![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Butterfly Effect: Chapter 11
Authors: Bard Linn and Kiraya
Genre: General/Drama
Pairings: None, at the moment.
Rating (Overall): PG-13
Summary: "Surely you realize not all of what ShinRa’s records hold is truth."
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and all associated characters and symbols are the exclusive property of Square Enix and its associates. We’re just borrowing them for a while.
Chapter 11
Cloud didn’t know if he had ever been so angry in his life. He had worked so hard to get Vincent and Sephiroth to meet, had endured many a trial and tribulation to do it, and now what happened? Vincent wouldn’t even see the General, let alone talk to him! The blond scowled as he stomped his way down the mountain, almost shaking in his rage.
An echoing cry suddenly broke into his thoughts, and the teen dropped into a protective crouch, glancing around. That had sounded an awful lot like a dragon, and he really didn’t want to meet one of those… especially since he was only armed with his staff.
After a long moment the sound faded. Cloud breathed a sigh of relief as he realized that the noise had come from farther up in the mountains. The unique acoustics around here had caused the echo to sound all the way down here. It was hardly the first time something like this had happened, but every time it did Cloud was only saved from panicking by his training. He didn’t like dragons at all; small wonder, really, considering what had happened to him when he was a child. And he knew he still wouldn’t be able to handle one on his own if it attacked him, even fully armed.
The blond paused, a plan slowly forming in his mind. It wasn’t the most creative, inventive, or particularly smart idea, but… it might just work. Grinning, he ran back down the path towards Nibelheim.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Zack and Sephiroth had made their first circle of the town’s perimeter, and Zack, personally, was left wondering if the call that had brought them out here was genuine. There hadn’t been any signs of monster activity on the edges of town, which didn’t tally with the reports of attacks against the village. They would have to investigate the old reactor tomorrow, then, and see what monsters lurked in the mountains. For now, though, the pair of SOLDIERs settled down at the inn to wait. “I don’t like this, Seph.”
“Neither do I,” Sephiroth admitted.
“Hmm… you don’t think the request could’ve been faked, do you?”
“No. It had been approved by the upper levels.” That implied the ShinRa executive board — or at least their flunkies — had investigated it. “They would hardly waste the money to send us out here otherwise.”
“True, true.”
“Well, we’ll head up to the reactor first thing in the morning. The mayor promised us a guide, though I doubt he’ll be particularly reliable, considering the prevailing local attitude towards these mountains.”
“Old-fashioned superstition, Seph… though you may be right. Chances are most of the people who live here have rarely left town, much less ventured as far up as we’re going.” Zack flopped back on one of the beds in the room they had been given. “We’ll have an extra civilian to cover, then.”
“In addition to the two regulars.” The General didn’t sound particularly pleased by the prospect.
“Come on, Seph, don’t be like that. You know it’s standard procedure to take at least a few of them with us. Cloud, at least, is pretty skilled after all of the time I’ve been working with him. And he suggested Dennett himself, who might not be exceptional, but they do work together reasonably well. We’ll stick them off to the side with the guide and have them guard ‘im. Gives us only one spot to protect.”
Sephiroth raised an eyebrow and was about to reply when the door burst open, allowing a breathless Cloud to rush in. “I saw… a really big… thing.”
“They’re called mountains, kiddo. I’d’ve thought you’d know that, since you grew up around here and all,” Zack teased.
Cloud shook his head, still panting. “Mountains… don’t… have claws. Or make really… loud sounds.”
“Sounds?” Sephiroth echoed.
“Like a scream, but not human.”
The two SOLDIERs exchanged a glance. “Where were you?” Zack asked.
“Up a ways in the mountains.” Cloud looked slightly insulted at the look he got. “No, not everyone around here is scared of them. Besides, I’ve got a friend who lives up there. And it wasn’t that far in, really. Just over a mile.”
“Sounds like a dragon to me,” Zack mused aloud. He glanced at Sephiroth. If there were a dragon that close to town…
“Take us to where you saw it,” Sephiroth commanded.
“Yes, sir!”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It took all of Cloud’s self-control not to smile or dance with glee as Sephiroth and Zack inspected the area he had indicated. It was actually a bit closer to Vincent’s shack than the place he had actually heard the dragon, but that would only work in his favor. Now all he had to do was get them to actually enter the house, and everything should be fine.
“Hm… I don’t see anything…” Zack frowned at the ground. “It should have left traces if it were here.”
“Not if it landed over there,” Sephiroth pointed out, indicating a nearby rock formation.
“Oh, I see.” Zack moved over to the pile of dense boulders. He reached for his sword only to stop when Sephiroth shook his head.
“These local glacial deposits have high adamantine content.”
Zack made a disappointed sound. “Damn. No, a dragon wouldn’t leave signs on that, huh? Well, may as well go back, then. We can’t track it.”
Sephiroth turned to Cloud. “Private Strife, you said you had a friend who lives around here. Is it possible he might have seen something?”
“Most likely, sir,” Cloud answered. “Follow me. I’ll show you the way.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Vincent did not pace; he was too well trained for that. Still, he was agitated. Of all the things that could have happened, having Lucrecia’s son return to tiny Nibelheim was not one he could have ever predicted… and in his shock, he had lashed out at his student. Again. He sighed. Hopefully he would be able to catch Cloud before he left the mountains to apologize. He didn’t want to wait for years like he had last time.
“Vincent?”
Speaking of whom… Vincent turned to see the blond poking his head through the door. “Hello, Cloud.” He briefly wondered exactly what the youth was doing; he had a slightly guilty yet determined look on his face.
Cloud opened the door all of the way, allowing Vincent to see who was behind him.
“Excuse me, but Private Strife believes he saw a dragon near here. Do you know anything about it?”
Vincent heard the black-haired man’s question, but dismissed it for the time being, his eyes remaining riveted on the final figure of the trio. He paused in his examination to narrow his eyes at his former student, who merely looked defiant. At least he knew what Cloud had been plotting, now… “I’m sure he said as much. However, how much of what he said was true is another story entirely.”
“All of it’s true, from a certain point of view,” Cloud muttered.
Vincent sighed. “Typical. Stay outside and practice, Cloud; I’ll deal with you later.”
“If there is a dragon in the area, that’s not such a good idea,” the shorter SOLDIER declared, stepping closer to Cloud.
“No dragon has come this close to town for over ten years,” Vincent replied, red eyes flickering to him for a moment before returning to Sephiroth. “Cloud will be fine. Now, please come inside.” His tone apparently convinced them, as the pair of SOLDIERs stepped inside, though their hands didn’t stray far from their weapons.
The tension in the room gradually increased as the silence dragged on. Finally, the dark-haired man spoke up. “I’m Lieutenant Zack Sinclair. And this is—”
“General Sephiroth,” Vincent finished, his eyes never leaving Sephiroth’s face. “Cloud came up here earlier to try to convince me to go meet you. When I refused, he apparently decided to manipulate you into coming here.” He paused. “I am Vincent. Vincent Valentine.”
No recognition showed in Zack’s face, but Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. “The Turk? Your record reports you as dead.”
The gunman allowed himself an ironic smile. “Surely you realize not all of what ShinRa’s records hold is truth.”
“Just how do you know Cloud, anyway?” Zack demanded, having tensed up the minute Sephiroth had said ‘Turk.’
“Cloud Strife was my student for many years,” Vincent replied, intrigued again by the SOLDIER’s response. Apparently the man had taken a shine to the blond.
