Note: I have submitted Chapters 49, 50, 51, and 52 at the same time (Aug 5), in case you clicked on an email link to this chapter and are confused, you may have missed a previous chapter :)

General Content Warning: Chapters in this story may contain upsetting or triggering content including but possibly not limited to violence, consensual and non-consensual sexual references and descriptions, drug and alcohol use and abuse, references to or descriptions of mental illness, self-harm or self-injurious behavior, and references to or discussions of suicide.

~Fifty~

"Here," Rand said as he set an unopened box of cereal on the table in front of Cloud.

A new day. A new morning. Circumstances…the same.

Cloud looked at the box briefly then back at Rand in question. He'd been sitting at the table, looking out toward the back of the house, out to where the back porch was, not really focused on anything other than getting through another long day with Rand. He wasn't planning on eating anything for breakfast. He still didn't trust the food that Rand prepared. He was still certain he'd been drugged by the man. All he'd ended up eating the day before were some prepacked snack foods, things he was pretty sure couldn't have been tampered with. It hadn't been much.

"It hasn't been opened," Rand pointed out the obvious. "You won't have to worry about me slipping you something," he commented bluntly.

"I'm not hungry," Cloud told him.

He wasn't lying. His hunger as he basically starved himself came in waves. At the moment he wasn't feeling hungry, just unsettled and worried. He'd won a pretty big battle in his mind when Rand gave up Koda to Annalena. He'd told Rand that he was going to work through things with the man if he agreed to let Koda go. Rand had done that so obviously his expectation was that he hold up his end of their agreement. Things had gone downhill quickly though. He'd antagonized Rand that night, shown anger and resentment toward him. It was the opposite of what Rand had been expecting from him.

The man had retaliated by drugging him to mess with his head. He hoped it was only his head he'd messed with and that nothing had actually physically happened to him at Rand's hands when he was unconscious. Cloud figured it was the man's way of teaching him a lesson or reminding him he was in charge, even if he denied actually drugging him—and he'd adamantly denied it the day before.

Cloud did find himself questioning if it were possible that the man had been mostly telling the truth and that maybe he had blocked out the night of his own accord. Maybe he really was under that much stress that his brain was starting to shut out things around him, refusing to log certain things into memory. Like a form of self-protection or preservation.

He wished he didn't have to remember what occurred the day before, out near the bunkhouse. Rand made it really clear out there how badly he wants them to have a close and intimate relationship. Rand seemed to believe he was just holding out because he was still angry about the past and the way the man had hurt him previously. Rand seemed to believe that deep down Cloud knew that he wanted what they had in Midgar and really wanted to be looked after by the man.

He hated that his mind was doing it to him, but he was starting to consider that his only chance of getting himself out of his situation was to actually lean into that belief Rand had about them. The more he resisted, the more insistent Rand was in return. The more combative he was, the more aggressive Rand was. He was starting to really second-guess himself and whether he'd ever be capable of outsmarting a person who had made a literal career from manipulation. Rand had told him Shinra hired him to condition him into what they wanted because they needed the best. If he really was the best, what chance did he actually have?

He did wonder what the man might be like if he were to become the thing Rand was asking him to be. If he became the compliant, submissive, leadable, naïve servant that he'd been when he had an implant controlling his brain. What would it be like if Rand felt he was looking up to him as a source of guidance and protection? When Rand hadn't had a question about his loyalty and the control he had over him, he'd been so different. Docile. Caring. Protective more than possessive. Was that really what it was going to take for him to have a real chance at winning the game going on between them?

"That can't be true," Rand said, dragging Cloud out of his thoughts again and back to the dining table. "Are you refusing in protest?" he asked. "You know that never worked out for you in the past."

Cloud couldn't help but give him a sharp look back at that statement. Back in Gongaga he did choose to commit to self-starvation in protest. Hojo and his team had wanted him to be strong so he decided he wasn't going to help them. He was going to let himself fade away and die if that's what it took to show them he wouldn't be compliant. Hojo's response to that was to give him to Sephiroth for the monster to take out his anger and frustrations on while he was too weak to really protect himself.

When Rand first brought him to that cabin he'd also refused to eat but his desperation to get information about his son won out. He assumed Rand was going to issue him some sort of threat or ultimatum in order to make him eat. When he gave no verbal response to the man, Rand pushed his chair back at the table quickly, the sound of the legs scraping against the floor making Cloud wince a little. He was sure he'd just made Rand angry.

