Chapter 38 - Possibilities

Summary: Sometimes you have to grab onto possibilities as soon as they are presented to you. (A.K.A. Cloud and Genesis have the house to themselves.)

Cloud didn't bother getting dressed when he left the shower. One, he had a room to himself; two, the villa's air-conditioning barely made a dent in Costa del Sol's heat; and three, he'd forgotten to grab anything. He'd driven all day yesterday, only dozed on the ferry, and then came directly here, where (as Genesis had promised) the cupboards had been fully stocked. Food plus exhaustion plus heat meant that Cloud's brain was operating at low speed.

It was the only explanation for why he was halfway across the room before he realized that Genesis was on his bed, watching him. The former SOLDIER had ditched his coat and his boots, but at least he wasn't naked on Cloud's bed. That would've been even more presumptuous than coming into his room uninvited.

Sure, Cloud had agreed that they'd be having sex at some point, but he hadn't agreed that this was that point.

"Creeper," Cloud said. He put enough emphasis on the word to let the First know he was a little pissed off.

"My apologies. I didn't expect you to emerge unclothed," Genesis said, even as he conspicuously dragged his eyes to Cloud's upper body. Cloud appreciated the gesture, but it didn't mean the redhead hadn't already seen his fill.

"I have boundaries," he said, crouching beside his bag.

"Which I seem to have crossed. I assure you; it was unintentional. It's merely that…" His voice trailed off. Cloud looked up and saw a faint blush on the First's cheeks. "Well, you see, it occurred to me, that with Zack and the rest out of the house, we could continue our 'discussion' from Mount Phoenix. If that is still of interest to you?"

"Condor," Cloud corrected automatically then winced. He bent to get some underpants from his bag.

"Irrelevant to this discussion." Genesis waved a hand. "I would have averted my eyes sooner, but you surprised me."

Cloud looked up in surprise. "Huh?"

"You have fewer scars that I would've thought."

"Fewer scars?" he asked, astonished.

Genesis hummed in confirmation. "You were a mountain boy, then Infantry-slash-cannon fodder, and now you apparently deliver packages to isolated communities surrounded by monsters – all dangerous occupations."

Cloud snorted in agreement. "Most're from before I got outa Shinra." He lifted his left arm: a silvery indent marked where he'd rolled onto a boulder after being pushed off a hill. He shrugged. "I'm careful on my trips - don't fight unless I have to or it's easy. If I get hurt, could be days before someone passes."

"So, you were careful, no serious injuries, but surely there must have been something to indicate your exposure had left you enhanced?" Genesis tipped his head. "You're, perhaps, the most self-aware person I have ever met; you can't have been unaware…?"

For some reason, the weird compliment made Cloud blush like he hadn't since he'd been fifteen and in the middle of puberty. "You got scars," he pointed out.

Pain. Rage. Despair. They flitted through Genesis's eyes before being hidden. "Alas, yes. Even in a SOLDIER, any wound kept open long enough…." He used a hand to wave the topic of his torture away. "Sephiroth had many such scars."

Cloud hadn't meant to darken the mood, but he had. He didn't want the mood between them to be dark. "So, the stories were right? You were all…?" He tried waggling his eyebrows the way Zack did, but Genesis didn't laugh.

"Those horrible rumours!" he groaned "There were showers in the field; we shared quarters on missions. And then there were SOLDIER treatments in the labs, and you know Shinra doctors never allow anyone any privacy." He huffed. "You, of all people, should know that you can be close with someone without it turning sexual!"

Cloud let himself smile a little.

Genesis stared at him in shock. "Awful man," he groaned before flinging himself onto his back. "Your sense of humour is execrable."

Cloud didn't know what 'execrable' meant, but he could guess. He let his smile widen. "You looked though."

