Cloud stirred in his sleep, slowly waking. His back ached as he sat up from his single angel-white wing, which was still unfurled. Rubbing his head a bit, he glanced at Sephiroth. The older man's pearl kimono was stained with Cloud's blood where the blonde's back had bled on it.
"Sephy..." Cloud whispered, shaking his shoulder a bit. "Sephiroth, wake up. I need you to teach me how to control this damn thing..."
"Enuh?" Sephiroth muttered, waking up. He rubbed his eyes, the room around them a bright yellow-orange from the Wutai sunrise. Finally the occurrences of the night before hit him. "How are you feeling?" Sephiroth asked the blonde.
"A bit sore, but I'll live," Cloud answered half-heartedly, backing up so Sephiroth could stand. "I'll need you to teach me how to control my wing."
The older man shrugged, standing and helping Cloud up. "It's just like any other limb. We'll just have to make a few adjustments to your outfits in case you need to fly."
Closing his eyes, Cloud concentrated on folding the wing back into his body. He winced a bit as the wing curled up into his back. With a sigh, he opened his eyes. "Alright, now what?" he asked.
Sephiroth shrugged. "Like I said, its just like with any other limb. You'll learn to control it with practice." That said, he turned to leave.
Before Sephiroth could go far, Cloud grabbed his wrist. "Wait...I wanted...to thank you." The older man gave him a curious look, not trying to pull away. "You've changed since we last met, Sephiroth..." He shook his head. "I never imagined you would be helping me..."
"Don't rub it in," Sephiroth muttered, looking away. "Its not like I'm doing this for you."
"You think I'm that fucking stupid?!" Cloud asked. "I know you're trying to redeem yourself by helping me and Zax." Sephiroth turned and stared into Cloud's sapphire eyes with his glaring, piercing aquamarines. "And I know you have another reason for helping me."
"I don't know what you're talking about," denied the older man, now trying to escape.
"Liar," smiled Cloud darkly. "You know exactly what I'm talking about."
Without warning, Cloud pulled Sephiroth's wrist, forcing the older man closer. In the same instant he pulled Sephiroth closer, Cloud planted a fierce kiss on Sephiroth's lips, his tongue going into the elder's partially open mouth. The silver-haired man tensed as Cloud wrapped an arm around his waist, but relaxed a bit as the blonde released Sephiroth's wrist.
Finally Cloud broke the kiss, looking into Sephiroth's wide eyes, flaring with fury and a second unnamed emotion. Stepping back, Cloud let go of the older man, a smile of victory on the blonde's face. "I like the way you kiss," he spoke, watching Sephiroth slowly recover. "You fight back and don't hesitate. Not like the wussy pecks I get from Tifa."
"Bastard!" Sephiroth cursed. "Goddamn bastard!"
"Shut up!" slapped Cloud. "You liked it, and you know it!" Sephiroth went silent, hugging himself. "You can stop pretending you're all high and mighty anytime now, Sephiroth," Cloud continued. "You're only being untrue to yourself and your friends. Stop putting a wall around yourself before you hurt someone." The inner pain was clear in his voice.
Before Sephiroth could reply, Zax entered the room. His face was bright red and the smell of alcohol was heavy around him. He looked at the two sleepily, his dark blue kimono partially open. "Whya ta shouting?" he mumbled. "Meheed is killing me..."
"Dear god...Is he drunk again?" Cloud asked.
Sighing with frustration, Sephiroth nodded his head. He went to Zax. "Come on Zax...lets get you to bed," he told his friend, leading him out.
"Noway!" Zax shouted drunkenly, side-stepping Sephiroth. "You just wanna gemme outta da picture so you an' Cloudy 'an make out!"
Both Cloud and Sephiroth blushed a bright red, the latter recovering first. "That's not true. Besides, you're drunker than a fucking skunk. You need to rest a bit before you pass out."
"I'm not gunna passsout!" argued Zax, taking a step to leave. As soon as he took the step forward, the man fell flat on his face.
Again sighing to himself, Sephiroth knelt down and picked up the drunk. "Meet you at the restaurant for lunch?" he asked Cloud before he left.
