A/N: Soo.. I do like them reviews, so I could always get those for my hard work when it comes to updating. It aids with the writing process and what not so please, do indulge me! Oh right. And if you want to beta me – is that even the correct term? - then please be in contact.
Disclaimer: I do not any of the canon characters, the places, or anything to do with the FFVII universe, the only thing that is mine is the writing.
Cloud had to admit, he had never had an odd dream of this caliber before. He could have almost laughed at the absurdity of it all, except it was simply so far-fetched that he was preferring to keep his eyes closed even if he had woken up a few seconds ago. In his dream, he'd been thrown back into his teenage years, miserably failed at executing katas, fainted in front of Zack and Angeal, found himself in the living quarters or high-ranking SOLDIERs. And the best part? Those SOLDIERs were of course none other than Genesis, Angeal, Sephiroth and Zack! This time, recapping all that had happened, actually made him chuckle and he rather sleepily blinked his eyes open, looking up at the ceiling. Except the ceiling was looking back at him with somewhat amused green eyes that were quite cat-like and had an odd glow to them. Transfixed for a moment, he found himself caught in those eyes only to have strands of hair brushing against his cheek and that was what finally got him out of the reverie.
It had all been true.
His large blue eyes widened almost comically as he tried to figure out something to say, only for a very alien sound leaving the man on top of him. That amused chuckle that left the lips of the General had poor Cloud's brains hitting a mental wall and yet again, he could only look up at him as that man straightened up and moved out of his sight. Blinking rapidly, Cloud could not help but feel beyond confused, not knowing in the slightest what to think even as he was slowly starting to recall the feelings of horror when he had fallen asleep and somehow, he knew that this man had caused it. Pushing himself up to sit, the blonde let out a deep hiss at the feeling of the headache intensifying, his jaw-gritting only to find a glass of water and a painkiller being held out to him by a pair of strong, pale hands that had wielded the sword that had stabbed him more than once.
"Take this. I will not have a puppy giving me any kind of trouble for not making you take care of your headache," came the man's voice and Cloud could not help but notice just how wonderfully smooth it was and how void of malice it could be. That wonderful baritone that felt like it went straight through his core to his toes, making them curl even as he looked up at him and tried to decide if he should have been worried about getting slaughtered in mere moments, or if he should simply take the offered pill.
"I am not going to hold these here for long."
Well that settled it and with a quick mumbled thank you, Cloud took the pill and the glass, swallowing the pill and chasing it down with the entire glass of water. Apparently, he had also been thirsty. During the time that he had taken the pill, Sephiroth had already moved away with that cat-like grace of his, not making a sound as he made his way to one of the room's. Glancing around, he was searching for a clock, mainly because his internal clock was shouting at him that he had over-slept. Finally, when he found the first timekeeper, he let out a rather colorful curse as he threw his feet to the floor and made to stand up, only to feel so faint he would have dropped like a dead weight if he hadn't been pushed down onto the couch. A soft groan left him as he buried his face into his hands, fingers finding his temples as he started trying to ease the pain away from his body, his shoulders tense as he tried to not panic with the man's presence in the room. Considering all the things the General had done to him, he had to recommend himself on his performance.
"I took the liberty of excusing you from your classes, however I promised to Dr. Hojo I would be taking you to your scheduled appointment." That voice was doing odd things to him and he wasn't sure if he liked it. "Apparently Zack found it an appropriate time to call in a favor and thus, you have me all to yourself until your appointment."
Somehow, Sephiroth didn't seem all that thrilled with the idea of being stuck with a rookie but as Cloud ran it over, he wouldn't have exactly been bouncing about in joy if he had been thrust with a wayward 3rd class. Biting his lower lip, Cloud found himself at odds and thus, he simply kept running circles on his temples with the very tips of his fingers, breathing softly as he tried to get his breathing and his thoughts into an order that would enable him to put that mask on. He needed to look indifferent, shy and almost timid but right in that moment, he knew he would have only showed that deep-seated terror and a certain sense of betrayal when he looked at the man. Why hadn't the planet simply taken away all of his memories? He could have changed things without remembering all the atrocities that had happened to him before.
"S-sephiroth, s-sir? I do not wish to be a b-bother," he managed to grin out, words somewhat muffled by his position but he knew that the mako-enhanced man would have no trouble hearing him.
