Funnily enough (or then not...), most of this chapter was written ages ago, as it was meant to be the first chapter of part two.
Thank you for all the reviews! And for KMS for putting up with my typos... hmm what else... I own nothing in this story, I've just twisted the plot. Hope you people like it!
Chapter nine: Five years
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"Can you help him?" Aeris asked, walking around the bed upon which the unconscious body of Vincent Valentine lay strapped by his hands and feet. They had healed his wounds but the man hadn't woken up. There was always someone there, guarding him, in case the man woke or if the demon took his body again.
"Eventually, dear. Hopefully sooner than later, if we can keep that demon down," her father answered, turning to give her a warm smile. Professor Gast and Bugenhagen were working together on reversing whatever it was that Hojo had done to Valentine. The problem was that they didn't know what exactly the scientist had done. No one had thought to take any of Hojo's journals from his study, and no one was willing to go back for them.
The trip back to Cosmo Canyon had been short and uneventful. Changing drivers, they had driven without resting, stopping only at the ford and to fill the gas tanks. They had all agreed to spend the next few days resting before even thinking about what to do next.
Ignoring rest, Bugenhagen and Gast had started working on Vincent the morning after their arrival, not just to help the man but to make sure the demon couldn't hurt anyone. Nanaki and Aeris both followed their progress curiously. Ifalna, exhausted and still traumatized from whatever Hojo had done to her, was resting in the elder's observatory, where Aeris spent all of the time she wasn't with her father.
Barret was finally acknowledging Cait Sith, but the cat wasn't sure if that was a good thing. The gun-armed man kept asking about Marlene, making sure that Reeve kept his word and took care of her and Shera. Often he wasn't satisfied until Reeve arranged for them to talk through the cat.
Cid was actually taking the holiday as a holiday, even though he constantly thought about what they could do to help the Planet. He was grateful that Tifa had this time taken the role of babysitter, watching that Yuffie didn't steal every single thing that wasn't nailed down in the whole Canyon.
Most of the time, Zax was nowhere to be found. He'd leave his small house early every morning to kill the monsters that roamed the Canyon, and return late in the evening, sometimes after nightfall. He'd already killed most of the beasts that had wandered close by, so to vent his frustration he had to go further from the town to find anything to kill. The members of Avalanche didn't know him well, but the dark mood which he had been in since Nibelheim seemed wrong on him. Part of it was because Cloud had fallen into an unresponsive, half conscious state where he didn't seem to hear or see anything, responding only to touch.
After three full days in Cosmo Canyon, the members of Avalanche met at the Candle again. Night was falling fast around them, but the flame lit up the small ring they formed.
"All right," Barret started, looking at everyone in turn. "Now that we've rested, it's about time we start thinking about how to help the Planet." The others glanced questioningly at Cait Sith. Both the robot cat and its mog were sitting there with them. Their leader nodded. "Reeve's with us on this. We can speak freely."
"Yeah, I hope you guys can trust me. I assure you that Rufus won't hear a word of this. As far as he's concerned, I'm still spying on you," the cat said, looking at them honestly. Cid frowned and turned to Barret.
"You really trust this joker?"
"Yeah, Cid. I trust him enough," Barret muttered, squeezing his human hand into a tight fist. "So, anyone got any ideas what to do next?"
"Hey, shouldn't we wait for Zax?" Yuffie asked, looking around. "Isn't he one of us now? Or something?"
"He knows we're meeting here now. If he's not loyal to Sephiroth anymore and if he's interested, he'd be here," Barret said almost angrily, silencing the ninja. "Since we might have to kill Sephiroth to save the Planet, we can't trust someone who's loyal to him."
"I am. But I'm still here."
"...way to make an entrance..." Yuffie muttered as Zax stepped to the ring of light, the Buster sword thrown casually over one shoulder. His chest was splattered with blood from the monsters he'd killed. With his glowing, violet eyes he looked more like a demon than a man at the moment.
The Soldier ignored the ninja's remark and sat down between Tifa and Cid, who both inched away from him a bit.
Silence lasted for a moment until Zax lifted his face to answer Barret's strict glare. "I've been thinking a lot lately. I'm still loyal to Sephiroth, like I said. But if he's controlled by Jenova, he'd... I know he'd rather die than go on like that. So I'll come with you. When we confront him, I want to talk to him first, if it's possible. To make sure. If... if he's beyond my reach... I'll want to make him the last favour I can, and kill him. Good enough for you?"
Barret nodded after a moment. "Fine." He sat down as well, becoming equal with the rest of the group. "This seems fairly simple. We find Sephiroth and... take care of him."
