Q: So Heidegger is dead now. Can I hope Scarlet and Palmer perhaps are next?

A: Hmm... I hadn't actually intended on having either of them in the fic, but I can see if I can fit it in somewhere. Maybe they could have some unforeseen 'accident' or something...


A/N:

- I know some of you have been waiting for this chapter since a few chapters ago, so I hope the wait was worth it!

- Also, parts of this chapter might resonate a bit with the Capitol riots that happened almost two weeks ago. This chapter was written several days before the riots happened and the plot was developed long before that, so I kept everything as-is. Please keep this in mind as you read and I'm sorry if it feels a little too soon for anybody.


"What do you think you're doing?!"

The angry officer and the rifle in his face – well, rifles if Cloud was being honest, more than one trooper having turned their weapon his way – were less than reassuring, but at least Hewley had stopped Zack from rushing to his side. It would probably be easier to turn things around if he did all the talking. He can't imagine the troopers would be entirely willing to believe that Heidegger was evil if the accusation came from the SOLDIERs and Turks assigned to protect the President. No, it would be better if it came from somebody they could still consider 'one of their own' – thankfully he hadn't removed his helmet yet, they had no idea who he was.

"Saving you from becoming accessories to treason," Cloud claims, an unsettled rumbling going through the ranks of the troopers.

"Treason? What do you mean?" The officer yells as one of the cadets who hadn't raised his rifle lets out a small gasp. Cloud is half-convinced he knows the cadet's voice, but he really hopes Colin hadn't gotten caught up in this mess.

"This is a coup, isn't it?"

"A c-coup?" The cadet from before squeaks. And, oh dear, that was Colin. Good thing Cloud hadn't left everything to Sephiroth – he might be down a roommate if he had.

"Well, I mean the Director was the one who came up with this farcical tale of a Wutaian invasion and then brought you all up here. I figured that meant he was planning to kill the President and wrench control of Shinra from him." Realization dawns in the Turks' eyes, the three of them probably knowing where he was going with this – he had been trained by a former Turk after all. And he would bet money that Sephiroth knows what he's up to, as well, but he's so not ready to look at the man right now.

The officer in front of him shakes, the man still angry and his rifle still pointed at Cloud's face, but at least the troopers who had followed his lead before had long since lowered their own. "Farcical?! A friend of mine saw them! Said there was a hundred of those bastards!"

It's a good thing that Cloud still has his helmet on, especially since he hadn't been able to stop himself from rolling his eyes, hard. Had this guy gotten his information from that dumbass on the cadet floors? He's tempted to sigh, too, but he's not sure how well the officer would take it, especially with the barrel of the man's rifle still staring Cloud in the face. "I have literally been all over this Tower and I haven't seen a single Wutaian rebel." How many times was he going to have to say that today?

"They're hiding obviously!"

"If I may." The officer spins at the sound of the new voice, his eyes and rifle landing on Tseng, the Turk half-shielding his President, gun held at his side. Cloud's not sure what the officer thinks he's doing – even if he was able to land a hit with how his hands are shaking, Tseng could have him dead long before the trooper even cocked his rifle. "There aren't a hundred Wutaian militants, there isn't even one. Just a little girl running around the 64th floor who seems to be under the impression that she needs to avenge Wutai."

Oh Gaia. That was Yuffie. Cloud's not sure whether he wants to laugh or cry – what had she done now? – but he plays it cool and passes his exasperation (amusement?) off as confusion. He knows how to play this game, he can't let anybody realize that he or any of his other time-traveling buddies – gah, he needs to find a better term – know who Yuffie is. "How did she get that high?"

"Director Heidegger said it must have been an inside job."

"Hmm." Cloud bows his head, one hand on his chin, and pretends to be deep in thought. He already knows how he wants to spin this, but he can't have the troopers thinking that this was all rehearsed. After a sufficient amount of time has passed, his head bounces back up, Cloud acting for those watching as if a lightbulb had just gone off. "Oh!" He slams a fist into the palm of his other hand. "What if the Director snuck her in here and then set her loose?"

"Take that back! Director Heidegger would never!" Oh goodness, looks like Cloud had found another Heidegger lover. He almost feels bad for the guy – he knows first-hand how much it hurts to find out that your hero is not who you thought they were, and he has the trauma to prove it. But the man has no idea the lengths Heidegger would go to, the lives he was willing to destroy to get his way. True, Heidegger hadn't done what Cloud was accusing him of, but it undoubtedly was something he would do, if him having the plate dropped and then blaming it on Wutai was anything to go by. It doesn't stop the man's face from turning red, though, the officer yelling at him again. "They attacked him!"

