Disclaimer: I do not now or before and most likely not in the future, own Final Fantasy, Square Enix or any of the characters.
Reviews, critiques and flames are welcome. I absolutely love all reviews about the story as it gives me motivation, I use good constructive criticism to help my writing improve and I feed the flames to the fires of my imagination.
A/N: I'll have another note at the end of the chapter because I don't want to give anything away. Sorry for the late update, but I thought that there might be a problem with some of the content and I had to make sure that all my T's were crossed and all my I's were dotted.
Condor – I figured that the message got cut off in some way. I want to thank you for taking time to read, review and your kind words and I hope that the story continues to surprise and inspire. If you see any mistakes that stand out, let me know so that I can fix it. Thanks!
Guest reviews - Thanks for you reviews. I hope you enjoy where the story goes from here!
Thanks to my before posting beta Queen of Jokers and my after posting beta SubZeroChimera!
"There are two sides to every story, so if you are only getting one side, then you're only hearing half the story." –Unknown
Chapter 35
Sephiroth crossed his arms, "Zack, you seem different. Why? What is going on with you?"
"Huh? Oh, uh…" Clearing his throat he said quietly, "I uh, I'm just distracted and worried about Spike. Why do you ask?"
"No reason. You just seem… different, more than just distracted."
"Oh, let's just concentrate on this okay," Zack wiped at a little sweat off of his forehead. 'Take a deep breath and focus Zack.' After they had just about exhausted themselves searching, someone came in for a visit.
When he appeared at the doorway to the office upstairs, Zack and Sephiroth fell silent, "Oh, yes it is a fabulous dream, I am here," Reno quipped.
Both men moved to a defensive stance and Zack growled, "Reno, what do you want?!"
"Oh, hey, don't get hostile. I'm just here with some information you might be interested in," Reno put his hand on the wall and tapped his fingers.
Sephiroth asked impatiently and loudly, "Well? What is it?"
"Oh, so you do want to know? Oh, okay well little Cloudy has been missing for what, three weeks now?"
Zack clenched his jaw and spoke through his gritted teeth, "Get to the point Reno."
Reno put his hands up in surrender, "Easy now," He looked at Tifa as she came in with a surprised look on her face, "You may need to put your guard dog on a leash," Zack glared. "Okay, word has it that he is into some heavy stuff, since he got tricked into…" Reno tapped his lips with his finger, "How should I put this? Human trafficking. There I said it. It wasn't as hard to say as I thought."
Their jaws dropped and simultaneously said, "What?!" Zack finished up, "He's being held as a slave?"
Glancing back at Tifa and then leaning into Sephiroth and Zack for emphasis, Reno continued with a wink, "Not just any slave, if you catch my drift." He stood back up straight, "The woman, Jillian, has got him all fucked up on so many drugs, he probably doesn't even know his name anymore."
"Where?" Sephiroth slammed his fist down on the desk.
Looking at Tifa again, "You're gonna need two leashes." Not getting anything but a dangerous glare from Tifa also, he returned his attention back to Sephiroth, "Sector 2. The name of the place is the Spice House. To get to him though, you're gonna have to pay and ask for him." Reno turned to leave and held his hand up in the air with a wave.
Zack looked at Sephiroth and Tifa, "Holy shit! We need to get some money together and get our asses over there. Tifa, how much money do you have?" Zack rushed around, "I have some money saved up, but it is still at Alana's place. I'm going to run over there and get it."
"Aerith and I have some money put back for emergencies," Sephiroth reached over and grabbed his jacket, "Wait… I thought you said that you went there day before yesterday. Remember when you were late meeting me at the search grid."
"Oh, yeah, I uh wasn't… We're getting sidetracked. Can we concentrate on this now?" Zack rubbed his temples.
Incredulously searching Zack's face, Sephiroth dropped his inquiry before as headed for the door, "I will be back soon."
Zack watched Sephiroth leave and he sighed and went back over to Tifa, "Tifa, we have to focus! How much money do you have?"
"I don't… I don't know, I'll go check," Tifa ran across the hall to her room.
Zack called after Tifa, "I'm going to Alana's to get my money!"
When Alana answered the door an air of impatience floating around her, "Are you finally picking up your shit?"
"Hello to you too," He pushed his way past her and went into his old room.
