By a Fraction of a Degree
A FFVII Fanfiction work by findthetiger129
Rated T for Violence and Language.
I do not own Final Fantasy VII, or any of the characters, trademarks or likenesses from Final Fantasy VII or its spin-offs That honor goes to Square-Enix.
Part IV: Stigma
Chapter 79, A Spar for Old Time's Sake
April 10th [ ν ] – εуλ 0009
Kadaj was quickly becoming furious. He knew perfectly well the man he was speaking to on his PHS was quite the unshakable fellow and it was driving him off the wall as he had nearly zero means of fazing him. "You tell me, you're the one who who's leading us on. 'Cause I do think you have mother there."
"What leads you to believe we would have come anywhere close to finding the sample again when the only persons foolhardy enough to search for it afterward were GUARDIAN?" The calm one asked.
"Stop deflecting!" Kadaj thundered, "Put the President on!"
His demand was met with a click. That man with the tilak on his forehead had some nerve. He would enjoy teaching him a lesson, just like he would that woman who had knocked him back into the Lifestream.
Kunsel watched as Cid tossed the materia he'd just picked up lazily in the air. Alexander, or so he said. They had just found it after dispatching a monster whom they had at first come upon bearing the disguise of a young woman, but because he had stopped to check the temperature difference at the hot spring where Liz had left them to make a report to Veld, the infuriated creature had suddenly revealed its true colors and attacked. The fight had not lasted long, in fact, Cid had barely thrown a stick of dynamite before it had collapsed in on itself. He looked very pleased with the outcome. "How about that ya snow-$!#%&!" he crowed. "You'll need to get up earlier to get the drop on Cid Highwind!"
Kunsel chuckled at that when he noticed that Freya had gone back out of the snow cave and onto the fields at the base of the ski slopes. He walked out after her curiously. "Something up?" he asked.
She shrugged. "I just thought I heard something off in the distance. Like a motor?"
Kunsel frowned as he listened for the noise. "Come to think of it, yeah. Fenrir, maybe?"
"Maybe," she said. "Though I think it's more than one…"
"I wonder why that would be," Kunsel said. "Maybe we should head back and see what's up."
"Good idea," Freya agreed. She looked over her shoulder. "Cid? I think we're ready to go back in, you coming?"
"Be right behind ya!" Cid said. Having heard his confirmation, the swordsman and the huntress started back towards the hills readying themselves for the climb back to town.
"I wonder if the kids got around to building the snow man they were talking about on the way in," Freya said.
"Who do you think they'd model it after?" Kunsel returned.
"Maybe Cloud, or Zack. They could use icicles for the spikes," Freya said with a grin.
The two of them laughed. After a moment or two, Kunsel spoke again, thinking to ask her something he'd been meaning to for a while. "Hey, Freya?"
"Yeah?"
He was about to ask his question when something else more pertinent to their current environment came to his attention. "Is it just me or are those engine noises getting louder?"
Cloud was flying forward at breakneck speed down the slope of the mountain, moving to get as far away from his attackers as possible. Luckily, he'd encountered no snowboarders or skiers so far, but that could change at any time. He could clearly see the more slender of the two men fly over him as he had just hit a ski jump. The motorcycle landed with a heavy thump in front of him as the man leaned one arm back to aim his gun. Cloud once again lifted the First Sword to block, but this motion spun him on the mountainside, and snow obscured his vision as it was momentarily sprayed into the air before he had to duck close to the handlebars to evade the larger of the two men and that extendable piston-claw thing of his.
Fighting for control he turned Fenrir's front wheel, forcing the bike out of the spin with his left hand as he moved to slice at the heavier man with the First Sword. White hot fire shot through his arm and he grit his teeth in agony, but through sheer force of will he barely managed to avoid losing control. Then he looked up just in time to see the lighter man aiming his gun.
There was no time to dodge.
