Yo, minna!

Once again, I find I must apologize for the long time between updates.  This part was so hard to write.  You know, I'd get all jazzed up for it, then I'd open the site with the scripts for this part of the 'game' and look at how much I had to rewrite…*sob*  In the end, I decided not to go overboard on the script alterations.

So yeah!  The results!  How did Cloud's mother take it?  Does anyone actually read Cloud's nameplate?  When does the angst and horror I promised start?  Read on!

*

"Sooo?  How'd it goooo?"

Cloud almost jumped out of his skin at Zack's drawled question.  He hadn't even realized the other was standing there.  He turned to look and discovered that Sephiroth was also standing nearby, looking almost as nervous as he had when first proposing.  Cloud regained his cool quickly, though, finding it much easier to do so with a mask on, and shrugged at the both of them.

"Okay.  I got the 'how could you be marrying a man?!' and 'but I wanted grandchildren!' lectures, but I think things went rather well."  He turned and glared at Sephiroth.  "And just where did you disappear to, anyway?  I swear, one minute you're there, the next you're not, and I'm desperately making stuff up about you so mom doesn't pitch a fit about everything from how much older you are, to why you wear so much leather!"  Cloud growled, and Sephiroth had the grace to look sheepish.

"There was a monster, and I had to go, unless we actually wanted our inept companion to die."  He held up his pager.  "You can check the history, if you want…"

Cloud sighed.  "Nah, I'm not really that mad."  He turned and started to walk back toward the inn, Zack and Sephiroth on either side.  "Well, once Mom finished lecturing, throwing things, accusing you of being a kink out to corrupt me, et cetera, et cetera, she seemed to accept it.  Once she had asked whether there were any 'trust issues,' whether I knew what it would be like to live with you, what the sex was like—"

Zack interrupted.  "What?!?!?!  Your mom asked about sex?!?!?!"

Cloud blinked.  "Well, yeah.  So?"

Zack shook his head.  "Geeze.  Am I the only one in the world whose parents are prudes?"

Cloud giggled.  "I doubt it Zack, but it would be funny.  It's just mostly a Nibel thing.  Well, worse than most places.  Since we all grow up so fast, it's pretty much useless, not to mention counter-productive, to hide that kind of stuff.  Shoot, most of us don't even go through that whole 'cooties' phase."  Cloud shrugged.  "We're weird."

Sephiroth smirked.  "All the better for me.  I'm glad you're weird, Cloud.  I'm also really glad your mother's weird enough to go along with this."

Cloud grinned.  "Too bad you didn't let our inept companion die.  It would have been really nice to have sex tonight, ne?"

Zack snorted.  "You two are so gonna get busted.  You're talking awfully loud in an awfully small town…"

Cloud grinned and raised his voice.  "OH, YOU MEAN LIKE THIS???  I CAN TALK EVEN LOUDER IF YOU WANT!  IT'S NOT A PROB—"

Zack clamped a hand over Cloud's mouth, cloth mask and everything, effectively muffling the blond.  He glared.  "Thy mouth runneth over, Spike."

Sephiroth smirked a dirty little smirk.  "Well, he certainly has practice screaming at the top of his lungs.  And lots of practice with his mouth."

Zack glared again.  "You're not helping, Seph."

Sephiroth laughed, as did Cloud, judging by the way his shoulders shook.  Despite himself, Zack also chuckled and released Cloud.  The three of them walked into the inn, ignoring the stares the villagers (and their inept companion ™) were giving them.

*

Cloud yawned as he walked out to the small open space in front of the old mansion where they were to meet for the mission.  He shivered slightly in the cold morning air, but he had spent almost all of his life in these mountains, so it didn't really bother him.

He had had the second turn watching the town, so he had only been a little later than usual to bed.  It wasn't really enough to tire him, but his body was insisting that it was.  He ignored it.

Actually, he had enjoyed his watch.  It had been late afternoon when he had taken over, and well into the night when Zack had come to relieve him.  He had spent the time stalking around the town in a purposefully random pattern.  One of the older men in the village, Cap Glenn, who had seen action during the Dragoon Wars—the ones before the Wutai Wars—had also patrolled the town.  He was old, Cloud couldn't remember a time when his hair had not been grey, his face wrinkled by time and the elements, but he was still strong and carried his dragon-slaying spear with the confidence of one still in practice with the deadly implement.

