Ch.4

Cloud continued to be held by Sephiroth as they made their way through the building. Now they had entered into a different area that had tables that reminded Cloud of the lunchroom tables from school. Various different people were sitting down, some eating quietly by themselves, and others chatting in groups.

Cloud slowly looked around to everyone that he saw in the area. "They all got wings too?"

"Indeed."

"But they know how to do the thing to hide them, right?"

"Yes."

"I can't wait to learn!" Cloud suddenly beamed. "And you get to teach me!"

"That's right." Sephiroth was short and quick with all his words, not entirely sure what else to say to the child. "Come, let's get you some food."

They walked over to where a counter was, behind it was a kitchen like area with many fridges and cabinets. "They have us make our own food, but they do at least give us a good supply…" Sephiroth muttered aloud while he looked through the fridges to see what he wanted to eat.

"Why?"

Sephiroth sighed again, even though he knew he willingly agreed to answer more questions. It was just a difficult subject to talk about and he knew that Cloud was probably a bit too young to fully understand. But he had to try his best to give what he could. "As you know humans… do not like us. They keep us locked up here. But Hojo, for whatever reasons he has, doesn't just kill us off. He keeps us here… to observe us. Like animals in a zoo…"

"That doesn't sound very nice…"

"I know it isn't," Sephiroth said as he decided on some slices of pizza. He was sure the kid would like pizza afterall. He put the pieces on some plates and put them in microwaves to heat up. While they ran he turned to face Cloud. "But it is what we are stuck with and we should be glad that they do not treat us any lower than they already do. There could be a far lot worse done to how we live here if they wanted."

Cloud shuddered slightly at the thought of what possible could be worse. Right away Sephiroth sensed the tension and shook his head. "But let's not think about that. Instead we will eat and help you get situated here."

Cloud seemed to fidget more. "Situated? I… I really won't be going home?"

Even though Sephiroth heard the microwaves beeping behind him, he approached Cloud slowly. He saw no point in trying to avoid this topic. "Unfortunately yes. All of us were captured from our homes and taken here and have lived here ever since."

"But why? Why do they just take us away? How do they know where to find us?" Cloud spat out his questions as quickly as he could. Right away tears started forming in his eyes as he waited for Sephiroth to reply.

Sephiroth kelt down. He looked into Cloud's eyes, giving him as serious of a look as he could. "How much do you know about the winged kind?"

"Not a lot… heard some things but I don't know much."

"Well, let me begin with the basic most part of our kind. We are born every seven years. It is a cycle. In the year that the winged ones turn seven, there are seven other children born that will one day be revealed as winged ones. Does that make sense?"

"I-I think so…"

"Hojo's family have been doing this for years. They keep track of these things so they know where to look. But then there are also the humans who send in reports to Hojo when they see those wings."

"You… you think my mom did that?"

Sighing slightly, Sephiroth placed a hand on top of Cloud's head. "I cannot say yes or no to that. I do not know about your mother and what she thought of you."

"S-She… she loved me a lot. Always took good care of me. B-But when this wing showed up… she st-stopped. Doe that mean she doesn't-"

Sephiroth didn't wait for Cloud to finish. Almost far too instinctively he pulled Cloud into a hug. "Don't think about it. Humans are just afraid of the unknown, and we are just that to them. But do not think about such a thing, okay?"

"But…"

"It is quite unfortunate, but it would be best to not dwell on what you left behind. It will only make things harder."

Faint sobs started up while Sephiroth remained where he was. Pulling away from the hug he knew would only make things harder on poor Cloud. He was stuck with what he had done and had to wait it out. But he no longer knew what to say. He waited quietly as he kept Cloud tightly in his arms, hoping the tears would stop soon enough.

Eventually the tears and sniffles died down. Sephiroth leaned back so he could look at Cloud once more. He could see the cheeks were tearstained and puffy once more. "If you are finished. Shall we eat our food?"

Cloud nodded without saying a word.

Sephiroth returned to the microwaves and quickly set them for a few more seconds, considering how long he waited with Cloud. When they finished he took the plates and told Cloud to follow him. They made their way through the tables until Sephiroth set down the plates at a table that had no one else sitting at it.

