"Here you are, Highwind."
Cid took his paper from Tellah with a complete lack of interest. His hangover was steadily fading throughout the day, due to his increasing knowledge of how to prevent and control them, and he did not feel as bad has he could have. He wasn't perfect by any means, but he could deal with this class without killing someone.
At least, that's what he hoped.
He stared down at the essay that he had banged out in the hour before class somewhat earlier in the week. Frustrated at the repeated poor grades he was getting back on his papers originally, he had just given up and began writing things that he knew Tellah seemed to want. He edited his words, his sentence structure, went back and removed entire sentences that he was sure his professor would find superfluous...this was the first essay he had had returned since he began doing this, and he wasn't sure what to expect. He was fairly positive that Tellah would see through his rather transparent attempt at a "correct" paper and readied himself for another after class session that really only consisted of one person talking and the other pretending to listen. He flipped to the last page lazily as Tellah continued to make his way around the room. At the sight of the large circled B+ on the page, he blinked and shook his head almost comically.
He had to have read that wrong.
When he looked back at the paper with increased intensity, he found that the B+ did not magically disintegrate into a C- or a D+, more common and more expected grades considering his short history in this class. No, it stayed on the paper, resolute and extremely confusing.
He looked from side to side, finding that no one was paying him any attention, before turning to the short comment beneath the letter.
"Glad to see you're finally paying attention."
Confused, and positive it showed in his face, he looked up to find that Tellah was completely ignoring him, although with the testy professor he did not find that particularly unusual.
Had he really fooled Tellah THAT well? He couldn't believe it. How could Tellah have fallen for such an an obvious fabrication of weak opinions masquerading as Cid's own thoughts? He was a college professor, after all...
As Cid regarded the old man carefully after putting the paper in his bag, his respect for his professors--however grudgingly it was given--was reduced significantly. The man sitting and talking in front of him about the romantic implications of the Eighth Saga had fallen for a lie, a lie created by one of his own students, and he had no idea.
Tellah had tried to belittle and cow Cid into submission with constant threats and bad grades throughout the last week. Now Cid felt so high above everyone in the entire class that he could have sworn he was God himself.
He allowed himself a crooked and smug smile and settled back for a long session of not listening.
~~~
Cid was deeply relieved when the time came for Prof. Hojo's class. It was the first chance he had had lately to check on Vincent.
The first place his eyes settled on entering the room was the back, where, much to his relief, he could see the large amount of black with blotches of gold and red that made Vincent so identifiable.
He slid in place next to him. Vincent had his head settled against his arms, his claw above his head, a position he had found himself in a lot recently, mainly because it helped him feel more secure and eased the headache that he still had. He slowly turned his face towards Cid, finding the genuine concern in his eyes a relief. Cid leaned over and whispered to him quickly.
"Jesus christ, Vin, are you okay? We heard that #$^#er Seph took you someplace, we looked all over for you, swear to #^$#in' god, but we couldn't find you anywhere. You okay?"
We?
Reeve.
Vincent hated Sephiroth for even inserting the paranoid thought into his mind in the first place. He didn't believe it, knew that he couldn't and had no motive or justification to believe it, but now the thought itself was firmly planted and did not want to move.
Seeing the genuine relief and affection in Cid's blue eyes at seeing him alright, at seeing him in general, made the raging jealousy that he had tried ineffectively to fight subside. He was glad that Cid was relieved. So he did care about him. He should never have doubted him. It all seemed so stupid when he looked back on it...
"Vin?" Cid gave him a confused look, causing Vincent to realize that he had been having a rather lengthy inner monologue. Vincent smiled at him weakly, struggling to think of some kind of excuse. He did not want to tell Cid what Sephiroth had told him. That was one thing he was sure about.
Too bad he wasn't as creative as Cid in this department.
"He..." Vincent's eyes darted to one side for a moment as he struggled to think of some motive Sephiroth would have for dragging him off that would not seem sinister. "He just wanted to talk to me. I think I got him to stop stalking me too, which is definitly a relief..."
Cid's expression made it clear that Vincent's story was painfully transparent.
"He wanted to talk to you?" The disbelief in his voice made Vincent regret saying anything, much less such a feeble story as that.
"Yeah..." Vincent tried to make his words convincing, knowing that pulling back his previous alibi now would only make him more suspicious. "He wanted to..."