The others nodded their confirmations to this. More easily said than done, though.
"How do we find him?" Tifa asked.
Zax covered his face with this hands and sighed. "Ah... I think..."
"Spit it out," Cid said, his voice unusually soft. He must have guessed what the Soldier was going to say.
"...damn..." Zax lowered his hands and stared at the fire. "I think Cloud can sense Seph somehow. If we can get him to snap out of that daze he's in, maybe... maybe we can get him to lead the way. Or at least give a hint as to where he could be."
"Mother suspects the Northern Crater. She's not sure, though, but we've talked about this, and since it's the place where Jenova originally landed in, it seems likely they're there," Aeris said, leaning forward and giving Zax a sympathetic look. "So if Cloud can really feel him, maybe we only need to ask if he's feeling the same. And if he can't, well, it's a place to start."
Barret frowned and scratched his neck. "Sounds good to me. But the Crater is a long way from here. How do we get there? I don't know how many ships go there anymore."
Cid seemed to lighten up at that. "Well, there's always my Tiny Bronco, if I can get her fixed. And then..." His eyes went dreamy and a small smile appeared on his lips, much like a schoolgirl when thinking of her crush, "...there's the Highwind."
"Theee what?" Yuffie asked, snickering at the look on the pilot's face. Cid didn't notice, though, or decided to ignore her.
"The greatest airship ever! It belonged to me, and to my dad before me. He built it. Shin-Ra confiscated it some years back, after the space program was cancelled, those bastards. I'm telling you, with the Highwind we could get to the Northern Crater in an instant AND kick Sephiroth's ass to the Promised Land!"
"So where is it?" Tifa asked. Cid's face fell.
"Midgar. I think. Or Junon. I don't know. Rufus has it."
They all turned to Cait. "Ah, yes, the... Highwind. I think it's in Junon now," Reeve answered through the cat. "Scarlet borrowed it two days ago to go and check on some weapons."
"What?!" Cid absolutely shrieked. "That painted harlot, at the wheel of MY airship?" He let out a long string of curses which made the others laugh, despite that it meant that getting the airship wouldn't be too easy.
"All right, we'll put our minds to that next," Nanaki said and Barret nodded.
"If it's fine with you all, I've been talking with the guy who fixed the buggy... he's a pretty darn good mechanic, and he'd be willing to come with me to the Bronco, to check if we can fix her. I'd be gone a few days..." Cid said, looking at Barret almost pleadingly. The gun-armed man nodded.
"I think we can afford a few more days. We'll get things ready here while you're at it."
"Speaking of fixing things... how's Vincent doing?" Zax asked, looking at Aeris.
"He's still unconscious, but at least it means that the demon is still dormant. Father and Elder Bugenhagen are doing their best," the flower girl answered while the others got ready to get up.
"Just one more thing," Cid said. His curiosity even overrode the urge to jump into a car and drive straight to his Tiny Bronco. Zax frowned when the pilot turned to him. "If you're with us from now on, and that little blond as well, I think we should know a few things. Just in case, you know."
"What do you want to know?" Zax asked quietly while the rest exchanged looks and sat back down.
"How about you start with what Hojo did to you two?" the pilot said.
"It would also help if you could tell what you know of Vincent and what was done to him. We know next to nothing about Hojo's projects," Aeris asked, and Zax nodded to both of them. He'd known that he'd eventually have to talk about it.
"Yeah, I guess I should tell you guys... uh, I'll start with Vincent.
"There's not much that I know for sure. I didn't know Vincent for long, but Hojo likes to talk. He told me all kinds of things about his past experiments, more than I would have liked to know, really. Ah, Vincent... Hojo just... toyed with him, I think. Tried all different theories and stuff. Same as with Cloud, before Seph and me got him out of there.
"Hojo was able to control him back then, thanks to this slave collar he'd put around Vinnie's neck. The bastard had put him to sleep around the time Seph was born, after... hell, how do I explain this... after... infecting, that was Hojo's word, Vincent's mind with these four demons. The one we met is the strongest, Chaos." He skipped the part where that same demon burned Nibelheim to the ground. "When... shit. Okay. This is gonna be hard, but I'm gonna tell you the truth now.
"When Seph, Cloudy and me went back to Nibelheim, to free Vincent from Hojo, and maybe to kill the asshole, we... he..." Zax shook his head violently, forcing down threatening tears. He didn't want to talk about this, but if he didn't get it all out soon, he felt like his heart would explode with all the pain and sorrow.
