Note: Reminder: this is the second chapter I am posting today. Don't forget to check chapter 4 if you missed it! (So sick of editing… *collapses*)
Published on: 09/09/2012
Chapter 5
"I thought you said you weren't blood related?" were Zack's first words.
Then:
"No, wait, forget that. What's the guy doing in a Mako crystal? In a place like that?"
"Hum," was Angeal's only reaction, but his eyebrows had shot up.
Sephiroth's expression didn't betray anything, but the gaze he was setting on the crystal at the centre of the lake was intense.
As for Cloud, his thoughts were a complete mess. Looking closer, he could see the man in the crystal was not really his twin. For a start, since he was naked, it was easy to see his muscles were more defined than Cloud's own. They had the same kind of lean, almost delicate constitution, but that one could definitely pack a punch. His face looked older, too, and sterner, even in unconsciousness.
Cloud felt his breath catch as a thought came to him: that man could have been his brother.
Overjoyed, he made as if to run down, but a gloved hand caught his collar.
"Don't be foolish, Strife."
"But, sir!..."
"You cannot touch raw Mako, it would poison you," Sephiroth asserted mercilessly.
"He is right, Spike. Hey! Don't get yourself ill, okay? There has got to be an easier way to get him out of there."
"For now, we should check the rest of this place," Sephiroth said. "Angeal, take the left, I'll take the right. Zack, Strife, guard the entrance."
"You got it!" Zack exclaimed enthusiastically, with a few squats thrown in there.
Angeal simply nodded and left to inspect his part of the castle. Zack leaned against a wall, and Cloud's eyes switched from him to the lake. He wanted nothing more than to get a closer look at that man who was, under all probability, the brother he had been so worried for. Zack caught the look and, checking that Sephiroth was out of sight, he winked at Cloud and motioned him forward.
"Don't go too far," he mouthed.
Cloud beamed at him; he didn't have to be told twice! He hurried down a set of stairs to the edge of the lake, heart beating hard against his ribs. From down there, the sight was even more surreal. The crystal loomed over the water, rising straight up to a height of more than two men. His look-alike was suspended upright, limbs lying by his sides, chin resting against his chest. Cloud could see the faint preoccupied frown on his face. If he had tried to imagine what Rain would look like, would he have come up with anything different?
Before he realized it, Sephiroth was by his side. He jumped guiltily, having not even heard him approach. The SOLDIER didn't seem angry at his disobedience, though. Rather, he was once more considering the crystal with a pensive gaze.
"Nothing," Angeal said. "And no one. Looks like we are alone here."
Sephiroth nodded without looking at him, then said as if it was perfectly natural:
"I'm going in."
And thus saying, he took a step in the water.
"Whoa, hey, man!" Zack yelled, joining them at a jog.
Angeal stopped him with an extended arm. Sephiroth strode determinedly through the lake, and before long the water reached the tip of his hair, then swallowed his thigh-high boots. He was waist-deep when he came in reach of the crystal. Behind him, his hair floated like a banner on the surface.
Cloud balled his fists when he stopped there. What now? Sephiroth drew Masamune and examined the crystal. He reached out to test it with a gloved hand. Maybe he was considering cutting it open. He didn't have the time to, though.
Just as his hand came in contact with the Mako, an ominous rumbling suddenly filled the place. The ground started to shake under their surprised feet and nearly threw them down. They raised their heads to see hairline cracks begin to appear on the catwalks and the turrets' walls.
"Time to get out of there!" Zack said, barely keeping Cloud on his feet.
"No! Rain!..."
"Sephiroth, come on!" Angeal screamed over the roar of shifting earth.
Sephiroth hadn't moved. The green crystal itself had begun to fracture, cracks shooting upwards from its base and chipping at the structure surrounding the stranger's legs.
"Go ahead!" he shouted back. "I'll be right behind you!"
"But…!" Zack said, hesitant.
Sephiroth turned to look at Cloud over his shoulder.
"Go, Strife! I'll take care of it!"
There was no one else he would have so readily believed in these circumstances. Sephiroth's green eyes reflected nothing but determination. Cloud nodded sternly, heart in his throat, then took Zack by the arm and made a run for it.