What on earth would Sephiroth want to talk about?
"He wanted to talk about me."
He winced inwardly. Bad choice of words. The look on Cid's face amplified into confused and disbelieving doubt. "About you?"
"You know..." Vincent was struggling to keep any kind of hesitation from his voice, certain that an "um" would seal his lie's short-lived fate. "He's been following me...so he wanted to talk about me."
"Uh huh." Cid leaned into one of his hands, the look on his face now changing into one of slightly angry sarcasm, matching his voice perfectly. "Your stalker wanted to discuss you. What'd you do, have a #$^#in' tea party? 'Oh my dear Sephiroth, how frightfully good of you to notice where I store all my minor possessions and then remind me of them at a later date in an entirely #$^#IN' CREEPY WAY.' I mean #$^#@ Vin, you don't think I believe that, do you?"
Vincent couldn't back out now, not if he wanted to keep the foolish and inconsequential fear of betrayal Sephiroth had given birth to a secret. He decided to try and turn the tables, although he wasn't particularly good at shows of aggression. He narrowed his eyes at his friend, slowly beginning to pull himself off the desk. "Well that's what happened, Highwind."
The venom present on Cid's name was entirely unintentional and sadly, did not go unnoticed. Cid pulled away from him, hurt, frustration, and fury building on his face and in his voice. "Th' #$#^ that's what happened, Vincent."
That hurt although he did not know why. Vincent knew this kind of outrage at his actions was deserved, but he hadn't intended to say Cid's name that way, and to hear his full name come out of Cid's mouth felt very wrong. He looked down at his claw, watching it twitch slightly, not wanting to make eye contact as he made his tone slightly more conciliatory.
"I didn't mean to say your name like that, that was an accident." His voice was taking on a more hurt tone then he intended, and he knew it would come across as offended dignity. "But that's what happened, okay?"
Cid was silent for a while before turning from Vincent sharply, keeping his back towards him as he leaned on one fist, muttering under his breath loudly enough for his dark-haired friend to hear. "Yeah th' #$%^in' #$^# that's what happened."
Vincent narrowed his eyes in Cid's direction again and turned away as well, although he rummaged in his backpack for something that did not exist as an excuse. He noticed from the corner of his eye the two jester twins making their way up the stairs to their seats, looking, if it were even possible, more exhausted then ever. His anger and frustration at Cid was forgotten in favor of concern.
He could literally see Zorn and Thorn detioriorating in front of him, the lack of sleep and probably proper nutrition taking their toll on the already thin and gaunt twins. They stumbled to their seats clumsily -- helping one another as they fell with sharp words to cover the mutual concern -- and they took their seats, both of them instantly resting their heads on the table and not moving afterwards.
Vincent chanced a glance at Cid to see him staring at the twins with what looked like an identical level of concern. It was painful to watch someone you cared about suffer in front of you, and if Vincent's sadness and pity were any measure, Cid must have been feeling awful.
Vincent and Cid's eyes met for only a split second before Cid turned away, crossing his arms and almost dismissing Vincent's presence with a short sound of disdain. Vincent again narrowed his eyes at him, ignoring the fact that this was the second time this kind of argument had emerged because of his reluctance to tell the truth. Instead he decided to keep his own righteous outrage at Cid's behavior.
His life was his life, right? Cid had no right to go butting in. Whatever he and Sephiroth did was his business. He didn't go asking about him and Reeve or anything.
These thoughts were shallow, petty, and could have been easily dispelled, but Vincent clung to them in an effort to keep himself from apologizing and losing his dignity again.
Prof. Hojo entered the classroom with the same demeanor that seemed to lower the room temperature. He quickly perused the room as he assessed potential victims for that days lecture, and his attention finally fell on the two jester twins.
Oh no no no...please not them...please just leave them alone, they don't need this right now...
Vincent was fairly sure that Cid's thoughts must have been following the same lines, judging from his body posture and the expression on his face. Prof. Hojo was aware of this and apparently made a mental note of this, smiling in a sickeningly familiar way.
"Greetings, class...I hope that everyone did the reading...?"
