Fic: Draw With Me
Title: Draw With Me
Author: xpaperplanex
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~7200
Characters: Sephiroth, Cloud, Zack, Angeal, AVALANCHE
Genre: hurt/comfort
Warnings: torture, violence
Type: one-shot
Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII or Crisis Core and make no money from this work. Draw With Me©Mike Inel (http://mikeinel.deviantart.com/).
Summary: A wall kept them separated, but Sephiroth would do anything to protect his only friend, even destroy the planet.
A/N: Watch this video first: Draw With Me
I've been kicking around several ideas in my head about having Sephiroth stay in Nibelheim longer and meeting Cloud there. This is the one that ended up being written down. It gets a little more tragic than I had intended, with more hurt than comfort, but there you go. It jumps back and forth between two timelines, and follows the events of Crisis Core and the original game.
***
"Who's that?" Zack whispered across the room at his newly assigned mentor.
"Who?" Angeal glanced up in time to see Sephiroth walking to his office with Cloud trailing after him as usual.
"That kid, he was hanging onto the General's hair like a leash or something."
"His name's Cloud. I don't think that Sephiroth would find the leash comment amusing, however. You're a SOLDIER now, Fair. If you want to make it past Third Class, you're going to have to show your superiors more respect than that."
"Sorry, sir, it just caught me by surprise. I didn't mean any disrespect." Zack ducked his head in apology and went back to braiding the wrap for the sword that had been presented to him upon making it into SOLDIER.
Angeal watched him squirm with unasked questions feeling vaguely amused at how hard he was trying to keep them to himself. This one was going to be a handful, he could tell already. "I don't actually know much about Cloud, though I've known him as long as I've known Sephiroth," he said finally, taking pity on the young man.
Zack's head shot up when Angeal spoke. "How come?"
Angeal shrugged. "Do you want the whole story? I warn you, it's not much of one." At Zack's enthusiastic nod, Angeal continued. He had already done everything he was supposed to do with his new trainee today, after all. "Shortly after the start of the war with Wutai, we were told that a new commander was coming. A few days later, this kid showed up. I think he was seventeen, maybe eighteen, but just barely. Needless to say, Genesis and I weren't pleased. And attached at the hip to our new commander, was a kid even younger."
"Cloud?"
Angeal touched his nose. "Sephiroth says he doesn't know how old Cloud is, but I guessed he was around nine or ten. A war's no place for children, but Sephiroth refused to listen to anyone's arguments that Cloud shouldn't be there. I confronted him about it a couple of days into his command. I tried reasoning with him-a crippled kid who can't even call for help is even more of a liability than a healthy one-but nothing-"
"Wait, crippled?" Zack interrupted. "And why couldn't he call for help?"
"Didn't you notice? I guess he was facing the wrong way. Cloud's missing his left arm, just below the elbow. And he doesn't speak. I don't know if it's because he's not able to, or if he's so traumatized by whatever happened to him that he just doesn't."
"Isn't calling him a cripple kind of rude?"
"Handicapped, then. I was angry at the time and said a lot of rude things. Do you want to hear the rest of it or not?"
"I do, sir, sorry."
Angeal sighed and shook his head. He had been far beyond angry. The boy wonder that Shin-Ra had forced on them had been putting the whole front line in jeopardy and he had done a lot more than call Cloud a cripple. "Sephiroth stepped in front of Cloud and listened to me yell for Gaia only knows how long, then he told me that if I ever touched his friend, he'd kill me. The president himself said that Cloud could be there and if I had a problem with it, to take it up with him. And then they walked away.
"I wonder, sometimes, if I hadn't confronted Sephiroth that day, if he might have told me about how they met, or even why he's so protective of Cloud. We became friends over time, but he's never trusted me with that. Though he hasn't told anyone, as far as I know, so it might not have made a difference."
"Did Cloud end up being a liability, like you thought?"
"No. He mostly stayed in their tent when they were up at the front. He was perfectly capable of doing most things, despite his arm, though I think it hadn't been very long since he lost it. He would often try to do things that would take both hands and then realize he couldn't and would have to figure out how to do it with one. He'd get so frustrated. But he kept to himself and spent most of his time drawing. He draws constantly. So does Sephiroth, actually. They communicate more in pictures than words, I think.
"Anyways, there were a few times when the camps were attacked that Sephiroth was more concerned about protecting Cloud than doing anything a commander should, but for the most part, it didn't interfere."
"So you don't know anything about how they met?"
"Not a thing. You'd better get back to work on that wrap. It needs to be done by tomorrow morning unless you feel like facing me without a weapon."
"Yes, sir." Zack picked his sword back up and started twisting the strands of leather again, but Angeal heard him murmur, "I wonder..."
***
Movement in the corner of his eye caught Sephiroth's attention and he slowly raised his head off the pillow, not wanting to draw attention to himself. It wasn't in his room, but the room next to his that had never had anyone in it. None of the other rooms had had anyone in them, as far as he knew. The strip of identical rooms-or cells, depending on how you looked at it-had always been unoccupied except for his.
He saw Professor Hojo enter the room followed by a security guard carrying a small bundle, but that was all he had a chance to see before he snapped his eyes shut and pretended to be asleep. When he chanced cracking them open again, the room was empty except for the same bundle he had seen the security guard carrying. It had been placed on the cot, so Sephiroth assumed it must be a person.
Rising cautiously to his feet, Sephiroth approached the wall separating them. It was a person, a small child with blonde hair poking out the top of the blankets.
"Hey." Sephiroth tapped on the glass. "Hey!"
It was useless. Professor Hojo had told him a long time ago that the glass that made up the walls and ceiling and floor in his room was made with magic. It was unbreakable, even by the strongest monsters, and no sound got through it. Sephiroth hated it. He had no privacy and he could never hear anyone coming. And now he supposed he'd have to wait until the kid woke up to see if he was okay. What were they planning to do with some little kid anyways? Sephiroth sat down next to the wall to wait and puzzle over the new addition to his rather boring life.
After what seemed like hours, though it was impossible to tell with no clock and no window to the outside, Sephiroth saw the bundle stir. The blankets were pushed back and a boy with wide blue eyes sat up and stared at his surroundings with a look of terror on his face.
"Hey!" Sephiroth stood up and banged on the wall, catching the boy's attention. He saw the boy say something and tears began to fall from his eyes. "Hey, it's okay. Don't cry." He knelt down so he was closer to the boy's height and placed his hand against the wall. The boy watched him through teary eyes and Sephiroth patted his thigh and gestured for him to come closer. "Don't cry, kid."
When he finally moved over to the wall next to Sephiroth, the boy tapped and then pounded on the glass, trying to get through, all the while saying something.
"You can't," Sephiroth said, shaking his head and hoping he would understand. "You can't get through." He concentrated hard on watching the boy's lips and thought he eventually understood. Mommy. That was the way some children said 'mother'. He wanted his mother.
The boy soon gave up on pounding the wall and slid down it, collapsing in a teary heap across from him. Sephiroth felt helpless in a way he never had before as he tried to comfort the boy through the cold glass wall. When his red and puffy eyes finally slipped shut, the boy had his hand pressed against the glass in the same spot as Sephiroth's.
***
Sephiroth glowered as his escort led him back to his cell after a day of tests and training. No one would tell him a damn thing about the kid in the cell next to him. Not even his current guard, who was usually really nice and often snuck in treats for him.
When the guard opened the door for him, the first thing Sephiroth did was look for the boy. He had moved since Sephiroth had left him in the morning. Now he was curled up on the cot, clutching the bundle of blankets. He saw two cracks of blue staring at him. At least he learned fast-always pretend to be asleep until you know what's going on. There was an untouched tray of food on the small table and Sephiroth frowned. He needed to eat.
"I'm sorry," the guard's voice broke the silence. "I don't know anything about him either and we've been forbidden to talk to him."
The remorse in the guard's voice gave him hope. "Will you give him this?" Sephiroth pulled out one of the two dry erase markers he had stolen during the day. "Sneak it in with his meal this evening?"
The guard raised his eyebrows but closed his hand over the marker and slipped it into his pocket. "I'm blaming it on you if Hojo finds out."
"I can handle Professor Hojo's punishments," Sephiroth assured him.
As soon as the guard had gone, Sephiroth rushed over to the wall and wrote, Can you read?
The boy crawled out of the cot and came over. He frowned at the words until Sephiroth realized what was wrong. He scribbled over it and wrote the same message underneath, but backwards with the letters reversed.
Comprehension dawned on the boy's face and he nodded, looking a little indignant that Sephiroth thought he might not be able to.