The man turned away and walked over to the one side table next to the couch to get something out of the one drawer. Cloud kept his eyes down, waiting for whatever it was that was coming next. The warning or the threat. He hadn't expected a bargain though…certainly not the one that he was suddenly delivered.

Rand set down a pad of lined paper on the table next to the bowl in front of him. Cloud looked at it and then up at Rand. He could see he was holding a pencil in his hand. He was holding it like he was offering it to him but Cloud didn't reach for it. He was confused.

"What?" he asked.

"Take it," Rand told him in an unexpectedly soft tone. He didn't sound angry at all. "So that you can write your letter," he explained.

Cloud was shocked.

"My letter?" he responded hesitantly.

"The letter you want to write home," Rand confirmed what he was assuming he must be referring to.

It didn't make sense though to him at first. He didn't know what to say back so he just lifted his right hand to take the pencil from him. Rand pulled it back out of his reach.

"You need to eat," the man said. "Will this help you do that?"

It seemed such an odd thing to ask though. He sounded concerned, not annoyed. At seeing Cloud's bewildered expression he added, "It's clear you're really struggling mentally right now. It could be affecting your apatite. Yesterday, you said writing a letter home would help you."

"Yeah," Cloud responded after another moment while he tried to decide if Rand was actually serious. "It would help. But only if you actually let me send it there."

"Of course," Rand replied as though no other thought had actually crossed his mind.

"Okay," Cloud agreed.

Rand held the pencil out for him to take once more. He didn't retract when Cloud did reach to take it from him.

"Thank you," he said to the man. Rand smiled and headed away to the kitchen with Cloud following him with his eyes.

There's no way he would actually let that letter get sent out to Midgar, Cloud told himself. But what if he was actually serious? He was sure the man was going to want to read it. He already told him he would let him. Obviously, he wasn't going to write anything about where he was or who he was with. All that really mattered to him at the moment was simply letting his friends know that he was okay.

If he left Rand entirely out of the letter and didn't give any indication the man was involved in his decision to go silent and disappear, then what reason would Rand have to refuse to send the letter out? He'd seemed to like granting him favors or giving him gifts in the past. This act of what he would probably consider charity, or some form of gift, would make him feel good about himself. So, maybe he really was serious.

It gave Cloud a little bit of hope. He wasn't going to attempt it in the first letter, but maybe at some point he'd be able to send a hidden message to his friends that they'd be able to identify which would hint at the truth of what was going on. He had something to work towards at least. Something of a plan.

He did make an effort to eat some of the cereal Rand had set on the table. He got a couple of mouthfuls down. He started working on his letter after that, up in his room. It took some time for him to decide what kind of explanation he wanted to give for where he'd gone and why he wasn't answering any calls or messages. Three or four drafts and some shed tears later, he had the final letter that he was satisfied with.

Ultimately, he wrote out an explanation that he felt was highly believable because it was grounded in truth and it outlined a scenario that he'd often imagined in his head back in Midgar. The truth was that he had often thought about running away and disappearing. He didn't feel like a real person. Certainly not a whole one. He imagined driving off the grid out to someplace quiet and beautiful, in the middle of the nature that he grew up in so that he could connect with who he really was deep down. Who he used to be. He wanted to find and pull to the surface the real him, the person who'd been stifled and beat down and overtaken by the trauma of tragedy and the effects that Hojo's experiments had had. He wanted to forget that he had been genetically modified into something that wasn't even considered human anymore, because there were so many days he felt that's all he was. He told his friends that he loved them and that he was going to be okay and that they would hear from him again soon.

When he gave Rand his finished letter that afternoon he felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders somehow. He felt like something had been accomplished. Rand seemed to be in a better mood as well.

Rand actually was feeling good about his decision to let Cloud write the letter home. Cloud seemed grateful and less anxious. Things were back on track between them. Cloud ate lunch and dinner. The calm and comfortable routine they'd had going felt close to being restored. He needed Cloud to see that he just wanted what was best for him. At some point Cloud would see that not only did he want the best for him, he knew what was best.

For the first time after dinner, Cloud asked to do the dishes. It had surprised Rand. He couldn't think of a reason he shouldn't but he was a little hesitant. Cloud told him he just wanted to feel like he was contributing or helping out. It was something normal that he could do with his hands. He did understand that so he agreed and took the time to get some work done on his laptop.

