Ch.9
Time was moving along quickly once again. The days became weeks and weeks became months. Time in the facility never moved faster, and for once Sephiroth didn't think too hard about it. He had Cloud to care about and protect, and that was what had become far more important to him than anything else.
He even stopped being bothered by his friends, who still always gave friendly teases. He didn't give Hojo any dirty looks when it was time for check-ups. As long as he could get back to his little brother, that was all that mattered to him. As long as he had Cloud by his side, he knew he could be content with his life.
He would help him learn how to fly, eventually taking him into the caverns once he was ready. It made Cloud more than excited to finally be able to test out his wing in a more open space. It was also impressive to Sephiroth to watch the boy grow and learn from him, mincing him as he flew through the caverns below the facility.
Having the boy chase after him with games of tag became the regular thing between the two of them. It not only helped better Cloud's flying abilities, but it was one of the biggest time passing activities they had down there.
And with the time passing faster as he watched Cloud grow older, it wasn't long before actual years had passed.
When the day came that a new set of winged children were brought to the facility Sephiroth had to stop and think. Seven whole years had passed since Cloud first came into his arms. Seven years had come and gone, and now Cloud was 14. He was as young as Sephiroth had been when they first met.
While the concept of their age difference wasn't surprising, as he knew each generation of Winged Ones were separated by seven years, it was still weird to see how Cloud had grown. He was still on the shorter side compared to the others in his age group, but he was strong and determined, just as Sephiroth had taught him to be.
"So, are we going to go see them?" Cloud asked as he leaned over the chair that Sephiroth was sitting at.
"Them?"
"You know… the new children."
"Is it something you want to do?" Sephiroth said as he closed his book.
"I'd want to see it… Try to see what you saw when I first came here," Cloud replied.
"Then we can go. Just try not to let one of the children cling on to you," Sephiroth said with the slightest grin. "I don't think I could manage another child tagging along."
Cloud crossed his arms, pouting at the taller man. "Hey! I'm 14 now… I'm not a child."
"A child in my heart is all the same," Sephiroth said as he headed to the door.
"I wouldn't want to raise a kid anyways," Cloud said as he trailed after. "I'm not good at that stuff like you were."
"You assumed that I was good at it in the first place. I had to ask for help from the adults before learning and making my own ways that worked."
Cloud smiled as he looked up at Sephiroth. "Well you did good."
"Thank you, Cloud. I appreciate the sentiment."
"But I also wanted to see the wings the other children have… you know to see if any are like me."
Sephiroth hummed in agreement. "I can see why you would want to see that for yourself. Though don't get your hopes up, we don't know how rare or common your wing type is or will become."
Cloud nodded. "I know. I just want to see, just in case."
Together they made it down the hall to the commons area where the new children had been brought. This time all seven had been brought at once, with none of them evading capture like the previous time. Rinoa was already in front of the group of children, doing her usual speech to help calm the young ones from freaking out too much.
As Sephiroth and Cloud neared, he started to look at the children, seeing the different colors of wings that accompanied them. This time all the wings looked normal as the rest were, there were no wings that were anything like what Cloud had. But from looking at each of them, this time there were four boys and three girls.
Though most of them were fairly common with their hair and wing colors, with two girls and two boys having a shade of brown hair. There was one blond boy, a raven haired boy, and the final girl had the unique shade of purple hair, with a purple wing on her left side to match.
But the most striking thing about all of them was that the lighter brown haired girl and the raven haired boy had black wings. The boy had his on his right side, and the girl's was on her left.
With all of them looking rather calm since Rinoa was talking to them, Sephiroth noticed how everyone else was staring. No doubt they were still being somewhat judgmental over seeing two new children with black wings. Breathing in, Sephiroth prepared himself internally for anything he would have to say to the masses in case a problem arose.
Now Rinoa was standing in front of the group watching. "So now who will step forward and help care for our newcomers?"
Slowly there were those who stepped forward, willing to help look after the new children. Reno, who was two age groups above Sephiroth, came to take the young boy named Denzel. Edward reached out to take in the Yuna. The young Eiko was picked up by Aranea, with Tidus saying that he would look after Squall.
All that was left now was the two with black wings, and the young blond boy who clung to the raven haired boy. It wasn't long before one of the older Winged Ones stepped forward; Cor. He knelt down next to the blond boy and held out his hand.
"I'll be glad to take care of you, if you want."
He shook his head. "Not without Noctis."
"Noctis?"
Prompto squeezed the boy next to him tighter. "Noctis and I are friends."
As Sephiroth watched, he felt Cloud nudge him. "Will he not take both of them?" he asked in a soft voice.
"Let's not judge before anything is said."
Cor hummed softly as he looked at Noctis, who stayed quiet as he stared back. A moment later Cor nodded and held out his other hand. He actually took both boys without a word of argument or disagreement. It was much of a surprise for Sephiroth to see, especially at the end with Rinoa deciding to let the young girl with the black wing in for herself.
"So now it's just like before? They'll teach them about using wings like you did for me?" Cloud asked once they were alone in the area.
Sephiroth nodded his head. "That is what they'll do."
