fic: eir's tomorrow (ff7) - ch.11, 2/2
part 1
…
The following morning, all of Cloud's squadmates were off in the gym or cafeteria or lounging around until an officer caught them, leaving him alone in the room. Or he would've been, if Zack hadn't decided that he had unlimited access to Cloud's bed and was sprawled over the scratchy cover like a lazy cat. The blond was trying very hard not to stare, to memorize every one of the man's movements like a creepy stalker.
Zack, meanwhile, had been watching Cloud read the same textbook page over and over for the last several minutes and was wondering when the kid was going to give up. When it looked like Cloud was set on out-stubborning him, he said, "What're you studying for?"
"Passing classes is one of the requirements for SOLDIER," Cloud pointed out quietly, and Zack huffed.
"Well, yeah, but shouldn't you be out with your 'mates right now?"
I'd rather be here with you, Cloud didn't say. "I'm fine." He paused, then dared, "Um, why are you here?"
He knew without having to look that Zack would be shrugging as best he could while horizontal, expression sheepish. "What, I can't just be hanging out?"
Cloud gave him a wry glance. Zack shrugged again, more somberly. "I've been seeing you around a lot lately, y'know, but I don't know anything about you other than that you have nightmares, know things that could probably get you killed, and are short."
"Hey," Cloud protested before he could stop himself, and Zack grinned.
"So, Nibelheim, huh? Western continent? What's it like?"
"Cold," Cloud replied slowly, confused. "Lots of snow."
"Does everyone speak the language you were using earlier? In the infirmary?"
It took a moment but then Cloud flushed. "I didn't realize I was doing that."
"Hey man, nothing to be ashamed about. Sometimes I wish I'd actually paid attention to my grandpa when he was still alive, he was fluent in old Gongagan."
"My mum taught it to me," Cloud admitted, self-conscious.
"Tell me something."
"Huh?" said Cloud intelligently.
Zack flailed his outstretched arms a bit. "I mean, anything. Here, I'll go first. My favorite color is green."
Cloud wondered if it was because of Aeris' eyes. Green just made him think of mako and, yeah, not thinking about that. "Purple," he countered randomly, closing his textbook and tilting his body in the uncomfortable desk chair to face Zack more fully. It wasn't like he didn't know about Zack's spontaneous moments of whimsy, but that didn't always make them any less startling.
"Swords are the best, none of this long-distance rifle stuff."
"I agree." Cloud smiled a little.
Zack face scrunched up in thought. "Tseng's creepy as hell."
"Also agree," Cloud said with a small snicker. "Then again, Turk."
"True. Uh. Girls wearing hiking boots with pink dresses are hot."
"Aren't you rather biased?"
"So?"
"Good point," Cloud acceded, then dared to put out one of his own. "Autumn is the best season."
"Lies!" Zack cried dramatically. "Spring. Or maybe summer. No, spring, in summer Gongaga gets like a hundred-twenty degrees and swarms of bugs that always try to eat your flesh. Okay, so I take it back - the best weapon is bug-spray because, man, I value my flesh, thank you."
Cloud ducked his head, hiding the apparently permanent smile behind his hair.
The pause was somewhere between awkward and relaxed, like acquaintances wanting to get to know each other but not quite sure where to go. Finally, Zack said, "So, fairy tales?"
"What do you mean?"
"The book you gave Sephiroth. Some crazy titles in there."
Cloud shifted in his chair, self-conscious all over again. It wasn't like he was ashamed of his mother's insistence on family customs, but it wasn't something to which he'd really paid attention before and he got the feeling that, in the age of ShinRa technology, it wasn't a very popular idea. "They're stories from my…ancestors, I guess. The people that lived n the Nibel Mountains before ShinRa decided to build a reactor there. It's not a huge thing, but my mum, she's. Uh."
"Traditional?" Zack supplied.
"I guess that's one way to put it," he said dryly. "Sephiroth's been in Nibelheim before, so I thought he'd like it. Which is silly, I know, but he's never really had anything that wasn't meant solely to be functional, and - "
"Hey, I'm not judging. So, what's your favorite?"
"I don't really have one."
"Aw, c'mon. Pick one."
"Er. Well, my mum's rather fond of the story of Týr and Fenrir. Fenrir was this giant wolf that the gods kept trying to chain down, but he broke out each time. So the dvergar - uh, dwarves, I guess - made a silken rope out six impossible things, and Fenrir agreed to be tied down with it only if one of the gods sacrificed a hand. So Týr, who's a warrior of honesty and courage and stuff, volunteered, and Fenrir bit off his right hand when he was chained up. Supposedly at the end of the world, Týr will be killed by the giant hound of Hel, one of the death goddesses."
"…Huh," said Zack, and Cloud flushed again.
"I think it's his willingness to lay down his life for the sake of others that makes her like it so much." Courage, he thought. Truth, honor, fidelity, discipline, hospitality, industriousness, self-reliance, perseverance. When does someone decide that some sacrifices aren't worth it? Where does someone draw the line between the courage of dying willingly and the courage to keep living? "She always says that our family's blessed by Hel, though, so even after all these years I'm still not really sure where she's coming from."
Zack was looking at him like he was seeing something he hadn't expected. Cloud wasn't really sure what to make of it, so he glanced down and idly picked at the cotton of his uniform trousers. "Do you have anything like that in Gongaga?" he asked, although he already knew, vaguely remembered long hours of Zack talking about anything and everything through the mako tubes until his voice was raw.
"Nah, we've just got the Touch Me frogs," and Cloud laughed aloud.
…
TO: Reeve Tuesti, Department of Urban Development, Director
FROM: General Sephiroth, Department of Civilian Defense
SUBJECT: Structural Support
Director Tuesti,
It has been brought to my attention from a number of my subordinates that there is an element of instability in the structural support of the Plate. I feel it is a matter best addressed jointly by our departments.
- General Sephiroth, SOLDIER 1st
…
TO: General Sephiroth, Department of Civilian Defense
FROM: Reeve Tuesti, Department of Urban Development, Director
SUBJECT: RE: Structural Support
General Sephiroth,
If there is indeed a danger to the Plate, I would like to discuss with you the evidence and possible solutions to the problem as soon as possible. The safety of the company and the people are of utmost importance. Please send me a timetable of your preferred available times to meet.
Sincerely,
Reeve
…
"I missed your birthday?"
It was the weekend, a few days after Cloud had spilled himself to Sephiroth, and Cloud had just discovered that having a friend like Elena who could and would hack into otherwise private files could be rather annoying.
"It's not a big deal."
"Dude, it was three months ago and you didn't tell me. How could I have missed your birthday?"
"Because I didn't tell you?" he ventured.
"Exactly! How could you!"
Cloud automatically ducked the blow to the back of his head but wasn't able to avoid being manhandled him to his dresser. The few other cadets in the room were snickering as Cloud tried, "Elena, what - "
"Get dressed. Not in a uniform, mind you, or those manky things you call clothes and everyone else calls rags. We're going down to the Seventh Heaven again."
"But - "
"You didn't tell me about your birthday, so you owe me this. Here." She flung a pair of cheap black slacks at him, the kind issued to cadets for formal functions, a simple white button-down shirt, and a clean undershirt, similar to what she was wearing herself. "Put these on."
"But - "
She leaned against his bunk with her arms crossed and face stony. Cloud sighed and bid a fond farewell to his plans of training all day on his own. He didn't even think twice about people being in the same room as he efficiently changed his clothes, but when he turned back around, Elena's stoniness had turned lascivious.
"I have got to get laid," she said, eyeballing him. Cloud just rolled his eyes, and so it was that early on a Saturday evening he found himself sitting at the counter in Seventh Heaven nursing a beer and smiling at Elena's wild stories.