"I'm glad you came to get your stuff. You can get Cloud's shit while you're at it. What are you looking for?"
Zack was digging through his things, "Alana I will pick up our stuff later, right now I am looking for my little tin canister that had my extra money in it."
"It's on top of the fridge where you left it," She pointed. "What's going on? You're scaring me."
"Look, I really don't have time to talk, but I will tell you later. Okay?" Zack rushed back out the door and ran back to the bar. When he got inside, Tifa had a lump of cash dumped out on the desk. Mostly small bills and she was straightening them out, "Here is all the money I have," Tossing the canister on the desk in front of Tifa.
"All together we have 2972 gil. Sephiroth will be back soon, so I'll go get ready to go," Tifa stood up.
"Oh, no you don't. You just stay right here," Zack pushed her back down in the chair, "You have customers downstairs."
"I want to go too!" Her eyes welled up, "It's my fault he's in this situation."
Zack leaned over the desk, "Tifa, I don't know what kind of shape he's going to be in. I can't let you go with us. We will bring him back, I promise."
Sephiroth came busting through the door, "Here is all we had. Aerith said its 8622 gil."
"Great. It's almost dark and we need to get over there. Are you ready Seph?" As they walked out the door, they put their swords up in the upstairs closet and grabbed their Soldier issued knives.
By the time they made it to Sector 2, it was completely dark. Asking around, they were directed to the area of the Spice House, "Oohh, you're gonna get your freak on huh?"
A little alarmed, Zack asked, "What do you mean by that?"
The short and portly shop keeper just shook his head, "It's just that the woman who runs that place allows just about anyone in is all." He scratched his chin, "She picks people up and gets them all drugged up and keeps them that way. The shit she puts them on really messes them up and keeps them right where she wants them."
"Alright, thanks man," Zack turned in the direction that the guy had indicated.
As they walked, the building came into view. It was a large plain red brick building with two large bouncers in front. If you were just walking past it in during the day, you wouldn't give the place a second look. The building looked as if it had been there since Shinra built the upper plates of Midgar. However, renovations had obviously been done at some point. Zack only saw the one door, but every place always had a second exit, "You ready for this Seph?"
Sephiroth nodded his head and grunted a yes and gripped the handle of his knife behind his back. When they got to the door, two large bulky bouncers stopped them, "Do you have an appointment?"
Zack rubbed the back of his head, "No, I was told that we could just show up. We got a really good recommendation, that we can ask a certain type," Zack elbowed Sephiroth.
"We would like a very specific type," Sephiroth said stiffly.
"Are you a couple?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
Zack internally cringed; he just wasn't sure about what Sephiroth was up for. If he knew one thing about the man, Sephiroth could be really uptight. Over the last few years, however, he'd lightened up, but he still had his moments. For Cloud's sake though, Zack figured that Sephiroth would fall in line with whatever he came up with. Zack thought, 'oh Gaia, let this work' then he reached around and put his arm around the former General's shoulders, "Yes, our sex life just isn't what it used to be, we just want to liven things up a bit for our… uh, a-anniversary," The bouncer turned and spoke into the ear piece.
Sephiroth raised a single eyebrow and whispered to Zack, "We're a couple?" Sephiroth's voice cracked in a split second of confusion.
"Shhh, just go with it," Zack squeezed Sephiroth's shoulders and leaned over just enough so his that his head rested on Sephiroth's shoulder. The bouncer glanced back at them for a moment and Zack smiled broadly. Sephiroth kept his arms down at his sides, not knowing what to do.
Giving the older man's shoulders another squeeze, Zack tried to reassure him. With an impatient sigh, Sephiroth slowly leaned his head over and rested his cheek on top of his friend's head. Zack let out a sigh of contentment and broadened his smile from a general smile to one of toothy proportions.
The bouncer turned back around, "What type would you like?"
Zack raised his head and quickly rattled off, "We would like a blond guy, athletic-"
"Well, we have a new guy. We haven't been able to book him yet, he's been too combative," He looked down at his clip board. Sephiroth folded his arms in front of his chest, "Hmm, it looks like he isn't taking any clients tonight either."
Zack's heart jumped and then he blurted out, "Oh, please?! We'll pay extra! Come on, it's our anniversary. We like them feisty, don't we sweetheart?" Zack gave Sephiroth's shoulders a little squeeze again.