As both Vincent and Cid involuntarily jerked at the sudden remainder that they had not, in fact, done the reading, Prof. Hojo smiled with the confidence coming from foreknowledge of the reaction. He knew that half the class would twitch in almost the exact same way. That same glance of panic crossing each face for only a moment before being hid behind a calm demeanor as they struggled to recall anything about what they had read, if that was anything at all.
Zorn and Thorn did not react, but that was primarily because they were struggling to remain awake. Propping their heads up with their hands and staring forward dully, they tried to achieve the appearance of paying attention and failed. Prof. Hojo turned away for a moment, the joy he felt about the sadistic act he was about to commit so clear that Vincent almost expected him to begin humming. He almost seemed carefree when he was about to cause such pain.
Call on me, call on Highwind, but please don't call on them...
"I thought today we might have a little discussion on the reading...share opinions." Everyone in the class knew this was a blatant lie, as were all "discussion groups". Due to the fear of being ridiculed, berated, and/or wrong, few spoke out in such discussions unless they agreed with Hojo and/or the rest of the class. Vincent grimaced. He never spoke unless he was called on, which for some reason seemed to present to his teachers some kind of challenge to get him to speak as often and long as possible. That hadn't changed since he had come to college and he did not entirely expect that to change now.
"So, to start things out today, why don't we let Zorn and Thorn begin?"
Most students would have jumped at being called on, particularly those with no knowledge in the reading, but the slow and sluggish response of the jester twins was a clear reminder of how far gone they had to be. They exchanged bleary eyed glances before looking back at Hojo. Zorn spoke.
"What do you want us to talk about?"
Prof. Hojo seemed almost disappointed by their lack of fear or worry in regards to his question and leaned back subtly as he put one thin hand to his face, regarding them.
Oh god, if this is going to happen, at least make it quick...god, I hope they did the reading, please tell me they did the reading...
"Hmm...how about the end of the world?"
Half of the class looked on in confusion while Zorn and Thorn exchanged glances. Vincent saw Thorn's mouth move but heard nothing. Zorn turned back towards Hojo who clearly expected them to not have the answer.
Please leave Thorn out of this...
"You mean..." Zorn closed his eyes, attempting to sort out of his thoughts that Vincent knew had to be muddy and cluttered. He had gone without sleep before and rational thought in that state was extremely difficult.
Please remember...
"You mean after the...the..." Zorn looked down at the desk almost in slightly sweeping waves back and forth, searching almost physically for the correct word. Hojo looked on with a pleased and satisfied expression on his face. "After the incident with the statues, right?"
Even their voices are tired...please let this be over quick...
Hojo paused for a moment, the calm and controlling look on his face broken before he rapidly regained his composure, moving his cold eyes from the twins to his hand. "Yes, the statues. Tell me about the ruined world in the Sixth Epic."
Zorn and Thorn exchanged glances once more, and again Thorn's mouth moved almost silently. Although Vincent could tell that Zorn was trying not to give into the pressure, the mental and physical exhaustion must have been becoming too much for him. He pressed his hand to his forehead, pushing thin fingertips underneath the rim of the jester's cap, displacing it slightly for a moment and punctuating the silence with the jingling of bells. He closed his eyes, looking as if he were in physical pain.
"Um...the world changes after the statues...everything is bleak and black...ruined and dusty...everyone's life changes too...people change jobs and everyone gets lost...a large tower appears-"
Hojo gestured Zorn into silence with one hand, his eyes closed. "Thank you, thank you, Zorn. Thorn, would you mind going into further detail about the Tower?"
At this Thorn's eyes widened and he was brought to full consciousness, terrified at the thought of public speaking. Zorn followed his brother's reaction almost immediately afterwards, looking back and forth between Thorn and Hojo a few times as the class around him snickered in anticipation.
Oh no no no...
Vincent hid his hand in his face, feeling the humiliation that the two must have been experiencing, as Thorn mimicked his brothers previous gesture, pressing his hand to his head in almost the exact same way, although his eyes were wide with fear. He struggled to think of words, but Vincent almost felt a physical twinge of pain as his inverted sentence structure became audible.
"Just appeared the tower did...lightning sometimes from the tower would come...kill the...unbelievers it did..."
