Disclaimer: I do not now or before and most likely not in the future, own Final Fantasy, Square Enix or any of the characters.

A/N: For those of you who want to read it, I added some more description to chapter 25 (over 600 words). The major additions are in the scenes while they are on the ship. If you do go back and re-read chapter 25, let me know what you think, is it enough to quench your thirst for more detail, or should I go a little deeper?

Reviews, critiques, and flames are welcome. I absolutely love all reviews about the story as it gives me motivation, I utilize good constructive criticism to help my writing improve and I feed the flames to the fires of my imagination!

Thanks to my before posting beta Queen of Jokers and my after posting beta SubZeroChimera!

"Reality continues to ruin my life." –Bill Watterson

Chapter 29

Cloud walked home quickly at first, then his pace slowed as he processed the things Sephiroth had said. It was like Zack to agree to stay with him and Sephiroth going. So far as he knew, since Sephiroth woke up in the labs, he hadn't ever lied to him, so he desperately wanted to believe him. It definitely would make sense to send one of them in to check things out since they were entering the lion's den. Giving into his feelings, he allowed himself to get angry, it wasn't Sephiroth he was angry with anymore, "Damn it Zack!"

Reaching his door, he thought that he caught a glimpse of someone standing across the street. The key slid into the lock and movement caught his eye again and he whipped his head around and studied the alley across the road. He stared, hoping to get a glimpse of who it was, but he saw no one. Finally shrugging it off, knowing that Shinra used brute force to get what it wanted, he stepped into the apartment and threw his keys across the room in annoyance. Locking the door behind him, he shuffled to the bedroom and fell across the bed. The ceiling fan spun lazily and it made him a little dizzy, so he closed his eyes and tried to quell the rush of feelings that dominated his soul.

He must have fallen asleep, because he heard Alana walking in the door. From the living room he heard her soft voice through the doorway, "Are you home?"

Cloud got up and stepped into the doorway of the bedroom and leaned against the doorframe. He said nothing, just waited for Alana's incessant questioning to begin. All she did though was look at him and it was a look that he didn't like, sympathy and fear. He walked over to her and grabbed her arms. His tone was pleading and distressed, but came out loudly, "Don't look at me like that. I am not some monster made by a mad man," He couldn't even convince himself, so how was he supposed to convince her? He let go of her and went into the bathroom and he didn't hear anything else from her for the rest of the day.

Aerith was still at the church when he got back. He relaxed at the sight of her tending to her flowers, but he still had guilt in every fiber of his being from what Cloud had said.

The bright smile that he liked for her to show off dimmed when she looked closer at him, "What happened? Here sit down. I'll get you a wet cloth," Before she could leave to retrieve the cloth, Sephiroth took her hand and held on to it.

He gazed at her soft skin that had a light layer of dirt as his larger fingers gently stroked her graceful hand with slow simple movements, "I will be fine," His eyes peered from under his furrowed eyebrows, "It was just a little misunderstanding," Even he could tell that it sounded like a rehearsed answer.

Aerith sat down next to him and moved to look at his face, "Seph, what happened?" Both of her hands circled his hands.

He inhaled and held it for a moment, "I found Cloud, the friend that I was looking for and he acted the way I had dreaded." Gazing into her eyes, a tear formed but did not fall, "However I cannot say that I blame him though." Feeling like a failure, he thought about what he'd lost. If he had gotten back sooner, or not left at all, Zack would still be here. He'd lost Zack and while he searched for Cloud, he was able to hold on to the thought of being with the one friend he had left. Now all he felt was that he had lost both of his friends and he may never get Cloud back.

One of her hands went up to the wig and she released his hair and pulled her fingers through it. His head followed down to her hand and rested in it for a moment. With a swift movement, she had untangled his hair and pulled a lock of it toward her. She leaned in and kissed him gently.

When she broke the kiss, she sat straight, "I am sorry that it didn't work as well as you hoped, but it will get better, he will find you and you two can talk again." Her left hand went to his other hand and she stood up and pulled him up, "There, don't you feel better now?" She smiled and her hand touched his chest.

Resting his hands on her shoulders, he leaned in for another kiss and he poured all of himself into the kiss, his pain, his anger, his love and his sadness and she seemed to take it away from him. A small step forward he pulled her into an embrace so gentle that he didn't notice at first, that she had reciprocated the passion of the kiss. To him, she was an abyss and he was drowning in her and he ached for it, needed the closeness that she was offering.

He wanted to make her his, right then and there, but he stopped himself. He stood back up and as his lips left hers, he tried to read her eyes and he wanted to know everything. What did she think about? What was her favorite book? He wanted to know more, wanted to feel more of her and he thought that if he did know everything, it still would never be enough. She smiled slowly, sighed softly, "I told you that you would feel better."

