It was weird being back after a vacation like that. It's like one of those surreal moments that leave you realizing that you've grown and there's no way to go back to how you were. For better or worse, you're stuck as you are.
For Cloud, he definitely felt that it was all for the better. The second he got back he had his stitches removed and his lovers were whisked away for various reasons (Genesis and Angeal were back from the dead after all, and Sephiroth had some paperwork to catch up on and Zack... well, he bounced off at the earliest convenience and dragged Tifa with him, presumably to get her settled in an apartment).
But, regrettably, that left Cloud all alone to walk through the cold halls of Shinra. He was still lingering by the doors, regretting letting Zack bounce away. He worried his lip a bit before coming to a conclusion.
He had a cursed materia sword and the skills to use it well. He may be a little on the runty side, but he would fill out. So really, what did he have to be ashamed of?
With that thought in his head, Cloud Strife didn't walk, didn't run, but moseyed through Shinra headquarters.
-o-o-
When Cloud moseyed his way to the elevators he was met with a rather unpleasant face. His former (and very much hated) training master stared at him in shock. Cloud's semi-good mood plummeted. His face dropped into a scowl and his eyes only did more to convey his annoyance.
"Keep your hands to yourself and you'll keep them," he said bluntly, sparking the man's anger.
"You listen here, you little-"
"How about no," Cloud snarled back. "Just shut up because I can't guarantee your safety if you piss me off any more than you have."
"You can't do a damn thing to me," he snarled back. "If you can't remain civil in a Shinra-"
"Well I can't when I see your face; it just makes me irrationally angry. But then again, I think I'm entitled to some anger seeing as how you molested me," Cloud snorted.
"You should have never joined this organization," he continued to snarl.
"Too bad, I did. And if my experience with REAL SOLDIERs is any indication, I'll do better at it than you."
Luckily, the elevator arrived and a Turk stepped off. She looked between the two men and tried to decide what to do. She recognized Cloud from Reno's bragging but didn't know the other man. She paused for a moment and turned to the older instructor.
"Is there a problem here?" she asked smoothly. He looked at her arrogantly.
"Nothing you can help with, Turk."
She kept her face carefully blank but Cloud's own twisted in dislike.
"So what, she's a Turk. Does that matter?"
"Cloud, right? Just leave it. It goes a lot deeper than a couple of flunkies like us. Anyway, nice to finally meet you," she smiled and dashed off.
Cloud watched after her, confused.
"How did she know who I am...?"
His former training master scoffed and stepped on the elevator, holding the door for the blonde haired senior cadet.
"I was under the impression you were waiting for the elevator, brat?"
"Oh shut up," he snapped irritably. He stepped on after a moment's hesitation. He was armed; he could fight back if necessary. His sword was on his waist, so he could draw and attack. He didn't have to reach up like Zack did, exposing his chest to attack before he could defend.
In the back of his mind he wondered at the practicality of keeping a shield.
But his violent musings were for naught, as the ride was largely quiet until the lift slowed to a stop and the training master stepped out. He stopped in front of the elevator and cocked his head.
"The other mentors trained their cadets in offensive magic," he stated almost randomly before striding away. Cloud stared after him in surprise as the doors shut and he was once again rising to his set of rooms. Did the man just try and warn him?
And what did he mean the other cadets knew offensive magic? If that really was the case, he may not be as well off in training as he thought. His confidence dropped.
Stepping off, he felt a peculiar sensation of deja vu as he took in the long hall with two sets of doors. He considered and decided to go straight to his rooms first. He was tired after the journey and needed to think on the new development. He pulled out his keycard and swiped it mechanically.
They keypad flashed red and beeped once, signaling its refusal to let him in. He tried twice more and another time to be sure but it just kept flashing red. He didn't try a fifth - the system would lock up if he did - but he tossed his bags down on the ground and joined them after a short pause. He pillowed his head with his softest bag, fully intending on waiting for Sephiroth or Zack or even one of his other lovers to come up.
His eyes closed and he let himself start to drift to sleep, trusting that he would wake if anyone entered the private floor.
-o-o-
An indeterminable amount of time later, he was gently prodded awake. He was grumpy but glad at the subtle awakening rather than, say, getting yelled at. It was a welcome change from Zack's routine wake up call for Cloud.
He rubbed at his eyes and trained his hazy blue eyes on the one waking him. It was an unfamiliar SOLDIER and he grew wary, stiffening without even realizing it. The SOLDIER, however, did and laughed.
