Onee: be prepared for the next worst cliff hanger..
Chapter Ten
Mako blue eyes opened slowly. Where was he?.. Vincent.. Vincent had picked him up..
He felt his stomach, wincing slightly, and noticed the bandages.
'I'm.. back here..' he sighed.
Cloud thought about what had happened just before he'd blacked out. He'd received a call and then he'd been overtaken by the red of Vincent's cape.. But before that..
'I killed your parents too.'
Cloud grimaced and laid against the pillow, sinking in it. Sephiroth said it.. He admitted to it. Sephiroth had killed his parents.. And then the bastard came to live with the son of the people he killed. Did he get some kind of sick pleasure watching Cloud mourn?
Maybe..
Maybe that's why he moved them.. Cloud wasn't mourning anymore. Kadaj came into his life and he stopped mourning all the time. Sephiroth didn't like it and..
Cloud sat up, ignoring the pain, and seemed overcome by his epiphany.
Sephiroth moved away with Kadaj because Cloud wasn't sad anymore. And then Kadaj had his memories erased so that Kadaj couldn't even think of Cloud. Everything was his fault. The war that Sephiroth started, Kadaj being hurt, countless people's deaths, all of it. All because Cloud met Kadaj.
"It's all.. my fault?" he covered his face in his hands, trying to sort out his thoughts.
"No." came the simple reply. Bluntly and stupidly, he had received an answer to his question. Cloud raised his head to stare at Vincent.
Vincent leaned on the doorway, looking back at him. He looked out the window to the rising sun and then back to Cloud.
"How are you feeling?"
"Shit." Cloud responded, refusing to lay back down. He didn't feel much pain from his wounds anymore, but he felt like brooding right now.. and never stopping..
"Don't start old habits, Cloud." Vincent warned. "We'll need you in this next and final battle."
"Right.. How long was I sleeping?" Cloud asked, running a hand through his hair and trying to forget it all.
"Two days. You've healed fast, that's for sure. Normal people would be dead from that." Vincent shifted and then walked to the window, looking down at the ground instead of up at the sky.
"Well, I've never been quite normal." Cloud pointed out.
"Yes..of course not. You're different." Vincent looked over at Cloud. "Listen."
A low roar of an engine could be heard. What had Vincent been staring at out the window?
Moments later found Cloud wincing only slightly as he walked down the stairs, Vincent close behind. Tifa beamed at him and almost ran over when Vincent looked at her and she backed off.
Cloud opened the front door and walked out, blocking the sun from his eyes. Did it matter that he was going into public without a shirt on, and bandages all over? His biggest concern was the engine he heard. His second worrywas if his wounds reopened on his journey to find out his first concern.
He closed his eyes to get used to the light, leaning slightly to the side. Before he could open his eyes, something attacked him. Arms held him around the waist and Cloud let out a long hiss. The pain subsided and he opened his eyes, looking at who had latched onto him.
"Kadaj?" he gasped. Kadaj shook.
"You're okay.." Kadaj murmured into his chest. "You're okay.."
"I'm okay.." Cloud closed his eyes.
"I was afraid Sephiroth had killed you...and I would've come sooner but.." Kadaj backed away, wiped his eyes, and smiled. "I had to finish my present for you."
Kadaj led Cloud over to his gift. He pulled the covering off the machine that sat next to his own. Cloud's eyes widened. He couldn't believe it. His hands trailed over the handle bars and gears, the compartments, the seat, the logo, all of it.
"Fenrir.." Cloud breathed out.
"I had Cid fix it for you." Kadaj smiled, happy that Cloud enjoyed his gift. "It wont make up for all I've done to you, but.. I know you love that bike.."
This time, Cloud embraced Kadaj.
"Thank you.."
– –
Tifa sat at a table by the window. She looked out to see Kadaj running his hands over Cloud's bandages and Cloud smiled at how worried Kadaj seemed. He seemed to find his wounds to be minor but Kadaj couldn't calm down.
