Note: If you didn't read the chapter I replaced the repeated chapter with, read it now. It contains plot.
Who is Cloud Strife?
In the infirmary Angeal had been sure it was a concussion talking, and he still thought that was part of it, (why else would he think he's dead?) and it seemed like the boy really did have at least partial amnesia. But now, now Cadet Strife was talking about trespassing on Shinra property, frequently enough that he can remember doing it at least once, going through the place thoroughly enough to find a hidden passage, and now desecrating the dead? Even if one of the people in the coffins had been alive, somehow, there had to have been a reason he was looking in the coffins in the first place.
This whole thing seems suspicious, Angeal thought as he watched the young blond freeze up at something the girl said. But what it made him suspicious of, exactly, he wasn't quite sure.
"Just stay there for awhile," the cadet murmured, trying to keep his voice calm even though it was clear he was starting to break down. "Do whatever you need to do. Take as much time as you want, just don't eat anything you get from the mansion. Once you're done there, head to Rocket Town. What? What do you mean? Oh. Umm, there is a town on the other side of the mountain, right? Yeah, that's the place I was trying to say. If you can't find anywhere there to stay, get a hold of me again. Yes, I know. Send a letter then. Are you sure you'll be alright? Okay. Bye." Judging from the girl's previous hysterics, Angeal guessed that there was a reason Strife didn't say goodbye.
Strife turned around, lines on both sides of his face glittering. "Will you be alright?" Angeal asked gently, taking a small step forwards in case the boy collapsed or something.
A blank face looked up at him, and for some reason that only made Angeal much more concerned. It held no emotion whatsoever, and the only ways you could tell that he had felt something at some point were his slightly red eyes and the trails of his tears. "I am not sure,' Strife answered quietly after Angeal had almost given up hope of getting a response.
The raven-haired SOLDIER cautiously took the cadet's arm and led him out of the office, mouthing a silent 'thank you' to the secretary on the way. During the walk through the hall back to the cadet's room, the only sound was their slightly muffled footsteps. Maybe we should take the elevator, Angeal thought. I'm not sure he can handle stairs right now. When the spaced-out blond didn't even react when they changed course, it just upheld his theory that this was something big. Maybe so big that it could effect other people?
They reached the elevator, and Angeal was grateful that Shinra had not felt it necessary to have music playing at all times. "Can you tell me what happened?" he pried carefully, watching the boy in case of an explosion.
"They're all dead," Strife intoned numbly, "Dragon. Tifa's the only one left."
Angeal winced in sympathy. Losing people was hard, especially if the deaths were all at one time. More than once he was heartbroken when whole companies had walked straight into a Wutai trap. Genesis was the only one of his year mates left.
"They weren't supposed to die."
Strife had whispered it so quietly Angeal wasn't sure he had heard it, eve with his Mako hearing. But when he registered how completely broken that sentence had sounded, he had to fight the urge to hug the poor child. "You could probably get some time on leave. Go home. Mourn."
Strife glanced at him sharply for a moment before a dry, humorless, bark of a laugh left his throat. "You don't get it. Tifa is the only one left. Nibelheim no longer exists."
His whole town was burnt down? With only one person left alive? No wonder the kid was so messed up. Wait Nibelheim? Wasn't that where… Angeal's gaze hardened. "Are you going to blame him?"
Strife's face scrunched into a position that would have been comical if not for the depressing circumstances. "What?"
"Do you blame Zack?" Angeal asked again, raising his voice slightly. It would be hard enough for the puppy just hearing about this whole thing, but the SOLDIER First wasn't sure his student would be able to recover if his pet cadet abandoned him because of it.
The boy just stared at him for a moment before seeming to shake out of his trance and hurriedly answer, "No. Never. It- it wasn't his fault. Nothing is his fault."