"Hey there, I'm a friend of Zack's. He messaged me a little bit ago and told me to give you a message. You're Cloud, right?"
"Yes. How did you know?"
"You cause more of a fuss than you know," the other laughed.
Cloud, predictably, blushed a furious red. "If it's about the slum thing, I-"
"Really, it's fine," the SOLDIER soothed. "Anyway, the message is that the keycards won't work because their doing some maintenance. If you want to get in, you can put in the pass code."
"That's really great, what's the pass code?"
"That's the thing, Zack couldn't remember. He went to get it from the General and promised to message when he got it."
"How helpful," Cloud commented, turning his eyes to the ceiling. He traced patterns on the floor with his hands.
"You know, you're the first cadet I met that didn't salute higher ranking officers," the SOLDIER quipped. Cloud's eyes widened and he sat up fast.
"I'm sorry, I just- Well, I could-"
"Relax; I'm pretty lax when it comes to those things. Being Zack's friend will do that to you," he explained. Cloud relaxed and hesitantly smiled. He wasn't sure if the smile was returned or not since the regulation helmet obscured his features. "By the way, I feel that I should warn you about their fan clubs. Zack and Sephiroth both have several and Genesis and Angeal had many and some will probably revived. Fans are crazy and they may react badly to you, so be careful."
"What do you mean?"
"Let's put it this way, one time a fan mailed themselves to Sephiroth in a crate. It was not pretty. The man was alright, but man did it stink in there! The guy was in it for, like, a week."
"Can I ask you something?"
"Shoot."
"No thanks. But anyway, how did you know about Gen and Angeal?" Cloud asked, brows furrowing in thought.
"I know a lot about a lot of things. When you get a PHS, you should give me your address so I can message you updates like I do Zack. Without me, he'd be lost. Speaking of Zack, he just sent me the code," the SOLDIER announced, standing to punch it into Cloud's door's keypad. "He doesn't want me to give it to you because you might leave the rooms and he wants to discourage that."
"Why?" Cloud asked, looking slightly disappointed.
"Probably because he's planning something. Just stay inside for the day," the SOLDIER advised him, curling a hand around the keypad before typing the code just to keep Cloud from seeing it.
"I guess I could," Cloud murmured, gathering his packs. The SOLDIER helped him heft his bags into the apartment, looking around curiously. "Have you ever been here?"
"Ah, no. Sephiroth doesn't like me much. Now I see why."
"Why?"
"I used to date Zack. We stayed friends though. I suppose it doesn't help my case that I think you're cute, either," he teased.
Cloud jumped at the casual admission, staring up at the other with wide eyes. "How did you know me?"
"Zack bragged a lot, even when you were just a lowly cadet," he explained, ruffling Cloud's hair. He was scowled at for the trouble.
"I'm still just a lowly cadet," he muttered.
"Oh come on, we all know better don't we?" he asked with what may have been a grin. "Anyway, I have work to do."
The man headed for the door and was just about to close it when Cloud called out.
"What's your name?"
"Huh?"
"Your name. You know mine, but I never got yours."
"Ahh," he scratched the back of his head, not turning around. "I'm Kunsel."
Then the door closed and the strange SOLDIER was out of sight, but certainly not out of mind.
-o-o-
It was late when Zack and Sephiroth made it back. They walked in to smell Cloud's cooking once again. Giving eachother identical weary smiles, they made their way to the kitchen and called out a greeting.
Cloud poked his head out of the kitchen and smiled at them, but then looked at Zack. He looked worried and Zack immediately copied his expression.
"Zack, your friend let me in earlier," Cloud said doubtfully.
"Yeah, I asked him to."
Cloud fiddled with the hem of his shirt and glanced at Sephiroth, fearing how he would take it.
"What is it, Cloud?" he asked.
"Zack's friend called me cute."
Zack's eyes widened but a smile spread over his face and he began to laugh. Sephiroth looked annoyed, but more at Zack than Cloud. He left the laughing brunette to the living room and scooped up Cloud as he advanced to the kitchen. Though Zack found amusement in the situation, Sephiroth did not.
He allowed the smaller male to climb out of his arms, wondering what he would do once Cloud grew more and wouldn't be able to be shielded in his arms like now. He resolved to not think about it as much as he possibly could.
"Sephiroth?" Cloud asked, using his whole name. It showed his nervousness and worry at Sephiroth's reaction. "Is everything okay?"
"Yes," he said but his mind was still troubled. "Cloud, which friend of Zack's was it?"
Cloud looked away and fiddled with the oven before replying. "He said that you didn't like him."