Well, that explains a few things, Zack reflected. No wonder the kid reminded him of a Turk in so many ways. “So… why did Cloud want you to meet us, anyway?”
“Because…” Vincent paused for a long moment before raising his head to meet the General’s gaze. “I knew your mother, Sephiroth.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Cloud trudged his way away from the shack, content to not hear what would happen. Vincent was probably mad at him, though at this point he didn’t mind if it were so. Hopefully the ex-Turk would tell Sephiroth and Zack the entire story; if he didn’t, Cloud would start looking for some way to chain his former teacher and the General together. Maybe he could even get Zack to help him.
In the meantime, though, he might as well do as his mentor suggested and get in some training. Settling his feet, Cloud glanced around the clearing, familiar from the many practices he’d had here with his mentor. Slowly he moved through his regular patterns, interweaving the different styles taught to him by Zack and Vincent; slowly he felt himself begin to relax and reach that meditative state so easily found in training. It was then he heard it: a sound that did not belong in this part of the mountains, even less so than the dragon’s roar he had heard earlier.
A helicopter?
Cloud paused for a long moment, considering his options. He could go back and get the others, but that hardly seemed wise if he wanted Vincent to tell Sephiroth everything. Once the Turk was interrupted, Cloud knew, he wouldn’t start again. It shouldn’t be that hard to just investigate the sound on his own…
The blond went traveling over the hard rocks, following the echoing noise. He quickly determined that it wasn’t very close at all; in fact, it was almost on the other side of the mountain ridge. Luckily, he knew a shortcut. The path he turned onto was difficult to climb, but he managed it, being careful to hide his tracks. It took a good while before he finally found himself a perfect place to watch from, high up but well concealed as well. Hopefully it wouldn’t take long for whoever it was to show themselves. He needed to get back to Vincent’s shack before the others noticed his prolonged absence.
Shortly after Cloud got himself into position, the sound of the helicopter stopped. Doors opened and shut. The teen strained his eyes and managed to make out at least four individuals dressed in distinctive suits. Turks? What are they doing out here? The next figure he saw was dressed a white coat and was wearing glasses. Wait, that’s a lab coat! Cloud bit down on his exclamation of shock. Why in Gaea’s name would a ShinRa scientist come all the way out here…?
Moving very carefully, Cloud wiggled backwards until he was out of sight. After cleansing his hiding spot of traces of his presence, he moved as quietly as he could back towards the trail. Once he had safely returned to the clearing he took off at a run, slamming right into Vincent’s door.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sephiroth could hardly believe it. He stared at the man who stood silent before him, his far-fetched tale complete. He would’ve thought the entire thing was some elaborate hoax, if not for so many of the details — things that weren’t, couldn’t possibly be known to the public — matching up with Sephiroth’s own limited knowledge of the facts.
For the first time in a long while, the General found himself at a loss for words.
Zack shook his head, glancing uneasily at his friend. “Seph…”
Whatever he’d been about to say was lost in the sound of the door slamming as Cloud burst into the already crowded shack. Vincent opened his mouth to scold him for the uninvited intrusion, but the expression of shock on his student’s face gave him pause. “Cloud, what is it?”
The boy could only shake his head, panting as he clung to the doorframe.
Zack laid a hand on his shoulder. “Breathe, kiddo,” he said helpfully.
Cloud nodded absently, his attention focused solely on the General. “Sir,” he began once he’d caught his breath, “is anyone else supposed to be on this mission?”
“Other than you, myself, Sinclair, and Dennett? No.” Sephiroth frowned. “Why do you ask?”
“When I was outside, I heard something. A helicopter,” he added hastily, seeing the look his superiors exchanged. “I followed the sound, and found a bunch of Turks—”
“Always with the Turks, sticking their noses wherever they damn well please,” Zack muttered.
“—and a scientist.”
“A scientist?” the General echoed, his voice frighteningly cold.
“What did he look like?” the former Turk demanded harshly, red eyes boring into his student’s.
Cloud swallowed hard, a little unnerved by their intensity. “About average height, lab coat, longish dark hair. I think he might have had glasses; saw the sun glint off of something on his face. He seemed hunched forward a little when he walked, too—”
“Hojo,” Sephiroth said flatly, his fingers tensing on the Masamune’s hilt even as Zack’s hand drifted up to the buster sword’s grip. The blond didn’t doubt for a moment that both grim-faced men would have dearly loved to go after him, had company protocol not prevented them from doing so. He cast a nervous glance at his mentor… and his heart sank.
Vincent’s eyes had narrowed to crimson slits, and the fingers of his claw-hand were digging grooves in the wood of the table. “Finally,” he rasped. “After all these long years, he’s returned to the scene of his crimes… to us…” His voice was dreadfully eager, and grew less and less human with every word.
Sephiroth stared at the ex-Turk’s almost hazy body. “He’s… changing.” The statement was matter-of-fact and even, though the General’s tense defensive posture belied his affected calm.
Zack looked at Cloud worriedly. “Um… does he do this often?”
The blond shook his head unhappily, keeping his gaze trained on his former teacher’s solidifying form. “Only when he gets really emotional, which is almost never. He’s only done it once before that I know… and I’ve never actually seen—”
The grey-skinned man-creature now standing in Vincent’s place shook itself as the transformation finished, then turned its fiery gaze upon Cloud. “Take us to him, boy,” it commanded, its voice hollow behind the mask it wore. “We shall seize him and lock him up and make him suffer, just as he made us suffer—” this last an angry hiss “—and then we shall take our sweet time as we flay the weak flesh from his bones!”
“…No.” The young man’s voice was unsteady, but his face was resolute. “I won’t—”
“No? No, you say?” A wordless snarl. “The Calamity take you, then — we’ll find the demon’s spawn ourself!” And the thing raised its chainsaw, lurching forward with remarkable speed—
—Zack shoved Cloud down, out of the way, as he lunged outside after it—
—the Masamune sang in the crisp mountain air as Sephiroth met the creature head-on, green eyes blazing—
“Don’t hurt him!”
They all froze, turning to the source of the cry. Staff in hand, Cloud stepped over the remains of the door, his eyes pleading. “If we can just convince him that—”
A dark chuckle. “Your heart’s in the right place, boy, and we thank you for the concern… but we don’t need to be convinced of anything. We already know all that matters right now is finding that manipulative fiend and tearing him apart!” Snarling, the creature feinted to the left, throwing the General off just enough so it could bring up the chainsaw and—
Pandemonium ensued.
In a purely reflex action, Sephiroth slung a Blizzaga at the thing, which shrieked in pain as Cloud again yelled not to hurt him — “I’m sorry, Strife, but I don’t have any status-inflicting materia on me, just attack magic!” — and then the General proceeded to chase it all about the clearing, trying to disable it, both of them pretty much deciding that the structural integrity of the shack in the middle of it all was irrelevant (and oh sweet Gaea the thing was going to need some major repairs after this fiasco, even if those were just glancing blows). Zack, meanwhile, was busy fiddling with his materia, and it took every ounce of Cloud’s self-control not to scream at him to hurry up and do something, and damn ShinRa anyway for not equipping their regular troopers with—
“Freeze!”
There was ice and a howl of pain and frustration, and Cloud very nearly smacked the dark-haired SOLDIER First (“didn’t I tell you not to hurt him?”) — but then stopped himself, gaping at the creature in surprise.
“Well,” said Zack faintly, “whaddya know? It worked.”
