To Reno, who was never an early bloomer, it seemed irony was at work that early in the morning. He always woke late no matter what time he went to bed, but for some reason, today he woke early to the image of Sephiroth in Cloud's apartment. When he cracked open his eyes, the first thing that greeted him was the light from the laptop monitor and he watched closely what was happening. It puzzled him at first to see Sephiroth, of all people, carrying an unconscious Cloud inside his apartment, but it made sense if he was involved in what was going on with the blond.

************FF7**************

Sephiroth placed the unconscious figure on the couch in his apartment and took a small bottle of smelling salt from his pocket. He had expected one of two things to happen when Cloud would see him so he walked with band aids in the case of a fight, and the salt in case he fainted.

For the first time he hated being right.

He watched Cloud stir when the bottle was put to his nose and he groggily opened his eyes with a small moan leaving his lips.

Upon hearing the sound Sephiroth quickly moved from beside Cloud, remembering all the times he had forced that very sound from the kid's lips. This was all for Zack, he was doing this for Zack but now he wasn't sure he should have come.

Cloud's eyes opened and he hazily looked around the room, hating that he would have such a vivid dream of Sephiroth standing in his doorway. Looking over his head, his vision blurred as soon as the flash of silver came into the corner of his eyes. It was as if his brain was trying to find a way for him to not acknowledge that the man was there, standing before him. When he did realize though, he almost passed out again.

"S….Sephiroth," Cloud whispered in fright. He instinctively pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped both arms around himself in a protective gesture while shaking slightly.

Sephiroth just stood there, for once not sure what to say or do. The fear and confusion was evident on Cloud's face though and he wished he knew he wasn't there to do him any harm, not anymore anyway.

"I'm not here to hurt you, Cloud," Sephiroth whispered, secretly willing Cloud to know and accept his stance.

"I…I can't believe that" Cloud answered. He had his head turned to side, looking at the floor and not daring to look in the general vicinity of the other man.

"Straight forward, aren't you?"

"You made me that way, Sir. I hate you, please get out."

"You're hurting Zack," Sephiroth pointed out calmly.

"He hurt me first," came Cloud's response.

Sephiroth refused to see the logic in that. "Zack's done nothing other than to try and help us both."

Seeing as though he wasn't pounced upon yet, Cloud got enough confidence to at least look Sephiroth in the eyes while they spoke. He still wrapped his arms around himself out of instinct and he decided he wouldn't go down without a fight. Zack, mentioning Zack was just the icing on the cake. "That's the problem Sir, you and Zack can go fuck yourselves."

With his hysteria fueling his confidence, Cloud added smugly, "Wait, you two are fucking each other. How about you go back to him and leave me the hell alone."

Sephiroth had to remind himself that he wasn't here to argue and no matter what, Cloud should always have the upper hand because he owed him that much after what he'd done. He wanted Zack to get over this though, and even though he expected Cloud to be difficult, it wasn't as easy to accept as he initially thought. "I want what's best for Zack."

"I think Zack wants what's best for him too, selfish asshole," Cloud shot back. "Did you tell him with your own mouth how much you enjoyed ripping me apart? He didn't care, did he? Let's become one big fucking happy family so he at least can have what he wants, screw what I want, screw me getting justice for my rape."

Sephiroth frowned, "I think you're taking Zack's intentions and feelings out of context, he isn't trying to be selfish."

Cloud got out of the couch and walked a few meters away from Sephiroth, the farther he was, the better he felt, especially since he could feel his anger rising rapidly.

"Really? Then tell me who it would benefit for us to become questionable friends?" Cloud asked, pointing a finger between the both of them. "You're a rapist and a murderer, he does know you killed the professor, right?"

Sephiroth clearly didn't like where this conversation was going. He had hoped he could at least make Cloud rethink his decision to shut out Zack, but it seemed he was only making things worse.

"Cloud Strife…" Sephiroth started sternly. He took a few steps towards the blond youth and watched as he instinctively backed away. "…I do not appreciate my actions being judged by the likes of you. Don't you dear presume to think you know what is best for anybody, you're the one acting selfishly. I'm worried about Zack and he's worried about you. If that's too hard for you to grasp, I'll suggest to him to leave you be."

Cloud's fear returned when he saw Sephiroth moving towards him, but his stubbornness was just as strong as ever and he looked the man straight in the eyes.

"I'd really like that. Him being with you really hurt me; he might as well have raped me himself."

It surprised Sephiroth how sincere Cloud's request was. There was no malice, no hesitation in his voice when he uttered those words, just a tiredness that embodied how drained all this was making him, how lost and hurt he was. He knew Zack had the best of intentions, but he didn't see Cloud relenting in his hatred no matter how much Zack wished it. Maybe he should ask him to leave Cloud alone. The counseling was sounding like an excellent idea at the moment too. Even if Cloud couldn't forgive them, forgive him, he'd like if he'd at least get past his feelings of hatred and fear, it's what helped to make him the man he now was and he wouldn't wish for Cloud to have such things festering inside him.

But, he didn't want his help. His or Zack's.

