VII

Betrayal

Disclaimer I only own FF. & in my dreams.

Author's note: I am stupid for not up-dating in forever. Sniff sorry.

(Harper's pov.)

I couldn't believe I'd just told him that. It was Vincent, right? It was OK to tell Vincent—he'd comfort me.

Or so I thought.

For the first time ever, Vincent didn't know what to say. He blinked several times and fought for words. "How….w—we should've…Cloud'll…"

"You can't tell 'im."

His gaze hardened. "He's letting you live here, he should know."

"Vincent," I pleaded, " Please…"

He stood up, straightened out his cloak, and with a stone cold gaze of hatred said, " I am sorry, Harper, but he must know."

An even bigger lump grew in my throat as I jumped from the bed, shoved him out of my room, and slammed the door behind him. I put an arm on the door and rested my head on it. In a more controlled tone I said, to myself, "Tell him then."

From the hall I heard a short, muffled conversation:

"That didn't sound good." It was Cloud.

No response.

"Vincent?"

"Cloud, I need to talk to you, tell you something…in private," Vincent said icily.

I heard their footsteps retreating and a door close shortly after.

Cloud's pov.

Vincent looked a lot more….troubled than usual as we sat down at the table on the back patio. "Vince…What was that?" I asked, referring to him and Harper.

His eyes were like ice as he answered, "I'm afraid Sephiroth is still somewhat…alive."

"Huh?" the non-word escaped before I could stop it. Then I rolled my eyes and said, as I sighed, "Let's suit up and do it again." But instead of standing I let my head fall into my hands. "How? Omni-slash obliterated him."

"Cloud. Let me finish."

I looked up. Vincent unclasped the top buckles of his cape, revealing a stone mouth.

"There's more?"

"I'm afraid so." He bit his lower lip and looked away, showing more emotion in that one moment than I thought was possible for him. "Sephiroth himself is not alive…his family is."

Stop beating around the bush Valentine. " Family? Hojo's dead and—"

"Sephiroth had a child…25 years ago."

"25…that's how old—NO!"

"Harper is Sephiroth's daughter."

An awkward silence descended. Vincent closed his eyes and wandered off to his special place; I thought about what to do.

I couldn't do anything. Harper'd been with us for nearly one and one half years and she'd never tried to kill any of us. She didn't even know who she was till Reno brought her that tape. We don't know who she is. Yes we do. The voices in my head began fighting. Oh, sorry. Yes, we do know who she is : She's the offspring of our enemy! No…She's Harper, plain and simple. Fine, but see how it goes. You really need to--.

"Cloud?"

Shaken from my thoughts, I could again only reply, "Huh?"

"What are you going to do?"

"Oh, nothin' I guess. She's still Harper, Vincent." Had he turned against her?

"Yes, I know. I don't care that she's Sephiroth's child, I just feel sorry for whatever woman…"

"Yeah, I know. What do you think we should do?"

"I think we should keep this between us, and not bring it up to Harper that often," Vincent advised.

I nodded. "It's pretty nippy…I'm gonna go on inside. You want me to get you a blanket er somethin'?"

He shook his head, then re-clasped the buckles he'd undone.

"Ok," I turned to leave, but something popped up in my mind. "How is she?"

He shook his head again, "Not good. A bit mad at me I think."

"Hmm, ok." I shrugged off the cold. "Vincent? Were you asking about love 'cuz you have feelings for her?" Inwardly I cringed, expecting a cold comeback.

He seemed to soften though. "I don't know if I can love again…but, there's a flutter somewhere with her."

"Did you kiss 'er?"

"That's not a sign of my love—"

"Ah, so you did."

He gave a low laugh. "Not too great at lying, am I?"

"Cheer up Vince! It'd do you a world of good. And don't worry : I'm not gonna tell any—" My mouth stayed open as I spotted a very shocked Tifa at the door, "Though she might…"

Vincent turned.

"You…you kissed…HER!"

As he was facing the other way, I didn't see his expression.

Tifa darted back into the house yelling "Yuffie!"

Vincent turned back around. "At least she heard that, and not about Sephiroth."

"Man," I said laughing at the image I'd conjured up in my mind. "Lock your door at night." I stood up and started walking to the door.

"Why?"

"You might wake up with a braided head. Those two have been fighting over you since the Cliff…now they know neither won and will team up to torment you."

"Wonderful."

"I'm sorry man," I said and walked inside.

Harper's pov.

"Mmmm…" I whined into my pillow. I really am sick. "Me'be Vincent's right…I should go eat some soup or something."

With good, hot soup on my mind, I dragged myself outa bed and changed from a blue t-shirt and baggy pajama pants to a black hoodie and blue-jeans. As I opened my door though, I discovered Cloud with a hand raised and ready to knock, and a bowl of soup in the other.

He smiled and held out the soup.

"Oh my gosh! You read my mind!" I said as I snatched it and began eating.

"EY! Careful it's hot!"

"Ah dun care…I's good," I said with a full mouth.

He smiled again. "You got sick last winter too."

"Yeah…I don't know why. I've always been sick during cold times."

He walked in and sat on my bed. "Yeah, reminds me of…"

I turned, wiping some soup juice from the corner of my mouth. "Who's it remind you of?" I asked as I sat cross-legged on the floor.

His happy face had fallen. "Nothin!" He gave a big cheesy smile.

"Naw, don't do that. WHO?" I asked, placing the empty bowl in my lap.

"Well, back when I was with the Shinra…Sephiroth, in spite of all the Mako enhancements, would always get sick in the winter."

I think he looked at me, but my eyes were looking into the empty dish in my lap.

His voice low and sincere, he said, "I'm sorry Harper."

I sighed, refusing to break down again. "So, Vincent DID tell you."

"Yes. There's nothing wrong with that—we are who we are; we can't pick our parents."

"No, we can't." I coughed a few times then.

"You want s'more soup?" He asked, standing.

I also rose and answered, "No, I think I'm going to get some sleep. I've been up for…I've been up for five days straight."

His eyes widened and jaw dropped. "Five days….and four nights…."

"Uh hu," I said and crawled under my sheets.

"Whoa, you're as insane as Vincent," He mused, and turned to leave to my rest.

"Hey, Cloud?"

"Yeah?"

I popped out from under my covers and went to my dresser. Opening the middle drawer, I rummaged around for that blasted the recorder. I found it under a lump of socks. "Here," I walked over to him. He wasn't terribly taller than I ; I could almost feel his breath at this distance.

I brought the small thing level with his tummy.

He looked down and asked, "What's that?"

"It's the recording Sephiroth made. Take it, listen, but don't let anyone else hear…OK?"

"Uhm…" he had a strange look on his face. "Thanks. You want it back when I'm done?"

I sighed as he took it. "I don't care."

"But, it the only thing you have from your parents…"

"No, it not," I said flatly, "I have my looks. As I said that, I looked up at him with the same smirk that I'd given Vincent.

Cloud's face was blank.

I returned to my normal/ sick expression and crawled back into bed.

"Eh, Harper?"

"Yeah?"

"Your parents don't make you….er…you are not Sephiroth," He stated.

"I know that."

"Ok. Then I'll just…" he turned and left.

I rolled onto my side and pulled the sheets up to my chin, thinking It sounded more like he was convincing himself of that. Then, I drifted off to the sleep realm.

Note : Ok, sorry it took me so long. This chap. Might've been junk, but hey! I was pretty frantic to get one up…or written at all! So, for something written in…three days tops…in the middle of exam week….I think I did fairly well. Review PLEASE? there might be an e-cookie if you do!