The masked thing stood frozen in place, muscles twitching violently as it fought against the spell. None of them had any doubt that, had its eyes been visible, they would have been glaring hatefully at the young lieutenant.
“Private Strife,” Sephiroth said quietly, “since we have no idea how long this is going to last, I suggest you start your convincing.”
Cloud gulped, but stepped forward, trying to find the words to break through to his mentor. He stopped about five feet from the ice-rimed monster than had taken his teacher’s place. “Vincent, I know you can hear me. We can’t do this… not now.” Cloud licked his lips and scrabbled for calm. This might be his only chance. If he didn’t stop Vincent now, the ex-Turk was as good as dead. “We don’t know why Hojo is here or what he’s up to. I saw several Turks with him, and you know they have to be good! Even you wouldn’t be able to take them on all at once without hurting yourself. And then… Hojo might be able to capture you again…”
An ominous creak was the only response as the ice suddenly developed another crack.
“Damnit, Vincent!” Cloud cried, desperate now. “You’re always telling me to have a plan, to use some self-control and discipline and not just follow my emotions. If you go running after Hojo like a maniac, destroying everything that gets in your way, you’ll only be acting like the very monster he was trying to create!”
Silence reigned for a few more minutes. Then, almost anticlimactically, the ice shattered into tiny specks, the monster moving stiffly, giving Zack a dark look before turning its gaze on Cloud. The youth held fast, keeping eye contact despite the almost overwhelming urge to curl up and hide. The creature took one step forward, then another, and slowly faded away to reveal a shabby-looking Vincent. “You’re right, Cloud,” he said slowly, his voice ragged. “You’re right.” And then, worn out both physically and emotionally, the man slumped forward.
“Vincent!” Cloud rushed forward in time to catch the man, holding him tightly. Alas, he had forgotten the staff he still held; Vincent winced as the wood connected solidly with his head. “Uh, sorry.”
The former Turk said nothing, only returned his protégé’s embrace briefly. Then he turned to the SOLDIERs standing to the side. “I apologize.”
“Considering what you said earlier, your actions were completely justified,” Zack replied seriously. “Hades, if the circumstances were different, we—”
Any further conversation was cut off by a shuddering crash. The quartet looked over at the pile of rubble that had once been Vincent’s home. “Umm… Now what do we do?”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
They ended up debating it for several minutes before coming to an agreement. Vincent’s first idea, which was to stay in the mountains overnight, had been firmly vetoed by Cloud (“It’s too cold, and you’d be up here alone. I know you can take on a dragon, but you’d be up all night watching”). The next best thing would have been the Shinra Mansion, but that was no longer a possibility (“If the place has previously been used by Hojo, as you said earlier, it’s possible he’s returning there,” Sephiroth pointed out). The most convenient option would be to bring Vincent back to the village inn; the ex-Turk could easily slip by the townsfolk, but that wouldn’t work either (“Guys, in case you’ve forgotten, we have another soldier back there who’s supposed to share our room tonight”). Finally, Cloud suggested they take Vincent back to his house. It was probably about time his mother found out what was going on, anyway.
Before they left the mountains, the four of them did a careful survey of the area where Cloud had first seen Hojo. Cloud didn’t recognize most of the equipment they were bringing in, though he suspected Sephiroth, Zack, and Vincent did, from the looks they exchanged. As the four made their way back to town, Vincent asked his protégé a question. “Cloud, your father worked in the reactor, didn’t he?”
“Yeah, I think so. Mom’s mentioned it a few times.”
“Then perhaps we should speak to her about it,” Vincent replied smoothly.
“Huh?” Cloud blinked, confused. The raven-haired man said no more, but gestured for the SOLDIERs to follow his student home. The youth knocked on the door. “Mom, I’m back!”
“Cloud!” Elanor smiled, then blinked as she noticed the group of figures standing behind her son. “Come inside, please. Would you like some tea?”
The group shuffled inside and, at the blonde’s invitation, took seats at the kitchen table. Cloud couldn’t help being proud of his mother. She had to know who Sephiroth was, but she wasn’t intimidated in the least. “Mom, this is General Sephiroth and Lieutenant Zack Sinclair. They’re my commanding officers for this mission. And this is Vincent Valentine, a friend of mine.”
“I see.” Elanor’s voice didn’t change, but everyone in the room sensed a shift in her attention. “And just how do you know my son, Mr. Valentine?”
Vincent found himself respecting the woman; it was clear where Cloud had gotten his will and courage from. “Your son rescued me many years ago, Mrs. Strife. I have been teaching him what I can in return.”
“Ahh.” Elanor glanced at Cloud. “So this is where you’ve been vanishing to.”
Cloud nodded. “He’s my mentor, Mom. He’s helped me a lot.”
“Mrs. Strife,” Sephiroth interjected, “did your husband work up at the reactor?”
Elanor glanced at her son in confusion but answered the man’s inquiry. “Yes, he did. Why do you ask?”
Zack took up the questioning. “It’s been brought to our attention that the reactor may not be as inactive as we thought. We were wondering if your husband mentioned anything strange happening there.”
Elanor sat still for a long time, stirring the tea sitting before her. “Fastred couldn’t say much. Apparently a lot of it was classified. But he always warned me I should never go up there, no matter what. That things were… odd.” She gave her son a sharp look. “I do hope you haven’t been loitering around up there, Cloud.” The youth shook his head firmly.
“Thank you, Mrs. Strife,” Zack said as he rose, standing beside the General. “You’ve been very helpful, but we won’t stay and bother you any longer.”
Cloud moved to accompany them, but stopped suddenly. “Oh, Mom?”
“Yes, dear?”
“Could Vincent stay with you tonight? His house… uh, fell apart.”
“His house fell apart?” Elanor repeated faintly. “Exactly how did that happen?”
“…It wasn’t a very well-built house?” her son replied, a sheepish smile on his face.
Vincent suppressed the urge to sigh as the woman gave him an odd look, and nodded a little, almost reluctantly. One of these days, he told himself, he’d have to teach the boy to lie better.
“I suppose,” Elanor said slowly. “I’ll need a little time to air out the guest room first, though…”
Vincent nodded again. “Of course. Thank you.”
Sephiroth spoke then, adding his voice to Zack’s. “And we thank you again as well, Mrs. Strife, but we’ll be leaving now. We apologize for the intrusion—”
Cloud’s mother shook her head. “No, no, don’t. It’s no trouble at all, really.” She smiled. “Would you care to stay for dinner?”
The General politely declined — “I don’t want the three of us (“four, with Arthur, sir,” Cloud interjected) to be a burden” — but Elanor insisted (“I always make plenty extra, really, it’s no trouble at all, and you boys look like you could all use a good meal”), and so they soon found themselves eating a hearty stew and warm, crusty bread with fresh butter.
Elanor was a wonderful hostess, graciously overlooking Zack’s rudeness as he made small talk with his mouth full (both he and Cloud had dug in with much gusto), kindly including poor Arthur (who, after being retrieved by Cloud, sat small and uncertain at the end of the table, a little overwhelmed at dining in the company of the General himself) in the conversation, respecting Vincent’s unspoken wish not to be asked too many questions, generously offering them dessert when they’d finished (“Oh no, we couldn’t possibly, but dinner was wonderful, thank you,” Sephiroth demurred, casting a reproving glare at his contented aide, who was now slouching in his chair most unprofessionally).
