Disclaimer: I own nothing and make no money from this work. Anything recognizable to the Final Fantasy VII series and its associated parts belongs to Square Enix and affiliated companies.

Green Dreams

Chapter Five: Errant Errand

The copy room turned out to be the busiest place Cloud had ever been to. It the busyness of the seven blocks of the Midgar marketplace condensed into one room with a more than dozen huge machines taking up half the space. Graphs and charts of all colors for finance and business were strewn about while harassed employees were digging through the piles to find the own papers. There was no order to the lines at the copy machines. Whoever pushed and shoved their way to the front and slammed their papers on the screen first won. Interns stood gaping, knees knocking, on the fringes of the room. It was utter chaos.

Cloud moved a bit closer to Zack, feeling a little overwhelmed.

Zack though was perfectly calm as he shoved his way through the hectic secretaries. Cloud followed behind him, staying close. He was perfectly fine in just about any battle situation, but he didn't know the first thing about offices. It took a shorter amount of time than Cloud expected to navigate the bedlam. Zack flashed some female secretaries a couple of flirty smiles, discreetly nudging people who didn't move fast enough, joked with a janitor who was cleaning up an ink spill, and got his fifty packets and reports copied in about fifteen minutes. This charisma and charm was a part of Zack Cloud secretly wished he had a little more of.

They wove their way out of the mess again, Cloud now burdened with a stack of files, each at least ten pages thick, topped with a couple of manila folders stamped with official seals. Cloud's eyes could just barely see over the top, though it wobbled precariously if he walked too quickly or someone jarred him. Zack had two packets under one arm and was leading Cloud cautiously forward, covering him from the worst of the crush. They finally exited into the windowless hallway, Cloud's ears ringing as the thick carpeting absorbed the sound of their boots clunking along.

"Is it always like that?" Cloud asked after he felt he could hear again. How Zack managed it over the sound of those freakishly loud machines with his enhanced hearing Cloud didn't know.

"Pretty much," Zack said. "It's worse during the day though. This is the beginning of the night shift though, that's why it's so busy."

The hallway ended at three elevators, including the glass elevator that went to the highest floors. Through the glass elevator the rest of Shinra continued to run efficiently. Cloud could see the people on the first floor dotted all over the place running around like ants. The roof in the entrance hall was impressive, rising up like a shiny dome with a focal point of a solid gold chandelier.

The three elevators didn't have access to the labs, as Cloud already knew, watching the numbers tick down of the leftmost elevator. Getting down there required a more discreet entrance tucked away from curious eyes. The labs habitually suffered blackouts when electricity was rerouted for experiments, leaving them with lighting straight out of a horror movie sometimes. The numbers started at U1, then U2 and on down underground. As the levels got lower, higher access codes and stricter security kept lips sealed tight. Cloud couldn't help but think of the people who could be suffering somewhere stories below his boots. His stomach heaved a bit at the thought, and Zack's sunshiny presence almost dimmed in Cloud's mind.

Zack brightened back into existence quickly though as he nudged Cloud back to reality. The First figured Cloud seemed all right, a little morose, though it may have just been the fact that Zack couldn't see most of Cloud's face behind the packets.

The elevator dinged, and Zack turned expectantly towards the doors, though they didn't open. He turned to Cloud to shrug, but the blond was looking towards the glass elevator. Passing their floor in the transparent machine was a burly man with a dark, shiny baldhead. His hands were locked behind his back, and he stared straightforward through a pair of dark-tinted sunglasses. He was impeccable in appearance, but menacing all the same.

"He's a Turk," Zack murmured in explanation, flicking a glance at Cloud. "Just watch out, okay? He's pretty noticeable, but some of the others blend in well, so watch your step." Rude's dark skin tone was an uncommon feature, and many people tended to stare. It was the same with many of Wutain descent in some areas of the world.

Once Rude was gone, Zack started idly bouncing on the balls of his feet, clearly impatient for their elevator to come. Cloud watched him for a moment, strongly reminded of a bored eight-year old, before he shifted the weight of the papers a bit.

