Chapter 26: Barroom Chill

"Are you going to keep hurling your cookies?" Kadaj questioned, and Cloud looked up with a glare from the ship as they were nearly back to Nibelheim. They had been traveling for weeks, and thankfully it was nearly over. The captain had just announced over the intercom that they would be docking in 20 minutes. It was only a short chocobo ride after that.

That of course didn't stop Cloud's stomach from regurgitating the small bit of food he had managed to consume for the hundredth time of their journey. His hand pressed against the small lump that was his belly, wondering if this would be the time he managed to literally throw up his guts.

"Just give me a second," he tried, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and ignoring Kadaj's look of disgust. "You don't have to be here, you know."

"Rufus told me not to let you out of my sight," Kadaj argued, handing Cloud a rag as the distaste written all over his face was palpable. "Is this because of the baby? I always thought they'd be pleasant."

"Why?" Cloud questioned, flushing the remnants of his stomach out into the sea before sitting back on the bench by the Omega. "Because they told you it was your purpose to have one? Just like it's your purpose to please."

"Careful, Brother," Kadaj started, seeming to ignore the way Cloud's eye twitched at the label. "Your hypocrisy is showing again."

"Meaning what exactly?" They had been holled up in the cabin Rufus had purchased for them on the ship, and Cloud longed for the day he could get away from the permanent reminder of just what he was meant to be in life, and back into the fresh air where hopefully things would begin to make at least a semblance of sense.

"Mmmmmeaannninnngg….you're the one with the baby in your belly," Kadaj began to count on his hand. "You're the one who fucked two Alphas so properly that they're literally willing to fight over you. You're the first Omega with a mate." He was up to three fingers now, and Cloud's irritation was only growing. "You were hand picked to carry Sephiroth's heir and us into the Promised Land."

"I get your point," Cloud stopped him before he could continue. "I suppose I am then, happy?"

"Would be a lot happier if I could get away from your puke," Kadaj spoke under his breath, crossing his arms as he leaned back, head lolling back as he stared up at the ceiling. "I wish Rufus was an Alpha."

Cloud snorted at that, turning to arch a brow at the other. "Why?"

"Besides the fact that he's going to run Shinra soon?" Kadaj started, shaking his head at Cloud like he was an idiot. "Have you seen his face?"

"Not my type," he said shortly, ignoring the incredulous look Kadaj shot his way at the response.

"Rufus Shinra is everyone's type." It was said so matter of factly, that all Cloud could do was slowly shake his head.

"I feel like I have a friend you'd get along with," Cloud murmured sarcastically, wondering if Reno had returned yet from Wutai. This of course led to more difficult questions. Like was Sephiroth back...was Zack? What did they think? He hadn't left any clue of where he went, though he had no doubt Hojo was probably aware. Rufus had also promised to tell them.

Sephiroth wouldn't understand. Cloud had played every scenario over and over again inside of his head, and his mate would never forgive him for leaving. Sephiroth—who never had anything of his own his entire life. Sephiroth—who knew exactly how precarious the pregnancy was.

He wouldn't forgive him.

Cloud ached for his mate. Every day he made the executive decision not to call him, lest they be tracked, was another day he fell asleep in agony. Sephiroth was hurting, and he had no doubt he was the cause...and Zack—well Zack wouldn't be in the position to offer him any kind of benevolence for his actions either. Even if it meant setting the SOLDIER free of him.

"Must be nice, huh?" Kadaj questioned him, giving him a sideways look of amusement. "Having friends."

"You've never had a friend?" the blond questioned, that familiar pang of guilt warring inside of his stomach with the nausea.

Kadaj slowly shook his head, face set more into resignation rather than sadness. "Nah. You were the one who always got the preferential treatment." Cloud considered the fact that he had been tortured his entire life, and wondered that if Kadaj thought he had been treated special, just what he must have gone through in his own childhood.

"I've never seen it quite like that." Cloud didn't know what else to say, feeling awkward as he glanced over.

"Course you haven't." Kadaj scoffed. "Poor big brother...always so mistreated," he sing-songed. "I'm glad we're back home. Perhaps your pretty blue eyes can open just a little further."

