FF7: "Unexpected Side-Effects" Part XIV
Fandom: FF7
Title: Unexpected Side-Effects
Pairing: Zack/Cloud/Sephiroth, Zack/Aeris
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: violence, gore, Turks
A/N: Thanks to artimusdin and jukeboxhound , as well as the various people who offered to help beta. For those who wondered, I never did find my written up edit (I will later tonight, don't worry), and this is being posted because otherwise it never will be.
Summary: In which Cloud is getting fed up with everyone, Zack is a secretive bastard, Sephiroth isn't scratched, and Vincent gets to play Turk.
Previous Parts
Part XIV
Chaos awaited outside the tent
Zack led the charge, Buster sword shining and tentacles snapping like whips. Cloud felt Sephiroth’s warmth at his back as he ran after Zack. When a stray tentacle almost knocked him backward, Sephiroth caught him. A moment later, Vali pressed against his right side.
Wolves darted between vibrant wings and striking tentacles, black blurs and glowing eyes. The SOLDIERs’ chocobos joined the fray, tossing a blaze of yellow in the flurry of color. Even with his sword in hand and Vali at his side, Cloud felt overwhelmed.
“Don’t think,” Sephiroth breathed beside him. Something thumped in the dirt, and Cloud only realized Sephiroth had killed a wolf when he pulled Masamune back. “Don’t hesitate.”
Cloud inhaled sharply and held his sword in front of him. Everything was a blur of motion and glowing eyes. There were dozens of wolves for a dozen SOLDIERs and a dozen chocobos. Snarls and squawks and curses and commands filled the air.
“Don’t think.” Cloud gasped when a tentacle pushed against his back.
Something flashed out of the corner of Cloud’s eye, and he reflexively swung his blade. The metal dug into flesh and struck bone. Cloud yanked his sword back, the wolf’s yelp still ringing in his ears.
Everything swirled away after that. Vali stood at his side, all sharp beak and kicking talons. Sephiroth stayed at his back, silent and seemingly motionless but never still.
Cloud couldn’t find Zack. The dark-haired SOLDIER had vanished into the battle, and Cloud desperately wished he could at least see him. Snapping jaws kept him from moving to look, wolves large enough to carry Cloud with ease dodging in and out around him.
“-circling the camp―”
“More on the out―”
“-for the tents!”
Cloud heard a crackle and saw a flash of light. A wolf howled and the wolf snapping at Vali’s side vanished. Sephiroth grunted beside him, and Cloud quickly looked to see if he was all right. The light from the stones shone on Sephiroth’s strangely pensive face.
“They recognize materia!” Sephiroth shouted. A chill raced up Cloud’s spine, but he didn’t know why. He lunged after the wolf that had been attacking Vali, instead. It didn’t look at him, fleeing to the field. Electricity sizzled beside Cloud, and the wolf’s body flew through the air before slamming into the dirt.
Still, the other wolves fled, vanishing into the dark with a speed that rivaled the SOLDIERs’. Two SOLDIERs started running after them, but Sephiroth shouted, “Regroup!”
Sweat drenched Cloud’s clothes. He panted, abruptly aware of his arms shaking. The stones around them cooled to a soft red, the light dying. Cloud wondered how much time had passed since Xan’s original shout.
A warm hand settled on Cloud’s shoulder, and he startled. He looked up to meet Sephiroth’s eyes. Cloud forced a smile. Sephiroth squeezed his shoulder and walked over to the wolf he had killed.
The other SOLDIERs circled the corpse, glowing eyes grim. Blood drenched Zack, and Cloud looked him over as he joined him, making sure at least most of it wasn’t his. Zack smiled at him, but in the dying light, it seemed twisted and thin. Together, they joined the SOLDIERs.
They stood in the dying light of the stones, eyes burning bright in the shadow. Blood dripped in steady droplets to the thirsty ground.
Later, when Cloud thought of that night, that was always the image that came to mind.
The SOLDIERs cleaned the camp quickly and quietly after that. Cloud wanted to help but tended Vali, instead. He thought the chocobo appreciated the effort. He was too tired to tell.
No one slept that night.
Dawn found a far cleaner camp. Zack sat beside Cloud and watched the sun rise. At least, they watched the sun’s rays shine on Sephiroth’s long hair as the man watched over the camp.
“Ever think you’d be here, Cloud?” Zack asked. Most of the SOLDIERs were relaxing around them, saving their strength. There was a decision to be made, but not yet.
“No,” Cloud answered truthfully.
Zack laughed and nudged Cloud’s shoulder. Bloodstained cloth rubbed against bloodstained cloth. No one had changed. “No. Guess you wouldn’t have.” His glowing violet eyes never strayed from Sephiroth. If the Silver General was tired, it didn’t show. Even at a distance, his gaze seemed sharp enough to cut through stone. Cloud had no idea what he was thinking. “I knew we would have adventures, though. Knew it from the first second we met.”
Cloud couldn’t help but smile a little. “Based on my accent?”
“Based on your fearlessness,” Zack corrected. “Never would have noticed you in the first place if it wasn’t for that.”
Cloud chuckled. “I wasn’t fearless.”
“You were the only trooper shooting at the nasties rather than waiting for a SOLDIER to save your ass. Then I talked to you and noticed your accent.”
Cloud shook his head, still smiling a little. “Is this your roundabout way of saying you stepped in poison ivy again?”
“Hey!”
They quieted when Sephiroth finally decided everything was all right and started toward them. Cloud automatically sat up straighter. Zack didn’t bother; his smile grew, though.
“We’ll move soon,” Sephiroth greeted, “after everyone has rested.” The pensive look from before had returned, and his eyes drifted toward Midgar as he spoke.
“You think you know what’s going on,” Zack said, and Cloud shot a startled look at him. Zack kept smiling.
Sephiroth settled on Zack’s other side with his usual grace. “These creatures are unnaturally enhanced,” he said. “They recognize materia. Of all places to gather, they stay around Midgar, where food and cover are both scarce.” His head fell back, and Sephiroth gazed sightlessly upward. “We’re missing scientists.”
Zack cursed. Cloud struggled to follow along. “The scientists vanished at the same time as Hojo died,” he pointed out.
Sephiroth nodded, mouth tight. “I know.”
It itched at the back of Cloud’s mind. He had a bad feeling he knew where this was going. “Did they know anything about Hojo dying?” he asked slowly.
Sephiroth didn’t look at him. “Rumors travel fast, especially amongst groups. However, the only witnesses to Hojo’s killer remained the Turks, and they wouldn’t let it be known that a trooper had been the one to kill ShinRa’s main scientist.”
Zack continued the train of thought, “So they only knew that Hojo had been killed. Who knows what actual stories they had been told.”
