Butterfly Effect: Chapter 37
Jul. 4th, 2010 01:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bard_linnAuthors: Bard Linn and Kiraya
Genre: General/Drama
Pairings: ZackxSeph, Assorted Past
Rating (Overall): PG-13
Warnings: Implications of intimacy
Summary: “I can be discreet — I’m always discreet.”
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 37
“No place like home, they say,” he grumbled. “Well, I say bullshit. Sweet Shiva, I hate this place.”
Zack sighed as he kicked a stick across the ground. He had escaped to the jungle surrounding the town rather than risk another human encounter today. He didn’t have the Buster Sword with him — he’d left in it Midgar, as per regulations — but he did have a rather large dagger and two throwing knives. Versatility might not be his passion the way it was Cloud’s, but he knew how to use the weapons well enough to handle anything in the nearby area… including those blasted Touch Mes. “Should bring one back for Cloud, the sneaky bastard. It’d serve him right.”
Not that the other SOLDIER hadn’t been right about some of the things he’d said. Zack’s mother had nearly fainted when he had shown up on the doorstep, and once she’d established he was real and not a figment of her imagination, she’d quickly fallen into hysterics. Apparently, since he had only written them that one letter about six years back, they’d thought he’d died or something.
All right, all right. I’ll write more often, but I sure as hell ain’t gonna come back any time soon. Zack settled against a tree, staring up at the canopy overhead. The first night back had been kind of nice. He had gotten some of his mother’s home cooking, which he found he’d actually really missed, and gotten the chance to catch up on the lives of old friends. But the next day, the inquiries had started to assault him. His parents hadn’t been pleased to find out he still had at least five years still on his contract with ShinRa, nor were they happy to find out he’d broken up with his girlfriend.
Not that they really care, Zack thought, rolling his eyes. Mom just wants grandchildren. They hadn’t been interested in anything he had to say about his life in Midgar, not even about Cloud, who was as close to him as family. And Seph… well, he didn’t even try to bring that up.
Zack took a moment and tried to imagine the life his parents wanted for him. He’d have to retire from ShinRa of course, and marry some pretty little thing who he could have lots of kids with. Despite how their last meeting had gone, it had to be Aeris in his mind; he couldn’t think of another woman he could really settle down with. Tifa and Cloud would stop by regularly, of course. Tifa’d probably have her mastery by then, start a school of her own. Cloud would still be with the company, considering he’d only served about four years of his contract as a SOLDIER. But hey, maybe he’d’ve made First by then. And Seph…
His heart twisted. Seph, too, would still be stuck with ShinRa; Zack refused to consider the possibility that he’d be dead, though there was no other way they’d ever let him go. He took some comfort in the fact that Cloud, at least, would still be around, but… it wouldn’t be the same. Sure, the two of them had gotten a lot closer, but Cloud didn’t know Seph’s idiosyncrasies the way Zack did, the kind of stupid jokes that got him to relax when he was tense, the silly little things that distracted him enough during board meetings that he couldn’t spend the whole time brooding about how vile the company execs (most of ‘em) were.
He could never abandon Seph. Ever.
No, his parent’s idealistic dream could never be his life. Heck, he had no idea what he’d do with himself if he left ShinRa. Even SOLDIERs who were wounded to the point of inaction didn’t leave the company; most found desk work or teaching positions. The few SOLDIERs who had genuinely retired had taken up something related to the business, like weapon or materia selling. Mercenary work sounded fun, but there wasn’t much of a demand for it outside merchants looking for guards for their goods or anti-ShinRa groups looking for more members, and he sure wouldn’t want to risk having to go up against his former comrades, especially Cloud or Seph.
Zack couldn’t help the bitter taste in his mouth as he thought about it. He was a huge disappointment to his parents these days, quite a change from how things had been when he was a kid. He’d been the star of Gongaga, the leader of all the boys his age, brave and daring and charming enough to melt the hearts of all the prettiest girls in town. His dad had been planning for him to take part in the family shipping business.
All of that had changed when he’d left to join SOLDIER. He hadn’t been the only one — ShinRa had been masterful in their propaganda campaign — but he was the only one from Gongaga to pass the exams. A few stayed around for a couple years in other branches of the army, but everyone else had returned home eventually.
And now I’m the enemy. Even if he wasn’t in uniform, all they had to do was look at his eyes to know what he was. SOLDIER. ShinRa. And they blamed ShinRa for an awful lot, especially since the reactor had blown. When had that happened, anyway? During the war with Wutai? When he had been on some special mission for Seph? He had no idea — nobody had said a word to him about it.
He’d offered to help his parents relocate, as several of the families in the area had done after the disaster, but they had refused. “I was born here, and I’ll die here,” his father had said stubbornly, sounding rather like Zack’s granpap, dead six summers before he’d left. “Move away? Foolishness.”
Zack had been a little leery about this sort of thing happening, actually. Many of the older SOLDIERs had mentioned the fact that far too often they weren’t appreciated when they went home. SOLDIERs weren’t really appreciated in general, actually. They were looked up to by the kids, sure, but, like ShinRa as a whole, they were really only welcome as long as there was a problem to be solved. Once that was dealt with, well, a guy just had to hope he had transport ready and waiting. Cloud was a lot more fortunate than most of the rest of ‘em in that regard. His ‘home’ consisted pretty much of his mother, who had supported her son from the start, and Vincent, who had come around in time.
Restless, the SOLDIER First stood and started wandering again, leaving even the wild outskirts of the territory immediately surrounding Gongaga. Odin’s blade, I love that kid. I’m so glad he made it. Without him… He shook his head. There were days even Zack couldn’t handle Sephiroth’s moods, but more often than not Cloud was ready to step up and help him as best as he could, whether it was taking on his former mentor — no, his friend, even if the two of ‘em weren’t going to admit it yet — or just giving Zack a friendly ear. It was so easy to envision the three of them spending the rest of their lives like this, as SOLDIERs — and Zack had to admit the thought certainly had an appeal.
Indigo eyes widened suddenly as his brain began to understand exactly what he’d been seeing for the last few minutes. Piping, extra strong, the type used to channel Mako, running out towards the coast, well camouflaged so most casual eyes wouldn’t notice it. Zack racked his brains to scrounge up his memories of the plans he’d once seen for the Gongaga reactor. Wasn’t there an area with a pretty high Mako concentration around here…? Moving as silently as only a SOLDIER could, he followed the line, noting it disappeared into a cave not far from the coast.
Zack didn’t enter the cave; he knew better than to go into a Mako-heavy area without backup. Besides, judging from the look of the local wildlife, he had a pretty damn good idea what was down there. Gotta get back to town and call in. I need Seph and the others out here ASAP, before that bastard moves again.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Cloud rolled away as the Masamune sang over his head, flipping back up to his feet and readying Shiranui. The two blades collided solidly, forcing the younger man to brace himself against Sephiroth’s strength. Sparring with the General wasn’t easy by any stretch of the imagination, but he privately thought he was getting a lot better at it.
The Masamune sped towards him again in a bright arc of silver, but Cloud somehow managed to dance out of the way, immediately lunging back in in hopes of attempting a strike before Sephiroth could change his momentum to counter—
But of course his opponent was swifter, reversing his sword almost too fast for even Cloud’s enhanced eyes to see, blocking both his blades with ease. His eyes, however, were approving.
“You’ve improved,” Sephiroth observed as he allowed Cloud to catch his breath. Both steadfastly ignored the crowd watching them from the sides of the gym, made up of regulars and SOLDIERs alike.
“Thank you,” Cloud replied, sheathing the pieces of Shiranui. He had finally been able to afford the last of the six swords two months ago and was still adjusting to the minute differences, altering his fighting style every day little by little.
Sephiroth turned, exiting the gym, and Cloud followed, both still ignoring the onlookers. “I believe Zack would find you a good opponent, even without the… ah, tricks he is so against.”
Cloud snorted. “He’s just jealous.” He paused, glancing around. “Has he called or anything?”
Sephiroth shook his head. “Zack has never excelled in long-distance communication, even while on missions. It was a flaw he had to correct before he reached First Class, but he’s still lax about it on occasion.”
First Class… Cloud couldn’t help feeling a bit wistful about that. He had been promoted to Second Class two years ago, and he still hoped he’d make it as far as First someday. Scott and Paul swore it was only a matter of time, as did several other SOLDIERs he knew, but Cloud tried not to get his hopes up too high. There was, after all, an element he could do nothing about: his Mako adaptation scores. He’d have to pass another, more rigorous test to advance ranks again.
The pair of SOLDIERs walked in silence for some time, and Cloud’s thoughts turned back to Zack almost immediately. Something about him made him feel so unsettled, and it unnerved him… and embarrassed him a little, too. Suddenly he needed to get out — out of the army compound, out of ShinRa’s immediate territory. “I’m going to go grab some dinner,” he announced. “Want to come along?”