"So Kelga is hanging outside my window, right, and he's butt-naked while Dad's tearing up my room trying to find the guy, and I'm freaking out at this point. So by the time Dad gives up and leaves and Kelga crawls back through the window, his balls are literally blue."
"That doesn't actually happen, you know," Cloud said as he took a long pull.
"Does too, I saw it. You might be seventeen now, but you're about as horny as a monk."
He wondered if he should tell her that he'd snuck into the army two years under the age limit and was actually fifteen, but dismissed it. "I wouldn't say that if I were you. I've heard stories about monks."
"Ha, yeah, right, you're just saying that because you don't want to admit that I know more about the male body than you do…"
It took Cloud a moment to realize that her attention had completely wandered. He glanced over to find her staring intently at the far side of the bar where he saw a very familiar figure wiping down the tables. "Tifa?"
"You know her?" Elena asked without looking away.
"Yeah, she's from Nibelheim too." What the hell?
"Well then." Elena slid to her feet, set her beer down deliberately, and straightened her clothes before yanking Cloud off his stool. "Introduce us."
"What?"
She pushed him towards Tifa. He stumbled a few times before finding his feet.
"Tifa?"
"Yes, can I help - Cloud?" When she turned and saw him, her eyes widened and her face split into a grin. Cloud felt an answering smile on his own face and didn't even flinch when she threw her arms around him. "Cloud, what're you doing here?"
"It's the weekend, ShinRa's letting the cadets off the leash for a little while. But what are you doing here?"
She laughed and put an arm behind her head sheepishly. "I might've been a little jealous of you getting out of the village, so a few months ago I convinced my dad to buy me tickets to get to Midgar and I've been working part-time here in the bar since then."
It was strange to hear another Nibel accent again. Cloud opened his mouth to say something about how hard it must've been to get Lockhart to let his only daughter go anywhere without a chaperone, but a hard elbow nudged him in the spine. Suppressing a wince, he said, "Tifa, I'd like you to meet Elena. She's in my squad. Elena, this is Tifa Lockhart."
Elena slid smoothly past him and took Tifa's gloved hand with an easy smile and a small toss of her long blonde hair. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Tifa. Cloud's told me so much about you."
He tried to look as though that were true.
"Oh dear, I hope it was all good," Tifa laughed, and Elena's smile turned lazy as she replied, "Oh, it was all good."
Cloud stayed where he was and tried to keep his jaw from dropping.
Tifa was blushing slightly as Elena skillfully maneuvered her to a table and sat her down, all the while looking perfectly innocent and earnest. Cloud sat backwards in a chair, resting his forearms along its back, and watched.
"So what do you think of Midgar?" Elena was asking, voice pitched just right to be friendly without being nosy.
"It's different. I mean, there are so many people! And there aren't any monsters to worry about, no wolves or dragons wandering too close to the buildings. It's so busy…um. Sorry, I sound like such a country girl," and her flush darkened. Cloud had the feeling that she didn't see how predatory Elena's smile was becoming.
"Nah, don't worry about it, Tifa. Midgar's got people from all over, your accent is hardly anything compared to some of the others. Even if Cloud doesn't think so."
Snorting, Cloud explained, "My squadmates still give me shit for being from the country. It's not my fault they're all so horrible with our survival classes."
Tifa laughed, and the three of them sat for a time just talking. Cloud was content to add the occasional commentary to Elena's conversation while Tifa smiled and gasped in all the right places, but mostly he just watched from the outside in. Tifa was still reserved, more inclined to simply listen to Elena - which suited the blonde just fine, of course, her attention fixed on the other girl as she embellished her tales almost beyond the point of recognition.
"Cloud, you didn't!" Tifa suddenly cried, smacking him on the arm.
"No, I never put on women's clothing," he deadpanned.
Elena stuck out her tongue. "Denial isn't attractive, y'know. What would Sephiroth say?"
"Sephiroth? General Sephiroth?" Tifa echoed confusedly.
"Um," said Elena, but Cloud was saved from having to respond by someone yelling his name halfway across the bar.
"Zack?"
"Cloud, how could you!" boomed the SOLDIER as he draped himself against Cloud's shoulders and smooshed him against the back of the chair, wrapping long arms around him and hooking his chin over the blond's shoulder. Confused by the unexpected contact, breath catching at the sudden familiar smell of Zack, Cloud had to consciously tell himself to relax before he tried to twist away. "I try to find you up at HQ but your squad buddies are all like 'he isn't here, sir' and I'm like 'where on earth would Cloud go besides a gym or classroom because he's a dork like that' and they're like 'Elena took him to the Seventh Heaven, sir' and I'm like 'why' and they're like 'because he didn't tell her that she missed his birthday'. Which is not cool, because dude. Birthday."
"But his birthday was back in August," Tifa pointed out, and was immediately pinned in place by two stares.
"You told her but not us?" Elena gasped, wounded.
"I grew up with her, Elena, of course she'd know," he grunted against the weight on his back. "Tifa, this is Lieutenant Zack Fair, SOLDIER Second. Zack, this is Tifa Lockhart. She's from Nibelheim too."
Cloud could feel Zack's grin against the side of his own face as the SOLDIER stuck out a hand without bothering to stand. "Nice to meet you, Tifa. I'll have to find you later so you can give me all the good blackmail on Cloud here."
"Not if I get there first," Elena said sweetly, and Cloud wished he stop himself blushing.
"You girls mind if I steal Cloud for a bit? I promise to get him home before midnight."
"Wait, what - "
"Of course not! Have fun, you two!" Elena waved cheerfully, utterly ignoring Cloud and Tifa's bewilderment. Cloud was hauled out of his chair and propelled towards the door, though not fast enough to miss hearing Elena comment, "If the lieutenant didn't already have a girl, I'd say those two were totally doing each other."
Zack tripped over his own feet. Cloud shared the sentiment.
"What the hell, Zack? I haven't seen Tifa in ages."
"She's living in Midgar, isn't she? She'll still be here later."
Cloud knew he was sulking as Zack led him by through the crowds of Sector Seven towards Sector Six. He didn't notice that even when the crowds thinned, Zack never released his wrist until they had to go through the hole in the wall behind the playground, and then all he could think about was how Aeris' house must be similar to what the Forgotten Capital had been like in its golden age. Patches of yellow flowers dotted the uneven terrain around the small, cozy house, effectively hiding what Cloud knew had once been a trash heap.
Aeris was standing on the front step as though expecting them. She held an apple in one hand and a peeler in the other, which she waved in the air as they approached. "There you two are! Mom and I have been waiting ages."
For a heartbreaking moment Cloud thought she meant Ifalna before he remembered Elmyra. He hung back, absently smiling, as Zack wrapped his arms around Aeris' waist and spun her in circles, making her squeal with laughter and cheerfully smack him with the blunt side of her fruit peeler. After he stole a kiss and set her back on her feet, Aeris turned to Cloud and held out her arms. "Well, come here, silly!"
Blinking, Cloud obediently stepped forward and hugged her gingerly. She huffed, wriggled out of his hold to hand her apple and peeler to Zack, then threw her arms around Cloud's neck and pressed herself against him.
"Er," he said.
"This is how you're supposed to hug someone," she told the curve of his shoulder. "Now get inside, both of you, we should help my mum finish her pies."
"Pies!" Zack crowed, narrowly missing Cloud's head with the apple.
…
Aeris sat at the kitchen table and watched the boys get bossed around by her mother. Zack had been set to work mixing ingredients in a large white bowl with a spatula, making him pull a long face at the boring job. Elmyra chopped the peeled apples while keeping an eye on Cloud, who was laying dough into shallow pans and crimping the edges. He was conscientious and careful and didn't seem to need much help. Aeris wondered if he'd done something like this with his own mother.