"I'm leaving," Sephiroth said with an air of finality before walking towards the door.

When the silver haired man turned to leave, Cloud instinctively folded his arms in a protective gesture across his chest before walking to see the man out. He slammed the door close after he left and a huge sigh escaped his lips in relief; he didn't realize he'd been barely breathing the whole time Sephiroth was before him. He barely could have made out what Sephiroth was saying over the pounding in his ears but he managed. He was just happy he didn't fold like a paper crane in his presence, showing how weak he really was.

He really wanted to forgive Zack, but he just couldn't wrap his head around how the man could forgive Sephiroth without even so much as a question for what he'd done to him. He didn't even give time to try and show he understood what Cloud was going through; it was like a smooth transition from rapist to lover and Zack just accepted it as it is, no questions asked. How anybody would expect him to be Zack's friend again was beyond him; not while he made Sephiroth the centre of his world without even so much as a forgiveness prayer for what he'd done.

Maybe what he needed was time away from all of them, time away from ShinRa. Time to put himself back together.

************FF7**************

Reno of course had heard everything that had happened. The complexity of what was happening surprised him, especially where Zack was concerned because he'd met him about a week ago and had liked him instantly. But now certain things started to fall into place, like why Zack was always spacing out and why he always seemed to be looking out for somebody, especially among the cadets. It was an open secret among the Turks that Zack and Sephiroth were together, but he'd never expected things to spin so out of control, though he didn't see why it surprised him when Hojo was involved.

He was suffering a crisis of conscience at the moment because he knew that doing up a report meant both Cloud and Zack would be subjected to an inquiry, possibly before a tribunal. If anything was to be done then ShinRa would get rid of Cloud, he was the liability. Grunts came a mile a minute but Sephiroth and First class SOLDIER were irreplaceable. He made up his mind to wait and see if things would work out and Cloud could get over his issues.

Reno closed his laptop and decided to make Cloud some breakfast; the kid didn't look to be in good enough shape to be around a stove anyways and he'd give Hojo a little more time to rot before he said anything about his murder. Nobody liked the smarmy man and he viewed the situation as Sephiroth getting rid of a pest, a very pesky pest in the company. Knowing how many lives had been tarnished because of that one man, he would have given Sephiroth a medal if he could.

After making a small pot of fish soup with potato salad and fried chocobo, he set Cloud's portion on a tray and went outside with it. When he knocked on the door the first three times he got no response, so he resorted to calling the teen's name.

"Cloud, I know you're in there, open up Cloud!" Reno shouted while knocking incessantly with his free hand.

"Cloud isn't here, go away!" A muffled voice answered.

Reno rolled his eyes, "If y'are not there then how come you're answering?" he shouted in response.

"I'm not Cloud, just a friend of his!" the voice answered again.

"Cloud, if don't open the door then I'll beat it down!" Reno answered and to show emphasis, he started pounding rapidly on the door.

It took only a few seconds but a very irritated Cloud answered the door a little later. He saw his eyes softened when he saw the food before a frown graced his features once again.

"I'm not hungry," Cloud stated and was about to shut the door in his face but he managed to stop it from happening by blocking the door with his foot.

"Come on, Cloud. Just a bite and I'll be out of your way. You're face is pale and you look even slimmer than yesterday." He did his best to imitate the kicked puppy look that Zack had done so well but judging from the way that Cloud was chuckling, he failed miserably.

"Ok, come in, but as soon as I take one bite I want you to leave," Cloud growled.

"Fine by me," Reno muttered before walking inside and placing the tray on the small dinner table. He sat across from the blond who was eyeing the food suspiciously.

"You're not trying to poison me, are you, Reno?" Cloud asked before stabbing through the mashed potatoes. He felt drained but Reno was a welcomed distraction at the moment; anything to take his mind off his problems.

"Nah, I like you too much," Reno grinned.

"Good, cause I don't really like you much," Cloud answered and Reno tried the kicked puppy look again.

Cloud rolled his eyes this time around. He didn't want to admit it but he was starving and when he put the small bowl of soup to his head, it didn't move until it was completely empty.

"There's a good boy, now eat up and get some sleep, I'll be back to check on you later," Reno muttered.

"Why? I don't need a babysitter," Cloud scoffed. He started on the rest of the food while Reno just sat there and chatted away. When he was through, he shoved the tray into Reno's hands and ordered him to get out.

"Fine Blondie, but I'll be back with lunch later and maybe dinner too," Reno grinned while walking towards the door.

Cloud frowned, "I can cook. Besides, I don't need you checking up on me. Stay out of my way."

"Say Cloud…" Reno started when he was by the door. "I've never seen you in training and you're holed up here everyday, are you alright?"

"No," Cloud answered simply before pushing Reno through the door and slamming it shut.

Reno smiled while standing on the outside; at least he was getting Cloud to open up to him even if it was just a little bit.

Cloud threw himself on the couch and sighed in frustration, that redhead was like a mosquito that kept buzzing in his ear. The last thing he thought about before he fell asleep was how he was going to cope with being in ShinRa, being around the very people he wanted to get away from.