Sephiroth kept his arms crossed and his mouth did not curve in any type of smile. In a very flat and deep tone, he said in a fashion that sounded more bored than anything else, "The feistier the better." Zack added his best pleading puppy face to the bouncer.
The bouncer talked into his headset again and then ushered them through the door. Zack held Sephiroth tightly as they got escorted further into the darkened room. They could see a dance club with booming music playing and people dancing and drinking. They looked at each other when they saw some stairs off to the left side of the entrance.
That was when a well-dressed man came up and told them he was going to take them to Cloud's room, but first, "You two are lucky, you will be his first official clients. We haven't been able to book him, because he is a little… temperamental. However, since you are two big guys, you should still be able to have plenty of fun. They are getting him ready for you. So, down to business. Because it's two of you, the price is going to be 10,000 Gil," The man smiled as Sephiroth handed him the money, "Okay there will be no hitting, unless you pay extra and you have one hour. After an hour, it will be an additional 10,000." As they looked around, they noticed a couple of guys with guns and they were on alert.
Taking to the stairs, the man then turned down a hall with Zack and Sephiroth right behind him. They were able to see in some of the rooms with open doors and the brunet had to grab Sephiroth's hand to keep him from pulling out his knife out.
When the guy turned around and started walking backward to talk to them, Zack plastered the best smile he had in his arsenal. Then the guy looked at Sephiroth and then at Zack, "Your boyfriend is so serious looking."
Zack internally was laughing his ass off at this point, thinking about how totally uncomfortable this was making Sephiroth. Just because he could, he added a little flare to his next statement and wrapped his arms back around his shoulders, "Oh I know! But he loosens up in the bedroom," Zack winked, "If you know what I mean." When the guy turned back around, Sephiroth glared at both men.
Unlocking the door, the well-dressed man smiled, "Okay here we go. You two enjoy your anniversary."
Once the guy was out of sight, Sephiroth looked at Zack, who still had his arms around him. With a restrained wiggle, he raised his arms and shook his shoulders and hips to shake Zack's arms off of him before he hollered, "Stop touching me!"
Zack laughed, but then cleared his throat, "Shhh!" Getting out his giggles, Zack then whispered, "Oh come on! That was funny." Zack straightened his face when Sephiroth's face was a still and calm, but you never knew what brewed underneath, "Okay, you're right, be serious."
The room that Cloud was being held in was located at the end of the hall. It would be pretty easy to just run out, although the guns would be a little difficult to dodge as they ran away from the gunfire though. However, Zack wasn't really keen on the idea of getting shot again.
They both took a deep breath before Zack turned the knob and Sephiroth closed the door behind them. Cloud was laid out on his back across the bed and seemingly unconscious. His legs bent over the side of the bed, his bare feet dangling and brushing the carpet while he was only partially dressed in a pair of jeans.
Sephiroth went over and shook his knee. Opening his eyes, he slowly stood up and his words slurred bad enough that neither one of his friends could understand what he was mumbling. Blindly reaching over to the startled silver-haired man, he started unbuttoning his shirt for him. Sephiroth took a hold of the blonde's hands and tried to get him to look in his eyes.
The blank look in Cloud's eyes reminded them of while he was comatose. Holding his hands out away from his shirt, Cloud mumbled something and suddenly fell to his rear on the floor.
Sephiroth and Zack looked at each other and Zack squatted down and took Cloud by the shoulders, "Spiky! Look at me!" Cloud's head rolled a little and his eyes tried to focus but his eyes just seemed to roll around his head. Zack wanted to laugh because he looked like a bobble head doll, but he didn't or he might incur the wrath of Sephiroth.
When he stood him up, Cloud quickly grabbed Zack's head and before he could do anything, Cloud planted a hard kiss on him. Sephiroth grabbed Cloud from behind, pulling him backward. Losing his balance in the struggle, Sephiroth fell forward on the bed and Cloud grabbed him, pulled him down to the bed and rolled over until Sephiroth was on his back. Cloud hovered above him, a glint of anger rose in his eyes just before Sephiroth barely dodged a lightning fast punch.
At this point, Zack grabbed him in a headlock and yelled, "Damn it Spike! Snap out of it!"