It was getting late when they finally set out across the frosty village square for the inn, Cloud and Arthur lagging a few steps behind the SOLDIERs, who conversed in low tones.
“Our guide is supposed to meet us an hour after dawn tomorrow,” Sephiroth murmured to Zack, quietly enough so that only his aide’s Mako-enhanced hearing could pick it up. “Keeping today’s events in mind, however, I’d prefer to split up.”
The dark-haired man nodded. “Two of us go up to the reactor, two of us stay here in the village to scout things out. Makes sense. We’ll draw straws for it tomorrow morning, then.”
Sephiroth opened his mouth to protest, then thought better of it, simply shrugging instead. It was too much trouble to get into an argument with his friend over something so insignificant. If Zack wanted to indulge in such absurdities as drawing straws, let him; it wouldn’t hurt anyone.
He idly wondered if the lieutenant realized how fortunate he was to have a commanding officer who let him get away with this sort of nonsense.
“I will accompany the reactor team.”
Both SOLDIERs started in surprise and made a slight move towards their weapons. How Vincent had managed to sneak around to the shadows of the inn without them noticing, neither knew. Only a brief flash of red betrayed the man’s location before he became one with the shadows again.
Creepy, Zack thought with a shudder. He glanced at Cloud as the group entered the inn. The youth raised an eyebrow, smiling knowingly. So Cloud had noticed his mentor’s presence as well? Very intriguing, since the former Turk had spoken quietly enough that only those with enhanced hearing could have heard him…
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Cloud walked contently by Arthur’s side, keeping a sharp lookout. His attention was split between the figure beside him, the pair of SOLDIERs before them, and a distinct feeling in the back of his mind he had long ago learned to identify.
The youth grinned, though no one could see it in the darkness as the SOLDIERs were looking ahead, and Arthur couldn’t see very well in the quickly gathering gloom. Not that he could see much better, but he had had practice; night fell early in Nibelheim, making it a place unsafe to travel for the unwary… or the unenhanced.
“Thanks for bringing me here, Cloud.”
Cloud smiled at Arthur, even though he knew the other teen wouldn’t be able to see it. “Hey, it’s no problem! Zack agreed with me, you’re a lot better than anyone else in our unit. At least you don’t think you can go head-to-head with a SOLDIER and win. Some of those guys are total idiots.” Poor Arthur, only average at basic training, little physical talent… and yet such a good heart. Cloud hoped he’d find happiness some day. His bunkmate had shown some excellent mental skills, but unfortunately, his family, though poor enough to need the wages Arthur brought them, had enough money that he couldn’t qualify for a need-based scholarship. The least Cloud could do was keep an eye on him and try to keep him out of trouble.
“Still, I’d never thought I’d get to meet the General or Lieutenant Zack in person,” Arthur replied. “I’m glad to have met your mom, too. She’s really nice. And generous.”
Cloud winced at that. His mother had obviously started planning to have his superiors for dinner shortly after he had shown up with them on her doorstep. Undoubtedly that hadn’t been easy or cheap. At least she didn’t have to feed him on a regular basis anymore, though…
“I’m lucky to have her,” Cloud replied. He noted Sephiroth stiffen and Zack start a little, and knew Vincent had made his presence known. A second later the lieutenant glanced backwards. The blond raised an eyebrow and smiled.
Zack didn’t say anything, though, until they had returned to the rooms they had been given. “Cloud, can I talk to you for a minute?”
Cloud tilted his head, a silent sign of interest. He wondered why Zack had suddenly decided he needed to talk (and since when had he felt the need to ask first?), but nodded anyway, well aware it couldn’t be Vincent he was asking about. Arthur had been told the man was just another ShinRa operative in the region who would be aiding them, and considering the size of the room, it would be difficult to speak of things otherwise without the other trooper picking up some idea there was something afoot. The other trooper wasn’t stupid by any means, just shy and underconfident. Even so, Cloud scooted a little closer for privacy’s sake as the SOLDIER lieutenant perched on the edge of his bed, speaking to him in low tones.
Sephiroth watched them thoughtfully from the doorway on the other side of the room, just far enough away so that he would’ve had to actively listen for his sharp ears to pick up what they were saying… but he had manners enough not to eavesdrop on a private conversation.
It intrigued him, how much time and effort his aide invested in the young regular — the cadet he’d admitted outright would never make it into SOLDIER. And yet Zack had begun training Strife only a week or so after the boy had failed the exams — right around the same time the SOLDIER had become so depressed by his break-up, actually. Sephiroth spared a moment to wonder if his aide had taken the job on merely to help both of them focus on something other than their sorrows, but banished the thought almost immediately; if Zack had only wanted a distraction, he would have become bored with his little project after a month or so and gone off to do something else. Even if they were friends, as they seemed to be, the busy lieutenant wouldn’t have wasted his time teaching someone who would never be able to make full use of his lessons. He had to have seen some talent in the blond — something beyond the basic Turk training he’d received from that strange man in the mountains…
Frowning a little at the recollection of Vincent, he turned on his heel to leave, narrowly avoiding a collision with Dennett (who very nearly squeaked in surprise, stammering an apology that the General accepted with a short nod). He needed to be alone for a while.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“What are you still doing up?”
Sephiroth turned, looking over his shoulder at Zack, who stood just a few steps behind him, clad only in a pair of loose pants. “Just thinking,” he said with a sigh, turning back to stare out the window at the smudge in the darkness where the mountains met the sky.
“About Vincent, and what he told us.” It was a statement, not a question, and not for the first time the General wondered how his aide could read him so easily.
“Yes,” he admitted.
“Do you believe him?”
The silence felt like it stretched on for a short eternity before Sephiroth finally answered. “Yes,” he repeated. “I think I do. It all makes too much sense…”
He knew Zack was nodding, could feel him start to move closer — surprised him by turning towards him first. “Where, pray tell,” the silver-haired man inquired, one fine eyebrow raised, “did you manage to get your hands on a Contain materia, anyway?”
The dark-eyed man stopped, blinked… recognised his superior’s question as a diversionary tactic, let it slide. Sephiroth had that look in his eyes again; the issue of Vincent he would talk about only when he was ready, and a moment not before. In cases like this, the younger SOLDIER knew, badgering the man for answers would get him nowhere.
So, grinning slyly, he let his outstretched hand drop to his side, cocked an eyebrow, and declared, “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Try me.”
“All right, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. —I was on a mission in Mideel a couple months ago, if you remember, and I met this girl — a real pretty little thing, had an absolutely gorgeous—”
“Zack…” The General’s warning tone was obvious.
“Fine, fine.” He huffed in mock annoyance. “Her pet chocobo gave it to me.”
There was a long pause. “…Her pet chocobo.”
“I told you you wouldn’t believe me, didn’t I?”
“Go to bed, Zachary,” Sephiroth commanded, letting out a long-suffering sigh. “If you’re tired enough to be spinning tales like this now…” He shook his head. “You’ll never be able to function tomorrow without sufficient sleep.”
“Neither will you,” came the immediate reply, “and that is, quite frankly, not an option.” A firm hand came to rest upon his shoulder, steering him back towards the room the two of them were sharing with the regulars. “It’s bedtime for you, mister.”
“…What, are you trying to make yourself out to be my mother now, too?”
A quiet chuckle. “Not your mother, Seph; just your friend. If I don’t make sure you take care of yourself, who will?”
The silver-haired man smiled faintly at that in spite of himself.