Don't be scared. Sephiroth wrote quickly. He was fourteen now and too old to be afraid of the labs, but he remembered what it was like to be scared and alone. The boy said something, but Sephiroth couldn't understand. It wasn't something easy like 'mommy'.
I can't hear you, but the guard will bring you a marker too. In a little while. He hoped that the guard came through, though if he didn't, Sephiroth would find a way to get one to the boy.
My name is Sephiroth. Don't be scared, he wrote again and pressed his hand to the wall. The boy copied him and nodded, blinking back a few tears. When they were both leaning against the wall directly across from each other, Sephiroth felt it was almost like they were leaning against each other. He hoped it felt like that to the boy too, and that he found it at least a little bit comforting.
***
It had taken a while, but Zack finally figured out that Cloud held onto Sephiroth's hair as a way of telling him when he was walking too fast. At least that was one of the reasons. Cloud always walked behind Sephiroth-never in front or even beside him. Angeal said that outside of Shin-Ra, Cloud would walk beside him, but in the office, Sephiroth preferred to act as a wall between Cloud and everyone else. Zack's eyes followed the pair as they walked past the training room he and Kunsel were in.
Despite all his persistence, Zack still didn't know much about Cloud. No one did, not even Kunsel, who knew everything there was to know about everyone else.
"How does it look?" Zack spun around for Kunsel before stopping so he could admire himself in the mirror again. Second Class colours looked good on him.
"Dead sexy," Kunsel said dryly. "And have you checked your locker for any goodies Shin-Ra might have left for you?"
"I get goodies?" Zack pulled out his PHS and checked the personal locker number that had come with his promotion notification. He heard Kunsel chuckling as he jogged off towards the briefing room.
"Not bad," Zack said to himself as he slipped his new bangle over his arm. "What do you think, Cloud?"
The boy who had been attempting to sneak past unnoticed froze like a spooked chocobo when Zack spoke to him and his eyes darted towards the briefing room where Sephiroth was several times. He eventually pulled a pad of paper out of his pocket, balanced it on his knee, and wrote something, then held it up for Zack to see.
Looks good. Congratulations on the promotion. There was a quick sketch of Zack standing in a victory pose with a big sword and a grin.
"Thanks, Spiky." He had to stop himself from reaching out to ruffle Cloud's hair, knowing that if he did that, Sephiroth would be out here and he'd be down an arm too.
***
Sephiroth quickly erased everything he had written and stashed his marker behind the chest of drawers when he saw the door open at the end of the hall. The boy looked terrified at Sephiroth's actions and he was pretty sure that his simplified explanation of where they were hadn't actually helped with the fear. But surely he had wanted to know.
The guard from that afternoon was the only one coming, however. He breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at the boy to let him know it was okay. Still, when the guard opened the door to his cell, the boy cowered in the far corner and shook. Sephiroth banged on the glass and tried to get the boy to pay attention to him, but it didn't work. The guard was only in there long enough to drop off a fresh tray of food and take the old one away anyways. Sephiroth was fairly sure that he had never been that frightened-at least not while he wasn't strapped to a table in the lab-but maybe it was different because it had always been this way for him.
"It's taped under the side of his tray," the guard said as he came in with Sephiroth's meal.
"Thank you."
"Try and get him to eat something. A kid that small shouldn't be missing meals. He didn't touch his breakfast either."
"I will." If Sephiroth was eating at the same time, maybe the boy would feel safe enough to eat. And it looked like they had the same meals, so that would help.
He didn't wait for the guard to be out of sight before he grabbed the marker. Under your tray. And bring your dinner over here. We can eat together.
In the time it took the boy to scurry over to the tray and find the marker, Sephiroth had written several questions on the wall.
What's your name?
Where did you come from?
Do you know why you're here?
The boy painstakingly began to write his answers next to the questions, struggling to write them backwards like Sephiroth was doing. Sephiroth frowned; the boy was a lot younger than he was, maybe he had only learned how to write recently. It would be harder writing backwards if you hadn't been writing at all for very long.
Write normally. I can read it. He hoped he could, at least.
He got a quick flash of a smile and the boy rubbed out his old letters and tried again. He had the slowness of someone who had just learned how to do something.
Cloud.
Like in the sky?
The boy nodded and drew a picture of a cloud with the sun and some birds.
Nice to meet you, Cloud. Go get your dinner, you must be hungry.
Cloud got up and brought the tray over. He didn't touch the food, but looked questioningly at Sephiroth instead.
It's safe to eat. It's good. Sephiroth took a bite of his meatloaf. He crossed out 'good' and wrote 'okay' in its place.
That got a bigger smile and Cloud unwrapped his plastic fork and knife and took a bite.
This is okay? Cloud stuck out his tongue and made a disgusted face.
You need to eat. Please?
Cloud's shoulders slumped, but he nodded and began eating. When he was about half way through the meatloaf, he set his fork down again and picked up his marker.
Can you draw?
I've never tried, Sephiroth wrote back. Feeling inspired to do whatever he could to make Cloud feel better, he attempted what was supposed to be a picture of Cloud. At least it got a giggle.
Who's that?
You. I said I've never tried.
My hair doesn't look like that!
Have you seen yourself? Sephiroth added a few more tall spikes to the mess on top of the circle that was supposed to be Cloud's head.
He saw Cloud laugh and then he began drawing as well. It wasn't a work of art, Sephiroth thought huffily, but he did recognize that it was supposed to be him.
***
Angeal flew through a broken window and set Zack down just as Sephiroth finished off a group of Genesis copies. He had Cloud's hand clutched tightly in his left hand and the remnants of a spell crackling in the other.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," Zack said, catching his breath after that rather wild ride.
"You're late." Sephiroth turned to face them, but nudged Cloud behind him. It seemed to Zack that Sephiroth was blocking Cloud more from Angeal's sight, rather than his own.
"Yeah, there was trouble on the highway, but I caught a lift."
"Humph, I see that."
"Sephiroth, have you lost weight?" Angeal asked. When Sephiroth only glared, Angeal continued, "On to business. It's safe to assume that Hollander has ordered Genesis to eliminate Hojo."
"Hojo, the director of the Science Department?" Zack had only ever heard of him so far, thank Gaia, but he was scheduled to start seeing him regularly as a drawback of his promotion to First Class.
"Yes." Angeal scratched at his stubble thoughtfully. "He believes Hojo robbed him-"
"That's enough," Sephiroth snapped. "Forget about Hojo." Zack turned back to Sephiroth and saw that Cloud was out from behind him and having trouble breathing. It looked like he was having some sort of panic attack. He couldn't hear anything Sephiroth was saying, but it looked like he was trying to calm him down.
"What's wrong?" Zack asked.
Sephiroth didn't reply, and instead picked Cloud up and began walking away with him.
"In his usual mood, I see. Sephiroth, take the floors below, then. I'll handle things outside. Zack, you go up. Hojo will be your responsibility."
"Understood." He'd have to pin Angeal down and get an explanation for what just happened when they weren't under attack.
***
Sephiroth was putting the finishing touches on the fairy tale he was drawing out for Cloud by the time the poor guy managed to stop heaving and drag himself away from the toilet.
Doing okay? Sephiroth wrote off to the side of the story. Cloud nodded weakly and reached for his marker, but didn't write anything. Have some water. Don't get dehydrated.
He reached over and stroked the wall where Cloud was leaning his head. Whatever was being done to him every day was taking a terrible toll on his body. He wished he knew why, but apparently no one told Cloud, either. More than that, he wished he could do something other than watch Cloud suffer.
Cloud finally pulled the cap off his marker. It feels cold. He wrote backwards now as well.
I want to hold you.
Cloud smiled and pushed himself closer to the wall. It's good enough.
They sat like that for quite some time until Cloud seemed to recover a little. Want a story? Cloud nodded and sat up a bit so he could see the pictures while Sephiroth went through and added words to the story of the little mermaid who wanted to be a human.
It's such a sad ending, Cloud wrote when Sephiroth finished.
No, she gets to live forever. That's not sad.
Is too. She didn't get to be with the prince. The prince should have gone with her. Then they could live forever together.
I'll look for a happier story next time. He never had much time by himself in the library, so he couldn't really be choosy about the stories he managed to find. But he'd try harder next time.
Cloud's head was starting to nod and Sephiroth wrote, Drink some water before you go to sleep. And make sure the blanket is covering you.
Cloud didn't take very good care of himself when the experiments were really rough. Sephiroth kept trying to impress on him that it was even more important then, but Cloud was still just a kid. He needed someone to cover him up when he was sick and fill his water glass.