"We found Vincent in the room with the secret door. Or Cloudy found him while we were fighting with one of Hojo's monsters. The bastard had played with Vincent some more, doing something to his left arm. He has two human hands now, I noticed, but back then he used to have this metal claw around his left arm. Then it was gone, and... well, he was acting weird. He... he shot. Cloudy. In the head. Killing him. The Turks were right. Cloud died. But not until that day. Then... Hojo shot me in the back and all got a bit blurry. But I remember Vincent transforming into Chaos and leaving. Then Seph left us, and I was taken to Hojo's lab for the next five years."
When he stopped speaking, no one dared to break the silence for a few moments. Yuffie was the first to speak.
"Uhh... so if that guy killed Cloud, who's the blond?" She nodded her head towards the small home Zax and Cloud shared.
The Soldier sighed and steadied himself. "That is a bit of a long story. I don't know if you guys need to know all of it, but... I need to get it out, or I'll go crazy."
"Please, tell us..." Aeris said, not knowing what to expect.
Zax fingered the pale scar on his chest and wondered absently if there was a similar one on his back, where the bullet had entered his body. He often touched it, to remind himself of what part of the last few years had really happened and what had been just a nightmare. Unfortunately, the worst things didn't come from his dreams.
He couldn't remember clearly what had happened, how he had ended up where he was now. The last thing he remembered clearly was falling to the floor, with warm blood streaming out of his body. The floor he'd landed on had been surprisingly soft, and it had been so easy to just close his eyes and let his body fix itself or die. Let it decide. The world was turning out to be a bit too weird for his liking. Sephiroth had become so strange, Vincent had gone completely mad, and Cloud had died. Everything in the last five minutes. It had been a little too much, and the Soldier had given up. But apparently his body had thought otherwise; it had begun to heal itself, and later on he'd woken up here. In a glass tank. In a laboratory. In the cellar of the Shin-Ra mansion in Nibelheim, where all hell had originally broken loose. As far back as he could remember, that was the worst way to wake up. Even worse than an incoming missile exploding not thirty feet from him. He knew what went on in this basement, and he could guess that he wasn't getting out anytime soon.
He'd woken up to find that Hojo had sewn his wounds shut nicely, and his assistants were nursing him back to perfect health, for whatever sick plans the professor might have. The man wouldn't say, and Zax had no way of finding out. The assistants didn't talk much to him, and when they were gone, he was all alone. There was another tank beside his, but it was empty. Completely empty. He wondered often which tank Hojo had kept Cloud in, and felt a crushing pain in his heart at the thought. The blond was gone. Dead. Murdered by Vincent. Zax had a fuzzy memory of the Turk changing into something horrible, but that visual only came to him in the moment just before sleep, driving away all the good dreams he might have had.
He wanted to escape so badly he'd hit and kick the glass walls of his small prison until his whole body ached and the pain in his healing wound brought him to his knees. He wanted his life back, but if that wasn't possible, the Soldier was ready to take it with his own hands. But there were two reasons why he didn't want to die. One was Sephiroth, of course. He wanted to get out and find his General again, his best friend for so long they'd become almost parts of each other. Or that's what Zax had thought. Ever since first coming to Nibelheim Sephiroth had moved away from him until they'd been completely torn apart. So much had happened in those few days that Zax was still sorting some of it in his mind, cursing himself for not doing something sooner, for not confronting Sephiroth the minute he'd started to act strangely, for not tossing that cursed head away the minute he'd seen it. But there was no use in crying over spilled milk. He couldn't change the past, no matter how hard he tried or wanted to.
The second reason why he felt he needed to stay alive had arrived a few months ago. Hojo had decided not to make the same mistakes again, so whenever the professor would leave the laboratory, he'd have Zax put to sleep. The man didn't trust his assistants anymore, but at least they sometimes talked to the Soldier, answering some of his questions shortly but still, they answered them. How long have I been in here? How long did I sleep now? What's going on outside? They told him, if only to just make some noise, chase away the ghosts. But they never told him what was going to happen to him. They only shook their heads at that, or turned away. But at least Zax had a pretty good idea on how long he'd been down here. Almost two years, most of it unconscious, in induced sleep. Almost two years of being so alone, until the day he'd woken up to loud noises.
Hojo was shouting for his assistants to be careful. They were filling the tank next to his with thick, very strong Mako, and lowering something into it while it was still half empty. Zax had stood up to the closest wall to see what was going on. There were so many assistants running around the tank that it was hard to see, but after they'd secured the top closed again, they all moved back to watch as the tank filled up. The Soldier still remembered the disgust and nausea he'd felt at what he'd seen then, floating in the liquid.
