"Cloud," Mrs. Strife said, bursting into tears. She snatched Cloud into her embrace and brought him inside, almost forgetting about Sephiroth. She waved a hand to invite him in.
Sephiroth came in and closed the door behind him. He didn't say anything, allowing Cloud and his mother to have their moment.
Cloud buried his face into his mother's chest, breaking out into sobs. Mrs. Strife was more silent, but tears continuously ran down her cheeks and she took shaky breaths.
"My boy," Mrs. Strife said, running her hand through Cloud's downy hair. "My beautiful baby boy. Did they hurt you?"
"No." Cloud shook his head. "Mama..."
"Shh," Mrs. Strife soothed. "I'm here. I'm right here."
"Come back, mama," Cloud pleaded. "Come back with us."
"I-I'm so sorry." Mrs. Strife pulled Cloud even closer. "I want to, but I can't."
"Why not?" Cloud's sobs grew in volume. "Please come back, mama! Please!"
Mrs. Strife pulled away from Cloud to look him in the eyes. "I'm sorry, Cloud, but I had to do this. When you were only a little baby, I took you to the mountain because that year, the winter was bad and there was no food. I took you there to keep you safe, and I'm not allowed to bring you back home here with me. Please understand, Cloud." Mrs. Strife sniffed. "I never wanted to leave you, never ever."
Cloud didn't understand. He didn't care if there was no food that winter. He wanted his mother to come back, and he was getting angry the more he listened to her apologize and say that she couldn't.
"You can come back! You just don't want to!" Cloud accused. He yanked himself away from his mother and scurried back to Sephiroth's side.
"Cloud, no- I-," Mrs. Strife stammered. "Never. I would never even dream of leaving you!" She was hurt by Cloud's claim almost as much as she had been hurt by the separation.
"If you're looking for somebody to blame, Cloud, that would be my own mother," Sephiroth murmured quietly, a hint of guilt crossing his features. He blinked. "She had told your mother that if you came to live with us, she would help her with food and keep you safe."
"But I want mama back!" Cloud wailed. "I don't want her to go!"
Sephiroth lowered himself to Cloud's level and shook his head. "She can't come back. But we can visit her every once in a while."
Cloud and Mrs. Strife brightened up a little at that. However, Cloud would much rather have his mother with him, back where she should be.
Before the boy could say anything, Mrs. Strife asked, "How often?"
"Twice a month was the most often I could negotiate,"Sephiroth said regretfully.
"Oh, dear," Mrs. Strife said, "it's not your fault." She gave him a grateful look. "You tried, and that's what I'm thankful for." She approached Sephiroth, arms outstretched for a small, quick hug.
The silver-haired man tensed, unused to contact from anybody other than his family and Cloud. He didn't hug back and awkwardly waited until Mrs. Strife stopped.
"I'm sorry," Mrs. Strife said, having felt Sephiroth's stiffness.
Sephiroth brushed off the apology. He looked around at Mrs. Strife's home for the first time, taking in the tiny space and lack of walls. He supposed that there wasn't that much of a need for privacy when only she and her partner had lived together, but it still stuck him as strange. It was like she lived in one single room.
Mrs. Strife offered some dinner, which Sephiroth accepted. Jenova hadn't said anything about how long he could take Cloud out to see his mother which Sephiroth took advantage of. For the boy's sake, he'd take all the time out of the day so Cloud could be happy.
The rest of the visitation went by peacefully with Cloud slowly letting go of his previous anger and simply enjoying the limited time he had with his mother, not taking the moments for granted like he had before. He explored his 'real' home, and Mrs. Strife was all too eager to give him a tour.
Eventually, Sephiroth could procrastinate no longer. He lifted Cloud with one arm, telling him to say his goodbyes and promising that he would bring the boy back in another two weeks.
Cloud didn't want to leave. He wanted to stay with his mother, or, better yet, bring her back with them. He knew that Sephiroth would keep his promises like he always did, but...
"We can come back in another two weeks. That's fourteen days. Do you think you can wait that long?"
Cloud shook his head at Sephiroth's question.
"It won't be too long," Sephiroth said. "We'll be back before you know it."
