Learning Curves 5
Rating: PG, maybe.
Genre: Gen, hints of yaoi.
Summary: General Sephiroth was the first person to admit that he had difficulty understanding people and emotions. Zack and Cloud prove to be good teachers. Most of the time, they are unwitting teachers.
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Final Fantasy.
Warnings: Swearing.
Lesson Five: Dreams
Even from here, with his enhanced senses Sephiroth could detect the signs of camp. He could see the cheerful orange glow of the fire illuminating the thick pitch black of the night that shrouded the forest. He could smell the faint smoky odour that accompanied the flames. He could feel the welcome warmth just begin to wrap around him, in soft contrast to the biting chill of the night.
A scout of the area had not uncovered anything worthy of alarm, and now he was keen to get back to the clearing where they had set up camp. These days loneliness was affecting him a lot more profoundly than it used to. He strongly suspected that Zack and his quiet blond shadow were to blame. Not that he minded. Not really.
As he stalked silently back into the warm clearing, he carried out an almost imperceptible, but fully detailed sweep of the area.
The fire was still going. The correct number of tents were in place. The five SOLDIER guards were still in position, none betraying any signs of concern. The foliage and the ground were undisturbed by unwanted footprints. The air held no foreign scents. The woodland around them was perfectly silent, all the animals seemingly intimidated by their presence.
Good. Everything was in order.
However, on his way towards his tent, something that he had previously discarded as unimportant caught his eye. By the fire, curled into an impossibly small huddle, sat a cadet with spiky blond hair that simply could not be mistaken.
Sephiroth frowned slightly, walking quietly over to the boy, wondering what on earth he was doing out here and not in his bedroll. It wasn’t that he was not allowed out here, it was just that it seemed a little odd to choose to sit out in the relative cold instead of in the warmth of the sturdy tents. And why would someone choose to stay awake when they had an early start tomorrow, and when they could be fast asleep by now.
As he got closer, Sephiroth could see that the boy tense, his muscles taught to the point where they quivered, his head canted slightly, uneasily, like a deer listening in the wind. A deer who knew that a lion stalked close by.
“Why are you still awake at this hour, private?” Sephiroth asked, keeping his voice soft.
Despite his efforts towards a quiet approach, the boy started. “I’m sorry sir,” he stammered, starting to rise from his seat on the log by the fire, his hands fisting the material of his shirt anxiously.
Sephiroth opened his mouth as if to protest, then decided on a more direct approach. Closing the short distance between them, he pressed gently on Cloud’s shoulders to make him sit once again.
“I do not want an apology. You have done nothing wrong.” Sephiroth said to the boy, wondering for a moment why this young man’s first response was always to assume his own guilt.
“I only wondered why you were outside at such an hour.”
Cloud’s muscles that had just begun to relax at Sephiroth’s lack of ire, once more tensed up, much to Sephiroth’s confusion. What had he said? He had tried to put the boy at ease, and it seemed to have been working, so why now this tension and anxiety?
A small sigh left the General’s lips, not frustrated exactly, just extremely perplexed. Cloud however, flinched at the sound, imagining the imposing man’s patience to be wearing thin. His eyes widened when Sephiroth sat down beside him.
Cloud bowed his head slightly, though this still did not hide his faintly reddening cheeks. After a moment of deliberation, he tilted his head up a fraction, and looked sideways towards Sephiroth. It wasn’t quite as nerve-wracking as looking directly into the General’s eyes.
“I’m sorry sir.” Although it was still an apology, it was said quietly and steadily, with relative calm. Strangely enough the knowledge that he was apologising for being so jumpy pleased Sephiroth.
“I just…I couldn’t sleep.”
Now Cloud did bow his head straight out of scrutiny range, but the older man still got the distinct impression that Cloud was hiding an even deeper blush than before. For a moment it seemed that the cadet would not say anything more, but just as Sephiroth was preparing to prompt him, the boy took a deep breath.
“I um…saw things.” Came the rather awkward answer, and Sephiroth felt something akin to dread lurch inside him. Good lord, he thought, please do not let it be that the boy saw some of the soldiers engaged in…friendly night time activities. Cloud seemed so innocent that something like that would probably traumatise him. Then again, he was friends with Zack. And this was the military. Staying innocent for too long was hard to do.
However, Cloud’s voice broke him out of his reverie. He continued speaking, obviously sensing nothing of the dubious in his previous answer.
“I saw them in my sleep. They didn’t make any sense, but they…they were…disconcerting.” The bond mumbled, his eyes trained steadily on the ground.
