FF7: "Unexpected Side-Effects" Part XIII
Unexpected Side-Effects: Part XIII
Fandom: FF7
Pairing: Zack/Aeris, Zack/Cloud/Sephiroth
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: tentacles
A/N: Much thanks to artimusdin and chofi for the beta, especially as they had a lot to gank. All mistakes are still mine.
Summary: In which Vincent is lectured, Zack is traumatized, Sephiroth’s communication improves, and Cloud still wants to know what’s going on.
Previous Parts
Part XIII
“Mama? Hey, Mom?”
Ulfhilde Strife stood in front of the sink, still humming that damned lullaby. In a moment of frustration, Cloud had once told her how much he hated that song. She had blinked at him, asked him if he was hungry, and set out three plates for dinner.
It had been a harsh winter, and some of the best bits of meat still burned on the altar in the backyard. More still rotted on that third plate.
“Mom!” Cloud repeated insistently, walking over to her elbow. To his relief, her wet hands paused on the plate.
“Yes, dear?” she asked. Cloud had no idea if he meant him or his father.
Cloud cleared his throat. He felt guilty for talking to Tifa about this before his mom, but he needed actual feedback on this insane plan. He knew he wouldn’t get it from Ulfhilde. “I’m going to Midgar, Mama.” Something flickered in her eyes. Hope rose in his chest, fluttering like a trapped bird. “I’m going to become a SOLDIER.”
He waited, fists clenched at his sides. He studied her still face and restless eyes. Then Ulfhilde’s face cleared and she smiled placidly. “Have fun, dear.”
Ulfhilde turned back to her plate and her damned humming. Cloud’s shoulders slumped.
“All right, Mama,” he murmured.
Cloud hated himself a little, but the idea of fleeing soothed something inside of him. Freedom from Nibelheim, from his mother…
And from that damned man who looked nothing like him, anyway.
Cloud shook his head, sending the memories of Nibelheim scattering. Vincent stared at him from the other end of Cloud’s bed.
Really, Cloud needed to get some chairs and a table in here.
When Cloud said nothing, just put the file to one side, Vincent simply handed Cloud another file. “All of those associated with the Jenova and Chaos projects vanished as soon as their part was completed. Most vanished immediately. Others, especially those associated with outside projects, vanished within five years.”
Cloud couldn’t help fingering the file again. “Why did my mom live then?” His hand clenched into a fist. “Or was she just that unimportant?”
Did Hojo have something to do with her delusions? Or did she need no help going down that road?
“They were chosen for their discretion,” Vincent said. Cloud looked up at him. Head bowed and long black hair hanging in his face, the other man flipped through another file. “He was apparently very…discreet.”
Cloud grunted and looked back at the folder. “Do you think that’s why I was chosen for the mission? He found out?”
No answer. Cloud sighed and reached for another file.
Nibelheim’s countdown had begun years ago. Cloud saw that now. At least Hojo was in Hel’s embrace, too. He hoped he was Fenrir’s chew toy.
He sighed again and looked up at Vincent. “Do you want to come with me to give this to Sephiroth and Zack?” he asked. Cloud knew the answer before Vincent shook his head. Nodding, Cloud began gathering the folders. He piled them carefully into a black bag.
Cloud couldn’t resist tapping one of the folders before he put it in the bag, though. “I would have given anything to know him, if only for a moment.” He scooped that one up, too, and added, “Just think about it.”
It was the second time Cloud walked away from Vincent in twenty-four hours. He thought he was getting better at it.
Troopers rushed around him as he carried the folders to Sephiroth’s office. Cloud kept his head low and avoided looking at any of them. Just watching them run made him tired.
A surprisingly short but sturdy SOLDIER stood guard outside Sephiroth’s office. He stood up straighter when Cloud approached. It took Cloud a moment to remember his name.
“Hi, Terry,” he greeted, rebalancing the bag in his arms. Maybe he should have used a book bag. “Are they having a meeting?”
Terry smiled at him, his white teeth as bright at his eyes. It hurt Cloud’s eyes a little. “Yeah. Go on in.”
Cloud smiled back and Terry cracked the door open for him. Cloud caught sight of a flurry of color before he stepped in, Terry closing the door behind him. Cloud immediately realized why Terry stood guard.
All of the SOLDIERs from the original strike on the lab stood around Sephiroth’s desk in various stages of undress. Cloud had to step over squirming tentacles and duck under wings before he could reach Zack’s side. Zack’s own tentacles and wing were dancing restlessly, Zack grinned at Cloud and handed him a cup of coffee. Cloud set the bag down and gratefully accepted it.
“It should be tea,” Sephiroth said disapprovingly. Of them all, only his appendages remained still.
Cloud couldn’t answer, too busy drinking his coffee. His free hand slapped Zack’s tentacle where it began curling around his thigh. With a pout, Zack withdrew it.
“Bringing us some trash, Cloud?” Xan asked. Cloud quickly moved closer to Zack to dodge Xan’s flying tentacles. He cringed at the sight of coffee in Xan’s hand. Another SOLDIER already had a death grip on Xan’s pale grey wing.
Beside Cloud, Sephiroth had already pulled out the files and was flipping through them. “They’re of all the people who disappeared who were related to Hojo’s projects,” Cloud explained.
Sephiroth’s tentacles twitched a little at certain files, pausing over them before reaching for the next. Cloud wondered if they were SOLDIERs he knew or faces he remembered from Nibelheim. He didn’t ask.
Lips tight, Sephiroth gathered them back up and put them back in the black bag. “We will review them in the field. If you possess any external input on these files, have them prepared by 2200 and meet us in the stables. Only bring clothes, weapons, and basic gear. Be prepared to stay several days.”
Cloud paused, coffee cup pressed against his lower lip. He slowly lowered it again. He glanced at Zack, only to catch a flash of his clenched jaw before Zack looked away. A cool tentacle wrapped tightly around his ankle.