The bullet hit squarely in the corner of his sunglasses, shattering them off into the snow behind him, but was thankfully deflected from doing any more damage, and the ambient lighting became temporarily painful before his eyes could adjust. As he shot farther down the slope he suddenly hit a point where the incline leveled out, and the next thing he saw when he opened his eyes was a swarm of those four-legged monsters about to close in on him in a wave.
He was about to swing his sword at them, hoping to minimize at least some of the damage he was expecting them to do when he was instead buffeted by a wave of black smoke as the monsters vanished into nothing.
Curiously, he looked around him to see that his pursuers were gone. But as a drop of blood from his brow trickled past his left eye, he saw a third person off in the distance looking back at him before driving off on another motorcycle.
"Cloud!?"
He looked over and saw Kunsel running up with Freya right behind him and Cid bringing up the rear. "What was that?" Freya demanded.
"I don't know," he said.
Up on the overlook Zack was holding a pair of binoculars he'd pulled out of his pack. He'd managed to leave Aerith's parents' house fast enough to catch the end of the fight, but only just. It had been enough for him to watch the last moments, when his friend had nearly spun out of control. Under normal circumstances, Cloud should have been able to pull out of it easily, and yet even from this distance, he'd been able to tell it was giving the blond swordsman trouble. He frowned, considering the implications. Right now though, they apparently had an even bigger problem to worry about.
Who were these people and why were they chasing Cloud?
"Zack?" Aerith asked, having only just caught up. "What's going on?"
"That's what I'd like to know," he answered.
He saw Cissnei run up after her. "Tifa and the kids are at the Inn with Nanaki, but they told me Cloud was in trouble. What happened?" she asked as she stopped next to his wife.
"You're not gonna believe this," Zack began. "Two guys in leather suits were chasing Cloud through town and then were fighting him on their bikes. I didn't see much of them but there was another guy I spotted on a nearby ridge who seemed to be watching."
Cissnei looked troubled for a moment as though remembering something but after a moment turned her attention back to the situation. "I'll give Veld a call; see if there's anything from the others."
Zack nodded. "Good idea."
Ten minutes later, everyone was gathered at the Inn when Zack saw Cloud park Fenrir up front and enter the main building followed by Kunsel and the rest of the party that had gone out to the snow fields. As his friend came in out of the snow, he noted the dried blood on the side of his face, but the thing that drew his attention the most was the black sleeve that obscured his left arm. There would be plenty of time to discuss it after the crisis was over though, he decided. "Who were those guys?" he asked.
Cloud looked concerned as he answered. "I don't know. But… they asked about mother…"
"Mother?" Zack considered for a moment. "You don't mean like… Sephiroth… do you?"
"I hope not," Tifa said.
"So we all say," Kunsel said, from where he had stopped to melt the snow off his boots near the fire, "But considering everything that's happened so far in the last couple of months…"
"Like at the Northern Crater?" Zack rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably with his left hand. "Yeah, that could have gone a lot better, and then those extra cases that have been coming in at the clinic."
"I have to admit, with what I saw in the Lifestream, it's hard to think it could be anything else," Aerith added.
"But that's bull$#!%, ain't it?" Cid interjected. "We killed him… didn't we?"
"Cloud killed him," Freya replied, "Twice."
"Didn't stop him the first time," Cloud murmured grimly.
"What is he then?" Barret asked. He was sitting on the couch in front of the fire with the kids nearby.
"Don't know," Zack said. "But we're getting off track here. We have to figure out who these new guys are."
"They couldn't be Sephiroth clones, could they?" Tifa wondered.
"Maybe…" Zack began.
It was then when Cissnei returned from making her call to Veld. "We've got a lead," she said. "Apparently persons matching the descriptions of those three men on motorcycles made contact at a meeting place of a resistance group in Junon."
"They're rebels?" Kunsel asked.
"Maybe. It seems this particular group formed shortly after Rufus lost track of Scarlet and Heidegger. They've pulled in a few Deepgrounders, a few rebel SOLDIERs, but mostly troopers from the Mechanized and and Infantry divisions. Kant and Nietzche it seems were self-proclaimed loyalists to those two." Cissnei reported.