Sephiroth’s facial control slipped just enough to allow a flicker of surprise. “…I suppose.”
Cloud nodded decisively, starting towards the main gate — until he stopped so abruptly that Sephiroth, with his longer strides, would have run right into him had he not checked himself. “Um, I don’t know about you, but I could use a change of clothes,” he said by way of explanation, slightly sheepish. Sephiroth nodded. “So… I guess we’ll split up and meet at the gate in fifteen?”
“Very well.”
Sephiroth was already waiting for him when Cloud arrived at the gate. He was surprised and a little pleased when the General’s tense posture relaxed slightly at his approach, the other man inclining his head slightly, inquiring, “Did you have a particular destination in mind?”
“Not really,” Cloud confessed, but his feet ended up leading them to Havoc’s Haven. He’d been here several times since Zack first introduced him to the place, most often with Arthur and Morgan.
Sephiroth didn’t appear surprised, but the hostess raised her eyebrows a bit when she saw the pair — and Cloud suddenly realized that this could look a little strange, just the two of them without their usual companion. “Zack’s away on leave,” the blond said smoothly, “but he insisted he’d kill us if we didn’t go out for at least something while he was out of town.”
The hostess smiled. “Just like Zack, isn’t it?” She picked up two menus. “This way, gentlemen.”
Once they were seated in a secluded corner booth, Sephiroth raised an eyebrow in silent inquiry.
“I think she probably was wondering if… Well, they’ve never seen the two of us together here without Zack, so… I think they might’ve thought we were on a date or something,” Cloud explained. “I know how you feel about rumors, and I know Zack says they won’t spread here, but I figured it’d be better to nip it in the bud, you know?”
“Ah.” Sephiroth nodded slowly. “I can see how she might make that connection.”
Can’t see him being an easy person to take on a date, anyway, Cloud thought absently as he looked over his menu. Though afterwards would probably make up for it. He had that intensity about him, after all, which—
The young SOLDIER shook his head firmly, fighting down a blush with extreme effort. Where had that thought come from? He was picking up way too much from Reno, obviously. Don’t you dare start crushing on him. He’s even more untouchable than Zack is. Think about pretty girls, remember? Mom wants grandkids.
“…Cloud?”
Blue eyes snapped up to meet — concerned? — green. “I’m fine. Just… thinking, is all.”
Sephiroth looked as if he weren’t quite satisfied with that answer, so Cloud hastened to say something. “About, um… your sword.”
The other man blinked. “What about it?”
Cloud paused, not quite sure where to go from there. The Masamune was practically a legend in its own right among SOLDIER, almost as much as its wielder. Though it looked Wutaian in make, which led many to assert Sephiroth had to have picked it up as a war trophy, some of the older SOLDIERs argued he’d had the weapon long before that, that he’d practically been born with it in his hand.
Cloud was far more inclined to believe the war trophy story, but even from his eager examination of the newspaper coverage of the war as a child he couldn’t recall ever seeing the General with a weapon that wasn’t the Masamune. It had always been a part of his image, as much as the long, black leather coat he wore even now.
It was strange, though… At Nibelheim, six months ago, he’d been sure the weapon had been lost in the collapse of the Shinra Mansion’s underground lab, but Sephiroth had been back on his feet and using it to spar with him and Zack not even two days later. And yet he couldn’t recall either of them having gone back to retrieve it; in fact, they’d all made an effort to stay away from the mansion, not wanting to take any chances with architectural instabilities or anything else. Sometimes the Masamune seemed to do that, though, Sephiroth wielding it in answer to a threat when Cloud could’ve sworn the General hadn’t been carrying it a minute ago. Yeah, but how in the world do I ask him about that?
Sephiroth cleared his throat, and Cloud started at that. Right. “It’s just…” He paused, then pressed on. “I guess I can’t help envying you sometimes, the way you always seem to have the Masamune even when it’s not right at hand,” he confessed. “How do you do it?”
The other man went silent for a good long time at that, his expression difficult to read — Zack would’ve known what it was if he were there, but all Cloud could get out of it was that Sephiroth was in deep thought. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything…
“…I don’t know,” Sephiroth finally admitted quietly, if somewhat reluctantly. The look Cloud gave him tried to be open and interested, and it must have worked, for he elaborated, “If I have need of it, it’s there. If I don’t…” He shrugged, letting the sentence remain unfinished.
It was Cloud’s turn to be unsatisfied with his companion’s answer, and he itched to ask more about it, to learn as much as he could, but the General was saved from further questions as his PHS chimed softly. He withdrew it from his coat. “Sephiroth.”
Cloud was silent as the person on the other end spoke, saying something that caused the General to frown.
“Understood.” He ended the connection, rising to his feet. “HQ has just received an urgent request from Lieutenant Colonel Sinclair for assistance.”
Cloud stiffened and dropped the menu back to the table, also standing. “Did they say what the problem was?”
“They did not want to do so on an open line.” Sephiroth turned to leave. “We’d best head to the briefing room.” Cloud paused just long enough to apologize for their abrupt departure, citing an urgent call to duty, before quickly following the General.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
There had been a lot of debate about how to approach this latest Hojo sighting. Sephiroth, Cloud, and Vincent had intended to leave the minute they’d found out about Zack’s discovery, but some of the board members urged caution, arguing that discretion was of the utmost importance. So Vincent had vanished from the building, and Sephiroth and Cloud were officially going to investigate monster activity near Cosmo Canyon — not Gongaga — because Sinclair had encountered stronger monsters than were normal for the area. It sounded reasonable enough on the surface, and in theory no one other than the board knew what was really going on.
Cloud had just finished packing up his supplies — briskly, but not urgently — when someone pounded on his door. His roommate wasn’t in, out on a mission near Fort Condor, so he answered it only to be faced with an ecstatic specialist.
“Arthur, what—?”
“Cloud, I asked Morgan to marry me, and she said yes!” The other man practically glowed with happiness.
Cloud’s eyebrows rose at that. Okay, he’d known the two were close and had suspected something had been going on between them for some time, but he hadn’t realized it was that serious. Still, it was wonderful news, and he smiled warmly at it. “Congratulations!”
“I know you have a mission to go on, but I wanted to catch you before you left.” Arthur’s face grew a little more serious. “We haven’t set a date yet, but will you be my Witness? If it wasn’t for you, I probably never would’ve met her.”
Though he couldn’t quite follow the specialist’s logic on the last part there, Cloud was touched at that. The three Witnesses — one for the groom, one for the bride, and one impartial person who usually conducted the ceremony — were a very old marriage tradition, trusted friends who testified that the union was freely and willingly entered into by both parties. “I’d be honored,” Cloud replied, smiling.
“Thanks!” Arthur beamed. “We’ll let you know about the details when you get back.” He stepped out of the way so Cloud could leave. “Good luck!”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Zack greeted his back-up team’s arrival by pouncing Cloud.
Well used to Zack’s tendency to play-wrestle whenever he got a chance, Cloud countered his hold, shoving him off irritably. “C’mon, Zack, knock it off.”
“Hey, there’s nobody ‘round here who can handle me,” Zack protested, taking another go. “I’ll get out of shape if I don’t practice!”
“Yeah, I noticed. Forget how to pin properly?” Cloud teased, squirming out of his hold again.
“Zack, are you going to introduce us to your… friends?”
Looping his arm around Cloud’s shoulders, Zack looked back at the woman behind him, smiling. “Sure. Mom, Dad, I’m sure you’ve heard of Sephiroth.” The General inclined his head a bit. “He’s my commanding officer. This is Vincent Valentine, who’s part of the Department of Administrative Research. We’re going to investigate some stuff I saw out by the cliffs — looks like there might’ve been some damage, with the explosion and all, and I thought I saw some weirdness with the local wildlife, so I put in a call. Don’t want any beasties popping up the folks ‘round here don’t know how to deal with.”
“I see.” His father turned to stare to Cloud, his eyes wary, his voice a little cool. “And this is…?”
Zack blinked in surprise at the tone of the man’s voice, and so the younger SOLDIER spoke up to smooth over the situation. “I’m Cloud Strife, sir.” He shook Zack off again, holding out his hand. “Zack might’ve mentioned me? He was my mentor when I first joined SOLDIER, and he’s a very good friend.” His voice turned a little dry. “Though I’ll admit I’d wish he’d stop trying to set me up with all these girls — I really don’t have enough free time right now.” Okay, so the girls thing was a lie, but they didn’t need to know that.
The man’s expression warmed as he shook Cloud’s hand. “Alexander Fair. This is my wife, Elizabeth.”
Cloud shot Zack a look. “Fair? Not Sinclair?”
Elizabeth smiled, taking Cloud’s hand in turn. “No, Sinclair’s my maiden name. Maybe Zack mentioned it?"
“That could be. A lot of us are on first name basis in SOLDIER because of the size of the program. I must have mixed it up,” Cloud lied. You’ve got some explaining to do, Zack. “My apologies.”