Now Sephiroth was slightly confused. The boy saw things in his sleep? How very odd. And, as Cloud so rightly said, very disconcerting. Somehow though, Cloud only seemed disturbed about the content of his vision. The fact that he was hallucinating in itself did not seem to disturb the boy.
A frown slowly found its way onto Sephiroth’s face.
“How often do these occur?” he enquired, peering at Cloud with concern.
The blond head jerked up, and Cloud regarded Sephiroth with surprise, as though confused by the question.
“Um, I…I don’t really know.” When Sephiroth looked puzzled, Cloud hastily continued.
“I mean, there doesn’t really seem to be any sort of pattern, they just…come and go. As they please.”
Sephiroth frowned. How very disturbing. The closest to this that he had ever heard of were the feverish delusions of SOLDIERS when they received their first Mako shot. But this boy was not enhanced. He had never come into contact with Mako before. Unless there was an incident that he was not aware of. But then the power of Mako delusions was too much even for some SOLDIERS to take. Some simply went mad. The voices and visions were too strong for some minds. And yet this boy, this child, could withstand them?
Or perhaps not.
The thought crept up on him, spreading a cold dread throughout his body and mind. What if Cloud was not strong enough to withstand them? What if the boy was one step away from utter insanity?
Sephiroth swung his head around lightening quick, fixing Cloud with a piercing gaze.
“Cloud, you must listen to me.” He began calmly, quietly, but still with that cold dread surging through him. “I want you to-”
“Cloudy?” Sephiroth snapped his gaze away from Cloud, seeking out their intruder.
His eyes fell upon a rather sleepy-looking Zack standing a few feet away. For a moment the two men stared at each other in silence, one in confusion and one in something near to fear.
“Zack!” Cloud’s happy exclamation broke the spell, and both men’s stares were diverted towards the younger man. The sleepy haze in Zack’s eyes seemed to clear as he looked at the blond, and he smiled and walked up to the two sitting by the fire.
“Hey kiddo.” He greeted quietly, plonking himself down on the log next to Cloud. His exuberant smile softened into one of sympathy as he locked gazes with his younger friend. “Another nightmare, Spike?”
Cloud blushed again, ducking his head but nodding slightly. He seemed embarrassed by his admission.
Whatever he was admitting to, Sephiroth thought, having watched the interaction with complete bewilderment.
Whatever was going on though, Sephiroth wished it would end quickly. He needed to talk to Zack about Cloud’s visions. The boy may be in danger, and Sephiroth didn’t think he would be able to forgive himself if Cloud went mad and it could have been prevented.
His eyes drew back to watch Zack pat Cloud gently on the back and tell him to go back to their tent.
“Go get some sleep kiddo. I promise I’ll be along in just a sec. I won’t be long.” He coaxed, smiling and gently pushing the boy away.
Eyes and ears following Cloud’s retreat intently, Sephiroth began to speak as soon as the boy was out of ear-shot.
“Zack, I think Cloud may be at risk.”
Zack’s head whipped up to fix those intent an suddenly fierce eyes on those of his friend.
“What do you mean?” He almost barked out, the worry shining clear and unabashed in his eyes.
Sephiroth took a breath, thinking how best to say this.
“Zack, I need to know if Cloud has ever been in direct contact with a large amount of Mako.”
Zack’s face registered confusion, and he frowned slightly, shaking his head.
“No, no he hasn’t. He’s never said anything and his file doesn’t report anything like that. All his med-checks have been fine.” The younger man rattled off everything he could think of that might give a hint as to any possible incidents, but every suggestion he came up with he immediately shot down. He eventually stopped and shook his head.
“No. Nothing. I can’t see how it’s possible that he could have come into contact with any significant amount of Mako. Seph, why are you asking this? What’s wrong, buddy?”
The General sighed, looking into Zack’s concerned face, not really wanting to reveal the secret, not wanting to cause Zack distress. Not wanting to face the possibility himself.
“Zack, I…have reason to believe that Cloud is suffering from Mako poisoning.”
He watched in abject misery as Zack’s face drained of all colour, his hands clenching into fists, his whole body seeming to shiver.
“What?” he rasped out, his face lined in distress. “What? Why? What happened?”
Sephiroth averted his gaze, no longer able to hold Zack’s eyes. He took a breath to continue.
