Cloud was miffed—miffed!—at the two men currently dragging him toward ShinRa Tower like a particularly defiant sack of potatoes. He actually listens to Zack's impassioned pleading for their lives and they repay his generosity by kidnapping him?
Rude.
He was, admittedly, pretty exhausted. He hadn't really thought about it until Hewley had asked. Maybe he could use this as an excuse to get some sleep (he felt a little embarrassed that he'd forgotten about that) before getting back to work. It wasn't like they could actually keep him anywhere if he didn't want to stay (current situation notwithstanding, it wasn't like he was trying very hard), especially when they had no idea who he was. For Gaia's sake, they thought he was a rank-and-file SOLDIER! Giving them the slip would be child's play, and sleeping on a bed and/or couch sounded pretty nice, especially if it inconvenienced them in some way. Seemed karmic.
Counterpoint, said a voice that sounded like himself back when he thought he was Zack, Sephiroth is probably going to be there. He's friends with Hewley and Rhapsodos. The voice paused and added dubiously, I think.
Rhapsodos spoke up and pulled him out of his musing. They were a lot closer to the Tower than they had been a second ago. He must have zoned out. "Out of curiosity," said the Commander, "why did you feel the need to verbally assault us upon our first meeting? You don't seem nearly as angry as I would have expected from your initial...greeting."
Cloud blinked slowly, kicking his legs in absentminded protest as the two Firsts hauled him through the front door of the ShinRa Tower. "Never met a person who wouldn't turn right around when they thought they were being insulted," he explained. He'd needed their immediate attention for his plan to work. And it had worked, which was nice. Not many things had gone smoothly since he'd gotten here.
...actually, this probably didn't count as 'going smoothly' either, considering he was being toted about like a recalcitrant child.
Hm.
"I see," said Rhapsodos, though he didn't sound particularly enlightened.
They garnered quite a few stares as Cloud was hauled across the lobby and into an elevator, but no one seemed inclined to question anything, which Cloud thought was very rude of them. Honestly, his boots were pretty blatantly not touching the ground! Didn't anyone have a sense of justice or fairness or something?
Then again, he probably would have walked quickly in the opposite direction if he'd seen something similar during his Infantry days. He wasn't entirely sure, though. Those memories had been soupy even before his tumble into the past and they were downright incoherent now.
You weren't very confrontational, the voice that sounded like actual-Zack agreed.
Shut up, Zack, he thought.
As they stood (they stood; his feet were still a solid three inches from the ground) in the elevator, Cloud suddenly realized that this was the first time he'd stopped moving in...uh...a few days, at least. Maybe a week or two (he'd been busy trying to avert the end of the world, sue him). The sudden stillness was starting to make him sleepy.
Really sleepy. As in, oh-shit-am-I-secretly-narcoleptic type sleepy, where everything buzzes and the corners of your vision start to go dark. Clearly, forgetting to sleep had been a poor decision on his part.
Oops, he thought, a bit too late as his body made an executive decision and everything went dark.
There was no warning before the blond man suddenly slumped between them, but they both felt as his muscles went slack and his heart rate plunged. For one wild second, Genesis was convinced he had somehow managed to accidentally kill his miracle healer before he got answers. He and Angeal both stared, wide-eyed, at the limp body held suspended between them.
Then a soft snore drifted from the man's mouth, and the situation became so ridiculous that Genesis couldn't stop the slightly-hysterical giggle that bubbled up in his throat. "Infinite in mystery is the gift of the Goddess," he said, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his free hand.
Angeal muttered something about stupid teenagers ignoring their physical limitations and hauled the man up into a bridal carry. The blond didn't so much as twitch at the sudden change in elevation.
"You think he's a teenager?" Genesis asked curiously. He'd assumed early to mid twenties, though the man did look comically tiny contrasted against Angeal's broad frame.
"Most SOLDIERs are younger than us," Angeal reminded him, hefting the blond a little so that his head fell into a comfortable position against his shoulder. Fortunately, he hadn't worn his pauldrons out to lunch. "And his face is kind of...squishy, don't you think?"
Genesis peered closer, pushing wild blond bangs out of the way to get a clear view. Asleep, the man somehow managed to look even more raggedy and unkempt, but there was also an undeniable youthful softness in his face. "Huh," he said. "I see your point."
When the elevator stopped, they stepped out onto the non-emergency medical floor and approached the front desk. The nurse on duty looked from them to the blond and back. She raised an eyebrow.
Angeal cleared his throat. "We've got a SOLDIER collapsed from overexertion who needs attention."
"He's bleeding, or was recently," Genesis added helpfully.
She nodded and typed something into the computer. "What's his name?"