Elizabeth shook her head. “None needed. Now, why don’t you boys bring your things in and we’ll get you set up for the night? It’s far too late in the day for you to go tromping off to those cliffs down by the coast.”
“That will not be necessary,” Sephiroth interjected. “We can stay at the inn—”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Zack’s mother insisted. “You’re our son’s friends and more than welcome here. Please.”
“We can add some of our supplies to dinner if you like, ma’am,” Cloud added. “I don’t mind helping with the cooking — and I don’t have a history of causing fires in frying pans.”
“It was one time!” Zack protested. “But if you insist on being like that, I’ll help bring our stuff in.”
It wasn’t until he’d settled down with Cloud over potatoes — Zack peeling, Cloud scrubbing and cutting — that the blond had a chance to bring up the other SOLDIER’s oversight. “So. ‘Fair,’ huh?”
Zack shot his mother a glance, but seeing she was busy with the main course, he nodded, dropping his voice. “Supposedly it was ‘Fairweather’ a while back, but the latter part got dropped. Ouch!”
Cloud rolled his eyes as Zack sucked on his cut thumb. “Cut away from yourself. Haven’t you ever done this before?’
Zack shook his head. “Not really. I did everything in my power to avoid getting stuck in the kitchen as a kid, and you know when I cook back ho— I mean, in Midgar, I usually do potatoes with the skins on. Taste better that way.” Zack washed his hands before returning to the potatoes, the small cut already. “But yeah, I changed my name soon as I could — you would not believe some of the lame jokes I used to get when I first joined up.”
“Oh, I’m sure I could; ‘Zachary Fair’ has quite a ring to it, after all,” Cloud teased. “I just hope you know you’re going to have to pay up to keep me silent…”
Zack winced. “So, what is it going to cost me?”
“Oh, I’m sure I’ll think of something,” Cloud replied, smirking, as he finished slicing the potatoes in front of him.
“My, you’re good at that.” Elizabeth beamed at him. “I think that’s it for preparation, then. There isn’t really any space in the kitchen for you two to help with the actual cooking.”
“Used to help my mother — I’m a country boy, myself,” Cloud explained with an answering smile, passing the bowl of sliced potatoes over. “Another thing Zack and I have in common. Anyway, we’ll go talk with the others about our plan of action, if you don’t need us anymore…”
“That’s fine. Zack, set the table. Then you can go.” Elizabeth gave her son a look. “Seems like you could use to learn some things from your student yourself.”
Zack gave Cloud a dirty look as he picked up a stack of plates. “Yes, Mom.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“So,” Zack began after dinner, “Cloud and Vincent can have the guest room, Seph can have my bed—”
“And you’ll be on the couch, Zack?” inquired his mother.
“Nah, I’ll just use my bedroll in my room. Seph and I bunk together all the time.” Zack was rather proud of the fact that he delivered that smoothly, though Cloud looked a bit skeptical at that pronouncement. Sephiroth shot Zack a look the other SOLDIER could read perfectly, though he didn’t respond, just grabbing a bag and heading upstairs after him.
Once they got to Zack’s old room, the dark-haired SOLDIER pounced his superior, causing the old bed to creak in protest. Sephiroth’s silver eyebrows arched towards his hair. “Zack…”
“You seemed a little tense downstairs, so I figured you needed to relax, get more comfortable.” Zack started undoing the buckles for Sephiroth’s shoulder armor with a familiarity born of long practice. “We can talk later.”
Sephiroth gave him a dubious look.
“Later,” Zack repeated, “and stop looking at me like that. I can be discreet — I’m always discreet.”
“Except when you’re not.” But Sephiroth didn’t resist as Zack nudged at him so he could get a better angle at one of the straps.
“Even so. If I agree with you, will you shut up?”
Later found them discovering that the bed wasn’t quite big enough for two, but Zack, pleasantly drowsy, didn’t really care. Sephiroth didn’t seem to either, but there was a quality to his silence that told Zack something was on the other man’s mind.
“…You’d suit each other well,” Sephiroth said finally.
“Huh?” Zack sat up to stare at him in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
“Cloud.”
Of all the things for him to think about, that presumption of his parents’, that his demonstration of affection towards Cloud earlier pinpointed the reason Zack lacked a girlfriend, was not what he would have guessed. “But… Seph…” the dark-haired man protested, looking hurt. “What about us?”
The General’s green eyes flickered away, confirming Zack’s suspicion — he had to be thinking the dark-haired man would replace him with their friend, more easygoing and less trouble to deal with.
No way in hell. Zack snorted. “Like he’d even be interested, anyway. Everything I’ve heard from him’s pointed to him preferrin’ the ladies.” Everything except for that one little comment he’d made when they’d been out to dinner a few weeks ago, anyway. Zack’d told himself more than once that it could have just been friendly admiration, but… he couldn’t really blame his imagination for being so disinclined to listen…
Zack shook his head firmly to dismiss those mental images, meeting Sephiroth’s still-wary eyes. Better get him — get them both — to think about something else instead. “He’d look better with you, anyway,” said Zack’s mouth before he could stop it, and he inwardly winced at that. Way to change the subject, stupid.
Much to his surprise, Sephiroth’s eyes darted away again… but the shuttered expression on his face was as readable to Zack as any tactical map. Well, well. Guess he’s thought about it some, too, huh?
Zack grinned, leaning over and kissing Sephiroth soundly, a plan starting to form in the back of his mind. If he was interested, and Seph was interested, and they did a little digging to see if Cloud really was interested, well… maybe they could arrange a little something to boost their friend’s confidence, since he seemed to be so unlucky in love. And what better confidence boost than a little special attention from the Silver General and his fantastic aide? “You know,” Zack all but purred, “I think I just might have a proposition you’d be interested in once this mission is over…”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Cloud could not sleep.
Normally he had little trouble tuning out ambient noise — if growing up in the country hadn’t done it, living in the barracks sure had helped — but for some reason tonight it was impossible. He could hear the raucous calls of Gongaga’s nocturnal wildlife muted only slightly by the walls, the house settling around them, the creaking of bedsprings… By the middle of the night he was even half-convinced he could hear the house’s occupants breathing and sighing in their sleep, crazy as it seemed.
He looked over at his roommate. Vincent lay still, the slow fall and rise of his chest indicative that he, at least, was unperturbed by the night’s sounds.
Cloud sighed, rolled over, and buried his head under his pillow. Again.
When morning finally dawned, he was generally out of sorts and irritable. It didn’t help that Mrs. Fair abducted him the minute he left his room to help out with breakfast, He didn’t mind helping, in all honesty; he just… would have liked some time to himself before getting stuck at the stove. Just five minutes, really. Enough time to close his eyes, block out the world, and recenter himself. And maybe gulp down a hyper. They helped combat exhaustion better than any coffee ever made.
“Morning, Mom. Morning, Cloud!” Zack came downstairs with a spring in his step, moving immediately to help his mother with the coffee. Cloud shot him a dark look. “And just what is your problem?” Zack asked with an insufferable cheerfulness.
Glancing over at the dark-haired man’s mother, who hummed to herself as she made eggs, Cloud kept his voice pitched low. “Do you have to be so Hades-damned perky? Some of us didn’t get much sleep last night.”
“Really? I slept like a baby.” Zack looked concerned. “If you’re worried about the mission…”
Cloud harrumphed, trying not to show his concern. He was worried about the mission; he couldn’t help remembering what happened last time the four of them had teamed up for something like this. They had nearly lost Sephiroth to something worse than death. And now they would be going up against Hojo again… Still, if he was the only one having a fit about it, he may as well not remind Zack. It wouldn’t do to have two of them jumping at shadows. “It wasn’t that, it was the infernal noise,” he lied.
“Noise?” Zack smiled crookedly. “Ahaha. Well, you know these jungle areas have obnoxious nighttime animals, ‘s far as that goes…”
“Clearly,” Cloud said in a bland tone. If it had just been noise, he would have been able to block it out eventually. But it seemed that pre-mission jitters had thrown his imagination into overdrive, generating some images to go along with last night’s soundtrack. Very few of them had been pleasant; most had featured various monsters he had killed in his time as a SOLDIER, but… bigger. A lot bigger. Damn Hojo. He took a stack of plates to the table. Zack followed with silverware and napkins, and they set the table in silence for a moment, Cloud taking frequent gulps of his coffee to get some extra energy. Not as good a hyper, but it would do.
“…Thanks.”
Cloud blinked at the other man. “Hm?”
“For… well, arranging this whole trip.” Zack shrugged. “I know I kinda blew up at you for sneaking around me like that, but… really, it hasn’t been that bad. Nice to see the family again, get a chance to clear my head some. Even if there ain’t much to do ‘round here but think,” he added.
Cloud smiled. “I’m glad it’s helped. And as for the sneaking thing, well… I did learn from the best.”
