Forbidden Fantasy: Soulmates
Fantasy's Flight
By: NemesisStrife
Disclaimer: These Final Fantasy 7 characters are property of Squaresoft. This is an Alternate Universe epic saga pre-game fanfiction. As stated before, this is a Cloud and Sephiroth pairing, involving shounen-ai, and it is my take on what should have happened in the game. Respect my opinions, please.
NOTES: People, since the server now has a new format, please check for my story under "Sort By Update (Chaptered)", please. I hope you know what to do...keep on reading, and Review please. If you want the next chapter up soon, well, Leave Feedback.
Warnings for this chapter
1) Hah! I didn't post for about a month, and this time it wasn't my fault! I couldn't help it if ff.net crashed, although then I could extend my dateline and slack. *I'm really, really sorry, and promise not to do it again. At least until the exams start.*
2) I swear this was not supposed to come out so happy. I intended it to be more angst, continuing from the previous chapter and extending into the next chapter. Somehow, it didn't work out. Writing angst is very draining… *sigh* There'll most likely be 1 or 2 more chapters of misery, before Sephiroth comes back from Kalm, and I can start writing about the training process. It was supposed to end within this chapter, but I spent too much time writing about absolutely nothing at all. *Yeah, I'm long-winded.* Besides that, it is about 10 pages worth, and the funny thing is that my chapters are gradually increasing in length. I can't believe I spent the last 4 1/2 chapters on one day. Yes, you heard me right, it's still the same day as at the end of "Preliminary Confrontation".
3) I found the ending quickly getting out of hand. Not only is it non-angst and happy, but well, you'll see. I think if it continues, I'll probably have to change the summary. Blame it on Cloud and Reno. It's all their fault. I stress that it is a relatively not-exactly-romantic, still-platonic friendship (so far).
4) If you don't understand the history & geographical stuff in there, especially all the ramblings about the Mako reactor and ShinRa, basically, it was after school, so I was still under the "studying" influence. Just bear with me, you can either ignore it or email me about it.
" " Normal speech
' ' Thoughts
italics Emphasis
~ ~ Mental speech/ Telepathy
// // Flashback
Chapter 7
Mixed Emotions
It was a perfect Sunday afternoon, and the weather in Midgar was especially beautiful, with the sunlight bathing everything in a warm reddish-gold glow. Midgar, being on the west coast of the Eastern Continent, had a climate that was a nice blend between Mediterranean and temperate, with warm summers and relatively mild winters, and moderate snowfall. It was unlike Nibelheim, which was near mountains, so experienced cooler weather throughout the year, with slightly heavier snow as well. Although it was barely mid-March, very early in Spring, the temperature was pleasantly warm and sunny, and as the upper plate of Midgar had full Mako-powered facilities, the SOLDIER training centre had heating and cooling units, so maintained a steady, albeit artificially regulated, temperature the whole year round.
The plate was partially supported on one side by a hilly region, and that was where the location of the SOLDIER headquarters was. Eventually, it would be levelled, and a pillar built to replace the mountain and the cliff as part of ShinRa's development plans, and another Mako reactor built where the cliff's edge had been. But for now, the natural landscape remained untouched, the single Mako reactor currently drawing out measured amounts of energy, so the growth was sustainable. The area around Midgar city was still preserved, thickly wooded, and wild grass still as lushly green and verdant as before. Unpolluted, fresh air wafted into the corridor as the door to outside had been left partially open, breeze cool and refreshing. In short, it was the perfect day to lie down, laze around and nap, or simply relax.
The atmosphere within Dormitory 6 was anything but relaxed, however. Reno sighed impatiently trying to concentrate enough to block out all that noise and resume reading. He stared disgustedly at the bookmarked page, it was the sixth consecutive time he had reread that particular line and gotten stuck, because of all those distracting interruptions.
'Forget it. It's absolutely hopeless. I won't get any peace and quiet unless someone casts Silence on them.' Forced to continue his role as a reluctant eavesdropper to the loud and animated conversation going on around him, he put down the novel.
"Sephiroth was here? As in the General Sephiroth? Here in our dormitory, walking along this very corridor and in this common room?"
"You sure you saw it correctly, Allan?"
"Yes, Skye, Franz, I did see him! And who else could it be, there isn't another Sephiroth in SOLDIER." Allan's agitated response drew disbelieving stares and a few cynical snickers.
"Get real, what would he be doing here. It's impossible!"