He suddenly had a bad feeling about this.
“Yes, Sir,” he said cautiously, and he saw Sephiroth’s hands clench around the bag. He didn’t think, just lightly touched Sephiroth’s hands before picking up the bag. It felt heavier than before.
Questions lingered on the tip of his tongue, but Sephiroth’s dark eyes quieted him. He’d interrogate Zack later if need be.
Then something Sephiroth said struck him, and Cloud brightened. “Stables? So Vali is coming?”
Zack’s groan almost drowned out Sephiroth’s affirmative response.
xoxoxox
Long before 2200, Cloud and his gear rested in Vali’s stall. Vali stood perfectly still as Cloud groomed him, not even glancing at Astridr. Instead of seeming upset, Astridr’s attention focused solely on the far doors. She knew what was coming.
Vali only moved once when Cloud checked his claws, and that was to try grooming Cloud’s hair. “Knock it off,” Cloud grumbled, shoving the large head away. He glanced quickly toward the entrance to make sure no one had seen it, but he didn’t see anyone. Of course, if anyone was pulling their stalker act…
Huh. That was actually frighteningly similar to what his mother had warned him about, except it had been gods, not Turks/ex-Turks/SOLDIERs.
Cloud looked over the darkened stables, studied the shadows and the dozing chocobos, and then slowly turned to Vali’s other claw. Vali helpfully tried to groom his hair again.
It was only after Cloud had slipped a saddle onto Vali and load the saddlebags -- complete with apologies -- that he paused and rested his head against Vali’s neck. “It feels like they’re never going to talk to me,” he said wistfully. “About anything.”
Vali kweh’d quietly and nuzzled the side of Cloud’s head. Cloud pet Vali’s neck.
The SOLDIERs found them like that. No one commented or even greeted him. The move out was silent, Sephiroth nodding solemnly at Cloud as he prepared Astridr, Zack waiting quietly on his own black chocobo. Of all the SOLDIERs, only their chocobos were black. The only interaction that passed between the group were quick nods, and Cloud’s hands tightly clenched in Vali’s feathers as he rode alongside Zack and Sephiroth.
Only the sound of the wind accompanied them as they rode from Midgar. Cloud listened for the howl of the wolves, but all he heard was the wind. It reminded him of a hissing serpent.
The ground stretched brown and dead in all directions when Sephiroth signaled for them to stop. Cloud couldn’t help but watch the SOLDIERs as they set up tents. They reminded him more of prey than predators, and he wondered what he was missing.
“Cloud!” Zack called, waving at him. A large tent had already been set up while Cloud was studying the others, and he flushed. Zack didn’t seem to notice either Cloud’s embarrassment or the fact that Zack was the loudest thing since leaving the stables. “Come here!”
Vali snorted and Cloud absentmindedly pet his neck as he led him around the SOLDIERs to Zack’s side. The speed and efficiency with which the SOLDIERs set up camp dazed him. It belatedly occurred to him that he was the only non-SOLDIER on this mission.
Cloud abruptly had a strange sense of déjà vu.
Sephiroth greeted Cloud with a small smile from the other side of the tent before turning back to Astridr. Vali straightened and fluffed his crest. Zack’s bright smile grew strained. Cloud kept a hand on Vali’s neck, just in case.
“So!” Zack said cheerfully, apparently ignoring Vali. “Want to stay in the tent with us? For old time’s sake?”
Heat slowly rose in Cloud’s belly. He determinedly ignored it. “I don’t think we ever stayed in a tent,” he pointed out.
Sephiroth looked up from where he was grooming the feathers under Astridr’s saddle. He smiled briefly at Cloud. The heat in Cloud’s stomach grew. “I think we stayed everywhere but,” Sephiroth agreed.
Zack glanced between the two, his own smile growing warmer. “Well, we’ll just tick ‘staying in a tent’ off the list then.”
Vali kweh’d, giving his opinion of it. Cloud bit his tongue to keep from laughing when Zack jumped.
“Okay,” Cloud agreed, ignoring the heat in his cheeks at Zack’s brilliant smile. “Just don’t tie Vali to the tent, okay?”
Zack sputtered while the surrounding SOLDIERs laughed. Cloud ducked his head and smiled.
Vali stood proudly at the tent’s entrance, not needing tied down. It took Zack fifteen minutes to get into the tent, but at least Cloud had plenty of time to safely situate his things. When Zack finally entered the tent, red-faced and grumbling, Vali, Astridr, and Zack’s chocobo, Firebrand, had their heads close together like they were chatting, completely oblivious to the disgruntled human.
Sephiroth already rested in the tent, having passed Vali with no more than a scratch on the chocobo’s neck. Instead of the cot Cloud had expected, he rested on the ground beside Cloud, little more than a large sleeping bag separating them from the dead ground. “Is this all right, Cloud?” Sephiroth inquired, unperturbed by Zack’s grumbling on his other side.
Cloud smiled at him, trying not to shiver when the tip of a tentacle brushed his ankle. “Yeah.” Feathers flourished around him, and this time, he did shiver when Sephiroth’s wing wrapped behind his back. “I need to look at those files, though.”
He glanced at the large black bag, pointedly resting on the table instead of the ground. Before his eyes, the bag blurred. Sephiroth’s wing seemed warmer than expected.
“Later, Spike.” Now the tentacle wrapped around his ankle, squeezing comfortably. “Sleep.”
Cloud slept.
xoxoxox
Sephiroth was gone when Cloud awoke, shadows hiding the cooling spot where he laid. Zack curled around When Cloud woke up, it was with tentacles entwined with his legs. It took Cloud a moment to realize he was using Zack’s wing as a pillow.
Zack grumbled when Cloud pushed himself into a sitting position but otherwise barely stirred. Cloud listened hard for anything outside the tent but only heard faint, distant howls. The wolves, he guessed. Slightly perturbed, Cloud looked around the tent, using the faint light seeping through the tent’s thin walls.