“Around the same time,” Sephiroth said quietly, “unnatural creatures appeared in the desert surrounding Midgar, familiar with humans and human weapons, such as materia.”
Cloud closed his eyes, sickness building in his gut. “Oh.”
Around them, SOLDIERs fell into repose. Some practiced, some watched the sky, and others stared at the horizon.
No one slept.
Cloud expected them to return to Midgar, but after camp had been packed, everyone rode their chocobos west, further away from the city. Cloud knew more than the wolves was at play, but he had no idea what. Did it involve the Turks? President ShinRa? Whatever it was, it was enough to encourage Sephiroth to gather all those involved with the lab and move them away from ShinRa. They weren’t running away. If they were, they would be long gone. Regrouping? Waiting? Cloud looked for clues in the glowing eyes around him but saw nothing.
The day passed peacefully, Vali running smooth and comfortable under him, the SOLDIERs a now familiar mass of energy around him. Cloud had never expected to be with SOLDIERs beyond being a faceless trooper, and the comfort of the long ride surprised him.
Everything clicked.
For one of the first times in Cloud’s life, he thought he could really take whatever came next.
xoxoxoxo
Cloud’s level of comfort remained gracefully steady until they set up their tents that night. When he finally slipped into the tent, Vali a silent sentinel outside, Zack already sat on his sleeping bag. The look on his face killed Cloud’s ease like a bolt spell.
“Zack?” he asked, sitting beside him.
Xan poked his head in the tent. A long scratch decorated his cheek, and Cloud wondered when he had gained that. It didn’t look like something he might have acquired against the wolves. “Hey, Cloud, after this we’re -” He caught sight of Zack’s face and coughed. “Never mind. I’ll tell you later.” His head vanished again, and Vali squawked indignantly. Cloud abruptly realized where Xan had acquired the scratch.
Zack laughed and shook his head. His lips twisted in something resembling a smile as he looked back at Cloud. “He escapes Vali with just a scratch,” he said. “I almost get eaten.”
Cloud rolled his eyes but didn’t comment. Instead, he settled back on his hands and surreptitiously studied Zack. A smile still played on Zack’s lips, but the low lamplight seemed to intensify the small lines around his eyes, his odd smile only helping highlight the lines. For the first time, Zack seemed…old.
Zack had cleaned up from the earlier battle, a new, clean uniform instead of the bloodied one. It abruptly occurred to Cloud that none of the SOLDIERs had changed until after they made camp. Bait, he guessed. In the mountains or in the desert, some things didn’t change.
Still, Cloud bet that Zack wasn’t thinking of the wolves right then. “Do you think Aeris could be pregnant?”
Zack laughed and scratched the back of his head. “Honestly?” Cloud nodded. “Not really. We only had one chance after we got back to Midgar. I didn’t even think about protection, but Aeris was always more clever than me. She’d probably smack me on the head for asking.” Zack shifted so he faced Cloud, his smile oddly wistful. “When we go back to Midgar, I’m taking you and Seph both to her church. Maybe we’ll have a picnic. Just us.”
Zack’s fingers danced, twisting odd marks into the ground. Cloud reached out and touched his hand, stilling him. “Hey…” Zack’s fingers felt chilled under his own.
“The SOLDIER program is probably going to be bumped back a little,” Zack continued, staring past Cloud, “but if the Prez has his way, it won’t be for long. Stick close to us, okay, and keep your wits about you.”
Yet another damned conversation going over Cloud’s head, and he was the only other person there. He scowled. “Zack -”
“This shitstorm, it’s just starting, Cloud,” Zack interrupted. He waved his free hand around them. “All of this? Just a side-effect. We ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Instead of sounding revitalized by the challenge, he just sounded sad, which baffled Cloud on almost every level. He shifted so he squeezed Zack’s hand instead of just touching it. “But we’ll be together for it.”
In a world of uncertainties, that didn’t make the list. Once upon a time, it topped the damned list. Cloud didn’t know when it had fallen away.
Zack’s grin looked like it had surprised him. “Yeah,” he agreed. His grin widened with a flash of white teeth. “Until the end.”
Cloud wished he had some clue what had upset Zack so much. He squeezed Zack’s hand again, and Zack squeezed back.
Sephiroth found them like that. He paused in front of the tent flap, one hand extended against the flap like he had forgotten he was holding it up. He looked them both over like them being in their own tent had surprised him. Cloud guessed it was a good surprise judging by the sudden, small smile on his face. Zack grinned at him, his strange darkness fading like Sephiroth was a pleasant surprise for him, too.
“Yeah, Vali lets you by with no problem,” he quipped.
Sephiroth shook his head and sat beside Cloud. Cloud just shrugged. Vali had always been nice to him.
“What do you know about your father, Cloud?” Sephiroth inquired. Cloud nodded once to himself. For once, he had been expecting the question. The straightforwardness of Sephiroth also refreshed him. He was beginning to wonder if Zack had ever been straightforward with him at all.
“Not much,” he admitted. “He and Mom met while they were originally setting up the Nibel labs, I think. Mom…Mom was the last of the original tribes of Mount Nibel -”
“Original tribes?” Zack interrupted. Cloud nodded, but Sephiroth was the one who answered.
“Warlike tribes had lived in several mountainous regions while ShinRa initially grew in power,” he explained, his tone strangely lecturing. “In-fighting killed most of them, but enough survived to challenge ShinRa’s earliest troops. Allegedly they were partly the inspiration for SOLDIER. They say it was a massacre, with many troopers never being found. ShinRa blamed not colonizing certain areas on low Mako levels, but in many cases it was the tribes proving to be too dangerous. By the time ShinRa explored the area of Nibelheim, most of the Nibel tribes were already dead or had moved on. ShinRa offered generous stipends in the beginning to convince people to move to Nibelheim, though the reasoning behind it seemed…unbelievable.” Sephiroth nodded to Cloud. “Apparently, at least one of the old tribes had survived.”
Cloud hummed in agreement. “Yeah. Mom. Pretty much all of our stories were oral, and Mom loved sharing them with Dad. I think the scientists were like everyone else in town and just dismissed Mom as the local loon, but Dad didn’t.” He smiled wistfully, picturing Ulfhilde and Gunther in his mind. “I think it was because he was from one of the Northern tribes, but don’t hold me to that.”
“I think you’re right,” Sephiroth agreed. “I didn’t know him well, but it fits what I know. Several of the older SOLDIERs knew him better. I would…like to see their reactions when they are told he had a child.” He stared out the tentflap. Cloud wondered what he was thinking and if any of those older SOLDIERs were outside now. “He fought in Wutai. When I returned to Midgar, I only knew that he hadn’t been among those who returned. I…hadn’t questioned it at the time.”