Angeal recoiled slightly at the venom in the cadet's voice. It seemed the blond had quite a hero worship thing going on for the puppy, and Angeal wasn't exactly sure what to think about it. Sure it's nice that he wasn't going to start avoiding Zack, but the kid just found out his whole world is gone because of one of the SOLDIER's mistakes, and he's already defending him with a vengeance.
A ding reverberated throughout the elevator as the doors opened, and Angeal was just glad Strife had snapped out of it enough that he didn't have to be dragged through the halls anymore. They stopped at the boy's room and Angeal put a hand on the cadet's shoulder before letting him walk in. "You should stay here today. I'll get you excused from the lessons, you just concentrate on recovering, okay?" Strife nodded in agreement, but he wasn't convinced. "I mean it. You have to come to terms with what happened, not just shut it away and let it brew. If you let that happen it will just be all the more explosive when it comes out, and believe me, it will come out."
Angeal gave a mental sigh as Strife nodded numbly, probably not listening. If only there was something else… was that red hair he saw? He probably looked a bit strange peering around the door, standing on one foot and leaning way over to see into the room more, but the only one there to see him was a recently traumatized cadet.
The SOLDIER quickly righted himself after confirming that yes, there was a familiar ratty, red ponytail hanging over the edge of one of the beds, and yes, it was highly probable that the nearby lump completely covered by blankets was a certain Turk-cadet that his student knew quite well, and yes, Angeal could doubtless get him to stay behind and watch over a certain blond who was in a highly unpredictable state at this moment without feeling guilty about denying anyone knowledge they needed.
Angeal padded quietly into the room, leaving the door open behind him. He crept up to the red haired boy, grabbed the ponytail, and pulled gently. As expected, Reno's body rippled down from his head to his toes and he awoke.
"Uuuawh," he yawned loudly, luckily not waking any of the other boys. "Whoever you are, you better go away before I wake up, yo."
Angeal snorted and his lips twitched slightly in amusement. "I am not leaving, cadet Reno. I need to talk with you about something."
Reno just burrowed deeper into the bed, mumbling, "You already talked to me, Cloudy. You made me get up, yo, and that is not happening again before it has to."
A dark eyebrow quirked in a silent question to no one. Cloud already got Reno up today, did he? I wonder what for, Angeal thought curiously, not really feeling a pressing need to know.
"Your superior officer Commander Hewley is ordering you to get up, Cadet Reno," he whispered in the aforementioned red head's ear.
Reno's eyes seemed to glaze over for a bit before he snapped out of it and jumped out of bed. Now that Angeal thought of it, Reno did kind of space out a lot. When he did that, he was still paying attention; he just didn't look like he was. "Whoa man, don't do that again, yo. Your voice was so creepy. Urgh." The cadet shivered slightly before shaking his head and inquiring, "Yo, what's up?"
Angeal spoke softly, "Could you stay here today? Cadet Strife isn't going to classes today because," here he hesitated, "of something that happened. I'm not sure I trust him to not do anything drastic in his current state." Or what Angeal believed to be his current state. The boy seemed so cut off from everything that he was almost impossible to read. Sooner or later, he would break down, and the SOLDIER First didn't want him to be alone when he did.
Reno blinked at him. "Cloudy? What happened to him, yo? He was fine just a sec ago when he woke me up."
"That is not for me to tell," Angeal replied sternly. "Just, be careful, alright? He could snap at any time, so don't be surprised if he suddenly bursts into tears."
The strange cadet's expression at the thought of what Angeal believed to be a normally stoic boy sobbing his heart out was… interesting, to say the least. In other words, Angeal hadn't even known it was possible for a face to do that. "Uh, yeah. Sure, yo. I mean, PT is just annoying, and it's not like I'm learning anything I'll actually use in the rest. I do get to lunch though, right? 'Cause gross as that crap is, yo, it's still food, and I need food."