Their sleeping bags took up a majority of the space -- looking almost like a king-sized bed -- but small tables stood along the edges of the tent. He saw new papers scattered on one of them, but there was no sign of Sephiroth.
Zack grumbled more when Cloud slipped away from him. He quickly slipped on his boots and jacket and armed himself before stepping out of the tent.
Vali greeted him with a nuzzle along his cheek and neck, eyes bright in the low light. Cloud smiled at him and stroked his neck. As he did so, he realized the soft light wasn’t dawn like he expected but instead Fire-heated stones.
He felt Sephiroth before he heard him. “They provide light while frightening away natural predators.”
The SOLDIER’s wing and tentacles were gone; Cloud found himself disappointed. “And unnatural ones?” he inquired, looking up at Sephiroth.
“That’s what we’re here to hunt.” Astridr stood at Sephiroth’s shoulder, saddled and ready. She looked every inch the proper war bird.
Cloud glanced beside him, not surprised to see Vali looking the same, even without the saddle. “But that’s not the only reason we’re out here, is it?”
Sephiroth looked apologetic but didn’t answer. Cloud looked beyond him to see the other SOLDIERS packing their things, all of them shadows in the dark. No laughs and jokes filled the air like they had filled Sephiroth’s office last night.
“Today,” Sephiroth said quietly, “we hunt wolves. Tonight, we’ll talk.”
Cloud was beginning to hate phrases like that. Still, he nodded.
He trusted Sephiroth.
Sephiroth looked into their tent. Then he looked at Cloud with a small smile. “Do you mind if I borrow Vali for a moment?”
Cloud caught on instantly. He grinned. “Of course.”
One minute later, Zack’s screams broke the silence. “Get him off get him off claws aren’t supposed to go there!“
xoxoxox
It was better to be under Hel in life than in death, Ulfhilde had told Cloud, even as she taught him to skin a rabbit. In death, you would go to Paradise marked as Hel’s, marked as one fierce and hard and not one with whom the gods would trifle.
Only those who failed Hel in life would be under her in death, unworthy of Paradise. An eternity of desolation awaited them, nothingness to match their worthless lives.
Cloud didn’t really understand what Ulfhilde meant until he traveled the plains of Midgar.
Riding alongside Sephiroth with Zack on his opposite side and the other SOLDIERs behind him, Cloud looked for glowing eyes amongst the sea of death. Dust flew around them as the chocobos’ claws hit the dead ground. Cloud kept his chin high in hopes of avoiding the worst of it.
Abruptly, Cloud found himself slowing to a halt beside Sephiroth. It took him a moment for his mind to catch up to the minute gesture Sephiroth had made.
“It’s too quiet,” Zack said, twisting on his saddle. Firebrand remained deathly still under him. “Our reports had dozens out here. Where are they?”
No answer. Eyes that could see for miles looked around them.
Nothing.
Cloud could feel Vali’s muscles rippling against his legs. He absently pet Vali’s neck. “Maybe they knew we were coming,” he said softly.
It sounded ridiculous even to his ears, but no one laughed.
Sephiroth looked around, eyes sharp and glittering. “If they’re expecting us,” he murmured, “then we can expect a trap.”
Cloud’s mind flashed back to their last encounter with the wolves. He swallowed and continued petting Vali. His weak eyes scanned the horizon. Then he looked at the dirt.
“Are they smart enough to go to ground?” he asked.
Beside him, Zack nodded, brilliant eyes downward. “Yeah. And our dust trail could easily camouflage them.”
“They could also be waiting for nightfall,” Sephiroth said quietly. “Tracking us and waiting for us to drop our guards.”
Cloud swallowed and looked around again. Even knowing the SOLDIERs had a far greater chance of actually seeing something, he still felt compelled to look.
“I didn’t think wolves were native to this area,” he commented.
“They’re not,” Sephiroth confirmed. The odd note in his voice drew Cloud’s eyes to him, but Sephiroth didn’t look back. “Move slowly. Keep eyes on the ground and horizon.”
No one commented. Without another word, Sephiroth urged Astridr forward.
xoxoxox
Night fell with no sight of the wolves. “Not even tracks,” Terry noted as Zack helped him with the perimeter. The SOLDIERs set up tents while Cloud helped check on the chocobos.
“They set up a trap before,” Xan commented, checking on his own chocobo’s talons. “And they only set it up for three people. If there are dozens like the reports are claiming, who knows what trap they’re setting up for this many people.”
Vali ran his beak along Cloud’s scalp. Cloud absently pushed him aside before he could begin grooming Cloud’s hair.
“Does anyone know how the wolves got here?” Cloud asked.
Xan stood and shrugged. His chocobo nudged his shoulder with his beak, and Xan obligingly scratched the base of his skull. “I think the General has a theory. He probably does. He’s the General, after all.”
Cloud nodded, thoughts whirring in his head. He didn’t say anything, though.
He jumped when a hand settled on his shoulder. He whirled to see Zack smiling gently at him. His small smile didn’t match the intensity in his violet eyes.
“Our tent is set up,” Zack said. “You and me are with the last watch. Now’s a good time to look over those files if you want.”
Vali’s feathers slowly bristled under Cloud’s hand. Zack didn’t look away from Cloud, but he slowly backed away, nonetheless. “I’ll see you in the tent.”
There was something like a promise in Zack’s words. Cloud just didn’t know what the promise was.
Their tent was situated as before, with sleeping bags covering the majority of the ground and foldable tables lining the side. Cloud carried the files from Vali’s saddlebags to the table closest to the entrance. Sephiroth stood beside it, some of his own papers on another table. Cloud felt his eyes on him even as he pulled the files out, Sephiroth’s gaze like feathers against his skin.
“We can review the files tomorrow night if need be,” Sephiroth said quietly. “If you are still feeling ill, you need rest.”