He took her hand and lifted it to his cheek and gently brushed the back of her hand on his cheek, bringing her hand to his lips and kissed it, "Yes you did, thank you."

Sephiroth didn't go back to Sector 7; he waited for Cloud, when he was ready to talk. He'd given his phone number to Tifa and hoped that Cloud would use it. Sephiroth started to lose hope that Cloud would want to see him. Trying to put himself in Cloud's place, he wouldn't want to talk to him either.

The good in the blond prevailed, it took a couple of weeks, but he finally received a call from Cloud, who asked to talk and to meet him at his apartment later that evening.

Sephiroth stood in front of the mirror, just staring for a long time. The time he spent waiting for Cloud to call him, he didn't realize how nervous he was, he ran his fingers through his hair and the scoffed at his actions. Taking the wig, he tucked his hair underneath it and smiled at the thought of when Zack had helped him put the wig on the first time. Smoothing his hands over his chest, he took a deep breath and readied himself for anything.

Walking briskly, he often looked at the paper with Cloud's address on it, half expecting the address to magically change or disappear. 'If I keep walking at this pace I will be early,' He didn't want to upset Cloud, he just wanted his friend back, and so he slowed down a bit. The fragile state that he felt their friendship was in; he thought that anything could jeopardize that, even something as trivial as being a few minutes early.

The door to his apartment loomed over the once impressive General; he never thought that a door, a plain wooden door, would be so imposing. He took a deep breath and knocked and when Cloud answered, he prepared himself for the worst, and when the blond took a step to the side and invited him in, he exhaled. In the process of trying not to sound scared, his voice was almost an octave deeper, "I'm glad you called, I think we have a lot to talk about." Unseen by Cloud, he rolled his eyes at his feeble attempt to stay calm.

"I agree. Have a seat," Cloud motioned toward the couch, "I have a lot of questions and I am hoping that you can… or will answer them."

He tried to read Cloud's face, feel his feelings, anything, but he seemed like a closed and cold door, "First off, I am glad that you are well. I've been looking for you ever since… that day," Sephiroth took the glass of water that Cloud offered.

"Would you take off that ridiculous wig?" Cloud had a slight smile. Sephiroth removed it and relaxed a little at Cloud's statement and smile, "I bet that was something that Zack picked wasn't it?" Sephiroth nodded as the blond sat down across from Sephiroth in a chair that he pulled from the small kitchen table. He leaned forward and rested his arms down on his legs.

As they talked, Cloud had discovered that he remembered the fire, the fight at the reactor and waking up in the mansion basement. The painful injections and the weight training were terrible. The hours that he and Zack had spent in their cell and Zack teaching him some fighting techniques were prevalent.

The memory of the three of them sitting in the cell talking and suffering together was a topic that they touched lightly on. However the blank spaces frustrated him, "What is it that I can't remember? Was it worse than what I do remember?" Sephiroth tended to skirt around the things that he didn't seem to want to talk about.

They mostly discussed the same things that he already knew about. They reminisced about the funny things and a few of the terrible things. Sephiroth told him about the time when Zack picked him up over his shoulder and that he started kicking and got Zack in his groin. How he had laughed at the comedic scene, of Zack holding himself and rolling around. He told him about the older woman that tried to seduce Zack. Sephiroth even told him about the wig fitting and how he found out that Zack was scared of rats. Over all, it became them telling each other stories about Zack. One memory that Sephiroth had almost forgotten, he shared with Cloud.

Still a few days from Hope, where they hoped to catch a ship ride to the other side of the ocean. Cloud had stopped walking and just slumped from Zack's arm. The brunette's neck and shoulder tensed and his shoulder joint threatened to dislocate again. Zack's groan got Sephiroth's attention and he trotted back to help him, "Seph, my shoulder is fucking… slipping, get him before I drop him."

Sephiroth grabbed Cloud, he was already close to the ground from Zack dragging him and he pulled Cloud over to a bush and propped him up. Zack fell to the ground face down with a relieved moan. Sephiroth dropped the bags, "Zackary, tell me sooner next time and we can stop before you start hurting like this."

Zack's words, muffled by the ground, "Okay, Seph." Cloud moaned and furrowed his eyebrows. Without moving his face, Zack exhaled causing dirt to billow around his head. He coughed and turned his face so he could see Cloud. Zack's cheek rested in the soft dirt, "Oh shit, potty time." Zack paused and raised an eyebrow and looked up at Sephiroth, "Could you take him? Please? I'll owe you big time!"

Sephiroth looked at Zack then Cloud and then said to Zack, "I don't know about this Zackary. I haven't taken him before. What if he doesn't… you know… help himself?"