While it was a nice change from just sitting and staring at the television screen, Cloud had asked to wash the dishes because he wanted a chance to take a look through the cupboards and drawers in the kitchen. Finding where to put back the dried dishes allowed him to snoop around without looking suspicious. He didn't know what he might find or see, but he was hoping to find something useful like his phone or possibly a gun. In the back of his mind he also wondered if he might be able to locate proof that the man had drugged him a few nights earlier.

It was hard to really snoop, however, when Rand was sitting in view at the table, even if he was distracted. Cloud looked over at the unlit fireplace and saw that there were only a few pieces of firewood sitting next to it. It gave him an idea.

"It's pretty chilly in here," he told Rand. "I could start up a fire," he offered.

"Sure," Rand responded without looking at him as he was typing and looking at his laptop screen.

"You want to unlock the door so I can go get some wood?" he asked as casually and unassuming as he could. He really didn't think Rand would actually let him leave the house on his own to go outside for the wood. He was right.

"I'll get it," the man said after a quick glance back at where the wood was usually stacked.

Cloud just nodded to himself. He continued to finish up in the kitchen, wiping up in the sink, trying to look occupied. Rand shut his laptop closed but left it on the table before going to get his boots and coat on. Cloud watched him in his peripheral vision and listened as he unlocked the door.

"I'll just be a minute," Rand said before stepping outside onto the porch.

The first thing Cloud did when the man stepped outside and shut the door was approach his laptop quickly. He lifted the screen to see if there was any chance of him getting access to the computer. Maybe the man had some sort of network connection and he could make a call or send an email. He'd been expecting a log-in screen however and that's just what he was confronted with so he abandoned the idea and shut the screen again. Instead, he focused his efforts on quickly moving around the kitchen and living room, checking in any drawer and cabinet that was there, looking for anything that would be useful to have his hands on.

As he was passing by the coat rack next to the front door, he spotted something sticking up from inside what he thought looked like a pair of Chip's footwear. It looked like the pair of taller hiking boots he was pretty sure he remembered seeing him wearing the first day he walked into the house and found him cuffed to the table. He swore that what he was looking at was a rolled-up newspaper. If that's what it was, there'd be a name on the newspaper header. It might tell him finally where he was or what town he was nearest to.

He quickly pushed through the coats hanging down and grabbed for it, finding that it was indeed a newspaper. When he unrolled it, he looked at the top of the front page and read Aldohollow Observer at the top. Unfortunately, he'd never heard of any place called Aldohollow. Still, he felt a sense of relief having that little piece of information. He started to scan over the front page for any other details that could help him situate himself in relation to a town he did recognize. In the process, his eyes ran down to the headline of a column near the bottom of the page that struck him like a jolt of electricity.

The line read 'Junon City Police Department confirm death of Shinra's controversial first and only E-SOLDIER?'

That was him. He was nearly positive it was talking about him. He'd been the only one. He'd been the first and only one of what Shinra decided would be called Canaries in the new Elite SOLDIER program. That program was never fully launched after the death of Rufus's father.

Under the headline the article read, 'A vehicle recovered from Junon Harbor was found to be registered to Cloud Strife, elusive former PFC of the Shinra Militia and only formally acknowledged member of Shinra's on-hold Elite SOLDIER program. Strife, along with former SOLDIER Zackary Fair were at the center of the company's most recent human experiment scandal. Strife, recognized for having saved former president Shinra during an assassination attempt as been out of public view since then. Shinra, citing privacy concerns, has been reluctant to share information on Strife's status or whereabouts, fueling conspiracy and coverup theories.

A page number was given to turn to for the full article, which he quickly sought out to scan before Rand was back. He scanned the story in shock. His bike had been in the harbor and it looked like authorities were fairly certain that he'd driven it into the water. Not only that, but the article made it apparent that it was being treated as a possible intentional act on his part. The rest of the story seemed to summarize quickly what the human experimentation scandal had been for Shinra and why both his appearance suddenly when he'd been thought dead, as well as his apparent disappearance after the Spring Parade and the assassination attempt on the president had been controversial.

