Chapter Four
Suspicious Thoughts
Zeno sat alone
once more, this time in his room, on his bed that was placed directly next to
his open window. There was a new moon tonight; only the faint, dark smudge in
the dark sky told of the moon's existence. The stars were out in full force,
glimmering gently as they swung from their scattered perches in the fabric of
the night. Wutai was silent and still, the stream a thread of shining silver
and each building lit from within with life and light.
"Zeno?" Cloud
knocked on the door to Zeno's room, opening it cautiously and peering in. Zeno
looked up at him tiredly, leaning against the windowsill wearing his
long-legged black pants with his shirt slung carelessly over the back of a
chair nearby. Cloud entered and closed the door quietly behind him, taking the
seat with Zeno's shirt hanging over its back.
"Yes?"
"Zeno, Tifa told
me what you said this afternoon. She was…upset." Cloud leveled his
sapphire-eyed gaze with Zeno's light-devouring one, unflinchingly keeping his
eyes steady. He was one of the very few rare people who could actually meet
Zeno's gaze without looking away in the next second. "Care to explain a bit
more?"
Zeno blinked
slowly at Cloud. "I meant what I said," he replied simply. "I don't feel like I
belong here."
"Why not, Zeno?
This is your home. You've lived here your whole life."
"I've lived here
my whole life, true," Zeno acknowledged. "But I'm different from everyone else
here. Who were my parents, anyway? I don't even know; you've never told me. I
just feel like something out there is calling me to it in the back of my mind.
And…" he hesitated. "…I saw my reflection in the stream after Tifa left. I saw
something that left me slightly…disturbed…but it opened up some
emotion…something that was walled up within me before…that told me that there
was much, much more to the world than just this life."
Cloud snorted
softly under his breath, shaking his head as he shifted his position on the
chair. "I'll be damned. You're just acting like a normal kid, Zeno, and…I'm not
going to try and sugarcoat things at this moment. You are not normal, not in the sense of people like Tifa or me. Any
idiot could see that you age and develop physically and mentally abnormally
quickly. From what I've taught you with a sword, you've a natural talent and
your reflexes are almost too quick to be human. You've read practically every
single book you could get your hands on, either in the Wutai language or
otherwise. The only thing you don't do
is act like a normal twenty-four-year-old. Admit it," he cut in sternly when
Zeno opened his mouth in apparent protest, "you don't. You've showed no
interest at all in any girls, you didn't act like a little bastard throughout
what we consider your 'teenage' years, and…jeez, kid, you have an unreal
obsession with reading."
"Is that so
wrong?" Zeno asked softly.
Cloud threw his
hands into the air in mock surprise. " 'Is that so wrong', the kid says. Guys
don't read as much as you do. Yeah, maybe they've done it a lot during their
adolescent days, but once they're your age—and I'm referring to your apparent
physical age—they concentrate more on trying to get a family. You're…you're
only a year younger than me, for crying out loud!" He tilted his head back and
slid his eyelids halfway downwards, giving Zeno a sly stare from beneath his
half-closed lids. "You're also not only celibate, but a virgin, I assume. No
activity going on at night, is there?"
Zeno carefully
refrained from exploding at his uncle and instead replied with, "What about
you, Uncle Cloud? You haven't been exactly very active, either." He promptly
imitated Cloud's prospecting stare, managing to make his look more demeaning
and sardonic. "I'm not deaf or blind, either."
Cloud stared at
Zeno in open-mouthed surprise, eyes complete open now and blank with shock.
Zeno's dry, sarcastic comeback and tone of voice strongly reminded him once
more of a person from the past who bore that same proud voice and almost
condescending sense of humor. Narrowing his eyes in the mere slightest, Cloud
inspected Zeno, taking in the young man's features and stance.
Zeno dropped the
pose and looked at Cloud bemusedly. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
Cloud shook his
head instantly as if Zeno's voice had brought him back to the present. He
appeared extremely scared, exhibited both by his suddenly pale face and wide
eyes. "N-nothing, kid. I…think I need some sleep now. Tifa and I'll talk to you
in the morning." He stood and left without another comment, closing Zeno's door
behind him.
Cloud walked
slowly down the hallway, dragging his feet on the floor and one hand along the
wall as he moved. Finally, he stopped and leaned on his side, tilting his head
to come in contact with the wall.
"Damn," he
murmured out loud. "Damn. You're who
that kid looks like…and if my theory is right…you are him."
Cloud clenched
his hands into fists out of sheer frustration and sudden anger, doing his best
to restrain himself from pounding his fists into the wall and bringing the
entire house down. How, how, how…How could he test his theory to see if he was
right? The Lifestream? All of the Ancients, the one race that could communicate
easily with the Lifestream, were dead…
…Aeris…
There was only one way to test his idea out, and that was to
satisfy Zeno's sudden wandering hunger and to go with him to a place where
there was Lifestream in contact with the outside world.
The North Crater…