The Mako was thick, but not thick enough to hide the ... thing it enveloped. It had reminded him of a fetus, except that as far as he knew, fetuses didn't have spines growing out of them, the white bones hanging from a mass of heart and lungs and something that might one day be a head. It hung from numerous tubes that injected it with different liquids. Zax could only imagine what it would be, once grown up.
Only a few days later he'd already noticed that Blob, like he called it, was starting to grow skin over the lengthening spine. A week from that, he saw the beginnings of little hands and feet, and some months later it was painfully obvious that Hojo was growing a human. The assistants wouldn't say a word about it, so Zax had swallowed his pride and disgust towards the professor and asked him what was growing in the tank, but Hojo would only lift a finger to his lips and smirk.
"It's a secret."
Then the professor would coo at Blob like it was his baby.
Seeing Hojo's lovely secret first thing every morning was really freaking Zax out, but since there was little else to do in a completely empty tube of glass, small enough that he couldn't even stretch himself out on the floor of it, he'd started to follow Blob's growing, wondering what exactly would become of it, and if Hojo intended to use him with it. Or was he just canned goods for the monster-to-be? Neither option appealed much to the Soldier.
Over the months Blob grew, its limbs started to resemble those of a human, and it started to even develop some facial features. It didn't grow exactly like a normal human, from baby to adulthood, but more like straight to its final size. The bones that formed before being covered up with muscle and skin stretched and grew thicker, and Blob ended up being over five feet tall when it seemed to stop growing and started to develop details. Hojo had photographed, filmed and made notes of it every day, every inch it grew. It sickened Zax, knowing how the same man had tortured and ignored his own son. Well, his son in a way. Not that he believed that Blob's future would be any happier than Sephiroth's. The thought had crossed his mind that Hojo was actually growing himself another Sephiroth. That was one thing he had learned about the world outside. No one knew where the General was. He had completely disappeared from Nibelheim, and Hojo was possibly the most pissed off person because of it. His ire had amused Zax on many occasions, but he didn't laugh at the professor anymore, not after getting an unhealthy dose of Mako as a punishment.
Then one day Zax had realized what Hojo was doing. Blob hadn't been facing him for the past week or so, which the Soldier was eternally grateful for, considering that its teeth and eyes were growing but there wasn't really much flesh to cover them yet. Watching the back of its head, Zax had noticed that Blob was starting to grow thin, pale hair as well. But that one morning, it had turned a bit during the night, showing Zax its perfect, fully developed face when the Soldier woke up. The eyes were closed with hints of eyebrows above them, and the thin lips were slightly parted. Pale hair floated around the head like a halo in the Mako liquid. Zax had almost had a heart attack when he'd recognized Cloud. Hojo had just about busted a gut, laughing at his horror. After the initial shock, and the one following that, he'd screamed at the professor, demanding to know why, swearing in a way that would have taught Cid a few new expressions. Hojo just laughed at him and repeated his usual line.
"It's a secret."
Later, the professor had given in enough to tell him that he'd created Blob from the cells of the real Cloud, cutting the ones infected with Jenova's before the body even grew cold. This was the third 'version'; the previous two hadn't either grown or had mutated badly. "I only dared to hope that the cloning would work this well. But so much could still go wrong. My sweet little specimen isn't ready yet."
When Zax would ask what that meant, Hojo would shake his head and walk away.
"He wouldn't tell me anything. Neither would the goons. I didn't know what to do, or think." The Soldier shook his head while he let out the last, quiet words. Even though he stared at his feet, he could see the looks the others were exchanging.
"What... what happened then?" Aeris asked quietly. Zax scratched his neck and was glad that Cloud wasn't there. He wasn't sure why, but he didn't want the blond to hear this.
"Next... that was weird..."
Hojo had given his precious specimen a few more weeks to grow and become complete before he had started to work on him. That's when Zax finally found out what was wanted, or more like needed of him.
After he'd recognized Cloud, Zax's feelings had been in a horrible jumble. On the other hand, he was glad to see the boy again, remembering how he'd felt for him earlier. Maybe they'd get a second chance now, to see if they had similar feelings for each other. But on the other hand, he'd just witnessed how Cloud had grown from a few organs and bones to what he was now. And he couldn't decide, didn't know whether this was his Cloud, the same one who'd been so surprised when he'd talked about his feelings in the tent, or just an empty clone, Hojo's mindless slave. That was just what he seemed to be right now, only a body floating in Mako, suspended by numerous tubes. The liquid was so strong no normal human or animal could survive living in it for months. It made Zax's head ache just being this close to it, no matter that there were two thick glass walls and a few feet between him and the next tank. He feared that Cloud would truly be just something that Hojo had created. But he still didn't know why.