"I tell you, he was here! I'm not lying! And how would I know what he wanted, I'm not a bloody mind-reader! Hey, …Reno! You were there, right? And you bunk with Cloud, you would have seen him!"
Reno winced as he was assaulted by a barrage of questions and miscellaneous noise. 'So much for sitting here quietly and not participating in the conversation. I think I'm getting a headache…' "All right, all right! Shut up already! Yes, the General was here, and he went down the corridor and into our room. He brought his friend, some guy named Zack, and we talked awhile. That's it. …Oh yeah, he came to see Cloud, then the two of them left together. Can you leave me alone now?" He saw the door creak open out of the corner his eye, and breathed a sigh of relief. "In fact, there's Cloud. Go ask him yourself." 'Sorry, Cloud, but I couldn't put up with it anymore, hope you have more patience than I have.'
Cloud blinked and stared, rather helplessly, and it became his turn to be subject to a bombardment of questions, a literal hail of words and phrases. "Um… what? Can you please slow down and speak one at a time? Yeah, Sephiroth was here, and no, I'm not in trouble or anything." He turned to direct a half-pleading glance at Reno, a semi-desperate, silent mouthing of the word "help". The redhead had been rather enjoying the spectacle, and Cloud's discomfiture, but he realised that his friend was patently uncomfortable at being the centre of attention, and indeed, was unused to being the focus of all eyes and ears.
He gracefully stood up, and cleared a path to their room in the sea of other recruits, gripping on firmly to Cloud's elbow and guiding him past the corridor. "Okay, okay. Show's over. Break it up, people. The interview ended, and no more questions will be accepted. Please direct any queries to his agent." While speaking, Reno firmly brushed past the others, and shut the door loudly behind them. Heaving a sigh of relief at managing to reach the privacy and safety of the room, Cloud promptly collapsed on the bunk in front of him. "It's awful to have to share a common room and dormitory with so many other people, hmm?" Reno smiled as he heard the whispers and commotion outside.
"Yeah. Thanks for saving me, by the way." The room had never looked so good to him before, even though it was barely large enough to fit in the two bunks, and all the facilities were outside and had to be shared among 15 others. The few personal possessions he had brought, besides his clothes, were stashed underneath the bed, along with textbooks and other assorted notes.
"No problem. What are friends for?" Reno replied easily, stretching out on the other bunk.
'Friends.' Cloud thought, 'how unfamiliar the word sounds. Never had a friend for the first fourteen years of my life, and within 1 1/2 weeks of joining SOLDIER, I already made 2 real friends.'
"So, what did you and General Sephiroth really do, after you both left together?" Reno's voice interrupted the flow of his thoughts, words dropping like pebbles into the still surface of a pool, creating a chain of ripples, rushed, chaotic and spreading, that sent disorder and confusion echoing down his mind, disrupting and agitating the previously calm, still and peaceful surface.
"I went through a sort-of training session, and…" his voice trailed off uncertainly, hesitation creeping in. 'I don't know what was going on, there was something else… I can't explain.' "I don't really want to talk about it right now, I'd rather keep it to myself and maybe later, when I've figured it out… cause I don't understand," Cloud answered honestly, frustrated at being unable to fully express exactly what and how he felt.
Reno nodded once, briefly, in acknowledgement, and resumed reading his novel. Cloud appreciated the silence and the privacy, as he was not accustomed tot he crowded area of Midgar city, as well as the thousands of ShinRa employees and SOLDIERS within the training facility alone. Truth be told, he just could not get used to the people here who were actually friendly, staring with his dormitory mates, the others in his group, people in the University classes, both students and lecturers, even strangers who smiled while he walked past them in the corridors…
'And of course, there's Reno… and Seph.' A sharp exhalation of air, accompanied by furiously spinning thoughts. 'What a day… yesterday I beat up Erek and woke up suffering from exhaustion this morning. Then Reno tells me he is a homosexual.' Cloud stole a quick glance at his friend, watching the redhead frown in concentration, brows crinkling. 'I'm… okay with that, I think. Shocked me for a while, though. Even though there's nothing like that in Nibelheim, he is my first real friend, and I guess it doesn't matter. Stuff like that shouldn't really matter, it's unimportant. All I know is that I know him, and I trust him, because Reno was the first person who didn't care about popularity, keeping with clichés, or about reputations, he's… nice. Only other thing is that he's interested in me.'
