Hey readers! Thank you so much for your reviews to the last chapter. I'll be responding shortly. In the meantime, hope you enjoy this next chapter. Prepare yourself, it's long :P
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 behaviour, and references to or discussions of suicide.
~Forty-Five~
"I'm really trusting you, Cloud."
Those were the last words Rand had said to him when they were back at the house in the woods, when Rand had parked the car and turned off the ignition.
It was good. It was what Cloud wanted. He'd nodded. Told Rand he understood and reaffirmed that he wasn't going to speak to Chip about the real reason he was there. He'd agreed to more than that actually. He'd agreed to be who Rand had said he was to his cousin. He was Jake. And he was more than just a patient of Rand's. He was someone that Rand cared very much for.
As it turned out, Rand had already fabricated a story for Chip, back when his cousin had first discovered them in the house together.
"I could actually be that messed up that I want you to keep us padlocked inside the house so I don't end up on the street doped up somewhere. And you're willing to do it because you care what happens to me."
He'd said that to Rand in the car out on the side of the road in hopes of changing his mind about fleeing with him, and instead returning back to the house. From what Rand told him minutes later when they were back at the cabin, that was what he'd already expressed to Chip when forced to explain the situation further.
The man hadn't labeled their relationship exactly, but it seemed obvious that at the very least Chip would be under the assumption they'd had something of a physical relationship at some point. Rand had seemed embarrassed when he informed him of what he'd told Chip but Cloud agreed with him it was the story that made the most sense.
He asked him then what that would mean going forward, if Rand expected him to act in some kind of way that would convince his cousin that what he'd told him was true. He was expecting him to say yes. That he would use the opportunity to be more physical with him. Perhaps force him to share a room and a bed with him again while Chip was in the house. It had surprised him when Rand told him it would change nothing and that he didn't expect anything from him other than that he keep quiet about who he was or how they really came to know each other. He asked him to avoid speaking to Chip at all and he agreed. Really, he didn't want to because he knew how tempted he'd be to actually reveal the truth and plead for help.
When they finally were back inside the house, Rand sent him up to his room immediately. He was happy to go there, happy to get away from him and to be alone. He didn't know where Chip was or if he'd gone to sleep already. The door to the third room at the end of the hall had been closed and he hadn't seen any light under the door. The bathroom had been unoccupied as well.
Once alone and in the dark lying in bed, he had something of a quiet mini-breakdown. A few minutes of soft crying that he felt like he needed in order to fully extinguish the panic he'd felt while they'd been on the road in the rain. Shedding that emotion ended up being the thing he needed the most in the moment because afterward he was so exhausted he was finally able to sleep. He slept the entire night. When he woke up, he was surprised to see on the clock next to him that it was 8 a.m. Rand hadn't come to the room to wake him up to bring him downstairs for breakfast. He didn't know why but he assumed it had to do with Chip. The man's cousin had disrupted their routine. He had no idea what he could expect then.
The reason for Rand's delayed appearance at his door that morning became quickly apparent when Cloud could hear his voice. It sounded like he and Chip were talking to one another somewhere close to the bottom of the stairs on the main level. He couldn't make out what they were saying but Cloud was sure something about it felt tense. He could only imagine that they must have been having some pretty intense conversations and that's what had kept Rand busy. Anticipating that at some point soon Rand would be coming to retrieve him, he decided to get up and dress himself.
Minutes later, he heard what sounded like the front door being unlocked and opened. He almost expected to hear it slam shut but it actually closed seemingly quieter than it had been opened. There were a few moments of quiet before he could hear footfalls on the stairs heading upward. He was sitting on the end of the bed, quietly waiting, when the door was unlocked and opened for Rand to inform him breakfast was ready.
The man looked like he'd barely slept the night before. He was quiet, barely speaking while they ate. The rain had let up sometime early in the morning and for the first time in days the sky brightened a little, like the sun was really trying to get through past the cloud cover. It was still overcast but after being stuck inside the house in the days previous, when Rand asked if he wanted to take a short walk while they had the chance, he told him he did.
The man gave him a warmer coat to wear. It was a few sizes too big. He didn't know who it had belonged to. It was just something Rand pulled from a closet in the house. He was happy to have it when he stepped outside and felt how chilly it was. It was a reminder that the seasons were quickly changing. Winter was approaching.
Somehow the property looked different after days of heavy rain. It wasn't only the fact that everything was drenched, or that the yard in the back behind the house seemed half-flooded, it also seemed that a great deal of foliage had fallen from the trees surrounding the house as well. With the leaves being thinned out significantly, the trails that they'd walked multiple times since he'd been brought to the house appeared unfamiliar.
It was perhaps ten minutes walk into the woodlot at the back of the property and Cloud noticed something he hadn't seen previously. A structure. It appeared to be a small house or cabin. He hadn't been able to see it before. There was a great deal of scrubby vegetation growing around it, with only a very narrow and overgrown path that looked to lead to a door that almost seemed low enough he'd have to duck to walk through it, and he wasn't a tall guy.
He couldn't help but ask Rand about the little cabin. It looked old and Rand confirmed it was. It was the original home built on the property many decades earlier by his great great grandfather. When asked if he'd been inside of it, Rand only told him yes, but that it wasn't safe to enter it anymore. Cloud didn't doubt it, and not only because of its condition and age. It seemed foreboding somehow.
Rand moved them along then. They walked close to the lake. Close enough he was able to see the bunkhouse on the shoreline that Chip must have been staying in. It wasn't what he was expecting. It was newer than he'd been imagining, and in decent shape, other than being flooded as Chip had said. The water level had risen high enough in the lake to submerge several docks on the shoreline as well as the small deck attaching the bunkhouse to one of the docks.
As they stood on the soggy bank next to the lake, a little bit of drizzle in the air, Rand received an incoming phone call. He answered the call after checking who was calling, and was swift to turn his back on Cloud as he spoke to the caller. Cloud tried to listen to him as he was staring at the rippling water ahead of him. He couldn't really make out anything he was saying. One word, though, stood out and had him turning around to look at the man's back. He'd said Koda's name.
Cloud approached the man then. Rand spotted him coming toward him and was quickly ending the call.
"What's going on?" he asked the man. "It's about Koda?"
"No," Rand lied as he put the phone back in his pocket.
"I heard you say his name," Cloud said. "You were talking to the people who have him, weren't you?" he inquired. Something in Rand's expression told him he was right. Really, who else would he be talking to about Koda? "Why?" he questioned. "What's going on?"
"Nothing," Rand told him, giving him a weak smile that he assumed Rand thought was reassuring. "Everything is fine," the man said.