He wasn't only shocked by what he discovered had happened to his bike and the fact he was presumed dead by the police, he was also infuriated. So angry that when he heard Rand's footsteps coming up to the front door outside, he didn't try to hide what he'd found. Rand had actually let him write that letter that day under the belief it would be sent back to Midgar. He'd used the letter to manipulate him, to get him to do something he didn't want to do. To resume eating despite the fear he had the man might drug him. Nothing was going to stop him from confronting the man about it.

Rand opened the front door a little awkwardly, his arms holding several pieces of chopped wood for the fireplace. He immediately looked at Cloud and saw what he was holding in his hands. It had him stopping in his tracks. His expression said he was clearly taken off guard.

"Where did you get that?" he asked as he turned to set down the wood on a chair next to the door.

Cloud didn't answer the question.

"You were never really considering letting me send a letter home, were you?" he remarked sharply.

"What?" Rand said with what seemed like genuine confusion. He shut the front door while keeping his eyes on Cloud.

"Dead men don't write letters, right?" Cloud said before folding over the newspaper in his hand and holding it up for Rand to see. He wasn't sure he could actually read the article headline from where he was standing but he seemed to catch on easily regardless. "You put my bike in the harbor in Junon? That was my property. I worked hard for that."

His anger was apparent in his tone, but so was Rand's irritation.

"Give that to me," he demanded as he started to come toward him.

Cloud threw the newspaper at him. Rand stopped it with his hand as it was flying toward his face but wasn't able to catch it. It fell to the floor in a scatter of pages.

"You tried to make me look like a suicide, is that it?" Cloud's voice reached near shouting volume.

"Like it's hard to do?" Rand fired back. "If it's believed, it's for a reason."

Cloud shook his head firmly.

"You think that the people who know me would believe that I'd actually drive into the fucking harbor?" he questioned heatedly.

He actually felt like he was boiling up inside. Rand laughing back at him then only fired him up more.

"I think some would certainly consider it," the man argued adamantly. "I can't be the only person you spoke to of thinking you are better off dead. You sat in my apartment and talked about how you believe you were supposed to die in Nibelheim during the fire," he reminded Cloud. "I'd be honored if I were the only one you told your dark desires and thoughts to but I highly doubt that's the case."

Again, Cloud shook his head as he moved. "Zack won't believe it. There's no way. You're so pathetic. You're concerned with some guy I screwed a couple times looking for me when Zack's the one who'll never stop. This shit," he said as he closed the short distance between them and picked up one of the pages of newspaper up off the floor to wave in the man's face, "whatever it is, it's not going to fool him. He'll never stop trying to find me. The only way he's stopping is if he's standing next to my body as it's going in the goddamn ground!"

Those words clearly impacted Rand. No longer only irritated, but actually angry then, he ripped the page from him with one hand and took hold of Cloud's sweatshirt with the other, under his chin. He pulled it tight into his fist as he spoke back at him closely.

"Do you think I'm worried about Zack?" he asked as though the idea were ridiculous. "Is that what you think? The only reason that he is still breathing is because of you. I could have put a bullet in his head and blown his brains all over the pavement in Midgar during the Spring Parade if I didn't care about you." The man crumpled the paper in his other hand quickly and threw it to the side before continuing on in a severe and threatening tone. "You should hope for his sake and anyone else that you know that they do believe what they see or read and they stay away because I will take out any person who gets near to this place that isn't fucking invited."

He shoved Cloud back as he let go of his sweater. He turned away and leaned over to start picking up the scattered newspaper. Cloud took another few steps back toward him. He was pissed and he wanted Rand to know it. He wanted him to feel it. There'd be no redirecting that anger into a wall or some other object.

"You're a poor excuse for a human being, Rand," he said to his back in a cutting tone. "You think you're a man? You're not a man. You're desperate and you're sad and your wife was smart to leave you and not want your son anywhere near you!"

Rand was fast to stand himself straight and face him in response to his insult. That wasn't all though. As he pivoted around fast, he actually hit him. Cloud had expected it though. He was pretty certain the dig about his ex and child would push him to that point. It was a low blow. Rand's blow that he delivered? Not so much. It was aimed high, at his face. A hard slap that came down on the left side of his face that almost felt like a punch. It was hard enough that it had him taking a few steps back. It sounded so loud in the house that was otherwise quiet.