Cloud looked up at the regret so clear in Sephiroth’s voice. Zack bumped Cloud’s shoulder hard so Cloud ended up jostling Sephiroth. Sephiroth looked at them both and smiled, just a curve of his mouth. Cloud immediately forgave Zack for the new bruises.
“The cover-up hasn’t ended,” he said, “and now we’re even more a part of it than ever.”
Nibelheim, ShinRa, Jenova. The realization that his little backwards town, the one that he had fought so hard to escape, was so damned important boggled Cloud’s mind. He dropped back onto the mess of sleeping bags and stared at the tent’s shadowy ceiling.
He thought of the picture of his parents, smiling and happy, and wondered if they knew. He thought of Vincent, someone else caught in this Hel-damned mess, and wondered who else had been involved.
And who else had been forgotten, their skeletons lost and souls trapped in Hel’s cold hands?
Zack lay beside Cloud, eyes focused on the dark ceiling, too. Sephiroth sat and watched them silently, eyes glowing softly in the shadows. Cloud couldn’t see his mouth anymore.
“It’s said that all the tribes used to live in the north,” Cloud said abruptly, Ulfhilde’s voice clear in his mind. “A great battle occurred, and the gods and goddesses drifted away, taking their tribes with them. Hel settled in the dark of the Nibel mountains, and the settlers ShinRa gathered from the East called the mountains Death. They were shushed quickly, but Hel’s children, the wolves, always howled in reminder…”
Cloud drifted off while explaining the importance of the wolves. The memory of Sephiroth’s smile followed him into the dark.
xoxoxoxox
For two more days, Cloud rode with the SOLDIERs seeking the wolves and sleeping in the tent. One night, Zack whispered that the wolves were smart enough to hide now that they knew more about the SOLDIERs. Cloud agreed, which made him wonder why they remained on this fruitless hunt.
Why was Sephiroth trying to keep them out of Midgar?
On the final morning, Sephiroth led the way back to ShinRa. Cloud tried not to pay attention to how all the signs of life faded in the poor soil the closer they moved to the city.
Vali only nipped Zack once before settling into his pen. Cloud bet the next time he visited the chocobo, Vali would be back beside Sephiroth’s chocobo, cooing and ruffling his feathers.
Zack walked Cloud back to his room, giving Cloud time to study his friend. He smiled at Cloud, but Cloud never smiled back. Cloud knew those smiles, the plastic ones tossed out every time the president insisted on holding another party. To please the masses, he claimed. The masses rarely seemed pleased.
The things Cloud realized in hindsight.
Zack’s hand flitted from Cloud’s elbow to the small of his back as they walked. Cloud remembered occasionally walking Tifa to her home on dark nights when the wolves were more active than usual and many of the adults had insisted someone walk her home. Both Cloud and Tifa had been exasperated, though Tifa had also seemed…oddly pleased by it. Then and now, Cloud was just exasperated.
“Stay here until I come get you, okay, Cloud?” Zack said, still smiling. He waved at a passing SOLDIER. Cloud just stared at him. “Don’t move.”
…Really?
“Really?” Zack nodded. “Are you ever going to tell me what’s going on?” Cloud carefully didn’t raise his voice. Neither did he raise his fist, which was his preferred action. Still, he couldn’t manage the plastic smile decorating Zack’s face now.
Zack flinched for the briefest moment, his plastic smile twisting, becoming something real. Then the bright smile was back. “We’ll talk later, Cloud,” he said. “I need to meet Seph now, but for now, just stay here.”
Cloud nodded at the door, unable to look at that damned smile anymore. He clenched his fists and held them deliberately at his sides. Zack touched his elbow again, but Cloud shook him off. “I’ll see you later, Zack.”
He waited until Zack was gone to unlock his door and walk in. For some reason, the sight that greeted him didn’t surprise him. Cloud was beginning to miss real surprises.
Actually, no, he wasn’t.
“Really?” Cloud asked with a sigh, walking to his bed. He dropped off his duffle and put his sword beside his nightstand. It shone in the bland room, and he suddenly wanted to grab his sword and head back to the stable, back with Vali. He brushed it with his fingers instead and turned to the latest mess.
Vincent Valentine waited by Cloud’s desk, intimidating gun clasped in his claw. At his feet, facing the bed, Reno sat with his arms and legs secured with a thin black rope. He scowled magnificently through his gag, only to choke a little when he noticed Cloud. Cloud almost waved at him before catching himself.
Vincent shrugged a little, one shoulder gracefully rising and falling. “He broke into your room last night.”
Cloud grimaced as he sat on his bed. Ugh. “No one came looking for him?” No one else was going to be trussed like one of his mom’s solstice geese next time he returned to his own room? President ShinRa, maybe?
Vincent settled against the wall. “He decided to take initiative.” He looked at Reno and raised an eyebrow at him. For a moment, he looked remarkably like Cloud’s mother when he decided he was going to use that knife for practice. That was roughly the same time he learned about finding the balance on different blades.
Behind the gag, Reno grunted. He wiggled before settling back on the floor. Cloud hoped he didn’t have to use the bathroom.
With that cheerful thought in his head, Cloud groaned and flopped back on the bed. “What are you going to do to him? You can’t keep him.”
Vincent didn’t answer. Cloud quickly sat back up. “You can’t kill him.”
Vincent raised an eyebrow. A supposedly legendary Turk - Cloud needed to talk with Zack about that - shouldn’t be able to remind Cloud of his mother so much. “He was searching your room,” Vincent pointed out reasonably. “He knows I’m here.”
“You could have just let him search the room,” Cloud pointed out just as reasonably. “He wouldn’t have found anything. And he doesn’t know who you are.” This conversations reminded Cloud of conversations with his mother, too. Just the topic was a bit more serious than wasting food to sacrifice to nonexistent gods.
“It’s the principle.” Vincent sounded almost prim. Cloud wanted to hide his face in his hands
Reno’s head swiveled between them as they spoke. With Vincent still behind him, he could only look in Vincent’s general direction. Still bound, he stretched out on the floor, for all appearances seeming content with just watching them. Cloud wasn’t worried about him escaping; Vincent tied him, after all. He was worried about Reno attempting to escape. Vincent would shoot first and ask questions later.
Cloud sighed. Maybe a different tactic was needed. “He doesn’t know who you are, right?”
Vincent shook his head. Cloud hummed and thought about it. Sephiroth and Zack knew about Vincent, but no one else did. Cloud wasn’t sure what Vincent did when Cloud wasn’t there, but he had a good guess, whether he wanted to or not.
And Vincent was a Turk.