Cloud shook his head at that. "Why did you say his name?" he asked.
Rand gestured toward him, attempting to reach around him to place a hand on his back and usher him up the bank to higher, flatter ground. "Let's head back," he directed. Cloud wouldn't budge from where he stood. "Cloud," Rand said, his tone a little firmer.
"No," Cloud refused. "Tell me what's going on."
Rand shook his head a little and looked at the ground as he took an impatient breath. "Koda's just a little sick," he finally answered.
"Sick?" Cloud echoed, immediately concerned. "How, why? Sick with what?"
"It's just a cold or a flu. He's seeing a doctor, it will be fine," the man assured him, attempting to reach for his arm to urge him to walk with him. Cloud stayed firmly planted, avoiding his reach.
"You don't know that," he argued.
"They're keeping me updated. The caretakers," Rand assured him. He smiled a little, trying to put him at ease. "Trust me. He'll be fine. Children get sick. It's normal." He could see Cloud wasn't swayed by his assurances. "Try not to worry," he said through a sigh. "I will let you know how it goes with the doctor. Come on, let's go back to the house, before one of us gets sick next."
The man stepped down toward where Cloud was and put a hand on his back. He pushed him forward gently, making Cloud walk with him slowly back toward the house. Rand could tell though that he was stewing over something, he assumed it was Koda and his worry over him.
"What can I say to make you feel better?" the man asked him and Cloud stopped in his tracks.
"Why did you really take him?" Cloud asked.
"What?" Rand said back with some confusion. He looked upward briefly at the distant sound of thunder.
It was still miles away but it was clear another storm was rolling in and the temperature was still dropping, making their breath a little visible as they spoke.
"Koda. Why?" Cloud asked. "Why did you take him? Really."
"I told you," Rand tried to claim and Cloud shook his head.
"I don't believe you took him just to protect him from Hojo," he said.
Rand seemed surprised at the assertion. "Why?" he asked back. "No one would want to see a child in his hands," he reasoned. "And he's yours," he added after a moment. "He should be with you."
Again, Cloud shook his head and he couldn't help but glance over at the water once more and smile a little at the suggestion that he felt was absurd.
"If you believed that, you'd have told me about him earlier," he argued before turning his eyes back on Rand. "You'd have brought him to me in Midgar."
More thunder rumbled as Rand replied to him. Rain was actually falling on them then.
"I told you why I waited to tell you about him. You've been a mess. When I saw you in Midgar I knew you weren't fit to take care of a child, Cloud."
Cloud scoffed loudly before getting closer to Rand. "If I had known about him, don't you think that would have made a difference?" he asked heatedly. "Knowing about him would have given me a purpose, Rand. It would have changed everything!"
Rand's shoulders sank very slightly. His mouth was open but for a moment he didn't say anything.
"I hadn't thought of that," he finally confessed but Cloud didn't believe that either.
"You know what I think?" he spoke confidently. "I think the reason is exactly what it looks like and it's something that you don't want me to believe because I can only hate you for it if it's true."
"What is it you think?" Rand asked him impatiently, seeming annoyed then.
"That you took him purely as leverage," Cloud replied firmly. "Something you could use. Against me, against Hojo, or against Shinra."
Rand smirked as though the idea were completely ridiculous. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his coat and shook his head. "And I think you're just trying to hate me, Cloud," he remarked as he turned his back on him. "Any way you can," he added as he took a few slow steps away from him.
"I don't need any more reasons than I already have to hate you," Cloud fired at his back as he followed after him.
Rand seemed to ignore the comment, continuing on his slow traverse back toward the house. Cloud was close behind him.
"You knew for months what Hojo might have done with that sample he got from me. You said it yourself. You suspected it and saw that he was in contact with a clinic but you did nothing," he said, pointing out the very things the man had told him. "You didn't try to find out the truth until you'd lost your job with Shinra."
Rand didn't respond verbally but he seemed to quicken his pace a little. Though Cloud could only see the side of his face, he thought it looked fairly expressionless. He thought it seemed the man might not even really be listening to him but he went on anyway, using the opportunity to blast him about what he was certain he knew.
"Until then, you had everything you wanted. Even after the president had died, and you were told to fuck off and never come back, you still didn't go looking for the truth. All you were worried about was getting possession of the project shares and convincing the surgeon who put your stupid implant into my head to refuse to remove it."
That assertion provoked an annoyed-seeming smile from the man. He knew at least then that he was listening.
"It was only after you failed to stop that from happening that you went looking for Annalena," Cloud pointed out. He dropped his intended accusation on him then plainly. "If things hadn't happened the way they did at the Spring Parade, if Rufus's father was still alive and president of the company, if we were still living together in the tower in Midgar, you wouldn't have tried to find him. You would have ignored what you suspected Hojo had done with that sample of mine and you would have let him have Koda."
"You're wrong," Rand finally spoke again, stopping dead in his tracks and facing him. Cloud just barely managed to stop himself running into him.
"No I'm not," Cloud replied with all the strength he could manage in his voice with the man now staring him in the eyes.
He might have managed to seem when he wanted to that he wasn't intimidated by his former Keeper but the truth was, the man terrified him. Anger made it easier to mask that fact.
"Just admit you don't give a shit about him and that this is only about what you want!" Cloud demanded.
"I don't know what I would have done if things hadn't gone how they did! If I hadn't lost my contracted position with Shinra," Rand answered him in a loud but also somewhat wavering tone. He leaned in as he spoke, his face inches from Cloud's own, forcing Cloud to fight the urge to step back. "But I wouldn't have just stood back and let Hojo have your son to perform his demented experiments on!"
Cloud huffed with exasperation, shaking his head and attempting to look away. Rand shifted his body, keeping his face within Cloud's sightline so that he had to look at him.
"Hate me, fine, but I'm not that kind of monster," the man conveyed strongly. "I do care about him. How could I not care about him? He's your child. He's…you."
It was Cloud's turn to put his back to him then. He decided the argument was pointless and wanted to just go back in the house and get away from him for a while. Rand reached to take hold of his arm, stopping him. The man ended up facing him again and taking both of his shoulders in his hands. Cloud let him but refused to look at him at that point, fixing his gaze on the lake instead that was getting pelted by the rain that was falling.
"I really thought I knew who I was before you," Rand told him softly. "You've made me do things that…I've done things because of you that I can't explain. I—"
Rand stopped. He must have been able to see that the words were being ignored by Cloud, or at the very least were having no affect on him, because they weren't. In fact, Cloud rolled his eyes subtly at the assertion Rand was making. He didn't know what reaction the man was expecting from him but clearly it wasn't what he'd wanted. Rand let go of him then. Actually, he pushed him slightly as he let him go.