Then one day, Hojo drained Cloud's tank empty. Zax watched with curiosity and anxiety as the body slumped, feet limp on the floor, the rest kept up with the tubes. Two assistants opened the door and unplugged the boy. They washed off most of the Mako stuck to his skin with water, emptied his lungs of the stuff and hauled the boy out, throwing his limp form onto the table. Hojo supervised their every movement, standing next to the table, rubbing his hands excitedly.
"That's it, carefully now... let's see if you were worth the effort put into you!" the professor babbled on, eager to get his hands on his specimen. Zax tried to turn away but realized that he couldn't. He had to see what the madman was doing.
The assistants rolled Cloud onto his side and slapped his back until the boy had coughed out the rest of the liquid from his lungs. Hojo was thrilled to see that his specimen could breathe on its own, and had proceeded to give him a full physical examination.
"Eyes... responding naturally to light. Look at that glow!" The assistants watched curiously, running around the table, blocking it and Cloud from Zax's view most of the time. "No abnormal muscle tissue growth... actually, he seems like a bit of a weakling. We'll have to test his strength once we're finished with the programming."
The Soldier cringed at the words and moved to get a better view of the professor and catch a glimpse of Cloud. The boy hadn't moved at all, didn't protest to Hojo's probings or hear the comments. Only his chest rose and fell.
"Everything seems to have developed nicely. Let's take a tissue sample and see whether his DNA is still the same."
Zax hated needles so much that he didn't blame himself for not watching when Hojo pulled out a huge one and poked it into Cloud's arm. The Soldier let out a shuddering breath and opened his eyes again when the professor commanded for his assistants to check the sample. The men left the room, leaving Hojo with his pets.
"Yeees..." Hojo muttered after a quiet moment and looked up at Zax, giving him a quick smirk. "He seems to be ready. A few more days and we'll start programming. Hope you're ready for it, Zackery."
Zax frowned but didn't look up from Cloud's open eyes. Even in the bright lights of the laboratory, they were glowing unnaturally. Just like a Soldier's eyes after a Mako-treatment, but so much brighter. Of course. The boy had literally grown up in the liquid. He looked human enough, but Zax had to doubt it, even though he wished that Cloud would be the same as before. But if he had been grown from the Jenova-cells that had been injected into him, wouldn't the boy be more alien than human? Just a piece of her, molded into his likeness? Just an empty body?
"What the hell do you mean, Hojo? You'd actually let me close to one of your monsters? You don't fear I'll just kill it?"
The professor laughed and shook his head, all the time poking at Cloud's muscles, testing their responses. "Dear Zackery, I don't think you'll do that. First, you won't get a chance. Second, I don't think you'd have the heart. I've seen the way you look at him. Like a lovesick puppy. No, I think you'd actually protect him if you needed to."
"No way!" the Soldier shouted and slammed his fists against the glass. He feared that he'd lost Sephiroth for ever, and had already grieved once for Cloud. Seeing the boy again, his feelings for the both of them had awakened, but he didn't really dare to believe that this Cloud was anything else than an empty husk. It was just a specimen, one of Hojo's numerous crimes against humanity. And it fouled the memories he had of the boy. The decision had been hard, but he was adamant to kill it, the first chance he got. It wasn't Cloud.
From that moment on, Zax started to really plan for escape, and how he could manage it and destroy the specimen and still survive.
Two days later, Hojo and his assistants returned and again drained Cloud's tank, cleaned the specimen and dragged it to the table. The Soldier stood up when the two goons started to come towards his tube. Zax backed away from the door immediately, afraid. What was happening?
They opened the door and both reached a hand in, trying to grab one of Zax's. The Soldier tried to bat them away, move out of their reach, but the tank was too small and the men stood too close to each other for him to slip between them.
One of the assistants was your usual laboratory worker, all brain and no muscle, but the other one had been hired for having both. The man grunted with impatience, pushed the thinner man aside and stepped into the tank, surprising Zax and grabbing the Soldier before he had a chance to deal any serious damage.
The years in the cell had dulled Zax's reflexes and weakened him a bit, but he still put up a fight before the man managed to catch him from behind, press his arms to his sides and carry the struggling Soldier out. Zax managed to kick the thinner goon in the stomach and the one carrying him in the legs as hard as he could with his bare feet, but it didn't even make him feel any better about being caught so easily.
The muscle man kept him still while Hojo and the other goon tied the Soldier to another desk, right next to Cloud. Zax continued his struggling, listening to the low curses, but his eyes were fixed on the blond specimen next to him. He refused to think of it as Cloud, but it looked so much like him, a perfect copy.