Blond eyebrows knitted, not quite knowing what he was supposed to feel guilty for. "Kadaj I…" He wasn't allowed to continue as a hulking clank signified the stopping of the engines. He swallowed whatever short-sighted apology he had been about to attempt. "We should get above deck. I think we're here."

After they arrived by Chocobo, Cloud led them both into town, pulling a black hood over his spikes to cover them as much as possible as they both passed the group of Shinra troopers set up at the entrance to no doubt guard the reactor. He gripped Kadaj's elbow, steering them past quickly as the feeling of dread tightened inside of him even as he breathed in the relief that was fresh air.

Flashes to the last time he was here filled his mind. It hadn't been under very different circumstances. He had wanted answers then too, and when he had gotten them he wished he had never sated his curiosity. Would it be the same this time? Would he stare into the abyss, and not like what he found staring back?

Rufus Shinra had not sent him here out of the kindness of his heart...if he even had a heart underneath those tailored suits. Whatever he was about to walk into, the Vice-President wanted him to see it. He wasn't stupid enough to think that this really had anything to do with him, however. He had been sent here, because of who he was mated to. This was about Sephiroth. It was always about Sephiroth.

"Brother, I'm hungry." Kadaj whined at him, yet allowed himself to get pulled through the streets of the town. "Can't we stop to eat first? I want pizza. No! I want sushi. No! I want…"

"Can you attempt to draw less attention to us?" Cloud interrupted him, looking around to make sure they hadn't drawn the attention of any prying eyes as he did everything possible not to look up towards the old Shinra mansion...and his childhood home.

"Will you feed me if I do?" Kadaj questioned, grinning at him as he yanked his elbow towards the bar. "Come on. Can't do dark and ominous missions on an empty stomach."

"You eat all the time!" Cloud argued incredulously, never seeing anyone able to continuously pile food into his bottomless stomach like the younger Omega.

"Because I'm always hungry," Kadaj argued, yanking on his arm. "Come on. You're eating for two anyways, and you've had nothing but the vomits for days. Can't grow the world's savior like that."

"By that logic, you must be carrying triplets," Cloud murmured, deciding to go along with it as Kadaj all but dragged him towards the town bar. He winced. The last time had been in this bar had been right after Zack had found out he cheated on him. That was the day things had all started to go so horribly wrong.

Kadaj yanked him up to the bar, sliding into a stool as he patted the one beside him. "My brother and I would like menus," he told the pretty dark haired girl who was currently behind the bar and finishing shaking out a cocktail.

"For the last time," he sighed in exasperation. "I'm not your brother." He recognized the girl. She had been the one Sephiroth had questioned. She had been the one to direct them towards the mansion.

"Brothers, huh?" Tifa asked, sliding them both menus. "You don't really look related."

"That's cause we're no—"

"Cloud has a different father, is all. He takes after him."

"I do not!" Cloud exclaimed, appalled at the very thought as he glowered at Kadaj.

"And different mothers," Kadaj continued, dragging the menu right up to his nose.

"Err…" Tifa murmured, placing a finger up to her chin. "So you have a different mother and a different father?" she questioned with confusion.

"Duh," Kadaj stated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world as his finger thrust down at the menu. "I want a sausage and goat cheese pizza."

"Alright anything el—"

"And buffalo chicken dip," Kadaj interrupted, and Cloud made a note to start teaching him what manners were when you weren't acting like a submissive blow-up doll. Something, Cloud had come to find out, was very much an act with the boisterous silver-haired teen. "Oh and bacon grilled cheese."

Tifa gave a shaky laugh at the enthusiasm. "Big appetite I see."

"Mam," Kadaj started, face taking on a serious expression as he looked at her with distaste. "I wasn't finished." Cloud found himself grinning despite himself as Kadaj spoke with such authority. "I would also like an order of nachos, beef wontons, the onion ring tower, and whatever a milk steak is."

"Milk steak?" Cloud questioned, nose curled as he glanced over Kadaj's shoulder at the menu. "What the hell is a milk steak?"

