Disclaimer - I don't own Final Fantasy VII or its characters. I hope all of you will enjoy this new chapter.


You hate Him or You love Him?

Gloomy. The atmosphere in the cafeteria, which is usually the place where cheerful chatting and laughter rang without any type of control, is now extremely gloomy and this sudden change of atmosphere was because of a silver hair sulking teen, beside him were two 2nd Class SOLDIERs, Zack and Kunsel.

Zack had never ever want to admit defeat in his whole life, but his rather positive and optimist side doesn't seemed to have any sort of effect on his little companion and as the time passed, all the negativity in the air is starting to suffocate him and the other occupants in the cafeteria, he'll definitely crack if this continued.

'AH! SERIOUSLY KADAJ! STOP SULKING ALREADY! I CAN'T EVEN EAT MY LUNCH WITH ALL YOUR NEGATIVE ENERGY IN THE AIR!' Kunsel suddenly screamed out as he slammed his utensils on the metal table, but he shut up when he saw the raven hair teen glaring at him and resumed his slow chewing process on his food.

'I'm not sulking, I'm worry.' Kadaj muttered under his breath as he continued to stare at the plate of food in front of him.

'Worry? About what?' Zack asked curiously.

'Nii-san.' Kadaj answered as he poked his vegetables with his fork.

'You are always worrying about him whenever he is 5 feet away from your radar.' Kunsel pointed out and earned an angry glare from the youngster.

'You know he is just telling you the truth Kadaj. Maybe you're being a little over-protective these days.' Zack explained calmly.

'I'm not being over-protective. It's just that Nii-san was acting very strange these days.' The silver hair teen told them before he sighed tiredly.

The raven hair teen ran his hand through his hair and thought for a moment, and then he asked: 'How strange is it?'

'LOVELESS.' This small word had caused the two 2nd Class SOLDIERs to turn their head and cracked their necks in the process, but their faces, or just Zack's since Kunsel was wearing his helmet permanently, wore the same shock expression. 'Can you believe it? Nii-san had never even touched that book before and now he is reading it day and night as if his life depends on it!'

'You're joking, right?' Zack asked as he rubbed his sore neck, not believing what Kadaj had just said, but now that he thinks about it, Cloud did recited the Act IV without a single fault, still he can't just jump to conclusion and placed the young and oh-so-innocent blond in the list of Loveless' freaks! 'I mean maybe he is just reading it out of boredom or something.'

'Still, even if Nii-san did it because he was bored, there is still another thing that worries me.' Kadaj stopped pocking his vegetables and put down his fork before he continued. 'Nii-san was... I don't know... He is... Well, a little too happy...'

'And that's a bad thing?' Kunsel asked, not understanding the meaning of Kadaj on Cloud's odd behavior.

'Yes.' The silver hair boy answered firmly. 'I don't think Loveless is a happy play, it's more of a tragic one, so why Nii-san kept smiling every time he reads it?'

'That's really strange indeed.' The raven hair SOLDIER muttered as he scratched his chin in thought, then a smirk formed on his face. 'Oh I see now.'

'What?' Kadaj and Kunsel asked together.

'Are you sure that Cloud is really reading the Loveless or is he just looking at one particular spot in the book?' Zack asked instead of answering their question.

The silver hair teen stared confusingly at Zack, but the 2nd Class SOLDIER quickly catches on the meaning of the "one" and a grin surface on his face.

'Oh, I get it. Plan R.C.S.?' Kunsel asked as he flipped open his cell phone and dialed the number to the only person who can help them accomplish this secret task.

'Can someone tell what the hell is going on?' An irritated Kadaj asked out loud as he glared at his two friends.

'Oh, you'll see. Commencing Plan "Reveal. Cloud. Secrets!"' Zack shouted as he punched into the air. The punch that the raven hair teen had thrown seemed to have pierced the core of the negativity in the air and soon everyone in the cafeteria started their usual loud and happy chatter.

***

It was quiet and peaceful in Room 3C, Cloud and Kadaj's room, and there are only small sounds of turning pages, pen scrapping papers and shuffling sheets. The young blond had spent most of his free times to read the Loveless and to take some notes, or to be more exact he is trying to figure out what is the prophecy's meaning. He had, so far, figured that the prologue was stating a war, he had thought about the war of Shinra against Wutai, but he wasn't extremely sure about it, because of the word "beasts" in the sentence. Could it be a war with monsters? Or people who act just like a beast? So many questions was formed in Cloud's mind that he had decided to write them on the paper and tried to find the right piece to place in this ancient puzzle.

Moon will talk to him sometimes, but he mostly remained in silence to let the young blond some times to figure out the answers to his own questions which Cloud really felt grateful for sheer quietness and his warm presence next to him. Still, he felt unsettled and that something is wrong with the black phoenix.

A sudden knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. Cloud quickly put his pile of notes into the table's drawer before he went to open the door and was surprised to see Zack standing in front of him instead of Kadaj, since the silver hair teen couldn't stand being more than thirty minutes away from him, not that he really minds, but it was a little strange.