"You know what," Rand said, his tone having shifted. He sounded hardened. Cold. "Fine. You want the truth."
Cloud looked at him. Of course he wanted the truth, but knowing if he was getting it was another matter. Something was different though. Something about the way the man looked and spoke to him then actually did tell him he was about to get the honest truth, finally.
"When Shinra hired me, they gave you to me to make you what they wanted. I delivered consistently, and in return they broke a contract that I had with them," he started to explain himself and he seemed immediately fired up as he spoke. He was instantly angry. Cloud could feel it radiating from him.
"After giving up any kind of life," he went on heatedly, "after spending the amount of time that I did making sure that they got what they wanted, they screwed me! I got them the access to the implant technology that they were wanting, helped them build a relationship with the leading company in that sector. I ensured the success of the implant by guiding you through the developmental stages of integration. You were as much mine as you were theirs and they took you from me," he declared, nearly shouting it at Cloud.
"They didn't care what that would do to you or to me," he spoke a little quieter then, though his voice was shaking at that point with clear resounding anger. "Anything I could take away from them that they wanted, that's what I was going to do."
Cloud knew then by looking in his eyes what was coming. It's what he'd known. What he'd felt already was true.
"Hojo demanded that sample from you back in the lab and he charged me with getting it from you," he recounted before going on. Cloud winced at the reminder of it. The man noticed. "He wasn't giving me a choice about that, Cloud," he said as though it were an apology.
"It was because of me that he and Shinra were going to have that child," Rand said then. "There was no way in hell I was going to let them have him."
Anger and disgust erased the temporary pain the memory had given Cloud when thinking back on that day Rand spoke of. He'd known it. Abducting Koda had been only about taking something that someone else wanted, never about actually saving him.
"So, yes," he admitted. "I convinced Annalena to go into hiding and deliver her child to me to screw them over."
Suspecting it and hearing it from Rand's mouth were two different things. Cloud had to tear his eyes off him again. He struggled then to make himself breathe steadily. All he could think then was about how little Koda had meant to Rand and that if things had gone his way, if things had, as he'd suggested to Rand minutes earlier been different, if the old president was still in power at Shinra, if he still had an implant in his head and was still living a life of slavery to the company and Rand, that Koda would have been born and Annalena would have unknowingly delivered him into Hojo's arms.
"But then," Rand said as he tried to make Cloud look at him again. It was the last thing Cloud wanted to do and he avoided it.
"Cloud!" the man addressed him sharply as he again grabbed hold of him to make him face him. Cloud immediately wrenched his arms from his hands, only for the man to take hold of him once more in a tighter grip.
"But then he was born," he told him. "And all I could see was you. He's you. I just knew I needed to protect him," he conveyed earnestly as the rain falling on them became suddenly heavy. "He's special. He's…beautiful. Having him near makes me feel like at least I can have part of you in my life still."
Cloud couldn't help but feel a little weak under the power of Rand's words. It wasn't that he wanted Rand to want him as much as he apparently did, it was the fact that anyone could want him so desperately that made him feel overwhelmed and confused.
He'd grown up feeling like the world didn't want him. His hometown hadn't wanted him. His father, as far as he was concerned hadn't wanted him. SOLDIER hadn't wanted him. The militia only wanted him with the understanding he was willing to die for them. At some point he'd let himself accept the feeling of worthlessness, something that had been reinforced in Gongaga when he was literally beaten into accepting he could only be worth something if he belonged to something or someone.
Back at SOLDIER he had struggled with understanding why Zack wanted to befriend him and he still had a hard time seeing at times why Zack still wanted him in his life, why Zack cared so much about him, was willing to sacrifice over and over again for him. The thought of not having Zack in his life scared him and at the same time he felt guilty about the fact Zack did care so much about him, because he didn't feel deserving of it.
As much as he hated Rand, the man's apparent deep feelings toward him also made him feel guilty. In the same way he had a hard time understanding why Zack had ever wanted to be his friend, he really didn't understand why Rand felt he needed him so badly in his life. He could tell himself the man was only obsessed with owning him and it was probably true…it still made him feel bad for him. His obsession clearly hadn't done him any favors. Just the opposite, it seemed to have destroyed his life, and Cloud truly didn't feel it was worth it. That he really wasn't worth that. Rand keeping Koda so that he could feel like he still had a part of Cloud in his life was madness.
"You don't even have him, Rand," Cloud pointed out to the man sadly. "You gave him to someone else to raise."
"Temporarily," Rand was quick to correct him. "He's safe. They show him love. I—"
"When will I see him?" Cloud asked, cutting him off. He didn't want to hear his assurances or explanations anymore. Rand dropped his arms, looking away from him. It gave Cloud a sick feeling in his stomach. "Are you ever going to let me?" he inquired, his tone bordering on pleading.
"Of course," Rand said but nothing about the way he said it made Cloud believe him.
"When?" he pressed the man. He had to move himself a little in front of him to force him to look at him again.
"I don't know," Rand answered him finally. His voice was quiet. "When you let me fix…this." Cloud took it to mean their relationship, whatever that was.
The words actually physically felt like they hurt. He knew there was no way that the relationship between them would ever be repaired. It had never been anything he wanted. He didn't know what Rand imagined their relationship would look like in a 'fixed' state. The man could see the disappointment on him. Maybe the hopelessness as well, or the despair. He proceeded to give him an explanation he wasn't expecting and really wasn't able to make sense of in the moment.
"I just…I know that once you have him, you're going to leave and I'm going to lose both of you. When it happens, I want to know that it's not just because you were running from someone or something you think you hate. That it happened because it was just…time."
000
It was about eight in the morning when Johnny and Reno had taken a drive back over to the apartment building to get a look at the parking space number where the sedan from the security footage they'd seen had been parked.
Johnny walked through a pedestrian access point on the other side of the garage from the entry gate. He was trying to avoid being noticed by whoever was working the shift. After getting the number he returned to the vehicle.
From there he had driven them to a car rental place where he rented a car that Reno commented looked like an unmarked police vehicle. He told him he wanted it to. He told Reno they were going to be entering the apartment building as detectives. Reno told him he was nuts and there was no way they'd pull that off but he played along. He went with Johnny to a suit shop where they purchased dress pants, shirts and shoes. Johnny advised that they skip the ties and jackets, opting instead for rolled shirt sleeves and open top buttons to give a more relaxed vibe.