Cloud swallowed hard, remembering the morning, when Reno had freely admitted his sexual orientation and had hinted at a possible… no, definite attraction to him. It had been unnerving, to say the least, to have someone openly confess to wanting to get "involved" with him. 'But… I trust him, he's my friend. It should bother me, but I'm not worried, Reno wouldn't force me… he stopped and asked this morning, remember? What if… if I said yes?' Deep down in his heart, he knew he wouldn't, however tempting. Even if Reno was the only one who offered, and although the redhead was quite handsome, and even if on the parts of both parties, their feelings of friendship were mixed with something deeper and not purely platonic… … There was and would always be, someone else.
'If it is to be any guy, hell, if it is going to be anyone at all, it would be him, the only person I might be remotely interested in. And that's a big 'IF', I could probably remain celibate for the rest of my life. It wouldn't be anybody back in Nibelheim that I would fall in love with, that's for sure.'
That train of thought only led on to the next point, the main reason why it had been a singularly confusing, yet wonderful day. 'Sephiroth. …First he came in with Zack, and I could practically sense him coming in. Then, we leave and find out that we have a lot in common, including sadistic tendencies. Next, we go for individualised training, and I manage to make a complete fool of myself by nicknaming him Seph. But… not only did he not reprimand me, he… liked it. Not forgetting all that stuff that happened during the training…' Hearing that brief voice and feelings of awe in his head didn't even come close to the… unbelievableness of the events which had transpired. The conversation, the glances, and the all-too brief touches… … It went beyond that, the flashes of intimacy, the letting down of his guard, as well as the glimpses of the real Sephiroth, the hidden vulnerability.
'Why? What's going on?' It was strange and weird, but amazing as well. Just the simple action of clasping hands together took on a whole new significance, when viewed in the light of the fact it was the General who had initiated the skin-to-skin contact. He was sure that no one, not even the General's second-in-command had even touched his bare hands, or had seen the other side of Sephiroth that had been revealed to himself, Cloud Strife, of all people. And he had seen for himself that Zack did not ever call Sephiroth anything other than "General", "sir" or his given full name.
'Seph,' Cloud thought, then blushed slightly, a curious mix of embarrassed pleasure colouring the fair skin. 'That was so… so mortifying. Whatever possessed me to let it slip? Why did he ask me to continue using it? The General of SOLDIER, taking time to train… no, not just train, get to know a lowly recruit who would probably be kicked out after the trials… it's too damned much like a fairy-tale. Stuff like this doesn't happen in real life… or at least, it shouldn't, not to me.' He returned to the matter at hand, or rather, mind, and to the all-important question it led to. 'So, what does it all add up to, or mean? There isn't any real reason for him to allow me to call him 'Seph', unless… It's the sort of thing you'll only let someone who was a… friend, or…' He faltered, unable to complete the mental sentence, overcome by a dizzying sensation. 'Friend… a friend. Of course… Sephiroth wants me to be his…? I think I could live with that.'
*** *** *** ***
Reno stole a glance at Cloud, who seemed to be a little oblivious to his surroundings, and was now staring fixedly at the ceiling. 'Well, he does have a lot of new ideas to sort out and organise after this morning. A lot of things have been thrown at him, and I didn't exactly help by springing those two facts on him this morning.' He smiled silently, wondering what he would feel like if their roles had been reversed. 'If my best friend told me he was gay and had the hots for me, I don't think I'll be able to deal with it, either. Well… I probably would be able to cope if that happened. If Cloud told me that, I would probably waste no time in trying to drag him to bed. Pity he didn't…' His smile grew wider, and threatened to cause him to break out in fits of silent laughter. 'Well, I can dream, can't I?'
Cloud bit his lip in concentration, delicately arched brows furrowing, as he tried to resolve some of the issues bothering him. 'Okay, worry about the situation involving Sephiroth later. Do I need to do anything about the problem with Reno?' Intent on his own thoughts, he was taken aback when for the second time today, someone else's mental processes intruded on his.
~I don't believe that Cloud knows Sephiroth! I wonder how? It's still so cool that the General was here, I'm really psyched. Maybe he was here for a reason, because of the fight last afternoon. Now, that was scary. Wouldn't have expected it of Cloud, he looks so… un-SOLDIER-like… but yet… I never wanna piss him off.~
'Awe. Awe and wonder. And… something that was too close to fear for my liking. I'm hearing voices… this is not good. It feels too real for it to just have been made up, and I wouldn't refer to myself in the third person, it's not grammatically correct used in that last sentence.' Cloud grinned twistedly, 'maybe I am insane. Remembering English sentence structure, composition and rules at a time like this. Stress must be getting to me.'