'Hi Zack!' The blond greeted the raven hair teen as he stepped back to let his friend entered his room. 'Come in! What brings you here today?'

'Oh, I haven't seen you for a long time, so I came to check up on you.' Zack told his young friend casually as he slipped into the room while Cloud closed the door, his blue mako eyes spotted the opened leather-bound book on the table. 'So you're reading Loveless?'

'Yeah, I'm kind of boring these days.' The blond stuttered as he went to his table and closed the book before he turned around to face Zack and gestured to him to sit on the bed. 'Oh yeah, have you seen Kadaj when you come here? I haven't seen him since morning.'

'Kadaj?' Zack muttered and rubbed his chin in thought before he shook his head. 'Nope I haven't seen, maybe he is just training by himself today.'

'Maybe.' Cloud repeated the word, but he had the strange feeling that something mischief is going on and Kadaj is part of it, hopefully not something that include flashy stuff.

***

Too bad that Cloud assumption was right because at this very moment somewhere six floors above his head, two persons stood next a small device with dozens of buttons on a table, a red hair Turk was yelling furiously and glaring at a certain silver hair teen: 'KADAJ! I TOLD YOU TO STOP PRESSING THE BUTTONS!'

'Hey! I'm just trying to make the volume louder! I can't hear a single thing they are saying!' Kadaj answered nonchalantly as his fingers tip-toed to one of the flashing buttons, but they are quickly snapped away by an angry red head.

'THAT'S BECAUSE THEY AREN'T EVEN TALKING YET!' Reno yelled as he swung his arms up dramatically, he still can't believe that Kadaj had won in the drinking game and he is now a slave to the SOLDIER for a whole year! 'GAIA! WHY DID I LOSE TO YOU! OUT OF ALL THE PEOPLE IN SHINRA! I HAD TO LOSE TO A KID!'

'Hey! I'm sixteen! Teenager, not kid!' The silver hair teen shouted angrily.

'Ssshhh! Stop yelling you two, Zack is making his moves now.' Kunsel told them in a low voice as he adjusted the volume of the radio, which is connected to a small microphone that was attached and hidden in Zack's glove, and the two other accomplices of this mission leaned forward to hear what the people in Room 3C are saying.

'Kadaj is more worry these days than he is used to.' Zack's voice spoke through the radio.

'Now that you mention it, he seemed a little... I don't know... Stress, maybe?' Cloud said with a hint of worry in his voice.

'Of course I'm stress Nii-san! You aren't acting like yourself!' Kadaj felt a small tap on his shoulder, but ignored it. 'I mean you are spacing out and all!' Another tap on shoulder, he ignored it again. 'Usually you are very concentrated on everything.' This time when he felt someone touching his shoulder again, he flung his hand around and snapped Reno's face. 'Will stop tapping me? It's freaking annoying!'

Reno who was covering his stinging nose told Kadaj: 'I didn't even touch you, you goddamn idiot!'

When they heard someone cleared his throat behind them, the trio turned around at the same time, their eyes went wide and a busted-it look on their face. Behind them stood Angeal, who stared at them amusingly and Sephiroth, Kadaj quickly pointed his finger at Reno and said: 'It's his idea!'

The red head pointed back at the SOLDIER 3rd Class and said: 'He asked for it.'

Then all eyes darted towards Kunsel who laughed nervously as he stuttered: 'It's just a... Tiny little... Private mission.'

Luckily for the trio, Zack's next question had caught everyone's attention in the room, so they might be able to escape whatever punishments that the two firsts were thinking, and all of them stared at the radio with great interest.

***

'So what do you think about your idol?' Zack asked.

'Sephiroth? He is a nice person.' Cloud simply answered, but when he saw the raven hair SOLDIER's that's-all-look, his eyebrow twitched in annoyance. 'What else do you want me to say, that I consider him a god and all those stuffs that his fans said?'

'No, but can't you be a little more specific?' Zack replied meekly.

'Specific.' The blond repeated as he looked down and scratched his chin in thought. What else could he say about Sephiroth, the great General and the Demon of Wutai? 'Well I could say that he is smart and collective, a fearless leader that could take on anything in his path...' But... 'I feel sorry for him...'

The occupant and the un-occupant of the room, except the man in question, "huh" at the same time. Cloud, ignoring his friend surprised reaction completely, continued as if he hadn't been interrupted: 'He was always wearing that emotionless mask in front of everybody and couldn't even relax for a second... When he had troubles, he had no one to truly turn to. There is only... Himself... The sadness, the hatred... He had kept all those emotions in him for so long, that it had gotten used to them and he hardly ever revealed them anyone anymore...'

A heavy silence fell among the listeners, they all felt like they were at someone's funeral and a single noise could destroy the silent respect to the person.

'But I'm really happy!' Cloud suddenly exclaimed cheerfully and everyone shouted "what" aloud, except Sephiroth whose eyes only widen in shock. 'Didn't you notice?'

Zack shook his head, while the others stared at each other, thinking that the other knew what the young blond had meant before they turned their gazes to their man in question who gave the look that said he doesn't know what the answer is.