Humming, Sephiroth looked around the room, seeing how quiet it was in the moment. His eyes slowly drifted up to the ceiling. His eyes narrowed at the sight of the security cameras. If it wasn't for those things always, tracking them… watching them… they would have a better chance of escaping.
No matter the plan he had thought up, it would always end up the same. There would never be an escape with such a heavy level of surveillance. But Sephiroth still refused to give up… he was not going to stop thinking every day about it.
One of these days he would find a way to escape, and he would take Cloud with him.
It seems that fate favored Sephiroth shortly after the day of the new seven children arriving. A large storm had been rolling through the area and the strength of the storm was so great it made the power flicker all the way down in the facility. It was already late at night though, nearly everyone was asleep except for Sephiroth. He watched the light outside in the hallway, seeing how it flickered every few seconds.
"Seph…?" Cloud asked him sleepily. "Why aren't you sleeping?"
"I have a feeling the power may go out?"
Cloud walked up beside him. "The power?"
"There is a severe thunderstorm that rages on the surface, there is a chance it could cause a blackout," Sephiroth answered.
"And what will happen then? We haven't had a storm as bad as that in all of my years here."
Sephiroth faced Cloud, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Cloud, if what happens is what I hope, you must hold on tightly to me, alright? No matter what, you will not let go."
"Let go? Seph, what are you planning?" Cloud demanded, raising his voice slightly.
"A way where you can have a better life than this."
Just before Cloud was going to reply, everything went black. The lights in the hallway were out and the mechanical buzzing that kept the doors locked, suddenly stopped. With a push, Sephiroth was able to push the door open with no problem at all.
"Okay, it won't take long before the back-up generators kick in," Sephiroth said as he scooped Cloud's body into his arms.
"W-What? Wait a minute! Seph what are you-"
"Just hold on," Sephiroth said as he ran out into the hall.
He spread his wing out and took off flying as fast as he could to get to the commons area. He flew all the way until he came to the door that normally was just for the guards. With the power still being off he was able to quickly yank it open and fly down a hallway he had not seen since he was seven.
Up ahead he could hear guards shouting and arguing, and he did his best to fly as high as he could to avoid any of them. His eyes had already been in the dark long enough to be adjusted so he could see where everyone was. Now all he had to do was find the right way out.
Unfortunately, the power did click back on, the back-up generators doing their job. Now all the guards could see him flying above, and began to shout. It wouldn't take long before they stared to fire tranquilizers to try and stop him, but he kept following the path. He knew he was getting close. The entrance had to be near, and he wasn't going to give up.
"Someone stop him!"
"Inform Hojo!"
"We need to get him before he reaches the outside!"
As Sephiroth flew, the lights flickered again and the power shut off again. It seemed that not even the back-up generators could stop this storm. Perhaps it was legends of the gods themselves, lending a hand in this moment of fate. Sephiroth didn't know, but he wasn't going to stop and ponder it.
He could see the entrance to the building before him, the lightning flashing outside to give him guidance. As he neared the doors he slowed down briefly to push them open, letting the pouring rain and wind wip against him. He almost felt frozen, the sensation being something he had not felt in 14 years, but he knew he had to press on.
Flapping his wing again he headed up to the skies just as he heard the loud shouts of the men. Bullets were starting to be fired, but with the dark skies and rain, they came nowhere close to Sephiroth.
"Seph!" Cloud shouted. "What the heck are you doing!?"
"Hush. We're escaping, isn't that enough?"
"But they're going to find us!"
"I'll make sure that they won't. We'll get far away from here… and then we will find a safe place."
Cloud looked at him, the rain pouring down his worried face. "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure. I have planned for this day since I was young. I just needed an opportune time for it to work."
"But Seph-"
Another loud shot ran out and this time Sephiroth felt it strike his wing. He grunted as he forced himself to keep flying, moving further across the land. Eventually his wing couldn't take it anymore, and he had to dive down into the nearby forest. He managed to get close enough before all the strength in his wing gave out and he tumbled to the ground.
Cloud was quick to scamper to his feet, moving to Sephiroth's side. "Sephiroth! You need to get up!"
Sephiroth shook his head. "You need to run first."
"What?!" Cloud squeaked. "But I can't just leave you."
"In case I am slow, I want you to go on ahead."
"B-But not without you."
Sephiroth pushed himself up slowly, breathing in deeply as he felt his wing ache with pain. "Cloud. You must go. You must try and escape."
Cloud just stood there, shaking his head. "I won't leave you! That wouldn't be fair for me to run off."
"I promise I will catch up then, but please go ahead and find somewhere to hide. Run though, don't use your wing or they may find you."
"But…"
"Go! Now!" Sephiroth said, raising his voice.
Cloud shook slightly, but nodded his head before he took off running as fast as he could. Sephiroth breathed in a few times as he felt his wing. Whatever they had shot had numbed it, and he couldn't even hide it in this state. It would slow him down for a little, but he had already made progress flying far away from the facility.
As long as they could keep moving, he knew they would be fine. Hojo would be furious and no doubt send out parties to search for Sephiroth and Cloud, but he was hoping by that time they would be long gone from this area. All he had to do was keep going, and pled that fate was still in his favor.