It was kind of important to escape before they took him away to be executed, but Cloud couldn't get them to tell him when that would be. Freyra came in like a whirlwind for breakfast the first day, and explained she would be absent for a couple days, and to eat, and not kill anyone while she was gone. The rest of his meals were delivered by Turks that Cloud regarded as the more usual kind; they said practically nothing, and what they did say was ambiguous.
Cloud was considering attempting a break-out when Freyra returned, bringing dinner with her. "Hello Cloud," She said, smiling brightly at him.
If it was strange to have a Turk smile at him before, it made absolutely no sense now. "When am I going to be executed?" He asked, yet again. If anyone was going to tell him, it would be Freyra.
"What? You're not- hasn't-anyone-" She broke off with a growl. Freyra scooted her chair forward a bit and leaned closer to Cloud. He scooted back, and leaned away. She sighed.
"You. Are. Not. Going. To. Be. Executed." She said clearly, emphasizing each word. "We know about AVALANCHE, Cloud."
What did that have to do with anything? Of course Shinra knew about AVALANCHE, they regularly bombed the company, after all. If they thought he was a member, why…Cloud was confused, and it must have shown on his face. Because Freyra sighed again, then took a deep breath and explained.
"If you were an adult, and did this of your own volition, it would be different, kid. We figured out about them threatening your mom, though, and honestly, that's a pretty tough position to be in, huh?" She said, giving him a consoling smile.
Cloud had...no idea what she was talking about.
"Going forward though, you absolutely have to tell us if they contact you again. This is non-negotiable, Cloud. You don't cooperate with them anymore, no matter what they say. You tell me, or Tseng, or Genesis if they do, alright?" When Cloud just stared at her, she continued, "I'm going to go check on your mom myself, and make sure AVALANCHE hasn't done anything nasty to her.
"This is important, Cloud, you need to repeat back to me what I said, so I know you understand." Freyra insisted.
"If AVALANCHE contacts me, I'm supposed to tell the Turks or Genesis, and not do anything for them." Cloud replied, bewildered.
Freyra nodded and sighed in relief, "Yes. Do not do anything AVALANCHE asks you to." She reiterated. "I'll be gone for a couple days again. You're going back to your room on floor sixty-three. There will be some rules and instructions which you will follow. Do what Genesis tells you, huh?"
Cloud nodded, completely disconcerted. What had he said in that interview?
ooOOOoo
"In the event your memory fails you, here is something to prompt it." Genesis said deliberately, handing Cloud a laminated piece of paper. It had the "new rules" listed on it in bulletin format. Contact with AVALANCHE was strictly forbidden. The top five rules also included "not making, planting or detonating bombs", and "not attempting to kill anyone, especially Sephiroth". Strangely enough, eating regularly was number four, just above "don't enter the air vents".
"SOLDIER is going to be rather chaotic for a couple of weeks, until we get used to the new schedule. So other than going to the cafeteria, or training room two if you like, please stay in your room. After things calm down, we'll arrange something else. Stay out of the air vents. When the other Firsts and I have a little more time, I want to see," Here Genesis motioned to the camera in the hallway outside Cloud's room, "That you have followed all the rules listed."
Cloud nodded in acknowledgment. He was beginning to be slightly creeped out by the lack of serious consequences. He had tried to blow up Sephiroth, and no one seemed to care.
"What happens if Hojo comes in the night to take me away and-" Cloud didn't get to finish.
"No one is going to experiment on you. If anyone, including Professor Hojo, approaches you for such a thing, the Turks will deal with them." Genesis had that odd tone in his voice again, but Cloud simply couldn't interpret it. The SOLDIER also seemed to be waiting for some kind of response, but Cloud didn't know what Genesis wanted him to do or say.
"Shinra's weird." Cloud finally settled on.