“Oh?”
“Well,” said Cloud airily, “a trip we made a few years back to my own hometown comes to mind…”
Zack grinned. “I was rather proud of that one. Even if it did come back to bite me in the ass later.” His face grew serious. “Though really, I can’t admit I’m upset it turned out that way. Who knows how badly things could’ve gone otherwise…?”
“I think Sephiroth understands,” Cloud pointed out reasonably. “You did get proven right in the end, after all.”
Zack nodded as they finished, moving to sit on the couch until breakfast was ready, gesturing for Cloud to join him.
“I talked to Tifa a bit before we left,” Cloud began once he’d gotten settled.
Zack’s voice had a hint of wariness to it. “Oh?”
“Aeris is… well, she’s coping—”
“And I owe her an apology,” Zack interrupted. “I know. We both said some pretty hurtful things to each other, but…” He trailed off, brooding.
“Actually,” Cloud said quickly, determined to head this off before it could get started again, “Tifa says she’s been kinda torn between you and Reeve for a while—”
Zack blinked. “Reeve? Like, Reeve Tuesti, head of Urban Development, Reeve? Really?”
“That’s what Tifa said. Apparently she’s working for him.”
“For the MMG Project, yeah. I remember you mentioning that once.” Zack shook his head. “I just didn’t know she knew the guy in charge of it that well… but I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised, really. Tuesti does seem like the kinda guy who’d be more of an active participant than just ordering minions around like Heidegger. He’s sure passionate about it, from what I hear.”
Cloud nodded.
Zack was silent for a moment. “Well,” he said finally, “as long as she’s happy, I wish her the best.” His eyes narrowed. “But he better take good care of her. She deserves it.”
The younger man smiled. “Good for you, for being able to accept that.”
“Why shouldn’t I? It’s not like I really have a claim on her, not anymore.”
“Well,” said Cloud carefully, “sometimes people can get irrationally jealous even when they’re just interested in a girl, and haven’t even spent so much time with them.
Zack gave him a long look. “…Don’t be so hard on yourself.”
He shrugged. “I’m over it now. It was just hard back then.”
“Yeah, well, it usually is, with first crushes,” Zack pointed out.
Cloud gave him a crooked smile. “Am I always that obvious?”
“Nah, not like you used to be.” Zack grinned, ruffling the other’s blond hair. “But breakfast’s almost ready, so you wanna go get Seph and Valentine?”
“All right.” Cloud couldn’t help a smile as he halfheartedly shoved Zack away. “And… Zack?”
The older man paused. “Yeah?”
“I’m sorry, too.”
Zack smiled. “Hey, no problem.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sephiroth kept one eye on their surroundings as the group moved almost silently through the jungle. Gongaga was a hot, damp place, one that wore things down rather than preserved them, but yet was still somehow burgeoning with life — an apt place for the hometown of someone like Zack, now that he thought of it. Cloud, too, mirrored his own birthplace in many ways. Sharp and sturdy as the mountains he had grown up in, dangerous yet not inhospitable to those who knew them.
And very beautiful.
Had they been in real danger, Sephiroth would never have allowed himself to dwell on the youngest member of their group, but they were still on the edges of the area often traversed by the natives of Gongaga. Their only enemies at the moment would be of the local variety, and while Zack told horror stories to the recruits of the dreaded “Touch Mes,” they weren’t anything any member of their group couldn’t handle — and thus Sephiroth found himself watching the dappled sunlight glint on Cloud’s hair, turning the strands into spun gold.
And now I’m waxing poetic. He sighed. This entire situation was becoming vexingly complicated.
Sephiroth had been perhaps the first of them to realize just how attractive Cloud was. He had long ago accepted the fact that, unlike most of his peers, he would never be attracted to females — when he’d been young, other SOLDIERs in his class would’ve gotten all riled up about a woman they found good-looking, nudging each other and smirking and exchanging lewd whispers, and he’d… well, he’d appreciated it, he supposed, but in the same detached way most would appreciate a beautiful painting or an exquisite symphony or a fine chocobo of good breeding. No, when it came to physical attraction, Sephiroth had always found himself drawn almost exclusively towards other SOLDIERs. Perhaps it was that the general ‘type’ of person accepted into SOLDIER was also his preferred ‘type.’ Perhaps, as Zack had suggested, he subconsciously limited himself out of a desire not to risk harming his partner, as many SOLDIERs did. Or maybe it was even something a bit more than either of those, something in the standard SOLDIER injections that echoed, faintly, the intensive treatments he’d been subjected to periodically in his youth — an uncomfortable idea, but not an impossibility.
“Opposites attract,” the old adage might have said, but Sephiroth’s experience had always taught him quite differently, that like calls to like. He could feel it in the other SOLDIERs, and he could feel it in Zack strongest of all. It was, he reasoned, probably nothing more than his… emotional attachment speaking there, intensifying those feelings.
When he’d found himself drawn to Cloud, though, Sephiroth had forced himself to dismiss his feelings. The boy — no, at twenty-one he was certainly a man — was triply barred from him, after all. He was his subordinate, his student, and had shown no indication of being attracted to men.
If the General had been less scrupulous, only the last would have been a solid argument, really; the official disapproval of relations with one’s subordinates was ignored often enough that it may as well have not existed — even he himself was guilty of violating it — and Cloud had long since risen to be more colleague than student, even in the sword arts. Yes, he still had a lot to learn… but he had also taught even Sephiroth a trick or two, the true sign of a good sparring partner, a peer rather than a pupil.
Yet Sephiroth had firmly reminded himself of Cloud’s lack of interest, not to mention the fact that he himself was very definitely already involved with someone else. He was hardly going to discard his close relationship with Zack, the product of years of cultivation, for an untried partnership… but what Zack had said the previous night made him look at Cloud in a new light. And as he observed the young SOLDIER, perhaps more closely than usual, he was intrigued to note the sidelong glances the blond gave them, him and Zack, and the way he’d tear his eyes away, flushing slightly, when he realized he’d been caught looking.
Hmm. Perhaps Cloud wasn’t as uninterested as the General had thought… and maybe, just maybe, Zack’s proposal wasn’t absolutely ludicrous after all.
“That’s it, up ahead,” came Zack’s voice, interrupting his thoughts.
Sephiroth forcefully pulled his mind back into focus, abruptly realizing they had traveled outside of the ‘safe’ zone into the area Zack had scouted before. He resisted the urge to rub his brow. All of this intense musing had given him a headache — although he supposed it was better to have dwelt on that rather than contemplating meeting Hojo again. His memories of their previous encounter were not exactly pleasant.
“Maybe you two should stay outside?” Cloud suggested.
Sephiroth raised an eyebrow, while Zack laughed. “I know I said you needed command experience, Cloud, but that’s not quite what I meant—”
“I was more reflecting on our past experiences within Hojo’s domain,” Cloud replied dryly, sounding, Sephiroth noted with amusement, rather like him.
Still, their youngest companion had a point, so Sephiroth nodded. “Go ahead, then. We’ll keep watch.”
Cloud nodded, venturing inside the cave, Vincent a few steps behind him.
Zack looked at Sephiroth, eyes twinkling. “You know, if this keeps up, you may find yourself out of a job someday.”
“Somehow I doubt that,” the General murmured.
“Okay, yeah. No way are they ever gonna get rid of you.” Zack looked thoughtful. “I might be out of one, though.”
“While Cloud would undoubtedly do well as an aide, I can’t quite envision him accomplishing it with your… flair.”
The grin Zack gave him lit up the clearing, despite the shade from the cave. “Aww, Seph — nice to know you’d miss me, vices and all.”
Sephiroth made a noncommittal noise at that, though his lips quirked in just the slightest of smiles.
They stood in companionable silence for a while until Zack sighed, lifting a hand to rub his temples. “Knew I shouldn’t’ve eaten that omelette,” he lamented. “Mom always uses mushrooms in ‘em, and I don’t care if she says they really don’t, they still give me headaches.”
Sephiroth frowned. “Zack, you ate mushrooms in Wutai—”
“Only because they were practically the only thing there!” Zack protested, making a face. “Slimy, nasty things; can’t stand the feel of ‘em in my mouth.”
The General wasn’t really paying attention, however. Zack’s allergy, whether it had been genuine or psychosomatic, had vanished with his Mako treatments, as usually happened during the adaptation process… so why was he having a headache? And wasn’t it strange that both of them were affected?
“Someone’s definitely been here,” Cloud announced as he and Vincent exited the cave. “Looks like three Mako tanks were recently emptied, and there’s a whole bunch of other critters in there.”
“Critters?” Zack echoed, teasing.
Cloud opened his mouth to retort — undoubtedly to make some comment on Zack’s preference for ‘beasties’ — only to close it again, eyes widening at something behind them as he reached for his sword. Zack, the pain in his head almost unbearable now, whipped around to see what the others were already staring at—
“It’s been a while, My Son.”