A sniff. "Of course, I looked! He was my shield brother and my rival. He was what Shinra considered to be the 'perfect SOLDIER'. However… " Genesis sighed sadly. "However, I may have seen him unclothed, but I doubt anyone ever saw him naked. His upbringing would never allow him to be that vulnerable." He waved a dismissive hand. "He was tall, he was beautiful, and every inch of him was sculpted with muscle. His very aura quivered with strength and power. The epitome of the hero." Genesis gave another sigh, more reflective than dramatic. "Though I suppose, in the end we all failed at being heroes of anything."

Cloud agreed. Aside from Zack, none of Shinra's famous Firsts had been heroes as he'd define it, but he kept his mouth shut and his hands moving knowing saying so would be cruel.

"You have that same air," Genesis said after a moment, rolling back to face him. "As if having no clothes on in front of strangers is of little import."

Cloud realized he was sorting his clothing into "clean enough" and "needs washing" (the second pile being considerably larger than the first) instead of actually putting anything on. "Shared showers for regular soldiers, too," he said, knowing it wasn't the reason. He looked up at Genesis. "Sure you're okay with letting me have control?"

Genesis searched Cloud's face then nodded slowly, just once. "I'll let you know if I change my mind."

Cloud did his own looking then gave his own nod. He put down the dirty T-shirt and picked up the lube and condoms he kept in his bag. "Let's see how this goes."

Cloud tossed the items on the side table where they'd be in easy reach, then pulled Genesis to his feet. Genesis was half a head taller than him, but the kiss was still easy. He let Genesis get used to the feel of his lips – gentle tastes and teases, more than anything. He ran his hands up under Genesis's SOLDIER shirt, exploring his skin and bringing it to life. He could feel the First's nervousness in how tense his muscles were. Cloud slipped the shirt up higher.

"Do you want me to undress?"

"The better to eat you with, my dear."

Genesis snorted. "I think that's from a children's story, Cloud."

Cloud bent down to suck a pink nipple. "Appropriate, though."

He nibbled his way up to Genesis's jaw, nipping along the ridge until he reached the ear and could suck on the lobe. Genesis sighed and Cloud felt him lean into it. Hiding a smile, he was sure would be smug, Cloud moved from Genesis's ear lobe to his neck, nipping at the strong muscle. Genesis was still pale, still thin, but he was healthier than when they'd found him in the labs – there was some flesh covering his bones now – enough for Cloud to bite a little harder. Obligingly, Genesis let his head fall to the side.

And spasmed as his shoulder muscle locked up.

Cloud froze.

"No, go on. Continue." Genesis was trying for a light tone, but Cloud could hear the strain. He leaned back, looking Genesis full in the face as he waited out the spasm. Eyes closed, jaw tight, shoulder high – it was a bad one.

Cloud gave a sad sigh for lost opportunities. He gave Genesis a quick kiss (on the neck since it was right there) and backed up.

"It will pass,' Genesis assured him. He flexed slowly and carefully, and Cloud could see that it was better but still sore.

"Don't like pain during sex," Cloud replied. "Give me thirty minutes and we can try again."

"Thirty minutes? What? Why?"

"Sit," he said rather than explaining, and went back to his travel bag. Cloud wasn't big on skin care, but even he acknowledged that riding a motorbike was hard on it. The skin cream he used wasn't expensive, didn't smell fancy, but it would work. He pulled the bottle out along with his Cure materia.

When he turned back to the bed, Genesis was looking at him. "What are you planning to do?" He was holding his head extra high. It could've been theatrical but was probably lingering pain.

"Dancers are always getting knots and strains," Cloud said. He pushed Genesis down to sit on the bed and helped him remove his shirt. "Andi had a couple masseuses working as Honeys. They had clients, but they also worked on the dancers."

"I suppose you 'picked up a few things'." It was said with the light mocking tone that was one of Genesis's standard ways to hide his emotions. This one might have been hope. Cloud didn't know him well enough to know, so he shrugged in reply.

"Sit," he repeated.