Right away Cloud sat himself up on the table and reached for the plate of pizza. As he was doing that Sephiroth went back to the kitchen to grab some bottles of water and then returned to the table. Once he set down the water Cloud looked up at him again.

"Why are we sitting alone?"

"Because I prefer to be alone. I am fond of being around a lot of others. But if you wish to socialize, you can do so," Sephiroth replied before taking his seat.

Cloud glanced around the room at the other tables. He saw the other children that he had been brought in with. Each of them was with an adult and they sat at different tables with different people.

"Maybe later… I don't know if they would like me…" Cloud muttered before going back to eating his pizza.

"Now why would you say that? We are all winged ones here."

"My wing is still really different. What if… what if they don't wanna play with me cause of it? A lotta kids back home didn't like me even before the wing…"

"They will not do such a thing. Here we are all one community. We may not all be friends or super close to one another, but we respect everyone no matter their look," Sephiroth replied, his tone rather reserved.

"Really? That sounds nice… maybe… maybe I will talk to them later."

"Do what you wish, I do not mind."

"Oh, okay," Cloud said. He stared at Sephiroth who was still quietly eating his food. Neither of them spoke a word after that and Cloud just couldn't understand it. He knew that Sephiroth seemed to be kind quiet from the start, but Cloud wasn't too sure if he could get him to talk more. He wasn't even sure what topics he could talk about and if anything would actually work, but he had to try.

"What's your favorite color?"

"Hm? Now why would you ask something like that?"

"Well I wanna know! Cause we're going to be friends, I gotta know these things!" Cloud exclaimed.

Sephiroth hummed softly, looking at the curiosity in Cloud's eyes. It was just a harmless question, nothing more to it. Sighing he finally gave his answer. "I never have given that a thought."

"Whaaat?! You don't have a favorite color?"

"I didn't think it was really critical in life."

"Well I got a favorite color!" Cloud stated proudly.

"And? If you are that excited to ask me, then why don't you tell me yours?"

Cloud grinned widely. "Chocobo yellow of course!"

Sephiroth found himself laughing lightly. The thought of it was ironic and yet Cloud seemed so confident about it. Though when it came to him, he still had no reason or want to talk about his favorites. But something told him that Cloud wasn't going to let him get away from this easily.

"I suppose… if I had to think of a color…" Sephiroth started to say before Cloud had the chance to ask him again. "Perhaps a light blue."

"Like the sky blue?"

Sephright sighed, his figure lowering slightly while he averted his eyes away from Cloud. It was odd to think something like this would actually bother him. But here he was, thinking about things he knew he was no longer privileged to see. "Yeah, we could say that."

"Have you not seen the sky in a while? Cause there are no windows to see outside?"

Sephiroth shook his head. "No."

"Oh… I'm sorry…" Cloud lowered his head. He hadn't quite realized how serious this was but the fact that Sephiroth hadn't seen the sky in who knows how long was worrying. Did that mean he also wasn't going to get to see the sky? He already knew that he wasn't going to go home anymore… and if this place had no windows to see outside… then he really wasn't going to see the outside anymore.

Cloud started to sniffle again, not able to contain his emotions like it seemed that Sephiroth could do. He was always so calm and serious and Cloud couldn't understand how he was able to do such a thing in the first place. Sephiroth was still so strange to him yet he still wanted to stay close. He could feel that Sephiroth could be nice, but for some reason he just was bad at showing it. His other friends were nice. Cloud really liked Sephiroth's friends Angeal and Genesis and if they were friends with Sephiroth, that meant he had to be friendly with them. At least that was what Cloud though in his head. He still wasn't too sure of it, but he wanted to believe Sephiroth could be really friendly when he wanted to.

"Are you really going to start crying again?" Sephiroth asked.

"Maybe…"

Sephiroth sighed before moving to sit next to Cloud. "You can't keep crying over everything that happens. It will get you nowhere."

Cloud lowered his head. "B-But…"

"There he goes again with the 'but' thing. Seems like it is just a natural part of being a child like he is…" Sephiroth thought to himself.

"What is it this time?"