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Genre: General/Drama
Pairings: ZackxSeph, Assorted Past
Rating (Overall): PG-13
Warnings: Implications of intimacy
Summary: “I can be discreet — I’m always discreet.”
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 37
“No place like home, they say,” he grumbled. “Well, I say bullshit. Sweet Shiva, I hate this place.”
Zack sighed as he kicked a stick across the ground. He had escaped to the jungle surrounding the town rather than risk another human encounter today. He didn’t have the Buster Sword with him — he’d left in it Midgar, as per regulations — but he did have a rather large dagger and two throwing knives. Versatility might not be his passion the way it was Cloud’s, but he knew how to use the weapons well enough to handle anything in the nearby area… including those blasted Touch Mes. “Should bring one back for Cloud, the sneaky bastard. It’d serve him right.”
Not that the other SOLDIER hadn’t been right about some of the things he’d said. Zack’s mother had nearly fainted when he had shown up on the doorstep, and once she’d established he was real and not a figment of her imagination, she’d quickly fallen into hysterics. Apparently, since he had only written them that one letter about six years back, they’d thought he’d died or something.
All right, all right. I’ll write more often, but I sure as hell ain’t gonna come back any time soon. Zack settled against a tree, staring up at the canopy overhead. The first night back had been kind of nice. He had gotten some of his mother’s home cooking, which he found he’d actually really missed, and gotten the chance to catch up on the lives of old friends. But the next day, the inquiries had started to assault him. His parents hadn’t been pleased to find out he still had at least five years still on his contract with ShinRa, nor were they happy to find out he’d broken up with his girlfriend.
Not that they really care, Zack thought, rolling his eyes. Mom just wants grandchildren. They hadn’t been interested in anything he had to say about his life in Midgar, not even about Cloud, who was as close to him as family. And Seph… well, he didn’t even try to bring that up.
Zack took a moment and tried to imagine the life his parents wanted for him. He’d have to retire from ShinRa of course, and marry some pretty little thing who he could have lots of kids with. Despite how their last meeting had gone, it had to be Aeris in his mind; he couldn’t think of another woman he could really settle down with. Tifa and Cloud would stop by regularly, of course. Tifa’d probably have her mastery by then, start a school of her own. Cloud would still be with the company, considering he’d only served about four years of his contract as a SOLDIER. But hey, maybe he’d’ve made First by then. And Seph…
His heart twisted. Seph, too, would still be stuck with ShinRa; Zack refused to consider the possibility that he’d be dead, though there was no other way they’d ever let him go. He took some comfort in the fact that Cloud, at least, would still be around, but… it wouldn’t be the same. Sure, the two of them had gotten a lot closer, but Cloud didn’t know Seph’s idiosyncrasies the way Zack did, the kind of stupid jokes that got him to relax when he was tense, the silly little things that distracted him enough during board meetings that he couldn’t spend the whole time brooding about how vile the company execs (most of ‘em) were.
He could never abandon Seph. Ever.
No, his parent’s idealistic dream could never be his life. Heck, he had no idea what he’d do with himself if he left ShinRa. Even SOLDIERs who were wounded to the point of inaction didn’t leave the company; most found desk work or teaching positions. The few SOLDIERs who had genuinely retired had taken up something related to the business, like weapon or materia selling. Mercenary work sounded fun, but there wasn’t much of a demand for it outside merchants looking for guards for their goods or anti-ShinRa groups looking for more members, and he sure wouldn’t want to risk having to go up against his former comrades, especially Cloud or Seph.
Zack couldn’t help the bitter taste in his mouth as he thought about it. He was a huge disappointment to his parents these days, quite a change from how things had been when he was a kid. He’d been the star of Gongaga, the leader of all the boys his age, brave and daring and charming enough to melt the hearts of all the prettiest girls in town. His dad had been planning for him to take part in the family shipping business.
All of that had changed when he’d left to join SOLDIER. He hadn’t been the only one — ShinRa had been masterful in their propaganda campaign — but he was the only one from Gongaga to pass the exams. A few stayed around for a couple years in other branches of the army, but everyone else had returned home eventually.
And now I’m the enemy. Even if he wasn’t in uniform, all they had to do was look at his eyes to know what he was. SOLDIER. ShinRa. And they blamed ShinRa for an awful lot, especially since the reactor had blown. When had that happened, anyway? During the war with Wutai? When he had been on some special mission for Seph? He had no idea — nobody had said a word to him about it.
He’d offered to help his parents relocate, as several of the families in the area had done after the disaster, but they had refused. “I was born here, and I’ll die here,” his father had said stubbornly, sounding rather like Zack’s granpap, dead six summers before he’d left. “Move away? Foolishness.”
Zack had been a little leery about this sort of thing happening, actually. Many of the older SOLDIERs had mentioned the fact that far too often they weren’t appreciated when they went home. SOLDIERs weren’t really appreciated in general, actually. They were looked up to by the kids, sure, but, like ShinRa as a whole, they were really only welcome as long as there was a problem to be solved. Once that was dealt with, well, a guy just had to hope he had transport ready and waiting. Cloud was a lot more fortunate than most of the rest of ‘em in that regard. His ‘home’ consisted pretty much of his mother, who had supported her son from the start, and Vincent, who had come around in time.
Restless, the SOLDIER First stood and started wandering again, leaving even the wild outskirts of the territory immediately surrounding Gongaga. Odin’s blade, I love that kid. I’m so glad he made it. Without him… He shook his head. There were days even Zack couldn’t handle Sephiroth’s moods, but more often than not Cloud was ready to step up and help him as best as he could, whether it was taking on his former mentor — no, his friend, even if the two of ‘em weren’t going to admit it yet — or just giving Zack a friendly ear. It was so easy to envision the three of them spending the rest of their lives like this, as SOLDIERs — and Zack had to admit the thought certainly had an appeal.
Indigo eyes widened suddenly as his brain began to understand exactly what he’d been seeing for the last few minutes. Piping, extra strong, the type used to channel Mako, running out towards the coast, well camouflaged so most casual eyes wouldn’t notice it. Zack racked his brains to scrounge up his memories of the plans he’d once seen for the Gongaga reactor. Wasn’t there an area with a pretty high Mako concentration around here…? Moving as silently as only a SOLDIER could, he followed the line, noting it disappeared into a cave not far from the coast.
Zack didn’t enter the cave; he knew better than to go into a Mako-heavy area without backup. Besides, judging from the look of the local wildlife, he had a pretty damn good idea what was down there. Gotta get back to town and call in. I need Seph and the others out here ASAP, before that bastard moves again.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Cloud rolled away as the Masamune sang over his head, flipping back up to his feet and readying Shiranui. The two blades collided solidly, forcing the younger man to brace himself against Sephiroth’s strength. Sparring with the General wasn’t easy by any stretch of the imagination, but he privately thought he was getting a lot better at it.
The Masamune sped towards him again in a bright arc of silver, but Cloud somehow managed to dance out of the way, immediately lunging back in in hopes of attempting a strike before Sephiroth could change his momentum to counter—
But of course his opponent was swifter, reversing his sword almost too fast for even Cloud’s enhanced eyes to see, blocking both his blades with ease. His eyes, however, were approving.
“You’ve improved,” Sephiroth observed as he allowed Cloud to catch his breath. Both steadfastly ignored the crowd watching them from the sides of the gym, made up of regulars and SOLDIERs alike.
“Thank you,” Cloud replied, sheathing the pieces of Shiranui. He had finally been able to afford the last of the six swords two months ago and was still adjusting to the minute differences, altering his fighting style every day little by little.
Sephiroth turned, exiting the gym, and Cloud followed, both still ignoring the onlookers. “I believe Zack would find you a good opponent, even without the… ah, tricks he is so against.”
Cloud snorted. “He’s just jealous.” He paused, glancing around. “Has he called or anything?”
Sephiroth shook his head. “Zack has never excelled in long-distance communication, even while on missions. It was a flaw he had to correct before he reached First Class, but he’s still lax about it on occasion.”
First Class… Cloud couldn’t help feeling a bit wistful about that. He had been promoted to Second Class two years ago, and he still hoped he’d make it as far as First someday. Scott and Paul swore it was only a matter of time, as did several other SOLDIERs he knew, but Cloud tried not to get his hopes up too high. There was, after all, an element he could do nothing about: his Mako adaptation scores. He’d have to pass another, more rigorous test to advance ranks again.
The pair of SOLDIERs walked in silence for some time, and Cloud’s thoughts turned back to Zack almost immediately. Something about him made him feel so unsettled, and it unnerved him… and embarrassed him a little, too. Suddenly he needed to get out — out of the army compound, out of ShinRa’s immediate territory. “I’m going to go grab some dinner,” he announced. “Want to come along?”
Sephiroth’s facial control slipped just enough to allow a flicker of surprise. “…I suppose.”