Sephiroth saw Angeal go with a last worried look for him. He turned back, watching the cracks reach Rain's neck. The man had yet to show any sign of life. The water was sloshing around Sephiroth's legs, its mad currents trying to bring him to his knees. He sheathed Masamune and squared himself on his feet, ready to pounce.
Finally, the crystal gave way to a million shards of green glass. Rain collapsed, and Sephiroth barely managed to catch him before he slipped underwater. He lifted him in his arms and started on the way back, wading through the lake while whole chunks of the castle detached themselves and rained around him. He hunched over the unconscious man, slit pupils burning with will. He had not made it this far, so close to his only lead, to lose everything now.
He surged from the water and ran for the stairs out. He had nearly made it when he had to jump aside to evade the fall of a huge piece of a wall. The ground shook even more at the impact and he lost a precious second trying to regain his footing. His head snapped up. Another boulder was falling right on him.
Heart pounding, he threw himself forward, all the while knowing it was too late. The block slammed on his legs, pinning him to the ground and dragging a cry from his throat. Rain rolled a few meters forward and lay limp on the first step of the stairs.
Sephiroth twisted around and pressed a hand against the stone, measuring its weight. He groaned when it barely shifted under his strength, grinding his legs along the way. His breath came in short gasps. It was no use; the angle was just too awkward. He brought Masamune's hilt to his eyes, but he already knew he didn't have any Earth Materia on him. Another hunk of stone exploded near his elbow and he barely protected his face from the shards.
He raised his head, and his breath caught when he met Mako blue eyes. Weight supported by his forearms, Rain was coolly considering him. His face held no warmth, and Sephiroth remembered Strife saying his brother had no lost love for him. He damned his luck. He was at the mercy of this man.
Despite seemingly being made of pure light, the stairs began to crack under Rain. The man looked at it, his face betraying nothing. His gaze switched back to Sephiroth, then to the crumbling castle. His features creased with a faint frown.
Was he even realizing the danger they were in? If they didn't get killed in the collapse, they would get stuck down here if the stairs were destroyed. Rain certainly didn't look as alarmed as a civilian should have been. Were these Mako eyes really the consequence of Mako poisoning? Then again, Sephiroth knew all SOLDIERs by both face and name and Rain was not one of them. But the nimble way he leapt to his feet certainly didn't betray Mako poisoning either.
Rain stumbled and his frown became more pronounced, as if he had just realized something upsetting.
The light the surrounding walls had been providing to the cave was fading more and more. What irony it would be if Sephiroth were to die here, killed by a collapsing fairytale castle… His keen ears caught the pattering of bare feet under the racket around him and he spotted Rain suddenly at his side. He tensed, but the man was already ramming a shoulder against the boulder crushing his legs. Despite its weight, the stone lost no time moving. Sephiroth gritted his teeth against the pain, surprised and grateful.
He tried to get to his feet. One of his legs had somehow escaped most of the weight, and though the knee heavily protested, he still got it to mostly obey; the other one, though, felt like it had been completely crushed. Rain was instantly at his wounded side, sliding under his arm. Sephiroth allowed himself to be lifted upright and brought to the stairs.
Climbing to the surface was a dangerous affair with the steps collapsing nearly quicker than they were taking them. Sephiroth strained himself trying not to slow them down, the pain in his bad leg so blinding he felt he might pass out.
And yet, when they finally reached the exit, no solace was to be found. The shell house was collapsing around them. They found the door, skirted the sloshing pond and exited the grove of half uprooted white trees. Outside, the whole city was shaking. Sephiroth stared in disbelief at the crumbling walls and the cracks appearing in the streets. Angeal, Zack and Strife were nowhere to be seen, hopefully on their way to a safe place out of town. Rain let out an impatient puff of breath.
"That's a bit too much, don't you think?" he said to someone invisible.
He was talking softly enough that if it hadn't been for his exceptional hearing, Sephiroth wouldn't have heard him above the groans and roars of the shifting earth. The man looked pale. It couldn't have been healthy for him to be moving so soon after getting out of the crystal.