Cloud had felt much better knowing that old Cap Glenn was out patrolling, too.  If the old man could take down dragons, then he was definitely a valuable ally.

Not to mention that the old veteran's approval of him and his patrol strategy, while unspoken, felt distinctly good.  Especially since the Dragoon Wars were said to have been even more vicious than the ones in Wutai.

Now Cloud stepped into place behind Sephiroth and beside the other Regular.  They were waiting on Zack—as usual, since Zack seemed to be allergic to sunlight before 0900—but Cloud used the time to study the small crowd gathered at the town's back exit.

There was a guy standing off to one side, clutching a camera and visibly trying to work up the nerve to ask if he could take a picture.  Cloud knew how much Sephiroth loathed cameras, and the fact that he had an actual fanclub was more than merely irritating to him.

There was Tifa standing off to one side, waiting for the right moment to sweep in and make her stunning entrance…ha.  How had he ever managed to deal with that girl?  Why had he wanted to be her friend?  Combined with her father—also present—it was nearly impossible to get things right.  Pssht, he'd tried to save her on that damn rickety old bridge, damn it, and what did he get for it?  A beating, threats, and a warning to stay away from Tifa.

Not a problem.  You couldn't pay him to get near her now.

There were a few others hanging around, those who dared the dawn monsters and braved the early morning chill to see them off.  Sephiroth was speaking with Tifa's father, when Tifa decided to make her entrance.  Encouraged by Sephiroth's easy attitude this morning, the camera-toting groupie asked for a picture.  Cloud shook his head.  He just wanted this mission over with.  In the excitement of telling his mother the news, it had been easy to dismiss his uneasiness over the mission, but now it was eating at his nerves like slow acid.

A hand landed on his shoulder.  Cloud's head snapped around, and his hands ached for his sword.  He hated being surprised, but he quickly toned down his reaction as he noticed it was old Cap Glenn.  The old man smiled slightly at his reaction, then handed something to him.

"For you," he said.  Cloud examined the thin adamant chain then glanced questioningly at the old man, who shrugged.  "Just a little good luck charm I got a long time ago.  I think you'll need it."  Cloud's questioning expression grew more intense, and Cap Glenn leaned close.  "I know they should have sent more people than they did on this mission.  This ain't gonna be no walk in the park, my boy, and you know it."  Cloud nodded solemnly and looped the chain around his neck, tucking it into his uniform. Cap smiled.

"Your pop'd be proud of you, Cloud.  I am, and I'm sure most of the town would be, if they knew as much as I about Wutai and what you did there."  Cloud's eyes widened, and his hand rose to cover his nameplate, but Cap waved him down.  "It's fine.  No one here's real observant, you might've noticed.  Just take care not to make your ma upset."  The grizzled old man turned to leave, but Cloud put a quick hand on his arm.  Cap turned back, an eyebrow raised, and Cloud nodded firmly.

"Thanks, Cap Glenn.  Appreciate your confidence, and your help."

The old-timer grinned, and Cloud got some sense of how vibrant he must have been as a young man, fighting in a long, bitter war as one of the first of the Shinra's Air Force pilots.

Maybe things were starting to look up.

*

Cloud stared up at the sky, trying to get his limbs to work and wheezing for the breath that had been so suddenly expelled from his aching lungs.

/Fucking bridge!  I've only been on it like twice, and it broke both times!  Damnation, that really hurts!/  A sudden thought occurred to him.  /Sephiroth!  Zack!/ and belatedly /Tifa and Carver./

Forcing his aching body to move, Cloud sat up and cast his gaze around himself.  His eyes came to rest on the still form of Sephiroth, not five feet away.  Scrambling on his hands and knees to where the other man lay, Cloud shook him gently.

"Seph?  Seph?  C'mon, wake up."

Sephiroth pulled a face.  "Blah," he muttered, blinking open his pale green eyes.  "Crappy bridge," he remarked, as casually as if he was discussing the weather.  "Does it always do that?"

Cloud smiled, relieved Sephiroth was okay.  "Well, the only other time I was on it, it did.  You've seen the scars on my knees.  It was really a pain walking for a couple weeks after that."

