Part 1 Chapter 4

August 20th - Year 3

-

"Mom, do you know where my ID is?"

"No Cloud, did you check your wallet?" Lucia poked her head into her son's room, grimacing at the disaster area it had become. Clothes and other assorted possesions had been thrown everywhere in her son's haste to pack. An open duffle bag was placed on the bed, almost full to the brim with Cloud's worldly possessions. Lucia turned her attention away from the disaster area, resisting the urge to tidy it up a little bit. Cloud was currently rummaging through his closet, making even more of a mess.

"I looked there already. Will they take me if I don't have it?" He turned to look at his mother, pausing in his search and retrieve mission. She shook her head in response, "You know that ShinRa isn't picky. They'll take anyone." She paused, meeting her son's blue gaze with her own, "Are you sure about doing this?"

"Yes," He sighed, stopping to run a hand through his wild hair, "I am positive."

"Good luck then…" She backed out of the room, continuing down the hall with the load of laundry she needed to wash. Halfway down the hall she ran into Vincent. Lucia smiled warmly up at him, it had been three years since the man had come to stay with them and he had long since found his niche in the Strife household. He had fallen into his role as the older brother, silently watching out for the family and doing what he could to improve their lives. Lucia had even begun to see the gunner as her own son, despite the fact that he was a good ten years her senior. Something about him just called to her, appealing to her motherly instincts. Perhaps, in the brooding form of the ex-Turk, she had seen a lost child, one who has been alone far too long.

Vincent glanced down the hall, his attention drawn by the noise coming from Cloud's room. He had just returned from the his work as a border guard, and because of that he had been away for the majority of the day and was just now noticing the young boy's actions, "Is something happening today?"

Lucia sighed, balancing the laundry basket on her hip, "Well, as you know Cloud turned fourteen yesterday… He's… got it into his head that he could join SOLDIER…and I don't have the heart to say no to him."

Vincent stiffened, his gaze roaming down the hall again, "I'll try to talk to him."

-

"Cloud…"

"Hmm…?" He glanced up from the pile he was rooting through, "Oh, hey Vincent. Back so soon?"

The gunner crossed his arms, leaning lightly against the doorframe, "I see you are still going through with it."

Cloud grimaced, leaning back against the edge of his bed; he had known that this conversation was coming. It was inevitable, especially considering who employed the SOLDIERs. "What about it?"

"I thought you hated ShinRa."

"I do." Cloud's answer was without hesitation. Why would he hesitate? It was a pure and simple fact. Everyone in the village knew that Cloud Strife hated ShinRa, he was not afraid to voice the fact either. Vincent had not been too surprised when he discovered it, he even agreed with the blonde's opinion, Hojo worked for ShinRa after all. That was why Cloud's decision to join SOLDIER came as such a surprise to the ex-Turk; he could not understand why Cloud was suddenly jumping at the chance to join the corporation he disliked so much. He looked down at him and asked that very question, "Why then?"

Cloud sighed, running a hand through his hair in an unconscious gesture he had developed over the years. He closed his eyes as he searched for the right words to say, cutting off the unnerving glow that had long since puzzled the gunner. Vincent had done a little research on the phenomenon over the years, learning that the glow really was mako. Cloud had been born with higher mako levels than most children and it manifested in a faint green light akin to what ShinRa's SOLDIERs possess. After a few moments of tense silence Cloud responded, "It's just something I feel like I have to do…"

Cloud was being vague again. The last time he asked, the answer he had received had been no better. He got that tone in his voice, the one that suggested that he knew a secret that the world did not know. There were things in his guide's eyes, things that Vincent could see when Cloud did not know he was being watched. The ex-Turk hated to see the pain that he could see haunting the teenager, it reminded him too much of his own eyes, eyes that had seen too many dark things. Cloud always seemed so optimistic and cheerful, but he never fooled Vincent. Vincent always watched him, watched him when his guide was not aware. He saw the distance he put between himself and the other children; he saw the indifference with which he regarded their teasing. He acted nothing like he thought children should act. He tried for his mom, but even Lucia had seen a difference in her only son and it worried her. She had confided with Vincent once, not too long after the bridge incident, that she did not know her own son anymore.