They're going to send me away from here one day and I'm not going to leave without you. I'll take care of you. Sephiroth made sure that Cloud had read the message, then erased it. He didn't bother erasing their messages most of the time-apparently Hojo didn't care if they communicated with each other as long as they never actually came into contact. But a message like that didn't need to be seen by everyone.
Soon. Soon they would say he was ready for war and when that day came, he would fight his way out with Cloud if he had to. Cloud wouldn't survive if he was left alone, Sephiroth was sure of it, and he wasn't leaving his only friend to die.
***
"Sephiroth, what's gotten into you? I trusted you!" Zack blocked Sephiroth's blows desperately as he was driven up the stairs and further into the reactor until a flick of the long blade sent his buster sword flying. Pain exploded in his chest when Sephiroth hit him with his full strength and sent him flying after it. He landed on the catwalk and groaned in pain.
"Everything I do is for Cloud." Sephiroth loomed over him as Zack struggled to his feet.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Zack spat out angrily. "All those dead townspeople? You killed them all for Cloud? Cloud doesn't want you to do this!"
"Of course he does. He wants revenge for everything that was done for him. He was betrayed. Betrayed and sold to Shin-Ra by the people of this town. I killed them. I'll kill the scientists who tortured him. I'll kill the executives who funded it. I'd kill myself but he insists he doesn't blame me."
"He doesn't..." That wasn't Cloud. This couldn't be what he wanted.
"If you can get past me, you can ask him yourself."
***
Hang in there, Cloud. Hey, look at me.
Cloud's eyes slipped shut and Sephiroth could only watch in horror as the bloodstain on his shirt kept growing larger.
Cloud! Cloud! He screamed and threw the marker down in frustration, kicking the wall. "Cloud! Cloud, wake up!" He pounded on the glass and yelled, but Cloud didn't move. He couldn't even see his chest moving anymore. In desperation, he began punching the glass as hard as he could, hoping against hope that Hojo had underestimated his strength.
His heart leapt when he saw the first crack appear. He could do it! He could break through and get to Cloud. "Please, just live. I'm going to help you, Cloud, you just have to wait."
The crack grew larger, then another and another appeared. They spiralled out and spread until it finally shattered and gave way under his assault. He pulled his fist back, heedless of the cuts all over it, and intending to smash out the rest of the glass. He saw the glass start moving while his arm was still a good portion of the way through. It was magic. There was a moment of horrified realization when he understood just what Hojo had meant by that. More than reinforced, this glass was meant to stay unbroken. He pulled his arm out as fast as he could, but it was too late. His scream rent the air as the wall sealed itself with his hand and part of his arm still on the other side.
He stumbled back, grabbing blindly at the sheets on his cot and pressing them against the wound. He felt dizzy, but managed a smile as he not only saw Cloud's eyes flutter open, but the lights started flashing red as well. The glass was alarmed. They'd come. Cloud would be okay.
He pulled the cap off the marker with his teeth and wrote in shaky letters with his right hand, It's okay. I'll make them help you. Live, okay?
***
Zack coughed and tasted blood in his mouth. "Cloud, please," he gasped, struggling as Sephiroth lifted him on the end of Masamune, "Stop him."
Cloud lifted his face from where it had been pressed into Sephiroth's chest and stared at Zack. His head slowly shook from side to side.
"See? I told you." Sephiroth was slightly unsteady on his feet, but he looked to be in far better shape than Zack felt. "Everything I do is for him." With a final burst of strength, Sephiroth flung Zack off the end of his sword and sent him crashing into a mako pod. "You'll see, together we'll make this world a better place. We'll find the Promised Land."
His vision was failing him, but Zack watched as Sephiroth turned and leapt over the edge of the reactor with Cloud held tightly in his arms. Cloud was still clutching Jenova's head and those glowing eyes were the last things he saw before he passed out.
***
Sephiroth came to strapped to an operating table with blinding lights shining down on him and searing pain flowing through his left side.
"Idiot!" Hojo's face appeared in his vision and hissed at him. "Do you have any idea what it's going to take to repair you? Your arm was shredded! We can't even reattach it."
Sephiroth blinked and turned his head aside, not caring what Hojo thought. All he cared about was whether or not they had helped Cloud.
"Cloud!" The body lying on the table next to him jerked and then Cloud was looking at him.
"Sephiroth?" Cloud's voice was weak, but it was beautiful.
"Cloud, are you okay? What are they-what are you doing to him!? Get away!" He fought against the straps holding him down as Hojo approached Cloud with a scalpel. His left arm was strapped down and held out from the rest of his body. "Get away from him! Don't touch him!"
Cloud's screams drowned out Sephiroth's when Hojo began cutting into his arm.
"I can't work with all this noise," Hojo muttered angrily. "At least do something about the kid. And put a screen up, that might silence the idiot."
Sephiroth continued to bellow as a screen was placed between him and Cloud. He bellowed even louder when Cloud's screams were abruptly cut off. "What did you do!? I'll kill you! What did you do to him!?" He could still hear Cloud struggling, so he knew that he hadn't been given the kindness of sedation.
"Well, that's a bit better. Should have done it years ago. Now if only commanders didn't need their voices."
***
"He's dead," Barret said. "The president of Shin-Ra Incorporated is dead."
Zack felt as if the world was moving in slow motion as he watched Tifa run around the side of the desk to examine the sword. He didn't need to go closer. He knew whose it was.
"This sword, it's..."
"Sephiroth's."
"Then he's alive?" Tifa looked at him with fear sparkling in her dark brown eyes.
"Must be. Only Sephiroth can use that sword."
"Who cares who did it? This means that Shin-Ra is finished!" Barret laughed, then abruptly cut it off as a shape darted out from behind the desk. He and Zack tackled it at the same time.
"Well, well, if it isn't our old friend, Palmer. In a hurry?" Zack asked.
"P-p-please don't kill me," Palmer squeaked.
"Did you see him? Did you see Sephiroth?"
Palmer nodded, his fat lower lip trembling at the top of his double chin. "Yeah, I saw him with my own eyes. There was nothing I could do."
Zack snorted. "Nothing you would do, you mean. Was Cloud with him?"
"Who's Cloud?" Barret asked.
"Always," Palmer said. "Cloud is always with him."
***
They must have used some sort of growth therapy on it to make it the right size, Sephiroth thought as he flexed the hand that didn't belong to him. The little scar on the palm was still there, and the one on the side of the middle finger. Cloud said he couldn't remember getting the scar on his palm, but he had burnt his finger with a sparkler.
A thin white line was the only mark that said this hand wasn't his. It was barely even noticeable after all the healing magic that had been used in attaching it.
"Wake up, Cloud," he whispered at the glass. "Please wake up. I'll protect you this time, I promise."
Surely it shouldn't be taking this long for Cloud to wake up. Hojo had said to heal him-he might be needed for more spare parts.
He waited, wallowing in guilt, for several long hours before Cloud stirred. He had spent the time thinking of what he could say as comfort, but it all disappeared from his mind when Cloud pushed back the sheet that had been covering him and froze at the sight of his missing limb.
I'm sorry, Cloud. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Sephiroth wrote frantically until the words began to blend into each other and the word 'sorry' seemed to lose all meaning.
Tears were streaming down Cloud's face as he stumbled out of bed and knelt down next to the wall. He fumbled with the cap on his marker for several moments, then wiped his eyes and raised his remaining arm to write.
Can you still draw?
Sephiroth paused, taken aback. Yes. He assumed he could, at least. The hand felt like his own.
Then it's okay. Don't be sorry.
It's my fau-Sephiroth started to write, but Cloud scribbled over the spot where he was writing.
Draw with me?
He smiled sadly and nodded, moving over to a blank spot of wall. Cloud began by drawing a large tree and Sephiroth added two figures underneath it. The picture spread slowly across the wall as they added more and more to it until it covered the entire thing. When they were down to their last bit of blank space, Cloud paused before putting his marker to the surface again.
I love you.
Sephiroth smiled. I love you too. More than anything. I have a plan to get us out of here... will you come?
I don't know if I can keep up.
I'll carry you with me if I need to.
Cloud nodded and held his hand up to the glass. Sephiroth tried to not notice how awkward it was for him without a second hand to balance on as he held up Cloud's other hand.
***
"Do you know what he meant, Zack?" Aerith asked. "He said it was time for something."
"He's searching for the Promised Land," Zack said while poking the writhing thing that used to be Jenova's arm with the toe of his boot. "At least he was five years ago. He wanted to use the power he found there to keep Cloud safe. Now, I don't even know. He's so hell-bent on revenge. I don't know if he's ever going to stop."
"You still haven't explained who Cloud is," Barret said, folding his arms across his chest.