It wasn't until they were sitting in the rented car in the street across from the apartment later in the early afternoon that Reno actually started to take the plan seriously. Johnny had given him a shoulder holster with a gun that looked a hundred percent police issued. He gave him a belt as well to put on that had some typical gear one would expect a cop to have. A flashlight, some handcuffs. Johnny was still rummaging a little in a leather bag he had on his lap when he passed a leather bifold Reno's way. Clipped to the outside was what looked like a police badge. A detective's badge, actually.
"What the hell?" Reno said as he flipped the bifold open and saw a Junon police identification card inside. It was his picture on the identification. It looked legit. "How did you get this?"
"Remember when you first started working with me and I sent you to meet a guy to get some pictures?" Johnny replied while retrieving a few other things from the bag in his lap.
"Uh yeah, the dude was sketchy as hell," Reno remembered. "Half as sketchy as that nasty back-alley shop he was working out of though. Thought you were sending me there to get my ass beat and robbed as some kind of initiation or some shit."
"His work is the best," Johnny said as he slipped a small notepad into his shirt pocket along with a pen.
"Are you psychic or something? How'd you figure we'd need Junon badges?" Reno asked.
Johnny shook his head. "He just made them."
"When?"
"I had him put them together when I heard back from Tseng about Strife's parking ticket out here," Johnny told him.
"He put this together in like one day?" Reno questioned with surprise.
"Yeah, it's worth it to have someone like that retained," Johnny confirmed.
"How much did this cost?" Reno inquired with true curiosity. It had to be expensive.
Johnny shook his head.
"It's not by the job," he told him. "He gets a monthly sum so that when I want something fast he can deliver."
"You need that many fake IDs made up in a month?" Reno questioned skeptically.
"It's not the only thing he supplies," Johnny claimed. "Here," he said as he handed Reno another small notepad and a pen.
"What's this for?" Reno asked.
"Cops carry them," Johnny said.
Smirking, Reno proceeded to put the items into his shirt pocket as Johnny had. "Why didn't we just use this cop shit yesterday instead of dropping two and a half gees on the security dick?"
"Too official," Johnny said. "Cops need warrants for stuff like that," he reminded Reno.
"Well, what if one of the security guys we saw in the lot yesterday sees us and recognizes us?"
"Different shift. Also, the cameras in that booth were all on the parking lot," Johnny replied with little concern. "We're going through the front doors of the building and it doesn't look like they have any cameras at the doors."
"Shit man, I started out in the wrong business. This is way more fun than being a Turk," he commented brightly before pointing out the next obvious obstacle. "What's gonna get us inside the locked entry door?"
"Likely another resident," Johnny said. "If not that, then someone in the office."
"And what are we telling them?"
Expectedly, Six had an answer lined up already. "We're following up on a tip called in anonymously regarding a case we're working. We're not looking to enter any units."
"And thus don't need warrants," Reno recognized. Johnny nodded.
"We just need to knock on a couple of doors and we'll be on our way."
"And if that doesn't work?" Reno asked.
"It'll work," was all Johnny said in return.
Reno couldn't help but laugh a little at his confidence.
"The key is to be polite and charming," Johnny advised. "If people like you, they don't feel the need to question you."
Reno nodded a little. He supposed that was true.
"Well lucky for you, I'm charming as fuck," he conveyed through a wide smile.
"Uh huh," was all Johnny responded with without looking up.
"You know…" Reno said then as he popped open the glove compartment in front of him. "Now would actually make sense for me to have the old taser on me." Johnny just shot him a quick look that gave him his answer. Sighing, Reno shut the glove compartment once more, the taser still safely stowed away inside. "I'll make you see reason one day, Six," he promised.
"Good luck with that," Johnny said as he zipped up the bag in his lap and shoved it into the back seat of the rented car. "Let's go, detective," he said as he opened the door next to him to exit the vehicle.
Reno followed with a "Right behind you, detective."
Just as Johnny had thought, they were able to access the building easily when a couple of residents were exiting the front doors, two girls who looked to be high school age. As the one pushed the locked door open, Johnny held it open for them. They seemed a little taken off-guard at seeing what looked to be two members of law enforcement waiting outside but they smiled then, thanking Johnny for holding the door.
"So cute," Reno thought he heard one of them say to the other as he was heading into the building after Six. He looked back at them and caught the girls watching them. He smirked at them and they turned around quickly, giggling as they started heading off down the street.
"You think maybe this investigation of ours might require us to do some undercover work at a high school?" Reno asked when they were inside the lobby of the building and heading toward the elevators.
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," Johnny replied.
"Only kidding," Reno spoke through a sigh. "Sure would be nice to go back though. Youth is wasted on the young, man, they don't know what they have."
"You sound eighty years old right now," Johnny told him as he hit the button on the wall to call an elevator to the lobby. "You wanna tell that story about how you had to walk uphill both ways to school without shoes in the snow when you were a kid, Gramps?"
Reno scoffed. "Without shoes or a jacket actually," he corrected. "Nah, I never made it through the whole high school thing. Tell me I wasn't missing anything," he pleaded jokingly.
"Couldn't tell you. Dropped out," Johnny said, making Reno laugh.
The doors to the elevator opened at the same time they heard a voice call out behind them.
"Excuse me, officers?"
They looked back to see a petite middle-aged lady standing just outside what they assumed was the management office.
"Hi there, ma'am," Reno responded to her before Six could. "How's your day going?"
"Can't complain," she told him. "Is there something I can help you with?" she asked.
"Not yet, no," Reno replied. "We're actually just here to follow up on some information we were given pertaining to an investigation we're working."
"You're investigating one of the residents?" the lady asked them.
"We can't speak about specifics at this time," Johnny told her as Reno looked at him.
"We're only here to check up on a tip," Reno said. "We don't need any access to any of the units or anything, we just need to knock on a few doors then we'll be on our way," he assured the lady casually.
Seeing she still appeared a little hesitant, Johnny jumped in again.
"We get anonymous tips all the time that don't pan out," he remarked with his hands in the pockets of his dress pants. "It's probably going to be no different in this case," he said as though he were actually slightly bored. It had the effect he was looking for.
No cause for concern.
The lady smiled then and nodded. "You gotta check out everything, I know," she acknowledged. "Did you need any help navigating the place?" she asked then.
"No no, we'll be just fine, thank you," Reno replied.
She was about to turn back to head into the office but Johnny stopped her.
"Actually," he said and she turned back. "Just a question in case this is the rare case the tip does pan out, are there any cameras anywhere in the building?"