Cloud nodded decisively, starting towards the main gate — until he stopped so abruptly that Sephiroth, with his longer strides, would have run right into him had he not checked himself. “Um, I don’t know about you, but I could use a change of clothes,” he said by way of explanation, slightly sheepish. Sephiroth nodded. “So… I guess we’ll split up and meet at the gate in fifteen?”
“Very well.”
Sephiroth was already waiting for him when Cloud arrived at the gate. He was surprised and a little pleased when the General’s tense posture relaxed slightly at his approach, the other man inclining his head slightly, inquiring, “Did you have a particular destination in mind?”
“Not really,” Cloud confessed, but his feet ended up leading them to Havoc’s Haven. He’d been here several times since Zack first introduced him to the place, most often with Arthur and Morgan.
Sephiroth didn’t appear surprised, but the hostess raised her eyebrows a bit when she saw the pair — and Cloud suddenly realized that this could look a little strange, just the two of them without their usual companion. “Zack’s away on leave,” the blond said smoothly, “but he insisted he’d kill us if we didn’t go out for at least something while he was out of town.”
The hostess smiled. “Just like Zack, isn’t it?” She picked up two menus. “This way, gentlemen.”
Once they were seated in a secluded corner booth, Sephiroth raised an eyebrow in silent inquiry.
“I think she probably was wondering if… Well, they’ve never seen the two of us together here without Zack, so… I think they might’ve thought we were on a date or something,” Cloud explained. “I know how you feel about rumors, and I know Zack says they won’t spread here, but I figured it’d be better to nip it in the bud, you know?”
“Ah.” Sephiroth nodded slowly. “I can see how she might make that connection.”
Can’t see him being an easy person to take on a date, anyway, Cloud thought absently as he looked over his menu. Though afterwards would probably make up for it. He had that intensity about him, after all, which—
The young SOLDIER shook his head firmly, fighting down a blush with extreme effort. Where had that thought come from? He was picking up way too much from Reno, obviously. Don’t you dare start crushing on him. He’s even more untouchable than Zack is. Think about pretty girls, remember? Mom wants grandkids.
“…Cloud?”
Blue eyes snapped up to meet — concerned? — green. “I’m fine. Just… thinking, is all.”
Sephiroth looked as if he weren’t quite satisfied with that answer, so Cloud hastened to say something. “About, um… your sword.”
The other man blinked. “What about it?”
Cloud paused, not quite sure where to go from there. The Masamune was practically a legend in its own right among SOLDIER, almost as much as its wielder. Though it looked Wutaian in make, which led many to assert Sephiroth had to have picked it up as a war trophy, some of the older SOLDIERs argued he’d had the weapon long before that, that he’d practically been born with it in his hand.
Cloud was far more inclined to believe the war trophy story, but even from his eager examination of the newspaper coverage of the war as a child he couldn’t recall ever seeing the General with a weapon that wasn’t the Masamune. It had always been a part of his image, as much as the long, black leather coat he wore even now.
It was strange, though… At Nibelheim, six months ago, he’d been sure the weapon had been lost in the collapse of the Shinra Mansion’s underground lab, but Sephiroth had been back on his feet and using it to spar with him and Zack not even two days later. And yet he couldn’t recall either of them having gone back to retrieve it; in fact, they’d all made an effort to stay away from the mansion, not wanting to take any chances with architectural instabilities or anything else. Sometimes the Masamune seemed to do that, though, Sephiroth wielding it in answer to a threat when Cloud could’ve sworn the General hadn’t been carrying it a minute ago. Yeah, but how in the world do I ask him about that?
Sephiroth cleared his throat, and Cloud started at that. Right. “It’s just…” He paused, then pressed on. “I guess I can’t help envying you sometimes, the way you always seem to have the Masamune even when it’s not right at hand,” he confessed. “How do you do it?”
The other man went silent for a good long time at that, his expression difficult to read — Zack would’ve known what it was if he were there, but all Cloud could get out of it was that Sephiroth was in deep thought. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything…
“…I don’t know,” Sephiroth finally admitted quietly, if somewhat reluctantly. The look Cloud gave him tried to be open and interested, and it must have worked, for he elaborated, “If I have need of it, it’s there. If I don’t…” He shrugged, letting the sentence remain unfinished.
It was Cloud’s turn to be unsatisfied with his companion’s answer, and he itched to ask more about it, to learn as much as he could, but the General was saved from further questions as his PHS chimed softly. He withdrew it from his coat. “Sephiroth.”
Cloud was silent as the person on the other end spoke, saying something that caused the General to frown.
“Understood.” He ended the connection, rising to his feet. “HQ has just received an urgent request from Lieutenant Colonel Sinclair for assistance.”
Cloud stiffened and dropped the menu back to the table, also standing. “Did they say what the problem was?”
“They did not want to do so on an open line.” Sephiroth turned to leave. “We’d best head to the briefing room.” Cloud paused just long enough to apologize for their abrupt departure, citing an urgent call to duty, before quickly following the General.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
There had been a lot of debate about how to approach this latest Hojo sighting. Sephiroth, Cloud, and Vincent had intended to leave the minute they’d found out about Zack’s discovery, but some of the board members urged caution, arguing that discretion was of the utmost importance. So Vincent had vanished from the building, and Sephiroth and Cloud were officially going to investigate monster activity near Cosmo Canyon — not Gongaga — because Sinclair had encountered stronger monsters than were normal for the area. It sounded reasonable enough on the surface, and in theory no one other than the board knew what was really going on.
Cloud had just finished packing up his supplies — briskly, but not urgently — when someone pounded on his door. His roommate wasn’t in, out on a mission near Fort Condor, so he answered it only to be faced with an ecstatic specialist.
“Arthur, what—?”
“Cloud, I asked Morgan to marry me, and she said yes!” The other man practically glowed with happiness.
Cloud’s eyebrows rose at that. Okay, he’d known the two were close and had suspected something had been going on between them for some time, but he hadn’t realized it was that serious. Still, it was wonderful news, and he smiled warmly at it. “Congratulations!”
“I know you have a mission to go on, but I wanted to catch you before you left.” Arthur’s face grew a little more serious. “We haven’t set a date yet, but will you be my Witness? If it wasn’t for you, I probably never would’ve met her.”
Though he couldn’t quite follow the specialist’s logic on the last part there, Cloud was touched at that. The three Witnesses — one for the groom, one for the bride, and one impartial person who usually conducted the ceremony — were a very old marriage tradition, trusted friends who testified that the union was freely and willingly entered into by both parties. “I’d be honored,” Cloud replied, smiling.
“Thanks!” Arthur beamed. “We’ll let you know about the details when you get back.” He stepped out of the way so Cloud could leave. “Good luck!”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Zack greeted his back-up team’s arrival by pouncing Cloud.
Well used to Zack’s tendency to play-wrestle whenever he got a chance, Cloud countered his hold, shoving him off irritably. “C’mon, Zack, knock it off.”
“Hey, there’s nobody ‘round here who can handle me,” Zack protested, taking another go. “I’ll get out of shape if I don’t practice!”
“Yeah, I noticed. Forget how to pin properly?” Cloud teased, squirming out of his hold again.
“Zack, are you going to introduce us to your… friends?”
Looping his arm around Cloud’s shoulders, Zack looked back at the woman behind him, smiling. “Sure. Mom, Dad, I’m sure you’ve heard of Sephiroth.” The General inclined his head a bit. “He’s my commanding officer. This is Vincent Valentine, who’s part of the Department of Administrative Research. We’re going to investigate some stuff I saw out by the cliffs — looks like there might’ve been some damage, with the explosion and all, and I thought I saw some weirdness with the local wildlife, so I put in a call. Don’t want any beasties popping up the folks ‘round here don’t know how to deal with.”
“I see.” His father turned to stare to Cloud, his eyes wary, his voice a little cool. “And this is…?”
Zack blinked in surprise at the tone of the man’s voice, and so the younger SOLDIER spoke up to smooth over the situation. “I’m Cloud Strife, sir.” He shook Zack off again, holding out his hand. “Zack might’ve mentioned me? He was my mentor when I first joined SOLDIER, and he’s a very good friend.” His voice turned a little dry. “Though I’ll admit I’d wish he’d stop trying to set me up with all these girls — I really don’t have enough free time right now.” Okay, so the girls thing was a lie, but they didn’t need to know that.
The man’s expression warmed as he shook Cloud’s hand. “Alexander Fair. This is my wife, Elizabeth.”
Cloud shot Zack a look. “Fair? Not Sinclair?”
Elizabeth smiled, taking Cloud’s hand in turn. “No, Sinclair’s my maiden name. Maybe Zack mentioned it?"
“That could be. A lot of us are on first name basis in SOLDIER because of the size of the program. I must have mixed it up,” Cloud lied. You’ve got some explaining to do, Zack. “My apologies.”