“I found him out here, and thought it rather unusual for him to be up so late when we have an early start tomorrow. So I asked why he as here. And he told me that he saw things. Visions. In his sleep. The only case I have heard like this is of SOLDIERS who have come down with Mako poisoning. When they hear voices and see things, and I-”
He was suddenly cut off by an awful wheezing sound from Zack. He looked up to see Zack’s white face strained and lined, mouth open in a strange grimace, breath whooshing out of him in a macabre parody of a laugh -
Sephiroth’s eyes narrowed dangerously as he looked closer. The mouth - it was smiling, not quivering. The breath, it was laughing, not moaning. The man was laughing, not grieving.
He was laughing in relief, yet it was choked and strange, and the mouth, though smiling, was flickering on and off, his eyes too wide. Zack was hysterical.
“What on earth do you-” Sephiroth began to snarl, amazed that the man could laugh at a time like this. But he was cut off when Zack collapsed against him, clutching him an a fashion that seemed to be both angry and happy and needy all at the same time. Sephiroth started when Zack’s voice rasped out in that strange tone, relieved and angry and happy all in one.
“God damn you, Seph, you crazy, fucked up…sweet fucking softie.” Zack gasped out, his shivering and rasping and clutching eventually stilling so that he was now simply draped over Sephiroth in sprawling and exhausted hug.
“I swear to God, you are the most screwed up, panic-inducing sweetie pie that I have ever met. But my God I could fucking bitch slap you for what you just did to me.” Zack breathed into the man’s neck quietly, nuzzling Sephiroth and laughing quietly when the man made a confused and almost distressed noise.
“But it’s okay. I won’t bitch slap you. I couldn’t do that to you, not when you were just being an overprotective mama chocobo. And it’s not your fault you almost made me have a heart attack.”
Again, the noise of distress from Sephiroth.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…scare you or hurt you.” Sephiroth sounded bewildered, simply guessing as to what he had caused Zack to feel. But the apology, however confused, was sincere. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt Zack.
“I know, buddy, I know. It’s not your fault.” Zack laughed lightly, pushing himself up and away from the General to look him in the eye.
“But Seph, Cloud is fine. He doesn’t have Mako poisoning. He had a dream.”
“A dream?” Sephiroth tested the word out, searching through his mind for any past references to that word. “I…think I have heard the word before. But, explain please.”
Zack smiled, by now completely calm again and able to see the humour of the situation.
“Sure thing, boss. A dream is a vision. You weren’t wrong there. They can be things that people see and hear in their sleep. But it’s completely normal. Almost everybody dreams, and it doesn’t mean that you’re crazy, it just means that your brain is functioning normally. And that’s what Spike has. He’s quite prone to them.”
Sephiroth mulled this over for a moment, then looked up at Zack, a question in his eyes.
“And, a ‘nightmare’?” He asked, recalling the strange word he had heard Zack use when addressing Cloud earlier. He knew of the word, obviously, had heard it before, but had never before known its meaning.
“A nightmare is just a bad dream. A disturbing one. Spike often has them. My job is just to shake him awake whenever it looks as though his dreams are freaking him out. Guess I was too deeply asleep to notice this one though.” He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.
“Why did he seem so ashamed about his nightmare?” Sephiroth enquired, remembering the way that Cloud’s eyes had very rarely met his when the had spoken, how he bowed his head and blushed when Zack had asked about the nightmare.
Now the brunette’s face twisted slightly in anger.
“For some reason there are a few ignorant people who take delight in spreading the rumour that nightmares only visit small kids. Which is the biggest pile of bull I’ve ever heard.” Zack said emphatically, waving his hands in agitation. “Nightmares don’t suddenly just disappear when you become a teenager or an adult. I know I sure as hell get nightmares about some of the things I’ve done. And I know that the prime reason for most SOLDERS going to see Shinra’s shrink is because they can’t handle the nightmares.” Zack’s voice was bitter, his eyes full of fury towards the people who scorned Cloud and others for their dreams.
“And yet there are some idiots who insist very loudly and publicly that adults shouldn’t get nightmares. But you just know that those are the kinds of people that hide behind others when the shit hits the fan.” Zack said with disgust. “The people that think that all your troubles sop when you become an adult.”
Sephiroth nodded his head slowly. “Yes. Yes, I think I can identify with that. If only it were true that adulthood brings solutions to every problem.”
Zack snorted, nodding his jaded agreement.
“You said it Seph. You said it. Now I just need you to say it to Cloud, cos he lets those bastards get to him. Actually starts to believe what they say, despite the fact that he beats the crap out of them when they say it.”
A small smile curved across Sephiroth’s lips.
“I’ll make the time to tell him that they’re wrong, Zack, I give you my word.”