Wait, what? Cloud hadn't heard that part of the story. "Attacked him?"

"The Director wasn't attacked." To the rest of the troopers in the room, Tseng probably looks calm, relaxed, at ease. But even from where he's standing, Cloud can see the tension in the man's shoulders, in his jaw, not to mention the way his finger twitches around the pistol in his hand. But with the threat to Rufus, no wonder. "At least not intentionally. The girl was trying to kill Sephiroth, but the Director showed up at the exact moment she attacked and assumed that he was the target."

Yuffie attacked Sephiroth? Oh boy. Cloud knows he shouldn't find this so amusing… but he does. He so owes the girl a big hug once this was all over.

"It was the President's fault! Heidegger said so himself!" The officer argues, looking through the ranks of troopers desperately for any sign of support. He doesn't find any, though, the other troopers actively avoiding his gaze. "We all know how much the President hated him!"

Cloud can't stop his sigh this time – this officer was treading dangerous waters – but at least there wasn't a rifle in Cloud's face anymore, the weapon hanging limply in front of the trooper as he continues his search for somebody – anybody – who would be willing to join his one-way trip to the inside of a body bag (courtesy of the Turks). Well, hopefully Cloud can fix things – as annoying as this officer is, Cloud doesn't feel like seeing anybody else die today. "Which came first, the Chocobo or the egg?"

"W-What?"

"We all know how much the President hated him, yes, but Director Heidegger wasn't shy about his hatred, either. Everybody knows that he held no respect for President Rufus. Perhaps the President only hated the Director because he disrespected him first." That and because Heidegger was a bumbling idiot, but that wouldn't help anything right now. "But regardless, what use would the President have for a child to be tearing through the Tower wreaking chaos? It certainly wouldn't inspire confidence in his ability to keep Midgar safe." The officer fidgets in place, clearly unhappy with Cloud's counter-argument, but at least he seems less inclined to flirt with sedition now, even if he doesn't seem entirely convinced of Heidegger's culpability. Hopefully Cloud could change that. "Come on, Director Heidegger just happens to arrive at the exact moment that this girl goes crazy? Doesn't that seem highly suspect to you? The Director would have been the only person to have anything to gain here."

"Wait," another cadet in the group says and, oh, Cloud finally knows what happened to Logan. At least he and Colin were able to stick together. "Are you saying the Director was trying to undermine confidence in President Rufus's governing?"

Cloud nods. "A little subversion to go along with the treason."

"He tried to get us to join in, too," Colin chimes in. "He wanted us to arrest the President. Told us to shoot anybody that resisted." You know what, Cloud's actually glad that his roommates are here. Now he has troopers to help lead his narrative.

"Oh, sedition, too? Sounds like we've got a royal flush in betraying your country!"

"But, but…" The officer tries again, no longer content to wait quietly on the sidelines. "Director Heidegger said the President killed his own father!"

"Isn't that just a rumor in Midgar, though?" Colin asks. "I'm from Mideel and we only ever heard that former President Shinra died of natural causes."

Crossing his arms over his chest, Cloud plays the part of being deep in thought again. "Maybe that was the Director's doing, too."

Logan gasps. "You don't think his plan went back that far, do you?"

"It's brilliant, isn't it?" Cloud can't believe he's using the word 'brilliant' to describe that idiot, even if it was all just a big farce. "He plants the seed that the President isn't as innocent as he seems – " Cloud feels a little nauseous associating Rufus with 'innocent', too – "and then lets the idea grow and fester for a year before unleashing all of this."

"A c-coup…?" The officer finally sounds about as queasy as the rest of the troopers in the room look, save Logan and Colin – though, they might have already guessed what Cloud was up to.

"Well, I mean…" Cloud grimaces as he trails off, not entirely sure how to put this delicately. "No offense, but this is hardly what I would call an elite team," Cloud says, gesturing to the troopers in front of him. "I only see a few high-ranking people here, including you, sir. The rest are cadets and low-ranking troopers. If the Director's goal really was to protect the President, wouldn't he have been better served to have gone for all high-ranking, highly-skilled infantrymen?"

"Y-you… you mean…?"

