Tobi: Thanks KitaraStrife (1200!) and YourWorstDaydream (1150!). I love all of you. :'D I hope everyone enjoys this chapter. The first section broke my brain for about a week. ;D and DUNDUNDUN... the plot thickens (again)!
CM: Hey all! Hope all our American friends had a good turky-giving. ^_^ Ok so. The next chapter will be dedicated to who ever can guess my favorite band. There is one clue in this chap. A very small clue. And if you already know cuz either me or Tobi have told you than you cant guess. :P (and no, it's not The Weather Girls. x.x )
The family reunions held every year were a complete waste of time. Barnaby Hojo could think of at least ten places he'd rather be than sitting in the latest extravagant location chosen by President Shin-Ra, and he could think of twice as many things he'd rather be doing.
The location itself wasn't too bad, actually, Hojo mused. It was a leafy, pleasant, flowery area beside a lake; some of the younger children were swimming, as it was warm out, but it wasn't hot enough to be uncomfortable. Everyone else seemed to be having a grand time but Hojo, who sat by himself on a scratchy picnic table on the edge of everything, was not. That wasn't a surprise, though.
He had been forced to attend this stupid event by the President himself, who said that he would cut his funding if he refused to show. What a horrid man. If it was any consolation, Hojo knew that he'd get revenge soon enough (he always did).
This was a complete waste of his time. Sephiroth was hiding somewhere, not wanting to be seen with his father. There wasn't anything to do—because there was no way he was getting involved with the sack races happening across the field. Instead he traced the words crudely cut into the top of the picnic table with his finger. "Jim + Liv 4ever."
'Jim' probably raped 'Liv' and left her body hanging in a gutter. Such a sad world we live in.
Movement caught his eye, and he turned his head. A little boy was standing about five feet away, having somehow gotten all the way over to him. He was shirtless; his shirt instead was bunched up in his hand. His hair was slightly damp, and Hojo concluded he had been one of the ones swimming.
"Hi," he said simply.
Hojo frowned. He meant to stick his hands in his pockets but missed. A long light brown jacket had replaced the lab coat for today, for the occasion. "...Hello," he answered, confused.
The boy stepped forward and sat on the bench beside him. He peered up at the much older man with shockingly blue eyes and asked, "What're you?"
A short, awkward conversation revealed that the boy wanted to know how they were related. Hojo was surprised to find that he was his Great-Uncle; that would mean that he and Sephiroth were very 'closely related.' Interesting.
"I'm Cloud." Cloud stuck out a hand. Hojo found himself shaking it before he really knew what he was doing. This boy was probably crawling with germs—he wasn't sanitized and was probably giving him a disease—
Cloud hopped up onto the bench and wiggled over until he sat directly beside Hojo. He smiled and asked, after looking him up and down, "What's your work? I was trying to guess but I can't get it."
When Hojo just stared at him, Cloud offered, "I wanna be a firefighter when I'm older. Firefighters are cool."
He wanted to be informed of his occupation, then. "...I am a scientist," Hojo said finally. This kid was talking to him; it was odd. Everyone in the family loathed him.
Cloud's eyes went huge and he cried, "Seriously?" He looked at Hojo like he was one of the firefighters he so admired. "Wow. That means—that means you're really smart, yeah?"
Hojo gave a thin smile. "I am rather proud of my intellect."
"Do you look at stuff under a magnifying glass? And do you use those test tube things? I got a che—chem—chemistry set for my last birthday and it came with all these rocks and my own test tubes and— "
When the boy's babbling died down, Hojo said, "I work with people. I study them, figure out how to improve them—how to make them stronger, faster and smarter. I also specialize in..." he thought about how to phrase this next bit for a second and decided on, "animal experimentation."
Cloud's mouth hung open. "That is so cool!"
Cool? Hojo knew that the little boy didn't understand, didn't know what he actually did, but something about getting this little bit of approval and being looked up to, rather than being hissed and spat at by worthless, nameless individuals, made him feel kind of... good. It was a curious feeling. Addicting.
"Have you seen a brain?"
Hojo found himself smiling. "I have."
"And—And someone's guts, even?"
"I've seen everything inside a person. Guts, Stomach, lungs—even hearts." He pushed his glasses higher up on his nose and nodded once. Cloud's adoring look made him feel sort of... proud. Smug, maybe.
Nonsense!
"That's awesome," Cloud breathed, scooting off the bench. He shivered and proceeded to tug on his shirt. He said something, but it was too muffled to understand. He moved quickly and ended up trying to fit his head through the hole for his arm, not realizing it.