Cloud’s hands paused for a moment before he resumed setting them on the table. Actually, he had completely forgot about feeling ill. Since Sephiroth hadn’t… “Why did you want me in this mission if you thought I was still sick?” he asked. He faltered on one folder before putting it down with the rest.
Sephiroth’s hands settled over his, stalling him. Cloud looked up and stared into solemn green eyes. “Midgar isn’t a safe place for you right now,” he explained.
Cloud blinked at him. He thought of the terror of Nibelheim, of the nightmare of the plane ride, and the thrill of hunting and be hunted by the wolves. “Midgar isn’t safe?” he repeated blankly.
As if knowing what Cloud was thinking, Sephiroth twisted his lips into a small, half-smile. Then it faded again. “There are hidden dangers in Midgar.”
Cloud waited for Sephiroth to finish the thought. When he didn’t, Cloud prodded, “Such as?”
Sephiroth stared silently at him. Then he huffed something suspiciously close to a laugh. Cloud resisted the urge to check his forehead for a fever.
“What Seph’s trying to say, Cloud,” Zack said, slipping into the tent behind Cloud, “is that you’re not used to Midgar’s espionage. You attracted a lot of attention in ShinRa. We just want to keep you out of their sight for a little bit. Out of sight, out of mind, right?”
Cloud clenched his jaw and stared at the table. Hojo’s blood staining Nibel soil and Reno leaning by his door flashed through his mind. He scowled. “It makes sense,” he said reluctantly.
It didn’t mean he had to like it, though.
Something cool wrapped around his ankle and squeezed lightly. Cloud smiled at Zack, recognizing his tentacle. “You forgot to take off your pants again, didn’t you?”
The tentacle paused. Sephiroth sighed.
“What about when we go back?” Cloud said curiously. “Am I still going to be under watch?”
The tentacle tightened, and Zack leaned against his side. Sephiroth lightly touched his wrist. “This mission also enables you to work with the other SOLDIERs,” Sephiroth explained. “A mission with SOLDIERs will help you gain SOLDIER status quicker, and you will be associated with more people known through the higher ranks.”
Which would supposedly make it harder for Cloud to vanish. Cloud frowned, resting a hand on the files. It didn’t save any of them.
It didn’t save Vincent, for that matter.
Cloud didn’t say any of that, though. “All of these people were related to either the Jenova project of Chaos,” he said, patting the files. “All of them vanished within five years of their part in the projects.”
Both Zack and Sephiroth grabbed several files and began to skim through them. After a moment, Cloud joined them.
The people in the files varied, with scientists topping the list of deceased and troopers coming in second, with the occasional SOLDIER and Turk tossed in. Zack pulled out one of the files and shook his head.
“I thought he died in Wutai,” he commented, staring wistfully at the file.
Cloud glanced at the familiar picture. “That’s what a friend of his told Mom and me, too,” he agreed. His mother was never the same after that. If it wasn’t for finding the letter himself, Cloud would never have known anything at all.
Feeling eyes on him, Cloud looked up to see Zack staring at him. He glanced over to see Sephiroth doing the same. “What?”
Zack blinked at him and then tapped the folder. “Why would you and your mom be told anything about a SOLDIER?”
Sometimes, Cloud wondered how Zack reached his rank. That one incident in the cafeteria with the jello and the lights was one of those times. This was another. “He’s my dad,” Cloud explained slowly. He pointed in the file where it said he had been stationed in Nibelheim, his finger lingering on the timeline. “Didn’t I tell you my dad was a SOLDIER?”
For a handful of seconds, the only noise was the muffled sound of other tents being set up. Half of the SOLDIERs were keeping watch for the wolves, leading to less than usual aiding with the set-up. Hopefully Vali was aiding in the watch rather than waiting for an unsuspecting Zack to leave the tent. Already slowed down, no one would want to have to set up a tent for the second time.
Sephiroth’s hand joined Zack’s on the folder, but he remained silent, sharp eyes on Cloud. Frowning, Zack said carefully, “I thought you meant a trooper. Cloud, SOLDIERs can’t reproduce. The Mako affects our sperm too much. We’re sterile.”
Cloud’s eyes narrowed, but Sephiroth didn’t give him a chance to speak. “Or so Hojo told us,” he pointed out. “Zack, look at his eyes.”
Cloud’s hand immediately flew to his face. “What?”
Zack and Sephiroth didn’t answer. Zack’s frown deepened. “Nibelheim is unusually Mako-rich --”
“Cloud was the only one in the village with eyes like that,” Sephiroth interrupted. “We’ve seen Cloud perform. He successfully killed Nibel wolves by himself. He dragged us both up the mountain, even with the added weight of the tentacles. He rarely falls ill, and despite his lack of self-care, he always quickly recovers. And our only source of the infertility of SOLDIERs is Hojo.”
Most of Sephiroth’s words flew over Cloud’s head. The blond dug through his pack beside the table and pulled out his wallet. It contained a sad amount of gil, but it carried something far more important. Triumphant, Cloud pulled it out. “See?”
Zack accepted the photo with shaking fingers. Unlike the picture in his file, Gunnar Leikny smiled widely, blue eyes sparkling as he wrapped a large arm over Ulfhilde Strife’s slender shoulders. His bright red hair was as wild as Ulfhilde’s, dooming Cloud from the start. He towered over her small frame, and Cloud fondly remembered his mother’s stories of how often the SOLDIER hit his head walking in their front door. Her family had never been tall, so they had no need for high ceilings.
“That was taken before he went to Wutai,” Cloud said wistfully. “He never knew Mom was pregnant. She was going to surprise him when he came back.”
Lost in memories, it took him a moment to realize Zack was shaking. He frowned and touched Zack’s arm. Zack’s tentacle tightened almost painfully on Cloud’s leg.
“Aeris and I never used protection,” Zack murmured. “We didn’t think…I mean, we had never heard…”
A chocobo shrieked outside. “Wolves!” Xan howled.