"What I mean is that it's suicide to go up against four 1st Class SOLDIERs and three Turks, especially when one of those SOLDIERs is Sephiroth. You would be skewered before you even realized that the man had moved." Oh, and does Cloud have some first-hand experience with that… "Even a platoon of highly-skilled troopers wouldn't stand a chance. Director Heidegger would have known this." Honestly, Cloud's pretty sure the dumbass wouldn't have. "He probably only brought along the troopers he didn't mind sacrificing if things went poorly."

"I-I…" The officer's rifle isn't the only one that goes clattering to the floor, the troopers growing increasingly disturbed with the tale Cloud was spinning. He kinda feels bad for springing this on them, but while he was lying about Heidegger's actions, he wasn't lying about the man's character. Heidegger didn't care about those under him and would probably have gotten the troopers killed if Cloud hadn't forcefully deescalated the situation.

"Like I said, I've been all over this Tower. I haven't seen a single Wutaian rebel, but I also haven't seen any SOLDIERs or Turks running around. If this really was an invasion, why wasn't anybody else notified? Why wasn't the entire Tower put on high alert – SOLDIERs, Turks, and infantry alike?"

That proves to be enough to finally put the nail in the coffin, a distressed murmuring going through the crowd as those troopers who don't look like they're about to throw up trip over one another to apologize to the President. Rufus waves their worries off with a flick of his hand, the man playing the ever-magnanimous lord. "Please let everybody know that this was just a false alarm. I will handle everything from here on out."

Cloud nearly snorts, he gets the feeling that he himself will actually be the one handling everything, but whatever, he wouldn't want to leave Yuffie's care to anybody else – she probably wouldn't listen to anybody else, anyway. So instead, he watches silently as the troopers shakily salute and throw out a poorly rehearsed, "Y-Yes, s-sir!" before turning to file out of the room.

"Thanks for stopping us," Logan says for the room to hear, but then there's an arm on Cloud's bicep, pulling him in as Logan whispers in his ear, "We need to talk later."

"Of course. Glad I got here in time," Cloud returns easily. Colin stands awkwardly to the side, looking like he wants to say something as well, but Cloud just offers a small nod in response – hopefully that would be good enough for now. He guesses he shouldn't be that surprised. If Garrett had picked up on his change, then of course Logan and Colin would too.

The officer is the last to leave, the man stopping before Cloud and not so subtly sizing him up, his mouth opening as if he wants to say something. But Cloud doesn't find out whatever it is, the man shaking his head and offering a weak "Thanks…" before following after the rest of the troopers.

When the doors to the President's office slide shut, when Cloud can no longer hear the clomping of boots, he turns his attention back to Rufus, ripping his helmet off in the process and tossing it to the side. As it clatters across the floor, rolling forgotten behind one of the pillars, Cloud stalks towards the President, his eyes never leaving the man's face as he steps calmly around Heidegger's freshly decaying body.

Rufus raises an eyebrow, gesturing to the dead body on the floor. "Are you just going to leave that there?"

Cloud hopes his face shows just how fed up he is, how done he is with all this shit – with Rufus's shit. "I just cleaned up another one of your messes, Rufus. I'm not touching that." Grimacing down at the still bleeding body, he adds, "Have Reno or Rude do it, they're used to getting their hands dirty."

"Hey, rude, yo!"

Cloud very nearly makes a joke about Reno's partner's name, but figures it's not the time for that. Instead, he keeps his attention on Rufus, twitching as smug amusement finds its way back onto the man's face now that the threat to his life has ended. "So you do remember then." It's not a question, but Cloud offers a small, sharp nod anyways. He immediately regrets doing so, though, once he sees the self-satisfied smirk that is his reward. "Is it because I told you I ow— "

"I swear to Gaia, Rufus. If you finish that sentence, I will punch you in the face."

"Oh? Do you really think you would get away with that?" the man responds easily, waving a hand at the Turks and SOLDIERs still surrounding him.

"I'll take my chances. It seems pretty clear that you need me, so I can't imagine I would get into that much trouble. And it would make me feel a whole lot better – so win, win." Cloud shrugs before making a show of sizing up Rufus's protection – not Sephiroth, though, he still can't handle that right now. When all he's met with are stunned looks from the other SOLDIERs in the room, he offers Rufus a smirk of his own. "Besides, I'm pretty sure half of the people in this room wouldn't even try to stop me. And, well…" he trails off, throwing his smirk Reno's way, delighting in the way the red-head tenses at the sight of him. "If I couldn't handle a Turk, I'd probably throw myself from the plate."