Previous Chapter | Archive | Author's Notes and Outtakes | Next Chapter
Read Comments | Leave a Comment
Genre: General/Drama
Pairings: None, at the moment.
Rating (Overall): PG-13
Summary: "Surely you realize not all of what ShinRa’s records hold is truth."
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and all associated characters and symbols are the exclusive property of Square Enix and its associates. We’re just borrowing them for a while.
Chapter 11
Cloud didn’t know if he had ever been so angry in his life. He had worked so hard to get Vincent and Sephiroth to meet, had endured many a trial and tribulation to do it, and now what happened? Vincent wouldn’t even see the General, let alone talk to him! The blond scowled as he stomped his way down the mountain, almost shaking in his rage.
An echoing cry suddenly broke into his thoughts, and the teen dropped into a protective crouch, glancing around. That had sounded an awful lot like a dragon, and he really didn’t want to meet one of those… especially since he was only armed with his staff.
After a long moment the sound faded. Cloud breathed a sigh of relief as he realized that the noise had come from farther up in the mountains. The unique acoustics around here had caused the echo to sound all the way down here. It was hardly the first time something like this had happened, but every time it did Cloud was only saved from panicking by his training. He didn’t like dragons at all; small wonder, really, considering what had happened to him when he was a child. And he knew he still wouldn’t be able to handle one on his own if it attacked him, even fully armed.
The blond paused, a plan slowly forming in his mind. It wasn’t the most creative, inventive, or particularly smart idea, but… it might just work. Grinning, he ran back down the path towards Nibelheim.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Zack and Sephiroth had made their first circle of the town’s perimeter, and Zack, personally, was left wondering if the call that had brought them out here was genuine. There hadn’t been any signs of monster activity on the edges of town, which didn’t tally with the reports of attacks against the village. They would have to investigate the old reactor tomorrow, then, and see what monsters lurked in the mountains. For now, though, the pair of SOLDIERs settled down at the inn to wait. “I don’t like this, Seph.”
“Neither do I,” Sephiroth admitted.
“Hmm… you don’t think the request could’ve been faked, do you?”
“No. It had been approved by the upper levels.” That implied the ShinRa executive board — or at least their flunkies — had investigated it. “They would hardly waste the money to send us out here otherwise.”
“True, true.”
“Well, we’ll head up to the reactor first thing in the morning. The mayor promised us a guide, though I doubt he’ll be particularly reliable, considering the prevailing local attitude towards these mountains.”
“Old-fashioned superstition, Seph… though you may be right. Chances are most of the people who live here have rarely left town, much less ventured as far up as we’re going.” Zack flopped back on one of the beds in the room they had been given. “We’ll have an extra civilian to cover, then.”
“In addition to the two regulars.” The General didn’t sound particularly pleased by the prospect.
“Come on, Seph, don’t be like that. You know it’s standard procedure to take at least a few of them with us. Cloud, at least, is pretty skilled after all of the time I’ve been working with him. And he suggested Dennett himself, who might not be exceptional, but they do work together reasonably well. We’ll stick them off to the side with the guide and have them guard ‘im. Gives us only one spot to protect.”
Sephiroth raised an eyebrow and was about to reply when the door burst open, allowing a breathless Cloud to rush in. “I saw… a really big… thing.”
“They’re called mountains, kiddo. I’d’ve thought you’d know that, since you grew up around here and all,” Zack teased.
Cloud shook his head, still panting. “Mountains… don’t… have claws. Or make really… loud sounds.”
“Sounds?” Sephiroth echoed.
“Like a scream, but not human.”
The two SOLDIERs exchanged a glance. “Where were you?” Zack asked.
“Up a ways in the mountains.” Cloud looked slightly insulted at the look he got. “No, not everyone around here is scared of them. Besides, I’ve got a friend who lives up there. And it wasn’t that far in, really. Just over a mile.”
“Sounds like a dragon to me,” Zack mused aloud. He glanced at Sephiroth. If there were a dragon that close to town…
“Take us to where you saw it,” Sephiroth commanded.
“Yes, sir!”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It took all of Cloud’s self-control not to smile or dance with glee as Sephiroth and Zack inspected the area he had indicated. It was actually a bit closer to Vincent’s shack than the place he had actually heard the dragon, but that would only work in his favor. Now all he had to do was get them to actually enter the house, and everything should be fine.
“Hm… I don’t see anything…” Zack frowned at the ground. “It should have left traces if it were here.”
“Not if it landed over there,” Sephiroth pointed out, indicating a nearby rock formation.
“Oh, I see.” Zack moved over to the pile of dense boulders. He reached for his sword only to stop when Sephiroth shook his head.
“These local glacial deposits have high adamantine content.”
Zack made a disappointed sound. “Damn. No, a dragon wouldn’t leave signs on that, huh? Well, may as well go back, then. We can’t track it.”
Sephiroth turned to Cloud. “Private Strife, you said you had a friend who lives around here. Is it possible he might have seen something?”
“Most likely, sir,” Cloud answered. “Follow me. I’ll show you the way.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Vincent did not pace; he was too well trained for that. Still, he was agitated. Of all the things that could have happened, having Lucrecia’s son return to tiny Nibelheim was not one he could have ever predicted… and in his shock, he had lashed out at his student. Again. He sighed. Hopefully he would be able to catch Cloud before he left the mountains to apologize. He didn’t want to wait for years like he had last time.
“Vincent?”
Speaking of whom… Vincent turned to see the blond poking his head through the door. “Hello, Cloud.” He briefly wondered exactly what the youth was doing; he had a slightly guilty yet determined look on his face.
Cloud opened the door all of the way, allowing Vincent to see who was behind him.
“Excuse me, but Private Strife believes he saw a dragon near here. Do you know anything about it?”
Vincent heard the black-haired man’s question, but dismissed it for the time being, his eyes remaining riveted on the final figure of the trio. He paused in his examination to narrow his eyes at his former student, who merely looked defiant. At least he knew what Cloud had been plotting, now… “I’m sure he said as much. However, how much of what he said was true is another story entirely.”
“All of it’s true, from a certain point of view,” Cloud muttered.
Vincent sighed. “Typical. Stay outside and practice, Cloud; I’ll deal with you later.”
“If there is a dragon in the area, that’s not such a good idea,” the shorter SOLDIER declared, stepping closer to Cloud.
“No dragon has come this close to town for over ten years,” Vincent replied, red eyes flickering to him for a moment before returning to Sephiroth. “Cloud will be fine. Now, please come inside.” His tone apparently convinced them, as the pair of SOLDIERs stepped inside, though their hands didn’t stray far from their weapons.
The tension in the room gradually increased as the silence dragged on. Finally, the dark-haired man spoke up. “I’m Lieutenant Zack Sinclair. And this is—”
“General Sephiroth,” Vincent finished, his eyes never leaving Sephiroth’s face. “Cloud came up here earlier to try to convince me to go meet you. When I refused, he apparently decided to manipulate you into coming here.” He paused. “I am Vincent. Vincent Valentine.”
No recognition showed in Zack’s face, but Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. “The Turk? Your record reports you as dead.”
The gunman allowed himself an ironic smile. “Surely you realize not all of what ShinRa’s records hold is truth.”
“Just how do you know Cloud, anyway?” Zack demanded, having tensed up the minute Sephiroth had said ‘Turk.’
“Cloud Strife was my student for many years,” Vincent replied, intrigued again by the SOLDIER’s response. Apparently the man had taken a shine to the blond.