Thorn could not continue, the laughter at his speech only continuing to rise in volume and intensity as his voice lost power. He was blushing and he looked to be in great pain, his features clenched up in an effort to keep emotion under control or to manage to keep himself talking. Although it came as no surprise to Vincent, he was still intensely frustrated and angered by the growing smile on the Professor's face, his complete lack of consideration for the stammering small youth. Hojo made no motion to halt the laughter or mocking comments at all, almost encouraging them with his silence and the growing smile on his face.
Zorn was whispering to his brother urgently and Thorn seemed to sink further and further into his chair, his other hand slowly coming up to hide his face from view almost involuntarily. The pauses between his words were filled with the softly audible sounds of Thorn drawing raspy, frightened breaths.
If Thorn was being threatened with a gun or some other implement of his physical destruction, the sheer fear in his body language and speech would be frighteningly similiar to the terror that the red jester was exhibiting now. "Frightened of the t-tower people are...hide they do...go and worship...some do...cult...cult they...form they...."
Zorn broke in abruptly and almost violently, causing his brother to hide his face completely from view and curl up slightly in response. The suddenness of his interruption and the flinching, frightened reaction from his brother was unexpected and peculiar, and in some way it was clear whether Thorn appreciated the help, curled up as he was. It was almost as if Thorn expected some kind of physical blow to descend on him, his arms held up in front of his face to ward off a physical presence, an instinctual but incorrect response to the overwhelming mental pain and embarassment he must have been feeling. Zorn's voice was angry, not desperate, and almost sounded like a challenge to his brother in some way, although he was shaking just as much as his red counterpart. "A cult, they form a cult, and one of the chosen is there, brainwashed-"
"Zorn." The quiet seriousness, malice, and spite, if it had not been coming from only a college professor, should have been reserved for the proclamation of death to the condemned. Zorn was instantly silent, as was the rest of the class. Everyone's eyes were fixed on the trembling duo, who were faltering under such attention.
Oh no, oh no no no, oh please Zorn, just be quiet, don't say anything and maybe he'll let it go, oh please let this be it, please let Hojo move onto someone else...
Zorn opened his mouth, almost as if to reply, but instead shut it silently and cringed in his seat. His brother had curled almost entirely into a ball, shivering pathetically. Hojo just stared with such severity...the silence was terrible.
"Zorn, was I speaking to you?"
Hojo's voice curled inbetween his words, dangerous and smooth all at once. Pronounced precisely without a moment's hesitation as Hojo continued to stand perfectly still, staring directly at his hapless victim. Zorn blinked rapidly and turned to his brother for assistance to find no help there. Finally, clasping his hands tightly to try and hide their shaking, he looked at almost every point in the room except Hojo before reluctantly meeting eyes with him. His voice was almost impossible to hear.
"No..."
"Then Don't. Interrupt. Again."
Utter silence filled the room, only the faint ticking of a nearby clock as a remainder of time passing for a few moments. Finally Zorn moved, turning and looked at everyone in the room -- soft jingling accompanying his movements -- almost as if begging someone to intercede, break the silence, take the attention off of him and his brother. It was his silent admission of failure, his awknowledgment that he and his brother could not handle this alone, an admission of the need for help and the desperate request from the others for said help.
His eyes only met with Vincent's briefly as they roved across the room and Cid's eyes had roughly the same amount of attention paid to them, much to Vincent's slight surprise and confusion.
Vincent felt he was betraying Zorn by not saying something, but he did not know what to say. The tension was now so thick and so dangerous that he did not want to break it. It was almost as if he spoke, if he dared to bring Hojo's attention to him, then hideous pain would befall him, worse then he had ever experienced, and he did not want that. The unsubstantiated fear kept him silent. He was frightened, literally frightened, by that atmosphere in the room, and even the fact that the jester twins were utterly terrified, embarrassed, and helpless was not enough to galvanize him to action.
If Vincent already didn't have a long list of reasons to hate himself, this would have become the prime motive.
"Thorn."
Thorn reluctantly pulled his hands from his face, his fingers twitching and almost clawing at his skin as he struggled to remove them, his wrists and arms shaking with the effort. He struggled to keep eye contact with the professor who was staring at him with such frightening seriousness, the deadpan expression of someone with no mercy. Thorn's eyes were watering, but if there was one thing that he had to keep control of, it was his emotions. He struggled to speak.