"Wouldn't your access be better if I was on my stomach?" Genesis started to turn to watch Cloud knee-walk around him. He couldn't move very far because of the spasm, but his eyes followed Cloud for as long as possible.

"Requires a lot of trust to lay on your stomach on a soft bed; hard to move fast if something happens." Cloud kept a hand on Genesis's shoulder then back, allowing the SOLDIER to trace his position through touch since sight wasn't possible. Because of that, Genesis hadn't tensed too much by the time Cloud was fully behind him. This wasn't as intimate as sex would be, but it was a good sign for when they finally (hopefully) got there.

"Surely, our previous endeavour would've ended up with me on my stomach, ass in the air?"

"Don' know," he replied. "Probably not the first time."

Genesis sniffed, "Confident of yourself – thinking I'd want a repeat."

Cloud leaned towards Genesis's ear. A breath just strong enough to make the hair move. "Like making my partner beg for more."

"Ah, well. Maybe you have the right of it." Genesis cleared his throat and Cloud smiled. He'd been thinking at least thirty minutes for a decent massage, but maybe he could do it in twenty.

He squirted some lotion into his palm. Letting it warm before rubbing it on Genesis's shoulder and neck. He squeezed carefully, probing the muscle as he gripped. He released the pressure as soon the as the muscle relaxed. It was enough to make Genesis freeze in place. "Oh."

Cloud hummed in response and shifted his hand a little. He kept doing it – squeeze and release – until he reached the knot. He lifted the Cure and… It wasn't casting, but he activated it just enough that it hummed with willingness and power, like the Honeys had shown him all those years ago.

It occurred to him, as Genesis's shoulder glowed faintly green under the materia's light, that he didn't need the special mount of a bracer or bangle to cast Cura, or Barrier. At least not at the lowest levels.

It also occurred to him that he'd never seen anyone but Aerith or Genesis cast without a bracer, and Aerith was an Ancient, so it was hardly surprising that she could. Genesis though…. Was it something any SOLDIER could do? Could Zack – or Sephiroth? He gently stretched the tight muscle into a healthier shape, while wondering if Tifa could do it too, since she'd grown up in Nibelheim and been exposed to a lot of the same mako-tainted air and water.

Genesis had left his hands on his thighs. His fingers tightened and relaxed, tightened and relaxed as Cloud alternatively stretched with one hand, and with the other pressed with the materia, letting its soft, buzzing warmth remove the pain. Genesis started making a low, almost continuous groan of contentment.

Cloud continued down the arm. It was Genesis's sword arm so why risk it? He could see more evidence of Genesis's release from captivity and endless experimentation. Where he'd been sinew and bone with a little muscle thrown in, the muscles were filling out, covering the bones that were the body's framework. "Looking better than when we found you."

Genesis gave a sleepy hum. "Food tastes good," he said lazily. "Either I hadn't appreciated it before, or the degradation had altered my tastebuds the way it affected everything else."

Considering what Cloud remembered of Genesis from before, it could've been both. Something else occurred to him, though. Something more important than food.

"You knew Sephiroth well–" Genesis snorted, but his shoulders tightened up as he braced himself. Cloud continued as if he hadn't noticed, "Or at least, longer'n the rest of us. What should we expect?"

"Honestly?"

Cloud made his own hum of agreement. Genesis's shoulder slowly went down as he thought about it.

"He didn't like being a SOLDIER." Genesis waved a hand to stop Cloud commenting (which he would've, because what?) "He was good at it – the best, as advertised – but only because he'd been trained to it and quite literally built to be one, not because he liked it. He didn't enjoy the fighting in Wutai, when we faced barely armed or trained villagers protecting their homes. Or even when fighting more organized forces. However, he enjoyed the logistics of it – planning the supply routes and troop movements and such."

"Intellectual exercise," Cloud murmured.