Zack shrugged. "Cloud is... Cloud. Sephiroth protects him. He always has. I don't know much more than that." He didn't want to talk about the files he had found while he was escaping the Shin-Ra manor. Barret hated Shin-Ra enough; he didn't need details about how they had tortured a little boy for science. Two little boys. Sephiroth hadn't even been born before they started experimenting on him. "You saw him, right? Standing just behind Sephiroth before they took off."
"I thought I saw someone. That was Cloud?"
"Yeah, that was Cloud." An announcement came over the loudspeaker; they were arriving in Costa del Sol. "We should go before we get caught."
Everyone filed out of the engine room until Zack was the only one left standing there. "Just stop, guys," he whispered into the empty room. "Enough's enough. You can go into hiding and Cloud will be safe. Stop killing innocent people."
***
"Give it up already, kid."
Sephiroth glared in the direction the voice came from. He was pretty sure that guy was a Turk-he'd be hard to kill, but he had Masamune and he had materia. And he had had a lot less than that when he started.
"I'll kill every last one of you bastards if I have to," he yelled through gritted teeth, then lobbed a fire spell over the top of his cover. It hit something and he heard a lot of swearing. Sephiroth turned to grin at Cloud. "Think I got one. I'm going to cast a few more, then we're going to run straight down the hallway. Stay behind me and don't let go of my hair. If you can't keep up, pull and I'll slow down."
Cloud nodded hesitantly.
"Don't be scared. I'll protect you."
Cloud moved his mouth, but no sound came out and Sephiroth hugged him tightly. "Don't be scared." It had to be scary, though. Cloud couldn't talk at all, not even a whisper. He didn't know what Hojo had done to him, but if he found him in this mess, he'd cut his tongue out.
By the time they worked their way to near the exit, Sephiroth was bleeding heavily from a number of wounds and he was pretty sure he'd pass out if he cast one more spell. They were so close, though. He could do it; he just needed a short breather.
"Down here." They had come to the natural caves that marked the exit and there were some large rock piles that they could take cover behind. He led Cloud over and made sure it hid them completely before he sat down. "You okay? Not hurt?" He checked Cloud over quickly. There were a couple small bruises forming in a few places, but other than that, he had kept his promise. So far.
"I'm just going to rest a minute, then we'll go again before reinforcements get here." Sephiroth shut his eyes and breathed deeply, trying to ignore the stinging pain of his broken ribs. The world seemed to disappear around him and while he knew that they needed to continue, he couldn't bring himself to open his eyes. He was so tired.
Something tugging at his arm was what caused him to finally open his eyes, though his head span and he felt sick. "Cloud, what are you...?"
Cloud tugged the materia bracer off Sephiroth's arm and struggled trying to snap it onto his own.
"You can't, it's..." The dizziness overwhelmed him for a moment and he had to shut his eyes again. When he opened them once more, Cloud had his hand on his chest and was trying to say something. Sephiroth stared at him, trying to puzzle out his lips' movement.
Cure. Cloud was saying it over and over again, blinking back tears and struggling to keep his composure.
"You can't, Cloud." Sephiroth tried to push his hand away. It was futile. You had to be able to speak to cast spells.
Cloud glared at him and pushed his hands back. Since Sephiroth didn't have the energy to keep fighting, he let them drop to his sides. It wasn't doing any harm to try and they'd be caught soon enough.
"I'm sorry. I tried."
Cloud shook his head and kept mouthing 'cure'. Sephiroth could hear the sound of boots in the hall now. It wouldn't be long. He shut his eyes and tried to think of how he could do better next time, but a tingling sensation brought his attention back to reality. His eyes flew open and he stared in shock at the wavering green light flowing over his chest.
"Cloud?"
Cloud was still yelling silently at his chest; he seemed to be demanding that it heal through sheer willpower. Never before had he heard of such a thing. The light grew stronger and Sephiroth felt his injuries begin to knit themselves back together. Strength flowed through him and he took a deep breath-it didn't hurt.
"Let's go, Cloud!" He grabbed Masamune and swung Cloud up over his shoulder. Gunfire echoed through the cavern as Sephiroth sprinted to the ladder and practically flew up. They would make it. They were free!
The few people in the house above the lab were nothing before him. He cut them down and ran as fast as he could, bursting out through the front doors.
He came to a dead stop.
Soldiers with guns pointed at him were everywhere he looked. More filed out of the house behind him and he felt Cloud start shaking in terror as a patch of warmth spread down his side. He couldn't fight them all. Even if he wasn't protecting Cloud, he still couldn't fight them all.
For the longest time, it seemed like nobody even breathed. Sephiroth could have sworn he heard a butterfly flap its wings in the silence that spread before him. Then the butterfly turned into a bird, which turned into something much larger, until he realized that it was an engine and helicopter blades that he was hearing.
The chopper lowered slowly to the ground as Sephiroth watched with his knuckles turning white on Masamune's hilt. He recognized the symbol painted on the side of the chopper, even if he didn't recognize the man that stepped out of it.
"Quite a performance you've put on for us today. It seems the tales of the great SOLDIER-to-be are true." The president of Shin-Ra clapped his hands slowly and the sound of it seemed to grow as the helicopter lifted away. "Stop pointing those guns at the new hero of Shin-Ra."
Sephiroth pressed his cheek into Cloud's arm-the only non-verbal way he could think of comforting him at the moment-and quickly formed a new plan.
"You don't want me dead," Sephiroth stated, staring down the man in front of him.
"Of course I don't, you're quite the investment, after all."
"I'll fight your wars-that's what you want, isn't it? I'll be the perfect SOLDIER. But if you take Cloud away from me, or if anyone hurts him ever again, I'll kill myself and I'll take as many people as I can with me."
The president paused mid-stride. "Is that the boy you've got?"
"Yes. If you say 'no', I'll make a suicide rush right now. It's either you or me or you can let him stay with me."
"Well, you hardly leave me with a choice, now do you? I don't care about your little friend. Take him with you if you like, but you leave for the front lines immediately. I expect great things or I might not mind so much if you kill yourself."
"Yes, sir." He lowered Cloud slowly to the ground and hugged him close as the president walked to his helicopter that had landed a short distance away. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "That was the best I could do. I couldn't win. Not yet."
***
Zack shivered as he stepped into the large crystalline chamber and gazed upward at the frozen mako. There, trapped within, were Sephiroth and Cloud, holding onto each other exactly like they had all those years ago when Sephiroth jumped into the reactor. Even though they appeared to be sleeping, they looked far more alive than they ever did when Zack had seen them out in the world since the chase began.
"Hey, you two. I gave the others the slip so I could come talk to you." He swore he saw some slight hint of movement. "I've figured it out. I think. It's Jenova we've been seeing, right? She's the one doing all the dirty work?"
There was no answer, but Zack hadn't really expected one. "It's Jenova who wants to destroy the planet, not you. You just want to be safe, don't you? That's why you want to go to the Promised Land, isn't it? Not for power, but so no one else can get to you."
Zack paused and he sensed a sort of awareness in his head. And if an awareness could nod, that's what it did.
"Then why don't you? Why are you doing what Jenova wants? Are you still looking for revenge?"
That's right. The voice in his head wasn't just Sephiroth's. There was another one speaking at the exact same time.
"That you, Cloud? Thought I'd never hear your voice."
We can speak.
"Good to know. So why don't you go to the Promised Land? Almost everyone from back then is dead. You've had your revenge."
Not everyone. Not the one who hurt us the most.
"If AVALANCHE kills Hojo, will you let the planet live? C'mon, Cloud, I thought I was your friend. Don't make me keep fighting you."
We only have each other. There was a long pause, but Zack felt hesitant to speak again. Kill Hojo. Kill Hojo and wipe the taint of Shin-Ra off this planet. We only want to be free. We'll draw the stars in the Promised Land if you take our revenge.
"I promise. I'll make him pay for what he did to you."
***
"Amazing! This is just amazing!" Bugenhagen's eye never left the telescope as he spoke.
Zack sat back in the observatory with a grin on his face. He didn't need a telescope to appreciate it. He had gone back to the Northern Crater after they had finished off Hojo once and for all to tell them. They were already gone, however. Sitting in the exact centre of the mako crystal they had been in was the Black Materia, unreachable by any human means.
"You really think it's them?" Nanaki asked.
"Of course it's them. They used to draw all over the walls because nothing else was big enough. Lazard hated having to repaint constantly." A spectacular aurora suddenly flashed across the night sky and there were gasps from all around the room. "Now that they've got their hands on the stars, I don't think we'll ever see a normal constellation again."
"Guess it's better than the planet bein' destroyed, but it's hell for navigation," Cid said grumpily.
"Cheer up." Zack punched him playfully on the arm. "Maybe they'll get bored in a millennia or two."
