Ch.2

"Can you tell me more now? What was about the caverns?" Cloud asked.

"Ah yes, the caverns. I already explained we have no windows to the outside. We are only here in this building… but still Hojo and all his workers want to constantly observe us. So to compensate for not being able to fly in the sky, there is an area to this facility that leads further underground. A place where we can practice our flying."

"Can we really fly?" Cloud asked while his eyes widened. "Even if we just got one wing?"

"Yes, it's just something that we are able to do, but I don't have the answers to why," Sephiroth answered.

"Can I see?! Then I can see your wing!"

Cloud was beaming with excitement now, a complete 180 from the fear and worry that he had before. That was probably due to the fact he was a child and could not fully grasp the situation yet. But Sephiroth knew all too well that it wouldn't last forever. Eventually everything would catch up with Cloud and it would weigh down on him tremendously. Sephiroth wasn't even sure he would know how to handle that situation when it would come seeing as he was going to be stuck with Cloud for quite a while.

"Another time," Sephiroth replied perhaps a bit too bluntly.

"Aw… why not?"

"Because. That is what I said."

"You don't have to be so harsh on the kid," Angeal replied, brushing back some strains of hair that fell in front of his face. "He is still young and has a lot of questions. He's got a lot to learn about our kind."

"Questions all while trapped in a horrid place that has taken away our freedom," Sephiroth scoffed.

Genesis clicked his tongue. "Come Seph, you shouldn't be so blunt about the situation. Not around the young one here, he still has yet to understand it all. We shouldn't scare him from the start."

"But I don't get it…" Cloud interjected. He then looked up to Sephiroth with wide and pleading eyes. "Why are we all here? Why do we all have wings? Can't you tell me, Seph?"

Sephiroth sighed. "Don't call me Seph. Secondly… fine… if it will get you to stop asking more questions, I can show you to the caverns and show you my wing."

Cloud jumped up from his seat, still smiling greatly. "Yay! Let's go."

Sephiroth sighed once more before he stood up. Cloud moved a little closer to his side again and stared just like every single time he had already. "Can I hold your hand this time?"

Sephiroth shook his head and crossed his arms. "No."

He started to walk away without another word, leaving Cloud to frown. He looked down to the ground, sniffling slightly. He just couldn't figure out Sephiroth just yet. He stood up for him in front of all those others, but then just wanted to not talk much or do anything fun. It just didn't make any sense to Cloud at all.

The next moment he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Genesis smiling at him. "There there little one, you shouldn't be so upset about Seph. He… shall we say just has a hard outer shell. It takes some time before you can get past it to really get to know him."

"So he doesn't hate me?" Cloud asked softly.

Angeal walked a little closer and crossed his arms, looking rather serious. "Now why would you assume that?"

"Cause he doesn't wanna talk with me a lot or stuff. And… And back home there were kids that never wanted to play with me. They would run off and leave me whenever I asked if I could play with them," Cloud replied, trying to keep himself from crying.

Angeal could see how hurt the child must have been on the inside. Even before his wing appeared he was already pushed around by others from what he could tell. Slowly Angeal reached out and placed a hand on top of Cloud's head. He ruffled the kid's hair slightly before smiling.

"Well Gen and I know Seph rather well. He doesn't hate you, he is just hard to get along with. He'll loosen up eventually, just give him some time. Okay?"

"Hmm, okay!" Cloud said. He then quickly looked around the room to see that Sephiroth was nowhere in sight. "Hey! Where did he go?"

"Off to where he was going to show you his wing, remember?" Genesis said. "Come let's go. If you so wish, you could hold my hand if you want."

Cloud smiled happily at the generosity from Genesis, taking his hand right away. After that the three of them began to walk further through the building, heading down various hallways. Along the way Cloud found himself feeling super curious once more. Though he knew Sephiroth said not to ask so many questions, Genesis and Angeal never said that. Still, Cloud wanted to be safe than sorry.

"Can I ask you two a question? Just one question for now?"

"By all means, ask away," Genesis answers.

"Why do you all wear those clothes? And why do they have a hole in the back?"

It was something Cloud had noticed right away, but he didn't have a lot of time to question it before. Everyone in here wore a sleeveless turtleneck and slightly baggy pants. There had only been three colors he had seen though with the outfits; blue, black, and a reddish-purple. Sephiroth and Angeal were wearing the black color but Genesis wore the reddish-purple.

"These are what we are given for clothes. Sadly they do not give us a lot of creative freedom here," Genesis answered while chuckling softly, noticing Cloud asked more than what he had said originally. He didn't press on it though for he actually liked getting to explain these things to the younger child.. "The colors don't really have much meaning other than just what we prefer. The cuts in the back are for our wings, or did you not notice that your shirt is torn in the back?"