Reno saw Cloud flinch slightly, and bring a hand up to his head, massaging his temples, grimacing as if caught by the pain of a headache. "You okay?"
Cloud opened his eyes and looked up into the concerned face of his friend, hovering anxiously around him. "Um, yeah… I'm fine," he answered the query, blinking and trying to focus.
"Are you sure? You don't look all that good. Come on." Without waiting for a reply, the redhead grabbed Cloud by the shoulders, and forcibly propelled him off the bed.
"Wha-?" Disorientated for a moment, he could only turn to stare helplessly at his friend.
"You studied and exerted yourself too hard this morning. Now, you are going to go outside and RELAX. Call it abduction. Or kidnapping. You're now a hostage." He grinned widely when Cloud could only muster up a feeble protest, and shoved him onto his feet.
"Resistance is futile, huh?" Cloud said wryly, and helped to open the door.
"Good, everyone left already, they didn't bother hanging around waiting for us to emerge. Oh shit, we've been spotted." Reno noticed it was Allan, and smothered a groan. 'It would have to be him. The most persistent, star-struck, hero-worshipping Sephiroth-wannabe ever. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration. But still!'
"Cloud, Sephiroth was here, wasn't he?" asked Allan, voice high in excitement, practically begging for confirmation of his observation this morning. Cloud nodded, rather reluctantly, feeling that it was almost an invasion of his privacy, and unwelcome intrusion by a trespasser. "And… and he took you for a training session?" Voice dropping lower, barely above a whisper, waiting with bated breath for the reply, which was quite long in coming.
"Yeah, but it's no big deal, really. We just talked a bit, and he taught me how to hold a sword, that's about it." 'There is no way I'm going to tell anyone at all about what else happened.' He shrugged, uncomfortable with the prolonged stare and open-mouthed gape he was receiving. 'It seems as if Seph's aura of mystique rubs off on others by association.' He remembered how he had "heard" the mental "voices", and something similar to that was happening now. Allan's thoughts… no, not so much thought as feelings, were suddenly thrown at him, forcing through to his consciousness, a heavy mental blow of raw, chaotic emotions slamming into his mind. The overwhelming one was of awe, not respect, bordering on fear and unreasoning terror.
'I fought Erek last afternoon, it might have been just a fluke, but it's enough to make some people scared.' He tried to defend himself from the unwanted knowledge thrust on him, attempting in vain to drive away the other presence which had abruptly and almost painfully made itself felt. 'No, I don't want this. Make it stop, somebody… Go away!'
Shaken, mind reeling from the new, conflicting ideas, he closed his eyes and tried to block. 'An outcast again… I thought they were my friends… I just wanted them to keep it that way, not to try and find out more, and find out about me. Now he's scared, or fearful or awestruck, but even if fear is marginally better than hatred, I suppose, it still means I'm the loner again. Why does Nibelheim and the people from back there keep on interfering in my new life?' All that passed through his mind in the space of a few seconds, and he hoped no one had noticed the momentary lapse.
Reno had, however, gazing out of the corner of his eye, and seeing Cloud wince slightly in response to the continuation of the relentless questioning. He chose that moment to step in, telling the other recruit firmly, "if you've no more queries, we're going out now." Ungently shoving Allan out of the way, he manoeuvred Cloud and himself past. The rest of the journey outside passed without event, and they reached the safety of the grounds at the outskirts of the SOLDIER training centre.
Reno sighed in relief and plunked himself down on the long grass, and indicated a spot besides him. He watched while his friend sat down in a slower and more careful fashion than he had, blue eyes scanning the area around them. "Don't worry, there aren't any bugs here… well, at least not man-eating ones." Cloud smiled self-consciously, and settled down.
The ground was quite dry and soft, with the pine trees overhead sending a fresh, cool scent into the air. It didn't have as spectacular a view or as pleasant an area as the location where he had first met Seph, when Sephiroth had been in his guise as an unknown mentor, but the atmosphere of this place was, overall, calming and soothing to his nerves.