Barret made a face, "Who the hell would follow them?"
"Kant and Nietzche, apparently," Fry answered in a deadpan. At that point, Reeve's PHS rang and he stood to answer it in the corner.
"It gets juicier," Cissnei added. "Seems, right before they were talking to Scarlet and Heidegger, they were talking to Rufus."
"What would he have to do with them?" Zack asked.
"Well, according to their discussion with Scarlet and Heidegger, he was the one who told them to seek out their 'brothers.' We didn't know what that meant at first. For all we know they could have been anyone."
"Rufus, hmm?" Cloud mused. "Maybe I'll just go ask him what it's about myself…"
He was already headed towards the door when Zack walked up to him, grabbing his shoulder to stop him. "Whoa, Cloud, hang on, you can go in a minute, first there's something I need to…"
He was interrupted when Reeve spoke up. "Speak of the devil, that was actually Tseng on behalf of Rufus just now. He said that Rufus wants Cloud to come to Cliff Resort immediately, as there is something he wants to talk to him about. He was very determined to get hold of you. Apparently he'd already called Seventh Heaven and WRO headquarters trying to locate you."
"It can wait, can't it…?" Tifa asked.
"But if I go now, we may be able to get some answers," Cloud said impatiently.
Zack gave him a frustrated look as he realized that now was not the time. He had hoped to broach the subject of Cloud's absence at a moment when it was just the two of them at first, and he couldn't do that while everyone was watching.
"All right…" he said at last. "But I want you to come back to Widblain as soon as possible, okay? We'll be headed back there since it's easier to defend, but the more people we have, the easier it'll be until we know what's going on."
That definitely got Cloud's attention. He still looked troubled, but he nodded, and then walked out the door. He was almost gone when Zack called after him "And make sure you take your PHS off of silent too! Just in case anything happens!" He sighed as the door creaked shut and he heard Tifa come up behind him as the others were already headed upstairs to see about packing again.
"Why did you let him go?" Tifa asked.
"Because what he said made sense," Zack said quietly so the others wouldn't hear. "Rufus doesn't just give opportunities like this, and I'm sure he's up to something, but if we don't play ball we might not find out what it is. Cloud also knows that if he doesn't show up or keep in contact while all this is happening, we will assume he's in trouble and come looking. So in a way, he has no choice but to come home." Tifa still looked worried, so he offered her an encouraging pat on the shoulder. "Hey, we'll get this sorted out, but right now, we have to get moving, okay?"
Tifa nodded, and with that, they turned back to the rest of the group so they could start talking about relocating. Still, even as Zack got down to the business of making sure everyone was ready to move out, he really wished he could have gone after his friend.
April 11th [ ν ] – εуλ 0009
The mountain range east of Kalm was the source of the river that flowed by the mining town as well as the Mithril mines, but it also had a number of recreational locations dotted throughout. Cliff Resort was only one of them, but Cloud had made a few deliveries in this area from time to time. As a result, he had no trouble navigating the narrow roads that would take him up to the small villa on the resort's property where the man he was supposed to meet would be awaiting him.
Upon arriving at the address Reeve had forwarded to him en-route, he found himself looking up at a villa with an incredible view of the surrounding hills and the largest waterfall in the immediate vicinity, which tumbled down the rock face on the opposite side of the building from the road for hundreds of feet before roaring down into the ravine below.
He took his time walking up the steps to the residence. Sure he'd been in a hurry to leave Zack's presence, but he was in much less of a hurry to talk to the current leader of the company that had caused so much wrong in his life. His mind was on a lot of other things as he climbed each step towards the front door. Worrying about what Zack wanted to talk about. Wondering if Aerith had told him about the dream she'd had. Knowing he would go back anyway because the alternative of them coming to look for him was the exact opposite of what he wanted to happen. Finally, he reached the door, still mulling over his own concerns, and opened it without bothering to knock. Immediately he spotted Reno and Rude standing in the foyer.
"Cloud!" Reno called out. "Good to see ya?"