He had wanted Rand to hit him though so that he could fire back at him with equal force. He went farther than that, punching him in the face with his hand still bruised from his assault on the wall outside days earlier. It hurt like hell in his hand when he made contact but the satisfaction he felt from hitting Rand made it worth it. It seemed like the man was expecting his punch though. His face took the blow like he barely felt it. It was hard enough though to split his lip and possibly do a little damage inside his mouth from his teeth cutting into this cheek.

Rand's answer to that was fast, and it was brutal. The man had told him before that he'd done some boxing in the past. He remembered seeing him practice a little with a bag in their suite in Midgar. Still, he hadn't been prepared for the kind of impact the man was able to deliver. And although he'd fought with Rand in his apartment in Junon a few weeks earlier, he'd never until that moment actually been on the receiving end of the kind of mako-packed blow the man was capable of doling out.

Rand punched him back in the left side of his face with full force and he felt an intense shockwave of pain through his cheek bone and in what felt like his whole eye socket. The impact would have sent him flat on his back had Rand not already been reaching with his other hand to grab him by the back of his neck, pulling him back towards him. The man delivered a second punch, maybe harder than the first, into his gut. It immediately knocked the wind out of him and had him on his knees in front of him clutching his stomach and gasping. It was high in his torso, feeling like he'd managed to get right under his ribs.

Almost as soon as he hit the floor, the man was shoving him forward onto his stomach. He didn't feel like he had time to think, let alone try to avoid what was coming, when he felt the painful pressure of the man's knee driving into his body, pushing hard against his ribs in his mid-back. One of the man's hands held his head against the floor, the battered left side of his face pressing into it.

"Fuck," Cloud cursed through the crushing pain in his back. The man's weight was pressing his chest into the floor hard enough he couldn't get a full breath into his lungs. "Stop," he demanded.

"I hope that this hurts enough to remind you who I am and that you do not want to push me!" the man yelled down at him. "Yes?"

Cloud strained against him, attempting to twist his body from under him while pressing against the floor with his knees and the palms of his hands as he tried the get enough space between himself and the floor to be able to expand his chest and get in a full breath. It only made the pain in his ribs at the spot where Rand's knee and shin was digging into it more intense.

"Stop," he rasped out, barely able to get the word out.

Rand let both his knee up off his back then and released his head. Immediately, he was rolling himself onto his left side, taking the pressure off his chest as he heaved deeply into his lungs. He saw Rand's left hand coming down toward him and thought he was about to hit him. It had him curling into himself reflexively, pulling his knees into his body while he tried to shield his head and face with his left arm.

The man didn't hit him though. Instead, he felt the sleeve of his sweatshirt being clutched tightly at his shoulder.

"Are we clear?!" Rand shouted at him angrily. It felt like he was shouting directly into his ear, finding him shutting his eyes tightly in response.

He didn't know how he would have responded. He didn't get a chance before he realized they were no longer alone in the room. He opened his eyes as he heard another voice calling out. He realized when he lowered his arm and looked up that Chip had walked in on them and had pulled Rand back and away from him a few feet.

Cloud sat himself up on the floor fast as he put a hand to the left side of his face. It felt like it was throbbing and burning hot. He realized quickly he was bleeding from somewhere. It hadn't come from his cheek though. As he felt around his eye quickly, he determined he must be bleeding from a small cut on his eyebrow.

"What the hell's this about?" Chip questioned, standing between them with his one hand on Rand's chest.

Rand was staring at his cousin intensely like he wanted to tell him to go away and get out. Cloud found Chip looking at him though for a few moments before he finally shifted his eyes back to Rand.

"Nothing," Rand told him finally, his voice trembling a little. "It's fine."

Chip dropped his hand as Rand went to step past him toward Cloud, who began slowly and painfully starting to pick himself up off the floor. Rand took hold of his right upper arm to assist in getting him back to his feet. Quickly, Cloud was shoving him away.

"Get the fuck away from me!" he ordered sharply.

Chip stepped between them once more as Cloud retreated towards the stairs, holding a hand to his head and putting pressure on his bleeding cut.

"Let him go," he heard Chip say to Rand as he kept the man from following after him.

Rand watched after Cloud until he'd disappeared into the bathroom upstairs, slamming the door shut. He acknowledged then with his tongue that his lip was bleeding a little from where Cloud had hit him. With his adrenaline falling he headed past Chip toward the kitchen, breathing shakily.

"What was that?" Chip asked as he followed after him.