Zack looked back over at him and shrugged. "I bet some intern on the first floor hit every damn button on the way up here." He nudged Cloud a bit and laughed. "Kid probably had no idea where he's going, so he's just checking every name tag on each floor." Zack smiled again, enjoying his jibe before turning back to the elevator expectantly, as though the doors might open to his will.

Cloud looked on for a second, suddenly feeling the urge to keep up the conversation. "Where are we going?"

Zack turned back towards Cloud and couldn't help but chuckle. Cloud was all hair and two big blue eyes behind the stack of papers. He blinked up at Zack once, his head tilted just barely to the side looking innocently curious.

Zack winked at him.

Cloud frowned back though Zack couldn't see it. Zack's playful gesture instead of an answer annoyed the blond a bit, since he hated to go into any situation blind. At the same time, Cloud's heart felt a little warm that Zack was so laidback with him the way they used to be.

Their elevator arrived finally, and they stepped into it. The lighting slipped between the cracks from floor to wall and at the corners of the room. It made for weird shadows that wavered and danced in front of them. The whole machine grumbled and groaned, and gave a mildly frightening shudder as it passed the twenty-third floor. Zack leaned back against the wall and smiled mysteriously at the blond, who was watching the numbers rise higher and higher.

"You don't know Shinra well enough to guess who's on what floor," Zack informed Cloud smugly.

Cloud shrugged in response. He knew generally who was where, or at least what rank the people were, though as a cadet he shouldn't have. However, the more floors that passed them by, the more nervous Cloud became. Wherever they were going, it was to an important somebody's office.

The elevator kept rising and Cloud had a sudden realization of their most likely destination. Zack was, though Cloud had forgotten, the Lieutenant General of SOLDIER. It was the second most powerful position in SOLDIER and guaranteed Zack an office on a high floor.

Cloud exhaled and his relief was almost palpable. The blond would never say it out loud to Zack, but he'd been worried they were going to Sephiroth's office. Cloud peaked at Zack from the corner of his eye, but the man's wickedly mischievous smile just wouldn't go away. His mako-brightened eyes glittered at his inside joke and flashed over to Cloud's. The blond huffed a little for Zack's benefit, and the SOLDIER just laughed.

The elevator finally stopped on Floor 45. They stepped out, Cloud rather carefully as his stack wavered a bit, and into the muted stillness of a large, open seating area with a couple couches and a coffee table with a vase on it. It had about as much personality as a hotel room. As Cloud stepped out he noticed the carpet was quite thick, and around the square lounge were four evenly spaced doors and one directly opposite the elevators at the far side. Each had a plaque nailed to it announcing the office and name of the occupier.

Zack led Cloud around the couches and the blond strained to read unfamiliar names off the shiny plates. These offices were all for the Lieutenant Generals, but the two on the left side were for the regulation army. The one on the right must have been Zack's, and the fourth room likely a break room or maybe even a secretary's. Being considerably larger in size than SOLDIER, the regulation army had two Lieutenant Generals while Zack was the only one for SOLDIER.

Zack kept going past the door with his name and rank on it and instead went to the farthest door in the room. The well of dread that had been steadily growing in Cloud's stomach suddenly turned into a lead weight when the SOLDIER stopped.

General

Cloud was noticeably tense, and Zack was again distinctly reminded of a startled chocobo at the way Cloud's shoulders stiffened. He seemed to shrink behind the papers, and Zack almost felt the need to look over the top of the copies and make sure the blond was still there.

Zack of course knew what Cloud had noticed, and the First's playful mood started to evaporate when Cloud's reaction was obviously moving away from "startled" and into "panicky" territory. The SOLDIER had been enjoying keeping the secret of their destination from Cloud, but now he wondered if that had been such a good idea. The blond looked like he was thinking of making a run for it.

"Relax Cloud, the man doesn't bite. You can't leave me to carry all those papers by myself, now can you?" Zack's lame attempt at loosening the atmosphere fell flat, as Cloud didn't so much as twitch, his eyes darting to the other doors for a just a brief moment. The SOLDIER frowned at the blond, though Cloud didn't seem to notice. Zack had been hoping Cloud would be a bit tougher than this, but apparently the thought of meeting Sephiroth thoroughly intimidated him. Maybe it was too early, given he'd only approached him today, but Cloud had really caught his eye, and Zack had thought the kid could take the surprise.