"You're weird." Genesis responded, without heat.
ooOOOoo
The next week passed by slowly, the quiet of his room a marked contrast to the rest of floor sixty-three. It wasn't quite like before, all the men weren't there at one time; they seemed to be continually coming and going. Cloud listened in to a few conversations, but didn't socialize much, himself. Luxiere would sometimes be in the cafeteria the same time as Cloud, and would always come over to say hello, and occasionally eat with him. Cloud hadn't really "made friends" with anyone else. Two of the sections were familiar, he did train with them for…awhile. How long had he been here now?
Cloud had some money left from his long trek, and had sold a mastered materia on his trip outside Shinra Tower, so he sent that with Freyra to give his mother. He had wanted to get some gil to his mom for the Spring delivery to Nibelheim, and this way he wouldn't have to rely on the mail. So, keeping track of time wasn't really an issue until Autumn, now.
Except for the Sephiroth problem. The more time passed...the less time Cloud had to stop him. Cloud hadn't hit his growth spurt yet; that is, he was pretty sure he'd grown two inches, then stopped. That hardly counted, and he was still a long way from being able to win a sword fight with Sephiroth. However, Zack wasn't here yet, so Cloud thought there should be enough time to try again. He just hadn't come up with a method, yet.
He also wasn't sure how the man survived the bomb. Cloud hesitated to bring it up, even with Luxiere. At first, Cloud thought that somehow it had been hushed up and no one officially knew he had done it. Then he connected the dots between the bomb, Freyra's bizarre conversation, Genesis' rules, and the SOLDIER's behavior around him. The first few times Cloud went to the cafeteria, a significant number of the men had assured him, that if anyone threatened him or anyone he cared about, he could tell them, and they'd go beat them up. There were variations on that, such as "destroying all they held dear", and "slice them to ribbons with my katana", but they all boiled down to the same thing.
So the SOLDIERs knew Cloud had tried to kill Sephiroth, but attributed his motive to...something else. It made talking about it kind of awkward, and Cloud had made enough mistakes with his two plans, there was plenty to keep him busy thinking, even without knowing exactly what happened. Luxiere would probably let the details slip before too long, anyway.
One of the main problems, was Cloud just couldn't plan a viable escape to save his life. Literally. His luck had surely run out with this last stunt, and he wouldn't get away with another failure, so now it was time to change course.
He'd do something that couldn't possibly be tied back to him. They let Cloud off easy this time, thinking he ran afoul of AVALANCHE; next time they wouldn't even suspect him. He just had to come up with a plan.
ooOOOoo
When Freyra came back, she started joining him for lunch again. Conversations with her became increasingly strange.
"Your mom was alive and unharmed by AVALANCHE."
"Good." Cloud said. He hadn't expected otherwise; Sephiroth hadn't gone with Freyra, Cloud had been sure to ask before she left.
"That's it?" Freyra asked after a minute, disbelief coloring her tone.
What else was Cloud supposed to say? Freyra continued to stare, so he asked, "Was that enough gil to get her through til Autumn delivery?"
"Yeah, kid, that was plenty." She replied, then proceeded to look at him sadly for the rest of the meal. She didn't even fill in the silence with her usual chatter.
Not long after that, Freyra started talking about Mideel at lunchtime. Cloud didn't remember what it was like before it blew up, so that was actually pretty interesting. Then she started talking about the different kinds of clinics that were there. He...tolerated that, okay. It was considered an excellent place for healing all kinds of illnesses. The Lifestream was very close to the surface, it had a great many natural hot springs, and the weather was temperate and sunny for most of the year. It sounded idyllic. Cloud couldn't figure out why she was telling him all this, when he realized, a couple days ago Freyra had slipped up, and mentioned it was her hometown.
Well, that explained it. She had just been to Cloud's hometown, and she couldn't help missing her own. He didn't remember enough good things to miss his, but from the way Freyra described Mideel, she must be homesick. Still, Cloud was pretty sure Turks weren't supposed to tell people where they were from. It was some kind of security breach, right?
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone you're from Mideel." He assured her.