Fandom: FF7
Pairing: Zack/Aeris, Zack/Cloud/Sephiroth
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: tentacles
A/N: Much thanks to artimusdin and chofi for the beta, especially as they had a lot to gank. All mistakes are still mine.
Summary: In which Vincent is lectured, Zack is traumatized, Sephiroth’s communication improves, and Cloud still wants to know what’s going on.
Previous Parts
Part XIII
“Mama? Hey, Mom?”
Ulfhilde Strife stood in front of the sink, still humming that damned lullaby. In a moment of frustration, Cloud had once told her how much he hated that song. She had blinked at him, asked him if he was hungry, and set out three plates for dinner.
It had been a harsh winter, and some of the best bits of meat still burned on the altar in the backyard. More still rotted on that third plate.
“Mom!” Cloud repeated insistently, walking over to her elbow. To his relief, her wet hands paused on the plate.
“Yes, dear?” she asked. Cloud had no idea if he meant him or his father.
Cloud cleared his throat. He felt guilty for talking to Tifa about this before his mom, but he needed actual feedback on this insane plan. He knew he wouldn’t get it from Ulfhilde. “I’m going to Midgar, Mama.” Something flickered in her eyes. Hope rose in his chest, fluttering like a trapped bird. “I’m going to become a SOLDIER.”
He waited, fists clenched at his sides. He studied her still face and restless eyes. Then Ulfhilde’s face cleared and she smiled placidly. “Have fun, dear.”
Ulfhilde turned back to her plate and her damned humming. Cloud’s shoulders slumped.
“All right, Mama,” he murmured.
Cloud hated himself a little, but the idea of fleeing soothed something inside of him. Freedom from Nibelheim, from his mother…
And from that damned man who looked nothing like him, anyway.
Cloud shook his head, sending the memories of Nibelheim scattering. Vincent stared at him from the other end of Cloud’s bed.
Really, Cloud needed to get some chairs and a table in here.
When Cloud said nothing, just put the file to one side, Vincent simply handed Cloud another file. “All of those associated with the Jenova and Chaos projects vanished as soon as their part was completed. Most vanished immediately. Others, especially those associated with outside projects, vanished within five years.”
Cloud couldn’t help fingering the file again. “Why did my mom live then?” His hand clenched into a fist. “Or was she just that unimportant?”
Did Hojo have something to do with her delusions? Or did she need no help going down that road?
“They were chosen for their discretion,” Vincent said. Cloud looked up at him. Head bowed and long black hair hanging in his face, the other man flipped through another file. “He was apparently very…discreet.”
Cloud grunted and looked back at the folder. “Do you think that’s why I was chosen for the mission? He found out?”
No answer. Cloud sighed and reached for another file.
Nibelheim’s countdown had begun years ago. Cloud saw that now. At least Hojo was in Hel’s embrace, too. He hoped he was Fenrir’s chew toy.
He sighed again and looked up at Vincent. “Do you want to come with me to give this to Sephiroth and Zack?” he asked. Cloud knew the answer before Vincent shook his head. Nodding, Cloud began gathering the folders. He piled them carefully into a black bag.
Cloud couldn’t resist tapping one of the folders before he put it in the bag, though. “I would have given anything to know him, if only for a moment.” He scooped that one up, too, and added, “Just think about it.”
It was the second time Cloud walked away from Vincent in twenty-four hours. He thought he was getting better at it.
Troopers rushed around him as he carried the folders to Sephiroth’s office. Cloud kept his head low and avoided looking at any of them. Just watching them run made him tired.
A surprisingly short but sturdy SOLDIER stood guard outside Sephiroth’s office. He stood up straighter when Cloud approached. It took Cloud a moment to remember his name.
“Hi, Terry,” he greeted, rebalancing the bag in his arms. Maybe he should have used a book bag. “Are they having a meeting?”
Terry smiled at him, his white teeth as bright at his eyes. It hurt Cloud’s eyes a little. “Yeah. Go on in.”
Cloud smiled back and Terry cracked the door open for him. Cloud caught sight of a flurry of color before he stepped in, Terry closing the door behind him. Cloud immediately realized why Terry stood guard.
All of the SOLDIERs from the original strike on the lab stood around Sephiroth’s desk in various stages of undress. Cloud had to step over squirming tentacles and duck under wings before he could reach Zack’s side. Zack’s own tentacles and wing were dancing restlessly, Zack grinned at Cloud and handed him a cup of coffee. Cloud set the bag down and gratefully accepted it.
“It should be tea,” Sephiroth said disapprovingly. Of them all, only his appendages remained still.
Cloud couldn’t answer, too busy drinking his coffee. His free hand slapped Zack’s tentacle where it began curling around his thigh. With a pout, Zack withdrew it.
“Bringing us some trash, Cloud?” Xan asked. Cloud quickly moved closer to Zack to dodge Xan’s flying tentacles. He cringed at the sight of coffee in Xan’s hand. Another SOLDIER already had a death grip on Xan’s pale grey wing.
Beside Cloud, Sephiroth had already pulled out the files and was flipping through them. “They’re of all the people who disappeared who were related to Hojo’s projects,” Cloud explained.
Sephiroth’s tentacles twitched a little at certain files, pausing over them before reaching for the next. Cloud wondered if they were SOLDIERs he knew or faces he remembered from Nibelheim. He didn’t ask.
Lips tight, Sephiroth gathered them back up and put them back in the black bag. “We will review them in the field. If you possess any external input on these files, have them prepared by 2200 and meet us in the stables. Only bring clothes, weapons, and basic gear. Be prepared to stay several days.”
Cloud paused, coffee cup pressed against his lower lip. He slowly lowered it again. He glanced at Zack, only to catch a flash of his clenched jaw before Zack looked away. A cool tentacle wrapped tightly around his ankle.
He suddenly had a bad feeling about this.