"A disagreement," Rand answered simply as he turned on the kitchen tap to wet a hand towel to use to dab at his lip.

"No, that was way more than some disagreement, man. You had him on the floor bleeding. That's a beating, not a disagreement," Chip argued sharply.

"It wasn't one-sided," Rand pointed out, clearly indicating he'd also sustained injury.

With a doubtful gaze Chip questioned, "Oh yeah? Did you hit him first?"

Rand only looked away from him, turning to rinse the towel in his hand.

"It ain't right, man," Chip said making Rand shake his head a little. "You don't put your hands on him like that. It ain't right. That abusive shit isn't going to fly around me, cousin. You know fucking better."

Rand looked at him hard once more. "He can take it," he replied coldly. "He's had worse."

The response clearly annoyed his cousin.

"Who says shit like that?" he asked rhetorically, taken aback.

Chip turned his back on him then, headed for the front door quickly.

"Where are you going?" he called after him.

Chip only responded with one word, never looking back. "Out," he said as he opened the door. He slammed it shut as he left.

Upstairs, Cloud had spent a minute cleaning the little bit of blood off his face and had searched out the first aid kit Rand had mentioned the other day was up there. He found it in the cabinet under the sink. He'd just found a bandage that was the type and size he wanted to use on the small cut he had when he heard the sound of someone coming upstairs. He could only assume it was Rand. That was confirmed when the man eased the door open. He stepped inside the small room without invite and shut the door. It annoyed Cloud more than it made him nervous right then.

"You found the kit alright?" the man questioned, though it was clear he had found it. "Are you okay?" he asked Cloud as he leaned against the closed door.

Cloud ignored the question. He went about applying the bandage he'd gotten out of the kit onto the small cut over his eyebrow to help keep it closed up. He'd had that same spot split open so many times he was surprised the area wasn't more visibly scarred.

The left side of his face was red and splotchy and sore. He could already tell that the bruising was going to spread its way all around his eye. None of it mattered though. All he cared about right then was that his friends were out there possibly believing he was dead. Not just them—anyone who read the same newspaper he had seen downstairs.

He wanted to think no one would believe it, but…what if they did? What if Zack did? He did tell Zack he was never coming back. And even if he and the others didn't believe he'd put himself in the harbor on purpose, he could see them believing it was an accident. He hadn't reached the point of emotional distress over what he'd learned Rand had done yet. He was still feeling angry above all else.

"I'm sorry I lost my temper," Rand said but again Cloud only ignored him. "I don't like hurting you," he added.

In his peripheral vision, Cloud saw him doing something where he was standing. He had something in his one hand. When he glanced very quickly at him it looked like a tube of medicated ointment or something of the like. He was squeezing a bit of it into his other hand.

Cloud shook his head a little to himself. If the man thought he was going to let him help treat the damage he was responsible for on his face, he was going to find out fast there was no way. Then again, he could see he'd also injured Rand as well. It might have been for himself.

"I'm going to make it up to you," Rand went on to tell him. He stepped away from the door to stand behind him so he could meet his eyes through the mirrored cabinet ahead of Cloud.

"I don't want anything from you," Cloud finally spoke back to him, only briefly looking at him before pushing around the items in the first aid kid a little so he could shut the case lid.

He felt Rand close in on him then. He expected him to keep trying to talk to him. Keep trying to apologize. But instead, he found the man's hands reaching around him under the hem of his shirt and into his sweatpants. He really hadn't expected it and while it startled him, he was really only annoyed at first.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" he asked aloud, though he was looking down and not at Rand's reflection as he said it. He tried to back away from the counter while he grabbed for Rand's wrists, trying to get his hands away from him. He did manage to pull his left hand away from him but the other was already attached to him between his legs.

Cloud let go of the man's left wrist to have both his hands free to try and get Rand's other hand out of his pants. As soon as he let go of his wrist, the man was reaching up and putting his left hand around the front of his neck, clutching his throat. The hold was tight but not enough to restrict his breathing. Still, it was enough to nearly paralyze him with sudden fear. Nearly.

He still had his right hand on Rand's right forearm but he reached up with his left to clutch and pull at the man's hand on his neck, trying to escape the threatening hold while still trying to push back against the man, away from the counter in front of him. Rand pushed his weight into him, moving his hand inside his pants to hold his pelvis firmly while he pressed his body into him, keeping him confined where he was in front of the sink.