She nodded a little. "Yes, but only in the gym and the basement laundry room. We're getting ready to put in more but currently those are the only areas under surveillance."
Johnny smiled at that. "Thanks," he said.
He and Reno waited for her to disappear back into the management office before heading back over to the elevators. When the were inside one of them and the doors had shut Reno exhaled deeply.
"She didn't even ask our names," he remarked as he shook his head. "This feels too easy."
"This is the easy part," Johnny said.
He stepped off the elevator first when it opened on the floor with their target unit on it. He looked first up and down the hallway to see which way they needed to go. Their unit was near to the one end of the hall, which was preferrable. It was easier to keep watch while they were working.
They stopped in front of the door to the unit they wanted. Johnny knocked on it with the expectation no one was going to answer. He knocked a few times and then finally reached into his one pocket and retrieved what he had there.
"Gloves," he said to Reno quietly as he handed him a pair of black disposables.
He retrieved his lock pick kit from his belt and Reno stopped him.
"Yo, let me try, I've been practicing," he said. Johnny stepped back and held his pick kit out for him to take. "Nah, I'm good. Brought Jasmine with me," Reno told him as he retrieved his own set from his pocket.
"You named it?" Six questioned flatly.
"Yeah man, I got names for all my work tools and gear," Reno replied as he bent forward and set to work on the lock. "You don't?" he asked.
"No," was Johnny's short answer as he stood behind Reno, blocking view of what he was doing and keeping a look out in the hallway for any residents.
"Not even your guns?" Reno asked with some surprise.
"Most of them I don't have long enough to think about it," was Johnny's response. "Why Jasmine?" he asked then.
He heard the sound of the lock disengaging and turned back to face Reno who smiled.
"Ask me when I'm drunk," he said.
"So a couple hours from now then," Johnny remarked while getting something out of his utility belt.
"Ta da!" Reno spoke with a grin as he turned the knob of the apartment door and eased it open slightly.
Six handed him something then. It was something folded up and made of fabric. When he unfolded it he saw that it was a thin ski mask. Six explained before he could ask.
"In case of cameras inside," he said.
"Gotcha," Reno responded as he pulled the mask on.
With Rand being the type of person he was, Johnny figured there was a possibility he could have cameras inside his apartment, if it was his. If he did, Johnny didn't want his and Reno's faces to be seen to tip him off that they were looking for Cloud.
Once inside the apartment, they both unholstered their guns and proceeded cautiously into the living area to start checking the apartment to see if anyone was actually there.
They both noticed right away that the place was quiet and dark and hardly looked lived in. There was furniture but not much else, at least not out and visible in plain sight. After briefly checking all the rooms to be sure they were unoccupied, Johnny indicated to Reno to start searching the main living area while he searched the bedrooms.
They both had scanners Johnny had brought along to Junon from Midgar to use to check for any cameras or listening devices while they were moving about. Neither of them located any devices. They were pretty confident that there wasn't any surveillance inside the apartment but left their masks on in case.
"Anything?" Reno questioned quietly when Johnny came back into the living room.
Reno had noticed that there wasn't any food in the fridge or cupboards but there were dishes and cookware. The place was spotless, the floors and counters clean and clear of anything.
"There's stuff in the closets," Six told him. "Nothing with a name on it that I saw."
The one closet did have some boxes in it. He'd lifted a few of the lids to see inside for any kind of paperwork or photo albums or anything that could confirm it was Rand's apartment. There'd only been what looked like random household items in them. He'd also checked in the bathroom for any kind of medication bottle that might have a name on it. There was nothing. The other thing that didn't appear to be there was any sign of a struggle or a fight. Nothing obvious anyhow.
"I found this under the dresser in the one bedroom," he told Reno as he held between his thumb and forefinger what he'd located.
"What is it?" Reno asked.
"The cap off a hypodermic needle tip," Six told him.
"That's…unsettling," Reno responded with some concern. It may not have meant anything but it didn't give him an easy feeling. "Checking under the furniture, I like that," he said as he approached the couch once more to check under it.
He'd already looked under the cushions. It was under the armchair that he found a small bit of debris from something that looked like it had been broken at some point. It wasn't glass.
"Got some pieces of a broken dish or something," he spoke up to Six who was in the kitchen opening some of the cabinets.
"You opened everything up already?" Johnny asked him.
"Yep," Reno confirmed.
Johnny approached the waste bin next to the island counter and pressed the foot pedal down to open the lid. There was nothing in the bin, not even a liner or bag. Whoever lived there had emptied all the bins of garbage before leaving.
He exhaled deeply with frustration. There was nothing in the place. No sign of Rand. No sign of Cloud. But the lack of anything useful in the apartment did seem like confirmation in itself of Rand being the person they were looking for. He'd covered his tracks. He'd known to and he'd known how to.
"Now what?" Reno asked. "Knock on some doors? Put these swell ID badges to work?"
Johnny nodded a little. He let the lid fall closed on the waste bin and stepped back, about to head toward the apartment door. He stopped as his eyes spotted an empty key hook on the wall in the space between the upper cabinets and the counter top of the lower cabinets. It looked like where someone would put not only their keys but possibly their mail as well. There was a four-drawer base cabinet under the counter top.
He approached and opened the top drawer. Inside there were only a few rubber bands, possibly having been around newspaper rolls at some point. There was also a letter opener. No mail or any kind of paperwork, but he hadn't been expecting there to be. He proceeded to crouch down and pull the bottom drawer out all the way, setting it on the tiled floor.
On the floor under where the drawer had been, leaning against the back wall was an envelope. It looked like it had been opened already. It was facing away at the wall. It must have slipped from the back of the top drawer at some point and slid behind the drawers to the floor. He reached in to grab it and turned it over to see what was on the front. A label with a name and address. The address was for that unit in that building. The name: Reed Baxter. The envelope was empty.
A little bit of relief went through Johnny as he looked at it. It was possible that the envelope had been there before Rand had the apartment but hopefully it was an alias the man had been using. It was the kind of clue he'd hoped they'd find. He showed it to Reno.
"Reed?" Reno read in question. "Not very creative," he commented and Johnny just shrugged.
"Let's get out of here," he said, folding the envelope up and putting it in his pocket.
He replaced the drawer back in its slides, pushing it closed in the cabinet under the other drawers and they headed for the door, removing their ski masks as they stepped back into the hall.
It was the middle of the day on a week day so they weren't sure how many people would be home but they knocked at the doors of the units on either side of the one they thought could be Rand's. No one answered at either but directly across the hall they did get an answer.