Reno smiled to himself as Cloud relaxed, the day's build-up of tension dissipating on the wind. When he judged his friend had sufficiently unwound, he casually draped his arm over Cloud's shoulder, and shifted so he was leaning against one of the numerous pine trees in the area. Instantly tensing, for a moment Cloud was frozen in surprise, uneasy with the close contact. After sternly telling himself that Reno wasn't a threat, and he wasn't back in Nibelheim, he forced himself to relax, muscles gradually relaxing from the alert and wary stance.
Reno saw the instinctive response, the automatic tense reaction, and privately noted to himself that he needed to get Cloud to loosen up. He remembered their conversation that morning, and wryly thought that he could not blame Cloud for feeling uncomfortable. 'Well, I guess, if I was from some town where the people are parochial and insular, and just had a dialogue with someone I relatively trusted, and found out that… well… you know. I suppose it could be interpreted as trying to make a move on him.' "Look, Cloud, about earlier… I'm sorry about that, and if you had enough time to understand exactly what happened, and you're feeling disgusted or anything… You had better tell me now."
Cloud looked at him, puzzled, "Reno, I meant what I said back then. I haven't reconsidered, and won't ever. You are my friend, and that's what counts, right?"
"I know I'm putting this poorly, but thanks," Reno said softly, with a slight hesitation over the last phrase. Reno continued hurriedly, feeling rather awkward, and noticing Cloud seemed either disbelieving, embarrassed or about to disclaim and deny the truth or sincerity of his words. "No, I mean it, it means a lot to me that you didn't leave in disgust or revulsion, most people who find out can't accept it. A lot of my so-called 'friends' left after I told them, maybe they thought I was going to flirt with them or something. And my parents…" He shrugged, grey eyes solemn, "they didn't have very much choice. They didn't disown me, or anything, my mother was quite supportive, but they're disappointed. I just wanted to thank you." He finished, still feeling like it was clumsy and inadequate, not expressing his sentiments fully, and that it wasn't enough. Cloud reached out and squeezed Reno's hand gently, communicating without words that he understood, and was rewarded by the tentative smile of happiness on his friend's face.
*** *** *** ***
They observed in silent appreciation the natural beauty of Midgar, with the long stalks of grass swaying in the wind, a rippling, unbroken sea of green. The same wind that ruffled their hair, and tugged lightly on the sleeves of the recruit's uniforms. "Pity the rest of the forests are going to be cut down, huh?" Reno's tone conveyed regret at the loss of part of Midgar's landscape.
"Huh? Why?" Cloud asked, feeling painfully ignorant when he admitted he had no prior knowledge of the history of Midgar. The time that followed was a very interesting and informative one, a mix of History, Geography, Social Science, Economics, as well as a dash of Politics thrown in for good measure. He learned that Midgar was identified as an area with an abundance of Mako, the source of energy for all human life on the Planet.
It was here that they first discovered how to channel the free-flowing energy, and after much research, built the very first reactor. The area that was originally one with a low population density rapidly grew, but mostly in the land surrounding the Mako reactor and the hill. One of President ShinRa's great-grandfathers had been the founder of the ShinRa company, and came up with a proposal to build a city half-way up the hill slope, where the Mako seemed to be concentrated. The old reactor had been demolished, and a new and upgraded, modern version was built near to the base of the hill.
The engineers and architects had been very ambitious, creating a gigantic, solid metal plate on which the new city was to be built, and had constructed it on the side of the mountain itself, so it jutted out like a rocky outcropping. The top of the mountain and half of it had been levelled, and pillars built to support the plate, with one of the "pillars" being part of the Mako reactor. Apparently, it had only been three-quarters completed, with part of the plate, the on one which the SOLDIER facility was constructed, still resting on the foundations of the mountain, the rocky cliff still a reminder of the original hill Midgar city had been built upon. Plans were underway to complete that ambitious project, by constructing supports beneath, and demolishing the last sad remnants of a once-tall mountain.
"You mean this ground is not real?" Cloud asked incredulously.
"Well, most of it was soil imported from outside. The landscapers sure had a hard time trying to disguise the metal plate, at least in certain areas. In here, on the SOLDIER grounds, it's still very much the original hill, and the grass we're lying on is natural. So are the trees and the cliff, as a matter of fact. Technically, they left the landscape here intact, the plate is underneath this ground, and all there is now is only about 1 metre of real, natural soil from the hill. When they finish, however, the land surrounding us, as well as the forests on the slope," he waved in the general direction of the cliff, "is all going to be gone. There are going to be major changes, though I hope they'll leave the training grounds intact, but… I doubt it."