“Maybe he should know,” Cloud offered. “If anything else, as warning.” If this could happen to Vincent, it could happen to you, too. The SOLDIERs already had their own version of a wake-up call.
Rather than look surprised or scornful, Vincent simply looked thoughtful. Cloud liked that about Vincent. Vincent never brushed off his suggestions. Vincent didn’t flash a plastic smile and go about with his own damned plans, either.
Reno looked intrigued, too, at least enough to raise himself up from his sprawled position. He raised an eyebrow at Cloud. Cloud shrugged back. Sadly enough, this didn’t even rank in Cloud’s top five odd moments.
After several moments, Vincent nodded. His gun remained relaxed in his claw as he stooped in front of Reno. Reno watched him with belligerent and curious eyes, reminding Cloud of a cat.
“You are of the latest generation of Turks,” Vincent murmured. It wasn’t a question. Reno did not attempt an answer. “I was…of an earlier generation. I came upon Hojo during his rise to power. I foolishly believed he would not dare attack a Turk.”
Reno reclined on the floor like a lazy feline instead of a trussed-up goose, but his shoulders hunched slightly toward Vincent, and his gaze never wavered. The pair seemed to exist in their own private bubble, Turk secrets and rules wrapping around them like hazard barricade tape.
“President ShinRa still supports Hojo’s ambitions, even in death. He ranks his Turks with his SOLDIERs.”
…for some reason, Cloud felt like he had just been insulted.
“But,” Vincent continued quietly, “there is always another path.”
With that, he reached over and pulled Reno’s gag off. It looked heavier than Cloud expected, and Reno flexed his jaw once before falling still again. It occurred to Cloud that Reno had been bound and gagged on the floor all night. He cringed. At least Sephiroth hadn’t stalled off returning them to Midgar that morning.
Reno didn’t look away from Vincent. “Who are you?” he asked, a sliver of steel lacing his voice.
Vincent held his gaze for a moment, just long enough for him to answer, “Vincent Valentine.” He then stood up and walked over to Cloud, leaving Reno like he was a discarded doll. Reno jerked on the floor behind him like Vincent had tasered him as he left. Cloud couldn’t identify the expressions that flashed over Reno’s face, twisting his mouth and widening his eyes, before Reno completely shut down, only his fast breathing giving him away.
Vincent sat beside Cloud on the bed and stared at Cloud’s sword. “Have you named it?”
Cloud blinked. He looked between his sword and Vincent. “Um, not yet?” he offered, looking back at Reno. He thought Reno was more important the naming his sword at the moment, really.
He looked at Reno to see Reno watching them. The man’s body was relaxed under the tight rope, his mouth faintly pursed as if in thought. For the first time, Cloud realized he was alone in his bedroom with two Turks, one allegedly dead, the other tied up. He also realized he couldn’t decide which one was worse.
Cloud sighed.
Vincent didn’t look at either of them. He studied the sword. “It deserves a name,” he commented. “Something to consider.”
Hmmm. Cloud didn’t ask for suggestions. It was his sword, after all. “Might have something,” he admitted. It just wasn’t a priority right then.
Cloud noticed Reno’s gaze now focused on him. He rather thought Reno should be watching the man with the gun, but that was a Turk for you: odd. Instead, Reno’s nose wrinkled a little as he looked Cloud over. His mouth moved silently, and Cloud wished lip-reading was among his skills. Then Reno’s head twisted so he could look better at Vincent. Just looking at Reno was starting to make Cloud ache, but the Turk seemed somehow comfortable with it, like he didn’t notice the thin rope biting into his clothes.
“How do I know you’re really Vincent Valentine?” Reno demanded.
Vincent stood in one fluid motion, like he had just been waiting for that question, and strode to Reno’s side again. He knelt and whispered in Reno’s ear. With an inward sigh, Cloud studied his sword and thought of names. Unfortunately, even the ones he had considered earlier escaped him then. His skin prickled with the feel of two predators so close to him.
Vincent’s mouth tightened shut decisively even as Reno’s fell open a little. His strange task done, Vincent stood and walked back to Cloud. The bed didn’t move as Vincent sat. Cloud wasn’t sure if that was due to Vincent or the bed.
Reno’s mouth closed into a small frown as he looked them both over. “You were in Nibelheim the entire time.” Vincent nodded. Reno’s eyes flicked to Cloud, studying him like he was a shiny new piece of materia. Cloud refused to squirm.
“The other Turks need to know.”
Vincent didn’t move. “Who else?”
Cloud carefully didn’t look at him. There was someone else?
Reno’s shoulders drew back. “Rufus,” he said. His chin tilted upward a notch. “He’s…he’s one of us.”
A moment of silence, another silent conversation Cloud happily allowed to fly above his head. Then Reno nodded as much as he could toward Cloud. “And him?”
“Killed Hojo,” Vincent reminded. Cloud sometimes wondered if that was what Vincent thought every time he looked at Cloud.
Reno settled back on the floor, face thoughtful. “Future SOLDIER,” he pointed out, and the fact that someone besides Zack and Sephiroth - a Turk, nonetheless - believed that pleased Cloud more than he could say. He pressed his mouth shut tightly to hide his smile. Who knew what impression Reno would gain from that.
Vincent looked at the door. Reno followed his gaze, too. For the hell of it, so did Cloud. He saw a door. A closed, locked door. Cloud wondered what he was supposed to see.
“Not just,” Vincent murmured, and Reno nodded. Cloud…still didn’t get it. Maybe it was time for him to get some sleep. He was already on his bed.
Except for the fact that he was alone with two Turks.
Cloud decided to stay awake.
“The other SOLDIERs?” Reno inquired. He sounded casually business-like in way Zack could never quite pull off.
Vincent nodded toward the door again. “They haven’t joined us yet.”
Cloud studied the door. There was no sign that two Turks broke in earlier. He bet there would be no sign on the outside, either. There was no sign of anything, really: just a door.
“All right,” Reno agreed to…something. “Let me up.”
Vincent stood again and walked over to Reno. In a matter of seconds, Reno was carefully easing himself to his feet. Vincent murmured something, and Reno nodded curtly, looking back at Cloud. Cloud looked back, hoping his cluelessness wasn’t obvious.
Reno’s lazy grin didn’t comfort him at all. “I’ll see you soon, kid,” he promised, and then he slipped out of the door. Cloud didn’t even see him unlock it.
“I need a new lock,” Cloud announced when he and Vincent were alone.
“You need traps,” Vincent corrected. He walked over to Cloud and extended a hand. “And preparations.”
Cloud warily accepted it. Vincent pulled him to his feet with easy strength. “For what?”