"Why you!" As expected, Reno does not take the slight against his battle prowess well, the man's face turning a shade of red that could rival his hair as he charges at Cloud, electro-mag rod raised.

Cloud's not entirely sure what Reno hopes to accomplish, they've fought enough that Cloud knows all his moves. But he still watches calmly as the red-head swiftly approaches, easily sidestepping the hot-headed Turk once he's finally within range, Reno going stumbling past. "You're only proving my point," he chides, keeping one eye on the red-head – too bad he couldn't lock him out this time like back at Healen Lodge – and the other on his partner, just in case Rude decided to attack, too, though the bald man looks much too exasperated with Reno for that. Cloud probably doesn't need to worry about Tseng, either; last he checked, the man was still hovering next to Rufus.

Reno grumbles as he regains his footing – some of which is probably due to Rufus's order to stand down – and sends a childish glare Cloud's way. "You were nicer when you didn't remember, yo."

"Consider it payback for the 'plate thing', yo."

Reno cocks his head to the side, blinking wordlessly for several long moments as if unsure what to make of Cloud's teasing. Whatever's going through the Turk's head, Cloud is not made privy to, the red-head shrugging as if he had come to a dead end and conceding, "Fair enough."

As Reno moves to stand with his partner again, Cloud throws out a hand to stop the man. "I heard about what you did to Johnson." Cloud's not entirely sure why he's offering the red-head an olive branch, not entirely sure what he's thinking, but the Turks (and possibly Rufus) haven't exactly felt like enemies since long before this time rewind. Doesn't mean he has to like them, though. "I believe the phrase Aerith used was 'prodded him like an unruly pig'."

Something like a half-smirk, half-grimace crosses over the red-head's face and from this close, Cloud can tell that even Reno is taller than him. This is the worst. His growth spurt honestly cannot come soon enough. "I prodded him before he was shipped off to prison, too!" the Turk exclaims, looking exceedingly proud with himself. "He shoulda known not to mess with the Turks, yo!" It's not until after the words are out of his mouth that Reno realizes what he had said, the man rubbing the back of his head somewhat sheepishly. "Not that you're a Turk… I mean… Argh, you know what I'm tryna say."

"Thanks, Reno."

A clumsy smile has found its way onto Reno's face, the man chuckling awkwardly, as Cloud lets him go. "Us time travelers gotta stick together!"

"Whatever you say," Cloud hedges, offering Rude and Tseng a small nod each – they had most likely helped, too – before awkwardly thanking the President (his mother had raised him right). "Thanks… for what you did, too…"

"Oh my. That looked painful." Rufus ignores Cloud's grumpy "Don't test your luck", a dark look coming over the man's face. "Regardless, I found it… disturbing what those cadets tried to do. I won't lie, it left a foul taste in my mouth."

Cloud grimaces. "Mine, too." Especially after his fun in the bathroom earlier. Shaking his head as the foul taste starts to return, he tries to rid himself of the morbid thought of the bullies. "Ok, changing the subject – " cause he really doesn't want to think about Johnson any more " – why the hell would you start a rumor that you killed your own father?"

"Oh, so you figured it out?" Rufus doesn't wait for a response, though – which is good because Cloud would have probably called him an arrogant prick – the man sniffing distastefully down at Heidegger's rapidly cooling body. "It was a warning to my enemies."

"How's that going for you?"

"It all worked out in the end."

Cloud fixes Rufus with the best unimpressed look he can manage – what was that he had said about wanting to punch the President? "Because I saved your ass again, you mean."

"Semantics," Rufus offers dryly. "Now, not that I don't appreciate your assistance, but how did you manage to make it all the way up here?"

Cloud snorts – wasn't that a tale in and of itself? "This isn't the first time I've snuck through this building, Rufus. Though, I will admit it wasn't as smooth sailing as I was hoping for. Did you know that Heidegger had troopers patrolling and guarding the elevators on every. single. floor?" Rufus's raised eyebrow seems to be proof enough that the man did not know, though he doesn't look too surprised either. "I ended up having to cut through the labs to get around all the extra security. Oh, and I ran into Darkstar while I was down there, too."

"And you managed to make it up here in one piece? I'm impressed."

Cloud rubs the back of his neck, embarrassed. That was the strange part of the story. "Actually, Darkstar seems to have taken a shine to me. I ended up having to promise to come visit him again for him to let me leave."

"What? Darkstar likes you? No fair!" Zack practically whines. "He tried to bite me the last time I saw him!"