He had received a completely bewildered look in reply. Cloud sometimes considered giving up talking entirely. He was really bad at conversations.
ooOOOoo
Then one day, the reckoning came. Apparently, everyone else ignored his trying to kill Sephiroth, because it was Genesis' job to mete out punishment.
"The clamor and chaotic change is accomplished." Genesis announced to Cloud.
Cloud stared at him. From previous experience, he knew that eventually, the man would get tired of waiting, and explain what in Gaiahe was talking about.
"SOLDIER is, for the foreseeable future, in charge of security shifts here in the Tower. As well as the occasional patrol around Midgar or the wastes. We will reconvene training, in these hours and rooms." Genesis said, handing Cloud a schedule, and indicating certain highlighted parts, "You may join in these particular sessions, provided Angeal or I are present at the time. The same rules about sparring as at first."
"Okay." Cloud nodded.
"Our office has been repaired, and there is a veritable mountain of paperwork piled up on my desk, so you are going to come and help."
Cloud was familiar enough with the building he could deliver the papers anywhere, but, "I'm not supposed to leave the floor, I won't be able to deliver your papers."
Genesis made a 'hmm' noise in the back of his throat. "You're not going to be delivering papers." He started walking towards the Firsts' office, and when they got to the door, he motioned for Cloud to enter. "After you." Genesis said.
Cloud raised an eyebrow in question, but Genesis only arched one of his own in response, so Cloud stepped inside. Well, that answered that question. The Firsts did use it at the same time. All three of them. Hewley was standing up, leaning against his desk; sitting behind his own, was Sephiroth. Cloud turned around to bolt for the hallway, which resulted in near-crashing into Genesis, who was standing directly behind him. Rhapsodos grasped Cloud's shoulders firmly, spun him around and walked forward with him until they were about in the middle of the room.
"I don't believe you two have been properly introduced, ere now. Sephiroth, this is Cloud Strife. Cloud, this is my good friend Sephiroth."
The room was very still. Then Sephiroth said quietly, "Hello, Cloud Strife."
"Well," Genesis said after it became clear Cloud wouldn't respond, "Now that you've been introduced, how about some pleasantries. Sephiroth, the roads into the wastes have been dreadful lately, does this make you feel like destroying the world?"
"They have been dreadful, but I haven't felt like destroying the world at all today." Sephiroth replied, still very quiet.
"Cloud, I think the weather today is terrible for trying to kill Sephiroth. Don't you agree?"
Genesis pulled off innocent and charming far better than Cloud had ever managed. If this wasn't such an impossibly fake situation, that is. Genesis squeezed Cloud's shoulders a little.
"Cloud. Do you agree?" Genesis asked.
Cloud eventually nodded his head, jerkily.
"Excellent!" Genesis sounded delighted. "So now the introductions and pleasantries are over, let's settle down to work." He steered Cloud towards his desk and offered him the extra chair near Genesis' own. After they were both seated, the man pushed a large stack of papers towards Cloud. "Sort these into separate piles for those categories." He said, tapping the labels on several trays.
That was it. After a minute, Angeal walked around to his chair and sat down as well. He typed something on the computer for most of the evening, occasionally stopping to check some papers at his right hand.
Genesis scribbled away at this and that, and slipped folders into the labeled trays. He made little frustrated noises at the paperwork from time to time, followed by more scribbling.
Cloud spent the evening gripping the armrests of the chair he was sitting in, controlling his breathing, and not looking directly at Sephiroth. Cloud kept his head turned so he could see out of the corner of his eye where the man was at all times, but paid him no more attention that that. His hands hurt after awhile, but that was good. When they started to feel wrong, Cloud shifted, and gripped the armrests tighter. He never lost track of where he was, just had a little double-vision going at times. As long as Cloud could see that Sephiroth was at that desk, he was able to dismiss the other images as past, not present.
Genesis made no comments or complaints about Cloud not helping with even one paper. After a stretch of time Cloud had no way of gauging, Genesis turned to look at him and said softly, "You can go now, Cloud."