There hadn't been any big movements in the small space from either of them but the force they exerted against one another as Cloud tried to back away from the counter and escape his hold and Rand stopped him from doing so had them both breathing hard.

Cloud felt like he was straining every muscle in his body but to no avail. He found himself thinking about Chip being in the house. He had heard the front door slam and assumed he must have left. He couldn't see Rand doing what he was doing right then if his cousin were nearby. That meant there was no one to call out to for help, but he realized as he thought of it that he wouldn't call out, even if he knew for certain Chip was downstairs.

In fact, it worried him that he might actually hear what was going on, even from outside. He didn't know why. The thought of anyone seeing what was going on in that bathroom right then was more horrifying to him than having to face it alone, so he kept fairly quiet as he was struggling to break out of Rand's hold. Suddenly, Rand was speaking to him as he tightened his grip on him, including his neck.

"Cloud. Stop. Now." the man spoke sternly to him like someone giving a command to a pet.

His words and their tone and how hard the man was holding onto him, caging his body with his own, had him suddenly standing still and breathing shakily.

"Look at me," Rand ordered.

When he refused to, the man shook his body a little.

"Look at me," he repeated more severely.

It took him a second but he did what Rand said and looked at his eyes in their reflection in the mirror.

"You're going to let me do this," the man stated surely. There was no question there.

He couldn't supress what he felt then, which was unavoidably trapped and immediately helpless as he looked into Rand's eyes and saw how confident and determined he was. He couldn't think of anything then. Not what to say or how to move. His mind was totally blank.

"Let go," the man ordered him softly, speaking barely over a whisper.

Cloud complied slowly. Gave up resisting and trying to pull on the man's hands. The man released the slight pressure he still had on his neck but didn't let go of it until Cloud let go first. Rand took hold of the back of his head instead, his hand gripping his hair loosely. With his other hand still on his pelvis, he pulled him back slightly to make a little space in front of him between them and the counter.

Cloud found himself locking up then, unable to make himself move other than to lower his head and look down at what was happening below his waist. Rand's hand stayed in his hair on the back of his head as Cloud leaned forward slightly and took hold of the sides of the counter top as the man began to masturbate him. Cloud shut his eyes then, not wanting to look at himself or Rand in the mirror.

"It's not what you think," the man spoke to him a few moments later as he stroked him firmly.

He found himself clutching the sides of the counter hard, his injured hand aching painfully and the edges of the countertop digging into his palms. He hadn't fought as hard as he could have to get away from Rand right then and he knew it. Aside from not wanting to make a lot of noise in the case Chip was actually still downstairs, something in him made him give in. Made him freeze up and submit like he'd done in the past.

There was no implant in his head that could make the situation seem confusing, or make him feel disconnected. He wasn't confused. He didn't want Rand to do what he was doing but he couldn't fight back. It was just fear now that made him lock up and stop fighting. Pure fear. Different than what he'd ever felt with anyone else who had tried to do to him what he didn't want done.

"I never intended for them to find your bike," his former Keeper and relentless tormentor told him as he continued to force him very quickly toward a release he knew would come whether he fought it or not.

It hadn't taken him long to approach climax. So much of that was automatic, beyond his physical control and he knew it. He'd been basically trained back in Midgar by the man to get to that end result and he knew he'd always wanted to just so it would be done. There was another reason though for why he found himself quickly on the way to that end result now. What he'd thought had been some kind of first aid cream or ointment that Rand had been handling a moment before, had actually been some kind of lubricant. He knew by the feeling of it and what it stimulated physiologically in him.

"They drew whatever conclusion they wanted to."

He barely heard what Rand said and couldn't even attempt to process it or that he was still talking about his bike and the harbor. He was agonizingly close to release when Rand's hand ceased stroking him suddenly, letting him go as he was still gripping the edges of the counter and breathing hard, his eyes tightly shut.

Rand tightened his hold on Cloud's hair, keeping his head lowered and keeping him where he was in front of the sink as he quickly tugged Cloud's pants down followed by his own, pushing them down only as far as he needed to in order to expose himself. He felt outside of himself in a way, angry and emasculated by what Cloud had said to him, telling him he was sad and desperate and not a man. A voice in his head told him he had no choice but to show him he was a man, and to show him dominance.