"He's okay again." she said.
"Ya. But when that kid told me the bike was for Strife, I thought he meant that kid's father. I was shocked. I knew him to be dead and I didn't think his child survived either." Cid grumbled. "I fixed it without any complaints afterward."
"How unlike you." Tifa joked and smiled.
"Ya.."
"Cloud's different. He should have died with his parents." Vincent spoke up from the corner.
"..No one else would've survived.." Tifa frowned, looking at the table.
"Ok. I'm lost. Someone mind explaining?" Cid asked, reclining in the chair slightly.
Vincent looked at Tifa but she didn't want to talk. She probably didn't know the whole story herself, anyway.
"Cloud's parents were killed by Kadaj's father, Sephiroth. You know that."
"That boy is the son of Sephiroth?" Cid looked out at Kadaj and Cloud. They weren't talking anymore. They were just looking at each other. Cid turned back to Vincent. "Does Cloud know that?"
"Of course." Vincent shrugged. "And he recently found out that Sephiroth killed his parents. But that doesn't matter to him."
"Cloud's parents were killed before his very eyes. Sephiroth found out that they knew he was going to try to start a war. That he planned to rule the world, and so he came and murdered them." Tifa spoke.
"Yes. And he saw Cloud, cowering in the corner and crying. When he turned his eyes on Cloud, all he could do was scream. Sephiroth approached him, prepared to kill the witness. Of course, Cloud was too young to remember who it was or what he looked like. Cloud just remembered that Sephiroth had come to kill him and in the middle of doing so.. left."
"How do you know all this?" Cid asked, skeptical.
"Cloud relived every moment of his nightmare with me just after he got here. He said he wanted to get it off his chest." Vincent answered.
"Sometimes I forget you're older than him.." Cid muttered.
They didn't speak for a minute.
"He's lucky to be alive." Tifa spoke. "But Sephiroth scarred him with images and left him to mourn. I've known other orphans who would've rather died that keep living like Cloud."
"Cloud's stronger than them. And besides.. He's not alone.." Vincent smiled slightly as he looked out the window. The other two didn't look out so they didn't see what Vincent saw.
Cloud and Kadaj were standing in the middle of this vacant sector of the city.. kissing.
No. Nothing would change Cloud's heart. They were both special and they both loved each other. Maybe their was hope after all.
– –
"Where is Kadaj?" Sephiroth asked. Yazoo was bowing before him.
"I don't know, sir." Yazoo kept his head bowed. If Sephiroth looked at his eyes, he'd surely know he was lying.
"Prepare for battle. Kadaj will join us shortly. We move out tomorrow." Sephiroth spoke. This was an unforseen circumstance. Kadaj refused to fight, and then he leaves.
Yazoo turned around to leave and began to walk from the room. Somehow, he'd always gotten mad at Kadaj for not caring about this family. But when Yazoo thought about it right now.. This family was broken. He'd only started acting like a real brother a few days ago when he started helping Cloud.
"Yazoo. What are you hiding?" Sephiroth asked. Yazoo stopped, just before the door. He sighed and turned around. Kadaj didn't care for family, but Yazoo did. He knew Sephiroth would discover his treachery sooner or later and he suddenly understood Kadaj's strength. His strength..
"Sephiroth. Family means more to me than your new dominion. Your new era means nothing to me." Yazoo spoke. Sephiroth grasped his sword. "I've released the prisoner and I sent Kadaj to where he belongs. Where there is someone who actually cares for him." Yazoo said all this, bowing his head and unsure of the outcome.
"Yazoo..a traitor?" Sephiroth murmured. "It's a pity... and you showed such promise.."
Yazoo stood silent as Sephiroth dashed toward him, ready to kill.
Onee: people have told me that Yazoo's confession was rushed, but I don't know how to change it at this point so I'm leaving it as such. ty. bye!