"How come she likes Cloud, but not me? He works for ShinRa too, y'know," Zack whispered across the kitchen table, and Aeris giggled at his petulance without taking her eyes off Cloud. The boy was listening to something Elmyra said before nodding and replying with a respectful, "Yes, ma'am." Unlike the first time they'd met, the Planet was quiet, content to hum quietly inside of him like a giant housecat.
"Because you don't need the same things that Cloud does," she murmured absently, distracted by the Planet's purring. Zack poked at a few stubborn lumps of sugar in the mix thoughtfully.
"You said he's a Cetra too, right? Do you think…was he in Hojo's lab too?"
She blinked and finally looked away from the interaction in the kitchen. "What makes you think that?"
"I think he and Sephiroth knew each other a long time ago, so I thought that if Cloud was like you, well. Even though he says he isn't. Maybe he was there?"
Timid as his voice was, Aeris smiled to let him know that she wasn't angry about him bringing up those memories. "I don't ever remember seeing him, but he might've been kept in another part of the lab. It was a long time ago, too, so maybe I just don't remember at all."
"I feel like I'm missing something that's right in front of my face," Zack said quietly. "It's annoying. There's something going on between him and Sephiroth, and Sephiroth's told me a little - more than most people know, actually - and Cloud isn't exactly a talker himself. These nightmares he gets, and the effect he has on Genesis…"
Seeing Elmyra still distracted by Cloud (Cloud was hardly an inch taller than her and Aeris made a mental note to tease him about that), Aeris leaned across the table and took one of the SOLDIER's hands. He sounded frustrated, but sad, too. "Are you worried about him?"
"Well, yeah," he said. "I mean, look at him. He's like this little package of, of on a mission and I've got a lot of weight on my shoulders but won't admit it and, I dunno."
Aeris had been with Zack long enough to understand what he was trying to say. "Well, that's when you decide if you think he's worth sticking around or not. If he isn't, then bug out before either of you gets hurt. But if he is, then all you can do is your best."
Zack watched Cloud coax Elmyra into taking a break so he could take over the apple slicing. The SOLDIER said slowly, "I haven't really known him long, y'know. But the way he looks at me…and you too, for that matter, it's like. Like he's really seeing you. It's weird, but I think he might really be worth whatever happens."
Aeris listened as the Planet continued humming through the oblivious Cloud.
…
The burn scar on the side of Hojo's face was itching uncomfortably when one of his assistants came to his side. "Sir," the man said (Hojo didn't know his name, but it hardly mattered when ShinRa sent him a constant stream of incompetent help), "I think you might be interested in this."
"Will it solve the problem of finding a way to introduce higher amounts of mako into a human body without breaking the cellular walls? Will it find a way around the finite ATP-producing capabilities of a mitochondrion?" he demanded irritably, taking a step back when his latest specimen oozed too much fluid and it spilled over the edge of the table. Useless.
"It might," the assistant said forcefully. He was obviously unsettled by the results of the failed experiment, which was just one more indication that the assistant would never rise to the position of a true scientist, but at least his face was determined.
"Well?" Hojo went over to a sink to rinse the blood from his gloves. "What is it, then?"
"There's a rumor going around the cadet barracks that one of the newer recruits already has mako - "
"Impossible, I would've known about it."
A short pause, then, "It seems the mako didn't come from an official source. I took the liberty of ordering a copy of the cadet's medical records from Dr Libra's office."
"From the man himself?" Hojo didn't like him. He was far too soft a personality to be an effective doctor in such a high position, even after having served in Wutai, and made no secret of his distaste for Hojo's methods. One would think that a battlefield would kill off such weakness.
"No, one of the other doctors under his direction. Apparently Libra's been checking up on the boy regularly himself. Here are his notes."
Hojo flicked water from his gloves and took the proffered papers, skimming them. He didn't realize that his fingers were tightening on the pages.
"You're absolutely sure that this is correct? This is complete?"
"Yes, sir."
If the assistant wasn't lying and if Libra wasn't as incompetent as his manner suggested, then this cadet had been poisoned with mako at a very young age and assimilated it with negligible mental side effects. His mind hadn't snapped and his mitochondria were obviously in fine condition, if he was still breathing. Flipping to the basic information on the cadet's profile, Hojo's eyes froze on a single word.
Nibelheim. There was no such thing as coincidence in Hojo's science.
"I want this cadet in my office by the end of the week. Make it happen."
"Yes, sir, but…"
Canting a sidelong look at the assistant, Hojo sneered. "Do it and you get a raise. Work it out with the payroll people, it's what they're there for."
Maybe the assistant wasn't useless, but he was no man of science; just another bottom-feeder trying to profit from something he didn't understand.
…
Later that same Saturday, Cloud and Elena were sitting in one of the small courtyards that dotted the ShinRa complex. There were no plants, but there were benches arranged around a fountain under the open sky, and at that time of the evening there was no one else around. Cloud wrapped both hands around his paper cup, warmed by coffee that was only slightly burned, while Elena sprawled across two-thirds of the bench and rested her head on his leg. It was warm and muggy with the slow transition from summer to autumn.
"So. Tifa?" Cloud said as the silence stretched unusually long for Elena being around.
The girl huffed and bit her lip and made a face before finally shrugging. "Well, I've always said brunettes were the most attractive."
"About the same time you got me drunk and molested me?" said Cloud casually, and grinned when Elena had to twist her arm awkwardly to smack him.
"You were better than nothing, asshole."
He hummed noncommittally. "I guess I drove you away from men, then?"
"No," Elena barked irritably. She wriggled on the bench a bit before admitting, "No, it's just…um. She's. Like, really hot. You know?"
"Yes," Cloud said dryly.
"I don't know, it's not like I've bothered to look at other girls. They're annoying, and I'm straight, damnit. Except Tifa's just - different. I think. Gods, she's got killer legs but it's like she doesn't even realize it, y'know?"
"She doesn't, most of the time," Cloud agreed mildly, thinking of Tifa's awkwardness the time she wore a satin dress the night before he left the village, the short skirts that were at odds with the knuckles made large with training, how easily she adapted to rare showers and the dirt of constant travel when they chased Sephiroth around the world.
Elena fell silent. Cloud sipped his coffee patiently.
"I hate being a teenager," she muttered. "Shit like this isn't supposed to happen."
"It's not the end of the world," and there was no way he could keep out the heavy note of irony. "Elena, it doesn't have to be a big deal if you don't want it to be."
"Tell that to my father. He's bad enough when I bring a guy home."
"At least you won't get pregnant."
Her burst of laughter nearly knocked the coffee out of hands, and he quickly raised his arms until she settled again. "How do you do it?"
"Do what?"
"Not care about this stuff."
Cloud tilted his head back to look up at the night sky, tinted orange by the city's light pollution. "Just doesn't really seem that important. People are dying, there's a war starting under the Plate with the Wutaian refugees, I'm sending home the allowance that ShinRa gives its cadets so my mum can afford better food and fabric for her sewing. There are so many other things to worry about than getting off."
She leaned her head back to see him properly, the back of her skull digging into the meat of his thigh. "You don't want that, what's it called, that 'human connection' or whatever?"
Hard to say when one wasn't even quite sure he was human anymore. Didn't know what he was and not sure he wanted to. On a good day, maybe he was, but sometimes he was something that shouldn't have ever existed. Hard to say when he'd seen sex used as both a weapon and a comfort and sometimes both at once.
He shrugged. "Elena, it doesn't matter to me what you decide you are. But if you hurt Tifa, I'll hurt you."
"That macho bullshit doesn't work so well with you, you know."