Rhapsodos rolls his eyes. "He probably didn't like another puppy encroaching on his territory."

"Rude!"

Shaking his head at the two, when Cloud returns his attention to Rufus, he's thrown for quite the loop when he notices the thoughtful, assessing look on the man's face. "Darkstar likes you?"

Cloud shrugs – it certainly seemed like it. "He looked ready to bite me at first, but then I told him I was going to rescue you and let him sniff my hand. He seemed to think I was ok after that."

"Interesting…"

Before Cloud can tell Rufus just how much he doesn't like the look on his face – honestly, it reminds him of the scientist downstairs – Tseng has recognized the part of the story he had left out. "How did you manage to get into the labs?"

Pulling the keycard from his pocket, he flashes it for the room to see. "I borrowed Sephiroth's extra keycard."

But, of course, this means that the last person he wants to talk to right now has a reason to join the conversation. "That was in my desk…"

Taking a deep breath to hopefully ground himself, Cloud turns to his now-living nightmare. The surprise he finds on the man's face is unnerving to say the least – this was not the man he was used to. Or rather, this was the man he had become too used to, too comfortable around. So much so that he almost wishes for the old Sephiroth back. That he knew how to handle, not this new, 'sane' Sephiroth. And certainly not the urge to be near the man, to be touched by the man. No, the usual insanity in the man's eyes would be far more welcome now. "Probably not the best security practices to leave it unattended in your desk, though I suppose most people wouldn't steal from the 'great General'." Cloud can't help the smirk that spreads over his face – maybe if he pretends that looking at the man doesn't bother him, then he can actually fool himself, too. "Then again, I'm not most people."

Sephiroth's brows knit together in confusion – and, oh, wasn't that a new look. "But my desk and office were both locked."

"Not anymore." Cloud feels like the shock on the man's face shouldn't seem so endearing – he'll certainly curse his brain later. "Remember, I used to travel with a former Turk."

"But you're unenhanced, Cloud." Oh, Sephiroth doesn't need to remind him – that has been a continuing source of frustration for him today. But he finds the scolding tone that the man has adopted to be far more irritating. He knows what he's doing – this isn't his first rodeo. "What you did was very foolish. You could have gotten yourself killed."

The unimpressed look he had sent Rufus pales in comparison to the one he gives Sephiroth – was the man really lecturing him for being foolish? "And what, you would have had to find somebody else to use?" He almost feels sorry for the pained wince that passes over the man's face, but after everything Sephiroth had done, he so deserves it. Waving a hand dismissively, Cloud doesn't give the man the chance to respond. "Whatever. I cast Shield on myself before coming up here." Pulling back his sleeve, he shows the man his now-glowing arm. He guesses he could have used a bracer, but shoving all the materia into his arm seemed like the easiest – and least conspicuous – option at the time. "I might have borrowed that, too." Looking down at his arm, then back to Sephiroth, he adds, "You can have the keycard back, but I'm keeping the materia."

"I… Ok."

Cloud hadn't expected it to be that easy, but he'll take what he can get. Besides, he's so done with Sephiroth and this strange, strange conversation.

Well, almost done. He still has one last thing to do first. Eyes never leaving slitted green, he stares down the man as he prowls towards him, ignoring Reno's jeering "This oughta be good, yo!" and the way Sephiroth's eyes dilate at the sight of him.

"C-Cloud."

Glaring up at the man to show he means business – and not to establish dominance like Yuffie would claim – he shoots a hand out to wrap around the crossed leather straps of the man's harness, totally not focusing on the burning that goes through his fingers and down his spine as his knuckles graze the man's bare chest. And doing his best to disregard Reno – "Oh baby, oh baby." – and Zack – "Ok, that's actually kinda hot…" – he tugs Sephiroth down to his level. "You. and I. are going to have a very long talk later. Do I make myself clear?"

"Y-Yes."

"And you're going to tell me exactly what my role in all of this shit is and why you thought getting close to me while I didn't remember was a good idea." His voice has gotten dangerously low, but that only serves to make Sephiroth's eyes darken more.

"Y-Yes, Cloud."

"Good." Not entirely pleased with how this conversation had gone – or with the burning still coursing through his fingers – he uses the leverage he has over Sephiroth to shove the man roughly away, only partially disappointed when Sephiroth doesn't stumble in the slightest. As he turns to Rhapsodos, he specifically does not think about the breathless manner in which Sephiroth had responded or the fact that Cloud is still technically unenhanced, so Sephiroth must have come willingly. "Rhapsodos. Thanks for treating me with the child-sized gloves."