Hojo suddenly found himself getting up and helping the boy with it. Cloud was covered in goosebumps—he could see them as well as feel them.
"So," Cloud said brightly once it was on correctly. "Have you ever touched a dead guy?"
They talked for about half an hour. The open admiration in Cloud's eyes floored Hojo. He was a bright child, for the most part, and his face was filled with such wonder at each story he was told. They were gruesome enough to make an older man cringe, but Cloud didn't understand what things like an 'incision' were and remained unaware of what he was really hearing.
He was a pretty little thing, Hojo realized. When he aged a little he'd be a sight to behold. If he hadn't been so against Sephiroth having friends and being exposed to unnecessary human contact, he would have suggested they meet.
Their time was cut short, however, when someone noticed that an innocent boy was with Hojo, the man everyone loved to hate in the family. They ran over and pulled Cloud away.
Cloud looked over his shoulder as he left, flashing Hojo a brilliant smile and giving a small wave.
Hojo waved back. He watched Cloud go and crossed his legs, leaning back against the table. He was an interesting boy—he'd keep tabs on him.
He may have just found a relative that he actually liked.
In his time at the mansion, Cloud had been woken up a variety of ways. He had opened his eyes to see floating clothes, he had been smothered nearly to death to start off one morning, and he had started his day waking up in too many weird places with a headache to count.
Today, there was something suckling on his earlobe. Nothing like that had ever happened before. Even though he had a hangover the size of the Plate, his eyes snapped open.
There was something furry curled up on his chest and neck. Something alive. Something... sucking on his ear!
Cloud yelled and flailed, trying to push it away. The sheets on the bed hated his guts, it seemed, because he got tangled in them and fell off the bed right onto a snoring person he realized was Firion.
The furry thing zoomed out of the room. Cloud clutched his wet ear and wailed, waking Firion and Cid, who had fallen off the other end of the huge bed during the middle of the night.
"What's all this goddamned noise for, asshole!" Cid barked, wincing at his own outburst. Firion groaned blearily beneath Cloud and tried to shove him off. Cloud didn't budge, because about two feet from Firion's head, almost underneath the bed, was a disgusting mess of pee and poop. ...Raccoon pee and poop.
It was marking its territory!
Cloud clutched Firion tightly so he wouldn't be pushed off and made a series of unintelligible panicked noises. Firion's eyes opened fully and he noticed the pile of stinking waste.
"Who did that?" Firion laughed, thinking one of the party-goers had been exceptionally drunk and had done it.
"It's that raccoon!" Cloud grunted, getting to his feet. He wobbled dangerously but pressed on, clutching his head. He stumbled into the hallway, catching a black and white blur darting into a room at the end of the hall.
"Get up!" he roared. "Everyone! It's back!"
Cloud started chasing it, banging on doors and waking the others in the house. It was a terrible start to the day. No one but Cloud quite knew what was going on, and the manor was complete, utter chaos.
"Get it!" Cloud shouted, running downstairs, Cid and Barrett on his heels. He yelled at the people sleeping on the couches in the parlor and living room, recruited the two individuals making coffee in the kitchen and pointed at a couch, which a raccoon had just darted under.
The chase began. The cursing, hung-over party-goers herded the raccoon around the mansion, repeatedly backing it into a corner before it ran through someone's legs and the whole thing started again. It seemed to really like Cloud; every time the blond got near the raccoon would rush at him, but Cloud would flinch or do something that seemed to hurt the animal's feelings and it would sprint away.
...What the hell was going on up there?
These were weird times, he decided. For a while the house had been almost silent, and now he could year yelling and pounding footsteps. It was almost giving him a headache. He listened to the new voices for a moment, curiously tilting his head a little in his prison. Interesting... and, to his surprise, one of them seemed to have a voice that lingered in his ears; it was... actually incredibly irritating. They kept cursing. He hated it when people used excessive language like that.
He snorted and tuned out the noise. Whatever.
Back to sleep.
About forty minutes into the whole fiasco, everyone was beat or just didn't care anymore. Aerith and Terra were watching television downstairs, as they refused to hunt something so cute, they said.
Cloud had his hands on his knees, bent over the middle of the hallway as he wheezed. Cid came up from behind and lightly punched him in the small of the back.
"I'm fuckin' done with this shit," he grumbled.
Cloud was about to convince him to keep helping, but Marlene's shrill voice cut through the air. "That bandit!" she cried from somewhere on the second floor, "That bandit stole my hair ribbon!"