"No!" Zax screamed as his arm was pinned to the table in a way that could only mean one thing. He turned to his left just in time to see Hojo guide a needle into his vein, and push in dark red liquid.
"Just lie still, Zackery, and this'll be over before you know it..."
Zax struggled, trying in vain to fight the numbing effect of the drug, tightening his muscles against the bonds, but it spread quickly and he started to go limp. First his legs, then his arms, and then the warm sensation spread to his torso and up towards his head.
With a last attempt to fight it, Zax turned his head away from Hojo. That meant that the last thing he saw before passing out was Cloud...
"...Shit," Barret muttered and turned away. Aeris and Tifa had paled considerably during the tale. Cid was chain-smoking and the rest were too stunned to say much.
"What did he do to you guys?" Yuffie got her mouth open with the power of curiosity.
Zax shrugged. "At first, I had no idea. I just thought... hell, I didn't know what to think. I guess I presumed it was some sort of blood transfusion. I don't know. The next thing I remember is waking up and feeling like shit..."
"...work?"
"Can't really say, sir, he's back asleep."
"Damn it. Well it looks like our brave donor is up. Good morning, Zackery, how do you feel?"
Zax groaned quietly as a throbbing pain attacked his head. Something had crawled into his mouth, sucked it dry and then died. Probably something in league with the bees that buzzed and tickled in his ears. He refused to even go into what the rest of him felt like.
Someone poked at his arm and Zax forced a bleary, dry eye open. If waking up in the mansion's basement was the worst way to wake up, then having Hojo's face within a foot of your own was a very, very strong second. The Soldier yelped in fright and flinched away which only made the professor chuckle.
"How rude of you. But I guess that you can't be blamed. Mmm, feeling a bit nostalgic, are we?"
"...yes..." Zax answered when he came to the conclusion that he really was, although he couldn't for the life of him understand why. He frowned slightly and closed his eyes while Hojo rubbed his hands together.
"So the transfusion did work. Try to wake him again, see what happens."
The Soldier forced both eyes open when the words didn't seem to have any kind of understandable meaning to him. Transfusion? He turned to his left and saw the thin assistant shake Cloud by the shoulders. The specimen didn't respond, didn't make any noise. The man looked up at Hojo questioningly before slapping the boy on the cheek. That made the blond let out a quiet groan, but he didn't move or wake.
"Oh let him be, he probably needs time to let it all sink in. Put them in their tanks, we'd have to wait a few days anyway before we can do it again."
Zax didn't have the strength or the will to struggle when he was freed and picked up from the table. His bare feet dragged on the cold floor as he was more carried than guided back to the prison of glass and thrown carelessly in. He looked on as Cloud was locked in more carefully, Hojo not wanting his project to come to any harm.
The professor stood before Cloud's tank for a moment longer before all three scientists left and turned the lights off. The basement was now only illuminated by the glow of the computer screens which were a bright shade of Mako green. Zax sighed and closed his eyes, thankful of the darkness as it eased his headache a bit.
When he was feeling a bit better he started to wonder what had happened. Hojo had spoken of a transfusion; had something been taken from him and put into Cloud? What? He checked his arms, feeling for any needle marks, but found only the one which Hojo had made with the sedative, or whatever the hell that had been. Not a blood transfusion, then, nor tissue or organ, he figured he'd feel that. Now that he wasn't numb anymore it was obvious that only his head was hurting, and it was full of memories, even ones he'd thought he'd forgotten. His childhood, the first days in Soldier, Sephiroth... his image was the strongest, the memories of their conversations and the older man's personality. Why... why was he remembering all this? Zax lifted his fists to his temples and groaned. He didn't understand anything.
After a moment he lowered his hands and opened his eyes, staring at Cloud's limp form until he fell to a deep, exhausted sleep.
"The... transfusions went on for months. Little by little. And I... I found out what they were about.
"Cloud... he was, is, a perfect replica of the real one. But Hojo hasn't yet managed to create a clone with a soul, with memories. Jenova's cells didn't keep that information. So he needed to... he used... aw shit, how do I explain this... Hojo transferred my memories to Cloud. Not everything, just things he thought Cloud needed to know. About Cloudy, and Sephiroth. Hojo was making a puppet for Jenova to use." Zax rubbed his eyes and let out a long sigh. "I don't know. He somehow stimulated the memories he needed from me and..." he waved his hand, not trying to explain it further. "Lately, though... I don't know, sometimes it seems like Cloud knows stuff I couldn't possibly have known about him. Like things from before... before he died.