Cloud glared at him. GUARDIAN and the non-renegade Turks may have been on non-adversarial, perhaps even near friendly relations from time to time in the past year or so, and tensions may have died down a little, but that didn't mean he appreciated the familiarity.
Reno grinned at his silence. "You never were much for conversation I guess," he reached for his EMR rod.
Cloud parried before Reno even made it to the height of his swing and then stepped out of the way, sending Reno tumbling out the door before it shut behind him. Cloud turned his attention to Rude, silently asking if he intended to attack him too, his guard position equally as expressive as a warning of what the result would be if he did. Rude simply walked to the side of the room, adjusting his leather gloves, though his posture told Cloud everything he needed to know about what was going on behind the man's sunglasses. He was sizing him up. He noted Reno calling through the window, "Hey Rude! Lookin' sharp!" and rolled his eyes.
Rude turned to face him at that moment and drew another EMR rod, but the First Sword was already pointed in his face. Seeing that challenging him further under these circumstances would be a grave mistake, the Turk nodded politely to him and returned to the side of the room.
After a moment, he spotted Tseng and Elena enter through a nearby door to take guard positions in front of it and then he heard another familiar voice. "Good, you still fight like the SOLDIER Zack trained you to be." There were footsteps and then Rufus entered the room, looking as self-assured and arrogant as ever and he was clapping his hands slowly. "You haven't lost your touch."
Cloud's eyes narrowed. "Rufus," he said coldly.
The man clucked is tongue. "Now is that any way to greet a comrade?" he began. "I thought we were on better terms than that…"
"What do you want from me?" Cloud interrupted.
Rufus attempted to plow on as though he hadn't heard him. "Since the war, we've been short on good people, what with everyone's departure from Midgar, and other things…"
"Who were the guys that attacked me?" Cloud interrupted again, the tension mounting in his voice.
Rufus continued pretending to ignore him, apparently considering his speech far more important. "With all that's been happening, it seemed like now might be a good time to discuss…"
Cloud's patience was quickly running out. "I'm leaving!" he said, nearly shouting over the other man. Certainly he had come here to get information, but Rufus was spending far too much time beating around the bush, when he really needed him to just get the hell to the point already. He felt terrible thanks to the stigma mixed with jet lag, his life had taken a distinctly downward turn, again, these last few weeks, and he wanted nothing more than to disappear again. But no. First, Zack wouldn't let him, and now, Rufus had the nerve to call on him after apparently sending three crazy assassins directly to him. Whether he had intended them to kill him or not, Cloud felt perfectly justified in blaming him for it.
Apparently the threat had some affect. Rufus gave up on the longer speech and changed to a different tack, "We need your assistance, Cloud."
"Not interested," Cloud said.
Tseng spoke at that point. "It might behoove you to actually listen before turning down the offer."
Rufus nodded in agreement and continued. "At the very least, you should honor the request of the man who saved your life. Now, I understand my company bears a lot of the blame for the world's suffering, but that does not mean we cannot try to make amends. In fact, that should make it our responsibility to set things right. It's been nearly a year since the Battle of Midgar, so what poses the greatest threat now? That is a complicated question. Geostigma has been around since before the Battle, and yet many people blame Shinra for it because they believe our mako reactors caused it, or perhaps they even blame the Lifestream itself. A very misguided opinion, if you think about it. The Lifestream has always been part of the planet, and Mako has been part of our lives for over forty years, yet there has been no evidence of this disease before at any point in recorded history. And then there's Reeve and his WRO who are beset by insurgencies and small local lords battling it out for power. Without GUARDIAN and Shinra backing him, the world would descend into chaos. But perhaps the greatest danger is the one the populace has no reason to suspect. The return of Sephiroth. You know what I'm speaking of."
Cloud said nothing and Shinra's president kept going. "We have observed you at the Northern Crater several times in the last couple of weeks, since the expedition Zack led for Mr. Townsend. We were undertaking an expedition of our own that day."
At that point, Reno called in from outside "I'm still out here!"