"Exactly. And he didn't know what to do with the spotlight that his success brought," Genesis continued. "Fans and admirers baffled him. He didn't think what we'd done was remarkable, because of course, he knew the opposition in Wutai had mostly been villagers and not 'mysterious, superpowered ninjas' as Shinra claimed. I think… " He dragged in a breath. "I think that perhaps he felt guilty. That he had brought a continent to heel for a company that treated us as property… And then, of course, he would've felt guilty about feeling that way because it was what he was trained to do. The only thing, in all his life, that he had been valued for."

"Sounds lonely."

"He was," Genesis said softly. "I had Angeal – faithful Angeal. And for a time Sephiroth had us, but before that it had been the labs, and after…"

"Zack woulda been his friend."

"I'm sure he tried, but I understand now how Sephiroth would've become quite cautious with his emotions. He had little experience with them. Hojo despised sentiment. He barely tolerated thought from Sephiroth let alone emotion." He tipped his head to look at Cloud. "Can you imagine a father actively encouraging you to feel nothing for him: not love, or respect – not even loyalty"

Cloud didn't have to imagine it, but his ma hadn't discouraged him from having feelings about her. She just hadn't cared what they were.

"Wait." His brain caught up with what Genesis had said. "Hojo is Sephiroth's da?"

Genesis laughed. "Oh, oh! I would adore seeing Hojo's face if you called him that."

Cloud lifted his hands while Genesis chuckled. He was tempted to tickle him or give the redhead a noogie, but Genesis wasn't Zack. Instead, he asked, "There's absolutely no resemblance. How's he Sephiroth's father? "

"He wasn't," Genesis snarled. "Not in any way that matters. Even my parents – uninterested in me as they were – did a better job as parents than that blight on humanity. I'm sure it was all done in a test tube." He tipped his head, the movement easy and pain-free. "Can you imagine any woman laying down with him?"

"Remember he stunk," Cloud said. He lightened his touch, made it soothing.

Genesis sniffed. "I'm sure he considered bathing a waste of time."

Cloud had had enough of Hojo and Sephiroth and bad memories. It was time to remind both of them why they were on the same bed. "I like bathing with a partner," Cloud said, shifting his touch to enticing. "Can reach all sorts of sensitive places." He was rewarded with a small shiver that ran all the way through Genesis.

In gratitude, and to encourage more of the same, he pressed kisses along Genesis's shoulder, nibbling softly on the muscle that had caused the delay. "If you still want to, that is."

This time Genesis could turn his head. He could turn and lift, seeking a proper kiss on the lips.

Cloud was more than happy to give it to him. He kept it light – tasting, testing. When Genesis's tongue came out to lick into his mouth, Cloud knew he was ready for more.

He broke off the kiss and encouraged Genesis to get more fully on the bed, to turn so they were facing each other rather than trying to kiss over his shoulder. Then it was encouraging Genesis to lay down. Another, deeper kiss, worked well as persuasion.

"Taste good," he said softly, knowing the former SOLDIER would hear him.

"You taste like cheap toothpaste," Genesis mumbled back.

Cloud shifted up so that his nipple was next to Genesis's mouth. "Try here."

They both moaned.

Genesis might not have had much experience with men, but he showed no hesitation, no doubts. Now that he had permission (and no pain) he was taking advantage of it. He ran his fingers – sometimes softly, sometimes hard – over Cloud's arms and chest. He found (and ignored) Cloud's ticklish ribs, and moved instead to trace the sensitive skin along Cloud's spine.

Cloud didn't discourage this in any way. He did his own exploring, mostly with his mouth since he was braced just slightly above Genesis. He let his moans move the air above Genesis's very pale skin and watched as pink nipples tightened. Anticipation gripped him, making his spine shiver, his gut clench, and his things lower down tighten and fill.

He loved this moment….

It was his turn to spasm as he felt, more than heard, a shrill screech and the back of his neck tried to draw up into his skull.

"What the hells is that?" he asked.

"What?"

