(Untitled)

[stoic_heroism]

Who: Cloud, Sephiroth, Lapis WEAPON
Status: Closed
When: 3:00 AM
Where: Reactor 4, Old Midgar
What: An attempt at rest is interrupted

Comments

[stoic_heroism]

The sound of feet hitting the platform in the distance had awoken him, but Cloud knew better than to open his eyes. That sound had been much bigger than a mouse, and he was not pleased to even consider the possibility that his time for rest was up. He could only hope that it was Reeve coming back to check on him or to give some more advice on causing greater interference on the Black Materia

[stoic_heroism]

Cloud allowed Sephiroth time to process the information, and he leaned a little more towards his sword just in case. He had a minor doubt that Sephiroth would turn on him, since that would lead to a lengthy battle where one or both of them may become seriously injured. There was also a chance that he would be able to kill Sephiroth again. The risk for something rash seemed too great, and he was more than well aware of the fact that Sephiroth did not like to die.

He raised an eyebrow to the sudden question, wondering how much Sephiroth knew. Did the ex-General actually refer to whom he thought Sephiroth was? That probably meant that Sephiroth had run across them too if the ex-General was talking to him about it. How did such a battle occur against Sephiroth then? They had been difficult for him, but Sephiroth was above his own skill level.

A million questions ran in his head. "I know more than my share of strange females," he murmured. "I doubt you mean fans and stalkers though. What do you consider 'strange'?"

[pure_lineage]

Glancing back over towards Cloud as they spoke, Sephiroth thought over each of their words carefully for a moment. Just the way it was worded gave the ex-General the impression that Strife knew more than what he was letting on, but he spoke nothing of his thoughts for now, and instead answered the question

[stoic_heroism]

He knew enough to not let the surprise show on his face. So, Sephiroth had encountered the same women who had hit him and Yuffie. He had a feeling that if he had been taken down then Sephiroth might not have actually fared any better against them. Vincent, Cait Sith and Barret had also run across them as well... but how many were there?

"...yes, I have met a few," he murmured softly. "I was attacked by two when attempting to escort the WEAPON out of town, and they grabbed it." He remembered distinctly how Humility had formed a gun and bullets by just touching the ground. "They could form weapons and ammunition out of what they touched."

He finally pushed off the wall and walked towards Sephiroth, daring to come almost within touching distance. "Did they attack you or did you happen across them?"

[pure_lineage]

“I see.” Ammunition could possibly point to that blonde nuisance that had attacked him, but there could have been another who fired guns for all that he knew. Sephiroth thought as he clenched his left hand and felt the slowly recovering bullet wounds along that arm. Sephiroth’s mind had strayed to the further information about their attack and capture of the WEAPON. He was more than well aware of what they were after, but just knowing that they’d revealed themselves towards Cloud during that moment spoke of two things. They obviously believed in their abilities, but the second, and more alarming of the two, being that they had some manner to track them with

[stoic_heroism]

So, Sephiroth had been attacked as well. Why? Daring to go after the ex-General was not a feat that many would take, and he wondered how Sephiroth fared against them. There was nothing in Sephiroth's stance to indicate whether or not the battle had been easy or even when it had occurred, but he suddenly suspected the new clothing to be a need to cover something or perhaps because previous clothing had been torn.

Suddenly, his left hand lashed out and grabbed Sephiroth's wrist, jerking it backwards. His eyes fell on the obvious bullet wound on Sephiroth's hand, and his right hand grasped the ex-General's upper arm tightly. "Humility aims for the main swordarm to disable. Once a sword wielder has to switch to the off hand, the others come in to make use of the advantage."

He released Sephiroth and stepped backwards, pulling up the sleeve of his jacket to show the bandages on his right forearm. "We were both beat then. Interesting... they can take down both you and me on separate occasions... unless you escaped?"

[pure_lineage]

Sephiroth hissed as Cloud’s hand snapped out to grab his wrist. Initially having no option but to jerk forward along with the harsh tug, the ex-General growled dangerously as his upper arm was seized and held tightly. Pain flared up along the injured limb, but his outrage over being handled in such a way far outweighed the pain he felt as he snapped his arm back.

Moments away from summoning Masamune to impale Cloud with, Sephiroth paused as he sighted the bandages on the other’s arm. Disgruntled over the treatment shown to him, the ex-General narrowed his eyes in warning as he opened his mouth to snap. Unfortunately though whatever words were about to slip out failed Sephiroth, and he was forced to abort any thought of speaking.