Elizabeth shook her head. “None needed. Now, why don’t you boys bring your things in and we’ll get you set up for the night? It’s far too late in the day for you to go tromping off to those cliffs down by the coast.”
“That will not be necessary,” Sephiroth interjected. “We can stay at the inn—”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Zack’s mother insisted. “You’re our son’s friends and more than welcome here. Please.”
“We can add some of our supplies to dinner if you like, ma’am,” Cloud added. “I don’t mind helping with the cooking — and I don’t have a history of causing fires in frying pans.”
“It was one time!” Zack protested. “But if you insist on being like that, I’ll help bring our stuff in.”
It wasn’t until he’d settled down with Cloud over potatoes — Zack peeling, Cloud scrubbing and cutting — that the blond had a chance to bring up the other SOLDIER’s oversight. “So. ‘Fair,’ huh?”
Zack shot his mother a glance, but seeing she was busy with the main course, he nodded, dropping his voice. “Supposedly it was ‘Fairweather’ a while back, but the latter part got dropped. Ouch!”
Cloud rolled his eyes as Zack sucked on his cut thumb. “Cut away from yourself. Haven’t you ever done this before?’
Zack shook his head. “Not really. I did everything in my power to avoid getting stuck in the kitchen as a kid, and you know when I cook back ho— I mean, in Midgar, I usually do potatoes with the skins on. Taste better that way.” Zack washed his hands before returning to the potatoes, the small cut already. “But yeah, I changed my name soon as I could — you would not believe some of the lame jokes I used to get when I first joined up.”
“Oh, I’m sure I could; ‘Zachary Fair’ has quite a ring to it, after all,” Cloud teased. “I just hope you know you’re going to have to pay up to keep me silent…”
Zack winced. “So, what is it going to cost me?”
“Oh, I’m sure I’ll think of something,” Cloud replied, smirking, as he finished slicing the potatoes in front of him.
“My, you’re good at that.” Elizabeth beamed at him. “I think that’s it for preparation, then. There isn’t really any space in the kitchen for you two to help with the actual cooking.”
“Used to help my mother — I’m a country boy, myself,” Cloud explained with an answering smile, passing the bowl of sliced potatoes over. “Another thing Zack and I have in common. Anyway, we’ll go talk with the others about our plan of action, if you don’t need us anymore…”
“That’s fine. Zack, set the table. Then you can go.” Elizabeth gave her son a look. “Seems like you could use to learn some things from your student yourself.”
Zack gave Cloud a dirty look as he picked up a stack of plates. “Yes, Mom.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“So,” Zack began after dinner, “Cloud and Vincent can have the guest room, Seph can have my bed—”
“And you’ll be on the couch, Zack?” inquired his mother.
“Nah, I’ll just use my bedroll in my room. Seph and I bunk together all the time.” Zack was rather proud of the fact that he delivered that smoothly, though Cloud looked a bit skeptical at that pronouncement. Sephiroth shot Zack a look the other SOLDIER could read perfectly, though he didn’t respond, just grabbing a bag and heading upstairs after him.
Once they got to Zack’s old room, the dark-haired SOLDIER pounced his superior, causing the old bed to creak in protest. Sephiroth’s silver eyebrows arched towards his hair. “Zack…”
“You seemed a little tense downstairs, so I figured you needed to relax, get more comfortable.” Zack started undoing the buckles for Sephiroth’s shoulder armor with a familiarity born of long practice. “We can talk later.”
Sephiroth gave him a dubious look.
“Later,” Zack repeated, “and stop looking at me like that. I can be discreet — I’m always discreet.”
“Except when you’re not.” But Sephiroth didn’t resist as Zack nudged at him so he could get a better angle at one of the straps.
“Even so. If I agree with you, will you shut up?”
Later found them discovering that the bed wasn’t quite big enough for two, but Zack, pleasantly drowsy, didn’t really care. Sephiroth didn’t seem to either, but there was a quality to his silence that told Zack something was on the other man’s mind.
“…You’d suit each other well,” Sephiroth said finally.
“Huh?” Zack sat up to stare at him in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
“Cloud.”
Of all the things for him to think about, that presumption of his parents’, that his demonstration of affection towards Cloud earlier pinpointed the reason Zack lacked a girlfriend, was not what he would have guessed. “But… Seph…” the dark-haired man protested, looking hurt. “What about us?”
The General’s green eyes flickered away, confirming Zack’s suspicion — he had to be thinking the dark-haired man would replace him with their friend, more easygoing and less trouble to deal with.
No way in hell. Zack snorted. “Like he’d even be interested, anyway. Everything I’ve heard from him’s pointed to him preferrin’ the ladies.” Everything except for that one little comment he’d made when they’d been out to dinner a few weeks ago, anyway. Zack’d told himself more than once that it could have just been friendly admiration, but… he couldn’t really blame his imagination for being so disinclined to listen…
Zack shook his head firmly to dismiss those mental images, meeting Sephiroth’s still-wary eyes. Better get him — get them both — to think about something else instead. “He’d look better with you, anyway,” said Zack’s mouth before he could stop it, and he inwardly winced at that. Way to change the subject, stupid.
Much to his surprise, Sephiroth’s eyes darted away again… but the shuttered expression on his face was as readable to Zack as any tactical map. Well, well. Guess he’s thought about it some, too, huh?
Zack grinned, leaning over and kissing Sephiroth soundly, a plan starting to form in the back of his mind. If he was interested, and Seph was interested, and they did a little digging to see if Cloud really was interested, well… maybe they could arrange a little something to boost their friend’s confidence, since he seemed to be so unlucky in love. And what better confidence boost than a little special attention from the Silver General and his fantastic aide? “You know,” Zack all but purred, “I think I just might have a proposition you’d be interested in once this mission is over…”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Cloud could not sleep.
Normally he had little trouble tuning out ambient noise — if growing up in the country hadn’t done it, living in the barracks sure had helped — but for some reason tonight it was impossible. He could hear the raucous calls of Gongaga’s nocturnal wildlife muted only slightly by the walls, the house settling around them, the creaking of bedsprings… By the middle of the night he was even half-convinced he could hear the house’s occupants breathing and sighing in their sleep, crazy as it seemed.
He looked over at his roommate. Vincent lay still, the slow fall and rise of his chest indicative that he, at least, was unperturbed by the night’s sounds.
Cloud sighed, rolled over, and buried his head under his pillow. Again.
When morning finally dawned, he was generally out of sorts and irritable. It didn’t help that Mrs. Fair abducted him the minute he left his room to help out with breakfast, He didn’t mind helping, in all honesty; he just… would have liked some time to himself before getting stuck at the stove. Just five minutes, really. Enough time to close his eyes, block out the world, and recenter himself. And maybe gulp down a hyper. They helped combat exhaustion better than any coffee ever made.
“Morning, Mom. Morning, Cloud!” Zack came downstairs with a spring in his step, moving immediately to help his mother with the coffee. Cloud shot him a dark look. “And just what is your problem?” Zack asked with an insufferable cheerfulness.
Glancing over at the dark-haired man’s mother, who hummed to herself as she made eggs, Cloud kept his voice pitched low. “Do you have to be so Hades-damned perky? Some of us didn’t get much sleep last night.”
“Really? I slept like a baby.” Zack looked concerned. “If you’re worried about the mission…”
Cloud harrumphed, trying not to show his concern. He was worried about the mission; he couldn’t help remembering what happened last time the four of them had teamed up for something like this. They had nearly lost Sephiroth to something worse than death. And now they would be going up against Hojo again… Still, if he was the only one having a fit about it, he may as well not remind Zack. It wouldn’t do to have two of them jumping at shadows. “It wasn’t that, it was the infernal noise,” he lied.
“Noise?” Zack smiled crookedly. “Ahaha. Well, you know these jungle areas have obnoxious nighttime animals, ‘s far as that goes…”
“Clearly,” Cloud said in a bland tone. If it had just been noise, he would have been able to block it out eventually. But it seemed that pre-mission jitters had thrown his imagination into overdrive, generating some images to go along with last night’s soundtrack. Very few of them had been pleasant; most had featured various monsters he had killed in his time as a SOLDIER, but… bigger. A lot bigger. Damn Hojo. He took a stack of plates to the table. Zack followed with silverware and napkins, and they set the table in silence for a moment, Cloud taking frequent gulps of his coffee to get some extra energy. Not as good a hyper, but it would do.
“…Thanks.”
Cloud blinked at the other man. “Hm?”
“For… well, arranging this whole trip.” Zack shrugged. “I know I kinda blew up at you for sneaking around me like that, but… really, it hasn’t been that bad. Nice to see the family again, get a chance to clear my head some. Even if there ain’t much to do ‘round here but think,” he added.
Cloud smiled. “I’m glad it’s helped. And as for the sneaking thing, well… I did learn from the best.”
“Oh?”