"It's a Nibelheim special!" Tifa added helpfully, scribbling down Kadaj's order with enthusiasm.

"Well it shouldn't be," Cloud assured her.

"You're no fun." Kadaj rolled his eyes. "Fine. Nix the milk steak." He glanced over at the blond. "What do you want?" he questioned, because Cloud had no doubt in his mind that he wasn't planning on sharing any of his.

"Just a vanilla milkshake please." Cloud didn't think his stomach could handle much more than that.

Kadaj scoffed at the order, glancing over at him in judgement. "You're so unhealthy."

Cloud opened his mouth to point out the fact that Kadaj was calling him unhealthy after having ordered half of the menu, but reached for his water instead as he knew that point would not be grasped by a person who called someone with a different mother and a different father his brother.

Nevertheless—the crazy little shit was starting to grow on him.

"Coming right up!" Tifa smiled at both of them. "And don't worry, our kitchen works fast."

"I should make you eat all the food that comes out just to serve you right." Cloud drew back the hood on his head, rubbing at his greasy spikes as he would kill to find some sort of shower before beginning whatever nightmare he was walking into.

"Uh Cloud...I'm going to eat it all." Kadaj spoke matter-of-factly. "I don't waste food."

"I'll believe it when I see it," Cloud murmured, resting his cheek onto his hand as he watched Kadaj with amusement. "We're going to have to roll you up to that reactor."

"You're going to the reactor?" Tifa questioned, coming back with Kadaj's nachos as she set them in front of him, winking. "The rest will be out soon."

Kadaj looked her up and down, eyes lingering on her exposed midriff underneath the black t-shirt she wore as he slowly shook his head. "Really barking up the wrong tree if you're flirting for extra tips. I don't swing your way if you get my drift...but I can certainly appreciate the view."

"Kadaj!" Cloud stopped him, shooting him a warning glare before turning back to Tifa. "Please excuse his manners. He's a little sheltered."

"He doesn't swing that way either," Kadaj assured her, motioning over to Cloud. "As a matter of fact, he's got himself like a harem of boyfriends drooling after him."

"Kadaj!" Cloud tried again, cheeks heated with his mortification as he punched the other's shoulder as Tifa giggled.

"Well you two certainly argue like brothers." She turned to grab more food set up in the window. "But I actually already knew all about this so-called harem." Tifa pointed to Cloud, smiling at him. "I remember you now. You were the one, General Sephiroth, was shooting googly eyes at."

Cloud gaped, not even realizing how his cheeks had turned even brighter as he considered just what would happen if Sephiroth had heard someone describe him making googly eyes. "Please don't ever say that outloud again."

"Sephiroth and Cloud sitting in a tree," the Omega teased. "M-A-T-I-N-G."

Tifa looked confused at that as Cloud shot him a murderous gaze. "Did he just spell mating?"

"I'm going to kill you," Cloud murmured underneath his breath, punching Kadaj's shoulder again as the other was practically cackling he was laughing so hard.

His mind flashed back to when he had first gotten to Midgar. He had used to laugh that way. First with Reno...and then with Zack. He had laughed so many times with Zack...back before he had found out why there shouldn't have been any laughter in his life. Kadaj knew about all of it, though. He knew—and yet he still laughed.

Cloud grabbed for the milkshake set in front of him, sipping on the sweetness as he glared at Kadaj out of the corner of his eye. For the most part he faked it, as Kadaj's smile was infectious. "Eat your mountain of food. We have to get going."

"Do you need a guide?" Tifa questioned them. "I moonlight as a tour guide up to the mountain every now and then."

Kadaj arched an eyebrow at her while simultaneously stuffing two onion rings into his mouth. "Anyone ever tell you that you're kind of nosy?"

Cloud kicked his shin before he could stop himself, shooting another death glare as he turned back towards Tifa. "Please ignore him. He was dropped on his head a lot as a child."

"I have an absolutely perfect skull," Kadaj interjected. "How do you think I get my hair to lay this way?"

