prize.
Having Zackary around helped infinitely, but the other man was in Midgar celebrating his birthday with Strife. To say Sephiroth was depressed would be an understatement, but he'd never admit as much.
The young SFC had filled the hole left by his missing friends at some point. His charisma was infectious and he worked very hard to keep Sephiroth above water emotionally. Zackary just seemed to know when Sephiroth needed support, though he'd never asked for it.
Today though, he was alone, and feeling sorry for himself. He was not prone to being tired, but he was utterly exhausted. Duty necessitated that he stay awake and continue planning, but his boredom was gaining ground in his mind. Even further, sleep was his only chance to do anything worthwhile in the search for Genesis and Angeal.
Immediately after accepting the C-cells, he'd begun dreaming vividly of this other him, and, though the dreams often didn't make sense and were hard to see, he could tell there was a true connection. He hadn't told Cloud, but that was only because he didn't feel as though his sanity was in danger from the dreams. Sephiroth hoped beyond hope that one day he'd dream of any identifying factor that would show where they were, but all he knew thus far was that it was dark. He reasoned that they were likely in a cave or underground shelter of sorts, but Cloud had checked every known cave system on Gaia and found nothing. He'd even checked them Mythril Mines several times over.
Sephiroth's head hung lower as he contemplated just giving into the urge to sleep. It's not like anything he worked on tonight would be ready for tomorrow anyway. They'd need to hold off till they received more supplies before they made any further attempts at pushing forward.
His PHS ringing startled him slightly and he reached over to grab it. Flipping it open, he muttered, "Hello?"
"Sephiroth," the voice rasped.
He sat up straight and his heart began to pound in his chest. It was Angeal.
"Angeal? Where are you? Are you alright?" he asked, panicked.
"—N-not exactly."
"Where are you?" Sephiroth demanded. He needed to know.
"Can't say. Send one of them to Banora. My sword. Tell them... Tell them to be careful. He'll be moving soon, and I can't—I can't resist much longer... S-so loud."
"Angeal, talk to me. What's wrong? Them as in Cloud and Zackary? What do you mean loud? Careful? Please give me answers. I can help you if you tell me where you are. Anything that will help me find you," he urged.
"Keep your head straight. They won't stop until you don't know who you are anymore. Look after them for me?" Angeal asked pleadingly right before the line went dead.
"Angeal?" Sephiroth whispered and his voice rose to a shout, "Angeal!"
The PHS clattered to the ground as Sephiroth fell back against his chair in complete horror and devastation. He'd had Angeal on the line and couldn't get any useful information out of him. Angeal sounded like he was in pain and now Sephiroth was at a loss for how to help him.
But then his brain caught back up with him. Angeal mentioned Banora. Which meant they could be keeping him near there.
Sephiroth picked up the PHS again, hands shaking from the emotions overwhelming him, and dialed Cloud's number. The blond picked up on the third ring.
"Bit busy," Strife growled before Sephiroth even got a chance to say anything.
"Angeal just called me," he started and could hear Strife's breath still. "He asked me to send one of you to Banora. I think it's possible he may be being held near there."
"Impossible. I turned Banora over several times with no results. Neither Angeal's mother nor Genesis' parents had any information, and they weren't lying."
"Well, I know I was speaking to Angeal, and he asked that one of you go there. Something about his sword. How would he have gotten it there if he wasn't there at some point? Maybe they keep moving and that's why we've been unable to find them."
"For months. Leaving no trace. Not likely. It's more likely that this is a trap," Strife argued. "I'll go. I'll report back what I find."
Sephiroth suddenly felt dread well up inside him. The possibility of a trap didn't even occur to him before. "And if it is a trap? Perhaps you shouldn't go alone." The unstated portion of that went: I'd feel incredibly guilty if you were hurt.
"I'll be fine. I'll check back in with you after I investigate."
"Fine," Sephiroth agreed though he felt foolish for even telling Strife now. Of course he'd want to go alone like an idiot. Now, if he was injured, it would be Sephiroth's fault. The events in Nibelheim, though he hadn't even been there to see them, had caused a phobia to develop in him against hurting people he even slightly cared about. Though him and Strife were far from friends, he didn't want to see the other man in danger, and Strife seemed to always throw himself headlong into it.
He sighed and dropped the PHS on the table. He needed to stop worrying about Cloud. The man was strong, more than likely stronger than Sephiroth, and could handle himself. Instead, he should be worrying more about Angeal, because his friend didn't sound healthy in the slightest.