Cloud frowned down at Genesis. "You didn't hear that?"

"Obviously not," he replied with his own frown.

Then the screams started outside the window. Not that shrill screech, but panicked cries of civilians running from something that could kill them.

"Fuck. Zack…" He climbed off the bed and made a beeline to his clothes.

Genesis sighed dramatically. "If I tell you he can probably handle whatever it is, would you come back?" Genesis was already pulling his top back on, so Cloud figured the question had been rhetorical. He put on the first items he grabbed and stomped his way into his boots.

Proving again why SOLDIERs weren't like other people, by the time Cloud had everything zipped and fastened, Genesis was back in his room with sword, materia – and over-dramatic coat – in place. "Off the balcony?" he asked with a slight lift of one brow.

Cloud nodded and vaulted over the rail.

Genesis, the show off, did a somersault – drawn sword twirling and glinting in the sun – into a an equally flashy 3-point landing that cracked a cobblestone or two.

"Beach," Cloud said. He had no basis for it, but the beach was where most people would be, right?

"That was their destination."

Problem was, there were a lot of people heading away from the beach, blocking the way forward. Genesis tried flaring his coat and lighting his sword, but that just made the civilians scream and scramble, tripping over themselves and pushing over other people in an attempt to get away from the new danger. Of course no one behind those people knew there was a new danger so they kept pushing forward – over the ones who'd fallen.

Cloud reached down and pulled another one to their feet. "Go," he said, nodding to the street behind him.

He was pleased to see Genesis doing the same thing. Although his comments weren't quite so friendly.

Cloud gave a short whistle, getting the red-head's attention. He jerked his head up.

Genesis looked. The buildings were only 2-storey but they were tall stories. He tipped his head in question.

Cloud was sure Genesis would be able to make the jump – he was a SOLDIER First in body if not in name – and everyone assured Cloud that he was enhanced so… It was worth a try. He shrugged. Genesis gave him a truly wicked smile.

And jumped ten metres straight up into the air, doing another fancy somersault (backwards this time) to land on the highest part of the highest roof in the area.

Costa del Sol's roofs were flat – because this was a dry country that didn't need sloped roofs to let rain and snow run off of them. Which meant Genesis had aimed for that one roof in particular. To show off.

"Asshole," Cloud said without heat. Genesis would hear him, or not. It didn't matter.

One benefit of the red-head's performance was that the crowd had paused to stare. There was a gap in the mostly still crowd that meant that Cloud could get a running start. He didn't bother trying to beat Genesis's height, or the flashiness. Instead, he aimed for a corner, stepping on one building and bouncing to the other, back and forth, up and up, until he was on the roof. "We gotta path?" he asked the sky.

Genesis landed on the roof beside Cloud. "Indeed. An easy path compared to the precarious structures you ran me across under the plate."

Cloud didn't bother to argue. He just stared at Genesis until the redhead gave a small smile of defeat. "This way." He waved a hand and took off at a fast jog. Cloud stayed on his heels.

The ease with which he'd jumped up the building; the ease with which he kept up with Genesis, a SOLDIER First; everything that had happened on this trip…. It was hard for Cloud to deny that Zack was right.

Sure, he was stronger than he'd been before "The Accident". Jules had recommended him for the bouncer job at his brother's club because Cloud could bench press more than guys twice his weight. His first dance routines had been him lifting, carrying, and holding other dancers in the air for minutes at a time, but it had taken him months after his discharge to not feel fragile. Months more to trust that he wasn't going to sprout tentacles or some other monstrous mutation that would have him hauled to Shinra's Science Department.

He'd known he was different, just never thought of it as "enhanced".

A 3-metre jump across a wide plaza, confirmed it: he was SOLDIER Third for sure, maybe even SOLDIER Second.

They ran off the roof and landed in the churned up sand. Cloud could hear the zap of magic and the clang of weapons. And he could hear laughter. Professor Hojo's distinctive laugh that sounded more like coughing than humour.