Cloud did not run from the room. He did have some dignity, and running was not something he was going to do after managing to stay for…this long. He also wasn't completely convinced he wouldn't fall flat on his face if he tried. He walked as quickly out of that office as he trusted his legs to carry him, went straight to his room, and locked the door.
ooOOOoo
The next stretch of time was a blur. Cloud knew it had been at least several weeks, because he started keeping track of how often Rhapsodos hauled him to that abominable office. It was about twice a week, and the days in-between weren't quite enough time to recover. His episodes got severe enough, that Cloud found himself asking Angeal about Zack out loud. Cloud may have mentioned Zack to a few of the other SOLDIERs as well, before he caught himself, and stopped sparring with Hewley's section. It really wasn't safe to have a friendly fight when Cloud was this muddled.
Then, slowly, it got better. It felt like something shifted in his head, and the episodes became milder again, then stopped altogether. Cloud would sit by Rhapsodos' desk, without double vision, stay firmly rooted in the present, and stopped impressing grip marks on the armrests of the chair. The Firsts began to talk amongst themselves after that, quietly and a little subdued, but there were conversations. Once in awhile Hewley or Rhapsodos would address a question or comment to Cloud, and sometimes he would reply to Hewley. Sephiroth had the good sense to never say anything to Cloud. Except for the apparently mandatory "pleasantries" Rhapsodos insisted on every time Cloud entered the office. Cloud wasn't sure what the man thought would be accomplished by that, but didn't ask, because he wasn't speaking to Rhapsodos.
That man hadn't showed up to haul Cloud to a meeting this week, he realized. At first, he thought they had caught up on the paperwork, and weren't spending much time in their office. Then, floor sixty-three got a little...odd. The SOLDIERs were tense and unhappy, and less of them hung around the training rooms in their spare time. Then one of them collapsed in the cafeteria, and no one was surprised. Two of the SOLDIERS helped the fallen one up, and spoke calmly about getting him to the infirmary with "the others". Cloud's best source of information would be Luxiere, except, he hadn't seen him for awhile. The Turks won't like this, Cloud thought, but decided being upfront was the best way to do it. He chose a terminal in plain view of a camera, and proceeded to search the records for where the talkative SOLDIER had gotten to. Luxiere had been in the infirmary until yesterday, and was then released, bed rest recommended. A little more clicking and typing, and Cloud had the room number. On floor sixty-three of course, so no need to argue with anyone about leaving.
"Come in," came Luxiere's voice after Cloud knocked. "Cloud? Hey, kid." Luxiere attempted to smile at him, but it came out more of a grimace.
Cloud pulled a chair away from the wall, sat down, and peered at Luxiere. He was propped up against the headboard of his bed, slumping down amidst more pillows than Cloud had ever owned in his life. The SOLDIER's face had a nasty gray cast, and if the dark circles under his eyes were any indication, sleeping either wasn't helping, or he wasn't getting enough of it. There were small blue-black contusions here and there on his arms and neck. Luxiere looked a lot like the worse-off Stigma victims Cloud had seen.
"Are you going to die?" Cloud asked, worried. Geostigma had been terminal, and if this was similar…
Luxiere barked a hoarse laugh. Why was that man always laughing at him? He pushed himself up on the pillows a bit, and shook his head. "I look that bad, eh? Hey, don't scrunch your face up like that, I'll be fine. I'm just gonna to feel awful for awhile."
"You feel up to talking?" Cloud asked, still eyeing the pallor of the man's face. "I can come back when you're feeling better." Cloud really wanted to know what was going on, but he could find out some other way if Luxiere was too sick to handle visitors.
"No way, I was stuck in the infirmary for days, and everyone's super busy or sick there, it was boring." Luxiere brightened; it didn't do good things to his grayish complexion. "The only thing I'm dying for is someone to talk to." He gave a raspy chuckle at his poorly phrased joke.
Cloud told himself not to regret this. It was a two-fold thing; he got information, and a sick man got some company. Long, long after anyone else that ill would have sent Cloud away, Luxiere kept talking.