Angeal nodded and cast one last glance at the blond boy who was now laying on the bunk above Reno's before leaving the slightly cramped room behind. Not enough time to go back to sleep, he thought with a sigh. Might as well get paperwork done. But what was he going to do about Nibelheim? He didn't know what Shinra would make of it, because it could be bad publicity, and he didn't want to cause Strife anymore pain, even if indirectly. I was very possible that Shinra would do nothing at all, since it wasn't exactly their fault; however, it was better that no one else knew who had gone to the town shortly before it had been destroyed. It seemed like Angeal had a report to burn.
He opened the door to his office, staying quiet even though there was probably no one on the floor right now. It was before most people woke up, after all. He padded over to his desk and shuffled through the paper patiently. It had to be here… somewhere…. But what if Sephiroth had already gotten it? Then he'd just have to ask his friend for it back, Angeal consoled himself. Even if he couldn't find it, it was doubtful anyone would bother looking through the report records anyway, but he would feel safer with all bridges burned. Of course, some couldn't be eliminated, like Sephiroth, Cloud, and the pilots who had flown his puppy over there, but Sephiroth wouldn't tell, Cloud had already said he didn't blame Zack, and no one would think of or care enough to find the two who had flown that mission.
Ah, there it was. Angeal removed the paper and reached for his Materia before stopping. While he wanted the report gone for good, it was probably not a good idea to unleash a Hell Firaga in his office. He could tone it down some, though Genesis was much more proficient with both fire and Materia, it was much easier to control a lower level Materia, several of which he very conveniently had in his desk drawer.
Why is it, Angeal thought as he leaned over to pull out the drawer, that all of the cadet's confiscated items are sent to me? Sure, in was amazingly handy at times like these, but those times were very far and in between, and it wasn't very practical. It was a very lucky thing that the cadets did not know he had their stuff, otherwise he would be constantly besieged by unrelenting children begging for their things back.
He dug through the accumulation of just about everything from junk to a diamond earring before pulling out a very low leveled, bad quality Fire Materia. The Materia was firmly in one hand, the report in the other and his thoughts concentrated on what he wanted to happen. Soon the Materia grew warm and a very weak flame hit the paper and he watched disinterestedly as it turned to ash, dropping it before it reached his fingers. Angeal gazed at the pile of dust on his floor before giving a sigh of relief as the ominous sense he hadn't even noticed he had been feeling broke.
He returned the Materia to its proper place, but as he withdrew his hand he felt a slight vibration. Angeal hesitated for only a moment before digging through the pile, searching for movement. A few seconds later it stopped, but he had seen what it was that had been stir. He pulled it out and his lips thinned. Of course, of course, it just had to be Strife's PHS, never mind the fact that there were probably dozens of other electronics belonging to other, less confusing people who hadn't cause a single complication in their life. Dreading what he was about to do but feeling like he had no choice in the matter, he flipped open the phone and revealed the latest message, his internal organs seeming to sink when he read it.
TTRSlash, Objective one was unable to be completed due to the lack of target in the designated area. Objective two was achieved with minimal difficulties, though I may not have eliminated all there is. There are changes in what was. I was unable to contact you sooner because it seems something was left behind. Other than that there have been no complications I could not handle. You may not be able to contact with me right away because there are strong winds where I am, but that does not mean you should not try. TTRHeart
Dreams of the Morrow, Chapter 12: The Commander. Updated October 16, 2011. 2,351 words.
Well, it was almost quicker. This story will probably be updated every 2-4 weeks other than that, no promises. Sorry about the mix up with the last chapter, but thanks to those who told me about it. I actually can't think of anything to say. Umm... I like constructive criticism. Improving myself is good.
If anyone knows any well written, completed, kid friendly, no background knowledge neccesary stories under 20,000 words where the main character is homosexual (m/m or f/f, doesn't matter to me) and both them and their partner are 'nice'? My friend's a bit of a homophobe, and I'm trying to cure her (with her permission, of course). it's not that she hates them, she's just a bit scared of them.
Untill next time, au revoir!