"We're detectives with JPD," Johnny told the man who looked to be in his mid-twenties that answered the door. He had on what looked like a gaming headset. Johnny showed him his ID quickly as he introduced himself. "We're looking to speak with your neighbor across the hall. Are you familiar with him?"
"Reed?" the man questioned. "Uh, sort of. I mean I see him sometimes in the hall. We say 'hi' but that's about it.
"Have you seen him recently?"
"No, not for a couple weeks," the guy told them. "What'd he do?"
"We're just wanting to speak with him as part of an investigation. Afraid that's all we can say," Johnny explained. "Did you see anything strange or hear anything out of the ordinary coming from his unit about two weeks ago?"
The guy thought about it harder than he probably needed to. Johnny guessed that if he frequently was gaming and had headphones on, he probably wasn't likely to hear much of anything ever.
"I don't think so," the guy finally said. "Actually, one of the good things about this place is the walls are so thick. It's the only place I've lived where you can't hear shit through the walls. But uh, at least for me, I get a bit of noise from the unit above me. Maybe talk to someone one floor down?"
"Thanks, we'll do that," Johnny said. "Did you see anyone coming or going from his unit a few weeks ago? Any vistors?"
"Sorry," the guy denied as he shook his head.
"No problem. Just one more thing." Johnny pulled his phone from his pocket and pulled up a picture on it. "Is this Reed?" he asked, showing him a picture he'd gotten of Rand off the internet that looked to be from Cloud's interview from the Gongaga facility that had been aired publicly.
"Um, yep," the guy confirmed after looking at it hard. "Pretty sure. I mean, he's never looked that tidy when I've seen him, like clean-cut or whatever, but it looks like him."
"Thanks for your help," Johnny said as he lowered his phone. "Have a good day,"
"Well Shit," Reno commented aloud as he followed Johnny to the stairwell so they could head down to the floor below. "Guess this is really happening. Randon fucking Cane."
Johnny stayed quiet as they headed down the hall to the unit that was situated below Rand's. They could hear what sounded like a young child crying inside, even from outside in the hall. There were other sounds as well, general rowdiness that sounded to be coming from one or two other children, likely a few years older. It took a couple rounds of knocking for someone to answer the door. It was a woman, maybe mid-thirties. She looked exhausted. With the door open they could see the source of the sounds they'd heard from the hall. There were at least four children in the apartment, all pre-school age or younger. Johnny actually felt bad they had to bother her.
"Hi ma'am, we're detectives with the Junon police department," Reno greeted her first. "How are you today?" he asked.
"Alright except for the obvious," she said as she glanced back at where the youngest of the children, a toddler was crying from inside a play pen on the floor. "If you're looking for Tyler I don't know where he is," she said as she faced them again.
"No, actually we just had some questions regarding your neighbor who lives in the unit above yours," Johnny told her. She seemed surprised.
"Oh, Reed? Why? What'd he do?" she questioned as she grasped the material of her open sweater she was wearing and pulled it closed over her chest, crossing her arms.
"We're just looking to speak with him but he doesn't appear to be home," Johnny said.
"Well, he's not in here," was her quick response.
"Are you very familiar with him?" Johnny inquired.
She was quick with her denial as though worried about being associated with him if he might be in trouble.
"No. I met him once when I dropped mail off at his place that the delivery man put in my mail slot by accident. Other than that, he's held the door to the building a few times for me when we were passing by each other."
"Have you seen him recently?" Johnny asked.
She nodded. "A few weeks ago. I went upstairs to check on him,"
"Check on him?" Reno repeated in question.
"Yeah, I heard some thudding around. I hardly ever hear anything coming from up there. He's a really quiet guy, so it kind of startled me."
"What did you hear?" Johnny questioned.
"Well, the thudding. It also sounded like he might have dropped something heavy," she said. "It rattled the ceiling. I also heard scraping sounds, like table or chair legs on the tile. I went up to see what was going on. Heard what sounded like maybe a door slamming. I knocked on the door until he answered."
Reno glanced at Johnny before saying to her, "You spoke to him?"
"Yeah he looked a little out of sorts," she confirmed. "He apologized and said his son was visiting and was having a bit of a tantrum. Preteens. I know what he means," she said with an uneasy smile that faded quickly.
"His son," Johnny acknowledged with curiosity. "Did you see him?"
"No, Reed said he'd gone off to his room, which was I guess the slamming door I heard. They're really good at slamming those bedroom doors," she noted. "That was it."
"And you never did see either of them afterward?" Reno asked and she shook her head again.
"No."
"Okay," Johnny said. "Thank you."
"Have a nice day," Reno told her before they headed off, back toward the elevators.
"Alright. I'm concerned now," Reno said when they were in the elevator headed down to the lobby. "Have to say, that security footage kind of had me thinking Strife may have willingly been going somewhere with the asshole, but after talking to that lady…"
"Yeah," Johnny said quietly. "Well, we know it's Cane that's involved now. Just have to figure out where they went."
"How the hell are we going to figure that out?"
Johnny didn't answer the question. Reno followed him to the front entrance. Johnny nodded and Reno waved at the lady in the management office when they were headed out. She was on the phone but she smiled at them and waved.
Outside, Reno started to head in the direction of the car but stopped when he saw Johnny was heading in a different direction, towards the side of the apartment. He followed him all the way around to the back and watched with some confusion as Johnny stopped next to the dumpsters out back and began lifting the lids to look inside them.
"Uh…what ya doing?" Reno asked.
"There was no trash in the apartment. He must have dumped it before leaving with Strife," Johnny answered him as he lifted one of the other lids. "These have been emptied since then," he told Reno of the dumpsters.
"You seriously would have gone in there if they hadn't been?" Reno asked.
"Actually I was going to make you do it," Johnny replied.
"Oh gee thanks," Reno responded dryly.
Johnny sighed. "Alright. I'm gonna call Fair. Find out what law office Strife went to for that share paperwork. We need to pay it visit."
"Thought that if we confirmed it's Rand that's involved, we didn't want anyone associated with the ass to know we're looking for him," Reno reminded him as they were walking back to the car then.
"An after-hours visit."
Reno lit up at the thought.
"Another break-in? Nice! You sure know how to show a guy like me a good time, Six. You tryin' to get lucky?"
Johnny snorted a little to that.
"I don't need to try."
000
After their emotionally taxing discussion outside earlier, Rand had indicated to Cloud there were things he needed to take care of and was going to leave him locked up in his room for a few hours. He was actually fine with that. He really didn't feel like talking to or looking at him at that point. He assumed he'd have to see him around lunch but to his surprise, the man never did come up to get him.