Cloud didn't even bother acknowledging that, and this time, when the silence returned, it was comfortable. The back of Elena's neck was warm, her long hair spilling over into his lap without embarrassment, and who needed sex when this kind of intimacy was possible? For a moment he sharply missed Fenrir and the way the wolf would curl against his back at night.
"Did you hear that?" he asked suddenly, tilting his head to listen more carefully. Midgar was never really quiet, with the trains and crowds and creaking of skyscrapers, but he swore he'd heard something underneath all that.
"Hear what?" Elena sat up, reaching for the very much illegal firearm under her coat. She'd probably stolen it just to see if she could and carried it because she shouldn't.
Cloud set down his coffee and reached for the small knife he always carried in his boot. "I don't know, I - "
Hands grabbed Elena and yanked her off the bench so roughly that her pistol spun uselessly away into the courtyard. Cloud was up and moving before they could grab him, falling into a roll and coming up on his feet behind their attackers. Four men, he identified immediately, two trying to hold down a hissing and spitting Elena and two more after Cloud. They were too slow turning, were probably surprised by Cloud's sudden action, and he was able to stab one from behind in the kidney before the second grabbed his shoulder. Holding on to the dying man, Cloud twisted sharply and knocked the second attacker away with sheer force of momentum before letting the body drop dead to the ground. The Planet writhed in the back of his head at the violating murder, briefly distracting him with a sharp flare of pain.
"Get the fuck off of me!" Elena was screaming. She managed to kick in the knee of one of her attackers before getting pinned to the ground, head held still by large hands gripping her hair and pulling until she was nearly scalped.
Cloud's world narrowed down to the simple directive kill or be killed. He saw Elena, nearly sobbing with helpless fury, and he saw an enemy, and his grip on the blood-slick knife tightened. The man that he'd knocked away had gotten back to his feet, but then Cloud's knife found his throat.
"Drop your weapon or we kill the girl!" one of the men holding Elena yelled, but Cloud was faster. The third man was dead by the time he hit the ground, and the fourth didn't even hesitate to release Elena and take off running. Cloud threw his knife, but long-range fighting had never been his specialty and so he only managed to stick the man in the side and not the throat, as he'd intended. And then the man was gone.
Cloud was left standing with three bodies and a crying Elena. He looked at her blankly for a moment, his mind still racing with adrenaline -
Then he remembered to breathe.
"Elena," he murmured, falling to his knees and pulling her into his arms, "Elena, it's all right, they're gone."
The girl sobbed into his shoulder, shaking with anger and shock. It had all happened so fast, and so completely from left field, and Cloud was forcefully reminded that Elena was still a teenager. He was feeling very old as he fumbled for his PHS, keeping one arm around Elena's shoulders as he punched in a number.
"Fifi's Massage Parlor, where all your dreams - "
"Zack, I need you to get down to the first-floor courtyard right now," Cloud said evenly. "Elena and I were attacked."
"Holy shit, Cloud."
"Just get here, Zack, please," he repeated tiredly, then hung up his PHS and put his other arm around Elena as well.
…
Zack wouldn't forget the details of that night for a very long time.
By the time he managed to get down to the courtyard, less than ten minutes had passed. Under the stark yellow light of the streetlamp he found Elena curled in the circle of Cloud's arms, trembling, with the unmistakable shape of three bodies and enough blood to fill a bathtub staining the pavement. It never ceased to amaze the SOLDIER just how much blood was in a human body.
He'd been talking with Angeal for the first time since the Banora mission when he got Cloud's call. Uncomfortable, his heart already twisted up because of the man that'd been his hero for so long, Zack had immediately called Sephiroth while Angeal followed him to the elevators. Sephiroth remained eerily quiet while Zack related what little he knew, then commanded that Cloud and Elena be taken to Dr Libra's infirmary as discretely as possible. Zack wondered if Sephiroth's paranoia about Hojo was being proven.
"Cloud, what the hell happened?" he demanded, kneeling next to the duo and looking them both over. He couldn't see any obvious injuries, although it looked like Elena's hair had been yanked hard enough to leave blood at her hairline.
"We were sitting on the bench when four men came out of nowhere," Cloud said lowly. "Two went for Elena and held her down. The other two went for me. I killed three but one escaped." He cursed softly. "Damnit, that fucker's got my knife, too."
Zack wasn't sure if he should approve of Cloud keeping track of where his weapons went or disturbed that he was capable of doing so. "Did you know them?"
"No, and they didn't say anything."
Which suggested it wasn't something personal or a sick prank. "Who the hell did you manage to piss off now, kiddo?"
The rhetorical half-joking question made Cloud's mouth twist. Angeal, inspecting the three bodies, said, "I recognize them. They're the Regulars that Hojo has assigned to his own command."
Zack blinked. "A scientist can do that?"
"A scientist in Hojo's position, yes," the general replied softly, and he turned to Cloud. "They were killed very efficiently."
"They were hurting Elena," he said.
Angeal smiled slightly. Elena had stopped crying and was now just sitting with her face pressed into Cloud's shoulder.
"I'll take care of these bodies. Zack, will you get them both to the infirmary? I'm sure Sephiroth is out of his mind by now."
Cloud twitched. "Sephiroth?"
"I called him on the way down," Zack told him. "He was real quiet."
The blond muttered something under his breath that made Angeal snort. With Zack's help, he got Elena to stand up, and she stared at the ground while hugging herself.
"Elena?" Cloud tried gently, but she didn't respond. It looked like he was going to reach out for her again before he noticed the blood liberally streaking his arms and clothes and winced.
"C'mon, let's get you both cleaned up." Zack put a hand on Elena's shoulder to steer her and put his whole arm around Cloud's shoulders. He was a little shaken to realize that Cloud could've died or disappeared and he wouldn't have even known.
…
By the time Sephiroth could get off shift without being suspicious and be down in the infirmary, he was ready to kill something with anxiety. He knew Cloud could take care of himself - hell, Cloud had once been more than a match for Sephiroth himself, apparently - but the blond was only fifteen now and in a mortal body and could make perfectly human mistakes like anyone else and. Yes. Just breathe.
"General," Dr Libra said with some surprise as Sephiroth swept through the infirmary doors and into his office. "Is something wrong?"
"I'm here to see Cloud. Strife, that is." Damn it. Be professional.
The doctor's brow wrinkled and a cold knot of fear began twisting up Sephiroth inside. "Private Strife hasn't been here since his bi-monthly exam last week."
"Are you certain?"
"Yes, sir, I always treat him myself."
But Sephiroth was already storming away with his phone in hand, mentally willing Zack to pick up on the other end. When he was taken to voicemail, he snapped the phone closed and strode on faster.
…
If Cloud had a gil for every time he woke up disoriented and with a pounding head, he'd have been able to buy that summer house in Costa del Sol and probably the whole damn town at the same time. Instead of panicking, he waited for the screeching in his head to die down to a dull roar before opening his eyes very slowly, letting them adjust to the light.
Except that the light was intense, forcing them closed again. So he tested his limbs, pleased to feel them respond but confused when he realized that they were strapped down to a hard surface. Infirmary, he must've had another night-terror and been taken to Libra, except he didn't remember going to sleep. He'd spent the evening with Zack and Aeris, and then came back to the ShinRa compound to hang out with Elena in one of the little courtyards, ended up talking about sexuality, of all things…there was a fight, he think they must've been attacked…blood, but that was nothing new…Zack, Zack was there, and Angeal? Yes, Angeal was going to take care of the bodies while Zack took Cloud and Elena to the infirmary, except…they never got there. There'd been a commotion, Elena yelling and the flash of Zack's buster sword.
"You're awake. Finally. I was beginning to think that the incompetence of my inferiors was beginning to outweigh their occasional usefulness."
The voice, that voice that was like sandpaper on the inside of his skin.