They ran to her, frantically asking where the animal ran off to. Marlene shrugged and said lightly, "I dunno where Bandit went."
"Marlene," Cloud groaned, "Don't name the thing."
The girl frowned sternly. "Don't call Bandit a 'thing,' Cloud. That's not nice."
After Cloud finished begging for forgiveness, he ended the chase. It just wasn't going anywhere. So, he had a raccoon in his house. Big deal. He could cope—having murderous ghosts at one point seemed to be a bit worse, in his book.
"Screw it," Cloud grunted, trekking downstairs to join everyone else in the kitchen. They all asked if he had found Bandit, and he glared darkly at them. "No," he said darkly. "And maybe I would have, if you had helped."
Squall rolled his eyes, and Barrett elbowed him in the collarbone (which actually had reallyreallyhurt, Cloud chanted in his mind, wincing).
Once everyone was seated at the dining table eating pancakes that Aerith and, surprisingly, Firion had made, Cloud noticed that Tifa was gone. She had split in the earlier confusion.
Oh, dammit.
He felt terrible. If he had been less drunk yesterday he never would have kissed Squall like that in front of her. She was probably really angry and hurt, if she had left...
He had fucked up. And he had to fix it. Somehow.
Cloud looked around at his friends, still in costume and squinting in the light. He'd go to Tifa later; she had to cool off for a while first. He dug into his breakfast and put Tifa out of his mind.
The first to leave were Aerith, Barrett, Yuffie, Marlene and Denzel. He hugged all of them goodbye, nodded when Marlene said to keep her posted about Bandit and laughed when Yuffie quietly said to call her if he needed any more mob members—but now the Nibelheim kind—taken out. It was painful and terrifying to remember, but now that some time had passed, it was funny a little as well.
"Take care of yourself, Cloud," Yuffie whispered, standing on tiptoes to kiss his cheek. Cloud nodded wordlessly, squeezing Yuffie—the one who made sure that he was still here breathing—to him and didn't let go for a minute.
Reno...
"I remember her," Angeal said suddenly. "She foiled one of the missions I went on a few years back." No one knew what Cloud was doing knowing such a shady character. Genesis sniggered—Yuffie was probably laughing in her head at being so close to the Director of SOLDIER and a SOLDIER Second who had no clue who she was.
The remaining people cleaned up breakfast and all went out to get their change of clothes from their cars, or, in Rufus' case, went upstairs to dig through his massive bags to find a presentable outfit.
Cloud changed too, glad to be rid of those stupid leather pants. His room reeked; he eyed Bandit's mess and sighed, going to the bathroom to get the necessary materials to clean it up.
Squall and Firion left next, closely followed by Lazard and Reeve. Squall gave him a pat on the back and a small smile before he left—he knew about everything with Reno too, obviously. Cloud smiled sadly and bumped fists with him and Firion, and they left. He happily said goodbye to Lazard and awkwardly shook Reeve's hand. Reeve smiled and breezily walked outside. In fact, Cloud didn't think he'd heard Tuesti say anything.
"I've always known he was crazy," Genesis hissed quietly to Zack, who laughed.
The last one to leave was Rufus. He stayed for a while, actually; he didn't have to leave early because he just had to drive his limo into the next town and take a chopper back to Midgar. Lucky bastard.
They laid around and sleepily watched a movie, heads still hurting a bit. During this time Cloud was left alone with his thoughts... and this was not a good thing.
His mind kept returning to the incident from yesterday. All morning he hadn't been able to sense the ghosts at all; they were seriously gone again. Dammit. He should have been glad and happy about this... but for some reason, he wasn't. It was weird.
When the movie ended, Rufus got to his feet with a groan and sighed, "Well, I better get going, then. I have a hair appointment scheduled at three."
Cloud helped his cousin with his bags, loading them into the car and opening the driver's side door with a flourish like a real chauffeur would. Rufus smiled charmingly and reached out, hugging Cloud tightly. Cloud bent a little and rested his forehead against the blond's shoulder, squeezing him.
"...Take care of yourself," Rufus said after a moment.
"I will. You too."
Rufus made Cloud look at him and said seriously, "I've been keeping an eye on Reno for you. Right now he's on a mission somewhere in a town no one's heard of." He grinned. "I asked my Turk Commander about it yesterday."
The news came as a huge relief. Some small part of him had been worried that Reno would come, that he'd try to find him. It was just... he was still angry, hurt, even, and the last thing he wanted to do was see the redhead or even think about him.