Cloud had fallen asleep not long after returning to the house, despite having slept the whole night. Talking to the man had literally exhausted him. After days without having had proper sleep, however, he probably needed the rest.
Oddly though, lunchtime came and went without Rand coming up to get him. He woke up to the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs and realized when he looked at the clock that it was nearly 3 p.m.
He sat up, put his feet on the floor, was ready to stand up and tell Rand he needed to use the bathroom first when the door was unlocked and opened. Immediately he let his weight sink back down on the mattress. It wasn't Rand.
Chip stood in the doorway, staring at the lock that was on the door that he'd just disengaged.
"Pretty extreme," he commented gruffly and Cloud found the man's eyes landing on him finally.
Cloud looked away from him, down at the floor.
"You hungry?" Chip asked.
Before he could say anything, he heard the man say 'heads-up.' He looked up and caught in his hands what Chip tossed to him. It looked like some kind of sandwich wrapped up in paper from a deli or restaurant. It had Cloud wondering how far he'd had to go to get it. Being out there in isolation, it was too easy to imagine there was nothing else for miles. He didn't actually know.
"Thanks," he said softly, setting the food down on the side table next to the bed.
Cloud assumed that would be the end of the short exchange but Chip entered the room then. Cloud watched him a little nervously as he walked past him to the window next to the bed. He stood and stared out at the backyard a moment before speaking up again.
"What was your poison?" Chip asked him.
"Huh?" Cloud responded, unclear on what he meant.
Chip looked back at him. "Your drug of choice?"
"I dunno," Cloud replied at first. "Whatever," he said, shrugging.
"Anything and everything?" was Chip's follow-up.
"Guess so yeah," Cloud confirmed uncomfortably, looking over at the open doorway. He wondered where Rand was.
"You a toker, a snorter or a shooter?"
Cloud gathered he was asking then how he did his drugs.
"Why?" he asked back, sounding a little irritated. He supposed he was irritated. He told Rand he wouldn't talk to his cousin. Chip wasn't giving him much of a choice though.
"You don't got any tracks," Chip pointed out as he looked at him straight. "Your arms," he said as he stepped away from the window and stood in front of Cloud.
Cloud was wearing a t-shirt. His arms were mostly exposed. He found himself glancing down at them. He had some scars. Nothing like what Chip was talking about. He assumed he meant he didn't have any evidence of having habitually injected any drugs into his arms. Ironically, he'd actually had a lot of shit injected into his arms in the labs. He supposed he was lucky to have come away with only the amount of scarring he did have.
"That wasn't my thing," Cloud stated as he crossed his arms defensively then.
"You don't seem ready to run off the rails," Rand's cousin noted.
"So what?" Cloud shot back at him. He actually was a little annoyed that the man seemed to be interrogating him over his supposed drug problem, even if he didn't actually have one. Not an illegal one anyhow.
"So you really think you need to be kept under house arrest like this?" the man asked. "With my cousin deciding when you should eat, sleep and shit? You trust him that much?"
Cloud just nodded slightly.
"You been with him for long?" Chip asked. He didn't answer that. Didnt really know how to. "He'll always be like this you know. Even when you aren't dopesick or strung out. He's a control freak. If you're into that then whatever, but you should know. You can't change him."
The back door to the house opened. They heard the screen shutting and the inside door opening. Rand was back from wherever he'd been outside.
Cloud felt his stomach drop a little. He looked at Chip, was about to tell him to get out but the man moved before he needed to. He headed out of the room, shutting the door behind him. He didn't lock it before heading back down the stairs. Rand was surprised to see him. He didn't realize he was home.
"What were you doing?" Rand asked as he looked first toward the bedrooms before looking hard at Chip.
"Bringing him a sandwich. Thought he might be hungry. You're not trying to starve the addiction out of him, are you?" Chip asked sarcastically. Met with a clearly concerned expression from Rand he added, "Don't worry, there's one for you too."
"I told you to leave him alone," Rand said to him as his cousin passed him.
"Relax, Randy," he said, verbally waving him off.
Cloud waited upstairs for Rand to come interrogate him next. He knew he would. It only took a few minutes for him appear at the door. He shut it behind him when he entered the room. Cloud tried his best to keep eye contact with him, knowing that averting his gaze would only make him look guilty.
"How long was he in here?" Rand asked him as he stood directly in front of him, his hands on his hips as he looked down at him.
Cloud shrugged. "A couple minutes," he told him truthfully. He seemed concerned.
"You talked to him?"
"Barely," Cloud said as he leaned back slightly on his hands behind him on the bed.
"About what?" the man asked and he shrugged a little again.
"He was asking about my drug habits," he revealed. "That's it."
"And?" Rand asked, staring at him hard. "He's suspicious," he stated, expecting that was going to be the case.
Cloud sat himself straight again as he rolled his eyes a little. "Well, he's not an idiot," he pointed out before shaking his head. "I don't know. Whatever, it doesn't matter," he tried to tell Rand. "Pretty sure he just thinks we have a weird relationship. He just thinks we're together. Thinks I'm pathetic and you take care of me and that's what I want."
Rand seemed to be studying him a little as he finished with his explanation. Cloud did look away from him then, down at his own hands between his knees. It was hard to know what the man was thinking. It took him off guard when Rand dropped his hands from his hips so that he could put them on his face, taking his head gently in them. Cloud didn't pull back from him. He only looked up at him to see his expression had softened.
"It's not true," Rand spoke down to him in a warm tone.
"What isn't?" Cloud asked, thinking he must mean he didn't believe what he was being told.
The man smiled reassuringly at him before he told him with something like sympathy in his tone, "Needing and wanting me to take care of you doesn't make you pathetic."
His words almost made Cloud laugh, only he could see he wasn't kidding. He was dead serious.
000
About an hour or so after Zack had heard from Johnny out in Junon and been updated on what they'd found out while investigating Cloud's disappearance, he decided he needed to go see Tifa and share what he knew. He wanted to do it in person.
The bar was a few hours from opening so he used his key to unlock the front door. When he walked in, the first person he saw was actually Marlene. She was alone at a table near the bar counter, eating what he assumed was probably her dinner.
She looked over at him, almost as though she expected someone else. But she did smile when she saw him.
"Hey Marlene," he greeted her with a smile of his own. He tried to seem as carefree as possible, like there was nothing in the world wrong when there obviously was.
"Hi Zack," she answered him without the usual cheer in her voice.
"You keeping out of trouble?" he asked her as he sat down at a chair across from her at the table.