"One day," She had said, "He just woke up different. The day before he had been a normal boy, if somewhat reclusive and fixated on that Lockhart girl, but normal nonetheless. The next day, he was different. He was tossing and turning that morning, I thought it was just a bad dream so I woke him. He stared up at me, and the fear and pain in his eyes did not go away when he saw me like they usually do."

"Instead they seemed to intensify. At first, I thought he was afraid of me. Then he looked up at me and whispered 'Mom…?' with so much confusion and so much hope in his eyes, as if he could not believe that I was there. Then he just clung to me and cried, like he was afraid I'd disappear if he let me go."

"I don't know what he saw that night, but it changed him. The first thing he did after that was set fire to the mansion. He doesn't think I know what he did, he doesn't think I notice that glow in his eyes, or the way he looks at things. As if it's all a dream and he's afraid to wake up."

Vincent had seen this very expression in the mirror, he knew he wore it every time he came back from a hunt; came home to find Lucia cooking dinner and Cloud's enthusiastic questions. He was always afraid that it would end; that he would wake up to find Hobo's face hovering over him. However, it had not disappeared. Vincent had dared to believe, that perhaps he was finally free from his hell and from the devil that sent him there. He wished he could know what devil haunted his guide, perhaps that answer lay in Midgar, "…Nothing I can say will stop you, will it?"

"No…" Cloud sighed, "We've gone over this all ready…"

"I didn't think so." Vincent pushed himself away from the doorframe, his crimson cloak swishing behind him as he turned away from his guide. He glanced over his shoulder, his gaze falling into impossibly blue eyes, "Be careful Cloud."

He swept out of the room, completely missing Cloud's murmured reply, "I know…Believe me, I know."

-

Lucia set her cup of tea down on the table, watching the dark-haired figure that entered the room and pulled out a chair, "Cloud is leaving for Midgar tomorrow…"

"I know." Vincent tilted his head toward the ceiling, trying to focus on anything but the small woman, "I couldn't change his mind."

"I didn't expect you to. If there is one word to describe Cloud, it is determined. It's just," She stirred her tea calmly; "I worry about him. Midgar is supposed to be a tough city and SOLDIER training is supposed to be brutal. I suppose what I'm trying to ask is…"

Vincent waved his human hand, cutting her off in mid sentence, "I know. You want me to go with him and watch him don't you?"

Lucia laughed; the bell-like sound somewhat tense, and most certainly forced. "You've gotten good at reading me. So, will you?"

"What about you?"

Lucia just waved off his barely veiled concern, "It'll be a bit tight but I'll manage. Cloud is the one heading into ShinRa territory, not me."

"ShinRa is another reason why I'm hesitant to go." He lowered his gaze, laying his metal limb across his lap, "I do not…have a very good past with the company."

He sunk back into his chair, his long black hair hanging over his face, "But…I guess I could go."

"You can't just let him—wait, you said yes?" Lucia was confused. She had been ready to fight tooth and nail to get Vincent to go with Cloud, so she hadn't been expecting the gunman's easy acquiescence. It had thrown her off balance, leaving her gaping in shock at the man who sat across the table from her.

"I wouldn't feel comfortable with Cloud going to that city alone." The dark-haired man said, "Most of the danger doesn't originate from the city itself, but the company that runs it. It would be more prudent to be nearby if anything happens."

"So you will?"

"Of course; the only question now is how."

-Midgar-

"Gees Seph…you look awful…"

Sephiroth grimaced as Zack ducked under the General's arm, steadying the much taller man against him, and slipping one arm about Sephiroth's waist to keep him balanced, "Thanks a lot…Fair…"

Zack slowly led the silver-haired general inside his dorm, being extra careful to keep the disoriented SOLDIER's balance. Sephiroth's world was spinning, he tried to keep his attention focused ahead, tried to block out the irregular heaving of the world that threatened to make him nauseous. Sephiroth knew that if he bothered to look he would see the questions plastered all over his subordinate's face. Zack always had those questions. Sephiroth knew exactly what question it was; what happened, why does it keep happening?

