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: Hello my small, but dedicated, audience! This chapter has a few revelations for our guys. Please enjoy!

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.

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

"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing." –George Bernard Shaw

Chapter 65

Barret and Tifa approached the door to the plain but stylish house at the end of the street and knocked. They heard a noise inside and then the door opened with a swift and harsh acknowledgement, "What the hell do you want?"

The man was gruff and had a five o'clock shadow at 10 in the morning. The cigarette that hung from his lip had smoke drifting upwards. His hands firmly gripped the door knob and he squinted one eye because of the smoke and the without taking the cigarette from his lips, he took a hands-free puff of it and then exhaled the spent smoke directly in to Barret's face.

Barret coughed and waved his hand in front of his face, "I want you to stop blowin smoke in my face you rude ass mother-."

Quickly elbowing Barret's ribs to shut the mouth of the angry man, Tifa put her hand on Barret's arm and spoke to the man, "I'm sorry, but we're looking for Cid Highwind."

"Who's askin?" The man blew smoke in Tifa's face this time, leaving her the one coughing and waving her hand to clear the smoke.

They were getting nowhere with this man and she figured that he was the one they were looking for so she tried a different tactic that always worked with most men, "We were told that he was the best pilot around and we're in need of his services." Flashing an award winning smile, she stuck her chest out and twisted at her waist with an innocent flare that emphasized her ample breasts. Barret rolled his eyes at her display.

Cid's eyes went from her face to her chest and then he said with a smile, "Well I am the one and only Cid Highwind. What can I do for ya?"

Cloud and Sephiroth walked back to the room and the grieving man got to the bed to rest his head on the pillow, facing the wall. Aerith looked at Cloud and she raised her eyebrows in an unspoken question. He shook his head slowly and he went to Zack and picked him off the floor. Zack was awake, but he was limp and uncooperative, "Come on Zack. Help me out here."

Zack raised his head up and tears formed, but didn't fall, as deep turquois eyes peered deeply. Cloud pulled him up to the side of the bed and Zack raised his restrained hands to Cloud. Looking down at his bound hands, his eyes went back to the blonde's face.

Removing the restraints from his wrists, he dropped the ropes to the floor. Zack wrapped his arms around Cloud's chest and hugged him. It was one of the tightest hugs that Zack had ever given him as he relaxed against the blonde's chest. Cloud looked over and Harding was reading feverishly while taking notes on a small paper. Zack released Cloud and raised his hand to the black eye that had fully formed. Luckily, his enhancements were already working on healing it, however, it still hurt. Cloud hissed and jerked back. Zack softly and sadly said, "Sometimes snowmen play with moogles."

Cloud took Zack's wrist and pushed it gently away from his face. A low depressed and emotionally drained voice came from Cloud, "Yeah," There was a soft knock at the door and Cloud looked at Aerith, "I don't think that I can handle anything else right now."

Aerith opened the door ever so slightly and turned to Cloud, "It's Tifa with the pilot."

Cloud looked her and shook his head, "I can't meet him right now. Give me a little time okay."

Aerith relayed the message and Tifa took Cid to the other room where a scream erupted loudly. At the sound of some yelling and slamming a door, Aerith stuck her head out the door and looked. She pulled Tifa in the room and asked quietly, "What was that?"

Tifa's red face glanced at Cloud and then back to Aerith, "Yuffie and Vincent were… asleep." A smile crept across her face and a giggle shot out.

Aerith's giggle was quickly muffled by her hand, "It's about time."

Tifa nodded her agreement, "Barret took the guy, Cid, to their room instead." She looked at Cloud, "When you're ready to meet him, let me know okay." Cloud nodded once, got up and quietly went into the bathroom.

Dinner time rolled around and Sephiroth seemed to have gotten through the worst of it. The emotionally beaten man sat quietly in the corner in a chair that had been pulled over for him. Zack was sitting on the bed when the pizza delivery showed up. All of the pizzas set on the small wooden table and like a dinner bell had rung, everyone showed up and took their share. Tifa and Aerith grinned at Yuffie when she asked, "What?"