He couldn't stop the laugh from escaping his mouth at that, hanging his head as he shook it back and forth. "He may be a bit dim, but he knows his way up the mountain." It occurred to Cloud that he actually had no idea if Kadaj knew his way to the reactor. All he knew was that he had no idea what they would find there, and he wasn't going to risk putting this girl in harm's way.

"Suit yourself." Tifa rolled her eyes playfully, smiling at him. "But I give a mean tour. Absolutely jam packed with fun facts." She glanced over and frowned in worry at the gusto at which Kadaj was shoveling food into his face. "Sweetheart, you can slow down. It's not going anywhere."

"That sounds amazing, but I don't think he'd ever let me live it down if I didn't let him try." Cloud covered for the lie, also glancing worriedly over to Kadaj as he ate his sandwich in three bites. It reminded of when he had first come to Midgar. He could never get enough food. He had been so skinny...no muscle. He remembered the desire to fend off the other troopers from coming near his food, arm curled around protectively. It made sense now. He had never been given anything by Hojo that wasn't rationed. Nothing that wasn't nutritionally measured out to create whatever form he preferred them in. Kadaj was so skinny. Kept thin with feminine features...everything that may be desired in an Omega to attract an Alpha that may or may not swing both ways.

They were starved to be bate. They were groomed to be lures.

"Hey," Cloud started, hand sliding up Kadaj's back as he leaned in. "I was just joking about eating all that food. You're going to make yourself sick."

"I said I would finish," Kadaj grumbled, cheeks full as he rolled his eyes at him. Cloud nodded, not having the heart to argue as he sipped at his shake and watched Kadaj shove the very last slice of pizza into his mouth. His nose curled in disgust as the last bit of crust was still sticking out of his mouth when a gagging noise left his mouth, eyes widening in horror as he met Cloud's own.

"Don't you dare!" Cloud tried, shooting back on the bar stool at the same time as Kadaj's stomach betrayed itself and vomited all over his chest and lap.

The acrid smell of bile made Cloud gag as he was covered in the other's vomit. "You are a disgusting little troll beast."

Kadaj gagged again, vomiting more all over the floor as he grabbed for his stomach. "I'm sorry, big brother."

Guilt immediately ate at him as he recognized the submissive tone, shaking his head as he went over to Kadaj and wrapped his arm around his hip to steady him. "Hey no, it's okay. Just paying me back for the ship. Come on...we'll get you cleaned up."

"You can use my house!" Tifa interrupted, worry in her tone as she already had a mop at the ready. "I just live upstairs. My dad owns the bar."

"We couldn't possibly—" Cloud tried.

"Oh please!" Tifa brushed him off. "It's the least I could do. I feel bad for giving him all that food. To be honest, I was curious to see what would have happened. Should have stuck with just the milk steak."

"To be honest, I think it may have had the same result," Cloud managed jokingly, eyebrows arched as Kadaj turned to cling to him, as if he offered some sort of protection. Being more confused now than when he had started, he let his arms slowly come around the Omega's shoulders as the other whined into his neck.

"Seriously," Tifa warned, pointing towards the stairs on the other side of the bar. "If he pukes one more time on my floor I'm holding you personally responsible. March your butts upstairs now. You can have your little adventure later. The reactor isn't going anywhere."

"I'm sorry, brother." Kadaj whispered into his neck, and Cloud held onto him as he shook like a leaf...hating Shinra, if possible, even more for what they had created with their cruelty.

Cloud rubbed at his back, glancing towards the stairs in thought. He knew they should head to the reactor as soon as they could, but he was filthy from the ship, and Kadaj was in no condition to trek up the mountain. "Alright." He nodded his thanks to Tifa. "We will pay you back for this." He dropped 3,000 gil onto the counter, helping Kadaj slowly up the stairs to clean up. "You better not puke on me again."

Zack grinned as Genesis opened his tenth shooter of vodka since they got into the helicopter. "Take it easy there, Champ." He laughed. "Where did you get all of those anyways?"