Cloud woke up in a lab.
chapter 10 || main post || chapter 12
…
The following morning, all of Cloud's squadmates were off in the gym or cafeteria or lounging around until an officer caught them, leaving him alone in the room. Or he would've been, if Zack hadn't decided that he had unlimited access to Cloud's bed and was sprawled over the scratchy cover like a lazy cat. The blond was trying very hard not to stare, to memorize every one of the man's movements like a creepy stalker.
Zack, meanwhile, had been watching Cloud read the same textbook page over and over for the last several minutes and was wondering when the kid was going to give up. When it looked like Cloud was set on out-stubborning him, he said, "What're you studying for?"
"Passing classes is one of the requirements for SOLDIER," Cloud pointed out quietly, and Zack huffed.
"Well, yeah, but shouldn't you be out with your 'mates right now?"
I'd rather be here with you, Cloud didn't say. "I'm fine." He paused, then dared, "Um, why are you here?"
He knew without having to look that Zack would be shrugging as best he could while horizontal, expression sheepish. "What, I can't just be hanging out?"
Cloud gave him a wry glance. Zack shrugged again, more somberly. "I've been seeing you around a lot lately, y'know, but I don't know anything about you other than that you have nightmares, know things that could probably get you killed, and are short."
"Hey," Cloud protested before he could stop himself, and Zack grinned.
"So, Nibelheim, huh? Western continent? What's it like?"
"Cold," Cloud replied slowly, confused. "Lots of snow."
"Does everyone speak the language you were using earlier? In the infirmary?"
It took a moment but then Cloud flushed. "I didn't realize I was doing that."
"Hey man, nothing to be ashamed about. Sometimes I wish I'd actually paid attention to my grandpa when he was still alive, he was fluent in old Gongagan."
"My mum taught it to me," Cloud admitted, self-conscious.
"Tell me something."
"Huh?" said Cloud intelligently.
Zack flailed his outstretched arms a bit. "I mean, anything. Here, I'll go first. My favorite color is green."
Cloud wondered if it was because of Aeris' eyes. Green just made him think of mako and, yeah, not thinking about that. "Purple," he countered randomly, closing his textbook and tilting his body in the uncomfortable desk chair to face Zack more fully. It wasn't like he didn't know about Zack's spontaneous moments of whimsy, but that didn't always make them any less startling.
"Swords are the best, none of this long-distance rifle stuff."
"I agree." Cloud smiled a little.
Zack face scrunched up in thought. "Tseng's creepy as hell."
"Also agree," Cloud said with a small snicker. "Then again, Turk."
"True. Uh. Girls wearing hiking boots with pink dresses are hot."
"Aren't you rather biased?"
"So?"
"Good point," Cloud acceded, then dared to put out one of his own. "Autumn is the best season."
"Lies!" Zack cried dramatically. "Spring. Or maybe summer. No, spring, in summer Gongaga gets like a hundred-twenty degrees and swarms of bugs that always try to eat your flesh. Okay, so I take it back - the best weapon is bug-spray because, man, I value my flesh, thank you."
Cloud ducked his head, hiding the apparently permanent smile behind his hair.
The pause was somewhere between awkward and relaxed, like acquaintances wanting to get to know each other but not quite sure where to go. Finally, Zack said, "So, fairy tales?"
"What do you mean?"
"The book you gave Sephiroth. Some crazy titles in there."
Cloud shifted in his chair, self-conscious all over again. It wasn't like he was ashamed of his mother's insistence on family customs, but it wasn't something to which he'd really paid attention before and he got the feeling that, in the age of ShinRa technology, it wasn't a very popular idea. "They're stories from my…ancestors, I guess. The people that lived n the Nibel Mountains before ShinRa decided to build a reactor there. It's not a huge thing, but my mum, she's. Uh."
"Traditional?" Zack supplied.
"I guess that's one way to put it," he said dryly. "Sephiroth's been in Nibelheim before, so I thought he'd like it. Which is silly, I know, but he's never really had anything that wasn't meant solely to be functional, and - "
"Hey, I'm not judging. So, what's your favorite?"
"I don't really have one."
"Aw, c'mon. Pick one."
"Er. Well, my mum's rather fond of the story of Týr and Fenrir. Fenrir was this giant wolf that the gods kept trying to chain down, but he broke out each time. So the dvergar - uh, dwarves, I guess - made a silken rope out six impossible things, and Fenrir agreed to be tied down with it only if one of the gods sacrificed a hand. So Týr, who's a warrior of honesty and courage and stuff, volunteered, and Fenrir bit off his right hand when he was chained up. Supposedly at the end of the world, Týr will be killed by the giant hound of Hel, one of the death goddesses."
"…Huh," said Zack, and Cloud flushed again.
"I think it's his willingness to lay down his life for the sake of others that makes her like it so much." Courage, he thought. Truth, honor, fidelity, discipline, hospitality, industriousness, self-reliance, perseverance. When does someone decide that some sacrifices aren't worth it? Where does someone draw the line between the courage of dying willingly and the courage to keep living? "She always says that our family's blessed by Hel, though, so even after all these years I'm still not really sure where she's coming from."
Zack was looking at him like he was seeing something he hadn't expected. Cloud wasn't really sure what to make of it, so he glanced down and idly picked at the cotton of his uniform trousers. "Do you have anything like that in Gongaga?" he asked, although he already knew, vaguely remembered long hours of Zack talking about anything and everything through the mako tubes until his voice was raw.
"Nah, we've just got the Touch Me frogs," and Cloud laughed aloud.
…
TO: Reeve Tuesti, Department of Urban Development, Director
FROM: General Sephiroth, Department of Civilian Defense
SUBJECT: Structural Support
Director Tuesti,
It has been brought to my attention from a number of my subordinates that there is an element of instability in the structural support of the Plate. I feel it is a matter best addressed jointly by our departments.
- General Sephiroth, SOLDIER 1st
…
TO: General Sephiroth, Department of Civilian Defense
FROM: Reeve Tuesti, Department of Urban Development, Director
SUBJECT: RE: Structural Support
General Sephiroth,
If there is indeed a danger to the Plate, I would like to discuss with you the evidence and possible solutions to the problem as soon as possible. The safety of the company and the people are of utmost importance. Please send me a timetable of your preferred available times to meet.
Sincerely,
Reeve
…
"I missed your birthday?"
It was the weekend, a few days after Cloud had spilled himself to Sephiroth, and Cloud had just discovered that having a friend like Elena who could and would hack into otherwise private files could be rather annoying.
"It's not a big deal."
"Dude, it was three months ago and you didn't tell me. How could I have missed your birthday?"
"Because I didn't tell you?" he ventured.
"Exactly! How could you!"
Cloud automatically ducked the blow to the back of his head but wasn't able to avoid being manhandled him to his dresser. The few other cadets in the room were snickering as Cloud tried, "Elena, what - "
"Get dressed. Not in a uniform, mind you, or those manky things you call clothes and everyone else calls rags. We're going down to the Seventh Heaven again."
"But - "
"You didn't tell me about your birthday, so you owe me this. Here." She flung a pair of cheap black slacks at him, the kind issued to cadets for formal functions, a simple white button-down shirt, and a clean undershirt, similar to what she was wearing herself. "Put these on."
"But - "
She leaned against his bunk with her arms crossed and face stony. Cloud sighed and bid a fond farewell to his plans of training all day on his own. He didn't even think twice about people being in the same room as he efficiently changed his clothes, but when he turned back around, Elena's stoniness had turned lascivious.
"I have got to get laid," she said, eyeballing him. Cloud just rolled his eyes, and so it was that early on a Saturday evening he found himself sitting at the counter in Seventh Heaven nursing a beer and smiling at Elena's wild stories.