Vincent’s smile was always a frightening thing. “For dealing with Turks.”
Title: Unexpected Side-Effects
Pairing: Zack/Cloud/Sephiroth, Zack/Aeris
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: violence, gore, Turks
A/N: Thanks to artimusdin and jukeboxhound , as well as the various people who offered to help beta. For those who wondered, I never did find my written up edit (I will later tonight, don't worry), and this is being posted because otherwise it never will be.
Summary: In which Cloud is getting fed up with everyone, Zack is a secretive bastard, Sephiroth isn't scratched, and Vincent gets to play Turk.
Previous Parts
Part XIV
Chaos awaited outside the tent
Zack led the charge, Buster sword shining and tentacles snapping like whips. Cloud felt Sephiroth’s warmth at his back as he ran after Zack. When a stray tentacle almost knocked him backward, Sephiroth caught him. A moment later, Vali pressed against his right side.
Wolves darted between vibrant wings and striking tentacles, black blurs and glowing eyes. The SOLDIERs’ chocobos joined the fray, tossing a blaze of yellow in the flurry of color. Even with his sword in hand and Vali at his side, Cloud felt overwhelmed.
“Don’t think,” Sephiroth breathed beside him. Something thumped in the dirt, and Cloud only realized Sephiroth had killed a wolf when he pulled Masamune back. “Don’t hesitate.”
Cloud inhaled sharply and held his sword in front of him. Everything was a blur of motion and glowing eyes. There were dozens of wolves for a dozen SOLDIERs and a dozen chocobos. Snarls and squawks and curses and commands filled the air.
“Don’t think.” Cloud gasped when a tentacle pushed against his back.
Something flashed out of the corner of Cloud’s eye, and he reflexively swung his blade. The metal dug into flesh and struck bone. Cloud yanked his sword back, the wolf’s yelp still ringing in his ears.
Everything swirled away after that. Vali stood at his side, all sharp beak and kicking talons. Sephiroth stayed at his back, silent and seemingly motionless but never still.
Cloud couldn’t find Zack. The dark-haired SOLDIER had vanished into the battle, and Cloud desperately wished he could at least see him. Snapping jaws kept him from moving to look, wolves large enough to carry Cloud with ease dodging in and out around him.
“-circling the camp―”
“More on the out―”
“-for the tents!”
Cloud heard a crackle and saw a flash of light. A wolf howled and the wolf snapping at Vali’s side vanished. Sephiroth grunted beside him, and Cloud quickly looked to see if he was all right. The light from the stones shone on Sephiroth’s strangely pensive face.
“They recognize materia!” Sephiroth shouted. A chill raced up Cloud’s spine, but he didn’t know why. He lunged after the wolf that had been attacking Vali, instead. It didn’t look at him, fleeing to the field. Electricity sizzled beside Cloud, and the wolf’s body flew through the air before slamming into the dirt.
Still, the other wolves fled, vanishing into the dark with a speed that rivaled the SOLDIERs’. Two SOLDIERs started running after them, but Sephiroth shouted, “Regroup!”
Sweat drenched Cloud’s clothes. He panted, abruptly aware of his arms shaking. The stones around them cooled to a soft red, the light dying. Cloud wondered how much time had passed since Xan’s original shout.
A warm hand settled on Cloud’s shoulder, and he startled. He looked up to meet Sephiroth’s eyes. Cloud forced a smile. Sephiroth squeezed his shoulder and walked over to the wolf he had killed.
The other SOLDIERs circled the corpse, glowing eyes grim. Blood drenched Zack, and Cloud looked him over as he joined him, making sure at least most of it wasn’t his. Zack smiled at him, but in the dying light, it seemed twisted and thin. Together, they joined the SOLDIERs.
They stood in the dying light of the stones, eyes burning bright in the shadow. Blood dripped in steady droplets to the thirsty ground.
Later, when Cloud thought of that night, that was always the image that came to mind.
The SOLDIERs cleaned the camp quickly and quietly after that. Cloud wanted to help but tended Vali, instead. He thought the chocobo appreciated the effort. He was too tired to tell.
No one slept that night.
Dawn found a far cleaner camp. Zack sat beside Cloud and watched the sun rise. At least, they watched the sun’s rays shine on Sephiroth’s long hair as the man watched over the camp.
“Ever think you’d be here, Cloud?” Zack asked. Most of the SOLDIERs were relaxing around them, saving their strength. There was a decision to be made, but not yet.
“No,” Cloud answered truthfully.
Zack laughed and nudged Cloud’s shoulder. Bloodstained cloth rubbed against bloodstained cloth. No one had changed. “No. Guess you wouldn’t have.” His glowing violet eyes never strayed from Sephiroth. If the Silver General was tired, it didn’t show. Even at a distance, his gaze seemed sharp enough to cut through stone. Cloud had no idea what he was thinking. “I knew we would have adventures, though. Knew it from the first second we met.”
Cloud couldn’t help but smile a little. “Based on my accent?”
“Based on your fearlessness,” Zack corrected. “Never would have noticed you in the first place if it wasn’t for that.”
Cloud chuckled. “I wasn’t fearless.”
“You were the only trooper shooting at the nasties rather than waiting for a SOLDIER to save your ass. Then I talked to you and noticed your accent.”
Cloud shook his head, still smiling a little. “Is this your roundabout way of saying you stepped in poison ivy again?”
“Hey!”
They quieted when Sephiroth finally decided everything was all right and started toward them. Cloud automatically sat up straighter. Zack didn’t bother; his smile grew, though.
“We’ll move soon,” Sephiroth greeted, “after everyone has rested.” The pensive look from before had returned, and his eyes drifted toward Midgar as he spoke.
“You think you know what’s going on,” Zack said, and Cloud shot a startled look at him. Zack kept smiling.
Sephiroth settled on Zack’s other side with his usual grace. “These creatures are unnaturally enhanced,” he said. “They recognize materia. Of all places to gather, they stay around Midgar, where food and cover are both scarce.” His head fell back, and Sephiroth gazed sightlessly upward. “We’re missing scientists.”
Zack cursed. Cloud struggled to follow along. “The scientists vanished at the same time as Hojo died,” he pointed out.
Sephiroth nodded, mouth tight. “I know.”
It itched at the back of Cloud’s mind. He had a bad feeling he knew where this was going. “Did they know anything about Hojo dying?” he asked slowly.
Sephiroth didn’t look at him. “Rumors travel fast, especially amongst groups. However, the only witnesses to Hojo’s killer remained the Turks, and they wouldn’t let it be known that a trooper had been the one to kill ShinRa’s main scientist.”
Zack continued the train of thought, “So they only knew that Hojo had been killed. Who knows what actual stories they had been told.”