Sephiroth smirked.  "You seem to have lots of trouble walking, Cloud.  I mean really."

Cloud glared.  "You perv," he growled, but he didn't really feel angry.  He reached out, fluffed Sephiroth's hair in the number one guaranteed way to irritate him, and stood up just out of range of Sephiroth's swipe.  The General frowned at him a moment, then let it go, still possessing the remarkably good mood he'd been in since proposing.  Then he levered himself up and shook the lingering fuzziness out of his head.  He looked at Cloud.

"Are you good to go, Cloud?"

Cloud smiled ironically.  "Man, I was up before you, Seph.  And I worry about Zack."  He frowned.  "And Tifa and Carver, of course."

Sephiroth quirked a smile.  "Of course."  He caught Cloud by the arm and reeled him close.  "Have I told you recently how much I love you?"

Cloud smiled and pressed a light kiss to Sephiroth's mouth, not really surprised when it deepened all by itself.  When they broke apart, Cloud smiled.  "You just did.  And I love you, too."

Sephiroth smiled, then looked around to get his bearings.  He started off in one direction, and Cloud smiled as he fell in beside the older man.  /Of course he picks the right direction right off, even without ever being here before.  Despite the fact that this direction is the one reason would insist is the wrong one./

They walked in companionable silence for a few minutes, before they encountered the rest of the party—minus Carver.  Sephiroth noted that they had no time to search for the missing man, and they started off again.

Cloud craned his head as they entered the mouth of a nearby cave.  The colors had always drawn him, even as a child when he had come here to find solitude and solace, but now the colors meant things to a mind stuffed to overflowing with all things Mako.  While Sephiroth, Zack, and Tifa wondered over the colors and their basis in Mako, Cloud read what the cave walls were telling him.  For example, that the reactor's output was down, and that it had plenty of extra Mako even if it was working at full capacity.  Of course, the barren appearance of the mountains indicated otherwise, but the Nibel Range had always been bare and frigid.

They stepped through into another natural chamber, and were greeted by a gorgeous Mako fountain.  The raw Materia on the top was larger than the last time Cloud had seen it, but that was to be expected.  The color had shifted a little further toward blue, which was also to be expected.

Materia color was due to a combination of factors, most importantly crystal formation rate, temperature, and pressure.  Most raw Materia was green, explaining the predominance of magic Materia.  Once upon a time, this fountain had produced green Materia because there was a lot of free Mako to crystallize and deposit, but with the reactor, there was less free Mako, crystal deposition had slowed, and the Materia had started to gain a blue tinge.  If it slowed much more it would start to yellow.  Of course, it would look green, since it had a blue under-layer, but a Materia's outermost layer determined its function, and the range of deposition influenced its function.  A green with very little else would be a quick-growing, weak Materia.  A Materia that was very slow growing would be a pure Red, and very strong.  Add a lot of pressure to a green, and it turned purple.  Manufactured Materia tended to be a bit more uniform in color so as not to confuse the user.

Sephiroth smiled at Cloud, albeit inconspicuously.  He'd obviously noticed Cloud's preoccupation with the Mako cave, and now with the 'fountain.  "A Mako fountain.  It's a miracle of nature."

Tifa frowned, puzzled.  "By the way... Why is that that when you use Materia you can also use magic too?"

Sephiroth rolled his eyes.  "The knowledge and wisdom of the Ancients is held in the Materia," he stated with the tone of one reciting from a textbook.  "Anyone with this knowledge can freely use the powers of the land and the Planet. That knowledge interacts between ourselves and the Planet calling up magic... or so they say."

Cloud was fighting not to roll his eyes.  Knowledge of the Ancients, nothing!  It was just an energy field…maybe the 'Lifestream' held the knowledge of the Ancients, but something as small as a Materia couldn't possibly hold much.  Well, unless the knowledge was stored in the crystal faces and the angles between them.  But so far, there had been no headway in determining the type of magic a Materia held by measuring crystal faces—you still had to charge the crystal and actually cast the spell to figure that out.  And because of the processes that led to color change—heat, pressure, rate of growth—of course there were differences in the crystals of different colored Materia.  Until someone showed him conclusive evidence that predicted the type of magic in a Materia by examining the crystals, Cloud would remain firmly a skeptic.