“Well,” said Cloud airily, “a trip we made a few years back to my own hometown comes to mind…”
Zack grinned. “I was rather proud of that one. Even if it did come back to bite me in the ass later.” His face grew serious. “Though really, I can’t admit I’m upset it turned out that way. Who knows how badly things could’ve gone otherwise…?”
“I think Sephiroth understands,” Cloud pointed out reasonably. “You did get proven right in the end, after all.”
Zack nodded as they finished, moving to sit on the couch until breakfast was ready, gesturing for Cloud to join him.
“I talked to Tifa a bit before we left,” Cloud began once he’d gotten settled.
Zack’s voice had a hint of wariness to it. “Oh?”
“Aeris is… well, she’s coping—”
“And I owe her an apology,” Zack interrupted. “I know. We both said some pretty hurtful things to each other, but…” He trailed off, brooding.
“Actually,” Cloud said quickly, determined to head this off before it could get started again, “Tifa says she’s been kinda torn between you and Reeve for a while—”
Zack blinked. “Reeve? Like, Reeve Tuesti, head of Urban Development, Reeve? Really?”
“That’s what Tifa said. Apparently she’s working for him.”
“For the MMG Project, yeah. I remember you mentioning that once.” Zack shook his head. “I just didn’t know she knew the guy in charge of it that well… but I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised, really. Tuesti does seem like the kinda guy who’d be more of an active participant than just ordering minions around like Heidegger. He’s sure passionate about it, from what I hear.”
Cloud nodded.
Zack was silent for a moment. “Well,” he said finally, “as long as she’s happy, I wish her the best.” His eyes narrowed. “But he better take good care of her. She deserves it.”
The younger man smiled. “Good for you, for being able to accept that.”
“Why shouldn’t I? It’s not like I really have a claim on her, not anymore.”
“Well,” said Cloud carefully, “sometimes people can get irrationally jealous even when they’re just interested in a girl, and haven’t even spent so much time with them.
Zack gave him a long look. “…Don’t be so hard on yourself.”
He shrugged. “I’m over it now. It was just hard back then.”
“Yeah, well, it usually is, with first crushes,” Zack pointed out.
Cloud gave him a crooked smile. “Am I always that obvious?”
“Nah, not like you used to be.” Zack grinned, ruffling the other’s blond hair. “But breakfast’s almost ready, so you wanna go get Seph and Valentine?”
“All right.” Cloud couldn’t help a smile as he halfheartedly shoved Zack away. “And… Zack?”
The older man paused. “Yeah?”
“I’m sorry, too.”
Zack smiled. “Hey, no problem.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sephiroth kept one eye on their surroundings as the group moved almost silently through the jungle. Gongaga was a hot, damp place, one that wore things down rather than preserved them, but yet was still somehow burgeoning with life — an apt place for the hometown of someone like Zack, now that he thought of it. Cloud, too, mirrored his own birthplace in many ways. Sharp and sturdy as the mountains he had grown up in, dangerous yet not inhospitable to those who knew them.
And very beautiful.
Had they been in real danger, Sephiroth would never have allowed himself to dwell on the youngest member of their group, but they were still on the edges of the area often traversed by the natives of Gongaga. Their only enemies at the moment would be of the local variety, and while Zack told horror stories to the recruits of the dreaded “Touch Mes,” they weren’t anything any member of their group couldn’t handle — and thus Sephiroth found himself watching the dappled sunlight glint on Cloud’s hair, turning the strands into spun gold.
And now I’m waxing poetic. He sighed. This entire situation was becoming vexingly complicated.
Sephiroth had been perhaps the first of them to realize just how attractive Cloud was. He had long ago accepted the fact that, unlike most of his peers, he would never be attracted to females — when he’d been young, other SOLDIERs in his class would’ve gotten all riled up about a woman they found good-looking, nudging each other and smirking and exchanging lewd whispers, and he’d… well, he’d appreciated it, he supposed, but in the same detached way most would appreciate a beautiful painting or an exquisite symphony or a fine chocobo of good breeding. No, when it came to physical attraction, Sephiroth had always found himself drawn almost exclusively towards other SOLDIERs. Perhaps it was that the general ‘type’ of person accepted into SOLDIER was also his preferred ‘type.’ Perhaps, as Zack had suggested, he subconsciously limited himself out of a desire not to risk harming his partner, as many SOLDIERs did. Or maybe it was even something a bit more than either of those, something in the standard SOLDIER injections that echoed, faintly, the intensive treatments he’d been subjected to periodically in his youth — an uncomfortable idea, but not an impossibility.
“Opposites attract,” the old adage might have said, but Sephiroth’s experience had always taught him quite differently, that like calls to like. He could feel it in the other SOLDIERs, and he could feel it in Zack strongest of all. It was, he reasoned, probably nothing more than his… emotional attachment speaking there, intensifying those feelings.
When he’d found himself drawn to Cloud, though, Sephiroth had forced himself to dismiss his feelings. The boy — no, at twenty-one he was certainly a man — was triply barred from him, after all. He was his subordinate, his student, and had shown no indication of being attracted to men.
If the General had been less scrupulous, only the last would have been a solid argument, really; the official disapproval of relations with one’s subordinates was ignored often enough that it may as well have not existed — even he himself was guilty of violating it — and Cloud had long since risen to be more colleague than student, even in the sword arts. Yes, he still had a lot to learn… but he had also taught even Sephiroth a trick or two, the true sign of a good sparring partner, a peer rather than a pupil.
Yet Sephiroth had firmly reminded himself of Cloud’s lack of interest, not to mention the fact that he himself was very definitely already involved with someone else. He was hardly going to discard his close relationship with Zack, the product of years of cultivation, for an untried partnership… but what Zack had said the previous night made him look at Cloud in a new light. And as he observed the young SOLDIER, perhaps more closely than usual, he was intrigued to note the sidelong glances the blond gave them, him and Zack, and the way he’d tear his eyes away, flushing slightly, when he realized he’d been caught looking.
Hmm. Perhaps Cloud wasn’t as uninterested as the General had thought… and maybe, just maybe, Zack’s proposal wasn’t absolutely ludicrous after all.
“That’s it, up ahead,” came Zack’s voice, interrupting his thoughts.
Sephiroth forcefully pulled his mind back into focus, abruptly realizing they had traveled outside of the ‘safe’ zone into the area Zack had scouted before. He resisted the urge to rub his brow. All of this intense musing had given him a headache — although he supposed it was better to have dwelt on that rather than contemplating meeting Hojo again. His memories of their previous encounter were not exactly pleasant.
“Maybe you two should stay outside?” Cloud suggested.
Sephiroth raised an eyebrow, while Zack laughed. “I know I said you needed command experience, Cloud, but that’s not quite what I meant—”
“I was more reflecting on our past experiences within Hojo’s domain,” Cloud replied dryly, sounding, Sephiroth noted with amusement, rather like him.
Still, their youngest companion had a point, so Sephiroth nodded. “Go ahead, then. We’ll keep watch.”
Cloud nodded, venturing inside the cave, Vincent a few steps behind him.
Zack looked at Sephiroth, eyes twinkling. “You know, if this keeps up, you may find yourself out of a job someday.”
“Somehow I doubt that,” the General murmured.
“Okay, yeah. No way are they ever gonna get rid of you.” Zack looked thoughtful. “I might be out of one, though.”
“While Cloud would undoubtedly do well as an aide, I can’t quite envision him accomplishing it with your… flair.”
The grin Zack gave him lit up the clearing, despite the shade from the cave. “Aww, Seph — nice to know you’d miss me, vices and all.”
Sephiroth made a noncommittal noise at that, though his lips quirked in just the slightest of smiles.
They stood in companionable silence for a while until Zack sighed, lifting a hand to rub his temples. “Knew I shouldn’t’ve eaten that omelette,” he lamented. “Mom always uses mushrooms in ‘em, and I don’t care if she says they really don’t, they still give me headaches.”
Sephiroth frowned. “Zack, you ate mushrooms in Wutai—”
“Only because they were practically the only thing there!” Zack protested, making a face. “Slimy, nasty things; can’t stand the feel of ‘em in my mouth.”
The General wasn’t really paying attention, however. Zack’s allergy, whether it had been genuine or psychosomatic, had vanished with his Mako treatments, as usually happened during the adaptation process… so why was he having a headache? And wasn’t it strange that both of them were affected?
“Someone’s definitely been here,” Cloud announced as he and Vincent exited the cave. “Looks like three Mako tanks were recently emptied, and there’s a whole bunch of other critters in there.”
“Critters?” Zack echoed, teasing.
Cloud opened his mouth to retort — undoubtedly to make some comment on Zack’s preference for ‘beasties’ — only to close it again, eyes widening at something behind them as he reached for his sword. Zack, the pain in his head almost unbearable now, whipped around to see what the others were already staring at—
“It’s been a while, My Son.”
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