"Kunsel," Sephiroth said in disgust.
"You could tell who it was just from that?" Cloud gasped, looking at him in wonder.
"Yes. He's the only of Zack's friends that I've bodily thrown out a window. The message is fairly clear between the two of us. He answers to Lazard and I don't want to see him."
"Uh, wow. You threw him out of a window?"
"It wasn't very high, only a few stories. It made my point nicely."
Cloud just stared up at him with wide blue eyes. Sephiroth scratched the back of his neck sheepishly.
-o-o-
Cloud slept badly that night, the thought of tomorrow plaguing him into restlessness. Tomorrow he would join the rest of the class for a brief information session in the morning and then they would be released for lunch, only to be called back for the start of the assessments.
Cloud tried to breathe deep so he wouldn't be sick on his lovers. His breaths started getting quicker and quicker until he was sure he was hyperventilating.
A hand smoothed back his hair while another caressed his cheek. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on both of those things. When he felt sufficiently calm, he opened his eyes to look into a pair of blue and a pair of green eyes.
"Sorry for waking you," Cloud sighed, nuzzling into Sephiroth's palm.
"It's quite alright. Cloud, how are you?" Sephiroth asked worriedly. "You need rest and it's rather late."
"I know, I know," he half growled in frustration. "I just... He said the other cadets were trained in offensive materia."
Zack and Sephiroth exchanged enigmatic looks, worrying Cloud further. Before he could ask what exactly they were keeping from him, Zack spoke up.
"How said that, Cloud?"
"My old training master. Y'know, the one that tried to rape me. We met in the elevator and I threatened to chop off his hands if they came near me. I don't think he did it to scare me, just to give me a fair warning."
Cloud saw a brief grin flash on Zack's face before he was serious again. "Cloud, it's possible he just wanted to shake you up. He was demoted to regular army for what he did to you."
"You shouldn't let him near you," Sephiroth said anxiously. "Especially not when we're not around."
"I can defend myself," Cloud muttered.
"Of course," Zack said quickly in a placating tone.
"Zack, I'm not a baby. I can defend myself. If I can disarm you, I can take down a failed training master," he snapped.
Zack and Sephiroth exchanged smug smirks.
"If that's the case," Sephiroth teased. "Then why are you so worried?"
Cloud looked at them both in disbelief.
"You both are horrible boyfriends," he grumbled, extracting himself from their hold. "I'm gonna go sleep with Angeal and Genesis. They won't tease me. I'm nervous!"
Neither tried to stop him, though they did bid him goodnight. He walked down the hall clad in only his boxers to the other bedroom (formerly a guest room) that Genesis and Angeal were using until they could get a bigger bed in Sephiroth's room.
He edged open the door enough to see that Genesis was asleep and Angeal was sitting at the desk, reading over papers. He only wore jeans and even in the bad lighting from one low lamp he looked fantastic. Cloud crept in the room and Angeal immediately turned around, relaxing when he saw it was him.
"Shouldn't you be in bed?"
"I couldn't sleep and Seph and Zack weren't being very sympathetic," Cloud complained quietly.
Angeal sighed and shook his head fondly. He opened his arms and Cloud quickly scrambled into them, curling up in the firm hold happily.
"Tomorrow's the big day then?" Angeal asked.
"Yes. Angeal, I'm scared," Cloud admitted to the bare chest he was held to.
"What for? You have great sword skills, better than many others in your class, I would bet."
"But they were all trained in materia," Cloud whispered.
"You haven't been taught?"
"I couldn't even equip a materia to a bangle."
"Cloud," Angeal said doubtfully. He rubbed Cloud's bare back as he thought. "We could equip support materia to a bangle and you could wear it. That way it doesn't need any skill and you could still have an advantage. I believe Sephiroth has some we could use."
"Like what?" Cloud asked, looking up at Angeal hopefully.
"There are some that increase your endurance or speed or other attributes. We could give you those. How does that sound?"
"That's the best news I've heard all week," Cloud grinned.
"Good," Angeal grinned back and stood with Cloud in his grip. He walked him over to the bed and carefully deposited him there with Genesis. "Get some sleep, Cloud."
Genesis grumbled and hugged the cadet to him chest and within moments they both were asleep.
-o-o-
A/N: Well there it is. Only a few more chapters to go. I've been thinking, this all would be easier if I had a writing buddy. Someone to tell me to hurry up with the new chapter and to plan with. Anyone want to be my writing buddy? Please? If you're interested, send me a message, okay?