“Around the same time,” Sephiroth said quietly, “unnatural creatures appeared in the desert surrounding Midgar, familiar with humans and human weapons, such as materia.”
Cloud closed his eyes, sickness building in his gut. “Oh.”
Around them, SOLDIERs fell into repose. Some practiced, some watched the sky, and others stared at the horizon.
No one slept.
Cloud expected them to return to Midgar, but after camp had been packed, everyone rode their chocobos west, further away from the city. Cloud knew more than the wolves was at play, but he had no idea what. Did it involve the Turks? President ShinRa? Whatever it was, it was enough to encourage Sephiroth to gather all those involved with the lab and move them away from ShinRa. They weren’t running away. If they were, they would be long gone. Regrouping? Waiting? Cloud looked for clues in the glowing eyes around him but saw nothing.
The day passed peacefully, Vali running smooth and comfortable under him, the SOLDIERs a now familiar mass of energy around him. Cloud had never expected to be with SOLDIERs beyond being a faceless trooper, and the comfort of the long ride surprised him.
Everything clicked.
For one of the first times in Cloud’s life, he thought he could really take whatever came next.
xoxoxoxo
Cloud’s level of comfort remained gracefully steady until they set up their tents that night. When he finally slipped into the tent, Vali a silent sentinel outside, Zack already sat on his sleeping bag. The look on his face killed Cloud’s ease like a bolt spell.
“Zack?” he asked, sitting beside him.
Xan poked his head in the tent. A long scratch decorated his cheek, and Cloud wondered when he had gained that. It didn’t look like something he might have acquired against the wolves. “Hey, Cloud, after this we’re -” He caught sight of Zack’s face and coughed. “Never mind. I’ll tell you later.” His head vanished again, and Vali squawked indignantly. Cloud abruptly realized where Xan had acquired the scratch.
Zack laughed and shook his head. His lips twisted in something resembling a smile as he looked back at Cloud. “He escapes Vali with just a scratch,” he said. “I almost get eaten.”
Cloud rolled his eyes but didn’t comment. Instead, he settled back on his hands and surreptitiously studied Zack. A smile still played on Zack’s lips, but the low lamplight seemed to intensify the small lines around his eyes, his odd smile only helping highlight the lines. For the first time, Zack seemed…old.
Zack had cleaned up from the earlier battle, a new, clean uniform instead of the bloodied one. It abruptly occurred to Cloud that none of the SOLDIERs had changed until after they made camp. Bait, he guessed. In the mountains or in the desert, some things didn’t change.
Still, Cloud bet that Zack wasn’t thinking of the wolves right then. “Do you think Aeris could be pregnant?”
Zack laughed and scratched the back of his head. “Honestly?” Cloud nodded. “Not really. We only had one chance after we got back to Midgar. I didn’t even think about protection, but Aeris was always more clever than me. She’d probably smack me on the head for asking.” Zack shifted so he faced Cloud, his smile oddly wistful. “When we go back to Midgar, I’m taking you and Seph both to her church. Maybe we’ll have a picnic. Just us.”
Zack’s fingers danced, twisting odd marks into the ground. Cloud reached out and touched his hand, stilling him. “Hey…” Zack’s fingers felt chilled under his own.
“The SOLDIER program is probably going to be bumped back a little,” Zack continued, staring past Cloud, “but if the Prez has his way, it won’t be for long. Stick close to us, okay, and keep your wits about you.”
Yet another damned conversation going over Cloud’s head, and he was the only other person there. He scowled. “Zack -”
“This shitstorm, it’s just starting, Cloud,” Zack interrupted. He waved his free hand around them. “All of this? Just a side-effect. We ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Instead of sounding revitalized by the challenge, he just sounded sad, which baffled Cloud on almost every level. He shifted so he squeezed Zack’s hand instead of just touching it. “But we’ll be together for it.”
In a world of uncertainties, that didn’t make the list. Once upon a time, it topped the damned list. Cloud didn’t know when it had fallen away.
Zack’s grin looked like it had surprised him. “Yeah,” he agreed. His grin widened with a flash of white teeth. “Until the end.”
Cloud wished he had some clue what had upset Zack so much. He squeezed Zack’s hand again, and Zack squeezed back.
Sephiroth found them like that. He paused in front of the tent flap, one hand extended against the flap like he had forgotten he was holding it up. He looked them both over like them being in their own tent had surprised him. Cloud guessed it was a good surprise judging by the sudden, small smile on his face. Zack grinned at him, his strange darkness fading like Sephiroth was a pleasant surprise for him, too.
“Yeah, Vali lets you by with no problem,” he quipped.
Sephiroth shook his head and sat beside Cloud. Cloud just shrugged. Vali had always been nice to him.
“What do you know about your father, Cloud?” Sephiroth inquired. Cloud nodded once to himself. For once, he had been expecting the question. The straightforwardness of Sephiroth also refreshed him. He was beginning to wonder if Zack had ever been straightforward with him at all.
“Not much,” he admitted. “He and Mom met while they were originally setting up the Nibel labs, I think. Mom…Mom was the last of the original tribes of Mount Nibel -”
“Original tribes?” Zack interrupted. Cloud nodded, but Sephiroth was the one who answered.
“Warlike tribes had lived in several mountainous regions while ShinRa initially grew in power,” he explained, his tone strangely lecturing. “In-fighting killed most of them, but enough survived to challenge ShinRa’s earliest troops. Allegedly they were partly the inspiration for SOLDIER. They say it was a massacre, with many troopers never being found. ShinRa blamed not colonizing certain areas on low Mako levels, but in many cases it was the tribes proving to be too dangerous. By the time ShinRa explored the area of Nibelheim, most of the Nibel tribes were already dead or had moved on. ShinRa offered generous stipends in the beginning to convince people to move to Nibelheim, though the reasoning behind it seemed…unbelievable.” Sephiroth nodded to Cloud. “Apparently, at least one of the old tribes had survived.”
Cloud hummed in agreement. “Yeah. Mom. Pretty much all of our stories were oral, and Mom loved sharing them with Dad. I think the scientists were like everyone else in town and just dismissed Mom as the local loon, but Dad didn’t.” He smiled wistfully, picturing Ulfhilde and Gunther in his mind. “I think it was because he was from one of the Northern tribes, but don’t hold me to that.”
“I think you’re right,” Sephiroth agreed. “I didn’t know him well, but it fits what I know. Several of the older SOLDIERs knew him better. I would…like to see their reactions when they are told he had a child.” He stared out the tentflap. Cloud wondered what he was thinking and if any of those older SOLDIERs were outside now. “He fought in Wutai. When I returned to Midgar, I only knew that he hadn’t been among those who returned. I…hadn’t questioned it at the time.”