The ground cracked beneath their feet and Rain swore under his breath, his stumble nearly sending them both down. Before Sephiroth could react, Rain pushed a shoulder in his stomach and he was lifted off his feet, head hanging around the backside of a man that was smaller than him; not to mention very naked.
"I really don't think…" Sephiroth started, suffocated by Rain's impudence.
"Mind the hair," the man groaned.
Sephiroth barely had the time to wrap the full length of his hair around his arm. Rain was already moving, and if his first steps were hesitant, before long he was running along the wrecked streets at a speed that Sephiroth himself wouldn't have turned his nose at. Eyebrows rising in appreciation, he tried not to stare at the man's backside as he drove them forward, jumping from chunks of ground rising under his feet to fallen walls without any apparent difficulty.
Before long, Sephiroth caught a glimpse of the outskirts of the city. He also began to notice that Rain's breathing belied the ease with which he moved. His bare skin was beginning to shine with a layer of sweat.
With a roar that could have heralded the end of the world, Sephiroth felt his stomach take flight as the floor dropped under Rain's feet. Rain grunted and gave one last mighty push; the jump carried them through the city's limits and up to the very edge of the forest. They collapsed to the ground in a tangle of limbs and Sephiroth barely swallowed a scream of pain as the harsh landing jostled his leg.
No one would have heard him anyway; the noise of the city sinking in the ground was deafening. Sephiroth could only stare as the entire town slid down in its newly made crater, until even the tips of what few houses remained standing couldn't be seen anymore above the cliffs that now surrounded it like a protective barrier.
When the shaking finally stopped and the rumble died down, Sephiroth took a look at his companion. He was not surprised to find Rain had lost consciousness. Sighing, the SOLDIER manoeuvred his leg in a less agonizing position and shed his coat. He was laying it on Rain when his PHS began to ring from its pocket.
The caller ID indicated Strife. He had asked that everyone refrain from using their Shinra-issued PHS, and Strife was the only one of them who still had the old and decrepit phone he had bought himself before becoming a regular in the army. He had mentioned he had brought it with him because Rain would know the number by heart.
"Yes," Sephiroth answered briskly.
"Sephiroth," Angeal breathed. "Thank Gaia, you're alive! Where are you?"
With the town completely devastated, it was impossible to tell how far they were from the place Sephiroth and his companions had first entered the city. He looked at the sky.
"North-east from the wreckage, at the edge of the trees. You'll have to come get us. Tell our friend his brother is alive and with me."
Not "fine". Rain did not look fine. Angeal certainly caught the nuance, but he said nothing about it.
"We'll be there."
The line went dead and Sephiroth frowned at his PHS. There was a very high probability this call had been noticed. They would have to leave this place quickly and buy new phones soon, before it became too much of an inconvenience.
Rain looked better, now. Kneeling at his brother's side, Cloud once more put a hand on Rain's forehead. Still no fever. That probably meant he would wake up soon, right?
They had wrapped him in as many blankets as they could spare and settled him beside the fire. The only wounds on him had been the numerous cuts and bruises on his feet from his barefooted run through the collapsing city, and Cloud had already cleaned and bandaged them. He didn't seem ill, either, so there was really nothing more he could do.
Cloud shivered. They had gone back as far south as they could afford before camping for the night, but the winter was already settling in on the Northern Continent. It was not a nice weather to sleep outside in, but Sephiroth and Angeal had deemed it too risky to stay at an inn when they could have caught Shinra's attention. Luckily, they had found this cave where they were at least safe from the wind.
A mug of something hot appeared before his eyes. Cloud took it and smiled at Zack.
"Thanks."
"Don't worry, Spike. I'm sure he'll wake up in no time at all!"
Zack leaned closer to him and mock-whispered:
"At least he'd better, before Sephiroth shakes him awake himself!"
Sephiroth glared at him from his position against the wall. One of his legs was completely encased between splits and his other knee disappeared under bandages. He was unable to walk without help and it obviously set him on edge, so Cloud tried to swallow his nervous smile back.
"Zack has a point," Angeal actually chuckled, coming in with a load of wood for the fire. "Stop glaring at poor Rain, Sephiroth, it won't make him wake up any faster."