Cloud kicked out and landed a hard kick in Sephiroth's crotch just as he turned. Stumbling forward, holding himself, he leaned on the side of the bed, breathing deeply as his eyes remained squeezed shut. Zack still held Cloud in the headlock as he fought and said to Sephiroth, "Not so funny when it's your balls is it?" Sephiroth took a few more deep breaths and glared at him.
Once he recovered some of his senses, the former general limped into the bathroom and got a cold wash cloth for Cloud. When he had come back out, Cloud had gotten loose from Zack and crawled over to floor on the other side of the bed.
Once both men stood there, staring at the blond, he stood up and started to yell something unintelligible and pointed at Sephiroth. Both men looked at each other, trying to make sense of what their friend was saying but when they looked back at him, Cloud reached down and began to unbutton his own pants. Not sparing a moment, Zack leapt over the bed and grabbed the other man's arms and got him down on the bed by pinning him down with his forearm on Cloud's chest. Sephiroth gave the wet cloth to Zack.
Cloud flailed and finally said something they could understand, "I don't like guys! Get off me!"
Looking back at the blond, Zack yelled, "Yeah?! Well, me neither!" Zack looked up at Sephiroth and sighed, "What the hell are we going to do?"
Sephiroth looked around the room and shrugged his shoulders, "There is nothing in here, but the bed and a small empty dresser."
Zack snapped his fingers and spoke to his wiggling friend under his arm, "Hey, Buddy, do you want to play a game?" Cloud stopped struggling and looked up at him and reached up to grab Zack's head again, "No, I want to play a game first. Do you want to play along?" Glancing at Sephiroth as he rolled his eyes, Zack shrugged and said, "If you got any better ideas I'm listening."
Cloud didn't say anything as Zack stood up and pulled the eager blond up to standing.
Without notice, Cloud swung a punch at Zack that he deftly dodged as he grabbed his wrists. Putting his finger in front of Cloud's face, Zack scolded, "No, not yet, we are going to play a little game first." Cloud dropped his hands and mumbled something incoherent. Zack smiled and grabbed his arm right above the elbow, "Good boy, now come with me."
As Zack walked past Sephiroth, Cloud reached out and brushed his hand playfully across Sephiroth's chest and smiled at him. Without thinking, the silver-haired man smiled nervously as he ran his fingers through his hair. Watching as Zack led the blond into the bathroom, Sephiroth furrowed his eyebrows at his thoughts. Why was he feeling giddy from the look that the blond gave him right then? Straightening his shirt, he cleared his throat and remembered the connection they had, he was simply feeling whatever the drugs were making Cloud feel. Following them into the bathroom, he watched as Zack explained.
"Maybe if we get him in the shower, the cold water may wake him up a little." Speaking to Cloud, Zack patiently ordered, "Get in the shower." Once Cloud flopped down in the tub and the chilled water was trickling over the pale flesh, Zack turned to Sephiroth, "Seph, find something for him to put on."
Sephiroth looked seriously at Zack, and asked plainly, "What part of there isn't anything are you having trouble understanding?"
Zack groaned, "Great. Come here, hold him up." Sephiroth switched places with Zack and continued wiping and splashing the cold water on Cloud's face and over his head. Zack paced back and forth, thinking, digging deep, finding an idea, something, anything, tapping his chin with his finger, "Think, think, think…" He snapped his fingers, "I got it!"
Zack started stripping down to his boxers and Sephiroth eyed him in confusion, "What the hell are you doing?"
"Alright," Zack finished stripping down and stood there in his bright pink and neon purple heart boxers. When Sephiroth turned to look at Zack, he stifled a laugh, but a snort still escaped, "Shut up Seph, they were on sale." Cloud started to look around and focus a little more, "Okay let's get him out and put my clothes on him."
Sephiroth turned off the water and began getting the blond out of the wet pants, "Damn, of course, no underwear. Why would he be wearing underwear in a whore house?" He asked rhetorically with a fair amount of sarcasm until he furrowed his brows again at his unlikely statement that sounded more like something that Zack would say. Shaking his head, he tried to focus so he turned to ask Zack, "This might be a stupid question, but what are you going to wear?"
"Do you remember that Christmas party about a year before we went on the Nibelheim mission?"
"Yes, why?" As Sephiroth started putting Cloud's feet in the legs of Zack's pants, he started struggling against the new clothes, "Cloud, would you stop it! You gotta put some clothes on because I am not carrying you naked."