She nodded before maneuvering the spoon she was holding into a small pile of peas. He watched as she scooped a few onto the spoon but she let the spoon go then, resting it on the plate. It didn't look like she'd eaten very much of her dinner yet.
"You've been gone forever," she commented.
He'd been away from the bar for weeks, first going to Costa del Sol, then Gongaga, and since being back in Midgar he hadn't gone back to work for Tifa. He'd been too distracted by what was going on with Cloud. Now that he had some answers to make clearer what was going on, it felt like something of a weight had been lifted, even if the truth of where Cloud had gone wasn't much better than what they'd all imagined might have happened.
"I haven't been feeling well," he told her. She was too young in his mind of all of the real reasons.
"Me neither," she told him to his surprise.
"Why not?" he asked and she shrugged as she looked at her plate in front of her. "What doesn't feel well?" he questioned when she didn't answer.
"My tummy," she admitted finally.
"Are you worried about something?" he asked her. She raised her eyes to look at him and nodded a little. "Is it Cloud?" he guessed and again she nodded.
Zack exhaled deeply before telling her, "You shouldn't worry, okay?"
"Did you find him?" she asked, momentarily hopeful.
Although he hadn't discussed it in detail with Tifa to find out what exactly Marlene had been told, he figured she'd told the little girl in one way or another that they didn't know where Cloud was. Last he'd heard from Tifa, she was planning to sit Marlene down and let her know that Cloud may not only be missing, but that he may also not be coming back. He looked around a second. He didn't know where Tifa was at the moment. He didn't know if he should say what he then decided to.
"Um, you know, Reno and Johnny actually saw him, in Junon," he told her and her expression turned to one of surprise and excitement instantly.
"They did?!" she exclaimed.
He didn't tell her it was only on video and it was from more than two weeks earlier.
"When is he coming back?" she asked.
Suddenly, there was movement behind the bar. It surprised Zack, nearly making him jump. Tifa had been there the whole time. She must have been crouched down behind the bar doing something when he walked in, heard his voice and what he and Marlene began to talk about and chose to keep out of sight. His stomach sank a little. He couldn't read her expression right then. He didn't know how angry she would be about him giving Marlene hope when they really didn't know how things were going to turn out with Cloud. He hadn't gotten a chance to speak to Tifa about the surveillance footage from Junon yet. That's what he was there to do.
Johnny's words were in his head as he looked away from Tifa and back at Marlene.
"He'll be coming home with Reno and Johnny," he told her.
"When?"
She was eager to know.
"Soon," he said. "Eat your dinner, okay," he instructed softly as he stood himself up from the table. "I need to talk to Tifa a few minutes."
She nodded and complied, picking up the spoon on the plate once more.
Tifa had her arms crossed and was looking down at the floor when he approached her. She walked to the furthest end of the bar from where Marlene was and stopped. Zack assumed she wanted him to follow so he did, going behind the bar so that he could speak to her closely and quietly.
"I'm sorry," he said immediately. "I know the last thing you probably want is for her to have false hope." he acknowledged.
"Is it?" she asked. "False?"
He knew she was asking what he knew now about Cloud, what Johnny and Reno had actually found out.
"I don't know right now honestly," he told her. "But the guys did actually make big progress out in Junon."
"The parking garage panned out?" she questioned swiftly and he nodded.
"Rand is or was living there," he revealed to Tifa who seemed taken off guard by the mention of him. "He's alive," he added before she could respond. "And Cloud is too, or at least he was a couple weeks ago. Reno and Six got surveillance footage from the building that pretty well confirms he wasn't driving his bike when it went into the harbor."
"Oh my god," she breathed out with her one hand on her chest. She was relieved but at the same time it wasn't anything to fully celebrate yet. "I guess what they saw on surveillance then was Cloud and Rand together?" she said and he nodded.
"They left in a car that Six said hasn't shown back up at the garage," he confirmed.
"But they're sure it's Rand?"
"Yes," he also confirmed. "They questioned some of the residents. Got one of them to identify a picture of him.
"Did they find anything to hint at where they went?" was her next question. He shook his head.
"They're going to check at the law office where Rand's lawyer works to see if they can find any other addresses for him. Seeing as he was able to afford to buy out the investors in Shinra's project involving Cloud, he clearly has millions of dollars to his name so likely he's got properties," he told her what he'd spoken to Johnny about.
"He could have taken Cloud anywhere in the world at this point," she said what was obvious.
"I guess," he agreed. "But if Cloud's stuff ending up in the harbor was meant to make it look like he died, whether by suicide or accident, clearly he doesn't want him anywhere someone would recognize him."
"The average person probably wouldn't notice though if he passed them in the street," she argued.
"I don't know, Tifa," he said back then with some frustration. "It's true he could be anywhere. I can't think about that though. All we can really do at this point is follow whatever trail is available and hope it leads to wherever Cloud is now."
She nodded reluctantly as she looked down at the floor again.
"So you didn't tell Marlene he might not be coming back then?" He asked after a moment of silence. "Last we talked about it you said—"
"Yeah I know," she spoke softly, cutting him off. "I realized how awful and unnecessary it would be to say something that could take away any amount of hope from her, even if the evidence seemed to point in one direction."
She pivoted back then to current matter of concern. "Did Cloud go away with Rand by choice?"
Zack shook his head. "No. I don't think so. He was fine on the surveillance footage but Johnny said they got enough evidence from the apartment to show he didn't go anywhere with him by choice."
"Why do you think he took him away then?" she asked. "To bring him somewhere to do more of what was done to him in Gongaga?"
"I hope not," Zack said with a slight shrug. He supposed it was possible but there was a pretty obvious answer that came to his mind just based on what Cloud had already been through with the man. "I don't think so. I think he took him away because he believes he belongs to him."
Tifa didn't know what to say to that. The suggestion clearly concerned her. Zack was concerned to. Having confirmation that Rand was behind Cloud going missing and knowing that for weeks he had been held hostage by the man somewhere was crushing to think about. Zack was terrified for Cloud. It was taking every ounce of control he had to keep himself from falling apart just thinking about it and how scared his friend probably was. He just had to stay focused and not let his fear of what could be happening to him take him out.
"If there is a trail to follow from Junon to wherever he was taken, we're going to find it," he told Tifa firmly. He then told her what Johnny had promised him, though he hadn't asked him to. "Six said he won't come back without him."
The words brought a brief uneasy smile to Tifa that disappeared as she responded dully.
"It's nice of him to say—"
"No," Zack stopped her. "You know him, Tifa. He doesn't just say nice things."