Trapdoor (Part 12)
by anza (03.12.05)

It was Sephiroth's car that was parked out front, but when Cloud entered, both Sephiroth and Tseng were there. The former was oozing comfortably in the armchair Cloud usually occupied, and the latter was leaning against the staircase. There was a niggling sensation in the back of Cloud's head, telling him he'd forgotten something massively important -

- "Where's Loz?" Kadaj demanded. It was scary how he could sound so threatening and so quiet at the same time.

Sephiroth shook his head. "He wasn't here when we arrived."

"Which was?" Cloud stepped forward, placing himself between Kadaj and Tseng. His hair was standing on end - that is, more than it usually was. He suppressed a shiver of excitement/anxiety, and then snapped a clear order to his brothers behind him. "Nevermind. Leave the packages by the door, take my bike, and go find Loz." There came a soft brush of warmth from someone's hand - Kadaj, most likely, Yazoo wasn't one to give reassurances - on his arm, and then the front door shut. A minute later he heard Fenrir rev up, and then the retreating grumble of the motorcycle told Cloud that they were heading for the highway. Unconsciously, he breathed a sigh of relief.

It had been a long time since he had felt like this. Though neither had made a move, he knew danger. Danger, like the time he was almost expelled for being 'too smart'. Danger, like the time his mother had pushed him away and told him to run, to go to the other house because he was never going to see her again. Danger, like when he marched towards the boy who was trying to rape Kadaj, and saw red before his eyes. The edge of the cliff, the ground dropping so sharply into dark nothing - it could only be a threat that hid behind Tseng's eyes, only warning under Sephiroth's placid gaze. Perhaps Cloud trusted his instincts more than he thought.

"What do you want," he asked finally into the silence. He prayed, prayed to any god out there, Please let them all be safe!

"Do you know who the current godfather is?" Tseng's expression had not changed, but Cloud knew he was now calculating every move he made.

"No."

Sephiroth spoke up, now. "Do you know who supplies armaments to the Turks?"

Cloud had a good guess, but it was nothing for sure. "No."

"You have a good guess."

Cloud stared back at him. Sephiroth's eyes were mirrors, reflecting nothing but himself and his worry. "Yes. I believe, now that you've both broken into my house, Shin-Ra Company supplies the Turks."

Tseng gave a nod. "Correct. Do you know why we're here?" Cloud kept a perfectly calm expression, willing himself to show nothing. The Wutaian continued, "Probably not. But you have a good guess to this one too, don't you?" There was a threat there, hanging like the crescent moon in the sky, hanging like the guillotine, blade shining so innocently in the brightness of day...

Cloud knew what he had to do, even though his mind was screaming denials. The heat of danger surrounded him, choking him. The Turks. How long it had been since he had anything to do with them!

Even he could hear the desperation in his voice. "What do you want me to do?"

----------

He was cooking dinner alone when he heard the key turn in the lock. There was a murmur of something, and then the familiar thud of Loz's boots being shoved into the counter. Cloud breathed a sigh of relief. He waited, and sure enough there was a soft double-knock on the kitchen door, and Kadaj's fey face peeked around the corner. Cloud met his cautious glance and turned back to crushing the garlic with the flat of his knife.

There it was again - Kadaj's warm hand, brushing over his arm. He could feel the anxiety even through the cloth of his sleeve. "Nii-san," his youngest brother asked. "Is everything alright?"

Cloud closed his eyes. No, no, NO, nothing is alright. "Everything's fine."

"Why was Uncle Seph in the house earlier?"

He studied the chopping board as if it would give him answers. "It was business," he answered finally.

"Just business?"

He met his brother's eyes at that. "Just business," he affirmed, and then turned back to cooking. The silence stretched, and Cloud almost thought Kadaj was gone -

- until pale hands lifted the pan and spatula out of his hands. In the golden haze of the kitchen lights, Kadaj seemed ethereal, frail, and not quite human. "Nii-san," he murmured, eyes shrouded in his silver bangs, "let me do this. You rest; you look like hell, if you don't mind me saying so."

Like a dream, Cloud lifted his hand. As soon as the back of his fingers touched the smoothness of Kadaj's temple, he felt a jolt of reality strike him, hard, right there in the heart. Sadly he tucked his brother's hair out of his eyes, and brushed his lips familiarly just to the right of one emerald eye. The revelation, the truth of the meeting earlier that had hit him with all the speed of a freight train - the responsibilities he now shouldered...

"Nii-san." Kadaj's voice was trembling, and his eyes were a little wide with some wild emotion that Cloud was too tired to wonder about it. "Nii-san, you should sit down for a while." Those eyes implored him to go back to normal, please.

He would need Kadaj more than ever, he realized.

With a numb nod, he went upstairs and stayed there until he was sure everyone in the house was asleep.