Genesis shot him a look of annoyance at just the assumption. "It's coat vodka, Zachary. You should always keep at least a dozen on your person." He pulled out two more, tossing one to him, before tossing the second over to Sephiroth. "They come in handy when you're stuck somewhere without a bar...or say for instance." He tilted his hand back and forth in thought. "You hijack a military vehicle after attacking a top leader in the organization you currently work for."

He laughed at the manic anxiety rising up off the SOLDIER. "Well let's hope it doesn't come to that."

Genesis glared at him, glancing over to Sephiroth who hadn't touched the bottle yet as he grabbed for it. He cracked it open and downed it in one gulp, pushing up to standing as he gripped the racks to move up towards the cockpit. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go keep my idiot cousin, who you somehow convinced to commit grand larceny and treason with you, company while I ruminate on how very very much I hate troubled blonds." He glanced between them, landing on Sephiroth's stoic expression, before pushing up towards the front of the helicopter.

Reno glanced back at him as he came towards the front, and Zack met his eyes as he shook his head in exasperation at the drunk SOLDIER who sunk into the passenger seat. They needed a quick way out of Midgar before the warning bells went off about Hojo. They needed a way to somehow beat Cloud to Nibelheim and stop him from whatever idiotic venture he had currently convinced himself he needed to be on.

In retrospect, it hadn't been hard at all to convince Reno to go. He was yet another person who had become categorically enthralled by Cloud's presence. Even though Reno loved him for completely different reasons...he was still willing to risk it all to help. Zack wondered if Cloud realized his affect on other people. Not because he was an Omega, but because he was a natural born leader...if he could just get out of his own way to see it.

They hadn't talked about what had happened on the way home from Wutai, but the guilt ate away at him with every single one of Sephiroth's judgemental glances. However, it was one of the least worrying things about the General as they got closer and closer to their destination.

Sephiroth hadn't said a word since they took off. For the most part he had kept his head lowered, gloved fist clenching open and closed on his knee. Zack had noticed him gripping his head more than once, and his eyes almost seemed to be slitted...much more so than the normal feline grace he usually exalted.

"Headache?" Zack managed, watching as Sephiroth once more gripped his temple, leather clad fingers pressing against it as if that would stop the pain.

"Something like that." It took him a while to respond back, and when he did his voice sounded far away, as if he were distracted. Zack could only imagine just what he was hyper focused on, knowing exactly how the Alpha felt about Cloud.

He tried to let it go, feeling twitchy as he stood up to do a few squats. "Gil for your thoughts?" He didn't know why he was trying to pry a conversation out of someone who was still pretty sure he couldn't stand, but it was better than the awkward silence as cold fury radiated off the SOLDIER.

"My thoughts?" Sephiroth questioned slowly. "I was just considering all the lessons I'm going to have to instill upon my Omega to get him to behave." Zack froze mid squat, teeth gritting as those slitted eyes finally turned up towards him. "If you make it too much about pleasure, he'll never learn. He likes it too much. Did you ever try spanking him? He cums so quickly when you do that, you don't even get the chance to stick your cock in him. Of course, I always go back for another round."

A warning growl escaped Zack's chest, all humor gone from his face as he stared into the calm maniacal glee that was in the Alpha's eye as he spoke about what he had done with the love of his life. "Stop it."

"You haven't?" Sephiroth questioned, voice lilted in mockery. "He must have been so bored. Even I was appalled with some of the things he wanted done to him, but he was raised with a bit of a kinky background, was he not?"

Zack felt his teeth grow, growling louder as he stared down in disgust at his former friend. "I said stop." The warning felt far away, not able to hear much beyond the blood pounding in his ears.

"Just doing my best to prevent your new lover from straying when he gets bored." Sephiroth glanced towards the cockpit. "Cloud is going to smell him all over you. He's going to hate you."

"Think that says a lot more about your relationship with him, than it does mine." His lips felt numb, his stomach tight with the control it was taking to not grab for the rows of automatic weapons packed away just above his head.

"Does it?" Sephiroth asked. "Suppose it does. He loves you. I tried to please him. I tried to give him everything he's never had, and he still ran away from me."