"You didn't see what I saw," Sephiroth insisted.
"So you have said. And I am as curious as you are to learn about the civilian who saved the life of the First amongst the Firsts."
Sephiroth didn't react to the friendly teasing, only frowning more.
"This man is no civilian," he said. "And I'd very much like to know why you never deemed it necessary to mention this, Strife."
Cloud's head snapped up.
"Sir?" he asked, surprised.
"Sephiroth," Angeal stepped in, "Mako overload has been known to —"
"He is displaying none of the symptoms of Mako poisoning. He was perfectly coherent and totally aware of his exceptional physical abilities, which rule out the hypothesis of a temporary increase in speed and strength."
"Are you sure you are unbiased in this?"
"What do you mean?"
Cloud didn't like Sephiroth's abrupt tone of voice. His eyes had taken a steely hint that scared him a little.
"I don't know, Sephiroth. You tell me. I understand Rain is important for your goals, but aren't you putting too much on his shoulders?"
Sephiroth's eyes narrowed.
"I know what I saw. Strife."
"S-sir!"
"What is your brother's line of occupation?"
Those slit pupils focused on him and Cloud nearly swallowed his tongue. Sephiroth had never looked so menacing to him. He had no idea what to say.
A rustle of blankets and a sigh prevented him from panicking.
"Sto' it," a very hoarse voice said.
Rain raised on an elbow. His hair was more dishevelled than ever and his eyes were half-mast, but he was glaring at Sephiroth. He made to sit, but instantly fell flat on his back.
"Rain!" Cloud cried, reaching for him in a panic. "What is it? Are you in pain? Are you ill? What do you need?"
Rain looked dazedly at the cave's ceiling.
"'m fine. 'ot all there yet. 'ive me a m'nute."
Zack curiously leaned over.
"Oh man. That's Mako eyes alright. You sure the guy isn't poisoned?"
Although the question was directed at Angeal and Sephiroth, Rain hissed:
"'m fine!"
He was closing and opening his fist, as if testing the waters. Cloud sneaked a look at Sephiroth. The SOLDIER had leaned back and the aggressiveness was gone from his body language. He was merely observing, face unreadable.
Rain propped himself up again and shook his head, furiously blinking, as if trying to move his brain in a more comfortable position. Cloud realized what was happening and struck his forehead, laughing in relief.
"Oh! You're just rusty!"
It seemed so obvious now. Of course it would be strange to suddenly have a body back after ten years in someone else's head, unable to even move a finger! Sephiroth had said he had carried him outside the city, but that must have been an adrenaline rush!
All three SOLDIERs in the cave gave him strange looks, but Rain just smiled. He had found the muscles of his mouth back, and after a second, he managed to focus his eyes on Cloud's face.
"Hey."
Cloud felt tears come to his eyes.
"Hey," he said, bravely trying to smile back.
He helped him sit, then hugged the living daylights out of him.
"You scared me," he breathed, face squashed against his brother's shoulder.
Rain put a hand on his back.
"I'm sorry," he sighed. "I was as surprised as you, Cloud. If I had had any hint of what was going on, any at all, I would have warned you, but it was so sudden… I probably panicked just as much as you did."
Cloud snorted at that.
"Liar, you never panic."
"I did this time. I am no Superman, you know."
Rain was casting a curious eye to Cloud's spare clothes in which they had dressed him.
"Sorry, these are a little small," Cloud apologized.
"Any of our clothes would have been way too big on you, though," Zack said, happily doing some squats. "Must run in the family!"
Rain stared, unimpressed, at the SOLDIER's sunny smile.
"Smooth, Zack," Cloud teased.
"What? Come on, you two can't not be related! Just look in a mirror! Right, Rain?"
"Don't harass the poor man, Zack," Angeal reprimanded. "Does he even know who you are?"
Zack hit his forehead with his palm.
"Oh man, that's right! I'm Zack, Zack Fair! Nice to meet ya."
He enthusiastically stuck his hand under Rain's nose. Rain just stared back, but there was a faint, nearly fond smile on his face.