"Do you think I would have bothered myself with babysitting if I were busy?" He asked that slight cold tone making Cloud look up, noticing the way that elegant eyebrow arched higher towards his hairline. But at the same time, he realised how much younger the man looked, how free of sorrow. Of course, there were still the burdens of Hojo's experiments but the insanity was out of his being and that in itself made Cloud feel almost bewildered. Of course, he had seen Sephiroth before he had cracked, but he had never seen the man before Angeal and Genesis had left, at least not up cold. Now, looking up at him, he could see that this man was more open and – dare he say it? - almost even had a sense of humor.
"I apologise.." Was the lame response that Cloud could come up with once he regained use of his vocal chords, looking down at his lap and wringing his hands together.
What on sweet, sweet Gaia was he supposed to do? He was in a room with the all-mighty Sephiroth, weak and disoriented and now he was supposed to simply spend a few hours doing nothing with him? For someone who was used to doing something all the time, it was an absolutely horrible thing to be faced with and so, Cloud started fidgeting. He might not have had all that pent up energy that Zack did, but he still needed to have something to do almost constantly or he became grumpy. Almost annoyingly, he then noted that he had never acted like this before, or at the least, it had been the longest time since he had been given the permission to feel in the slightest uncertain. He hadn't permitted it to himself, no, but here these people would most likely understand why a third class SOLDIER might be a slightly bumbling idiot. That was most certainly what he felt like in that very moment.
Snapped out of his reverie as a sandwich was placed on the coffee table in front of him, he felt the urge to laugh at the absurdity yet again. The self-proclaimed Chosen One making him a sandwich? And to top it all of, it seemed like he had actually done a rather decent job of it, if Cloud was to be of any judgement. At the offer of tea or coffee, he almost choked on the bite that he had been chewing, managing to croak out a very pathetic choice of coffee, only to simply focus himself on the food and then on the coffee once Sephiroth placed the cup on the table in front of him. Silence fell over the pair and the blonde felt more than a little self-conscious sitting there, knowing his hair was bound to be sticking up in every single direction it could, whilst he most likely looked like one hell of a runt compared to all the other thirds.
Never before had he been so glad for a telephone to ring, though he had to admit that the ringtone made him laugh. Honestly, who could keep anything chocobo related as their ringtone?
Left to his own devices, he could finally relax, only idly listening to that calm, controlled voice of the General's floating through the atmosphere of the room as he finished his food and took the cup of coffee, nursing it quite protectively. When had he last had anything this good? From the smell of it, it was fresh ground but really, if he thought about it, what else should he have expected from the General and his flatmates. The next thing that came into his mind was question about his own personality. Since when had he begun questioning so much and start bothering his head with trivialities such as whether a chocobo related ringtone was in anyway appropriate? A soft huff left him as he stood up, his feet taking him to the nearest bookshelf.
Blue eyes scanned over the different shelves, trying to decide which one was which. Genesis was easy to spot – after all, there was only the LOVELESS there, though he couldn't quite understand why the redhead didn't have it with him. Angeal's shelf was most likely the one about politics, honor, history and quite curiously, wine-making and dumbapples. Zack didn't seem to have a shelf, but that didn't exactly surprise him since he had never found him to be the reading type and he figured if Zack wanted to read, he would simply take one of Angeal's books. From what he saw, he doubted the boy's mentor would mind in the slightest if he could get his puppy to read anything else but the last Honeybee magazine. A somewhat wry smile played on his lips at that thought and he let out a soft laugh, shaking his head.
And then he found a shelf that seemed quite cold personality-wise. There were plain books about tactics, mako science and bio-research, but adding that little bit of spark were horror movies and the occasional comic book. Suddenly, Cloud felt beyond self-conscious, feeling like he was invading and at the same time, breaking himself even further yet also fixing something in the contradictory process. Shaking his head, he pulled back and ended up backing himself straight against the General's hard chest, which in turn earned a squeak from him. A squeak. Immediately berating himself, Cloud lifted his eyes to look up at him, his mouth already running off on a rushed apology before he himself had even realised it was doing so.
"-orry, sir, I was simply curious and you were busy.." Trailing off, the boy blushed and lowered his eyes, feeling ashamed of himself in more than one way. When had he become this bumbling idiot and more importantly, when had Sephiroth gotten this tall? Looking up at him, he found himself almost a foot shorter than the silver-haired man and that was disconcerting. He could have sworn he had been taller, but then again, he might have only remembered the good old days when the only things he had remembered were his own memories.
"I was simply going to inform you that your appointment is in five minutes. I'll be taking you there now," Sephiroth finally replied after a moment of silence once he had Cloud's attention again.