"Thanks," he said softly, holding Rufus for another few seconds before lightly shoving him away. The Vice-President nodded wordlessly, then got in the expensive vehicle and drove off. Cloud watched him go, then shook his head slightly and went back inside. When he pulled the door shut behind him and locked it, it felt like he was shutting himself inside a jail cell.
All the people were gone. It was just him in this huge mansion. It seemed... it seemed even more silently oppressive than it had been before, maybe just out of spite. He could hear it now: You tried to make me lively, Cloud! You brought people here, and I didn't like that one bit! Time to suffer! Ha ha ha, like this! I bet you don't, little boy-
He was a seriously crazy fuck. Cloud frowned and, not knowing what else to do with himself, collapsed onto a chair in the nearest room.
After a minute of blankly staring at the carpet, his thoughts—predictably—drifted back to the latest incident. He didn't mind, though, this time; this stuff had to be sorted out.
So... one of them saved me.
Alright. As he said before, this didn't mean much. He just... maybe... maybe. Maybe?
Maybe he hated them a little less. Maybe—but of course, he wasn't happy! No way, just..
I could try to be a little nicer, maybe, if I ever see them again.
Cloud groaned and flung himself sideways in the armchair. Everything was so damn complicated. After debating with himself for a while, Cloud came to a tentative conclusion. If he ever saw the ghosts again... he wouldn't attack. That is, as long as they didn't do something to make him angry. They had done something truly nice, though, and he was thankful that he wasn't dead. He'd let them stay in peace, as long as they didn't bother him and left him alone.
Deciding that had made him completely exhausted. It was a big step. Suddenly Cloud felt like sleeping more, but he forced himself to his feet. He didn't want to sleep.
In the end, Cloud decided to take his chances in the library again. Perhaps he'd find a book like Mako that would help him unravel this whole mystery. And if he couldn't find anything like that, he'd check again for any good reading material.
Once more he thought of Tifa as he walked towards the library. Later, he thought, I'll go later.
The library was eerily still. Cloud frowned and looked around, then decided to climb the nearest ladder to see what was up there. He hauled himself up, then tensed. The last time he had been up one of these he had been tipped over and a book had fallen on his head.
Cloud waited, expecting—and almost wishing for—something to happen. Of course, nothing did.
Feeling almost disappointed, Cloud got off the ladder. He didn't really feel like reading books anymore. He halfheartedly glanced at a few titles, but they weren't anything good. More boring crap or weird books he didn't care about.
Disheartened, Cloud turned to leave the library and find something else to do somewhere else, but he stopped walking after only a few steps. A soft noise had echoed in the room.
Curiously, Cloud turned around and stepped deeper into the library. It had sounded like rustling paper; perhaps Bandit had gotten into a book on the ground or something. What he found in a back corner certainly wasn't Bandit; no, there was nothing. Sort of.
The seat cushion of an armchair up against a wall and beside a reading lamp had a dip in it. The red fabric was flat near the edges, then sank down a couple of inches towards the middle.
There had to be weight on it. Something... invisible.
Right in front of him, a few feet above the cushion, was a floating book. A page turned, and Cloud knew where the noise had been coming from. His breathing hitched, he stopped breathing and he stared.
A soft intake of breath made Genesis look up. He jumped nearly a foot in the air when he saw Cloud not three feet away, watching the copy of LOVELESS in his hands with huge eyes. Had he really been so engrossed in the book he hadn't noticed Cloud creep up on him? The redhead swore.
Dammit.
Cloud watched the thick book tilt back a little. It seemed to be the sign that he had the ghost's attention; he did the same thing himself if someone bothered him while he read. He swallowed thickly.
It was back. At least one of the ghosts was here... but it was leaving him alone. And it was reading—something that made it seem ridiculously human in Cloud's eyes.
...Was he afraid? Not really. Cloud realized this, confused with himself when he learned he was more excited than afraid.
Cloud drew himself to his full height and shot the ghost in the chair a firm look. He wouldn't attack. If they weren't going to bother him, he wasn't going to bother them. And... even though he was still miffed, they had saved his life. The least he could do was not try to kill them on sight.
Genesis tensed in his chair. Cloud was staring for much too long—if he broke out the flyswatter or something there'd be some serious trouble. He prepared to dodge swinging plastic, but it turned out that he didn't need to. Cloud seemed to reach a decision and nodded once at him, then turned and stiffly walked out of the library.
Woah, what?
Cloud let out a huge breath as soon as he exited the room. His hands were shaking a little, but he also felt kind of... good. That had been kind of fun, flirting with danger and the unknown again.