"I do know who you are. All of you."
He turned back to Cloud.
"You should tell them the truth. About this."
He pointed to his head. Cloud felt his eyes widen.
"Y-you sure?"
"Some people need to learn not to look at you for answers."
Sephiroth narrowed his eyes. The temperature seemed to drop a few degrees. Zack and Angeal's eyebrows rose while Cloud ducked his head, cheeks burning.
A cold smile stretched Sephiroth's lips.
"I don't claim to know why you dislike me so much, but you are quite the brave man."
"Am I?" Rain answered in a monotone.
He threw his blankets back and warily tried to get up.
"Er… So, what truth are we talking about?" Zack barged in, anxious to dispel the heavy mood.
Cloud stared up at Rain, lost. Could he really tell them? He had gotten so used to being the only one knowing about this… He didn't even know where to begin, let alone where to end. Surely Rain didn't want them to know he was from the future?
Rain caught his eyes and smiled at him.
"Start at your beginning."
His beginning. His story it was, then.
"Right," he breathed.
He was nearly as nervous as the day of the SOLDIER exam. Hopefully, it would go more smoothly. Rain sat back down next to him, close enough that their knees were touching. The contact gave him courage.
"Well, it all started when I was about six years old and I began telling my mom about the invisible friend talking in my head… I guess it would have been natural, you know, just a kid's imagination, if it had actually faded with time. But Rain stayed."
Zack gaped. Both Angeal and Sephiroth's eyes had widened.
"Don't interrupt," Rain snapped before any of the SOLDIERs could say a word.
Zack's mouth closed and he dropped to the ground, the picture of attentiveness. Cloud smiled, grateful.
"Rain also knew a lot of things there was no way I could ever have known, about plants, animals, even monsters. Even when my mom began to worry I was getting too old for this, there was no doubt in my mind that Rain was his own person, and just as real as you and me. But it was beginning to be troublesome for me, so Rain suggested I stop telling anyone about him. It was easier this way."
Cloud's eyes dropped to his shoes.
"All this time, I had never really wondered about why Rain was there or where he was coming from. It just didn't mean anything to me. That's why when he reacted so suddenly during that mission in Modeoheim… Well, I was a bit lost."
"You are the one who stopped me?" Angeal asked suddenly, eyes intense.
Thankfully, Rain didn't react badly to the interruption.
"Cloud was relaying my words. I could never use his body, but the gist of what he said came from me."
He sent a grateful smile at Cloud, who was quickly learning his brother's eyes were much most expressive than his mouth. Cloud smiled back, genuinely happy to have him by his side. It made the black hole at the back of his mind a little less cold and lonely.
Angeal blinked.
"Then I guess my debt toward you is more important than what I had first fathomed."
But Zack looked as confused as he did and he had no qualms expressing it:
"Wasn't Cloud going on about Sephiroth at the time, though? I thought you didn't like him?"
"What?" Sephiroth asked, frowning.
Apparently, he hadn't heard this part of the story.
"No matter," he added immediately, turning back to Rain. "What I would rather know is why Strife would have had trouble contacting you about Angeal's ailment if you were, as he said, "in his head"."
Cloud felt insulted that the question hadn't been aimed at him, especially since he was basically being called a liar. Rain stared back at Sephiroth, apparently unimpressed, but the enmity between them was palpable.
"Remember I was an extra soul in a body that wasn't mine. Whether it weakened me or Cloud's body couldn't support two minds at once for too long, I was very often unconscious."
"Which means he slept a lot," Cloud supplied abruptly. "Like "six days per week" a lot, and I could never wake him up when he did that. You are all damn lucky he was here for Modeoheim at all."
He had crossed his arms and a very annoyed expression had found its way on his face. They were lucky Rain had intervened, and he was sick of them doubting his brother.
Zack laughed.
"Hey, relax Spike. Some of us might not, but I do believe you two! It explains plenty of things after all."
He started counting of his fingers.