Moving on, they at last reached the reactor.  Sephiroth, Zack, and Cloud had already determined that Cloud had to go in, since he was the Mako expert, And Sephiroth didn't want to part from him, so poor Zack got stuck babysitting Tifa, while the two of them headed inside.

Cloud immediately looked at the panel that displayed the status of the reactor.  It confirmed what the Mako colors in the caves had: Mako withdrawal was down about five percent.  Strangely, though, average crystal mass in the pods was way up.  Most reactors rotated so that there was a mostly continuous flow of Materia: one might have a little 'baby' Materia, no bigger than a grain of sand, one would be half-grown, and another would be almost fully grown.  To have that much mass in the pods meant they were all full of nearly grown Materia.  Individual pod sensors even indicated that a few of the pods were carrying something heavier than any Materia Cloud had ever seen.  Were they conducting experiments in the creation of super Materia?

Sephiroth, meanwhile, bent near to the front of one of the pods with a frown.  His Mako enhanced vision obviously was picking up something Cloud couldn't see from his position.  Then the General spoke.

"This is the reason for the malfunction. This part is broken. Cloud, close the valve."  He then moved up the staircase to examine the strange door at the top.  "This is…Jenova?"  He tugged lightly on the door.  "It won't open."

Cloud shrugged and moved to close the valve.  As close as he was, he too could see the hairline fracture in the pod, extending all the way to it's main feeder conduit, which also explained the heavy Mako smell in the air.  Closing the valve on the malfunctioning pod cut off the Mako supply to it.  Cloud closed it and wondered if there was any spare sealant around.  The free Mako, even just the fumes, were causing random mutations in the native flora and fauna, so it would probably be a good idea to go through and make sure everything was sealed tight to prevent further damage.  He carried some with him anyway—it was his job, after all—but nowhere near enough to seal up a whole Mako reactor, if the damage was extensive.

Cloud peered curiously up at the small round window on the pod.  This pod had been listed as one of those with an unusually heavy crystal mass, he realized.  He wondered if the added mass had caused the malfunction.  He climbed to his feet and stood on tip-toe to peer through the small opening—and fell back with a cry as he caught sight of what was contained inside.  /That's no Materia!  That's…a monster!  And whoever put that in there is just as much a monster./

Sephiroth suddenly appeared at his side, obviously alarmed by his soft exclamation.  "What is it?" he asked, worried.  Cloud shook his head, trying to calm his heaving stomach, and mutely waved Sephiroth toward the pod.  Sephiroth rose to look into the pod.  Cloud clearly saw him recoil, even though he caught himself and smoothed his expression out of reflex, and he felt better.  If it was bad enough to make Sephiroth flinch, Cloud didn't feel so bad about nearly losing his breakfast.

Sephiroth frowned thoughtfully once the immediate revulsion had faded.  "...Now I see, Hojo.  But doing this will never put you on the same level as Professor Gast," he muttered.  Cloud cocked a brow.

"Huh?"

Sephiroth looked at him.  "Think about it, Cloud.  Who has the access to Mako, the twisted scientific know-how, and the power to pull off something like this?"  He gestured vaguely at the pod.

Cloud shuddered.  "Hojo.  But what about Professor Gast?"

Sephiroth shrugged.  "Hojo has a huge inferiority complex when it comes to Professor Gast.  Don't ask me why.  Hojo's a walking mass of complexes, and I don't ever want to know him well enough to be able to say why exactly he has them."

Cloud nodded vigorously.  "That's for damn sure!"  He shuddered again.  "I've tinkered with genetics and phenotypes before, but to mess with humans…?  I hope for their sake that they were all dead long before they were put in these things.  Mako burns, and to be trapped in a tiny cage while your cells mutate and your body changes…"  Cloud had to shut up to control his gag reflex.  He could just see the poor 'test subjects'' terror as their bodies liquefied and reformed around them, the Mako both the cause of the changes and what kept them alive through them…

Sephiroth shook suddenly, violently, hand's rising to bunch in his hair.  Cloud rose, worried.  Sephiroth always responded oddly to mention of Mako experiments on living things, but to be looking right at such an experiment—and on humans, no less!—had to be doing a number on his head.  Combined with the Mako fumes in this place…

Cloud placed his hand on Sephiroth's shoulder and felt dizziness take him.  He heard Sephiroth's voice, faint and hollow as if echoed down a long tunnel, but still suffused with murderous rage, confusion, and despair.  "No….!  Was I created this way, too?  Am I the same as all these monsters?!"