“Yes, Sir,” he said cautiously, and he saw Sephiroth’s hands clench around the bag. He didn’t think, just lightly touched Sephiroth’s hands before picking up the bag. It felt heavier than before.
Questions lingered on the tip of his tongue, but Sephiroth’s dark eyes quieted him. He’d interrogate Zack later if need be.
Then something Sephiroth said struck him, and Cloud brightened. “Stables? So Vali is coming?”
Zack’s groan almost drowned out Sephiroth’s affirmative response.
xoxoxox
Long before 2200, Cloud and his gear rested in Vali’s stall. Vali stood perfectly still as Cloud groomed him, not even glancing at Astridr. Instead of seeming upset, Astridr’s attention focused solely on the far doors. She knew what was coming.
Vali only moved once when Cloud checked his claws, and that was to try grooming Cloud’s hair. “Knock it off,” Cloud grumbled, shoving the large head away. He glanced quickly toward the entrance to make sure no one had seen it, but he didn’t see anyone. Of course, if anyone was pulling their stalker act…
Huh. That was actually frighteningly similar to what his mother had warned him about, except it had been gods, not Turks/ex-Turks/SOLDIERs.
Cloud looked over the darkened stables, studied the shadows and the dozing chocobos, and then slowly turned to Vali’s other claw. Vali helpfully tried to groom his hair again.
It was only after Cloud had slipped a saddle onto Vali and load the saddlebags -- complete with apologies -- that he paused and rested his head against Vali’s neck. “It feels like they’re never going to talk to me,” he said wistfully. “About anything.”
Vali kweh’d quietly and nuzzled the side of Cloud’s head. Cloud pet Vali’s neck.
The SOLDIERs found them like that. No one commented or even greeted him. The move out was silent, Sephiroth nodding solemnly at Cloud as he prepared Astridr, Zack waiting quietly on his own black chocobo. Of all the SOLDIERs, only their chocobos were black. The only interaction that passed between the group were quick nods, and Cloud’s hands tightly clenched in Vali’s feathers as he rode alongside Zack and Sephiroth.
Only the sound of the wind accompanied them as they rode from Midgar. Cloud listened for the howl of the wolves, but all he heard was the wind. It reminded him of a hissing serpent.
The ground stretched brown and dead in all directions when Sephiroth signaled for them to stop. Cloud couldn’t help but watch the SOLDIERs as they set up tents. They reminded him more of prey than predators, and he wondered what he was missing.
“Cloud!” Zack called, waving at him. A large tent had already been set up while Cloud was studying the others, and he flushed. Zack didn’t seem to notice either Cloud’s embarrassment or the fact that Zack was the loudest thing since leaving the stables. “Come here!”
Vali snorted and Cloud absentmindedly pet his neck as he led him around the SOLDIERs to Zack’s side. The speed and efficiency with which the SOLDIERs set up camp dazed him. It belatedly occurred to him that he was the only non-SOLDIER on this mission.
Cloud abruptly had a strange sense of déjà vu.
Sephiroth greeted Cloud with a small smile from the other side of the tent before turning back to Astridr. Vali straightened and fluffed his crest. Zack’s bright smile grew strained. Cloud kept a hand on Vali’s neck, just in case.
“So!” Zack said cheerfully, apparently ignoring Vali. “Want to stay in the tent with us? For old time’s sake?”
Heat slowly rose in Cloud’s belly. He determinedly ignored it. “I don’t think we ever stayed in a tent,” he pointed out.
Sephiroth looked up from where he was grooming the feathers under Astridr’s saddle. He smiled briefly at Cloud. The heat in Cloud’s stomach grew. “I think we stayed everywhere but,” Sephiroth agreed.
Zack glanced between the two, his own smile growing warmer. “Well, we’ll just tick ‘staying in a tent’ off the list then.”
Vali kweh’d, giving his opinion of it. Cloud bit his tongue to keep from laughing when Zack jumped.
“Okay,” Cloud agreed, ignoring the heat in his cheeks at Zack’s brilliant smile. “Just don’t tie Vali to the tent, okay?”
Zack sputtered while the surrounding SOLDIERs laughed. Cloud ducked his head and smiled.
Vali stood proudly at the tent’s entrance, not needing tied down. It took Zack fifteen minutes to get into the tent, but at least Cloud had plenty of time to safely situate his things. When Zack finally entered the tent, red-faced and grumbling, Vali, Astridr, and Zack’s chocobo, Firebrand, had their heads close together like they were chatting, completely oblivious to the disgruntled human.
Sephiroth already rested in the tent, having passed Vali with no more than a scratch on the chocobo’s neck. Instead of the cot Cloud had expected, he rested on the ground beside Cloud, little more than a large sleeping bag separating them from the dead ground. “Is this all right, Cloud?” Sephiroth inquired, unperturbed by Zack’s grumbling on his other side.
Cloud smiled at him, trying not to shiver when the tip of a tentacle brushed his ankle. “Yeah.” Feathers flourished around him, and this time, he did shiver when Sephiroth’s wing wrapped behind his back. “I need to look at those files, though.”
He glanced at the large black bag, pointedly resting on the table instead of the ground. Before his eyes, the bag blurred. Sephiroth’s wing seemed warmer than expected.
“Later, Spike.” Now the tentacle wrapped around his ankle, squeezing comfortably. “Sleep.”
Cloud slept.
xoxoxox
Sephiroth was gone when Cloud awoke, shadows hiding the cooling spot where he laid. Zack curled around When Cloud woke up, it was with tentacles entwined with his legs. It took Cloud a moment to realize he was using Zack’s wing as a pillow.
Zack grumbled when Cloud pushed himself into a sitting position but otherwise barely stirred. Cloud listened hard for anything outside the tent but only heard faint, distant howls. The wolves, he guessed. Slightly perturbed, Cloud looked around the tent, using the faint light seeping through the tent’s thin walls.