Well, that explains a few things, Zack reflected. No wonder the kid reminded him of a Turk in so many ways. “So… why did Cloud want you to meet us, anyway?”
“Because…” Vincent paused for a long moment before raising his head to meet the General’s gaze. “I knew your mother, Sephiroth.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Cloud trudged his way away from the shack, content to not hear what would happen. Vincent was probably mad at him, though at this point he didn’t mind if it were so. Hopefully the ex-Turk would tell Sephiroth and Zack the entire story; if he didn’t, Cloud would start looking for some way to chain his former teacher and the General together. Maybe he could even get Zack to help him.
In the meantime, though, he might as well do as his mentor suggested and get in some training. Settling his feet, Cloud glanced around the clearing, familiar from the many practices he’d had here with his mentor. Slowly he moved through his regular patterns, interweaving the different styles taught to him by Zack and Vincent; slowly he felt himself begin to relax and reach that meditative state so easily found in training. It was then he heard it: a sound that did not belong in this part of the mountains, even less so than the dragon’s roar he had heard earlier.
A helicopter?
Cloud paused for a long moment, considering his options. He could go back and get the others, but that hardly seemed wise if he wanted Vincent to tell Sephiroth everything. Once the Turk was interrupted, Cloud knew, he wouldn’t start again. It shouldn’t be that hard to just investigate the sound on his own…
The blond went traveling over the hard rocks, following the echoing noise. He quickly determined that it wasn’t very close at all; in fact, it was almost on the other side of the mountain ridge. Luckily, he knew a shortcut. The path he turned onto was difficult to climb, but he managed it, being careful to hide his tracks. It took a good while before he finally found himself a perfect place to watch from, high up but well concealed as well. Hopefully it wouldn’t take long for whoever it was to show themselves. He needed to get back to Vincent’s shack before the others noticed his prolonged absence.
Shortly after Cloud got himself into position, the sound of the helicopter stopped. Doors opened and shut. The teen strained his eyes and managed to make out at least four individuals dressed in distinctive suits. Turks? What are they doing out here? The next figure he saw was dressed a white coat and was wearing glasses. Wait, that’s a lab coat! Cloud bit down on his exclamation of shock. Why in Gaea’s name would a ShinRa scientist come all the way out here…?
Moving very carefully, Cloud wiggled backwards until he was out of sight. After cleansing his hiding spot of traces of his presence, he moved as quietly as he could back towards the trail. Once he had safely returned to the clearing he took off at a run, slamming right into Vincent’s door.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sephiroth could hardly believe it. He stared at the man who stood silent before him, his far-fetched tale complete. He would’ve thought the entire thing was some elaborate hoax, if not for so many of the details — things that weren’t, couldn’t possibly be known to the public — matching up with Sephiroth’s own limited knowledge of the facts.
For the first time in a long while, the General found himself at a loss for words.
Zack shook his head, glancing uneasily at his friend. “Seph…”
Whatever he’d been about to say was lost in the sound of the door slamming as Cloud burst into the already crowded shack. Vincent opened his mouth to scold him for the uninvited intrusion, but the expression of shock on his student’s face gave him pause. “Cloud, what is it?”
The boy could only shake his head, panting as he clung to the doorframe.
Zack laid a hand on his shoulder. “Breathe, kiddo,” he said helpfully.
Cloud nodded absently, his attention focused solely on the General. “Sir,” he began once he’d caught his breath, “is anyone else supposed to be on this mission?”
“Other than you, myself, Sinclair, and Dennett? No.” Sephiroth frowned. “Why do you ask?”
“When I was outside, I heard something. A helicopter,” he added hastily, seeing the look his superiors exchanged. “I followed the sound, and found a bunch of Turks—”
“Always with the Turks, sticking their noses wherever they damn well please,” Zack muttered.
“—and a scientist.”
“A scientist?” the General echoed, his voice frighteningly cold.
“What did he look like?” the former Turk demanded harshly, red eyes boring into his student’s.
Cloud swallowed hard, a little unnerved by their intensity. “About average height, lab coat, longish dark hair. I think he might have had glasses; saw the sun glint off of something on his face. He seemed hunched forward a little when he walked, too—”
“Hojo,” Sephiroth said flatly, his fingers tensing on the Masamune’s hilt even as Zack’s hand drifted up to the buster sword’s grip. The blond didn’t doubt for a moment that both grim-faced men would have dearly loved to go after him, had company protocol not prevented them from doing so. He cast a nervous glance at his mentor… and his heart sank.
Vincent’s eyes had narrowed to crimson slits, and the fingers of his claw-hand were digging grooves in the wood of the table. “Finally,” he rasped. “After all these long years, he’s returned to the scene of his crimes… to us…” His voice was dreadfully eager, and grew less and less human with every word.
Sephiroth stared at the ex-Turk’s almost hazy body. “He’s… changing.” The statement was matter-of-fact and even, though the General’s tense defensive posture belied his affected calm.
Zack looked at Cloud worriedly. “Um… does he do this often?”
The blond shook his head unhappily, keeping his gaze trained on his former teacher’s solidifying form. “Only when he gets really emotional, which is almost never. He’s only done it once before that I know… and I’ve never actually seen—”
The grey-skinned man-creature now standing in Vincent’s place shook itself as the transformation finished, then turned its fiery gaze upon Cloud. “Take us to him, boy,” it commanded, its voice hollow behind the mask it wore. “We shall seize him and lock him up and make him suffer, just as he made us suffer—” this last an angry hiss “—and then we shall take our sweet time as we flay the weak flesh from his bones!”
“…No.” The young man’s voice was unsteady, but his face was resolute. “I won’t—”
“No? No, you say?” A wordless snarl. “The Calamity take you, then — we’ll find the demon’s spawn ourself!” And the thing raised its chainsaw, lurching forward with remarkable speed—
—Zack shoved Cloud down, out of the way, as he lunged outside after it—
—the Masamune sang in the crisp mountain air as Sephiroth met the creature head-on, green eyes blazing—
“Don’t hurt him!”
They all froze, turning to the source of the cry. Staff in hand, Cloud stepped over the remains of the door, his eyes pleading. “If we can just convince him that—”
A dark chuckle. “Your heart’s in the right place, boy, and we thank you for the concern… but we don’t need to be convinced of anything. We already know all that matters right now is finding that manipulative fiend and tearing him apart!” Snarling, the creature feinted to the left, throwing the General off just enough so it could bring up the chainsaw and—
Pandemonium ensued.
In a purely reflex action, Sephiroth slung a Blizzaga at the thing, which shrieked in pain as Cloud again yelled not to hurt him — “I’m sorry, Strife, but I don’t have any status-inflicting materia on me, just attack magic!” — and then the General proceeded to chase it all about the clearing, trying to disable it, both of them pretty much deciding that the structural integrity of the shack in the middle of it all was irrelevant (and oh sweet Gaea the thing was going to need some major repairs after this fiasco, even if those were just glancing blows). Zack, meanwhile, was busy fiddling with his materia, and it took every ounce of Cloud’s self-control not to scream at him to hurry up and do something, and damn ShinRa anyway for not equipping their regular troopers with—
“Freeze!”
There was ice and a howl of pain and frustration, and Cloud very nearly smacked the dark-haired SOLDIER First (“didn’t I tell you not to hurt him?”) — but then stopped himself, gaping at the creature in surprise.
“Well,” said Zack faintly, “whaddya know? It worked.”