Cloud gasped and jerked away from Sephiroth, and the weird echoing effect left.  Cloud found he was still standing beside Sephiroth, who was still shaking like a leaf in a gale.  It was a miracle he didn't just shake himself apart.

"…Sephiroth…" he whispered, anxious, but unwilling to touch the other again.  He knew that what he'd experienced had been thought amplification, probably due to all the loose Mako in the air carrying powerful thoughts to him through their physical contact.  Cloud did not want to invade Sephiroth's privacy again so he wouldn't touch him again until after they were outside the reactor, though he certainly wondered what had Sephiroth even imagining he could have been made like this.

            Cloud sighed and repeated himself, albeit more firmly.  "Sephiroth."

            Green eyes swung up to meet his, unease and disgust filling their depths.  Cloud mustered a smile.  "C'mon, Seph.  We should get out of here.  At least I should.  Mako exposure could be a bad thing, and I wanna be able to rub it into Hojo's face that I made SOLDIER despite all he could do."

            Sephiroth nodded, composing himself.  "You're right.  Besides, there's little we can do here, but close valves and seal pipes.  It's gonna take a crew of specialists to clean all this up."

            They turned toward the door together, both wanting to get the hell out of there, when there was a sudden sound that brought both of their heads around and their weapons out.  One of the pods on an upper level pitched over, the seals holding it closed failing.  Pressurized Mako hissed as it sprayed out the opening, and sloshed across the metal pipes and floor to gather in steaming pools of glowing green.

            Like some macabre egg, the pod split fully open, and a monster tumbled into sight.  Vaguely humanoid in form, it had short tentacles hanging from its head, and the flesh of its legs was a slimy, faintly glowing color reminiscent of raw meat.  A stink of flesh and soiled Mako washed over the room, and the monster heaved in a gasping breath of the foul air, even as Cloud and Sephiroth gagged on the fumes.

            Then Cloud finally did throw up, as he watched the creature twitch, and gasp desperately for air, making horrible wheezing growls and struggling ineffectually to rise from the slick inside of the pod.  The creature's flesh began to run and drip off its body just as it reached to brace itself against the edge of the pod.  It left a blood-hued handprint on the edge of the shell and one of its fingers actually fell off, decomposing into a little puddle once it hit the floor.

            After a few more minutes of struggle, the monster finally went limp after coughing out the soupy bags of its liquefying lungs.  The decomposition rate increased, and within a few moments of its final breath, all that was left of the creature was a puddle in the half of the pod that lay horizontally like a bowl.  Even its bones had broken down.

            They heard a startled exclamation behind them.  "Holy fuck!  What the hell was that?!"

            Sephiroth, now on hair-trigger nerves, whirled, his sword singing with the speed of his turn.  He'd recognized Zack's voice, though, and held his strike.  Zack looked distinctly green around the gills; he'd obviously seen the monster liquefy.

            "Zack," Cloud asked, trying to ignore his rebelling stomach and the smell of Mako accelerated decay.  "What are you doing in here?  Weren't you watching Tifa?"

            The dark-haired SOLDIER nodded, eyes glued with a sort of horrified fascination to the remains of the dead creature.  "Yeah, um, I was.  Oh, but she promised to stay outside, so I came in to see what was taking so long.  It's already been an hour, and you didn't check back, so…"

            Sephiroth nodded, pointedly not looking at the open pod.  "That's fine.  If it's already been an hour, I would have worried, too.  But we're done here, for now.  When we get back into town, I'll call Midgar and see if we can get a team in here to fix this place."

Zack shuddered.  "Yeah.  What the fuck was that thing, and what happened to it to make it just…melt…like that?"