Rhapsodos chuckles. "It was absolutely worth it to finally see you in action, little bird. Now I can see what everybody meant when they said you could give dear ol' Seph a run for his money."

Cloud twitches – why were they still talking about Sephiroth? He was trying his best to forget about him. "Please don't start that shit now."

The Commander only smirks in response. "Don't like being compared to the great General?"

"I guess you could put it that way."

"Oh, little bird. You truly are something else. Once upon a time, I would have given anything to have been considered Sephiroth's equal."

Sephiroth makes a surprised noise in the back of his throat as if it was news to him that he was the stronger of the two. But Cloud cuts him off before he can say anything – he very much doubts that Rhapsodos would believe him if he did say they were equals. "Is that why you kept trying to kidnap me before? Would the S-cells in my body really have been enough?"

Rhapsodos is not the only one to suck in a startled breath at his words, but he's the only one Cloud is focusing on. "You know about that?"

"I was mako-poisoned, Rhapsodos. Not deaf."

"Little bird, I…" The man sighs, frustrated, looking a little ashamed of himself. "My soul, corrupted by vengeance. Hath endured torment, to find the end of the journey." Cloud has absolutely no idea what Rhapsodos means, but luckily the man elaborates. "I was degrading, Cloud. I was weak, brittle… angry all the damn time. I was convinced pure S-cells were the 'gift of the Goddess' that I needed. So consumed was I by my desire to be whole again, that I was willing to do just about anything to make it happen. I'm s—"

Cloud cuts him off before he can finish apologizing – he hadn't been looking to guilt the man. "Is that what Aerith healed? Your degradation?"

"…That is correct."

"Good. It would be a shame if I lost my mentor."

The look on Rhapsodos's face can't be classified as anything less than fond. "You truly are the 'hero of the dawn', my dear." Cloud groans, annoyed, but Rhapsodos pays him no mind. "I'm glad you finally got your memories back. I'll admit, I was starting to worry that you might not ever remember."

"Even if the morrow is barren of promises, nothing shall forestall my return?"

While Cloud's recitation is uninspired and probably not rhythmic in any sense of the word, that doesn't stop the nearly feral look that stretches across Rhapsodos's face. "You are going to get me in trouble with Sephiroth." And the man side-eyes his friend for a long moment before coming to a decision. "Though, if he's already never going to forgive me, I might as well just steal you from him now."

Cloud rolls his eyes at the man, pretending like he doesn't hear the offended grunt Sephiroth makes. "I don't belong to Sephiroth."

"Right, right. My bad."

Shaking his head, he decides he's not going to get anything more out of that and instead turns his attention to Hewley. The distant look on the man's face is not what Cloud was expecting, but Hewley pulls himself together quickly enough. "Cloud, I'm glad to see you're looking better."

"Thanks."

"I'm sorry if anything we said or did made you cry."

Apparently, it's Cloud's turn to choke on his spit as he gawks at Hewley. "How did you know about that?"

The Commander looks sad at the confirmation that Cloud had actually been crying, but thankfully doesn't prod. "Your friend, Ms. Kisaragi, noticed. She said that you had the same look on your face as when Ms. Gainsborough died."

Grimacing at the reminder of her death, it takes him longer than he cares to admit to remember that Yuffie hadn't actually been in the conference room with them. "Wait… How did Yuffie know?"

"She seems to have been watching us from the air ducts."

Cloud doesn't know whether he wants to laugh or cry, but he definitely isn't surprised. "Of course she was. She was always jealous that Tifa and I had to do that when we were rescuing Aerith from Hojo. She kept trying to convince us to return to Midgar just so she could see what it was like. I wouldn't be surprised if she had terrorized Reeve and the rest of the WRO by crawling through the ducts there."

Hewley chuckles at the thought. "I'm glad you have such good friends, Cloud."

"Same here. But speaking of friends…" Cloud's a little reluctant to bring this next bit up – Hewley seemed like a nice guy – but he refuses to watch Zack suffer again. "I'm going to warn you now, Hewley. If you ever make Zack kill you again, I swear I will find some way to bring you back to life just so I can kill you myself."

Hewley nods, a solemn look on his face now – well, at least the man takes him seriously even though Cloud still looks like a child. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Ohh, I like 'em fierce, yo!"