Their sleeping bags took up a majority of the space -- looking almost like a king-sized bed -- but small tables stood along the edges of the tent. He saw new papers scattered on one of them, but there was no sign of Sephiroth.
Zack grumbled more when Cloud slipped away from him. He quickly slipped on his boots and jacket and armed himself before stepping out of the tent.
Vali greeted him with a nuzzle along his cheek and neck, eyes bright in the low light. Cloud smiled at him and stroked his neck. As he did so, he realized the soft light wasn’t dawn like he expected but instead Fire-heated stones.
He felt Sephiroth before he heard him. “They provide light while frightening away natural predators.”
The SOLDIER’s wing and tentacles were gone; Cloud found himself disappointed. “And unnatural ones?” he inquired, looking up at Sephiroth.
“That’s what we’re here to hunt.” Astridr stood at Sephiroth’s shoulder, saddled and ready. She looked every inch the proper war bird.
Cloud glanced beside him, not surprised to see Vali looking the same, even without the saddle. “But that’s not the only reason we’re out here, is it?”
Sephiroth looked apologetic but didn’t answer. Cloud looked beyond him to see the other SOLDIERS packing their things, all of them shadows in the dark. No laughs and jokes filled the air like they had filled Sephiroth’s office last night.
“Today,” Sephiroth said quietly, “we hunt wolves. Tonight, we’ll talk.”
Cloud was beginning to hate phrases like that. Still, he nodded.
He trusted Sephiroth.
Sephiroth looked into their tent. Then he looked at Cloud with a small smile. “Do you mind if I borrow Vali for a moment?”
Cloud caught on instantly. He grinned. “Of course.”
One minute later, Zack’s screams broke the silence. “Get him off get him off claws aren’t supposed to go there!“
xoxoxox
It was better to be under Hel in life than in death, Ulfhilde had told Cloud, even as she taught him to skin a rabbit. In death, you would go to Paradise marked as Hel’s, marked as one fierce and hard and not one with whom the gods would trifle.
Only those who failed Hel in life would be under her in death, unworthy of Paradise. An eternity of desolation awaited them, nothingness to match their worthless lives.
Cloud didn’t really understand what Ulfhilde meant until he traveled the plains of Midgar.
Riding alongside Sephiroth with Zack on his opposite side and the other SOLDIERs behind him, Cloud looked for glowing eyes amongst the sea of death. Dust flew around them as the chocobos’ claws hit the dead ground. Cloud kept his chin high in hopes of avoiding the worst of it.
Abruptly, Cloud found himself slowing to a halt beside Sephiroth. It took him a moment for his mind to catch up to the minute gesture Sephiroth had made.
“It’s too quiet,” Zack said, twisting on his saddle. Firebrand remained deathly still under him. “Our reports had dozens out here. Where are they?”
No answer. Eyes that could see for miles looked around them.
Nothing.
Cloud could feel Vali’s muscles rippling against his legs. He absently pet Vali’s neck. “Maybe they knew we were coming,” he said softly.
It sounded ridiculous even to his ears, but no one laughed.
Sephiroth looked around, eyes sharp and glittering. “If they’re expecting us,” he murmured, “then we can expect a trap.”
Cloud’s mind flashed back to their last encounter with the wolves. He swallowed and continued petting Vali. His weak eyes scanned the horizon. Then he looked at the dirt.
“Are they smart enough to go to ground?” he asked.
Beside him, Zack nodded, brilliant eyes downward. “Yeah. And our dust trail could easily camouflage them.”
“They could also be waiting for nightfall,” Sephiroth said quietly. “Tracking us and waiting for us to drop our guards.”
Cloud swallowed and looked around again. Even knowing the SOLDIERs had a far greater chance of actually seeing something, he still felt compelled to look.
“I didn’t think wolves were native to this area,” he commented.
“They’re not,” Sephiroth confirmed. The odd note in his voice drew Cloud’s eyes to him, but Sephiroth didn’t look back. “Move slowly. Keep eyes on the ground and horizon.”
No one commented. Without another word, Sephiroth urged Astridr forward.
xoxoxox
Night fell with no sight of the wolves. “Not even tracks,” Terry noted as Zack helped him with the perimeter. The SOLDIERs set up tents while Cloud helped check on the chocobos.
“They set up a trap before,” Xan commented, checking on his own chocobo’s talons. “And they only set it up for three people. If there are dozens like the reports are claiming, who knows what trap they’re setting up for this many people.”
Vali ran his beak along Cloud’s scalp. Cloud absently pushed him aside before he could begin grooming Cloud’s hair.
“Does anyone know how the wolves got here?” Cloud asked.
Xan stood and shrugged. His chocobo nudged his shoulder with his beak, and Xan obligingly scratched the base of his skull. “I think the General has a theory. He probably does. He’s the General, after all.”
Cloud nodded, thoughts whirring in his head. He didn’t say anything, though.
He jumped when a hand settled on his shoulder. He whirled to see Zack smiling gently at him. His small smile didn’t match the intensity in his violet eyes.
“Our tent is set up,” Zack said. “You and me are with the last watch. Now’s a good time to look over those files if you want.”
Vali’s feathers slowly bristled under Cloud’s hand. Zack didn’t look away from Cloud, but he slowly backed away, nonetheless. “I’ll see you in the tent.”
There was something like a promise in Zack’s words. Cloud just didn’t know what the promise was.
Their tent was situated as before, with sleeping bags covering the majority of the ground and foldable tables lining the side. Cloud carried the files from Vali’s saddlebags to the table closest to the entrance. Sephiroth stood beside it, some of his own papers on another table. Cloud felt his eyes on him even as he pulled the files out, Sephiroth’s gaze like feathers against his skin.
“We can review the files tomorrow night if need be,” Sephiroth said quietly. “If you are still feeling ill, you need rest.”