"But anyway, there was a problem. Cloud would 'operate' perfectly, Hojo's words, not mine, in Mako, but once he was taken out of the tank, away from that poison, he'd go limp and unresponsive, like the bastard liked to put it. So Hojo started to think that he had failed. He started to do nasty things... I don't want to talk about it. Just in case Cloud should find out. I don't think he remembers, and I don't want him to.
"That just made me more determined to get out. Cloud was starting to be in pretty bad shape. I know I said I'd kill him... so I could have just let Hojo take care of it. But not even a clone deserves to go through that kind of shit. So one day, when Hojo was in Midgar... the goons always got a bit careless then. I killed the one bringing our food to us, and... I was going to kill Cloud as well, so that whatever Hojo wanted him for wouldn't happen, but... I just couldn't. I got him out of the tank and ran.
"I ran the whole night, didn't stop until late. Seeing Nibelheim like that was a shock, and I just wanted to get away from it as soon as possible. I thought it was some sort of hallucination, made myself think it was just that, but now...
"The trip away from there was... well, in a way it was good to be out of the mansion, but traveling was hard. And just existing in the world again. I thought I'd never get used to the sun..."
"...aannnh... ouuhhh..."
Zax woke up and opened his stinging eyes. For a few seconds he was completely disoriented, until he remembered the small cave they were hiding in. They were a few days from Nibelheim, and if they continued by foot, it would take maybe three or four more days to reach Cosmo Canyon. The trip to the other direction, four years earlier, had taken a day and a half, but then they'd had a car. He hadn't bothered to search for it in Nibelheim, guessing that it had been found when the town had been rebuilt. Someone had either taken it to its rightful owner or become its new owner.
"...mmmgh..."
"Shit..." Zax muttered and turned his eyes to his companion. It was dark in the cave, and the small strip of the sky he could see through the tear in the rock was pitch black as well. But the Soldier could see fairly well with his Mako-enhanced eyes, which cast a soft, bluish violet light into the darkness.
Putting numb limbs to action, Zax pulled the small blond close to him, rubbing warmth to the cold arms and back. Cloud stopped moaning after a while, sighed and fell silent. The Soldier sighed as well.
"You'll be all right, Cloud..." he whispered and closed his eyes again. They'd have to get moving soon, but it was too dark and the terrain was too dangerous. It could wait till morning. Rest was more important now.
Cloud-- no, IT, had started to make small noises every now and then, since yesterday. First it had scared the hell out of Zax, but he'd soon gotten used to it and had even begun to understand what the noises meant. I'm cold, I'm thirsty, something hurts... Zax snorted and rested his chin on the blond spikes, feeling warmer as their bodies shared the heat. It was like dragging around a big baby... a big baby which had showed no signs of waking up or, to be more correct, any signs of any kind of activity between its ears other than the quiet noises.
"Yeah, sure you'll be all right..."
"The trip to Cosmo Canyon took about a week. It was the weirdest trip, there were no other people around, except for a few small towns. But other than that, it seemed like it was just it and me, all alone in the world..."
Zax stopped to catch his breath and looked up at the large observatory at the top of the high town. Cosmo Canyon. Just an hour and they'd be at the base of the stairs. The hundreds of stairs that lead up to the town where they could rest and eat. If they were let in.
They had passed a small hamlet just after the ford, and Zax had gone into the village for some food. He'd had only a few gil on him, just enough for water, a small loaf of bread and some apples. Not much, but then again, Cloud wasn't eating anything. It hadn't made him proud, but Zax had also stolen some clothes. He'd still had his Soldier uniform when his captivity in the laboratory had began, but it had soon changed to what he presumed patients wore in hospitals. After getting out, he'd found his clean and fixed uniform, only without the boots. Cloud had been naked, but he'd found a shirt and a pair of boxer shorts in the laboratory, so that the specimen, Zax had to remind himself, wasn't completely naked. But it was cold and winter was on its way, so he'd stolen a pair of long pants and two woollen shirts which someone had hung out to dry. It was low, but he'd had to, or they would freeze. Still, they were both barefoot.
"Would you look at that? It's Cosmo Canyon, the cradle of education. Or something," the Soldier said and turned his head to see the glowing blue eyes. Cloud was riding on his back, chin resting on his shoulder, eyes staring straight ahead. Zax's face twisted with anger and despair at the lack of emotion in them, and he shook his head and continued towards the town.
"...I should have killed you in the lab and torched the place..."
"I didn't want to stay in the smaller towns. I guessed Hojo would send people after us, and I didn't want to bring that kinda trouble on people who couldn't defend themselves against it. Cosmo Canyon seemed like the best place, being so close. Rocket Town... well, I feared that someone might still remember us there.