TBC
Genre: Gen, hints of yaoi.
Summary: General Sephiroth was the first person to admit that he had difficulty understanding people and emotions. Zack and Cloud prove to be good teachers. Most of the time, they are unwitting teachers.
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Final Fantasy.
Warnings: Swearing.
Lesson Five: Dreams
Even from here, with his enhanced senses Sephiroth could detect the signs of camp. He could see the cheerful orange glow of the fire illuminating the thick pitch black of the night that shrouded the forest. He could smell the faint smoky odour that accompanied the flames. He could feel the welcome warmth just begin to wrap around him, in soft contrast to the biting chill of the night.
A scout of the area had not uncovered anything worthy of alarm, and now he was keen to get back to the clearing where they had set up camp. These days loneliness was affecting him a lot more profoundly than it used to. He strongly suspected that Zack and his quiet blond shadow were to blame. Not that he minded. Not really.
As he stalked silently back into the warm clearing, he carried out an almost imperceptible, but fully detailed sweep of the area.
The fire was still going. The correct number of tents were in place. The five SOLDIER guards were still in position, none betraying any signs of concern. The foliage and the ground were undisturbed by unwanted footprints. The air held no foreign scents. The woodland around them was perfectly silent, all the animals seemingly intimidated by their presence.
Good. Everything was in order.
However, on his way towards his tent, something that he had previously discarded as unimportant caught his eye. By the fire, curled into an impossibly small huddle, sat a cadet with spiky blond hair that simply could not be mistaken.
Sephiroth frowned slightly, walking quietly over to the boy, wondering what on earth he was doing out here and not in his bedroll. It wasn’t that he was not allowed out here, it was just that it seemed a little odd to choose to sit out in the relative cold instead of in the warmth of the sturdy tents. And why would someone choose to stay awake when they had an early start tomorrow, and when they could be fast asleep by now.
As he got closer, Sephiroth could see that the boy tense, his muscles taught to the point where they quivered, his head canted slightly, uneasily, like a deer listening in the wind. A deer who knew that a lion stalked close by.
“Why are you still awake at this hour, private?” Sephiroth asked, keeping his voice soft.
Despite his efforts towards a quiet approach, the boy started. “I’m sorry sir,” he stammered, starting to rise from his seat on the log by the fire, his hands fisting the material of his shirt anxiously.
Sephiroth opened his mouth as if to protest, then decided on a more direct approach. Closing the short distance between them, he pressed gently on Cloud’s shoulders to make him sit once again.
“I do not want an apology. You have done nothing wrong.” Sephiroth said to the boy, wondering for a moment why this young man’s first response was always to assume his own guilt.
“I only wondered why you were outside at such an hour.”
Cloud’s muscles that had just begun to relax at Sephiroth’s lack of ire, once more tensed up, much to Sephiroth’s confusion. What had he said? He had tried to put the boy at ease, and it seemed to have been working, so why now this tension and anxiety?
A small sigh left the General’s lips, not frustrated exactly, just extremely perplexed. Cloud however, flinched at the sound, imagining the imposing man’s patience to be wearing thin. His eyes widened when Sephiroth sat down beside him.
Cloud bowed his head slightly, though this still did not hide his faintly reddening cheeks. After a moment of deliberation, he tilted his head up a fraction, and looked sideways towards Sephiroth. It wasn’t quite as nerve-wracking as looking directly into the General’s eyes.
“I’m sorry sir.” Although it was still an apology, it was said quietly and steadily, with relative calm. Strangely enough the knowledge that he was apologising for being so jumpy pleased Sephiroth.
“I just…I couldn’t sleep.”
Now Cloud did bow his head straight out of scrutiny range, but the older man still got the distinct impression that Cloud was hiding an even deeper blush than before. For a moment it seemed that the cadet would not say anything more, but just as Sephiroth was preparing to prompt him, the boy took a deep breath.
“I um…saw things.” Came the rather awkward answer, and Sephiroth felt something akin to dread lurch inside him. Good lord, he thought, please do not let it be that the boy saw some of the soldiers engaged in…friendly night time activities. Cloud seemed so innocent that something like that would probably traumatise him. Then again, he was friends with Zack. And this was the military. Staying innocent for too long was hard to do.
However, Cloud’s voice broke him out of his reverie. He continued speaking, obviously sensing nothing of the dubious in his previous answer.
“I saw them in my sleep. They didn’t make any sense, but they…they were…disconcerting.” The bond mumbled, his eyes trained steadily on the ground.