"So Kelga is hanging outside my window, right, and he's butt-naked while Dad's tearing up my room trying to find the guy, and I'm freaking out at this point. So by the time Dad gives up and leaves and Kelga crawls back through the window, his balls are literally blue."
"That doesn't actually happen, you know," Cloud said as he took a long pull.
"Does too, I saw it. You might be seventeen now, but you're about as horny as a monk."
He wondered if he should tell her that he'd snuck into the army two years under the age limit and was actually fifteen, but dismissed it. "I wouldn't say that if I were you. I've heard stories about monks."
"Ha, yeah, right, you're just saying that because you don't want to admit that I know more about the male body than you do…"
It took Cloud a moment to realize that her attention had completely wandered. He glanced over to find her staring intently at the far side of the bar where he saw a very familiar figure wiping down the tables. "Tifa?"
"You know her?" Elena asked without looking away.
"Yeah, she's from Nibelheim too." What the hell?
"Well then." Elena slid to her feet, set her beer down deliberately, and straightened her clothes before yanking Cloud off his stool. "Introduce us."
"What?"
She pushed him towards Tifa. He stumbled a few times before finding his feet.
"Tifa?"
"Yes, can I help - Cloud?" When she turned and saw him, her eyes widened and her face split into a grin. Cloud felt an answering smile on his own face and didn't even flinch when she threw her arms around him. "Cloud, what're you doing here?"
"It's the weekend, ShinRa's letting the cadets off the leash for a little while. But what are you doing here?"
She laughed and put an arm behind her head sheepishly. "I might've been a little jealous of you getting out of the village, so a few months ago I convinced my dad to buy me tickets to get to Midgar and I've been working part-time here in the bar since then."
It was strange to hear another Nibel accent again. Cloud opened his mouth to say something about how hard it must've been to get Lockhart to let his only daughter go anywhere without a chaperone, but a hard elbow nudged him in the spine. Suppressing a wince, he said, "Tifa, I'd like you to meet Elena. She's in my squad. Elena, this is Tifa Lockhart."
Elena slid smoothly past him and took Tifa's gloved hand with an easy smile and a small toss of her long blonde hair. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Tifa. Cloud's told me so much about you."
He tried to look as though that were true.
"Oh dear, I hope it was all good," Tifa laughed, and Elena's smile turned lazy as she replied, "Oh, it was all good."
Cloud stayed where he was and tried to keep his jaw from dropping.
Tifa was blushing slightly as Elena skillfully maneuvered her to a table and sat her down, all the while looking perfectly innocent and earnest. Cloud sat backwards in a chair, resting his forearms along its back, and watched.
"So what do you think of Midgar?" Elena was asking, voice pitched just right to be friendly without being nosy.
"It's different. I mean, there are so many people! And there aren't any monsters to worry about, no wolves or dragons wandering too close to the buildings. It's so busy…um. Sorry, I sound like such a country girl," and her flush darkened. Cloud had the feeling that she didn't see how predatory Elena's smile was becoming.
"Nah, don't worry about it, Tifa. Midgar's got people from all over, your accent is hardly anything compared to some of the others. Even if Cloud doesn't think so."
Snorting, Cloud explained, "My squadmates still give me shit for being from the country. It's not my fault they're all so horrible with our survival classes."
Tifa laughed, and the three of them sat for a time just talking. Cloud was content to add the occasional commentary to Elena's conversation while Tifa smiled and gasped in all the right places, but mostly he just watched from the outside in. Tifa was still reserved, more inclined to simply listen to Elena - which suited the blonde just fine, of course, her attention fixed on the other girl as she embellished her tales almost beyond the point of recognition.
"Cloud, you didn't!" Tifa suddenly cried, smacking him on the arm.
"No, I never put on women's clothing," he deadpanned.
Elena stuck out her tongue. "Denial isn't attractive, y'know. What would Sephiroth say?"
"Sephiroth? General Sephiroth?" Tifa echoed confusedly.
"Um," said Elena, but Cloud was saved from having to respond by someone yelling his name halfway across the bar.
"Zack?"
"Cloud, how could you!" boomed the SOLDIER as he draped himself against Cloud's shoulders and smooshed him against the back of the chair, wrapping long arms around him and hooking his chin over the blond's shoulder. Confused by the unexpected contact, breath catching at the sudden familiar smell of Zack, Cloud had to consciously tell himself to relax before he tried to twist away. "I try to find you up at HQ but your squad buddies are all like 'he isn't here, sir' and I'm like 'where on earth would Cloud go besides a gym or classroom because he's a dork like that' and they're like 'Elena took him to the Seventh Heaven, sir' and I'm like 'why' and they're like 'because he didn't tell her that she missed his birthday'. Which is not cool, because dude. Birthday."
"But his birthday was back in August," Tifa pointed out, and was immediately pinned in place by two stares.
"You told her but not us?" Elena gasped, wounded.
"I grew up with her, Elena, of course she'd know," he grunted against the weight on his back. "Tifa, this is Lieutenant Zack Fair, SOLDIER Second. Zack, this is Tifa Lockhart. She's from Nibelheim too."
Cloud could feel Zack's grin against the side of his own face as the SOLDIER stuck out a hand without bothering to stand. "Nice to meet you, Tifa. I'll have to find you later so you can give me all the good blackmail on Cloud here."
"Not if I get there first," Elena said sweetly, and Cloud wished he stop himself blushing.
"You girls mind if I steal Cloud for a bit? I promise to get him home before midnight."
"Wait, what - "
"Of course not! Have fun, you two!" Elena waved cheerfully, utterly ignoring Cloud and Tifa's bewilderment. Cloud was hauled out of his chair and propelled towards the door, though not fast enough to miss hearing Elena comment, "If the lieutenant didn't already have a girl, I'd say those two were totally doing each other."
Zack tripped over his own feet. Cloud shared the sentiment.
"What the hell, Zack? I haven't seen Tifa in ages."
"She's living in Midgar, isn't she? She'll still be here later."
Cloud knew he was sulking as Zack led him by through the crowds of Sector Seven towards Sector Six. He didn't notice that even when the crowds thinned, Zack never released his wrist until they had to go through the hole in the wall behind the playground, and then all he could think about was how Aeris' house must be similar to what the Forgotten Capital had been like in its golden age. Patches of yellow flowers dotted the uneven terrain around the small, cozy house, effectively hiding what Cloud knew had once been a trash heap.
Aeris was standing on the front step as though expecting them. She held an apple in one hand and a peeler in the other, which she waved in the air as they approached. "There you two are! Mom and I have been waiting ages."
For a heartbreaking moment Cloud thought she meant Ifalna before he remembered Elmyra. He hung back, absently smiling, as Zack wrapped his arms around Aeris' waist and spun her in circles, making her squeal with laughter and cheerfully smack him with the blunt side of her fruit peeler. After he stole a kiss and set her back on her feet, Aeris turned to Cloud and held out her arms. "Well, come here, silly!"
Blinking, Cloud obediently stepped forward and hugged her gingerly. She huffed, wriggled out of his hold to hand her apple and peeler to Zack, then threw her arms around Cloud's neck and pressed herself against him.
"Er," he said.
"This is how you're supposed to hug someone," she told the curve of his shoulder. "Now get inside, both of you, we should help my mum finish her pies."
"Pies!" Zack crowed, narrowly missing Cloud's head with the apple.
…
Aeris sat at the kitchen table and watched the boys get bossed around by her mother. Zack had been set to work mixing ingredients in a large white bowl with a spatula, making him pull a long face at the boring job. Elmyra chopped the peeled apples while keeping an eye on Cloud, who was laying dough into shallow pans and crimping the edges. He was conscientious and careful and didn't seem to need much help. Aeris wondered if he'd done something like this with his own mother.