"How you knew so many things in Modeoheim when you had barely heard of Angeal before; the way you zoned out while we were talking to Angeal in that alley; why you could never tell us how Rain had disappeared; why your dreams led us straight to him; and I suppose with how weird it was that Rain was in your head in the first place, it somehow fits in with how he could even have disappeared from Midgar to reappear on the Northern Continent, butt-naked and in a Mako crystal of all places."
"In a castle in the middle of a sleeping forest that had to be awaken by a harp," Angeal added with a straight face.
"That too."
Rain was scowling.
"I didn't ask for my life to be so ridiculous," he murmured.
Cloud giggled and nudged him with a shoulder.
"The harp thing really threw me, you know."
"Not my fault. I don't write the stupid rules."
"Well, how did you become an "extra soul" in the first place?" Zack asked, eagerly leaning forward.
Rain's eyes wandered in the cave's shadows.
"Who knows…"
"Oh, come on!" Zack cried in dismay, then, pleading: "Cloud?"
But Cloud had learned Rain's will. He firmly shook his head.
"I gave you my story. That's Rain's, so ask him. Besides, he barely told me anything."
"You can't seriously stop the explanations here," Angeal cut in, an eyebrow raised in disbelief.
"Why not?" Rain answered. "While I thank you for getting me out of the crystal, it's really none of your business. Let's just say we are even and leave it at that."
"Ah…"
Cloud tugged at his shirt, embarrassed.
"Rain… Zack, Sephiroth and I had to leave Shinra when you disappeared. We were afraid Shinra had you since you know so many corporation secrets."
Rain looked thrown.
"Had me? How?"
Cloud ducked his head.
"Well, now it sounds ridiculous…" he muttered. "It's just you were always going on about how dangerous Shinra is, so I thought…"
Rain looked sheepish.
"It's alright, I get it. You had no idea of what had happened, after all."
He was trying to be reassuring, but he was obviously troubled.
"So. Shinra has no SOLDIER First left."
"Yeah," Zack said, worried. "I had been wondering about that. Shinra has been trying to cover up for our defection, sure, but someone is bound to notice. What if these AVALANCHE guys decide now is a good time to attack?"
Sephiroth didn't look very concerned.
"They'll send Turks to deal with it and handpick a couple of SOLDIER Seconds to promote. I wouldn't worry about it."
"Is that kind of attitude really alright?" Angeal sighed. "I don't particularly like Shinra, but it's the only entity granting stability to the people right now. We don't need a civil war."
"It's too late to have second thoughts. No matter what kind of situation the company is in, do you really think they'd welcome traitors back with open arms? And frankly, I could care less about Shinra right now."
As he was saying that, Sephiroth's eyes sought Rain. The man had gotten to his feet and stood at the cave's mouth, his back turned to them, obviously deep in thought.
An uneasy silence befell them.
"We should go to sleep," Zack suggested. "I don't know about you, but I'm dead tired! Might as well talk about all of this in the morning."
"Yeah," Angeal approved. "I'll take first watch…"
"Uh," Cloud timidly interrupted. "If it's nothing, I'd rather take it. I'd like to talk a bit with Rain."
Rain had turned back to them and he nodded.
"I just woke up anyway. I won't be going to sleep right now."
"Very well, then," Angeal shrugged.
The SOLDIERs moved to settle down for the night while Cloud joined his brother at the mouth of the cave. After a short conversation, they went out and sat a small distance from the camp.
"Here should be fine," Rain said.
"Brr, you sure? It's cold here."
Rain glanced apologetically at him.
"Sorry, but I'd rather no one hear us. The wind will cover our voices if we speak softly."
Cloud straightened at that.
"Is something wrong?"
Rain's pensive eyes wandered in the night around them.
"I can't stay, Cloud."
Blunt as always. Cloud stayed silent a few seconds, winded by his astonishment.
"W-why?" he blurted. "Rain…!"
His brother slid a worried glance to the cave where the three SOLDIERs had laid down. Cloud let his voice die. Rain whispered:
"You know where I came from and why I am… here… now. Whatever. There are things I need to do, and I can't bring Angeal or Sephiroth with me. I won't take that risk."
"… Does it have anything to do with that thing, the source of the J cells?"
Rain stayed silent, which was an answer in itself.