Sephiroth always refused to answer so Zack had given up on trying getting a response out of him. The black-haired SOLDIER merely led the exhausted man to the couch and let him flop unceremoniously on the soft piece of furniture. He closed his cat-like green eyes and focused on his ragged breathing, trying to calm the fear that always presented itself after these sessions. It was a common occurrence—he made him report to the lab every week—but it was never any easier. If anything, it kept getting harder.

Zack returned to the general's side within minutes, not saying a word as he handed the silver-haired man a pill. Sephiroth took it without thinking, giving a silent thanks to the younger man as his headache softened to manageable levels. It was sad…so very sad—Sephiroth would have shook his head if he didn't know it would stir up the headache again—that such a horrible occurrence happened regularly to warrant a routine. He and Zack had done this many times; the general always headed toward Zack's room whenever he got a hold of him. Zack's room was closer than his own was and he could easily stagger to the younger SOLDIER's abode when he would most likely pass out halfway to his own.

He heard the black-haired SOLDIER shift and the general opened his eyes, finding his friend looking down at him, a familiar look in his eyes, "Seph…"

"Don't." He managed to get out through clenched teeth. The pill he had taken might have gotten rid of the headache but it hadn't numbed his aching muscles or his raw throat, "We go through this every week. Do not start it up again."

"That's the point Sephiroth, every week! Every week I find you half-dead at my door and I have no idea who is doin' this to you."

"Zack…"

Zachary Fair held up a hand to silence the silver-haired man, "Let me speak Seph. Let me say my piece. I'm your friend; I'm worried to death about you! What can bring you down so low, Seph? You're THE General, the strongest fighter on The Planet. Anything that can reduce you to little more than a quiverin' ball of nerves scares me more than anything else does in the world. What if one week you never come back from one of these 'sessions'?"

Sephiroth felt anger boiling within him. This was why he did not want the topic brought up again. Most drugs didn't work on him, so in order to make the headache go away he needed to take a special kind of medicine, a very strong kind. Unfortunately, one of the side effects was severe emotional instability. He hated not being in control of himself, and the medication completely stripped it from him.

"Do you really want to know?" He hissed; his emerald green eyes glittering eerily as he stared up at his second in command, "Do you really want to know what they do in the bowels of the ShinRa organization? Do you want to know why I cannot do anything to stop these…'sessions'? I will tell you why, Fair."

Sephiroth pushed himself into an upright position, meeting the SOLDIER First directly in the eyes, "I report there every week like a good little boy, to a room with drab grey walls and silvery needles. There my so-called father-" He practically spat the word out, "-Professor Hojo continues to add to the nightmare that is my life. I'm nothing more than a specimen to him, a guinea pig to experiment on at his leisure. Do you want me to tell you what he's done to me? One time he broke every single bone in my body just in order to see how long it would take me to heal. But even worse are the needles…" He shivered his voice lowering and his eyes closing, "Needles filled to the brim with mako…the planets' life blood…" He shuddered, wrapping his arms around himself.

Mako was a very volatile substance that was the source of all life on the Planet. It flowed deep beneath the surface—in what was widely known as the LifeStream--directing the spirit energy of the Planet. When a soul died, they returned to the LifeStream, melding with the consciousness of those who had passed on before them. Pure, unrefined mako was an extremely poisonous substance, but it also had wondrous abilities as well. Mako set apart the SOLDIERs from the ShinRa regulars. The mako gave the SOLDIERs their unnatural abilities and eerily glowing eyes… Mako could be found naturally in some places, like Wutai or Nibleheim, but more often than not, it had to be drawn out of the Planet. Mako gave ShinRa its power over the world. ShinRa's Mako Reactors were the main source of power for many of the major cities all over the planet. However, as ShinRa drew out the mako…the land died. The refining of Midgar's eight reactors had turned the plains surrounding the city to a barren wasteland, devoid of almost all wildlife to almost as far away as Kalm and the Chocobo Ranch.

Sephiroth collapsed face down on the couch, hiding his face in a curtain of silver hair, "Are you happy now…Zack? Does it please you to finally know I am an unnatural monster?"

"Seph…I…"

"Don't say anything Zachary…" he buried his face in the couch, "Just don't say anything."

For the first time in his life, Zack listened.