"The elders were kind enough to let us stay, when they saw the sorry state Cloud was in. I wasn't much better then, starved and tired. I must have slept for two or three days straight, and when I woke up, Cloud was already up and speaking. That was weird... it was like having the old... the real Cloud back, except that he hadn't been much of a talker. Neither is this guy, but for the first few days he wouldn't stop talking about all the wonderful things he saw. I figured this out later, don't know if I'm right, but it's a guess... that the longer he's out of Mako, the better he... operates. You see, Hojo only kept him out for a few hours at a time, but he's been fine since we left. A few relapses now and then, but mostly he's ok. Guess that's what pissed the bastard off, if he realized the same.
"I... I had still been determined to destroy Cloud, because I knew that Hojo wouldn't leave us be. But when he talked to me, smiled and wondered about the things he saw... hell, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Still can't, even though it would be wisest."
"Why... how can you say that?" Aeris asked, her green eyes wide.
Zax shrugged. "He's just a clone. A specimen. A thing created by Hojo."
"Maybe once, but you said it yourself... he thinks for himself, and speaks his mind. Remembers things. Doesn't that make him a real human being?" the flower girl argued gently, making the Soldier lean away from her, thinking with a dark expression on his face. "Whatever he was created as, does it matter?"
"I don't know..." Zax muttered and pushed the thought away for now. He'd think about it more when he had the time and peace for it. "The rest of our story you know. A few months after we got here, you guys appeared."
They all sat still for a few more moments. Night had fallen sometime during Zax's tale, and even if they weren't all tired, the weight of what they'd just heard was enough to kill any other conversation.
"...I think that's enough for tonight," Barret said eventually and stood up. The others followed suit. "Tomorrow we can start preparing for the next leg o' this little picnic."
"Yeah. I'll head off in the mornin', I'll let you know how the repairs go," Cid muttered and waved them good night, heading off to find the mechanic. The rest wished each other good night as well, leaving quietly towards the inn, or in Aeris' and Nanaki's case, towards the observatory. The flower girl stopped to squeeze Zax's hand gently before heading for the stairs. Nanaki looked up at him encouragingly.
The Soldier blushed after even Barret had patted his shoulder. He hadn't told his story to get pity from anyone, but it was nice to know that they had believed him, and that he had managed to tell the whole of it, to get it out and give himself a little peace. His heart felt much lighter when he returned home. He apologized again and again to Rei, the woman who kept Cloud company when he was away. She claimed she didn't mind having to stay up so late, but he still felt guilty.
He was just about to turn the lights off and head to bed when there was a knock on the door. Curious as to who it could be, he went to open it.
"Hi, kiddo..." Cid muttered when the door opened. Zax smiled and cocked his head a bit.
"I thought you went to bed already, old man..."
"Watch it..." Cid growled but turned sheepish the next second. "I just... uhh... sorry if I forced you to tell it all. And in front of them. I mean, I had no idea..."
"It's ok, Cid. It's better out than in, like dad used to say. Although that was his excuse for spittin' into the fireplace, but you get the idea."
The pilot laughed and reached out to pat the Soldier on the shoulder. "Right. Thanks for sharin' it. At least they trust you now."
"No, Cid, that's called pity. Trust is a bit different..." Zax muttered but grinned and winked when the blond man looked up, surprised by the slightly bitter tone. "Hey, no offence, but it's been a long day, and I'd like to head to bed now. Good luck for tomorrow, I guess I'll see ya when you get back, huh?"
"Yeah, when I return here flyin' in my baby!" the pilot said with a grin, and they wished each other good night before Zax closed the door. Turning the lights off, he walked towards the small bedchamber, dropping his clothes in a line from door to door.
The small room was dark, only one window admitting light in from the stars. On the wall's side of the bed, Cloud lay curled up, his back to the room. He'd kicked the covers to the foot of the bed. Zax just stared at the blond for a few moments before he sat on the bed's edge, careful not to wake the younger one. He sat still for a while, thinking of what Aeris had said and about his own feelings. Getting the past out of his head had made him feel better, and even though he still thought that the creature on the bed was just a puppet, he no longer completely believed that. And maybe he'd think about it more tomorrow. Zax reached out and grabbed the bedcovers, pulling them over Cloud who just sighed in his sleep. With a wide yawn, the Soldier lay down and pulled his own blanket up to his chin. He was tired, but sleep was slow in coming and fitful when he finally caught a hold of it.
A.N: Okay... school is being... something I'd much rather not write, because it would contain language that would make Cid blush. So the next few chapters might come out a bit slow. Unless I get hit by inspiration and finish the whole thing in one weekend.
Please be patient, and as always, thank you so much for reading!