Apparently, security in Shinra Tower had been ramped up in response to AVALANCHE's threats and bombings. So the Turks started keeping a better eye on communications within the building, in case the terrorists had someone on the inside. You know, someone willing, not poor Cloud. Poor Cloud? What had he saidin that interview?
The Turks screened all the Departments' messages, discreetly of course, and found evidence that several people were sabotaging SOLDIER. Not a known member of AVALANCHE, not some disgruntled employee, not one of the anti-war activists slipping into a janitorial role to cause trouble, (that was...oddly specific) but the Director of Science himself, and a number of his subordinates and colleagues. What?
Professor Hojo was currently being detained by the Turks in regards to the SOLDIER treatments. The not-so-good-doctor had been giving the men injections with unnecessary and harmful substances that would result in...well they weren't sure yet, but in light of the looming war with Wutai, meddling with SOLDIER was a bit like declaring yourself on the other side. It also had the potential to cost the company a lot of gil, as the process to make a SOLDIER had been prohibitively expensive, and Hojo was putting the "completed version" at risk to experiment for as of yet, unknown reasons. Of course it would come down to money.
"That doesn't explain why you're sick." Cloud finally interrupted the long-winded torrent of information.
"They stopped the injections we were getting, and some of us got really sick, like, withdrawal or something, so they tried flushing it out with something, but that made them really sick, and now it's just kind of, whoever gets sick next, goes to the infirmary, y'know?"
No, Cloud did not know, and Luxiere was definitely sleep-deprived, if he thought that was a good explanation. "Everyone isn't sick, though." Cloud finally settled on.
"Some of us got sick right away, and they're starting to get better already, some were later. If I'm like most of us, I'll be on my feet in a few days. Won't be able to fight for awhile." Luxiere grumbled.
"Everyone gets better? No one has died, right?" Cloud still thought Luxiere looked like he had Stigma.
"You are one morbid kid, you know? Yes, we're all getting better. Couple of the first to get sick are still in the infirmary, but they're getting better. Just slower than the others. Commanders Hewley and Rhapsodos haven't gotten sick at all, neither have a couple others. Maybe they won't." Luxiere shrugged.
"So, how 'bout we talk about something else now? I don't think I've told you this one. When my section was out, south of Costa Del Sol near the desert, we saw this bird; I guess I should mention I had lost a bet, and after that we saw this bird, so-"
Cloud wandered back to his room, and let himself get lost in thought. Before, to his knowledge, Hojo had never gotten into any kind of trouble for the horrific experiments he'd done. Still, they were only 'detaining' him, maybe he'd get off. In the end, Cloud supposed it didn't have much affect on him. He still needed to kill Sephiroth, and hadn't figured out how, yet. Although...Hojo's sabotage would make the Turks suspicious. They would double-check and triple-check all the Departments. If one Department was trying to mess up Shinra's precious SOLDIER program, would it be such a stretch to believe more were, as well? Cloud sat by his window long into the night, thinking subversive thoughts.
ooOOOoo
Little by little, the SOLDIERs became fit for duty again, and life on floor sixty-three returned to normal. Cloud even went back to training with Hewley's section. Then, Rhapsodos approached him, one of his SOLDIERs trailing behind. "Cloud." Rhapsodos greeted him with a smile.
Cloud looked at the man, and said nothing.
Rhapsodos sighed, and said, "We're going to the VR room," He saw the expression on Cloud's face and continued, "Just the three of us." He motioned with his hand, indicating the other SOLDIER present.
Cloud followed, and Rhapsodos switched on the energy shield for the inner walls, then turned to Cloud expectantly. "I'll make you a deal. If you help me master this one," Here Rhapsodos held up a Barrier materia, "You can have the offshoot, when it forms."
The man was smiling at him, no doubt intending to come off as charming. Cloud knew it was fake, though. As ridiculous as exchanging pleasantries with Sephiroth. Cloud glowered at Rhapsodos.