"I'm… I'm just really scared…" Cloud leaned against Sephiroth before letting more of his tears flow out.

Not saying a word, Sephiroth placed an arm around Cloud. He didn't hold him super tight, but kept his arm steady. "I guess… if you must cry. Do so as you want. I'll stay right here with you. You understand?"

"Y-Yeah… thanks Seph," Cloud replied softly.

Sephiroth looked down at Cloud, who now was leaning even more against him. While he stared down at the boy, he heard footsteps coming closer to their table. He looked up to see a man with medium length dark hair. He stared curiously and concerned at Sephiroth and then to Cloud with his reddish brown eyes.

"What's happened here?"

"Nothing that needs any worry, Vincent" Sephiroth replied. "He is just having a hard time with understanding everything here."

"Who's the one who will be taking care of him?" Vincent asked.

"Always blunt and straight to the point aren't you?" Sephiroth thought quietly to himself. He then cleared this throat. "I'm going to take care of him."

Vincent raised an eyebrow. "You?"

"Yes me. Cloud has strangely grown fond of wanting to follow me around. So I have come to figure if he is going to do so, I might as well look out for him as well."

Cloud raised his head, looking to Sephiroth first and then Vincent. "Are you two friends?"

Vincent closed his eyes, letting out a small muffled chuckle. "No, I would say that we are more like acquaintances."

"Acquaintances?" Cloud asked as he titled his head to the side.

"It just means that we know each other, but we are not friends like how I am friends with Genesis or Angeal," Sephiroth answered. "Like what I was explaining to you before about how not everyone is friends with every other person here."

"Oooh. I think get it," Cloud said before sitting up right. He then smiled at Vincent. "It's nice to meet you though!"

"Same to you," Vincent replied, giving a slight smile. It seemed that he was just as quiet and reserved as Sephiroth seemed to be, but at the same time it also felt completely different. He then shifted into a more serious gaze while looking to Sephiroth. "Are you sure you would be able to handle this?"

"I am only watching out for him and training him. He isn't a baby that is incapable of doing anything on his own. He will learn and be able to function basically on his own soon enough. I am just here to guide him."

"If that is what you say," Vincent said before crossing his arms.

Letting out a soft sigh, Sephiroth thoughts over what he could say. Vincent was a tough one to convince. He really didn't want to have to explain this to every single person that would ask him, but if he had to, he knew what he needed to say. "If I do require any assistants I know that I can ask any adult here."

"Very well then. Wish you well with that."

Vincent Turner around briskly and walked away from the table, leaving Cloud feeling very confused. "Why'd he just leave like that?"

"Vincent is a man of few words and very little social interaction. Perhaps more so than me."

"How long has he been here?" Cloud couldn't help but ask all the questions that were coming to his mind.

"He was my age when I was yours. So do you know how old that makes him?" Sephiroth asked, deciding to make this more of an educational conversation. If he was to watch and take care of Cloud, it made sense to at least make sure he knew how to do basic math.

"Oh. Um…" Cloud started to count on his fingers. After a moment he looked up to Sephiroth. "He's 21?"

Sephiroth gave a nod. "That's right. Good job."

Placing a hand on top of Cloud's head, Sephiroth began to ruffle his hair. Like all winged ones the hair was soft, far softer than what a normal human's hair would be. It was the same softness that their feathered wings had, though Cloud of course didn't have a wing like that. Either way his hair still held the same trait the rest of them had.

Cloud giggled happily and suddenly Sephiroth stopped. He pulled his hand away and stared deeply. He hadn't even realized what he had been doing… he had only gotten lost in the moment. Staring down at his hand, he almost seemed perplexed by the simple motion he had preformed. But it was much more than that… so much more that he wanted to try to keep out of his mind.

"Seph?" Cloud was now looking at him with a confused look. "You okay?"

Sephiroth slowly curled his fingers into a fist. It wasn't tightly held and he decided to relax a moment later. There was no reason for him to worry or think about it. He still didn't want to dwell on it anymore anyway. "I'm fine," Sephiroth answered. "Nothing that you need to worry about."

Thank you to all who have read this story so far. It makes me happy that you guys are finding it interesting.