Chapter 28
Cloud was numb. Leon knew about him now. There was no doubt. Cloud did doubt though that the brown haired man would ever want anything to do with him if the expression on his face was any indication. Horror. Shock. Fear. Whipping the blade out of Weiss' body Cloud cleaned on sword off on the man's pants ignoring any further reactions from the brunette. It was time to get moving. They had one more enemy to hunt down.
Pulling his phone from his pocket Cloud punched the speed dial for Sephiroth.
"Cloud?"
"Get a clean-up unit over here. The eight are dead. There's one more person to eliminate to end this."
Sephiroth didn't seem to hear his words, "Cloud, what happened?"
"They came. They were killed."
"No." Sephiroth growled, "What happened to you? You sound lost again."
"Not lost. Angry." Cloud was surprised when the words came out of his mouth. But he was angry he realized. Angry at Leon, angry at everything, every turn, every fucking person that had led him down this path to the scarred man who had until moments ago held Cloud's very heart in his fucking hand! But he hesitated. That Cloud was SOLDIER was something he couldn't deal with. Fine. The blond man would do what he did best and that was kill people. He slapped the phone closed and returned it to his pocket.
Yanking Weiss's other blade free, Cloud added it to his arsenal.
"RENO! Get ready to move! We're going back to Twilight Town!"
"You got it, yo!"
"Vincent!"
"Yes."
"Thought you might be needing this." Tifa pulled around in the Shadow Fox.
Fenrir was in back, ready to ride.
Cloud hopped on, ignoring calls for him to wait. There was only one more person standing between him and his emotional freedom. And they were going to seriously regret pissing him off.
Gravel flew as he gunned the engine and spun out of the castle driveway. On the long ride back to Twilight Town, Cloud forced himself not to think about anything. Not to feel anything. He'd be free soon. It didn't matter if he had to head hunt every underground crime boss in Radiant Garden, he would find out who was behind this and then he would eliminate them.
Fenrir screeched into the police lot at Twilight Town.
Sephiroth hurried out to meet him, "Cloud, what happened?"
"Not now. What do we know about this whole freaking situation?"
"Kidnapping, victim's from a rich background, apparently related to one of the kidnappers. They are just part a bigger scheme."
As Sephiroth talked Cloud strode to the break room where the officers always kept a pot of coffee on. Not decaf.
Cloud poured himself a huge cup, dumped in some sugar and took a deep drink.
Sephiroth gave him a cold stare for his stupidity, but continued, "The latest bunch is hired by someone in Radiant Garden, clearly expecting a big payout. Now they're dead. We need to keep that quiet. But once they don't report back, whoever is behind this all will know. We got maybe two hours."
Suddenly Tseng was at the door, "You won't need it." He pushed Riku in.
The silver haired boy stared at the floor, "It's Raine. She did it."
Sephiroth towered over the boy, but Cloud shouldered him aside and picked Riku up by his collar, "If you're lying to me, I'm going to come back for your head."
"I'm not. I swear it! She's the one who called me." Riku struggled to talk around the grip Cloud on him.
"She said we just had to take it back and I could have my inheritance. She lied to me! Again!"
Cloud dropped him and the boy curled up on the floor, sobbing. Cloud didn't care. If he didn't care about anything then it couldn't hurt. Anger simmering hotly Cloud stalked back to his bike.
"Cloud, how are you going to find her?"
Snarling at the silver haired man, Cloud replied, "I'll ask for directions."
"Cloud, you're going in ready to explode. You could do some damage."
"That's the whole idea, Sephiroth."
Sephiroth put his huge hands over the handle bars, "Cloud, this isn't wise. You go to Radiant Garden like this and you'll lose it."
"So you'll just have to follow me so you can kill me once I've finished dismembering this bitch." Cloud started the bike and pushed a stunned Sephiroth off. Without another thought Cloud tore through the streets of Twilight Town scaring locals and tourists alike. This was all going to end today. Cloud had never thought to go through this kind of dangerous rage himself. Having watched Sephiroth kill Zack was a pretty good remedy, but then Cloud had never thought he'd fall in love again.