Not ignoring the taunting this time, Cloud points a finger at Reno in what he can only hope is a menacing way. Knowing Reno, though, it won't actually work. "If you say 'this kitten's got claws', Reno, I will kill you right now."

And as he thought, it doesn't actually work, Reno throwing his head back to cackle before he crows, "Feisty, too!"

Twitching, he turns back to Hewley – he's almost tempted to ask Tseng if there's no way to shut the red-head up, but he already knows the answer to that is a big, fat no. Not for long at least. "Thanks for having my back, Hewley."

"It was my pleasure."

Having saved simultaneously the best and the worst for last, he turns to Zack – he's wanted this for so long, but now he's come face-to-face with his failure. "I'm sorry."

He knew Zack wouldn't be upset with him, he really did, but he still wasn't ready for the level of unadulterated hope in the teen's eyes, Zack's voice thick with emotion as he asks, "You really remember, Spike?"

Cloud's answering smile is watery, but he doesn't really care. "I am your living legacy."

One might think that Cloud had just confessed his undying love for the teen with how Zack gathers him up in his arms, lifting him bodily from the floor and laughing happily into his neck. But Cloud doesn't focus on that, can't focus on that, preoccupied as he is with apologizing over and over again as if he were a broken record, his arms and legs coming up to wrap protectively and almost possessively around his friend. "I'm so sorry, Zack. I'm so sorry."

"Shhh. It's ok, Spike, I'm not mad. Nobody blames you for not believing us. That was a lot of shit we sprang on you."

"No." Cloud sniffs and that's when he realizes he's crying, too. Zack doesn't seem to mind, though, so whatever. Hopefully, nobody else in the room can hear him – they certainly can't see him crying with how he's wrapped around Zack. "I'm sorry for getting you killed. If I just hadn't been mako-poisoned…"

Zack tenses ever so slightly before pulling back to give him a stern look – did he learn that from Hewley? "Nuh-uh. None of that. I don't blame you for that at all." Huh, he sounds like Aerith, too. "And if you hadn't been mako-poisoned, then Hojo would never have left you alone."

Sniffling again, Cloud tries to fix Zack with his own stern look, but he's not sure how successful he is with the tears still running down his face. "Fine. But no more dying for me, ok?"

"I make no promises."

"Zack."

"You're my best friend, Spikey, I'll do whatever it takes to keep you safe. And I'm sure you'll do the same for me."

Cloud tries to glare at Zack – he wasn't about to argue about who was dying for whom this time around – but it must fall flat cause Zack just winks at him. Groaning, he pushes at Zack's shoulders. "Ugh, put me down. You're insufferable."

But it doesn't work, Zack wrapping a hand around his head and pulling him back down. "Nope, I'm not done yet."

Cloud doesn't miss Rhapsodos's teasing – "Somebody's just jealous that Sephiroth got the better hug the other day." – or Hewley's scolding – "Genesis." – but he ignores them both, focused instead on his growing embarrassment. "Zack, this doesn't help the rumors that we're dating."

The teen just laughs and squeezes him tighter. "The offer still stands."

"I can't believe you two actually offered…"

"Is that a no?"

"…I don't know." He tries to convince himself that his reluctance is due to his fear of seeing Zack and Aerith die again if he got too close – not that he and Zack could get any closer right now, but still – and not because of the flash of green eyes and silver hair through his mind. He's probably just confused because the fanboy side of him still won't shut up. A few days should hopefully fix that. "I'm not that great of a boyfriend. Just ask Tifa."

"Hmm… I don't exactly believe that, but whatever you say, bud. Let us know if you change your mind." Well, at least Zack didn't comment about Cloud's supposed crush – he would probably die of shame if Sephiroth found out.

"…Ok."

And like with Sephiroth – so much for not thinking about the man – he's not sure how long he stays wrapped up in Zack's arms before they're interrupted. This time, it's Hewley who intervenes, the man reminding his former student, "Zack, we still need to find Ms. Kisaragi."

"Oh, right!" Zack chuckles awkwardly as he sets Cloud back on his feet. "Guess I got carried away." Rhapsodos's snark – "No kidding, Puppy." – goes unheard, Zack ruffling Cloud's hair and smiling. "Glad you remember, Spike."

The hand in his hair and the vision of Zack walking away prove to be more than enough to finally distract Cloud's thoughts from Sephiroth, but he only wishes that it didn't involve reliving Zack's death, too. "Yeah, Zack… Me, too." If Zack notices the trembling to his voice, he thankfully doesn't say anything.