Author: xpaperplanex
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~7200
Characters: Sephiroth, Cloud, Zack, Angeal, AVALANCHE
Genre: hurt/comfort
Warnings: torture, violence
Type: one-shot
Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII or Crisis Core and make no money from this work. Draw With Me©Mike Inel (http://mikeinel.deviantart.com/).
Summary: A wall kept them separated, but Sephiroth would do anything to protect his only friend, even destroy the planet.
A/N: Watch this video first: Draw With Me
I've been kicking around several ideas in my head about having Sephiroth stay in Nibelheim longer and meeting Cloud there. This is the one that ended up being written down. It gets a little more tragic than I had intended, with more hurt than comfort, but there you go. It jumps back and forth between two timelines, and follows the events of Crisis Core and the original game.
***
"Who's that?" Zack whispered across the room at his newly assigned mentor.
"Who?" Angeal glanced up in time to see Sephiroth walking to his office with Cloud trailing after him as usual.
"That kid, he was hanging onto the General's hair like a leash or something."
"His name's Cloud. I don't think that Sephiroth would find the leash comment amusing, however. You're a SOLDIER now, Fair. If you want to make it past Third Class, you're going to have to show your superiors more respect than that."
"Sorry, sir, it just caught me by surprise. I didn't mean any disrespect." Zack ducked his head in apology and went back to braiding the wrap for the sword that had been presented to him upon making it into SOLDIER.
Angeal watched him squirm with unasked questions feeling vaguely amused at how hard he was trying to keep them to himself. This one was going to be a handful, he could tell already. "I don't actually know much about Cloud, though I've known him as long as I've known Sephiroth," he said finally, taking pity on the young man.
Zack's head shot up when Angeal spoke. "How come?"
Angeal shrugged. "Do you want the whole story? I warn you, it's not much of one." At Zack's enthusiastic nod, Angeal continued. He had already done everything he was supposed to do with his new trainee today, after all. "Shortly after the start of the war with Wutai, we were told that a new commander was coming. A few days later, this kid showed up. I think he was seventeen, maybe eighteen, but just barely. Needless to say, Genesis and I weren't pleased. And attached at the hip to our new commander, was a kid even younger."
"Cloud?"
Angeal touched his nose. "Sephiroth says he doesn't know how old Cloud is, but I guessed he was around nine or ten. A war's no place for children, but Sephiroth refused to listen to anyone's arguments that Cloud shouldn't be there. I confronted him about it a couple of days into his command. I tried reasoning with him-a crippled kid who can't even call for help is even more of a liability than a healthy one-but nothing-"
"Wait, crippled?" Zack interrupted. "And why couldn't he call for help?"
"Didn't you notice? I guess he was facing the wrong way. Cloud's missing his left arm, just below the elbow. And he doesn't speak. I don't know if it's because he's not able to, or if he's so traumatized by whatever happened to him that he just doesn't."
"Isn't calling him a cripple kind of rude?"
"Handicapped, then. I was angry at the time and said a lot of rude things. Do you want to hear the rest of it or not?"
"I do, sir, sorry."
Angeal sighed and shook his head. He had been far beyond angry. The boy wonder that Shin-Ra had forced on them had been putting the whole front line in jeopardy and he had done a lot more than call Cloud a cripple. "Sephiroth stepped in front of Cloud and listened to me yell for Gaia only knows how long, then he told me that if I ever touched his friend, he'd kill me. The president himself said that Cloud could be there and if I had a problem with it, to take it up with him. And then they walked away.
"I wonder, sometimes, if I hadn't confronted Sephiroth that day, if he might have told me about how they met, or even why he's so protective of Cloud. We became friends over time, but he's never trusted me with that. Though he hasn't told anyone, as far as I know, so it might not have made a difference."
"Did Cloud end up being a liability, like you thought?"
"No. He mostly stayed in their tent when they were up at the front. He was perfectly capable of doing most things, despite his arm, though I think it hadn't been very long since he lost it. He would often try to do things that would take both hands and then realize he couldn't and would have to figure out how to do it with one. He'd get so frustrated. But he kept to himself and spent most of his time drawing. He draws constantly. So does Sephiroth, actually. They communicate more in pictures than words, I think.
"Anyways, there were a few times when the camps were attacked that Sephiroth was more concerned about protecting Cloud than doing anything a commander should, but for the most part, it didn't interfere."
"So you don't know anything about how they met?"
"Not a thing. You'd better get back to work on that wrap. It needs to be done by tomorrow morning unless you feel like facing me without a weapon."
"Yes, sir." Zack picked his sword back up and started twisting the strands of leather again, but Angeal heard him murmur, "I wonder..."
***
Movement in the corner of his eye caught Sephiroth's attention and he slowly raised his head off the pillow, not wanting to draw attention to himself. It wasn't in his room, but the room next to his that had never had anyone in it. None of the other rooms had had anyone in them, as far as he knew. The strip of identical rooms-or cells, depending on how you looked at it-had always been unoccupied except for his.
He saw Professor Hojo enter the room followed by a security guard carrying a small bundle, but that was all he had a chance to see before he snapped his eyes shut and pretended to be asleep. When he chanced cracking them open again, the room was empty except for the same bundle he had seen the security guard carrying. It had been placed on the cot, so Sephiroth assumed it must be a person.
Rising cautiously to his feet, Sephiroth approached the wall separating them. It was a person, a small child with blonde hair poking out the top of the blankets.
"Hey." Sephiroth tapped on the glass. "Hey!"
It was useless. Professor Hojo had told him a long time ago that the glass that made up the walls and ceiling and floor in his room was made with magic. It was unbreakable, even by the strongest monsters, and no sound got through it. Sephiroth hated it. He had no privacy and he could never hear anyone coming. And now he supposed he'd have to wait until the kid woke up to see if he was okay. What were they planning to do with some little kid anyways? Sephiroth sat down next to the wall to wait and puzzle over the new addition to his rather boring life.
After what seemed like hours, though it was impossible to tell with no clock and no window to the outside, Sephiroth saw the bundle stir. The blankets were pushed back and a boy with wide blue eyes sat up and stared at his surroundings with a look of terror on his face.
"Hey!" Sephiroth stood up and banged on the wall, catching the boy's attention. He saw the boy say something and tears began to fall from his eyes. "Hey, it's okay. Don't cry." He knelt down so he was closer to the boy's height and placed his hand against the wall. The boy watched him through teary eyes and Sephiroth patted his thigh and gestured for him to come closer. "Don't cry, kid."
When he finally moved over to the wall next to Sephiroth, the boy tapped and then pounded on the glass, trying to get through, all the while saying something.
"You can't," Sephiroth said, shaking his head and hoping he would understand. "You can't get through." He concentrated hard on watching the boy's lips and thought he eventually understood. Mommy. That was the way some children said 'mother'. He wanted his mother.
The boy soon gave up on pounding the wall and slid down it, collapsing in a teary heap across from him. Sephiroth felt helpless in a way he never had before as he tried to comfort the boy through the cold glass wall. When his red and puffy eyes finally slipped shut, the boy had his hand pressed against the glass in the same spot as Sephiroth's.
***
Sephiroth glowered as his escort led him back to his cell after a day of tests and training. No one would tell him a damn thing about the kid in the cell next to him. Not even his current guard, who was usually really nice and often snuck in treats for him.
When the guard opened the door for him, the first thing Sephiroth did was look for the boy. He had moved since Sephiroth had left him in the morning. Now he was curled up on the cot, clutching the bundle of blankets. He saw two cracks of blue staring at him. At least he learned fast-always pretend to be asleep until you know what's going on. There was an untouched tray of food on the small table and Sephiroth frowned. He needed to eat.
"I'm sorry," the guard's voice broke the silence. "I don't know anything about him either and we've been forbidden to talk to him."
The remorse in the guard's voice gave him hope. "Will you give him this?" Sephiroth pulled out one of the two dry erase markers he had stolen during the day. "Sneak it in with his meal this evening?"
The guard raised his eyebrows but closed his hand over the marker and slipped it into his pocket. "I'm blaming it on you if Hojo finds out."
"I can handle Professor Hojo's punishments," Sephiroth assured him.
As soon as the guard had gone, Sephiroth rushed over to the wall and wrote, Can you read?
The boy crawled out of the cot and came over. He frowned at the words until Sephiroth realized what was wrong. He scribbled over it and wrote the same message underneath, but backwards with the letters reversed.
Comprehension dawned on the boy's face and he nodded, looking a little indignant that Sephiroth thought he might not be able to.