Zack had dragged other messengers into the General's office before and they'd all been trembling messes or bracing themselves for the worst. Zack found it rather funny for strangers or cadets and Thirds that annoyed him, but with Cloud it just felt mean to make Cloud so uncomfortable. Zack had already justified this impromptu meeting though. Cloud had been really interested in Sephiroth, and Zack thought he might open up more if he thought he'd have a boost to get into SOLDIER after meeting a mildly interested Sephiroth.

The blond looked more like he was going to an execution though. Did he really think he was doing poorly enough to be kicked out of the program?

Cloud, dazed, was wondering how to convince Zack to go to Sephiroth's office alone. The shock seemed to break over Cloud when no one dragged him forcibly through the door as he stood there like a frozen deer. Zack's eyes were on him, he could feel it, and the blond knew already that retreat wasn't an option. It was better to fight this battle now, even if he was totally unprepared for it.

His steps were carefully measured as he came closer to where Zack was standing by the door. Cloud had to remind himself there was no reason to be nervous. This wasn't the same Sephiroth he'd known for all of his adult life. This Sephiroth was perfectly sane, a man in control of his emotions and powers. He was the man under Hojo, unaware of where he came from or how his life really began. Cloud's heart lurched painfully and drummed a staccato rhythm against his ribs. This Sephiroth was not diabolical or a sociopath. General Sephiroth was a powerful man, assertive on and off the field, and brilliant. He was a taciturn, observant, direct, calculating man that might see through Cloud's farce in a second.

Oh shit.

Cloud definitely stopped breathing there.

All the things Cloud knew—Lucrecia, Vincent, Hojo, Jenova—all of that was Sephiroth's history. Cloud's intimate and detailed knowledge was nothing if not incredibly suspicious, and if Sephiroth ever got an inkling that Cloud might have dabbled where he shouldn't have then there would be hell to pay.

Zack started to talk again, but Cloud couldn't hear the words. He knew he might be able to pull the wool over Zack's eyes, but Sephiroth played a whole different game that the rest of the world could barely keep up with. Cloud had known that life was the same as war to Sephiroth, just done more subtly and occasionally with less violence.

He would have to be careful. Not forgettable maybe, because ultimately that wouldn't help the future, but certainly not remarkable either. He needed to keep his cool, be calm, and be brave. It was stupid to be cowardly here after all he'd seen. Cloud repeated that line in his head as Zack moved forward and threw open the door with flourish.

Reno sauntered down the hallway at an unhurried pace, musing over the missing Cloud. The blond hadn't been in dinner when he got there, which Reno found annoying. Even worse, everyone had been talking about how First Class SOLDIER Lieutenant General Zack Fair pulled him out. Reno didn't generally like not knowing why something was happening under his nose like that. He liked to know where predictable people should be, and Cloud, who hadn't made a splash with the First as far as he could tell, had seemed the predictable type.

Well, when people proved you wrong, you changed your idea.

The redhead scratched along one scar on his face and idly wondered where the SOLDIER First Fair came into all this. That black-haired man was a hard opponent; Reno could see it right away why the man was Lieutenant General, the same way the weaker predator knows when he's in the wrong territory. It made Reno wonder just what he was doing down with the cadets, and in particular Cloud. Surely he had some Thirds to bother? Or even a Seconds platoon to train?

Or maybe he had noticed something different about Cloud too; something in the blond's manner that drastically changed overnight. It was like all the confidence Cloud had been missing had been shoved into his head in one go. He just woke up one morning, and Reno had looked over and had practically seen double. Where was the angsty, anonymous, struggling Cloud?

Reno almost put the hair he was tugging on in his mouth then thought better of it. He had just gotten off the training fields, and his hair was lank and sweaty. He tucked the lock behind his ear and stuffed his hands in his pockets. He lazily turned the corner in a wide arc and rounded his way down to the cadet barracks.

People had been noticing what Reno had picked up on too. Cloud had gotten suddenly become less shy and more standoffish, and he'd started training all the time with a new dedication that probably put most SOLDIERs to shame. But why?