Cloud slowly reached back with his free hand and felt that the back of his shirt was in fact ripped apart. "Oh, I think I get it. So I'll get clothes like that too? And pick what color I want?"

"Eventually yes," Genesis answered before they turned down another hallway.

Soon they came to a different opening than before. The ceiling was much higher here and there was much more open space with no objects in the way. This room also had a stone wall on the opposite side and a fence lining around one side of the floor.

Sephiroth was already standing near the fence to Cloud let go of Genesis's hand and ran over to the silver haired man. When he got there he saw that beyond the fence was dug out, he could see down below, but it looked really far down from where they stood.

"Sephiroth!" Cloud shouted cheerfully. "You're going to show me your wing now?"

"Yes, that is why we came here, isn't it?"

"Yah! So show me! I wanna see!"

"All right, but calm yourself down first. No need to get so excited. It's just a wing after all."

"But you said you have a special wing! Oh! I remember now! Genesis has one too! And Angeal!" Cloud turned around quickly to see the other two just behind him. "Can I see your wings too please?"

"I never expected to have such a fan," Genesis grinned. "How much did you tell him about us, Seph?"

"Nothing much other than the uniqueness of our wings. It really should not be of much importance."

Angeal walked a bit closer, keeping his eyes on Sephiroth. "The kids never seen anything like this before, so to him it is rather important."

"Well if you say that, then why don't you go first?" Sephiroth replied.

Angeal smiled slowly. "Gladly."

Cloud watched as white, feathered wing suddenly sprouted from Angeal's right side. His eyes widened as he took in what he looked like. It wasn't like the lady Rinoa's wing or any of the other children that he had been with. This wing had a completely different look to it, it almost looked like it was two wings in one. There was the larger, longer wing on top with the smaller beneath it, but it still looked all connected together.

"Wow!" Cloud exclaimed. "So pretty!"

Without a word Angeal flapped the wing and rose up into the air. He flew over head until he was over the cavern. He dove down, rather gracefully and Cloud gripped the fence railing watching him closely. A moment later he shot back up flying as high as he could without actually crashing into the high ceiling.

After that he swooped back down to the floor, landing right next to the group. Cloud still continue to stare with high levels of excitement. "That was so cool! You can really fly like that!"

"We all can fly like that, it just takes some time and practice."

Cloud started to jump up and down. "I can't wait! It sounds like a lot of fun! So now is it your turn Seph?"

"I said to stop calling me that."

"But why? Genesis and Angeal call you that."

"It is because they are my friends."

"Can't I be your friend too?" Cloud asked softly.

Sephiroth ignored the question and looked away from the bright blue eyes that were beaming. He closed his eyes and a moment later he could hear more exciting sounds coming from the blond. When he opened his eyes again, he saw the boy looking right where he expected. Sephiroth stretched his black wing that protruded out from his right side.

His eyes were stretched wide with much more amazement that he had before. "Also so pretty!" He then turned to face Genesis. "And your wing is like his too?"

"Same color, different style," Genesis said before revealing his own wing. It was in fact black like Sephiroth's but the style and shape was much different. Genesis's seemed to be a bit thinner and longer than what Sephiroth's was.

"Are you going to fly now?"

"You already saw Angeal fly, it would be the same if I did it, so no I do not see the point," Sephiroth replied bluntly.

"Aw, but I wanna see your fly! Please? You said you would!"

Sephiroth scoffed. "I said no such thing. I said I would show you the caverns and show you my wing, nothing more."

"Then can you teach me how to fly?" Cloud asked as he tried moving his own wing. It twitched and moved a bit, but looked far from as graceful as the three older boys' wings.

"You will learn in time," Sephiroth said as he hid his wing. "You are still young and new to it, it will take you a little while before you are able to use it properly."

"But, I wanna try flying now…"

"Later," Sephiroth replied. "None of us were able to fly on our first day. We had to get used to our wing and how it felt first before any flying could happen. So trust me when I say that you will get to learn, just not at this moment."

"Promise you'll teach me?" Cloud asked as he held out his hand. He extended his pinky finger out towards Sephiroth. "Pinky promise."

"I will not promise anything. I said it before and I'll say it again, I should not be the one tasked to teach you," Sephiroth said. If he was going to stand his ground on the matter, he had to stay strong, no matter how pleading Cloud's eyes looked.

Cloud dropped his hand and sighed. He just couldn't seem to get through to Sephiroth no matter how he tried. He didn't want to give up though, but he was currently at a loss how he was going to go about it. But he knew he wouldn't give up. Angeal and Genesis said that Sephiroth just had a hard outer shell, whatever that meant. If they could be friends with Sephiroth, then that meant he could too! He was ready to keep on trying, no matter what because he believed he could do it.

Finished up this little chapter here, just still a lot of building up the world and stuff for it. Hope you are all enjoying though!