Don't be scared. Sephiroth wrote quickly. He was fourteen now and too old to be afraid of the labs, but he remembered what it was like to be scared and alone. The boy said something, but Sephiroth couldn't understand. It wasn't something easy like 'mommy'.
I can't hear you, but the guard will bring you a marker too. In a little while. He hoped that the guard came through, though if he didn't, Sephiroth would find a way to get one to the boy.
My name is Sephiroth. Don't be scared, he wrote again and pressed his hand to the wall. The boy copied him and nodded, blinking back a few tears. When they were both leaning against the wall directly across from each other, Sephiroth felt it was almost like they were leaning against each other. He hoped it felt like that to the boy too, and that he found it at least a little bit comforting.
***
It had taken a while, but Zack finally figured out that Cloud held onto Sephiroth's hair as a way of telling him when he was walking too fast. At least that was one of the reasons. Cloud always walked behind Sephiroth-never in front or even beside him. Angeal said that outside of Shin-Ra, Cloud would walk beside him, but in the office, Sephiroth preferred to act as a wall between Cloud and everyone else. Zack's eyes followed the pair as they walked past the training room he and Kunsel were in.
Despite all his persistence, Zack still didn't know much about Cloud. No one did, not even Kunsel, who knew everything there was to know about everyone else.
"How does it look?" Zack spun around for Kunsel before stopping so he could admire himself in the mirror again. Second Class colours looked good on him.
"Dead sexy," Kunsel said dryly. "And have you checked your locker for any goodies Shin-Ra might have left for you?"
"I get goodies?" Zack pulled out his PHS and checked the personal locker number that had come with his promotion notification. He heard Kunsel chuckling as he jogged off towards the briefing room.
"Not bad," Zack said to himself as he slipped his new bangle over his arm. "What do you think, Cloud?"
The boy who had been attempting to sneak past unnoticed froze like a spooked chocobo when Zack spoke to him and his eyes darted towards the briefing room where Sephiroth was several times. He eventually pulled a pad of paper out of his pocket, balanced it on his knee, and wrote something, then held it up for Zack to see.
Looks good. Congratulations on the promotion. There was a quick sketch of Zack standing in a victory pose with a big sword and a grin.
"Thanks, Spiky." He had to stop himself from reaching out to ruffle Cloud's hair, knowing that if he did that, Sephiroth would be out here and he'd be down an arm too.
***
Sephiroth quickly erased everything he had written and stashed his marker behind the chest of drawers when he saw the door open at the end of the hall. The boy looked terrified at Sephiroth's actions and he was pretty sure that his simplified explanation of where they were hadn't actually helped with the fear. But surely he had wanted to know.
The guard from that afternoon was the only one coming, however. He breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at the boy to let him know it was okay. Still, when the guard opened the door to his cell, the boy cowered in the far corner and shook. Sephiroth banged on the glass and tried to get the boy to pay attention to him, but it didn't work. The guard was only in there long enough to drop off a fresh tray of food and take the old one away anyways. Sephiroth was fairly sure that he had never been that frightened-at least not while he wasn't strapped to a table in the lab-but maybe it was different because it had always been this way for him.
"It's taped under the side of his tray," the guard said as he came in with Sephiroth's meal.
"Thank you."
"Try and get him to eat something. A kid that small shouldn't be missing meals. He didn't touch his breakfast either."
"I will." If Sephiroth was eating at the same time, maybe the boy would feel safe enough to eat. And it looked like they had the same meals, so that would help.
He didn't wait for the guard to be out of sight before he grabbed the marker. Under your tray. And bring your dinner over here. We can eat together.
In the time it took the boy to scurry over to the tray and find the marker, Sephiroth had written several questions on the wall.
What's your name?
Where did you come from?
Do you know why you're here?
The boy painstakingly began to write his answers next to the questions, struggling to write them backwards like Sephiroth was doing. Sephiroth frowned; the boy was a lot younger than he was, maybe he had only learned how to write recently. It would be harder writing backwards if you hadn't been writing at all for very long.
Write normally. I can read it. He hoped he could, at least.
He got a quick flash of a smile and the boy rubbed out his old letters and tried again. He had the slowness of someone who had just learned how to do something.
Cloud.
Like in the sky?
The boy nodded and drew a picture of a cloud with the sun and some birds.
Nice to meet you, Cloud. Go get your dinner, you must be hungry.
Cloud got up and brought the tray over. He didn't touch the food, but looked questioningly at Sephiroth instead.
It's safe to eat. It's good. Sephiroth took a bite of his meatloaf. He crossed out 'good' and wrote 'okay' in its place.
That got a bigger smile and Cloud unwrapped his plastic fork and knife and took a bite.
This is okay? Cloud stuck out his tongue and made a disgusted face.
You need to eat. Please?
Cloud's shoulders slumped, but he nodded and began eating. When he was about half way through the meatloaf, he set his fork down again and picked up his marker.
Can you draw?
I've never tried, Sephiroth wrote back. Feeling inspired to do whatever he could to make Cloud feel better, he attempted what was supposed to be a picture of Cloud. At least it got a giggle.
Who's that?
You. I said I've never tried.
My hair doesn't look like that!
Have you seen yourself? Sephiroth added a few more tall spikes to the mess on top of the circle that was supposed to be Cloud's head.
He saw Cloud laugh and then he began drawing as well. It wasn't a work of art, Sephiroth thought huffily, but he did recognize that it was supposed to be him.
***
Angeal flew through a broken window and set Zack down just as Sephiroth finished off a group of Genesis copies. He had Cloud's hand clutched tightly in his left hand and the remnants of a spell crackling in the other.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," Zack said, catching his breath after that rather wild ride.
"You're late." Sephiroth turned to face them, but nudged Cloud behind him. It seemed to Zack that Sephiroth was blocking Cloud more from Angeal's sight, rather than his own.
"Yeah, there was trouble on the highway, but I caught a lift."
"Humph, I see that."
"Sephiroth, have you lost weight?" Angeal asked. When Sephiroth only glared, Angeal continued, "On to business. It's safe to assume that Hollander has ordered Genesis to eliminate Hojo."
"Hojo, the director of the Science Department?" Zack had only ever heard of him so far, thank Gaia, but he was scheduled to start seeing him regularly as a drawback of his promotion to First Class.
"Yes." Angeal scratched at his stubble thoughtfully. "He believes Hojo robbed him-"
"That's enough," Sephiroth snapped. "Forget about Hojo." Zack turned back to Sephiroth and saw that Cloud was out from behind him and having trouble breathing. It looked like he was having some sort of panic attack. He couldn't hear anything Sephiroth was saying, but it looked like he was trying to calm him down.
"What's wrong?" Zack asked.
Sephiroth didn't reply, and instead picked Cloud up and began walking away with him.
"In his usual mood, I see. Sephiroth, take the floors below, then. I'll handle things outside. Zack, you go up. Hojo will be your responsibility."
"Understood." He'd have to pin Angeal down and get an explanation for what just happened when they weren't under attack.
***
Sephiroth was putting the finishing touches on the fairy tale he was drawing out for Cloud by the time the poor guy managed to stop heaving and drag himself away from the toilet.
Doing okay? Sephiroth wrote off to the side of the story. Cloud nodded weakly and reached for his marker, but didn't write anything. Have some water. Don't get dehydrated.
He reached over and stroked the wall where Cloud was leaning his head. Whatever was being done to him every day was taking a terrible toll on his body. He wished he knew why, but apparently no one told Cloud, either. More than that, he wished he could do something other than watch Cloud suffer.
Cloud finally pulled the cap off his marker. It feels cold. He wrote backwards now as well.
I want to hold you.
Cloud smiled and pushed himself closer to the wall. It's good enough.
They sat like that for quite some time until Cloud seemed to recover a little. Want a story? Cloud nodded and sat up a bit so he could see the pictures while Sephiroth went through and added words to the story of the little mermaid who wanted to be a human.
It's such a sad ending, Cloud wrote when Sephiroth finished.
No, she gets to live forever. That's not sad.
Is too. She didn't get to be with the prince. The prince should have gone with her. Then they could live forever together.
I'll look for a happier story next time. He never had much time by himself in the library, so he couldn't really be choosy about the stories he managed to find. But he'd try harder next time.
Cloud's head was starting to nod and Sephiroth wrote, Drink some water before you go to sleep. And make sure the blanket is covering you.
Cloud didn't take very good care of himself when the experiments were really rough. Sephiroth kept trying to impress on him that it was even more important then, but Cloud was still just a kid. He needed someone to cover him up when he was sick and fill his water glass.
They're going to send me away from here one day and I'm not going to leave without you. I'll take care of you. Sephiroth made sure that Cloud had read the message, then erased it. He didn't bother erasing their messages most of the time-apparently Hojo didn't care if they communicated with each other as long as they never actually came into contact. But a message like that didn't need to be seen by everyone.