"Yes?" A thin, comic squeak, but no laughter came from the rest of the class. Thorn winced almost physically at the sound of his own voice, but the puzzlement in his eyes at the lack of audible reaction from the others in the clas was clear. The air of silence was so thick, Hojo's presence so intimidating, that no one wanted that attention directed towards them, not for any reason. Everyone for themselves...but watching, silently. Victims writhing before they die had always attracted interest.
"Thank you for your somewhat succint explanation." Again the dangerously smooth voice, pronouncing words without fault or pause. Hojo stared at them with mild distaste, apparently not having expected any kind of resistance. He focused his gaze on Zorn, who was trembling madly despite his best efforts to be the stronger of the pair. "I'm sure if you hadn't been interrupted...it may have been very educational."
The expression on Zorn's face at the words held such terror, such absolute fear, that one could almost expect Hojo at any moment to leap forward and rip out Zorn's throat. He was frightened and that same fear held the rest of the class in its sway.
"Would anyone else like to elaborate on the tower and its significance in the Sixth Epic?" Hojo finally moved his eyes off of them, turning instead towards the blackboard with his hands behind his back.
Utter silence greeted him. Not even a sniffle from the people who had become sick over the past few days.
"Oh come now..." Hojo turned slowly. "Zorn and Thorn couldn't have been the only ones to complete the reading assignment, could they?"
Vincent realized with a rush of dizziness that he had been holding his breath. That was not a good idea. He struggled to keep silent as he felt the world move around him, his vision failing for a moment as his brain struggled to absorb the newly inhaled oxygen.
Don't call on me, please don't call on me...
"Perhaps Terra would like to enlighten us..."
Vincent started slightly as he realized the green-haired woman was in his class, but he secretly breathed a sigh of relief, almost palpably feeling the air of tension in the room slowly dissipate. Terra, although she had to be as frightened as anyone else, gave Hojo a detailed and somewhat lengthy answer, and soon Zorn and Thorn were forgotten as class went on.
Lady Luck seemed to focus on the two in the back as they eluded Hojo's attention for the remained of the class. Also, apparently tired of tormenting the exhausted jesters, she returned to them as well, granting them temporary invisibility, which they used to try and regain their composure.
Class finally ended and people filed out. Cid and Vincent walked next to one another, still not speaking, but when Cid halted near the row where Zorn and Thorn sat, Vincent found himself following his actions.
The twins had been engaged in a what looked like deep discussion and looked at the two of them in confusion. It was only for a moment before that look changed to one of betrayal. Seeing anger on their faces was terrible, and although Vincent had many times the advantage in height and probably strength considering the diminuitive jesters, he suddenly felt afraid of them. He was not sure why...there was an air of possibility around them, the idea that they could do something horrible, that was frightening. Right now that anger was directed towards them.
"Hey Z an' T..." Cid's voice was awkward and hesitant. Their anger had not escaped his notice. Zorn and Thorn both stared at him with matching glares of hurt anger. Cid looked down, apparently also searching for words. "Um...about today..."
Zorn and Thorn both narrowed their eyes at the same time before grabbing their backpacks and stomping past them, furious and frustrated. They made their way quickly out, ignoring the sadistically innocent wave that Hojo gave them in their passing.
Vincent felt bad about not helping before, but now he felt even worse. They had every right to be upset at him...god, why hadn't he said anything?
"#$^#..." He could hear Cid mutter under his breath, and he sounded just as upset at himself as Vincent felt. Cid continued walking, glancing at Vincent occasionally to see if he was following but feigning nonchalance, and Vincent struggled to keep an air of unaffected dignity in his presence. In favor of concern for Zorn and Thorn, his arguments against Cid had been forgotten, but now he remembered and held onto them.
They parted near the door where they entered the building without a word, although Vincent could see in Cid's sharp, angry movements that he was not happy. Neither was Vincent at that moment, and he headed off to his next class in a foul mood.
~~~
"Wait wait wait..." Reeve held up his hands. "You're telling me that Vinnie said he was 'fine'?"
"Yeah, and he was #^#%in' serious too." Cid was still deeply infuriated by Vincent's behaviour. "I mean, he actually $^#%in' thought I'd #^$#in' believe that. I mean, what th' $%&#, I'm not #$^#in' stupid, god#$#^ it."