The masked thing stood frozen in place, muscles twitching violently as it fought against the spell. None of them had any doubt that, had its eyes been visible, they would have been glaring hatefully at the young lieutenant.
“Private Strife,” Sephiroth said quietly, “since we have no idea how long this is going to last, I suggest you start your convincing.”
Cloud gulped, but stepped forward, trying to find the words to break through to his mentor. He stopped about five feet from the ice-rimed monster than had taken his teacher’s place. “Vincent, I know you can hear me. We can’t do this… not now.” Cloud licked his lips and scrabbled for calm. This might be his only chance. If he didn’t stop Vincent now, the ex-Turk was as good as dead. “We don’t know why Hojo is here or what he’s up to. I saw several Turks with him, and you know they have to be good! Even you wouldn’t be able to take them on all at once without hurting yourself. And then… Hojo might be able to capture you again…”
An ominous creak was the only response as the ice suddenly developed another crack.
“Damnit, Vincent!” Cloud cried, desperate now. “You’re always telling me to have a plan, to use some self-control and discipline and not just follow my emotions. If you go running after Hojo like a maniac, destroying everything that gets in your way, you’ll only be acting like the very monster he was trying to create!”
Silence reigned for a few more minutes. Then, almost anticlimactically, the ice shattered into tiny specks, the monster moving stiffly, giving Zack a dark look before turning its gaze on Cloud. The youth held fast, keeping eye contact despite the almost overwhelming urge to curl up and hide. The creature took one step forward, then another, and slowly faded away to reveal a shabby-looking Vincent. “You’re right, Cloud,” he said slowly, his voice ragged. “You’re right.” And then, worn out both physically and emotionally, the man slumped forward.
“Vincent!” Cloud rushed forward in time to catch the man, holding him tightly. Alas, he had forgotten the staff he still held; Vincent winced as the wood connected solidly with his head. “Uh, sorry.”
The former Turk said nothing, only returned his protégé’s embrace briefly. Then he turned to the SOLDIERs standing to the side. “I apologize.”
“Considering what you said earlier, your actions were completely justified,” Zack replied seriously. “Hades, if the circumstances were different, we—”
Any further conversation was cut off by a shuddering crash. The quartet looked over at the pile of rubble that had once been Vincent’s home. “Umm… Now what do we do?”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
They ended up debating it for several minutes before coming to an agreement. Vincent’s first idea, which was to stay in the mountains overnight, had been firmly vetoed by Cloud (“It’s too cold, and you’d be up here alone. I know you can take on a dragon, but you’d be up all night watching”). The next best thing would have been the Shinra Mansion, but that was no longer a possibility (“If the place has previously been used by Hojo, as you said earlier, it’s possible he’s returning there,” Sephiroth pointed out). The most convenient option would be to bring Vincent back to the village inn; the ex-Turk could easily slip by the townsfolk, but that wouldn’t work either (“Guys, in case you’ve forgotten, we have another soldier back there who’s supposed to share our room tonight”). Finally, Cloud suggested they take Vincent back to his house. It was probably about time his mother found out what was going on, anyway.
Before they left the mountains, the four of them did a careful survey of the area where Cloud had first seen Hojo. Cloud didn’t recognize most of the equipment they were bringing in, though he suspected Sephiroth, Zack, and Vincent did, from the looks they exchanged. As the four made their way back to town, Vincent asked his protégé a question. “Cloud, your father worked in the reactor, didn’t he?”
“Yeah, I think so. Mom’s mentioned it a few times.”
“Then perhaps we should speak to her about it,” Vincent replied smoothly.
“Huh?” Cloud blinked, confused. The raven-haired man said no more, but gestured for the SOLDIERs to follow his student home. The youth knocked on the door. “Mom, I’m back!”
“Cloud!” Elanor smiled, then blinked as she noticed the group of figures standing behind her son. “Come inside, please. Would you like some tea?”
The group shuffled inside and, at the blonde’s invitation, took seats at the kitchen table. Cloud couldn’t help being proud of his mother. She had to know who Sephiroth was, but she wasn’t intimidated in the least. “Mom, this is General Sephiroth and Lieutenant Zack Sinclair. They’re my commanding officers for this mission. And this is Vincent Valentine, a friend of mine.”
“I see.” Elanor’s voice didn’t change, but everyone in the room sensed a shift in her attention. “And just how do you know my son, Mr. Valentine?”
Vincent found himself respecting the woman; it was clear where Cloud had gotten his will and courage from. “Your son rescued me many years ago, Mrs. Strife. I have been teaching him what I can in return.”
“Ahh.” Elanor glanced at Cloud. “So this is where you’ve been vanishing to.”
Cloud nodded. “He’s my mentor, Mom. He’s helped me a lot.”
“Mrs. Strife,” Sephiroth interjected, “did your husband work up at the reactor?”
Elanor glanced at her son in confusion but answered the man’s inquiry. “Yes, he did. Why do you ask?”
Zack took up the questioning. “It’s been brought to our attention that the reactor may not be as inactive as we thought. We were wondering if your husband mentioned anything strange happening there.”
Elanor sat still for a long time, stirring the tea sitting before her. “Fastred couldn’t say much. Apparently a lot of it was classified. But he always warned me I should never go up there, no matter what. That things were… odd.” She gave her son a sharp look. “I do hope you haven’t been loitering around up there, Cloud.” The youth shook his head firmly.
“Thank you, Mrs. Strife,” Zack said as he rose, standing beside the General. “You’ve been very helpful, but we won’t stay and bother you any longer.”
Cloud moved to accompany them, but stopped suddenly. “Oh, Mom?”
“Yes, dear?”
“Could Vincent stay with you tonight? His house… uh, fell apart.”
“His house fell apart?” Elanor repeated faintly. “Exactly how did that happen?”
“…It wasn’t a very well-built house?” her son replied, a sheepish smile on his face.
Vincent suppressed the urge to sigh as the woman gave him an odd look, and nodded a little, almost reluctantly. One of these days, he told himself, he’d have to teach the boy to lie better.
“I suppose,” Elanor said slowly. “I’ll need a little time to air out the guest room first, though…”
Vincent nodded again. “Of course. Thank you.”
Sephiroth spoke then, adding his voice to Zack’s. “And we thank you again as well, Mrs. Strife, but we’ll be leaving now. We apologize for the intrusion—”
Cloud’s mother shook her head. “No, no, don’t. It’s no trouble at all, really.” She smiled. “Would you care to stay for dinner?”
The General politely declined — “I don’t want the three of us (“four, with Arthur, sir,” Cloud interjected) to be a burden” — but Elanor insisted (“I always make plenty extra, really, it’s no trouble at all, and you boys look like you could all use a good meal”), and so they soon found themselves eating a hearty stew and warm, crusty bread with fresh butter.
Elanor was a wonderful hostess, graciously overlooking Zack’s rudeness as he made small talk with his mouth full (both he and Cloud had dug in with much gusto), kindly including poor Arthur (who, after being retrieved by Cloud, sat small and uncertain at the end of the table, a little overwhelmed at dining in the company of the General himself) in the conversation, respecting Vincent’s unspoken wish not to be asked too many questions, generously offering them dessert when they’d finished (“Oh no, we couldn’t possibly, but dinner was wonderful, thank you,” Sephiroth demurred, casting a reproving glare at his contented aide, who was now slouching in his chair most unprofessionally).