"How come she likes Cloud, but not me? He works for ShinRa too, y'know," Zack whispered across the kitchen table, and Aeris giggled at his petulance without taking her eyes off Cloud. The boy was listening to something Elmyra said before nodding and replying with a respectful, "Yes, ma'am." Unlike the first time they'd met, the Planet was quiet, content to hum quietly inside of him like a giant housecat.
"Because you don't need the same things that Cloud does," she murmured absently, distracted by the Planet's purring. Zack poked at a few stubborn lumps of sugar in the mix thoughtfully.
"You said he's a Cetra too, right? Do you think…was he in Hojo's lab too?"
She blinked and finally looked away from the interaction in the kitchen. "What makes you think that?"
"I think he and Sephiroth knew each other a long time ago, so I thought that if Cloud was like you, well. Even though he says he isn't. Maybe he was there?"
Timid as his voice was, Aeris smiled to let him know that she wasn't angry about him bringing up those memories. "I don't ever remember seeing him, but he might've been kept in another part of the lab. It was a long time ago, too, so maybe I just don't remember at all."
"I feel like I'm missing something that's right in front of my face," Zack said quietly. "It's annoying. There's something going on between him and Sephiroth, and Sephiroth's told me a little - more than most people know, actually - and Cloud isn't exactly a talker himself. These nightmares he gets, and the effect he has on Genesis…"
Seeing Elmyra still distracted by Cloud (Cloud was hardly an inch taller than her and Aeris made a mental note to tease him about that), Aeris leaned across the table and took one of the SOLDIER's hands. He sounded frustrated, but sad, too. "Are you worried about him?"
"Well, yeah," he said. "I mean, look at him. He's like this little package of, of on a mission and I've got a lot of weight on my shoulders but won't admit it and, I dunno."
Aeris had been with Zack long enough to understand what he was trying to say. "Well, that's when you decide if you think he's worth sticking around or not. If he isn't, then bug out before either of you gets hurt. But if he is, then all you can do is your best."
Zack watched Cloud coax Elmyra into taking a break so he could take over the apple slicing. The SOLDIER said slowly, "I haven't really known him long, y'know. But the way he looks at me…and you too, for that matter, it's like. Like he's really seeing you. It's weird, but I think he might really be worth whatever happens."
Aeris listened as the Planet continued humming through the oblivious Cloud.
…
The burn scar on the side of Hojo's face was itching uncomfortably when one of his assistants came to his side. "Sir," the man said (Hojo didn't know his name, but it hardly mattered when ShinRa sent him a constant stream of incompetent help), "I think you might be interested in this."
"Will it solve the problem of finding a way to introduce higher amounts of mako into a human body without breaking the cellular walls? Will it find a way around the finite ATP-producing capabilities of a mitochondrion?" he demanded irritably, taking a step back when his latest specimen oozed too much fluid and it spilled over the edge of the table. Useless.
"It might," the assistant said forcefully. He was obviously unsettled by the results of the failed experiment, which was just one more indication that the assistant would never rise to the position of a true scientist, but at least his face was determined.
"Well?" Hojo went over to a sink to rinse the blood from his gloves. "What is it, then?"
"There's a rumor going around the cadet barracks that one of the newer recruits already has mako - "
"Impossible, I would've known about it."
A short pause, then, "It seems the mako didn't come from an official source. I took the liberty of ordering a copy of the cadet's medical records from Dr Libra's office."
"From the man himself?" Hojo didn't like him. He was far too soft a personality to be an effective doctor in such a high position, even after having served in Wutai, and made no secret of his distaste for Hojo's methods. One would think that a battlefield would kill off such weakness.
"No, one of the other doctors under his direction. Apparently Libra's been checking up on the boy regularly himself. Here are his notes."
Hojo flicked water from his gloves and took the proffered papers, skimming them. He didn't realize that his fingers were tightening on the pages.
"You're absolutely sure that this is correct? This is complete?"
"Yes, sir."
If the assistant wasn't lying and if Libra wasn't as incompetent as his manner suggested, then this cadet had been poisoned with mako at a very young age and assimilated it with negligible mental side effects. His mind hadn't snapped and his mitochondria were obviously in fine condition, if he was still breathing. Flipping to the basic information on the cadet's profile, Hojo's eyes froze on a single word.
Nibelheim. There was no such thing as coincidence in Hojo's science.
"I want this cadet in my office by the end of the week. Make it happen."
"Yes, sir, but…"
Canting a sidelong look at the assistant, Hojo sneered. "Do it and you get a raise. Work it out with the payroll people, it's what they're there for."
Maybe the assistant wasn't useless, but he was no man of science; just another bottom-feeder trying to profit from something he didn't understand.
…
Later that same Saturday, Cloud and Elena were sitting in one of the small courtyards that dotted the ShinRa complex. There were no plants, but there were benches arranged around a fountain under the open sky, and at that time of the evening there was no one else around. Cloud wrapped both hands around his paper cup, warmed by coffee that was only slightly burned, while Elena sprawled across two-thirds of the bench and rested her head on his leg. It was warm and muggy with the slow transition from summer to autumn.
"So. Tifa?" Cloud said as the silence stretched unusually long for Elena being around.
The girl huffed and bit her lip and made a face before finally shrugging. "Well, I've always said brunettes were the most attractive."
"About the same time you got me drunk and molested me?" said Cloud casually, and grinned when Elena had to twist her arm awkwardly to smack him.
"You were better than nothing, asshole."
He hummed noncommittally. "I guess I drove you away from men, then?"
"No," Elena barked irritably. She wriggled on the bench a bit before admitting, "No, it's just…um. She's. Like, really hot. You know?"
"Yes," Cloud said dryly.
"I don't know, it's not like I've bothered to look at other girls. They're annoying, and I'm straight, damnit. Except Tifa's just - different. I think. Gods, she's got killer legs but it's like she doesn't even realize it, y'know?"
"She doesn't, most of the time," Cloud agreed mildly, thinking of Tifa's awkwardness the time she wore a satin dress the night before he left the village, the short skirts that were at odds with the knuckles made large with training, how easily she adapted to rare showers and the dirt of constant travel when they chased Sephiroth around the world.
Elena fell silent. Cloud sipped his coffee patiently.
"I hate being a teenager," she muttered. "Shit like this isn't supposed to happen."
"It's not the end of the world," and there was no way he could keep out the heavy note of irony. "Elena, it doesn't have to be a big deal if you don't want it to be."
"Tell that to my father. He's bad enough when I bring a guy home."
"At least you won't get pregnant."
Her burst of laughter nearly knocked the coffee out of hands, and he quickly raised his arms until she settled again. "How do you do it?"
"Do what?"
"Not care about this stuff."
Cloud tilted his head back to look up at the night sky, tinted orange by the city's light pollution. "Just doesn't really seem that important. People are dying, there's a war starting under the Plate with the Wutaian refugees, I'm sending home the allowance that ShinRa gives its cadets so my mum can afford better food and fabric for her sewing. There are so many other things to worry about than getting off."
She leaned her head back to see him properly, the back of her skull digging into the meat of his thigh. "You don't want that, what's it called, that 'human connection' or whatever?"
Hard to say when one wasn't even quite sure he was human anymore. Didn't know what he was and not sure he wanted to. On a good day, maybe he was, but sometimes he was something that shouldn't have ever existed. Hard to say when he'd seen sex used as both a weapon and a comfort and sometimes both at once.
He shrugged. "Elena, it doesn't matter to me what you decide you are. But if you hurt Tifa, I'll hurt you."
"That macho bullshit doesn't work so well with you, you know."
Cloud didn't even bother acknowledging that, and this time, when the silence returned, it was comfortable. The back of Elena's neck was warm, her long hair spilling over into his lap without embarrassment, and who needed sex when this kind of intimacy was possible? For a moment he sharply missed Fenrir and the way the wolf would curl against his back at night.