Cloud’s hands paused for a moment before he resumed setting them on the table. Actually, he had completely forgot about feeling ill. Since Sephiroth hadn’t… “Why did you want me in this mission if you thought I was still sick?” he asked. He faltered on one folder before putting it down with the rest.
Sephiroth’s hands settled over his, stalling him. Cloud looked up and stared into solemn green eyes. “Midgar isn’t a safe place for you right now,” he explained.
Cloud blinked at him. He thought of the terror of Nibelheim, of the nightmare of the plane ride, and the thrill of hunting and be hunted by the wolves. “Midgar isn’t safe?” he repeated blankly.
As if knowing what Cloud was thinking, Sephiroth twisted his lips into a small, half-smile. Then it faded again. “There are hidden dangers in Midgar.”
Cloud waited for Sephiroth to finish the thought. When he didn’t, Cloud prodded, “Such as?”
Sephiroth stared silently at him. Then he huffed something suspiciously close to a laugh. Cloud resisted the urge to check his forehead for a fever.
“What Seph’s trying to say, Cloud,” Zack said, slipping into the tent behind Cloud, “is that you’re not used to Midgar’s espionage. You attracted a lot of attention in ShinRa. We just want to keep you out of their sight for a little bit. Out of sight, out of mind, right?”
Cloud clenched his jaw and stared at the table. Hojo’s blood staining Nibel soil and Reno leaning by his door flashed through his mind. He scowled. “It makes sense,” he said reluctantly.
It didn’t mean he had to like it, though.
Something cool wrapped around his ankle and squeezed lightly. Cloud smiled at Zack, recognizing his tentacle. “You forgot to take off your pants again, didn’t you?”
The tentacle paused. Sephiroth sighed.
“What about when we go back?” Cloud said curiously. “Am I still going to be under watch?”
The tentacle tightened, and Zack leaned against his side. Sephiroth lightly touched his wrist. “This mission also enables you to work with the other SOLDIERs,” Sephiroth explained. “A mission with SOLDIERs will help you gain SOLDIER status quicker, and you will be associated with more people known through the higher ranks.”
Which would supposedly make it harder for Cloud to vanish. Cloud frowned, resting a hand on the files. It didn’t save any of them.
It didn’t save Vincent, for that matter.
Cloud didn’t say any of that, though. “All of these people were related to either the Jenova project of Chaos,” he said, patting the files. “All of them vanished within five years of their part in the projects.”
Both Zack and Sephiroth grabbed several files and began to skim through them. After a moment, Cloud joined them.
The people in the files varied, with scientists topping the list of deceased and troopers coming in second, with the occasional SOLDIER and Turk tossed in. Zack pulled out one of the files and shook his head.
“I thought he died in Wutai,” he commented, staring wistfully at the file.
Cloud glanced at the familiar picture. “That’s what a friend of his told Mom and me, too,” he agreed. His mother was never the same after that. If it wasn’t for finding the letter himself, Cloud would never have known anything at all.
Feeling eyes on him, Cloud looked up to see Zack staring at him. He glanced over to see Sephiroth doing the same. “What?”
Zack blinked at him and then tapped the folder. “Why would you and your mom be told anything about a SOLDIER?”
Sometimes, Cloud wondered how Zack reached his rank. That one incident in the cafeteria with the jello and the lights was one of those times. This was another. “He’s my dad,” Cloud explained slowly. He pointed in the file where it said he had been stationed in Nibelheim, his finger lingering on the timeline. “Didn’t I tell you my dad was a SOLDIER?”
For a handful of seconds, the only noise was the muffled sound of other tents being set up. Half of the SOLDIERs were keeping watch for the wolves, leading to less than usual aiding with the set-up. Hopefully Vali was aiding in the watch rather than waiting for an unsuspecting Zack to leave the tent. Already slowed down, no one would want to have to set up a tent for the second time.
Sephiroth’s hand joined Zack’s on the folder, but he remained silent, sharp eyes on Cloud. Frowning, Zack said carefully, “I thought you meant a trooper. Cloud, SOLDIERs can’t reproduce. The Mako affects our sperm too much. We’re sterile.”
Cloud’s eyes narrowed, but Sephiroth didn’t give him a chance to speak. “Or so Hojo told us,” he pointed out. “Zack, look at his eyes.”
Cloud’s hand immediately flew to his face. “What?”
Zack and Sephiroth didn’t answer. Zack’s frown deepened. “Nibelheim is unusually Mako-rich --”
“Cloud was the only one in the village with eyes like that,” Sephiroth interrupted. “We’ve seen Cloud perform. He successfully killed Nibel wolves by himself. He dragged us both up the mountain, even with the added weight of the tentacles. He rarely falls ill, and despite his lack of self-care, he always quickly recovers. And our only source of the infertility of SOLDIERs is Hojo.”
Most of Sephiroth’s words flew over Cloud’s head. The blond dug through his pack beside the table and pulled out his wallet. It contained a sad amount of gil, but it carried something far more important. Triumphant, Cloud pulled it out. “See?”
Zack accepted the photo with shaking fingers. Unlike the picture in his file, Gunnar Leikny smiled widely, blue eyes sparkling as he wrapped a large arm over Ulfhilde Strife’s slender shoulders. His bright red hair was as wild as Ulfhilde’s, dooming Cloud from the start. He towered over her small frame, and Cloud fondly remembered his mother’s stories of how often the SOLDIER hit his head walking in their front door. Her family had never been tall, so they had no need for high ceilings.
“That was taken before he went to Wutai,” Cloud said wistfully. “He never knew Mom was pregnant. She was going to surprise him when he came back.”
Lost in memories, it took him a moment to realize Zack was shaking. He frowned and touched Zack’s arm. Zack’s tentacle tightened almost painfully on Cloud’s leg.
“Aeris and I never used protection,” Zack murmured. “We didn’t think…I mean, we had never heard…”
A chocobo shrieked outside. “Wolves!” Xan howled.