After that, Cloud calmly went about his day. He was strangely comforted, almost, knowing that the ghosts (or at least one of them) were still around. That thought made Cloud pause.
He should have been angry. Or scared, at the very least. After thinking it over for a few minutes as he took down Halloween decorations, he realized that yes, he was angry still. Afraid too. But, both emotions weren't as strong as they had been. They had saved his life. And besides, he was never one to hold that much of a grudge (unless, of course, you were Reno). ...But, they had tried to kill him, too!
My head hurts.
Sick of arguing with himself, Cloud pushed all the thoughts of his haunters out of his mind. He needed something to do, other than going to Tifa's or thinking. (He also didn't feel like taking down any more fake cobwebs.)
He eventually decided to do some laundry. He grabbed Sebastian from his bedroom and brought the chocobo into the laundry room with him, along with an overflowing hamper. He propped Sebastian on top of the machine, then opened the hatch and put his clothes, the right amount of detergent and set the dials.
"I have," Zack said slowly, peeking in the doorway and watching Cloud work, "this crazy urge to push him in the dryer."
Sephiroth looked at him, a little alarmed, but relaxed when Zack laughed. "Chill, man," he said soothingly, patting Sephiroth on the arm, "This isn't, like, Hansel and Gretel. I won't do anything."
Cloud closed the lid and suddenly sang to Sebastian, "It's raining men! Hallelujah!" He picked up the toy and spun, gleefully singing more of the The Weather Girls song but then abruptly switched songs in the middle of a sentence.
"Every daaay," he cried, hugging Sebastian and kicking the washing machine when it made a weird noise, "and niiight, with yoouu...!"
Sephiroth covered his face and quickly walked away. Zack snorted and shot a last glance at Cloud before running to catch up with his older lover. "He's a cutie," Zack said, nodding to himself. "Crazy, though."
The General smiled faintly. "I suppose."
When all his clothes were in the dryer, Cloud brought Sebastian outside. It was getting chilly; he wore a light jacket. Some mittens or something for Sebastian would be really cute, he thought, tucking the chocobo into his jacket and letting his head stick out so he wouldn't get cold.
He found a soccer ball in the shed. It was only a little flat—still perfectly useable. Cloud was horrible at soccer, but he dribbled it around a little on the lawn, feeling great. It was nice to get some exercise, and out here he could see the great view of the mountains. All at once, Cloud was overcome with awe, once more astounded that he lived in a mansion in a beautiful place like this.
Thank you Hojo, you creep.
One of the sides of the house had a section of wall that looked absolutely perfect. Cloud repeatedly kicked the ball at it, being careful not to hit anything.
Inside, Genesis peeked out a window and watched Cloud kick it. The black and white ball missed the glass he was peering out of by about a foot. The panicked look on Cloud's face was apparent even from the distance between them, and Genesis laughed.
"Watch this," Cloud told Sebastian. He placed the ball on the ground and took a few steps back. He raised one arm dramatically like he had seen real soccer players do, then sprang forward and kicked with all his might.
Cloud accidentally stepped on the soccer ball and was completely, utterly destroyed. He smacked his face on the ground and rolled, hearing his neck crack and hurting his ankle.
Genesis roared into laughter. When Cloud didn't get up for a minute or two he laughed harder, using his normal, loud voice for a change.
Cloud moaned miserably, crawling around until he was in a good position to stand up. He did so with a wince, checking to make sure Sebastian was okay. "Ow," he grunted, "I'm glad no one saw that."
He lined the ball up and tried again. This time his foot connected, and it went up... really up. The soccer ball crashed into a room on the third floor, the sound of breaking glass echoing in the mountain stillness.
Angeal, who was dozing in a guest room far away from the main part of the house, was woken up by a ball flying through—and breaking—the window directly next to the bed. He sprang up and nearly tripped over himself as his body automatically scrambled for his sword, which was currently locked up somewhere anyway and no use to him.
Why does this always happen to me!
A few shards of glass fell down to the flower bed next to the house. Cloud sighed; he had a feeling that he would be the one to replace the window this time, as well as one he had spotted on another side of the house. He didn't know how that had happened. Cloud pulled out his cell phone and glanced at its clock on the front screen. It was around two in the afternoon, and even though he really didn't want to admit it, Cloud knew it was time to go to Tifa's.
Sebastian was gently leant against a throw pillow on a couch his owner particularly liked. "Wish me luck, buddy," Cloud sighed. The blond grimaced and turned to leave, grabbing Fenrir's keys. He sadly turned around in the doorway and called softly, "Bye, Sebastian." Then he shut the door and mounted his bike.