Now Sephiroth was slightly confused. The boy saw things in his sleep? How very odd. And, as Cloud so rightly said, very disconcerting. Somehow though, Cloud only seemed disturbed about the content of his vision. The fact that he was hallucinating in itself did not seem to disturb the boy.
A frown slowly found its way onto Sephiroth’s face.
“How often do these occur?” he enquired, peering at Cloud with concern.
The blond head jerked up, and Cloud regarded Sephiroth with surprise, as though confused by the question.
“Um, I…I don’t really know.” When Sephiroth looked puzzled, Cloud hastily continued.
“I mean, there doesn’t really seem to be any sort of pattern, they just…come and go. As they please.”
Sephiroth frowned. How very disturbing. The closest to this that he had ever heard of were the feverish delusions of SOLDIERS when they received their first Mako shot. But this boy was not enhanced. He had never come into contact with Mako before. Unless there was an incident that he was not aware of. But then the power of Mako delusions was too much even for some SOLDIERS to take. Some simply went mad. The voices and visions were too strong for some minds. And yet this boy, this child, could withstand them?
Or perhaps not.
The thought crept up on him, spreading a cold dread throughout his body and mind. What if Cloud was not strong enough to withstand them? What if the boy was one step away from utter insanity?
Sephiroth swung his head around lightening quick, fixing Cloud with a piercing gaze.
“Cloud, you must listen to me.” He began calmly, quietly, but still with that cold dread surging through him. “I want you to-”
“Cloudy?” Sephiroth snapped his gaze away from Cloud, seeking out their intruder.
His eyes fell upon a rather sleepy-looking Zack standing a few feet away. For a moment the two men stared at each other in silence, one in confusion and one in something near to fear.
“Zack!” Cloud’s happy exclamation broke the spell, and both men’s stares were diverted towards the younger man. The sleepy haze in Zack’s eyes seemed to clear as he looked at the blond, and he smiled and walked up to the two sitting by the fire.
“Hey kiddo.” He greeted quietly, plonking himself down on the log next to Cloud. His exuberant smile softened into one of sympathy as he locked gazes with his younger friend. “Another nightmare, Spike?”
Cloud blushed again, ducking his head but nodding slightly. He seemed embarrassed by his admission.
Whatever he was admitting to, Sephiroth thought, having watched the interaction with complete bewilderment.
Whatever was going on though, Sephiroth wished it would end quickly. He needed to talk to Zack about Cloud’s visions. The boy may be in danger, and Sephiroth didn’t think he would be able to forgive himself if Cloud went mad and it could have been prevented.
His eyes drew back to watch Zack pat Cloud gently on the back and tell him to go back to their tent.
“Go get some sleep kiddo. I promise I’ll be along in just a sec. I won’t be long.” He coaxed, smiling and gently pushing the boy away.
Eyes and ears following Cloud’s retreat intently, Sephiroth began to speak as soon as the boy was out of ear-shot.
“Zack, I think Cloud may be at risk.”
Zack’s head whipped up to fix those intent an suddenly fierce eyes on those of his friend.
“What do you mean?” He almost barked out, the worry shining clear and unabashed in his eyes.
Sephiroth took a breath, thinking how best to say this.
“Zack, I need to know if Cloud has ever been in direct contact with a large amount of Mako.”
Zack’s face registered confusion, and he frowned slightly, shaking his head.
“No, no he hasn’t. He’s never said anything and his file doesn’t report anything like that. All his med-checks have been fine.” The younger man rattled off everything he could think of that might give a hint as to any possible incidents, but every suggestion he came up with he immediately shot down. He eventually stopped and shook his head.
“No. Nothing. I can’t see how it’s possible that he could have come into contact with any significant amount of Mako. Seph, why are you asking this? What’s wrong, buddy?”
The General sighed, looking into Zack’s concerned face, not really wanting to reveal the secret, not wanting to cause Zack distress. Not wanting to face the possibility himself.
“Zack, I…have reason to believe that Cloud is suffering from Mako poisoning.”
He watched in abject misery as Zack’s face drained of all colour, his hands clenching into fists, his whole body seeming to shiver.
“What?” he rasped out, his face lined in distress. “What? Why? What happened?”
Sephiroth averted his gaze, no longer able to hold Zack’s eyes. He took a breath to continue.