Looking at Cloud, Zack started to push himself up, "Yeah, you're right, okay, I'll take him-"

Sephiroth put his hand on Zack's back, "No, I will take him. I just… okay, I can do this. Just rest, but you have to make dinner."

Zack plopped back down on his stomach, "Thanks Seph, like I said, I owe you big."

Sephiroth inhaled and walked with confidence over to the helpless blond and said under his breath, "I can do this, I am the former General of the greatest army in the world…" He wished he could believe that anymore. Picking the limp blond up, who refused to walk or stand, Sephiroth found a big tree that he could lean him against for more stability and said to Cloud, "Nothing personal Cloud, but this is not what I meant when I told my Soldiers to trust in my help." Squishing his eyes closed, Sephiroth reached down to Cloud's zipper and unzipped him, but when he felt something touch his hand, he jerked his hand back and almost shrieked. Opening one eye, he dared to peek and it turned out to just be Cloud's hand. Sephiroth exhaled and rolled his eyes and let out a nervous relieved laugh, "Okay that was not so bad."

When they came back to where Zack was, Sephiroth noticed that Zack was in the same spot and was now snoring. Sephiroth took Cloud back to the bush that he had leaned against before the bathroom break.

The bags had not been moved, so he began to get something to feed Cloud. The, oh so not-yummy, as Zack dubbed them, but filling, MREs had been gone for a while now, he missed them. With the chemical heater that came with it, they'd at least would get a warm meal, but not anymore. He could start a fire, but he didn't want to take the chance on being seen. So it was cold meals, cold instant oatmeal, cereal bars, protein bars, canned fruit and canned meat.

As it got darker and later, Zack's snore seemed to get louder and he still hadn't moved, in fact he had begun to drool, making a small puddle of mud underneath his cheek. Sephiroth tried to stifle a chuckle at the comedic value of it.

Once he had gotten a can of pear slices open and looked over at Cloud. A panic shook him, "Cloud?" Sephiroth stood up and asked louder, "Cloud?!" Rushing over to where he had left him, Sephiroth parted the branches of the bush, "Cloud?!" Looking behind the large bush, he saw what looked like drag marks; he followed them all the way down to a small freshwater creek where they stopped, "Cloud!"

The darkness made it a little harder, but he was still able to see from the ample light from the moon on the cloudless night. He would have to laugh later at the irony of that thought. The marks didn't show on the other side of the creek, so he had to still be in the water. He stopped, took a deep breath and tried to calm his mind, hoping that he might be able to feel which direction Cloud was and needed to go. Looking downstream, then upstream, he felt the familiar pull of the blonde's emotions- downstream.

Sure of his choice, he broke out in a full run, until he finally caught a glimpse of a small group of what looked like gremlins. As they ran, they held tightly to Cloud's shoulder armor and his head hung back and was dangerously close to bouncing off the rocks as they ran. Sephiroth sped up and got close enough that he dove forward and got a hold of Cloud's ankle. Feeling a twinge of pain in his own hip, something in Cloud's hip popped and the sound was loud enough that he could have heard it even without enhanced hearing. He would worry later about if the noise was Cloud's hip dislocating.

The gremlins turned and all five of them started their dance that singled other gremlins to join them. Drawing his short sword he jumped up and over Cloud and cut down three of them in one strike, wishing he had his old sword so that he could have gotten all of them in one strike. Turning and swinging his sword around him in a back swing he got the other two, but not before they'd finished their dance.

Quickly grabbing Cloud and throwing him up over his shoulder in a fireman carry, he could hear their screams and cries of a large group of them gathering together for the feast that Sephiroth was depriving them of. He just wanted to get back to a central location and get Zack's help in the coming fight because gremlins never fought one on one.

By the time he got back to where they'd made camp, he couldn't hear them anymore, but he knew they were on their way. He got Cloud down next to Zack and drew his sword again and watched the area they'd just come from. With the heel of his boot he nudged Zack, "Zackary, wake up." Zack moaned and mumbled something. Sephiroth nudged harder and still he just mumbled. Finally fed up and the sound of the gremlins getting closer he finally kicked behind him and got Zack in the ribs with his heel, "Zackary! Get up!"

Zack jumped up and staggered and caught himself on Sephiroth's back, "What is it?"

All Sephiroth was able to get out before they crashed through the tree line was, "Gremlins!"

Zack pulled his sword and together they cut down too many to count. Once they stopped coming at them, both Zack and Sephiroth were relieved and they looked over at Cloud, who slept peacefully. Looking at Zack, the former General laughed loudly at him.

Zack's surprised look just seemed to make Sephiroth laugh harder, "What is with you and always laughing at me?" He wiped his arm off that had a few guts hanging from it and said, "Geez, every time. You wanna tell me what happened now?"