"It's newly formed itself, so it will take some time to master, but the more spells you hit me with, the sooner you'd have it." He spun it around, then slotted it into a wristcuff, and raised an eyebrow in query. "Well?"
The man was completely shameless. "Bribery." Cloud said flatly, the first thing he'd spoken to Rhapsodos for...quite some time.
The SOLDIER tilted his head to the side, his red hair shifting to hide half his face. He assumed a beguiling expression. "Is it working?"
Cloud considered. "Materia only, no holding back?"
"If you like." He replied, agreeably.
The man really had no idea. Cloud smiled. He rolled up his sleeve, and removed Revive from his armband. He turned to the SOLDIER 2nd standing nearby. "You ever use life before?" Cloud asked, still smiling.
"Once," he responded, eyeing Cloud nervously.
"You should probably wait on the other side of the door, and stand by to practice it." Cloud said, his smile turning to a sharp grin as he turned back to Rhapsodos. This was going to be fun.
ooOOOoo
Cloud needed to move around Shinra Tower again, without Turks getting suspicious. This would take some time, he thought, still disgusted with his previous failure. Still, if Cloud's job was to be in all sorts of places through the building, then there would eventually be less scrutiny given to his whereabouts. So, back to running errands for the secretaries; first though, to get off floor sixty-three.
It wasn't too hard to convince Genesis that having Cloud deliver all those papers where they belonged would significantly decrease the Firsts' workload. Part of the backlog was simply not having time to get everything to the right people – they didn't have a secretary themselves. Not an oversight, per se. Apparently, the Firsts hadn't liked any of the applicants, and there hadn't been time to try again, with the recent upheaval. With an exasperated promise of Sephiroth not being in there right now, Genesis and Cloud headed for the office.
"-So the first tray is supposed to go to Aeghel, but it will have to be revised by Livea first; she's office six on-"
"Floor twelve." Cloud finished for him, as they walked through the door. They both came to an abrupt halt. He wasn't supposed to be here. Cloud looked at Genesis in betrayal, but the man looked more surprised than Cloud felt.
"What are you doing here, exactly?" Genesis demanded, crossing his arms and frowning at Sephiroth.
He'd never heard Genesis use that tone with Sephiroth. Cloud turned back, and...oh. Sephiroth looked terrible. His face was the same color as his hair, which was not its usual shining silver, but a dull, matte gray. He was wrapped up in warm, concealing clothing, but his face was showing, of course, and there was a blue-black mark stretching across his cheekbone on one side.
"If I can sit up in bed and read, I can certainly sit in a chair for a few hours and fill out paperwork." Sephiroth said in reply, his voice raw.
"The question is, are you supposed to be sitting up at all yet?" Genesis retorted. He marched jerkily over to his own desk and snatched up a large stack of files. "Here, Cloud. All the ones I mentioned, besides a handful for Requisitions on floor-"
"Nineteen, office seven. Everyone else is better now, did he get sick last?" Cloud addressed the question to Genesis, but looked directly at Sephiroth.
"I became sick first." Sephiroth said to Cloud, his mouth twisting bitterly. "Professor Hojo was especially fond of injecting me with 'unknown substances'."
"Cloud," Genesis said, his tone urgent. "Today is a terrible one for trying to kill Sephiroth. You have entirely too many files to deliver. Don't you agree?"
Cloud ignored Genesis, and said vehemently, "Hojo is a twisted, sadistic, psychopath who deserves to be tormented by Rubicante in Pandemonium forever."
Sephiroth blinked, then sharply nodded. Cloud nodded sharply in return, and quickly walked out of the office. He was within earshot for a few moments after he left.
"Well, I'm so glad you and Cloud found something to agree on. I'm sure you'll agree with me, when I say you should rest, and if you don't, I'll get Angeal to-"
That sounded like the beginning of an interesting threat, and if it was someone else, Cloud may have lingered. But he had come perilously close to being in accord with Sephiroth, and that was...Cloud shook his head, and punched a few buttons on the elevator keypad. He was getting off this floor.