Tifa swallowed the bite of food and said, "I was wondering when you two would finally do something."

Aerith added, "Everyone was wondering."

Yuffie froze, "Everyone?" Aerith and Tifa giggled and nodded their heads. Yuffie sighed loudly, "There is no privacy around you people is there?" She walked off and joined Vincent who stood beside Red.

Barret walked in with Cid, "Everyone, this guy… This is Cid Highwind. He's our pilot."

When they got to Zack, he was sitting on his knees at the head of the bed. He had pulled his shirt off and was in the process of smearing his piece of pizza on the shirt. Cid loudly asked, "Who cracked this boy's coconut?"

Cloud headed over to Zack and took the pizza from him, "No Zack, you eat it." Cloud narrowed his eyes and glared at Cid.

The budding artist looked at Cloud when he grabbed Zack and pulled him to standing. With the pizza sauce that Zack still had on his hands, he began to paint the wall next to him. The babbling began again, "3, 4, over the moon is not the only place to get foam."

Cid chuckled quietly, "What is the screwball's problem?" Cid looked around and asked louder, "Shouldn't he be in a rubber room somewhere?"

Sephiroth stood and harshly stated, "Don't talk about him like that."

Cid lit a cigarette, "Sorry bud. It's just an observation."

Cloud took Zack to wash his hands and after they left the bathroom, back to the common area of the room, the taller of the two men wiggled out of his shorts, leaving him in just his boxers where he exclaimed, "Can't wander in the computer zone of the upside down buildings. Maybe the street will hold the ice cream boxes to flower lamps!"

Cloud was struck with sadness at the weird things that were coming from him lately. He was definitely getting worse, ever since Sephiroth's past was known to him. At least before he made some sort of sense, now it was just total nonsense.

Cloud stopped him and Aerith held Zack's hands while Cloud picked his shorts up from the floor. Zack got goose bumps cover his bare chest at Aerith's touch. Cloud was behind him lifting his foot into the leg hole of his shorts when Harding jumped up and yelled, "YES!" Zack jumped back in surprise and fell over backwards tripping over Cloud, taking Aerith with him.

Aerith landed on Zack and Cloud was stuck under their legs. Zack grabbed Aerith around her shoulders, "Jackknife the go trunk!" Cloud rolled out and Tifa helped him and Aerith to their feet. Cloud tried to get a hold of Zack as he jumped up and began bouncing up and down with his arms up in the air.

Cloud grabbed him, "Zack! Stop," Zack looked at Cloud when he grabbed him. Baring his teeth, Zack sneered at him and Cloud got in his face and said firmly, "Zack, that's enough!" Cloud then turned to Harding, "What is it?"

Harding gathered his notes, "Okay. There is good news and there is bad news. The good news is I think I know how to fix Zack. The bad news is the injections that I made up are not going to work on anything."

Sephiroth stood in the corner with his arms crossed, "Let's start with getting Zack better."

Harding took a deep breath, "Zack is getting worse because you and Cloud are sending him all your bad feelings." Cloud and Sephiroth looked at each other. Harding held his hand up, "From what I can tell, if you two 'take' your feelings back, it should reverse his condition."

Cloud yelled, "But we don't know how to do that. We don't even know what the hell is going on anymore. Tell us how, that is what we need to know."

Harding raised his voice, "I don't know! This isn't a how-to instruction manual. All I know is you've been doing it by sending your feelings to him so it shouldn't be too hard for you to figure out."

Sephiroth asked pointedly, "So, is Zack a conduit between us?"

Aerith stepped closer to Sephiroth, "You and Cloud have been acting like Zack a little more every day. The more feelings you send him, the more you seem to act like Zack and the worse he gets."

Cloud looked at Vincent, "That's what you meant when you asked about why we felt so much better after a bad memory isn't it?"