"Did you hear that?" he asked suddenly, tilting his head to listen more carefully. Midgar was never really quiet, with the trains and crowds and creaking of skyscrapers, but he swore he'd heard something underneath all that.
"Hear what?" Elena sat up, reaching for the very much illegal firearm under her coat. She'd probably stolen it just to see if she could and carried it because she shouldn't.
Cloud set down his coffee and reached for the small knife he always carried in his boot. "I don't know, I - "
Hands grabbed Elena and yanked her off the bench so roughly that her pistol spun uselessly away into the courtyard. Cloud was up and moving before they could grab him, falling into a roll and coming up on his feet behind their attackers. Four men, he identified immediately, two trying to hold down a hissing and spitting Elena and two more after Cloud. They were too slow turning, were probably surprised by Cloud's sudden action, and he was able to stab one from behind in the kidney before the second grabbed his shoulder. Holding on to the dying man, Cloud twisted sharply and knocked the second attacker away with sheer force of momentum before letting the body drop dead to the ground. The Planet writhed in the back of his head at the violating murder, briefly distracting him with a sharp flare of pain.
"Get the fuck off of me!" Elena was screaming. She managed to kick in the knee of one of her attackers before getting pinned to the ground, head held still by large hands gripping her hair and pulling until she was nearly scalped.
Cloud's world narrowed down to the simple directive kill or be killed. He saw Elena, nearly sobbing with helpless fury, and he saw an enemy, and his grip on the blood-slick knife tightened. The man that he'd knocked away had gotten back to his feet, but then Cloud's knife found his throat.
"Drop your weapon or we kill the girl!" one of the men holding Elena yelled, but Cloud was faster. The third man was dead by the time he hit the ground, and the fourth didn't even hesitate to release Elena and take off running. Cloud threw his knife, but long-range fighting had never been his specialty and so he only managed to stick the man in the side and not the throat, as he'd intended. And then the man was gone.
Cloud was left standing with three bodies and a crying Elena. He looked at her blankly for a moment, his mind still racing with adrenaline -
Then he remembered to breathe.
"Elena," he murmured, falling to his knees and pulling her into his arms, "Elena, it's all right, they're gone."
The girl sobbed into his shoulder, shaking with anger and shock. It had all happened so fast, and so completely from left field, and Cloud was forcefully reminded that Elena was still a teenager. He was feeling very old as he fumbled for his PHS, keeping one arm around Elena's shoulders as he punched in a number.
"Fifi's Massage Parlor, where all your dreams - "
"Zack, I need you to get down to the first-floor courtyard right now," Cloud said evenly. "Elena and I were attacked."
"Holy shit, Cloud."
"Just get here, Zack, please," he repeated tiredly, then hung up his PHS and put his other arm around Elena as well.
…
Zack wouldn't forget the details of that night for a very long time.
By the time he managed to get down to the courtyard, less than ten minutes had passed. Under the stark yellow light of the streetlamp he found Elena curled in the circle of Cloud's arms, trembling, with the unmistakable shape of three bodies and enough blood to fill a bathtub staining the pavement. It never ceased to amaze the SOLDIER just how much blood was in a human body.
He'd been talking with Angeal for the first time since the Banora mission when he got Cloud's call. Uncomfortable, his heart already twisted up because of the man that'd been his hero for so long, Zack had immediately called Sephiroth while Angeal followed him to the elevators. Sephiroth remained eerily quiet while Zack related what little he knew, then commanded that Cloud and Elena be taken to Dr Libra's infirmary as discretely as possible. Zack wondered if Sephiroth's paranoia about Hojo was being proven.
"Cloud, what the hell happened?" he demanded, kneeling next to the duo and looking them both over. He couldn't see any obvious injuries, although it looked like Elena's hair had been yanked hard enough to leave blood at her hairline.
"We were sitting on the bench when four men came out of nowhere," Cloud said lowly. "Two went for Elena and held her down. The other two went for me. I killed three but one escaped." He cursed softly. "Damnit, that fucker's got my knife, too."
Zack wasn't sure if he should approve of Cloud keeping track of where his weapons went or disturbed that he was capable of doing so. "Did you know them?"
"No, and they didn't say anything."
Which suggested it wasn't something personal or a sick prank. "Who the hell did you manage to piss off now, kiddo?"
The rhetorical half-joking question made Cloud's mouth twist. Angeal, inspecting the three bodies, said, "I recognize them. They're the Regulars that Hojo has assigned to his own command."
Zack blinked. "A scientist can do that?"
"A scientist in Hojo's position, yes," the general replied softly, and he turned to Cloud. "They were killed very efficiently."
"They were hurting Elena," he said.
Angeal smiled slightly. Elena had stopped crying and was now just sitting with her face pressed into Cloud's shoulder.
"I'll take care of these bodies. Zack, will you get them both to the infirmary? I'm sure Sephiroth is out of his mind by now."
Cloud twitched. "Sephiroth?"
"I called him on the way down," Zack told him. "He was real quiet."
The blond muttered something under his breath that made Angeal snort. With Zack's help, he got Elena to stand up, and she stared at the ground while hugging herself.
"Elena?" Cloud tried gently, but she didn't respond. It looked like he was going to reach out for her again before he noticed the blood liberally streaking his arms and clothes and winced.
"C'mon, let's get you both cleaned up." Zack put a hand on Elena's shoulder to steer her and put his whole arm around Cloud's shoulders. He was a little shaken to realize that Cloud could've died or disappeared and he wouldn't have even known.
…
By the time Sephiroth could get off shift without being suspicious and be down in the infirmary, he was ready to kill something with anxiety. He knew Cloud could take care of himself - hell, Cloud had once been more than a match for Sephiroth himself, apparently - but the blond was only fifteen now and in a mortal body and could make perfectly human mistakes like anyone else and. Yes. Just breathe.
"General," Dr Libra said with some surprise as Sephiroth swept through the infirmary doors and into his office. "Is something wrong?"
"I'm here to see Cloud. Strife, that is." Damn it. Be professional.
The doctor's brow wrinkled and a cold knot of fear began twisting up Sephiroth inside. "Private Strife hasn't been here since his bi-monthly exam last week."
"Are you certain?"
"Yes, sir, I always treat him myself."
But Sephiroth was already storming away with his phone in hand, mentally willing Zack to pick up on the other end. When he was taken to voicemail, he snapped the phone closed and strode on faster.
…
If Cloud had a gil for every time he woke up disoriented and with a pounding head, he'd have been able to buy that summer house in Costa del Sol and probably the whole damn town at the same time. Instead of panicking, he waited for the screeching in his head to die down to a dull roar before opening his eyes very slowly, letting them adjust to the light.
Except that the light was intense, forcing them closed again. So he tested his limbs, pleased to feel them respond but confused when he realized that they were strapped down to a hard surface. Infirmary, he must've had another night-terror and been taken to Libra, except he didn't remember going to sleep. He'd spent the evening with Zack and Aeris, and then came back to the ShinRa compound to hang out with Elena in one of the little courtyards, ended up talking about sexuality, of all things…there was a fight, he think they must've been attacked…blood, but that was nothing new…Zack, Zack was there, and Angeal? Yes, Angeal was going to take care of the bodies while Zack took Cloud and Elena to the infirmary, except…they never got there. There'd been a commotion, Elena yelling and the flash of Zack's buster sword.
"You're awake. Finally. I was beginning to think that the incompetence of my inferiors was beginning to outweigh their occasional usefulness."
The voice, that voice that was like sandpaper on the inside of his skin.
Cloud woke up in a lab.
chapter 10 || main post || chapter 12