The drive to Tifa's house was entirely too short. He didn't want to go—Tifa would be angry with him. Fighting with Tifa wasn't something he wanted to do. But he did have to talk to her—he felt guilty. He shouldn't have led her on when it was so obvious that she liked him, even though he didn't want her to get angry and stop being his friend.
He got off Fenrir and approached her front door cautiously. Four seconds passed until Cloud managed to knock, but he did it and then it was done, and Cloud waited on the welcome mat for Tifa. The brunette answered after a suspiciously long time. Her hair was up, and she wore a sweater with the sleeves rolled up. He must have interrupted her in the middle of something. She stared at Cloud for a second, then her eyes narrowed. That was only for a brief moment—her eyes then flashed with something and she looked down, giving off sad vibes and saying nothing.
"Tifa..." Cloud began. "I—you—I'm sorry, I-"
"I guess I can't really be angry," Tifa interrupted. Cloud went silent. She looked up and gave him a soft look. "I haven't known you for very long; you had no obligation to tell me something like that. But..." she sighed, "I still do wish you would have told me."
Cloud was silent for a moment, then said earnestly, "I'm sorry, Tifa. It was assholeish of me—but I didn't tell you 'cause I figured you'd be...grossed out." he fidgeted, feeling slightly filthy, and said quietly, "you're a country girl, you know? I know people out here aren't as open-minded as people in the cities. It's just—you're my...er, friend, and I didn't wanna scare you away."
"My cousin is gay," Tifa said, frowning. "I don't have any problems, with it, Cloud-"
"I-I didn't know that, okay?" Cloud argued, feeling foolish. They stared silently at each other for one long, awkward moment, and then Tifa giggled. Cloud scratched the back of his head and sighed loudly.
"It's really okay," Tifa said softly. "I'm fine. I overreacted earlier—sorry I left."
"No!" Cloud stressed, aware that they were both acting like idiots. "I should've told you earlier-"
Tifa silenced him with a look, and Cloud stood before her quietly, resisting the urge to wring his hands. Their conversation hadn't been that bad, all things considered, even though it had been terribly, terribly awkward.
Tifa invited him inside, and they both floundered for another few minutes before she said, sounding uncertain, "So... uh, have you ever had a... boyfriend before? Are you dating someone now?"
Cloud blushed brightly and started waving his arms around. "No, I'm not, not now!" He stilled suddenly, remembering. He ducked his head.
...Reno...
Cloud turned away from Tifa. "I... yeah," he answered, inspecting the printed wallpaper beside his head. Tifa's house was small compared to his mansion, but it was bigger than his apartment had been. "...I used to date this one guy."
Tifa's warm hand appeared on his shoulder. "Sorry," she said softly, "I didn't mean to bring up any painful memories or anything."
Cloud exhaled slowly. "No, it's alright..."
The stench of cigar and cigarette smoke was so bad in the small, cramped room, Reno could barely breathe. Luckily he was used to it so it wasn't really bothering him. The room was hot and stuffy, but he didn't dare fidget. Showing weakness would be the death of him in a place like this, Reno knew, even though he nearly drunk and swaying in his seat.
The four other men seated at the table with him studied their cards, careful to keep their poker faces on. Reno shot a quick glance at the other men in the room who were leaning against the walls with their arms crossed.
Reno didn't exactly remember how he had gotten to the slums and had gotten involved in a game of poker with men who he was pretty sure were gang members, but he was, and he decided to roll with it.
"So," he sighed, placing his chips in the center of the table, "Anyone wanna bet anything... good?"
I could use some information, he thought. The brat'll probably wanna know about this... I gotta get outta here.
Reno took a deep swig out of the large, half-empty bottle in front of him, burped and eyed his companions.
No one answered, and the game continued.
Reno had always been good at poker. After his Turk training he had gotten even better—because now, keeping calm, being discrete and protecting secrets was his new area of expertise. But, after another hour or so he was completely drunk and was losing all his money.
He had managed to alert Rude and send him his location by turning on the device on the inside of his pants, stuck along the waistband. If he had been searched earlier they probably hadn't found it (because that was one really weird place to stick technology, he always said). Reno struggled to remember anything, but his brain was fuzzy and he couldn't. It didn't really matter, though; Rude was on his way, and he could afford to kick back and enjoy himself a little.
He and the man to his left ran out of money a short time later. One guy who must have been the leader looked at both of them, blew a ring of smoke into the air and said, "Do you have anything of value?"
Now they listen to me.
