Local Realism

A little under a month after Cloud got himself deployed to Wutai and two weeks after Zack was summoned back to Midgar a Turk-piloted helicopter arrived at the base camp. Sephiroth was drilling his protégé in broadsword techniques when an MP approached them from the direction of the airfield.

"General Sephiroth sir! Professor Hojo to see you!"

The Silver General growled slightly in his throat. "Cloud, continue your practice for another hour then come and find me. I should be in the office and will require your assistance with the inevitable paperwork." He stalked off, pupils thin slits, the military policeman trailing in his wake.

The blond continued his pattern dances, wondering why the science department's head sociopath would fly all the way out here. What exactly did the professor want with Seph? Had Hojo detected anomalies in the General's JENOVA cells?

"Third-class Strife?"

Cloud lowered Apocalypse and turned towards the infantryman who had called him by name. "Yes?"

"You're wanted in the infirmary, sir."

"Thank-you, infantryman." Cloud fastened the elaborate-looking blade to the harness across his back and set of at a jog for the field hospital. He had no idea why he had been summoned and couldn't think of any reason he'd be needed in the infirmary -unless Seph wanted him there- but he was acutely aware that his behaviour affected how people reacted to Sephiroth since he was the silver-haired SOLDIER's personal student. Tardiness, when everyone around him watched like hawks, would be exceedingly unwise.

When he arrived he was surprised to find the technician in charge of his Mako injections waiting for him. He really shouldn't have been, he reflected an instant later; he was due his next shot.

"There you are, Strife! Whichever idiot in the administration department ordered you out here caused me no end of trouble. I was fortunate professor Hojo was planning a trip out here to give the General his latest booster in person and permitted me to join him so as not to set back your development. Did you keep a record of symptoms from you last injection like I asked you to?"

Cloud dutifully fished his PHS out of a pocket and opened the diary feature. All SOLDIERs were required to keep track of their symptoms during boosters to reduce the chances of getting addicted or poisoned by the Mako when the next shot came around.

"Yes sir. Here it is."

The technician scrolled down, humming absently. "Good, good, hm, green wisps? Not overly unusual. Aural hallucinations are normal, don't let them bother you."

"I didn't have any until the last shot," Cloud said tentatively.

"You're just lucky to have an excellent tolerance for Mako, third-class Strife," the technician said briskly. "It is not surprising for you to show fewer symptoms than your peers. This next shot is only slightly higher than the last one as a concession to your position in the field, which with the recent mess cannot be countermanded. I will be leaving the medic here a set of boosters for you to take in the next two months. You will have to take them every three weeks rather than every month as they are less potent than they should be but you will be up to speed within the usual time if you stick to the regimen." The lab-coated man showed Cloud the locked hazmat box containing a set of syringes loaded with glowing green and clearly labelled with specific dates. "As we will not be in direct contact until you return to Midgar I want you to email me the documentation of your experiences and symptoms at the end of the week after you take each shot. I have also put in a request for a full performance review when you are permitted to return to Midgar so I can see where you stand in regards to SOLDIER standards."

"Yes sir." Cloud knew all that stuff was standard protocol when you ended a round of Mako shots. The only bit that wasn't protocol was that they'd fiddled his boosters a bit so as not to completely incapacitate him in the field or risk his needing a specially trained Mako doctor rather than a standard field medic.

"Sit down on the table so I can give you your first shot, then go straight to your bunk to rest. The General very generously agreed to allow you to move in to one of the individual rooms attached to command headquarters in light of your medical requirements."

Cloud nodded his understanding; he wouldn't be surprised if Sephiroth himself was also considerably under the weather for the next few days. True, the Silver General's shot would only be a minor one for Mako level maintenance, the standard six-monthly boost, but it would still be uncomfortable. Especially if Hojo laced it with JENOVA cells, which Cloud wouldn't put past the insane scientist.

Of course, Seph's new and Chaos-improved immune system would completely obliterate any new infections from JENOVA, but the General would still feel like he had the 'flu for a few days.


As soon as the Mako entered Cloud's bloodstream the sounds around him muted slightly, drowned out by a chorus of competing voices and howls. The blond swayed, vision tinged virulent green, blinking rapidly as the voices twisted and merged, some rising whilst others faded away. He was vaguely aware of the technician saying something about thresholds and maximum safe dosage, but that vanished as quickly as it came.

The voices in his ears were the same ones as he'd heard last time, which couldn't possibly be normal. There was the one who reminded him a bit of Angeal, another that ranted like Genesis when you insulted LOVELESS, a third who sang incessantly, one who grumbled and plotted and four or five who just shouted about hunts and chases with wild joy and utter abandon. He rather liked those ones. Blending in and out of the cacophony was the distant roar of dragons and the much more distinct polyphonic chorus of hundreds of Nibel wolves.

Cloud made an effort to focus on his surroundings rather than the noise emanating from the Lifestream in his blood; succumbing to Mako poisoning at this point would be highly detrimental to his goals. The technician summoned another anonymous infantryman and had the newcomer escort the blond third-class to his new bunk. Cloud shivered, mumbled and staggered like a junkie as his nervous escort -who had to be his own age- led him to a cupboard-like room in the command complex that smelled like Zack. This had probably been where the second-class had slept before getting recalled to Midgar. The reason the room was empty was that it was directly adjacent to Sephiroth's quarters: the Silver General preferred to take over Angeal's rooms after the Dark General deserted rather than commandeer new ones. Zack had not been kicked out of the room Angeal had insisted he occupy after Sephiroth moved in, but after the energetic puppy was recalled nobody else had the nerve to move in.

Now Sephiroth had moved him in, tacitly announcing the blond to be his student and aide to the entire camp. Cloud wondered vaguely how many people would think they were sleeping together. There had certainly been enough rumours about Zack and Angeal...

The blond third-class thanked the infantryman carefully, forcing the words out past his thick tongue, then clumsily stripped down and burrowed under the covers. Hopefully the technician had noted down the shot on the medical log, which would ensure nobody tried to roust him out of bed for guard duty tomorrow or the day after. As it was he would be spending several days after getting vertical again rediscovering his limits. Hopefully not to the point of exceeding them; he'd only accidentally pulled a Limit Break in a spar once, but had it been against anybody except Vincent serious injuries would have involved.


Cloud was very happy to discover that this time he bounced back much faster, despite the first twenty-four hours being utterly foul. Only a day and a half in bed, followed by two days on the practice fields as his physical discomfort slowly decreased and he was able to reassert control over his senses.

Sephiroth on the other hand had refused to just sleep off the effects of his shot, riding out the sensory overload with rather less than his usual grace and poise whilst rumbling ominously as a volcano at anyone unfortunate enough to be brought to his attention. The Silver General's only concession to his less than perfect health had been to spend most of his time in his rooms doing paperwork and the rest of it visiting Cloud, nominally to bring food or check on his protégé's condition. Seph's eyes had been as bright as searchlights those first two days, which could only have made his underlings more nervous: when a SOLDIER's eyes actually shone it was a clear warning sign that the SOLDIER in question was dangerously close to losing his temper.

True, in this instance it was due to the unusually high levels of Mako in the General's system, but the grunts didn't know that. Cloud's own eyes were unusually bright for almost an entire week after each shot.


Seph and Cloud, still stuck out in Wutai. Not that that will stop Hojo from making sure his pet projects get their shots...