Vincent nodded his head and Sephiroth asked, "So you're saying the more memories he gets, the less Zack he becomes?"

Harding nodded, "Yes, I'm afraid so."

Barret raised his hand and asked, "Why won't the injections work?"

Harding sighed loudly and flipped the papers onto the table, "Because of the Jenova effect. Once it happens the Jenova cells inhabit them, it possesses them. They have to fight it. A simple injection won't do it."

Sephiroth took a walk and ended up by the vehicles. The feel of the slightly warmer air blowing around him soothed his mood. He sat on the back end of the truck and looked at the bright stars that appeared between the few clouds that dotted across the sky. Aerith slowly approached him and smiled. She took his hand and leaned into his vision, "It's late, are you going to turn in soon? You have a big day tomorrow."

Sephiroth pulled his hand from hers, "No. I couldn't sleep even if I wanted to." Images, feelings and misunderstandings were what ruled his life anymore. Annabelle had been murdered and Hojo was his biological father. He never thought that anything like this would or could happen, least of all to him. 'What kind of abomination am I?'

"I'm worried about you. Why won't you talk to me?" Aerith pulled herself up on to the back of the truck next to him.

Sephiroth looked at her from the corner of his eyes, "Aerith, I can't do this anymore." All the things he had endured today were exhausting. Gaia knows that he still loved Aerith and wanted to stay with her, more than he was willing to admit anymore, but he would be damned if Shinra was going to take one more thing from him. A decision had to be made, so he made one.

"What do you mean?"

He looked down at the ground, "I can't be with you anymore."

Aerith straightened, "You can't mean that. You don't mean that!"

"You were not mine to begin with," His voice trailed to a whisper, "If loving me ends up hurting, it isn't meant to be." Sliding off the back of the truck he refused to look at her.

She jumped down and grabbed his hands, "You have never hurt me before! This though, this is hurting me." He went to step around her and she blocked his path, "Don't do this Seph."

This was more difficult than he thought it would be, but he just couldn't stand another loved one being taken from him the way Annabelle was taken. Casting his eyes to the ground, he took her by her shoulders, "Aerith, it's over. We're over… I'm sorry."

Stepping around her, she said through her tears, "You are a coward! You don't even want to try? I'm very sorry about Annabelle, but don't you think that she would want you to be happy?"

He stopped and whispered with a fair amount of venom, "Do not pretend to know what Annabelle would want."

Everyone had gone back to their own rooms and Cid had returned to his house. Cloud sent Tifa on to her room, he had to get his thoughts together and see if he could figure out what he had to do. Tomorrow would be a test of sorts and he didn't want to screw it up.

Cloud lay on the bed and Zack crawled around on the floor in his boxers. No matter how hard Cloud tried, he couldn't get Zack to put his shorts and shirt back on so he just let him stay that way. Cloud hoped that Zack wouldn't find his buster sword that he had stashed under the bed. Who knows what he could do if he got a hold of that. Cloud had a hand behind his head and his other hand rested on his stomach.

Closing his eyes, he listened to the ramblings coming from Zack as he brushed the carpet with his fingers and talked to the fuzz that the carpet had accumulated. It hurt and angered him to know that he and Sephiroth were responsible for Zack getting worse.

The door opened and Sephiroth stepped into the room and turned to face the door as he shut the door quietly. Zack jumped up and tried to tackle him as he squealed in fun. Sephiroth, not expecting an attack, got smacked against the door and his face planted hard in the doorframe. Sephiroth cried out with a low long grunt. As they both slid to the floor, Zack grabbed Sephiroth in a head lock from behind and soon had Sephiroth flat on the floor, straddling his back.

From his stomach, he tried to get up, but Zack squeezed his neck, very effectively choking Sephiroth. Zack pushed the back of Sephiroth's head into his forearm and he was starting to lose consciousness. Trying to reach behind him to grab Zack, the brunette deftly dodged Sephiroth's attempts.