"You remember the streaker right?" Sephiroth nodded, "That streaker was me, that's my plan. While they're distracted, you get him out of here," Zack looked up at Sephiroth's wig and grabbed it off his head, "Let's put your wig on him too."
"Zack that has got to be one of the dumbest ideas I have ever heard." Humor began to bubble in his chest and he asked before he realized where it came from, "Where are you going to put your knife?" Zack froze and looked at his amused friend and smirked, allowing Sephiroth to let out a laugh, which was always rare. Zack tucked the majority of his silver hair down the back of his shirt and covered his collar with his jacket.
"Okay, are you ready?" Zack pulled his boxers off and threw them at Sephiroth, "Don't forget those. I am going to need them back." In a flash of slightly tanned ass cheeks, Zack was out the door.
Sephiroth pulled the boxers off of his head and tucked them in his jacket pocket with a growl as he ran out the door. He wondered sometimes if Zack ever really thought out any plans, or if he just went with whatever popped into his head. He walked to the door with Cloud hanging from his side and waited for the screams, laughter and cat calls to start.
Once the first whistle and scream was heard, he walked as quickly as he could with Cloud, who was being somewhat uncooperative. The stairs were a bit more of a challenge. Sephiroth would take a step down and Cloud's foot would drag. Then the next step was like he was jumping down them, "Cloud, you have to stop doing that."
Having gotten closer to the outer door, he got stopped by a bouncer that they hadn't met yet. He was very large and looked to be the complete opposite of friendly, "Excuse me. What happened to your boyfriend? He looks like he is either fixing to pass out or drank too much." The bouncer waited incredulously for a response.
Cloud giggled and bounced in place, then looked at the bouncer with a sly grin and in a tone that sounded tired, drugged and exasperated, Cloud exclaimed, "Shit, you're a big motherfucker!" When the blond lump of contradiction grunted out a laugh, he also pulled away as if he was trying to walk to the dance floor. Sephiroth pulled him closer to keep him from getting away.
Sephiroth's head double timed an answer, 'What would Zack do in this situation?' With every bit of acting ability that he had, and it wasn't much, he spoke in a semi-feminine like voice with a smile, "Well I just tuckered him right out and that boy up there gave us a run for our money," With one finger stuck out, Sephiroth poked the guy softly in the chest with a limp wrist.
The large man seemed to soften a little and smiled, "Why don't you get him home and get him in bed." Just then Zack ran through the room whooping and flailing his arms, "You go ahead and get out of here. We need to take care of this joker."
Sephiroth glanced back once before he headed out the door. Making his way down the street, he hid around a corner of a building and peeked around to the door, no Zack. He waited longer and still no Zack. Sephiroth debated on what to do and his decision was made when he finally heard the brunet yelling and screaming as they literally threw him out of the door. Zack jumped up and took off running and ran around the corner and right past Cloud and Sephiroth. With a loud whistle, he got Zack's attention and he turned around with his hands covering himself. Sephiroth threw his boxers at him, "Let's get back."
Waiting for Zack to finish putting his boxers back on and took his jacket off to give to Zack, Sephiroth said in an amusing tone, "Well that was an interesting plan."
"I didn't really think it would work, but it did," Zack rubbed his arms from the cold.
Finally making it back to the bar, Zack was almost half-frozen. When they walked in, Tifa and Aerith were there, their look was one of puzzlement and then they both giggled and Zack sighed loudly, "Stop laughing. They were on sale!" Standing in the middle of the room in boxers and a jacket, Zack chattered through his teeth, "Don't just stand there, I'm freezing! Can I have a blanket or some hot coffee to bathe in?" Sephiroth and Aerith headed upstairs with Cloud and Aerith came back down with a blanket and Tifa brought him some coffee. Through the shivers Zack thanked them and asked Sephiroth, "Could you go to Alana's and get the rest of mine and Cloud's stuff?"
Aerith offered quickly, "I'll help." She couldn't or wouldn't make eye contact with him. From over his coffee cup, Zack watched her leave and hoped that she would look at him, but she didn't. She just kept yanking on his heart. Stuck; he was stuck hiding in the shadows, his mistakes stalking him.
He lowered his eyes and took another sip, "Tifa, we are in for a rough road. Whatever that bitch had him on, it's some interesting stuff." Zack looked at her and she closed her eyes.