Growling in frustration, Sephiroth abruptly turned as he scoffed in annoyance. “I hardly need to listen to such nonsense.” He didn’t need this foolishness, and with that thought in mind, he began to storm back off away from Cloud and the reactor door.

[stoic_heroism]

Well, that both proved his theory and it showed him how much Sephiroth's pride had been damaged in the defeat by the women. He had never seen Sephiroth react like that except back in the Nibelheim Reactor when Sephiroth had first gone crazy. It seemed that there was more to this than just beating down the ex-General, and it seemed that Sephiroth's pride would not allow the man to admit to anything regarding defeat.

He walked Sephiroth storm off, and the ex-General was normally not so short-tempered. He rolled his sleeve back down casually and watched the man go for a moment before he called, "eventually, you are going to have to trust someone. If they beat you once, they can and will do it again." He wondered if Sephiroth would even listen to him, especially so full of anger right now. "We can help each other, if you would only trust me somewhat."

[pure_lineage]

It wasn’t so much the defeat that had caused so much anger and humiliation to his pride, but the fact that he had been powerless to stop the obvious testing that had been done to his body. To admit defeat would also mean to admit that he had been turned into nothing but a science experiment for a second time in his life. He had been aware of the WEAPON’s disappearance - had been the reason the damn beast had been released in the first place, but that was information Sephiroth would never allow to slip past his lips. To do so would utterly crush his pride

[stoic_heroism]

That was a very good question. Why did he care if Sephiroth was attacked? Sephiroth, who had caused so much pain, anguish and destruction of almost everyone in the world. Sephiroth, who had twisted him into a mindless puppet. Sephiroth, who had been hellbent on becoming a god and destroying the world and everyone on it in order to achieve such a goal. Why would he care

[pure_lineage]

Sephiroth waited patiently with his back turned towards Cloud as nothing but silence followed his words. He found it rather hard-pressed to even conceive the thought that the blonde, or any other, would ever attempt such an offer or that he’d ever accept such a thing. Why would he when everyone he’d ever known throughout his time had lied to him?

A frown subtly marred his face at that thought, but he quickly threw aside the useless trail his mind was attempting to take. Even if Strife had eventually told him about his birth father, it hardly meant that the blonde fool was speaking the truth either.

Sephiroth was broken out of his thoughts at the blurted words, and at first he had thought that he’d heard them wrong, but as he played them over in his mind he glanced back over his shoulder towards Cloud with a look of irritation clearly on his face. “Care about me?” The words came out with a great deal of heat behind them as he pinned Cloud with his fiery gaze. “Just as everybody else has in the past hmm

[stoic_heroism]

Cloud tilted his head to the side when it appeared that his words had hit a nerve on the ex-General. He had been expecting to get a reaction, but he had not really expected such a volatile one. It seemed as if the subject was a sore one, but then again... had Sephiroth actually had anyone care for him?

Yes, Professor Gast. Aerith's father.

He stood firm against Sephiroth's quick pace of coming back at him, and his features firmed as he stared down at the taller and far more brutal man. He could tell that Sephiroth was hostile, but he had been against the ex-General in many hostile situations. He figured that he simply needed to force Sephiroth to accept and weather the ex-General's personal storm.

"What you need doesn't effect what I said," he replied coolly. "Who and what I choose to care for is out of your hands. It's my personal decision, and you don't have to accept it. It won't change the fact that I will." He looked stubborn as he stared at Sephiroth, but did not bother to raise his sword.

[pure_lineage]

Sephiroth’s approach didn’t stop until he was towering over the shorter man. His eyes narrowed dangerously at those words, and within the next moment, Sephiroth’s left hand had snapped out to wrap itself tightly around Cloud’s neck. Ignoring the way that the wound flared with pain, the ex-General emitted a soft growl. Dragging the blonde in closer to him, his cat-like eyes burned brightly with the mako within them as he icily spoke. “You speak too condescendingly for your situation

[stoic_heroism]

Staring up at Sephiroth, Cloud winced when he found his throat seized. He knew that Sephiroth's injured arm would not be able to do much damage to him. He watched the ex-General closely, thinking that it would be extremely unwise to provoke the man any further right now. He had to let Sephiroth think about it, to work through all the possibilities

[pure_lineage]

Sephiroth half turned his body away after he accepted the so called ‘alliance’ Cloud had proposed. He tried best not to consider the implications behind such an action, but rather the future benefits to him instead. It was just unfortunate that his body wasn’t in shape enough to properly go after the Black Materia, but this little alliance with the blonde will at least give him the opportunity to distract those wretched women while he took care of that damn scientist. While the physical challenge wasn’t on the same level, the enjoyment would definitely be worth the sacrifice