Cloud looked up at the regret so clear in Sephiroth’s voice. Zack bumped Cloud’s shoulder hard so Cloud ended up jostling Sephiroth. Sephiroth looked at them both and smiled, just a curve of his mouth. Cloud immediately forgave Zack for the new bruises.
“The cover-up hasn’t ended,” he said, “and now we’re even more a part of it than ever.”
Nibelheim, ShinRa, Jenova. The realization that his little backwards town, the one that he had fought so hard to escape, was so damned important boggled Cloud’s mind. He dropped back onto the mess of sleeping bags and stared at the tent’s shadowy ceiling.
He thought of the picture of his parents, smiling and happy, and wondered if they knew. He thought of Vincent, someone else caught in this Hel-damned mess, and wondered who else had been involved.
And who else had been forgotten, their skeletons lost and souls trapped in Hel’s cold hands?
Zack lay beside Cloud, eyes focused on the dark ceiling, too. Sephiroth sat and watched them silently, eyes glowing softly in the shadows. Cloud couldn’t see his mouth anymore.
“It’s said that all the tribes used to live in the north,” Cloud said abruptly, Ulfhilde’s voice clear in his mind. “A great battle occurred, and the gods and goddesses drifted away, taking their tribes with them. Hel settled in the dark of the Nibel mountains, and the settlers ShinRa gathered from the East called the mountains Death. They were shushed quickly, but Hel’s children, the wolves, always howled in reminder…”
Cloud drifted off while explaining the importance of the wolves. The memory of Sephiroth’s smile followed him into the dark.
xoxoxoxox
For two more days, Cloud rode with the SOLDIERs seeking the wolves and sleeping in the tent. One night, Zack whispered that the wolves were smart enough to hide now that they knew more about the SOLDIERs. Cloud agreed, which made him wonder why they remained on this fruitless hunt.
Why was Sephiroth trying to keep them out of Midgar?
On the final morning, Sephiroth led the way back to ShinRa. Cloud tried not to pay attention to how all the signs of life faded in the poor soil the closer they moved to the city.
Vali only nipped Zack once before settling into his pen. Cloud bet the next time he visited the chocobo, Vali would be back beside Sephiroth’s chocobo, cooing and ruffling his feathers.
Zack walked Cloud back to his room, giving Cloud time to study his friend. He smiled at Cloud, but Cloud never smiled back. Cloud knew those smiles, the plastic ones tossed out every time the president insisted on holding another party. To please the masses, he claimed. The masses rarely seemed pleased.
The things Cloud realized in hindsight.
Zack’s hand flitted from Cloud’s elbow to the small of his back as they walked. Cloud remembered occasionally walking Tifa to her home on dark nights when the wolves were more active than usual and many of the adults had insisted someone walk her home. Both Cloud and Tifa had been exasperated, though Tifa had also seemed…oddly pleased by it. Then and now, Cloud was just exasperated.
“Stay here until I come get you, okay, Cloud?” Zack said, still smiling. He waved at a passing SOLDIER. Cloud just stared at him. “Don’t move.”
…Really?
“Really?” Zack nodded. “Are you ever going to tell me what’s going on?” Cloud carefully didn’t raise his voice. Neither did he raise his fist, which was his preferred action. Still, he couldn’t manage the plastic smile decorating Zack’s face now.
Zack flinched for the briefest moment, his plastic smile twisting, becoming something real. Then the bright smile was back. “We’ll talk later, Cloud,” he said. “I need to meet Seph now, but for now, just stay here.”
Cloud nodded at the door, unable to look at that damned smile anymore. He clenched his fists and held them deliberately at his sides. Zack touched his elbow again, but Cloud shook him off. “I’ll see you later, Zack.”
He waited until Zack was gone to unlock his door and walk in. For some reason, the sight that greeted him didn’t surprise him. Cloud was beginning to miss real surprises.
Actually, no, he wasn’t.
“Really?” Cloud asked with a sigh, walking to his bed. He dropped off his duffle and put his sword beside his nightstand. It shone in the bland room, and he suddenly wanted to grab his sword and head back to the stable, back with Vali. He brushed it with his fingers instead and turned to the latest mess.
Vincent Valentine waited by Cloud’s desk, intimidating gun clasped in his claw. At his feet, facing the bed, Reno sat with his arms and legs secured with a thin black rope. He scowled magnificently through his gag, only to choke a little when he noticed Cloud. Cloud almost waved at him before catching himself.
Vincent shrugged a little, one shoulder gracefully rising and falling. “He broke into your room last night.”
Cloud grimaced as he sat on his bed. Ugh. “No one came looking for him?” No one else was going to be trussed like one of his mom’s solstice geese next time he returned to his own room? President ShinRa, maybe?
Vincent settled against the wall. “He decided to take initiative.” He looked at Reno and raised an eyebrow at him. For a moment, he looked remarkably like Cloud’s mother when he decided he was going to use that knife for practice. That was roughly the same time he learned about finding the balance on different blades.
Behind the gag, Reno grunted. He wiggled before settling back on the floor. Cloud hoped he didn’t have to use the bathroom.
With that cheerful thought in his head, Cloud groaned and flopped back on the bed. “What are you going to do to him? You can’t keep him.”
Vincent didn’t answer. Cloud quickly sat back up. “You can’t kill him.”
Vincent raised an eyebrow. A supposedly legendary Turk - Cloud needed to talk with Zack about that - shouldn’t be able to remind Cloud of his mother so much. “He was searching your room,” Vincent pointed out reasonably. “He knows I’m here.”
“You could have just let him search the room,” Cloud pointed out just as reasonably. “He wouldn’t have found anything. And he doesn’t know who you are.” This conversations reminded Cloud of conversations with his mother, too. Just the topic was a bit more serious than wasting food to sacrifice to nonexistent gods.
“It’s the principle.” Vincent sounded almost prim. Cloud wanted to hide his face in his hands
Reno’s head swiveled between them as they spoke. With Vincent still behind him, he could only look in Vincent’s general direction. Still bound, he stretched out on the floor, for all appearances seeming content with just watching them. Cloud wasn’t worried about him escaping; Vincent tied him, after all. He was worried about Reno attempting to escape. Vincent would shoot first and ask questions later.
Cloud sighed. Maybe a different tactic was needed. “He doesn’t know who you are, right?”
Vincent shook his head. Cloud hummed and thought about it. Sephiroth and Zack knew about Vincent, but no one else did. Cloud wasn’t sure what Vincent did when Cloud wasn’t there, but he had a good guess, whether he wanted to or not.
And Vincent was a Turk.