Cid was swearing more then usual, which was not a good sign. Reeve wasn't sure how to pacify him at the moment. He decided he would just listen and see if Cid would rant himself out while he took care of the lunch in front of him.
"I mean, #$^#, that #$#%er thinks I'm a $^#@in' moron and won't tell me #$^&! I mean #$^#in' Jesus Christ, we're his two best friends in the entire #^$@in' school!"
Reeve nodded as he chewed, wondering whether or not he should break in yet and try to change the subject, or just allow Cid to continue ranting.
"It's a #^$#in' insult, that's what it is. I mean, I've taken some #^$# from him before, but I #^#@in' swear to #^$#in' god, this takes the god#$^# mother#$^@ing cake!" Cid had now apparently abandoned some of the logic of emphasis on his words in favor of just shouting some obscenities. Reeve waved at him to keep his voice down, which Cid reluctantly did, settling back into his seat. He stabbed angrily at the food on his plate, movements jerky and violent. "#$^#in' gets his #$^ kidnapped and won't even #$^@in' tell me what happened, mother$#^#ing angsty mother#^#%. Thinks I'm a #$^#in' idiot, that's what he thinks." Cid abruptly pointed at Reeve with his fork. "That's what he thinks I am, a #$^#in' idiot!"
"Cid-"
Cid ignored him entirely. "Thinks I'm his $%#@in' #$%@^ he can #$^# around with whenever he wants and #$^#in' lie to 'cause he thinks I'm #$^#in' stupid." Cid made an angry noise and turned to one side. For a moment, there was silence, but before Reeve could open his mouth to speak again, Cid cut him off with whispered, angry words. "Angsty mother$%^@er."
"You should try and talk to him or something, Cid. I mean, you're telling me all this, but there isn't anything I can do about." Reeve hated feeling this helpless, but at the moment he could not think of another satisfactory solution. "Maybe-"
"What th' $#^#- don't you know what'll happen by now?" Cid looked at Reeve with such hurt and confusion that Reeve felt genuinely bad that he did not know what would happen. "He'd just $^#@in' lie to me again, god$#%^# #$^@%#%."
Reeve looked around the lunchroom, searching for some kind of guidance, but finding none. "Listen, everyone lies sometimes. I mean, you lie to me and I know you lie to Vinnie too. It's something we-"
"No no, you're missin' the point!" Cid turned on him again and Reeve backed away, the fur on his tail already rising. "The #$^#in' point, catface!"
"And what would that be?" Reeve did not intend to sound so sarcastic, but it helped him in the longrun.
"The fact I #$^#in' apologized to him before when it wasn't even my $&#@in' fault!" Cid sounded deeply surprised and affronted that Reeve had not known the point. "I got up there and #$^#in' SANG for that mother#$^#er and I get this $^#^ in return!"
"Well, then what? What are you going to do, Cidboy?" Reeve felt a touch of anger in response at Cid putting him in this position. "Are you just going to give up and break it off with Vinnie?"
The anger on Cid's face dissolved and he sank back into his chair. This thought had not apparently came to him and he sat, one hand to his mouth, thinking for a few minutes. Reeve shook his head at him, now feeling probably as offended as Cid had been earlier.
"You're joking, right? I mean, you guys are best friends so far. I mean, if people are making up rumors about you boinking eachother, that's more then just something you can snap just like that." The mention of the rumors earned Reeve a nasty glare, but now that he had a semi-righteous rant worked up, Reeve continued. "If you break up over this, it'll be really stupid. This is a stupid argument and it's not worth it."
"I am not $%&#in' apologizin' again." Cid finally mumbled under his breath. Reeve rolled his eyes in irritation and shrugged.
"Well fine, don't say sorry to him. Make him say sorry to you. Just get it over with already, Jesus. You guys are acting like little kids."
"Oh, #$^# off, catface." Cid turned his attention back to his meal, his mood taking a turn for the morose rather then irate. Reeve ran a hand through his hair, folding his ears back as he did so. Many people had told him that he looked like a cat grooming when he did things like that, but personally it did not really bother him. He normally wasn't even aware when he was doing it.
"Seriously, don't be dumb and ruin your friendship 'cause of this."
"$%^# you." Cid's voice lacked any aggression as he swallowed a forkful of food.
Reeve just shook his head in minor irritation and got back to eating as well.
To Be Continued...