"We don't know why he left," the SOLDIER argued, not knowing what could be wrong with his head that he was actually counselling this asshole through his feelings. "He had to have had a good reason."

"Zachary Fair, unquestionably trusting until the very end." Zack's eyes flickered up to the weapons at the mocking tone, and Sephiroth's followed him, tilting his head in amusement. "It's your biggest flaw."

"Really?" Zack managed, voice slightly shaking as he sliced his tongue on a fang. "A lot of people tell me it's my inability to shut up."

"I planned to take him from you that first night I met him down in the slums." Sephiroth spoke. "The second I smelled him, I wanted to force him down on his hands and knees and fill that perfect body with my seed." It felt like the breath had been knocked out of him at the profanity flowing from his friend's lips. "You ruined my plans, but it didn't actually take much effort at all to make him believe it was all his idea to stray. Again, his upbringing. He's very susceptible to manipulation."

Zack took a deep breath, feeling Mako roll down his cheeks from his eyes as his instincts were beginning to take over his reason. "There's something wrong with you."

"No doubt," Sephiroth agreed. "Yet, he chose me anyways. What exactly does that say about you?" He grinned, and a shudder of revulsion traveled down Zack's spine at the insanity behind that grin as he wasn't staring into Sephiroth's eyes at all anymore.

No. It was like he was someone else.

"He's had his fun, though," Sephiroth concluded.

"Oh?" Zack heard himself asking, utter disgust in his tone. "Has his life been fun?"

"It was what Hojo gave him. A chance to be normal. A chance to be something other than what he is."

"And what is he?" Zack questioned, feeling his back tooth crack with the pressure he was putting on it. He used the pain to keep himself from snapping.

"A vessel," Sephiroth explained. "The perfect vessel who will be the harbinger for what will cleanse this world."

"Your child?" Zack questioned with disgust.

"This world's destiny," Sephiroth corrected. "Its end."

"You sure seem to think an awful lot about yourself," the SOLDIER spoke, reaching up to grip the handles as his hand itched towards the rifle.

"Naive child," the Alpha spoke, palm raised as a ball of fire formed in his hand. "Do you honestly think you're still speaking with Sephiroth?"

"Wha?" Zack managed, grabbing for the gun just as the ball in Sephiroth's palm expanded in an explosion that consumed his flesh.

"Zack!" He was started awake by a slap across the face, eyes flying open to see Reno leaning down in front of him. "Damn dude, you could sleep through an explosion." He shook his head, glancing over to the side in almost nervousness, before motioning back to the exit. He realized they were no longer moving. "We're here." Reno glanced once more over, before exiting the vehicle.

His heart was pounding from the dream as he tried to get his bearings, realizing he was leaning against something soft as he sat up, glancing over to meet Sephiroth's gaze. His chest tightened in disgust and fear as his own eyes flickered across his face to try to take in who he was seeing.

It was a dream.

It had just been a dream.

"Compose yourself," Sephiroth spoke, and from the concern in his tone, Zack knew he must look a sight. "He's probably already halfway up the mountain."

"What are we going to find up there?" he questioned, the nightmare making him more bold.

"How to create an Omega," Sephiroth answered, surprisingly not dodging the subject. "Amongst other things."

Zack found himself dumbly nodding as the SOLDIER stood up to head out the helicopter hatch. "Sephiroth?" The words were out before he could stop himself, holding his breath as the other glanced back. "You wouldn't ever hurt Cloud, would you?"

Sephiroth looked stricken at that question, genuine hurt coming to his features as he stared down at him. "I know you don't think I deserve him, and that you wish it had been you, but I love him, Zachary. I love him more than anything else in this world."

He nodded slowly, realizing almost too late that, however endearing, it hadn't been an answer. He realized a little too late that before Sephiroth turned away from him to head into the town, his eyes had flashed with an almost cat-like slit.

,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.

A/N- So I've decided I love Kadaj. He's fantastic, and he makes me want to hug him. As for the Sephiroth thing..well...nothing good ever happened in Nibelheim. Hope you enjoyed the chapter