Cloud felt a dry heave rising in the back of his throat and fought ruthlessly with it until he'd finally managed to force it down.  "It's mutations were unstable and it overestimated its fitness.  In the high-pressure environment of the pod, it may well have seemed stable.  However, upon moving to an environment that didn't exert the same forces on it to keep it intact, its still slightly unstable, semi-fluid body…disintegrated."

Zack clutched at his stomach, and even Sephiroth looked horrified.  "How do you know that, Cloud?"  Zack asked.

Cloud chuckled nervously.  "Class.  One of the teams thought their second project, a dead bird, was done changing and took it out too early and it did that.  You can use dead animals since organismal death does not always mean that all the cells are dead.  And you can even reanimate dead cells for a short time with Mako.  It's how we used to practice until we all got good enough to work on living things.  We kept those sedated, though, since it was deemed 'inhumane' to subject them to that kind of rapid mutation when they were aware…as if it wasn't inhumane anyway!"

Cloud shuddered.  "God, I don't think I can go back to that.  I don't think I can do it!"  He knew he was getting hysterical and tried to calm himself, but couldn't until Sephiroth put his warm, strong arms around him.  He looked up at the General, profoundly glad he was here, and flattered that such a man could ever want to be with him.  Sephiroth just smiled slightly, the haunted look in his eyes fading into a tiny ember in the backs of them to fuel nightmares.

"Let's just get out of here."

Zack placed a hand on his shoulder.  "Yeah, I agree."  Cloud looked up at Zack, smiled in gratitude for the silent strength he offered, then rose to his feet.  Sephiroth got up with him, not releasing him from his embrace.  He planted a quick kiss in his hair, then stepped away.  In anyone else, it might have seemed like a cold way to be, or at the very best, a weak token gesture, but Cloud was flattered that the other had allowed himself such a huge breach in protocol while at a mission site.  /Proof,/ Cloud thought wryly. /that no matter how strong you try to be, you still care.  You are human, Seph, and don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise./

They exited the reactor to encounter a pouting Tifa.  The girl tried to get them to talk about the inside of the reactor, though she was surprisingly sneaky about it.  But Cloud, Sephiroth, and Zack spent the climb down in silence, and eventually she too quieted.  Cloud was grateful, since that meant he didn't have to think about it anymore.  He couldn't imagine eating lunch after this, and was secretly dreading having to sleep.

Surprisingly, once they got down into the town again, Sephiroth asked the mayor to please open the Shinra Mansion to them, since they were going to be there until the team of specialists got there to fix the reactor so the problem would not recur.  After promising they'd spend the next day exterminating any marauding monsters, Sephiroth dragged them off to the Mansion for some privacy.

They spent the night huddled together, all three of them, and praying that they could stave off sleep until they were too tired to dream.  Cloud hoped their comrade had just died when the bridge broke, as it seemed Mt. Nibel harbored many other ways of dying within it, many of them unimaginably worse.

When sleep came for Cloud at last, no longer allowing him to put it off, his dreams were blessedly formless, filled only with a distant sense of unease and restless fear.

*

Hi, again!

                Did you expect any other outcome?  Like Cloud's mom would be able to stay angry with such a beautiful son and his drop-dead gorgeous boy toy?  Ha!

                A little more Mako science, again.  I had to.  I'm always transfixed by that cave and the Mako fountain every time I see it.  I also like the Materia caves where you find KotR and the like.  *grin*

                Okay, that scene with the monster melting is a lot more gruesome in my head than I had the heart to write.  Maybe one day I'll go back and fix that.  For now though…nu-uh.

                Aa, yes, the Dragoon Wars.  That's part of another fic I've been attempting, but it's just not coming out yet.  Hell, like the war with Wutai would have been the first war in the history of the Planet since the fight against Jenova…which may also make it into a fic for me.

                Alright, to anyone who actually read Scenic Route to the Promised Land: do you think I should go ahead and alter it so it's acceptable under ff.net's stupider-than-ever policies?  I kinda don't want to, but it was growing a lot faster with people reviewing…as few as actually did.  Please either leave your response in a review, or email me.  In fact, review and email anyway!  I love to hear from all of you.

                Thanks again to Nate and SVR for all their support, and also to Steph (you do realize you must review this, now, right? ^__^)?

                Thanks, all!

                --Akuma no Tsubasa