"Then I'll come with you! I'll help! Zack can stay with them and—"
"No Cloud. It's too dangerous."
Cloud opened his mouth to argue but found nothing to say. He was terrified of losing his brother just when he had found him again. Rain's eyes softened.
"Don't be mistaken. I know what you are capable of, more than anyone. I'm serious when I say it will be very dangerous. And I also know," he added, speaking over his objections, "that you want to come all the same, but I won't allow it. Besides, I need you to keep an eye on Sephiroth. Now that he has actually left Shinra, I'd feel uneasy if he were to wander around without me having any idea of where he went. You are the only one who can watch him for me."
That was a valid argument, Cloud knew. With the way Rain behaved around Sephiroth, there was no way it was just a bone thrown at Cloud to make him stay put. The SOLDIER genuinely made his brother nervous.
"But… does that mean we'll keep in contact?"
"Of course. You still have that old junk of a phone, right?"
Cloud brandished it. He had known taking it along would be useful! Rain smiled.
"Then I'll be in touch. Not immediately, of course, I'll need to get a phone of my own."
"But you have no money!" Cloud realized. "Ah, and no weapon, too! And… uh, no shoes."
They both lowered their eyes to Rain's bandaged feet. There was no helping it, Cloud had no spare shoes.
"When do you leave?"
Cloud was holding his breath, but somehow, he already knew the answer.
"… Now."
"So soon? But what if you end up having some sort of after-effect from the crystal? What if…"
He cut himself off, sighing. He already knew this battle was lost. He suddenly bent down and tugged at his Shinra-issued boots, thrusting them at Rain.
"Here."
"Cloud…"
"If it's that way, you'll need them more than me. Besides, the others will know I helped you. We're brothers, after all."
Rain smiled at him and put the shoes on. Like Cloud's clothes, they fit well enough. It was almost scary how physically alike they were.
"Also, money. Take everything you need from my account. You remember the code, right?"
"You don't have to do this."
"Of course I do. The sooner you get a phone, the sooner you can call me! And besides, I wouldn't feel safe using my account right now. Is it possible Shinra can watch those?"
"Very possible," Rain conceded. "All right, this can work our way. I'll take as much as I can in one shot, and they'll come after me instead of you. Since I'll be travelling alone, I'll be harder to find and the four of you can move around more freely."
"If you think it's alright…"
Rain put a hand on his shoulder and smiled.
"It'll work out, I promise. I'll be back before you know it."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I'll do my best to make it short."
They hugged and, for a short while, Cloud revelled in the warmth and solidness of his brother's strong frame. They moved apart, and Rain sneaked a glance to the cave. He stilled and Cloud followed his gaze. Two cat-like eyes were staring at them. Even with the distance and the fire between Sephiroth and them, Cloud shivered.
"Sorry," Rain breathed, turning his back to the SOLDIER.
Cloud wondered if he was trying to prevent him from reading his lips. Could Sephiroth do that? He wouldn't put it past him.
"It looks like I am throwing you to the wolves. Don't hesitate to tell them I'll be contacting you soon. Make sure you stay close to Zack."
"Sephiroth won't do anything to me, Rain," he said, with less assurance than he would've a few months ago.
He had seen how obsessive Sephiroth could get. Rain's departure would without a doubt displease him, a lot. Rain rose, and Cloud could only cling to his hand. He could hardly believe they were already going to part. Rain looked softly at him.
"I'll see you soon," he promised.
Then he was gone, running so fast the night seemed to swallow him in mere seconds.
Cloud didn't see Sephiroth shoot to his elbows, livid, and shake Angeal awake. Maybe Sephiroth would have had a chance to catch up to Rain if he hadn't been injured, but as it was, it was already too late anyway.
Cloud was more focused on the sudden thought that had come to him as he had been watching that figure that looked so much like him disappear, wearing both his clothes and his shoes. If Rain came from the future, then… could it be that the reason they were so much alike…
Another note: If you think a lot of things are left unexplained in this chapter, you're right. We'll come back to it later in the story. (If you think I am pushing it to have Rain!Cloud disappear just after his big comeback, you're probably right too… but he'll be back soon, I promise! :D)