It was getting late when they finally set out across the frosty village square for the inn, Cloud and Arthur lagging a few steps behind the SOLDIERs, who conversed in low tones.
“Our guide is supposed to meet us an hour after dawn tomorrow,” Sephiroth murmured to Zack, quietly enough so that only his aide’s Mako-enhanced hearing could pick it up. “Keeping today’s events in mind, however, I’d prefer to split up.”
The dark-haired man nodded. “Two of us go up to the reactor, two of us stay here in the village to scout things out. Makes sense. We’ll draw straws for it tomorrow morning, then.”
Sephiroth opened his mouth to protest, then thought better of it, simply shrugging instead. It was too much trouble to get into an argument with his friend over something so insignificant. If Zack wanted to indulge in such absurdities as drawing straws, let him; it wouldn’t hurt anyone.
He idly wondered if the lieutenant realized how fortunate he was to have a commanding officer who let him get away with this sort of nonsense.
“I will accompany the reactor team.”
Both SOLDIERs started in surprise and made a slight move towards their weapons. How Vincent had managed to sneak around to the shadows of the inn without them noticing, neither knew. Only a brief flash of red betrayed the man’s location before he became one with the shadows again.
Creepy, Zack thought with a shudder. He glanced at Cloud as the group entered the inn. The youth raised an eyebrow, smiling knowingly. So Cloud had noticed his mentor’s presence as well? Very intriguing, since the former Turk had spoken quietly enough that only those with enhanced hearing could have heard him…
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Cloud walked contently by Arthur’s side, keeping a sharp lookout. His attention was split between the figure beside him, the pair of SOLDIERs before them, and a distinct feeling in the back of his mind he had long ago learned to identify.
The youth grinned, though no one could see it in the darkness as the SOLDIERs were looking ahead, and Arthur couldn’t see very well in the quickly gathering gloom. Not that he could see much better, but he had had practice; night fell early in Nibelheim, making it a place unsafe to travel for the unwary… or the unenhanced.
“Thanks for bringing me here, Cloud.”
Cloud smiled at Arthur, even though he knew the other teen wouldn’t be able to see it. “Hey, it’s no problem! Zack agreed with me, you’re a lot better than anyone else in our unit. At least you don’t think you can go head-to-head with a SOLDIER and win. Some of those guys are total idiots.” Poor Arthur, only average at basic training, little physical talent… and yet such a good heart. Cloud hoped he’d find happiness some day. His bunkmate had shown some excellent mental skills, but unfortunately, his family, though poor enough to need the wages Arthur brought them, had enough money that he couldn’t qualify for a need-based scholarship. The least Cloud could do was keep an eye on him and try to keep him out of trouble.
“Still, I’d never thought I’d get to meet the General or Lieutenant Zack in person,” Arthur replied. “I’m glad to have met your mom, too. She’s really nice. And generous.”
Cloud winced at that. His mother had obviously started planning to have his superiors for dinner shortly after he had shown up with them on her doorstep. Undoubtedly that hadn’t been easy or cheap. At least she didn’t have to feed him on a regular basis anymore, though…
“I’m lucky to have her,” Cloud replied. He noted Sephiroth stiffen and Zack start a little, and knew Vincent had made his presence known. A second later the lieutenant glanced backwards. The blond raised an eyebrow and smiled.
Zack didn’t say anything, though, until they had returned to the rooms they had been given. “Cloud, can I talk to you for a minute?”
Cloud tilted his head, a silent sign of interest. He wondered why Zack had suddenly decided he needed to talk (and since when had he felt the need to ask first?), but nodded anyway, well aware it couldn’t be Vincent he was asking about. Arthur had been told the man was just another ShinRa operative in the region who would be aiding them, and considering the size of the room, it would be difficult to speak of things otherwise without the other trooper picking up some idea there was something afoot. The other trooper wasn’t stupid by any means, just shy and underconfident. Even so, Cloud scooted a little closer for privacy’s sake as the SOLDIER lieutenant perched on the edge of his bed, speaking to him in low tones.
Sephiroth watched them thoughtfully from the doorway on the other side of the room, just far enough away so that he would’ve had to actively listen for his sharp ears to pick up what they were saying… but he had manners enough not to eavesdrop on a private conversation.
It intrigued him, how much time and effort his aide invested in the young regular — the cadet he’d admitted outright would never make it into SOLDIER. And yet Zack had begun training Strife only a week or so after the boy had failed the exams — right around the same time the SOLDIER had become so depressed by his break-up, actually. Sephiroth spared a moment to wonder if his aide had taken the job on merely to help both of them focus on something other than their sorrows, but banished the thought almost immediately; if Zack had only wanted a distraction, he would have become bored with his little project after a month or so and gone off to do something else. Even if they were friends, as they seemed to be, the busy lieutenant wouldn’t have wasted his time teaching someone who would never be able to make full use of his lessons. He had to have seen some talent in the blond — something beyond the basic Turk training he’d received from that strange man in the mountains…
Frowning a little at the recollection of Vincent, he turned on his heel to leave, narrowly avoiding a collision with Dennett (who very nearly squeaked in surprise, stammering an apology that the General accepted with a short nod). He needed to be alone for a while.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“What are you still doing up?”
Sephiroth turned, looking over his shoulder at Zack, who stood just a few steps behind him, clad only in a pair of loose pants. “Just thinking,” he said with a sigh, turning back to stare out the window at the smudge in the darkness where the mountains met the sky.
“About Vincent, and what he told us.” It was a statement, not a question, and not for the first time the General wondered how his aide could read him so easily.
“Yes,” he admitted.
“Do you believe him?”
The silence felt like it stretched on for a short eternity before Sephiroth finally answered. “Yes,” he repeated. “I think I do. It all makes too much sense…”
He knew Zack was nodding, could feel him start to move closer — surprised him by turning towards him first. “Where, pray tell,” the silver-haired man inquired, one fine eyebrow raised, “did you manage to get your hands on a Contain materia, anyway?”
The dark-eyed man stopped, blinked… recognised his superior’s question as a diversionary tactic, let it slide. Sephiroth had that look in his eyes again; the issue of Vincent he would talk about only when he was ready, and a moment not before. In cases like this, the younger SOLDIER knew, badgering the man for answers would get him nowhere.
So, grinning slyly, he let his outstretched hand drop to his side, cocked an eyebrow, and declared, “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Try me.”
“All right, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. —I was on a mission in Mideel a couple months ago, if you remember, and I met this girl — a real pretty little thing, had an absolutely gorgeous—”
“Zack…” The General’s warning tone was obvious.
“Fine, fine.” He huffed in mock annoyance. “Her pet chocobo gave it to me.”
There was a long pause. “…Her pet chocobo.”
“I told you you wouldn’t believe me, didn’t I?”
“Go to bed, Zachary,” Sephiroth commanded, letting out a long-suffering sigh. “If you’re tired enough to be spinning tales like this now…” He shook his head. “You’ll never be able to function tomorrow without sufficient sleep.”
“Neither will you,” came the immediate reply, “and that is, quite frankly, not an option.” A firm hand came to rest upon his shoulder, steering him back towards the room the two of them were sharing with the regulars. “It’s bedtime for you, mister.”
“…What, are you trying to make yourself out to be my mother now, too?”
A quiet chuckle. “Not your mother, Seph; just your friend. If I don’t make sure you take care of yourself, who will?”
The silver-haired man smiled faintly at that in spite of himself.
Read Comments | Leave a Comment