'Hope they leave the tree where I met Sephiroth alone…' Cloud thought, then chided himself for being so ridiculously sentimental and foolish. 'Yeah, sure, like they'll save that tree just because it has emotional significance.' He did feel a tinge of excitement, however, at the thought of being in the midst of all that activity, actually living in the vibrant, changing environment of Midgar city. The construction going on would rapidly restructure the entire face of Midgar city, and the removal of the hill and the emergence of the plate would be the culmination of all the generations of effort, and the birth of Midgar, the floating city. It wasn't all artificial, however, as pockets of natural land and greenery were to be preserved, like the SOLDIER main facility, and a park of sorts near the middle of the plate.
"Reno, what happened to the people who lived at the base of the former hill?"
"I don't rightly know. Most of them moved up to the upper Midgar city, but some stubborn ones are remaining below. It's almost like a slum down there, and the plate blocks off the light. I went down, once or twice, but is not an experience I want to repeat."
"So, it's some of the… ah… more unsavoury characters, as well as the poorer citizens and criminal elements who reside down there. Oh, and the obstinate fanatics, as well," Cloud said delicately, trying to maintain slightly more political correctness than bluntly stating "mobsters, gangsters and delinquents".
Reno nodded in agreement. "Some were sort-of 'banished' by the President. Oh, did you know that his position of being in charge of the city was handed down for about 5 generations? The current ShinRa did away with elections, and the Mayor of Midgar is just a figurehead, everyone knows where the real power resides. He practically runs the whole world! He is the owner of ShinRa Corporation, and earns enough to privately finance researchers and scientists. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he controls Midgar, the Mako reactors are all operated by ShinRa employees all around the Planet, effectively controlling the power supply of the cities and towns. President ShinRa is the nearest thing Midgar has to a king, even though we don't have a government body, it's a fact of life that the city is run by the ShinRa."
"Of which we are employees," Cloud cut in dryly, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, well, if you can't beat 'em, join them," Reno laughed, tossing back his ponytail.
*** *** *** ***
The lazy afternoon was passing by slowly, the only other sound the buzz and hum of insects, and the melody of birdsong. They watched, again lapsing into quietness, mutely following with their gaze, the idle path of a randomly fluttering butterfly, drifting and weaving through the trees and shrubs. The shade of the pine tree that sheltered them from the worst of the sun's burning heat, and the occasional breeze stirred the surrounding plants' leaves. Reno was not concentrating so much on the scenery, than upon reliving the dialogue. He supposed he should be feeling shocked or stunned right now, but had only been left with mild surprise and profound relief.
'I didn't expect that completely atypical reaction, especially not from a Nibelheim boy, of all people. I suppose Cloud isn't a normal recruit, he's mature, intelligent and open-minded… age notwithstanding.' The anticipated rejection and disgust hadn't come, but it wasn't as much of a shock as it would have been. He found it easy to believe the quiet reassurance of friendship, and realised it was not unexpected. 'Somehow, it doesn't come as a surprise… it fits in with what I've seen of his personality… mutual trust on both our parts. It should be strange… heck, even my parents weren't that accepting, and a person who was a stranger to me less than two weeks ago completely and without reservation simply understands… it would normally be weird and absolutely unbelievable… but it's different with Cloud.' He continued on in a similar train of thought, breathing in the freshness of the grassy scent and letting the warmth of the day suffuse him.
Cloud was being lulled into sleep, the "lecture" given on Midgar by Reno had been delivered in a rather low, musical, soothing tone, and that, together with the morning's exertions, was tempting him to sleep. The heat was drowsiness-inducing, and Reno had started humming softly a few minutes ago, the half-heard tune penetrating the air, hypnotising him into slumber. Reno was startled out of his private contemplation, when Cloud suddenly leaned his weight on him, but pulled the smaller boy closer, so Cloud's head was resting on his shoulder. Sighing in content and gratitude, Cloud suppressed a yawn, and half-awake, felt Reno's arm around him tighten, supporting his back, then moving upwards to drape lightly around his shoulders. He remained wakeful, even as his blond friend was pulled into blissful slumber. It made a beautiful scene, set against the backdrop of the wild beauty of nature, flame-red against gold strands, two friends sharing a peaceful interlude amidst the hustle and bustle of Midgar city.
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Read and Review, please. This is my first fic, so be kind! Comments and criticism welcomed.