"Oh. I.. t-thank you, sir," Cloud replied in a mutter, drinking the rest of his coffee and then for a while he was indecisive before he made his way into the kitchen and placed the cup into the sink before he walked back into the living room, watching Sephiroth. Everything was fine, until the man appeared with his sword and Cloud felt like he was going to have a heart attack, his eyes widening as he realised how unarmed and weak he was, having absolutely no possibility of going against that man in anyway. He might have beat him before, might have beaten his clones too, but at the same time he had been stronger, infused with mako and carrying the skill set of both himself and Zack. This situation that he was in at the very moment was a very great disadvantage and he did not like it in the slightest.
Though when the Masamune was slung onto the tall general's back and he paid no heed to the impressive sword anymore, Cloud was forced to drop his guard, lest he wanted the man to completely question his sanity and have him flung out on his ass without a moment's notice. Blissfully unaware to the fact that Sephiroth had in fact noticed that horror, hate and all those conflicted emotions before he had sheathed the impressive sword. Usually he did not carry it but apparently, Genesis and Angeal had wanted to spar with him.
Without a word from either of the parties, Sephiroth gestured the trainee out of the front door and to the elevators, quickly pressing the button once they were in and going down. Apparently the fact that the General had used his keycard before going into the elevator made it so that they went straight to the Science Research Division, making Cloud's skin crawl the closer they got. Flashes of the time he had spent inside that lunatic's test tubes, swimming up to his eyeballs in mako, filled with that horrible pain.. It made him shudder as he stepped out of the elevator, his eyes taking in the unfamiliar setting. He had never been there properly, after all the standard mako-suitability test were done in the medical facilities that were adjoined with the infantry's quarters. But now, he almost couldn't shake the sense of absolute terror as he was walked down the pristine corridors.
He must have been showing some of his rather deep concerns on the outside by the way of shivering, because his next heart attack was caused by the heavy hand on his shoulder, making his head snap so quickly his neck hurt and his fingers itched to get rid of the touch. But it was only Sephiroth. Only? And when had his touch become soothing once Cloud got over the initial shock. And that was truly what threatened to short circuit his thoughts as he looked up at the tall man, blue meeting slight amused green.
"Steady. Just this way. You will be taken to your room once the dosage has been given," he spoke in that wonderful steady voice of his that was making Cloud feel surprisingly happy and calm. And then he realised that he was staring and he blushed even deeper, biting his lower lip.
"Thank you, sir," the blonde finally managed to wring out, offering a somewhat hesitant smile.
"Call me Sephiroth."
"... thank you, Sephiroth."
He had never said the man's name in anything but hate or fear, or complete adoration yet here he was, repeating that name and rolling it off his tongue as if he was tasting it. He didn't even realise he was doing it, looking up at him with some kind of fearful adoration but at the same time, there was almost a level of seduction to him. However then he was facing a door that slid open to reveal the infamous professor on the inside and he felt like fighting, his entire body tensing as that hideous turned around to watch him with those horrible eyes of his.
"Cloud Strife, sixteen, of Nibelheim origins, male, some mako already in bloodstream.. Interesting. Bring it in, Sephiroth. I believe you remember you are due for a visit in a few days?" That voice sent disgusted shudders down Cloud's back and it seemed that the General behind him was not faring any better when it came to feeling about the professor. Both of them seemed almost hostile, but even then, Sephiroth quite firmly guided him to the examination table once he noticed that he was resisting. After all, he would have to go through this to get anywhere in SOLDIER and that in itself made him required to do this. Besides maybe, maybe Hojo wouldn't be that horrible in this, not when everything else seemed somewhat better. But when he was on the examination table and sudden restraints came around his ankles, wrists and waist, he bit back the growl and clenched his jaw.
"Now.. to begin. Sephiroth. Leave."
Opening his eyes enough to see Sephiroth, he was surprised to see him watching him and there was an expression of understanding and it was in that moment that Cloud realised that he wasn't capable of masking the terror from his eyes and that the General knew just what it was that he was feeling. Closing his eyes, turning his head, he concentrated on staring at the ceiling once he opened them again. His fingers dug into his palms as he simply waited, quivering as the professor swabbed his skin, the hypodermic needle sinking into his vein and with the peripheral cannula in place, he took out a large syringe that held the eerily glowing green fluid. A hiss left from between his lips as the fluid was pushed into his vein and it took a while for the pain to settle in.
As the burning started from the inside out, he couldn't hold back the whimpers, let alone the cries that tore from his throat as it burned through him. Struggling against the bonds, the to-be SOLDIER could do nothing, waiting for the blissful darkness to surround him but until then, no one heard his screams.
The Shinra Company's sound-proofing was simply something else.