Mrs. Strife wrung her hands worriedly. "I'll...I'll see you soon, Cloud." She didn't want her boy to leave. It took every ounce of her strength to listen to that voice in her head telling her that something horrible would happen if she tried to keep him.
Reluctantly, Cloud said, "Bye, mama... See you soon." He didn't bother to keep from crying.
Quickly, Mrs. Strife put a hand on Sephiroth's retreating shoulder.
"You'll take care of him for me, won't you?" she said with watery eyes.
Sephiroth gave a short incline of the head. "I won't let anything happen to him."
Unwillingly and with trepidation, Mrs. Strife let Sephiroth go through the open door, clutching at her breast when seeing Cloud's teary eyes looking back at her over Sephiroth's shoulder.
"We'll see mama again, right?" Cloud asked for the umpteenth time as Sephiroth walked through the pitch black darkness to get home.
"We will," Sephiroth promised. "And if you wake up and get ready early enough, we can be there longer."
Cloud relaxed more, leaning forward onto Sephiroth's head and letting the rocking of the man's shoulders hypnotize him. He began to shiver the higher up the mountain they scaled, and he couldn't keep still once they were at the door.
Sephiroth had noticed Cloud's shivering right when it first started, and he tried to go as quickly as he could without triggering Cloud's motion sickness, but he could tell that it wasn't fast enough. Cloud's lips were blue and he was unnaturally pale.
Acting fast, Sephiroth carried Cloud up to his room, taking the boy's clothes off and wrapping a blanket around him. Cloud followed him as he went into the bathroom to run the hot water.
Sephiroth removed the blanket and put Cloud into the tub when he was satisfied with the temperature, lightly splashing water over him. He gave Cloud a cup to scoop water with and left, leaving the door open a crack.
"Where you going?" Cloud asked nervously. He slowly got up and lifted a leg over the tub to get out. He instinctively slumped when Sephiroth brought him back to bathtub, shivering when the warm water coated his cold body again.
"I'm not going anywhere," Sephiroth reassured. He left the bathroom again, this time leaving the door open wider so Cloud could see him sitting on the floor with his back to the doorway, scribbling on a piece of paper.
"What about soap?" He couldn't take a real bath without soap.
"Don't worry about soap. Just wet yourself some more until you're warm again."
Cloud poured some water on his head, enjoying the feeling of chasing the cold away. Occasionally, he bent over to check if Sephiroth was where he was supposed to be.
The silver-haired man never moved from his spot, still scribbling on the paper. Cloud changed position so the water came up to this ears, and he blew bubbles, giggling. He kept playing around in the water, temporarily forgetting about Sephiroth. He looked up when he heard a creak, surprised to see Sephiroth standing over him with a towel.
Sheepishly, Cloud climbed out and let Sephiroth dry him up, putting his clothes on by himself when Sephiroth handed them to him. Sephiroth allowed him to pull the plug in the tub to drain the bath water.
"What's that?" Cloud padded to the spot Sephiroth had been sitting in and picked up the piece of paper. Odd marks were on it, and they looked nothing like the letters Cloud had learned to read and write.
"Nothing much, really," Sephiroth replied. He pulled back the blanket and motioned for Cloud to get under the covers.
"But what is it?" Cloud asked, almost whining.
"Time for you to go to bed, that's what it is."
Cloud pouted but made his way to the bed and climbed on. He lay down on the pillows, drifting off to sleep almost instantly. He didn't notice before how tired he had been. Yawning, his last thoughts before sleep took him were of what he'd do the next time he saw his mother.
Jenova was pleased. The human had understood the not-so-subtle hints and threats she had given it and had not tried to interfere.
Notes:
Started: 2013年10月12日（土）
Finished: 2013年10月14日（月）
Gawd... Another short one. I'm sorry, but I didn't really know what else to put in after the visit. Motivation for this fic is a little hard to find because of all the brain farts. TT_TT Ugh, I hope this blows over real soon. I'll be busy fixing up some stuff on LJ where I've re-uploaded everything for a bit, and I'm hoping that will clear things up a little.
FFNet seems to be going through another purge... I suggest downloading your favorite fics and backing up your own onto another site like Archive of Our Own.