Rufus ignored him. "Zack and the others found an accident, what do you think we found?"
Cloud's eyes widened and Rufus smirked. "Relax, we didn't find a thing. But we were just recently confronted by Kadaj and his gang."
"Kadaj?" Cloud asked.
"The chances are high that they'll be after you and Zack as well, if they haven't already found you," Rufus observed.
"Leave us out of this," Cloud was doing his best to keep his voice even as he continued to glare at the President.
"How? All three of them look disturbingly like Sephiroth, don't they?" Rufus supplied. "Yours and Zack's ties run as closely to Sephiroth as ours do Cloud, and there is a significant amount of evidence that they might be working with some old friends of ours to some unknown mutual benefit. If Kadaj's purpose is to prepare for the right moment, then collectively, we stand as his greatest threat."
"Moment?" Cloud watched as Rufus turned to face him in front of the window.
"Sephiroth, reborn," Rufus clarified.
Cloud's eyes narrowed further. "Are you done talking?"
Rufus was unperturbed. "Let's get to the matter at hand. If Kadaj's plan is to bring back Sephiroth, and he is working with or using Scarlet and Heidegger to do it, then not only do we need a person of your expertise, but since you are no longer with GUARDIAN, you will need information on what my former subordinates are doing. Will you join us, SOLDIER 1st Class, Cloud Strife?"
Cloud turned his back on Rufus in disgust. Clearly the man had thought that he and Zack had some sort of falling out, otherwise, he wouldn't be considering such an offer, by using what the Turks had no doubt dug up on him to give him what they thought he would want in exchange for his services. Had they not done enough? He scoffed at the possibility. "In your dreams," he growled. He was almost to the door when he looked back over his shoulder at the President. "What's this stuff about… mother?"
"Why?" Rufus asked, "Did Kadaj mention something?"
"Rufus, if you're hiding something…"
"I would never hide anything from a comrade," Rufus said, walking a little closer so that he stood in the center of the room. "With everything the young Mrs. Fair and the good doctor have been doing, you must want to learn everything you can about the stigma. Especially for those orphans you live with. Don't you want to see the smiles on their faces? All we want in the end, is to build our world, Cloud."
Cloud considered that, but hadn't said anything more. He certainly had no desire to betray Zack. Wouldn't that be what he'd be doing by accepting Rufus's help? At that point the door opened and Reno finally came back in. "Come on Cloud," Reno said. "Think about it. Together we could rebuild Shinra."
That ended it. Cloud turned around and brushed past him out the door, leaving only a "Not interested," for their trouble. As he was halfway down the stairs his SOLDIER hearing clearly detected half the people in the room exclaiming "Reno!" and Rufus sounded particularly exasperated.
Frankly, he didn't give a damn. What kind of idiot did they think he was anyway? Did they think his loyalty could be so easily bought? He continued to fume until he reached his motorcycle, and that was when he remembered how much he was dreading going home.
It was late afternoon and Denzel was seated at one of the booths at Seventh Heaven while Tifa worked at the counter. He could see several WRO soldiers outside, as well as GUARDIAN volunteers who were patrolling the streets but that wasn't what he really wanted to see. He could also see Zack pacing the floor nearby. He'd been waiting here since they'd gotten back this morning, talking to Tifa every now and then, and apparently thinking. Aerith and the others had gone back home to the Lodge, but he'd insisted on staying. When Denzel had asked what was going on he'd just said there was something he wanted to talk to Cloud about, and that he didn't think he could talk to anyone else about it until he'd brought it up with him.
He watched the dark haired man along with Marlene as he waited. The troubled look on his face was enough to indicate he was worried, and was it any wonder? Cloud had been attacked. What if they came after him again? Minutes passed, and then an hour, and then another, until as the last of the supper rush left the building, he heard the familiar sound of a motorcycle outside. He looked at Marlene and then the two of them ran to the door just in time to see Cloud park his vehicle in the garage. The two of them walked outside and Marlene ran right up to him as he shut the garage door. "Cloud! Those bad men didn't come after you again did they?"