The other losing man thought, glanced at his cards and said after a moment, "...I have a ring I'm willing to part with. Solid gold, twenty-four karat. Diamonds lining a stone of crystallized Mako. There's only seven made total."
The others seemed to consider this and eventually agreed. Everyone turned to look at Reno. The Turk eyed the gun sticking out of one man's pocket and thought. He didn't own any fancy shit like these guys. He had to bet something, though; he didn't exactly want to know what would happen if he didn't. What did he own that was special?
It hit him. "If you win," he slurred, "You can have my boyfriend. How's that?"
Silence. The other men in the room glanced at each other, disgust and confusion clearly on some faces, but the three at the table kept their gazes on him.
"His name's Cloud. Cute as... as a button, yo." He winked. "Prettiest blue eyes—blond, too. Gives fantastic head."
To Reno, who was now halfway through his second bottle, this seemed to be a wonderful idea. He had a great hand; the odds were seriously in his favor. He'd win this time, he'd get their money, and he wouldn't have to bet Cloud again.
He wanted to leave and hang out with Cloud at his apartment for a while. Maybe take a shower together or something. The guy had had a delivery earlier—in fact, falling asleep with an exhausted Cloud sounded almost preferable to doing anything, at the moment.
Eventually they agreed, sending quiet laughter his way. When it was time Reno showed his cards with a big grin on his face. Straight Flush. Suck it, bastards. He reached out to take the chips, but the man sitting next to him beat him to it.
Royal Flush. He had lost.
Reno choked and looked up; everyone was sneering at him.
"'Cloud,' was it?" the leader asked, smiling coldly. "That's a nice name."
Cloud now 'belonged' to these guys. He had just sold his boyfriend to some shady killer. Fuck. He instantly sobered and said shakily, sensing the danger in the situation, "Hey—I was just joking."
The man across from him held up a handgun and pointed it right at his face. He said coolly, "I don't think so, Turk." About six of the silent watchers leaning against the walls left through a small door after getting a nod from their leader. Reno had a bad feeling that he knew where they were going. Even if they didn't know Cloud... they could look him up somehow. These guys knew how to operate, as he damn well knew.
Just as Reno threw himself to the ground to avoid the bullets that the leader (who now had numerous pieces of booze-covered glass embedded in his face, courtesy of his bottle), Rude, Elena and five other Turks came crashing into the room. Finally.
Cloud sat quietly on Reno's couch, trying to stay awake. The redhead was due back soon, and he wanted to be able to greet him when he returned. He smiled—Reno.
Who would have thought he'd end up falling for the asshole? After their first meeting he had shown up at his apartment (Cloud knew Reno must have looked him up, since he had tricked him before), saying he 'wanted to make sure he was okay.' Cloud had said that he was, and Reno had left. But then he showed up the next day, and then the day after that. Cloud laughed; he was dating such a crazy idiot. A loveable crazy idiot, though.
He heard quiet footsteps outside the apartment door, and he eagerly rose off the couch. Reno was home!
Halfway to the door, his phone buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket and held it to his ear after seeing that Reno was calling. It was just like him, to call while only a few feet away.
"What do you want?" Cloud asked snootily, pretending to be unhappy to see him. He undid the sliding chain above the doorknob.
"Cloud!" came Reno's voice. He was yelling, and he sounded panicked. "Baby, listen to me—don't open the door if anyone comes. You need to hide, alright? Rude and I are coming to get you-"
It was too late, though, because Cloud had already swung the door open.
He dropped the phone.
Tifa silently watched Cloud's eyes darken for a few seconds, like he was remembering something. Now she felt terrible—Cloud's last relationship must have been...bad.
"...Sorry," he finally murmured, shaking his head a little. "Bad memories, y'know?" Cloud smiled at Tifa, though it was weaker than his usual one. "I'm all good now."
Tifa smiled too. Her hand gently squeezed his, and for once, Cloud didn't feel awkward around her. Now things were more relaxed between them; it felt like she was his sister. Sort of.
They both sat on a worn couch in what seemed to be the living room. Tifa grinned and asked, "Well, are you trying to find a boyfriend now?"
Cloud spluttered, then started laughing. "No," he snickered, "No, not now. I'm good being single for now."
Tifa frowned briefly, then seemed to shake herself a little. Her smile returned, but it was less genuine than before. It was foolish of him to expect that she'd be perfectly fine with everything. Luckily, though, she seemed more or less okay. He couldn't ask for anything else.