This was the person that Cloud was pushing him to be. Cloud had repeatedly returned to him in Junon trying to fight with him, lobbing his aggression at him in an effort to get him to react with that same aggression. Like he was testing him. Like he wanted to be corralled and controlled and overpowered. Why else would he try repeatedly to stoke the worst in him?

He remembered how in Midgar, there'd been an instance when Cloud had become aggressive and combative with him as a preface to sex. Cloud had initiated it. He'd lashed out at him only to voluntarily relinquish himself. He'd given in and dispensed upon him what he'd been asked to. It hadn't felt right then and it didn't feel right now, but just like then he was going to give him what he was asking for, whether he thought he wanted it or not.

He stroked himself a few times, using what was left on his hand to lubricate himself. He let go of Cloud's hair so he could take hold of his left hip before pushing himself up and into Cloud quickly.

Cloud hadn't seen what was coming. He'd still had his eyes shut. He actually thought Rand had been ready to walk out and leave him where he was, alone at the edge of a climax he'd forced him to just to prove he could.

This was worse. He buckled forward from the sudden penetration, gasping from the painful discomfort of it as his left elbow gave out and he had to hold himself up on his forearm against the counter. He reached forward with his right hand and braced himself against the wall in front of him next to the mirror. For a few moments, the man didn't make any other movements other than to resume stroking him fast and hard.

His mind was emptied of all thoughts and the only thing he felt capable of doing was holding onto the wall and the counter while trying to keep his knees from failing him. He could hear how loud everything seemed in that small space. Their breaths and sounds.

What seemed in one way to last an excruciating eternity, in reality, took only a minute. Rand's hand pulled from him that inevitable orgasm while the man was inside him. After a few final strokes on him, the man took hold of his hips instead and thrust into him with what felt like punishing movements, deep and abrupt. It didn't last long before he finished, pressing up into him hard when he did.

Then, as suddenly as he'd descended on him, the man was pulling away. He covered himself back up and tugged Cloud's pants back up onto his hips before reaching around Cloud to lift the handle on the tap. He let the water rinse his hands before turning it back off like he was slamming it shut.

Breathing hard, he said nothing as he moved away from Cloud, leaving him where he was at the sink and opening the bathroom door to leave.

000

Zack was fully focused on work tasks that night at the bar. In fact, nothing was in his mind other than what needed to be done minute to minute. Filling glasses, bringing orders to tables, cashing out patrons and all that. It was acting as the distraction he hoped it would. At least there he felt like he was doing something by helping Tifa out. It really threw him when Joey suddenly nudged him. It had been a pretty forceful nudge. He assumed Tifa's long-time employee had been trying to call his name to him to get his attention and he just hadn't heard him. It had him looking back at Joey fast, about to tell him to chill out. Joey's expression though was one of concern.

"What?" he asked, raising his voice to be heard over the surrounding noise.

He looked very quickly around their immediate location between a few tables in the middle of the room and he spotted a few guys looking over at him. He assumed by their demeanor and the way they observed him and spoke to each other, leaning in like they were sharing some secret, that they were talking about what they believed they knew about him and his past as it had been reported in the news what felt, at times, like a lifetime ago.

Joey quickly redirected him, indicating he should look up at the television screen mounted to the wall in the one corner of the room. That's where Zack saw Cloud's face. It was the same old army picture that had been used in the past to identify his friend for the public. Zack didn't really know why they never tried to use something more updated, but he supposed it was a good thing. Cloud didn't really look much like he did when he was fifteen years old, so if that's the picture people kept in their head instead, it made it more likely he could walk around without being bothered.

Whatever was being said on the television couldn't be heard over the noise of the bar, but the line of text under Cloud's picture made it clear what was being reported on.

'Junon Police investigating disappearance of MIA E-SOLDIER Cloud Strife; the ex-infantry soldier possibly killed in motorcycle incident at the harbor. Witness information sought.'

Great, Zack thought as he read the words on the screen. It was what they'd hoped to avoid. Cloud's disappearance hitting mainstream media. He didn't know how it had made it to the major outlets but it was out there now. Hopefully it wouldn't have any negative impact on their search for Cloud now that they were pretty certain he was with Rand. If Rand was keeping his friend against his will and saw the media coverage, Zack could see two possible outcomes. Either the man would hunker them down where they were or he'd try to move Cloud somewhere else to avoid discovery. Zack hoped for the former.