He shook his head. "No, I'm all right," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder.
Marlene put her arms around his leg in a hug. "We've been waiting for you," she said seriously, "Where did you go?"
Cloud looked from her to Denzel and the boy couldn't miss the pained expression on his hero's face. "Nowhere special," he said at last. "The President wanted to talk." The autumn wind blew through the trees and he finally said "Let's go inside."
Marlene nodded and held the front door of the bar open for him while Denzel trailed behind at Cloud's side, searching his face for any sign of what might be wrong. Something had to be. Otherwise, why would Tifa be so worried all the time? The most he was able to guess was that Cloud was thinking about something, and he didn't seem happy about it. As they passed back into the warmth of the bar, Zack walked up to them. "Good to see you made it," he said.
Most of dinner had occurred in an uneasy silence, Cloud had noted. Even the kids seemed to get that something serious was going on, but they had remained quiet, as Zack occasionally asked questions about what had happened at Rufus's place.
"Seriously?" he said, taken aback when Cloud had explained to him what had transpired. "The nerve of that guy, trying to ask you to join him. I mean, when you left GUARDIAN it was because you wanted to cut your own path. You told me several times, it had nothing to do with anything I did."
Cloud nodded. "I did. But he thought he could buy me off. Boy was he wrong."
Zack chuckled and for a moment, the room seemed to be back to the way things had used to be, when they still shared a room at the lodge. "I wish I could have been there to see his face when you turned him down."
Cloud fought down the wry smile that was trying to play at his lips and he brought the conversation back to the subject matter. "He openly told me those guys had been there."
"You mean the ones who were chasing you?" Zack asked, once again turning serious.
Cloud nodded. "He said one of them called himself Kadaj, and he confirmed that they'd been in contact with Scarlet and Heidegger."
Zack finished the last bite on his plate and leaned back thoughtfully. "You don't think those idiots are planning something do you?"
"Probably," Cloud murmured.
"Man," Zack sighed. "Why can't things just stay quiet for a couple of years? I was really looking forward to some skiing." He stood, stretching is good arm, the GUARDIAN jacket he was wearing slightly lifting at the motion, and then he turned his attention to Tifa. "Hey Tifa? Excellent dinner, but do you mind if I borrow Cloud for a couple of minutes?"
Tifa nodded. "All right."
Before Cloud knew it, Zack had already walked to where he'd stashed the Buster Sword in the corner. "What's going on?" he asked.
Zack gave a lopsided shrug, his left arm the only one making the gesture. "I just thought it had been a while since we'd properly sparred. I was thinking, since it'd been so long, we could go one on one? Just for old time's sake?"
He secured the Buster Sword to his back. Cloud considered for a moment before relenting and going out to Fenrir to get the First Sword. Zack watched from the store front of the bar and then led the way to the edge of town. They were quiet for the few minutes' walk towards the clearing where the old military transport helicopter still sat. It had been a while since the two of them had ridden in it, but Freya and Cissnei and some of the others occasionally flew it when they needed to get somewhere close by. Zack took a moment to walk over to a fuse box that had been installed when the fortifications in the area had been built and hit a switch, lighting up the clearing by several lamp-posts that had been situated in the area.
"All right," he said, "You ready for this?" he asked.
Cloud simply drew the First Sword from his sword harness and prepared himself to endure the pain of the lightning quick movements he knew Zack would expect of him. After taking stance, he nodded.
On the cold damp grass, under the lamplight and the stars, the two swordsmen ran at each other, both clashing their swords together. Several times at practice speed, they withdrew, and struck again, making their way around the clearing, but then Cloud saw Zack's signal that he could go faster, so he did, and even though he was only using his left arm to support the strikes of his right, he could already tell it was starting to hurt. Zack seemed to be having no trouble. It stood to reason. He was used to fighting one-handed now. Strike after strike, parry after parry. Cloud spun into a defensive maneuver before dodging and rolling to avoid a strike that came too close for comfort. His arm burned hotter, but he refused to let himself yield, even as Zack came at him again, and once again signaled that they go faster.