"It is my fault that he got into this situation," Tifa wiped the tears off her cheeks.
Zack looked over at her and took one of her hands, "We both were there, but we can't blame ourselves now."
They decided to take turns sitting with him. Zack got the first shift and Cloud slept for about 10 hours. Zack sat in a chair next to the bed in Tifa's room. Cloud broke out in a sweat, first. Then the tremors began. Zack could see his muscles contracting in time with his screams. The tremors would fade and then he shivered and moaned in pain. Watching him go through this, reminded him of the times in the lab, if either of them would be sick, the others would take care of him. The camaraderie was something that he missed, working together as friends.
Zack kept up with wiping sweat off the blonde's forehead and trying to get him to drink some water, keeping him from getting dehydrated. He wished that they could just call a doctor, but being wanted test subjects kind of stopped that idea. Their shifts seemed to start running together as the days ran together.
Sephiroth and Zack sat in the dining room and just a few customers for lunch were there. While Tifa was taking her turn, the two of them decided to get some coffee. Zack sat with his arm on the table and his head hung, partly from exhaustion and partly from anxiety at Cloud's decrease in his health.
Sephiroth slowly doodled on a napkin but asked quietly, "Zack. There is something that I've been wondering about." Zack looked at Sephiroth and raised his eyebrows and waited with a certain level of anxiety. Sephiroth got a shy grin, "How did you talk Cloud into dressing up in a dress?"
Zack busted out laughing. Sephiroth nervously looked around at the people as they looked in their direction. Zack slammed his fist on the table in his fit of laughter and when he was able to breathe and talk coherently, he said, "Well, that is a good question." Zack sat back in his chair and put his hands behind his head, "He lost a bet and Chocoberry pie from my mom."
Sephiroth raised an eyebrow, "Chocoberry pie?" Zack nodded and took a sip of coffee while Sephiroth added, "You seemed to have fun though," Then he got a mischievous grin, "You two made a lovely couple."
Zack smiled, "Well thank you Seph. I thought he cleaned up pretty well." Zack laughed, sat forward with both of his arms on the table and leaned closer to Sephiroth and pointedly said, "However, if memory serves correctly, you're the one who checked his ass out a few times and tried to feel him up." Zack's smile widened to massive proportions.
Sephiroth turned bright red and with his eyes narrowed to small slits, jaws tightly clamped together, he said through his teeth, "Shut up Zackary." Zack's laugh boomed and filled the entire room. Looks from the customers drew attention to Sephiroth's bright red face. Starting to take another drink of his coffee but changing his mind, he scoffed quietly instead, "I hate you." Zack laughed again as Sephiroth went upstairs.
Zack's laughing came to an abrupt stop when the door opened and he saw Reno. It wouldn't surprise Zack any if every time he saw Reno, it turned out to be bad. Zack stood and grabbed his arm and took him back outside. Reno asked while his escort pulled him around to face him, "How is little Cloudy boy doing?"
Crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes, "Reno, what do you want?"
"Is that any way to talk to one of your pallbearers?" Reno lightly punched Zack on the arm, but he was not amused. "I just thought I would check on things." Reno's arms crossed, "I know where you can get help for pretty boy's little withdrawal problem."
Zack lowered his arms, "You're just now telling me this?"
"This info isn't easy to get."
"Well can you get me some details or am I going to have to beat in out of you?"
"Easy there tiger, you know you should cut down on the caffeine," Reno pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Zack, "This is the last time I help."
Zack's face paled at the name on the paper. Finding Sephiroth up in the office lying down on the couch, Zack shut the door behind him, "Hey Seph, Reno just left. He gave me this." Sephiroth took one look at it and looked back up at Zack as he finished, "He said this guy could help Cloud."
"Are you kidding me? He's one of the techs that helped Hojo," Sephiroth's voice had nervousness weaved into it, "Who's to say that this guy isn't going to turn us in to Hojo?"
Zack shrugged his shoulders. He doubted that given his and Reno's past friendship, that the red-head would purposely deceive them, "We can give the guy a call and meet him somewhere else. Check him out and then bring him here."
A/N: I'm not sure about the withdrawal, there are many symptoms for various drugs and substances so I went with the more well-known symptoms. Yes, I realize that Cloud's rescue and everything is far-fetched, but just go with the flow. This is fanfiction after all.
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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