Turning back to Rufus, Cloud rubs the remaining tears from his eyes and opens his mouth to offer his help, but doesn't get any further than that, Rufus taking the initiative to be a bastard again. "I'm surprised you'd be willing to cry in front of me."

Unimpressed look back on his face, he raises an eyebrow at Rufus. "You watched me beg Hojo for a frickin' number. This is hardly the worst you've seen me at." When Rufus only grimaces in return, he continues, "So, I take it Yuffie is still running rampant throughout the building."

"Oh, planning to help? I thought you were quitting."

"Somebody told me I couldn't quit." Sizing Rufus up in the same way the man had done with him earlier, he says, "You know, you seem to be rather fixated on owning me. If I didn't know any better, I might think you were attracted to me."

"How do you know I'm not?" Rufus shoots back, letting his eyes trail down Cloud's body suggestively, something of a sensual look on the man's face. Cloud finds he can't help the slight shudder that goes through his body – eww, gross. Even if Rufus was just pretending – and he's pretty damn sure he was – no, just no. He's so not interested.

And with something of a grimace still on his face, Cloud bites out, "Call it a hunch," as he stares Tseng dead in the eyes, the reddening to the tips of the Turk's ears all the confirmation he needs for said 'hunch'. By the time Cloud returns his attention to Rufus, something of a surprised look has made its way onto the man's face. "It probably wouldn't work out between us anyway. I mean, Cid's already half-convinced that we're brothers… well, half-brothers – Yer both pretty, blond, assholes."

Rufus is surprisingly quiet when Cloud finishes his flat impersonation, far more quiet than he's ever seen the man – Rufus likes to talk – and Cloud finds that he's far more disturbed by the thoughtful expression on the man's face now than he was by his earlier 'seductive' one. "Well, there is one way to find out."

Doing a far better job at imitating Rhapsodos than Cid, he adopts the best haughty look he can manage as he sniffs unimpressed at the President. "That is one thing I don't care to ever find out." And with that taken care of, and having had enough of Rufus's smug self, Cloud turns on his heel and starts walking back the way he came.

"And where do you think you're going?" Rufus calls after him.

"To find Yuffie."

Rufus sighs. "We have no idea where she is, Cloud."

And that, that gets his attention. Stopping, he plasters the best are you kidding me? look on his face as he turns to face the President once more. He thought they were smarter than this. "She's on level 49."

"Oh? And how do you know that?"

Holding up two fingers for emphasis, he responds, "Two words: materia storage." And as realization finally dawns, Cloud knows Rufus's slack-jawed look is one he won't be forgetting any time soon, though Rude's unnerved "Oh shit…" is definitely rather amusing in and of itself.

It's not until he starts walking to the door again that Rufus manages to pull himself together. "You should take somebody with you, Cloud."

"I don't need any help. Don't worry, I'll make sure Yuffie returns everything she's stolen."

"Are you really going to wander around the SOLDIER floor by yourself?"

Coming to a stop yet again, Cloud very nearly reminds Rufus that he knows how to handle himself, but begrudgingly admits – to himself, never to Rufus – that the man might be right. If he was spotted, it would be a lot easier if he had a SOLDIER with him. "Fine," he grumbles out, as if to pretend that Rufus's idea wasn't actually a good one. "Zack, you coming?"

"Oh boy, am I!" And the teen practically flies to Cloud's side, slinging a comforting arm over his shoulders once he's close enough. "Just like the good old times!"

Cloud snorts and continues walking, Zack still draped over him. "Sure…" And once they reach the door, he adds the finishing touch. Yelling over his shoulder, he warns them, "If you had any materia on you this morning, you may want to make sure it's still there. 50/50 chance it's not."

As they head through the doors, Cloud can't help his chuckle at Rhapsodos's outrage – "That brat!" – but he finds that the small, shocked noise Sephiroth makes totally takes the cake. Gaia, he loves Yuffie.


A/N:

- So, the normal phrase is "treat with kid gloves", where 'kid' refers to the type of leather (kid being a young goat). I used "child-sized" on purpose, though, to reference Cloud's stature. Cloud isn't so much thanking Genesis for treating him gently, as he is thanking him for treating him like the child he looks like rather than the battle-hardened warrior he had been. The warrior he couldn't remember when his memories still eluded him.

- For those of you who have played Dragon Quest XI, I've been listening to Sylvando's theme on repeat for like the past two days. I might need an intervention XD