They talked for a while. Both tried to completely eradicate any uncomfortableness from earlier. They didn't focus on the main topic of earlier; instead, Tifa filled him in on all her bar plans. Apparently she had been planing this for quite some time. Cloud was surprised by how much hard work went into something like starting your own bar, and he marveled at how hard Tifa worked. She was checking out the future site of the bar the day after next already.
"Would you like to come with me?" she offered nonchalantly.
"Sure!" Cloud said quickly. "Yeah. That'd be cool."
Tifa nodded, and they chatted for a few minutes more before Cloud managed to escape and get back on Fenrir. It felt good, getting that out of the way. And things turned out much better than he thought they would.
In a good mood, Cloud entered his home. It was... nice, almost, to be there. Warm. He smiled, knowing that the house wasn't empty—obnoxious supernatural company was better than no company at all, he had realized.
The Invisibles watched him come back (and they weren't exactly upset about that either). Genesis had told them of what had happened earlier; all of them had been shocked. It was progress though. Maybe they were finally on their way to getting Cloud's forgiveness.
Cloud and Sebastian settled on a couch to watch television, and they settled on various chairs or sat on the floor leaning against the couch only a few feet away from Cloud, in Zack's case.
It was nice to relax a bit for once.
Now that they were gone, Shin-Ra wasn't quite the same. The hallways—and especially the VR room—were quieter. He never heard any constant bickering in the elevators, and he wouldn't get a small, nicely-wrapped present on his desk during the holidays from the nicest of them anymore.
The new General was terrible. First Classes had been depressed ever since the incident. Tseng almost felt a little guilty, but he knew that what he had done was for the greater good of the company and the feeling faded away.
"Sir," he said politely when he passed Rufus in the hallway. The blond looked happy. He had gone missing a few days earlier and had returned with a hair cut, looking quite pleased with himself. Tseng almost shuddered, remembering the terrible uproar. Their Vice-President was a handful, that was for sure.
He continued to his office, placing a hand over his stomach. Lunch had been worse than usual; if he somehow got sick, the cafeteria staff had better watch out.
A minute or so after Tseng sat down in his office chair, he thought about Cloud. The man must have still been alive, as no raging invisible SOLDIERs had come for him yet. For that, he was thankful.
He didn't exactly have a plan as to what to do if they killed Cloud. He'd be next on their list. Sending Reno there was a precaution. If anything happened, he'd know early on and could act accordingly. Reno was a good Turk, even though he annoyed him most of the time. After he had 'returned' to Shin-Ra he had learned of some giant crisis where Reno had drunkenly sold his 'boyfriend' to leaders of two gangs who had been a permanent thorn in Shin-Ra's side. The poor guy had almost been killed, whoever he was.
Reno was an idiot sometimes. But, Tseng trusted him to carry out this mission well regardless.
The phone on his desk rang. Tseng frowned and held the receiver. "Tseng, Commander of the Turks."
"Tseng," came Scarlet's voice. "How're you?"
Ugh.
"Fine, thank you," he responded politely. "And you?"
"Great. Now—I need to know you took everything."
Scarlet, Heidegger and Palmer also knew that he had been involved in the whole thing. It had been the four of them who decided, all those years ago, that the General, his two Commanders and Fair, already a huge force within the company, were becoming too powerful. Too many people looked up to them, took their word as truth. Tseng knew that if they had decided to leave the company or revolt—as he feared they eventually would—then a chunk of everyone else would go with them. That was dangerous.
So, they had talked to Hojo. They needed the four of them to disappear, and Hojo had been itching to get them into his labs for ages. That had worked out nicely.
"I have," he said tightly. He didn't like any of the others. Scarlet kept trying to threaten him, but he was in charge here—he wouldn't tolerate it.
"Are you sure? Strife can't find anything. You know what he'll do if he does."
"I am positive," he said coldly. "Now, I have some work to do. Good day." He hung up and put the phone on its charger with far more force than necessary.
Of course he had everything. Even though he had left in a hurry after Hojo's death, he had gotten all his papers and destroyed the computer. Even though he knew that, he decided to check.
He pulled all the papers out of a special drawer in his desk and spread them out on the top. Everything seemed to be in order; Scarlet was going on about nothing, as usual.
A jolt of cold shock went through him when he realized he realized one of Hojo's reports was missing. Missing. Each one detailed what was done to each of the four of them—if anyone got their hands on one, it would be the end. His name was mentioned in those things.
Tseng resisted the urge to panic. He had to get to the mansion and get it before Cloud saw it. But how would he do that?
He got it, quickly reaching for his phone. It seemed a call to Reno was in order.