“Maybe he should know,” Cloud offered. “If anything else, as warning.” If this could happen to Vincent, it could happen to you, too. The SOLDIERs already had their own version of a wake-up call.
Rather than look surprised or scornful, Vincent simply looked thoughtful. Cloud liked that about Vincent. Vincent never brushed off his suggestions. Vincent didn’t flash a plastic smile and go about with his own damned plans, either.
Reno looked intrigued, too, at least enough to raise himself up from his sprawled position. He raised an eyebrow at Cloud. Cloud shrugged back. Sadly enough, this didn’t even rank in Cloud’s top five odd moments.
After several moments, Vincent nodded. His gun remained relaxed in his claw as he stooped in front of Reno. Reno watched him with belligerent and curious eyes, reminding Cloud of a cat.
“You are of the latest generation of Turks,” Vincent murmured. It wasn’t a question. Reno did not attempt an answer. “I was…of an earlier generation. I came upon Hojo during his rise to power. I foolishly believed he would not dare attack a Turk.”
Reno reclined on the floor like a lazy feline instead of a trussed-up goose, but his shoulders hunched slightly toward Vincent, and his gaze never wavered. The pair seemed to exist in their own private bubble, Turk secrets and rules wrapping around them like hazard barricade tape.
“President ShinRa still supports Hojo’s ambitions, even in death. He ranks his Turks with his SOLDIERs.”
…for some reason, Cloud felt like he had just been insulted.
“But,” Vincent continued quietly, “there is always another path.”
With that, he reached over and pulled Reno’s gag off. It looked heavier than Cloud expected, and Reno flexed his jaw once before falling still again. It occurred to Cloud that Reno had been bound and gagged on the floor all night. He cringed. At least Sephiroth hadn’t stalled off returning them to Midgar that morning.
Reno didn’t look away from Vincent. “Who are you?” he asked, a sliver of steel lacing his voice.
Vincent held his gaze for a moment, just long enough for him to answer, “Vincent Valentine.” He then stood up and walked over to Cloud, leaving Reno like he was a discarded doll. Reno jerked on the floor behind him like Vincent had tasered him as he left. Cloud couldn’t identify the expressions that flashed over Reno’s face, twisting his mouth and widening his eyes, before Reno completely shut down, only his fast breathing giving him away.
Vincent sat beside Cloud on the bed and stared at Cloud’s sword. “Have you named it?”
Cloud blinked. He looked between his sword and Vincent. “Um, not yet?” he offered, looking back at Reno. He thought Reno was more important the naming his sword at the moment, really.
He looked at Reno to see Reno watching them. The man’s body was relaxed under the tight rope, his mouth faintly pursed as if in thought. For the first time, Cloud realized he was alone in his bedroom with two Turks, one allegedly dead, the other tied up. He also realized he couldn’t decide which one was worse.
Cloud sighed.
Vincent didn’t look at either of them. He studied the sword. “It deserves a name,” he commented. “Something to consider.”
Hmmm. Cloud didn’t ask for suggestions. It was his sword, after all. “Might have something,” he admitted. It just wasn’t a priority right then.
Cloud noticed Reno’s gaze now focused on him. He rather thought Reno should be watching the man with the gun, but that was a Turk for you: odd. Instead, Reno’s nose wrinkled a little as he looked Cloud over. His mouth moved silently, and Cloud wished lip-reading was among his skills. Then Reno’s head twisted so he could look better at Vincent. Just looking at Reno was starting to make Cloud ache, but the Turk seemed somehow comfortable with it, like he didn’t notice the thin rope biting into his clothes.
“How do I know you’re really Vincent Valentine?” Reno demanded.
Vincent stood in one fluid motion, like he had just been waiting for that question, and strode to Reno’s side again. He knelt and whispered in Reno’s ear. With an inward sigh, Cloud studied his sword and thought of names. Unfortunately, even the ones he had considered earlier escaped him then. His skin prickled with the feel of two predators so close to him.
Vincent’s mouth tightened shut decisively even as Reno’s fell open a little. His strange task done, Vincent stood and walked back to Cloud. The bed didn’t move as Vincent sat. Cloud wasn’t sure if that was due to Vincent or the bed.
Reno’s mouth closed into a small frown as he looked them both over. “You were in Nibelheim the entire time.” Vincent nodded. Reno’s eyes flicked to Cloud, studying him like he was a shiny new piece of materia. Cloud refused to squirm.
“The other Turks need to know.”
Vincent didn’t move. “Who else?”
Cloud carefully didn’t look at him. There was someone else?
Reno’s shoulders drew back. “Rufus,” he said. His chin tilted upward a notch. “He’s…he’s one of us.”
A moment of silence, another silent conversation Cloud happily allowed to fly above his head. Then Reno nodded as much as he could toward Cloud. “And him?”
“Killed Hojo,” Vincent reminded. Cloud sometimes wondered if that was what Vincent thought every time he looked at Cloud.
Reno settled back on the floor, face thoughtful. “Future SOLDIER,” he pointed out, and the fact that someone besides Zack and Sephiroth - a Turk, nonetheless - believed that pleased Cloud more than he could say. He pressed his mouth shut tightly to hide his smile. Who knew what impression Reno would gain from that.
Vincent looked at the door. Reno followed his gaze, too. For the hell of it, so did Cloud. He saw a door. A closed, locked door. Cloud wondered what he was supposed to see.
“Not just,” Vincent murmured, and Reno nodded. Cloud…still didn’t get it. Maybe it was time for him to get some sleep. He was already on his bed.
Except for the fact that he was alone with two Turks.
Cloud decided to stay awake.
“The other SOLDIERs?” Reno inquired. He sounded casually business-like in way Zack could never quite pull off.
Vincent nodded toward the door again. “They haven’t joined us yet.”
Cloud studied the door. There was no sign that two Turks broke in earlier. He bet there would be no sign on the outside, either. There was no sign of anything, really: just a door.
“All right,” Reno agreed to…something. “Let me up.”
Vincent stood again and walked over to Reno. In a matter of seconds, Reno was carefully easing himself to his feet. Vincent murmured something, and Reno nodded curtly, looking back at Cloud. Cloud looked back, hoping his cluelessness wasn’t obvious.
Reno’s lazy grin didn’t comfort him at all. “I’ll see you soon, kid,” he promised, and then he slipped out of the door. Cloud didn’t even see him unlock it.
“I need a new lock,” Cloud announced when he and Vincent were alone.
“You need traps,” Vincent corrected. He walked over to Cloud and extended a hand. “And preparations.”
Cloud warily accepted it. Vincent pulled him to his feet with easy strength. “For what?”
Vincent’s smile was always a frightening thing. “For dealing with Turks.”