"Fuck." He knew what the people were running from.

Or so he thought.

He looked up to see Zack, feet planted in defiance, with Hard Edge a sinister darkness against the brightness of his shirt. Tifa was close to him. She had her hands up and weight balanced to give her purchase in the shifting sand, and finally Aerith on the other side, holding her sturdy Striking Staff in two firm hands. They were alive.

Finally Cloud turned to look at the monster on the beach. It's skin was that same purple-black as all the Jenovas they'd faced, but wasn't a tentacled abomination. It was a different kind.

It's most eye-catching feature – the thing that made Cloud want to throw up a little – was that all of it its insides – what should have been its insides – all of them were exposed. Its rib-cage was a series of protruding fangs, and where a belly should've been – where there should've been skin – it had a glowing, sac of orange something, dripping into its exposed intestines.

It was wearing a lab coat.

And the head it was holding in a tentacled fist had round spectacles and black hair pulled back into a ponytail.

The head laughed. The jaw never stopped hanging low enough to swallow a whole chocobo, but that bray definitely belonged to Professor Hojo. The thing, (Hojo, that was Professor Hojo) began to lift its head back up to the stump of his neck where Zack had obviously cut it off – just like he'd always said he would.

"Really, Specimen Z? Your crude methods didn't work the first time. Why would you think they'd work now?" It cackled in sick amusement and thick, blue-purple goo bubbled in both openings, but didn't fall. It wasn't blood, anymore. "I told you I'd injected Jenova's cells: pure cells! Unlike the inferior distillation I was forced to use on you and the other normal people." It laughed again. "But then, you were always the stupid one!"

Aerith cast her staff's built-in attack. It hit just hard enough that Hojo's hand bobbled. When his head reattached to his body (with a thin flash of purple light) Hojo's face was tilted slightly left.

It swiveled to face her. "Another inferior specimen," it sneered. "We should have bred your mother when we had the chance, but Shinra wanted her to be willing. Willing!" It laughed again. "Twaddle! I'll tell you when she was willing! Once she was dead she had no more objections – to any of my procedures. But when we harvested her ovaries – oh yes, we collected her body from where you'd abandoned it in the slums – there were no eggs!"

This time it was Tifa that charged at the thing Hojo had become. She hit hard – Cloud could see the air distort around her fists. Hojo's body quivered with each hit, but other than that (and slight fluttering of the remains of the lab coat) it didn't seem to have any effect.

It turned to Tifa. "You, I don't even know. And I don't care to."

The orange sac swelled and brightened, pulsing softly. All of them shouted a warning, but Tifa couldn't move back fast enough to escape the cloud of…. It was poison, but like the creature casting it, it wasn't natural. Cloud could see the orange dust landing on Tifa's exposed skin, trying to burrow in.

Tifa just glared. Her gold Chakra materia lit up and swept over her, through her, around her, clearing Hojo's poison from the very air. Hojo's distorted face managed to look annoyed.

"You weren't a scientist," Genesis declared in his best attention-getting voice. "Like Hollander, you were just a conman. Your 'experiments' had no structure, no plan; you took no notes, made no analysis of anything you did. Scientist!" Genesis sneered in Hojo's favoured tone. "Children in school have more discipline than you ever possessed."

Cloud was pretty sure Genesis wanted to piss off the former head of Shinra's Science Department. He was also pretty sure Genesis had succeeded. (Secretly, he also admired how the redhead managed to run and yet keep his voice at such a volume. The man's breath control… had possibilities.)

The creature turned his head towards them as they ran ever closer. "Hollander's brat. The only thing interesting about you is your cell's ability to replicate, and even that was inadequate. None of your … children survived Sephiroth's attack, after all."

"Once again, you are mistaken! Mentioning the death of the things you made in Deepground will not make me mourn. They are no more a part of me than you!" His hand erupted in fire, and Genesis shot a Firaga towards Hojo.