Soon. Soon they would say he was ready for war and when that day came, he would fight his way out with Cloud if he had to. Cloud wouldn't survive if he was left alone, Sephiroth was sure of it, and he wasn't leaving his only friend to die.
***
"Sephiroth, what's gotten into you? I trusted you!" Zack blocked Sephiroth's blows desperately as he was driven up the stairs and further into the reactor until a flick of the long blade sent his buster sword flying. Pain exploded in his chest when Sephiroth hit him with his full strength and sent him flying after it. He landed on the catwalk and groaned in pain.
"Everything I do is for Cloud." Sephiroth loomed over him as Zack struggled to his feet.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Zack spat out angrily. "All those dead townspeople? You killed them all for Cloud? Cloud doesn't want you to do this!"
"Of course he does. He wants revenge for everything that was done for him. He was betrayed. Betrayed and sold to Shin-Ra by the people of this town. I killed them. I'll kill the scientists who tortured him. I'll kill the executives who funded it. I'd kill myself but he insists he doesn't blame me."
"He doesn't..." That wasn't Cloud. This couldn't be what he wanted.
"If you can get past me, you can ask him yourself."
***
Hang in there, Cloud. Hey, look at me.
Cloud's eyes slipped shut and Sephiroth could only watch in horror as the bloodstain on his shirt kept growing larger.
Cloud! Cloud! He screamed and threw the marker down in frustration, kicking the wall. "Cloud! Cloud, wake up!" He pounded on the glass and yelled, but Cloud didn't move. He couldn't even see his chest moving anymore. In desperation, he began punching the glass as hard as he could, hoping against hope that Hojo had underestimated his strength.
His heart leapt when he saw the first crack appear. He could do it! He could break through and get to Cloud. "Please, just live. I'm going to help you, Cloud, you just have to wait."
The crack grew larger, then another and another appeared. They spiralled out and spread until it finally shattered and gave way under his assault. He pulled his fist back, heedless of the cuts all over it, and intending to smash out the rest of the glass. He saw the glass start moving while his arm was still a good portion of the way through. It was magic. There was a moment of horrified realization when he understood just what Hojo had meant by that. More than reinforced, this glass was meant to stay unbroken. He pulled his arm out as fast as he could, but it was too late. His scream rent the air as the wall sealed itself with his hand and part of his arm still on the other side.
He stumbled back, grabbing blindly at the sheets on his cot and pressing them against the wound. He felt dizzy, but managed a smile as he not only saw Cloud's eyes flutter open, but the lights started flashing red as well. The glass was alarmed. They'd come. Cloud would be okay.
He pulled the cap off the marker with his teeth and wrote in shaky letters with his right hand, It's okay. I'll make them help you. Live, okay?
***
Zack coughed and tasted blood in his mouth. "Cloud, please," he gasped, struggling as Sephiroth lifted him on the end of Masamune, "Stop him."
Cloud lifted his face from where it had been pressed into Sephiroth's chest and stared at Zack. His head slowly shook from side to side.
"See? I told you." Sephiroth was slightly unsteady on his feet, but he looked to be in far better shape than Zack felt. "Everything I do is for him." With a final burst of strength, Sephiroth flung Zack off the end of his sword and sent him crashing into a mako pod. "You'll see, together we'll make this world a better place. We'll find the Promised Land."
His vision was failing him, but Zack watched as Sephiroth turned and leapt over the edge of the reactor with Cloud held tightly in his arms. Cloud was still clutching Jenova's head and those glowing eyes were the last things he saw before he passed out.
***
Sephiroth came to strapped to an operating table with blinding lights shining down on him and searing pain flowing through his left side.
"Idiot!" Hojo's face appeared in his vision and hissed at him. "Do you have any idea what it's going to take to repair you? Your arm was shredded! We can't even reattach it."
Sephiroth blinked and turned his head aside, not caring what Hojo thought. All he cared about was whether or not they had helped Cloud.
"Cloud!" The body lying on the table next to him jerked and then Cloud was looking at him.
"Sephiroth?" Cloud's voice was weak, but it was beautiful.
"Cloud, are you okay? What are they-what are you doing to him!? Get away!" He fought against the straps holding him down as Hojo approached Cloud with a scalpel. His left arm was strapped down and held out from the rest of his body. "Get away from him! Don't touch him!"
Cloud's screams drowned out Sephiroth's when Hojo began cutting into his arm.
"I can't work with all this noise," Hojo muttered angrily. "At least do something about the kid. And put a screen up, that might silence the idiot."
Sephiroth continued to bellow as a screen was placed between him and Cloud. He bellowed even louder when Cloud's screams were abruptly cut off. "What did you do!? I'll kill you! What did you do to him!?" He could still hear Cloud struggling, so he knew that he hadn't been given the kindness of sedation.
"Well, that's a bit better. Should have done it years ago. Now if only commanders didn't need their voices."
***
"He's dead," Barret said. "The president of Shin-Ra Incorporated is dead."
Zack felt as if the world was moving in slow motion as he watched Tifa run around the side of the desk to examine the sword. He didn't need to go closer. He knew whose it was.
"This sword, it's..."
"Sephiroth's."
"Then he's alive?" Tifa looked at him with fear sparkling in her dark brown eyes.
"Must be. Only Sephiroth can use that sword."
"Who cares who did it? This means that Shin-Ra is finished!" Barret laughed, then abruptly cut it off as a shape darted out from behind the desk. He and Zack tackled it at the same time.
"Well, well, if it isn't our old friend, Palmer. In a hurry?" Zack asked.
"P-p-please don't kill me," Palmer squeaked.
"Did you see him? Did you see Sephiroth?"
Palmer nodded, his fat lower lip trembling at the top of his double chin. "Yeah, I saw him with my own eyes. There was nothing I could do."
Zack snorted. "Nothing you would do, you mean. Was Cloud with him?"
"Who's Cloud?" Barret asked.
"Always," Palmer said. "Cloud is always with him."
***
They must have used some sort of growth therapy on it to make it the right size, Sephiroth thought as he flexed the hand that didn't belong to him. The little scar on the palm was still there, and the one on the side of the middle finger. Cloud said he couldn't remember getting the scar on his palm, but he had burnt his finger with a sparkler.
A thin white line was the only mark that said this hand wasn't his. It was barely even noticeable after all the healing magic that had been used in attaching it.
"Wake up, Cloud," he whispered at the glass. "Please wake up. I'll protect you this time, I promise."
Surely it shouldn't be taking this long for Cloud to wake up. Hojo had said to heal him-he might be needed for more spare parts.
He waited, wallowing in guilt, for several long hours before Cloud stirred. He had spent the time thinking of what he could say as comfort, but it all disappeared from his mind when Cloud pushed back the sheet that had been covering him and froze at the sight of his missing limb.
I'm sorry, Cloud. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Sephiroth wrote frantically until the words began to blend into each other and the word 'sorry' seemed to lose all meaning.
Tears were streaming down Cloud's face as he stumbled out of bed and knelt down next to the wall. He fumbled with the cap on his marker for several moments, then wiped his eyes and raised his remaining arm to write.
Can you still draw?
Sephiroth paused, taken aback. Yes. He assumed he could, at least. The hand felt like his own.
Then it's okay. Don't be sorry.
It's my fau-Sephiroth started to write, but Cloud scribbled over the spot where he was writing.
Draw with me?
He smiled sadly and nodded, moving over to a blank spot of wall. Cloud began by drawing a large tree and Sephiroth added two figures underneath it. The picture spread slowly across the wall as they added more and more to it until it covered the entire thing. When they were down to their last bit of blank space, Cloud paused before putting his marker to the surface again.
I love you.
Sephiroth smiled. I love you too. More than anything. I have a plan to get us out of here... will you come?
I don't know if I can keep up.
I'll carry you with me if I need to.
Cloud nodded and held his hand up to the glass. Sephiroth tried to not notice how awkward it was for him without a second hand to balance on as he held up Cloud's other hand.
***
"Do you know what he meant, Zack?" Aerith asked. "He said it was time for something."
"He's searching for the Promised Land," Zack said while poking the writhing thing that used to be Jenova's arm with the toe of his boot. "At least he was five years ago. He wanted to use the power he found there to keep Cloud safe. Now, I don't even know. He's so hell-bent on revenge. I don't know if he's ever going to stop."
"You still haven't explained who Cloud is," Barret said, folding his arms across his chest.