“I found him out here, and thought it rather unusual for him to be up so late when we have an early start tomorrow. So I asked why he as here. And he told me that he saw things. Visions. In his sleep. The only case I have heard like this is of SOLDIERS who have come down with Mako poisoning. When they hear voices and see things, and I-”
He was suddenly cut off by an awful wheezing sound from Zack. He looked up to see Zack’s white face strained and lined, mouth open in a strange grimace, breath whooshing out of him in a macabre parody of a laugh -
Sephiroth’s eyes narrowed dangerously as he looked closer. The mouth - it was smiling, not quivering. The breath, it was laughing, not moaning. The man was laughing, not grieving.
He was laughing in relief, yet it was choked and strange, and the mouth, though smiling, was flickering on and off, his eyes too wide. Zack was hysterical.
“What on earth do you-” Sephiroth began to snarl, amazed that the man could laugh at a time like this. But he was cut off when Zack collapsed against him, clutching him an a fashion that seemed to be both angry and happy and needy all at the same time. Sephiroth started when Zack’s voice rasped out in that strange tone, relieved and angry and happy all in one.
“God damn you, Seph, you crazy, fucked up…sweet fucking softie.” Zack gasped out, his shivering and rasping and clutching eventually stilling so that he was now simply draped over Sephiroth in sprawling and exhausted hug.
“I swear to God, you are the most screwed up, panic-inducing sweetie pie that I have ever met. But my God I could fucking bitch slap you for what you just did to me.” Zack breathed into the man’s neck quietly, nuzzling Sephiroth and laughing quietly when the man made a confused and almost distressed noise.
“But it’s okay. I won’t bitch slap you. I couldn’t do that to you, not when you were just being an overprotective mama chocobo. And it’s not your fault you almost made me have a heart attack.”
Again, the noise of distress from Sephiroth.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…scare you or hurt you.” Sephiroth sounded bewildered, simply guessing as to what he had caused Zack to feel. But the apology, however confused, was sincere. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt Zack.
“I know, buddy, I know. It’s not your fault.” Zack laughed lightly, pushing himself up and away from the General to look him in the eye.
“But Seph, Cloud is fine. He doesn’t have Mako poisoning. He had a dream.”
“A dream?” Sephiroth tested the word out, searching through his mind for any past references to that word. “I…think I have heard the word before. But, explain please.”
Zack smiled, by now completely calm again and able to see the humour of the situation.
“Sure thing, boss. A dream is a vision. You weren’t wrong there. They can be things that people see and hear in their sleep. But it’s completely normal. Almost everybody dreams, and it doesn’t mean that you’re crazy, it just means that your brain is functioning normally. And that’s what Spike has. He’s quite prone to them.”
Sephiroth mulled this over for a moment, then looked up at Zack, a question in his eyes.
“And, a ‘nightmare’?” He asked, recalling the strange word he had heard Zack use when addressing Cloud earlier. He knew of the word, obviously, had heard it before, but had never before known its meaning.
“A nightmare is just a bad dream. A disturbing one. Spike often has them. My job is just to shake him awake whenever it looks as though his dreams are freaking him out. Guess I was too deeply asleep to notice this one though.” He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.
“Why did he seem so ashamed about his nightmare?” Sephiroth enquired, remembering the way that Cloud’s eyes had very rarely met his when the had spoken, how he bowed his head and blushed when Zack had asked about the nightmare.
Now the brunette’s face twisted slightly in anger.
“For some reason there are a few ignorant people who take delight in spreading the rumour that nightmares only visit small kids. Which is the biggest pile of bull I’ve ever heard.” Zack said emphatically, waving his hands in agitation. “Nightmares don’t suddenly just disappear when you become a teenager or an adult. I know I sure as hell get nightmares about some of the things I’ve done. And I know that the prime reason for most SOLDERS going to see Shinra’s shrink is because they can’t handle the nightmares.” Zack’s voice was bitter, his eyes full of fury towards the people who scorned Cloud and others for their dreams.
“And yet there are some idiots who insist very loudly and publicly that adults shouldn’t get nightmares. But you just know that those are the kinds of people that hide behind others when the shit hits the fan.” Zack said with disgust. “The people that think that all your troubles sop when you become an adult.”
Sephiroth nodded his head slowly. “Yes. Yes, I think I can identify with that. If only it were true that adulthood brings solutions to every problem.”
Zack snorted, nodding his jaded agreement.
“You said it Seph. You said it. Now I just need you to say it to Cloud, cos he lets those bastards get to him. Actually starts to believe what they say, despite the fact that he beats the crap out of them when they say it.”
A small smile curved across Sephiroth’s lips.
“I’ll make the time to tell him that they’re wrong, Zack, I give you my word.”
TBC