The two Firsts exchanged a glance. "...we don't know, actually," said Angeal.
She glanced between them, then narrowed her eyes a little, clearly used to dealing with SOLDIER bullshit. "Class?"
Angeal smiled sheepishly. Genesis just smirked and stood back, enjoying his friend's discomfort. "Ah, no idea about that either. Most likely Second."
"Is there anything you can tell me about the patient?" she asked archly.
"He said he had, and I quote, "forgotten" about sleep. He was fine until we got into the elevator, if a little loopy, but he suddenly fell unconscious." As if in agreement, the blond snored softly.
"I see," said the nurse in a flat voice. She checked something on her screen. "Well, take him to room three and I'll send a doctor in for a general assessment."
Angeal never got a chance to respond. As if a switch had been flipped, the blond startled awake and blurted out "nodoctors!" before vaulting over Angeal's shoulder like a damned gymnast. He hit the ground hard and tried to grab the buster sword harnessed to Angeal's back, but Genesis managed to snatch his wrists before he could successfully arm himself.
"Goddess, calm down!" he said, thoroughly taken aback.
"No!" said the blond, and suddenly Genesis agreed with Angeal: this was a teenager. "Let go of me!"
"Woah, hey" said Angeal, stepping out of sword-grabbing range and holding his hands up. He looked just as startled as Genesis felt. "What's wrong?"
"I save your life and you try to foist me off on scientists?" said the blond in a supremely offended tone as he wrestled with Genesis. He was so offended that he actually paused with one boot planted on Genesis's thigh, holding his weight off the ground and using the Commander's grip on his wrists as a counterbalance, just to stare accusingly at Angeal.
Genesis abruptly let go of his wrists and the blond went tumbling to the ground with a startled yelp. "Oh for heaven's sake, we are not foisting you off on scientists, you little twit," Genesis snapped, scowling down at the boy. "You are receiving medical attention for severe exhaustion. This isn't even the emergency ward! Someone as careless as you has surely been here before, you should know that we are nowhere near the science floors!"
Honestly, 'foisting him off,' did the blond think they were savages? No SOLDIER worth their salt would so much as suggest a comrade go to the science floors unless death was imminent. How terribly insulting!
The blond narrowed his eyes, getting up off the floor and backing out of easy grabbing range. "I don't remember ever coming here," he said slowly, suspicious and a little confused. "I guess I probably did at some point…"
The nurse, who'd looked vaguely entertained until this point, suddenly turned serious. "Are you having trouble with your memory, SOLDIER?" Genesis could understand her concern. Any kind of injury sufficient to induce amnesia in someone enhanced was worth worrying about.
The blond blinked at her, derailed wholly from whatever train of thought he'd been confused by, and then laughed. "Not a SOLDIER," he asserted for the second time, "but my memory's been put through a blender like...three times, plus the Lab. Ti —ah, a friend of mine always said she was surprised I remembered anything at all."
The Lab. Genesis exchanged a glance with Angeal. Well, that would certainly explain his reaction to the word 'doctor.' And his odd behavior. Potentially, it might also explain why he insisted he wasn't part of SOLDIER, though that would beg the question of why he was roaming Midgar unsupervised.
"Okay," said Angeal, apparently thinking along the same lines, "how about we go up to Genesis's apartment, then? Would you accept medical attention there?"
The blond squinted suspiciously, but he was starting to sway in place as his adrenaline rush wore off. "No doctors?" he asked, bearing an uncanny resemblance to a wary five-year-old.
Angeal's lips twitched a little, and Genesis felt reassured that his friend found the situation just as absurd as he did. "No doctors," Angeal solemnly promised their mysterious assailant, somehow managing to keep a straight face.
The blond (goddess, how had they still not gotten his name?) searched his face, then Genesis's, before nodding slowly. "'Kay," he agreed, and promptly buckled to the floor.
It took every bit of Genesis's enhanced speed to keep the kid from cracking his skull open on the tile. He blew out a startled breath, feeling the SOLDIER heat of the blond's skin seep through his glove. "Well," he drawled, glancing over his shoulder at Angeal. "I stand corrected. He is certainly a teenager." He pulled the blond over his shoulders into a fireman's carry, unconcerned with his comfort. He was unconscious, it wasn't like he would care that Genesis's pauldrons were digging into his torso.
Angeal rolled his eyes and headed for the stairwell. "I'll get my first-aid kit and meet you at your apartment," he said.
Genesis hummed in agreement and stood. With any luck, the strange boy would be more inclined to cooperate once he was well-rested and out of sight of any medical professionals. And if he wasn't...well, Genesis would figure something out.