Sephiroth stopped laughing long enough to say while he pointed to his friend's cheek, "First off, you've got a little something on your face."

When Zack felt the mud that stuck to his cheek, he got a puzzled look, "What the hell?"

Fighting the urge to laugh again Sephiroth said, "You have a tendency to drool."

Zack smirked at him and added, "Oh yeah?! Well you do too!"

They checked Cloud's leg and it hadn't dislocated as far as he could tell, but they kept a close eye on it for a few days. Sephiroth spent the rest of the time until they went to sleep telling him what all had happened.

The next morning, they got started early and Sephiroth took Cloud and Zack took the bags. The day was uneventful and when they stopped for the night, Zack got ready to feed Cloud. It soon became a problem when the can opener that they bought back in Skiba, wouldn't latch on to the can. During the wrestling match with it, Zack had ended up bending it. Sephiroth tried to get him to give him the opener to bend it back, but Zack wasn't going to let some can opener beat him. When the can opener won the match, Zack threw it against the tree and it broke into several pieces. Sephiroth sighed and slapped his own thigh in irritation, "Zack!"

Zack shrugged shyly and said, "Sorry, but that can opener has had it out for me ever since we got it." The laughter from both bounced around and Sephiroth took a mental snap shot of Zack and his wide smile, it seemed like Zack never had a shortage of those.

It all just confirmed that most of the memories he did know were real. It was late at night by the time they realized what time it was. After Alana came home, Cloud asked, "Why don't you just stay here tonight, we have an extra room and it's too late to be out walking," Alana came around the couch and leaned down for a kiss from Cloud. Surprise jerked him back and then he allowed a quick peck on the lips. She slouched slightly and went into the bedroom and shut the door.

"I appreciate it. I am glad to see that you are happy," Sephiroth smiled and patted him on the arm.

Cloud hesitated again and rubbed his neck, "Yeah."

Sephiroth curiously glanced at him, "I don't mean to pry, but you are happy aren't you?"

"I suppose so," Cloud dodged Sephiroth's looks and added, "We can talk later, there's the room. If you need anything just let me know." Without wasting any time Cloud headed for his room.

Sephiroth could tell that Cloud was a little agitated at the last question that he'd asked and hoped that he would be okay. Sephiroth took his boots off and got out of his clothes, leaving his boxers on, he preferred sleeping nude, but started sleeping in any and all clothes while in the labs. For some reason, he couldn't recall exactly why he didn't sleep nude any longer. Slipping between the covers and settling into bed, he listened to the quiet, closing his eyes, his thoughts drifted to Aerith and how much he wanted to be with her. With a picture of her in his mind, sleep came quickly.

"Cloud! What is it?! Please!"

Sephiroth jumped at the screams. Running out of his room and toward the source of the screams, he ran for the other bedroom. Flinging the door open and turning the light on, he saw Alana, huddled down in the corner of the room. Cloud was on the bed in the throes of one of his Jenova fits. This was the first time he'd seen him have one of these while Cloud was in just his boxers. It looked a hell of a lot worse and way more painful. Sephiroth never realized that Cloud's muscles looked like they were ready to fling themselves out of his skin.

The arch in his back looked like it was about to break him in half, Sephiroth yelled to Alana, "Go get a cold wet rag!" The blonde's muscles in his legs contracted and bent them back, almost underneath him. His arms strained and veins visibly protruded in his arms, neck and chest, while his stomach and chest muscles, a violent tremor as they began working up to a scream that was imminent. Sephiroth could see every line and almost every fiber of muscle tissue, very well-defined as his skin seemed to shrink and the muscles appeared to grow in girth.

Falling out of the arch, Cloud's hands began clawing at his throat and chest and the screams reverberated through the room. Sephiroth grabbed his wrists and held on until Alana came back with the rag. Taking the rag, Sephiroth gently wiped his face and he slowly started to calm down, "It's okay Cloud. It is not real, it's just a trick." Alana grabbed the blanket from the floor and handed it to Sephiroth and he covered Cloud.

Panting from his efforts to help Cloud, and his own fright, he looked at Alana and asked, "Has he had these here, with you, before?"

Sephiroth could see the tears just brimming at the top ready to flow at any time, "Yes, but this one seemed worse. Does it have to do with…you know?"

"I'm afraid so. He has had these, um… nightmares many, many times," Sephiroth stood up and started out the door, "He will be fine now. Good night," Closing the door, he went back to the other bedroom and collapsed on the bed. He buried his face in the pillow and fought off the feelings of helplessness, he hated seeing Cloud in the pain that Jenova seemed to enjoy putting him through.

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reads, favorites, subscribes and/or reviews, I appreciate your time and I dedicate all of this to you. To quote another author, "Getting reviews makes me feel all warm and squishy."

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