'Sephiroth had showed more of his emotions these days.' The blond spiky boy told his friend with his brightest smile. 'Not like Kadaj of course, but he is showing to those who are closed to him what he is feeling. This is already a great beginning, right?'

Everyone was stunned by what the blond had just said and their respect for the boy grew tenfold. Zack was the first one to show his affection, he jumped on Cloud and hugged him like a teddy bear as he shouted: 'My little Cloudy had finally grown up!'

***

'HEY! LET GO OF NII-SAN!' Kadaj shouted at the radio as if the black hair teen could hear him before he dashed towards the door, but was caught by Reno and Kunsel and was pulled back to the table.

'Calm down Kadaj!' The helmeted SOLDIER told the struggling youngster while trying to maintain a firm grip on him just like his Turk companion. The struggle had only stopped when a loud "OUCH!" came out of the radio and the long cursing of the blond.

'ZACK! YOU IDIOT! WHY CAN'T YOU ACT A LITTLE MORE MATURE?!' Cloud screamed out.

'You're cruel Cloudy! Angeal pushed me gentler than you do.' Zack whined.

'SHUT UP YOU IDIOT! I don't get how Angeal could stand you jumping on him once a while! Geez!' The young blond said coldly.

'Ha! Serve you right Zack!' The silver hair boy immediately received four hits on the skull. 'OUCH! THAT HURTS!'

'You should really learn to respect your seniors.' Kunsel told the teen fumingly before he turned his attention back to the radio and so do the others as Cloud spoke once again: 'But I had to admit that he really have a lot of patience and determination to train you. At least he knows more than I do how beat some reasoning into someone's head. One day, I might have to ask him how he does that.'

It might not be the greatest compliment in the world, but Angeal thought that it is already enough for Zack to be proud of being his apprentice.

***

For someone who is mature, you're acting a little like a spoil child there. Moon told Cloud mentally and the blond could have sworn that he felt the black phoenix smirking in amusement inside his head. Don't you think your words are a little harsh?

Shut up! Zack is not a that BIG idiot, he knows what I mean anyway. When he heard the light chuckle of his winged friend, he was about yelled at him, but he got interrupted by Zack's next question: 'Ok, then what do you think about Genesis?'

Cloud opened his mouth to speak, but he quickly closed it as he pounded on this question. What does he thinks about Genesis? Now that he thinks about it, he doesn't really know the auburn hair man. He is different from Sephiroth, that's for sure. The silver hair General is almost like Kadaj, on a different level of immatureness, but both of them wanted to have someone that's like a brother, a person to whom to return to when they are lost...

Genesis, on the other hand, came from the rich Rhapsodos family who is the landlord of Banora village. He had a family to return to, unlike the two silver hair SOLDIERs, but is it really enough for someone who wishes to prove himself stronger than the great General himself? He always seemed distant from others...

Distant... From the others... Those words reverberated in his mind as he stared down at the floor. Cloud suddenly found himself sitting in his room at Nibelheim again, watching the kids from his window, thinking how immature they were...

'He's just like me...' The spiky hair blond spoke those words unconsciously. He said them so softly that almost every listener hadn't been able to hear them at all even with their enhanced hearing, especially for those who were only listening on the radio. 'At first, I didn't notice it, but now, I see the similarities between us.'

'We were both distant from others, always hiding in our room, just watching them... Because, we don't understand the people and we feared of the world that revolves around us. No one can be trusted... No one can be count on... There's just ourselves in our lives...' Cloud said as he looked down at his hands. 'Alone... We're always alone and self-centered... Everything around us is silent.'

'I guess that's why I never like it when you and Kadaj are being too loud or dragged me to some crowded place, it's always noisy. Yet, when everything had finally calmed down, somehow I wanted to hear some kind of sound or someone's voice.' The blond continued, then he remembered all those times he had spent with Moon whenever he is alone, a tiny smile curved his lips at the thought of these precious memories.

This didn't go unnoticed by Zack who jumped up in victory and shouted with glee: 'I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT! I KNEW YOU ARE IN LOVE WITH SOMEONE! I KNEW IT!'

'ZACK FAIR! YOU JERK!' Cloud growled as he punched the raven hair man who had simply evaded the fiery attack with grace and jumped around the room chanting "Cloud's in love!" with the blond chasing after him. 'YOU ARE DEAD! D-E-A-D! DEAD! ZACK FAIR!'

Six floors above them, the quartet had extreme difficulty to stop a rampaging silver hair teen from leaving their little observation room and asked the angry blond whether he is or not truly in love.

Unknown to both sides was that someone had heard this whole conversation outside of Cloud's room, with great interest too, even though they didn't spoke really loud, his enhanced five senses were almost sharper than Sephiroth himself. With a small satisfying smile on his face, he quietly walked away without being notice by anybody.


Ok, I have made this small chapter to tell what Cloud is feeling right now. Then I will move to the action part of the story. The CLIMAX is finally approaching! Please review and tell me what you thinking about this chapter or if you need more explanations. Also, I thank everyone who had written a review for my story, they really encouraged me to continue my story! THANK YOU VERY MUCH EVERYONE!