He parried the blow, but felt the First Sword cleave into a nearby tree as they neared the edge of the woods. Zack was already moving and it took him a second to refocus his attack before blocking again, and again. Zack remained tense and focused as they moved further and further towards the other side until at last, Zack spoke, "You're slower than normal," he said. "What's wrong? Normally, you aren't breaking a sweat when we work at this speed."
Cloud didn't answer, but focused on trying to press another overhead strike, which Zack brought up the Buster Sword to block, using a clearly improvised maneuver where he knelt in order to let the ground absorb some of the blow before moving to kick Cloud's legs out from under him. Cloud hopped out of the way, and then suddenly, there his friend was, right in front of him. "Let me take a wild guess," he said, before his right hand flew out from his side. Pain shot through Cloud's left arm as Zack had used his free hand to grip it hard. They both stood there, Zack gritting his teeth from the effort of using his injured arm, and Cloud from the pain that was coursing through him from his own wound, until at last, Zack let go and backed off a step. "I thought so," he said at last. "After hearing what Tifa said about that sleeve, and Aerith having that dream, and then watching you at the Inn, I was pretty sure… but I guess I had to confirm it…" He gave him a serious look. "Cloud, you've got the stigma don't you." It wasn't a question.
Cloud tried to look away from him, not wanting to face him, but instead, he heard Zack thrust the Buster Sword into the ground and walk around him, forcing him to look him in the eyes. "Why didn't you say anything?" he asked.
"It wouldn't have helped anyone," Cloud said. "There isn't a cure…"
"It might have helped you!" Zack exclaimed, letting him go and backing off a couple of steps. "I mean, after everything we've been through Cloud. After everything we've faced, did you really just plan to throw it all away? Even though there are people who need you?" His tone was somewhere between anger and frustration.
"It would only hurt them more if I didn't…" Cloud murmured.
Zack let out an exasperated sigh. "Obviously, you don't get it. Back in town at that bar, there's a whole bunch of people who've been tearing their hair out over you for the past three weeks. Denzel and Marlene look up to you like a father, and Tifa depends on you to help keep things running. And they aren't the only ones. Besides…" he trailed off before taking a deep breath and continuing. "If you're going to go off and disappear, you're going to miss a few things."
Cloud heard the rustling of fabric and looked up to see Zack moving his right arm inside his jacket, with some difficulty, but not enough to stop him from pulling it out of the sleeve, which now hung behind him, contained by the harness for the Buster Sword. He had expected to see the familiar scar under the sleeveless shirt his friend usually sported. What he didn't expect to see was several bandages wrapped around where the scar was supposed to be with black residue starting to leak through them a little from the exertions the two of them had just undergone.
"What do you know?" Zack said humorlessly. "We match." He walked over to where the Buster Sword was, picking it up and returning it to his back. As Cloud returned the First Sword to his own sword harness Zack walked over to him and placed his left hand on his shoulder. "Now, where I'm standing, you have two choices. You can either disappear, and let the others keep worrying about you and spend the rest of their lives not knowing what happened to you and give up on them without even letting them try to help. Or you can come back to the lodge with me and let Aerith and the doctor patch us up, before we go talk this out with Tifa. I know we're going to find a cure for this. There's no way we won't, but if you give up before you even try, where does that get you?"
As Cloud considered his friend's words, for a few moments before returning Zack's question with one of his own. "What happens after that?"
"Good question," Zack said. "Although I guess trying to figure out who and what this guy Kadaj is might be a good start." With that, he turned and started walking towards the path leading to the lodge. "You coming or not?"
Cloud let out a sigh and finally relented, following his friend back into the trees.
So yeah, it's confirmed now. The guys both got it. And the remnants are running around loose. What else could possibly go wrong?
Unfortunately, I'm going to have to call another break week next week. But be sure to tune in at the usual time, Thursday November 7th/Friday November 8th for the next chapter. See you then!