As if that was a signal, Cloud and Zack were in motion. Zack jumped up, taller than the 2-storey buildings behind him and plunged down sword first. Cloud wasn't that flashy: straight-forward cuts and slashes on the thing's lower body. If he could hobble it so it couldn't move, then Zack's Death Jump had a better chance of doing more damage….

He'd overestimated Hojo.

Hojo was a scientist. He'd been a director. He hadn't captured or restrained the subjects of his experiments. He'd had minions (the Turks) to do that for him. He'd ordered, the world obeyed, and he'd carried on untouched by any fallout. Cloud was pretty sure the idea that he should get out of the way just never occurred to Hojo. He didn't even look up as Zack plummeted towards him.

Cloud had also underestimated Hojo.

Without looking up, Hojo used his huge club-fisted left hand to bash Zack out of the air. The big First flipped once, twice, before hitting the side of a building. He didn't go through the adobe brick, but he left a dent.

Another Firaga roared past Cloud. Then two Blizzaras from Aerith. Tifa had moved in and was doing her best to hit someplace more essential than the stumpy, fat tentacle that made up Hojo's feet – foot? There was only one…

It's a fucking tentacle, Cloud told himself, and Hojo didn't seem creeped out by having one.

"Insects," Hojo sneered. "You're no better than insects."

His right hand was a trident shape – all his fingers lost. It looked like exposed bone. It also looked very sharp, but he didn't hit at them with it. Instead, a yellow, glittery cloud puffed out above his head.

Cloud rolled backward, trying to dodge the poisonous mass, but it followed. And it didn't trip over a crumpled up beach blanket. The gold sparkles filled his vision. Everything was bright. No, it was blurry. No, bright.

He blinked, trying to bring things into focus, trying to remember why he was here. Trying to remember where "here" was.

He fell – or maybe rolled over. There was grit in his mouth and his nose.

Sand.

He was in sand. The sand was glittery.

The sand was treacherous.

It was treacherous because he was fighting. Yes! He was fighting. He remembered.

He dragged himself to his feet, shaking his head to get rid of the smell of sugar. He opened his eyes, knowing it should help, but everything was fractured crystal in colours he'd never seen before. There were areas of light and areas of darkness – and it was beautiful.

No! Cloud reminded himself. Fighting evil… evil is bad.

A dark shape approached. It made lemon noises that made the beautiful crystal melt into blobby bits of grey.

Cloud struck out with his heaviest hand and the darkness spilled a purple "Woah!" Cloud followed the line of butterflies, intending to strike again, but butterflies were pretty things, right? He didn't need to kill butterflies; Aerith would be sad.

"Cloud!"

And he could see the clouds. Dark clouds. A heaving mass of dark molasses energy that sucked all the light from the butterflies. That was the target!

"Wait! Cloud, no!"

He flew to the molasses on butterfly wings and made all his energy spikey and sharp. He brought his heavy hand down on the blurry sand and it crystalized. Three lines shot out, eucalyptus sharp, and where it hit the molasses, the sludge dissolved into blindingly bright sparkles that flashed and flew around his head. They were so pretty!

He reached out to catch one ... and didn't see the hand coming at his face.

"Snap out of it!"

Tifa looked at him with wide, scared eyes. Her hand drew back, ready to give him another slap. "Please snap out of it."

"I'm good!" he said hastily. He blinked a few times, forcing the odd visual echoes away. "I'm back."

"Thank the gods!" She rocked back on her heels. "Aerith was getting ready to hit you with her staff. You nearly cut Zack in half!" He had?

She waved that away. "He's morphed again, and I think he's even more dangerous than before."

AN: I hope you all enjoyed the holiday season. We got snow which would've been more fun if I weren't already working from home. (My city doesn't know how to deal with snow on the roads except to shut things down.) It was pretty. I'm glad that it's gone. :)