Cloud ran over and got a hold of Zack until Harding opened the door, hitting Sephiroth's and Zack's legs. Seeing an opportunity, Zack let go of Sephiroth and grabbed the door that was partially open, yanking it open. Quickly grabbing Harding by his arm, with his mako strength he pulled Harding into the room. The medic went flying over Cloud and Sephiroth who were still on the floor. Jacob went hurtling across the first bed, landing on the second bed farther in the room, bouncing off it and smacking into the wall with a thud as he fell to the floor.

Zack ran for the now fully open door and Cloud dove for his foot and got his ankle. Zack fell to his stomach, rolled to his side and began to kick at Cloud's hand that held him. Zack let out a giggle as a smile crossed his face, he whooped, "Wee Hoo!"

Just when Cloud lost his grip, Sephiroth jumped over Cloud and tackled Zack right outside the room, both men unwilling to allow Zack to escape. The former General and prior First began wrestling for control as Aerith happened to be walking by. Zack flipped and pinned Sephiroth down on his back as he began to smile and growl playfully at the silver man below him.

Aerith bent down to Zack and took his face into her hands. She spoke softly and calmly, "Zack, he doesn't want to play. It is time to go to sleep." When she released his face he looked down at Sephiroth underneath him. He smiled again, snapped his teeth at Sephiroth and crawled off of him and Aerith helped Zack to his feet as she ordered, "Now go on. Go to bed." He bounded into the room with a giggle and left a stunned Sephiroth and Cloud to look after her as she went into her room.

From his stomach, with a face full of sidewalk, Cloud's mouth was agape in shock. Not far from where Cloud lay, Sephiroth was still on the ground and dropped the back of his head to the cement trying to catch his breath. With a sigh he said to Cloud, "I guess Angeal's nickname for him of "Puppy" is more accurate than I ever thought before."

The next morning, his eye had mostly healed and he could hardly tell that he'd had one. Still thinking that it was beyond cool that minor injuries like a black eye healed so quickly, Cloud went and knocked on Tifa's door. He didn't know what was going to happen when they started this memory retrieval, as Harding called it. He was hopeful that nothing bad would happen but he prepared if something unforeseen did happen. When the door opened, Yuffie stood there half asleep, "What's up Cloud?"

"Is Tifa still asleep?" Cloud asked cautiously.

"She's in the shower. Do you want me to send her over to your room when she's done?"

Cloud's lips turned up on one side, "No, I'll just tell her now."

Yuffie stepped aside, "Well, do what you need to do." Yuffie grinned and shut the door. She threw herself back on the bed next to Aerith and covered her head with the pillow.

Cloud quietly opened the door and stepping into the bathroom; he looked back and saw Yuffie peeking from under the pillow with a sly grin. Giving Yuffie wink, he shut the door with stealth and shifted his gaze to Tifa's shapely form shadowed behind the shower curtain and a soft hum of her favorite song floated through the steam-filled air.

Flipping the lock on the door, he quietly undressed. Pulling the curtain back just a small amount, he peered in just before he stepped in the shower behind her. Wrapping his arms around her waist he moved closer.

However, before he could kiss the back of her shoulder she let an elbow fly into his gut. Cloud stumbled back and almost lost his footing in the slick tub. Spinning around, she held up a fist, ready to fight. Her eyes grew wide as she recognized him, "Cloud?!"

He looked up at her through his eyebrows and smiled, "That's not exactly the reaction that I was expecting."

She tossed her arms around him and whispered in his ear, "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

He wrapped his arms around her and her wet soapy skin slid effortlessly across his chest. He leaned in and kissed her neck and she ran her fingers down his back to his rear end. She smiled as she put her head back so he could gently nip at her neck, "Let's do this then - marathon man."

He pulled back from her neck with a large smile plastered on his face, "Do I need to say it?" He raised his eyebrows. Her smile got bigger and she nodded in excitement and anticipation. As he went back to her neck he said softly against her skin, "Absolutely." She giggled and it was soon followed by a pleasured moan.

A/N 2: 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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