Zack shrugged. "Cloud is... Cloud. Sephiroth protects him. He always has. I don't know much more than that." He didn't want to talk about the files he had found while he was escaping the Shin-Ra manor. Barret hated Shin-Ra enough; he didn't need details about how they had tortured a little boy for science. Two little boys. Sephiroth hadn't even been born before they started experimenting on him. "You saw him, right? Standing just behind Sephiroth before they took off."
"I thought I saw someone. That was Cloud?"
"Yeah, that was Cloud." An announcement came over the loudspeaker; they were arriving in Costa del Sol. "We should go before we get caught."
Everyone filed out of the engine room until Zack was the only one left standing there. "Just stop, guys," he whispered into the empty room. "Enough's enough. You can go into hiding and Cloud will be safe. Stop killing innocent people."
***
"Give it up already, kid."
Sephiroth glared in the direction the voice came from. He was pretty sure that guy was a Turk-he'd be hard to kill, but he had Masamune and he had materia. And he had had a lot less than that when he started.
"I'll kill every last one of you bastards if I have to," he yelled through gritted teeth, then lobbed a fire spell over the top of his cover. It hit something and he heard a lot of swearing. Sephiroth turned to grin at Cloud. "Think I got one. I'm going to cast a few more, then we're going to run straight down the hallway. Stay behind me and don't let go of my hair. If you can't keep up, pull and I'll slow down."
Cloud nodded hesitantly.
"Don't be scared. I'll protect you."
Cloud moved his mouth, but no sound came out and Sephiroth hugged him tightly. "Don't be scared." It had to be scary, though. Cloud couldn't talk at all, not even a whisper. He didn't know what Hojo had done to him, but if he found him in this mess, he'd cut his tongue out.
By the time they worked their way to near the exit, Sephiroth was bleeding heavily from a number of wounds and he was pretty sure he'd pass out if he cast one more spell. They were so close, though. He could do it; he just needed a short breather.
"Down here." They had come to the natural caves that marked the exit and there were some large rock piles that they could take cover behind. He led Cloud over and made sure it hid them completely before he sat down. "You okay? Not hurt?" He checked Cloud over quickly. There were a couple small bruises forming in a few places, but other than that, he had kept his promise. So far.
"I'm just going to rest a minute, then we'll go again before reinforcements get here." Sephiroth shut his eyes and breathed deeply, trying to ignore the stinging pain of his broken ribs. The world seemed to disappear around him and while he knew that they needed to continue, he couldn't bring himself to open his eyes. He was so tired.
Something tugging at his arm was what caused him to finally open his eyes, though his head span and he felt sick. "Cloud, what are you...?"
Cloud tugged the materia bracer off Sephiroth's arm and struggled trying to snap it onto his own.
"You can't, it's..." The dizziness overwhelmed him for a moment and he had to shut his eyes again. When he opened them once more, Cloud had his hand on his chest and was trying to say something. Sephiroth stared at him, trying to puzzle out his lips' movement.
Cure. Cloud was saying it over and over again, blinking back tears and struggling to keep his composure.
"You can't, Cloud." Sephiroth tried to push his hand away. It was futile. You had to be able to speak to cast spells.
Cloud glared at him and pushed his hands back. Since Sephiroth didn't have the energy to keep fighting, he let them drop to his sides. It wasn't doing any harm to try and they'd be caught soon enough.
"I'm sorry. I tried."
Cloud shook his head and kept mouthing 'cure'. Sephiroth could hear the sound of boots in the hall now. It wouldn't be long. He shut his eyes and tried to think of how he could do better next time, but a tingling sensation brought his attention back to reality. His eyes flew open and he stared in shock at the wavering green light flowing over his chest.
"Cloud?"
Cloud was still yelling silently at his chest; he seemed to be demanding that it heal through sheer willpower. Never before had he heard of such a thing. The light grew stronger and Sephiroth felt his injuries begin to knit themselves back together. Strength flowed through him and he took a deep breath-it didn't hurt.
"Let's go, Cloud!" He grabbed Masamune and swung Cloud up over his shoulder. Gunfire echoed through the cavern as Sephiroth sprinted to the ladder and practically flew up. They would make it. They were free!
The few people in the house above the lab were nothing before him. He cut them down and ran as fast as he could, bursting out through the front doors.
He came to a dead stop.
Soldiers with guns pointed at him were everywhere he looked. More filed out of the house behind him and he felt Cloud start shaking in terror as a patch of warmth spread down his side. He couldn't fight them all. Even if he wasn't protecting Cloud, he still couldn't fight them all.
For the longest time, it seemed like nobody even breathed. Sephiroth could have sworn he heard a butterfly flap its wings in the silence that spread before him. Then the butterfly turned into a bird, which turned into something much larger, until he realized that it was an engine and helicopter blades that he was hearing.
The chopper lowered slowly to the ground as Sephiroth watched with his knuckles turning white on Masamune's hilt. He recognized the symbol painted on the side of the chopper, even if he didn't recognize the man that stepped out of it.
"Quite a performance you've put on for us today. It seems the tales of the great SOLDIER-to-be are true." The president of Shin-Ra clapped his hands slowly and the sound of it seemed to grow as the helicopter lifted away. "Stop pointing those guns at the new hero of Shin-Ra."
Sephiroth pressed his cheek into Cloud's arm-the only non-verbal way he could think of comforting him at the moment-and quickly formed a new plan.
"You don't want me dead," Sephiroth stated, staring down the man in front of him.
"Of course I don't, you're quite the investment, after all."
"I'll fight your wars-that's what you want, isn't it? I'll be the perfect SOLDIER. But if you take Cloud away from me, or if anyone hurts him ever again, I'll kill myself and I'll take as many people as I can with me."
The president paused mid-stride. "Is that the boy you've got?"
"Yes. If you say 'no', I'll make a suicide rush right now. It's either you or me or you can let him stay with me."
"Well, you hardly leave me with a choice, now do you? I don't care about your little friend. Take him with you if you like, but you leave for the front lines immediately. I expect great things or I might not mind so much if you kill yourself."
"Yes, sir." He lowered Cloud slowly to the ground and hugged him close as the president walked to his helicopter that had landed a short distance away. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "That was the best I could do. I couldn't win. Not yet."
***
Zack shivered as he stepped into the large crystalline chamber and gazed upward at the frozen mako. There, trapped within, were Sephiroth and Cloud, holding onto each other exactly like they had all those years ago when Sephiroth jumped into the reactor. Even though they appeared to be sleeping, they looked far more alive than they ever did when Zack had seen them out in the world since the chase began.
"Hey, you two. I gave the others the slip so I could come talk to you." He swore he saw some slight hint of movement. "I've figured it out. I think. It's Jenova we've been seeing, right? She's the one doing all the dirty work?"
There was no answer, but Zack hadn't really expected one. "It's Jenova who wants to destroy the planet, not you. You just want to be safe, don't you? That's why you want to go to the Promised Land, isn't it? Not for power, but so no one else can get to you."
Zack paused and he sensed a sort of awareness in his head. And if an awareness could nod, that's what it did.
"Then why don't you? Why are you doing what Jenova wants? Are you still looking for revenge?"
That's right. The voice in his head wasn't just Sephiroth's. There was another one speaking at the exact same time.
"That you, Cloud? Thought I'd never hear your voice."
We can speak.
"Good to know. So why don't you go to the Promised Land? Almost everyone from back then is dead. You've had your revenge."
Not everyone. Not the one who hurt us the most.
"If AVALANCHE kills Hojo, will you let the planet live? C'mon, Cloud, I thought I was your friend. Don't make me keep fighting you."
We only have each other. There was a long pause, but Zack felt hesitant to speak again. Kill Hojo. Kill Hojo and wipe the taint of Shin-Ra off this planet. We only want to be free. We'll draw the stars in the Promised Land if you take our revenge.
"I promise. I'll make him pay for what he did to you."
***
"Amazing! This is just amazing!" Bugenhagen's eye never left the telescope as he spoke.
Zack sat back in the observatory with a grin on his face. He didn't need a telescope to appreciate it. He had gone back to the Northern Crater after they had finished off Hojo once and for all to tell them. They were already gone, however. Sitting in the exact centre of the mako crystal they had been in was the Black Materia, unreachable by any human means.
"You really think it's them?" Nanaki asked.
"Of course it's them. They used to draw all over the walls because nothing else was big enough. Lazard hated having to repaint constantly." A spectacular aurora suddenly flashed across the night sky and there were gasps from all around the room. "Now that they've got their hands on the stars, I don't think we'll ever see a normal constellation again."
"Guess it's better than the planet bein' destroyed, but it's hell for navigation," Cid said grumpily.
"Cheer up." Zack punched him playfully on the arm. "Maybe they'll get bored in a millennia or two."