Sephiroth kept silent as Zack shuffled around the apartment, pulling a spare blanket or two out of the closet and setting them on the floor beside the couch—within easy reach of the occupant, of course. Finally, the lights went out; Zack had flipped the switch on the way to his own room. The general sighed into the fabric; things became too confusing far too quickly. Why couldn't life be simple, the way things were before Zack came into his life? He hadn't known what sorrow really was, hadn't known fear, and hadn't cared for companionship. Zack had changed all that, his offer that one Wednesday night proving to be the stroke that had managed to chip the general's walls of ice. It wasn't entirely Zack's fault; Sephiroth was also to blame for the way things turned out. He had been the one to take the offer, granted he had been half-aware of his own actions at the time. His mako muddled mind had directed him to the 2nd Class's quarters immediately after Hojo let him go, spurring him toward one of the only people he felt he might actually be able to trust in the entire company.

Zack had apparently seen something worth salvaging in the stoic general, because afterwards things were never the same between them. Gone was the boundaries of their working arrangement, Zack had ended up knocking them down before the week was up. Sephiroth had been indifferent to the boy's actions, thinking it was nothing more than some new phase on Zack's part. One that would be over with quickly, then things would go back to normal. It wasn't until the Second Class actually showed up to one of Sephiroth's training sessions and offered to be the general's sparring partner that he finally admitted that Zack might be serious. He had declined of course, but Zack wouldn't give up. He would keep showing up, pestering Sephiroth until he finally gave in.

The sessions succeeded in two things. The most visible was catapulting Zack into the coveted First Class rank, his strength, speed, and stamina having been pushed to the limits to even keep up with the general. The second was less obvious, but it was there for any who bothered to look closer. Sephiroth had gotten used to the SOLDIER during these sessions, loosening the restraints he had placed on himself and unwittingly allowing the first iota of friendship to form.

Sephiroth closed his eyes, pushing the thoughts away as he fell into a fitful sleep.

-

"Hey Seph!" The general glanced up from his work, directing his annoyance at his friend and subordinate, "What do you want to Fair?"

Sephiroth watched as the SOLDIER First class bristled and replied something he could not catch. He shook his head to clear it of distracting thoughts, "Can you repeat that?"

Zack just gave him the look, "I told you not to use my last name." He paused, "Seph…are you still thinkin' about that?"

"About what?" The general feigned ignorance, not really wanting to relive the memories of the night before. He had completely broken down and spilled all—or at least a good portion—of his secrets to the black-haired man and--despite Zack's assurances on the contrary—he was still worried that it would all come back and slap him in the face. "I am just plotting the demise of a certain fat president. Masumane through the back would do the trick nicely."

"Riiight" Zack drawled, "Don't lie to me Seph; I know you well enough that I'm able to tell. I told you once and I'll tell you again. I." He leaned over the general's desk, "Don't. Care." He accented each word by whacking the roll of papers in his hand against the wooden surface, "I wouldn't even care if you were an alien from another planet! Just…don't go on a mad rampage and kill anyone while trying to take over the world."

Sephiroth couldn't help the half-smile, half-smirk that Zack's remark caused, "Anyone?"

Zack paused, his expression settling into one of deep concentration, "Okay, okay…ShinRa and Hojo are fair game."

"What about Heidegger?"

"Fine, him too."

"Scarlet?"

The black-haired man cracked up laughing, "You're a greedy little alien aren't you? Fine, you can kill the entire ShinRa board of directors…except Reeve. Reeve is an okay guy; the others just suck up air."

Sephiroth chuckled, "Whatever you say, Fair." The dark-haired lieutenant was too busy envisioning the death of the corrupt ShinRa officials to notice Sephiroth's use of his last name.

Maybe…things weren't looking so bad after all.

A/N: …I dislike this chapter. While it's been three years since they met, it seems too early…But I need it to happen…

Blame the meds…that's all I can say.

Anyway, Cloud is officially on his way to Midgar, with Vincent in tow. But what will our favorite ex-Turk do about housing? I doubt he's going to walk into a ShinRa owned retail agency. And Cloud joins the SOLDIER training program…fun.

The one thing I did like about the chap...was the litte convo at the end.-laughs- If only you knew Zack, if only you knew the irony to what you just said.