"Uh...sure," shrugged the blonde.
Saying nothing, the silver-haired man carried Zax out of the room and to the darker-haired man's room.
***
Cloud ignored the waiting dark-haired waitress of the Chinese-styled restaurant as he sat on the cushion-chairs on the floor, the low table beside him. His sapphire blue eyes stared out the window nearby. There was something about the raven perched on the bridge outside that didn't seem right to him. He shook the thought from his head, hearing Sephiroth approach.
The two wore their normal outfits, appearing ready for any battles that should come their way. Sitting across from Cloud, he gave the waitress his drink order. As the waitress left, he pulled a map from the folds of his cloak and unfolded it, laying the top on the empty table.
"What are you doing?" Cloud asked, his voice telling the older man he was still in a bad mood.
"Thinking..." answered Sephiroth, looking over the map. "Zax may have repaired the Little Bronco, but it can only go so far before it'll need another tune up."
"So? I don't think it really matters how far the Little Bronco will go, considering we'll be staying for a while."
"Will we?" Sephiroth looked up, meeting Cloud's eyes. His voice lowered to a whisper. "Can't you sense it Cloud? Jenova is close...too close. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she were in Wutai right now." He turned back to the map.
The raven outside let out a few caws and flew off. Cloud ignored it though. "So you're saying we should run from her like cowards?!" he growled.
"Not like cowards, but like wise men," countered Sephiroth. "We can't face her now, Cloud, you know it as well as I...she's up to something and I just want to get out of her path for now, until we become strong enough to face her."
"How tough can she be?" huffed Cloud.
Sephiroth again looked up at Cloud, only now with wide eyes. "How was your battle against me? Easy or difficult?"
Cloud thought for a moment. "Fairly challenging. Why?"
"If I was 'challenging', then you won't last five seconds against Jenova," replied Sephiroth coldly. "Trust me Cloud...I know her...She could kill the three of us in a heartbeat."
"Here are your drinks gentlemen," the blonde waitress spoke softly, giving them their drinks.
"I don't know," Cloud sighed, glancing around the near empty restaurant. "I've got a bad feeling about this. Like we've got more than Jenova to worry about."
"You're just paranoid," Sephiroth muttered, lifting his glass to drink.
Shaking his head, Cloud took a drink from his glass as well. The blonde waitress smiled to herself, still standing nearby. "Reno, Rude. Restrain our prisoners," she cackled.
Sephiroth and Cloud slammed their glasses on the table and stood, but soon fell again as the sleeping powder-poisoned drinks took into affect. The two Turks came out of seemingly nowhere with sturdy ropes and began tying the wrists of the two fallen warriors. Elena smiled darkly, going to Sephiroth and lifting his head with a handful of hair.
"Amazing how we captured both Cloud and Sephiroth with the same ploy," she spoke to Reno and Rude. The woman let go of him. "Where's Zax?"
"In the back, restrained as you wanted," Reno answered, finishing the knot that held Cloud. "He was a cinch to drug. After about the third drink, he was so drunk he didn't see me put the sleep powder in drink number four."
"Not only will be asleep for a while, but he'll have a nasty hangover as well." Elena let out an evil laugh that gave Reno chills. "This was too easy!"
"But how are we getting them back to Shinra?" asked Reno. "I don't know about you two, but I think they're a lot heavier than they look."
"That'll be no problem. Rachel provided us with a helicopter and plane if we needed them. And I'm sure she'll want to confiscate their little toy as well." She pulled a cell-phone from her skirt pocket and pressed a button on the speed dial, then held the phone to her ear. "Rachel? It's Elena. Mission accomplished. We need a cargo plane and helicopter right away." With that, she hung up the phone. "And remember boys. Try not to damage our precious cargo or the good doctor will be quite unhappy. Especially if we hurt dear Sephiroth."
Reno and Rude nodded their heads and relayed the message to the arriving Shinra officers. Within moments, any sign of Shinra or the trio of heroes being in Wutai was gone, as was a certain disgruntled shape-shifting raven.